iStock/Thinkstock(ATLANTA) -- A Georgia doctor who has been accused by patients of recording music videos during surgeries without their consent has been suspended by the state's medical board. According to ABC News affiliate WSB-TV, the state board said the actions of Dr. Windell Boutte, a board-certified dermatologist, were "a threat to the public health, safety and welfare." Boutte defended the videos Thursday on HLN TV, saying they were made "under safe, controlled circumstances." "These videos are consented and it is pre-discussed with the patients," she said. "In these instances, these were all consented videos. They were staged. They were planned." She said that 98 percent of the videos had been shot during the postoperative period and the videos took 30 seconds to 60 seconds to tape, with her staff "monitoring everything" during the surgeries. In multiple videos obtained by ABC News, Boutte and her staff could be seen singing and dancing as she operates on patients. The videos were posted to YouTube but have since been deleted. As a physician in the state of Georgia, Boutte had been allowed to perform surgeries in her office-based setting. In an interview with WSB-TV recently, Latoyah Archine identified herself as one of the patients in the videos. "To see that video, with my flesh being cut without a straight line -- and [her] dancing while cutting me, that's horrible," Archine told WSB-TV. "I feel disrespected on a lot of levels. ... It never goes away." Archine said she'd retained a lawyer and intended to take legal action against Boutte for the video and the results of her surgery, which she said had left her "disfigured." Boutte is being sued by several patients who allege that their liposuctions and lifts went terribly wrong, according to WSB-TV. "She is still getting up and going to work every day and making a great deal of money and subjecting patients, who are none the wiser, to her unsafe practices," lawyer Susan Witt told WSB-TV regarding Boutte.. According to WSB-TV, the board said in its order of suspension that "(Boutte's) continued practice of medicine ... requires emergency action." During her HLN interview Thursday, Boutte said: "I've done the soul-searching and no, I've done nothing wrong." ABC News affiliate WSB-TV in Atlanta and WSB-TV investigative journalist Jim Strickland contributed to this story. Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- After announcing yet another commutation Wednesday, the White House signaled that President Donald Trump is contemplating issuing even more pardons in coming days, actions that, intended or not, are stirring fresh hope among some of those entangled in the special counsel investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. I hope he would consider it, said Simona Mangiante, who has been appearing on cable television this week to argue that the president should pardon her husband, George Papadopoulos, who was the first former Trump campaign aide to plead guilty in the special counsel case. I hope he will. I think its a legitimate expectation. Trump granted Wednesdays commutation to Alice Marie Johnson, a 63-year-old great-grandmother who has served almost 22 years in federal prison for a first-time criminal offense, a move that came after reality television star Kim Kardashian West pleaded her case in the Oval Office. A commutation is short of a full pardon, which would wipe clean her criminal record, but it allows Johnson to be released from prison. It was the latest in a series of clemency actions Trump has announced in recent weeks. White House officials would not identify others Trump is contemplating for clemency, saying only that he is mulling a number of names of candidates for full pardons as well as for commutations of sentences. The Office of the Pardon Attorney at the Department of Justice and the Deputy Attorney General are reviewing the applications in order to make recommendations to the president, an administration source told ABC News on Wednesday. Papadopoulos was arrested in July and pleaded guilty in October to lying to the FBI. He had served Trumps campaign as a volunteer foreign policy adviser. The Mueller team took interest in him after learning of conversations he had with a professor with substantial connections to the Russian government. Investigators said in court filings that the professor told the campaign foreign policy aide that Russia had dirt on Hillary Clinton in the form of thousands of emails. Others tied up in the Russia probe have also taken notice of Trumps use of his executive pardon power. Roger Stone, a longtime Trump friend and political ally who has expressed concerns that the Mueller team is investigating him, said he, too, believes the president is sending a message of hope with each clemency decision. "The pardon has symbolic as well legal importance and can serve as a check against biased or politically motivated prosecution such as that of Gen. [Michael] Flynn," Stone told ABC News. Earlier this week, Stone told the Washington Post, it has to be a signal to Mike Flynn and Paul Manafort and even Robert S. Mueller III: Indict people for crimes that dont pertain to Russian collusion and this is what could happen. A source close to Flynn who resigned from his post as Trumps National Security Advisor in February of 2017 and subsequently pleaded guilty to lying to investigators in the Special Counsel probe, told ABC News that his loyalists also have seen their hopes buoyed by the recent pardons. A pardon would be welcome and embraced, of course. But given the amount of apparent exculpatory evidence that has come to light since his plea deal, a full exoneration seems even more appropriate, the source close to Flynn told ABC News. Manafort, who served as Trumps campaign chairman, faces a range of charges on tax and financial crimes. He has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial. He could not be reached for comment on the potential for a pardon. Papadopoulos wife Mangiante, who has been speaking publicly since December, has been on something of a media blitz this week, including interviews with conservative media outlets known to be popular with the president. I trust and hope and ask to President Trump to pardon him, Mangiante said Monday night in an interview with Fox Newss Tucker Carlson. She told ABC News she believed her husband would be a strong candidate for presidential lenience even before Trump began issuing a series of pardons that has included Trumps decision last week to pardon conservative agitator Dinesh DSouza. Since the president took office, he has also issued pardons for former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, former vice presidential chief of staff Scooter Libby, and, posthumously, the legendary African American boxer Jack Johnson. He always had dedication to the Trump campaign, Mangiante said. I never heard him saying anything bad about him [Trump], ever. Last year, Mangiante told ABC News she believed her husband would ultimately prove to be a crucial witness for prosecutors as they sought to build a case that Russian agents colluded with the Trump campaign to try and influence the outcome of the 2016 election. Hes already on the right side of history, she told ABC Newss George Stephanopoulos. I think he will make a big difference. Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani told ABC News on Sunday he did not think anyone should read too much into the presidents pardons. These are so different than the cases hes involved in, he said. Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor and ABC News contributor, said he also thought it would be a stretch to read too much into Trumps pardon decisions. This is a president who's not a lawyer, who's never held executive position before. When he sees what he [believes to] be an injustice, he wants to fix it immediately. That's Donald Trump's personality, said Christie, a Republican who once advised Trump. Stone has not talked with Trump about his own circumstances. In recent weeks, investigators with the Special Counsels office have interviewed several of Stones former aides and contacts, asking about his knowledge of the Clinton emails believed to have been hacked by Russians. Stone has repeatedly voiced his innocence, but also expressed concern that Mueller is pursuing him. Stone told ABC News he has only had once communicated directly with Trump about pardons, and it had nothing to do with the Russia investigation. I wrote him a letter advocating a pardon for Marcus Garvey last year, he said. Otherwise we have never discussed it. Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Yes, the decision belongs on the local level No, no one should be able to dictate whether people wear masks Vote View Results Bailey McCann, Opalesque New York: As volatility has returned to the market, investors are looking for ways to hedge their positions. However, delegates at the recent Opalesque UK Roundtable note that hedging can be an expensive proposition and investors should be aware of the potential drawbacks. "We know that over history, the seller of protection tends has tended to be the one who comes out better when it comes to hedging," said Luke Ellis CEO of Man Group. "The reality is that buying tail protection, unless you're doing it for regulatory reasons, requires amazing timing." Ellis says that investors have been conditioned to ask for clever trades that can be used as hedges but they aren't willing to pay the premium for them. He argues that in many cases it is better for investors to just sell out of positions they are no longer comfortable with and work out the potential losses. The problem with hedges can be that if a given market scenario plays out even slightly different than what the hedge is prepared for, investor portfolios can take an unexpected hit. Andrew McCaffery, Global Head of Client-Driven & Multi-Manager Solutions at Aberdeen Standard Investments adds that often the desire for complex hedges arises out of short-term thinking. When investors are focused on managing short-term risk the cost of a hedge may seem acceptable on paper. But, if investors shift their thinking and game out how risk looks over longer time horizons they may find t...................... To view our full article Click here Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too. From Courage Foundation This month, it will be six years since Julian was forced to take refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy in London. He had been warned; the US Department of Justice was likely to file an application with Britain's Home Office for his extradition to the United States. The allegations against Julian and WikiLeaks in the US were subsequently declared secret by a US District Court judge, but it has since been confirmed that a grand jury in Virginia has concocted a number of possible "charges" against the WikiLeaks founder. The most likely of these is "espionage," which harks back to a long-defunct First World War law designed to punish conscientious objectors. Julian is not an American; neither has he "betrayed" any state. His "crime" has been free journalism and publishing, which are protected under the US Constitution, a document whose sanctity has apparently been jettisoned. WikiLeaks has done no more than the New York Times and the Washington Post in their celebrated past -- it has revealed the truth about rapacious wars and the machinations of a corrupt elite. In response to this truth-telling, a Cold War fantasy known as "Russiagate" has attempted to paint Julian -- and by extension all journalists -- as some "spies." What CNN and the rest of the media do not tell you is that the most senior of US intelligence have admitted under oath that their agencies have found not the slightest evidence to link Assange or WikiLeaks to Russia. Julian's status as a political refugee under the 1951 Convention has the backing of the United Nations, whose Working Party on Arbitrary Detentions has demanded an end to his persecution. The Working Party, one of the world's highest authorities on international law, conducted an investigation in which the British Government took part, and found unanimously in Julian's favour. The UN calls on Britain to honor its responsibilities under the Convention and give Julian right of passage out of the embassy. Although his health is suffering, Julian cannot go to a hospital for an X-ray as almost certainly he will be arrested. Since Easter, Julian's isolation has become extreme; according to Human Rights Watch, "His refuge in the embassy looks more and more like solitary confinement." He is denied basic communications; he is refused access to the phone and internet and visitors are forbidden. In forging a new, deferential relationship with the United States, President Lenin Moreno and the Ecuadorian government clearly aim to make life so difficult for Julian that he is silenced completely or he is forced to leave the embassy, into the waiting arms of the police. A US extradition application is likely to follow and Julian will be destined for the kind of penal hell-hole that Chelsea Manning endured. The former president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, whose government granted Julian political asylum, has condemned his treatment as "torture." We at Courage ask people to support vigils on June 19 -- at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, 6-8pm, info here, as well as the demonstration in Sydney, Australia on 17 June, at 1pm at Town Hall Square, info here. Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too. From The Guardian From easing the travel ban to humanitarian aid, there are many ways the US could show its commitment to progress By Medea Benjamin and Ann Wright Respect and reciprocity are key elements in Korean culture. During our recent trip to South Korea as part of an international women's peace delegation, South Korean women complained that Donald Trump's erratic conduct showed disrespect for the mediating role of their president, Moon Jae-in. They also commented on the lack of US reciprocity for North Korea's goodwill gesture of returning three imprisoned US citizens and blowing up three of the four tunnels and all the administrative buildings at the Punggye-ri nuclear testing area. Assuming the US-North Korea summit takes place and marks the start of a long negotiation process, President Trump will need to make gestures of goodwill and sincerity along the way. The lifting of sanctions that have been so devastating to the North Korean economy is a priority for the North, but the US administration has indicated it will not lift sanctions before significant progress has been made. In the interim, here are three easy but significant measures Trump could take to build trust. 2. Lift the travel ban. North Korea became the only country to which Americans are totally banned from traveling. The ban came in the aftermath of the tragic death of 22-year-old American student Otto Warmbier. Warmbier was arrested on 2 January, 2016 for allegedly stealing a propaganda poster and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. Seventeen months later, he returned home in a coma and died on 19 June 2017. The Trump administration then banned all US travel, with some waivers granted for reporters, humanitarian workers and those traveling "in the national interest." Previously, only about 1,000 Americans visited North Korea every year. Most were tourists but they also included between 200 and 500 Korean Americans who traveled for reunions with family members from whom they were separated during the Korean war. The new restrictions put an end to these family visits and tourism, and have also complicated the few ongoing exchanges that have kept the door to the United States open in this hermetic country, such as the agricultural assistance program that US Quakers started back in 1997. The ban prohibited our recent women's delegation, organized by Women Cross DMZ and the Nobel Women's Initiative, from traveling to North Korea to meet with women's groups, as we did in 2015. Trump should encourage visits by citizen diplomats, from farmers to athletes to birdwatchers (North Korea is a major migration route for millions of birds, including cranes and songbirds). Direct interactions with North Koreans help humanize the American people in a country that has been so isolated from the west. The administration should also lift the 2017 ban prohibiting North Koreans from entering the United States and renew academic exchanges that have been taking place since the 1990s in areas such as agriculture, medicine and economics. 3. Provide humanitarian support, especially in light of the devastating effect of sanctions on the economy. More than 10 million people, or 40% of the population, are believed to be in need of humanitarian assistance, and one-quarter of children are stunted due to malnutrition. UN-wide appeals for North Korea, while small in dollar amounts, are chronically underfunded. Only seven governments, led by Russia and Switzerland, contributed to the $113.5m requested by the UN Office of Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA) in 2017 and only 30% of the goal was reached. Of the tiny $16.5m 2018 Unicef request for North Korean children, a mere $6.7m has been raised from the international community. The United States stopped assistance to North Korea in 2009, with the exception of $900,000 provided in 2011 for flood victims. To show goodwill, the US government could easily kick in the $10m shortfall for Unicef, and -- for the cost of one B-52 bomber -- it could fund the entire 2018 OCHA request of $111m. Together, these funds would enhance food security, reduce malnutrition, and increase access to healthcare, water and sanitation services for one-fourth of the nation's 24 million people. Paying for life-saving programs would certainly be an inexpensive way to win hearts and minds. Considering that North Korea has blown up a nuclear facility and has returned three American prisoners, these easy-to-do measures would demonstrate a US commitment to dialogue and communication that could help smooth the way in what will undoubtedly be a very bumpy road ahead. Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too. See original here By Dartagnan, Community Well on his way towards making the U.S. a pariah among nations, Donald Trump reportedly told Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a heated phone exchange over trade policy that he believes Canada burned down the U.S. White House during the War of 1812: According to the sources, Trudeau pressed Trump on how he could justify the tariffs as a "national security" issue. In response, Trump quipped to Trudeau, "Didn't you guys burn down the White House?" referring to the War of 1812. For the benefit of the history-starved among us, they didn't: The problem with Trump's comments to Trudeau is that British troops burned down the White House during the War of 1812. Historians note the British attack on Washington was in retaliation for the American attack on York, Ontario, in territory that eventually became Canada, which was then a British colony. That Trump is more or less perceived by world leaders either as a cautionary tale of what can go wrong in a Democratic system, as a petulant toddler to be exploited for profit, or simply as an imbecile to be patiently waited out until he either leaves or is otherwise removed from office, has by now been amply established. Trump's actions in blaming Canada for the War of 1812 will simply cement that in the minds of everyone residing above our northern continental border. But it's particularly embarrassing to witness him making a fool of the United States on the 74th Anniversary of D-Day, in which Canadian troops were tasked with assaulting Juno beach, one of the five designated for the Normandy invasion that ultimately led to the defeat of Nazi Germany and the Axis powers in World War II. Canadians comprised 14,000 of the 150,000 troops deployed on D-Day. Considered along with the American assault on Utah beach to be one of the most strategically successful of the amphibious landings, the Canadian effort still came with a high cost: "Predictions of the casualties on Juno had been about 2,000 men, including 600 drowned. [164] [165] The 3rd Canadian Infantry Division suffered 340 men killed, 574 wounded and 47 taken prisoner. [166] The Queen's Own Rifles suffered 143 casualties the most of any battalion, the Royal Winnipegs 128, the North Shore 125 and the Regina Rifles 108. [167] Of the landing craft used on the run-in to Juno, 90 of 306 were lost or damaged. [168] Trump, who has never sacrificed anything for anyone in his pampered lifetime, might not understand this, but Canadians (who have, almost overnight, gone from our closest strategic ally to a "national security threat") surely will: "When asked if the comment was received as a joke, one source on the call said: 'To the degree one can ever take what is said as a joke. The impact on Canada and ultimately on workers in the US won't be a laughing matter.'" There has to be a finite number of times that countries who formerly respected the United States of America will tolerate an idiot like this at the helm before they choose to ignore us entirely on any geopolitical, strategic issue. That time may have already come to pass, in fact. The anniversary of what is arguably the most significant day in modern history ought to at least give pause to those who care to contemplate what those men were actually fighting and dying for on June 6, 1944. Was it this? I don't think so. Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too. By Edward Curtin The counterattack on those, including Senator Robert Kennedy's children, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend , claiming that Senator Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated as a result of a conspiracy involving at least a second gunman, has commenced. The Boston Globe, the traditional hometown newspaper of the Kennedy family, published a clearly misleading piece on May 31, 2018 by Nik DeCosta-Klipa, with the curiously long and loaded title "Bobby Kennedy's son thinks he was killed by a second shooter. Is there anything to it? Or has RFK, Jr. "launched a whole new generation of conspiracy nuts 50 years later." Whether DeCosta-Klipa was acting on orders from above to produce such a specious piece or is ignorant of the fundamental research in a case that shouts out conspiracy is a question I cannot answer, although based on his go-to "expert" in his article -- Daniel Moldea, whose contradictory disinformation on the case is well known to serious researchers -- I would guess the former to be correct. Let me begin with the title, which is marvelously propagandistic and sets the naive reader's mind on the intended trajectory. RFK Jr.'s recent claim in The Washington Post of a second shooter and his call therefore for a re-investigation (a redundancy since no genuine official investigation was done; it was a cover-up from the start) is followed by a question: Is there anything to it? This is followed by a headlined quote from Moldea, repeating the CIA created meme about conspiracy nuts: Or has RFK Jr "launched a whole new generation of conspiracy nuts 50 years later." A question mark for RFK, Jr., while Moldea is allowed an assertion in the title that is not followed by a question mark. Language is the key to effective propaganda, including punctuation. It is a very subtle art, at which our mainstream corporate media are adept. But if you think I am being picky, let me explain further DeCosta-Klipa begins by asserting that "conspiracy theories concerning President John F. Kennedy's death may be most widely circulated." Thus the reader is led into this article with the insinuation that of course Lee Harvey Oswald killed JFK and anyone who questions that is a conspiracy nut. So what about RFK's murder? As the night follows day, we meet conspiracy nuts here too, courtesy of DeCosta-Klipa who allows Moldea a free hand to spout nonsense. A person not familiar with the research done on this case by the great researcher Lisa Pease and others would assume that Moldea was the expert par excellence on RFK's assassination, when nothing could be further from the truth. James DiEugenio, Pease's colleague and an equally brilliant researcher, has surgically dismembered Moldea's work on the case. So why has DeCosta-Klipa shined the spotlight on Moldea and given him so much space? It is unlikely that he has read Moldea's 1995 book, The Killing of Robert F. Kennedy, a book about which DiEugenio rightly says: its "every major tenet is highly suspect, whose sourcing is not explicit, whose fairness is, to say the least, one-sided, whose completeness is just not there, whose use of witnesses-like Kaiser and McCowan-is rather lenient".it is a 'bookshelf' book that has no intellectual content or substance." He suggests it was commissioned by the government forces responsible for RFK's death and the ongoing cover-up. Moldea is allowed full leeway to rant: To claim absurdly that the LAPD messed up and was not involved in the sinister plot and cover-up. To rip Robert Kennedy Jr. with the words "What Bobby Kennedy Jr. has done, he's launched a whole new generation of conspiracy nuts who are going to believe that Sirhan didn't do it and somebody else did." To utter the word conspiracy and conspiracy nuts constantly and to have that word repeated throughout by DeCosta-Klipa, as if he were Moldea's echo. The word conspiracy is used nine times in a highly pejorative sense. (The conspiracy label was created by the CIA in 1967 to besmirch the name and reputation of anyone questioning the assassination of President Kennedy. CIA agents and assets throughout the mass media were encouraged to use it constantly. Of course they have.) To preposterously claim that all the eyewitnesses were wrong and that since the autopsy definitively showed Kennedy was shot from the rear at point blank range that he must have turned around so Sirhan, who was standing feet away to the front could shoot him in his back and head. To which, of course, DeCosta-Klipa has no reply, as if it weren't ridiculous. To falsely claim -- lie -- that Paul Schrade, an aide to the senator, who was walking behind him and was the first person shot, fell into RFK, pushing him toward Sirhan, when in fact Schrade fell backwards feet behind RFK. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too. From Robert Reich Blog The Trump administration's decision to alter the 2020 Census to ask people if they are American citizens is an unconstitutional power grab that would hurt many disadvantaged Americans. It must be stopped. The U.S. Constitution calls for "actual enumeration" of the total population for an explicit purpose: To count the residents -- not just citizens, residents -- of every state to properly allocate congressional representatives to the states based on population. Asking whether someone is a citizen could cause some immigrants -- not just non-citizens, but also those with family members or close friends who aren't citizens -- not to respond for fear that they or their loved ones would be deported. In the current climate of fear, this isn't an irrational response. The result would be a systemic undercounting of immigrant communities -- with two grossly unfair results. First, these communities and the states they're in would get less federal aide. Census data is used in over 132 programs nationwide to allocate over $675 billion each year. An undercount would deprive many immigrant communities and their states of the health care, education and assistance they need and are entitled to. Second, these communities and the states they're in would have fewer representatives in Congress. The Census count determines the distribution of congressional seats among states. Under the Constitution, these seats depend on the total number of people residing in the state, not just citizens. Which is the real reason for this move by the Trump administration. It's no secret that immigrants with the right to vote tend to vote for Democrats. So undercounting neighborhoods that are heavily Latino or Asian would mean fewer Democratic members of Congress. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross says the citizenship question is necessary in order to better enforce the Voting Rights Act. Baloney. The Trump administration has shown zero interest in the Voting Rights Act. It has even defended voter suppression laws in court. This is nothing but a Republican power grab orchestrated by the White House. Tell your members of Congress, it must be stopped. Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too. From Reader Supported News When the target is Hillary Clinton, what's wrong with abuse of power? In March, President Trump pardoned Kristian Saucier, convicted of breaching military security by taking and mishandling photos of the reactor room of the nuclear submarine he served on. In June, Kristian Saucier has decided to sue former president Barack Obama and former FBI director James Comey for violating his right to equal protection under the law. On its face it looks like a dark joke, but in the alternate reality it's news. Here's the basic story as reported by assorted media: Kevin Mark Saucier, now 31, is a native of Arlington, Vermont. He was born in 1986 and eventually enlisted in the Navy. From September 2007 to March 2012, Saucier was a machinist's mate on the nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Alexandria. His job included working on the submarine's nuclear propulsion system, a classified area where cameras and personal electronic devices were banned. Saucier was trained to be aware of the security limitations of his job. Photography was always banned in engine rooms. In 2009, for reasons that remain uncertain, Saucier took some number of cellphone photographs in the classified areas of his submarine. He did so on three separate occasions, each time taking two security-violating photographs (January 19 at 4 a.m., March 22 at 1:30 a.m., and July 15 at 12:47 p.m.). These photographs showed only equipment, not people. What, if anything, he did with the photographs before March 2012 remains uncertain. He maintains they were personal mementos. His former wife and his probation officer apparently said Saucier planned to share the photographs with "foreign agencies," but prosecutors did not bring that into the case. As the US Attorney in Connecticut put it: "SAUCIER had a Secret clearance and knew that the photos depicted classified material and that he was not authorized to take them. He retained these photographs and failed to deliver them to any officer or employee of the U.S. entitled to receive it." In March 2012, a supervisor at the Hampton, Connecticut, waste transfer station found what turned out to be Saucier's cellphone. In due course, the nuclear sub photos were discovered and reported to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and to the FBI. The FBI interviewed him, inquiring in particular about any of his other devices. Initially, Saucier denied taking the photographs. After his FBI interview, Saucier took a hammer to a camera, a memory card, and a laptop computer, hiding the parts in the woods near his grandfather's house in northern Vermont. On May 28, 2015, Saucier was arrested and charged with unlawful retention of national defense information and obstruction of justice. On May 27 a year later, Saucier pleaded guilty to one count of unauthorized possession and retention of national defense information. Before sentencing, Saucier's attorneys compared Saucier's case to Hillary Clinton's much-publicized use of a private email system for State Department business, a years-long offense for which the FBI declined to recommend prosecution. Saucier's attorneys argued that his offense was far less of a breach than Clinton's and that Saucier should get a comparable punishment. By then the Saucier-less-guilty-than-Clinton meme had gone viral in the right-wing mediasphere, and Donald Trump was using it on the campaign trail. On August 19, 2016, a federal judge sentenced Saucier to one year in prison, three years of supervised release with electronic monitoring, 100 hours of community service and fined him $100. The prosecution had asked for a six-year sentence. The maximum sentence could have been 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Trump in a stump speech said Saucier's picture-taking was "nothing by comparison to what she's done" (referring to Hillary Clinton). In Trump's view: "They took the kid who wanted some pictures of the submarine. That's an old submarine; they've got plenty of pictures, if the enemy wants them, they've got plenty of them. He wanted to take a couple of pictures. They put him in jail for a year." On October 4, 2016, in his debate with Senator Tim Kaine, vice presidential candidate Mike Pence brought the Saucier case obliquely into the conversation out of nowhere, in response to no question, as a way to attack Hillary Clinton. Two days later, Saucier's mother was on Fox News thanking Pence for raising the issue. On October 12, 2016, Saucier entered federal prison to start serving his one-year sentence. After the election, Saucier's attorney, Ronald Daigle, met in Trump Tower with Michael Flynn, who encouraged Saucier to file a formal pardon request. Once President Trump was in office, Saucier appealed to him to commute his sentence and grant him a pardon. Despite early denials, Saucier kept appealing. On September 6, 2017, Saucier was released from prison, having completed his one-year sentence. Saucier returned home to Vermont, re-joining his second wife and their daughter about to turn two. He said his cars had been repossessed and his home was in foreclosure. He expressed mixed feelings about Trump: "I saw him, while I was in prison, talking about my case on the news and he was very vocal about how what happened to me was wrong. Obviously it was kind of an emotional rollercoaster hearing all that stuff and then nothing happening... "I served my country for 11 years, I did two tours in the Middle East, and I would like to have my good name back, that's what's most important to me. Nothing can give me back the year I lost with my daughter and wife in prison, but a pardon would definitely restore my good name." On January 2, 2018, without referring to any pardon request, the President once again used Saucier to bash Hillary Clinton in a tweet: Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too. From WSWS The busiest primary day of the US congressional election season saw incumbent Democrats and Republicans winning renomination easily, while in contests for open congressional seats the Democratic Party continued its push to select first-time candidates drawn from the national-security apparatus. On the ballot Tuesday were the nominations for 85 congressional seats -- one-fifth of the US House of Representatives -- together with five state governorships and five US Senate seats. Of the five Senate seats, only one is thought competitive, in Montana, where incumbent two-term Democrat Jon Tester will face Republican State Auditor Matt Rosendale, who has the support of the national party, President Trump and most ultra-right groups. Trump carried Montana by a sizeable margin in 2016. Republican Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi won renomination and faces only a token Democratic opponent, while three Democratic incumbents, Robert Menendez of New Jersey, Martin Heinrich of New Mexico and Diane Feinstein of California, won their primaries Tuesday and are expected to win reelection easily. Among the five governorships where nominations were decided Tuesday, Republicans are heavily favored in Alabama and South Dakota and Democrats in California and New Mexico, with only Iowa considered a somewhat competitive race. Republican Kim Reynolds, the lieutenant governor who succeeded Terry Branstad after Trump appointed him US ambassador to China, will face millionaire businessman Fred Hubbell, who defeated a Bernie Sanders-backed candidate, nurses' union leader Cathy Glasson, to win the Democratic nomination. The most significant results on Tuesday came in the congressional contests, particularly in the 20 or so seats that are either open due to a retirement or closely contested, based on past results. Perhaps most revealing was the outcome in New Jersey, where the Democratic Party is seriously contesting all five Republican-held seats. The five Democratic candidates selected in Tuesday's primary include four whose background lies in the national-security apparatus and a fifth, State Senator Jeff Van Drew, who is a fiscal and cultural conservative. Van Drew opposed gay marriage in the state legislature and has good relations with the National Rifle Association. He is now the frontrunner for the Second Congressional District seat in southern New Jersey, which will be vacated by the retiring Republican Frank LoBiondo. The Democratic officeholder, who had the full backing of both the state and national party apparatus against three primary rivals, goes into the general election with a war chest of more than $600,000 compared to only $11,000 for Republican Seth Grossman, who narrowly won a four-way contest for his party's nomination. The four national-security candidates in New Jersey include: Third District: Andy Kim worked at the Pentagon and as a strategic adviser to general David Petraeus and John Allen while they were in command of US forces in Afghanistan. He then moved to the National Security Council at the White House, where he was President Obama's director for Iraq for two years. He has raised more money than the incumbent Republican, Tom MacArthur, although MacArthur is personally wealthy and will make up the deficit. The district covers the center of the state, including Burlington and Ocean counties. Fourth District: Joshua Welle is a graduate of the Naval Academy with 12 years on active duty (2003-2015) supporting combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as deployments to the Persian Gulf, Europe and the Far East. He also taught international relations at the Naval Academy, became the first Navy fellow at the Center for a New American Security, and was a term member at the Council on Foreign Relations. He then became a software consultant to the Pentagon. Welle faces an uphill race against 19-term Representative Christopher Smith in a mid-Jersey district centered on Monmouth County, which is the wealthiest in the state. Seventh District: Tom Malinowski, a former congressional aide and Clinton administration official, headed the Washington office of Human Rights Watch for 13 years before joining the Obama administration under Secretary of State John Kerry as assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor. He will challenge five-term incumbent Republican Leonard Lance in a district encompassing the southwest suburbs of the Greater New York metropolitan area. Eleventh District: Mikie Sherrill was a career Navy helicopter pilot, with 10 years active duty in Europe and the Middle East, who left the military to become a federal prosecutor. Sherrill has raised more than $2.5 million for her campaign, a massive sum for a first-time congressional candidate, and is now the favorite in a district in the western suburbs of Newark, where 12-term Republican Representative Rodney Freylingheusen retired rather than face a difficult reelection challenge. Sherrill has been singled out by Democratic Party leaders and the corporate media for promotion as a future political "star." The New York Times went so far as to publish an editorial endorsement before the primary, urging her selection as the Democratic Party nominee over four opponents, praising her "military background" and concluding that "we believe Ms. Sherrill is the strongest candidate, and endorse her with confidence." Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Quicklink Not Found Sometimes, authors delete their quicklinks after publishing them. To see if the quicklink was renamed or re-published, please click here. Progressive Content Not Found Sometimes, authors delete their progressive content after publishing. To see if the progressive content was renamed or re-published, please click here. Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too. Have you noticed how many times Donald and the mainstream media have reported, that Trump "wished he had picked someone other than Jeff Sessions for attorney general?" Have you noticed how many times Donald and the mainstream media have reported, that Trump "wished he had picked someone other than Jeff Sessions for attorney general?" Jeff Sessions - Caricature (Image by DonkeyHotey) Details DMCA Is it possible that no one in the media has read Fire and Fury? You will be surprised at who was to blame for Trump not appointing Rudy Giuliani, the only attorney general who would have shut down the Mueller investigation. Page 86 Fire and Fury Giuliani wanted to be the secretary of state, and Trump had in so many words offered him the job. The resistance to Giuliani from the Trump circle derived from the same reason Trump was inclined to give him the job--Giuliani had Trump's ear and wouldn't let go. The staff whispered about his health and stability. Even his full-on pussygate defense now started to seem like a liability. He was offered attorney general, Department of Homeland Security, and director of national intelligence, but he turned them all down, continuing to hold out for State. Or, in what staffers took to be the ultimate presumption, or grand triangulation, the Supreme Court. Since Trump could not put someone openly pro-choice on the court without both sundering his base and risking defeat of his nominee, then, of course, he'd have to give Giuliani State. When this strategy failed--Rex Tillerson got the secretary of state job--that should have been the end of it, but Trump kept returning to the idea of putting Giuliani on the court. Former Playboy model Karen McDougal has revealed the details surrounding her alleged affair with President Donald Trump, including how they never used condoms and that he once offered her money for sex. No fewer than 16 women have come forward to report being sexually harassed or assaulted by the president. What are the odds that having unprotected sex for years won't result in an STD? The office of Trump's longtime physician was raided on May 1 and all of Trump's medical files were removed. Dr. Bornstein told The New York Times that Mr. Trump took a drug to promote hair growth. I am wrong. Trump isn't going to resign or be impeached, he is going to the hospital. If he wasn't such a deplorable human being I might actually feel sorry for him. The Last 48 hours of the Trump scandal-ridden administration: Ill-advised conversations that could help build an obstruction of justice case against President Donald Trump. A secret meeting to establish a back channel between the US and Russia. A restraining order against a former porn star meant to keep her quiet about her alleged affair with Trump, the Eagles don't land and Bolton intentionally blew up the North Korea talks. And then there is Puerto Rico, children in cages, Scott Pruitt tried to use his office as leverage to get his wife a Chick-fil-A franchise, and finally a man wanted on warrant on a charge of attempted first-degree murder was taken into custody when he reported for work at the White House. And then there is the empty White house: "Since the President relied on many of his connections in the private sector and was reluctant to hire those who opposed him during the campaign, the absence of prior White House experience among the ranks of the senior staff was glaring. In addition, the insurgent-like features of the Trump campaign and the relatively small campaign staff limited the pool of experienced applicants. While it created new opportunities for many individuals who had not previously worked in the White House, such inexperience may have led to poor performance and a slew of first-year departures." Literacy Council of Northern Virginia to Honor Local Students, Volunteers and Community Partners at Annual Recognition Ceremony The Literacy Council of Northern Virginia (LCNV) will host its Annual Recognition Ceremony on June 21, 2018 from 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. at the James Lee Community Center Theater, 2855 Annandale Road, Falls Church, VA 22042. Three LCNV students will present their essays, based on the theme Learning English Improves My Life. Keynote remarks will be delivered by Aimee Cho, NBC4 Washington Reporter. LCNV cherishes the opportunity to celebrate our inspiring students, and show appreciation to the many volunteers, donors, instructors, and community partners who support them, says Roopal Mehta Saran, LCNVs Executive Director.Community Partnership Awards will be presented to three of LCNVs partners for their outstanding support of adult literacy: Cox Charities Fairfax County Office of Public Private Partnerships Korean Community Service Center of Greater WashingtonLCNVs Volunteers of the Year will be recognized for their exceptional commitment to LCNVs mission: Margaret Breen and Laura Schell Sally Eckard and Bruce Miller Douglas Kim LutzThe Ceremony will culminate with the inaugural presentation of the Patricia M. Donnelly Scholarship. A dessert reception will follow. Contact info@lcnv.org or call 703-237-0866 to RSVP.The Literacy Council of Northern Virginia (Parade magazines 2017 Outstanding Charity for Virginia) serves 1,500 adult learners annually with its mission to teach the basic skills of reading, writing, speaking, and understanding English so they can access employment and educational opportunities and more fully and equitably participate in the community. LCNV is one of only a few non-profit organizations in all of Northern Virginia that complies with federal education standards as it serves the most beginning-level adult learner.2855 Annandale RdFalls Church, VA 22042 Improving Student Success on Campus: $252,465 Grant Awarded To Kentucky Wesleyan College By Campus Consortium https://kwc.edu/ www.campusconsortium.org Campus Consortium, the largest global education association of schools, colleges and universities, awards Kentucky Wesleyan College (KWC) a $252,465 Grant to implement a mobile app for students and faculty. Kentucky Wesleyan College (KWC) is a private Methodist college in Owensboro, Kentucky. KWC offers 29 majors and 13 pre-professional curriculums with a student-to-faculty ratio of 12:1.Kentucky Wesleyan College strives to offer students an exceptional educational experience that will prepare them to achieve success in life. While our faculty and staff are dedicated to teaching the skills and mindset needed in todays ever evolving world, we continually seek ways to improve our campus, said Wesleyan President Bart Darrell. Access to relevant technology is a significant piece in helping us achieve our goal. We are confident collaborating with Campus Consortium and Unifyed, will bring us closer to our Colleges vision.The grant covers 100% of the mobile app software licensing costs associated with implementing a mobile app over five years and will enable Kentucky Wesleyan College to build their official mobile app through the technology provider Unifyed. The mobile app will consist of 14 basic applets like Campus News, Emergency Numbers, Campus Events, Social Media, Parking, Dinning etc. In addition, it will also feature Unifyed Applets for LMS, Academic and Unifyed Campus Bulletin Board, Whats Up.We pleased to award Kentucky Wesleyan College with the Mobile Campus Grant. Their drive and zeal towards enriching lives of students and adding value to it has been a tremendous source of inspiration. The app will help them make campus life more efficient and bring them closer to their goals, states Anjli Jain, Chairman of the Campus Consortium. We congratulate them on receiving the Campus Consortium Grant.To learn about and apply for a Campus Consortium Grant, please visit campusconsortium.org/grant-programsAbout Kentucky Wesleyan CollegeKentucky Wesleyan College was founded in 1858 by the Kentucky Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. It was originally located in Millersburg. Classes began in 1866 and the first commencement took place in 1868. At first, it was a training school for preachers but soon business and liberal arts classes were added to the curriculum. In 1890 the school was moved to Winchester and soon after women began to be admitted for the first time. In 1951, the school moved to its present location in Kentuckys fourth largest city, Owensboro.For more information, please visitCampus Consortium is a leading education association with more than 37,000 higher education institutions and K-12 school district members. The Campus Consortiums mission is to help members reduce the time, cost and effort associated with implementing enterprise IT services by leveraging shared IT services, lessons learned and best practices so that each member can avoid reinventing the wheel. For more information, please visit55 East Monroe StreetChicago, IL 60603 Automotive Software Market Growth, New Top Players, Global Trends, Regional Opportunities, Analysis and Forecast 2022 https://www.researchnreports.com/request_sample.php?id=177510 https://www.researchnreports.com/ask_for_discount.php?id=177510 https://www.researchnreports.com/enquiry_before_buying.php?id=177510 Research N Reports has added a new study on the characteristics of vast repositories. The latest report to be added to the constantly updated database, titled "Global Automotive Software Market Professional Survey Report 2018", explains the key factors and minor factors that have impacted the market. The report thus helps users identify areas within the market that are beneficial to establishing the next business strategy for expansion.Automotive software represents software (or embedded software or firmware) that is particularly relevant to a particular product or service in the automotive industry. If the auto industry is seen as an economy, it will become the world's sixth largest economy. Since the 1990s, software has become an integral part of the automotive industry. The cost of electric embedded systems accounts for about 25% to 30% of the total cost of automobiles. The cost is divided equally between electronic and software components. Advances in technology have led to an increase in the memory space of many microprocessors and cars. For example, in 2004, the Volkswagen Phaeton embedded electronic system consists of 10,000 electrical devices, 61 microprocessors, three controller area networks, and a multimedia bus. The integration of these systems requires software support. This is one of the reasons why the global automotive software market has been growing recently and may grow at a significant rate during the forecast period.The Global Automotive Software Market is subdivided by product type, vehicle type, application, and geographic location. Divided by product type, the market is divided into operating system, middleware and application software. The application software sector may account for the largest share of market share in 2016. The growing demand for infotainment and telematics services worldwide may be a key factor in the growth of market segments in the coming years. In terms of models, the market can be divided into passenger cars, commercial vehicles and electric vehicles. Due to the strong demand for global passenger vehicles, the passenger car market accounted for the largest share of the market in 2016. As every vehicle using software uses high functionality, the use of software in the field of electric vehicles is gaining momentum and the electric vehicle sector may grow significantly. Depending on the application, the market is divided into security systems, infotainment and telematics, power systems and chassis. In 2016, the security systems division accounted for the largest share of the global automotive software market. Due to the strict safety requirements for automobiles, the demand for safety performance of automobiles has increased, which may promote the development of this field.For sample copy of this report:This report studies the global Automotive Software market, analyzes and researches the Automotive Software development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia.This report focuses on the top players in global market, likeCDK Global, Cox Automotive, Reynolds and Reynolds, Dealertrack, Dominion Enterprises, Wipro Limited, Infomedia, TitleTec, Epicor, Auto-IT, MAM Software, Internet Brands, NEC, ARI, Auto/Mate, RouteOne, WHI Solutions, Yonyou, Shenzhen Lianyou, Kingdee, Qiming Information, Checking-On-Tech, Guangzhou Surpass, Shoujia SoftwareMarket segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEUJapanChinaIndiaSoutheast AsiaMarket segment by Type, Automotive Software can be split intoDealer Management SystemF&I SolutionElectronic Vehicle RegistrationInventory SolutionsDigital Marketing SolutionOtherMarket segment by Application, Automotive Software can be split intoManufacturer Retail StoreAutomotive DealerAutomotive Repair StoreAuto Part Wholesaler & AgentOtherAvail discount on this report:Reasons for Buying this ReportThis report provides pin-point analysis for changing competitive dynamicsIt provides a forward-looking perspective on different factors driving or restraining market growthIt provides a six-year forecast assessed on the basis of how the market is predicted to growIt helps in understanding the key product segments and their futureIt provides pin point analysis of changing competition dynamics and keeps you ahead of competitorsIt helps in making informed business decisions by having complete insights of market and by making in-depth analysis of market segmentsGet more Information:About USOur research will change the way you think about problems. We provide global consulting that can transform businesses and give you an experience of innovative solutions and outcomes.Research N Reports helps clients harness the power of innovation to thrive on change. We have successfully guided businesses throughout the world with our market research reports. We are uniquely positioned to lead digital transformations, thus creating greater value for clients by presenting growth opportunities in the global market.Our profound experience provides a clear and confident vision to help clients navigate the future. Research N Reports techniques encompasses both qualitative and quantitative modes to provide customized and highly flexible tailored research studies so that you get information that is just the best-fit to make informed strategic organizational decisions. Research N Reports helps clients decode the future to be more successful and innovative.U.S. Address10916, Gold Point, Dr,Houston, TX - 77064sales@researchnreports.com+1 888-631-6977 Ford Fund Awards $75,000 to VCCF To Help With Disaster Relief from Thomas Fire www.vccf.org The Ford Motor Company Fund recently granted $75,000 to the Ventura County Community Foundation Disaster Relief Fund to aid long-term Thomas Fire recovery efforts, and designated the funds to go to support two local organizations: Habitat for Humanity and the Ventura Boys & Girls Clubs.The mission of Ford Motor Company Fund is to strengthen communities and make peoples lives better, said Jim Vella, president, Ford Motor Company Fund. When wildfires or other disasters strike, Ford and other good neighbors step up and respond to help communities recover and rebuild.The Ford Motor Company Fund selected Habitat for Humanity of Ventura County to receive $50,000 for repairing and rebuilding disaster-damaged homes in the area. Habitat for Humanity of Ventura County appreciates the Ford Funds support for rebuilding efforts. As a nonprofit organization which has built 70 homes in Ventura County and repaired hundreds more, Habitat stands ready to support Ventura County residents with housing needs following the Thomas Fire, said Steve Dwyer, CEO of Habitat for Humanity of Ventura County.The remaining funds, $25,000 will be awarded to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Ventura for a teen leadership program that will focus on disaster relief efforts and leadership opportunities, giving the teens training in volunteering and how to be involved in the community. The Thomas Fire has had both devastating and unifying effects for our community. Although the families that we serve were affected by the fire, there was a greater effect on the community members who regularly give financial support to charities like ours. We were so grateful the Ford Fund reached out to us and asked how they could assist not only our organization, but to also give relief to our community, said Patricia Birmingham, Ventura Boys & Girls Club CEO.VCCF CEO Vanessa Bechtel said, We are thrilled by the Ford Motor Company Funds incredible support to our community during this recovery period. We appreciate Fords commitment to the post-disaster rebuilding efforts and vision for supporting teen leadership skills.Since the December 4 start of the Thomas Fire, VCCF has secured more than $1.7 million in contributions for support of relief and recovery efforts and has made grants totaling $1.5 million to nonprofit organizations engaged in front-line relief efforts. Currently, VCCF holds approximately $1 million dedicated for mid- to long-term relief strategies in its Community Disaster Fund.About VCCFVCCF invests the charitable capital that drives the philanthropic engines of Ventura County. The foundation was established in 1987 and endeavors to build philanthropy in the region and to give generously for the well-being of all in Ventura County. VCCF invests in the future through scholarships, grant making and collaborative partnerships. For more information or to donate, visitAbout the Ford Motor Company FundSince we began our operations in 1949, we have invested nearly $1.5 billion in civic organizations around the world to help drive a brighter future. We focus our efforts on three key areas:-Community LifeCommunity Life programs range from hunger relief to health care to support of cultural activities. Many of these programs are done in partnership with local Ford dealers using an innovative approach we call Operation Better World.-EducationWe also invest about one third of our funds in support of education, including scholarships that help deserving students attain higher education and programs that help schools offer students new approaches to learning.-SafetyOur international, award-winning Ford Driving Skills for Life program is the cornerstone of our safety efforts.Ventura County Community Foundation4001 Mission Oaks Blvd. Camarillo, CA 93012Vanessa Bechtel, President and CEO(805) 330-6676vbechtel@vccf.org New Research Report on Solid State Transformers (SST) Market- Global Forecast, Market Overview, Manufacturing Cost Analysis, Marketing Strategy Analysis and Key Players http://qyreports.com/request-sample?report-id=80936 http://qyreports.com/ask-for-discount?report-id=80936 http://qyreports.com/enquiry-before-buying?report-id=80936 www.qyreports.com The Global Solid State Transformers Market to Grow steadily at a CAGR of +46% during the forecast period.A major infiltration of renewable energy generation into the existing generation mix within the next few years is likely to trigger the solid-state transformers (SST) market. These transformers, composed of mainly power electronics-based components can also be referred to as a type of power device. These devices are extremely effective in regulating the magnitude of voltage, current or frequency according to the application wise requirements. New technology proliferation in power electronics has significantly reduced the size of these transformers hence making them more flexible for customer use.The report provides a thorough overview of the current growth engines of the Global Solid State Transformers (SST) Market, thanks to vast market data that includes all important aspects and market segments. This report provides a bird's-eye view of past and current trends as well as factors that are expected to drive or hamper market prospects for the Solid-State Transformers market in the near future.Get a Sample Copy for this Report @:Companies Profiled in this report includes, ABB, Siemens, Alstom, Schneider Electric, Avago Technologies, Bombardier, Cooper Power Systems, SPX Transformers, GE, Duke Energy, and among others.The key drivers of market growth are the trend toward migration from existing transformers to advanced solid-state transformers or smart transformers and the expansion of traction locomotives in emerging economies. Alternative power generation sources such as wind and solar will also complement the growth of the solid transformer market. Solid state transformer technology will grow at a remarkable pace due to the benefits associated with conventional transformers such as compact size, efficiency, AC-to-DC conversion, bidirectional power flow and others. Moreover, the implementation of SST will bring about changes in the way utility power is distributed, so SST will be an integral part of future smart grids.This report provides a detailed and analytical view of the diverse Companies working to achieve a high share of the global solid-state transformer (SST) market. To this end, the report includes a section dedicated to company profiles. Profiling of key competitors is done to determine the current competitive scenario. Competitive landscape is evaluated by considering several important factors such as business growth, recent development, and product pipeline.Get Best Discount on This Report @:Technical data and manufacturing plant analyzes are provided in the report, including key suppliers of the global solid-state transformer (SST) market, R & D status, commercial production, technology sources and capacity. The report also provides readers with detailed information on key raw materials, product cost structure, supply, downstream customer surveys, key distributors, policies, mergers, acquisitions and other alliances.Analysis of these factors was allowed to define the future growth prospects of the global solid-state transformer market. This research report provides insights into innovations, opportunities and new developments in solid state transformers and related industries. Includes market trends and dynamics at the regional level for a given forecast period.For More Information @:Table of ContentsGlobal Solid State Transformers (SST) Market Research Report 2018Chapter 1 Global Solid State Transformers (SST) Market OverviewChapter 2 Global Economic Impact on IndustryChapter 3 Global Market Competition by ManufacturersChapter 4 Global Production, Revenue (Value) by RegionChapter 5 Global Supply (Production), Consumption, ExportChapter 6 Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter 7 Market Analysis by ApplicationChapter 8 Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter 9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter 10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter 11 Market Effect Factors AnalysisChapter 12 Market ForecastAbout QYReports:We at, QYReports , a leading market research report publisher accommodate more than 4,000 celebrated clients worldwide putting them at advantage in todays competitive world with our understanding of research. Our list of customers include prestigious Chinese companies, multinational companies, SME's and private equity firms whom we have helped grow and sustain with our fact-based research. Our business study covers a market size of over 30 industries offering unfailing insights into analysis to reimagine your business. We specialize in forecasts needed for investing in a new project, to revolutionize your business, to become more customer centric and improve the quality of output.Contact:QYReportsJones John(Sales Manager)+91-9764607607sales@qyreports.com Office Cleaning Done Right Every Time http://www.allenmaintenancejanitorial.com http://www.allenmaintenancejanitorial.blogspot.com Summer months are filled with germs and bacteria that eventually impact the health of your work environment. The very reason why your business should leave the commercial cleaning needs to experts.Allen Maintenance Corporation provides the best in quality building maintenance and commercial cleaning. In fact, for more than 30-years, this Lincoln Park, Michigan business has provided local Detroit area businesses, expert cleaning services, many have grown to rely on.After all, Allen Maintenance Corporation provides effective removal of dirt from wall fixtures, i.e. light plugs; door knobs, windows, and counter tops. Additional services include removal of trash, sweeping, vacuuming, and mopping floors, as well as offering specialty services upon request.Allen Maintenance Corporation holds an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau and maintains their membership with the ISSA-Worldwide Cleaning Association.So, when you seek to make a serious impact on the way, your business is cleaned; contact Allen Maintenance Corporation. Office hours are Monday-Friday 9am-3pm. Call Allen Maintenance Corporation today at 313-383-4840.Be sure to log online to their Web site at:Or, connect via their Blog at:Allen Maintenance Corporation has been rendering quality commercial cleaning and building maintenance services throughout the Metro Detroit area for more than 30-years.4224 Dix Toledo Hwy.Lincoln Park, MI 48146 Detergent Viral Inactivation Product 2018 Global Industry Key Players - Clean Cells , Danaher Corporation, Merck KGaA, Parker Hannifin Market Analysis And Forecast To 2025 Global Detergent Viral Inactivation Product Market https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/2750129-global-detergent-viral-inactivation-product-market-research-report-2018 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/2750129-global-detergent-viral-inactivation-product-market-research-report-2018 Global Detergent Viral Inactivation Product MarketThis report studies the global Detergent Viral Inactivation Product market status and forecast, categorizes the global Detergent Viral Inactivation Product 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 reportClean Cells (France)Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (U.S.)Danaher Corporation (U.S.)Merck KGaA (Germany)Parker Hannifin (U.S.)Rad Source Technologies (U.S.)Sartorius AG (Germany)SGS S.A. (Switzerland)Texcell, Inc. (France)Viral Inactivated Plasma Systems SA (Switzerland)WuXi PharmaTech (Cayman) Inc. (China)Geographically, 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 intoKits and ReagentsServicesViral Inactivation Systems and AccessoriesOn 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, includingBlood & Blood ProductsCellular & Gene Therapy ProductsStem Cell ProductsTissue & Tissue ProductsVaccines and TherapeuticsThe study objectives of this report are:To analyze and study the global Detergent Viral Inactivation Product capacity, production, value, consumption, status (2013-2017) and forecast (2018-2025);Focuses on the key Detergent Viral Inactivation Product 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 Detergent Viral Inactivation Product 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 StakeholdersDetergent Viral Inactivation Product ManufacturersDetergent Viral Inactivation Product Distributors/Traders/WholesalersDetergent Viral Inactivation Product 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 Detergent Viral Inactivation Product market, by end-use.Detailed analysis and profiles of additional market players.Table of Contents-Key Points CoveredGlobal Detergent Viral Inactivation Product Market Research Report 20181 Detergent Viral Inactivation Product Market Overview7 Global Detergent Viral Inactivation Product Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 Clean Cells (France)7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.1.2 Detergent Viral Inactivation Product Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Product A7.1.2.2 Product B7.1.3 Clean Cells (France) Detergent Viral Inactivation Product Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (U.S.)7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.2.2 Detergent Viral Inactivation Product Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Product A7.2.2.2 Product B7.2.3 Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (U.S.) Detergent Viral Inactivation Product Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 Danaher Corporation (U.S.)7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.3.2 Detergent Viral Inactivation Product Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Product A7.3.2.2 Product B7.3.3 Danaher Corporation (U.S.) Detergent Viral Inactivation Product Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.3.4 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 Flex Class External Shareholders To Float PE Fund Headed By Rahul Kumar Rahul Kumar To Head $140 Mn PE Fund www.flexclass.org Flex Class Holdings is all set to sell 65% equity to a undisclosed private equity company, the negotiations are on and the deal is well kept under the wraps, all waiting to be announced in the last week of June. The founders are constantly traveling between Dubai and New York to seal the deal in the best interest of all stakeholders.Flex Class earlier wanted to sell 48% equity, but few external shareholders have joined the bandwagon to dispose off their equity too which elevated the number to 65%.This deal has though made the founders of Flex Class exit at an economical valuation of $1 billion or Rs 6,700 crore after seeing an astronomical valuation of $41 billion or Rs 274,000 crore on the OTC Premarkets but there are few people who will still be very rich post this deal is consummated.The shareholders who owns 14% equity in Flex Class Holdings is all set to garner $140 million or Rs 938 crore all of which will be moved to Seychelles based private equity fund which has plans to deploy these funds in the Indian startups.The fund will be headed by Rahul Kumar and his key partner.At a valuation of $41 billion these shares could have been worth $5.65 billion or Rs 38,000 crore but are now worth under $150 million or Rs 1,000 crore.The 14% shareholders have no intent to remain shareholders in the new company for a long term and will eventually sell all their holdings to fund the planned private equity fund structure.The acquirer will take the holding company public to raise funds and provide working capital for the business.The founders of Flex Class Holdings are making sure that the deal goes through as it is the only chance for the company to attain revival.Flex Class has plans to launch online education market place and will launch courses with up-to 95% instant cash back. The company is in talks with leading content developers. The company plans to achieve $1 billion or Rs 6,700 crore in revenues from around $180 million or Rs 1,206 crore yearly revenue.Flex Class will launch Diploma based courses in India and Bangladesh which will open for 2 million students initially.A pioneer in online education for professionals, we create course programs, exams, and lab projects that help professionals across the world successfully prepare for and complete certification exams with ease. Our unique blended model of training brings together the best of self-learning and online training, making for a successful learning experience.We strive to constantly improve our learning frameworks to make them more user-friendly. Our courses are upgraded continuously to ensure our learners are up-to-date on the latest industry requirements and best practices.We assist our learners in applying for the certification exam of their choice, and our vibrant community of experts and certified professionals is a powerful resource pool of tips, tricks, and insightful advice.Flex Class IndiaPostal Address: Statesman House Connaught Place New Delhi - 110001IndiaPress Contact: Thomas MuellerEmail: help@flexclass.orgWeb: Stationary Catalytic Systems Market rapid Industrialization of 2025 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=731 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=731 https://www.tmrresearch.com/stationary-catalytic-systems-market Stationary Catalytic Systems Market: SnapshotThe players operating in the global stationary catalytic systems market are anticipated to leverage on the heightened demand for steel. Moreover, players will also bank on the increased purchasing power of the construction and automotive industries. In the forecast period from 2017 to 2025, metal, petrochemicals, and chemical applications are predicted to gain great focus. This is especially true for emerging economies as these countries are witnessing a surge in the construction and infrastructure activities over the past few years, and shall continue to do so. The growing demand for oxidation catalysts for annihilating carbon emissions, volatile organic compounds, and formaldehyde from gas turbine power generators is expected to push the growth of the global stationary catalytic systems market during the forecast period.Request Sample Copy of the Report @The rise in industrialization is another major reason behind the growth of this market. In addition to this, the high requirement for power and the rapid increase in population will also drive the growth prospects of the global stationary catalytic systems market in the years to come. Power is in high demand from the commercial, residential, as well as the industrial sector and is expected to accelerate the growth of the stationary catalytic systems market.Stationary catalytic systems find applications in manufacturing, refining, cement, and food sectors, among others. The growth in the food, cement, or manufacturing industry is therefore, directly aiding the global stationary catalytic systems market. Growing infrastructure developments in emerging economies will propel the petrochemicals and chemicals sector in the coming years.Global Stationary Catalytic Systems Market: Inclusive InsightsStationary catalytic systems help in reducing the harmful emissions such as hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides from power-plants as well as petro-chemical and other manufacturing industries. Besides destroying carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons with oxidation catalysts, these stationary catalytic systems can also capture fine particulate matter and are are built to withstand high operating temperatures or thermal shock. With the growing environmental concerns across the world, global stationary systems market is projected for a healthy growth rate during the forecast period of 2017 to 2025.Request TOC of the Report @This report on global market for stationary systems market is a comprehensive analysis of all the factors that are expected to impact the growth rate over the course of next few years, and presents estimations of the future scenario. Considering stringent guidelines set by several governments as a primary factor of this market, the report highlights some of the important regulations in place in various countries. One of the key feature of this report is the section on company profiles wherein some of the key players in this market have been analyzed for their market share, regional outreach, product portfolio, and recent strategic developments. The global stationary catalytic systems market can be segmented on the basis of technology into selective catalytic reduction and catalytic oxidation, and on the basis of application into power plants, chemical and petrochemicals, cement, and metal.Global Stationary Catalytic Systems Market: Drivers, Restraints, and OpportunitiesRegulations pertaining to GHG emission, which are getting stricter every passing year due to growing environmental concerns, is the primary driver for the market. For instance, in the U.S., regulations such as National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) is in place for industries to follow in order to reduce industrial pollutant emissions. Coal fired boiler replacement program in China is another recent development that will positively reflect on global stationary catalytic systems market. China, a country with vast population and landscapes, retrofitted 400,000 MW of existing coal-fired boilers with selective catalytic reduction in 2012. With an average life of 3 to 5 years, the country-wide market of china is expected to generate fresh demand for stationary catalytic systems during the forecast period. Some of the other factors complementing the growth rate are expanding adoption of oxidation catalysts to control pollutant emission from gas turbine power generators, varied application of catalytic incineration process at refining, chemical, metal, and food and beverage industry in Asia Pacific, escalating demand for electricity with growing population, and rapid industrialization.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @The report detects that selective catalytic reduction segment has the maximum demand in terms of product segment while application-wise, power plant stationary catalytic systems dominate owing to electricity demand from the commercial, industrial, and residential sector.Global Stationary Catalytic Systems Market: Regional OverviewCountry-wide markets of China and India make Asia Pacific the most lucrative region, and with growing number of power plants, the region is anticipated to remain highly profitable through-out the forecast period. Government of India has set aside a budget of US$44 bn for the development of 35,000 km road across the country, which will augment the demand for stationary catalytic systems. France generates maximum demand from Europe market while Canada dominates North America market. Canadian government has pledged an investment of US$11.9 bn for the improvements of social infrastructure that is in sync with environment.Companies mentioned in the reportDCL International Inc., Johnson Matthey, BASF, CORMETECH, Amec Foster Wheeler, Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, MECA, APC technologies, Ducon Technologies, Air Clean LLC, and Hamon Corporation are some of the prominent names in global stationary catalytic systems market.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 Modified Atmospheric Packaging Market Through 2023 Rising at 5.3% CAGR with Linde AG, CVP Systems, Berry Plastics, Hayssen Flexible Systems, Sealed Air, Bemis, Coveris Holdings https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/2534 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/modified-atmospheric-packaging-market-2534 Global Modified Atmospheric Packaging Market: By Materials (Polyvinyl Chloride, Ethylene Vinyl Alcohol, Polyethylene Terephthalate, Polypropylene And Polyethylene), Gases (Nitrogen, Oxygen, Carbon Dioxide, And Others), Application And Region 2023Market Scenario:Modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) extend the shelf life of fresh food products. This technology replaces the atmospheric air inside a package with a protective gas mix. This gas helps to ensure that the product stay fresh as long as possible. The modified atmosphere allows fresh and minimally processed packed food products to maintain the visual, textural, and nutritional appeal. The modified atmospheric packaging market is growing at a rapid pace and is likely to continue growing at the same pace over the forecast period. According to the MRFR analysis, the global modified atmospheric packaging market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 5.3% during the estimated period (2017-2023).Get Sample Report @On the basis of the regions, the global modified atmospheric packaging market has been segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World (RoW). North America leads the global modified atmospheric packaging market. Increasing demand for wrapped food in this region is lashing the growth of the market. The U.S. holds the largest market share in the North American region. Increasing concern about the hygienic packaging also increases the demand for modified atmosphere packaging as it reduces contamination during handling. Additionally, implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act by the government also has a positive influence on the growth of the market.Europe is accounted for the second largest share of the global modified atmospheric packaging market and is expected to contribute significantly to the market growth during the forecast period. Germany is one of the top meat producers in EU. It also leads the European market in the production and export of pork and taking the second place for beef with a production share of 15%. This has increased the need for proper packaging of meat, which drive the growth of the modified atmospheric packaging market.Asia Pacific region is anticipated to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period due to the rapid growth in the packaging business in Asia Pacific region. Growing urban population and high disposable income further increase the demand for packaged food and beverages. These are some of the factors pouring the demand of the market in the Asia Pacific region. China, Japan, India, Australia, and Indonesia are the major contributor to Asia Pacific market. China accounts for the largest share of the regional market due to rapid growth in the urbanization and industrial development.Global modified atmospheric packaging market has been segmented based on material, gases, application, and region. On the basis of the material, the market has been segmented into the Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), Ethylene Vinyl Alcohol, Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), Polypropylene (PP) and Polyethylene (PE). Ethylene Vinyl alcohol had accounted for the largest share in the material segment of the global modified atmospheric packaging market. Ethylene vinyl alcohol material offers excellent gas barrier properties while retaining good processability. EVOH keeps oxygen out and retains nitrogen and carbon dioxide used in the modified atmosphere packaging (MAP). This material also has a very high resistance to oils and preserves taste and aroma. These are some of the factors that leads EVOH in the modified atmosphere packaging market. Polyethylene is also the most common plastic material used in day to day life. Polyethylene is accepted as safe for contact with foods by FDA and health safety agencies around the world. This material is expected to contribute significantly during the forecast period.On the basis of applications, the global modified atmospheric packaging market is segmented into dairy products, bakery & confectionery, convenience food, fruits & vegetables, and others. Bakery & confectionery accounts for the largest share of application segment in the global modified atmospheric packaging market. Bakery products contain a large number of bread-based products. To increase the shelf life, bread-based products required a high proportion of carbon dioxide in packaging solutions. Hence, this will increase the adoption of this technology during the estimated period.On the basis of the gases, the market has been segmented into nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and others. CO2 is the most important gas in the food packaging under modified atmospheres. Higher the concentration of CO2 longer the durability of the perishable food. Hence, carbon dioxide is expected to contribute significantly during the forecast period.Global modified atmospheric packaging market is highly competitive due to the presence of numerous large and small players in the market. For instance, in May 2015, Johnson Matthey has announced that it acquired the StePac Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) business from DS Smith for around USD 25 million. (18 Million Pounds).The global modified atmospheric packaging market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.3% during the forecast period.The prominent players in the Modified Atmospheric Packaging market include Linde AG (Germany), CVP Systems Inc. (U.S.), Total Packaging Solutions, LLC (U.S.), Berry Plastics Corporation (U.S.), Hayssen Flexible Systems (U.S.), Dansensor A/S (Demark), Praxair Inc. (U.S), Ilapak Packaging Machinery (Switzerland), Sealed Air Corporation (U.S.), Bemis Company Inc. (U.S), Coveris Holdings S.A. (Luxembourg), Linpac Packaging Limited (U.K.), Amcor Limited (Australia), Winpak Ltd. (Canada), and Robert Reiser & Co., Inc. (U.S).Browse Complete Report@The report for Global Modified Atmospheric Packaging Market of Market Research Future comprises extensive primary research findings along with the detailed analysis of qualitative as well as quantitative aspects by various industry experts, key opinion leaders to gain deeper insight into the market and industry performance. The report gives a clear picture of current market scenario, which includes historical and projected market size in terms of value, technological advancement, macro economic and governing factors in the market. The report provides detailed 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.Table Of contents :1 Executive Summary2 Research Methodology2.1 Scope Of The Study2.1.1 Definition2.1.2 Research Objective2.1.3 Assumptions2.1.4 Limitations2.2 Research Process2.2.1 Primary Research2.2.2 Secondary Research2.3 Market Size Estimation2.4 Forecast Model3 Market Dynamics3.1 Market Drivers3.2 Market Inhibitors3.3 Supply/Value Chain Analysis3.4 Porters Five Forces Analysis4 Global Modified Atmospheric Packaging Market, By Materials5 Global Modified Atmospheric Packaging Market, By Gases6 Global Modified Atmospheric Packaging Market, By Application7 Regional Market Analysis8 Competitive AnalysisContinues,..Ask 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 Intelligent Vending Machine Market Forecasting new business models 2025 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=3419 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=3419 https://www.tmrresearch.com/intelligent-vending-machine-market Global Intelligent Vending Machine Market: OverviewThe global intelligent vending machine market is envisaged to gather pace for its growth on the back of the rise in the penetration of IoT and connected devices. In order to offer more engaging and interacting customer experience, traditional vending machines are being transformed into intelligent systems with the facilitation of technological breakthroughs. Market growth is anticipated to further increase as it rides on augmenting focus on cashless payment systems and the advent of m-commerce. Between 2017 and 2025, it could be largely favored due to the acceptance of near-field communications (NFC), cashless, and m-commerce-based transactions.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Intelligent vending machine is expected to magnify its demand with growing adoption of novel techniques such as face and voice recognition in dispensing systems owing to the rise of technological advancements. Such techniques help to suggest products based on the gender and age of customers.Global Intelligent Vending Machine Market: Trends and OpportunitiesUse of data and cloud analytics with the help of latest dispensing systems allows operators and brands to improve their efficiency and put brakes on unnecessary operational costs. These systems are usually provided with sophisticated features that help to give customers a more interactive, personal, and fun-filled experience. While this could push the market for intelligent vending machine, rising volume of traffic at public places and fast urbanization are projected to take higher spots in the list of leading market growth factors.Today, vending machine has become smarter with the use of big data analytics to help vendors better understand consumer behavior and preference. With its real-time inventory tracking, intelligent vending machine is able to save a considerable amount of time for end users. Such type of analysis helps vendors in designing appropriate, safe, and secure product variety. Increasing installation of interactive dispensing systems could also bode well for the world intelligent vending machine market.Request TOC of the Report @Global Intelligent Vending Machine Market: Market PotentialAn updated edition of Aaeons Intelligent Vending Development Kit was released in April, 2018. As per the company, its clients will be offered a couple of editions of the Kit, where both of them are provided with a pre-installed, customer-friendly API and the Windows 10 IoT Enterprise OS. The updated edition also includes Power BI and Microsoft Azure services, where the latter collates information about the mood, age range, and gender of every buyer and each product sold, which is then broken down by the formers data analytics tools.Global Intelligent Vending Machine Market: Regional OutlookAmong most leading regions where the international intelligent vending machine market could become prominent, North America is predicted to take a commanding position due to the impressive rise of the U.S. Promising energy conservation policies observed in the country could augur well for the North America market. Furthermore, swelling adoption of self-service technology and introduction of new business models are forecasted to propel growth in the regional market. Vending machines equipped with credit card and cashless systems and snowballing demand for healthy vending foods in the U.S. could catapult the region for the next few years.Asia Pacifics faster growth could be expected in the coming years as it cashes in on climbing preference for efficient and quick self-service retail checkout in the region. Consumerization trends, growing acceptance of convenience foods as a result of changing food habits, strong retail infrastructure development, rising urban population, expanding base of affluent young population, and developing economies are also envisioned to help the region to make its presence known in the international intelligent vending machine market.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Global Intelligent Vending Machine Market: Competitive LandscapeThe international intelligent vending machine market is marked by the presence of leading industry names such as Bianchi Vending Group S.p.A, Jofemar, Advantech Co. Ltd., Royal Vendors, and Crane Co. One of the scenarios observed in the competitive landscape suggests increasing interest of beverage manufacturers to collaborate with market players with a view to focus on customer satisfaction and retention.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 CFRTP Market manufacturing process analysis of 2025 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=746 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=746 https://www.tmrresearch.com/cfrtp-market Global CFRTP Market: SnapshotThermoplastic composites or CFRTP are generally based on resins that are made of polycarbonate and are the growing substitute of metal and different solutions of plastic composites. Various types of continuous fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites or CFRTP are being designed and developed by leading companies with features such as lightweight and thin in size that will help in advancing the solutions for the automotive, consumer goods, transportation, and IT markets. They can be flame-retardant materials as well with impeccable power and dimensional stability. These fiber reinforced thermoplastics are also formable freely, recyclable, and can be processed easily as well. Further these novel materials also present excellent surfaces, thus enabling all kinds of paintings and coatings.The growth of the global CFRTP market is expected to be supplemented by the popularity of the material in the aerospace and automotive sectors due to the peculiar properties such as strength, smoke and toxicity, better fire, and lower weight. Rising need for lightweight materials from different end users such as marine, construction, and wind turbines. As the fuel efficiency of any vehicle depends on its kerb weight, the fact that employing CFRTP makes vehicles lighter is expected to bode well for the growth of the market in the coming years. As aircraft manufacturers are looking forward to lower the weight of aircrafts and increase their efficiency, the use CFRTP here is expected to increase its demand in the coming years, thus benefitting the market in return.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Global CFRTP Market: OverviewThe global CFRTP market is projected to grow at a robust pace between 2017 and 2025. The market will considerably gain from the increasing demand for fuel-efficient vehicles. Besides this, the rising use of CFRTP in aerospace application will also aid the markets expansion. With significant technological advancements on cards, experts also project a promising future for the global CFRTP market.The report provides a holistic market overview, covering the factors encouraging growth and those creating obstacles. Both existing and potential challenges are highlighted and discussed with in detail. Besides this the report also identifies opportunities for the market players to gain from in the coming years. The impact of Porters five forces on the global CFRTP market is also studied. This is intended to gauge the degree of competition, threat from substitute, and the bargaining power of buyers and suppliers alike.Global CFRTP Market: Drivers and RestraintsCurrently, the global CFRTP market is gaining from the increasing demand for fuel-efficient vehicles, besides the rising use of CFRTPs in aerospace applications. In addition, flexibility offered by CFRTPs in the production of complex designs and shapes is also aiding the markets expansion around the world. In the coming years, technological advancements enabling mass production of CFRTP will propel the markets growth further.Request TOC of the Report @A CFRTP comes with properties such as lightweight, resistance against chemicals, and dimensional stability. Furthermore it is very to construct and provides operational stability even at very high temperatures compared to conventional materials such as metallic alloys and thermoset composites. It is due to its superior properties that CFRTP finds extensive application across the aerospace industry.On the downside, high raw material and production costs could hamper the market to an extent. Nevertheless, manufacturers are hopeful of overcoming this challenge by introducing several technological advancements in the coming years.Global CFRTP Market: Key Market SegmentsAmong the various types of CFRTP available in the market, the continuous carbon fiber segment is expected to witness more lucrative opportunities. The use of continuous carbon fiber in diverse applications across automotive, consumer durables, and aerospace industries is expected to give significant impetus to the segment. Also the continuous fiber segment is expected to continue raking high profit for the market both in terms of volume and value due to its higher strength compared to short and long carbon fibers. Automotive, aerospace, and consumer durables are a few of the key end users of CFRTP. Among these the market is currently witnessing the most lucrative opportunities in the aerospace segment.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Global CFRTP Market: Regional OutlookRegionally, North America has been exhibiting lucrative opportunities for the global CFRTP market. The region boasts a sophisticated industrial infrastructure, with aerospace, consumer durables, and automotive at the forefront. Being early adopted of advanced technologies, these industries are also stronger and more established than their peers in developing nations. The North America market therefore witnesses mass consumption of CFRTP and a substantial rise in the use of composites in aerospace application. In the next five years, the demand for CFRTP is expected to rise exponentially in North America.Global CFRTP Market: Vendor LandscapeSome of the leading companies operating in the global CFRTP market are Aerosud, SGL Group, Royal TenCate N.V., PolyOne Corporation, Toray Industries, Inc., Covestro AG, and Solvay S.A. Besides including profiles of the leading market players the report also sources information from their financial records. The impact of the strategies they adopted is studied in detail besides gauging their strengths and weaknesses. The report also provides insights into opportunities and threats that will have significant impact on their market operations over the course of the forecast period.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 Bioabsorbable Stents Market Analysis, Top Companies, New Technology, Demand and Opportunity Analysis https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/bioabsorbable-stents-market https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/bioabsorbable-stents-market/report-sample https://www.psmarketresearch.com/send-enquiry?enquiry-url=bioabsorbable-stents-market https://www.psmarketresearch.com The increasing incidences of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and increasing number of obese people worldwide are some of the major growth drivers for the global bioabsorbable stents market. CVDs are characterized by disorders of the heart and blood vessels. The major disorders include cerebrovascular disease, coronary heart disease, and rheumatic heart disease. People at risk of CVDs are affected with increased blood pressure, as well as obesity. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 17.5 million people die from CVDs every year around the world.Access report overview:The technological advancements in stent technology, increasing number of cardiovascular surgeries, and growing aging population are also driving the growth of the global bioabsorbable stents market.Download Free Sample of This Research Report :Geographically, Europe leads the global bioabsorbable stents market, due to increasing awareness about therapeutic applications of stent technology in the treatment of CVDs. In addition, the huge investment by key players for the development of biodegradable stents and rapid product approval are propelling the growth of the bioabsorbable stents market in the region. The Asia-Pacific bioabsorbable stents market is growing with a significant rate, owing to increasing aging population and increasing prevalence of CVDs.Make enquiry before buying the report:Some of the major players operating in global bioabsorbable stents market include, Zorion Medical, Tepha, S3V Vascular Technologies, REVA Medical, Medlogics Device Corporation, Kyoto Medical Planning, ICON Interventional Systems, Elixir Medical Corporation, Biotronik, Arterial Remodelling Technologies Arterius, Amaranth Medical, and Abbott Vascular.About P&S Market ResearchP&S Market Research is a global market research and consulting company. We provide market research reports, industry reports, business intelligence and research-based consulting services across a range of industries.With the help of our professional corporate relations with various companies, our market research offers the most accurate market forecasting. Our analysts and consultants interact with leading companies of the concerned domain to substantiate every single data presented in our publication. Our research assists our client in identifying new and different windows of opportunity and frame informed and customized strategies for expansion in different regions.Contact:P&S Market Research347, 5th Ave. #1402New York City, NY - 10016Toll-free: +18887787886 (USA/Canada)Email: enquiry@psmarketresearch.comWeb: Epoxidized Soybean Oil Market blustery in 2025 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=530 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=530 https://www.tmrresearch.com/epoxidized-soybean-oil-market Global Epoxidized Soybean Oil Market: SnapshotEpoxidized soybean oil or ESBO refers to a collection of different organic compounds that are extracted from the epoxidation of the oil of soybean. It is employed as a stabilizer and plasticizer in polyvinyl chloride plastics. Epoxidized soybean oil is a yellowish viscid liquid. During the manufacturing process of vegetable oils are broadly employed as precursors to the epoxidized oil products as they have sizeable number of carbon-carbon double bonds that are accessible for epoxidation.Epoxidized soybean oil is used in the PVC gaskets that applied in the glass jars that are used to store food products. It acts as a scavenger and plasticizer for the hydrochloric acid which is released when the degradation of the PVC occurs thermally at the time when the food product goes through sterilization. The most lucrative opportunities for epoxidized soybean oil is likely to arise from the food and beverages, plastic, rubber industries. The global epoxidized soybean oil market is likely to be positive impacted by the growing adoption of organic stabilizers in PVC stabilization procedure and as an emerging substitute for oil-based lubricant in the short and medium run. In the long run the easy availability of ESBO in low price is anticipated to be a core driving factor.Request Sample Copy of the Report @The challenges that this market is expected to face in the years ahead are the health hazards that are likely to occur in the industry of food and beverages to the excess use of ESBO and low product competitiveness that it creates.Global Epoxidized Soybean Oil Market: OverviewThe global market for epoxidized soybean oil (ESBO) is forecast to exhibit strong growth between 2017 and 2025. It will significantly gain from the increasing demand from the plastic additives industries, especially in North America. Besides this, research and development activities by the leading players, coupled with the recent merger and acquisition strategies they adopted will help this market rake high revenue over the forecast period. Additionally, the rising use of epoxidized soybean oil across diverse eco-friendly applications will aid the markets growth.This report presents a detailed assessment of the recent market developments besides strategically identifying the most lucrative segments. It covers the growth drivers and key restraints to help readers gain a better perspective of the global epoxidized soybean oil market. The report also profiles the leading market players and identifies their core competencies. The effect of Porters five forces on the overall market operations is evaluated as well.Request TOC of the Report @Global Epoxidized Soybean Oil Market: Trends and OpportunitiesAmong the key end-use segments, the market is gaining maximum from the rising use of epoxidized soybean oil in food and beverages packaging. As the retail sector gears for spike in the demand for processed food, the significance of phthalate-free plasticizers food packaging will scale higher. This will create significant opportunities for the market in the beverage can coating segment as well. Epoxidized soybean oil is available at a lower cost and offers high flexibility and thermal stability. It is also an eco-friendly bio-plasticizer hence, considered to be a food-grade product. It is due to the same reason that epoxidized soybean oil is extensively used in the food and beverages industry for packaging of products.By application, plasticizers will emerge as one of the key market segments. The segment includes PVA, PVC, and chlorinated rubber applications. The demand for epoxidized soyabean oil is thus considerably high in North America, wherein stringent environmental laws have compelled industries to lower dependence on phthalate plasticizers.Also, soybean oil is most likely to remain the leading segment among raw materials due to its extensive use in the production of epoxidized soybean oil. This vegetable oil is derived from the seeds of soybean and is known to have many inedible applications besides its use in food products. Out of the many inedible applications, soybean oil acts as an excellent additive and stabilizer in plasticizers. Plasticizers become more reactive when epoxidized soybean oil is added. Soybean oil is widely available and is an eco-friendly alternative due to which it is also preferred by oleo chemical producers. Spurred by these factors, the global epoxidized soybean oil market will exhibit robust growth in the forecast period.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Global Epoxidized Soybean Oil Market: Regional OutlookRegionally, the European markets will prove to be the most lucrative and faster growing. This trend is likely to continue through the course of the reports forecast period. In addition, the increasing demand from France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Turkey, and the U.K., will seal Europes position as the dominant market for epoxidized soybean oil in the forthcoming years. The high demand for epoxidized soybean oil in Europe is ascribable to stringent environmental regulations in place in the European Union, which curbs the use of non-phthalate plasticizers in food and beverages packaging. Currently, Germany is one of the leading consumers of epoxidized soybean oil in the region and will continue to remain so through the forecast period.Global Epoxidized Soybean Oil Market: Vendor LandscapeAmong the companies who were able to establish strong foothold in the global epoxidized soybean oil market, Ferro Corporation (U.S.), Arkema SA (France), Galata Chemicals (U.S.), Hairma Chemicals (Gz) Ltd. (China), and The Chemical Company (U.S.), are a few of the prominent brands. The report analyzes their strengths and weaknesses using SWOT analysis, which also gives insights into the opportunities and threats they may face over the forecast period.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 Breast Imaging Technologies Market by Analysis, Top Companies, New Technology, Demand and Opportunity Analysis https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/breast-imaging-technologies-market https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/breast-imaging-technologies-market/report-sample https://www.psmarketresearch.com/send-enquiry?enquiry-url=breast-imaging-technologies-market https://www.psmarketresearch.com The global breast imaging technologies market is growing significantly due to technological advancement in the detection of breast cancer in the industry. Massive unexplored market in breast imaging technologies industry of developing economies are creating ample opportunities for the breast imaging technologies market to grow at a considerable rate in the coming years.Access Report Overview:Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. According to International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and World Health Organization (WHO), globally, approximately 1.7 million new cases of breast cancer were diagnosed in 2012. As the incidence of breast cancer is increasing significantly, development of improved technology with less radiation exposure is also expected to support the growth of the breast imaging technologies market.Download Sample Report:Geographically, North America will be leading the global breast imaging technologies market in the coming years due to technological advancement in breast imaging, rising awareness of early detection of breast cancer and increasing government initiatives and funding in research and product innovations in the region. Moreover, Asia-Pacific is the fastest growing region in the global breast imaging technologies market. The major reasons for the fastest growth in the region are increasing healthcare expenditure, increasing incidence and prevalence of breast cancer cases, increasing government initiatives and investment in breast imaging technologies, and improving healthcare infrastructure in the region. Moreover, the breast imaging technologies market is growing due to increasing awareness about women health in the emerging countries, such as India and China, of Asia-Pacific region.Pre-Purchase Enquiry:Some of the companies operating in the breast imaging technologies market are Toshiba Corporation, Aurora Imaging Technologies, Dilon Technologies, Inc., Gamma Medica, Inc., Sonocine, Inc., Siemens Healthcare, Philips Healthcare, GE Healthcare, Dune Medical Devices, U-Systems, Inc., and Hologic, Inc.About P&S Market ResearchP&S Market Research is a global market research and consulting company. We provide market research reports, industry reports, business intelligence and research-based consulting services across a range of industries.With the help of our professional corporate relations with various companies, our market research offers the most accurate market forecasting. Our analysts and consultants interact with leading companies of the concerned domain to substantiate every single data presented in our publication. Our research assists our client in identifying new and different windows of opportunity and frame informed and customized strategies for expansion in different regions.Contact:P&S Market Research347, 5th Ave. #1402New York City, NY - 10016Toll-free: +1-888-778-7886 (USA/Canada)Email: enquiry@psmarketresearch.comWeb: World Organic Tissue Paper Market 2018 Global Significant Growth,Competitors Analysis,Product Research, Trends and Forecast by 2023 Organic Tissue Paper Market, Organic Tissue Paper Market size, Organic Tissue Paper Market share, Organic Tissue Paper Market t https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/3782 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/organic-tissue-paper-market-3782 Latest research report on Global Organic Tissue Paper Market 2018 Research Report now available at a high quality database of Market research future.com with market size, share, trends, Competitive and statistical analysis.Market Overview:Organic tissue paper are majorly used for facial application by skin sensitive consumers. Globally, organic tissue paper made with recycled pulp and bamboo pulp are in huge demand which is driving the introduction of new products under this category. Majority of organic tissue paper are sold one or two layered. Changing lifestyle and increasing awareness among consumer about use of products which are naturally biodegradable is boosting the sales of organic tissue paper since last few years.Competitive Landscape :The Major Key Players in Organic Tissue Paper market are:Greenline Paper Company (U.S.)Regent Kimya (Turkey)Tropicana Food and Beverages Gmbh (Germany)BHK Krakow (Poland)Shanghai Xuanjie Trade Co., Ltd (China )Zhangzhou Lianan Paper Co., Ltd. (China)Weroca Kartonagen Gmbh (Germany)Market Forecast:Globally the organic tissue paper market is estimated to escalate at a higher growth rate which is supported by increasing demand of naturally biodegradable personal care products. Rising application of organic tissue paper for facial application is supporting the market growth. Availability of different product type and improved distribution channel is playing the key role for organic tissue paper market growth.All these factors contribute to the calculated CAGR of 4.2% of organic tissue paper market during 2017-2023.Ask for a Sample Copy Here :Key Findings:Organic tissue paper made from recycled pulp is projected to grow at a higher rate as compared to other raw materialOrganic tissue paper for facial use will witness higher growth during the forecast periodMarket SegmentationGlobal organic tissue paper market is segmented by raw material, layer, end use and distribution channel and region.Organic tissue paper product has been segmented on the basis of raw material which includes bamboo pulp, recycled pulp, straw pulp, mix wood pulp, and others.Organic tissue paper product has been segmented on the basis of layer which includes one layer, two layer and three layer.Organic tissue paper product has been segmented on the basis of end use which includes toilet tissue paper and facial tissue paperOrganic tissue paper product has been segmented on the basis of distribution channel which includes store based and non-store basedRegional AnalysisThe Global Organic Tissue Paper market is segmented into North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific along with rest of the world (RoW). North America region is estimated to dominate the market followed by Asia Pacific region. U.S. and Canada are major organic tissue paper producers in the North American region. U.S. dominates the market in this region due to increasing demand of organic personal care products. Availability of raw material and huge consumer base is driving the organic tissue paper market in the Asia Pacific region especially in developing countries like China and India. Improvement in production technology and growing organic products trend in the Europe region is playing key role to boost the market growth.Table Of Contents1. Executive Summary2. Market Introduction3. Research Methodology4. Market Dynamics5. Market Trends6. Global Organic Tissue Paper Market-By Raw Material7. Global Organic Tissue Paper Market- By Layer8. Global Organic Tissue Paper Market- By End Use9. Global Organic Tissue Paper Market- By Distribution Channel10. Market -By RegionContinued. . . . .Full report on Organic Tissue Paper Market report spread across 110 pages, profiling 15 companies and supported with tables and figures available @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.Contact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@Market research future.com Global Liquid Packaging Market 2018 - Sidel, Elopak, Mondi PLC Global Liquid Packaging Market https://goo.gl/id8iFB https://goo.gl/4Wwdm8 www.apexmarketreports.com The Global Liquid Packaging market 2018 delivers detailed prognosis on current and forecast market situation of Liquid Packaging market in the assessment period, 2018-2025 based on the markets growth history, sales channel, and manufacturers in the Liquid Packaging industry. The report also reveals market share of product type, application and scope of a region in detail. The Liquid Packaging report also consists of key drivers and limiting factors affecting the market growth, change in industry trends or challenges faced by Liquid Packaging manufacturers during forecast years.Request for the sample copy of report :As per the report, the Global Liquid Packaging market is expected to grow to XX.XX billion USD by the year 2025 with a CAGR growth of XX.XX%. The values have been derived through historical data from 2013 to 2018 as well as exhaustive study of Liquid Packaging market concentration ratio, segments of Liquid Packaging market, industry chain structure, global and regional Liquid Packaging market size and price analysis.The report includes objectives of Liquid Packaging research, definition and specifications followed by a detailed section on Liquid Packaging industry scope and size evaluation, which includes region-wise Liquid Packaging production value and the historical CAGR growth from 2013 to 2018. This exhaustive study gives Liquid Packaging market concentration ratio and capability of Liquid Packaging business.Competition Landscape of Global Liquid Packaging Market:The research report provides a competitive analysis of Liquid Packaging market and key market players operating in a market. The report also delivers information about leading companies involved in Liquid Packaging market. The information is in the form of company description, Liquid Packaging product picture and specification, key financials details like (annual revenue, Liquid Packaging production and sales values), SWOT analysis of the companies, Liquid Packaging business strategic overview and their key developments. The report also provides of current market standings of leading companies in the Liquid Packaging market.Global Liquid Packaging market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingThe DOW Chemical CompanyInternational PaperTetra Pak International S.A.Smurfit KappaMondi PLCWeyerhaeuser CompanyBillerudkorsnas ABSidelEvergreen PackagingElopakInquire before buying :Segmentation of Liquid Packaging Market:Key sections of the report provide Liquid Packaging market share and revenue comparison based on product type, applications and regions for the assessment period 2013 to 2017 and Liquid Packaging market values up to 2022.The report explores Liquid Packaging market across key regions like North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, India and others. Key points covered in the report are region-wise Liquid Packaging production techniques and value, consumption, export, import, growth rate from 2013 to 2018, Liquid Packaging market status and SWOT analysis.TOC of report gives the overall structure of Liquid Packaging market report:Chapter 1: Liquid Packaging Market Outline (Key points covered objective study, definition, Liquid Packaging market size and growth rate estimation from 2012-2022, Liquid Packaging market concentration ratio, Liquid Packaging market segmentation by product types, applications and regions).Chapter 2: Liquid Packaging market dynamics (Study of Liquid Packaging market drivers, Liquid Packaging industry emerging countries, limitations, opportunities, Liquid Packaging industry news and policies by regions).Chapter 3: Industry Chain Analysis (Liquid Packaging suppliers and buyers information, manufacturing base, Liquid Packaging production process and cost structure analysis, labor cost, Liquid Packaging market channel analysis).Chapter 4, 5 and 6 describe Liquid Packaging market value ($), production, consumption, price and gross margin, Liquid Packaging growth rate and market share by product type (2013-2018).Chapter 7 and 8 describe Liquid Packaging production, consumption, export, import by regions, Liquid Packaging market status and SWOT analysis by regions (2013-2018).Chapter 9: Competitive Landscape of Liquid Packaging market includes product introduction, Company profile, value ($), price, gross margin 2013-2018.Chapter 10: Liquid Packaging market analysis and forecast by type of product, application and topographical regions from (2018-2023).Chapter 11: Liquid Packaging market value ($) and volume forecast (2018-2023).The last chapter of Liquid Packaging report lists various abbreviations, data sources (primary and secondary sources), database repositories of Liquid Packaging market and assumptions made. new project feasibility analysis, research finding and conclusion.About UsApex Market Reports offers elevating market research globally. We have collection of various syndicated reports of different categories. Apex Market Reports provides you to best services, weather youre searching for new trends in market or competitive scenario in emerging market.Customers can buys different reports across various categories such as Chemical and Material, Biotechnology, Healthcare, Food and beverages, Automobile and various sectors. Our Website offers safe and secure online ordering experience, convenient payment options.Contact UsFrank ValadezCorporate Sales Specialist155 North Wacker Drive, Suite 4250Chicago, IL 60606Phone: +17739042683Email id - sales@apexmarketreports.comWebsite - Pizza Box Market Estimated to Expand at a Robust CAGR over 2025 https://www.xploremr.com/report/613/pizza-box-market https://www.xploremr.com/connectus/sample/613 https://www.xploremr.com/cart/reports/buynow/613 Global Pizza Box Market: SnapshotTransparency Market Research examines the global pizza box market for the forecast period 2017-2025. The primary objective of the report is to identify opportunities in the market and present updates as well as insights pertaining to various segments of the global pizza box market.The report begins with an overview of the global pizza box market, evaluating market performance in terms of revenue, followed by TMRs analysis of key trends, drivers and restraints witnessed in the global pizza packaging market. Weighted average pricing analysis of pizza box based on box type is also included in the report.Report Overview @Global Pizza Box Market: Research MethodologiesTo compute the market size, in-depth secondary research is done. Data points such as regional splits and market split by box type, material type, and by print type have been assimilated to arrive at the market estimates. The report comprises the forecast of the global revenue generated by sales of pizza boxes across the food service industry.TMR triangulates the data via different analysis based on supply side, demand side, as well as dynamics of pizza box market. TMR not only conducts forecasts in terms of value, but also evaluates the market on the basis of essential parameters, such as Year-on-Year (Y-o-Y) growth. This helps providers to recognize the future opportunities as well predictability of the market.Global Pizza Box Market: SegmentationIn order to understand and assess opportunities in this market, the report is categorically divided into four key sections on the basis of box type, material type, print type and regions. The report analyses the global pizza box packaging market in terms of value (US$ Mn) and volume (Mn Units).Vital feature of this report is the analysis of the global pizza box market by region, box type, material type, and by print type; and the corresponding revenue forecast in terms of absolute dollar opportunity. This is traditionally overlooked while forecasting the market. However, absolute dollar opportunity is critical in assessing the level of opportunity that a provider can look to achieve as well as to provide potential resources from sales perspective of the global pizza box market.To understand key segments in terms of their growth and performance in the Pizza box market, Transparency Market Research has developed a market attractive index. The resulting index should help providers identify existing market opportunities in the global Pizza box market.Get a free sample request @In the final section of the report, Pizza box market competitive landscape has been included to provide a dashboard view of companies that manufacture and provide Pizza box. The report contains company profiles of some of the players in the Pizza box market.Global Pizza Box Market: Competitive LandscapeFew of the key players in the global Pizza box market include Smurfit Kappa Group PLC., DS Smith Plc., WestRock Company, International Paper Company, Mondi Group, Huhtamaki Oyj, Georgia-Pacific LLC., New Method Packaging, Pratt Industries Inc., Reynolds Group Holdings Ltd. KapStone Paper and Packaging Corp., Rengo Co., Ltd., BillerudKorsnas AB, Magnum Packaging, R. S. G. Packagings Private Limited.The market has been segmented as follows By Box TypeWhole Pizza Boxes5-10 inch (Small)10-15 inch (Medium)15 inch & above (Large)Pizza Slice BoxesBy Material TypeCorrugated PaperboardB-fluteE-fluteF-fluteClay Coated CardboardBy Print TypePrinted BoxesOffset PrintingFlexographic PrintingScreen PrintingNon-Printed BoxesBy RegionNorth AmericaLatin AmericaEuropeAsia Pacific (APAC)Middle East & Africa (MEA)Buy Now Full Report @About UsXploreMR is one of the worlds leading resellers of high-quality market research reports. We feature in-depth reports from some of the worlds most reputed market research companies and international organizations. We serve across a broad spectrum from Fortune 500 to small and medium businesses. Our clients trust us for our unwavering focus onquality and affordability. We believe high price should not be a bottleneck for organizations looking to gain access to quality information.XploreMR111 North Market Street, Suite 300,San Jose, CA 95113, United States Power Transmission Cables Market Future Growth, Historical Analysis and Detailed Insights on Upcoming Trends Forecast to 2022 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1768 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/enquiry/1768 Market ScenarioPower Transmission Cables are typically used to carry the electricity from generating units to the end users. Rising inclusion of renewable power resources, high quality and uninterrupted electricity, upgradation of aging grid infrastructure result in the growth of the power transmission cables market. Rapid urbanization and industrialization are the major factors in the Global Power Transmission Cables Market. Power Transmission Cables market is expected to register a high growth of around 6.5% CAGR in the next six years.Key Players General Cable Technologies Corp. Southwire Co. LLC Zhejiang Shengda Steel Tower Co. Ltd. KEC International Ltd. Kalpataru Power Transmission Ltd. Nexans S.A. Prysmian S.p.A. Shandong DingChang Tower Co. Ltd.Get In - Depth Sample Report @Industry NewsIn December, 2017 Prysmian Group, world leader in the energy and telecom cables and systems industry, has been awarded a contract worth more than 150 million by the Filipino grid operating company NGCP (National Grid Corporation of the Philippines) for the design, supply, installation and commissioning of two submarine power cable connections between the islands of Cebu and Negros in the Philippines.In December , 2017 Prysmian Group, world leader in the energy and telecom cable systems industry, has been awarded a new contract worth in the region of 80 million by EWA (Electricity and Water Authority of the Government of the Kingdom of Bahrain) to develop a new 400 kV cable loop circuit. As part of EWAs strategic 400 kV Transmission Development programme (2009 2013), this project adds a crucial link to the infrastructure of the Kingdom of Bahrain and is the first 400 kV XLPE submarine cable to be installed in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) Region.In December, 2017 Prysmian Group and General Cable Corporation announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Prysmian will acquire General Cable for USD 30.00 per share in cash.Power Transmission Cables Global Market SegmentationThe scope of global Power Transmission Cables market is segmented into two major segments which are explained below: By Installationo Overheado Undergroundo Submarine By Voltageo Mediumo High By Userso Utilityo IndustrialIf u HAve any Query Regarding This Report @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.Market Research Future+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Global GFRP Composites Market 2018 - Owens Corning, Saint-Gobain S.A. Global GFRP Composites Market https://goo.gl/ti8qZz https://goo.gl/ZiGSHc www.apexmarketreports.com The Global GFRP Composites market 2018 delivers detailed prognosis on current and forecast market situation of GFRP Composites market in the assessment period, 2018-2025 based on the markets growth history, sales channel, and manufacturers in the GFRP Composites industry. The report also reveals market share of product type, application and scope of a region in detail. The GFRP Composites report also consists of key drivers and limiting factors affecting the market growth, change in industry trends or challenges faced by GFRP Composites manufacturers during forecast years.Request for the sample copy of report :As per the report, the Global GFRP Composites market is expected to grow to XX.XX billion USD by the year 2025 with a CAGR growth of XX.XX%. The values have been derived through historical data from 2013 to 2018 as well as exhaustive study of GFRP Composites market concentration ratio, segments of GFRP Composites market, industry chain structure, global and regional GFRP Composites market size and price analysis.The report includes objectives of GFRP Composites research, definition and specifications followed by a detailed section on GFRP Composites industry scope and size evaluation, which includes region-wise GFRP Composites production value and the historical CAGR growth from 2013 to 2018. This exhaustive study gives GFRP Composites market concentration ratio and capability of GFRP Composites business.Competition Landscape of Global GFRP Composites Market:The research report provides a competitive analysis of GFRP Composites market and key market players operating in a market. The report also delivers information about leading companies involved in GFRP Composites market. The information is in the form of company description, GFRP Composites product picture and specification, key financials details like (annual revenue, GFRP Composites production and sales values), SWOT analysis of the companies, GFRP Composites business strategic overview and their key developments. The report also provides of current market standings of leading companies in the GFRP Composites market.Global GFRP Composites market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingOwens CorningJushi Group Co. Ltd.Chongqing Polycomp International CorporationPPG Industries Inc.Johns Manville CorporationSaint-Gobain S.A.Nippon Sheet Glass Co. Ltd.Taishan Fiberglass Inc.AGY Holdings Corp.Asahi Fiber Glass Co. Ltd.Inquire before buying :Segmentation of GFRP Composites Market:Key sections of the report provide GFRP Composites market share and revenue comparison based on product type, applications and regions for the assessment period 2013 to 2017 and GFRP Composites market values up to 2022.The report explores GFRP Composites market across key regions like North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, India and others. Key points covered in the report are region-wise GFRP Composites production techniques and value, consumption, export, import, growth rate from 2013 to 2018, GFRP Composites market status and SWOT analysis.TOC of report gives the overall structure of GFRP Composites market report:Chapter 1: GFRP Composites Market Outline (Key points covered objective study, definition, GFRP Composites market size and growth rate estimation from 2012-2022, GFRP Composites market concentration ratio, GFRP Composites market segmentation by product types, applications and regions).Chapter 2: GFRP Composites market dynamics (Study of GFRP Composites market drivers, GFRP Composites industry emerging countries, limitations, opportunities, GFRP Composites industry news and policies by regions).Chapter 3: Industry Chain Analysis (GFRP Composites suppliers and buyers information, manufacturing base, GFRP Composites production process and cost structure analysis, labor cost, GFRP Composites market channel analysis).Chapter 4, 5 and 6 describe GFRP Composites market value ($), production, consumption, price and gross margin, GFRP Composites growth rate and market share by product type (2013-2018).Chapter 7 and 8 describe GFRP Composites production, consumption, export, import by regions, GFRP Composites market status and SWOT analysis by regions (2013-2018).Chapter 9: Competitive Landscape of GFRP Composites market includes product introduction, Company profile, value ($), price, gross margin 2013-2018.Chapter 10: GFRP Composites market analysis and forecast by type of product, application and topographical regions from (2018-2023).Chapter 11: GFRP Composites market value ($) and volume forecast (2018-2023).The last chapter of GFRP Composites report lists various abbreviations, data sources (primary and secondary sources), database repositories of GFRP Composites market and assumptions made. new project feasibility analysis, research finding and conclusion.About UsApex Market Reports offers elevating market research globally. We have collection of various syndicated reports of different categories. Apex Market Reports provides you to best services, weather youre searching for new trends in market or competitive scenario in emerging market.Customers can buys different reports across various categories such as Chemical and Material, Biotechnology, Healthcare, Food and beverages, Automobile and various sectors. Our Website offers safe and secure online ordering experience, convenient payment options.Contact UsFrank ValadezCorporate Sales Specialist155 North Wacker Drive, Suite 4250Chicago, IL 60606Phone: +17739042683Email id - sales@apexmarketreports.comWebsite - BQool introduces the BigTracker Chrome Extension A Product Search Engine for Amazon Merchants https://www.bigtracker.com/chrome-extension/ www.bqool.com Taipei, Taiwan 7th June 2018 BQool Inc., the creators of smart solutions for Amazon sellers, launched a Chrome extension for its product research tool, BigTracker, as part of the companys continuous efforts to bring smart and automated solutions to its customers. The Chrome extension is part of the BigTracker software that helps online retailers to identify trending products to then sell on Amazon.Compared to traditional methods of product research, which often includes arduous tasks such as copying and pasting information from Amazon into a spreadsheet, the BigTracker Chrome Extension alleviates this time-consuming task. Users can view comprehensive Amazon product data within seconds.The BigTracker Chrome Extension aggregates all of the users required information on to one single page while searching on Amazon. It calculates all of the data, which includes the average sales, average prices, and the average rank of the listings that users have searched. Furthermore, the BigTracker Chrome Extension automatically displays comprehensive information such as the Buy Box price, Sales Rank, Estimated Sales, Estimated Revenue, Number of Reviews and Amazon Fees.The BigTracker Chrome Extension also allows users to click to view the Historical Price and Rank Data. If users spot trending products that theyre interested in, they can add these products to the product tracker to start tracking.It simplifies product research work with just one click and has proven to be a game-changing Amazon product research tool. The BigTracker Chrome Extension allows Amazon sellers to concentrate on selling products and making money, rather than spending hours, even days on administrative tasks.The BigTracker Chrome Extension Lite is currently available for free download and a free trial is offered for the Pro version. Learn more about the BigTracker Chrome Extension atAbout BQoolBQool Inc is a SaaS company which was founded on the idea that Amazon sellers should always have access to the most innovative software solutions available. BQool is committed to simplifying the day to day tasks that all Amazon sellers face, whether that be dynamic repricing, competitor research, feedback and reviews management or discovering the most profitable products to sell.Furthermore, BQool is dedicated to providing excellent customer service. With advisors around the globe, you can rest assured that any questions will be answered efficiently by BQool's team of experienced representatives. For more information about BQool, visitBQool Inc.4F, No. 24, Ln. 583, Ruiguang Rd., Neihu Dist., Taipei City 11492, Taiwan (R.O.C.)Frankie Chng, Digital Marketing Managerfrankiec@bqool.com Flooring Market worth 447.74 Billion USD by 2023 https://bit.ly/2sEWBf6 The report "Flooring Market Type by Material (Carpets & Rugs, Resilient (Vinyl, Cork, Linoleum, Rubber, Resin), Non-resilient (Ceramic, Stone, Wood, Laminate)), End-use (Residential, Non-residential), and Region - Global Forecast to 2023", The flooring market size is estimated to grow from USD 339.29 Billion in 2018 to USD 447.74 Billion by 2023, at a CAGR of 5.7%. The market is projected to witness steady growth in the next few years, due to the rise in renovation & remodeling activities resulting from rapid industrialization and urbanization. Increase in investments in the construction industry, rise in population, and growing focus toward interior decoration are also some of the key factors driving the growth of the flooring market.Browse 146 market data Tables and 36 Figures spread through 175 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Flooring Market Type by Material (Carpets & Rugs, Resilient (Vinyl, Cork, Linoleum, Rubber, Resin), Non-resilient (Ceramic, Stone, Wood, Laminate)), End-use (Residential, Non-residential), and Region - Global Forecast to 2023"Download PDF Brochure@The vinyl segment is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.Vinyl is one of the most versatile materials used in flooring. Its resistance to mold, mildew, and moisture makes it one of the most suitable flooring options for application areas where occasional spills and moisture are the major concerns. Its low cost and easy installation also contribute to its growing popularity in a range of residential and commercial applications. LVT (Luxury Vinyl Tile) is one of the popular forms of vinyl flooring and is gaining popularity as a versatile flooring solution, offering durability along with various design options. It offers cost advantages in terms of price as compared to other premium materials, owing to its minimal maintenance requirements and high durability. These factors contribute toward its increasing application in the corporate, hospitality, healthcare, and other commercial sectors.The residential segment is estimated to dominate the market, in terms of value, through 2023.The residential segment dominated the market in 2017 and this trend is projected to continue through 2023, as a result of the demand for aesthetic flooring materials and growing trend toward interior decoration. Housing renovation and maintenance have increased steadily in the recent past and are expected to further increase in the coming years, owing to the increasing disposable income of people. These factors are expected to fuel the demand for flooring in the residential sector.The Asia Pacific market for flooring is projected to grow at the highest CAGR from 2018 to 2023.Asia Pacific is projected to be the fastest-growing market for flooring during the forecast period. The growth in the region can be attributed to the growing construction industry, supportive government policies & plans, and rapid urbanization. China is projected to grow at the highest CAGR in the Asia Pacific flooring market during the forecast period. The Middle Eastern & African market is projected to grow at the second-highest CAGR between 2018 and 2023.The key players operating in the flooring market include Mohawk Industries (US), Shaw Industries (US), Tarkett (France), Armstrong Flooring (US), Forbo (Switzerland), Gerflor (France), Interface (US), Beaulieu International (Belgium), TOLI Corporation (Japan), and Milliken & Company (US). These players have an extensive product portfolio and a wide geographical presence. New product launches, expansions, investments, acquisitions, and partnerships are some of the major strategies adopted by key players operating in the flooring market.MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies revenues. Currently servicing 5000 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions.Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve.MarketsandMarketss flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "Knowledgestore" 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.Mr. SalgarkarMarketsandMarkets INC.630 Dundee RoadSuite 430Northbrook, IL 60062USA : 1-888-600-6441sales@marketsandmarkets.com The city that never sleeps halted by monsoon pours http://www.bookmyticket.com/ The recent pours in Mumbai struck commuters by sheer surprise. It has been everyones concern to travel locally during monsoon and unpredictability has created daunting apprehension. Though some find Mumbai pours mesmerizing, the working class commuters think contrary.Alike gone years, roads and rail tracks are waterlogged again, somewhat validating by-now the inconvenience as one of Mumbais conventions. Since early June, roads in the city, but mainly in the suburbs, are waterlogged tampering easy traffic control. As of local trains, incharge personals have decided to lighten the number of train services due to flooded tracks and plausibility of engine damage. The number may recoil to normal conditioned lower rainfalls.Air traffic was disrupted too. Almost 10 flights that were planned to land in Mumbai were diverted to neighbouring airports, which indicates the severity of this years rain. Since air travel demands are likely to drop, airlines may consider offering cheap flight tickets online.Not many Mumbaikars were confronted by the force of this years rains, but the farthest suburban areas (around Thane) got a better taste as trees and brittle roofs were pushed over by the wind. Extreme cases include 3 casualties, two of whom were juveniles, in Bhandup; they were electrocuted. Power cuts also occurred in the same area. Hopefully, this years rains wont threateningly challenge Mumbais resilience.According to weather forecasts, Maharashtra and neighbouring states like Goa will see heavy rainfall from 6th June to 8th June. As far as Mumbai is concerned, rainfalls are expected to peak between 8th June and 10th June.BookMyTicket Office Address:B/21 Vasudev Chambers,Old Nagardas Cross Road,New Andheri Subway,Andheri East,Mumbai- 400069contact no: 022 -61419999Website: Testing, Inspection and Certification Market - Energy and Utilities Sector to Present Promising Rise in Demand https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/testing-inspection-certification-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=5669 www.transparencymarketresearch.com The global market for testing, inspection, and certification (TIC) could face a high level of fragmentation in its vendor landscape owing to the presence of a large number of players sustaining amid intense competition but promising growth avenues, observes Transparency Market Research in a recent report. So as to strengthen their positions and earn lucrative growth opportunities, companies are targeting strategic collaborations, mergers, acquisitions, and expansion across lucrative emerging economies.The report estimates that the global testing, inspection and certification market will clock in a CAGR of 5.8% from 2017 to 2025 and rise from an opportunity of US$184,545.5 mn in 2016 to US$299,628.6 mn by 2025.Obtain Report Details @In terms of services, the testing and inspection segment held approximately 95% of the global market in 2016. This is primarily due to the increased focus on monitoring and maintaining hygienic, healthy, and conducive production environments along the supply chain in order to safeguard the safety and quality of products. While the scenario is expected to remain largely unchanged over the near future as well, the certification segment could also a steady rise in demand over the reports forecast period.Geographically, the market in Europe is presently the chief contributor of revenue to the global market. The regional market accounted for over 33% of the overall market in 2016, chiefly owing to the stringent regulations concerning safety of products from industries such as food and beverages, transportation and logistics, chemical, and water and wastewater. The region is also expected to maintain its lead over the reports forecast period.Get Sample Copy of this report @Testing, inspection and certification services are becoming increasingly important for companies spanning a vast number of industries as these services ensure the maintenance of health, safety, and quality requirements of the concerned products. Increasing focus of the enterprise sector on safety legislations and standards, diversified requirement of products, and standard regulations are some of the factors responsible for the growth of the market.In the European Union, for instance, the General Safety Regulation (EC) No 661/2009 in 2014 mandated advanced safety features in every new van, car, bus and truck sold in the European Union. The new features included ISOFIX child seat anchorages, tire pressure monitoring systems and driver seatbelt reminders. Moreover new buses and trucks must also be armed with lane departure warning systems as well as advanced emergency braking systems. Food safety particularly earns high prominence in countries across North America, calling for advanced technology for testing, inspection and certification services. So as to adhere to all these regulations, the demand for TIC services has ramped up in the recent years and continues to be fueled.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a next-generation provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendationsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Silica Aerogel Market Outlook 2025, Global Opportunity & Growth Analysis http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00011526114/sample http://www.reportsweb.com/global-silica-aerogel-market-professional-survey-report-2018 http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00011526114/discount http://www.reportsweb.com/buy&RW00011526114/buy/3500 ReportsWeb.com has announced the addition of the Global Silica Aerogel Market Professional Survey Report 2018 report detailed insights about the aspects responsible for augmenting as well as restraining market growth and analyses the market potential for each geographical region based on the growth rate, macroeconomic parameters, consumer buying patterns, and market demand and supply scenarios.This report studies Silica Aerogel in Global market, especially in North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and India, with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2012 to 2016, and forecast to 2022.This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringAspen AerogelsCabot CorporationAerogel TechnologiesNano High-TechGuangdong Alison Hi-TechActive AerogelsEnersensJios Aerogel CorporationInsulgel High-TechGuizhou AerospaceGreen Earth Aerogel Technologies (GEAT)Get sample of report @On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoBlanketParticlePanelBy Application, the market can be split intoBuilding InsulationAerospace & Defence MaterialsTransportationOil & Gas ConsumablesBrowse Complete Report @The study objectives of this report are:To analyze and study the global Silica Aerogel capacity, production, value, consumption, status (2013-2017) and forecast (2018-2025) ;Focuses on the key Silica Aerogel 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.Ask for Discount on Report @Table of ContentGlobal Silica Aerogel Market Professional Survey Report 20171 Industry Overview of Silica Aerogel2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Silica Aerogel3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Silica Aerogel4 Global Silica Aerogel Overall Market Overview5 Silica Aerogel Regional Market Analysis6 Global 2012-2017E Silica Aerogel Segment Market Analysis (by Type)7 Global 2012-2017E Silica Aerogel Segment Market Analysis (by Application)8 Major Manufacturers Analysis of Silica Aerogel8.1 Aspen Aerogels8.1.1 Company Profile8.1.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.1.2.1 Product A8.1.2.2 Product B8.1.3 Aspen Aerogels 2016 Silica Aerogel Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.1.4 Aspen Aerogels 2016 Silica Aerogel Business Region Distribution Analysis8.2 Cabot Corporation8.2.1 Company Profile8.2.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.2.2.1 Product A8.2.2.2 Product B8.2.3 Cabot Corporation 2016 Silica Aerogel Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.2.4 Cabot Corporation 2016 Silica Aerogel Business Region Distribution Analysis8.3 Aerogel Technologies8.3.1 Company Profile8.3.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.3.2.1 Product A8.3.2.2 Product B8.3.3 Aerogel Technologies 2016 Silica Aerogel Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.3.4 Aerogel Technologies 2016 Silica Aerogel Business Region Distribution Analysis9 Development Trend of Analysis of Silica Aerogel Market10 Silica Aerogel Marketing Type Analysis11 Consumers Analysis of Silica AerogelPlace Direct Purchase order For Complete report @ReportsWeb.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.Contact Info:Name: Sameer JoshiOrganization: ReportsWebEmail: sales@reportsweb.comPhone: +1-646-491-9876 Global Flexitanks Market Revenue to Surge through 2026, Driven by Bolstering Edible Liquid Consumption & Trade https://www.marketresearchhub.com/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=211643 https://www.marketresearchhub.com/report/flexitanks-market-global-industry-analysis-market-size-share-growth-trends-and-forecast-2014-2020-report.html A new market research report, titled Flexitanks Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2018 2026, has been added to the repository of Market Research Hub (MRH), recently. The report is an extensive assessment of the flexi tanks market for an eight-year period (2018-2026), based on the detailed examination of market size and share, growth pattern, recent trends, and estimations. Polymer bags that are made up of polypropylene and polyethylene, which are used for transportation of bulk quantities of liquids, are referred to as flexi tanks. These tanks are extensively used in transportation of edible liquids, including palm oil, coconut oil, cotton seed oil, babassu oil, crude palm kernel, fruit juices, and wine. The study indicates that multi-layer, single-use tanks constitute the most commonly used flexi tank type, owing to a heap of advantageous features exhibited by them. The most sought after material used in manufacturing flexi tanks is polyethylene, of LLDPE is said to be the predominantly used form. Being an economical alternative for bulk transportation of liquids, flexi tanks are expected to witness healthy demand during the projection period. The global market for flexi tanks has been assessed by individual region as well as on a global level, in the aforementioned report. The market forecast is provided in terms of volume (units) and value (US$ Mn) over the eight-year forecast period. In the market dynamics section, the report provides thorough insights on the most prominent factors that are anticipated to hold a positive as well as negative impact on the global flexi tanks market performance during the projection period. Examination of recently spotted trends in the industry and the latest opportunities, which can potentially create optimistic prospects for market participants, have also been covered extensively in the report.Click here for Free Sample Report@The next part of the report includes detailed analysis of the value chain in the global flexitanks market, providing a comprehensive view of the market. The Porters Five Forces model has been included in the report in order to help readers grasp the overall status of the competitive landscape at present, along with the forecast scenario through 2026. The study also encompasses the market attractiveness analysis that benchmarks the products and applications of flexitanks, based on their growth patterns and rates, market size, and attractiveness indices. Material-wise, polyethylene is expected to remain a major segment by weight, whereas application-wise, food grade liquids are presumed to dominate over all other applications throughout the forecast period, as indicated by the report. Regional examination of the global market for flexitanks reveals that Asia Pacific will continue to dominate other regional markets, exhibiting a significant CAGR value over 2018-2026.Browse Full Report with TOC@Key market players are expected to embrace integrated operational approach in near future.Bulk transportation and export of edible liquids will continue to face a few challenges, including leakage and the following loss of cargo. While these limitations arise due to improper installation and loading, they can be potentially overcome by manual monitoring the fitting operations by dedicated skilled resources with extensive knowledge and technical expertise. Flexitank manufacturers are likely to encounter with multiple opportunities in near future, through forward integration of their operations and provision of professional fitting services of flexitanks in containers. Some of the key players included in the report already involve integrated operations their existing process, in terms of flexitank manufacturing and fitting services.About Market Research HubMarket Research Hub (MRH) is a next-generation reseller of research reports of different sector like chemical research market and analysis. MRHs expansive collection of industry reports has been carefully curated to help key personnel and decision makers across industry verticals to clearly visualize their operating environment and take strategic steps.MRH functions as an integrated platform for the following products and services: Objective and sound market forecasts, qualitative and quantitative analysis, incisive insight into defining industry trends, and market share estimates. Our reputation lies in delivering value and world-class capabilities to our clients.Contact Us90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United StatesToll Free: 800-998-4852 (US-Canada)Email: press@marketresearchhub.com Plywood Market Emerging Trends and Opportunities 2025 http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00011539757/sample http://www.reportsweb.com/global-plywood-market-research-report-2018 http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00011539757/discount http://www.reportsweb.com/buy&RW00011539757/buy/2900 ReportsWeb.com has announced the addition of the Global Plywood Market Research Report 2018 report detailed insights about the aspects responsible for augmenting as well as restraining market growth and analyses the market potential for each geographical region based on the growth rate, macroeconomic parameters, consumer buying patterns, and market demand and supply scenarios.Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), and market share and growth rate of Plywood in these regions, from 2013 to 2025 (forecast), covering North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, IndiaGlobal Plywood market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingGeorgia-Pacific GypsumPlum Creek Timber CompanyPotlatch CorporationColumbia Forest ProductsSmith & FongClarke VeneersRoseburgFreemanSwanson GroupCoastal PlywoodAustral PlywoodsNational PlywoodCaledonian PlywoodAinsworth Lumber Co. Ltd.Boise CascadeAtlantic PlywoodEksons CorpCentury Plyboard (India) Ltd.Greenply IndustriesJaya Tiasa Holdings BerhadWeyerhaeuser CompanyUniply Industries Ltd.Get sample @On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoSoftwood PlywoodHardwood PlywoodComposite PlywoodOn 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, includingConstruction & BuildingsTransportationAgriculturalOthersBrowse complete report @The study objectives of this report are:To analyze and study the global Plywood capacity, production, value, consumption, status (2013-2017) and forecast (2018-2025) ;Focuses on the key Plywood 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.Ask for Discount on Report @Table of ContentGlobal Plywood Market Research Report 20181 Plywood Market Overview2 Global Plywood Market Competition by Manufacturers3 Global Plywood Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)4 Global Plywood Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2018)5 Global Plywood Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type6 Global Plywood Market Analysis by Application7 Global Plywood Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 Georgia-Pacific Gypsum7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.1.2 Plywood Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Product A7.1.2.2 Product B7.1.3 Georgia-Pacific Gypsum Plywood Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 Plum Creek Timber Company7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.2.2 Plywood Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Product A7.2.2.2 Product B7.2.3 Plum Creek Timber Company Plywood Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 Potlatch Corporation7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.3.2 Plywood Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Product A7.3.2.2 Product B7.3.3 Potlatch Corporation Plywood Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview8 Plywood Manufacturing Cost Analysis9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders11 Market Effect Factors Analysis12 Global Plywood Market Forecast (2018-2025)Place Direct Purchase order For Complete report @ReportsWeb.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.Contact Info:Name: Sameer JoshiOrganization: ReportsWebEmail: sales@reportsweb.comPhone: +1-646-491-9876 Worldwide Organic Fertilizers Market Global Investment Trends, Growth,Production,Future Market Analysis by Regions, Demand & Supply Data Till 2023 Organic Fertilizers Market, Organic Fertilizers Market size, Organic Fertilizers Market share, Organic Fertilizers Market trend https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/4076 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/organic-fertilizers-market-4076 Global Organic Fertilizers Market OverviewFertilizers are chemical or natural substance which is added to the soil or land so as to increase fertility. Organic fertilizers are fertilizers extracted from animal manure, plant extracts as well as minerals and vegetable matter. Since organic fertilizers are derived from natural substances, therefore, damage to the environment is less of a concern. Organic fertilizers are rich in growth hormones and micro nutrients as well as help to reduce the risk of diseases in humans, as they find their way to food as well.Due to depletion of soil quality, use of fertilizers is being propelled to help farmers to increase crop production, as well as the surge in crop acreage and requirement to increase crop production is encouraging farmers to use organic fertilizers. Organic fertilizers are selected according to the requirement of the nutrients by the crop. They have gained status globally, as they help in increasing the quantity as well as improve the quality producedDownstream market analysisGlobalization and urbanization are key factors for the growth of this market. Furthermore, the admiration of organic fertilizers and its involvement of nutritional attributes as well as extra micronutrients are encouraging the growth of the liquid fertilizers market. The consumers willingness to pay for organic foods as well governments policies and rules towards the organic fertilizers is expected to play a significant role in the growth of this market during the forecast period. Additionally, the augmentation of the product development together with research advancements are other significant reasons for the increasing growth of the organic fertilizers market during the forecast period 2017-2023.Organic Fertilizers Market Competitive analysisSome of the key players in the global Organic fertilizers market are Tata Chemicals Ltd Midwestern BioAg Coromandel International Limited Agrocare Canada Italpollina S.p.A. The Scotts Miracle-Gro CompanyGet a Sample Copy of this Report here -Organic Fertilizers Industry Regional AnalysisThe global organic fertilizers market is regionally segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World (RoW). Europe region accounts for major market share followed by Asia Pacific for the organic fertilizers market. Ample availability of land for farming under organic cultivations as well as consumer willingness to pay for the organic foods, will drive the growth of the market in the European region during the forecast period. In Asia Pacific, strong government policies that contribute to the growth of organic fertilizers as well as large agricultural land area, will drive the growth of this market in this region. However, in European region, significant growth is expected in Germany, France and Italy due to increasing health and environmental concerns, over the forecast period 2017-2023.Organic Fertilizers Market Intended Audience: Organic Fertilizers Manufacturers Retailers, Wholesalers Research Organizations E-commerce Companies Traders, Importers and ExportersKey Findings: Growing fertilizers industry is the reason for growing demand for organic fertilizers. Europe is expected to dominate the organic fertilizers market followed by Asia Pacific.The organic fertilizers market is segmented under the following regions mentioned below:North AmericaUSCanadaMexicoEuropeGermanyFranceItalySpainUKRest of EuropeAsia PacificChinaIndiaJapanThailandRest of Asia PacificRest of the worldLatin AmericaMiddle EastOthersComplete report on Organic Fertilizers Market report spread across 110 pages, profiling 15 companies and supported with tables and figures available @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.Contact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@Market research future.com Smart Concrete Market to receive overwhelming hike in Revenues by 2024 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/smart-concrete-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=17720 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Global Smart Concrete Market: OverviewSmart concrete technology is a new alternative method for monitoring the health of reinforced concrete structures. It was developed Dr. Deborah D.L. Chung from State University of New York at Buffalo, U.S. The unique perceived benefit of smart concrete is that it is fortified by carbon fiber, which comprises as much as 0.2% to 0.5% of the volume. It can detect stress or strain in concrete structures before it gets too late. The smart concrete technology has undergone extensive laboratory testing, but is yet to hit the market.Get Research Report Overview @It works by adding a small quantity of short carbon fiber to concrete with a conventional concrete mixer to modify the electrical resistance of concrete in response to strain or stress. As a result, the contact between the fiber and cement matrix is impacted when the concrete is deformed or stressed, thereby affecting the volume electrical resistivity of the concrete. The strain is then uncovered by measuring the degree of electrical resistance. Smart concrete is capable of sensing miniscule structural flaws before they become substantial and hence find application in checking the internal condition of structures, particularly after an earthquake.In the report, Transparency Market Research provides a detailed analysis of the potential of the global smart concrete market. The report analyzes the different potential market drivers and restraints by gathering inputs from various people having in-depth knowledge of the technology.Global Smart Concrete Market: Trends and OpportunitiesOne factor slated to contribute to the global smart concrete market is the widespread use of concrete as a composite material for various types of structures and its inability to withstand tension, resulting in cracks easily. This necessitates monitoring them for cracks so as to prevent them from getting worse by timely repair. This, in turn, helps to ensure safety and durability of various structures. Other methods to evaluate cracks are by attaching or embedding sensors into structures. Sensors, however, cost more to install. Smart concrete is relatively cheaper. This is another factor that would likely drive its market.The supercharged growth in the smart buildings market in the upcoming years would also help in the quick uptake of smart concrete. This is because in addition to their basic functionality of detecting minor cracks, smart concrete also helps to arrest the progress of cracks in conventional concrete and reinforce them to make them stronger. Further, it takes a lot of force for smart concrete to bend, and it soaks more energy before fracture. Smart concrete can also have application in building highways for they would help in weighting vehicles plying on them. A highway constructed using smart concrete would be able to detect the position, weight, and speed of vehicles.Global Smart Concrete Market: Regional OutlookThe report studies the potential market for smart concrete by segmenting it based upon geography and then attempts to gauge the opportunity in each region. Advanced economies in North America and Europe, which have been at the forefront of adopting latest technologies, would likely emerge as prominent markets for smart concrete. Asia Pacific, powered by densely populated, emerging economies such as China and India where construction activities are being conducted full-throttle, also spells solid potential.Get PDF Brochure for more Professional & Technical industry insights:Companies Mentioned in ReportTo present an in-depth assessment of the potential competition in the smart concrete market, the report attempts to gauge the strategies that would be adopted by players wanting to foray into the market. Leading companies operating in the global concrete and cement market would likely lap up the opportunity presented by the new technology to further enhance their product offerings.About UsTransparency Market Research is a next-generation market intelligence provider, offering fact-based solutions to business leaders, consultants, and strategy professionals.Our reports are single-point solutions for businesses to grow, evolve, and mature. Our real-time data collection methods along with ability to track more than one million high growth niche products are aligned with your aims. The detailed and proprietary statistical models used by our analysts offer insights for making right decision in the shortest span of time. For organizations that require specific but comprehensive information we offer customized solutions through adhoc reports. These requests are delivered with the perfect combination of right sense of fact-oriented problem solving methodologies and leveraging existing data repositories.TMR believes that unison of solutions for clients-specific problems with right methodology of research is the key to help enterprises reach right decision.Transparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Hair Color : Market Shares, Strategies, and Forecasts, Worldwide, 2018 to 2023 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/3108744-2018-global-hair-color-industry-depth-research-report https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/3108744-2018-global-hair-color-industry-depth-research-report The report provides a comprehensive analysis of the Hair Color industry market by types, applications, players and regions. This report also displays the 2013-2023 production, Consumption, revenue, Gross margin, Cost, Gross, market share, CAGR, and Market influencing factors of the Hair Color industry in USA, EU, China, India, Japan and other regionsMarket Analysis by Players: This report includes following top vendors in terms of company basic information, product category, sales (volume), revenue (Million USD), price and gross margin (%).HenkelKao CorporationLOrealCotyAvon ProductsCombeConairEstee Lauder CompaniesGodrej Consumer ProductsRevlonShiseido CompanyWorld Hair Cosmetics (Asia)HoyuRequest a Sample Report @Market Analysis by Regions: Each geographical region is analyzed as Sales, Market Share (%) by Types & Applications, Production, Consumption, Imports & Exports Analysis, and Consumption Forecast.USAEuropeJapanChinaIndiaSoutheast AsiaSouth AmericaSouth AfricaOthersMarket Analysis by Types: Each type is studied as Sales, Market Share (%), Revenue (Million USD), Price, Gross Margin and more similar information.Temporary Hair DyeSemi-permanent Hair DyePermanent Hair DyeMarket Analysis by Applications: Each application is studied as Sales and Market Share (%), Revenue (Million USD), Price, Gross Margin and more similar information.Home UseCommercial UseTable of Content1 Hair Color Market Overview1.1 Product Overview of Hair Color1.2 Classification of Hair Color1.2.1 Type 11.2.2 Type 21.2.3 Type 31.2.4 Type 41.3 Applications of Hair Color1.3.1 Application 11.3.2 Application 21.3.3 Application 31.3.4 Application 41.4 Global Hair Color Market Regional Analysis1.4.1 USA Market Present Situation Analysis1.4.2 Europe Market Present Situation Analysis1.4.3 Japan Market Present Situation Analysis1.4.4 China Market Present Situation Analysis1.4.5 India Market Present Situation Analysis1.4.6 Southeast Asia Market Present Situation Analysis1.4.7 South America Market Present Situation Analysis1.4.8 South Africa Market Present Situation Analysis1.5 Hair Color Industry Development Factors Analysis1.5.1 Hair Color Industry Development Opportunities Analysis1.5.2 Hair Color Industry Development Challenges Analysis1.6 Hair Color Consumer Behavior Analysis2 Global Hair Color Competitions by Players2.1 Global Hair Color Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Players2.2 Global Hair Color Revenue (Million USD) and Share by Players (2017-2018)2.3 Global Hair Color Price (USD/Unit) by Players (2017-2018)2.4 Global Hair Color Gross Margin by Players (2017-2018)3 Global Hair Color Competitions by Types3.1 Global Hair Color Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Types3.2 Global Hair Color Revenue (Million USD) and Share by Type (2013-2018)3.3 Global Hair Color Price (USD/Unit) by Type (2013-2018)3.4 Global Hair Color Gross Margin by Type (2013-2018)3.5 USA Hair Color Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type3.6 China Hair Color Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type3.7 Europe Hair Color Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type3.8 Japan Hair Color Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type3.9 India Hair Color Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type3.10 Southeast Asia Hair Color Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type3.11 South America Hair Color Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type3.12 South Africa Hair Color Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type4 Global Hair Color Competitions by Applications4.1 Global Hair Color Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Applications4.2 Global Hair Color Revenue (Million USD) and Share by Applications (2013-2018)4.3 Global Hair Color Price (USD/Unit) by Applications (2013-2018)4.4 Global Hair Color Gross Margin by Applications (2013-2018)4.5 USA Hair Color Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Applications4.6 China Hair Color Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Applications4.7 Europe Hair Color Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Applications4.8 Japan Hair Color Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Applications4.9 India Hair Color Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Applications4.10 Southeast Asia Hair Color Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Applications4.11 South America Hair Color Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Applications4.12 South Africa Hair Color Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Applications5 Global Hair Color Production Market Analysis by Regions5.1 Global Hair Color Production (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Regions5.1.1 USA Hair Color Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.1.2 Europe Hair Color Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.1.3 China Hair Color Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.1.4 Japan Hair Color Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.1.5 India Hair Color Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.1.6 Southeast Asia Hair Color Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.1.7 South America Hair Color Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.1.8 South Africa Hair Color Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.2 Global Hair Color Production Value (Million USD) and Share by Region (2013-2018)5.3 Global Hair Color Price (USD/Unit) by Region (2013-2018)5.4 Global Hair Color Gross Margin by Region (2013-2018)ContinuedAccess Complete Report @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 LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India Servo Press Market to Grow at 9% CAGR through 2025; China to Remain the Largest Market MRRSE https://www.mrrse.com/sample/4699 https://www.mrrse.com/servo-press-market https://www.mrrse.com/ Increasing emphasis on fuel efficiency, combined with steadiness in the automotive industry are likely to provide an impetus to the growth of servo press market, according to a new research study added to the repository of Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE). According to the report, the global servo press market is likely to grow at over 9% CAGR during the assessment period.Click to get Sample PDF:The business intelligence study is a thorough source of information and analysis on the servo press market that highlights the drivers, restraints, opportunities, and trends that are influencing the growth of the market. In addition to offering accurate and unbiased information on the market dynamics, the business intelligence study also offers comprehensive analysis on the competitive scenario in the market. The product and business strategies of some of the leading players in the market have been covered in detail in the report.According to the report, growth in the servo press market is heavily influenced by broader advancements in the automotive industry. The growing emphasis on reducing the weight of vehicles, combined with investments in finding novel technologies is likely to provide an impetus to growth. Automotive manufacturers are focusing on adopting lightweight aluminium alloys and steel with high tensile strength to achieve this. These factors are likely to provide an impetus to growth of the servo press market during the assessment period.In a bid to offer readers detailed insights and analysis, the report has segmented the market on the basis of region, product type, capacity, and end-use industry. By end use industry, servo press market is likely to be driven by the automotive industry, whereas steady growth in the aerospace sector is likely to create new opportunities in the market.By capacity, demand for large scale servo press is likely to witness steady growth during the assessment period. The large (>500 tons) segment is likely to witness significant CAGR of 9.2% during the assessment period. By product type, demand for crank type servo press is likely to remain healthy, owing to its advantages over other variants. In addition to crank type servo press, demand is also likely to remain stellar for screw segment.View Complete TOC with Tables and Figures at:China continues to be the largest market for servo press globally. Demand for servo press in China is driven by the robust automotive industry in the region, whereas the behemoth automotive industry in the region is also likely to fuel growth. The research projects that the market in China will grow at nearly 11% during the assessment period, and reach a valuation of nearly US$ 1.2 Bn. Some of the leading players in the servo press market include Nidec-Shimpo Corporation, AIDA ENGINEERING, LTD., Schuler AG, Komatsu Ltd., Shieh Yih Machinery Industry Co., Ltd., Promess Incorporated, SIMPAC Corp., Chin Fong Machine Industrial Co., Ltd., Hitachi Zosen Fukui Corporation, Amino Corporation, Fagor Arrasate, Tox Pressotechnik GmbH & Co. KG, Japan Automatic Machine Co., Ltd., Hoden Seimitsu Kenkyusho Co., Ltd., and ISGEC Heavy Engineering Ltd.About MRRSEMarket Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of market intelligence 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.ContactState Tower90, State Street Suite 700Albany, NY 12207 (United States)Telephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.comWebsite: Global Thermal Insulation Materials Market (Glass Wool, Stone Wool, Expanded Polystyrene, Extruded Polystyrene, Polyurethane, Others): Analysis By End-Use, By Region, By Country (2018 Edition) Forecast to 2023 Global Thermal Insulation Materials Market (Glass Wool, Stone Wool, Expanded Polystyrene, Extruded Polystyrene, Polyurethane) Executive SummaryA comprehensive research report created through extensive primary research (inputs from industry experts, companies, stakeholders) and secondary research, the report aims to present the analysis of Global Thermal Insulation Market. The report analyses the market by Material Type (Glass Wool, Stone Wool, Expanded Polystyrene, Extruded Polystyrene, Polyurethane and Others), By Application (Building Construction, HVAC & Appliances, Industrial / Mechanical equipment, Automotive & Others), By Region (Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, ROW- Latin America, Middle East & Africa) and By Country (United States, Canada, Mexico, Germany, France, United Kingdom., Italy, China, South Korea, Japan).The global market for Thermal Insulation Material is mainly driven by the growth and development of residential and commercial construction sector. Additionally, growth in industries related to power, oil & gas, chemicals, automotive, HVAC, Pulp & Paper etc. is also significantly driving the demand of thermal insulation material. The key utilisation of thermal insulation materials is to prevent significant heat flow from one side of the insulation to another from buildings and industrial process. Moreover, global initiatives to reduce carbon emission by improving energy efficiency will boost the demand of thermal insulation materials in the forecast period.According to Azoth Analytics research report Global Thermal Insulation Materials Market (Glass Wool, Stone Wool, Expanded Polystyrene, Extruded Polystyrene, Polyurethane, Others): Analysis By End-Use, By Region, By Country (2018 Edition) Forecast to 2023, the market is primarily driven by rising construction and industrial activities along with the concern of improving energy efficiency. Asia Pacific region is the biggest market in the current period and expected to lead in forecast period. In the forecast period, APAC region will witness strong growth backed by burgeoning construction and industrial activities in emerging countries such as China, India, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia and others.The report titled Global Thermal Insulation Materials Market (Glass Wool, Stone Wool, Expanded Polystyrene, Extruded Polystyrene, Polyurethane, Others): Analysis By End-Use, By Region, By Country (2018 Edition) Forecast to 2023 has analysed the market by end-use industries like Building Construction, HVAC & Appliances, Industrial / Mechanical equipment, Automotive & Others. The report analyses the industry by Region (Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, ROW- Latin America, Middle East & Africa) and By Country (United States, Canada, Mexico, Germany, France, United Kingdom., Italy, China, South Korea, Japan). The report has covered and analysed the potential of Global Thermal Insulation Market and provides statistics and information on market size, prominent companys market shares and growth factors. The report intends to provide cutting-edge market intelligence and help decision makers take sound investment evaluation. Besides, the report also identifies and analyses the emerging trends along with major drivers, challenges and opportunities in the Global Thermal Insulation Materials Market. Additionally, the report also highlights market entry strategies for various companies across the globe.Scope of the ReportGlobal Thermal Insulation Materials Market (Actual Period: 2017, Forecast Period: 2018-2023) Thermal Insulation Materials Market By Value (USD Million), By Volume (Million Cubic Meter) Analysis By Material Type - Glass Wool, Stone Wool, Expanded Polystyrene, Extruded Polystyrene, Polyurethane, Others Analysis By End-Use Industry/Application - Building Construction, HVAC & Appliances, Industrial / Mechanical equipment, Automotive, OthersRegional Markets North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Rest of World-Latin America, Middle East, Africa (Actual Period: 2013-2017, Estimated Period: 2017, Forecast Period: 2018-2023) Thermal Insulation Materials Market By Value (USD Million), By Volume (Million Cubic Meter)Analysis By Material Type - Glass Wool, Stone Wool, Expanded Polystyrene, Extruded Polystyrene, Polyurethane, Others Analysis By End-Use Industry/Application - Building Construction, HVAC & Appliances, Industrial / Mechanical equipment, Automotive, OthersCountry Analysis - USA, Canada, Mexico, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Rest of Europe, China, South Korea, Japan, Rest of Asia, Rest of World (Actual Period: 2013-2017, Estimated Period: 2017, Forecast Period: 2018-2023) Thermal Insulation Materials Market By Value (USD Million) Analysis By Material Type - Glass Wool, Stone Wool, Expanded Polystyrene, Extruded Polystyrene, Polyurethane, Others Analysis By End-Use Industry/Application - Building Construction, HVAC & Appliances, Industrial / Mechanical equipment, Automotive, OthersOther Report Highlights Market Dynamics Drivers and Challenges Market Trends Porter Five Force Analysis Supply Chain Analysis Company Analysis - Armacell, Rockwool, Owens Corning, Saint Gobain, BASF, DOW Chemicals, Huntsman corporation, Paroc Group, Knauf Insulation, Johns ManvilleCustomization of the ReportThe report could be customized according to the clients specific research requirements. No additional cost will be required to pay for limited additional research.About Azoth Analytics Pvt Ltd.Azoth Analytics is a business research and analytics firm that creates in-depth research reports and provides customized research solutions and consultancy services. Verticals in which Azoth Analytics specializes include healthcare and pharmaceutical, oil and gas, retail, chemicals, automotive, FMCG, food & beverages and technology. Azoth creates comprehensive and in-depth research reports by recording, interpreting and analyzing information. Strategic market sizing and data dredging techniques include secondary research, and primary research (interviews with management personnel and industry experts).Delhi NCR - IndiaCS 55, Third Floor, Ansal Plaza, Vaishali,Ghaziabad U.P., IndiaMail: info@azothanalytics.comPhone: +91 120 429 8235 Worldwide Truck Cranes Market Growth Analysis, Share, Demand by Regions, Types and Analysis of Key Players- Global Forecast to 2023 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/4863 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/truck-crane-market-4863 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/enquiry/4863 Market Highlights:Market Research Future published a half-cooked research report on Global Truck Crane Market that contains the information from 2017 to 2023. Global truck crane market is expected to grow with the CAGR of approximately 4.43% from 2017 to 2023.Crane is primarily used for lifting heavy loads and transporting them to other places. The truck is a type of mobile crane. Truck cranes are principally used in civil engineering construction works and in heavy equipment manufacturing for material handling. Growing construction sector across the globe, is driving the growth of the market. Additionally, increasing investments in power transmission and distribution (T&D) networks, also drives the market growth. However, the high maintenance cost and high initial investment, may hamper the growth of the market.Hence, global truck cranes market is expected to grow at 4.43% CAGR during the forecast period.Get Sample Report @Scope of the ReportThis study provides an overview of the global truck crane market, tracking two market segments across four geographic regions. The report studies key players, providing a five-year annual trend analysis that highlights market size, volume and share for North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC) and Rest of the World (ROW). The report also provides a forecast, focusing on the market opportunities for the next six years for each region. The scope of the study segments the global Truck crane market by its type, by application, and region.By Type Mounted Cranes Sidelift Crane Boom Truck Crane OthersBy Application Residential Non-residentialBy End Use Construction Industries Utilities OthersBy Region North America Asia Pacific Europe Rest of the WorldAccess Report Details @Ask for your specific company profile and country level customization on reports. Liebherr Group (Switzerland) The Manitowoc Company, Inc. (U.S.) Terex Corporation (U.S.), Tadano Ltd. (Japan) Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group Co., Ltd. (China) Kato Works Co., Ltd (Japan) Elliott Equipment Company (U.S.) Manitex International Inc. (U.S.) Sany Group (China) Altec Industries (U.S.) Bocker Maschinenwerke GmbH (Germany)Asia Pacific region dominates the global truck crane marketGeographically, the global truck crane market has been divided into the four major regions of North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of the World. Asia Pacific, of all the regions, has accounted for the largest market share, in 2016, followed by Europe. Asia Pacific is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Increase in construction activities in countries such as China, Japan, India, and Indonesia in Asia Pacific region, is the major factor fuelling the growth of the market. Additionally, increase in industrialization, rising urbanized population, and growth in purchasing power, raise the growth of the market in Asia Pacific region. China is one of the leading markets in the Asia Pacific region. The Chinese Government issued several favorable policies for lowering the proportion of down payment for second house loans and exempting of sales tax for ordinary housing, which helped the recovery of commercial housing market. These factors have a positive influence on the growth of the market.Enquiry Before Buying @About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by Components, Application, Logistics and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.Contact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 524/528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Military Jammer Market witnessing CAGR of 8% With Global Key Companies - BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Israel Aerospace Industries, L-3 Technologies, Ultra Electronics https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/5972 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/military-jammer-market-5972 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/press-release/military-jammer-market Global Military Jammer Market by Jamming Type (Radar, Communication), Deployment Type (Ground-based, Naval, Airborne), Technology (GaN, GaAs), Application (Counter-IED, Bomb Disposal, Military Convoy Protection, Anti-Riot & Law Enforcement)-Forecast to 2023The military airborne radar market is estimated to witness a CAGR of around 8% during the period 2018 to 2023.Get Sample Report @Market HighlightsThe Military Jammer market has advanced in radio technology from analog to digital, and nowadays, it is involved in the development of wideband radios, which is a new generation of jammer. In a military environment, jammers are frequently located in aircraft, helicopters, or unmanned aerial vehicles as the line-of-sight transmission which helps them to transfer military through communication transmitters located on the ground.Most digital communications systems need a synchronization military to be transmitted between the communicating devices. Jamming can be concentrated on the synchronization military which will nullify the effectiveness of the entire transmission system. Synchronized systems are very susceptible to jamming. Once the synchronization is lost, the jammer stops its transmission and jammer can only be restart after resynchronization is achieved. Although, it is usually very difficult for the jamming system to know when the synchronization is lost and hence difficult to restart the jammer. Typical jamming transmission is band-limited noise that is barrage jamming. The objective is to inject an interference military into the communications frequency so that the actual military is completely submerged by the interference. Depending on the transmission, some other waveform might be more effective. Waveforms useful for jamming include noise-modulated FM, noise bursts, CW tones (spot jamming), and swept military (swept-spot jamming).Electronic warfare equipment is progressing in its functionality due to the progression in algorithms and underlying software that impart operational capabilities to the electronic warfare systems. Researchers at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) have developed an improved RF jamming technology, where the jammer uses Digital Radio Frequency Memory (DRFM) and has an open and simple construction. The project is termed as Angry Kitten, and it aims to develop an improved adaptability jammer.North America region mainly drives the global military jammer market. Presence of major vendors and the introduction of favorable government policies in this region is propelling the market growth in North America region. Rapidly growing expenses in military system are predicted to fasten the demand for the military jammer. Thus expected to drive the military jammer market swiftly. This region is expected to maintain its dominance in the market during the forecast period due to the presence of a huge number of military jammer manufacturers in countries like the U.S.The high governmental support to use the military jammer in military application acts as a key driver for the growth of the military jammer market in the sector. The U.K uses drone jammer technology, which helps track the UAV flown by terrorists. Likewise, the Russian government has taken initiatives to upgrade the helicopter fleet, and the U.S. government has given contract award to Lockheed Martin for the testing and development of long-range radar. Such government initiatives play a major role in the growth of military jammer market over the forecast period.Browse Complete Report@Key PlayersThe key players in military jammer market are BAE Systems (U.K), Lockheed Martin Corporation (U.S.), Northrop Grumman (U.S.), Raytheon Company (U.S), Thales Group (France), Saab AB (Sweden), Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd.(Israel), L-3 Technologies Inc. (U.S.), Ultra Electronics Inc. (U.K), and Mercury Systems, Inc. (U.S.).Scope of the ReportThis study provides an overview of the global military jammer 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 military jammer market by its radar type, application, frequency band, and region.By Type Radar Jamming - Mechanical Jamming (Chaffs, Decoys, Corner , reflectors), Electronic Jamming (Spot, Sweep, Barrage, DRFM, Pulse, Others), Inadvertent Communication Jamming -By Deployment Type Ground-based Naval AirborneBy Application Counter-IED Bomb Disposal Military Convoy Protection Anti-Riot & Law EnforcementBy Regions America Europe Asia Pacific Middle East and Africa South AmericaPress Release Available @Table Of Contents1 Executive Summary2 Scope Of The Report2.1 Market Definition2.2 Scope Of The Study2.2.1 Definition2.2.2 Research Objective2.2.3 Assumptions2.2.4 Limitations2.3 Research Process2.3.1 Primary Research2.3.2 Secondary Research2.4 Market Size Estimation2.5 Forecast Model3 Market Landscape3.1 Porters Five Forces Analysis3.1.1 Threat Of New Entrants3.1.2 Bargaining Power Of Buyers3.1.3 Threat Of Substitutes3.1.4 Segment Rivalry3.1.5 Bargaining Power Of Buyers3.2 Value Chain/Supply Chain Analysis4 Market Dynamics4.1 Introduction4.2 Market Drivers4.3 Market Restraints4.4 Market Opportunities4.5 Market Trends5 Global Military Jammer Market, By Type6 Global Military Jammer Market, By Deployment Type7 Global Military Jammer Market, By Technology8 Global Military Jammer Market, By ApplicationContinues..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 Lyophilized Exosomes and Microvesicles - The Best Standards for EV Research, by HansaBioMed mMcrovesicles http://www.mobitec.com www.mobitec.com HansaBioMed, distributed in Germany by MoBiTec GmbH, offers highly pure lyophilized Exosomes or Microvesicles from human biofluids (plasma, serum, urine, saliva, and different cell culture media.Save time and get pure EVs for your researchHBM-LS lyophilized Exosomes and Microvesicles are isolated through a combination of TFF and size exclusion chromatography. Vesicles are subsequently quantified and validated for overall protein content and particle number by Nanoparticles Tracking Analysis (NTA, Zetaview). Lyophilization does not alter the stability of exosome proteins and nucleic acids, in comparison to other storage methods, including storage of fresh EVs at -20 C. Lyophilized EVs are easy to ship and stable for long-term storage (up to 36 months).Lyophilized EVs from Mesenchymal Stem CellsHBM-LS offers Exosomes and Microvesicles isolated from adipose-tissue-derived MSC (pool of 20 different clones).Lyophilization is the ideal method for preparing and preserving EV stability for long-term storage at +4 CApplications Assay calibration Control (spike-in) for EV quantification. Protein marker analysis using different techniques Extraction and analysis of nucleic acids Flow cytometry Electron microscopyAdvantages High quality purified exosomes Intact shape of exosomes Easy to reconstitute Easy to ship and store (+4 C) Long term storage stability (36 months) Exosomes available from a large cell line bank (over 100 cell lines).All HansaBioMed products can be ordered from MoBiTec!About MoBiTec GmbHMoBiTec GmbH (Goettingen, Germany) is a privately held company (founded in 1987) that offers research tools for molecular and cell biology. Products include DNA vectors for cloning and expression, cell transfection reagents and cell culture tools, immobilized and soluble enzymes, products for genomics and proteomics research, numerous antibodies and recombinant proteins, superior fluorescence reagents and kits, affinity chromatography products, as well as general laboratory equipment.In parallel to its own product lines, MoBiTec distributes products from international companies in Germany. MoBiTec products are distributed worldwide, in Germany from their home office, in otherMoBiTec GmbH, Lotzestr. 22a,37083 Goettingen, Germanyinfo@mobitec.com Future Growth of Kidney Stones Market by Types Calcium, Uric Acid, Struvite and Cystine with ~4.0% of CAGR Forecasts Till 2023 Kidney Stones Market https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1745 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/kidney-stones-market-1745 The Global Kidney Stone Market is growing at a steady pace and it is expected to grow at a CAGR of ~4.0% during 2017 to 2023. The major factors that influence the growth of the market are minimally invasive procedures for the treatment of kidney stones, increasing instances of urolithiasis in the adult population and poor nutrition.Global Kidney stones Market OverviewKidney stones are hard mineral deposits inside the kidneys that can cause severe pain and discomfort. The global kidney stone market is growing at a steady pace and it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.0% during the forecast period of 2017 - 2022. There are a number of protuberant factors associated with this global kidney stone market. Growing demand for minimally invasive procedures driven by the surging preference of these is one of the major drivers contributing to the market growth. The preference to minimally invasive procedures is driven by their success rate which is 75-100%. Additionally, according to the National Kidney Foundation, it has been found that more than 73 million adults have high blood pressure and 29 million adults are suffering from diabetes which are the major reason for urolithiasis. That being said, continuously recorded and increasing instances of urolithiasis in the adult is leading to the rise in the prevalence of kidney stone disorder across the globe. Another major reason driving the prevalence of kidney stone disorders is population and poor nutrition. According to experts, individuals who are predisposed to hunger and sub-par nutrition are prone to kidney disorders and thus, add to the total global prevalence to a great extent. With such growth factors the market size is expected to reach $3,000 million in 2022 from $2,277.4 in 2016.Get Exclusive Sample Copy of Kidney Stones Market Report spread across 206 Premium Pages, Top 16 Companies Profile and Supported with Respective Tables and Figures is Now Available atGlobal Kidney Stones Market - Competitive AnalysisGlobally there are various players operating in this market. With well-established market in the North America region major companies have their home in the region and generate maximum market share. These companies have expanded their operating unit in various other regions as well. Moreover there are other small and medium scale players that generate revenue from local market.Minimally invasive procedures for the treatment of kidney stones have been the major factor influencing the growth of the market. A majority of industrial competitors involved in this market have been keen on introducing advanced products for minimally invasive procedures. In November 2016, Boston Scientific Corporation introduced Dakota Nitinol Stone Retrieval Device with OpenSure Handle in US and Europe market. This kidney stone retrieval device is designed to allow to release and capture kidney stones of multiple sizes from complex stones as large as 10 millimeters to fragments as small as one millimeter. This product will support the company to imprison its position and resolve a few challenges faced during ureteroscopy procedures. Adding to this in May 2017, Lumenis a well know medical device company launched its New Moses holmium technology in the American Urological Association Annual Meeting. To this technology Dr. Andrew Symes, Consultant Urological Surgeon said The Moses technology provides a greater sense of control due to minimized retropulsion. This is particularly valuable when dusting large stones in the kidney, but also when dealing with upper ureteric stones. These advancements are collectively influencing the growth of this market positively.Furthermore the kidney stone treatment market has turned into a critical factor in the global urology industry. Through extensive research it is found out that the market players have adopted the strategy of acquisitions in the market. In 2016 Boston Scientific acquired Distal Access, LLC with its product line gynecology and urology. Distal Access a U.S. based company involved in manufacturing minimal invasive devices. This acquisition will help Boston Scientific reduce the pressure of developing minimal invasive devices. The gynecology and urology devices manufactured by Distal Access will be integrated into the Boston Scientific urology and pelvic health business. Be that as it may, in February 2016, Stryker Corp announced a definitive agreement to acquire Synergetics USA, Inc.'s Neuro Portfolio. This strategic step of the company to acquire all the neurological product portfolio of Synergetics USA, Inc.'s will strengthen the companys presence in the field of Neurology, adding to their global footprint. In a similar distribution agreement by the Olympus Corp of The Americas with Arc Medical Design, will facilitate and improve the distribution strength of the partner companies in the U.S. and Canada, resulting in improving their worldwide sales. There are various others players involved in following this strategy of acquisition that is helping in the growth of revenue of the companies and in turn influencing the growth of the market.Kidney Stones Market Key Players:The key players profiled in Kidney stone are Boston Scientific Corporation, Convergent Laser Technologies, DirexGroup, Siemens Healthcare GmbH, C.R. Bard Inc, Cook Medical Inc., Dornier MedTech GmbH, Richard Wolf Medical Instruments Corporation, Olympus Corporation, and Stryker CorporationAsk any Queries to Experts about Niche Segments, Requires Regional Data and Top Players atKidney Stones Market Regional AnalysisThe market is additionally segmented by region into the Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East and Africa. The Americas, leads the global market with a massive 50.8%, this is primarily due to a strong occurrence of kidney diseases in the region, sepicifically in North America. A strong focus on quality healthcare and the increasing demand for treatment options have bolstered growth in this region.Europe, has the second largest market share globally. The Kidney Stones Market region is projected to experience significant market development during the forecast period due to increasing healthcare expenditure and the existence of a large geriatric population with renal conditions. Asia Pacific has been projected to grow at the most rapid pace during the forecast period. This is owing to the rising construction of hospitals, increasing demand for affordable treatments and diagnostic services. MRFR has estimated a CAGR of 4.9% for the region during the forecast period.The Middle East & Africa are expected to observe modest growth. Lack of relevant technology and a low availability of modern healthcare technologies restrict growth in this region.About US: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, IndiaPhone: +1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Chronic Kidney Disease Market Size and Shares by Top Players Nova Biomedical, ARKRAY, OPTI Medical, 77 Elektronika, Randox Laboratories by 2023 Chronic Kidney Disease Market https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/5744 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/5744 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/5744 Chronic Kidney Disease Market Segmentation:The global chronic kidney disease market is segmented on the basis of diagnosis, treatment, indication, and end-user. On the basis of diagnosis, it is segmented into blood test, urine test, imaging test, and kidney biopsy.On the basis of treatment, it is segmented into drugs, dialysis, and kidney transplant. Drugs are further segmented into ace inhibitors, angiotensin-ii receptor blockers, calcium channel blockers, beta-blockers, and erythropoiesis-stimulating agents. Based on indication, it is segmented into Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, polycystic kidney disease, and others. Based on end-user, it is segmented into hospitals and clinics, diagnostic centers, and others.Global Chronic Kidney Disease Market Highlights:The Chronic Kidney Disease is characterized by the gradual loss of kidney function over the period. If left untreated, it may lead to kidney failure. Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, glomerulonephritis, interstitial nephritis, polycystic kidney disease, and others are the common indications for the chronic kidney disease. The disease can be treated through administration of drugs at the early stage and dialysis and kidney transplant at the last stage.Get Exclusive Sample Copy of Chronic Kidney Disease Market Report spread across 110 Premium Pages, Top 21 Companies Profile and Supported with 43 Tables and 31 Figures is Now Available atWorld Chronic Kidney Disease Market Key Players:Abbott, Siemens, Sysmex, Beckman Coulter, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, ACON Laboratories, Inc., URIT Medical, Nova Biomedical, ARKRAY, OPTI Medical, 77 Elektronika, Randox Laboratories, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Amgen Inc., AstraZeneca Plc, Pfizer Inc., F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Sanofi S.A., GlaxoSmithKline Plc, AbbVie Inc., and Kissei Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.Market Research Future has a half-cooked research report on the Global Chronic Kidney Disease Market. Global chronic kidney disease market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.2% during the forecast period, 2018 to 2023.Chronic Kidney Disease Market Regional Analysis:America dominates the chronic kidney disease market owing to increasing patient population suffering from kidney diseases and increasing number of specialty care services. Additionally, increasing awareness about kidney diseases among patients also fuels the growth of the market. The U.S. being the largest market is driven by the increasing number of diagnostic procedures.In Europe, the availability of funds for research and extensive use of diagnostic devices in hospitals and diagnostic centers are the major drivers for the growth of the market. Furthermore, the increasing government support for research and development in the field of nephrology also stimulates the growth of the market.Asia Pacific is the fastest growing market for the chronic kidney disease whose growth is attributed to a high prevalence of diabetes and other chronic diseases. Countries such as India and China are the major contributors to the growth of the market due to the increasing awareness about kidney diseases and its risk factors and the increasing number of patients undergoing dialysis and kidney transplant. Furthermore, the improvement in healthcare delivery and emphasis on quality care also fuel the growth of the market.The Middle Eastern and African market is governed by the increasing demand for specialty care services and increasing focus on the quality of care provided in the hospitals. Africa exhibits a steady growth in the market.Get Discount @Some of Major TOC Global Chronic Kidney Disease Market Research Report- Forecast to 2023:1 History and Evolution of Chronic Kidney Disease1.1 Scenario Analysis2 Report Prologue3 Introduction3.1 Scope of Study3.2 Research Objective3.3 Assumptions & Limitations3.3.1 Assumptions3.3.2 Limitations3.4 Market Structure4 Research Methodology4.1 Market Size Estimation4.1.1 Market Share analysis4.2 Market Pricing ApproachT.O.C Continued.!Ask any Queries to Experts about Niche Segments, Requires Regional Data and Top Players atAbout US: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, IndiaPhone: +1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Targeting Pods Market 2018 Global Key Companies Review | Forecast for Next 5 Years of Various Segments Along With Detailed Analysis of the Market Structure https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/6021 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/targeting-pods-market-6021 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/press-release/targeting-pods-market Global Targeting Pods Market by Type (FLIR & Laser Designator, Laser Spot Tracker), Component (FLIR Sensor, CCD Camera, MMS, ECU, HD TV, Video Datalink), Platform (Combat Aircraft, Helicopters, UAV), Fit (OEM Fit, Upgrade) & RegionGlobal Forecast till 2023The Global Targeting Pods market projected to register a CAGR around 7% from 2018 to 2023.Get Sample Report @Market ScenarioTargeting pods are an electronic device used by ground-attack aircraft for identifying targets and guiding Precision-Guided Munitions (PGM), such as laser-guided bombs to those targets. This will benefit the air-to-ground attacks in autonomous or cooperative mode, using integrated laser spot tracker and laser market. The increasing military aircraft procurement by various countries has led to an increase in the demand for aircraft payload-based targeting system, which are targeting pods, for capability enhancement in precision targeting. Therefore, significant investment has been made on the development of the targeting pods design, which would witness a rapid growth during the forecast period. However, major restraint of the market is the technical constraints of manufacturing targeting pods. To overcome the manufacturing issues, the Russian Air Force made a breakthrough in manufacturing piezoelectric ceramic film strips, leading to a breakthrough in building targeting pods.The increased need for futuristic technologies, such as infrared technologies, thermally cooled infrared devices, and forward-looking infrared technology, will enable the manufacturers to offer new growth opportunities for the market players. The factors responsible for the growth of the globally targeting pods market are the increasing military aircraft procurement and upgrades of existing aircraft across the world.Recently, Northrop Grumman signed a contract with the U.S. military to modernize the latters advanced targeting systems. These upgrades would improve the range and resolution capabilities of targeting pods. Similarly, Ultra Electronic Holdings Plc signed a contract with the U.K Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft to provide airborne laser targeting pods.The globally targeting pods market has been segmented into type, component, platform, fit, and region. Based on type, the FLIR & Laser designator pods segment is widely used and comprises the largest share in the market due to increasing use of forward-looking infrared sensors, along with laser designators for targeting and surveillance. Based on the component segment, the FLIR sensor segment is expected to have the largest demand in the targeting pods market during the forecast period due to increased spending on aircraft with precision attack capabilities in low light conditions. Based on platform, the combat aircraft segment has the largest demand in the targeting pods market due to the increased spending on upgrading existing aircraft and new aircraft procurement programs, especially for precision ground attack capabilities. Among fit segment, OEM has the largest demand in targeting pods market due to increased spending on airborne targeting and laser designation systems.Browse Complete Report@Global Targeting Pods Market, By SegmentationOn the basis of region, the market is segmented into North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and South America. The Europe region is expected to dominate the market in the future, due to increased spending on advanced airborne targeting systems by countries, such as the U.K, France, and Russia and the upgrades and procurement of targeting pod-based aircraft. The reason for Russias dominance in the Europe targeting pods market can be attributed to the countrys aircraft upgrades programs. Asia Pacific region is second to the European region in the global targeting pods market due to the increasing need for public safety and increased defense budgets of developing countries. For instance, Egypt has signed an agreement with Lockheed Martin to provide Low Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infrared for Night (LANTIRN) navigation and targeting pod system that allows the host aircraft to fly at low altitudes, at night and under-the-weather to attack ground targets with a variety of precision-guided weapons. The system comprises the AN/AAQ-13 navigation pod and AN/AAQ-14 targeting pod. Thus, the global targeting pods market is estimated to witness approximately 7% CAGR from 2018 to 2023.Key PlayersThe key players in the global targeting pods market are Lockheed Martin (U.S.), Aselsan (Turkey), Thales Group (France), Raytheon Company (U.S.), Northrop Grumman (U.S.), L-3 Technologies (U.S.), Ultra Electronics (U.K), Israel Aerospace Industries (Israel), MOOG Inc. (U.S.), Flir Systems (U.S.), Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. (Israel), and Qioptik (Paris).The report for Global Targeting Pods Market of Market Research Future comprises 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 and volume, technological advancement, macro economic 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.Press Release Available @Table Of Contents1 Executive Summary2 Scope Of The Report2.1 Market Definition2.2 Scope Of The Study2.2.1 Definition2.2.2 Research Objective2.2.3 Assumptions2.2.4 Limitations2.3 Research Process2.3.1 Primary Research2.3.2 Secondary Research2.4 Market Size Estimation2.5 Forecast Model3 Market Landscape3.1 Porters Five Forces Analysis3.1.1 Threat Of New Entrants3.1.2 Bargaining Power Of Buyers3.1.3 Threat Of Substitutes3.1.4 Segment Rivalry3.1.5 Bargaining Power Of Buyers3.2 Value Chain/Supply Chain Analysis4 Market Dynamics4.1 Introduction4.2 Market Drivers4.3 Market Restraints4.4 Market Opportunities4.5 Market Trends5 Global Targeting Pods Market, By Type6 Global Targeting Pods Market, By Component7 Global Targeting Pods Market, By Platform8 Global Targeting Pods Market, By Fit9 Global Targeting Pods Market, By RegionContinues..Ask 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 Breakfast Cereals Market to Exceed US$ 43.2 Bn in 2019 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/3030 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/multiple-chapter/3030 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/checkout/3030 www.persistencemarketresearch.com According to a new market report published by Persistence Market Research Global Market Study on Breakfast Cereals: Hot Cereals to Witness Highest Growth by 2019, the global breakfast cereals market was valued at USD 32.5 billion in 2012 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.1% from 2013 to 2019, to reach an estimated value of USD 43.2 billion in 2019.The need for convenience and busy schedules of people has been propelling the processed food industry, which includes breakfast cereals. Developed nations already have breakfast cereals as part of their regular course of meals. Increasing per capita income in developing countries is further giving the breakfast cereal industry a new dimension to look for.Request to Sample of Report @The market in the US is declining which is compelling the companies in this industry to increase their markets in the emerging economies. These companies have been increasing their advertising spends in the emerging markets in Asia Pacific region to make consumers aware about the breakfast cereals and the health benefits associated with them. Companies have also developed some brands according to the regional preferences, such as inclusion of saffron and raisin flavored cereals in India.Special emphasis on healthy living has prompted market players to introduce new products, which suit all age groups and lifestyles. International players are also focusing on reformulating their products by replacing harmful hydrogenated fat and oils with healthier ingredients such as fiber and fruits. Demand for gluten-free cereals has increased in the market, especially in North America and Europe. There also has been an increase in demand for whole-grain cereals worldwide.Breakfast cereals are broadly marketed under two segments: RTE cereals and Hot cereals. The market for RTE cereals is much bigger as compared to that of Hot breakfast cereals. The Ready-to-eat (RTE) cereal had the larger share in the breakfast cereal market and was valued at USD 27.8 billion in 2012. However, the Hot cereals is growing at more than double the CAGR of RTE cereals due to its increasing consumption in the Asian markets.Request Report Multiple Chapter @Geographically, North America, led by sales from the US, accounted for the largest share in the breakfast cereals market and was valued at USD 13.9 billion in 2012. Though China does not have a large market, but the market in the country is growing at a brisk pace, therefore showing opportunities for the companies to increase investments in this region. Major companies operating in the market are Kelloggs, Cereal Partners Worldwide and PepsiCo.Get full report now @About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Strategic Competitive Intelligence and the role of the Microbiome in Immuno-Oncology http://www.immuno-oncology-conference.com/openpr http://www.smi-online.co.uk In addition to the Main Conferences agenda (covering a breadth of topics and presentations ranging from case studies about Keytruda therapies to keynote addresses exploring the tumour mutation burden), SMi Group is pleased to have the expertise of the industry leaders leading on-site interactive training programmes. By attending these half-day workshops, on the 25 September, attendees will formulate a deeper understanding of Strategic Competitive Intelligence and the role of the Microbiome in Immuno-Oncology.Workshop A, 25 September, 8.30 - 12.30 - Strategic competitive intelligence in the Immuno-Oncology space Uncover opportunities and threats for your company and brand in the Immuno-Oncology space by combining the latest advancements in Strategic Competitive Intelligence. Get step-by-step guide on how to use CI to generate actionable insights and gain a competitive advantage over others.This workshop is led by: Timos Papagatsias, CEO of LucidQuest - an expert with over 10 years experience working as a strategy and intelligence consultant across the Pharma / Biotech and the Life Sciences Investment industries. Timos is now leading LucidQuest, a boutique strategic intelligence consultancy that focuses both on traditional therapy areas (oncology, haematology, immunology, CV/Met, CNS etc.) as well as on developing insights into patient centricity, digital healthcare / IoE and personalized medicine (gene and cell therapies).Workshop B, 25 September, 13.30 - 17.00 - Could the Microbiome boost Cancer Immuno-Therapy Further the knowledge in the advantages and challenges of developing microbiome-based treatments by looking into recent advances in understanding of the complex role of microbiome in health and disease and how microbes and the microbiota may contribute to cancer development, and responsiveness to cancer therapeutics.This workshop is led by: Shahram Lavasani, CEO of ImmuneBiotech AB - skilful immunologist and PhD holder in Medical Inflammation Research. Now leading ImmuneBiotech, Shahram developed a proprietary lactobacilli library and established accurate and multiple selection technologies to screen and design formulations for the optimal therapeutic management of the diseases. Ramin Massoumi, Associate Professor at Lund University, working on research into molecular targeted therapy [1]Further details atTwitter - @SMIpharm & #immunooncologysmiLinkedIn - SMi PharmaCONTACT:+44 (0)20 7827 6000ldurneva@smi-online.co.uk[1] portal.research.lu.se/portal/en/persons/ramin-massoumi(ecd19c7b-c3a4-414d-a686-8bf643504064).htmlAbout SMi Group: Established since 1993, the SMi Group is a global event-production company that specializes in Business-to-Business Conferences, Workshops, Masterclasses and online Communities. We create and deliver events in the Defence, Security, Energy, Utilities, Finance and Pharmaceutical industries. We pride ourselves on having access to the worlds most forward-thinking opinion leaders and visionaries, allowing us to bring our communities together to Learn, Engage, Share and Network. More information can be found atSMi Group Ltd1 Westminster Bridge Rd, South Bank, London SE1 7XWLyudmyla Durnevaldurneva@smi-online.co.uk Global Generators in Telecommunication Sales Market Report 2018 : Caterpillar, Kohler, Cummins, Wartsila, MTU, Generac, https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1766519 https://www.researchmoz.us/global-generators-in-telecommunication-sales-market-report-2018-report.html/toc http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG https://marketsizeinfo.blogspot.in/ Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Generators in Telecommunication Sales Market Report 2018" to its huge collection of research reports.In this report, the global Generators in Telecommunication 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 (Units), revenue (Million USD), market share and growth rate of Generators in Telecommunication for these regions, from 2013 to 2025 (forecast), coveringUnited StatesChinaEuropeJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Global Generators in Telecommunication market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Generators in Telecommunication sales volume, Price (K USD/Unit), revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingCaterpillarKohlerCumminsWartsilaMTUGeneracBriggs & StrattonGEHondaDresser-RandKiporCooltechshSaononVpowerTellhowFoguangDingxinSWTKontuneXgpowerOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoMentha Arvensis Oil for FoodMentha Arvensis Oil for MedicinalOthersOn 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, includingFoodPharmaceuticalPerfumery and FlavoringOthersTable of ContentsGlobal Generators in Telecommunication Sales Market Report 20181 Generators in Telecommunication Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Generators in Telecommunication1.2 Classification of Generators in Telecommunication by Product Category1.2.1 Global Generators in Telecommunication Market Size (Sales) Comparison by Type (2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Generators in Telecommunication Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Mentha Arvensis Oil for Food1.2.4 Mentha Arvensis Oil for Medicinal1.2.5 Others1.3 Global Generators in Telecommunication Market by Application/End Users1.3.1 Global Generators in Telecommunication Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Food1.3.3 Pharmaceutical1.3.4 Perfumery and Flavoring1.3.5 Others1.4 Global Generators in Telecommunication Market by Region1.4.1 Global Generators in Telecommunication Market Size (Value) Comparison by Region (2013-2025)1.4.2 United States Generators in Telecommunication Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.3 China Generators in Telecommunication Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.4 Europe Generators in Telecommunication Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.5 Japan Generators in Telecommunication Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Generators in Telecommunication Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.7 India Generators in Telecommunication Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5 Global Market Size (Value and Volume) of Generators in Telecommunication (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global Generators in Telecommunication Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global Generators in Telecommunication Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2025)More Clear Details get Table of Contents @2 Global Generators in Telecommunication Competition by Players/Suppliers, Type and Application2.1 Global Generators in Telecommunication Market Competition by Players/Suppliers2.1.1 Global Generators in Telecommunication Sales and Market Share of Key Players/Suppliers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Generators in Telecommunication Revenue and Share by Players/Suppliers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Generators in Telecommunication (Volume and Value) by Type2.2.1 Global Generators in Telecommunication Sales and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)2.2.2 Global Generators in Telecommunication Revenue and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)2.3 Global Generators in Telecommunication (Volume and Value) by Region2.3.1 Global Generators in Telecommunication Sales and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)2.3.2 Global Generators in Telecommunication Revenue and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)2.4 Global Generators in Telecommunication (Volume) by Application3 United States Generators in Telecommunication (Volume, Value and Sales Price)3.1 United States Generators in Telecommunication Sales and Value (2013-2018)3.1.1 United States Generators in Telecommunication Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)3.1.2 United States Generators in Telecommunication 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.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn @Follow me on @ Wound care market is projected to be US$ 30 Billion 2024 https://www.renub.com/global-wound-care-market-nd.php https://www.renub.com/contactus.php https://www.renub.com/wound-care-market-p.php www.renub.com Access full Research:Get Free Customization in This ReportWound care market is projected to be US$ 30 Billion by the end of year 2024. Wound infection is the most important safety apprehension for person, who is being treated and healthcare practitioners worldwide. Global wound care market has observed several technological improvements and came out as a standard answer to treat acute and chronic wounds. The treatment in wound care involves involvement therapies and use of medical products like Traditional Adhesive Dressings, Film Dressings, Traditional Gauze Dressings, Hydrocolloid, Foam Dressings, Non-Adherent Dressings, Alginate Dressings, Hydrogel, Antimicrobial Dressings, Growth Factors and Others. Wound care treatment helps in to advance the well-being of patients affected from the disorders pressure ulcers, diabetic ulcers, venous stasis ulcers, burn injuries, surgical & trauma, external injuries etc. Skin Ulcer and Surgical & Trauma together controls the market share in global wound care market. Burn injuries also has double digit market share. The wounds that do not heal affect the quality of life severely and increase the complications.Request a free sample copy of the report:Regional Insights on Global Wound Care MarketUnited States will lead the market share for global wound care market due to huge patient population for wounds and rapid emergence of new products but Asia Pacific will control the market share in future. As per United States National Center for Health Statistics, more than USD 13 Billion was spent on pressure ulcer management for the year 2015 in United States. Global wound care market is a highly fragmented industry with no company having a double digit market share. Acelity, Molnlycke Healthcare and Smith & Nephew are the top three dominating companies.Applications in Global Wound Care MarketWound Closer has highest market share in global wound care market, but they are losing their market share year on year. Other than wound closer report also talks about 5 other wound care applications market such as Miscellaneous Wound Management, Moist Dressings, Bio-engineered Skin & Skin Substitutes, Pressure Relief and Negative-Pressure Wound Therapy (NPWT).Access full Research:Companies launching new products in Global Would Care Market Dermapace System has launched the shock wave device which can be used for the treatment of chronic, full-thickness diabetic foot ulcers. This device uses energy pulses to automatically stimulate the wound. Wexner Medical Center researchers of Ohio State University have made electrically charged bandages that will fight antibiotic resistance, and will provide quicker healing in burn wounds. AutoDepth technology a mobile app has been launched by Swift Medical a wound care company based in Toronto Canada. The purpose of this app is that it can measure the death of wound just by waving the app over the wound. Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine researchers are looking for a FDA approval for a topical gel. This topical gel is made from oral blood pressure pills, which has shown results in quicker healing of wounds in mice and pigs. Avita Medical and INDEE Medical have signed a distribution agreement in January 2016 for the distribution of its ReCell device in Japan.Key Topics Covered1. Executive Summary2. Global Wound Care Market3. Market Share Analysis Global Wound Care (2012 2024)4. By Products - Global Wound Care Market (2012 2024)5. By Application - Global Wound Care Market6. By Wound Type - Global Wound Care Market7. By Region - Global Wound Care Market8. Molnlycke Healthcare Company profile9. Acelity L.P. Inc. Company Profile10. Smith & Nephew Company Analysis11. ConvaTec Group Company Profile12. Ethicon Inc. Company Analysis13. Coloplast Corp. Company Analysis14. Derma Sciences, Inc Company Analysis15. Scapa Healthcare Company Analysis16. Growth Drivers17. ChallengesContact UsRajat GuptaSr. Marketing ManagerEmail: info@renub.comPhone: +1-678-302-0700Web:Renub Research is a leading Market Research and Information Analysis Company with centers at Noida India and Roswell USA. We have long-term experience especially in international Business-to-Business Researches, Surveys, Business and Consulting. Throughout the years we have acquired expertise in most market sectors, including Information Technology (IT), Telecoms, Life Sciences, Medical & Pharmaceuticals, Financial Services (Banking, Insurance, Reinsurance, M&A, etc.), Energy, Chemicals, Automotive, Retail, FMCG, Consumer Goods, Logistics, Governmental, Social, and Others.Our core team is comprised of an experienced people holding graduate, post graduate and Ph.D. degrees in Finance, Marketing, Human Resource, Bio-Technology, Medicine, Information Technology, Environmental Science and many more. Our research help make the business decisions: on strategy, organization, operations, technology, mergers & acquisitions etc. We support many blue chip companies by providing them findings and perspectives across a wide range of markets. Our research reports offer a blend of information insight, analysis and forecasting that is essential in today's ultra-competitive markets.225 Kristie Ln, Roswell, GA 30076, United States Introducing Indias Most Advanced Record Management System. It?s time to get rid of the burden of your pilling records!!! http://www.securus.co.in/ Securus record management Pvt Ltd, today has announced a wide array of lucrative document storage services which will further allow various data-sensitive organizations to access to unlimited document storage facilities for their pilling business records. As of now, the organization is only offering highly organized physical-record-storages to all kinds of corporate moguls, especially to those who are looking for a sophisticated records storage solutions for their businesses.As one of the oldest record management companies in Delhi, we understand the importance of your business records like no one else. We consider data as oxygen without of which no corporate institution, whether small or big, can even breathe for a short span of time. Be it a forgotten piece of financial record or any recent statistical information, records and documents are indeed the most quintessential element for strategizing a full-proof business plan and hence needs to be stored and protected at any cost.We are a keen observer of the market and we do know that how much important is it for you to store and protect your valuable corporate records in physical forms, particularly in an era when each and every bit of digitally stored information is facing the grievous and undetectable threat of cyber espionage and hacking. The last election in the USA and the most recent case of 'Cambridge Analytica are the burning examples that will continuously bind us to raise the finger on the authenticity of any digital-data-storage facilities.Here in India, the concept of record management is quite a new phenomenon for most of the small and medium class businesses. And yet, a vast number of booming businesses are feeling the immediate urge for adopting an advanced record management system (RMS). Unlike the old days, it is no more regarded as an underrated procedure. In fact, most of the corporate behemoths are largely empathetic towards outsourcing their record management needs. However, the climate is changing day by day, in fact in a radical manner, and we can possibly hope for a time when more and more business houses will prefer document management as an integral part of their business strategy.At SRM, we recognize this demand as one of the toughest challenges for modern day businesses in India. The reason for this is very simple-either, most of the companies and institutions do not possess any smart document storage mechanism or they do not want to invest in such a huge storage infrastructure which can store their mounting amount of records in a safe and secure way.Considering this, we have come up with an advanced document management mechanism which is reinforced by a wide array of fail-safe security arrangements. We are providing a state of art storage-vault which will not only allow you to store, and backup your sensitive corporate data but would also protect them from all kinds of possible threats like, fire, moisture, pests, and sabotage.Our Popular Services are listed as follows:A) An unlimited physical storage.B) An impenetrable Record-vault.C) Digitization of files and Records.D) Data backup & Data-shredding.So if you are looking for the best record management services in Delhi, please visit our website. Be in touch with us for any kinds of further updates.Visit us to know more-We are a premium-class physical storage provider, playing a pivotal role in spreading the awareness of record and document management among the corporate masses in India. We use various cutting edge technologies such as laser beam detectors, blast-proof lightening, barcode identification, fire, and moisture proof vault, CCTV camera and automatic fire-alarm-system, which have actually helped us to render the highest degree of record handling solutions for our clients.B-151, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-I,New Delhi - 110 020 Helicopter Avionics Market 2018 Global key Leaders: Avidyne Corporation, Elbit Systems, Esterline Technologies, Leonardo, Rockwell Collins, Thales Group https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/5840 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/helicopter-avionics-market-5840 Market Highlights:Helicopter avionics is a combination of aviation and electronics. It consists of electromechanical elements and electronic devices for his or her operations. The avionics systems include equipment for communication, cockpit display, monitoring and control, and navigation and other electromechanical systems. The growing amount of innovation in technology have conjointly raised the demand for advanced avionics as they provide improved durability and enhanced functioning. Avionics systems offer pilots with essential data such as aircraft altitude, airstream incidence, and airspeed with the assistance of air-data sensors, accelerometers, pilots stick detector assembly, and rate gyros.The primary goal for helicopter avionics is to increase both, safety and situational awareness for helicopter pilots. The increased need for synthetic vision, advanced navigation systems, improved situational awareness for helicopters, and a higher number of cockpits, will enable the helicopter manufacturers to adopt avionics market. The demand for automatic ground collision avoidance system, is also drivng the growth of global helicopter avionics market. Another key driver for the growth of global helicopter avionics market is the increase in defense budgets of emerging economies.Request a Sample Report @Major Key PlayersHoneywell International Inc. (U.S.),Avidyne Corporation (U.S.),Thales Group (France),Aspen Avionics (U.S.),ForeFlight (U.S.),L-3 Avionics Systems (U.S.),Garmin Ltd (Switzerland), and Cobham Plc.(U.K.)The global helicopter avionics market is segmented based on system type and engine type. Of system types, flight management system is widely used and captures the majority of the global helicopter avionics market. The key growth factor of flight management system is increasing the requirement of real-time flight plan information sharing. Of engine types, single-engine helicopters have the largest demand in the helicopter avionics market. Such advancements are expected to fuel the growth of the helicopter avionics market in flight management system and single-engine helicopter during the forecast period.Industry NewsApril, 2018, Elbit Systems Ltd., acquired a private-owned U.S. company, Universal Avionics Systems Corporation. This acquisition will enable the company to offer advanced end-to-end cockpit solutions for commercial OEMs and after market customers.In April 2018, Rockwell Collins signed an agreement with the Brazilian Army Aviation Command to service avionics equipment. The three-year agreement includes local support for Rockwell Collins MFD-255EF Multi-Function Displays, HF-9087D High Frequency (HF) Receiver, and Transmitters, as well as Talon RT-8200 digital radios that are part of a modernization program currently underway.In November 2017, Astronautics Corporation of America signed a contract with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to developed avionics cybersecurity systems. The contract is focused on mitigation strategies and safety risk assessments on different avionics, as well as working with other researcher teams to integrate critical elements of independent methodologies from Phase 1A.In October 2016, Avidyne Corporation signed an agreement with FreeFlight Systems (FFS) to provide FFS RANGR products to Avidyne customers. It will offer a bundled FFS RANGR ADS-IN receiver with IFDs and ADS-B OUT-capable Mode S Transponders.March 2017, Thales signed an agreement with AirAsias 304 A320neos to supply avionics systems, which includes TopFlight FMS, T3CAS, Low Range Radio Altimeter and Emergency Location Transmitters. Additionally, the contract includes a long-term repair-by-the-hour support agreement.Browse Complete Report @The report for Global Helicopter Avionics Market of Market Research Future comprises 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 and volume, 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.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 Future+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Global Passenger Car & Light Truck Axles Market Set For Rapid Growth and Trend, By 2018 QyResearchReports https://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=1819859&type=S https://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-passenger-car-and-light-truck-axles-market-professional-survey-report-2018.htm/toc http://www.qyresearchreports.com Qyresearchreports include new market research report Passenger Car & Light Truck Axles to its huge collection of research reports.The global market for Passenger Car & Light Truck Axles has been witnessing a continued alteration in the pattern of the demand for Passenger Car & Light Truck Axles. This research report attempts to understand the frequent changes in the consumer behavior and their impact on the Passenger Car & Light Truck Axles market across the world. The research report delivers an exhaustive analysis of the worldwide Passenger Car & Light Truck Axles market and proves to be a source of valuable information for all the active market players across the value chain, helping them in capitalizing the opportunities as well as planning out crucial business strategies.This report studies the global Passenger Car & Light Truck Axles market status and forecast, categorizes the global Passenger Car & Light Truck Axles market size (value & volume) by manufacturers, type, application, and region. This report focuses on the top manufacturers in North America, Europe, Japan, China, India, Southeast Asia and other regions (Central & South America, and Middle East & Africa).Get Free Sample Report of the Research Study at:The major manufacturers covered in this reportAAMZF FriedrichshafenDanaMeritorKorea FlangeHyundai DymosSeAH BesteelPress KogyoIJTILJINTimkenGestampMagneti Marelli...The study objectives of this report are:To analyze and study the global Passenger Car & Light Truck Axles capacity, production, value, consumption, status (2013-2017) and forecast (2018-2025);Focuses on the key Passenger Car & Light Truck Axles 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 market.To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market.Read Complete Table of Content of the Report at:Table of Contents1 Industry Overview of Passenger Car & Light Truck Axles1.1 Definition and Specifications of Passenger Car & Light Truck Axles1.1.1 Definition of Passenger Car & Light Truck Axles1.1.2 Specifications of Passenger Car & Light Truck Axles1.2 Classification of Passenger Car & Light Truck Axles1.2.1 Front Axle1.2.2 Rear Axle1.3 Applications of Passenger Car & Light Truck Axles1.3.1 Passenger Car1.3.2 Light Truck1.3.3 Application 32 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Passenger Car & Light Truck Axles2.1 Raw Material and Suppliers2.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Passenger Car & Light Truck Axles2.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Passenger Car & Light Truck Axles2.4 Industry Chain Structure of Passenger Car & Light Truck Axles3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Passenger Car & Light Truck Axles3.1 Capacity and Commercial Production Date of Global Passenger Car & Light Truck Axles Major Manufacturers in 20173.2 Manufacturing Plants Distribution of Global Passenger Car & Light Truck Axles Major Manufacturers in 20173.3 R&D Status and Technology Source of Global Passenger Car & Light Truck Axles Major Manufacturers in 20173.4 Raw Materials Sources Analysis of Global Passenger Car & Light Truck Axles Major Manufacturers in 20174 Global Passenger Car & Light Truck Axles Overall Market Overview4.1 2013-2018E Overall Market Analysis4.2 Capacity Analysis4.2.1 2013-2018E Global Passenger Car & Light Truck Axles Capacity and Growth Rate Analysis4.2.2 2017 Passenger Car & Light Truck Axles Capacity Analysis (Company Segment)4.3 Sales Analysis4.3.1 2013-2018E Global Passenger Car & Light Truck Axles Sales and Growth Rate Analysis4.3.2 2017 Passenger Car & Light Truck Axles Sales Analysis (Company Segment)...About Us: QYResearchReports 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 feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.Contact Us:Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-618-1030Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com Global Immersion Oil Market Forecast 2018-2025 EMD Millipore, Olympus, Cargille Labs, Flinn Scientific Immersion Oil Market https://bit.ly/2JvmFD8 http://www.qymarketstudy.com/report/global-immersion-oil-market-10231 www.qymarketstudy.com/ A comprehensive market study on "Global Immersion Oil Market 2018-2025" examines the performance of the Immersion Oil market. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Immersion Oil market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Immersion Oil market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.Leading Manufacturers Analysis such as - Cargille Labs, EMD Millipore Corporation, Flinn Scientific, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Azzota Corporation, Nikon Instruments, Honeywell International, Leica Microsystems, Olympus Corporation, Idemitsu Kosan.The Global Immersion Oil Market 2018 report includes Immersion Oil market Revenue, market Share, Immersion Oil industry volume, market Trends, Immersion Oil Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Immersion Oil Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2025.Request Sample Copy of Report:Firstly, the report covers the top Immersion Oil manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Immersion Oil Market Segmented Based on Application - Hospitals & Clinics, Academic & Research Institutes, Diagnostics Laboratories, Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology.Immersion Oil Market Segmented Based on Type - Paraffin Oil, Cedar Wood Oil, Synthetic Oil, Others.Further, the Immersion Oil report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Immersion Oil industry, Immersion Oil industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Immersion Oil Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Immersion Oil 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 Immersion Oil market revenue worldwide.Finally, Immersion Oil 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 Military Drone Market 2018 Global Key Leaders: AeroVironment, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1667 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/military-drone-market-1667 Market Highlights:Military drones are used by military agencies, across the world, for protecting borders, enforcing law, and combat missions. Drones are a component of an unmanned aircraft system, which includes a ground-based controller and a communication system. The flight of drones is operated with various degrees of autonomy, either by remote control or autonomously. The military drones have simple operational and maintenance procedures with high military tactical capabilities. They are versatile and may carry a range of missions such as search and rescue, traffic monitoring, supporting armed service, and intelligence missions. The increase in venture funding and rapid technology advancement in drones is estimated to drive the market growth during the forecast period.However, there are some shortcomings in the global military drone market, such as defense budget cut on the procurement of drones, limitation of endurance and flight range, and issues with battery technology of UAVs. Drones are widely used for gathering information about objects and earth surface. Thus, security and safety concerns, such as privacy and nuisance issues, are the key factors limiting the expansion of the drones market. Moreover, the rise in the number of drones will raise security issues due to capturing confidential data about a restricted area. Hence, security and safety concerns are among the key factors that limit the expansion of the drones market.Get a Sample Report of Military Drone Market @Major Key PlayersThe key players in the global military drone market are AeroVironment Inc. (U.S.), General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (U.S.), Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (Israel), Lockheed Martin (U.S.), Northrop Grumman Corporation (U.S.), AAI Corporation Textron Systems (U.S.), Aeryon Labs Inc. (Canada), American Dynamics (U.S.), BAE Systems (U.K), and Boeing (U.S.).The factors that are responsible for the growth of the global military drone market are increased demand for drones in the military application, integration of drones in the current warfare systems to combat or counter threats, and cost-effectiveness as compared to manned aircraft. Other key drivers expected to contribute towards the growth of military drone market are increased focus of OEMs on aircraft MRO service and rapid aircraft fleet expansion.Market SegmentationThe global military drone market is segmented based on payload type, drone type, application, and region. On the basis of payload type, the sensors are widely used and comprises majority of the market share due to wide used in many commercial and military applications. On the basis of applications, the border security and spying are estimated to witness the highest CAGR during the forecast period due to increased demand in operation of preventive action and emergency cases.Regional AnalysisThe market is segmented based on North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East & Africa, and South America. North America region is expected to dominate the market in future due to the high adoption rate of drones in various commercial and defense applications. The European region is second to North America in the global military drone aircraft market due to the usage of drones in diverse environments and high-risk roles, such as weather monitoring. Thus, the global military drone market is estimated to register approximately 8% CAGR during the forecast period from 2017 to 2023.Get a Complete Report of Military Drone Market @Target Audience Military Drone OEMs System/Equipment Suppliers Government Bodies Potential Investors Key executive (CEO and COO) and strategy growth managerAbout 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 Future+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Global Survey - Intrauterine Devices Market Forecast 2018-2025 Merck, HRA Pharma, TianYi, Bayer, Allergan Intrauterine Devices Market https://bit.ly/2Lui3L0 http://www.qymarketstudy.com/report/global-intrauterine-devices-market-10235 www.qymarketstudy.com/ A comprehensive market study on "Global Intrauterine Devices Market 2018-2025" examines the performance of the Intrauterine Devices market. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Intrauterine Devices market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Intrauterine Devices market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.Leading Manufacturers Analysis such as - Bayer, Merck, Teva Pharmaceutical, Allergan, HRA Pharma, Eurogine, Yantai JiShengYaoXie, TianYi, SMB Corporation, Shenyang Liren, H & J Medical.The Global Intrauterine Devices Market 2018 report includes Intrauterine Devices market Revenue, market Share, Intrauterine Devices industry volume, market Trends, Intrauterine Devices Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Intrauterine Devices Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2025.Request Sample Copy of Report:Firstly, the report covers the top Intrauterine Devices manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Intrauterine Devices Market Segmented Based on Application - Age 20-24, Age 25-34, Age 35-44, Other.Intrauterine Devices Market Segmented Based on Type - Hormonal IUD, Copper IUD.Further, the Intrauterine Devices report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Intrauterine Devices industry, Intrauterine Devices industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Intrauterine Devices Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Intrauterine Devices 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 Intrauterine Devices market revenue worldwide.Finally, Intrauterine Devices 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 Food Safety Testing Market Comes in market with new innovation in upcoming year 2018-2023 http://www.qyreports.com/report/global-food-safety-testing-market- http://www.qyreports.com/enquiry-before-buying/?report-id=21425 http://www.qyreports.com/ask-for-discount/?report-id=21425 www.qyreports.com The Food Safety Testing Market trying out market has witnessed dazzling increase over the previous couple of years because of growing incidence of food infection there is a developing call for meals safety testing via meals manufacturers. Owing to growing consciousness approximately foodborne diseases and various technologically superior strategies and gadget deployed for food protection checking out, the marketplace for food protection trying out has been treading alongside a healthy boom course during the last few years and the marketplace is predicted to maintain to showcase sturdy boom over the next few years as nicely.Get Sample Copy of this Report @professional-survey-report-2016-21425/The essential goal which is driving the marketplace of Food Safety Testing Market checking out is choice for starvation which means possibilities for new corporations in the section of food enterprise. These businesses are growing new merchandise on day by day basis which calls for the trying out before going to preferred human beings.Lack of right meals management infrastructure could paralyze the boom of the international Food Safety Testing Market out marketplace inside the close to destiny. Moreover, limitations at the part of resources required for arranging a controlled meals infrastructure and a associated protection environment may want to abate marketplace growth as predicted through TMR analysts. Yet, there can be more factors hindering the call for for meals protection trying out. For instance, today, humans are unaware about the damaging outcomes of ignoring meals protection exams.The food safety testing market is segmented based on technology, contaminant, application, and by region. Different technologies used for testing food safety include traditional and rapid. Due to some limitations of traditional food safety methods, rapid food testing technology accounted for a significant share of 2018 market.3D Metrology Market regions:Global market, especially in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia and India, with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2011 to 2015, and forecast to 2021.Top Key Vendors in Market:SGS S.A.Bureau Veritas S.A.Intertek Group plcEurofins Scientific SEALS LimitedThermo Fisher ScientificMerieux NutriSciencesEnquiry before Buying:Table of Content:Global Food Safety Testing Market Research Report 2018-2025Chapter 1: Industry OverviewChapter 2: Food Safety Testing Market International and China Market AnalysisChapter 3: Environment Analysis of Food Safety Testing.Chapter 4: Analysis of Revenue by ClassificationsChapter 5: Analysis of Revenue by Regions and ApplicationsChapter 6: Analysis of Food Safety Testing Market Revenue Market Status.Chapter 7: Analysis of Food Safety Testing Industry Key ManufacturersChapter 8: Sales Price and Gross Margin AnalysisChapter 9: Marketing Trader or Distributor Analysis of Food Safety Testing Market.Chapter 10: Development Trend of Global Food Safety Testing 2017-2023Chapter 11: Industry Chain Suppliers of Global Food Safety Testing with Contact InformationChapter 12: New Project Investment Feasibility Analysis of Global Food Safety TestingChapter 13: Conclusion of the Global Food Safety Testing Market Industry 2018 Market Research ReportAsk for discount@The report covers market dynamics including drivers, restraints opportunities, and trends expected to influence the global video conferencing market growth during the period of 2018-2023.Contact:QYReportsJones John(Sales Manager)+91-9764607607sales@qyreports.comWe at, QYReports, a leading market research report published accommodate more than 4,000 celebrated clients worldwide putting them at advantage in todays competitive world with our understanding of research. Our list of customers includes prestigious Chinese companies, multinational companies, SMEs and private equity firms whom we have helped grow and sustain with our fact-based research. Our business study covers a market size of over 30 industries offering unfailing insights into the analysis to reimagine your business. We specialize in forecasts needed for investing in a new project, to revolutionize your business, to become more customer centric and improve the quality of output.QYReports,The Work Lab,FC Road, Pune, MH, India411016,9764607607,sales@qyreports.com Border Security Market 2018 Global Key Leaders: BAE Systems, FLIR Systems, Elbit Systems, Cobham, DRS Technologies, General Atomics https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1662 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/border-security-market-1662 Market Highlights:The global market for border security is increasing at a rapid pace. According to a recent study report published by the Market Research Future, The global market of border security will grow at a rapid pace over the forecast period. The market is forecasted to witness a slow but steady growth by 2023, which will be a surplus growth at a moderate CAGR during the projected period (2017 -2023).A sudden rise in terrorist activities across the world has forced nations to rethink on protection of the national boundaries. Security systems are equipped with different types of cameras, such as pan, tilt, and zoom cameras, which are connected to internet, to gives access to the information from required locations by wired or wireless connectivity. Aspects, such as rising tension across borders and growing terrorism, are expected to gear up the market growth over the forecast periodTechnological upgradation in the system has facilitated surveillance at remote and critical locations from the precision point of view. This has further increased the implementation rate of advanced security systems with larger product features and improved performance with respect to border security. The security market is predicted to grow in the domain of government & law enforcement area due to the increased crime rates across the globe.Get a Sample Report of Border Security Market @Major Key PlayersLockheed Martin Corporation (U.S.),Raytheon company (U.S.),Northrop Grumman Corporation (U.S.),Thales SA (France),BAE Systems Plc (U.K),FLIR systems, Inc. (U.S.),and Elbit systems Ltd. (Israel), Cobham plc (U.K), DRS Technologies (U.S.), General Atomics (U.S.), and others are some of the prominent players profiled in MRFR Analysis and are at the forefront of competition in the global border security market.Global Border Security Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 8% during 2016-2021. The key factors driving the growth are demand for mobile warfare systems, driverless cargo inspection systems, demand for persistent ISR, and demand for aerostat and blimps.Industry/ Innovation/ Related News:April 2018: Indian Government had started new project to protect Indias borders with Bangladesh and Pakistan. The smart fence system was a project that was implemented by the Border Security Forces (BSF) to close the susceptible gaps along Indias border with Pakistan and Bangladesh.April 2018: The Defence Department of U.S. had improved its support to the Department of Homeland Security to protect the U.S. border with Mexico.Border Security Market SegmentationThe global border security market is segmented in to 3 key dynamics for the convenience of the report and enhanced understanding;Segmentation by Platform: Ground, Aerial, NavalSegmentation by System : Laser, Radar, Camera, Wide Band Wireless Communication, Perimeter Intrusion, Unmanned Vehicles, C2C, Biometric Systems and OthersSegmentation by Regions: Comprises Geographical regions - North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa and South America.Browse Complete Report @Target Audience Government/Military Agency Border Security Products OEMs Component Suppliers Potential Investors Key executive (CEO and COO) and strategy growth managerAbout 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 Future+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Automotive Adaptive lighting 2018 Global Market Challenge, Driver, Trends & Forecast to 2023 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/2816536-global-automotive-adaptive-lighting-market-trends-forecast-2017-2023 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/2816536-global-automotive-adaptive-lighting-market-trends-forecast-2017-2023 www.linkedin.com/company/4828928 https://twitter.com/WiseGuyReports https://www.facebook.com/Wiseguyreports-1009007869213183/?fref=ts IntroductionThe global automotive adaptive lighting market has been largely benefiting from the changing paradigms in government regulations and end-users perspective towards enhanced safety in automobiles. In spite of a turbulence caused by the global economic slowdown of 2008, the automotive market gained back the pre-crisis annual growth rate after 2014. With several driving trends such as growing demand of passenger vehicles, growing urban population, expansion of global auto-manufacturers into new emerging markets, and rising disposable income of middle class population. The global automotive adaptive lighting market is poised to grow over USD 2,795.7 million by 2023 at an estimated CAGR of 8.18% through the forecast period.GET SAMPLE REPORT @Key PlayersThe key players of automotive adaptive lighting market include HELLA KGaA Hueck & Co. (Germany), Koito Manufacturing Co., Ltd (Japan), Magneti Marelli (Italy), Stanley Electric (Japan), North American Lighting (U.S.) Varroc Lighting Systems (U.S.), Zizala Lichtsysteme GmbH (Austria), OSRAM Licht AG, Valeo Group (France), and SL Corporation (South Korea).Objective of global automotive adaptive lighting market Analysis & Forecast, from 2016 to 2023 To provide insights about factors influencing and affecting the market growth. To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments as well as sub-segments with respect to regional markets and their key countries To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments based on technology, vehicle type, end market and region. To provide strategic profiling of key players in the market, comprehensively analyzing their market share, core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the marketTarget Audience Manufactures Raw materials suppliers Aftermarket suppliers Research institute & education institute Potential investors Key executive (CEO and COO) and strategy growth managerKey Findings On the basis of Technology, the market is segmented as LED, Halogen and Xenon. LED is projected to grow at the highest CAGR of 8.88 % during the forecast period. On the basis of vehicle type, the market is segmented as passenger car and commercial vehicle. Passenger car is projected to grow at the highest CAGR of 8.72 % during the forecast period. On the basis of End-Market, the market is segmented as OEM and Aftermarket. OEM is projected to grow at the highest CAGR of 9.16 % during the forecast period. Europe dominates the global automotive adaptive lighting market with 39.40 % of share in 2016, in terms of value. It is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.29 % during the forecast period. Asia Pacific is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10.34 % during the forecast period and reach a market size of USD 1145.7 million by 2023.Table of Content: Key Points1 Executive Summary 122 Introduction 143 Research Methodology 164 Market Dynamics 205 Market Factor Analysis 246 Global Automotive Adaptive Lighting Market, By Technology 287 Global Automotive Adaptive Lighting Market, By Vehicle Type 318 Global Automotive Adaptive Lighting Market, By End Market 349 Global Automotive Adaptive Lighting Market, By Region 37ContinuedACCESS 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 needs.WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, India 2018-2025 Curacao Long Term Refinery Market Analysis by Supply-Demand of Gasoline, LPG, Diesel, Fuel Oil, Planned Refineries, FIDs, Competition and New Opportunities Orbis Research http://orbisresearch.com/contacts/request-sample/2135772 http://orbisresearch.com/contacts/enquiry-before-buying/2135772 http://orbisresearch.com/reports/index/2018-curacao-long-term-refinery-market-outlook-report-supply-demand-of-gasoline-lpg-diesel-fuel-oil-planned-refineries-fids-competition-and-new-opportunities-to-2025 During 2018, increase in investor confidence is observed across refining markets including Curacao. Petroleum product consumption is witnessing significant increase with surge in economic activity and growth in construction and transportation demand. New refinery construction activities also witnessed significant progress worldwide driven by recovering oil prices.New petroleum product consumption mix is emerging in Curacao, forcing refiners to redesign their growth strategies for better refining margins and profitability. In this context, the leading industry publisher has released its 10th version of Curacao Long-term Refinery outlook report, offering analysis on Curacao downstream oil and gas markets. The Curacao refining report provides detailed insights into emerging market trends, new dynamics, shifting strategies and the future role of Curacao in global and regional refining markets.The Curacao report is a comprehensive research work covering details of Curacao refining patterns, key refiners, production, consumption and trading of major petroleum products, volumes and values, refining industry revenues, current and planned refinery details and competitive scenario. At the asset level, different capacities including crude distillation unit, coking capacity, fluid catalytic cracking capacity and hydrocracking capacity are forecast to 2022. In addition, refinery complexity and other key details are also provided in the report.Get Sample Copy of this Report@The Curacao research work also presents detailed outlook of Curacao gasoline, diesel, LPG, fuel oil consumption and production, together with trends and challenges of investing in Curacao market. In addition, details of refineries, storage assets, prices are provided. Further, demographic, economic outlook of Curacao together with latest refining industry developments are covered in detail.Strategic Analysis Review-This chapter presents detailed SWOT Analysis along with emerging trends in the market. Further, key strategies of operating companies in Curacao refining sector are analyzed.Curacao Oil Sector Analysis-The chapter presents complete analysis of Curacao oil markets including details of trends in oil markets, oil reserves, major oil fields, crude oil production and consumption forecasts along with the role of oil demand in primary energy are detailed.Refining Capacity Forecasts-At both country level and refinery levels, annual historical and forecasted data on Refining (CDU) Capacity, Coking Capacity, Fluid Catalytic Cracking Capacity, Hydrocracking Capacity is provided to 2022.Refining Infrastructure Details:10+ details for each of the operational and planned refineries in Curacao are provided, which include- basic details, operator, ownership, complexity, status, type, details. Further, capital expenditure and construction details are provided.Market Value and Investment Outlook:Curacao country wise refining market value along with capital investment planned to be spent in the industry are forecast to 2022Curacao Refinery Market Benchmarking:Curacao refining industry is compared with five peer markets in the region based on four pillars to determine the competitiveness of the country in regional scaleInquiry before Buying@Competitive Scenario:Companies currently operating in the industry and the companies planning to foray into the market are detailed along with their strategies and SWOT profiles. Further, net weighted capacities by company are also forecast in the report.The Curacao report presents both historical and forecasted data for Curacao petroleum products from 2007 to 2025. Further, Curacao CDU capacity, Curacao coking capacity, Curacao fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) capacity, Curacao hydrocracking capacity are forecast to 2022. The report also forecasts crude oil production and demand in Curacao between 2007 and 2025.Reasons to Buy:- Optimize your strategies and investments through our reliable forecasts- Design Long-term midstream and downstream investment decisions- Keep track of rapidly changing industry conditions- Gain forward-looking and objective analysis on the markets- Stay ahead of competition with information on planned investment opportunitiesTable of Content:2. Executive Summary2.1. Curacao Refining Market Snapshot, 20182.2. Curacao Refining Capacity Forecast, Kb/d, 2007- 20252.3. Curacao Refinery Capital Investment (CAPEX) Forecast, $ Million, 2016- 20222.4. Curacao Refinery Market Structure, 20173. Curacao Refinery Strategic Analysis Review, 20183.1. Curacao Refinery - SWOT Analysis3.1.1. Key Strengths3.1.2. Key Weaknesses3.1.3. Potential Opportunities3.1.4. Potential Threats3.2. Emerging Refinery Trends and Factors Shaping Future of Curacao Refinery Markets, 2018- 20253.3. Key Strategies formulated by Refinery Players in Curacao4. Curacao Crude Oil Market Analysis and Outlook5. Curacao Petroleum Products Production Outlook6. Curacao Petroleum Products Consumption Outlook7. Curacao Refinery Capacity Outlook to 20228. Curacao Refinery Infrastructure Details9. Curacao Refinery Investment Opportunities to 202210. Curacao Refinery Capex and Construction Details11. Curacao Refinery Market Benchmarking12. Curacao Refinery Market- Competitive Landscape13. Curacao Demographic and Economic Outlook14. Company Profiles of Leading Refinery Companies in Curacao15. Curacao Refinery Industry News and Recent Developments16. AppendixGet more information about this report@About Us:Orbis Research (orbisresearch.com) is a single point aid for all your market research requirements. We have vast database of reports from the leading publishers and authors across the globe. We specialize in delivering customized reports as per the requirements of our clients. We have complete information about our publishers and hence are sure about the accuracy of the industries and verticals of their specialization. This helps our clients to map their needs and we produce the perfect required market research study for our clients.Contact Info:Hector CostelloSenior Manager Client Engagements4144N Central Expressway,Suite 600, Dallas,Texas - 75204, U.S.A.Phone No.: +1 (214) 884-6817; +912064101019Email id: sales@orbisresearch.com Global Metal Sanding Machines Market Forecast 2018-2025 Valgro Hyzer, Timesavers, Costa Lavigatrici, IMEAS spa Metal Sanding Machines Market https://bit.ly/2JnMB09 http://www.qymarketstudy.com/report/global-metal-sanding-machines-market-10244 www.qymarketstudy.com/ A comprehensive market study on "Global Metal Sanding Machines Market 2018-2025" examines the performance of the Metal Sanding Machines market. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Metal Sanding Machines market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Metal Sanding Machines market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.Leading Manufacturers Analysis such as - Costa Lavigatrici S.p.A., Grind Master, Valgro Hyzer, Karl Heesemen Maschinenfabrik GmbH & Co,KG, Timesavers, LLC, IMEAS spa, Brusa & Garboli srl, XLR The Excellers, Power Master Motorposts, Super Polish Machine Co., Ltd.The Global Metal Sanding Machines Market 2018 report includes Metal Sanding Machines market Revenue, market Share, Metal Sanding Machines industry volume, market Trends, Metal Sanding Machines Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Metal Sanding Machines Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2025.Request Sample Copy of Report:Firstly, the report covers the top Metal Sanding Machines manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Metal Sanding Machines Market Segmented Based on Application - Manufacturing Industry, Construction.Metal Sanding Machines Market Segmented Based on Type - Manual, Semi-automatic, Fully-automatic.Further, the Metal Sanding Machines report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Metal Sanding Machines industry, Metal Sanding Machines industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Metal Sanding Machines Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Metal Sanding Machines research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Metal Sanding Machines market revenue worldwide.Finally, Metal Sanding Machines 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 HDL Cholesterol Market Forecast 2018-2025 Elitechgroup, Beckman Coulter, Medtest Dx, Alere North America HDL Cholesterol Market https://bit.ly/2LuilBA http://www.qymarketstudy.com/report/global-hdl-cholesterol-market-10232 www.qymarketstudy.com/ A comprehensive market study on "Global HDL Cholesterol Market 2018-2025" examines the performance of the HDL Cholesterol market. It encloses an in-depth Research of the HDL Cholesterol market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of HDL Cholesterol market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.Leading Manufacturers Analysis such as - Beckman Coulter, Alere North America, Alfa Wassermann, Elitechgroup, Jant Pharmacal Corporation, Medtest Dx, Pointe Scientific Inc, Polymer Technology Systems, Randox Laboratories, Verichem Laboratories Inc.The Global HDL Cholesterol Market 2018 report includes HDL Cholesterol market Revenue, market Share, HDL Cholesterol industry volume, market Trends, HDL Cholesterol Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, HDL Cholesterol Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2025.Request Sample Copy of Report:Firstly, the report covers the top HDL Cholesterol manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.HDL Cholesterol Market Segmented Based on Application - Hospitals, Clinics.HDL Cholesterol Market Segmented Based on Type - Regents, Instruments, Others.Further, the HDL Cholesterol report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of HDL Cholesterol industry, HDL Cholesterol industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. HDL Cholesterol Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The HDL Cholesterol 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 HDL Cholesterol market revenue worldwide.Finally, HDL Cholesterol 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 License Management Market 20182022 : Global Growth Drivers, Opportunities, Trends, and Forecasts License Management Market https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/3203297-global-license-management-market-report-2018 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/3203297-global-license-management-market-report-2018 WiseGuyReports.Com Publish a New Market Research Report On License Management Market 20182022 : Global Growth Drivers, Opportunities, Trends, and Forecasts.The License Management industry has also suffered a certain impact, but still maintained a relatively optimistic growth, the past four years, License Management market size to maintain the average annual growth rate of 12.71% from 440 million $ in 2014 to 630 million $ in 2017, The analysts believe that in the next few years, License Management market size will be further expanded, we expect that by 2022, The market size of the License Management will reach 1140 million $.Get a Sample Report @For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comThis Report covers the manufacturers data, including: shipment, price, revenue, gross profit, interview record, business distribution etc., these data help the consumer know about the competitors better. This report also covers all the regions and countries of the world, which shows a regional development status, including market size, volume and value, as well as price data.Besides, the report also covers segment data, including: type segment, industry segment, channel segment etc. cover different segment market size, both volume and value. Also cover different industries clients information, which is very important for the manufacturers.Sections:-Section 1: FreeDefinitionSection (2 3): 1200 USDManufacturer DetailAspera TechnologiesCherwell SoftwareDxc TechnologyFlexera SoftwareGemaltoIbmOracleQuest SoftwareServicenowSnow SoftwareSection 4: 900 USDRegion SegmentationNorth America Country (United States, Canada)South AmericaAsia Country (China, Japan, India, Korea)Europe Country (Germany, UK, France, Italy)Other Country (Middle East, Africa, GCC)ContinuedReport Details @Table Of Contents Major Key PointsSection 1 License Management Product DefinitionSection 2 Global License Management Market Manufacturer Share and Market Overview2.1 Global Manufacturer License Management Shipments2.2 Global Manufacturer License Management Business Revenue2.3 Global License Management Market OverviewSection 3 Manufacturer License Management Business Introduction3.1 Aspera Technologies License Management Business Introduction3.1.1 Aspera Technologies License Management Shipments, Price, Revenue and Gross profit 2014-20173.1.2 Aspera Technologies License Management Business Distribution by Region3.1.3 Aspera Technologies Interview Record3.1.4 Aspera Technologies License Management Business Profile3.1.5 Aspera Technologies License Management Product Specification3.2 Cherwell Software License Management Business Introduction3.2.1 Cherwell Software License Management Shipments, Price, Revenue and Gross profit 2014-20173.2.2 Cherwell Software License Management Business Distribution by Region3.2.3 Interview Record3.2.4 Cherwell Software License Management Business Overview3.2.5 Cherwell Software License Management Product Specification3.3 Dxc Technology License Management Business Introduction3.3.1 Dxc Technology License Management Shipments, Price, Revenue and Gross profit 2014-20173.3.2 Dxc Technology License Management Business Distribution by Region3.3.3 Interview Record3.3.4 Dxc Technology License Management Business Overview3.3.5 Dxc Technology License Management Product Specification3.4 Flexera Software License Management Business Introduction3.5 Gemalto License Management Business Introduction3.6 Ibm License Management Business IntroductionSection 4 Global License Management Market Segmentation (Region Level)4.1 North America Country4.1.1 United States License Management Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.1.2 Canada License Management Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.2 South America Country4.2.1 South America License Management Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.3 Asia Country4.3.1 China License Management Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.3.2 Japan License Management Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.3.3 India License Management Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.3.4 Korea License Management Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.4 Europe Country4.4.1 Germany License Management Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.4.2 UK License Management Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.4.3 France License Management Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.4.4 Italy License Management Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.4.5 Europe License Management Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.5 Other Country and Region4.5.1 Middle East License Management Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.5.2 Africa License Management Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.5.3 GCC License Management Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.6 Global License Management Market Segmentation (Region Level) Analysis 2014-20174.7 Global License Management Market Segmentation (Region Level) AnalysisSection 5 Global License Management Market Segmentation (Product Type Level)5.1 Global License Management Market Segmentation (Product Type Level) Market Size 2014-20175.2 Different License Management Product Type Price 2014-20175.3 Global License Management Market Segmentation (Product Type Level) AnalysisSection 6 Global License Management Market Segmentation (Industry Level)6.1 Global License Management Market Segmentation (Industry Level) Market Size 2014-20176.2 Different Industry Price 2014-20176.3 Global License Management Market Segmentation (Industry Level) AnalysisSection 7 Global License Management Market Segmentation (Channel Level)7.1 Global License Management Market Segmentation (Channel Level) Sales Volume and Share 2014-20177.2 Global License Management Market Segmentation (Channel Level) AnalysisContinued..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. Global Medium Range Military Radar Market Forecast 2018-2025 Terma, Saab, Raytheon, Hensoldt, Thales Medium Range Military Radar Market https://bit.ly/2JyN3fy http://www.qymarketstudy.com/report/global-medium-range-military-radar-market-10223 www.qymarketstudy.com/ A comprehensive market study on "Global Medium Range Military Radar Market 2018-2025" examines the performance of the Medium Range Military Radar market. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Medium Range Military Radar market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Medium Range Military Radar market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.Leading Manufacturers Analysis such as - Saab (Sweden), Israel Aerospace Industries (Israel), Raytheon (US), Northrop Grumman (US), Thales (France), Hensoldt (Germany), Lockheed Martin (US), Terma (Denmark), BAE Systems (UK).The Global Medium Range Military Radar Market 2018 report includes Medium Range Military Radar market Revenue, market Share, Medium Range Military Radar industry volume, market Trends, Medium Range Military Radar Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. 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It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Medium Range Military Radar Market Segmented Based on Application - Airspace Monitoring & Traffic Management, Air & Missile Defense, Weapon Guidance, Ground Surveillance & Intruder Detection, Airborne Mapping, Navigation, Others.Medium Range Military Radar Market Segmented Based on Type - Antenna, Transmitter, Receiver, Duplexer, Display, Digital Signal Processor, Stabilization System.Further, the Medium Range Military Radar report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Medium Range Military Radar industry, Medium Range Military Radar industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Medium Range Military Radar Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Medium Range Military Radar 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 Medium Range Military Radar market revenue worldwide.Finally, Medium Range Military Radar 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 Animal Fat Market 2018 Key Players: ABF, ADM, Bunge, Wilmar International, Cargill. Animal Fat Market https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/2795271-global-animal-fat-market-research-report-2018 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/2795271-global-animal-fat-market-research-report-2018 Animal Fat Market:WiseGuyReports.com adds Animal Fat Market 2018 Global Analysis, Growth, Trends and Opportunities Research Report Forecasting to 2025reports to its database.Executive SummaryThis report studies the global Animal Fat market status and forecast, categorizes the global Animal Fat market size (value & volume) by manufacturers, type, application, and region. This report focuses on the top manufacturers in North America, Europe, Japan, China and other regions (India, Southeast Asia, Central & South America, and Middle East & Africa).The global Animal Fat market is valued at million US$ in 2017 and will reach million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of during 2018-2025.The major manufacturers covered in this reportABFADMBungeWilmar InternationalCargillConagra FoodsIFFCOUnileverAjinomotoGeographically, 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 AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaOther Regions (India, Southeast Asia, Central & South America and Middle East & Africa)On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoButterTallowLardOthersOn 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, includingFoodIndustrialOthersRequest Sample Report @The study objectives of this report are:To analyze and study the global Animal Fat capacity, production, value, consumption, status (2013-2017) and forecast (2018-2025);Focuses on the key Animal Fat 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 Animal Fat 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 StakeholdersAnimal Fat ManufacturersAnimal Fat Distributors/Traders/WholesalersAnimal Fat Subcomponent ManufacturersIndustry AssociationDownstream VendorsAvailable CustomizationsWith the given market data, We 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 Animal Fat market, by end-use.Detailed analysis and profiles of additional market players.Table of ContentsGlobal Animal Fat Market Research Report 20181 Animal Fat Market Overview2 Global Animal Fat Market Competition by Manufacturers3 Global Animal Fat Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)4 Global Animal Fat Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2018)5 Global Animal Fat Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type6 Global Animal Fat Market Analysis by Application7 Global Animal Fat Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis8 Animal Fat Manufacturing Cost Analysis9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders11 Market Effect Factors Analysis12 Global Animal Fat Market Forecast (2018-2025)13 Research Findings and Conclusion14 AppendixContinuousFor further information on this report, visit Contact Us:Norah Trentsales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US); +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:WISEGUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone :+91 841 198 5042 Military Robots Market 2018 Global key Leaders: BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin Corporation, AeroVironment, Boston Dynamics, iRobot https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/3229 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/military-robots-market-3229 Market Highlights:According to a recent study report published by Market Research Future, the global market for military robots market will grow at a rapid pace over the forecast period. The market is expected to witness slow but steady growth until 2023, which will be a growing fast at a moderate CAGR during the forecast period (2017 -2023).The high demand for military robots market is due to the growing need to replace humans for dirty, dangerous and repetitive tasks in military, thus increasing the participation of manufacturers. Rapid adoption of robotics and artificial intelligence in military application will estimated to add to the growth of the market. Several dangerous tasks such as detecting chemical weapons, reconnaissance purpose and breaching enemy obstacles, are performed by robotics as it takes away the risk of soldier life. However, difficult to achieve interoperability among so many different systems and technologies act as a barrier to the growth of military robots market.Military robots are designed for defense applications such as rescue & search, transportation, mine clearance and targeting. The rise in popularity of robotics and artificial intelligence in military industry is expected to drive the market during the forecast period. Hence, the military robots system must integrate with artificial intelligence to improve the delivery of the right information to the right location and at the right time. Military aircraft operators are investing in the military robots system at a formidable rate in order to improve the functioning of the system. Leading military powers such as U.S. and Russia have modernized their armed forces and deployed weapons using robotics.Request a Sample Report @Major Key PlayersLockheed Martin Corporation (U.S.),Northrop Grumman System Corp. (U.S.),General Dynamics Corporation (U.S.),BAE Systems, Inc. (U.K.),AeroVironment Inc. (U.S.),iRobot (U.S.),Boston Dynamics (U.S.),Thales Group (France),Elbit Systems Ltd (Israel), and Turkish Aerospace Industries, Inc. (Turkey).SegmentationThe global Military Robots market is segmented into 5 key dynamics for the convenience of the report and enhanced understanding;Segmentation by Payload: Comprises Sensor, Radar, and WeaponSegmentation by Application: Comprises Warfield, Fire fighting, Search & Rescue, Transportation, Mine Clearance and OthersSegmentation by Mode of Operation : Comprises Human Operated, AutonomousSegmentation by Platform: Comprises Airborne, Ground Based and NavalSegmentation by Regions: Comprises Geographical regions - North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East & Africa and South America.Regional AnalysisEuropean region is dominating the market of the global military robots market due to manufacturers are equipped with the knowledge of robotics and various research institutes are developed. Countries such as U.K., Germany and France spend significantly for development of their military sector.North America is referred to as the second-largest military robots market due to factors such as increase investment by the governments of developing countries has fuelled the demand for global military robots market.Browse Complete Report @Intended Audience: Military robots market manufacturers Distributer &Supplier companies End Users consultants and Investment bankers Government as well as Independent Regulatory AuthoritiesAbout 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 Future+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com How Can Vaser Liposuction Help One To Get Well Contoured Body? 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Log on to our website by clicking on to the linkand read more about us.Harley Body Clinic10 Harley StreetLondon W1G 9PF Global Survey - Telecom Power Supply Market Forecast 2018-2025 Alta, Delta Electronics, ACME, APC, SAFT, ZTE, Bel Fuse Telecom Power Supply Market 2018 https://bit.ly/2kXB1hX http://www.qymarketstudy.com/report/global-telecom-power-supply-market-9157 www.qymarketstudy.com/ A comprehensive market study on "Global Telecom Power Supply Market 2018-2025" examines the performance of the Telecom Power Supply market. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Telecom Power Supply market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Telecom Power Supply market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.Leading Manufacturers Analysis such as - Delta Electronics, Eaton, Emerson Network Power, GE Industrial Solutions, Huawei Technologies, ACME, AEG Power Solutions, Alstom, Alta, APC, Bel Fuse, Benning Power Solutions, C&D Technologies, Cummins Power, Dyna Hitech Power Systems, Pioneer Magnetics, SAFT, Schneider Electric, Shindengen, VMC Systems, ZTE.The Global Telecom Power Supply Market 2018 report includes Telecom Power Supply market Revenue, market Share, Telecom Power Supply industry volume, market Trends, Telecom Power Supply Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. 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Telecom Power Supply Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Telecom Power Supply 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 Telecom Power Supply market revenue worldwide.Finally, Telecom Power Supply 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 Superbugs & Superdrugs USA Conference returns to New Jersey this November http://www.superbugs-usa.com/openpr http://www.smi-online.co.uk SMi Group reports: agenda released for 3rd annual Superbugs & Superdrugs USA conferenceBuilding on almost two decades worth of expertise in fighting the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), SMi Group is pleased to announce the release of the official agenda for the 3rd annual Superbugs & Superdrugs USA Conference, which is due to take place in Iselin, New Jersey on November 12 - 13, 2018.Antimicrobial resistance, leading to the development of superbugs, is a major threat to public health and continues to increase as a problem, due to continued misuse of antibiotics. With pharmaceutical companies showing less focus on the development of new antibiotics, several incentive initiatives have been set up - CARBX, BARDA, IMI (EU) - in order to encourage reinvestments. From a governmental point of view, the challenge lies in encouraging companies to develop new antimicrobial drugs and to strengthen and maintain the pipeline of antibiotics and other antimicrobials currently being developed.This years' Superbugs & Superdrugs USA Conference programme will help participants to learn about pathogen focused drug development; discover the best methods to overcome bacterial resistance through novel modes of action; discuss the state of developments within the antifungal space; develop an understanding of funding opportunities which support antibacterial research and development; gain insight into new techniques through case-study examples of rapid diagnostic methods currently being used within the field, making this event the perfect platform to strengthen knowledge in key principles.Speakers include: Anthony Simon Lynch, Senior Scientific Director, Janssen William Weiss, Director, Pre-Clinical Services, UNT Health Science Center Tina Guina, Program Officer, Drug Development Section, NIAID/NIH Mark Albrecht, Project Officer, HHS/ASPR/BARDA Antonio DiGiandomenico, Principal Scientist, MedImmune Andrew Tomaras, VP & Director of Microbiology, Bacterioscan Dan Pevear, Sr Vice President & Director of Microbiology, VenatoRx Ian Friedland, Clinical Consultant, ex-CMO, AchaogenPlus, topical workshops on November 14: Rapid diagnostics for drug resistance: Are we there yet? Avoiding the post antibiotic era: the challenges and solutions to successful commercialisation of new antibioticsFurther details atTwitter - @SMIpharm & #smibugsLinkedIn - SMi PharmaCONTACT:+44 (0)20 7827 6000ldurneva@smi-online.co.ukAbout SMi Group: Established since 1993, the SMi Group is a global event-production company that specializes in Business-to-Business Conferences, Workshops, Masterclasses and online Communities. We create and deliver events in the Defence, Security, Energy, Utilities, Finance and Pharmaceutical industries. We pride ourselves on having access to the worlds most forward-thinking opinion leaders and visionaries, allowing us to bring our communities together to Learn, Engage, Share and Network. More information can be found atSMi Group Ltd1 Westminster Bridge Rd, South Bank, London SE1 7XWLyudmyla Durnevaldurneva@smi-online.co.uk Online Travel Market 2018 2023 Global Leaders: Expedia, Inc, The Priceline Group, TripAdvisor Inc, Alibaba Group Holding Limited https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/5182 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/online-travel-market-5182 Online Travel Global Market Overview:The online travel industry is similar to that of e-commerce websites that provides a hassle-free booking and buying experience to the customers. Increasing internet penetration and rising adoption of social media are among the primary factors influencing the growth of the online travel market. Most of the online travel market is being driven by the flight and hotel bookings. Additionally, the online travel market is highly affected by the reviews on the websites. These reviews help the consumers to decide on which websites should they buy from. According to a recent study report published by the Market Research Future, the global market of Online Travel Market is booming and expected to gain prominence over the forecast period. The market is projected to demonstrate a spectacular growth by 2022, surpassing its previous growth records in terms of value with a striking CAGR during the anticipated period (2016 2022).The direct travel suppliers segment is expected to hold the largest market share of the market. Whereas, online travel agencies segment is expected to grow at the highest rate during the forecast period owing to the increasing adoption of social media and rising demand for online travel booking options. Also, the growing trend of e-commerce and m-commerce is one major factors driving the growth of the online travel market.Request a Sample Report @Major Key Players:Expedia, Inc. (U.S.), The Priceline Group (U.S.), TripAdvisor Inc. (U.S.), Ctrip (China), Hostelworld Group (Republic of Ireland), Hotel Urbano (Brazil), CheapOair (U.S.), Trivago (Germany), Thomas Cook Group plc (U.K), MakeMytrip Inc. (India), Alibaba Group Holding Limited (China), eLong (China), TUI Group (Germany), Tuniu (China), AirGorilla, LLC (U.S.), Hays Travel limited (U.K), Airbnb (U.S.), and Yatra.com (India) are some of the prominent players at the forefront of competition in the Global Online Travel Market and are profiled in MRFR Analysis.Industry News:December 12, 2017 - Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC), in partnership with Expedia, Inc., released its fourth annual comprehensive study of worldwide air travel trends.Nov. 29, 2017 Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com company, announced that Expedia, Inc. a global online travel company, has adopted AWS machine learning technologies to enhance travelers booking experiences across its brands, including Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Expedia Affiliate Network (EAN), HomeAway, Egencia, and others.Online Travel Global Market Competitive Analysis:The market of online travel market appears to be highly competitive. To maintain their market position and to drive the market growth, various dynamic and diversified international organizations, domestic organizations and as well as new entrants form a competitive landscape. Market leaders are innovating continuously and increasingly seeking market expansion through various strategic mergers and acquisitions, innovation, increasing investments in research and development and cost-effective product portfolio. Major players are investing on internal R&D and, most of all, in acquiring other firms.Online Travel Global Market Segmentation:The online travel market can be classified into 4 key segments for the convenience of the report and enhanced understanding;Segmentation by Platform: Comprises mobile and desktop.Segmentation by Mode of Booking: Comprises online booking agencies, direct travel suppliers.Segmentation by Service Types: Comprises transportation, travel accommodation, vacation packages.Segmentation by Regions: Comprises Geographical regions - North America, Europe, APAC and Rest of the World.Access Report Details @Online Travel Global Market Regional Analysis:North America region accounts for highest market share in online travel market owing to key industry players such as Expedia, Inc. (U.S.), The Priceline Group (U.S.) and TripAdvisor Inc. (U.S.).Asia-Pacific is projected to grow at the fastest rate during the forecast period. This major growth is attributed to technological advancements and increasing use of mobile devices, tablets and smartphones in that region. Countries such as China and India are the most lucrative markets in the global online market.The increase in disposable income, rise in middle-class segment, and greater penetration of Internet facilities. Ctrip is the leading player in Chinas online travel market, whereas MakeMytrip, Yatra, and Cleartrip are the major online travel agencies (OTA) operating in India. OTAs are becoming the most preferred medium for bookings in the region.About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our clients 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 Solutions, Application, Logistics and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.ContactMarket Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Military Communications Market 2018 Global Key Leaders: Harris Corporation, Airbus Group, General Dynamics, Alcatel, Thales https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/3219 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/military-communications-market-3219 Market Highlights:According to a recent study report published by Market Research Future, the global market for military communications market will grow at a rapid pace over the forecast period. The market is expected to witness slow but steady growth until 2023, which will be a growing fast at a moderate CAGR during the forecast period (2017 -2023).The high demand for military communications market is due to the growing need for security and confidential of accurate and real-time data in the military communication, thus increasing the participation of manufacturers. Rapid adoption of emerging technologies such as Ka-band and artificial intelligence is expected to add to the growth of the market. However, multiple standard devices and difficult to achieve interoperability among so many different systems and technologies act as a barrier to the growth of military communications market.A military communications involve all aspects of communication of data used by armed forces for efficient functioning, military command, and secure and robust system. The rise in popularity of security of data in military industry is expected to drive the market during the forecast period. Hence, the military communications system must integrate with emerging technologies to improve the delivery of the right information to the right location and at the right time. Military aircraft operators are investing in the military communications system at a rapid rate in order to improve the functioning of the system.Request a Sample Report @Major Key PlayersNorthrop Grumman Corporation (U.S.),Lockheed Martin Corporation (U.S.),BAE Systems (U.K.),Thales (France),Alcatel (France),Raytheon (U.S.),Rockwell Collins (U.S.),General Dynamics (U.S.),Harries corporation (U.S.), and Airbus Group (Netherlands) are some of the leading players operating in this market.Global Military Communications Market SegmentationThe global Military Communications market is segmented into 4 key dynamics for the convenience of the report and enhanced understanding;Segmentation by Device Type : Comprises Military SATCOM, Radio System and SmartphonesSegmentation by Application : Comprises Command & Control, and Situational AwarenessSegmentation by Platform : Comprises Airborne, Ground Based and NavalSegmentation by Regions : Comprises Geographical regions - North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East & Africa and South America.Global Military Communications Market: Regional AnalysisNorth American region is dominating the market of the global military communications market due to rapid deployment of armed equipments in warfare regions such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Seria.Asia Pacific is referred to as the second-largest military communications market due to factors such as growing concerns for border security have fuelled the demand for global military communications market.Browse Full Report @Target Audience: Manufactures Raw Materials Suppliers Aftermarket suppliers Research Institute / Education Institute Potential Investors Key executive (CEO and COO) and strategy growth managerAbout 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 Future+1 646 845 9312sales@marketresearchfuture.com Global Automatic Cell Imaging System Market 2013-2025 : What Does the Year Ahead Hold? Qyresearchreports https://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=1810692&type=S https://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-automatic-cell-imaging-system-market-reporthistory-and-forecast-2013-2025breakdown-data-by-manufacturerskey-regionstypes-and-application.htm/toc http://www.qyresearchreports.com Qyresearchreports include new market research report "Global Automatic Cell Imaging System Market Report,History and Forecast 2013-2025,Breakdown Data by Manufacturers,Key Regions,Types and Application" to its huge collection of research reports.This report studies the Automatic Cell Imaging System market size (value and volume) by players, regions, product types and end industries, history data 2013-2017 and forecast data 2018-2025; This report also studies the global market competition landscape, market drivers and trends, opportunities and challenges, risks and entry barriers, sales channels, distributors and Porter's Five Forces Analysis.The international market for Automatic Cell Imaging System has been thoroughly studied with every available detail in the said study with increased focus on various important factors such as restraints, market opportunities, and growth drivers. Each of the elements that pertain to the shaping of the market dynamics that has been analyzed and studied in detail by the research analysts, so as to offer the best and most evaluative and exhaustive study to the buyers of the report.Request a Free Sample Report of this research to evaluate more:Geographically, this report is segmented into several key regions, with sales, revenue, market share and growth Rate of Automatic Cell Imaging System in these regions, from 2013 to 2025, coveringNorth America (United States, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Russia and Turkey etc.)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam)South America (Brazil etc.)Middle East and Africa (Egypt and GCC Countries)The various contributors involved in the value chain of the product include manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, intermediaries, and customers. The key manufacturers in this market includeGE Healthcare Life SciencesThermo ScientificYeeSpecBioTek InstrumentsBDClemexKey StakeholdersRaw material suppliersDistributors/traders/wholesalers/suppliersRegulatory bodies, including government agencies and NGOCommercial research & development (R&D) institutionsImporters and exportersGovernment organizations, research organizations, and consulting firmsTrade associations and industry bodiesEnd-use industriesThe study of market segmentations that has been offered with the publication that explores some of the most significant categories of the world Automatic Cell Imaging System 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 Automatic Cell Imaging System. 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.Read Complete Table of Content @Table of Contents1 Automatic Cell Imaging System Market Overview1.1 Automatic Cell Imaging System Product Overview1.2 Automatic Cell Imaging System Market Segment by Type1.3 Global Automatic Cell Imaging System Market Size by Type1.3.1 Global Automatic Cell Imaging System Sales and Growth by Type1.3.2 Global Automatic Cell Imaging System Sales and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)1.3.3 Global Automatic Cell Imaging System Revenue and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)1.3.4 Global Automatic Cell Imaging System Price by Type (2013-2018)2 Global Automatic Cell Imaging System Market Competition by Company2.1 Global Automatic Cell Imaging System Sales and Market Share by Company (2013-2018)2.2 Global Automatic Cell Imaging System Revenue and Share by Company (2013-2018)2.3 Global Automatic Cell Imaging System Price by Company (2013-2018)2.4 Global Top Players Automatic Cell Imaging System Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area, Product Types2.5 Automatic Cell Imaging System Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Automatic Cell Imaging System Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Global Automatic Cell Imaging System Market Share of Top 5 and Top 10 PlayersList of Tables and FiguresFigure Automatic Cell Imaging System Product PictureFigure Global Automatic Cell Imaging System Revenue (Million USD) Status and Outlook (2013-2025)Figure Global Automatic Cell Imaging System Sales (K Units) Status and Outlook (2013-2025)Table Global Automatic Cell Imaging System Market Size Comparison by Regions (2013-2025)Figure North America Automatic Cell Imaging System Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (%)(2013-2025)Figure Asia-Pacific Automatic Cell Imaging System Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (%)(2013-2025)Figure Europe Automatic Cell Imaging System Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (%)(2013-2025)Figure South America Automatic Cell Imaging System 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: Polysorbate Market : Information, Figures and Analytical Insights 2015 2021 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/6098 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/6098 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Polysorbate represents a class of emulsifiers used in food preparation, pharmaceuticals, and personal care and beauty products. Polysorbates are oily liquids made up of fatty acids and sorbitan. They are produced by reaction of sorbitol and polyol with ethylene oxide. Polysorbate function includes dispersion of oil in water as opposed to water in oil. Brand names for polysorbates include Tween, Canarcel, Scattics, and Alkest.In beauty and personal care ingredients, polysorbate serves as a surfactant creating emulsions, facilitating the ingredients to combine better, making the product more effective. Polysorbate 20 is a commonly used in anti-aging products, facial cleansers, and hair styling gels. In cosmetic creams, polysorbate 40 serves as an emulsifier to stabilize essential oils in water. Polysorbate 80 is used commonly in cold creams, baby lotions, bath oils, and suntan lotions. Polysorbate 85 is commonly used in tanning lotions.Request Report Sample@In foods, polysorbate is commonly used in ice creams, making them easier to handle and preventing them from melting rapidly. Polysorbate is also used in products like flavored mouth drops, as a wetting agent, to help the flavor spread. They are also used in powdered drink products, such as hot cocoa mix as emulsifiers. Polysorbate is a commonly used ingredient in the influenza vaccine. It also assists in emulsifying medicines like amiodarone.The global polysorbate market is segmented into source, type, end-use, and region. Sources for polysorbate include plants (palm, olive, bay tree, etc.), animals (cow, sheep and pork fat), and synthetic source. Polysorbate types include Polysorbate 20, Polysorbate 40, Polysorbate 60, and Polysorbate 80 etc. The number followed by Polysorbate signifies the fatty acid type associated with the polyoxyethylene sorbitan part of the molecule. To be specific, 20 signifies monolaurate, 40 signifies monopalmitate, 60 signifies monostearate, and 80 signifies monooleate. Global polysorbate market is segmented on the basis of its end-use which includes use in food industry, medical and pharmaceutical use, and use in cosmetics. The global polysorbate market is further segmented on the basis of manufacturing technology used. Region wise, the global polysorbate market is segmented into North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Japan, Asia Pacific (APEJ), and MEA.Continuously rising demand from the end use industry plays a vital role in the growth of the global polysorbate market. Growing demands for the bio based products also fuel the growth of the global polysorbate market. Increasing awareness about the use of quality skin care products is also a growth driver for the industry. Growing demand in food and beverage industry due to rapid industrialization is expected to fuel the growth of the polysorbate market.Availability of natural alternatives restrains the growth of the polysorbate market. Turkey-red oil and coconut oil, owing to their emulsifying properties, can serve as an alternative to polysorbate. Coconut oil is an all-natural and safe alternative to polysorbate. It keeps water and oil from separating and also gives a pleasant scent. Borax or sodium borate is a natural alkaline mineral which when mixed with beeswax, serves as a natural alternative to polysorbate. Polysorbate can cause minor side effects on sensitive skin such as skin irritation.Visit For TOC@Some of the major players identified in the global polysorbate market are Evonik Industries, Avantor Performance Materials, NOF America corporation, Solenis, Croda International, Camden-grey Essential Oils, Mohini Organics Pvt. Ltd., M S Mehta & Co, Shine-Sarod Nigeria Limited, Chimi Gostaran Saba ( C. G. S. ), Reachin Chemical Co., Ltd. Guangzhou Runhua Food Additive Co., Ltd, Wmc marketing, Gulf Care Factory, and Mukasa Distributors Ltd. etc.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,Telephone - +1-646-568-7751USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Military Simulation and Virtual Training Market 2018 Global Key Leaders: Bohemia Interactive Simulations, Northrop Grumman, Kratos Defense, The Boeing Company, Combat Training Solutions https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/3510 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/military-simulation-virtual-training-market-3510 Market Highlights:Military simulation and virtual training are an integral part of military operations. Military simulation and virtual training products are sought after by defense ministries, on a global scale, to provide training for service personnel in the air, naval, and land-based domains. Military simulations connected to combat operations, unmanned systems, medical treatment, and maintenance, allow virtual training to take place on different scenarios. These are expected to increase the market growth. The rise in popularity of operational readiness and diverse battlefield requirements in the military applications is expected to drive the market during the forecast period. However, there are some shortcomings in operating performance of the military simulation and virtual training, such as lack of incentives, lack of interoperability, and requirement of high fidelity regarding meeting customer needs restraining the market growth.The defense ministries across countries are cutting down costs of military expenses, owing to reduced financial resources. Governments are downsizing militaries and cutting down on training budgets, due to which the military is focusing on optimizing solutions for training requirements, which is expected to offer opportunities for the military simulation and virtual training market expansion. Additionally, many countries are reorganizing their military forces, which is resulting in the growth of the military simulation and virtual training market.Make an Enquiry @Major Key PlayersBohemia Interactive Simulations (U.S.),General Dynamics Information Technology (U.S.),Northrop Grumman (U.S.),Kratos Defense (U.S.),Meggitt Training Systems (U.S.),The Boeing Company (U.S.),Combat Training Solutions Inc. (U.S.),Israel Aerospace Industries (Israel), Rheinmetall Defence (Germany), BAE Systems (U.K).The factors responsible for the growth of military simulation and virtual training market are the decreasing average defense budget across countries and rapidly increasing awareness regarding simulation and training methods. Other key drivers expected to contribute towards the growth of the military simulation and virtual training market are the rising need for existing equipment upgrades and orders for new ones. For instance, Bohemia Interactive Simulations developed augmented reality visual system for Textron Inc. to provide a synthetically generated visual scene and support a trainees interactions with the real world using AR/VR technologies. Similarly, General Dynamics signed a contract of $244 million with U.S. Navy to support services, from curriculum development to advanced warfare training. Moreover, Meggitt Training Solutions developed FATS 100 MIL that features a unique combination of capabilities for military users, such as enhanced 3D marksmanship and birds in flight and realistic ballistic effects.The military simulation and virtual training market is segmented based on application, platform, and regions. On the basis of application, flight simulation is widely used and comprises the largest market share. On the basis of platform, airborne is expected to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period due to the rise in the requirement for battlefield operations and border surveillance. For instance, Northrop Grumman Corporation signed a contract with U.S. Air Force to provide simulated training at its Distributed Training Center (DTC) to army rangers. The virtual training simulated actual battle scenarios for deployment locations.The market is segmented based on region into North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East & Africa, and South America. North America is expected to dominate the market in future due to the existence of established market players in this region. Additionally, there is increased investment in research and development in this region have resulted in aggressive technology development and its adoption, thus, contributing to rapid growth. Europe is second to the North American market in military simulation and virtual training market due to increased investment by the governments of developing countries. Thus, the global military simulation and virtual training market is estimated to grow at approximately 8% CAGR from 2018 to 2023.Browse Complete Report @Intended Audience: Defence Authorities Training and simulation module manufacturers Government as well as Independent Regulatory AuthoritiesAbout 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 Future+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Virtual Reality Headset Market - Emerging Technology and is Expected to have High Demand in Various Applications https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=11828 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/virtual-reality-headset-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=11828 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Virtual reality (VR) headset is a device used to deliver virtual reality experience for three dimensional (3D) simulations, computer games, and other applications such as movies, play stations, etc. VR headset consists of an Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) or Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) screen, and head motion tracking sensor to provide effective 3D picture. This sensor tracks the head motion and provides 3D image with up to 360 degree field of view as per head movement.Obtain Brochure For Latest Technology Advancements @Virtual reality is an emerging technology and is expected to have high demand in various applications. The rising demand for high quality and effective picture has led to the developments in virtual reality technology.Obtain Report Details @Furthermore, adoption of VR headset technology is high in military and law enforcement, advertising, automotive industry. In addition, growing smart phone adoption around the globe, and increasing technology awareness is expected to drive the VR headset market.Download TOC @However, the quality of visual effects delivered by VR headset is a major concern. If VR system is too sluggish to react with head movement, it causes concussion to user. In addition, VR headset are capable of stretching single display across a wide field of view causing magnification defect in display quality.About UsTransparency Market Research is a next-generation market intelligence provider, offering fact-based solutions to business leaders, consultants, and strategy professionals.Our reports are single-point solutions for businesses to grow, evolve, and mature. Our real-time data collection methods along with ability to track more than one million high growth niche products are aligned with your aims. The detailed and proprietary statistical models used by our analysts offer insights for making right decision in the shortest span of time. For organizations that require specific but comprehensive information we offer customized solutions through adhoc reports. These requests are delivered with the perfect combination of right sense of fact-oriented problem solving methodologies and leveraging existing data repositories.Contact UsState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesUSA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Leukemia Cancer Market Research and Forecast 2018-2023 https://www.omrglobal.com/industry-reports/leukemia-cancer-market/ https://www.omrglobal.com/reports-category/biotechnology/ https://www.omrglobal.com/reports-category/healthcare/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/7928317/ Global Leukemia Cancer Market, Size, Share, Market Intelligence, Company Profiles, Market Trends, Strategy, Analysis, Forecast 2018-2023LEUKEMIA CANCER MARKET INSIGHTS:Leukemia cancer market is expected to show high growth during 2018-2023. High incidence rate of blood cancers and rise in incidence of leukaemia across the globe will drive the leukemia market. Leukaemia cancer starts in blood-forming tissue, usually the bone marrow. It causes the over-production of abnormal white blood cells. Leukaemia is commonly caused due to exposure to radiations, unhealthy lifestyle habits, and environmental factors. Increasing investments in the healthcare sector and rising development of new drugs and therapeutics will drive the market in near future. According to WHO, globally the leukemia cancer is considered to be the most common blood cancer. Many companies are developing innovative medicines targeted against leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma, and other blood cancers. These newly developed medications are currently in human clinical trials or being reviewed by the US FDA.Browse Full Report at:The global leukaemia cancers market is analysed on the basis of the geographical regions that are contributing significantly towards the growth of the market. The North America market for leukemia is predicted to experience high growth throughout the forecast period due to high incidence rate of blood cancers in the US and increasing investments in R&D to explore the leukemia market. In addition, Europe have been significantly contributing in the market attributed to the increasing investments in the healthcare sector and rising development of new drugs and therapeutics. In addition, the advancements in technology and favourable government policies and initiatives are projected to strengthen leukemia market in Europe during the forecast period. Furthermore, the development of healthcare infrastructure in the emerging economies is considered to generate promising development prospects for the market players in Asia Pacific. The increasing contribution from China, India, and Japan and the rising investments for R&D programs are projected to encourage the growth of the leukemia market in Asia Pacific during 2018-2023.For Related Reports:Some of the leukaemia cancer market players such as Biogen, Inc., Glaxosmithkline PLC, Novartis International AG, Pfizer Inc, Roche Holding AG, Takeda Oncology and Teva Pharmaceuticals are contributing significantly into the growth of the market. The companies perform different strategies such as product launch, acquisition, partnership & collaboration to stay competitive in the market. For instance, in 2017, Novartis received the FDA approval for a CAR-T cell therapy, Kymriah (TM) (CTL019), for children and young adults with B-cell ALL (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia) that is refractory or has relapsed at least twice.Market Segmentation:Global leukaemia cancer market research and analysis by typeGlobal leukaemia cancer market research and analysis by diagnostic and monitorGlobal leukaemia cancer market research and analysis by treatmentTHE REPORT COVER:Comprehensive research methodology of global leukemia cancer market.This report also includes detailed and extensive market overview with analyst insights & key market trends.Exhaustive analysis of macro and micro factors influencing the market guided by key recommendations.Analysis of regional regulations and other government policies impacting the global leukemia cancer market.Insights about market determinants which are stimulating the global leukemia cancer market.Detailed and extensive market segments with regional distribution of forecasted revenues.Extensive profiles and recent developments of market players.For More Update Follow LinkedIn:Biotechnology market is witnessing exponential growth in healthcare, telemedicine, food and beverage industries. It has also given rise to the development of a whole new technology for industrial production of hormones, antibiotics and other chemicals, food and energy sources and processing of waste materials. Biotechnology tools have given rise to various interdisciplinary fields such as bioinformatics and pharmacy-genomics used for drug delivery, drug discovery, and personalized medicine. OMR provides the biotechnology market reports which include new and emerging fields of genomics, proteomics, bioinformatics, and biomarkers.At OMR we provide you in-depth analysis of the biotechnology market which includes agricultural technologies, healthcare, telemedicine, food and beverage and biopharmaceuticals. We provide extensive analysis of government regulation such as tax, export-import policies, drug policies and food safety laws and other laws by top markets. We also provide detailed analysis of each segment along with market driver, restraints and opportunities. Our numbers are confirmed through extensive primary research. OMRs Biotechnology market reports will provide you a great decision making tool.Orion Market Research Pvt Ltd116, Shagun Arcade, Vijay NagarIndore India- 452010Email: info@omrglobal.com, support@omrglobal.comIndia: +91-780-304-0404, +91-917-982-8694Global: +1-646-755-7667 The DevOpsCon 2018 Spring Edition: Exciting workshops and an innovative program proved successful Berlin 06/07/2018: Last weeks DevOps Conference in Berlin boasted an impressive program, accessible to professionals and interested parties of varying expertise. With more than 50 sessions and keynotes, topics ranged from business & company culture, cloud platforms & serverless, container technologies, continuous delivery and security, to microservices. The workshops were highly successful; nearly all sold out before the conference began.The amount of participants showed that the DevOps Conference is a very important source for many professionals and developers.DevOpsCons speakers were also impressed by the conferences professionalism. Greg Bledsoe, managing consultant for Accenture, said: DevOpsCon is one of the best conferences Ive ever been involved with.Julia Wester, co-founder and Principal Consultant at Lagom Solutions: a Lean/Agile consulting and training company that leverages her 17 years of experience at Turner Broadcasting, F5 Networks and LeanKit, said: Thank you DevOpsCon for having me in your lovely conference in your beautiful country. I enjoyed my trip, the workshop, and the talk! Keep the awesome dialed up!If you liked DevOps in Berlin last week, then you should know that the winter edition is not so far away. The next DevOps conference will open its gates on the 3rd of December in Munich and will last until the 6th of December. See you at Sheraton Munich Arabellapark Hotel!EXCLUSIVE SPECIALS for DevOpsCon in Munich 20183-Day-Special: Register before the 23rd of August, 2018 for a 3 Day Pass and receive the DevOps Transformation Day and a Raspberry Pi for free!Company Team Discount: Receive an additional 10% discount when registering with 3+ colleagues.Extra Specials: Freelancers and employees of scientific institutions benefit from individual offers if youre interested, just send us an email to contact@devopsconference.de.Software & Support Media is an international publishing house with the focus on the IT sector. The companys information and service offer is tailored to IT- professionals of all important technology markets.For many years Software & Support Media Group has been sharing its knowledge and is a reliable partner for the industry. Through our media offer, leading companies continuously find out about important impulses to further their innovations and development guaranteeing them a competitive advantage.Software & Support Media GmbHGustav Meyer-Allee 2513355 Berlin,DeutschlandAnastasiia Ushakova XLPE Market Major Manufacturers, Trends, Demand, Share Analysis to 2025 Global XLPE Industry https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/3217911-global-xlpe-market-research-report-2018 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/3217911-global-xlpe-market-research-report-2018 https://www.linkedin.com/company/wise-guy-research-consultants-pvt-ltd-?trk=biz-companies-cym Global XLPE IndustryNew Study on 2018-2025 XLPE Market Global Key Player, Demand, Growth, Opportunities and Analysis Forecast added to Wise Guy Reports DatabaseThis report studies the global XLPE market status and forecast, categorizes the global XLPE 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).XLPE is also known as cross-linkable PE compound, which has undergone a change in the molecular structure using a chemical or a physical process. It is based on PE resin, and produced and pelletized by special technology with adding special stabilizing agent, modifier and cross-linking agent. It is widely used in cable, tube and foam.China is the largest consumption market of XLPE in the world in the past few years and it will keep the same position in the next few years. Chinese market took up about 48% the global market in 2015, followed by Europe (included CIS) with the share of 17%, USA is closely followed with the share about 17%. And China is a key importer of XLPE for extra high voltage cables, so far.XLPE is mainly used for cables, tubes and foams. The consumption of cables is about 2/3 of the total market in the world in 2015, followed by the tubes with the share of 21%.The global XLPE market is valued at 1230 million US$ in 2017 and will reach 1380 million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of 1.5% during 2018-2025.The major manufacturers covered in this reportDowBorealisWanma MMPolyoneUBE Ind.SolvayJiangsu DeweiShanghai KaiboZhonglian PhotoelectricNew ShanghuaCGN AMOriginalHangzhou New MaterialsLinhai YadongAEITry Sample Report @Geographically, 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 AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaOther Regions (India, Southeast Asia, Central & South America and Middle East & Africa)We can also provide the customized separate regional or country-level reports, for the following regions: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 intoSilane Cross-linkedPeroxide Cross-linkedRadiation Cross-linkedOn 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, includingCableTubeFoamOthersThe study objectives of this report are:To analyze and study the global XLPE capacity, production, value, consumption, status (2013-2017) and forecast (2018-2025);Focuses on the key XLPE 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 XLPE 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 StakeholdersXLPE ManufacturersXLPE Distributors/Traders/WholesalersXLPE Subcomponent ManufacturersIndustry AssociationDownstream VendorsAvailable CustomizationsWith the given market data, QYResearch 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 XLPE market, by end-use.Detailed analysis and profiles of additional market players.Some points from table of content:Global XLPE Market Research Report 20181 XLPE Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of XLPE1.2 XLPE Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global XLPE Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global XLPE Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Silane Cross-linked1.2.4 Peroxide Cross-linked1.2.5 Radiation Cross-linked1.3 Global XLPE Segment by Application1.3.1 XLPE Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Cable1.3.3 Tube1.3.4 Foam1.3.5 Others1.4 Global XLPE Market by Region (2013-2025)1.4.1 Global XLPE Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2013-2025)1.4.2 Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.3 26 Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.4 North America Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.5 Europe Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.6 China Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.7 Japan Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of XLPE (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global XLPE Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global XLPE Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025)For Detailed Reading Please visit WiseGuy Reports @2 Global XLPE Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global XLPE Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.1 Global XLPE Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global XLPE Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global XLPE Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global XLPE Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.4 Manufacturers XLPE Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 XLPE Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 XLPE Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 XLPE Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion3 Global XLPE Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)3.1 Global XLPE Capacity and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.2 Global XLPE Production and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.3 Global XLPE Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.4 Global XLPE Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.5 North America XLPE Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.6 Europe XLPE Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.7 China XLPE Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.8 Japan XLPE Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.9 Southeast Asia XLPE Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.10 India XLPE Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)4 Global XLPE Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2018)4.1 Global XLPE Consumption by Region (2013-2018)4.2 North America XLPE Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.3 Europe XLPE Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.4 China XLPE Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.5 Japan XLPE Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.6 Southeast Asia XLPE Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.7 India XLPE Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.6 Southeast Asia XLPE Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.7 India XLPE Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.8 South America XLPE Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.9 Middle East and Africa XLPE Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)5 Global XLPE Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type5.1 Global XLPE Production and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)5.2 Global XLPE Revenue and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)5.3 Global XLPE Price by Type (2013-2018)5.4 Global XLPE Production Growth by Type (2013-2018)6 Global XLPE Market Analysis by Application6.1 Global XLPE Consumption and Market Share by Application (2013-2018)6.2 Global XLPE Consumption Growth Rate by Application (2013-2018)6.3 Market Drivers and Opportunities6.3.1 Potential Applications6.3.2 Emerging Markets/Countries7 Global XLPE Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 Dow7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.1.2 XLPE Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Product A7.1.2.2 Product B7.1.3 Dow XLPE Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 Borealis7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.2.2 XLPE Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Product A7.2.2.2 Product B7.2.3 Borealis XLPE Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 Wanma MM7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.3.2 XLPE Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Product A7.3.2.2 Product B7.3.3 Wanma MM XLPE Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.4 Polyone7.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.4.2 XLPE Product Category, Application and Specification7.4.2.1 Product A7.4.2.2 Product B7.4.3 Polyone XLPE Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.5 UBE Ind.7.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.5.2 XLPE Product Category, Application and Specification7.5.2.1 Product A7.5.2.2 Product B7.5.3 UBE Ind. XLPE Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2015-2018)7.5.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.6 Solvay7.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.6.2 XLPE Product Category, Application and Specification7.6.2.1 Product A7.6.2.2 Product B7.6.3 Solvay XLPE Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.6.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.7 Jiangsu Dewei7.7.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.7.2 XLPE Product Category, Application and Specification7.7.2.1 Product A7.7.2.2 Product B7.7.3 Jiangsu Dewei XLPE Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.7.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.8 Shanghai Kaibo7.8.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.8.2 XLPE Product Category, Application and Specification7.8.2.1 Product A7.8.2.2 Product B7.8.3 Shanghai Kaibo XLPE Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.8.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.9 Zhonglian Photoelectric7.9.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.9.2 XLPE Product Category, Application and Specification7.9.2.1 Product A7.9.2.2 Product B7.9.3 Zhonglian Photoelectric XLPE Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2020)7.9.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.10 New Shanghua7.10.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.10.2 XLPE Product Category, Application and Specification7.10.2.1 Product A7.10.2.2 Product B7.10.3 New Shanghua XLPE Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2020)7.10.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.11 CGN AM7.12 Original7.13 Hangzhou New Materials7.14 Linhai Yadong7.15 AEI8 XLPE Manufacturing Cost Analysis8.1 XLPE Key Raw Materials Analysis8.1.1 Key Raw Materials8.1.2 Price Trend of Key Raw Materials8.1.3 Key Suppliers of Raw Materials8.1.4 Market Concentration Rate of Raw Materials8.2 Proportion of Manufacturing Cost Structure8.2.1 Raw Materials8.2.2 Labor Cost8.2.3 Manufacturing Expenses8.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of XLPE9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers9.1 XLPE Industrial Chain Analysis9.2 Upstream Raw Materials Sourcing9.3 Raw Materials Sources of XLPE Major Manufacturers in 20179.4 Downstream BuyersContinued.For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comAbout UsWise 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 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.Contact Us:Norah Trent+1 646 845 9349 / +44 208 133 9349Follow on LinkedIn: Hybrid Aircraft Market is expected to reach US$ 930.43 Mn by 2022 https://www.absolutemarketsinsights.com/request_sample.php?id=23 https://www.absolutemarketsinsights.com/ask_for_discount.php?id=23 https://www.absolutemarketsinsights.com Hybrid Aircraft is an innovative form of conventional aircraft which has the features of delta wing and airfoil cross section body. The aircraft combines the application of buoyancy lift and aerodynamic lift to provide a thrust for heavy lifting capacity. This new technological aircraft offers a wide range of cargo carrying and surveillance communication roles that can be used in commercial and military services. Hybrid aircraft designed body have both rigid and non-rigid forms. The rigid body or inflatable body is generally made up of flexible material such as aluminum and air foil shaped cross section. The non-rigid bodied aircraft includes lighter gases such as helium to provide buoyancy to the ship.Make an Enquiry @:The global hybrid aircraft market was valued at US$ 592.61 Mn in 2017 and is expected to reach US$ 930.43 Mn by 2022.The aerospace sector prophecies the capabilities of 3D printing and is adapting numerous ways to explore further opportunities. For instance, Boeing has leveraged the application of 3D printing to develop composite parts, plastic interior parts out of nylon and polyetherimide testing and prototype units. Additionally, Pratt & Whitney, an aerospace company in association with the University of Connecticut, is investing extensively to expand their aerospace research and development and manufacturing facilities. These initiatives by major companies broadens the array of product portfolio offered in the hybrid aircraft market.Some of the key primary players of Global Hybrid Aircraft Market are Boeing, ILC Dover, Hybrid Air Vehicles Limited, Egan Airships, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Straightline Aviation, RosAeroSystems, Aeros, Airbus, Solar Ship Inc., AeroVehicles Inc., Northrop Grumman Corporation, Lindstrand Technologies Ltd, among others.Get full report with Discount @:Hybrid Aircraft Market, By TypeBased on type, the hybrid aircraft can be segmented into dynastats and rotastats. Dynastats type accounts for the major share of the market owing to its sustainable flight capabilities for transporting cargos in high, medium and low altitude and is further anticipated to retain its dominance by 2022. In addition, dynastats are equipped with on board solar cells, microwave antennas and powered electrical engines enabling long endurance flight capacity.these are few among the many advantages, which is accelerating the demand for dynastats type.Competitive Market ShareThe report provides both, subjective and quantitative research of the market, as well as integrates worthy insights into the rational scenario and favored development methods adopted by the key contenders. The report also offers extensive research on the key players in this market and detailed insights on the competitiveness of these players. The key business strategies such as mergers & acquisitions, affiliations, collaborations, and contracts adopted by the major players are also recognized and analyzed in the report. For each company, the report recognizes their manufacturing base, competitors, product type, application and specification, pricing, and gross margin.About Us:Absolute Markets Insights is a global market research company taking into account leading businesses, colleges, universities, non-profit organizations, and government foundations. Absolute Markets Insights is dedicated to presenting you an ideal blend of data parameters. Our reports depend on the research and analysis that covers a magnitude of factors, for example, industry research, market sizing and forecasts, technological advancements, innovation trends, financial growth, pricing trends, competitive insights, and an in-depth study of market segments.Our analysts are focused on providing autonomous experiences, by helping you execute better strategies with unbiased insights and conclusions, consistent specifics, and right responses to every one of the inquiries you may have. We serve customers in every aspect of the strategy, including sustainability trends, customer insights, technology evolution, distribution channel assessment, product development, exploring new markets and taking advantage of lucrative growth opportunities.Contact Name:Shreyas TannaAddress:1 st Floor, The Work Lab,Model Colony, Shivajinagar, Pune, MH, Pin 411016Website: A Comprehensive Study Rubber Conveyor Belt Market: HSIN YUNG, Fuxin Shuangxiang, Anhui Zhongyi, QingDao Rubber Six https://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=1807512&type=S https://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-rubber-conveyor-belt-market-reporthistory-and-forecast-2013-2025breakdown-data-by-manufacturerskey-regionstypes-and-application.htm/toc http://www.qyresearchreports.com Qyresearchreports include new market research report Global Rubber Conveyor Belt Market Report,History and Forecast 2013-2025,Breakdown Data by Manufacturers,Key Regions,Types and Application to its huge collection of research reports.The various contributors involved in the value chain of the product include manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, intermediaries, and customers. The key manufacturers in this market includeContinental AGBridgestoneFennerYokohamaZhejiang Double ArrowSempertransBandoBaoding HuayueZhejiang SanweiShandong PhoebusWuxi BotonZhangjiagang HuashenHebei YichuanSmiley MonroeFREE | Request Sample is Available at:This report looks at the global Rubber Conveyor Belt market by impelling the past market examples and occasions. This is required to comprehend the current forceful scene and how it is slanted to change. The examination of the report is done in a couple of layers starting with fundamental research parameters, trailed by helper inquire about. Each piece and sub-segment of the market is thoroughly inspected and examined. Distinctive market affecting variable at both close-by and overall levels are considered. The report in this manner divides the global Rubber Conveyor Belt market in perspective of geology, its type, and by end-use.Table of Contents1 Rubber Conveyor Belt Market Overview1.1 Rubber Conveyor Belt Product Overview1.2 Rubber Conveyor Belt Market Segment by Type1.2.1 Multiply Fabric Reinforced Rubber Conveyer Belt1.2.2 Steel Cord Reinforced Rubber Conveyor Belts1.2.3 PVG Solid Woven Rubber Conveyor Belts1.3 Global Rubber Conveyor Belt Market Size by Type2 Global Rubber Conveyor Belt Market Competition by Company2.1 Global Rubber Conveyor Belt Sales and Market Share by Company (2013-2018)2.2 Global Rubber Conveyor Belt Revenue and Share by Company (2013-2018)2.3 Global Rubber Conveyor Belt Price by Company (2013-2018)2.4 Global Top Players Rubber Conveyor Belt Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area, Product Types2.5 Rubber Conveyor Belt Market Competitive Situation and Trends3 Rubber Conveyor Belt Company Profiles and Sales Data3.1 Continental AG3.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors3.1.2 Rubber Conveyor Belt Product Category, Application and Specification3.1.3 Continental AG Rubber Conveyor Belt Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin(2013-2018)3.1.4 Main Business Overview3.2 Bridgestone3.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors3.2.2 Rubber Conveyor Belt Product Category, Application and Specification3.2.3 Bridgestone Rubber Conveyor Belt Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin(2013-2018)3.2.4 Main Business Overview3.3 Fenner3.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors3.3.2 Rubber Conveyor Belt Product Category, Application and Specification3.3.3 Fenner Rubber Conveyor Belt Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin(2013-2018)3.3.4 Main Business OverviewView 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 Body Contouring Market: Size, Trends & Forecasts (2018-2022) | ResearchByMarkets Global Body Contouring Market: Size, Trends & Forecasts (2018-2022) https://www.researchbymarkets.com/report/global-body-contouring-market-size-trends-forecasts-2018-2022-18352.html https://www.researchbymarkets.com/sample-request/18352 https://www.researchbymarkets.com/inquiry/18352 https://www.researchbymarkets.com/aboutus "Global Body Contouring Market: Size, Trends & Forecasts (2018-2022)", provides analysis of the global body contouring, with detailed analysis of market size and growth. The analysis includes the market by value and by regions. The report also provides the detailed analysis of the global body contouring market value of North America, Asia Pacific, Europe and South America regions.View TOC and List of Tables & Figures:Moreover, the report also assesses the key opportunities in the market and outlines the factors that are and will be driving the growth of the industry. Growth of the overall global body contouring has also been forecasted for the years 2018-2022, taking into consideration the previous growth patterns, the growth drivers and the current and future trends.Request for Sample Pages of this report:Allergan Plc., Cutera, Inc., Hologic, Inc. and Merz Pharma GmbH & Co. KGaA are some of the key players operating in the global body contouring, whose company profiling has been done in the report. In this segment of the report, business overview, financial overview and business strategies of the companies are provided.Make specific inquiries regarding this report:Country CoverageNorth AmericaAsia PacificEuropeSouth AmericaCompany CoverageAllergan Plc.Cutera, Inc.Hologic, Inc.Merz Pharma GmbH & Co. KGaAExecutive SummaryAesthetic service can also be called as Aesthetic medicine, it involves any specialty that includes the process of modifying a patient's physical appearance. The major application of aesthetic services are anti-aging and wrinkles, facial & skin rejuvenation, vascular lesions, body shaping and cellulite, breast enhancement, sears, pigment lesions, tattoo removal and vitiligo. Broadly, aesthetic service can be categorized into four major segments such as Body Contouring, Energy Devices, Fillers, Breast Implants and Cosmeceuticals.Body contouring is an aesthetic treatment option for patients who wants to modify their physical appearance. Body contouring is defined as the practice to modify the shape of the human body, therefore it also called as body shaping. The common part of the body which can be addressed with body contouring are face and neck, upper arms, breasts, abdomen, waistline and back, thighs and calves. Body contouring can further be divided into two type named as Invasive body contouring and non-invasive body contouring.Invasive procedures comprise surgical procedure to reduce gained or accumulated fat to obtain desirable body structures. It includes procedures such as bariatric surgery, arm lift or brachioplasty, breast lift or mastopexy, stomach lift or abdominoplasty and lower body lift.Nonsurgical (non-invasive) body shaping techniques require minimal contouring, although it is important to have minimal expectations for these procedures. The minimally invasive body contouring procedures also include non-invasive body contouring as, it includes nominal invasion in the procedure.The global body contouring market is expected to increase at high growth rates during the forecasted period (2018-2022). The global body contouring market is supported by various growth drivers, such as, upsurge in obese population, growing bariatric surgery worldwide, rising disposable income, 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 Global Pulp Market: Size, Trends & Forecasts (2018-2022) | ResearchByMarkets Global Pulp Market: Size, Trends & Forecasts (2018-2022) https://www.researchbymarkets.com/report/global-pulp-market-size-trends-forecasts-2018-2022-18353.html https://www.researchbymarkets.com/sample-request/18353 https://www.researchbymarkets.com/inquiry/18353 https://www.researchbymarkets.com/aboutus "Global Pulp Market: Size, Trends & Forecasts (2018-2022)" provides a detailed analysis of the global pulp industry with market sizing and growth. The analysis includes market size in terms of volume, market share by segments and by region. The report also includes a detailed segment analysis which encompasses market size and growth in terms of volume and market share by end-uses. A brief regional analysis of Canada and North America has also been provided with their actual and forecasted value.View TOC and List of Tables & Figures:Furthermore, the report also assesses the key opportunities available in the market and summarizes the dynamic forces that are and will be accountable for growth of the industry. Growth of the global pulp market has also been forecasted for the period 2018-2022, taking into consideration previous growth outlines, growth drivers and the existing and forthcoming trends.Request for Sample Pages of this report:The global pulp market is highly competitive because of presence of several small to medium-sized players that compete with each other and large players of the market. International Paper Company, Rayonier Advanced Materials, Sappi, and UPM Group are some of the major players whose company profiling has been done in the report. This segment of the report summarizes business overview, financial overview and the business strategies adopted by respective companies.Inquire more about this report:Company CoverageInternational Paper CompanyRayonier Advanced MaterialsSappiUPM GroupRegional CoverageCanadaThe USKey Points covered in this report:1. Executive Summary2. Introduction3. Global Market Analysis4. Regional Market Analysis5. Market Dynamics6. Competitive Landscape7. Company ProfilesExecutive SummaryPulp is a form of wood that has been grounded to a fine powder which are used in in the making of newsprint and other cheap forms of paper and in the production of hardboard. Pulp is mostly made up from wood fiber. Wood is reduced to pulp through mechanical and chemical treatment. In addition to its primary uses such as printing & writing, packaging and tissue market, technological advancements led to use of pulp in fiber industry also. Higher purity fibre grades include diapers, rayon-based clothing, LCD screens, pharmaceuticals, food applications, and food casings.On the basis of cellulose content, pulp is broadly categorized into four: market pulp, fluff pulp, viscose cellulose and specialty cellulose. Specialty cellulose is the highest grade of pulp as it contains more than 95% of cellulose while market pulp comes under the category of lowest grade as cellulose content in it is less than 88%.The global pulp market has shown inclined trends over the past few years and projections are made that the market would grow over the forecasted period also i.e. 2018-2022. Rising use of tissue papers and growing use of pulp in packaging solutions are the main factors attributed to growth of the market. Growing demand for fluff pulp in personal care and hygiene products, increasing consumption of chemical wood pulp, and growing use of pulp in textile industry are some of the prominent factors that would propel the growth of the market. Yet some challenges such as regulatory compliance and rising incidence of forest fires are obstructing the growth of the market.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 Residential Energy Storage Systems Market Insights and Trends 2018- Sunverge Energy, Panasonic, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan https://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=1667119&type=S https://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-residential-energy-storage-systems-market-research-report-2018.htm/toc http://www.qyresearchreports.com Qyresearchreports include new market research report Global Residential Energy Storage Systems Market Research Report 2018 to its huge collection of research reports.Global Residential Energy Storage Systems market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingTeslaOrison CorporationPanasonicMercedes-BenzNissanSonnen CorporationSunverge EnergyCeres Power HoldingsSolomon TechnologiesYanmarGet PDF for more Professional and Technical insights @This report looks at the global Residential Energy Storage Systems market by impelling the past market examples and occasions. This is required to comprehend the current forceful scene and how it is slanted to change. The examination of the report is done in a couple of layers starting with fundamental research parameters, trailed by helper inquire about. Each piece and sub-segment of the market is thoroughly inspected and examined. Distinctive market affecting variable at both close-by and overall levels are considered. The report in this manner divides the global Residential Energy Storage Systems market in perspective of geology, its type, and by end-use.The report uses two or three showed industry examination contraptions. They empower the examination to gather a concise appraisal of the global Residential Energy Storage Systems market and help the peruser and market players to be facilitated concerning theory and business judgments. The far reaching extent of the market gives this report a specific edge. It aggregates basic and discretionary research structures along these lines. Arranged specialists have made a note of the recorded experiences and got from it a way to deal with change envision and to design a structure for the global Residential Energy Storage Systems market in the years ahead.Table of ContentsGlobal Residential Energy Storage Systems Market Research Report 20181 Residential Energy Storage Systems Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Residential Energy Storage Systems1.2 Residential Energy Storage Systems Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Residential Energy Storage Systems Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Residential Energy Storage Systems Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Lead Acid Batteries1.2.4 Lithium Ion Batteries1.2.5 Other2 Global Residential Energy Storage Systems Market Competition by Manufacturers3 Global Residential Energy Storage Systems Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)4 Global Residential Energy Storage Systems 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 Building Automation Software Market: Size, Trends & Forecasts (2018-2022) | ResearchByMarkets Global Building Automation Software Market: Size, Trends & Forecasts (2018-2022) https://www.researchbymarkets.com/report/global-building-automation-software-market-size-trends-forecasts-2018-2022-18354.html https://www.researchbymarkets.com/sample-request/18354 https://www.researchbymarkets.com/inquiry/18354 https://www.researchbymarkets.com/aboutus "Global Building Automation Software Market: Size, Trends & Forecasts (2018-2022)", provides an in-depth analysis of the global building automation software market by value, by segments, etc. The report also gives an insight of the global building automation market and global building automation hardware market.View TOC and List of Tables & Figures:The report also assesses the key opportunities in the market and outlines the factors that are and will be driving the growth of the industry. Growth of the overall global building automation market has also been forecasted for the period 2017-2022 taking into consideration the previous growth patterns, the growth drivers and the current and future trends.Request for Sample Pages of this Report:The key players of the building automation software market are Siemens, Honeywell, Johnson Controls and Schneider Electric, who are also profiled with their business overview, financial analysis and respective business strategies.Inquire more about this report:Company CoverageSiemensHoneywellJohnson ControlsSchneider ElectricExecutive SummaryBuilding automation is creating an automatic centralized system for a building which controls the heating, air conditioning, ventilation, lighting and other systems of the building. The Building Automation helps not only in monitoring the climate and making automatic adjustments based on temperature and movement, but also in troubleshooting any problem in the system of the building. The building automation market is segmented into hardware and software and controls market.The building automation software is a platform and digital ecosystem that connect and automate the hardware. The software products include the building management platform. The controls enable the integration between the hardware and software. The building automation software and controls is further segmented into building automation products; integration, installation, services and software, systems and interface.The global building automation software market is expected to grow at significant growth in next few years. The market is anticipated to increase due to growing demand for smart homes, upsurge in demand of Internet of Things (IoT), growing trend of cloud computing, rising penetration of smartphones and internet and increasing new building construction and renovation. But the market also faces challenges due to problem of cyber security, high initial implementation cost and lack of skilled labor.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 Digital Pregnancy Test Kit Market to Rear Excessive Growth During 2027 https://www.xploremr.com/report/358/digital-pregnancy-test-kit-market https://www.xploremr.com/connectus/sample/358 https://www.xploremr.com/cart/reports/buynow/358 https://www.xploremr.com/ The U.S. is a highly mature market and wide scale adoption of digital pregnancy test kits in this region is expected to drive market growth during the forecast period. The demand for digital pregnancy test kits is increasing due to the availability of advanced features such as connectivity with Bluetooth and smart countdown.Report overview @An increasing number of working-class women who do not usually have time to visit a physician unless in case of an emergency is the major factor boosting growth of the digital pregnancy test kit market in the U.S.Leading manufacturers of digital pregnancy test kits are focussing on co-promotions and co-marketing strategies to expand commercial presence. Launch of technologically advanced products by local manufacturers is expected to provide ample opportunities for the growth of digital pregnancy test kits in the U.S. market.Growing per capita disposable income and increasing focus of the government on womens health is likely to boost the U.S. digital pregnancy test kit marketIncreasing healthcare facilities and growing per capita income in the U.S. has increased the access of healthcare facilities to the masses. There are few OTC medical products that are generally not covered under public insurance policies in developing countries but are easily available in the U.S. These medical products include rapid diagnostic devices.The U.S Federal government is focusing on improving womens health through various awareness and healthcare programs. This in turn is expected to fuel growth of the fertility and pregnancy rapid tests market. Office of Womens Health, U.S. Department of Health provides guidance on the use of pregnancy test kits. The American Pregnancy Association along with its education partner Fairhaven Health LLC provides guidance on fertility testing to couples.The Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada runs assistance programmes for women who cannot afford advanced healthcare solutions. All these factors are creating a positive impact on the U.S. digital pregnancy test kit market.Leading manufacturers of digital pregnancy test kits are focussing on collaborating with supermarkets such as WallMart and Walgreens to promote the sale of their brands. This has allowed consumers to choose from a wide variety of options that are easily available. Besides, leading manufacturers as well as local manufacturers of digital pregnancy test kits are also emphasizing online sales of their products, which will allow consumers to buy these products from the comfort of their homes.Get a free sample request @Rapid adoption of digital devices and increased usage of pregnancy test kits are the prominent trends in the U.S. marketRapid replacement of analog pregnancy test kits and conventional line indicators by digital pregnancy test kits is in vogue since the past decade. Women often find difficulty in interpreting test results in the case of line indicator pregnancy test kits. However digital pregnancy test kits provide the best results that can be read on a digital screen.In general the usage of digital pregnancy test kits are growing day by day. Women have been using these kits multiple times to confirm the pregnancy. According to a survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, only 4.8% of fertile women aged 1544 years who were part of the study group took the test a single time, 53.4% women took the test twice and 27.7% of women took more than two tests within a month to confirm results.Drug stores to hold largest revenue share in the U.S. digital pregnancy test kit marketAmong the various distribution channels, drug stores dominated the U.S. digital pregnancy test kit market in terms of revenue in 2017, and the trend is projected to grow throughout the forecast period. Drug stores is the most attractive distribution channel, with a market attractiveness index of 2.0 over the forecast period.Pharmacies are expected to be the second most lucrative distribution channel for digital pregnancy test kits in the U.S. with an attractiveness index of 1.2 during the period of study.Buy Now Full Report @About UsXploreMR is one of the worlds leading resellers of high-quality market research reports. We feature in-depth reports from some of the worlds most reputed market research companies and international organizations. We serve across a broad spectrum from Fortune 500 to small and medium businesses. Our clients trust us for our unwavering focus onquality and affordability. We believe high price should not be a bottleneck for organizations looking to gain access to quality information.Contact UsXploreMR111 North Market Street, Suite 300San Jose, CA 95113, United StatesTel: +1-669-284-0108Email: sales@xploremr.comWebsite: United States Physician Practice Management Market 2018-2022 | ResearchByMarkets The US Physician Practice Management (PPM) Market: Size, Trends & Forecasts (2018-2022) https://www.researchbymarkets.com/report/the-us-physician-practice-management-ppm-market-size-trends-forecasts-2018-2022-18355.html https://www.researchbymarkets.com/sample-request/18355 https://www.researchbymarkets.com/inquiry/18355 https://www.researchbymarkets.com/aboutus The US Physician Practice Management (PPM) Market: Size, Trends & Forecasts (2018-2022)", provides analysis of the US physician practice management, with detailed analysis of market size and growth of the industry. The analysis includes the market by expenditure, by number physician practices acquisition, by addressable market and by source of funds for expenditure.View TOC and List of Tables & Figures:Moreover, the report also assesses the key opportunities in the market and outlines the factors that are and will be driving the growth of the industry. Growth of the overall US physician practice management market has also been forecasted for the years 2018-2022, taking into consideration the previous growth patterns, the growth drivers and the current and future trends.Request for Sample Pages of this Report:Envision Healthcare, Mednax, Team Health and US Anesthesia Partners are some of the key players operating in the US physician practice management market, whose company profiling has been done in the report. In this segment of the report, business overview, financial overview and business strategies of the companies are provided.Company CoverageEnvision HealthcareMednaxTeam HealthUS Anesthesia PartnersMake specific inquiries regarding this report:Executive SummaryPhysician Practice Management or PPM is the industry which is formed by collaboration of number of physicians together and specializes in providing clinical facilities and other physician services to their clients/patients.There are two types of organization/companies who offers physician services: PPM company and Management Service Organization (MSO). A PPM company is the one which is specialized with single-specialty groups, hospital-based physicians or multispecialty groups and serves as strategic planner for participating physicians, whereas MSO is leaned towards handling practice administration management and contracting functions.There are four modes through which PPM companies generate their revenue: billing of physician services (accountable only for participating physicians), hospital contracts (contract price for providing physician services for 2-3 years), physician compensation and other fees/subsidies (such as administrative fees if a hospital is unable to meet sufficient patient volume).Hospitals are the biggest client for any PPM company. Hospitals outsource physicians from PPM companies instead of hiring. There are three primary factors because of which hospitals outsource physician services: improving quality and financial outcomes of the hospital, surpass the difficult phase of talent hunt & recruiting and more economic in terms of leverage/scale. In the US region, physicians are exiting running their clinics and started merging with other practices and selling to hospitals, PPM companies and other private equity firms.The US physician practice management market is expected to increase at high growth rates during the forecasted period (2018-2022). The US physician practice management market is supported by various growth drivers, such as increasing mergers and acquisitions of physicians, growing demand of outsourced physicians by hospitals, rising emergency department's (ED) patient number, etc. Yet, the market faces certain challenges, such as, lower hospital volumes, physician payments under MACRA, etc. few new market trends are also provided such as, growing government funds, 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 Bicycle Motors Market 2018- Global Consumption, Sales, Import-Export Analysis till 2025 www.statsandreports.com/request-sample/16619-global-bicycle-motors-market-research-report-2018 www.statsandreports.com/report/16619-global-bicycle-motors-market-research-report-2018 www.statsandreports.com/placeorder?report=16619-global-bicycle-motors-market-research-report-2018 www.statsnadnreports.com A recent published report on Global Bicycle Motors Market highlights the major details and provides in-depth analysis of the market along with the future growth and prospects. The reports also offer important insights which helps the industry experts, product managers, CEOs, and business executives to draft their policies on various parameters including expansion, acquisition, new product launch as well as analysing and understanding the market trends and demands. The research report also identifies the key factors and challenges in the market.Get a free sample or customize the report @The Global Bicycle Motors Market offers deep qualitative as well as qualitative insights from last five years to next five years along with the year-on-year market growth analysis. The study does not only offer insight about the global market but also provides deep analysis with respect to the market segments. The segments included in the report are- type, application and region. The type Hub Motor and Crank Motor, application Electric Scooter, Electric Motorcycles, Pedelec and Other includes market size and forecast from 2013 to 2025 along with year-on-year growth analysis.Furthermore, the report also contains the qualitative analysis of the market through several chapters. Company profile, competitive product portfolio analysis, market share analysis along with the revenue and SWOT analysis are some of the major insights available in the study. Currently, the market is being driven by the major companies such as Bosch, Yamaha Motor, Continental, Panasonic, Brose Antriebstechnik, Kalkhoff, BAFANG, SHIMANO, Keola, Unique Product and Design and Sunstar Suisse whereas new innovations and technology advancement is playing important role in bringing the small companies into the industry. There is also a huge competition between the vendors and suppliers of Global Bicycle Motors Market which is playing crucial role in the final pricing.The report also provides key insights by geography where the major region includes North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia and India. Geographically, the report offers market size (USD million) and volume, market share, production, consumption along with import, export and supply. The historic year considered for this report is 2013 where it provides information all the way to 2025 considering the base year as 2018.Read detailed research report @Scope of Global Bicycle Motors MarketThe report provides historic data from year 2013 through 2018 and forecast till 2025.The report offers competitive landscape of the market which includes key player analysis, market share of key players and product portfolio analysis.The Global Bicycle Motors Market also offers quantitative and qualitative analysis of the different segment such as Type which includes Hub Motor and Crank Motor, Application Electric Scooter, Electric Motorcycles, Pedelec and Other and Regions.The report also offers advice from the key industry people on how the market is growing and how companies can overcome from various challengesTable of Content of Global Bicycle Motors MarketThe Global Bicycle Motors Market Research Report offers deep insights about the market trends and forecast in more than 12 chapters which provides qualitative as well as quantitative analysis of the report.Chapter 1, 2 and 3 includes methodology & data sources, market overview and market analysis by application. The market overview chapter provides segment information by type including the revenue (million USD) and sales volume (K Units) along with market share and year-on-year growth analysis. Market analysis by application provides insights on the different application/end users of the Global Bicycle Motors Market including the sales volume by sub application types.Chapter 4, 5 and 6 includes global market sales, revenue, price and growth rate analysis by regions, Market Competition by Players/Manufacturers which includes global market share, price by manufactures as well as sales and revenue by individual market players.ContinuedResearch MethodologyThe research report has been prepared by conducting various rounds of primary interviews with key management of several Tier-I and II companies. The primary research percentage of all of reports are above ~80% whereas ~20% of secondary research includes data from hoovers, factiva, one source avention and other government published records. Both top-down approach has been applied for the calculation of market size, volume, import and export and has been validated thoroughly.Buy this report @Thanks for reading the article. You can also get individual chapters or any particular segments.About Author:Stats and Reports is an India based research and consulting service provider specialized in offering wide range of business solutions to their clients including market research reports, primary and secondary research, demand forecasting services, focus group analysis and other services. We understand that how data is important in todays competitive environment and thus, we have collaborated with industrys leading research providers who works continuously to meet the ever growing demand for market research reports throughout the year.For more info log on toStats and ReportsMangaram Chamber, Office No - 16, Paud RoadSankalp Society, Kothrud, Pune, Maharashtra 411038Phone: +1 650-646-3808 or drop an email @ sales@statsandreports.com Biomarkers Market 2018 with Prestigious Leading Vendors Merck& Co., Inc, Roche Diagnostics Ltd, QIAGEN N.V., Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. etc. Insight 2022 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1941 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/check-discount/1941 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/enquiry/1941 Biomarkers Market Information, by Type (Predisposition Biomarkers, Diagnostic Biomarkers, Prognostic Biomarkers), by Indication (Cancer, Neurological Disorders, Cardiovascular Disorders), by Application (Tests, Therapies, Drug Discovery, Drug Formulation) - Forecast to 2022Globally the market of biomarkers is expected to grow enormously at the rate of about 13.3% till 2022 and the growth at this rate has started since 2016.KEY PLAYERS FOR BIOMARKERS MARKETMerck& Co., Inc (United States), Roche Diagnostics Ltd (Netherlands), Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc (United States), Siemens Healthcare GmbH (Germany) QIAGEN N.V. (Netherlands), PerkinElmer, Inc. (United States), Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (United States), and Enzo Biochem, Inc. (United States) and others.Get Sample Report @MARKET SCENARIO FOR BIOMARKERS MARKETThe Global Market of Biomarkers is growing steadily. Factors that are influencing this market are increasing advancement in drug development, increasing prevalence of cancer, organizations like FDA which are promoting the use of biomarkers, increasing user of biomarkers for clinical research and others.SEGMENTS FOR BIOMARKERS MARKETGlobal biomarkers market has been segmented on the basis of type which comprises predisposition biomarkers, diagnostic biomarkers, prognostic biomarkers and predictive biomarkers. On the basis of indication the market is segmented into cancer, neurological disorders, cardiovascular disorders, immunological disorders and others. Furthermore on the basis of application, the market is segmented into tests, therapies, drug discovery, drug formulation and others.REGIONAL ANALYSIS FOR BIOMARKERS MARKETNorth America is the largest market of global biomarkers market. The North American market for biomarkers is expected to grow at the CAGR of 13.6%. Europe is the second largest market for biomarkers which is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13.2%. Asia Pacific region is expected to be fastest growing region of the global biomarkers market.Get Discount @MAJOR TOC FOR BIOMARKERS MARKETCHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION1.1 Definition1.2 Scope of Study1.3 Research Objective1.4 Assumptions & Limitations1.5 Market StructureCHAPTER 2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY2.1 Research Process2.2 Primary Research2.3 Secondary ResearchCHAPTER 3. MARKET DYNAMICS3.1 Drivers3.2 Restraints3.3 Opportunities3.4 Challenges3.5 Macroeconomic IndicatorsCHAPTER 4. MARKET FACTOR ANALYSIS4.1 Porters Five Forces Model4.1.1 Bargaining Power of Suppliers4.1.2 Bargaining Power of Customer4.1.3 Intensity of Competitors4.1.4 Threat of New EntrantsTOC Continued.Ask to Expert Inquire @About Us: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.Contact Us:Market Research Future, Office No. 528,Amanora Chambers Magarpatta Road,Hadapsar, Pune - 411028 Maharashtra, IndiaPhone: +1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Restaurant Management Software in Europe 2018 Global Market Outlook,Research,Trends and Forecast to 2022 Restaurant Management Software in Europe Market https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/3214758-europe-restaurant-management-software-market-report-2018 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/3214758-europe-restaurant-management-software-market-report-2018 WiseGuyReports.Com Publish a New Market Research Report On Restaurant Management Software in Europe 2018 Market Outlook,Research,Trends and Forecast to 2022.The Restaurant Management Software industry has also suffered a certain impact, but still maintained a relatively optimistic growth, the past four years, Restaurant Management Software market size to maintain the average annual growth rate of 1.64% from 718 million $ in 2014 to 754 million $ in 2017, The analysts believe that in the next few years, Restaurant Management Software market size will be further expanded, we expect that by 2022, The market size of the Restaurant Management Software will reach 794 million $.Get a Sample Report @For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comThis Report covers the Major Players data, including: shipment, revenue, gross profit, interview record, business distribution etc., these data help the consumer know about the competitors better.Besides, the report also covers segment data, including: type segment, industry segment, channel segment etc. cover different segment market size. Also cover different industries clients information, which is very important for the Major Players.Sections:-Section 1: FreeDefinitionSection 2: 800 USDMajor Player Market Share and Market Segmentation by RegionGermanyUnited KingdomFranceItalyRussiaSection 3: 900 USDMajor Player DetailHotSchedulesTouchBistroOrdyxToast POSBreadcrumbComcashMarketmanBrigadeReServe InteractiveCrunchTimePeachWorksBaconEpicorLavuScheduleflyContinuedReport Details @Table Of Contents Major Key PointsSection 1 Restaurant Management Software DefinitionSection 2 Europe Restaurant Management Software Market Major Player Share and Market Overview2.1 Europe Major Player Restaurant Management Software Business Revenue2.2 Europe Restaurant Management Software Market Segmentation (Region Level) Market Size (Value) 2014-20172.3 Europe Restaurant Management Software Market OverviewSection 3 Major Player Restaurant Management Software Business Introduction3.1 HotSchedules Restaurant Management Software Business Introduction3.1.1 HotSchedules Restaurant Management Software Revenue, Growth Rate and Gross profit 2014-20173.1.2 HotSchedules Restaurant Management Software Business Distribution by Region3.1.3 HotSchedules Interview Record3.1.4 HotSchedules Restaurant Management Software Business Profile3.1.5 HotSchedules Restaurant Management Software Specification3.2 TouchBistro Restaurant Management Software Business Introduction3.2.1 TouchBistro Restaurant Management Software Revenue, Growth Rate and Gross profit 2014-20173.2.2 TouchBistro Restaurant Management Software Business Distribution by Region3.2.3 Interview Record3.2.4 TouchBistro Restaurant Management Software Business Overview3.2.5 TouchBistro Restaurant Management Software Specification3.3 Ordyx Restaurant Management Software Business Introduction3.3.1 Ordyx Restaurant Management Software Revenue, Growth Rate and Gross profit 2014-20173.3.2 Ordyx Restaurant Management Software Business Distribution by Region3.3.3 Interview Record3.3.4 Ordyx Restaurant Management Software Business Overview3.3.5 Ordyx Restaurant Management Software Specification3.4 Toast POS Restaurant Management Software Business Introduction3.5 Breadcrumb Restaurant Management Software Business Introduction3.6 Comcash Restaurant Management Software Business IntroductionSection 4 Europe Restaurant Management Software Market Segmentation (Type Level)4.1 Europe Restaurant Management Software Market Segmentation (Type Level) Market Size 2014-20174.2 Different Restaurant Management Software Market Segmentation (Type Level) Market Size Growth Rate 2014-20174.3 Europe Restaurant Management Software Market Segmentation (Type Level) AnalysisSection 5 Europe Restaurant Management Software Market Segmentation (Industry Level)5.1 Europe Restaurant Management Software Market Segmentation (Industry Level) Market Size 2014-20175.2 Different Industry Trend 2014-20175.3 Europe Restaurant Management Software Market Segmentation (Industry Level) AnalysisSection 6 Europe Restaurant Management Software Market Segmentation (Channel Level)6.1 Europe Restaurant Management Software Market Segmentation (Channel Level) Market Size and Share 2014-20176.2 Europe Restaurant Management Software Market Segmentation (Channel Level) AnalysisSection 7 Restaurant Management Software Market Forecast 2018-20227.1 Restaurant Management Software Segmentation Market Forecast (Type Level)7.2 Restaurant Management Software Segmentation Market Forecast (Industry Level)7.3 Restaurant Management Software Segmentation Market Forecast (Channel Level)Continued..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. Telecom IT Services Market to Generate Significant Revenues through 2026 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=3864 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=3864 he telecom sector is currently witnessing a rapid rise in competition among the telecom operators which in turn is affecting its profitability and growth. Decline in average revenue per unit is also impacting the telecom industry. Telecom operators are under constant pressure to manage their capital expenditures in network deployment to reduce their operating costs. IT service providers help telecom operators achieve these goals.Thus, the market has currently observed telecom operators outsourcing value-added services comprising content services, next generation communication services and commerce services to IT service providers. This helps telecom operators to curb their operating expenses. Outsourcing will facilitate the telecom operators to dedicate more efforts towards revenue generating activities, such as customer acquisition.Get Sample Brochure at:Thus outsourcing is a very crucial development without which the telecom operators would lose revenue in both; marginalization of bearer services (voice and data) and other Value Added Services (VAS). Telecom IT services offered by IT service providers to telecom operators enables the operators to function their business more competently. IT services facilitates telecom operators to deliver the telecom services efficiently and effectively.Moreover, IT services enable operators to understand customer expectations and thus reduce customer churn by enhancing customer service. Increasing need to remain competent and rising financial pressures faced by the telecom operators are the factors driving the telecom IT services market.Get TOC of This Report:Telecom IT services market offers a wide variety of solutions such as customer relationship management, mobile commerce, enterprise mobility, network management, supply chain management, operations support system and business support systems.Moreover, the operator portfolio is getting complex mainly due to mergers and acquisitions in the industry. For instance, the takeover of Mobilink Telecom by Broadcom and Bellsouth by AT&T Inc. Integration of the new infrastructure with the exiting operating infrastructure is a challenge to the industry. The telecom operators lack the proficiency required to integrate complex operating infrastructure. Thus to reduce this degree of complexity pertaining to issues related with integrating network and services, telecom operators partners with IT service providers. Increasing cost pressure, decreasing profits and extensive competitive rivalry are some of the factors that have compelled telecom operators to reach to the IT service providers to optimize their business processes.High capital expenditure needed for IT services and constantly changing government regulations are inhibiting the growth of this market. These factors have resulted in a reduced investment in this market and have proved to be a major hindrance affecting its development. Top players such as Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and IBM Corporation dominate the global Telecom IT services market. This dominance is threatened by emerging technologies such as Software Defined Networks (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV). Features such as flexibility, virtualization, network automation and orchestration associated with these technologies are expected to create potential opportunities for the telecom IT services market in near future.Transparency Market Researcj is into analytics, research, and advisory services for Fortune 500 companies, scores of high potential startups, and financial institutions. Our success stories have proven why we are a preeminent provider of cutting-edge syndicated and customized research services. Leverage the best of our seasoned research analysts who hold a keen interest and enviable expertise of almost 4 million hours in global, regional, and local market intelligence.Unit No.701, 7th Floor,NSG IT Park, Aundh,Pune - 411007India Latest Insights on Digital Impression System Market for Forecast Period 2017 2026 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=22472 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=22472 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/report-toc/22472 Thanks to the strong presence of well-established players, the global digital impression system marketshows a highly competitive landscape, finds a new study by Transparency Market Research (TMR). The leading players in this market, namely, Sirona Dental Systems, Align Technology, 3Shape, 3M, and Carestream Health, are focusing aggressively on the acquisition of smaller players to eliminate competition, which is likely to further consolidate this market.According to TMRs estimations, the global digital impression systems market stood at US$2.13 bn in 2015. Researchers expect the opportunity in this market to proliferate at a healthy CAGR of 18.30% during the period from 2017 and 2025 and attain a value of US$9.6 bn by the end of the forecast period. Mobile/portable systems have been the most valued product in this market over the past few years.Get Sample Brochure at:The segment is likely to retain its dominance throughout the forecast period, thanks to the extensive progress in the dental and healthcare industry and the advent of various novel technologies, such as 3D impression technology and mobile based tablet intraoral scanners.North America to Lead Global Market; Asia Pacific to Present Lucrative OpportunitiesThe research study also presents an exhaustive assessment of the regional markets for digital impression systems. According to the report, North America, the Middle East and Africa, Europe, Asia Pacific, and South America are the main geographical segments in the worldwide market for digital impression systems.Get Sample PDF:North America led the overall market in 2016, contributing US$555.4 mn in revenues. This regional market is expected to continue its dominance throughout the forecast period on the grounds of a large number of established market players.Asia Pacific, on the other hand, is expected to present the most promising growth opportunities, thanks to the strengthening economic condition and the subsequent improvement in the living standard of consumers. The rising pool of large orthodontic clinics and practitioners in these economies, such as China, Japan, and India, is expected to propel this regional market considerably in the years to come, states the research report.Get TOC of This Report:Rising Popularity of Digital Impression Systems to Fuel DemandThe demand for digital impression systems is highly influenced by the increasing awareness among consumers pertaining to the benefits of the digital impression technology when compared with the conventional method of impression, says an analyst at TMR.The fact that these systems shorten the painful process of elastomeric impression has increased their popularity, thereby augmenting their demand substantially, which is reflecting positively on the market for digital impression across the world.Over the forthcoming years, the advent of advanced powder-free intraoral scanners at a much reduced price is projected to stimulate this market remarkably. Besides, the growing uptake of these systems by dentists and other dental practitioners, boosted by their increasing focus on the accuracy of the treatment and patients comfort, is also predicted to drive the markets growth in the near future. However, the soaring costs of these systems and the need for high technical expertise may restrict the market over the next few years, notes the study.Transparency Market Researcj is into analytics, research, and advisory services for Fortune 500 companies, scores of high potential startups, and financial institutions. Our success stories have proven why we are a preeminent provider of cutting-edge syndicated and customized research services. Leverage the best of our seasoned research analysts who hold a keen interest and enviable expertise of almost 4 million hours in global, regional, and local market intelligence.Unit No.701, 7th Floor,NSG IT Park, Aundh,Pune - 411007India Body Contouring Market Inclinations & Development Status by Top Leading Vendors Alma Lasers, Valeant, BTL Industries, GlobalMed Technologies etc. Through 2022 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1343 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/check-discount/1343 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/enquiry/1343 Global Body Contouring Market Research Report, By Devices (Non-Invasive Devices, Minimally Invasive Devices & Invasive Devices) - Forecast Till 2023Global contouring market is growing at a CAGR of 9.8% during forecasted period 2017-2023.KEY PLAYERS FOR BODY CONTOURING MARKETAlma Lasers (Israel), Meridian (Michigan), Cynosure (US), Syneron Medical (Israel), Lumenis (Israel), Palomar Medical Technologies (US), Valeant (Canada), GlobalMed Technologies (US), Asclepion Laser Technologies (Germany), Andrew Technologies (Canada), BTL Industries (US), Cutera (US), Fotona (Slovenia), GlobalMed Technologies (US), Chromogenex (UK), Human Med (Germany), InMode (US), Invasix Aesthetic Solutions (US), Erchonia (US),Wells Johnson Company (US)Get Sample Report @SEGMENTATION FOR BODY CONTOURING MARKETGlobal body contouring market is segmented on the basis of type of devices into invasive devices, minimally invasive devices & non-invasive devices. Non-Invasive devices is further sub segmented into radio frequency lipoplasty devices and high intensity focused ultrasound lipoplasty devices. Minimally invasive devices are sub segmented into laser assisted lipolysis devices and radio frequency assisted liposuction devices and invasive devices are sub segmented into ultrasound assisted liposuction devices and other.REGIONAL ANALYSIS FOR BODY CONTOURING MARKETOn regional basis, North America commands the market for the body contouring market followed by Europe. Presence of huge obese population and increasing healthcare expenditure is the major reason for the development of this market in North America and Europe. Increasing prevalence of diabetes and demand for the better surgery for obesity has help to provide a push to market growth. Asia Pacific is the fastest growing region for body contouring market. This is possible due to presence of the developing countries like India and China. This countries are the major contributor for body contouring market due to a huge population base and continuously increasing obese population.MARKET HIGHLIGHTS FOR BODY CONTOURING MARKETBody contouring is a altering the body part by improving the appearance. It involves the removal or transfer of fat to the body. Excess fat from thigh, abdomen and buttocks are removed with this surgery. Global contouring market is driven by increasing obese population. Adoption of fast food and lack of exercise and diseases like diabetes and other cardiovascular diseases led is responsible for increasing the excess fat of the body. While on other hand high cost of the therapy may led to hamper the growth of the market. Global body contouring market is growing at a CAGR of 9.8% during forecasted period 2017-2023.On regional basis, North America commands the largest market for the body contouring market. About 55% of total North America population is suffering from overweight and obesity. Increasing health care expenditure and governmental support for the research and development of the different devices and surgery provided fuel for the growth of the market. Europe is the second largest market followed by Asia Pacific. Asia Pacific has served an opportunities for developing body contouring market in this region due to increasing demand for the better treatment and devices and increasing prevalence of disease like diabetes and obesity.Get Discount @TOP 5 REASONS TO GET THIS REPORTCompany profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent development activitiesMarket Strategic Business Influence DataMarket Research Future recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimationsMarket share analysis of the top industry playersMarket forecasts for a minimum of 5 years of all the mentioned segments, Trends and the regional markets With SWOT AnalysisMAJOR TOC FOR BODY CONTOURING MARKET RESEARCH REPORT- FORECAST TO 2023CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION1.1 DEFINITION1.2 SCOPE OF STUDY1.2.1 RESEARCH OBJECTIVE1.2.2 ASSUMPTIONS & LIMITATIONS1.2.2.1 ASSUMPTIONS1.2.2.2 LIMITATIONS1.3 MARKET STRUCTURECHAPTER 2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY2.1 RESEARCH PROCESS2.2 PRIMARY RESEARCH2.3 SECONDARY RESEARCHCHAPTER 3. MARKET DYNAMICS3.1 DRIVERS3.2 RESTRAINTS3.3 OPPORTUNITIES3.4 MACROECONOMIC INDICATORSCHAPTER 4. MARKET FACTOR ANALYSIS4.1 PORTERS FIVE FORCES MODEL4.2 BARGAINING POWER OF SUPPLIERS4.3 BARGAINING POWER OF BUYERS4.4 THREAT OF NEW ENTRANTS4.5 THREAT OF SUBSTITUTES4.6 INTENSITY OF RIVALRYCHAPTER 5. GLOBAL BODY CONTOURING MARKET, BY DEVICES5.1 NON-INVASIVE DEVICES5.1.1 RADIO FREQUENCY LIPOPLASTY DEVICES5.1.2 HIGH INTENSITY FOCUSED ULTRASOUND LIPOPLASTY DEVICES5.2 MINIMALLY INVASIVE DEVICES5.2.1 LASER ASSISTED LIPOLYSIS DEVICES5.2.2 RADIO FREQUENCY ASSISTED LIPOSUCTION DEVICES5.3 INVASIVE DEVICES5.3.1 ULTRASOUND ASSISTED LIPOSUCTION5.3.2 OTHERTOC CONTINUED.Ask to Expert Inquire @About Us: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.Contact Us:Market Research Future, Office No. 528,Amanora Chambers Magarpatta Road,Hadapsar, Pune - 411028 Maharashtra, IndiaPhone: +1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Telecom Expense Management Market : Cost-effective and Flexible Cloud-based Products and Services Gain Prominence https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=3752 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=3752 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/report-toc/3752 The vendor landscape of the global telecom expense management (TEM) market boasts a highly fragmented nature and has a large share in business held by individual TEM vendors, which operate through multiple delivery channels, across key domestic and regional markets, observes a recent report by Transparency Market Research.The market is witnessing a notable shift from licensed software products to cloud-based services owing to cost and flexibility benefits of the latter. TEM process outsourcing has started gaining increased demand from organizations that prefer to utilize internal resources to strengthen their core business processes.Get Sample Brochure at:Focus on expansion across regional markets such as Asia Pacific and Middle East and Africa has significantly increased owing to the thriving enterprise sector and globalization of native companies. For companies to reinstate their command on the highly promising marketplace, focus on development of products capable of complying with the diverse requirements of the highly complex and rapidly expanding organizational telecom expenses will prove to be beneficial, suggests the report.Transparency Market Research estimates that the global telecom expense management market will exhibit a momentous 13.5% CAGR over the period between 2016 and 2024, rising from an opportunity of US$1.60 bn in 2015 to US$4.92 bn in 2024.Get Sample PDFComplete Outsourcing Witnessing Increased Preference over Cloud ServicesIn terms of mode of delivery, the segment of cloud services held the dominant share of nearly 45% of the overall market in 2015. Although the segment will continue to account for a massive share in the global market throughout the forecast period, rising preference to complete outsourcing will lead to a massive negative impact on the rate of adoption of cloud-based services.From a geographical perspective, the market in North America presently leads in terms of contribution of revenue to the global TEM market and is expected to continue to hold a massive share in the global market revenue over the forecast period as well. Nevertheless, the high level of maturity of the regional market is projected to be translated in stagnant growth opportunities. Regional markets such as Asia Pacific and Middle East and Africa are expected to emerge as the regions with the most promising growth opportunities over the forecast period.Get TOC of This Report:Rising Complexity of Internal Telecom Networks Compels Enterprises to Adopt Effective TEM SolutionsOver the past few years, factors such as the rising level of integration of mobile devices in enterprise networks and vast developments in corporate telecom infrastructure have rendered telecom networks of large-, medium-, and small-scale enterprises intensely complex and difficult for manual monitoring. As enterprises continue to adopt advanced communications channels to connect with employees, customers, and clients, the need for effective telecom expense management solutions will continue to be high.Stringent government regulations, compelling enterprises to incorporate reliable record-keeping and monitoring solutions as a way to preserve clarity in operations, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 in the U.S., also continue to reinstate the important of effective TEM solutions.Furthermore, as companies expand their geographical presence, they are also required to hire different telecommunication carriers according to regional trends and carrier influence across geographies. This leads to a vast rise in invoices from the different carriers, which could also differ in billing formats. Enterprises are increasingly understanding that managing the task of paying telecom companies in accordance to only the services availed is better managed with an effective TEM solution than manual procedures, driving the TEM market.Transparency Market Researcj is into analytics, research, and advisory services for Fortune 500 companies, scores of high potential startups, and financial institutions. Our success stories have proven why we are a preeminent provider of cutting-edge syndicated and customized research services. Leverage the best of our seasoned research analysts who hold a keen interest and enviable expertise of almost 4 million hours in global, regional, and local market intelligence.Unit No.701, 7th Floor,NSG IT Park, Aundh,Pune - 411007India Global Cardiac Surgery Devices Market Expected to Reach US$ 554.9MN by 2027 end Market Research Reports Search Engine https://www.mrrse.com/sample/3439 https://www.mrrse.com/cardiac-surgery-devices-market https://www.mrrse.com/enquiry/3439 https://www.mrrse.com/ A latest research report titled as Cardiac Surgery Devices Market : Global Industry Analysis 2012 - 2016 and Opportunity Assessment 2017 - 2027 has been recently added to the vast portfolio of Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) online research offerings. This report is a professional and in-depth analysis on the present state and future prospect for the global market. It provides valuable information to the industry insiders, potential entrants or investors. It includes an exhaustive enquiry with the reliability of logic and the comprehensiveness of contents.Get Sample PDF for more Professional and Technical insights @Cardiac surgery devices are manufactured according to the needs of the patients as well as the cardiologists. As surgical methods are becoming more advanced, cardiac surgery devices have become the showpiece of innovation in the operation theatre. Key stakeholders in the cardiac surgery devices market are introducing newer products to try and retain or even increase their market share. For e.g. Medtronic has launched its minimally invasive cardiac surgery products in the U.S. through an exclusive distribution agreement with Miami Instruments LLC. Technology will continue to underpin advancements in the global cardiac surgery devices market in the coming decade.Rapid evolution in electronic data collection during cardiac surgery is anticipated to influence companies in the cardiac surgery devices market to manufacture novel products in the near future. Several data management systems have been developed that facilitate seamless data integration from the heart lung machine. The company LivaNova offers a DMS charting system that automatically records all events and values of the C5, S5, and SIII heart-lung machines along with other devices such as blood gas analysers, patient monitors, cerebral oximetry devices, and ACT meters.Greater occurrence of coronary heart diseases has heightened the focus on minimally invasive surgical procedures. Heart disease is one of the most common and widespread global diseases and can be typically traced to obese patients. Over the last decade, minimally invasive cardiothoracic surgery has surged in popularity mainly because of the numerous benefits of this procedure such as reduced surgical trauma and decreased pain in the surgical area. With the refinement of transthoracic echocardiography, development of specialised robotic technology and surgical instruments, and perfusion technique innovations, cardiac surgery has been given the requisite tools required to perform minimally invasive surgery.Surgical stabilisation products offer retraction, positioners, and stabilisers during a number of surgical procedures where a human hand is normally needed and they provide exceptional stability and grip during off pump cardiac surgery. For e.g. Medtronic offers Urchin Heart and Starfish2 Positioners that hold the heart in a manner allowing the surgeon to easily access the blocked vessels needing bypass graft. In addition, the Octopus Tissue Stabilizer minimises motion of a small area of the heart while the rest continues to beat normally. Thus, the surgeon can perform CABG surgery without using the heart-lung machine or stopping the heart. The reusable stabilising arm enhances the cost effectiveness and stability of the procedure, thereby boosting the prospects of the cardiac surgery devices market.Access Complete Report with Table of Content @North America dominates the global cardiac surgery devices market as it is larger than both Western Europe and APEJ combined with an estimated value of over half a billion dollars in 2017. It is expected to retain its commanding position in the global cardiac surgery devices market as it is on track to record a CAGR of 4.1%, reaching a market valuation of just under US$ 830 Mn by the end of the forecast period. MEA is expected to witness the highest value CAGR among all regions (4.9%); however, the region is anticipated to remain the least attractive market in the global cardiac surgery devices market in terms of revenue, recording a market attractiveness index of 0.5 over the forecast period. The cardiac surgery devices market in North America is expected to witness flourishing growth owing to increasing demand for cardiac surgery devices by hospitals and ambulatory surgery centres in U.S and Canada.Medical tourism has become quite popular amongst patients afflicted with cardiovascular ailments as it allows high quality care to be provided immediately in a cost-effective manner. This is especially prominent in the developed regions of Europe and North America from where patients travel to places such as Thailand and India to avail of medical tourism. The APAC region is the preferred destination for medical tourists as a coronary artery bypass procedure can be almost 80% cheaper in this region than in places such as the U.S. and Europe. In India, the average cost of the procedure is approx. US$ 9000, which is substantially lower than the US$ 120,000 it costs in the U.S.Enquire about this Report @About 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: Vaccine Adjuvants Market Volume Forecast and Value Chain Analysis 2025 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/14500 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/14500 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com The concept of stimulating the response of the bodys immune system is the basis for the vaccination. Vaccines respond by facilitating the effect of the innate immune response and activating the antigen presenting calls (APCs), thereby stimulating the protective immune response to the pathogen antigens. Adjuvants are the substances that are added to the vaccines to enhance the immunological effect of extremely purified antigens that have sufficient immunostimualtory capabilities, and have been used in vaccines for many decades. Adjuvants helps vaccine work better. Some of the vaccines contain dead or weakened microbes and stimulate the produce a strong immune response. However, most of the vaccines todays contain small components of microbes such as, proteins instead of entire microbe. These vaccines must include adjuvants to ensure that body produce strong enough immune response that he does not need to be vaccinated again.Vaccine Adjuvants Market: Drivers and RestraintsVaccines adjuvants market is expected to be driven by increasing prevalence of conditions such as, allergy, HIV and cancer. Vaccine adjuvants market also expected to be fueled by increasing demand for the advanced treatment options and development of vaccines with improved immunization. Other factors which are also boosting the growth of vaccine adjuvants market are increasing geriatric population and prevalence of infections.Request Sample Report @Vaccine Adjuvants Market: SegmentationThe global vaccine adjuvants market can be segmented on the basis of product type, route of administration, application category, end user and region.On the basis of product type the global vaccine adjuvants market can be segmented into:Pathogen ComponentsParticulate AdjuvantsCombination AdjuvantsOn the basis of route of administration the global vaccine adjuvants market can be segmented into:OralIntramuscularSubcutaneousIntradermalIntranasalOthersOn the basis of application category the global vaccine adjuvants market can be segmented into:Human VaccinesAnimal VaccinesOn the basis of end use the global vaccine adjuvants market can be segmented into:Pharmaceutical CompaniesResearch InstitutesContract Manufacturing OrganizationVaccine Adjuvants Market: OverviewThe global vaccine adjuvants market is expected to grow significantly over the forecast period. Advanced vaccines are being developed that do not contain dead or weakened microbes but contain a part of microbes. These vaccines require adjuvants to produce a strong immunological response to the antigens administered. Particulate adjuvants segment is biggest product segment if the global vaccine adjuvants market. Because, these particles are capable of producing the strong immune response and also enhance the delivery of antigen to immune system.Combination adjuvants segment is expected to be fastest growing segment because these adjuvants have ability to stimulate the multiple protective immune response. Intramuscular vaccine segment is expected to be the largest segment of global vaccine adjuvants market over the forecast period. As this route of administration is most effective and fastest route. Other factor driving the growth of vaccines adjuvants market increasing demand for the specific and advanced treatment options.Vaccine Adjuvants Market: Region Wise OutlookGeographically, the global vaccine adjuvants market can be segmented into regions: North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Middle East & Africa. Europe is biggest market for the vaccines adjuvants in terms of revenue and is expected to continue to dominate the market due to the increasing prevalence of disease such as, cancer and infections. Vaccine adjuvants market is expected to grow significantly in North America also, as FDA has added few of adjuvant containing vaccines in their stockpile. Asia Pacific and Africa is expected to be fastest growing vaccine adjuvants market over the forecast period due to increasing prevalence of cancer, HIV, influenza, hepatitis and others. Increasing population is also a growth factor the vaccine adjuvants market. Focus of the WHO and governments to curb the various disease is also boosting the growth of vaccine adjuvants market.Request to View TOC @Vaccine Adjuvants Market: Key PlayersSome of the key players in the global vaccine adjuvants market are, InvivoGen, OZ Biosciences, Sigma-Aldrich Co. LLC, SEPPIC, SPI Pharma, Agenus, Inc., Aphios Corp, VaxLiant LLC, Vaxine Pty Ltd and Kineta, Inc. Top companies are focusing on the merger and acquisition strategies to expand into new regions.ABOUT US: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.Persistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Near-infrared Spectroscopy Market size and Key Trends in terms of volume and value 2025 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/14470 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/14470 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is a technique used for the imaging purpose in different branches of science such as clinical medicine, emergency medicine and other areas of in institutes and laboratories where it gives sufficient information about the structure of a compound and measure the oxygenation status of human tissue non-invasively. Recently, near infrared spectroscopy has become an important technique process of analysis in the pharmaceutical industry for quality control and raw material testing. Apart from pharmaceutical companies, near infrared technology is getting accepted in other fields, such as biotechnology, food analysis, genetics & genomics analysis, proteomic research, insect detection, forensic lab application and crime detection. In medical science, the near infrared spectroscopy is a valuable tool for analysis.Infrared spectroscopy has a significant value in clinical chemistry and non-invasive diagnostics. For instance, it may be used in setting up of reagent-free multi-parameter assays for various biofluids by using the mid-infrared spectra. Nanoliter sample volumes in dry film measurements can be utilized for patient self-monitoring systems and other systems such as point of care instruments; fiber-optic accessories can be an option for assisting the device miniaturization, which makes the tool more user-friendly.Request Sample Report @Various other devices are recently brought into the market that utilizes continuous blood glucose monitoring for critically ill patients. Near-infrared radiation is applied in assays of skin for noninvasive glucose quantification and diabetes screening. For diagnosis and other research perspectives the near-infrared spectroscopy can be useful for a long term as it has more accurate and specific results. Thus, an increase in demand for specific tests and quality purpose are the factors that are expected to favor the market for demand of near-infrared spectroscopy.Global Near-infrared spectroscopy market is segmented on the basis of industry type and modalitySegmentation by industry typePharmaceuticalChemical IndustryAgricultureSegmentation by modalityHand HeldBench TopNear-infrared spectroscopy has potential for improving the monitoring and control of pharmaceutical processes quality assurance.The requirement of less or no consumables makes the technique more on demand, and non-destructive and non-invasive measurements are some factors that are expected to provide traction to the market in the near future. Other market driving factors such as continuous real-time data can be obtained along with the identification accuracy for a pure compound makes it a better option for qualitative research in various branches of science. The gradual growth in atomic and molecular physics are projected to support the market for near infrared spectroscopy as they use the technique in determining the energy states of atoms by observing the light absorbed or emitted during the change in state.However, there are some factors that impede the market for near infrared spectroscopy and slows down the growth. Factors such as the machines are expensive that makes less focus on developing techniques for detection tests by companies due to less profitability, and lack of awareness among physicians are some of the factors that could hamper the growth of the global Near-infrared spectroscopy market.By region, near-infrared spectroscopy market is segmented into five regions: North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East & Africa. North America dominates the global near-infrared spectroscopy market due to extensive use of the technology in research and development process followed by Western Europe and Japan in Asia Pacific region. However, growth in other Asian regions is projected to grow with an increase in demand for research process due to the economic environment and availability of resources.Request to View TOC @Some of the player in the near infrared spectroscopy devices market are Bruker, Shimadzu Corporation, Agilent Technologies, Metrohm, PerkinElmer, Inc, Edinburgh Instruments LtdABOUT US: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.Persistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Perfusion Bioreactors Market Dynamics, Forecast, Analysis and Supply Demand 2025 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/14398 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/14398 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Biopharmaceutical industry is striving to drive the product yield yet reducing the operational cost and perfusion bioreactors offer legacy of cost saving, increase productivity & efficiency of protein production. Unlike traditional fed-batch bioreactors, perfusion bioreactors culture cells for a long period of time and by continuously feeding fresh media to cell culture and remove the used media while keeping the cells in culture. Continuous replacement of culture media keeps the nutrients level high and maintain the optimum conditions for proper cell growth. Use of perfusion bioreactors also eliminates chances of protein degradation due to toxic effects produced by accumulation of cellular waste products in the culture media.Other advantages of perfusion bioreactors over traditional fed-batch reactors is that they are smaller in size and provide easy scalability in case of increased demand. Perfusion bioreactor technology is thus expected to be a dominant single-use bioreactor technology over the forecast period of 20172025. Some of the applications of perfusion bioreactors include manufacturing of hybridoma-based monoclonal antibodies, stem cell culturing, protein production, in vitro cell based drug screening, production of cell based assays, CHO-based biopharmaceutical manufacturing and many other. Perfusion bioreactors require cell retention or filtration devices during the continuous feed and removal of exhausted culture media. Perfusion bioreactors can be used at small scale as well as large scale bioproduction. For instance, Remicade blockbuster antibody preparation by Janssen Biotech, Inc. employs perfusion bioreactor technology for production.Request Sample Report @Primary factors driving the growth of global perfusion bioreactors market are size advantage, cost-effective, requirement of less capital investment, reduced operating cost, improvement in equipment reliability etc. Several other factors influencing the global market for perfusion bioreactors are increasing budget of biopharmaceutical companies in all areas related to bioprocessing, investment in adoption of new technologies, continuous discovery of numerous cost and performance advantages of perfusion technology, technological advances such as 3Dperfusion technology etc.As per 12th Annual Report and Survey of Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Capacity and Production report, industry demands more innovations in bioreactor technology with single-use bioreactors requiring most needed innovation area. However, the global market for perfusion bioreactors is expected to be deter by apparent lack of innovation in bioprocessing equipment, reliability of cell retention devices when used on industrial plant scale, etc.The global market for perfusion bioreactors is segmented on basis of product type, end user and geography:Segmentation by Product TypeSmall Scale Perfusion Bioreactors (50 liters to 1,000 liters)Large Scale Perfusion Bioreactors (>1,000 liters)Segmentation by End UserBiopharmaceutical CompaniesBiotechnology CompaniesContract Manufacturing Organizations (CMOs)Based on product type, the global perfusion bioreactors market has been classified as small scale (50 liters to 1,000 liters capacity) perfusion bioreactors and Large Scale (>1,000 liters) perfusion bioreactors. Small scale perfusion bioreactors are more often used by biopharmaceutical companies. However, demand for large scale perfusion bioreactors is increasing with increasing efforts to expand the production capacity by the companies.Based on end user, the global perfusion bioreactors market has been segmented into biopharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies and contract manufacturing organizations. Biopharmaceutical companies are expected to contribute highest share in the global perfusion bioreactors market over the forecast period.On the basis of regional presence, global perfusion bioreactors market is segmented into five key regions viz. North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. North America is expected to lead the global market due to increasing number of R&D activities by the biopharmaceutical companies in the region, while Europe is expected to hold second largest market share in global market. For instance, as per 12th Annual Report and Survey of Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Capacity and Production report, 51.2% biopharmaceutical companies in the U.S. reported their biopharmaceutical products in R&D phase while 41% of European companies reported their biopharmaceutical products in R&D phase, in 2015.Request to View TOC @Some of the players operating in global perfusion bioreactors market are Sigma Aldrich Co. LLC (Merck & Co. Inc.), FiberCell Systems Inc., Zellwerk GmbH, Cell Culture Company, ATMI Incorporated, PBS Biotech, Inc., GE Healthcare Life Sciences, Applikon Biotechnology, WAVE Life Sciences etc.ABOUT US: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.Persistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Smart Materials Market Demand by Ioniqa, Laird Tech, Vertellus Smart Materials Market https://www.htfmarketreport.com/sample-report/948623-global-smart-materials-market-5 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/reports/948623-global-smart-materials-market-5 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/enquiry-before-buy/948623-global-smart-materials-market-5 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/buy-now?format=1&report=948623 The study of the Smart Materials market by HTF MI provides the market size information and market trends along with factors and parameters impacting it in both short- and long-term. The study provides a 360 view and insights, outlining the key outcomes of the industry. These insights help the business decision-makers to formulate better business plans and make informed decisions for improved profitability. In addition, the study helps venture capitalists in understanding the companies better and make informed decisions. Some of the key players in the Smart Materials market are Smart Material Corporation, Ioniqa, Laird Tech, Vertellus, Etrema, Olikrom, GSP Chemical, Qingdao Jiapu & TDK Corporation.Get the inside scoop of the Sample report @:Key Points Covered in Smart Materials Market Report:Global Smart Materials Overview, Definition and ClassificationMarket drivers and barriersGlobal Smart Materials Market Competition by ManufacturersGlobal Smart Materials Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2018-2023)Global Smart Materials Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2018-2023)Global Smart Materials Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeGlobal Smart Materials Market Analysis by ApplicationGlobal Smart Materials Manufacturers Profiles/AnalysisSmart Materials Manufacturing Cost AnalysisIndustrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersMarketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersStandardization, regulatory and collaborative initiativesIndustry roadmap and value chainMarket Effect Factors Analysis ..Early buyers will receive 10% customization on reports. Read Detailed Index of full Research Study at @Market forecasts are provided for each of the following submarkets, product-type and by application/end-user categories:By Product Types: Piezoelectric Materials, Shape-Memory Alloys, Magnetostrictive Materials, Smart Inorganic Polymers, Temperature-Responsive Polymers & OthersBy Application/ End-user: Construction Industry, Aircraft Manufacturing, Pharma & Healthcare, Military, Automobile & OthersRegional Markets: North America, United States, Canada, Mexico, Asia-Pacific, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, Rest of Asia-Pacific, Europe, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain, Russia, Rest of Europe, Central & South America, Brazil, Argentina, Rest of South America, Middle East & Africa, Saudi Arabia, Turkey & Rest of Middle East & AfricaList of Companies Mentioned: Smart Material Corporation, Ioniqa, Laird Tech, Vertellus, Etrema, Olikrom, GSP Chemical, Qingdao Jiapu & TDK CorporationSmart Materials Market Effect Factors Analysis chapter specifically concentrates on Technology Progress/Risk, Substitutes Threat, Technology Progress in Related Industry, Consumer Needs/Customer Preference Changes and Economic/Political Environmental Changes that defines the growth factors of the Market.The highest & slowest growing market segments are outlined in the study to provide valuable insights of each core element of the market. New market players are beginning to emerge and are accelerating their transition in Smart Materials Market.Any Query or Specific Requirement? Ask to our Expert @The report comes with an associated Excel datasheet suite covering quantitative data from all numeric forecasts presented in the reportResearch Methodology: The Smart Materials market has been analyzed by utilizing the optimum mix of secondary sources and benchmark methodology along with an irreplaceable blend of primary insights. The real-time assessment of the market is an integral part of our market sizing and forecasting methodology. Our industry experts and panel of primary participants have helped in compiling relevant aspects with realistic parametric estimations for a comprehensive study.Whats in the offering: The report provides detailed information about the usage and adoption of Smart Materials in various applications, types and regions/country. With that, key stakeholders can find out the major trends, drivers, investments, vertical players initiatives, government initiatives toward the product adoption in the following years, along with the details of commercial products available in the market. Moreover, the study provides details about the major challenges that are going to have an impact on the market growth. Additionally, the report gives complete details about the business opportunities to key stakeholders to expand their business and capture revenues in the specific verticals. The report will help companies interested or established in this market to analyze the various aspects of this domain before investing or expanding their business in the Smart Materials market.Buy this research @Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.HTF Market Report is a wholly owned brand of HTF market Intelligence Consulting Private Limited. HTF Market Report global research and market intelligence consulting organization is uniquely positioned to not only identify growth opportunities but to also empower and inspire you to create visionary growth strategies for futures, enabled by our extraordinary depth and breadth of thought leadership, research, tools, events and experience that assist you for making goals into a reality. Our understanding of the interplay between industry convergence, Mega Trends, technologies and market trends provides our clients with new business models and expansion opportunities. We are focused on identifying the Accurate Forecast in every industry we cover so our clients can reap the benefits of being early market entrants and can accomplish their Goals & Objectives.Craig Francis (PR & Marketing Manager)HTF Market Intelligence Consulting Private LimitedUnit No. 429, Parsonage Road Edison, NJNew Jersey USA 08837Phone: +1 (206) 317 1218sales@htfmarketreport.com Pen Needles Sales Market: Development, Growth, Trends, Demand, Analysis and Forecast 2022 https://www.qyresearch.com/sample-form/form/291507?utm_source=ST https://goo.gl/qiDmCM www.qyresearch.com QYResearch is a leading market research publisher which pursuits high product quality with the belief that quality is the soul of business and consulting group has accumulated creative design methods on many high-quality markets investigation and research team with rich experience.The report Pen Needles Sales Market provides information on products, services, trends, top companies, verticals, countries globally.This report studies the global Pen Needles market status and forecast, categorizes the global Pen Needles market size (value & volume) by key players, type, application, and region. This report focuses on the top players in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia India and Other regions (Middle East & Africa, Central & South America).Insulin Pen needles are used in conjunction with injection pens to deliver injectable medications into the body. An insulin pen needle consists of a hollow needle which is embedded in a plastic hub and attaches to injection pens. Pen needles come in a variety of needle lengths and diameters and are used by both health professionals and patients for injection of a variety of medications. They are commonly used by people with diabetes who often require multiple daily insulin injections.Request Sample Copy of Report@After several months of survey and research, research group obtains the following conclusions:1. In the last several years, Global market of Insulin Pen Needles developed rapidly, with an average growth rate of 4.87%. In 2016, Global Revenue of Insulin Pen Needles is nearly 1456 M USD; the actual production is about 12333 M Unit.2. The global average price of Insulin Pen Needles is in the decreasing trend, from 121.7 USD/K Unit in 2012 to 118.0 USD/K Unit in 2016. With the situation of global economy, prices will be in decreasing trend in the following five years.3. The classification of Insulin Pen Needles includes Standard Insulin Pen Needles and Safety Insulin Pen Needles, and the proportion of Standard Insulin Pen Needles in 2016 is about 95%, and the proportion is in decreasing trend from 2012 to 2016.Insulin Pen Needles is widely used for Home and Medical Institutions. The most proportion of Insulin Pen Needles is for home use, and the proportion in 2016 is about 92%.4. North America is the largest supplier of Insulin Pen Needles, with a production market share nearly 43.5% in 2016. Europe is the second largest supplier of Insulin Pen Needles Media, enjoying production market share nearly 38.7% in 2016.5. Europe is the largest consumption place, with a consumption market share nearly 41% in 2016. Following Europe, North America is the second largest consumption place with the consumption market share of 30%.6. Market competition is not intense. BD, Novo Nordisk, Artsana, B. Braun, Terumo, Ypsomed, etc. are the leaders of the industry, and they hold key technologies and patents, with high-end customers; have been formed in the monopoly position in the industry.The global Pen Needles market is valued at 1530 million US$ in 2017 and will reach 2120 million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of 4.8% during 2018-2025.Request For Customized Reports on Various Geographical Regions@About Us:QY Research established in 2007, focus on custom research, management consulting, IPO consulting, industry chain research, data base and seminar services. The company owned a large basic data base (such as National Bureau of statistics database, Customs import and export database, Industry Association Database etc), experts resources (included energy automotive chemical medical ICT consumer goods etc.Contact USQY Research, INC.17890 Castleton,Suite 218,City of industry, CA 91748 ?USA: +1 626 295 2442Email ? enquiry@qyrsearch.comWeb ?For other region, contact number given below+86 108 294 5717 Beijing+86 208 665 5165 Guangzhou+86 215 160 1757 Shanghai+852 3062 8839 HK+1 613 366 5094 Canada+81 903 800 9273 Japan+49 176 813 78371Germany+44 203 734 8135 UK+33 172 813 308 France+55 613 181 0478 Brazil+91 114 046 9822 India E-Glass Fiber Market | Key Players: PPG Industries, CPIC E-Glass Fiber Market https://www.htfmarketreport.com/sample-report/900001-global-e-glass-fiber-market-3 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/reports/900001-global-e-glass-fiber-market-3 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/enquiry-before-buy/900001-global-e-glass-fiber-market-3 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/buy-now?format=1&report=900001 The study of the E-Glass Fiber market by HTF MI provides the market size information and market trends along with factors and parameters impacting it in both short- and long-term. The study provides a 360 view and insights, outlining the key outcomes of the industry. These insights help the business decision-makers to formulate better business plans and make informed decisions for improved profitability. In addition, the study helps venture capitalists in understanding the companies better and make informed decisions. Some of the key players in the E-Glass Fiber market are Jushi Group, Owens Corning Corporation, PPG Industries, CPIC, Taishan Fiberglass (Sinoma), Johns Manville, Nippon Electric Glass, Sichuan Weibo New Material Group, Jiangsu Jiuding New Material, Vetrotex (Saint-Gobain), Lanxess, Changzhou Tianma Group & Ahlstrom.Get the inside scoop of the Sample report @:Key Points Covered in E-Glass Fiber Market Report:Global E-Glass Fiber Overview, Definition and ClassificationMarket drivers and barriersGlobal E-Glass Fiber Market Competition by ManufacturersGlobal E-Glass Fiber Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2018-2023)Global E-Glass Fiber Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2018-2023)Global E-Glass Fiber Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeGlobal E-Glass Fiber Market Analysis by ApplicationGlobal E-Glass Fiber Manufacturers Profiles/AnalysisE-Glass Fiber Manufacturing Cost AnalysisIndustrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersMarketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersStandardization, regulatory and collaborative initiativesIndustry roadmap and value chainMarket Effect Factors Analysis ..Early buyers will receive 10% customization on reports. Read Detailed Index of full Research Study at @Market forecasts are provided for each of the following submarkets, product-type and by application/end-user categories:By Product Types: General-purpose Glass Fibers & Special-Purpose Glass FibersBy Application/ End-user: Construction, Transportation, Industrial & Consumer ElectronicsRegional Markets: North America, United States, Canada, Mexico, Asia-Pacific, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, Rest of Asia-Pacific, Europe, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain, Russia, Rest of Europe, Central & South America, Brazil, Argentina, Rest of South America, Middle East & Africa, Saudi Arabia, Turkey & Rest of Middle East & AfricaList of Companies Mentioned: Jushi Group, Owens Corning Corporation, PPG Industries, CPIC, Taishan Fiberglass (Sinoma), Johns Manville, Nippon Electric Glass, Sichuan Weibo New Material Group, Jiangsu Jiuding New Material, Vetrotex (Saint-Gobain), Lanxess, Changzhou Tianma Group & AhlstromE-Glass Fiber Market Effect Factors Analysis chapter specifically concentrates on Technology Progress/Risk, Substitutes Threat, Technology Progress in Related Industry, Consumer Needs/Customer Preference Changes and Economic/Political Environmental Changes that defines the growth factors of the Market.The highest & slowest growing market segments are outlined in the study to provide valuable insights of each core element of the market. New market players are beginning to emerge and are accelerating their transition in E-Glass Fiber Market.Any Query or Specific Requirement? Ask to our Expert @The report comes with an associated Excel datasheet suite covering quantitative data from all numeric forecasts presented in the reportResearch Methodology: The E-Glass Fiber market has been analyzed by utilizing the optimum mix of secondary sources and benchmark methodology along with an irreplaceable blend of primary insights. The real-time assessment of the market is an integral part of our market sizing and forecasting methodology. Our industry experts and panel of primary participants have helped in compiling relevant aspects with realistic parametric estimations for a comprehensive study.Whats in the offering: The report provides detailed information about the usage and adoption of E-Glass Fiber in various applications, types and regions/country. With that, key stakeholders can find out the major trends, drivers, investments, vertical players initiatives, government initiatives toward the product adoption in the following years, along with the details of commercial products available in the market. Moreover, the study provides details about the major challenges that are going to have an impact on the market growth. Additionally, the report gives complete details about the business opportunities to key stakeholders to expand their business and capture revenues in the specific verticals. The report will help companies interested or established in this market to analyze the various aspects of this domain before investing or expanding their business in the E-Glass Fiber market.Buy this research @Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.HTF Market Report is a wholly owned brand of HTF market Intelligence Consulting Private Limited. HTF Market Report global research and market intelligence consulting organization is uniquely positioned to not only identify growth opportunities but to also empower and inspire you to create visionary growth strategies for futures, enabled by our extraordinary depth and breadth of thought leadership, research, tools, events and experience that assist you for making goals into a reality. Our understanding of the interplay between industry convergence, Mega Trends, technologies and market trends provides our clients with new business models and expansion opportunities. We are focused on identifying the Accurate Forecast in every industry we cover so our clients can reap the benefits of being early market entrants and can accomplish their Goals & Objectives.Craig Francis (PR & Marketing Manager)HTF Market Intelligence Consulting Private LimitedUnit No. 429, Parsonage Road Edison, NJNew Jersey USA 08837Phone: +1 (206) 317 1218sales@htfmarketreport.com Lambert-Eaton Myasthenic Syndrome (LEMS) Therapeutics Market Growth and Forecast 2025 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/13732 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/13732 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Lambert-Eaton Myasthenic Syndrome (LEMS) exceptional autoimmune syndrome involving improper transmission at neuromuscular junction with the key clinical symptom of muscle weakness. Weakness in muscles in LEMS is caused due to autoantibodies to voltage gated calcium channels resulting in reduction of acetylcholine released from terminals of the nerve. The necessary knowledge of elusive clinical features and laboratory oddities makes the early identification of LEMS possible. Early detection of LEMS is principally significant due to its strong correlation with small cell lung cancer (SCLC). Even though LEMS can arise at any point in the path of SCLC, it serves as a marker for early detection of the disease, and thus permits better opportunity for treatment of such malignancy. Patients with LEMS should be examined and then treated by both a neurologist and if appropriate, an oncologist. In case of the diagnosis the principal concern must be appropriate treatment of malignancy. Treatment of LEMS includes immunosuppressant agents, but success of the treatment depends on toxicity and trouble involved in administering the therapy.Request Sample Report @Treatment of LEMS involves various approaches that include reducing the amount of antibodies so as to improve the muscle function, increasing the acetylcholine quantity received by the muscles, increasing the overall acetylcholine released in the body and other mechanism which are not approved in all the regions. The therapy involving reduction in the amount of antibodies comprises of corticosteroids, cyclosporine, azathioprine, monoclonal antibodies and many more. The therapy involving the amount of acetylcholine reception by the muscles comprises of Cholinesterase inhibitors. The therapy involving the increased amount of acetylcholine production in the body comprises of aminopyridines. There is a drug which treats the disorder but those are not approved in all the regions. This category includes amifampridine which is approved only in European countries.The Global Lambert Eaton Myasthenic Syndrome (LEMS) Therapeutics market can be segmented by Treatment type, Disease Type, Distribution Channel and Region.Based on Treatment Type the global lambert eaton myasthenic syndrome (LEMS) therapeutics market can be segmented intoTherapy reducing the number of antibodiesDrugsIntravenous immunoglobulinCorticosteroidsCyclosporineAzathioprineMonoclonal AntibodiesFiltration processPlasmapheresisTherapy for increasing the acetylcholine quantity received by musclesCholinesterase inhibitorsTherapy for increasing the amount of acetylcholine releaseAminopyridinesOthersAmifampridineBased on Disease Type the global lambert eaton myasthenic syndrome (LEMS) therapeutics market can be segmented intoIdiopathicParaneoplasticBased on Distribution Channel the global lambert eaton myasthenic syndrome (LEMS) therapeutics market can be segmented intoHospital PharmaciesRetail PharmaciesE-commerceDrug StoresBased on the Regions the global lambert eaton myasthenic syndrome (LEMS) therapeutics market can be segmented intoNorth AmericaLatin AmericaEuropeAsia PacificMiddle East and AfricaGeographically, the North America are anticipated to be most lucrative market during the forecast period, mainly owing to high prevalence of the disease and better reimbursement policies. Moreover the existence of several drug manufacturers and growing amount of clinical research is anticipated to promote rapid market growth in this region. Asia Pacific region is anticipated to observe high market development followed by North America and Europe mostly owing to patient population and better and affordable therapy options by the companies operating in this market. The large patient pool and refining distribution channel in the region is also likely to lift the LEMS market. Latin America and Middle East and Africa are anticipated to follow owing to growing government expenditure on the healthcare.Request to View TOC @Some of the major players in the global LEMS therapeutic market are Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc., GlaxoSmithKline plc, Merck & Co., Inc., Sanofi S.A., Allergan, Plc, Novartis International AG, F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, Biomarin Pharmaceutical Inc.ABOUT US: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.Persistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: The best bang for your buck! This option enables you to purchase online 24/7 access and receive the Sunday, Tuesday & Thursday print edition at no additional cost * Print edition only available in our carrier delivery area. Allow up to 72 hours for delivery of your print edition to begin. Print edition not available for Day Pass option. Refueling Aircraft Market: Aviation Industrys Push for Greater Fuel Efficiency Driving Demand https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=21473 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=21473 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/report-toc/21473 As the aviation industry continues to touch new peaks each year, the global refueling aircraft market is flourishing and an increasing number of players are making a foray into it, according to the findings of a recent business intelligence publication by Transparency Market Research (TMR).That being said, the analysts of the TMR report have notified that the competitive landscape of the global refueling aircraft market is largely consolidated among a small pool of players who have established themselves in the past decades. The report identifies Lockheed Martin, General Electric Aviation systems, Eaton Corporation, Cobham Plc., Refuel International, Fluid Transfer International, Marshal Aerospace & Defense Group, and Garsite LLC as some of the prominent players who are currently ahead of the curve in the global refueling aircraft market.Get Sample Brochure at:Global Refueling Aircraft Market to be worth US$12,868.7 mn by 2025If the estimations of the TMR report are to be believed, the demand in the global refueling aircraft market will expand at a notable CAGR of 4.8% during the forecast period of 2017 to 2025. The report has projected that the opportunities in this market will translate into a revenue of US$12,868.7 mn by the end of 2025, substantially up from its evaluated worth of US$8,146.0 mn in 2015.In the near future too, the analysts are foreseeing the shares to remain reserved predominantly among the market leaders, who are constantly indulging into collaborations and strategic acquisition with their financial might. The aforementioned players also have a strong product portfolio to cater to diverse demands.Get Sample PDFFor instance, Lockheed Martins KC-130J tanker is among the leaders in aerial refueling for tactical and tiltrotor aircraft and helicopters. KC-130J tanker is also capable of conducting rapid ground refueling operations for tactical or armor vehicles. Such advanced aircraft refueling systems are designed to incorporate additional safety features and possess high flow rate at a lower price. AFS Aviation Fuel Services GmbH, Titan Aviation, and OMEGA Air Refueling have been identified as some of the other key players holding a mentionable position in this market.On the basis of component, the TMR report segments the refueling aircraft market into aviation refueller including 7,000 to 25,000 liter and 25,001 to 50,000 liter, dispenser including mini hydrant and hydrant, refueling pods, probe and drogue, and others. Based on refueling medium, the market has been bifurcated into air to air refueling including probe and drogue method and flying boom method, and tanking method. On the basis of aircraft type, the market has been classified into commercial airplane, helicopters, and military airplane, which has been further sub-segmented into combat and non-combat. Geographically, North America has been highlighted as the most lucrative region, estimated to provide for a demand worth of US$5,529.3 mn by 2025.Get TOC of This Report:Aviation Industrys Push for Greater Fuel Efficiency Driving DemandAviation fuel is highly inflammable and besides posing strong safety concerns, it is harmful to the natural ecosystem of the soil as well. Consequently, apart from increasing pressure on the aviation industry to cater to the expanding demand, growing concerns regarding the incidences of oil spills as a result of to a faulty refueling equipment is driving the global refueling aircraft market. In addition to that, continuous advancements in air to air refueling technique is expected to reflect positively over the market. This technique enables heavy aircrafts to take off with minimal payload and gain fuel when a cruising altitude is attained, which results in significant savings on fuel expenditure for the carriers. International standard regulations for the aviation industry, such as International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), International Air Transport Association, is another factor augmenting the demand in the global refueling aircraft market.Transparency Market Researcj is into analytics, research, and advisory services for Fortune 500 companies, scores of high potential startups, and financial institutions. Our success stories have proven why we are a preeminent provider of cutting-edge syndicated and customized research services. Leverage the best of our seasoned research analysts who hold a keen interest and enviable expertise of almost 4 million hours in global, regional, and local market intelligence.Unit No.701, 7th Floor,NSG IT Park, Aundh,Pune - 411007India Cloud CFD Industry Market to Garner Brimming Revenues by 2023 Cloud CFD Industry Market https://www.htfmarketreport.com/sample-report/1168462-global-cloud-cfd-industry-market https://www.htfmarketreport.com/reports/1168462-global-cloud-cfd-industry-market https://www.htfmarketreport.com/buy-now?format=1&report=1168462 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/enquiry-before-buy/1168462-global-cloud-cfd-industry-market HTF MI recently broadcasted a new study in its database that highlights the in-depth market analysis with future prospects of Cloud CFD market. The study covers significant data which makes the research document a handy resource for managers, industry executives and other key people get ready-to-access and self analyzed study along with graphs and tables to help understand market trends, drivers and market challenges. Some of the key players mentioned in this research are company 1, company 2, company 3, company 4, company 5, company 6, company 7, company 8 & company 9.Get Access to sample pages @The research covers the current market size of the Global Cloud CFD market and its growth rates based on 5 year history data. It also covers various types of segmentation such as by geography [North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific etc], by product /end user type [Type 1, Type 2 & Type 3], by applications [Application 1, Application 2 & Application 3] in overall market. The in-depth information by segments of Cloud CFD market helps monitor performance & make critical decisions for growth and profitability. It provides information on trends and developments, focuses on markets and materials, capacities, technologies, CAPEX cycle and the changing structure of the Global Cloud CFD Market.This study also contains company profiling, product picture and specifications, sales, market share and contact information of various international, regional, and local vendors of Global Cloud CFD Market, some of them are company 1, company 2, company 3, company 4, company 5, company 6, company 7, company 8 & company 9. The market competition is constantly growing higher with the rise in technological innovation and M&A activities in the industry. Moreover, many local and regional vendors are offering specific application products for varied end-users. The new vendor entrants in the market are finding it hard to compete with the international vendors based on quality, reliability, and innovations in technology.** The Values marked with XX is confidential data. To know more about CAGR figures fill in your information so that our business development executive can get in touch with you.Global Cloud CFD (Thousands Units) and Revenue (Million USD) Market Split by Product Type such as Type 1, Type 2 & Type 3Market Segment by Type 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022Type 1 xx xx xx xx xx Xx xx-Change (%) xx% xx% xx% xx% xx% xx% xx%Type 2 xx xx xx xx xx Xx xx-Change (%) xx% xx% xx% xx% xx% xx% xx%Type 3 xx xx xx xx xx Xx xx-Change (%) xx% xx% xx% xx% xx% xx% xx%The research study is segmented by Application such as Application 1, Application 2 & Application 3 with historical and projected market share and compounded annual growth rate.Global Cloud CFD (Thousands Units) by Application (2017-2022)Market Segment by Application 2012 2017 2022 Market Share (%)2022 CAGR (%)(2017-2022)Application 1 xx xx xx xx% xx%Application 2 xx xx xx xx% xx%Application 3 xx xx xx xx% xx%Total xx xx xx 100% xx%Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), and market share and growth rate of Cloud CFD in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringRead Detailed Index of full Research Study at @Additionally the export and import policies that can make an immediate impact on the Global Cloud CFD market. This study contains a EXIM* related chapter on the Cloud CFD market and all its associated companies with their profiles, which gives valuable data pertaining to their outlook in terms of finances, product portfolios, investment plans, and marketing and business strategies. The report on the Global Cloud CFD market is an important document for every market enthusiast, policymaker, investor, and player.Key questions answered in this report - Global Cloud CFD Industry Market Analysis & Forecast 2018-2023What will the market size be in 2022 and what will the growth rate beWhat are the key market trendsWhat is driving Global Cloud CFD marketWhat are the challenges to market growthWho are the key vendors in Global Cloud CFD market space?What are the key market trends impacting the growth of the Global Cloud CFD market?What are the key outcomes of the five forces analysis of the Global Cloud CFD market?Buy PDF version of this research report @There are 15 Chapters to display the Global Cloud CFD market.Chapter 1, to describe Definition, Specifications and Classification of Cloud CFD, Applications of Cloud CFD, Market Segment by Regions;Chapter 2, to analyze the Manufacturing Cost Structure, Raw Material and Suppliers, Manufacturing Process, Industry Chain Structure;Chapter 3, to display the Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Cloud CFD, Capacity and Commercial Production Date, Manufacturing Plants Distribution, R&D Status and Technology Source, Raw Materials Sources Analysis;Chapter 4, to show the Overall Market Analysis, Capacity Analysis (Company Segment), Sales Analysis (Company Segment), Sales Price Analysis (Company Segment);Chapter 5 and 6, to show the Regional Market Analysis that includes North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific etc, Cloud CFD Segment Market Analysis (by Type);Chapter 7 and 8, to analyze the Cloud CFD Segment Market Analysis (by Application) Major Manufacturers Analysis of Cloud CFD;Chapter 9, Market Trend Analysis, Regional Market Trend, Market Trend by Product Type [Type 1, Type 2 & Type 3], Market Trend by Application [Application 1, Application 2 & Application 3];Chapter 10, Regional Marketing Type Analysis, International Trade Type Analysis, Supply Chain Analysis;Chapter 11, to analyze the Consumers Analysis of Cloud CFD;Chapter 12, to describe Cloud CFD Research Findings and Conclusion, Appendix, methodology and data source;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Cloud CFD sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source.Enquire something new as customization in Report @Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.HTF Market Report is a wholly owned brand of HTF market Intelligence Consulting Private Limited. HTF Market Report global research and market intelligence consulting organization is uniquely positioned to not only identify growth opportunities but to also empower and inspire you to create visionary growth strategies for futures, enabled by our extraordinary depth and breadth of thought leadership, research, tools, events and experience that assist you for making goals into a reality. Our understanding of the interplay between industry convergence, Mega Trends, technologies and market trends provides our clients with new business models and expansion opportunities. We are focused on identifying the Accurate Forecast in every industry we cover so our clients can reap the benefits of being early market entrants and can accomplish their Goals & Objectives.Contact us :HTF Market Intelligence Consulting Private LimitedUnit No. 429, Parsonage Road Edison, NJNew Jersey USA 08837sales@htfmarketreport.com+1 (206) 317 1218 Deep Learning Chipset: Market Leaders to Indulge in Frequent Mergers and Acquisitions https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=35819 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=35819 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/report-toc/35819 A recent business intelligence publication by Transparency Market Research (TMR) notifies that while startups are mushrooming in the global deep learning chipset market, the competitive landscape remains moderately consolidated among a few players. The analysts of the report have identified NVIDIA Corporation and INTEL Corporation as the top two companies who were ahead of the curve in 2016, whereas Google Inc., Qualcomm Incorporated, IBM Corporation, CEVA Inc., Xilinx, Graphcore, Teradeep Inc., and Advanced Micro Devices are some of the other notable companies currently harnessing the prospects of deep learning.Get Sample Brochure at:Market Leaders to Indulge in Frequent Mergers and AcquisitionsSince the entry barriers of this market are not incredibly high and heavily dependent on technologies that are not patented, startups have a strong chance to make a mark. In the near future, the shares in the global deep learning chipset are expected to head towards a fragmented scenario, although most of the prominent chip manufacturers are anticipated to hold onto their position of strength.Get Sample PDFMarket leaders are expected to frequently indulge into acquisition and collaboration activities with startups with niche concepts. For instance, in January 2016, Google Inc. agreed to collaborate with Movidius to enhance its deep learning portfolio on mobile devices, which was later acquired by Intel Corporation. Later in August the same year, Intel Corporation also acquired Nervana Systems in order to further solidify its position in developing the hardware chipsets platform.Global Deep Learning Chipset Market to be worth US$1,264.78 mn by 2025If the projections of the TMR report are to be believed, the demand in the global deep learning chipset market will increment at a phenomenal CAGR of 24.7% during the forecast period of 2017 to 2025. The report has estimated that from its calculated worth of merely US$150.17 mn in 2015, the opportunities in the global deep learning market will translate into a revenue of US$1,264.78 mn by the end of 2025.Get TOC of This Report:Based on type, the TMR report segments the global deep learning chipset market into application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), central processing units (CPUs), graphics processing units (GPUs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and others.Compute capacity bifurcation of the market has been done into low (less than 1 TFlops) and high (greater than 1 TFlops). End-user classification of the market has been done into automotive, consumer electronics, healthcare, industrial, aerospace and defense, and others. Geographically, the analysts have detected that although North America currently provides for the maximum chunk of demand, the region of Asia Pacific will overtake in terms of demand and revenue by the end of 2025.Increasing Adoption of IoT a Boon for the Deep Learning Chipset MarketThe global deep learning chipset market is primarily driven by significant improvements in the chip algorithms in the last few year, which has enormously increased their ability to consume and manage data efficiently. With increasing adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) that promises to connect billions of new devices and pertaining data streams, it is very likely that much more digital data will be generated and consequently, the industry of machine learning and deep learning will flourish. Moreover, newly build algorithms are shifting the learning from one particular application to another application, making it easily possible for the machines to learn from very fewer examples. Invention of a related computer chip, which is known as GPU or graphic processing unit, is turning out to be very meaningful and effective when it is being applied to types of calculations required for neural nets. Speed up of 10x times are also very much viable when the neural nets will move from traditional CPU to GPU.Transparency Market Researcj is into analytics, research, and advisory services for Fortune 500 companies, scores of high potential startups, and financial institutions. Our success stories have proven why we are a preeminent provider of cutting-edge syndicated and customized research services. Leverage the best of our seasoned research analysts who hold a keen interest and enviable expertise of almost 4 million hours in global, regional, and local market intelligence.Unit No.701, 7th Floor,NSG IT Park, Aundh,Pune - 411007India Standard Logic Devices Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/1331030 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1331030/standard-logic-devices-global-market-research-reports/toc Standard Logic Devices Market: OverviewElectronic industry is witnessing robust growth since last few years owing to the expansion of application areas for the electronics devices and components. This growth is significantly contributed by the growth in consumer electronics products such as mobile phones, tablets, DVD players, and television sets and office automation products such as printers, and computers. This has compelled many companies in these industries to set up new manufacturing units and expand the production capacity over the last few years. Furthermore, the ongoing technological advancements, are expected to expand the application areas of standard logic devices thereby driving the growth of the standard logic devices market during the forecast period from 2017 to 2025.Standard Logic Devices Market: Research MethodologyThis report provides an analysis of the global standard logic devices market for the period from 2015 to 2025, wherein the period from 2017 to 2025 comprises the forecast period and 2016 is the base year. Data for 2015 is provided as historical information. The report covers all the major trends and technologies playing a major role in the growth of the standard logic devices market over the forecast period. It also highlights various drivers, restraints, and opportunities expected to influence the markets growth during this period. The study provides a holistic perspective on the markets growth in terms of revenue in US$ Mn, across different geographical regions namely North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa and South America.Request for sample copy of this report:The market overview section of the report showcases the market dynamics and trends such as the drivers, restraints, and opportunities that influence the current nature and future status of this market. The report also provides the ecosystem analysis and key market indicators for the standard logic devices market. The standard logic devices market data estimates are the result of our in-depth secondary research, primary interviews and in-house expert panel reviews. These market estimates have been analyzed by taking into account the impact of different political, social, economic, technological, and legal factors along with the current market dynamics affecting the market growth.Standard Logic Devices Market: SegmentationStandard logic devices market is segmented by gate IC type, buffer/driver type, transceiver type, flip-flop, switches and multiplexer type, register type and by region. Among these gate IC type is further segmented into OR, AND, Universal Gates (NAND and NOR), EXOR, EXNOR. On the basis of buffer/driver type, standard logic devices market is segmented into inverting and non-inverting buffer. Based on transceiver type, the market is segmented into standard, and parity, registered transceivers. The flip-flop segment is further split into SR flip flop, D flip flop, JK Flip flop, T flip flop. Switches and multiplexer type segment is further bifurcated into analog, buffered, and protocol specific. Register type segment is further segmented as storage registers, and shift registers. On the basis of region the standard logic devices market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa and South America.Get full report TOC:Standard Logic Devices Market: Competitive DynamicsThe report also includes competitive profiling of the key players associated with the standard logic devices market around the globe. The important business strategies adopted by them, their market positioning, financials, SWOT analysis, and recent developments have also been identified in the research report. The competitive landscape section of the report also gives an overview about the major contributing regions/countries by these key players in order to strengthen their market position in the future.This report covers the details of some of the prominent players in the standard logic devices market which includes Analog Devices, Arrow Electronics, Diodes Incorporated and Texas Instruments, STMicroelectronics N.V, Toshiba Semiconductor and Storage, ROHM Semiconductor, Microchip Technology Inc., NXP Semiconductors N.V., Maxim Integrated Products Inc. and ON Semiconductor.Market SegmentationStandard Logic Devices Market, by Gate IC TypeORANDUniversal Gates (NAND and NOR)EXOREXNORStandard Logic Devices Market, by BufferInverting BufferNon-Inverting BufferStandard Logic Devices Market, by TransceiverStandardParityRegisteredStandard Logic Devices Market, by Flip FlopSR Flip FlopD Flip FlopJK Flip FlopT Flip FlopStandard Logic Devices Market, by Switches and Multiplexer TypeAnalogBufferedProtocol SpecificStandard Logic Devices Market, by GeographyNorth AmericaThe U.S.CanadaRest of North AmericaEuropeThe U.K.GermanyFranceRest of EuropeAsia Pacific (APAC)ChinaJapanIndiaAustraliaRest of APACMiddle East and Africa (MEA)GCC CountriesSouth AfricaRest of MEASouth AmericaBrazilRest of South AmericaMRRbiz supports your business intelligence needs with over 700,000 market research reports, company profiles, data books, and regional market data sheets in its repository. Our document database is updated by the hour, which means that you always have access to fresh data spanning over 300 industries and their sub-segments.State Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948(USA-Canada)Tel: +1-518-621-2074E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz The Global Legal Process Outsourcing Market is anticipated to grow rapidly and post a CAGR of +29% during the forecast period https://www.itintelligencemarkets.com/request_sample.php?id=1011 https://www.itintelligencemarkets.com/enquiry_before_buying.php?id=1011 https://www.itintelligencemarkets.com/ask_for_discount.php?id=1011 A growing concern of corporations in this era is increasing legal costs and the efforts to contain this cost have brought about the concept of legal process outsourcing (LPO). Favorable government policies are one of the key factors driving the growth of LPO. Further, the rising awareness among general counsels and general public is aiding in the growth of this market. Moreover, increasing technology applications such as offering highly secure enterprise class software including features such as portal website, collaboration, and document management market presents an opportunity for vendors. E-discovery was the most popular platform being deployed in LPO industry while litigation support, intellectual property (IP) support, contract drafting and review are among other major services being offered. Electronic documents contain a large amount of data and metadata and identifying and producing this information may often prove burdensome for in-house legal department.The global LPO services market is highly competitive and diversified due to the presence of a large number of regional and international vendors across the globe. It has been observed that these vendors are increasingly competing against each other based on factors such as pricing, portfolio expansion, innovation, faster time to market, compliance, IT security, LPO service quality, and domain expertise. Furthermore, these vendors are increasingly focusing on enhancing their product portfolio in order to gain a competitive edge over their competitors and expand their geographical presence across the globe.Get Sample Copy Of this ReportTop Key Vendors in Market:Evalueserve SEZ, Mindcrest, Integreon Managed SolutionPangea 3, Wipro Ltd., Infosys Ltd., Cobra Legal Solutions, LLC, LawScribe, Inc., CPA Global Ltd., Lexadigm Solutions LLC, Legal Advantage, Lexplosion, LexSphere, LEX Outsourcing, Bodhi Global Services, Exigent Clutch Group, Quislex, UnitedLex, Acumen Legal Services Pvt. Ltd. and Clairvolex Knowledge Processes Pvt. Ltd.the marketplace has matured and many such concerns are being put to rest. Corporations are gaining from renewed incentives in assessing the value of a balanced outsourced and in sourced legal support model. Corporations today are taking a thoughtful approach toward LPO in order to achieve potential cost savings, focus their in-house legal workforce on higher workloads, improve service levels, and creating supplementary capacity for unexpected legal needs.The report provides both, subjective and quantitative research of the Global Legal Process Outsourcing Market, and in addition incorporates admirable bits of knowledge into the balanced scenario and favored advancement techniques embraced by key contenders. The report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions and classifications. The Legal Process Outsourcing market analysis is provided for the international markets including development trends, competitive landscape analysis, and key regions development status. The report also includes a review of micro and macro factors essential for the existing market players and new entrants along with detailed value chain analysis.For any Information enquiry here:Table of Content:Global Legal Process Outsourcing Market Research ReportChapter 1 Legal Process Outsourcing Market OverviewChapter 2 Global Legal Process Outsourcing Economic ImpactChapter 3 Competition by ManufacturerChapter 4 Production, Revenue (Value) by RegionChapter 5 Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by RegionsChapter 6 Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter 7 Analysis by ApplicationChapter 8 Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter 9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter 10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter 11 Legal Process Outsourcing Market Effect Factors AnalysisChapter 12 Market Legal Process Outsourcing ForecastChapter 13 AppendixGet up to 20% Discount on this Premium ReportWe at IT Intelligence Markets conduct intensive market research and generate detailed reports about the products and services offered in the IT domain. Our team is devoted to providing custom reports that are taylor-made to suit the customers requirements. We make sure to keep our customers updated with the latest market dynamics as IT industry is undergoing sea change intrinsically & extrinsically by forces such as regulatory fluctuations, rapidly evolving consumer preferences, and newer technologies. Not only do our market research analysts scrutinize market requirements but also track competitors relentlessly for obtaining the most updated scenario of the market.Survey No-9/4, Flat# 6, Panchshil Park,Ganpati Marg, Nigidi, Pune 411044 Dimethyl Benzyl Carbinyl Acetate Market Growth with Worldwide Industry Analysis to 2025 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Dimethyl benzyl carbinyl acetate is a colorless and transparent liquid. Dimethyl benzyl carbinyl acetate is solid under indoor temperature. The odor of dimethyl benzyl carbinyl acetate resembles flower and fruit odor. Dimethyl benzyl carbinyl acetate is mainly used in applications such as cosmetic soap and food essences. The growing demand from the food and beverages industry and the cosmetics soap industry is expected to drive the dimethyl benzyl carbinyl acetate market across the globe.Request Brochure @The flash point of dimethyl benzyl carbinyl acetate is 96 C and the melting point of dimethyl benzyl carbinyl acetate is 30 C. The boiling point of dimethyl benzyl carbinyl acetate is 250 C. Dimethyl benzyl carbinyl acetate usually stored in a tightly sealed drum which is kept in a cool and dry place with a proper protection from light. Dimethyl benzyl carbinyl acetate is insoluble in water. The odor of dimethyl benzyl carbinyl acetate can be described as is sweet, floral, pear, green, berry, fruity rose, jasmine and powdery. Dimethyl benzyl carbinyl acetate is widely utilized in perfume compositions, primarily for soap perfumes and cosmetic fragrances. Dimethyl benzyl carbinyl acetate is usually used in rose, muguet, jasmine bases, geranium, hyacinth and other types of florals and chypre types. Dimethyl benzyl carbinyl acetate is typically used for imparting flavor and fragrances to soaps and food products. The application products of dimethyl benzyl carbinyl acetate are widely used in end-user industries such as cosmetics and food and beverages. The rapid growth in the detergent industry and the food and beverages industry is expected to drive the global dimethyl benzyl carbinyl acetate in the next few years.Request Customization @Some of the key companies operating in the global dimethyl benzyl carbinyl acetate market are M&U International, The John D. Walsh Company, Inc., Yingyang (China) Aroma Chemical Group and LLUCH ESSENCE.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companyas exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRas experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRas data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Transparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Rough Terrain Cranes Market Forecasts to 2023 | Liebherr Group, The Manitowoc Company, Inc., Terex Corporation, Tadano Ltd., Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group Co., Ltd., KATO WORKS CO., LTD, TIL Limited, ENTREC Corporation https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/5057 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/check-discount/5057 Market Research Future published a half-cooked research report on Global Rough Terrain Crane Market that contains the information from 2017 to 2023. Global Rough Terrain Crane market is expected to grow with the CAGR of approximately 4.30% from 2017 to 2023.Taste the market data and market information presented through more than 85 market data tables and figures spread in 140 numbers of pages of the project report. Avail the in-depth table of content TOC & market synopsis on Global Rough Terrain Crane Market Information from 2017 to 2023"Get Sample Copy @Crane is primarily used for lifting heavy loads and transporting them to other places. Rough terrain crane is the type of mobile crane. A rough terrain crane is mounted on an undercarriage with four rubber tires, and is designed for pick-and-carry operations and for off-road and rough terrain applications. Technological innovations in crane models have resulted in lighter and more energy efficient cranes. These factors have been positive influences on the growth of the market. However, high initial investment is the factor that may hamper the growth of the market.On the basis of capacity, the market has been segmented as Upto 25 T, 26 T - 74 T, 75 T-100 T, and Above 101 T. 26 T - 74 T rough terrain cranes segment is projected to have the highest CAGR during the forecast period. 75 T-100 T rough terrain cranes cater to all major lifting operations and are versatile in performing both on-road and off-road construction projects. Based on applications, the construction segment accounted for the largest market share. Due to increasing population and urbanization, there is seen a shift in the population in the urbanized areas, especially in developing nations.Hence, global rough terrain cranes market has been expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.30% during the forecast period.Ask for your specific company profile and country level customization on reports. Liebherr Group (Switzerland) The Manitowoc Company, Inc. (U.S.) Terex Corporation (U.S.) Tadano Ltd. (Japan) Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group Co., Ltd. (China) KATO WORKS CO., LTD (Japan) TIL Limited (India.) ENTREC Corporation (Canada) Manitex International Inc. (U.S.) SANY GROUP (China) Broderson Manufacturing Corp. (U.S.) Maxim Crane Works, L.P. (U.S.) .Asia Pacific region dominates the global Rough Terrain Crane marketGeographically, the global rough terrain crane market has been divided into four major regions, and they are North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of the World. Asia Pacific, of all the regions, has accounted for the largest market share, in 2016, followed by Europe and North America. Asia Pacific is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Increase in construction activities in countries such as China, Japan, India, and Indonesia, is the major factor fuelling the growth of the Asia Pacific market. Additionally, increase in industrialization, rising urbanized population, and growth in spending capacity are the factors strengthening the growth of the market in Asia Pacific region. China is one of the leading markets in the Asia Pacific region. The Chinese Government issued several favorable policies for lowering the proportion of down payment for second house loans and exempting of sales tax for ordinary housing. This helped the recovery of commercial housing market. This will be a positive influence on the growth of the market. Increasing up gradation, repair & rehabilitation of the existing infrastructure and power grids & distribution networks, drive the growth of the market in Europe. Germany and the U.K. are the major markets in Europe. In U.K., construction values of both, public and private sectors, are increasing, continuously. This will increase the demand for the market in the future. North America is another major region for the market. U.S. is a major markets in North America. Steady developments in commercial and residential structures in the U.S., is anticipated to fuel the demand for the market in the region.This research report provides insights, on various levels of analysis such as industry analysis, and market share analysis for the leading players along with their profiles. It also helps in studying the target segments by providing views on emerging & high-growth segments. The market data comprises the basic assessment of the competitive scenarios & strategies in the global construction lift market, including high-growth regions and/or countries, and political, & economic environments. The project report, further, provides views on both the historical market values and pricing & cost analysis.If interested Please Ask for Discount @About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by Components, Application, Logistics and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.Contact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 524/528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Bussmanns New Fuse Holder Enhances Safety in High-Voltage Solar Installations by GD Rectifiers Eaton Bussmann Fuse Holder Eaton's Bussmann Series has recently introduced a new Bussmann series DIN-Rail fuse holder specifically designed for 1500-volt (v) photovoltaic (PV) systems. The unique design of the CHPV15L85 fuse holder covers live parts when in the extracted position, offering a high degree of worker safety by preventing accidental contact during fuse replacement.Eaton develops and manufactures Bussmann series critical circuit protection, power management and electrical safety products designed to provide innovative circuit protection solutions. These products serve customers in the industrial, commercial, alternative energy, high reliability and other markets.Eaton delivers a wide range of overcurrent protective devices for solar applications that protect the valuable balance of system equipment, support uptime and keep personnel safe, said Kristine Stoll, product line manager at Eaton.Our latest fuse holder addition strengthens this portfolio by helping to prevent accidental contact with live components in high-voltage solar environments.Eatons IP20 finger-safe CHPV15L85 fuse holders meet global agency standards to simplify designs for worldwide markets, and are engineered for use with 10x85 and 14x85 millimeter cylindrical gPV fuses. The fuse holder is UL and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) rated up to 32 amps.GD Rectifiers is the official UK distributor for Eatons Bussmann range of fuses, they have stocked Bussmanns complete range of fuses for over 10 years.To learn more about Eatons Bussmann series CHPV15L85 fuse holders, please call GD Rectifiers on: 01444 243 452 or email: enquiries@gdrectifiers.co.uk.GD Rectifiers designs and manufactures Selenium and Silicon Rectifiers, Suppressors, Converters, Inverters, Regulators and all other power products for Industrial power control applications. The company distributes state of the art Diodes, Thyristors, IGBTs and MOSFETs from the worlds leading manufacturers including: IXYS, IXYS UK Westcode, Semikron and EDI.GD Rectifiers manufacture an extensive range of power components and assemblies. The company also supplies a wide range of Heat Sinks suitable for Power Semiconductors, LED Lighting and similar applications. GD Rectifiers also offer a repair and replacement service for faulty or ageing Semiconductor Rectifiers, Converters, Inverters and Regulators.GD RectifiersBentley House2 William WayBurgess HillWest Sussex Sinopharm shows vhfs Z4 at Sino-Dental vhf's Z4, the modern milling machine made in Germany www.vhf.de 2018/06/06, Beijing/Ammerbuch: vhfs partner Sinopharm Dental (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. presents the highly precise grinding and milling machine at the largest dental exhibition in China, the Sino-Dental Show, from June 9 to 12, 2018 in Beijing. The visionary Z4 is now available for customers in China, setting new standards in the wet machining of blocks.Perfect restorations made from glass ceramics, PMMA, zirconium oxide, and composites can be produced with the Z4 in minutes. Additionally, the machine also finishes prefabricated titanium abutments. With one-click mounting, the material block is automatically fixed and can be exchanged rapidly. Other user-friendly advantages of the Z4 are the integrated PC and an intuitive touch screen, which controls the machining process.vhfs CEO Frank Benzinger highly appreciates the cooperation with Sinopharm Dental: Were proud to have such a powerful reseller for offering our prime products to Chinese customers. The Z4 stands for superior quality made in Germany and Im sure Sinopharm Dental will be a great ambassador for our brand. Visitors can experience the Z4 and learn about its features at booth K2732.About Sinopharm:Sinopharm Dental was founded in 2017 with a grand press conference duringCMEF to announce and celebrate the establishment. Sinopharm Dental is a member company of Sinopharm Capital and has been fully supported by Sinopharm Group to integrate the scattered dental distribution channels in China, which is to cope with the changing tender policy in China and to provide a total solution to Chinese dental customers.About vhf camfacture AG:Founded in 1988, vhf camfacture AG is a leading manufacturer of CNC millingmachines, milling tools and CAM software for the dental sector, industry and sign making. Headquartered in Ammerbuch, 30 kilometers southwest of Stuttgart, vhf employs more than 200 people and is constantly expanding.vhf camfacture AGLettenstrasse 1072119 Ammerbuch/Germany+49 7032 97097 000info@vhf.dePress Contact vhfChristine McClymontHead of Marketing and Communications Marketing Global Body Contouring Market Detailed Analysis with Demand, Trends and Services 2018-2022 http://orbisresearch.com/contacts/request-sample/2136072 http://orbisresearch.com/contacts/enquiry-before-buying/2136072 http://orbisresearch.com/reports/index/global-body-contouring-market-size-trends-and-forecasts-2018-2022 The study of the Global Body Contouring Market provides the market size information and market trends along with the factors and parameters impacting it in both short and long term. The study ensures a 360 view, bringing out the complete key insights of the industry.Request a sample of this report @Scope of the Report:The report entitled Global Body Contouring Market: Size, Trends & Forecasts (2018-2022), provides analysis of the global body contouring, with detailed analysis of market size and growth. The analysis includes the market by value and by regions. The report also provides the detailed analysis of the global body contouring market value of North America, Asia Pacific, Europe and South America regions.Moreover, the report also assesses the key opportunities in the market and outlines the factors that are and will be driving the growth of the industry. Growth of the overall global body contouring has also been forecasted for the years 2018-2022, taking into consideration the previous growth patterns, the growth drivers and the current and future trends.Allergan Plc., Cutera, Inc., Hologic, Inc. and Merz Pharma GmbH & Co. KGaA are some of the key players operating in the global body contouring, whose company profiling has been done in the report. In this segment of the report, business overview, financial overview and business strategies of the companies are provided.Country Coverage:North AmericaAsia PacificEuropeSouth AmericaCompany Coverage:Allergan Plc.Cutera, Inc.Hologic, Inc.Merz Pharma GmbH & Co. KGaAMake an enquiry of this report @Executive Summary:Aesthetic service can also be called as Aesthetic medicine, it involves any specialty that includes the process of modifying a patients physical appearance. The major application of aesthetic services are anti-aging and wrinkles, facial & skin rejuvenation, vascular lesions, body shaping and cellulite, breast enhancement, sears, pigment lesions, tattoo removal and vitiligo. Broadly, aesthetic service can be categorized into four major segments such as Body Contouring, Energy Devices, Fillers, Breast Implants and Cosmeceuticals.Body contouring is an aesthetic treatment option for patients who wants to modify their physical appearance. Body contouring is defined as the practice to modify the shape of the human body, therefore it also called as body shaping. The common part of the body which can be addressed with body contouring are face and neck, upper arms, breasts, abdomen, waistline and back, thighs and calves. Body contouring can further be divided into two type named as Invasive body contouring and non-invasive body contouring.Invasive procedures comprise surgical procedure to reduce gained or accumulated fat to obtain desirable body structures. It includes procedures such as bariatric surgery, arm lift or brachioplasty, breast lift or mastopexy, stomach lift or abdominoplasty and lower body lift.Nonsurgical (non-invasive) body shaping techniques require minimal contouring, although it is important to have minimal expectations for these procedures. The minimally invasive body contouring procedures also include non-invasive body contouring as, it includes nominal invasion in the procedure.The global body contouring market is expected to increase at high growth rates during the forecasted period (2018-2022). The global body contouring market is supported by various growth drivers, such as, upsurge in obese population, growing bariatric surgery worldwide, rising disposable income, etc.Browse the complete report @About Us:Orbis Research (orbisresearch.com) is a single point aid for all your market research requirements. We have vast database of reports from the leading publishers and authors across the globe. We specialize in delivering customized reports as per the requirements of our clients. We have complete information about our publishers and hence are sure about the accuracy of the industries and verticals of their specialization. This helps our clients to map their needs and we produce the perfect required market research study for our clients.Contact Us:Hector CostelloSenior Manager Client Engagements4144N Central Expressway,Suite 600, Dallas,Texas - 75204, U.S.A.Phone No.: +1 (214) 884-6817; +912064101019 Challenge Europe updated fastenings and fixings brochure Challenge Europe updated fastenings and fixings brochure www.challenge-europe.co.uk/brochure www.challenge-europe.co.uk www.challenge-europe.co.uk An updated core description of the Challenge Europe portfolio is available free as a download from their website at. This document covers the Challenge Europe focus on threaded fasteners and associated accessories.Their quick reference brochure is expected to be handy for designers and installation engineers who need capability in both standard and custom components across the spread of industry from machinery to building, from office to foreshore environments.Rivets, pins and miscellaneous related products are covered that align with the needs of manufacturing industry and installation contractors at large.Further information on Challenge Europe products can be found on their website Challenge (Europe) Ltd is an ISO 9001 stockist and distributor of threaded fasteners, with an emphasis on supplying manufacturing companies located within the UK with specialist standard or custom components.Challenge (Europe) LtdShuttleworth RoadBedfordMK41 0EPTel: 01234 346242email: sales@challenge-europe.co.ukPress contact: Kevin Moorcroft Sanitary Ware Global Market 2018: Key Players JOMOO, KOHLER, JOYOU, TOTO, ARROW https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/3217921-global-sanitary-ware-market-research-report-2018 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/enquiry/3217921-global-sanitary-ware-market-research-report-2018 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=3217921 https://www.wiseguyreports.com Sanitary Ware IndustryDescriptionThis report studies the global Sanitary Ware market status and forecast, categorizes the global Sanitary Ware 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).Sanitary Ware generally refers toilet, bathroom and other facilities that are installed for occupants urinating, bathing, washing and other daily cleaning uses.The trend indicates the high development of China industry. Chinas strong economy growth give intense support of numbers of industries, especially Sanitary Ware industy. China is on the way promoting the urbanization process. Numbers of affordable housing is completed and sanitary ware consumption of urban residents is rising.Low cost, high profit and large amount of clients is the critical competitive advantages. Companies that can provide Sanitary Ware products in a large scale and good properties will be popular among consumers.Strong demand of Sanitary Ware product is the fundamental advantage and drive force for the industry. As a result, companies with better products may survival in the competition during crisis.During financial crisis, the export of Sanitary Ware products is blocked. As a result, companies that depend on export faced great pressure. Bankrupt is popular among the Sanitary Ware suppliers if companies transformed slowly from export to domestic sale. As a result, in financial crisis, many companies in Guangdong and Zhejiang province were eliminated.The major manufacturers covered in this reportJOMOOKOHLERJOYOUTOTOARROWHUIDAAMERICAN STANDARDHegllFAENZASeagullGroheROCA(Ying)SwellBolinaHCGHansgroheVilleroy&BochDuravitMOENHansaRequest for Sample Report @Geographically, 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 AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaOther Regions (India, Southeast Asia, Central & South America and Middle East & Africa)On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoToiletBathroomCabinetBathtubOn 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, includingResidentialCommercialThe study objectives of this report are:To analyze and study the global Sanitary Ware capacity, production, value, consumption, status (2013-2017) and forecast (2018-2025);Focuses on the key Sanitary Ware 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.Leave a Query @Table of ContentsGlobal Sanitary Ware Market Research Report 20181 Sanitary Ware Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Sanitary Ware1.2 Sanitary Ware Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Sanitary Ware Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Sanitary Ware Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Toilet1.2.4 Bathroom1.2.5 Cabinet1.2.6 Bathtub1.3 Global Sanitary Ware Segment by Application1.3.1 Sanitary Ware Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Residential1.3.3 Commercial1.4 Global Sanitary Ware Market by Region (2013-2025)1.4.1 Global Sanitary Ware Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2013-2025)1.4.2 Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.3 24 Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.4 North America Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.5 Europe Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.6 China Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.7 Japan Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Sanitary Ware (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global Sanitary Ware Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global Sanitary Ware Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025)....7 Global Sanitary Ware Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 JOMOO7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.1.2 Sanitary Ware Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Product A7.1.2.2 Product B7.1.3 JOMOO Sanitary Ware Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 KOHLER7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.2.2 Sanitary Ware Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Product A7.2.2.2 Product B7.2.3 KOHLER Sanitary Ware Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 JOYOU7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.3.2 Sanitary Ware Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Product A7.3.2.2 Product B7.3.3 JOYOU Sanitary Ware Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.4 TOTO7.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.4.2 Sanitary Ware Product Category, Application and Specification7.4.2.1 Product A7.4.2.2 Product B7.4.3 TOTO Sanitary Ware Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.5 ARROW7.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.5.2 Sanitary Ware Product Category, Application and Specification7.5.2.1 Product A7.5.2.2 Product B7.5.3 ARROW Sanitary Ware Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2015-2018)7.5.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.6 HUIDA7.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.6.2 Sanitary Ware Product Category, Application and Specification7.6.2.1 Product A7.6.2.2 Product B7.6.3 HUIDA Sanitary Ware Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.6.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.7 AMERICAN STANDARD7.7.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.7.2 Sanitary Ware Product Category, Application and Specification7.7.2.1 Product A7.7.2.2 Product B7.7.3 AMERICAN STANDARD Sanitary Ware Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.7.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.8 Hegll7.8.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.8.2 Sanitary Ware Product Category, Application and Specification7.8.2.1 Product A7.8.2.2 Product B7.8.3 Hegll Sanitary Ware Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.8.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.9 FAENZA7.9.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.9.2 Sanitary Ware Product Category, Application and Specification7.9.2.1 Product A7.9.2.2 Product B7.9.3 FAENZA Sanitary Ware Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2020)7.9.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.10 Seagull7.10.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.10.2 Sanitary Ware Product Category, Application and Specification7.10.2.1 Product A7.10.2.2 Product B7.10.3 Seagull Sanitary Ware Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2020)7.10.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.11 Grohe7.12 ROCA(Ying)7.13 Swell7.14 Bolina7.15 HCG7.16 Hansgrohe7.17 Villeroy&Boch7.18 Duravit7.19 MOEN7.20 HansaBuy 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 Dairy Herd Management Market: Global Industry Analysis and Forecast 2017 - 2025 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/13534 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/13534 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Rising production and consumption of milk and dairy products globally is the key factor responsible for the growth of dairy herd management market globally. Increasing farm size and/or number of animals due to increasing demand for milk products are further contributing towards the growth in demand for dairy herd management globally. Bigger farms require a specific manual or guidelines and program to take care of each animal for better productivity. The implementation of smart farming technologies for better management of farm animals offered key benefits such as decreased cost of animal caring that will further generate good demand for the dairy herd management products and services.The dairy herd management also include programs such as farmers assuring responsible management programs that guide and provide training to the farmers for increasing milk quantity by taking proper care of the farm animals. For instance, providing proper feed to animals, maintain good ambience, etc. The milk production is not just business but it is a way of life for the farmers. The standard operation procedures (SOP) have also been laid down by different governments for better care of the animals. These management programs also include vaccination programs for prevention from different diseases, parasite control measures and some blood tests too for better management of health of the animals.Request to Sample Report @The market for dairy herd management can be segmented based on key product segments, applications and geography. Based on key product segments, market can be segmented into hardware & system, software and associated services. Hardware & system market can be further segmented into cattle management systems, fertility management systems, milk management systems, feeding management systems and accessories. Software market can be further segmented into web based software and on premises software. The web based systems are online systems that are utilized for the management of various dairy herd management programs.Based on key applications of the dairy herd management, the market can be segmented into reproduction management, milk harvesting, calf management, heat stress management, feeding management, genetic management, and financial management among others. The increasing adoption of technologies, increasing demand for automated milk harvesting systems in order to increase the yield of milk are key factors responsible for the growth of this market.Geographically, the dairy herd management market is segmented into five regional segments such as North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Middle East & Africa. North America and Europe are expected to contribute the most towards global dairy herd management market in the near future. Growing contribution of dairy industry, number of dairy cows and large pool of dairy exports in developed countries due to increased consumption of dairy products in such regions are the key factors responsible for large contribution from these regions.Increasing disposable income, rising population and active participation of government for the development of dairy farming industry can contribute towards the growth of this market in the developing countries of the Asia Pacific, Latin America and others. However, factors such as unethical conduct with respect to animals may impact the market of dairy herd management negatively in some parts of the world.Request Report for TOC @Key players operating in the dairy herd management market include FBS Systems Inc., Delaval, GEA Group AG, Afimilk Ltd. Boumatic, SCR Dairy, Inc., Dairymaster, Infovet, SourceTrace Systems, Sum-It Computer Systems, Ltd., and Valley Agriculture Software. The increasing demand for technologically improved products and increasing profitability in farming business due to increasing demand for dairy products will drive the market for dairy herd products. There is increased competition among key players as well especially due to rising demand for different software and systems that are available in the global market for dairy herd management.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Segway Market Will Reach 1330 million US$ by the end of 2025 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/1821494 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1821494/global-segway-sales-report-market-research-reports/toc The global Segway market is valued at 1320 million US$ in 2017 and will reach 1330 million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of 0.1% during 2018-2025.This report studies the global Segway market status and forecast, categorizes the global Segway market size (value & volume) by key players, type, application, and region. This report focuses on the top players in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia India and Other regions (Middle East & Africa, Central & South America).Segway is a two-wheeled motorized personal vehicle consisting of a platform for the feet mounted above an axle and an upright post surmounted by handles.The classification of Segway includes Segway with Handle and Segway without Handle. The proportion of Segway with Handle in 2015 is about 58.52%, and the proportion of Segway without Handle in 2015 is about 41.48%.Request for sample copy of this report:China is the largest manufacturing region of Segway, with a sales market share nearly 12.19% in 2015. Europe is the second largest consumption area of Segway, enjoying production market share about17.23% in 2015.Market competition is intense. With the development of society and the changing of consumer demand, the Segway industry will be more and more popular in the future.The major players covered in this reportNinebot Inc.Segway.Inc.AirwheelRobstepOsdrichCHICESWINGINMOTIONGeographically, this report studies the key regions, focuses on product sales, value, market share and growth opportunity in these regions, coveringUnited StatesEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaWe can also provide the customized separate regional or country-level reports, for the following regions: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 intoSegway with HandleSegway without HandleOn 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, includingPersonal UsePublic PatrolCommercialBrowse full report TOC:The study objectives of this report are:To analyze and study the global Segway sales, value, status (2013-2017) and forecast (2018-2025);To analyze the top players in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia and India, to study the sales, value and market share of top players in these regions.Focuses on the key Segway players, 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.In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Segway 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 StakeholdersSegway ManufacturersSegway Distributors/Traders/WholesalersSegway Subcomponent ManufacturersIndustry AssociationDownstream VendorsAvailable CustomizationsWith the given market data, QYResearch 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 Segway market, by end-use.Detailed analysis and profiles of additional market players.MRRbiz supports your business intelligence needs with over 700,000 market research reports, company profiles, data books, and regional market data sheets in its repository. Our document database is updated by the hour, which means that you always have access to fresh data spanning over 300 industries and their sub-segments.State Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948(USA-Canada)Tel: +1-518-621-2074E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Energy Invoice Validation: Avoid Paying More Than You Should https://smarterbusiness.co.uk/ Energy invoice validation can prevent your business from paying more on energy than you should be. Even though an extra 3-5% every month may not sound like a huge amount of money, any unnecessary overspend should be avoided. And with the rising price of electricity in the UK (estimated to rise by over 30% by 2025), organisations should look to save on energy wherever they can.This is why energy invoice validation should be part of your business overall energy management strategy.How do energy suppliers get it wrong?When you conduct a thorough energy invoice validation, you may be surprised to find a number of inaccuracies in your energy bill. Why is this the case?Suppliers regularly use estimated billing instead of accurate meter readings, especially if you dont submit your own meter readings consistently.There may be faults with the meter that you or your energy supplier havent picked up.You supplier has applied your tariffs incorrectlyThey havent accounted for relevant VAT reductions and other applicable discounts.Customers overcharged by 102 millionRecent research found that 40% of homes in the UK have been overcharged by their energy suppliers and are now owed a collective 1.3 billion.Each home in credit could reclaim an average of 121 from suppliers.25% of customers said that their energy bills didnt add up correctly.30% were charged for an amount that does not match their meter readings.How to ensure that you only pay what you shouldAnalyse each line item on your energy bill standing charges, meter charges, levies, adjustments etc.Submit regular meter readings to your energy supplier.Cross-reference your contract rates against your invoices.Conduct ongoing energy invoice validation or have a third-party company assist you with this.Energy invoice validation made simpleEnergy invoice validation is core to an effective energy strategy, but the process of cross-checking every complex invoice against contracts and meter readings is time-consuming and admin-heavy.This is why so many companies who wish to avoid overpaying on their gas and electricity bills used the energy invoice validation services from a professional energy broker.An expert energy broker will:Validate invoicesAnalyse energy usage and costsHelp you to recover past overcharges.Accurately scrutinise past and present invoicesSmarter 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 1UA Plasma Fractionation Market: o Witness a Healthy Growth during 2017 - 2025 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/13417 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/13417 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Plasma is a blood component, derived from whole blood by plasmapheresis, and used for various therapeutic and medical applications. Human plasma is a source of numerous different proteins, however only few of these proteins are useful for producing therapeutic plasma products. The process of separation, extraction and purification of these proteins from the plasma is called as fractionation process. The proteins extracted from the plasma are mainly categorized into three main classes: immunoglobulins which are useful in treatment of autoimmune diseases and increasing the immune response, clotting factors which are used in treatment of blood disorders such as hemophilia and lastly the albumins which are useful in cases of depleted albumin levels or during fluid loss.Plasma fractionation process is mainly based upon different criteria such as solubility of the products, and their physical and chemical conditions such as pH levels, ionic strengths, and temperature, etc. The derived plasma products, also known as Fresh Frozen Plasma (FFP) are then subjected to various mechanical and physical treatments for virus inactivation such as Nano filtration, detergent/solvent treatment, heat treatment, chromatography centrifugation, ultrafiltration and sterile filtration in order to achieve homogeneity of plasma derived from numerous donors and reduce the risks of viral transmissions.Request to Sample Report @The global market for plasma fractionation is expected to be driven by increasing incidences of blood and immune disorders owing to increasing aging population, along with increasing off-label usage of critical plasma products such as albumins, and immunoglobulins. According to Centers of Disease Control (CDC), in 2012 chronic diseases were one of the leading causes of death and disability in the U.S., with an estimated 117 Mn adults suffering from some form of chronic disease. Improved diagnostic facilities, and ease of access to healthcare along with increasing incidences and prevalence of chronic diseases around the world, are some factors responsible for the rising demand for plasma derived products and is expected to drive the plasma fractionation market during the forecast period of 2016-2024. However, escalating costs of plasma derivatives and the risk factors associated with them, combined with increasing usage of recombinant proteins and products acting as a substitute for the plasma products are expected to restrain the growth of the global plasma fractionation market during the forecast period of 2016-2024.Among the products segment, Immunoglobulin (IVIG) segment is expected to dominate the global plasma fractionation market during the forecast period, owing to factors such as increasing demand for immunoglobulin products due to rising incidences of immunodeficiency and neurological diseases. Among the applications segment, the neurology diseases segment is expected to account for the largest share in the global plasma fractionation market during the forecast period. Rising incidences of neurological disorders and increasing aging population are factors driving the growth of the neurology segment in the global plasma fractionation market. Among the end users segment, hospitals are expected to dominate the global plasma fractionation market, due to improving infrastructure, and healthcare facilities provided by hospitals, along with increasing off-label use of plasma fractionated products in hospitals to treat various diseases.Region wise, the global plasma fractionation market is classified into five regions namely, North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Middle East and Africa. North America dominated the global plasma fractionation market in 2015, due to increasing per capita healthcare spending in the U.S., along with rising demand from patients for better and advanced healthcare facilities, and increased adoption of new and advanced technologies. Asia Pacific region is expected to witness highest CAGR in the global plasma fractionation market during the forecast period, due to factors such as increasing prevalence of hemophilia among countries such as China, and India, and increasing aging population in the Asia Pacific region.Request Report for TOC @Some of the key players in global plasma fractionation market include Kedrion S.p.A, CSL Ltd., China Biologic Products, Inc., Baxalta Incorporated, Grifols S.A, Octapharma AG, LFB S.A, Biotest AG, Bio Product Laboratory Ltd., and Sanquin among others.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Hemangioma Market Key players- Akrimax Pharmaceuticals, LLC. (US), AstraZeneca (UK), Cutting Edge Laser Technologies (US) and Linline Medical Systems (France) Market study and Forecast 2017-2023 Hemangioma Market https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/3240 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/hemangioma-market-3240 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/check-discount/3240 Market Synopsis of Global Hemangioma Market:Market Scenario:Hemangioma is the birthmark or benign tumors of infancy that occurs due to an abnormal collection of blood vessels. This occurs in 5-10% of infants worldwide. Increasing cases of hemangioma, increasing use of technology, and different treatment options are key drivers for the global Hemangioma market. Increasing knowledge about the disorder and treatment, introduction of new drugs and therapies, and rapidly changing medical technology are major driving forces of the global hemangioma market. Increasing investment in R&D to develop more advanced product for the market is another major factor for the market.The Global Hemangioma market is growing at the CAGR of ~3.2% during the forecast period and expected to reach US$ 294.8 million by 2023.Get Sample Copy @Study objectives of Global Hemangioma Market:To provide detailed analysis of the Global Hemangioma market structure with historical and forecast revenue for the next 7 years of the various segments and sub-segments of the Hemangioma marketTo provide insights about the key drivers, restraints, opportunities and challenges that affecting the growth of the Hemangioma marketTo provide analysis of the market with respect to four main geographies and their countries- Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Middle East & Africa.To provide detail analysis of the market that segmented on the basis of type, by diagnosis, by treatment, and its sub-segments.To provide detail analysis of global Hemangioma market mainly based on value chain analysis, Porters five forces, Price analysis, and Supply Chain analysis etc.To provide detail country level analysis of the market with respect to the current market size and future prospectiveTo track and analyze competitive developments such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments, and research and developments in the Global Hemangioma MarketTo provide overview of key players and their strategic profiling in the market, comprehensively analyzing their core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the Hemangioma marketKey Players for Global Hemangioma Market:Some of the key players in this market are: Akrimax Pharmaceuticals, LLC. (US), AstraZeneca (UK), Cutting Edge Laser Technologies (US), Linline Medical Systems (France), Novartis AG (Switzerland), Pfizer Inc. (US), Pierre Fabre (US) Quanta System S.p.A. (Italy), and others.Segments:Global Hemangioma Market has been segmented on the basis of type which Capillary hemangioma, Cavernous hemangioma (Cerebral cavernous malformations, Liver cavernous hemangioma, Eye cavernous hemangioma), Compound hemangioma, Lobular capillary hemangioma (pyogenic granuloma), and others. Cavernous hemangioma is further sub-segmented into cerebral cavernous malformations, liver cavernous hemangioma, and Eye cavernous hemangioma.On the basis of diagnosis, it is segmented into Ultrasound, MRI, CT scan, and others.On the basis of treatment, the market is segmented into medical therapy, laser therapy, surgery, and others. Medical therapy is further sub-segmented into systemic, intralesional and topical. Laser therapy is sub-segmented into Flash lamp pulsed dye laser, intralesional laser, carbon dioxide laser.Request Full Report @Top 5 Reasons to Get this Report:Company profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent development activitiesMarket Strategic Business Influence DataMarket Research Future recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimationsMarket share analysis of the top industry playersMarket forecasts for a minimum of 5 years of all the mentioned segments, Trends and the regional markets With SWOT AnalysisTable of Contents:Report PrologueIntroduction2.1 Definition2.2 Scope Of The Study2.2.1 Research Objective2.2.2 Assumptions2.2.3 Limitations2.3 Market Structure2.4. Market SegmentationResearch Methodology3.1 Research Process3.2 Primary Research3.3 Secondary Research3.4 Market Size Estimation3.5 Forecast ModelMarket Dynamics4.1 Drivers4.2 Restraints4.3 Opportunities4.4 Mega Trends4.5 Macroeconomic IndicatorsMarket Factor Analysis5.1 Value Chain Analysis5.2 Porters Five Forces5.3 Demand & Supply: Gap Analysis5.4 Pricing AnalysisReport with Discount Available @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 Digital Media Frame Market 2018 SWOT Analysis by Players: Aluratek, SONY, Philips, ViewSonic, SAMSUNG Digital Media Frame Market https://www.qyresearchgroups.com/request-sample/987428 https://www.qyresearchgroups.com/check-discount/987428 https://www.qyresearchgroups.com/report/global-digital-media-frame-market-research-report-2018 https://www.qyresearchgroups.com This market research report on the global Digital Media Frame market provides an analysis of the most important trends expected to impact the market outlook from 2018-2025.This report analyzes the Global Digital Media Frame Market and gives us the in-depth analysis of the present scenario and the future growth prospects. Simultaneously it also throws light on the overall positive factors.Digital Media Frame Market study 2018 is a particular and in-depth analysis of the Digital Media Frame industry with an attention on the worldwide market trend. The report intends to give a review of global Digital Media Frame market with detailed market division by product, end users/applications and regional. The Digital Media Frame market is required to witness high development amid the forecast period. This report provides in depth study of Digital Media Frame market using SWOT analysis i.e. Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threat to the organization.The major manufacturers covered in this report Aluratek SONY Philips ViewSonic SAMSUNG Panasonic Sungale Sylvania MCS Giinii HP Sylvania Disney Maxell Coby Kodak Aigo Newsmy GADMEIGet Sample Copy of this Report @On the basis of product, primarily split into: 128 MB 200 MB 256 MB 512 MB 1 GB 2 GB 4 GBOn the basis of the end users/applications Private Use Commercial UseGeographically, market share and growth opportunity in these key regions: United States EU China Japan South Korea TaiwanThe Digital Media Frame Market report also provides an in-depth survey of key players in the market which is based on the various objectives of an organization such as profiling, the product outline, the quantity of production, required raw material, and the financial health of the organization.Check Discount @Major Points Covered in Table of Contents Global Digital Media Frame Market Research Report 20181 Digital Media Frame Market Overview2 Global Digital Media Frame Market Competition by Manufacturers3 Global Digital Media Frame Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)4 Global Digital Media Frame Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2018)5 Global Digital Media Frame Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type6 Global Digital Media Frame Market Analysis by Application7 Global Digital Media Frame Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis8 Digital Media Frame Manufacturing Cost Analysis9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders11 Market Effect Factors Analysis12 Global Digital Media Frame Market Forecast (2018-2025)13 Research Findings and Conclusion14 AppendixBrowse full report with Table of Content @About Us:QY Research Groups is a company that simplifies how analysts and decision makers get industry data for their business. Our unique colossal technology has been developed to offer refined search capabilities designed to exploit the long tail of free market research whilst eliminating irrelevant results. QY Research Groups is the collection of market intelligence products and services on the Web. We offer reports and update our collection daily to provide you with instant online access to the world's most complete and current database of expert insights on global industries, companies, products, and trends.Contact us:Email- sales@qyresearchgroups.comWeb- Global Saw Palmetto Extracts Sales Market Report 2018 https://bit.ly/2JCz6x8 https://bit.ly/2sO7qux https://bit.ly/2kSq80F www.qyresearch.com This report studies the global Saw Palmetto Extracts market status and forecast, categorizes the global Saw Palmetto Extracts market size (value & volume) by key players, type, application, and region. This report focuses on the top players in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia India and Other regions (Middle East & Africa, Central & South America).Saw Palmetto Extracts is an extract of the fruit of Serenoa repens. Saw palmetto (Serenoa repens) grows wild in Florida and other parts of the southeastern United States; the berries have been harvested and used for prostate support for almost 140 years.Free | Request Sample Copy of the Report @Saw palmetto extract is an extract of the fruit of Serenoa repens. Saw palmetto (Serenoa repens) grows wild in Florida and other parts of the southeastern United States; the berries have been harvested and used for prostate support for almost 140 years. USA is the sole origin of saw palmetto extract raw material. Market insiders think that saw palmetto berries from others regions are not the authentic raw materials.Saw palmetto extracts have two types, including liquid type and powder type. Powder type is usually produced from the liquid type. The purity of liquid type ranges from 80%-95% while the key purity of powder type ranges from 25% to 45%. According to the research, although there are many manufacturers in China producing powder type, only a few of them can provide the liquid type to the market, as they still have to depend on import to cater demand.Click to view the full report TOC, figure and tables:The global Saw Palmetto Extracts market is valued at 130 million US$ in 2017 and will reach 130 million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of 0.6% during 2018-2025.The major players covered in this reportValensa International (USA)Martin Bauer (Germany)Indena (Italy)Euromed (Spain)Naturex (France)Bio-Botanica (USA)Maypro (USA)Sabinsa (India)Acetar Bio-Tech (China)JIAHERB (China)Xian Sanjiang (China)Pierre Fabre (French)We can also provide the customized separate regional or country-level reports, for the following regions:QY Research established in 2007, focus on custom research, management consulting, IPO consulting, industry chain research, data base and seminar services. The company owned a large basic data base (such as National Bureau of statistics database, Customs import and export database, Industry Association Database etc), experts resources (included energy automotive chemical medical ICT consumer goods etc.QY Research, INC.17890 Castleton,Suite 218,City of industry, CA - 91748USA: +1 626 295 2442Email inquiry@qyrsearch.comWeb Global Swarm Intelligence Market : Industry Size, Share, Growth, Forecasts 2025 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/1736558 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1736558/global-swarm-intelligence-size-status-market-research-reports https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1736558/global-swarm-intelligence-size-status-market-research-reports/toc https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ Latest industry research report on: Global Swarm Intelligence Market : Industry Size, Share, Research, Reviews, Analysis, Strategies, Demand, Growth, Segmentation, Parameters, ForecastsThis report studies the global Swarm Intelligence market size, industry status and forecast, competition landscape and growth opportunity. This research report categorizes the global Swarm Intelligence market by companies, region, type and end-use industry.Request Sample Copy of the Report @This report focuses on the global top players, coveredSwarm TechnologySwarm IntelligenceUNANIMOUSA.I.AxonAIValuticoMarket segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaMarket segment by Application, Swarm Intelligence can be split intoRoboticsDronesOthersThe study objectives of this report are:To study and forecast the market size of Swarm Intelligence in global market.To analyze the global key players, SWOT analysis, value and global market share for top players.To define, describe and forecast the market by type, end use and region.To analyze and compare the market status and forecast between China and major regions, namely, United States, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, India and Rest of World.To analyze the global 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.Complete Report Details @In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Swarm Intelligence 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 StakeholdersSwarm Intelligence ManufacturersSwarm Intelligence Distributors/Traders/WholesalersSwarm Intelligence Subcomponent ManufacturersIndustry AssociationDownstream VendorsAvailable CustomizationsWith the given market data, QYResearch 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 Swarm Intelligence market, by end-use.Detailed analysis and profiles of additional market players.Request For TOC Report @Table of ContentsGlobal Swarm Intelligence Market Size, Status and Forecast 20251 Industry Overview of Swarm Intelligence1.1 Swarm Intelligence Market Overview1.1.1 Swarm Intelligence Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Swarm Intelligence Market Size and Analysis by Regions (2013-2018)1.2.1 United States1.2.2 Europe1.2.3 China1.2.4 Japan1.2.5 Southeast Asia1.2.6 India1.3 Swarm Intelligence Market by End Users/Application1.3.1 Robotics1.3.2 Drones1.3.3 Others2 Global Swarm Intelligence Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Swarm Intelligence Market Size (Value) by Players (2013-2018)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 Swarm Technology3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Swarm Intelligence Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.2 Swarm Intelligence3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Swarm Intelligence Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.3 UNANIMOUSA.I.About usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.ContactMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:Email: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Personalized Cancer Genome Sequencing Market 2024 Industry Trends, Growth, Analysis, Opportunities and Overview https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/personalized-cancer-genome-sequencing-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=12248 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=D&rep_id=12248 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Global Personalized Cancer Genome Sequencing Market: OverviewCancer genome sequencing refers to the specialized field of genetic engineering focusing on the identification of genetic sequence in cancer cells. A more specialized sub-segment of this niche area is the field of personalized cancer genome sequencing, which refers to the identification and characterization of abnormal DNA and RNA sequencing in a particular cancer cell. Across the globe, the vast rise in prevalence of a variety of cancers has led to a significant rise in research activities aimed at the formulation of effective and accurate diagnostic and treatment methods.View Report:Over the past few years, intense research and technological developments in genetic engineering have made the personalized cancer genome sequencing technology a reliable technique for the treatment of several kinds of cancers. This report on the global personalized cancer genome sequencing market presents a detailed overview of the market with the help of in-depth quantitative and qualitative details and verifiable forecast about markets future growth prospects.Global Personalized Cancer Genome Sequencing Market: Trends and OpportunitiesThe vast rise in prevalence of cancer across the glove, rising awareness regarding the available treatment methods in the market, and a rising openness towards the adoption of promising futuristic treatment methods are the key factor driving the global personalized cancer genome sequencing market. The market is also driven due to the vast developments observed in gene sequencing techniques and the high accuracy in results.Request a Brochure of the Report @Being a relatively new method of cancer treatment, personalized cancer genome sequencing method is presently under clinical trials in several countries. In some countries across regions such as North America and Europe, these methods are practiced but are dealt through stringent regulatory control and taxing approval procedures from regulatory bodies. In the United States alone, the personalized cancer genome sequencing market is regulated by bodies such as Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the U.S. FDA.Global Personalized Cancer Genome Sequencing Market: Regional OutlookFrom a geographical perspective, the personalized cancer genome sequencing market has been examined in the report for regional markets such as Asia-Pacific, Europe, North America, and Middle East and Africa. Of these, the North America market presently dominates, followed by the Europe market. Factors such as the highly developed healthcare infrastructures, high prevalence of cancer, presence of some of the worlds leading biotechnology companies, and high expenditure on healthcare present vast development opportunities for the market in these regions.Asia-Pacific is also expected to emerge as a promising destination for development of the personalized cancer genome sequencing market in the next few years. This regional market is expected to exhibit growth at a healthy pace in the next few years. Factors such as the rising disposable incomes, increased expenditure on healthcare and wellness, and an improving healthcare infrastructure across developing economies such as India and China will drive the market. The thriving medical tourism industry in these countries is also expected to be a key driving factor. However, high costs of personalized cancer genome testing could limit the rate of adoption of this technique across the region to a certain extent.Global Personalized Cancer Genome Sequencing Market: Competitive DynamicsAlthough the scope of growth of the global personalized cancer genome sequencing market is huge, the market has witnessed the entry of very few companies owing to the stringent regulatory scenario governing the development prospects of new solutions and their marketing across regional markets with differing sets of approval processes. In the next few years as well, this factor is expected to permit few new players to foray into the global personalized cancer genome sequencing market.Enquiry for Discount on this Report @About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.Contact UsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Nuclear Medicine/Radiopharmaceuticals Market Development Trends, Key Manufacturers and Competitive Analysis 2015-2023 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/nuclear-medicine-radiopharmaceuticals-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=5666 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=D&rep_id=5666 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Global Nuclear Medicine/Radiopharmaceuticals Market: OverviewNuclear medicines are primarily drugs that contain radioactive elements for radionuclide-emitting ionizing radiations. Their core application lies in the diagnosis and treatment of various diseases that conventional medicines fail to achieve. Radiopharmaceuticals are unique as they are used to directly target specific organs sites in the body where the drug can emit radiations. These radiations are then captured by gamma cameras placed in proximity of the patient. The radiation dose in these pharmaceuticals is kept as low as possible to avoid the side effects of radiation exposure.View Report:Radiopharmaceuticals are administered within a patients body through different routes, including oral, inhalation, or injection. This largely depends on the nature of the elements being used and the organ that is targeted. Radiopharmaceuticals can help in the diagnosis of the blood flow in brain cells, heart pumping rate and working mechanism of kidney cells. Radiopharmaceuticals are also used in the diagnosis of mental diseases such as Parkinsons disease and Alzheimers, as well as help pinpoint the location of cancers or minute bone fractures in a body.This report is a comprehensive revision of current trends in the global nuclear medicine/radiopharmaceuticals market, along with its drivers, restraints, and future opportunities. The report offers market projections for the coming years as well as an examination of recent developments in the market. These factors can be viewed through the use of research methodologies such as Porters five force model analysis and SWOT analysis. The report also includes a review of micro and macro factors essential for the existing market players and new entrants along with detailed value chain analysis.Request a Brochure of the Report @Global Nuclear Medicine/Radiopharmaceuticals Market: Trends and Opportunities:The global nuclear medicine/radiopharmaceuticals market is primarily being driven by the increasing rate of incidence of Alzheimers, Parkinsons, dementia, cancer, and cardiac failures. The overall market is also being propelled by the swiftly increasing demand generated from emerging countries, thanks to their improving medical infrastructure, growing expenditure on healthcare, and the non-invasive nature of this procedure, a factor that is finding great favor among all patient demographics. The market is further boosted by increasing awareness, progress in the creation of radiotracers, and potential radioisotopes in the pipeline.However, the global nuclear medicine/radiopharmaceuticals market is being held back by short half-lives of radiopharmaceuticals, stringent regulatory guidelines, and unavailability of reimbursement policies. The side effects of radiation exposure are also creating an aversion among patients for radiopharmaceuticals. The main side effects include fatigue, skin irritation, nausea, vomiting, and infertility among men.The global nuclear medicine/radiopharmaceuticals market can be segmented on the basis of product types and applications. The former can be classified into diagnostic and therapeutic products. Diagnostics products include SPECT and PET isotopes, while therapeutics include alpha emitters, beta emitters, and brachytherapy. Based on applications, the global nuclear medicine/radiopharmaceuticals market can be segmented into cardiology, neurology, oncology, thyroid, bone metastasis, and endocrine tumors.Enquiry for Discount on this Report @In 2014, cardiology accounted largest share of the nuclear medicine market from its applications. The same year saw diagnostics at the top share position in the radiopharmaceuticals market. Furthermore, SPECT captured the leading share in radiopharmaceuticals market, based on types.Global Nuclear Medicine/Radiopharmaceuticals Market: Region-wise Outlook:Geographically, the global radiopharmaceuticals market can be segmented into North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East and Africa. The market was dominated by North America in 2014, followed by Asia Pacific and Europe. North America led the market due to a well-positioned healthcare industry for the adoption of modern treatments and diagnostic procedures, the increasing rates of cancer and cardiac diseases, rising awareness regarding the advantages that radiopharmaceuticals have to offer, and the relatively easier access to radiopharmaceuticals. According to the Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM), approximately 5,000 nuclear medicine centers were present in the U.S. till recently, and over 18 mn procedures are performed within these centers per year. Asia Pacific is anticipated to grow at a leading pace over the coming years.Companies Mentioned in the Research Report:Some of the major players in the global radiopharmaceuticals market include Cardinal Health, Inc., GE Healthcare, Eczacibasi-Monrol Nuclear Products, Bayer Healthcare AG, IBA Molecular Imaging, Mallinckrodt Plc., and Sigma Aldrich Corporation. Other companies in radiopharmaceuticals / nuclear medicine market includes Medtronic Plc., Nordien, Inc., Jubilant Pharma, and Siemens Healthcare.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.Contact UsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Menstrual Cups Market | Top key Players - Diva, Lunette, The Keeper, Femmycycle, Mooncup (UK), MeLuna, Anigan, Yuuki, IrisCup, Soft Cup, FemmeCup, SckoonCup, LadyCup, MiaLuna | Forecast till 2023 Menstrual Cups Market https://www.businessindustryreports.com/sample-request/47943 https://www.businessindustryreports.com/buy-now/47943/single https://www.businessindustryreports.com/enquiry/47943 BusinessIndustryReports.com has new research report on the global Menstrual Cups Market. The global Menstrual Cups market is growing continuously and expected to grow healthy CAGR by Forecast year 2023Menstrual Cups market is a female hygiene product which prevents the menstrual fluid (uterine lining and blood) from leaking into clothes. Menstrual Cups market is inserted into vagina of a female during menstruation period. The cups are generally made up of flexible silicone which is of good medical grade and scientifically approved for usage inside the body. The cup contains no harmful chemical, additives or absorbency gels in it.It is bell shaped and a stem at its top. The stem facilitates insertion and removal of a cup inside vagina easily and the bell-shaped cup is sealed around the cervix. Depending on the amount of flow, the cup is detached, emptied and cleaned, and then reinserted every 4 to 24 hours. Tampons and pads absorb the menstrual fluid however, the menstrual cups collect menstrual fluid.The overall cost for a cup is considerably less as compared to disposable pads or tampons as one cup is reusable till five years or more. An average woman uses around 11,000 pads or tampons in her lifetime. The waste produced and the related packaging end up in the toilets or dumped in landfill. Menstrual cups are promoted more as eco-friendly and reasonable than tampons and pads.Get a Premium Sample Report atMenstrual Cups is type of feminine hygiene product which is usually made of medical grade silicone, shaped like a bell and is flexible. It is worn inside the vagina during menstruation to catch menstrual fluid (blood), and can be worn during the day and overnight. Full Menstrual Cups are removed from the vagina, emptied into the toilet or sink, washed and re-inserted (washing hands with soap before doing so is crucial).This report focuses on the Menstrual Cups in global market, especially in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa.This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, types and applications.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversDivaLunetteThe KeeperFemmycycleMooncup (UK)MeLunaAniganYuukiIrisCupSoft CupFemmeCupSckoonCupLadyCupMiaLunaMonzcareLifeCupMarket 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, coversSiliconNatural Gum Rubber (Latex)Thermoplastic Elastomer (TPE)Market Segment by Applications, can be divided intoSupermarketsDrugstoreOnline ShopComplete report on Global Menstrual Cups Market Size, Status and Forecast 2023 is spread across 109 pages and provides exclusive vital statistics, data, information, trends and landscape details in this niche sector. Get Direct Copy of this Research Report @Major Table of Content1 Global Menstrual Cups Market Research Report 20182 Global Menstrual Cups Market Competition by Manufacturers3 Global Menstrual Cups Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)4 Global Menstrual Cups Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2018)5 Global Menstrual Cups Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type6 Global Menstrual Cups Market Analysis by Application7 Global Menstrual Cups Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis8 Menstrual Cups Manufacturing Cost Analysis9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders11 Market Effect Factors Analysis12 Global Menstrual Cups Market Forecast (2018-2023 )13 Research Findings and Conclusion14 AppendixKey questions answered in the report:What will the market growth rate of Menstrual Cups market in 2023 ?What are the key factors driving the global Menstrual Cups market?What are sales, revenue, and price analysis of top manufacturers of Menstrual Cups market?Who are the distributors, traders and dealers of Menstrual Cups market?Who are the key manufacturers in Menstrual Cups market space?What are the Menstrual Cups market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the global Menstrual Cups market?What are sales, revenue, and price analysis by types and applications of Menstrual Cups market?What are sales, revenue, and price analysis by regions of Menstrual Cups market?What are the market opportunities, market risk and market overview of the Menstrual Cups market?More inquire atAbout usBusinessindustryReports.com is digital database of comprehensive market reports for global industries. As a market research company, we take pride in equipping our clients with insights and data that holds the power to truly make a difference to their business. Our mission is singular and well-defined - we want to help our clients envisage their business environment so that they are able to make informed, strategic and therefore successful decisions for themselves.Media ContactBusiness Industry ReportsPune Indiasales@businessindustryreports.com+19376349940 Creatinine Market 2018: Key Players-Quest Diagnostics (U.S.), Merck (U.S.), Sonic Healthcare (Australia) and Bayer (U.S.) till 2023 Creatinine Test Market https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/4878 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/creatinine-test-market-4878 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/check-discount/4878 Market Synopsis of the Global Creatinine Test MarketCreatinine test measures the amount of creatinine in the kidney. Creatinine is excreted in the urine as a byproduct of creatine breakdown and is mainly found in the muscles. The test determines whether the kidney function is normal. Elevated creatinine levels signify kidney dysfunction as a result of kidney failure, kidney disease, and kidney infection. A number of devices are used for kidney function tests, such as analyzers, creatinine function test, and others.Rising prevalence of chronic kidney disease, increasing demand for laboratory testing devices, and services accelerate the growth of the market. Furthermore, the demand for point-of-care testing services and extensive use of clinical testing devices and others, availability of creatinine test devices, and increasing demand for creatinine test are other important factors accelerating the growth of the market. Technological advancements in clinical testing devices also influence the market growth. The growth of the market is restrained by the accuracy of creatinine for diagnosis of kidney diseases.Reqeust for Reports Sample @According to the WHO, about 59% of the mortality is due to chronic diseases and almost 35 million people die of chronic diseases in the world.The global creatinine test market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.5% during the forecast period.SegmentsThe global creatinine test market is segmented on the basis of type, indication, devices, and end user.On the basis of the type, the market is segmented into urine test, blood test, and others.On the basis of the devices & accessories, the market is segmented into clinical analyzer including bench top, and portable/ handheld analyzers, creatinine test strips, cartridge, and others.On the basis of the indication, the market is segmented into kidney disease, kidney infection, kidney failure, urinary tract obstruction, and others.On the basis of the end user, the market is segmented into hospital & clinics, diagnostic center, research institutes, and others.Request Full Report @Top 5 Reasons to Get this Report:Company profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent development activitiesMarket Strategic Business Influence DataMarket Research Future recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimationsMarket share analysis of the top industry playersMarket forecasts for a minimum of 5 years of all the mentioned segments, Trends and the regional markets With SWOT AnalysisTable Of Content1. Report Prologue2. Market Introduction2.1 Definition2.2 Scope Of The Study2.2.1 Research Objective2.2.2 Assumptions2.2.3 Limitations3. Research Methodology3.1 Introduction3.2 Primary Research3.3 Secondary Research3.4 Market Size Estimation4. Market Dynamics4.1 Drivers4.2 Restrains4.3 Opportunities4.4 Challenges4.5 Macroeconomic Indicators4.6 Technology Trends & Assessment5. Market Factor Analysis5.1 Porters Five Forces Analysis5.1.1 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 RivalryReport with Discount Available @Key Players in the Global Creatinine tests MarketSome of the key players in this market are Quest Diagnostics (U.S.), Merck (U.S.), Sonic Healthcare (Australia), Bayer (U.S.), Beckman Coulter (U.S.), Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (U.S.), Genoptix (U.S.), Healthscope (Australia), Labco (Kuwait), Charles River (U.S.), OPKO Health, Inc. (U.S.), amd Abbott (U.S.)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 North America Tumor Ablation Market to 2024: Top Players Boston Scientific Corporation, Medtronic, Abbott and Tumor Ablation Systems Segment Dominates the Market Share of 67.4% "North America Tumor Ablation Market" http://databridgemarketresearch.com/request-a-sample/?dbmr=north-america-tumor-ablation-market http://databridgemarketresearch.com/inquire-before-buying/?dbmr=north-america-tumor-ablation-market http://databridgemarketresearch.com/speak-to-analyst/?dbmr=north-america-tumor-ablation-market North America Tumor Ablation Market By Type (Tumor Ablation Systems {Radio Frequency Ablation System, Microwave Ablation System, Cryoablation, High Intensity Focused Ultrasound , Laser Ablation System}, Image Guidance Products, Accessories), By Cancer Type (Liver Cancer, Brain Cancer, Lung Cancer, Bone Cancer, Kidney Cancer, Pancreatic Cancer, Breast Cancer, Others), By Mode of Treatment (Surgical, Laparoscopic, Percutaneous), By End User (Hospitals, Oncology Clinics, Others), Country (U.S., Canada, Mexico) Industry Trends and Forecast to 2024Download exclusive PDF sample report @North America Tumor Ablation Market is expected to reach USD 1,248.0 million by 2024 from USD 601.1 million in 2016, at a CAGR of 9.7% in the forecast period 2017 to 2024. The new market report contains data for historic years 2015, the base year of calculation is 2016 and the forecast period is 2017 to 2024.The major factors driving the growth of this market are the rising number of cancer patients in North America, technological advancement initiatives taken by the key players to innovate new products. On the other hand, high cost of tumor ablation devices may hinder the growth of the market. The tumor ablation market in the North America region is leading in U.S.Market Segmentation: North America Tumor Ablation MarketThe North America tumor ablation market is segmented on the basis of type, cancer type, mode of treatment and end-user. Based on type, the North America tumor ablation market is segmented into tumor ablation systems, image guidance product and accessories. In 2017, tumor ablation systems market segment is expected to account for the largest share of 67.4% of the North America tumor ablation market.On the basis of cancer type, the North America tumor ablation market is segmented into liver cancer, brain cancer, lung cancer, bone cancer, kidney cancer, pancreatic cancer, breast cancer, and others. In 2017, the breast cancer segment is expected to dominate the market with 30.5% market share.On the basis of mode of treatment, the North America tumor ablation market is segmented into non-invasive method and invasive method.By application, the North America tumor ablation market is segmented into antepartum surgical, laparoscopic, and percutaneous. Laparoscopic is the highest growing segment with the highest CAGR of 10.5% in the forecast period 2017 to 2024.On the basis of end users, the North America tumor ablation market is classified hospitals, oncology clinics, and others. Among these, in 2017 hospitals segment dominated the market and the trend is expected to remain the same till 2024.Order a copy of North America Tumor Ablation Market Report @Key Drivers: North America Tumor Ablation MarketNorth America is the growing market for tumor ablation. The growth in this market is due to the rising number of cancer patients in North America, technological advancement initiatives taken by the key players to innovate new products. Various product launches in North America market will boost the tumor ablation market.Technological advancement in the field of early cancer detection will make the demand for tumor ablation.Key Points: North America Tumor Ablation MarketMedtronic is going to dominate the North America tumor ablation market following with Boston Scientific Corporation and Abbott along with others such as NeuWave Medical, Inc., Koninklijke Philips N.V., INTIO Inc., Mermaid Medical A/S, SonaCare Medical, LLC, DFINE, Inc., Misonix, BVM Medical Limited, AngioDynamics, COMSOL Inc.Tumor ablation systems segment is expected to dominate the North America tumor ablation market.The tumor ablation market in the North America region is leading in U.S.Speak to Experts @About Data Bridge Market Research:Data Bridge Market Research set forth itself as an unconventional and neoteric Market research and consulting firm with unparalleled level of resilience and integrated approaches. We are determined to unearth the best market opportunities and foster efficient information for your business to thrive in the market. Data Bridge endeavors to provide appropriate solutions to the complex business challenges and initiates an effortless decision-making process.Contact:Data Bridge Market ResearchTel: +1-888-387-2818Email: sopan.gedam@databridgemarketresearch.com Tire Pressure Monitoring System Market 2018 Global Major Key Players: Sensata Technologies, Continental AG, Pacific Industrial, and Huf Hulsbeck & Furst GmbH & Co. KG. ZF Friedrichshafen AG, Schrader Electronics Tire-Pressure Monitoring System Market https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/4636 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/tire-pressure-monitoring-system-market-4636 Tire-Pressure Monitoring System Market Share, Size, Trends, And Business Opportunity Analysis Report 2018 include historic data, with forecast data to 2023. Tire-Pressure Monitoring System 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 Tire-Pressure Monitoring System Market, By Technology (Direct TPMS and Indirect TPMS), by Vehicle Type (Passenger vehicles, Light Commercial vehicles and Heavy Commercial vehicles), by Sales Channel (OEM, Aftermarket) and region - Forecast 2023Key PlayersThe major player operating in the market of global Tire-pressure monitoring system are Sensata Technologies Inc. (U.S), Continental AG (Germany), Pacific Industrial Co. Ltd (Japan), and Huf Hulsbeck & Furst GmbH & Co. KG (Germany). ZF Friedrichshafen AG (Germany), Schrader Electronics (U.K), AVE technologies (Australia), Bartec USA LLC (U.S), DUNLOP TECH GmbH (Germany), and Delphi Automotive LLP. (U.K) are among others.Get Sample Report of Tire-Pressure Monitoring System Market@Market HighlightsGlobal tire pressure monitoring system has witnessed gradual growth in recent years and is expected to witness steady growth in the forecast period. The tire pressure monitoring system market is primarily driven due to strict government regulations that mandate the need to curb vehicular emissions and increase fuel efficiency as one of the primary growth factors. The growth of the automotive market in the emerging economies around the world is due to various factors such as the increasing demand for high-end luxury cars, and the growing economic and environmental policies. These factors will increase the focus of the customers towards advanced safety systems such as anti-brake systems, tire pressure indicators, and electronic stability control in their vehicles. This will indirectly result in the growth of the automotive aftermarket. Regulations that demand installation of tire pressure monitoring systems, which were introduced in emerging nations, will result in the increasing demand for the aftermarket tire pressure monitoring systems.Tire forms the basis for comfortable, safe and fuel efficient driving, if they are managed and maintained properly by owners and service providers. With demonstrated technology to successfully monitor tire pressure and to caution drivers of problems, regulations have emerged in every region to require carmakers to have tire pressure monitoring systems in almost all vehicle types. Tire pressure monitoring system gives real time information to the driver of the vehicle through a pictogram display. In present scenario, automotive safety systems have become advanced, sophisticated and efficient. Increasing adoption rate for automotive safety systems such as tire pressure monitoring system has reduced the number of accidents as well as they have lowered the impact if accidents on people.The global tire pressure monitoring system is expected to grow at a CAGR of ~ 7% during the forecast period.Global Tire-pressure monitoring system market: SegmentationBased on technology, the market has been segmented as direct TPMS (Tire-Pressure Monitoring System) and indirect TPMS (Tire-Pressure Monitoring System). Amongst these, the direct TPMS segment is expected to dominate the growth of the market. It helps detect absolute pressure measurement. This technology possesses numerous features such as tire pressure on each wheel can be displayed, additional sensors are needed with snow tires (users on-cost) and the wheel type is restricted by integrated sensor/valve. However, this technology has high cost as the sensor batteries have to be changed periodically.Scope of the ReportThis study provides an overview of the global tire pressure monitoring system market, tracking two market segments across four geographic regions. The report studies key players, providing a five-year annual trend analysis that highlights market size, volume and share for North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC) and Rest of the World (ROW). The report also provides a forecast, focusing on the market opportunities for the next five years for each region. The scope of the study segments the tire pressure monitoring system market by its technology, by vehicle type and by region.Regional AnalysisThe global tire pressure monitoring system market has been segmented in the regions of North America, Asia Pacific, Europe and Rest of the World. Amongst these, Asia Pacific region is expected to dominate the global tire pressure monitoring system market due to the increased adoption rate of such systems and boom in automotive sector. This leads to the production of a large number of automobiles, which are installed with tire pressure monitoring systems, especially in countries such as China, Japan, India, and South Korea. The market is this region is further expected to be driven by availability of raw components and improved automotive infrastructure. The industry players in the automotive sector are focusing on encouraging safety and security of the consumers.Europe also contributes significantly in the growth of the global tire pressure monitoring system market. The existence of major automotive manufacturers in the region supports the industry demand. The increase in driving regulations, with the objective to ensure passenger safety is also expected to drive the market demand.Get Complete Report Details of Tire-Pressure Monitoring System Market@Table of Contents1 Executive Summary2 Scope Of The Report3 Market Landscape4 Market Dynamics5 Global Tire-Pressure Monitoring System Market, By Technology6 Global Tire-Pressure Monitoring System Market, By Vehicle Type7 Global Tire-Pressure Monitoring System Market, By Sales Channel8 Global Tire-Pressure Monitoring System Market, By Region9 Competitive Landscape10 Company Profile.ContinuedAbout 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 Root Canal Irrigatos Sales Market: Development, Growth, Trends, Demand, Analysis and Forecast 2022 https://www.qyresearch.com/sample-form/form/453105?utm_source=openprST https://goo.gl/cjBqxz www.qyresearch.com QYResearch is a leading market research publisher which pursuits high product quality with the belief that quality is the soul of business and consulting group has accumulated creative design methods on many high-quality markets investigation and research team with rich experience.The report Root Canal Irrigatos Sales Market provides information on products, services, trends, top companies, verticals, countries globally.This report studies the global Root Canal Irrigatos market status and forecast, categorizes the global Root Canal Irrigatos market size (value & volume) by key players, type, application, and region. This report focuses on the top players in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia India and Other regions (Middle East & Africa, Central & South America).Root Canal Irrigator is a kind of dental device used to clean the root canal.Europe is the largest consumption of Root Canal Irrigators, with a revenue market share nearly 35.00% in 2015.Request Sample Copy of Report@The second place is North America; following Europe with the revenue market share over 28.82% in 2015. China is another important consumption market of Root Canal Irrigators.Root Canal Irrigators mainly has many kinds, including Manual Root Canal Irrigators, Ultrasonic & Sonic Root Canal Irrigators and Other Root Canal Irrigators. The revenue market share of Manual Root Canal Irrigators is 51.16% in 2015.The global Root Canal Irrigatos market is valued at 120 million US$ in 2017 and will reach 180 million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of 5.3% during 2018-2025.Request For Customized Reports on Various Geographical Regions@About Us:QY Research established in 2007, focus on custom research, management consulting, IPO consulting, industry chain research, data base and seminar services. The company owned a large basic data base (such as National Bureau of statistics database, Customs import and export database, Industry Association Database etc), experts resources (included energy automotive chemical medical ICT consumer goods etc.Contact USQY Research, INC.17890 Castleton,Suite 218,City of industry, CA 91748 ?USA: +1 626 295 2442Email ? enquiry@qyrsearch.comWeb ?For other region, contact number given below+86 108 294 5717 Beijing+86 208 665 5165 Guangzhou+86 215 160 1757 Shanghai+852 3062 8839 HK+1 613 366 5094 Canada+81 903 800 9273 Japan+49 176 813 78371Germany+44 203 734 8135 UK+33 172 813 308 France+55 613 181 0478 Brazil+91 114 046 9822 India Asia Pacific Aesthetics Market Global Key players - Cutera (U.S.), Alma Lasers (Israel), ALLERGAN (Ireland) and Lumenis (Israel) Analysis and Forecast 2017 - 2023 Asia Pacific Aesthetics Market https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/5659 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/asia-pacific-aesthetics-market-5659 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/check-discount/5659 Market Scenario:Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy concerned with the valuation of craftsmanship, beauty, excellence, and good taste. Medical aesthetics carry this philosophy to improve the cosmetic appearance of an individual. Various aesthetic techniques are available in the market, which are effectively utilized for liposuction, hair removal, acne treatment, and others. Growing expenditure on cosmetic surgeries is the major driver for market growth. According to the International Trade Administration in 2015, the per capita cosmetic expenditure was about USD 174 in Japan. Moreover, it was estimated that the Asian countries are receiving huge exports from the U.S for the same reason. Additionally, factors such as increasing prevalence of skin diseases like acne and actinic keratosis and high demand for aesthetics procedures like liposuction, hair transplantation in the the growing obese and geriatric population boosts the market growth. According to a study published in the Anais Brasileiros De Dermatologia journal in 2014, countries such as China and Belgium have a higher prevalence for acne, and the disease is estimated to affect approximately 90% of the adolescent population within the region. Moreover, in 2016, according to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, an estimated 18,447 liposuction procedures were performed in the Chinese Taipei, accounting for 1.3% of the total surgical liposuction procedures across the globe.Get Sample Copy @It was estimated that India stood third in liposuction procedures, representing 5.0% of the total liposuction procedures performed in the world. However, high procedural cost followed by need of physician training is estimated to restrain the market growth during the forecast period. The average estimated cost of laser slimming treatment in Japan is estimated to be from USD 2520 to USD 3025. Moreover, in 2016 Cutera, stated that its products like the excel V should be operated only by qualified practitioners, who have received appropriate training and also have thoroughly reviewed the procedures operations.Asia Pacific aesthetics market is estimated to grow at an approximate CAGR of 11.50% from 2017 to 2023.Intended AudiencePharmaceutical CompaniesBiotechnological InstitutesResearch And Development (R&D) CompaniesMedical Research LaboratoriesMarket Research And Consulting Service ProvidersSegmentationThe Asia Pacific aesthetics market is segmented on the basis of procedures, products, application, and end-user.On the basis of the procedures, the market is categorized into surgical aesthetic procedures and nonsurgical aesthetic procedures. The surgical aesthetic procedures segment is sub-segmented into liposuction, breast augmentation, tummy tuck, eyelid surgery, breast lift, dermabrasion, and others. The nonsurgical aesthetic procedures segment is sub segmented into botulinum toxin, hyaluronic acid, hair removal, photorejuvenation (IPL), chemical peel, microdermabrasion, and others. On the basis of the product, the market is segmented into laser and energy based devices, skin tightening and body contouring devices, aesthetic implants, and others. The skin tightening and body contouring devices segment is sub-segmented into liposuction devices, cellulite reduction devices, cryolipolysis technology, anti-aging device, and others. The aesthetic implants segment is sub-segmented as dental implants, breast implants, buttock augmentation, transdermal implants, and others. On the basis of the application, facial & body contouring, facial & skin rejuvenation, breast enhancement, scar treatment, reconstructive surgery, tattoo removal, vaginal rejuvenation, and others. On the basis of the end-user, the market is segmented into hospitals & clinics, dermatology clinics, cosmetic centers, and others.Request Full Report @Regional AnalysisOn the regional basis, Asia Pacific is segmented into China, India, Japan, Australia, and Rest of Asia Pacific.Japan holds a major share of the market followed by the India owing to growing expenditure on cosmetic surgeries, and high per capita income. In 2016, International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery stated that 120,640 non-surgical photo rejuvenation procedures were performed in Japan. India stands second in the Asia Pacific aesthetic market due to a huge population base, increasing demand for the better quality products, rapidly changing economy, and increasing cosmetic expenditure. According to the Indian Journal of Paediatric Dermatology in 2017, 200 million to 300 million people in India suffer from acne. China stands third in the Asia Pacific aesthetic market due to increasing patient population and rising acceptance of aesthetic procedures. On the other hand, Australia holds the lowest share of the market due to high cost of aesthetic procedures and lack of skilled physicians within the region.Top 5 Reasons to Get this Report:Company profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent development activitiesMarket Strategic Business Influence DataMarket Research Future recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimationsMarket share analysis of the top industry playersMarket forecasts for a minimum of 5 years of all the mentioned segments, Trends and the regional markets With SWOT AnalysisTABLE OF CONTENTS1 REPORT PROLOGUE2 MARKET INTRODUCTION2.1 Introduction 112.2 Research Objective 112.3 Assumptions & Limitations 112.3.1 Assumptions 112.3.2 Limitations 113 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY3.1 Research Process 133.2 Primary Research 143.3 Secondary Research 143.4 Market Size Estimation 144 MARKET DYNAMICS4.1 Introduction 174.2 Drivers 184.2.1 Prevalence Of Skin Diseases 184.2.2 High Demand For Liposuction, And Hair Transplantation, And The Rising Obese And Geriatric Population 194.2.3 Growing Expenditure On Cosmetic Surgeries 204.3 Restraints 21Report with Discount Available @Key players for Asia Pacific Aesthetics MarketCutera (U.S.), Alma Lasers (Israel), ALLERGAN (Ireland), Lumenis (Israel), Syneron Medical Ltd. (U.S.), PhotoMedex, Inc. (U.S.), Cynosure, Inc. (U.S.), Galderma S.A. (Switzerland), Solta Medical, Inc. (Canada), Sanofi (France), Mentor Worldwide LLC (U.S), ZELTIQ Aesthetics, Inc.(U.S.), Merz Pharma (Germany), Integra Lifesciences (U.S.), Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc. (U.S.), 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 Smart Greenhouse Global Market 2018: Key Players Schaefer Ventilation, Delta T Solution, Modine, Trueleaf, Coolair https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/2846614-global-smart-greenhouse-market-research-report-2018 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/enquiry/2846614-global-smart-greenhouse-market-research-report-2018 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=2846614 https://www.wiseguyreports.com Smart Greenhouse IndustryDescriptionWiseguyreports.Com Adds Smart Greenhouse -Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities and Analysis Of Top Key Player Forecast To 2023 To Its Research DatabaseThis report studies the global Smart Greenhouse market status and forecast, categorizes the global Smart Greenhouse 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.Smart greenhouse is based on the vision of a greenhouse that would maintain a perfect micro-climate for a particular crop being cultivated inside. It would be perfectly tailored to the vegetation inside to maximize its efficiency. In some regions, smart greenhouse is also the best choice for water saving due to the advanced irrigation system. In recent years, people also access to electric power through solar-photovoltaic technology.Smart greenhouse has cognitive abilities to sense its surrounding environment and either use or block certain features to maintain the micro-climate. Such environment variables that are most important for crop are air temperature and soil humidity level. Control systems get information through specific sensors and compare it with set value to judge whether or not to change the state of HVAC system and irrigation system.Generally, a smart greenhouse should have several components like control system, HVAC system, irrigation system, growing light and others. With these systems, smart greenhouses are widely applied in the cultivations of Vegetables, Flowers & Ornamentals, Fruit Plants, and Nursery Crops.Smart greenhouse is based on the vision of a greenhouse that would maintain a perfect micro-climate for a particular crop being cultivated inside. It would be perfectly tailored to the vegetation inside to maximize its efficiency. In some regions, smart greenhouse is also the best choice for water saving due to the advanced irrigation system. In recent years, people also access to electric power through solar-photovoltaic technology.Smart greenhouse has cognitive abilities to sense its surrounding environment and either use or block certain features to maintain the micro-climate. Such environment variables that are most important for crop are air temperature and soil humidity level. Control systems get information through specific sensors and compare it with set value to judge whether or not to change the state of HVAC system and irrigation system.Request for Sample Report @Generally, a smart greenhouse should have several components like control system, HVAC system, irrigation system, growing light and others. With these systems, smart greenhouses are widely applied in the cultivations of Vegetables, Flowers & Ornamentals, Fruit Plants, and Nursery Crops.At present, in United States, Israel and Netherlands, the smart greenhouse industry is at a more advanced level, the world's most advanced enterprises are mainly concentrated in these regions. These foreign companies have more advanced equipment, strong R & D capability, the technical level is in a leading position. But foreign companies manufacturing cost is relatively high, compared with Chinese companies, the manufacturing cost is a competitive disadvantage, as the Chinese smart greenhouse production enterprise technology continues to improve, their share in the international market is increasing, competitiveness in the international market gradually increase.Now the production and consumption are basically done locally, the import and export is not huge in each region. In the past, some companies and governments import product from the companies in Netherlands and United States, but due to the design, environment and climate factors, the product was not working well in these regions. Therefore now import and export remains at a low quantity level.The global Smart Greenhouse market is valued at 860 million US$ in 2017 and will reach 1070 million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of 2.8% during 2018-2025.The major manufacturers covered in this reportSchaefer VentilationDelta T SolutionModineTrueleafCoolairGeographically, this report studies the key regions, focuses on product sales, value, market share and growth opportunity in these regions, coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoBy Culture BaseNon-Hydroponic Smart GreenhouseHydroponic Smart GreenhouseBy Insulation MaterialGlass Smart GreenhousePC Board Smart GreenhousePlastic Film Smart GreenhouseHollow Perspex Smart GreenhouseOn 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, includingVegetablesFlowers & ornamentalsFruit plantsNursery cropsOthersThe study objectives of this report are:To analyze and study the global Smart Greenhouse sales, value, status (2013-2017) and forecast (2018-2025).Focuses on the key Smart Greenhouse 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.Leave a Query @Table of ContentsGlobal Smart Greenhouse Market Research Report 20181 Smart Greenhouse Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Smart Greenhouse1.2 Smart Greenhouse Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Smart Greenhouse Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Smart Greenhouse Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Non-Hydroponic Smart Greenhouse1.2.4 Hydroponic Smart Greenhouse1.3 Smart Greenhouse Segment By Insulation Material1.3.1 Glass Smart Greenhouse1.3.2 PC Board Smart Greenhouse1.3.3 Plastic Film Smart Greenhouse1.3.4 Hollow Perspex Smart Greenhouse1.2.5.11.4 Global Smart Greenhouse Segment by Application1.4.1 Smart Greenhouse Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.4.2 Vegetables1.4.3 Flowers & ornamentals1.4.4 Fruit plants1.4.5 Nursery crops1.4.6 Others1.5 Global Smart Greenhouse Market by Region (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global Smart Greenhouse 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 China Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5.6 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5.7 India Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.6 Global Market Size (Value) of Smart Greenhouse (2013-2025)1.6.1 Global Smart Greenhouse Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)1.6.2 Global Smart Greenhouse Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025)...7 Global Smart Greenhouse Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 Schaefer Ventilation7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.1.2 Smart Greenhouse Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Product A7.1.2.2 Product B7.1.3 Schaefer Ventilation Smart Greenhouse Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 Delta T Solution7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.2.2 Smart Greenhouse Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Product A7.2.2.2 Product B7.2.3 Delta T Solution Smart Greenhouse Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 Modine7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.3.2 Smart Greenhouse Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Product A7.3.2.2 Product B7.3.3 Modine Smart Greenhouse Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.4 Trueleaf7.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.4.2 Smart Greenhouse Product Category, Application and Specification7.4.2.1 Product A7.4.2.2 Product B7.4.3 Trueleaf Smart Greenhouse Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.5 Coolair7.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.5.2 Smart Greenhouse Product Category, Application and Specification7.5.2.1 Product A7.5.2.2 Product B7.5.3 Coolair Smart Greenhouse Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2015-2018)7.5.4 Main Business/Business OverviewBuy 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 Touchless Sensors Market Sluggish Growth Rate by 2021 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/5954 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/5954 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Touchless sensing is the next generation evolution in human machine interface (HMI) technology. It is typically used to detect the presence or motion of a person within the coverage area of sensor. Touchless sensing is a technology that combines the advantages of optical sensing with biometric sensing systems. Touchless sensors enable scanning of biometric images or simply the presence of a person without the need for physical contact with the sensors. The optical source in the system illuminates the object and the image is scanned using camera. The optical source used for illumination is highly sophisticated and ensures high quality image for detection. Touchless sensor systems are highly appreciable in areas with hygiene concerns such as washrooms, restaurant kitchens and others. In addition, touchless sensors are increasingly being preferred for automatic entrance/exits in shopping malls, railway stations, airports and other public places.Request Report for Table of Contents @Touchless sensors market is currently in nascent stage and is expected to show strong growth in near future. This is majorly due to several advantages of touchless sensors over conventional touch based sensing systems. Touchless sensors are cost effective as compared to the touch based sensors and require low maintenance cost. In addition, as the system is touch free, wear and tear caused to the sensor system is significantly reduced thereby extending the life of system.Touchless sensors can be easily installed with the existing hardware and do not incur additional installation costs. As the systems are based on touchless sensing technology, touchless sensor systems can also be used for security purposes especially in areas with restricted access. Furthermore, growing demand for sophisticated and contact-free sensing systems is another significant factor boosting the growth of touchless sensors market. Unlike conventional touch based sensors, touchless sensors analyze the biometric image to check if it is unmodified. This significantly increases the security against fake entries at access points.Touchless sensors market is broadly segmented based on type of technology, product, application and geographic regions. Touchless sensors are based on different technologies such as infrared, ultrasonic sound waves, electric/capacitive near field and others. The products in touchless sensors are categorized based on touchless biometrics and sanitary equipment. Some of the products for sanitary equipment are soap dispenser, faucets, trash-can, flushes, paper towel and hand dryer. Touchless biometrics includes products such as iris, fingerprint, face, voice and other object recognition sensors.The touchless sensors find wide applications in healthcare, consumer electronics, retail stores, public places, automobile industry, security, home appliances and other automation systems. Touchless sensors are used for security majorly in government sector and are expected to be the most lucrative application due to growing security concerns in government sector. Furthermore, touchless sensors market based on geographic regions is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of the World (RoW). At present, North America is the largest market for touchless sensors owing to the high demand for sophisticated sensing sanitary systems as well as touchless biometrics.Request to View Sample of Research Report @Some of the leading companies in the touchless sensors market are Cognitec Systems GmbH, Cross Match Technologies, Inc., Microsoft Corporation, Pebbles Ltd., Qualcomm, Inc., XYZ Interactive Technologies, Inc., Microchip Technology, Inc., MorphoTrak, LLC (Safran group) and others.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: Mitochondrial Myopathy Diagnosis & Treatment Market 2023 Worldwide Key Players are Centogene AG, GeneDx, Ixchel Pharma, Khondrion BV, Mitobridge, NeuroVive Pharmaceutical AB, Reata Pharmaceuticals Inc. Mitochondrial Myopathy Diagnosis & Treatment Market https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/3950 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/check-discount/3950 The report for Global Mitochondrial myopathy diagnosis & treatment Market by 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 a deeper insight of the market and industry performance.Mitochondrial myopathies are associated with mitochondrial diseases which are caused by certain nuclear DNA deletions and mutations. Mitochondrial myopathies affect mitochondria which is responsible for energy production within a cell associated with mitochondrial disease. Thus, they cause low energy and free radical production which results in a variety of symptoms.The factors such as rising number of screening services for mitochondrial disorders, growing number of mitochondrial myopathy cases, increased government funding and incentives for rare genetic diseases are driving the market for mitochondrial myopathy diagnosis & treatment. However, poor treatment options and absence of curative treatment have constrained the market.Considering all these factors, Mitochondrial Myopathy Diagnosis & Treatment Market is expected to reach $ 33.6 million by the end of 2020, this market is projected to growing at a CAGR of ~ 9.82 % during 2017-2020.Key players of Global Mitochondrial myopathy diagnosis & treatment Market:Centogene AG, GeneDx, Ixchel Pharma, Khondrion BV, Mitobridge, NeuroVive Pharmaceutical AB, Reata Pharmaceuticals Inc., Stealth Biotherapeutics and others.Get Premium Sample Copy of Mitochondrial Myopathy Diagnosis & Treatment Market Report spread across 61 Premium Pages, 13 Companies and Supported with 17 Tables and 13 Figures is Now Available atSegments:The Global Mitochondrial Myopathy Diagnosis & Treatment Market is segmented on the basis of type, diagnostic tests and therapy. Based on type, the market has been segmented as mitochondrial encephalomyopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like episodes (MELAS), progressive external ophthalmoplegia (PEO), myoclonic epilepsy with ragged red fibres (MERRF), mitochondrial neurogastrointestinal encephalopathy syndrome (MNGIE), KearnsSayre syndrome (KSS), mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome (MDS), Pearson syndrome, Leigh syndrome, neuropathy, ataxia, and retinitis pigmentosa (NARP). Based on the diagnostic tests, the market has been segmented as genetic tests, muscle biopsy and biochemical test. Based on the therapy, the market has been segmented as supportive therapy and targeted therapy.Regional analysis:The Americas account for the maximum market share due to favorable reimbursement scenario and greater expenditure on healthcare. The Americas mitochondrial myopathy diagnosis & treatment market is expected to reach USD 116.7 million by the end of 2025 at the CAGR of 19.39% during 2017 to 2025. The faster market uptake of new technology in the US is also an important driver of the market for global mitochondrial myopathy diagnosis & treatment. Europe is the second largest market due to large disposable income and rising awareness. Asia Pacific region is expected to have the most future potential and it is estimated to be led by China and India. The Asia Pacific mitochondrial myopathy diagnosis & treatment market is expected to reach USD 4.4 million by the end of 2020 at the CAGR of 9.94% during 2017 to 2020. The Middle East & Africa market is led by the gulf nations particularly Saudi Arabia and UAE. The regions of Africa are expected to witness a moderate growth due to poor economic and political conditions and poor healthcare penetration.TABLE OF CONTENTS1 Introduction1.1 Definition1.2 Scope of Study1.3 Research Objective1.4 Assumptions & Limitations1.4.1 Assumptions1.4.2 Limitations1.5 Market Structure2 Research Methodology2.1 Research Process2.2 Primary Research2.3 Secondary Research3 Market Dynamics3.1 Introduction3.2 Drivers3.2.1 Rise In Number Of Mitochondrial Myopathy Incidence Rate And Growing Number Of Screening ervices.3.2.2 Government Funding And Incentives For Rare Genetic Diseases3.3 Restraints3.3.1 Poor Treatment Options And Absence Of Curative Treatment3.3.2 Lack Of Awareness And Diagnosis Of The Rare Mitochondrial Disorders3.4 Opportunities3.4.1 Faster Market Uptake And Low Marketing Cost3.4.2 Research And Development3.5 Challenges4 Market Factor Analysis4.1 Porters Five Forces Analysis4.1.1 Threat From A New Entrant4.1.2 Bargaining Power Of Buyer4.1.3 Bargaining Power Of Supplier4.1.4 Threat From Substitute4.1.5 Intensity Of Competitive Rivalry4.2 Pipeline Analysis4.2.1 Introduction4.2.2 KH1764.2.3 Elamipretide4.2.4 RTA 4084.2.5 IXC 1034.2.6 NV5564.3 Mega Trends Toc ContinuedCheck Discount @About US: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.Contact Us:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone: +1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.comMRFR has the distinguished objective of providing the optimal quality research and granular research to 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 answer your most important questions.Our Research Analysts are eager to share their knowledge and assist you in refining market research parameters, choosing right market studies, and evaluating both the market scope and the research methodologies of varied segments.We bridge the gap between our clients and their clients by identifying and decoding just the target group, while generating leads with the highest accuracy.Years of research into diverse fields of work has ingrained within us, a proficiency so distinguished that our industry-specific specialists identify with your business ideas and feel the pulse of your challenges and opportunities. This enables us for providing assistance, through our consulting and strategic consulting services, in informed managerial decision making. In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industries, WantStats Research and Media often conducts industrial visits for its research analysts. Relevant inputs from various established market participants, help our clients make significant contribution in respective markets are a huge motivation for all of us to endlessly furnish quality. We depend greatly on profound insights into complex realms of our study.Pune, India Intelligent Power Switches Market Comprehensive Overview by 2021 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/6367 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/6367 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Intelligent power switches are also called as smart power switches because of its advanced functionality. Intelligent power switches are used for high side and low side configurations and are designed for handling normal overload conditions in addition to several extraordinary conditions. Intelligent power switches finds their application in automotive, industrial and commercial sectors.Request Report for Table of Contents @In Intelligent power switches, control section and power stage is integrated on the same chip. Control section includes drivers, logic interface, protection and diagnostic features. Intelligent Power Switches provides benefits such as cost effectiveness, compactness increased system reliability and over temperature protection.On the basis of type, the intelligent power switches market can be segmented as high side switches and low side switches. High side switches are used to drive capacitive, inductive and resistive loads and provide protection against over temperature, short circuit and overload. High side switches are used in all kinds of industrial as well as automotive applications. Low side switches are used to drive resistive and inductive loads and it provide protection against over current, over/under voltage and over temperature. Low side power switches are used in automotive, industrial and commercial applications.Intelligent power switches market can also be segmented on the basis of application. This includes automotive, industrial, commercial and construction application. Intelligent power switches are used in various automotive electrical system such as solenoid and valve driver, in safety features such as window lifters, windshield wipers and power seats. In Industrial applications, intelligent power switches are used where intelligent protection and gate drivers provides component and space saving such as vending machines and traffic signs. Intelligent power switches also finds their application in hydraulic valve control, safety relay replacement, flap driver of construction, commercial and agriculture vehicles.The global intelligent power switches market is expected to witness robust growth through 2025 due to rising demand of intelligent power switches in automotive and industrial application across globe. Region wise the global intelligent power switches market is classified into North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia pacific, Japan, and Middle East and Africa (MEA). China is leading the intelligent power switches market in terms of manufacturing. Increasing use of intelligent power switches into automotive and industrial applications is expected to drive the growth of intelligent power switches market throughout the forecast period. Benefits of intelligent power switches such compactness, high reliability and cost effectiveness further expected to drive the market growth.Request to View Sample of Research Report @The key international players operating in intelligent power switches market includes RICOH Electronic Devices Co., Ltd., International Rectifier, STMicroelectronics, Infineon Technologies AG, Freescale Semiconductor, Inc., Texas Instruments Incorporated., ROHM Semiconductor, Fuji Electric Co. LTD., and SCHUKAT electronic etc.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,Telephone - +1-646-568-7751USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: LTE-Advanced Test Equipment Market Comprehensive Overview by 2021 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/6694 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/6694 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com LTE (Long-Term Evolution) advanced is a wireless communication standard and a major advancement to the existing LTE standards. The advantage of LTE advanced standard over LTE standard is its ability to optimize and use advanced topology networks, thereby improving communications and ensuring proper utilization of network resources. Another advantage is the ability to introduce multicarrier to support high data rates of up to 100 MHz.Request Report for Table of Contents @LTE-advanced test equipment are monitoring and test tools that ensures mobility, interoperability and high quality services of LTE advanced standards in wireless communications. The LTE-advanced test equipment market is segmented on the basis of products into network tester, simulation instrument, drive test tool, air interface monitoring, vector signal generator, sweep generator, protocol conformance test instrument, and terminal radio communication tester among others.The increasing transfer of data rates is the major factor fuelling the growth of LTE-advanced test equipment market. Now-a-days consumers are looking to perform various tasks such as bill payment and other work related tasks while on the move. This leads to increased mobile data traffic and puts pressure on service providers of wireless networks for improved efficiencies.This triggers the need for the deployment of effective LTE-advanced test equipment to test performance and conformity with the standards. Such testing methods ensure high quality services and efficient use of LTE-advanced standards, thereby contributing to the growth of LTE-advanced test equipment market. Another factor fuelling the growth of LTE-advanced test equipment market is the proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT). This has further led to increased data transfer encouraging network operators to efficiently utilize the available resources so as to increase data rates. This gives rise to the stiff competition among the network operators for deployment of efficient LTE-advanced test equipment so as to efficiently expand the available wireless networks, thereby fuelling the growth of test equipment market.However, the compatibility issue of LTE-advanced terminal with LTE is adversely affecting the growth of this market. An LTE-advanced stations performance is affected in situations of backward compatibility of base stations with LTE. Due to such a limitation, the service providers are reluctant in investing for LTE-advanced standards from LTE. This limited use of LTE-advanced standards restricts the growth of LTE-advanced test equipment market. Another roadblock to the growth of the LTE advanced test equipment market is the high investment required for Research and Development (R&D) so as to keep them abreast with changes in the technology. s. Also, the degree of complexities in integrating multiple technologies at various frequency bands makes the new entrants unaffordable, thereby restraining the growth of this market.To overcome the limitations in existing services, the major players in the market are introducing solutions to meet the advanced testing configurations. For instance, Azimuth Systems, Inc., one of the major players in the market recently launched ACE RNX testing platform. This platform enables customers to implement and execute complex multi-link test cases during the development and deployment of next generation wireless technologies such as LTE-advanced.Request to View Sample of Research Report @Some of the other players in the market are AT&T Inc., Alcatel-Lucent, LM Ericsson and Huwei Technologies Co. Ltd.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: Newborn Screening Market: Global Market Estimation, Dynamics, Regional Share, Trends, Competitor Analysis 2013 to 2017 and Forecast 2018 to 2024 Newborn Screening Market https://www.precisionbusinessinsights.com/market-reports/newborn-screening-market/#ulp-4H8Z4LpNMLEuOnnx https://www.precisionbusinessinsights.com/market-reports/newborn-screening-market/#ulp-c654SbFYO64MsOhu https://www.precisionbusinessinsights.com/market-reports/newborn-screening-market/#ulp-14mlyhjMGhVjZqa3 https://www.precisionbusinessinsights.com/market-reports/newborn-screening-market/ https://www.precisionbusinessinsights.com Global Newborn Screening Market: By Technology (Electrophoresis, Immunoassays & Enzymatic assays, DNA-based Assays, Hearing Screen Technology, Pulse Oximetry Screening Technology, Tandem Mass Spectrometry (TMS)), By Product Type (Newborn Hearing Screening Instruments, Newborn Disorder Screening Instruments, Hearing Screening Accessories, Hearing Screening Devices, Pulse Oximeters, Reagents and Assay Kits), By Test Type (Dry Blood Spot Test, Hearing Screen Test, Critical Congenital Heart Diseases (CCHD) TEST), By Distribution Channel (Hospitals, Ambulatory Surgical Centers, Nursing Homes), and Geography Market Estimation, Dynamics, Regional Share, Trends, Competitor Analysis 2013-2017 and Forecast 2018-2024Global newborn screening market was valued at US$ XX Mn in 2017 and expected to grow at XX% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) from 2018 to 2024Market Outline: Newborn Screening MarketNewborn screening is the practice where every newborn baby is tested for certain potentially fatal disorders. As newborns are more liable to infections, newborn screening helps in early diagnosis and proper treatment which can make the difference between lifelong impairment and healthy development. Newborn screening consists of a blood test, hearing screening, and screening for critical congenital heart defects. The screening is done within few days of birth. These screening programs are generally run by state or national governing bodies. In this program, various initiatives have been taken by the Japans Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology (JSOG), UK (PEACH), and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretarys Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children (SACHDNC). WHO recommended the newborn screening program in order to safeguard the health of children all over the world.Free sample of this report is available upon request @Market Dynamics: Newborn Screening MarketThe newborn screening market is driven rising neonatal population and the increase in incidence of neonatal diseases. Growing awareness regarding neonatal diseases owing to government and non-government bodies campaigns that in turn drive the market growth positively. Funding from government is also frosting the market growth. However, the unavailability of advanced instruments, delays in hospitalization, and high cost of automation technology may restrain the global newborn screening market growth.Market Scope: Newborn Screening MarketNewborn screening market is segmented based on the technology, product type, test type, and distribution channel.Based on the technology, the market is segmented into the following: Electrophoresis Immunoassays & Enzymatic Assays DNA-based Assays Hearing Screen Technology Pulse oximetry Screening Technology Tandem Mass Spectrometry (TMS)Based on the product type, the market is segmented into the following: Newborn Hearing Screening Instruments Newborn Disorder Screening Instruments Hearing Screening Accessories Hearing Screening Devices Pulse Oximeters Reagents and Assay KitsBased on the test type, the market is segmented into the following: Dry Blood Spot Test Hearing Screen Test Critical Congenital Heart Diseases (CCHD) TESTBased on the distribution channel, the market is segmented into the following: Hospitals Ambulatory Surgical Centers Nursing HomesFree TOC of this report is available upon request @Market Summary: Newborn Screening MarketNewborn screening not only saves lives but can also improve the health of the children. The World Health Organization has stated that over 270,000 babies globally die of congenital disorders. In 2010, the WHO has taken a step in order to resolve the neonatal deaths by developing strong surveillance systems. It is reported that more than 2.8 million babies die within the first month due to improper care and screening of the babies. In order to prevent these deaths WHO, Healthy Newborn Network, etc., has taken efforts to bring awareness by educating the parents about the neonatal disorders and the process of safeguarding the health of children.Regional Analysis: Newborn Screening MarketGeographically, global newborn screening market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East and Africa. North America Newborn Screening Market is growing due to increase in the prevalence of congenital disorders. According to the latest data of CDC about 12,500 newborns each year are diagnosed with one of the core conditions detected through newborn screening, which means almost 1 out of every 300 newborns screened is eventually diagnosed. About 4 million infants are screened annually in the United States. The health departments of the states in U.S. are publishing free data and created websites that help parents to known these conditions. The Newborn Screening Saves Lives Act (P.L. 110-204) Reauthorization Act (P.L 113-240) was signed on December 18, 2014, renewed and upgrade the federal initiatives for newborn screening. Asia Pacific is expected to witnessing a significant growth opportunities over the forecast period. Improving healthcare plans and infrastructure are expected to play a major role in driving demand in Asia-Pacific market.Ask Analyst for Full Information about this report @Competition Assessment: Newborn Screening MarketSome of the players in the global newborn screening market include: Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. GE Healthcare PerkinElmer Inc. ZenTech S.A. Sema4 Trivitron Healthcare MP Biomedicals LLC Agilent Technologies Medtronic Natus Medical Incorporated WATERS FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation, ZenTech S.A Trivitron Healthcare Ab Sciex LLC (subsidiary of Danaher Corporation)Notable Market Developments: Newborn Screening Market In February 2018, Sema4, a health information company providing advanced genomic testing, announced the launch of Sema4 Natalis, a supplemental newborn screening test designed to detect 193 childhood-onset diseases or disorders so parents can gain insight into their babys health.Get access to full summary @About Precision Business InsightsPrecision Business Insights is one of the leading market research and business consulting firm, which follow a holistic approach to solve needs of the clients. We adopt and implement proven research methodologies to achieve better results. We help our clients by providing actionable insights and strategies to make better decisions. We provide consulting, syndicated and customised market research services based on our client needs.Contact to Precision Business Insights,Kemp House,152 160 City Road,London EC1V 2NXEmail: sales@precisionbusinessinsights.comToll Free (US):+1-866-598-1553Website @ Ferromanganese Market A Booming trend in Chemicals & Materials Analytics Industry https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ferromanganese-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=2302 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Ferromanganese is a ferroalloy that has high content of manganese; it is manufactured by heating mixture of oxides Fe2O3 and MnO2 along with carbon, which is usually coke and coal in an electric arc furnace or blast furnace. In the furnace, the oxides go through carbothermal reduction, hence, producing ferromanganese which is used as deoxidizer for steel. The major deposits of ferromanganese are found abundant in South Africa, Mexico, France, and Australia among others.Get Research Report Overview @One of the major drivers of ferromanganese market is the growing demand of steel across the globe. Moreover, increasing demand from the aluminum alloy sectors is also expected to fuel the growth of ferromanganese market. Ferromanganese has proved to be essential to steel and iron production owing to their deoxidizing, sulfur fixing and alloying properties. The major consumption of ferromanganese is reported from the steelmaking segment in the U.S. It also has application in aluminum alloys and is used in dry cell batteries in the form of oxide.Ferromanganese is segmented into two types namely, high carbon ferromanganese and medium carbon ferromanganese. The primary features of this element include good anti-oxidant properties, excellent chemical composition and low melting point. High carbon ferromanganese is an excellent antioxidant with high carbon content and is heat resistant. It has desulphurizing and anti-oxidant properties that has applications in metallurgy, chemical industry and steel industry among others.Due to environmental health concerns and health hazards, ferromanganese market is expected to experience threat to some extent. High level of exposure to ferromanganese in drinking water is allied with reduced intelligence quotients and intellectual impairment in children. In case of human health, inhalation or ingestion of ferromanganese leads to a rare neurological disorder known as Manganism, which is a restraint to the growing ferromanganese market. South Africa is known to have abundant ferromanganese resources and some trace deposits in India, China, and Australia among others. China is estimated to be the leading producer of ferromanganese among others economies globally but it still relies on imports from South Africa and Ukraine.The Indian Ferro Alloy Producers Association (IFPA), represents the manufactures of noble and bulk Ferro Alloys in the country. It was established as an auxiliary industry to meet the growing demands and need of the domestic steel industry. This association was established in the year 1961 to take care of the interests of the members of this association. This association has been promoting the interest familiar to the Ferro Alloy producing company, developing synergy and cooperation among the producers in India which leads to the growth of steel industry thereby leading to increase in the demand for ferromanganese in the market.Get PDF Brochure for more Professional & Technical industry insights:Some of the key companies profiled in the ferromanganese market research report are Monnet Group, ISPAT India, Jiaocheng Yiwang Ferroalloy Co, Ltd (Yiwang Ferroalloy), Calcutta Carbide Pvt. Ltd, OM Holdings Limited, Gulf Minerals Corporation Limited among others.Transparency Market Research is a next-generation market intelligence provider, offering fact-based solutions to business leaders, consultants, and strategy professionals.Our reports are single-point solutions for businesses to grow, evolve, and mature. Our real-time data collection methods along with ability to track more than one million high growth niche products are aligned with your aims. The detailed and proprietary statistical models used by our analysts offer insights for making right decision in the shortest span of time. For organizations that require specific but comprehensive information we offer customized solutions through adhoc reports. These requests are delivered with the perfect combination of right sense of fact-oriented problem solving methodologies and leveraging existing data repositories.TMR believes that unison of solutions for clients-specific problems with right methodology of research is the key to help enterprises reach right decision.Transparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Metalworking Fluids Market Likely to Grow with Impressive CAGR of 4.6% till 2024 Market Research Reports Search Engine https://www.mrrse.com/sample/1680 https://www.mrrse.com/metalworking-fluids-market https://www.mrrse.com/ https://www.industrynewsanalysis.com/ Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) has been serving as an active source to cater intelligent research report to enlighten both readers and investors. This research study titled Metalworking Fluids Market for Removal, Forming, Protecting and Treating Applications - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016 - 2024. Also sometimes termed as cutting fluids, metalworking fluids are used as lubricants and coolants fabrication, machining, and other metalworking processes. Among the consumers, the growing inclination toward synthetic fluids that contain lubricants is a reflection of their benefits over conventional fluids, owing to their advanced functions and forms. Moreover, metalworking fluids offer improved tramp oil control, are accurate in measuring concentration, extend pump life by reducing oil contamination, reduce mist, resist fire, and generate less form. Overall, the improved efficiency and performance under load in low viscosity formulations is driving the demand in the global metalworking fluids market, although the premium cost of these fluids and low consumption to concentration ratio is obstructing the market from achieving its complete profitability.Request Sample copy of report@The global metalworking fluids market had an evaluated opportunities worth US$9.91 bn in 2015, and is estimated to reach a valuation of US$14.78 bn by the end of 2024, rising at a 4.6% during the forecast period of 2016 to 2024. Application in various end-use industries such as automation, metal fabrication, steel, and original equipment manufacturers (OEM) are favoring the market expansion, although environmental issues and health risk to workers is hindering the growth rate.Automotive Industry Maintains Removal Fluids as Most Important Application SegmentApplication-wise, the global metalworking fluids market is segmented into removal fluids, protecting fluids, treating fluids, and forming fluids. Out of these, removal fluids application segment accounted for the maximum shares at 50.8% in 2014, and is expected to remain dominant throughout the forecast period. Metalworking fluids are used widely in the metalworking process in industries such as automotive and metal fabrication. The fluids are generally employed in applications such as metal removal, metal forming, metal protecting, and metal treating. In terms of volume, the removal fluids application segment is projected to reach 1,876.1 kilo tons by 2024.North America Remains Most Profitable RegionRegion-wise, the global metalworking fluids market is segmented into North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East and Africa. In terms of volume, North America accounted for the maximum 26.1% shares in 2014. Country-wise, the U.S. contributed to nearly three-fourth of the demand from North America, with removal fluids holding the position of most in-demand application segment. The metalworking fluids market in North America is projected to expand at a steady pace compared to the global growth rate, primarily due to the increasing application of removal fluids and forming fluids in the region. Asia Pacific is estimated to expand at the most prominent growth rate, owing to thriving automotive industry, with China producing most of the demand for metalworking fluids.The global metalworking fluids market is fragmented in nature with the presence of several global players, and emergence of a number of domestic players who are providing products of similar quality to eat into the global shares. Exxon Mobil Corporation, FUCHS, and Houghton are three of the leading global players in this market who held maximum shares in 2014. LUKOIL Lubricants Company, Chevron Phillips Chemical Company, Castrol Limited, The Lubrizol Corporation, Total, and Chem Arrow Corporation are some of the other prominent players in the global market for metalworking fluids.To know the latest trends and insights prevalent in this market, click the link below:About Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE)Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of Market Research Reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.Contact UsState Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY - 12207United States Telephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.comWebsite:Read More Industry News At: Diesel Exhaust Fluid Market 2018 Information Report by Storage Solution, Vehicle Type, End Market Forecast to 2023 Diesel Exhaust Fluid Market https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/5034 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/diesel-exhaust-fluid-market-5034 Market HighlightsDiesel exhaust fluid is a non-hazardous solution, consisting 32.5% urea and 67.5% de-ionized water. This urea solution is consumed during selective catalytic reduction (SCR), which is sprayed into the exhaust stream. It is burnt at very high temperatures for breaking harmful nitrogen oxides produced by diesel engines into harmless nitrogen and water. The market is driven by various factors such increase in the use of selective catalytic reduction technology, stringent government regulations for the use of diesel exhaust fluid, and increase in production of vehicles. The diesel exhaust fluid has various constraints that hinder the market such as increase in sale of electric vehicles has restrained the use of diesel exhaust fluid.Get Sample Report of Diesel Exhaust Fluid Market 2018 @On the basis of region, the market is segmented based on North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and Rest of the World. North America accounts for the largest share of 56.49% in the global diesel exhaust fluid industry market in 2016. In 2015, CF Industries had started a new urea plant in Donaldsonville in order to cater North America region. North America is mainly dependent on import of nitrogen, due to which the market is expected to growth in the forecast period. This dependency on nitrogen will lead to the growing consumption of urea, which will drive the diesel exhaust fluid market. About half of the urea that is produced in U.S. is consumed as solid fertilizers, and more than 25% of urea is consumed to produce nitrogen based solutions. This increase in the consumption of urea is expected to drive the growth of diesel exhaust fluid market. The diesel exhaust fluid market is expected to grow at CAGR of 9.04% during the forecast period. Asia Pacific is second largest market during the forecast period. Asia Pacific is one of the largest consumer of fertilizers in the world due to increase in the consumption of nitrogen and urea. The major dependency of urea in India is due to the imports of nitrogen and phosphate. This dependency will lead to the growth of the urea market, which will indirectly drive the growth of diesel exhaust fluid market. The consumption of fertilizers in South Asia is more as compared to other region due to which Asia Pacific is expected to be the largest market in the forecast period.Scope of the ReportThis study provides an overview of the global diesel exhaust fluid 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 diesel exhaust fluids market by its technology, vehicle type, end-use, and regionBy Storage solution: Bulk StorageTanks, Portable Containers, DispensersOthersGlobal Diesel Exhaust Fluid Market, By Vehicle Type: Commercial Vehicles, Passenger VehiclesGlobal Diesel Exhaust Fluid Market, By End Market: Aftermarket, OEMsBy Region: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Rest of the WorldKey PlayersThe key players in diesel exhaust fluid market are Cummins Filtration (U.S.), Nissan Chemical Industries (Japan), Yara International (Norway), Shaw Development LLC (U.S.), CF Industries Holdings (U.S.), The McPherson Companies (U.S.), BASF SE (Germany), Blue Sky Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) (U.S.), Brenntag AG (Germany), Carson (Portland) and Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. (Japan).Browse Full Report on Diesel Exhaust Fluid Market @Table of Contents1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY2 INTRODUCTION3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY4 MARKET DYNAMICS5 MARKET FACTOR ANALYSIS6 DIESEL EXHAUST FLUID MARKET OVERVIEW7 GLOBAL DIESEL EXHAUST FLUID INDUSTRY MARKET, BY STORAGE SOLUTION8 GLOBAL DIESEL EXHAUST FLUID INDUSTRY MARKET, BY VEHICLE TYPE9 GLOBAL DIESEL EXHAUST FLUID INDUSTRY MARKET, BY END MARKET10 GLOBAL DIESEL EXHAUST FLUID INDUSTRY MARKET, BY REGION11 COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE12 COMPANY PROFILES13 APPENDIX14 LIST OF TABLES15 LIST OF FIGURES.ContinuedAbout 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 TPU Films Market -2017 - 2025 | Covestro AG, Huntsman Corporation, Erez Europe, Novotex Italiana S.p.A., Mobile Virtual Network Operator https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1677072 https://www.researchmoz.us/tpu-films-market-global-industry-analysis-size-share-growth-trends-and-forecast-2017-2025-report.html/toc Press Release - 07 June 2018Research and Development News --. .Latest Update "TPU Films Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025" with Industries Survey | Global Current Growth and Future.' 'Methylene diphenyl isocyanate (MDI), tolylene diisocyanate (TDI) and polyols are the key raw materials required in the manufacture of TPU films. These raw materials are used widely in other end-user industries such as textiles, polymers, rubber processing, and medical & health care. Hence, the extensive consumption of these raw materials from numerous end-user industries affects the demand-supply scenario and resulting in increased prices of TPU films.Furthermore, manufacturers, such as Lubrizol, have developed bio-based TPU by using renewable-sourced materials with renewable content ranging from 30% to 70% .Bio-based TPU film provides the same level of performance and benefits compared to its synthetic counterparts. Therefore, the development of bio-based TPU films is anticipated to provide lucrative opportunities for the TPU films market during the next few years.. . Get Sample Report_' 'TPU films are used for a number of applications in the automotive, construction and aerospace industry. They offer elasticity and low permeability, due to which they are primarily used for fabricating elastic membranes used in safety equipment. Flame retardant TPU films offer improved safety and act as an inflatable membrane for expandable escape chutes in aircrafts. Moreover, TPU films are suitable for lighter-than-air applications, since these films are puncture, tear, and fatigue resistant and are easy to fabricate. These properties make TPU films suitable for surveillance applications, airships, and blimps. Hence, the rising usage of TPU films in safety equipment and other lighter-than-air applications is also expected to boost the market in the next few years.The TPU films market is a fairly consolidated market with the leading players accounting for more than 50% share in 2016. Covestro AG held major share of the TPU films market in 2016. DingZing Advanced Materials Inc. and Schweitzer-Mauduit, International, Inc. also accounted for key share in 2016.This study analyzes, estimates, and forecasts the global TPU films market in terms of volume (Tons) and revenue (US$ Mn) from 2016 to 2025. The report also analyzes several driving and restraining factors and their impact on the market during the forecast period. The report provides a detailed view of the TPU films market based on products and end-use industry. Key products included in the report are polyester TPU films, polyether TPU films and polycaprolactone TPU films. Key end-use industries included in the report are automotive & transportation, building & construction, aerospace, footwear, energy, medical & healthcare, Sport & Leisure, Packaging, textile and others (electronic devices, furniture, etc.). Furthermore, the report segments the market based on key geographies such as North America (the U.S., Canada), Europe (Germany, U.K, France, Italy, Spain, Rest of Europe), Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Rest of Asia Pacific), Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Rest of Latin America), and Middle East and Africa (GCC, South Africa, Rest of Middle East & Africa). The TPU films market is further analyzed into major countries of each region. It also provides market volume and revenue for each product and end-use industry at country level.Based on products, end-use industry and countries, the report analyzes the attractiveness of each segment with the help of an attractiveness tool. The study includes value chain analysis, which provides a better understanding of key players in the supply chain (from raw material manufacturers to end-users). Additionally, the study analyzes market competition and industry players using Porters five forces analysis.The report includes an overview of the market share of key companies in the global TPU films market along with regional production output. Some of the key players in the TPU films market include Covestro AG, Huntsman Corporation, Erez Europe, Novotex Italiana S.p.A., Bond-A-Band Transmission Limited, Permali Gloucester Limited, DUNMORE, 3M, Evermax Eco, Redwood TTM Ltd, Wiman Corporation and PROCHIMIR SAS.The report segments the global TPU films market into:- TPU Market By ProductPolyester TPU FilmsPolyether TPU FilmsPolycaprolactone TPU Films- TPU Films Market By End-use IndustryAutomotive & TransportationBuilding & ConstructionAerospaceFootwearEnergyMedical & HealthcareSport & LeisurePackagingTextileOthers (Furniture, etc.)- TPU films Market Regional AnalysisNorth AmericaU.S.CanadaEuropeGermanyFranceU.KSpainItalyRest of EuropeAsia PacificChinaIndiaJapanASEANRest of Asia PacificLatin AmericaBrazilMexicoRest of Latin AmericaMiddle East and AfricaGCCSouth AfricaRest of Middle East and Africa- Key Takeaways:The report provides regional and country level analysis in terms of volume (Kilo Tons) and revenue (US$ Mn) from 2017 to 2025 (8 year forecast), by product type and end-use industryThe report identifies the key factors responsible to build the upcoming opportunistic roadmap along with a detailed analysis focusing on the driving and restraining factors of the TPU films marketThe report provides a comprehensive analysis of the TPU films market with respect to the regional production output and price trends of the product that subsequently impact the market outlook and forecast of global TPU films market between 2016 and 2025The report offers detailed analysis of the value chain along with determining the profit margins received at each stage of the value chain. . More Clear Details get Table of Contents_' 'The report provide insights on market opportunities for various stakeholders in the industry value chain and detailed competition landscape for key players dominating the industry to understand competition level and opportunity for strategic merger and acquisitionThe report demonstrates a detailed competition landscape of the TPU films market which includes company market share analysis in 2016, product mapping of the key TPU film manufacturers and competition matrix. The report offers company profiles of the major market players which illustrates the business, strategic, and financial overview of the manufacturer along with outlining the recent developmentsContinue.....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 Alcohol Sulfates Market Brief Analysis and Application Set to Attain Growth by 2023 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/alcohol-sulfates-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=9010 www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ Alcohol sulfates are negatively charged ions or anions. Being unstable in nature they react with cations to form stable compounds. However, this property makes alcohol sulfates highly suitable in various applications largely as surfactants. As surfactants, these may act as detergents, foaming agents, emulsifiers, wetting agents and dispersants. When alcohol sulfates react with sodium they form sodium lauryl sulphates and other compounds, making them suitable in industrial applications such as floor cleaners, car wash soaps and engine degreasers. Alcohol sulfates also find use in a wide range of personal care products such as soaps, shampoos and toothpastes. With the wide range of industrial applications, the market for alcohol sulfates is expected to have a positive trend in the future. The rise in demand from personal care segment across Europe and other Asia Pacific countries is expected to boost the market for alcohol sulfates in the next few years. Also the application as surfactant will further propel the demand for alcohol sulfates in the future. The current market for surfactants is largely dominated by Europe and the U.S. However the surge in demand from China and Africa will act as a catalyst for alcohol sulfates market in the near future.View Report Preview:The commercial usage of alcohol sulfates began in 1940s when they started replacing the ordinary soap primarily for washing machine applications. The negative electrical charge of alcohol sulfates ionic nature makes them bind to dissolved minerals in hard water. The lauryl group provides the highest foam, making it ideal for cleansing applications. Also the alcohol sulfates can be readily thickened when combined with alkanolamides and amine oxides which can be used largely in laundry application. The personal care products and other hygiene related applications are expected to be the major drivers for alcohol sulfates in the next few years. The other applications of alcohol sulfates include shampoos, body wash, liquid hand soap, bath products, and facial cleansers.The developing nations across Asia Pacific are anticipated to be the fastest growing markets for alcohol sulfates in the next six years. The middle class population in these countries is growing at a stupendous rate which is eventually resulting in an increase in the overall customer base. Moreover, due to the rapid economic development of these countries and increased disposable income of the citizens of these countries has led to further magnification of the total customer base in these countries for applications in detergents and soaps. Moreover, the countries in the regions such as Africa, South America and the Middle East are showing swift economic growth since the last few years. In addition to this, the developed regions across the U.S. and European countries are progressively recovering from the sluggish economic conditions. Considering this outlook, the industrial applications such as floor cleaners, car wash soaps, and engine degreasers are expected to record a magnificent growth in the next few years. Additionally, there is an incredible market potential for the surfactants and allied industries in the developing countries such as China, India and Brazil. The major players operating in the alcohol sulfates market are primarily focusing on the emergent countries for tapping their immense market potential. The key companies operating in the alcohol sulfates market are installing gigantic production facilities in these developing countries to fulfill the swiftly rising local demand for alcohol sulfates.Request to view Sample Report:Some of the key players operating in the alcohol sulfates market are Zhejiang Zanyu Technology Co., Ltd., Kao Corporation, Oxiteno, Unger Surfactants, Godrej Industries Ltd, Wings Corporation, Miwon Commercial Co., Ltd., Guangzhou Xingyi Chemical Trading Co., Ltd, Croda International, Clariant Corporation, Huntsman Corporation, Rhodia SA, Stepan Company, Henkel AG & Co. KGaA, Galaxy Surfactants Ltd., BASF SE, DuPont, Evonik Industries AG, The Dow Chemical Company, Ho Tung Chemical Corp. and Taiwan NJC Corporation.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact UsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Iris Recognition Market 2017-2021 | BioEnable, Iris ID, IrisGuard, IRITECH, M2SYS Technology Iris Recognition https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1378151 https://www.researchmoz.us/global-iris-recognition-market-2017-2021-report.html/toc Press Release - 07 June 2018Research and Development News --. .Latest Update "Global Iris Recognition Market 2017-2021" with Industries Survey | Global Current Growth and Future.' 'Iris recognition is one of the biometric authentication technologies that captures an image of the eye pattern, converts the iris image to a binary template, and then saves the data to a server for future to match the identity of an individual. Some of the major characteristics of technology include contactless, fast and renowned for its accuracy, iris recognition can operate at long distances, stable, non-invasive, non-contact, and hygienic characteristics.. . Get Sample Report_' 'Technavios analysts forecast the global iris recognition market to grow at a CAGR of 20.68% during the period 2017-2021.- Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global iris recognition market for 2017-2021. 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:AmericasAPACEMEATechnavio's report, Global Iris Recognition 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 vendorsBioEnableIris IDIrisGuardIRITECHM2SYS Technology- Other prominent vendorsBI TechnologiesBiomatiques Identification SolutionDelta IDEyeLockEyeSmart TechnologyEyeVerifyGemaltoHONGBOGHYPRInfinity Optics SolutionsIRISYSPrecision GroupPrinceton Identity. . More Clear Details get Table of Contents_' '- Market driverIncreased adoption of iris recognition in government sectorFor a full, detailed list, view our report- Market challengeVulnerability of biometrics systemsFor a full, detailed list, view our report- Market trendIncreased demand for iris recognition in BFSI sectorFor a full, detailed list, view our report- Key questions answered in this reportWhat 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?Continue.....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 Anthracene Market to Reap Excessive Revenues by 2023 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/anthracene-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=11081 www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ Anthracene is a colorless, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) and a product of coal tar, a by-product formed by carbonization of coal. It is used in the production of dyes. Anthracene is converted into anthroquinone, which is used in the manufacture of dyes. Anthracene being an organic semiconductor is used as a luminescent material in the detection equipment of high-energy photons, alpha particles, and electrons. Polyvinyltoluene and other plastics are doped with anthracene to create plastic luminescent material, which is ideal for usage in dosimetry radiation therapy. Anthracene is also used in the production of wood preservatives, coating materials, and insecticides.View Report Preview:Anthracene, like most PAHs, is used to make luminescent material crystals and smoke screens. Subsequently, it is also used in the production of dyes, plastics, and pesticides. These luminescent material crystals are known as scintillators. The function of a scintillator is to produce luminescence when energized by ionizing radiations. Major end-use industries involved in the consumption of anthracene include electronic devices, textiles, coatings, and chemicals. Dyes and coatings was a major end-user industry of the anthracene market, accounting for substantial share in 2014. A similar trend is expected to continue during the forecast period due to rising demand for anthracene in the textile industry for the production of textile dyes. Anthracene, which is used as a luminescent material in scintillators, is expected to grow into a major market owing to its utility in identifying situations such as radiation leaks. Post the radiation leak in Japan, demand for proper radiation leak checking equipment has been rising in nuclear reactor sites across the globe. This is expected to propel the market for anthracene, which is used as a luminescent material in scintillators. Unlike most PAHs, anthracene is not a carcinogen. However, health advisories have issued multiple notifications in support of avoiding direct exposures. The European Union has issued a sanction for ban on all PAHs in the region. This has been the only restraining factor for anthracene in the past few years.North America is expected to be the strongest market for anthracene, accounting for substantial share of the global demand. Growing research and development activities related to anthracene applications have proved to be a critical market driver in North America. Europe was the second-largest market for anthracene in terms of regional segmentation in the past few years. The market is likely to stagnate in the region, exhibiting sluggish growth during the forecast period due to recent sanctions imposed on PAHs by the European Union. Asia Pacific is anticipated to witness extensive growth in the next few years due to increasing demand for anthracene in end-use industries such as textiles and chemicals. Furthermore, presence of growing economies such as China and India is expected to boost the market due to increased research in electronics in the region. The market in Latin America is expected to witness steady growth due to high demand for anthracene in end-user industries in the region. The market in Middle East and Africa (MEA) is also anticipated to witness growth, especially in growing economies such as South Africa and countries in GCC.Some of the key companies involved in the anthracene market include Fisher Scientific, Anward, CHEMOS GmbH & Co. KG, Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Inc., Amadis Chemical, Haihang Industry Co., Ltd., Vitas-M Laboratory Ltd, RUTGERS Group, and Tokyo Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.The report has been compiled through extensive primary research (through interviews, surveys, and observations of seasoned analysts) and secondary research (which entails reputable paid sources, trade journals, and industry body databases). The report also features a complete qualitative and quantitative assessment by analyzing data gathered from industry analysts and market participants across key points in the industrys value chain.Request to view Sample Report:A separate analysis of prevailing trends in the parent market, macro- and micro-economic indicators, and regulations and mandates is included under the purview of the study. By doing so, the report projects the attractiveness of each major segment over the forecast period.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact UsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Technological Advancements: Global Valves Market Is Expected To Expand At A CAGR Of 7.0% From 2018 To 2026, Reaching US$ 117,865.0 Mn Valves Market https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1237118 https://www.researchmoz.us/valves-market-global-industry-analysis-size-share-growth-trends-and-forecast-2017-2025-report.html/toc https://www.researchmoz.us/valves-market-global-industry-analysis-size-share-growth-trends-and-forecast-2017-2025-report.html/toc https://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Valves Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2018 - 2026" to its huge collection of research reports.This comprehensive report by Transparency Market Research analyzes and forecasts 3D audio market at the global and regional level. The report provides an analysis of the global valves market for the period from 2016 to 2026, wherein the period from 2018 to 2026 comprises the forecast period and 2017 is the base year. Data for 2016 is provided as historical information. The report covers all the major trends playing a major role in the growth of the valves market over the forecast period. It also highlights various drivers, restraints, and opportunities expected to influence the markets growth during this period. The study provides a complete perspective on the valves market growth in terms of revenue in US$ Mn and volume in Mn units, across different geographical regions namely North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa and South America. The report would help manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors to understand the current and future trends in the market and formulate their strategies accordingly.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The market overview section of the report showcases the market dynamics and trends such as the drivers, restraints, and opportunities that influence the current nature and future status of this market. The report also provides the value chain analysis for the valves market. These market estimates have been analyzed by taking into account the impact of different political, social, economic, technological, and legal factors along with the current market dynamics affecting the market growth.Global Valves Market: Scope of the ReportValves market is segmented by product type, by industry and by industry by type. By product type, global valves market is categorized into pressure reducing valves, safety/relief valves, control valves, globe valves, plug valves, gate valves, ball valves, butterfly valves, diaphragm valves and other valves. Control valves is further segmented on the basis actuation technology. Gate valves, globe valve, ball valves, butterfly valves and diaphragm valves are further segmented based on valve type. Furthermore, the industry segment is categorized into oil & gas, power, chemicals, marine, construction, pulp & paper, mining, water and wastewater treatment and others. Oil and gas industry is segmented into LNG (Liquefied natural gas) and petroleum. Petroleum sector is further categorized as upstream, midstream and downstream. The power industry is segmented as fossil, nuclear power and other power. Fossil segment of power is further sub segmented as coal & oil and natural gas. Further, the report includes estimation of valves market by product type by industry for various sectors such as oil & gas, fossil, petrochemical, nuclear power and other sectors. Revenue as well as volume data is estimated for all above mentioned segments.The report also includes competitive profiling of the key players associated with the valves market around the globe. The important business strategies adopted by leading players, their market positioning, financials, SWOT analysis, and recent developments have also been identified in the research report. The competitive landscape section of the report also gives an overview about the major contributing regions/countries by these key players in order to strengthen their market position in the future.Global Valves Market: Research MethodologyThe valves market data estimates are the result of our in-depth secondary research, primary interviews and in-house expert panel reviews. In order to compile the research report, we conducted in-depth interviews and discussions with a wide range of key industry participants and opinion leaders. Primary research represents the bulk of our research efforts, supplemented by extensive secondary research. Primary research involves telephonic interviews, e-mail interactions, and face-to-face interviews for detailed and unbiased reviews on the valves market, across geographies. Primary interviews are usually conducted on an ongoing basis with industry experts and participants in order to get latest market insights and validate the existing data and analysis. Primary interviews offer new and fresh information on important factors such as market trends, market size, competitive landscape, growth trends, etc. These factors help to validate and strengthen secondary research findings. Moreover, the data collected and analyzed from secondary and primary research, is again discussed and examined by our expert panel. We reviewed key players product literature, annual reports, press releases, and relevant documents for competitive analysis and market understanding purposes. Secondary research also includes a study of recent trade journals, technical writing, internet sources, and statistical data from government websites, trade associations, and agencies. This has proven to be the most reliable, effective, and successful approach for obtaining precise market data, capturing industry participants insights, and recognizing business opportunities.Get Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @Global Valves Market: Competitive DynamicsRising demand for valves and growing emphasis on efficient quality of valves has made companies to develop advanced valves to continue the profitability of the market. Honeywell International Inc., Emerson Electric Co., KITZ Corporation, Burkert Fluid Control Systems, Schlumberger Limited, Flowserve Corporation, AVK Holding A/S, Rotork Plc, General Electric Company and Goodwin International Ltd are a few key players which have been profiled in this study. Details such as financials, business strategies, SWOT analysis, recent developments, and other such as strategic information pertaining to these players has been duly provided as part of company profiling.Market Segmentation: Global Valves MarketBy Product Type- Pressure Reducing Valves- Safety/Relief Valves- Control Valves- Globe Valves- Plug Valves- Gate Valves- Ball Valves- Butterfly Valves- Diaphragm Valves- Other ValvesBy IndustryOil & Gas- LNG- Petroleum-Upstream-Midstream-Downstream-Petrochemical-Power-Fossils-Coal & Oil-Natural Gas-Nuclear Power-Other Power-Chemicals-Marine-Construction-Pulp & Paper-Mining-Water & Waste Water Treatment-OthersIn addition, the report provides analysis of the valves market with respect to the following geographic segments:North America- The U.S.- Canada- Rest of North AmericaEurope- The U.K.- Germany- France- Italy- Rest of EuropeBrowse Detail Report @Asia Pacific (APAC)- China- India- Japan- Rest of Asia PacificMiddle East and Africa (MEA)- United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.)- Saudi Arabia- South Africa- Rest of MEASouth America- Brazil- Rest of South AmericaAbout 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 Clinical Decision Support System Market Is Projected To Expand At A Cumulative Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) Of 11.2% From 2017 To 2025 Clinical Decision Support System Market https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1349118 https://www.researchmoz.us/clinical-decision-support-system-cdss-market-global-industry-analysis-size-share-growth-trends-and-forecast-2015-2023-report.html/toc https://www.researchmoz.us/clinical-decision-support-system-cdss-market-global-industry-analysis-size-share-growth-trends-and-forecast-2015-2023-report.html https://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Clinical Decision Support System Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025" to its huge collection of research reports.This report on the clinical decision support system market analyzes the current and future scenario of the global market. Large number of chronic disease patients is increasing the usage of diagnostic devices and increased the visit to hospitals. Increasing incidence of chronic disease among geriatric population around the world, promising pipeline devices and novel therapies, increasing government initiative for investment of funds on healthcare IT firms, rising investments in innovation of clinical decision support system and increasing awareness & event programs on healthcare IT are the major drivers of the global clinical decision support system market.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The clinical decision support system market report comprises an elaborate executive summary, which includes a market snapshot that provides information about various segments of the market. It also provides information and data analysis of the global market with respect to the segments based on usage based, application, mode of advice, delivery model, end user and geography. A detailed qualitative analysis of drivers and restraints of the market and opportunities has been provided in the market overview section. In addition, the section comprises company profiles to understand the competitive landscape in the market. This section of the report also provides market attractiveness analysis, by geography and market share analysis by key players, thus presenting a thorough analysis of the overall competitive scenario in the global clinical decision support system market.Based on usage based, the market has been segmented into knowledge-based systems, expert laboratory information system, and machine learning systems. The usage based segment have been analyzed based on available approved products, cost-effectiveness, and preference given by the physicians. The market size and forecast for each of these segments have been provided for the period from 2015 to 2025, along with their respective CAGRs for the forecast period from 2017 to 2025, considering 2016 as the base year.Based on end user, the clinical decision support system treatment market has been segmented into three major categories: hospitals, diagnostic centers, clinics, retail pharmacy and others. The clinical decision support system market is also segmented into application such as drug databases, care plans, diagnostic decision support, disease reference and others. The market segments have been extensively analyzed based on incidence of the spinal disorder, stenosis, available treatment, and geographical coverage. The market size and forecast in terms of US$ Mn for each segment have been provided for the period from 2015 to 2025. The report also provides the compound annual growth rate (CAGR %) for each market segment for the forecast period from 2017 to 2025, considering 2016 as the base year.Geographically, the global clinical decision support system treatment market has been categorized into five major regions and the key countries in the respective region: North America (the U.S., Canada), Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Italy, Spain, and Rest of Europe), Asia Pacific (India, China, Japan, Australia & New Zealand, and Rest of Asia Pacific), Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, and Rest of Latin America) and Middle East & Africa (GCC countries, South Africa, and Rest of Middle East & Africa). The market size and forecast for each of these regions and the mentioned countries have been provided for the period from 2015 to 2025, along with their respective CAGRs for the forecast period from 2017 to 2025, considering 2016 as the base year. The research study also covers the competitive scenario in these regions.Get Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @The report also profiles major players in the global clinical decision support system treatment market based on various attributes such as company overview, financial overview, product portfolio, business strategies, and recent developments. The major players in the clinical decision support system are Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc., First Databank, Inc., Truven Health Analytics, Cerner, Philips Healthcare, Siemens Healthcare, Optum, Inc. (UnitedHealth Group), GE Healthcare, Epic Systems Corporation Inc. and others.The Global Clinical Decision Support System Market is segmented as given below:Global Clinical Decision Support System Market Revenue, by Usage Based, 2015-2025- Knowledge-based Systems- Expert Laboratory Information Systems- Machine Learning SystemsGlobal Clinical Decision Support System Market Revenue, by Mode of Advice, 2015-2025- Passive CDSS- Active CDSSGlobal Clinical Decision Support System Market Revenue, by Delivery Model, 2015-2025- On-premise- Web Based- Cloud BasedGlobal Clinical Decision Support System Market Revenue, by Application, 2015-2025- Drug Databases- Care Plans- Diagnostic Decision Support- Disease Reference- OthersGlobal Clinical Decision Support System Market Revenue, by End User, 2015-2025- Hospitals- Diagnostic Centers- Clinics- OthersGlobal Clinical Decision Support System Market Revenue, By Geography, 2015-2025North America- U.S.- CanadaEurope- Germany- U.K.- France- Italy- Spain- Rest of EuropeBrowse Detail Report @Asia Pacific- India- China- Japan- Australia & New Zealand- Rest of Asia PacificLatin America- Mexico- Brazil- Rest of Latin AmericaMiddle East & Africa- GCC countries- South Africa- Rest of Middle East & AfricaAbout 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 @ Metal 2018 Global Market Key Players -MSA (US), GRANDE (CN), JZSTRONG (CN), ZKH (CN), KAIYUE (CN), HONEYWELL (US), SATA TOOLS (US) -Analysis And Forecast To 2023 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/3217095-global-metal-industry-market-research-report https://www.wiseguyreports.com/enquiry/3217095-global-metal-industry-market-research-report Metal Market 2018Wiseguyreports.Com Adds Metal Global Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities, Manufacturers, Analysis of Top Key Players and Forecast to 2023 To Its Research Database.Description:The Metal market revenue was xx.xx Million USD in 2013, grew to xx.xx Million USD in 2017, and will reach xx.xx Million USD in 2023, with a CAGR of x.x% during 2018-2023. Based on the Metal industrial chain, this report mainly elaborate the definition, types, applications and major players of Metal market in details. Deep analysis about market status (2013-2018), enterprise competition pattern, advantages and disadvantages of enterprise Products, industry development trends (2018-2023), regional industrial layout characteristics and macroeconomic policies, industrial policy has also be included. From raw materials to downstream buyers of this industry will be analyzed scientifically, the feature of product circulation and sales channel will be presented as well. In a word, this report will help you to establish a panorama of industrial development and characteristics of the Metal market.The Metal market can be split based on product types, major applications, and important regions.Major Players in Metal market are:MSA (US)GRANDE (CN)JZSTRONG (CN)ZKH (CN)KAIYUE (CN)HONEYWELL (US)SATA TOOLS (US)SAFERUN (CN)AEGLE (SG)3M (US)Request for Sample Report @Major Regions play vital role in Metal market are:North AmericaEuropeChinaJapanMiddle East & AfricaIndiaSouth AmericaOthersMost important types of Metal products covered in this report are:DS1N95Most widely used downstream fields of Metal market covered in this report are:General Job UseDisposable Dust-proofGas-maskEnquiry before Buying @If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Table of Content:Global Metal Industry Market Research Report1 Metal Introduction and Market Overview1.1 Objectives of the Study1.2 Definition of Metal1.3 Metal Market Scope and Market Size Estimation1.3.1 Market Concentration Ratio and Market Maturity Analysis1.3.2 Global Metal Value ($) and Growth Rate from 2013-20231.4 Market Segmentation1.4.1 Types of Metal1.4.2 Applications of Metal1.4.3 Research Regions1.4.3.1 North America Metal Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2013-2018)1.4.3.2 Europe Metal Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2013-2018)1.4.3.3 China Metal Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2013-2018)1.4.3.4 Japan Metal Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2013-2018)1.4.3.5 Middle East & Africa Metal Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2013-2018)1.4.3.6 India Metal Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2013-2018)1.4.3.7 South America Metal Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2013-2018)1.5 Market Dynamics1.5.1 Drivers1.5.1.1 Emerging Countries of Metal1.5.1.2 Growing Market of Metal1.5.2 Limitations1.5.3 Opportunities1.6 Industry News and Policies by Regions1.6.1 Industry News1.6.2 Industry Policies8 Competitive Landscape8.1 Competitive Profile8.2 MSA (US)8.2.1 Company Profiles8.2.2 Metal Product Introduction8.2.3 MSA (US) Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E8.2.4 MSA (US) Market Share of Metal Segmented by Region in 20178.3 GRANDE (CN)8.3.1 Company Profiles8.3.2 Metal Product Introduction8.3.3 GRANDE (CN) Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E8.3.4 GRANDE (CN) Market Share of Metal Segmented by Region in 20178.4 JZSTRONG (CN)8.4.1 Company Profiles8.4.2 Metal Product Introduction8.4.3 JZSTRONG (CN) Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E8.4.4 JZSTRONG (CN) Market Share of Metal Segmented by Region in 20178.5 ZKH (CN)8.5.1 Company Profiles8.5.2 Metal Product Introduction8.5.3 ZKH (CN) Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E8.5.4 ZKH (CN) Market Share of Metal Segmented by Region in 20178.6 KAIYUE (CN)8.6.1 Company Profiles8.6.2 Metal Product Introduction8.6.3 KAIYUE (CN) Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E8.6.4 KAIYUE (CN) Market Share of Metal Segmented by Region in 20178.7 HONEYWELL (US)8.7.1 Company Profiles8.7.2 Metal Product Introduction8.7.3 HONEYWELL (US) Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E8.7.4 HONEYWELL (US) Market Share of Metal Segmented by Region in 20178.8 SATA TOOLS (US)8.8.1 Company Profiles8.8.2 Metal Product Introduction8.8.3 SATA TOOLS (US) Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E8.8.4 SATA TOOLS (US) Market Share of Metal Segmented by Region in 20178.9 SAFERUN (CN)8.9.1 Company Profiles8.9.2 Metal Product Introduction8.9.3 SAFERUN (CN) Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E8.9.4 SAFERUN (CN) Market Share of Metal Segmented by Region in 20178.10 AEGLE (SG)8.10.1 Company Profiles8.10.2 Metal Product Introduction8.10.3 AEGLE (SG) Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E8.10.4 AEGLE (SG) Market Share of Metal Segmented by Region in 20178.11 3M (US)8.11.1 Company Profiles8.11.2 Metal Product Introduction8.11.3 3M (US) Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E8.11.4 3M (US) Market Share of Metal Segmented by Region in 2017Continued..Contact US:NORAH TRENTPartner Relations & Marketing Managersales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +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 Ltd: Pune 411028: Maharashtra,: Ph: +91 841 198 5042 Global Thermal Imaging Market Growing Adoption of Thermal Imaging in Perimeter Security with Top Competitors like United Technologies, Xenics, Axis Communications, Testo SE, Thermoteknix Systems Global Thermal Imaging Market http://databridgemarketresearch.com/request-a-sample/?dbmr=global-devops-market http://databridgemarketresearch.com/inquire-before-buying/?dbmr=global-devops-market http://databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/global-devops-market/ Global Thermal Imaging Market accounted for USD 2.54 billion in 2017 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 6.90% during the forecast period of 2018 to 2025. The upcoming market report contains data for historic years 2016, the base year of calculation is 2017 and the forecast period is 2018 to 2025.Get Free Sample Report:Major Market Competitors: Global Thermal Imaging MarketSome of the major players in global thermal imaging market are L3 Technologies, Fortive Corporation, Bae Systems, Flir Systems, Sofradir, Leonardo, Allied Vision, Dali Technology, United Technologies, Xenics, Axis Communications, Testo SE, Thermoteknix Systems, Seek Thermal and Opgal Optronic Industries Limited among others.Major Market Drivers: Dispersion in machine vision based applications Price reduction of thermal imaging products Reduction of camera cores with respect to enter new application areas Growing adoption of thermal imaging in perimeter securityMarket Segmentation: Global Thermal Imaging MarketThe global thermal imaging market is Segmented based on Type, Application, Industry and Geographical segments.Based on type, the market is segmented into Cameras, Modules And Scopes.On the basis of Application, the market is segmented into detection, security and surveillance, monitoring and inspection. Detection is sub segmented into gas detection, body temperature measurement, research and development, fire or flare detection and level measurement. Security and surveillance is sub segmented into tracking, perimeter security and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Monitoring and inspection is sub segmented into quality assessment, machine condition monitoring, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) and structural health monitoring.Inquiry Before Buying:On the Basis Of Industry, the market is segmented into:- Residential, Commercial, Industrial, Aerospace And Defense, Oil And Gas, Food And Beverages, Automotive, Healthcare and Life Sciences.Based on Geography, the market report covers data points for 28 countries across multiple geographies such as:- North America, South America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Middle East & Africa.Competitive Landscape: Global Thermal Imaging MarketThe global thermal imaging market is consolidated due to the presence of limited number of players concentrated in few countries. These major players have adopted various organic as well as inorganic growth strategies such as mergers & acquisitions, new product launches, expansions, agreements, joint ventures, partnerships, and others to strengthen their position in this market.Market Definition: Global Thermal Imaging MarketThermal imaging is technique for enhancing visibility of items in dark environment by distinguishing the objects infrared radiation and making a picture in view of that data. Thermal imaging extends the scope of assignments a robotic device that can be performed in high hazard conditions or amid crises. Its cameras can be exceptionally exact which requires just a little measure of heat to work effectively. One of the factors which have led to drive the thermal imaging market is continuous product launch of thermal imaging products. For instance, Overview Limited launched a series of thermal imaging cameras which functions interchangeable along with previous along with previous Irisys IRI 6000 and IRI 5000 series products, contributes seamless continuity of supply. On April, 2017, FLIR Systems, Inc. launched a thermal imaging and temperature measurement solution named as FLIR ETS320 which will provide a new thermal outlook on electronics testing. Thus with the continuous advancement made by different manufacturers will drive the market in the forecasting period.Know About Full Report:About Data Bridge Market Research:Data Bridge Market Research set forth itself as an unconventional and neoteric Market research and consulting firm with unparalleled level of resilience and integrated approaches. We are determined to unearth the best market opportunities and foster efficient information for your business to thrive in the market. Data Bridge endeavors to provide appropriate solutions to the complex business challenges and initiates an effortless decision-making process.Contact:Data Bridge Market ResearchTel: +1-888-387-281Email: sopan.gedam@databridgemarketresearch.com Opaque Polymers Market -2017 - 2025 | Dow Chemical Company, Arkema, Interpolymer Corporation Opaque Polymers https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1581204 https://www.researchmoz.us/opaque-polymers-market-global-industry-analysis-size-share-growth-trends-and-forecast-2017-2025-report.html#table-of-content Press Release - 07 June 2018Research and Development News --. .Latest Update "Opaque Polymers Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025" with Industries Survey | Global Current Growth and Future.' 'Opaque polymers are pigments with hollow spheres. They are opaque. Opaque polymers are specially engineered for usage in paints and coatings in order to improve the latters hiding properties and whiteness. Usage of opaque polymers in paints and coatings formulations help improve the optical properties of paint formulations. Opaque polymers consist of emulsions in the form of spherical styrene or acrylic beads.These are filled with water for usage in wet paints. When the paints get dry, water from these beads permanently diffuses, and is replaced by air. This results in a uniform dry paint film, with uniform distribution of voids. Opaque polymers help in filling up and hiding the gaps in paints and coatings. Addition of more titanium dioxide (TiO2) is generally encountered in the paints & coatings industry to compensate for gaps. However, it is an inefficient and costly measure with diminishing returns. It helps improve the light scattering properties of paints and coatings. Usage of opaque polymers in paints and coatings brings about an overall cost efficiency in formulations. Usage of opaque polymers also helps lower the usage of TiO2, while maintaining the opacity of paints and coatings. Furthermore, use of opaque polymers in the production of paints and coatings provides them with benefits such as improved resistance to dirt, tint retention, and film durability.Opaque polymers are being extensively employed in formulations of water based as well as solvent based paints and coatings. However, substitutes such as flash calcined kaolin are competing technologies for opaque polymers. They provide the users with several benefits over opaque polymers. At equal volume concentration in high PVC emulsion paints, flash calcined kaolin provides better opacity than opaque polymers. Furthermore, comparatively less volume of flash calcined kaolin is required to match the opacity of opaque polymers. Thus, substituting technologies such as calcined kaolin are anticipated to provide tough competition to the opaque polymers market during the forecast period.. . Get Sample Report_' 'Based on product type, the market for opaque polymers can be segmented into solid content 40% and solid content 30%. Currently, the solid content 30% segment dominates the opaque polymers market. The segment is anticipated to continue its dominance during the forecast period. The segment is expected to expand at a significant pace during the forecast period.Based on end-use industry, the opaque polymers market can be divided into personal & home care and paints & coatings. Currently, the paints & coatings segment leads the opaque polymers market. The segment is anticipated to continue its dominance during the forecast period. It is estimated to expand at a significant pace during the forecast period. Paints & coatings as well as personal & home care industries are projected to expand rapidly in the near future, especially in Asia Pacific, North America, and Europe. This, in turn, is likely to fuel the demand for opaque polymers during the forecast period.Geographically, the market for opaque polymers is expected to expand significantly in Asia Pacific due to the rapid industrialization and growth in infrastructure in countries such as Japan, India, and China. The economic development in these countries is also driving the demand for opaque polymers in end-user industries. Asia Pacific holds major share of the opaque polymers market. The region is anticipated to continue its dominance during the forecast period.Major players operating in the opaque polymers market include Croda International, The Dow Chemical Company, Arkema, Interpolymer Corporation, Indulor Chemie, Junneng Chemicals, Hankuck, Latices, En-Tech Polymer, Organik Kimya, Ashland, and Visen Industries.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.- The study is a source of reliable data on:Market segments and sub-segmentsMarket trends and dynamicsSupply and demandMarket sizeCurrent trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive landscapeTechnological breakthroughsValue chain and stakeholder analysis- The regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, and North Africa)The report has been compiled through extensive primary research (through interviews, surveys, and observations of seasoned analysts) and secondary research (which entails reputable paid sources, trade journals, and industry body databases). The report also features a complete qualitative and quantitative assessment by analyzing data gathered from industry analysts and market participants across key points in the industrys value chain.A separate analysis of prevailing trends in the parent market, macro- and micro-economic indicators, and regulations and mandates is included under the purview of the study. By doing so, the report projects the attractiveness of each major segment over the forecast period.. . More Clear Details get Table of Contents_' '- Highlights of the report:A complete backdrop analysis, which includes an assessment of the parent marketImportant changes in market dynamicsMarket segmentation up to the second or third levelHistorical, current, and projected size of the market from the standpoint of both value and volumeReporting and evaluation of recent industry developmentsMarket shares and strategies of key playersEmerging niche segments and regional marketsAn objective assessment of the trajectory of the marketRecommendations to companies for strengthening their foothold in the marketContinue.....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 Oil Accumulator Market -2017 - 2025 | Nippon Accumulator Co. Ltd., Eaton Corporation, Parker-Hannifin Corporation Oil Accumulator https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1581220 https://www.researchmoz.us/oil-accumulator-market-global-industry-analysis-size-share-growth-trends-and-forecast-2017-2025-report.html#table-of-content Press Release - 07 June 2018Research and Development News --. .Latest Update "Oil Accumulator Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025" with Industries Survey | Global Current Growth and Future.' 'Demand for energy is rapidly growing in recent years. Accumulation of oil is an important aspect to eliminate hazards during oil extraction processes. Oil accumulators are considered to be hydro pneumatic devices that store non compressible fluid through an external source such as a fluid, gas, spring, and piston under high pressure. Oil accumulators have gained importance all over the world due to initiatives in reducing harmful environmental pollution during oil & gas drilling activities. Oil accumulators are employed for various purposes such as noise reduction, leakage compensation, and pulsation dampening.. . Get Sample Report_' 'The oil accumulator market can be segmented based on its types, applications, and region. Based on its types, oil accumulators can be bifurcated as hydraulic or piston, bladder, and diaphragm accumulators. Hydraulic accumulators are generally considered to be piston type accumulators. A free moving piston separates the compressible gas cushion from the hydraulic fluid.The bladder type accumulator consists of an elastic barrier between the oil and gas. The diaphragm type accumulator is designed into two sections that are bolted or screwed together. A synthetic rubber diaphragm is installed for bifurcation of oil & gas. Accumulators are used in drilling rigs in offshore and onshore regions. It is utilized in blowout preventers to restrict the sudden influx of oil & gas during drilling operations. It is used in mud pumps in oil & gas exploration activities and also by drilling tools and equipment manufacturers for developing instruments. Oil accumulators are also used by environmental research institutes and government organizations.Opportunities in the oil accumulator market arise from rising demand for oil & gas exploration and production activities. The attempts to minimize environmental hazards due to exploration have positively impacted the growth of the oil accumulator market. Restraints of the market include high cost of production. However, efforts are being made to reduce costs and develop advance technology oil accumulators. Thus, oil accumulator are an important component when environmental factors are taken into consideration.In terms of geography, North America leads the oil accumulator market in terms of demand. This can be ascribed to the increase in oil & gas activities in offshore regions of the U.S. New discovery of shale oil in the North Dakota region in North America has increased the demand for oil accumulators.The oil accumulator market has been expanding in countries in Asia Pacific such as India, China, and Japan due to the rise in maritime security activities, growth in offshore oil & gas production activities, and improvement in underwater communications. The oil accumulator market in European countries such as the U.K., Germany, France, and Norway is likely to expand due to increased oil & gas drilling activities in the North Sea and improvement in maritime security. Countries in Latin America such as Brazil and Mexico are anticipated to witness an increase in demand for marine instrumentation activities due to rapid urbanization and rise in offshore oil & gas activities in the Gulf of Mexico. Demand for marine instrumentation in countries in Middle East & Africa is also likely to rise due to the increase in number of offshore oil & gas exploration and production activities.Key global market players operating in the oil accumulator market include companies such as Nippon Accumulator Co. Ltd., Eaton Corporation, Parker-Hannifin Corporation, Bosch Rexroth AG, and Tobul Accumulator Inc.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.- The study is a source of reliable data on:Market segments and sub-segmentsMarket trends and dynamicsSupply and demandMarket sizeCurrent trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive landscapeTechnological breakthroughsValue chain and stakeholder analysis- The regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, and North Africa)The report has been compiled through extensive primary research (through Interviews, surveys, and observations of seasoned analysts) and secondary research (which entails reputable paid sources, trade journals, and industry body databases). The report also features a complete qualitative and quantitative assessment by analyzing data gathered from industry analysts and market participants across key points in the industrys value chain.A separate analysis of prevailing trends in the parent market, macro- and micro-economic indicators, and regulations and mandates is included under the purview of the study. By doing so, the report projects the attractiveness of each major segment over the forecast period.. . More Clear Details get Table of Contents_' '- Highlights of the report:A complete backdrop analysis, which includes an assessment of the parent marketImportant changes in market dynamicsMarket segmentation up to the second or third levelHistorical, current, and projected size of the market from the standpoint of both value and volumeReporting and evaluation of recent industry developmentsMarket shares and strategies of key playersEmerging niche segments and regional marketsAn objective assessment of the trajectory of the marketRecommendations to companies for strengthening their foothold in the marketContinue.....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 Increase in Adoption of All-flash and Hybrid Storage Arrays To Boost the Global Data Center Market | 2023 https://www.arizton.com/market-reports/global-data-center-market https://www.arizton.com/market-reports/global-data-center-market https://www.arizton.com/market-reports/global-data-center-market The increasing demand for all-flash and hybrid arrays will create lucrative opportunities for leading vendors operating in the global data center market.Ariztons recent market research report on the global data center market provides comprehensive industry analysis, trend forecasts, and competitive analysis. The research study segments the market by electrical infrastructure (UPS systems, generators, transfer switches & switchgear, rack PDU, and other electrical infrastructure), by mechanical infrastructure (cooling systems, rack, and other infrastructure), by IT infrastructure (server, storage, and network), by tier standard (Tier 1 & 2, Tier 3, and Tier 4), by general construction (building development, installation and commissioning services, building design, physical security, and DCIM), by geography (North America, Europe, APAC, Latin America, and MEA), and offers detailed competitive analysis.The global data center market is expected to generate revenues of approximately $174 billion by 2023, growing at a CAGR of around 4% during 2018-2023.The government initiatives to promote digital economy by laying submarine fiber cables, improving rural and urban broadband connectivity, and deployment new facilities to prompt technological advancement will drive the growth of the global data center market. The increasing adoption of IT infrastructures such as a server, storage, and networking system will revolutionize the global market.Read the Report details: Global Data Center Market 2018-2023The top 3 drivers and trends propelling the growth of the global data center market are discussed below:Increase in adoption of all-flash and hybrid storage arraysThe constant evolution of technological landscape and growing demand for modern facilities is augmenting the growth of the global data center market. The integration of storage systems such as hard disk drives (HDD), solid state device (SSD), tape storage, object storage, all-flash arrays, and hybrid storage arrays will transform the global market during the forecast period. The facility operators are focusing on procuring high-performance drives of 10,000 and 15,000 rpm, with a capacity of over 10TB per drive to improve the operational capacity of the facilities in the global market. The companies in the market are adopting all-flash storage arrays completely powered by SSDs and hybrid storage arrays powered by both HDDs and SSDs. These all-flash arrays are cost-saving alternatives that can perform highly critical functions in the global market. The increasing demand for all-flash and hybrid arrays will create lucrative opportunities for leading vendors operating in the global data center market. The increase in the workload of data centers with the integration of IoT and artificial intelligence (AI) will attribute to the demand for these arrays in the global market.Increase in use of converged and hyper-converged infrastructure platformsThe growing use of converged infrastructure platforms that simplify the process of integrating server, storage, and network infrastructure which also adds scalability to the business process will transform the global data center market. The hyper-converged infrastructure simplifies resource allocations between multiple workloads and effectively automates the process to reduce the administrative time of managing infrastructure in facilities across the globe. The three categories in the global market include software-defined compute (SDC), software-defined storage (SDS), and software-defined network (SDN). The colocation operators are adopting these IT infrastructures to process their workload as it offers simplicity, flexibility, scalability, and affordability to facilities in the global market. The leading vendors offering these infrastructures in the global data center market are HPE, Dell, IBM, Cisco, and Huawei. The growing deployment of cloud workloads such as AI, IoT, and big data will propel the demand for converged and hyper-converged infrastructure in the market.Request for your free sample today!Growing rack power densityThe rising demand for advanced technologies and cloud services from various industries such as BFSI, healthcare, government, and heavy industries will attribute to the revenues in the global data center market. The increasing requirement for high-performance computing (HPC) resulting from the adoption of converged and hyper-converged solutions and virtualization will drive the growth of the global market. The growth in the rack power density to an average of 810 kW is expected to increase in the market during the forecast period. With the increase in rack power density, the adoption of innovative and flexible facility designs with hot aisle containment systems and diverse electricity feed for racks will transform the global market. The mega and hyperscale data centers are equipping cooling and power infrastructure that can support rack power density up to 50 kW, and liquid immersion cooling that can support density up to 200 kW will boost the growth of the global data center market.The leading vendors in the global data center market are HPE, Cisco, Dell Technologies, IBM, Huawei, ABB, Eaton, Rittal, Schneider Electric, STULZ, Vertiv, Caterpillar, Cummins, AECOM, DPR Construction, HDR Architecture, Holder Construction, Jacobs Engineering Group, Mercury Engineering, and M+W Group.The complete overview of the latest market research report on global data center market by Arizton is now available.The report also offers a detailed study of major trends, drivers, challenges, and also provides the market size and forecast for major geographical regions and key countries.Order a report here:About AriztonArizton Advisory and Intelligence is an innovation and quality-driven firm, which offers cutting-edge research solutions to clients across the world. We excel in providing comprehensive market intelligence reports and advisory and consulting services.We offer comprehensive market research reports on industries such as consumer goods & retail technology, automotive and mobility, smart tech, healthcare and life sciences, industrial machinery, chemicals and materials, IT and media, logistics and packaging. These reports contain detailed industry analysis, market size, share, growth drivers, and trend forecasts.Arizton comprises a team of exuberant and well-experienced analysts who have mastered in generating incisive reports. Our specialist analysts possess exemplary skills in market research. We train our team in advanced research practices, techniques, and ethics to outperform in fabricating impregnable research reports.Arizton Advisory & IntelligenceChicago, Illinois, 60605Mail: enquiry@arizton.comCall: +1-312-465-7864 Chemical Tanker Market with Top Competitors teamtankers, Nordic Tankers A/S, Wilmar International Ltd., MISC Berhad and Forecast to 2025 Chemical Tanker Market Increasing the Need for Expansion of the chemical industry http://databridgemarketresearch.com/request-a-sample/?dbmr=global-chemical-tanker-market http://databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/global-chemical-tanker-market/ http://databridgemarketresearch.com/inquire-before-buying/?dbmr=global-chemical-tanker-market Chemical Tanker Market report defines the market trends and forecast the upcoming opportunities and threats of the chemical tanker market in the next 8 years. Chemical tankers are used in the shipment of various vital organic substances such as acetic acid, alcohols, propene, benzene, salt, benzyl acetate, methanol, formic acid, and phenol. Growth in chemical industry is playing a vital role for the growth of chemical tanker market.Global Chemical Tanker Market is expected to reach USD 37.56 billion by 2025, from USD 26.82 billion in 2017, growing at a CAGR of 4.3% during the forecast period of 2018 to 2025.Get Free Sample Report@Global Chemical Tanker Market is highly fragmented and the major players have used various strategies such as new product launches, expansions, agreements, joint ventures, partnerships, acquisitions, and others to increase their footprints in this market. The report includes market shares of chemical tanker market for global, Europe, North America, Asia Pacific and South America.Chemical Tanker Market Research helps companies to obtain market information from different sources, and in multiple formats. It aims to study supply and demand, analyze data as per geography, age factors, demography, technology, product, psychographic & gender differences, and many other parameters. Access to in-depth market trends helps companies to assess the market effectiveness. Some of the multiple techniques used for market research include customer analysis, choice modeling, competition and risk analysis, product research, advertising the research, marketing mix modeling, simulated test marketing, and more.Market Definition:According to the recent article published by Info Connect Web Technologies India Pvt Ltd, growth in chemical industry is one of the major contributors of Indian economy. Currently the annual growth rate of the chemical industry is 12.5 percent. The chemical industry of India contributed 13 percent towards the total export from India in the year of 2017.Due to the increased growth rate in the chemical industry the global market for chemical tanker is anticipated to nurture in the coming years. In the recent publication by HT Media Ltd, Industry Indias stainless steel production to rise to 3.6 million tonnes at the end of year 2017. Hence, this will positively affect the growth of chemical tanker in the coming years.Access Full Report:Major Market Competitors/Players: Bahri, Stolt-Nielsen, Odfjell, Navig8, MOL CHEMICAL TANKERS PTE. LTD., Nordic Tankers A/S, Wilmar International Ltd., MISC Berhad, teamtankers, Iino Kaiun Kaisha, Eitzen Chemical, seatrans.no, JO Tankers, Stolt-Nielsen, Tokyo Marine Asia Pvt Ltd., Nordic Tankers A/S, IINO KAIUN KAISHA Ltd., and PT Berlian Laju Tanker Tbk., among others.Market Segmentation:The global chemical tanker market is segmented based on product type, fleet type, fleet material and geographical segments.Based on Product Type, the global chemical tanker market is segmented organic chemicals, inorganic chemicals, vegetable oils & fats.On the Basis Of Fleet Type, the global chemical tanker market segmented into IMO 1, IMO 2, IMO 3.On the Basis Of Fleet Material, the global chemical tanker market segmented into stainless steel, coated, and others.On the basis of Geography, North America South America Europe Asia-Pacific Middle East & AfricaInquiry before Buying:About Data Bridge Market Research:Data Bridge Market Research set forth itself as an unconventional and neoteric Market research and consulting firm with unparalleled level of resilience and integrated approaches. We are determined to unearth the best market opportunities and foster efficient information for your business to thrive in the market. Data Bridge endeavors to provide appropriate solutions to the complex business challenges and initiates an effortless decision-making process.Contact:Data Bridge Market ResearchTel: +1-888-387-2818Email: sopan.gedam@databridgemarketresearch.com Registrations Opens for the 20th Annual Global MilSatCom Conference 20th Annual Global MilSatCom http://www.globalmilsatcom.com/openpr http://www.smi-online.co.uk SMi Groups 20th annual Global MilSatCom conference and exhibition will return to London on 6th, 7th and 8th November and a Small Satellites and Disruptive Space Technology Focus Day on the 5th November.As Europes leading satellite military communications event for satellite professionals, Global MilSatComs reputation has been built on the high-level international speakers and decision makers it attracts, as well as the fantastic interactive opportunities offered during the conference sessions and networking receptions.5 key reasons to attend: Hear from the host nations up to and including the ministerial level providing comprehensive coverage of the UKs space sector and SATCOM goals Receive key updates from an international speaker line-up from established and emerging space-faring nations across the globe Attend a dedicated focus day looking at how small satellite constellations and disruptive space technology is revolutionizing space-based communications Meet and network with 500+ attendees from defence agencies, militaries, governments and industry over 8 hours of breaks; as well as 2 drinks receptions and 2 conference dinners Explore developments on US SATCOM analysing growing requirements, programme proceedings and procurement plansRegister by the 29th June to receive a 200 discount on your booking.Visit the website to register at:Due to high demand, this years three-day conference and exhibition has moved to a new, larger venue; the Queen Elizabeth II Centre, which allows for even more sponsorship opportunities, with two exhibition rooms available.The main exhibition hall will feature stands from leading communications enablers and key system integrators, providing their vision for the MILSATCOM market. In addition, a new technology exhibition room, which will showcase innovative SATCOM solutions from the next generation of industry disruptors, will also be available for attendees.Lead Sponsor: SES Networks | Gold Sponsor: Airbus | Sponsors: COMSAT, Eutelsat, GOVSAT, Hughes, Intelsat General (IGC), Kratos, Laser Communications Coalition, Lockheed Martin, Newtec, Raytheon, SES GS, Thales, Viasat | Exhibitors: Baader Planetarium GMBH, Comtech Telecommunications Corp., Inster, Integrasys, SCISYS, XTAR, US Air ForceHave already signed up, opportunities for industry to contribute to the conference will be extremely limited. For more details on how your company can get involved please contact:Alia Malick on: +44 (0) 207 827 6168 or email: amalick@smi-online.co.uk---END---20th Annual Global MilSatCom6th 8th November 2018London, UKEstablished since 1993, the SMi Group is a global event-production company that specializes in Business-to-Business Conferences, Workshops, Masterclasses and online Communities. We create and deliver events in the Defence, Security, Energy, Utilities, Finance and Pharmaceutical industries. We pride ourselves on having access to the worlds most forward-thinking opinion leaders and visionaries, allowing us to bring our communities together to Learn, Engage, Share and Network. More information can be found atGround & First Floor 1 Westminster Bridge Road Cannabis Packaging Market Growth & Analysis by Leading key players- Kush Bottles,Maple Leaf Green World Cannabis Packaging Market Analysis and Prediction by 2025 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/sample-report/1132752-china-cannabis-packaging-market-1 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/enquiry-before-buy/1132752-china-cannabis-packaging-market-1 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/buy-now?format=1&report=1132752 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/reports/1132752-china-cannabis-packaging-market-1 HTF MI recently introduced China Cannabis Packaging Market study with in-depth overview, describing about the Product / Industry Scope and elaborates market outlook and status to 2023. At present, the market is developing its presence and some of the key players from the complete study are Kush Bottles, LifeLoc Technologies, Maple Leaf Green World, Lexaria Bioscience & KAYA CANNABIS etc. The market Study is segmented by key regions which is accelerating the marketization.Request Sample of China Cannabis Packaging Market Research Report 2018 @:This report studies the China Cannabis Packaging market size, industry status and forecast, competition landscape and growth opportunity. This research report categorizes the China Cannabis Packaging market by companies, region, type and end-use industry.Browse 100+ market data Tables and Figures spread through Pages and in-depth TOC on " Cannabis Packaging Market by Type (Rigid Packaging & Flexible Packaging), by End-Users/Application (Food, Tea and Hemp Juice, Hemp Fiber, Hemp Sacks, Ropes & Canvas), Organization Size, Industry, and Region - Forecast to 2023". Early buyers will receive 10% customization on comprehensive study.In order to get a deeper view of Market Size, competitive landscape is provided i.e. Revenue (Million USD) by Players (2013-2018), Revenue Market Share (%) by Players (2013-2018) and further a qualitative analysis is made towards market concentration rate, product/service differences, new entrants and the technological trends in future.Enquire for customization in Report @Competitive Analysis:The key players are highly focusing innovation in production technologies to improve efficiency and shelf life. 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. Company profile section of players such as Kush Bottles, LifeLoc Technologies, Maple Leaf Green World, Lexaria Bioscience & KAYA CANNABIS includes its basic information like legal name, website, headquarters, its market position, historical background and top 5 closest competitors by Market capitalization / revenue along with contact information. Each player/ manufacturer revenue figures, growth rate and gross profit margin is provided in easy to understand tabular format for past 5 years and a separate section on recent development like mergers, acquisition or any new product/service launch etc.Market Segments:The China Cannabis Packaging Market has been divided into type, application, and region.On The Basis Of Type: Rigid Packaging & Flexible Packaging.On The Basis Of Application: Food, Tea and Hemp Juice, Hemp Fiber, Hemp Sacks, Ropes & CanvasOn The Basis Of Region, this report is segmented into following key geographies, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), and market share, growth rate of Cannabis Packaging in these regions, from 2013 to 2023 (forecast), covering North America (U.S. & Canada) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Analysis (%) and Opportunity Analysis} Latin America (Brazil, Mexico & Rest of Latin America) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Share (%) and Opportunity Analysis} Europe (The U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Sweden & RoE) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Share (%) and Opportunity Analysis} Asia-Pacific (China, India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Rest of Asia) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Share (%) and Opportunity Analysis} Middle East & Africa (GCC, South Africa, North Africa, RoMEA) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Share (%) and Opportunity Analysis} Rest of World {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Analysis (%) and Opportunity Analysis}Buy Single User License of China Cannabis Packaging Market Research Report 2018 @Have a look at some extracts from Table of ContentIntroduction about China Cannabis Packaging China Cannabis Packaging Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 2017 Cannabis Packaging Market by Application/End Users China Cannabis Packaging Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Applications (2013-2023) table defined for each application/end-users like [Food, Tea and Hemp Juice, Hemp Fiber, Hemp Sacks, Ropes & Canvas] China Cannabis Packaging Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2023) Cannabis Packaging Competition by Players/Suppliers, Region, Type and Application Cannabis Packaging (Volume, Value and Sales Price) table defined for each geographic region defined. China Cannabis Packaging Players/Suppliers Profiles and Sales DataAdditionally Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors list is being provided for each listed manufacturers Market Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018) table for each product type which include Rigid Packaging & Flexible Packaging Cannabis Packaging Manufacturing Cost Analysis Cannabis Packaging Key Raw Materials Analysis Cannabis Packaging Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers, Industrial Chain Analysis Market Forecast (2018-2023) ........and more in complete table of ContentsBrowse for Full Report at:Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.HTF Market Report is a wholly owned brand of HTF market Intelligence Consulting Private Limited. HTF Market Report global research and market intelligence consulting organization is uniquely positioned to not only identify growth opportunities but to also empower and inspire you to create visionary growth strategies for futures, enabled by our extraordinary depth and breadth of thought leadership, research, tools, events and experience that assist you for making goals into a reality. Our understanding of the interplay between industry convergence, Mega Trends, technologies and market trends provides our clients with new business models and expansion opportunities. We are focused on identifying the Accurate Forecast in every industry we cover so our clients can reap the benefits of being early market entrants and can accomplish their Goals & Objectives.HTF Market Intelligence Consulting Private LimitedUnit No. 429, Parsonage Road Edison, NJNew Jersey USA 08837sales@htfmarketreport.com+1 (206) 317 1218 Hybrid Vehicle Electronic Control Unit (ECU) Market Growth and Competitive Analysis | Key Players: DENSO, Continental, ZF Hybrid Vehicle Electronic Control Unit (ECU) Market Growth & Analysis by 2025 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/sample-report/986507-global-hybrid-vehicle-electronic-control-unit-5 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/enquiry-before-buy/986507-global-hybrid-vehicle-electronic-control-unit-5 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/buy-now?format=1&report=986507 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/reports/986507-global-hybrid-vehicle-electronic-control-unit-5 HTF MI recently introduced Global Hybrid Vehicle Electronic Control Unit (ECU) Market study with in-depth overview, describing about the Product / Industry Scope and elaborates market outlook and status to 2023. At present, the market is developing its presence and some of the key players from the complete study are DENSO, Continental, ZF, Delphi, MAHLE, Autoliv, FUJITSU TEN, HuberGroup, Tata Elxsi, Pektron, Keihin & Minda Corporation etc. The market Study is segmented by key regions which is accelerating the marketization.Request Sample of Global Hybrid Vehicle Electronic Control Unit (ECU) Sales Market Report 2018 @:This report studies the Global Hybrid Vehicle Electronic Control Unit (ECU) market size, industry status and forecast, competition landscape and growth opportunity. This research report categorizes the Global Hybrid Vehicle Electronic Control Unit (ECU) market by companies, region, type and end-use industry.Browse 100+ market data Tables and Figures spread through Pages and in-depth TOC on " Hybrid Vehicle Electronic Control Unit (ECU) Market by Type (Engine Control Module, Transmission Control Module, Powertrain Control Module, Brake Control Module, Steering Control Module & Climate Control Module), by End-Users/Application (Hybrid Commercial Vehicles & Hybrid Passenger Cars), Organization Size, Industry, and Region - Forecast to 2023". Early buyers will receive 10% customization on comprehensive study.In order to get a deeper view of Market Size, competitive landscape is provided i.e. Revenue (Million USD) by Players (2013-2018), Revenue Market Share (%) by Players (2013-2018) and further a qualitative analysis is made towards market concentration rate, product/service differences, new entrants and the technological trends in future.Enquire for customization in Report @Competitive Analysis:The key players are highly focusing innovation in production technologies to improve efficiency and shelf life. 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. Company profile section of players such as DENSO, Continental, ZF, Delphi, MAHLE, Autoliv, FUJITSU TEN, HuberGroup, Tata Elxsi, Pektron, Keihin & Minda Corporation includes its basic information like legal name, website, headquarters, its market position, historical background and top 5 closest competitors by Market capitalization / revenue along with contact information. Each player/ manufacturer revenue figures, growth rate and gross profit margin is provided in easy to understand tabular format for past 5 years and a separate section on recent development like mergers, acquisition or any new product/service launch etc.Market Segments:The Global Hybrid Vehicle Electronic Control Unit (ECU) Market has been divided into type, application, and region.On The Basis Of Type: Engine Control Module, Transmission Control Module, Powertrain Control Module, Brake Control Module, Steering Control Module & Climate Control Module.On The Basis Of Application: Hybrid Commercial Vehicles & Hybrid Passenger CarsOn The Basis Of Region, this report is segmented into following key geographies, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), and market share, growth rate of Hybrid Vehicle Electronic Control Unit (ECU) in these regions, from 2013 to 2023 (forecast), covering North America (U.S. & Canada) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Analysis (%) and Opportunity Analysis} Latin America (Brazil, Mexico & Rest of Latin America) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Share (%) and Opportunity Analysis} Europe (The U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Sweden & RoE) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Share (%) and Opportunity Analysis} Asia-Pacific (China, India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Rest of Asia) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Share (%) and Opportunity Analysis} Middle East & Africa (GCC, South Africa, North Africa, RoMEA) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Share (%) and Opportunity Analysis} Rest of World {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Analysis (%) and Opportunity Analysis}Buy Single User License of Global Hybrid Vehicle Electronic Control Unit (ECU) Sales Market Report 2018 @Have a look at some extracts from Table of ContentIntroduction about Global Hybrid Vehicle Electronic Control Unit (ECU) Global Hybrid Vehicle Electronic Control Unit (ECU) Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 2017 Hybrid Vehicle Electronic Control Unit (ECU) Market by Application/End Users Global Hybrid Vehicle Electronic Control Unit (ECU) Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Applications (2013-2023) table defined for each application/end-users like [Hybrid Commercial Vehicles & Hybrid Passenger Cars] Global Hybrid Vehicle Electronic Control Unit (ECU) Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2023) Hybrid Vehicle Electronic Control Unit (ECU) Competition by Players/Suppliers, Region, Type and Application Hybrid Vehicle Electronic Control Unit (ECU) (Volume, Value and Sales Price) table defined for each geographic region defined. Global Hybrid Vehicle Electronic Control Unit (ECU) Players/Suppliers Profiles and Sales DataAdditionally Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors list is being provided for each listed manufacturers Market Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018) table for each product type which include Engine Control Module, Transmission Control Module, Powertrain Control Module, Brake Control Module, Steering Control Module & Climate Control Module Hybrid Vehicle Electronic Control Unit (ECU) Manufacturing Cost Analysis Hybrid Vehicle Electronic Control Unit (ECU) Key Raw Materials Analysis Hybrid Vehicle Electronic Control Unit (ECU) Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers, Industrial Chain Analysis Market Forecast (2018-2023) ........and more in complete table of ContentsBrowse for Full Report at:Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.HTF Market Report is a wholly owned brand of HTF market Intelligence Consulting Private Limited. HTF Market Report global research and market intelligence consulting organization is uniquely positioned to not only identify growth opportunities but to also empower and inspire you to create visionary growth strategies for futures, enabled by our extraordinary depth and breadth of thought leadership, research, tools, events and experience that assist you for making goals into a reality. Our understanding of the interplay between industry convergence, Mega Trends, technologies and market trends provides our clients with new business models and expansion opportunities. We are focused on identifying the Accurate Forecast in every industry we cover so our clients can reap the benefits of being early market entrants and can accomplish their Goals & Objectives.HTF Market Intelligence Consulting Private LimitedUnit No. 429, Parsonage Road, Edison, NJ USA - 08837sales@htfmarketreport.comPh: +1 (206) 317 1218 Pressure Pumping Market Applications, Industry Size, Demand, Research Review till 2027 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1354 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/enquiry/1354 Global Pressure Pumping Market - Overview:New oil reserve discoveries increase the drilling and exploration activities in coming years which upsurge the demand for the market. For example, in Liberia, Exxon Mobile Corporation is planning to start oil drilling in its recently found oil reserves by 2018. Moreover, global increasing demand for energy cross the globe has resulted in rapid increase in the offshore drilling activities to meet the increasing demand, which ultimately has provided significant boost to the Pressure Pumping market. However, stringent government regulation as well as high installation cost of pressure pumping systems are the factors may hinder the market growth of the market.Pressure pumping is a propagation of fractures through layers of rock using pressurized fracturing fluid and pumping the cement into the well bore to complete it. It is primarily used to extract resources from low permeability reservoirs such as shale gas, and unconventional liquids, which are difficult to recover through regular drilling procedures.According to a recent study report published by the Market Research Future, The global market of Pressure Pumping is booming and expected to gain prominence over the forecast period. The global Pressure Pumping market is forecasted to demonstrate an exponential growth by 2027, surpassing its previous growth records in terms of value with a whooping, CAGR during the estimated period (2018 2027).Key PlayersWeatherford InternationalChina Oilfield Services Ltd.Halliburton CompanySaipem S.p.A.Schlumberger LimitedBaker HughesSuperior Energy ServicesGet Sample Report For In - Depth Analysis @Industry NewsIn January 2016, Trican Well Service Ltd announce that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Keane Group, a privately-held, U.S. based well completion services company for the sale of Trican's United States pressure pumping business. The agreed purchase price for the disposition is USD 200 million, or CDN 285 million.In March 2017, Trican and Canyon to combine to create premier canadian pressure pumping companyPressure Pumping Market - SegmentationGlobal Pressure Pumping Market is segmented in to three key dynamics for an easy grasp and enhanced understanding.Segmentation:Based on services, the market has been segmented into cementing, hydraulics fracturing, and others. Hydraulics fracturingdominates the service segment of global market. Hydraulics fracturing is a process of pumping fluid into a wellbore to create enough pressure to crack, or fracture, the rock layer. The fluid usually contains a proppant like sand, that helps keep the fractures open to allow oil and gas to be produced to the well. Cementing services is the second major segment for pressure pumping market and it is expected to witness strong growth over the forecast period.Based on well type, the market has been segmented land and offshore. Onshore dominates the well type segment of global market. Offshore segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment during the forecast period. Increasing the exploration activities in deep and ultra-deep waters especially in the North Sea, and Gulf of Mexico is expected to drive demand in the sector over the forecast period.Segmentation by Regions: Comprises Geographical regions - North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa and South America.Enquiry For This Report @Market Research AnalysisAsia Pacific and Europe are the other major market for the Pressure Pumping. Increasing demand for energy due to urbanization & industrialization from the countries such as India, China, and Indonesia among others driving the demand of the market in Asia Pacific region. The Europe Pressure Pumping market is expected to be dominated by countries such as U.K, Norway and Russia. New discovery of oil has been found in the Laptev Sea offshore Northern Russia and several drilling projects have been approved in the Russian Arctic sea region closer to the North Pole are the factors driving the market in the region. It is expected to contribute significantly during the forecast period.About Us:-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.Contact:Market Research Future+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Overview of Car Fuel Filter Market: Beneficial Study of Top Players, Trends and Forecasts till 2022 https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=136 https://www.factmr.com/report/136/car-fuel-filter-market https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=RM&rep_id=136 https://www.factmr.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/factmr/ The rapidly expanding car fuel filter market is the focus of a new report added to the market intelligence repository of Fact.MR. This 170-page broad study is headlined as Car Fuel Filter Market Research Forecast, Trend Analysis & Competition Tracking: Global Review 2017 to 2022 which noticeably examines the prospects of the global car fuel filter industry till the end of 2022, using the markets development trajectory in the recent past as the key indicator of actionable insights into the markets growth pattern. A blend of primary & secondary research has been implemented for offering estimates and forecasts on the concerned market.Get A Free Sample Copy of Report@Highlights of the Car Fuel Filter Market1- Diesel has had a reputation for some time now as the dirtier fuel which is why it is expected to comprise nearly 3/5th revenue share in the car fuel filter market by fuel type. Commercial vehicles in particular, both light commercial vehicles as well as heavy commercial vehicles often rely on diesel over gasoline and they would need fuel filters to ensure that their emissions are in-line with governmental norms. Diesel is much more popular in Europe as opposed to North America and the Europe diesel fuel filter market is on track to be worth almost US$ 64 million in 2022.2- Gasoline occupies the balance 2/5th revenue share in the car fuel filter market. Gasoline is generally considered cleaner than diesel which explains its popularity in the passenger vehicle segment. However, the fuel quality in emerging markets is often of an inferior quality when compared to developed countries for a number of reasons. If fuel filters are not deployed, there is a high probability that the combustion engine can get damaged with dust particulates. Thus, a market opportunity of just under US$ 180 million by 2022 exists in the gasoline fuel filter market as well. Companies could look at targeting North America over Europe as consumers there express an overwhelming preference for gasoline vehicles over their diesel counterparts.3- The premium passenger car segment represents a small market opportunity in the car fuel filter market in terms of vehicle type. However, it would be unwise to ignore a market of nearly US$ 50 million by end 2022 as rising disposable incomes would make consumers demand premium passenger cars in the long run. Europe and APEJ are neck-and-neck in the premium passenger car segment and it will be interesting to see if and when APEJ outpaces Europe.4- The compact car segment accounts for a third of the revenue share in the car fuel filter market by vehicle type and is especially important in emerging economies where the price-sensitivity is higher than in Europe or North America. The compact car segment is predicted to be worth roughly US$ 120 million in 2022 and companies in the car fuel filter market are advised to make their business strategies keeping this in mind.The car fuel filter market report has profiled prominent companies such as Champion Laboratories, UFI Filters SpA, Valeo SA, Hengst SE, Cummins Inc., and Sogefi SpA.Browse Full Report with TOC@Table of Contents:Global Car Fuel Filter Market Executive SummaryGlobal Car Fuel Filter Market Overview2.1. Introduction2.1.1. Global Car Fuel Filter Market Taxonomy2.1.2. Global Car Fuel Filter Market Definition2.2. Global Car Fuel Filter Market Size (US$ Mn) and Forecast, 2012-20222.2.1. Global Car Fuel Filter Market Y-o-Y Growth2.3. Global Car Fuel Filter Market Dynamics2.3.1. Drivers2.3.2. Restraints2.3.3. Trends2.4. Supply Chain2.5. Cost Structure2.6. Pricing Analysis2.7. Raw Material Sourcing Strategy and Analysis2.8. List of Distributors2.9. Key Participants Market Presence (Intensity Map) By RegionGlobal Car Fuel Filter Market Analysis and Forecast By Product Type3.1. Global Car Fuel Filter Market Size and Forecast By Product Type, 2012-20223.1.1. Spin-on Fuel Filters Car Fuel Filter Market Size and Forecast, 2012-20223.1.1.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Region3.1.1.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region3.1.1.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By RegionContinued..Request Methodology of the Report@About Fact.MRFact.MR is a fast-growing market research firm that offers the most comprehensive suite of syndicated and customized market research reports. We believe transformative intelligence can educate and inspire businesses to make smarter decisions. We know the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach; that's why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports.Contact UsFact.MR11140 Rockville PikeSuite 400Rockville, MD 20852United StatesEmail: sales@factmr.comWeb:Follow Us on Linkedin: Demand For Reduced Operational Costs Is Driving The Growth Of The Facilities Management Market Worldwide https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/facilities-management-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=12776 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=12776 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The global facilities management market is moderately consolidated with the presence of several large players that operate globally and regional players that mainly operate in local markets. Large players are resorting to strategic partnerships with small vendors to expand their service offerings and to expand their geographical presence. Partnerships and alliances are also helping large vendors to provide bundled facilities management services with the objective to offer value-added and quality services to their clients. Bundled services not only helps drive efficiency and cost benefits for vendors, it helps improve long-term relationship between the client and service provider.Key companies operating in the global facilities management market are Arthur McKay & Co. Ltd., Bilfinger HSG Facility Management GmbH, Bellrock Property & Facilities Management Limited, Broadspectrum (Australia) Pty Limited, and ISS World Services A/S among others.Obtain Report DetailsAs per a report by Transparency Market Research (TMR), the global facilities management market is projected to clock an impressive 13.8% CAGR between 2017 and 2024, for the market to be worth US$1887.19 bn by 2024. The opportunities in the market translated into a revenue of US$762.07 bn in 2017. By service type, soft services hold dominance with the segment anticipated to hold 62.3% of the overall market by 2024; the growth of soft services segment is mainly because of their growing demand in healthcare, corporate, and government sectors.In terms of industry, corporate segment holds prominence and the trend is estimated to remain this way through 2024. Attributed to the growth of business activities and service offerings, the corporate sector is anticipated to hold 24.0% of the overall market by 2024. North America, among key regions currently leads the facilities management market due to extensive availability of low-cost and high-quality facilities management service providers in the region.Government Statutes for Businesses to Curb Operational Costs Fuels GrowthMajorly fuelling the global facilities management market is reduction in operating costs for businesses. Economic burden on companies is increasing due to operational and maintenance costs. Facilities management service providers offer a gamut of services to support businesses. Large organizations and businesses outsource facilities management services such as maintenance, cleaning, and security, which allows them to focus on core business activities.PDF Brochure For Future AdvancementsExcessive energy consumption accounts as additional operational costs for businesses. To address this, facilities management companies develop an integrated design for energy needs of businesses which helps reduce energy consumption and improve performance. This helps businesses reduce operational and maintenance costs.Increasing government regulations in place to optimize energy consumption to curb carbon emissions and statutes for proper disposal of waste have compelled organizations to engage facilities management services. For instance, the Energy Policy Act of 1992 laid down by the federal government in the U.S. focuses on energy reduction and guidelines for the implementation of conservation measures. Facilities management service providers keep a log of emissions produced by businesses and develop an energy flow solution that is sustainable in the long run.Price Wars among Service Providers Hampers Market RevenueOn the flip side, increasing number of facilities management service providers due to potential of this market has led to price wars among these companies. Increasing presence of small vendors that deliver par excellence services at low prices has forced large companies to serve at competitive prices. This is impacting the revenue of the overall market.Request A Sample Of Facilities Management MarketLack of availability of skilled manpower is also hampering the growth of facilities management market. Facilities management personnel need to receive appropriate training for proper delivery of services, especially for fire and security systems.The review presented here is based on the findings of a TMR report, titled Facilities Management Market (Service Type - Hard Services, Soft Services; Industry - s, Government and Public Sector, Health Care, Manufacturing, Residential and Education Institutions, Retail and Commercial, and Others (Food, Sport) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 2025.About UsTransparency Market Research is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. Our experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Transparency Market Research90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Testing, Inspection And Certification Market Is Anticipated To Expand At A Cagr Of 5.8 % From 2017 To 2025 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/testing-inspection-certification-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=CR&rep_id=5669 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=5669 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The global market for testing, inspection, and certification (TIC) is highly fragmented. The global testing, inspection, and certification (TIC) market caters the requirements of wide range of industries that includes telecom, food and beverages, oil and gas, aerospace, and medical devices among others. This has provided a great competitive landscape for the key players in the market. Some of the prominent names in the global testing, inspection, and certification market are Intertek Group PLC, Dekra SE, SGS Group, and Bureau Veritas SA.The companies are constantly adopting to the advancements in the market and using tactical business strategies to enhance their market presences. Bureau Veritas S.A. recently announced that the company has signed a deal with Ascenz Pte. Ltd. to offer ship monitoring and performance solutions to the ship-owners across the world to back bunker savings.Obtain Report Details @The global market for testing, inspection, and certification (TIC) was dominated by the top four players. They accounted for almost 29% of total market share in 2015. The other small and mid-sized companies accounted for the remaining 71% of the total market share. The global testing, inspection, and certification market stood at a valuation worth US$178.65 bn in the year 2015 and it is expected to reach the total valuation of US$285.34 bn by 2024. The market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.7% over the aforementioned forecast period of 2016-2024.The oil and gas sector has come up to be the most-promising end-user segment for the global market for testing, inspection, and certification (TIC). The oil and gas sector was most dominating in the global market as it accounted for over 35% of total share of the market. The segment is expected to continue its dominance in the market across the world during the aforementioned forecast period of 2016-2024 with a sturdy CAGR of 5.6%Request For Custom ResearchIt is expected that the emerging economies across the world will experience an enormous growth in the global testing, inspection, and certification (TIC) market. This is mainly because of the flourishing industrial segment and a considerable rise of affluent customers. These emerging nations are on course to become hub for global exports and imports. To comply products with different quality and safety regulations on international level, the product manufacturers are strictly bound to adhere with the mentioned standards of quality.This is chiefly driving demand for the global testing, inspection, and certification (TIC) services market. Increasing number of exports and imports in the global market and rising stringent quality norms coupled with a complex blend of universal and domestic regulations and standards are driving the testing, inspection, and certification (TIC) market globally.Product manufacturers are forced to comply with the strict quality checks, inspections, and obtain globally accepted certifications in order to trade internationally. This factor will spur the rising adoption of services of testing, inspection, and certification across a wide range of sectors such as oil and gas, food and beverages, textile, and aerospace among others in the coming years.Request A Sample Of Report @However, nations across the world have different sets of TIC regulations and standards, which also vary in terms of type of industries and products. This high diversity among the set of norms for TIC could often create a complicated situation for advocating international trade. Thus, such different TIC guidelines is expected to be a chief restraining factor for the growth of the global market. Moreover, pharmaceutical sector suffers the most in this situation as the drug producers find it hard to develop medicines and drugs that will get easy approvals across the world when submitted to respective country, thus creating hindrance in the development of the global testing, inspection, and certification market.This review is based on the research report by Transparency Market Research titled, Testing, Inspection and Certification (T.I.C.) Market (Application - Oil & gas, Aerospace, Food & beverages, Automotive, Automation, Textile) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016 2024About UsTransparency Market Research is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. Our experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Transparency Market Research90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Retail Sales of Drug, Health and Beauty Stores Market Professional Survey Report 2018 Leading Manufacturers Emerging Trends, Growth Factors, Value Chain, Research Up To 2022 http://bit.ly/2sS2q8y http://bit.ly/2JAPTAE http://bit.ly/2kVy8hB Research N Reports has recently announced the addition of a new report on the global market for Retail Sales The research report, titled Global Retail Sales of Drug, Health and Beauty Stores Market Professional Survey Report 2018, provides an assessment of this market based on its past as well as the current performance, highlighting each of the geographical segment.According to the research report, the Global Market for Retail Sales of Drug, Health and Beauty Stores is witnessing a continual rise in its valuation with the advancement in technologies, which is impacting the consumer behavior and, accordingly, their purchasing patterns to a great extent. In addition to this, the rising penetration of internet and the surge in mobile surfing are anticipated to boost the demand for the market products across the world, states the research report.Get Free PDF for more Professional and Technical insights:Countries covered in this report:Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Republic of Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovak Republic, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, United arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Ukraine, United States, Venezuela.Key FindingsOverview of the Drug Stores and Health and Beauty Stores retail sales in GlobalAnalysis of Drug Stores and Health and Beauty Stores market and its retail sales for various product categoriesHistoric and forecast retail sales value for the period 2010 through to 2020Category wise analysis of retails sales via Drug Stores and Health and Beauty StoresSynopsisResearch N Report, "Global Retail Sales of Drug Stores and Health and Beauty Stores: Market Size, Growth and Forecast to 2020" is a comprehensive market review of retails sales taking place at Drug Stores and Health and Beauty Stores across Global. The report further provides retail sales values split by product categories and their associated segments. (Wherever applicable)Avail discount on this report:Reasons to BuyProvides you with sales figures of Drug Stores and Health and Beauty Stores market in Global Allows you to analyze market with the help of detailed historic and forecast retail sales value, segmented at a category level.Provides you with historic sales value by category in Drug Stores and Health and Beauty Stores marketAllows you to plan future business decisions using the report's forecast figures for the market.Make an Enquiry About TOC with tables & Figures:About USOur research will change the way you think about problems. We provide global consulting that can transform businesses and give you an experience of innovative solutions and outcomes.Research N Reports helps clients harness the power of innovation to thrive on change. We have successfully guided businesses throughout the world with our market research reports. We are uniquely positioned to lead digital transformations, thus creating greater value for clients by presenting growth opportunities in the global market.Our profound experience provides a clear and confident vision to help clients navigate the future. Research N Reports techniques encompasses both qualitative and quantitative modes to provide customized and highly flexible tailored research studies so that you get information that is just the best-fit to make informed strategic organizational decisions. Research N Reports helps clients decode the future to be more successful and innovative.U.S. Address10916, Gold Point, Dr,Houston, TX - 77064sales@researchnreports.com+1 888-631-6977 Biopreservation Market Would Attain a Value of US$ 5.7 Billion by 2019 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=1797 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=D&rep_id=1797 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/report-toc/1797 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com A copious number of international and regional players compete against one another in the global biopreservation market. They are seen extending their product lines in order to surge ahead of their competitors. They are also seen competing on the basis of factors such as price and brand building. This makes competition quite intense in the market.Request Sample for more Comprehensive Analysis @Some of the prominent participants in the global market for biopreservation are BioLife Solutions Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., VWR International LLC, BioCision LLC, Biomatrica Inc., Panasonic Corporation, Qiagen, and LABVANTAGE Solutions Inc.Transparency Market Research recently prepared a report on the market for biopreservation in which it states that by rising at an impressive pace, the market would attain a value of US$5.7 bn by 2019.Depending upon equipment, the key segments of the global market for biopreservation are refrigerators, freezers, liquid nitrogen (LN2) tanks, and consumables. Among those, the segment of consumables is growing at the fastest clip owing to the surging demand for cryo bags, cryo vials, cryogenic boxes, cryo tubes, gloves, and others. From a geographical standpoint, Asia Pacific takes the leading position vis-a-vis growth. This is mainly because of the massive unmet medical demand and rising occurrence of disease in the region. In addition, the rising spends on healthcare and upcoming biobanking projects will also stoke the market in the region in the near term.At the forefront of driving growth in the global market for biopreservation is the rise of biomedical research for new drugs and therapies. This is because the growing utilization of tissues, stem cells, plasma and DNA in cutting-edge research also necessitates proper storage facilities to accommodate samples and maintain their stability. Hence, refrigerators, freezers, consumables, and liquid nitrogen are much in demand along with media and laboratory information management system (LIMS).Enquire for Discount @Biopreservation finds application in biobanking, regenerative medicine, and drug discovery. Of them, biobanking drives most of the demand in the market owing to the nod given to the procedure by emerging nations governments in Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Africa. Regenerative medicine too is pushing up demand owing to the increasing demand for biospecimens needed in research and therapy.Elaborates the lead analyst of our report, Pressing need for superior preservation methods and continued rise in healthcare allocation has been fuelling the biopreservation market. Pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, and biotechnology firms these days are increasing opting for in-house storage of samples and this is expected to offer a considerable fillip to the market. Besides, increasing research and development spends by major companies and research communities leading to advent of ultra-sophisticated products such as virtual bio-banks, is expected to promote the market further.Overall, the market for biopreservation has been boosted majorly so far on account of North America where most of the key organizations in the field are domiciled. In addition, the swift uptake of automated process in the region has resulted in spike in demand for LIMS. However, going forward, Asia Pacific is expected to surpass North America market in terms of demand for equipment and media.Request TOC of the Report for Complete Review @About UsTransparency Market Research is a next-generation market intelligence provider, offering fact-based solutions to business leaders, consultants, and strategy professionals.Our reports are single-point solutions for businesses to grow, evolve, and mature. Our real-time data collection methods along with ability to track more than one million high growth niche products are aligned with your aims. The detailed and proprietary statistical models used by our analysts offer insights for making right decision in the shortest span of time. For organizations that require specific but comprehensive information we offer customized solutions through adhoc reports. These requests are delivered with the perfect combination of right sense of fact-oriented problem solving methodologies and leveraging existing data repositories.TMR believes that unison of solutions for clients-specific problems with right methodology of research is the key to help enterprises reach right decision.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Enteral Feeding Devices Market is Expected to Reach USD 3,102.0 Million by 2019 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=323 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=D&rep_id=323 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/report-toc/323 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The global enteral feeding devices market is filled with various players on both, regional and international level. As a result of this, the global enteral feeding devices market is anticipated to be very fragmented. To name a few, Moog, Inc., Kimberly Clark, Covidien plc, Applied Medical Technology, Inc., CONMED Corporation, Amsino International, Inc., Boston Scientific are among the most dominant firms in the enteral feeding devices market. These firms account for an edge over their competitors to score their current leading positions. These organizations working consistently on coming up with efficient strategies to achieve the position, including mergers, acquisitions, and collaborations. They are also working upon regressive and intelligent promotional activities.Request Sample for more Comprehensive Analysis @According to a recent report by Transparency Market Research, the global market for enteral feeding devices is prognosticated to expand at a decent pace with a steady CAGR. The market is expected to grow around worth of US$3.1 bn by the end of 2019.These days, there are several types of enteral feeding devices present in the market. Among these, the enteral feeding pumps segment is anticipated to experience highest sales in the market. This is majorly due to very negligible amount of risk and complication, increase in their usage in home care settings, and portability. As per the geography, Europe is a leading region in the global market for enteral feeding devices. This is due to significant rise in population in the region in past few years.Constant Efforts from Manufacturers to Fuel Market GrowthThe global enteral feeding devices market is witnessing a major shift owing to the gadgets fast outstripping demand for parenteral gadgets. This is majorly due to the presence of better technologies for example low scale gastrostomy. Moreover, enteral feeding sets and tubes are very affordable, as well. This is another factor propelling the sales of enteral feeding devices market.Enquire for Discount @Nevertheless, the global enteral feeding devices market is also drawing attention because of the rigorous efforts by the key manufacturers to come up with improved products, with even less complications and side effects. The launch of balloon inflated gastrostomy tubes that allow medicines and food to be directly administered to the patients stomach, without requiring them to swallow, bite or chew has supported the uptake in the market.Rise in number of elderly people all over the world coupled with the growing preference for home care enteral therapy has fueled the global enteral feeding devices market. Rise in cases of premature births which needs feeding of the infants through enteral devices are contributing in the growth of the market as well.Inconvenient Reimbursement Policies to Hamper Overall Market GrowthHowever, on the flipside, the market still needs to work upon the complexities arising from enteral nutrition delivery, such as non-obstructive intestinal ischemia, diarrhea, and gastrointestinal complications. Inconvenient reimbursement policies regarding enteral feeding devices is as well hindering demand globally to a large extent. Nevertheless, rising cases of cancers and gastrointestinal disorders are foreseen to help eliminate the setbacks by supporting demand long time.Request TOC of the Report for Complete Review @About UsTransparency Market Research is a next-generation market intelligence provider, offering fact-based solutions to business leaders, consultants, and strategy professionals.Our reports are single-point solutions for businesses to grow, evolve, and mature. Our real-time data collection methods along with ability to track more than one million high growth niche products are aligned with your aims. The detailed and proprietary statistical models used by our analysts offer insights for making right decision in the shortest span of time. For organizations that require specific but comprehensive information we offer customized solutions through adhoc reports. These requests are delivered with the perfect combination of right sense of fact-oriented problem solving methodologies and leveraging existing data repositories.TMR believes that unison of solutions for clients-specific problems with right methodology of research is the key to help enterprises reach right decision.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Internet of Things (IoT) Integration Market Regional Analysis, Key Players, Overview Analysis, Trends, Size, Status and Forecast 2018-2023 An all-inclusive exploration of the condition of Internet Of Things (Iot) Integration Market has been completed in this astuteness report. It comprises the examinations done on the previous innovation, ongoing market situations and upcoming forecasts. An accurate information of the merchandises, approaches and market stocks of leading businesses in this specific market is declared. The report gives a thorough overview of the present growth dynamics of the global Internet of Things (IoT) Integration with the help of vast market data covering all important aspects and market segments. The report gives a birds eye view of the past and present trends as well the factors expected to drive or impede the market growth prospects of the Internet of Things (IoT) Integration market in the near future. FOR SAMPLE COPY OF THIS REPORT: https://www.researchnreports.com/request_sample.php?id=113183 This report studies the global Internet of Things (IoT) Integration market, analyzes and researches the Internet of Things (IoT) Integration development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This report focuses on the top players in global market. THE MAJOR PLAYERS REPORTED IN THE MARKET INCLUDE: Tata Consultancy Services (India), Wipro (India), ATOS SE (France), Accenture PLC (Ireland), Fujitsu (Japan), Infosys (India), Capgemini SE (France), HCL Technologies (India), Tech Mahindra (India), Intel (US), IBM (US), Cognizant Technology (US), NTT Data (Japan), Dell Technologies (US), Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (US), Mulesoft (US), Allerin Tech (US), Softdel (US), Phitomas (Malaysia), Einfochips (India), Ayla Networks (US), Smartbear Software (US) Market segment by Regions/Countries, this report covers United States, EU, Japan, China, India, Southeast Asia Market segment by Type, Internet of Things (IoT) Integration can be split into Application Management Services Advisory Services Testing Services Network Protocol Management Services Infrastructure and Workload Management Services Other Market segment by Application, Internet of Things (IoT) Integration can be split into Smart Building and Home Automation Smart Healthcare Energy and Utilities Industrial Manufacturing and Automation Smart Retail Smart Transportation, Logistics, and Telematics Other AVAIL DISCOUNT ON THIS REPORT: https://www.researchnreports.com/ask_for_discount.php?id=113183 The competitive landscape of the Internet of Things (IoT) Integration market is explained in detail in the report. What is the key strategy the companies are focusing on? Is it innovation, cost, emerging markets focus, or something else? The key strategy of the most established companies is included in this report. Moreover, the report also offers advice to the top companies and new entrants on how they can tap the best opportunity in the market with which strategy. The aspects that are expected to affect the development of the market, May it be in an undesired or anticipated way, have been cleared out in the best potential manner. Considering the products and cost of the Internet of Things (IoT) Integration market, comprehensive studies have been done during the prediction period which is mentioned. Each year in the prognosis period is examined for better accurate data with respect to every facet disturbing the market. Most important data include the key recommendations and predictions by our analysts, intended to steer a strategic business decision. The company profiles section of this research service is a compilation of the growth strategies, financial status, product portfolio, and recent developments of key market participants. The report provides detailed industry analysis of the global Internet of Things (IoT) Integration market with the help of proven research methodologies such as Porters five forces. The forces analyzed are bargaining power of the buyers, bargaining power of suppliers, threat of new entrants, threat of substitutes, and the degree of competition. Research N Reports is a new age market research firm where we focus on providing information that can be effectively applied. Today being a consumer driven market, companies require information to deal with the complex and dynamic world of choices. Where relying on a sound board firm for your decisions becomes crucial. Research N Reports specializes in industry analysis, market forecasts and as a result getting quality reports covering all verticals, whether be it gaining perspective on current market conditions or being ahead in the cut throat Global competition. Since we excel at business research to help businesses grow, we also offer consulting as an extended arm to our services which only helps us gain more insight into current trends and problems. Consequently, we keep evolving as an all-rounder provider of viable information under one roof. Sunny Denis (Sales Manager), (Research N Reports) 10916, Gold Point Dr, Houston, TX, Pin 77064, +1-8886316977, sales@researchnreports.com, www.researchnreports.com This release was published on openPR. Permanent link to this press release: Copy Please set a link in the press area of your homepage to this press release on openPR. openPR disclaims liability for any content contained in this release. Cynarin Market: In-Depth Analysis on Size, Emerging Trends, Application, Industry Challenges, Competitive Market Share and Top Key Companys Profile | Global Forecast to 2025 Cynarin Market https://www.businessindustryreports.com/sample-request/84408 https://www.businessindustryreports.com/buy-now/84408/single https://www.businessindustryreports.com/check-discount/84408 Global Cynarin Market Research Report 2018 report provides the newest industry data and industry future trends, allowing you to identify the products and end users driving Revenue growth and profitability. The industry report lists the leading competitors and provides the insights strategic industry Analysis of the key factors influencing the market.Global Cynarin Market Overview:The report spread across 94 pages is an overview of the Global Cynarin Market Research Report 2018. The Global Cynarin Market is projected to grow at a healthy growth rate from 2018 to 2025 according to new research. The study focuses on market trends, leading players, supply chain trends, technological innovations, key developments, and future strategies. The thorough analysis in this report enables investors, CEOs, traders and suppliers to understand the market in a better way and based on that knowledge make well-informed decisions.Available Exclusive Sample Copy of this Report @This report studies the Global Cynarin Market over the forecast period of 2018 to 2025. The Global Cynarin Market is expected to grow at an impressive Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) from 2018 to 2025. Cynarin is a Hydroxycinnamic Acid and a biologically active chemical constituent of Artichoke (Cynara Cardunculus). Chemically, it is an ester formed from Quinic Acid and two units of Caffeic Acid.A complete analysis of the competitive landscape of the Global Cynarin Market is provided in the report. This section includes company profiles of market key players. The profiles include contact information, gross, capacity, product details of each firm, price, and cost. This report investigates new project feasibility with a purpose of enlightening new entrants about the possibilities in this market. In this report, thorough SWOT analysis & investment analysis is provided which forecasts imminent opportunities for the Cynarin Market players.Purchase this report online with 94 Pages, List of Tables & Figures and in-depth Table of Contents on Global Cynarin Market Research Report 2018 @Major Key Players:1 Hoelzel2 Xi'an Victory Bio3 Xi'an Rainbow Biotech co.,ltd4 Xian LiSheng-Tech Co., Ltd.5 Paninkret Chem.-Pharm6 SUNRISE UNTRACHEM GROUP7 Ningbo HONOR Chemtech Co., Ltd.On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split into -1 2.5% Cynarin2 5% Cynarin and OtherGeographically, this report studies the top producers and consumers, focuses on product capacity, production, value, consumption, market share and growth opportunity in these key regions, covering: North America, Europe, China, Japan and Other Regions (India, Southeast Asia, Central & South America and Middle East & Africa).Grab Your Report at an Impressive Discount @This study answers to the below key questions:1 What will the market size be in 2025 and what will the growth rate be?2 What are the key market trends?3 What is driving this market?4 What are the challenges to market growth?5 Who are the key vendors in this market space?6 What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors?7 What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?In the end, this report covers data and information on capacity and production overview, production, market share analysis, sales overview, supply, sales, and shortage, import, export and consumption as well as cost, price, revenue and gross margin of Cynarin Market.Major Points in Table of Contents:Global Cynarin Market Report 20181 Cynarin Market Overview2 Global Cynarin Market Competition by Manufacturers3 Global Cynarin Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)4 Global Cynarin Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2018)5 Global Cynarin Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type6 Global Cynarin Market Analysis by Application7 Global Cynarin Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis8 Cynarin Manufacturing Cost Analysis9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders11 Market Effect Factors Analysis12 Global Cynarin Market Forecast (2018-2025)13 Research Findings and Conclusion14 AppendixAbout usBusinessindustryReports.com is digital database of comprehensive market reports for global industries. As a market research company, we take pride in equipping our clients with insights and data that holds the power to truly make a difference to their business. Our mission is singular and well-defined we want to help our clients envisage their business environment so that they are able to make informed, strategic and therefore successful decisions for themselves.Media ContactBusiness Industry ReportsPune Indiasales@businessindustryreports.com+19376349940 Hospital Management Software Market: Lucrative Opportunities across Globe https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=36473 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=36473 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Information technology has transformed the field of medicine. In the fast-paced medical industry, it is difficult to manage and operate a multi-specialty hospital. A hospital management system is a web or computer based system that enables the functioning of any medical set up or hospital. Hospital management software assists in making the entire functioning paperless. This software integrates with all the information regarding doctors, patients, and staff among others. Across the globe, various health organizations have installed hospital management software in order to streamline their business and operation process, better manage projects of all sizes, and boost their work efficiency across the management or board. This in turn is expected to increase the demand for hospital management software during the forecast period 2017- 2025.The global hospital management software market has been segmented on the basis of deployment type, module, and geography. On the basis of deployment type, the market has been segregated into cloud and on premises. Online report generation is a modern technological trend that provides cost cutting and improves communication with the end users. This software helps end users to manage and complete their work on time. Additionally, rising demand for installation of these software in hospitals is expected to increase the demand for this product in the coming years. Based on module, the market has been bifurcated into radiology utilization management solutions, event driven solutions, bed management, system, online registration solution, event driven patient tracking, attendance, laboratory equipment management solutions, and real time locating among others. With the help of this advance software, enterprises are able to track the basic information of employees including address and contact numbers along with professional details. New technology developments that allow communication over a broader range of end points is anticipated to deliver opportunity for market growth during the forecast period. On the flip side, cyber threat is expected to be a challenge for the growth of the hospital management software market. In developing countries, lack of software knowledge and higher investment infrastructure cost to implement such systems is restraining the growth of the global hospital management market. Medical industries are shifting business to the cloud platform and are also focusing on installing this product to improve their customer management, avoid duplication of data and functionality, and enhance cost effectiveness of their services. These factors are in turn anticipated to create new demand for this product in the near future.Request PDF Brochure:This global research report and study offers a complete assessment of the hospital management software market and covers in depth insights, historical data, statistical figures, facts and industry-validated primary and secondary market data. Geographically, the global hospital management software market has been segmented into North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East & Africa (MEA), and South America. In the year 2016, North America led the hospital management software market followed by Asia Pacific and Europe. Asia Pacific is estimated to be the fastest growing market for this product currently, followed by Europe. High internet penetration and cloud based services is projected to mainly drive the Asia Pacific hospital management software market during the forecast period from 2017- 2025. Asia Pacific is the most attractive and fastest growing market for hospital management software as vendors are continuously expanding their business across various parts of this region.This report explores the major international industry players in detail. Major companies operating in the global hospital management software market are GE Healthcare (U.K.), Awarepoint Corporation (the U.S.), IBM Corporation, (the U.S.), Ekahau, Inc. (the U.S.), Aero Scout, Inc. (the U.S), Zebra Corporation (the U.S), Infor (the U.S), Tyco International Ltd.(Republic of Ireland), Vizbee RFID Systems Ltd.(the U.S), Trimble Navigation Ltd.(the U.S), Siemens Healthcare (Germany), Motorola Solutions Inc. (the U.S), Sonitor Technologies Inc. (the U.S), Sisoft (the U.S), MEDIWARE Information Systems, Inc. (U.K), and Versus Technology Inc.(the U.S) among others.This report explores the major international industry players in detail. Major companies in the global home media server market are Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd (South Korea), Apple Inc. (the U.S), Autonomic Control Inc.(the U.S), Logitech (Switzerland), Panasonic Corporation (Japan), Sony Corporation (Japan), Western Digital Corporation (the U.S), Sling Media Inc. (the U.S), and CyberLink (the U.S) among others.Request Report TOC:About TMRTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact TMR90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email:sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Mobile Wireless Gaming Controller Market: Future Forecast Assessed on the basis of how the Market is predicted to Grow https://www.researchnreports.com/request_sample.php?id=212738 https://www.researchnreports.com/ask_for_discount.php?id=212738 www.researchnreports.com Research N Reports has announced the addition of a market intelligence report, titled Global Mobile Wireless Gaming Controller Sales Market Report to its database. The report serves as a professional study encompassing all the important aspects of the global market.Get sample of this report:The authors have provided the important definitions and specifications of the Mobile Wireless Gaming Controller market right at the beginning of the report. This has been followed by a professional study of different classifications and applications deemed vital for players operating in the market. In the next chapter, the report has presented a comprehensive analysis of the driving factors, interview prices, and sales of the market in terms of type. A similar set of analysis has been offered on the part of applications, except the sales factor is replaced by consumption.In the Global Mobile Wireless Gaming Controller Industry Market Analysis & Forecast 2018-2023, the revenue is valued at USD XX million in 2017 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2023, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2018 and 2023. The production is estimated at XX million in 2017 and is forecasted to reach XX million by the end of 2023, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2018 and 2023.Avail discount on this report:It covers Regional Segment Analysis, Type, Application, Major Manufactures, Industry Chain Analysis, Competitive Insights and Macroeconomic Analysis.A detailed evaluation of the competitive landscape of the global Mobile Wireless Gaming Controller market has also been presented in this market study. Researchers have reviewed the profiles of the leading companies functional in this market in a bid to assess their growth prospects and the key strategies they have adopted for the development of their businesses.The main objective of this research study is to provide a clear understanding of the global Mobile Wireless Gaming Controller market to the participants and assist them in creating crucial strategies to gain an edge over their competitors.Leading players in the Global Mobile Wireless Gaming Controller Market are profiled in the report to understand their role in the market and their upcoming strategies. The manufacturing base of each key player and their share in the market for each product and application segment of the gem quality diamonds market have been described in the report. Various marketing channels and strategies likely to bear fruit in the 2018-2023 period have been described in the report to help readers formulate winning strategies.Moreover, extensive investments are being made in research and development to enable product enhancements and improvements. With the advent of new technologies on a regular basis, players are striving hard to incorporate the latest technology to gain a competitive edge above the rest.After studying key companies, the report focuses on the startups contributing towards the growth of the market. Possible mergers and acquisitions among the startups and key organizations are identified by the reports authors in the study. Most companies in the Mobile Wireless Gaming Controller market are currently engaged in adopting new technologies, strategies, product developments, expansions, and long-term contracts to maintain their dominance in the global market.Research N Reports is a new age market research firm where we focus on providing information that can be effectively applied. Today being a consumer driven market, companies require information to deal with the complex and dynamic world of choices. Where relying on a sound board firm for your decisions becomes crucial. Research N Reports specializes in industry analysis, market forecasts and as a result getting quality reports covering all verticals, whether be it gaining perspective on current market conditions or being ahead in the cut throat Global competition. Since we excel at business research to help businesses grow, we also offer consulting as an extended arm to our services which only helps us gain more insight into current trends and problems. Consequently, we keep evolving as an all-rounder provider of viable information under one roof.Sunny Denis(Sales Manager),(Research N Reports)10916, Gold Point Dr,Houston, TX, Pin 77064,+1-8886316977,sales@researchnreports.com, Quantum Computing Market: Increasing Government Investment To Develop https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=36212 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=36212 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Quantum computing make use of significant subatomic particle capability to be present in more than one state at any given point of time. Due to the peculiar behavior of these particles, processing can be done in a faster manner and with minimal power requirement than traditional computers. Traditional computers encode information in bits with the values 1 or 0. These values act as on/off switches that eventually drive computer functions. On the other hand, quantum computing uses quantum bits i.e. qubit. However, they can store more information than 1s or 0s. It works on the two very important principles of quantum physics i.e. entanglement and superposition. When each qubit can represent both a 1 and a 0 at the same time, it is known as superposition. Furthermore, if the state of one bit (whether it is a 0 or a 1) can depend on the state of another bit, it is known as entanglement. Quantum computers are significantly powerful and processes information in a novel way.Increasing cybercrimes across the globe and growing implementation of quantum computing technology across the banking & finance, defense, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and healthcare markets is expected to drive the global quantum computing market. Governments of various countries are investing in quantum computing technology to expand their knowledge base related to quantum computing technologies. The increasing government investment to develop quantum computing solutions is projected to support the growth of the global quantum computing market. For instance, the European Commission plans to launch a US$ 1.1 billion initiative in 2018 on quantum technologies. This will help Europe to be at the forefront of the second quantum revolution. Furthermore, in 2017, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba disclosed that it is planning a US$ 15 billion investment in R&D projects. This investment is part of the companys DAMO (Discovery, Adventure, Momentum, and Outlook) Academy, and will include the opening of new labs, to be located in different places such as Singapore, Moscow, Seattle, China, and California.Request PDF Brochure:Shortage of desired skillsets for quantum computing can hamper the growth of this market globally. However, with rising government investment and intervention, quantum computing is expected to overcome this restraint. For instance, the New South Wales (NSW) government announced funds of US$ 26 million for the development of quantum computing and this is anticipated to help NSW become a global hub for innovative training in the field of quantum computing.The quantum computing market can be segmented based on components, end-use industry, and regions. On the basis of component, the market can be segmented into hardware, software, and services. In terms of end-use industry, the market can be segmented into banking & finance, defense, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and others.Geographically, the quantum computing market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and South America. North America and Europe are expected to lead due to the growing government investment in the field of quantum computing. However, the market in Asia Pacific is expected to expand at a significant pace due to the increasing research and development activities across emerging economies such as China, India, and Japan.Some of the key players in the quantum computing market are IBM Corporation, D-Wave Systems Inc., Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP, Toshiba Research Europe Ltd., QbitLogic, Alibaba Group Holding Limited, SPARROW QUANTUM, Qubitekk, Inc., Tokyo Quantum Computing, Cambridge Quantum Computing Ltd, Anyon Systems Inc., 1QB Information Technologies Inc., Rigetti & Co, Inc., and moreRequest Report TOC:About TMRTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact TMR90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email:sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Track Geometry Measurement System Market: To Hinder The Expansion Of The Market https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=34655 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=34655 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Track geometry measurement system is essential parameter of track condition. Track geometry measurement system is used to measure the condition of a railway track in order to avoid any detrimental effects on passengers and freight. The track geometry measurement system (TGMS) provides precise and reliable track data for short-term as well as long-term maintenance scheduling in order to avoid any harmful effects. The inertial-based track geometry measurement system is gaining popularity currently. The inertial-based track geometry measurement system is a compact and lightweight system and provides accurate evaluation of rail track geometry in various operational conditions. The rapid adoption of inertial based rail track geometry measurement systems is boosting the growth of track geometry measurement system.Increasing need for security and safety in railway transportation and the rise in railway networks and metro lines are some factors that are responsible for the significant growth of the global track geometry measurement system market. Numerous mishaps and accidents involving trains have raised concerns worldwide and are prompting governments to digitize the mode of transport in order to ensure a safer journey. Increasing demand for smart technologies in order to maintain operational efficiency of tracks is driving the global track geometry measurement system market. Rapid progress in high speed railways is expected to boost the global track geometry measurement system market. High speed railways are considered a safe mode of transportation. High speed railway projects have been progressing rapidly, thereby creating an opportunity for the track geometry measurement market, worldwide. However, slow infrastructure growth in developing regions is likely to hinder the expansion of the market.Request PDF Brochure:The global track geometry measurement system market can be categorized based on operation type, measurement type, railway type, component, and geography. Based on operation type, the track geometry measurement market can be segmented into contact-based and no contact-based system. In terms of measurement type, the track geometry measurement market can be segmented into twist, track gauge, curvature, vertical profile, dipped joints, and other. The gauge segment is expected to expand significantly during the forecast period, as it decides which rolling stock is compatible with a particular track gauge in order to avoid derailment. Based on railway type, the track geometry measurement system can be segmented into high speed railways, heavy haul railways, light railways, and mass transit railways. The high speed railways segment is anticipated to fuel the track geometry measurement systems during the forecast period due to the rapid increase in high speed railway projects. Additionally, in terms of component, the track geometry measurement system can be segmented into sensor, data storage, camera, power supply equipment, and other. Based on geography, the global track geometry measurement system can be segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and Latin America. The market in Asia Pacific is estimated to expand rapidly during the forecast period due to the various railway developments in the countries such as China, Australia and India. Rapid expansion in metro rails in various countries such as India and Australia is fueling the track geometry measurement market in the region. The North America track geometry measurement market is also anticipated to expand significantly during the forecast period due to the growing economies. Emerging regions such as Middle East & Africa and South America are also projected to expand at a significant pace during the forecast period.The global track geometry measurement system market includes various players. Some of the key players are MER MEC S.p.A., Ensco Inc., MRX Technologies, Plasser & Theurer, R. Bance & Co. Ltd., Bentley Systems Inc., Goldschmidt Thermit Group, Balfour Beatty, Fugro, and EGIS.Request Report TOC:About TMRTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact TMR90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email:sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Sodium Hyaluronate Eye Drops Market to be at Forefront by 2025 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=42035 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sodium-hyaluronate-eye-drops-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Sodium hyaluronate eye drops are used to treat eye soreness and dryness. They lubricate, moisten and soothe the surface of the eye, giving the eye a comfortable feeling. Sodium hyaluronate eye drops are also known as artificial tears. Sodium hyaluronate is a thick polymer and is found naturally in the human body, particularly in areas that need lubrication, such as eyes and joints. Sodium hyaluronate is an ideal molecule in eye lubrication. It can efficaciously protect the ocular tissues against harmful oxidative wounds caused by free radicals due to its antioxidant properties. Topical ophthalmic sodium hyaluronate application has been observed to be safe and well-tolerated in both short and long-term usages. Most cases of dry eye are associated with diabetes.Rise in government initiatives and awareness among people, increase in prevalence of dry eye disease, and upsurge in clinical trial activity for sodium hyaluronate eye drops are the key accelerating factors for the global Sodium Hyaluronate Eye Drops Market. According to Touch Digital Media Limited, dry eye disease (DED) is a leading cause of visits to ophthalmologists. However, stringent regulations for product approval are anticipated to hinder the growth of the global sodium hyaluronate eye drops market growth. Nonetheless, factors such as unmet medical needs and rise in demand in emerging countries are projected to create attractive opportunities for the sodium hyaluronate eye drops market. According to a study, worldwide about 100 million people are affected with dry eye disease and yet in most cases dry eye remains undiagnosed and therefore untreated.The global sodium hyaluronate eye drops market can be segmented based on indication, age group, distribution channel, and geography. In terms of indication, the sodium hyaluronate eye drops market can be classified into sjogren's syndrome, conjunctival and corneal epithelial injuries, Stevens-Johnson syndrome, and others. Based on age group, the sodium hyaluronate eye drops market can be divided into adult and pediatrics. In terms of distribution channel, the sodium hyaluronate eye drops market can be categorized into hospital pharmacies, retail pharmacies, and others.Request to View Brochure of Report -Based on geography, the global sodium hyaluronate eye drops market can be segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. North America dominates the sodium hyaluronate eye drops market. Factors such as increase in the number of clinical trial activities, early adoption of treatment products, and rise in the patient pool undergoing diagnosis in the U.S. are anticipated to drive the sodium hyaluronate eye drops market in North America during the forecast period.According to the National Health and Wellness Survey 2017, 6.8% of the adult population in the U.S., which is 16.4 million people, has been diagnosed with dry eye disease. Europe is the second leading sodium hyaluronate eye drops market. The sodium hyaluronate eye drops market in Asia Pacific is expected to expand at a significant pace during the forecast period due to rise in awareness among people regarding eye diseases, awareness programs conducted by leading players, growth of aging population, etc. In November 2017, Novartis International AG promoted awareness on dry eye syndrome, a common condition prevalent among computer users. Latin America and Middle East & Africa are emerging markets for sodium hyaluronate eye drops. Rapid population growth, rise in awareness among people regarding eye diseases, and government initiatives are the key drivers of the sodium hyaluronate eye drops market in these regions.Major players operating in the sodium hyaluronate eye drops market include TRB Chemedica International SA, Alcon, Bausch & Lomb, Santen Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Abbott Medical Optics Inc., Altacor Limited, Medicom Healthcare, Thea Pharmaceuticals Limited, Scope Ophthalmics Ltd., and Mid-Optic Ltd.View Report -About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Osteomalacia Drugs Market to Record Sturdy Growth by 2025 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=42143 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/osteomalacia-drugs-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com In the recent times, the global Osteomalacia Drugs Market has gained a significant momentum, owing to the rising prevalence of osteomalacia across the world. Disorders caused by the deficiency of vitamin D and mineral deficiency cause osteomalacia in humans. Cancer, liver diseases, autoimmune disorders, several drugs, such as phenytoin and phenobarbital, and certain surgeries, such as stomach surgery, can also cause osteomalacia. With the advancements in the drugs to increase their efficiency, this market is likely to report healthy growth over the next few years.This report is aimed at offering a thoroughly assessed study of the global market for osteomalacia drugs, focusing on the growth drivers, obstructions, challenges, opportunities, market trends, and future potentials.The augmenting number of people suffering from osteomalacia and rickets across the world is driving the global osteomalacia drugs market, significantly. In addition to this, the easy availability of novel drugs, such as burosumab and parathyroid hormone (PTH) for the treatment of pediatric and adult patients having hypophosphatemia is also fueling the demand for osteomalacia drugs. The U.S. FDA granted the breakthrough therapy designation to Asfotase Alfa in 2015, which is anticipated to support the global market over the next few years.Request to View Brochure of Report -On the basis of the geography, the global market for osteomalacia drugs t can be categorized into five regions, which are North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa. Among these, North America has been dominant and is expected to remain so over the next few years, thanks to a well-developed healthcare infrastructure, an increasing demand for vitamin D, constantly changing lifestyle, and the rising expenditure on medical and healthcare in the region.According to a report, around 40% of the overall U.S. population is suffering from the deficiency of vitamin D, which is why the country demonstrates such high prevalence of bone-related disorders. With the increasing awareness among consumers regarding various types of bone disorders and the easy availability of highly-advanced technologies, the North America market for osteomalacia drugs is likely to witness significant growth in the years to come.Europe is anticipated to retain its second number position in the overall market over the period from 2017 to 2025, thanks to the increased investments for research and development by the governments in this region. The Asia Pacific market is predicted to observe a healthy rise in the near future, owing to the ongoing development in the medical and healthcare infrastructure in prominent Asian economies and the presence of a large patient pool in this region. Other regional markets, such as Latin America and the Middle East and Africa, are also expected to report a steady rise in the years to come.Due to the presence of a large pool of local as well as international participants, the vendor landscape in the global market for osteomalacia drugs is fragmented and highly competitive. Some of the most prominent vendors of osteomalacia drugs across the world are Kyowa Hakko Kirin International plc, Zeria Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer Inc., GlaxoSmithKline plc, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Mankind Pharma, Pharmavite LLC, Chemvon Biotechnology (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., and Abbott Laboratories.View Report -About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Liberti ready for town council after serving as deputy supervisor For close to a year, Joseph Liberti has been learning all he can about the inner workings of the town council and town government, serving as deputy supervisor. Upon being... Risman looks to bring wealth of municipal experience to board When it comes to municipal government, youd be hardpressed to find a candidate with a more extensive background than Michael Risman. Risman is a partner with Hodgson Russ, where he... The 56th Annual Michigan Youth Arts Festival was held in May at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. Each year, the festival features exhibitions and performances in dance, theater, instrumental and vocal music, visual arts, music composition, films and creative writing from selected Michigan high school students. At the festival, students gather to explore, celebrate and showcase their talents. To the editor: The Midland County Emergency Food Pantry Network held a mobile food pantry at Trinity Lutheran Church on Jefferson Avenue in Midland on May 24. In addition to hosting the event, the congregation also funded the free food give-away. Seventy-six volunteers served 201 families (578 individuals) with 16,673 pounds of food purchased from the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan. The food included fresh produce (tomatoes, peppers and potatoes), boxed and canned foods, frozen pizza, beverages, pastries and breads. The Network also is very grateful to the many donors of food, money and time throughout the year to the Network's mission of "always food in every home." Midland County residents in (financial) need of food and personal care items during the year may call the Network number of 989-486-9393 to leave your name and phone number. The fifth MFP in 2018 is scheduled for Thursday, June 21, at St. John's Lutheran Church on Carpenter Street in Midland. Thanks again to the members of Trinity Lutheran Church for their generous partnership in this mission. SALLY ANN SUTTON Midland County EFPN To the editor: Violence seems to be a universal concern that exists on so many levels internationally, within our own country, in our communities, and even in some homes. There does not seem to be any quick fixes. If you find yourself feeling anxious about this reality, you might value joining a local organization grounded in the belief that a non-violent mindset is a worthy goal, locally and across the globe. That organization is Nonviolent Peaceforce Midland Chapter (NPMC), initiated in 2011. Our chapter meets quarterly to support nonviolence locally and globally. At our April meeting, we discussed several peace initiatives, including: welcoming Gail Hoffman, chair of Midland Noon Rotarys Peacebuilding Committee who spoke about past and ongoing local collaboration; conflict resolution training in Midland County schools; and a partnership with St. Johns Episcopal Church to build a personal relationship with an NP peacekeeping Protection Officer. This individual promotes womens participation in peace building and protection, with the goal to reduce the prevalence and impact of conflict and gender-based violence in communities in the war-torn country of South Sudan. If you believe that nonviolence is an important goal in your life and you want to take an active role, please consider joining us at our next quarterly meeting at 4-5:30 p.m. July 11 at First United Methodist Church in the Hearth Room, just as you enter the church from Ellsworth Street. KATHY MCCREEDY Midland Prince Harry has been vocal about his fondness for children and this, among others, is a sign that he will make a great dad to his future child with wife Meghan Markle. Aficionados are anticipating the addition of a new royal baby now that the prince has settled down. All eyes are on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for any possible sign that the latter is carrying a child. Prince Harry and Markle have yet to share details about when they exactly plan to start raising kids. However, they have individually voiced their desire to have children of their own in previous interviews. Fondness For Children Prince Harry has previously expressed interest to start his own family as soon as he settles down. He turned broody during a visit to New Zealand when he talked about his niece and nephew (Prince William and Kate Middleton's children). He expressed his excitement on the birth of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's second child, Princess Charlotte. He admitted that he was looking forward to meeting her and to holding her. In his royal visits, Prince Harry always finds time to have fun and to mingle with people. Whenever there are children around, he makes it a point to interact with them. Royal fans said that he takes after his deceased mother, Princess Diana, who holds a special place in her heart for children. Kid At Heart The Duke of Sussex also possesses traits that will make him a great dad. He is not afraid to be goofy. He knows how to make people laugh or smile, which is a plus when he becomes a dad. Prince Harry may be in his 30s but he is a kid at heart, too. This trait makes him amicable to the children as he can interact well with them. The Duke is ready to support others. He is the ultimate cheerleader, which is a bonus when he is out there being the supportive dad during his kids' games. Most importantly, Prince Harry works with kids on a much more personal level. He is the patron to several charitable causes that cater to children's wellbeing. A photo of him hugging terminally ill Carson Hartley in 2014 at the WellChild Charity Awards tugged at the hearts of many. Sadly, the young boy died in 2015 and the prince expressed his condolences through a letter sent to the boy's parents. Northern Ireland Office | Flickr Earlier this year, Fox News got a hold of Democratic Senator Mark Warners text messages in yet another scoop in their never-ending quest to undermine Robert Muellers investigation. This raised plenty of eyebrows in the media world thanks to what happened a couple weeks before this story. Sean Hannity (who just told targets of the special counsels investigation to destroy evidence) had his Twitter account temporarily suspended, and a bunch of fakes popped up while he was locked out. Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaksan agency which acts as something of a laundromat for Kremlin intelligencereached out to one of the fake accounts. Dell Gilliamthe woman behind the parodyprovided screenshots of her conversation with Assange to The Daily Beast. Assange told the person he thought was Hannity that You can send me messages on other channels. Have some news about Warner. When Fox News story broke, Assange tweeted When the sun shines it gets warner, which took the conspiracy theory to a fever pitch. Turns out, it wasnt Wikileaks who sent Fox News Mark Warners textsthe phone call was coming from inside the House. Yesterday, the Senate Intelligence Committeechaired by Republican Richard Burr of North Carolinaannounced that the House Intelligence Committee leaked Mark Warners texts. Per the New York Times: Senator Richard M. Burr of North Carolina, the committees Republican chairman, and Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat, were so perturbed by the leak that they demanded a rare meeting with Speaker Paul D. Ryan last month to inform him of their findings. They used the meeting with Mr. Ryan to raise broader concerns about the direction of the House Intelligence Committee under its chairman, Representative Devin Nunes of California, the officials said. To the senators, who are overseeing what is effectively the last bipartisan investigation on Capitol Hill into Russias interference in the 2016 election, the leak was a serious breach of protocol and a partisan attack by one intelligence committee against the other. But thats not all. Trumps disastrous trade war that will become official once Canada, Mexico and the EUs tariffs take effect next month (ours are already in place), will certainly hurt the economyespecially Trump voters. Senate Republicans have introduced a bill designed to curb the presidents powers on this front, and if passed, it would require congressional approval on all changes to imports. Making claims regarding national security to justify what is inherently an economic question not only harms the very people we all want to help and impairs relations with our allies but also could invite our competitors to retaliate. Senator Bob Corker (@SenBobCorker) June 6, 2018 If the president truly believes invoking Section 232 is necessary to protect the United States from a genuine threat, he should make the case to Congress and to the American people and do the hard work necessary to secure congressional approval. Senator Bob Corker (@SenBobCorker) June 6, 2018 Now, even though this is encouraging, don't get your hopes up. After all, we're talking about an inherently anti-democratic party who would rather liquidate a State Supreme Court than abide by its ruling. There is very little hidden in the GOP's actions that gives me hope that they will Do the Right Thingbut luckily, because the Republican Party is solely comprised of cowardly, self-interested hacks, Doing the Right Thing in this instance may line up with their political survival instincts. The trade war is our best hope for reason to prevail, as it's so incredibly stupid and self-destructive that everyone from Bernie Sanders to the Koch Brothers agrees that this cannot happen. Lastly, we're not sure what this pertains to and it could be unrelated to the special counsel, but given that the Senate Intel Committee took this action on the same day they rebuked their counterparts in the House over a portion of the Mueller investigation, the possibility remains that this is connected to it. The Senate quietly approved a resolution tonight allowing Senate Intel to assist DOJ on a pending investigation. The Committee is cooperating with the Department on this matter, per Burr and Warner, referring questions to DOJ Manu Raju (@mkraju) June 6, 2018 Jacob Weindling is a staff writer for Paste politics. Follow him on Twitter at @Jakeweindling. Pornhubs VPNhub service does a fair job and the price is right, but there are better services if youre looking for anonymity. The Windows app is very easy to use, and it offers a nice ability to view the status of specific servers. VPNhub in brief: + P2P allowed: Yes + Business location: Canada and the United States + Number of servers: 826 + Number of country locations: 18 + Cost: $60 per year + VPN protocol: OpenVPN + Data encryption: AES-256/AES-128 + Data authentication: Unknown + Handshake encryption: Unknown If ever there was a company meant to produce a virtual private network (VPN) service as a natural outgrowth of its business its Pornhub. Thats why it surprised no one, but possibly intrigued everyone, when the famous site introduced VPNhub in late May. VPNhub is focused on mobile first with apps for Android and iOS that are the gateway to the free and premium services. Everyone can use VPNhubs ad-supported service on mobile, but youll need a premium subscription to use the service on Mac and Windows. For that reason, we can say at the outset that VPNhub is not an ideal choice if youre striving for anonymity. The very fact that you have to pay with a credit card via your primary Google or Apple account makes your identity knowable. Note: This review is part of our best VPNs roundup. Go there for details about competing products and how we tested them. Features and services IDG VPNhubs default view on Windows. When I first installed VPNhub, Windows 10s SmartScreen filter flagged it as suspicious. That could simply be a result of the app being so new, or it might be that it isnt digitally signed. Whatever the reason, thats not a great start to installing a VPN backed by a porn company. After installation one thing that struck me about VPNhub is how derivative it is. The desktop program is strikingly similar to Strong VPN. I am not sure how that happened, but if I had to guess, VPNhub has some kind of agreement with Strong VPN parent StackPath. Not only does the interface borrow heavily from Strong VPN, but VPNhub also relies on IPVanish (another StackPath company) for most, if not all, of its server locations. Its not terribly surprising for a site as large as Pornhub to hire out for a tangential service like VPNhub. Daily operations of the VPNhub site and the various apps also appear to be managed by App Atomic, a mobile development studio. When you first start up VPNhub the interface is incredibly simple. Theres a stylized map at the top with a connected/disconnected symbol. Below that is a drop-down menu where you can choose your level of encryption as either AES-128 or AES-256. IDG VPNhubs country locations. Below that is a Change Location button, which takes you to a list of VPNhubs various locations that include 18 countries and 10 different U.S. locations. For the most part, you just select the country or location you want, click Save at the bottom-right of the window. Then when you return to the primary interface select Connect and the VPN goes to work. If this is the first time youre using VPNhub on Windows it will quickly install a TAP driver before connecting. VPNhubs server list is detailed with some very helpful information. Each location lists the country, city, number of servers in that location, the current average load capacity of all those servers, and the average ping. Anyone who wants to drill down further can click the number of servers to see every single server available in that locationagain, you will get the name of each server, the load, and the ping for each one. That is very nice and something power users will enjoy. Similar to Strong VPN, theres a settings cog icon at the top of the window. The settings view has five different tabs including General, Connection, Logs, Licenses, and About. Under the General tab you can set VPNhub to start when Windows starts, connect automatically to a server, and control what happens when you hit the X button in the right-hand corner. The Connection tab lets you choose between OpenVPN UDP or TCP, which port to use, as well as options to automatically reconnect, DNS and IPv6 leak protection, and an internet kill switch. The other tabs dont have any features, but the Logs tab may come in handy for troubleshooting. VPNhub costs $10.99 per month or $60 per year. The VPNhub app is available on Android, iOS, Mac, and Windows. As mentioned earlier, all payments must happen via the VPNhub app on your Android or iOS device. VPNhub supports simultaneous use on up to three devices at once. Performance IDG VPNhub with a live connection. VPNhubs performance was fairly mediocre and not all that different from what I experienced with IPVanish. Overall VPNhub retained 24.4 percent of the base speed using five different locations around the world. The worst-performing location was Japan, but the United Kingdom connection was particularly good. All of the other locations were close to, or above, 20 megabytes per second, making them serviceable for most online usesespecially streaming video. Privacy, anonymity, and trust Weve already determined that VPNhub isnt doing you any favors in the realm of anonymity since you have to pay for the service with your primary Apple or Google account. After that, VPNhub asks you to input an email address and create a password in order to log in on the desktop. VPNhubs official business address is a little tricky to suss out. Theres no information available on App Atomics site, and Pornhub is based in Montreal but does not list its address. However, Pornhub is owned by MindGeek, which is officially headquartered in Luxembourg but also has a Montreal office at 7777 boulevard Decarie, Montreal, Quebec H4P 2H2. So well go with that. Pornhubs vice president of operations is Corey Price. The privacy policy on the App Atomic website says VPNhub does not track the browsing activities of users when they are logged into the VPN service. Thats great, but it also says that it shares aggregate or non-personally identifiable information with third parties for advertising, marketing, or research purposes. That aggregation likely affects VPNhubs free users who are relying on an ad-supported service, but it is an issue to be aware of. Conclusion App Atomic VPNhub works as advertised. It has a good level of encryption, relies on the OpenVPN protocol, and the desktop program is very easy to use. But the privacy policy is not great, the app has some usability issues to work out, and accountability is suspect. This is not the service you want to use if youre trying to stay as private as possible. You cant be anonymous to any serious degree, and there simply isnt enough accountability at this point to put a high degree of trust into the product. If all you want is an encrypted connection and everything else be damned then itll work. If you need more personal privacy from a VPN then this is not the service for you. 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. Were only two days from the point where E3 festivities will begin, but theres still evidently enough time for a last-minute announcement: Hitman 2 exists. No, not the Hitman 2 that already released in 2002. A new one. Theres a trailer too: And a brief description: Hitman 2 takes players on a global adventure across a mix of bustling international locations, including a vibrant Miami setting with the colorful ambience of an in-progress motorsport race bringing a new backdrop to the series. Yup, sounds like Hitman. Noteworthy here is that this isnt titled Hitman: Season Two. The previous Hitman was released episodically and was actually very successful in doing so, I thought. From the title though, Id guess this is a more traditional one-and-done release, maybe a bit of DLC post-release. Well know more in a few days. Theres also an intriguing Sniper Assassin mode, the series first co-op outing, allowing two players to work together online to take down their targets. From the trailer, it looks like youre limited to just shootingnone of the usual Hitmans costumed antics here. Could be fun, though. The reveal itself might be over, but expect to see more Hitman 2 at some point this weekend. Warner Bros. doesnt have its own press conference, but I assume itll crop up during either Microsoft or Sonys press conferencesso on Sunday afternoon or Monday evening, respectively. Stay tuned. In this episode of the Full Nerd, Gordon Mah Ung, Mark Hachman, and Adam Patrick Murray call in from Taiwan to discuss all the glorious new PC hardware theyve seen, fondled, and prodded at Computex 2018. Two episodes in one week! Youre going to get spoiled, friends. (In case you missed it yesterday, we aired a Full Nerd special edition interview with Jim Anderson, AMDs senior VP of computing, with deeper details into Threadripper 2.) Theres a lot to talk about in this one. Heres just small sampling of what youll find in this hour-plus long episode: Witness it all in the video embedded above. You can also watch The Full Nerd episode 55 on YouTube (toss us a follow while youre there!) or listen to it on Soundcloud if you prefer the audio alone. Speaking of audio, you can subscribe to the Full Nerd in iTunes (please leave a review if you enjoy the show). Were also on Stitcher, Google Play, or you can point your favorite podcast-savvy RSS reader to: http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:226190044/sounds.rss Have a PC- or gaming-related question? Email thefullnerd@pcworld.com and well try to answer it in the next episode. Be sure to follow PCWorld on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch to watch future episodes live and pick our brains in real time! Carissa Lehr of Cumberland County points to the box in which she stores daily doses of methadone. Methadone is available only from federally-controlled clinics. People can receive it only if they pass regular screenings for illegal drugs and participate in other forms of treatment such as counseling. (David Wenner, PennLive.com) CUMBERLAND COUNTY -- Carissa Lehr stands on the porch of her mobile home a little before 9 a.m. Her long brown hair is brushed and shining. Inside, her toddler son will soon wake, and Lehr will make him a waffle in her spotless kitchen. Her life looks vastly different from a few years ago, when a decade-long addiction to painkillers and heroin controlled her every move. The 33-year-old credits the reversal to two things: The birth of her son. And methadone. Don't Edit Carissa Lehr, who has built a track record of complying with treatment, is allowed to take home doses of methadone, so she no longer has to go to the clinic every day. As required, she keeps the doses in this locked box. (David Wenner, PennLive.com) Methadone is one of three medications increasingly used to treat addiction to opioids and is now considered the gold standard for treatment. This follows the realization that for many people, it's almost impossible to recover from opioid addiction using counseling and willpower alone. Methadone prevents the excruciating withdrawal sickness that happens when people addicted to opioids try to quit. Although it's also an opioid, people using it correctly don't get high. And while they must take it daily, they don't suffer the all controlling preoccupation that's part of heroin addiction. They can live normal lives and focus on things like caring for their children. Don't Edit Video shows Jennifer Smith, Pennsylvania's secretary of drug and alcohol programs, who is overseeing the response to the opioid crisis. Unfortunately, access to the three medications depends on where someone lives. In parts of rural Pennsylvania, which have some of the nation's highest fatal overdose rates, the medications are scarce. Years after rural county coroners and others began sounding an alarm, shortages persist. It's the result of multiple things: The perpetual shortage of health care services in rural areas, especially services involving mental health and addiction. The fact that some of the medications can be dispensed only in tightly-controlled settings or by doctors with special certification. The relatively-new consensus that medications are the best hope for many people addicted to opioids. Transportation obstacles that can, if a methadone clinic is established in a rural area, restrict the number of people it can serve and maybe its financial viability. A lingering stigma regarding the use of drugs to treat drug addiction. "We definitely still have a lot of work do. I think we're taking the right steps," says Jennifer Smith, Pennsylvania's secretary of drug and alcohol programs. Don't Edit Carissa Lehr is among the fortunate ones. She gets her methadone at a clinic few miles from her home near Mechanicsburg. In the beginning, she had to go every day. A nurse would pour the clear liquid into a cup and watch her drink it. Now that Lehr has a track record of being drug-free, she goes a few times per week and is allowed to take home doses for the other days. She stores them in a double-locked box high in a cupboard, far out of reach of her son. Medication alone isn't considered effective treatment. Lehr also attends recovery meetings and counseling. Temptation occasionally tugs, but now she feels equipped to withstand it. "There are still days when I have a thought. But it doesn't take me long to remember all of the negative and get out of it," she says. "I can wake up and play with my son and not be thinking about drugs." Don't Edit Pins on a map in the office of Jennifer Smith, Pennsylvania's secretary of drug and alcohol programs, show locations of the state-funded offices that oversee addiction recovery programs and the state's recently-established "Centers for Excellence," intended expand access to medications and other tools for recovery from opioid addiction. (David Wenner, PennLive.com) The other two medications commonly used to treat opioid addiction are buprenorphine and naltrexone. Buprenorphine, often used in a form called Suboxone, is another opioid used to prevent withdrawal and cravings without making the user high. Naltrexone isn't an opioid and works differently, blocking the effects of opioids so that if the person were to use heroin, they wouldn't get high. A popular form of naltrexone, called Vivitrol, requires only a monthly injection. All three are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Combined with counseling, they comprise what's known as "medication assisted treatment." Studies show people trying to recover from opioid addiction using one of the medications are 50 percent less likely to die from an overdose than those who try to recover without it. They also stay in treatment longer, and are more likely to return to treatment if they relapse. Unfortunately, not everyone in Pennsylvania can get it. Don't Edit Don't Edit Dr. Sarah Kawasaki is medical director of the opioid recovery clinic housed within Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute. (David Wenner, PennLive.com) About 200 people come regularly to a clinic within the Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute in Harrisburg. Open since November, the clinic attracts about 20 new patients each week. Some receive methadone, which can only be dispensed at federally-approved locations. Some receive prescriptions for buprenorphine, which can only be prescribed by doctors and nurses who have special certification. Some receive injections of Vivitrol. Some, still in the early, shaky days of recovery, receive one-day doses of buprenorphine, which in larger quantities is sometimes used to get high or sold on the street. Counseling and other forms of help are also available at the clinic, which is run by Penn State Health UPMC Pinnacle and made possible with a $1 million grant from the state. It's one of many places where people who live in Dauphin or Cumberland counties can go for medication-assisted treatment. Don't Edit Photo credit: University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Barely 25 miles away, just over the mountain in Perry County, the situation is starkly different. There, says county Commissioner Brenda Benner, access to medications to treat opioid addiction is "very, very limited." Rural areas of Pennsylvania have been hard hit by the opioid crisis. Beaver and Armstrong counties, for example, each had nearly 60 fatal overdoses per 100,000 people, far higher than the national average of 20 per 100,000 people. In rural Perry County, the overdose rate matches the national average. But because Perry has no hospitals, Benner suspects its overdose rate is under counted as a result of overdose victims being taken to out-of-county hospitals. The problem is serious enough that Perry has equipped its probation officers and ambulance crews with naloxone, the drug that can reverse an opioid overdose. But when asked where people can get medications to treat opioid addiction near communities such as Landisburg, Shermans Dale or Loysville, Benner says "I am not aware of anywhere." "I don't think people really understand how great the need is," she says. Don't Edit The situation brightened somewhat with the opening of a medical clinic run by Harrisburg-based Hamilton Health near Newport. The clinic includes a state-funded treatment center where people can go for Vivitrol injections or prescriptions for buprenorphine. But that still leaves many in Perry County to travel long distances to get medication and counseling. If they lost their driver's license because of their opioid addiction, or lost their car to the financial ruin that often results from addiction, that distance can be insurmountable. Don't Edit JFT, a non-profit, provides Vivitrol injections at this street-front location in Lemoyne, Cumberland County. (David Wenner, PennLive.com) Pennsylvania is chipping away at the problem. It has spent tens of millions in state and federal money to make treatment more available, especially in rural areas. It has helped launch a handful of centers like the one run by Penn State Health in Harrisburg around the state. The goal is for the centers, run by big health care systems including UPMC, Geisinger and WellSpan, to become regional "hubs." These hubs run full-service treatment clinics, while connecting with doctors and recovery organizations in outlying areas to help them make medication-assisted treatment available. For example, a rural doctor may be willing to provide Vivitrol injections, but be unable to provide other components of treatment. The regional hubs try to fill the void. The state has further established 45 smaller "Centers For Excellence" which provide medication-assisted treatment and various other types of help. Some, but not all, are in rural areas. Don't Edit Gov. Tom Wolf's administration also has changed Medicaid rules so people covered by the program can immediately receive buprenorphine as soon as they are willing, rather than face a "prior authorization" delay. Wolf has told private health insurers he expects them to provide undelayed access to the medications used to treat opioid addiction, and most have done so. That's significant for reasons including the fact Vivitrol costs about $1,000 a month for people with no insurance. Wolf's administration is working with hospitals so that people who survive an overdose can immediately be given burprenorphine, so that withdrawal pain doesn't quickly send them back to the street in search of heroin. Gaps are being filled. But it's a big, long job. "The cavalry is coming, but they're slow. People are dying," says Steve Barndt, executive director of Just For Today, a Cumberland County-based non-profit focused on recovery. Barndt sees the gaps daily. His organization, which distributes naltrexone shots at its street front location in Lemoyne, is considering a mobile clinic to deliver them to Perry and northern Dauphin counties. Since the doctor his organization works with is swamped but insists on seeing his naltrexone patients, Barndt is working on a telemedicine arrangement so a nurse can give the shots at a Perry County firehouse. Don't Edit Don't Edit Tim Nowak outside JFT in Lemoyne. ( Dan Gleiter | dgleiter@pennlive) These days, Tim Nowak wears a tie to work and keeps appointments. He goes to his daughter's cheerleading competitions and doesn't miss a parent-teacher conference. He's talking to his father again, after a two-year lapse during the depths of his heroin addiction. During those years, there wasn't room in his life for a family dinner, let alone normal personal relationships. "Those things didn't even exist during my active addiction," the 33-year-old Dauphin County resident says. His addiction began shortly after high school with Vicodin prescribed for pain from old football injuries. Eventually he turned to heroin. He had no health insurance and worse, no idea of how to overcome his addiction. "I honestly believed I was going to die a heroin addict," he says. Don't Edit Nowak was pointed to recovery by an unlikely person: his heroin dealer. The dealer sold heroin mainly to support his own addiction and had tried to get clean. Nowak was at a point where life was barely worth living. The dealer told him of a program and Nowak immediately walked there, only to be told there wasn't a spot available for him. He tried again the next day and his recovery soon began. After a week of detox, he began a 28-day program, living full-time at a facility and beginning to take naltrexone. He next spent a year-and-half living at a recovery house run by Just For Today, eventually becoming the house manager. More than two years later, he remains clean and still gets monthly injections of naltrexone. Meanwhile, 23 people he knew during his heroin-using years are dead of overdoses. Today, Nowak attends regular recovery meetings. He works for an organization that provides naltrexone and medication-assisted treatment. He expects he'll eventually stop using naltrexone, although he's in no great rush. He's come to understand that an addictive personality and other emotional issues contributed to his addiction. Naltrexone helps him stay focused on overcoming those things. Most importantly, it serves as a safeguard, so that a bad day doesn't trigger a lapse that sends him back to heroin. "It gives me the ability to deal with feelings rather than numbing my feelings with mind-altering substances," he says. Don't Edit A memorial inside JFT recovery services is devoted to someone who died of an overdose while trying to recover. (David Wenner, PennLive.com) In the early years of the opioid addiction crisis, the standard treatment was similar to the approach used to treat alcoholism, centered on the idea the key to recovery was not taking a single drink or dose of a drug. Overcoming addiction was viewed as mainly being a matter of willpower, Pam Gay believed it. She'd spent 34 years as a nurse before becoming York County's coroner in 2014, just in time to witness a huge spike in the number of fatal overdoses in her county. She was struck by how many of those who died of overdoses had recently been abstinent, either because they were in treatment or in jail. She realized that of the 125 people who died of overdoses in the county in 2014 and 2015, 70 had recently been drug-free for an extended period. Don't Edit The director of Just for Today recovery services, based near Harrisburg, is working on ways to get Vivitrol injections to people in Perry and northern Dauphin counties. (David Wenner, PennLive.com) The problem is that opioid addiction rewires the brain so that craving and temptation exist for months or even years after the person has gone through withdrawal and embraced recovery. In fact, the early months of recovery are an especially deadly time for people addicted to opioids. Their tolerance quickly returns to normal. But when they relapse, they often take the dose they had been accustomed to. That's often a fatal mistake. "What we're seeing over and over is these individuals fighting so hard to be abstinent when they die," Gay said. "I think we need to look at other things, because a 12-step program is not really cutting it for them." Don't Edit A bulletin board inside Just For Today recovery services in Lemoyne lists available support sessions . Many of the people getting help from the non-profit organization are using medication in their recovery from opioid addiction. (David Wenner, PennLive.com For a long time, there was a stigma against people who used medication to treat addiction. People said they were replacing one drug with another, and that someone couldn't claim "true recovery" unless they were entirely drug free. The opioid crisis is changing that. It's obvious at Gaudenzia Inc., which at any given time is working with 300 to 400 people using naltrexone in their recovery in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware. "It's a help. It keeps people alive. It's life and death with a lot of opioid patients," says Mark Sarneso, the director for Gaudenzia's central and western regions. Still, he warns against the idea that medication-assisted treatment is a "silver bullet." "The gold standard is really counseling and treatment," he says. "None of these medications work without concurrent treatment." Don't Edit Don't Edit Dr. Sarah Kawasaki, the director of the Penn State Health-run clinic in Harrisburg, bristles at the idea of a clinic that would claim to offer recovery help without offering the option of medication, going so far as to call it "malpractice." "It's like saying we'll give you vitamins to treat your cancer," she says. "There is so much ingrained stigma and it's killing people." If she had a loved one addicted to opioids, she says, "The sun would not set until they were on some form of medication." Don't Edit Kyle Cox sought treatment after the overdose death of his fiancee. (David Wenner, PennLive.com) Kyle Cox has the big arms of someone who goes to the gym daily. The 25-year-old also goes to work and plans to soon begin community college to become a probation officer. Most of all, he focuses on being a good father to his young son. The Dauphin County resident became addicted not long after high school, while working at a nursing home where fellow young employees commonly got high on painkillers. He moved on to heroin and, as with most people who become addicted, grew to hate it. He did three stints in rehab, relapsing in between. During his third try, he met a woman, Elizabeth Loranzo. They had a child and got engaged. Don't Edit But painkillers given to him after dental work sent Cox back to addiction. Loranzo tried to stay strong. But cooped up at home with their son during a snowstorm, she used with him. They injected themselves from a batch that turned out to be mostly fentanyl, which is often mixed with heroin and is far stronger. Cox passed out. He awoke to find Loranzo dead. Don't Edit Elizabeth Loranzo died of an overdose in March 2017. (James Robinson, PennLive.com) Cox immediately began treatment that included Vivitrol and continued for 10 months. He recently stopped using Vivitrol, believing his worst cravings have passed. He remains in treatment, attending a weekly group counseling and a weekly one-on-one session. As with many people who have used medication in their recovery, Cox says it eliminated the distraction of heroin, allowing him to focus on understanding how to live without opioids, and how to begin rebuilding his life. Experts stress that relapse remains a threat even among people using medication. But the relapse rate is lower, and the evidence is showing people using medication stay in treatment longer and are more likely to quickly return if they relapse. Cox and his doctor discussed his desire to come off Vivitrol. It's a decision that can be reversed if needed. "We're here to help," his doctor told him, "if you need to come back." Take a tour through some of Pennsylvania's most unique war monuments and memorials, ranging in location Pittsburgh to Gettysburg. Hamilton Scottish Rite, Fine Art America Friend to Friend Masonic Memorial Location: Gettysburg Dedicated: 1993 Background: The Friend-to-Friend Monument depicts Confederate Brigadier General Lewis A. Armistead, a Freemason, wounded after crossing the wall during the climax of Pickett's Charge on July 3, 1863, being attended to by Union Captain Henry H. Bingham, also a Freemason. Shown on the wall surrounding this monument, are the names of the States whose soldiers fought at the Battle of Gettysburg. Don't Edit The story behind the monument is as follows: Prior to the war General Armistead served with Union General Winfield Hancock in the Federal Army, and considered him a "valued personal friend." However, when the Civil War broke out, Gen. Armistead refused to raise his sword against fellow Southerners and he joined the Confederate Army in 1861. After 27 months of fighting the war, the units the two generals commanded met on the battlefield in Gettysburg during Pickett's charge. Both of the Generals were injured during the fight that day, but General Armistead was left to the mercy of the Union solders as he lay injured. During the lull after the charge, a staff assistant to Winfield Hancock, Capt. Bingham of the Union, was riding past Armistead, who was lying on the ground where he fell. After they conversed awhile, Armistead discovered whom Bingham worked for, and that Bingham was also a Freemason. Due to this, Armistead entrusted his personal possessions, including a pocket book, a watch, his spurs, and a chain with a masonic emblem on them to Bingham. These items were asked to be given to Bingham's superior officer, Union General Winfield Hancock, so that they could be returned to General Armistead's family. Armistead succumbed to his wounds shortly there after, dying at Gettysburg on July 5, 1863. Don't Edit terryjonessculpture.com Moment of Mercy Location: National Civil War Museum, Harrisburg Dedicated: 2001 Background: This is a depiction of a selfless act of a solider of the Confederacy who during a lull in the Battle of Fredericksburg, risked his life to give water to wounded Union soldiers who were lying wounded and dying in a "no man's land" between the opposing armies. Don't Edit Brewers Mission 162 Points of View Location: Pittsburgh Dedicated: 2006 Background: Statue depicts George Washington kneeling with Seneca Tribe Leader Guyasuta in 1770, years after fighting the French and Indian War. Don't Edit Philly Parks and Rec All Wars Memorial to Colored Soldiers and Sailors Location: Philadelphia Installed: 1934, in a remote area of West Fairmount Park. Sixty years later, it was moved to a more visible spot on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Background: Statue honors all African American soldiers through World War I. Don't Edit Don't Edit associationforpublicart.org Explanation: At the top of the All Wars Memorial, sculptor J. Otto Schweizer placed a "torch of life," surrounded by four American eagles. Below, as the central figure at the front of the memorial, stands the allegorical figure of Justice, holding symbols of Honor and Reward. To the left and right are groups of African American soldiers and sailors, both officers and enlisted men. Allegorical figures at the rear of the monument represent the principles for which American wars have been fought. Don't Edit gettysburg.stonesentinels.com 11th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment monument Location: Doubleday Avenue, Gettysburg Dedicated: 1889 Background: The monument consists of a bronze statue of a soldier standing atop a granite base, the total standing a little over 13 feet high. On the front of the monument, which faces away from Doubleday Avenue, is a bronze tablet of the Coat of Arms of the State of Pennsylvania underneath the carved full moon symbol of the First Corps. A bronze statue of Sallie, the regimental dog, is just above the base on the front of the statue. The monument was dedicated on September 3, 1889 by the State of Pennsylvania. Here's more to the story. Don't Edit gettysburg.stonesentinels.com More background: The memorial to the 11th Pennsylvania is the only memorial at Gettysburg honoring a dog who was in battle. Sallie, the regimental dog, was given to the 11th Pennsylvania as a puppy and spent her life fighting alongside the soldiers. Don't Edit Phila.gov American War Mother and Her Sons Location: Belfield Avenue and 21st Street, Germantown Installed: 1928 Background: Per a story on phillymag.com, sculptor Harry Lewis Raul showed a seated woman dressed in plain clothes and a cloak. On her right is a kneeling soldier and on her left is a kneeling sailor. That story continues that Belfield Avenue is named for the ancestral property of William Logan Fisher, whose daughter, Sarah Logan Fish, married outside the Quaker faith when she wed William Wister. While William didn't attend the wedding he gave part of the land as a gift. Sarah and William had six son, all of whom served in the Civil War. You can read more about it at this link. Don't Edit Flickr Pennsylvania War Dog Memorial Location: Bristol Township Municipal Building located at 2501 Bath Road, Bristol Dedicated: 2006 Background: The War Dog Memorial was dedicated to the thousands of War Dogs that served during World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Persian Gulf War, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan. The memorial also recognizes the service that War Dogs give to the United States of America on countless missions around the world for the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Marines. These animals performed specialty duties as scout, sentry, tracker, mine & booby trap, tunnel, water patrol, Coast Guard, search & rescue, and explosive detection. Joseph Pavone, of Bristol Township, created the sculpture. Don't Edit Don't Edit Flickr More background: Of the approximately 4,000 war dogs that served our Armed Forces during the Vietnam War, all were classified as equipment and termed expendable, according to the description of the monument. Roughly 250 were re-assigned to another military installation. The several thousand surviving heroes were either given to the South Vietnamese Army or euthanized, by order of government, in a haste to withdraw from the country. Don't Edit LongIslandWins.com The Women's Memorial at Gettysburg Location: Baltimore Pike, Gettysburg Dedicated: 2002 Background: The Gettysburg Women's Memorial is a tribute to the women of Gettysburg who served and suffered because of the battle. Don't Edit Pinterest More background: The statue depicts Elizabeth Thorn, wife of the caretaker of Evergreen Cemetery. At the time of the battle she was six months pregnant and caring for three sons and her elderly parents. Her husband was away serving with the 138th Pennsylvania Infantry, which was serving in Virginia during the Gettysburg Campaign. The story goes that after being forced to flee their home, they returned to find their food and possessions stolen and dead bodies lying everywhere. As caretaker of the cemetery, she was ordered to begin burying casualties, Men were detailed to help but one by one they slipped away, unable to bear the work. The statue depicts a weary Thorn leaning on a shovel as she rests from burying 91 casualties from the battle. Elizabeth gave birth to a daughter, Rose Meade, that month. The child was never healthy, though, and died at the age of 14. Elizabeth always believed the stress of the battle and her work burying its victims affected her unborn daughter. Don't Edit Flickr Patriots of African Descent Location: Valley Forge National Park Dedicated: 1993 Background: The Patriots of African Descent Monument is a granite block with carved text and a bronze bas-relief, according to the National Park Service website. The bronze relief depicts three soldiers of African descent, one facing left, one facing right, and one in the middle facing straight ahead. They are all wearing what appear to be Revolutionary War military uniforms, each holds a rifle in proper military style. The three soldiers depicted in the bronze relief look well disciplined and proud. On the back of the monument another reaffirms why the monument is there with the words: "In Honor of the PATRIOTS OF AFRICAN DESCENT who served, suffered and sacrificed during the Valley Forge Encampment 1777-1778." Don't Edit ValleyForge.org More background: In a letter written for the commemorative booklet of the Patriots of African Descent Monument, artist Cal Massey wrote, "The Spiritual Aspects of the work include the shape of the arch, the doves of peace in the background and the peaceful landscape. The Laurel leaves at the bottom of the work symbolize the victory and honor." Don't Edit Don't Edit Facebook Philadelphian Korean War Memorial Location: Penns Landing, 109 Spruce St., Philadelphia Dedicated: 2002, and formally rededicated in 2007 Background: Each name of the more than 600 servicemen who were killed in action or listed as missing in action during the Korean War from Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties are etched in the memorial. Don't Edit U.S. Department of Defense Greensburg Pennsylvania Persian Gulf War Memorial Location: Greensburg Dedicated: 1993 Background: Located just off the parking lot of the local Army Reserve depot, this beautiful memorial honors the 13 men and women from the local 14th Quartermaster Detachment who were killed on February 25, 1991 in a rocket attack on their barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. This unit suffered the greatest number of casualties of any unit in the conflict. The memorial faces Saudi Arabia and is set back in a nicely landscaped area. Don't Edit U.S. Department of Defense More background: The memorial consists of several separate items, according to a description found at the memorial's website. In the center is a grey granite pillar on which is inscribed a dedication to those who served and a quote from General Norman Schwartzkopf; the pillar is topped by a bronze eagle with wings outstretched. Attached on each side of the center pillar are smaller black granite slabs to which are attached bronze plaques listing all those who served. On the reverse side of the granite memorial are listed the names of the 13 who were killed, a map of Saudi Arabia and a pair of hands holding a folded U.S. flag. To the right of the center pillar are two life-size bronze figures of a male and female soldier; the male is kneeling while the female figure rests her hand on his soldier; Susan Wagner sculpted these figures. Don't Edit Flickr Molly Pitcher Statue and Grave Location: South Bedford and E. South streets, Carlisle Erected: 1916 Background: Molly Pitcher, who lived in Carlisle, is remembered for her bravery fighting alongside her husband during The Revolutionary War. It is said she would assist at his gun station loading cannons. Her grave is located behind the monument, marked with an 1876 marker. Don't Edit PennLoive archives More background: A local volunteer group unveiled the newly renovated cannon at the Molly Pitcher monument in the Old Carlisle Cemetery in 2011. The Rotary Club of Carlisle - Sunrise, along with Rotary District 7390 and Carlisle Borough, restored the revolutionary-era replica. Don't Edit Don't Edit Vietnam Veterans Inc. Vietnam Veterans Monument Location: 375 N. Shore Dr., Pittsburgh Dedicated: 1987 Background: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial reminds us of the emotional trauma our veterans suffered in this war. Those who returned home did so wounded - inside, outside, or both. This monument seems to call out to them with healing thoughts, according to the description on pghmurals.com. Don't Edit wikipedia World War I Memorial Location: Downtown Berwick Erected: 1923 Background: A statue that recognizes the men of Berwick and vicinity who fought in World War I. Petoskey volleyball adds another win over Gaylord in three Michael Gordon and the members of Kronos Quartet are kindred spirits. While Gordon, a co-founder of the composers collective Bang on a Can, is known for his groundbreaking works that defy categorization, the similarly revolutionary Kronos Quartet have been essentially upending the role and identity of the classical string quartet for decades. While its no secret that Gordon and Kronos have collaborated on and off for the past 17 years (beginning with the quartet performing one of Gordons pieces in their hometown of San Francisco in 2001), an assembly of their collaboration has never been available until now. Clouded Yellow is a collection of Kronos Quartet recordings of Michael Gordon compositions including Potassium, the aforementioned piece that premiered in 2001 released through Bang on a Cans label, Cantaloupe. As one might expect, the music is visceral, abrasive, and oddly moving. The hour-long album contains only a handful of pieces, but theyre all powerful in their own way. It opens with the title track, whose title refers to a specific species of butterfly known for its fluttering migrations in England, and is held together by the low-register droning of Jeffrey Zeiglers cello while Hank Dutt (viola), David Harrington and John Sherba (violin) engage in dissonant flights of fancy. The relentless energy of the piece is palpable; the fact that Gordon spent an entire summer working on the piece before throwing the whole thing out and starting from scratch may be evident in the somewhat anxious, unflinching nature of the music. Potassium is no less powerful and seems almost initially devoid of melody, relying instead on mind-bending string runs that seem to ape the sounds of fast cars passing on a highway. The second half of the piece speeds up with a slightly more traditional yet still dissonant melody, resembling hyper-caffeinated Bartok. Gordon suggests in the liner notes that the abrasive sounds in Potassium represent a scrubbing away of the Kronos history, signaling a new beginning. The centerpiece of Clouded Yellow not to mention its emotional center is undoubtedly The Sad Park, a four-part piece prompted by the events of September 11, 2001. Gordon recalls in the liner notes how family played a role in his reaction to 9/11, as he and his wife have children who were attending school nearby when the World Trade Center towers fell. We were down at P.S. 234, two blocks north of the World Trade towers, he says, and the plane literally flew over our heads. It was our daughters fourth day of Kindergarten. Using the voices of pre-school children impacted by the days events specifically University Plaza Nursery School in Lower Manhattan, where his son was enrolled at the time Gordon and the Kronos Quartet manipulated the voice recordings as used them as instruments and pulses to accompany the strings on The Sad Park. In a way, the multi-part composition is reminiscent of minimalist composer (and occasional Kronos collaborator) Steve Reichs 1966 piece Come Out, which incorporates interview segments related to the Harlem Six to create a dizzying exercise in phase-shifting. The Sad Park is more freewheeling in its execution, as the sonic manipulations speed up, slow down, and stretch the samples like taffy, creating something both disturbing and breathtaking. Tributes to 9/11 have appeared in virtually all art forms, and everyone from Don DeLillo to Bruce Springsteen has translated the events into their own vernacular. The key is to move the listener (or reader, or viewer, as the case may be) without coming off as exploitative. Gordon and Kronos not to mention the children who participated succeed mightily in this endeavor. Children are also a key focal point in the Clouded Yellows final piece, Exalted, which pairs Kronos with the Young Peoples Chorus of New York City. Like the title track, Exalted was conceived in 2010 and is inspired not only by the events of 9/11 but also Gordons Jewish faith, as it takes as its text the first line of the Mourners Kaddish, one of the central prayers in the Jewish liturgy: Yisgadal vyiskadash shmay rabah (May His great name be exalted and sanctified). More parallels to Reich come into play here, as Exalted tends to mirror the dark beauty of Tehillim, Reichs 1981 composition that reflects his own Jewish heritage. On Exalted, the chorus weaves in and out of the string arrangement, and the result is an arresting, sometimes intimidating nine minutes of reflection and tribute. Clouded Yellow is not an easy listening experience it can be emotionally and aurally exhausting. The heaviness of some of the subject matter, in addition to the atonal nature of the music, creates something of a challenging atmosphere. But its also some of the most fascinating, urgent, brilliant, and important music youre likely to hear so far this year. Get the SC business stories that matter. Our newsletter catches you up with all the business stories that are shaping Charleston and South Carolina every Monday and Thursday at noon. Get ahead with us - it's free. Some of Charleston County's wealthiest and most politically connected figures including three mayors plan to endorse a slate of candidates and overhaul the school board in the upcoming November election. But so far the members of the Charleston Coalition for Kids are saying relatively little about their larger agenda or who they'll target, other than a general hope to reduce bickering and promote a better-informed debate about the future of local public schools. "We will educate the public about the school board and help recruit, elect and support qualified board members," Executive Director Josh Bell said in a press release Wednesday. "We need to enact real, transformative change in the Charleston County School District to improve the standard of education for all students," he said. The 75 founding members of the group cover a wide range of ideologies and experiences. They include Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg, former Mayor Joe Riley, North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey, Folly Beach Mayor Tim Goodwin, Charleston NAACP President Dot Scott and four Boeing representatives. The coalition also includes Ben Navarro, founder of Meeting Street Schools, and Anita Zucker, a businesswoman who has led major philanthropic efforts in the schools, including the Tri-County Cradle to Career Collaborative. Both are among the wealthiest people in the state. Others on board include five ex-school board members, multiple ex-teachers and several parents. No current Charleston County School District teachers are among the 75 founding members, but Bell said the group would love to have some join. The current school board is "infamous for dysfunction," Bell said. Recent meetings have featured numerous split votes and occasional infighting that derailed debates on policy issues for minutes at a time. "We deserve thoughtful, visionary board members who understand their role to ensure students reach their potential," Bell said. Bell is the former executive director of the teacher recruiting organization Teach for America in South Carolina but said he will not be advocating for that organization in his new role with the coalition. The members also include Debra Sonkin, who has served on a regional advisory board for Teach for America. Asked if the group will support or oppose the expansion of school choice and charter schools, Bell said, "We believe Charleston County School District must consider all options for effective public schools for every family ... This is about electing leaders who will drive change in our school system." Three coalition members, including two who appear in a promotional video, are part of Charleston RISE, a group of parent advocates who received training from the pro-charter school organization SouthCarolinaCAN (formerly known as StudentsFirst South Carolina). The group made one of its first public appearances during May 2017 protests at the district office, when members showed up to support a controversial plan to use standardized test scores in teacher evaluations. At least one founding member, former St. John's High principal and ex-school board chair Liz Alston, said she is wary of the expansion of magnet schools because of the damage they have caused to traditional schools. Alston said candidates' disposition will be an important factor when considering endorsements. She said the board also needs more members who have experience as educators. The board currently has one retired teacher, Priscilla Jeffery. "Im looking for someone who doesnt have an agenda of his or her own, someone who is knowledgeable about the schools," Alston said. Another coalition member and former school board chair, Chris Fraser, said he wants candidates who know the distinction between governance and management between the high-level budget and policy decisions that he sees as the board's main job and the low-level managerial decisions that sometimes eat up the board's time and energy. "Unfortunately we seem to routinely elect folks that come to the school board with an agenda that isnt about great schools for kids," Fraser said. "By its very nature we have people in the room that are not cohesive, if you will, with moving the ball forward." The coalition will evaluate school board candidates over the summer and announce endorsements around August, when school starts back. Four of the nine seats of the Charleston County School Board are up for election on Nov. 6. The races are nonpartisan, and the deadline to submit a petition to appear on the ballot is July 16 at noon. For more information on filing as a candidate, visit scvotes.org. The four seats up for grabs are held by incumbent board chair and East Cooper member Kate Darby, Vice Chair and West Ashley member the Rev. Eric Mack, North Charleston member Cindy Bohn Coats, and East Cooper member Chris Staubes. Candidates for School Board seats must reside in the area they seek to represent but will be elected by voters of the entire county. The Charleston Coalition for Kids is not the only group eyeing school board races. The South Carolina League of Women Voters held a workshop for potential candidates in February. The Quality Education Project also will host a clinic titled "How to Run an Informed School Board Campaign" on June 26 at 6 p.m. at the International Longshoreman's Association Hall at 1142 Morrison Drive, Charleston. The Charleston Coalition for Kids is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization. Bell said the group is "nearing 100 individual donors," including parents, businesses and founding members. For more information or to join the coalition, visit chskids.org. Housing Secretary Ben Carson says his latest proposal to raise rents would mean a path toward self-sufficiency for more than 4 million low-income households across the United States by pushing more people to find work. For Ebony Morris and her four small children, it could mean homelessness. Morris lives in Charleston, where most households receiving federal housing assistance would see their rent go up an average 26 percent, according to an analysis done by Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and provided exclusively to The Associated Press. But her increase would be nearly double that. Overall, the analysis shows that in the nation's 100 largest metropolitan areas, low-income tenants many of whom have jobs would have to pay roughly 20 percent more each year for rent under the plan. That rent increase is about six times greater than the growth in average hourly earnings, putting the poorest workers at an increased risk of homelessness because wages simply haven't kept pace with housing expenses. "I saw public housing as an option to get on my feet, to pay 30 percent of my income and get myself out of debt and eventually become a homeowner," said Morris, whose monthly rent would jump from $403 to $600. "But this would put us in a homeless state." The proposal, which needs congressional approval, is the latest attempt by the Trump administration to scale back the social safety net, under the belief that charging more for rent will prompt those receiving federal assistance to enter the workforce and earn more income. "It's our attempt to give poor people a way out of poverty," Carson said in a recent interview with Fox News. The analysis shows that families would be disproportionately impacted. Of the 8.3 million people affected by the proposal, more than 3 million are children. That stands in stark contrast to Carson's focus on children and education, which is woven into his memoirs and embedded in the very foundation of his namesake reading rooms tucked into low-income elementary schools across the country. It also runs contrary to research, housing experts say. "There is no evidence that rent increases work," said Will Fischer, a senior policy analyst at the policy center, which advocates for the poor. "For most of these rent increases, I don't think there's even a plausible theory for why they would encourage work." One rainy spring morning Morris tried to wrangle her rowdy children into a minivan as the youngest chased each other in a circle in the yard, a small patch of grass in front of the low-slung red brick apartment she rents. She'd taken a rare day off work so she could attend a school orientation. Morris moved to Charleston three years ago from Summerville to go to school. She's since earned her associate's degree in health science. She's a full-time pediatric assistant, sometimes working 50 hours a week just to get by. Her children, ages 3, 4, 7 and 10, would be hit hardest by the rent increase, she said. "Food, electricity, bills, school uniforms," she said. "Internet for homework assignments and report cards. All of their reading modules at school require the internet, without it they'll be behind their classmates. The kids are in extracurriculars, those would be scrapped. I would struggle just to pay my bills. It would be very, very, very hard." The impact of the rent proposal would affect low-income residents and families everywhere. Rent for the poorest tenants in Baltimore, where Carson made history as a neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital and where his own story of overcoming poverty inspired generations of children to dream of possibilities beyond the projects, could go up by 19 percent or $800 a year. In Detroit, where Carson's mother, a single parent, raised him by working two jobs, low-income families could see their rents increase to $710, or 21 percent. Households in Washington, D.C., one of the richest regions in the country, would see the largest increases for its poorest residents: $980 per year on average, a 20 percent jump. "This proposal to raise rents on low-income people doesn't magically create well-paying jobs needed to lift people out of poverty," said Diane Yentel, CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition. "Instead it just makes it harder for struggling families to get ahead by potentially cutting them off from the very services that make it possible for them to find and keep jobs." The "Make Affordable Housing Work Act," announced on April 25, would allow housing authorities to impose work requirements, would increase the percentage of income poor tenants are required to pay from 30 percent to 35 percent, and would raise the minimum rent from $50 to $150 per month. The proposal would eliminate deductions, for medical care and child care, and for each child in a home. Currently, a household can deduct from its gross income $480 per child, significantly lowering rent for families. The Department of Housing and Urban Development says elderly or disabled households would be exempt from the changes, but an estimated 314,000 households stand to lose their elderly or disabled status and see their rents go up, according to the outside analysis. Donald Cameron, president and CEO of the Charleston Housing Authority, said HUD's proposed rent increases would be "catastrophic" for the city and metropolitan area. "We'd lose a lot of people within a very short time: the ones with the smallest pocket books, the least discretionary income," he said. "What do they do? If you take away that safety net, they're in free fall. Where do they go?" Charleston, with its winding cobblestone walks, sweeping river views and live oaks draped with Spanish moss, is a case study in economic disparity. The city is booming, drawing millions of tourists each year. Boeing opened a propulsion plant in North Charleston in 2015 and Mercedes-Benz a factory to build Sprinter vans, bringing with it the promise of more than 1,000 jobs. But housing prices are going up faster than wages, creating a widespread crisis for low- and middle-income families there. Unlike most cities, Charleston's public housing stock was built entirely for families, which is why increases here would disproportionately affect parents and their children. Roughly 55 percent of tenants in the city's public housing are single mothers, according to the data. Cameron said the affordable housing shortage is so extreme that the majority of Charleston voucher holders must find housing in North Charleston, just next door. But North Charleston is facing its own housing related emergency. According to data collected by Princeton University's Eviction Lab, North Charleston's eviction rate ranks significantly higher than other cities the program has tracked. But not all residents receiving housing assistance think the plan is unfair. Shalonda Skinner, 29, has five children under the age of 11, and pays just $9 to rent an apartment in a subsidized complex two blocks from Morris. She's lived there six years, and styles hair on the side to earn about $160 each month. She supplements her needs with food stamps, and intermittent payments from her children's father. If the rent were to go up she says, "I'd work more," taking more clients and asking her family to watch her children. "I'm in favor of it," she said of Carson's policy. "Housing helps a lot of people. It will probably put a good amount of people out because some people don't like to work, they're not independent. But it's fair." The data analysis was conducted using 2016 HUD data and includes tenants living in public housing complexes and receiving vouchers to rent apartments on the private market. It excludes housing authorities participating in the Moving to Work program, which allows districts to determine their own rent policies. Melissa Maddox Evans, general counsel for the Charleston Housing Authority, said she believes the proposal is based on a faulty premise that most tenants in public housing don't have jobs and that rent increases will incentivize work. "There's an assumption that many of the participants are not employed when they are," said Maddox-Evans. "Most tenants here work two or three jobs. When they are going out and finding work, are they going to make enough to accommodate that increase?" In areas of concentrated poverty, low-wage jobs are often the only option, particularly for those without access to a car or public transportation. Afrika Frasier had a steady job, as a manager at a Church's Chicken restaurant down the street from the subsidized apartment she shares with her husband and four children. She was making $1,200 each month and paying $300 in rent. But a few weeks ago, her boss called to tell her not to come in, that the restaurant was closing. "We're trying to get the hell out of here, but minimum wage is a big, big problem," Frasier said. She's since found another job, as a manager at the local Family Dollar. But she worries about the viability of her opportunities in the area, and said she's planning to move to Georgia as soon as she can. "You can go to school, get an education and the job you're going to get is still going to give you $10 an hour even though we're the ones cleaning your dishes, cooking your food. Where are we supposed to live?" Morris doesn't have an answer. If she's priced out of public housing, she doesn't know where she'll go or what she'll do. "I work every day and I'm trying my hardest," she said. "My main focus is to make sure my children are educated and to break this cycle. But taking away resources for moms? I never thought I'd be in a situation like this." Angie Jackson covers crime and breaking news for The Post and Courier. She previously covered the same beat for the Grand Rapids Press and MLive.com in Michigan. When shes not reporting, Angie enjoys teaching yoga and exploring the outdoors. 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. Canada's Minister of International Development, Marie-Claude Bibeau, Acting Deputy Administrator, USAID, David Moore and Secretary of State for International Development for the United Kingdom, Penny Mordaunt are seen during a meeting for the G7 Finance and Central Bank Governors in Whistler, British Columbia, Thursday, May 31, 2018. (Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press via AP) Insights Why is it that local television seems to feature so many single-source presentations? By this I mean programs with a single person talking on Read more A random shakedown at the Department of Corrections Adult Correctional Facility in Mangilao on Wednesday turned up more contraband that made its way into the prison. Just before 5 p.m., corrections officers searched cells at Post 16 and they discovered an iPod, a cellphone, two chargers, two crystal-like stones of suspected methamphetamine, a lighter and a straw. DOC Director Tony Lamorena said the items were found inside the cell of inmate David Mendiola, who was then arrested and reconfined. The contraband was turned over to the Guam Police Departments Mandana Drug Task Force. An earlier shakedown at Post 5 on Wednesday turned up no contraband. Another inspection conducted at Post 17 on Thursday also came up empty-handed, said the director. Lamorena commended his officers for their continued diligence in the Green Vigilance campaign, which is DOCs effort to stop the smuggling of contraband into the prison. PR-Inside.com: 2018-06-07 04:36:03 Pig farming enterprise demonstrates how AI technology is revolutionizing industry Alibaba Cloud Launches ET Agricultural Brain at the Shanghai Computing Conference Alibaba Group Jowie Law, +86 136 2571 9035 yukman.lym@alibaba-inc.com or Alibaba Group Yinan Qian, +86 186 0004 0770 yinan.qyn@alibaba-inc.com Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Alibaba Group, launched its proprietary ET Agricultural Brain at The Computing Conference 2018: Shanghai Summit today. The cutting-edge AI program has been adopted already by a number of leading pig farming and fruit and vegetable growing enterprises in China, and is set to revolutionize the agricultural industry, a strategic sector that affects the well-being of billions across the nation. ET Agricultural Brain builds upon the success of Alibaba Clouds self-developed AI technology that has been applied in the smart city, transportation, industrial and aviation sectors, and extends its application to agriculture. By applying AI technologies such as visual recognition, voice recognition and real-time environmental parameter monitoring, ET Agricultural Brain monitors each hogs daily activity, growth indicators, pregnancy and other health conditions, bringing more insight throughout the pig farming industry chain. By processing data and training algorithm models based on machine learning technology, ET Agricultural Brain allows farm managers to monitor the farm and the animals in real time. For example, the system will automatically prescribe a plan of activity for hogs that need to improve the health and yield of hogs. The program will also be able to detect sick hogs and minimize accidents, such as protecting piglets from accidents through the introduction of voice recognition technology. Multiple meters are installed to collect data in order to optimize the environment for the herd to grow, as well as reducing human errors in the farming process. It is estimated that ET Agricultural Brain could increase a sows annual production by three more newborns, while reducing unnatural death by 3%. Pigs per sow per year (PSY), an important efficiency indicator for the industry, is estimated to be increased to 32, boosting Chinas industry efficiency to be on a par with that of the most advanced pig farming countries. Alibaba Clouds ET Agricultural Brain brings a new level of interactive automation to pig farming, said Degen WANG, Chairman of Tequ Group, a leading pig farming enterprise based in Sichuan Province. China is the worlds largest supplier, consumer and importer of pork. At Tequ Group, our business target is to breed 10 million pigs by 2020 a scale that no ordinary automation system could cope with, let alone a human system. ET Agricultural Brain leads the way to the true industrialization of pig farming, helping us increase productivity, manage the farm more effectively and potentially upgrade the whole supply, sales and logistics chain using Alibabas ecosystem. Mr. Wang shared the companys experience of adopting ET Agricultural Brain at The Computing Conference in Shanghai. Simon HU, Senior Vice President of Alibaba Group and President of Alibaba Cloud said: Agriculture and animal husbandry industry is a strategic sector and matters to the lives of billions across China. At Alibaba Cloud, we are committed to using our world-class technology to resolve real-life problems. For this reason, we launched ET Agricultural Brain with a number of partners in the agriculture sector. We believe enhanced operating efficiency will help ensure pork supply and maintain a stable market price that will benefit enterprises and consumers alike in China. In the future, ET Agricultural Brain can be adopted across many other sectors, including forestry and fisheries, helping enterprises and individual farmers increase efficiency and improve quality of production and providing a greener and healthier option for consumers. In addition to Tequ Group, early adopters of ET Agricultural Brain include Haisheng Group, the leading agriculture company that operates 55 orchards of more than 4000 hectares in total and Guoqiang Modern Farming, a Shaanxi-based rural cooperative that produces high quality melons. The AI program has enhanced fruit and vegetable planting for these two producers. For Haisheng, the growth parameters of about 10,000 acres of apple trees are converged to the ET Agriculture Brain automatically, saving an estimated RMB20 million in operating costs annually for the farm. By better connecting the government, enterprises and farmers, Alibaba Cloud also helps farmers sell their fruit and vegetables more effectively, in order to increase their income. The Computing Conference 2018: Shanghai Summit is a two-day event that gathers participants in the Alibaba Cloud ecosystem and industry practitioners from around the world to discuss the latest trends in frontier technologies, including Cloud Computing, Big Data, and AI. For more information about Alibaba Clouds ET Brain, go to: https://www.alibabacloud.com/et About Alibaba Cloud Established in 2009, Alibaba Cloud (www.alibabacloud.com), the cloud computing arm of Alibaba Group, is among the worlds top three IaaS providers, according to Gartner, and the largest provider of public cloud services in China, according to IDC. Alibaba Cloud provides a comprehensive suite of cloud computing services to businesses worldwide, including merchants doing business on Alibaba Group marketplaces, start-ups, corporations and government organizations. Alibaba Cloud is the official Cloud Services Partner of the International Olympic Committee. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180606006 PR-Inside.com: 2018-06-07 11:13:08 Press Information Published by ACN Newswire +65 6304 8926 e-mail https://www.acnnewswire.com/ # 295 Words ACN Newswire+65 6304 8926 SINGAPORE, June 7, 2018 - (Media OutReach) - Block Asia has been investigating a scam incident in the cryptocurrency industry involving millions of dollars.On the latest breaking developments, Block Asia managed to get in touch with Zeeshan Najeeb, who is allegedly linked to several scams in the cryptocurrency sector.Read the full news on Block Asia via this portal: https://www.blockasia.io/alleged-cryptocurrency-scammer-zeeshan-najeeb-claims-to-be-victim-of-identity-theft-and-not-knowing-mcafee/ Block Asia positioned itself as an activist in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry which is currently tarnished by various frauds and many individuals have fallen victims to these scams.Block Asia seeks the crypto community to get in touch with us for any tip-off of scams or fraudulent activity.Block Asia official website is http://www.blockasia.io Follow Block Asia Twitter at https://twitter.com/Block_asia or @block_asia for updates on the latest breaking news in the blockchain & cryptocurrency industry.Twitter & Telegram : @block_asiaAbout Block AsiaFounded and headquartered in Singapore's Blockchain Hub early this year, Block Asia launched its new online portal www.blockasia.io , the first in Southeast Asia to broadcast news purely on the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry.Block Asia provides informative and professional journalism, analyses market data and spots trends, and offers acute insight on latest developments in the industry. Aside from providing news, Block Asia brings on board its own economists, market analysts, and data scientists to study cryptocurrency and blockchain markets, and conduct analysis of projects and smart contract audits.Based in the cosmopolitan city of Singapore, Block Asia sets its eye on the world. It has quickly grown to a team of 20 with journalists stationed in Singapore, South Korea, India, Philippines, and the United Kingdom, providing exclusive coverage on blockchain-related activities happening worldwide.Media Contact:KC Chua PR-Inside.com: 2018-06-07 15:00:17 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 383 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Ashburton Ventures Inc.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Vancouver, British Columbia (FSCWire) - Ashburton Ventures Inc. (TSX Venture:ABR). has issued a press release with the following headline:Ashburton Announces New CFOTo 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 Ashburton Ventures 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/Ashburton Ventures Inc.Source: Ashburton Ventures Inc. (TSX Venture: ABR, FWB: ARB, WKN: A1J3M5, ISIN: CA0437832086)Date: June 07, 2018Time: 9:00 AM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Ashburton Ventures 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.) Disclaimer: If you have any questions regarding information in this press release please contact the company added in the press release. Please do not contact pr-inside. We will not be able to assist you. PR-inside disclaims the content included in this release. PR-Inside.com: 2018-06-07 15:30:53 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 374 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for FogChain Corp.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Vancouver, British Columbia (FSCWire) - FogChain Corp. (CSE:FOG). has issued a press release with the following headline:FogChain Corp. Acquires RadJav Rapid Application Development Platform and Blockchain TechnologyTo 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 FogChain Corp., or to see additional press releases issued by this company, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser: http://www.fscwire.com/public-company/FogChain Corp.Source: FogChain Corp. (CSE: FOG)Date: June 07, 2018Time: 9:30 AM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of FogChain Corp. and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2018 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.) Numerous investors look for data with respect to online investment opportunities. Obviously, we as a whole need a specialist available to us. Be that as it may, the greater part of us can't manage the cost of a specialist. Online investment in oil PR-Inside.com: 2018-06-07 11:19:13 Press Information OIL INVESTMENTS Oil500 Corporation Gables Ct., Ste 100 Plano, Texas 75075 United States Henry Jones Marketing Director 447448513889 email https://oil500.net/ # 730 Words Gables Ct., Ste 100Plano, Texas 75075United StatesMarketing Director447448513889 Read About Online Investment InformationNumerous investors look for data with respect to online investment opportunities ( https://oil500.net/) . Obviously, we as a whole need a specialist available to us. Be that as it may, the greater part of us can't manage the cost of a specialist. An abundance of information is accessible on the web for those of us who require the nuts and bolts to begin. For some investors, it might be hard to observe which locales offer trustworthy data in regards to contributing. Our guide will talk about the data accessible for online speculators.Insider Trade TipsInvestors will research and discover various wellsprings of data with respect to online venture openings. Investors may get insider broker tips once a day. This will enable them to figure out which stocks are relied upon to perform well. Investors value this sort of guidance. Regularly tenderfoot investors don't know about how to anticipate which stocks will perform very much construct just upon news data or data about the business. These tips are particularly valuable when exchanging on the web without the immediate help of an accomplished investor. Exchanging programming is additionally accessible to help tenderfoot financial specialists in settling on sound business choices.Investment Strategy TipsNumerous sites offer people investment technique tips on their site. The tips might respect stocks, securities, Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), wares or different kinds of investments. Investors are given guidance on the most proficient method to put resources into both a positively trending market and a bear advertise. The systems are amazingly extraordinary. In a bear advertising, financial specialists may incline toward safe investments with direct development. In buyer markets, unpredictable ventures may yield the most degree of profitability (ROI).Online sites will likewise show investors how to choose sound venture openings. Market patterns will be uncovered to enable investors to settle on dependable choices with respect to contributing. Scan for organizations that offer investors free workshops and online gatherings. These online courses will show investors the fundamentals of contributing.Portfolio DiversificationPortfolio enhancement systems are additionally talked about on the web. Investors will be educated about the rates that they ought to put resources into different ventures. For example, specialists prescribe that roughly 35% of an investors portfolio be in valuable metals. Valuable metals are protected amid a declining economy. The cost of gold, for example, rises when the economy is in a decrease. Investors ought to know about how to structure their portfolio to dodge calamitous misfortunes.Investors will take in the contrast between safe ventures versus unpredictable ventures. Shared assets are a case of a protected investment. Stocks are a more unstable venture. The more unpredictable the stock, the more speculators must watch the market to maintain a strategic distance from misfortunes. Prescribed rates of ventures will be uncovered through tips offered on the web. The data gave will be founded on recorded information, and additionally, the present market state. investors will figure out how to distinguish openings, examine investments, buy ventures and screen ventures.Day by day News and Streaming QuotesQuite a bit of contributing requires checking the day by day news and foreseeing how political developments, business bargains, and the economy will influence a specific security. The money related status of an organization and its initiative will likewise influence the stock costs. Procurement of another Chief Financial Officer, for example, may connote development and change inside an organization. This shows stock costs may increment. In this way, investors could close to enter the market while the cost is still low.News sources that are offered ongoing are the best sorts of news sources. Investors will figure out how different news discharges will influence stocks. They should check new sources day by day to decide how the news will influence their securities. Numerous sites offer DVDs to show investors how to decipher news discharges. They will discover an abundance of information that will advance them in their contributing profession.Market AnalysisNumerous online sites will break down stocks and investments investors ( https://oil500.net/) . Sites are likewise accessible to choose the best entertainers every day. These watch records will enable people to settle on choices with the assistance of specialists who know about market patterns. Different sites will offer everyday stock picks to customers. These people contribute as a gathering, which appears to offer more security than contributing alone. PR-Inside.com: 2018-06-07 09:47:49 Press Information Published by Andy Scott 07770520484 e-mail http://www.andy-scott.net # 781 Words Andy Scott07770520484 London Taxi PR is delighted to announce that it has won a second major award this year, having been crowned Best Transport PR Agency 2018 London, in the Business Excellence Awards organised by Acquisition International (AI) magazine.This second major awards success follows London Taxi PRs previous win earlier this year for The Best Public Transport Promotions Group England, in the Air Transport Awards, which subsequently resulted in the company being nominated for this latest award category, which they also won!Both awards validate the significance and importance of the work that London Taxi PR are doing in promoting their trade through the media and other outlets.Acquisition International is a monthly magazine renowned as the voice of corporate finance. With a circulation of 108,000 in over 170 countries, it contains editorial from some of the biggest players in the corporate landscape, including KPMG, EY PwC and Deloitte.This latest award recognition went through four detailed stages for a company to be declared a winner.A voting form was placed live on the magazines website for just over 3 months. Notification was then sent out to its readership base (108,000+ worldwide) to let them know voting was open and in addition it was also posted on various social media platforms to help encourage the voting form to be shared. An in-house research team then compiled a case file to help support London Taxi PRs case in front of the judging panel. The case file contained various information found online such as; company history, services, articles, press releases, client testimonials and more. Once the case files were completed they then got passed to the judging panel who discussed and deliberated in order to decide who they believe deserved to win.This latest achievement also follows the culmination of London Taxi PRs latest campaign, which involved street level advertisements at some 80 Bus Stop sites across Central London in conjunction with JCDecaux, together with a social media campaign, #lookforthelight, alongside the advertisements.Since their formation, London Taxi PR has undertaken a series of targeted media campaigns, which are being used by London Taxi PR to promote the benefits, advantages and safety of using the iconic London Taxi to a wide audience.London Taxi PR was established in March 2015 by two licenced London Taxi drivers of many years standing - Lee Sheppard and fellow cabbie Gary Long, London Taxi PR is seeking to raise awareness to the public, tourists and visitors to the capital by illustrating the advantages that can be provided by using the iconic London Taxis. These Taxis are affectionately known as Londons Pride, and this has been used to significant effect as a catchphrase in their campaign material.All the campaigns and publicity that has so far been generated by the company has been funded by fellow London Taxi drivers, many of whom have signed up to donate to the cause on a monthly basis, indicating how passionate they all are about their industry and the cause.The aim of the campaigns, which have already achieved significant publicity, is to illustrate that licenced London Taxis are not only safe, distinctive, instantly recognisable, and incredibly easy to hail, either by hailing traditionally from the street, or now through Taxiapp, but that they also have a fantastic historic profile, dating all the way back to the 17th Century.Since its launch, London Taxi PR has achieved the following campaign and promotional success stories; Digital Taxi rooftop advertisements that were provided by Verifone Media; an advertising campaign through JCDecaux on telephone kiosks situated around Londons West End; two campaigns with British Airways involving advertising in their High Life magazine and posters in Terminal 5 Business Lounge, followed by a full-page advertisement again in High Life; a full-page advertising campaign in The London Magazine (high end property and residential title); a 3-month digital billboard campaign in conjunction with 8outdoor media, showcasing the London Taxi trade on three digital billboards in and around West London; and finally with Clear Channel UK which involved advertisements on phone boxes and digital pop up banners. There has also been a full-page advertisement and editorial campaign run within the leading Travel and lifestyle magazine, Inspired Travel.London Taxi PR. Passionate about promoting and preserving the iconic London Taxi trade and funded by London Taxi drivers who care about their industry.For more information on London Taxi PR and their campaigns, please visit their website http://londontaxipr.com ENDS___Notes to editorsAbout London Taxi PR:Started in March 2015, London Taxi PR has been established to provide the London Taxi trade with positive PR, promotion and advertising, through targeted campaigns.For further information about London Taxi PR, view: http://londontaxipr.com The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals is tracking and prosecuting the fugitives involved in the Rwandan genocide, in which no fewer than 800,000 people were slaughtered, Judge Theodor Meron, President of the mechanism said. While the challenges in tracking fugitives are too significant to guarantee a positive outcome, my Office can commit that we will spare no effort. The victims of the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda deserve nothing less, Mr Meron said. The Rwandan genocide was a mass slaughter of Tutsi by members of the Hutu majority government, spanning the period of April to July, 1994. Mr Meron further informed the Council that the Residual Mechanism transferred eight convicted persons from the UN Detention Facility in Arusha to enforcement States during the reporting period, including four individuals to Senegal and four to Benin. The Residual Mechanism aimed to complete the transfer of all convicted persons under the Mechanisms jurisdiction in Arusha and in The Hague within this year, he added. Speaking alongside Meron, Serge Brammertz, the Prosecutor for the Tribunals, spoke of the work by the Residual Mechanism in locating the remaining eight fugitives indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. The criminal tribunal, which is also prosecuting perpetrators of genocide in the former Yugoslavia, told the UN Security Council that it had assumed the full scope of the residual functions of the two countries. Mr Brammertz informed the Security Council about the search for missing persons in the former Yugoslavia and that many stakeholders took the initiative to raise the issue with his office and seek its assistance. Efforts are urgently needed to strengthen the search for missing persons. 10,000 families from all sides still do not know the fate of their loved ones, he added. This development is another example of the Mechanisms commitment to best practice and to serving as a model for accountability in all respects, the Prosecutor said. The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (Mechanism) was established by the Security Council Resolution in 2010 to complete the remaining work of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia after the completion of their respective mandates, in December 2015 and December 2017, respectively. (NAN) The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has commended the decision by other health workers under the Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU) to shelve thier nationwide strike after six weeks. While describing themselves leaders of the health sector, the doctors also demanded to play a part in the negotiation of JOHESUs demands. JOHESU, a body of all other health workers except doctors, last Thursday suspended its strike which crippled services across public hospitals in the country and left millions without care. Since 2014, the health workers have been asking the government to increase their pay and improve their working conditions among other demands. No common ground has been reached yet. In its ruling a day before the strike was suspended, the National Industrial Court (NIC), offered to take over the mediation process between the striking workers and government. The NMA in a statement Tuesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Obitade Obimakinde, asked the government to involve them in the negotiations. The NMA wishes to reiterate that the health sector operates as a team with the Doctors as the leaders to utmost benefit of the patients. NMA is therefore unapologetically committed to a good and harmonious relationship among the team members. The NMA also welcome the alternative dispute resolution [ADR] as a means of resolving the crisis but insist that no holistic, meaningful and long-lasting resolution can be made without the input of all the team members especially the NMA. It is in this vein that we call on the government and the National Industrial Court of Nigeria [NICN] to involve the NMA in the ongoing NICN midwifed ADR, the statement read. Repeatedly calls and texts sent to both the National chairman and the National vice chairman of JOHESU, Biobelemoye Josiah and Ogbonna Chimela, for reactions were not responded to. However, doctors had opposed the demands of the health workers. In the third week of the strike when states and local governments joined, medical doctors threatened to withdraw their services if the government accedes to the demands of other health workers. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said the national honour proposed to be conferred on late Moshood Abiola, by President Muhammadu Buhari, reeks of hypocrisy and political desperation ahead of 2019 presidential election. The announcement was made on Wednesday night in honour of Mr Abiola, who won the annulled presidential election of June 12, 1993. Mr Abiola was arrested in 1994 while struggling to claim his mandate from military dictators at the time. He died in custody in July 1998. Kudirat Abiola, one of the late politicians wife, was amongst those who died in the struggle for implementation of his mandate by the military. She was killed in a suspected assassination in 1996 in by suspected elements of Mr Abachas junta in Lagos. The military junta led by Sani Abacha accused Mr Abiola of declaring himself president, a move it saw as treasonable felony and kept him in perpetual custody until his death, which came a month after Mr Abacha himself died of suspected cardiac arrest. PDP, in a statement by its publicity secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, alleged that the presidents action merely seeks to use the name and person of Abiola to gain political capital and not out of genuine reverence and recognition for him. The opposition party says it sees Wednesdays announcement as shocking as it recalled the president never associated, either by words or actions, with Mr Abiola. It said Mr Buhari was not also sympathetic to the Abiola family when Mr Abiolas wife, Kudirat, was gruesomely murdered by the agents of a government which Mr Buhari served. It is therefore a sign of political desperation for President Buhari to seek to use Chief Abiolas name as a tool to sway Nigerians in less than twelve months to an election where he, (President Buhari) is seeking a second term. It is also shocking that the respectable grave of Abiola can be dishonoured by granting a posthumous award on him along with someone who denounced the June 12 mandate and preferred the company of his (Abiolas) traducers. The party claims Even those who now masquerade as change agents were opposed to the naming of University of Lagos after Chief Abiola. The party said if the president genuinely wants to honour Abiola, he should do so by ending all anti-democratic proclivities of his administration and allow for the rule of law and respect for our constitution. In their reactions, pro-democracy campaigners on Wednesday welcomed the Buhari administrations declaration of June 12 as Nigerias new Democracy Day. Kudirat Abiola This is a well-received development, said Yinka Odumakin of the Campaign for Democracy. President Buhari has affirmed our longstanding believe that June 12 is Nigerias Democracy Day. Mr Odumakin said even though the timing of the announcement was suspect, Nigerians should see its substance. It is another election season where political moves and gimmicks would be in the air, Mr Odumakin said. But the declaration of June 12 is what we are really happy about as a victory for the country. Mr Buhari also pledged to award Ngerias highest national honour, the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic, GCFR, on Mr Abiola. He also announced the award of the second-highest national honour, the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger, GCON, on Gani Fawehinmi, a pro-democracy campaigner, rights activist and legal practitioner. Mr Fawehinmi passed on in 2009 at 71. The same GCON honour was also announced for Mr Abiolas running mate in 1994, Babagana Kingibe, now a key ally of President Buhari. Also welcoming the development was Joe Okei-Odumakin, a rights activist. Mrs Okei-Odumakin, wife of Yinka Odumakin, said todays victory was appropriate for democracy as well as Mr Abiola, whom she said paid the supreme sacrifice for the freedom of all. The decision is accepted because we have been asking for the past 24 years, Mrs Okei-Odumakin said. Since 1999 when May 29 was declared Democracy Day, we have been kicking against it. Todays decision, which she said is highly noted and accepted, would be even better appreciated if Mr Buhari could declare Mr Abiola a former president. Although Mr Abiola won the election, he was never sworn in as president or so formally declared. We want a posthumous declaration of Mr. Abiola as a former president of Nigeria and we want his portrait to be lined amongst past presidents of Nigeria, Mrs Okei-Odumakin demanded. Several presidents since the turn of civil rule in 1999 have failed to declare June 12 Democracy Day despite frantic and regular agitations, neither did they confer Mr Abiola with the GCFR, which, although might not be an affirmation of his status as a former president, puts him in the same category of all presidents in Nigerias history. The GCFR is received strictly for presidents, and Mr Abiola would be the first individual to be admitted into the tiny club of the holders. The GCON that was awarded to Mr Fawehinmi, however, is not that restricted. Although it is seen as largely reserved for vice presidents, the honour had previously been conferred on private individuals, including Aliko Dangote and Mike Adenuga, two of Nigerias most-prominent businessmen alive. Mrs Okei-Odumakin said the real test for Mr Buharis democratic credentials would be in 2019 when he would have to preside over an election in which he would be a contestant. Conducting a free, fair election is the best way to entrench democracy and immortalise Mr Abiola, she added. Ebenezer Babatope, a politician, said he welcomed the declaration of Mr Abiola as a posthumous holder of GFCR, but said the timing was suspicious. In his take, Mike Igini, a rights activist and serving electoral commissioner, said his happiness could not be over-emphasised. This is one of the days I feel so elated, he said. That an injustice that has been going on for so long was finally put to rest by the president today. Those who made May 29 as their Democracy Day have been put to shame, Mr Igini said. We have long condemned the celebration of Democracy Day on May 29. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo proclaimed May 29 as Nigerias Democracy Day to the consternation of June 12 activists, and rebuffed all demands for him to rescind the decision in favour of June 12. Mr Igini said June 12 marked a watershed in Nigerias history and should not have been a subject of prolonged struggle to be dedicated the Democracy Day. We had a Muslim-Muslim ticket that people overwhelmingly voted in, Mr Igini said. The religion, tribal and other fault lines that had long torn us apart were resolved in that election. Sadly, the military aborted that victory for democracy and I was detained with Ebun Adegboruwa and the late Bamidele Aturu in Benin over our struggle. We thank God that everything is not in vain. I congratulate Nigerians, he said. He also demanded a posthumous designation of Mr Abiola as a former president and national monuments named after him. Either the National Stadium in Abuja or that in Lagos should be named after M.K.O. Abiola, he said. We thank the president for doing what those who came before him failed woefully to do. The House of Representatives was on Thursday thrown into a rowdy session when some lawmakers kicked against the honour given former presidential candidate, Moshood Abiola, the presumed winner of the 1993 presidential election, by President Muhammadu Buhari. On Wednesday, Mr Buhari announced the conferment of the highest honour of Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR) on Mr Abiola as a sign of honour. He also declared June 12, the day of the 1993 election, as new date for celebration of Democracy Day in Nigeria. Mr Abiola died in prison in 1998, where he was kept by the then military government since 1994. His then running mate, Babagana Kingibe, is also to get the second highest national honour, GCON, the president said. In a move that sparked up the controversy, Nicholas Ossai (PDP, Delta) said Mr Buharis decision to announce the new public holiday on Wednesday rather than on May 29 was with bad intent. He said only the National Assembly is empowered to set new dates for public holidays. Public holiday is derived from the National Assembly act and not from executive declaration, the lawmaker said. This honour is to be given to the president or former presidents who are still alive. Two weeks ago, we celebrated our great feat as a nation our Democracy Day. The executive never thought it wise to declare it on that day. What is the difference between now and one week ago, it is an act of discrimination. What happens to the public funds used in celebrating Democracy Day weeks ago? They must be accounted for. Why didnt the president announce it on that day? At this point, there were shouts of sit down from some of the lawmakers, leading to a rowdy session. Some of the other lawmakers who also spoke on the issue said there is need to ensure the rule of law is abided with regarding the matter, while others spoke in favour of the presidents decision. This led to a rowdy session for more than fifteen minutes. After calling the lawmakers to order, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, said the public holidays act gives room for the president to fix public holidays. The national assembly has exercised its powers as provided in the constitution by enacting that act, he said, adding: But its section 2(2) gives the president powers to declare a new date for public holidays. Toby Okechukwu, (PDP, Enugu) said while Mr Buharis decision is commendable, the lawmakers must ensure the president is doing what is within the framework of the law. We must make sure that we set the correct actions to ensure it is sustainable and it is registered for what it is. We must ensure the rule of law is abided by, he said. Some of the lawmakers also argued that while the public holidays act empowers the president to fix a new public holiday, the act defines May 29 as date for celebration of Democracy Day. They said the lawmakers have to amend the act and change the date before the new date of June 12 will be adopted Following the dissenting views, rather than the House commending the president, the speaker said the matter will be suspended and referred to the House committee on justice to sort out the issues and report back to the lawmakers. There is a schedule in the act which leaves Democracy Day as May 29. So the issue to be resolved is to look at the presidential declaration and compare with the section of the act that states that June 12 is the Democracy Day. So I will freeze the motion, and refer the matter to the committee on rules and businesses, he said. President Buhari on Wednesday directed that effective 2019, Nigerias Democracy Day, marked every May 29 for the past 18 years, be shifted to June 12 to honour Mr Abiola. Mr Abiola won the polls but he was never formally declared winner and was not sworn into office by the military government of Ibrahim Babangida. Instead, he was imprisoned by another military dictator, Sani Abacha, while struggling to actualise his mandate. He died in prison in 1998. Successive governments have brushed aside calls for Mr Abiola to be honoured and for the federal government to recognise June 12 as democracy day. Apart from Messrs Abiola and Kingibe, also to receive a GCON is the late foremost pro-democracy activist, Gani Fawehinmi. Mr Buharis move has been commended by several state governors and rights activists. The Abiola and Fawehinmi families have also commended the president. The move has, however, been criticised by some including the opposition party, PDP. Also, PREMIUM TIMES reported how a former chief justice of Nigeria, Alfa Belgore, described the post-humous award of national honours as illegal. President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday met with service chiefs and other heads of security agencies in his office at the Presidential Villa. Thursdays meeting is the third within the week. It comes amidst deteriorating security situation in some parts of Nigeria, especially in states like Benue, Taraba, Kaduna and Zamfara, The president had met with service chiefs on Monday after which the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, and the Director General of the State Security Service (SSS), Lawal Daura, proceeded to meet with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and the Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami. The meeting with the vice president discussed the invitation of Senate President Bukola Saraki by the police for questioning after some suspected armed robbers who carried out a deadly robbery attack in Offa, Kwara State, said Mr Saraki had been their sponsor. The senate president has denied the allegation. Mr Buhari also met with the security chiefs on Tuesday after which the Minister of Defence, Mansur Ali, said he made a case for states that passed anti grazing laws to reverse them. Mr Alis statement calling on states like Benue and Taraba to reverse their anti-open grazing laws was later condemned by both chambers of the National Assembly. Thursdays meeting began at about 2:30 p.m. It is being attended by all heads of security agencies including the Director General of Nigeria Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ahmed Abubakar. The meeting ended just after 3:00p.m. None of the attendees agreed to talk to journalists on details of the discussion. However, the defence minister told journalists that the meeting was to review the outcome of what we discussed on Tuesday. A presidency source also told PREMIUM TIMES that the security chiefs spent very few time with the president on Thursday. Although details of meetings were not provided, the current insecurity in several states that has caused the death of thousands of people in 2018, is believed to have been the main topic of discussion. The Nigerian Senate on Thursday resolved to take President Muhammadu Buharis declaration a step further by asking that the official result of the June 12,1993 presidential election be announced. The June 12 election is considered one of the freest and fairest in Nigerias history. It is believed to have been won by late Moshood Abiola and his running mate Babagana Kingibe. The election was annulled before final results were officially announced. Mr Abiola was eventually jailed by the Sani Abacha military dictatorship for seeking to actualise his mandate. He died in prison in 1998. President Buhari on Wednesday decided to honour Mr Abiola by declaring June 12 as Nigerias new Democracy Day. It was formally May 29. The president also declared that Mr Abiola would be given Nigerias highest national honour, GCFR, while Mr Kingibe would be given the second highest, GCON. On Thursday, the Senate while largely supporting the presidents announcement, however, insisted May 29 will continue to be the hand-over date for presidents of Nigeria. The lawmakers after a lengthy deliberation on the presidents announcement agreed that an alteration of the handover date will require a constitutional amendment. Since 1999 when the country returned to civil rule, Nigeria has celebrated May 29 as Democracy Day. The date, after every four years, also doubles as the day for the inauguration of newly elected presidents and many state governors. First to raise the issue on Thursday was Lanre Tejuosho (Ogun-APC) who commended Mr Buhari for the announcements while urging him to also reconcile with the Legislature. Having come under order 43 of the Senate standing order, the matter was not open for discussion. Coming under order 42 and 52, Biodun Olujimi (Ekiti-PDP), re-opened the issue to allow contributions. While commending Mr Buhari for the move, she wants him to do more in legalising the gesture For once, I want to thank the President of Nigeria. I want to say he has done well. This is one time that the President has given a thought to what (Moshood) Abiola and his family went through to fight for this democracy that we enjoy today. Going further, there are issues to be addressed so that we can be confident that this is not a Greek gift. She prayed the Independent National Electoral Commission to announce the result of the June 12, 1983 election officially, grant entitlements to the winners, recognise Babagana Kingibe as a former vice president and the executive declare June 12 a public holiday. Mr Kingibe was running mate to Mr Abiola in the June 12, 1993 election. Mr Buhari on Wednesday announced that Mr Abiola would be conferred with Nigerias highest national honour, GCFR, while Mr Kingibe would be conferred with the second highest honour, GCON. After Ms. Olujimis speech, next was Senate Leader, Ahmed Lawan, who called on his colleagues to continue to support the government to further entrench democracy. Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, said the gesture comes with legal issues which the president must address. Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu They are now saying June 12 is now Democracy Day, proposing that in 2019, the president will now be sworn in on the 12th of June. This is illegally impossible. A president shall vacate his office at the expiration of a period of four years he took the oath of office. The implication is that 29th of May remains the date the president will be inaugurated and take oath of office. If they are moving from May 29 to June 12, it means we have to amend this constitution. Otherwise, we will be extending tenure of a president beyond what the constitution contemplates. We have to advise the president properly so that we wont enter a jam next year. We cannot extend it to June 12 without extending the Constitution. Enyinnaya Abaribe (Abia-PDP) said he wants President Muhammadu Buhari to declare December 31 as Democracy Destruction Day to mark a coup he championed to end the tenure of a democratically elected government in 1983. Finally, I want to also propose another day since we are now moving in the right direction, saying that democracy is needed, I want to propose that we also designate 31st December as Democracy destruction day because that was the day that this same president did a coup, he said. He was, however, shouted down by APC senators who felt his choice of words was offensive. Mr Abaribe was formally cut short by his colleague, Barau Jibrin (Kano-APC), who raised a point of order to call the attention of the Senate to a derailment from issue being discussed. The point of order was sustained. The chamber was taken into another slight rowdiness when Dino Melaye (Kogi-APC) announced that Mr Abiola is not a Nigerian and cannot be granted such honour. He said, I am a democrat, I believe very sincerely that Chief M.K.O Abiola deserve even more than the President have pronounced because he is a true patriot, philanthropist and should be sole decorated. But Mr. President, we are governed in the country by the constitution and extant laws. No matter how beautiful a situation is, the law of the land remains the law of the land. He went further to read a section of chapter 43 of the National Honours Act which he believed buttresses his point. Subsection 2 of the act says a person shall be eligible for appointment to any rank or holder unless he is a citizen of Nigeria. A dead man is not a citizen of the federal republic of Nigeria. We should not be emotional about this. The law remains the law. Mr Melayes interpretation is however novel and not backed by any known judicial interpretation. Mr Melaye also argued that the act provides that such honour be conferred on the recipient in person and since Mr Abiola is dead, he cannot receive the award; a similar claim to that made by a former chief justice of Nigeria, Alfa Belgore. He added that the constitution must be altered to make Mr Buharis decision hold. The Senate adopted five prayers including that the result of the June 12, 1993 election must be announced, all allowances and entitlement be paid to Mr Abiola as a former president and Mr Kingibe as a former vice president, Mr Kingibe be recognised as former vice president and that June 12 be declared public holiday. The lawmakers also resolved that May 29 remains the day for inauguration of presidents of Nigeria as June 12 date will mean tenure elongation which is against the constitution. The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, in his comment urged his colleagues to look away from the imperfections and first commend Mr Buhari for the decision. Former Senate President, Bukola Saraki We need to be guided. I think the whole essence of this discussion was to recognise the fact that Chief MKO Abiola, his contributions, what he had been through, his tribulations. For many years, it was long overdue. The good intention is what we should recognise. There might be imperfectons in how it was implemented but let us for today take the good intention. The other issues, Im not saying they are wrong or right. Whether the award is right, the process, constitutional amendment to recognition of Babagana Kingibe position as Vice President, the process of making June 12 a public holiday. In the spirit of all those imperfections, we should not allow that to cloud what Chief M.K.O Abiola is, he said. Francis Enobore, the public relations officer of the Nigerian Prisons Service, has claimed that the incident at Minna Medium Security Prison in which over 200 inmates escaped was an attack, not jail break. Mr Enobore said this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja. Perhaps educating the members of the public on the different terms wrongly used by people would go a long way in helping the masses. The terms escape, jail break and prison attack have completely different meanings to the Nigeria Prisons Service, he said. To start with, escape is basically when one or two persons scale out of watch, which may not necessarily involve any damage to the infrastructure. Jail break is an internal crisis generated from within and which will eventually lead to mass escape of prisoners. Prison attack occurs when there is an external invasion on the facilities and that was exactly what happened in the case of the unfortunate incident at Minna. Group of criminals came through, fully armed and attacked our men on duty just to carry out their mission and freed some prisoners in our custody, he said The attack at the Minna Medium Security Prison at Tunga area of Minna metropolis occured on June 3 at about 8:00 p.m. The incident led to the death of a prison officer and a motorcyclist, who conveyed a prison officer on night duty. The spokesman said the Nigerian Prisons Service had experienced relatively calm and peaceful atmosphere the whole of 2015. He also said that it was when the new administration came on board that there were disturbances from hoodlums and strategies had been put in place to ensure that those ugly incidents were reduced to the barest minimum. Mr Enobore identified overcrowding, old and weak infrastructure as the major causes of those ugly incidents in the past. He said that the NPS had embarked on projects that would erase all the ugly incidents, adding that fortified cells would be built to ensure safety. The PRO also said the NPS had spoken to other sister security agencies to establish more robust collaboration to curb the crime rate in the country. Majority of the inmates that were apprehended after the escape were returned by their family members because they had the understanding of what prison looked like. This shows the effort of the Controller General of the Nigerian Prison Service, Mr Jaafaru Ahmed, was yielding positive result since he assumed office. The PRO said the community had been educated to see the reasonable part of having prison and not to see the prison as a dungeon but a place to learn and to be rebuilt. (NAN) The Action Peoples Party (APP) has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of hijacking its idea without credit in declaring June 12 as Democracy Day. The presidency had in a statement on Thursday announced June 12 will now be celebrated in Nigeria as Democracy Day in honour of Moshood Abiola, who won the annulled presidential election of June 12, 1993. The Buhari government said Mr Abiola, who died in July 1998, will also be conferred with the nations highest honour, Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR), along side his running mate in that election, Babagana Kingibe, who will be conferred with the second highest honour of Grand Commander of the Niger (GCON). Mr Abiola was arrested in 1994 in the course of the struggle to claim his mandate and later died in custody in July 1998. The statement by the president has been followed by diverse reactions as some are happy with the president while others like the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) dismissed the move as borne out of hypocrisy and political desperation ahead of the 2019 presidential election. The APP in a statement on Thursday by Ikenga Ugochinyere, its National Chairman, also said it is a desperate move to woo the South-west and pro-democracy votes. APP is shocked to see that the President Buhari-led federal government has now graduated to hijacking ideas of true democrats without giving due credit in a desperate bid to secure lost South West and pro-democracy block votes. Few months ago, we launched our partys healing and national reconciliation agenda, which includes the ceremonial declaration of M.K.O Abiola the winner of the June 12 election and also the enactment of a legislation called the June 12 Act which will declare June 12 of every year as our National democracy day. We presented the draft bill to the public on live television to express our readiness to heal the wounds of the past and honour our fallen democratic hero. APP is in awe that a president who has not done a single creative thing since his election in 2015 would in his desperation to woo South West and pro-democracy votes attempt to hijack a well-thought out initiative of the APP without giving credit to the initiators of the idea. The party said the announcement of June 12 as Democracy Day celebration by Buhari was a mockery of the June 12 struggle. To see Buhari pretend to be on the side of June 12 because of his desperation to garner lost goodwill from South West and pro-democracy block is a joke taken too far when the same president few weeks ago was seen praising the former dictator Abacha whose regime denied Nigeria the chance to have an Abiola presidency. The party therefore declared it will be taking legal action within 48 hours if the president does not give them credit for their newly launched political manifesto and agenda. The party provided a link to a video in its statement but the video on the link will not play as it showed this video has been removed by the user. PREMIUM TIMES tried to reach the chairman of the party to know what the content of the video that failed to play was and what it had to do with the story. But he was not picking his calls. The Textile Workers Union on Thursday commended President Muhammadu Buhari for declaring June 12 as Democracy Day and for conferring a posthumous award on Moshood Abiola. The presidency made the announcement Wednesday night in honour of Mr Abiola, who won the annulled presidential election of June 12, 1993. Mr Abiola was arrested in 1994 while struggling to claim his mandate from military dictators at the time. He died in custody in July 1998. Also to be honoured are Abiolas running mate, Babagana Kingibe, and late human rights activist, Gani Fawehinmi SAN. Both would receive the second highest national honour, Grand Commander of the Niger (GCON). In a statement signed by its spokesperson, Issa Aremu, the union saluted Mr Buhari on what it called the courage and sensitivity to confer the honour of GCFR on Mr Abiola. The union also said President gave the correct signal that never again would any group of people violate the mandate of Nigerian people through mandate annulment . According to the union, the president had restored the peoples confidence in his administration and in sustaining the countrys integrity and democracy. President Buhari had commendably rekindled faith in sustainability of democracy in Africas largest democracy. The President gave the correct signal that never again would any group of people violate the mandate of Nigerian people through mandate annulment, the union said. The statement said President Buhari had brought integrity to governance by shunning the hypocrisy and shameless denials of past leaders of Nigeria that June 12 was truly a watershed in the struggle for democracy in Nigeria. June 12, 1993 was far more symbolic of democracy in the Nigerian context than May 29 as it was June 12, 1993 that Nigerians in millions expressed their democratic will in what was undisputedly the freest, fairest and most peaceful elections since our Independence, the statement said. According to the statement, the union had earlier urged President Buhari in 2015 to to offer leadership and build a groundswell of national consensus to posthumously accord acceptable deserved national and global honour to the winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Mr Abiola, with other victims of that era of military impunity. It said the June 12 spectre had repeatedly hunted Nigerias democratic process, the president has now exorcised the spectre. The statement observed that given the free and fair election that led to the emergence President Buhari in 2015, he was best positioned to rightly name, shame and damn the criminal annulment of the 1993 presidential election results adjudged to be the most free and fair. According to the statement, the distortion and corruption of Nigerias democratic aspiration started with the singular annulment of 1993 June 12 free and fair elections. Since the shameful events of 1993, election riggers had perfected the art of violations of peoples mandates through varying subterfuges that included ballot snatching, alteration of electoral rules, falsifications of election results as we witnessed in particular in 2003 and 2007 elections. It said the honor for Mr Abiola and others is honor for the nation, adding that by dignifying the victims of June 12, Nigeria has invariably damned those behind the decades of impunity in Nigeria. The pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, has urged Nigerians to take the federal governments declaration of June 12 as Democracy Day and the posthumous award to the late Moshood Abiola, with a pinch of salt. The group said although it accepted the recognition of Mr Abiola and June 12 by the All Progressives Congress federal government, there is a need to test the motives and true intentions of the government with the coming elections in Ekiti, Osun and next years presidential elections. Mr Abiola was the presumed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential elections, which was annulled by the military regime of Ibrahim Babangida. He was later arrested by the military dictator, Sani Abacha, and incarcerated while fighting to reclaim his mandate, until his death in detention in 1998. The spokesman for Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, told PREMIUM TIMES in a telephone chat on Wednesday that Afenifere had been on the struggle to get the government recognise the historic moment of June 12 and the sacrifice of Mr Abiola for two decades. He feared that the government might be trying to woo voters ahead of the coming 2019 general elections, even though the gesture was a welcome development. We are not unaware that we are now in the election season and every attempt will be made to woo voters with issues that are popular, Mr Odumakin said. But be that as it may, we have canvassed for the honour of Chief Moshood Abiola since the annulment of June 12 and for June 12 to be declared democracy day for over two decades now. Therefore we accept the declarations and commend them. If we are able to hold free and fair elections, if we allow Nigerians to elect their leaders without hindrance, if the will of voters is acknowledged, if the ballot is allowed to reign supreme in the next Nigerian elections, then this would have celebrated our true belief in the spirit of June 12 and the proper honour of Abiola, who died on principle, insisting that the rights of Nigerians and their votes must be respected. He said if the coming elections failed to meet these tests, then it would show that the declarations were as a mere political gimmick to hoodwink the electorate. They say fairness consist in giving even the devil his due. Like I said the true test of the motive and intention will come out in January, in fact right from Ekiti on July 14, we will know whether this is just a mere gimmick or a true spirit of democracy in the land. So it is not far for us to know the motive behind this, said Mr Odumakin. He, however, warned Nigerians should be vigilant and watch out in the elections that are coming whether the spirit of June 12 had been imbibed or whether the government was paying lip service to the historic moment. Dino Melaye, the senator representing Kogi West, has cautioned President Muhammdu Buhari against breaching the constitution in his latest move of conferring the honour of Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR) on Moshood Abiola, the widely acclaimed winner of the 1993 presidential election. Mr Buhari on June 6, 25 years after the election, directed the honour be conferred on Mr Abiola. He also said June 12 will henceforth be preserved as Nigerias Democracy Day to further honour him. The president also directed Mr Abiolas running mate, Babagana Kingibe, be conferred with the second highest honour of Grand Commander of the Niger (GCON). The GCFR was exclusive to presidents and former presidents until President Shehu Shagari conferred it on Obafemi Awolowo in the Second Republic. Citing Chapter 43(2) of the National Honours Act on Thursday, however, Mr Melaye argued that the act does not allow for conferment of the honours on non-Nigerians. He claimed that Mr Abiola is dead and that automatically makes him not to be a Nigerian. He said, I am a democrat, I believe very sincerely that Chief M.K.O Abiola deserve even more than the president has pronounced because he is a true patriot, philanthropist and should be so decorated. But Mr. President, we are governed in the country by the constitution and extant laws. No matter how beautiful a situation is, the law of the land remains the law of the land. The lawmaker mentioned a section of the law which he claims buttresses his point. Subsection 2 of the act says a person shall be eligible for appointment to any rank or holder unless he is a citizen of Nigeria. A dead man is not a citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. We should not be emotional about this. The law remains the law. Mr Melayes interpretation is expected to be faulted by most Nigerians and is not known to have a precedent in any law court. Mr Melaye also argued that the act provides that such honour be conferred on the recipient in person and since Mr Abiola is dead, he cannot receive the award; a similar argument to that raised by a former chief justice of Nigeria, Alfa Belgore. Subject to the next notice, a person shall be appointed to a particular rank of an order when the president receives him in person, he said. Mr. President, they said in person for us to do what we are supposed to do, we would have to amend the provisions of this act because anything we need to do, we have to do in accordance with the provisions of the law. The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, announced that his points of order were noted. The Abiola family has written to thank President Muhammadu Buhari for awarding the nations highest honour to their patriarch, MKO Abiola, the presumed winner of the 1993 June 12 presidential election. Mr Buhari announced the award on Wednesday and also declared June 12 as democracy day starting from 2019, shifting the date from May 29. The decision has drawn mixed reactions from Nigerians. Mr Buhari also honoured late activist, Gani Fawehinmi, and Mr Abiolas vice presidential candidate, Babagana Kingibe. In a letter to the president, dated June 6, 2018, Mr Abiolas son, Kola, said he was appreciating the decision on behalf of the family. Your Excellency, as I wrote in my letter to you on June 12, 2016, in our minds, the award was the only befitting recognition of the importance of Chief Abiolas fight for democracy for Nigeria which culminated in 4 years incarceration/solitary confinement and decimation of his business and financial interests, before the ultimate sacrifice, being his life on July 7, 1998 at the age of 60, he wrote. Your Excellency, your decision to also designate June 12 as Democracy Day rights the wrongs done to all the nation-builders and heroes that produced that produced the democratic credentials on which the Nigerian polity now thrives. We are profoundly grateful to the people from all corners of Nigeria that worked tirelessly to ensure the most free and fair elections in our nations history in 1993, fought valiantly for the Hope 93 mandate given to Bashorun Abiola by the Nigerian people and died trying to protect the mandate. Mr President, I thank you earnestly for heeding our plea where others before you did not, whilst conveying the assurances of my highest esteem. The Niger State House of Assembly on Thursday approved Governor Abubakar Bellos request to access a loan of N3.2 billion from Zenith bank. The House passed the resolution through a voice vote following a letter read in plenary by the Speaker, Ahmed Marafa. According to the letter from the governor, the loan is meant for counterpart funding of donor assisted projects in the state. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the counterpart funding required for the projects in the sectors of Education, Agriculture and rural development. The letter indicated that the loan was being offered at an interest of 17 per cent payable within 30 months. The Government of Niger State has received an offer of a term loan facility of N3.2 billion for counterpart funding of donor assisted projects in the 2018 approved budget. The loan which is being offered at an interest of 17 per cent per annum and 2 per cent of transaction cost is to be repaid in 30 months on a reducing balance basis. However, as part of the conditions for accessing the loan, we will require a resolution of the House of Assembly in support of the facility. In compliance with the 1999 constitution as amended, I wish to bring this matter to your attention and to seek your consent for the loan, it read. In his submission on the issue, member representing Bosso constituency, Malik Madaki noted that the approval had become necessary to enable the state draw down counterpart funds. Mr Madaki, however, appealed to the executive to utilise the loan for the purpose for which it was approved to avoid the wrath of the assembly. Other members spoke in similar vain before the House unanimously gave the governor the nod to access the loan. The Speaker thereafter directed the Clerk to communicate its resolution to the executive. (NAN) For the New World Order, a world government is just the beginning. Once in place they can engage their plan to exterminate 80% of the world's population, while enabling the "elites" to live forever with the aid of advanced technology. For the first time, crusading filmmaker ALEX JONES reveals their secret plan for humanity's extermination: Operation ENDGAME. Jones chronicles the history of the global elite's bloody rise to power and reveals how they have funded dictators and financed the bloodiest warscreating order out of chaos to pave the way for the first true world empire. Watch as Jones and his team track the elusive Bilderberg Group to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III. to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III. Learn about the formation of the North America transportation control grid, which will end U.S. sovereignty forever. Discover how the practitioners of the pseudo-science eugenics have taken control of governments worldwide as a means to carry out depopulation. View the progress of the coming collapse of the United States and the formation of the North American Union. Never before has a documentary assembled all the pieces of the globalists' dark agenda. Endgame's compelling look at past atrocities committed by those attempting to steer the future delivers information that the controlling media has meticulously censored for over 60 years. It fully reveals the elite's program to dominate the earth and carry out the wicked plan in all of human history. Endgame is not conspiracy theory, it is documented fact in the elite's own words. New training initiative will expand much-needed training opportunities for providers and staff to successfully manage the business side of the practice. Contact Nancy Clements ***@pmimd.com Nancy Clements End -- Practice Management Institute (PMI) today announced an expanded training partnership with the West Virginia State Medical Association (WVSMA), which will facilitate affordable medical practice-specific training and credentialing opportunities for its membership throughout the state.Initially, WVSMA will host PMI programming at their offices in Charleston beginning in late July, with an expanded outreach program to follow, taking the courses to cities throughout the state. A primary objective is to make courses available in both urban and rural areas."Moving forward, the WVSMA will expand the educational offerings to additional locations in West Virginia. We want our members and their staff to have access to the many options for training available through our partnership with PMI," said WVSMA Executive Director, Danny ScaliseThe initiative is designed to help providers and staff access training for all areas of the business side of healthcare which are necessary for running a successful practice. This includes coding, billing, management, and compliance. Nationally recognized PMI certification courses in these areas will also be offered.Michael Moore, Vice President of Business Development, acknowledges the value and importance of providing educational, as well as networking opportunities. Moore explains, "Our organizations share a common mission to help medical office personnel in all specialties stay on top of the latest industry changes, trends, and solutions. In addition, we know the value and importance of the kind of networking opportunities encouraged by the WVSMA, and remain steadfast behind the WVSMA commitment to the success of those they serve."Angie Brown, WVSMA Director of Communications added, "The WVSMA and PMI are excited about the expanded relationship between our organizations. Since 2010 the WVSMA has offered value-added educational opportunities to its members and their staffs through our collaborative relationship."Established in 1867, the West Virginia State Medical Association is a physician-based organization which focuses on public health issues. The WVSMA strives to provide the highest level of continuing medical education and seeks to promote the time-honored commitment of the medical profession while improving the quality of life for West Virginians. Visit https://wvsma.org for more details.Practice Management Institute (PMI) is a leading training, networking and credentialing source for medical office professionals. For more 34 years, physicians and their staff have looked to PMI for skills that contribute to more efficient, profitable and compliant practices. Visit https://www.pmiMD.com for more details CHICAGO, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- 10th Magnitude, the leading Microsoft Azure services firm in the U.S., today announced it has won the 2018 Microsoft Open Source Applications & Infrastructure on Azure Partner of the Year Award. The company was honored among a global field of top Microsoft partners for demonstrating excellence in innovation and implementation of customer solutions based on Microsoft technology. Alex Brown, founder and CEO of 10th Magnitude, shared some thoughts about winning the award. "We are honored to have been selected as the Worldwide Open Source on Azure partner of the year. The innovation available through open source toolsets in conjunction with the flexibility, speed, and cost advantages of Microsoft Azure is enabling our customers to become leaders and disruptors in their industries. By embracing open source, we have been able to attract talent with diverse skillsets and deliver high-impact solutions for our customers that far exceeded their expectations." Awards were presented in several categories, with winners chosen from a set of more than 2,600 entrants from 115 countries worldwide. 10th Magnitude was recognized for providing outstanding solutions and services in Open Source Applications & Infrastructure on Azure. Each year, the awards acknowledge exceptional development and delivery of Microsoft-based solutions during the past year. "Our ecosystem of partners is crucial to delivering transformative solutions, and this year's winners have proven to be some of the finest among their peers," said Gavriella Schuster corporate vice president, One Commercial Partner, Microsoft Corp. "We are pleased to recognize 10th Magnitude for being selected as winner of the 2018 Microsoft Open Source Applications & Infrastructure on Azure Partner of the Year Award." The Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards recognize Microsoft partners that have developed and delivered exceptional Microsoft-based solutions during the past year. About 10th Magnitude 10th Magnitude creates the path for organizations to stay competitive, become industry disruptors, and reach new heights through cloud-enabled innovation. With executive-level transformative guidance, deep technical process and tooling engineering, and robust managed services for ongoing support, 10th Magnitude makes digital innovation a reality through the power of the cloud. For additional information Lori Borg VP of Marketing 10th Magnitude [email protected] (425) 455-1155 Product or service names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. SOURCE 10th Magnitude Related Links http://www.10thmagnitude.com NEW YORK, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- 2ndQuadrant announced today that the 2ndQuadrant PostgreSQL Conference 2018 (2Q PGConf, for short) will be hosted on December 4th & 5th in Chicago, IL. Registration and call for papers have officially been opened for the event. 2Q PGConf is a conference dedicated to exchanging knowledge about PostgreSQL, aimed at helping attendees to understand how it can work for enterprise organizations of any size. 2Q PGConf provides a unique opportunity for participants to learn more about PostgreSQL from world-class experts, presenting about both recent achievements and exciting developments to come in the future. In addition to the exceptional talks being presented, hands-on training sessions are being offered on December 4, in the following areas: Multi-master Replication, PostgreSQL Performance, and PostgreSQL Security. These training courses are being offered at an exclusive rate in conjunction with the conference, with limited space available. Registration is open for the event and tickets for general admission and training courses can be purchased directly on the conference website: www.2qpgconf.com/#register The Call for Papers for the conference has officially been opened. Dynamic presentations covering the following topics are expected to be submitted: New features in PostgreSQL 11, PostgreSQL 12 - What's in store for the future of PostgreSQL, deployment and administration of large-scale enterprise PostgreSQL installations, case studies and/or success stories of PostgreSQL deployments (or interesting failures), and much more. The full list of topics and talk submission form can be found here: http://www.2qpgconf.com/#cfp The submission deadline is midnight August 27, 2018 Pacific Time. Tom Kincaid, General Manager of North America at 2ndQuadrant, had this to say about the event: "We are delighted to be hosting the 2ndQuadrant PostgreSQL Conference once again in Chicago. This conference has proven to be a fantastic forum for discussing developments in the Postgres community, hearing how people are applying PostgreSQL to address their business needs, and creating a valuable network opportunity for people who are using or considering using PostgreSQL." For those that would like to be a part of the Open Source PostgreSQL movement, 2Q PGConf has partnership opportunities available. Details about sponsorship opportunities can be found at http://www.2qpgconf.com/#sponsors For any additional questions or information about 2Q PGConf, send an email to: [email protected] Media Contact Britt Cole [email protected] SOURCE 2ndQuadrant Related Links http://www.2qpgconf.com BEIJING, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- 58.com Inc. (NYSE: WUBA) ("58.com" or the "Company"), China's largest online market place for classifieds, today announced that the Company will participate in the dbAccess Asia Internet Corporate Day to be held from June 28 to 29, 2018. This event will take place at Deutsche Bank's London offices at Winchester House. Mr. Hao Zhou, CFO of the Company, will represent the Company and meet with institutional investors. For additional information, please contact your Deutsche Bank representative. About 58.com Inc. 58.com Inc. (NYSE: WUBA) operates China's largest online market place for classifieds, as measured by monthly unique visitors on both its www.58.com website and mobile applications. The Company's online marketplace enables local merchants and consumers to connect, share information and conduct business. 58.com's broad, in-depth and high quality local information, combined with its easy-to-use website and mobile applications, has made it a trusted marketplace for consumers. 58.com's strong brand recognition, large and growing user base, merchant network and massive database of local information create a powerful network effect. For more information on 58.com, please visit http://www.58.com. For more information, please contact: 58.com Inc. [email protected] Christensen In China Mr. Christian Arnell Phone: +86-10-5900-1548 E-mail: [email protected] In US Ms. Linda Bergkamp Phone: +1-480-614-3004 Email: [email protected] SOURCE 58.com Inc. Related Links http://www.58.com WASHINGTON, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Act4Accountability (ACT4) and the Mastercard Foundation are excited to announce the Diaspora Initiative to Support Youth Training Organizations ("DISYTO") in Nigeria and Uganda. This initiative aims to understand the programmatic capacity and funding challenges of youth-training organizations in Africa. Eighty (80) local organizations working with unemployed youth between the ages of 15-24 in Nigeria and Uganda will be trained to develop operational plans, as well as marketing and communications strategies. Organizations will also learn about fiscal responsibility and best practices when appealing directly to their Diaspora for funds. ACT4 will pilot the DISYTO through its new campaign to coordinate philanthropy by members of the Africa Diaspora in the U.S., Diaspora RiseUP, in collaboration with the digital and mobile platform created by 1847 Philanthropic, Diasporas in America (DIA) Fund. DIA Fund is a hybrid tech-philanthropy platform that connects members of the African diaspora to vetted, community-based organizations in their home countries. "We are excited about the Mastercard Foundation support and the opportunity to test a groundbreaking mobile platform like DIA Fund making it easier to support local solutions to issues like youth unemployment in Africa," said Omolola Adele-Oso, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Act4Accountability. The DISYTO pilot in Nigeria and Uganda Pilot will leverage the cultural connections and economic power of the African Diaspora in the United States into digital micro-philanthropy for the local youth-training organizations participating in the pilot. "On-the-ground knowledge and expertise is the bedrock of the Foundation's work," says Koffi Assouan, Program Manager- Youth Livelihoods at the Mastercard Foundation, "It's essential to focus on understanding the challenges to growing local solutions to youth unemployment." Photos from Nigeria launch For more on Diaspora RiseUP, visit https://diasporariseup.org/ Learn about the DIA Fund platform here- diasporasinamericafund.com About Act4Accountability (ACT4) ACT4 is building a stronger culture of African & Diaspora accountability through advocacy, civic engagement, humanitarian assistance, and philanthropy. ACT4's giving through DIA-Fund will directly support communities with the resources to control their development because charity begins at home! Contact: Omolola Adele-Oso Executive Director and Co-Founder [email protected] 240-245-0740 SOURCE Act4Accountability Related Links http://act4accountability.com VANCOUVER, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - Alio Gold Inc (TSX, NYSE AMERICAN: ALO) ("Alio Gold" or the "Company"), announces that the Company has finalized the appointment of Doug Jones as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Jones will be responsible for operations at the Florida Canyon Mine in Nevada, USA and the San Francisco Mine in Sonora, Mexico. Paul Hosford, Vice-President Project Development, will continue to oversee the development of the Ana Paula Project in Guerrero, Mexico. "We are extremely pleased to have Doug join our management team," said Greg McCunn, Chief Executive Officer. "His experience, knowledge and operational leadership skills will enhance our ability to deliver consistent results at our operating mines. I look forward to working with him to build Alio into a mid-tier precious metals company." Mr. Jones is an experienced international mining executive with over 30 years within precious and base metal mining projects, operations and engineering, including more than 15 years in the gold space. Previously, he was the Chief Operating Officer at Rye Patch Gold which was acquired by Alio Gold on May 25, 2018. Prior to joining Rye Patch, he served as Senior Vice-President for Eldorado Gold, managing gold and base metal operations in Asia and Europe. He was the general manager for Kinross Gold in Washington and for Stillwater Mining in Montana. He also consulted for mining operations in South America, Asia and Europe. Mr. Jones spent ten years working in Nevada with Newmont on the Carlin Trend, and prior to that spent five years on various projects with Freeport-McMoRan at the Ertsberg/Grasberg properties in Indonesia. He is a Mining Engineer from Colorado School of Mines, a professional member of SME and a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101. About Alio Gold Alio Gold is a growth oriented gold mining company, focused on exploration, development and production in Mexico and the USA. Its principal assets include its 100%-owned and operating San Francisco Mine in Sonora, Mexico, its 100%-owned and operating Florida Canyon Mine in Nevada, USA and its 100%-owned development stage Ana Paula Project in Guerrero, Mexico. Located within the highly prospective Guerrero Gold Belt on 56,000 hectares of underexplored land the Ana Paula Project is a high-grade, high margin project currently in the definitive feasibility stage. An underground decline to provide access for an exploration drill program has been initiated. The drill program will target the continuation of the high-grade gold mineralization below the proposed pit which has the potential to significantly enhance the robust economics of the project. The Company also has a portfolio of other exploration properties located in Mexico and the USA. Neither the TSX nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX) nor the New York Stock Exchange MKT accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. SOURCE Alio Gold In partnership with Allergan, Mitchell, known as one of the top names in the industry for her roles in several acclaimed movies and television shows, hopes to encourage women to have candid conversations about their contraceptive options with their healthcare providers, while simultaneously offering preliminary education. "In conversations with my friends and family, it is constantly made clear to me that people are not speaking about birth control as much as they should be. When they do, the dialogue is riddled with misconceptions," said Mitchell. "At the very least, we should all know about the host of options that are available to us. Through my partnership with Allergan and Know Your Birth Control, I hope we can bridge that gap together. It all starts by getting informed, talking to your doctor, and not being afraid to ask questions." Launching last year, the program continues to evolve with new partners who are excited to contribute to the birth control conversation by offering informative facts and tips. "In my practice, it is a consistent norm that birth control will be widely used, yet poorly understood," said Dr. Lakeisha Richardson, MD, a Mississipi-based OB/GYN and paid consultant of Allergan. "I always advocate that no question is too small when it comes to helping a patient make decisions about what is right for them. Through my upcoming work with Allergan, I look forward to channeling this approach, and to developing materials and resources that will help support women seeking information about contraceptive options." On Mitchell's partnership with Know Your Birth Control, Cindy Schwartz, Associate Vice President of Marketing at Allergan Women's Healthcare said, "We are delighted that Shay is joining us in this significant campaign. With her support and participation, we feel strongly that we will reach a wide network of women, encouraging many to take the initiative to speak to their doctors, and ultimately be in control of their birth control decisions." To watch the quiz featuring Shay Mitchell, and to learn more about Know Your Birth Control, visit www.KnowYourBirthControl.com. What is Lo Loestrin Fe? Lo Loestrin Fe is a prescription birth control pill used for the prevention of pregnancy. If you are moderately obese, discuss with your healthcare provider whether Lo Loestrin Fe is appropriate for you. IMPORTANT RISK INFORMATION WARNING TO WOMEN WHO SMOKE Do not use Lo Loestrin Fe if you smoke cigarettes and are over 35 years old. Smoking increases your risk of serious cardiovascular side effects (heart and blood vessel problems) from birth control pills, including death from heart attack, blood clots, or stroke. This risk increases with age and the number of cigarettes you smoke. Who should not take Lo Loestrin Fe? Do not use Lo Loestrin Fe if you have or have had blood clots, history of heart attack or stroke, high blood pressure that medicine cannot control, breast cancer or any cancer that is sensitive to female hormones, liver disease or liver tumors, unexplained bleeding from the vagina, if you are or may be pregnant, or if you take Hepatitis C drugs containing ombitasvir/paritaprevir/ritonavir, with or without dasabuvir, as this may increase levels of liver enzymes in the blood. What else should I know about taking Lo Loestrin Fe? Treatment with Lo Loestrin Fe should be stopped if you have a blood clot, and at least 4 weeks before and through 2 weeks after major surgery. You should not take Lo Loestrin Fe any earlier than 4 weeks after having a baby, or if you are breastfeeding. If you experience yellowing of the skin or eyes due to problems with your liver, you should stop taking Lo Loestrin Fe. If you are pre-diabetic or diabetic, your doctor should monitor you while using Lo Loestrin Fe. Your doctor should evaluate you if you have any significant change in headaches or irregular menstrual bleeding. What are the most serious risks of taking Lo Loestrin Fe? Lo Loestrin Fe increases the risk of serious conditions including blood clots, stroke, and heart attack. These can be life-threatening or lead to permanent disability. What are the possible side effects of Lo Loestrin Fe? The most common side effects reported by women taking Lo Loestrin Fe in a study were nausea/vomiting, headache, spotting or bleeding between menstrual periods, painful menstruation, weight change, breast tenderness, acne, abdominal pain, anxiety, and depression. Birth control pills do not protect you against any sexually transmitted disease, including HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Please see the full Prescribing Information, including Boxed Warning, and Patient Information. About Allergan plc Allergan plc (NYSE: AGN), headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, is a bold, global pharmaceutical leader. Allergan is focused on developing, manufacturing and commercializing branded pharmaceutical, device, biologic, surgical and regenerative medicine products for patients around the world. Allergan markets a portfolio of leading brands and best-in-class products for the central nervous system, eye care, medical aesthetics and dermatology, gastroenterology, women's health, urology and anti-infective therapeutic categories. Allergan is an industry leader in Open Science, a model of research and development, which defines our approach to identifying and developing game-changing ideas and innovation for better patient care. With this approach, Allergan has built one of the broadest development pipelines in the pharmaceutical industry. Allergan's success is powered by our global colleagues' commitment to being Bold for Life. Together, we build bridges, power ideas, act fast and drive results for our customers and patients around the world by always doing what is right. With commercial operations in approximately 100 countries, Allergan is committed to working with physicians, healthcare providers and patients to deliver innovative and meaningful treatments that help people around the world live longer, healthier lives every day. For more information, visit Allergan's website at www.Allergan.com. Forward-Looking Statement Statements contained in this press release that refer to future events or other non-historical facts are forward-looking statements that reflect Allergan's current perspective on existing trends and information as of the date of this release. Actual results may differ materially from Allergan's current expectations depending upon a number of factors affecting Allergan's business. These factors include, among others, the difficulty of predicting the timing or outcome of FDA approvals or actions, if any; the impact of competitive products and pricing; market acceptance of and continued demand for Allergan's products; the impact of uncertainty around timing of generic entry related to key products, including RESTASIS, on our financial results; uncertainty associated with financial projections, projected cost reductions, projected synergies, restructurings, increased costs, and adverse tax consequences; difficulties or delays in manufacturing; and other risks and uncertainties detailed in Allergan's periodic public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to Allergan's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017 and Allergan's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2018. Except as expressly required by law, Allergan disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements. CONTACTS: Allergan: Investors: Daphne Karydas (862) 261-8006 Karina Calzadilla (862) 261-7328 Media: Amy Rose (862) 289-3072 Tara Schuh (862) 261-7637 SOURCE Allergan plc Related Links www.allergan.com ROHNERT PARK, Calif., June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Navigating a career can be tricky, but it all starts with the first job. Individuals who recently left college may focus their job search based on the subject that they studied in school. But they may have a nagging voice whispering into their ear about their student loan debt. That debt might influence job-seekers to weigh pay more than other factors when considering their employment options. Ameritech Financial, a document preparation company that helps borrowers apply for federal repayment plans, reminds borrowers that if their student loans guide their job decisions, they may find relief in federal repayment programs. Credit: eskay lim/Bigstock "It's definitely important to get paid enough to live, but there's more to a career than a paycheck," said Tom Knickerbocker, Executive Vice President of Ameritech Financial. "Getting established in a career can take time, which doesn't always support student loan repayment. Borrowers should know they have access to federal options that might help them stay current on their loans." Borrowers who let their student debt influence their career decisions may end up in jobs that do not align with their career goals simply because they may enable student loan repayment. About a third of college graduates are underemployed, which means they are working in jobs that do not require a college degree. Such jobs may not lead anywhere or provide relevant experience that might help the borrower transition to their dream career in the future. Alternatively, other borrowers may feel pressured to take a job that pays well but that does not align with their values. For example, a recent law graduate may think taking a biglaw position is the only way to live with their student loans, even though they would rather get a public defender job, which may pay much less, to help those who do not have the resources to afford a biglaw lawyer. While common advice for recent graduates is to make their job search their job, Ameritech Financial encourages them to spend some time planning their student loan repayment as well. Federal income-driven repayment plans (IDRs) can help borrowers who end up in low-paying jobs stay current on their loans until their career progresses or their repayment ends. Those who wish to work in public service may look into Public Service Loan Forgiveness, which requires enrollment in an IDR to help with potentially low income. "Knowing your options for both your finances and career can help you make a truly informed decision about your future," said Knickerbocker. "At Ameritech Financial, we help borrowers understand and apply for IDRs that we hope improve their financial outlook." 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 career-search-with-student-loans.jpg Career Search with Student Loans Credit: eskay lim/Bigstock image2.png Related Links Ameritech Financial home page Related Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRza8MbLvuM SOURCE Ameritech Financial Related Links http://ameritechfinancial.com ROHNERT PARK, Calif., June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- There's a lot of financial advice out there that isn't necessarily one-size-fits-all. It can be hard for someone who isn't financially savvy to be able to distinguish between good and bad advice. Especially when stress from debt like student loans can overwhelm borrowers, having some help with the process can be essential for success. Ameritech Financial is a private document preparation company that assists federal student loan borrowers with understanding and applying for federal income-driven repayment plans that can potentially improve their whole financial situation. "Your finances are not dependent on a single factor, so advice on dealing with specific things can only go so far," said Tom Knickerbocker, Executive Vice President of Ameritech Financial. "Student loan borrowers might not realize that the way they repay their loans can affect their other debt payment or saving attempts." Student loan debt is one of the highest debts in American households, second to mortgage loans. Credit cards are on the list as well, rounding out coverage of many financial myths prevalent in financial advice articles. For example, advice to keep a credit card balance is common but misguided; instead, financial experts advise individuals to pay off their balance every month, and if they cannot do so, they should not use their credit card. That kind of information may not be useful for those in very tight financial situations, especially for those who do not have an emergency fund to cover unexpected expenses. High student loan balances may be one factor contributing to an individual's inability to save money. However, much of the top advice for dealing with student loans is to pay it off as quickly as possible by throwing extra money at it extra money that many borrowers simply don't have. Alternative advice for student loan borrowers struggling financially may center around federal income-driven repayment plans (IDRs). Such plans calculate payments relative to income and family size and can potentially reduce payments to as little as zero dollars for certain situations. IDRs also end in forgiveness after 20 to 25 years of enrollment. Any reduction in student loan payments may allow borrowers to build an emergency fund, pay down credit cards or other debt, or set money aside for another goal. "At Ameritech Financial, we believe that IDRs can help borrowers improve their whole financial situation not just their student loans," said Knickerbocker. "We help borrowers understand how enrollment in an IDR could affect their finances, and we help with the application and yearly recertification paperwork as long as they wish to remain in the program." 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 financial-advice-myths-and-facts.jpg Financial Advice Myths and Facts Credit: AndreyPopov/Bigstock image2.png Related Links Ameritech Financial home page Related Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRza8MbLvuM SOURCE Ameritech Financial ROHNERT PARK, Calif., June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Financial freedom can be tricky to achieve, even for those with high earning potentials. A recent report showed that more than three-quarters of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck with limited saving capabilities. For millions of Americans, student loans represent a major portion of the debt that may contribute to the paycheck-to-paycheck lifestyle. Ameritech Financial, a document preparation company that helps its clients apply for federal income-driven repayment plans, encourages federal student loan borrowers to look into federal repayment plans to help break the cycle and work toward financial goals. "It's so stressful to live paycheck-to-paycheck with no ability to save money to break the cycle," said Tom Knickerbocker, executive vice president of Ameritech Financial. "With the right planning and resources, it is possible for people who consider their federal student loans a major obstacle." According to the report, 71 percent of full-time workers have debt, more than half of whom feel that their debt is unmanageable. Additionally, more than half reported setting aside $100 or less for saving purposes, which would make building an emergency fund extremely difficult if not impossible. Financial experts often recommend having an emergency fund of at least three months of living expenses, though, ideally, they suggest six months. Student loan borrowers leave college with an average of around $30,000 to $40,000 of debt. Monthly payments can be in the hundreds or more. Borrowers who struggle to make those payments may benefit from a federal income-driven repayment plan (IDR). Such plans base payments on income and family size and can end in forgiveness after 20 to 25 years of enrollment. Many borrowers see a reduction in payment through IDR enrollment, which can help them set money aside or pay down other debt. "Getting into the habit of saving money can be hard, and it might take a lifestyle change," said Knickerbocker. "Enrolling in an IDR for federal student loans might be an effective first step for many borrowers. At Ameritech Financial, we help borrowers understand IDRs in the context of their financial situation and we help them with the application paperwork as well." 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 living-paycheck-to-paycheck-with.jpg Living Paycheck-to-Paycheck with Student Loans Credit: Serenethos/Bigstock image2.png Related Links Ameritech Financial home page Related Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRza8MbLvuM SOURCE Ameritech Financial SACRAMENTO, Calif., June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Magilla Loans, a search engine for loans which connects borrowers to banks without requesting personal information, announced the appointment of Dr. Rao Unnava, one of the founders of Angie's list and Dean of UC Davis Graduate School of Management to its Board of Directors. Over the course of his career, Dr. Unnava helped pave the way for the development and understanding of brand and consumer behavior. Having researched issues related to brand loyalty, consumer response to advertising, sales promotions, and consumer memory for more than three decades, Dr. Unnava was one of the founding investors of Angie's List (IAC), an online directory that allows users to access and publish crowd-sourced reviews of local businesses and contractors. As a founder of Angie's list, Dr. Unnava transformed the way consumers and vendors interact with one another. "As soon as I saw the platform, I recognized Magilla is a groundbreaking, bold, yet uncomplicated, innovation similar to my experience at Angie's List and wanted to be a part of taking the user experience to the next level," said Dr. Unnava. "I look forward to taking on my new role and influencing the direction of the organization as Magilla continues to prioritize the needs of both the lender and borrower." Using patent-pending technology, Magilla's platform connects a borrower anonymously to multiple lenders following responses to a set of questions. Once the loan application is submitted, borrowers can receive multiple loan proposals from numerous lenders usually within 24 hours. If the borrower accepts a loan proposal, an introduction is made to the lender, which allows the borrower to remain in full control throughout the process. Dean Sioukas, CEO of Magilla Loans added, "Dr. Unnava's involvement will motivate us to provide meaningful solutions for consumers in a seamless manner. Having spent his career analyzing consumer satisfaction, we are certain he will help the company further understand and satisfy the demand for a one stop digital solution for loan access." Dr. Unnava serves on the board of the American Marketing Association and Bay Area Council, the largest business-centric public policy organization in the San Francisco region. Unnava earned his Ph.D. in business administration from The Ohio State University's Fisher College of Business, and his Post Graduate Diploma in management from the Indian Institute of Management in Calcutta. His work has appeared in the Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Research and Marketing Letters. About Magilla Loans: Magilla Loans is a search engine for loans which connects borrowers to banks without requesting personal information. The platform enables borrowers to search and compare loans without providing a name, social security, or phone number. The loan proposals are presented on its patented MagChart, allowing borrowers to easily compare the loan terms and choose a lender. Magilla has already allocated billions of dollars in loans through its website since launching in January 2016. Media Contact [email protected] / [email protected] KCSA Strategic Communications 212-896-1231 / 212-896-1208 SOURCE Magilla Loans Related Links http://www.magillaloans.com NEW YORK, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Mr. Leonard Schutzman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Arbitrade, a new cryptocurrency merchant exchange, said today that its home domicile will be Bermuda. In making the announcement, Chairman Schutzman said the process to winning incorporation started late last year when company representatives first met with Premier David Burt, Minister Wayne Caines, the Minister of National Security who is spearheading the introduction of crypto and digital asset legislation in Bermuda, Minister Wayne Furbert, The Junior Finance Minister, Stephen P. Gift from the Ministry of Finance, representatives from the Bermuda Monetary Authority and Bermuda Business Development Agency. "The company made numerous visits over several months and a considerable amount of work was done to securing our incorporation. Bermuda is justly regarded as the gold standard in the Fintech and Reinsurance industries globally and Arbitrade's goal was always to domicile its head office in this exacting jurisdiction before registering subsidiaries in other countries around the world," Mr. Schutzman said. He noted Bermuda was one of the very few jurisdictions leading the way with full legislation affecting ICO's and cryptocurrency laws and Arbitrade welcomed cryptocurrency legislation and associated regulations that form a strong foundation in developing the best strategies to advance its business model into other countries. Arbitrade welcomed the stringent Know Your Client (KYC)/Anti Money Laundering (AML) process with which companies will have to comply before they are able to be licensed to operate as a merchant exchange business. "It seemed to us the only way our industry will receive global acceptance. With this thoughtful and timely structure of Bermuda's laws to guide and support us, Arbitrade can now move forward into over 12 additional countries quickly and then continue to introduce our platforms to more jurisdictions," he said. Bermuda expects its ICO legislation to be passed within the next three weeks and Arbitrade intends to hold the very first, fully legal, ICO in Bermuda when this happens. Information about the legislation is available on the Government of Bermuda's website. Once Arbitrade has its licenses in hand, the company will proceed first, with its eight-week legally approved ICO, followed by the launch of the Arbitrade platform in late August/early September. Bermuda is a well-regulated Country Led by the Bermuda Monetary Authority. All new companies are scrutinized to ensure that the jurisdiction is protected and know its customer, hence a sometimes lengthy period of due diligence. While many countries still wrestle with ways to regulate digital assets businesses, the Bermuda government has passed the Digital Assets Business Act. "This thoughtful and timely action demonstrates, once again, why Bermuda is a world leader in regulating financially related services. The progressive legislation sets the highest standards for those companies who have chosen to establish Digital Assets businesses on the island and validates the company's decision to incorporate and domicile our global headquarters in Bermuda." Mr. Schutzman said, Arbitrade's management would like to thank everyone for their patience and understanding while it worked to achieve this incredible accomplishment. This is only the beginning, and the road ahead is going to be extremely busy as management sets up the operating infrastructure of the company, with our head office in Bermuda. Arbitrade has been locking down all deals regarding our bullion purchases as we move forward with this news. We needed two things to be able to close the bullion negotiations: 1. Be a registered company in Bermuda, and 2. Be a legally licensed and insured company in Bermuda. "We have already accomplished the first requirement and, we have been advised, the second requirement will happen later this month," Mr. Schutzman said, noting that the company seeks to finish all agreements and deals with all partnering companies before the end of the month. "Once this is achieved, it will announce the official ICO dates, the bullion related news, partners information, and the official launch date of Arbitrade. Arbitrade's management and consultants were hoping for earlier dates to receive approvals, however this is a long process that has to pass through many channels of Government. We have made it through the most difficult part of the process." ARBITRADE, through its proprietary software and strategic partnerships, plans to be in all segments of the cryptocurrency business, including currency mining, trading (The ARBITRADE Exchange) gift cards, debit cards, money transfer and Point of Sale processing. Media Contact: Victor Webb Marston Webb International T: (212) 684-6601, C: (917) 887-0418 e-mail: [email protected] This press release was issued through 24-7PressRelease.com. For further information, visit http://www.24-7pressrelease.com. SOURCE Arbitrade Ltd. Related Links http://arbitrade.io Knowledge sharing is widespread in collaborative relationships. When knowledge is compiled to form intelligence, some resistance in knowledge sharing will be met. Each party has their own knowledge and hopes to carry out deep mining of knowledge through cooperation. However, not all participants wish their raw data to be seen by others. This problem can be solved by employing a back-to-back knowledge sharing network (secure multi-party computation). Specifically, in the back-to-back knowledge sharing network, every knowledge provider corresponds to a node, and P2P communications and transactions can occur between nodes. This prevents interception and replication of data by centralized nodes. At the same time, smart contracts are used to achieve secure sharing and calculation of data from various parties. How is settlement of shared knowledge carried out? Based on trust established by blockchain, secure multi-party computation is used for knowledge confirmation, while artificial intelligent technology is used to generate new knowledge. This thereby results in value-added knowledge and ensures that knowledge rights will not be infringed, which guarantees knowledge privacy. The earnings produced by value-added new knowledge are settled automatically through smart contracts and the quantitative contribution ratio of the provider who contributed knowledge. Shared knowledge benefits and contribution show a direct correlation. The greater the contribution, the greater the benefits. How can organic combination of investor protection and education and back-to-back knowledge sharing be carried out? The community employs blockchain technology and secure multi-party computation to solve transaction trust and data privacy problems. Artificial intelligence technology is used to improve the service level and volume of the consultation, investment advisory, and other knowledge providers and achieve a 24/7 all time-zone, full-chain, valuable, highly efficient, robo-advisory and market monitoring services for digital assets. AI can be used to support knowledge sharing and trading of digital assets to solve the problem of asymmetry in market information. In addition, a set of incentive mechanisms ensures that participants with high professional knowledge, high investment level, and high service quality will be able to stand out. Specifically, community users may include investors, blockchain experts, project parties, media, and exchanges, and other individuals or organizations in the digital asset field. These users may be both knowledge providers and knowledge consumers in the community. The community invites currency investment experts and VIPs with influence and experience and utilizes the cumulative knowledge of the operations team in investor protection and education to carry out investor protection and education activities through community discussions, online and offline activities, and live broadcasts. Knowledge graph technology is also used to provide personalized tests and tailored educational training programs for amateur investors. This individualized education helps these investors get started and rapidly grasp currency and blockchain knowledge, which provides a basic introduction and solves the pain point of insufficient education of market investors. In addition, the Sophon Capital Community is a knowledge sharing community that provides an environment for investor education, knowledge sharing, Q&A, sharing of investment experiences, project commenting, and information commenting for digital asset analysts, industry experts, and investors. The knowledge and viewpoints in the community also provide an important data source for digital currency item rating and robo-advisory. The community combines user-shared and acquired basic information, team status and connection, coding quality, and public sentiment information for project rating and monitoring. In summary, the Sophon Capital Community can assist investors in getting an all-round grasp of the quality, progress, and outlook for digital currency projects, examining investment value and potential risk, seizing investment opportunities in a timely manner, avoiding investment risks, optimizing asset allocation, and providing technological barriers to protect investors. A blockchain-based back-to-back knowledge sharing network can not only provide knowledge confirmation for users but can also achieve knowledge connection and inference through a knowledge graph. In addition, AI technology support can add new vitality and value to existing knowledge, and smart contracts can be used to protect the value of the user's knowledge. The greater the value of the knowledge shared by the user, the greater the benefits obtained. This can increase user participation and willingness and encourage users to share high-quality and high-value information, thereby promoting an improvement in the overall quality of the community. A good investment ecosystem will enable users to truly benefit from accumulation and value growth of digital assets. In addition, improvement in the professional knowledge of investors and popularization of good investment concepts will aid in the healthy and orderly development of the digital asset market. SOURCE Sophon Capital Community VANCOUVER, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - Bear Creek Mining Corporation ("Bear Creek" or the "Company") (TSXV: BCM) (BLV: BCM) announces that shareholders of the Company voted in favour of all items of business to be acted on at its Annual General Meeting ("AGM") held in Vancouver, BC on June 6, 2018, and elected or re-elected the following eight individuals to the Company's Board of Directors (the "Board"): Re-Elected Elected Andrew Swarthout Anthony Hawkshaw Catherine McLeod-Seltzer Stephen Lang Kevin Morano Erfan Kazemi David DeWitt Frank Tweddle Following the meeting the Board re-appointed Andrew Swarthout as Executive Chairman, Catherine McLeod-Seltzer as Co-Chairman, David DeWitt as Lead Director and Anthony Hawkshaw as President and CEO. It also re-appointed the following as officers of the Company: Paul Tweddle, Chief Financial Officer; Elsiario Antunez de Mayolo, Chief Operating Officer; Eric Caba, Vice President, Project Development; and, Barbara Henderson, Corporate Secretary. Mr. Hawkshaw replaced Mr. Swarthout as President and CEO of Bear Creek in October 2018, at which time he was appointed to the Board. Management of Bear Creek join the Board in welcoming Stephen Lang and Erfan Kazemi as new directors of the Company. Mr. Lang is currently the Chairman of Centerra Gold Inc. and a Director of Alio Gold Inc. and International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. He has over 40 years' experience in the mineral sector including engineering, development and production in gold, coal, platinum group metals and copper operations, and has held senior executive positions at a number of global mining companies. Mr. Kazemi is the Chief Financial Officer of Sandstorm Gold Ltd. Since 2011, Mr. Kazemi has helped raise half a billion dollars in debt and equity capital and has deployed more than $600 million in over 30 transactions. Prior to Sandstorm, Mr. Kazemi was a Senior Manager with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Mr. Kazemi is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CA), a Chartered Financial Analyst charter holder and a graduate of the University of British Columbia, where he received a Bachelor of Science (Mathematics). As announced in the Company's 2018 Information Circular, Nolan Watson did not stand for re-election at the AGM. Mr. Watson has served on Bear Creek's Board since 2009, during which time he provided exceptional financial expertise, governance oversight and market knowledge to Board discussions and deliberations. The Company thanks Mr. Watson for his years of service as a director. On behalf of the Board of Directors, Anthony Hawkshaw President and CEO 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. SOURCE Bear Creek Mining Corporation Related Links http://www.bearcreekmining.com DALLAS, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- BenefitMall, the leading provider of employee benefits and payroll services, received three Stevie Awards at The 2018 American Business Awards. The Dallas-based company received a Silver Stevie and People's Choice Stevie Award for Best New Product, as well as a Bronze Stevie Award for Best eBook. 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. "We are honored to receive three Stevie Awards at The 2018 American Business Awards. Our team works diligently towards continuous innovation so that we may provide the best tools and services possible to all those we work with," said Scott Kirksey, CEO of BenefitMall. Selected in the category of Best New Product, BenefitMall's Client Ready Quote System (CRQS) allows insurance brokers to simply configure complex quoting and proposal for Small Group benefits. The platform's comprehensive, quoting engine improves efficiency and streamlines proposals. BenefitMall's CRQS also received the People's Choice Stevie Award, which was voted on by the general public. BenefitMall's Internal Product Guide was also recognized in the category of Best eBook. The eBook highlights BenefitMall's entire product portfolio, providing access to online collateral and videos to make learning easy. This guide enables all employees, no matter the department, to feel confident in conversations with brokers and potential clients regarding BenefitMall's suite of workforce products and services. "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. 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 and Best New Product or Service of the Year, among others. The final Stevie Award results were announced at the 2018 awards gala and presentation at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York on Monday, June 11. Details about The American Business Awards and the list of 2018 Stevie winners are available at www.StevieAwards.com/ABA. About BenefitMall Headquartered in Dallas, BenefitMall partners with a network of 20,000 Brokers and CPAs to deliver employee benefits and payroll services to more than 200,000 small and medium-sized businesses. By combining payroll and benefits, BenefitMall empowers Trusted Advisors to develop the best employee programs while maintaining compliance with government regulations and Health Care Reform. Owned by Management and The Carlyle Group, BenefitMall also operates HealthCareExchange.com, the leading online community for information regarding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. More information is available at www.benefitmall.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. SOURCE BenefitMall Related Links http://www.benefitmall.com "We are honored to celebrate the first Feast Day of Blessed Solanus Casey with Archbishop Vigneron and grateful that the Basilica will be the first parish to begin the journey of the traveling first class relic," said Monsignor Robert McClory, pastor of the Basilica. "Blessed Solanus prayed at the Shrine during his lifetime and we are grateful to host pilgrims who wish to be inspired and ask for his prayers." Leading up to the Feast Day Mass, the Basilica will host a first-class relic of Blessed Solanus Casey. Public veneration will be available after the vigil Masses Saturday, July 28 (4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.) and again after Masses Sunday, July 29 (9 a.m., 10:45 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 4 p.m. - Spanish and 6 p.m.). There will be an additional opportunity for veneration Monday, July 30 from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. and after the Feast Day Mass. A first-class relic is part of a blessed or saint's body, procured during an exhumation performed by Church officials as part of the process of declaring the individual a blessed or saint. After the visit to Shrine, the relic will travel to parishes through out the archdiocese. Other planned Feast Day events at the Basilica include providing prayer cards to visitors, hosting a special Children's Mass at 8:30 a.m. Friday, July 27, and praying a nine day novena to Blessed Solanus. In addition, a chair on which he prayed while visiting Shrine will be brought out for public display from July 27-30. Lastly, On the Rise Bakery, a Capuchin run program, will be selling baked goods after every Mass July 28-29. Please visit our website for more information about these special events. For more about Blessed Solanus Casey, please visit the Solanus Casey Center online. About the National Shrine of the Little Flower Basilica Founded in 1925, The National Shrine of the Little Flower Basilica in Royal Oak, Michigan was designated a Minor Basilica by Pope Francis in 2014. It was one of the first churches in the world dedicated in honor of St. Therese (known as "The Little Flower"). The Basilica is a vibrant parish with 4,300+ registered families and three schools with approximately 1,000 students. SOURCE The National Shrine of the Little Flower Basilica Related Links https://shrinechurch.com/ SINGAPORE, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- BLMP - Blockchain Licensing Marketplace - a blockchain startup with a revolutionary platform, Air, that facilitates the licensing of digital content will be partnering with Ambisafe. Ambisafe specializes in creating smart contract solutions, lending their expertise to BLMP to develop a proprietary wallet, virtual asset management, and other software necessary for its platform to provide the utmost security for their tokenized items. BLMP is rapidly resolving the inefficiencies in the modern market for in-game or in-app items (virtual goods). At present, the companies and brands that own content are looking for new ways to advertise to consumers. On the other hand, publishers are constantly looking for newer and better content, especially branded content, to help expand their reach. By developing revolutionary applications for blockchain technology, BLMP is making it easier for global brands and digital publishers to form licensing agreements and be confident they will both reap the benefits. For BLMP to provide the highest level of security for its customers, it must provide secure, efficient tools for transactions between businesses and their users. Ambisafe offers the skills and experience to help produce this groundbreaking business-to-business-to-consumer ("B2B2C") ecosystem. Having served a wide variety of ICOs worth hundreds of millions of dollars, Ambisafe has designed everything from smart wallets to registry frameworks to smart contracts to asset managers. By working with Ambisafe, BLMP's internal blockchain development team can tap into one of the most experienced technical teams in the crypto programming world, providing a strong foundation for the future of branded virtual goods. Ambisafe Overview From the early days of Bitcoin and other leading cryptocurrencies, Ambisafe has been active within the blockchain community to provide custom blockchain solutions. The company creates software that blockchain platforms can use to keep their assets and those of their users safe, organized, and accessible. These include wallets, asset managers, and registry frameworks, all of which are designed with the following goals in mind: Security - Ambisafe ensures that its clients' assets are totally protected from external theft or tampering. - Ambisafe ensures that its clients' assets are totally protected from external theft or tampering. Customization - Recognizing that each company uses cryptocurrencies in a different way, Ambisafe gives users the ability to tailor their registry frameworks and smart contracts to their own unique strengths and needs. - Recognizing that each company uses cryptocurrencies in a different way, Ambisafe gives users the ability to tailor their registry frameworks and smart contracts to their own unique strengths and needs. Flexibility - Ambisafe allows companies and individuals to manage multiple digital assets at once. It also keeps its tools highly scalable, so that users can continue to rely on them no matter how large and complex their assets and activities grow. Ambisafe has helped develop smart contract solutions for a wide range of companies, including Chronicle, Propy, Polybius, and G Coin. Thanks to this experience and the company's broad array of skills, it is fully prepared for all of the challenges that BLMP will face. Complement to BLMP BLMP has been using blockchain technology to bolster the branded virtual goods industry. Branded virtual goods are created when digital publishers submit requests to brands to use that brand within their digital platform. When brands approve the request, the item is created digitally and is made available for sale within the proposed digital platform. For virtual goods to be created, brands and publishers must be able to engage in licensing agreements with one another, a process that is often mired in inefficiencies and a lack of transparency. BLMP streamlines the process of forming licensing agreements for virtual goods. The platform leverages blockchain technology to create immutable chains of data that enables publishers and brands to create self-enforcing contracts that instantly track transactions and distributes sales proceeds safely and transparently. By working with Ambisafe, BLMP's internal blockchain development team can tap into one of the most experienced technical teams within the tokenization market providing a strong foundation for the future of branded virtual goods. SOURCE Blockchain Licensing Marketplace MELVILLE, N.Y., June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Canon Solutions America, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Canon U.S.A., Inc., today announced an expansion to its valued collaboration with Legrand, North and Central America, a national leader in electrical and data network solutions designed to improve the delivery and control of power, light and data. The extension of the business relationship is centered on Canon Solutions America's support of the near 15 new companies Legrand, North and Central America recently acquired the new U.S. Legrand accounts will each have access to Canon's industry-leading office equipment and software tools. True to Legrand and Canon Solutions America's mission to build sustainability into its business initiatives, the two entities recently collaborated to plant over 120 trees as part of the Arbor Day Foundation's "Replanting our Forests Program," which Canon supports by contributing to the distribution and planting of one tree for every eligible image RUNNER ADVANCE multifunction system sold.* "Ensuring our Purchasing Partnerships help minimize our environmental impact is important to us at Legrand," said Susan Rochford, VP, Energy Efficiency, Sustainability, and Public Policy. "We are excited to be announcing this unique initiative as part of our commitment to building sustainability into everything we do, including our ongoing relationship with Canon Solutions America." Working together on numerous projects, Canon Solutions America and Legrand, North and Central America enjoy a longstanding relationship with each other that's grown significantly over the last five years. As a testament to their forward-thinking approach, the two companies collaborated on an electronic fax distribution solution that routes incoming faxes throughout an organization. The results continue to showcase the joint vision each company values as it pertains to supporting associates, customers, and workflow efficiency goals. "A few years ago we were selected as the strategic vendor to implement a printer reduction strategy throughout Legrand as part of their sustainability goals," said Peter Kowalczuk, president, Canon Solutions America. "We are committed to helping our customers reach new heights in their sustainability efforts, which in turn can help create a ripple effect on a local, national and international scale. We are excited to build on this great relationship with Legrand North and Central America's most recent company acquisitions and demonstrate to our customers that we are here to help them in their mission to become economically, socially and environmentally sustainable." The Kyosei Philosophy Canon Solutions America abides by the corporate philosophy of its parent company, Canon Inc., expressed in one Japanese word: kyosei, which translates to "a spirit of cooperation." Its belief is that all people, regardless of race, religion or culture, can harmoniously live and work together towards the common good. As a global company, Canon understands that our future depends on the future of the earth we all share. As such, Canon Solutions America's goal is to conduct business in harmony with the environment, and it is committed to a sustainable future both through its guiding philosophy and its actions. To learn more about Canon Solutions America's commitment to sustainability initiatives, visit here. About Canon Solutions America, Inc. Canon Solutions America provides industry leading enterprise, production, and large format printing solutions, supported by exceptional professional service offerings. With the technology offerings of the Canon and Oce brands, Canon Solutions America helps companies of all sizes find ways to: improve sustainability, increase efficiency, and control costs in conjunction with high volume, continuous feed, digital and traditional printing, and document management solutions. A wholly owned subsidiary of Canon U.S.A., Inc., Canon Solutions America is headquartered in Melville, N.Y. and has sales and service locations across the U.S. For more information on Canon Solutions America, please visit csa.canon.com. *For more information on Canon's support of the Arbor Day Foundation, please visit here. Canon is a registered trademark of Canon Inc. in the United States and elsewhere. Oce is a registered trademark of Oce-Technologies B.V. in the United States and elsewhere. All other referenced product names and marks are trademarks of their respective owners and are hereby acknowledged. 2018 Canon Solutions America, Inc. All rights reserved. Canon Solutions America, Inc. Website: Editorial Contact: http://csa.canon.com Conor Febos For sales info/customer support: 631-330-4109 1-844-443-INFO (4636) [email protected] SOURCE Canon Solutions America, Inc. Related Links http://csa.canon.com UAE Exchange, a leading money transfer, foreign exchange and payment solutions brand in the country, has started accepting Value Added Tax (VAT) payments on behalf of the Federal Tax Authority (FTA). All entities registered with the FTA who have a valid Tax Registration Number (TRN) and a GIBAN account number can now make their VAT payments in any of the 150 UAE Exchange branches spread across the seven emirates, a company statement said. Abdel Kareem Alkayed, country head for UAE Exchange-UAE said: We are pleased to partner with the Federal Tax Authority and offer businesses in the UAE a stress-free offline payment solution for their VAT obligations. Through our vast network of strategically-located branches, including 18 in Dubai metro stations, customers can settle their payments on any convenient day. TradeArabia News Service MIAMI, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL;NYSE: CUK), the world's largest leisure travel company, today announced that three of its Ocean Original TV programs "Ocean Treks with Jeff Corwin," "The Voyager with Josh Garcia" and "Vacation Creation" have been honored with 14 2018 Telly Awards across several categories that range from travel/tourism and culture to nature and videography/cinematography. The company's original TV programs earned 10 Telly Awards in 2017. "It is incredibly gratifying to have these three series recognized for the second year in a row with multiple Telly Awards," said John Padgett, chief experience and innovation officer for Carnival Corporation, whose nine global cruise lines include Carnival Cruise Line, Cunard, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises and Seabourn. "Ocean Originals remain the most popular travel shows on TV, and these awards are a remarkable validation that our goal to produce high-quality, authentic storytelling is resonating with millions of viewers every weekend. Most importantly, people from all walks of life watching our programs are being inspired by discovering or being reminded of why travel is so rewarding and why traveling by sea on a cruise ship has become the fastest growing segment of the leisure travel sector." "Ocean Treks with Jeff Corwin" was honored with three silver Tellys for directing, editing and education, and four bronze awards in the categories of videography/cinematography, children, nature/wildlife, and travel/tourism. The series airs nationwide on ABC on Saturday mornings and follows Emmy-winning host Jeff Corwin as he embarks on adventures in some of the world's most exciting destinations, such as repelling down cliffs, flight-seeing to glacier landings, mountain climbing in a national park and zip-lining through a rainforest. "The Voyager with Josh Garcia" took home three silver Tellys for cultural, videography/cinematography, and children, and a bronze for education. Airing Saturday mornings on NBC, the program follows video journalist and world-traveler Josh Garcia as he visits fascinating seaside ports to meet locals who share their rich history, life stories and exotic foods, and introduces viewers to the hidden beauty, cultural diversity and amazing flavors native to each destination. "Vacation Creation" was recognized with three bronze Telly Awards for travel/tourism, children and education. "Vacation Creation" airs Saturday mornings on ABC and features "In Living Color" star and comedian Tommy Davidson and YouTube celebrity Andrea Feczko as hosts. The show goes beyond the typical travel show by personalizing vacations of a lifetime for couples, individuals and families facing hardship and in need of hope or seeking much-needed time together. Launched in 2016, all three series air weekly on network TV. The innovative communications approach of producing original authentic experience-based TV programs builds on Carnival Corporation's strategy to highlight why traveling by ocean to experience global destinations has become one of the best ways to enjoy and learn about the world and other cultures. The TV programs are garnering significant attention based on their popularity in ratings and experiential value, with more than 335 million viewers having tuned in over the past two years. The new experiential content is designed to engage viewers by showcasing exciting adventures, exotic cultures and popular global destinations. Ships from all nine of the company's cruise brands Carnival Cruise Line, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Seabourn, AIDA Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cunard, P&O Cruises (Australia) and P&O Cruises (UK) serve as the platform for engaging and emotional experiences, and each of the company's brands were featured in episodes in at least one of the shows during the inaugural season. Impact on Consumer Interest in Cruising The programs are having a positive impact on consumer consideration for a cruise vacation when making vacation travel plans, with research citing that over 70 percent of viewers of all three programs will probably or definitively impact future travel plans. In addition, viewers are twice as likely to strongly consider cruising than non-viewers, and have fewer barriers to cruise than non-viewers. Another Carnival Corporation innovation to increase awareness and demand for cruise vacations is OceanView, the world's first Over-The-Top (OTT) digital streaming channel from a travel provider. OceanView, available through Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV and Roku, features: More than 150 episodes of original content from the network shows; Two new direct-to-digital-streaming original series, "GO" and "Local Eyes" both shows run five to 10 minutes, commercial-free, feeding a growing demand for shorter, "snackable" content; And collections of compelling video content like christening ceremonies featuring royalty and celebrities, documentaries on the ship design and construction process, and presentations on the elaborate culinary creations available from world-renowned chefs affiliated with the corporation's cruise lines. In December 2017, Carnival Corporation announced a partnership with Univision Communications to create "La Gran Sorpresa," the first prime-time program in its Ocean Originals programming. The one-hour program uses the power of travel to reunite families as they overcome hardships created by illness, separation and other challenges. With 1.3 million viewers for its premiere, La Gran Sorpresa debuted as the most viewed Sunday primetime show across all three Spanish television networks (Univision, Telemundo and Unimas). In January 2018, Carnival Corporation announced an agreement with Telemundo to begin airing The Voyager with Josh Garcia. "El Viajero Con Josh Garcia" has been dubbed into Spanish and is featured in "Mi Telemundo," Telemundo's new three-hour Saturday programming block. About Carnival Corporation & plc Carnival Corporation & plc is the world's largest leisure travel company and among the most profitable and financially strong in the cruise and vacation industries, with a portfolio of 10 dynamic brands that include nine of the world's leading cruise lines. With operations in North America, Australia, Europe and Asia, its portfolio features Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Seabourn, P&O Cruises (Australia), Costa Cruises, AIDA Cruises, P&O Cruises (UK) and Cunard, as well as Fathom, the corporation's immersion and enrichment experience brand. Together, the corporation's cruise lines operate 103 ships with 234,000 lower berths visiting over 700 ports around the world, with 18 new ships scheduled to be delivered between 2018 and 2023. Carnival Corporation & plc also operates Holland America Princess Alaska Tours, the leading tour company in Alaska and the Canadian Yukon. Traded on both the New York and London Stock Exchanges, Carnival Corporation & plc is the only group in the world to be included in both the S&P 500 and the FTSE 100 indices. In 2017, Fast Company recognized Carnival Corporation as being among the "Top 10 Most Innovative Companies" in both the design and travel categories. Fast Company specifically recognized Carnival Corporation for its work in developing OceanMedallion, a high-tech wearable device that enables the world's first interactive guest experience platform capable of transforming vacation travel into a highly personalized and elevated level of customized service. Additional information can be found on www.carnival.com, www.fathom.org, www.hollandamerica.com, www.princess.com, www.seabourn.com, www.aida.de, www.costacruise.com, www.cunard.com, www.pocruises.com.au, and www.pocruises.com. About the Tellys Founded in 1979, the Telly Awards is the premier award honoring the best in TV and Cable, Digital and Streaming, and Non-Broadcast Productions. Our mission has been to strengthen the visual arts community by inspiring, promoting, and supporting creativity. On average, The Telly Awards receives over 13,000 entries yearly from all 50 states and 5 continents. The Telly is one of the most sought-after awards by industry leaders, from large international firms to local production companies and ad agencies. With the quality of non-broadcast productions, traditional local & cable television commercials and programming on the rise, along with the world of online video continuing to rapidly evolve, we are excited to see this year's class of entries. SOURCE Carnival Corporation & plc Related Links www.carnival.com CHARLOTTE, N.C., June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Cato Corporation (NYSE: CATO) today reported sales of $77.3 million for the four weeks ended June 2, 2018, a 4% increase from sales of $74.2 million for the four weeks ended May 27, 2017. Same-store sales for the four weeks ended June 2, 2018 increased 9% from the four weeks ended June 3, 2017. May 2018 same-store sales are compared to the four week period ended June 3, 2017 due to the 53rd week in fiscal 2017. Sales for the seventeen weeks ended June 2, 2018 were $313.2 million, flat from sales of $311.9 million for the seventeen weeks ended May 27, 2017. The Company's year-to-date same-store sales increased 1% compared to last year. The seventeen weeks same-store sales are compared to the seventeen week period ended June 3, 2017 due to the 53rd week in fiscal 2017. "May same-store stores significantly exceeded our expectations," stated John Cato, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer. "We attribute a portion of the increase to pent up demand from the first quarter as the weather improved throughout May." As of June 2, 2018, the Company operated 1,351 stores in 33 states, compared to 1,373 stores in 33 states as of May 27, 2017. The Cato Corporation is a leading specialty retailer of value-priced fashion apparel and accessories operating three concepts, "Cato", "Versona" and "It's Fashion". The Company's Cato stores offer exclusive merchandise with fashion and quality comparable to mall specialty stores at low prices every day. The Company also offers exclusive merchandise found in its Cato stores at www.catofashions.com. Versona is a unique fashion destination offering apparel and accessories including jewelry, handbags and shoes at exceptional prices every day. Select Versona merchandise can also be found at www.shopversona.com. It's Fashion offers fashion with a focus on the latest trendy styles for the entire family at low prices every day. Additional information on The Cato Corporation is available at www.catocorp.com. Statements in this press release not historical in nature including, without limitation, statements regarding the Company's expected or estimated operational and financial results are considered "forward-looking" within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations that are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to, the following: any actual or perceived deterioration in the conditions that drive consumer confidence and spending, including, but not limited to, levels of unemployment, fuel, energy and food costs, wage rates, tax rates, home values, consumer net worth and the availability of credit; uncertainties regarding the impact of any governmental responses to the foregoing conditions; competitive factors and pricing pressures; our ability to predict and respond to rapidly changing fashion trends and consumer demands; adverse weather or similar conditions that may affect our sales or operations; inventory risks due to shifts in market demand, including the ability to liquidate excess inventory at anticipated margins; and other factors discussed under "Risk Factors" in Part I, Item 1A of the Company's most recently filed annual report on Form 10-K and in other reports the Company files with or furnishes to the SEC from time to time. The Company does not undertake to publicly update or revise the forward-looking statements even if experience or future changes make it clear that the projected results expressed or implied therein will not be realized. The Company is not responsible for any changes made to this press release by wire or Internet services. SOURCE The Cato Corporation Related Links http://www.catocorp.com CHESTER, Pa., June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 600 parents, family members, friends and community leaders are expected to attend two graduation ceremonies for 220 eighth-grade students from Chester Community Charter School (CCCS), on Saturday, June 9, 2018, to be held at Neumann University's Mirenda Center, 501 Convent Road, Aston, PA. The first commencement ceremony, at 10 a.m., will include students from the CCCS Aston Campus; the second ceremony, for graduates of the school's East D Campus, will be held at 2 p.m. The commencement addresses for both events will be given by Hon. Thaddeus Kirkland, mayor, city of Chester. As part of the two graduation programs, CCCS will also announce the winners of 11 academic scholarships to six prestigious Pennsylvania- and Delaware-based private schools, in conjunction with its High School Search and Selection Program, with proceeds contributed through its longstanding relationship to the Gureghian Charitable Foundation. About Chester Community Charter School Chester Community Charter School(CCCS) opened its doors on September 9, 1998, serving 97 students from its modest, four, meeting rooms in the lobby of the Howard Johnson Hotel, in Chester, PA. Since that time, the school has steadily grown to include more than 4200 students in 12 state-of-the-art buildings, spanning four campuses. It is now the largest brick-and-mortar charter school in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In fact, when CCCS opened its first permanent structure in 2001, it was the first new school building constructed in Chester-Upland, since 1975. By comparison, the average age of a school building owned by the Chester-Upland School District is 64 years. Through collaboration with the Gureghian Charitable Foundation, and CCCS's High School Search and Selection Program, more than $10 million in scholarships and financial assistance to prestigious private secondary schools have been awarded to 350 of the school's graduates, to date. http://chestercommunitycharter.org WHO: Dr. David Clark , CEO, CCCS , CEO, CCCS Approximately 220 CCCS eighth -graders -graders More than 600 CCCS parents, guardians, guests and community leaders Hon. Thaddeus Kirkland , mayor, City of Chester , Commencement Speaker , mayor, , Commencement Speaker Principal Terrane Polnitz, Aston Campus Principal Sharon Watkins , East D Campus , East D Campus The Honorable Spencer B. Seaton, Jr., chairman, CCCS Board of Trustees Peter Barrow , vice president, CCCS Board of Trustees , vice president, CCCS Board of Trustees Sean Finnegan , treasurer, CCCS Board of Trustees , treasurer, CCCS Board of Trustees Cheryl Moran , secretary, CCCS Board of Trustees , secretary, CCCS Board of Trustees George Cordes , member, CCCS Board of Trustees , member, CCCS Board of Trustees Crista Johnson , member, CCCS Board of Trustees WHEN: CCCS Aston Campus Commencement Ceremony Saturday, June 9, 2018, 10 a.m. CCCS East D Campus Commencement Ceremony Saturday, June 9, 2018, 2 p.m. WHERE: Neumann University Mirenda Center 501 Convent Road Aston, PA 19014 CONTACT: A. Bruce Crawley Tel: 215-751-0140 [email protected] SOURCE Chester Community Charter School Related Links http://chestercommunitycharter.org LONDON and NEW YORK and OSPREY, Fla., June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Spend on media intelligence information and software solutions by public relations professionals shot up 9.3% in 2017 to USD3.5 billion, according to a new report published today by Burton-Taylor International Consulting, part of TP ICAP's Data & Analytics division. The analysis shows: Growth is being driven by increased spend on tracking and analyzing social media, with companies such as Salesforce, Sprinklr, Hootsuite and UK-based Brandwatch all expanding fast. Communications professionals are also spending more on information tools and services to help them analyze the impact that their work is having. Chicago -based provider Cision is by far the largest supplier of information services to PR and communications professionals; following a string of acquisitions, it now accounts for around one-fifth of the global market. "While the biggest Media Intelligence firms are getting bigger, there is still very lively competition," says report contributor Chris Porter, Director at Porter Walford Consulting and a consultant to Burton-Taylor. "Several of the most established providers, including Cision, Kantar Media and Asia-Pacific market leader Isentia, have been going through a lot of internal transition." "Meanwhile second-largest provider Meltwater has been very busy buying up smaller companies. And newer names such as TrendKite, Mynewsdesk, News Group International, UNICEPTA or AirPR have been pressing ahead with their own alternative solutions." Douglas B. Taylor, Founder & Managing Director of Burton-Taylor, said "Our subscription services give exclusive insight into the markets we analyze, drawing on our extensive research experience and global network of contacts. The companies we track are often not in public ownership; Burton-Taylor provides unique data and insights to help business professionals and investors make more informed business decisions about where to put their money." The 141-page Burton-Taylor Media Intelligence/Public Relations Information & Software Global Share & Segment Sizing Report 2018 can be purchased by visiting https://burton-taylor.com/mediaprreporthome/ or by contacting [email protected], +1 646 201-4152. A free download of material from Burton-Taylor's report, including extracts from the research and a report Information Kit, may be requested by visiting http://www.burton-taylor.com/research.html and inputting research sample code MIPRMARKET2018. About Burton-Taylor International Consulting Burton-Taylor International Consulting, part of TP ICAP group, is a recognized leader in information industry market research, strategy and business consulting. Burton-Taylor Exchange, Credit, Risk, Compliance, Media Intelligence, PR and Market Data share figures are regarded as industry standard globally. Burton-Taylor clients command an estimated 80% share of global revenue in the Market Data space and include the world's largest information companies and exchange groups, key government organizations and regulatory bodies on multiple continents, the largest advisory firms serving the industry and more than 30 of the most active private equity and investment companies around the world. About TP ICAP TP ICAP brings together buyers and sellers in global financial, energy and commodities markets. It is the world's largest wholesale market intermediary, with a portfolio of businesses that provide broking services, data & analytics and market intelligence, trusted by clients around the world. We operate from offices in 31 countries, supporting award-winning brokers with market-leading technology. For further information see www.tpicap.com. Available Topic Expert(s): For information on the listed expert(s), click appropriate link. Douglas B. Taylor ProfNet - http://www.profnetconnect.com/douglas-b.-taylor SOURCE Burton-Taylor International Consulting Related Links https://burton-taylor.com ST. LOUIS, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Connectria Hosting, a global cloud services provider and founder of the No Jerks Allowed movement, announced today that it has been named to the CRN 2018 Solution Provider 500 list. CRN, a brand of The Channel Company, annually ranks the largest technology integrators, solution providers and IT consultants in North America by revenue. The Solution Provider 500 is CRN's predominant channel partner award list, serving as the industry standard for recognition of the most successful solution provider companies in the channel since 1995. This is the seventh consecutive year Connectria has been named to the Solution Provider 500 list. "We are once again honored to be named to CRN's Solution Provider list for the seventh year in a row," noted Rich Waidmann, Connectria President and CEO. "For over twenty years, Connectria has been a consistent force as a Technology Solutions Provider, and a great complement to resellers, integrators and consultants looking for a highly skilled and trustworthy partner who can deliver comprehensive cloud solutions to their customers." "CRN's Solution Provider 500 list spotlights the North American IT channel partner organizations that have earned the highest revenue over the past year, providing a valuable resource to vendors looking for top solution providers to partner with," said Bob Skelley, CEO of The Channel Company. "The companies on this year's list represent an incredible, combined revenue of $320 billion, a sum that attests to their success in staying ahead of rapidly changing market demands. We extend our sincerest congratulations to each of these top-performing solution providers and look forward to their future pursuits and successes." The complete 2018 Solution Provider 500 list will be available online at www.crn.com/sp500 and a sample from the list will be featured in the June issue of CRN Magazine. About the Channel Company The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers and end users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequaled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. www.thechannelco.com About Connectria Since 1998, Connectria has provided cloud hosting, remote monitoring and cloud security solutions and services to more than 1,000 global customers from Fortune 100 enterprises to medium and small businesses. Working as an extension of each customer's IT team, we deliver technology-agnostic solutions consistently and rapidly with depth and breadth of engineering expertise, scalable solutions, and speed to market. It's easy to do business with Connectria, with flexible terms and straight-forward pricing. As we say, at our company, No Jerks Allowed: our culture of personal commitment and Customers First approach provides every customer with the best possible client support. SOURCE Connectria SANTA ROSA, Calif., June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Contact Center Compliance (CCC) will host their next TCPA Compliance Summit "The D.C. Circuit Court Decision's Impact on the TCPA Litigation Explosion" at the Park Hyatt Chicago July 9-10, 2018. CCC's signature TCPA Compliance Summits have become the premier compliance training event for collection agencies, CXO's and contact center executives whose marketing campaigns are subject to DNC and TCPA regulations. The day-long Summit will feature a panel of industry and legal experts moderated by Bob Kobek, Chair of PACE's Government Affairs Committee. The keynote speaker, Tom Kossow, Midwest Director of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will cover related DNC topics, including how to comply with the FTC and the hot topic of robocalls. Legal experts on the panel include high-profile TCPA attorneys Christine Reilly, Partner at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips and Mitch Roth, partner at Roth, Jackson, Gibbons, Condlin PLC. Joining the panel for the first time is Peggy Daley, Managing Director of the Berkeley Research Group. Daley has written extensively on TCPA compliance topics and served as an expert witness in investigations relating to TCPA compliance and consumer fraud. "The focus of this Summit is how companies should be repositioning their TCPA compliance strategies in light of the D.C. Circuit Court's recent decision and examining the emerging areas in which companies may now be vulnerable," says Ron Allen, CEO of Contact Center Compliance. "Given the litigation landscape, companies can no longer assume they are too small or in the wrong vertical to become a target for a TCPA litigator," says Allen. To learn more about the TCPA Compliance Summit, please click here. About Contact Center Compliance: Contact Center Compliance is the industry's trusted provider for TCPA and DNC compliance risk mitigation and data solutions. Contact Center Compliance (866) DNC-LIST (866) 362-5478 [email protected] SOURCE Contact Center Compliance Related Links http://www.dnc.com WASHINGTON, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Culmen International, LLC, a premier provider of technical, management and logistics services worldwide, announced today that it has acquired Tysons Corner-based Analytic Strategies (dba PlanetRisk Federal Services - PRFS). The business will operate under the Culmen International brand and will have a combined strength of over 200 employees worldwide with a significantly expanded suite of capabilities. "With this acquisition, we will continue our focus on mission-critical support services with specialized expertise and technology capabilities you won't find from other solutions firms of our size in the federal market," said Dan Berkon, founder and CEO of Culmen. "The addition of PRFS will additionally bring the strength of new customer relationships across defense, homeland security and intelligence sectors." PRFS supports the Department of Defense, the Defense Logistics Agency, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of State, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the Department of Energy. With a focus on performance, PRFS is both ISO 9001:2005 certified and CMMI Services Level 3 appraised. "We are extremely excited to become part of Culmen International and join in our companies' shared vision of enhancing domestic and international security, military readiness and support, and technology developments," said Paul McQuillan, CEO PRFS. "By joining forces, Culmen will be expanding their capabilities, customers and business development resources." During acquisition negotiations, Culmen was represented by Pillsbury while PRFS was represented by Venable. Baird was the financial advisor to PRFS, and Access National Bank financed the transaction for Culmen. About Culmen International Established in 2004, Culmen International, LLC, is dedicated to enhancing international security and stability through facilitating global collaboration and optimizing government operations. We help our customers operate in challenging environments with constrained resources, and effectively interact and engage with diverse cultures. Media Contact: Cindy Powell, [email protected] SOURCE Culmen International, LLC Related Links https://www.culmen.com IRVINE, Calif., June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Salus Homecare announces the promotion of Debbie Robson, RN, BSN, MBA-HCM, ACHE to VP of Hospice and Home Health. In this role, she is accountable for operations and strategic planning that furthers the agency's commitment to providing uniformity and seamless transitions throughout every level of home based health services. Her leadership will direct the care provided to patients across southern California at every level from homecare to home health, palliative care and hospice care while maintaining the high standards that Salus Homecare is recognized for through its national accreditation for quality through the Joint Commission. Ms. Robson is a recognized leader with years of experience in healthcare. Her leadership initiative, organizational skills and compassion are some of the assets that earned her this promotion. When asked about her vision for this role, Ms. Robson stated, "Patient-centered care is pivotal to the success of our programs and, more importantly, the comfort and quality of life of our patients. My primary focus is to provide that and help our organization to continually improve the patient experience, ensure continuity and decrease readmissions to the acute care setting." Of this promotion, Mark Mortensen, Chief Executive Officer for Salus Homecare, states, "We developed this role in response to the healthcare industry's shift toward better understanding the importance of improved transitions from one level of care to the next. Seamless transitions and more uniformity improve the patient experience and outcomes. Ms. Robson is the right choice to take on this challenge. She shows initiative, drive, and compassion for our mission to provide patient-centered care. Her new role will allow her to better educate our staff and patients, remove gaps, improve communication and enhance the care we provide." Salus Homecare is a leading homecare, home health, palliative and hospice care provider and one of a select few agencies awarded the Gold Seal of Accreditation by the Joint Commission. They are on the forefront of providing coordinated home-based services. If you or a loved one would benefit from in-home services, contact them at (888) 881-4822. SOURCE Salus Homecare Related Links http://www.salushomecare.com "A strategic thinker and engaging leader, Debra has been at the forefront of the wellness industry for more than 20 years," said Patty Houpt, Executive Director of NEEBC. "She brings a wealth of experience not only in wellness but from her roles serving on various professional and industry boards. Her leadership skills, entrepreneurial track record and endless energy are key qualities that will make her a successful contributor on our Board of Directors." The NEEBC Board is a distinguished group of highly accomplished individuals committed to exchanging information among individuals in benefits and related professions; highlighting business, economic and legislative trends as they impact the benefits arena; and fostering sound principles, procedures, and practices in all areas of employee benefits. The organization hosts more than 35 premier, educational programs annually keeping more than 2,000 professionals informed on the hottest topics in employee benefits from healthcare and retirement to wellness and engagement. Wein will work with the organization to further its mission to advance knowledge and education about issues in the employee benefits field. "NEEBC is the region's definitive leader in benefits education, community building and networking," said Wein. "I look forward to expanding my role within NEEBC and working with the board to facilitate knowledge about new developments, trends and regulations impacting employers and employees while helping members succeed and advance in their careers." About Wellness Workdays Wellness Workdays is a Massachusetts company with offices in New York and Florida that designs and delivers corporate wellness programs to increase employee health and productivity and promote a culture of well-being. Wellness Workdays has earned industry recognition and several best practices awards for its clients, which include New Balance, BJ's Wholesale Club, Putnam Investments, Brown University, Cabot Corp., the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Rockland Trust, Bentley University, Cambridge Trust and Harvard Business School. Wellness Workdays is a Certified WBE (Woman-Owned Business Enterprise) as well as a DBE (Disadvantaged Business Enterprise). For more information, visit www.wellnessworkdays.com or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+. About the New England Employee Benefits Council The New England Employee Benefits Council (www.neebc.org) is a Concord, Massachusetts nonprofit that advances knowledge and education in employee benefits. NEEBC's 1,250 members manage benefits for an estimated 2.5 million employees. Members include employers and providers of benefits consulting and services throughout New England. NEEBC's monthly educational programs feature presentations on topics of interest to the benefits community giving members the opportunity to discuss ideas, learn about developments in the field and network with peers. Follow NEEBC on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Learn about the benefits of membership by watching NEEBC's video. SOURCE Wellness Workdays Related Links http://www.wellnessworkdays.com PISGAH FOREST, N.C., June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- In Decisions Determine Destiny: Why Choosing The Road Less Traveled Makes All The Difference, Dr. Paul Williams offers a prescription for experiencing a life of excitement and purpose. "I want some excitement in my life!" sixteen year old Paul told Godand God answered his heartfelt cry beyond all expectations. Dr. Paul Williams Decision Determine Destiny Book Cover Since committing his life to Jesus Christ at an early age, Dr. Williams has sought God's guidance in every decision. In Decisions Determine Destiny, Williams shares how he learned to follow the Lord's leading at critical junctures in his life. His stories will challenge you to find your life's purpose and fulfill your destiny. From evading drug cartels to sharing the gospel in post-Cold War Albania to leading major world disaster relief efforts and experiencing dramatic miracles of healing, Dr. Williams' real-life stories will inspire you. After practicing neonatology for 10 years and serving on the teaching faculty of the University of South Florida College of Medicine, Dr. Williams risked safety, comfort and his career to bring hope and healing to needy people around the world. He started the medical mission program HealthCare Ministries in 1984 and then developed the medical mission program for Operation Blessing. Dr. Williams currently heads International HealthCare Network, which he founded in 1997. In Decisions Determine Destiny, Dr. Williams models how you can: Live with purpose and adventure Follow God's leading in your life Leave a legacy for generations to come His story proves that, big and small, your decisions will determine your destiny! "Paul's life stories will shock and challenge!" Doug Wead, New York Times bestselling author and former advisor to two American presidents "This is a wonderful story which will challenge readers to live the road less traveled... a great read for the young and the old alike!" Admiral Vern Clark USN (Ret.), Former Chief of Naval Operations (2000-2005) "Dr. Williams is one of the most prolific innovators for medical missions. His work among the poor and suffering is legendary." Hal Donaldson, President, Convoy of Hope To purchase Decisions Determine Destiny on Amazon as a print or digital book, go to: https://tinyurl.com/y9h9vqy6 About the Author Dr. Paul R. Williams received his M.D. from Washington University School of Medicine. He was on the faculty of the University of South Florida College of Medicine for 15 years. He was the founding director of HealthCare Ministries, the first medical director of Operation Blessing, and founder of International HealthCare Network. His more than 200 medical mission trips include relief efforts in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Haiti, Philippines, and Africa. Dr. Williams and his wife, Sofia, have four children and eight grandchildren. Media Contact: Paul Williams Phone: 828-507-4422 Email: [email protected] Amazon Link: https://tinyurl.com/y9h9vqy6 Website: www.paulwilliamsmd.com SOURCE Dr. Paul Williams Amana Capital, a global online brokerage firm, in partnership with 514 Capital Partners, a market-beating asset manager, has launched the "Delta Trader" program to encourage traders around the world to showcase their trading skills. The program will also have the opportunity of trading a multi-asset CFD account of 514 Capital Partners. The first evaluation cycle kicked off on June 5. New and existing clients of Amana Capital, who are interested in joining the program, will have to trade for a cycle of three months and meet the evaluation metrics specified by 514 Capital Partners. Amongst all traders, only the top ten candidates will be selected. Each of the 10 candidates will be allocated a trading capital of $100,000 from 514 Capital Partners. Profitable traders will be paid 20 per cent of the profits they generate on the allocated trading capital. In addition to the above, the "Delta Trader" program grants all participating traders access to a state-of-the-art performance dashboard. Built using the latest modern technology, it tracks real-time trading activities through a user-friendly interface. Traders will be able to monitor their progress and evaluate their trading status. Ahmad Khatib, chief executive officer of Amana Capital, said: "We joined 514 Capital Partners on this compelling initiative knowing that it will add value to our international client base. The program will allow us to create a stronger community of professional traders supported by more resources, technology, and tools to become better traders. " Karim Farra, director of 514 Capital Partners, said: "We worked together with Amana Capital in creating this program to identify the most talented traders and have them trade with real money. Any trader that can show real discipline by deploying a winning strategy over a reasonable number of trades deserves the opportunity to scale-up. We are interested in empowering and collaborating." TradeArabia News Service DITP held an invitation only VIP Thailand Gem and Jewelry Cocktail reception Saturday, June 2nd, offering industry retailers, wholesalers, and media exclusive networking access and information regarding Thailand's position as the world's gems and jewelry trading hub. The reception provided guests a unique personalized business experience and showcased what's new and what's next in the Thailand jewelry market. In her opening speech, K. Kwanapa Phivnil, Director of Thai Trade Center (DITP) emphatically stated, "The gem and jewelry industry is a major revenue generator for the country [of Thailand], is a source of national pride, maintains a distinctive indigenous nature, and encompasses the entire value chain, from raw materials, production, finishing to trading." Following opening remarks, Thai Gems and Jewelry Association President, Mr. Boonkij Jitngamplung, spoke to guests about what's new in the Thailand Jewelry Industry. In his speech, Mr. Boonkij confidently stated, "The significance of the gems and jewelry industry in Thailand is undeniable, serving as the kingdom's number 3 total export and generating $13 billion USD annually. The Thai government is dedicated to creating an environment conducive to business activities such as permanently lifting the import duty for gems and jewelry; and eliminating import duties for certain tools and equipment." DITP invites all to discover the 62nd Edition of the Bangkok Gems & Jewelry Fair (BGJF), September 7-11, 2018. BGJF is one of the world's most renowned industry trade fairs in the industry. Organized by DITP, the Bangkok Gems & Jewelry Fair is regarded as a significant trading arena where all key players in the global gems and jewelry business can achieve their purposes of sourcing, trading, and networking. The Department of International Trade Promotion (DITP) was established under the Ministry of Commerce, Royal Thai Government, to assist in building competitiveness of Thai manufacturers and exporters to fulfill their potentials. The organization's mission is to expand markets for Thai products and services, to promote value creation of Thai products and services, and to increase the competitiveness of Thai entrepreneurs. Ally Schroeder T: 213-683-2116 E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.thaitradeusa.com SOURCE Department of International Trade and Promotion Related Links http://www.thaitradeusa.com JERSEY CITY, N.J., June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Dharma Home Suites, a leader in providing high-end short term accommodations to travelers from around the world, announces they are the first company in the U.S. to be part of Airbnb's Professional Co-host management program. With status as Professional Co-host, Dharma will provide guests with thoughtfully designed homes, quality services, and premium customer support to make their stays a one of kind experience. Dharma's responsibility in this new role is a lot more than being a regular Co-host, they will be providing their unique alternative hospitality customs, and will incorporate their professional management team into the Airbnb platform. Being a Professional Co-host means they will fortify a gratifying and one-of-a-kind experience by onboarding their professional management team, and providing guests with 24/7 customer support. They will also incorporate their revenue managers to manage listing prices and therefore maximize host earnings. For Airbnb hosts, Dharma Home Suites can help by leveraging their status as a Professional Co-host within the Airbnb platform to increase hosts' listing traffic, bookings and financial results. From ensuring guests are happy to upgrading the host experience; Dharma is working on making short term accommodations a long-term thing. In addition, Dharma announces the launch of their first Airbnb-Friendly Building. The high-end accommodations in 1101 Grand will provide travelers with luxury and comfort while being in one of Hoboken's top neighborhoods. The building has been developed by and is owned by Pegasus Partners LLC. Dharma is working to provide a high level of hospitality to the guests of renters at 1101 Grand who would like to host their homes, and help pay for their rent, while they travel. "The accommodations in this high-end building have been carefully selected to provide travelers with a truly upscale home-away-from-home experience. The space in our 1101 Grand apartments is invaluable. In New York space is a luxury, but in Dharma Home Suites 1101 Grand Hoboken you are able to get all the space you want while staying in state of the art apartments," says Dharma Home Suites CEO, Toivo Halvorsen. With Airbnb's Friendly Buildings Program, developers and building owners/managers can allow home sharing within their desired constraints. Building owners looking for new tenants by offering Airbnb friendly policies and services will increasingly benefit from Dharma's new service. Using their experience as professional hosts, and expanding their horizons with a new building, Dharma Home Suites is looking forward to improving and maintaining the trust between host and guest and provide luxury, comfortable, home-away-from-home experiences. Dharma is excited to be part of an opportunity where: resident comply with home sharing regulations; building owners as well as residents share earnings from every reservations; and residents, Dharma staff and/or business partners follow building guidelines. It all comes together to create a legal, safe, and profitable business venture. About Dharma Home Suites Dharma Home Suites provides fully furnished apartments and temporary housing solutions for anyone looking to relocate for a short period of time, be it for a week, a month, or even a whole year. Our corporate housing services make traveling and relocation easy, while also providing tailored accommodations to simplify transitioning into a new area. If you would like more information about Dharma Home Suites 1101 Grand Hoboken, please call +1 (833) MY DHARMA or by email at [email protected] Contact Information Tabbatha DeLaRosa, Media Relations Office: 201-918-2684 Ext. 206 Email: [email protected] SOURCE Dharma Home Suites Related Links http://www.dharmahomesuites.com CINCINNATI, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Directions Research announced today organizational changes to sharpen its focus on technology solutions. These solutions are being implemented to build an industry-leading flow of data through the organization, elevating Directions' ability to deliver quality insights to clients at increasingly fast speeds. Directions Research The strategic reorganization includes the formation of a dedicated Technology Solutions group which will manage all aspects of data flow from programming and sampling to internal and client-facing data management software. The new group will be co-led by Phillip Thrash, Senior Vice President, Head of Technology, Jim Linz, Vice President, Business Intelligence and Technology, and Mike Herrel, Director of Development. "The addition of a formal Technology Solutions group to Directions will ensure we stay at the forefront of the insights industry. Under our 'Client is King' philosophy, we continue to strengthen our ability to provide insights when, where, and how our clients need to meet the demands of their business," says Jim Lane, President & CEO. Thrash's title reflects a promotion from his most recent role as Vice President, Operations & Technology. Thrash joined Directions as the fifth employee in 1989, and in his new role is tasked with fostering a data-centric enterprise to empower employees through the use of technology. He will report to Lane. Directions Research is independently recognized as one of the leading business decision insight firms in the nation. It combines a highly experienced staff with a unique mix of innovative and proven approaches to answer pressing business issues. Directions is a privately held firm based in Cincinnati, Ohio with regional offices around the country. For more information visit directionsresearch.com or follow Directions on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, or Facebook. Contact: Julie Haydu, Directions Research Phone: 513-651-2990 Email: [email protected] SOURCE Directions Research Smart cities are recognizing that meeting the needs of dog owners adds to a city's walkability, supports brick and mortar retail economy, and nurtures a sense of community. In response, City Mayors have signed and delivered formal letters of invitation to DogSpot to be added to the company's expansion waitlist. Some cities that will be launched within the year include: Los Angeles, CA; Washington, DC; Boston, MA; San Jose, CA; Orlando, FL; Kansas City, MO; Columbus, OH; Chattanooga, TN; Jersey City, NJ; Charleston, SC; Columbia, SC; West Palm Beach, FL; Southampton, NY; and New Rochelle, NY. DogSpot founder and CEO Chelsea Brownridge says, "New York has been a great place for us to test this service. For the last two years, we've had people beg us to come to their city next, to which we've always had to reply 'not yet.' But now I'm thrilled to say 'We're ready!'" Bob Bennett, Chief Innovation Officer of City of Kansas City, Missouri explains his enthusiasm to bring DogSpot to his city. "Through our Innovation Partnership program, we've been investing in ensuring Kansas City is a connected, engaged and thriving city of the future for our constituents. DogSpot aligns with this vision. As a dog owner myself, I know that when I can bring my dog, I'm even more excited to explore, and DogSpot makes that more possible than ever." Buddy Dyer, the Mayor of Orlando echoes, "Orlando is a proud dog-friendly community, also known as a leader in technology and innovation. DogSpot supports our commitment to both. We can't wait for DogSpot to make our downtown a healthier and even happier place to live." The expansion follows a successful pilot in Brooklyn, NY that boasted a 50-location network built on partnerships with local businesses that were committed to becoming more dog friendly. Brooklyn was a proving ground for the female-owned tech company and demonstrated utilization, technology performance, and benefit for business partners. Data showed that consumer behavior changed, specifically that users switched where they shopped in favor of stores with a DogSpot, felt less rushed while they were shopping than when they had tied their dog up outside, and made more unplanned stops to local retail venues. Business owner and chef of Bella Gioia Restaurant Nico Daniele said, "Virtually everyone living in Brooklyn has a dog so it made sense to partner with DogSpot to fulfill their dog loving needs. In fact, business increased by 10%, as people knew they now had a safe place to leave their pet." Dog owner and DogSpot power-user Kevin Dopp raved, "Being able to spend more time with our dog Harper is the best part." In response to the success of the pilot, leaders from cities around the country (and beyond) have reached out to DogSpot seeking to bring the future of dog-friendly to their communities. DogSpot is working with planners in these cities, as well as with businesses and pet advocates to ensure a smooth expansion. Specific timing of those launches will be announced in the coming weeks and months. DogSpot has made fans out of dog owners, retailers, developers, city governments, and pet experts alike, affirming that the future of dog-friendly is, as they claim, here. About DogSpot DogSpot is a Brooklyn-based startup that makes state-of-the-art sidewalk sanctuaries placed at the entrance of locations where dogs are prohibited. These technology-enabled dog houses serve as a safe, legal, and convenient alternative to tethering or leaving dogs in cars, featuring heat & A/C, auto-sanitizing UV lights, an in-app Puppy Cam, and 24/7 customer service. DogSpot strives to make the world better for dog owners and dogs alike, and in doing so support local retail and strengthen communities. Contact Rebecca Eyre Director of Communications, DogSpot [email protected] www.dogspot.io 206.618.6204 SOURCE DogSpot Related Links https://dogparker.com Dr. Ross brings to the NanoSphere board a wealth of industry knowledge, advocacy experience and insight into particular patient needs. Her work as Founder and Executive Direct of IMPACT Network, a non-profit which focuses on cannabis and women's health, and as CEO of Infused Health, a digital platform which provides educational resources to cannabis patients, has helped consumers around the world and trained the next generation of cannabis healthcare professionals. Dr. Ross entered the cannabis industry as both a scientist and cannabis patient, having been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, neuropathy, and chronic pelvic pain. In her new role, Dr. Ross will take part in product development and strategy meetings, offer expertise on Evolve Formulas products and co-author scientific papers with NanoSphere's Chief Science Officer, Dr. Richard Kaufman. Dr. Ross will also partake in ambassadorship activities for Evolve Formulas and NanoSphere technology, beginning with a speaking engagement on behalf of the company at the O'Cannabiz Conference and Expo in Toronto this weekend, June 9, covering cannabis and women's issues. "NanoSphere Health Sciences prides itself on bringing together the best scientific minds to create breakthrough advancements for patients. Dr. Ross becoming a member of our board, and an ambassador of our technology, widens this circle of innovation and excellence while also bringing to the table a unique insight into patient experience. We look forward to working with Dr. Ross to improve our offerings and form mutually beneficial partnerships," Said Robert Sutton, Chairman and CEO of NanoSphere Health Sciences and Evolve Formulas. "I continuously look for the best cannabis products to meet patients' needs. The NanoSphere Delivery System and the Evolve Formulas products bring a new technology to the market that provides one-of-a-kind benefits to those suffering from pain, inflammation, anxiety, distress, seizures and beyond. I am proud to be contributing to the development of NanoSphere's offerings and to further their mission of making cannabis delivery safer and more effective," Said Dr. Michele Ross, Member of the Board of Advisors for NanoSphere Health Sciences. For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact Emily Kielthy at [email protected] or 702-957-6203. On behalf of the Board Robert Sutton, Chairman and CEO Office: 720-520-4282 Email: [email protected] Investor Contact: Victor Goncalves, Executive Vice President Mobile: 204-997-5517 E-mail: [email protected] NanoSphere's Commitment to Licensing IP NanoSphere launched its IP licensing program in 2015 and is entertaining several licensing opportunities via a rigorous evaluation process. For more information about NanoSphere's licensing program, please visit: https://www.nanospherehealth.com/licensing/ About NanoSphere NanoSphere Health Sciences, LLC, is a biotechnology firm specializing in the creation of the patented NanoSphere Delivery System, a revolutionary platform using nanotechnology in the biodelivery of supplements, nutraceuticals and over-the-counter medications for the cannabis, pharmaceutical and animal health industries, and beyond. NanoSphere Delivery System represents one of the most important developments for advancing the non-invasive and user-friendly delivery of biological agents in over 25 years. For more information on NanoSphere, please visit http://www.nanospherehealth.com. About Evolve Formulas Evolve Formulas is the provider of the world's first and only scientifically proven nanoparticle delivery system in cannabis. Evolve's pioneering product, Transdermal NanoSerum, is a fast-acting, ultra-strength transdermal formula infused with nano-encapsulated cannabis and cannabis extracts. NanoSerum immediately penetrates the skin to deliver direct-focused results and intelligently carries a full spectrum of cannabinoids and phytochemicals to receptors throughout the body for systemic healing. Evolve Formula products leverage NanoSphere Health Sciences patented NanoSphere Delivery System. The NanoSphere Delivery System is a revolutionary platform using nanotechnology in the biodelivery of supplements, nutraceuticals and over-the-counter medications for the cannabis, pharmaceutical and animal health industries, and beyond. For more information on Evolve Formulas, visit https://www.evolveformulas.com/. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The Canadian Securities Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward Looking Statement Caution This news release includes forward looking statements that are subject to assumptions, risks and uncertainties. Statements in this news release which are not purely historical are forward looking statements, including without limitation any statements concerning the Company's intentions, plans, estimates, expectations or beliefs regarding the future. Although the Company believes that any forward looking statements in this news release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that any such forward looking statements will prove to be accurate. The Company cautions readers that all forward looking statements, including without limitation those relating to the Company's future operations and business prospects, are based on assumptions none of which can be assured, and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward looking statements. Readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such risks and uncertainties and should not place undue reliance on forward looking statements. Any forward looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and the Company assumes no obligation to update the forward looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual events or results could or do differ from those projected in the forward looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. For more information contact: Emily Kielthy [email protected] 702-957-6203 SOURCE NanoSphere Health Sciences, LLC Related Links https://www.nanospherehealth.com LOS ANGELES, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- DxTerity, a patient-centric genomics company developing at-home RNA monitoring blood tests for immune-mediated diseases, today announced that data from the LIFT (Lupus Interval Monitoring to Manage Disease Flare and Enable Treatment Optimization) study will be presented at the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) meeting held June 13-16, 2018 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The LIFT study evaluated interferon gene expression levels in participants with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) using the patented DxCollect Fingerstick Collection Kit that stabilizes RNA at ambient temperature with self-collected blood samples. "We are committed to developing tools for rheumatologists to improve lupus disease management," said Bob Terbrueggen, PhD, CEO and founder, DxTerity. "From-home access to patients with lupus and regular monitoring for biological changes may provide real-world insights into how to personalize care." DxTerity's LIFT study presentations at EULAR are as follows. The EULAR abstracts can be found online at http://www.congress.eular.org/. LIFT Study Poster Presentations Title: Comparison of different type 1 IFN signatures demonstrates concordance in a real-world, home-monitored systemic lupus erythematosus cohort Abstract #: SAT0041 Date: Saturday, June 16, 2018: 10:30AM- 12:00PM CEST Title: The LIFT study's direct-to-patient design provides reliable self-reported data from lupus patients Abstract #: FRI0606 Date: Friday, June 15, 2018: 11:45AM to 13:30PM CEST and poster tour About Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is the most common form of lupus, an incurable autoimmune disease affecting approximately 1.5 million individuals in the U.S., primarily women of color. SLE produces autoantibodies that lead the body to attack its own tissue and organs. Symptoms include painful or swollen joints, extreme fatigue, unexplained fever, skin rash, and organ damage. About DxTerity DxTerity is a patient-centric genomics company bringing the power of real-world genomics with From-Home RNA monitoring to improving the management of immune-mediated diseases. With patented and proprietary technologies that engage patients where they live, DxTerity is increasing clinical study efficiency while helping to provide a more complete picture of an individual's health with regular RNA measurements. DxTerity also provides services and technologies to partner organizations, including running population-scale genomic studies. For more information, please visit www.DxTerity.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook. The DxCollect Fingerstick Collection Kit is for Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedure. SOURCE DxTerity Related Links http://www.dxterity.com MONTREAL, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Emovi, today announced that it has been selected to participate in a unique certification program at the newly-opened Smart Health Innovation Lab, founded by Aspire Ventures, Capital BlueCross, Clio Health, and Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health. The Smart Health Innovation Lab is a program designed to help market-ready healthcare technologies accelerate their path to health system adoption. KneeKG was chosen from more than 100 other innovative technologies to participate in this unique collaboration. Emovi "The goal of the Smart Health Innovation Lab's certification program is to fast-track the healthcare innovations we feel have the highest potential to truly transform the industry," said Kim Ireland, CEO of Smart Health Innovation Lab. "As a result, the startups we select for the program are companies we believe will deliver the maximum benefit to population health. We look forward to working with Emovi so that they can gain a stronger foothold in the market." KneeKG and Knee Pain Emovi's KneeKG device is the first to enable doctors to accurately assess patients' knees in 3-D while the patient is moving and weight-bearing. In contrast to static information from x-ray and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), KneeKG quickly identifies the functional causes linked to knee pain, allowing doctors to better target treatments instead of the current process of elimination method, revolutionizing current knee assessment. KneeKG can pinpoint functional deficits linked to knee osteoarthritis, ligament injuries, instabilities and anterior knee pain. By providing functional information to doctors with a higher correlation to symptoms and at a fraction of the cost of high-tech scans such as MRIs, the KneeKG allows doctors to significantly improve patients' quality of life, pain and functional limitations. At any given time, millions of Americans are dealing with knee pain. Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common form of joint disease leading to pain and disability. This condition accounts for 21.7 million medical care visits in the U.S. alone. Healthcare professionals and the healthcare system are seeking solutions to overcome the current situation and the expected concomitant increase in the economic burden of this disease. For the last 30 years, there has been little technological progress in assessing knee pain and defining the proper care pathway. Current issues in treating knee patients include the absence of correlation between their symptoms and diagnostic imaging results, e.g. MRI and X-ray, leading to an empirical approach and a process of elimination in attempting to identify and manage the causes of the pain. Emovi's KneeKG is the first in-clinic device that meets the global need for measuring Knee function with objective and quantifiable data associated with knee mechanical markers and functional deficiencies - just like the Electrocardiogram does for the heart. By joining the Smart Health Innovation Lab's highly selective 12-week certification program, Emovi will be able to collaborate with technology, payor, and clinical experts to validate KneeKG's integration process into clinical workflows. During the certification program, Emovi will utilize various simulated care environments at the lab's state-of-the-art facilities to demonstrate how its technologies impact cost, the patient and provider experience, and health outcomes. "The Smart Health Innovation Lab presents a unique opportunity for Emovi and its breakthrough innovative orthopedic medical device, KneeKG, to collaborate with a region's leading healthcare ecosystem stakeholders. With the support & guidance of the Smart Health Innovation Lab team, Emovi look forward to developing best practices for integration and adoption of its KneeKG device into the marketplace as well as significantly expediting the sales cycle. In our travels around the world, we have seen no other comparable program at this level, anywhere!" said Michelle Laflamme, CEO, Emovi. "StandUp Ventures is thrilled to support Emovi and their data-driven solution for knee injuries and disorders," said Michelle McBane, Managing Director, StandUp Ventures. "Participating in the Smart Health Innovation Lab positions them well to scale their KneeKG device and transform how one of most common joint injuries is evaluated and treated." About Emovi Emovi (Emovi.ca), headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, is a company offering medical solutions for knee joints. In partnership with the Quebec university research community, including the CRCHUM and Ecole de technologie superieure (ETS), Emovi completed the development of the KneeKG, a unique clinical tool evaluating knee functional deficiencies linked to patients' symptoms and pathology progression. Emovi owns multiple patents and the exclusive license to commercialize the KneeKG and has commenced commercialization in Canada, the United States, Europe, Australia and Asia. Emovi hopes to broaden access to this technology and improve the quality of life for people struggling with diseases such as knee arthritis, ligament or meniscus tears, patellofemoral syndrome, tendonitis and biomechanical deficiencies resulting in pain and disability. About Smart Health Innovation Lab Smart Health Innovation Lab (www.smarthealthinnovationlab.com), located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, is a healthcare market adoption accelerator built for testing, certifying, and advancing new healthcare technologies. At the lab, payors, providers, and technology companies work together in a unique collaboration to validate and integrate healthcare innovations into the healthcare marketplace. Founded by Aspire Ventures (www.aspirevc.com), Capital BlueCross (www.capbluecross.com), Clio Health (www.cliohealth.aspirevc.com), and Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health (www.lancastergeneralhealth.org), the Smart Health Innovation Lab brings together different healthcare stakeholders to achieve a common goal: improving the health of our communities through new technologies that improve the patient and provider experience, lower cost of care, and improve health outcomes. INFORMATION: Enable Health Bill Chamblin, (610) 322-4399, [email protected] Mark Stevens, (484) 653-8571, [email protected] Related Images kneekg-system.jpg KneeKG System kneekg-system-with-patient.png KneeKG System with Patient Related Links Emovi French Version Related Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIx8NYu3WrY SOURCE Emovi HOUSTON, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Gulf Energy Information, a leading provider of market intelligence and technical information for the international energy industry, announced today that the Energy Web Atlas has become an official partner of ESRI, the leader in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and spatial analytics. The partnership will bring the Energy Web Atlas datacovering pipelines, gas processing facilities and LNG projectsto the ESRI community. "The ESRI partnership gives us the ability to better collaborate with industry leaders and brings our offering to a wider audience base, while continuing to work closely with ESRI's architecture and future development," said Scott Allgood, Director of Data Services, Gulf Energy Information. "We are pleased to have Gulf Energy Information join the ESRI Partner Network and offer their industry leading content and insight through Energy Web Atlas to the GIS user community and beyond," said Paul Hartwell, Partner Executive Natural Resources, ESRI. "Their wealth of data on LNG, natural gas and other energy projects around the world is of unique value to customers assessing strategic projects and investments. Gulf has been especially innovative in rapidly bringing the Energy Web Atlas initiative to market utilizing ESRI's ArcGIS platform and cloud-managed services." The Energy Web Atlas allows users to examine real-time project information, export and manipulate data, and serves as a comprehensive source of actionable project intelligence. The ArcGIS platform, which forms the basis of the Energy Web Atlas, provides contextual tools for mapping and spatial reasoning so users can explore data and share location-based insights. The system creates deeper understanding, allowing users to see where things are happening and how information is connected. The Energy Web Atlas tracks more than 500 LNG facilities/projects and over 3,670 natural gas pipelines (existing, planned and under construction) globally. In addition, the platform's North American gas processing dataset includes comprehensive data on more than 600 gas processing plants, 510 existing natural gas pipelines, more than 1,300 gas compressor stations, 400-plus natural gas underground storage locations and 58 natural gas market hubs. These subscription-based products, which are updated in real time, allow customers to interact with the latest project data. Further geospatial datasets covering Downstream Construction, Petrochemical Assets, Refining Assets and Vessel tracking will be added to the Energy Web Atlas throughout 2018. To learn more, visit Energy Web Atlas at http://EnergyWebAtlas.com. ABOUT GULF ENERGY INFORMATION For more than 100 years, Gulf Energy Information has been the leading provider of business and technical knowledge for the global oil and gas industry. Since its formation in 1916, the company has evolved from a single publicationThe Oil Weekly, which was dedicated to upstream activity in the Gulf Coast area of the United Statesto a diversified media and market intelligence company. Gulf produces the oil and gas industry's leading publications: World Oil, Hydrocarbon Processing, Gas Processing & LNG, Petroleum Economist, Pipeline & Gas Journal. In addition, Gulf also produces datasets (Construction Boxscore and Energy Web Atlas) containing in depth project and facility data. MEDIA CONTACT Scott Allgood, Director Data Services Gulf Energy Information [email protected] +1 (713) 520-4464 SOURCE Gulf Energy Information NEW YORK, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- EY announced that Dr. Eric Schweiger of Schweiger Dermatology Group (SDG) is a finalist for the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2018 Award in the New York region. The awards program recognizes entrepreneurs who are excelling in areas such as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. Dr. Schweiger was selected as a finalist by a panel of independent judges. Award winners will be announced at a special gala event on June 12 at the New York Marriott Marquis. "It is an honor to be chosen as a finalist in the Entrepreneur of the Year Awards," says Dr. Schweiger. "This recognition is a testament to our outstanding providers and dedicated team members at SDG. Their hard work in providing terrific care to our loyal patients is the root of all our success." Now in its 32nd year, the program has expanded to recognize business leaders in more than 145 cities and more than 60 countries throughout the world. This is the latest recognition for Schweiger Dermatology Group, which was recently named a Great Place to Work in 2018 and 2017. Schweiger Dermatology Group is also on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing private companies in America as well as the Crain's New York Fast 50, honoring the fastest growing companies in New York for 2017. About Schweiger Dermatology Group Schweiger Dermatology Group is the largest group dermatology practice in the Northeast with over 40 offices and over 120 healthcare providers, all within the metro New York Area. SDG's mission is to deliver The Ultimate Patient Experience. This means not only providing high quality dermatology care, but also focusing on the patient's experience by delivering short wait times in modern offices, convenient appointment times and easy access to a provider. SDG provides both medical and cosmetic dermatology services to over 500,000 patients annually. To learn more, visit schweigerderm.com. About Entrepreneur Of The Year Entrepreneur Of The Year, founded by EY, is the world's most prestigious business awards program for entrepreneurs, chosen from an independent panel of judges including entrepreneurs and prominent leaders from business, finance, and the local community. The program makes a difference through the way it encourages entrepreneurial activity among those with potential and recognizes the contribution of people who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement. As the first and only truly global awards program of its kind, Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates those who are building and leading successful, growing and dynamic businesses, recognizing them through regional, national and global awards programs in more than 145 cities and more than 60 countries. ey.com/eoy Media Contact: Melissa Schweiger Kleinman ([email protected]) SOURCE Schweiger Dermatology Group Related Links http://www.schweigerderm.com Middle East Healthcare Company, one of the largest healthcare service providers in Saudi Arabia, said it has awarded major contracts worth a total of SR600 million ($82 million) to International Hospital Construction Company (IHCC) for the design and construction of a 300-bed hospital and staff housing units in the kingdom. As per the deal, IHCC, a specialist in providing turnkey solutions for healthcare, educational, and mixed-use projects, will build the Saudi German Hospital in Makkah city at cost of SR389 million and the staff quarters in Makkah and Dammam for SR113.73 million and SR98.1 million, respectively, said the company in a statement to Saudi bourse Tadawul. These projects are expected to be completed within the next three years, it added.-TradeArabia News Service OKLAHOMA CITY, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- In the U.S., more than 14.5 million children receive free breakfast at school, and more than 30.4 million receive lunches through the national school lunch program. For many, school meals are the only consistent food they get in a day, and when the school year ends, so do school lunches. That's why Feed the Children is kicking off its Summer Food and Education Program in communities across the country to help combat the alarming number of children who do not have a stable source of nutrition during the summer months. The nonprofit is partnering with community organizations to hold meal sites at libraries, parks, camps, churches, and schools and plans to provide up to one million meals this summer. This will provide kids an opportunity to stay active and enjoy their summer. Knowing education can help break the poverty cycle, the organization offers free books to each Summer Food and Education site. "Feed the Children is dedicated to making sure children have the food they need throughout the summer months," said John Ricketts, Director of Domestic Programming at Feed the Children. "We know that when we combine our efforts we can set children up for success and help break the cycle of poverty." Ronnie, age 10, says being hungry in the summer isn't as rare as you might think. "It just happens," he said. "But when you don't have any more food at home, there's Feed the Children who helps out." In 2017, Feed the Children distributed 500,000 meals through the Summer Food and Education Program sites across Oklahoma and Tennessee. This summer, sites will be found in various communities around each of its distribution centers which are located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Elkhart, Indiana; La Vergne, Tennessee; Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; and Ontario, California. Additional Summer Food and Education sites are planned in Texas, South Carolina and New York. The organization is also working with the Partnership with Native Americans to bring meals to various tribes located in Arizona. About Feed the Children Established in 1979, Feed the Children exists to defeat childhood hunger. It is one of the largest U.S.-based charities and serves those in need in the U.S. and in 10 countries around the world. It provides food, education initiatives, essentials and disaster response. It operates five distribution centers located in Oklahoma, Indiana, California, Tennessee and Pennsylvania. In fiscal year 2017, Feed the Children distributed 79.8 million pounds of food and essentials to children and families in the U.S. Internationally, it provided nutritious food or other benefits to 1,080,000 children, empowered 291,000 parents to make better decisions for their children, and positively impacted more than 1,200 communities and schools in 10 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. It is accredited by GuideStar Exchange and the BBB Wise Giving Alliance. Visit feedthechildren.org for more information. SOURCE Feed the Children Related Links http://www.feedthechildren.org LOS ANGELES, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Mercury Insurance (NYSE: MCY) has been named one of "America's Best Midsize Employers" by Forbes magazine for the second consecutive year (2017 and 2018). Headquartered in Los Angeles, Mercury primarily provides auto, homeowners and business insurance through a network of more than 10,000 independent agents in 11 states. "It's an honor to be recognized by Forbes and our team members for a second consecutive year and I'm extremely proud of our entire team for making Mercury such a great place to work," said Mercury Insurance President and CEO Gabriel Tirador. "Our people are the cornerstone of our success and we are committed to creating an amazing employee experience. I believe we really are a family and together we will continue to make Mercury better and stronger." Forbes enlisted Statista, an online statistics provider, to conduct an independent survey of 30,000 U.S.-employees working at companies with at least 1,000 staff members. The survey scores companies on how likely their employees were to recommend them to someone else. Mercury is one of America's top employers and one of a select few property/casualty insurance companies to make the 2018 list. About Mercury Insurance Mercury Insurance (MCY) is a multiple-line insurance organization predominantly offering personal automobile, homeowners and commercial insurance through a network of independent agents in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Texas and Virginia. Since 1962, Mercury has specialized in offering quality insurance at affordable prices. For more information, visit www.mercuryinsurance.com or Facebook and follow the company on Twitter. SOURCE Mercury Insurance CEDAR PARK, Texas, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross presented Fortune Products, Inc. with the President's "E" Award for Exports at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., on May 21. The President's "E" Award is the highest recognition any U.S. entity can receive for making a significant contribution to the expansion of U.S. exports. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, left, presented the President's "E" Award for Exports to Fortune Products, Inc. President Jay Cavanaugh & Dianna Cavanaugh at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., on May 21, 2018. "Fortune Products has demonstrated a sustained commitment to export expansion. The "E" Awards Committee was very impressed with Fortune Products' export sales to multiple industries in 64 countries. The company's 65 percent growth in employment supported by exports was also particularly notable. Fortune Products' achievements have undoubtedly contributed to national export expansion efforts that support the U.S. economy and create American jobs," said Secretary Ross in his congratulatory letter to the company announcing its selection. Fortune Products, Inc., established in 1984, is the manufacturer of the award-winning AccuSharp brand of knife & tool sharpeners and offers a full line of manual sharpening products and knives. Fortune Products has also successfully launched two additional brands SharpNEasy and ParaForce into its broad scope of sharpening products, tools, and knives. For more information about Fortune Products, Inc. and its full line of sharpening products and tools, visit www.accusharp.com. "Our team takes pride in providing quality products that offer a great value and as our brand continues to grow internationally, exporting has become a vital part of our sales," said Jay Cavanaugh, Fortune Products' President and CEO. "Buyers and consumers in foreign markets are increasingly seeking quality products made in the United States. We are extremely proud to be recognized for our contribution in the export market and honored to receive the President's 'E' Award." In total, Secretary Ross honored 43 U.S. companies and organizations from across the country with the President's "E" Award for their role in strengthening the U.S. economy by sharing American ingenuity outside of our borders. U.S. companies are nominated for the "E" Awards through the U.S. Commercial Service, part of the Department's International Trade Administration. With offices across the United States and in embassies and consulates around the world, The International Trade Administration lends its expertise at every stage of the exporting process by promoting and facilitating exports and investment into the United States; administering Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Duties orders; and removing, reducing, or preventing foreign trade barriers. U.S. exports totaled $2.33 trillion in 2017, accounting for 12 percent of U.S. gross domestic product. Exports supported an estimated 10.7 million jobs nationwide in 2016, according to the most recent statistics from the International Trade Administration. About the "E" Awards In 1961, President Kennedy signed an executive order reviving the World War II "E" symbol of excellence to honor and provide recognition to America's exporters. Criteria for the award is based on four years of successive export growth in one or more international markets. For more information about the "E" Awards and the benefits of exporting, visit www.export.gov. Contact: Public Relations Department, (952) 272-6999 Related Images presidents-e-award-for-exports-to.jpg President's "E" Award for Exports to Fortune Products, Inc. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, left, presented the President's "E" Award for Exports to Fortune Products, Inc. President Jay Cavanaugh & Dianna Cavanaugh at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., on May 21, 2018. presidents-e-award-logo.jpg President's "E" Award Logo In 1961, President Kennedy signed an executive order reviving the World War II "E" symbol of excellence to honor and provide recognition to America's exporters fortune-products-inc-logo.jpg Fortune Products, Inc. Logo Fortune Products, Inc., established in 1984, is the manufacturer of the award-winning AccuSharp brand of knife & tool sharpeners and offers a full line of manual sharpening products and knives. accusharp-knife-sharpener.jpg AccuSharp Knife Sharpener Fortune Products, Inc., established in 1984, is the manufacturer of the award-winning AccuSharp brand of knife & tool sharpeners and offers a full line of manual sharpening products and knives. Related Links Office of Public Affairs Fortune Products' Awards SOURCE Fortune Products, Inc. Related Links http://www.i-newswire.com The "Challenge 100 Degrees - Geely Goes Global, Powered by Shell" European Tour came to a conclusion at the iconic center of British motorsport in Goodwood. At the same time, Geely Auto Group and Shell signed a global strategic cooperation agreement broadening their cooperation beyond just lubricants. The conclusion of the jointly organized tour and signing of a new cooperation agreement represents Geely Auto's active participation in global market, sharing of strategic opportunities on the "One Belt and One Road" and acceleration of the company's goal to become a top ten global automaker. (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/702832/Geely_Shell_Goodwood.jpg ) (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/702830/Geely_Goodwood.jpg ) After more than a month of travelling from from Xi'an, China, the fleet of new Geely Bo Yue cars arrived at Goodwood for the closing ceremony of the "Challenge 100 Degrees" tour. The drive passed through 58 cities in 9 countries and stopping in Moscow, Minsk, Hamburg and Paris and finally Goodwood, UK. At the Goodwood Manor, they were warmly welcomed by Mr. An Conghui, President and CEO of Geely Auto Group, Mr Huibert Vigeveno, Executive Vice President of Global Commercial at Royal Dutch Shell and a fleet of cars from the Geely family of brands including Lotus, LEVC, and Lynk & Co. The team faced more than a dozen kinds of difficult road conditions and travelled 108 degrees of longitude through three different climate zones to complete the unprecedented journey. Not only did the "Challenge 100 Degrees" tour demonstrate the Bo Yue's ability to travel across the globe, it also demonstrated the car's quality, craftsmanship, and character to the world, as well as the strength of Chinese auto brands. The Bo Yue has sold more than 500,000 units within 25 months of its launch, topping SUV sales in China. During the "Challenge 100 Degrees" tour, the Bo Yue challenged tanks to a race in Moscow, was tested in the Shell Technology Centre Hamburg, competed in the motorsports holy land of the Nurburgring track, and in Goodwood conducted off-road test drives that proves what has been said about the Bo Yue is not just hype. In 2018, Geely plans to set up a new design studio in the UK to support Lotus as well as a new R&D centre in Europe that will become part of an innovative development system consisting of five major R&D centres and five major design studios around the world. SOURCE Geely GERMANTOWN, Wis., June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- This week, Gehl Foods has demonstrated their commitment to higher education, and is announcing their 2018 Feed the Future Scholarship honorees. This annual scholarship program is awarding three $5,000 scholarships to dependents of Gehl Foods employees located at their Germantown, WI facility, and two $5,000 scholarships at their Lathrop, CA facility. Scholarships were awarded based on scholastic achievement, community and volunteer involvement, and an interview with the committee. This year's Germantown recipients are: Noah Bougie, the son of Gehl Foods employee Mark Bougie, Andrew Gawronski, the son of Gehl Foods employee Tom Gawronski, and Taylor Klokow, the daughter of Gehl Foods employee Liza Klokow. "Gehl Foods is dedicated to empowering today's youth to be tomorrow's leaders," says Marcos Mejia, Gehl Foods Vice President of Finance and Feed the Future Scholarship Committee Member. "We are thrilled and humbled to be in a position to offer financial assistance to the children of our dedicated work force. Narrowing down three honorees out of 17 applicants was no easy task, as the level of maturity, passion and direction from the candidates was unprecedented. Our goal is to continue to grow this program in service to our communities." The three local recipients were presented with their scholarship at the All-Company meeting on June 4. Image: https://www.gehls.com/Gehls/Gehls-Images/About/News/ScholarshipRecipients.jpg About Gehl Foods, LLC Gehl Foods, LLC is a Germantown, Wisconsin-based manufacturer of ready-to-serve, real dairy products in the sauce and nutritional beverage segments. Founded by J.P. Gehl in 1896 as a creamery, Gehl Foods operated as a family-owned company until 2015 when they were acquired by Wind Point Partners. The company operates in the low-acid aseptic market through three primary facilities in Wisconsin and California and has widespread distribution throughout North America. Gehl Foods' robust research & development platform has produced a range of unique beverage and cheese formulations that are both licensed to national brands, as well as sold under private label families at large national retailers. SOURCE Gehl Foods, Inc. Related Links https://www.gehls.com DALLAS, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Generational Equity, a leading mergers and acquisitions advisor for privately held businesses, and its affiliate company, Generational Capital Markets (member FINRA/SIPC), are pleased to announce that at the end of May the firm closed its 700th transaction. This is a level that is unmatched among middle market M&A advisory firms. According to Brenen Hofstadter, Chief M&A Officer with Generational Equity, "Closing our 700th transaction is a significant achievement in our industry. But what is really most rewarding for us is that each of these transactions represents a business owner and the financial legacy for their families. We are honored that so many entrepreneurs have trusted us with their businesses." Generational Equity was founded to help business owners and their families achieve their financial goals, creating a legacy for generations. The company and its associates are committed to helping privately held business owners achieve a meaningful and purposeful 4th quarter of their lives. Terry Johnson, Chief Revenue and Strategy Officer for the firm, stated, "Reaching this level of success is extremely rewarding. Our entire team is dedicated to making a difference in the lives of our clients and their families, and this milestone is indicative of their passionate commitment." Generational Equity is one of the leading M&A advisory firms in North America, having won multiple industry awards including Investment Banking Firm of the Year in 2017 and 2016, Valuation Firm of the Year in 2015 and 2014, as well as M&A Consulting Firm of the Year in 2013 and 2011. The firm has solidified its leadership position by providing world class client service and unmatched deal making capabilities. According to Thomson Reuters, no M&A advisor has closed more deals in the middle market than Generational Equity over the past several years. Ryan Binkley, President and CEO of the firm, added, "Our goal is to serve our clients by helping them both define and realize the life they want for themselves and their loved ones. It is a real honor and privilege to work with entrepreneurs to reach their financial and personal dreams." About Generational Equity Generational Equity, DealForce, and Generational Capital Markets, member FINRA/SIPC, are part of the Generational Group, which is headquartered in Dallas and is one of the leading M&A advisory firms in North America. With over 250 professionals located throughout North America, the companies help business owners release the wealth of their business by providing merger, acquisition and strategic growth advisory services. Their four-step approach features exit planning education, business valuation, value enhancement strategies, and M&A transactional services. For more, visit the https://www.genequityco.com/ or the Generational Equity press room. For more information: Carl Doerksen 972-232-1125 [email protected] SOURCE Generational Equity Related Links http://www.genequityco.com TOKYO, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT) today announced its appointment of Hiroki Nakatani, MD, PhD, MHPEd, former World Health Organization (WHO) assistant director-general, to the fund's board of directors and named him its board chair. Nakatani succeeds founding GHIT Board Chair Kiyoshi Kurokawa, who played an instrumental role in the fund's growth and achievements in its first five years of operation. "Dr. Nakatani is a pioneer in global health and neglected tropical diseases, with an impeccable science and policy implementation track record. His unparalleled leadership in Japan and internationally in linking health innovation to effective policy and delivery will be critical as GHIT continues to evolve and as its first products hit the market," said BT Slingsby, CEO and executive director of the GHIT Fund. "Dr. Nakatani joins the board at a very exciting time as we've also just launched our second five-year phase. And we are grateful to Dr. Kurokawa for his invaluable contributions." Nakatani served as WHO assistant director-general from 2007 to 2015, where he led the largest technical cluster comprising HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases. During his tenure, the morbidity and mortality of these diseases showed trends of decline, with some tropical diseases moving toward suppression and even eradication in the case of dracunculiasis (guinea worm disease). Prior to joining WHO, Nakatani enjoyed a long career in Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, where he acquired extensive technical experience in public health, including immunization, health promotion, health emergencies and health workforce development. His senior-level responsibilities in the ministry included a focus on administration, management, and organizational and legislative development. He is currently a specially appointed professor at Keio University (Keio University Global Research Institute: KGRI), a specially appointed professor at Osaka University (in public health), an advisor for Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, a director at the National Center for Global Health and Medicine, and a WHO executive board member. "I am honored to join the board of this transformational public-private partnership fund for global health R&D. GHIT is a catalytic force in Japan and across the globe, and it is overseen by highly talented, international and experienced governors. It is also humbling to succeed Kiyoshi Kurokawa, who led the GHIT Fund to success so deftly," said Nakatani. As board chair, Nakatani will lead the operations and affairs of GHIT's board of directors, facilitate good governance, and lead board efforts to realize GHIT's mission and set future strategic direction. "We conducted an exhaustive search for someone with deep experience in both international and Japanese global health leadershipsomeone who would further strengthen our board's breadth of talent and background. And we are delighted to have identified such an outstanding individual," said Kurokawa. "I'm confident that Dr. Nakatani is going to make an important and positive impact on the institution." About the GHIT Fund The first of its kind in Japan, the GHIT Fund is an international public-private partnership between the Government of Japan, multiple pharmaceutical companies, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The GHIT Fund invests and manages a portfolio of development partnerships aimed at neglected diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and neglected tropical diseases that afflict the world's poorest people. The GHIT Fund mobilizes Japanese pharmaceutical companies, academic and research organizations to engage in the effort to create new drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics. For more information, please visit https://www.ghitfund.org. For more information, please visit https://www.ghitfund.org. For more information, contact: Katy Lenard at +1-301-280-5719 or [email protected] SOURCE Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT Fund) Related Links https://www.ghitfund.org LONDON and BOSTON, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Graduway, the world's leading provider of alumni networking and mentoring platforms, today announced it has acquired the alumni relations and career services assets of CampusTap, Inc. This acquisition further strengthens Graduway's position as the world's largest provider of alumni engagement and mentoring software. Graduway CEO and Founder, Daniel Cohen commented, "We are very excited to welcome CampusTap's distinguished customers to the Graduway family. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Remy and his outstanding team for making this process so smooth." CampusTap Founder, Remy Carpinito commented, "Graduway is well known as a leader in the market in terms of both thought leadership and product innovation and we are excited that we can partner with them to provide the most complete solution for our customers." About Graduway Headquartered in the U.K. with operations in the U.S. and Israel, Graduway is trusted by 600+ education institutions and companies to manage their on-line alumni career communities including UCLA, Johns Hopkins and the University of Oxford. Founded in 2009 by Daniel Cohen, author of 'Alumni Therapy', Graduway exclusively hosts the Graduway Leaders Summit as a gathering of leaders and executives in the alumni relations and career mentoring world. About CampusTap CampusTap was founded to enhance the lives of students in 2013. Originally seeking to replace student ID cards with Near Field Communication (NFC) chips in smartphones, the team found that the technology was ahead of its time. CampusTap uncovered a new opportunity in bridging the gap between career service and alumni relation departments. The CampusTap platform provides an intuitive, career networking and mentoring community where students and alumni partake in meaningful mentorship opportunities and discover groups, jobs and companies aligned with their academic, professional and personal interests. Contact Information Graduway Media Contact: David Whitefield [email protected] CampusTap Media Contact: Remy Carpinito [email protected] SOURCE Graduway Related Links https://graduway.com SAN FRANCISCO, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- GrubMarket has formally announced that it has agreed to acquire So Cal Farm Network, a leading purchaser and provider of farmer identified, seasonal produce. The terms of the deal were undisclosed. GrubMarket will leverage its vast produce supply chain network and wholesaler relationships to quickly expand So Cal Farm Network's offerings to even more retailers, food service providers, and CSA programs. Additionally, this acquisition will further accelerate GrubMarket's produce supply chain presence across the West Coast, as So Cal Farm Network has many valuable synergies with GrubMarket's existing portfolio of brands. Martin Anenberg, the founder of So Cal Farm Network, started buying and selling locally grown produce in 2003, and his company currently provides a wide array of produce offerings to Whole Foods and one of the largest restaurant chains in the United States. So Cal Farm Network's mission is to develop a local produce supply chain mirroring the efficiencies and positive elements of mainstream agricultural distribution, while at the same time, providing growers with the highest financial returns for their crops. According to Martin Anenberg, Founder of So Cal Farm Network: "I am incredibly excited about this new relationship with GrubMarket, as they have an experienced team and infrastructure in place that will allow us to further scale So Cal Farm Network." Furthermore, GrubMarket will leverage So Cal Farm Network's expertise to further enhance and reinforce its existing produce supply chain capabilities. According to Mike Xu, CEO of GrubMarket: "Martin is a proven leader, as evidenced by his great success with building So Cal Farm Network. We look forward to working closely together, as we welcome him into the GrubMarket Family." About GrubMarket GrubMarket's mission is to make fresh and healthy food accessible to everyone. We are committed to providing you with the best online grocery experience possible, by regularly offering you a spectacular array of farm-fresh foods at prices that are up to 50% OFF what you'd typically find at other grocers. For Media Inquiries: GrubMarket Media Team [email protected] (510) 556-4786 GrubMarket 1925 Jerrold Ave. San Francisco, CA. 94124 SOURCE GrubMarket Related Links http://www.grubmarket.com NEW YORK, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- H2O World 2018 H2O.ai, the open source leader in AI, today announced a new release of its award-winning automated machine learning platform H2O Driverless AI, with key enhancements that will enable organizations to expand their current AI strategy and improve accuracy of predictive datasets. The latest innovations in Driverless AI include time series support aimed at improving predictions within transactional datasets and auto documentation, as well as updated AutoViz, Machine Learning Interpretability (MLI) and Automatic Pipelines. With the time series capability in Driverless AI, H2O.ai directly addresses some of the most pressing concerns of organizations across industries for use cases such as transactional data in capital markets, tracking in-store and online sales in retail, and using sensor data to improve supply chain or predictive maintenance in manufacturing. "Time series is all-pervasive. It is not only one of the fastest growing classes of data but also one particularly well-suited for machine learning. Our latest recipes in Driverless AI automate predictions on time series for demand and inventory forecasting for retail stores, tick level predictions in capital markets and electronic trading, greener manufacturing by optimizing supply chains and securing our world with sensor data from IoT," said Sri Ambati, CEO and founder at H2O.ai. "Our mission to democratize machine learning to make it accessible to every enterprise unable to access the highly sought after talent in data science is one step closer." Time Series Helps Forecast Sales, Predict Industrial Machine Failure and More Driverless AI's time series feature is ideal for transaction, log and sensor data. Some of the key advantages include the ability to: Optimize for almost any prediction time window, whether that be for the next day or the next week Incorporate data from numerous predictors, rather than focusing solely on past time series data Handle gaps in time series data input without negatively impacting predictive modeling Handle missing values, structured character data and high-cardinality categorical variables Generate predictions for both numeric and classification problems In addition to the new time series support, H2O.ai has also added the following to H2O Driverless AI: AutoDoc is an early-release feature of Driverless AI which generates a document describing the unique experiment pipeline chosen by Driverless AI and the user settings. The report provides insight into the training data and any detected shifts in distribution, the validation schema selected, model parameter tuning, feature evolution and the final set of features chosen during the experiment. is an early-release feature of Driverless AI which generates a document describing the unique experiment pipeline chosen by Driverless AI and the user settings. The report provides insight into the training data and any detected shifts in distribution, the validation schema selected, model parameter tuning, feature evolution and the final set of features chosen during the experiment. Expanded AutoViz capabilities with additional charts and visualizations that enable data scientists to preview and examine a broader range of data sets with additional charts and visualizations that enable data scientists to preview and examine a broader range of data sets Automatic Pipeline generation that provides the code needed to deploy scored models in applications on any device that provides the code needed to deploy scored models in applications on any device data.table for Python is the data munging engine for Driverless AI and is H2O's new project based on the popular open source project in R, data.table. It brings the same features to the growing Python community and enables Python users to benefit from data.table's high performance, superior data processing capabilities, and big data support H2O Driverless AI empowers data scientists or data analysts to work on projects faster and more efficiently by using automation and state-of-the-art computing power to accomplish tasks that can take humans months in just minutes or hours by delivering automatic feature engineering, model validation, model tuning, model selection and deployment, machine learning interpretability, time-series and automatic pipeline generation for model scoring. Also today, H2O.ai announced a strategic global partnership with IBM, focused on combining IBM Power Systems and H2O Driverless AI to address the AI demands of enterprises. Read more about this partnership and joint solution: https://www.h2o.ai/company/news/IBM-and-H2Oai-partnership-aims-to-accelerate-adoption-of-ai-in-the-enterprise From the Source: Live Stream of H2O World NYC H2O.ai is fostering a grassroots movement of systems engineers, data scientists, data developers and predictive analysts to move machine learning forward. Today the company will be hosting the first of its 2018 H2O World conferences in New York City at the New York Hilton Midtown. The event was recently moved after demand from attendees far exceeded the capacity of the original venue. The entire event will be live streamed starting at 9:00am ET. You can follow the day-of livestream here: https://www.h2o.ai Connect with H2O.ai Download Driverless AI for a free 21-day trial: https://www.h2o.ai/try-driverless-ai/ https://www.h2o.ai/try-driverless-ai/ Visit us to learn more: www.h2o.ai www.h2o.ai Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/H2Oai www.twitter.com/H2Oai Connect with us on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/2820918/ About H2O.ai H2O.ai is the open source leader in AI. Its mission is to democratize AI for all. H2O.ai is transforming the use of AI with software with its category-creating visionary open source machine learning platform, H2O. More than 14,000 companies use open-source H2O in mission-critical use cases for Finance, Insurance, Healthcare, Retail, Telco, Sales, and Marketing. H2O.ai recently launched Driverless AI that uses AI to do AI in order to provide an easier, faster and effective means of implementing data science. In February 2018, Gartner named H2O.ai, as a Leader in the 2018 Magic Quadrant for Data Science and Machine Learning Platforms. H2O.ai partners with leading technology companies such as NVIDIA, IBM, AWS, Azure and Google and is proud of its growing customer base which includes Capital One, Progressive Insurance, Comcast, Walgreens and PayPal. For more information and to learn more about how H2O.ai is transforming business processes with intelligence, visit www.h2o.ai. Media Contact: Erika Kamholz [email protected] 949-282-8560 SOURCE H2O.ai Related Links https://www.h2o.ai With real estate prices on the decline for the last three years mainly due to oversupply from the off-plan market, and not enough demand to meet handovers, the UAE government is taking several steps to boost the market, said an expert. Those monitoring the headlines recently will have noticed a volley round of new initiatives that are set to boost the real estate sector in the UAE, stated Propertyfinder Group, a leading real estate portal in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region. First came the visa and company ownership reforms set for the end of this year followed by the Dubai Land Departments efforts to bring real estate transactions online and cut out red tape by the first quarter of 2020. Then, this week, Dubai and Abu Dhabi went back and forth on their own economic stimulus plans, said the expert. The Dh50 billion ($13.6 billion) stimulus package for Abu Dhabi, announced earlier this week by Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, will attract longer-term residents and cut costs for developers, according to Propertyfinder in its report. A total of 33,000 units were delivered over 2016 and 2017 in Dubai, with 2018 forecast to deliver much the same, it added. "Stimulus efforts to attract investment and retain residents are much-needed," remarked Lynnette Abad, the director of data and research at Propertyfinder Group. "We have seen the market shift in different ways over the last few years, a significant amount of supply was released into the market and majority of sales in 2017 were on off-plan units [70 per cent]," stated Abad. "The amount of new supply in the market has put pressure on sale and rental prices with both declining over the last three years. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as the cost of living in Dubai has been relatively high, therefore a decline in prices have helped many households," she stated. In a major move, the government has asked Dubai Land Department to get rid of the late-fee penalty on the four per cent registration fees on property transactions in the emirate, part of a growing effort to slash fees overall in the emirate. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Executive Council, emphasised that real estate sector was an important component of Dubai's economy and the goverment was providing the best government services to investors and developers. Abad pointed put that the new proposals would continue to relieve the pressure put on by simple cost of living. "Of particular interest for the real estate sector and residents is the creation of permanent home licences for working from home, instant licensing for most commercial license types and all government services, new faster payments for private sector contractors and a review of fines incurred by delays they cause, and a cost-cutting review of building regulations for residential and commercial properties. Further detail on these initiatives is expected within 90 days," she stated. For Dubai, the school fees freeze for the upcoming academic year may ease the burden in households already feeling the pinch of VAT, and encourage people to stay in the country longer, she added.-TradeArabia News Service ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla., June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Department of Transportation requires anyone whose job involves the performance of any task regulated by the Hazardous Materials Regulations to undergo hazardous materials shipping training. Likewise, all employers must provide their employees with relevant training applicable to their job function. Hazmat University offers online training programs that can be completed on your desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone 24/7. "When transporting hazardous materials/dangerous goods in commerce, compliance is a primary concern. Compliance is achieved through well maintained training programs by the hazmat employer. Training is an essential component of any shipping operation to achieve safety in the transport of hazardous materials," said Sonia Irusta, Vice President of Bureau of Dangerous Goods, LTD. Hazmat University recognizes the need for anyone entrusted with the handling of dangerous goods to be trained on the dangerous goods regulations and to be able to perform their job functions when handling dangerous goods. Hazmat University makes certain their training programs are exemplary and features are excellent and easy to access. Listed below are the four reasons Hazmat University is your one-stop-shop for hazardous material shipping training. A Variety of Training Options A wide range of classes that suit a variety of needs such as different modes of transportation including ground, air and sea. Classes cover a wide range of regulations including: 49 CFR Hazardous Materials Regulations, the International Air Transport Association Dangerous Goods Regulations, and the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code. Regular Updates Hazmat University updates based on "The Hazardous Materials Regulations" multiple times each year which keeps lesson plans and materials for online content up-to-date. Anyone handling hazardous materials is required stay on top of any amendments and regulatory changes made. Everything is Online All courses are offered online to relieve the stresses of travel, parking and changing schedules. Lessons can be accessed from anywhere at any time whether at home or in the office. Start Immediately Begin your training from the moment that you finish placing your order. Your enrollment codes come with your order confirmation, so there is no delay in getting started. Certificates are issued instantly upon completion. Hazmat University provides specialized courses in the shipment of dangerous goods by air, ground, or vessel, and training for specialized needs, such as lithium batteries, general awareness, segregation, and others. SOURCE Hazmat University Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Delaware's Blue Hen and Allegheny Health Network (AHN)'s #LivingProof campaigns were awarded three Effie Awards, securing gold in the healthcare services category, and bronze in small budgets services category. Blue Hen was among the top eight highest scoring campaigns in North America, making the campaign a contender for a Grand Effie, awarded to the most effective campaigns in North America across all categories. Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield's Doc Talk Checklist was also a finalist in the small budgets services category. With over fifty categories and only a small number entrants awarded each year, Effie Awards are a rare and highly prestigious honor recognized globally as one of the highest achievements in the marketing industry. Only 101 North American Effie Awards, including only 19 gold, were presented to campaigns which have best demonstrated effectiveness in solving a marketing challenge, connecting with target audiences, and achieving measured results. Points are awarded in four categories including challenge, context and objectives, insights and strategic idea, execution of the idea, and measuring tangible business results. Allegheny Health Network's #LivingProof campaign Allegheny Health Network's #LivingProof campaign, which was awarded gold in the healthcare services category, was developed to significantly increase unaided brand awareness and ultimately drive patient growth for a newly formed health care network which competes against a well-established, academic medical institution supported by aggressive marketing and spending. The campaign goal of increasing call volume was exceeded by 119 percent points, total in-patient volume increased by 2.3 percent points, exceeding the -1 percent industry standard in Pennsylvania, and primary care experienced growth that exceeded the original campaign goal by 4.6 percent points. "#LivingProof broke health care's conventional marketing standards of using claims and ratings by focusing the campaign on real patient 'proof points' in an industry where the consumer experience is highly individualized," said David DeMuth, president and chief executive officer of Doner, the creative agency which partnered with Highmark Health's marketing team to create #LivingProof. "We wanted to present a preponderance of evidence of quality care through 30 real stories told in 30 consecutive days to highlight the myriad ways AHN helps people real patients with Parkinson's disease, and those in need of cancer treatment, orthopedics, heart surgery, trauma care and more. It was all about making care personal and tangible." #LivingProof's stories featured actual moments of patient care which were captured in real-time, without scripts, sets, or reshoots. The campaign was supported by TV, radio, print, digital, social media, and larger-than-life activations including the world's largest cast highlighting the more than 26,000 bones AHN mended and the world's largest game of Operation, which recognized the 102,219 operations performed in the network. Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield's Blue Hen campaign Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Delaware's Blue Hen campaign, which won gold in the healthcare services category and bronze in the small budgets services category, addressed the challenge of retaining the health plan's membership as a major national insurer entered the small state market. Facing a potential loss of millions of dollars and a challenging goal to retain its state employee members, Highmark Health's marketing team partnered with agency Partners + Napier to create Blue Hen. "Building on our insight that local pride can overcome outside advantages, we were able to connect with state employees on an emotional level by tapping into Delawarean's deep Blue Hen pride," commented Michael Baron, SVP creative director, Partners + Napier. "The Blue Hen campaign served as an effective and strong reminder of Highmark's deep roots in Delaware and why its residents have chosen Blue for over 80 years." The Blue Hen campaign was a new, creative, and highly visible campaign which featured Delaware's beloved state bird, the blue hen. The campaign was supported through TV, newspaper ads, radio, billboards, and digital and social media. Despite the national competitor advantages of scale and budget, and additional challenges such as competitor auto-enrollment options and communication channel restrictions, Blue Hen exceeded its campaign goal by more than 10 percent points on switching members from its HMO plan to its PPO plan, achieved 93 percent points of its goal of retaining current PPO members, and resulted in a 3 to 1 return on investment to the business. "I am deeply honored and proud of our organization and team for these achievements. It's absolutely amazing to see the power of these small region campaigns on a national stage. Health care presents some incredible challenges but also tremendous opportunities for creativity as we continue to rapidly evolve. We are challenged to meet customer expectations which are now, more than ever, influenced by how they interact with other consumer-driven industries," commented Cindy Donohoe, EVP and chief marketing officer, Highmark Health. "In health care, however, no two patients have the same expectations or definition of quality and experience. Health care is personal, so the way we connect with consumers needs to be as well. We weren't going to do it like our competitors. We didn't spend aggressively, we didn't use the standard claims or elaborate sets. Healthcare isn't about us, it's about our customers, and the power of their stories and local pride is proof of that. I am proud of the results we achieved with these campaigns and we are excited to continue to connect with our markets in creative, disruptive ways." About Highmark Health Highmark Health, a Pittsburgh, PA based enterprise that employs more than 40,000 people who serve millions of Americans across the country, is the second largest integrated health care delivery and financing network in the nation based on revenue. Highmark Health is the parent company of Highmark Inc., Allegheny Health Network, and HM Health Solutions. Highmark Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates provide health insurance to nearly 5 million members in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Delaware as well as dental insurance, vision care and related health products through a national network of diversified businesses that include United Concordia Companies, HM Insurance Group, and Visionworks. Allegheny Health Network is the parent company of an integrated delivery network that includes eight hospitals, more than 2,800 affiliated physicians, ambulatory surgery centers, an employed physician organization, home and community-based health services, a research institute, a group purchasing organization, and health and wellness pavilions in western Pennsylvania. HM Health Solutions focuses on meeting the information technology platform and other business needs of the Highmark Health enterprise as well as unaffiliated health insurance plans by providing proven business processes, expert knowledge and integrated cloud-based platforms. To learn more, please visit www.highmarkhealth.org. About Effie Worldwide Effie Worldwide is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization that stands for effectiveness in marketing communications, spotlighting marketing ideas that work and encouraging thoughtful dialogue about the drivers of marketing effectiveness. The Effie network works with some of the top research and media organizations worldwide to bring its audience relevant and first-class insights into effective marketing strategy. The Effie Awards are known by advertisers and agencies globally as the pre-eminent award in the industry and recognize any and all forms of marketing communication that contribute to a brand's success. Since 1968, winning an Effie has become a global symbol of achievement. Today, Effie celebrates effectiveness worldwide with the Global Effie, regional Asia Pacific, Euro, Latin American, North American and Middle East / North Africa Effie programs and more than 40 national Effie programs. For more details, visit www.effie.org. SOURCE Highmark Health Related Links http://www.highmarkhealth.org "President Hernandez and I agreed that it is important to capitalize on the country's achievements by strengthening the institutional framework to maintain macroeconomic stability, enhance the transparency and efficiency of public spending, and generate appropriate conditions to reduce poverty. We also agreed it is key to create employment opportunities, persevere in the fight against corruption and achieve higher and more inclusive growth. We at the IMF stand ready to support Honduras and its people to build a more prosperous future," said Lagarde. At the meeting, the Honduran officials reiterated their government's commitment to fight impunity, promote citizen participation and build trust in public institutions to ensure the proper and transparent functioning of the public sector and the proper use of resources. "We are pleased by Madame Lagarde's remarks about Honduras being an example of 'tidying up the house' and now enjoying national and international recognition on macroeconomic issues," said President Hernandez following the meeting. Honduras has taken important steps to promote transparency and accountability. The country subscribes to major international anti-corruption treaties such as the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption (CICC), the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Lima Commitment ("Democratic Governance against Corruption") adopted at the 8th Summit of the Americas. In 2011 the country joined the Alliance for Open Government to strengthen mechanisms of transparency, citizen participation, accountability and technological innovation at all levels and across all branches of government. In 2014, two days after his inauguration, President Hernandez signed a collaboration agreementthe only one of its kind worldwide--with Transparency International to monitor and evaluate anti-corruption efforts in five sectors: health, education, security, tax management and infrastructure. The country also passed a historic campaign finance reform law in January 2017. In 2014, Honduras also joined the Construction Sector Transparency Initiative (CoST), which helps participating countries achieve the delivery of quality infrastructure projects at a lower cost, with increased predictability of outcomes, increased transparency and the participation and oversight of civil society. At the 2016 Annual Open Government Awards in Paris, Honduras was recognized for the work the administration is doing under CoST to make the government more accountable for construction and infrastructure spending. Also, earlier this year, the Honduran government launched an online platform to disseminate bid opportunities and contract awards. In 2017, Honduras' real GDP grew at 4.8 percent, supported by good harvests, strong public investment, and robust private consumption growth amid record remittance inflows. These inflows, together with stronger performance in coffee exports, also led to further compression in the external current account deficit to 1.75 percent of GDP. Net international reserves increased by US$883 million, boosted by a US$700 million external bond issuance, leading to reserve coverage of 5.3 months of non-maquila imports of goods and services. SOURCE Honduran Presidency The conference will begin with a half-day HSA Essentials Workshop that will educate employers about administration best practices, participant engagement in HSAs, HSA rules and regulations, and investment menus within HSAs. Kevin Robertson, Chief Revenue Officer of HSA Bank will present Engaging Participants in HSAs from 11:15 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. ET on June 13. The session will cover the importance of an engaging HSA program for both employers and employees, and the steps to successful HSA engagement. Robertson will also be joining a panel session titled Helping Participants Maximize Their Savings Opportunities on June 14 from 2:20 to 3:10 p.m. ET. The panelists will discuss how to help participants consider their savings across Roth versus pre-tax, HSAs and other supplementary savings plans. "The focus on HSAs at this year's conference shows the valuable role of consumer-directed healthcare and HSAs for employers and retirement planners," said Robertson. "The discussions at the conference will better prepare employers to deliver well-designed programs that meet the needs of their employees." For expert insights from HSA Bank, visit hsabank.com/thoughtleadership. About HSA Bank: HSA Bank is a trusted leader in consumer-directed healthcare (CDH), focusing on Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) for over two decades and serving as both the bank and administrator. Discover how we can support your benefits strategy with our comprehensive account-based health benefit solutions that include HSAs, Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs), Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs), and Commuter Benefits. With a reputation for outstanding service and thought leadership in the CDH space, we offer one platform and one portal for all of our members. HSA Bank inspires over 2.6 million members and more than 35,000 employer groups to own their health by making it easy to access, understand, and afford healthcare. As of March 31, 2018, HSA Bank had $6.9 billion in total footings comprising $5.5 billion in deposit balances and $1.4 billion in assets under administration through linked investment accounts. HSA Bank is a division of Webster Bank, N.A., Member FDIC. Media Contact: Alice Ferreira (203) 578-2610 [email protected] SOURCE HSA Bank RICHMOND, Va., June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- While June 1 marked the official start of the 2018 hurricane season, Virginians have already experienced destructive wind storms and treacherous flooding conditions this spring. "Summer storms can be unpredictable, so planning ahead and being ready is key," said David Vanderbloemen, director-Electric Distribution Operations Center. "Part of our preparation includes using new technologies to restore power faster if it does go out." "We continue our day-to-day preparations for a busy storm season by conducting refresher training with employees, restocking supplies and standing ready when and where we are needed. We encourage our customers to collect the essentials needed to ride out a major storm," said Vanderbloemen. First, give your old flashlight a few test clicks, then gather these items for an emergency storm kit: At least 3 days of non-perishable food and a gallon of water per person, per day A first aid kit + blankets/extra clothes A battery-powered lantern, fan and radio and extra batteries Cash for emergency use To see how easy it is it prepare a kit, click here for a quick tutorial. Also, plan ahead so you can send and receive storm-related updates: Update your electric account phone number online or by calling the dedicated phone number update line 800-222-0401. Sign up for text alerts to receive storm updates for your area. Sign up here. Fully charge your phone(s) before the storm arrives. If your power does go out: Report your outage online here or call us at 866-366-4357. Don't assume your neighbor called or that your outage is visible on our system. Utilize our outage map to stay up to date on current restoration efforts. Make sure to follow generator safety guidelines carefully. Do not hook the generator directly up to your house's electrical system as it can endanger you as well as our repair crews. For your own safety, make sure the generator is operated outdoors with plenty of ventilation. Stay back 30 feet from a downed power line if you see one, and keep children and pets out of the area altogether. A power line can be energized even if it doesn't appear to spark or move. Call us immediately to report downed wire at 866-366-4357. During active storms, seek shelter in a safe space. If you are in your car and a power line falls onto it, please stay in your car and call 911 immediately. The rubber wheels on your vehicle will keep you safe inside, but the metal exterior and ground around your car could be energized. Click here for a video with more advice. About Dominion Energy Nearly 6 million customers in 19 states heat and cool their homes and power their businesses with electricity or natural gas from Dominion Energy (NYSE: D). The company's record of reliable, safe and clean energy regularly places it among American's most-admired utilities. One of the nation's leading operators of solar energy, Dominion Energy is one of just three companies to have reduced carbon intensity by more than 40 percent since 2000. Headquartered in Richmond, Va., Dominion Energy contributes more than $20 million annually to the community, supports military veterans and their families, and practices responsible environmental stewardship everywhere it operates. To learn more, please visit www.dominionenergy.com, Facebook or Twitter. SOURCE Dominion Energy Related Links http://www.dom.com LONDON, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- ICIS, the leading provider of pricing and market intelligence for the global energy, chemical and fertiliser sectors, has enhanced its European natural gas market coverage with the introduction of price assessments for the Hungarian market. (Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/619935/ICIS_Logo.jpg ) This will initially cover the Day-ahead contract, which will be produced on a daily basis, with a Weekend assessment on a Friday. The introduction of Hungarian assessments will bring additional clarity to a region that has the potential to develop into an important trading area. Infrastructure improvements in central Europe promise to diversify regional supply, while the ongoing implementation of EU network codes should provide the framework for liberalised energy trading. By April 2019 all EU member states will have implemented the network code on balancing, which should lead to more trade and increase the need for reference prices. The region is set to receive volumes from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz II development in 2020 and Romania is positioned to become an exporter of gas in the coming years as it develops untapped fields in the Black Sea. ICIS has already brought pricing visibility to the Austrian, Czech and Slovakian markets, with the Hungarian assessments adding to that suite of information. The inaugural Hungarian MGP Day-ahead price on 4 June 2018 was assessed at 22.475/MWh, placing it a premium of 0.20/MWh to the Austrian VTP which is the regional benchmark. Subscribers to European Spot Gas Markets (ESGM) will have access to these price assessments via FTP and PDF. The independent price assessments and indices published by ICIS are some of the most widely traded and referenced benchmarks across the European gas market, enabling participants to manage risk with confidence. UK power for delivery over the weekend was trading at a ten-year high early on Friday, driven by the cost of firing up gas-fuelled power plants to meet demand amid very high UK gas prices. ICIS assessed the UK power Weekend Baseload product at 80.00/MWh at Thursday's close of the wholesale electricity market. This was roughly double the average power price for a weekend seen throughout 2017. The highest single Weekend transaction seen on Thursday was for 81.00/MWh. In early trade on Friday the same product had softened marginally to change hands at 77.00/MWh, but this remained comfortably the highest Weekend Baseload price since sharp price spikes were seen way back in 2008. For more information about the Hungarian price assessments, visit: www.icis.com/energy/hungarian-price-assessments/. About ICIS ICIS is the world's largest petrochemical market information provider, with divisions spanning energy and fertilizers. Our aim is to give companies in global commodities markets a competitive advantage by delivering valuable information and analytics tools which enable our customers to identify and react to opportunities in markets which are constantly evolving. We have more than 30 years' of experience in providing pricing intelligence and news, forecast data, market analytics and independent consulting to buyers, sellers and analysts. With a global staff of more than 600, ICIS has employees based in London, Houston, New York, Singapore, Dubai, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Mumbai, Tokyo, Karlsruhe, and Milan. ICIS' team of journalists is engaged in reporting market prices and news, and ICIS is fully committed to upholding the highest journalistic principles of verification, corroboration and authentication. ICIS has a compliance framework that along with its methodologies and business processes adheres to the requirements of the IOSCO PRA Principles. ICIS is a division of Reed Business Information, part of RELX Group. About Reed Business Information Reed Business Information (RBI) is a fast-growth provider of information and analytics, solving critical problems for businesses globally. Our strong global products and services hold leading positions across a wide range of industry sectors including finance, agriculture, petrochemicals and aviation where we help customers make key strategic decisions every day. RBI is part of RELX Group, a global provider of information and analytics for professional customers across industries. http://www.reedbusiness.com About RELX Group RELX Group is a global provider of information and analytics for professional and business customers across industries. The Group serves customers in more than 180 countries and has offices in about 40 countries. It employs approximately 30,000 people of whom almost half are in North America. RELX PLC is a London listed holding company which owns 52.9% of RELX Group. RELX NV is an Amsterdam listed holding company which owns 47.1% of RELX Group. The shares are traded on the London, Amsterdam and New York Stock Exchanges using the following ticker symbols: London: REL; Amsterdam: REN; New York: RELX and RENX. Total market capitalisation is approximately 33.1bn|37.7bn|$44.3bn. www.relx.com Media contacts Tom Marzec-Manser Editor, European Spot Gas Markets [email protected] Mobile: +44-7795-400-753 Tel: +44-20-7911-1964 Ben Wetherall Head of Gas [email protected] Tel: +44-20-7911-1786 SOURCE ICIS VANCOUVER, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan ("Ontario Teachers"), IFM Investors ("IFM") and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation ("BCI") are pleased to announce that they have entered into a transaction whereby IFM and BCI will each join as equity partners in GCT Global Container Terminals Inc. ("GCT"), a leading container terminal operator in North America. Ontario Teachers' will continue to hold 37.5% of GCT, with IFM acquiring a 37.5% holding and BCI acquiring 25%. The transaction is subject to customary and required regulatory approvals and consents. Headquartered in Vancouver, GCT operates four Green Marine certified terminals in two principal North American ports. Through GCT USA on the East Coast, the company operates two award-winning facilities: GCT New York on Staten Island, NY and GCT Bayonne in Bayonne, NJ. On the West Coast, GCT Canada operates two gateway terminals: GCT Vanterm and GCT Deltaport in Vancouver and Delta, BC. Visit www.globalterminals.com or follow @BigShipReady to find out more about GCT. About IFM Investors IFM Investors is a global institutional funds manager with US$81 billion under its management as of March 31, 2018. Established more than 20 years ago and owned by 27 Australian pension funds, IFM Investors' interests are deeply aligned with those of its investors. Investment teams in Australia, Europe and North America manage institutional strategies across debt investments, infrastructure, listed equities and private equity. IFM Investors is committed to the United Nations supported Principles for Responsible Investment and has been a signatory since 2008. IFM Investors has offices in eight cities: Melbourne, Sydney, New York, London, Berlin, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Seoul. For more information, visit http://www.ifminvestors.com About BCI With $135.5 billion of managed net assets, British Columbia Investment Management (BCI) is one of Canada's largest institutional investors within the global capital markets. Based in Victoria, British Columbia, BCI is a long-term investor that invests in all major asset classes including infrastructure and other strategic investments. BCI's clients include public sector pension plans, public trusts, and insurance funds. BCI's infrastructure program, valued at over $11 billion as at December 31, 2016, includes a portfolio of regulated companies in the energy generation, transmission/distribution, water and wastewater sectors, as well as transportation. These companies operate in stable and mature regulatory environments, provide opportunities for future capital investments, and have the potential to generate stable returns and cash yields for our clients. The program is diversified across North America, Asia, Australia, Europe and the emerging markets. For more information, visit bci.ca About Ontario Teachers' The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (Ontario Teachers') is Canada's largest single-profession pension plan, with $189.5 billion in net assets at December 31, 2017. It holds a diverse global portfolio of assets, approximately 80% of which is managed in-house, and has earned an average annualized rate of return of 9.9% since the plan's founding in 1990. Ontario Teachers' is an independent organization headquartered in Toronto. Its Asia-Pacific region office is located in Hong Kong and its Europe, Middle East & Africa region office is in London. The defined-benefit plan, which is fully funded, invests and administers the pensions of the province of Ontario's 323,000 active and retired teachers. For more information, visit http://otpp.com and follow us on Twitter @OtppInfo. SOURCE Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Related Links http://www.otpp.com MALVERN, Pa., June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Imedex, a wholly owned subsidiary of HMP, a leading global healthcare event and education company, today announced that groundbreaking research will be revealed during the 20th ESMO World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer. The annual meeting, taking place this year June 2023 in Barcelona, Spain, is organized by HMP on behalf of the European Society for Medical Oncology. The Congress brings together more than 3,500 professionals from across the globe to share pioneering research, innovative approaches, best practices, and clinical insights in treating patients with cancers of the gastrointestinal tract; participants include gastroenterologists, oncologists, pathologists, surgeons, clinical researchers, and patient advocates. Hepatocellular carcinoma, gastric cancer, colorectal cancer, and pancreatic cancer will be in the spotlight; results from the latest research in the field, ranging from chemotherapy to immunotherapy, will be presented. According to Congress Chairs Eric Van Cutsem and Mario Dicato, "The research presented at the ESMO 20th World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer proves to be some of the most impressive yet. We are confident that the exceptional program will meet the high expectations of delegates coming from all over the world who are interested in learning the latest findings, engaging in productive exchange, and most importantly, being guided by experts who can translate research into recommendations for daily patient care." Through didactic and keynote lectures, debates, and selected abstract presentations, the 2018 scientific program will examine a range of gastrointestinal malignancies and offer a mix of dynamic education and exchange. The program features 30 oral presentations, 20 poster discussions, and 312 posters. Promising new research will be revealed through four late-breaking abstracts. "We are very pleased to be marking a milestone in bringing together specialists from around the world to learn about exciting advancements, new treatment options and clinical best practices in gastrointestinal malignancies," said Congress Vice-Chair and ESMO President Josep Tabernero. "The meeting is truly a global platform from which we have an opportunity to build on 20 years of progress and propel better cancer care forward." Research from the ESMO 20th World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer will be published in a supplement of Annals of Oncology. To learn more about the Congress, visit worldgicancer.com. About Imedex Imedex, an HMP company, is an industry leader in the creation of independent, accredited medical education for healthcare professionals. With an emphasis in oncology, hematology, and gastroenterology, the company develops high-quality scientific programming that translates the latest research into clinically relevant information. The company operates in the United States, Europe, and Asia. For more information, visit imedex.com. About HMP HMP is the force behind Healthcare Made Practical and is a multichannel leader in healthcare events and education, with a mission to improve patient care. The company produces accredited medical education events and clinically relevant, evidence-based content for the global healthcare community across a range of therapeutic areas. Its brands include Consultant360, the year-round, award-winning platform relied upon by primary care providers and other specialists; Psych Congress, the largest independent mental health meeting in the U.S.; EMS World Expo, North America's largest EMT and paramedic event; and the Symposium on Advanced Wound Care (SAWC), the largest wound care meeting in the world. For more information, visit hmpglobal.com. SOURCE HMP Related Links http://www.hmpglobal.com HOUSTON, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Inception Fertility Ventures has partnered with RMA of Texas and has merged RMA with its Aspire Fertility operation. The merger forms the largest provider of fertility services in Texas, with operations in greater Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, and McAllen. With the exception of McAllen, the merged business will operate under the Aspire Fertility brand. The McAllen location will continue to operate under its current name: smartIVF. RMA of Texas was founded by Francisco Arredondo, MD, MPH. For the past 10 years, he and his six-member physician team have helped make over 2,000 dreams of starting a family come true. With a unique perspective on the fertility market, they built their clinics on a foundation of transformation, with an over-arching theme that will become integral to the new venture: Today you, tomorrow a family. For Dr. Arredondo and his team, the fertility business is not just about helping people get pregnant, but about meeting each and every patient where they are, and successfully guiding them along the path that leads to parenthood. In the two years since they opened their doors Aspire Fertility has successfully served patients in the greater Houston area, as well as Dallas and Atlanta, with a clear purpose: to achieve the highest bar in experience, science and medicineno exceptions. Having once been the patients themselves, founder and CEO TJ Farnsworth and his wife Margaret have made it their mission to employ innovative communications technologies and advanced therapies to maximize outcomes, and make the following promise: Every patient can expect a five-star experience. Every time. In the new venture, Dr. Arredondo will continue to serve as Chief Medical Officer. He and the entire RMA team look forward to the new venture and tremendous growth opportunities for the combined company. "At this difficult place in our patients' lives, our business is first and foremost about their experience, and Dr. Arredondo and his team share that conviction," says TJ Farnsworth, Inception Founder and CEO. "RMA does not have 'staff members;' instead they have advocates, champions, smiles, shoulders, dream makers, believers, well-wishers, and those in the lab even refer to themselves as 'first babysitters.' Most top-tier fertility clinics share similar success rates, and we both strive to stay ahead of the national average. But that is only part of the equation. For this new venture, it is our combined passion for our patients on their journey to expand their family that will continue to set us remarkably far apart in the fertility marketplace." Adds Dr. Arredondo, "We've been courted by numerous other fertility companies but none have been the right fituntil now. We have the utmost respect for Aspire Fertility and we share a critically important cultural commonality in that providing a world-class patient experience is just as important as our ability to help them start or expand their family. To that end, we are excited to work together to help a considerably wider audience achieve their dreams." ABOUT ASPIRE FERTILITY Aspire Fertility is a subsidiary of Inception Fertility Ventures, headquartered in Houston, Texas. The company's mission is to shift the paradigm of the IVF market by raising the standard of care, streamlining fragmented components into an integrated system, and enhancing the overall patient experience. In business since 2015, the company operates facilities in Houston, Dallas and Atlanta. For more information about Aspire Fertility, please call 713.300.1123 or visit aspirefertility.com. ABOUT RMA OF TEXAS In operation since 2008, RMA of Texas is one of the state's largest and most experienced centers for infertility treatment. RMA's mission is to know each patient as a person, with their own medical, emotional and financial needs, as well as their own ethical and social values. RMA goes to great lengths to make each patient feel safe, pampered, and stress-free in facilities that feel more like a spa than a medical clinic, even as they provide cost-effective treatment options. The company operates facilities in San Antonio and Austin; their smartIVF fertility center operates in McAllen. MEDIA CONTACT Laura Turcotte Inception Fertility Ventures 281.797.8196 aspirefertility.com SOURCE Inception Fertility Ventures Related Links http://www.aspirefertility.com Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has called upon Dubais citizens and residents to benefit from the Shams Dubai smart initiative, following the outstanding success and the great adoption rate the initiative has achieved since its launch. Under the Shams Dubai scheme, residents can install solar photovoltaic panels on the roofs of their premises to generate electricity from solar power and export any excess to the power grid, said a statement from Dewa. This is part of Dewas effort to promote Dubais sustainable and comprehensive development, and support national efforts to increase reliance on clean energy, protect the environment and our natural resources sustainably, and support further transformation towards a green economy, it added. Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, the managing director and chief executive of Dewa, said: "Shams Dubai gives Dubais residents the opportunity to transform their buildings into sustainable ones, reduce the emirates carbon footprint, and increase the proportion of solar power in Dubai's environmentally-friendly energy mix." Dewa, he stated, has outlined easy steps to install photovoltaic systems on buildings to generate solar power as part of the Shams Dubai initiative. "The installation process starts with the customer contacting one of the solar consultants or contractors accredited by Dewa to study the possibility of installing the solar power system and suggesting the best solution," said Al Tayer. "The consultant or contractor then obtains the necessary approvals from Dewa. These include an NOC for installing solar power and connecting it to the power network, and approval that its design meets all requirements," he explained. "After obtaining the necessary approvals, site works are undertaken, and once the installation is complete the contractor or consultant submits a notification to Dewa to conduct the technical inspection of the site and install the required smart meters to complete the connection process," he added. Al Tayer praised the efforts of institutions and individuals who have participated in the Shams Dubai initiative and have already installed photovoltaic panels on 1032 buildings with a total capacity of 43.77 megawatts (MW). This will increase in the future to eventually cover all buildings in Dubai by 2030, he stated. Al Tayer said the novel initiative allows customers to avoid using very expensive power storage systems by connecting the photovoltaic panels to the network. "Furthermore, the surplus power will be exported to Dewas grid, which will be deducted from the customers' future bill apart from providing those direct benefits to electricity customers, and increasing the value of buildings where solar photovoltaic systems are installed," he added. According to him, Shams Dubai had been instrumental to the development of the flourishing solar industry in Dubai, and supports the long-term Green Economy for Sustainable Development initiative, to build a green economy in the UAE. "Moreover, Shams Dubai contributes to the UAE Vision 2021, to make the UAE one of the best countries in the world by 2021, and namely to its sustainable environment and infrastructure objectives, through the improvement of air quality and increasing the share of clean energy," he added.-TradeArabia News Service NEW YORK, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP (www.kaplanfox.com) is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. ("Aegean Marine" or the "Company") (NYSE: ANW), a marine fuel logistics company. Investors who purchased shares of Aegean Marine securities between April 28, 2016 and June 4, 2018 (the "Class Period") may be affected. On April 30, 2018 after the market closed, Aegean Marine filed a Notification of Late Filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") stating that it would not be able to timely file its 2017 Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017. Following this news, Aegean Marine's stock dropped 1.8%, or $0.05 per share, to close at $2.75 per share on May 1, 2018. On May 22, 2018, Aegean Marine announced that it had "reinvigorated its Board of Directors with the addition of three new independent directors" and that the Board had directed management "to conduct a comprehensive strategic and operational review focused on maximizing profitability and return on capital." The Company also announced an internal review of its financial reporting. Then, on June 4, 2018 after the market closed, Aegean Marine disclosed "that approximately $200 million of accounts receivable owed to the Company at December 31, 2017 will need to be written off," as "[t]he transactions that gave rise to the accounts receivable ("the Transactions") may have been, in full or in part, without economic substance and improperly accounted for in contravention of the Company's normal policies and procedures." Aegean Marine also revealed that "[a] number of individuals employed by the Company across multiple functions who are believed to have been involved in the Transactions have been terminated or placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation" and that "[t]he Company has reported its preliminary findings to the SEC and the Department of Justice." Following this news, Aegean Marine stock fell sharply by $2.15 per share, more than 75%, to close at $0.70 per share on June 5, 2018. A class action complaint has been filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against Aegean Marine, the Company's Chief Executive Officer, Nikolas Tavlarios, and the Company's Chief Financial Officer, Spyros Gianniotis, alleging that throughout the Class Period the defendants failed to disclose that (1) Aegean Marine had improperly accounted for an approximate $200 million of accounts receivable as of December 31, 2017, (2) Aegean Marine failed to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting, and (3) as a result of the foregoing, defendants' statements about Aegean Marine's business, operations, and prospects, were false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis. If you are a member of the proposed Class, you may move the court no later than August 6, 2018 to serve as a lead plaintiff for the purported class. You need not seek to become a lead plaintiff in order to share in any possible recovery. If you would like to discuss the complaint or our investigation, please contact us by emailing [email protected] or by calling 800-290-1952. This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules. Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP, with offices in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and New Jersey, has many years of experience in prosecuting investor class actions. For more information about Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP, you may visit our website at www.kaplanfox.com. If you have any questions about this Notice, the action, your rights, or your interests, please contact: Donald R. Hall KAPLAN FOX & KILSHEIMER LLP 850 Third Avenue, 14th Floor New York, New York 10022 (800) 290-1952 (212) 687-1980 Fax: (212) 687-7714 E-mail: [email protected] Laurence D. King KAPLAN FOX & KILSHEIMER LLP 350 Sansome Street, Suite 400 San Francisco, California 94104 (415) 772-4700 Fax: (415) 772-4707 E-mail: [email protected] SOURCE Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP Related Links http://www.kaplanfox.com CLEVELAND, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- .Jobs launched their new job seeker audience targeting platform. The organization best known for their career-focused domains and websites created the platform to meet the needs of companies frustrated with current job board services. The service consumes the open positions of client organizations, categorizes each position, and matches open positions to 500+ unique job seeker audiences. The newly mapped positions are then distributed to the career websites whose visitors are most correlated to the position. "The advantage to having thousands of career websites is that they are exceptionally specific and the visitors are self-selecting. This removes irrelevant candidate targeting which increases the quality of each engagement. We pride ourselves on being able to present candidates with relevant job opportunities at the time they need to see them," said John Winkler, Director of Product. The .jobs team has taken bold steps with their distribution network. Access to their 35,000+ popular career websites is limited to .jobs direct clients. "Restricted access to the .jobs Universe improves user experience, which is our top priority. This decision allows our team the flexibility and creativity to optimize candidate and employer engagements," said Ettore Fantin, Director of Marketing. Companies adopting the new technology in the month of June will be rewarded as .jobs is giving significant discounts to early adopters. "It's a competitive market, in order to get attention you must appeal to budgets," concluded Mr. Fantin. Interested parties can learn more about the service by scheduling a meeting with the .jobs team or by visiting them at Find.jobs. Want to see the .jobs Universe in action? Here is a sampling of sites included within the massive job seeker targeting platform: NYC Jobs, California Jobs, Florida Jobs Graphic Design Jobs, Marketing Jobs, Welding Jobs Engineering Jobs, Construction Jobs About Employ Media, LLC Employ Media, LLC (D.B.A .jobs) is a subsidiary of Second Generation Ltd., Second Generation is an Embrescia family investment firm focused on investing in well-managed companies and uncovering unique business opportunities. Social Media: .jobs Facebook, .jobs Twitter Media Contact: Daniel Kraciun Chief Marketing Officer [email protected] 216-727-3961 SOURCE Employ Media, LLC Related Links https://www.find.jobs LARKSPUR, Colo., June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Samuel "Joe the Plumber" Wurzelbacher, the unlikely political celebrity who rocketed to fame in 2008 after a confrontation in his front yard with then candidate for President Barack Obama, is still in the news and still fighting even ten years later. Wurzelbacher has announced a radical turn-around in his public life with what he describes as a new mission, one which is closely aligned with many of his former political adversaries. His new calling? Protecting school children from the 20-years and swelling of mass-school shootings. "This is a 180-degree new chapter in my story - which is crazy, trust me - but it's all true;" said Wurzelbacher, the long-time conservative activist. "After ten years I'm still the same person but with a new cause and it's nothing to do with politics." Wurzelbacher was deeply touched by the story of Christian Garcia, the 15-year-old student who died heroically in the Santa Fe High School attack while holding a door shut to protect fellow students. This was the lynchpin for Wurzelbacher, combined with the constant headlines of students being murdered, which caused him to become deeply involved with a nationwide initiative called "S.O.S", which stands for Shield Our Schools. The initiative is being spearheaded by SwiftShield, a company that makes classroom door barricade systems. "The SwiftShield devices deploy in seconds, can withstand thousands of pounds of force and stop gunfire from handguns, military-style weapons and even shot guns. I've seen it," commented Wurzelbacher. In regards to Garcia and the Santa Fe massacre, Wurzelbacher added, "As honorable as Christian was, I believe no child should ever be put in that situation; and I'm on a mission to get SwiftShield barricade devices in every classroom in America." Through the S.O.S initiative, a corporate sponsor has donated SwiftShield devices to the entire Santa Fe ISD with absolutely no cost to the school district. The company is also partnering with others to outfit schools all over the country with its line of devices, which easily and effectively lock down classrooms in the event of an active shooter or similar threat. "This is about kids," explained Wurzelbacher, "I have four of them and a wife who was sent from God directly to me, so enough about Joe the Plumber - but if you want to keep calling me that, go ahead." When pressed about why this problem seems to be getting more and more common in the headlines, some of the old "Joe the Plumber" fire came out, "Twenty years after Columbine and we turn on the TV and school kids are still being murdered, it's insane," Wurzelbacher nearly shouted, adding; "Parents should expect their kids to be safe at school and not accept the current environment that has been created." The parents and students of the Santa Fe High School District moving forward can have peace of mind knowing that faster, safer and more secure classroom lock downs can occur in the future. "You and I both know in our hearts that it's no longer a matter of "if" but a matter of "when" and this device is genius. A no-brainer," Wurzelbacher added. Read more about Joe 'The Plumber' ten years later on his blog post. About SwiftShield SwiftShield is the fastest, easiest and most cost-effective option to keeping students, teachers and other staff safe during lockdown and emergency situations. SwiftShield deploys in seconds, by anyone and requires no special training. When in use, SwiftShield can withstand thousands of pounds of pressure and resists bullets fired from even military-style weapons and shotguns preventing the need for someone to hold it shut or use ineffective barricades such as classroom furniture to prevent entry. The SwiftShield "Shield Our Schools" S.O.S. initiative guides concerned teachers, students, administrators and communities on how to actively get the word out about how businesses, charities, crowdfunding and other corporate sponsorship both local and national can help provide the funds needed to have these life-saving devices installed in vulnerable classrooms across the nation. For more information, visit: shieldourschools.com and swiftshield.com. SOURCE SwiftShield Related Links https://www.swiftshield.com On Thursday 7th June on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C., an event will honour the so called "comfort women" who were victims of sexual violence during World War II. The event has been organised by the Korean American Association of Greater New York. (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/702849/Lai_Dai_Han.jpg ) While many know the story of the "comfort women," a lesser known story is that of the "Lai Dai Han" and their mothers who were the victims of sexual violence by South Korean soldiers during the Vietnam War. Some of the women that suffered rape and sexual violence were as young as 12 or 13 at the time. During the Vietnam War, South Korea deployed more than 320,000 soldiers to Vietnam. Today, as a result of the rape and sexual violence that took place, tens of thousands of young adults of mixed Vietnamese-Korean ancestry live in the shadows of Vietnamese society. Justice for Lai Dai Han recently published a letter about our plans to bring a statue of the "Lai Dai Han" to Capitol Hill like the sex slave statue that will be displayed. In the UK, Justice for Lai Dai Han is considering opportunities to erect a statue commemorating Vietnamese and all other victims of sexual violence. As we seek justice for victims of sexual violence in conflict, it's imperative that the South Korean Government recognize the suffering of the "Lai Dai Han". Mr. Tran Dai Nhat, Honorary President at Justice for Lai Dai Han, said: "Whether it be in World War II or Vietnam, those who commit sexual violence against women need to be held accountable for their actions." "As we approach the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, it's imperative that the Lai Dai Han and other lesser known victims of sexual violence, be given equal opportunity to tell their stories." The plight of the Lai Dai Han is one of the great untold stories of the Vietnam War and has never been recognised by the government of South Korea. Only 800 rape victims are alive today and it is imperative that they receive recognition for the crimes that were committed against them. As recent British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw noted, the Lai Dai Han simply want to be heard and for someone to acknowledge their pain and suffering. NOTES TO EDITORS ABOUT THE LAI DAI HAN Justice for Lai Dai Han is committed to fighting for the rights of women who have been victims of sexual violence during conflict. Forty years ago, during the Vietnam War, South Korean soldiers were responsible for thousands of rapes against innocent Vietnamese women. Today, tens of thousands of children of mixed Korean-Vietnamese ancestry, called the "Lai Dai Han" live in the shadows of Vietnamese society. Our goal is to stand up for all victims of sexual violence and we demand justice for Lai Dai Han. SOURCE Justice for Lai Dai Han NEW YORK, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- KeyMe, the leading resource for total access and key management that is revolutionizing the $10B key duplication industry, has launched an aggressive advertising campaign in New York City and San Francisco for the month of June. The campaign was conceived to increase consumer awareness and drive sales at thousands of kiosks located at major retailers in prominent metropolitan cities throughout the country. This campaign is coming on the heels of a very successful NYC test campaign last Fall. KeyMe Times Square Takeover The campaign launched simultaneously in both cities on June 4th and includes several outdoor billboard spectaculars across Manhattan, including Times Square, and multiple, high profile, public transit station takeovers in San Francisco, including the Civic Center and Church Street. The campaign furthermore includes a branded train in New York's subways, train wraps of San Francisco's MUNI and BART, wild posters, bar media, as well as digital, video and social media campaigns totaling close to 150M combined impressions. Serviceplan Group, a global advertising agency that recently launched their New York office, developed both the creative and media plans. According to KeyMe's CMO Jessica Harley, "KeyMe kiosks are not only all over New York and San Francisco but in a number of major cities in 44 states across the US. This campaign was designed in partnership with Serviceplan New York to make people more aware that they never need to go out of their way to make keys again we are around the corner, in your neighborhood in stores you love to shop at. Plus our customers can digitally store the keys they copy to share or access when and where they need them." The campaign's voice is distinctively charismatic, entertaining and city-specific. The New York ads light-heartedly jest "Copy keys at over 100 Locations in NYC. No eye contact necessary," "If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. But specifically, at these select locations," "So many kiosks, you can walk to one in minutes. Even at a tourist's pace" and "Giving faulty keys to your dog walker is how one accident leads to another." The San Francisco campaign, on the other hand, includes Silicon Valley lines such as "Copy a key in less time than it would take to avoid an elevator pitch," "Rather than disrupting a market, may we politely suggest a faster, easier way of copying keys?" and "Tons of kiosks in every microclimate." The campaign is also playfully progressive and provocative with headlines such as "Proud supporter of premarital cohabitation" and "You can now pick up keys at Safeway, and perhaps someone to give them to," among others. Nick Johnson, President of Serviceplan New York, says of the campaign, "Keys are not something anyone spends time thinking about until you are locked out or urgently in need of a key." With this mind, we focused our campaign on how KeyMe has made key duplication and storage quick, easy and convenient. From day one, we were excited about KeyMe - true innovators in a category that's been stagnant for decades with the opportunity to build the only true large-scale consumer brand in the space." For more information on the campaign please and to download the creative execution, please click here: https://blog.key.me/keyme-ad-campaign/ KeyMe is radically changing the way millions of people make and manage their keys by offering consumers an array of digital options, including key copying, storage, and management to support the vast majority of home, office, mailbox, high security, vehicle, and RFID keys. KeyMe kiosks employ a sophisticated and patented combination of artificial intelligence, computer vision, and robotics, which safely and effectively eliminate human error in the key duplication process. About KeyMe Founded in 2012 by Greg Marsh, KeyMe is fundamentally transforming how people access and manage their keys, providing a safe and convenient way to copy and share keys and solve frustrating lockouts. KeyMe smart kiosks are currently present in over 1,500 locations within leading retailers, including (alphabetically): Albertsons, Bed Bath & Beyond, Kmart, Kroger, Mall of America, Rite Aid, Safeway, Sears, and 7-Eleven, among others. KeyMe kiosks are the first and only kiosk with the ability to duplicate the majority of vehicle and RFID keys on the market. The smart kiosks copy keys in under 30 seconds, at a rate 10x more accurate than industry averages. The free iOS and Android mobile applications further enable customers to safely scan and save a digital copy of their key facilitating easier to their keys when and where they need them. About Service Plan North America Serviceplan New York is the newest, and the first North American office, of the Munich-based Serviceplan Group. Serviceplan is a top-25 global agency with 25 offices across EMEA, generating over $400MM in revenue with over 4,000 employees and key clients including ABB, BMW, Sky, Ferrero, Beck's, Lufthansa and BNP Paribas among others. For nearly five decades, this fiercely independent group has operated group has operated fully-integrated agencies under its "House of Communications" model which brings together local market expertise in advertising, media and digital/technology all under one roof. These integrated teams work together in a creative and collaborative environment. SOURCE KeyMe Related Links http://www.key.me NEW YORK, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- It can be challenging for students to get accepted to and pay for college especially for students with vision loss. For this reason, Lighthouse Guild, the leading not-for-profit vision and healthcare organization, grants scholarships each year to students who are legally blind. This year, 10 high school students and one graduate student have been selected as recipients. Trisha Kulkarni Sherry Shuman Lighthouse Guild scholarships of up to $10,000 are based on strong academic accomplishment and merit to help students who are blind attend the college of their choice. Scholarships of up to $10,000 are also awarded to graduate students to help them continue their academic studies. This year's scholarship recipients (listed with the schools they will be attending) are: Brielle Cayer , Middletown, CT ( Fordham University ) , ( ) Tian Crossnoe , Bentonville , AK ( University of Kansas ) , , AK ( ) Joseph Luther Fuller , Lawrence, KS ( University of Kansas ) , ( ) Isaac Heiman , Mukilteo, WA ( Western Washington University ) , ( ) Trisha Kulkarni , Centerville, OH ( Stanford University ) , ( ) Jack McPadden , Winchester, MA ( Clark University ) , ( ) Mausam Mehta , Staunton, VA ( University of Virginia ) , ( ) Mark Ruoff , Piscataway, NJ ( University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill ) , ( ) Sophia Vilim , Chicago, IL ( Villanova University ) , ( ) Gillian Ward , North Aurora, IL ( Loyola University ) , ( ) Mary McLaughlin , Plymouth Meeting, PA ( Trinity College Dublin , MBA Program) Since its inception in 2005, Lighthouse Guild's Scholarship Program has awarded over $2 million in scholarships to outstanding students from 36 states. Former scholarship recipients have gone on to careers as attorneys, teachers, engineers, chemists, composers, musicians, neuroscientists, social workers, business owners, investors, epidemiologists, nurses, physician assistants, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, journalists and computer scientists. "Education is the key to opportunity," says Dr. Alan R. Morse, President and CEO of Lighthouse Guild. "We are pleased to help outstanding students who are legally blind advance their studies and open the door to a successful future. We are equally pleased to acknowledge teachers who help students realize their dreams." Award for Teachers The powerful role teachers play in motivating students, especially those who are blind, often goes unrecognized. This is why Lighthouse Guild recognizes outstanding teachers based on nominations from the students themselves. This year's Lighthouse Guild Teacher's Award recipient is Sherry Shuman, from Centerville (OH) High School. According to Trisha Kulkarni, who will be attending Stanford University in the Fall, Mrs. Shuman "was the first teacher who treated me as a student, not as a student who was disabled. Little did I know that would be one of the many firsts that I would experience in her class," she said. "Mrs. Shuman's efforts remain fundamental to all that I strive to accomplish," Trisha continued. "She has taught me to approach every situation with an open mind and a smile and to never settle for anything but my best. It is because of her that I have discovered my passion for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) and feel confident pursuing it in college. No matter where life takes me, I will remain grounded in the lessons that Mrs. Shuman has taught me and use them to reach my fullest potential." "We've received hundreds of scholarship applications and essays nominating teachers from amazing students across the country," says Gordon Rovins, Director of Special Programs at Lighthouse Guild. "These students have powerful stories of personal triumph and academic achievement. We congratulate them, their teachers and their families." About Lighthouse Guild Lighthouse Guild is the leading organization dedicated to addressing and preventing vision loss. We provide integrated, coordinated services and programs that address eye health and the needs of people with, or at risk for, vision loss. For more information, visit Lighthouseguild.org. SOURCE Lighthouse Guild Related Links http://www.lighthouseguild.org LITTLE ROCK, Ark., June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Rhys L. Branman, MD is the newest member of the Arkansas State Medical Board. The Little Rock cosmetic surgeon was sworn in by Governor Asa Hutchinson during a brief ceremony on May 10th and will serve a six-year term as a Congressional District Member. "I am honored to be selected for this important role," states Dr. Branman, a board certified cosmetic surgeon who has served patients at the Little Rock Cosmetic Surgery Center for the last 20 years. "My commitment to providing the highest standard of patient care has shaped my practice approach from day one, and I look forward to sharing that commitment with my fellow board members and helping the Arkansas medical community uphold and advance its commitment to patient health and safety, ethical practice, and excellence in care." The Arkansas State Medical Board was established in 1955 by the General Assembly to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public and advocate on their behalf by overseeing licensing and regulatory practices of medical providers in Arkansas. The board consists of 14 members, including 12 licensed, actively practicing physicians and medical providers and 2 citizen members. As one of two medical doctors representing District 2, which incorporates the greater Little Rock area, Dr. Branman will participate in major board duties including the licensing of physicians and a variety of medical providers in the state of Arkansas. He will also review citizen complaints, participate in disciplinary hearings when necessary, and advise on changes to regulatory practices in the medical community. About Dr. Rhys Branman, 6-time winner of Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's "Best of the Best" in cosmetic surgery A graduate of Vanderbilt University Medical School, Dr. Rhys Branman is board certified by the American Board of Cosmetic Surgery and the American Board of Maxillofacial Surgery and has focused his practice on cosmetic surgery for the breast, face and body since 1998. Throughout his career, he has remained active in the medical community in Arkansas and nationwide, serving both as Consultant to the Surgeon General in the area of facial cosmetic surgery and Board Examiner for the American Board of Cosmetic Surgery. Known for his personable approach and cosmetic surgery expertise, Dr. Branman has been voted Little Rock's favorite cosmetic surgeon in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette's "Best of the Best" contest six times. He has been featured on Dateline NBC as well as numerous local TV stations, most notably as a frequent guest on KATV's Good Morning Arkansas. Dr. Branman says that his position on the Arkansas State Medical Board will allow him to execute his commitment to excellent patient care and outcomes on a larger scale: "In my cosmetic surgery practice, the safety, health, and happiness of my patients always comes first. Ideally, every citizen in Arkansas should feel confident they will receive excellent care from their medical providers. As a Medical Board member, I will work to ensure that patients have access to qualified individuals who provide safe, effective treatment." About Little Rock Cosmetic Surgery Center: Board certified cosmetic surgeon Dr. Rhys Branman specializes in cosmetic surgery for the breast, body and face as Medical Director of the Little Rock Cosmetic Surgery Center. A governor-appointed member of the Arkansas State Medical Board, he is a 6-time Arkansas Democrat-Gazette "Best of the Best" award winner in cosmetic surgery. His office and AAAHC accredited on-site surgical suite is located at 10809 Executive Center Dr #100 Little Rock, AR 72211-6020. For more information, visit www.littlerockcosmeticsurgery.com. Media Contact: Dr. Rhys Branman, (501) 227-0707. SOURCE Dr. Rhys Branman LAS VEGAS, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Local Dickey's Barbecue Pit franchisee, Ed Ciampa, plans to open his first Dickey's location in Meadows Mall in Summer 2018. Though he is new to the Dickey's family, Ed has over 30 years of franchising experience that he brings to the brand. "At Dickey's Barbecue Pit, we pride ourselves on serving each and every guest authentic, Texas-style barbecue," says Laura Rea Dickey, CEO of Dickey's Barbecue Restaurants, Inc. "With new franchisees such as Ed that have extensive franchising experience, we can continue to grow our brand and more importantly continue serving our guests delicious barbecue." Originally from Boston, Ed has called Las Vegas his home for the past 12 years and looks forward to bringing Dickey's Barbecue Pit to his community. "After deciding to take on a new restaurant concept, I knew barbecue was the perfect fit for my area because we have so few barbecue options in Las Vegas," says Ed. "From there, Dickey's was the easy answer, they have a great product, great franchisee support and are well known brand across the nation." Find your nearest Dickey's Barbecue Pit location here. About Dickey's Barbecue Restaurants, Inc. Dickey's Barbecue Restaurants, Inc., the nation's largest barbecue chain was founded in 1941 by Travis Dickey. Today, all meats are still slow smoked on-site in each restaurant. The Dallas-based family-run barbecue franchise offers several slow-smoked meats and home style sides with 'No B.S. (Bad Stuff)' included. The fast-casual concept has expanded to more than 550 locations in 45 states. In 2016, Dickey's won first place on Fast Casual's "Top 100 Movers and Shakers" list and in 2018 Dickey's Barbecue Pit made the Top 10. Dickey's Barbecue Pit has also been recognized by Entrepreneur Magazine, Franchise Times, and Nation's Restaurant News. For more information, visit www.dickeys.com. Media Contacts: Callie Head [email protected] Ashley Richardson [email protected] SOURCE Dickey's Barbecue Related Links http://www.dickeys.com Aldar Properties, a leading property developer based in the UAE, has sold more than 50 per cent of the land plots at its Nareel Island, a premium high-end plot development located on the coast of Al Bateen, in the capital Abu Dhabi, said a report. The island comprises 161 land plots with a total area of 351,000 sq m, reported Mubasher, citing a senior official. These plots have been sold at a price starting from Dh5.6 million ($1.52 million) onwards, stated Maan Al Awlaqi, executive director of commercial operations at Aldar Properties. The investors started receiving their land plots in the island a month ago, noted Al Awlaqi. The villas which are being developed in the Phase One of Nareel Island project, will be handed over to the cutomers within the next two years, he added. KALAMAZOO, Mich., June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Dickey's Barbecue Pit franchisee, Krage Fox, plans to bring four new Dickey's locations to Southwest Michigan. New to the Dickey's Barbecue Pit family, Krage plans to open his first Dickey's location in Kalamazoo, MI in Summer 2018 with other locations opening in neighboring cities. "The dedication and excitement Krage and his business partner have shown is something that truly inspires all of us at Dickey's," says Laura Rea Dickey, CEO of Dickey's Barbecue Restaurants, Inc. "We are proud to have these two bring so much passion to the brand and we look forward to the opening of their Kalamazoo location and the others that will follow." Krage is new to the restaurant industry with a background in the pharmaceutical field. He has a passion for barbecue and has always had a dream of opening his own restaurant. An entrepreneur at heart, Krage researched multiple franchising concepts before deciding that Dickey's was the perfect fit. "When researching franchises, it all came down to loving the business model and the quality of the food," says Krage. "Dickey's offered everything we were looking for in a franchise concept including delicious food, a proven business model, support for franchisees and an established brand." Krage's business partner has experience in the restaurant industry and too has a passion for Texas-style barbecue. He believes that barbecue is the last southern food that still needs to be mainstreamed and Dickey's provided them the best opportunity to capitalize on these ventures. Find your nearest Dickey's location here. About Dickey's Barbecue Restaurants, Inc. Dickey's Barbecue Restaurants, Inc., the nation's largest barbecue chain was founded in 1941 by Travis Dickey. Today, all meats are still slow smoked on-site in each restaurant. The Dallas-based family-run barbecue franchise offers several slow-smoked meats and home style sides with 'No B.S. (Bad Stuff)' included. The fast-casual concept has expanded to more than 550 locations in 45 states. In 2016, Dickey's won first place on Fast Casual's "Top 100 Movers and Shakers" list and in 2018 Dickey's Barbecue Pit made the Top 10. Dickey's Barbecue Pit has also been recognized by Entrepreneur Magazine, Franchise Times, and Nation's Restaurant News. For more information, visit www.dickeys.com. Media Contacts: Callie Head [email protected] Ashley Richardson [email protected] SOURCE Dickey's Barbecue Related Links http://www.dickeys.com NEW YORK, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Logicalis, an international IT solutions and managed services provider, announced today that CRN , a brand of The Channel Company, has named Logicalis to its 2018 Solution Provider 500 list. The Solution Provider 500 is CRN's annual ranking of the largest technology integrators, solution providers and IT consultants in North America by revenue. The Solution Provider 500 is CRN's predominant channel partner award list, serving as the industry standard for recognition of the most successful solution provider companies in the channel since 1995. The complete list is published on CRN.com, making it readily available to vendors seeking out top solution providers with which to partner. "We are honored to be included in CRN's 2018 Solution Provider 500 List for the seventh consecutive year," said Mike Houghton, chief sales officer at Logicalis. "This recognition acknowledges our efforts to deliver world-class, custom solutions for our customers that are compelling, collaborative and innovative, while driving growth for the business. For example, in the last year, we achieved Cisco Global Gold certification, and we look forward to maintaining our reputation as a progressive, transformative, and community based-service provider." "CRN's Solution Provider 500 list spotlights the North American IT channel partner organizations that have earned the highest revenue over the past year, providing a valuable resource to vendors looking for top solution providers to partner with," said Bob Skelley, CEO of The Channel Company. "The companies on this year's list represent an incredible, combined revenue of $320 billion, a sum that attests to their success in staying ahead of rapidly changing market demands. We extend our sincerest congratulations to each of these top-performing solution providers and look forward to their future pursuits and successes." Follow The Channel Company: Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook Tweet This: @TheChannelCo names @LogicalisUS to @CRN 2018 SP500 list #CRNSP500 www.crn.com/sp500 About Logicalis Logicalis is an international multi-skilled solution provider providing digital enablement services to help customers harness digital technology and innovative services to deliver powerful business outcomes. Our customers span industries and geographical regions; our focus is to engage in the dynamics of our customers' vertical markets including financial services, TMT (telecommunications, media and technology), education, healthcare, retail, government, manufacturing and professional services, and to apply the skills of our 4,500 employees in modernizing key digital pillars, data center and cloud services, security and network infrastructure, workspace communications and collaboration, data and information strategies, and IT operation modernization. We are the advocates for our customers for some of the world's leading technology companies including Cisco, HPE, IBM, NetApp, Microsoft, VMware and ServiceNow. The Logicalis Group has annualized revenues of over $1.5 billion from operations in Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific and Africa. It is a division of Datatec Limited, listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, with revenues of over $4 billion. For more information, visit https://www.logicalis.com/ Follow Logicalis: Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. About the Channel Company The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers and end users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequaled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. www.thechannelco.com SOURCE Logicalis Related Links https://www.logicalis.com WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- New research funded by March of Dimes has found biomarkers in maternal blood that accurately identified pregnant women who would go on to deliver babies up to two months prematurely. The findings were published today in the journal Science. This finding is important as doctors do not currently have ways to accurately assess which pregnancies will end with a premature birth, March of Dimes notes. Additionally, using those same blood samples, the team found biomarkers in maternal blood that could estimate gestational age or delivery date with comparable accuracy to ultrasound, but possibly at lower cost. "This exciting cutting-edge research demonstrates why March of Dimes is investing in new ways to improve the health of moms and babies, especially to address the crisis of premature birth in this country and worldwide," says Stacey D. Stewart, president of March of Dimes. "To date, no test on the market can reliably predict which pregnant moms will go on to preterm labor. March of Dimes is committed to finding new solutions and to giving all babies the best possible start in life." Premature birth affects 15 million babies each year worldwide and is on the rise in the United States. Recently released provisional data for 2017 from the National Center for Health Statistics show that the preterm birth rate in the U.S. has reached 9.93 percent, up from 9.86 in 2016, the third consecutive annual increase after steady declines over the previous seven years. The studies were led by Stephen Quake, Ph.D., an investigator at the March of Dimes Prematurity Research Center at Stanford University. Partners included scientists in Denmark and Alabama as well as at the March of Dimes Prematurity Research Center at the University of Pennsylvania. David K. Stevenson, M.D., the principal investigator of the March of Dimes Prematurity Research Center at Stanford University, described the noninvasive blood test approach as a way of "eavesdropping on a conversation" between the mother, the fetus and the placenta, without disturbing the pregnancy. He added that today's findings affirm the existence of a "transcriptomic clock of pregnancy" that could serve as a new way to assess the gestational age of a fetus. "By measuring cell-free RNA in the circulation of the mother, we can observe changing patterns of gene activity that happen normally during pregnancy, and identify disruptions in the patterns that may signal to doctors that unhealthy circumstances like preterm labor and birth are likely to occur," Dr. Stevenson said. "With further study, we might be able to identify specific genes and gene pathways that could reveal some of the underlying causes of preterm birth, and suggest potential targets for interventions to prevent it." In two separate cohorts of women, all at elevated risk of delivering preterm, the March of Dimes Prematurity Research Center team identified a set of cell-free RNA (cfRNA) transcripts that accurately classified women who delivered preterm up to two months in advance of labor. In another cohort of healthy pregnant women, the team found that measurement of nine cfRNA transcripts in maternal blood predicted gestational age with comparable accuracy to ultrasound. The researchers noted that both tests will require validation in larger, blinded clinical trials. "Noninvasive blood tests for fetal development predict gestational age and preterm delivery," by Thuy T. M. Ngo et al., appears in the June 8 issue of Science. March of Dimes leads the fight for the health of all moms and babies. We support research, lead programs and provide education and advocacy so that every family can have the best possible start. Building on a successful 80-year legacy of impact and innovation, we stand up for every mom and every baby. Visit marchofdimes.org or nacersano.org for more information. Visit shareyourstory.org for comfort and support. Find us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram and Twitter. SOURCE March of Dimes Related Links http://www.marchofdimes.org STAMFORD, Conn., June 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Stamford-based automotive strategy consultancy, Maryann Keller & Associates ("MK&A"), is conducting a research study on the effectiveness of franchise automotive dealer advertising. Earlier this year, MK&A researched the automotive digital marketing space and discovered that many dealers were dropping certain digital partners and/or restoring a portion of their advertising budget to traditional media. While many industry observers predict that digital market spend will continue to increase, MK&A questions if traditional advertising mediums are being overlooked as a result of digital marketing hype. As new vehicle gross profit margins continue to fall, dealers have become more sensitive to dealership operating costs, including marketing expenses. The study will attempt to understand if there is a correlation between declining profit margins and the shift in franchise dealer advertising spend from traditional advertising to digital advertising. To participate in the study, eligible dealers must complete a ten-minute online survey, and they will receive a $25 American Express gift card in return. Certain respondents will be invited to participate in a follow-up telephone-based interview. Additionally, all participating dealers will receive an analysis from MK&A on its findings from this study. To learn more about this study, or to participate, please visit the following link: https://maryannkeller.com/franchise-dealer-advertising-study-is-the-shift-to-digital-advertising-generating-results-for-dealers/ Contact: Jeremy Alicandri, 203-571-3700 SOURCE Maryann Keller & Associates Related Links https://maryannkeller.com HOUSTON, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has named eight researchers to the third annual class of Andrew Sabin Family Fellows. As part of the Andrew Sabin Family Fellowship Program, each researcher will receive $100,000 in funding over two years. The Andrew Sabin Family Foundation established the program through a $30 million endowment to encourage creativity, innovation and highly impactful cancer research in four categories: basic science, clinical, physician-scientist, and population and quantitative science. "By generously funding up to eight fellowships each year, the Andrew Sabin Family Foundation nurtures some of the best and brightest young researchers in our collective fight against cancer," said Peter WT Pisters, M.D., president of MD Anderson. "We are grateful for this ongoing support and the foundation's role in advancing potentially lifesaving and practice-changing research." A luncheon today gave the newly named fellows the opportunity to share their passion for Making Cancer History with Andrew Sabin, a member of the MD Anderson Cancer Center Board of Visitors who advocates on a national level for increased cancer research funding. Also in attendance were members of the 2016 and 2017 classes of Sabin Family Fellows as well as faculty mentors. The 2018 awardees and their areas of focus are: Jianjun Gao , M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor, Genitourinary Medical Oncology: study of combination therapy with immune checkpoint blockade and chemotherapy for MTAP-deficient metastatic bladder cancer study of combination therapy with immune checkpoint blockade and chemotherapy for MTAP-deficient metastatic bladder cancer Nitin Jain , M.D., assistant professor, Leukemia: a non-chemotherapy approach to treating chronic lymphocytic leukemia a non-chemotherapy approach to treating chronic lymphocytic leukemia Filip Janku , M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor, Investigational Cancer Therapeutics: studying mechanisms of resistance to treat gastrointestinal stromal tumors more effectively studying mechanisms of resistance to treat gastrointestinal stromal tumors more effectively Pawel Mazur , Ph.D., assistant professor, Experimental Radiation Oncology: a quantitative multiplexed platform for molecular dissection of pancreatic cancer progression and drug resistance a quantitative multiplexed platform for molecular dissection of pancreatic cancer progression and drug resistance Florian Muller , Ph.D., assistant professor, Cancer Systems Imaging: validating the hypothesis that activating T cells helps destroy certain brain tumors treated with inhibitors of the glycolytic enzyme enolase validating the hypothesis that activating T cells helps destroy certain brain tumors treated with inhibitors of the glycolytic enzyme enolase Jing Ning , Ph.D., associate professor, Biostatistics: statistical methods to improve risk assessment and dynamic prediction using multiple and longitudinal biomarkers statistical methods to improve risk assessment and dynamic prediction using multiple and longitudinal biomarkers Liuqing Yang , Ph.D., assistant professor, Molecular and Cellular Oncology: bringing long non-coding RNA targeted therapy to the forefront of triple negative breast cancer treatment bringing long non-coding RNA targeted therapy to the forefront of triple negative breast cancer treatment Jianjun Zhang , M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor, Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology: molecular and immune evolution of pre-neoplastic lung lesions An avid environmentalist, conservationist and wildlife enthusiast, Sabin resides in East Hampton, New York. He is president of Sabin Metal Corporation, the largest privately owned precious metals refiner and recycler in the nation. "It was invigorating to congratulate eight new fellows and wish them all the best in their research endeavors as we applauded the outstanding work of the 2016 and 2017 fellows," said Sabin. "These brilliant minds represent the future and embody our dream of a world free of this terrible disease. My family and I are honored to play a role in advancing MD Anderson's mission to end cancer." About MD Anderson The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston ranks as one of the world's most respected centers focused on cancer patient care, research, education and prevention. The institution's sole mission is to end cancer for patients and their families around the world. MD Anderson is one of only 49 comprehensive cancer centers designated by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). MD Anderson is ranked No.1 for cancer care in U.S. News & World Report's "Best Hospitals" survey. It has ranked as one of the nation's top two hospitals for cancer care since the survey began in 1990, and has ranked first 13 times in the last 16 years. MD Anderson receives a cancer center support grant from the NCI of the National Institutes of Health (P30 CA016672). SOURCE The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Related Links https://www.mdanderson.org DURHAM, N.C., June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- MGT Capital Investments, Inc. (OTCQB: MGTI) announced that it has received net proceeds of $3.7 million in debt financing as it moves to expand its Bitcoin mining operations. The debt is in the form of unsecured promissory notes which have no equity conversion rights or any stock warrants. Investors are encouraged to view full details provided in the Company's Current Reports on Form 8-K as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov. Notwithstanding recent increases in the Bitcoin mining Difficulty Rate and the flat price action of Bitcoin itself, the Company believes the opportunity to make strategic large-scale purchases of Bitmain Antminers, will provide MGT with very attractive cash on cash returns. Stephen Schaeffer, President of MGT Crypto Strategies, explained, "Mining economics are subject to lean and flush periods, but over the long run, efficient and forward-thinking miners are rewarded. Being well-capitalized puts MGT in a commanding position while negotiating deals for hosting sites and hardware." Mr. Schaeffer further commented on the Company's operations in northern Sweden. He stated, "We believe we have successfully overcome the many challenges this project has presented, in large part by MGT taking full operational control of the facility. Steady progress over the past several weeks has allowed us to turn on slightly more than 5,000 of the 6,300 S9's located in the facility, and with the installation of some infrastructure improvements, we expect to be at full capacity by the end of next week. From a longer-term perspective, the problems and delays we endured due to issues with our Swedish contractor has allowed MGT to capture a big slice of additional profit from reduced power costs by directly dealing with the electric utility." About MGT Capital Investments, Inc. Operating in facilities in northern Sweden and Washington State, MGT Capital Investments, Inc. (OTCQB: MGTI) ranks as one of the largest U.S. based Bitcoin miners. When fully deployed, MGT will own and operate approximately 7,000 Bitmain S9 miners, and 50 GPU-based Ethereum mining rigs. Further, the Company continues to execute on an expansion model to secure low cost power and grow its crypto assets materially. For more information on the Company, please visit: http://mgtci.com Forwardlooking Statements This press release contains forwardlooking statements. The words or phrases "would be," "will allow," "intends to," "will likely result," "are expected to," "will continue," "is anticipated," "estimate," "project," or similar expressions are intended to identify "forwardlooking statements." All information set forth in this news release, except historical and factual information, represents forwardlooking statements. This includes all statements about the Company's plans, beliefs, estimates and expectations. These statements are based on current estimates and projections, which involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include issues related to: rapidly changing technology and evolving standards in the industries in which the Company and its subsidiaries operate; the ability to obtain sufficient funding to continue operations, maintain adequate cash flow, profitably exploit new business, license and sign new agreements; the unpredictable nature of consumer preferences; and other factors set forth in the Company's most recently filed annual report and registration statement. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forwardlooking statements, which reflect management's analysis only as of the date hereof. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly revise these forwardlooking statements to reflect events or circumstances that arise after the date hereof. Readers should carefully review the risks and uncertainties described in other documents that the Company files from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Investor and Media Contacts Robert Lowrey Chief Financial Officer [email protected] Grace Livingston [email protected] 919.973.0954 SOURCE MGT Capital Investments, Inc. Related Links http://www.mgtci.com ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- This "historical" espionage novel names people, places and events, in the international plot including: President Obama and Trump, and former Secretary of State Clinton and Kerry. Hillary Clinton said, following Trump's move [cancelling the Iran deal], "Our credibility is shot." Kerry added that Trump's action "weakens our security, breaks America's word, isolates us from our European allies, puts Israel at greater risk, empowers Iran's hardliners, and reduces our global leverage to address Tehran's misbehavior." Is that really true? "The Iranian deal and North Korean strategy, by Obama, Clinton and Kerry, sanctions anew the folly of appeasement. Above all it points out the error of lowering our guard," Fertig claims in Quicksand. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un [allegedly] said to his inner circle: "We have many conventional weapons and a million troops capable of taking over South Korea When the Americans reduce their defenses from their current level of 28,000 troops, it will be much easier for us to take over the Peninsula, without using any nukes. My missiles will be kept in reserve (hidden in caves) to provide extra security against any future U.S. threats to this regime." Vincent Renaldo (the main character in Quicksand), learns the lessons of life when he becomes entangled in the plot between Iran, Syria, Israel and the United States. Ultimately it all comes together to confront him. He discovers that the real battleground on earth is that one absolute freedom that we all have: choosing between good and evil. The author concludes: "There is no possibility of long-term peace and coexistence between Israel and its neighbors. The parties to peace plans must realize that a bad deal ultimately leads to future hostilities. The lesson remains simple: One cannot make bargains with the devil!" Carol Hoyer, PhD., for Reader Views: "This author has certainly done his research. His ability to keep readers entertained with the [actual] historical facts, as well as romance and corruption, adds to the excitement. The author has done an extraordinary job of describing events, corruption, and seedy characters. Readers will feel as if they were right there. Quicksand is scary, informational and very entertaining." Middle East Quicksand by Robert T. Fertig is a page-turner you won't be able to put down! Available from LitFire Publishers and Amazon.com All books available from fivestarpubs.com. Media Contact: Robert Fertig 727-510-6664 [email protected] SOURCE Robert T. Fertig WASHINGTON, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Association of Investment Companies (NAIC) today issued the following letter to Chief Investment Officer magazine in response to troubling material the media outlet reported on the California State Teachers' Retirement System's (CalSTRS) diversity and emerging manager programs. Because of its importance to the field, the NAIC is today making the letter public. Dear Reader, Reasonable people now find it incontrovertible that diversity improves outcomes. It is true for boards, it is true for leadership, and it is true for workforces. Nearly all leaders are past the point of debating whether to invest in diversity and focus their attention on how to do so. Yet, exceptions linger particularly in asset management. An especially troubling example of this was reported in an April 3rd article in Chief Investment Officer reporting on CalSTRS' negative experience with minority managers in the global equity portfolio. In its approach to diversification, CalSTRS finds itself in a bygone era as it poorly executes a diversity effort and then too quickly reverts to whether diversity itself is the problem. It seems that CalSTRS does not consider that a poor approach to diversity guarantees poor outcomes. The logic of CalSTRS' CIO, Christopher J. Ailman, is that returns for emerging and diverse managers in the global equities space lagged, so they need to be quarantined. This will ensure that the bonuses and integrity of the internal managers who selected these underperformers are not compromised. This remedy and what it insinuates torches the reputation of all managers of color based on the performance of a narrowly curated few; and implies that not only are managers of color underperformers, but they are costly, with "double fees" being paid for use of fund of funds. And because of Mr. Ailman's paramount influence in the industry, his misguided comments risk outsized damage. Here are the facts: research studies have shown that women and people of color perform as well as, and often better than, men and white-owned firms. In fact, Examining the Returns, a 2017 performance study by KPMG and Aon Hewitt, reported that diverse private equity funds outperformed the median Cambridge U.S. private equity funds during a majority of vintage years on an IRR and Multiple on Invested Capital (MOIC) basis. For the period 1995 through 2015, Diverse Private Equity Funds generated an Internal Rate of Return 500 bps over the Cambridge index. To understand the gap between these widely accepted facts and the views of the CalSTRS leadership, we need to reflect on how CalSTRS got here. Disappointing results can be jarring, but if CalSTRS is genuine in its commitment to diversity, they must interrogate the failure of the program they implemented. Did they pick the right fund of funds? Did they curate the right managers? Was there a process to integrate these emerging funds into the larger ecosystem? Are they held to the same or a different standard than white male emerging managers? Do we even collect the numbers for performance of that latter cohort? A quantitative assessment of data tells nothing of the experience of the women and people of color they hired, or the efforts of the internal managers that ran the program. They should interview these people and convene broader conversations with experts in the field about whether the diverse managers were the right ones in the first place, and whether the method of their selection and involvement was optimal. CalSTRS has made obvious strides in the advancement of white women and pushed those in which it invests to do the same. On race, it lags. By sidestepping a thoughtful process and moving to segregate diverse asset managers, CalSTRS will remain stagnant and signals abandoning its stated commitment to diversity overall. To look at the profound lack of diversity among the leadership of CalSTRS offers an important window into how they arrived at the conclusion that their approach to diversity was holistic, thorough, and failed. Over the last ten years, it seems that CalSTRS has missed the opportunity to invest directly with some of the top-performing managers in the U.S. Clearlake Capital, Siris Capital, Sycamore Partners, Vista Equity Partners who also happen to be diverse-owned. If CalSTRS had committed to the most recent oversubscribed funds led by each of these aforementioned managers, the CalSTRS leadership would probably be applauding diverse manager performance instead of speaking about its challenges. It may be easier for CalSTRS to blame lagging performance on others, but the only way to reverse this trend and outperform is to look within. Though CalSTRS has the resources to curate any managers it wants, diversity does not appear to be an internal mandate. It has the staff, and the expertise, to do due diligence, with anyone, anywhere. Like so many of its peers, CalSTRS would benefit from viewing high-performing talented women and people of color as a solution, not a problem. We have great numbers, we find opportunities where others may not even look, and we represent the future. That's the right path to stronger diversity and stronger returns. Best regards, Joseph Haslip Chairman Robert L. Greene President & CEO About the NAIC: Based in Washington, DC, the National Association of Investment Companies (www.naicpe.com) was founded in 1971. Comprised of more than 50 member firms representing over $90 billion in assets under management, it is now the largest network of diverse-owned private equity firms and hedge funds in the United States. MEDIA CONTACT: Alan Hughes 917-993-3842 [email protected] SOURCE National Association of Investment Companies Related Links http://www.naicpe.com WASHINGTON, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Curiosity rover has found new evidence preserved in rocks on Mars that suggests the planet could have supported ancient life, as well as new evidence in the Martian atmosphere that relates to the search for current life on the Red Planet. While not necessarily evidence of life itself, these findings are a good sign for future missions exploring the planet's surface and subsurface. The new findings "tough" organic molecules in three-billion-year-old sedimentary rocks near the surface, as well as seasonal variations in the levels of methane in the atmosphere appear in the June 8 edition of the journal Science. Organic molecules contain carbon and hydrogen, and also may include oxygen, nitrogen and other elements. While commonly associated with life, organic molecules also can be created by non-biological processes and are not necessarily indicators of life. "With these new findings, Mars is telling us to stay the course and keep searching for evidence of life," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, in Washington. "I'm confident that our ongoing and planned missions will unlock even more breathtaking discoveries on the Red Planet." "Curiosity has not determined the source of the organic molecules," said Jen Eigenbrode of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, who is lead author of one of the two new Science papers. "Whether it holds a record of ancient life, was food for life, or has existed in the absence of life, organic matter in Martian materials holds chemical clues to planetary conditions and processes." Although the surface of Mars is inhospitable today, there is clear evidence that in the distant past, the Martian climate allowed liquid water an essential ingredient for life as we know it to pool at the surface. Data from Curiosity reveal that billions of years ago, a water lake inside Gale Crater held all the ingredients necessary for life, including chemical building blocks and energy sources. "The Martian surface is exposed to radiation from space. Both radiation and harsh chemicals break down organic matter," said Eigenbrode. "Finding ancient organic molecules in the top five centimeters of rock that was deposited when Mars may have been habitable, bodes well for us to learn the story of organic molecules on Mars with future missions that will drill deeper." Seasonal Methane Releases In the second paper, scientists describe the discovery of seasonal variations in methane in the Martian atmosphere over the course of nearly three Mars years, which is almost six Earth years. This variation was detected by Curiosity's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument suite. Water-rock chemistry might have generated the methane, but scientists cannot rule out the possibility of biological origins. Methane previously had been detected in Mars' atmosphere in large, unpredictable plumes. This new result shows that low levels of methane within Gale Crater repeatedly peak in warm, summer months and drop in the winter every year. "This is the first time we've seen something repeatable in the methane story, so it offers us a handle in understanding it," said Chris Webster of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, lead author of the second paper. "This is all possible because of Curiosity's longevity. The long duration has allowed us to see the patterns in this seasonal 'breathing.'" Finding Organic Molecules To identify organic material in the Martian soil, Curiosity drilled into sedimentary rocks known as mudstone from four areas in Gale Crater. This mudstone gradually formed billions of years ago from silt that accumulated at the bottom of the ancient lake. The rock samples were analyzed by SAM, which uses an oven to heat the samples (in excess of 900 degrees Fahrenheit, or 500 degrees Celsius) to release organic molecules from the powdered rock. SAM measured small organic molecules that came off the mudstone sample fragments of larger organic molecules that don't vaporize easily. Some of these fragments contain sulfur, which could have helped preserve them in the same way sulfur is used to make car tires more durable, according to Eigenbrode. The results also indicate organic carbon concentrations on the order of 10 parts per million or more. This is close to the amount observed in Martian meteorites and about 100 times greater than prior detections of organic carbon on Mars' surface. Some of the molecules identified include thiophenes, benzene, toluene, and small carbon chains, such as propane or butene. In 2013, SAM detected some organic molecules containing chlorine in rocks at the deepest point in the crater. This new discovery builds on the inventory of molecules detected in the ancient lake sediments on Mars and helps explains why they were preserved. Finding methane in the atmosphere and ancient carbon preserved on the surface gives scientists confidence that NASA's Mars 2020 rover and ESA's (European Space Agency's) ExoMars rover will find even more organics, both on the surface and in the shallow subsurface. These results also inform scientists' decisions as they work to find answers to questions concerning the possibility of life on Mars. "Are there signs of life on Mars?" said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program, at NASA Headquarters. "We don't know, but these results tell us we are on the right track." This work was funded by NASA's Mars Exploration Program for the agency's Science Mission Directorate (SMD) in Washington. Goddard provided the SAM instrument. JPL built the rover and manages the project for SMD. For video and images of the findings, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/mediaresources Information on NASA's Mars activities is available online at: https://www.nasa.gov/mars SOURCE NASA Related Links http://www.nasa.gov MCLEAN, Va., June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The ability of the United States to compete in the international nuclear energy market against the likes of Russia and China is dependent on the strength of our own country's domestic sector. Without a steady pipeline of skills, innovation, and products, our country will have limited capacity to compete. While open and competitive markets are not the norm in all countries where U.S. nuclear power companies seek to do business, they are commonplace in America. From time-to-time unfavorable market conditions make it difficult for even the strongest providers to compete. At the point where these market conditions severely impair our national security interests, action is required. The Department of Energy and our broader U.S. Government are developing and implementing the necessary and appropriate actions to help support the nuclear power sector while the industry regains strength. IP3 applauds our Government's focus on behalf of our national security and economic interests. According to IP3 Co-founder and national security expert, General (Ret.) Jack Keane, "There is now a lively debate regarding the U.S. nuclear power generation, among other elements of our domestic energy infrastructure. The individuals who created this company have dedicated their careers to national security, and remain wholly committed to safe, secure nuclear energy. We encourage this long-overdue discourse and appreciate our government taking tangible actions to ensure that our industry can be competitive against the world's other nuclear powers." While the United States excels in nuclear energy technologies, safety, security, and efficient operations, our country continues to suffer from the realities of a declining nuclear power sector. Plants are closing, and with no current plans for replacement, atrophy is inevitable. This comes at a time when many countries are pursuing nuclear energy programs and will need assistance from current nuclear suppliers to enable development and operation. The active countries include the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, and others. "Our growing weakness at home complicates the ability of American companies to promote our products and services in the international markets," said the Honorable Bud McFarlane, Co-founder of IP3 and former National Security Advisor. "Our company's leaders are regularly asked by officials in countries seeking to import peaceful nuclear energy whether the United States is committed to this industry. American businesses express interest, but are seriously disadvantaged as long as there is doubt about U.S. government support." As many experts have long highlighted, if the U.S. continues to decline in nuclear energy, American companies will keep losing international business to other countries. At this time, Russia is dominating these deals. Because nuclear reactor design, construction, and operations carry forward for decades, this positions Russia as a strong force in influencing the geopolitics and energy infrastructure of countries importing their nuclear energy offerings. It also deprives the United States of the intimate working relationships that are crucial to ensuring high safety and security standards and preventing proliferation risks. "This should be of great concern to anyone entrusted with protecting U.S. interests," said IP3 Director Mike Wallace. "We need women and men with deep nuclear knowledge in our defense institutions, National Laboratories, and the companies that produce nuclear-grade equipment and supplies. If lifelong career prospects appear dim for those interested in nuclear technologies, we will have a harder time recruiting our brightest young Americans into this career field---including for the nuclear Navy." IP3 supports policy action on this subject as an issue that the U.S. government must address imminently, and welcomes recent indications that it is taking action to do so. Finding effective ways to promote the American nuclear industry is both a national security and an economic imperative for both our public and private sector leaders. About IP3 The mission of IP3 is an integrated energy and security company dedicated to the development and operations of peaceful and secure nuclear power in the global marketplace. IP3's vision is to create thriving, peaceful environments in critical world markets through the development of sustainable energy and security infrastructure via public/private initiatives and U.S. industry-led partnerships. www.ip3international.com Contact: Mimi Holland Limbach 202-466-7391 [email protected] SOURCE IP3 Ebrahim K. Kanoo, a diversified business conglomerate based in Bahrain, has signed a MoU with the University of Bahrain to support and nurture students and graduates of the University through its Graduate Recruitment and Development Programme. The Ebrahim K. Kanoo Graduate Recruitment and Development Program is designed to be an extension of the learning journey, with added professional and technical aspects. The agreement with the University of Bahrain will see this unique programme incorporate students from multiple disciplines across the university in fields such as marketing, engineering, business management and IT. Under this programme, outstanding Bahraini students in their third year of university would be supported by the company and, upon graduation, get an opportunity to work at one of the many divisions of Ebrahim K. Kanoo, said a statement from the group. The scheme is also open to fresh graduates with high GPAs to join the company through a job rotation schedule in order to understand every division of the company and see where their individual strengths can be best utilised, it added. On the key initiative, Ebrahim K. Kanoo Managing Director Talal Kanoo said: "The University of Bahrain is a vital educational pillar in the kingdom and we are proud to be partners with them on this important programme. This MoU will see our Graduate Recruitment and Development Program benefit more Bahraini students and reach more people in the society." "We look forward to growing this partnership and furthering our cooperation with the university," he added. University of Bahrain President Prof Riyad Hamzah said: "In order to contribute to the economic growth of Bahrain, it is critical that the university works closely with the private sector. With this partnership, our students are able to gain valuable work experience, benefit financially and gain employment upon graduation." "This is a win-win situation for everyone and we are delighted to be supporting EK Kanoo with the best talent in Bahrain," he added.-TradeArabia News Service Nestle Waters is encouraging other businesses to adopt the AWS Standard, as meaningful and inclusive collaboration between all local water users is essential for the sustainable management of water. Waters has achieved AWS certification for six facilities in North America , including all five of their bottling factories in California , and one in Hope, Canada . Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) certification is the first standard to globally promote best practice in water stewardship that benefits communities and preserves local watersheds. The global standard promotes responsible water use that benefits local communities socially and economically, while ensuring environmental sustainability of watersheds all priorities for Nestle. Since first committing to the AWS Standard in 2017, Nestle Waters has already certified eight of its factories around the world, including in Pakistan, Canada and the United States. "Water is one of the most critical sustainability challenges facing society and our business. At Nestle, we care for water. We are 100% committed to safeguarding water resources for future generations," said Nestle Waters CEO, Maurizio Patarnello. "By pledging to certify all our Nestle Waters sites against this publicly recognized, credible water stewardship standard, we demonstrate how we positively contribute to water resources where we operate for the shared benefit of all." This strengthened commitment demonstrates how Nestle cares for water across four key areas: in factories, in watersheds, across its agricultural supply chains and in communities where it operates to provide access to clean water and sanitation. The AWS certification process enables broader, improved collaboration among local stakeholders. This leads to a stronger understanding of local water challenges and more meaningful collective actions to address them all vital to sustainable water resources management. "Responsible water stewardship is an issue that concerns us all businesses, governments, individuals and communities. Meaningful and inclusive collaboration is the only way we can positively contribute to the future of water," said Adrian Sym, AWS CEO. "We hope other major businesses will follow in these footsteps" he concluded. AWS in the United States Earlier this year, NestleWaters completed the certification of all five of its factories in California, a priority outlined by the company late last year. California was selected as the first location for AWS certification in the U.S. because of the shared water challenges in the state. In addition, the company's factory in Cabazon, California was the first facility in North America to achieve an AWS Gold certification. Cabazon's AWS Gold certification is reflective of the facility's meeting of advanced-level criteria, which includes a consensus of stakeholders affirming the positive contributions that the Cabazon factory has made on water balance and the quality of the catchment. "Water is a shared resource and a shared responsibility, and caring for it requires close collaboration with other water users," said Valeria Orozco, Director of Sustainability at NestleWaters North America. "AWS provides us with a common language to engage with stakeholders on these shared issues, and enables a holistic approach to water stewardship. This is critical to managing our water use for long-term sustainability, as well as seeking social and economic benefits for the local community." Urging other businesses to follow suit Nestle Waters is encouraging other companies to adopt the AWS Standard across their sites and factories around the world. "We need a continuous dialogue between local water users and a mutual understanding of the challenges facing water resources to be able to build collective actions to proactively and sustainably manage water resources," said Nestle Waters' Corporate Water Resources Manager, Cedric Egger. "We are determined to act as a catalyst to develop these action plans together with other local water users wherever it matters," he said. For 25 years, Nestle Waters has been engaged in long-term collaborative solutions, at both factory and watershed levels, to preserve the quantity and/or quality of local water resources. Programmes like Agrivair, initiated in 1992 in Vittel (France), or Eco-Broye in Henniez (Switzerland) are regularly highlighted as some of the company's lighthouse projects in water stewardship. About Nestle Waters North America Nestle Waters North America offers an unrivaled portfolio of bottled waters for healthy hydration, including Poland Spring Brand 100% Natural Spring Water, Nestle Pure Life, Perrier and S. Pellegrino. The company also owns and operates ReadyRefreshSM by Nestle, a customizable water and beverage delivery service. Just Click and Quench. SM Based in Stamford, Connecticut with some 8,500 associates, we are committed to reducing our environmental footprint across our operations. As a natural resource company, we sustainably manage 47 spring sources and conserve nearly 21,000 acres of natural watershed area. We are also committed to creating shared value and being a good neighbor in the 140 communities where we operate in the U.S. For more information, visit us at www.nestle-watersna.com/en and follow us on Twitter and Facebook: @NestleWatersNA. About Nestle Waters "The Healthy Hydration Company", created in 1992, is the water division of the Nestle Group and the number one bottled water company worldwide. It operates in 34 production countries with 92 production facilities and more than 33,700 employees. Nestle Waters offers a large portfolio of 49 unique brands (from natural mineral waters to purified drinking waters) including Nestle Pure Life, its No. 1 bottled water brand, Perrier and S.Pellegrino, its international sparkling water brands. About the Alliance for Water Stewardship AWS is a global membership collaboration comprised of businesses, NGOs, public sector offices and sustainability stakeholders. They are the custodians of the International Water Stewardship Standard ('AWS Standard'), a globally-applicable framework for major water users to understand their water use and impacts, and to work collaboratively and transparently for sustainable water management within a catchment context. Membership of AWS connects and motivates organizations united behind the AWS mission: the responsible use of freshwater that is socially and economically beneficial and environmentally sustainable. The public sector and prominent environmental conservation groups such as World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and The Nature Conservancy contributed to the development of the AWS standard. SOURCE Nestle Waters North America Related Links http://www.nestle-watersna.com/company LONDON, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Noble Corporation plc (NYSE: NE) today announced that its report of drilling rig status and contract information has been updated as of June 7, 2018. The report, titled "Fleet Status Report," can be found on the Company's Website www.noblecorp.com, under the "Investor Relations" section of the Website. About Noble Corporation plc Noble is a leading offshore drilling contractor for the oil and gas industry. The Company owns and operates one of the most modern, versatile and technically advanced fleets in the offshore drilling industry. Noble performs, through its subsidiaries, contract drilling services with a fleet of 27 offshore drilling units, consisting of 14 drillships and semisubmersibles and 13 jackups, focused largely on ultra-deepwater and high-specification jackup drilling opportunities in both established and emerging regions worldwide. Noble is a public limited company registered in England and Wales with company number 08354954 and registered office at Devonshire House, 1 Mayfair Place, London, W1J 8AJ England. Additional information on Noble is available at www.noblecorp.com. SOURCE Noble Corporation Related Links http://www.noblecorp.com Update on Moss Mine Optimization Plan VANCOUVER, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - Northern Vertex Mining Corp. (TSXV: NEE) (OTC: NHVCF) (the "Company" or "Northern Vertex") is pleased to announce that Certified Grant Letters for Right of Way ("ROW") for the Powerline, Fiber-Optics and Access Road construction for the Moss Gold and Silver Mine located in N.W. Arizona have been received from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). This is a significant milestone which offers measurable safety and economic benefits for all stakeholders. Highlights: Improve safety for employees and community Reduction of fossil fuel emissions Significant economic savings for the life of the mine Kenneth Berry, President and CEO, stated: "We appreciate the efforts and expertise of our in-house and contractor team that participated in the design of the powerline and road reconstruction, and the Environmental Assessment document. The level of support from our stakeholders, including the public, and the City, County, State and Federal staff and representatives was very encouraging. Within the FONSI (Finding Of No Significant Impact), it is stated that measures to reduce adverse impacts to cultural resources, wildlife/special-status species, and VRM (Visual Resource Management) were incorporated in the design of the Proposed Action. We acknowledge the advice and assistance from the very dedicated personnel at Mohave Electric Co-operative and the BLM Kingman Field Office to incorporate these measures into the design and the Environmental Assessment of the Projects." Powerline to Mine Site The installation of a powerline directly to site to deliver utility power is expected to result in significant operational savings over the lifetime of the mine. The Company's 2015 Feasibility Study had estimated five 750 kW diesel powered generators. At the 5,000 tonne per day processing rate, the diesel generators are estimated to consume roughly 90,000 gallons of diesel per month, or 3,000 gallons per day. Power costs were based on power generation and the overall power rate estimated at $0.20 per kWh assuming a diesel price of US$2.50 per gallon. The Company currently has six generators operating during the Commissioning period as it ramps up to Commercial Production. Powerline Construction will require the posting of a reclamation bond with the BLM prior to permission to proceed being granted. The Company is proceeding with the acquisition of the bond. The switch from diesel fuel generated power to utility power not only benefits the environment by eliminating greenhouse gas emissions, but the financial savings will be very significant if fuel prices continue to escalate. Upgrade and Maintain the Silver Creek and Access Roads The upgrade and maintenance of the Silver Creek Road and the tertiary County Mine Access Road will have immediate and measurable results. The level of safety will be increased substantially for the estimated 100 Moss Mine employees and the many local persons and tourists using the roads for business and recreational purposes. The attendant costs of delays to personnel and truckers, and the engagement of security personnel to direct the one-way traffic control will be eliminated. The direct economic benefits to Northern Vertex also include a reduction in maintenance costs to operational vehicles and those of our suppliers and local community. Road reconstruction is planned to start immediately to widen the access road to two twelve-foot lanes complete with five-foot shoulders and an additional fifteen-foot wide utility corridor on the west side. Changes to the vertical and horizontal alignment will improve sight distances on curves. Other upgrades include the removal of numerous protruding cobbles and boulders on Silver Creek Road and the placing of a 12 inch thick surface course of crushed mine waste-rock on both roads. Reduction of Fossil Fuel Emissions The Moss Mine Feasibility Study; Plan of Operations and Air Quality Permit state the electric power source proposed for all mine and process operations as on-site generators powered by Tier IV diesel engines (the most environmentally advanced engines available today). However, the installation of a direct powerline, would eliminate the need for the diesel gen-sets, resulting in improved air quality by decreasing emissions, and reducing operating costs significantly. Copies of the FONSI can be found on-line at https://eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/projects/nepa/96159/146653/180407/Signed_FONSI_AZ-C010-2017-0046-EA.pdf The Record of Decision (ROD) is at https://eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/projects/nepa/96159/146652/180406/Signed_DR_AZ-C010-2017-0046-EA.pdf Qualified Person The foregoing technical information contained in this news release has also been reviewed and verified by Mr. Joseph Bardswich, P.Eng., General Manager - Moss Project, and a Qualified Person ("QP") for the purpose of National Instrument 43-101 (Disclosure Standards for Mineral Projects). About Northern Vertex Northern Vertex Mining Corp. is an exploration and mining company focused on the reactivation of its 100% owned Moss Mine Gold/Silver Project located in NW Arizona, USA. The Company's management comprises an experienced management team with a strong background in all aspects of acquisition, exploration, development, operations and financing of mining projects worldwide. The Company is focused on working effectively and respectfully with our stakeholders in the vicinity of the historical Moss Mine and enhancing the capacity of the local communities in the area. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF NORTHERN VERTEX "Kenneth Berry" President & 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. Forward-Looking Statements: The information in this news release has been prepared as at June 6, 2018. Certain statements in this news release, referred to herein as "forward-looking statements", constitute "forward-looking statements" under the provisions of Canadian provincial securities laws. These statements can be identified by the use of words such as "expected", "may", "will" or similar terms, and include, without restriction, statements regarding the completion of the Private Placement and the proposed use of the proceeds of the financing. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of factors and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Company as of the date of such statements, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Many factors, known and unknown, could cause actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. Except as otherwise required by law, the Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any such statements to reflect any change in the Company's expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based More particularly, this release contains statements concerning the closing of the second tranche of the Private Placement and the anticipated use of the proceeds of the financing. There can be no assurance that the second tranche of the Private Placement will complete within the anticipated timelines or complete as contemplated or at all, or that the proceeds of the financing will be used as anticipated. US investors should be aware that mining terminology used for Canadian mineral project reporting purposes differs significantly from US terminology. SOURCE Northern Vertex Mining Corp. Related Links www.northernvertex.com BOSTON and SHANGHAI, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Oncologie, an innovative biopharmaceutical company, announced today that it is launching operations in both Boston and Shanghai with $16.5M seed financing led by Pivotal bioVenture Partners China. Oncologie is committed to developing impactful cancer therapies to improve long-term survival of cancer patients worldwide. Building a pipeline of First and Best-in-Class clinical stage drug candidates through licensing and partnering, Oncologie is leveraging the recent regulatory changes in China to conduct parallel clinical development in China and the US to bring the next wave of Immuno-Oncology products to the two most important markets simultaneously. Oncologie is developing multiple global programs currently in Phase 2 and Phase 3 whose mechanisms are designed to combine with immune checkpoint inhibitors to improve survival benefits. The management team of Oncologie includes industry veterans from biotech and pharma with proven track records in developing innovative cancer drugs in both China and the US. Founder, President, and CEO, Dr. Laura Benjamin said, "Oncologie has built an all-star team of creative drug developers committed to revealing the full potential of our exciting pipeline that is positioned to maximize the benefits cancer immune therapy can bring. Oncologie has created a global leading clinical pipeline since its inception earlier of this year. We look forward to working together with our partners to bring safe and effective cancer therapies to the market." "Oncologie is leveraging the opportunity to run clinical trials in both the US and China to develop drugs for the global market," said Jimmy Wei, PhD, managing partner of the Pivotal bioVenture Partners China Fund. "We think these coordinated efforts will shorten the time between launching innovative drugs in the US and China. Since there are too many undifferentiated PD-1/PD-L1 programs in China with very few combination trials ongoing, Oncologie has positioned itself as the leader in immune combination therapies." "We are very glad to have the opportunity to work with Dr. Benjamin to build this company," said Peter Bisgaard, managing director of Nan Fung Life Sciences. "Laura brings with her 20 years of experience as a researcher at Harvard Medical School as well as an executive in the industry, and she has built an outstanding team of experts." Oncologie raised 16.5M USD in a seed round recently. The round was led by Pivotal bioVenture Partners China Fund and joined by Nan Fung Life Sciences, China Merchant Bank Investments and Volcanics Ventures. About Pivotal bioVenture Partners China Pivotal bioVenture Partners China, a member of Nan Fung Life Sciences, is a venture capital firm specializing in venture building in the life sciences industry. Pivotal China closed on $150 million for its first fund and is setting up an additional $50 million equivalent RMB fund. Its investment strategy is centered on identifying promising innovative products and technologies and bringing them to build new companies in China. The Pivotal team includes experienced life science investors and entrepreneurs with a track record of venture building and scientific acumen. About Nan Fung Life Sciences Nan Fung Life Sciences, part of Nan Fung Group, is a global investment platform focusing on life sciences. Leveraging on Nan Fung Group's strong capital base and long-term commitment to the area, the company is aimed to become the ideal partner for scientists, entrepreneurs, corporations and investors in the life science space. Through direct investments via Pivotal BioVenture Partners funds (both in the US and China) and fund investments covering full spectrum of the industry (including therapeutics, medical devices and diagnostics) and across different development stages, Nan Fung Life Sciences has significant presence in both the US and Greater China. About ONCOLOGIE ONCOLOGIE is an oncology therapeutics company committed to delivering better outcomes for cancer patients through an improved understanding of which patients will benefit from each drug in the pipeline. The current pipeline is focused on mid-stage clinical programs that modify the immune system to enhance efficacy of current standards of care and emerging immunotherapy agents. Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts and Shanghai, China, Oncologie is working with global partners to acquire and develop innovative drugs for cancer patients around the world. WWW.ONCOLOGIE.INTERNATIONAL SOURCE Oncologie Related Links http://WWW.ONCOLOGIE.INTERNATIONAL CINCINNATI, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Setting sail on June 10, OneSight announced today that 44 volunteers will travel by boat to provide vision care and produce glasses for over 2,500 indigenous Amazon River residents. OneSight is taking their commitment to bring sight to the world, no matter how distant, to a new level. Due to the remoteness of each community, citizens along the Amazon must travel more than 24 hours to the only city that offers eye-care in the region, Manaus. To overcome this vast distance barrier, OneSight is hosting their first-ever clinic on two boats, bringing vision care to those in need and testing out new portable eye care instruments and technologies, exclusively made to work in remote environments with difficult logistics. OneSight is partnering with two local Amazon groups, Barco Hospital Methodist Church and the Penido Burnier Foundation, to navigate across three communities Muritinga, Cuia and Murai. "We could not reach this indigenous population without the help of these two generous partners," said Mony Iyer, president and executive director at OneSight. "They are going above and beyond to make this unique clinic a success by coordinating the boat and crew rental, translators and the necessary ophthalmologists." OneSight's laboratory, technology and large inventory of lenses and frames will be set up on the boat, while vision consultations will be provided inland. This set up will allow for almost every patient to receive their glasses the same day. If proven successful and efficient, the instruments and technology will substantially increase OneSight's ability to serve more people in need, without being dependent on the standard logistics process. "We are committed to identifying solutions to reach and provide access to vision care and glasses to even the most remote communities in the world," said Iyer. "We are honored to be able to provide much needed vision care services to the communities across the Amazon River. We know through our work in communities around the world that glasses do so much more than give clear sight they give hope and possibility." OneSight launched a 'Victory is in Sight' campaign to raise awareness about the powerful difference a simple pair of glasses can make. In an effort to provide 20 million people with access to glasses by 2020, OneSight is scheduled to travel to 30 communities across the globe this year alone. In 2018, OneSight hosted a clinic in Antigua to benefit those impacted by Hurricane Irma. That effort, along with the upcoming clinic in the Amazon, is just the beginning of OneSight furthering its mission not just in communities that lack access but those that have had that access taken away by natural disasters. About OneSight OneSight is the leading global nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing access to an eye exam and glasses to the 1.1 billion people who have no way to get them. We have a proven model that provides permanent access to vision care and glasses and we are pioneering new ways to deliver quality vision care to the most remote communities. We believe one's location and circumstances should not stand in the way of one's potential. Our goal is to create a world where lack of access to vision care is no longer a barrier to human achievement, and every donation gets us one step closer to making that world a reality. For more information, visit www.onesight.org. MEDIA CONTACT: Laura Lewis, [email protected], 513.765.6133 SOURCE OneSight Related Links http://www.onesight.org One of the top global cryptocurrency exchanges ranked by trading volume, QRYPTOS sees transaction volumes in the tens of millions of dollars daily. Listing of QRYPTOS provides Peoplewave's contributors with immediate liquidity for PWV tokens. The PWV will be listed with three trading pairs: PWV/ETH, PWV/BTC, and PWV/QASH. "We are extremely grateful to our community and QUOINE for their support and for sharing our vision of making work fair. Now the real work begins. We are very excited to be able to progress the development of our Wavebase solution. We are also in conversation with a number of HR and software companies on potential partnerships and will continue to keep our community updated on all developments," said Damien Cummings, CEO of Peoplewave. In addition to QRYPTOS, Peoplewave is in discussions with a number of other top exchanges to further enhance the liquidity of its PWV tokens. Peoplewave aims to reinvent people management through blockchain technology. The company will establish a decentralised database of accurate, verified performance and employment information on its blockchain platform, Wavebase. As a result, employers will possess an unprecedented ability to evaluate a potential candidate based on actual credentials and past performance, or even utilise the information right from the start for targeted searches of suitable candidates. For the first time, employees will also get to own and take control of their performance data across all past employers. About Peoplewave Peoplewave is Asia's leading blockchain-ready HR software company. It is revolutionising hiring and people management with data-driven, transparent feedback and verified performance data on its blockchain platform, Wavebase. Peoplewave offers 3 key products - the "First 100 Days": a new hire onboarding tool; "Performance Wave": continuous 360-degree performance appraisals; And the "HR Command Centre" analytics suite, which unlocks employee data and insights. Peoplewave successfully raised $500,000 seed funding from a series of angels and aligned companies in the HR field in December 2017. The company has been named "Top 50 Most Promising Enterprise Start-ups in Asia Pacific" by CIO Outlook Magazine and more recently, "Top 20 Hottest Singapore Start-ups" by Singapore Business Review. About The Team Peoplewave was founded by Damien Cummings in Singapore in January 2017 and later joined by Phil Aldridge in April 2017 as Chief Technology Officer and co-founder. Cummings was a corporate high flyer with over 20 years in marketing and digital transformation leadership roles with renowned brands. When Cummings was inexplicably retrenched from his last role as Global Head of Digital for an international bank, it became clear to him that HR had to be made more transparent, data-driven and fairer to both the company and employee. This resulted in the birth of Peoplewave. Today, Peoplewave boasts a world-class team of 19 team members in 4 countries with experience in technology, development, marketing, product management, user experience, and more. SOURCE Peoplewave Pte. Ltd. "Seppy's experience working to address educational access issues faced by high-achieving students with financial need enables him to extend the impact of our organization, and scholars, for years to come," said Stuart A. Haney, President of the Cooke Foundation Board of Directors, "His commitment to our vision has been established through a record of service to the Foundation -- and is reflected in an unwavering belief in the transformative potential of the exceptional students that we support." In his time at the Foundation, Basili spearheaded outreach efforts to identify the nation's most exceptional middle school, high school, and community college students for the Foundation's unique scholarship programs, which have awarded over $175 million in scholarships. In addition to the monetary award, Cooke Scholars receive comprehensive educational advising, significant cohort-based programming, and graduate school funding, as well as a thriving network of 2,300 fellow Cooke Scholars and alumni. "I'm honored to continue working with this passionate and dedicated team to support the Cooke Scholar community and further the Foundation's mission," said Basili. "The importance of college affordability and access has, in many ways, never been greater." In recent years, Basili has shepherded the release of some of the Foundation's most influential research reports; including "True Merit," "Making College Affordable," and the most recent edition of "Equal Talents, Unequal Opportunities." Basili's professional experience also includes early work in the development of curricula designed to cultivate college going aspiration in collaboration with major urban school districts as General Manager of Kaplan's K-12 Learning Services. While at Kaplan, he also served as executive director of the company's pre-college programs, which include their test-preparation programs, college admissions services, and publications for the SAT, ACT, and PSAT tests. A graduate of Kenyon College, Basili holds a law degree from Emory University, and a Master of Arts in Educational Policy from the University of California at Berkeley. He succeeds former New York City Schools Chancellor Harold O. Levy, who led the Foundation for the past four years. About the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation The Cooke Foundation is dedicated to advancing the education of exceptionally promising students who have financial need. Since 2000, the Foundation has awarded $175 million in scholarships to more than 2,300 students from 8th grade through graduate school, along with comprehensive counseling and other support services. The Foundation has also provided over $97 million in grants to organizations that serve such students. www.jkcf.org Media Contact: Amber Styles 571-799-8063 [email protected] SOURCE Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Related Links http://www.jkcf.org BEIJING, June 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- 2018 China Innovation and Entrepreneurship Fair (hereinafter referred to as "CIEF") will, once again, present a global grand event for the dialogue between capital and technology, and the connection between projects and industries. On June 5, Zheng Haojun (Director of Enterprise Innovation Service Center, China Association for Science and Technology), Zhang Jianhua (Deputy Secretary General of the People's Government of Guangzhou Municipality), Chen Shuang (Secretary of Party Leadership Group and Vice Chairman, Guangzhou Association for Science and Technology), Guo Hao (Deputy Director of Enterprise Innovation Service Center, China Association for Science and Technology), Li Jiang (Deputy Inspector of Guangzhou Science, Technology and Innovation Committee) and Zhu Dongfang (Vice-President of IDG China) attended the press conference of 2018 China Innovation and Entrepreneurship Fair in Beijing, giving an introduction to the preparation and important content of 2018 CIEF. Representatives from the Norwegian Embassy in Beijing, EUSME Center and Italian businesses also attended this conference. 2018 China Innovation and Entrepreneurship Fair will be held in Guangzhou from June 22 to June 24. At that time, the frontiers and infinite possibilities of today's science and technology development will be fully shown through the 3-day exhibition with an exhibition area of 21,000m2, over 1,000 exhibitors, achievement projects and over 30 special events, as well as over 200 forum speakers, over 100 responsible persons of venture capital institutions and more than 20 academicians will gather in Guangzhou to provide advice, opinions and guidance for industrial development, technical innovation and investment entrepreneurship. 20 Theme Exhibition Zones + Over 30 Special Activities This edition of CIEF has a total of 20 exhibition zones, focusing on the exhibition of technological achievements in strategic emerging industries, including AIworld Artificial Intelligence Exhibition Zone, New Generation Information Technology Exhibition Zone, Automobile Technology Innovation Brand Exhibition Zone, Intelligent Health and Biomedical Exhibition Zone and Military & Civilian Integration Exhibition Zone. It also demonstrates the projects related to key factors on the "Chain of Innovation" such as capital, talent, information and intellectual property rights in International and Domestic Innovation & Entrepreneurship Exhibition Zone and High-End Talents Achievement Exhibition Zone. The International Innovation and Entrepreneurship Exhibition Zone will present the innovation and entrepreneurship projects in the countries and regions such as the US, South Korea, Finland, Norway, Japan, Israel, Singapore, Sweden and New Zealand. The Domestic Innovation and Entrepreneurship Exhibition Zone will have a "Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area", demonstrating over 80 projects from Hong Kong and Macao apart from those of Mainland China. The High-end Talents Achievement Exhibition Zone will have a special Academician Zone and a special Jiusan Society Zone. The "Future Unicorn" Zone, Incubator/Industrial Park Leading Brand Exhibition Zone and Startup Helicopter Zone will exhibit Chinese and foreign well-known investment institutions and outstanding post-investment enterprises, famous Chinese and foreign incubators / mass innovation spaces / industrial parks, as well as different achievements of mass entrepreneurship and innovation events held in CIEF and Guangzhou, where visitors may witness the birth of the next unicorn. This edition of CIEF will have over 30 special activities, covering multiple forms such as keynote speeches, special reports, round-table discussions, academic exchanges, science lectures, expert dialogues, and mass entrepreneurship and innovation events. Most the special activities are closely combined with exhibitions, building platforms for the connection between project and capital, and helping project achievements be converted and utilized. Over 200 well-known Chinese and foreign scientists, entrepreneurs and venture capital guests will speak at the special activities, such as Future Technology Summit, 2018 Guangzhou Venture Capital Round-table Summit, Guangzhou Technology Forum, You're the Next: Founder Experience Sharing, Automotive Technology Innovation Forum, and Integration/Disintegration - Artificial Intelligence Powers the Industry, providing advice, opinions and guidance for industrial development, technical innovation and investment entrepreneurship. Truly realizing the "Never-closed" CIEF China Innovation and Technology Achievement Exchange Conference was held in 2015, renamed as China Innovation and Entrepreneurship Fair officially in 2016, and was approved in 2017 to be held in Guangzhou, becoming another "nationwide" fair in Guangzhou. Through the practices in the past three editions, CIEF has played an active role in promoting the conversion of technological achievements, settling the "Last Mile" problem of conversion from scientific research achievements to industrial applications, and guiding technological innovation resources to provide technological and intellectual support for local economic and social development. The Fair is becoming better and better, exhibitors are more and more enthusiastic to participate, the level of participating projects has been improving constantly, and the Fair is becoming dramatically influential. According to Zhang Jianhua, Deputy Secretary General of the People's Government of Guangzhou Municipality, CIEF has, in the past three years, presented over 4400 projects, and over 140 projects have been converted for implementation, with a transaction amount being about RMB 6.9 billion. Particularly, in 2017, CIEF online trading platform, covering over 8000 achievements, was launched, and eight service organizations, such as Guangzhou South China New Material Innovation Park and Guangzhou TusPark, had been established, indicating that the "1+1+N" (i.e., one fair, one network platform and N service organizations) CIEF Achievement Conversion System was put into use, and announcing that "Never-closed" Fair was realized truly. 2017 CIEF made relatively large breakthroughs, regardless of project cooperation intention or project transaction amount, realizing the cooperation intention of 160 projects and the conversion and utilization of 63 projects throughout the year, with a transaction amount being RMB 6.28584 billion. More Internationalized, Specialized and Marketized 2018 CIEF Internationalization, specialization and marketization are the purpose of organizing 2018 CIEF. This year, the People's Government of Guangzhou Municipality invites International Data Group (IDG) to hold CIEF jointly, aiming at providing all-around services related to global resources, venture capital, exhibition affairs, publicity and promotion, etc. IDG has been a partner of CIEF, and the Venture Capital Round-table Summit organized by IDG is also a brand activity of CIEF. This year, IDG will hold its international maker contest, Global Mobile Internet Creative Development Competition (MIC), in Guangzhou, and will invite outstanding entrepreneurial teams from countries such as China, the US, South Korea, Finland, Norway and Italy to participate and the representatives from Chinese and foreign well-known investment institutions, incubators and industrial parks to have face-to-face exchange. SOURCE China Innovation and Entrepreneurship Fair (CIEF) OAKLAND, Calif., June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- LendStreet , Inc. (LendStreet), the leading online consumer debt restructuring and consolidation platform, announced that it has closed a $7 Million Series A equity round, led by Prudential Financial, Inc. (Prudential) and Radicle Impact (Radicle). The company has also raised $110 million in debt financing from Prudential and Community Investment Management (CIM). Prudential and Radicle join LendStreet's existing investors Accion, the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI), Serious Change, Crunchfund, Kapor Capital, and Cross Culture Ventures in participating in the round. LendStreet restructures debt for consumers in financial distress. The company provides technology- based solutions and resources that reduce consumer debt, increase credit scores, and improve savings. Since its inception, LendStreet has helped customers successfully reduce their debt by nearly 40 percent and improve their credit score by an average of 100 points. "Lower and middle-income Americans are struggling and relying on high interest credit cards for their day-to-day survival. These investments will enable us to scale our platform and reach more consumers who are struggling with too much debt," said Jerry Nemorin, Founder and CEO, LendStreet. "Prudential, CIM, Radicle Impact, and our other investors share our vision of finally giving mainstream Americans access to an equitable and transparent alternative for their mounting credit card debt." Like LendStreet, Prudential is committed to improving the overall financial health of individuals, particularly those that are underserved by traditional financial tools, and works to bring financial security within reach of all Americans. Through investments of both capital and talent, Prudential has supported LendStreet's goal of providing more responsible products, offering financial literacy tools and incenting positive behavioral changes since 2017. "Many Americans are living paycheck to paycheck and don't have the adequate resources to withstand a financial shock," said Miljana Vujosevic, Vice President of Impact Investments. "Too many consumers have no choice but to turn to products that don't offer a viable, comprehensive, trustworthy solution. Our investment in LendStreet is another example of Prudential's long-term commitment to solving societal problems and developing solutions that improve the financial health of our communities." With this Series A Round, LendStreet welcomed two seasoned veterans to the LendStreet board. Miljana brings a decade of experience supporting economic opportunity for individuals and communities. Catha Groot, Principal at Radicle brings more than 10 years of investment experience and Radicle's mission to build a fair and transparent financial services system. They join existing board members R. Jerry Nemorin, Michael Snyder, and KG Charles-Harris. "The LendStreet platform provides a solutions-based user experience for consumers under financial stress," said Tom Coombs, Co-Founder and Vice President of Product Development at LendStreet. "Understanding your options to pay down debt and rebuild your credit is not easy. LendStreet is giving overbanked consumers a more manageable, transparent and sustained path to restructuring debt and improving their financial health." About LendStreet LendStreet, based in Oakland, California, was launched in 2013 to help financially distressed consumers improve their financial health. LendStreet works with other financial organizations to negotiate discounts with creditors on behalf of individuals in financial distress. Their debts are restructured as a loan with much lower, fixed and affordable payments that enable consumers to rebuild their credit and improve their financial lives. LendStreet is an active and prominent member of several community organizations that work to rebuild the financial wellness of consumers. http://www.lendstreet.com. About Prudential Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader with more than $1 trillion in assets under management as of March 31, 2018, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential's diverse and talented employees are committed to helping families build and maintain their financial security through a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment management. http://news.prudential.com. About Radicle Impact Partners Radicle Impact Partners is a mission-driven investment firm that invests in companies where financial success creates meaningful social and environmental value. Radicle Impact supports technology-enabled businesses that have the potential to transform three critical systems: energy, food and financial services. Founded in 2013, the firm is based in Oakland, CA. http://www.radicleimpact.com About Community Investment Management Community Investment Management (CIM) is an institutional impact investment manager that provides strategic debt funding to scale and demonstrate responsible innovation in lending in partnership with a select group of technology-driven lenders. CIM combines experience, leadership, and values to align the long-term interests of investors and the financial health of underserved borrowers. http://www.cim-llc.com Media Contacts: For LendStreet: Joe LoBello LoBello Communications [email protected] 516-902-2694 David Scott LendStreet, Inc [email protected] 415-706-0066 SOURCE LendStreet, Inc. Related Links http://www.lendstreet.com Dubai SME, the agency of the Department in Dubai mandated to develop the small and medium enterprises, and The University of Manchester-Middle East Centre in Dubai have signed a Strategic Talent Partnership agreement. The deal is aimed at promoting innovation and leadership among entrepreneurs and across the SME sector in Dubai, said a statement from Dubai SME. The agreement will create professional development and career opportunities for the universitys community of current part-time Masters students and alumni in the region, and Dubai SMEs staff and members, it said. The partnership will also create privileged access to both organisations services and mutually beneficial networking opportunities, it added. Under the new agreement, Dubai SME and The University of Manchester will work together in three main areas in Dubai professional development and business education opportunities, including talent management and careers services, with access into university programmes; cross-promotion of services including research, and career openings; and professional networking across both communities, said a statement. Professional development and executive education opportunities will be shared across the two communities with preferential and fast track access to learning and development opportunities offered by the university. The comprehensive SME support system of Dubai SME includes licensing and regulating business incubators and accelerators in Dubai to ensure the necessary guidance and mentoring support to SMEs, streamline the functioning of business incubators and accelerators, as well as to create an appropriate environment for creative entrepreneurs, it added. Ibtihal Al Naji, the director at Department of Entrepreneurs Capabilities Development, Dubai SME, said: We are delighted to have the university as our partners in enabling entrepreneurial talent to evolve into strategic leadership in knowledge and business. Its indeed a significant addition to the partnership network Dubai SME has created, and continues to expand, through a diversity of talent and business development initiatives aimed at the entrepreneurial and SME community in Dubai and the UAE, she added. Randa Bessiso, director, The University of Manchester Middle East Centre, said: We have a large regional community of talented students and alumni, who are all experienced working professionals and many of these are increasingly interested in more entrepreneurial career paths. Collaborations with professional bodies such as Dubai SME help to develop our presence and impact for the benefit of both our communities, she said. Dubai SME is the pre-eminent body for entrepreneurs, startups and SMEs in the country and, as an organisation committed to transforming people and careers through business education, there is a very natural mutual interest, she added. We both recognise the value and need for the development of talent, leadership and innovation in the SME sector, as Dubai transforms rapidly into a knowledge economy. We look forward to working together with Dubai SMEs vibrant community of professionals, she added.-TradeArabia News Service "Tulsa Real Estate Fund was created for the sole purpose of the revitalization of urban communities across America, as well as a means for working class people to own shares and equity in a portfolio of real estate assets that will combat gentrification," said Jay Morrison, CEO and manager of the Tulsa Real Estate Fund. The mission of the Tulsa Real Estate Fund is to perform comprehensive redevelopment of both people and real estate in key urban areas. The innovative fund allows socially conscious individuals and financial institutions the opportunity to invest in the people and real estate in local communities that matter most to them. Tulsa Real Estate Fund redevelopment projects being considered include single family, multi-family, commercial, and agricultural projects. Other redevelopment projects around the country will be announced in the coming months. Tulsa Real Estate Fund is named in honor of the businessmen and businesswomen of the once prosperous Greenwood neighborhood in Tulsa, Okla. In 1921, more than 2,000 black-owned homes and businesses thrived in the self-sustaining community known as "Black Wall Street" before they were destroyed by an angry white mob and hundreds of African-Americans were killed in the worst armed race riots in U.S. history. Through the Greenwood community's perseverance, Black Wall Street was resurrected in 1925 and reached its economic peak in 1941. However, economic progress was short-lived due to discriminatory Jim Crow laws that crippled the community, including an urban removable program and a highway that was built over much of the area. "Tulsa Real Estate Fund is the perfect economic vehicle for the urban community to collectively pool its more than $1.3 trillion in spending power to effectively control and revitalize our neighborhoods," said Morrison. "With the current tone in Washington, D.C., urban neighborhoods across the country will not have control of their dollars, real estate or small businesses for the foreseeable future. As a result, urban neighborhoods across the country are being redeveloped by individuals who do not have the best interests of the community in mind, which often leads to the displacement of longtime residents due to increased property values, thus making the cost of housing in our communities unaffordable. We believe Tulsa Real Estate Fund is the solution to this rapidly growing problem." Tulsa Real Estate Fund's path to delivering reasonable returns to its fund managers and crowd partners will consist of identifying real estate with added value in urban communities, while repairing the constituency residing there; a grassroots approach that will allow access to the most advantageous public-private real estate opportunities; and a wealth management team with more than 30 years of combined experience in urban redevelopment projects. In February 2018, Tulsa Real Estate Fund was notified by the SEC that it had qualified its Form 1A Application that allowed the company to move forward with its offering, which will leverage the key components of the Regulation A+ Tier II rules that allows for the solicitation of the general public as well as traditional investors and financial institutions. "Regulation A+ is a big win for urban entrepreneurs because it opens the door for access to capital. It's also a big win for investors since more people will have access to investment opportunities," said Morrison. "Historically, non-accredited investors have been left on the sidelines for many investment opportunities such as initial public offerings (IPOs) and venture capital. Regulation A+ opens the door to these investment opportunities, which will in effect allow Black Wall Street to thrive once again, but in more urban communities around the country." The Tulsa Real Estate Fund builds on Project Rebuild, President Barack Obama's $15 billion proposal to invest in a national effort that leverages private capital and expertise to rehabilitate hundreds of thousands of communities across the country. Building on the successful ideas developed during the implementation of the Neighborhood Stabilization Project, Project Rebuild provides funding to purchase, rehabilitate, and/or redevelop foreclosed, abandoned, demolished, or vacant properties. Funding also helps grantees establish and operate land banks and create jobs maintaining properties to avoid community blight. The Tulsa Real Estate Fund recommends investors read its Form 1A Statement and other public reports and financials filed with the SEC for further information. All management profiles, public filings, financials, and other company information are available on the Tulsa Real Estate Fund's website at www.TulsaRealEstateFund.com. Its Regulation A+ Tier II offering circular can be found online at www.sec.gov. About Jay Morrison Jay Morrison is the CEO and fund manager of Tulsa Real Estate Fund. As an African-American young man growing up in poverty, Morrison was destined to become a statistic after dropping out of high school and becoming a three-time felon by the age of 20. However, he turned his life around and has become a much sought-after celebrity real estate agent and multimillion-dollar real estate entrepreneur. In January 2014, Morrison founded the Jay Morrison Academy, an online-based wealth education institute that provides financial literacy for thosewho like himweren't taught wealth creation at home or in the classroom. After impacting tens of thousands of people through motivation and wealth education, Morrison went a step further and launched E-Z Funding, an investment platform which provides entrepreneurs with small business financing that allows them the opportunity to avoid the limitations of traditional financial institutions, while providing them with the financing and educational resources needed to help them grow their businesses. Morrison is the bestselling author of Hip Hop 2 Homeowners: How We Build Wealth in America!; Lord of My Land: 5 Steps to Homeownership; and The Solution: How Africans in America Achieve Unity, Justice and Repair. He has also appeared as a real estate expert on NBC's Today Show and Open House NYC, as well as a community leader/social activist on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 and FOX's Justice with Judge Jeanine. Morrison's passion for social awareness is shared by his talented fiance, Ernestine Johnson, who helps mold many of the programs and services offered by the Jay Morrison Brands. Not bad for a kid who started out selling crack cocaine in Somerville, N.J. For more information on Morrison, visit www.JayMorrisonAcademy.com. About Tulsa Real Estate Fund Tulsa Real Estate Fund is the first African-American Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) qualified Tier II crowdfund and economic vehicle inspired by the historic Black Wall Street of Tulsa, Okla. Tulsa Real Estate Fund was created for the revitalization of urban communities and as a means for working class people to own shares and equity in a portfolio of real estate assets that will combat gentrification. For more information on Tulsa Real Estate Fund or #ThePeoplesFund, call (844) 73-TULSA or visit www.TulsaRealEstateFund.com. Forward-Looking Statements & Safe Harbor This press release may include "forward-looking statements." To the extent that the information presented in this press release discusses financial projects, information, or expectations about our business plans, results of operations, products or markets, or otherwise makes statements about future events, such statements are forward-looking. Such forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "should," "may," "intends," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "projects," "forecasts," "expects," "plans," and "proposes." Although we believe that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, there are a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements. You are urged to carefully review and consider any cautionary statements and other disclosures, including statements made under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in the offering statement that is filed with the SEC. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of the document in which they are contained, and Tulsa Real Estate Fund does not undertake any duty to update any forward-looking statements expect as may be required by law. SOURCE Tulsa Real Estate Fund Related Links http://www.TulsaRealEstateFund.com Originally created in New Orleans, The Pillowcase Project is a free program inspired by the story of local university students carrying their belongings in pillowcases during Hurricane Katrina evacuations. During the presentation, participants receive a pillowcase to decorate and then take home to use as a personal emergency supplies kit. The curriculum is structured by a Learn, Practice, Share framework. Students learn about the science of a locally relevant hazard and how to best prepare for it. They practice what to do if a disaster occurs and how to cope with related fear and stress. Afterwards, they share the information and skills they have learned with their family and friends so everyone in the household knows what to do. "We are thrilled to reach this milestone of one million youth participating in The Pillowcase Project," said Gail McGovern, President and CEO of the Red Cross. "It's wonderful that so many children have been empowered by this project and now know how to prepare for emergencies and what to do if one occurs. To date, 11 lives have been saved by four students who put into practice what they learned through this vital program." Last year, 9-year-old Camryn Sarnie of Ramona, Oklahoma was startled awake at 3:00 a.m. by a smoke alarm sounding in his home. The sound scared Camryn, but he recognized it and knew that it was alerting him to a fire. He knew that he had less than two minutes to escape, so he quickly woke up his parents, alerted them to the fire and instructed them to evacuate immediately. Camryn saved three lives that morning, including his own, by putting into practice what he learned just a few weeks earlier from The Pillowcase Project presentation at his school. According to Camryn's mother, Lora, "Camryn told us all about what he learned in class after the presentation. Camryn is a true hero." The Red Cross has engaged more than 35,000 volunteers and partnered with more than 13,000 schools, community organizations and partners to deliver this program to students across the country and at more than a dozen U.S. military stations abroad. The Walt Disney Company is the founding sponsor of the program. Additional information about The Pillowcase Project is available at redcross.org/pillowcase. About the American Red Cross The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nation's blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org or cruzrojaamericana.org, or visit us on Twitter at @RedCross. SOURCE American Red Cross Related Links http://www.redcross.org WOBURN, Mass., June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Resolution Development Services Inc, a leading provider of product development services to the medical, life science and consumer markets, today announced a monetary contribution to the Bedford School District. The contribution is in support of the Bedford High School robotics team, Bucs Robotics and their efforts in the Vex Robotics League. Resolution's contribution to the program will be used for by Bucs Robotics for registration and competition fees for both of their teams, as well as the purchase of new control systems for each team. "Through generous contributions from companies like Resolution Development, our program is able to grow," said Sarah Leshay, Science Teacher at Bedford High School. "Our program promotes a welcoming, inclusive environment where older students recruit new freshman to the team. The robotics league allows the students to take risks, try new things, grow and develop problem-solving and critical thinking skills by tackling real problems in a hands-on environment." "We are proud to fully fund Bedford's robotics program for their 2019 season," said Leo Carayannopoulos, CEO of Resolution Development Services. "It is critical for companies to become active participants and invest in the next generation to ensure that our kids can compete in the ever-growing global economy. Resolution is proud to actively support high school robotics programs." To learn more about Bedford High School's robotics programs, visit www.bedfordps.org. About Resolution Development Services: With offices just outside of Boston, Resolution Development Services provides best in class hardware, software, mechanical, machine vision, and systems engineering outsourced services to clients in the United States, Canada, and Asia. Our regulatory compliant quality system makes Resolution the best choice for complex development programs. To learn more about Resolution Development Services offerings, our charitable giving, and other partnerships, visit www.resolutiondev.com. Contact: Leo Carayannopoulos [email protected] SOURCE Resolution Development Services, Inc. Related Links http://www.resolutiondev.com GREEN VALLEY RANCH, Colo., June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Dickey's Barbecue Pit franchisee, Eric Williams, brings his first Dickey's location to Green Valley Ranch in Summer 2018. After spending 21 years in the U.S. Army, Eric retired and worked in the healthcare field until he decided to finally pursue his dream of being a restaurant owner. "At Dickey's, we pride ourselves on being a company that welcomes veterans to become a part of our growing family," says Laura Rea Dickey, CEO of Dickey's Barbecue Restaurants, Inc. "Our franchising model was created so that folks of any walk of life can make their dream of becoming a restaurateur possible and we look forward to seeing Eric's future success with his Dickey's location in Colorado." Originally from the Green Valley Ranch area, Eric looks forward to bringing Dickey's slow-smoked barbecue to the residents of his community. "I have always wanted to own my own restaurant and now seemed like the perfect time and Dickey's was the perfect fit because they allowed me to thrive off my entrepreneurial spirit," says Eric. "Dickey's proven business model and their support for their franchisees makes me excited to open my first location and hopefully more in the future." Find your nearest Dickey's Barbecue Pit location here. About Dickey's Barbecue Restaurants, Inc. Dickey's Barbecue Restaurants, Inc., the nation's largest barbecue chain was founded in 1941 by Travis Dickey. Today, all meats are still slow smoked on-site in each restaurant. The Dallas-based family-run barbecue franchise offers several slow-smoked meats and home style sides with 'No B.S. (Bad Stuff)' included. The fast-casual concept has expanded to more than 550 locations in 45 states. In 2016, Dickey's won first place on Fast Casual's "Top 100 Movers and Shakers" list and in 2018 Dickey's Barbecue Pit made the Top 10. Dickey's Barbecue Pit has also been recognized by Entrepreneur Magazine, Franchise Times, and Nation's Restaurant News. For more information, visit www.dickeys.com. Media Contacts: Callie Head [email protected] Ashley Richardson [email protected] SOURCE Dickey's Barbecue Related Links http://www.dickeys.com VANCOUVER, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - Ritchie Bros. (NYSE and TSX: RBA) has published its May 2018 auction metrics on the Company's website. This information can be accessed at the following link: https://investor.ritchiebros.com/historical-auction-metrics Monthly auction metrics should not be considered indicative of quarterly, annual or future performance. Auction metrics and corporate performance vary considerably month-to-month, due to the number of auctions held each month and seasonal factors. Ritchie Bros.' actual results could differ materially from those implied by this monthly auction disclosure. Investors are encouraged to review Ritchie Bros.' performance on a 12-month rolling or annual basis before making investing decisions. About Ritchie Bros. Established in 1958, Ritchie Bros. (NYSE and TSX: RBA) is a global asset management and disposition company, offering customers end-to-end solutions for buying and selling used heavy equipment, trucks and other assets. Operating in a multitude of sectors, including construction, transportation, agriculture, energy, oil and gas, mining, and forestry, the company's selling channels include: Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers, the world's largest industrial auctioneer offers live auction events with online bidding; IronPlanet, an online marketplace with featured weekly auctions and providing its exclusive IronClad Assurance equipment condition certification; Marketplacee, an online marketplace offering multiple price and timing options; Mascus, a leading European online equipment listing service; and Ritchie Bros. Private Treaty, offering privately negotiated sales. The company also offers sector-specific solutions including GovPlanet, TruckPlanet, Kruse Energy Auctioneers, and Cat auctions, plus equipment financing and leasing through Ritchie Bros. Financial Services. For more information about the unprecedented choice provided by Ritchie Bros., visit RitchieBros.com. SOURCE Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Related Links http://www.rbauction.com LANDSTUHL, Germany, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Service Credit Union and the Armed Forces Financial Network (AFFN) partnered to donate $3,000 to the Landstuhl Fisher House, which provides a home away from home for families of patients receiving medical care at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. The Fisher House program was founded in 1995 to provide free, temporary lodging and support for families of patients receiving medical care at major military and VA medical centers, allowing them to be close to their loved ones during the healing process. Landstuhl, Germany is home to two Fisher House locations, located at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, which serves military personnel and family members stationed in the European Union. It is also the nearest treatment center for wounded soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, and the largest military hospital outside the continental United States. The donation from Service Credit Union and AFFN, an ATM and point-of-sale (POS) network providing the military community with ready access to their funds, will go towards the daily living expenses of military members staying at Fisher House. "The Fisher House program has given much needed support and resources to thousands of families during difficult times. We are honored to work with this fantastic organization to help our armed forces and their loved ones so that they can continue their mission of being a 'home away from home' for the families of our wounded soldiers," said Philip von Streicher, VP-Overseas Operations, Service Credit Union. Service Credit Union has 13 branch locations across military bases in Germany, in addition to locations in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and North Dakota. For more information, visit www.servicecu.org. About Service Credit Union As a dynamic, member-owned, not-for-profit financial cooperative, Service Credit Union is dedicated to offering quality financial services and products. In 1957, the credit union was established to provide affordable credit to the Pease Air Force Base community. Now the largest credit union in New Hampshire, with over $3.4 billion in assets and 50 branch locations in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, North Dakota and Germany, we continue to serve our communities and provide a better future to our members. For more information, visit https://servicecu.org or call toll free 1-800-936-7730 in the U.S. and 00800-4728-2000 internationally. SOURCE Service Credit Union Related Links https://www.servicecu.org Best CEOs for Women Best CEOs for Diversity Best Managers Best Professional Development Best Leadership Team Last week, Sitetracker was also included in Mogul's list of Top 1000 Companies Worldwide for Millennial Women in 2018, solidifying their reputation as an exceptional place for young female leaders to excel in in a predominantly male industry: technology. Sitetracker is proud to offer employees programs such as [email protected], mentor programs, and robust employee education and development. Specifically, the [email protected] program aims to highlight women-specific workplace concerns, as well as develop each female employee into a company leader through open discussions, group activities, mentorship, and employee advocacy. "Great companies are made of exceptional employees who are challenged with meaningful work and guided by clear goals in order to provide value to customers," said Irene Sher, Vice President of Sales at Sitetracker and founder of the [email protected] program. "We couldn't be more proud of this continued recognition." "We're on a mission to develop each and every employee to their fullest potential," said Giuseppe Incitti, CEO of Sitetracker. "It's so energizing to be leading a team of exceptional individuals who are both mission-driven in their support of our customers and excited to be here every day giving their all. It takes exceptional employees to build and bring to market the number one project and asset management platform. Our employees and customers are the cornerstones of our success." About Sitetracker Sitertracker, Inc. empowers innovative organizations to build the smart infrastructure of the future. Created by expert project managers, Sitetracker is the world's first complete platform for managing modern, high-volume distributed capital projects and assets. Innovators use Sitetracker to plan effectively, deploy efficiently, and grow the value of their portfolios. Market leaders in the telecommunications, utilities, smart cities, and alternative energy industries - such as Verizon, SAC Wireless (Nokia), Intersection Media (Alphabet), and Panasonic - rely on Sitetracker to manage over one million sites and projects representing over $12 billion of capital assets in the United States and Europe. For more information, visit www.sitetracker.com. SOURCE Sitetracker Related Links http://www.sitetracker.com SACRAMENTO, Calif., June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Smart Cannabis Corp. (OTC: SCNA) announced today it has signed and received deposits on a multi-phase contract to build-out a turnkey cannabis production park in Salinas, California. The project is legally permitted and is scheduled to break ground next week. The company's new Gutter Connect system is also being launched in connection with this project. The customer had previously purchased eighteen of the company's Quick Deploy greenhouses which were originally slated to be deployed at an alternate location. The new site, however, is much smaller which presented the company and client with a challenge to be able to have the same cultivation space in a smaller footprint. In turn, an opportunity to actually expand the square footage came about by CEO John Taylor developing a new, cutting edge greenhouse system that can retrofit any of the company's existing greenhouses to not only be connected, but increase greenhouse square footage. This new series is called Quick Deploy Gutter Connect. The original Quick Deploy greenhouses sold to the client in 2017 measured 30x96 feet, providing a total cultivation square footage of 51,840 for eighteen (18) units. With fire roads and space between greenhouses, this project required a minimum of 247,000 sqft. of land. Creating the new Quick Deploy Gutter Connect greenhouses exceeds approximately 13,000 sqft. (64,800 sq.ft. total) of grow space as each unit is 31x120 feet. Moreover, this massive cultivation project only sits on an 80,000 sqft. pad. In all, the new product line can retrofit an existing greenhouse and expands grow space while requiring less land space. More information on the project will be shared with the public as it's available. To learn more about the new Gutter Connect Series of greenhouses, please visit: https://smartcannabis.com/greenhouse-models/gutter-connect-series-smart-greenhouse/ Smart Cannabis (OTC PINK: SCNA) is a public equity corporation advancing the agriculture and cannabis industries and growing through acquisition, strategic alliances, and proprietary intellectual property. The company's wholly owned subsidiary, Next Generation Farming Inc., provides turnkey, automated, commercial greenhouses systems that efficiently improve yields and decrease water consumption for cultivators of organic food and cannabis crops. The company websites are http://smartcannabis.com https://sapinvestments.com https://smartcannabis.com/nextgenfarming Disclaimer: The Company relies upon the Safe Harbor Laws of 1933, 1934 and 1995 for all public news releases. The company may make forward-looking public statements concerning its expected future operations, performance and other developments. Such forward-looking statements are estimates that reflect the company's best judgment based upon current information. All investments involve risks and uncertainties, and there can be no assurance that other factors will not affect the accuracy of such forward-looking statements. It is impossible to identify all such factors. Factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those estimated by the company include, but are not limited to, government regulation; managing and maintaining growth; the effect of adverse publicity; litigation; competition; and other factors which may be identified from time to time in the company's public announcements. Contact: Smart Cannabis Corp. Don Smith, Vice President [email protected] (424) 732-7646 SOURCE Smart Cannabis Corp. Related Links http://smartcannabis.com THE WOODLANDS, Texas, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Steve Newby, President and Chief Executive Officer of Summit Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE: SMLP), will be featured in an upcoming podcast interview with Investing with the Buyside, hosted by Nate Abercrombie. The podcast interview, which is expected to be available to the public beginning on June 8, 2018, can be found by accessing the Investors Section on SMLP's website at www.summitmidstream.com, or by accessing the following hyperlink: https://investingwiththebuyside.com/podcasts/. About Summit Midstream Partners, LP SMLP is a growth-oriented limited partnership focused on developing, owning and operating midstream energy infrastructure assets that are strategically located in the core producing areas of unconventional resource basins, primarily shale formations, in the continental United States. SMLP provides natural gas, crude oil and produced water gathering services pursuant to primarily long-term and fee-based gathering and processing agreements with customers and counterparties in five unconventional resource basins: (i) the Appalachian Basin, which includes the Marcellus and Utica shale formations in West Virginia and Ohio; (ii) the Williston Basin, which includes the Bakken and Three Forks shale formations in North Dakota; (iii) the Fort Worth Basin, which includes the Barnett Shale formation in Texas; (iv) the Piceance Basin, which includes the Mesaverde formation as well as the Mancos and Niobrara shale formations in Colorado and Utah; and (v) the Denver-Julesburg Basin, which includes the Niobrara and Codell shale formations in Colorado and Wyoming. SMLP is in the process of developing new gathering and processing infrastructure in a sixth basin, the Delaware Basin, in New Mexico. SMLP also owns substantially all of a 40% ownership interest in Ohio Gathering, which is developing natural gas gathering and condensate stabilization infrastructure in the Utica Shale in Ohio. SMLP is headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas, with regional corporate offices in Denver, Colorado, Atlanta, Georgia, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Dallas, Texas. About Summit Midstream Partners, LLC Summit Midstream Partners, LLC ("Summit Investments") beneficially owns a 35.2% limited partner interest in SMLP and indirectly owns and controls the general partner of SMLP, Summit Midstream GP, LLC, which has sole responsibility for conducting the business and managing the operations of SMLP. Summit Investments is a privately held company controlled by Energy Capital Partners II, LLC, and certain of its affiliates. An affiliate of Energy Capital Partners II, LLC directly owns an 8.1% limited partner interest in SMLP. Forward-Looking Statements This press release includes certain statements concerning expectations for the future that are forward-looking within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements contain known and unknown risks and uncertainties (many of which are difficult to predict and beyond management's control) that may cause SMLP's actual results in future periods to differ materially from anticipated or projected results. An extensive list of specific material risks and uncertainties affecting SMLP is contained in its 2017 Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 26, 2018, and as amended and updated from time to time. Any forward-looking statements in this press release are made as of the date of this press release and SMLP undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect new information or events. SOURCE Summit Midstream Partners, LP Related Links http://www.summitmidstream.com Soul Food Sessions offers dining experiences that feature African American chefs' diverse culinary talents and foster open conversation about challenges in achieving equal opportunity in the food industry. Only 16 percent of chefs in America are African American according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics . Moreover, African Americans account for nearly 14 percent of hourly restaurant employees, but only 9.5 percent of managers. "Our ultimate goal is to ignite a movement that multiplies these numbers," said Chef Michael Bowling, one of the five founders of Soul Food Sessions. "The table will be set for a great meal and conversation at each event. Diversity issues can be difficult to talk about, but food has the power to bring us all together, and important conversations happen around the table. We're convinced that now is the time to make a change for black chefs in America." Coca-Cola Consolidated, the local bottler of Coke products in the four tour cities and the largest independent bottler in the country, is partnering with the organization and its founders to bring the tour to life and elevate Soul Food Sessions' mission. "Our company is passionate about closely partnering with the communities we serve," said Dan Holmes, senior vice president of marketing at Coca-Cola Consolidated. "Sponsoring Soul Food Sessions helps us do that, not only by pairing our Coke products with delicious food, but by also sharing our commitment to education and opportunity." The tour will begin on June 19 in Charlotte and then travel to Washington, D.C., on July 26, Baltimore, Maryland, on July 29 and Charleston, South Carolina, in late October. Soul Food Sessions will partner with an African American chef in each market to develop the menu, host the event and lead the conversation. "We want each event to be impactful based on the individual city's food scene and situation," said Greg Collier, another co-founder. "The best way to do that is to bring in a local expert while also keeping each event authentic to Soul Food Sessions as an organization." In addition to the partnership with local chefs, Soul Food Sessions will grant a minimum of $10,000 in scholarships to culinary students across all four markets. Tickets for the first event in Charlotte are on sale now, and details for the other cities will be announced as they are available. Today, the organization also launched the first episode of "Stories from the Soul," a podcast hosted by Gina Neely, The New York Times best-selling author, television personality and public speaker. "Just like Soul Food Sessions events, Stories from the Soul discusses the challenges at the heart of the organization's mission while also sharing some delicious recipes," Neely said. "I am honored to help tell these chefs' great stories as the host for the series." The podcast will be available on iTunes and SoundCloud. New episodes will be released in advance of each event on the tour. "Our events are purposefully intimate with only 100 tickets available," Bowling said. "We created the podcast as a way for more people to hear the stories of black chefs and the challenges in each city. People who are supportive of our cause can also sign the Table is Set Pledge online to demonstrate their commitment." For more information, visit www.thetableisset.com. About Soul Food Sessions Soul Food Sessions is a nonprofit dedicated to raising awareness and enhancing opportunities for African American chefs, as well as other positions in the restaurant and hospitality industries and beverage services. Founded in 2017 by Chef Jamie Barnes, Chef Michael Bowling, Chef Greg Collier, Subrina Collier, and Chef Jamie Suddoth in Charlotte, North Carolina, the organization hosts pop-up dining experiences that showcase the diverse culinary talents of African American chefs and bring people together to talk about how to create more equal opportunity in the food industry. To date, the team has hosted less than 10 events but donated over $10,000 to other charities. They are also focused on scholarship and mentorship opportunities for African Americans interested in the industries they serve. Through partnerships with culinary schools, they provide mentorship programs to students by allowing them to participate in their events, following up with them about their experiences and providing scholarships to help fund their education. About Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated Coke Consolidated is the largest Coca-Cola bottler in the United States. Our Purpose is to honor God, serve others, pursue excellence and grow profitably. For more than 115 years, we have been deeply committed to the consumers, customers, and communities we serve and passionate about the broad portfolio of beverages and services we offer. We make, sell, and deliver beverages of The Coca-Cola Company and other partner companies in more than 300 brands and flavors to 65 million consumers in territories spanning 14 states and the District of Columbia. More information about the company is available at www.cokeconsolidated.com. Follow Coke Consolidated on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. SOURCE Soul Food Sessions Related Links https://www.soulfoodsessions.org Uveitis as a chronic disease with complex systemic associations and a high risk of vision loss, said a leading doctor, noting that these are rare and complicated diseases require a team approach with relevant deep sub-specialist skills. These are long-term chronic conditions with no cure and so a close working relationship between patient and consultant is essential for successful treatment and management to ensure against vision loss and maintain long-term vision stability. Without specialists in the UAE, these patients would need to go overseas for management, added Dr Avinash Gurbaxani, consultant ophthalmic surgeon in Uveitis and Medical Retinal Diseases and Cataract Surgery at Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai (MEHD) is the first overseas branch of Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Uveitis is a complex eye disease that causes around 1 in 6 of all sight loss cases in patients around the world of all ages including children; treatment and management demands a very high level of sub specialist expertise that is rarely found even in the UAE, with its strong public and private healthcare sectors. As more complex eye diseases become more common in the UAE, Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai is advising patients to seek local specialist advice and treatment as early as possible to delay the onset of any potential vision loss caused by complex eye diseases. Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai sees on average two new patients with Uveitis every week and it takes the combined specialist skills and experience of the hospitals consulting team to treat and manage each case. Uveitis is typical of a range of complex diseases, such as Diabetic Retinopathy, that are increasingly seen in the UAE and demand the highest levels of skills without this local expertise, patients would need to go overseas for management. Patients also need to seek early advice or risk losing their vision. Uveitis is an example of a complex disease that needs a high level of subspecialist skill that is rare in the UAE. Uveitis is a general term describing a group of inflammatory diseases that produces swelling and destroys eye tissues, reducing vision or leading to severe vision loss. These diseases often affect a part of the eye called the uvea - the middle layer of the eye, which contains many of the eyes blood vessels. Uveitis disrupts vision by primarily causing problems with the lens, retina, optic nerve, and vitreous. It primarily affects people between 20 and 60 years old. A 42-year old Indian expatriate currently living in Dubai, had consulted eight eye doctors over two years before Moorfields was able to start planned treatment for her Uveitis, which had been poorly managed until she visited Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai. This meant that her eyes were in poor condition and her vision limited to silhouettes and she used a magnifying glass to read. She had also undergone unnecessary cataract surgery overseas. Dr Avinash said: Manuella had lost a significant amount of vision which could have been prevented if she had seen a Uveitis doctor at the early stage of the disease. Treating Uveitis takes a multidisciplinary team approach and this includes a rheumatologist and haematologist and so seeking specialist support is essential. The good news is that - with the right professional support - Uveitis patients in the UAE can lead a normal life and there are now many new treatment options available here, for example with biologic drugs, so they can stay close to home. TradeArabia News Service CHICAGO, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- President Chad Hutson, Executive Creative Director Jason White and their colleagues at specialized creative agency Leviathan are very proud to announce the addition of Executive Producer Luvy Delgado, Creative Director Pedro Andres Sanchez and Senior Motion Designer Krzysztof Pianko. Delgado joins Leviathan from Ayzenberg Group in Los Angeles, where she spent two years as director of digital products, working on award-winning AR, VR and MR projects for clients including Facebook, Netflix and Microsoft. Prior to that, she led five back-to-back global brand launches for The CDM Group in New York, where she was the lead integrated project manager who also helped to lead the group's LA operation. A highly accomplished illustrator and producer, Delgado's experience spans all facets of creative and production development for cutting-edge integrated campaign development. An award-winning creative director and technologist with more than 15 years of experience, Sanchez is widely known for his design expertise leveraging technology for groundbreaking user experiences. As a leader and multidisciplinary team-member, Sanchez has played integral roles in hundreds of interactive projects for brands such as Coca-Cola, ESPN, IBM, Target and Verizon, to name but a few. Formerly senior vice president of creative technology at Monster Media leading the Creative and Software Engineering departments, Sanchez helped pioneer the interactive out-of-home space with some of the first interactive storefronts deployed in North America and the U.K. Originally from NYC, Pianko has spent the past sixteen years honing his skills as a leading freelance designer, animator, and art director, working for many of the world's top design and VFX companies, including Leviathan. Passionate about the marriage of design and technology, and the mathematics that drive and beautify the moving image, Pianko's work features awe-inspiring creations for the likes of Amazon, Audi, Intel, Lexus, MTV, Nike, and Sony. Hutson and White added, "With the types of projects Leviathan seeks out, finding the specific talents we require and the right personalities can be challenging. The additions of Luvy, Pedro and Krzys not only meet our unique criteria, they elevate our capabilities for our clients. With their help, we are changing our game in exciting new ways." To learn more about Leviathan, please visit http://lvthn.com. About Leviathan Leviathan (http://www.lvthn.com) is a specialized creative agency working at the nexus of design, digital media, and interaction. By bringing phenomenal narrative content and emerging technologies into physical environments, Leviathan transforms ideas into exceptional experiences for brands and creative collaborators worldwide. Established in 2010, Leviathan's innovation has been recognized by top-tier publications including Communication Arts, The Creators Project, Fast Company, Forbes, The Verge and Wired, among many others. NOTE TO EDITORS: Image to accompany this story available here: http://darnellworks.com/lvthn/staff18.htm SOURCE Leviathan Design LLC Related Links http://www.lvthn.com This year's Purple Eagle honouree is 10-year-old Mya, the granddaughter of 24-year FedEx team member Susie Rounds. Mya, who is undergoing treatment for sickle cell disease at St. Jude, was honored yesterday at an unveiling ceremony at TPC Southwind, home of the 61 st Annual FedEx St. Jude Classic. The cargo plane, bearing the St. Jude logo, will be on display throughout the tournament and Mya's name will travel along the North Central region of the United States as a permanent fixture on the FedEx Cessna Caravan at the conclusion of the FedEx St. Jude Classic. "The Purple Eagle program is a special way for FedEx to honor a St. Jude patient who is the child or grandchild of a FedEx team member and bring attention to the life-saving work being done by the hospital every day," said Bill West, Jr., Vice President of Supplemental Air Operations for FedEx Express. "It's been a privilege getting to know Mya and learn about her inspirational story, and we're honored to add her name to our Purple Eagle fleet." "Mya was ecstatic when she learned that FedEx was naming the Purple Eagle plane after her," said Susie Rounds. "We are so thankful for the care she has received at St. Jude and appreciate all that they do in helping families like ours overcome this disease. Sickle cell disease has been a research and treatment priority at St. Jude dating back to the founding of the hospital in 1962. Today, St. Jude has one of the largest pediatric sickle cell programs in the country with more than 850 patients, and will support World Sickle Cell Awareness Day on June 19 to help increase public knowledge and raise awareness about sickle cell disease. "Thank you to FedEx and its employees for providing this unique opportunity to honor Mya, who represents all of the patients at St. Jude who are courageously battling life threatening diseases like sickle cell disease and cancer," said Richard Shadyac Jr., President and CEO of ALSAC, the fundraising and awareness organization for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. "FedEx employees have whole-heartedly embraced the lifesaving mission of St. Jude and are helping us raise the critical funds and awareness to find cures for some of the world's sickest children." FedEx first became the title sponsor of the FedEx St. Jude Classic in 1986. The tournament has raised more than $38 million for St. Jude since 1970, when the hospital became the sole beneficiary. Because of dedicated supporters like FedEx, families never receive a bill for treatment, travel, housing or foodbecause St. Jude believes that all a family should worry about is helping their child live. About FedEx Express FedEx Express is the world's largest express transportation company, providing fast and reliable delivery to more than 220 countries and territories. FedEx Express uses a global air-and-ground network to speed delivery of time-sensitive shipments, by a definite time and date with a money-back guarantee. About FedEx Corp. FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) provides customers and businesses worldwide with a broad portfolio of transportation, e-commerce and business services. With annual revenues of $64 billion, the company offers integrated business applications through operating companies competing collectively and managed collaboratively, under the respected FedEx brand. Consistently ranked among the world's most admired and trusted employers, FedEx inspires its more than 425,000 team members to remain "absolutely, positively" focused on safety, the highest ethical and professional standards and the needs of their customers and communities. To learn more about how FedEx connects people and possibilities around the world, please visit about.fedex.com. About St. Jude Children's Research Hospital St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is leading the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Its purpose is clear: Finding cures. Saving children. It is the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center devoted solely to children. Treatments invented at St. Jude have helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20 percent to more than 80 percent since the hospital opened more than 50 years ago. St. Jude won't stop until no child dies from cancer. St. Jude freely shares the discoveries it makes, and every child saved at St. Jude means doctors and scientists worldwide can use that knowledge to save thousands more children. Families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food because all a family should worry about is helping their child live. Join the St. Jude mission by visiting stjude.org, liking St. Jude on Facebook (facebook.com/stjude), following St. Jude on Twitter (@stjude) and subscribing to its YouTube channel (youtube.com/user/MyStJude). SOURCE St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Related Links http://www.stjude.org MALVERN, Pa., June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- TELA Bio, Inc., a surgical reconstruction company leading the development and commercialization of OviTex Reinforced BioScaffolds (RBSs) for soft tissue repair, today announced that early outcomes from the company's post-market BRAVO (BioScaffold Reconstruction of Abdominal wall and Ventral hernia defects with Open or laparoscopic repair) study evaluating OviTex 1S Permanent for the treatment of ventral hernias are being presented at the 2018 Abdominal Wall Reconstruction Conference taking place June 7 9 at the Grand Hyatt Washington in Washington, DC. In the single-arm, prospective BRAVO study, investigators are monitoring the incidence of early post-operative surgical site occurrences (SSOs) or wound-related events occurring at the hernia repair site, complications, and recurrences, as well as conducting quality of life and satisfaction assessments. The initial data presented includes the first 24 patients who reached 90 day follow-up in the study. Seven patients experienced SSOs that were related to the type of surgical procedure performed, however none required surgery or removal of implant, and resolved at the time of analysis. To date, no subject has experienced a recurrence. The patient and surgeon satisfaction with the hernia repair are high. "Our first analysis of prospective data from the BRAVO study suggests that OviTex is at least as effective as other biologic or resorbable implants," said principal investigator George DeNoto III, MD, FACS, director of general surgery at St. Francis Hospital in New York. "We look forward to continuing follow-up with patients in this important study evaluating a novel surgical implant." TELA Bio first commercialized OviTex RBSs in July 2016. They are a distinct class of surgical implants that integrate biologic and synthetic materials in a unique embroidered construction that allows movement of fluid and cells through the construct. Over 2,000 implantations have been completed to date in a wide range of hernia procedures using a variety of surgical techniques. "We are committed to continuously study and evaluate our portfolio of next generation products for soft tissue repair and help achieve improved patient care and surgical outcomes while reducing costs," said Maarten Persenaire, MD, CMO of TELA Bio. "The initial results from our post-market study are in line with the enthusiastic and nuanced feedback we are receiving from surgeons who already have implemented the use of OviTex in hernia repair procedures across the U.S." About TELA Bio, Inc. TELA Bio, Inc. is a privately-owned company focused on bringing innovative, cost-effective, surgical reconstruction solutions to surgeons, hospitals and patients. The company's OviTex Reinforced BioScaffolds (RBSs) products, designed for hernia repair and abdominal wall reconstruction procedures, integrate polymer and biologic materials in a uniquely embroidered construction using novel engineering design principles. The OviTex portfolio is supported by high-quality, data-driven science and extensive pre-clinical research that has consistently demonstrated the advantages of an RBS over commercially available products. OviTex RBSs are commercially available in the U.S., and TELA Bio plans to launch OviTex RBSs in the European Union. The company is collaborating with leading surgeons to drive rapid product development and establish TELA Bio as a leader in surgical reconstruction. To learn more about TELA Bio visit http://www.telabio.com. About OviTex Reinforced BioScaffolds OviTex Reinforced BioScaffolds (RBSs) are intended for use as a surgical mesh to reinforce and/or repair soft tissue where weakness exists. Indications for use include the repair of hernias and/or abdominal wall defects that require the use of reinforcing or bridging material to obtain the desired surgical outcome. Do not use OviTex RBSs in patients known to be sensitive to materials of ovine (sheep) origin. For additional important safety information, please see the OviTex RBSs Instructions for Use. The statements made or results achieved by TELA Bio customers described herein were achieved in their specific setting. Due to variations in clinical experience and technique, there is no guarantee that these results are typical. Bench testing may not be indicative of clinical performance. Caution: Federal (US) law restricts this device to sale by or on order of a physician. TELA Bio, Inc. owns or has applied for the following trademarks or service marks: OviTex, TELA Bio. Media contact Adam Daley Berry & Company Public Relations 212-253-8881 [email protected] SOURCE TELA Bio, Inc. Related Links http://www.telabio.com RESTON, Va., June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- TeraThink, an information technology and management consulting firm, has completed an asset purchase agreement to support the Defense Logistics Agency's J6 Enterprise Technology Services (JETS) contract vehicle from a third-party. The multiple-award firm-fixed-price quantity contract has a five-year base period of performance, one three-year option, and a total contract ceiling of up to $6 billion including the option period. The DLA has purchased over $500M in IT services through the vehicle since March 2017. The DLA is the Department of Defense's combat logistics support agency, providing worldwide logistics support in both peacetime and wartime to the military services as well as several civilian agencies and foreign countries. The DLA JETS program offers DLA a consolidated vehicle for all of its enterprise information technology needs, including development, sustainment, and modernization of applications, infrastructure, hardware, software, and systems. TeraThink will compete for task orders related to 21 Task Areas ranging from network and technology services, to application development and sustainment, including information assurance and cybersecurity, systems engineering and enterprise architecture support, and other technology and program support services under the contract. "TeraThink believes our Digital Transformation, Enterprise Applications and Information Management capabilities are a great fit for DLA's needs, and clearly align to the recently released 2018-2026 DLA Strategic Plan," said TeraThink's CEO, Dan Maguire. "TeraThink welcomes the opportunity to assist DLA Information Operations (J6) in realization of its vision of a 'global presence, agile and innovative, and focused on the warfighter first.' We look forward to expanding on over ten years of exemplary mission support to DLA through the acquisition of this vehicle." Work under the vehicle will take place at DLA installations worldwide, including Columbus, OH, Philadelphia and New Cumberland, PA, Richmond, VA, Battle Creek, MI, Ogden, UT, Honolulu, HI, and Kaiserslautern, GE, as well as the National Capital Region. About TeraThink TeraThink has celebrated over 15 years of successful delivery of innovative and transformative consulting services to the Federal Government. We specialize in information technology and management consulting that has a purpose and makes a difference. Our teams are focused on providing exceptional service and solving our clients' toughest challenges. We lead with an agile approach focused on collaboration, reducing complexity, and delivering early successes. This allows our clients to focus on their future knowing that their present is secure. Our solutions work together to provide our clients everything they need to transform into an effective, digital organization. For more information, visit www.terathink.com. CONTACT: Susan Naugle, 800-407-8580 SOURCE TeraThink Related Links http://www.terathink.com LONDON and NEW YORK, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- ICIS Chemical Business magazine is pleased to present its 9th annual ICIS Top 100 Chemical Distributors listing. This year's global listing is ranked by 2017 sales. (Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/619935/ICIS_Logo.jpg ) The ICIS Top 100 Chemical Distributors ranking, which appeared in the June 1, 2018 issue of ICIS Chemical Business, is available for download at http://www.icis.com/pages/icis-top-100-chemical-distributors/ This unique listing has been compiled with the support of our valued partners the US-based National Association of Chemical Distributors (NACD) http://www.nacd.com, the European Association of Chemical Distributors (Fecc) http://www.fecc.org, Associquim (Brazilian Association of Chemical and Petrochemical Distributors) http://www.associquim.org.br, Responsible Distribution Canada (RDC) http://www.rdcanada.ca, and the UK-based Chemical Business Association (CBA) http://www.chemical.org.uk. While branded the ICIS Top 100 Chemical Distributors, this comprehensive global listing includes a total of more than 250 companies a diverse group that can serve the needs of customers and suppliers across the supply chain. "It's not all about size. A number of distributors continue to grow larger through M&A, actively seeking to consolidate and build scale. However, there are plenty of smaller companies in specialised areas serving local markets that generate healthy profits and growth," said Joseph Chang, global editor of ICIS Chemical Business. The ICIS Top 100 Chemical Distributors also ranks leaders in key geographies such as North America, Europe, Asia, Latin America and Middle East & Africa based on sales in those regions. In the ICIS Top 100 Chemical Distributors listing, Germany-based Brenntag maintains its #1 position with $14.0bn in sales, followed by US-based Univar with $8.3bn in revenues. US-based Tricon Energy comes in at #3 with $6.6bn in sales followed by Germany-based Helm at #4 with sales of $4.9bn. US-based Nexeo Solutions clocks in at #5, with sales of $3.6bn. Currency conversions to US dollars for the ranking were based on year-end 2017 exchange rates. About ICIS ICIS Chemical Business is part of ICIS. ICIS is the world's largest petrochemical market information provider, with divisions spanning energy and fertilizers. Our aim is to give companies in global commodities markets a competitive advantage by delivering valuable information and analytics tools which enable our customers to identify and react to opportunities in markets which are constantly evolving. We have more than 30 years' of experience in providing pricing intelligence and news, forecast data, market analytics and independent consulting to buyers, sellers and analysts. With a global staff of more than 600, ICIS has employees based in London, Houston, New York, Singapore, Dubai, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Mumbai, Tokyo, Karlsruhe, and Milan. ICIS' team of journalists is engaged in reporting market prices and news, and ICIS is fully committed to upholding the highest journalistic principles of verification, corroboration and authentication. ICIS has a compliance framework that along with its methodologies and business processes adheres to the requirements of the IOSCO PRA Principles. ICIS is a division of Reed Business Information, part of RELX Group. About Reed Business Information Reed Business Information provides information, analytics and data to business professionals worldwide. Our strong global products and services hold market-leading positions across a wide range of industry sectors including banking, petrochemicals and aviation, where we help customers make key strategic decisions every day. RBI is part of RELX Group, a global provider of information and analytics for professional customers across industries. http://www.reedbusiness.com About RELX Group RELX Group is a global provider of information and analytics for professional and business customers across industries. The Group serves customers in more than 180 countries and has offices in about 40 countries. It employs approximately 30,000 people, of whom almost half are in North America. RELX PLC is a London listed holding company which owns 52.9% of RELX Group. RELX NV is an Amsterdam listed holding company which owns 47.1% of RELX Group. The shares are traded on the London, Amsterdam and New York Stock Exchanges using the following ticker symbols: London: REL; Amsterdam: REN; New York: RELX and RENX. The total market capitalisation is approximately 32.8bn/37.6bn/43.9bn. http://www.relx.com Media Contact For editorial enquiries, contact: Joseph Chang Global Editor ICIS Chemical Business T: +1-212-791-4224 [email protected] SOURCE ICIS WASHINGTON, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) results, released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), show that after an encouraging decline from 2015 to 2016, progress has stalled and youth tobacco use rates remain virtually unchanged in all categories from 2016 to 2017. Among high school students, there were minor declines in cigarette use (7.6 percent; -.4pp versus 2016) offset by slight increases in e-cigarette (11.7 percent; +.4pp versus 2016) use. Cigar usage among high school students was unchanged (7.7 percent) and is now nearly equal to cigarette use. While these numbers are much lower than they were five years ago, the lack of continued progress in 2016 is frustrating and worrying. The rates may be stagnating due to the proliferation of new and novel tobacco products that appeal to youth. According to the 2017 NYTS data, 3.6 million middle and high school students currently use tobacco products. Among those users, nearly half (46.8 percent) of high school and (41.8 percent) of middle school students report use of two or more tobacco products. The data also suggest we are right to be concerned about youth e-cigarette use. E-cigarette use among high school students remained flat this year with 2.1 million students (11.7 percent of high school students and 3.3 percent of middle school students) reporting past 30-day use. The recent increase in the popularity of JUUL among youth, which delivers high doses of nicotine, is certainly a worry for the future as the 2017 survey likely did not fully capture JUUL use and the product's sales have surged since this survey was completed. The lack of political will to implement policies we know drive down youth tobacco use are also likely contributors to this year's disappointing results: No progress on taxes: tax rates in the states with the highest youth smoking prevalence average half of that in the rest of the nation. Recent disappointing failures to raise cigarette taxes in Indiana and Mississippi highlight this concern. and highlight this concern. Continued proliferation of flavors: flavors play a significant role in drawing youth and young adults to try and use tobacco. These products come in an array of candy and fruit flavors, with some even appropriating branding from products such as Thin Mints, Reddi-wip and Sour Patch Kids. Slow progress on Tobacco 21: despite the promise of Tobacco 21 laws, there are currently only five states that have adopted laws, with an Illinois measure awaiting the governor's signature. Unfortunately, as demonstrated in our "Tobacco Nation" report, huge portions of the country remain unprotected by these proven policies, and the tobacco industry, despite its current posturing as an advocate for "reduced harm" or a "smoke free world," has fought these measures at every turn R.J. Reynolds' recent $12 million failed effort to defeat San Francisco's ban on flavored tobacco products being the most recent example. Today's report only emphasizes the need to bring more of these proven policies to all Americans. While the public education efforts from truth, the CDC and the FDA have all been proven effective, they cannot fully do their job when countervailing influences offset that effectiveness. We can't take our foot off the gas when it comes to fighting against this epidemic that kills 540,000 Americans every year and an industry that continues to spend more than $9 billion to market their deadly products. About Truth Initiative Truth Initiative is a national public health organization that is inspiring tobacco-free lives and building a culture where all youth and young adults reject tobacco. The truth about tobacco and the tobacco industry are at the heart of our proven-effective and nationally recognized truth public-education campaign, our rigorous and scientific research and policy studies, and our innovative community and youth engagement programs supporting populations at high risk of using tobacco. The Washington, D.C., -based organization, formerly known as Legacy, was established and funded through the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between attorneys general from 46 states, five U.S. territories and the tobacco industry. To learn more about how Truth Initiative speaks, seeks and spreads the truth about tobacco, visit truthinitiative.org. SOURCE Truth Initiative Related Links https://truthinitiative.org Mr. Scott A. Lewis, Chief Visionary Officer of Jeunesse Global, an international multi-level marketing company, said that the company will organise the Jeunesse Expo World Tour 2018 in Thailand this year. The event, which will be held under the theme "Thrive", is to take place in Bangkok during 20-23 September 2018 at the IMPACT Arena and Hall 1-2 IMPACT Exhibition and Convention Center. This event is the annual celebration for Jeunesse Corporate and Jeunesse Distributors to revel in the spirit of our joint accomplishments. With more than 12,000 attendees from the Asia Pacific Region and India, the Jeunesse Expo World Tour 2018 will be a key platform that gives our distributors opportunities to get an update on the Year 2019 marketing trends, key business-building tactics, and learn about our new products. In addition, it provides an interactive platform in a high-energy environment which will inspire distributors and strengthen their business networks. "Jeunesse Global is rapidly growing in the Asia Pacific countries. We are experiencing a tremendous growth which is almost 100% increase in every market. With the fact that Thailand recorded the highest growth in the region and the country is the first market that we launched our intensive marketing campaigns, we choose Thailand as the venue for our annual convention in the Asia Pacific for the 2nd consecutive year. With the incentive and in-kind supports from TCEB, we are confident that the Jeunesse Expo World Tour 2018 in Thailand will be a memorable and endearing success," said Mr. Scott A. Lewis. Mr. Chiruit Isarangkun Na Ayuthaya, President of TCEB, said, "TCEB is pleased to welcome these top incentive events to Thailand. All of the attendees are top distributors, they are all champions. By having these top distributors to convene and develop the business strategies in Thailand, it will undoubtedly benefit their Thai members and the country's direct selling industry. In the same time, these events will promote and emphasise the awareness of Thailand's MICE industry as well." In the fiscal year 2017, Thailand welcomed 1,276,411 MICE travellers which generated 104.64 billion baht of revenue to the country. Of these figures, 259,901 were travellers who joined conventions in Thailand and generated 24 billion baht in revenue. Meanwhile, 271,793 were incentive travellers and helped contribute 16 billion baht in revenue. Thailand's top five incentive markets are China, India, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia respectively. "With TCEB's continuous campaigns and the strong awareness of Thailand as a business and leisure destination, TCEB foresees that Thailand will welcome 285,000 incentive travellers which generate 23 billion baht in revenue to the country by the end of the fiscal year 2018", said Mr. Chiruit. Having these top MLM's events to take place in Thailand helps to emphasise the country's position as the destination for global incentive events. They give opportunities for Thailand's MICE industry to showcase the capability to the event's hosts, international delegates, and organisers which will also increase a chance for the country to be re-selected as the host venue for their future events. The upcoming incentive events which will take place in Thailand this year are: the Herbalife North Asia Extravaganza 2018 with 10,000 attendees which will be held 7-10 June at the IMPACT Exhibition and Convention Center; the 2018 JM Top Incentive Seminar Thailand with 3,500 attendees which will be held during 6-10 May in Pattaya; the Yofoto's seminar with 4,000 attendees which will be held during 4-10 June in Bangkok and Pattaya; and the Infinitus's seminar with 10,000 attendees which will be held during 6-16 June in Bangkok and Pattaya. It is expected that there will be more than 40,000 delegates who join the incentive events in Thailand this year. Contact details For further information, please contact: Corporate Communications Department, Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (Public Organization), www.tceb.or.th SOURCE Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) Related Links http://www.tceb.or.th Mr. Kuwamura first joined Canon, Inc. in 1980 and has held a number of positions within the organization in Japan, Canada, and the United States. During his time at Canon U.S.A. Inc., he was responsible for overseeing the Oce integration into Canon Solutions America in 2013 and, most recently advocating the "One Canon" approach to customers. Effective immediately, Mr. Shinichi Yoshida has been named his successor as Executive Vice President and General Manager, Business Imaging Solutions Group (BISG) and Vice Chairman, Canon Solutions America, Inc. In addition, Mr. Joe Adachi will assume the role as Chairman and CEO, Canon Solutions America, Inc. "I want to thank Mr. Kuwamura for his years of service, strong leadership and dedication to Canon and I wish him luck in his retirement," said Joe Adachi, chairman and CEO, Canon U.S.A., Inc. "It is with great pleasure that I welcome back Mr. Shinichi Yoshida who spent more than 23 years with Canon U.S.A. and I look forward to having him on my management team as we continue to position BISG for future growth." Mr. Shinichi Yoshida joined Canon Inc. in 1983, and has worked at Canon Europe, Canon Virginia, Canon U.S.A. and most recently as Executive Vice President/GM at Canon Canada. His successor will be Mr. Nobuhiko Kitajima as Executive Vice President/GM, Imaging Systems Group and Professional Printing Solutions Group, Canon Canada. Mr. Kitajima joined Canon Inc. in 1981 and has had various assignments at Canon Inc., Canon Europe and Canon U.S.A. throughout his career. Mr. Kitajima was promoted to Vice President and General Manager, Marketing, Business Imaging Solutions Group, Canon U.S.A. in July 2016. "I thank Mr. Kitajima for his successes with Canon U.S.A. and I wish him good luck in Canada," comments Mr. Adachi. For more information on Canon U.S.A., please visit. www.usa.canon.com. About Canon U.S.A., Inc. Canon U.S.A., Inc., is a leading provider of consumer, business-to-business, and industrial digital imaging solutions to the United States and to Latin America and the Caribbean markets. With approximately $36 billion in global revenue, its parent company, Canon Inc. (NYSE: CAJ), ranks third overall in U.S. patents granted in 2017 and is one of Fortune Magazine's World's Most Admired Companies in 2018. Canon U.S.A. is committed to the highest level of customer satisfaction and loyalty, providing 100 percent U.S.-based service and support for all of the products it distributes in the United States. Canon U.S.A. is dedicated to its Kyosei philosophy of social and environmental responsibility. In 2014, the Canon Americas Headquarters secured LEED Gold certification, a recognition for the design, construction, operations and maintenance of high-performance green buildings. To keep apprised of the latest news from Canon U.S.A., sign up for the Company's RSS news feed by visiting www.usa.canon.com/rss and follow us on Twitter @CanonUSA. For media inquiries, please contact [email protected]. Based on weekly patent counts issued by United States Patent and Trademark Office. SOURCE Canon U.S.A., Inc. Related Links http://www.usa.canon.com SANTA CLARA, California, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Trianz , a global digital transformation consulting and technology services firm, has appointed Rollen Roberson as Vice President for Client Relations. An integrated cloud platforms and next-gen applications expert, Rollen will be based out of Trianz' Silicon Valley (California, US) office. Trianz has built a portfolio of services and ecosystem engineered with focus on Digital Evolutions, and Rollen will play a key role in enabling client leaders drive the transformations. (Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/452308/PRNE_TrianzUpdated_Logo.jpg ) Rollen brings extensive experience in successfully guiding cross-functional IT development and consulting teams in planning, redesigning, and introducing cutting-edge digital and business solutions. He specializes in leading the development of new technologies by integrating data, machine learning, and enhanced user experience(s) while guiding cultural change through DevOps principles and practices. Prior to joining Trianz, Rollen was with Presidio, a technology solutions firm. This was preceded by an association with Sequoia Worldwide, a California-based start-up focused on cloud consulting, and eight years with Accenture in its Infrastructure and, later, Cloud and Infrastructure practice handling US-wide and global responsibilities. Earlier in his career, Rollen has served in the US Army in the 82nd Airborne Division. Rollen is a Computer Science graduate from Saint Louis University (Missouri, US), and has earned his Masters in International Business from the same institution. Speaking on the development, Sri Manchala, Founder/President and CEO of Trianz, said, "We are very happy to welcome Rollen to the Trianz family. With him on board, we are certain the key client partnerships will scale up significantly by helping our clients across industries achieve their most strategic growth goals." "I am very pleased and honored to join the Trianz team. Our industry is in a very complex and exciting period, and clients need seasoned digital expertise such as those from Trianz," Rollen said in a statement. "I once heard that 'the future depends on what you do today.' I believe this to be true, and Trianz exemplifies this belief through action and client commitment," he added. About Trianz Trianz simplifies digital evolutions through effective strategies and excellence in execution. Collaborating with business and technology leaders, we help formulate and execute operational strategies to achieve intended business outcomes by bringing the best of consulting, technology experiences and execution models. Powered by knowledge, research, and perspectives, we enable clients to transition to a digital enterprise by leveraging Cloud, Analytics, Digital, Infrastructure and Security paradigms. With offices in Silicon Valley, Washington DC Metro, Rosemont, Chicago, Austin, Boston, Denver, Irvine, Raleigh, San Francisco, Seattle, New York, Dubai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai, we serve Fortune 1000 and emerging organizations across industries globally. For more information, visit http://www.trianz.com. Trianz Media Team [email protected] +1-408-387-5800 SOURCE Trianz Dubai Carbon Centre of Excellence (DCCE) recently honoured Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, UAEs Minister of Climate Change and Environment, with a framed copy of The Sustainabilist magazine to acknowledge his contribution to achieving the UAEs sustainable development goals (SDGs). The Sustainabilist is Dubai Carbons flagship monthly magazine showcasing best in class sustainability pioneers and leaders within the region to stakeholders, investors, their peers and all interested parties. The magazine is designed to educate, stimulate and encourage readers to invest in a sustainable future and is the most widely read green economy publication in the region, said a statement from DCCE. Dr Al Zeyoudi led the development of the National Climate Change Plan of the UAE 2017-2050; he spearheaded the establishment of the Emirates Committee for Sustainable Environment Research; and also facilitated several productive collaborations with the private sector and implemented multiple initiatives to support climate change policies in the UAE. All these achievements were highlighted in The Sustainabilist, it stated. On the top honour, Dr Al Zeyoudi said: "I deeply appreciate this recognition. Raising awareness on best practices and trends in the field of sustainability is crucial to sustainable development in the UAE." "Dubai Carbons The Sustainabilist plays an instrumental role in achieving this priority. I extend my sincere gratitude to the people behind the magazine for their commitment to consolidating knowledge across the UAE to facilitate the countrys transition to a low-carbon, green economy," he added. Ivano Iannelli, chief executive officer, DCCE, said: The UAE has taken a global lead in developing as a sustainable country, and this requires not just technical solutions but a holistic approach. The commitment, passion and vision of Al Zeyoudi have helped increase awareness of the economic and environmental benefits of sustainable practices across the seven emirates, he said. Iannelli continued: Dr Al Zeyoudi is a prime example of a leader who inspires through words as well as actions. He is a role model for all countries striving to develop more sustainably. The officials commitment to the resolution of global sustainability issues has resulted in identifying innovative, practical solutions for sustainable growth, inspiring members of government and other organisations to follow suit, he added.-TradeArabia News Service SAN DIEGO, June 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- UE.co, a leader in the digital marketing and software as a service industries, announced today that The San Diego Business Journal named it one of San Diego's best places to work. This award recognizes UE.co's contributions to the San Diego Community. The UE.co team at their headquarters in San Diego, California. (PRNewsfoto/UE.co) The San Diego's Best Place to Work Program was designed to identify, recognize, and honor San Diego's best employers. Among the strict requirements for participation in the awards program, companies must have a facility in San Diego and have been in business for at least one year. UE.co is headquartered in San Diego and was founded in 2008. The UE.co team enjoys perks and benefits like volunteer opportunities, waived pet adoption fees, monthly cultural events, free downtown parking, and healthy breakfasts and lunches. The company is also extremely active in the San Diego community, volunteering for Special Olympics San Diego, Meals on Wheels, GiGi's Playhouse, and more. Regarding career and skill development, employees have access to leadership development and continual training to help develop their careers within the organization. "It's an honor to be recognized by San Diego Business Journal for our commitment to creating a work environment that promotes both business and personal employee development," said CEO, Founder Jason Kulpa. "The UE.co People operations team works tirelessly to ensure a positive company culture that the team is proud to be apart of, and this award proves their work is paying off." An awards ceremony celebrating the winning companies of the Best Places to Work will take place on Sept. 20 at the Westin San Diego Gaslamp Quarter. A dedicated issue of the San Diego Business Journal that profiles the companies selected as the Best Places to Work in San Diego is scheduled to be published on Oct. 1. Companies from across the county entered the two-part survey process to determine the Best Places to Work in San Diego. The first part of the survey evaluated each nominated company's workplace policies, practices, philosophy, systems, and demographics. The second part consisted of an employee survey measuring the employee experience. The combined scores determined the top companies and the final ranking. Best Companies Group managed the overall registration and survey process, analyzed the data, and concluded the final rankings. For more information on the Best Places to Work in San Diego program, visit http://www.BestPlacestoWorkSD.com. About UE.co: UE.co is a San Diego based provider of software platforms, digital marketing services, and customer acquisition solutions. The platforms are custom built for companies looking to manage their consumer data better. UE.co has been recognized as an Inc. Fastest Growing Company, and is a Certified Great Place to Work, and was previously known as Underground Elephant. Contact Info: Laura Donaldson UE.co [email protected] SOURCE UE.co Related Links https://UE.co Volunteers gave time and resources throughout the entire school year to help the elementary school. "We believe in education for all, and are working in our local community to support the UN Sustainable Development Goal of inclusive and equitable quality education for all," said Jana Mathieson, senior communications and community relations manager for Bridgepoint. "By partnering with Valverde, we provide resources to children in Denver Public Schools who might not have them otherwise. In return, our employees have the opportunity to bond with students and make a positive difference in our community." At the start the school year in August, 2017, employees donated school supplies for students and classrooms. University of the Rockies donated money for school uniforms for students. Throughout the year, employees volunteered time to support two literacy programs, Power Lunch and TutorMate. Bridgepoint Education also provided books to students via Book Trust, giving students books they could keep each month. During the fall holidays, employees participated in a Thanksgiving food drive, providing full meals for more than twenty families at Valverde. During winter break, employees adopted families and gave gifts to move than 150 family members. In April, employees participated in a school beautification project while University of the Rockies, Ashford University, and Bridgepoint Education donated money to the school to cover the cost of the beautification supplies. The year of service wrapped up with a party for the students in the Power Lunch and TutorMate programs, where they could have fun with their reading buddies while also enjoying literacy activities. This is the second year University of the Rockies has partnered with Valverde Elementary School specifically for a year of service. University of the Rockies, Ashford University and Bridgepoint Education plan to continue the partnership with Valverde Elementary School next school year. About University of the Rockies University of the Rockies is a leading graduate school of the social and behavioral sciences that offers programs for students seeking their PhD, PsyD, or Master of Arts degree. Based in Denver, Colo., the University provides students with the convenience of an online education. While working toward a degree from anywhere in the country, students enjoy access to industry professionals, research, and publishing opportunities. For more information, please visit www.rockies.edu/, www.twitter.com/URockies, www.facebook.com/UniversityoftheRockies, or call Jana Mathieson, Sr. Communications and Community Relations Manager at 866.621.0124 x11870. About Ashford University Where heritage meets innovation that's Ashford University. At Ashford, students discover relevant degree programs, innovative technology, and cherished tradition. Ashford offers associates, bachelor's, and master's degree programs online, allowing students to balance life by providing the flexibility to do school work anywhere, anytime. For more information, please visit www.ashford.edu, www.facebook.com/ashforduniversity, www.twitter.com/AshfordU, or call Kathleen Park, Public Relations and Social Media Specialist, at 858.513.9240 x11636. About Bridgepoint Education Bridgepoint Education, Inc. (NYSE:BPI) harnesses the latest technology to reimagine the modern student experience. Bridgepoint owns two academic institutions Ashford University and University of the Rockies. Together, these programs, technologies, and resources represent a unique model for advancing education in the 21st century. Bridgepoint stands for greater access, social learning, and exposure to leading minds. For more information, visit www.bridgepointeducation.com, www.facebook.com/BridgepointEducation, or call Kathleen Park, Public Relations and Social Media Specialist, at 858.513.9240 X 11636. Contact: Jana Mathieson, Sr. Communications/Community Relations Manager 866.621.0124 x11870 [email protected] SOURCE University of the Rockies Related Links http://www.bridgepointeducation.com AUSTIN, Texas, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Tech news and review site, Tech.co, has released a new map which ranks nations according to how 'lucky in love' they are, comparing data on marriage and divorce rates for 50 countries across Europe, America and Australia. Tech.Co's latest map: Where your marriage is destined to fail Russia: Most Unlucky in Love Russia tops the ranking as the nation where couples simply cannot withstand married life. With a divorce rate of 4.7 per 1000 people, separations happen in Russia more frequently than any other country in the study. The nation has the fifth highest marriage rate (8.3 per 1000), suggesting that though Russians try hard to find a life-long partner, few actually succeed. USA: Top 10 Marriage 'Doom Zone' Americans are the seventh nationality most likely to call it quits, placing them much higher on the break-up probability ranking than the UK, Ireland and Australia. While Americans marry at a rate much higher than the norm, with 6.9 ceremonies taking place per 1000 people, their above average divorce rate (2.5 per 1000 people) propels them into the marriage break down 'doom zone'. Southern Europe and Ireland: In it for the Long Haul Southern European countries dominate the bottom 10 including Malta (42nd), Bulgaria (44th), Greece (45th) and Italy (47th). A recent census revealed that the average marriage in Italy lasts 18 years, one of the longest tenures in the world. Ireland takes the top spot as the country where marriages are most likely to survive with the lowest divorce rate in the world (0.6 per 1000 people). While this indicates that Irish couples are best at finding their soulmate, the result could be down to Ireland's strict divorce law which demands proof couples have lived apart for at least four of the previous five years. Top 10 Russia Belarus Lithuania Moldova Latvia Ukraine USA Georgia Denmark Sweden Bottom 10 50. Ireland 49. Bosnia & Herzegovina 48. Slovenia 47. Italy 46. Montenegro 45. Greece 44. Bulgaria 43. Croatia 42. Malta 41. Serbia Please credit our research using the following link: https://tech.co/startup-digitizing-divorce-2018-06 To feature the map, contact: Rachel Thompson [email protected] +442035953848 SOURCE Tech.Co Related Links https://tech.co/startup-digitizing-divorce-2018-06 DENVER, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- On Thursday, June 14 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Governor John Hickenlooper and other state officials will speak at The Alliance Center (TAC), 1536 Wynkoop Street, Denver, to discuss the 2018 version of the Colorado Climate Plan. The governor will address how climate actions across the state have and will continue to create economic opportunities, and how clean energy jobs continue to build our state's economy. Following the governor's remarks, a panel of the governor's staff will talk about strategies and actions to address a broad range of sectors including water, energy, transportation, and public health. In 2017, Colorado joined the U.S. Climate Alliance, a coalition of states pledging to uphold the climate goals of the Paris Agreement, and by executive order, Gov. Hickenlooper created a specific, measurable goal for carbon reduction. The state objective is to cut greenhouse gases by 26 percent from 2005 levels by 2025, and to cut carbon from the electricity sector by 25 percent compared to 2012 by 2025 and 35 percent by 2030. The Colorado Climate Plan, a statewide set of policy recommendations and actions to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and to increase Colorado's level of preparedness, was updated to set clear and specific emission reduction goals for the state. This update follows Gov. Hickenlooper's executive order from July 2017, Supporting Colorado's Clean Energy Transition and Colorado Electric Vehicle (EV) Plan, which commits the state to additional climate action. This event is sold out, but it will be live streamed here. Spanish translation will be available for in-person attendees. The program will begin at 6:00 p.m. Stay tuned for more events at The Alliance Center throughout the year, and check out TAC's event calendar, to learn how you can personally get involved and be part of the climate change solution. About The Alliance Center The Alliance Center (formerly named the Alliance for Sustainable Colorado) is a mission-driven nonprofit with an event and collaborative working space in the heart of lower downtown Denver. The Alliance Center serves as a model for innovative green building practices, collaborative working techniques, and engaging educational programmingall designed to scale up the sustainability movement. Together with their tenants, supporters, and partners, The Alliance Center is dedicated to bringing people together to create a sustainable and inclusive future, a future that works for everyone. Ashley Lovell Director of Marketing & Communications [email protected] 720.425.5730 SOURCE The Alliance Center Related Links http://www.thealliancecenter.org LEXINGTON, Ky., June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Valvoline Inc. a leading worldwide supplier of premium branded lubricants and automotive services announced today the opening of a new Valvoline Express Care location in the greater Little Rock, Arkansas, area. A core element of Valvoline's strategy is to accelerate the growth of its industry-leading quick-lube model, which includes its Express Care platform. This location marks the fifth Express Care location owned and operated by Rick Murphy, as well as Valvoline's fifth independently-contracted quick lube center in the greater Little Rock market. The service center is located at 107 Carnahan Drive in Maumelle, Arkansas. No appointments are necessary. Valvoline Express Care locations are independently owned and feature Valvoline high quality motor oils, filters and automotive service chemicals to ensure you receive quality products you can trust. In addition to providing fast full-service oil changes, Express Care operators perform a wide range of preventive maintenance services, typically with no appointment necessary, including automatic transmission, radiator, coolant and power steering services; tire rotation; wiper blade and light bulb replacement. Most locations also offer fuel system services. Express Care locations offer a fast, friendly, and professional service for most vehicle makes and models, including luxury, diesel, and hybrid vehicles. Visit www.expresscare.com to learn more. About Valvoline Valvoline Inc. (NYSE: VVV) is a leading worldwide marketer and supplier of premium branded lubricants and automotive services, with sales in more than 140 countries. Established in 1866, Valvoline's heritage spans over 150 years, during which it has developed powerful brand recognition across multiple product and service channels. The highly trusted brand ranks as the No. 3 passenger car motor oil brand in the DIY market by volume and the No. 2 quick-lube chain by number of stores in the United States. The company operates and franchises more than 1,100 Valvoline Instant Oil Change centers in the United States. It also markets Valvoline lubricants and automotive chemicals, including the new Valvoline Modern Engine Full Synthetic Motor Oil, which is specifically engineered to protect against carbon build-up in Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI), turbo and other engines manufactured since 2012; Valvoline High Mileage with MaxLife technology motor oil for engines over 75,000 miles; Valvoline Synthetic motor oil; and Zerex antifreeze. To learn more, visit www.valvoline.com . Trademark, Valvoline or its subsidiaries, registered in various countries SM Service mark, Valvoline or its subsidiaries, registered in various countries FOR FURTHER INFORMATION Media Relations Investor Relations Valerie Schirmer Sean T. Cornett +1 (859) 357-3235 +1 (859) 357-2798 [email protected] [email protected] SOURCE Valvoline Inc. Related Links http://www.valvoline.com TORONTO, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - Venus Concept Ltd., an innovative global aesthetic technology leader, announces the launch of 2two5, an advertising agency that will exclusively serve providers that use Venus Concept devices. The name 2two5 references the number of days it takes Venus to orbit the Sun, further reinforcing the company's philosophy that everything revolves around Venus Concept's customers. The 2two5 agency was built in response to overwhelming demand for advertising services that medical and non-medical practices can trust. "Eighty percent of aesthetic doctors I talk to complain about some aspect of marketing costs, efficacy, exaggerated results, or other undesirable behavior. Given Venus Concept's industry first and only subscription-based business model, it was natural to launch an ad agency that aligns the interests of Venus and its customers. Offering customers better marketing results, a better rate, and a lot more transparency. It's a win-win situation," said Domenic Serafino, Chairman and CEO of Venus Concept. Yelp signed on as an official channel partner with 2two5, providing their clients significant local search authority and guidance to help navigate any town or city. "We're excited to announce that we are a Yelp Ads Certified partner, providing 2two5 clients access to enhanced capabilities and customer service that most small to mid-size practices cannot afford," stated Melissa Kang, VP of Global Marketing. Doctor.com also signed on as a channel partner, offering 2two5's clients deep industry-specific capabilities and experience. "We are thrilled to be partnering on this innovative initiative with Venus Concept; their clients represent the sort of discerning and highly-successful practices that Doctor.com's next-generation digital marketing platform was created to serve," added Doctor.com's CEO, Andrei Zimiles. "Given today's industry dynamics, it's never been more important for providers to spread the word when they add powerful new capabilities or devices to their practice. We look forward to working closely with Venus Concept to ensure their customers have a competitive edge when it comes to every aspect of their online presence." 2two5 is staffed by a team of advertising executives from digital agencies, creative agencies, and aesthetic marketing firms. Through Internet of Things capabilities, 2two5 will leverage non-identifiable demographic data to optimize paid search, paid social, and retargeting campaigns in real time. "This will be the first agency to offer this level of connectivity, demographic accuracy, and tracking in the industry," said Glenn Normoyle, VP of Innovation. About Venus Concept Venus Concept is a leading global medical technology company that develops, commercializes, and delivers safe, efficacious, and easy-to-use aesthetic technologies and related practice enhancement services in a unique, industry-disruptive subscription-based business model. Venus Concept's devices have been designed in cost-effective and proprietary ways that enable the company to expand beyond the aesthetic industry's traditional markets of dermatology and plastic surgery, and into non-traditional marketssuch as family practice, general practice, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, and medical spas. Approximately 70 percent of its devices are sold in non-traditional markets. The company has expanded its subscription platform and is now selling its devices in over 60 countries, including 27 with direct offices. Venus Concept now has over 400 global employees whose customer-centric approach has supported the company's rapid growth. For more information, please visit www.venusconcept.com. About 2two5 2two5 is an exclusive advertising agency that connects patients with non-invasive service providers by delivering the most compelling ads to the right audience, at the right time. Through Internet of Things capability, 2two5 leverages non-identifiable demographic data to optimize advertising targeting. But if you put the boiler-plate copy and third-person writing aside, and ask them what they do, they'll say, "our providers practice aesthetic medicine, we practice marketing, and things are looking good for advertising in the beauty industry." SOURCE Venus Concept Related Links http://www.venusconcept.com LOS ANGELES, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Viking (www.vikingcruises.com) today announced it took delivery of Viking Orion, the company's fifth ocean ship. The delivery ceremony took place this morning when the ship was presented at Fincantieri's shipyard in Ancona, Italy. On June 14, the ship will arrive in Livorno, Italy, where she will officially be named by her ceremonial godmother, Dr. Anna Fisher, American chemist, emergency room physician and retired NASA astronaut. The ship's name was inspired by the prominent constellation and Dr. Fisher's work on NASA's Orion exploration vehicle project. Viking Orion will spend her maiden season sailing the Mediterranean, before journeying to Australia, Asia and Alaska, where she will be Viking's first ship to call on the northernmost U.S. state. "Today we celebrate the delivery of our fifth ocean ship, just three years after launching our ocean business," said Torstein Hagen, Chairman of Viking. "We are pleased to welcome Viking Orion to our award-winning fleet and look forward to introducing more guests to the Viking way of travel, through culturally-immersive and destination-focused itineraries as we expand to new destinations in Asia and Alaska." Viking Orion Viking's ocean ships have a gross tonnage of 47,800 tons, with 465 staterooms that can accommodate 930 guests. Viking Orion is the fifth addition to Viking's award-winning ocean fleet, which also includes Viking Star, Viking Sea, Viking Sky and Viking Sun. With the arrival of Viking Jupiter in Spring 2019, Viking will be the largest small ship ocean cruise line. Ten additional ships are also planned for delivery starting in 2021, which could bring Viking's ocean fleet to 16 ships by 2027. The Viking Difference Designed for discerning travelers with interests in history, art, music and cuisine, Chairman Torstein Hagen often says Viking offers guests "the thinking person's cruise" as an alternative to mainstream cruises. Ships are small to get guests closer to their destination, with more time in port and more overnights. On board, guests find serene Scandinavian spaces, where every room is both beautiful and functional, quiet and filled with light. With the most al fresco dining opportunities at sea, featuring regional cuisines and always-available American classics, Viking's guests can truly dine in their destination. A focus on cultural enrichment brings immersive experiences ashore and on board. And only The Viking Way of Exploration provides guests with itineraries that feature Local Life, Working World and Privileged Access experiences. In addition, Viking offers the best value at sea, with each cruise fare including much more than what competitors offeran included value of more than $200 per person per day for an average cruise. Every cruise fare includes an exterior stateroom, a complimentary shore excursion in each port of call, all onboard meals, and all port charges and government taxes. Guests also enjoy many complimentary amenities as part of their fare, including: beer and wine with lunch and dinner service; alternative restaurant dining; Wi-Fi; self-service laundry; access to the Thermal Suite in the LivNordic Spa; and 24-hour room service. Booking Details From now through June 30, 2018, Viking is offering U.S. residents 2-for-1 cruise fares on select 2018, 2019 and 2020 ocean and river cruise itineraries, with additional savings on international air. Call Viking toll free at 1-855-8-VIKING (1-855-884-5464) or contact a travel agent. About Viking Cruises Viking was founded in 1997 with the purchase of four ships in Russia and is now the leader in river and small ship ocean cruising. Designed for discerning travelers with interests in science, history, culture and cuisine, Chairman Torstein Hagen often says Viking offers guests "the thinking person's cruise" as an alternative to mainstream cruises. In its first two years of operation, Viking has been rated the #1 ocean cruise line in Travel + Leisure's 2016 and 2017 "World's Best" Awards. Viking currently operates a fleet of 69 vessels, offering scenic cruising on rivers and oceans around the world. By 2027 the company will operate 16 930-guest ocean cruise ships and will be the largest small ship ocean cruise line. In addition to the Travel + Leisure honors, Viking has also been honored multiple times on Conde Nast Traveler's "Gold List" as well as recognized by Cruise Critic as "Best Overall" Small-Mid size ship in the 2018 Cruisers' Choice Awards, "Best River Cruise Line" and "Best River Itineraries," with the entire Viking Longships fleet being named "Best New River Ships" in the website's Editors' Picks Awards. For additional information, contact Viking at 1-855-8-VIKING (1-855-884-5464) or visit www.vikingcruises.com. SOURCE Viking Related Links http://www.vikingcruises.com BENTON HARBOR, Mich., June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Whirlpool Corporation announced it will continue its longtime relationship with Habitat for Humanity through 2018. This marks the 19th year the appliance manufacturer and nonprofit organization collaboration to support families in need of affordable housing, with Whirlpool Corporation committing to providing a new range and refrigerator for every new Habitat home built in the U.S. and Canada. Whirlpool Corporation employees participate in Habitat for Humanity build. "Over the years, this relationship has only grown stronger, and we're eager to continue working with Habitat for Humanity in 2018," said Jeff Noel, corporate vice president of communications & public affairs for Whirlpool Corporation. "Whirlpool Corporation is committed to improving people's everyday lives, and through our work with Habitat, we're able to make a positive impact in communities throughout the U.S. and around the world." Whirlpool Corporation will participate in Habitat for Humanity's Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project. This year's build, which will take place Aug. 26 31, will engage hundreds of volunteers constructing 30 homes in Mishawaka and South Bend, Indiana, alongside President and Mrs. Carter. Whirlpool Corporation will also join the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University for 10 days in October as part of their ninth consecutive joint blitz build of a home in the Bloomington, Indiana area. Additionally, Whirlpool Corporation will fully sponsor a home build in Benton Harbor, Michigan, as well as partially sponsored builds in cities around the U.S. "For nearly two decades, Whirlpool Corporation's work alongside Habitat for Humanity has provided families with appliances to make their daily routines a little easier," said Julie Laird Davis, vice president of Corporate and Foundation Relations at Habitat for Humanity. "We are so grateful for their donations, as well as their employees' volunteer work onsite to directly impact the lives of these families, and look forward to another successful year." Since the collaboration began in 1999, Whirlpool Corporation has committed more than $107 million to Habitat for Humanity. Today, more than 9,000 employees volunteer with Habitat each year. Whirlpool Corporation employees participate in builds where the company's manufacturing operations, customer service and administrative offices are located, such as Tulsa, Oklahoma; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Clyde, Ohio; Greenville, Ohio; Marion, Ohio; Findlay, Ohio; and Benton Harbor, Michigan. Build events and locations vary each year. In 2017, the company participated in its first-ever global Habitat for Humanity build that included 14 projects in eight global locations with over 200 volunteers. About Whirlpool Corporation and Habitat for Humanity In more than 18 years of partnership with Habitat for Humanity, Whirlpool has developed active programs in more than 45 countries with a commitment of more than $107 million. In the United States and Canada, the company has donated more than 191,000 ranges and refrigerators to new Habitat homes, serving more than 100,000 families. Additionally, Whirlpool has donated more than 42,000 products to Habitat ReStore retail outlets, helping raise nearly $5.7 million. The company has engaged thousands of employee volunteers, sponsored nearly 180 homes and donated products to more than 76,000 Habitat families Europe, Middle East and Africa. Whirlpool plans to support the work of Habitat around the world through product donations, financial contribution and/or volunteerism. About Whirlpool Corporation Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE: WHR) is the world's leading major home appliance company, with approximately $21 billion in annual sales, 92,000 employees and 70 manufacturing and technology research centers in 2017. The company markets Whirlpool, KitchenAid, Maytag, Consul, Brastemp, Amana, Bauknecht, Jenn-Air, Indesit and other major brand names in nearly every country throughout the world. Additional information about the company can be found at WhirlpoolCorp.com, or find us on Twitter at @WhirlpoolCorp. About Habitat for Humanity Driven by the vision that everyone needs a decent place to live, Habitat for Humanity began in 1976 as a grassroots effort on a community farm in southern Georgia. The Christian housing organization has since grown to become a leading global nonprofit working in local communities across all 50 states in the U.S. and in more than 70 countries. Families and individuals in need of a hand up partner with Habitat for Humanity to build or improve a place they can call home. Habitat homeowners help build their own homes alongside volunteers and pay an affordable mortgage. Through financial support, volunteering or adding a voice to support affordable housing, everyone can help families achieve the strength, stability and self-reliance they need to build better lives for themselves. Through shelter, we empower. To learn more, visit habitat.org. SOURCE Whirlpool Corporation Related Links http://whirlpoolcorp.com The 19,000 square foot facility will provide visitors with a dynamic look at the world of aviation. Open to the public three days per week, guests will have access to interactive and educational exhibits, spaces to watch airplanes at the second busiest general aviation airport in the nation and even listen to chatter from Centennial tower. Along with the robust array of interactive exhibits, the Blue Sky Gallery will include incredible opportunities to experience flight first-hand. Sit in the cockpit of pilot-quality Redbird simulators, interact with the latest industry tech and even experience flight itself through a partnership with Aspen Flying Club. These experiences and more will be available on opening weekend and each weekend thereafter. The Gallery is open to the public each Friday and Saturday from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM and Sunday from 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM, beginning July 21st. The hangar is located at 13005 Wings Way, Englewood, CO 80112. The Boeing Blue Sky Aviation Gallery is phase one of Wings Over the Rockies Exploration of Flight, a unique-to-the-nation campus offering visitors incredible experiences and educational opportunities focused on aerospace. For more information about the Blue Sky Gallery or Exploration of Flight visit ExplorationOfFlight.org or click here for turn-by-turn directions. About Wings Over the Rockies: Wings Over the Rockies is a Colorado-based non-profit organization dedicated to educating and inspiring all people about aviation and space endeavors of the past, present and future. By utilizing the Air & Space Museum in Denver's historic Lowry neighborhood to preserve the past and the Exploration of Flight Center at Centennial Airport to focus on the present and future, Wings strives to encourage the future aerospace leaders of tomorrow. For more information about Wings Over the Rockies please visit WingsMuseum.org or ExplorationOfFlight.org. Media Contact: Ben Theune [email protected] 303.360.5360 x 110 SOURCE Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum Related Links http://www.wingsmuseum.org DENVER, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- On Saturday, July 21st, a transformative aerospace attraction will open on the south side of Centennial Airport in Englewood, Colorado. The Boeing Blue Sky Aviation Gallery will open its doors after almost a decade of planning and fundraising and will be South Denver Metro's newest and most captivating attraction. Wings' Boeing Blue Sky Aviation Gallery takes shape at Centennial Airport in Englewood, Colorado. Opening weekend for the Boeing Blue Sky Aviation Gallery has been set for July 21 & 22, 2018. The 19,000 square foot facility will focus on the present and future of aviation. The 19,000 square foot facility will provide visitors with a dynamic look at the world of aviation. Open to the public three days per week, guests will have access to interactive and educational exhibits, spaces to watch airplanes at the second busiest general aviation airport in the nation and even listen to chatter from Centennial tower. Along with the robust array of interactive exhibits, the Blue Sky Gallery will include incredible opportunities to experience flight first-hand. Sit in the cockpit of pilot-quality Redbird simulators, interact with the latest industry tech and even experience flight itself through a partnership with Aspen Flying Club. These experiences and more will be available on opening weekend and each weekend thereafter. The Gallery is open to the public each Friday and Saturday from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM and Sunday from 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM, beginning July 21st. The hangar is located at 13005 Wings Way, Englewood, CO 80112. The Boeing Blue Sky Aviation Gallery is phase one of Wings Over the Rockies Exploration of Flight, a unique-to-the-nation campus offering visitors incredible experiences and educational opportunities focused on aerospace. For more information about the Blue Sky Gallery or Exploration of Flight visit ExplorationOfFlight.org or click here for turn-by-turn directions. Media may contact Ben Theune at [email protected] or 303.360.5360 ext 110 with questions and interview requests. About Wings Over the Rockies: Wings Over the Rockies is a Colorado-based non-profit organization dedicated to educating and inspiring all people about aviation and space endeavors of the past, present and future. By utilizing the Air & Space Museum in Denver's historic Lowry neighborhood to preserve the past and the Exploration of Flight Center at Centennial Airport to focus on the present and future, Wings strives to encourage the future aerospace leaders of tomorrow. For more information about Wings Over the Rockies please visit WingsMuseum.org or ExplorationOfFlight.org. SOURCE Wings Over the Rockies Related Links http://WingsMuseum.org Emirates SkyCargo, the freight division of Emirates, is gearing up to facilitate more trade between the UK and the rest of the world by adding London Stansted and Edinburgh to its global network of over 155 destinations. London Stansted and Edinburgh will be Emirates SkyCargos seventh and eighth destinations in the UK. Emirates SkyCargo will be operating a daily service to both destinations on its Boeing 777-300ER aircraft and will be offering a cargo capacity of up to 20 tonnes per flight. This will translate into an additional cargo capacity of over 500 tonnes per week for exports and imports for the UK market. The air cargo carrier currently offers the UK a weekly cargo capacity of over 2000 tonnes on over 120 passenger flights and two freighter flights. Since 2014, Emirates SkyCargo has transported close to a record 600,000 tonnes of cargo including both exports and imports through its six existing gateways in the UK. Emirates SkyCargo is one of the three leading international air cargo carriers for the UK market. With a combined 63 flights a week from London Heathrow and London Gatwick, these London gateways account for biggest portion of the air cargo carriers total UK cargo volumes. Cargo uplifted to and from London in the last four years have accounted for slightly over 60% of the total cargo uplifted to and from the UK. The daily service to London Stansted will provide additional choice and capacity for customers in the London region to airfreight their cargo to global destinations. Starting 8 June, flight EK33 will depart Dubai at 09:30hrs, and will arrive in London Stansted at 14:10hrs. The return flight, EK34 will depart London Stansted at 21:10hrs and arrive in Dubai at 07:05 the following day. Emirates SkyCargo has facilitated exports and imports of over 45,000 tonnes of cargo from Glasgow in the last four years. The air cargo carriers new service to Edinburgh will stimulate further opportunities for global trade from Scotland. The daily flight to Edinburgh will allow businesses, including exporters of Scottish Whisky and salmon, more direct and rapid air transport connections to global destinations avoiding the need to truck their products to destinations elsewhere in the UK. Flight EK023 to Edinburgh will depart Dubai daily at 0955hrs and arrive at 1450hrs. The return flight EK024 will depart Edinburgh at 2015hrs and arrive in Dubai at 0640hrs the following day. In the calendar year 2017, Emirates SkyCargo carried over 66,000 tonnes of exports from the UK to various destinations across the Middle East, East and South East Asia and Australasia. Pharmaceutical cargo is one of the major commodities that are exported out of UK and in particular out of London. Emirates SkyCargo has seen a robust growth in the transport of pharma out of the UK- in particular from London, Manchester and Newcastle- following the launch of Emirates Pharma, its specialised transportation solution for temperature sensitive pharma cargo. Emirates SkyCargo works with leading pharma manufacturers based in the UK to transport a wide variety of pharmaceuticals ranging from vaccines to anaesthetics, from cancer drugs to medication for diabetes. In 2017, the air cargo carrier transported over 2.8 million kilos of pharma cargo out of the UK to various destinations in the Middle East, Africa, South Asia, East and South East Asia and Australasia. Emirates SkyCargo has also been working with companies involved in new drug development and has built customised offerings for rapid transport of samples for clinical trials. From mangoes originating in South Asia to green beans grown in Kenya, from machinery and raw materials for engineering to clothing and garments, Emirates SkyCargo also brings in a wide range of imports into the UK from different parts of the world. In the last two years the air cargo carrier has brought in over 150,000 tonnes of imports into the UK. Emirates SkyCargo is the worlds largest international cargo airline and operates a modern, all widebody fleet of over 265 aircraft including 14 freighters- 13 Boeing 777-Fs and one B747F. TradeArabia News Service SALT LAKE CITY, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Women Tech Council (WTC) in partnership with Peak Ventures today launched the Tech Entrepreneurship Apprenticeship program. This four-week program for high school juniors and seniors teaches technology and entrepreneurship skills from industry entrepreneurs and leaders and provides hands-on experiences in careers that align with student interests, ultimately beginning students on a path to enter and lead the technology workforce and pursue their passions. "Giving high school students direct access to some of the technology entrepreneurs who are building and shaping Silicon Slopes to collaborate and learn, is a powerful tool to teach students vital skills and empower them to pursue their interests," said Cydni Tetro, president of WTC. "Allowing boys and girls this opportunity while still in high school will significantly impact their career trajectories and make a meaningful impact on the breadth and depth of talent in the technology ecosystem." Beginning today, the first program cohort of 30 students representing 20 different high schools across Silicon Slopes will experience twice-weekly hands-on workshops taught by industry professionals. In these sessions, students will learn about building and starting companies, working with teams, fostering effective collaboration, building products, designing marketing strategies, testing pricing structures, testing software applications, developing leadership skills and other various aspects of the technology industry. This holistic exposure of hands-on experiences paired with expert instruction helps students gain entrepreneurship skills, and teaches them about potential jobs and career pathways. "With Silicon Slopes becoming one of the top places for entrepreneurship and startups, it's exciting to see high school students that are ready to engage in this kind of program," said Sid Krommenhoek, managing partner of Peak Ventures. "Through this program, Peak Ventures is helping connect leading entrepreneurs with students and open up doors to the entrepreneurs of tomorrow." This year's program will be taught by Silicon Slopes entrepreneurs, including: Paul Allen , Soar , Soar Sara Jones , Burbly , Burbly Davis Smith , Cotopaxi , Cotopaxi Andrew Smith , Four Foods Group , Four Foods Group Derek Miner , Tech Trep Academy , Tech Trep Academy Gary Rhoads , Xvoyant , Xvoyant Kevin Auernig , Sodalicious , Sodalicious Susan Petersen , Freshly Picked , Freshly Picked Kendall Hulet , Cake , Cake Eric Rea , Podium , Podium Jeff Burningham , Peak Ventures , Peak Ventures Cydni Tetro , ForgeDX The 2018 program will run Mondays and Wednesday from June 6-27. For more information, visit www.womentechcouncil.com/entrepreneur-apprenticeship-program. Media Contact Abby Shaha [email protected] 801-481-9482 About Women Tech Council: The Women Tech Council (WTC) is a national organization focused on the economic impact of women in driving high growth for the technology sector through developing programs that propel the economic pipeline from K-12 to the C-suite. WTC offers mentoring, visibility, opportunities and networking to more than 10,000 women and men working in technology to create business environments focused on high performance, not diversity, where men and women can succeed. This propels individual careers and the talent pipeline by ensuring a strong, diverse and entrepreneurial technology workforce. For more information on Women Tech Council, visit: www.womentechcouncil.org. About Peak Ventures Peak Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm based in Lehi , Utah. Peak Ventures backs talented entrepreneurs going after big markets with exceptional technologies. The thesis is simple: innovation and those who drive it are at the top of the food chain not the VC. The team is made up of entrepreneurs experienced in the grind of starting, operating, growing and harvesting exciting companies. For more information, visit www.peakventures.vc SOURCE Women Tech Council Related Links http://www.womentechcouncil.org Young Living's Exhaustive Search Finds the Best Candidate Internally LEHI, Utah, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Young Living Essential Oils, the world leader in essential oils, announced the appointment of Lee Bowen as its Chief Financial Officer. In his new role, Bowen will be responsible for all aspects of the company's financial condition, as well as overseeing the Accounting, Tax, Finance, Commission Services, and Human Resources departments. "At Young Living, much like we seek out the best botanicals from around the world, we search high and low for the best and brightest talent in the business," said Mary Young, Young Living's Chief Executive Officer. "That's why Lee was recruited, and he's been dazzling us in the Finance department for years. I am so proud to welcome him to our executive team." Before being named Chief Financial Officer, he joined Young Living in 2014 as Director of Finance and was subsequently promoted to Sr. Director of Finance, VP of Finance, and most recently to Senior VP of Finance. He has played a critical role in overseeing Young Living's financial planning and analysis, fraud management, treasury, banking, commission services, payroll, and risk management. "After an exhaustive search process, we are pleased to announce that we found the best person to fill the Chief Financial Officer role in our own Lee Bowen," said Jared Turner, Young Living President and Chief Operating Officer. "Lee has been instrumental in Young Living's achievement of $1.5 billion in annual revenue and in the 800 percent growth over the last five years. His skills and experience are integral to helping us plan for the future as we grow into a multi-billion-dollar company." Bowen has over 20 years of experience in financial operations, strategy development, and leadership. Prior to joining Young Living, he worked at Intel Corporation as Regional Director of Finance at Hilti as an expatriate in Panama; he also worked as the Director of Financial Planning and Analysis for Nature's Sunshine. Bowen earned an MBA and MSIM (Master of Science in Information Management) from Arizona State University and a BS in accounting from Brigham Young University. About Young Living Essential Oils Young Living Essential Oils, LC, is the world leader in essential oils, with a strict Seed to Seal process that produces pure essential oil products for every individual, family, and lifestyle. This process ensures that all products are genuine, free of synthetic chemicals, and pure. This commitment stems from the company's more than 20 years of stewardship toward the earth and its people. For more information, visit YoungLiving.com. Media Contact: For media inquiries, please contact [email protected]. SOURCE Young Living Essential Oils Related Links http://www.youngliving.com IRVINE, Calif., June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Zymo Research and CosmosID announce their partnership to provide microbiome researchers with an integrated end-to-end solution for accurate microbiome analysis. The partnership combines Zymo Research's complete microbiomics product portfolio from sample collection/preservation, mock microbial community standards, nucleic acid isolation, and library preparation with the largest curated microbiome database maintained and powered by CosmosID. The combined technologies of both companies allow for comprehensive and simple service for multi-kingdom microbiome analysis, not limiting the identification to only bacterial constituents of microbial communities, but also covering other microbial kingdoms such as fungi. Zymo Research and CosmosID to Deliver Integrated Solution for Accurate Microbiome Analysis. Manoj Dadlani, CEO of CosmosID said in a statement, "The partnership between CosmosID and Zymo Research is a perfect match for our customers. CosmosID is powered by the largest database of microbial genome information which enables strain level resolution of bacteria, archaea, protists, fungi, viruses and even unknown microorganisms and Zymo Research's pipeline has proven it can consistently prepare samples that accurately reflect microbial compositions." Ryan Kemp, Director of Nucleic Acid Solutions at Zymo Research, commented, "The synergy of this partnership is very exciting because of the tremendous value we collectively bring to our customers by combining Zymo Research's portfolio of products designed from collection to conclusion for accurate and reproducible microbiome measurements with CosmosID's multi-kingdom strain-level resolution and industry-leading sensitivity and precision. Combined, our metagenomics solution has become both the most powerful and simplest collection-to-conclusion solution available." As a part of the first stage of the partnership, CosmosID and Zymo Research are tackling the challenge of bias and irreproducibility in the field of microbiomics head-on. Microbial composition profiling powered by Next-Generation sequencing has become routine, however, these techniques are complex and can suffer from significant bias from collection to analysis. By adding defined and controlled Microbial Community Standards to a workflow or even within microbiome samples, researchers can assess, improve, and compare bias and errors in the metagenomics workflow. Completing the first stage of this collaboration, CosmosID will release an update to its widely used cloud-based bioinformatics platform for microbiome analysis during this year's ASM Microbe conference in Atlanta. The update introduces new, user-friendly tools to analyze internal microbiome standards from Zymo Research and to automatically assess the quality of analyzed sequence data. Data generated using the sophisticated yet streamlined pipeline for the analysis of Zymo Research microbiome standards can be conveniently interpreted free of additional charge via CosmosID's user-friendly Cloud-based bioinformatics platform. About CosmosID CosmosID, based in Rockville, Maryland, is a genomics big data company focused on rapid identification of microorganisms for molecular diagnostics, public health, food safety, agriculture, and environmental applications. The CosmosID platform uses proprietary sequence analysis algorithms to accurately profile all microorganisms in a metagenomic sample employing next-generation DNA sequencing. CosmosID was founded in 2008 by Dr. Rita Colwell, former Director of the National Science Foundation and currently Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. To learn more please visit www.cosmosid.com or visit us at ASM Microbe, Booth #1309, in Atlanta from June 7-11 2018. About Zymo Research Corp. Zymo Research Corp. is a privately held company based in Irvine, California, USA. Since its inception in 1994, it has been serving the academic and biopharmaceutical scientific communities by providing innovative DNA and RNA purification products. Zymo Research is the first company to develop microbiomics solutions based on new rigorous standards for microbiome analyses and has been leading the initiative to improve reproducibility and accuracy in the field by developing the first commercially available microbiome (mock microbial community) standards. For more information, please visit: www.zymoresearch.com or visit us at ASM Microbe, Booth #2931, in Atlanta from June 7-11, 2018. Follow Zymo Research Corp. on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Trademarks: All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Zymo Research Corp., the stylized logo, the tagline "The Beauty of Science is to Make Things Simple", ZymoBIOMICS are trademarks of Zymo Research Corp. and are registered with the USPTO. SOURCE Zymo Research Corp. Related Links https://www.zymoresearch.com/products/microbiomics Los Angeles, June 7 : Late musician and actor David Cassidy told producers before dying that he had lied about having a drinking problem to hide sadness. In the last years of Cassidy's life, the former teen idol apparently struggled with alcohol abuse, resulting in three DUI arrests in five years. After a 2014 trip to rehabilitation centre, he told family and friends that he had stopped drinking. But in a new documentary which will air in the US next week on A&E network, Cassidy will be seen making a shocking admission just two months before he died of organ failure on November 21 at the age of 67, reports people.com. After being rushed to the hospital when he fell ill in a recording studio, Cassidy called producers to explain what had happened. "I have a liver disease. There is no sign of me having dementia at this stage of my life. It was complete alcohol poisoning. The fact is that I lied about my drinking. I did this to myself to cover up the sadness and the emptiness," Cassidy told A&E producer Saralena Weinfield in a recorded conversation. As it turned out, Cassidy was still abusing alcohol until the last months of his life. It was shocking for the star's family including his children Katie, 31, and Beau, 27, who assumed he was living a clean and sober life. Producers of the docuseries debated what they should do with the footage and ultimately decided to edit it into a documentary titled "David Cassidy: the Last Session". In the documentary, a frail and weak Cassidy deals with health problems and memory loss as he records a new album in an attempt to stage a comeback. Washington, June 7 : US President Donald Trump on Wednesday commuted the sentence of a 63-year-old drug offender Alice Johnson, a week after Kim Kardashian West visited Trump to lobby on her behalf. According to a White House statement, the beneficiary of the commutation was Alice Johnson, who was given life sentence in 1996 for possession of drugs and money laundering, Xinhua reported. "Ms. Johnson has accepted responsibility for her past behaviour and has been a model prisoner over the past two decades," the statement said. Trump's decision came after hollywood celebrity Kim Kardashian West visited Trump last week to lobby on behalf of Johnson, West reportedly became involved in the case after learning of Johnson's case in a video, she tweeted to her 60 million followers "BEST NEWS EVER!" after the White House's decision. Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner is said to have coordinated with West from within the White House. Despite being applauded by some, the move has raised concerns among most of Trump's advisers, who believe that commuting Johnson may undermine the administration's hard-on-crime message. Among the skeptics are White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and White House Counsel Donald McGahn, who upon reviewing the case argued that it was unnecessary for Trump to carry out the commutation. In defence of Trump's decision, the White House pledged that it will "always be very tough on crime", while insisting that "those who have paid their debt to society and worked hard to better themselves while in prison deserve a second chance". The US media reported that Trump may pardon a dozen or more people in the coming weeks. In a controversial tweet earlier this week, Trump touted that he has "absolute" power to pardon himself. Prompting the White House press office to clarify later that the occasion wouldn't arise as Trump hasn't done anything wrong. Srinagar, June 7 : Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will arrive to Jammu and Kashmir's Srinagar on Thursday for a two-day visit to the state. The Home Minister, after reviewing law and order situation with the state Governor N.N.Vohra, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and senior officials of various state and Central departments, will take a call on whether the present suspension of operations against the militants would be extended after the Eid festival to cover the annual Amarnath Yatra. Security for the Amarnath Yatra, beginning on June 28, will be reviewed by the Home Minister during his stay in the state. While the state government wants the continuation of the Ramadan ceasefire beyond the Eid, top sources suggest the field commanders of the Army have argued that the cessation of hostilities from only one side is helping the militants to regroup and increase their numbers through recruitment of local boys. Another important agenda on the Home Minister's priority list would be to deliberate upon the response of the separatist leaders to the offer of talks. While Singh has said that the Centre is ready to talk to everyone including the separatists, BJP's National General Secretary Ram Madhav recently made an offer to the separatists to engage in a meaningful dialogue with the Centre. The separatist leaders have been demanding clarity in the talks offer so that their engagement in the dialogue would yield results. Muzaffarabad-based conglomerate of armed groups, the United Jehad Council (UJC), has applied breaks on any imminent possibility of the Kashmiri separatist leaders to engage with the Indian government. A statement issued by the UJC few weeks earlier said that talks would only be held with the Indian government once India accepts Kashmir as a dispute. In addition to his all important security and political agenda, the Home Minister will also review the implementation of various Centrally sponsored developmental programmes. On the second day of his visit, the Singh will review the security along the international border in Jammu and also deliberate on the situation that has been arising because of the migration of border residents each time Pakistan violates the bilateral ceasefire on the border. Jitendra Singh, MoS (PMO), and a team of senior Home Ministry officials will accompany Singh during the visit. Amman, June 7 : A Jordanian policeman has been stabbed and seriously wounded by a demonstrator during ongoing trade union protests against the government's economic reforms, Petra news agency reported. Prime Minister Hani al-Mulki resigned on Monday amid pressure from the protesters, and Omar al-Razzaz took office on Tuesday, with a scheduled meeting and discussion with legislators and union leaders on Thursday before the forming of a new cabinet. Wednesday's attack was the first violent incident that Jordan saw during the demonstration week against reform of the income tax law and a sharp rise in fuel prices. It took place in front of newly appointed Prime Minister's Office in Jabal, an area where protests have been held every night for the last seven days, Efe news reported. Amid chants asking for dissolving Parliament, hundreds of people also gathered to demand that the government rescind the controversial bill on income tax and bring about political reforms. In addition, similar protests were held in other major cities across the country, such as Irbid, Zarqa and Al-Karak, according to activists. The General Federation of Jordanian Trade Unions on Wednesday had given the green light for the protests to proceed. Washington, June 7 : Porn star Stormy Daniels has filed a new lawsuit against Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, as well as her former attorney, Keith Davidson, saying the two men "colluded" and "acted in concert" to "manipulate" her and to benefit the US President. The lawsuit, filed in the Superior Court of California on Wednesday, is the latest in Daniels' continuing onslaught against Cohen, led by her Los Angeles-based lawyer, Michael Avenatti -- and all rooted in the adult film star's alleged sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, reports CNN. Wednesday's lawsuit alleges that in January when Davidson was still representing Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, "Cohen immediately colluded with Davidson in an attempt to use and manipulate Clifford in a manner designed to benefit Cohen and Trump". The men sprung into action, the lawsuit alleges, when they became aware of the forthcoming publication of an In Touch magazine article that would detail Daniels' descriptions of her alleged affair with Trump. The lawsuit also includes alleged text messages exchanged between Cohen and Davidson that appear to show communications between January and March. "These text messages show that the prior denials by Trump and Cohen relating to what Trump knew and about the honesty of my client were absolute lies," Avenatti told CNN on Wednesday. "There was a significant cover-up here as part of an attempt to deceive the American people and Mrs. Trump and we intend on getting to the bottom of it." Avenatti said he was trying to get his hands on more text messages. "This new lawsuit filed by Stephanie Clifford aka Stormy Daniels has no merit whatsoever as to my client, Michael Cohen. It appears to be yet another publicity stunt, and nothing more. We look forward to defeating the lawsuit in court," said Brent Blakely, Cohen's attorney. Dave Wedge, a spokesman for Davidson, also slammed the new lawsuit. "This outrageously frivolous lawsuit is yet another desperate attempt by Michael Avenatti to continue his 'publicity tour', as well as divert attention from the recent allegations against him relating to bankruptcy proceedings and the failure to withhold millions of federal employee taxes," Wedge added. Canberra, June 7 : An Australian intelligence committee said on Thursday that it was considering summoning Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg for a public hearing following revelations his company made a data-sharing deal with Huawei and other Chinese tech companies. Labor MP Anthony Byrne, deputy chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS), said Zuckerberg owes an explanation to Australian Facebook users, reports Efe news. "It is vital that Facebook explains its data sharing partnership with firms such as Huawei. We need to protect the data of over 15 million Facebook users in Australia," Byrne posted on his Facebook page on Thursday. "If need be, Mr Zuckerberg will be invited to appear before the PJCIS in a public hearing to explain himself to our committee and the Australian people." It was revealed on Wednesday that Facebook had admitted giving Huawei and three other Chinese companies - Lenovo, OPPO and TCL - specialised access to user data. In recent years, US senators and national security officials have warned of the possibility of the Chinese government having access to Huawei servers. The fourth industrial revolution (4th IR), characterised by disruption on multiple levels, requires organisations to adapt their business practices to become more competitive, a report said. The Business 4.x paper released by leading boutique consultancy Kinetic Consulting Services highlights ten essential principles that organisations should adopt to develop a new operating mode capable of successfully tackling the constant change brought about by disruption due to high technology. Business 4.x is designed to highlight the importance of the X-factor in a high-performance organisation operating in a world shaped by the fourth industrial revolution. Technology has reached an evolutionary stage where almost anything is possible, and this is what makes the fourth industrial revolution so unique and dangerous for market incumbents. Technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, blockchain, Internet of Things, augmented reality, and 3-D printing are some of the technologies enabling organisations to create products, services, and new business models that deliver greater value than previously offered in the third industrial revolution. Whilst many have written about the importance of having an agile organisation, the survey results highlight that most organisations are struggling with the concept of agility. In a 2017 survey, only 4 per cent of respondents were able to claim an entirely agile organisation, and less than 25 per cent said their internal performance units were agile. "Business 4.x proposes an operating model that captures the energy, know-how, and courage of cross-functional teams. The culture must enable self-regulatory management of team members, and empower team members to make customer-centric decisions without referring to multiple levels in a hierarchy," said Joe Tawfik, CEO of Kinetic Consulting Services. The business practices in Business 4.x deliver speed, agility, focused execution, and self-regulated performance management of team members, leading to high performance. Many of the practices detailed in Business 4.x require organisations to challenge and abandon traditional thinking as to how businesses should operate. It's only when they abandon traditional thinking, can they hope to create an X-factor that will enable them to differentiate themselves from the competition, and outperform in an environment where constant disruption is the norm. TradeArabia News Service Chennai, June 7 : The Platinum Guild India is expecting about 25 per cent growth in platinum imports in 2018 for jewellery purposes, said a top official. "Our outlook for the current year is about 25 per cent growth in imports of platinum for jewellery. Last year was also a good year," Vaishali Banerjee, Managing Director, Platinum Guild India told IANS here on Wednesday. In 2017, India imported about 7.2 ton of platinum for making jewellery, she said. According to Banerjee, 2016 had several disruptions for the jewellery sector like the compulsory provision of PAN card details, demonetisation and others that impacted demand for jewellery. Platinum Guild India is the Indian arm of Platinum Guild International, a trade organisation supported by South African platinum producers to develop demand for jewellery made of this metal. The focus markets for Platinum Guild International are China, India, Japan and the US. According to Banerjee, jewellery made of platinum is catching up fast with the Indian youth -- both men and women. She said platinum jewellery is mostly bought for gift purposes. Purchase of platinum jewellery for a daughter's wedding is also becoming a trend now along with gold jewellery. "Even in Tier-2 cities in southern and western India platinum jewellery is in demand," Banerjee said. In its business review report for the first quarter of 2018, Platinum Guild International said: "Concerns and negative press following the scams perpetuated by renowned jewellers Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi have put the diamond jewellery industry under scrutiny impacting diamond sales in February and March." According to the report, retailers have seen a rise in the number of consumers asking for third party certifications for diamond jewellery as well as hallmarking on gold jewellery. They have also seen an increase in the number of consumers asking to check their old jewellery purity and diamond quality. The report said, the jewellery trade expects stricter regulations on availing credit from the banking sector following the large bank frauds. "The more stringent regulations continue to provide opportunities for organised retail, the only sales channel for platinum jewellery," the report said. The report said, during the first quarter of 2018, sales of platinum jewellery logged 25 per cent retail sales growth in India. But the absence of quick resale or taking loan pledging platinum jewellery are some of the issues that are bugging the buyers, said jeweller. "Platinum jewellery suffers some major disadvantage as compared to gold jewellery. The platinum jewellery cannot be sold to anyone in the market nor can it be pledged with a banker for a loan," Jayantilal Challani, Managing Director, Jayantilal Jewellery Mart told IANS. As in the case of gold, knowledge about platinum and the development of secondary market are important for platinum jewellery to take off in a major way, he added. "The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) does not permit banks to give loans against any other metal other than gold and silver. Bank gold appraisers may not be knowing whether it is platinum or any other white metal," Sanjay Ranganathan, a former banker told IANS. Banerjee said retailers who sold platinum jewellery also buys it back offering the buyer the liquidity. Kolkata, June 7 : Growing hospitalisation costs, rising elderly population and a need for personalised medical attention have fuelled a rapid increase in India's home healthcare services sector, which is set to grow manifold in the coming years, say stakeholders. "The home healthcare sector in India is burgeoning and is expected to reach $6 billion (Rs 40,000 crore) by 2020 from a $2 billion market opportunity in 2014," Nightingales Home Health Services Chief Executive Officer Narasimha Jayakumar told IANS. Echoing him, Alok Roy, Chairman, Medica Group of Hospitals, which recently launched homecare services, said the Indian market had a significant potential though it was now at a nascent stage. "The Indian market is currently estimated at over $3 billion per annum and is growing at over 20 percent annually. "Home healthcare market In India is witnessing tremendous growth due to the rise in the aging population. The market for home healthcare services in India is set to double in the coming years," Roy told IANS. According to Vivek Srivastava , Co-Founder and CEO of Healthcare at Home, the overall homecare market is growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 40 per cent over the past three-four years. Cost competitiveness for in-home health services has been a major driver of their demand. "Homecare as a concept is gaining ground in India and the reasons are clinical and societal... it definitely works out cheaper to the extent of 30 per cent as compared to the hospital cost as there is no infrastructure and other overheads. This apart, the cost of a family member needing to stay off from work is an additional saving," Apollo Homecare CEO Mahesh Joshi told IANS. Roy said patients end up saving 20-50 per cent cost as compared to regular hospital treatment depending upon the services taken. "For instance, ICU services are 40-50 per cent cheaper than those provided in hospitals," he said. Again, oncology care at home would also be cheaper by 20 per cent compared to similar hospital facilities, Srivastava told IANS. Homecare service providers also said improved affordability, need for a personalised care for chronic and lifestyle-based diseases, changes in the traditional family system and rise of nuclear families contributory factors in market growth. The operators are providing an array of services, but the most sough-after include COPD management, stroke rehabilitation, ICU, dentistry, oncology, baby care, attention to post transplant patients and geriatric population. However, non-availability of comprehensive insurance coverage for these services is seen as the "most important piece missing in the entire ecosystem", Joshi said, adding an insurance facility will be a game changer for the industry going forward. "Although home healthcare services are gaining considerable traction in India, they are currently not comprehensively covered by health insurance companies. We expect these policies to change in the coming years as these services prove to be an indispensable treatment option for many," Jayakumar said. According to Joshi, the organised players in home healthcare are in discussions with leading insurance providers and hoping a couple of them would take this up as a value added service for their clients. While home healthcare services have several "clear advantages" for a section of patients over treatment in a traditional hospital, choosing in-home care for one's elderly parents or other loved ones is "not without risk", People for Better Treatment President Kunal Saha said. "In a developing country like India, where corruption has riddled through virtually all aspects of public services, with hardly any checks and balances even for the qualified doctors... the new field of home healthcare services is likely to attract unscrupulous people in this lucrative business." This could pose "serious threats to the lives of the suffering elderly citizens who may become more vulnerable in the secrecy of individualised medical care by unqualified caregivers", Saha told IANS in an e-mailed response. In the US and other developed countries, more and more people have been opting for home healthcare services for elderly and debilitated patients for more than two decades. Saha, HIV/AIDS Specialist, Adjunct Professor and Consultant, Columbus State Community College, Ohio, said the Indian government should lay down a "strict and transparent mechanism and licensing system" to regulate the businesses of home health services before they are allowed to operate. (Bappaditya Chatterjee can be contacted at bappaditya.c@ians.in) Chennai, June 7 : Dancing to drum rolls, bursting fire crackers, cutting cakes is how fans of actor Rajinikanth celebrated the release of film "Kaala" in Tamil Nadu on Thursday. Additional security was provided by the police at all the several hundred movie theatres where the film is being screened in the state. Large crowds were seen outside all these theatres since early in the day. "I am a fan of Rajinikanth. I am from Karnataka and came here to see the movie," a person told the media outside a theatre here. "Today is Diwali for me. I have waited for a long time for this movie," a fan told a television channel in Coimbatore theatre. "This not Rajinikanth movie but movie director P.Ranjith movie." "Kaala" has been facing opposition in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Several Tamil activists and political parties voiced their opposition to Rajinikanth's views on the violence in Thuthookudi. Visiting the violence-hit town where 13 persons were killed on May 22 in police action amid anti-Sterlite Copper smelter plant protests, Rajinikanth had said it was anti-social elements that indulged in violence. In Karnataka, the film's release was opposed by some organisations after the southern superstar said the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) on the sharing of river water between Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry, has to be set up. New Delhi : India is blessed to be the third-largest start-up economy in the world. Unfortunately, there is a curse that comes with that blessing. That is, as indicated in a 2016 report issued by the IBM Institute for Business Value and Oxford Economics, 90 per cent of Indian start-ups fail within five years. The question is what can be done to reduce the number of failures? What are the secrets to success for India's budding entrepreneurs and its business start-ups? There are many. But, based upon research findings and my own experience as an entrepreneur, I would like to highlight a critical few. The IBM/Oxford report cited the lack of innovation as the primary reason for failing start-ups. A 2017 report by KMPG India and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) cited innovation, along with scalability and digitisation, as one of the three pillars for building a sustainable business. So, what does an entrepreneur do to innovate? Here is the surprising answer that Vivek Wadhwa, a noted American IT researcher, academic, writer and entrepreneur, gave in an article in the Washington Post on April 30: "In a video-conference hosted by Indian start-up website Inc42, I gave Indian entrepreneurs some advice that startled them. I said that instead of trying new things, they should copy and steal all the ideas they can from China, Silicon Valley and the rest of the world." Wadhwa goes on to explain that the reason that Silicon Valley is the international leader and hotbed for information technology is that there is considerable "knowledge sharing" as engineers move from company to company. He observes that tech giants such as Facebook and Apple borrow and build on the ideas of others. The KPMG/CII report makes a similar point on innovation, stating: "Not all innovation is radical or breakthrough. Innovation can also be incremental, yet small materially significant changes to the current operating model or products or services." I would extend that even further to recommend that the focus for entrepreneurial innovation should be encompassing -- considering potential improvements in the areas known as the 7 P's of services marketing: Product, Pricing, Place, Promotion, People, Process and Physical Evidence. In addition, based upon my experience as an entrepreneur who took an information technology firm, the QSS Group, that I purchased in 1994 for $45,000 and one employee -- me -- to sales of over $300 million and 3,000 employees when I sold it to Perot Systems in 2007, I would offer the following advice that I gave in the keynote address to the participants at US-India Start-Up Forum sponsored by American Bazaar in Mumbai, in February 2017: * Believe in yourself and your business. Pursue your end goal with drive, determination and a passion to succeed. * Find and focus on your niche market. Figure out early on who will be your target customer segments and key customers within those segments and build your business model around them. * Deliver quality products and services that exceed customer expectations. Merely satisfying your customer is not good enough. They need to receive the unanticipated in order to become loyal. This is as true for the neighborhood kirana stores as for Apple and Google. * Surround yourself with talented people. Pay them well. Listen to them. Learn from them. And work closely with them. Remember, business is a team sport and not an individual one. * Have no fear of failure. India is a market where investors have little tolerance for failure. But fear can be crippling. Put your faith in your plan and yourself and carry on. While the strategies and tactics will differ given the nature of the business, I believe that addressing those five factors, along with the need for ongoing innovation, are cross-cutting and can be used by an entrepreneur to provide the framework for becoming successful in any start-up line of business. There is no single formula for success, however, and the future is promised to no-one. Therefore, I will close with this final thought. In a commencement address at Stanford University, Steven Jobs advised the graduates: "Your time is limited; so don't waste it living someone else's life." For budding entrepreneurs and owners of start-ups, I would modify Jobs' advice and say: "Your time is limited; so don't waste it trying to emulate someone else's business. Don't be a mere 'me too' business. Don't be a clone. Find your inner entrepreneur. Chart your own path. Create a mission, vision and set of values that are unique to your enterprise. In other words, make it your journey. By doing so, you will define those secrets to success that will enable you to grow your small business of today into the big business of tomorrow." (Frank F. Islam is a well-known entrepreneur, civic and thought leader based in Washington, D.C. The views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at ffislam@verizon.net) New Delhi, June 7 : Children are the worst victims of conflicts, natural or man-made disasters and other social upheavals as they are often rendered abandoned and homeless. Securing a future for children without families is only possible when the government extends support to NGOs dealing in such issues, says SOS Children's Villages International head Siddhartha Kaul. "There has been a lack of political will in bringing change towards the status of children and women which at times becomes a little frustrating. No NGO can provide the best care solely. Help from any government is very much necessary," Kaul told IANS in an interview. Kaul was initially elected as the president in June 2012 and re-elected for a second four-year term in June 2016. His association with the child care NGO started around 40 years ago when he was appointed Director of the SOS village in Madras, now Chennai. "We want to partner with anyone who wants to partner us. The approach has to be long-term and for that, support from the central authorities is very important; else it will be difficult to fix the issues. The solutions have to come from the states and not from private houses," he further added. According to SOS, migration is the major reason for leaving children homeless. In the recent past, there has been mass migration across Europe and, closer home, the crisis caused by some 600,000 Rohingyas fleeing to Bangladesh to escape persecution in their native Myanmar. Talking about offering sustainable solutions to such situations, Kaul said SOS alone could not do so. "The problems are big; the world is far worse than imagined. We can only present a model of how to take care of a situation. We need to create such conditions in their home countries so that no one has to leave their land," he noted. Currently, SOS Children's Villages International comprises 118 national SOS Children's Villages associations globally. Its General Assembly, which convenes every four years, is its highest decision-making body. Talking about major challenges that SOS faces, Kaul stated that improper utilisation of resources has always remained a major area of concern. "There are countries where there are resources, but they remain unused, whereas there are countries where there are no resources and the demand is huge; the challenge comes in there, like in African countries," he noted. According to the UN, globally, there are more than 220 million children living without parental care and need alternative care like foster homes and orphanages, among others. In India, SOS villages are home to around 17,000 children across 22 states. Apart from financial instability where parents often leave their children at shelter homes, Kaul also pointed that in India, children born out of wedlock is another major reason for children having to live in shelter homes. "It is very much a social stigma in India. Unmarried woman being pregnant is not accepted in our society. In such cases, the child is left to be brought up in a shelter home. The society's approach towards women and children needs to be changed," Kaul contended. Can a shelter home offer the same atmosphere as that of a proper home? "An SOS village is the best alternative to a family. We are focused on giving the young souls the value of love and respect and make sure they are brought up in a good environment. Each and every child under our care is being provided with education and employment, leading to sustainable development." Asked about his future plans globally, Kaul said reaching out to poorer countries is the prime focus. "Our target is to continuously grow even if it is minimal. We have plans to invest in poor countries. We want to give sufficient amount of assistance so that the children don't have to seek refuge in other countries," he explained. (Somrita Ghosh can be contacted at somrita.g@ians.in) : Ranchi: The CRPF trooper who was killed during a shootout with Maoists in Ranchi's Dalbhaga area on June 7, 2018. (Photo: IANS). Image Source: IANS The CRPF trooper who was killed during a shootout with Maoists in Ranchi's Dalbhaga area on June 7, 2018. Image Source: IANS Ranchi, June 7 : A CRPF trooper and a state policeman were killed during a shootout with Maoists in Jharkhand's Khuti district on Thursday, officials said. The incident occurred near Jamro village around 6.50 a.m. when a joint team of the Central Reserve Police Force's 209 CoBRA Battalion and Jharkhand Police was on a search and area dominance operation. CRPF trooper Uttpal Rabha, 27, died on the spot in the firing by Maoists while the policeman, whose name is yet to be announced, succumbed to his injuries later, a CRPF official said. A police officer said the gun battle lasted three hours and that some Maoist guerrillas also sustained bullet injuries. The bodies have reached Ranchi, the CRPF said. The CRPF said that Rabha, from North Garo Hills in Meghalaya, joined it in 2011. Hours after the attack, the security forces carried out searches in forest area in Kuchal in Jharkhand's Latehar district andArecovered an AK 56 rifle along with three magazines and 254 live ammunion of 7.62 mm. The search operation was carried out by troops of 11th and 214th Battalion of CRPF and Jharkhand Police. Taipei, June 7 : Taiwan on Thursday staged live-fire military drills in Taichung city in the presence of President Tsai Ing-wen, amid growing tensions with China. On the fourth day of the Han Kuang drills, the Taiwanese army simulated a full counter-attack against an enemy strike Combat between the island's artillery and 16 F-16 fighter jets, posing as imaginary enemies, while 12 local Jingguo and eight F-16s staged the defence, according to a statement from the Ministry of National Defence. These drills are being conducted at a time when China has intensified its military intimidation by sending in the vicinity of Taiwan aircraft carriers, including the Liaoning vessel and ships, and conducting security manoeuvre in the Taiwan Strait, Efe news reported. Beijing has also intensified its efforts to isolate Taiwan on the international stage, leading to the World Health Organisation rejecting Taiwanese participation as an observer member in May and two diplomatic allies of Taiwan severing ties that same month. The island has intensified its military cooperation with the US and the development of indigenous military hardware, including progress with missile and drone development. Chandigarh, June 7 : BJP President Amit Shah arrived here on Thursday afternoon and held a closed-door meeting with the top Shiromani Akali Dal leadership. Shah met Akali Dal patron and five-time Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son and party President Sukhbir Singh Badal. The meeting was held as part of Shah's initiative to connect with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJPs) allies in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Shah had met NDA ally and Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackerey in Mumbai on Wednesday. Sukhbir Badal's wife, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, is the Union Minister for Food Processing in the Narendra Modi government. The alliance of the two parties did not do too well in the Punjab Assembly elections early last year. They also did not fare well in the Lok Sabha polls in April-May 2014 despite a clear Modi wave in most other states in north India. The Akali Dal-BJP alliance in Punjab, which has been there for over three decades, was relegated to the third spot in the 2017 Assembly polls. New entrant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) got 20 seats in the 117-member Assembly and became the principal opposition party. The Congress, which was out of power in Punjab for a decade (2007-2017), during which period the Akali Dal-BJP alliance ruled Punjab, got 77 seats in the Assembly (the Congress tally increased to 78 after win in Shahkot by-election last month, giving the party a two third majority in the house). Out of the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab, the Akali Dal-BJP combine holds five (four Akali Dal; one of BJP), while the Congress has four seats and AAP another four. San Francisco, June 7 : Issues regarding representation and treatment of marginalised communities took the centre stage at Google's parent company Alphabet's annual shareholders meeting, the media reported. Even Google employees themselves stepped up on Wednesday to challenge management on diversity issues -- a rarity for a company's rank and file in such a public and formal corporate setting, CNET reported. Google last year was rocked by the now infamous "Damore memo", which argued that the gender gap in the tech industry is due mainly to "biological" differences between men and women, not because of sexism. Google CEO Sundar Pichai eventually fired the author of the 3,000-word memo James Damore - a move that attracted criticism from conservatives. On Wednesday, Irene Knapp, a Google engineer, teamed up with Zevin Asset Management to present a proposal that advocated tying executive pay with improvement in diversity metrics at Alphabet. "The lack of clear communicated policies and actions to advance diversity and inclusion with concrete accountability and leadership from senior executives has left many of us feeling unsafe and unable to do our work," Knapp was quoted as saying. Like many other tech giants, Alphabet has been criticised for not having enough diversity on its board, said the CNET report, adding that of the 11 board members at the company, only two are women. New Delhi, June 7 : Spike in ozone pollution has emerged as a rising threat for the already polluted National Capital Region, especially Delhi, with a new study finding "green areas more vulnerable". Conducted by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), the study is based on data collected at 31 monitoring stations of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). It showed that the ozone or O3 has showed up as the "dominant pollutant" along with particulate matter in the daily Air Quality Index (AQI) from February to May. "During February-May, at least on 23 days, ozone has emerged as the dominant pollutant... These are the early signs of a dangerous trend," the it pointed out. Although the study is "not comparative" as in 2017 data collected was very less -- four as compared to 31 in 2018, the geographical spread of ozone is cautioning, CSE experts told IANS. A highly reactive effluent, ozone is created as oxides of nitrogen (NOx) react with heat, sunlight and other volatile gases which are mostly product of vehicular pollution and other sources. "Ozone is very harmful, especially for the patients with respiratory ailments, asthma and lung issues... chest pains, coughing, nausea, headaches are common symptoms," Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy and head of CSE, told IANS. It can also worsen heart disease. A study from Health Effect Institute in 2017 had shown that early deaths due to ozone have jumped by 148 per cent in India. Although ozone is believed to form in highly polluted area, this study found that green regions like Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range near Asola sanctuary were the most vulnerable. In the shooting range, ozone levels exceeded the 8 hour average standards on 54 per cent of days in February, 87 per cent in March, 90 per cent in April, and 90 per cent in May, the study showed. Densely-populated Patparganj, R.K. Puram, Nehru Nagar, industrial areas and low income areas of Najafgarh and Sonia Vihar, were also among the most vulnerable. The study says that at such locations, ozone levels have exceeded the standards for more than 50 per cent of the days during the entire period of February to May. Besides, Gurugram in Haryana and Lutyen's and Central Delhi are also affected by this rising threat, it pointed out. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras praised the world-class achievements and competitive edge of UAEs global maritime feats during his visit to Dubai Maritime City Authoritys (DMCA) pavilion at the ongoing Posidonia 2018, being held in Athens, Greece. The five-day event, an international shipping exhibition, which is taking place at the Athens Metropolitan Expo, will conclude tomorrow (June 8). Senior DMCA officials headed by executive director for operations Ali Al Daboos, and chief officer of Dubai Maritime Cluster Office Nawfal Al Jourani, welcomed Tsipras to the pavilion saying that it reflects the high confidence placed by the international maritime community in Dubai as a leading global maritime centre. The Emirati officials gave a presentation to the Greek Prime Minister and local maritime leaders the UAEs competitive maritime cluster fundamentals, which offer promising investment opportunities for Greek and international ship owners as one of the most competitive and sustainable capitals in the world, it said. In addition, they showcased the UAEs accomplishments and qualitative initiatives launched to attract international investors and open up new horizons for concerned businesses to benefit from the local economic and investment opportunities. The Greek Premier said that he recently gained deeper insights into Dubai's pioneering experience in building one of the worlds most competitive, attractive, and comprehensive maritime cluster, and commended the country for being on par with the world's most important maritime and logistics centres. DMCA said its participation at the event was a continuation of its success in representing the UAE in the most important international maritime forums and in seeking ways to enhance maritime cooperation between the UAE and Greece as a major hub on the maritime trade map. DMCA focused on creating the optimal environment to promote maritime activities based on modern infrastructure and legislations to meet the 21st century requirements and anticipate future needs, said a statement from the company. The DMCA officials also gave a detailed explanation to Tsipras about Zayed Humanitarian Day, which marks the death anniversary of the late founder of the UAE, Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who laid the foundation for making humanitarian work and civilised behaviour a well-established culture and norm in the Arab state, said a statement. The DMCA officials said that the event is a milestone and an important platform to recall the inspiring heritage and noble values of the UAEs founding father as evidenced by the countrys continuing humanitarian efforts benefiting people from around the world. International attendees visited the DMCAs pavilion to explore the strengths of the local maritime components, particularly shipping, ports, engineering, and maritime support, which are reinforcing Dubai's position as one of the top 2017 maritime capitals in the world, it added. Amer Ali, executive director of DMCA, said the authoritys presence in Posidonia and other similar international maritime forums open up new horizons to build strong ties between the UAE and Greece, both of which are known for their competitive advantages and prestigious global positions. He praised the role of the strategic event in introducing international maritime community leaders to the qualitative achievements, ambitious strategies, and competitive factors that make the UAE and Dubai the destination of Greek and other international ship owners and operators seeking to capitalise on the regions promising opportunities. The exhibition is an ideal opportunity to showcase our successful experience in the advancement of the maritime sector based on innovation, knowledge, and smart transformation, he added.-TradeArabia News Service Mumbai, June 7 : Author Amish Tripathi has penned a book on Raja Suheldev, a semi-legendary Indian king from Shravasti in Uttar Pradesh. It will release on July 16. Titled "Suheldev & The Battle of Bahraich", the book will be a part of a new series - 'Indic Chronicles'. It will narrate the story of an unforgettable battle fought in 1025 AD that drove the Turks away for 170 years, read a statement. The author shared the news during the Facebook Live on Sonali Bendre's Book Club page. Readers are also awaiting the release of his Book 3 of Ramachandra Series- "Raavan: Son Of Aryavarta". "The story of Raavan is long, his life was difficult and I want to showcase the emotions right. The book is coming right on schedule. It will be out by the end of the year or early next year. I am more than halfway through it already. But Suheldev is not delaying the book at all. This was the plan with the publishers and we are launching each book according to schedule," Tripathi shared. Assisted by Vikas Singh, "Suheldev & The Battle of Bahraich" is the first book with which Tripathi has introduced the trending concept of Writer's Center in India. Writer's Center is an international format wherein a particular author is assisted by different authors on different books. The idea is if one author has the story, he hires someone, and tells the whole story to them, and what research nees to be done. And then the assisting author would write the first draft and then the author will work on it. Tripathi says the format has been his "support system for the book". "It not only enables me to hire a writer but also create a skeleton framework for my ideas to turn them into 500 pages worth of material. Working on this book with Vikas Singh has created a pool of ideas and stories for another. "I plan on doing this consistently and release 20 books in the Indic Chronicles coming out in every 6 months. There are two other projects also that I am working on with other writers," he said. "Suheldev and The Battle Of Bahraich" will mark Tripathi's foray into historical fiction for the first time. "The way history is taught to us presents the narrative in a very distorted way. A lot of heroes are airbrushed in our history books and there are many more about whom we never read. 'Suheldev & The Battle Of Bahraich' is based on few 'lok kathaye' (folktales). It is a great story of our country together and to me this a very important message in today's time," he said. San Francisco, June 7 : Photo-messaging platform Instagram is likely to unveil a platform for longer-form videos featuring scripted shows, music videos and more in vertically oriented, full-screen, high-definition 4K resolution. "Instagram has been meeting with popular social media stars and content publishers to find out how their video channels elsewhere would work within its app. It is also lining up launch partners for an announcement of the long-form video effort tentatively scheduled for June 20," TechCrunch reported late on Wednesday. The new feature could support videos ranging from five to 15 minutes in length, thus, allowing average users to upload longer videos beyond the current 60-second limit. Each video will feature a swipe-up option to open a link which creators can use to drive traffic to their websites, e-commerce stores or event ticketing to help small businesses flourish on the Facebook-owned platform. The long-form video section is expected to highlight a collection of popular videos and provide a "continue watching" option to allow users view long clips over the course of several sessions. However, creators would not be able to shoot and post long-form videos, as the section will only allow pre-made videos to be uploaded. "It's unclear what the new video feature will be named, or where it will appear. It could possibly be live in the 'Explore' tab or get its own tab or even be spun out into a separate app," TechCrunch added. Mumbai, June 7 : A day after Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah met industrialist Ratan Tata and former Bollywood actress Madhuri Dixit-Nene among others as part of an outreach programme, the Mumbai Congress on Thursday appealed to them "not to fall for the BJP's lies". Congress city President Sanjay Nirupam, in separate letters to Tata and Madhuri, urged them to "understand the truth" of the BJP government which, he said, "has failed on all counts". "Mr. Ratan Tata, I beseech you to understand the truth and not fall for the lies of Amit Shah. I am sending a booklet to you which clearly identifies and explains that the BJP has not been able to do anything for the people of this country in the past 4 years," he said. Nirupam also sought to remind the industrialist how he (Tata) had always supported secular forces all his life and clearly the BJP has spoiled the secular fabric of the country. "As an artist, you can understand how different forces work together in the creative space as well and this has clearly suffered during the BJP rule. We should work together to stop these forces from gaining ground," Nirupam said in his letter to Madhuri. "In the past 4 years, the BJP Government has failed on all fronts whether it be on economic parameters, social harmony, or international relations," he contended in his letters to the two. He reiterated that the BJP government's "ill-conceived fiscal policies have hurt the industry and economy, including small businesses, agrarian economy and the corporates". Shah on Wednesday made high-profile visits to the homes of Tata and Madhuri, and later ally Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray, as part of the BJP's new initiative, 'Sampark for Samarthan' as a run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Nirupam, who alleged he was followed around by the Mumbai police during the BJP's chief's trip, also questioned the "selective meetings" Amit Shah had with prominent Mumbaikars. New Delhi, June 7 : Rebel JD-U leader Sharad Yadav will continue to occupy his official accommodation in the national capital as the Supreme Court on Thursday did not interfere with a Delhi High Court order allowing him to retain the official bungalow on Tughlaq Road here. Observing that the issue of official accommodation could be looked into at an "appropriate level in accordance with law", the vacation bench of Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice Ashok Bhushan took on record a statement that Sharad Yadav would not draw any "remuneration or other perks" till the matter was decided by the high court. Senior counsel Guru Krishna Kumar made the statement that Yadav would not draw any remuneration and allowances as the bench observed "how can high court give him public money?" The top court also said that the division bench of the high court would decide the matter listed for hearing on July 12 at the earliest. "Since on account of delay in proceedings, the election to vacant posts (in the Rajya Sabha) may be delayed, we request the high court to decide the writ petition at the earliest," the court said in its order. The court also recorded statements by the counsels for both parties -- petitioner and Janata Dal-United (JD-U) Rajya Sabha member Ram Chander Prasad Singh and Sharad Yadav -- that they would not seek any adjournment. The court asked the division bench to hear the matter as senior counsel Ranjit Kumar appearing for the petitioner referred to an earlier top court ruling which had said that all such matters involving challenge to disqualification of lawmakers should be heard by the division bench. Ranjit Kumar also told the court that due to the pendency of the matter, the election to fill two vacancies caused by the disqualification of Sharad Yadav and Ali Anwar was not taking place. Ram Chandra Prasad Singh -- a former bureaucrat -- is the leader of the JD-U in upper House of Parliament. He succeeded Sharad Yadav as the leader of JD-U in the Rajya Sabha after the latter was disqualified for opposing Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for dumping Grand Alliance in the state comprising Rashtriya Janata Dal, JD-U and the Congress in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance. The high court, while refusing to interfere with his disqualification by Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu as a JD-U member in the Upper House, had by an interim order allowed him to continue to stay in the official residence until his plea against his disqualification was decided. The high court had also allowed Yadav to draw allowances and perquisites. Thursday's order came on a petition filed by Ram Chandra Prasad Singh challenging the Delhi High Court order. Kolkata, June 7 : BSF personnel seized two gold bars and six gold biscuits worth around Rs 84 lakh in two separate raids in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district and arrested two Indian smugglers, a BSF official said on Thursday. Acting on a tip off, Border Security Force (BSF) troopers on Wednesday laid an ambush in North 24 Pargana district's Haridaspur-Kalyani area and arrested a man coming towards Haridaspur village on a boat. "The suspected smuggler named Kamal Majhi, 48, was arrested by the BSF. Two gold bars weighing approximately 2 kg and worth Rs 62.38 lakh were seized from him," DIG, South Bengal Frontier, Prabhat Kumar Singh, said in a release. In the other case, a BSF trooper of border outpost Amudia of the same district arrested another suspect coming from the Bangladesh side and seized gold from him. "Babulal Biswas, 42, a resident of Amudia village was arrested while illegally crossing into Indian territory from Bangladesh on Wednesday afternoon. Four gold biscuits and two gold bars worth Rs. 22.27 lakh were seized from him," a BSF officer said. The BSF command have seized over 10 kg of smuggled gold worth Rs 3.27 crore and have arrested four gold smugglers in 2018. Srinagar, June 7 : Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday taunted Kashmiri separatist leaders for praising their own children on their academic success while pushing other children into "darkness" by encouraging them to throw stones at security forces. The Minister's taunt came days after jailed separatist leader Shabir Shah's daughter cleared her CBSE Class 12 exam and was a state topper with 97.8 per cent. Hardline Hurriyat chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani and other separatist leaders congratulated Shah's daughter on her success, describing her as a role model for Kashmiri youngsters. Rajnath Singh didn't name anyone in his remarks but asked: "What kind of approach is this?. "You congratulate your own children for doing well in examinations and push children of others into darkness by pushing them to play with fire and stones," he told reporters. With Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti by his side, Rajnath Singh said playing politics with the future of Kashmir's children was not only deceitful but criminal as well. The Minister is on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir to assess the security situation in the aftermath of the ongoing Ramadan ceasefire. He said Ramadan was a holy month and those who indulge in terrorism during this month were indulging in unholy practices. He recalled former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's approach of a insaniyat (humanity), jumhooriyat (democracy) and Kashmiriyat (eclectic culture) and said: "Those who pick up guns cannot be said to be believers of democracy. "Kashmiriyat includes both Hazratbal (the Srinagar Muslim shrine that houses the relic of Prophet) and Amarnath (the Hindu hill shrine in south Kashmir). (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi said from the Red Fort that the problem of Kashmir can be solved by embracing Kashmiris and not by abusing them." The Home Minister said the issue of extending or calling off the ceasefire would be discussed with the Chief Minister before taking a final call. He added that nothing could be ruled out. Islamabad, June 7 : Two crew members were injured after a Pakistan Army Aviation's helicopter made a crash landing during a medical mission in the country's Balochistan province on Thursday, the military said. An Army statement said the incident occurred when the chopper was shifting an injured paramilitary member of Frontier Corps from Kohlu district to Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, for medical treatment. A statement from the Army's media wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said the pilots were safe. Chennai, June 7 : Dancing to drum beats, bursting firecrackers, cutting cakes and pouring milk over their hero's banner is how fans of actor Rajinikanth in Tamil Nadu celebrated the release of his much awaited film "Kaala" on Thursday. Additional security was provided by the police at all the several hundred movie theatres where the film was screened in the state. Large crowds were seen outside all the theatres since early in the day. "I am a fan of Rajinikanth. I am from Karnataka and came here to see the movie," a person told the media outside a theatre here. "Today is Diwali for me. I have waited for a long time for this movie," another fan told journalists in Coimbatore. "This not Rajinikanth movie but movie director Pa. Ranjith movie." This is the first movie of Rajinikanth since he announced his political foray. "Kaala" has been facing opposition in both Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Several Tamil activists and political parties voiced their opposition to Rajinikanth's views on the violence in Thuthookudi. Visiting the violence-hit town where 13 persons were killed on May 22 in police action amid anti-Sterlite Copper smelter plant protests, Rajinikanth had blamed anti-social elements for the violence. In Karnataka, the film's release was opposed by some organisations after the southern superstar said the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) on the sharing of river water between Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry has to be set up. However, theatre owners and others are keeping their fingers crossed about the movie's success and raking in money. "Movie halls will be packed with Rajini fans during the first four days. General public will come only after that. While the hall is full for the first four days, there is no major demand for tickets post Monday," a theatre owner told IANS preferring anonymity. According to him, the story line is nothing new - rich versus poor - an age old theme and reminds the viewers of Kamal Haasan starrer "Naayagan". Queried about the hype for Rajinikanth's earlier movie "Kabali" as compared with "Kaala", he said the former was produced by a seasoned movie producer who knew how to create a hype and market the product. He said one of the issues with "Kaala" was that the movie should not have been released in so many screens as the supply had been increased instead of creating a demand by restricting the number of screens. New Delhi, June 7 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said his government's aim is to ensure affordable healthcare to every citizen and to achieve this it will open about 1,500 more generic medicine centre across the country. Speaking to the beneficiaries of government health schemes through 'video bridge', Modi termed health the basis of all success and prosperity and acknowledged that expenditure on it was a huge burden to many families. "...illness not only creates a huge financial burden on families, especially poor and middle class, but also affects our socio economic sectors. Hence, it is the endeavour of the government to ensure affordable healthcare to every citizen," a government statement quoted Modi as saying. In his fifth such interaction with the people, Modi said the Central government had opened more than 3,600 Jan Aushadhi Kendras all over the country where more than 700 generic medicines were available at affordable price. He said the number of these centres will reach over 5,000 in the near future. A major drain on health budget for poor and middle class families, the cost of stents has been brought down from around Rs 2 lakh to Rs 29,000, along with that of knee transplant, which now costs Rs 70,000 - 80,000 from Rs 2.5 lakh earlier, he said. "On that account, the reduction in knee transplant prices has saved close to Rs 1,500 crore for public," the statement read. On the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Dialysis Programme, Modi said the government had performed more than 22 lakh dialysis sessions for 2.25 lakh patients in more than 500 districts and his Mission Indradhanush had vaccinated 3.15 crore children and 80 lakh pregnant women in 528 districts. "In order to ensure more beds, more hospitals and more doctors, the government has opened 92 medical colleges and increased MBBS seats by 15,000." To make "healthcare affordable and accessible", he said, the government has launched the Ayushman Bharat scheme, under which 10 crore families will be covered with health insurance of Rs 5 lakh. The Prime Minister said the 'Swachh Bharat Abhiyan' scheme was playing a central role in creating a healthy India. Panaji, June 7 : The BJP will soon formally seek an appointment with Goa Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao as part of its 'Sampark se Samarthan' outreach programme to inform social influencers about achievements of the ruling party, an official said on Thursday. "As part of the 'Sampark se Samarthan' programme, we will be seeking an appointment with the Archbishop this week. We will be briefing him about the achievements of the Narendra Modi government," a state BJP officer said on condition of anonymity. This is expected to be the first interaction of the Archbishop with BJP office-bearers after the former's pastoral letter earlier this week in which he claimed that India's Constitution was in danger, triggered controversy. The BJP has refrained from commenting on the observations made by Ferrao, who also said that "mono-culturalism" and threats over food habits, freedom of expressions were infringements of human rights. Premanand Mahambre, state spokesperson of the BJP, told reporters that party office-bearers on Thursday met Swami Brahmanand of the influential Kundaim tapobhumi ashram in south Goa and presented him a booklet of achievements. The Swami has a large following among Goa's 'bahujan samaj' which includes a majority of the castes, barring Brahmins. "Our office-bearers including the state BJP president Vinay Tendulkar and General Secretary Sadanand Shet Tanavde met Swami Brahmanand and apprised him about the various development programmes launched by the BJP government in the country and explained to him about the benefits received by Goa for development," Mahambre said. Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company (Adnec) yesterday celebrated the Global Exhibitions Day (GED), by highlighting the strategic importance of the meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (Mice) sector to the growth of world economies. The GED initiative, which began in 2016, has seen a growing number of participants and is actively supported by 40 exhibition industry associations and coordinated by UFI, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry. As with previous GED events, industry professionals and students from around the world have been very active in online campaigns this year, while many global organisations hosted and organised events marking the days significance, said a statement from the company. Adnec Group CEO Humaid Matar Al Dhaheri said: These are truly exciting times for the global Mice industry as analysts are predicting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.5 per cent in the next five years and reaching $1.24 billion in 2023. Rapid globalisation along with the expansion of service industries and the continuing emergence of newer technologies have become key drivers in this industry's continuous growth. In line with this, we are confident that it will be a key player in the growth--remaining steadfast in our commitment to provide world class services and facilities to the region, he said. We join the whole world as it celebrates GED, which aims to highlight the importance of the Mice industry for world economies. With over 260 million visitors and 4.4 million exhibitors generating 98 billion ($115.30 billion) in revenues every year, the Mice industry contributes significantly to the gross domestic product (GDP) of every country in the world, added Al Dhaheri. Adnec, he stated, has great pleasure in being a part of this industry, with two venues in the heart of the Middle East, and ExCeL London in the heart of Europe, contributing to 6.12 per cent of the global exhibition industry. "We are proud to set a benchmark in the industry, with its diverse range of events across key economic sectors," he added. Our two key venues, the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre and the Al Ain Convention Centre, together generate Dh3.89 billion ($1.058 billion) of economic impact to Abu Dhabi last year. Our key venues have helped contribute to the growth and development of Abu Dhabi and the UAE, he said. We are a key contributor to the development of the business tourism sector in Abu Dhabi and we understand the significant role we play in helping the emirate in achieving its long-term goals of economic growth and diversification by hosting a series of world-class exhibitions, conventions and events--assisting business tourism and generating non-oil related economic impact, he added.-TradeArabia News Service New Delhi, June 7 : The BJP on Thursday said that the Bhima Koregaon agitation in Maharashtra as "manufactured" and accused the Congress of using Dalits as a "tool" to come back to power. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also demanded an answer from Congress President Rahul Gandhi over a letter written after the agitation by Maoist leader concerning purported role of Congress in backing the outfit legally and financially. The BJP's attack came a day after the Pune police arrested five people allegedly having close Maoist links, including prominent Dalit activist Sudhir Dhawale from Mumbai, Lawyer Surendra Gadling, activist Mahesh Raut and Shoma Sen from Nagpur and Rona Wilson from Delhi in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence on January 1. "The hunger for power in the Congress has been exposed as never before to the series of documents and the series of facts that we are going to keep in front of you," BJP leader Sambit Patra told reporteres here at a press conference. Attacking Congress over the alleged letter recovered from the house of Wilson in Delhi, Patra said, "Letter is an integral document of the Maoists. This letter is means of communication as to how violence can be perpetrated in this country." Patra said that the Bhima Koregaon incident started on December 31, 2017 and culminated around evening on January 1, 2018 in which a youth lost his life. And the letter was written on January 2, 2018. According to the BJP leader the letter was allegedly written by a core committee member of the banned outfit, CPI-Maoist, lauding the efforts by Rona and others to make Elgaar Parishad - organised by Dalit and left-wing organisations at Pune's Shaniwarwada on December 31 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Bhima Koregaon battle a success. "But once you go through this letter and you will find that Dalits were being used as tools," the BJP leader alleged. He also described the agitation in Bhima Koregaon as a "manufactured agitation" instead of a spontaneous one. Referring to the contents of the letter, the BJP leader said, "Comrade Deepu and Comrade Manglu have been coordinating the Bhima Koregaon programme with Comrade Sudhir. They have got support from large sections of Dalits acrtoss the state and Comrade Jignesh (Mewani) and Comrade Umer (Khalid) are young fighters of our revolution." "Last year in July and August the Higher Committee has provided two rounds of funds to Comrade Sudhir (Dhawale) for this task. Comrade Shoma (Sen) and Surendra are authorised to provide funds for future programmes as well. The Bhima Koregaon agitation has been very effective," Patra said. "The death of a youth must be exploited to prepare future agitations and propaganda materials," he read. "Can anyone of us think of exploiting the death of a youth? But here it is being done to exploit. It is conspired and a letter is written for that," he said. "This is a culture which has been set time and again as politcial vulturanism on a dead body. You see a dead as an opportunity. And we condemn this," he said. Hitting out at the Congress President, Patra said, Gandhi has to answer why he was standing with such people who were trying to break the nation. "Senior comrades from CPI-Maoists leadership have had prior talks with our friends in Congress who suggested to continue Dalit mobilisation more aggressively whatever legal and financial aide is required they are ready to provide through the intermediary (Jignesh)," Patra said reading from the letter. He also said that the letter proved that there was an "anti-India gang of urban naxals", who had been trying to subvert the country. New Delhi, June 7 : The CISF on Thursday took over the security of Shirdi International Airport, with a sanctioned strength of more than 180 personnel, an official said. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel, deputed to guard Shirdi airport, will be led by a Deputy Commandant rank officer. The administrative control of this airport will be under the CISF's Deputy Inspector General, West Zone Airports, Mumbai. With its induction at Shirdi airport, the CISF now guards 60 out of 98 airports across the country, with a total of 343 units of the paramilitary force deployed for the purpose. "In the light of the increased threat perception to the aviation sector across the country, security of Shirdi International Airport is of utmost importance as thousands of pilgrims, foreigners and VVIPs frequently visit Shirdi Sai Baba Temple through this airport," said CISF Assistant Inspector General Hemendra Singh. The 180 personnel of the CISF will be on various duties such as frisking, anti-hijacking and patrolling. Located at Kakadi village, Shirdi International Airport is around 12 km away from prominent pilgrimage sport of the Shirdi Sai Baba Temple. This airport, spread over 1,300 acres and with one terminal building and a 2,500 metre long runaway, is owned by Maharashtra Airport Development Company and was inaugurated on October 1, 2017. Mumbai, June 7 : Actor Jackky Bhagnani started shooting for the film "Anandwaa" on Thursday here. The actor will play the lead role in the film, which is an ode to Hrishikesh Mukherjee's cult classic "Anand". The 1971 film featured the late actor Rajesh Khanna and megastar Amitabh Bachchan. "I am very excited to play this role. 'Anand' is such a poignant and beautiful film. I am honoured to be working for this project. The film requires a lot of sensitivity and what drew me to the script was how maturely the writing was handled. "I am sure the audience will love the film," Jackky said in a statement. Directed by Abir Sengupta, "Anandwaa" explores the journey of a man who chooses to handle a life-altering situation with humour. New Delhi, June 7 : Sunil Sood, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Vodafone India, who was Vice Chairman of Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) for the last two years, will now hold the position of Chairman while the Vice Chairman will be Ajai Puri, Chief Operating Officer, Bharti Airtel. The decision was taken at the annual general meeting of the COAI on Thursday. "The (telecom) sector has been one of the primary drivers of India's economic growth, contributing 6.5 per cent to the national GDP. While the industry is reeling under Rs 7.64 lakh crore debt and the additional investment of Rs 2 lakh crore is still required over the next two years to fulfil the dream of a digitally connected India, we are sure the partnership between the government and the sector will get stronger and these targets will be achieved," said Rajan S. Mathews, Director General, COAI. "The National Digital Communications Policy 2018, recently unveiled by the DoT (Department of Telecommunications), holds significant promises for the industry that has been facing difficult times over the last few years. This will also boost government's key initiatives like Digital India and SmartCities. New technologies like AI, Machine Learning as well as Robotics and Automation promise to make our lives much easier while significantly diversifying the revenue streams of the telcos and making room for significant differentiation and long term viability," he added. Lucknow, June 7 : US Ambassador to India Kenneth I. Juster concluded his two-day visit Uttar Pradesh on Thursday, officials said. During his visit, the envoy called on Governor Ram Naik and held deliberations with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, among others. He was taken on a guided tour of the British Residency where he was briefed about the rich heritage of the city by officials of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). The US envoy met Health Minister Siddhartha Nath Singh and had a working lunch with Samajwadi Party (SP) chief and former UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. Speaking about his visit, Juster said: "Lucknow truly symbolizes the blending of cultures in India and holds a distinct place in India's history". During his interaction with Chief Minister Adityanath, the two discussed possibilities of taking business ties between UP and the US to new heights. Adityanath briefed him about the decisions and policies rolled out by his government towards ease of doing business. Jabalpur, June 7 : Eggs and stones were thrown at the car of Patidar quota leader Hardik Patel here on Thursday, leading to the arrest of seven persons, police said. Patel was to address a rally in Panagar here for which he was initially refused permission. However, the authorities later gave the go-ahead. On Thursday, when Patel was going towards Panagar, some youths on a bike hurled eggs at his car and fled. At another place, some people pelted his car with eggs and stones. Superintendent of Police S.K. Shukla said seven people have been arrested for disrupting peace. Patel became the face of Patidar quota stir that began in June 2015, after he led a state-wide agitation demanding that government jobs and some seats in educational institutions be reserved for the Patidar community. New Delhi, June 7 : Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep S. Puri on Thursday said the 99 designated smart cities in the country, which entail an investment of nearly Rs 2 lakh crore, will start showing visible signs of excellence in the next six months. "This project was announced in 2015 and is due for completion in 2022, but between June and December we will begin to see their physical manifestation and I think that is already obvious," Puri said as he talked of achievements of his ministry in the last four years. "In the next few days, we are making arrangements to inaugurate the 10th Integrated Control and Command Centre (ICCC). These are cutting edge, state-of-the-art technology centres which integrate all urban services on one huge screen, making it possible to use technology for providing ease of living to all including the disabled, women and children with security features and others," said the minister. Puri said it takes 15 to 18 months for a smart city project to get underway as it takes that much time to appoint a project management consultant (PMC) and to establish a special purpose vehicle (SPV). Most of the 99 smart cities already have a PMC and an SPV, he said. At the time of his joining the Union Council of Ministers in September 2017, the amount of expenditure incurred on the smart cities at that stage was Rs 8,000 crore. "By May 2018, it became Rs 30,000 crore and at the end of December it would be Rs 50,000 crore," Puri said. In May, the Madhya Pradesh government launched the country's first cloud-based ICCC for all its seven smart cities. The ICCC would enable the government to monitor and control various citizen services like smart lighting, parking, traffic, waste management and water supply from a single platform. "I have good basis to believe that another 14 of these ICCCs will be operational very soon," he said. Imphal, June 7 : An international drug smuggler wanted in India and abroad was arrested in Thoubal district of Manipur, police said on Thursday. Superintendent of Police (Narcotics and Affairs of Border) W. Basu said that many law-enforcement agencies were after Mohammad Masle, who was arrested on May 30 at Lilong. Basu said that six FIRs stand registered against the drug smuggler, who was operating his racket for five years. The officer the smuggler was being interrogated on his illegal activities. Ghaziabad, June 7 : A Nigerian man and two women from Tanzania have been arrested here on charges of cheating an Indian of Rs 10 lakh, police said on Thursday. The arrests followed a complaint from Grivesh Sharma, who said he transferred the money to the Africans for a purported business transaction after which they snapped all ties with him. The three revealed their identity as Ivoh of Nigeria and Jahara and Christina from Tanzania. The police recovered two laptops and three mobile phones from them, Senior Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Krishna said. Lucknow, June 7 : Amnesty International India and Bhim Army on Thursday demanded that the Uttar Pradesh government release Dalit activist Chandrashekhar Azad from administrative detention under the provisions of the National Security Act (NSA). "Chandrashekhar Azad has been languishing in prison for the past one year. Keeping him behind bars under repressive administrative detention laws shows that the Uttar Pradesh government would rather stifle dissent than address serious human rights concerns," said Amnesty International India Programmes Director Asmita Basu. Both the organisations said Azad has been denied a fair trial. He was first arrested for his alleged involvement in Saharanpur riots on June 8, 2017. On November 2, 2017, the Allahabad High Court granted him bail. However, a day later, he was arrested again under the provisions of the NSA. On April 27 this year, the Allahabad High Court dismissed Azad's plea seeking to quash his detention order under the NSA. Reacting to the court order, Basu said: "It is essential for courts to protect fair trial guarantees of all persons and ensure that the criminal justice system is not undermined." Bhim Army President Vinay Ratan Singh said state authorities had sought the group's help in maintaining peace during Saharanpur riots but now the authorities are saying that if he is released, he will create a law and order problem. "The state government has done everything to keep Azad in jail. What crime has he committed," he asked. Amnesty also said that over 140,000 people across India have supported its campaign calling on Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to release the activist. German chemicals and pharmaceuticals giant Bayer said it has completed the acquisition of US-based seed and weed-killer maker Monsanto as the two firms signed off a $63-billion merger deal. "Shares in the US company will no longer be traded on the New York Stock Exchange, with Bayer now the sole owner of Monsanto Company," the German firm said in a statement on Thursday. Monsanto shareholders are being paid $128 per share. JP Morgan assisted Bayer with processing the purchase price payment for the largest acquisition in the companys history. According to the conditional approval from the US Department of Justice, the integration of Monsanto into Bayer can take place as soon as the divestments to BASF have been completed. This integration process is expected to commence in approximately two months. Announcing the closing of the deal, Bayer Chairman Werner Baumann, said: "Today is a great day: for our customers farmers around the world whom we will be able to help secure and improve their harvests even better; for our shareholders, because this transaction has the potential to create significant value; and for consumers and broader society, because we will be even better placed to help the worlds farmers grow more healthy and affordable food in a sustainable manner." "As a leading innovation engine in agriculture, we offer employees around the world attractive jobs and development opportunities," stated Baumann. "Our sustainability targets are as important to us as our financial targets. We aim to live up to the heightened responsibility that a leadership position in agriculture entails and to deepen our dialogue with society," he added. Hugh Grant, the outgoing chairman and CEO of Monsanto, said: Todays closing represents an important milestone toward the vision of creating a leading agricultural company, supporting growers in their efforts to be more productive and sustainable for the benefit of our planet and consumers. I am proud of the path we have paved as Monsanto and look forward to the combined company helping move modern agriculture forward, he added. Liam Condon, a member of the Bayer board of management, will lead the combined Crop Science Division when the integration commences. Until that time, Monsanto will operate independently from Bayer.-TradeArabia News Service New Delhi/Thiruvananthapuram, June 7 : After hectic political parleys between Congress leader from Kerala and the high command, including party President Rahul Gandhi, it was decided to hand over a Rajya Sabha seat to former ally Kerala Congress-Mani (KC-M), paving the way for its return into the UDF fold. Of the three seats to which elections are to be held later this month, the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) is able to win just one seat and was likely to renominate Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson P.J. Kurien, but this is now unlikely with Thursday's decision. Addressing reporters soon after the over an hour long meeting with Gandhi, former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said this is just a one-time adjustment. The general consensus in the UDF is strengthening of the alliance and that's the need of the hour and to do that, "we all felt that KC-M should get a seat. As a special case, this time the Rajya Sabha seat will be given to them", he said. "In return, the Congress will get a Rajya Sabha seat when it falls vacant after four years... This out of turn allotment need be seen only as a special case." Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala, who also took part in the discussions, said the KC-M was part of the UDF for 43 years and due to certain issues they decided to opt out about two years back, but in Delhi, they always remained part of the UPA alliance. "Even after leaving the UDF, they gave their support to the UDF in three by-elections in Kerala that took place in the past nearly two years. "The decision of the UDF was to bring KC-M back into the fold and it had entrusted IUML veteran and Lok Sabha member P.K. Kunhalikutty with the task of having discussions with their party leader K.M. Mani... and this was going on for the past three months and the issue has been clinched now," he said. Mani's party severed ties with the UDF in 2016 and his party's six legislators began sitting as a separate block in the Assembly. State Congress president M.M. Hassan, who also took part in the discussions, said as part of the talks, it was also decided to allow KC-M their traditional Lok Sabha seat at Kottayam. Expressing happiness in the new developments, KC-M supremo K.M. Mani told the media in Thiruvananthapuram that he wishes to thank Kunhalikutty who was the mediator in the discussion. "I wish to thank the Congress party for this. Our party is eligible for it, as one of the members retiring now, is our leader. We will all now make a concerted effort to strengthen the UDF. With regards to who the candidate would be, will be decided tomorrow (on Friday)," he said. However, the rapprochement has not gone down well with a section in the Congress, with former Congress state President V.M. Sudheeran lashing out at this "suicidal strategy". "The need of the hour is to strengthen the Congress and the UDF will strengthen only if the Congress is strong. This gifting of seat to Mani will in no way be of any help as Congress men will not be happy at all. Even Mani knows that he has no right to this seat..." said an angry Sudheeran. A peeved Kurien meanwhile told the media in Delhi that he will abide by the decision as the party high command has agreed to it. "This was a meek surrender of the Congress and the key architect in it is Chandy. The decision to hand over the seat to Mani was never discussed in the party at all. "I was told today morning by Chennithala that Mani is demanding the seat. I said I have no problem in giving it up, but wished it would have gone to the Congress and not to some other party," he said. Chandigarh, June 7 : A Panchkula court on Thursday dismissed a plea for regular bail filed by Honeypreet in connection with violence that broke out after the conviction of Dera Sacha Sauda sect's head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in two rape cases. Honeypreet had sought the bail from the court in adjoining Panchkula in Haryana, claiming that no evidence was found against her by Haryana Police even as she was behind bars for 245 days. Her counsel told the court that others booked by the police on same charges as Honeypreet had been granted bail by different courts. The Special Investigation Team (SIT), which investigated the violence in Panchkula in August 2017 following Gurmeet Ram Rahim's conviction, had slapped sedition charges against Honeypreet in September last year. Honeypreet, whose real name is Priyanka Taneja, has been lodged in the Central Jail, Ambala, 45 km from here, since October last year. The police had claimed that she was the closest aide of the sect chief and knew many things about the sect's activities and its role in the violence in Panchkula and other places after the August 25 conviction of Ram Rahim. Honeypreet remained on the run for 38 days after she was booked by the Haryana Police on charge of sedition. She was arrested on October 3, 2017 from the Zirakpur-Patiala Highway, about 15 km from Chandigarh. The woman claims to be Ram Rahim's "adopted daughter" though her former husband Vishwas Gupta has alleged illicit relations between her and the sect chief. Ram Rahim was sentenced to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of over Rs 30 lakh, following which violence erupted in Panchkula and Sirsa in Haryana, leaving 41 people dead and over 260 injured. Isolated incidents of violence were also reported from Delhi and several places in Punjab. Bhubaneswar, June 7 : Puri Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb on Thursday blamed the Jagannath temple administration for the missing keys of "Ratna Bhandar" (treasury). Gajapati, in a letter released to a section of media here, said he failed to understand why he was made responsible for the actions and inactions of the temple administration. He said that the Odisha government took over the management of Srimandir after the implementation of the Sri Jagannath Temple Act in 1960, which empowered the state government as the supreme authority for ensuring the safety of Ratna Bhandar and safe custody of its keys. "After the Government of Odisha took over management of Srimandir from my late revered father Gajapati Maharaja Birakishore Deb in 1960 (pursuant to implementation of Shri Jagannath Temple Act,1955), the keys of the Inner Ratna-bhandara have always been in the custody of the government functionaries concerned," said Gajapati. "After 1960, at no point of time, the Gajapati has been entrusted with the keys of Inner Ratna Bhandar nor has he been involved in any way with the handling of the said keys," he informed. He said the few times that the Inner Ratna Bhandar had been opened after 1960, the Srimandir Administrator and Puri Collector had been involved with the handling and custody of its keys. "Since 1960, the Gajapati has been entrusted with the custody of one out of the three keys of outer Ratna Bhandar and his authorised representative attends every opening of outer Ratna Bhandar with the said key, as and when required by the Srimandir Administration," said the Puri Gajapati. The outer Ratna Bhandar could not be opened unless all the three custodians of the keys -- representative of the Gajapati, Srimandir Administrator and Sri Mandir Bhandar-Mekapa -- were present with the keys in their respective custodies, he informed. "I am surprised to learn that views have been expressed recently in both electronic and print media raising questions about the role and responsibility of the Gajapati regarding safe custody of the keys of Inner Ratna Bhandar, especially having regard to his position as Chairman of the Srimandir Managing Committee," said Gajapati. The controversy erupted after the keys of inner Ratna Bhandar of Jagannath temple were reported to be missing. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has appointed Justice Raghubir Dash, a retired Orissa High Court judge, to inquire into the circumstances leading to non-availability of the keys of Ratna Bhandar of Jagannath temple in Puri. New Delhi, June 7 : The University Grants Commission (UGC) on Thursday asked various stakeholders for their suggestions on examination reforms in the higher education domain. In a notice issued on Thursday, the UGC said it has formed a committee to "recommend and suggest reforms in examination system" in the higher education institutions. Through the notice, it solicited suggestions from teachers, students, educationists and general public on several aspects of the examination system including moderation procedure, grading and credit system, objectives of exams, evaluation etc. Stakeholders were asked to send their suggestions to the commission by June 22. New Delhi, June 7 : Hours after Congress leaders had slammed former President Pranab Mukherjee for attending an RSS event, the party on Thursday praised him for showing "mirror of truth" to the Sangh by reminding it of Indias pluralism, tolerance, secularism and inclusiveness as an article of faith and soul of the country. The party also said Mukherjee reminded the Prime Minister Narendra Modi of his 'Rajdharma' and that "Indian nationalism is constitutional patriotism". Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala also said in a statement that Mukherjee's visit to RSS headquarters had caused wide ranging discussion, comment, concern and even consternation amongst a large section of Indians, who have an innate belief in foundational values of democracy, pluralism, and diversity. His statement came soon after Mukherjee had delivered his nearly 30-minute address at the RSS headquarters during its third year annual training camp. Earlier, several Congress leaders including Mukherjee's daughter Sharmistha Mukherjee, Ahmed Patel and Anand Sharma had slammed him for attending a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh event in Nagpur. "Pranab Mukherjee has shown the mirror of truth to the RSS at RSS headquarters in Nagpur by reminding them of India's pluralism, tolerance, secularism and inclusiveness as an article of faith and soul of the country," said Surjewala. "He particularly highlighted the imperative need of freeing the public discourse from all forms of violence - physical and verbal, besides putting compassion, harmony and non-violence as the centre stage of our public life," he added. Surjewala said Mukherjee also reminded the Modi government of following 'Rajdharma', founded upon our diversity, non-violence, multiculturalism and assimilation of ideas, particularly that 'happiness of people is the happiness of ruler, their welfare is his welfare'. "Indicating the unchecked exercise of authority and attack on institutions in garb of a self-professed definition of 'pseudo nationalism', he reminded the RSS as also the prime minister that Indian nationalism is constitutional patriotism," he added. Noting that as Indians and as Congressmen, they encourage and believe in the democratic dialogue and recognise the tight and sanctity of dialogue across different thought processes, Surjewala asked: "Simple issue to understand, however, is - dialogue is possible in democratic order, with an open mind and willingness to change, accept and adapt to the other person's point of view," "Is RSS ready to listen? Is RSS ready to change? Is RSS ready to admit its mistakes - both of thought and action? Is RSS ready to adapt to India's foundational values of pluralism, tolerance, non-violence, secularism and diversity? "Is RSS ready to give up its prejudice vis-a-vis women, dalits, backwards, minorities and the deprived? Is RSS ready to accept scientific temper and rationality? Is RSS ready to give up its inherent character of subjugation, domination and violence?" he asked. Congress also wanted RSS to answer if "merely inviting the former President to an event will give it the much elusive social and political sanctity". Bengaluru, June 7 : The multilingual "Kaala" film of Tamil superstar Rajinikanth was shown from Thursday evening in a dozen theatres and six multiplexes here amid tight security after protesters were whisked away and detained, police said. "Some theatres and multiplexes started screening the film after about 300 protesters were taken away and detained in police stations across the city," a police officer told IANS here. Hundreds of fans thronged multiplexes such as Inox, PVR, Lido and Garuda in the city to watch the movie on the first day after the exhibitors avoided screening it in the morning and afternoon due to protests by activists of pro-Kannada organisations. Earlier in the day, over 100 theatres and multiplexes across Karnataka deferred screening the film amid vociferous protests against the film over Rajinikanth's pro-Tamil Nadu stance on the Cauvery river water sharing issue. "It's business as usual since evening as the protesters kept away and presence of police personnel made hundreds of fans to come and watch the movie under tight security," a multiplex manager told IANS. As directed by the Karnataka High Court on Tuesday, the state government deployed adequate police personnel at the theatres and multiplexes for the protection of fans and safety of public property after the activists urged distributors and exhibitors to avoid screening the film. "The situation is under control and there is no problem in showing the film after the police took away the protesters from the theatres and multiplexes to avoid any untoward incident," the Urvashi theatre owner said. An official, on the condition of anonymity, said: "We have not issued tickets for the morning and afternoon shows though many fans turned up to watch the movie on the first day first show as we do not want to antagonise the protesters and also want to ensure that the tense situation outside does not go out of hand." Hundreds of activists also protested at Mysuru, Hubballi, Mangaluru, Ballari and Belagavi. "Cauvery water is more important than a Rajinikanth film for us. Our honour and Kannada pride are at stake. He (Rajinikanth) has hurt us by supporting the cause of Tamil Nadu in the sharing of the river water," KRV President Praveen Shetty told reporters here. Many fans who bought the tickets online for the show on Wednesday were disappointed as they could not watch their favourite superstar's film. Besides the original Tamil version, the film has been released across the country and beyond with sub-titles in Hindi, Telugu and English. New Delhi, June 7 : The 38 Indians evacuated from Socotra island in Yemen Indian Naval Ship (INS) Sunayana on June 3 landed safely at Porbandar on Thursday, a defence statement said. The rescued citizens were received at Porbandar harbour by Rear Admiral Sanjay Roye, Flag Officer Commanding Gujarat, Daman and Diu Naval Area. After initial briefing about the scheduled disembarkation formalities, they were put through mandatory customs clearance and immigration checks, the Navy said. "After completion of all the administrative formalities, they have been handed over to the civil police to facilitate their return to native places," the Navy said in a statement. The Indians were stranded for nearly 10 days after severe cyclonic storm "Mekenu" devastated the area around Socotra Island. INS Sunayna was diverted from Gulf of Aden deployment to Socotra Island for search and rescue operation after Indian Navy received a distress call from Directorate General of Shipping and Indian Sailing Vessels Association. The operation was codenamed "Operation Nistar". The 38 Indians were successfully rescued and evacuated in the early morning of June 3. "All evacuees were safely embarked onboard the ship and were immediately provided with medical care, food, water and telephone facilities. Thereafter, the ship also undertook intensive surface search and aerial reconnaissance of the area to look for any more survivors," the Navy statement said. Kolkata, June 7 : The headmaster of a high school in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri district has been suspended for "leaking the question papers" of the state-run Madhyamik (Secondary) examination earlier this year, authorities announced on Thursday. The matter came to light in March after two assistant teachers of Subhashnagar High School in Maynaguri complained that headmaster Haridyal Roy had opened the sealed question paper packets ahead of scheduled time and got answers prepared by the respective subject teachers. The answers were then handed over to a school boy. One of the teachers had even videographed the headmaster opening the packets ahead of time. "We are suspending the headmaster, the disciplinary proceeding will be continued against him and the English teacher, Bishwajit Rai who had done videography in the strong-room," said West Bengal Board of Secondary Education President Kalyanmoy Ganguly on Thursday. After the matter surfaced in March, the WBBSE had ordered a detailed investigation, and the report was submitted some time back. The investigation revealed that the sealed question paper packets were opened well ahead of scheduled time on each day of the Madhyamik examination. The WBBSE also said action was being taken other teachers and examiners who were involved. "The additional venue supervisor ... will also face disciplinary proceedings, the history teacher ... is being given a strict warning for changing his statements," Ganguly added. According to him, the Sub-Inspector of schools had given unverified statements. The Education Department has slapped a 'show cause' on Bhaumik for disclosing the matter of 'question leak' without being able to produce any documents. State Education Minister Partha Chatterjee backed the decisions. "Our department has agreed with the reports submitted and the steps suggested by the West Bengal Secondary Department regarding the accused principal and teachers. I had just suggested them to implement those after the declaration of the result," he said. "I strongly believe that a headmaster cannot deny his responsibility," he said New Delhi, June 7 : The quad comprising India, the US, Japan and Australia met in Singapore on Thursday and reiterated their call for a free and prosperous Indo-Pacific and to promote a rules-based order in the region. According to an External Affairs Ministry statement here, foreign ministry officials of the four countries met on the sidelines of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Senior Officials Meeting in the southeast Asian city state. It said the four nations considered ways to pursue shared objectives in the areas of connectivity and development, regional security, including counter-terrorism and non-proliferation, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief and maritime cooperation. The Indian side, which was represented at the Joint Secretary-level, highlighted India's vision for the Indo-Pacific Region as outlined in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's keynote address at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore earlier this month. In his speech on June 1, Modi said that India's vision for the Indo-Pacific region is that of a free, open and inclusive region that embraces all in a common pursuit of progress and prosperity. "India does not see the Indo-Pacific region as a strategy or as a club of limited members," Modi said while delivering the keynote address at the Shangri-La Dialogue, the Track I annual inter-governmental security forum organised by the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) think tank. According to the External Affairs Ministry statement, in Thursday's meeting of the quad that was revived on the sidelines of the Asean Summit in the Philippines in November last year, the participants reaffirmed their support for a free, open, prosperous and inclusive Indo-Pacific region. "They also confirmed their common commitment, based on shared values and principles, to promote a rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific," the statement said. "The participants reaffirmed their strong support for Asean centrality and Asean-led mechanisms in the regional architecture for the Indo-Pacific," it stated. "They agreed to partner with all countries and institutions in the region to promote the shared vision of a peaceful, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific, including through such plurilateral formats." The quad's views reflect New Delhi's stand that the 10-nation Asean regional bloc is central to peace and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region. The idea is for the four countries to promote free trade and defence cooperation across a stretch of ocean from the South China Sea, the Indian Ocean and all the way to Africa. The emerging quadrilateral is seen to counter China's aggressive maritime expansion under its Belt and Road Initiative. China's plans would cement a sphere of influence for Beijing well beyond Asia. During French President Emmanuel Macron's visit to India in March this year, both sides announced a broadbasing of their ties through a joint strategic vision for cooperation in the region that agreed on the need to establish an open, inclusive and transparent cooperation architecture for peace, security and prosperity there. Though France is not against the quad of India, the US, Japan and Australia, Paris would rather like to work with New Delhi bilaterally in the Indian Ocean Region given that there are around two million French citizens in its territories in the region. Thursday's meeting in Singapore came ahead of Modi's bilateral summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Qingdao, China, on June 9 on the margins of this year's Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit. Washington, June 8 : US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that his anticipated June 12 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will be "much more than a photo-op," although he warned that it will be merely the first step in "a process" that will require other meetings. "I think it's not a one-meeting deal," Trump said in the presence of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is visiting Washington to iron out the details of the summit to be held in Singapore. When asked how many days he would be willing to stay in Singapore to discuss issues with Kim, Trump answered, "One, two, three, depending on what happens." Trump went on to say that he believes he will determine very quickly whether or not Kim is serious about addressing the US demands, which include full denuclearization, Efe reported. "I don't think I have to prepare very much," Trump said. "It's about attitude. It's about willingness to get things done." The US President went on to say that "I think I've been prepared for this summit for a long time, as has the other side. ... So this isn't a question of preparation, it's a question of whether or not people want it to happen." "They have to de-nuke," Trump said regarding the Kim regime. "If they don't denuclearize that will not be acceptable. And we cannot take sanctions off." Despite the on-off-on character of the summit -- with Trump cancelling the meeting two weeks ago but word coming out a couple of days later that it was back on again -- the White House in recent days has expressed optimism that the summit will lead to Pyongyang abandoning its nuclear programme. Kim had expressed his willingness to give up his nuclear arms during the summit held by North and South Korea on their mutual border on April 27, but he does not want that requirement to be unilaterally imposed and prefers a process of gradual disarmament. Trump said that at a minimum he wants the current negotiations to be the beginning of a good relationship between Pyongyang and Seoul. The two Koreas have been in a technical state of war since 1953, given that the 1950-1953 conflict on the peninsula ended in a cease-fire rather than with a formal peace treaty. Japan-based Yokogawa Electric Corporation has launched OpreX, a new comprehensive brand for the companys industrial automation (IA) and control business. The OpreX brand name stands for excellence in the technology and solutions that Yokogawa cultivates through the co-creation of value with its customers, and encompasses the entire range of the companys IA products, services, and solutions, said a statement from the company. With the OpreX brand, Yokogawa will deliver integrated solutions that support its customers transformation and growth through the lens of their business needs, it said. The brand comprises the following five categories: OpreX Transformation: Comprehensive solutions that take the broad view in driving operational excellence throughout an enterprises business activities, from production through to supply chain optimisation, and risk and business management. OpreX Control: Reliable control systems that respond quickly to changes in management and operations and establish the foundation needed for high efficiency, high quality, safety, and stability in plant operations. OpreX Measurement: Field instruments and systems that enable highly precise measurement, data acquisition, and analysis. OpreX Execution: Flexible, agile project implementation services, built on a strong global track record. OpreX Lifecycle: Maintenance and development services designed to deliver optimised operations over the entire plant lifecycle while working side by side with customers. In the coming weeks and months, Yokogawa will be strengthening the product, service, and solution portfolio under the OpreX brand, it said. These represent the companys integrated approach to industrial automation, and are designed to enable the realisation of the Yokogawa IA and control business concept, synaptic business automation, it stated. TradeArabia News Service Javascript Error Javascript is deactivated in your browser. To use all functions on this portal, for example the login, Javascript must be activated. Please activate Javascript in your browser settings. The Gold Coast is bright spot for apartment sales, with 33% increase in apartment sales compared to last quarter, according to Urbis latest Apartment Essentials report. Research by the property consultants found that in Q1 2018 sales were buoyed by the recent Commonwealth Games excitement. There have been nine new project launches, equating to over 1,000 new apartments. Apartment approvals dropped in the quarter to 1,385, the third consecutive drop since mid-2017. However, compared to Brisbane where only just over 300 apartments were approved in the quarter, the pipeline of supply continues to build, National Director of Property Economics and Research at Urbis, Clinton Ostwald noted. Some 65 per cent of sales were the two-bedroom, two-bathroom product. The weighted average sale price was recorded at $729,856. In late 2017 the Gold Coast weighted average sale price across the four precincts registered $619,737 in the December quarter. The Gold Coast Central Precinct recorded the highest weighted average sale price at $731,786, due to its higher level of high rise developments selling. The most affordable precinct was the Coastal Fringe Precinct, which recorded a weighted average sale price of $537,013 in late 2017. The Coastal Fringe Precinct was also the top selling precinct during the quarter, registering 37% of total sales, and also the top selling precinct for 2017. A recent Urbis advisory calculated owner occupier sales dominated in the Gold Coast, making up 54% of sales respectively. The Gold Coast apartment market performance, with the recent Commonwealth Games stimulating project launches and the local apartment market, will be tested, Mr Ostwald said, adding it would be interesting to see how long the Commonwealth Games uplift would continue for as this market is likely to have benefited to the additional exposure. By contrast inner Brisbane apartments are still primarily a product aimed at investors, and this was represented in the data with 43% of sales being to foreign investor buyers. Urbis senior Consultant Lynda Campbell said recently there are currently 22 projects yielding over 2,000 apartments which could potentially launch across the Gold Coast in the first half of 2018. A quarter of these are in the Southern Beaches Precinct, which has gone from being one of the most undersupplied markets to now having the second highest level of future supply and the highest level of active supply." *Coastal Fringe suburbs include Arundel, Parkwood, Molendinar, Ashmore, Benowa, Bundall, Carrara, Robina, Clear Island Waters, Merrimac and Varsity Lakes. *North Shore suburbs include Biggera Waters, Coombabah, Helensvale, Hollywell, Hope Island, Paradise Point and Runaway Bay. *Gold Coast Central suburbs include Labrador, Southport, Main Beach, Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach and Broadbeach Waters. *Southern Beaches suburbs include Bilinga, Burleigh Heads, Burleigh Waters, Casuarina, Coolangatta, Currumbin, Kingscliff, Kirra, Mermaid Beach, Mermaid Waters, Miami, Palm Beach, Tugun and Tweed Heads. Construction of what will be the highest residences in the Southern Hemisphere when completed, has hit its first major milestone, with the first residents set to move into Australia 108 in Southbank, Melbourne, in June. Builder Multiplex has handed over the first portion of the building, comprising 277 apartments located between levels 14 and 30. Construction of the remaining floors above continues to progress rapidly. The early residents will have access to some of Australia 108s extensive amenities, with construction of its lap pool and gym area on level 11 having been completed, along with two levels of car parking. Residents will access their luxury apartments via a fully completed private lobby, with workers accessing the building through separate entrances not visible to residents. Multiplex envisaged multiple staged handovers, which will see the building completed in several portions. World Class Global CEO David Ng said it was a historic moment for his iconic project, which is not only on its way to becoming Melbournes tallest building but will also house the highest residences in the Southern Hemisphere. We extend a warm welcome to all of our inaugural residents who will now call this iconic address home. Multiplex regional managing director Graham Cottam said the project was on track for completion in the next two years following a rapid construction process, with the core structure up to level 59 and slabs at level 53. He noted the glass facade was around 2,500 tonnes of glass spanning 47,000 square metres. Commencing construction in November 2015, foundation works on Australia 108 took almost nine months to complete, with some of the most substantial piling works undertaken in Melbourne to date. Drilling went 46 metres deep, with 1950 millimetre thick core walls used in order to strengthen the cloud-breaking building. The towers eye-catching golden Starburst, which will house two full floors of private amenity including two pools 210 metres above street level, is expected to be lifted into place early next year. Ng said there were only a small number of apartments left in the tower, and opportunities to purchase a home at the iconic address were limited. To date more than $872 million in sales have been made, with the first handover providing World Class Global with approximately $147 million in recognised revenue. Priced from $1,957,000, the group of 19 apartments are all located above level 71, offering some of the best views in Melbourne over the CBD and out to Port Phillip Bay. Launched for sale in November 2014, Australia 108s 1,103 apartments sold rapidly, with the 750-square metre penthouse setting the record for Australias most expensive apartment when it sold to a Chinese national for $25 million in April 2015. This July, the public will have a chance to see inside Australia 108, with the building included in this years Open House Melbourne program. Fender Katsalidis will be hosting tours of the site on Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 of July. The HiLife Health and Beauty boss Peter Nicholas, and his partner Belinda Rudd are seeking $10 million in the expressions of interest campaign for their Darling Point apartment. They paid $8.25 million in 2014 for the apartment that consists of more than 400sq m over one level. It was bought from Sydney FC chairman Scott Barlow. The apartment has four bedrooms, a home office, home gym, cinema and a waterfront terrace. Nicholas had previously created Skin Doctors, which was sold in over 48 countries, before he divested the company. In 2009, Nicholas made model Jacinta Campbell the face of his number 1 selling make-up brand, Nude By Nature. The couple, now looking for a house with a backyard in Sydney's east, have its listed through LJ Hooker Double Bay agent David Malouf. The latest Urbis data on new apartment supply indicates the Brisbane market registered a big drop in apartment approvals during the first quarter. It was down from 2686 in the previous quarter to just 306 new approved apartments. The number of new Brisbane apartment projects launched plummeted to just 12 in 2017 compared with 57 in 2016. Urbis director of property economics and research, Mark Dawson, said it was "clear the market is self-regulating". "Though launches have slowed. the appetite for quality new apartment product is still there, and with the right mix of product, price and marketing, developers are able to successfully launch new developments to the public" he told Fairfax Media. Debt investment manager MaxCap Group recently took over Invesco's debt in AMP's Skytower apartment project in Brisbane. The US funds giant Invesco lent about $160 million in 2016 to develop the city's next tallest tower where the first stage of apartments is currently settling. The tower will rise 90 storeys with 1128 apartments. MaxCap's newly appointed investment director for NSW, QLD, ACT Eddie Law said the lender had confidence in the Brisbane apartment market. "From a supply perspective, we are seeing a number of projects in the pipeline being pushed back or put on hold. "New apartment completions appear to have peaked last year, with a reduced forward pipeline helping to stabilise apartment prices." MaxCap's Eddie Law said the price of Brisbane apartments also remained affordable relative to other cities. "Average median apartment prices in Brisbane are 80 per cent more affordable than Sydney apartments and 37 per cent more affordable than Melbourne apartments." The Trump administration is actively supporting vouchers to fund private school tuition, and some state governments have followed suit. The main goal of these choice programs is to expand alternatives to traditional public schools, especially for students who do not have access to a quality education. Additionally, supporters contend, such competition will motivate improvement in public schools. In contrast, opponents contend that in taking money away from traditional public schools, vouchers and privatization will exacerbate inequalities, benefit few, and leave many students behind. To help inform these issues, the National Education Policy Center released a brief today, What Might Happen If School Vouchers and Privatization of Schools Were to Become Universal in the U.S.: Learning from a National Test CaseChile, written by Ernesto Trevino, Rick Mintrop, Cristobal Villalobos, and Miguel Ordenes. Experiments with vouchers are still relatively peripheral in the U.S., where the vast majority of students attend public schools. Accordingly, the authors of this new brief turn to Chiles universal-voucher experience, in order to explore what might happen if vouchers were to become universal features of American publicly funded education. By looking at Chiles experience, of a failed policy which also elicited several harmful outcomes, we can imagine what might happen if the U.S. were to take the route of universal privatization and vouchers. Find What Might Happen If School Vouchers and Privatization of Schools Were to Become Universal in the U.S.: Learning from a National Test CaseChile, by Ernesto Trevino, Rick Mintrop, Cristobal Villalobos, and Miguel Ordenes, at: http://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/chilean-voucher Find Documents: Publication Announcement: http://nepc.info/node/9233 NEPC Publication: http://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/chilean-voucher The National Education Policy Center (NEPC), housed at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education, produces and disseminates high-quality, peer-reviewed research to inform education policy discussions. Visit us at: http://nepc.colorado.edu Three poetry editors at The Boston Review announced their intent to resign on Tuesday, citing disagreements with the magazines executive editors over their decision to retain Junot Diaz as fiction editor. In a statement issued earlier in the day, TBR executive editors Deborah Chasman and Joshua Cohen described a thorough process of reviewing their relationship with the writer, who has been an editor at the magazine since 2003. They concluded that, On the basis of what we have learned, we have decided to continue our editorial relationship with Junot. Diaz, who received the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, has been accused by multiple women of verbal abuse and sexual harassment. In their resignation, poetry editors Timothy Donnelly, BK Fischer, and Stefania Heim, wrote that, What most distresses us are the letters apparent arbitration of what constitutes inclusion in the #MeToo movement and its lack of attentiveness to power dynamics in a star-driven media and publishing landscape. The loss of the three editors is a substantial blow to the magazine, which has undergone a major overhaul in the last two years, including a new website, a new print format, and the introduction of thematic issues. Among the issues that have been at the forefront of the magazines relaunch are What Nature and Poems for Political Disaster, which were edited by Donnelly, Fischer, and Heim, as well as Global Dystopias which was edited by Diaz. In an e-mail to PW Cohen wrote, The Boston Review poetry editors have made a remarkable contribution to Boston Review: they are amazing people and we are incredibly grateful for all that they have done. They have decided to resign effective July 1 because they disagree deeply with our decision about how to handle Boston Reviews relationship with Junot Diaz. We think we have done the right thing. But that conviction, arrived at after long reflection and many conversations [with authors], does not remove our sadness at their decision to separate. In their earlier statement, Chasman and Cohen outlined their steps considering whether to continue to work with Diaz. Those included consideration of whether Diaz had engaged in a larger pattern of abusing power. The editors also wrote that, in the absence of an independent public investigation that we could rely onwe thought it was important to do further diligence, particularly with women writers of color in the world of literary fiction. In the end, they wrote that their findings did not reveal a pattern, or any justification for severing their relationship with Diaz, while also cautioning that they did not support the behavior described in the allegations. What the editors did not do, according to Donnelly, Fischer, and Heim, was to act on the poetry editors serious concerns about the issue of #MeToo and larger power issues related to author celebrity. Though we raised these reservations to the executive editors and asked them repeatedly to rethink their position, they went forward as planned. Buddhist press Parallax, based in Berkeley, Calif., is searching for a new publisher following the recent departure of Rachel Neumann, who was with the company since 2002. We are looking towards the future and are very excited about our upcoming search for a new publisher, which will begin later this month, said a spokesperson for the press, Earlita Chenault. Neumann has since joined Shambhala Publications as associate publisher and is based in Californias Bay Area. Parallax, which was founded by Zen master and author Thich Nhat Hanh, publishes books that nourish happiness and show the connection between the inner and outer work for peace and justice, including bestsellers such as The Art of Money by Bari Tessler. Michelle Tea's Against Memoir: Complaints, Confessions & Criticism takes readers on a raucous tour through American counterculture, instructing readers in what it means, and has meant, to be a queer feminist in the United States. The collection features essays about a gang of punk rock lesbians (many of whom would transition to male later in life) who roamed in packs in San Franciscos Mission neighborhood in the 1990s; another weaves Tea's teenage angst, alcoholism, and an encounter with Joey Ramone together into an essay about the summer she was 16 and obsessed with fitting into the goth scene. Tea picks 10 books about contemporary queer life in America. There is, of course, no definitive queer world, but thousands of gaggles and gatherings, gangs and groupings. Drawn together by shared experience, a common sensibility, a politic and even style, queerness is so fractured and multi-faceted that no thing can be presumed held in common by any two queers, even the appropriateness of the word "queer" itself. As is the "community," so goes the "canon." While ever more works are needed to begin to limn the edges of queer experience, by 2018 weve got a lotcertainly more that reflect my own life and history than Id imagined we have when I first set out at age 23 to tell my own queer truths, buoyed by writers like Eileen Myles and Dorothy Allison, Sapphire and Jewel Gomez. A quick trip to my bookshelves results in a teetering stack of work that reflect aspects of my own queer, punk experience back at me, while also taking me deeper into adjacent territories. 1. Harmless Medicine by Justin Chin We lost the prolific, punk poet Justin Chin in 2015, to complications of HIV+ status. Justin wrote copiously about living with AIDs, as well as family, love and heartbreak, poverty, illegal drugs and transgressive sex, immigration and ethnicity. If this sounds dour, prepare to have your mind blown by the humor packed into every piece, shoulder to shoulder with real angst and political outrage. Justin Chin was a Queen, and his shrewd humor is a defining characteristic of his singular voice. Any of his works is a great place to start but Im selecting Harmless Medicine for its nine-part "Imagining America," which calls out to Ginsbergs "America"I create my culture everyday. / I write a bible of diaspora. / I piss in the embrace of men. / I bruise the broken speech. 2. Calling Doctor Laura by Nicole J. Georges Nicole J. Georgess more recent graphic novel, Fetch, just picked up a couple of prizes from the Oregon Book Awards, but its the beloved zinesters first full-length work that really captures what its like to be a queer, femme artist--creating a life from the ground up, falling in love and healing from betrayal, making a home, nurturing friendships that fill the space left by an estranged, homophobic family. Its the dysfunctions of the heterosexual family that stokes the engine of this gripping story, by turns wrenching and sweet, a testimony to queer grit, humor, and chutzpah in the face of cultures, both intimate and wide, that discard us. 3. Haiti Glass by Lenelle Moise To see Lenelle Moise perform her poems, as I had the good luck to do on a nightly basis when she traveled with my performance tour Sister Spit, is to witness an artists connection to something mysterious and divine; her rhythm and movement, language and presence combined to give me chills, whether she was giving voice to survivors of unspeakable violence or praising the pelvic thrust and sweet coos of Michael Jackson. All of this comes through in her poetry, as wellpop culture concerns mixed with political fury; personal narrative that illuminates the experience of one queer, Black, female, born to immigrants, enlightened and enlightening. 4. The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson This breakout work by Maggie Nelson, author of the book-length poem Jane, the harrowing true-crime memoir The Red Parts, the poetry collection Bluets, and the unflinching The Art of Cruelty, blew my mind and has inspired a legion of younger, female writers, queer and queer-ish, to emulate her iconic blend of frank personal narrative, heady theory, and lively cultural criticism. The Argonauts tracks her family-making with trans artist Harry Dodge, noting the joys and annoyances that come from motherhood and the larger cultures irksome tendency to both cast queers out as well as criticize their embrace of universal human pleasures as succumbing to heteronormativity. 5. Since I Laid My Burden Down by Brontez Purnell Recent Whiting Award-winning Brontez Purnell has a couple earlier booksthe scandalous and true Johnny Would You Love Me and the even more scandalous and true The Cruising Diaries. Both are classics in my personal canon, but it is Since I Laid My Burden Down that really nailed the authors status as a crucial contemporary queer author in my book. Never toning down his delightful ability to shock and provoke, this novel takes these essential elements of its creators voice and adds to them a slowness, a quiet, a maturity that adds a deepening contrast to this story of reckoning with ones past. 6. Spit and Passion by Cristy C. Road Cristy C. Roads most recent project is seriously worth mentioningThe Next World Tarot is a 78-card tarot deck set in a post-apocalyptic world in which queer and trans people of color inhabit in a gorgeous variety of bodies, reclaiming the landscape and repopulating it with joy and abundance. As for books, her graphic novel Spit and Passion documents a young Cuban-American girls attempt to make sense of her identity in the Miami, Fla., punk scene. Its endearing and inspiring, the artwork leaping off the page and grabbing you by the collar. 7. Stray City by Chelsey Johnson A cheeky novel about a queer girls secret dalliance with a cisgendered straight guy and the family that results, Chelsey Johnsons debut novel is chock full of lived details of what it meant to be a queer girl in Portland, Ore., in the 1990smany of which remain true today. A love letter to queer community that does not shy away from calling out scenes on their tendencies to be small-minded and clannish, this book sparkles, and innovates the form, flipping perspective towards the end of the book and using postcards, lists, and other ephemera to further the story. 8. Mean by Myriam Gurba Queer author Myriam Gurbas first novella, Dahlia Season, details Los Angeles, Latina, Goth queerness, and had some short stories--including a great one with a trans male narrator--tacked onto the end. Her next work, Painting Their Portraits in Winter, is gorgeous and spooky, a family ghost story. Gurbas zines and chapbooks, of which they are a few, get into more transgressive territory, giving voice to the shocking and scandalous and true while having more than a little fun getting punny with language. With her latest work, Gurba throws her past styles and concerns into a blast furnace and casts Mean, a pair of brass knuckles disguised as a book, a personal narrative that takes on sexual assault and its aftermath, rape culture, racism, queerness, family, and coming of age, laced through with a cool knowing and cooler humor, a literary voice like none other. 9. Chelsea Girls by Eileen Myles These deadpan, intimate pieces, though detailing a New York City queer scene that preceded me, felt like home when I discovered them in the '90s. After bringing Eileen Myles on Sister Spits maiden 1997 voyage, she later wrote in the Village Voice that she had finally found her generation, we, these raggedy, punk-informed queer 20-somethings. Age might be nothing but a number, but queer age is especially ephemeral and meaningless. These timeless stories are tattooed upon my psyche, discreet vignettes that add up to a portrait of a working-class New England dyke who finds herselfand women, and alcohol, and literatureupon moving to the East Village in the 1980s. Iconic. WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue University and the Indiana Biosciences Research Institute (IBRI) have entered into a strategic alliance agreement that allows for seamless research interactions among researchers at both institutions. The governance and principles of the alliance enable a long-lasting, productive and successful partnership between Purdue and the IBRI. Terms of the agreement address internal and external funding, intellectual property rights, facilities and staff resource sharing. Purdue has been a strong supporter and partner of the IBRI since its inception said Suresh Garimella, the universitys executive vice president for research and partnerships and the Goodson Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering. We applaud the public-private approach to promoting fundamental research in Indiana with a goal of applying that research to strengthen our life sciences industries. Purdue launched its first joint research project with the IBRI under the newly executed agreement, and more are in the planning stages. The strengths of the two institutions are complementary, yet both share an underlying culture of rapidly translating basic discoveries to commercial application. We look forward to the innovation and advanced technologies our partnership will create, Garimella said. As another sign of the strengthening relations between Purdue and the IBRI, Rainer Fischer, chief executive officer and chief scientific and innovation officer for IBRI, has been appointed as a Presidential Fellow in the life sciences at Purdue and as a research professor in the departments of Biological Sciences and Chemistry. Fischers research program will be housed within the Institute of Inflammation, Immunology and Infectious Disease (PI4D), located in newly renovated laboratories in Discovery Parks Hall for Discovery Learning Research. Fischers research interests, combined with the research activities in PI4D, serves as a foundation for future collaborative projects between Purdue and IBRI in disease detection, treatment and prevention. Fischers strong industry connections and his extensive track record in translational research build on a rich collaborative network with IBRI researchers and Purdue faculty, and enables research to more quickly advance from the laboratory to the public. We are delighted that we can benefit from Dr. Fischers scientific expertise and proximity to Purdue University, said Richard Kuhn, the Krenicki Family Director of the Purdue Institute of Inflammation, Immunology and Infectious Disease and the Trent and Judith Anderson Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences. His strong interest and track record in biotechnology complements our efforts to promote the life sciences and enable innovative research in the immunological and disease sciences. Fischer has extensive experience building and leading the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology in Germany and its subsidiaries, as well as the Fraunhofer Life Sciences Alliance. Fischer also served as department head of the Institute for Molecular Biotechnology at RWTH Aachen University (one of the few Excellence Universities in Germany), where he was awarded a distinguished professorship in 2015. He created the department, co-establishing both undergraduate and graduate programs that have matriculated more than 500 students including 130 graduated Ph.D. students. He is a prolific presenter and has published more than 400 peer-reviewed scientific publications, including 53 book chapters and one book. His publications have been cited almost 18,000 times. In addition to his academic and leadership experience, he co-founded five biotechnology startups, holds over 50 issued patents and has more than 120 patent applications pending. Fischer also holds a second Professorship at Maastricht University, Netherlands, where he co-founded the Aachen-Maastricht-Institute-of-Biobased-Materials) in 2015. I am honored to accept this appointment from Purdue, one of our key academic partners, to help it expand its world-class research and innovation capabilities on its campus, said Fischer. We are grateful for Purdues current and past support of IBRI as it aspires to be the leading independent applied research institute in Indiana and the world. About Indiana Biosciences Research Institute The Indiana Biosciences Research Institute is an independent, nonprofit discovery science and applied research institute currently focused on innovation targeting cardio-metabolic diseases, diabetes and poor nutrition. Inspired by the state and Indianas leading life sciences companies, research universities and philanthropic community, the IBRI is building a world-class organization of researchers, innovators, and entrepreneurs that will catalyze scientific discovery and its application, resulting in improved health outcomes for patients. For more information about the IBRI and donation or collaboration opportunities, please visit www.indianabiosciences.org. About Purdue University Purdue University, a top public research institution, offers higher education at its highest proven value. Committed to affordability, the University has frozen tuition and most fees at 2012-13 levels. Purdue has about 40,000 students at its West Lafayette campus and is ranked 21st for public universities by U.S. News and World Report. With 24 alumni who became astronauts, including the first and last person on the moon, Purdue is called the Cradle of Astronauts. Committed to pursuing scientific discoveries and engineered solutions, Purdue has streamlined pathways for faculty and student innovators who have a vision for moving the world forward. About Discovery Park Discovery Park is an open laboratory for interdisciplinary collaboration focused on global challenges. Our mission is to accelerate world-changing interdisciplinary research, enrich transformative education and advance the translation of innovation to commercialization activities of faculty, students and staff. Writer: Pamela Burroff-Murr, burroff@purdue.edu Sources: Richard Kuhn, 765-494-1164, kuhnr@purdue.edu Suresh Garimella, 765-494-6209, sureshg@purdue.edu Marietta Harrison, 765-494-4231, harrisonm@purdue.edu Rainer Fischer, IBRI Indiana Biosciences Research Institute contact: Mark E. Craft, 317-983-3313, email: mcraft@indianabiosciences.org The oneworld airline alliance has launched oneworld connect, a new platform for carriers to link up to the worlds premier alliance. The new platform welcomed on Sunday its first partner - Fiji Airways - giving its passengers the opportunity to enjoy more services and benefits across an even more extensive global network. A date will be announced in due course for when Fiji Airways will start offering oneworld connect services and benefits. Oneworld connect is the first new membership platform unveiled by oneworld since the alliance was originally announced 20 years ago. Presently, oneworld is in discussion with other carriers interested in participating in the programme, from various parts of the world including the Americas, Asia-Pacific and Europe. Each oneworld connect partner will need to have a minimum of three oneworld members as its sponsors to be initiated into the programme. The initial oneworld sponsors of Fiji Airways will be all four of oneworlds original founding members - American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas. The Australian carrier will additionally mentor Fiji Airways through its oneworld connect implementation process. American Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Qantas already code-share and have frequent flyer links with Fiji Airways. British Airways and Fiji Airways are currently discussing areas for potential bilateral cooperation. - TradeArabia News Service Global content creator, producer and distributor Endemol Shine Group has scored another win for factual thriller series Hunted in a 1260 run in France by RMC Decouverte. Created by Shine TV, part of Endemol Shine Group, Hunted is a real-life thriller that sees groups of ordinary people go on the run. With little cash and limited ability to contact their network of friends and family, the contestants are pursued by a team of highly skilled, professional investigators, including detectives, psychologists, and surveillance experts.The format first launched in the UK on Channel 4 in 2015 becoming the number one show of the day and has now sold to eight markets including the U.S, China, Russia, Spain, Denmark and the Netherlands where it more than doubled the broadcasters slot average for 20-34s while being 51% up on the primetime slot average. A third series is about to go into production in the country.The new French version, produced by Endemol Shine France, will be known locally as Escape: 21 Jours pour Disparaitre and will transmit this autumn. Commenting on the new RMC Decouverte commission, Endemol Shine Groups CEO of creative networks Lisa Perrin said: Since its UK launch in 2015 Hunted has become one of our most widely travelled and creatively fresh formats with a concept that has remained at the heart of the global zeitgeist, we cant wait to see what France does with the series and if a brand-new group of fugitives will manage to evade the hunters. On 31 May 1918, the German army launches a sudden attack near the Forest of Retz near Ploisy in the north-east of France. It is the last year of World War One, and the Germans are desperately trying to beat the Western Allies. A British blockade is crippling the German economy. Those back at home are suffering shortages of fuel and food. The German Empire faces starvation and defeat. As the French units at Retz try to resist the onslaught, they are joined by reinforcements. Among them is a new tank: the FT. Compared to the giant, lumbering British tanks that have been used with mixed results for the past 18 months, these are tiny. There is only room for two people inside them. Editors' note, July 23, 2018: Carter Page has long been on the government's radar for his Russian ties, redacted surveillance warrant applications released over the weekend confirm. But Paul Sperry's reporting for RealClearInvestigations casts the former Trump campaign adviser in a different light -- as an FBI asset. That challenges the narrative of Page as suspected Russian colluder promoted in much reporting about him, including a much-noted 2017 BuzzFeed article by Ali Watkins; she is a reporter, now at the New York Times, subsequently discovered to have had an affair with a Senate Intelligence Committee staffer charged with lying in an FBI leak investigation. Sperry's June 7 article is republished below. The FBIs interview with Carter Page in March 2016 is one of the seminal events of the Trump-Russia probe. Democrats have long pointed to it as evidence of the bureaus longstanding fears that Page might be a Russian spy and to downplay the role of the Clinton-financed dossier compiled by ex-British spy Christopher Steele in securing a FISA surveillance warrant against Page. Rep. Adam Schiff of California, ranking Democrat on the House intelligence panel. Top photo: Carter Page at a Moscow press conference in December 2016. The FBI interviewed Page multiple times about his Russian intelligence contacts, including in March 2016, Rep. Adam Schiff and other Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee argued in their 10-page memo defending the Obama Justice Departments monitoring of Page. The FBIs concern about and knowledge of Pages activities therefore long predate the FBIs receipt of Steeles information. But new information challenges that account. In an interview with RealClearInvestigations, Page insists that the interview in question held at then-U.S. attorney Preet Bharara's office in New York -- had "absolutely nothing" to do with the Trump campaign or Russian collusion. Instead of being grilled about shadowy ties, he says he answered questions related to events in 2013, in a case where I had served as a witness in support of the FBI. In 2013, a Russian national working as an unregistered foreign agent at a Russian bank in Manhattan sought information from Page, a longtime energy consultant, related to U.S. efforts to develop alternative energy resources, according to court papers filed by the FBI. Although Page thought the man was a legitimate banker after meeting him at an energy symposium in New York City, he was a Russian agent under federal investigation. He was later caught on surveillance dismissing Page as an idiot. The FBI informed Page in 2013 that the Russians might be trying to recruit him. Evgeny Buryakov, center, in a sketch of the 2016 courtroom proceeding where he pleaded guilty. Carter Page helped convict him. A U.S. Naval Academy alumnus, Page cooperated as a witness in that case, which was coordinated with the bureaus Counterespionage Section Chief Peter Strzok in Washington, and he helped the government convict the Russian spy. Evgeny Buryakov pleaded guilty to espionage-related charges on March 11, 2016. FBI agents, as well as federal prosecutors, huddled with Page around that time to tie up loose ends, he said. It had absolutely nothing to do with the election interference story, which surfaced months later, Page said. Court records appear to back him up. Buryakov was sentenced in May 2016 and deported to Russia early last year. Schiff maintains that Page "remained on the radar of Russian intelligence and the FBI due to the prior case, which gave them grounds to spy on him independent" of the dossier. In order to understand the context in which the FBI sought a FISA warrant for Carter Page, it is necessary to understand what the FBI knew about Page prior to making application to the court including Pages previous interaction with Russian intelligence operatives, the Schiff minority memo said. The Democrat narrative, which hinges on the suggestion that the bureau interviewed Page because of his role in Trump's campaign, is also challenged by the fact that the meeting took place several days before Trump publicly named Page as an adviser, on March 21, 2016. Records indicate the FBI never viewed him as a potential foreign intelligence agent for Moscow. Court documents also show that Page fully cooperated with the FBI as soon as he learned he had been duped by Russian agents. In his sworn 2015 complaint against Buryakov, FBI special agent Gregory Monaghan portrays Page referring to him as "Male-1 -- as a guileless victim, and described how Buryakov and other Russian agents tried to take advantage of the American businessman, who was unaware he was dealing with foreign spies. The FBI agent further attested that the Russians never told Page they were connected to the Russian government, and that Page was only interested in business opportunities in Russia, where he had worked for years for Merrill Lynch and as an independent energy consultant. In the end, the Russians were unable to recruit Page and never received any state secrets from him. Monaghan did not recommend espionage or any other charges against Page, who by all accounts acted as a reliable and trusted witness in the case. Far from being a Russian spy, Page was characterized to the court as someone who helped the FBI catch Russian spies. But the governments attitude toward Page turned cold after Trump publicly announced his name along with other members of his foreign policy team. Only then was Page treated as a possible national security threat. Not long after Trumps March 21, 2016, announcement, FBI Director James Comey and his deputy, Andrew McCabe, held a meeting with Attorney General Loretta Lynch to discuss the news of Page joining the Trump campaign and how he may be compromised by the Russians, according to a recently declassified memo. Then, sometime in the late spring of 2016, Comey held an unusual briefing concerning Page, and the alleged risk he posed, with the Obama administrations highest-ranking national-security officials, who, in addition to Lynch, included National Security Adviser Susan Rice, CIA Director John Brennan, and National Intelligence Director James Clapper. By autumn, in the heat of the presidential election campaign, the FBI had Page under constant surveillance, vacuuming up all his text messages and emails and listening in on his phone calls, including communications with Trump officials. The surveillance was predicated chiefly on an unverified allegation in the dossier, quoting third-hand sources claiming that Page traveled to Moscow in July 2016 to hatch an election plot with Kremlin officials. Page has denied under oath ever meeting with the two Kremlin officials named in the dossier, and says he was in Moscow at the time to give a commencement address at a university, the New Economic School, where President Obama had previously spoken. The charge, attributed to anonymous sources, was written in the dossier by ex-British intelligence officer Steele, who was paid $168,000 by the Clinton camp to gather derogatory information on Trump from Russian sources. Former FBI director James Comey. Carter Page says Comey never replied to his letter complaining of a "witch hunt." After the still-unsubstantiated rumor was leaked to the press in September 2016, along with reports the FBI was taking it seriously, Page wrote a letter to Comey complaining he was the subject of a witch hunt and demanding he look into this matter. He also volunteered to meet with FBI agents to put the rumors to rest. Although I have not been contacted by any member of your team in recent months, I would eagerly await their call to discuss any final questions they might possibly have in the interest of helping them put these outrageous allegations to rest, Page wrote. Comey never responded to his Sept. 25, 2016, letter. I didnt hear from the FBI again until over five months later, in March 2017 after the FISA warrant application and first renewal had already been submitted, he said. He said the dodgy dossier was the foundation of their questions. Page noted that the FBI agents who contacted him then were not the same ones he worked with earlier on the Buryakov case. In April 2017, as the Justice Department was renewing its FISA warrant on Page for a second time, it publicly identified Page as the anonymous witness in the 2013-2015 Russian case involving Buryakov. On April 3, 2017, Page said, reporters at ABC News and BuzzFeed requested to meet in order to inform me that U.S. government operatives had unlawfully disclosed my identity as Male-1 in this 2015 case. The media leak came just weeks after Bharara, an Obama appointee, was fired by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Bharara, who formerly served as Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumers aide, could not be reached for comment. As surveillance warrants on Page continued to be renewed, the FBI also shadowed him using a confidential human source. The informant, Stefan Halper who reportedly reached out to other Trump campaign figures including George Papadopoulos and Sam Clovis -- befriended Page. They struck up a relationship that lasted, Page said, until September 2017 -- the same month the fourth and final FISA spy warrant against the former Trump aide expired. In their rebuttal, Democrats stated that the FBI and Justice Department cited multiple sources to support the case for surveilling Page. Its not immediately clear if Halper is named in any of the four FISA warrant applications submitted on Page. The documents remain classified. Page disagrees. There was no basis for their FISA warrants, he asserted, adding that the Obama Justice Department abused its authority to obtain such warrants, which are the most intrusive means of collecting information on U.S. citizens. Schiffs office said it would have no comment beyond the House minority memo defending the monitoring of Page. Some former federal prosecutors and FBI investigators who have worked counterintelligence cases say Page has a valid grievance. They argue that the FISA warrants lacked the requisite "probable cause" to spy on an American citizen like Page, which requires the Justice Department to not only show the citizen is knowingly engaging in clandestine activities on behalf of a foreign power, but it must also demonstrate probable cause that such activities involve a violation of federal criminal law. Page filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Justice Department on May 21, 2017 seeking the FISA applications and "all information gathered pursuant to the warrants authorizing his electronic surveillance issued by the FISA court, as well as the warrants themselves. He also seeks all communications between Justice Department officials and employees of the Clinton campaign related to him. He says he has received no relevant documents in the year since he sent the FOIA request by certified mail. Page can only speculate about how political forces seem to have transformed him from a cooperating witness into a possible Russian spy. But he says he is firmly convinced that until DOJ discloses full information about the dodgy dossier, amends their court filings that led to extensive abuse of process, and discloses details on the other sources of their lies, it will be impossible for Americans to fully trust them again." It's Newsom's Race to Win, Whether California Likes It or Not A decade ago, California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom was less a Democratic rock star and more a party millstone. Four years after hed defied state law as San Franciscos mayor by issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in the process, becoming something of a convenient fall guy for John Kerrys lackluster presidential run a statewide vote (2008s Proposition 8) redefined Californias interpretation of the institution as strictly a male-female exchange of vows. Even worse for Newsom, his smugness came back to haunt him. The first ad by Prop 8s proponents featured this video footage of the mayor telling a crowd after the state Supreme Court had earlier ruled in favor of same-sex marriage: The doors wide open now. Its gonna happen, whether you like it or not. A decade later, Newsom is hardly between a rock and a hard place. On Tuesday, he received the most votes in Californias open gubernatorial primary. That makes him a prohibitive favorite to shorten his current job title come November. If Newsom does succeed in becoming the Californias 40th governor, it will continue a 21st century blue wave out west. The nations most populous state has been governed by a Democrat for 13 of the last 20 years. Never before has the electorate there chosen a Democratic governor three consecutive times. However, recent Democratic California governors didnt campaign as has Newsom. Gray Davis won the job in 1998 after seizing the high ground on crime from law-and-order hardliner Dan Lungren. In the recession-plagued California of 2010, Jerry Brown returned to the Horseshoe (the nickname for the gubernatorial office complex inside the State Capitol) after a 28-year hiatus by marketing himself as a Grim Reaper of budget austerity. Neither persona fits Newson. His is a campaign built on pillars of civil rights (the gay marriage debate), successful ballot-measure fights (Newsom skippered gun-control and recreational marijuana legalization initiatives in 2016), and further government expansion (universal pre-kindergarten, two free years of community college and, perhaps most ominously, a pledge to create a single-payer health-care system in the Golden State). So why the shift from more mild-mannered Democrats to a defiant liberal? In part, its an overdue generational turnover in California politics. The nation is on a run of four straight baby boomer presidents; Californias had but one boomer governor (Arnold Schwarzenegger, who turns 71 next month). Brown, at age 80, is the nations oldest governor. Newsom, born in 1967, would be the Californias first Generation-X governor albeit a Gen-Xer campaigning more like a millennial (that includes quoting rapper Kendrick Lamar in his victory speech). The other explanation: Newsom knows which way the winds blow in California. Fitting for a Democrat long obsessed with Robert Kennedy, Newsom likewise has also undergone a liberal transformation. As a newly elected San Francisco mayor, his first claim to notoriety was a tough-love Care Not Cash approach to the citys homeless population (housing and services replacing monthly lump sums of money). But beginning with the marriage debate, hes championed liberal causes. Newsom, Version 2.0, insists hes still a pragmatist and pro-business at heart. Then again, hes the pet favorite of the California Nurses Association, which is hell-bent on single-payer health care. Its the business community that bears watching in California between now and November. During the run-up to Tuesdays vote, an independent committee invested over $23 million in a failed effort to elevate former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to second place and a shot at Newsom in November. Their motivation: education reform. This particular band of California plutocrats most notably, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings -- supports the charter-school movement and fears Newsom is too beholden to charter-averse teacher unions like the California Teachers Association, which supports his candidacy. The question now: Will a similar effort be launched on behalf of Republican John Cox, the primarys runner-up, with taxes in mind. Nonpartisan estimates have California needing at least another $200 billion in new revenue to create a Medicare-for-all system. One way to pull that off: a 15 percent payroll tax on California employers. However, businesses wont spend heavily against Newsom if Cox cant credibly explain how hell reverse the state GOPs misfortunes. California hasnt gone red in a presidential election since 1988. Take away Schwarzeneggers recall win in 2003 and his re-election three years later and the high-water mark for a Republican gubernatorial candidate in the past 20 years is Bill Simons 42.4 percent in 2002. On four other occasions, the GOP nominee failed to clear 41 percent. That includes Meg Whitman, who earned just 40.9 percent in her 2010 run against Brown despite spending more than $144 million of her personal fortune. Creating a multimillion-dollar independent campaign on behalf of Cox would help to level the financial playing field. But it wont solve the riddle of what to do about President Trump. Trump endorsed Cox late in the primary. Its safe to assume that House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, whos trying to protect seven targeted GOP House seats statewide and needs a strong Republican turnout in the fall, played a role in giving Cox this needed boost. Trumps approval numbers are on the rise in GOP districts. Thats good news for Republican congressional hopefuls. But statewide, Trump remains below 40 percent. For Cox, thats bad news as Newsoms certain to wed the two Republicans for the next five months. On Tuesday, Cox received 26.2 percent of the entire primary vote. One other way to look at it: Republican candidates received not quite 38 percent of the primary vote; the Democrats share was 61 percent. That formula doesnt bode well for November, now that Republicans in California trail both Democrats and unaffiliated voters in raw numbers. Even if the state GOP were to enjoy an enthusiasm edge this fall, that alone wont make up for the Democrats 20 percentage-point advantage in voter registration. What Cox will need, in order to win over unaffiliated voters and make it a competitive race, is a message readjustment. On immigration, for example, he likes to talk about ending Californias state sanctuary law. Meanwhile, a recent poll by the Public Policy Institute of California shows 67 percent of likely voters (including 75 percent of independents) believe that immigrants benefit the economy and the state. A softer approach would seem wise. However, there are at least two openings for Cox. The same PPIC poll showed only 53 percent of Californians favoring single-payer health care support that falls to 41 percent when told the new plan would increase taxes. Perhaps Cox should start pressuring Newsom to explain where hell find the extra revenue. Coxs other gambit: surf the wave of a November ballot initiative that would repeal last years 12-cents-a-gallon increase in Californias gasoline tax. One Democrat who voted for it state Sen. Josh Newman was trounced in a recall election on Tuesday night. Absent Coxs ability to plant those seeds of doubt, California seems destined for a new governor wholl kick the states progressive expansion into overdrive. In other words, a Gov. Gavin Newsom is going to happen whether voters like it or not. The UN General Assembly on Tuesday overwhelmingly elected Ecuador's Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces as its next president, making her only the fourth woman to lead the 193-member world body in its 73-year history. She defeated another woman Honduras' UN Ambassador Mary Elizabeth Flores Flake by 128-62 with two abstentions in the secret-ballot vote. Honduras's and Ecuador's diverging stances on a resolution condemning the US for moving its embassy to Jerusalem was thought to play a significant role in the vote, the first one contested in nearly 30 years, according to diplomats. Ecuador supported it. Honduras was one of only nine countries that supported the United States and voted against the resolution, a decision that angered the Palestinians' many supporters. Honduras has also said it is considering following in the footsteps of the United States and moving its embassy to Jerusalem. Marriott International has today announced the relaunch of its Arabic website to enhance the online customer journey of the Arab traveller. With nearly 400 million Arabic speakers in 22 countries, the company is now providing an end-to-end solution for a seamless Arabic booking experience. The relaunch follows the recent announcement detailing the companys ambitious growth plans for the Middle East and Africa region where it will expand its current portfolio by 50 per cent, and as a result, add 30,000 jobs. With such an emphasis placed on the region, the relaunch of its Arabic website is the next step in an exciting growth story. To mark the occasion this Ramadan, Marriott International hosted a Majlis panel joined by Aida Al Busaidy, director, C2C Marketing & Campaigns at DTCM, Talal Al Rashed, co-founder Contourage and Hospitality Consultant and Vladimir Dabbah, vice president, Global Sales MEA at Marriott International. The esteemed panel discussed the importance of catering to the Arab Traveller, who often have a fierce sense of pride and remaining true to their identity. Arab travellers generate more than double (up 162 per cent) room revenue per stay compared to other travellers, and annual revenue per Arab customer is 38 per cent higher than other travellers. In order to cater to the traditional customs of the Arab travellers, symbols of Arab culture should be demonstrated in both communication and on hotel properties. To date, we have over 110 million loyalty members around the world across Marriott Rewards, The Ritz-Carlton Rewards & SPG. As the worlds largest hotel operator, we aim to cater to every traveller on the planet, and with the majority of the world booking travel online we continue to enhance our end-to-end customer booking experience, said Alex Kyriakidis, president and managing director at Marriott International Middle East and Africa. The revamped website has launched today as a phased approach where over 5,000 Marriott and The Ritz-Carlton Rewards properties globally will be available and bookable in Arabic. Marriott International will continue to add localised in-language content and will further improve sites functionality for the Arab online traveller. SPG properties will be progressively added to the new site between August and year-end (until then, they remain available for bookings in Arabic at www.spg.com/arabic). - TradeArabia News Service After more than 20 years as a guerrilla the last five in prison after being wounded and captured Juan Vicente Carvajal wanted to start life over. Freed last year under the peace agreement that ended five decades of civil war between the government and his rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, he moved to this village of about 500 people where his sister owns a grocery store. He bought a 90-acre farm outside town with a loan from his brother, planted plantain, corn and manioc, and started building a house. He also joined the local village council that settles property disputes and identifies needed public works projects. At 41, he was newly married. He wanted to become a totally different man, said his sister, Luz Maribel Carvajal. He didn't want to hear about arms, guerrillas, fighting, anything like that, because he had suffered for 24 years and didn't want that life or to be reminded of it. But his past proved inescapable. In the early evening of May 7, he was riding his motorcycle from his farm to the village when somebody shot him six times with a high-caliber rifle. He died on the spot from massive head wounds one of 64 former combatants killed since the signing of the peace agreement in November 2016. The FARC, which has handed over its arms in a transformation from guerrilla movement to political party, says that 17 relatives of ex-rebels have also been slain. A controversial proposal to enact a fee or ban on plastic bags has renewed momentum after the May election exciting many who believe it coul The University of Georgia is continuing to conduct research on the 105 gravesites found under Baldwin Hall in November 2015. According to a UGA Today press release, information about these bodies, said to have been remnants from the mid-1800s, will be officially documented and accessible by Athens residents within the coming year. The search at Barber Creek in Oconee County for two teenagers is in its fifth day with no su Kanye West's name has been trending for a few different reasons lately with a wake of controversy following it. One reason people are talking about him is because of his newest album "Ye" that dropped on Friday, June 1. The walls of The Globe seemed to warp inward with bass as music thundered. Multi-colored lights washed over the faces of performers as they danced on the tables, transforming a cramped, stale bar into center stage. The bass was still ringing in Alex Suarezs ears as he walked home that night, painted in drag, running the routine through his head over and over. Between the chorus and the verse rolling through his mind, the colors and music dissolved around him when what felt like a brick came hurtling toward him. In the land of the 35-hour workweek, President Emmanuel Macron's frenetic efforts to "transform" France has left members of parliament exhausted, with many clocking in more than twice those hours. "We have had sessions this past month that lasted 80 hours a week, we were in session 17 consecutive days," National Assembly President Francois de Rugy said Tuesday on Europe 1 radio. "After a while, it's no longer possible. This is not how a normal assembly works. It doesn't allow us to produce good laws." De Rugy is meeting with party whips to find ways to speed up parliamentary work and stop holding debates on weekends, when many parliamentarians say they should be back in their constituencies meeting voters. "All of this is totally unreasonable," Jean-Luc Melenchon , the leader of the far-left party France Unbowed said on May 31 in parliament. "We are exasperated and for some of us, exhausted. This isn't the normal life of a parliamentarian, staying night and day." The government is unapologetic. "It's good news that members of parliament are working hard," government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux told reporters Wednesday. "It means they are hard at work on the transformation of the country. We ask a lot, and we are aware of that." Griveaux also said the government is working on an overhaul of France's legislature to cut the number of deputies, add an element of proportional representation and speed up debate by limiting how many amendments can be presented. In the past month, parliament has had to consider bills on asylum and immigration, railways, agricultural practices, housing, and professional training. Lawmakers' staff say they're fed up. In a statement late May, the French association of parliamentary assistants said that working on weekends shouldn't become the norm. Macron's aides also privately grumble about workdays that run well into the evenings. "At least no one is calling us lazy," Richard Ferrand, chief whip for Macron's LREM party, which holds a majority in the lower house, told reporters Wednesday. Newspaper Le Figaro cast doubt on how much more the National Assembly is working. Using statistics collected by two websites that track parliamentary work, the newspaper calculated that the number of sessions is actually only up 4 percent from the first year of President Francois Hollande's presidency, though it's a 61 percent increase from Nicolas Sarkozy's first year. Christian Jacob, an opposition member of parliament from Sarkozy's The Republicans party, told Le Figaro that he blamed the erratic nature of Macron's agenda. "From January to March, we weren't doing all that much, and we often finished the week Wednesday," he said. "The government controls our agenda." What's also new now is that 75 percent of the National Assembly elected last June hadn't served in the previous legislature, compared with 40 percent in the 2012 elections. LREM was created in the slipstream of Macron's successful presidential run, and used a selection process to whittle down 14,000 candidates to 428 candidates, of which half came from civil society and had no political background. It holds 311 of the 577 seats in the National Assembly. While France also has an upper Senate, its powers are limited. For the record, members of parliament, like managers and liberal professionals, aren't limited to 35-hour weeks. They earn about 5,400 euros ($6,480) a month after social charges. NEW HAVEN The New Haven Port Authority announced Wednesday it received funding to study future connections between the Port of New Haven and regional freight rail service, which would potentially increase cargo transportation in the port. The State Bond Commission allocated $500,000 to fund the study, which is the first step in plans to modernize connections between the port and inland distribution streams, such as freight trains and trucks. The study will analyze how to move cargo from ships in the port to trains and the cargos ultimate destination. Were determined to expand the use of this deep water harbor and transfer more cargo from ships directly onto freight trains, Mayor Toni N. Harp said. New Haven has been very fortunate as a commercial hub, a trading center throughout its history...The advantages to be realized are self evident. The grant will fund an analysis of existing rail infrastructure and provide a plan for future investment in rails. Connecticut Port Authority Chairman Scott Bates said that with better connectivity between the port and the rail lines, more business will be attracted to taking advantage of deep water shipping. This would provide an economic boost to the city and region as more jobs are created to handle the volume and connect the city and state to commerce across the country. What weve been able to do with this grant is make a master plan of how freight rail will be used in this port district, Bates said. A port is nothing unless you can get the cargo moving back and forth. This is a supply chain that starts in New Haven and really connects Connecticut and New England with the world. Thats why this investment is so important. This city has tremendous potential. The study will evaluate the existing infrastructure and provide the New Haven Port Authority with an investment plan that identifies those improvements. It will largely look at how to improve both on-dock and near-dock staging areas. The goal is to maximize the safety, efficiency and competitiveness of all rail routes in New Haven, said Judi Sheiffele, executive director of the Port of New Haven. After the rail study identifies the improvements, they can look for funding to move forward with a construction project. The port is already working with the Army Corps of Engineers to determine whether the channel of the port should be deepened and the economic benefit that could be gained from such a change. Beyond just economic growth, allowing more cargo to be loaded to freight trains means fewer trucks on city streets state roads and highways, Harp said, and it would in turn reduce wear and tear on the states infrastructure. Overall, when shiploads of freight cargo are removed from state highways the transportation system can be more efficient. New Haven is the busiest port in Connecticut for a reason, said Sen. Martin Looney, D-New Haven. The port has the potential to be a significant economic driver for the city and the region and that potential has been recognized for a long time without being realized and our hope is that we are now moving closer to realization. Improved freight rail access to Connecticut will bring more business to the port and more jobs to our state. Expanding freight rail service will help get more trucks off our highways, leading toward something that can be a real economic engine not only for New Haven but for the entire state of Connecticut. The port mainly receives cargo such as alcohol, steel, salt, ash, scrap metal and petroleum, Sheiffele said. After the study analyzes what improvements to the existing infrastructure can be made, an estimate of the economic impact of the improvement can be determined, she said. So when you take these things together all it does is point out the obvious fact that is New Haven is the gateway to New England and New Haven has the greatest economic potential to drive the economy of Connecticut, Bates said. And how do we get there? Its making the most efficient use of our port district. We need to do all that we can do to make sure were taking full advantage of New Havens natural strategic location near Long Island Sound, state Rep. Alphonse Paolillo, D-New Haven, said. Weve made great progress in the last few years to change that in making a Connecticut Port Authority, which is helping get our ports back up to speed. The results have been tremendous and this $500,000 for this study will help build on this momentum. New Haven is one of Connecticuts three deep water ports and the busiest port between New York and Boston. mdignan@hearstmediact.com LITCHFIELD Sundays weather report looks promising for a road race temperatures in the mid-70s, some sun and clouds, but no rain and not much humidity. For the nearly 1,000 runners registered to take part in the 42nd annual Litchfield Hills Road Race, its great news. Past race days have been greeted by searing heat, stifling humidity or pouring rain, but sunny Sundays have prevailed. The 7.2-mile run offers athletes of every description a challenging course through some of the prettiest areas of town and ending with the grueling trek up the dreaded Gallows Hill before runners push themselves through to the finish line. When asked if the race had ever been canceled because of bad weather, race committee member Beth Murphy said, I had an email on that already earlier in the week when the forecast was a bit more dire. I told this guy that we only cancel the race due to a hurricane, a tornado, earthquake or if we run out of beer. Fortunately none of that has ever happened to date. Race committee members pride themselves on the fact that the race offers something for everyone. Before the adults take to the main course, fun runs for teens and children also draw a crowd to West Street. A competitive 2.3-mile race is followed by a non-competitive 1-mile run, and 200-yard dashes for ages 4 and up. Young people can sign up for these races on Sunday morning. As always, the Litchfield Green will be active by 10 a.m. with massage tables for runners, live music, ongoing commentary by road race member Brett Hawk Hawkins who will undoubtedly be dressed in his bright stripes and polka dots and plenty of time for spectators to line the course and cheer on the runners. A cannon is fired at 1 p.m. to start the main race. Murphy said Thursday that 957 people registered online for the race. Weather depending, well have 200 to 400 sign up on race day, she said. The only change to the course this year is at the end, Murphy said a slight shift in the runner finish area because of a sidewalk project at the United Methodist Church on that end of the green. Online registration is now closed, but latecomers can register on race day beginning at 10 a.m. on the green. Anyone whos looking for something to do on Sunday is welcome to join the greater Litchfield community for the road race, athletes and non-athletes alike. The Litchfield Hills Road Race was established in 1977 by the now late Joe Concannon, along with Bill Neller, Hawkins and others who enjoyed running together in town. Joe wanted a vehicle to bring his out-of-town running friends together with his hometown friends, and thus the Litchfield Hills Road Race was born, Hawkins wrote at www.lhrr.com. Based on the famous race in Falmouth, Massachusetts, the Litchfield Hills Road Race course was plotted, runners were invited, volunteers were recruited, beer was put on ice and in 1977 the first race was underway. In the years that followed, Hawkins said, the race got bigger, more volunteers were needed, more planning was necessary, more Litchfield families opened up their homes to runners, and deep, long-lasting friendships were forged between people who, if not for Joe, would never have met one another, he said. Participants have include runners from all over the world, representing Ireland, New Zealand, Kenya, Great Britain, Belgium, Tanzania, Canada, Yugoslavia, Morocco, Poland and more, keeping pace with some more famous American runners, including Bill Rodgers, Joan Benoit, Dave Dunham, Randy Thomas, Patti Catalano and Vin Fleming as well as infamous Litchfield runners, such as Rick Evangelisti, David Driscoll, Father Tucker, the Hound, Paula Brunetto, The Hawk, Bill Sivhra, always several McKennas; the list is endless, Hawkins wrote. The race is rich with traditions .the firing of the cannon by the First Litchfield Artillery, the Hill, the barricade brigade, the infamous line from Bill Rodgers, I had to go into ninth gear referring to his trek up Gallows Lane, Dave Skoneiczny calling the runners to post, the Surviving Souls (those who have run every race), our town constable leading the pack of runners down Meadow Street, the Village, the bands that line the course, the flags hanging uptown that represent the countries of past winners, the welcoming encouragement from marshals, the pink flamingos of our dearly departed marshals George Dwan and Roberta Coffill-Healy at Road Race Park, and of course the wonderful spectators, encouraging the runners every step of the way. To learn more about the race, visit www.lhrr.com. Enjoy the breathtaking beauty of the Turkish Riviera with a break at Caresse Bodrum, which is offering attractive discounts on its sea-facing suites. The upscale boutique resorta part of The Luxury Collectionis offering attractive rates for summer, with a 10 per cent discount on peak-season prices and nightly rates from as little as 545 ($640.7). Bodrum is the ideal destination for a short family break or a longer holiday, offering a wealth of activities for all ages in an exceptionally appointed property, said Makis Antonatos, general manager of Caresse, A Luxury Collection Resort & Spa, Bodrum. From private yacht cruises and designer shopping sprees to leisurely walks amid stunning scenery, there is something for every member of your group." Privileges include complimentary high-speed internet access and a daily buffet breakfast, plus 3,000 bonus Starpoints under the Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) loyalty scheme. These chic, contemporary suites are amply sized, occupying 145-sq-m of space. Offering sweeping views of the sea from their floor-to-ceiling windows, they each feature two adjoining bedrooms containing one king-size and two single beds respectively. Cribs can be provided on request. Sleep is blissful, thanks to the pillow menu and signature Luxury Collection bed. Thoughtful details include thorough soundproofing, and a secondary lock on the master bedrooms door to safeguard parents privacy. Smoking is strictly forbidden in these quarters, so there will be no nasty niffs to irritate small noses. Particularly sensitive, asthmatic or allergy-prone patrons can even request a hypoallergenic suite, in which extra care is taken to keep irritants to a minimum. The private terrace is furnished with tables and chairs perfect for alfresco dining while the well-equipped kitchenette and the option of 24-hour in-room dining means appetites can be sated around the clock. Executives who have to attend to business matters can use the desk, cordless telephone and an ergonomic work chai for maximum comfort. Free high-speed wi-fi is included in the offer, and the in-suite safe is large enough to accommodate laptops. - TradeArabia News Service A bid by South African authorities to tackle the corruption that marred former President Jacob Zuma's tenure may drag on for years, with no guarantees of successful prosecutions or recouping billions of rand pilfered from the state. The government's ability to halt "state capture," a local term used to describe the alleged looting, and return the funds will be a key test for President Cyril Ramaphosa's drive to restore the trust of the electorate and investors in public institutions. About 100 billion rand ($8 billion) may have been stolen, according to Pravin Gordhan, a former finance minister who now oversees state companies. A high-powered judicial panel led by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo that was initially supposed to sit for six months says it needs at least two years to expose wrongdoing -- and it doesn't have the power to arrest anyone or seize assets. Those tasks will fall to a police force and prosecution service that have been gutted of senior staff over recent years and have had a dismal record in securing convictions of the rich and powerful. "The sheer scope of the challenge facing the state capture investigation team defies comprehension," Bart Henderson, chief executive officer of the Africa Institute of Corporate Fraud Management, said by phone from Johannesburg. "Who says it's going to lead anywhere? When it comes to getting stolen money back, I wouldn't hold my breath." The extent of the graft was laid bare in separate probes conducted by the nation's graft ombudsman, a group of leading academics and panels of lawmakers. They placed members of the Gupta family, who were in business with one of Zuma's sons, and their allies at the center of the corruption that Zuma and several Cabinet ministers and senior officials allegedly facilitated. Zuma, who is due in court on Friday to face charges of accepting bribes from arm dealers dating back to the 1990s, and the Guptas, who have fled the country, deny wrongdoing. Two attempts by the National Prosecuting Authority's asset forfeiture unit to seize vehicles and properties belonging to the family to recoup funds illegally diverted from a state-funded dairy project have been overturned by the High Court due to a lack of evidence. Ramaphosa, who took office in February after the ruling African National Congress forced Zuma to resign, has said his administration is committed to stamping out state capture and prosecutors won't wait for the Zondo commission to wrap its work up to charge those responsible. He's appointed a new police chief and head of the elite Hawks corruption investigative unit, while the boards and management of several state-owned companies have been replaced. Chief prosecutor Shaun Abrahams, who opposition parties accuse of obstructing cases against Zuma allies, has retained his post while a lawsuit filed by a civil rights group that aims at removing him because his predecessor's removal was unlawful runs it course. Justice Minister Michael Masutha said in a June 4 interview that he's instructed the prosecutions agency to cooperate with Zondo's commission to ensure investigations aren't duplicated and prosecutions are fast-tracked. The government may request the United Arab Emirates to extradite members of the Gupta family who are based there, he said. Zondo said his panel intends to start holding public hearings in August, and any evidence collected will be admissible in future legal proceedings. "We will be working flat out to make sure this investigation doesn't take one day longer than it should," he told reporters in Johannesburg on May 24. "We will be trying to make sure that we strike a fair balance between not delaying too much but at the same time making sure that we do a proper job." The panel was allocated 230 million rand for its first six months of work, Zondo told Johannesburg-based Talk Radio 702. David Lewis, the executive director of South African transparency group Corruption Watch, said Zondo's commission could unearth new evidence on state capture, help explain how it came about, identify systemic weaknesses and propose policy measures that could prevent it from happening again. "I think some big names are going to ultimately go to jail," Lewis said. "But not everybody who deserves to go to jail is going to go. That is not a uniquely South African phenomenon." 3 1 of 3 Ben Lambert / File photo Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Ben Lambert / File photo Show More Show Less 3 of 3 TORRINGTON Police will have an additional presence at Torrington Middle School for the next few days after a student made some concerning statements, officials announced Thursday. The Torrington Police Department thoroughly investigates any comments made toward any students or the school that may cause any safety concerns, police said in a Facebook post. The student has been identified and the Torrington Police Department and school administration has taken steps to address any safety concerns. The odds of you being struck by lightning twice in your lifetime are 1 in 9 million. If you're Sharon Stone, and lightning moonlights as a large, venomous lizard indigenous to the Indonesian archipelago that can run up to 30 miles per hour, your odds are apparently pretty high. A couple days ago, actress Sharon Stone posted a video to Twitter of what she claimed was a "ten foot long Komodo dragon loose on the street!" She filmed the alarmingly large lizard slithering down a Beverly Hills street with the caption: "This is walking up my street!!! What is going on!!!!!" According to Stone, the lizard was quickly picked up by Animal Control, not before Jessica Alba, apparently Stone's neighbor, took a video of the bizarre Sunday scene as well. The story could have ended there. But it didn't. That's because these giant reptiles and Sharon Stone have been unfortunately linked ever since 2001, when Stone was still married to former San Francisco Chronicle executive editor Phil Bronstein. In June 2001, Stone surprised her then-husband, San Francisco Chronicle executive editor Phil Bronstein, with an early Father's Day gift a private tour of the Los Angeles Zoo. Bronstein had always been fascinated by Komodo dragons, the largest lizards on the planet, so the couple stopped at Komodo enclosure to see the zoo's two specimens up close. A zookeeper invited him inside the cage of one of the animals, assuring him there was no danger. But first he was told to take off his white sneakers and socks so the 7-foot-long Indonesia lizard wouldn't mistake them for white rats. The rodents were routinely fed to the dragons. Perhaps the Komodo was more nearsighted than its brethren, but for whatever reason, it mistook Bronstein's toes for something edible. It lunged at the editor, clamped its vice-like jaws on his foot and began thrashing back and forth. Bronstein managed to pry the jaws apart, free his appendage and limp away, but his big toe was crushed and several tendons severed. He needed surgery to reconstruct his toes and antibiotics to treat septic infection from the lizard's bacteria-laden mouth. Los Angeles Zoo spokeswoman Lora LaMarca told the Chronicle that while the monitor lizards are typically aggressive by nature, this particular creature was known for having a mellow temperament. Luckily, this particular scene 17 years later might have been an episode of traumatic remembering. According to the Beverly Hills Police Department, who were called to manage the wandering lizard, this lizard is no Komodo. He's a monitor lizard named Stephan. We should note -Komodo Dragons are a type of monitor lizard, so the confusion is somewhat understandable. Apparently, Stephan escaped from an owner who lives nearby. We don't believe the officers used handcuffs, but they did post the above Instagram photos. Kanoo Travel, the Middle East's pioneering travel management company, honoured its partners during its Ramadan Ghabga last night. The event at the Kanoo Guest House in Mahooz was attended by senior management of Kanoo Travel, airline suppliers and general sales agents (GSAs). Commenting on the event, Nabeel Mohamed Kanoo, board director at Yusuf Bin Ahmed Kanoo Group, said: We are always keen to strengthen ties with our loyal partners who have been supportive of Kanoo Travel for years. Our business is growing because of their cooperation and this gathering is our way of saying thank you to them. Kanoo Travel, the fully owned business division of Yusuf Bin Ahmed Kanoo Group, operates a network of 70 Iata locations and has a team of over 900 travel specialists across the region. - TradeArabia News Service A Chinese mobile phone user uses the messaging app Weixin, or WeChat, in Ji'nan city, eastern China's Shandong province, May 15, 2017. The ruling Chinese Communist Party is mulling a proposal that could allow its citizens to "tap in" to Hong Kong and Macau with their smartphones instead of a travel permit, using the ubiquitous social media app WeChat. WeChat's parent company Tencent is currently looking at ways to make the current Exit-Entry Permit for Travel to and from Hong Kong and Macau into a digital pass system through a plugin within the app, local media reported. The aim is to streamline travel for Chinese passport-holders to the cities, which run separate immigration borders under the terms of their handover from the U.K. and Portugal in 1997 and 1999, respectively. Tencent has also said it wants Chinese citizens to be able to use their national ID cards, required for access to many everyday services in China, in electronic form, using the app. The company recently said in a statement that its digital ID card had been approved by the Ministry of Public Security. The digital entry pass is part of China's new plan for a "Greater Bay Area" linking the Pearl River Delta cities of Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Macau, Shenzhen, and Zhuhai with streamlined infrastructure that will extend China's national high-speed rail network to a terminus in Hong Kong, including the 31-mile (50 kilometer Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge scheduled to open in July. But there are concerns in Hong Kong that rapid integration with mainland China could lead to an effective erosion of the city's status as a separate jurisdiction, promised under the terms of its handover agreement. Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor director Law Yuk Kai said it is unclear whether the move will result in a bypassing of immigration checks, and the city's right to refuse entry to Chinese citizens. "If anyone holding a document issued by the mainland Chinese authorities will be allowed to enter Hong Kong without hindrance, then this would be a matter of concern, if that power to regulate our environment were lost," Law told RFA. "If mainland China alone can decide who comes in to Hong Kong, that that would constitute a failure to respect the separate jurisdictions," he said. He said there would be concerns over a loss of control of the city's borders, partly because of a possible increase in population, and partly because Hong Kong residents could lose political influence to an influx of mainland Chinese. Delaying legislation Pro-democracy lawmakers in Hong Kong's Legislative Council (LegCo) are currently trying to stall a controversial piece of legislation that would allow the law of mainland China to be enforced within Hong Kong city limits at the high-speed rail terminus in West Kowloon. The pan-democratic camp, which is banned from filibustering after a crucial rule-change, is using "limited tools" linked to quorum rules to try to delay the bill, as well as tabling dozens of potential amendments. Council Front lawmaker Au Nok-hin said their action is justified because the bill has scant support among the general public. "What we can do is to try to use the limited tools in order to express to the public that we do not support the current arrangement," Au told government broadcaster RTHK. "I think that we have our obligation to try to express that there are still a lot of problems with the co-location arrangement." Hong Kong political commentator Liu Ruishao said many in Hong Kong are also concerned about potential invasions of privacy as Chinese-government apps like WeChat morph from social media apps to essential tools for everyday life. "Actually the use of digitization and electronic technology is very advanced in mainland China right now," Liu told RFA. "But it is also very dangerous." "One the one hand, it's extremely convenient to use ... smartphones in this way, but on the other, there are no protections for individual privacy," he said. In January, Tencent expanded its user base to Hong Kong residents, who can now use WeChat's highly popular cashless payments system without needing a mainland Chinese bank account. Hong Kong residents can now activate their WeChat Pay accounts using international credit cards, including MasterCard, Visa and JCB, and use the app to pay for online shopping, ride-sharing, tickets, bike-shares, food delivery and hotel bookings. The payments system has also expanded to include residents of Macau and Taiwan, a democratic island that has never been ruled by the Chinese Communist Party. Beijing's rubber-stamp parliament, the National People's Congress (NPC), announced last December that it would extend Beijing's authority to the high-speed rail terminus to enable a streamlined process for passengers boarding the trains in Hong Kong, despite of the city's status as a separate immigration, policing, and customs jurisdiction. The "co-location" arrangement has already been criticized as unconstitutional as a violation of Hong Kong's mini-constitution, the Basic Law, with the city's Bar Association (HKBA) putting forward a detailed criticism of the ruling. Articles in the Basic Law allowing Hong Kong to make certain arrangements to enable cross-border trade and economic links "do not authorize" the city's government to act inconsistently with the rest of the law, the HKBA said. Reported by Jia Ao for RFA's Mandarin Service and by Lam Kwok-lap for the Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. Authorities in the central Chinese province of Hunan have placed under house arrest the friends and family of Li Wangyang, a veteran labor activist who died in police custody six years ago, RFA has learned. Chen Yuhua, a rights activist who has campaigned for a transparent inquiry into Li's alleged "suicide" under police guard in hospital, said his home in Hunan's Shaoyang city was being watched by several state security police officers and local officials. "They started watching me on May 31, and they have been in my home since June 4," Chen said. "I am under restrictions. They are right next to me ... some police and some from the residential district office." Li's sister Li Wangling and her husband Zhao Baozhu were also under close surveillance during the anniversary of the activist's death, and had been prevented from commemorating Li on Wednesday, Chen said. "They had planned [to go to commemorate Li] but they were unable to carry it out," he said. "They were stopped and asked to get into a vehicle by the state security police." "The state security police are standing guard outside their door. [Li Wangling] sent out a message on WeChat," he said. A number of Li's friends were also under house arrest, including Yi Zheng'an, Ouyang Jinghua, and Zhu Chengzhi, sources told RFA. Calls to their cell phones rang unanswered on Wednesday. Rights activist Zhang Shanguang said Li Wangling and husband Bao were incommunicado. "Under normal circumstances, we would be able to get hold of them, but the fact that I can't today definitely has to do with the current [political] atmosphere, and the fact that they are probably being restricted by the government," he said. Politically sensitive Zhang said the Hunan provincial authorities treat the anniversary of Li's June 6, 2012 death in a similar manner to the politically sensitive anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre on June 4, 1989. "They step up security and surveillance to a very high degree," he said. "We're not allowed to mark it in any way." A Chinese police investigation into Li's death upheld an earlier verdict of suicide, in spite of widespread public doubts over the claim that the severely disabled 62-year-old hanged himself. Relatives, friends, and rights groups called into question several details of both circumstance and timing which they say point to the possibility of foul play, including photos posted to social media that showed Lis feet touching the floor. Police took away Lis body after his death was discovered and kept it in an unknown location, Li's relatives said. "All of our evidence points to this being made to look like a suicide," Zhang said. "But the political pressure keeps mounting, so there is less and less opportunity [to speak out about it]." "Ordinary people like us have no way to find out what really happened." Far-reaching clampdown Shaoyang resident Hu Jianming said the security clampdown seemed to be more far-reaching than in previous years. "The state security police never sought me out in previous years, but this year, they contacted me ... to warn me to watch my step," Hu said. "There are certain activities at certain times that we can't take part in." Dozens of activists gathered outside Beijing's representative office in Hong Kong on Wednesday to call for a full and transparent inquiry into Li's death. Li's death came as Chinese authorities moved to crack down on dissidents and rights activists around the country, in a bid to prevent any public memorials on the 23rd anniversary of the June 4, 1989 bloodshed. Li, a former worker in a glass factory, was jailed for 13 years for "counterrevolution" after he took part in demonstrations inspired by the 1989 student movement in Beijing, and for a further 10 years for "incitement to overthrow state power" after he called for a reappraisal of the official verdict on the crackdown. He was blind in both eyes and had lost nearly all his hearing when he was finally released from prison in May 2011, his family said. Reported by Gao Feng for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Wen Yuqing for the Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. North Koreas leader Kim Jong Un has ordered government agencies, including the powerful State Security Department, to exert pressure on the family members of those who have defected to South Korea in a bid to get them to return home, according to sources inside the country. A source from North Hamgyong province, on the border with China, recently told RFAs Korean Service that Kims directive concerned bringing back people who were tricked by the South Korean National Intelligence Service and had gone to South Korea against their will. The instruction stresses that the South Korean National Intelligence Service should be held responsible for this disgraceful act while a peaceful atmosphere with South Korea is being created, the source said, referring to a recent thaw in tensions between the two rival nations that saw Kim meet with his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in last month to discuss peace on the Korean Peninsula. Kim also called for plans to stop the traitors from taking an active part in the United Nations and on other international stages, where they have exposed human rights abuses in the North, and to entice North Korean defectors in South Korea who are experiencing difficulties adjusting to South Korean society to return home, he said. In order to do so, the source added, government agencies have begun quietly investigating the families of defectors. State security agents are gathering information on defectors families in each persons work unit and are simultaneously working to propagandize defectors, he said. They are forcing the defectors family members to try to convince their relatives in South Korea to come back [to North Korea]. A second source from Yanggang province, also on Chinas border, told RFA that State Security agents have stepped up patrols in his region recently and specifically mentioned a case in which they had visited the home of a defector family and forced the mother to call her son who had relocated to the South. The State security agents are maneuvering to have the son come back home, he said. However, the source said, most [family members of defectors] are wary of the orders they have been given by the authorities and instead tell their relatives who have fled to South Korea or other countries not to be tricked by State Security Department propaganda. A North Korean defector who relocated to the South Korea three years ago confirmed to RFA that family members recently began calling and trying to convince him to return home. I recently received two calls from my wife in North Korea during which she begged me to return, saying that if I changed my mind and came back to the heart of North Koreas leader, [the authorities] would not accuse me of any crime and we could live happily ever after, said the defector, who spoke on condition of anonymity. My wife proudly said our son [in North Korea] is doing well at his school but I could tell from the sound of her voice that she was very nervous. I got the feeling that there was someone next to her, giving her instructions. Around 30,000 North Koreans have fled to the far wealthier South since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. According to South Koreas Unification Ministry data, 1,418 reached the South in 2016, while arrivals fell 21 percent to 1,127 in 2017. The South has blamed the drop in defections on tighter border controls by North Korea and China, after a spike in 2016 that included an unusually high number of North Korean elites. Reported by Myungchul Lee for RFAs Korean Service. Translated by Leejin Jun. Written in English by Joshua Lipes. Myanmar signed an agreement with two United Nations agencies on Wednesday to assist with the repatriation of some of the nearly 700,000 Rohingya Muslims who fled a violent military crackdown in northern Rakhine state and are now living in overcrowded displacement camps in Bangladesh. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the U.N.s development (UNDP) and refugee (UNHCR) agencies will help with the voluntary return and reintegration of displaced Rohingya, assess conditions in Rakhine state for those who are contemplating returns, and support programs that benefit all communities in the multiethnic state. The statement referred to displaced persons and not the Rohingya by name because Myanmar does not include the minority Muslim group as one of the countrys official ethnic groups under the 1982 Citizenship Law. The signing of the MoU is expected to enhance the work already undertaken by the government of Myanmar since last year for the voluntary, safe, and dignified repatriation of the displaced persons, said a statement issued by State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi's office. It is hoped that with the U.N.s involvement, the repatriation process will hasten, it said. Myanmar and Bangladesh signed an agreement for the voluntary return of Rohingya refugees last November, but so far only several dozen refugees returned illegally on their own in May. The U.N. and rights groups have warned that the stateless Rohingya, who are considered illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, will continue to be discriminated against after they return to Myanmar and be denied citizenship and access to basic services in the Buddhist-majority country. Following a May visit to Rakhine state by U.N. Security Council diplomats, the Council called on Myanmar to involve the U.N. agencies in a probe of allegations that the military carried out killings, torture, rape, and arson in Rohingya communities during the crackdown. The MoU [signed] today serves as the first important and necessary step to establish a framework cooperation between the U.N., and more specifically the UNHCR and UNDP, with the government to start working at creating conditions which could be conducive to the voluntary return of refugees from Bangladesh, said Giuseppe de Vincentis, the UNHCRs representative in Myanmar, during an interview with RFAs Myanmar Service on Wednesday. The MoU does not set a time frame for the repatriation of some of the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh who must decide on their own whether to return to Rakhine state, he said. So the MoU today establishes a framework which we hope will help to build confidence to support the community [that] is still living in Rakhine and [to] create conditions that refugees in Bangladesh may consider when they make a decision about their lives, de Vincentis said. Local experts only Also on Wednesday, lawmakers from the opposition Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) submitted an urgent motion to parliament calling for the exclusion of foreign experts from an independent inquiry commission that the government is setting up to investigate human rights violations that occurred during the crackdown in response to deadly attacks in August 2017 by the Muslim militant group Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA). The civilian government under the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party announced its intention to create the three-member panel on May 31. A statement issued by President Win Myints office said the commission would include an international representative and would be assisted by domestic and international legal and technical experts. The lower house of parliament accepted the motion submitted by lawmaker Sai Kyaw Moe and supported by USDP legislator Maung Myint that the commission be composed only of Myanmar experts. We want the government to establish a new inquiry commission only with local experts, Sai Kyaw Moe said. We have had experience with forming commissions with foreigners, but the problems were not resolved; they became more complex. This commission should be formed only with local Myanmar experts because [they] know the Myanmar people, culture, and history very well, he said. In August 2016, Aung San Suu Kyi set up a nine-member advisory commission led by former U.N. chief Kofi Annan to assess the obstacles to development and sectarian tensions between Muslims and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists in Rakhine state. Many politicians and lawmakers objected to the panels composition of three international experts and six domestic ones. The commissions final report issued in August 2017 called for a review of the countrys 1982 Citizenship Law, which prevents the Rohingya from becoming citizens, an end to restrictions on the Muslim minority in order to prevent further violence in the region, and the closure of internally displaced persons camps in Rakhine state. A day after the report was publicly released, ARSA carried out the deadly attacks on 30 police outposts in northern Rakhine, sparking the violent campaign against the Rohingya. The problem began because of the operation by government security forces after the police stations were attacked by the terrorists, said Maung Myint. The inquiry commission will get close to the truth if it can capture the whole picture. But if it throws a curtain over ARSAs [actions] and only investigates Myanmar security guards, police, and soldiers, it will not capture the entire story. Myanmars investigations to date, however, have been largely dismissed by human rights experts for glossing over the ferocious army campaign that drove 700,000 Rohingya into exile. On May 1, a group of U.N. Security Council diplomats who visited northern Rakhine called on Myanmar to conduct a proper investigation into atrocities against the Rohingya following the ARSA attacks. A Myanmar border police officer secures the Hla Pho Khaung processing camp for Rohingya Muslims refugees near the Bangladesh border in Maungdaw township, western Myanmar's Rakhine state, April 24, 2018. Credit: AFP No foreigners wanted Lawmakers from other parties also voiced discontent with the plan for the new inquiry commission. We have no reason to accept it, said legislator Oo Hla Saw from the Arakan National Party, which represents the interests of the ethnic Rakhine people in Rakhine state. We rejected the Kofi Annan commission as well. Actually, we didnt reject the commission, but we rejected having foreigners on [it] because we felt that it would turn a domestic problem into an international issue, he said, adding that the NLD has many ethnic Bamar, Shan, and Rakhine academics and experts who would be suitable for the panel. But it is impossible for a foreigner to investigate such a big issue in Rakhine state, Oo Hla Saw said. Rakhine ethnics dont like foreigners. Lawmaker Lama Naw Aung from the Kachin Democracy Party agreed that only Myanmar nationals should be on the commission. It would be better for only local experts to investigate these human rights violation, he said. Whenever Myanmar appoints foreigners as commission leaders, it has to listen to their suggestions although they might have suggestions that are unsuitable for the [actual] situation on the ground. The government should include ethnic Rakhine experts to help resolve regional issues, he said. But NLD lawmaker Aung Khin said it does not matter whether those appointed to the inquiry panel are foreigners or Myanmar nationals. Whether foreigners or Myanmar [citizens], it would be best if they do their jobs impartially in line with their mission and with respect for protecting human rights, he said, adding that the panel members should not favor one community of group or another while doing their work in Rakhine state. Reported by Nay Rein Kyaw, Win Ko Ko Latt, and Thinn Thiri for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Chinese authorities have released a Tibetan monk jailed for supporting a 2011 self-immolation protest three years before serving his full 10-year term in prison, Tibetan sources say. Lobsang Tenzin, aged 28 and formerly a monk at Kirti monastery in Sichuans Ngaba prefecture, was freed on June 5 and has returned to his home town, a Tibetan source in Ngaba told RFAs Tibetan Service. His present health condition and the reason for his early release are still not known, RFA's source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Also speaking to RFA, Kanyak Tsering, a monk at Kirti's branch monastery in India, confirmed Tenzin's release. He is now back in his home town, but it is hard to get further details regarding his release, Tsering said, citing sources in the region. Tenzin was convicted on Aug. 30, 2011, by a court in Ngabas Barkham county for aiding and abetting the protest in March of a Kirti monk named Phuntsog, who had set himself ablaze to protest Chinese rule in Tibetan areas. On March 16, 2011, Phuntsog set himself on fire and walked, shouting slogans, to the market square of Ngaba town. There, Chinese police kicked and beat him while extinguishing the flames, sparking an angry protest by monks and local Tibetans. The protest, which then spread to include a larger crowd, was later violently suppressed, and Chinese security forces later moved to surround Kirti monastery and block roads leading into Ngaba, sources told RFA in earlier reports. Sporadic protests challenging Beijings rule meanwhile continue throughout Tibetan regions of China. In March, a Tibetan man named Tsekho Tukchak set himself on fire in Ngaba , bringing to 153 the number of self-immolations by Tibetans living in China since the wave of fiery protests began in 2009. Most protests feature demands for Tibetan freedom and the return of the Dalai Lama from India, where he has lived since escaping Tibet during a failed national uprising in 1959. Reported by Lhuboom for RFAs Tibetan Service. Translated by Dorjee Damdul. Written in English by Richard Finney. Vietnamese political prisoner Tran Thi Nga, after having been cut off from seeing her family for several months as part of disciplinary measures, was able to call her husband this week and a family visit to her in jail may take place next week, her husband told RFAs Vietnamese service on Wednesday. A human rights defender noted in Vietnam for her online activism, Nga, 40, was sentenced on July 25 to nine years in prison for spreading "propaganda against the state" under Article 88 of Vietnams penal code, a provision frequently used to silence dissident bloggers and other activists. Her appeal was rejected in December. Ngas husband, Phan Van Phong, told RFA he spoke to her for five minutes on Tuesday. First of all, she complained about my note advising her to accept wearing prison attire so that she would be allowed to see relatives. She told me not do that anymore, as she knows how to behave, Phong said. Then she asked about the health of all relatives and talked with our kids, he added. Last month Phong had received a phone call from an anonymous woman who said she was Ngas cellmate and had just been released. The woman said Nga was not allowed to see her family or to use her monthly five-minute phone call to her husband. No reason was given for Ngas punishment, but Phong said that prison authorities had told him before that Nga always displayed a protest attitude since she was brought to her current prison. On Wednesday Phong also said authorities indicated that he and the couples two children would be able to meet Nga. Phong said he was planning a trip to faraway Gia Trung Prison on June 12 for a family reunion. In March, Nga was transferred to a distant prison -- a prison in Gia Long Province, more than 1,000 km (620 miles) from her home in Ha Nam -- without informing her family. Such transfers are apparently designed by authorities to increase prisoners isolation and make it difficult for family and friends to visit them. Reported by RFAs Vietnamese Service. Translated by An Nguyen. Written in English by Paul Eckert. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has announced a temporary cease-fire with the Taliban for Eid al-Fitr, the holiday that caps off the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, though it was not immediately clear whether the militants had agreed. The truce will last from June 12 until around June 20, Ghani said in a video message on June 7, as deadly militant attacks across Afghanistan showed no sign of easing during Ramadan. Ghani said that Afghanistan's security forces will "stop offensives" against Afghan Taliban militants but will continue to target the extremist group Islamic State (IS), Al-Qaeda, and "other international terrorist groups" and their affiliates. The cease-fire is "an opportunity for Taliban to introspect that their violent campaign is not wining [sic] them hearts and minds but further alienating the Afghan people from their cause," the president wrote on Twitter. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed declined to comment to RFE/RL on the matter. Senior security officials said the Pakistan-based Haqqani network, a militant group affiliated to the Taliban, was also included in the unilateral cease-fire. The top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan said that foreign forces will also honor the cease-fire. "We will adhere to the wishes of Afghanistan for the country to enjoy a peaceful end to the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, and support the search for an end to the conflict," General John Nicholson said in a statement. Ghani's announcement comes days after the country's top religious body issued a religious order, or fatwa, declaring suicide attacks forbidden, or "haram," under the principles of Islam. Meeting in Kabul on June 4, the Afghan Ulema Council also appealed on both Afghan government forces and the Taliban and other militants to agree on a cease-fire, and called for peace negotiations between the sides. A suicide bombing outside the gathering, attended by around 2,000 Muslim clerics, scholars, and figures of authority in religion and law from across Afghanistan, killed at least seven people, including several clerics. A local affiliate of IS claimed responsibility. The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan welcomed Ghanis announcement, saying on Twitter that "there is no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan." In Brussels, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called on the Taliban to join the cease-fire, saying that the militant group "will not win on the battlefield." "The only way for them to achieve a solution is to sit down at the negotiating table," he told reporters. The U.S. State Department said that "the Afghan governments offer of a temporary cease-fire underscores its commitment to peace as both a national and religious responsibility." It said it will allow the Afghan people to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr holiday without fear of violence. British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the announcement will be "an opportunity to reduce levels of violence and create space for talks to begin." However, a former Afghan army general, Atiqullah Amarkhel, expressed concerns that the cease-fire would give the Taliban a chance to regroup. "From a military prospect, it is not a good move," he told Reuters. The Western-backed government in Kabul has been struggling to fend off the Taliban and other militant groups since the withdrawal of most NATO troops in 2014. The Taliban has stepped up its attacks against Afghan security forces as well as government officials across the country since the announcement of its spring offensive in April. In February, Ghani offered to allow the Taliban to establish itself as a political party and said he would work to remove sanctions on the militant group, among other incentives, if it joined the government in peace negotiations. In return, the militants would have to recognize the Kabul government and respect the rule of law. The European Commission says it will provide Bosnia-Herzegovina with 1.5 million euros ($1.8 million) to help it cope with an influx of refugees and migrants crossing its borders on their way to Western Europe. The European Union's aid commissioner, Christos Stylianides, on June 7 said the aid is intended to help the Balkan nation deal with migrants' "basic needs and provide emergency shelter, food and health assistance, as well as protection." "The number of refugees and migrants arriving in Bosnia-Herzegovina has increased and we must act swiftly," he added, speaking in Sarajevo after a conference of European nations to discuss the problem. More than 1 million migrants and refugees made use of the Balkan route in a 10-month period before it was shut down in March 2016 after an agreement between the EU and Turkey. But migrants have continued to slip through and in recent months have begun to travel through Bosnia instead of trying to cross a border fence separating Hungary and Serbia, as they had previously done. Officials estimate that more than 5,500 illegal migrants have entered Bosnia since the start of the year, many of them from Iran and Pakistan. Most of them gather in northwestern Bosnia, in Bihac and Velika Kladusa, near the border with EU member Croatia. Bosnian Interior Minister Dragan Mektic told the conference that Europe must work together to solve the problem. "We must not approach this crisis individually, in order to avert negative experiences from 2015," Mektic said. Based on reporting by AFP, dpa, and AP The European court has ruled that Azerbaijan's arrest of four civil-society activists was in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on June 7 said it found the arrests of the men "were inconsistent and had lacked clarity, with no evidence being presented to back up the investigators' and prosecutors accusations." The men were board members of the NIDA civic movement, which was established in 2011 and has organized protests in Azerbaijan's capital, Baku, against corruption and the detention of what it calls are political prisoners. The ECHR said they were arrested a few days after a "peaceful protest" in March 2013 against alleged mistreatment of soldiers in the army. Authorities charged them with supplying firebombs that they said were found in the apartments of two other NIDA members. The European court said that "given the lack of evidence against the four, and other facts and circumstances, it had concluded that they were arrested and detained in order to silence them and punish them for their involvement in NIDA." The men denied all charges, calling them politically motivated, ECHR said in its ruling. The men were eventually convicted in May 2014 and sentenced to terms of seven to eight years each. Two were released in late 2014 and the other two in March 2016 after being pardoned by presidential decree, the ECHR said. In its ruling, the court in Strasbourg ordered the Azerbaijani authorities to pay 20,000 euros ($23,670) compensation to each of the men. It listed them as Rashad Zeynalabdin-oglu Hasanov, Zaur Araz-oglu Gurbanli, Uzeyir Mahammad-oglu Mammadli, and Rashadat Fikrat-oglu Akhundov, all born in the 1980s. ECHR rulings are not final and parties have three months to request that the case be taken to the Grand Chamber of the ECHR. Azerbaijan's opposition, as well as Western governments and international human rights groups, have criticized President Ilham Aliyev's government for persistently persecuting opposition politicians, activists, independent media outlets, and journalists, often using what they allege are trumped-up criminal charges. Aliyev has ruled the oil-producing former Soviet republic with an iron hand since shortly before his father, Heydar Aliyev, died in 2003 after a decade in power. Around 1,500 students and other young people have protested in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, against the illegal practice known as "bride kidnapping." The issue has come to prominence since the brutal killing of a 20-year-old woman by a man who abducted her, apparently aiming to force her into marriage. Burulai Turdaaly Kyzy was stabbed to death at a police station on May 27, when police who had detained her and her attacker left them alone in a room together. Several senior police officers were fired as a result, while others received punishments ranging from warnings to demotion. Bride kidnapping is illegal in Kyrgyzystan, and lawmakers raised the maximum prison sentence from three to 10 years in 2012, but prosecutions have been rare. Kira Muratova, an award-winning director, screenwriter, and actress whose films were celebrated and censored in the Soviet era, has died at the age of 83. Muratova died in Odesa, Ukraine, on June 6, her husband, Yevhen Holubenko, said. The cause of death has not been made public. The films of Muratova, who was known for her unique directorial style, underwent heavy censorship at the hands of the Soviet government. Many movies she shot in the 1960s and 1970s were allowed to be shown in the Soviet Union only after Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms in the 1980s. Born Kira Korotkova in 1934 in the town of Soroca -- then in Romania and now in Moldova -- to a Jewish mother and an ethnic Russian father, Muratova spent almost all her professional life as a film director in Odesa. In 1988, her film Among Grey Stones was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival, and the International Women's Film Festival Creteil (France) showed the first retrospective of her works. In 1990, Muratova's movie Asthenic Syndrome won the Jury Grand Prix at the Berlinale. In 1994, she was awarded the Leopard of Honor for her life oeuvre at the Locarno International Film Festival (Switzerland) and in 2000, she was given the Andrzej Wajda Freedom Award. Muratova's films received the Russian Nika prize in 1991, 1995, 2005, 2007, 2009, and 2013. In 2005 and 2013 retrospectives of her films were shown at the Lincoln Center in New York City and at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. With reporting by Novoye Vremya and Buro247.ua BISHKEK -- Kyrgyzstan's Supreme Court has upheld the convictions of three opposition politicians in a high-profile case but reduced their prison sentences. Under the June 7 decision, the prison terms of Bektur Asanov and Kubanychbek Kadyrov were shortened from 12 years to eight years, and Ernest Karybekov's 20-year prison term was cut by six years. The three were arrested in March 2016 after an audio recording that featured voices similar to theirs discussing ways to overthrow the government circulated on the Internet. Asanov told RFE/RL before his arrest that the tapes had been doctored and that they were posted online in "an attempt to blackmail the opposition." The trio were charged with plotting to overthrow the government, and were convicted and sentenced in April 2017. In February, the Bishkek City Court upheld the sentences and the three were transferred from the State Committee for National Security's (UKMK) detention center to a prison near Bishkek. Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev says he is optimistic a dispute with Greece over the former Yugoslav republic's name will be settled soon, despite continued opposition in both countries. "I remain optimistic, although it is not easy. It is a very delicate and important issue," Zaev said on June 7. "It is important that this solution is a sustainable and viable one and also 100 percent guaranteed for the future generations," he added. The dispute dates back to 1991, when Macedonia peacefully broke away from Yugoslavia, declaring its independence under the name Republic of Macedonia. Athens objected to its neighbor's new name, saying it implied a territorial claim over Greece's province of the same name, which borders the Balkan country. Because of Greek objections, Macedonia was admitted to the UN under a provisional name, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Greece, an EU and NATO member, has also cited the dispute to veto Macedonia's bid to join the two organizations. The two sides are now close to a compromise name that will almost certainly contain the term "Macedonia," such as "New Macedonia," "Northern Macedonia," or "Upper Macedonia." But nationalists in both countries oppose a compromise, and several rallies have been held against a deal. On June 6, thousands of people protested in major cities across Greece against the compromise, while, four days earlier, like numbers of supporters of Macedonia's right-wing opposition VMRO-DPMNE party took to the streets of the capital, Skopje, to protest against a deal. Based on reporting by AP and IBNA Montenegrin journalists and civil rights activists have gathered in the capital, Podgorica, to protest against the proposed dismissal of the national public broadcaster's director and editorial team. About 100 people gathered on June 7 in front of the RTCG's headquarters, where the managing council was expected to vote on the proposal that critics say is part of an effort by the government to undermine the public broadcaster's independent editorial policies. The demonstrators, who also included opposition politicians, called for the resignation of the RTCG's managing council, holding banners demanding an "independent public service." The organizers of the rally say RTCG has been under pressure after a new editorial team started work in March 2017 and distanced itself from the long-ruling Democratic Party of Socialists. Ahead of the protest, Montenegro's Media Center organization claimed that a dismissal of RTCG director Andrijana Kadija and some of the station's editors would allow President Milo Djukanovic's party to regain its control over the broadcaster. The Montenegrin Journalists' Association said the RTCG staff was working under "tremendous political pressure" from the government, making it "difficult for reporters and editors to do their jobs professionally." Montenegro, where Djukanovic was inaugurated last month as president for a second term, joined NATO in June 2017 and is seeking EU membership. Critics have accused his party of a failure to curb organized crime and corruption and of hobbling democratic reforms in the small ex-Yugoslav republic. The U.S. Embassy in Podgorica tweeted on June 1 that it was following developments with RTCG, saying that media freedom was "a key" to Montenegro's EU aspirations. Last month, the European Union warned the country that its efforts to join the bloc will suffer a setback unless it does more to protect journalists and media freedom. EU Enlargement Negotiations Commissioner Johannes Hahn issued the warning after a shooting attack on Montenegrin investigative journalist Olivera Lakic. Lakic, who was already the target of a similar attack in 2012, was hospitalized with injuries after being shot in Podgorica on May 8 by an unidentified gunman. With reporting by Balkan Insight The big innovation in this year's rendition of Russian President Vladimir Putin's Direct Line question-and-answer program turned out to be a dud. In the run-up to the June 7 show, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced that, in contrast to previous years, Putin would have his entire federal government and regional governors waiting in their offices to respond to complaints from constituents. It was supposed to be an effort to add some fireworks to a broadcast that has dragged on for hours in past years. That didnt happen. When the lights went up on this years program, the entire live audience of previous years had been replaced with a stage showing Putin sitting at a table with two moderators, surrounded by large-format screens. On one of them, a checkerboard of officials sat in poorly lit offices that lacked virtually all decoration, except for the Russian flag. Most desks were small and covered with papers. Walls were bare or featured only the logo of the region or ministry. Before Putin took the stage, a moderator on Russian state television, which hosted the live national broadcast, explained the innovation and assured audiences that the questioning of the officials would be "interesting." Some viewers may have been hoping for a repeat of a nationally televised incident in 2009 when then-Prime Minister Putin traveled to a factory in a St. Petersburg suburb to sort out a wage-arrears dispute: With the cameras rolling, Putin spoke to local officials as if they were misbehaving children. "Why did you only start running around like cockroaches right before I arrived? Why was there no one here before who was capable of making decisions?" he said. The highlight came when Putin took factory owner and oligarch Oleg Deripaska to task, forcing him to sign an agreement to pay workers, then commenting when Deripaska nearly walked off with the pen that Putin had thrown at him for his signature. here was nothing like that during this years four-hour Direct Line broadcast. All of the officials Putin called on were clearly in on the script, reading from notes they had prepared in advance. The officials typically spoke in the low, droning monotone that is familiar to those who have heard Russian judges reading their trial verdicts. In a post on Twitter, British journalist Oliver Carroll noticed the disconnect with the first official, Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak. "It's often stated that Vladimir Putin's direct lines are well-rehearsed, theatrical affairs," Carroll wrote. "Well, given the level of drama so far we've had ten minutes on petrol policy I'd like to speak to the scriptwriters." Moderators repeatedly cut off rambling officials who stared down at their desks and seemed determined to read through their entire stacks of papers. Moderators also reminded officials that this was "live television." In several cases, moderators spoke over officials who couldnt get the hint that their time was finished. Health Minister Veronika Skortsova, for example, read from her notes until she was told to wrap it up: For his part, while officials droned on, Putin was often shown jotting down in a notebook SMS messages from the large screens for responses later in the show. Still, Putin's own exchanges with officials were sympathetic. He limited himself to requests that the officials look into various matters and he accepted their explanations. He did not ask them tough questions and he did not allow their aggrieved constituents to respond. And, not surprisingly, the officials all devoted generous portions of their airtime to thanking Putin for his support. Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that the United States will have to offer North Korea "absolute" security guarantees if it wants Pyongyang to get rid of all its nuclear weapons. Speaking in an interview with a Chinese state broadcaster aired on June 6 ahead of a visit to Beijing, Putin said he hoped that the scheduled meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on June 12 will bring positive results. He hailed what he called "unprecedented" steps taken by the North prior to the summit -- including the suspension of nuclear and missile tests and the demolition of its nuclear test site -- as important shows of goodwill. The Russian leader also praised Trump for what he called a "courageous and mature" decision to meet with Kim. But he said that Pyongyang will demand "absolute security guarantees" if the United States sticks with its demand that Kim must totally abandon nuclear weapons to obtain relief from sanctions. "It can't be otherwise, particularly after the tragic events in Libya," Putin said, apparently referring to the toppling of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi by Libyan rebels with assistance from NATO forces after Qaddafi agreed to abandon nuclear weapons. "The North Koreans see them standing before their eyes, so they would naturally demand some guarantees," Putin said. Putin's statement comes after Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov met with Kim last week to discuss his upcoming summit with Trump. North Korean ministers have also cited the example of Qaddafi in saying Pyongyang will not agree to a complete nuclear disarmament deal like the Libyan one. But U.S. officials have repeatedly insisted that Kim must totally renounce nuclear weapons as part of any deal coming out of the summit. Based on reporting by AP, dpa, and Reuters YAKUTSK, Russia -- Dozens of activists protested in the Siberian city of Yakutsk against a plan by Russian federal authorities to abolish mandatory Yakut language lessons at schools. The two-hour rally of some 150 people on June 7 took place in a suburban area of Yakutsk after authorities did not give permission for it to be held in the city center of the capital of Russia's Sakha region. Demonstrators charged that the Education Ministrys plan to make voluntary the study of the indigenous languages in ethnic regions and republics would create chaos in the education system. A resolution signed by activists claimed that the move violates the constitutional rights of ethnic republics to use their state languages. Feliks Antonov, the organizer of the rally, told RFE/RL that the event was planned for the day before the State Assembly was expected to discuss amendments to the federal law on education. The Turkic-speaking Yakuts make up about half of the 1 million residents of Sakha, Russia's largest region by territory, which is also known as Yakutia. In recent months, the language issue has been a subject of controversy in Russia's so-called "ethnic" regions, where indigenous, non-Russian ethnic groups are well-represented. President Vladimir Putin said in July 2017 that children in ethnic regions must not be forced to learn languages that are not their mother tongues and ordered prosecutors to determine whether that was taking place. That led to abolishing mandatory indigenous language classes in the regions. In April, a group of parents in Tatarstan urged the government of the Russian region to return mandatory Tatar-language classes to schools across the republic. Joseph Dunford, the U.S. militarys top officer, will meet with his Russian counterpart, Valery Gerasimov, in Helsinki on June 8 as part of talks designed to prevent regional conflicts from escalating, the Finnish military said. The U.S. and Russian militaries did not immediately comment on the reported meeting of Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gerasimov, the chief of Russias military general staff. Researcher Matti Pesu of the Finnish Foreign Policy Institute told Finnish news agency STT that the talks are aimed at preventing an escalation of situations and misunderstandings in conflicts in countries including Syria and Ukraine. "In such tense situations, these [meetings] are important because both parties want to avoid worsening the situation. You want to increase transparency and keep the tensions from rising. "It helps when you sit down and talk face-to-face," Pesu said. In April, Gerasimov met with NATO Supreme Allied Commander Curtis Scaparrotti in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku. Relations between Moscow and Washington and their militaries were severely damaged in 2014 following Russias annexation of Ukraines Crimea Peninsula and its aid for separatists in eastern Ukraine. Based on reporting by AFP, Reuters, and The Independent Ukrainian activist Oleksandr Kolchenko, who is serving 10-year prison term in Russia on extremism charges that he and his supporters consider politically motivated, has stopped his hunger strike, his lawyer says. Andrei Lepyokhin wrote on Facebook on June 7 that due to health issues, Kolchenko decided to stop the hunger strike that he started on May 31. Lepyokhin also posted a letter that he said was written by his client, in which Kolchenko wrote that he "overestimated" his abilities and "turned out to be weaker" than he thought. The letter said Kolchenko hoped that his former co-defendant, Oleh Sentsov, a Ukrainian filmmaker who is on hunger strike in a Russian prison in far-northern Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region, "will not be angry with me for giving up so quickly." Lepyokhin wrote that his client had lost weight and now weighed 54 kilograms. Sentsov has been on hunger strike since May 14, demanding that Russia release 64 Ukrainian citizens he considers political prisoners. Kolchenko and Sentsov were arrested in Crimea in 2014, after Russia seized the Ukrainian region. A Russian court in 2015 convicted them of planning to commit terrorist acts. Both men deny the accusations. Western governments and rights organizations have called for Sentsov and Kolchenko to be released, and the Russian human rights group Memorial considers them political prisoners. On June 6, the British Foreign Office expressed concern over the welfare of Kolchenko, Sentsov and two other Ukrainian nationals who were conducting hunger strikes in Russian custody to protest Moscow's detention of Ukrainian political prisoners. Ukrainian lawmakers have voted to dismiss Finance Minister Oleksandr Danylyuk after a public spat with the country's prime minister, in a move expected to raise concern among the country's foreign backers. A total of 254 lawmakers in the 450-seat parliament on June 7 supported a motion submitted by Prime Minister Volodymyr Hroysman to fire Danylyuk, a respected reformer backed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Interfax news agency reported that Oksana Markarova, the first deputy finance minister since 2015, had been unanimously approved as acting finance minister. The moves came soon after the parliament passed a bill on a long-awaited anticorruption court, whose creation is a key condition in order for the IMF to distribute more aid to the country. Hroysman on June 6 accused Danylyuk of spreading "distorted information amid our international partners." Meanwhile, Danylyuk alleged that he had been asked to support "political corruption" or to quit. The two officials have been at odds since Hroysman rejected Danylyuk's candidate for deputy minister in charge of tax policy on May 23. Danylyuk then accused Hroysman of favoring candidates chosen by President Petro Poroshenko's inner circle and wrote a letter describing his grievances to the Group of Seven (G7) leading industrialized countries. Danylyuk, 42, has been known for his anticorruption measures meant to reform Ukraine's fiscal and customs services. Earlier on June 7, lawmakers stood up and applauded in the Verkhovna Rada after a draft law on the Supreme Anticorruption Court won the support of 315 deputies in its second reading. The legislation describes the court as a permanent "higher specialized court" to be located in the capital, Kyiv. The court's jurisdiction would be applicable to the entire territory of Ukraine, it also says. "Today we have completed the formation of anticorruption infrastructure," President Petro Poroshenko tweeted after the vote. "I want to emphasize the resolve of the Ukrainian authorities to fight corruption." The draft law, which was presented by Poroshenko in December, was backed by 282 legislators in its first reading on March 1. Corruption was among top reasons that prompted Ukrainians to take to the streets and oust a Moscow-friendly regime in 2014 but it remains a major problem despite Poroshenko's promises to tackle it. International financial institutions have provided Ukraine with billions of dollars to support its stricken economy. The IMF has said an anticorruption court will be a "benchmark" of Ukraine's progress toward Western legal standards, and that it would help ease the release of its loans in the future. The United States has also highlighted the importance of establishing an independent anticorruption court in Ukraine. In a statement issued on June 5, the U.S. State Department said, "the establishment of a genuinely independent anticorruption court is the most important, immediate step the government can take to meet those demands and roll back corruption that continues to threaten Ukraine's national security, prosperity, and democratic development." Western officials say Ukraine will be far better equipped to resist interference from Russia -- which seized Ukraine's Crimean region in 2014 and backs separatist militants who hold parts of two eastern provinces -- if it takes serious steps to combat corruption. With reporting by AFP, Reurters, UNIAN, and Christopher Miller in Kyiv The UN Security Council has unanimously condemned the "continuous violations of the cease-fire" in eastern Ukraine and called for an immediate withdrawal of heavy weapons. In a resolution sponsored by France and Germany on June 6, the council also called for expanded UN efforts to help civilians caught up in the four-year conflict between the Ukrainian government and Russia-backed separatists. The resolution, passed without dissent by the council's 15 members, including Russia, France, Germany, and the United States, expressed "grave concern about the recent deterioration of the security situation in eastern Ukraine and its severe impact on the civilian population." It was the council's first statement since January 2017 on the conflict, which has killed more than 10,300 people. It also calls on all parties to recommit to a peace agreement reached in the Belarusian capital of Minsk in 2015 but never carried out. The foreign ministers of Germany, France, Ukraine, and Russia are scheduled to meet in Berlin on June 11 to try to revive the Minsk peace process. The last attempt to carry out the cease-fire quickly fell apart in December. "It's been a long time since the council adopted anything on Ukraine and we are very happy," Russian UN Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said after the vote, calling the resolution's reaffirmation of the Minsk agreement "very constructive." French UN Ambassador Francois Delattre said Russia's vote for the resolution was "one of the reasons" why it was "important" and will make "a world of difference." Delattre said the resolution represented the first time the council has adopted language addressing "the tragic humanitarian situation" and "suffering" of Ukraine's civilians. He said the measure "sends a strong signal on putting into effect the Minsk agreements" ahead of the Berlin meeting. "This is key," he said. UN political chief Rosemary DiCarlo told the council last week that "the security situation on the ground remains volatile" in eastern Ukraine. "The killing, destruction, and immense suffering continues" and "eastern Ukraine is facing a serious humanitarian crisis," she said. "The relative calm that held in the early weeks of 2018 was followed in April and May by a sharp increase in the number of victims." Russia's Nebenzya claimed that "some parties" had been "sabotaging" the Minsk agreement by proposing a large-scale UN peacekeeping mission that he said was designed to substitute for the Minsk plan. Russia has proposed only a narrowly limited role for UN peacekeepers, which Nebenzya claimed was in keeping with the Minsk agreement. The conflict in eastern Ukraine broke out in 2014 after mass protests ousted a pro-Russian government in Kyiv and Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula. Kyiv and Western governments, which imposed sanctions on Russia over its aggression in Ukraine, say Russia has fueled the conflict by providing weapons and forces to back the separatists in the east. Russia denies being involved and charges that Ukraine refuses to comply with the Minsk agreement in part to deny Moscow relief from Western sanctions, which Western leaders have said will be lifted only when there is progress establishing peace. The European Union in March extended its sanctions by another six months, but the coming to power of more pro-Russian governments in Italy, Austria, Hungary, and elsewhere has increased calls within the bloc for easing the sanctions. With reporting by AP, AFP, and Interfax A Swedish court has sentenced Uzbek national Rakhmat Akilov to life in prison for a truck attack that killed five people in Stockholm last year. Akilov "has among a series of crimes been found guilty of terrorist offense by murder in five cases. The penalty has been set to life imprisonment," the Stockholm district court said on June 7. Life sentences in Sweden are usually commuted to a fixed term, often about 16 to 18 years. The court ordered Akilov to be expelled from the country after he serves his sentence and be banned from ever returning. Akilov has acknowledged he drove a hijacked truck down a busy pedestrian street in the center of the Swedish capital on April 7, 2017, killing three Swedes including an 11-year-old girl, a British man, and a Belgian woman. Ten other people were injured. More than 100 people testified during the almost-three-month trial in a high-security chamber, including survivors and relatives. Rejected asylum seeker Akilov, 40, is the sole suspect and admitted at the start of the trial in February that he drove the truck, saying that his aim was to force Sweden to end its fight against the extremist group Islamic State (IS). The prosecution called for Akilov to be found guilty of terrorism, seeking a life sentence to be followed by his expulsion from the Scandinavian country. Akilovs defense attorney, Johan Eriksson, called for a time-limited prison sentence, noting that his client cooperated with investigators after his arrest. After sentencing, Eriksson said his client was "disappointed" by the decision but had not yet decided whether to appeal. The prosecution called for Akilov to be found guilty of terrorism, seeking a life sentence to be followed by his expulsion from the Scandinavian country, where inmates serving life sentences stay behind bars for an average of 16 years. Akilov's defense attorney called for a time-limited prison sentence, noting that his client cooperated with investigators after his arrest. Akilov, a construction worker and an ethnic Tajik from Uzbekistan whose asylum application was turned down by Sweden in 2016, had sworn allegiance to IS on the eve of his assault, but no organization claimed responsibility for the attack. However, a joint investigation by RFE/RL's Uzbek and Tajik services and Swedish news agency TT found that Akilovwas in direct contact with alleged IS militants from Tajikistan before, during, and after the Stockholm attack. Akilov had left a wife and four children behind in Uzbekistan in order to earn money to send home, according to reports. Sweden, which is not a NATO member, has some 70 military personnel based mainly in northern Iraq to provide training as part of the U.S.-led coalition against IS. Stockholm was one of several cities in Europe, including Barcelona, London, Berlin, and Nice, where vehicles have been used to target crowds of civilians in recent years. With reporting by dpa, Reuters, and AFP Cancun taxi driver dies after being shot by passenger Cancun, Q.R. A taxi driver has died after being shot while in his taxi outside a Cancun convenience store. The shooting occurred Tuesday outside an OXXO when a taxi driver from the Andres Quintana Roo union was shot in the back by a passenger. The taxi was parked outside an OXXO on Uxmal Avenue and Yaxchilan in Supermanzana 23 when the shooting occurred. Emergency 911 recieved the call at 5:45 p.m. that someone had been injured by firearm. Paramedics arrived and confirmed that it was a taxi driver and that he had received a bullet in the back. He was transferred to the IMSS of Coba where he died from his injuries. Reports say the driver had taken two men to the store. When one got out, the second man in the back seat shot him in the back. Inside the taxi, police found one 9 mm casing. The deceased has been identified as 34-year-old Miguel N of Cancun. The State Attorney Generals Office says the two men escaped and there have not yet been any arrests. Shocked: Ms Alam's photo A LAWYER and racial justice campaigner has spoken out against the Home Office for creating a "deliberately hostile environment" in Rotherham. Zaiban Alam said she had been shocked to see an immigration van and around six officers in McDonald's car park near Eastwood at around 9.30pm on May 8. Ms Alam, who is on the board of directors for JUST Yorkshire, a racial justice, civil liberties and human rights group, said: "Having seen this, with the backdrop of what's been happening recently, I was concerned, because we have just had many weeks of the Windrush scandal. "What was concerning to me is we've just had a home secretary (Amber Rudd) give false information to the House of Commons in terms of numbers being deported and targets being met, and the scandal relating to the deliberately hostile environment created." Prime Minister Theresa May was blasted for her "hostile environment" strategy as home secretary after vans with the message 'go home' were driven around six London boroughs with areas of high migration. Ms Alam found it "disturbing" to see the enforcement van parked near Eastwood, where approximately 70 per cent of the population are from a BAME - black, Asian, and minority ethnic - background. "What message is that sending out, bearing in mind what's just happened with the Windrush scandal?" she said. "I decided I would take a picture of what I had seen and as soon as I got out my camera and started taking pictures two officers approached me." Ms Alam said a confrontational officer had asked her to stop, adding: "I told her I had only taken a picture of the van, which I was entitled to do, at which point she turned on her heels." The lawyer said the vans, which she had never seen in Rotherham before, could put fear into the hearts of people who are here perfectly legitimately. If I can feel it in my privileged position, how will it make others feel? she added. Because of the job I do, I have a voice that other people dont. The situation could have ended differently if it was someone who didnt know their rights or had no knowledge of the law. Ms Alam posted a photo of the van on social media with a message that read: "Hostile environment alive and kicking outside McDonald's in Rotherham tonight. If youre BAME and visible in Rotherham please keep safe." Twitter user Penny Wangari-Jones replied: "I know people who have panic attacks when they see these vans because of what the Home Office has put them through." Ms Alam said the vans should be unbranded if a less intimidating approach was being taken. A Home Office spokeswoman said: "An effective immigration system is one that welcomes people who are legally in the UK while at the same time taking action against those living here illegally." She said immigration enforcement officers had visited a number of addresses in Rotherham on May 8, acting on intelligence related to suspected criminality. Jill Hibberd A SECOND man has been arrested in connection with the murder of a Wombwell woman. The 22-year-old Wakefield man was arrested on suspicion of murdering Jill Hibberd, burglary and theft. He is currently in police custody being questioned by detectives. Ms Hibberd (73) was found dead in her living room last Thursday (May 31) at around 7.45am. A post-mortem examination revealed she died from multiple stab wounds. Lee Trevor Fueloep (40) is due to appear in Sheffield Crown Court today (Thursday) charged with murder and burglary. Fueloep, of Willow Garth, Wombwell, is also charged with stealing Ms Hibberds Audi TT which was taken from her Wombwell driveway on Roy Kilner Road. Following a police appeal, the car was found in West Yorkshire on Tuesday. A South Yorkshire Police spokeswoman said: The car was located on Finch Avenue in Newmillerdam, however detectives are still keen to speak to anyone who may have seen the vehicle prior to its recovery. Det Chief Insp Jude Ashmore said: I want to offer my sincerest thanks to those who have been in touch with us, and while we are now in possession of the vehicle and various forensic analysis will be undertaken, I am still appealing to anyone who believes they may have seen the car, on specific dates and times. Did you see the car, registration number YM17 SYJ, taken from the scene of the crime on Roy Kilner Road, Wombwell, on Wednesday, May 30, at around 9pm? The registration number was changed to YY63 CFA, which were number plates taken from a red Audi A4 parked on Wharncliffe Street in Barnsley town centre, between 4pm on Friday, June 1, and 5.30am on Saturday, June 2. Do you believe you may have seen the red Audi TT at some point from when it was taken on May 30, up until Monday, June 4, on either set of number plates? Can you offer any information as to where the car may have been up until its recovery yesterday? The specific details, while they may seem insignificant, could be vital to the investigation and I would urge anyone who believes they could assist to please make contact with us directly via our incident room on 01709 443510. Alternatively, please call 101 or anonymously make contact with Crimestoppers on 0800 555111, quoting incident number 141 of 31 May 2018. CPI(M) Urging for a diplomatic initiative to hold unconditional dialogue with Pakistan, the CPI(M) said today that Home Minister Rajnath Singh's offer to hold talks with Hurriyat leaders in Kashmir should also be taken forward.In an editorial in party organ 'Peoples Democracy', former CPI(M) general-secretary Prakash Karat said there is no reason why a broader dialogue cannot be started with Pakistan if the national security advisors of the two countries can meet and the Directors-General of Military Operations can confabulate. Prakash Karat Advertisement "Along with that, the offer of talks with Pakistan that Rajnath Singh extended, should be taken forward. But it cannot be conditional to what both the home minister and the defence minister stated that talks and terror cannot go together."Just as Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought to arrive at some modus vivendi with President Xi Jinping at Wuhan, similarly, there is the need for a diplomatic initiative on the Pakistan front," Karat wrote.The editorial came at a time when Singh is in Jammu and Kashmir on a two-day visit from today to review the security situation, partcularly after May 16, when the Centre unilaterally announced suspension of anti-terror operations during Ramzan. Narendra Modi The Hurriyat Conference has offered to hold talks with the Union government but has also put some conditions.On May 26, Singh said the government is ready to hold talks with Hurriyat if its leadership is ready. As far as Pakistan is concerned, he said, the government is ready to hold talks with Islamabad if it comes forward with a proposal. Singh, however, had said that terrorism promoted by that country has to end. Advertisement Stating that the people in Kashmir Stating that the people in Kashmir do not have much faith in the prospects of a political dialogue to find a political settlement because of a hardline security stance, the Left leader alleged the situation in the valley has "deteriorated" since the Modi government assumed office four years ago.Karat emphasised that "some degree of trust" was required between the people of Kashmir and the Centre for a meaningful dialogue. He suggested that Singh should extend the ceasefire announced during Ramzan for another specified period. Rajnath Singh Advertisement In Srinagar today, Home Minister Singh said the Centre has decided to withdraw cases against those "misled into stone pelting" as it was concerned about the future of the youth.Karat said authorities should announce the withdrawal of the use of pellet guns against stone-pelters and separatist leaders such as Shabir Shah, who are being treated as common criminals in jail, should be released.He called for prompt action against any excess committed by security forces on civilians. [ISLAMABAD] Rising average temperatures and increase in the number of heat wave events will adversely impact human health and crop yields across Pakistan, say researchers who participated in what they described as the first country-specific heat wave trajectory study. A team of international researchers, who published the results of the study this month (June) in Atmospheric Research, found that Pakistan was hit by 126 heat waves of varying durations over the 19972015 period for an average of seven heat waves per year. Extreme weather events will become more frequent, prolonged and intense Wajid Nasim, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology Having studied the past upward trends of the heat waves and annual temperatures, we concluded that extreme weather events will become more frequent, prolonged and intense, Wajid Nasim, lead author and associate professor at the department of environmental sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, tells SciDev.Net. According to Nasim, the study suggests a 75 per cent increase in heat waves by 2030, a 189 per cent by 2060 and a 277 per cent increase by 2090. This means the country will experience around 12 heat wave events annually by 2030, 20 such events by 2060 and 26 events by 2090. Nasims team relied on historical datasets of heat wave events and daily maximum temperature variations for the study period drawn from the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) through 29 weather stations in the provinces of Punjab, Sindh and Baluchistan. Heat waves are defined as spikes in temperature beyond 45 degrees Celsius in the plains areas and beyond 40 degrees Celsius in the hilly areas. Average maximum temperatures of 42 degrees Celsius with a 56 degrees rise lasting eight days or more are also considered as heat waves. Researchers warn in the study that the soaring heat wave trends may exacerbate impacts on human health, crop yields, push up irrigation needs of summer crops, increase droughts and contribute to groundwater depletion in the country. Rising average temperatures during pre-monsoon months (March, April and May), during which most of the heat waves are expected to occur in the coming decades, could lead to early maturity of winter crops including wheat, maize, potato and lentils, and consequent decline in crop yields. Higher temperatures during these months will also increase irrigation needs for various summer crops, including rice, cotton, sugarcane and mango, particularly because of rapid decline in soil moisture and higher levels of surface water evaporation. Ghulam Rasul, director-general of the PMD, says the findings demand an adaptation response from the government with focus on early heat wave warning systems. Rasul observes that March and April used to be cool to mild months, which helped the soil to retain moisture. Researchers from Drexel University College of Medicine and the University of Texas at Austin improved respiratory function in rodents with spinal cord injuries after successfully transplanting a special class of neural cells, called V2a interneurons. Their results, published this week in the Journal of Neurotrauma, indicate that these lab-grown cells have the potential to one day help paralyzed patients breathe without a ventilator. "Our previous study was one of the first to show that V2a interneurons contribute to plasticity, or the ability of the spinal cord to achieve some level of self-repair. This study capitalized on those findings by demonstrating that we can grow these cells from stem cells, that they survive in an injured spinal cord, and that they can actually improve recovery," said Michael Lane, PhD, an assistant professor of neurobiology and anatomy in the College of Medicine and the study's principal investigator. Though spinal cord injury impacts a wide range of motor systems, recent evidence suggests the body is capable of spontaneous improvements, through growth of nerve fibers and the formation of new circuits. Lane's laboratory is interested in studying -- and strengthening -- this natural phenomenon, in order to treat a potentially fatal side effect of paralysis: poor respiratory health. Not only do patients with high-level injuries require mechanical assistance to breathe, but they are also prone to lung congestion and respiratory infections. "By understanding the body's own attempt at repair, we hope to amplify that process therapeutically with cell transplantation and rehabilitation," said Lyandysha Zholudeva, the study's lead author and a doctoral candidate in the College of Medicine. "Now we've identified one of the cell types that contributes to the formation of new pathways that lead to plasticity." For the past decade, there has been a growing interest in using neural precursors -- cells that can develop into the various types found in the brain -- to augment plasticity and treat spinal cord injury. Neural cells work with all the other cell types of the body to produce the range of functions of the central nervous system, including circulation, respiration and digestion. Interneurons are particularly attractive candidates for the injured spinal cord, because they relay signals between sensory and motor neurons. However, these cells are a diverse bunch, and it has remained unclear exactly what type of interneuron could survive and thrive in an injured spinal cord after transplantation. Lane and other researchers pinpointed V2a interneurons as a potential contender, since they are "excitatory" (have greater action potential) and typically grow in the right direction for repair. Previous studies have also suggested that this class of interneurons may be involved in breathing, and Lane's work has shown that this role may be even more important after spinal cord injury. advertisement In a study published in 2017, Lane and his colleagues found that weeks after injury, the spinal cord recruits V2a interneurons, which become wired into the "phrenic" circuit in the spinal cord that controls the diaphragm (an essential muscle for breathing). In their more recent study, the researchers explored whether transplanting more V2a cells into the injured spinal cord could enhance plasticity and lead to longer-lasting outcomes. Lane explained that identifying specific cell types that will repair breathing (or any other symptom), rather than transplanting a heterogeneous population, is key to effective treatment. "Stem cell transplantation is gaining interest both within science, and within clinical trials, but scientific evidence shows that some types of cells may actually limit recovery. So, you have to know what will happen to the cells you are putting in the body," he said. "The transplantation field is moving into an era where there is more interest in tailoring cell therapies." To test their hypothesis, the Drexel team collaborated with Shelly Sakiyama-Elbert, PhD, a cellular engineer at the University of Texas, to differentiate embryonic stem cells into V2a interneurons and combine them with neural progenitor cells from a rodent spinal cord. Once combined, the V2a cells were transplanted into 30 animals with high cervical moderate-severe injuries. One month following transplantation, the donor cells had survived and become mature neurons in all 30 animals. Recording activity of the diaphragm muscle, the researchers found that breathing significantly improved in the animals that had received V2a interneurons compared to the controls. "Even this incremental difference reassures us that we have identified a cell type to really concentrate on, and that we should continue to investigate their potential even further," Zholudeva said. Moving forward, the researchers plan to continue to determine how to best optimize the transplant dose, growth and connectivity of V2a cells in the injured spinal cord. Lane said the potential contribution of V2a cells to functional recovery could be enhanced with rehabilitation, neural-interfacing and activity-based therapies. "For now, we've focused on one cell, and one time-point after injury, so there is more work still to be done," Lane said. "But it is a big advance -- we have at least one cell that contributes to recovery and one day, that may lead to better treatments." A combination of the drugs mifepristone and misoprostol can help bring closure to some women and their families suffering from miscarriage, and reduces the need for surgical intervention to complete the painful miscarriage process. Results of a new clinical trial led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, show that while the standard drug regimen using misoprostol on its own frequently fails to complete the miscarriage, a combination of misoprostol and the drug mifepristone works much more reliably. The report is published today in the New England Journal of Medicine. Each year in the United States alone approximately 1 million women have miscarriages. When the body does not expel the pregnancy tissue on its own -- the final part of a miscarriage -- women need to undergo a surgical procedure or take the drug misoprostol. Though often preferable for its convenience and privacy -- patients can take it in the comfort of their own homes -- misoprostol does not always work, and many women who use misoprostol are still left with no option but to undergo an invasive procedure they wished to avoid, prolonging an already physically and emotionally difficult situation. "Though rarely discussed openly, miscarriage is the most common complication of pregnancy, and the public health burden is both physical and psychological. For too many women, misoprostol alone just leads to frustration. I have seen my patients suffer from the insult of the treatment failure added to the injury of the initial loss," said study lead author Courtney A. Schreiber, MD, MPH, chief of the division of Family Planning and an associate professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. "As physicians, we have to do better for these patients, and our new study shows that by combining mifepristone with misoprostol, we can." Mifepristone is used along with misoprostol to induce abortion in early pregnancy. But the effectiveness of mifepristone-misoprostol for miscarriage patients, in comparison to the commonly used misoprostol alone, has been unclear. In the new study, 300 women who had been diagnosed with early pregnancy loss -- described as a miscarriage in the first trimester -- were assigned to receive the standard 800 micrograms of misoprostol placed vaginally. Half were also randomly assigned to receive pretreatment with a 200 mg pill of mifepristone, which primes the uterus to respond to misoprostol's contraction-inducing effect. The researchers found that overall, 91.2 percent of women receiving the mifepristone pretreatment plus misoprostol experienced gestational sac expulsion -- the definition of a completed miscarriage -- 83.8 percent by their first follow-up visit, which occurred two days after the treatment on average. Misoprostol alone was only effective 75.8 percent of the time, with 67.1 percent completing by their first follow up visit. The researchers looked at a variety of outcomes in the study, and essentially all were better for the women taking mifepristone plus misoprostol. Patients assigned to this group, for example, had a much lower chance (8.8 percent) of needing a surgical intervention by day 30, compared to 23.5 percent for the misoprostol-alone group. There were no significant differences between the groups in terms of pain, bleeding, or other side-effects. Notably, serious side effects were rare in both groups. Mifepristone is a highly regulated medication. At present, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires that the drug be dispensed only in registered hospitals, clinics and doctor's offices, but not in retail pharmacies. Schreiber says that physicians who wish to treat women with miscarriages -- including but not limited to physicians in obstetrics, internal medicine, emergency medicine, and family medicine -- should consider registration. "High-quality care for women who suffer miscarriage not only improves physical outcomes, but helps alleviate the psychosocial stress that can accompany the loss of a pregnancy," she says. "Given how common miscarriage is and the effectiveness of the drug combination as shown in this new study, any doctor who cares for women who become pregnant, and therefore could have a miscarriage, should be registered to prescribe and dispense mifepristone." A new study by researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder finds that violent crashes may be more effective at activating black holes than more peaceful mergers. When two galaxies collide, the supermassive black holes that sit at their centers also smash together. But before they do, these galaxies often flicker on, absorbing huge quantities of gas and dust and producing a bright display called an Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN). But not all mergers are created equal. In some such marriages, only one black hole becomes active, while in others, both do. The research team led by CU Boulder's Scott Barrows discovered that single activations seem to occur more often in mergers in which the galaxies are mismatched -- or when one galaxy is huge and the other puny. When lopsided galaxies join, "the merger is less violent, and that leads to less gas and dust falling onto the black holes," said Barrows, a postdoctoral research associate in the Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy (CASA). "And the less material you have falling onto the black holes, the less likely you are to have two of them become AGNs." The researchers presented their findings today at a press briefing at the 232nd meeting of the American Astronomical Society, which runs from June 3-7 in Denver, Colorado. advertisement Barrows and his colleagues used data collected by the Chandra X-ray Observatory to systematically scan the night sky for the signatures of AGNs. They spotted mergers in progress by looking for "offset galaxies," or galaxies with a single AGN that sits away from the center of the galaxy. Such a lack of symmetry suggests that a second supermassive black hole, which hasn't been turned on, might be hiding nearby. Barrows and his colleagues next assembled a sample of 10 offset galaxies and compared that sample to galaxies with a pair of AGNs. The results were stark: Nine out of the 10 galaxies with only one active black hole came from lopsided mergers, or cases in which one galaxy was more than four times the size of the other. Two-thirds of the galaxies with two active black holes, in contrast, were experiencing clashes among near equals. Barrows explained that when galaxies of roughly equal size meet, their black holes exert tremendous gravitational forces on each other. Those forces, in turn, send clouds of gas and dust raining onto the black holes. "It's these torques that extract energy from the gas and dust, allowing it to fall into the nucleus of the black hole," Barrows said. In mismatched mergers, "you simply have smaller forces exerted on the gas and dust in each galaxy." The team didn't find any rhyme or reason to which black hole activated during a mismatched merger. In some cases, Barrows said, it was the bigger black hole. In other cases, the smaller one. Next up, he and his colleagues will focus on how the smashing together of two black holes affects the galaxies themselves, including how they create and destroy stars. Julie Comerford, an assistant professor in CU Boulder's Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Science co-authored the research along with Jenny Greene of Princeton University. Fibromyalgia and resistance exercise have often been considered an impossible combination. But with proper support and individually adjusted exercises, female patients achieved considerable health improvements, according to research carried out at Sahlgrenska Academy, Sweden. "If the goal for these women is to improve their strength, then they shouldn't be afraid to exercise, but they need to exercise the right way. It has long been said that they will only experience more pain as a result of resistance exercise, that it doesn't work. But in fact, it does," says Anette Larsson, whose dissertation was in physical therapy and who is an active physical therapist. As part of her dissertation, she studied 130 women aged between 20-65 years with fibromyalgia, a disease in which nine of ten cases are women. It is characterized by widespread muscle pain and increased pain sensitivity, often combined with fatigue, reduced physical capacity and limitation of activities in daily life. About half of the women in the study (67) were selected at random to undergo a program of person-centered, progressive resistance exercise led by a physical therapist. The other 63 women comprised the control group and underwent a more traditional therapy program with relaxation exercises. The training and exercises lasted for fifteen weeks and were held twice a week. "The women who did resistance exercise began at very light weights, which were determined individually for each participant because they have highly varying levels of strength. We began at 40 percent of the max and then remained that level for three to four weeks before increasing to 60 percent," explains Anette Larsson. More than six of ten women were able to reach a level of exercise at 80 percent of their maximum strength. One of the ten was at 60 percent; the others were below that figure. Five individuals chose to stop the training due to increased pain. The group as a whole had 71 percent attendance at the exercise sessions. "On a group level, the improvements were significant for essentially everything we measured. The women felt better, gained muscle strength, had less pain, better pain tolerance, better health-related quality of life and less limitation of activities. Some of the women did not manage the exercise and became worse, which is also an important part of the findings," says Anette Larsson. In the control group, the improvements were not as significant, but even there, hand and arm strength improved. The relaxation exercises probably led to reduced muscle tension in the arms and shoulders, which in turn allowed the participants to develop more strength. The findings for the women in the resistance exercise group are affected by several factors, including the degree of pain and fear of movement before and during the exercise period. Progress for the group as a whole can largely be attributed to the person-centered approach, with individually adjusted exercises and loads and support of a physical therapist, according to Anette Larsson. "An interview study we conducted shows clearly that the women need support to be able to choose the right exercises and the right loads; they also need help when pain increases. This requires, quite simply, support from someone who knows their disease, preferably a physical therapist." Title: Muscle strength and resistance exercise in women with fibromyalgia -- a person-centred approach; http://hdl.handle.net/2077/55397 Featherwing beetles are smaller than the period at the end of this sentence. They get their name from the feathery fringe on their wings that enables them to catch the air and float like dandelion seeds. And, it turns out, they go way back -- scientists discovered a 99-million-year-old featherwing beetle preserved in amber, and they named it "Jason." "This tiny beetle lived during the Cretaceous Period, it saw actual dinosaurs," says Shuhei Yamamoto, a researcher at the Field Museum in Chicago and co-lead author of a paper describing the beetle in Cretaceous Research. "The amber the beetle was found in is like a time capsule." The new beetle, the earliest member of its family to get a scientific name, is called Kekveus jason. "Jason" is a reference to the Greek hero who sailed the world in search of the Golden Fleece; "Kekveus," meanwhile, doesn't mean anything -- co-lead author Vasily Grebennikov of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, picked it because new genus names for little-known fossils often wind up changing when the species is later reclassified as scientists learn more about it. "From my perspective I always believe that an animal name should not have any meaning (except when named after a person), since if the authors are wrong, it might be odd to have later species 'chinensis' endemic to Europe, or something similarly absurd," says Grebennikov. Yamamoto discovered the tiny sailing insect by poring over pieces of amber. Amber is made from fossilized resin, a sap-like substance produced by plants. When prehistoric insects got trapped in resin, their bodies would get incorporated into the amber that formed -- think the mosquitos from Jurassic Park, minus the "resurrecting dinosaurs" part. When Yamamoto spotted a tiny black speck in the amber, he was cautiously optimistic that he'd found a prehistoric insect. "I didn't have much confidence at first, but after cutting and polishing the amber so I could get a better look, I realized, oh, this is truly an amazing fossil," he says. The beetle is only 0.536 millimeters long -- it's dwarfed by the tip of a mechanical pencil. But under a microscope, Yamamoto was able to glean details of its anatomy that revealed it as a different species and genus from living featherwing beetles. For instance, it has three grooves running like pinstripes up its body, a feature not found on its modern cousins. Overall, though, the researchers found that K. jason has a lot in common with featherwings alive today, meaning that the family of beetles evolved features like a tiny body size and fringed wings millions of years ago. According to Yamamoto, amber fossils yield a level of preservation rarely found in regular rock, especially for insects. "There are many rock fossils from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, but they're limited to big animals like larger insects, mammals, dinosaurs, and birds, because small insects cannot be preserved in rock fossil very clearly. Only fossil insects in amber are preserved in fine detail, in three dimensions," says Yamamoto. Yamamoto looks forward to further discoveries of prehistoric animals preserved in amber. "It's likely that we'll find more in the future -- Burmese amber is one of the hottest fossils in the world," he says. "There are so many great findings happening, literally day by day. Many important discoveries of insects will be made." This item is available in full to subscribers. Attention subscribers We have recently launched a new and improved website. To continue reading, you will need to either log into your subscriber account, or purchase a new subscription. If you are a digital subscriber with an active subscription, then you already have an account here. Just reset your password if you've not yet logged in to your account on this new site. If you are a current print subscriber, you can set up a free website account by clicking here. Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing. Gabriel Metcalf, the president and CEO of the San Francisco urban think tank SPUR, is stepping down at the end of the year to lead a similar public policy organization in Sydney. Metcalf, who has worked at SPUR for 21 years and served as its head for 13 years, said he was drawn to the opportunity to live in a new, foreign city while his children are still school-age. This is a deeply personal decision for me, fulfilling a dream that my wife and I have had of living abroad with our sons, Jonah and Orion, Metcalf said in a letter to SPURs 6,000 members. We are adding a new chapter to the story of our family. During his tenure, Metcalf, who was the fourth employee at the organization, helped transform SPUR into a regional planning powerhouse with 40 employees. Its annual budget grew from $2 million to $7.5 million. It expanded from a San Francisco organization to a regional group with offices in San Jose and Oakland. It turned its membership newsletter into a full-fledged magazine called the Urbanist. The SPUR Urban Center on Mission Street, which was the pet project of Metcalfs predecessor, Jim Chappell, opened and became a gathering place for students, architects and transportation planners. It has an exhibition space, a cafe and a busy schedule of forums, panels and lectures. Metcalf said his proudest accomplishment at SPUR has been influencing urban policy. What stands out to me is how much we have changed the way people think about housing, transportation, climate adaptation, economic inclusion and so many other issues, he said. In Sydney, Metcalf will helm the Committee for Sydney, which he said works to promote forward-looking urban policy in Australias largest city. 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. SPUR Deputy Director Alicia John-Baptiste will be interim CEO. Board chair Tomiquia Moss has appointed a search committee. I believe SPUR is essential for the future of the Bay Area, and I am confident that it will go on to do even bigger things, Metcalf said. J.K. Dineen is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jdineen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfjkdineen A man faces a felony animal cruelty charge for allegedly beating a four-month-old puppy to death last year in San Francisco, officials said Wednesday. Mark Allen Haberman was arrested nearly six months after Skunky, a female puppy, was found dead Nov. 28 on the 1100 block of Laguna St., according to San Francisco Animal Care & Control. Now Playing: We broke down San Francisco crime data by neighborhood based on 2017 data. Video: Ted Andersen / SFGATE The puppy died from blunt force trauma to the top of her skull, officials said. Blood samples taken from items found in Habermans home allegedly matched Skunkys blood. Haberman may face jail time or fines if convicted of felony animal cruelty. ALSO READ: Friends worry chopped up body is missing SF woman after roommate arrested Were pleased that our diligent work led to an arrest in this horrific case, said Virginia Donohue, director of San Francisco Animal Care & Control. Animal abusers need to be held accountable for their actions. San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon said in a statement that people who abuse animals will be held responsible for their actions. 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. How we treat animals is a reflection of who we are as a society, he said. Lauren Hernandez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: lauren.hernandez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @LaurenPorFavor Mark Leno and his supporters remained cautiously optimistic Wednesday about his chances of becoming San Franciscos next mayor, as he maintained the slimmest of leads. After trailing Supervisor London Breed by 10 points most of Tuesday evening, Leno pulled ahead of his chief rival in the early hours of Wednesday morning, following the last update of preliminary voting results from the citys Department of Elections. After the ranked-choice votes were sorted, Leno had 50.42 percent to Breeds 49.58 percent. It was the way we wanted to go home for the night, Leno said. On Wednesday, the preliminary results remained largely unchanged. With 4,654 more ballots counted, Lenos lead shrank by 25 votes to 1,121 and his percentage to 50.40 versus Breeds 49.60. There are still many votes to count, and such a small lead could easily evaporate. It is absolutely too close to call, said Jason McDaniel, an associate professor of political science at San Francisco State University. Just who will take over the citys top job wont be known for several more days or possibly weeks given the mountain of about 85,000 ballots that still need to be assessed. Those include mail-in ballots delivered to the elections department on Tuesday and Wednesday, plus vote-by-mail ballots dropped off at polling places on election day. There are also an estimated 14,000 provisional ballots to be processed. And contrary to initial predictions, said John Arntz, the elections department director, voter turnout would reach around 50 percent. Those are numbers you see at a presidential election, Arntz said. You dont see those types of numbers for a June primary election. But until the remaining votes are processed and subjected to the ranked-choice sorting, no winner can be declared. Until then, Leno and Breed will be glued to the Department of Elections daily updates, which will include the latest ranked-choice tabulations. The reports will arrive at 4 p.m. each day, including over the weekend. Third-place candidate Kim, however, may have less reason to see possibilities in the updates. She was eliminated in the last two rounds of preliminary results, and her second-place votes were distributed to Leno and Breed. In a statement Kim, who had endorsed Leno as her second-place selection on the citys ranked-choice ballot, all but conceded the race Wednesday. While there are ballots left to count, I am excited for a Mayor Mark Leno administration, Kim said on Facebook Wednesday. Even though she was trailing after the ranked-choice votes were tallied, Breed was buoyed by an abundance of first-place votes, which she said was emblematic of her push to earn the vote of all San Franciscans. In a statement Wednesday, Breed said, We earned the first choice of the most voters, and we appear to have won nine out of 11 districts, a reflection of our campaigns citywide message. Like everyone else, I am closely watching the returns as they come in. Ill have more to say when the results become official, she said. At a brief news conference Wednesday afternoon, Breed was asked whether she, like some of her supporters, thought the ranked-choice system was unfair, considering she was behind in the preliminary results despite leading in first-choice votes. This is the system were working with, and so I think thats a discussion we can have at a later time, Breed said. But this is the (system) were dealing with as it relates to this race. So for now, were stuck with it. . 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. McDaniel said that if the uncounted ballots reflect the already processed vote-by-mail ballots, then I expect Breed could overtake Lenos current tally. Lenos camp is hoping the uncounted ballots reflect those that came in on election day: younger, more progressive voters who tend to submit their ballots later. London Breed is clearly the first choice among a plurality of voters, but what were learning again is that in the end, ranked choice will matter most in this election, said John Whitehurst, a Democratic political strategist who isnt involved in any of the mayoral campaigns. Less than a month before election day, Kim and Leno encouraged each others supporters to list the other as their second-place choice, appearing on campaign fliers and political advertisements together. The strategy paid off for Leno, who received a whopping 77 percent of Kims second-place votes in the first round of ranked choice counting, more than the campaign had been expecting. After the ranked-choice votes were counted, Leno had picked up 25,231 votes from Kim, while Breed picked up 7,576 votes. Right now, it looks very likely that Mark Leno will be elected San Franciscos next mayor, Kim said in a statement Wednesday. Out of respect for the ballots still being counted and received, we will wait for a final announcement, but should these returns hold true, I look forward to working with his administration and Ive called him and congratulated him on these early results. Dominic Fracassa is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dfracassa@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dominicfracassa Facebook has entered into negotiations with the San Mateo County Transit District to improve the Dumbarton corridor, a critical connection point between the companys bayfront headquarters in Menlo Park and cities on the east edge of the bay such as Fremont and Newark. The project could include renovating a defunct rail bridge over the bay, built in 1910, that parallels the existing, congested bridge for cars and trucks. The negotiating agreement, approved Wednesday by the transit districts board, will allow Facebook and a public infrastructure investor, Plenary Group USA, to begin working on a plan to improve the corridor. The transit district, known as SamTrans, said rail line improvements from the Peninsula to Newark including fixing the old bridge would cost slightly less than $1 billion. Funding could come from public and private investment, according to a SamTrans report, though it did not specify the breakdown. A rail line across the water would help fast-growing Facebook recruit employees who live in Newark, Fremont and other East Bay communities but may be intimidated by the current jam on the Dumbarton road bridge. The rebuilt line could connect into the existing rail network. The project could also include bicycle and pedestrian facilities as well as enhanced bus service, the report said. Russell Yip / San Francisco Chronicle 1994 The Dumbarton Rail Bridge stopped operating in the 1980s, and SamTrans bought it and some nearby areas in 1994. But Facebook is the first group, public or private, thats shown interest since then in helping fund a reintroduction of rail, the report said. The company contributed $1 million two years ago to a study on area traffic improvements in partnership with SamTrans. Members of the SamTrans board said the public-private partnership could set an example for how to address congestion across the region. Im just really thrilled and excited to do this here in San Mateo County and take the lead on something like this, Rose Guilbault, a SamTrans board member, said at Wednesdays board meeting. John Tenanes, Facebooks vice president of global facilities and real estate, said in a written statement that the Dumbarton corridor was one of many projects we are looking at to ease congestion in the Bay Area. The company wants to reopen the Dumbarton rail bridge, he said, but its still early days and we need to understand the environmental impact of the proposal. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes Traffic has gotten worse across the Peninsula recently as priced-out employees commute long distances to get to work. Some cities are considering a new tax that would raise substantial sums from large companies like Google and Apple to fund transportation improvements. Facebook wants to build a new campus called Willow Village in Menlo Park, which would eventually bring its staff to 35,000 people roughly the citys current population. Ray Mueller, Menlo Parks mayor pro tem, welcomed Facebooks interest in reviving the Dumbarton corridor. Its exactly the type of progress we need here in Menlo Park in order to make the type of development they are contemplating work, he said. Even as it hopes to move forward with the mammoth Menlo Park project, Facebook is also expanding rapidly across the Bay Area. It recently snapped up more than 1 million square feet of space in Sunnyvale, opened an office for its Instagram subsidiary at 181 Fremont in San Francisco, and leased all the office space in a 43-story office tower in San Francisco. Wendy Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: wlee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @thewendylee The Tesla Model X that slammed into a Bay Area freeway divider in March while operating under the companys semiautonomous Autopilot system accelerated in the final seconds before the fatal crash, according to preliminary findings from federal investigators. The report issued Thursday by the National Transportation Safety Board mostly confirms information previously released by the government and Tesla concerning the March 23 crash that killed Apple engineer Walter Huang, while adding new details about the final seconds before impact. The crash, which tore the electric sport utility vehicle in half, was one of several this spring that raised questions about the safety of self-driving technology. The report does not assess responsibility for the crash, a step that will come later in the investigation. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has at times angrily defended Autopilot in the months since the crash, saying the system greatly improves safety, and the company has argued that it could have happened only if Huang had not been paying attention. Huangs family has blamed Tesla for the crash, calling Autopilot defective, and threatened to sue. Since Autopilot premiered in 2015, drivers have occasionally complained of unexpected swerves and lane changes. According to investigators, Huang had engaged Autopilot four times during the course of his 32-minute trip, with the system running uninterrupted for nearly 20 minutes before the crash. The system had been set to maintain 75 mph, although Autopilot adjusts speed to match the flow of traffic when surrounded by other cars. Data from the SUVs computer showed that in the trips last 20 minutes, the car gave Huang two visual reminders and one audible prompt to keep his hands on the steering wheel. In the final minute before the crash, the Model X detected his hands on the wheel on three occasions, for about 34 seconds. His hands did not appear to be touching the wheel during the last six seconds. The vehicle, which was following another in the carpool lane of Highway 101 in Mountain View, had been traveling about 65 mph as it approached the intersection with Highway 85. Seven seconds before impact, according to the report, it started steering to the left. With a car no longer in front of it, the Model X accelerated. It struck a concrete divider that separates the 101 carpool lane from an entrance ramp for Highway 85. Although the divider had an attenuator, a device designed to lessen the severity of head-on crashes by crumpling upon impact, the attenuator had been damaged 11 days earlier by another accident. Huangs Model X smashed into the divider at 70.8 mph, without braking or maneuvering to avoid the collision. Drivers who stopped to help found Huang belted into his seat and pulled him out before a fire in the vehicles lithium-ion battery pack engulfed the Model X. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died. The Mountain View Fire Department, meanwhile, poured 200 gallons of water and foam on the SUV to extinguish the fire. The battery pack reignited five days later at an impound lot in San Mateo, forcing firefighters to extinguish flames from the SUV a second time. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes Tesla declined to comment on the preliminary findings Thursday other than referring to a March 30 company blog post concerning the crash. Attorney Mark Fong, who represents Huangs family, said the report showed that the vehicles automated steering and braking systems both failed. The Autopilot system should never have caused this to happen, said Fong, of the Minami Tamaki law firm. The investigation has strained relations between the NTSB and Tesla. After a tense evening phone call in April between Musk and the boards chairman, the NTSB announced that it had kicked Tesla off the investigation for releasing information about the crash without approval. Tesla insisted that it made the decision to withdraw from the investigation on its own and accused the board of violating its own rules. David R. Baker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dbaker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @DavidBakerSF Alex Strangelove, writer-director Craig Johnsons fourth feature, a raucous teen comedy with a sexually confused teenage boy at its center, might not exist except for a Mika concert Johnson attended about 10 years ago. The filmmaker, then in his early 30s, was on the older end of the British pop stars audience. He noticed something: He was surrounded by teenagers and saw gay couples holding hands, evidently open in their sexuality, with each other, among their friends, and in public. I was just like, Wow, high school is a different place. You can come out in high school, Johnson says in conversation during a visit to San Francisco for the world premiere of Alex Strangelove at the SFFilm Festival. I just immediately thought of my own backstory and thought of how confused I was and how I had girlfriends, says Johnson, now long past teenage confusion and married to food blogger Adam Roberts. At the time, Johnsons 2009 first feature True Adolescents, starring Mark Duplass as a burned-out rocker who chaperones two teens on a camping trip, was not yet out. His 2014 Sundance award-winning breakthrough second film The Skeleton Twins, with Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig as reunited dysfunctional siblings, was not even a blip on the horizon. He knew getting financing for a movie like Alex Strangelove would present a challenge doing it his way would mean hiring a very young cast of new faces with unfamiliar names. But he had been thinking about telling a story of sexual confusion for a while. More Information Alex Strangelove: Premieres Friday, June 8 , on Netflix. See More Collapse What if we did it as a kind of classic high school movie, Johnson recalled thinking, and more specifically embraced the high school sex comedy, making it kind of rowdy? Give it party high jinks and give him a group of straight friends, so we can invite all teenagers to the party, says Johnson. This movie is my teens and a lot of my 20s crammed into one kids senior year of sexual confusion. My journey was much more prolonged, he adds. Johnson grew up in the 1980s, a fan of teen comedies, the films of John Hughes in particular. His affectionate fandom even makes its way into Alex Strangelove in its evocation of the first of Hughes Molly Ringwald trilogy, Sixteen Candles. But instead of looking at adolescence through a young womans eyes, Johnson tells his story through the experiences of 17-year-old Alex Truelove (Daniel Doheny) who thinks he has found his true love in classmate Claire (Madeleine Weinstein). But in their senior year, after years of dating, Alex is still a virgin and not because Claire is unwilling. As much as wed like to think of kids as these raunchy little sex machines who are always talking about it, because they do in the movies they do in this movie I think its hard to talk about sex with your high school girlfriend or boyfriend, Johnson says. For Doheny, 26 when Johnson shot the movie, a scene in which Alex and his friends go to a drama party evoked his own high school experience. The theater kids in the movie are dressed up as Cabaret characters. Unbeknownst to Johnson, Doheny had played an Alan Cumming-like emcee in his own high schools production of the play. The screenplay for the movie also had to evolve along with the culture. Gay marriage was not legal when Johnson started writing. Gender identity was not talked about as much. He remembers that in his early drafts, Alexs friends were most definitely not woke. Just this new generation swooping in, it suddenly made the movie richer, says Johnson. In modern high school, its OK to experiment. If you want to try bisexuality, because youre not sure, thats OK. But that doesnt necessarily make dating in high school any easier. In fact, it kind of makes it harder. Pam Grady is a San Francisco freelance writer. Renewing its attack on Californias sanctuary laws, the Trump administration has told a federal judge that the state is interfering illegally in immigration enforcement by penalizing employers who allow federal agents to enter their workplaces. California has no authority to penalize employers who voluntarily cooperate with federal officials, Justice Department lawyers said in a filing Wednesday in federal court in Sacramento in support of their lawsuit against the state. The suit, filed in March, seeks to overturn three new state laws that limit immigration officers access to local jails and private workplaces and to information about immigrants in custody or at work. A judge has scheduled a hearing for June 20 on the Trump administrations request to halt enforcement of the laws and the states motion to dismiss the suit. Wednesdays filing sharpened the governments attack on one of the laws, AB450 by Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, which seeks to prevent workplace raids by federal agents looking for undocumented immigrants. The law requires agents to get a judicial warrant before entering a workplace, fines employers who allow agents to enter without a warrant, and requires employers to notify their workers before immigration officers examine their records. The state, in its court filings, said AB450 is meant to make the workplace a safer environment (and) protect employee privacy and is within Californias legal authority to regulate the workplace. But Trump administration lawyers said federal law allows immigration officers to enter private property with the property owners consent. The Constitution does not allow California to impede federal law enforcement by penalizing employers who allow immigration agents into their workplaces, the Justice Department argued. They also said the requirement of advance notice to employees of plans to inspect workers records is just as illegal as requiring warning to criminal suspects that the FBI is looking for them. Pratheepan Gulasekaram, an immigration law professor at Santa Clara University, said AB450 is a novel type of law and the Justice Department may be able to overturn the laws penalties for employers who cooperate with federal agents. He said the state is on stronger ground in requiring employers to notify employees of upcoming records inspections, because such federal enforcement and advance notification is perfectly legal to do in an open society. Another new state law, AB103, allows the California attorney generals office to inspect private jails that have federal contracts to hold immigrants facing deportation hearings. The Justice Department argued that the state has no authority to inspect those facilities or any other aspect of federal immigration enforcement. The filing also challenged the most far-reaching new law, SB54. It prohibits local law enforcement agencies from holding immigrants in custody after their scheduled release date, from notifying federal agents of an immigrants scheduled release date, from providing agents with personal information about detainees, and from granting federal agents access to local jails. Those prohibitions do not apply to detainees held on serious charges and also do not prevent local authorities from choosing to release information to the public, an exception that has prompted some county sheriffs to disclose immigrants impending release dates online. 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. Justice Department lawyers argued, however, that any restrictions on disclosure of an undocumented immigrants release date or status in local custody violate a federal law that prohibits states from interfering with the exchange of information about any individuals citizenship or immigration status. SB54 seeks to undermine the system that Congress designed, which presumes that the United States will be made aware of the release date of aliens in local custody, government lawyers said. Gulasekaram was skeptical. California is not preventing local officials from sharing information about anyones immigration status, he said, and the Justice Departments argument would stretch the (federal) statute beyond its text. Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko Jeff Chiu / Associated Press In San Francisco, four Superior Court judges who faced challenges from four public defenders won their re-election bids, a victory for the concept of judicial independence from the whims of politics. But voters demanded change in Santa Clara County. Aaron Persky, the Superior Court judge who sparked national outrage two years ago for giving a lenient sentence to a Stanford student who sexually assaulted an unconscious young woman, was recalled from his office , the first such ouster in 86 years in California . Jana Asenbrennerova / Special to The Chronicle As San Franciscans are discovering, the system sometimes called instant runoff is an oxymoron. They are also finding in this mayoral election that its theories of elevating turnout and producing more positive, issue-oriented campaigns are not playing out in reality. But that is the system city voters adopted in 2004, and until it is changed, candidates and voters need to live with it, even if many of the latter are still confused by it. Strategists for Mark Leno and Jane Kim understood it deftly, which is why Leno is currently in the lead to succeed the late Mayor Ed Lee even though he finished about 10 percentage points behind London Breed in first-place votes. Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press It could be said of this years edition of Californias top-two primary that rarely has so much been made by so many of so little. Particularly in key congressional races, the results failed to justify prophecies that Democrats would dice up the vote and be prevented from challenging vulnerable Republicans in November. Likewise, obscure Republicans proved competitive with prominent Democrats in contests for governor and U.S. Senate. That should temper hand-wringing about the primary, which advances the top two candidates regardless of party. Particularly in lopsided districts and races, top-two can more closely reflect voters will and test entrenched incumbents. Most of its critics are mourning the loss of an unearned advantage for the major parties. Californias energy future is at a crossroads. The state is both a renewable energy powerhouse and a major producer and consumer of fossil fuels. Californias leaders must decide if the state will provide a model for the nation by replacing its fossil fuels with renewable energy to avoid climate disaster, or stay hooked on dirty energy. Gov. Jerry Brown has tried to have it both ways. Despite preaching about climate change as our greatest challenge, he has supported fracking and a cap-and-trade system that allows the oil-and-gas industry to pay to continue business as usual, rather than reduce its pollution at the source. Brown has allowed the dangerous Aliso Canyon gas storage facility to remain open, even after it had the worst blowout in our nations history and still springs leaks. Now, California faces its biggest test yet over whether it will truly advance to become a renewably powered economy. The Legislature is considering legislation, including Assembly Bill 813, to turn over the management of the California energy grid to an unelected regional board that would govern a single energy market across the Western United States. The regional board would replace Californias Independent System Operator and would ultimately answer to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, now under the Trump administration. This move could result in a severe setback to Californias renewable energy future. A regional board comprising largely out-of-state interests could load the grid with fracked gas and coal produced by Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico and Colorado. Trumps FERC, which is unabashedly pro-fossil fuel, would have the final say and has already imposed its agenda on other regional systems in the country. Regionalizing Californias grid would increase speculation and raise energy bills for Californians. The proposal would transfer the California-based market for buying and selling electricity to a Western interstate market. While speculation in a financial instrument pegged to electric transmission is already costing Californians more than $700 million, the problem could grow worse in a Western market with even less oversight. The plan is similar to the electricity deregulation of the 1990s that allowed corporations such as Enron to treat Californias energy system like a casino, which resulted in Californians being overcharged and blackouts caused by manipulation. Deregulation, which allowed private utilities to separate transmission and power production, has also resulted in California ratepayers paying billions of dollars for unnecessary gas-fired power plants, and profits for energy speculators. The NRG corporations announcement that it plans to close three gas-fired power plants on the Southern California coast shows that state regulators allowed the industry to build more power plants than were needed. Meanwhile, California leads the country in solar production but has to give away solar power to neighboring states because our grid has too much natural gas a problem that a Western grid would prolong and worsen. The Legislature is being heavily lobbied by many of the same special interests that supported deregulation in the 1990s, including out-of-state utilities and the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental organization that supports markets and energy trading. Instead of approving risky market schemes, California should instead lead the nation by example to a 100 percent renewable future. Cities including San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego are taking steps to lead by example. A new report commissioned by Food & Water Watch shows that Los Angeles can power its electric grid entirely on clean, renewable energy by 2030. This plan would emphasize energy efficiency, increased storage and smart management of the grid, and would cost ratepayers about the same as staying on fossil fuels. The benefits of such a transition would be enormous, as closing power plants, gas fields and other fossil-fuel facilities would free nearby residents of respiratory problems, nausea, headaches, rashes and nosebleeds caused by emissions. Californias choice is stark: The state will either give up control of its grid and energy future jeopardizing public health, clean air, clean water and the climate or California will control its destiny and lead the nation to a transition to clean, renewable energy. The Legislature must not repeat the mistakes of the past. Wenonah Hauter is executive director of the national advocacy organization Food & Water Watch. Congratulations, San Francisco, for passing the nations first ban on the sale of candy-flavored vaping products. The evidence is clear that such e-cigarettes are an outrageously brazen ploy to snare the next generation into nicotine addiction. I am appalled that the No on Proposition E campaign was almost entirely funded by my familys R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. It outspent the Yes on Prop. E campaign many times over. This was a David versus Goliath battle, Big Tobacco against health advocates. San Franciscans are looking out for our kids, not protecting tobacco profits. The City by the Bay has stepped in to do what the ineffective U.S. Food and Drug Administration should have done when e-cigarettes and candy flavorings first appeared. While the FDA banned candy-flavored tobacco cigarettes in 2009, e-cigarettes were not included. Why is San Franciscos measure so important? Incredibly, the FDA just gave the e-cigarette makers an additional four years of inaction. This will allow them to go on unimpeded until 2022, and to continue luring kids to try their addictive products with flavors like grape, gummy bear and cotton candy. I struggle to understand why. From 2011 to 2016, vaping among our nations youth increased drastically, from 1.5 percent to 11.3 percent. Today, far more kids are vaping than smoking (11.3 percent vs. 8 percent). In fact, many teens who would never try regular cigarettes are using e-cigarettes without any awareness that they could trigger a lifetime addiction to nicotine. This is a public health epidemic among Americas youth. Ominously, a new study found that 63 percent of young Juul vapers (the newest craze) did not even know the product contains nicotine. Research by UC San Francisco shows that many kids who vape are likely to go on to smoke traditional cigarettes a year later. Banning flavored vaping liquids then also helps keep children away from cigarettes. In the 1980s, it was our municipalities that led the way by passing the first smoking bans. The cities had the courage to go where state legislatures and Congress feared to tread. Now other cities are sure to follow, and eventually, legislatures will pass statewide bans of flavored tobacco and e-cigarettes, much like what happened with our smoking bans. It began with the cities. Big Tobacco is fearful of that, because it sees vaping products as the future. Thats why the industry poured more than $12 million into defeating Prop. E. Its time to stop another generation from getting hooked on nicotine. We cant wait years for the FDA to act. True, we dont have the science in yet about e-cigarettes, beyond the many carcinogens and nicotine they contain; it takes 20 to 30 years, on average, to get the diseases smoking causes. So we might not have reliable health data for decades. But as I like to say when I speak at middle and high schools, vaping might be like jumping out of the fifth story instead of the 10th story. For those who dont believe in regulation, the facts on vaping provide a compelling argument against that oversimplified ideology, which leads to poor government. San Franciscans made the right choice, and stood up to lead the rest of our nation. Now other cities will ban flavored vaping products as well. Patrick Reynolds is the executive director of the Foundation for a Smokefree America. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors must rename the Julius Kahn Playground because we cannot bury our own history by overlooking who we choose to honor in our public spaces. The fervent advocacy of many community groups and individuals to rename this park has brought to light a history of San Francisco that many people would not have known. For 61 years, the federal Chinese Exclusion Act barred Chinese laborers from entering the United States and further imposed debilitating immigration requirements on those of Chinese descent. In 1902, U.S. Rep. Julius Kahn of San Francisco introduced the bill to make the act permanent. On the House floor, he advocated for the racial exclusion of Chinese from entering the United States because of unsubstantiated fears that we Chinese threatened the economy and brought vices to the country. He further fought to exclude other Asians from entering the United States for similar reasons. He was a key San Francisco leader who promoted racism, bigotry and exclusion. I am proud to be part of the effort to rename the playground, because I am the descendant of a paper son. To deal with the Chinese Exclusion Act, which tore apart families, many Chinese immigrants such as my father came into the United States under other peoples names. My father lived in fear of being deported for years until he gained citizenship when I was a teenager. Symbols matter. Our parks and open spaces are meant to be welcoming and for use by all to enjoy, regardless of race, religion or gender. Though Kahn lived more than 100 years ago, the ideas and rhetoric he espoused still ring familiar today. Why should we repeat history when we have recognized there was a wrong? The people that we choose to celebrate and recognize in our public parks should reflect our values. Kahns immigration policies did not espouse the values that San Francisco stands for today: respect for diversity, tolerance, and the appreciation of the contributions of our immigrant communities. I am proud to be part of this effort to remove a racist legacy from one of our citys playgrounds. This is a chance to ask: Who do we want to represent us for generations to come? Norman Yee is a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Upcoming political events in the Bay Area. THURSDAY Medea Benjamin on Iran: Code Pink and Global Exchange co-founder on Inside Iran: The Real History and Politics of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Benefit for KPFA-FM. $12 in advance, $15 at the door. 7:30 p.m., Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St., Berkeley. More information is here. SATURDAY Wiener town hall: State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, hosts a town hall meeting. 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Presidio Community YMCA, 1151 Gorgas Ave., San Francisco. RSVP and more information here. World Naked Bike Ride: Event focus es on the need to promote renewable energy and move away from big oil. 11 a.m.-5 p.m., starts at Ferry Building Plaza in San Francisco. More information is here. SUNDAY Elections elsewhere: How can we in S.F. influence the Nov. 2018 election in other other parts of the country? Panel discussion with Jodi Reid, executive director of California Alliance for Retired Americans, and Ann Merrill of Swing Left San Francisco. 9:30-11 a.m., Unitarian Universalist Center, 1187 Franklin St., MLK Jr. Room. Whats next for Iran?: Paul George, executive director of the Peninsula Peace and Justice Center in Palo Alto, gives a talk on Trump Nukes the Iran Accord: What Happens Next? 7-9 p.m., Unitarian Universalists of San Mateo, 300 E. Santa Inez Ave., San Mateo. More information is here. WEDNESDAY Doomsday Clock: Rachel Bronson, president of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, asks, Can we turn back the Doomsday Clock? The groups clock, an indication of how close it believes the world is to nuclear war, is now set at two minutes to midnight. Tickets are $10 and less. Noon-1 p.m. at the Commonwealth Club, 110 Embarcadero, San Francisco. More information is here. JUNE 14 Election debriefing: An evening with consultants who ran San Francisco campaigns in the recent election. $5-$10. 6-8 p.m., 540 Howard St., San Francisco. More information is here. George Marshall and China: A look at the year after World War II when Gen. George Marshall was in China, trying to help the country build a democracy. Speaker will be Daniel Kurtz-Phelan, executive editor of Foreign Affairs. $7-$20. 6:30-8 p.m., World Affairs Council, 320 Sutter St., Suite 200. More information is here. JUNE 18 Womens political leadership: A forum on Power and Parity: Womens Political Leadership. Speakers include state Controller Betty Yee, state Democratic Party Womens Caucus chair Christine Pelosi and Debbie Mesloh, president of San Francisco Commission on the Status of Women. 6:30-8 p.m., Cambria Gallery, 1045 Bryant St., San Francisco. More information is here. JUNE 19 Youth leaders: Young Bay Area activists describe their strategies to try to change policies and attract support in a Commonwealth Club event. Tickets $0-$10. 6:30-7:30 p.m., 110 Embarcadero, San Francisco. More information is here. JUNE 20 World Refugee Day: The nonprofit 1951 Coffee hosts an event with art, activities and refreshments provided by people who have come to the U.S. through the refugee resettlement program. 6-9 p.m., 2410 Channing Way, Berkeley. More information is here. Cannabis growers: Updates for cannabis growers on proposed San Francisco tax legislation and cannabis commission, and on labor law. $0-$20. 6-8:30 p.m., 1190 Bryant St., San Francisco. More information is here. JUNE 22-24 Pink Triangle: Volunteers needed to put together the Pink Triangle on Twin Peaks for Pride Weekend. Outline is installed from 1:30-5:30 p.m. Friday. Installation ceremonies begin at 7 a.m. Saturday, with installation itself starting at 10 a.m. Take-down from 4:30-8 p.m. Sunday. More information is here. JUNE 23 Supervisor candidate forum: Candidates in San Francisco District 10 Theo Ellington, Tony Kelly and Shamann Walton appear in a forum. 10-11:30 a.m., 1275 Minnesota St., San Francisco. More information is here. JUNE 26 Politics and soccer: How is soccer connected to global politics and what can we learn from this year's World Cup (being held in Russia)? World Affairs Council discussion with Martha Saavedra, associate director at the Center for African Studies at UC Berkeley and an expert in the relationship between sport and development. $7-$20. 6:30-8 p.m., 312 Sutter St., Suite 200, San Francisco. More information is here. To list an event, email tbyrne@sfchronicle.com Gavin Newsom and John Cox will be the ones on the Nov. 6 ballot for California governor, but the race is shaping up to be largely about someone else President Trump. Newsom mentioned Trump twice in his victory speech Tuesday, which was two more times than he invoked the name of his Republican opponent in the general election though he did allude to Cox as a foot soldier in Trumps army. It was meant to be derisive, but Cox would probably embrace it especially after Trumps tweeted endorsement helped the San Diego-area businessman separate from the field late in the primary campaign and win the second spot in the top-two election going away. In his victory speech Tuesday night, Cox talked up Trump. He said the president didnt cause Californias housing affordability crisis that was the Democrats, Cox said and that unlike Newsom, Trump was trying to protect Americans from undocumented immigrant gang members. Newsom has a fixation on Trump, said Cox campaign manager Tim Rosales, that makes it sound like Gavin is more interested in running for president. ... John is more interested in running for governor of California. As for Trump, he sent his congratulations to Cox in a tweet that took much of the credit for Tuesdays outcome. Gregory Bull / Associated Press Congratulations to John Cox on a really big number in California. He can win, Trump tweeted Wednesday. Even Fake News CNN said the Trump impact was really big, much bigger than they ever thought possible. So much for the big Blue Wave, it may be a big Red Wave. Working hard! Aside from his connection to the president, Coxs strategy to beat Newsom rests on blaming the two-term lieutenant governor and his fellow Democrats for making a colossal mess of this once-golden state. To Cox, Democrats own the fact that 1 in 5 Californians lives in poverty, that the homelessness crisis has spread into rural areas, and that many parts of the state have become so unaffordable that residents are moving out. Hes had eight years to offer some solutions and be a leader on these things, and he hasnt advanced the cause, Rosales said. Its time for a different approach. Newsom agreed with Cox on one thing that homelessness and affordability are major problems. Anybody who wants to criticize the status quo is correct. Its unacceptable, Newsom said Wednesday during a campaign stop at San Franciscos Ferry Building. The next governor needs to tackle it, and we actually have a plan to tackle it. Coxs team is counting on more Republican voters and perhaps a few working-class Democrats coming to the polls in November to support a ballot measure to repeal Californias 12-cent-a-gallon gas tax increase, which is paying for road and transit improvements. Voter resentment of the tax hike got Democratic state Sen. Josh Newman recalled in his Orange County district Tuesday. And Cox strategists think the states conservative base and perhaps some suburban Republicans will rally around his opposition to Californias sanctuary state policy another position championed by Trump. Top Newsom strategist Ace Smith said issues like sanctuary state and the gas tax wont bring Cox enough support in a state where Republicans are outnumbered not only by Democrats but by voters who state no party preference. And Smith is not impressed with the Democrats own this mess strategy. Hes seen it before. You know who else tried that exact same strategy? Neel Kashkari, Smith said, referring to Gov. Jerry Browns GOP opponent in 2014. Like Cox, Kashkari was a businessman who had never held public office. Brown beat him by 20 points. Cox has problems of his own for starters, not many voters know who he is. More than half of likely voters surveyed for a Berkeley IGS Poll last month had not formed an opinion of Cox perhaps not surprising, given that he didnt move to California until 2011. More grim news for Cox: He doesnt yet have the cash on hand to introduce himself to voters. Cox had $124,017 in the bank roughly one-tenth as much as Newsom as of May 19, the most recent deadline for campaign finance disclosures. Cox has already invested nearly $5 million of his own money into the race. Rosales said the attorney and real estate investor is ready to open his wallet again. John will do what it takes to be successful to run a race to get that message out, Rosales said Wednesday. Rosales conceded that Coxs network is certainly not as large as Gavin Newsoms, but I expect us to have the resources to get our message out. Im not worried about it. Then again, money doesnt necessarily buy victory. Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman spent $144 million of her own money on her 2010 gubernatorial campaign, only to lose by 10 points to Brown. You can pour tens of millions into a campaign, and voters are picking a person a human being, said Darry Sragow, a former Democratic strategist who publishes the nonpartisan California Target Book, which analyzes state races. All the money in the world isnt going to sell a candidate who the voters are not buying. Coxs other challenge involves the duality of Trumps endorsement. While Trumps backing may have helped Cox make it into a one-on-one matchup against Newsom, polls consistently show that two-thirds of California voters disapprove of the president. Newsom tweeted a challenge to Trump on Wednesday to campaign in California for Cox as much as possible. Asked whether he would welcome that, Cox campaign manager Rosales said, Hes the president of the United States. He can go wherever he wants. Hes done a lot of things nationally like the tax cut that have been tremendous for a lot of people, and we would like to see that extended here, west of the Sierras. Newsom would love Trump to visit California, too but for a different reason. If he wants to spend time here, he should. I think it would be very good, Newsom said. It would be good for the (Democrats in) down-ballot races as well. I dont imagine a lot of those Republicans in swing (House) districts would be looking forward to Donald Trump coming out here. Newsom promised Wednesday to debate Cox one-on-one multiple times during the campaign. Then Newsom offered another suggestion. Bring Donald Trump to the debate, Newsom said. Id look forward to it. Joe Garofoli is The San Francisco Chronicles senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli The idea was shrewd: Chip away at an unfair criminal justice system by starting at the county level, electing district attorneys who would hold police accountable and put fewer minorities in jail. But the effort by Black Lives Matter and other social justice groups with help from a few left-leaning billionaires mostly sputtered in California. As ballots rolled in Tuesday night, progressive challengers for the top prosecutors seat stumbled in Alameda, Sacramento and San Diego counties. In Contra Costa, the liberal incumbent is still short of getting the majority vote she needed to avoid a run-off in November. Many factors may have caused these losses, experts say. Tuesdays election drew a low turnout, meaning most voters were probably older and more conservative the kind who would tend to elect a tough-on-crime district attorney. And in most of these contests, the nominal moderates were women, who are typically hard to paint as heavy-handed law enforcers. Above all, it seems that the rhetoric about reducing mass incarceration got a chilly reception. The few people who are paying attention to district attorney races just want someone competent to run the office. Its just so rare for incumbent district attorneys to face any challenges at all, said Stanford University Law Professor Robert Weisberg. The fact that theyve been held to account in some of these races is really a remarkable change. The district attorney contest in Alameda County became a fierce battle between two Democrats, which at times forced incumbent Nancy OMalley to play defense. The challenger, civil rights attorney Pamela Price, drew contributions from philanthropists including billionaire George Soros and Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of the Apple co-founder and founder of Emerson Collective, which advocates for causes ranging from the environment to social justice. Price promised to hold police accountable for wrongdoing, but also made controversial pledges to be lenient on misdemeanors and to take a defendants race into consideration when determining who to prosecute. OMalley, by contrast, tailored her messages for the Me Too movement, highlighting her work with victims of domestic violence and sex trafficking. Supporters said that Soros and the activists backing Price intervened in the wrong race, and wasted their time trying to take down a liberal incumbent. On election night, OMalley won handily, with nearly 60 percent of the vote, compared with Prices 40 percent. Kyle Barry, senior legal counsel for the nonprofit Justice Collaborative Engagement Project, a group that presses for fairer sentences and other reforms and does not endorse candidates, said he suspects that some of Prices remarks were largely misconstrued, and that the criticisms about them were unfair. I think she rightfully pointed out that the district attorney has a tremendous amount of power to eliminate racial disparities and systemic racial bias, Barry said. In Sacramento, District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert managed to fend off a challenge from Noah Phillips, who said he would promote alternatives to prison, protect immigrants from deportation and build trust between police officers and residents. His campaign gained support in March after the highly contentious slaying of Stephon Clark, an unarmed black man who was shot in his grandmothers backyard by Sacramento police. Phillips tapped into the outcry over that shooting, emphasizing racial equality in his campaign speeches. He criticized Schubert for not doing enough to address racial bias in law enforcement. Phillips momentum flagged after another seismic event in April, when Sacramento investigators broke open the decades-old case of a serial killer and rapist known as the Golden State Killer. The detectives mined genealogical websites to find their suspect, a novel strategy that quickly became the focus of Schuberts television campaign ads, which described her as a groundbreaking DNA expert. She beat Phillips by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, claiming 65 percent of the vote to his 34 percent. To retired Santa Clara Superior Court Judge LaDoris Cordell, the election night routs show that more work lies ahead for the movement started by Black Lives Matter and supporters of former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, among others. Unless the incumbent has done something egregious, maybe its not enough to just say, We want different people, in office, Cordell said. She noted that the ill-fated district attorney races coincide with another unsuccessful bid to change the justice system in San Francisco: Four public defenders tried to unseat Republican-appointed Superior Court judges. All four lost. Barry saw the election results differently. Just having competitive races in the first place was a victory, he said. I dont think anyone expected to have wholesale change overnight in California, he added. Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan This is Chronicle restaurant critic Michael Bauers Between Meals column, an update of the restaurants he visits as he searches for the next Top 100 Restaurants. His main dining reviews, which include a ratings box, are written only after three or more visits. As I was perusing the OpenTable website recently, I noticed the 4.8 rating for Terzo, a neighborhood restaurant in Cow Hollow. A restaurant that can maintain such a high rating after more than 1,200 reviews is rightfully dubbed a neighborhood gem. The restaurant opened a dozen years ago with a Mediterranean small-plates menu masterminded by Mark Gordon, and a stylish interior designed by Cass Calder Smith. At that time tablecloths were being shed in favor of bare wood. Someone at Terzo came up with a brilliant solution to keep the cloth and add the feel of wood: Both ends of each table have a slit near the edge designed to accommodate a beige fabric runner. Over the years, and with all the new openings in the region, the restaurant fell off my radar. So after at least seven years since my last visit, I returned to understand why its continued to be a local favorite. Gordon is now chef emeritus, and the chef de cuisine, Miguel Tzab, has been bumped up to executive chef. But the menu retains its Mediterranean bent. The design, with its Edison light bulbs and bar-height communal table separating the dining room from the bar, still feels current. Michael Bauer / The Chronicle After serving only small plates its first year, the restaurant added larger ones to satisfy diners. Thats made for an interesting menu mix. The small dishes include lighter fare such as roast asparagus ($14), but also dishes that can stand in for a main course: A tender knob of Wagyu beef brisket ($16) with salsa verde, spaetzle and roasted carrots; grilled calamari ($14) with lentils; tomato braised pork meatballs on polenta ($13.50); and two hefty skewers of chicken ($14). The five large plates are particularly generous, especially the pork loin with whole-grain mustard butter ($28), sliced and fanned over mashed potatoes and spigariello (broccoli rabe). It has a satisfying, homey quality. Theres also a Moroccan-style braised chicken leg and thigh ($21) centered in basmati rice studded with sultanas, pistachios and fresh herbs. Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more. Tzab also offers an excellent linguine ($14/$22) with a tomato sauce with asparagus and peas. Desserts ($9.50) are also fully realized with combinations such as pistachio cake with peach preserves and whipped cream, and a strawberry shortcake with lemon curd and strawberries that would have been even better with more fruit. Its clear why Terzo continues to be a success: Its in a great location, offers solid seasonal food as well as many asked-for favorites, and reasonable prices. Its a restaurant that understands its neighborhood, as does its sister Italian restaurant across the street, Roses Cafe. 3011 Steiner St., San Francisco; 415-441-3200. www.terzosf.com. Dinner nightly. Michael Bauer is The San Francisco Chronicle restaurant critic and editor at large. Email: mbauer@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @michaelbauer1 Instagram: @michaelbauer1 When it was time for 3-year-old direct-to-consumer shoe brand Rothys to open a physical store, founders Roth Martin and Stephen Hawthornthwaite chose Fillmore Street in Pacific Heights. In what was once a beloved neighborhood shoe-repair shop, the founders tapped interior designer Steven Volpe to create a wood-paneled space that reflected the brands mantra of live seamlessly. Upholstered surfaces are covered in Rothys recycled and 3D-knit materials, and the walls are entirely magnetic making it easy to adjust wall displays (and fun to create an Instagram video-loop Boomerang). San Francisco was a logical jumping-off point for the digital native to make its analog debut, Martin says. The sustainability minded brands DNA, and its original customer base, is rooted here, for one, and the 600-square-foot space was a way for the brand to conduct consumer research, Hawthornthwaite adds and its important to get the recipe right before considering other markets. The companys biggest following is in New York the San Francisco customer has been a bit slower to adopt the fashion side of the brand but the densely populated, wealthy Bay Area customer base is made up of early adopters eager to experiment. Rothys is part of a groundswell of online retailers that are setting up permanent shops this spring and summer, many for the first time, in ways that render San Francisco a retail testing ground. Residents are not only unfazed by fresh ideas and lofty goals, but they actively seek them out with the pride that accompanies a told ya so early adopter whether its Asian food crazes, exotic spirits like Fernet-Branca, cult makeup brands or app-enabled transportation and services. Even Levis, Lyft and likes were once merely moonshots. Now that appetite for disruption has trickled down to the traditional retail experience. Mall rats fill in for lab rats, and guinea pigs and focus groups have been rebranded an engaged community. Even A/B testing has gone analog. Instead of changing a variable in a website to see which version performs best, a physical store might offer two experimental patterns to see which sells best before making it available globally. Bespoke Bespoke, a co-working space that opened in Westfield San Francisco Centre a couple of years ago, is perhaps the most literal interpretation of a retail testing ground. About 80 companies work in the space daily, including retail-tech startups, venture capitalists and innovation teams from larger brands. Global retailers often visit to be paired with technologists in the Bespoke network, says Bespoke director Judith Shahvar. Hemster, for example, is a tailoring startup that works with customers of mall stores that include Zara, Guess?, Express, Michael Kors and Kate Spade. The Bay Areas mentality of innovation and experimentation infuses into the work culture in the city at every level, Shahvar says. A culture of innovation, combined with a strong venture capital presence and talent pool of technologists, makes San Francisco an ideal place for retailers to evolve with neighboring technology companies. Plus, she adds, when it comes to beta tests, residents have exceedingly high expectations for a product or service. Rothys was the first apparel brand to host a pop-up at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, and is just one of many companies that first experimented with showrooms or pop-ups that have now manifested into more permanent locations, among them Allbirds, Modern Citizen, MM.LaFleur, American Giant and ModCloth. This month, ModCloth will open its first permanent California store. Called FitShop, the space on Fillmore Street was largely informed by a temporary concept that the San Francisco brand tested near Union Square in 2015 to coincide with the brands first line of ModCloth-branded apparel. (The company has since been acquired by Walmart.) Dorothy Edwards / The Chronicle Experimental features of the pop-up that made their way to the permanent store include a full range of sizes displayed together, up to 4X; the concept of a sample shop, in which the customer tries on clothes in real life (IRL) and then orders by mail; a selection of vintage clothes and accessories curated for the San Francisco market; and social shopping events. The demand for personalization high-tech, high-touch in this market allows retailers to test and trial various products, services and variations across a diverse audience that is vocal, expressive and discerning, says Elizabeth Cooksey, ModCloth vice president of retail and customer experience. One of the lessons of the 2015 pop-up was the array of occasions for which the customer shops, from dressing for work to weddings, in addition to a general sense of how much customers wanted to engage with the brand. San Francisco etailer Modern Citizen began a few years ago with temporary shops in Facebook, Sephora and Lyft offices, which founder Jessica C. Lee says allowed the brand to collect feedback and build relationships with a community of early adopters. After a short-lived storefront in Cow Hollow last year, Modern Citizen plans to return to Union Street to debut its first flagship store in the fall. New York womenswear brand MM.LaFleur has opened its first San Francisco showroom; its last collection introduced creative casual to serve the San Francisco woman, for whom what to wear in tech is such an interesting conundrum, says director of offline retail Rachel Mann. Founder Sarah LaFleur says that after 10 local pop-ups, shes found that Bay Area customers are more willing to take a chance on a brand they havent heard of. San Francisco is the companys third largest market, after New York and Washington, D.C., but because the real estate market is so competitive, it took three years to land the ideal location where the FiDi meets SoMa. Local luxury consignment site The RealReal also ran into the real estate issue. Chief Merchant Rati Levesque says the brand wanted to open a pop-up in both New York and San Francisco, but New York came first because they could find the right space faster. The RealReal opened its two-month space in Union Square in November. Levesque says that although the market sizes of the two cities are significantly different, the San Francisco iteration had revenues that were just as strong as New Yorks. (San Francisco preferred Gucci while New York clamored for Celine and Hermes Birkin bags.) More Information When retail gets a workout American Citizen: 165 Natoma St., S.F. Hint: at 2124 Union St., S.F. June. MM.LaFleur: 23 Grant Ave., S.F. ModCloth: 2033 Fillmore St., S.F. Modern Citizen: 2762 Octavia St. (temporary showroom). Rothy's: 2448 Fillmore St., S.F. See More Collapse Beloved basics etailer Everlane, too, experienced a delay in opening its San Francisco store after first putting down brick-and-mortar roots in New York. New York street-wear brand Supreme is still waiting to open a store in San Francisco, and finally found what it hopes will be a space on Market Street near Seventh Street, but its not set to open until next year, pending approval from the city. New York and San Francisco are often at the top of the list of retail openings, with San Francisco especially hospitable to newfangled ideas. Rent the Runway, for example, opened its first store-in-a-store in San Franciscos Neiman Marcus in December 2016. The space lets shoppers rent the type of clothes and accessories they would normally buy in the high-end department store. This spring, New York beauty company Glossier opened a temporary space in 40-year-old sandwich shop Rheas Cafe in the Mission District. Wed been wanting to come to San Francisco for a while its our third-largest market in the U.S. after New York and L.A. and realized early on how central food and homegrown institutions are to the culture, says Glossier head of retail and offline experiences Melanie Masarin. This sparked the idea to test an entirely new format. Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more. We felt that the consumer in S.F. would respond well to the wacky idea of selling beauty products and fried chicken side by side. Ultimately, the one-month experiment saw more than 20,000 visitors and allowed Rheas Cafe to stay in business, she says. ThredUp A year ago, local clothing consignment website ThredUp opened test smart stores in Walnut Creek and in San Marcos, Texas. The Bay Areas history with technical innovation and todays abundance of tech startups and disruptive retail brands makes San Francisco-area consumers particularly willing to engage with new and different experiences. R&D is a way of life here, says ThredUp head of retail Heather Craig. ThredUp has tested concepts such as immediate payout, which allows consumers to bring in clothes they want to sell and be compensated immediately. The brand closed the Texas store but now plans to open more locations in Burlingame, Los Gatos and Pleasanton, after retail tests in Walnut Creek blew San Marcos out of the water in terms of profitability and customer acquisition. Testing grounds arent limited to stores, or fashion. Bird, a San Monica scooter-rental service, recently landed here because of the citys heavy traffic and its goal to reduce carbon emissions. It also didnt hurt that transportation disrupters have become synonymous with San Francisco. And e-tailer Brandless has experimented with activations on the Berkeley campus and beyond that dont even sell product. And, of course, theres the desire to create something tangible that people will be compelled to share online, says Ross Bailey, who is the founder and chief executive officer of Appear Here, which matches companies with retail space to host pop-ups. Water company Hint, whose headquarters is on Union Street, has been gradually expanding its real estate footprint as the business has grown. This summer, the brand will open its first official store there. The plans include a water bar, where customers can saddle up to try flavors while learning about the brands ethos in a space that will be designed to look and feel like a beach oasis. Chief executive officer Kara Goldin anticipates it will be very Instagrammable. This could be the next iteration of retail, she says, comparing the experience she envisions being more akin to a winery. Its not about walking in to buy something or drink something but about experiencing What does the brand stand for? What is the energy that I get when I go into this company? For Hint, San Francisco was the only location that made sense for now. There was no better place to launch besides here, Goldin says, not only because its the home of our product but because it makes sense in peoples minds for quality, healthy products. We didnt think of launching anywhere else. Maghan McDowell is a San Francisco freelance writer. Email: style@sfchronicle.com. With voters passing Regional Measure 3, tolls on all seven state-owned bridges will go up by $3 over six years, not including the Golden Gate. The toll on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge is currently $6 at peak hours and $4 during non-peak. In 2019, it will increase to $7 at peak and $5 during non-peak; in 2020, it jumps to $8 and $6, and in 2025, to $9 and $7. Dead man in S.F. daylight shooting was a father of 3, June 6, Bay Area, D6 The story that started on D1 on the victim of a homicide misreported the location and status of George Washington Carver Elementary School. It is a block and a half from the site of the fatal shooting. The school was not searched during the aftermath of the incident. Californians have a casual, if not plain, way of speaking, and northerners are known for saying "hella" while southerners have a habit of placing "the" in front of highway references as in. In the south they take "the 5" to Santa Monica, while in the north we take "5" to LA. But do our language quirks go beyond local slang? Do San Franciscans have an accent? This question recently came up on the San Francisco Remembered Facebook page and 612 comments later, people are still engaged in a lively debate around the topic. Historians say San Franciscans once had an accent as thick and heavy as Brooklyn's but it has largely vanishedthough many in the thread argue natives still have a distinctive way of speaking that's noticeable to out-of-towners. "Whereja go-da school?" writes Carlo Guglielmino. "Howya gonna get-dare? I was bornina City and raised ina Sunset, Westwood Highlands and Sunnyside district. I've been asked many many times if I was from the East Coast. Nope, it's call a San Francisco accent." "I'm born and raised in SF, I run a lot of sounds together," shares Eleanor Nason Mannion. "I would like to think of it as being efficient with my vocal sounds, most of the time it is understood, but every once in awhile someone doesn't understand and I have to be careful to pronounce more clearly. Many offer guideposts to talking like a San Franciscan. "We talk hella fast and use hella metaphors too," chimes in Glenn Springston. "We don't say our Ts. Say Catfish Hunter out loud. You'll see what I mean," adds Chris Courtney. "All Santa names are sanna," Les Costello says. ALSO: Boomtime: What San Francisco looked like at the end of the Gold Rush A few in the thread argue the city doesn't have an accent, pointing to the typically clear speech of Californians as proof that we are the standard for the American accent. "There is no accent," writes Yarrow Lee Kubrin. "I was born and raised in SF. Californians do not do anything to the sounds of the words...no drawl or twang. This is not opinion. In California they used to not hire teachers who had accents because they did not want the children to get accents from other regions. Any accents are incidental, and not from this region." "I say our non accent is our accent," shared Minda Mac. San Francisco Chronicle columnist Carl Nolte says there once was a predominant San Francisco accent and lingo, and in 1984 he wrote a column detailing its characteristics. He says that speaking fast and running words together are the main components. They says "dontcha" instead of "don't you," and "Youra" instead of "You are." It's "Thecity," not "The City," and it's "Sampencisco," not "San Francisco." San Franciscans of a certain age also answer questions with "yeah," not "yes," they never refer to their city as "Frisco," and you go the "the show" to see movies. In an email to SFGATE, Nolte confirmed the dialect he described in 1984 is nearly extinct, writing it "has pretty much faded away with the passage of time." MORE: Ranch the size of SF goes up for sale in Northern California But many members of San Francisco Remembered recall the accent and say they continue to use and hear it. The group also brings up the accent's multifarious nature, pointing out the different ways immigrant groups and neighborhoods have adapted to speaking in the city. "Depended upon which neighborhood you came from," writes Lynn Wilson Bilotta. "My dad and Aunt grew up on Army Street - The Mission. They both sounded like they came from either Boston or Jersey. They used terms such as "dees and does" instead of "these and those". My dad said that he did not know he sounded uneducated until he enlisted in the army near the end of WWII." California Highway Patrol / A man who died early Wednesday in a car crash on Highway 101 near Healdsburg has been identified by the Sonoma County Sheriffs Office. Roger Lewis Evans, 36, from Ukiah, crashed an SUV into the back of a tractor-trailer around 2:15 a.m. in a construction zone on Highway 101, north of Dry Creek Rd, authorities said. Kitty Hawk has introduced Flyer, a personal flying vehicle, as well as a training facility to try it out. The company, backed by Alphabet CEO Larry Page, has pictures on its website and a few basics about the all-electric vehicles, but not details about price. It does say that the first riders flights would be about 10 feet off the ground at up to 20 mph, and would be limited to uncongested areas. D, as in Doh! What we might have at Uber is a failure to communicate, at least when it comes to a memo from CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Business Insider reported that Khosrowshahi encouraged employees to say that someone has the D here, in being the decision maker at a meeting. But the publication says that to some younger employees, it sounds an awful lot like getting the D, which is slang for having sex. Number of the day 10 percent Thats about how much shares of Tesla jumped Wednesday, a day after CEO Elon Musk reassured shareholders that the Palo Alto automaker is finally on schedule for producing the Model 3, which is expected to be key as the company tries to reach more middle-class buyers. C6 Daily Briefing is compiled from San Francisco Chronicle staff and news services. See more items and links at www.sfgate.com. Twitter: @techchronicle Facebook has data-sharing partnerships with at least four Chinese electronics companies, including a manufacturing giant that has a close relationship with Chinas government, the Menlo Park company said on Tuesday. The agreements, which date to at least 2010, gave private access to some user data to Huawei, a telecommunications equipment company that has been flagged by U.S. intelligence officials as a national security threat, as well as to Lenovo, Oppo and TCL. The four partnerships remain in effect, but Facebook officials said in an interview that the company would wind down the Huawei deal by the end of the week. Huawei said Wednesday it has never collected or stored Facebook user data. Facebook gave access to the Chinese device-makers along with other manufacturers including Amazon, Apple, BlackBerry and Samsung whose agreements were disclosed by the New York Times on Sunday. The deals were part of an effort to push more mobile users onto the social network starting in 2007, before stand-alone Facebook apps worked well on phones. The agreements allowed device-makers to offer some Facebook features, such as address books, like buttons and status updates. Facebook officials said the agreements with the Chinese companies allowed them access similar to what was offered to BlackBerry, which could retrieve detailed information on both device users and all of their friends including religious and political leanings, work and education history, and relationship status. Huawei used its private access to feed a social phone app that let users view messages and social media accounts in one place, according to the officials. Facebook representatives said the data shared with Huawei stayed on its phones, not the companys servers. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., who leads the Senate Commerce Committee, has demanded that Facebook provide Congress with details about its data partnerships. Facebook is learning hard lessons that meaningful transparency is a high standard to meet, Thune said. His committee also oversees the Federal Trade Commission, which is investigating Facebook to determine whether the companys data policies violate a 2011 consent decree with the commission. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., pointed out that concerns about Huawei were not new, citing a 2012 congressional report on the close relationships between the Chinese Communist Party and equipment makers like Huawei. I look forward to learning more about how Facebook ensured that information about their users was not sent to Chinese servers, said Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee. All Facebooks integrations with Huawei, Lenovo, Oppo and TCL were controlled from the get-go and Facebook approved everything that was built, said Francisco Varela, a Facebook vice president. Given the interest from Congress, we wanted to make clear that all the information from these integrations with Huawei was stored on the device, not on Huaweis servers. Banned in China since 2009, Facebook in recent years has quietly sought to re-establish itself there. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has tried to cultivate a relationship with China President Xi Jinping, and put in an appearance at one of the countrys top universities. Last year, Facebook released a photo-sharing app in China that was a near replica of its Moments app but did not put its name on it. And the company has worked on a tool that allowed targeted censorship, prompting some employees to quit. Still, Facebook has struggled to gain momentum, and in January an executive in charge of courting Chinas government left after spending three years on a charm campaign to get the social media service back in the country. Huawei, one of the largest smartphone manufacturers in the world, is a point of national pride for China and is at the vanguard of the countrys efforts to expand its influence abroad. The company was the recipient of billions of dollars in lines of credit from Chinas state-owned policy banks, helping to fuel its overseas expansion in Africa, Europe and Latin America. Its founder, Ren Zhengfei, is a former engineer in the Peoples Liberation Army. The U.S. government has long regarded the company with suspicion, and lawmakers have recommended that American carriers avoid buying the network gear it makes. In January, AT&T walked away from a deal to sell a new Huawei smartphone, the Mate 10. U.S. officials are investigating whether Huawei broke American trade controls by dealing with Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria. The Trump administration has taken aim at Huawei and its rival, ZTE, in recent weeks, and in April the Federal Communications Commission advanced a plan to bar federally subsidized telecom companies from using suppliers that are considered national security threats. Facebook has not entered into a data-sharing agreement with ZTE, officials at the social network said. TCL, a consumer electronics firm, has accused the Trump administration of bias against Chinese companies and last June dropped a bid to buy a San Diego company that makes routers and other hardware. Lenovo, a maker of computers and other devices, recently shelved ambitions to acquire BlackBerry after the Canadian government signaled that such a deal could compromise national security. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Michael LaForgia and Gabriel J.X. Dance are New York Times writers. For 10 years, Ralph Peters regularly appeared on Fox News to offer military analysis and insight as one of the cable networks reliably conservative commenters. But he quit in March in disgust. Peters, who announced his departure in a blistering farewell note to his colleagues, followed up on Wednesday with another searing attack, saying that the network was doing a great, grave disservice to our country. The retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army spoke on CNN in his first television interview since his departure. With the rise of Donald Trump, Fox did become a destructive propaganda machine, Peters said. And I dont do propaganda for anyone. For the decade he worked there, Peters said he believed that Fox News was a necessary and legitimate conservative bulwark in the news media and an outlet for libertarian opinions. But under President Donald Trump, the network shifted rightward, he said. Its popular prime time hosts, particularly Sean Hannity, started to echo Trumps debunked theories of a deep state undermining his administration. They joined the president in steadily attacking the Justice Department, the FBI and other democratic institutions, Peters said. I suspect Sean Hannity really believes it, he said. The others are smarter. They know what theyre doing. Its bewildering to me. I mean, I wanted to just cry out and say: How can you do this? How can you lie to our country?' On Thursday morning, Alisyn Camerota, a former Fox News anchor who now works at CNN, said that Peters remarks mirrored her own experience at the network. I too was upset about the blurring of the lines between propaganda and journalism, Camerota said after a clip of his remarks was played. I dont know whether the viewers know the difference between the prime time hosts and the great reporters there. Fox News said Thursday that it stood by its statement from when Peters departed in March. Ralph Peters is entitled to his opinion despite the fact that hes choosing to use it as a weapon in order to gain attention, the network said then. We are extremely proud of our top-rated primetime hosts and all of our opinion programing. News and Trump enjoy a symbiotic relationship. He is a loyal viewer of its morning program Fox & Friends, often tweeting about what the hosts discuss and sometimes calling in for lengthy interviews. At night, a lineup of opinion shows offers a friendly space for Trump supporters. The friendliest might be Hannity, whose host is also an influential Trump confidant. Hannity, as well as reporters and anchors from the networks news division, are traveling to Singapore for Trumps June 12 summit meeting with North Koreas leader, Kim Jong Un. Hannity will be broadcast live for three nights in Singapore, the network said. This article originally appeared in The New York Times. Showing an aggressive approach to the multibillion-dollar problem of wage theft in California, state investigators have cited seven Bay Area restaurants for more than $10 million in stolen wages. The Division of Labor Standards Enforcement said Thursday that it cited the restaurants for wage violations. Half of the $10 million comes from wages allegedly stolen from 133 workers at a single restaurant, Kome Japanese Seafood Buffet in Daly City. The allegations of wage violations include failure to pay minimum wage and overtime, as well as illegal accounting for tips, the state said. Wage theft, worker advocates and state officials say, affects vulnerable populations and is a drag on the states economy. Restaurant owners and lawyers representing them, meanwhile, say that record keeping and compliance with a variety of laws is a challenge, particularly for small operators. David Leung, an owner of Kome, denies the claims against his restaurant, and said he plans to appeal the citation. Servers are liars, they always want more, they want more money, Leung told The Chronicle. Leung said his staffs dissatisfaction began three years ago, when a new owner bought part of the restaurant. Leung would not name the new owner, but a statement of information filed by Leung in November 2016 shows a new corporate secretary, Bai Dong Zhang, and a new chief financial officer, Jun Zheng. The statement also lists Zheng and Yan Lu as directors of the company. The states complaint names Leung, Zhang and Zheng as among the restaurants owners. Julie Su, the California labor commissioner, said the yearlong investigation was part of the state enforcement divisions new strategy for dealing with wage theft. We are choosing to investigate employers who have made a business practice out of not paying workers correctly, Su said. Wage theft costs California workers up to $2 billion a year, a report from the Economic Policy Institute estimates. Recent citations issued by the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, which Su oversees, include a $7 million charge against six residential care facilities in Los Angeles and a $500,000 charge against a Los Angeles restaurant. The rest of the Bay Area citations were issued to a Burmese restaurant chain that operates six locations in San Francisco and on the Peninsula under the Rangoon Ruby and Burmese Ruby names. Su said the most recent investigation in the Bay Area shows how widespread wage theft is. According to the state, Kome owes 133 current and former employees about $5.16 million. All of the workers affected are immigrants, says Shaw San Liu, an organizer for the Chinese Progressive Association, a San Francisco nonprofit that helped workers organize and formally complain to Kome management. Su said the state could not comment about the workers immigration status because it did not ask them. Liu said the workers included Chiu Ping Tam, an immigrant from Hong Kong who spent six years working at Kome and had his tips taken from him; Yuan Ming Gong, who emigrated from Kaiping, China, and said he was terminated after taking an employer-approved vacation for his daughters wedding; and Chris Liu, who worked at Kome for eight years, first as a busboy and now as a server, and said he was paid below minimum wage and was not compensated for overtime. The workers could not be reached for comment. The problem with a number, even as large as $5 million, is that it does not capture the 130 people who have lost income, and lost the ability to sustain themselves, said Shaw San Liu of the Chinese Progressive Association. Its all too common, and all too often in the restaurant industry. Yelp reviewers note that Kome frequently adds a 15 percent service charge to bills. Their reviews note some disagreements with servers over whether the charge is a service fee or tip. Paula Weber, a partner in the San Francisco office of the Pillsbury law firm that specializes in employment law, says the confusion between service fees and tips is fairly difficult. Service charges are imposed by the employer and added to the amount of the bill. A tip is an amount left for the workers. Under California law, tips and service charges are treated differently. Tips cannot be pooled, or shared with kitchen workers who do not serve customers, while service charges can be distributed as an employer sees fit. A lot of employers add the service charge on so the back-of-the-house workers can also share in on the money, Weber said. Service charges distributed to workers are viewed by the Internal Revenue Service as wages. In some states, tips and service charges paid to employees can be deducted from minimum wages, but in California, they cant. Leung said his restaurant kept the service charge. Employees, however, say that the restaurant took tips and counted them against their minimum wages. We are collecting the service charge that all employers take, not the tip, which I have explained to employees, he said. Servers always want more, they always expect more, we never steal tips. The only thing theyre concerned is they think the service charge belongs to them. The state cited Kome for the illegal counting of tips received as part of the minimum hourly wage as well as failing to pay overtime and split-shift premiums. Natasha Mascarenhas is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: natasha.mascarenhas@sfchronicle.com The United States announced a deal Thursday to lift tough sanctions on Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE, a company that has been at the center of a dispute between China and the United States. The Commerce Department said that ZTE had agreed to pay a $1 billion fine and allow the United States to more closely inspect the company by effectively having a hand-picked compliance team embedded inside. It is not clear what the United States received in return. ZTE had been a bargaining chip in negotiations between the two countries, which have been striving to reach a trade deal that would prevent tit-for-tat tariffs from going into effect. But the companys fate has gotten caught up in a bigger web, including an upcoming summit between President Trump and North Koreas leader and the success of a U.S. telecom company, Qualcomm, which sells a large amount of semiconductors to ZTE and is awaiting Chinese approval of a deal to acquire a Dutch telecom firm that will help it build the next generation of wireless technology, known as 5G. Trump softened his approach to ZTE several weeks ago after Chinese President Xi Jinping asked Trump to consider easing penalties on the company, which was headed toward collapse after U.S. sanctions barred it from buying any U.S.-made goods. That request came at a sensitive diplomatic moment for Trump, who is heading to Singapore next week to meet with North Koreas leader, Kim Jung Un. Trump has made Xi his partner on North Korea while condemning Chinas trade practices. Trump has said the ZTE move is part of the larger trade deal we are negotiating with China and my personal relationship with President Xi. The settlement with ZTE is likely to inflame lawmakers, including top Republicans, who have objected to helping a Chinese company that has been accused of posing a national security threat. Defense officials have long been concerned that the companys products may be vulnerable to espionage or disruption. Major U.S. wireless carriers have for years been effectively blocked from buying its network equipment. Ana Swanson, Michael J. de la Merced and Prashant S. Rao are New York Times writers. A bumbling man broke into a Concord convenience store Sunday to steal nearly $5,000 in lottery tickets, authorities said. The Concord Police Department released surveillance video Wednesday on Facebook showing the man attempting to break into the store twiceonce unsuccessfully, seven months ago, when he ripped off the handle of the convenience store door and tumbled onto his backside before fleeing the scene. The second attempt, on Sunday, went somewhat better, but not without a couple other mishaps. Video footage shows the man threw a brick against the stores front entrance multiple times, and when that didnt work he lifted a ski mask to expose his face. He then began to kick a hole in the glass but was forced to stop and retrieve his shoe after it fell off in the process. The kicks continued until he managed to create a big enough hole and wiggle inside of the store. Police said he damaged an empty cash register before stealing $5,000 in lottery tickets. The suspect pictured wanted to increase his chances of winning the lottery, police said in a statement. Though the man was wearing a hood and mask over his face, he removed it while throwing the brick and it slipped off again after he made his way into the store, leaving his face visible throughout the burglary. Concord police are asking for help to identify the man. Anyone with information can contact Detective Tucker with the Concord Police Departments Financial Crimes Unit at 925-603-5828. Sophie Haigney is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sophie.haigney@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SophieHaigney Mel Weinberg, the con artist whose greatest hustle was the FBIs 1978-79 Abscam sting, using phony Arab sheikhs, a yacht in Florida and suitcases of money to snare a senator, six congressmen and other public officials for influence peddling, died on May 30 in a hospital near his home in Titusville, Fla. He was 93. His death was confirmed by his ex-wife, Evelyn Weinberg. A convicted swindler with a Runyonesque persona, Weinberg facing prison for fraud traded his criminal savvy for probation and became a principal orchestrator and actor in the two-year operation code-named Abscam. The operation videotaped politicians and others taking bribes from federal agents posing as oil-rich Arabs seeking favors on immigration problems and investment projects. The case was the most spectacular corruption scandal of its era. Breaking publicly in 1980, it spawned almost daily revelations of self-incriminating conversations and exchanges of cash in scenes played out aboard a 65-foot yacht a prize seized by customs agents in a drug bust and in airport motels, a Washington town house and hotel suites in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. With chartered jets, limousines and parties to lend verisimilitude, the government-run scam led to convictions and prison terms for Sen. Harrison A. Williams, D-N.J., as well as the mayor of Camden, N.J., and 17 others. It inspired a revision of guidelines in federal undercover cases and legal and ethical debates over whether the defendants had been unlawfully entrapped. It also led to the 2013 movie American Hustle, with a bulked-up Christian Bale playing the scandals central figure, Weinberg (named Irving Rosenfeld onscreen). Directed by David O. Russell and nominated for 10 Oscars, the film, which took many liberties with the case and its characters, was based loosely on The Sting Man (1981), a biography of Weinberg by Robert W. Greene. Weinbergs early life was a catalog of petty, sometimes bizarre, crime. He once sold 5,000 pairs of socks that had been manufactured with no soles. He peddled inferior glass to Italian-Americans by attaching made in Italy stickers. He tried to swindle Yaqui Indians in Mexico out of their gold-mining rights. He silenced a cousin, whom he had cheated, with a bogus threat of a mob contract killing. He later specialized in what he called advance fee dodges. For processing fees of $1,000 or more, he promised to arrange million-dollar loans from overseas banks for people with shaky credit. The loans were as bogus as the banks. He stalled anxious clients for as long as possible, but eventually had to acknowledge, with sad apologies but no refunds, that the loans had not been approved. When a guy is in a jam and lookin for money, its my philosophy to give hope, he told The New York Times Magazine in 1982. If you say you cant do nothin, youre killin his hope. Everybody has to have hope. Thats why most people dont turn us in to the cops. They keep hopin were for real. Weinberg was a wizard at crafting illusions. He called his firm London Investors and kept plush offices on Long Island, in Melville, to inspire confidence. He said he represented interests in Switzerland, England and the Middle East. He was the chairman, and his colleague, an Englishwoman who added a touch of class (played by Amy Adams in American Hustle), was actually a housemaid and his mistress. After decades as a scam artist, Weinberg was nabbed by federal authorities in 1977. In exchange for probation and a salary and bonuses that netted him a total of $150,000, he agreed to create and run a series of stings that began with the recovery of stolen art and shifted to political corruption, with chilling scenes of greed and bribery played for hidden cameras. Some politicians jumped at the chance to peddle their influence. Ill give you Atlantic City without me, you do nothing, Mayor Angelo J. Errichetti of Camden, who was also a state senator and a political power in southern New Jersey, bragged of his contacts to arrange a casino license for a $50,000 kickback. The appreciative sheikh gave him the money and a gleaming tribal dagger as a gift. Weinberg had bought the dagger at a flea market for $2.75. I got larceny in my blood Ill take it in a goddamn minute, Rep. John W. Jenrette Jr. of South Carolina said when asked if he would take money to introduce a bill to let a wealthy Arab immigrate to the United States. He demanded $150,000 but settled for $50,000. Money talks in this business, said Rep. Michael J. Myers of Philadelphia, who took $50,000 to arrange permanent residence for a sheikh who wanted to look after his investments in the United States. Im no Boy Scout, Rep. Raymond F. Lederer, also of Philadelphia, said when he accepted $50,000 to help a sheikh immigrate to escape trouble in his homeland. Williams, a champion of organized labor and social welfare, was Abscams biggest prize. He rejected a cash bribe. But five months later, he agreed to use his influence to obtain government contracts to buy the output of a Virginia titanium mine in which he had an 18 percent hidden interest. The sheikh, he was told, was willing to invest $100 million in the deal. Weinberg was a star witness at bribery-conspiracy trials in New York, Washington and Philadelphia in 1980 and 1981. Besides Williams, Errichetti, Jenrette, Myers and Lederer, the defendants included Reps. Frank Thompson of New Jersey, John Murphy of New York and Richard Kelly of Florida. All were Democrats except Kelly, a Republican. Videotaped evidence shown to jurors on large courtroom monitors was overwhelming. Defense lawyers said their clients were victims of government entrapment, tricked into self-incriminating acts, but had no intent to commit crimes. The claims were overruled, and the convicted men lost appeals. They resigned or were expelled from office. The Justice Department later revised its guidelines for undercover operations to avoid future controversies. Melvin Weinberg was born in the Bronx, N.Y., on Dec. 4, 1924, to Harry Weinberg and the former Helen Jordon. He had two sisters, Marilyn and Sylvia. He attended Public School 86, in the Kingsbridge Heights neighborhood, but dropped out of Samuel Gompers Industrial High School for Boys, now closed, in the Bronx in his first year. Weinberg joined the Navy in 1942 and was a Seabee in the Pacific in World War II. After the war, he went to work in his fathers store, which sold plate glass. He drummed up business by smashing or acid-staining nearby store windows. He married Mary OConnor in 1944. The marriage ended in divorce in 1962. In 1963, he married Cynthia Marie Regan. She committed suicide in 1982. He then married Evelyn Knight. They divorced in 1998. He is survived by a son from his second marriage, Melvin Jr.; a daughter from his first marriage, Debbie Hughes; and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Two other children from his first marriage, Richard Weinberg and Donna Wandel, died before him. Robert D. McFadden is a New York Times writer. / A female victim was fatally shot Thursday morning in Mission Terrace, San Francisco police confirmed Thursday afternoon. The victim was gunned down by an unknown male suspect just after 11 a.m. on the 4500 block of Mission Street, according to Officer Joseph Tomlinson, a San Francisco police spokesman. Alex Tweet, brewer and co-founder of Berkeleys Fieldwork Brewing Company, pleaded no contest to a felony assault charge on Thursday morning at the Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse in Oakland. An additional felony assault charge, stemming from the same incident, was dismissed. It is possible, though not necessarily likely, that Tweet's conviction could have larger implications for the five liquor licenses held by Fieldwork, which has been one of the fastest-growing and most critically acclaimed Bay Area breweries since launching in 2015. A sentencing date is scheduled for July 9. Both charges are related to a road rage incident that occurred on September 14, 2017. According to a police report, Tweet, 37, was driving in Albany when he nearly collided with another car at a stoplight. Tweet then allegedly tailed the car, and when that cars driver pulled over, Tweet exited his vehicle and engaged in a verbal argument with the occupants. The report says that Tweet then assaulted the passenger the drivers brother hitting him on the face approximately five to 10 times. The victim required stitches in two places. Tweet initially pleaded not guilty to the charge of assault on March 1. At the June 7 court appearance, however, he modified the plea to no contest. Fieldwork Brewing holds liquor licenses for each of its five taprooms in Berkeley, Napa, Monterey, San Mateo and Sacramento. Tweet is one of four officers on each of the licenses. Californias Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) has the ability to revoke or suspend licenses held by convicted felons. The ABC reviews each case on an individual basis, however. When asked for comment, an ABC representative said it is still reviewing all of the facts on this matter, and that at the present time the license is still active with no disciplinary history. Barry Braden, co-founder of Fieldwork Brewing, told The Chronicle that Fieldwork has no plans to dismiss Tweet at this time. We support him and have every confidence that he can get this behind him, Braden said. We always want him as part of our company. Alyssa Pereira is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at apereira@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @alyspereira. Antioch is aware of the criticisms. And it wants to address them. The East Bay city has decided to address its image problems head on, and has gone so far as to hire a consulting firm to help restore its reputation, according to KTVU. Beginning on Tuesday, the consulting firm, called Evviva Branding Agency, began surveying a few city residents to find out what they believe Antioch's best qualities are. The goal, they say, is to help Antioch home in on those to develop its own identity and marketing strategy. "Our job number one is to help the city get its swagger back," said Evviva's CEO, Dr. Dave Kippen. "People here want to point to the goodness in Antioch. It's a gorgeous place." RELATED: The coolest thing to do in each Bay Area city One resident on board: the city's mayor, Sean Wright. Wright says Antioch has actively been fighting its notoriety as a high-crime area, mainly by hiring more police officers who he says have cut the violent crime rate by 20 percent. As KPIX notes, the next step for Antioch is deciding on how it wants to present itself, whether that's as a riverfront getaway town or a suburb of the bustling Bay Area. RELATED: Bay Area things to do for fun off the beaten path As Kippen tells the network, this portion of the rebranding "is very much about the 'who am I' part of it." The campaign will begin rolling out in September. Alyssa Pereira is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at apereira@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @alyspereira. California Highway Patrol released video of an intricate rescue operation at Yosemite National Park. CHP said the 47-year-old man from Bozeman, Mont., "suffered major injuries" when he fell 200 feet while free climbing North Dome on May 4. The video shows the rescue occurred in several phases. First, the helicopter crew flew by where the hiker was reported at 6,500 feet to survey the area. Then, they picked up park search-and-rescue team members from the nearby Ahwahnee Meadow. ALSO READ: Pair breaks speed-climbing record on El Capitan Once back over the site, they lowered a park ranger and a paramedic to where the hiker was stuck on North Dome. The hiker was then strapped into a stretcher, hoisted back up to the helicopter, and flown to a waiting ambulance. As the rescued hiker swings alongside the flying chopper, a member of the rescue team asks, "Are you ok? It's just a short flight." Coincidentally, renowned Bay Area rock climber Hans Florine had to be rescued the same day at Yosemite. Florine broke several bones when he fall while climbing El Capitan and hit a ledge. Just a few weeks later, a hiker fell to his death while climbing the cabled section of Half Dome. It was the first death there since 2011. A week after that, another two hikers died while on the Freeblast route of El Capitan. READ MORE: 2 climbers dead after falling from Yosemite's El Capitan The video at the top of this story was edited for length. To see the full video from CHP Central Division Air Operations, go to their Facebook page. Read Alix Martichoux's latest stories and send her news tips at amartichoux@sfchronicle.com. Action Point Comedy starring Johnny Knoxville about a daredevil who runs a theme park with unsafe rides. Not reviewed. Rated R. 85 minutes. Adrift Shailene Woodley plays a woman adrift in the middle of the Pacific, in this dull survival story, interspersed with scenes of the womans lackluster romance with a fellow adventurer (Sam Claflin). Rated PG-13. 105 minutes.M.LaSalle Always at the Carlyle One of the most lovey-dovey movies about a hotel ever made, this out-of-touch documentary takes a potentially juicy subject a landmark of luxury that caters to celebrities and zillionaires and turns it into a 90-minute infomercial, with nary a revelation in sight. Rated PG-13. 92 minutes.D.Lewis American Animals Writer-director Bart Layton has made an interesting movie, a narrative feature with documentary elements, about an inept group of would-be thieves who join forces to steal a rare book from a college library. The movie is funny, but with an extra undertone of uneasiness, partly because we know its a true story. Rated R. 116 minutes.M.LaSalle Avengers: Infinity War Too many characters, too involved a plot, too much going on with little for the Avengers to show their personalities, this latest installment in the series has its moments, but its overstuffed and doesnt even come to a definite end. Its just the set-up for another equally bloated sequel. Rated PG-13. 149 minutes.M.LaSalle Beast This stylish psychodrama concerns a troubled Channel Island woman who has an affair with a suspected serial killer. The performances are solid, though the films tension wanes in the second half. Rated R. 107 minutes.D.Lewis Bernard and Huey Based on a long-unproduced script by satirical cartoonist and writer Jules Feiffer, this comedy-drama is a razor-edged depiction, jumping from college age to middle age, of two men who are die-hard womanizers and, arguably, misogynistic. There are good performances from David Koechner and Jim Rash, but theres a certain sketchiness about the movie. It may be most interesting as a preliminary study for Mike Nichols Carnal Knowledge (1971), which it resembles in many ways. Not rated. 90 minutes.W.Addiego Black Panther This Ryan Coogler film, about a young African king (Chadwick Boseman) with special powers, breaks the pattern of most Marvel superhero movies, with its leisurely opening, story-driven plotting and general aura of seriousness. Theres probably less action in this film than in any other recent Marvel movie, and the change is welcome. Rated PG-13. 134 minutes.M.LaSalle Book Club The presence of Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, Mary Steenburgen and Diane Keaton isnt enough to save this labored comedy, about a quartet of old friends who become inspired by Fifty Shades of Grey to spice up their sex lives. Rated PG-13. 104 minutes.M.LaSalle Breaking In This is an effective home invasion thriller about a woman, played by Gabrielle Union, fighting to protect her family from several maniacs. The movies only ambition is to make viewers enjoy being uneasy, and by that standard Breaking In could be called some kind of a good movie. Rated PG-13. 88 minutes.M.LaSalle Deadpool 2 The new Deadpool gets all its nastiness out of the way, concentrating instead on some genuinely funny comedy and a story about Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) actually trying to do something good save a young mutant from a time-traveling assassin (Josh Brolin) Rated R. 119 minutes.M.LaSalle The Death of Stalin Hilarious, but not in a laugh-out-loud way, this comic retelling of Stalins death and the ensuing power struggle is told from the standpoint of the Central Committee, with a fretting, befuddled Khrushchev (Steve Buscemi) going up against the ruthless, depraved Beria (Simon Russell Beale). Its a very original and successful comedy from director Armando Iannucci. Rated R. 106 minutes.M.LaSalle Disobedience Rachel Weisz stars as a New York woman who, on the occasion of her fathers funeral, returns to London and to the Orthodox Jewish circle in which she lived. Soon she is drawn into the lives of her old friends, particularly that of Rachel McAdams as the wife of a rabbi. Intelligent and sober, the movie gives way into a grand passion, in a brilliant English-language debut for Chilean director Sebastian Lelio (Gloria, A Fantastic Woman). Rated R. 114 minutes.M.LaSalle Filmworker This engaging documentary about Leon Vitali, Stanley Kubricks right-hand man, reveals as much about the reclusive film director as it does about the unsung hero who served at his beck and call. Not rated. 94 minutes.D.Lewis First Reformed Paul Schrader (the screenwriter of Taxi Driver and Raging Bull) has a career highlight in this film, which he wrote and directed, about a Protestant minister (Ethan Hawke) whose crisis of faith is amplified by his encounters with a troubled young couple. Rated R. 108 minutes.M.LaSalle The Guardians This Xavier Beauvois film joins the pantheon of great or near-great films he has made in the last dozen or so years, including Le Petit Lieutenant and Of Gods and Men. This tells the story of a mother and daughter (real-life mother and daughter Nathalie Baye and Laura Smet) trying to keep their farm together while the men are away fighting World War I. Iris Bry co-stars as an enigmatic farmhand. At the Vogue. Rated R. 138 minutes.M.LaSalle Hereditary Hypnotic and intense throughout, this brilliantly executed supernatural thriller taps into the ghosts within all of us the insidious roots of family dysfunction and turns them upside down and all around. The psychological fallout is just as disturbing as the apparitions that come chillingly to life. Rated R. 127 minutes.D.Lewis Hotel Artemis Written and directed by Drew Pearce, this is a highly original action film, tense but with comic elements, set in 2028, with Jodie Foster as a nurse specializing entirely in the treatment of wounded criminals. The hospital or hotel becomes the place where many colorful characters converge over the course of one particularly fraught night. Co-starring Sterling K. Brown, Sofia Boutella and Jeff Goldblum. Rated R. 93 minutes.M.LaSalle How to Talk to Girls at Parties John Cameron Mitchell wrote and directed this story about a musician, living in Britain during the peak period of punk rock, who falls in love with a visiting space alien (Elle Fanning). Though the film has about five good minutes re-creating the look and feel of the punk era, the movie falls flat, not funny as comedy, not compelling as romance and dead as drama. Rated R. 102 minutes.M.LaSalle A Kid Like Jake Well-intended but overwrought, this film about a little boy who likes dressing in skirts shows too little of the child and too much of his mother, played by Claire Danes in just-about-to-lose-it mode. The mother supports her son but gets edgy when anyone mentions his non-gender-conforming behavior. At its best, the film presents a child exploring activities that do not align with typical gender roles as natural and organic. Not rated. 92 minutes.C.Meyer Let the Sunshine In A brilliant observed and beautifully acted character study from director Claire Denis and actress Juliette Binoche, the film tells the story of an artist in her 50s, looking for a stable romantic relationship. Rated R. 94 minutes. In French with English subtitles.M.LaSalle Life of the Party Melissa McCarthys latest about a mother who attends the same college as her daughter, following a divorce has some big laughs, but its dragged down by an excessively sentimental treatment of the title character, played by McCarthy. Rated PG-13. 105 minutes.M.LaSalle Lives Well Lived This unapologetically sunny documentary gathers dozens of senior citizens for their insights about how to enjoy a long, happy life. The truth is, there are few insights here, but these folks are so endearing that it keeps the film humming along. Not rated. 72 minutes.D.Lewis Love & Bananas: An Elephant Story Actress Ashley Bells documentary on the plight of Asian elephants and one womans battle to save them, especially a 70-year-old partially blind elephant named Noi Na, is passionate, angering, heartwarming and ultimately uplifting. Not rated. 75 minutes.G.AllenJohnson Mary Shelley As starched British dramas about literary figures go, this biopic about the author of Frankenstein has its moments. But the movie doesnt illuminate the authors creative drive and ultimately doesnt tell us any more than what wed find in an encyclopedia entry. Still, Mary Shelleys world was interesting, and that alone carries the movie a fair distance. Rated PG-13. 120 minutes.M.LaSalle Mountain This Australian documentary by Jennifer Peedom (Sherpa) offers breathtaking footage of some of the worlds highest peaks and the daredevils who set out to conquer them. Its accompanied by a score performed by the Australian Chamber Orchestra, and narration (delivered by Willem Dafoe) thats sometimes overwrought. Not rated. 74 minutes.W.Addiego Oceans 8 This continuation of the Oceans series, with Sandra Bullock as Debbie Ocean, is a big shiny cubic zirconia of a movie. The film can be lots of fun with its well-cast female leads, patriarchy-breaking vibe and creative central heist. But there is something slightly off, partly in the pacing and also in the concept. Its a slightly diminished copy, not a bold new direction. Rated PG-13. 110 minutes.P.Hartlaub On Chesil Beach This is a thoroughly bizarre film, based on the book by Ian McEwen, about a young British couple, in 1962. Their courtship is told in flashback, as they proceed to have one of the most awkward wedding nights in history. There was room here for a great comedy, but this is the soberest of dramas. Starring Saoirse Ronan and Billy Howle. Rated R. 110 minutes.M.LaSalle Pope Francis: A Man of His Word A compelling documentary about this remarkable pontiff, who has riled some and enthralled others with his plainly and directly expressed views, including that the Roman Catholic Church should be a poor church for the poor. He has also spoken out on environmental issues. The film was directed by Wim Wenders. Rated PG. 96 minutes.W.Addiego A Quiet Place This is a new spin on sci-fi horror. Emily Blunt and John Krasinski are parents trying to protect themselves and their children from alien invaders that hunt by sound. So they have to remain very, very quiet at all times. Genuinely scary and original. Directed by Krasinski. Rated PG-13. 90 minutes.M.LaSalle RBG Even most people who are disposed to admire Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg are unfamiliar with her background and personal story. This documentary sets the record straight, positing Ginsburg as the Thurgood Marshall of feminist jurisprudence. Its an entertaining and uplifting documentary. Rated PG. 97 minutes.M.LaSalle The Rider Intense and elegaic, this is a character study of a young rodeo cowboy of Lakota heritage who has suffered a devastating accident he was trampled by a horse during a competition, and now has a steel plate in his head. He has been told his riding days are over. The film remarkably melds documentary and fictional elements the cowboy is portrayed by Brady Jandreau, who in real life suffered the same injuries. Jandreaus real-life father and sister are also in the movie, essentially playing themselves. The film was directed by the exceptionally gifted Chloe Zhao (Songs My Brothers Taught Me). Rated R. 104 minutes.W.Addiego The Seagull The soundtrack is intrusive and off and the cinematography is a bit unsettling, and something wrong about the town robs this Chekhov adaptation or cohesion. But its impossible to argue with the cast Annette Bening, Saoirse Ronan, Elisabeth Moss, Corey Stoll, Brian Dennehy. So this flawed Seagull will do until a better one comes along. Rated PG-13. 98 minutes.M.LaSalle Solo: A Star Wars Story This is about as close as one can get to a borderline case: If this were the first Star Wars movie, it would stand as a fairly mediocre sci-fi action movie when compared to recent films such as Thor: Ragnarok. But as part of a series, this origins story of Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) will satisfy. Co-stars Emilia Clarke and Woody Harrelson tip this into the plus column. Rated PG-13. 135 minutes.M.LaSalle Upgrade This mystery/body horror/thriller by Leigh Whannell has flaws in pacing and execution, and the vision of the future always seems about 45 percent complete. But theres a renegade spirit to the film, which revels in new ideas and crowd-pleasing moments. And in the scenes when the execution matches the ambition (and there are plenty), its an outstanding effort. Rated R. 95 minutes.P.Hartlaub The Valley Cliched, inept film about a first-generation Indian American entrepreneur with a Silicon Valley startup who investigates his college-aged daughters suicide. Message: Social media is driving us apart, not bringing us together. Rated R. 95 minutes.G.AllenJohnson Wont You Be My Neighbor? This enlightening and extremely moving documentary recounts how Fred Rogers, in creating Mister Rogers Neighborhood, provided an alternative to overbearing childrens TV with his gentle manner and abiding concern for the emotional lives of his pre-school viewers. Rated PG-13. 94 minutes.W.Addiego PROVIDENCE, R.I. Rhode Islanders feel slighted that Bostonians get all the glory for helping spark the American Revolution with the Boston Tea Party. After all, more than a year before any tea was tossed, Rhode Island colonists burned a British ship. Saturday is the 246th anniversary of the day a local ship captain lured the British schooner HMS Gaspee into shallow waters a few miles south of Providence, where it ran aground. A smaller model of a ship will be burned Sunday to commemorate the forgotten act of rebellion. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse often recounts the story of how colonists waited till night fell, rowed out to the stranded Gaspee, shot the ships captain and burned the boat. Its a cool story about an extraordinary act, said the Rhode Island Democrat. By comparison, he said, Massachusetts patriots mustered the courage to push tea off the deck of a British boat more than a year later. Its going to be a long, slow process to try to correct 240 years of the Massachusetts megaphone, but I think it is important to stick up for historic deeds that were done by Rhode Islanders, said Whitehouse, who spoke about the Gaspee Affair Monday on the Senate floor. Many Rhode Island residents feel similarly aggrieved. Historians say the affair reignited patriotic fervor at a time when it had cooled off, and emboldened Bostonians. The chief historian at the recently opened Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia believes Rhode Islanders have a legitimate point about its importance being overlooked. Theres a period where theres hope that maybe things could simmer down, but right in the middle of it, this Gaspee Affair happens, Philip Mead said. Its really a foreshadowing of what will happen with the Boston Tea Party, because both sides react very strongly to each other. The Gaspee was sent to Narragansett Bay in 1772 to enforce trade laws. The colonists were soon fed up with the Gaspee and its captain, Lt. William Dudingston, stopping ships and disrupting trade, especially after rum was seized from local merchant Jacob Greene, said Steven Park, who wrote a book about the affair. The Gaspee ran aground on June 9, 1772. Colonists in Providence heard the news and rowed out to it. Later, no one would tell King George III who set fire to the ship. The Sons of Liberty in Boston politicized the event to resist the British government, Park added. Jennifer McDermott is an Associated Press writer. Thousands of hours of work by law enforcement. Thirty search warrants. An undercover sting operation. The complex investigation led San Francisco authorities to a 19-year-old man, who was hit with 27 charges related to his alleged exploitation of a 17-year-old girl, including human trafficking, pimping and pandering of a minor, and drug charges. But the April arrest of Kriz Mike Nunez highlights just one case among hundreds of human trafficking incidents every year in San Francisco that the district attorneys office said are going unchecked in one of the nations largest hubs for such crimes. Human trafficking is continuing to grow in San Francisco, District Attorney George Gascon said at a news conference Thursday. These cases are impacting some of the most vulnerable members of our community, usually young women. Gascon said there were 500 human trafficking cases in San Francisco in 2015 and 40 percent of the victims were African American. But the district attorneys office, he argued, needs more money to aggressively go after human traffickers, and the offices Crime Strategies Unit, which helped crack the Nunez case, needs upward of $1 million more in annual funding. Unfortunately, were at a crisis moment in our city and we still do not have the resources to deal with the problem, Gascon said. While this case illustrates what can be done, the reality is its impossible for us to be able to do this on a regular basis. We do not have the resources to put in the thousands of hours that are required for a case like this. Mayor Mark Farrell has already submitted his proposed budget to the Board of Supervisors, which has the power to make adjustments before San Franciscos next mayor probably either Mark Leno or London Breed has to sign it at the end of July. Gascon said he hopes Thursdays news conference will persuade the Board of Supervisors to send more money his way. Gascon said he asked Farrell privately for money for his Crime Strategies Unit, but it was not included in the budget. In February, the district attorney similarly asked the mayors office for $1 million to fund an unrelated auto-burglary task force, which was also denied. I think its hypocritical for us as a city to have leaders saying that we care about human trafficking, that we care about the survivors, that we care about the victimization, and then turn around and not fund the work to be able to go after this problem, Gascon said. Farrell on Thursday said public safety has been his top priority as mayor and that his proposed two-year budget includes more than $34 million in public safety investments like more police officers. I am committed to funding measures that I know will be effective and productive for improving the public safety of everyone in this city, he said. Investigators said that in February, they were alerted to Nunezs alleged crime after members of the Crime Strategies Unit and the Police Departments Special Victims Unit set up an undercover sting though Backpage.com, an online classified site used by sex workers. The site was shut down in April. An undercover officer set up a liaison with a woman who appeared to be a minor and agreed to pay $260 for sex, officials said. The two met at a San Francisco hotel room, where police discovered the girl was 17 years old. Investigators said they learned the girl was being trafficked and began working to build a case against Nunez. On April 19, a team of officers from multiple agencies served warrants at a San Francisco home, where they arrested Nunez and seized drugs, money, cell phones, a gun and other items, prosecutors said. Nunezs attorney, though, said the accusations are bogus and his client is innocent. Based on what the prosecution presented us with, it does not appear to be a provable case, said private Oakland defense attorney Robert Beles. Theres no connection that hes responsible for the sexual activity of another person. Authorities believe Nunez trafficked other girls and asked anyone with information or other victims to come forward. Members of the community and victims can call the district attorneys office at 415-553-1674 or the Police Department at 415-575-4444. Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky A San Francisco sex worker beat her 78-year-old john with a hard object concealed in a sock inside his Financial District hotel room, and then took off after he escorted her down to the lobby, police said Thursday. The bizarre caper happened around 3 p.m. Monday when the unnamed victim invited the sex worker into his hotel room on the 200 block of Kearny Street, police said. SAN FRANCISCO In this deeply liberal California city, frustration over crises around housing and homelessness are bringing some on the left a little further right. At an upscale sushi restaurant, a few dozen members of the San Francisco Republican Party gathered Tuesday night to watch the election results. Most did not want to talk about state or national politics; they wanted to keep it local. The group largely supported the Republican candidate for governor, John H. Cox, whom President Donald Trump had endorsed and who won a place on the ballot along with Gavin Newsom, a Democrat and a former San Francisco mayor. But among the longtime Republicans were some newcomers, drawn to the right over frustration with the citys trifecta of very tangible crises: a large homeless population, record housing costs and a high rate of property crime. Were the most beautiful city no one ever wants to come back to, said Anna Coles, 36, a real estate agent who has lived in the city for 12 years. Coles has seen a surprising resurgence of conservative politics this year on Nextdoor, a website that creates private neighborhood-specific social networks. I mean I see people post these long diatribes about the petty crime and homelessness, Coles said. Folks are realizing they cant vote along party lines anymore. As San Francisco streets have grown dirtier, videos showing syringes scattered throughout downtown have gone viral. The citys hotels have urged the mayors office to solve the homelessness crisis, while the San Francisco Travel Association blamed the citys lower-than-expected tourist numbers in 2017 on the shock of seeing people living in tent communities on the streets. At the same time, new development is stalling. This troubling brew is pulling otherwise liberal residents into Republican politics, said Jason Clark, 37, the chairman of the San Francisco Republican Party who organized Tuesday nights event. People are starting to ask, Maybe we need a Rudy Giuliani?' Clark said, referring to the conservative former New York mayor who took a hard-line stand on crime during the 1990s. Democrats have held this city for six decades, and theyre running out of boogeymen to blame. Trumps name rarely came up, although the drink specials included Make SF Great Again (vodka, peach schnapps and orange juice). Drugs on the street were a recurring topic among voters. We talk about the opioid epidemic in flyover states, and we pretend what were dealing with isnt that, said Magan Biggs, 28, an account executive at a title insurance firm. And you can live on the outskirts of the city and pretend its not happening, but it is happening. Many in the group were involved in the real estate industry. Some suggested the nascent pro-development YIMBY movement (shorthand for Yes In My Backyard) could be a way for young, liberal voters to find themselves leaning toward more business-friendly policies and voting Republican. Go to the neighborhood association meetings, and it doesnt seem so liberal," said John Dennis, a real estate developer. The YIMBYs, some of those folks might be ready to change affiliation. Those trying to navigate the rental market felt the government had let them down by not building more in the city. Democrats have been in charge of San Francisco, and everything keeps getting more expensive, said Aidan OSullivan, 27, who works in advertising and identifies as a libertarian. But there are few viable local Republican candidates, and it remains to be seen if interest in more conservative politics translates into changes in how those in the city identify politically. The Republican candidate for mayor, Richie Greenberg, knew he was a long shot and using the R-word was riskier that running as an Independent. They think, Oh my God heres a Trump incarnate here in the city,' he said. But there is an awakening happening here among lifelong Democrats. Even if voters might agree with conservative candidates, said Edward Bate, 49, a real estate agent and San Francisco native, they would still have to contend with the poor local reputation of the party, which is further soured by national politics. Its hard because people dont want to identify as Republican, per se, he said. But then they look around. This article originally appeared in The New York Times. SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) Two people suffered life-threatening injuries in separate attacks in San Francisco Wednesday night and early this morning, police said. The first assault happened around 9 p.m. near Mission and 20th streets. There, a witness told police they saw a man punch another man during an argument. When the suspect punched the victim in the head, the victim lost consciousness. The suspect then ran, heading north on Mission Street. Responding officers were unable to locate him, according to police. The victim was taken to a hospital with a serious head injury. The victim and the suspect were both described as men in their 30s, police said. The second attack happened just before 3 a.m. today near Market and Seventh streets, according to police. A witness said that two men were arguing and one of them allegedly took a fighting stance and pulled out a knife. The suspect swung the knife at the victim numerous times, stabbing the victim in the torso. The suspect then fled, police said. The victim, a 35-year-old man, was taken to the hospital with a life-threatening stab wound to his abdomen. Police were unable to locate the suspect, described as a man in his mid 20s. Copyright 2018 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Roughly 49,000 pounds of illegal fireworks have been seized in the last two weeks from at least three locations in the East Bay and others throughout the state in preparation for July 4, Cal Fire officials announced today at a news conference in Sacramento. The seizures came as part of a months-long investigation that also led to the arrests of seven people allegedly affiliated with a large-scale illegal firework distribution network that's been operating for more than 30 years, according to Cal Fire. Search warrants were served in Oakland, Hayward and Walnut Creek, as well as Copperopolis, Modesto and Salida. They led to at least one hazardous materials situation when a bomb squad was called to the 700 block of 26th Street in Oakland on May 30 as part of the investigation. The agency says that in an average year, fireworks start about 18,500 fires including 1,300 structure fires and 300 vehicle fires. They're also responsible for three deaths, 40 injuries and $43 million in property damage annually. Cal Fire Chief Ken Pimlott said the state has zero tolerance for illegal fireworks. "With the increase in large, devastating fires across the state, we cannot stand by and allow this type of activity to occur, threatening not only property and natural resources, but the lives of the citizens we protect," Pimlott said in a statement. Copyright 2018 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. BERKELEY (BCN) Garbage truck horns blared, workers chanted, Aretha Franklin's "Respect" blasted and hundreds of city workers demonstrated for safer conditions and better pay outside Berkeley City Hall today. Billed as an opportunity for the city's maintenance and clerical employees to vote on whether to go on strike, the 12:30 p.m. downtown event was a combination picket line, rally and block party. The block of Milvia Street where City Hall is located was blocked off between Center Street and Allston Way. Before the event began, about six white city trucks rolled down the street, horns blasting. About 13 city parking enforcement vehicles parked up and down the block. "Make some noise!" Sandra Lewis, an accounting technician and clerical staff union leader, yelled to the crowd as she stood by the entrance to City Hall. Contract negotiations for Berkeley's maintenance and clerical employees have been going on for two months and are scheduled to end June 16, according to Carlos Rivera of the Service Employees International Union Local 1021. The three points of contention are health and safety processes, compensation and a community outreach program proposed by the union, according to Rivera. The approximately 1,500 members of the local include trash collectors, mechanics and parking enforcement officers. The union passed out burritos and bottled water today and members stepped up to a sidewalk table and voted on whether to strike. "It's health and safety. One of our own was killed," Jenny Seay, an accounting technician, said in an interview. Seay was referring to the death of 52-year-old Johnny Tolliver, a city of Berkeley sanitation worker who was killed when he was apparently pinned between a garbage truck and a utility pole while on his regular route in the Berkeley hills in 2016. The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health issued six citations after investigating the death. Initially, the agency imposed penalties of $98,805, but the city appealed and the penalty was reduced to $31,810, Frank Polizzi, a spokesman for Cal/OSHA, said in response to an inquiry. In response, Matthai Chakko, a city spokesman, said, "Safety of employees is paramount. The city has proposed additional safeguards that Zero Waste drivers are required to immediately report and cease driving any vehicle that may be unsafe until cleared by the mechanic staff." As Wednesday's event rolled along, workers walked a picket line outside City Hall, carrying signs including, "Support the union - a livable income in the most expensive state." Chakko said that the city "deeply values its employees," saying that Berkeley pays 100 percent of all medical premium costs based on the Kaiser premiums for employees and their families. Also, Chakko said, out of 11 comparable city and county agencies, SEIU 1021's clerical and maintenance members are in the top two of the highest compensated such workers. Out of the 11 agencies surveyed by the city, only Berkeley and Santa Clara County use the highest pension formula offered for employees, Chakko said. The spokesman said Berkeley is challenged with pension costs that "are expected to rise over the next five years to unsustainable levels." Chakko added that 74 percent of the city's general fund budget is dedicated "to funding employees who provide quality service to city of Berkeley residents." Pension and health care costs are rising by 2.27 percent, or $5 million, starting this July, in addition to increases currently being negotiated, he said. He also noted that there are currently more retirees receiving medical contributions than active employees. The city's retiree medical costs have seen double-digit increases in healthcare premiums over the past two years, he said. "The city is developing a plan to begin funding these costs to ensure that the employees' retiree medical program is sustainable," Chakko said. The deadline for voting on the strike is 5 p.m. today and the results should be known by Thursday afternoon, according to Rivera. Copyright 2018 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Bans on flavored tobacco products appeared to win big on Tuesday, with San Mateo County supervisors unanimously approving a ban and San Francisco voters apparently upholding a ban in that city. The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors at its Tuesday meeting approved prohibiting the sale or offer for sale of flavored tobacco products and prohibiting pharmacies from selling or offering tobacco for sale, a top aide to the board's president confirmed today. "Flavored tobacco is a thinly veiled enticement to addict young people to tobacco and a real public health threat," Dave Pine, president of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, said in response to an email inquiry. "By banning these products, our county joins a growing number of jurisdictions in protecting the health of young people," Pine said. One of those jurisdictions appears to be San Francisco, based on preliminary results from Tuesday's election. According to the preliminary results from the city's Department of Elections, Proposition E was approved by 68 percent of the voters. The proposition would uphold the San Francisco Board of Supervisors' earlier unanimous vote to ban the products and other flavored tobacco, including menthol cigarettes. Michael Bloomberg, the World Health Organization's global ambassador for noncommunicable diseases, praised the outcome of the San Francisco election. "Banning the sale of flavored tobacco products marks an important step forward for public health in San Francisco-and it shows that the tobacco industry, no matter how much money it spends on misleading ads, can be defeated," Bloomberg said in a statement. Copyright 2018 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. PITTSBURG (BCN) A health advisory issued for the cities of Pittsburg and Antioch after a fire at a junkyard in Pittsburg on Wednesday evening has been lifted this morning, according to county health officials. The advisory was lifted around 4:45 a.m. today, county health officials said. The vegetation fire started near the junkyard and spread into it, Contra Costa County Fire Protection District officials said. The blaze injured a firefighter and two other people. The two-alarm fire was reported at 5:37 p.m. Wednesday in the 2700 block of Pittsburg-Antioch Highway, Fire Marshal Robert Marshall said. Pittsburg-Antioch Highway was closed in both directions near Auto Center Drive as crews battled the blaze, according to a fire dispatcher. Copyright 2018 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. A male victim suffered gunshot wounds tonight in the parking lot of the Oakland Coliseum, police said. Officers were called at 8:58 p.m. to the shooting in the parking lot of the coliseum, which is located at 7000 Coliseum Way. Police said medical personnel were summoned to treat the man. No other details were immediately available. Copyright 2018 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) A man accused of killing a puppy, whose body was discovered in San Francisco's Western Addition neighborhood last November, has been arrested, according to the city's Animal Care and Control. The suspect, Mark Allen Haberman, has been arrested and charged with felony animal cruelty, animal control officials said. The 4-month Pit Bull, named Skunky, died due to alleged blunt force trauma to the top of the head. Skunky's body was found in the 1100 block of Laguna Street on Nov. 28. Forensic tests on items recovered from Haberman's home had blood belonging to Skunky, according to animal control officials. "How we treat animals is a reflection of who we are as a society," District Attorney George Gascon said in a statement. "Anytime we see a defenseless animal abused, we will hold the offenders responsible in a court of law," he said. "We're pleased that our diligent work led to an arrest in this horrific case," Animal Care and Control Executive Director Virginia Donahue said in a statement. "Animal abusers need to be held accountable for their actions." Copyright 2018 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) Four stabbings and a life-threatening assault with a metal pipe were carried out in San Francisco during the 24 hours between early Tuesday and early today, San Francisco police report. The pipe attack occurred at 6:33 p.m. Tuesday when two men in their 30s got into an argument at Haight and Masonic streets. The suspect fled after hitting the victim on the head with a metal pipe, police said. The 32-year-old victim was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries. The four stabbing victims in the 24 hours were taken to hospitals with injuries reported by police as not life-threatening. Police said that at 5:45 a.m. Tuesday at Eighth and Market streets, a 32-year-old woman was holding a crack pipe when a man asked if he could smoke with her. She said he did not have any crack and the man swung a knife at her and cut her right forearm. The man chased her briefly and the woman escaped. The suspect was not arrested. At 8:16 p.m. Tuesday, Roger Whyard, 58, allegedly walked into a doughnut shop at Polk and Sacramento streets and stabbed a 31-year-old man three times. Police Sgt. Michael Andraychak said Whyard, who is white, allegedly shouted racial epithets at the victim, who is black. He said Whyard has been booked by police on suspicion of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and a hate crime. Twelve minutes earlier, according to police, a 58-year-old white man allegedly stabbed a 35-year-old black woman in the torso during a fight at nearby Van Ness Avenue near Washington Street. Andraychak said the suspect in that case has not been charged thus far, but investigators are seeking to determine whether it was the same suspect as in the Polk Street attack. At 12:55 a.m. today, police said, a 28-year-old man walking at Fourth and Harrison streets in the South of Market District found a backpack on the street and picked it up. A 53-year-old man came up from behind and stabbed him in the back, according to police. The victim suffered lacerations on his back and the suspect was arrested. Police also reported a burglary in the Ingleside District that ended at 4:20 a.m. today without injury or theft when the 48-year-old intended victim heard noises in his kitchen, saw a 64-year-old man there and held him at gunpoint until police arrived. The suspect was arrested, police said. Copyright 2018 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. OAKLAND (BCN) The reward for helping to find the person who abandoned mutilated puppies in East Oakland last month has been increased to $40,000, Oakland police announced Wednesday. Two 4-month-old female puppies, named Freya and Frigg, were found in a pile of garbage at 89th Avenue and G Street on May 26. Freya's jaw was broken and Frigg's rear paw was chopped off. A third German shepherd puppy was found in the same area with a broken jaw on May 28. Since then, the puppies have been recovering. Both of the puppies with broken jaws underwent surgery and are now able to eat. Last Friday, District Attorney Nancy O'Malley announced that her office was investigating the case along with the Oakland Police Department. O'Malley said it's likely whoever is hurting the dogs is also abusive toward people. She said it appears that the perpetrator is using some kind of tool to mutilate the dogs and it's unlikely that it was a result of dog fighting. Last week, O'Malley announced the reward for the capture and conviction of the person responsible was $15,000. On Wednesday, Oakland police announced the reward had been increased to $40,000. Anyone with information about the puppies and the injuries they suffered is asked to call Oakland police Sgt. Robert Muniz at (510) 238-3728 or the Oakland Animal Shelter at (510) 535-5602. (415) 710-0014 Rebecca Katz, Oakland Animal Services (415) 515-1653 cellphone Copyright 2018 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) A 78-year-old man was hospitalized after a sex worker he invited to his room in San Francisco's Financial District allegedly struck him in the head with an unconventional weapon and then robbed him, police said. The incident happened around 3 p.m. Monday in the 200 block of Kearny Street, according to police. After the man invited the suspect to his room, the female suspect struck him in the head with a sock filled with hard items, police said. The woman then allegedly took the man's computer tablet, ID, debit card and cash. The victim then allegedly escorted the suspect to the lobby, where she fled, according to police. The victim told police he was suffering from head pain and was taken to a hospital with injuries not considered life-threatening, police said. The suspect has not been arrested as of this morning. Copyright 2018 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital is conducting an investigation into a patient's death Monday, the second death to occur at the hospital's campus since last Wednesday when an employee discovered the body of 75-year-old Ruby Andersen inside a hospital power plant facility. In the latest incident, the female patient died unexpectedly. "Our sympathies are with the patient and her family," San Francisco Department of Public Health officials said in statement. The city's medical examiner's office has completed an autopsy and the preliminary findings have ruled out homicide. The cause of her death is pending additional studies and a report will be completed within the coming weeks, according to health officials. In the case of Andersen, the medical examiner's office has also ruled out homicide and is continuing to determine how she died. Andersen had been reported missing on May 20 from the hospital, although she was not a patient there. The employee discovered Andersen in the power plant facility's stairway around 1 p.m. According to health department officials and the San Francisco Sheriff's Department officials, the facility had been kept open for most of the day and was not regularly patrolled by deputies. Several new security measures have been in place in wake of Andersen's death, including badge-only access 24 hours a day and the installation of additional alarm and camera systems at the power plant building. The investigation into Andersen's death is ongoing and is being conducted by the city's health department as well as the sheriff's department. The California Department of Public Health will conduct its own investigation into the power plant building, health department officials said. The state health department licenses the hospital. The California Department of Social Services, Community Care Licensing Division, which licenses a residential care facility for the elderly and the adult residential facility located at the Behavioral Health Center on the hospital's campus, is also conducting an investigation. In a separate case in 2013, Lynne Spalding, 57, was found dead in a hospital stairwell after she had been reported missing the previous month. Spalding, a British woman, went missing after being admitted to the hospital only two days earlier. According to a report by the medical examiner's office, Spalding had been dead for some days before being discovered. Her death was ruled accidental, due to an electrolyte imbalance, a condition that can be caused by dehydration. Spalding's death triggered a set of new security protocols for staff and sheriff's deputies at the hospital. Also, the city settled a lawsuit with her family for nearly $3 million. Copyright 2018 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. A 17-year-old girl killed in a fiery head-on collision with a tow truck near Brentwood on Monday afternoon has been identified as Emily Alarcon Reyes of Palo Alto, according to the Contra Costa County coroner's office. She was initially identified by the California Highway Patrol as a resident of Petaluma. Alarcon Reyes was riding in a 2016 Jeep Compass driven by a 20-year-old San Francisco man heading north on Vasco Road near Walnut Boulevard around 2:20 p.m. He crossed into the southbound lane and struck a tow truck, catapulting the Jeep into a nearby field where it caught fire. Alarcon Reyes was transported to a hospital in Walnut Creek by helicopter, but was pronounced dead at 3:37 p.m. A GoFundMe account at https://www.gofundme.com/5n0tq8o created on behalf of her family had raised nearly $21,700 of its $25,000 goal as of this morning. The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office has identified Roger Lewis Evans, 36, of Ukiah, as the driver who died after a rear-end collision in a construction zone with a tractor-trailer early Wednesday morning in Healdsburg. A 58-year-old Richmond man was driving the tractor-trailer north on U.S. Highway 101 north of Dry Creek Road around 2:15 a.m. when he stopped in the left lane due to a traffic break conducted by a construction vehicle, California Highway Patrol Officer Jon Sloat said. Evans was driving a 2001 Chevrolet Tahoe and collided into the rear of the tractor-trailer, Sloat said. Evans and a female passenger were taken to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital where Evans later died. A Tesla that re-ignited five days after a fatal, fiery crash in Mountain View in March while it was on "auto-pilot" accelerated three seconds before the crash, according to an initial report by the National Transportation Safety Board. San Mateo resident Wei Huang, 38, was driving his Model X south on U.S. Highway 101 and approaching the interchange with state Highway 85 at 9:23 a.m. on March 23 when it struck a crash attenuator at the exit ramp. Two other vehicles subsequently struck the Tesla, resulting in an additional injury. The Model X sustained major damage, causing the front end to separate from the rest of the car. The electric vehicle's 400-volt lithium ion battery was breached and caught fire, according to the NTSB report. Huang was still belted into the driver's seat but bystanders rescued him from the vehicle before it was consumed by flames. He was transported to a hospital but died from his injuries later that day. It took firefighters nearly 10 minutes to put out the fire with roughly 200 gallons of water and foam. They eventually escorted the vehicle to an impound lot in San Mateo, but it started smoking around 4:30 p.m. Five days later the battery re-ignited. The crash sparked a national debate over the challenges firefighters face when responding to electric vehicle crashes as well as whether Tesla owners can trust their vehicles' autopilot system. According to the performance data recorded by the vehicle, Huang's last drive lasted about 32 minutes. During that time, he engaged the autopilot system four times, including one continuous period of nearly 19 minutes. Huang's hands were detected on the wheel for just 34 seconds of the last minute before the crash, and his hands were not detected at all for the last six seconds before the crash, according to the report. During the last 8 seconds, the Tesla was following another vehicle at about 65 mph. It moved to the left and slowed down slightly. Four seconds before the crash, the Tesla's on-board computer was no longer following that vehicle, and three seconds before the crash it sped up from 62 mph to 70.8 mph. The crash still remains under investigation, with assistance from the California Highway Patrol and Caltrans. Back in April, the NTSB announced that Tesla had been taken off of the investigation for releasing information before it could be vetted and confirmed. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the NTSB's report. A Santa Rosa man pleaded not guilty this morning in Sonoma County Superior County to the voluntary manslaughter of another man at Sonoma State University last month. Tyler Bratton, 20, is charged with the stabbing death of Steven John Garcia, 26, in a dormitory apartment in the quad area of the campus in Rohnert Park on May 13. Petaluma police, who are investigating the slaying, said Bratton and Garcia were acquaintances but were not Sonoma State students. Bratton is being held in Sonoma County Jail under $135,000 bail. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 20. A 27-year-old Oakley man was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol after a crash in Antioch Wednesday morning that sent him and four other people to hospitals, including a 5-year-old boy who had to be taken there by a helicopter, police said. Officers responded at 8:14 a.m. to the crash on East 18th Street near Viera Avenue and learned that the man, whose name was not immediately available, was speeding east and rear-ended a SUV that had just pulled from northbound Viera onto eastbound East 18th, police said. The SUV overturned several times as a result of the crash and struck another vehicle. Two women, ages 52 and 30, in the SUV were taken to a hospital for complaints of pain, while the 5-year-old boy and his 32-year-old female guardian were airlifted to the hospital, also for complaints of pain, according to police. The 27-year-old man was also hospitalized for precautionary measures and police said he would be arrested on suspicion of DUI after being medically cleared. Two people suffered life-threatening injuries in separate attacks in San Francisco Wednesday night and early this morning, police said. The first assault happened around 9 p.m. near Mission and 20th streets. There, a witness told police they saw a man punch another man during an argument. When the suspect punched the victim in the head, the victim lost consciousness. The suspect then ran, heading north on Mission Street. Responding officers were unable to locate him, according to police. The victim was taken to a hospital with a serious head injury. The victim and the suspect were both described as men in their 30s, police said. The second attack happened just before 3 a.m. today near Market and Seventh streets, according to police. A witness said that two men were arguing and one of them allegedly took a fighting stance and pulled out a knife. The suspect swung the knife at the victim numerous times, stabbing the victim in the torso. The suspect then fled, police said. The victim, a 35-year-old man, was taken to the hospital with a life-threatening stab wound to his abdomen. Police were unable to locate the suspect, described as a man in his mid 20s. Copyright 2018 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. ROHNERT PARK (BCN) Rohnert Park public safety officers arrested a Santa Rosa transient Tuesday night on suspicion of assaulting a teen girl with the intent to commit a sex crime in May. The Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety said the suspect chased the girl and tried to grab her before she ran from him as she walked down a Rohnert Park street. Police released a sketch of the suspect based on the girl's description of the man, and they received several tips from other law enforcement agencies and citizens that led to the identity of 44-year-old Matthew Damon Madrid, who frequents Rohnert Park, as a possible suspect, the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety said. The girl was shown a group of photos Tuesday and selected Madrid's photo as the suspect, public safety officials said. Madrid has a documented history of harassing women and wanting to harm children, public safety officials said. Madrid was arrested Tuesday night on suspicion of assault to commit a sex crime and booked in the Sonoma County Jail under $50,000 bail. He is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday afternoon in Sonoma County Superior Court. Police are investigating whether Madrid is a suspect in other crimes, and anyone with information about him is asked to call the Department of Public Safety at (707) 584-2630 or email them at rpdpsinvestigations@rpcity.org. Copyright 2018 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. PITTSBURG (BCN) A vegetation fire has been knocked down this evening in Pittsburg but not before it injured a firefighter and two others, fire officials with the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District said. The two-alarm fire was reported at 5:37 p.m. in the 2700 block of Pittsburg-Antioch Highway, Fire Marshal Robert Marshall said. The fire spread to a junkyard and a hazardous materials team responded. Public health advisories have been issued for Pittsburg and Antioch. Pittsburg-Antioch Highway is still closed in both directions near Auto Center Drive, according to a fire dispatcher. There is no estimate for when the road will reopen. Copyright 2018 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. NOVATO (BCN) A man has been arrested by Novato police on suspicion of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated after a victim of the collision died today. A 70-year-old Novato man died this afternoon at Marin General Hospital following a collision late Tuesday night at the intersection of Center Road and Wilson Avenue in Novato, police said. Police initially arrested Taylor Brindley, 24, of Novato on suspicion of DUI after the collision that seriously injured three people in another vehicle. Police said officers responded around 11:15 p.m. to the collision involving a 2015 Jeep Liberty driven by Brindley and a 2002 Ford F-150 pickup truck, which was being driven by the man who died. Witnesses said Brindley was speeding east on Center Road and ran a stop sign at the Wilson Avenue intersection, according to police. The Jeep collided with the pickup truck that was traveling north on Wilson Avenue, police said. Brindley was given field sobriety tests at the scene and had been arrested on suspicion of DUI causing injury, reckless driving, failing to stop at a stop sign and driving on a suspended license, police said. The three occupants of the Ford had suffered major injuries that included broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder and broken collarbone. They were taken to Marin General Hospital. The crash closed the intersection until around 11:50 p.m. The name of the deceased man will be released once his family is told. Novato police extended their deepest condolences to the man's family and to others affected by the tragedy. Police said the affects from events such as this ripple through a community, affecting people who knew and loved the victim as well as people who know the suspect. Anyone who witnessed the collision is asked to call Novato police at (415) 897-4361. Copyright 2018 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Saying his inspiration was peace talks between South and North Korea, urban free climber Alain Robert, known as the "French Spiderman," attempted to scale a skyscraper in Seoul, South Korea on Wednesday. Robert made it up 75 of the 123 stories of the Lotte World Tower before he was intercepted and arrested by local authorities. MANAGUA, Nicaragua Nearly seven weeks after a violent crackdown on student protesters ignited a movement to oust the president of Nicaragua, daily life has become difficult and dangerous for a population increasingly in open rebellion against the government. At least 113 people have been killed, more than 1,000 injured and hundreds arrested since the political uprising began in mid-April, according to human rights groups. Dozens of others have disappeared. In what was until recently one of the safest countries in Latin America, families are now afraid to leave their homes after dark. Barricades set up by protesters block highways, public transportation is scarce and business in some parts of the country has ground to a halt. In the capital city of Managua, the signs of a growing resistance are unmistakable. Street vendors sell T-shirts proclaiming Let your momma surrender, alluding to an old Sandinista war slogan. Scrawled across one of the citys main rotundas in spray paint is a bold message: The state did it, a reference to the killings that protesters, human rights groups and U.S. officials have largely blamed on police and government-controlled gangs. At this moment, we are in a real crisis situation in terms of human rights, said Vilma Nunez, president of the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights, which has documented the deaths and arrests. Instead of stopping the violence after the first protests, she said, President Daniel Ortega has turned it into a massacre. Neither the Ortega administration nor the national police responded to questions about the violence. The government has denied responsibility for the killings, blaming criminal groups and characterizing the protesters as right-wing gangs. Yet despite the growing unrest, Ortegas departure appears unlikely. One of the leaders of the Marxist Sandinista revolution that overthrew the Somoza dictatorship in 1979, Ortega ruled the country until 1990, when he lost the election. He was re-elected in 2007 and has since solidified his power, reforming the countrys electoral system to ensure he stays in office. The intensity of the protests, which first broke out on April 18 in response to unpopular social security reforms, has come as a surprise to many Nicaraguans. In response to political repression and what the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has condemned as the excessive use of force by state security forces, the oppositions demands have since grown to include the resignations of Ortega and his wife and vice president, Rosario Murillo. Kyra Gurney is a Miami Herald writer. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.-- The U.S. Coast Guard Sector of New York will hold a change of command ceremony Friday morning at Fort Wadsworth. The event includes a 12-cannon salute at around 11:15 a.m. at 212 Coast Guard Drive, officials said. Capt. Jason P. Tama will relieve Capt. Michael H. Day as commander of Coast Guard Sector New York and Captain of the Port of New York and New Jersey and the Port of Albany, said a press release promoting the event. A change of command ceremony signifies the transfer of responsibility. Members of the NYPD and FDNY are expected to attend. (Civil servants: This is part of a periodic series on city workers who Staten Island home.) STATEN ISLAND -- Social media is a constant part life. Folks posting pictures and status updates around the clock, and for most, there are no official guidelines on how to behave in the digital world. But those who wear a city uniform or teach the city's school children must adhere to a strict set of guidelines that outline how they should conduct themselves on their personal social media accounts. For example, teachers cannot communicate or accept friend or follower requests from current students enrolled in the city's public school system on their personal social media accounts. They also can't use the department's logo or "make representations that their personal social media sites speak in an official DOE capacity." But they can have school-approved separate professional social media pages to interact with their students. Similar rules apply in the city's Fire and Police Departments. FDNY and NYPD employees are prohibited from posting photos of themselves in uniform unless it is being worn at a work-sanctioned event. They also can't have any social media contact with minors they interacted with on the job. For members of the NYPD, they cannot connect with suspects, witnesses, or crime victims if the officer was involved in the incident. Meanwhile, members of the FDNY are not allowed to have any contact with patients, fire victims or members of the public they interacted with in their capacity as firefighters. SUPPORT FOR POLICIES "Ultimately we think the department was right to institute a social media policy. We want to be conscious and respectful of our members First Amendment rights, but we hold ourselves to a higher standard. We are professional firefighters and should be expected to conduct ourselves in a professional manner online like we do every day on the job," United Firefighters Association President Gerard Fitzgerald, said. The NYPD, FDNY, and DOE implemented tougher policies after employees were found to have conducted themselves inappropriately online. Police officers have come under fire for posting inappropriate comments about the West Indian American Day Parade, according to media reports. The son of former Fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano, Joseph Cassano resigned from his EMT job in 2013 after his racist rants on social media were discovered. Meanwhile, teachers have also been investigated or fired for inappropriate interactions and relationships with students that they started or continued on social media sites, The New York Times reported. An Island middle school teacher who asked to remain anonymous said they receive friend and follower requests on their personal social media accounts from their students on almost a daily basis, requests they always have to decline. Although the middle school teacher understands why the polices are in place and agrees that being friends with students on social media could blur the lines between educator and friend, the teacher wishes they could communicate with their students on their personal social media to get to know their students on a more personal level. "I don't want [my students] to see me in a personal light, that will cause them to think that I'm their friend and not their authority figure or anything like that. I don't also want them to see me holding drinks and stuff like that and think 'oh I want to be like that when I get older," the middle school teacher said. "... But at the same I do kind of wish I could talk to them at that level." Daniel Leahy, a teacher at George Egbert Intermediate School who also runs the school's debate team's social media account, said he generally agrees with the DOE's social media policies, but thinks staff's personal social media accounts should be "off limits" from the department. An EMT, who asked to remain anonymous, thinks it's clear -- the FDNY's social media guidelines are in place to protect its brand. Although the EMT feels somewhat uncomfortable with the FDNY dictating how employees should conduct themselves on their personal social media sites, the EMT says everyone knows what they signed up for. "It makes me uncomfortable personally when the city says 'no you can't do this,' because it's the state saying something and the state curtailing your rights is an issue," the EMT said. "On the other hand, the FDNY has to protect its brand, and also it's not even it's brand, it's you're a civil servant, you're held to a higher standard, this job is about duty and honor and serving the public." A supervisory officer with the NYPD thinks that when it comes to the department's social media guidelines, employees should take extra precautions because social media is still such a grey area. "Everyone has [First Amendment] rights, but the job also has to ensure its employees are acting to a standard where they can keep the public trust. I try to stay off of it myself," the officer said. Staten Island resident Kimani Everett is among 27 defendants charged in a major drug-trafficking ring at Brooklyn housing developments. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A Staten Island resident is among 27 defendants accused of peddling illegal narcotics as part of a major drug-trafficking ring at housing developments in Brooklyn's Brownsville section, authorities announced on Thursday. Kimani Everett, 27, was expected to be arraigned Thursday in Brooklyn state Supreme Court on felony drug charges, said Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez and Police Commissioner James P. O'Neill. Residents' complaints about drug activity and violence around the Seth Low Houses sparked a six-month probe, dubbed Operation "Triple Play," culminating in the bust, authorities said. Authorities said the defendants peddled powdered and crack cocaine, heroin and oxycodone. Brooklyn resident Hassan (Ha) Nixon, 39, was one of the kingpins, said officials. Electronic and physical surveillance revealed Nixon was a major supplier of cocaine to mid-level dealers working in various housing developments, including the Seth Low Houses, Glenmore Plaza and the Van Dyke Houses, officials said. Nixon employed reputed Wave Gang member Karon (KK) Farrell, 27, as his lieutenant, and they controlled the flow of cocaine from elsewhere in the city into and through the three housing developments, said authorities. Nixon supplied his cocaine network with drugs from multiple sources, including co-defendants Ronald (Riz) Langhorne, 43, and Louis (Fresh) Peebles, 35, both Brooklyn residents, officials said. Langhorne and Peebles allegedly bought cocaine in bulk, then broke it down and resold it in both powdered and rock form, in 50- and 100-gram increments, to Nixon and others, said authorities. Nixon and Langhorne are each charged with operating as a major drug trafficker. "The NYPD's efforts to rid New York City of illegal narcotics and the violence associated with drug-trafficking will not end," O'Neill said in a statement. Public records reflect prior addresses in Mariners Harbor and New Dorp for Everett. Online state court records show Everett has a felony drug-possession case pending in Brooklyn state Supreme Court stemming from a March 10 arrest. He is free on $15,000 bond in that case. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A New Jersey biodiesel fuel company has admitted to dumping more than 45,000 gallons of contaminated wastewater into the Arthur Kill, federal prosecutors said. Fuel Bio One LLC, of Elizabeth, discharged the polluted water into the Arthur Kill, which separates the Island's West Shore and New Jersey, on two dates in 2013, said Craig Carpenito, U.S. attorney for New Jersey. The company pleaded guilty on Tuesday in New Jersey federal court to violating the Clean Water Act, prosecutors said. The statute was enacted to prevent, reduce and eliminate water pollution in the U.S. Fuel Bio One has agreed to pay a $100,000 criminal fine and be placed on probation for five years, authorities said. "Illegal dumping of pollution into the (Arthur Kill) not only violates federal law, but also threatens the environmental recovery of this historic marine channel, which is important to New Yorkers and New Jerseyans alike," said Jeffrey H. Wood, acting assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Environmental and Natural Resource Division. According to court papers, the wastewater was generated as a byproduct of the company's biodiesel fuel production at its Elizabeth plant. It contained methanol, biodiesel and other contaminants, said court documents. On Sept. 6, 2013, Fuel Bio workers released about 30,000 gallons of biodiesel fuel wastewater into a storm water pit at the plant, court papers said. The wastewater was drained into the Arthur Kill through a pump in the pit. A similar process was repeated on Nov. 9, 2013, in which 15,500 gallons of biodiesel fuel wastewater was discharged into the Arthur Kill, also known as Staten Island Sound. However, Fuel Bio was not permitted by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Agency to release biodiesel fuel wastewater into the storm water pit, said court documents. As part of its plea agreement, Fuel Bio, while on probation, must provide the court with biannual reports of any waste it generates, and the steps taken to properly dispose of it. The company must also develop an employee training program for the storage, treatment and disposal of wastewater to ensure compliance with the Clean Water Act. In addition, Fuel Bio must give the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) full access to its facilities. The EPA investigated the case. Fuel Bio's lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment. To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account. We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription. A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means youre helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much! A shake-up of financial regulation in this country is long overdue, and needs to go further in many ways than the current government is likely to take it. But here, the regulator may have overstepped the mark. Top executives from Citi, Deutsche and ANZ are among the six named in the case brought by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission a shocking development in a market that has tended to take an indulgent approach to misconduct at the big end of town. Looking at the performance of ANZ's share price after the placement was announced suggests any conspiracy was more Keystone Cops than Iran-Contra. That may be the best defence of the former Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and ANZ Bank executives who've been charged with criminal cartel offences over a 2015 placement of $2.5 billion of ANZ shares. Full details won't be released until the court case begins, but there's enough evidence out there to get an idea of where the ACCC is going. Loading The case centres on a share placement on August 6, 2015, at a time when all of the big banks were topping up their balance sheets in the sharemarket. Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan Chase (which hasn't been charged) underwrote the issue at a price of $30.95 a share, with the raising completed 24 hours after it was announced. At the same time, ANZ offered $500 million in stock to retail shareholders an issue that closed about a month later (oversubscribed but underpriced), with $720 million raised at $26.50 a share. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission is also investigating whether ANZ's announcement of the placement's completion should have mentioned that the joint lead managers took up about 25.5 million of the 80.8 million shares issued, a shortfall of about one-third, ANZ said last week. Part of the problem here is the nature of share placements, in that they create an in-group and an out-group of shareholders, and confer different rights on them. When they're discounted and the ANZ placement was priced 5 per cent below the stock's previous close that's particularly egregious, because one group of large shareholders is getting the opportunity to buy stock for less than it's available to other investors. There are several good and sensible reasons why Wesfarmers chief executive Rob Scott was quick to rule out the prospect of any new large-scale acquisitions in Wednesday's strategy day presentations. The most obvious is that the wounds from Wesfarmers costly and poorly-executed foray into the UK home improvement market remain deep and open. His shareholders would revolt if the group embarked on another big and risky adventure. Wesfarmers will need to re-earn its licence to make big acquisitions. Wesfarmers CEO Rob Scott has plenty of unfinished business on his plate. Credit:Trevor Collens Another reason is one he articulated, and which is consistent with Wesfarmers historic experience: It is challenging to deliver superior returns from large-scale acquisitions, which usually require the payment of a premium to secure control. Joint ventures, investments, organic growth initiatives and incremental expansion from existing operations into adjacent opportunities are lower risk. And Scott, who only took up the CEO role last November, has a lot of unfinished business on his plate already. He has to complete the expensive withdrawal from Bunnings' ill-fated UK venture, at a cost of about $1.7 billion. He needs to execute the planned spin-off of the Coles business that marked the big bang start to his leadership of the group. Theres also the $700 million sale of the Curragh coal operation to be finalised, along with the prospective sales of the Kmart Tyre and Auto business and Coles Queensland hotels. Taiwan says Qantas has misinterpreted Australia's One-China policy and should reverse its wrong decision to ditch references to it as a separate country to the Chinese mainland. Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce has defended his decision to bow to the Chinese government's demands to remove any material from the airline's website and booking systems that refers to Taiwan a self-governing island of more than 23 million people as an independent country. Mr Joyce pointed out at a major airline conference in Sydney this week that the Australian government does not recognise Taiwan either, and that it had a One-China policy like many other countries. But the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office said Australia had only acknowledged instead of actually recognising the position of the Chinese government that Taiwan was a province of the mainland when it established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1972. Footage has emerged of the terrifying moment a Channel Seven crew were mugged by masked thieves on a busy London street. Laurel Irving and her cameraman had just finished a live cross to Sunrise from the north London suburb of Islington when two masked men approached them on bicycles. One of the men claimed to have a gun in his pocket. He then made off with the pair's camera, perhaps unaware the entire incident was beamed live into Seven's control room in Sydney. Seven immediately handed the footage over to London police. However, short clips also aired on Sunrise on Thursday morning. In the footage, a masked man can be heard demanding: "Pick it up and hand it over." Zhoug, labne, dukkah, maamoul, hummus, falafel, fattoush, toum. You're talking my language. Who doesn't love this food? Just as Japanese culture has pushed us to dine at bars and counters, surely the assorted cultures we lump together under "Middle East" are the forces behind the small plates, sharing platters and dips 'n' chips that so define dining in 2018. More vegetables, grains and pulses, grills and spices; less meat, less dairy. Lots of yoghurt, no mayo. Invariably, it's food that's more enjoyable the closer it stays to the street, the market and the backyard grill. So Lillah, a spanking new, casual, mid-market Middle Eastern in Lane Cove, sounds worth a shot. Go-to dish: the Old City platter at Lillah. Credit:Brook Mitchell/Fairfax Media Nour executive chef Roy Ner worked with owner Trevor Blye on the menu, while Melbourne's Studio Y did the fit-out. It's a long, light space that runs from bar to a bright open kitchen, with plenty of pale terracotta tones, exposed brick, skylight, banquettes and share tables along the way. The best way to start is to share an Old City platter ($19), a paper-lined metal tray bearing you name it fried cauliflower with baba ghanoush, crunchy little falafel with smoked tahini, hummus and pickles, Lebanese olives, smoked almonds, flatbreads, pickles and deep-fried calamari with warm, charred lemon for squeezing. The dainty oval saucers, the generosity, the pick-and-peck: it's an immediate welcome mat of food. The news came yesterday that Australian National University remains ranked by QS as No. 1 in Australia and in the top 25 universities in the world. We take this global reputation seriously one that is built on the basis of academic autonomy and free academic inquiry. The ANU has declined donations in the past and will again where we are unable to meet the donor's wishes within our normal practices. It is right that we explore opportunities openly and in good faith, but it is also right that we let prospective donors know when we cannot provide them with what they want. ANU vice-chancellor Professor Brian Schmidt Credit:Joe Armao Our decision to end negotiations with the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilization has attracted a great deal of interest. In this case, the prospective donor sought a level of influence over our curriculum and staffing that went beyond what any other donor has been granted, and was inconsistent with academic autonomy. This would set a precedent that would completely undermine the university's integrity. Senior ACT Parks and Conservation officer Chris Troth was fishing on his day off when he noticed some illegal fishing nets submerged in water on Lake Burley Griffin. When Mr Troth went for a closer look he saw two native water rats trapped inside. Senior Parks and conservation officers Chris Troth, left, and Brian Summers hold up illegal nets found in Lake Burley Griffin. Credit:Karleen Minney "I immediately pulled the trap from the water with the hope they may be alive," Mr Troth said. "The two native water rats, which I believe to be a breeding pair, had drowned due to not being able to swim back and get air." A Canberra murder trial jury saw confronting photographs on Friday of the body of Andrew Carville taken after he was found in a dry creek bed. The forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy on Mr Carville told the ACT Supreme Court trial the examination was difficult, so badly decomposed was the man's body. He found Mr Carville had suffered a possible fracture to a bone and cartilage in his neck. The fractures were likely caused by pressure, such as hanging, strangulation or an arm lock, he said. Brian Van de Water was a visionary, mathematical whiz and highly regarded in Qantas engineering circles to this day. His contribution to Qantas's safety record with groundbreaking changes to engine overhaul practices has been recognised by the aviation sector and Qantas Engineering. The youngest of two sons of John Van de Water, a builder, and Dorothy Beavis Tucker, Brian grew up in Tumut as a "refugee" from Sydney during the Depression. The family moved there when his father could not find work in Sydney. They lived in a dirt-floor shack on a mate's property so were literally "dirt poor". Brian Van de Water holds his daughter Sandra at the Boeing Plant, in August 1959, as the first Boeing 707 was handed over to Qantas for delivery to Australia. Many airline employees vividly recall the first time they experienced the magic of flying. For Brian, it was when a group of aircraft visited Tumut and a lifelong love affair with aviation was sparked. The family returned to Sydney in 1936, when the worst of the Depression was over. Brian attended Homebush High where his mathematical and physics abilities shone. On November 15, 1947, he spotted an ad in The Herald, was interviewed by the Qantas chief engineer and was selected as the first cadet engineer, to begin in January 1948. For a young aircraft enthusiast and a lad who had experienced poverty, his job was a dream come true. He attended Sydney Tech and graduated in aeronautical engineering in 1952. For the next seven years, his work involved mathematics and he writes in his memoir that he "greatly enjoyed the beauty and power of maths to solve seemingly impossible problems". During this time he also learnt to fly on Tiger Moths. A global expert has urged a radical rethink of Australia's approach to drug regulation. Manuel Cardoso, who is credited for his role in reforming the Portuguese system in 2001, told Fairfax Media that Australia should decriminalise all drugs and treat drug use and abuse as a public health issue rather than one of criminal justice. "Decriminalising is considered by the United Nations as a good practice, the International Narcotic Control Board consider that the Portuguese experience is a good practice, it's something to try to implement [here]," he said. Manuel Cardoso believes Australia should decriminalise all drugs. Credit:Louise Kennerley In 2001, the European nation decriminalised personal possession and consumption of all drugs. Brumbies in Kosciuszko National Park are trampling the habitat of a critically endangered fish and could soon wipe out the entire species, a University of Canberra researcher has warned. The NSW government's controversial Kosciuszko Wild Horse Heritage Bill 2018 was passed late on Wednesday, despite widespread criticism from scientists around Australia and the world. The legislation bans the lethal culling of brumbies in the national park because of their cultural significance, reversing the NSW government's plan to cull an estimated 90 per cent of wild horses in the park over 20 years, leaving just 600. University of Canberra associate professor Dr Mark Lintermans has blasted the decision, saying it "flew in the face of science" and warning that it could spell the end for the stocky galaxias freshwater fish. The NSW government is urging its state and territory counterparts to overhaul the country's uniform defamation laws amid a jump in social media cases, in the first major law reform in decades. Sydney now rivals London as the world's defamation capital following changes to UK laws, passed in 2013, which responded to the rise in internet publications and were designed to make it harder to bring a claim. Attorney-General Mark Speakman released a long-overdue review of the Defamation Act on Thursday and said the law needed to be "more tech-savvy" amid a "huge rise" in defamation cases involving social media sites including Facebook and Twitter. The NSW government wants sweeping changes to defamation laws to make them more "tech-savvy". Credit:Bloomberg Mr Speakman said he would "ask my federal, state and territory counterparts to explore reforms to enable Australian defamation law to upgrade to the cyber-age" at Friday's Council of Attorneys General meeting in Perth. Plans to close Sydney's Bankstown rail line for six weeks a year for five years have been ditched following community opposition to the disruption caused during construction to convert it to carry single-deck metro trains. The state government has also promised residents that the heritage character of stations along the 122-year-old line between Bankstown and Sydenham, such as ticket booths and platform buildings, will be retained following the multibillion-dollar project. The Bankstown Line will be converted to carry single-deck, driverless metro trains. Credit:Simon Alekna While the six-week annual closures will not go ahead, Transport for NSW is yet to reveal exactly how it will find the time needed for construction of the metro line. It said a program of closures is being refined to minimise impacts and was investigating short individual station closures. Three people are taking NSW Police to court over a controversial plan to deny entry to a Sydney concert anyone who is singled out by a sniffer dog - regardless of whether drugs are actually found. Police on Tuesday announced that revellers at the $128-a-ticket Above & Beyond dance music concert at Homebush on Saturday night would not be allowed into the venue if a sniffer dog sits next to them, even if officers are unable to actually find drugs. Sniffer dogs will be used at Saturday's Above & Beyond concert, with police set to remove people from the venue if the dog flags them even if they have no drugs. Credit:Ken Irwin Police will exclude any person from the venue that the drug dog indicates has or who has recently had drugs on them, regardless of whether drugs are located," South West Metropolitan Region Commander, Assistant Commissioner Peter Thurtell said in a statement. The ANU has outraged an outspoken group of culture warriors by rejecting funding for a chair of western civilisation from a pressure-group organisation, the Paul Ramsay Foundation for Western Civilisation. The foundation is, in the words of Tony Abbott, who is on its board, ''not merely about Western civilisation but in favour of it''. Nothing wrong with that but equally, there is nothing wrong if a university rejects the funds it offers, which it may quite reasonably feel will have ideological strings attached. There is a broader objection, too. The idea of drawing a fence around western civilisation and studying only what is inside it is inherently ridiculous fatally undermined by the history and nature of western civilisation itself. The reason the west through its economy, its ideas and its technology has come to dominate the world so thoroughly is that it has always readily adopted and adapted outside influences. Loading From its earliest days it has faced external challenges. Greece was threatened by Persia, but then went on to spread its own civilisation from Italy as far as India. Though Rome grew into something of a monolith for a time, covering the entire Mediterranean, it was constantly under challenge from outsiders, to which it eventually succumbed. Successive waves of invaders destroyed parts, transformed others, and preserved the rest. Christianity did its best initially to obliterate the pagan classical heritage, but ended up preserving substantial parts of it. Islam, another challenger, preserved other parts. The medieval and modern periods have seen empires wax and wane throughout the west, and then through colonialism spread throughout the world. The west may have tried at times to shut others out physically, but it never succeeded. It may have tried at times to exclude ideas it regarded as barbarian, but that did not always work either. And in the end, its openness, voluntary or not, its lack of uniformity and competitive diversity came to be the foundations of the wests adaptability and its strength. China and Japan by contrast, built major civilisations, but compared to the west they were better at shutting off the outside world, declaring exterior territory and ideas out of bounds. Seeking to avoid challenges and change this way, they became weak and eventually succumbed to western strength. If the culture warriors complain that todays universities have institutes to study the Arab world or China or Buddhism or Australian Indigenes or whatever else irritates them, but none to study western civilisation, they should stop worrying. What is genuinely western, and more powerful, in all this is those very institutes: their outward orientation represents the power of western civilisation at work looking outward, studying, discovering and where useful, adapting, as our civilisation has always done. That is not to argue however that all is healthy in our universities. On the contrary, the culture warriors critique is worth hearing. A stultifying uniformity can overwhelm academia enforced by trends from different directions. One is a timorous left-wing conformism which at its worst actively silences alternative views. Another is the transformation of universities from institutions of higher learning into international brands which exist to sell expensive credentials of dubious worth. A family has been ordered to pay $660,000 to RACQ after a judge found their unlicensed son had been driving the family van when it crashed into a four-wheel-drive on North Stradbroke Island. The family, who moved to Australia from Taiwan in 2008, were on their way to the Blue Lake when their Toyota Tarago swerved into an oncoming 4WD in September 2013. The scene of the crash on North Stradbroke Island on September 25, 2013. Credit:RACQ CareFlight Rescue The crash left then-17-year-old Lien-Yang Lee with incurable partial tetraplegia. His two brothers, mother and father also suffered injuries as a result of the crash. The family lodged an insurance claim with RACQ Insurance Limited and were paid a sum of money. Former ATSIC deputy chairman "Sugar" Ray Robinson is due to face a committal hearing in a Queensland court, charged over the theft of cars, a bus, an earthmover and a tractor belonging to two indigenous corporations in late 2005. Robinson allegedly used the proceeds from their sale to fund his successful legal defence in a fraud trial in 2005. He appeared briefly on January 3 in the Charleville magistrates court, in the state's south-west. He faces two charges under the Criminal Code of abusing public office and two under the Commonwealth Authorities and Companies Act for using powers for improper purposes. Robinson says he will vigorously defend the charges. Almost 100 wedge-tailed eagles have been poisoned in Victoria's east. The eagle bodies were found on a farm in Tubbut in far East Gippsland last month, and fears are growing that more will be discovered in the coming weeks. A wedge-tailed eagle. It's understood three or four piles of the dead eagles were found on the rural property, along with the carcasses of four other protected bird species. If caught, those responsible for the slaughter face huge fines and possible jail time. A Sri Lankan man who threatened to set off a bomb on an international flight from Melbourne will serve at least nine years in jail. Manodh Marks, 26, forced Malaysia Airlines flight MH128 bound for Kuala Lumpur to turn back soon after take-off when he screamed that he had a bomb in May 2017. Manodh Marks after he was arrested at Tullamarine last year. Credit:AAP The visibly agitated, ice-fuelled Marks ran down the aisle of the Airbus A330 holding two electronic devices with flashing blue lights, saying he was going to blow up the plane. Marks, who was actually holding a speaker device and a power bank, was jailed for 12 years on Thursday with a minimum term of nine years. Staff at a milk bar have fought off a group bandits in an attempted armed robbery in Melbourne's north overnight. Police say four males stormed a milk bar on Victoria Street in Preston about 9pm. They jumped the counter and tried to steal cigarettes but staff fought back and managed to restrain a 17-year old boy. The other three young men fled the scene and remain on the run. A 54-year-old man, believed to be the owner of the milk bar, was taken to hospital with non-life threatening facial injuries. Another 31-year-old man, believed to be his son, was treated at the scene for minor facial injuries. A Reservoir teenager has been charged with armed robbery, intentionally cause injury, recklessly cause injury, and unlawful assault. He will appear at a childrens court at a later date. Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. Victorian parents will no longer need to wait until they reach the emergency room of the Royal Children's Hospital to know the kind of wait to expect before their children are seen, thanks to a new online tracker. The state government says the tracker, now available on a website, rates activity at the emergency department from normal to extremely busy at all times of day. Winter colds add to the burden at the hospital's emergency department. Credit:Darrian Traynor It's aimed at helping parents decide whether to take their sick children to a GP, their local hospital or the children's hospital emergency department, where patients with less serious cases can face long delays. Premier Daniel Andrews said the website was a "commonsense policy" that would remind parents that the Royal Children's was not the only hospital in Melbourne that could provide first-class paediatric care. A young Aboriginal man is suing the state government for placing him in solitary confinement in an adult prison for three months when he was 16 years old. Wonyarna Edwards and two other teenagers were transferred to the Charlotte Unit of Port Phillip Prison in 2012 after a staff member was stabbed in the neck and injured when the inmates tried to escape from the Parkville youth detention centre. Mr Edwards was in solitary confinement in Port Phillip for three months. A recent photo of Wonyarna Edwards, pictured with his grandmother. His lawyer, Jeremy King, of Robinson Gill, alleged Mr Edwards was kept in a cell for up to 23 hours a day and let out for an hour a day with his wrists in handcuffs. The Building Services Board has fined a Leschenault builder $5000 for negligence after an East Bunbury house experienced flooding and drainage issues due to its floor being built below the level specified in approved plans. Agostino Ietto, the nominated supervisor for Ietto West Developments, was ordered to pay the $5000 fine to the Building Commissioner over the 2015 build in which the finished floor level of the house was constructed below the level detailed on plans submitted to the City of Bunbury. The plans got the green light on the condition a minimum finished floor level in habitable rooms was 10.386 metres. This caveat was in place due to the propertys location on the Preston River flood plain, opening it up to the risk of flooding. After construction, surveying evidence revealed the floor level was built below what was outlined in the plans, which resulted in flooding and drainage problems during wet weather. A South West doctor will face court after being charged with sexually assaulting a patient. Bunbury detectives laid the charge following an investigation into an incident that happened in December 2017. The doctor will face court in Bunbury and has been stood down from his employment. Credit:Michel OSullivan Police will allege the man sexually assaulted a woman while she was being treated in hospital. The 48-year-old man has been charged with sexual penetration without consent. Mr Porter denied the laws were aimed at China and said the combined impact of the governments reforms could prevent the sort of election interference seen in the US two years ago and blamed on Russia. Theres an unprecedented level of foreign intelligence activity in Australia and that means more foreign agents and more foreign powers using more tradecraft and more technologies to engage in espionage and foreign interference and the attempted foreign influence of our democratic processes, Mr Porter said. And that increase in volume is detectable even in the period of time that this piece of legislation has been under consideration by the committee. While the bipartisan agreement was reached in principle and reported by Fairfax Media late last week, the outcome depended on talks over recent days between Mr Porter and Mr Hastie and the Labor side including Mr Byrne and Labor legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus. Mr Porter said the result meant the laws should be in place by the July 28 byelections, when about 500,000 voters will cast their ballots. Weve always considered that you want to have those laws in place to protect processes from foreign interference and foreign influence before major democratic process, he said. In a way that was somewhat unanticipated at the beginning of this process, we are now staring down five byelections which will be very critical to Australias democratic complexion. And it struck us that given the changes to the threat environment over the last six months and given that we are looking at five byelections in the very near future, it was utterly critical that the EFI Bill was passed. The debate over the new laws began late last year when Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull declared that foreign powers were trying to influence Australian affairs, prompting Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang to hit back with a warning. These groundless and unfounded remarks can sabotage China-Australia relations and are detrimental to the foundation of mutual trust and cooperation, Mr Shuang said. Mr Porter rejected claims the reforms were aimed at China. This bill is not about any single country other than Australia the bill is about making us, as an Australian free and open democratic society, resilient and protected from any attempts to influence or interfere with our democratic outcomes, he said in an interview. The only country this is about is Australia. Asked if the new laws would spare Australia from the election interference seen in the US and blamed on Russia, Mr Porter said it could do so if the EFI Bill was passed in concert with the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Bill. The two bills have been designed as a full court press, so together they are meant to cover the field of behaviours that are designed to interfered with and covertly influence our political and democratic system, he said. If one bill is passed without the other partner bill, then you dont cover the full court of behaviours that are trying to prevent, and influence and interference will move to the area that is least protected. So this EFI Bill being passed is a major if not colossal step forward in protecting our national security and our democratic system, but it must also be accompanied by the FITS Bill. Of the 60 recommendations, only 20 are considered substantial and six of those were revealed when the government introduced draft amendments in March to address claims of poor drafting with the original bill. The government appears likely to accept all 60 of the recommendations before the bill goes to debate in the parliament in the week beginning on June 18, with Mr Porter hoping to have it through the Senate on the Thursday of that week. The jail terms for many of the offences will be reduced from 10 to 7 years, but this does not go as far as meeting some demands for a cut to the penalties across all offences. As well, the government rejected the idea of inserting a good faith defence for the espionage offences, arguing that this would undermine the overall intent of the bill. The government acknowledged in March that it had gone too far with its original bill in punishing journalists who revealed secret information. The March amendments removed any requirement for journalists to demonstrate that their reporting was fair and accurate and it added a defence so that journalists would be spared if they could show they reasonably believed their conduct was in the public interest. Negotiations in recent days centred on whether that defence should not only apply to a journalist but to his or her editors and to any administrative staff involved. The new report sets out changes so that support staff are covered by the journalists reasonable belief but it will not cover editors, who will have to demonstrate their own reasonable belief that their conduct was in the public interest. As well, the head of the agency responsible for any documents obtained by journalists will have to certify that the material was secret, and the Attorney-General will have to consent to any prosecution. This stops short of the recommendation from media companies in recent months, urging parliament to withdraw the bill for a complete rewrite. Mr Dreyfus said the amendments made the bill more effective and ensured the law would achieve its intention of disrupting covert attempts to undermine Australias democratic system. At the same time, the amendments provide important protections for journalists, non-government organisations and charities, he said. The amendments also introduce new legislative safeguards which are appropriate when criminal laws are being extended. While the government had expressed frustration at the time taken to finalise the agreement in the months since it outlined its amendments in March, Mr Dreyfus emphasised the need to check the details. It gives the clearest indication yet of the biggest scandal to face the Australian military in years. Allegations of war crimes are the subject of an investigation by NSW judge Paul Brereton into the activities of Australias special forces in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2016. The Brereton investigation was prompted by the Crompvoets report. Previous efforts to obtain the Crompvoets report under FOI laws have been blocked. In a statement, the defence force said it took "all allegations about Australian Forces seriously" and that the Brereton inquiry, under the auspices of the Inspector General of the ADF, would make "recommendations" about how to deal with any substantiated allegations of war crimes. Dr Samantha Crompvoets, a consultant to the defence department. Credit:https://www.theroadhome.com.au/ "The IGADF Afghanistan Inquiry has, for some time, been aware of allegations of significant issues involving the Special Operations Task Group in Afghanistan, which are within the scope of the Inquiry," the statement said. Those interviewed by the Crompvoets inquiry include defence top brass, influential officials from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, federal police officers, public servants from the department of foreign affairs and spy agency ASIO and others at ministerial level. But Dr Crompvoets wrote that it was defence and special forces insiders who provided the more troubling instances of dysfunction, concealment and command failure. The testimony of insiders They described an organisation rift [sic] by internal tensions and rivalry (especially between SASR and commando units), a pattern of elitist/condescending behaviours towards support personnel, perceptions of senior leadership failure and cover-ups real or imagined, and misdemeanours or more serious offences in the field, as well as a culture of drug and alcohol abuse, the report says. There is no doubt that there are major issues of morale and performance involved at the least. The Crompvoets inquiry acknowledges the impressive capability of the special forces to conduct sensitive and dangerous operations, but contrasts the image of the special forces portrayed to the Australian public with a darker, internal perspective that includes unverifiable accounts of extremely serious breaches of accountability and trust on overseas operations and within Australia. Some of these related to policy, process and governance failure like loss of weapons, unacceptable WHS [Workplace Health and Safety] practices, poor audit results, injudicious and wasteful practices in resources management, less than transparent or compliant acquisition practices, the report says. Even more concerning were allusions to behaviour and practices involving abuse of drugs and alcohol, domestic violence, unsanctioned and illegal application of violence on operations and the perception of a complete lack of accountability at times. 'Horrendous things' The report removes the name of special forces interviewees several of whom provided candid accounts on condition of confidentiality but includes excerpts of their testimony. An interviewee described as an SOF [special operations forces] insider told Dr Crompvoets that "I know there were over the last 15 years some horrendous things. Some just disgraceful things happened in Kabul ... very bad news, or just inappropriate behaviour, but it was pretty much kept under wraps. Australian special forces troops arrive back at base after a mission in Oruzgan province in Afghanistan. Credit:Department of Defence Another SOF insider told Dr Crompvoets of a cover-up culture dedicated to protecting people. Dr Crompvoets said others felt there was a deep impediment to change because of the extent to which leaders with SOF backgrounds, highly placed through the SOF and beyond, were compromised by their own participation or complicity in problematic behaviours of the past. A senior government official told Dr Crompvoets that former special forces leaders have told me to 'watch [current leaders]' ... its alarming that's their view. You think 'what the hell is going on in there?'". The report found the significant consequence of the dysfunctional relationship between the east coast-based Commandos and Perth-based SASR seems to be erosion in, and sub optimal delivery of SOF capability outcomes to Defence and ultimately Government. One person interviewed disclosed that despite working with the Commandos and the SASR, ridiculously, I am not allowed to tell the West [SAS] about what we are doing here and the West don't want the East [Commandos] to know what they are doing. Anyone can clearly see, if they collaborated, there would be huge capability gains and efficiencies." Another informant who was debriefed by Dr Crompvoets described the undermining of training exercises, including the joint US-Australian Talisman Saber event. Some just disgraceful things happened in Kabul ... very bad news A special operations insider The serious internal cultural problems revealed in this report present major challenges for SOCOMD [Special Operations Command] and will resist simple or cosmetic solutions, the report concludes. Wellington: A New Zealand company that exported replacement aircraft parts for a plane later spotted in North Korea painted in military colours has been fined almost $NZ75,000 ($68,850). Pacific Aerospace pleaded guilty in October to breaching United Nations sanctions for indirectly exporting the replacement parts to the hermit country on three occasions, in what is thought to be only one of two prosecutions ever of its kind anywhere. A P-750 XSTOL by Pacific Aerospace. Releasing the sentencing on Thursday, Auckland Judge John Bergseng called the breach "reckless". The charges came after a Pacific Aerospace single-engined P-750 XSTOL was spotted at North Korea's first pubic air show in September 2016. The Hague: Dutch Queen Maxima and King Willem-Alexander will travel to Buenos Aires for the funeral of the queen's younger sister, Ines Zorreguieta, the royal palace in The Hague says. Only the closest family members will attend the funeral, which will take place on Saturday or Sunday, Dutch broadcaster NOS reported. Ines Zorreguieta (second from left back row), sister of Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, has died in Argentina. Also shown in this family picture taken on the baptism of Princess Ariane in 2007 are (front row) Queen Maxima with Princess Ariane on her lap, King Willem-Alexander (centre right), and their daughters Princess of Orange Catharina-Amalia (left) and Princess Alexia (right). (Top row from left) Tijo Baron Collot d'Escury, Ines Zorreguieta, Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume of Luxembourg, Valeria Delger and Antoine Friling. Credit:AP Zorreguieta died late on Wednesday, aged 33, a palace spokeswoman announced earlier. The spokeswoman said the death was a "suspected suicide". Zorreguieta's body was found in her flat in Buenos Aires, the Argentinian news agency Telam reported. When French President Emmanuel Macron was pressed to comment on a CNN report describing a recent call with President Donald Trump as "terrible" on Monday, he did exactly that - going back a century in time to come up with a rather odd analogy. Berlin: How do you know that a bromance is over? Quite possibly, when one side starts talking about sausage factories when referring to their recent phone conversations. "As Bismarck used to say, if we explained to people how sausages were made, it's unlikely they'd keep eating them," Macron said according to Reuters, referring to 19th-century Prussian leader Otto von Bismarck. "So I like it when people see the finished meal, but I'm not convinced the kitchen commentary helps with delivering the meal or eating it." Macron's remarks suggest that his call with Trump last week may have been even more rancorous than the readouts provided by the French government and the White House in which Macron is quoted as calling Trump's trade tariffs "illegal." French president Emmanuel Macron Credit:Bloomberg Since his state visit to Washington, Macron has warned twice that Trump's moves could result in war: first, when Trump withdrew from the Iran deal, and again on Thursday after the president imposed tariffs on close US allies, including France. "Economic nationalism leads to war. This is exactly what happened in the 1930s," the French president said. While Macron's sausage analogy on Monday could be understood as yet another sign of his weakening ties to Trump, the French president was in fact trying to make the opposite point. Since assuming power, he has cracked down on leaks and adopted a more sceptical approach to the media than his predecessor, socialist President Francois Hollande. The content of calls with foreign leaders, Macron implied, shouldn't become public. London: The US has asked the UK to use its nuclear expertise to help dismantle North Koreas arsenal, Britains foreign secretary Boris Johnson says. The revelation came from an audio recording of a closed-door dinner meeting of an influential Conservative activists group, which Johnson was addressing. Boris Johnson, Britian's foreign secretary Credit:Bloomberg The recording was leaked to Buzzfeed. Johnson is likely to face scrutiny over why he was divulging such sensitive material to the group, Conservative Way Forward, which says it was founded in 1991 to build upon the achievements of our founding president Lady Margaret Thatcher and to adapt her values to British life today. Bob Murray, chief executive of Ohio-based Murray Energy, sent the Trump administration drafts of executive orders for withdrawing from the Paris climate accord, according to documents obtained by E&E News. All the President had to do was sign them. The orders also would have rolled back coal regulations established under the Obama administration that Murray thought were a burden to his industry. There's no indication President Trump signed the orders and industry often gets involved with helping US legislators and administrations write policy, but the documents released on Wednesday reveal the extent of the energy CEO's efforts to get rid of environmental regulations on his industry. E&E News, an environment and energy industry publication, obtained the documents under the US Freedom of Information Act. Letter to shareholders First Cobalt Posted by Publisher Internet Dear Investor: I am excited to mark the beginning of a new chapter for First Cobalt and I am delighted to welcome former US Cobalt shareholders to the Company. The global fleet of electric vehicles grew 54% in 2017, however this only represents a little over 1% of global vehicle sales. The EV revolution is still in its infancy, yet cobalt production is in a deficit position and is projected to remain there for several years. Assertions that cobalt could soon be eliminated altogether from electric vehicles are simply wrong. We are indeed moving towards an era of lower cobalt content per vehicle, but this has positive implications for cobalt producers as it lowers the price of the battery packs which in turn will accelerate mass adoption of EVs over combustion engines. Benchmark Mineral Intelligence forecasts that cobalt density in EVs will decrease by 60% from 2017-2026 and yet total cobalt EV demand will increase more than 300% as more people opt for electric vehicles. Miners are now playing catch up and success will come to the first movers who have the right team, in the right jurisdiction, with the right assets. Over the past year, four cobalt companies have come together under the First Cobalt banner to create a vertically integrated, North American pure play cobalt company with assets in two of the best jurisdictions in the world ? Idaho and Ontario. First Cobalt has demonstrated an ability to act swiftly to build a company that can deliver meaningful cobalt supply and shareholder value in this rapidly moving cobalt environment. As we move into the second half of 2018, some key milestones you can look forward to include: Iron Creek Project (Idaho, USA) ? The Iron Creek Project has a historic mineral resource estimate (non-compliant with NI 43-101*) of 1.3M tons grading 0.59% cobalt. A new resource estimate is underway based on 2017 drilling and the success of that drill campaign was key to our decision to acquire US Cobalt. We have now commenced a more ambitious drill program aimed at doubling the strike length of the known cobalt mineralization to 900 metres by the end of 2018, which will support an updated mineral resource estimate and provide us with a better understanding of the size of potential future operations. Mineralization identified to date is contained within patented property, which is advantageous for permitting. As we continue to build our team, we will share with you details of metallurgical work and other critical path items. First Cobalt Refinery (Ontario, Canada) ? First Cobalt owns the only permitted cobalt refinery in North America capable of producing battery materials. This is significant because most cobalt in North America is found with high arsenic, which our refinery was designed to treat ? unlike cobalt refineries found elsewhere in the world. We recently initiated a study for a restart and expansion of the facility, which has been in a state of care and maintenance for three years. The refinery has the potential to treat feed material from First Cobalt?s own projects, historic muckpile material in the Cobalt Camp, third party concentrates and recycled material ? creating a North American supply of cobalt sulfate for the electric vehicle market. Cobalt Camp (Ontario, Canada) ? First Cobalt controls almost half of the historic Canadian Cobalt Camp, with more than 50 past producing mines over 100 km2. Early in our 2018 drill program, we identified a mineralized zone near Kerr Lake that now extends for over 350m. The goal is to assess near-surface mineralization that could be amenable to open pit mining. These are early days for a mining camp that has been largely forgotten for over 60 years and the upside potential from this camp is significant. The strategy heading into 2018 was to (1) grow through strategic acquisition, (2) create shareholder value through exploration and (3) capitalize on early cash flow opportunities. We have certainly achieved meaningful growth through the acquisition of Iron Creek and we continue to have exploration success in both jurisdictions. The refinery is key to realizing early cash flow opportunities and we continue to assess our options for this asset. First Cobalt is well positioned to benefit from the strong cobalt market as it builds a vertically integrated, North American cobalt company. As a shareholder, my goal is to make First Cobalt the ?go to? name for exposure to the cobalt space. I believe we offer everything that investors are looking for: Industry Leading Team Vertically Integrated, North American Cobalt Assets Pathway to Primary Cobalt Production On behalf of the First Cobalt team, I would like to thank you for your support. I will continue to work tirelessly for your interests, as I truly believe that our best days are ahead of us. Regards, Trent Mell President & CEO Alleged Cryptocurrency Scammer Zeeshan Najeeb Claims to be Victim of Identity Theft and Not Knowing McAfee SINGAPORE, June 7, 2018 (Media OutReach) Block Asia has been investigating a scam incident in the cryptocurrency industry involving millions of dollars. On the latest breaking developments, Block Asia managed to get in touch with Zeeshan Najeeb, who is allegedly linked to several scams in the cryptocurrency sector. Read the full news on Block Asia via this portal: https://bit.ly/2kXC1CJ Block Asia positioned itself as an activist in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry which is currently tarnished by various frauds and many individuals have fallen victims to these scams. Block Asia seeks the crypto community to get in touch with us for any tip-off of scams or fraudulent activity. Block Asia official website is http://www.blockasia.io Follow Block Asia Twitter at https://twitter.com/Block_asia or @block_asia for updates on the latest breaking news in the blockchain & cryptocurrency industry. Twitter & Telegram : @block_asia Media Contact: KC Chua Chuajr.ken@blockasia.io You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close On hand when Lowcountry Preparatory School received STEM certification were, back row from left, Kristie Rhoades, LaDan Brown, Larry Watt, Scott Gibson, Blake Errico, Anne Hackett Little and Rebecca Schroeder; and front row, Emma Rusnak and Mary Thurlow. HELSINKI, Finland China on Tuesday launched the Fengyun-2H weather satellite, successfully inserting the near 1.4-metric-ton spacecraft into a geostationary-transfer orbit. The Long March 3A launch vehicle lifted off from Launch Complex 3 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China at 09:07 a.m. Eastern, in accordance with airspace closure notices published days in advance. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) announced success of the launch just under an hour after liftoff. [China's Space Program: The Latest Launches and Mission News] Fengyun-2H is the eighth and final of the Fengyun-2 series of spin-stabilized weather satellites for geostationary orbit, development of which began in the 1980s under CASC. The satellite is equipped with a Stretched Visible and Infrared Spin Scan Radiometer (S-VISSR) for multi-purpose weather satellite imagery, a Space Environment Monitor (SEM), a Solar X-ray Monitor (SXM) and Data Collection Service (DCS). Fengyun-2H weather satellite undergoing testing. (Image credit: CASC) Fengyun-2H is designed with a lifetime of at least four years and will be positioned at 79 degrees East, after on-orbit testing at 86.5 degrees East. It will be operated by the National Satellite Meteorological Center (NSMC) of the China Meteorological Administration (CMA). A second generation of much larger, more capable three-axis stabilized geostationary meteorological satellites, named the Fengyun-4 series, are currently under development. The first of these, Fengyun-4A, was launched in December 2016. Tuesday's launch was the 17th Chinese launch of 2018 overall, following the Gaofen-6 remote-sensing satellite mission which lifted off from Jiuquan on Saturday. It was the first mission from Xichang since the launch of the Chang'e-4 lunar communications relay satellite into trans-lunar injection on May 20. CASC is planning a potential 36 launches in 2018, and emerging non-government launch providers could take China's number of orbital launches to over 40 for the year. Xichang, which is mainly used for launches to geostationary transfer orbit, could see as many as 17 launches this year, mostly of Beidou navigation and positioning satellites, which China is linking to its Belt and Road Initiative. A new pair of Beidou satellites are likely to be next on the pad at Xichang, with a Long March 3B and Yuanzheng-1 upper stage to loft them into medium earth orbits in late June. June could also see the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China host the launch of a pair of remote sensing satellite for Pakistan. This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry. Russia's Space Centers Marina Lystseva/TASS/Getty Russia has been a powerhouse in space exploration since the Space Age began. In 1961, the nation (then known as the Soviet Union) rocketed Yuri Gagarin into space, marking the first human to venture into orbit. Today, the country still launches astronauts from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, and it hosts crews on its part of the International Space Station. Here's a brief tour of some of the main Russian locations in spaceflight. FIRST STOP: Mission Control Center Moscow Mission Control Moscow NASA Like NASA's famous Mission Control in Houston, the Russians also have their own facility called the RKA Mission Control Center (abbreviated as TsUP). Today it is one of the centers of control for the International Space Station, and it also manages flight control for human spaceships (such as Soyuz) or cargo ships (such as Progress). In past years, it also was responsible for control of the Mir space station. The memorial control room is still on site.NEXT: Star City Star City/Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center NASA Star City is a zone just outside of the city of Moscow where cosmonauts have trained for spaceflight since the 1960s. However, operations are opened up to westerners after the fall of the Soviet Union. Today, multinational crews for the International Space Station work together there for months or years ahead of their spaceflights. The zone is so large that it hosts a railway station, a museum and several facilities for the families living there. It also has the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, which includes facilities such as spacecraft mockups and parabolic aircraft to simulate the microgravity of spaceflight. Astronauts also perform survival training in the forests surrounding Moscow. NEXT: Baikonur Cosmodrome Baikonur Cosmodrome NASA This is where human spaceflight began. On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin rocketed into space from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which was then located in the Soviet Union. Its location wasn't disclosed to the western world until years later. But in recent years, much has changed. Baikonur's nationality changed to Kazakhstan after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. The Russians now lease Baikonur for $115 million USD, and people carrying Russian visas are permitted to enter the area. Baikonur also started hosting western crews in the 1990s, when the shuttle-Mir program was created. The first NASA astronaut (Norman Thagard) to blast off from Baikonur did so in 1995. These days, NASA astronauts go to space from Baikonur a few times a year. That's because the Russian Soyuz spacecraft are the only option for NASA to bring its astronauts to space right now, since the space shuttle was retired in 2011. New American commercial crew vehicles are forthcoming, however. NEXT: Baikonur City Baikonur City NASA The town of Baikonur (formerly known as Tyuratam) is a unique mix of Kazakh citizens and Russian officials there to work on the space program. Some media outlets have reported troubles with working conditions and drugs, and in 2017 a worker from Russia's NPO Mashinostroyenia rocket and space company died due to a rocket stage-induced brush fire in the nearby desert and drop zone. However, relations with Russia persist in large part because the local economy is so dependent on the space program. In May 2018, Russia transferred part of the Baikonur territory to Kazakhstan, but Kazakhstan will still use Russian space technology for its operations. NEXT: Plesetsk Cosmodrome Plesetsk Cosmodrome Roscosmos Plesetsk is located about 800 km (500 miles) north of Moscow, and is commonly used to launch polar-orbiting satellites from Russia. The site was originally an ICBM launching area for the R-7. Activity picked up at this site in the 2000s, after the Baikonur Cosmodrome was moved into Kazakhstan territory with the end of the Soviet Union. Nearby Plesetsk is a residential area called Mirny (peaceful) that is nearby the railway station that supplies the area. Plesetsk was originally intended for Zenit and Angara launch rockets, but ultimately the decision was made to focus on the Angara launch vehicle. NEXT: Vostochny Cosmodrome Vostochny Cosmodrome Marina Lystseva/TASS/Getty In 2007, Russian president Vladimir Putin approved the construction of a new cosmodrome in the east of Russia, called Vostochny. Funds followed for construction in 2009. The ultimate goal was to bring more rockets into space from Russian space soil once again (which is something that had been discussed since the fall of the Soviet Union.) The expected construction budget was $7.5 billion USD, with work to finish in 2018. Construction was marred by reports of spaceport workers not being paid, but Putin eventually pledged to personally oversee the construction. The complex has hosted three launches as of 2018, and more are expected in the coming years.NEXT: Russia's ISS Segment Russian Segment of International Space Station NASA Russia also has a major space destination on the International Space Station. The Russian Orbital Segment is responsible for guidance, navigation and control for the entire space station. Russia also has five modules, called Zarya (sunrise), Zvezda (star), Pirs (pier), Poisk (search) and Rassvet (dawn). In 2015, a report from Anatoly Zak in Air&Space Smithsonian described the conditions on the Russian side of the station. The Russians used to have a background buzz in their modules, and occasionally the Russian space agency (Roscosmos) barters for electricity and other items with NASA. The Russian crews have less science work to perform than those from other partner nations, but this does mean more time for Earth observations and spare-time activities. If you're holding out hope that Mars may have once been an inhabited world, two new studies should put a little spring in your step. NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has identified a variety of organic molecules, the carbon-based building blocks of life as we know it, in 3.5-billion-year-old Red Planet rocks, one of the papers reports. "These results do not give us any evidence of life," stressed study lead author Jennifer Eigenbrode, a scientist at the Solar System Exploration Division at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. [The Search for Life on Mars: A Photo Timeline] "But there is a possibility that [the organics] are from an ancient life source; we just don't know," Eigenbrode told Space.com. "And even if life was never around, they [the molecules] tell us there was at least something around for organisms to eat." NASA's Curiosity Mars rover took this self-portrait on Jan. 23, 2018, on the slopes of the towering Mount Sharp. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS) The other new paper also details a Curiosity find: that methane concentrations in Mars' atmosphere cycle seasonally. The discovery suggests that this gas, which here on Earth is produced primarily by living organisms, is seeping out from underground reservoirs, study team members said. Again, these results are not evidence of life methane can also be produced by geological processes but they are consistent with the presence of Martian organisms, which is exciting in and of itself. "We cannot rule out the possibility that it was created biologically," said study lead author Chris Webster, a senior research fellow at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. "We can't say that it was, but we're certainly not dropping that idea. So, in a sense, that's positive for the astrobiologists in the world." Both new studies were published online today (June 7) in the journal Science. The building blocks of life The serious hunt for organics on Mars has a long and complicated history. It starts with NASA's twin Viking landers, which touched down on different parts of the Red Planet in 1976 to search for signs of life. The Vikings' science payload included an instrument called a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer (GCMS), which heated Martian soil and studied the molecules that boiled off. While the Vikings' life-hunting experiments returned intriguing but ambiguous results, the GCMS found no organics. Indeed, the instrument spotted little of note, save for two chlorinated chemicals chloromethane and dichloromethane that were thought to be contaminants from Earth. This result convinced most scientists at the time that Mars is a dead planet; life as we know it is impossible without organic molecules, after all. But that thinking began to shift a bit in 2008, when NASA's Phoenix lander found chlorine-containing chemicals called perchlorates in the Martian soil. Some researchers noted that perchlorates can destroy organics in a heated sample, and suggested that such reactions may have been responsible for the Vikings' null GCMS result. In 2011, this hypothesis got some experimental backing. In a lab here on Earth, researchers heated perchlorate-spiked soil and spotted chloromethane and dichloromethane boiling out of the sample. Then, Curiosity came onto the scene. The rover touched down inside Mars' huge Gale Crater in August 2012, kicking off a quest to determine if the Red Planet has ever been capable of supporting microbial life. Curiosity mission scientists quickly answered that question in the affirmative, finding that Gale hosted a long-lived, potentially habitable lake-and-stream system billions of years ago. [Photos: Ancient Mars Lake Could Have Supported Life] The rover also found organics in relatively short order, using its Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument. SAM identified chlorinated hydrocarbons, such as chlorobenzene and dichlorobutane, in powdered samples drilled out of rock at a spot called Yellowknife Bay, which is near Curiosity's landing site. The discovery confirmed the existence of native Martian organics. It was tough to know their full story, however, given the seeming ubiquity of perchlorates in the red dirt. For example, did these chlorinated compounds exist as-is in the rock, or were they created from other indigenous organics in a reaction inside SAM, which also heats its samples? "We were a bit puzzled; we weren't sure what those molecules really meant in the bigger picture of the search for life," Eigenbrode said. "But it gave us a lot of anticipation that, if we can find these molecules here, perhaps we're going to come across other layers of rock that have more organics in them. And that's exactly what happened." Climbing the mountain In July 2013, Curiosity left the Yellowknife Bay area and started heading for Mount Sharp, the 3.4-mile-high (5.5 kilometers) mountain that rises from Gale's center. The six-wheeled robot made it to Mount Sharp's base 14 months later, then set to studying its environs. In the new study, Eigenbrode and her colleagues looked closely at SAM's analyses of samples from the first two Mount Sharp rocks Curiosity drilled powder collected from targets called Confidence Hills and Mojave in September 2014 and February 2015, respectively. The researchers considered only the gases that boiled off at temperatures greater than 930 degrees Fahrenheit (500 degrees Celsius) high enough to take possible perchlorate reactions out of the mix. They found several new organics, as well as a number of molecules that are probably fragments of much larger carbon-containing compounds. The new observations increase the inventory of known Mars organics and "are more consistent with what we would expect if the organics were from life, from meteorites or from geological processes," Eigenbrode said. SAM's measurements also suggest that the concentration of organic carbon in the drilled rocks is hundreds of parts per million, she added. "When you get up to that level, now we're approaching the abundances of carbon that we find in rocks of similar age here on Earth," she said. "So the expectation is, if the stuff here on Earth was largely biological around 3 billion years ago, then there's a consistency there. But it doesn't really tell you anything specific. It's just, OK it's not weird; it's not anomalous." [Ancient Mars Lakes & Laser Blasts: Curiosity Rover's 10 Biggest Moments in 1st 5 Years] Methane mystery Astrobiologists are also keen to better understand the distribution of methane in Mars' air, because the stuff is a potential "biosignature" gas. This is tough to do using Earth-based instruments, because there's a lot of methane in our planet's atmosphere about 1,850 parts per billion (ppb) to complicate matters. So the new study led by Webster presents some landmark results. He and his colleagues report baseline atmospheric methane concentrations over about five Earth years, as measured by Curiosity's Tunable Laser Spectrometer (TLS) instrument. Gale Crater's levels are representative of the Red Planet as a whole, Webster said, given how much mixing goes on in Mars' air. The researchers found that these concentrations ranged a great deal, from a low of about 0.24 ppb to a maximum of 0.65 ppb. And the variation is seasonal, with the peak coming near the end of the northern hemisphere's summer. This strong seasonality rules out meteorites or infalling dust as the primary source, Webster said. He and his team instead think the methane is leaking continuously from underground reservoirs and then getting bound to soil particles when it reaches the surface. During warmer weather, more of the methane is freed from these particles and released into the air. Methane gets destroyed by ultraviolet light within a few hundred years of the gas's appearance in Mars' atmosphere, so the stuff Curiosity detected must have been emitted relatively recently. But that doesn't mean those particular molecules formed recently, Webster said. "These underground reservoirs they can be made up of old methane, ancient methane, or they can be made up of modern, or new, methane that's being created today," he told Space.com. "We can't distinguish that." Nor does the team know the methane's origin, Webster stressed. It could be produced by microbes, but geological processes namely, the reaction of hot water with certain types of rock are also a possibility. And the new study deals only with background levels of Mars methane; it doesn't offer any significant insight into one-off surges of the stuff, such as the spike to 7 ppb that Curiosity observed over a few weeks from late 2013 to early 2014. This illustration shows the ways in which methane from the Martian subsurface might find its way to the surface, where its uptake and release could produce a large seasonal variation in the atmosphere as observed by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech) Getting some answers The Mars-methane picture could get clearer in the relatively near future. The Trace Gas Orbiter part of the European-led ExoMars program recently began sniffing the Red Planet's air from above, in an effort to map global concentrations of methane and other gases. "The big question is, will they see plumes or patches or spikes?" Webster said. "If they could tell us there's a region of Mars where the methane seems to be coming from, that would be huge. Now we can direct future missions in that direction." For example, the life-hunting ExoMars rover, which is scheduled to launch in 2020, could be sent to sample such a source. The rover might be able to get a carbon-isotope measurement, which would go a long way toward revealing the gas's origin. (Biologically produced methane here on Earth is depleted in the heavier carbon-13 isotope, which contains one more neutron in its nucleus than the "normal" carbon-12 atom.) Curiosity could theoretically make such a measurement as well, Webster said, but the ExoMars rover's TLS instrument will be more sensitive than Curiosity's. Future missions will also take advantage of the new study by Eigenbrode and her team, Curiosity project scientist Ashwin Vasavada said. "This gives us a really important insight into how organic molecules can be preserved over time, and what types might be better preserved than others," Vasavada, who's based at JPL, told Space.com. (Vasavada is a co-author of the new methane study but not the organics one.) Curiosity's results show that lake beds are good collectors and concentrators of organics, he and Eigenbrode said. So an ancient lake wouldn't be a bad place to send a life-hunting rover, such as the ExoMars vehicle or the Mars 2020 rover, which NASA plans to launch two years from now. "What this does, at the very least, is increase our confidence that there will be something to find with those future missions," Vasavada said, referring to interesting organics. Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com. Every job, from summers spent lifeguarding or sweeping up popcorn to your first real desk job, has led you to where you are today. Without building relationships at each of those workplaces, you wouldnt have developed the skills or network to help you move on to a better position. But you left those jobs for a reason -- and youre better off for it. The Faas Foundation and Mental Health America's Workplace Healthy Survey agrees. Results showed that employees who spoke poorly about their workplaces were more likely to have less healthy work environments, especially in terms of rewards and support from leadership. But even if you don't love the day-to-day experience, the key to leaving your job the right way is to move on with the right attitude. Moving on from a less-than-stellar workplace without burning any bridges is the surest way to build a solid career. But you have to know how to handle yourself. Heres how to make the connections you need in order to create the future you want. Related: The 4 Signs It's Time to Quit Your Day Job 1. Give 100 percent through your last day. If you want to start your own company, dont quit your day job until youve built the foundation you need. Set a number or a financial milestone that will serve as your sign to jump ship and make your side hustle your full-time endeavor. Its not unusual to see an entrepreneur quit a job and regret it soon after. Maintaining a regular job lets you keep benefits you might not be considering -- think networking opportunities, a steady income and health insurance, to name just a few. Want to see this in action? Look no further than Jeff Bezos' experience at hedge fund D.E. Shaw. Bezos started there during the company's early years, and he quickly rose to the position of vice president. Part of his job was to research internet-based business opportunities -- and there, the entrepreneurial bug bit. Bezos started building Amazon from the ground up, and his D.E. Shaw connections were critical. He reached out to programmers associated with one of the company's partners, and from there, he was able to hire his first employee. His good work and experience at D.E. Shaw helped him seal that deal. Related: 15 Signs You Might Be Ready to Start Your Own Business 2. Cultivate lasting relationships. Each experience you have is pushing you toward your ultimate goal, regardless of whether that seems true in the moment. The relationships you create with colleagues, bosses and subordinates can be the big break you need. The connections I had built paved the way for me to move on and move up. In the early days of my company, for example, some of my prospective clients were very well-known brands. These brands had never heard of me, but my former colleagues were always available to serve as references, validating my credentials and helping me solidify new contracts. Lead by example. When its time to sell your services, your colleagues will remember the skills and leadership you have shown over the years and will back you up with confidence. Related: Relationships Are What Leverages Hard Work Into Success 3. Let your peers know you appreciate them. You cant expect colleagues to stick their necks out for you if you dont put yourself out there for them, too. Make your colleagues look good; your professional relationships should be beneficial for all parties involved. Position your co-workers as rock stars, and make sure your praise reaches the bosss ears. In addition to creating stronger relationships, creating a culture of peer-to-peer praise can benefit companies as well. At JetBlue, employees are encouraged to submit positive reviews of their co-workers to a companywide program that rewards individuals for great performance. Those recognized receive points to either save up toward larger rewards or spend right away. Data from JetBlue shows that as more employees report being recognized, employee retention and engagement also increase. It's a win-win. Not every job is a dream job, but every job can help lead you to the career you want. The key is to focus on creating warm relationships with your co-workers and higher-ups, not on lighting a match to burn a bridge on your way out. Follow these three tips to make sure that the job you have now is priming you for your journey to the top. Related: How to Quit Your Job the Right Way Is It Time for You to Leave Your Job? Why You Shouldn't Quit Your Job to Start a Business Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved For what its worth ... I guess the city establishment expects us to stand up and cheer at the news that Stamford is only a handful of residents away from overtaking New Haven as the second most populous city In Connecticut. Whats next? Overtaking Bridgeport, the states most populous city, whose mayor is a convicted felon? Here in Developers City, the establishment, including the mayors administration, has always seemed to equate bigger with better. I think quality of life is far more important than a citys population. What has an ever-increasing population of around 130,000, meant for Stamford? How about daylong rush-hour traffic, schools bursting at the seams, rutted and pot-holed streets, too many new luxury apartment buildings, higher taxes, a strain on city services and the overcrowding of perhaps the citys greatest treasures, its beaches. The big question is not so much whether bigger is better, but when is enough enough (people and development). I think weve long since passed that point Why did the city allow Building & Land Technology to arbitrarily and brazenly change the name of my old neighborhood to Harbor Point after this historic part of town has been known as the South End for more than 200 years? To former and present residents, its still the South End, while Harbor Point is a small segment at the southern tip of the peninsula. But then thats the same serial zoning violator that hoodwinked the city into permitting the establishment of a small boatyard in Waterside rather than replacing the much larger one it illegally destroyed and was obligated to replace in, yes, the South End. Hey, if youre a developer in Stamford, anything goes. With all due respect to Stamfords excellent police force, theres something wrong when 88 of the citys top-100 municipal wage earners are cops earning at least $195,000, most of it in overtime. I dont begrudge cops for directing traffic alongside highway work crews when they can make $67 an hour under a union contract that permits only officers to do so, often on scorching summer days. I dont think that in an emergency many Stamfordites would like to have to rely on a cop who has worked for, say, 16 straight hours. The argument by the city is that such overtime makes it unnecessary to hire additional officers whose hiring would mean the payment of thousands of dollars in additional benefits. Thats a specious argument since, as Deputy Chief Jim Matheny told me Wednesday, the department currently has 273 officers, compared with slightly more than 300 in the early 1990s. Thats a sizable difference since the city has since grown considerably. The best-kept secret in Stamford is the wonderful exhibit at the Stamford Historical Society on High Ridge Road that pays tribute to the long and colorful history of the Stamford Fire Department. The exhibit, curated by Dan Burke, appropriately enough the son of a former fireman, includes a cornucopia of Stamford firefighters equipment of long-ago such as helmets, primitive breathing masks, heavy leather outer coats, axes and hoses, along with scores of breathtaking photos of firemen battling fires that destroyed the first town hall in 1904; both the early-day St. Johns Episcopal and Presbyterian churches; a building at the Yale & Towne complex; Cloonan School on Henry Street; Burdick School on Forest Street; the G.T. Murphy 5 & 10 Cent store on Atlantic Street; the sprawling Cove Mills on Cove Island and more than a score of other buildings. In addition, there are photos of hand-pulled and horse-drawn fire wagons, early day steam-powered apparatus, which became available in the 1880s, and of dalmatians that rode atop fire engines for many years after being made firehouse pets to ward off other dogs that tended to spook horses pulling fire apparatus. A long list of clippings from the Advocate reveal there were far more major fires and more injuries to firefighters in long-ago years than there are today, even though Stamford had less than half of its current population. Burke speculates it was because smoke detectors were not yet available (they did not become widely used until the 1950s), and due to exposure to smoke and flames while battling fires on extension ladders without oxygen masks, which were not put into use until after World War II. Some names of the citys early day firemen such as Hoyt and Scofield resonate. The exhibit, which can be seen Thursdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., will run until the last week of this month. It is well worth a visit and a delightful trip down Memory Lane. Jack Cavanaugh, a Stamford-born resident and an Advocate columnist, is a veteran print and network reporter, a college professor and the author of six books. S ome of the Citys biggest names drawn from industries from financial services to advertising are to decide the winners for this years Evening Standard Business Awards. A 10-strong panel will decided the victors in the awards taking place later this month which recognise Londons biggest business success stories. Jayne-Anne Gadhia, chief executive of Virgin Money, returns to the panel, alongside outsourcer Capitas chairman Sir Ian Powell and advertising group Publicis chief Annette King. They are joined by Matchesfashion chief Ulric Jerome, Grant Thornton boss Sacha Romanovitch, Viswas Raghavan of JPMorgan, Index Ventures Jan Hammer and Rosaleen Blair, founder of recruiter Alexander Mann, as well as Evening Standard editor George Osborne and City editor Jim Armitage. The panel will decide on the most innovative companies in everything from property to tech. The business of the year category is set to be hotly contested, with Tesco, Melrose, JD Sports, IAG, Fever-Tree and Glencore vying for the top gong. The Evening Standard Business Awards, in association with Esme, will be held at Guildhall on June 27. S o, a summer bid war for Sky looms, say bankers and hedge funds, licking their lips. Thats the City hope after Culture Secretary Matt Hancock cleared Rupert Murdochs 21st Century Foxs deal to buy Sky. (Hed already okayed a rival offer from Comcast.) So heres where we are, for those of you at the back struggling to keep up:Fox and Comcast are bidding for Sky. Disney is in turn bidding for most of Fox, including Sky. Comcast is pondering a counter-offer for Fox, which would include getting Sky. What happens now? No one knows, but lets speculate. Liberum reckons Fox comes back with a higher offer for Sky of perhaps 1375p a share, topping Comcasts 1250p bid. Comcast retaliates. Maybe. That 1250p-a-share bid puts a floor on the price. Sky will go for at least that a price investors would have died for only a year ago, lets not forget. Murdoch might be annoyed at Comcasts intervention, but he remains a committed buyer of Sky. He needs it, so he can sell it on to Disney. One of the questions that arises: how much does Disney really want to buy Sky? Unlike Comcast, its a content company, not a cable business. It can still sell its wares to Sky/Comcast later. Any auction for Sky is in the end paid for by Disney, which might be inclined to tell Murdoch and Comcasts Brian Roberts to stop engaging in one-upmanship and come to some sort of agreement. The nightmare scenario for Disney is this: for Fox to win Sky, it has to sell Sky News to Disney, which in turn has to agree to fund it for 10 years. Since Sky News loses 25 million a year, thats a 250 million cheque it has to write, with the chance that at the end, the bit of Sky it really wants is owned by Comcast. It cant have that outcome, so if it looks likely a very angry Mickey Mouse does something daft. It cant really bid for Comcast, but it finds some way to muck things up for its rival. At this point, rational behaviour ceases. Corporate pride and hubris take over, the hedge funds cash in. Netflix or Amazon decide that they want a bit of Sky, or Disney, or Comcast and bid chaos ensues. Of all the possibilities this last seems the least likely. Amazon doesnt want to own call centres dealing with customer service issues. Netflix has its own distribution network. But at this point you cant certainly rule it out. Apple is another wild card, but it doesnt seem that interested in owning content. Liberty, now holding billions in cash from the recent Vodafone deal, is a more interesting possibility. The assumption thus far has been that it will buy ITV. Maybe it decides that Coronation Street is history, and goes for the real prize Sky. For Murdoch, all of this has to be a personal matter as much as it is a business one. Almost whatever happens next, he has one last role to play in this game, then hes out. On the face of it, it might be in his interests for Comcast and Disney to get in a bid war, upping the cash he gets for his 39% stake. Though hes probably facing a whopping tax bill somewhere, which may lessen his interest in talking up the price. A likely scenario is that almost everyone involves ends up unhappy; doesnt quite get what they want (the bankers and lawyers aside, who want as much havoc and as drawn out a ruck as possible). One clear winner from all this, it seems to me and we should be glad of this is Sky News. It emerges from the other end of the chaos with a 10-year guarantee of its future. It becomes in effect a start-up company with a massive parent behind it that has promised to ensure it lives, guaranteed that its broadcasting standards wont fall. Sky News has become an important part of British public life. Its survival is important. One day, shadow culture secretary Tom Watson might even realise that and thank Rupert Murdoch for having set it up in the first place. W hy are Brexiteers acting so surprised? Dont they pay attention to the small print? Their latest accusation of betrayal is over the so-called Irish backstop" that in the absence of an alternative plan to keep trade over the Irish border frictionless, Britain will remain in the customs union. The so-called Brexit War Cabinet" is meeting today to sign off the details although the term War Cabinet" is usually applied to ministerial groups managing external conflicts rather than internal ones. Leading Brexiteers are claiming that they werent told that Britain was planning to stay in an EU customs union indefinitely. But they were. Its there in black and white in paragraph 49 of the agreement Theresa May signed in the early hours on December 8 last year: In the absence of agreed solutions, the UK will maintain full alignment with those rules of the Internal Market and the Customs Union which, now or in the future, support the all-island economy [in Ireland]. In short, we agreed to a backstop. We would stay fully signed up to the EUs rules and regulations unless the Cabinet, our Parliament and all other member states managed to agree on an alternative solution to the Irish border problem. The British Government asserted this was all part of a short-lived transition that would last only to 2020, but that was not what the text negotiated with the EU said. The Evening Standard's editorial described it on the day itself as the key British concession and a victory for a softer Brexit. We went on to say that since its not clear any alternative that everyone can agree on exists, we should ignore the talk of timelines because we suspect everyone will agree to continue to kick the can down the road into the mid-2020s. This central feature of the December agreement was inexplicably overlooked by jubilant Brexiteers either they didnt read it, didnt understand it or didnt want to admit what they knew it meant. In the months since, the row in the Cabinet over future customs arrangements heated up proving that even they couldnt agree on this elusive alternative, let alone get our Parliament or all the other members of the EU to sign up to it. So last month the Cabinet reiterated its commitment to the backstop agreed in December: we would stay in the customs union barring an alternative agreed plan. Again, either the senior Brexiteers in the Government didnt read what theyd signed up to, didnt understand it or didnt want to admit what they knew it meant. Downing Street briefed it was very much a last resort, and if used wouldnt last beyond the start of 2022, but they knew as presumably everyone else did that the deal done with the EU didnt have a timeline. The only end point is when everyone agrees with an alternative plan, which they wont. But we knew all this six months ago. Britain is staying in a customs union with the EU indefinitely. Thats a good outcome. The only surprise is that Brexiteers are so surprised to find out. Down the drain Earlier this year, people in 50,000 London homes found their water wouldnt come on: cue disruption as Londoners tried to get ready for work without water. It didnt return for hours. The industry regulator, Ofwat, has now, after a year-long investigation into Thames Waters overall performance, imposed swingeing fines of 120 million and given some money back to customers. This is the system working as it is meant to. But what we want isnt retrospective fines and rebates but for the company to stop wasting water. Life imitates fiction A very London tale has won the 30,000 Womens Prize for Fiction. Set between Wembley and west London, Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie riffs on Sophocles's tragedy Antigone to tell the story of a Muslim familys conflicting loyalties even anticipating Britains first Muslim Home Secretary. D on't tell anyone but whenever I have a meeting in the City I often bunk off afterwards to go to Postmans Park, just behind St Pauls Cathedral. Its home to one of my favourite monuments: the Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice. The memorial itself is pretty simple just a wall of plaques. But each one commemorates the life of a Londoner who died trying to save other people. The inscriptions on the tiles always choke me up. Take one from 1863 about Sarah Smith, who died of terrible injuries received when attempting in her inflammable dress to extinguish the flames which had enveloped her companion. So sad. As if these stories werent moving enough, theres also a beautiful inscription on the memorial written by its creator, G F Watts, which reads: The material prosperity of a nation is not an abiding possession; the deeds of its people are. That couldnt be more spot-on, I reckon what really matters is what people do. You only have to look at Silicon Valley or California in general to see just how true that is. The states economy is growing faster than the countrys as a whole and as we all know, Silicon Valley continues to be the world leader in most areas of technology innovation, creating vast numbers of highly paid jobs. But this success is happening despite dysfunctional government infrastructure, spiralling public-sector deficits and savage cuts to services. So whats going on? Why do Silicon Valley and California keep powering on regardless? The answer as G F Watts would no doubt agree is thanks to its people. California attracts more skilled immigrants than any other state in the US, while in Silicon Valley foreign citizens make up nearly three-quarters of the total tech workforce. The fact is that talented people make all the difference to an economy, which is why its such a huge problem for the UK that so many highly skilled workers are being turned away by our bureaucratic immigration system. The statistics speak for themselves. Between December 2017 and March 2018 more than 6,000 people with job offers were refused visas. That figure includes about 1,500 NHS doctors even though there are around 10,000 vacant posts for doctors in the UK right now. It also includes more than 1,600 engineers and IT specialists despite the fact that our digital sector is growing more than twice as fast as the rest of the economy. As youd expect, employers are tearing their hair out. The British Medical Association has warned that refusing to grant visas for doctors is threatening patient care and safety. Dr Julia Wilson at the Sanger Institute one of the worlds top centres for genetic science has complained that visa issues have delayed important research, and show the system is not fit for purpose. The head of the British Chambers of Commerce puts it even more bluntly: The system as it stands is dysfunctional, expensive and a brake on growth. Its a terrible situation I recently tried to hire a skilled worker from South Africa and it ended up costing us 20,000 in legal fees as we spent almost 12 months trying to get the application approved. In the end we gave up. Whats so crazy is that the Prime Ministers policy of keeping out skilled workers is completely at odds with the opinions of most of her Cabinet and the public. As the Chancellor Philip Hammond noted in a speech in October 2016: You will not find, if you walk around towns in Britain and ask people how they feel about migration, that they have a problem with people with high skills coming to the UK because they recognise that those people make a positive contribution to the UK economy. "The Prime Minister's policy is completely at odds with the opinions of most of her Cabinet" The only good news is that the immigration mess would be easy to fix. Heres what should be on the to-do list of the new Home Secretary Sajid Javid. First, we need to scrap Theresa Mays mad policy of including students in the net migration statistics, which is the opposite of what sensible countries like Australia and Canada do. This terrible policy massively reduces the number of foreign workers who can come here, and also means our immigration authorities end up trying to cut the number of international students too. Second, once brilliant students are in the UK we should be fighting to keep them, not kicking them out at the first possible opportunity. That means reversing the Prime Ministers decision to scrap the post-study work visa. As the Mayor Sadiq Khan said recently, Theresa May got it badly wrong with her decision to close this visa route a few years ago. It has not only led to a substantial drop in Indian students coming to our universities, its in danger of starving my city of great talent. Thats got to change. Finally, we need to replace the old-fashioned immigration rules with a modern points-based system, much like they have in Australia. Whats smart about this approach is that it reflects the fact that the economy needs different numbers of jobs at different times unlike the rigid net migration cap, which has no relation to anything happening in the real world. As Theresa Mays chief-of-staff Gavin Barwell has pointed out, fewer skilled migrants means lower growth, fewer jobs and a heavier burden on British nationals struggling to pay down the deficit built up by the last government. I s there a writer more associated with London than Samuel Johnson? Dickens perhaps and you could make a case for Samuel Pepys or Virginia Woolf. But the polymathic figure usually known as Dr Johnson (the doctorate was honorary) sat at the heart of Londons cultural life 250 years ago, at a time of innovation and expansion. This was a city hazardous and chaotic even as it reaped the rewards of Britains colonial ventures. No one embodied its almost monstrous vitality better than Johnson. Today he is not well understood, remembered more for what he said or for what his eager biographer James Boswell represented him as saying than for anything he wrote. His most celebrated aphorisms have ossified into cliche: No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money, It is commonly observed that when two Englishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather, and that favourite journalistic standby When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life. Besides giving the impression that Johnson was inclined to focus on male experience, these statements support a narrow view of him as a pedant addicted to passing thunderous judgements on humdrum matters. It is no coincidence that many peoples notion of his character derives from Blackadder, where he comes across as a finicky grump and loses his temper on realising that hes left the word sausage out of his recently completed magnum opus, the first English dictionary. The reality is different. That famous dictionary of English wasnt the first, and it did include sausage. He was capable of being much more pithy and incisive: All distant power is bad, Nothing is more hopeless than a scheme of merriment, All intellectual improvement arises from leisure. More to the point, instead of merely being a quotable grouch, Johnson was an enlightened thinker who could express himself forcefully yet engaged with issues in a supple, empathetic style. A fierce opponent of slavery, he was also a champion of womens education at a time when it was largely overlooked and a keen supporter of women writers (among them the pioneering feminist Mary Wollstonecraft). But for modern audiences his most striking quality is the capacity to convert suffering into wisdom. Plagued by depression and possibly what we now call Tourettes syndrome, he was adept at navigating the dark places of the soul. His most grim experiences would make him a trenchant social commentator as well as a perceptive, humane analyst of family life and marriage, friendship, the imagination, ambition and the dangers of obsession. 10 London spots that have inspired great poets 1 /8 10 London spots that have inspired great poets 10 London spots that have inspired great poets Hampton Court Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock Getty Images 10 London spots that have inspired great poets Keats House, Hampstead John Keats, Ode to A Nightingale Getty Images 10 London spots that have inspired great poets Westminster Bridge William Wordsworth, Composed Upon Westminster Bridge AFP/Getty Images 10 London spots that have inspired great poets London Underground John Betjeman Summoned by Bells PA Archive/PA Images 10 London spots that have inspired great poets The Strand Samuel Johnson, London PA Archive/PA Images 10 London spots that have inspired great poets Regents Park George Eliot, In a London Drawingroom PA Archive/PA Images 10 London spots that have inspired great poets London Bridge T.S. Eliot , The Waste Land AFP/Getty Images 10 London spots that have inspired great poets St Pauls William Blake, 'Holy Thursday' Jeremy Selwyn Living in London, then the largest city in Europe, Johnson could access every kind of stimulus and also a flourishing marketplace for ideas. He had the particular fervour of the adoptive Londoner. He first made the journey down from his native Staffordshire as a two-year-old, to be touched by Queen Anne as a cure for the scrofula hed contracted as a baby. Yet he only moved to the capital in his late twenties, arriving in 1737 with David Garrick, who had been his student at a tiny school he had briefly run. He hoped to take the London stage by storm with his play Irene, about a Greek woman being aggressively wooed by a Turkish despot. Yet it was Garrick who, after a brief spell in the wine trade, revolutionised the theatre with new ideas about performance, lighting, scenery and publicity. Thanks to Garrick the impresario, Irene was eventually produced at Drury Lane. But that was in 1749, and by then Johnson had found his niche, or in fact several niches, in literary London. The reading public was expanding fast, and its appetite for all kinds of printed material was a gift for any commercially savvy author. At first Johnson was drawn inevitably to Grub Street, a seedy location near Moorfields that was synonymous with jobbing authors. 10 paintings for book lovers 1 /11 10 paintings for book lovers 10 paintings for book lovers Young Girl Reading, JeanHonore Fragonard, c.1769 National Gallery of Art, Washington DC 10 paintings for book lovers The Librarian, Giuseppe Arcimboldo, c.1566 Skokloster Castle, Sweden / Photo: Jens Mohr 10 paintings for book lovers Hijiri with Book, Julian Opie, 2005 Julian Opie 10 paintings for book lovers The Parthenon of Books, Marta Minujin, 1983/2017 Courtesy of the artist and Henrique Faria Fine Art. Kassel, Germany 201 10 paintings for book lovers The Subjugated Reader, Rene Magritte, 1928 Christies Images, London/Scala, Florence ADAGP , Paris and DACS, 10 paintings for book lovers Follow Him, Wang Qingsong, 2010 Courtesy of the artist 10 paintings for book lovers Emile Zola, Edouard Manet, 1868 Musee dOrsay, Paris 10 paintings for book lovers The Reading Girl, Theodore Roussel, 18867 Tate, London 10 paintings for book lovers An Old Woman Reading, Rembrandt van Rijn, 1655 Buccleuch Collection, Drumlarig Castle, Scotland, UK 10 paintings for book lovers Crown, Wen Wu, 2016 Wen Wu. Courtesy Riemaker London. 10 paintings for book lovers Although convinced that the purpose of writing was to enable readers better to enjoy life, or better to endure it, he was a literary opportunist, happy to adopt a range of guises, as a satirist, poet, political pamphleteer and parliamentary reporter, and later as an editor of Shakespeare, travel writer, legal expert, public moralist, historian and critic. His experiences as a literary gun for hire shaped the belief that writers must drive a hard bargain and shouldnt give their work away. Today, when writing is routinely called content and is aggregated on websites that enrich people whove never penned anything longer than their signature, thats a principle worth setting in stone. A surprising amount of Johnsons comment on the entrepreneurial world of 18th-century letters is applicable to the digital age. The mass production of news seemed to threaten the stability of truth, and Johnson noticed how much trust readers were willing to invest in unproven sources: We are inclined to believe those whom we do not know, because they have never deceived us. Equally, his observations about the malaise produced by consumer culture are still pertinent, especially in the realm of social media. Almost all absurdity of conduct, he notices, arises from the imitation of those whom we cannot resemble, and we estimate the advantages which are in the possession of others above their real value. Obsessively comparing our lives with others, we persuade ourselves to set a value upon things which are of no use, simply because we have agreed to value them, and the result is envy, a stubborn weed of the mind which affords people nothing but the satisfaction of poisoning the banquet which they cannot taste. For many 18th-century Londoners the pressures of fashion and commerce were overwhelming, and in Johnsons eyes this made the city a school for studying life. In any case his precarious finances obliged him, like a member of Generation Rent, to investigate its variety. He lived at more than 20 addresses here, and while he urged his friends to explore Wapping, which was dominated by sailors and boat-builders, and rented lodgings for his sickly wife Elizabeth in Hampstead (then a hilltop spa community), he preferred to be close to its teeming centre. When he marvelled at the swarming energy on and around the Strand, insisting that the full tide of human existence is at Charing Cross, he was cherishing its diversity. When the money from the Dictionary enabled him to rent a property in Gough Square off Fleet Street, his charitable instincts meant that the house soon became a menagerie of unfortunates. His readiness to accommodate out-of-luck authors, drunks, paupers and decayed prostitutes put him in touch with the citys less palatable truths. Conscious of the tendency to punish the penniless for crimes they committed only because they were desperate, he reflected that Life is a pill which none of us can bear to swallow without gilding, yet for the poor we delight in stripping it still barer. Here he is very remote from the crusty Johnson of legend, speaking instead with a crusaders ardour and the gritty realism that is the mark of an authentic Londoner. U PDATE: the regatta has now been postponed to June 2019 Love balloons? Fantastic, because after countless delays 50 giant inflatable light bulbs will be soaring over the capital's skyline on Sunday November 25 for 30 minutes of Instagram epicness. Since 2015, the city's top 'grammers, amateur photographers and the odd tourist have descended on Battersea Park to get a glimpse of the Lord Mayor's Hot Air Balloon Regatta, an annual celebration in support of the Lord Mayor's Appeal organised by Exclusive Ballooning. If you've got no clue what we're on about, it's basically a massive charity stunt to create awareness for the money the city and the City of London Corporation raise for charities and good causes in London and beyond. How lovely. So what do you need to know? First things first, don't go to Battersea Park. You won't be let in because of all the health and safety laws and measures. Instead, head to the west bank of the river along the northern Embankment to get the best view of the whole soiree. If all goes well weather wise, you'll see a puffed up gang of sponsored inflatables whizz past the London Eye, Houses of Parliament, the Shard and Tower Bridge. Exclusive offers and competitions weekly Email Sign up Sign up I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice {{message}} {{permutiveUid}} {{message}} The only bad part is that it all kicks off between 7.30am. But hey, it's for the 'gram peeps. The 'gram. Up, up and waheyyy. A ward-winning theatre director Michael Longhurst is taking over the top job at the Donmar Warehouse. Longhurst, who directed James Norton and Imogen Poots in Belleville at the Covent Garden venue last year, takes over in March. He is replacing Josie Rourke who is stepping down after eight years in charge. He said: I saw my first show at the Donmar aged 15 and later even slept overnight on the street in the returns queue. I am so proud to undertake the challenge of filling this amazing space with exhilarating artists and important stories and am deeply honoured to be following Josie as the new artistic director. His other work includes a hit revival of Amadeus at the National Theatre and Caroline, or Change which is coming to the West End this year. His Royal Court production of Constellations starred Sally Hawkins and Rafe Spall and was a huge West End hit, winning the 2012 Evening Standard Award for best play before running on Broadway with Jake Gyllenhaal and Ruth Wilson. Longhurst, who was born in Bromley, south London, started directing while studying at Nottingham University. The best theatre to see in June 1 /10 The best theatre to see in June Killer Joe Until August 18, Trafalgar Studios atgtickets.com Marc Brenner Leave Taking Until June 30, Bush Theatre bushtheatre.co.uk Helen Murray Translations Until August 11, National Theatre nationaltheatre.org.uk Catherine Ashmore Notes From the Field June 13-23, Royal Court Theatre royalcourttheatre.com Joan Marcus My Name is Lucy Barton June 2-24, Bridge Theatre bridgetheatre.co.uk The Turn of the Screw June 22-30, Regents Park Open Air Theatre openairtheatre.com Feast Creative Consent Until August 11, Harold Pinter Theatre nationaltheatre.org.uk Johan Persson Machinal June 4 - July 21, Almeida Theatre almeida.co.uk Clara Giaminardi Fun Home June 18 - September 2, Young Vic youngvic.org The Prime of Miss Brodie June 4 - July 28, Donmar Warehouse donmarwarehouse.com David Stewart In an interview in 2012, he said: I was studying philosophy there and joined the student theatre group hoping to land some juicy acting roles as I had done in school (my resume already boasted Joseph, The Artful Dodger and Jesus!). After failing to get cast as anything above spear carrier, I deduced that I was actually a terrible actor so began to rethink how I could stay involved with the theatre. Rourke, whose tenure saw sell-out audiences flock to watch major talent including Tom Hiddleston, Gemma Arterton and Dame Judi Dench, welcomed the appointment. She said: Over the past decade as an artistic director, Ive had the joy of working with Mike both at the Bush and at the Donmar. I know him to be not only one of the most gifted, original and impressive directors in the country but also a deeply kind and thoughtful leader who commands huge respect in the theatre community. Im thrilled to know that an artist of such reputation and ability is going to take the helm at the Donmar. Rourke ran the theatre in tandem with executive producer Kate Pakenham, who has also announced her departure. The pair made it a regular venue for political work with plays about the collapse of the charity Kids Company and the formation of the Social Democratic Party among recent successes. Josie Rourke at the Donmar Warehouse - in pictures 1 /7 Josie Rourke at the Donmar Warehouse - in pictures Josie Rourke at the Donmar Warehouse - in pictures Tom Hiddleston in Coriolanus, 2013. Johan Persson Josie Rourke at the Donmar Warehouse - in pictures Gemma Arterton in Saint Joan, 2016 Jack Sain Josie Rourke at the Donmar Warehouse - in pictures Judi Dench in The Vote, 2015 Manuel Harlan Josie Rourke at the Donmar Warehouse - in pictures Lenny Henry in The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, 2017 Helen Maybanks Josie Rourke at the Donmar Warehouse - in pictures Dominic West in Les Liaisons Dangereuses, 2015 Johan Persson Josie Rourke at the Donmar Warehouse - in pictures Jude Law and Ruth Wilson in Anna Christie, 2011 Johan Persson Josie Rourke at the Donmar Warehouse - in pictures Imogen Poots and James Norton star in Belleville, which runs until February Marc Brenner Their production of The Vote, which starred Dame Judi, was seen by millions of viewers on Channel 4 on the night of the 2015 general election. Other notable productions include a version of Shakespeares Coriolanus with Hiddleston, Les Liaisons Dangereuses featuring Dominic West and Janet McTeer. Review at a glance I n south-west London, a man falls to his death from an aeroplane. He has no documents, and at the start of Fiona Doyles ambitious play his body is being examined with unsettling precision by mortuary staff, a masked and sinister chorus whose itchy charisma reverberates through the next two hours (often to the strains of Classic FM). Local detective John Kavura, whos given a rugged glumness by Rhashan Stone, is soon absorbed in the case. When heavy drinking prompts his suspension, he continues to pursue it in his own time, inspired by a vital scrap of evidence the SIM card hidden in the dead mans clothing. A picture emerges of Ximo, a young man on the run. Originally from Mozambique, he aspired to a new life in Europe and was helped by Callie Cookes Rae, a sympathetic South African. As we learn about Ximos bizarre journey, Benjamin Cawley captures his desperation. Hes a ghostly and occasionally intrusive presence at his own autopsy, and sometimes its as if we are drowning in one of his bad dreams. Edward Halls busy production conveys the plays large scope, and nimble transitions based on the ideas of choreographer Scott Ambler (who died in March) suggest the links between its apparently disconnected worlds. But while Doyle offers a fresh perspective on the refugee crisis, the short scenes and jumpy approach to storytelling mean theres rarely a tight enough focus on the personal detail. J ames Patterson is a thriller production line. He has scored over 100 bestsellers and sold 305 million copies worldwide. This has been facilitated by the fact that he doesnt write them himself, employing multiple collaborators to turn his treatments into formulaic novels. He is a brand, not an author, and what he sells under his brand is Kentucky fried fiction, as a wag said years ago. Now Patterson (a longstanding golf partner of Donald Trump) has produced a thriller with a collaborator even more famous than himself, Bill Clinton. The publishers claim that it features details only a President could know. Written in 128 very short chapters, spanning a period of only a few days, The President is Missing has an averagely preposterous plot. A nasty Turkish terrorist named Suliman Cindoruk, backed by various nefarious forces, plans to release a computer virus that will return America to the Dark Ages. But the designer of this ultimate cyber-weapon, Abkhazian hottie Nina (a cross between a Calvin Klein model and a Eurotrash punk rocker) has doubts about what she has done and has fitted it with a password override that will save civilisation if entered within 30 minutes, so providing a bit of ticking-clock tension, as key words are tried in upper and lower case. The novels hero and narrator, President Duncan, has to go off the grid to meet her but the meeting doesnt go well. Theres a deadly international assassin on the loose, a tall, leggy, busty redhead from Bosnia called Bach, for, apart from killing, she thinks of nothing else but Johann Sebastian (even her semi-automatic rifle is called Anna Magdalena). Multiple gun battles result, the President grabbing a Glock himself, when need be. And is there a treacherous bitch inside the White House for good measure? You bet. Jonathan Lincoln Duncan is an ideally revised William Jefferson Clinton. Instead of avoiding military service, he is a famously brave war hero, who was injured, captured and tortured in Iraq. Instead of being a notorious intern-exploiter, he is chastely devoted to the memory of his lovely late wife, the brilliant Rachel, whom he met in law school, with whom he had one daughter, Lilly. Before leaving on his incognito adventure he looks at the last picture of her, taken shortly before she died from cancer. I put my fingers to my lips, then touch Rachels photo. Thats one way of dealing with the Hillary problem, isnt it? Instead of being a busted flush in deep shit with #MeToo, the President is saving America from Armageddon completely solo. This narcissistic fantasy is thrust into our faces all the more powerfully because most of the book is narrated in that inexcusable mode, the first person present I do this, I do that, I stand in the kitchen looking out over the backyard as pioneered in Twilight, The Hunger Games and Fifty Shades. "Instead of being a busted flush in deep shit with #MeToo, the President is saving America from Armageddon completely solo." Is Clintons contribution otherwise detectable? Alas, yes, whenever the rattling plot is halted for pious op-eds from the Pres, about how he always wanted to give his country a new spirit, culminating in a grotesque final chapter. His approval rating having soared from 30 per cent to more than 80, President Duncan delivers his vision for a better America to a ravished joint session of Congress. America has been given a second chance I believe we should start by reforming and protecting our elections We could have real immigration reform We could have a real climate-change debate... And so forth. We owe it to our children, ourselves and billions of decent people throughout the world who still want us to be an inspiration, an example, and a friend to make the most of this second chance. In his dreams. And in this potty book. A British artist has been arrested in Italy after allegedly trying to steal a luxury motor boat amid a four-month spree in which she left restaurant and hotel bills unpaid, according to reports. Larissa Watson, 50, is alleged to have been spotted setting off in a 150,000 euro (132,000) Sangermani Daycruiser that belonged to a rental company in Portofino. A quick-thinking harbour worker is reported to have become suspicious and bounded along the dock to jump on board and steer the vessel back to its mooring. The painter, who has been dubbed the "Portofino Pirate" by local media, was charged with theft after the incident on Monday, the Daily Telegraph reports. Captain Simone Clemente told the paper: "Nothing like this has happened before in Portofino, it's very unusual. "By looking through her Facebook and Instagram accounts we found that she had done navigation courses in the past and knew how to handle a boat." According to a biography on riseart.com, the award-winning artist has exhibited extensively in Britain, Europe, the US and Japan. She is also said to have stayed in several hotels without paying, and is also accused of leaving a restaurant without settling the bill. She has visited Palermo, Rome and Bologna during a months-long trip around Italy. A man has been charged with two counts of attempted murder after a woman and baby were stabbed in west London. Rehan Khan, 25, handed himself in on Wednesday following a police manhunt in connection with a horrific attack involving an 11-month-old baby and a 32-year-old woman. He was charged on Thursday and is due to appear in custody at Uxbridge Magistrates' Court later the same day, police said. The baby remains in hospital in a critical but stable condition following the incident. Detectives and police in Feltham after a mother and a baby boy were stabbed / NIGEL HOWARD The woman is also still in hospital but her injuries are not life-threatening. The incident happened at an address in a quiet cul-de-sac in Feltham, west London, on Monday evening. A Met statement said: Rehan Khan - of no fixed abode - was charged on Thursday, 7 June with two counts of attempted murder. He will appear in custody at Uxbridge Magistrates' Court later on 7 June. This follows an incident at an address in Swinfield Close, Feltham on Monday, 4 June. A n imam hailed a hero after the Finsbury Park attack said far-Right terrorist Darren Osborne had failed epically in his bid to divide communities. Hundreds of people gathered in north London last night for a street party celebrating community spirit following last years attack. Makram Ali, 51, was killed and 12 others were injured when Osborne, 48, drove a hired van into a crowd of Muslims near a mosque on June 19. Last night residents of all faiths and backgrounds listened to speeches from politicians and leaders of religious groups before taking part in iftar, the breaking of the fast during Ramadan. Jeremy Corbyn eats an iftar sunset meal / PA Mohamed Mahmoud, the imam of the Muslim Welfare House, told the crowd: It was an attack against those who cherish and value the right to practise their religion freely and openly. He wished to create a rift and a divide between communities. To tear us apart. And he failed epically. Mr Mahmoud was declared a hero following the attack after shielding Osborne from the crowd before the police arrived. Other speakers included Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Conservative MPs Dominic Grieve and Anna Soubry, who talked of the strength of Britains Muslim communities. The event was organised by charity Muslim Aid with the Muslim Welfare House and Finsbury Park mosque. Ruzina Akhtar, one of Mr Alis six children, also addressed the crowd. With her voice breaking, she said: Although last year was a very tragic event for our family that took our beloved father from us, we would like to remember the positives that came out from those days with the community showing the love and support. Were very happy to be a part of this community and to be in this country with such a loving, diverse community around us. R epresentatives from all faiths gathered at a ceremony near the spot where Muslims were mown down in Finsbury Park to mark one year since the tragedy. The street party, organised by the Muslim Welfare House, celebrated the public reaction to the terror attack while also paying tribute to those affected. Wednesdays gathering combined a British summer street party with a traditional Iftar - the meal eaten to break the daily fast observed by Muslims during Ramadan. The daughter of a father-of-six killed in the attack thanked those who supported her family in the year since the shocking incident shortly after midnight on June 19 last year. People gather as they listen to speeches to celebrate community spirit one year after the Finsbury Park terrorist attack / PA Some of those who were injured when Darren Osborne rammed a van onto a crowded pavement were among those to gather in commemoration near the scene of the attack. Faith leaders joined the area's MP Jeremy Corbyn, former Attorney General Dominic Grieve and his Conservative Party colleague Anna Soubry at the event which also sought to celebrate the community spirit which emerged in the wake of the atrocity. Osborne deliberately targeted Muslims who had gathered outside two mosques in the area during the holy month of Ramadan. Jeremy Corbyn joins supporters and poses for pictures after making a speech to celebrate community spirit one year after the attack / PA Makram Ali was killed in the incident in north London which left 12 others injured. Osborne was jailed for at least 43 years in February for what the judge described as a "suicide mission" terror attack. The gathering, organised by the Muslim Welfare House, Finsbury Park Mosque and the charity Muslim Aid, was held to mark a year since the incident according to the lunar calendar observed in the Islamic faith. Among the speakers were Ruzina Akhtar, daughter of 51-year-old Mr Ali, who said her family remains grateful for the community's support following her father's murder. Ruzina Akhtar (centre) daughter of Makram Ali, who was killed in the Finsbury Park Mosque terror attack makes a speech / PA With her voice breaking, she said: "I've been asked to say a few words but I'm overwhelmed today a little bit. "Although last year was a very tragic event for our family that took our beloved father from us, we would like to remember the positives that came out from those days with the community showing love and support. "Also everyone that was around us. We're very happy to be part of this community and to be in this country with such a loving, diverse community around us. "And we would just like to thank everyone for their support and the love that they've shown and hope they continue to do so. "And please just keep us in your duas (prayers)." The event, which saw St Thomas's Road lined with colourful bunting, aimed to combine a British summer street party with a traditional Iftar - the meal eaten to break the daily fast observed by Muslims during Ramadan. Recalling Osborne's rampage and the community's reaction, Mr Corbyn said: "It was murder on the streets of our community, and our response was to come together as a community, to come together of all faiths, and come together and show we will not be divided, we will not be defeated, the racists will never win, we will never allow them to win." Imam Mohammed Mahmoud joins supporters as he makes a speech to celebrate community spirit one year after the Finsbury Park terrorist attack / PA Imam Mohammed Mahmoud said Osborne was "indistinguishable" from the perpetrators of the other terror attacks in the UK last year and told the crowd Islamophobia was "just as abhorrent" as any other form of racism and persecution. The imam, of the Muslim Welfare House, was praised for his actions in protecting Osborne when the killer was wrestled to the ground in the aftermath of the murderous van attack. Addressing those at Wednesday's event, Mr Mahmoud warned the community and society must remain united against hate. He said: "We will not remain silent. And we will not allow those in power, in positions of influence and responsibility, to go unchecked for leaving Islamophobia to grow in our society." Bashir Ibrahim, whose brother Abdirahman was injured in the attack, said he felt the attack was one that was "waiting to happen" amid an environment of Islamophobia. Speaking ahead of the event he added that victims are still feeling the effects, a year on. He said: "Most of the victims are still suffering with the consequences today. "My brother has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, he has trouble sleeping. "My brother was one of the most outgoing and bubbly people but straight after the attack there was a change." Yassin Hersi, who was hit by Osborne's van as he tried to help Mr Ali while he lay on the ground, thanked those in attendance for such a "beautiful" event. He said: "All faith groups are here tonight. We should be really more stronger together and more united as a community." T hames Water was today ordered to pay 120 million back to customers after being found to have breached its licence conditions by failing to properly tackle leaks. It was hit with 55 million in automatic penalties for allowing millions of litres of water to spew out of pipes. It is paying out a further 65 million after an inquiry by watchdog Ofwat. The regulator said each customer would get a rebate of 15 over the next two years, with further reductions taking the total to 26 by 2025. Thames Water, which apologised for its failure, admitted not meeting its commitments to cut leaks in 2016-17. The capital was hit by a spate of water leaks that financial year, including one in December 2016 that saw some 100 people evacuated from flooded homes after a water main burst in Islington. A burst pipe on Lee High Road in 2016 / TFL Rachel Fletcher, Ofwats chief executive, said: Thames Water failed its customers in tackling leakage, and the measures illustrate the scale of the shortcomings and how seriously we take them. She said that Thames Water, which was also effectively put on monthly report over its progress in dealing with leaks, had breached two legal obligations. Bosses did not pay enough attention to reducing leaks and the company underestimated the significance of its underperformance on leakage when assuring Ofwat that it was meeting its obligations on providing an efficient and economic service. Steve Robertson, who became chief executive in September 2016 and earned at least 700,000 in pay and pension in 2017-18, said: We met our leakage targets for a decade but our recent performance has not been good enough. We let our customers down and for that were sorry. Thames Water engineers fix a burst pipe in London / Thames Water Environment Secretary Michael Gove said: Thames Water completely failed in their duty of care to their customers, leaving them to suffer leaks for far too long through poor management. Ministers faced calls to order a more in-depth investigation of Thames Water, which has paid no corporation tax in the UK for a decade and has a complex financial structure. Liberal Democrats leader Sir Vince Cable said: This compensation is far less than the minimum that Thames Water owes for a combination of service failure and heinous corporate activity. Thames Waters accounts for 2016/17 reveal that two senior executives left with pay-off packages worth a total of more than 2 million. Flooding in Crouch End, north London in 2015, caused by another burst pipe / Lee Graham Former chief executive Martin Baggs received salary in lieu of notice and payouts under long-term performance schemes worth a total of 1,384,000. Former finance director Stuart Siddall received a similar package totalling 795,337. Mr Robertson has been praised for stopping payments of dividends to shareholders while leakage problems are being sorted out. However, since his arrival London has been hit by several huge mains pipe leaks that have brought chaos and misery to parts of the capital. The company has committed to getting its leakage target back on track by 2020, and to cut leaks by a further 15 per cent between 2020-25. S enior ministers are set for a showdown on Britains future relationship with the EU amid growing public tensions between Theresa May and David Davis. It comes amid unconfirmed reports that Mr Davis, the Brexit Secretary, could resign over the issue. Responding to the rumours, a Government source said: "He's a very senior member of the Cabinet. We really value his contribution." Under pressure: Prime Minister Theresa May leaves 10 Downing Street, London, on Wednesday / PA With the inner Brexit war Cabinet set to meet on Thursday, the Government still could not say when the proposals would be made public. Cabinet tensions on the backstop initiative emerged after Mr Davis was believed to be insisting that the UK should be able to unilaterally withdraw from any border agreement to maintain leverage with Brussels in negotiations. When pressed on whether he could remain in post if the backstop deal did not meet his full approval, Mr Davis said: "That's a question I think for the Prime Minister to be honest." PMQS: Corbyn challenges May on Tories divide over Brexit timeline Mr Davis made it clear that the document would be "decisive" as he said he planned to meet chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier again for Brexit talks next week. Brexiteers accused Mrs May of giving the document regarding Northern Ireland to Cabinet supporters before hardline advocates of EU withdrawal Boris Johnson, according to The Times. The Cabinet wrangling came as Mrs May faced a battle on a second front as she tried to persuade Tory rebels not to go against her when the EU (Withdrawal) Bill returns to the Commons on Tuesday. Mrs May is determined to try and stop Tory MPs inflicting humiliating defeats on her by siding with amendments backed by the House of Lords. The Brexit Secretary is set to return to Brussels next week for talks with the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier. Asked if Mr Davis had threatened to resign over the backstop issue, the Prime Minister's official spokesman replied: "Not that I'm aware of, no." The return of the EU (Withdrawal) Bill to the Commons after a series of bruising defeats in the Lords poses another headache for the Prime Minister. With Tory rebels set to side with Labour over measures aimed at keeping a customs union on the table, Mrs May engaged in crisis talks to avert a damaging defeat. The move follows criticism of the original plan to rush the legislation through. Other contentious pieces of legislation - the Trade Bill and the Taxation (Cross-border) Trade Bill - will also return to the Commons before the summer. The Prime Minister's hopes of avoiding defeat over another amendment, aimed at keeping the UK in the single market, were given a boost as it emerged Labour MPs would be told to abstain. B oris Johnson's deputy has suggested a second referendum could be held on the UK's final Brexit deal, according to reports. However Sir Alan Duncan insisted a fresh vote on Britain's membership of the European Union would not happen. In a speech in Berlin he said it was "possible" that voters could be asked if they liked the terms of the exit package, according to Bloomberg. Sir Alan later denied the reports in a post on Twitter, saying he made two key points that Britain "will leave the EU and we will not have a second referendum." "I gave a clear message to #WDREuropaforum in Berlin that we will definitely be leaving the EU but want the best possible economic and security partnership after we have done so," he wrote in an earlier post. Remainers seized on the comments as proof the "floodgates are now well and truly open" on giving voters a say. Sir Alan said: "It would, I suppose, just be possible to ask the people in a referendum if they liked the exit deal or not. "It would not in reality offer people the option of reversing the original decision to leave the EU." Anti-Brexit campaigners said the exit process had become an "utter shambles" and a fresh vote was needed. Former Labour frontbencher Chuka Umunna, a supporter of the People's Vote campaign, said: "Alan Duncan is absolutely right to back the idea of a People's Vote on the final Brexit deal. "As a Foreign Office minister, and deputy to Boris Johnson, he must know as well as anybody what an utter shambles Brexit has become. "The negotiations are a mess, the Cabinet is in chaos, and Parliament is paralysed by party political game-playing. "Alan Duncan seems to have finally recognised that the best way out of this quagmire is for the people to decide whether the deal is good enough. "We wish Alan Duncan the best of luck in persuading his boss Boris Johnson of the necessity for a People's Vote, and he is of course welcome to join the March for a People's Vote on June 23rd." Labour's Darren Jones, a member of the anti-Brexit Best for Britain group, said: "Alan Duncan has joined the growing tide of MPs who have recognised that the momentous decision to leave the EU on the Government's terms - after months of back-and-forth, uncertainty, and indecision - must be put the people. "And though Mr Duncan has tried to shut the door on that vote giving people the option to remain, the floodgates are now well and truly open." A Foreign Office spokesman said that the minister had made clear in his Berlin speech that the idea of a second referendum on EU withdrawal was "a myth". The spokesman said: "As the minister said several times in today's speech in Berlin, we are leaving the EU and there will be no second referendum." T hree Cabinet ministers staged face-to-face showdowns with Theresa May today as a furious split deepened over her Brexit strategy. Brexit Secretary David Davis let speculation run rife for hours that he was threatening to resign as he held out for a last-minute concession in a brazen stand-off with Downing Street. Mr Daviss allies claimed he had secured clearer wording about the UKs commitment to a cut-off for ties with the EU. But the document published later contained merely an expectation that the EU would agree to a time-limit of December 2021 at the latest, something Brussels is unlikely to agree. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and International Trade Secretary Liam Fox also saw the Prime Minister separately in her office at the House of Commons. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and International Trade Secretary Liam Fox also saw the Prime Minister / AFP/Getty Images While No 10 claimed the key meeting with Mr Davis was constructive, there was an ominous silence from the Brexit Secretary for several hours. He went into a second meeting with Mrs May, this time at the Cabinet Office. There were mixed messages from the Government in a morning of confusion and drama. One government source claimed the 30-minute meeting between Mr Davis and Mrs May had been conclusive and that a delayed paper setting out a controversial Northern Ireland border backstop would be published imminently. However, that was contradicted by other sources who told the Standard that Mr Davis had gone back to his department to wait for a better offer. The bizarre stand-off continued into lunchtime with Westminster ablaze with speculation that the Prime Minister could be forced to perform yet another reshuffle if her veteran Europe expert walked out. One Whitehall source said: We think No 10 are trying to turn up the temperature. At 12.40pm, it emerged that Mr Davis had secured some extra detail in the policy document but it was not clear whether his brinkmanship had won a major change to Mrs Mays policy. A source close to Mr Davis said: Obviously theres been a back and forth on this paper, as there always is whenever the Government publishes anything. "The backstop paper has been amended and now expresses, in much more detail, the time-limited nature of our proposal, something the PM and DD have always been committed to. The wording of the revised document however only states: The UK is clear that the temporary customs arrangement, should it be needed, should be time limited, and that it will be only in place until the future customs arrangement can be introduced. It adds: The UK expects the future arrangement to be in place by the end of December 2021 at the latest. Downing Street said Mr Davis was expected to remain in his post. The Standard learned that the row was caused by Downing Street efforts to avoid defeat on the customs union when the Commons votes on Lords amendments on Tuesday and Wednesday. Former Cabinet members Amber Rudd, Damian Green and Justine Greening were among Remainers secretly briefed on the document on Tuesday. Mr Johnson and Dr Fox were among Brexiteers on the Brexit sub-committee who received a document with the proposals only yesterday morning. In Brussels, officials made clear they would simply throw out any UK proposal that contained a cut-off date that might risk a hard border with Northern Ireland. Patience with UK negotiators appeared to be running out. One senior EU source said: Brexit is not a rational economic process and negotiation, its a purely politically driven process, and thats why you never come to serious solutions. Thats why the deal will always be a lousy deal. Frustration is also growing with Mrs Mays handling of the customs issue. We will not throw her under a bus, one senior EU source of the forthcoming summit said. But on the other hand we will not give her any gifts. S cotland has passed a bill which will pardon gay and bi-sexual men for historical convictions of homosexuality. The Historical Sexual Offences (Pardons and Disregards) Bill will also pardon men who received convictions of same-sex sexual activity. The bill was passed unanimously by the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday. Justice Secretary Michael Matheson, who brought the legislation to Parliament, said: This marks a key moment where we address a historic wrong, where the law criminalised people simply because of their sexual orientation. This bill can itself not right the massive injustice caused by laws that helped foster homophobia and hatred, criminalised acts between consenting adults, and stopped people from being themselves around their families, friends, neighbours and colleagues. Private same-sex activity between two men over the age of 21 was illegal in Scotland until 1981 and the age of consent for gay men was only reduced to 16 in 2001. Last year the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon apologised to those convicted of same-sex activity that is now legal. Ms Sturgeon apologised to the gay and bi-sexual men convicted last year / PA Wire/PA Images She said: Scotland has travelled so far in recent years, in relation to LGBTI equality, that it still shocks to recall that as recently as 1980 well within my lifetime - consenting sexual activity between men was still classed as a criminal activity in this country. Gay Pride 1 /6 Gay Pride gay2PA_350x250.jpg The annual Gay Pride event took place on Saturday and there was plenty of stylish headgear on display All Pics PA gay3PA_350x250.jpg The inclement weather conditions failed to put off these revellers gay4PA_350x250.jpg Feathers featured prominently throughout the parade gay5PA_350x250.jpg Even the bubbles were having a good time gay7PA_350x250.jpg These gay police officers already had their outfits sorted gayPA_200x350.jpg The event is the perfect chance for people to express themselves, however outrageously Tim Hopkins, Director of the Equality Network, said: We very much welcome the Parliament passing this bill unanimously. U S President Donald Trump said he will consider inviting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to the White House if their planned summit goes well. Mr Trump made the announcement following a meeting with Japan's prime minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday. He also signalled that he was willing to walk away if he thought talks did not go well. Speaking at a White House conference, the president said that it was possible he and Kim could sign an agreement to end the Korean War. Mr Trump is to meet Kim Jong Un next week / EPA "We could sign an agreement, as you know that would be a first step ... We're looking at it, we're talking about it with a lot of other people," Mr Trump told reporters. "That's probably the easy part. The hard part remains after that." He added that he hoped someday US relations with Kim's Pyongyang government could be normalised. The June 12 summit in Singapore will focus on the US demand for North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons programme. Mr Trump said he would quit the talks if he felt he must, and would ramp up US sanctions on North Korea if the talks did not go well. Earlier, he told reporters that it was essential that North Korea give up its nuclear weapons. "If they don't denuclearise, that will not be acceptable," he said. "I am totally prepared to walk away," he later said at the news conference. However, Mr Trump said he might extend an invitation to Kim to Washington. "Certainly if it goes well. I think it would be well received," he said in answer to a question. "I think he would look at it very favourably so I think that could happen." Mr Trump also pledged to bring up the subject of Japanese abductees with Kim, after Abe focused on the issue during their earlier conversation. "He talked about it long and hard and passionately and I will follow his wishes and we will be discussing that with North Korea absolutely, absolutely," Mr Trump said. A South African tycoons son was today handed three life sentences for murdering his parents and brother with an axe. Henri van Breda, 23, appeared impassive as a judge sentenced him for the grisly killings of parents Martin and Teresa and brother Rudi in Stellenbosch, a scenic town in a wine-growing area near Cape Town. Van Breda also received a 15-year sentence in the Western Cape High Court for the attempted murder of his sister Marli at the time of the attacks. She suffered severe head injuries in a bloody onslaught that Judge Siraj Desai described as cold-blooded murder. Breda was sentenced to life in prison for the 2015 ax murders of his parents and brother and received a separate sentence of 15 years for the attempted murder of his sister / AP These attacks display a high level of innate cruelty, Judge Desai said. The violence was excessive and gratuitous. It was intended to cause maximum harm. Van Breda claimed two intruders were responsible for the brutal attack. Defence lawyer Pieter Botha, who plans to appeal against the conviction and sentencing, had suggested van Bredas youth and status as a first-time offender should be mitigating factors in the sentencing. Henri van Breda arrives to sit in the dock at the Western Cape High Court to hear the verdict in an earlier hearing / AFP/Getty Images He also said his client could not show remorse because he maintains he is innocent. While Judge Desai recalled that a witness heard a loud argument in the van Breda home for several hours on the night of the killings in January 2015, he told Henri van Breda that we have no explanation for what you did and that he had to be handed the severest possible penalty. Van Breda also received a one-year sentence for obstructing justice after the court concluded that he inflicted injuries on himself to try to mislead police. The van Breda family lived in Australia for some years before returning to South Africa, and the judge said Henri van Breda had enrolled at the University of Melbourne. Your future was not bleak. In fact, it was bright, Judge Desai told van Breda as he stood in the dock. A Korean woman who survived six nights stranded in the Australian wilderness after falling from a cliff has been found. Joohee Han, 25, was climbing Mount Tyson near Tully, Queensland when she slipped and fell into a deep ravine. Ms Han was knocked unconscious for hours before she managed to crawl and escape across tough terrain to a rocky waterfall, officials said. She was found suffering from dehydration and exposure - but relatively unscathed - by soldiers and police on Thursday. Ms Han, 25, is assisted to a hospital after being rescued by helicopter on Thursday / AP The South Korean backpacker was last seen at a supermarket in Tully on Thursday last week. She had told a friend that she was going for a walk in the nearby national park the following day, police said. According to Queensland Ambulance Services flight paramedic Hannah Gaulke, Ms Han hiked to the mountain top and took photographs of the view before slipping and falling unconscious for hours. The backpacker was rescued by helicopter from the deep ravine / AP "She managed to crawl and scrape her way through the bushland, which was really tough terrain," Ms Gaulke said. Ms Han became stuck after reaching the waterfall, where she waited for six days before being reached by rescuers. "She couldn't actually proceed further and had no way to get back out," Ms Gaulke said. Ms Han was suffering from dehydration and exposure but was relatively unscathed / AP She had been missing for five days before friends reported her missing on Wednesday and a search was launched, according to police. Her shouts for help were heard on Saturday by a member of the public, who only informed police on Thursday after learning of the search. She was finally discovered today after soldiers and police cut through dense forest to reach her. "Six days is a long time to be lost in the bush, particularly when you've got no bush skills," Inspector Steve Kersley told reporters. "She's done well to survive." She was winched from the forest by a rescue helicopter, which took her to Tully, where she was assessed at a hospital. Since Nasa announced its major press conference, social media has been abuzz with speculation that the first signs of alien life may have been discovered. However, reports suggests those hoping for extraterrestrial life could be in for disappointment. N asa has discovered organic matter preserved on Mars, in a major discovery that suggests it could once have been home to alien life. Scientists reported that the Curiosity rover has found the best evidence yet of the potential building blocks of life in an ancient Martian lakebed. The organic molecules preserved in 3.5 billion-year-old bedrock in Gale Crater suggest conditions back then may have been conducive to life. That leaves open the possibility that microorganisms once populated the red planet our nearest neighbour in the solar system - and still might. Scientists reported that the Curiosity rover has found the best evidence yet of the potential building blocks of life / REUTERS Curiosity has also confirmed sharp seasonal increases of methane in the Martian atmosphere. "The chances of being able to find signs of ancient life with future missions, if life ever was present, just went up," said Curiosity's project scientist, Ashwin Vasavada of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The Curiosity rover found organic molecules just beneath the surface of Mars in 3 billion-year-old sedimentary rocks / Nasa Kirsten Siebach, a Rice University geologist, said the discoveries break down some of the strongest arguments put forward by life-on-Mars skeptics, herself included. "The big takeaway is that we can find evidence. We can find organic matter preserved in mudstones that are more than 3 billion years old," Siebach said. The rover was tasked with searching for evidence of possible life on the surface of Mars / Nasa "And we see releases of gas today that could be related to life in the subsurface or at the very least are probably related to warm water or environments where Earth life would be happy living." The methane observations provide "one of the most compelling" cases for present-day life, she said. Scientists agree more powerful spacecraft - and, ideally, rocks returned to Earth from Mars - are needed to prove whether tiny organisms like bacteria ever existed on the red planet. JPL's Christopher Webster, lead author on the study, said it's the first time Martian methane has shown a repeated pattern. The magnitude of these seasonal peaks - by a factor of three - was far more than scientists expected. "We were just blown away," he said. "It's tripling ... that's a huge, huge difference." NASA is sending a helicopter to Mars Scientists have been seeking organic molecules on Mars ever since the 1976 Viking landers, which came up almost empty. Arriving at Mars in 2012 with a drill and its own onboard labs, Curiosity confirmed the presence of organics in rocks in 2013, but the molecules weren't exactly what scientists expected. So they looked elsewhere. The key samples in the latest findings came from a spot 4 miles away. As with methane, there could well be non-biological explanations for the presence of carbon-containing molecules on Mars, such as geologic processes or impacts by asteroids, comet, meteors and interplanetary dust. Jennifer Eigenbrode, an astrobiologist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland who led the organics study, said she's intrigued by the possibility that life might have existed and adapted on Mars. A pizza delivery man was detained by US immigration and Customs Enforcement when he tried to deliver an order to a military base in New York. Pablo Villavicencio, an undocumented immigrant from Ecuador was making a delivery to the Fort Hamilton military base in Brooklyn on June 1 when he was asked to show some form of identification. Mr Villavicencio showed his IDNYC -a free government-issued ID card that all New Yorkers can apply for regardless of immigration status- to gain access, as he had done when previously making deliveries to the base. The guard then asked for some further identification. When Mr Villavicencio failed to provide any the guard asked him to agree to a background check. The base then discovered that Mr Villavicencio was an illegal immigrant and called ICE who detained the delivery man. His wife, a US citizen, has appealed for help after learning that her husband could be deported within a week. Chica Villavicencio said in a statement on Wednesday: Its cruel that theyre going to separate my daughters from him, Now Im going to be by myself, alone with two kids. She said Mr Villavicencios application for a green card was still pending. The decision to detain Mr Villavicencio has sparked outrage in the local community. New York City council member Justin Brannan has questioned how the incident happened and described Mr Villavicencios detainment as ridiculous. He said: This is absolutely ridiculous, you are tearing families apart, for what? How are we any safer today than we were yesterday? Borough president Eric Adams said he is working with Mr Villavicencios family to find out exactly what happened. The arrest of Pablo with a municipal ID is sending shockwaves throughout the immigrant community, Mr Adams said. It was alright to take his pizza but it was also alright to put him in prison. A Fort Hamilton base spokesman told USA Today: "Commanders are authorised to take reasonably necessary and lawful measures to maintain law and order and protect installation personnel and property. I n a report by The World Health Organisation, it was revealed that up to 90 per cent of the visible changes commonly attributed to ageing may be caused by sun exposure. To combat signs of ageing as well as protect against skin cancer, the importance of sunscreen cannot be overlooked as the sunny weather approaches. Yet, the parabens, silicones and synthetic fragrances contained in traditional sunscreens can actually have a damaging effect rather than protective for both your skin and the environment. Hawaii have recently passed a law banning the selling of certain chemical sunscreens that contain oxybenzone or octinoxate, which have been found in high concentrations at coral reefs - and theyre not the only ones. Palau and Mexico have followed suit. These chemicals destroy the algae that lives on coral thereby harming the marine environment of the reefs and the surrounding wildlife. More and more people are looking to natural and organic sunscreens to counter these damaging side effects, not just for our own skin but for our oceans as well. Sun lotion falls into two major categories; chemical and mineral. Natural SPFs may also be known as mineral sunscreens. These formulas contain active ingredients like zinc oxide or titanium dioxide. They act as a physical barrier to deflect and shield against UVA and UVB rays where as chemical formulas absorb the rays. This ensures that they wont irritate the skin and makes them a better choice for those with sensitivities or irritations. The formulas are packed with antioxidants like vitamin E to give an extra defence against free radicals and environmental stressors that can cause premature skin ageing. So whether you're a sun worshippers or a shade chasers, you can enjoy sun-soaked days with our selection of the best natural, organic and ocean-friendly alternatives for you and your family. Pai British Summer Time Zinc & Cotton Extract SPF 30 Seven years in the making and well worth the wait, Pais suncream is the broad spectrum protect that you need. Its packed with skin boosting benefits and the formula is not greasy, leaves a slightly matte finish and is so lightweight that it can be worn under makeup with ease. It is reef-friendly - comprised of zinc oxide that provides a shield from blue light and infra-red too. Wear rain or shine to protect against premature skin ageing without drying or causing breakouts. It can be worn on sensitive skin and for daily use. The sun lotion also has a lovely scent. Pai REN Clean Skincare Clean Screen Mineral Sun Cream SPF 30 It comes as no surprise that clean skincare label Ren has a sun protection product that is free from any harsh or unwelcome ingredients. The broad spectrum SPF 30 protects against UVA, UVB rays and blue light with a mattifying effect. Kind to your skin and the planet, it is crafted from recycled packaging (50 per cent for the tube and 100 per cent for the cap). Its also vegan, cruelty and silicone-free. Ren Clean Skincare Dead Sea Spa Magik Sunsafe This natural sunscreen contains Dead Sea minerals to both hydrate and protect skin as well as Aloe Vera to cool and soothe potential irritation - it also has a lovely, natural scent. The hypoallergenic formula is water resistant, vegan and and contains broad spectrum UVA and UVB protection at SPF 50. With no pore-clogging side effects, this sunscreen is gentle on the face and provided good protection without a greasy sheen. Dead Sea Spa Ultrasun Body Mineral Sunscreen SPF50 For sun protection that packs a powerful punch without feeling laborious or heavy on the skin, Ultrasun has got you covered. The brand is all about education on the effects of harmful rays on the skin so SPF 50 is a given and theres a high UVA filter of over 95 per cent. The formula is hard working and high tech - made entirely from mineral filters like organic sunflower shoots and antioxidants from the likes of the Tara tree. It will also protect against blue light. You can also shop the brands formula for face (26). Ultrasun SkinCeuticals Sheer Mineral UV Defense SPF50 Beloved by beauty editors and dermatologists alike, SkinCeuticals use scientific-backed formulas to create products that just work. This mineral sunscreen protection provides an excellent shield from UV rays, while also evening out skin tone and not causing flakiness, dryness or blemishes. The non-irritating formula can even be used on sensitive skin and those suffering from rosacea. It provides excellent cover and leaves you with a radiant complexion - what more can you ask for? SkinCeuticals Drunk Elephant Umbra Sheer Physical Daily Defence SPF 30 If youve not yet heard of Drunk Elephant - have you been living under a rock? The no-nasties skincare label craft efficacious formulas free from the Suspicious Six as the brand refers to them (drying alcohol, silicones, SLS, chemical screens, essential oils or fragrance/dyes). The same is true for the sunscreens and so, they are reef-safe and non-toxic to marine life. That being said, the product still delivers strong protection against the sun rays, while treating your skin to the benefits of antioxidants, raspberry seed and marula oils to nourish skin with moisture at the same time. It can be used on a daily basis and under makeup as the product doesnt leave behind a sticky residue or unpleasant texture. Drunk Elephant CeraVe Facial Lotion with Suncream As with all CeraVe products, the creams are developed alongside dermatologists, benefiting from their expertise. While the 70-product wide range provides sunscreens ranging from SPF 30 to 50, our favourite has to be the daily Facial Moisturizing Lotion for an easy way to incorporate SPF into your daily beauty routine. The lightweight and fast absorbing formula provides a natural barrier against UVA rays and can be worn easily under make up. With the well-publicised ageing effects of sun exposure, this sunscreen will ensure your skins natural barrier is repaired, restored and maintained. Green People Scent Free Sun Lotion Renowned for their certified organic award-winning skin and body products, Green People know a thing or two about natural skincare. The labels sun lotion protects against both UVA and UVB rays with its natural and 78% certified organic formula that contains Vitamins A, C and E, alongside Green tea, olive, avocado and rosemary extract that support skins immune systems and prevent against premature ageing. Free from silicones, emulsifiers or artificial fragrances, the cream is designed for those with sensitive skin. With no added fragrance, it is also non-greasy, water repellent and easy to spread. Whats more, 10% of the labels net profit is donated to charity. Supporting your skins immune and protecting against cell damage, the sun cream is available in SPF 15 and 30. Green People Odylique Natural Sun Screen Dont be alarmed by the pale green colouring of this natural sun cream, this is due to the fact that it has no artificial UV filters, preservatives, fragrance or colouring. The PETA-approved formula is also the first ever sunscreen that is both approved by the Fairtrade Foundation and organically certified. It contains nine organic botanicals such as karanja seed and Fairtrade raw shea butter to replenish and soothe skin and protect against ageing. Designed for both your face and body, it also includes extracts of calming chamomile, rosemary and sea buckthorn (which is rich in omega 7) to calm the skin and counteract the damaging effects of the sun. The silicone-free cream is SPF 30. Incognito Skin Winning the Queen's Award for Sustainable Development, Incognito Skin is a summer essential. For a natural sunscreen and insect repellent in one knockout formula, look no further than Incognito. Ideal for travelling, this cream will become your new best friend to protect against the sun as well as mosquito bites. Paraben & SLS free, it contains only natural and organic ingredients such as aloe, geranium and edelweiss, making it suitable for vegans. The citrus-scented fragrance is made in the UK and once shaken creates an easily spreadable texture. The packaging is also made for renewable sugarcane and 10% of profits go to charity. Kypris Suncreen Cleverly titled Pot of Shade, this mineral-based formula has a dual function. As well as protecting your skin against UVA and UVB rays, the cream can also be worn under your make up as a primer due to the velvety, translucent finish. The cream contains Sweet Iris Stem Cells and Sunflowers, which are rich in fatty acid for a plumping and luminous effect as well as organic, co-op grown Tamanu seed oil for a radiant glow. Void of artificial scents - this stellar natural sunscreen gave our skin a protective hydration boost while protecting from sun damage with SPF 30. Verdict R eese Witherspoon has confirmed that production on Legally Blonde 3 will be going ahead after days of rumours. The American actress is set to reprise her role as Elle Woods in a third instalment of the cult comedy, set to be released 15 years after the last one. Witherspoon took to Twitter to confirm the news with a simple video. The 42-year-old shared a GIF of her characters signature pink sequin bikini as she floated on a pool in a lilo. She tweeted: Its true... #LegallyBlonde3. The tweet was met with a wave of excitement from fans on social media. One fan wrote: elle woods is gonna be back to keep showing what power means HER MIND. Another commented: My 82 year old mom will be so excited! She LOVES the Legally Blonde movies! [sic] A third wrote: This is the best news I've heard all year! News first sparked earlier this week after multiple sources claimed that the popular film franchise would make a comeback 15 years after the second film was released, which ended with Elle aspiring to work at the White House. Legally Blonde - In pictures 1 /10 Legally Blonde - In pictures Reese Witherspoon in 'Legally Blonde (2001) Reese Witherspoon in 'Legally Blonde (2001) Reese Witherspoon in 'Legally Blonde (2001) Reese Witherspoon in 'Legally Blonde (2001) Reese Witherspoon in 'Legally Blonde (2001) Reese Witherspoon in 'Legally Blonde (2001) Reese Witherspoon in 'Legally Blonde (2001) Reese Witherspoon in 'Legally Blonde (2001) Luke Wilson and Reese Witherspoon in 'Legally Blonde 2' Reese Witherspoon in 'Legally Blonde 2' According to both The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline, the actress would produce the film through her Hello Sunshine banner. The brand, founded by Witherspoon, describes their company as anchored in storytelling, creating and discovering content that celebrates women and puts them at the centre of the story. T he worlds biggest dating app has announced it is dropping swiping in favour of live interactions. Badoo, which has 380 million users around the world, is testing the removal of the typical swiping feature of dating apps in favour of its new live stream feature, Badoo Live, this summer. According to research by the company, 68 per cent of Brits said they dislike the swiping and appearance matching of dating apps. This is seen as a shallow way of connecting people. Instead, around 83 per cent of respondents said they would feel more comfortable meeting someone after watching a live stream of them. Andrey Andreev, Badoos founder and CEO, said the new feature will move the app on from just matches and swiping to real face-to-face interactions. We are testing the removal of our encounters feature, as our research shows that people now value real life interactions and want to see more of the person behind the profile picture, he said. Badoo Live, launching soon, will give our users the chance to let their true personalities shine through; interact in real time and ultimately, form more genuine connections. Badoo's new feature will drop swiping in favour of live streams / Badoo How Badoo Live works 1. To use Badoo Live, start by opening up the app 2. In the app, there is a "Start Live Stream" button. Tap this and Badoo will start the broadcast 3. During the broadcast, other users can view it and send messages to you 4. Once you've finished the live stream, just tap the 'end' button and it will disappear Badoo says that once a broadcast is finished, it will no longer be available so you can only watch someone's broadcast when it is live. As well, the company says the feature is 100 per cent safe. Badoo's software will be continuously scanning streams to remove any suspected inappropriate content, which is then removed by moderators. If a user streams any inappropriate content, they will be immediately blocked from using the app. Dating apps pivot to video Badoo announced earlier this year it was introducing a new video chat feature, to allow potential couples to meet before they go on a date. With issues such as catfishing on the internet, it was a good initiative to allow users to meet safely before an official meeting in public. However, to completely ditch the traditional dating app swiping feature in favour of a video is a different kettle of fish. Its interesting to see dating apps move away from the shallow reputation theyve developed. Other apps like Huggle, which was recently acquired by Badoo, have never included the swiping feature. Instead, Huggle users are matched on their combined interests, based on places theyve tagged themselves in on social media. Stina Sanders, one of Huggles co-founders, told the Standard: I liked the idea of connecting through places. Thats how you meet someone normally, the old-school dating where you would meet someone in a nightclub or through a friend at the pub. We realised no one was doing this [with dating apps]. Even more than the dating aspect, Badoo Live demonstrates the companys attempts to move more into the social media scene. Though the feature is currently in testing phases, one Badoo user live-streamed a friends wedding for 13 hours using Badoo Live. This is stepping on the toes of other social media apps like Facebook and Instagram which offer live-streaming options. T he early PC era pitted nerd against hippie, Bill Gates of Microsoft versus Steve Jobs of Apple. Gates won, as his software became ubiquitous. Jobs was driven from his own firm. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Jobs returned to Apple while Gates retired to work on his philanthropy. Microsoft slumped and Apple rose to be the most valuable company in the world. Now Microsoft is quietly thriving again and Apple has a new foe: Facebook, Mark Zuckerbergs increasingly beleaguered social network. Facebook is facing a daily torrent of bad press, and legal and regulatory scrutiny. Since it was revealed that Cambridge Analytica had used the personal data of 80 million Facebook users to help Republican clients in US elections, Facebooks credibility has been evaporating. Shareholders are campaigning for Zuckerberg to give up his control of 60 per cent of the voting rights. The percentage of US teenagers who use Facebook has dropped from 71 per cent to 51 per cent in the past three years. A barrage of research has found that excessive use of social media leads to depression. Facebooks second biggest product, Instagram, has become a particular target of this research. This week, Facebook admitted that it shared user data with phone and device makers, including a Chinese company deemed a national security threat by the US government. This prompted The New York Times to call for the government to chop it down to size. And perhaps most damaging to Facebooks commercial future, the founders of WhatsApp, the messaging app which Facebook bought for $22 billion in 2014, have left, after arguing with Zuckerberg and his number two, Sheryl Sandberg, over privacy issues. The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that the arguments were so bad, the WhatsApp founders walked away from $1.3 billion rather than continuing to work with Facebook. Facebook depends on hiring the best programmers. If it becomes a pariah in the tech community, that will become much harder. Apple is throughly enjoying Facebooks discomfort. Apple CEO Tim Cook gets a demonstration of an app during the launch at a Chicago high school / Getty Images Tim Cook, Jobss successor at Apple, recently taunted Facebook: The truth is, we could make a ton of money if we monetised our customer if our customer was our product. Weve elected not to do that. Zuckerberg called his comment extremely glib. Ouch. At Apples developer conference this week, its executives announced that its browser, Safari, would disable the tracking software, or cookies, that Facebook and Google embed in software to track users journeys through the internet. Facebooks Chief Security Officer tweeted back: If this is about protecting privacy, and not just cute virtue signaling, then they should block all third-party JS [javascript] and pixels. This was a geek charge of rampant hypocrisy. Apple and Facebook have always represented different ends of Silicon Valleys cultural spectrum. Apple fetishises design and immaculately finished products. It guards access to its world of software and apps. It recently moved into its new space-age headquarters, all glass, stone and metal, a gigantic monastery of tech. Facebooks campus, designed by Frank Gehry, is a jumble of buildings, designed to look raw and incomplete, to convey the impression that Facebook is a work in progress, more half-assembled motherboard than gleaming iPhone X. Its platforms throb with uncontrolled news and information. The light editorial touch, which Facebook has vowed to change, has allowed gruesome or untrue stories to swirl dangerously around the world. Despite these differences, though, Zuckerberg and Jobs were close. Zuckerberg idolised Jobs. They would go for walks together near their homes in Palo Alto. Zuckerberg mimicked Jobss habit of wearing a daily uniform: black polo neck and jeans for Jobs; grey T-shirt and jeans for Zuckerberg. Jobs would interview people by taking them on long walks. Zuckerberg did the same. Jobs admired Zuckerbergs mastery of online social networks, something Apple tried but never cracked. Zuckerberg idolised Apple's co-founder, Steve Jobs / AFP/Getty Images But on the issue of privacy, the source of Apple and Facebooks current feud, they were miles apart. Jobs insisted that Apple be a product company and not sell access to its users. He was asked about privacy at a conference in Silicon Valley in 2010, a year before he died. He said he was old-fashioned on the issue. Privacy means people know what theyre signing up for, in plain English, and repeatedly. Im an optimist. I believe people are smart, and some people want to share more data than other people do. Ask them. Ask them every time. Make them tell you to stop asking them if they get tired of your asking them. Let them know precisely what youre going to do with their data. Jobs was no saint, but on this issue he makes Zuckerberg looks diabolical. Since its founding, Facebook has been slippery on privacy. It has been caught out, promised to change, then been caught out again. Zuckerberg, sallow and uncomfortable, has been dragged before Congress and the European Parliament to explain himself. Propped up on a cushion to compensate for being short, he has tried to win favour by presenting himself as a self-made entrepreneur, an American business legend who built one of the worlds great companies from his dormitory room at Harvard. Apples approach to privacy was tested when the FBI demanded it unlock an iPhone belonging to the person who shot and killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California, in December 2015. Apple stared down the government, which only relented when it found a contractor who could unlock the phone. Its hard position was divisive; some seeing it as a rebuke to law enforcement, others as a triumph for individual rights versus Big Brother. Facebook isnt the only tech giant facing public scrutiny and internal challenges. At Googles annual software developer conference in May, Sundar Pichai, the companys CEO, said of artificial intelligence that we know the path ahead needs to be navigated carefully and deliberately. We feel a deep sense of responsibility to get this right. Google has been facing a revolt among its employees about a contract it signed to help the US Department of Defence with AI. There were fears the technology would eventually be used in smart weapons: 4,000 employees signed a petition demanding a clear policy stating that neither Google nor its contractors will ever build warfare technology. It was a small contract by Googles standards, just $15 million, and the company backed off. Google has also faced criticism for the untrammelled content appearing on its YouTube video service, some of it violent or disturbing. Both Google and Apple are now talking frequently of digital well-being. Craig Federighi, Apples software chief, said of the excessive use of smartphones: For some of us, its become such a habit we might not even recognise how distracted weve become. Both Apple and Google are introducing tools that alert you to how long youre spending on certain apps, and do not disturb features which limit notifications and calls. Another sign of how Apple thinks it may have Facebook on the back foot is that it is putting Apple News on its Macbooks just as Facebook is ending its Trending Topics feature, which has been a major conduit of bogus news. While Google and Facebook seem to be in permanent apology mode, Apple isnt apologising to anyone about its technology. I n the world according to David Attenborough, almost everything would be plastic-free. In our tech world that is a mighty challenge. But we like problems and so do many of our cohort, who are coming up with ingenius and sustainable methods of saving our planet from the scourge of this indestructible material. Timely, too tomorrow is World Oceans Day. House of Marley turntable The House of Marley turntable The plinth is bamboo, the body is covered in Rewind fabric (hemp, organic cotton and recycled plastic bottles) and both the platter and the slip mat are made from recycled materials. Choose your speakers, track down a copy of Exodus (one of the 20th-centurys finest) and let Bob do his magic. Pela Case Pela's cases are made of compostable "bioplastic" / Pela My new fave company. Toronto-based Pela, has developed colourful (and pastel) phone cases made of compostable flax straw bioplastic. The phone cases are proof that sustainable materials do not need to come at the cost of aesthetics. Its branding is fun and vibrant and you can sign up to its weekly Sustainability Saturdays newsletter, which gives you news and lifestyle tips on staying green. Transparent Speaker The Transparent Speaker has a modular design so you can fix and update it if components break / People People Design studio People People was tired of what it describes as the dirty consumer electronics industry, encouraging us all to buy a new product every time our tech breaks. Instead, it wants a behavioural change to encourage the purchase of one quality product which lasts longer. The Transparent Speakers modular design means you can update, fix and replace all the components if and when it breaks, rather than replacing the whole thing. Live Softly Love Softly's laptop cases are handmade and plastic-free Australian designer Elise Slater left her job in fashion branding in London to go on what she called her Eat Pray Love adventure. While in Nepal she came across a community of makers developing felt products and launched a collaboration developing hand-made, colourful, plastic-free laptop cases. Live Softly was born and it is now a social enterprise working with a leprosy charity in Nepal that provides housing and medical support to sufferers and their families. Woodcessories This MacBook cover was created from reclaimed shipwood A Colorado camping trip in 2011 led a group of friends to develop Woodcessories; a range of Forest Stewardship Council-approved wooden accessories for your iPhone, iPad, laptop and Apple watch. Each year it develops an exclusive collection created solely from reclaimed shipwood. Bonus ball: if you purchase online itll plant a tree on your behalf to go with the order. Win, win. 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All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site. 0108263 License for publishing multimedia online Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349 Blocking the case of Rosia Montana at UNESCO during the year of the Centennial is an irresponsible act and says a lot about the quality of certain politicians, as well as their real patriotism, says former Culture Minister Corina Suteu. "The cultural and natural heritage from Rosia Montana belong to Romania and the Romanian people, it is not the inheritance of some corporation. If there is a dispute with the Canadian company, it was caused not by the ancient history of the place, but by the irresponsible acts of the last decades' public administration. A possible obligation of the Romanian state to pay compensations cannot be attributed to the Dacians and Romans of 2,000 years ago, who left us a universally valuable heritage, and neither to today's honest Romanians who do not wish for a fundamental part of their history and culture to be destroyed due to some petty interests. To commit the irresponsible act of trying to block the Rosia Montana case at UNESCO, in the year in which the Romanian modern state celebrates a century of existence says a lot about the quality of certain politicians and their real interests," Corina Suteu wrote on Thursday on Facebook. According to some information that appeared in the media, the Government stopped the procedure of including the town of Rosia Montana in the UNESCO heritage, the request being made by the Ministry of Culture and National Identity and sent to Romania's Permanent Delegate to UNESCO, through the Foreign Ministry.Romania's Permanent Delegate to UNESCO Adrian Cioroianu considers that the procedure to include Rosia Montana on the list for UNESCO World Heritage should be reopened upon the conclusion of the arbitration process with Gabriel Resources, the majority shareholder of Rosia Montana Gold Corporation."The case is blocked in the current phase. As long as the trial lasts. When the process is solved, it would be normal for the assessment to be reopened. The case is still at UNESCO," Adrian Cioroianu told AGERPRES on Thursday. Defence Minister Mihai Fifor will take part on Thursday and Friday in the meeting of NATO Defence Ministers, that is taking place in Brussels. According to a press release from the Ministry of National Defence (MAPN), the agenda of the first day of the meeting features a presentation of the implementation stage of the allied posture of deterrence and defence, as well as ways to streamline it. "For our country, a special interest is represented by the advanced allied presence dedicated to the Eastern flank and engaging more allies in its implementation. Another topic tackled during the first day will be that of equally dividing responsabilities within NATO (burden-sharing). Will also be deepened aspects related to projecting stability against terrorism, as well as progress made for launching a new training NATO mission in Iraq", reads the press release.During the second day of the meeting, the main topic will be the cooperation between NATO and the European Union.On the sidelines of NATO's ministerial meeting, there will take place the meeting of the countries that contribute to the anti-ISIS Coalition, led by United States Secretary of Defense James Mattis, MApN informs. Energy Minister Anton Anton stated on Thursday that natural gas will not be more expensive next winter, even if experts warn that oil price increase will also lead to the increase in the gas bills. The minister participated in the conference titled "Energy efficiency - a priority in combating energy poverty and providing access to energy for all", within the Romanian Presidency of the Energy Charter. Asked by journalist what is Romania's strategy in protecting vulnerable consumers from the gas price rise, expected in the upcoming months, Minister Anton replied: "It is not true", refusing to argument his opinion.This, although the price of gas is directly dependent on that of crude oil and the barrel quotation have reached the past four years' peak. The barrel's fluctuations also reflect on the price of gas, with a 6-9 month time lag, so that the entire energy market is preparing for the gas price increase next winter."Everything that was discussed here had to do with the protection of vulnerable consumers, about the energy development. We, as a state, protect them through decisions that we already have in the legislation and which give them a minimum quantum of energy and support for heating," Anton also said.Moreover, the minister contradicted the journalists who recalled that in Romania, the concept of 'vulnerable consumers' of energy and gas still doesn't exist, so these are not protected. "We have the law, and the strategy," the minister replied.However, Romania's Energy Strategy 2017-2035 is not yet finalised. It has been in an ongoing stage of development and the minister has promised before that it would be completed by the end of the year.Frank Hajdinjak, E.ON Romania Executive Director, was stating at end-May that the gas prices on Romanian market, both domestically produced and from imports, will significantly increase next winter, due to the rise of oil quotations.Moreover, as there is no real competition on the market, as there are only two domestic producers, the price of domestic gas will tend to grow towards the import gas price.Hajdinjak showed that last winter the import gas price was by 20 percent higher than in the previous winter, due to rises in oil quotations. Next year, during Romania's Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the child's rights will be our country's priority, on Wednesday night said the Minister Delegate for European Affairs Victor Negrescu, at the UNICEF Romania 2018 Gala. 'It is paramount to work together alongside the UNICEF, alongside these important events that are carried out at national and international level to protect the young. (...) Everything we do is important, each gesture we make is important, each look we address is important. Everything that happens, in particular when it is about the interaction with a child is important and this proves that it is possible, that we can give hope. (...) And here I wish to emphasise the UNICEF motto: For each child! Yes, each child should have the chance and opportunity to achieve his dream. (...) Next year, during Romania's Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the child's rights will be a priority for Romania, will be a priority assumed by Romania, because it is important at European level to talk about what we can do together. Or, unfortunately, at European level, we don't talk enough about the children, about their rights, about the guarantees we could implement together to support those policies that could bring the child's welfare,' Victor Negrescu stressed. 'We need common moves, in particular because we shall talk about the future European budget, next year, the strategic agenda (...) in the next five years. Why not, we must influence together these papers so they talk to the children. I want to say something that most of you probably do know: Not everybody believes that the child should be placed on the agenda. I don't know why they find this not significant. Perhaps they believe that other topics are more important than this. And this is why it is important for us to take action, to work together (...), it is important to put this topic as higher as possible on the European agenda, so as to make joint decisions, together and with a real impact,' Negrescu added.The Minister Delegate also said that it is as important to give the children the chance to participate in the decision-making process, giving as example the fact that Romania's logo for its January-June 2019 Presidency of the EU Council has been chosen after a contest won by a 15-year old boy.The UNICEF Gala brought together representatives of the national and local bodies, MPs, gov't officials, and of the diplomatic corps and beneficiaries of the organization.The event, moderated by one of the UNICEF's ambassadors of Romania, Andreea Marin enjoyed the presence of the other two Romanian ambassadors of the UNICEF, Andrei Maria (Smiley) and Horia Tecau, not to mention the UNICEF's representative to Romania, Pieter Bult. Professors, doctors of various specialties, resident physicians and students are attending Thursday through Saturday the 6th edition of the 'Interdisciplinary Perspectives' Congress organized at the Palace of Parliament Palace by the 'Carol Davila' University of Medicine and Pharmacy. Initiation, evolution, excellence are the governing coordinates of the academic event designed to highlight the latest developments in worldwide scientific medical research, the organizers said. The program of the congress includes dozens of scientific sessions and the presentation of over 200 original papers.Medical personalities from Germany, France, Switzerland, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Republic of Moldova and Romania will attend.''The 6th edition of the congress of the 'Carol Davila' University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest affirms the event's tradition and at the same time reflects, perhaps more than ever, the fact that work in a united team, high aspirations and the continued desire for improvement result in scientific performance," said Rector of the 'Carol Davila' University of Medicine and Pharmacy and congress chairman, Academician Ionel Sinescu."2013 saw the launch of an initiative that was considered chancy at that time, specifically the first congress of the 'Carol Davila' University of Medicine and Pharmacy. It was mainly aimed at the interdisciplinary integration of medical knowledge from various specialties in order to establish clear recommendations for the diagnosis and treatment of the patient with multiple diseases. Also, we wanted to increase the educational role of the university for doctors of various specialties. This year, at the sixth edition, we consider this congress to be a real success. With over 4,500 participants - academics, professors, doctors of various specialties, resident physicians, students - this is an ample, one of a kind event in Romania's academic milieu," said Professor Dragos Vinereanu, PhD, Vice-Rector of UMF 'Carol Davila' and co-chair of the congress.Three Doctor Honoris Causa degrees will be awarded on Thursday during the event to Professor Marianne Pavel of the Friedrich Alexander University of Erlangen-Nurnberg; Professor, Peter Mulders, PhD, of the Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen - the Netherlands; and to Professor, Pierre Hoffmeyer, PhD - University of Geneva.Another award ceremony is scheduled for Friday, when Professor Claude Vigneron, PhD, of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences - University of Lorraine, Professor Gheorghe Petru Ghidirim, PhD, member of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, and Professor Adrian Mark Kynaston Thomas, PhD, Chairman of the International Society for the History of Radiology, London will be presented with the honorary degrees.Apart from the presentation of scientific papers, the Congress of the 'Carol Davila' University of Medicine and Pharmacy also includes the "Young Researcher Competition", which consists of the presentation of the best 6 papers in 5 specialties: general medicine, pharmacy, preclinical specialties, medical specialties and surgical specialties."In addition to the initial goal of handling the patient from an interdisciplinary perspective, another increasingly important goal is to provide young researchers and physicians with the opportunity to present their scientific papers, discuss them in plenary as part of the competition dedicated to the Young Researcher, exchange experience with specialists from Romania and abroad. The congress thus contributes to the formation of an elite medical community. We must always bear in mind that deep scientific research stimulates a nation's progress. A scientific manifestation like this congress has developed in this direction as an integral part of knowledge," said Professor Dragos Vinereanu. Premier Viorica Dancila, currently on an official visit to Portugal, participated in the inauguration of a plaza dedicated to Romania in Estoril, thanking on the occasion the Portuguese authorities for the friendship shown to the local Romanian community, the government said in a release on Thursday. Viorica Dancila attended on Wednesday the inauguration ceremony for the Largo da Romenia plaza in Estoril, Cascais municipality of Lisbon. "The event was an occasion to highlight the privileged relation between the two countries which are connected by centennial-long diplomatic relations, cultural and historic ties, and which are working together to relaunch their future relations," the release states.The head of the government expressed hopes that Romania and Portugal "will further improve their relations as close partners and active EU members driven by joint aspirations, interests and visions regarding multiple common important files."Premier Dancila also thanked the Portuguese authorities and extended personal thanks to Cascais mayor Carlos Carreiras "for the openness shown to Romania and the friendship shown to the Romanian community in Portugal," the release states.According to the government, Cascais, which celebrates this year its 650th anniversary, also accommodates a school of the Romanian community and has started negotiations for a twinning agreement with the Romanian mountain resort of Sinaia.The government said that particularly in the year of the Great Union Centennial, Cascais and Estoril are of special interest to Romania, given that many Romanian personalities have lived here: writer and philosopher Lucian Blaga, religion scholar, philosopher and writer Mircea Eliade, writer Elena Vacarescu and King Carol II.The round hardscape plaza dedicated to Romania is located at the heart of Estoril, next to Hotel Palacio (1930), one of the most prestigious locations in Europe that has hosted heads of state and diplomats who have designed post-war Europe, the release states. Prime Minister Viorica Dancila, on an official visit to Portugal, affirmed in the context of the signing of a memorandum between "Horia Hulubei" Institute and Champalimaud Foundation, that the expansion of the Romania-Portuguese partnership on research enjoys the full support of the Government. According to a press release of the Gov't sent to AGREPRES on Thursday, premier Viorica Dancila visited on Wednesday the seat of the Champalimaud Foundation in Lisbon, one of the most prestigious research centres in Europe. The Executive specifies the visit took place in the context of the signing of the Understanding Memorandum in the scientific research field between Romania's Horia Hulubei National Institute of Research and Development for Physics and Nuclear Engineering and the Champalimaud Foundation.On this occasion, premier Dancila stated that "the signing of the cooperation document between the two renowned institutions contributes to the expansion of the Romania-Portuguese partnership concerning research and innovation activities, enjoying the Romanian Government's full support," the release further reads. President Klaus Iohannis discussed on Thursday with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda about the summit of the Three Seas Initiative that will be organised in September in Bucharest. "My ambition and that of my team is that this summit bring palpable results, so we get into palpable projects," Klaus Iohannis told the joint conference with Andrzej Duda. The head of state informed his Polish counterpart regarding the stage of preparation of the summit in Bucharest. He indicated that he wants for this format to be an economic one, too."We want to effectively involve investors in an economic format. These things will generate a new dynamics," Iohannis stated.The head of state underscored the extraordinary good relation with Poland. Romanian Ambassador in Rome George Bologan was received on Wednesday by President of the Senate of Italy Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati; the two officials addressed topical issues regarding the need to reinvigorate the European project based on the fundamental values of the Union - solidarity, cohesion and the important need of providing common answers to common issues, the Romanian Embassy in Italy said in a release. Bologan has also elaborated on the concept and relevance of parliamentary diplomacy among member states, including the role thereof in mediating and identifying practical answers for citizens on the one hand, and managing political crisis situations on the other hand. The two interlocutors agreed that the European Union enjoys some of the world's highest living standards, as the European project generates welfare and development opportunities with visible effects on the population. This is also reflected in the motto of the upcoming Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU: "Cohesion, a common European value", which the Romanian diplomat presented at the meeting.The transformation of the EU into a global actor is the joint responsibility of all member states, and the cooperation of Romania and Italy can make a significant contribution to this end, the release states. In this context, the sides approached topics such as securing the Union's borders, developing economic relations, transnational cooperation within NATO and the EU. One might well think that the only serious foreign policy imperative of the Donald Trump administration is to defend Israel. A president elected because he promised to put United States interests first has turned out to be little different than his predecessors, bowing to the power of various lobbies and constituencies to carry out their wishes while simultaneously pretending to be serving poorly defined policies to promote the security and well-being of the American people. Israel possesses, to be sure, the most powerful foreign policy lobby operating not only in the United States but as well in Western Europe and Australasia. When Israel makes its incessant demands, politicians from Washington to Canberra and Wellington pause to listen. In Britain, fully 80% of Conservative parliamentarians are members of the Conservative Friends of Israel. Israel benefits from a large, influential and wealthy community of diaspora Jews that is willing to do its bidding and which also possesses easy access to the media and to politicians, many of whom are more than willing to be corrupted by money. This has led to the creation of an Israeli narrative, most particularly in the United States, which glamorizes the state of Israel through the incessant reiteration of expressions like the only democracy in the Middle East and Americas best friend and closest ally, both of which assertions are completely false. It should surprise no one that the Trump administration is packed with Israel-firsters from top to bottom. Those who deal with Israel directly Ambassador David Friedman, Chief Middle East Negotiator Jason Greenblatt, and Special Envoy and son-in-law Jared Kushner are all Orthodox Jews with long standing ties to Israel and its leadership. They are major financial supporters of Israeli charities, to include projects on the occupied West Bank, which are both illegal under international law and contrary to long established U.S. policy. It would seem, without being too hyperbolic, that Israeli interests are at least as important to them as are the American interests that they ostensibly represent and are being paid by the taxpayer to support. Within the White House, there is virtually no pushback against Israeli pretensions even when American interests are being damaged. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has repeatedly voiced his support of the Jewish state and his animosity towards that states enemy of choice Iran. National Security Adviser John Bolton, a long-time neoconservative, has never distanced himself in any way from complete identification with the policies being promoted by Israel and its increasingly right wing and racist governments. Donald Trump himself has declared that he will be the best president for Israel ever, a pledge that he has worked to honor by moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in spite of the damage that it does to actual regional American interests. But the most vocal advocate for Israel within the Administration is Nikki Haley, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, who has consistently taken the hardest of all possible lines against Israels claimed enemies while also fully endorsing the most brutal actions undertaken by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Haleys most recent action reveals that the United States has truly lost its sense of direction and moral compass. If one were religious, it might be suggested that it has lost its soul. Haleys most recent foray into her own style of what she might refer to as statesmanship came on June 1st. Kuwait had brought a resolution to the United Nations Security Council to call on it to fulfil its responsibility to help protect the people of Gaza, who were being bombed, gassed and shot dead by Israeli Army sniper fire. Nikki Haley, however, was thinking of something quite different, a resolution she had drafted to denounce Hamas for the alleged volleys of rockets that were launched into adjacent Israeli controlled areas in response to the Israeli gunfire and bombings. Votes on the two resolutions followed, with Haley failing to obtain any votes on her resolution except her own. Haley again voted alone when she vetoed the Kuwaiti resolution to protect the Palestinian people. And it was not Haleys first such bit of unilateralism. She had walked out of a previous Security Council meeting on Israels killing of Palestinian protesters as a deliberate insult to their representative who had risen to begin to speak. Haley unfortunately represents America. America the home of the free and brave? Bullshit. Iran has launched preparations to boost its uranium enriching capacity. The decision is the result of the United States withdrawal from the nuclear deal (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JPCOA). Tehran has begun work on infrastructure to build advanced centrifuges at its Natanz facility. It also plans to secure nuclear fuel for the Bushehr power plant. The UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was informed of its plans to increase the enrichment within the limits of the 2015 deal with world powers. This is a signal that Iran will not comply with the JPCOA if it collapses. Tehran wants European banks to take the risk and safeguard trade. Oil sales must be guaranteed and the losses resulting from US sanctions must be compensated by Brussels. The demand for new negotiations on ballistic missile program and regional policy must be abandoned as these issues are not related to the JPCOA. The EU is trying to preserve the agreement but its hard to see how private companies could be convinced to deal with Tehran running the risk of American punitive measures. Peugeot, Total, Italys Danieli have already halted or are preparing to halt their ties with Iran. Actually, the chances that Europeans would be able to protect their companies dealing with Iran from the effects of US sanctions are slim at best. If so, Iran has no reason to comply with the deal anymore. Why should it? It was not Iran who tore it up. If its not working, then why should Tehran observe its part of it? True, formally the agreement is still effective. Iran said the enrichment will be within the agreed limits but the US and Israel are likely to say it is not. Washington and Jerusalem will raise hue and cry over the announced enrichment to describe it as a breach of the JPCOA, whether the limits stipulated in the deal are exceeded or not. They will cite intelligence sources or invent something to justify their claims, no matter what the UN watchdog says. The trouble is that the US decision to pull out from the deal was not an element of a well-defined policy, there was no plan B. The hope to have the JCPOA renegotiated was a pipe dream from the start. An agreement is an agreement. Iran complied with it. Other controversial issues, such as ballistic missiles, could have been subjects for separate talks. If not, its still preferable to have the JPCOA in effect to make sure there will be no nuclear warheads installed on delivery means. But Washington chose the language of ultimatums to spoil it all. In April, President Trump warned Iran of big problems if it resumes the nuclear program. Iranian Bavar-373 air defense systems have already been deployed to protect the related infrastructure. In late May, Israeli Air Force commander Maj. Gen. Amikam Norkin said Israel is the first country in the world to carry out an operational mission with the F-35 stealth fighter, which flew over Beirut undetected. In March, two Israeli F-35s were reported to fly over Iranian air space unnoticed. This was a clear warning to Iran that the resumption of nuclear program would be responded to with force. In 2012, Israel was ready to strike but was held back by the US. With Presidents Trumps tough stance on Iran, it may be different this time. On the contrary, the US may find the idea to use force against Iran too tempting before the June 12 summit with the North Korean leader in Singapore. Actually, a war between Israel and Iran is already waged as Israeli aviation regularly strikes what it says Irans forces in Syria. The recent success of pro-Iranian Hezbollah in Lebanon brings an armed conflict even closer. The unsettled maritime dispute over the natural gas deposits in the Mediterranean makes it almost inevitable as the profits to be received by Lebanese government will inevitably enrich Hezbollah. The Hamas attacks in Gaza are also viewed by Israel as a conflict ignited by Iran. It strikes the eye that Israel has changed its tone demanding complete withdrawal of Iran from Syria not just keeping away from the Golan Heights. There are unconfirmed reports that the US military is building an outpost in Sinjar mountains of Ninawa province to secure Syria-Iraq border and prevent Iran from establishing a land corridor linking Irans western border to the Mediterranean. If the reports are true, the US is evidently preparing for a military operation. It will not have NATO by its side. America and Israel are on their own. They may be supported directly or indirectly by some Sunni Arab nations. For instance, Saudi Arabias threat to use force against Qatar is another sigh of preparing a multinational war against Iran. The deal to purchase Russian S-400 air defense systems is used as a pretext though its hard to see how these defensive weapon systems could pose a threat to the kingdom. Riyadh is in talks with Moscow on purchasing the systems, why cant Doha do the same? The real reason is probably the refusal of Qatar to break ties with Iran. There are very disturbing signs that a war waged by Israel, the US, and probably its Persian Gulf allies is close at hand. The tensions could be eased if diplomacy were given a chance but the US unilateral withdrawal from the JPCOA appears to turn such scenario into a very remote possibility. TICKERS: AMAZ Source: Clive Maund for Streetwise Reports (6/6/18) Technical Analyst Clive Maund reviews a Texas energy junior's charts and provides an update. Amazing Energy Oil & Gas Co. (AMAZ:OTCQX) finally succumbed to continued pressure from the falling oil price yesterday and dropped sharply, losing 19% at the close, but fell considerably more during the day. However, the surprising thing about this move is that it did no technical damage to the stock whatsoeveron the contrary, this looks like the final drop that marks the end of the correction in force from early last December. On its latest 7-month chart we can see what happened in detail, and how, even though it dropped 19% at the close, it had still recovered a lot of the ground it lost during the day, so that it ended the day with a bull hammer on its chart. This candle formed on high volume and the interesting thing is that most of this volume was buying that drove it back up again. We know this from the Accumulation line, shown at the top of the chart, which actually rose to new highs yesterday. Furthermore, the action yesterday was not a "one day wonder"it was the last in a series of long-tailed candles going back to early April, where buying kicked in from low levels and dove the price back up. This is why the Accumulation line has been so strong. This price/volume action portends a breakout into a new uptrend, and it happen soon, given that yesterday's action is a clear sign of a final low. The 18-month chart is very useful as it enables us to grasp the big picture of what is going on with this stock. It reveals that the correction in force from last December is actually the Handle of a large Pan & Handle base pattern. With June 4th's action indicating that the Handle of the pattern is at last complete, it should now proceed to turn up and break out upside in due course from the entire pattern into a bull market. While Amazing won't necessarily require a rising oil price to achieve this, its charts do suggest that the oil price will at least hold up and possibly continue to advance further, and right now oil is oversold after its recent drop and set to at least stage a bounce, which should help Amazing. The long-term 10-year chart reminds us how cheap Amazing is historically, for as we can see it is still close to the bottom of a much larger base pattern that goes right back to 2009, and not shown on this chart is that it got as high as $37 back in 2006. The company has a reasonable 77.7 million shares in issue. Amazing Energy Oil & Gas website. Amazing Energy Oil & Gas Co, AMAZ on OTC, closed at $0.39 on 4th June 18. Clive Maund has been president of www.clivemaund.com, a successful resource sector website, since its inception in 2003. He has 30 years' experience in technical analysis and has worked for banks, commodity brokers and stockbrokers in the City of London. He holds a Diploma in Technical Analysis from the UK Society of Technical Analysts. Want to read more Energy Report articles like this? Sign up for our free e-newsletter, and you'll learn when new articles have been published. To see a list of recent articles and interviews with industry analysts and commentators, visit our Streetwise Interviews page. Disclosure: 1) Clive Maund: I, or members of my immediate household or family, own shares of the following companies mentioned in this article: None. I personally am, or members of my immediate household or family are, paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None. My company has a financial relationship with the following companies mentioned in this article: None. CliveMaund.com disclosures below. I determined which companies would be included in this article based on my research and understanding of the sector. 2) The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: Amazing Energy. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees. As of the date of this article, an affiliate of Streetwise Reports has a consulting relationship with Amazing Energy. Please click here for more information. 3) Statements and opinions expressed are the opinions of the author and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The author is wholly responsible for the validity of the statements. The author was not paid by Streetwise Reports for this article. Streetwise Reports was not paid by the author to publish or syndicate this article. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports requires contributing authors to disclose any shareholdings in, or economic relationships with, companies that they write about. Streetwise Reports relies upon the authors to accurately provide this information and Streetwise Reports has no means of verifying its accuracy. 4) 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. 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 Amazing Energy, a company mentioned in this article. Charts provided by the author. CliveMaund.com Disclosure: The above represents the opinion and analysis of Mr Maund, based on data available to him, at the time of writing. Mr. Maund's opinions are his own, and are not a recommendation or an offer to buy or sell securities. Mr. Maund is an independent analyst who receives no compensation of any kind from any groups, individuals or corporations mentioned in his reports. As trading and investing in any financial markets may involve serious risk of loss, Mr. Maund recommends that you consult with a qualified investment advisor, one licensed by appropriate regulatory agencies in your legal jurisdiction and do your own due diligence and research when making any kind of a transaction with financial ramifications. Although a qualified and experienced stock market analyst, Clive Maund is not a Registered Securities Advisor. Therefore Mr. Maund's opinions on the market and stocks can only be construed as a solicitation to buy and sell securities when they are subject to the prior approval and endorsement of a Registered Securities Advisor operating in accordance with the appropriate regulations in your area of jurisdiction. A week of Torah study lishma (for its own sake), hevreschaft (collegiality and deep friendship), dreaming about the Jewish future and how best to empower people to build that future together, visioning and strategic planning for Bayit: Your Jewish Home, and also the beach and the sun and great food and davenen and singing: sounds like olam ha-ba / the World to Come! It may indeed be a description of heaven. (At least for me -- I can't think of a sweeter way to spend a week.) It's also a description of what I'll be doing on my summer vacation! Bayit's founding builders are renting a house on the seashore during the first week of July, and we'll spend a week together learning, praying, playing, and dreaming big about the things we hope to build. We're bringing teachers from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and Yeshivat Maharat so we can nourish our souls with Torah study. We'll do vision and strategic planning work to support not only the work we're already beginning to do (in publishing, in ritual resources, and in innovation / R&D) but also the work that is as-yet only in the early dreaming stages. We'll dive into big questions: what does the Jewish world most need? What does genuine innovation look like, and how can it be fostered and shared? What structures will best support the flowering-forth of renewal in Judaism and in spiritual life writ large? I can't imagine more meaningful conversations to be having -- nor better hevre with whom to build on those conversations. The learning and visioning week will be once again be sponsored by The Jewish Studio, under whose umbrella Bayit is housed. I don't know what I'm most excited about: the Torah study, the seashore, the time with my hevre, the conversations, the vision and strategic planning work... or maybe the integration of all of those, which will add up to more than the sum of their parts. Plea for the removal of Chairman NAB was filed by PML-Ns leader Noor Awan, which was heard by the in chamber by the Chief Justice of Pakistan. It may be recalled that on May 12, a petition was filed against National Accountability Bureau Chairperson Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal in the Supreme Court seeking his removal. The petition was filed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Noor Ahmed Awan, stated that the accountability bureau had released a press statement on May 8 which stated that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was involved in money laundering. On May 8, NAB had issued a press release mentioning that NAB will probe alleged laundering of $4.9 billion to India by Nawaz and others. The press release mentioned that the information was taken from the Migration and Remittance Book 2016. However, the State Bank of Pakistan had rejected this information on September 21, 2016, the petition noted.The petition further states that the sole purpose of the press release was to malign Nawaz Sharif. The press release has raised questions pertaining to institutes integrity, it mentions. Orders should be given to investigating the move to issue the press release, the petition said, adding that the NAB chairman should also submit an unconditional apology. On May 11,PML N has decided to take a legal action against Chairman of National Accountability Bureau Justice Retired Javed Iqbal for levelling allegations of money laundering against former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.PML N To Take Legal Action Against NAB Chairman As Per the detail garnered, Pakistan Muslim League bigwigs attended party central executive committee meeting in Punjab house Islamabad, then Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbassi, Federal Ministers were also present in the meeting. PML N condemned the allegation of NAB chairman Justice Retired Javed Iqbal for initiating a probe against the Nawaz Sharif based on a media report which alleged that he laundered $4.9 billion to India. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has spoken by phone with Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa to discuss the process of political reconciliation in Afghanistan and other issues. A statement released on Thursday by State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Pompeo and Gen Bajwa discussed ways to advance US-Pakistan bilateral relations, the need for political reconciliation in Afghanistan and the importance of targeting all militant and terrorist groups in South Asia without distinction. Pakistan hosted the first direct peace talks between Kabul and the Taliban in 2015, but they ended when Kabul announced the death of Taliban founder Mullah Mohammed Omar. Washington has talked up the prospects for peace many times and Pakistan has said it will help to ensure its neighbour's stability. Earlier this year, US had assured Pakistan that it does not want to sever bilateral ties with this important ally while Islamabad extended its wholehearted support to the US-backed Afghan offer of peace talks with the Taliban. The statements had supplement renewed efforts to improve relations between the US and Pakistan which were once close allies in the war against terror. At his weekly news briefing in Islamabad on Thursday, Foreign Office Spokesperson Dr Muhammad Faisal said that during his visit, the President will also meet his Chinese counterpart and discuss all matters of bilateral relations. On the sidelines, the President will also hold meetings with leaders of other SCO member states. To a question, the spokesperson said Pakistan and Russia are partners in the field of energy and have signed a number of agreements including for the construction of North South gas pipeline. He said both the countries have also finalized an MOU for feasability study of construction of undersea gas pipeline. Dr Muhammad Faisal said that uninterrupted dialogue is the way forward for resolution of all disputes between Pakistan and India. He said Pakistan desires to address issues through dialogue but the Indian side has never reciprocated to Pakistani offer. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday named Dr Hasan Askari as caretaker chief minister of Punjab. The ECP nominated the analyst and professor as caretaker Punjab chief minister after a parliamentary committee failed to reach a consensus over the proposed candidates. Dr Hassan Askari is a Pakistani political scientist and military analyst, noted for his work in comparative politics, nuclear weapons and the country's domestic policy. According to the ECP, the government had suggested Justice (retd) Sair Ali and Admiral (retd) M Zakaullahs names for the post, while the opposition had suggested names of Ayaz Amir and Dr Hasan Askari. On Wednesday, the parliamentary committee meeting ended in deadlock after the government and opposition representatives failed to agree on one name. Rana Sanaullah, Malik Ahmed Khan, and Khuwaja Imran Nazir represented the Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) in the committee while former opposition leader Mehmood-ur-Rasheed, Sibtain Khan and Shoaib Siddiqui were present from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) side. Speaking to the media after the parliamentary committee meeting, PTI leader and former opposition leader Mehmood-ur-Rasheed said, "We had suggested dropping a name each from our list of proposed candidates. However, PML-N was adamant on appointing Pakistan Navy former chief Admiral Muhammad Zakaullah to the post." "But we rejected the name of the former chief of Pakistan Navy as he has no administrative experience and we want someone to overlook the province not a marine exercise," Rasheed said. The former opposition leader further said that defence analyst Dr Hassan Askari, who has been suggested for the post by PTI, is "neutral and intelligent. He not only criticises PML-N's policies but PTI's as well." However, the former opposition leader lamented that owing to PML-N's 'inflexible' attitude the matter will now be decided by the ECP. Earlier, Punjab government and opposition had agreed to appoint Nasir Mahmood Khosa as the province's caretaker chief minister but later Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf withdrew his nomination after receiving "severe reaction" from party workers. In the second phase of the negotiations, Shehbaz nominated former Pakistan Navy chief Admiral Muhammad Zakaullah, former DG Intelligence Bureau Aftab Sultan, Justice (retd) Sahir Ali and former IG Punjab Tariq Saleem Dogar for the post, while Rasheed presented the names of Orya Maqbool Jan, Yaqub Izhar, and Askari. Sunita Parmar Menghwar is preparing to jolt the feudal-electoral system in Sindh by becoming the first woman to contest upcoming general elections against the feudal system in Tharparkar. The 30-year-old said she was compelled to contest elections after watching PPP and others fail to deliver in the province. Issues such as drinking water, health and education have not been addressed by the local representative. I felt the urge to step up for our people. Hailing from Memon Jo Tarr, Islamkot Taluka in Tharparkar, she revealed that until 2013 the area had been under the Arbab dynasty who consider women lesser beings. Despite winning the seat in last general elections, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) candidate Maharaj Mahesh Malani has never visited the constituency to address the plight of the locals, she claimed. Sunita has received immense support from her family and the Menghwar community for the decision to contest elections. The community, with significant number of votes in the area, has aligned itself with the mother of three against feudal lords including Thakur, Maharaj and Arbab. The only main road in Thar was built by Engro because of the Thar Coal Plant. Our main source of transport remains donkeys, she rued. There are no roads while the infant mortality ration paints a grim picture. Recalling a derogatory statement made by former chief minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim terming women weak because they were afraid of lizards, Sunita said gone are the days when the women of Thar were considered feeble. We do not lag behind, we will contribute equally to the society. When asked about political pressure to withdraw her nomination, Sunita was adamant that she will not bow down. According to Sajjid Bajeer, a local analyst, more than 70 per-cent of the vote-bank included Menghwar, Bheel and Kohli communities. He added that no one had dared to challenge feudal contesting elections until now. People from middle and lower-middle sections of the society have not only started speaking against the status quo but are leading charge to take over Thar, he remarked. The European Commission has adopted an update of a law that would order EU firms not to comply with US sanctions on Iran, a move aimed at countering the possible effects of the bans on European companies wanting to invest in Iran after Washington's exit from the Iran nuclear deal, or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The decision is meant to help protecting the interests of EU companies investing in Iran and to demonstrate the EU's commitment to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the commission, which serves as the executive arm of the EU, said in a press release on Wednesday. The European regulation, called the "blocking statute," was originally created in 1996 to defend European businesses from US penalties for dealing with Cuba. The system, which was never actually used, permitted European companies to ignore the US sanctions and said that any decisions by foreign courts based on the sanctions would not be upheld in Europe. Member states and the European Parliament and Council now have a period of two months to oppose it, the commission said. "If no objection is raised," the legislation will come into effect "no later than the beginning of August, when the first round of re-imposed US sanctions" will take effect, it added. The statement noted, The European Union is fully committed to the continued, full and effective implementation of the JCPOA, so long as Iran also respects its obligations. At the same time, the European Union is also committed to maintaining cooperation with the United States, who remains a key partner and ally. The European Commission also updated its legislation on Wednesday to allow the European Investment Bank (EIB) to support investment in Iran. It, however, said the enabling measure did not commit the EIB to actually support projects in Iran as it remains for the EIB's governing bodies to decide to take up such financing activities in line with relevant rules and procedures. Meanwhile, foreign ministers from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the European Unions top diplomat Federica Mogherini, in a letter to the US, asked Washington to exempt their companies in Iran from sanctions. The message was addressed to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Monday, reported The Wall Street Journal, which has reviewed the letter dated June 4. President Donald Trump announced on May 8 the withdrawal of the US from the JCPOA signed in 2015 between Iran and major global powers. This agreement, concluded after two years of negotiations, allowed the lifting of sanctions in return for the restrictions by Iran on its nuclear program. Iran has said it will remain committed to the deal for the time being, pending negotiations with other signatories to the JCPOA to see if Irans interests would still be protected under an accord without the US. SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Syracuse police charged a man with calling in a fake bomb threat Thursday morning to AXA Tower 1, the police department said. George Glahn, 65, was charged with falsely reporting an incident, police said. At 11:30 a.m., officers responded to AXA Tower 1 about a reported bomb threat, police said. AXA Tower 1 is a 19-story office building near the intersection of South Warren and Madison streets. An employee on the fourth floor of the building received a phone call from a man who said he had put a bomb in the building, police said. The employee called 911 and people were evacuated from the building, police said. A Syracuse police K-9 unit and an Onondaga County Sheriff's Office K-9 unit checked the building for explosives but found nothing suspicious inside the building, police said. Glahn was arrested at the Motel 6 on Baptist Way in the Town of DeWitt, police said. He is being held at the Onondaga County Justice Center, police said. SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A teenager was shot and seriously injured early Thursday during an argument on Syracuse's Near West Side. A shooting was reported around 4:30 a.m. in the 100 block of Grace Street. When the Syracuse Police Department arrived, officers found a wounded 18 year old male, said Sgt. Richard Helterline, a Syracuse police spokesman. The teenager told police he was arguing with three other males when he was shot in the abdomen, Helterline said. The teen was rushed by American Medical Response to Upstate University Hospital. He is listed in serious but stable condition, Helterline said. The teen told police two of the suspects were wearing black hooded sweatshirts, Helterline said, while the third was wearing a light blue jacket and jeans. Police asked anyone with information about the shooting to call (315) 442-5222 or submit tips through the anonymous Syracuse PD app. Syracuse, N.Y. -- One of the most popular Syracuse Crunch players will be returning to the organization in 2018-19. The Tampa Bay Lightning have re-signed defenseman Daniel Walcott to a one-year, two-way contract. Walcott had been a restricted free agent. Walcott played in 62 games with the Syracuse Crunch last season, recording five goals and 16 points with a plus-5 rating. He also appeared in seven playoff games in 2018 and recorded an assist. Walcott has played in 180 career AHL games with the Crunch and Hartford Wolf Pack, producing 11 goals and 44 points. Walcott's outgoing personality has made him a fan favorite and his intense play and attitude make him a strong candidate to be named Syracuse's captain next year. Syracuse, N.Y. -- As millions of 17-year locusts emerge from the ground in Central New York for the first time since 2001, scientists wonder if this group of insects will eventually be pushed to extinction. One major culprit could be climate change, although not the kind of climate change you're probably thinking of. This batch of cicadas, which scientists call Brood VII, were once found in 10 counties stretching across the Finger Lakes. By 1967, that had shrunk to just three counties, and in 2001, the last time the cicadas emerged, their only confirmed appearance was in southern Onondaga County. Their populations are heaviest on and near the Onondaga Nation, where the cicadas, commonly referred to as locusts, are treated as a delicacy. They also play an important role in the nation's history. After an attack by Colonial troops in 1779 that destroyed Onondaga Nation fields and orchards, the emergence of the cicadas the next summer was seen as a gift from the Creator, said nation member Bradley Powless. This limited batch of cicadas, first recorded in 1797, could disappear, said Cole Gilbert, a Cornell University entomology professor who has studied the insects. "It's certainly possible," Gilbert said. "They have disappeared from other counties where they were in the 20th century. There are records of a couple of other broods that were known historically and have now been extirpated." One of those broods, Brood XI, used to emerge in Connecticut, but is now extinct there. That brood had lived just a few miles from the home of John Cooley, a University of Connecticut entomologist who studies periodical cicadas - those that emerge on 13- or 17-year cycles rather than every year. Cooley will be in Central New York next week to study the locusts, which began to emerge last week after spending 17 years underground feeding on tree roots. Various reasons have been proposed for why broods go extinct. The primary hypothesis, Cooley said, has been habitat destruction: Forests in which the cicadas live and feed are being destroyed. But that doesn't hold for broods in the Northeast, where former farmlands have reverted to forests. "There are more forests now than there have been in the past 200 years," Cooley said, noting that Brood XI disappeared from Connecticut despite ideal habitat. "We have completely enclosed hardwood forests -- exactly the sort of forest you would expect to see (cicadas) in." In a 2013 research paper, Cooley theorized that the real culprit is climate change. Not the human-induced climate change that is warming the earth today, but the natural climate warming that happened 9,000 to 5,000 years ago, known as the Hypsithermal Interval. During that warm period, the paper suggests, periodical cicadas might have gradually crept northward. When the climate cooled again, cicadas who had moved to Upstate New York found themselves out in the cold, living farther north and facing harsher winters than the other 14 broods of periodical cicadas in the U.S. Periodical cicadas, because of their long life cycle and their brief window of breeding just once every 17 years, have a hard time rebuilding a population after a decline, Cooley said. While a warmer climate now would help them, the cicadas could be playing decades or centuries of catch-up. "If they get knocked back hard by tough winters, it's going to take a long time to rebuild those populations," he said. "They require high population densities to persist, so if they get nipped back to low densities and the climate bounces back, they might not have the individuals to survive." Predators such as birds and raccoons also play a role, Cooley suggested in a 2004 paper. Predators will keep eating cicadas until they're full (scientists call it "satiation"), so a large cicada population can outlast its predators' appetites. When cicadas numbers fall, though, the brood can be wiped out before the predators get stuffed. Brood VII is most abundant on the Onondaga Nation, where the environment is well suited for cicadas: The land consists of farms and forests, and the valley largely faces south, so it gets more sun and stays warmer. Central New York's small brood of cicadas, which Cooley said is among the loudest he has ever encountered, could go extinct, or they could rebound and spread across their former range. "They're the last holdout, but if things warm up and conditions are great, it might be enough of a refuge where they can move out again," he said. "The answer has to be that only time will tell." Next week, while Cooley and his scientific colleagues are counting and mapping the emergence of cicadas, the Onondaga will be partaking in a once-every-17-years feast. "Everyone is excited that they're here. Everyone's doing their gathering and their cooking," Powless said. "It's a reminder to our past and to be thankful that we're alive." Powless isn't worried about the cicadas' future. "I think they are like us," he said. "They will be around for a long time." Contact Glenn Coin: Email | Twitter | Google + | (315) 470-3251 Scandal around detention of former high-ranking officials on charges of corruption continues in Kyrgyzstan. Our sources in Bishkek believe that this is just a beginning, and arrests will continue until former President Almazbek Atambayev will be brought to justice. However, some of them think that this huge scandal will gradually die out, if Atambaev abandons his political ambitions and his idea of becoming a "father of the Kyrgyz nation." Recent events, however, don't support this "peaceful scenario," Russian federal analytical agency Zond writes. Former President of Kyrgyzstan Almazbek Atambayev finally reacted to arrests of his comrades, who had been in power until recently. He made a special statement, in which he called persecution of people from his entourage "politically motivated and unwarranted". Moreover, he did when current head of the republic Sooronbay Jeenbekov visits China. This visit promises to be difficult precisely because of corruption of former authorities. Since it was involved in corruption scandals in one way or another, or rather dragged into them, Chinese side is trying to restore its image, to find exact circumstances of what happened, as well as to get answers to several questions: are new authorities of Kyrgyzstan planning to atone for the sins of former authorities, are they planning to continue cooperation with China and its companies, and, if they do, how will this cooperation develop in the future. Jeenbekov will have to answer these questions in Beijing. But while Sooronbay Jeenbekov is still in China, his predecessor decided to "expose him." His position is completely opposite to position of new authorities: all arrested - former Prime Minister Sapar Isakov, former head of the customs service and ex-mayor of Bishkek Kubanychbek Kulmatov, former Minister of Energy, MP Osmonbek Artykbaev - are victims of political repressions, and in reality, they successfully fought against corruption, the country's budget has increased thanks to them, and so on. All arrested are accused of corruption during modernization of the Bishkek thermal power plant, build using Chinese loan. At the same time, Isakov, for example, is accused of lobbying for interests of foreign (Chinese) company, Kulmatov is accused of spending funds (provided by Chinese) on non-budgeted goals, while Artykbaev was in charge of the Kyrgyz energy industry at that time. Perhaps all of them could have got away with it, but station was built extremely poorly and went out of order during winter. It's important to note that it would be wrong to say that this plant was the only reason members of Atambayev's close circle were arrested. Informed sources list dozen projects, mainly associated with energy complex and infrastructure, which look "very suspicious". However, Atambaev reffered to these arrests simply as "witch hunt". He urged authorities to change their mind. Energy expert Zulfiya Marat wrote on her Facebook page: "We witnessed the phenomenon of "interlinked political chain of systemic corruption" - the most dangerous form of corruption in the country. The fact of corruption is obvious and indisputable, especially when it comes to the Bishkek thermal power plant. Political prisoner Ernest Karybekov warned since the beginning that this project is harmful, despite the fact that he was repeatedly obstructed and ostracized by "tamed" media. Now we have to determine to which extent these people participated in this corruption, as well as severity of their crime. That's all I can say about yesterday's arrests." According to Marat, this case can be resolved only when former President Atambayev will lose his immunity, although there are still some questions about a number of officials who are still free Former speaker of the parliament, historitian Zainiddin Kurmanov gave similar interpretation of these events. According to him, former leaders, who found themselves in a difficult situation, persecuted their opponents in the past. "They started this policy of persecutions, and today they pay for it: previous President tried to rule the country for six years, lying on the couch. He lost the opportunity to become a reformer, surrounding himself with illiterate lackeys. No one have ever deceived history - it will always get you!" he said, commenting on Atambayev's statement. Kyrgyz politician and former MP Ravshan Dzheyenbekov believes that Almazbek Atambayev's counterattack will only make situation worse and provoke a new round of repressions, because everything that happens is a direct consequence of the conflict between former President and current President. "Today Kyrgyzstan has three centers of power: current authorities, headed by Jeenbekov, former authorities, headed by Atambayev and his entourage, as well as opposition, which is against Atambayev but hasn't sided with Jeenbekov yet. Political agenda of the country is formed by these three centers," he said. In his opinion, third camp will gradually merge with presidential camp, and even if it won't, this conflict will result in complete defeat of Atambayev: he will lose all levers, all allies, and most importantly - he will lose immunity. Syracuse, N.Y. -- U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer is renewing his calls for greater safety standards for the shipment of highly-explosive crude oil through New York by rail, accusing the Trump administration of dragging its feet on new safety rules. Schumer, D-NY, demanded in a letter to the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Department of Energy this week that they quickly finalize new federal standards for the shipment of crude oil by train. He said current law allows dangerous Bakken crude oil from North Dakota to be shipped by rail to refineries in the Northeast without first being stabilized, making explosions more likely. "Oil tank cars go through our state with regular frequency, and they pass through, because of the way the tracks were laid out 100 years ago, some of our major population centers - Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Utica and Albany, and even Plattsburgh and east of Glens Falls," he said in a teleconference with reporters. "And then they pass down through the Hudson Valley, down into Rockland County before they head to New Jersey." The amount of oil shipped by train to refineries in the Northeast is increasing after slowing last year. Northeast refineries processed 3.1 million barrels of Midwestern oil shipped by rail in March, the most since January 2017, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The safety of oil-by-rail shipments became an issue when a train carrying 77 tank cars full of Bakken crude oil from North Dakota derailed and exploded in the town of Lac-Megantic in Quebec province, killing 47 people and destroying 30 buildings in July 2013. Though no such disaster has occurred in New York, "it will sooner or later if we don't do something," Schumer said. "The bottom line is, any time you are transporting volatile chemicals, there is a risk of explosion," he said. "Things like safer tank cars, better braking, lower speed limits - they all help make the rails safer." The Department of Transportation and the Department of Energy are studying how crude oil properties affect its combustibility in rail accidents, information that could be used to set new safety rules. However, Schumer said the study is taking too long to complete. "I am calling on the DOT today to stop dragging their feet and immediately release the necessary study," he said. "The new administration, particularly with some of the people in charge, has been far less open to having the government step in and do some of this." He said light Bakken crude from North Dakota is more flammable than heavier crude oil but can be made safer through a heating process that forces out some of its more volatile gases before shipment. Contact Rick Moriarty anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3148 Democrat Dana Balter on Thursday promised that if elected to Congress she will be accessible to Central New Yorkers by holding regular town hall meetings, meeting one-on-one with residents, and explaining her positions publicly before every substantive vote. Balter, 42, of Syracuse, made her pledge to voters in the 24th Congressional District during her first Facebook Live interview on the syracuse.com Facebook page. In a wide-ranging interview, Balter also said she wants to legalize marijuana, opposes term limits for members of Congress, and won't commit to voting for Nancy Pelosi to lead House Democrats. Live video: Congressional candidate Dana Balter answers questions from readers as she runs for Central New Yorks 24th district. Have questions for Balter? Ask them in the comments. Posted by syracuse.com on Thursday, June 7, 2018 Balter, who faces Syracuse Democrat Juanita Perez Williams in a June 26 primary election, spent more time defining her differences with incumbent Rep. John Katko than with Perez Williams. "One of the ways he has disappointed me the most has been his unwillingness to engage with those of us who live in this district," Balter said of Katko, a two-term Republican from Camillus. Balter said Katko has shown a tendency to avoid open-forum public meetings or to engage with those who contact his office to find out about his positions on key issues. "What I am talking about is open-access town hall meetings where anybody is welcome to attend, without pre-screened questions," Balter said of her plans to communicate with constituents. "We deserve a representative who is going to engage with us." Perez Williams will answer reader questions in a Facebook Live interview on the syracuse.com Facebook page at 11 a.m. Tuesday, June 12. Here's a look at what Balter had to say on other key issues in response to reader questions: Legalizing marijuana Balter said she supports legalizing marijuana under federal law. "People who are using marijuana do not belong in our overcrowded mass incarceration system," she said. Balter noted that a "huge percentage" of people who are addicted to opioids started out using them as pain medication. She said legal marijuana used for pain management could help ease the opioid crisis facing the nation. "Marijuana can be a very effective pain management strategy that does not have the same outcome" as opioids, Balter said. "It does not cause the same problems for people." Would she vote to impeach President Donald Trump? Balter said it's too early in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian influence in the 2016 presidential election to talk about impeaching President Trump. "I think what we need to do in Congress is protect that investigation and make sure Robert Mueller cannot be fired, and let that play out," Balter said. "There's absolutely a lot there," she said. "There is a lot of evidence (Trump) and his entire campaign were engaged, at minimum, in unethical behavior." But Balter said it's not appropriate to talk about impeachment unless facts suggest Congress needs to act. "When we are talking about impeaching a president we are talking about a very serious process, and we can't enter into it lightly," Balter said. If elected, would you vote for Nancy Pelosi to lead House Democrats? Balter would not commit to voting for Pelosi to lead Democrats in the next Congress in 2019. "I don't really know an answer to this question because when I choose a candidate for any election I look at the candidates," Balter said, "and I don't know who's running." But Balter made it clear she's not happy with long-time Democratic leaders. In 2007, Pelosi become the first woman elected as House Speaker, and she has served as the Democratic minority leader since 2011. "I think we are stuck in the old way of doing things, and we need not only new energy but a new approach," Balter said, adding Democratic leaders need to reflect the will of the people, rather than established powers and donors. In the neighboring 22nd Congressional District, Democratic candidate Anthony Brindisi has said he will not vote for Pelosi to lead the party. Do you favor term limits? Balter said she's against term limits, but wants to address the concern many voters have about elected officials becoming too comfortable and losing their incentive to work for the people. She said the solution "is to make sure our elections are really free and fair" through a combination of campaign finance reform, putting an end to gerrymandering, and easing access to the ballot. Balter said she supports public financing of elections, automatic voter registration and making it easier for voters to cast absentee ballots. What's your work background? Balter, a visiting assistant teaching professor at Syracuse University, said she began her career at Chapel Haven, a nonprofit residential school and independent living facility in New Haven, Conn., for adults with cognitive disabilities. Her younger brother, Jonathan, is a client of the organization, Balter said. After moving to Syracuse to attend and work at SU, Balter said she had to put her career while trying to recover from a severe injury. "Shortly after I first moved to Syracuse, when I was about a year into my doctoral program, I had a head injury that left me with a pretty severe concussion," Balter said, adding it took many years to recover. "I am now healthy and I don't foresee any reason why that would present problems or challenges in the future." Where could you work with President Trump and Republicans? "There are a lot of things we agree on and there are a lot of things where we have the same goal," Balter said. "We just have a different way of getting there." Balter said she remains hopeful Republican and Democrats can work together on a plan to rebuild the nation's infrastructure, something she said is sorely needed in Central New York. Trump has favored rebuilding infrastructure by using public money to leverage private partnerships. Democrats such as U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer disagree, saying private investors would have no incentive to build in slow-growth areas such as Upstate New York. Contact Mark Weiner: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751 June 07--The Diocese of Rochester denied it was previously aware of sexual abuse allegations against four priests that advocates for abuse victims identified Wednesday as being accused of abuse. Allegations against a fifth priest named Wednesday at a news conference were investigated and found to be unsubstantiated, according to a diocesan statement distributed to Rochester media outlets. #BREAKING Lawyer calls on Catholic church to release 'secret' records in Rochester priest scandal https://t.co/Z9xmdPZlFG Democrat & Chronicle (@DandC) June 6, 2018 New Jersey-based victim advocate Robert M. Hoatson held similar news conferences in Buffalo to name accused local priests and criticize diocesan officials for their handling of alleged abuse cases. Hoatson was joined Wednesday in a news conference at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Rochester by Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian and former Diocese of Erie priest James Falusczak. Garabedian represents several victims accusing the Rochester-area priests. Four priests identified Wednesday were retired, deceased or no longer in ministry. The fifth priest -- with allegations the diocese determined were unsubstantiated -- serves as parochial administrator at churches in Tioga County. The Rochester diocese lists on its website the names of 23 priests accused of abuse. - By Jay Tokasz, The Buffalo News, N.Y. WASHINGTON (AP) -- A bipartisan group of 10 senators introduced longshot legislation Wednesday that would require Congress to sign off on tariffs imposed in the name of national security, defying President Donald Trump on a bedrock issue that once defined the GOP. Congressional Republicans are mostly at odds with what they view as Trump's protectionist instincts on trade. Despite much hand-wringing, prospects for any bill to challenge him remain uncertain. Many Republicans are hesitant to confront Trump in a legislative showdown that could end badly for them. Doing so could court a veto and bruise their standing with Trump voters they need in midterm elections. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., indicated he was not interested in spending too much time on the effort presented behind closed doors Tuesday by its chief proponent, Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., saying he preferred to focus on "getting bills passed." And the second-ranking Republican, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, said he hoped Republicans concerned about the tariffs could prevail on the president to reverse course. He was heading to the White House later Tuesday for talks. "Not everything we do has to be legislative. Part of this job is persuasion," said Cornyn. He said lawmakers would "continue to make the case" with the president and his staff, which he noted is divided. Trump took office promising to rip up trade deals and crack down on unfair trading practices. But that campaign slogan is at odds with Republicans' longstanding preference for free markets and open trade. The standoff is raising an uncomfortable question: If Republicans can't confront Trump on trade, can they challenge him on anything? "For Republicans, this is who we are," said Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. "If we believe our own rhetoric -- on trade, tariffs and congressional prerogative -- I hope it does come to a vote." The idea being pursued by Corker, Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., and others who have been meeting privately -- and with Democrats -- would be narrowly crafted legislation requiring congressional approval of the tariffs Trump has imposed in the name of national security. They're targeting Trump's reliance on the so-called 232 authority, named from Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which allowed the administration to impose tariffs of 25 percent on imported steel and 10 percent on imported aluminum from Mexico, Canada and the European Union, some of the U.S.'s top allies. The senators are also hoping to halt Trump's threat to slap tariffs on auto imports, including those from Japan. "I fail to see the national security threat when a Pennsylvanian decides to buy a Toyota Corolla," Toomey said. It's not just Trump, the senators say, but past administrations that have leaned too heavily into the national security provision the lawmakers now want to subject to congressional oversight. "When you can just name anything as a national security issue then basically you undermine the whole trade agreement process," Corker said Tuesday. Five Republicans and four Democrats signed on as co-sponsors to Corker's bill. The bill requires the president to submit to Congress any proposal to adjust imports in the name of national security and provides for speedy consideration. The requirement would apply to all such actions moving forward as well as those taken in the past two years. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce quickly endorsed it, saying "this modest proposal to clarify congressional prerogatives is welcome and long overdue." Corker acknowledged the difficulty in passing legislation despite "tremendous concern" among lawmakers in both parties. "My guess is the administration may have some resistance," he said. Time and again, Republicans in Congress have been reluctant to put guardrails around Trump as the administration has veered from GOP orthodoxy in policy or as the president interprets the law, as he did earlier this week, to assert the special counsel probe is unconstitutional and that he has the power to pardon himself. Flake is one of the few Republicans who repeatedly take on Trump, and he has separately offered a bill that would reverse the steel and aluminum tariffs, with support from Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota. Farm-state senators are particularly concerned about retaliatory tariffs that would close off foreign markets to pork and key crops like soybeans and corn. "It isn't as if the dog has not barked," said Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. Roberts hesitated though on whether he could back the bill. "I've got to get a farm bill done. I don't want to roil the waters." Challenging Trump comes with its own risks, from alienating his supporters to taking voters' attention off a healthy economy before the midterm elections, which will determine control of the House and Senate. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., said it's too early to say whether the House would take up Corker's proposal. Lawmakers are wary of a trade war, he said, but "we're not looking for a fight with the president." "A lot of senators are a lot braver since they're not on the ballot. Over here, everybody is on the ballot," Cole said. Asked if Congress will act on trade, Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., a member of GOP leadership, answered simply: "No." Roxbury, N.J. -- Police arrested a New Jersey high school student Tuesday after he allegedly rode a dirt bike through the halls. The stunt was part of a senior prank at Roxbury High School, according to nj.com. Roxbury is about 45 miles outside New York City. The student was charged with disorderly conduct and simple assault. A girl at the school suffered minor injuries after the bike's handlebars hit her while the student was riding, nj.com said. The student was released after his arrest and will have to appear in court at a later date, according to the Daily Record in New Jersey. The student's name has not been released. Video of the incident shows the student being placed against a wall by school officials before being led into a police patrol car in handcuffs, according to nj.com. Warning: The video includes foul language. Contact Kevin Tampone anytime: Email | Twitter | Google + | 315-454-2112 A hardware store owner in East Tennessee is celebrating a new Supreme Court ruling by putting up a sign that says "No Gays Allowed." If that sounds familiar, it's because he's done it before and made national headlines for it three years ago. WBIR reports Jeff Amyx first put the sign up on his Amyx Hardware & Roofing Supplies store in Grainger County, about an hour outside of Knoxville, back in 2015 after a Supreme Court ruling legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. Amyx, who is also a baptist minister, said gay and lesbian couples are against his religion. According to USA Today, Amyx later removed the sign following backlash and replaced it with a sign saying "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone who would violate our rights of freedom of speech & freedom of religion." But on Monday, Amyx posted a sign saying "No Gays Allowed" at his store again. He told WBIR that he was celebrating a "win" after the Supreme Court narrowly ruled in favor of a Colorado baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. The SCOTUS ruling said the Colorado Civil Rights Commission violated Jack Phillips' rights under the First Amendment, though Colorado law prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. "I was shocked. I was really shocked because of the track record of our Supreme Court," Amyx told WBIR. However, legal experts say the case doesn't mean businesses nationwide can refuse service to gay and lesbian people based on religious beliefs, as the ruling only specifically applied to the baker's case. The court held that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission showed hostility toward the baker based on his religious beliefs, but did not answer broader constitutional questions on religious liberty. Amyx told WBIR that he worries a future, broader SCOTUS ruling will be different. "Christianity is under attack. This is a great win, don't get me wrong, but this is not the end, this is just the beginning," he said. "Right now we're seeing a ray of sunshine. This is 'happy days' for Christians all over America, but dark days will come." The big picture: It was almost exactly one year ago when Google was hit with a record $2.7 billion fine by the EU commission after its shopping comparison service was found to breach antitrust rules. Now, the company faces another record fine from European regulators in a second antitrust case, this one involving Android, and it could arrive as soon as next month. In April 2016, the EU Commission charged Google with abusing its position as owner of the dominant Android operating system. Its claimed Google demanded handset makers pre-install Chrome and other search products in return for access to Google apps and the app store. Its also accused of barring manufacturers from using forked versions of Android and paying smartphone makers and mobile network operators to pre-install only Google search on their devices. E.U.s antitrust czar, Margrethe Vestager, is poised to announce the negative finding within weeks, and could hit Google with an even larger fine than the one handed down last year. The Financial Times reports that the commission could demand Google pay up to 10 percent of parent company Alphabets total turnoveraround $11 billionbut these penalties are usually at the lower end of the scale. Google has its hands full with the EU commission right now. It is still appealing the charges that it favored its shopping comparison service over those of its competitors and is contesting the fine. The EU has also accused the company of abusing its position to block rivals in online search advertising. We are advancing on our two cases involving Google, both the Android case and the AdSense case, Vestager told EU lawmakers back in April. Recap: Last year brought the unexpected news that Marcus Hutchins, the British security researcher who discovered a kill switch that stopped the WannaCry ransomware from spreading, had been arrested by the FBI over claims he created and sold the Kronos malware. Now, hes facing more charges, including one that alleges he lied to the FBI. After facing accusations last year that he created the Kronos banking trojan in 2014 and 2015, prosecutors now say he made a separate piece of malware called the UPAS kit. The claims were made in a superseding indictment filed yesterday. Prosecutors say the UPAS kit was created in 2012 and sold by Hutchins in July that same year to someone using the pseudonym Aurora123. It "used a form grabber and web injects to intercept and collect personal information from a protected computer," and "allowed for the unauthorized exfiltration of information from protected computers." The malware was marketed as being able to "install silently and not alert antivirus engines. Another new charge alleges that Hutchins lied to FBI agents following his arrest last August. Its claimed he told agents he never knew his code was part of Kronos until he first analyzed it in 2016, but he later admitted to creating and selling the malware in 2014. The FBI says this proves he had lied initially. Hutchins's lawyer, Brian Klein, described the new indictment as "meritless." Its also claimed that he was "sleep-deprived and intoxicated" when first arrested after attending the Def Con hacking conference (and subsequent parties) in Las Vegas, wasn't read his Miranda rights, and never informed of the charges against him. Hutchins pleaded not guilty last year and was granted bail on August 5 after friends and family managed to raise $30,000. Hes now asking followers to assist in fighting the new case, having already spent $100,000 on legal fees. If you'd like to assist me in fighting the new case, please consider donating said mineral here:https://t.co/4X1GRbsb1c MalwareTech (@MalwareTechBlog) 6 June 2018 The Mexican President emphasized that cooperation relations with Cuba are based on development and international solidarity. | Read More Iraq and Iran have begun exchanging crude oil, the Iranian oil ministrys news agency SHANA said on Sunday, in a deal that will position Tehran to expand its interests in its most important Arab ally in the face of growing pressure from Washington. Between 30,000 and 60,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Kirkuk crude will be delivered by the tanker trucks to Darreh Shahr in southwestern Iran. Reutres reports in its article Iraq and Iran swap Kirkuk oil in strategic boost for Tehran that crude from the Kirkuk field in northern Iraq is being shipped by truck to Iran. Tehran will use the oil in its refineries and will deliver the same amount of oil to Iraqs southern ports, on the Gulf. After helping Iraq stifle a Kurdish push for independence last year, OPEC producer Iran positioned itself to take control of oil exports from the regions giant Kirkuk field. Baghdad agreed for the first time to divert crude from Kirkuk province, which it retook from the Kurds, to Iran, where it will supply a refinery in the city of Kermanshah. The pact is likely to create unease in Saudi Arabia, which along with its ally the United States accuses Iran of trying to dominate the Middle East. Tehran denies the allegations. REGIONAL RIVALRY Iran is locked in a proxy war with Saudi Arabia that has fueled instability in the region. As well as Iraq, it has been extending its influence in Syria, Yemen and Lebanon. Faced with the U.S. withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, Tehran is expected by analysts to focus on preserving its interests in neighboring Iraq, where it is competing for influence with Washington. Iran also faces a challenge from Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. The nationalists bloc secured a stunning victory in last months election by tapping growing public discontent with Irans sway in Iraq, and appealing to the poor. Between 30,000 and 60,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Kirkuk crude will be delivered by the tanker trucks to Darreh Shahr in southwestern Iran, SHANA said. Iraq and Iran plan to build a pipeline to carry the oil from Kirkuk to avoid having to use trucks. The swap deal allows Iraq to resume sales of Kirkuk crude, which have been halted since Iraqi forces took back control of the fields from the Kurds in October 2017. Even though talks between Baghdad and Tehran have been conducted between oil ministry officials and Chamber of Commerce, Irans elite Revolutionary Guards are well positioned. Those dealings are overseen by the desk responsible for Irans investments in Iraq at the presidents office and are run by the powerful force. Mining heavyweight Fortescue Metals Group has bought a significant stake in mining minnow Atlas Iron and could now play role of spoiler in the proposed corporate marriage of Atlas and Mineral Resources. In a statement to the market Fortescue said it had agreed to buy 15 per cent of the ordinary shares of Atlas, a junior iron ore miner with assets in the northern Pilbara region of Western Australia, at a cost of 4 cents per share. Fortescue Metals Group chairman Andrew Forrest. Credit:TREVOR COLLENS But Fortescue revealed its stake in Atlas would be well above that level, because it has an economic interest in Atlas through a cash settled swap relating to notional shares equivalent to approximately 4.9 per cent of Atlas Irons ordinary shares. So its aggregate physical and economic interest in Atlas totalled 19.9 per cent of Atlas ordinary shares, Fortescue told the ASX. Italy's incoming right-wing populist prime minister has used his maiden speech to call for the lifting of sanctions against Russia, opening a rift with the countrys EU allies on the issue. The Independent reports in its article Italy breaks with European allies and voices support for Russia after populist party takes power that Giuseppe Conte, who leads a coalition of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement and far-right League, said his government would promote a review of the sanctions system in meetings with other EU leaders. In his first speech to the Italian senate, Mr Conte outlined his administrations priorities, including a crackdown on irregular migrants and an end to austerity economic policies. Mr Contes government won its first vote of confidence in the senate and is expected to also be approved by the lower house of parliament, the chamber of deputies. Under Italys unusual political system, the confidence of houses is required to form a government. A lawyer with practically no political experience, Mr Conte was the PM choice of League leader Matteo Salvini and Five Star leader Luigi di Maio. The two politicians will now serve as his deputy prime ministers. We will be the advocates of an opening towards Russia, Mr Conte told senators. A Russia which has consolidated its international role in recent years in various geopolitical crises. We will promote a revising of sanctions, starting with those that demean Russias civil society. Mr Contes intervention on Russia comes as Vladimir Putin visits neighbouring Austria, where a right-wing coalition government also favours closer ties to Moscow. We need to build cooperation with the EU. We do not aim to divide the EU. Mr Putin told Austrian broadcaster ORF during this visit. Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros this week accused Italys junior coalition partner, the League, of potentially being Kremlin-funded, arguing that Italian public opinion has the right to know. Mr Salvini, who has repeatedly visited Moscow, angrily denied the suggestions stating that he had never received a lira, a euro or a rouble from Russia. He said that he was an admirer of the Russia president, and believed Mr Putin was one of the best statesmen. The EU decided to impose sanctions on Russia in response to the illegal annexation of Crimea and deliberate destabilisation of a neighbouring sovereign country, namely Ukraine. The sanctions include diplomatic measures, such as holding summits without Russia, asset freezes and visa bans on 149 individuals and 38 entities, and an economic blockade on Crimea and Sevastopol. Italys populist government is the latest in a series of right-wing regimes to spring up across Europe. In Hungary, Viktor Orban has cracked down on civil society, while in Poland the Law and Justice party has moved forwards with controversial constitutional reforms that critics say would give the government political influence over judges and courts. In other countries, right-wingers have also made strides, with the Front Nationals Marine Le Pen coming second in the French presidential election, and a far-right anti-Islam party, the AfD, gaining representation in the Bundestag for the first time in decades. In the US, Donald Trump has been accused by liberal critics of collusion with Russia. Thousands of customers have been without internet services for more than 24 hours after a Telstra cable was accidentally cut in Sydney's northern suburbs, with some likely to be waiting until the end of the week for a fix. At 11am on Wednesday, customers of a number of internet providers across Sydney and some parts of regional NSW found their ADSL and national broadband network (NBN) services had dropped out. Some corporate customers were also affected, losing service in their inner-city offices. Cables cut in northern Sydney have caused a widespread outage of internet services. Credit:James Davies It is suspected a developer on a large site in Chatswood accidentally cut several cables as part of construction work on an apartment building. Among those affected by the outage is Goddard & Co Solicitors Stephen Goddard, who said his office was connected to the NBN and had been without a landline, fax or internet connection since Wednesday morning. Mr Goddard is an Exetel customer, though the outage has also affected Telstra, Aussie Broadband, Dodo and iPrimus connections. A roundup of recent developments from the front lines of the Great Trade War doesn't look good. President Donald Trump has publicly waffled on his plans for major tariffs on Chinese imports, seeming to reverse his position several times and provoking immediate threats of retaliation. After seeming to back off in the face of determined Chinese opposition, Trump then turned his fire on softer targets - US allies. US President Donald Trump is making few friends with his trade talk. Credit:AP First announcing his intent to tax imported autos, then revoking promises to exempt allies from tariffs on steel and aluminum, Trump may have underestimated the world's democracies -- the European Union, Canada and Mexico swiftly made their own counterthreats. Like France under Napoleon, the US has apparently decided to take on the entire world. That rarely ends well. Especially if, like Trump, you don't have Napoleon's skill on the battlefield. Energy chiefs say government intervention in the electricity sector is gaining momentum and the industry needs to work together, or face the consequences. Heads of generators, electricity transmission and poles and wires companies on Thursday warned the industry is at risk of the government stepping in to take control of the sector if it doesn't address high prices and supply issues. All facets of the energy industry are under government scrutiny as it looks to drive down high power prices. Credit:Chris Ratcliffe The entire industry the networks, retailers, generators and transmission need to work together to avoid further political intervention, Meridian Energy and Powershop chief executive Ed McManus told Fairfax Media at the Energy Networks 2018 conference. He said this intervention was driven by factors such as the record high wholesale and retail electricity and gas prices that have hit consumers, a predicted gas shortage as well as the Australian Competition and Consumer Commissions inquiry into poor customer practices and the major blackouts in New South Wales and South Australia in the past two years. Australia's universities are lifting their research game but failing to keep up with the rest of the world when it comes to academic reputation and faculty-student ratios, one of the world's most highly regarded university rankings has found. The Australian National University was again Australia's highest-placed on the 2019 QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) University Rankings, but fell out of the top 20 to 24th on the list. Sydney University, the country's third-placed university after Melbourne, climbed from 50th to 42nd. ANU has kept its top spot on the QS rankings Credit:Andrew Meares The University of NSW was steady at 45th, the University of Technology (UTS) climbed 16 spots to 160th, while the universities of Newcastle, Wollongong and Western Sydney all improved their positions. Massachusetts Institute of Technology was the world's best university for a record-breaking seventh year, according to the rankings, which look at academic reputation, faculty-student ratios, citation numbers, employer reputation and international faculty and students. Is gathering thousands of people together to pose nude on the rooftop of a supermarket in Prahran considered art these days? According to Woolworths, apparently not. They put the kybosh on world-renowned photographer Spencer Tunicks latest project, where he planned to shoot his hero image of some 10,000 naked participants. The move has divided art lovers and politicians. Spencer Tunick's photo shoot at the Opera House in 2010. Credit:Peter Braig "Any rooftop in July in Melbourne's going to be reasonably chilly, I would think, but I'm sure they'll find an alternative venue," said Premier Daniel Andrews. Woolworths perhaps doesnt want customers seeing unsolicited shots of meat and two veg while they shop for their meat and veg. On the night last year that gunman Stephen Paddock shot dead 58 Las Vegas concertgoers in the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history, David Campbell had to go on stage and pretend to shoot a US president. He was playing John Wilkes Booth who killed President Abraham Lincoln in 1865 in last year's Hayes Theatre production of Assassins The Musical. Actor David Campbell plays assassin John Wilkes Booth. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer The show dissects the motivations of some of history's most notorious criminals nine misfit Americans who killed (or planned to kill) their president four of them successfully. "Some days it is really hard to do this show, but a musical reflects its times and we'd like to think as artists we are giving a message about guns and gun control, in not nearly as powerful way as the students from Parkland, Florida, and the Sandy Hook parents continue to, but we hope we can make people think about Americans' long-time fascination with guns," Campbell says. Snow White Sydney Opera House, June 6 Until June 10 Angelin Preljocaj's Snow White is in many ways a dark dance piece. Coming from the appropriately named Brothers Grimm, it begins with death, builds on the darkness of the soul and ends in a scene of nasty punishment deserved but unpleasant. Verity Jacobsen and Jean-Charles Jousni make the evening worthwhile. Credit:Prudence Upton There are a few golden moments, but much of the action takes place at night and in a gloomy forest. You don't see the full detail of the heavily promoted Jean Paul Gaultier costumes until curtain call when the stage lighting gets brighter. Poor Snow White flits around in a white tunic dress that is slit down the sides and ends in a loose nappy arrangement. I have seen it described as sexy but my description would be the opposite. Anyone paying attention would have noticed the horror genre is having a moment right now. Not the kind of horror that reliably downloads every month and is just as reliably consumed by its loyal constituency; we're talking about high-end even hipster horror, the sort of movies that might not even be recognised as "real horror" by the regulars. Last year's Get Out, Jordan Peele's astonishing amalgam of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, The Stepford Wives and Saw, crossed so far into the mainstream that Peele won an Oscar for best screenplay. That's the revival's tentpole, but others cluster around it. Before Get Out, we had David Robert Mitchell's It Follows and Australian writer-director Jennifer Kent's The Babadook making critical waves. Since Get Out, we have seen John Krasinski's The Quiet Place in which a family hides in constant silence from monsters with super-sensitive hearing become the surprise hit of the first half of the year. And now there's Hereditary, which stars serious actors Toni Collette and Gabriel Byrne and took the usually deadly earnest Sundance Festival by storm in January. It is scary there are witches and devil worship and a very grisly death but the rave reviews talk more about the way it explores the ravages of grief. Australias peak engineers group has cautiously welcomed ACT government moves to strengthen the regulation of the territorys construction sector. Engineers Australia ACT general manager Keely Quinn said moves to establish a chief engineers office and a territory engineers register were steps in the right direction. Officials first committed to an ACT engineers' register in the wake of the Barton Highway bridge collapse. Credit:Lannon Harley The initiatives were included in the territorys budget, released by ACT Chief Minister and Treasurer Andrew Barr on Tuesday. The announcement of a chief engineer was positive, until we looked right and realised there is no money to go with it, Ms Quinn said. There could be a formal inquiry into ACT's maternity system following revelations senior clinicians at Canberra Hospital are concerned patients' lives have been put at risk by mismanagement and overcrowding. Liberal's health spokeswoman Vicki Dunne called for a motion requiring the standing committee on health, community and social services to conduct an inquiry. Opposition health spokeswoman Vicki Dunne. Credit:Karleen Minney The motion before the ACT Legislative Assembly was adjourned on Thursday after Labor and the Greens said the matter should be referred to the committee to decide if an inquiry was required. It follows revelations of deep tensions between clinical staff at Centenary Hospital for Women and Children and ACT Health management. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with French leaders Tuesday in Paris as he continues efforts to persuade European leaders to alter the international nuclear agreement with Iran. Voice of America reports in its article Netanyahu Warns Merkel Iran Meddling Will Spark New Refugee Crisis that Netanyahu began his three-day European tour Monday in Germany, where he warned Chancellor Angela Merkel Iranian meddling in the Middle East could spark massive new refugee flows to Europe. Speaking to reporters at a joint news conference with Merkel, the Israeli leader said Tehran wants to conduct a religious campaign in largely Sunni Syria by using Shi'ite militias under its control to convert Sunni Muslims. "This will inflame another religious war -- this time a religious war inside Syria and the consequences will be many, many more refugees. And you know where exactly they will come," he said. Germany and other European nations saw an influx of more than one million migrants, creating deep political divisions and fueling the rise of far-right parties. Merkel said she agreed that Iran's activities in the Middle East were a concern but defended the nuclear deal as a way of thwarting Tehran's nuclear and regional ambitions. Europeans and Israel were, she said, "united by the goal that Iran must never get a nuclear weapon." She added, "We support Israel's right to security and have said this to Iran at all times." Netanyahu will meet French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday and British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday. Britain, France and Germany agreed to the deal with Iran in 2015 along with Russia, China and the United States. U.S. President Donald Trump announced last month the United States was pulling out of what he called a "horrible, one-sided deal," while saying he wants additional restrictions on Iran's ballistic missile program and what he called its "destabilizing activities in the Middle East." The other signatories have expressed a desire to keep the nuclear deal in place, saying it is working. Britain, France and Germany have suggested addressing other concerns about Iran through a supplemental agreement. Like Trump, Netanyahu has been a fierce critic of the deal, saying the agreement left Iran with the potential to quickly develop a nuclear weapon when the terms expire. Iran, which won sanctions relief in exchange for limiting its nuclear program, has said repeatedly its nuclear activity was solely peaceful in nature. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Sunday the U.S. decision to withdraw from the agreement was illegal and he urged the other signatories not to follow suit. State-run Iranian media said Zarif sent a letter to the foreign ministers of the remaining nations. He asked them to "make up" for the Iranian losses brought on by the U.S. withdrawal if they want to save the deal. Zarif called the 2015 nuclear agreement the result of "accurate, sensitive and balanced multilateral talks." "The illegal withdrawal of the U.S. government...especially bullying methods used by this government to bring other governments in line, has discredited the rule of law while challenging the principles of the U.N. Charter and efficiency of international bodies," Zarif wrote. The Australian National University has outraged an outspoken group of culture warriors by rejecting funding for a chair of Western civilisation from a pressure group, the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation. The centre is, in the words of Tony Abbott, who is on its board, not merely about Western civilisation but in favour of it. Nothing wrong with that but, equally, there is nothing wrong if a university rejects the funds the group offers, which it may quite reasonably feel will have ideological strings attached. The Parthenon may be, but Western civilisation isn't in ruins yet. Credit:Bloomberg There is a broader objection, too. The idea of drawing a fence around Western civilisation and studying only what is inside it is inherently ridiculous fatally undermined by the history and nature of Western civilisation itself. The reason the West through its economy, its ideas and its technology has come to dominate the world so thoroughly is that it has always readily adopted and adapted outside influences. From its earliest days it has faced external challenges. Greece was threatened by Persia but then went on to spread its own civilisation from Italy as far as India. Although Rome grew into something of a monolith for a time, covering the entire Mediterranean, it was constantly under challenge from outsiders, to whom it eventually succumbed. Waves of invaders destroyed parts, transformed others, and preserved the rest. Christianity did its best initially to obliterate the pagan classical heritage but ended up preserving substantial parts of it. Islam, another challenger, preserved other parts. The medieval and modern periods have seen empires wax and wane throughout the West and, through colonialism, spread around the world. The ashtray of the CBD isnt going anywhere with lord mayor Graham Quirk saying while he would not encourage anyone to smoke, he will continue to allow it in King George Square. Despite several calls from opposition councillors to ban smokers from the city square, which they call the ashtray of the CBD, Cr Quirk revealed the council receives very few complaints about smokers in the square. It is currently legal for people to smoke in King George Square. Credit:Michelle Smith Opposition leader Peter Cumming asked the lord mayor why the council was thumbing its nose at a majority of Brisbane people who wanted smoking banned in King George Square. Cr Quirk said in 2017 the council received four calls about smoking in the square, and he personally received five pieces of correspondence, while there had been two reports to the call centre in 2018 and he had been contacted twice. Radio host Kate Langbroek feared her front door would be kicked in by an armed stranger who believed he lived at her home, a court has heard. Ms Langbroek and husband Peter Lewis had just waved their childrens babysitter off from their home in St Kilda about 9.50pm on March 2 when the babysitter rushed back to the house after she was confronted by an angry, shouting man who got in the passenger seat of her car. Kate Langbroek released this picture of her bruised arm after the incident. The couple let the babysitter back inside and went outside to investigate, Melbourne Magistrates Court heard on Thursday. Outside, the man, Sembeta Defa, approached them and shouted: This is my bloody house, this is my f---ing house. Supermarket giant Woolworths has banned internationally-renowned photographer and artist Spencer Tunick from staging his next large-scale nude work on the rooftop of an inner-city Melbourne store. The New York-based artist had requested use of the Prahran store's roof, which has sweeping views of Melbourne, for his next photographic installation Return of the Nude as part of the Chapel Street Precinct's Provocare arts festival. But Woolworths denied the request in late April. "At Woolworths, we will always put the convenience of our local customers first. We recently upgraded the rooftop car park at our Prahran store to make it more accessible and comfortable and its primary purpose is so our customers have convenient access to available car parking close to our store," a spokeswoman said. Police are at the scene of a reported petrol bombing at a home south of Perth. Police were called to the home about midnight. Credit:File Image Forensic officers and detectives from the gang crime squad are reportedly investigating the incident at the home in Tangadee Road in Golden Bay. Its understood emergency services were called to the home about midnight when a fire started out the front of the home and several windows of the house were smashed. It is being reported two men threw a petrol bomb device towards the home before fleeing in a car. Gambling reform advocates have called on the ACT government to overhaul its poker machine community contributions scheme, including making funding decisions about contributions independent of Canberra's clubs. Calls for the overhaul follow reports showing most funds go to sporting teams, and an Auditor-General's report found there was little oversight of the scheme, and the definition of contributions was "ambiguous". The ACT's clubs community contribution needs an overhaul, advocates say. Credit:Nic Walker It also comes as Greens leader Shane Rattenbury this week admitted the government's poker machine transfer scheme, which was supposed to reduce total machine numbers in Canberra, had not been as "effective as intended". The Canberra Gambling Reform Alliance has urged the overhaul in a bid to ensure more of the revenue derived from poker machines is returned to the community, in cash, to help alleviate the harms associated with the gambling. Priests in Canberra will soon be forced to break the seal of confession to report child abusers, despite fears the new laws impinge on religious freedoms. All three parties in the ACT Legislative Assembly supported the bill to extend the mandatory reporting scheme to cover churches - and the confessional from March 31 - although two Liberal politicians spoke out about their concerns. The confessional will not be exempt from the reportable conduct scheme from next March 31. Credit:Michael Rayner Andrew Wall, who was schooled at Marist College which was exposed by the royal commission as the most notorious Catholic school in Australia for child sexual abuse claims, said the inclusion of some religious organisations in the reportable conduct scheme was "overdue". However Mr Wall said breaking the seal of confessional would fundamentally change the practice, and "significantly impinges on an individual's freedom of association, freedom of expression and freedom of religious rights". Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has backed a push for Mark Zuckerberg or other Facebook executives to appear before an Australian parliamentary committee as the social media giant responds to ongoing concerns over its use of customers' data. The renewed scrutiny follows revelations, confirmed by Facebook, that it has data-sharing partnerships with several Chinese electronics companies, including telecommunications giant Huawei, sparking privacy and national security concerns. I would welcome Facebook coming and testifying before our parliamentary committees, yes, Mr Turnbull said on Thursday, noting widespread anxiety about Facebook and social media privacy over recent months. Malcolm Turnbull says he would love to see Mark Zuckerberg testify in Australian Parliament. Credit:AAP Asked if he would prefer to have Mr Zuckerberg, the company's founder and chief executive, front up in Canberra, the Prime Minister said: "Of course, we'd love to see the boss." Protesters will face jail time for harassing people outside abortion facilities after NSW Parliament passed laws to impose 150-metre "safe access zones" around clinics and hospitals that provide terminations. The laws, which are aimed at ensuring the privacy and safety of women accessing clinics, passed easily and without amendment through the Legislative Assembly, with a final vote of 61 to 18 in favour. Labor MP Penny Sharpe, who co-sponsored the bill with Nationals MP Trevor Khan, welcomed its passaged as a "terrific day for women in NSW and the staff that work in reproductive health clinics". The bill, which will amend the Public Health Act, will establish 150-metre "safe access zones" around abortion clinics, inside which it will be illegal to obstruct and harass people accessing clinics or record them without their consent. Brent crude futures hit their lowest in close to a month on June 5 following a report that the U.S. government had asked Saudi Arabia and other major exporters to increase oil output. Oil and Gas Investor reports in its article Oil Prices Near One-Month Low On Report US Asked OPEC To Raise Supply that international benchmark Brent was down $1.09 by 5:40 a.m. CDT (10:40 GMT) at $74.20 a barrel, its lowest since May 8. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 21 cents to $64.54. The U.S. government has asked Saudi Arabia and some other OPEC producers to increase oil production by about 1 million barrels per day (bbl/d), Bloomberg reported on June 5, citing people familiar with the matter. The request comes after U.S. retail gasoline prices surged to their highest in more than three years and President Donald Trump publicly complained about OPEC policy and rising oil prices. It also follows Washington's decision to reimpose sanctions on Iran's crude exports that had previously displaced about 1 million bbl/d from global markets, the report said. "With the midterm elections coming up, obviously he wants lower gasoline prices, but at the same time, he's alienating himself from the rest of the world ... so is anybody, apart from Saudi Arabia, maybe going to listen, or comply or cooperate?" PVM Oil Associates strategist Tamas Varga said. "This seems to be an intervention in OPEC's supply policy ...[the U.S.] walks away from the Iran [nuclear] deal, which pushes up oil prices and less than a month later, demands producers raise production ... this story is Trump-esque." OPEC meets in Vienna on June 22 to decide whether the group and non-OPEC producers, including Russia, should raise output to make up for any supply shortfall from Iran and Venezuela. Saudi Arabia and Russia were already discussing raising OPEC and non-OPEC oil output by around 1 million bbl/d, sources familiar with the matter said on May 25. Global oil supply has tightened with the OPEC-led production cuts that began in early 2017. "[The output decision] is going to be the main event of the month and the main input for the second half of the year, so any change in OPEC policy is a big event," Petromatrix strategist Olivier Jakob said. Fund managers this year racked up a record bet on a continued rise in oil prices, but the sustained increase in U.S. shale production and now the prospect of higher OPEC supply have prompted many investors to pare those positions. The Berejiklian Government is under pressure to review a key tool used to select new transport infrastructure after a parliamentary committee called for a reassessment of how projects are assessed. A report by the Upper Houses Standing Committee on State Development, which is controlled by the government and chaired by Liberal MP Taylor Martin, has recommended the official discount rate used to evaluate the costs and benefits of major projects be reconsidered. Premier Gladys Berejiklian meets with electrical trade apprentices in the city on Thursday. Credit:AAP The discount rate is a calculation tool used to put present and future costs and benefits onto a comparable footing. The rate used by most Australian governments including NSW has been stuck at 7 per cent since at least 1989, even though the cost of borrowing has fallen dramatically since then. The committees report, titled Regional development and a global Sydney, called on the Government to review the discount rate that applies to benefit cost assessments to ensure that it is appropriate for the current low interest environment. Juvenile Justice staff have been placed on a travel freeze after Corrections Minister David Elliott intervened to stop what he called unjustified group trips by senior staff to locations across the state. The tightening comes as the head of the youth justice body, Melanie Hawyes, battles a campaign of anonymous letters attacking herself and other top managers, which she has now referred to NSW Police. Juvenile Justice boss Melanie Hawyes. Seven Juvenile Justice managers last week travelled to Broken Hill in western NSW for a three-day trip that cost taxpayers $9400. The executive leadership team has spent $19,300 in the past year on flights and accommodation on trips out of Sydney, according to the agency. I am not required to authorise intrastate travel, but I have made it clear that I dont see any need for the seven executives to continue to travel intrastate for meetings every two months, Mr Elliott said. There have been more than 12,000 complaints about disruptive behaviour in Queensland's public housing and 63 tenants evicted in just one year. Figures released after an LNP question on notice reveal there were 12,786 complaints about disruptive behaviour in 2016-17, with 2169 tenants issued with breach notices. Housing Minister Mick de Brenni said the number of tenants evicted due to anti-social behaviour was minuscule. Credit:Darren England/AAP There were 1398 "tenancy management plans" for disruptive behaviour, up from 499 the year prior. The cost to repair damage was $7.9 million last year. Baden Powell College offers a free breakfast to all students, no questions asked. Credit:Jason South High school teachers paid for students' breakfasts themselves after a charity that supported school breakfast clubs was shut down due to political mud-slinging. The charity Lets Feed provides food for student breakfast clubs and for volunteer groups that help the disadvantaged and women fleeing family violence. But it was suspended last year after its founder former state Labor candidate Jasvinder Sidhu was accused by Liberal MPs in state parliament of using it as a front for branch-stacking. The claims prompted a six-month investigation by Consumer Affairs Victoria. Nearly $8 billion in promised Commonwealth money has helped rebuild co-operation between Victoria and the the Turnbull federal government over the states burgeoning infrastructure needs, according to sources close to the talks. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has reacted to the call from both the Victorian state Liberals and his own federal MPs in the state and is pushing for progress on Melbournes airport rail link before this years Victorian election. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews arrive for the Long Walk in Melbourne. Credit:AAP Sources close to talks between Mr Turnbull and Premier Daniel Andrews say the Prime Minister wants the feasibility study currently underway into the mammoth infrastructure project completed before the state government goes into caretaker mode ahead of Novembers election. The two men met on Saturday to discuss both airport rail and the Andrews governments North East Link project after the Commonwealth agreed to pledge $1.7 billion to the road as part of a blitz of $7.8 billion towards roads, rail and other projects in Victoria Johannesburg: A South African man who was formerly a student in Western Australia has been sentenced to life in prison for the axe murders of his parents and brother in an affluent housing estate. Henri van Breda, 23, appeared impassive on Thursday as a judge sentenced him to three life sentences for the grisly killings in Stellenbosch, a scenic South African town in a wine-growing area. He killed his parents Martin 54 and Teresa 55 and his older brother Rudi 22, in the early hours of January 27, 2015 before claiming the perpetrator was an intruder who wore dark clothes and a balaclava. Van Breda also received a 15-year sentence in the Western Cape High Court for the attempted murder of his sister Marli, who suffered severe head injuries. Istanbul: A Turkish university says it will open a campus in one of the northern Syrian regions under the control of Turkey's military and its Syrian rebel allies, deepening Ankara's role in an area it has held for nearly two years. Turkey launched operation Euphrates Shield in 2016 to push back Islamic State and Syrian Kurdish fighters from a stretch of northern Syria west of the Euphrates River, including the towns of al-Bab, al-Rai and Jarablus. Syrian children play last month in a camp for displaced people on the outskirts of Jarablus, one of the Syrian towns under the control of Turkish-backed forces. Credit:AP Turkey's Harran University, in the south-eastern province of Sanliurfa, said it was preparing to open a faculty in al-Bab for students in towns under Turkish control. After a local newspaper reported that Sheriff Todd Entrekin received more than $US750,000 ($980,000) from a fund allocated to feed inmates in a jail he oversaw, the law enforcement official was defiant, employing a line of defense that has been increasingly trotted out of late by embattled politicians around the country. Sheriff Todd Entrekin and his wife own multiple properties worth more than $2.2 million. Credit:AP Entrekin, the sheriff of Etowah County and a Republican, played the victim, assailing the "liberal media" and lambasting the "miscellaneous fake news stories" that he said had made his family into targets. But he did not deny that he had received money from the fund, according to AL.com, a practice which is legal in Alabama by the terms of an antiquated law. On Tuesday, Entrekin was effectively voted out of office after losing in the primary by a margin of nearly two to one. The winning challenger, Jonathan Horton, who had pledged during his campaign not to keep any of the feeding funds, "rode a wave of anti-Entrekin sentiment," after the story made national news and followed Entrekin throughout the campaign, AL.com reported. "His supporters got out and they've done a good job and I congratulate them on the race that they've run," Entrekin said. Washington: We are now going to explain the War of 1812 to you. Why not? We didn't think we'd find ourselves here, either. But on Wednesday, CNN reported that the 206-year-old war figured prominently in a discussion between US President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on May 25. According to CNN's unnamed sources, Trump asked Trudeau, "Didn't you guys burn down the White House?" US President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last year. Credit:AP The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation confirmed the CNN report. They have not been independently confirmed. It's unclear if the President was trying to make a joke during what was, reportedly, a tense call about his decision to impose steep tariffs on metals imported from Canada, Mexico and the European Union. Tony nominations don't pay the bills. Norbert Leo Butz learned that lesson 16 years ago from his brief turn in Thou Shalt Not, a jazz musical composed by Harry Connick Jr., directed by Susan Stroman, and based on the Emile Zola novel Therese Raquin. "Nobody saw it and the people that did didn't like it. That was my first Tony nomination." Wins don't keep the lights on either, though Norbert Leo Butz was delighted and honored to earn his two Tonys first in 2005 for his performance as Freddy Benson Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and then in 2011 for his role as Agent Carl Hanratty in Catch Me If You Can. "A lot of people might take a job because it's an artistic dream," said Butz from his current Broadway dressing room at Lincoln Center Theater. "More often than not, I take jobs because I have to earn a living." As a father of three girls (two with college tuitions), both accolades and creative fulfillment take a back seat to a paycheck. And yet, all three (somewhat unexpectedly) fused in Bartlett Sher's Lincoln Center Theater revival of My Fair Lady, in which Butz now a four-time Tony nominee has a grand total of approximately 25 minutes onstage as Bernard Shaw's ne'er-do-well Alfred P. Doolittle. "I'm usually somebody that doesn't like to sit in my dressing room all night. My metabolism always wants to be doing something," said Butz. He pointed to his guitar and a stack of books piled on his dressing room table as some of the activities that bide the hour and 45 minutes offstage between appearances. "I almost didn't do it but Bart called, you know?" Butz in a scene from My Fair Lady at the Vivian Beaumont Theater. ( Joan Marcus) He described Sher as one of his "bucket list" directors, which largely influenced his decision. But it was the musical's script that ultimately won him over. "I was really impressed with all the ideas in it. It's rare in a musical to have such rich source material. And the lines that I have, more than any other character, are lifted directly from Pygmalion, so it's pure Shaw. And then the number ["Get Me to the Church on Time"] is difficult because it's so wild and physical." Past his pile of books is an array of "potions" (as he lovingly calls them) for his various injuries, including a hamstring tear he sustained during an early preview and with which he has been jumping on tables ever since. "What I thought was going to be a walk in the park has turned out to be kind of a really hard job." You could say the job is as unassuming as Doolittle himself, who, at face value, seems to be your average lazy drunkard, on call for comic relief. And yet, Shaw a staunch socialist living and writing in late 19th- and early 20th-century London tasks Doolittle with calling out the hypocrisy of so-called "middle class morality" and the unsystematic distinction between the "deserving" and "undeserving poor." "What is middle class morality?" Doolittle asks the distinguished Henry Higgins and Col. Pickering, cheekily bargaining for some Christian charity. "Just an excuse for never giving me anything. Therefore, I ask you, as two gentlemen, not to play that game on me. I'm playing straight with you. I ain't pretending to be deserving. I'm undeserving, and I mean to go on being undeserving." "Shaw gives him this wit and charm and self-knowledge about exactly who he is," explains Butz. "It's in that way that Shaw likes to mess with ideas of class and socioeconomics. The theater is a political tool for somebody like Shaw" and appropriately so, as someone who was writing during a seismic political shift. "World War I is about to happen in 1914, so there's this slow march toward this war the likes of which the world had never seen before. Women like Eliza Doolittle are popping up and saying, 'I'm going to get myself educated.' This Victorian class structure is starting to crumble. I don't know if Doolittle is able to intellectualize that much, but I do know that he would feel as everyone would feel in London in 1911 and 1912 a shift." It's a shift we see reflections of perhaps not coincidentally in the American climate in which My Fair Lady made its 1956 Broadway debut. "I was coming in thinking, oh, I'm going to be doing all this Shaw work," said Butz, who did indeed read plenty of Shaw to help him marinate in the mind of Alfred Doolittle. Sher, however, simultaneously pointed him toward the counterculture literature that paved the way for America's women's liberation and civil rights movements. "You had people like Neal Cassady and J.D. Salinger and Ken Kesey these guys who were kind of Doolittles in the '50s and '60s. They're living their lives almost as a political statement. They were saying, 'Who says I have to get married and have 2.1 kids and live in the suburbs? I want to do experimental drugs and write crazy poetry and live in a van. I'm not going to be a part of these larger cultural trends. I'm my own man.' "They're not looking to be liked," Butz clarified, verifying that Alfred Doolittle and his Beat poet counterparts are neither role models nor beacons of transcendent wisdom. And yet, "he is definitely breaking something," said Butz about his brash character. Perhaps that break, or, rather, its promise of imminent change, is why My Fair Lady's 2018 audiences are newly receptive to a 62-year-old musical based on a 100-year-old play (Sher's revival received a total of 10 Tony nominations, matching its original Broadway production for the most nominations the musical has ever received). "There's some weird sh*t going on," Butz said. The weirdest part about the unfolding upheaval, though, is its eerie familiarity, with fights for gender equality echoing generations past and arbitrary distinctions between the deserving and undeserving muddling our welfare system. "Who makes the decision who's deserving and undeserving?" asked Butz rhetorically. He posed the question in reference to the life-or-death policies on which many populations have hinged for centuries. But he unknowingly answered it 30 minutes earlier in our less dire conversation about the awards season that wraps up this Sunday at Radio City Music Hall: "There's no rhyme or reason for any of it." On the first anniversary of a bitter Gulf diplomatic rift, Qatar's foreign minister on Tuesday declared his country stronger than ever and said it was open to dialogue with its regional rivals. Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani also rebuked Qatar's foes for "imaginary victories" against the small Gulf state, the target of a Saudi-led boycott. Daily Mail reports in its article Qatar says 'stronger' despite year-long Gulf dispute that acording to Al-Thani, one of the most prominent voices in the region's worst diplomatic crisis for years, "one year on and Qatar and its people are stronger. (There's) a lot of talk about imaginary victories and isolating Qatar, but after one year, the reality proved the opposite as Qatar emerged as an international partner that can be trusted." On June 5, 2017, a Saudi-led alliance including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt abruptly severed ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorism and Iran. Qatar soon found its only land border closed by Saudi Arabia, its state-owned airline barred from using neighbours' airspace, and residents expelled from the quartet's countries. Despite hopes that the rancorous rift between the former allies -- which include some of the richest countries on earth -- would be resolved quickly, the crisis has endured. Qatar claims the dispute is an attack on its sovereignty and punishment for pursuing an independent foreign policy. Diplomatic efforts led by Kuwait and the United States have so far stalled though there are tentative plans for talks in September. Al-Thani said the "door is still open for dialogue" between the Gulf rivals. However, he also told Qatar state-funded broadcaster Al Jazeera on Tuesday that Doha would continue with its purchase of the Russian S-400 air defence missile system. Saudi leaders have asked French President Emmanuel Macron to intervene to prevent the deal going ahead, raising fears of military action in the dispute. Raising the military stakes yet further, Qatar's defence minister Khalid bin Mohamed Al-Attiyah, said Tuesday that Doha wanted to join NATO. "The ambition is full membership if our partnership with NATO develops and our vision is clear," he told the official magazine of the Qatari defence ministry, Altalaya. Despite the impact of the crisis, many in Qatar view the past year's events as a victory for Doha. Qatari papers were jubilant on Tuesday, with headlines such as "Triumphant Qatar stays united" and "Qatar shines as smear campaign against it fails". Taxi companies offered customers free rides and some in Qatar have even called for June 5 to be made a national holiday. Meanwhile, Qatar's National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) released a report claiming more than 4,000 human rights abuses had been committed against Qataris by the Saudi-led alliance in the past year. Qataris have been exposed to arbitrary arrest and routinely denied freedom of movement, according to the report by the government-appointed body detailing alleged abuses including one case of forced disappearance. "From the beginning, all the blockading countries have tried to use the people to achieve their political goals," NHRC chairman Ali bin Smaikh al-Marri said. There was no immediate reaction from the Saudi-led bloc. In August, Saudi Arabia will welcome millions of Muslim faithful for the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, the holiest city in Islam. The Saudi government on Tuesday confirmed Qataris wishing to undertake the umrah pilgrimage to Mecca were welcome, but accused the Qatari authorities of a "negative attitude". Since the start of the crisis, Qatar has accused Saudi Arabia of politicising religious pilgrimages to Mecca, including the hajj, one of Islam's five pillars, which every able-bodied Muslim who can afford the journey is obliged to undertake at least once. The innovative educational program that launched at Hamilton on Broadway will make its debut in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, September 12, when more than 2,150 students and teachers from DC metro-area schools attend the matinee performance of the musical at the Kennedy Center. The September 12 performance is the first of two all-student matinee performances at the Kennedy Center that will provide more than 4,300 local high school students from underserved communities the opportunity to experience the musical Hamilton after having spent several weeks in their classrooms studying American history through a special integrated curriculum about Alexander Hamilton and the nation's Founding Fathers. The second all-student matinee performance will take place on Thursday, September 13. In addition to seeing a performance of Hamilton, students representing various schools in attendance will perform original works they created based on their classroom studies songs, rap, poetry, scenes, and monologues on the Kennedy Center stage in front of their peers. Students will also participate in a Q&A with Hamilton cast members. The Hamilton Education Program (HEP) is one of several history education programs offered by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. The Rockefeller Foundation provided an initial grant of $1.46 million that funded the educational partnership in New York City. After the resounding success of the partnership, the foundation committed an additional $6 million to the effort to support the program's national expansion. With book, music, and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, direction by Thomas Kail, choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler, and musical supervision and orchestrations by Alex Lacamoire, Hamilton is based on Ron Chernow's biography of America's Founding Father Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton is the story of Alexander Hamilton, an immigrant from the West Indies who became George Washington's right-hand man during the Revolutionary War and was the new nation's first Treasury Secretary. Featuring a score that blends hip-hop, jazz, blues, rap, R&B, and Broadway, Hamilton is the story of America then, as told by America now. Indian Motorcycle Sponsors Fourth Annual Veterans Charity Ride to Sturgis LAS VEGAS, Nev. & MINNEAPOLIS-Indian Motorcycle, Americas First Motorcycle Company, today announced its support and sponsorship of the fourth annual Veterans Charity Ride to Sturgis. The veteran operated non-profit organization uses motorcycle therapy to help fellow veterans adjust to post-war life. Many of the veterans joining the Veterans Charity Ride for the first time are amputees, paraplegics, or suffer from Post Traumatic Stress and other issues veterans face after leaving the military. These new veterans will pair with veteran mentors who have already been through the Veterans Charity Ride program and receive one-on-one support to help their transition back to civilian life. We built a program specifically designed to assist wounded and amputee combat veterans with their needs and the issues they deal with on a daily basis. We give them the tools and a support structure to help get their life back on track following their tour of duty and life overseas, said Dave Frey, Veterans Charity Ride Founder. Many of our veterans used to ride motorcycles before their injuries and thought they never would ride again. Through support from companies like Indian Motorcycle and Champion Sidecar, we are able to get these vets back on bikes and enjoy the freedom of the open road. The Veterans Charity Ride will depart from Las Vegas on July 28 and travel through the most scenic roads of the western United States on Indian motorcycles. The eight-day ride to Sturgis will include a multi-day stop in Moab, Utah; where the participating veterans will experience the camaraderie of the group through off-road adventures and outdoor activities. The motorcycle ride will continue through Colorado, visiting Eagle and Fort Collins, and make its way through the Black Hills in South Dakota. On August 4, members of the Veterans Charity Ride will experience a Heros Welcome upon their arrival to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. The journey not only delivers the freedom of the open road and cathartic experience only a motorcycle can deliver, but allows the veterans to bond by sharing stories and engage in peer-to-peer discussions. Veterans Charity Ride is a life-changing program for those who have sacrificed so much for our country, said Reid Wilson, Senior Director Marketing and Product Planning for Indian Motorcycle. Supporting the U.S. military has always been core to our brand DNA, and its an honor to give back by supporting a noble cause. The Veterans Charity Ride to Sturgis was conceived and developed by veteran Army Paratrooper Dave Frey and Emmy Award-winning producer and director Robert Manciero of Full Vision Productions, leveraging the therapeutic effects of motorcycle riding to create an adventure of a lifetime for wounded veterans. Primary sponsors of the Veterans Charity Ride to Sturgis include Indian Motorcycle and Monster Energy Drink, with additional sponsorship and support provided by Champion Trikes & Sidecars, Cycle Gear, Russ Brown Motorcycle Attorneys, Wrangler Jeans and the Sturgis Buffalo Chip. To support the Veterans Charity Ride, donate, or to learn more visit IndianMotorcycle.com and VeteransCharityRide.org. Or follow along on Indian Motorcycles social media channels: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and Veterans Charity Rides social media channels: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. ABOUT INDIAN MOTORCYCLE Indian Motorcycle is Americas first motorcycle company. Founded in 1901, Indian Motorcycle has won the hearts of motorcyclists around the world and earned distinction as one of Americas most legendary and iconic brands through unrivaled racing dominance, engineering prowess and countless innovations and industry firsts. Today that heritage and passion is reignited under brand new stewardship. To learn more, please visit www.indianmotorcycle.com. ABOUT VETERANS CHARITY RIDE Veterans Charity Ride (VCR), started by veterans for veterans, is a non-profit organization that delivers Motorcycle Therapy and additional life changing, life-saving holistic programs specifically designed to assist wounded and amputee combat veterans with their needs and the issues they deal with on a daily basis. Helping our fellow veterans through outreach, action, activities, education and follow-up is what drives our organization. The end result of our program is a healthier and happier, more capable individual, who is now living life in a much better physical and mental condition, and able to help and support other veterans to do the same. Visit www.veteranscharityride.org to learn more and support this worthy cause. WASHINGTON, June 6, 2018; The United Steelworkers (USW) today urged the White House to follow through with proposed changes to the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) designed to reduce compliance costs for independent merchant oil refiners. Iowa Sens. Chuck Grassley and Jodi Ernst this week derailed a compromise on RFS reform to address the concerns raised by the USW and merchant refiners while insulating the ethanol industry and farms that supply it from any potential negative impact. Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs), used by the EPA to track compliance with the biofuel mandate, have become commodities that are hoarded by the largest companies or bought and sold to the highest bidders, making it increasingly difficult for smaller refineries that lack the capacity or infrastructure to blend ethanol into their gasoline to keep up. Inaction by the Trump administration now threatens the livelihood of thousands of East Coast refinery workers and tens of thousands of related jobs throughout the Northeast, and RIN traders responded with a nearly 50 percent price increase overnight. Escalating RIN prices drove Philadelphia Energy Solutions to seek protection in federal bankruptcy court earlier this year, and without meaningful action from the administration, other East Coast USW employers, such as PBF Energy and Monroe Energy could be forced down a similar path. The USW represents 850,000 men and women employed in metals, mining, pulp and paper, rubber, chemicals, glass, auto supply and the energy-producing industries, along with a growing number of workers in public sector and service occupations. Scott Pruitt. Photo: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images Wednesdays been a tough day for embattled EPA administrator Scott Pruitt. First, it was announced that his top aide (you know, the one he had inquire about purchasing a used Trump Hotel mattress for him) and his senior counsel had both resigned. And now, it turns out the House Appropriations Committee is trying to limit the amount of taxpayer money hes allowed to spend on his precious fountain pens. JUST IN: The House Appropriations Committee unanimously approved @RepMarcyKaptur's amendment to restrict @EPAScottPruitt's use of tax dollars to purchase luxury fountain pens. #PollutingPruitt House Appropriations (@AppropsDems) June 6, 2018 Given that Pruitts been at the center of a congressional probe into his spending and management habits as of late, details about his inane purchases have been coming out at rapid speed over the past few weeks. There was the $43,000 phone booth he had made (using taxpayer dollars) in his EPA office and news about his pricey car. Weve also learned about his bizarre agreement to pay a D.C. lobbyist $50 a night to stay in a condo in Capitol Hill for six months but only on nights that he slept there, and then we found out that he had aides look into getting him a used Trump International Hotel mattress and set up a meeting so that his wife could open a Chic-Fil-A franchise. But the most profound news about Pruitt, by far, has to be the revelation that he spent $1,560 of taxpayer money on 12 fancy fountain pens from a place called the Tiny Jewel Box. And so, Democratic representative Marcy Kaptur of Ohio decided to insert an amendment into the EPA interior bill limiting the amount of taxpayer funds Pruitt could use on individual pens to just $50 and it passed! Pen amendment! @RepMarcyKaptur amendment barring @EPAScottPruitt from spending more than $50 on any individual fountain pen PASSES (voice vote) in @HouseAppropsGOP markup of EPA Interior bill pic.twitter.com/cA1GvwcGJC Dean Scott (@deantscott) June 6, 2018 The House version of the FY 19 EPA-Interior bill clears @HouseAppropsGOP after 5 plus hours. Vote was 25-20 Dean Scott (@deantscott) June 6, 2018 We can only pray Pruitt one day realizes that the $5 pack of pens you can get at the drugstore works just as well as a fancy fountain pen. Following the sudden and tragic news of Kate Spades death on Tuesday, friends, customers, and longtime admirers of the designer shared their memories of her on social media. Spade was much beloved for her kindness and her joyful vision of the world. Her uniquely American worldview left a legacy that will be fondly remembered by loved ones and strangers alike. The Cut asked members of the fashion community to share what Kate Spade meant to them. Read on to hear their stories. Aya Kanai Chief Fashion Director, Hearst Womens Fashion Group Kate Spade was a New York icon and represented the best of American entrepreneurship. She had a great idea, brought it to life, and built a hugely successful business. In Japan, some designers become celebrities themselves, and Kate was certainly one of these people. She would be mobbed in the street like the second coming of the Beatles when she visited Tokyo. When I was growing up in the 90s, there was nothing more coveted than her bags. Before there was such a thing as an It bag, Kate made them. She cleverly put the tag on the outside, rendering it an instantly recognizable status symbol. As teenagers, we might have not known or cared about most fashion designers, but everyone knew what a Kate Spade bag was. Photo: Wendy Maeda/Boston Globe via Getty Images Wendy Goodman Editor, Design Hunting I remember visiting Kate and Andy Spade when they had just opened the showroom. They seemed to have such a feeling of pure joy and excitement about doing something that they loved. The handbags were all beautiful indeed, but the way they created the environments in the showroom used to make my heart leap. Seeing them, I always thought, This is the way I would like my house to be: full of fresh flowers, books, and happiness. I went back to see Kate and Andy more than I needed just to bask in the atmosphere of beauty and life they created. Jill Kargman Author Katy was my very first boss when I was a summer intern at Mademoiselle. I idolized her. She was so stylish, eclectic, and nice which in fashion then meant she was a unicorn. She informed my sense of style forever with a love of graphics and piping. I remember telling her two decades later how I still love bows and got one tattooed on my wrist. I went with her to the old Barneys downtown (before it closed and reopened) to visit her very first collection of bags there. And I would go to her place on Warren Street where Id pick out canvas bags and gush about all the grosgrain bows and handles. I told her I knew her company would be huge, though I had no clue how major it would be. I saw her two weeks ago and she was her usual smiley self so supportive, wearing one of her classic, effortlessly chic ensembles. That is how I will remember her. Roopal Patel Senior Vice President, Fashion Director, Saks Fifth Avenue When I first started my career, I remember seeing Kate Spade bags on almost every woman in the city. Kate transformed the accessory world, essentially creating the It bag phenomena. Her creativity, talent, and wonderful spirit will be dearly missed. My thoughts and prayers are with her family. Julia McCrank Founder of Kate Spade Girl Blog I fell in love with Kate Spade handbags in the late 90s. They were simple, yet affordable and stylish. My daughter still has the nylon Claire handbag I purchased. My blog is devoted to the idea of a Kate Spade girl. She has extra outfits in her car for an emergency party, shes overdressed, she finds joy in beautiful things, and doesnt mind standing out in a crowd or dancing in the rain. Thats why I blog about Kate Spade its a beautiful world filled with pretty dresses you can twirl in and sparkly party shoes. Photo: Juergen Frank/Corbis via Getty Images Fern Mallis President, Fern Mallis LLC Kate Spade was special. She was original and quirky, and created products that were as colorful, playful, and happy as she was. Her collections were contagious you saw a bag and had to have it. And even when everyone you knew was wearing or carrying Kate Spade, it never looked the same. One holiday season, Kate gifted me a rather large brown canvas tote bag. My name was embroidered on one side and her label was on the other. I loved it. She was at the peak of her success during my tenure at CFDA, winning several awards. Kate was unique, and its sad to think about how creative, talented people in our industry sometimes become a brand and stop being a person. Cynthia Rowley Designer We shared a love of art, fashion, family, and our Midwest roots. No one had style like Kate. She lit up the room the minute she walked in and shook up the industry with her box bag and colorful life. I will always remember her vintage bangles clanking on her wrist, her cheery red lipstick, and her perfectly cropped trousers. This photo is from when I was pregnant with Gigi, and Kate happened to be pregnant as well, with Frances. Photo: Courtesy of Cynthia Rowley Tierney Gearnon Photographer I shot their campaign at the Kennedy house, and it won a lot of awards. Their later campaigns became more quirky, but mine was closest to what Andy and Kate were like. I channeled their way of thinking and being and what they represented through my images. Theres a picture of a little boy reading a book in the bathroom where his mom is getting ready. Another was of a little boy in his Halloween costume, with his mom kneeling down. That could have been Kate in that picture. If you glanced at it, you would ask, Oh, is that Kate? Its not; its actually someone else. Kate was a burst of sunshine, a bouquet of flowers she was always so happy, friendly, and very gentle and open. She was the face of the brand. It was a lot of responsibility, but yet she maintained a delicate elegance. Michael Peterson, an owl. Photo: Getty Images On Friday, Netflix is bringing back one of the most intriguing, bizarre murder cases of the century: the death of Kathleen Peterson. In the very early hours one December morning in 2001, the 48-year-old business executive was found dead in a pool of blood at the bottom of a staircase in her North Carolina home. Her second husband, novelist Michael Peterson, was arrested shortly after his wifes death, convicted of her murder, and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. In 2011, after a blood analysts testimony was discovered to be faulty, Peterson was granted a new trial. By 2017, he decided to enter an Alford plea, a guilty plea which the defendant asserts innocence but acknowledges theres enough evidence to convict. He was granted time served and, today, Michael Peterson, now 74, is a free man. The case garnered widespread attention, in part, because of Jean-Xavier de Lestrades remarkable true-crime docuseries The Staircase, which Netflix will be airing in full, along with three brand-new installments. (While were here, lets take a moment to reflect on the fact that Peterson went on to freaking date the series editor for a while. I know!) To this day, we still dont really know how Kathleen Peterson met her end at the bottom of those stairs. But before the new episodes air, heres a refresher on the main theories. Spoilers ahead, including one very important one involving an owl. Theory 1: Kathleen just fell down the stairs. Obviously, this is what Michael Petersons defense team went with. Peterson said that he and his wife had spent the night drinking wine and then relaxing by their pool; Kathleen then opted to go inside while he stayed outside for some time longer. At 2:40 a.m. he frantically called 911, tearfully telling the dispatcher that he had found his wife at the bottom of 15, 20 stairs. Peterson said that she likely tripped after mixing booze with Valium. Peterson also frequently wrote articles for his local newspaper, the Durham Herald-Sun, that were critical of the police and the district attorney, leading him to claim that they were especially biased against him for that reason. Plausibility (on a scale from 0 to 10): 2 Amount Michael Peterson wants us to believe this: 10 Owls: 0 That all still wouldnt explain the sheer bloodiness of the scene, though. Which brings us to Theory 2: Michael killed her. In many ways, this does appear to be one of the most blatant the husband did it crimes in a genre absolutely rife with such cases. A massive life insurance payout? Check. ($1.4 million, to be exact.) The last person to see her alive? Check. Then there were the seven unexplained lacerations on the back of her head and the massive blood loss, neither of which would coincide with simply falling down a set of stairs. The prosecution argued that Peterson had beaten her to death, possibly with a missing fireplace blow-poke an instrument that was later discovered and presented in court without any dents. And in one of the cases major twists, it was revealed that Peterson was bisexual and sleeping with men including an ongoing affair with a male escort outside of his marriage. It was something he claimed Kathleen knew and accepted, and that the prosecutors believed she had only recently discovered and confronted him about. Casting further suspicion on Peterson was the case of Elizabeth Ratliff, an old close friend of his (he even adopted her children after she passed). She had been found dead at the bottom of a staircase in her house years before and when her body was exhumed during his trial, a new autopsy marked her cause of death as a homicide too. Plausibility: 8 The-husband-did-itness: 10 Owls: Still 0 Theory 3: An owl did it. Finally, we have arrived at the Owl Theory, my personal favorite hypothesis in any murder case ever. For this hootdunit (I will not apologize), let us turn to the experts at the Audubon Society because They Know Birds. In 2009, a second look at the evidence discovered that Kathleen had been found with feathers in her hands and hair, while the lacerations on her head appeared as if they couldve been inflicted by an owls talons. Thus the owl theory was born: a Barred Owl swooped in and attacked Kathleen outside of the house, and she fell upon coming inside. An owl strike can definitely cause blunt force trauma, Audubon writes. Whats more, the raptors are known to dive-bomb humans when they feel threatened, almost always targeting the head. Why would the owl commit such a heinous act, though? For this, I present my own, still scientifically uncertified, theory: The owl was having an affair with Michael Peterson and became jealous. And then the tiny flying murderer took off into the night, gone forever. Plausibility: 5 Bad press for birds: 11 Owls: At least 1 On the last day of April in Washington, the Middle East Institute think tank hosted a conversation on peace in the Middle East. The topic wasnt surprising, but the players were. The key guest? Secretary-General Sayyid Badr bin Hamad al-Busaidi, a diplomat of the tiny Sultanate of Oman as opposed to an emissary of Israel or Palestine, or even Egypt or Lebanon, as youd historically expect. We are in the 21st century, and we need to really approach these difficulties and challenges with an eye to the future, not the past, Sayyid Badr told moderator Gerry Feierstein, the former U.S. ambassador to Yemen. Ozy reports in its article OMAN THE BEST HOPE FOR PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST? that the 3.1-million-strong Gulf nation has emerged as a vital mediator in recent years, and is further burnishing those credentials at a time when the Middle East burning in Gaza, Yemen, Iraq and Syria desperately needs peacemakers. The Switzerland of the Middle East is how Feierstein refers to Oman. With Lebanon which formally holds that tag mired in the Syrian war, and with Hezbollahs rising influence there, Oman is filling the gap. Its neutrality allows it to speak as an Iran whisperer, communicating the ayatollahs messages to the world Muscat, Omans capital, was the venue for key talks between Tehran and Washington ahead of the nuclear deal, which President Donald Trump has since quashed. The U.N. has declared Oman pivotal to efforts to end the three-year conflict between Saudi Arabia and Yemen. And this country perched at the mouth of the Persian Gulf is where American, Afghan, Pakistani and Chinese diplomats meet to find common ground on Afghanistans future. Oman also was one of only two Gulf nations to not cut ties with Qatar when Saudi Arabia sought Dohas expulsion from the Gulf Cooperation Council last year over alleged terrorist ties, seeking active diplomacy instead. But Oman is more than just a neutral conference room for rival states to use. The country has built influence with countries and militias across the region, turning it into a go-to hostage negotiator for nations whose citizens are abducted by hostile governments or terror outfits. Just from Yemen, Oman has secured the release of a French woman in 2015, two American hostages in 2016 and an Australian man and an Indian Catholic priest in 2017. It convinced Iran to release three American hikers who accidentally crossed over from Iraq in 2009. Youve got these tensions in the region, and youve got Oman trying to play a role in resolving or reducing all of them, Feierstein says. Theres nothing selfless here. To make enemies as a small nation its population is under 5 million is to invite disaster. This role also helps the country maintain strategic autonomy. After a rare economic setback in 2016 amid dropping oil prices, experts worried Oman could become more vulnerable to economic and political influence from its larger neighbors, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. They are investing in Oman not only to help Oman stay stable but also to garner influence through that investment, says Ted Karasik, an adviser to UAE-based companies for the Washington firm International Market Analysis. But Oman also has unique advantages as a peacemaker. In a region where the fundamental fault line is between Sunni- and Shiite-led regimes and militias, Oman is dominated by the tiny, independent Ibadi sect, with no religious reason to follow either Shiite Iran or Sunni Saudi Arabia. In fact, it has gone further. It was one of only three Arab League states not to break relations with Egypt after its 1979 peace treaty with Israel, and was a supporter of the Camp David Accords. It helps that none of the regions major powers Israel, Iran and Saudi Arabia view little Oman as a threat. The Omanis are much farther away from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Feierstein says. Therefore they take a more philosophical view. That approach could prove useful, given Trumps recent recognition of Jerusalem as Israels capital, which has inflamed regional tensions. The bottom line is that Omani foreign policy is extremely dynamic and nimble, Karasik says. Still, you wont hear them trumpet their peace work, particularly with Israel. They like to stay a little quiet, Karasik says, a sentiment Israel acknowledges. We dont put this [relationship] on the table, because it puts the Omanis in jeopardy, says a senior foreign policy strategist for Israels ruling Likud Party, requesting anonymity. Trump, though, doesnt seem to care about what Oman can bring to the table. He has ignored the country, traditionally a willing U.S. partner. At the Arab-Islamic-American Summit in Riyadh in 2017, Trump met representatives of every Gulf nation other than Oman. Trumps State Department cut its budget for military education and training to Oman from $2 million to just $500,000 in the most recent budget deal. Trump may well be punishing Oman for helping bring together the Iran deal under his predecessor, Barack Obama. Still, Omans negotiating spirit has paid off in other ways. In 1994, it hosted the plenary meeting of the Water Working Group, today the only surviving part of the Oslo Accords. The Oman-based Middle East Desalination Research Center was an outcome of that meeting. That decision proved prescient: In the next decade, the region is expected to face mass water-shortage concerns, positioning Muscat as a major player in creating the technology that could save the Middle East. In that arena and others, Oman is proving that even in the cynical, violent politics of the Middle East, peace can be pursued. And that it can bring influence and respect. Americans to Save $2.8 Billion on Utility Bills as Companies Lower Rates After Tax Cuts Americans will save more than $2.8 billion on water, electricity, and gas bills due to rate reductions by utility companies as they pass on savings from the tax cuts approved by Republicans in Congress and signed by President Donald Trump. According to Americans for Tax Reform, at least 101 utility companies around the country reduced rates for customers based on the windfall from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which reduced the corporate tax rate from 35 to 21 percent. When Democrats threaten to raise taxes if they get back into power, they are threatening to raise your utility billmonth after month, Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, said in a statement. Americans for Tax Reform previously tracked the impact of the tax-cut bill on paychecks. The organization found that more than 4 million Americans received tax-cut related bonuses and pay raises. The list includes public statements from many companies linking the rate reduction to tax cuts. Tampa Electric in Florida told customers in March that it wont raise rates in order to pay for restoration costs for damage caused by Hurricane Irma. Because of recent changes made to the federal tax law, customers will directly benefit, a statement from the company said. What Tampa Electric would have paid in corporate income taxes will instead be used to the cost of restoring power after Hurricane Irma and several other earlier named. Michigan-based Consumers Energy is passing on $200 million in tax-cut based savings on to customers, the company said in January. We are thrilled to be able to pass along 100 percent of the savings from tax reform to the people we are privileged to serve, the companys CEO, Patti Pope, said in a statement. This underscores our commitment to people, planet, and prosperity for all of Michigan. Birmingham-based Alabama Power cut rates by 9 percent for a total of $257 million. The company also committed to no base rate increases until 2020 and to credit customers $50 million per year. DTE Energy in Detroit estimated its customers will save $190 million in 2018. The recent passage of the Federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will offer benefits to energy customers across the country, the company said in a press release. Cuts in utility costs are a boon to Republicans as the 2018 midterm elections approach. No Democrat voted for the tax cuts. Trump has warned voters that Democrats will take away the cuts if they secure a majority in the House and Senate. A Democratic lawmaker just introduced a bill to Repeal the GOP Tax Cuts (no chance), Trump wrote on Twitter on May 28. This is too good to be true for Republicans. The tax cuts are largely linked to economic progress made since the beginning of the year. Trump signed the measure into law in late December last year. Since then, the unemployment rate dropped to an 18-year low and the number of job openings surpassed the number of job seekers for the first time on record. The gross domestic product grew by an average of 2.9 percent over the past four quarters, higher than any of the eight years of the Obama administration. Republicans are already planning a second round of tax cuts. GOP leaders are considering votes on a measure to make permanent the temporary tax cuts for individuals passed last year. Republicans are likely to move forward with the plan, since Democrats either will hand them a victory by supporting the bill, or will be painted as opponents of the middle class if they block it. Watch Next: How a Traditional Spiritual Practice Changed the Lives of These People The practice has attracted tens of millions across the world and at its core are just three simple principles: truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. Senior White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow speaks during a briefing at the White House on June 6, 2018, on the upcoming G7 summit. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) Canada in Brief, June 7-13 Kudlow: US trade dispute with Canada a family quarrel U.S. senior economic adviser Larry Kudlow calls his countrys trade dispute with Canada little more than a family quarrel. Kudlow told a news conference in Washington on June 6 that similar disputes occur between countries all the time, and hes confident that the current angst over President Donald Trumps steel and aluminum tariffs will soon blow over. Kudlow said regardless of what the rest of the world might think, Trump is deadly serious about reforming a global trade system he believes is fundamentally broken. He said tariffs are simply one more tool in the presidents toolbox when it comes to repairing it. Ford says hes shocked by lawsuit from late brothers widow Doug Ford says hes shocked by a lawsuit from his late brother Rob Fords widow that was filed just days before the Ontario election. The Progressive Conservative leader denies the allegations from Renata Ford that he mishandled his brothers estate and destroyed the value of the family business. Ford said June 5 hell let voters decide what the motive behind the suit is, and said that his sister-in-laws lawyers had told him to pay up or they would go public with the allegations. Were shocked. Thats what it comes down to. Were floored and with two days or three days before an election? Ill let you decide the motive, he said. Unusual-shaped iceberg draws onlookers to Newfoundland cove An unusually shaped iceberg is drawing onlookers to a small cove in eastern Newfoundland. The iceberg has a hollow archway carved in the middle and appears to be grounded in the waters just off a Bonavista peninsula community in Upper Amherst Cove. Photographers have been sharing their shots of the iceberg on social media, prompting people to head to the area north of Clarenville. The iceberg was known as the Kings Cove iceberg but was renamed the Amherst Cove iceberg when it drifted across the bay. The arrival comes after a lacklustre iceberg season in a province known for the prized tourist attraction. Senate aims to stymie criminals using tax havens in legal pot market The Senate wants to ensure that organized crime doesnt use offshore tax havens to wind up secretly controlling the recreational marijuana market in Canada once cannabis is legalized. Senators have voted 45-29 to amend the cannabis legalization bill to require that any company that is licensed to grow marijuana must publicly disclose all its shareholders or members who are not based in Canada. Liberal independent Sen. Serge Joyal says police have confirmed that organized crime has already infiltrated the medical marijuana market in Canada. He says more than $250 million has been invested in Canadian cannabis companies from the Cayman Islands alone. With files from The Canadian Press The number of refugees fleeing conflicts ballooned to 1 percent of the global population, the highest level in modern history, according to a report showing the world is less peaceful now than at any time in the last 10 years. Bloomberg reports in its article Refugees Now Make Up 1% of World Population, Peace Index Shows that terrorism and internal conflict were the two biggest contributors pushing down the 2018 Global Peace Index, its fourth consecutive annual drop, according to a report published by the Institute of Economics & Peace. Iceland retained the top spot as the worlds most peaceful country while Syria was the least peaceful for the fifth straight year. Increased numbers of refugees, terrorism, and heightened political tensions were behind the deterioration, Steve Killelea, the institutes founder, said in an interview. Refugees on their own would make one of the worlds biggest nations. There were 65.6 million refugees, or internally displaced people, at the end of 2016, or about 0.9 percent of the world population. More than 55 percent of them come from Syria, Afghanistan, and South Sudan, according to the United Nations High Commission on Refugees, whose data was used in the report. While the vast majority of refugees are housed in neighboring countries, the flow of people fleeing conflicts or poverty in Africa or the Middle East to Europe has empowered nationalist parties across the continent. The five most peaceful nations in the world last year were Iceland, New Zealand, Austria, Portugal and Denmark, unchanged from the previous year. There was also no change in the bottom slots held by Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Iraq, and Somalia. There were 92 countries whose ranking deteriorated and 71 that improved. Worldwide, the economic impact of violence was estimated at $14.8 trillion in 2017, up 2 percent from the previous year and equal to 12.4 percent of global output or about $2,000 a person. Peace is not just about ending human suffering, but also economic opportunity, Killelea said. Countries at the bottom of the list get caught in a terrible downward cycle. Chapter Two: Communisms European Beginnings (UPDATED) The specter of communism did not disappear with the disintegration of the Communist Party in Eastern Europe The Epoch Times has serialized an adaptation from Chinese of the book How the Specter of Communism Is Ruling Our World, by the editorial team of Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party. Listen to the audiobook: Table of Contents Introduction 1. Karl Marxs Satanic Works 2. Marxisms Historical Context 3. The French Revolution 4. Communisms Debut in Paris 5. First Europe, Then the World References Introduction Many of the prophecies foretold in orthodox religions have come to pass, as have the predictions made by Nostradamus and those passed down in cultures around the world, from Peru to Korea. In Chinese history, from the Han to the Ming dynasties, there have been surprisingly accurate prophetic texts. These prophecies show us the important truth that history is not a coincidental process, but rather a drama in which the sequence of major events has been pre-established. In the end times, which also could herald the beginning of a new historical cycle, all of the worlds religions are awaiting one thing: the arrival of the Creator in the human realm. All dramas have a climax. Though the devil has made arrangements to destroy humankind, the Creator has means of awakening the worlds people, helping them to escape the devils bondage, and offering them salvation. The ultimate battle between good and evil is unfolding today. Orthodox religions the world over have foretold that in the era of the Creators return, the world would be awash with demons, abominations, and ominous events as humanity lost its moral restraints. This is the world today. The state of degeneration we face today has been long in the making. It began hundreds of years ago, with the rise of its core driving forces: atheism and the deception of humanity. It was Karl Marx who created an ideology to encompass the deception in all its permutations, and it was Vladimir Lenin who put the theory into brutal practice. Marx, however, was not an atheist. He was a Satanist and became the demon whose mission it was to prevent man from recognizing the Creator in the end times. 1. Karl Marxs Satanic Works Marx wrote many books throughout his life, the best-known being the 1848 The Communist Manifesto and the three volumes of Das Kapital, published between 1867 and 1894. These works form the theoretical basis of the communist movement. It is less widely known that over the course of his life, Marx turned over his soul to the devil and became its agent in the human realm. In his youth, Marx had been a devout Christian. He was an enthusiastic believer in God before he was overcome by his demonic transformation. In his early poem Invocation of One in Despair, Marx wrote of his intent to take revenge on God: So a god has snatched from me my all In the curse and rack of Destiny. All his worlds are gone beyond recall! Nothing but revenge is left to me! On myself revenge Ill proudly wreak, On that being, that enthroned Lord, Make my strength a patchwork of whats weak, Leave my better self without reward! I shall build my throne high overhead, Cold, tremendous shall its summit be. For its bulwark superstitious dread, For its Marshall blackest agony. [1] In a letter to his father, dated November 10, 1837, Marx described the changes he was experiencing: A curtain was fallen, my holiest of holies was ripped apart, and new gods had to be set in their place. A true unrest has taken mastery of me and I will not be able to calm the excited spirits until I am in your dear presence. [2] In Marxs poem The Pale Maiden, the lyrical voice is that of a young woman who abandons her love of Christ and meets a ghastly end. Marx wrote: Thus heaven Ive forfeited, I know it full well. My soul, once true to God, is chosen for hell. [3] Marxs family clearly noticed the change in him. In an earlier letter, dated March 2, 1837, his father wrote to him: Your advancement, the dear hope of seeing your name someday of great repute, and your earthly well-being are not the only desires of my heart. These are illusions I had had a long time, but I can assure you that their fulfillment would not have made me happy. Only if your heart remains pure and beats humanly and if no demon is able to alienate your heart from better feelings, only then will I be happy. [4] One of Marxs daughters wrote that when she was young, Marx told her and her sisters many fairy tales. Her favorite was the meandering story of Hans Rockle, a magician who was always short on cash and had no choice but to sell off his lovely puppets to the devil. [5] What Marx sold to the devil in exchange for his success was his very soul. As seen in the preceding examples, abandoning God and associating with Satan is a common theme in Marxs poetry. In The Fiddler, Marx speaks via the lyrical voice: How so! I plunge, plunge without fail My blood-black saber into your soul. That art God neither wants nor wists, It leaps to the brain from Hells black mists. Till hearts bewitched, till senses reel: With Satan I have struck my deal. He chalks the signs, beats time for me, I play the death march fast and free. [6] In the biography Marx, author Robert Payne wrote that the stories Marx told can be taken as allegories for his own life, and that he seemed to be knowingly acting on the devils behalf. [7] Marxs soul turned to evil. In his rage against God, he saw the divine as something to be overthrown. American political philosopher Eric Voegelin wrote: Marx knew that he was a god creating a world. He did not want to be the creature. He did not want to see the world in the perspective of creaturely existence. He wanted to see the world from the point of the coincidentia oppositorum, that is, from the position of God. [8] In his poem Human Pride, Marx expressed his will to break away from and replace God: Then the gauntlet do I fling Scornful in the Worlds wide open face. Down the giant She-Dwarf, whimpering, Plunges, cannot crush my happiness. Like unto a God I dare Through that ruined realm in triumph roam. Every word is Deed and Fire, And my bosom like the Makers own. [9] In another verse, he wrote, I long to take vengeance on the One Who rules from above, and, The idea of God is the keynote of a perverted civilization. It must be destroyed. [10] Soon after Marx died, his housemaid Helene Demuth said she had observed him performing some kind of prayer ritual before a line of candles during his illness. Marx clearly believed in the supernatural. [11] Throughout human history, great sages taught sentient beings the way to enlightenment and laid the foundations of the worlds civilizations. Jesus Christ established the bedrock of Christian civilization, and Lao Tzus wisdom is the foundation of Taoism, a central pillar of Chinese philosophy. In ancient India, Shakyamunis teachings led to Buddhism. The origins of their wisdom are a wonder they obtained their insights from enlightenment on the path of spiritual cultivation, not by ordinary learning. Marxs theories referenced the work of previous intellectuals but ultimately originated from the evil specter. He wrote in the poem On Hegel: Since I have found the Highest of things and the Depths of them also, Rude am I as a God, cloaked by the dark like a God. [12] By the specters arrangement, Marx entered the human world and established the cult of communism to corrupt human morality, with the intention that humankind would turn against the divine and doom itself to eternal torment in Hell. 2. Marxisms Historical Context In order to spread Marxism, the specter laid down various intellectual and social foundations. We will examine these as the context for the rise of communism. Scholars believe that Marxs theory was deeply influenced by Ludwig Feuerbach, who was an early denier of Gods existence. Feuerbach believed that religion was no more than ones awareness of the infinity of consciousness that is to say, that people invented God by imagining their own abilities writ large. [13] Feuerbachs theory sheds some light on how communism emerged and spread. Advances in science, mechanization, material goods, medicine, and leisure created the impression that happiness is a function of material wealth. Therefore, any dissatisfaction must arise from social limitations. It seemed that with material advancement and social change, people would have the means to build a utopia without any need for the divine. This vision is the principal means by which people are lured and then initiated into the cult of communism. Feuerbach was not the first to reject Christianity and God. David Friedrich Strauss questioned the authenticity of the Bible and the divinity of Jesus in his 1835 book The Life of Jesus Critically Examined. We may trace such atheistic ideas back to the Enlightenment in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries or, if need be, to the time of the ancient Greeks. But that is not the purpose of this book. Although Marxs Communist Manifesto was written over a decade prior to the publication of Charles Darwins On the Origin of Species, the theory of evolution provided Marx with an ostensibly scientific grounding. If all species evolved as a result of natural selection, and human beings are merely the most advanced of organisms, then there is no room for the divine. In December 1860, Marx wrote to Engels about Darwins theory, praising On the Origin of Species as the book that contains the natural-history foundation for our viewpoint [historical materialism]. In a letter to the socialist philosopher Ferdinand Lassalle in January 1862, Marx said, Darwins book is very important and serves me as a natural-scientific basis for the class struggle in history. [14] The theory of evolution in the field of natural science and materialism in the field of philosophy provided Marxism with two powerful tools for misleading and recruiting followers. Society underwent profound changes in Marxs lifetime. During the first Industrial Revolution, artisanal craftsmanship was replaced with mass production. Technological advancement in agriculture freed up surplus labor to move to cities and toil in factories. Free trade created innovation in sales and marketing. Industrialization fostered the rise of cities and the movement of people, information, and ideas. Following Marxs exile from Germany, he moved to France, Belgium, and then England, where he settled down in the Dickensian environment of the London slums. The second Industrial Revolution began in Marxs later years, bringing electrification, the internal combustion engine, and chemical manufacturing. The invention of the telegraph and the telephone revolutionized communications. Each change threw society into upheaval as people scrambled to adapt to the new reality amid technological shifts. Many could not keep up, leading to the polarization of haves and have-nots, economic crises, and the like. At the same time, as technology made it possible to transform the natural world on a large scale, humanitys arrogance grew. This upheaval created ripe conditions for spreading Marxs view that societal norms and traditions were oppressive relics to be destroyed. But Marxist influence is most appropriately understood in terms of the devils long-term scheme to destabilize humanity and sever the connections between man and the divine. 3. The French Revolution The impact of the 1789 French Revolution was massive; it destroyed the monarchy, overturned the traditional social order, and gave rise to a system of mob rule. Engels said: A revolution is certainly the most authoritarian thing there is; it is the act whereby one part of the population imposes its will upon the other part by means of rifles, bayonets, and cannon authoritarian means, if such there be at all; and if the victorious party does not want to have fought in vain, it must maintain this rule by means of the terror which its arms inspire in the reactionists. [15] The Jacobin Club, which took power after the French Revolution, knew this well. Following the execution of French King Louis XVI, Jacobin leader Maximilien Robespierres Reign of Terror brought the executions of another seventy thousand people, most of whom were completely innocent. Later generations wrote a posthumous epitaph for Robespierre, who was buried in a common grave: Whoer thou art who passest, pray Dont grieve that I am dead; For had I been alive this day, Thoudst been here in my stead! [16] The Jacobin Clubs policies of economic, political, and anti-religious terror in the French Revolution, were a prelude to the tyranny of communist parties. Foreshadowing the political killings under Lenin and Stalin, the French revolutionaries instituted the Revolutionary Tribunal and set up guillotines in Paris and other communities. Revolutionary committees decided whether a prisoner was guilty, while special agents of the National Convention held authority over the military and administrative subdivisions. The sans-culottes, or proletariat, were considered the most revolutionary class. According to the Law of 22 Prairial, enacted on June 10, 1794, pretrial and defense counsel were banned, and all convictions were required to result in the death penalty. Rumors, inference, and personal judgment, in lieu of evidence, were all considered valid for the purpose of obtaining a verdict. The laws promulgation greatly expanded the Reign of Terror, with an estimated three hundred thousand to five hundred thousand people jailed as suspects. [17] Likewise, the economic terror of the Jacobins seemed to foreshadow the war communism that would be implemented in Russia by Lenin. On July 26, 1793, hoarding grain became an offense punishable by death. The paramilitary forces known as the armees revolutionnaires were empowered to ransack towns and villages, searching for stored grain in houses, barns, and warehouses. Those who were accused of hoarding would be torn apart by mobs or sent to the guillotine. [18] One of the greatest adversaries of the French revolutionaries was the Catholic faith. During the Reign of Terror, revolutionaries including Pierre Gaspard Chaumette established a form of atheism called the Cult of Reason. It was based on Enlightenment trends and was intended to replace Catholicism. [19] On October 5, 1793, the National Convention abolished the Christian calendar and instituted the Republican Calendar. On November 10, the Notre-Dame de Paris was rechristened the Temple of Reason, in a ceremony featuring a young actress who was styled as the Goddess of Reason, an object of worship for the masses. The dictates of the Cult of Reason were quickly enforced throughout Paris. Within a week, only three Christian churches remained in operation. Anti-religious terror filled Paris. Priests were arrested en masse, and some were executed. [20] The French Revolution not only provided a model for the Soviet regime established by Lenin, but also was closely connected to the development of Marxism. Francois-Nol Babeuf, a utopian socialist who lived through the French Revolution and was executed in 1797 for his involvement in the Conspiracy of the Equals, advocated the abolition of private property. Marx considered Babeuf to be the first revolutionary communist. Socialist ideologies continued to make headway in French politics during the nineteenth century. The League of Outlaws, which took Babeuf as its spiritual founder, developed rapidly in Paris. German tailor Wilhelm Weitling joined the league in 1835. Under his leadership, the secret society renamed itself the League of the Just. In a meeting held in June 1847, the League of the Just merged with the Communist Correspondence Committee led by Marx and Engels to form the Communist League. In February 1848, Marx and Engels published the foundational work of the international communist movement, The Communist Manifesto. Revolutions and insurrections took place one after another following the end of Napoleonic rule, affecting Spain, Greece, Portugal, Germany, various parts of Italy, Belgium, and Poland. By 1848, revolution and war had spread throughout Europe, providing the optimal environment for the spread of communism. In 1864, Marx and others established the International Workingmens Association, also known as the First International, positioning Marx as the spiritual leader of the communist workers movement. As leader, Marx worked to create a core group of strictly disciplined revolutionaries who would rally the workers to revolt. At the same time, he found reasons to banish from the organization anyone who disagreed with him. Mikhail Bakunin, the first major Russian Marxist, gathered many recruits for the communist movement, but Marx accused him of being a czarist agent and expelled him from the First International. [21] In 1871, the French branch of the First International launched the first communist revolution: the rise to power of the Paris Commune. 4. Communisms Debut in Paris The Paris Commune was established following Frances defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Though French Emperor Napoleon III had surrendered, the Prussian armies laid siege to Paris before withdrawing. The humiliation of surrender, combined with longstanding unrest among the French workers, led to a general uprising in Paris, and the newly established French Third Republic withdrew to Versailles, leaving a power vacuum in the capital. In March 1871, the Paris Commune began with the rebellion of armed mobs and bandits from the lowest rungs of society, led by socialists, communists, anarchists, and other activists. The movement was affiliated with and heavily influenced by the First International. It aimed at using the proletariat as the agents of revolution to destroy traditional culture and transform the political and economic structure of society. What followed was killing and destruction on a mass scale as the rebels laid waste to the exquisite relics, monuments, and art of Paris. What good does it do me for there to be monuments, operas, cafe-concerts where I have never set foot because I dont have the money? wrote French writers Edmond and Jules Goncourt, summarizing the sentiments of those who partook in the destruction. American diplomat Wickham Hoffman, who was stationed in Paris at the time of the Commune, said, It is bitter, relentless, and cruel; and is, no doubt, a sad legacy of the bloody Revolution of 1789. American writer and publisher William Pembroke Fetridge described the Commune as the most criminal [act] the world has ever seen and a revolution of blood and violence. Its leaders were ruthless desperadoes, the refuse of France madmen, drunk with wine and blood. [22] The struggle between tradition and anti-tradition begun in the French Revolution were now further played out, eight decades later. Louis-Auguste Blanqui, the honorary president of the Paris Commune, said: Two principles share France: that of legitimacy and that of popular sovereignty. The principle of popular sovereignty rallies all men of the future, the masses who, tired of being exploited, seek to smash the framework that suffocates them. [23] The extremism of the Commune originated in part from the hate-filled ideas of Henri de Saint-Simon, a utopian socialist who considered the welfare of a country proportionate to its number of workers. He advocated the death of the rich, whom he believed to be parasites. In The Civil War in France, Marx described the Commune as a communist state: The direct antithesis to the empire was the Commune. The cry of social republic, with which the February Revolution was ushered in by the Paris proletariat, did but express a vague aspiration after a republic that was not only to supersede the monarchical form of class rule, but class rule itself. The Commune was the positive form of that republic. Additionally, he wrote, The Commune intended to abolish that class property which makes the labor of the many the wealth of the few. [24] The Paris Commune pioneered the methods of communist revolution. Monuments including the Vendome Column commemorating Napoleon were destroyed. Churches were looted, clergy slaughtered, and religious teachings banned from schools. The rebels dressed the statues of saints in modern clothing and affixed smoking pipes to their mouths. Women as well as men participated in the savagery. Zhang Deyi, a Chinese diplomat who was in Paris at the time, described the situation in his diary: The rebellious not only included male thugs; women also joined in the rampage. They took up lodging in high buildings and feasted on delicacies. But their pleasure was short-lived, as they were unaware of the danger coming to them. On the verge of defeat, they looted and burned buildings. Priceless treasures were reduced to ashes. Hundreds of female rebels were arrested and admitted that it was mainly the women who led the arson. [25] The Paris Commune lasted a little over two months before it was suppressed by the French military. On May 23, 1871, before the last line of defense had fallen, the Commune leaders ordered the burning of the Luxembourg Palace (the seat of the French Senate), the Tuileries Palace, and the Louvre. The Paris Opera House, the Paris City Hall, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Justice, the Palais Royal, and the luxury restaurants and apartment buildings on both sides of the Champs-Elysees were also to be destroyed rather than allowed to fall into the hands of the government. That evening, Commune members, carrying tar, asphalt, and turpentine, started fires at multiple locations across Paris. The magnificent Tuileries Palace was lost to the flames. Fortunately, the arsonists attempt to torch the nearby Louvre was foiled by the arrival of Adolphe Thierss troops. [26] Marx quickly adjusted his theory in the wake of the Paris Commune, revising The Communist Manifesto to clarify that the working class should not simply take over the state mechanism, but rather completely break it down and destroy it. 5. First Europe, Then the World Marxs updated manifesto made communism even more potent. On July 14, 1889, six years after Marxs death, thirteen years after the dissolution of the First International, and one hundred years after the French Revolution, the International Workers Congress was revived. Marxists rallied again in what historians refer to as the Second International. The European workers movement established itself rapidly, guided by communist slogans like liberate humanity and abolish social classes. Lenin later said: The services rendered by Marx and Engels to the working class may be expressed in a few words thus: they taught the working class to know itself and be conscious of itself, and they substituted science for dreams. [27] Lies and indoctrination were used to infect popular movements with communist ideology, leading more and more people to accept it. By 1914, there were close to thirty global and local socialist organizations, and countless more trade unions and cooperatives, with more than ten million union members and more than seven million cooperative members. Their ranks were often heavily infiltrated by socialists. In How to Change the World: Reflections on Marx and Marxism, historian Eric Hobsbawm wrote, The radiation of Marxism was particularly important and general in some countries of Europe in which virtually all social thought, irrespective of its political connections with socialist and labour movements, was marked by the influence of Marx. [28] Communism was also spreading via Europe to Russia and East Asia. In the 1880s, Lenin studied Das Kapital and began his translation of The Communist Manifesto into Russian. He was imprisoned and exiled by the czarist Russian authorities for his political activities. World War I led to the triumph of communism in Russia. At the time of the 1917 revolution that toppled Czar Nicholas II, Lenin was living in Western Europe. By the end of the year, he was back in Russia and had seized power in the October Revolution. Russia was a nation of rich ancient heritage, with a vast population and abundant natural resources. The establishment of the Soviet regime on the territory of the worlds largest country was a huge boon for the world communist movement. Just as World War I assisted the rise of the Russian communists, World War II prompted the communist movement to proliferate across Eurasia and swallow up China. After World War II, the Soviet Union became a superpower armed with nuclear weapons, giving it the means to promote communism on a global scale. In the notes for his famous Iron Curtain speech, Winston Churchill said: A shadow has fallen upon the scenes so lately lighted by the Allied victory. Nobody knows what Soviet Russia and its Communist international organization intends to do in the immediate future, or what are the limits, if any, to their expansive and proselytising tendencies. [29] During the Cold War, the free world engaged in a fierce confrontation with the communist camp, which had spread across four continents. But even as the nations of the free world remained democratic in form, they gradually turned socialist in essence. Read Next: Chapter Three Updated September 21, 2020 Read the series here: How the Specter of Communism Is Ruling Our World References 1. Karl Marx, Invocation of One in Despair, in Early Works of Karl Marx: Book of Verse, Marxists Internet Archive, accessed August 28, 2019, https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1837-pre/verse/verse11.htm. 2. Karl Marx, Letter From Marx to His Father in Trier, in The First Writings of Karl Marx, Marxists Internet Archive, accessed August 28, 2019, https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1837-pre/letters/37_11_10.htm. 3. Karl Marx, The Pale Maiden, in Early Works of Karl Marx: Book of Verse, Marxists Internet Archive, accessed August 28, 2019, https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1837-pre/verse/verse24.htm. 4. Heinrich Marx, as quoted in Richard Wurmbrand, Marx & Satan (Westchester, Ill.: Crossway Books, 1986), 21. 5. Eleanor Marx-Aveling, Biographical Notes on Marxs Literary Interests, in Marx and Engels on Literature and Art, Marxists Internet Archive, accessed April 18, 2020, https://marxists.catbull.com/archive/marx/bio/marx/eleanor-literature.htm. 6. Karl Marx, The Fiddler, in Early Works of Karl Marx: Book of Verse, Marxists Internet Archive, accessed August 28, 2019, https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1837-pre/verse/verse4.htm. 7. Robert Payne, Marx (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1968). 8. Eric Voegelin, From Enlightenment to Revolution, ed. John H. Hallowell (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1975), 298299. 9. Karl Marx, Human Pride, in Early Works of Karl Marx: Book of Verse, Marxists Internet Archive, accessed August 28, 2019, https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1837-pre/verse/verse20.htm. 10. Marx, as quoted in Wurmbrand, Marx & Satan, 2. 11. Wurmbrand, Marx & Satan, 28. 12. Karl Marx, On Hegel, in Early Works of Karl Marx: Book of Verse, Marxists Internet Archive, accessed August 28, 2019, https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1837-pre/verse/verse15.htm. 13. Ludwig Feuerbach, Essence of Religion in General, in The Essence of Christianity, Marxists Internet Archive, accessed August 28, 2019, https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/feuerbach/works/essence/ec01_1.htm. 14. Karl Marx, as quoted in I. Bernard Cohen, Revolution in Science (Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1985), 345. 15. Friedrich Engels, On Authority, in The Marx-Engels Reader, Marxists Internet Archive, accessed April 18, 2020, https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1872/10/authority.htm. 16. Robespierres Epitaph, The Tomahawk (January 9, 1796), Romantic Circles, accessed September 6, 2019, https://www.rc.umd.edu/editions/warpoetry/1796/1796_2.html. 17. Jacques Godechot, The Internal History of France During the Wars, 17931814, in The New Cambridge Modern History, ed. C. W. Crawley (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1965), 9:280281. 18. Miguel A. Faria Jr., The Economic Terror of the French Revolution, Hacienda Publishing, July 1, 2003, accessed April 18, 2020, https://haciendapublishing.com/articles/economic-terror-french-revolution. 19. Gregory Fremont-Barnes, Encyclopedia of the Age of Political Revolutions and New Ideologies, 17601815 (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, Inc., 2007), 119. 20. William Henley Jervis, The Gallican Church and the Revolution (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, & Co., 1882). 21. W. Cleon Skousen, The Founders of Communism, in The Naked Communist (Salt Lake City, UT: Ensign Publishing Company, 1962). 22. John M. Merriman, Massacre: The Life and Death of the Paris Commune (New York: Basic Books, 2014). 23. Louis-Auguste Blanqui, Speech Before the Society of the Friends of the People, in Selected Works of Louis-Auguste Blanqui (Scotts Valley, CA: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2011), 15. 24. Karl Marx, The Paris Commune, in The Civil War in France, Marxists Internet Archive, accessed April 19, 2020, https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1871/civil-war-france/index.htm. 25. Zhang Deyi , San shu qi [The Third Diary], (Shanghai: Shanghai Guji Chubanshe, 1995). [In Chinese] 26. Merriman, Massacre. 27. Vladimir Lenin, Frederick Engels, in Lenin Collected Works, vol. 2 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1972), Marxists Internet Archive, accessed April 19, 2020, https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1895/misc/engels-bio.htm. 28. Eric Hobsbawm, How to Change the World: Reflections on Marx and Marxism (New Haven, CT, and London: Yale University Press, 2011), 214. 29. Winston Churchill, The Sinews of Peace (Iron Curtain Speech) (speech, Westminster College, Fulton, MO, March 5, 1946), International Churchill Society, accessed April 19, 2020, https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/speeches/1946-1963-elder-statesman/the-sinews-of-peace. Chapter Three: Tyranny in the East (UPDATED) The specter of communism did not disappear with the disintegration of the Communist Party in Eastern Europe The Epoch Times is serializing an adaptation from the Chinese of a new book, How the Specter of Communism Is Ruling Our World, by the editorial team of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party. Listen to the audiobook: Table of Contents Introduction 1. The Rise of Totalitarian Communism a. The Soviet Communists Rise to Power b. The Chinese Communist Partys Power Grab 2. The Brutality of Communist Rule a. Soviet Communist Atrocities b. The CCPs Deadly Campaigns 3. A Century of Killing Introduction A century has passed since the Communist Party seized power in the Soviet Union. According to records compiled by the US Congress, communist regimes have been responsible for the deaths of at least one hundred million people. [1] The Black Book of Communism details this history of murder, drawing on documents declassified by the governments of nations in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, as well as records on the victims of communist political campaigns in China, North Korea, and other communist countries. [2] Communist totalitarianism is often compared to that of the Nazis during World War II. While there are many parallels between the two, one crucial distinction is often overlooked: The Nazis committed genocide, but the ultimate goal of communism goes beyond physical slaughter. People of faith do not consider physical demise to be ones true death since they believe the soul goes to heaven or is born again in the cycle of reincarnation. For communism, killing is a tool to destroy the basic moral foundations of humanity; it aims to kill not just the physical body, but also the soul. Communist regimes are given to committing the worst atrocities. They tend to select the most ruthless and unscrupulous leaders, and carry out intense political purges among their own ranks. It is difficult for many to understand the rationale behind the barbarity inflicted by communist parties upon their own cadres, particularly when it comes to those who are persecuted simply for deviating on specific issues while otherwise being wholly loyal to the party and its leadership. One reason is that the communist specter, in its rebellion against the divine and humankind, possesses an instinctual fear that its doom is always around the corner. To reinforce itself, the specter needs individuals who have no regard for moral right and wrong. These individuals are identified by their capacity for brutality during mass killings, and their elevation to positions of party leadership enables the specter to ensure the perpetuation of its earthly tyranny. In 1989, the Chinese Communist Party officials who refused to participate in the June 4 Tiananmen Square massacre were purged or denied promotion. Jiang Zemin, who demonstrated his cruelty during the massacre, was promoted to become leader of the CCP. After Jiang began the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, he promoted officials such as Luo Gan and Zhou Yongkang to high positions, as they had demonstrated their ability to commit the most brutal of crimes during the persecution. Another of its motives for killing is to recruit participants from general society, as was done during the Cultural Revolution. By committing murder and other crimes amid the chaos, these people acted as accomplices to the CCPs savagery, and the most brutal perpetrators became the staunchest followers of the Party. Even today, many former Red Guards who committed assault and murder during the Cultural Revolution express no remorse for the events of their youth. Furthermore, by killing its victims openly and deliberately, the Communist Party terrorizes the general population into obedience. Throughout history, rulers and tyrants have killed out of a perceived need to safeguard their power or their empires by defeating an enemy. Communist parties, however, cannot do without enemies. Even where no enemies exist, they must be invented so that the killing can continue. In a country like China, with its long history and rich culture, communism could not achieve its aims without continuous killing. The Chinese people, steeped in a cultural heritage of 5,000 years, believed in and revered the divine. They would not bend to the will of the barbaric and blasphemous CCP unless they were brutalized. The Partys fundamental means of maintaining its rule, as learned from the Soviet trial run, is through mass murder. 1. The Rise of Totalitarian Communism Being the embodiment of an evil specter, communisms starting point could not be anything other than dishonorable. After Karl Marx proclaimed that a specter is haunting Europe the specter of communism, bandits and ruffians established the Paris Commune, laying waste to the French capital and its unparalleled works of art and culture. Later, the communist parties in Russia and China seized power through despicable acts of conspiracy and bloodshed. Marxist theory and the various ideological tracts penned by communist regimes are replete with promises to support and represent the interests of proletarian workers and peasants. But in practice, the working class is quickly betrayed and suffers the worst abuses under communism. a. The Soviet Communists Rise to Power In February 1917, as the Russian Empire lost ground to German and Austro-Hungarian forces in World War I, food shortages and deteriorating working conditions drove Russian industrial workers to go on strike. As the turmoil spread across the country, Czar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate, and the Russian Provisional Government was established to manage the country until democratic elections could be held. But on Nov. 7, 1917 or Oct. 25 by the traditional Julian calendar a group of communist revolutionaries led by Vladimir Lenin launched an armed insurrection in the Russian capital of Petrograd (todays St. Petersburg). In what is known as the October Revolution, Lenins Bolshevik Party overthrew the provisional government and established the worlds first communist regime. Less than three weeks later, during the democratic election for the Constituent Assembly, the Party of Socialist Revolutionaries won a plurality of the national vote and a majority of the seats. The Bolsheviks won less than 25 percent of the vote and only a handful of delegates. After this setback, Lenin trampled on his early promise to respect the outcome of the elections. When the Constituent Assembly convened in Petrograd on Jan. 18, 1918, Lenin declared the assembly an enemy of the people. Having prepared in advance to enact martial law, and having seized the government administration from the Provisional Government, the Bolsheviks mobilized troops to disband the assembly by force, destroying the democratic process in Russia. Like the Russian Marxist movement itself, Lenins rise was not entirely a Russian phenomenon. Despite the end of czarist rule, Russia continued to fight in the war on the side of France and Great Britain against the German-led Central Powers. Calculating that the Bolsheviks could throw Russia into political chaos and thus remove a major threat from Germanys eastern front Kaiser Wilhelm II arranged for the exiled Lenins safe passage back to Russia via Germany and Sweden into Finland, a territory of the Russian Empire at the time. Wilhelm II also provided Lenin with money, weapons, and munitions. By the end of World War I, the Bolsheviks had received at least 50 million marks from Germany. [3] Winston Churchill had this to say about Germanys role in Lenins return: They turned upon Russia the most grisly of weapons. They transported Lenin in a sealed truck like a plague bacillus from Switzerland to Russia. [4] The October Revolution, and subsequent Leninist takeover, was the origin of all violent communist movements throughout the world in the twentieth century. It triggered the international rise of communism and the countless catastrophes that followed. Immediately after seizing power from the Constituent Assembly, the Bolsheviks turned on the Russian workers, who in early 1918 were the first to resist the communist dictatorship. Tens of thousands of workers from Petrograd and Moscow held parades and demonstrations to protest the dissolution of the democratically elected assembly. Bolshevik soldiers cracked down on the unrest with lethal force, filling the city streets with the workers blood. The countrys largest labor union, the All-Russian Union of Railwaymen, announced a strike to protest the Bolshevik coup and gained the broad support of many other labor organizations. The Bolsheviks put down the strike with its armed forces, just as it had done to the workers of Petrograd and Moscow. The All-Russian Union and other independent unions were then banned. In March 1918, the Bolsheviks rebranded themselves as the All-Russian Communist Party. (In 1925, following the 1922 establishment of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the party was again renamed the All-Union Communist Party. Finally, in 1952, it formally became the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.) Those labor organizations that remained were gradually forced under the control of the Communist Party. In the summer of 1918, Russia faced a massive food shortage due to the ongoing civil war between various communist factions (including the Bolsheviks), regional independence movements, and the White movement, led by anti-communist Russian military officers. In June, with the country on the verge of famine, Lenin dispatched Joseph Stalin to Tsaritsyn to seize grain from the Volga basin, traditionally a breadbasket of Russian agriculture. The Communist Partys tyranny prompted resistance from the peasants. In August 1918, peasants in the Penza region rose up in an armed revolt, which quickly spread to the surrounding areas. The Party sent troops to suppress the uprisings, and Lenin sent a telegram to the Penza Bolsheviks: Hang (and make sure that the hanging takes place in full view of the people) no fewer than 100 known landlords, rich men, bloodsuckers. Publish their names. Seize all their grain from them. Designate hostages in accordance with yesterdays telegram. Do it in such a fashion that for hundreds of kilometers around, the people might see, tremble, know, shout. [5] In the spring of 1919, starving workers in cities across Russia went on strike several times to demand the same rations as Red Army soldiers, as well as the right to free speech, democratic elections, and the abolition of political privileges afforded to the communists. All these movements were handled by the Cheka secret police (the forerunner of the KGB), who jailed or shot the workers. Tambov, southeast of Moscow, had been one of the richest provinces in Russia prior to the October Revolution. After the Soviet Union sent grain-requisitioning teams to seize the regions stores, more than fifty thousand Tambov farmers formed local militias to fight the requisitioning teams, in what came to be known as the Tambov Rebellion. In June 1921, the Soviet regime authorized military commander Mikhail Tukhachevsky to fight the farmers with poison gas. [6] Tukhachevskys use of chemical weapons, combined with fires that burned across the region, rendered much of Tambov completely desolate. An estimated one hundred thousand Tambov peasants who took part in the resistance and their relatives were imprisoned or exiled. About fifteen thousand people died in the insurgency. [7] Later, Tukhachevsky himself was tortured and executed during Stalins purge of the Red Army in the 1930s. The Soviet regimes establishment of totalitarian dictatorship, utter betrayal of the Russian workers, and later mass murder of millions of ordinary citizens would be repeated by the CCP in textbook fashion. Starting with its own seizure of power in the late 1940s, the CCP would bring about catastrophes unprecedented in Chinese history. b. The Chinese Communist Partys Power Grab Marxism and other left-wing ideologies were introduced to China from abroad prior to the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911 and gained currency among radical scholars and youth desperate for solutions to the perils facing their nation. In the 1910s, communist Chinese activists led the New Culture Movement to criticize traditional culture, which they blamed for Chinas backwardness. In 1919, supported with funding provided by the new Soviet regime, Chinese communists assumed a guiding role in the May Fourth Movement, a series of student protests that had grown out of the New Culture Movement and which targeted both foreign powers and the Chinese political elites. In April 1920, the Bolsheviks dispatched Grigori Voitinsky to China to establish a local communist organization. In July 1921, the CCP was founded in Shanghai by Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao, and other Chinese Marxists. The newly formed CCP operated through subterfuge. In 1923, Lenin dispatched Mikhail Borodin to broker an alliance between the Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) and the Soviet Union. Under the terms of the partnership, the Kuomintang took in the nascent CCP as a branch party, giving the communists further opportunities to subvert the Nationalist cause. Aware that the CCP was trying to co-opt the Kuomintang in order to seize power, Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek launched a purge of the communists in 1927. Over the next few years, the Kuomintang mounted several military campaigns intended to destroy the CCPs Soviet regions in southern China. These operations were partially successful, but the communists managed to escape to a new base area in Yanan, northwestern China. In the 1930s, the growing threat from Imperial Japan forced the Kuomintang to pause its campaigns against the CCP rebellion. The CCP took full advantage of Chinas instability in the face of Japanese expansionism. As Nationalist forces bore the brunt of the fighting, the CCP grew its strength. In 1937, the year that Japan launched its all-out invasion of China, the CCPs Red Army had been on the verge of defeat by the Kuomintang. By the time of Chinas victory in 1945, the communists boasted 1.32 million regular troops and a militia force of 2.6 million. [8] Following Japans surrender, the CCP used the cover of peace talks with the Kuomintang to position its forces for the coming civil war. Millions of people gave their lives on the battlefields of World War II, yet the unexpected result was the meteoric expansion of totalitarian communism. The CCPs diplomatic efforts during and after the war led the United States and the Soviet Union to abandon their policies of support for the Nationalists. In 1949, the CCP defeated the Kuomintang and founded what would become the most brutal totalitarian communist regime on earth, the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). At their peak, communist powers controlled one-third of the worlds population, as they comprised Russia and China, the worlds largest nations by size and population. Communist governments extended across large swaths of Europe and Asia, and many countries in Africa, South America, and Southeast Asia became clients or allies of the Soviet Union or the PRC. China has a broad and profound culture with a history of five thousand years. Its people are steeped in a tradition of worshiping gods and revering the divine. The communist specter could not destroy traditional Chinese culture via conspiracy alone. After seizing power and establishing the PRC in mainland China, the CCP targeted the elites of society, who had served as the bearers of traditional culture; it destroyed the physical artifacts of Chinese civilization; and it severed the connections between the Chinese people and their gods. Through mass killing, Chinas traditional heritage was replaced with Communist Party culture. With each passing generation, Party culture has only become more deeply ingrained in the mainland Chinese worldview. The CCP began to invent enemies as soon as it took power, beginning with the elites. In the countryside, it slaughtered landlords and gentry. In the cities, it killed businessmen, creating an atmosphere of terror as it looted the wealth of civil society. To rouse the peasants to kill landlords and rich farmers in support of the new communist regime, the CCP implemented a so-called land reform that promised the peasantry their own land. But after the landowners were murdered, the CCP claimed the land would be turned over to the peasants in the form of cooperatives. This meant the land still did not belong to the peasants. In March 1950, the CCP issued the Directive on the Strict Suppression of Counter-Revolutionary Elements, also known as the Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries, which focused on killing landlords and rich peasants in the countryside. The CCP declared that by the end of 1952, more than 2.4 million counterrevolutionaries had been eliminated. In fact, more than five million people had been murdered. [9] After killing the landlords and rich peasants in the countryside, the CCP launched the Three-Anti and Five-Anti campaigns to slaughter wealthy urbanites. Under this pressure, many capitalists chose to commit suicide with all of their family members. The CCP did not stop with the extermination of landlords and capitalists. It also robbed the wealth of peasants, small merchants, and craftsmen. After this class genocide, the vast majority of the working class remained impoverished. 2. The Brutality of Communist Rule Though communist regimes come to power through deception and violence, their worst atrocities are committed in times of peace. In both the Soviet Union and the PRC, the revolution was immediately followed by bloody political campaigns to eliminate class enemies, mass famines, the establishment of concentration camps, and ruthless purges of Party cadres as well as terror among the general populace. Similar brutality was ubiquitous across the communist bloc, and the worlds surviving communist states all remain repressive authoritarian regimes. a. Soviet Communist Atrocities In 1922, after the conclusion of major military campaigns left the Bolsheviks the de facto victor in the Russian civil war, the Soviet Communist Party faced immediate crises of its own making. Enthusiastically implemented Marxist policies had led to widespread famine across Russia, killing millions of people. The communist leadership was forced to roll back much of its political program retroactively termed war communism and institute the New Economic Policy (NEP). This was an effective truce with the Russian peasantry, as they were allowed to work their own land and sell crops without intervention from the state. However, the Soviet communists never intended the NEP as anything other than an emergency measure to stave off imminent rebellion. During the famine caused by war communism, a friend of Lenins remarked that the disaster hed orchestrated was good in that it would destroy faith not only in the tsar, but in God too. [10] Communist regimes use terror and mass murder as a means of reinforcing their dictatorships. In 1928, the NEP was scrapped and replaced with collective farms controlled by the regime. Russian peasants, who objected to having their land and grain seized, put up stiff resistance to the Communist Party. They would pay dearly for their disobedience. Killing by Famine Most of communisms victims were killed by man-made famines. Between 1932 and 1933, mass starvation caused by the Soviet Communist Party killed millions of people, mostly peasants, across the regions of Ukraine, southern Russia, and Central Asia. The famine in Ukraine, known as the Holodomor, claimed the lives of about four million people. After the civil war ended in 1922, the Communist Partys imposition of collective farming met with widespread resistance from the Ukrainian peasantry. To deal with this, the Soviet regime classified a majority of skilled farmers under the derogatory term kulaks and exiled them to Western Siberia and the republics of Central Asia. The removal of these farmers was a huge loss to Ukrainian agriculture, and in 1932, production plummeted. In the winter of 19321933, the Soviet government cut off food supplies to Ukraine and set up security fences along the borders. At first, Ukrainians survived on the stored vegetables and potatoes in their homes, but these were soon requisitioned by Party authorities. A large number of farmers starved to death. The authorities prevented villagers from traveling to the cities in search of food. Many people starved to death as they walked along the railways. In desperation, people turned to eating the dug-up carcasses of cats, dogs, and livestock. Some even resorted to cannibalism. [11] The Holodomor famine left more than one million Ukrainian children orphaned. Many of them became homeless and had no choice but to beg for food in the cities. To eliminate this embarrassment, Stalin signed orders authorizing police to shoot children as young as 12. During the famine, bodies of starvation victims could be seen all over the streets of Kharkov, the capital of Soviet Ukraine at the time. The Gulags: Europes First Concentration Camps On September 5, 1918, Lenin ordered the establishment of the first Soviet concentration camp on the Solovetsky Islands for the incarceration of political prisoners and dissidents who opposed the October Revolution. In the following years, the Communist Party built a constellation of concentration camps across the Soviet Union the notorious gulag labor camps of the Stalinist era. (The term gulag is an abbreviation in Russian for Chief Administration of Corrective Labor Camps.) The gulag system grew to a monstrous scale under the leadership of Stalin as the Communist Party intensified its political terror and carried out ever-greater purges. By the time of Stalins death in 1953, there were 170 gulag administrations containing more than thirty thousand individual camps scattered across the Soviet Union, in what Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn would famously describe as the Gulag Archipelago in his book by the same name. Solzhenitsyn listed thirty-one different methods that the Soviet secret police used to exhaust their prisoners strength and force them to confess to any crime. [12] Those sent to the gulags suffered from a constant shortage of food and clothing while being forced to perform heavy labor for twelve to sixteen hours a day in the freezing cold of the Russian winter. The death toll was enormous. Many people were imprisoned along with their entire families, with husbands incarcerated and wives exiled. Not even the elderly, some already in their 80s, were spared. The condemned ranged from high-ranking Party elites, state leaders, and military commanders, down to completely ordinary citizens from every walk of life, including religious believers, engineers, technicians, doctors, students, professors, factory workers, and peasants. According to conservative estimates, more than half a million prisoners perished in the gulag system between 1930 and 1940, during the years of Stalins prewar terror. The system was formally disbanded in 1960. While the true numbers remain unknown, it is thought that 18 million people were imprisoned in the gulags and more than 1.5 million died. Concentration camps are usually thought to be a Nazi creation, but it was the Soviet gulag system that preceded similar forms of repression around the world, in both communist and non-communist regimes. According to former Soviet military intelligence officer and popular historian Viktor Suvorov, before World War II, Adolf Hitler sent Gestapo officers to Russia to tour the gulags and learn from the experience the Soviets accumulated in operating them. The Great Terror Against the Soviet Elite Followers of the communist specter are also bound to become its victims. This played out during the Stalinist era, as the Communist Party carried out bloody purges throughout its own ranks. Following Lenins death, Stalin targeted the upper echelons of the communist leadership. The repressions reached a height between 1936 and 1938, when millions of Party members and Soviet officials were put on show trial for ludicrous charges, in a brutal episode known as the Great Terror. Hundreds of thousands were shot, often after making full confessions under torture. Out of the 1,966 delegates to the Seventeenth Congress of the All-Union Communist Party in 1934, more than half (1,108) were arrested on charges of counter-revolutionary activity. Of the 139 members and candidate members of the Central Committee elected at the Seventeenth Congress, 110 were killed. [13] Lavrenty Beria, Stalins secret police chief, once said, Show me the man and Ill find you the crime. Except for Stalin, all of the Politburo members remaining at the time of Lenins death in 1924 Lev Kamenev, Grigory Zinovyev, Aleksey Rykov, Mikhail Tomsky, and Leon Trotsky were executed or assassinated by 1940. No section of society was spared in the Great Terror and other Stalinist purges. Repression in the religious, scientific, educational, academic, and artistic fields preceded the purges that gutted the military and political elite. But the main victims of Stalins terror were ordinary people, including not just relatives and friends of the accused, but workers and other rank-and-file Soviet citizens accused of and punished for completely fictitious crimes. Nor did the executioners themselves escape the Terror: Genrikh Yagoda, chief of secret police until 1936, was arrested in 1937 and shot the next year. His replacement, Nikolai Yezhov, fell from power in 1939 after overseeing the bloodiest round of internal purges. He was shot in an execution chamber designed according to his own specifications. Even today there are no answers concerning how many were arrested, killed, imprisoned, or exiled during the terror of the Stalin era. In June 1991, on the eve of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, KGB secret police chief Vladimir Kryuchkov said that between 1920 and 1953, about 4.2 million people were suppressed including 2 million during the Great Terror alone. [14] Alexander Yakovlev, a reformist politician in the Soviet and Yeltsin eras, said in a 2000 interview that the victims of the Stalinist repression numbered at least 20 million. [15] b. The CCPs Deadly Campaigns Deadly and traumatic political inquisitions have been a feature of the Chinese communist movement since even before it seized power over mainland China in 1949. In 1942, when the CCP was holed up in northwestern China, Mao Zedong launched the Yanan Rectification Movement. Party cadres were subject to harrowing treatment, including torture, detention, and thought reform, ostensibly to root out those with insufficient ideological loyalty. Thousands were killed during the movement, which was the CCPs first mass political campaign. From 1949 the year the PRC regime was established to 1966, tens of millions of Chinese lost their lives in the Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries, the Three-Anti and Five-Anti campaigns, the Anti-Rightist Campaign, and the great famine caused by the Great Leap Forward campaign. This period of mass killing was followed by bloody struggles within the CCPs ranks. As a new generation of Chinese raised to be atheistic wolf cubs indoctrinated in the education and Party culture of communism came of age, the communist specter launched a campaign of even more rampant killing and destruction to wipe out five thousand years of traditional Chinese culture. The Cultural Revolution was the last and in some regards the most destructive political campaign of the Mao era. Beginning in 1966 and spanning the final decade of Maos life, its objective was the violent replacement of traditional Chinese culture with Party culture. The Great Chinese Famine Between 1959 and 1962, China experienced the worlds deadliest famine. To deceive the world, the CCP still claims that it faced three years of natural disasters. In fact, in 1958, the CCP had rashly begun the Peoples Commune movement and the Great Leap Forward. These wild schemes, which depleted grain stocks and decimated Chinese agricultural production, were supported by a deluge of false reports claiming bumper harvests produced by officials across all levels of leadership, from rural regions to the cities. The CCP used these reports as justification for collecting grain from the peasants, who were forced to turn in their food, seeds, and animal feed to the regime. The CCPs administrative organs at all levels sent teams to the countryside. They used torture and interrogations to squeeze the last morsels of food from the hapless peasants. Following the example set by the Soviet communists, the CCP prevented villagers from entering cities in search of food, causing the mass death of families and even whole villages. The corpses of famine victims littered the countryside. When peasants were caught stealing to survive, they were killed. Cannibalism was widespread. The grain seized by the government was traded for large amounts of Soviet weaponry or for gold that the CCP used to pay off debts as it turned a blind eye to the loss of Chinese lives. In just three years, the Great Famine had wiped out tens of millions of people. The Cultural Revolution: Slaughter and Cultural Genocide The Cultural Revolution repeated the frenzy of the Yanan Rectification Movement on a national scale, with fanatical youth encouraged to smash, beat, torture, and murder for the sake of destroying the so-called four olds old customs, old culture, old habits, and old ideas of China. On May 16, 1966, the CCP published what came to be called the May 16 Notice, which marked the beginning of the Cultural Revolution. In August, with the children of high-ranking CCP cadres leading the way, students from secondary schools in Beijing formed a band of Red Guards. The mob went on a rampage across Beijing, in a frenzy of ransacking, assault, and killing. By the end of the month, known as Red August, thousands of people in Beijing had been murdered. In the Beijing district of Daxing, 325 people were killed between August 27 and September 1, across forty-eight production brigades of thirteen peoples communes. The victims varied in age from just thirty-eight days old to eighty years old, and twenty-two families were wiped out completely. The Red Guards bludgeoned, stabbed, or strangled their victims. They killed infants and toddlers by stepping on one leg and tearing the child in two. [16] As the specter of communism directed people to beat and kill, it erased their human compassion, brainwashing them with slogans like treat the enemy with the numb cruelty of the harsh winter. With every crime against humanity, the CCP displaced the traditional culture and moral virtue of the Chinese. Envenomed by Party culture, many people became tools of murder. When confronted with the bloodthirsty deeds of the totalitarian communist regime, most people are at a complete loss as to how anyone could descend into such inhuman barbarism. Estimating the casualties of the Cultural Revolution is a daunting task. Most studies suggest a minimum death toll of two million. R. J. Rummel, an American professor who has researched mass killing, wrote in his book Chinas Bloody Century: Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1900 that the Cultural Revolution claimed the lives of 7.73 million people. [17] Dong Baoxun, an associate professor of Chinas Shandong University, and Ding Longjia, deputy director of the Shandong Party History Research Office, co-authored the 1997 book Exonerate the Innocent: Rehabilitate the Wrongly Accused and Sentenced. It quoted Ye Jianying, then vice-chairman of the CCP Central Committee, as making the following statements during the closing ceremony of the Central Working Conference on December 13, 1978: Two years and seven months of comprehensive investigation by the Central Committee have determined that twenty million people died in the Cultural Revolution, over one hundred million suffered political persecution, and 800 billion yuan was wasted. [18] In August 1980, CCP leader Deng Xiaoping gave two interviews with Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci in which he described the difficulty of quantifying the Cultural Revolutions ravages: People were divided in two factions that massacred each other. It is hard to estimate because they died of all kinds of causes. Besides, China is such a vast country. But listen: So many died that, even if other tragedies had not taken place during it, the number of dead would be enough to say that the Cultural Revolution was the wrong thing to do. [19] Deng described a typical case: Kang Sheng, the head of the CCPs secret police, accused the party secretary of Yunnan Province, Zhao Jianmin, of treason and of being an agent of the Kuomintang. Not only was Zhao imprisoned, but his downfall also impacted 1.38 million people throughout the province, of whom 170,000 were persecuted to death and 60,000 were beaten to the point of disability. [20] Unprecedented Evil: The Persecution of Falun Gong Decades of murderous violence and atheistic indoctrination by the CCP have taken a massive toll on the moral fabric of society, bringing it far below the standards required of humanity by the divine. Even many of those who still believe in the divine are ignorant of genuine faith, since they are trapped in the sham religious organizations controlled by the CCP. Should the situation continue to degenerate, humanity will face certain extinction, as prophesied in the holy texts of every ancient civilization. But the specter of communism is bent on preventing man from being saved by the Creator. For this reason, it destroyed traditional cultures and corrupted human moral values. During the spring of 1992, to restore human morality and provide a path to salvation, Mr. Li Hongzhi began to teach Falun Gong a spiritual practice based on belief in the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance to the public. Falun Gong, also called Falun Dafa, spread across China in a few short years. As practitioners, their relatives, and their peers experienced miracles of improved health and character, tens of millions of people took up the practice in China and around the world. With so many people practicing cultivation in Falun Gong and holding themselves to higher standards, society began to rediscover its moral bearings. The CCP, since it first seized power, has never relaxed its persecution of spiritual faiths. Naturally, it regards Falun Gong as its greatest adversary. In July 1999, then-CCP leader Jiang Zemin unilaterally ordered the systematic persecution of Falun Gong and its practitioners. In a brutal campaign that reached every corner of China, the CCP applied every method imaginable in its efforts to fulfill Jiangs directive to kill them physically, bankrupt them financially, and ruin their reputations. Party mouthpieces subjected the Chinese people to constant propaganda filled with hatred and slander of Falun Gong, rejecting its principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance in favor of falsehood, wickedness, and struggle. The specter brought society to new lows in moral degeneration. In an atmosphere of reactivated hatred and repression, the Chinese people turned a blind eye to the persecution happening around them, betraying Buddhas and the divine. Some abandoned their conscience and participated in the campaign against Falun Gong, ignorant of the fact that they were damning themselves in the process. The communist specter did not limit the persecution to China. It silenced the nations of the free world while the Chinese regime engaged in the frenzied jailing, murder, and torture of Falun Gong practitioners. Sated with economic incentives, the free world remained silent or even accepted the Partys lies, giving the persecutors free rein to commit the worst crimes. In the persecution of Falun Gong, the CCP introduced an evil never before seen: live organ harvesting. As the largest group of people imprisoned for their faith in China, Falun Gong practitioners are killed on demand, vivisected on the operating tables of state and military hospitals, and their organs sold for tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. On July 6, 2006, Canadian lawyers David Matas and David Kilgour (former Canadian secretary of state, Asia-Pacific) published a report titled Report Into Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong Practitioners in China. Examining eighteen types of evidence, they shed light on the CCPs monstrosity, calling it a grotesque form of evil new to this planet. [21] Matas and Kilgour, along with investigative journalist Ethan Gutmann, worked with a team of international investigators to publish Bloody Harvest/The Slaughter: An Update in June 2016. Running over 680 pages and containing more than 2,400 references, the report proved beyond any doubt the reality and scale of the live organ harvesting carried out by the Chinese communist regime. On June 13, 2016, the US House of Representatives unanimously passed Resolution 343, demanding the CCP bring an immediate end to forced organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners and other prisoners of conscience. [22] In June 2019, after a yearlong investigation, an independent peoples tribunal in London unanimously concluded that prisoners of conscience have been and continue to be killed in China for their organs on a significant scale. [23] The tribunal was chaired by Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, who previously led the prosecution of former Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic for his war crimes in Kosovo. The tribunal further concluded that adherents of Falun Gong have been one of the main sources of organs to fuel the Chinese regimes transplant industry. This lucrative business has sustained support for the persecution of Falun Gong and attracted clients from China and around the world, making them complicit in the CCPs mass murder. 3. A Century of Killing The introduction to The Black Book of Communism provides rough estimates of the death tolls of communist regimes around the world. It verified a figure of ninety-four million, including the following: 65 million in China 20 million in the Soviet Union 2 million in North Korea 2 million in Cambodia 1.7 million in Africa 1.5 million in Afghanistan 1 million in Vietnam 1 million in Eastern Europe 150,000 in Latin America (mainly Cuba) 10,000 due to the international Communist movement and Communist parties not in power. [24] Apart from Russia and China, lesser communist regimes have shown themselves no less willing to engage in absolute evil. The Cambodian genocide was the most extreme incident of mass murder carried out by a communist state. Various estimates place the number of Cambodians killed by Pol Pots Khmer Rouge regime between 1.4 million and 2.2 million up to one-third of Cambodias population at the time. Between 1948 and 1987, the North Korean communists killed more than 1 million of their own people through forced labor, executions, and internment in concentration camps. In the 1990s, famines killed at least 220,000 people, according to estimates based on North Korean census data. In total, based on the North Korean data, between 600,000 and 850,000 people died unnatural deaths between 1993 and 2008. [25] Other estimates place the real figure of those killed by the famine alone at between 1 million and 3.5 million. After Kim Jong Un came to power, he committed more overt murders, with the victims including high-ranking officials and his own relatives. Kim also has threatened the world with nuclear war. In just one century, since the rise of the first communist regime in Russia, the specter of communism has murdered more people in the nations under its rule than the combined death toll of both world wars. The history of communism is a history of murder, and every page is written with the blood of its victims. Read Next: Chapter Four Updated September 27, 2020 Read the series here: How the Specter of Communism Is Ruling Our World References 1. US Congress, House, Remembering the Victims of Communism, remarks by Rep. Christopher Smith, 115th Congress, 1st sess., Congressional Record 163 (November 13, 2017) https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/2017/11/13/extensions-of-remarks-section/article/E1557-2. 2. Stephane Courtois et al., eds., The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression, trans. Jonathan Murphy and Mark Kramer (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999). 3. Richard Pipes, The Russian Revolution (New York: Vintage Books, 1991), 411. 4. Winston Churchill, The World Crisis, Vol. 5: The Unknown War (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2015). 5. Robert Service, Lenin, a Biography (Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press, 2000), 365. 6. Courtois et al., eds., The Black Book, 177. 7. Robert Gellately, Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler: The Age of Social Catastrophe (New York: Knopf Publishing Group, 2007), 75. 8. Zhongguo Gongchandang da shiji. 1945 nian 1945 [A Chronicle of Key Events of the Chinese Communist Party 1945], News of the Communist Party of China, accessed April 16, 2020, http://cpc.people.com.cn/GB/64162/64164/4416000.html. [In Chinese] 9. Frank Dikotter, The Tragedy of Liberation: A History of the Chinese Revolution 19451957 (London: Bloomsbury Press, 2013). 10. Martin Amis, Koba the Dread: Laughter and the Twenty Million (New York: Vintage Books, 2003). 11. Roy Medvedev, Let History Judge: The Origins and Consequences of Stalinism, trans. George Shriver (New York: Columbia University Press, 1989), 240245. 12. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 19181956: An Experiment in Literary Investigation, Books III, trans. Thomas P. Whitney (New York: Harper & Row, 1973). 13. Medvedev, Let History Judge, 396. 14. Reuters, 4.2 Million Were Victims of Purges, KGB Chief Says, Los Angeles Times, June 15, 1991, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-06-15-mn-496-story.html. 15. Alexander Yakovlev, Yakeliefu fangtan lu 19922005 19922005 [Alexander Yakovlev: Selected interviews (19922005)], trans. Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, 234. [In Chinese] 16. Wen Yuluo , Daxing tusha diaocha [An Investigation of the Beijing Daxing Massacre] in Wen Ge da tusha [Massacres in the Cultural Revolution], ed. Song Yongyi (Hong Kong: Kaifang zazhishe, 2002), 1336. [In Chinese] 17. R. J. Rummel, Chinas Bloody Century: Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1900 (New York: Routledge, 2017), 253. 18. Dong Baoxun and Ding Longjia , Chen yuan zhao yunpingfan yuan jia cuo an [Exonerate the Innocent: Rehabilitate the Wrongly Accused and Sentenced] (Hefei: Anhui Renmin Chubanshe, 1998), 1. [In Chinese] 19. Oriana Fallaci, Deng: Cleaning Up Maos Feudal Mistakes, The Washington Post, August 31, 1980, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1980/08/31/deng-cleaning-up-maos-feudal-mistakes/4e684a74-8083-4e43-80e4-c8d519d8b772. 20. Ding Longjia and Ting Yu , Kang Sheng yu Zhao Jianmin yuanan [Kang Sheng and the Unjust Case of Zhao Jianmin] (Beijing: Renmin Chubanshe, 1999), as referenced in Hu Angang, Mao and the Cultural Revolution, ed. W. H. Hau (Honolulu: Enrich Professional Publishing, Inc., 2016), 2:98. 21. David Matas and David Kilgour, Bloody Harvest: The Killing of Falun Gong for Their Organs (Ontario: Seraphim Editions, 2009), 13. 22. US Congress, House, Expressing concern regarding persistent and credible reports of systematic, state-sanctioned organ harvesting from non-consenting prisoners of conscience in the Peoples Republic of China, including from large numbers of Falun Gong practitioners and members of other religious and ethnic minority groups, HR 343, 114th Cong., 2nd sess., introduced in House June 25, 2015, https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-resolution/343. 23. China Tribunal: Independent Tribunal into Forced Organ Harvesting from Prisoners of Conscience in China, China Tribunal: Final Judgment 17th June, March 1, 2020, https://chinatribunal.com/final-judgment. 24. Courtois et al., eds., The Black Book, 4. 25. Thomas Spoorenberg and Daniel Schwekendiek, Demographic Changes in North Korea: 19932008, Population and Development Review, March 21, 2012, accessed via Wiley Online Library, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2012.00475.x. Scotty Greenwood, CEO of the Canadian American Business Council (L), and Lena Trudeau of Nuage Strategies discuss ideas on the modernization of NAFTA to address the digital economy, at Bayview Yards in Ottawa on June 6, 2018. (Rahul Vaidyanath/The Epoch Times) Experts Examine Modernizing NAFTA, Serving the Human Element Conference focuses on digital disruption's impact on business, government, and consumers OTTAWABusiness leaders explored how digital disruption is changing companies, government, and people in the context of NAFTA modernization at a one-day conference in Ottawa on June 6. But in an increasingly data-driven world, the human quality and its need for privacy, security, and convenience cannot be forgotten, according to the panellists at Digital DisruptionAnalog to Algorithm, held at the Bayview Yards innovation centre. We want outcomes, we dont want technology, said Gabe Batstone, CEO of artificial intelligence company Contextere. He was reminded of something a Harvard Business School professor said: I dont want a quarter-inch drill. I want a quarter-inch hole, Batstone quoted. As trade tensions heat up between Canada and the United States, the business experts voiced a preference for multilateral trade agreements as opposed to bilateral ones. In multilateral negotiations, its not about winning and losing; rather its about the strengths and weaknesses, said Batstone. The nature of the negotiation for trilateral or multilateral is fundamentally different from bilateral, he said, arguing that in a perfect world, there would be a single worldwide trade agreement, and each time it is segmented, a little bit of what is possible would be sacrificed. Are we going to work separately, or join together in North America? We should be concerned about China, said Scotty Greenwood, CEO of the Canadian American Business Council (CABC). Canada is, of course, inextricably linked to the United States, and the modernization of NAFTA to serve the needs of the digital economy is stalling as the fortunes of the agreement wane. NAFTA modernization is paused if not dead, said Greenwood. The CABCs work focused on what a digital chapter in NAFTA should look like, with help from Lena Trudeau of Nuage Strategies. But it may be all for naught. The [U.S.] congressional deadline to approve the modernized NAFTA has now passed, Greenwood said. She added that negotiations for something smaller will continue behind the scenes, but the opportunity to get Canada, the United States, and Mexico to agree on a new digital chapter is over from a legislative point of view in Washington. We have to find another way to bring some of this harmonization, said Trudeau. How to not just enable, but really promote, the growth of the digital economy in North America. Like the old Auto Pact, Greenwood suggested that a 2018 Digital Pact might be needed. Trudeau said she liked that idea. One area NAFTA has to address is data residency and sovereignty. Having a freer flow of data is something the tech community has pushed for. Physical location of your data does not guarantee the privacy and security of your data, Trudeau said, since data flows through the United States in any case due to the way networks work. Modernizing Government The need for NAFTA to address the digital economy is crucial. It can guide governments in modernizing their approaches to the digital economy as well. It takes the government a long time to adopt technologies, however, said Trudeau. It feels like were a few years behindthe Canadian government specifically, said Trudeau, who also worked for Amazon Web Services. From her perspective, the problem is the government mentality of a view different from the status quo is the risk. Government, like business, cant stand still in the way it delivers services and in its understanding of the changing landscape. The pace with which consumers embrace digital change has quickened. In a presentation given by Sukhmani Dev, vice president of digital solutions at MasterCard, Canada was shown to be very advanced in its adoption of digital technology. Over 80 percent of Canadians carry a smartphone; after Australia, Canada is the next most mobile-ready country. An up-to-date agreement would be an opportunity to be responsive to citizens about their data concerns. And governments using modern tools may change their regulatory approaches for the better. But in the end, regardless of technological change or digital disruption, it all comes down people and their judgment. Theres no B2B [business to business]; its P2P [person to person]. A person writes the cheque, Batstone said. Follow Rahul on Twitter @RV_ETBiz Staff members monitoring students during their college entrance exam in Zhengzhou, the capital of Chinas Henan Province on June 7, 2016. (STR/AFP/Getty Images) In China, College Entrance Exam Requires Strict Security to Prevent Cheating Millions of high school students are set to take Chinas annual college entrance exam beginning on June 7. According to Chinas state-run media, security at test centers will be tight to prevent the rampant cheating thats been common in recent years. Also known as gaokao, Chinas annual college entrance exam in June is viewed by Chinese parents and students as a life-changing event: Ones gaokao score is the sole determinant of where a student will gain admission to college. According to the Chinese regimes state-run newspaper, Global Times, an estimated 9.75 million students will take the exam this year, the highest number in the past eight years. Cheating has become a major concern. Chinas Ministry of Public Security agency, in a coordinated effort across multiple provinces, including Inner Mongolia and Liaoning in northern China, Shandong Province in eastern China, Hubei Province in central China, and Sichuan and Guangdong in the south, have taken down 12 criminal rings and arrested more than 50 suspects. They also shut down six production lines that were making illegal electronic devices for cheating and eight stores selling them, reported Hong Kong media Oriental Net on June 4. The suspects were found to be making small hidden cameras, encrypted wireless digital signal transmitters, and hidden wireless signal receivers. Additionally, the suspects held training classes to teach people how to use and market these devices. In Harbin, the capital of northern Chinas Heilongjiang Province, a Mr. Dai was arrested by Harbin police for selling copies of a fake gaokao exam through different WeChat accounts he created, reported state-run media The Paper on June 6. Mr. Dai admitted that he sold fake exams at a price of 300 yuan (about $47) per set. He has already made 170,000 yuan ($26,600) from his sales. To tighten security, test centers across central Chinas Henan Province will check students fingerprints, along with their pictures and personal IDs, before theyre allowed to enter, according to state-run media Xinhua. Additionally, test takers are forbidden to dress in anything with metal, including bras with metal strap hooks. Metallic glasses will be allowed, but they will be inspected for any unusual weight or thickness that would indicate the glasses may contain a hidden camera. Students with hearing aid devices or pacemakers would be required to present documents from medical authorities and approval from local exam administration offices. In Qingdao City in Shandong, facial recognition systems will be put in place at test centers to confirm the test takers identities, in addition to personal ID and fingerprint checks, reported Xinhua. Hiring a stand-in to take ones exam is a common cheating scheme. For years, Chinese authorities have tried to tackle the cheating problem. In June 2015, in Luoyang City in central Chinas Henan Province, drones were deployed to monitor students. However, cheating is not a problem limited to the gaokao alone. Chinese nationals in the United States have been caught cheating by hiring imposters to take the SAT and TOEFL in their place. In May 2017, Wang Yue, a Chinese student at Hult International Business School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was arrested for taking the TOEFL for three different students. A computer screen displaying the logo of social networking site Facebook reflected in a window before the Beijing skyline on May 16, 2012. (Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images) Lawmakers Urge Scrutiny of Facebook Sharing User Data With Chinese Companies After Facebook admitted on June 5 to sharing user data with four China tech companies, lawmakers are pressing the social media giant to further explain the partnerships. The four companiesin particular, telecoms giant Huawei, whom U.S. national security intelligence agencies view as a threathave since come under scrutiny. The other three are computer maker Lenovo and smartphone makers Oppo and TCL. The Chinese firms were among approximately 60 companies worldwide that received access to user data after signing contracts with Facebook to recreate a Facebook-like experiences for users. U.S. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, urged Facebook to release more details about the collaboration. The news that Facebook provided privileged access to Facebooks API [application program interface, a set of protocols for building software] to Chinese device-makers like Huawei and TCL raises legitimate concerns, Warner said in a statement. Meanwhile, the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee pressed Facebook for more information in a letter released on June 5. Leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee expressed concern that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was not totally forthcoming when he testified before Congress in April, as he did not disclose such relationships with Chinese companies then. Clearly, the companys partnerships with Chinese technology companies and others should have been disclosed before Congress and the American people, the committees chairman, Greg Walden (R-Ore.), and ranking member Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) said in a statement. Facebook responded that such contracts are standard industry practice so people can access Facebook services when they purchase electronic devices. The company also said it controlled the data sharing, and that other tech firms have made similar arrangements with U.S. and Chinese companies. Francisco Varela, Facebooks vice president of mobile partnerships, assured customers on June 5 that the user data was stored on the devices, not on Huaweis company servers. Facebook is currently banned in China, but has made recent overtures to enter the Chinese market. Huawei said in a statement, Like all leading smartphone providers, Huawei worked with Facebook to make Facebooks service more convenient for users. Huawei has never collected or stored any Facebook user data. Dangers of Huawei, Lenovo Huawei is already on the U.S. authorities watchlist: in February, U.S. intelligence agencies warned citizens not to use Huawei phones. Then, in April, news emerged that U.S. prosecutors were investigating the Chinese firm for possibly violating U.S. sanctions against Iran. Then, in May, U.S. military bases removed Huawei phones from stores to avoid compromising the security of U.S. military service members. The Pentagon cited concerns that the phones could be used to spy on American soldiers. U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio also introduced legislation that would bar the U.S. government or contractors from purchasing equipment or services from Huawei and ZTE, another top Chinese telecoms firm recently under firefor breaking terms of a U.S. agreement that served as penalties for its prior violations of U.S. sanctions. Huaweis CEO, Ren Zhengfei, has close ties to the Chinese militarydetails of which were outlined in a 2012 report compiled by the U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Lenovo also poses national security threats, according to an assessment of the federal governments IT and communications systems released in April by the bicameral U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. Lenovo, Huawei, and ZTE were named in the report as entities that have either received financial support from the Chinese regime or conducted state-sanctioned corporate espionage on behalf of China. The Chinese government is also Lenovos largest shareholder, via Legend Holdings, an investment holding company that counts the Chinese Academy of Sciencesthe state-run research instituteas its controlling shareholder. Lenovo products have been banned by intelligence agencies in the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, known as the Five Eyes countries, since the mid-2000s, after British intelligence agencies discovered backdoors and vulnerable firmware in Lenovo products, according to the report. In 2006, when the U.S. government purchased 16,000 Lenovo computers, the Department of State determined that the computers would only be used on unclassified systems. Then, in 2015, after Lenovo acquired IBMs x86 server business, the U.S. Navy announced that it would replace servers for its guided missile cruisers and destroyers, due to concerns that the equipment could be compromised during maintenance or remotely accessed by the Chinese government, the report stated. Reuters contributed to this report. Armenia's government insists on an exclusively peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict in the format of the OSCE Minsk Group, a process which should be based on the fundamental principles of international law, in particular, equality and self-determination of peoples, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said, presenting the program of his cabinet in the parliament. In addition, he claimed that the negotiations on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict cannot be effective without participation of the separatist regime. Armenias parliament is holding a session to consider a new program of Pashinyans cabinet. The lawmakers will decide on the future work of the government and the prime minister, and the prospects of holding the new parliamentary election. London Mayor Sadiq Khan (L) looks on as a man wears an anti-violence shirt following the murder of teenager Rhyhiem Ainsworth Barton, ahead of a solidarity march on May 8, 2018 in south London, England. The 17-year-old boy was shot during a weekend of violence in London, with two other boys shot in a separate incident less than 24 hours later. (Leon Neal/Getty Images) More than 60 Moped-Related Crimes a Day Reported in London LONDONOver 60 moped-related crimes are committed on average each week in London, police figures show, after a series of violent robberies have hit the UK capital. Moped-enabled crimes in London increased by almost 50 percent over the year ending May 2018, according to the Metropolitan Police. There were 22,025 recorded offenses over the year, which averages to about 60 a day. Earlier this week, a woman in north London was left in critical condition after her phone and handbag were stolen; British comedian Michael McIntyre was robbed by two men on a moped while he was parked outside his childrens school; and a moped gang armed with knives and hammers was involved with a jewelry raid on Londons prestigious Regent Street. Yet the figures also show that moped-related crime has steadily dropped in London by over half after its peak of 2,593 crimes in July last year, meaning there were less offenses in the last few months. It comes as the latest figures from the National Office of Statistics show a rise in violent crime across England and Wales. An Updated Version of Street Mugging Moped-related crime can be divided into two parts: the theft of the bikes and the crimes for which the vehicles are used. Criminals steal the vehicles by breaking the chains with wire cutters, or sometimes force a delivery driver off their vehicle at knifepoint. They then use the stolen vehicles to commit further offenses. In May 2018, 1,243 mopeds were used to commit a theft in London. Simon Harding, senior lecturer in criminology at Middlesex University describes the crime as an updated version of street mugging. Mostly theyll try to snatch the items, but occasionally, they will threaten violence or even use violence in order to get what they want, he said. They rely on the shock value, and that quite often works. Harding said people that are often targeted on the street are using high-value items such as iPhones, iPads, cameras, and occasionally headphones, but more traditional versions of those products, like watches and handbags, are also targets. Nathaniel Peat, founder of Safety Box, a social enterprise that helps protect young people from violent behavior, says that gang culture has always existed, but whats changed is that mopeds have become more accessible and criminals are becoming innovative. Young people know that you can use these types of vehicles now to steal more quickly, Peat said. They are becoming more creative in the ways in which they conduct criminal activity. Speaking at the Police Crime Committee on June 6, Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt said, We are prioritizing our resources where there is the greatest risk, harm and threat to communities. Moped-enabled crime is a huge priority and weve seen significant reductions. The recent reductions are linked to new tactics used by police since last October to clampdown on moped criminals, which include forensic tagging-spray to track down criminals, lightweight bikes that can navigate through narrow streets, and spikes that are thrown across the road. Harding said that when police catch one gang or an individual, it may well resolve as many as 200 offenses. It would be wrong to think that because there are thousands of offenses there are thousands of people out there doing it. Its groups of individuals responsible for multiple incidents, he said. In the course of a week, its not been unheard of [for criminals] to commit over 100 offenses in one week. So this is high volume stuff. But he said more intelligence is needed to track down where the stolen goods are being sold to. The mobile phones will be broken down and sent to Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, or to Bangladesh and Pakistan, so even the batteries can be worth a lot of money. Once [police] have worked out where these routes are, theyre better placed to identify whos involved, Harding said. Watch Next: Knife Crime in London is On The Rise Police in Longueuil Asking for Public Help after Three Attempted Kidnappings of Young Women Police in Longueuil, Quebec, are asking for public help after three attempted kidnappings of young women. The attempted kidnappings occurred mid to late May, with the first on May 17, and the two others on May 31. Police media liaison officer Ghyslain Vallieres told the French-language TV station Radio-Canada that two of the young women are underage. Police have some limited information on the suspect, and are asking for help from the public to get more details. According to Vallieres, the suspect is between the ages of 25-35, has brown eyes, has a height of between five feet nine inches and five feet 11 inches, and a weight of between 73 to 77 kilograms. The suspect drives a recent model of a silver Dodge Caravan. Vallieres is confident that there are people with more information out there, particularly for the attempts that occured on May 31, although the witnesses may be unaware that what they saw was an attempted kidnapping. Anyone with information is asked to call 450-463-7211. Tips can be provided anonymously. Police will also make a presence in the community to ask people if they have any information that may be useful for the investigation. Watch Next: How Doctors in China Turn into Murderers Former Chinese surgeon Enver Tohti said he was turned into a killing robot while thinking he was working for a great cause. Project Veritas Founder Discusses Teachers Union Cover-Up of Child Abuse (Part 2 of 2) Efforts to tell the truth through undercover reporting opposed by half-truths, false framing, and ridicule This is the second of a two-part series. Read the first part here. Project Veritas, which specializes in undercover journalism, has recently exposed cases of teachers unions covering up the physical and sexual abuse of children. The president and founder of Project Veritas, James OKeefe, recently appeared on Declassified, a news program of The Epoch Times, where he discussed his latest findings. Project Veritas has been the target of half-truths, false framing, and ridicule for its undercover work exposing corruption in government, special interest groups, news outlets, and unions. OKeefe noted that many of the groups it has exposed are among the sacred cows of the political machine. Among the most common lines now used to discredit the work of Project Veritas is that it selectively edits video content. OKeefe said the technique is unfair, yet effective, because if you can deny reality itselfyou can say that reality isnt sothen what are we supposed to do? The content of Project Veritas videos typically feature individuals admitting wrongdoing in their own words to a hidden camera, and include long enough clips so that the context of the statements is obvious. OKeefe noted the videos are much less edited than typical news shows on television. While legacy news outlets attempt to discredit the videos, OKeefe said those who were exposed have yet to deny what they were recorded saying. OKeefe noted a recent instance of the accusation of manipulative editing, which involved the investigative video series exposing teachers unions in at least three states that have covered up cases of physical and sexual abuse of children in order to protect the jobs and pensions of union members. A union member in New Jersey attempted to publicly discredit a 24-minute video exposing such issues by claiming the video had six edits and because OKeefe placed narration on the video news report. He was saying that because I inserted narration of me discussing the video, and reporting on the video, that was a selective edit. And he said because there are these edits, the journalism cant be trusted, OKeefe said. I mean, all journalism is edited selectively, he said. Words are typically arranged into sentences in newspapers in order to tell stories. I mean, this is just so absurd that were having this kind of conversation, but this is what they do, and how they do it. Despite the common practice of journalists editing videos and selecting quotes to highlight specific issues, OKeefe noted the way the left has framed the work of Project Veritas has worked for many critics. He said, It scares me that weve gotten to a point in this country that this happens. But I am hopeful because, again, theyre on tape, the people have been fired, and there have been legislative hearings as a result of these videos. He added that while Project Veritas continues to take on such stories, I will also say that with each and every journalism piece that we do, the stakes get higher, the attacks get more vicious, theyre getting violent, theyre getting legal in naturethe attacksand its just gotten more and more burdensome for us to exist as we expose the sacred cows.' Of course, what is missing from the framing is that the difference between a transcript and a news report, or between a video feed and a video article, is that a journalist has taken the time to curate information to highlight as clearly as possible what is most important. Some news outlets do insert bias in this process. The most common method used by legacy news outlets is a disinformation tactic, whereby they reach a false conclusion on the basis of accurate information, and then use the false conclusion to manufacture a false narrative. This is often done by taking information out of contextand in the case of Project Veritas the context of video statements is usually too obvious for such a tactic to have been used. OKeefe said some critics believe Project Veritas should release more of its raw video. He noted that in one of the recent videos in New Jersey, they published a 21-minute video from a 24-minute recording. Sometimes we take out bathroom breaks because you dont want to see the undercover journalist at the urinal, for example, he said. But even other than that, sometimes we will publish the majority, and people say release the full. Even if we release the full, then theyll say, well why dont you release the part where youre walking to the car?' OKeefe continued. It just becomes basically an inverse conspiracy theory where they believe theres some missing evidence that doesnt exist. You cant win. Were getting into a really dangerous point in propaganda in this country, he said. And as I wrote in American Pravda, the difference between the Soviet Pravda and the American media is that the American people dont realize the disinformation campaign happening in cable news; they dont see it. In addition to false framing and other disinformation tactics, other groups have used legal attacks to challenge Project Veritas, which typically includes lawsuits over unlawful entry of the undercover reporters. Even when the legal attacks fail, news outlets have leverage the lawsuits on how footage was obtained in order to discredit the content of the videos. OKeefe noted that in a current court case, members of the leftist extremist group DistruptJ 20 are being tried on the basis of Project Veritas videos where individuals discussed plans to put acid gas stink bombs into the vent shafts of the National Press Club and place chains on Metro trains in Washington. Prosecutors used videos from Project Veritas as evidence, but were recently challenged by defense attorneys for not including segments of the video where the undercover reporter discusses the story on the phone with a producer. Legacy news outlets latched onto the statement from defense attorneys to publish hit pieces on Project Veritas, furthering their narrative of selective editing. Thats the thing that ends up on our Wikipedia page, so that you have entry after entry which says this group has been proven time and time again to have been discredited, OKeefe said. And thats how a propaganda campaign works. Soldiers search for remains at an area affected by the eruption of the Fuego volcano at El Rodeo in Escuintla, Guatemala June 6, 2018. (Reuters/Fabricio Alonzo) Rescuers Search for Missing Near Guatemala Volcano as Death Toll Climbs to 99 SAN MIGUEL LOS LOTES, Guatemala Rescuers scoured a lava- and ash-ravaged landscape in Guatemala for a third straight day on Wednesday in search of survivors and victims of Fuego volcanos calamitous eruption, which has killed at least 99 people. Volcan de Fuego, which means Volcano of Fire, exploded on Sunday in its most devastating eruption in more than four decades, showering ash on a wide area and sending rapid pyroclastic flows through nearby towns. The volcano shot thick plumes of ash miles into the sky that rained down on nearby towns and a thick smoldering layer of ash and volcanic rock blanketed the tiny hamlet of San Miguel Los Lotes, with only the roofs of some homes sticking out. The Central American countrys disaster and forensic agency Inacif on Wednesday afternoon raised the death toll to at least 99, up from 85. Guatemalas seismological, volcanic and meteorological institute Insivumeh heightened its warnings after the volcano erupted again on Tuesday, forcing evacuations and sending rescue workers scrambling for cover. But by Wednesday morning, rescuer workers were back at work with pickaxes, metal rods and flashlights in hand, risking their own lives in search of victims or a miracle survivor. Bulldozers stood by to help. We can only work in places where we can stand on the roofs of houses because the ash is very hot. There are places where you stick the pickaxe or rod in and we see a lot of smoke coming out and fire and its impossible to keep digging because we could die, said 25-year-old rescuer Diego Lorenzana. Elsewhere, rescuers plunged metal rods into the quickly hardening ash that sat atop what was previously a roadway in a desperate search for trapped vehicles, a video by local TV station Televisiete showed. The extent of the devastation was widespread. An elderly man, who was featured in a video shortly after the eruption that showed him in a state of shock, caked from head to toe in ash and mud, died from the severe burns he suffered. Guatemalas national disaster management agency, CONRED, said 1.7 million people have been affected by the volcanic eruption and over 12,000 have been evacuated. Volunteers were also distributing humanitarian aid, including clean drinking water, to victims. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said they have released more than 250,000 Swiss francs ($253,446) from its global emergency fund to support frontline emergency efforts. These funds will help Guatemala Red Cross support 3,000 of the most vulnerable survivors for three months, they added. In addition, the Mexican government said on Wednesday evening that it would send a team of medical specialists and, if necessary, transfer victims to hospitals in Mexico. The 12,346-feet (3,763-meter) Volcan de Fuego is one of several active volcanoes among 34 in the Central American country. It lies near the colonial city of Antigua, a UNESCO world heritage site that has survived several major eruptions. By Sofia Menchu Watch Next: How a Traditional Spiritual Practice Changed the Lives of These People Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Christian Baker WASHINGTONThe U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed a victory on narrow grounds to a Colorado Christian baker who refused for religious reasons to make a wedding cake for a gay couple, stopping short of setting a major precedent allowing people to claim exemptions from anti-discrimination laws based on religious beliefs. The justices, in a 7-2 decision, said the Colorado Civil Rights Commission showed an impermissible hostility toward religion when it found that baker Jack Phillips violated the states anti-discrimination law by rebuffing gay couple David Mullins and Charlie Craig in 2012. The state law bars businesses from refusing service based on race, sex, marital status or sexual orientation. The ruling concluded that the commission violated Phillips religious rights under the U.S. Constitutions First Amendment. But the justices did not issue a definitive ruling on the circumstances under which people can seek exemptions from anti-discrimination laws based on their religious views. The decision also did not address important claims raised in the case including whether baking a cake is a kind of expressive act protected by the Constitutions free speech guarantee. Two of the courts four liberals, Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan, joined the five conservative justices in the ruling authored by Justice Anthony Kennedy, who also was the author of the landmark 2015 decision legalizing gay marriage nationwide. The commissions hostility was inconsistent with the First Amendments guarantee that our laws be applied in a manner that is neutral toward religion, Kennedy wrote. But Kennedy also stressed the importance of gay rights while noting that litigation on similar issues is likely to continue in lower courts. Our society has come to the recognition that gay persons and gay couples cannot be treated as social outcasts or as inferior in dignity and worth, Kennedy wrote. The outcome of cases like this in other circumstances must await further elaboration in the courts, all in the context of recognizing that these disputes must be resolved with tolerance, without undue disrespect to sincere religious beliefs, and without subjecting gay persons to indignities when they seek goods and services in an open market, Kennedy added. The case marked a test for Kennedy, who has authored significant rulings that advanced gay rights but also is a strong advocate for free speech rights and religious freedom. Of the 50 states, 21 including Colorado have anti-discrimination laws protecting gay people. The case pitted gay rights against religious liberty. President Donald Trumps administration intervened in the case in support of Phillips. Mullins and Craig were planning their wedding in Massachusetts in 2012 and wanted the cake for a reception in Colorado, where gay marriage was not yet legal. During a brief encounter at Phillips Masterpiece Cakeshop in the Denver suburb of Lakewood, the baker politely but firmly refused, leaving the couple distraught. They filed a successful complaint with the state commission, the first step in the six-year-old legal battle. State courts sided with the couple, prompting Phillips to appeal to the top U.S. court. Phillips has said a backlash against his business has left him struggling to keep the shop afloat. The cases outcome hinged on the actions of the Colorado commission. In one exchange at a 2014 hearing cited by Kennedy, former commissioner Diann Rice said that freedom of religion, and religion, has been used to justify all kinds of discrimination throughout history, whether it be slavery, whether it be the Holocaust. Openly Antagonistic Kennedy noted that the commission had ruled the opposite way in three cases brought against bakers in which the business owners refused to bake cakes containing messages that demeaned gay people or same-sex marriage. Government hostility toward people of faith has no place in our society, yet the state of Colorado was openly antagonistic toward Jacks religious beliefs about marriage. The court was right to condemn that, said lawyer Kristen Waggoner of the conservative Christian group Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents Phillips. Waggoner said the decision makes clear that the government must respect Jacks beliefs about marriage. American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Louise Melling, who represents Mullins and Craig, said the high court made it clear that businesses open to the public must serve everyone. The court reversed the Masterpiece Cakeshop decision based on concerns unique to the case but reaffirmed its longstanding rule that states can prevent the harms of discrimination in the marketplace, including against LGBT people, Melling added. The case became a cultural flashpoint in the United States, underscoring the tensions between gay rights proponents and conservative Christians. Mullins and Craig said Phillips was using his Christian faith as pretext for unlawful discrimination based on sexual orientation. Phillips lawyers said his cakes are an art forma temporary sculptureand being forced to create one to commemorate a gay wedding would violate his constitutional rights to free speech and expression and free exercise of religion. The litigation, along with similar cases around the country, is part of a conservative Christian backlash to the Supreme Courts gay marriage ruling. Phillips and others like him who believe that gay marriage is not consistent with their Christian beliefs have said they should not be required to effectively endorse the practice. Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a statement that said in part: The Supreme Court rightly concluded that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission failed to show tolerance and respect for Mr. Phillips religious beliefs. In this case and others, the Department of Justice will continue to vigorously defend the free speech and religious freedom First Amendment rights of all Americans. Soldiers takes part in Han Kuang military drill simulating the China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) invading the island, at Ching Chuan Kang Air Base, in Taichung, Taiwan, on June 7, 2018. (Tyrone Siu/Reuters) Taiwan Holds Large-Scale Military Drills Amid China Tensions TAICHUNGTaiwan simulated repelling an invading force on June 7 and used civilian-operated drones for the first time as part of annual military drills on the self-ruled island, amid escalating tensions with the Chinese regime. The drills were presided over by Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen and watched by the visiting king of eSwatini, the African kingdom formerly known as Swaziland at the center of a diplomatic tug-of-war between Taiwan and China. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory under its one China policy. Recently, Beijing has amped up rhetoric of using military force to bring what it sees as a wayward province under its control. Chinas air force has conducted a series of military maneuvers near the island in recent months that Taipei has denounced as intimidation. Our armed forces combat effectiveness is the guarantee of our national security. It is the flourishing basis of society, and it is the backup force for our values of democracy and freedom, Tsai said at the Han Kuang drills in the central Taiwanese city of Taichung. So long as our armed forces are around, Taiwan will surely be around, she added. More than 4,000 personnel and over 1,500 pieces of equipment were deployed in the annual exercise, with drones flying overhead to provide battlefield surveillance and construction workers practicing repairs to an airbase runway. King Mswati III, Africas last absolute monarch and Taiwans only remaining African ally, was the first foreign leader to observe the Han Kuang drills since Tsai took office in 2016. China has called on eSwatini to sever relations with Taiwan before early September, when Beijing will host a summit of African leaders. Taiwan has accused China of using dollar diplomacy to lure away its allies, including promising generous aid packages. In the process of the drills taking place, our armed forces displayed their fighting capacity and our ally nation was able to observe, said Taiwan Defense Ministry spokesman Chen Chung-chi. This is one way we hope to deepen our dialogue on both sides, he added. Taiwan has said it has received assurances from eSwatini that ties are secure. Taiwan has recently lost two diplomatic allies, the West African state of Burkina Faso and the Dominican Republic, which has established relations with Beijing. Taipei has official ties with just 18 countries worldwide. To better bring security to the island, Chen said Taiwan was eager to take part in a U.S.-hosted naval drill. The Pentagon last month withdrew an invitation to China in response to what it sees as Beijings militarization of islands in the South China Sea. The Rim of the Pacific exercise, known as RIMPAC, is billed as the worlds largest international maritime exercise, held every two years in Hawaii in June and July. Tensions between Taiwan and the Chinese regime have increased in recent months, with China suspicious that Tsais administration wants to push for the islands formal independence. Tsai has said she wants to maintain the status quo, but will protect Taiwans security and not be bullied by Beijing. Taiwan is equipped with mostly U.S.-made weaponry and wants Washington to sell it more advanced equipment, including new fighter jets. By Jess Macy Yu. Epoch Times staff member Frank Fang contributed to this report. Northbound traffic is shown on the Golden Gate Bridge in Sausalito, California on May 1, 2018. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) The States With the Best and Worst Economies The United States has the biggest economy in the world, with $20.4 trillion of gross domestic product (GDP), but some states are greater contributors than others. In order to determine which states are pulling the most weight, the personal finance website WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on their economic health, performance, and innovation. The states were evaluated using 28 metrics, including GDP growth, startup activity, exports per capita, quality of the legal system, and employment data. According to the study, Washington tops the list as the best state, Utah ranks second, and Massachusetts rounds out the top three. The performance of the top three states is driven by factors like high GDP growth, an abundance of fast-growing firms, high exports per capita, and a large number of inventor patents, WalletHub said. What surprised us and stood out in this years report was the fact that California came in fourth despite the fact that it was the fifth-largest economy in the world, said Jill Gonzalez, an analyst at WalletHub. California has become the fifth-largest economy in the world, surpassing countries like the UK, France, and India. A thriving technology sector and Hollywood contributes the most to Californias growth. Despite its massive economy, however, California could not crack the top three because of its high underemployment rate (11.3 percent, ranked 48th) and low median annual household income ($45,236, ranked 47th), according to Gonzalez. Another big surprise in the rankings was the District of Columbia, which ranked sixth, surpassing big economies like Texas and New York. The key drivers of D.C.s performance are fast-growing firms, a 2.77-percent growth in number of businesses in the last year, high building permit activity, and about 10 percent of its workforce being STEM [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] professionals, for all of which D.C. ranked first, said Gonzalez. Nevada is the best place to start a business, the study notes. Startups tend to choose Nevada mostly because it offers a lower cost of living and tax breaks. For LLCs, there are no franchise taxes, and Nevada doesnt require business owners or shareholders to be residents of the state, said Gonzalez. The study reports that Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alaska are the lowest-performing states, due mainly to two factors: low economic growth and innovation. Even though Louisiana has the highest exports per capita, the state has a government deficit of $990.62 per capita, and few investments in research and development spending, said Gonzalez. And Alaska, a state with valuable natural resources, is struggling with the highest unemployment rate in the country, at 7.3 percent. The most effective ways for state and local governments to boost their local economies are cutting red tape and investing in the workforce, according to experts. Too much regulation can hurt economic growth negatively, said Sebastian Leguizamon, assistant professor at Western Kentucky University. The burden of regulation is usually borne by small entrepreneurs who have less resources to comply, he said. This prevents the creation of new small businesses, which at the local level can be key providers of jobs. State and local officials can help boost their economies by investing in their people, said Todd Gabe, professor of economics at the University of Maine. In order to invest in the workforce, Gabe thinks the states need to support education at all levels and help low-wage workers upgrade their skills. In recent months, states across the country have started seeing the benefits of rising business and investor confidence and are racing to attract more companies. States like Kentucky have been heavily investing in a skilled workforce to reap the benefits of rising business optimism. We have a great workforce. I have invested $250 million in workforce development in the last two years, said Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R). In order to encourage more investments, an additional $250 million will be provided over the next two years, he said. Offering tax breaks and other incentives to businesses may attract more companies and jobs, but the evidence is mixed as to the effectiveness of these breaks and incentives, experts say. Low costs help the regions grow, but business costs such as energy and labor costs tend to matter more to businesses than taxes, Gabe said. Royce Hall on the campus of the University of California in Los Angeles in this file photo. (Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) Trump Administration Defends New Visa Limit on Chinese Students Studying Sensitive Fields WASHINGTONAs part of the Trump administrations efforts to curb Beijings ability to steal U.S. technology, the visas of Chinese students who come to the United States to study in certain fields will be shortened to one year. Edward J. Ramotowski, the deputy assistant secretary for visa services in the Department of States Bureau of Consular Affairs, defended the new guidelines in testimony before the Senate judiciary committees Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security on June 6. We have issued additional screening instructions to deal with certain individuals from China studying in certain fields, Ramotowski said, in response to a question from Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). These are screening measures; they dont by themselves prohibit entry into the United States or restrict access to our country. The change will only affect those enrolling in sensitive fields, including robotics, aviation, and high-tech manufacturing. These are fields highlighted in the Chinese regimes Made in China 2025 economic plan and are also areas of military significance. Successful developments in these fields could help the Chinese regime gain a military advantage over the United States. The proposed reform affects the visa validity date, not the length of time a visa holder is allowed to stay in the United States. The validity date refers to the length of time during which someone may use the visa to enter the country. In the case of affected Chinese students, it will be one year. When someone enters the country on a visa, a U.S. immigration officer from the Department of Homeland Security determines how long that person may stay in the country. Chinese students whose visa validity date is one year may, for instance, still be allowed to stay in the country for the entire duration of their program or degree, which may be several years, as is typically the case with other international students. But if a student with a visa validity of one year travels outside the United States after the visa expires, they would have to reapply for a visa to reenter the United States. The shorter visa length could, therefore, result in more frequent security screening during the visa application process for Chinese students who travel back to China during their studies. The visa change has been vehemently opposed by Beijing, and several American universities and education organizations have also criticized the new policy, saying it would impose an unnecessary burden on their Chinese students. The reaction from American educational institutions may have been spurred by misreporting from some media outlets, which incorrectly stated that the new guidelines would limit the amount of time students can stay in the United States. The hearing held by the Senate subcommittee on June 6 was originally titled A Thousand Talents: Chinas Campaign to Infiltrate and Exploit U.S. Academia, and later renamed to Student Visa Integrity. In an opening statement, committee chair Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) cited FBI Director Christopher Wrays previous remarks about the security risks posed by Chinas use of students and scholars to obtain critical technologies. While most Chinese students are here for legitimate reasons, Beijings Made in China 2025 strategy and its thousand talent program are evidence that there could be national security risks, Cornyn said. There are many foreign academics and researchers currently attending U.S. institutions from nations that are strategic competitors, including Iran, Russia and the Peoples Republic of China, Joseph G. Morosco, an assistant director at the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, said in his testimony. We are particularly concerned about China because it is among the United States most formidable economic competitors At the June 6 hearing, Ramotowski also highlighted another potential security loophole in the current visa law, one that allows foreign students who are in the United States on an F-1 visathe most commonly issued type of student visato change their fields of study and program without even notifying the U.S. immigration authority. That loophole could allow Chinese students to transfer from non-sensitive fields of study, such as literature, to fields that are tightly regulated, such as nuclear physics, Cornyn said. Baku considers such statements by the Armenian leadership as a non-constructive step aimed at undermining the negotiation process on the conflict settlement and maintaining the occupation status quo, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry's spokesman Hikmet Hajiyev, commented on Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's statement that the negotiations on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict cannot be effective without participation of the separatist regime The Azerbaijani diplomat stressed that presence of the Armenian armed forces in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and continuation of the occupation define direct international legal responsibility of Armenia as a party to the conflict. "If the Armenian leadership is concerned that 'the agreements reached remain on paper', they should comply with requirements of the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, which demand the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of the occupying troops from the Azerbaijani territories," Trend cited him as saying. Hikmet Hajiyev recalled the new Armenian leadership that the civil status of the Armenian community of Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region has not changed. "Along with the Azerbaijani community of Nagorno-Karabakh, they continue to be the citizens of Azerbaijan," he pointed out. Recent processes once again "demonstrate that the Armenian community of Azerbaijans Nagorno-Karabakh region is under the captivity of an organized criminal group and mafia structure," the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry's spokesman said. He recalled that Azerbaijan has more than once openly and unequivocally expressed its position on the negotiation process. "Azerbaijan is ready to continue talks on the basis of the existing format and agenda with the aim of finding an early solution to the conflict and ensuring sustainable peace and security in the region," Hajiyev stressed. "The aim of the talks is to ensure the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the occupied Azerbaijani territories and the return to their native lands of Azerbaijani IDPs subjected to ethnic cleansing," he noted. The Armenian side must understand that holding negotiations with occupant Armenia for over 25 years is Azerbaijan's biggest compromise, Hajiyev concluded. U.N. flags fly in front of the Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City on June 5. (ALICE CHICHE/AFP/Getty Images) Trump to Defend His Trade Reform at G7 Summit in Canada QUEBEC CITYLeaders of the worlds major industrialized democracies are meeting at the June 89 Group of Seven (G7) summit in Charlevoix, Quebec, Canada, where key topics will include economic growth, trade, and shared security issues, according to Larry Kudlow, top White House economic adviser. The leaders are meeting at a time of heightened tensions over trade between the United States and other G7 members. A week before the summit, President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imported from Canada, Mexico, and the European Union. The latest move by the United States has drawn criticism and threats of retaliation from its allies. Trump, however, is not expected to back off from his tough stance on trade. President Trump is very clear with respect to his trade reform efforts that we will do what is necessary to protect the United States, its businesses, and its workforce, Kudlow said during a press briefing at the White House on June 6. Tariffs are a tool in that effort. He defended Trump and called him the strongest trade reformer of the past 20 years. The United States now has the fastest growing economy in the world, according to the OECD, or at least the fastest growing economy among the industrialized nations, Kudlow said. Kudlow argued that the administrations policies are opening up avenues of growth for American businesses and workers, and this, in turn, opens up world growth. The G7 consists of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K. and the United States. These countries are the top seven advanced economies in the world, representing more than 60 percent of global net wealth. Host country Canada is the largest supplier of metals to the United States, followed by the EU, Japan, and South Korea. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the tariffs unacceptable and said that, effective July 1, Canada would impose dollar-for-dollar tariffs for every dollar levied against Canadians by the U.S. During the summit, Trump is expected to have bilateral talks with Trudeau. I have no doubt that the United States and Canada will remain firm friends and allies, whatever short-term disagreements may occur, Kudlow said, adding that both countries will work through a lot of issues, including tariffs and NAFTA. On June 1, the United States slapped 25-percent tariffs on steel imports and 10-percent tariffs on imported aluminum, which also affects the European Union, the worlds largest trading bloc. The EU on June 6 announced that, beginning in July, it would start imposing duties on a list of American goods in response. The bloc has also taken its case to the World Trade Organization (WTO). Were talking everything through, Kudlow said. There may be disagreements. I regard this as much like a family quarrel. He called the world trading system a mess. Especially in the last 20 years, there has been a lack of discipline. Tariff and non-tariff barriers have gone up. There has been a lot of protectionism, Kudlow said. The United States tariff rates were low when it first joined the WTO in 1995, while its trading partners entered the organization with high tariffs. Today, U.S. tariffs remain among the lowest in the world, the product of bipartisan policies that have advocated for progressively freer trade since World War II. According to Trump administration officials, the United States is stuck because the low tariff rates and the WTO-imposed bound rate prevent it from matching other countries high tariffs. Until we can have reciprocal relationships, we will not have free trade, we will not have fair trade, said Kudlow. During the summit, Trump is expected to have a bilateral meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron as well. On the eve of the North Korean summit in Singapore between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, another important topic that will be discussed among allies is the shared security issues, said Kudlow. Trump received praise from G7 leaders Trudeau, Macron, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for his global peacemaking efforts to rid North Korea of nuclear weapons. The leaders offered support for Trump in his historic meeting with Kim. Protesters have become a regular feature at world-leader summits. During the June 89 meeting, some protests are expected to take place in Quebec City. To avoid a disturbance, a security force of some 10,000 police and military personnel will be deployed to keep the crowds far from the summit at Manoir Richelieu, a luxury resort in Quebecs forested Charlevoix region. Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on April 18, 2018. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images) Trumps Budgeting Director Slims Controversial Consumer Watchdog Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget, has disbanded three advisory boards at the scandal-ridden Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), where Mulvaney also serves as interim director. His decision was communicated to members of the boards via an email and conference call on June 6, the members said. The CFPB told members it was disbanding the Consumer Advisory Board, which is required by law to meet twice a year, as well as the Community Bank Advisory Council and the Credit Union Advisory Council, in order to save costs. The CFPB plans to reconvene the boards with fewer members in the fall, and instead increase outreach to the public via events in Washington and elsewhere, former board members said. CFPB was set up by the Dodd-Frank Act in 2010, after the financial crisis, as the most independent and also the most unaccountable federal agency. Its director was practically impossible to remove and Congress couldnt even defund it, because it was financed by Federal Reserve profits. The bureau was supposed to protect customers of the financial industry, but it was hit with one scandal after another, until a federal court trimmed its power in 2016 by allowing the president to appoint and fire its director. [T]he Director of the CFPB possesses enormous power over American business, American consumers, and the overall U.S. economy, explained the three-judge panel in its ruling. The Director unilaterally enforces 19 federal consumer protection statutes, covering everything from home finance to student loans to credit cards to banking practices. The Director alone decides what rules to issue; how to enforce, when to enforce, and against whom to enforce the law; and what sanctions and penalties to impose on violators of the law. Since its beginning, the CFPB has been accused of extreme partisanship. According to former CFPB enforcement attorney Ronald Rubin, since its inception, the bureau has been managed with the intent to only hire left-leaning staff and quickly developed an informal scheme to vet new applicants for ideological purity. All of the more than 300 donations its employees made toward 2016 presidential campaigns went to Democrats, The Washington Free Beacon reported. Instead of going after the worst offenders within the financial industry, the bureau instead focused on the ones who could afford to pay the highest fines that looked good in press releases. Targets were almost certain to write a check, especially if they were accused of subjective unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices, Rubin wrote in a National Review op-ed. Even the size of the checks didnt depend on actual wrongdoingduring investigations, Enforcement demanded targets financial statements to calculate the maximum fines they could afford to pay. While the bureau used controversial statistical arguments to accuse companies of discrimination in lending practices, its own former senior equal employment specialist, Florine Williams, criticized the culture of discrimination and intimidation at the bureau in her congressional testimony. Meanwhile, the bureau spent $124 million to renovate its headquarters across the street from the White Housecosting more per square foot than the construction of Trump World Tower, The Daily Caller reported. In his former role as a congressman, Mulvaney called the structure of the bureau, before it was amended by the court, a joke in a sad, sick way. Since Trump appointed him in November, Mulvaney has vowed to completely overhaul the bureau. Reuters contributed to this report. Watch Next: Joshua Holt Tearfully Reunited With Family in US After Being Freed by Venezuela This is the tearful moment American citizen Joshua Holt was reunited with his family after landing in the United States, just hours after he was unexpectedly released by Venezuelas socialist government. The entrance of the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou City, China on June 7, 2018. (Sue-Lin Wong/Reuters) US Says More Diplomats in China Hit by Mystery Illness WASHINGTON/GUANGZHOUThe U.S. State Department has brought a group of diplomats home from Guangzhou City in southern China, over concerns they were suffering from a mysterious malady that resembles a brain injury and has already affected U.S. personnel in Cuba, a spokeswoman said. After confirming one government employee had suffered a medical incident in Guangzhou, the department deployed a team to screen employees and family members at its consulate there, spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement on June 6. As a result of the screening process so far, the department has sent a number of individuals for further evaluation and a comprehensive assessment of their symptoms and findings in the United States, Nauert said. Medical professionals will continue to conduct full evaluations to determine the cause of the reported symptoms and whether the findings are consistent with those noted in previously affected government personnel or possibly completely unrelated, she said. The New York Times reported that the State Department had evacuated at least two Americans who fell ill after hearing strange noises in China. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Thursday that as far as she was aware, the government had not had any formal communication with U.S. officials on any new cases, and that it had investigated an initial incident. Four American members of staff at the U.S. consulate in Guangzhou referred Reuters to the Beijing embassy press office when asked about the situation. A U.S. government official there said that there had been only one confirmed case in China, announced last month, and the State Department was offering screening to anyone in the U.S. embassy or consulates in China who requested it. In addition to the Beijing embassy and Guangzhou consulate, the United States operates consulates in the mainland Chinese cities of Chengdu, Shanghai, Shenyang, and Wuhan. Last year, 24 U.S. government employees and family members in Cuba displayed similar symptoms, which resembled those related to concussion and mild traumatic brain injury, according to the State Department. The illnesses among the American diplomats stationed in Havana heightened tensions between the old Cold War foes. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo released a statement on June 5 saying the department established a task force last month to direct a multi-agency response to the unexplained health incidents. The precise nature of the injuries suffered by the affected personnel, and whether a common cause exists for all cases, has not yet been established, Pompeo said. By Lisa Lambert and Sue-Lin Wong Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross enters the East Room of the White House on April 3, 2018. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times) US Fines Chinas ZTE $1 Billion, Imposes Strict Compliance Measures Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE agreed to pay a $1 billion fine and submitted to the strictest compliance measures ever issued by the Commerce Department on June 7 in order to regain access to U.S. technology crucial to its business. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced that ZTE will pay a $1 billion penalty up front and deposit $400 million in an escrow account. The Chinese cellphone maker also agreed to replace its entire board of directors and senior management in 30 days and to have a compliance team assembled by the U.S. Commerce Department embedded in its operations. Under the 23-page deal signed at 6 a.m. on June 7, ZTE will pay the salaries of the compliance team, which will report to the departments Bureau of Industry and Security and ZTEs new chairman for 10 years. An outside compliance team is already working with ZTE as part of the precious trade enforcement deal. Today, BIS is imposing the largest penalty it has ever levied and requiring that ZTE adopt unprecedented compliance measures, Ross said in a statement. We will closely monitor ZTEs behavior. If they commit any further violations, we would again be able to deny them access to U.S. technology as well as collect the additional $400 million in escrow. ZTE had previously violated U.S. sanctions on North Korea and Iran. That violation was settled in March last year, with the company agreeing to pay an $892 million fine and place $300 million in escrow. American authorities later learned that ZTE had lied before, during, and after the March 2017 deal. The company allegedly paid bonuses to employees who violated the sanctions, while telling American counterparts that those employees had been disciplined. In response, American export watchdogs blocked ZTE from buying crucial components and software it needs for manufacturing cellphones and telecommunications equipment from American tech companies like Qualcomm, Google, and Corning. The technology blockade brought the $17 billion company to its knees and prompted a personal plea to President Donald Trump from Chinese President Xi Jinping. Trump obliged and ordered the Commerce Department to work on a deal. As with other policies, Trumps move to help Xi was met with criticism from Democrats. Trump countered by pointing out that the Obama administration let ZTE flourish with no security checks. Senator Schumer and Obama Administration let phone company ZTE flourish with no security checks. I closed it down then let it reopen with high level security guarantees, change of management and board, must purchase U.S. parts and pay a $1.3 Billion fine. Dems do nothing. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 25, 2018 I closed it down then let it reopen with high-level security guarantees, change of management and board, must purchase U.S. parts and pay a $1.3 Billion fine, Trump wrote on Twitter on May 25. Dems do nothing. The president also explained that his show of good faith was motivated by a desire to cultivate a good relationship with Xi. Trump pointed to the ongoing trade negotiations between the two countries, suggesting that the ZTE decision is a bargaining chip in the ongoing high-level trade talks. The combined penalties paid by ZTE now add up to $2.29 billion, with an additional $400 million in escrow that the United States can withdraw in case the Chinese company runs afoul of the deal. ZTE originally violated U.S. sanctions against Iran by conspiring to supply, build, and operate telecommunications networks in Iran using U.S.-origin equipment in violation of the U.S. trade embargo, according to a statement from the Commerce Department. The company also violated hundreds of U.S. sanctions by shipping telecommunications equipment to North Korea. The deal with ZTE comes as Trump is pushing to rebalance trade with China. Ross was in Beijing over the weekend for high-level talks. The United States levied tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods in March. The exact list of items has not yet been finalized. Trump wants to use the trade negotiations to recoup massive losses to the American economy from decades of intellectual property theft and forced technology transfers by Chinas communist regime. Ross has noted that the United States is finally pushing back. Prior administrations had been real patsies for the Chinese and other countries, Ross told CNBC. Theyve never really pushed back. The deal also comes less than a week before Trumps Singapore summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Beijing is crucial for maintaining strict international sanctions against North Korea as Trump seeks to force Pyongyangs reclusive communist regime to abandon nuclear weapons. Most of the goods enter North Korea via its border with China. Trump has thanked Xi for maintaining strict control of the boundary. ZTE was the first Chinese telecommunications company to go public. It was the fourth-largest smartphone maker for years until its recent tumble in the ranks due to aggressive competition. About 60 percent of the components in the company Axon M smartphone come from American manufacturers including Qualcomm, SanDisk, and Skyworks Solutions, according to ABI Research. A total of 1.46 billion smartphones were shipped globally in 2017, with ZTE shipping 42.8 million. The deal is unlikely to result in a quick rebound for ZTE. The ban on parts froze its ongoing telecommunications projects around the world, with customers demanding compensation. The ban on software also cut off millions of ZTE users from updating their Google Android operating systems. Watch Next: Trump Greets Americans Freed From North Korea The base for the KuangChi Institute of Advanced Technology in Shenzhen City, in Guangzhou Province of China on Dec. 22, 2014. KuangChi founder Liu Ruopeng stole key metamaterials technology from the U.S. lab where he studied and conducted research, according to U.S. authorities. (VCG/VCG via Getty Images) White House Limits on Chinese Visas Highlights Academic Espionage Problem In late May, the White House announced plans to shorten the lengths of visas issued to some Chinese citizens, as a way to prevent the Chinese regime from getting its hands on intellectual property developed in the United States. In recent years, U.S. federal authorities have prosecuted several Chinese nationals working in American academia who stole proprietary technology on behalf of entities in China. Beginning June 11, the U.S. State Department will begin implementing these limits, including restricting Chinese citizens studying in certain fieldssuch as robotics, aviation, and high-tech manufacturingto one-year visas. Those are fields the Chinese regime has said are high-priority goals for its manufacturing sector, outlined in its economic 10-year plan, Made in China 2025. This industrial policy was also the target of the recent Office of the U.S. Trade Representatives (USTR) investigation into Chinas intellectual property theft practices, commissioned by President Donald Trump. It found that China strategically directs private and state-owned firms to acquire foreign tech companies in order to obtain their technological innovations; eventually, China wants to dominate global tech supply chains and displace foreign competitors. To this end, some Chinese nationals working at U.S. universities have stolen technology beneficial to the Chinese regime. The Invisibility Cloak Case The most prominent case is perhaps at Duke University, described in detail in the book, Spy Schools: How the CIA, FBI, and Foreign Intelligence Secretly Exploit Americas Universities by journalist Daniel Golden. In 2006, Liu Ruopeng came to the United States to study for a PhD at Duke University, working in the lab of professor David Smith, an expert in metamaterials, or substances that exhibit properties not found in nature. Smiths lab had created a prototype of an invisibility cloak that could conceal objects from microwaves, giving it potential applications for mobile phones and antennas, according to The Duke Chronicle, the universitys news publication. In fact, Smiths research was funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. Liu was able to take that technology back to China and establish a research institute and Hong Kong-listed company focused on metamaterials, called KuangChi Science. The firm is currently valued at about $2 billion. Chinese media refers to Liu as the Elon Musk of China, while his company was personally visited by Chinese leader Xi Jinping and other top officials. In August 2017, the company invested 4 billion yuan ($600 million) to buy a 1.88 percent stake in a state-owned telecoms operator, China United Network Communications. At first, Liu suggested that Smiths lab collaborate with one in China, at Southeast University in Nanjing City. The seemingly innocent recommendation eventually led to the Chinese university lab team visiting Duke, taking photos of Smiths lab, reproducing the equipment, and recreating the lab in China. Liu also passed on data and research ideas developed by his Duke colleagues, and stored information about his experiments on a website hosted by a Chinese server, according to Goldens book. His activities compromised the United States edge in an emerging technology that could someday conceal a fighter jet, tank, or drone, affecting the outcome of a war or covert operation. Once Liu returned to China, a grateful government invested millions in his start-up ventures, Golden wrote. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigated Lius activities but ultimately did not charge him with a crime. Golden also discovered that Liu convinced Smith to join the Chinese regimes Project 111, an initiative to recruit scientists from outside China to work at Chinas university campuses. Meanwhile, the Chinese university lab was funded by Project 111 and a Chinese national science foundation. Smith grew increasingly wary of his student. In April 2009, Smith confiscated Lius key to the lab. Nonetheless, Liu received his doctorate. Golden believes the case is beyond a simple case of economic espionage. There are connections between him and a foreign government that should raise scrutiny, he told the Duke Chronicle. Other cases involve academics who later became employed in the United States and stole technology to take to China, including a 2015 case involving six Chinese nationals who worked at U.S. companies Avago Technologies and Skyworks Solutions. They conspired to set up a joint venture in China to produce and sell equipment using pilfered wireless technology, according to an indictment. Woman Goes Outside Home to See SUV Ramming into Car Again and Again A driver rammed his car into another car, again and again. He later jumped on top of the vehicle and kicked, stomped and jumped heavily on the vehicle in Sacramento, California. Nikki Guinn captured the incident outside of her home. I was inside my house and I heard a car accident, Guinn told KTXL. She heard a loud crashing sound, which prompted her to run outside. She realized it was not an accident. It was 12 minutes of video of what appeared to be anger unleashed. A white SUV repeatedly slammed into a blue car, and when the white SUV couldnt move anymore, a man emerges, only to jump on the blue car and stomp and kick it. I was actually really scared, Guinn said. It felt unreal to watch it. My thought was I witnessed someones mental breakdown essentially, she said. An ambulance showed up and then a Sacramento Police patrol car moved in, after a moment of distance. Sacramento Police Sgt. Vance Chandler said it began as a road rage incident on Capital City Freeway. A caller called us advising that there was another driver behind them and they had been rammed by that driver, Chandler said. The driver rammed a moving car first, and later focused on the blue car, according to police. But at one point the driver falls off the car he was jumping on. This was when police officers proceeded to detain him. I think our officers acted heroically in this, they were very patient, said Chandler. Police thought that perhaps the man was under the influence of narcotics. The man has been taken to hospital for evaluation. He will be sent to jail on felony assault and vandalism charges once he is released from the hospital. Guinn is baffled why the man did what he did. What was he going through? Why would he do that? We dont know. Watch Next: Cookie-Crazed Squirrel Attacks New York Policeman As the U.S. economy hits peak employment, studies suggest that the expansion could be affecting the gig economy particularly businesses that rely on moonlighters and freelancers who may have their heads turned by job offers for permanent work. On Thursday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 5.9 million people nationally held contingent jobs as of May 2017, amounting to 3.8 percent of U.S. workers, down from 4.1 percent of the workforce in 2005. BLS defines contingent jobs as those that individuals do not expect to last, such as freelancers. Contingent workers make only about 77 cents on every dollar earned by their peers with permanent jobs of equivalence, BLS found, with only a quarter of them having employer-sponsored insurance. BLS determined that more than half of those workers would take a permanent job if a suitable opportunity came before them. Nationally, the economy is offering historic opportunities for the first time ever in May, U.S. job openings outnumbered people classified as looking for work two months running. BLS analyzed the gamut of people earning income from a range of alternative employment arrangements, from independent contractors such as the drivers employed by the Greenwich-based trucking giant XPO Logistics, at 10.9 percent of the U.S. workforce; to on-call workers including well-known ride-sharing models like Uber or upstarts like Phlatbed in Norwalk, which is developing an app for people to hire truck owners with a few taps on a mobile app to help them move large items. Job security, portable benefits Still, in 2016 the Connecticut Department of Labor projected a 7.1 percent growth rate through 2024 for self-employed jobs including gig economy workers, making it the eighth-fastest growing segment in the state. Worker rights like job security and pay fairness have long been an issue for freelance workers and independent contractors, and more recently those signing up for online app opportunities like Uber. And states and the federal government have been keeping track of an increased reliance on independent contractors by many companies, and whether those arrangements represent an attempt to sidestep tax or labor laws. On the same day of the BLS report, the Independent Drivers Guild demonstrated at City Hall in New York City on behalf of some 60,000 app-based drivers, calling for a minimum pay rate and protesting a city councilmans proposals to enact new limitations on ride-share drivers, to include a $2,000 fee. IDG says of some 16,000 drivers it has surveyed, about three in four indicated their financial well-being has declined. Last November, a New Jersey state assemblyman named Troy Singleton was one of a half-dozen winners nationally in a New Ideas Challenge sponsored by The NewDeal for his idea to create supports for gig economy workers. Singleton proposed creating a system of portable benefits that would mimic those available at traditional jobs, providing a long-term safety net that he says would save taxpayers money in the long term by allowing workers to sock away money for retirement and health care. Gig economy employers are paying attention, and in some cases adjusting. In April, new Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi highlighted his companys efforts to mend fences with drivers as part of its 180 Days of Change to rehabilitate its image. Uber started with a redesign of the app itself, with Khosrowshahi noting Ubers extensive reliance on driver feedback during that process. Drivers are the heart of our service, Khosrowshahi stated in April. Along the way, we lost sight of that. Squeeze in a two-hour job The new online services argue that many of the people making money on their platforms intend simply to pick up some supplementary cash, rather than intending it to be their primary source of income. In the case of Phlatbed, drivers bid directly for the jobs they want, with founder Alani Kuye saying drivers keep 75 percent of the gross revenue generated in a job. Phlatbed has signed up more than 4,000 drivers in the few months it has been operating, to include college students picking up some extra money, with early use suggesting many drivers taking between two and four jobs a week. For Kuye, pinning down the right formula to attract drivers has been an evolution as an example, he cited Phlatbed quickly changing a small fee it charges to cover background checks, spreading the fee out over the first several jobs. Our drivers and most gig economy workers are great at time management, Kuye told Hearst Connecticut Media. There are drivers with day jobs who can squeeze in a two-hour job after clocking out of their regular day jobs a few days a week, and during the weekend. They are very independent. Simply put, gig economy workers understand the value of time because its a core component of the service being delivered. Alex.Soule@scni.com; 203-842-2545; @casoulman Koji Sasahara / Associated Press The CEO of Fujifilm Holdings signaled Thursday the possible abandonment of the conglomerates lawsuit against Xerox, weeks after billionaire Carl Icahn took control of the Norwalk-based company. After Fujifilm sued Xerox in New York state court last month in an attempt to compel a previous merger agreement, CEO Shigetaka Komori told reporters Thursday it cant be helped if no resolution is apparent after about six months, according to Reuters. A complaint about 11th-hour vote changing at the Democratic convention for the 5th District that gave a former elected leader the endorsement over a star teacher will be heard Thursday at party headquarters in Hartford. The complaint stems from the dramatic finish at the Democrats May 15 convention, which saw former eight-term Simsbury First Selectman Mary Glassman edge Waterburys Jahana Hayes, who is making her first run for office. Glassman and Hayes are running in the Aug. 14 Democratic primary to replace three-term Democrat Rep. Elizabeth Esty, who was forced to drop her re-election plans after news broke that she covered up an office abuse scandal. The convention finish was dramatic because at the time of the vote-switching, Hayes had taken the lead over Glassman after two rounds of voting, 171 to 169. The tension in the auditorium of Waterburys Crosby High School was palpable. Hayes, the 2016 National Teacher of the Year, had the backing of Waterburys 43 delegates as well as several hundred spectators. The voting was held open as is often the case at conventions to allow delegates to switch their votes. Three delegates changed their votes, giving Glassman the edge and the Democratic endorsement. Hayes, who was disappointed by the way the convention finished, decided to challenge Glassman in the primary after speaking with U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who encouraged Hayes to run in the first place. Others also objected to the vote switching. Scot X Esdaile, president of the Connecticut NAACP, said he wanted a probe of the nominating process. Waterbury Mayor Neil OLeary and another Democratic delegate from Waterbury lodged complaints with the Democratic Party. Specific details about the complaints were not immediately available. In response, the party will assemble a panel of Democratic State Central Committee members on Thursday to resolve the dispute. Each involved party will have a chance to present their side, said Christina Polizzi, a party spokeswoman. And then the panel will have five days to make their decision. Promoting diversity within the Democratic Party has been in the news. In April, a group of New Haven ministers called for party chairman Nick Balletto to resign, charging that state Democrats were ignoring people of color. At the Democratic convention last month, Latina union organizer Eva Bermudez Zimmerman, who announced a bid for lieutenant governor, received support from Democrats dissatisfied with having two white people heading the partys gubernatorial ticket Ned Lamont and endorsed lieutenant governor candidate Susan Bysiewicz. The 5th District is Connecticuts most competitive Congressional seat. Republicans will nominate their choice at the GOPs primary in mid-August. Candidates include front-runners Manny Santos, who was endorsed at the Republican convention in May, Southburys Ruby ONeill and Watertown businessman Richard Dupont. rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342 China could send fighter jets to escort Kim Jong-un when North Koreas Air Force One travels through its airspace for a meeting in Singapore with US President Donald Trump, a South Korean military source said, as Beijing tries to boost its influence over the regime ahead of the summit, South China Morning Post reports. Escorting [a head of a state] with jets is one of the highest security protocols that the air force can provide, a source with the South Korean Air Force told the South China Morning Post. If China does provide the escort, it may be a message directed at the US-ROK alliance that China is strongly backing up the Kim regime, the source said, referring to South Koreas official name, the Republic of Korea. Recent track improvements have allowed an Amtrak train to reach a top speed of 110 mph on the Hartford Line corridor. The state Department of Transportation says the speed test runs were part of the final preparations for the launch of the Hartford Line between New Haven and Springfield, Mass. The service, which begins on June 16, is the first new rail service in Connecticut in two decades. Both Amtrak and CTrail trains will serve the Hartford Line. Amtrak trains operating on the Hartford Line will be able to reach speeds of up to 110 mph on portions of track located in Berlin, Newington, New Britain, and West Hartford, and speeds up to 100 mph between Meriden and Berlin. Upon launch, CTrail trains serving the Hartford Line will travel at speeds of up to 80 mph. Metro-North trains on the New Haven do not go as fast. While there are some stretches today where a top speed of 80 mph is permitted, many more curves, bridges and switches are speed-restricted. The worlds fastest trains include the SCMaglev train in Japan that has a top speed of 375 mph and the TGV train in France up to 357 mph. Americas fastest train is the Acela Express that is capable of reaching a top speed of 150 mph. However, most of the tracks between Washington, D.C. and Boston can only accommodate speeds under 100 mph. Since 2013, the state of California has been working on building a high-speed rail line that will reach speeds of 220 mph. Once service begins in 2033, a rail trip between San Francisco and Los Angeles will take two hours and 40 minutes. The estimated cost of building the line is $77 billion. DOT says future phases of the new line will include the installation of a second mainline track between sections of the route between Hartford and Springfield, as well as the purchase of new CTrail rolling stocktrains capable of reaching speeds of up to 110 mph. On Saturday, June 16 and Sunday, June 17 (Fathers Day) will feature free train travel along the Hartford Line. To view the full Hartford Line schedule, fares, and information regarding connecting transit services, please visit the Hartford Line website at http://www.hartfordline.com/ . NORWALK Police are investigating an incident in which a car was stolen with force at Walmart on Wednesday night and was recovered in Darien a short time later. Police were dispatched to the parking lot of the store at 680 Connecticut around 10:15 p.m. on a report of the theft of a Honda Odyssey. The owner told police that they had been approached by multiple suspects and struck in the head before the car was stolen. serdjophoto | Getty Images More American voters support marijuana legalization than ever before, according to a new poll released by Quinnipiac University. When asked if "the use of marijuana should be made legal in the U.S.," American voters said 63 - 33 percent that it should. This is the highest level of support for legalized marijuana ever recorded in a Quinnipiac national poll. "From a stigmatized, dangerous drug bought in the shadows, to an accepted treatment for various ills, to a widely accepted recreational outlet, marijuana has made it to the mainstream," said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll. Kira Muratova, one of the Russian-speaking world's most influential filmmakers, passes away. She was 83. Muratova died in Odessa, Ukraine, where she had lived and worked for many years, her husband, Yevgeny Golubenko, told the Ukrainian news portal Buro. A director and screenwriter, Muratova earned plaudits at home and abroad for her work, which included critically acclaimed features such as The Asthenic Syndrome, a dark satire of Soviet society revolving around a student with acute melancholia. It received a special jury prize at the 1990 Berlin Film Festival. Writing on his Facebook page, producer Yura Minzianoff recalled screenings at Moscow's famous VGIK film school of one of her early films, Dolgie Provody (Long Wires). It was made in 1971 but not honored at Russia's domestic Oscars, the NIKA Awards, until 1988. "With Kira's passing an entire epoch ends. I remember how her students cried over Long Wires," he wrote. Born in a part of Soviet Bessarabia that is now Moldavia, Muratova graduated from VGIK in 1959 and went on to work with some of the Soviet Union's most noteworthy actors and entertainers, including Vladimir Vysotsky, theater director Oleg Tabakov and actress, director and screenwriter Renata Litvinova. Her last film, Eternal Homecoming screened at the Rome Film Festival in 2012. Muratova's international honors included the American Cinema Foundation's Freedom Award in 2000, an honorary Golden Leopard from the Locarno festival in 1994 and Golden Lilies from Germany's goEast Festival in 2001 for Second Class Citizens and in 2005 for The Tuner, The Hollywood Reporter writes. MARYVILLE As parents scramble to enroll their children in summer camps, pet owners now have a place to send their animals. Kennelwood Pet Resorts will be opening up its newest full-service pet resort in Maryville at the end of the month. It provides boarding accommodations for dogs and cats, spa services, indoor and outdoor play areas as well as grooming services and photography. The new business will also offer professional training. Customers can choose day training or a "Board 'n Train" option. Kennelwood Marketing Director Meghan Dyonzak said the facility will provide boarding accommodations for dogs and cats, spa and grooming services and has indoor and outdoor play areas. "We also offer day camp for people who want to drop off their pets while they are at work," Dyonzak said. "It is very similar to people dropping off their two-legged loved ones at day care. Drop your pet off in the morning before work and pick it up after work." Dyonzak said Maryville is the perfect location for the new 12,000 square foot facility at 4967 Route159. "Maryville is an amazing community and has been so welcoming and helpful," she said. "Our only other Illinois location is in O'Fallon and we were looking to expand. Maryville is the perfect place." There will be an official ribbon cutting on June 29 and the facility's grand opening will be held late in July. The facility will employ approximately 50 people and Dyonzak said it will be staffed 24-hours a day. "We run three shifts so there is always staff there," she said. Once opened, Dyonzak said people are welcome to stop by and tour the facility. "We can't wait to meet people and their pets," she said. In addition to boarding and grooming, Kennelwood is a dealer of Invisible Fence brand pet containment systems. The first Kennelwood Pet Resort was opened in St. Louis in 1974. Today there are a total of eight locations in the Metro St. Louis area. American Consumer News, LLC dba MarketBeat 2010-2021. All rights reserved. 326 E 8th St #105, Sioux Falls, SD 57103 | U.S. Based Support Team at [email protected] | (844) 978-6257 MarketBeat does not provide personalized financial advice and does not issue recommendations or offers to buy stock or sell any security. Our Accessibility Statement | Terms of Service | Do Not Sell My Information 2021 Market data provided is at least 10-minutes delayed and hosted by Barchart Solutions. Information is provided 'as-is' and solely for informational purposes, not for trading purposes or advice, and is delayed. To see all exchange delays and terms of use please see disclaimer. Fundamental company data provided by Zacks Investment Research. 11 hours ago Deere & Co. workers go on strike after rejecting contract MOLINE, Ill. (AP) More than 10,000 Deere & Co. workers went on strike Thursday, the first major walkout at the agricultural machinery giant in more than three decades. The union had said its members would walk off the job if no deal has been reached Wednesday. Read Article There should be concrete improvements in the area of rule of law, for the development of EU-Ankara bilateral relations, the spokesperson for EU Foreign Affairs and Security Policy said in a statement. "Concrete and lasting improvements in the area of rule of law, independent judiciary and fundamental freedoms remain essential for the development of EU Turkey bilateral relations," the statement says. The EU External Action service also noted that the authorities in Turkey need to ensure the right to fair trail, a legal process, on the basis of the principle of presumption of innocence and in line with the European Convention of Human Rights and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights. In particular, they mentioned the head of Amnesty International in Turkey, Taner Kl, who was detained a year ago, as well as journalists, members of Parliament, judges, prosecutors, and academics remain in detention. Azerbaijan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture have issued joint statement on the election of the republic the member of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. As is reported, the 7th General Assembly of the States Parties to the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage has been held at the UNESCO headquarters located in Paris, France, on June 4-6. "In the framework of the session, the elections were held at the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. The second place was taken by 7 states, including Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Poland, Slovakia, Romania and Macedonia. As a result of the wide-spread propaganda campaign, Azerbaijan gained the largest number of votes among 90 candidates in the group and became a member of the Committee. Poland has been selected as the second with 52 votes.," the statement of the two ministers says. "We appreciate all the states that support the candidacy of Azerbaijan to the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee on the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage," the statement added. The reappointment of this confidence to our country is another confirmation of the authority gained by Azerbaijan on the international level and at UNESCO, "The adoption of such important decision for our country was supported by the First Vice President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the head of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Mehriban Aliyeva, as well as the joint activities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan as a result of our country's partnership with UNESCO high level of development," the ministries said. The minister said that during the period covered by 2018-2022s, as a member of the Committee, Azerbaijan will spare no efforts to the protection of the intangible heritage of the world and share its rich experience, cooperating in the spirit of cooperation with member states, and implementing the objectives of the Convention on the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and will continue to strive to support international efforts to promote international cultural heritage. Parliament budget sheds B5bn BANGKOK: The House of Representatives has decided to lower the cost of information and communication technology (ICT) systems for the new parliament back down to B3 billion. corruptionconstructiontechnologypoliticsland By Bangkok Post Thursday 7 June 2018, 09:01AM The new parliament buildings on the bank of the Chao Phraya, seen in this photo taken three months ago, are years behind schedule and billions of baht over budget. Photo: Wichan Charoenkiatpakul Sorasak Pienvej, secretary-general for the House, said the revised budget will likely be forwarded to the cabinet on June 19. The construction of the new parliament complex on Kiakkai Rd drew heavy criticism when the ICT costs ballooned to B8bn from the B3bn proposed in 2013. Critics include Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and National Legislative Assembly president Pornpetch Witchitcholchai, both of whom have expressed suspicion over the cost. The parliaments secretariat initially defended its budget request, citing the need for advanced technology for vote-counting and better security systems, among other requirements. About B15.3bn was set aside to build the complex in 2013 but the cabinet only approved B12bn. The secretariat then excluded B3.5bn in IT and public utility systems to cut the budget to just over B8bn. Mr Sorasak said yesterday (June 6) that the plan to procure microphones and televisions would be scaled down because some equipment at the existing parliament can be transferred over. The cost of public utility systems for the new complex stands at B587 million. Mr Sorasak said more funds will need to be sought from the government to speed up construction. A request for additional funding is likely to be submitted next year, he added. However, he noted that the voting system cannot be reinstalled as it will be damaged during the removal process. Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction Plc was hired in 2013 as the contractor for the B12bn project. The scheme was originally scheduled to be completed by 2015 but it has been plagued by a number of delays due to a range of issues. These include the late handover of the plot of land and difficulty finding timber, which pushed the deadline to 2019. Read original story here. Phuket fishing exclusion-zone maps get overhaul PHUKET: Maps showing coastal fishing-exclusion zones are being updated to accurately show areas where it is illegally to fish commercially to prevent trawlers from Phukets fishing fleet from plying waters in protected areas. marineanimalsenvironment By The Phuket News Thursday 7 June 2018, 12:04PM Phukets fishing fleet are to get updated maps clearly showing protected areas where commercial fishing is not allowed. Photo: The Phuket News / file Existing maps provided to commercial fishing boats all along the Andaman coast are confusing with borders incorrectly marked, the Phuket office of the Fisheries Department explained at a meeting held yesterday (June 6). At the meeting were Phuket Vice Governor Prakob Wongmaneerung, Phuket Provincial Commercial Office Chief Decha Phetwong and Phuket Fisheries Chief Kowit Kao-ian were present to discuss the issue. The Ministerial Regulation on Coastal Zones issued in May 2017 shows the fishing exclusion zones in Chonburi, Trat, Phang Nga, Ranong, Satun, Surat Thani and Phuket provinces, V/Gov Prakob said, However, the maps do not clearly show exactly where the borders for these zones are, which is resulting in fishermen being confused and fishing in areas where they think they are allowed, all because the maps say so. This creates confusion and fishermen cannot follow the law if it is not clear, he said. (To see the full ministerial regulation with maps, click here.) Department of Fisheries officials in Bangkok have been tasked with updating the maps for fishing-exclusion zones around Phuket with the correct information, V/Gov Prakob explained. Once the maps have been updated, public meetings will be held to inform the public, he added. When the time comes, we will announce to the public when and where the public meetings will be held, V/Gov Prakob said. Phuket Governor orders stronger flood-prevention measures PHUKET: The Governor of Phuket held a meeting at Phuket City Hall with various government agencies yesterday to discuss ways of preventing floods and landslides following heavy rain on Tuesday morning. weatherconstructionlandenvironment By The Phuket News Thursday 7 June 2018, 01:36PM Governor Norraphat Plodthong inspects the flood damage in Kamala on Tuesday. Screengrab: PR Dept Speaking at the meeting yesterday (June 6), Phuket Governor Norraphat Plodthong said that one of the worst affected areas on Tuesday (June 5) was Kamala, which saw 136 millimetres of rainfall. However, the highest recorded rainfall was 147mm. During a visit to Kamala on Tuesday afternoon, Governor Norraphat was told by local residents that this was the worse flooding they had seen for 20 years. Governor Norraphat explained that Kamala is one of the worst-affected areas due to it being mountainous and overflow from the Bang Wad canal. A number of properties in Kamala sustained damage following Tuesdays floods with some properties being between 30-50 centimetres deep in water. Governor Norraphat urged local government agencies to urgently assist those affected. Anyone who has suffered as a result of the floods should contact their local government office as soon as possible. Assistance will also be provided by the Phuket office of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM), he said. With regards to landslides, Gov Norraphat said that he has instructed the Phuket office of the Highways Department and Phuket office of the Department of Rural Roads to join together to find solutions to the problem. We have also found that in some areas the construction of roads obstructs waterways. This is especially the case on Thepkrasattri Rd, which has many spots obstructing the waterway. This causes flooding along the roads and also in some agricultural areas, he said. The Phuket office of the Highways Department must go out and clear these waterways to allow the water to flow. As we saw on Tuesday these blocked waterways cause huge problems for traffic on Thepkrasattri Rd and this is the main route for people travelling to Phuket International Airport. In addition, police officers must be on hand to facilitate the traffic and give advice on alternative routes, he added. Governor Norraphat also stated that Phuket should install a flood-warning system which should link the islands 31 rainfall-monitoring gauges. Information from these gauges could be sent to the DDPM, Digital Economy Promotion Agency Phuket branch (DEPA) and the Royal Irrigation Department, and if necessary flood warnings could be sent to residents via their smartphones, he said. Residents will then have knowledge about the amount of rainfall and can prepare themselves for any disasters, he added. It was also repeated that the islands canals be dredged as soon as possible to prevent future flooding. District chiefs are assigned to oversee the dredging of canals, especially in main road areas. Furthermore, pumps should also be installed in high-risk areas such in front of the front of Thai Watsadu on Thepkrasattri Rd so that water can be pumped away from the area and reduce the affect on traffic. Finally, Governor Norraphat also ordered relevant organisations to help campaign against dengue fever in flood-risk areas. Public health volunteers must visit these areas and rid them of mosquito larvae. They must also educate people in the area about the risks of dengue fever, he said. Police chief returns from Frankfurt alone after ex-monk claims asylum BANGKOK: National police chief Chakthip Chaijinda returned to Bangkok from Frankfurt yesterday (June 6) without the fugitive former monk from Wat Samphanthawong he hoped to escort back to Thai soil from Germany. immigrationpolice By Bangkok Post Thursday 7 June 2018, 08:51AM National police chief Gen Chakthip Chaijinda returns to Bangkok from Frankfurt yesterday (June 6) after failing to bring former Phra Phrom Methee back to the country. Photo: Bangkok Post / File The police chief left for Germany last Sunday (June 3) with other senior officers in a bid to escort former Phra Phrom Methee back to the country to face charges connected with the temple fund embezzlement scandal. The former assistant abbot had been detained by German immigration authorities at Frankfurt airport at Thailands request. But the former monk, whose layman name is Chamnong Iamintra, has reportedly applied for asylum in the European country after fleeing Thailand. Police sources said other officers accompanying Gen Chakthip will return on later dates. Lt Col Jiraphob Phuridet, the deputy Crime Suppression Division chief, will arrive in Bangkok today (June 7). Lt Gen Sutthipong Wongpin, the Immigration Bureau chief, and Col Worawat Amornwiwat, a deputy Special Branch Bureau commander, will follow tomorrow (June 8). The fugitive ex-monk had left Wat Samphanthawong before police raided the temple on May 24. He crossed the Mekong River to Khammouane province in Laos and later caught a flight from Phnom Penh to Frankfurt. Read original story here. Striped Dolphin rescued from stranding at Kamala Beach PHUKET: Marine biologists at the Phuket Marine Biological Centre (PMBC) are hoping to find out what is ailing a mature striped dolphin that was found stranded in shallow water at Kamala Beach just after midnight last night (June 7). marineanimals By Eakkapop Thongtub Thursday 7 June 2018, 01:05PM Local residents at Kamala Beach look after the dolphin until it could be transported to the PMBC, on Phukets east coast. Photo: Kamala OrBorTor The dolphin was spotted in very shallow water along the shore, with tourists and local residents entering the water to see what was wrong and to help the stranded mammal. Local residents called the PMBC and rescue workers from the Kusoldharm Foundation were on hand to render assistance. The dolphin was administered a sedative while still in the water and the rescue workers used a small boat to keep the dolphin out of the water until it could be transported to the PMBC headquarters at Cape Panwa, on Phukets east coast. The dolphin was an adult male weighing about 70-80 kilograms. It measured about two meters long and was estimated to be 15-20 years old. It also had abrasions on its skin and was suffering from exhaustion, marine biologists noted. Marine biologists reported this morning that the dolphin is in a stable condition and appears to be recovering. However, it is being kept under close observation and blood samples have been taken in the hope of identifying what has caused the dolphins illness. For Subscribers Western Illinois gives SDSU a chance to prove it learned from loss SDSUs ability to put their new lessons into practice will be tested immediately, as the Jacks visit Macomb on Saturday. The other leaders of G7 nations must not be afraid to reach agreements without US President Donald Trump at their upcoming summit, French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday, as a trade war between Washington and its allies looms, Expatica France reported. Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau held a joint press conference after private talks the night before to form a united front ahead of the Group of Seven summit that begins Friday. "The G7 is an opportunity for us to get together and have frank, open discussions among nations who have long been allies and friends," Macron told reporters, with Trudeau at his side. "There will be subjects on which the (US) president is not totally in sync with the others -- I'm thinking of course of climate change and trade," the French leader said. "Our common goal is to try to find a text that can be signed by everyone. (...) That said, I agree with what Justin Trudeau has said many times -- the desire to sign a common G7 declaration must not outweigh the need to be mindful of the content," he explained. "We Europeans and the Japanese are not ready to give up everything to get" Trump's signature, he said, adding that would be a "mistake." Volkswagen AGs top lobbyist is back at his post after an internal audit found he didnt break any laws or company rules in the run-up to controversial diesel-fume tests on animals. Thomas Steg, the head of government relations who stepped down temporarily following public outcry over the tests, will be reinstated with immediate effect, the company said in a statement Wednesday. The internal audit found there was no non-compliant conduct nor were any infringements of relevance to labour law committed by Volkswagen Group employees, the company said in the statement. The trials, in which monkeys were exposed to diesel fumes to show there were no ill health effects on the animals, were led by the now-defunct research group EUGT. The group was formed by Volkswagen, BMW AG and Daimler AG in 2007 and disbanded after news of the tests became public. Employees at the other companies were also suspended at the time. Steg was suspended temporarily at his own request during the probe. While he was cleared, I have asked myself whether I could not have taken further action back in spring 2013 to prevent the test in the USA, he said in the statement. I deeply regret that I did not act differently at the time and apologize for that. Read more: Diesel is finished in Europe amid push for electric cars, EU regulator says U.S. grand jury indicts former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn in emissions scandal Volkswagens new CEO promises more ethical company culture ZURICHA village in northern Switzerland is considering giving each inhabitant 2,500 francs ($2,540 U.S.) a month as an experiment with basic income, with the cash raised by crowd funding. The idea of paying people money irrespective of whether they work or not has found favour with technology billionaires such as Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk. Finland launched a pilot project to test the idea last year, and Italys new populist government has also pledged to introduce a system of this kind. In Switzerland, such a proposal was rejected in a national plebiscite in 2016. Not content to let the idea die, a group of aficionados decided to find a municipality to serve as an incubator. Rheinau on the Rhine river in the German-speaking part of the country got selected, its Mayor Andreas Jenni said on Wednesday. The experiment slated for 2019 will only go ahead if roughly half the villages 1,300 inhabitants participate, he said. Earnings and social benefits would count against the payment, which wouldnt come from the government budget but from private sources. The goal is to figure out and to study what people do with the money and these new possibilities. Read more: From barely surviving to thriving: Ontario basic income recipients report less stress, better health Ontarios basic income experiment would continue under Doug Ford Budget watchdog pegs cost for national basic income at $76 billion Read more about: CALGARY Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. says it expects to have more than 500 new high-capacity grain hopper cars in service before the end of 2018. The Calgary-based company has placed an initial order for 1,000 cars from Hamilton-based National Steel Car and expects to order a total of about 5,900 of the grain hoppers over the next four years. Canadian Pacific announced few details about the cost of the new grain hopper cars, except that it plans to invest more than half a billion dollars as part of its commitment to the North American agricultural sector. Rival Canadian National Railway Co. announced a similar order of 1,000 hopper cars in May, also from National Steel Car. Read more: Canadian Pacific Railway says improving grain transportation needs investment from system bookends CP Rail reaches agreement with Teamsters to end strike Both companies said their orders were facilitated by federal government changes that encourage railways to make investments to avert service disruptions. The Transportation Modernization Act includes financial penalties for railways that fail to deliver promised rail cars for grain shipments on time. Read more about: EDMONTONAs faculty of science students lined up to enter the Jubilee Auditorium on Thursday morning to graduate, protesters critical of the University of Albertas decision to honour David Suzuki slowly gathered near the buildings north entrance. In April, the U of A announced it was awarding Suzuki an honorary degree for his lifes work promoting science literacy and education in Canada and around the world. James Robson, a spokesperson for Canada Action one of the pro-industry groups that organized the protest against the oilsands critic came up from Calgary and was one of the first protesters in the lot, offering signs to participants who didnt bring their own. Were just gonna get everyone out on a common goal of not particularly caring for David Suzuki. Read more: Degree to disagree? Why the University of Albertas decision to give David Suzuki an honorary doctorate is dividing Albertans This voice needs to be heard: Asking university to renounce David Suzuki is an attack on academic freedom, critics say In late-April, Canada Action started an online petition demanding the university reverse its decision. Since then, the petition has collected more than 29,000 signatures. A Facebook group started by Canada Action and Rally 4 Resources, a partner group, indicated that about 50 people would attend. Thats how Spencer Bennett, a financial adviser from Spruce Grove, heard about the demonstration. Taking issue with Suzukis stand against the oil and gas industry and the hotly debated Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion Spencer came to add his voice to the rally. Having watched Suzukis long-running science program The Nature of Things in his youth, Bennett said he doesnt object to recognizing the broadcasters work as a science educator. Rather, his problem is with Suzukis activism, and the timing of the award. I feel like at this juncture in time, where were talking about building pipelines, and where our economy is still recovering, that the optics and timing on this are terrible, Bennett said. Its biting the hands that feed you and I feel like the U of A is going to lose a lot of donors and a lot of support because theyre giving it to such a vocal anti-pipeline supporter. Robson, however, said he took issue with what he perceived to be a failure on Suzukis part to practise what he preaches, despite his academic and educational achievements. He flies all over the world. I think he could do his speeches via Skype if he cared so much about his carbon footprint, Robson added. I think that could make a bigger impact, but for some reason, that just doesnt work. By 9:30 a.m., the rally had attracted about 40 supporters, many holding pro-oilsands and anti-Suzuki signs, with more expected to arrive later that morning. Protesters in the crowd derided Suzuki, calling him a stain on Alberta, and suggesting that, instead of flying, he should walk home. The two groups also organized a bus to get their supporters from Calgary and Edmonton to the rally. Robson said he was not sure how many would show up, but he was expecting a fair turnout. Opposite the rally, a smaller group of counter-protesters, including Indigenous activist Taz Bouchier, gathered nearby. She called Suzuki a land and water protector for his efforts to elevate awareness of environmental issues, and said she considers him an elder. That man has worked hard to get the respect that hes been given, Bouchier said. When I heard that people were opposing his receiving (the honour), I said I need to stand up and support him in whatever capacity I can. And if it meant standing here alone, I would do that. But Bouchier wasnt alone. Shortly after the protest started, she was joined by members of the Edmonton chapter of the Raging Grannies, an international network promoting environmental and social justice causes. Rosemary Falconer, one of the grannies who joined Bouchier, brought a sign that read, Grannies Love Science. We admire the work Suzuki has done, Falconer said. Im sure hes not an angel, but (consider) The Nature of Things, and all the public education that hes done. Inside the auditorium, after students filed across the stage to receive their degrees, Suzuki took the stage to get his honour. He was met with raucous applause and a few boos at the university where he began his teaching career 56 years ago. In an address to the students, Suzuki congratulated them for their hard work and accomplishments, and said their education will prepare them for the challenges that lie ahead, namely using their education to forge a path into a future that seeks to find a balance with nature. Heres the dilemma, we have created concepts and structures of government and business that we then try to force nature to conform to, rather than shaping our creations to fit the needs of nature, on which we are utterly dependent, Suzuki said. Thats why we have disputes over many things, he added. Because we havent started from a position of agreement on what we all need and must protect. Read more about: French President Emmanuel Macron has commented on the US decision to remove an exemption sparing the EU, Canada and Mexico from 25 percent tariffs on steel and 10 percent import duties on aluminum, due to the alleged national security threat posed by the import of these metals, Sputnik reports. The French and Canadian delegations will try to persuade US President Donald Trump at the G7 summit to take a more conventional path on trade amid his imposition of tariffs on the EU and Canada, French President Emmanuel Macron said in a press briefing. "I will try to convince him, with Minister Trudeau and all our partners, to find a more normal path on trade topics. We can't wage a trade war between friends," Emmanuel Macron said, adding that the countries have to remain polite as the US is an ally and "we need them." "If the US decides to withdraw from its global role, it would be bad for the US economy and image, and Trump knows that," Macron noted. Macron said that recent trade actions taken by Trump are counterproductive to the economy of the United States. At the same briefing, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau added that it is ridiculous for Trump to think Canada, France or any other allies are threats to US national security. BADDECK, N.S.A devastating fire has levelled the main lodge of an historic, much-loved inn on Cape Breton's Bras d'Or Lakes, even as it spared a unique chapel bankrolled by a Toronto hockey legend. "It's a devastating fire for the community," said Councillor Bruce Morrison, who said he got a call at about 3 a.m. notifying him of a "big fire" at the Inverary Resort. "For me, it's tough it's one of those icons in our community that has been enjoyed by generations of residents in Baddeck." The rustic retreat that has been a "cornerstone of the community" since it was built in the late 19th century by a Cape Breton man dubbed "Millionaire" MacNeil. Plumes of white smoke were still wafting above the charred wreck of the three-storey building that housed the dining room, lobby, pub and several units attached to it in an addition. A tiny brown chapel that was donated to the owners by legendary Toronto Maple Leafs owner Conn Smythe was not damaged in the fire, according to Cape Breton musician Keith Mullins, who entertains at the Inverary a few nights every week. It's believed all of the guests and staff got out without injury. Diana Weeks, a reporter for Ontario's CHCH TV, was staying at the resort and tweeted about her escape. "Our hotel in Baddeck, N.S., is on fire and were all outside in our pjs. Good news is, it appears everyone got out safely," Weeks tweeted overnight. "So so sad. Just grateful we got out in time and grabbed our valuables... Such a beautiful historic building." Images and video on social media showed flames consuming the building, which glowed orange in the darkness. One video shows the whole building collapsing in on itself as flames poured out of the windows. Mullins said people had been singing and enjoying themselves late Wednesday: "Everything was amazing. We had a great time and everyone was singing." He said he was devastated when he woke to hear the news. Mullins said he had not heard what the owners plan to do, but believes they could remain in operation, because there are other guest rooms on the property. "There are five or six large buildings. There's another restaurant. There's another kitchen in the conference centre. I don't know exactly what their plans are but I do know that we all want to keep it going," he said. According to the inn's website, Smythe stayed at the Inverary in the early 1980s when he was in poor health, spending much of his time there in his room. The owner reportedly told Smythe that they were hoping to build a chapel when money allowed. "Someday, you'll have your chapel," Smythe apparently told the owners. Sometime later, Smythe died in Toronto and a family member contacted the inn's owners to say that Smythe wanted to give them a chapel. The resort hosts a church service each week, although not in the chapel. Pastor Philip MacCormack said the 40-member congregation of the Baddeck Baptist Church doesn't have its own building, and holds services each week in the inn's convention centre. They are praying for the owner and staff of the inn, he said. "The owners have been very good to us," he said. Morrison said the loss of the main building is a big blow to Baddeck, which sees hundreds of tourists trickle into the area every summer, swelling the full-time population of about 800 residents to about 2,500. "It's a very difficult time for an event such as this to happen right at the start of our tourist season," said Morrison, who is also the warden of Victoria County. "Baddeck is a very busy tourist destination." It could also affect about 100 people who work at the sprawling four-hectare shoreline resort, he said. Several fire departments in the area answered the call. RCMP said they are working with the Nova Scotia Office of the Fire Marshal to determine the cause of the fire. The resort's website says the original home was built by MacNeil "to show off the fortune he made in Boston." Materials for the house, barn and wagon house were imported from the American city and became a showpiece for the Cape Breton community. Brothers Chad and Jamie Fownes bought the property after the Second World War and opened the Inverary Inn at the end of their military service, the website says. Read more about: METEGHAN RIVER, N.S.A small Nova Scotia museum has closed indefinitely after it said it was denied federal funding for refusing to conform to a controversial abortion rights clause in the Canada Summer Jobs program. The Liberal government this year required that organizations seeking funding under the program check a box affirming their support for constitutional rights and the right to reproductive choice, including access to abortion. Gerald Comeau, a volunteer with the Bangor Sawmill Museum in Meteghan River, N.S., said the museum does not have a mandate to take an ideological position on abortion, and should not be compelled to do so in order to be eligible for funding. Were a museum. Were not involved in the business of ideological questions of abortion and so on, said Comeau in a phone interview Thursday. So we came to the decision that we could not support that clause. Comeau, a former longtime Tory politician and senator, said he wrote a letter to accompany the application that affirmed the organizations respect for human rights and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but the application was nevertheless denied. He said without government funding, the museum home to one of Canadas last water-powered mills does not have enough money to hire a student museum guide, and so will not open this summer as scheduled. The funding required to hire the student amounts to about $3,000. Were very disappointed. Its a part of our history and a priceless heritage site, said Comeau, 72, who grew up in the area and lives there today. A sawmill has sat on the site on the Meteghan River since the 1800s and once employed about 30 people. It burned down twice over the years, was rebuilt, and was eventually abandoned in the 1980s. Thanks to community efforts, the sawmill was restored in the early 1990s and its 19th-century technology was maintained. Colin Fraser, the local Liberal MP, said the purpose of the governments change was to ensure funding was not going to jobs or organizations that purposefully undermine human rights. Fraser said he spoke with Comeau during the application process and explained that the attestation was about confirming that the job description and the primary activities of the applicant respect the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and has nothing to do with the organizations beliefs or values. For example, previous groups had received federal funding despite specifically refusing to hire LGBTQ2 students or in another instance a job entailed making and displaying graphic abortion materials at a clinic in order to intimidate, said Fraser in an email statement. I agree with Mr. Comeau that the Bangor Sawmill has nothing to do with those types of activities. They were therefore eligible to apply and theres no reason to believe they would not have been successful. However, they decided not to complete the application by refusing to complete the attestation and were therefore not approved. Fraser went on to say that he was willing to work with the museum on finding a way to keep this important historic site operating for the benefit of the community. Veronique Simard, press secretary for federal Employment Minister Patty Hajdu, said before the government changed the Canada Summer Jobs program, funding was being given to groups such as the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform, which paid students to distribute graphic images of aborted fetuses. Our government stands by its decision to ensure that funding does not go to these kinds of groups. Canadian students deserve high-quality summer job experience, in high-quality workplaces, Simard said in an email statement. Ottawa also noted that organizations do not have to support rights they must respect them, and not actively undermine them. Last month, a New Brunswick archbishop ordered several Roman Catholic parishes to return the federal funding they had applied for under the program. Moncton Archbishop Valery Vienneau said some parishes had not read the fine print, completed the application and were approved for funding, but the church cannot compromise its values just to please the government. Comeau said he feels that the museum has become collateral damage. Its not the just the faith-based groups that have been impacted. Its groups like ours, Comeau said. I understand where the government was coming from, but there were other ways of doing it. If youre a surgeon and you want to fix a patient, you dont go in with a chainsaw, you go in with a scalpel In my view, (Ottawa) has gone in with a chainsaw. Simard said 2,157 organizations in Nova Scotia were approved for Canada Summer Jobs funding in 2018. Read more: Edmonton Catholic Archbishop slams Canada Summer Jobs Programs abortion clause Opinion | Michael Coren: A troubling pattern in opposition to Ottawas summer jobs plan Alberta couple sues federal government over summer jobs program abortion clause Read more about: Youre members of a secret club that nobody wants to join. Toronto writer Corinne McDermott, on why after Kate Spades sudden death she wrote a searing Facebook post on parents who kill themselves and the children they leave behind. When celebrity designer Kate Spade died suddenly in her New York apartment this week at 55, and police confirmed her death as an apparent suicide, it was only natural that her many fans claimed a piece of the sadness. From Chelsea Clinton describing what it meant to get her first Kate Spade handbag, to less well-known women posting loving descriptions of Spades vividly coloured household goods as cheerful and hopeful, the outpouring was both a tribute to Spades legacy and the inevitable question mark: How could such a smart, successful woman choose to end her life, leaving behind an enviable string of achievements, including supposedly a long, loving marriage and much more poignantly, a 13-year-old daughter? For one Toronto writer, Corinne McDermott, whose own mother killed herself when she was 17, Spades death evoked such painful memories from her own past that it compelled her to write a remarkable and anguished Facebook post that has been shared widely. Here is how McDermotts post written, she told me in an interview, on her phone on the subway ride home from work after she heard the news began: Tucked inside my Kate Spade wallet is a photocopy of my mothers suicide note. When we found her, the police had to keep the original as evidence, before they could officially declare it a suicide. I know she wrote other letters, too. But I cant remember who they were to or if they ever received them. I was 17. I pulled my letter out and reread it for the first time in a long time, after I learned the designer Kate Spade had taken her life and left a note for her daughter, Frances Beatrix. Bea is 13. She will never be the same. When your parent takes their own life, youre still here. But you are also left behind. McDermott has no interest, she said, in grief-jacking the Spade family tragedy. Already within a day, rumours were swirling about how and why Spade co-creator along with her husband, Andy Spade, of a multimillion dollar fashion empire had killed herself. There was talk of marital discord. Andy Spade, with whom she had been together for 35 years, later released a statement confirming the couple had been living apart for the past 10 months. We were best friends trying to work through our problems in the best way we knew how. But that wasnt the whole story. Spade also said in his statement that his wife suffered from depression and anxiety for many years and was working closely with doctors to treat her disease, one that takes far too many lives. While the contents of a note left at the scene were not officially confirmed, gossip sites reported it had been addressed to Kate Spades daughter, Frances Beatrix (Bea), telling her not to blame herself in any way. McDermott, editor-in-chief of Bell Medias the Movie Network magazine and the founder of the website havebabywilltravel.com, said she was still wondering a day later what gave her the courage to post her own devastatingly personal note. The American fashion designer was found dead in her Manhattan apartment on June 5, 2018. Ms. Spade was known for her bold, colorful and classy aesthetic. She was 55. (The New York Times) Maybe it was because it was her 47th birthday, and the love was pouring in anyway on Facebook. Maybe it was the eerie coincidence of not only having a treasured Kate Spade black-and-white polka-dot wallet, but what was tucked inside it that suicide note from her mother, which began: I am so sorry to do this to you. Maybe it was because she finally figured out, as a mother herself of a 12-year-old daughter and a 9-year-old son, she had some things to say about mental illness, suicide, and the necessity of seeking help. McDermotts mother, Anne (born Margaret-Anne), was also, she says, a smart, successful woman. She was 19 when she came to Canada from Glasgow, 21 when she married Corinnes dad, 23 when she gave birth to her only child, Corinne, and at 24, says her daughter, was a professor of math, computer science, and physics. Anne McDermott was diagnosed with what was then called manic depression and now called bipolar disease, and while she was treated with meds, she suffered debilitating side effects, and eventually took her own life, just three weeks short of her 41st birthday. It wasnt until 10 years after her mothers death that Corinne McDermott read the famous book, An Unquiet Mind, by Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison, that chronicled the authors epic struggle with mental illness. I was bawling my eyes out on the streetcar. It helped her understand, in part, her mothers struggle, if not her decision to end her life. And it helped her, when she heard of Kate Spades suicide, to write: Not being able to understand how someone could leave their child, their partner, their loved ones, is a good thing. It means you havent experienced the kind of pain and suffering that would lead someone to choose suicide. McDermott is reluctant to republish her powerful post because she doesnt want anyone to think she is making the Spade story about her. But hearing personal stories like this is how we mourn, how we help, and how we heal. What stands out is the searing sense of identification with Spades daughter, and the blunt truths it enables McDermott to write: In time, I have come, and Bea will come, to understand these things. But a survivor of suicide struggles with more than just grief. We are still here, but we are also left behind. We werent enough. The thought of missing us wasnt painful enough to decide to stay. We werent enough. We werent smart enough to fix the problem or strong enough to help. And yet, theres hope, too. As McDermott told me, she got the necessary painful help she needed to build a lovely beautiful family that she wishes her mother were here to share. If anyone out there is feeling this way now, things can change in a heartbeat, dont give up. And the messages she received about her post included people actually saying they may have had these thoughts, that their kids would be better off without them. And my words showed them otherwise. Thats worth it to me. QUEBEC CITYPrime Minister Justin Trudeaus turn as host to a gaggle of the worlds most powerful leaders has turned into a diplomatic tapdance of epic proportions. Key summit players acknowledged profound differences ahead of what promises to be an acrimonious face-off with U.S. President Donald Trump at the G7 summit. As the G7 leaders and more than a dozen other invited heads of government and key financial leaders arrived here under heavy grey skies, several hundred anti-globalization protestors took to Quebec streets. French President Emmanuel Macron portrayed the other countries as bigger than the U.S. and the U.S. as not just truly embodied by its current leader. Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, warned the tensions put at risk the G7s ability to protect the free world against those who disrespect our shared fundamental values: freedom and dignity of the individual, equal rights for people and nations and fair rules. Tensions were on display early. Trudeau and Macron publicly staged a united front on climate change, trade and the deal to deter Irans nuclear proliferation. They denounced Trumps trade tariffs on steel and aluminum as unacceptable, counterproductive and ridiculous in Trudeaus words. Trump shot back in response late Thursday on Twitter. Please tell Prime Minister Trudeau and President Macron that they are charging the U.S. massive tariffs and create non-monetary barriers. The EU trade surplus with the U.S. is $151 billion, and Canada keeps our farmers and others out. Look forward to seeing them tomorrow. Trump followed up that tweet with a more personal shot at Trudeau, mocking him for being so indignant, bringing up the relationship that the U.S. and Canada had over the many years and all sorts of other things but he doesnt bring up the fact that they charge us up to 300 per cent on dairy hurting our farmers, killing our agriculture! A senior Canadian government official who briefed reporters played down the impact of Trumps tweets on the tone of the coming talks. He repeated Trudeaus insistence that the two leaders have often had frank discussions, and thats what the G7 is for. Were not sugarcoating the fact therell be strong differences of opinion. Until Thursday, Trumps attendance was in doubt, his reluctance framed as indifference and an unwillingness to be ganged up on. Reporters pressed Trudeau and Macron, who have until now adopted a respectful and cordial approach to relations with Trump, if it was time to change tack, as theyd failed to persuade Trump to reverse course on trade. Macron shrugged off a question about whether Trump can or should be isolated, saying he would continue to work closely with the U.S. President. When youre saying that President Trump doesnt really care, perhaps thats the case. But no one lives for ever, Macron responded. Our countries, the commitments we have made go beyond us. The French president said the group of like-minded leaders should not hesitate to speak their minds even at the expense of failing to reach a joint communique at the end of it all. The six other countries of the G7 thats a market that is bigger than the American market, said Macron. So we must look it in the eye, he said, launching an impassioned defence of multilateralism. Trudeau said the two-day G7 gathering is a chance for more frank discussions. He acknowledged that questions swirl about the dynamic at the summit, but said frank discussions are its very purpose. On Thursday evening Trudeau met with Tusk and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker who that day highlighted the G7s existential angst in a column for The New York Times. Tusk said the crucial question on everyones mind is whether Trumps tariff moves are only incidental changes to current American policy (to which, of course, every president is entitled) or the beginning of a new strategic trend. Simply put: Are they merely seasonal turbulences or rather the first symptoms of the breakup of the Western political community, which the G-7 represents and informally leads? Tusk defended the value of the G7, saying our community cannot be blown apart by aluminum tariffs. But he added, its clear that something may have changed. Europe should, in a way, be grateful to President Trump. His decisions have made us realize that we need to depend on one another, Tusk said. Meanwhile, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met with Trump in Washington before both arrive here Friday, with an eye to shaping the U.S. Presidents approach to North Korea. Trump heads straight to the June 12 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un in Singapore when the G7 ends Saturday. Abe went to great lengths to portray himself as an ally of Trump, stressing the two were perfectly aligned on how to deal with the North Korean leader. However, Abe, too, is deeply concerned about Trumps tariffs which have hit Japan as well. John Kirton, head of the University of Torontos G7 research group, said if this summit ends without a final joint communique, it will have been the first time in the 43-year history of this particular gathering that the leaders failed to land on an agreed statement. It wouldnt, of itself, constitute a failure, said Kirton, but Trudeau is at risk of a diplomatic failure if he attempts to portray a consensus where the U.S. would happy to point out there was none. With files from Bruce Campion-Smith and Daniel Dale Read more: G7 protests begin as leaders summit kicks off in Quebec G7 protests in Quebec City force closure of national assembly Trump, who had complained about attending G7 summit, vows tough talk on trade at meetings Read more about: OTTAWAGovernment data shows thousands of asylum seekers came into Canada illegally across the Canada-U.S. border in the first quarter of the year, but only a fraction were removed from the country during that time. Between Jan. 1 and March 31 only 135 individuals who made an asylum claim following an irregular entry were removed from the country, says information provided to the Commons committee on immigration. During that same period, more than 5,000 asylum seekers arrived through unofficial entry points. The government says border officials can only remove failed refugee claimants after they have exhausted all legal options available to try for refugee status, including applications to the Immigration and Refugee Board, appeals and other administrative measures. Everyone ordered removed from Canada is entitled to due process before the law, said Scott Bardsley, press secretary for Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale. Once individuals have exhausted all legal avenues of appeal/due process, they are expected to respect our laws and leave Canada or be removed. Read more: Ottawa pledges $50M to help provinces cope with asylum seekers Nigerians seeking refuge in Canada fleeing dangerous herdsmen, asylum seeker says Shelter funding is welcome, but Ottawa must address backlog in refugee claims But while the Canada Border Services Agency makes every effort to remove as many ineligible asylum claimants as possible, the vast majority of irregular border crossers are not removal ready, Bardsley added. This could be because of a lack of travel documents, health concerns or travel restrictions. Opposition immigration critic Michelle Rempel says she believes government is not doing enough to plan for an orderly immigration system and it should be taking further measures to step up claims processing and removals so that irregular migrants do not wait in Canada for years as their asylum claims are processed. She pointed to statements made by Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen indicating upwards of 90 per cent of some cohorts of irregular migrants will likely have their asylum claims rejected. If thats true, at the current rate it could be decades before all removals of illegal border crossers are complete, Rempel said I think its a situation of both false hope and costs to the Canadian taxpayer in terms of making sure that people are fed and housed when theyre in Canada during this time that is concerning, she said. To me it just shows the fact that government is not adequately managing the situation. The government says it is working to improve things. In this years federal budget, the border agency was given $7.46 million to ensure that once rejected refugee claimants have exhausted all legal avenues of appeal they can be removed promptly. Obviously, the requirements of due process need to be adhered to, but there have been some procedural changes that have been implemented, Goodale told the House of Commons immigration committee last week. Were also working very hard to get greater international co-operation on the necessary travel documents that need to be obtained in every case of the removal. The provinces police watchdog is investigating after one person was killed and a police officer was injured in a shooting in Scarborough early Thursday morning. Toronto police were called just around midnight in the area of Warden Ave. and Hymus Rd., south of Eglinton Ave. E., after receiving reports of a person with a gun. When police arrived shots were fired, said police spokesperson Katrina Arrogante. In a press release, the Special Investigations Unit said police located an armed man in a vehicle outside a pub. The police watchdog said preliminary information suggests there was an exchange of gunfire between the man and officers. SIU spokesperson Monica Hudon said at a press conference Thursday morning that three officers were involved in the exchange of gunfire. She said the man was shot multiple times. He was taken in life-threatening condition to a hospital, where he later succumbed to his injuries. Hudon said the victim was a 36-year-old man from Scarborough. She said one police officer was also taken to hospital in non-life-threatening condition where he was later released. Police said a firearm was recovered at the scene and there are no outstanding suspects. Hudon confirmed that the original call was made by an off-duty officer inside the pub. At a press conference Thursday morning, Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders said the injured police officer will recover. He said the officer was wearing a bulletproof vest at the time. Having the proper equipment from all aspects of policing is something that I feel is so much more critical in todays environment, he said. I know when I got on the job ... wearing a vest was optional and I remember people would be complaining, because theyre cumbersome and its summer and its hot. And Ive got to tell you I think those days are gone now when we talk about options. He also commented on the increased gun violence happening in the city over the last few weeks. I dont care what people say about whether or not we like or dont like the police, nobody wants anyone to get shot, he said. Were in communities where we have young kids that are playing, summer is coming up and the fact that people will pull a gun out and use a firearm is of great concern. The SIU investigates reports involving police where there has been death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault. With files from Claire Floody Read more about: Along with sentencing two ex-lovers to life in prison for a seven-year-old murder Thursday, a Toronto judge has blasted the pair and their previous lawyer for using tactics to avoid going to trial. On Sunday, after hearing six months of evidence, a jury convicted Michael Ivezic, 57, and Demitry Papasotiriou-Lanteigne, 38, of first-degree murder for the March 2, 2011, killing of Allan Lanteigne, who was the latters spouse. They returned to court Thursday, where Superior Court Justice Robert Goldstein sentenced them to automatic life sentences with no parole eligibility for 25 years. Papasotiriou-Lanteigne, who was in Greece at the time of the murder, sent his husband an email luring the 49-year-old University of Toronto accounting clerk to his Ossington Ave. home, where Ivezic was waiting to bludgeon him to death with an unknown weapon. The pair were after a $2-million life insurance policy. This was not a spontaneous response to a lovers quarrel, or a couple of drug dealers fighting over turf. This was a cowardly murder, by two-cold-blooded killers of a gentle and decent man, Goldstein said in court, where Lanteignes family members sat alongside jurors who attended the proceeding. Mr. Lanteignes only crime was to have a large insurance policy in his name. Mr. Ivezic and Mr. Papasotiriou killed him for the most mundane of reasons money. Last October, before the jury portion of the trial began, Goldstein was asked by the defence to stay the murder charges because it had taken more than 30 months to get to trial, exceeding the Supreme Court of Canadas time limit. Defence lawyers Mary Margaret Osadet and Susan Jane Von Achten, who were not the trial lawyers, argued the delay was solely the fault of the Crown. But prosecutors Pam Santora, Hank Goody and Anna Tenhouse argued the defence had taken steps to thwart the advancement of the matter. In a 29-page written decision released last week, Goldstein agreed the case had gone on much too long and exceeded the Supreme Courts 30-month ceiling. But he refused to stay the charges, finding fault for the delay lay not with the Crown but with the accused men, enabled by Von Achten. Von Achten and Ivezic brought needless and frivolous applications and allegations to prove their unsubstantiated theory that officials with the Centre of Forensic Sciences, Toronto Police and prosecutors conspired to frame him and suppress exculpatory evidence, Goldstein wrote. Both Mr. Ivezic and Ms. Von Achten simply refused to accept any amount of disclosure or any explanation of documents they disputed. Moreover, they pursued these issues even in the face of judicial rulings to the contrary. (Papasotiriou-Lanteigne) supported these allegations and swore affidavits in support. Papasotiriou-Lanteigne is a lawyer. Goldstein reviewed transcripts of various proceedings held before he was assigned to the case and there is no exaggeration to say that much of the time that was spent in court on disclosure issues was wasted, he wrote. This needless and repetitive litigation added enormously to the amount of time, effort, and money spent on this matter. But while it might be forgiveable that Ivezic sought to pursue his theory, it is unforgiveable that Ms. Von Achten, an experienced criminal defence lawyer, pursued this chimera. She either knew better or should have known better than to make unsubstantiated allegations of misconduct against Crown counsel and others. He cited an example. In 2016, Von Achten caused subpoenas to be issued to 12 third parties. Most of these subpoenas dealt with material that had already been disclosed. Goldstein noted that while Osadets name appeared on the delay application, his judgment should not be taken as any criticism of her or any other defence counsel representing the two men. Late Toronto Star journalist and disability advocate Barbara Turnbull will be honoured with a ceremonial street name. Toronto and East York Community Council on Wednesday voted to name a section of Oak Hall Lane near the corner of Church St. and King St. E., in the St. Lawrence neighbourhood Barbara Turnbull Way. Turnbull, who died in 2015, was an author and fierce advocate for spinal cord research, organ donation and people with disabilities. It is possible to build a life that is satisfying and has happy moments, despite what comes at you, she wrote in a 2013 ebook, which was excerpted in the Star. In 1983, Turnbull was only 18 when she was shot in the neck during a robbery at a Mississauga Beckers store. The shooting left her quadriplegic, but it didnt hold her back. She powered on, enrolling at Arizona State University four years after the incident. Turnbull, who died following complications with pneumonia, was posthumously invested into the Order of Canada in 2015. Read more: The life of Barbara Turnbull, in her own words Star reporter Barbara Turnbull overcame debilitating injury to carve out a superlative career Editorial | Barbara Turnbull set an inspiring example Barbara Turnbull was a powerful advocate for people with spinal cord injuries and an inspiration to many Canadians, then-Governor General David Johnston said at the time. Turnbull began her work at the Toronto Star through an internship program while she was still a student. After she graduated from Arizona State as class valedictorian, she remained at the Star, where she worked as a reporter until her death. Turnbull published two books on her experiences with quadriplegia, and launched the Barbara Turnbull Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to spinal cord research. Through her commitment to activism sprung the Barbara Turnbull Award, an award set up in her name by a group of colleagues at the Star. The award is given to a student with a disability who exemplifies Turnbulls perseverance and determination. Most recently, Jaqueline Au, who studies fashion at Ryerson University, was honoured with the prize for her work designing clothing for those with disabilities. Her sheer presence reminded us that the human can overcome the worst adversity, former Ontario lieutenant-governor David Onley said at Turnbulls funeral, calling Turnbull a great Canadian who was the epitome of courage and grace. Lynn Turnbull and Christine Mortimer, Turnbulls sisters, described her at her funeral as someone who remained strong despite obstacles that others may have faltered at. Turnbulls family was consulted in the ceremonial street dedication, and agreed to the recommendation. Turnbull was a long-time resident of 35 Church St., which overlooks Oak Hill Lane. A ceremonial street dedication doesnt change the addresses along that street or the lanes official name, but the city will install special signage. Jodie Emery is setting up shop in Kensington Market, launching a cafe that will occupy the space left behind by Casa Coffee, which recently closed. Despite Emerys history as a marijuana activist, the cafe will not sell cannabis-based products yet. As an activist for cannabis legalization, Ive always wanted to have the Amsterdam model, where adults can enjoy coffee, cannabis, and food in a cafe, Emery said. The cafe, cheekily named Jodies Joint, in reference to Emerys self-described talent of joint rolling, is set to sell coffee and hemp-based foods. Emery hope was that following legalization, a coffee and cannabis joint could be a reality for those hoping to indulge in both at the same time. While that wont be possible under the coming legislation, Emery says that she still loves coffee, and has always dreamed of bringing the two together. In the absence of being able to actually do cannabis sales, I hope to make the coffee shop a hemp-themed thing, Emery said. She hopes to start with the cafe, later introducing cannabis and cannabis-derived goods if laws eventually change. The interior will additionally feature hemp-based and environmentally friendly materials in an effort to familiarize patrons with the many uses of the plant, which can be used to produce sustainable fabrics and building materials. Cannabis hemp is just a phenomenal plant, it can be used to make everything except metal and glass, Emery said. She intends to advocate for the uses of the plant through the cafe. I hope to use it to showcase hemp as a material in the fabrics, the wallpaper, the construction if possible, she said. Jodies Joint is still in the early stages of planning, Emery says, but she noted that she hopes for the cafe to be open to the public later this summer. Kensington landmark Casa Coffee, which closed last month, had occupied the spot at Augusta Ave. and Baldwin St. since 1963. Emery and her husband Marc, who calls himself the Prince of Pot, are well known for their cannabis activism. In Dec. 2017, the couple pleaded guilty a number of drug-related charges related to their Cannabis Culture shops. A team of archeologists from Texas A&M University are combing through the remains of a shipwreck in downtown Toronto, hoping to connect the dots on this mysterious piece of local history. Crews stumbled upon parts of the schooner about 12 metres below the surface when development company Concord Adex started building a condo in the CityPlace neighbourhood two years ago. The vessel was excavated and transported to the Fort York National Historic Site with the intention of preserving it for public display, said Fort Yorks program development officer Kevin Hebib. But some of the artifacts discovered on board provided clear information on the people crewing the ship and roused further curiosity, he said. For example, they found an American penny at the mast step, leading to speculation the vessel may have been an American cargo ship bringing supplies to a growing city. The coin also helps date the vessel. Such coins dont postdate anything after the 1820s, explained Hebib, so we can start there and move back. Hebib, who has been at Fort York for nearly 30 years, said this could be the oldest vessel ever discovered underneath Toronto. According to Hebib, the city unearthed a ship dating from the 1850-1890 period at the Rogers Centre. Another one named the Commodore Jarvis was discovered at the Air Canada Centre, and a 19th century flat-bottomed boat was found in the Lakeshore West area. None of them were preserved. Its amazing to me now, when you walk the streets of Toronto, youre always thinking whats underneath you, he said, explaining that much of the city south of Front St. used to be covered by Lake Ontario. In a weird way its like a sealed-up time capsule. As development occurs here in Toronto and new developments start, we peel back those layers and we find evidence of people who were here before us. Other artifacts already on display at the Fort York Visitor Centre include a fork, a tea cup and saucer, a rivet hammer, a clasp knife, some chisels, an arrowhead and a clay tobacco pipe. In total, more than 1,000 objects were found alongside the ship. Lead researcher Carolyn Kennedy said the team is interested in examining the physical aspects of the ship in order to determine who was on it and why, what it was carrying and what happened to it. The entire ship wasnt found: just the keel and the lowermost portions of the stern and bow as well as part of the hull on the port side. So far theyve been able to determine the vessel was about 16 metres long, maybe up to three metres tall, and built with white oak wood. Some parts of the ship had been patched and modified, leading them to believe it may have had more than one life, she said. The idea that it was probably a cargo ship was influenced by the fact that they couldnt find any type of ballast on it, a material used to keep the boat balanced. Cargo is the balance, said Kennedy. If they were transporting grain, for example, once they reached the drop-off port, they must have been picking up something else to go back. The team will write a final report about their findings, and the ships wreckage will be reproduced in a model for public display inside the visitors centre at Fort York. Theyre still deciding what to do with the wreckage itself but are considering putting it in a city museum. Kennedy, who is from Montreal and graduated from Concordia University before going to Texas, previously worked on a shipwreck project regarding a steamboat in Lake Champlain near Vermont. She sees similarities between the two boats in how they were designed, but this Toronto ship carries little mysteries that are harder to discern. What were studying here is not really to inform ship building, she said. What were really after is that human story and connecting us to our own past. NATO will never cut-off communications with Russia despite Moscows alleged meddling in American and European elections, US Secretary of Defense James Mattis said. "NATO will never turn off dialogue with Russia. NATO will never turn its back on trying to make better relations with Russia," Sputnik cited Mattis as saying. He added that the prospect of improving relations between Russia and NATO are hindered by the Kremlins alleged interference in US and European elections and its "changing borders in Europe through the force of arms." According to US Secretary of Defense, Russia, from NATOs perspective, has more in common with the alliance in terms of its future. However, it has been extremely difficult to find a common cause with Russia, he added. MILTON A Halton drug detective who pleaded guilty to stealing opioids from a police evidence locker to feed his addiction said bullying from fellow officers is one factor that led to his downfall. However the police chief called the bullying claim self-serving and said there is no proof of these things. Staff Sgt. Brad Murray alleged officers in the Halton Regional Police drug unit taunted him about his weight, took naked pictures of him and ridiculed his private parts. That, along with the expiry of prescriptions to combat severe knee pain, led Murray to steal oxycodone pills from the evidence locker he supervised, court heard Thursday. Murray, 39, was handed a conditional discharge and three years probation after pleading guilty to one count of breach of trust. Four other charges were withdrawn. Murrays claims of bullying were never heard in open court nor were they included in an agreed statement of facts. The claims were made public in Justice David Harriss written reasons for sentence. They originate in a report by Murrays psychologist who treated him for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety. Murray, a veteran cop with several commendations, described the drug unit as a toxic work environment. Harris listed examples from the psychologists report: He was relentlessly taunted for his weight, the appearance of his body and genitalia, and the clothing he wore. He reported that this verbal abuse occurred both in private, as well as in public. Vulgar and shaming things were broadcast about him over the police radio during surveillance operations. His colleagues on the drug team regularly and purposefully embarrassed him in front of members of other teams. After Murrays son was born with a heart defect and had to undergo surgery, not only did members of his team fail to extend any sympathy or kindness for his sons struggles, but they vandalized pictures he had of his son on his desk, the judge wrote. While away on training with the drug team, someone took pictures of him while sleeping naked on a hotel room bed and then secretly inserted these pictures in a workshop presentation Mr. Murray had put together. Another time, during training involving a hazmat protective suit with an oxygen tank, a unit member purposely sealed the suit incorrectly leaving Murray without air. The report said Murrays PTSD arises from calls he attended, including a child run over by a school bus and a stabbing spree at a party, as well as attending autopsies and suicides. Harris wrote: His history brings home the fact that police officers often have to deal with numerous traumatic incidents during the course of their careers. In Mr. Murrays case he also had to deal with what I can only describe as an appalling degree of harassment by police colleagues. I have never heard of any of the complaints of bullying ever, Chief Stephen Tanner said in an interview. I find it disappointing that an individual can bring up several issues at his trial for the very first time. Individuals before the court might say a lot of things to better their position I do not see this as an individual prone to bullying. Myself and many others would be surprised by him being bullied by anyone. Tanner said he has no concerns about the drug units culture. Asked if there will be a probe into the bullying allegations, he said: That is not an immediate concern of mine. Murray, through his lawyer Joanne Mulcahy, declined an interview after his sentencing. He is to perform 240 hours of community service, which Harris suggested should include speaking publicly about addiction. Tanner criticized the sentence, saying, Judges consider a lot of different things, and I think this was balanced a bit more on the mitigating factors and could have taken the seriousness of the offence more into consideration. Murray has been suspended with pay the only option for Ontarios police chiefs since May 2017. He still faces Police Services Act charges and may be fired. Murray, supported in court by his wife, was a promising officer when he was hired in 2001. On the surface, everything seemed to be going very well, wrote Harris. Unfortunately, problems of Titanic proportions lurked beneath the surface. Work and sport injuries left Murray with a damaged knee. He has had seven surgeries. Doctors prescribed painkillers. By the time they ran out, Murray was addicted. In January 2014, he was promoted to staff sergeant in the drug unit, where he worked for years as a detective. In November 2016 an audit of the drug vault found discrepancies. Toronto Police Service was asked to investigate. A drug bust in August 2015 netted 70 oxycodone pills that police sealed in an evidence bag. A week later, an officer processing the seizure photographed a bag of 44 oxycodone pills. When Toronto police later examined the bag, they found 44 pills that did not match those in the photo. Fingerprints on the seal belonged to Murray. The Crown and defence agree Murray stole the oxycodone pills for his own use and did not profit from them. Murrays arrest led to numerous charges dropped against drug suspects out of concern evidence was tampered with. Murray told court that for years he asked supervisors to transfer him out of the unit. Tanner refuted that claim. My understanding is that was the unit where Brad Murray wanted to be. Murray said he never told bosses why he wanted out, an omission the judge criticized. The chief said if an officer asks for help with addiction, the service will provide it. We have an incredibly caring organization that looks after our members, Tanner said. Murray entered a drug-treatment program before his arrest and has been clean for more than a year. He goes to AA meetings and is a peer counsellor in a support group for first responders. He has completed an addiction counsellor diploma and volunteers at a food bank. Most of the polls have closed in an Ontario Election thats set to deliver the province a new government after 15 years of Liberal rule. Premier Kathleen Wynne herself predicted Liberal defeat just days before the vote, as she admitted her party had such low support it would not form government again. The Progressive Conservatives and the NDP have polled neck and neck for most of the campaign, with the Tories giving up a strong lead they held at the beginning. But a tie in popular support could lead to the Tories winning a majority of seats, projections suggest. Tory Leader Doug Ford rolled out several popular promises, from cutting gas prices by 10 cents a litre to introducing buck-a-beer to cutting hydro bills. But he was accused of failing to be transparent by dodging calls to release a fully costed platform. Read more: Full Ontario election coverage With about one week left in the campaign, the party published a list of promises and their price tags, but didnt indicate how they would pay for them, what size of deficits they would run or for exactly how long. Some facts about the Ontario election: Have your say Then in the waning days of the campaign, Ford family drama that had laid mostly dormant in the public sphere since the death of his brother, former Toronto mayor Rob Ford burst onto the scene with a lawsuit from Rob Fords widow alleging Ford mishandled his brothers estate and destroyed the value of the family business. Late in the campaign, to soothe wary voters, Ford also began emphasizing the strength of his team,which includes former long-time legislator Christine Elliott, lawyer and businesswoman Caroline Mulroney and former Postmedia executive and Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. CEO Rod Phillips. By contrast, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath consistently polled as the most popular of the three party leaders, so Ford repeatedly slammed her roster of candidates as radical and inexperienced. The Liberals warned that the NDPs plan was not practical, gleefully pointing out mathematical errors in their platform, including one that increased their proposed deficit by $1.4 billion annually. Wynne also frequently slammed Horwaths opposition to back-to-work legislation, saying it would lead to indefinite strikes. The NDP has been relegated for the past several decades to holding pockets of seats in the north, southwestern Ontario and Toronto. But party insiders say their number crunching shows them poised to capture seats in broader swaths of the province, eyeing several Liberal strongholds. The Liberals came to power in 2003 under Dalton McGuinty, and when he stepped down in 2013, Wynne took the reins. She led the party to a majority in 2014, despite the party already being bogged down by scandals at eHealth Ontario, air ambulance service Ornge and a price tag of up to $1.1 billion to cancel two gas plants. Her popularity began to dip after taking power, and reached well below 20 per cent in 2016 and 2017, in large part due to anger over rising hydro prices. The Liberals eventually cut bills by eight per cent, then another 17 per cent months later, but by her own admission, Wynne failed to recognize early enough the impacts that investments in the energy system were having on peoples wallets. She also faced criticism over her partial privatization of Hydro One and her decision to plunge the provinces books back into the red after finally getting them to balance in 2017-18. Wynne insisted that the billions pumped into health care, child care and a drug and dental-care program represented necessary spending. She spent the last few days of the campaign pleading with voters to elect at least some Liberals. Party insiders say they are worried they could win fewer than eight of the provinces 124 seats, which would mean a loss of official party status in the legislature. Voting hours had to be extended Thursday at seven of the provinces approximately 7,200 polls. Voting hours in those locations were extended anywhere from 20 minutes to four hours beyond the 9 p.m. closing time in the rest of the province. Early in the day a number of voters took to social media to complain of problems with the new technology thats been deployed across half of the provinces voting locations in a bid to cut down staffing levels and speed up results. But Elections Ontario said 99.6 per cent of the polls currently using the new scanning and tabulation machines were working as expected. Read more about: Domenic (Mimmo) Antonio Scopelliti was found guilty of manslaughter in the shooting death of mobster Rocco Zito, his former father-in-law. Scopelliti, 54, was found not guilty on Thursday of the more serious offences of first- and second-degree murder for the Jan. 29, 2016 shooting in Zitos North York bungalow at 160 Playfair Ave. in North York. Scopelliti looked forward and stood straight as he heard the verdict in the University Ave. courthouse. The jury had deliberated since Tuesday afternoon. Sentencing is scheduled for June 20. Scopelliti argued that he shot Zito, 87, to death in self-defence after the longtime mobster threatened him and pulled a gun on him in an argument in the bungalow where they both lived, with seven other family members. The Crown argued that Zito had no gun on him when he was shot dead and that he was in too feeble a state to be a physical threat. Immediately before the shooting, Scopelliti said he called Zito a cop lover, rat and snitch in Italian for threatening to go to police about some relatives in Italy. Scopelliti said Zito insulted and threatened him as Zito stood on the main floor and Scopelliti stood at the bottom of the basement stairs. Immediately before the shooting, Scopelliti told the court that Zito said: Come upstairs or youll regret it, If youre a man youll come upstairs, Your are nothing, youll always be nothing, and Youre going to die before me. Then Zito, a loan shark with a 1986 conviction for manslaughter, pulled a handgun on him, Scopelliti said. Madam Justice Faye McWatt told the jury it must consider whether Scopelliti acted in self-defence, whether the killing was planned and deliberate, and if Scopelliti was provoked. Zitos daughter Angela Buda testified she was standing close to her father and that he did not have a gun when he was shot. Zitos daughters Laura Scopelliti and Franca Zito and two granddaughters also testified they saw no gun on or around Zitos body. Laura Scopelliti was married to the accused; they have since divorced. Defence lawyer Brian Ross argued the women had a motive to protect Zitos reputation. The accused said Zito levelled a gun at him from the top of the stairs and again when Scopelliti rushed up the stairs. He said the gun fell out of Zitos hand when he shot him. The accuseds then-wife said she had never seen Scopelliti so angry. Scopelliti told court that he pulled the .25 calibre gun he used to kill Zito from a cubby hole in the downstairs laundry room. It was fully loaded and held a homemade silencer and was wrapped in a sock meant to catch bullet casings. Court heard there were tense words between Scopelliti and Zito earlier in the week, after Zito announced he had changed his plans on how he wanted his estate divided. After Zito announced his planned changes to the will, Scopelliti bunkered himself in the basement and also ordered his then-wife to stop associating with her father and to stop driving him to medical appointments. Scopelliti has been in custody since turning himself in to police hours after the shooting. Court heard that Zito was a criminal throughout his adult life and remained an active loan shark into his senior years. He was a founding member of the local Camera di Controllo, or ruling body of the Calabrian Ndrangheta Mafia group in the Greater Toronto Area. Police investigators found a half dozen guns in the home after the fatal shooting, as well as ammunition. At the time of his death, Zito had $1,070 in his wallet, including a $1,000 bill; $1,750 in a drawer, $17,475 in a pair of wallets, $2,000 in a paper envelope, $251 in American currency in a briefcase, and 18,570 Euros (roughly $27,900) in another wallet. Laura Scopelliti testified another $100,000 in cash was discovered a duffel bag in Zitos bedroom after his death. A bank statement in the home showed Zito had more than $1 million in a Toronto account. Court heard Zito also had $2 million or $3 million in Italian bank accounts and that his house was mortgage free. How goes Scarborough Centre so goes the province. Thats long been true of this east-end riding, which has picked the winning party in every election since 1971, the only such streak in the province. With an unemployment rate of 9.4 per cent and incomes averaging below provincial and federal levels, its something of an irony that the riding is home to the current minister of economic development. Many voters in the riding, one of the provinces most ethnically diverse, fear being left behind by Ontarios economy. As retiring minister Brad Duguid cedes the seat he has held here since 2003, opening up a tight three-way race, the leading candidates have tried to make the case that, though none has experience in elected office, they will be able to deliver on the issues that matter here: transit, affordable housing, health care, jobs. Liberal candidate Mazhar Shafiq, a special assistant to Don Valley West Liberal MP Robert Oliphant and adviser to Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne since 2013, says many in the riding feel they dont get the attention wealthier areas of the city receive. Our community in Scarborough Centre cares deeply about getting its fair share on better transit options, more job opportunities and jobs that pay a living wage, and stronger pensions to enable our members to retire with dignity. The Liberal plan is investing in these things and I am running to ensure we continue to improve on them, he added. Once a highway engineer in Pakistan, Shafiq came to Canada with his wife and and two young sons 20 years ago. Trying to take the seat away from the Liberals is Progressive Conservative candidate Christina Mitas, a graduate student in leadership and policy at U of Ts Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), president of its alumni association, and a director with Ontario PC Women in Politics. I have knocked on thousands of doors in the last month and talked to countless people, said Mitas. The three most pressing issues the constituents of Scarborough Centre are concerned with are the economy, transportation, and health care. People want to work where they live. We have a well-educated and vibrant community and we need to bring well-paying jobs, lost under the Liberal government, back to the region. I am committed to working to bring good jobs back to Scarborough. She said Scarborough needs more than one subway stop and ageing hospital upgrades, adding: Scarborough Centre has been forgotten for long enough. I am ready to fight for our community. Green Party candidate Sanjin Zeco, an entrepreneur, advocates for people with disabilities as co-founder of BlueScout. Zeco holds a graduate degree in environment and business from the University of Waterloo. I feel the main issues in Scarborough Centre are decent work, housing justice, and respect for social assistance recipients, said Zeco. We need fairer workplaces, stronger enforcement, support for a $15 minimum wage, the creation of decent jobs in our community. NDP candidate Zeyd Bismilla, who teaches psychology, history and geography at Centennial and Durham Colleges, identifies with the communitys economic struggles. Hes been laid off and knows how chronic underfunding to the post-secondary sector hurts students, educators and their families. According to people Im meeting at their doors the key issues are affordability, particularly among middle-class and low-income earners, transit, employment and the long waits and poor health-care service, he said. Bismilla said the NDP platform is tailor-made for this riding, where the annual median income is $25,000 in a population of 120,000 residents. Its a riding where child care, employment and access to health care is very important. People in this riding feel left behind. Theyve been waiting for some of these improvements for over 20 years. Theyre tired of being overlooked and theyre ready for change, Bismilla added. Read more about: On Thursday, 19-year-old Toronto resident Catherine Mihevc will cast her first electoral ballot on the way home from work a turning point in a lifetime of wanting to vote. I will leave home in the morning never having voted, and come back a little different, said the eager Western University business student. For the first time, millennials will make up the largest cohort of voters in an election, surpassing the previously dominant baby boomer generation. It is also the first time people born after the turn of the millennium will be able to vote in Ontario. According to the most recent census, there are over 3.5 million Ontario residents and potential voters between the ages of 18 and 34. Data from Statistics Canada shows that people in this age bracket are the least likely to vote in provincial elections. Only 34 per cent of eligible young voters went to the polls in Ontarios 2014 election. In casting her ballot, Mihevc, daughter of Toronto Councillor Joe Mihevc, is hoping to defy this trend and dispel the notion that young voters are apathetic and wont show up. There are so many issues on the table that affect our daily lives today and for when we think about building our future, she said, citing a list of topics including, school loads, affordable house and even electoral reform. As a canvasser for the movement #ShowtheF---Up, Mihevc has spoken to other young people about whats holding them back from casting a ballot. People think that in the electoral system we have right now, our vote doesnt count as much, she said. Its preventing them from getting out to vote. Read more: Vicky Mochama | Youth vote is a force that should not be ignored They want to be Ontarios next premier. Heres what theyre promising A voters guide to the 2018 Ontario election Paul Adams, a Carleton University professor who formerly worked in the polling industry, said that past elections where youth turnout has been high including the Calgary municipal elections last fall, the 2008 U.S. elections, or the 2015 federal election were centred around positive messaging and interesting leaders. The Ontario election is not Obama 2008 or Trudeau 2015 where you have an attractive, charismatic candidate who seems to embody some of the values more characteristic of young people, Adams said. In this election we have a personally unpopular premier, an erratic and very compromising Conservative leader ... and an NDP candidate who seems to be an acceptable alternative, he added. This is not an election that gets people out to vote for something but against something. Adams says that the millennial vote is impossible to predict, but youth may be motivated to vote against Ford out of an antipathy to U.S. President Donald Trump. If we wake up Friday morning and are surprised by an NDP government, the likely source of that vote would be millennials turning out to vote. For the past month, student leaders and youth activists on the ground have been working to ensure a momentum in millennial civic engagement. I think youth have always been engaged, Stephanie Bertolo, vice-president of education at the McMaster Students Union and a director at the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance, said. Bertolo has helped organize a candidates debate on campus and seen her peers participate in all levels of the electoral process from candidate support to volunteering in debates and discussions. Like Mihevc, Bertolo said students have diverse interests, ranging from tuition, transit and sexual violence prevention. Students very much care about what the candidates are saying and how they will speak to students during their term. Im excited to see what happens, she said. Im hopeful there will be a lot of us out on Election Day. Read more about: The provinces future is now in the hands of its 10.2 million eligible voters. Ontarians head to the polls Thursday knowing one thing for sure: by Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynnes own candid admission last weekend, she will not be premier after the election. That means either Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford or NDP Leader Andrea Horwath will head the provinces next government, ending almost 15 years of Liberal rule at Queens Park. We are not going to form (the next) government. I will not be the premier, Wynne repeated Wednesday, standing on the shore of Lake Erie near the former site of the Nanticoke coal-fired generating plant that the Liberals closed to reduce pollution. There will be lots of what if-ing after the election. When we came into this election there was a clear and strong appetite for change, which is what made it so evident for us that it was going to be a tough election, she said. Ford, who became his partys leader less than three months ago after Patrick Browns surprise resignation, predicted that this will be the most important election in a generation. The stakes have never been higher. The only question that remains is what kind of change will you vote for? he said in Burlington, warning that the NDP want to raise your taxes. I want to assure our public sector workers ... no one, I repeat, no one will lose their jobs, said Ford, who has promised $6 billion in unspecified cuts, but is mindful of former Tory leader Tim Hudaks disastrous 2014 election promise to axe 100,000 public sector jobs to save $2 billion annually. Horwath was in Toronto and Brampton, emphasizing to voters that only the New Democrats can defeat the Conservatives and preserve public services. The NDP leader predicted Fords spending cuts would eliminate 60,000 jobs in the Greater Toronto Area alone, despite his claims that any changes would be painless. Its coming down to the wire, and I dont want to hold Mr. Ford to account after the election I want to stop him on election day, said Horwath. We know that Doug Fords tax cuts for the rich are not going to solve the problems that families have, she told supporters at a campaign office on Weston Rd. Instead, she said, there will be more steep cuts to the services families rely on, under the Tories. The people of Ontario can win this election with a vote for the NDP. Everywhere I go, I can feel the momentum behind us to make sure its the people of Ontario who win this election. With change in the air, Wynne spent the final day of the campaign touting what her Liberals have done to clean it up. That took her to Cabbagetown and, later, to Nanticoke. If this were 2005, theres a good chance that on a warmer June day we would have had a toxic smog advisory, she told reporters on the rooftop of an Ontario St. housing co-op against the backdrop of the downtown skyline. Toxic chemicals would have been spreading all across the province, jeopardizing peoples health. Kids with asthma would have been filling up the ER and schools would be cancelling recess and runners like me would have been getting an advisory not to go running, the Liberal leader said. Thats what life was like under the Conservative government. The air was not always safe and some days it was downright dangerous to be outside, she said, referring to the 1995-2003 reign of former Progressive Conservative premiers Mike Harris and Ernie Eves. After Liberal Dalton McGuinty was elected in 2003, Queens Park put more of an emphasis on cleaning up the environment, promoting sometimes controversially and expensively green energy, among other initiatives. Wynne noted that along with closing Nanticoke and eliminating all coal-fired generation, the Liberals partnered with Quebec and California for a cap-and-trade system to discourage businesses from polluting the air with greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change. While praising Horwaths New Democrats for supporting such environmental policies, she warned that Fords Tories are living in a different decade, talking about slashing regulations that protect your familys health. Horwath has said she would keep cap-and-trade, which brings in $1.9 billion that by law must be used to bankroll environmental programs, such as retrofitting old buildings and boosting public transit infrastructure. Ford has vowed to eliminate any form of what he calls a carbon tax, but has not said how he would account for the loss in revenue from scrapping such programs. The campaigns final week had moments of unexpected drama, beginning with Wynnes acknowledgment Saturday that her party could not possibly win the election. She then criss-crossed the province in a mad scramble to preserve Liberals seats, hoping her party can hold the balance of power in a minority Legislature and prevent a majority PC or New Democratic government. The second jolt came Monday, with the revelation that Ford and his older brother, Randy, are being sued for $16.5 million by the widow of their late brother, former Toronto mayor Rob Ford. Renata Fords lawsuit alleges the Ford brothers have used money from their fathers estate to create the illusion the family business, Deco Labels and Tags, is profitable when it has lost $5 million in the last seven years. In addition, the suit accuses Doug Ford of taking an extravagant salary from Deco that is not justified. None of the claims have not been proven in court. Ford called them false and without merit, but refused to bow to pressure from Horwath and Wynne to reveal his salary at Deco or disclose the companys audited financial statements. Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is framing Thursdays election as a stark choice between her party and Doug Fords Progressive Conservatives. The three main party leaders made their pitches to undecided voters on Wednesday. (The Canadian Press) Read more about: The four main leaders vying for your vote in the provincial election explain why you should choose them to be the next premier of Ontario. Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford: After 15 years of the Liberals, Ontario is worse off than it was. The only question is who will deliver real change that puts the people first. We know the NDP will raise taxes, increase hydro bills and put us further in debt. The last time the NDP were trusted with power, over a million people were forced on welfare, unemployment skyrocketed and the economy tanked. Todays NDP has not changed. We see this in the numerous radical and unready NDP candidates who have been caught accusing our soldiers of war crimes, arrested for acts of sabotage or demanding a carbon tax that will drive up the price of gas by 35 cents per litre. When you vote today, the only option for real change is the Ontario PC Party. We have a strong team of candidates that are ready to govern on day one. Our plan will put more money in your pocket by cutting gas taxes by 10 cents per litre, reducing hydro bills by 12 per cent and reducing the tax burden on middle-class families by 20 per cent. Our plan will also create jobs and grow the economy while investing in better health care and other services for you and your family. By supporting your local PC candidate today you can help deliver real change for the people. Help is on the way. NDP Leader Andrea Horwath: Imagine four years of Doug Fords cuts, privatization and corruption starting tomorrow. We dont need to hold Doug Ford to account after the election. We need to stop Doug Ford today. So, if you have voted Liberal in the past, I invite you to join us. A vote for Wynne now is a vote for Ford. And we dont have to go from bad to worse. Something special is happening in Ontario. People are imagining a place where no one skips their medication because they cant afford it, and hospital waits are shorter. An Ontario where everyone can get dental care, and child care costs and hydro bills are affordable again. Im asking the very richest people and the very richest corporations to pay a little more to make this happen. With Doug Ford, people will pay the price instead. His $6 billion in cuts will mean firing thousands of nurses and closing hundreds of schools. And his tax breaks for the very richest people and richest corporations will come out of your pocket. We cant afford Ford. Instead, lets choose change for the better. Together, we can do this. Green party Leader Mike Schreiner: People tell me they are frustrated by the three status quo parties and a campaign that has been more circus than substance. This frustrates me, too. The Green party believes we can do politics differently by putting people first, ahead of party and ideology. While the other parties tear each other down, we want to build Ontario up. I lead a socially progressive, financially responsible party determined to leave a livable planet for our children and grandchildren. That is why we will not offer quick fixes, simple answers or blank cheques. These end up costing us more. What we offer is honesty and a promise to think beyond the next election cycle. Instead of negative campaigning, Greens in every riding have fought for honest solutions on housing, mental health, transit and helping local businesses, offering bold ideas for leaping into the clean economy now. Elected Greens across Canada are bringing integrity back to politics and putting people before party. This is the change I want to champion for Guelph and for Ontario. We are ready to take our first seats at Queens Park. Today, a Green vote is not a wasted vote. Its an historic vote. Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne: I know Ontario is ready to make a change in government. I accept that. Change is natural. In fact, positive change is what I have striven for every day as your premier. Change that would benefit families of all sorts and in all corners of Ontario. Weve created a million new jobs, taken unemployment to a 20-year low, raised the minimum wage, expanded OHIP to cover prescriptions, made tuition free for hundreds of thousands of students and put in place a real plan to fight climate change. Ive tried to make this province a better, fairer place to live. Ontario has changed. Still, I know there will be a new government. But my sense is that voters dont want to hand out any blank cheques. They worry about what Doug Ford might do to hospitals, schools and vital services. They also worry about the harm an NDP majority might do to our economy. By voting Liberal and sending as many Liberal MPPs to Queens Park as possible, you can stop either a Ford or an NDP majority government. You can keep the next government from doing whatever it wants, instead of what you want. By voting Liberal you can keep a new government accountable to you. Read more: Party leaders take parting shots on final day of Ontario election campaign Opinion | Martin Regg Cohn: Why your vote is a terrible thing to waste For full election news and results, visit the Stars Ontario election page. Read more about: We are now going to explain the War of 1812 to you. Why not? We didnt think wed find ourselves here, either. But on Wednesday, CNN reported that the 206-year-old war figured prominently in a discussion between U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada on May 25. According to CNNs unnamed sources, Trump asked Trudeau, Didnt you guys burn down the White House? The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. then confirmed the CNN report. The Times has not independently confirmed the remarks. Its unclear if the president was trying to make a joke during what was, reportedly, a tense call about his decision to impose steep tariffs on metals imported from Canada, Mexico and the European Union. Get the news in your inbox: For the day's top news from the Star's award-winning journalists, sign up for our headlines newseltter. Any lesson on the War of 1812 probably isnt the most vivid memory people have from their high school history classes, so its details may be fuzzy to many. And with the war suddenly in the news and the butt of jokes on social media, they might fairly wonder: Well, did Canada burn down the White House? No, Canada did not burn down the White House during the War of 1812, which was fought with Britain over maritime rights. What is now Canada was not yet a country in 1812, but rather British colonies. Canada didnt become a nation until 1867, long after British troops did, in fact, burn down the White House in 1814. The fire gutted the presidents house along with several other crucial structures in Washington, which was still a relatively small town when the seat of government moved there 14 years earlier. The inferno was so great that the glow in the night sky was seen from 50 miles away, the White House Historical Association wrote. So you cant really pin that on Canada, considering that Canada didnt exist. But it is a bit more complicated than that. Read more: Trudeau warns of difficult talks between G7 leaders on intractable issues Trump, who had complained about attending G7 summit, vows tough talk on trade at meetings Pipeline purchase, tariffs shake up climate change talks at G7 The United States did invade the colonies that later became Canada and were, at the time, controlled by the British. Ask some people in Canada and they would very much feel it was their war, marked by American aggression. Former prime minister Stephen Harper, Trudeaus Conservative predecessor, made a point of extensively commemorating the war at its 200-year anniversary, spending millions in 2012 on events, advertising and exhibitions. Two hundred years ago, the United States invaded our territory, a narrator ominously said in one government ad. But we defended our land; we stood side by side and won the fight for Canada. Other Canadians were bewildered by Harpers focus on the war, as many Canadians are just as unfamiliar with the war as Americans. The United States couldnt muster much interest in remembering the war; legislation in New York to plan events was vetoed in 2009, 2010 and 2011 because of tight finances and a $1.4 million (U.S.) price tag. Some people might think the War of 1812 inspired the famous 1812 Overture by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It didnt. It did, however, spawn another noted piece of musical history that has been in the news lately: The Star-Spangled Banner. Francis Scott Key composed the words as the British bombarded Fort McHenry in Baltimore from warships, according to the White House Historical Association. The sides came to a peace agreement in 1814, when neither side cared to continue fighting. Read more about: WASHINGTONIn a rare move to fight Donald Trump, six Republican senators have introduced a bill that would give Congress the power to approve or reject the presidents new steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada and other allies. The bill represents the most significant legislative effort taken by a group of Republican senators to constrain Trumps economic powers. It reflects widespread unease among Republican senators with Trumps use of a national security provision to impose tariffs on friendly countries. Still, it faces difficult odds. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is opposed. Even Republicans uncomfortable with Trumps trade moves are reluctant to challenge a president who is overwhelmingly popular with party voters. And the bill would have to be endorsed by two-thirds of the Senate and House to override the likely Trump veto. It is possible, though, that the bill could influence policy even if it does not become law. Politico reported that Republicans who oppose the tariffs but dont want to antagonize Trump could back off if Trump throws them a bone by exempting Canada for now. If the legislation threatens to divide the caucus, and to drive a wedge between the caucus and the president in an election year, I can see McConnell and maybe (House Speaker Paul) Ryan going to the president and saying, You need to back off some of these tariffs to make this go away, said Dan Ikenson, director of trade policy studies at Washingtons libertarian Cato Institute. Trump does not currently appear to be in the mood to compromise. The Washington Post reported Wednesday that Trump has mused about finding new ways to punish Canada in recent days, frustrated with the countrys retaliatory trade moves. The bill was unveiled on Wednesday by Republican Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, five other Republican senators and four Democratic senators. Corker met on Monday with Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland. Making claims regarding national security to justify what is inherently an economic question not only harms the very people we all want to help and impairs relations with our allies but also could invite our competitors to retaliate, Corker said in a statement. Corker said Trump had personally asked him not to go forward with the bill. Other Republicans criticized the Corker effort, saying Trump should be given a free hand on trade. Now is not the time to undercut President Trumps ability to negotiate better trade deals. I will not support any efforts that weaken his position, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said in a statement. The intra-Republican battle demonstrates how Trump has changed and challenged a party that until his election stood for free trade. Numerous Republicans have been more willing to criticize Trump on trade than on any other issue. The bill would require a congressional vote on any tariff the president wants to impose under the Section 232 national security provision of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which Trump controversially used to impose a 25 per cent steel tariff and 10 per cent aluminum tariff on Canada, Mexico, the European Union and other foreign countries. At the moment, the president can decide on his own to use the national security provision. The bill would be retroactive two years, so it would give Congress a vote on not only future tariff proposals but on these tariffs. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Freeland have reacted with outrage to the use of a national security provision to hit Canada, a close military ally. Trudeau called the move an affront to the Canadian soldiers who have fought and died with American soldiers. He has unveiled a suite of retaliatory tariffs on more than 100 American products, to take effect on July 1. The Section 232 national security provision is written broadly. It allows the president to impose tariffs on the grounds that a weak domestic industry could harm U.S. national security; he does not have to explicitly deem a foreign country a security threat. Canada, though, argues that it is an insult regardless. An Abacus poll released Thursday showed broad cross-partisan Canadian opposition to Trumps tariffs 79 per cent of respondents were opposed and broad support for Trudeaus response. Seventy-one per cent endorsed Trudeaus retaliation, including 65 per cent of Conservative voters. Read more about: COPENHAGENAn Uzbek man who drove a stolen truck into a crowd in Stockholm, killing five people and wounding 14 others, was convicted Thursday of terror-related murder and given a life sentence. Rakmat Akilov had said he wanted to punish Sweden for joining a coalition against Daesh, also known as ISIS or ISIL. In January, he was charged with terror-related murder and attempted murder for the attack with a beer truck on April 7, 2017. Those killed were a British man, a Belgian woman and three Swedes, including an 11-year-old girl. Judge Ragnar Palmkvist said Akilov, 40, was the only suspect in the attack. Prosecutor Hans Ihrman called him a security risk to society during his trial at the Stockholm District Court. Ihrman said he was satisfied with the ruling. Akilovs defence lawyer, Johan Eriksson, said he had talked with his client who was disappointed by the decision. Eriksson said Akilov didnt immediately decide whether to appeal and needed to read the 145-page verdict thoroughly first. The prosecution had demanded a life sentence while Eriksson said his client had been co-operative throughout the investigation and should be given a lesser sentence. Palmkvist said the fact that Akilov had been co-operative and had confessed didnt have any influence on the life sentence, which is the heaviest penalty in Sweden and is normally about 18 years. The court sentenced Akilov to be expelled from Sweden after he serves his sentence, and banned him from returning. After plowing the truck into a crowd on a busy shopping street and crashing into the upscale Ahlens department store in central Stockholm, Akilov also planned to blow himself up. He failed, and caused a smaller explosion inside the truck. He then fled via the subway but was arrested hours later. He was found guilty of five counts of terror-related murder, 119 counts of attempted murder and 24 of endangering the life of others. Judge Carl Rosenmuller told Swedens TT news agency that it was considered attempted murder on anyone who had been up to 2 metres (6.6. feet) from the truck racing down Drottninggatan, while people further away were considered having been endangered. The truck displaced lion-shaped boulders, similar to roadblocks that were put up in several European capitals after another truck attack killed 12 people at a Christmas market in Berlin in 2016. Akilov was born in Uzbekistan and worked there as a construction worker. He came to Sweden in 2014 and applied for asylum, claiming he had been persecuted. His application was rejected and he was ordered to leave Sweden in December 2016. Instead, he went underground, eluding authorities attempts to track him down. Swedens domestic intelligence agency has said it had nothing indicating that he was planning an attack. On April 6 the eve of the attack Akilov swore allegiance to Daesh. During the trial, evidence showed how Akilov used 53 SIM cards and social media including WhatsApp, Telegram, Viber, Facebook and Zello to communicate with others about his activities. Akilov has said he proposed carrying out an attack in Stockholm to Daesh on their behalf. It was not clear whether the group had accepted his offer. Investigators have found internet chat logs with unknown people in which Akilov discussed becoming a martyr. They have also found a memory card with execution videos and thousands of photos, including one of Daesh leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Twenty-three families were resettled to houses constructed within the second stage of restoration in the Jojug Marjanli village of the Jabrayil District, which was liberated from the Armenian occupation in April 2016, Jabrayil District Executive Authority Head Kamal Hasanov said, Trend reported. Hasanov said the second stage was launched a few days ago and 23 families have been settled in the village. He noted that the families were provided with transportation services. "The migration process continues and families will be gradually settled in the houses," he said. WASHINGTONBefore President U.S. Donald Trump sits down with a third-generation North Korean autocrat, he will face what may well turn out to be a tougher crowd some of Americas oldest allies. With his new tariffs increasing U.S. isolation, Trump heads to Canada on Friday for a meeting of the Group of Seven industrialized nations. The White House is expecting a chilly reception from Canada and West European countries, already frustrated over Trumps withdrawal from the Paris climate accord and the Iran nuclear agreement. German Chancellor Angela Merkel previewed the dynamics on Wednesday, telling the German parliament that it is apparent that we have a serious problem with multilateral agreements here, and so there will be contentious discussions. Trump signalled a tough tone on Twitter Thursday, saying: Getting ready to go to the G7 in Canada to fight for our country on Trade (we have the worst trade deals ever made) Anticipating a tense two days in Quebec, Trump has complained about having to attend the summit, particularly since it comes just before his high-stakes meeting in Singapore with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said two people with knowledge of his thinking. But the White House has signalled no change in plans. The president wants to go on the trip, Larry Kudlow, Trumps top economic adviser, said of the summit in Canada. The president is at ease with all of these tough issues. Read more: Finance Minister Bill Morneau cant sugar coat uncertainty under U.S. tariffs Trudeau warns of difficult talks between G7 leaders on intractable issues Analysis | Daniel Dale: Making billions screwing us: Trump has long been suspicious of American allies There may be disagreements, Kudlow added. I regard this as much like a family quarrel. Trump also is set to hold a series of one-on-one meetings, including with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron. Trump is unlikely to back away from the nationalistic policies that have frustrated and unnerved allies but which he sees as key promises to his most loyal voters. He has highlighted his efforts on Twitter, writing Monday: The U.S. has made such bad trade deals over so many years that we can only WIN! Kudlow said allies should understand that Trump will do what is necessary to protect the U.S., its businesses and its workforce, adding that Trump has always said, and I agree, tariffs are a tool in that effort. Trump announced in March that he was imposing tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum, but he temporarily granted a waiver to U.S allies like Canada, Mexico and the European Union, and also to China, as his administration said trade talks were continuing. Trump ended that temporary relief this month, seeking to pressure the other countries to cut new trade agreements with the U.S. Japan was never granted a waiver, despite Prime Mininster Shinzo Abes pleas. Asked if the administration will respect decisions from the World Trade Organization on tariffs, Kudlow said that international multilateral organizations are not going to determine American policy. I think the presidents made that very clear. This will be Trumps second summit of the G7, an informal gathering that meets every year under a rotating chairmanship. The member countries are: Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Germany, the United States and the Britain. The European Union also attends. While trade is expected to dominate, Trudeau also wants to focus on gender equality and climate change. Kudlow was vague on whether the summit will produce a joint decision or a clear outcome on trade or other issues, saying let them meet first. The meeting comes after a gathering of G7 finance ministers concluded last week with a message of concern and disappointment to Trump from the other six countries. Describing the tense three days, Bruno Le Maire, Frances finance and economy minister, said it was far more a G-6 plus one than a G7. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin responded: We believe in the G7, its an important group, adding that Trump looks forward to the gathering. The increasingly critical tone from allies is a shift after leaders spent the past year and a half seeking to woo and cajole the American president. Thomas Wright, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told reporters that for Trumps first 500 days, these countries generally were bent over backwards not to criticize President Trump. They tried to have close relations with him. They all tried to hug him close, as we used to say about Blair and Bush. But Wright added: There is a feeling, I think, over the last few months, that that approach has not borne fruit, and that they havent really gotten anything for that friendly approach. Canada in particular has been outraged by Trumps tariffs, taking umbrage at the argument that they were motivated by national security concerns. Trudeau told NBC: The idea that we are somehow a national security threat to the United States is, quite frankly, insulting and unacceptable. Edward Alden, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said this marked the lowest point in decades in Canada-U.S. relations, describing the two countries as allies that have fought and died alongside each other since World War I. This is deeply offensive to Canadians, Alden said. Kudlow played down any conflict, saying he had no doubt the United States and Canada will remain firm friends and allies whatever short-term disagreements may occur. Read more about: WASHINGTONWhen U.S. President Donald Trump hit Canada, Mexico and the European Union with steel and aluminum tariffs last week, the response from his critics was unanimous: this is no way to act toward your allies. This is dumb, said Republican Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, summing up the prevailing sentiment in Congress. Europe, Canada and Mexico are not China, and you dont treat allies the same way you treat opponents. Trump disagrees with such arguments. Because he thinks allies are also opponents. Its not that he hasnt thought about Americas ally relationships. Its that he has a different view of those relationships than almost everybody else in Washington. He views them as a series of zero-sum economic transactions, in which one country must win and the other must lose, rather than as mutually beneficial long-term partnerships to be nurtured. And, contrary to the overwhelming view of economists and scholars of international relations, he thinks America has consistently been the loser. Trump has changed his positions on numerous political issues, but his view that allied countries are taking advantage of the U.S. has been consistent for decades. In a 1990 interview with Playboy, he said, Our allies are making billions screwing us. He referred to Japan, West Germany, Saudi Arabia and South Korea as so-called allies by which the U.S. was being ripped off so badly. They have no respect for us, because theyre getting a free ride, he said of Japan. Of course, its not just the Japanese or the Europeans the Saudis, the Kuwaitis walk all over us. Read more: Trudeau warns of difficult talks between G7 leaders on intractable issues Trump adviser says president wants to make separate trade deals with Canada and Mexico Editorial | At the G7 summit, Justin Trudeau must draw a line with Donald Trump Trump has used the same language this year. In February, talking about countries that take advantage of the United States, he said, Some of them are our so-called allies, but theyre not allies on trade. He went further in March, accusing allies of hurting the U.S. more than its enemies have. Even our friends took advantage. Our friends are friends. Theyre wonderful people, but we said, You cant do that anymore. Those days are over. Frankly, our friends did more damage to us than our enemies. Because we didnt deal with our enemies, we dealt with our friends, and we dealt incompetently, he said. Heather Conley, deputy assistant secretary of state dealing with northern and central Europe during the George W. Bush administration, said Trumps unusual view of alliances may have come from his business experience. There are no long-term allies in business, just temporary business transactions that must be won until something different is needed, said Conley, now director of the Europe program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Typically, Conley said in an email, U.S. foreign policy views an alliance as an amplification of American power and strength. President Trump believes it rips off America and reduces U.S. power. It is a very different world view from previous U.S. leaders in the post-World War II era. Trumps words and acts are expected to make for an awkward G7 summit Friday and Saturday in Quebec. The other six members are dismayed with him over the tariffs, and their finance ministers issued a weekend statement of condemnation. Its not only G7 allies that have been alarmed by Trumps money-centric view of U.S. alliances. Last year, he set off a furor in South Korea by declaring that the country needed to cover the $1-billion cost of a missile defence system the U.S. was installing in the country. His national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, quickly announced that the U.S. would keep its promise to pay. Trump has broken with allies on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, on the Paris climate accord and on the Iran nuclear deal. His latest ally-alienating decisions on trade have come as he has offered praise for the leaders of some traditional adversaries, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. (Trump has also criticized both in sharp terms.) He announced the tariffs the day before he held a friendly White House meeting with a top North Korean official. It is indeed head-exploding that many of Americas longtime democratic allies are in crisis mode (with the U.S.) on the same day Trump announces a summit with worlds last totalitarian, Aaron David Miller, a former veteran State Department adviser on the Middle East, said on Twitter. Approval of U.S. leadership has plummeted under Trump in almost every allied country except for Israel, according to Pew Research global polling. Ben Rhodes, a former foreign policy adviser to Barack Obama, warned on Twitter of severe and lasting damage to Americas standing, saying the U.S. is acting for no reason other than Trumps ego and impulses. Other Trump critics suspect the direct or indirect influence of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose interests are served by discord between the U.S. and allies. Trumps campaign is under investigation over its relationships with Putins government, which is widely thought to have intervened in the 2016 U.S. election on Trumps behalf. Two years ago, when I wrote about Putin wanting Trump to win, never could Putin have imagined that a President Trump would be declaring our closest allies national security threats. Trump delivering well beyond what Putin had ever hoped for, Michael McFaul, a U.S. ambassador to Russia under Obama, said on Twitter. Trump supporters, though, see a president taking necessary stands his predecessors were too feeble to attempt. Randall Schweller, a rare international relations scholar who supports Trump, said the death of the Soviet Union and the decline of Daesh (also known as ISIS) mean the U.S. doesnt need its allies like it used to. Now, he said, the president is free to stop allies from coasting on the benefits provided at a cost by a dominant America. Simply put, Trump no longer sees the necessity of keeping allies happy at the expense of the American people, so hes trying to solve the free-rider problem, Schweller, a political science professor at Ohio State University, said in an email. The bumper-sticker line to U.S. allies: No more Uncle Sugar. Allies do not appear to have figured out an effective way to deal with such a president. The Playboy interview suggests he will test them to the end. I will demand anything I can get, he said 28 years ago. When youre doing business, you take people to the brink of breaking them without having them break, to the maximum point their heads can handle without breaking them. Read more about: At this weekends G7 summit, Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus reputation as a leader on climate change is at stake. Many people are already saying he has already lost it. The purchase of the Trans Mountain pipeline, and the increased oilsands production its expansion will enable, have significant consequences for Canada and the world in terms of carbon pollution. How that decision can be squared with Canadas climate change targets, with the governments signature pan-Canadian climate framework, or with its narrative of climate action remains unclear. The decision has also been noticed, and questioned, well beyond Canadas borders. Some observers have said the prime minister had no choice but to approve the pipeline. Im inclined to disagree. Regardless, its clear to everyone that he faces another key decision point on climate change as the host of the upcoming G7 summit. To understand this G7 its worth recalling last years summit in Italy. That was the first major foray on the world stage for U.S. President Donald Trump, as well as French President Emmanuel Macron. At the time, it was still unclear how the new U.S. administration would affect global diplomacy, leading to a strange outcome for the summit. The seven countries issued a joint statement, wherein six countries reaffirmed their commitment to addressing climate change, and the U.S. was reduced to a footnote saying the Trump administration had yet to decide what to do about the Paris Agreement. One year later, the same cast of characters (with the exception of Italy) is meeting in Canada. The novelty that surrounded the Trump administration has dissipated. The president may be an agent of division and disruption, but hes no longer an unknown commodity. The other G7 leaders will be arriving in Charlevoix having formulated strategies to deal with him. They will also be arriving with an unprecedented level of anger. Last weeks decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports pushed many of them to the breaking point. At their meeting last week, finance ministers issued a statement rebuking the U.S. and saying the G7 itself has been put at risk by trade actions against other members. So what kind of climate outcome will Canada stickhandle as the host of this G7 leaders summit? The prime minister has made climate change a key focus for his government and its global diplomacy legacy. On the world stage, his government came out of the gates strong with its Canada is back declaration at the Paris climate talks, and helping launch a global alliance supporting the transition away from burning coal. Since then, other leaders have stolen the spotlight. In France, Macron has doubled down on climate policy. France is banning the sale of new gasoline or diesel cars after 2040, for example one of several clear signals that will encourage industries to innovate and accelerate the transition to a clean economy. Similarly, while Canada focuses on implementation and hesitates to set more ambitious climate targets, the United Kingdom recently announced it will legislate a net-zero carbon emissions target for the country. Thats something the European Union is also pursuing, showing that even Brexit cant derail progress on this issue. Climate change, like trade, has become a central issue of global diplomacy today. And its become clear that seeking compromise or consensus with the current U.S. president, in the hope that Canada can stay on his good side, is a fools errand. With the prime minister issuing what amounts to a declaration of trade war on Thursday, the days of cosying up to this White House ought to be over. This government will rightly be judged by what it says and does as the host of this years G7. A strong climate outcome would reaffirm the Paris Agreement with promises of greater action. That action includes shifting financial flows, following through on the G7s long-standing promise to end fossil fuel subsidies, and providing finance to the developing countries who have been historically most affected by climate change. It also requires a recognition of the connections between issues, such as climate change and ocean protection and marine litter, and the need to help workers, communities and Indigenous people transition as our energy systems change. Being a global leader in 2018 means backing up narratives of climate leadership with tangible action. Canada will need to be courageous and deliver a meaningful outcome on climate change this weekend. And then we need to take the domestic action to back that up. Catherine Abreu is the executive director of Climate Action Network Canada, a coalition of 115 organizations across the country working on climate change. Read more about: Two men walk into a bar. And then chaos. A shootout in the parking lot between police and an armed suspect just after midnight on Thursday. The 36-year-old suspect was killed, struck multiple times by three officers who returned fire. One officer miraculously survived a gunshot to the chest, an inch below his heart, the bullet piercing through his cellphone, tucked into the front pocket of his Kevlar vest, then blunted by the vests ballistic plate. A couple of inches higher and there would have been no protection. The vest did its job. Less than five feet away from the shooter, was the officer, identified as Det.-Const. Arjuna Raveendran of 41 Division four years with Toronto police according to a source with knowledge of the investigation. Deeply bruised ribs, sore and in shock, but mercifully alive, already released from Sunnybrook hospital, at home now with his wife and child. The same hospital where emergency room staff fought hard to save the suspects life but there was little they could do for him, so grievous were his wounds. The Scarborough resident was pronounced dead at 12:41 a.m. Shell casings littered the scene, at first marked by plastic beer cups from the bar, later replaced by yellow evidence markers after forensic officers arrived. Also recovered was a gun and a holster which did not belong to any of the officers involved three of them designated subject officers, three as witness officers. A late model white Mercedes, in which the suspect had been seated when the shootout began, was riddled with bullet holes. Two police cruisers that had responded to a call-out about a fight and a man with a gun at the Muckish Irish Pub on Warden Ave. in Scarborough remained in situ Thursday afternoon where the officers had jumped out, one vehicle in the lot and one on adjacent Hymus Rd. The pub is popular with off-duty officers and firefighters from a fire hall behind the small strip plaza. The mayhem began to unfold, as recounted by pub staff, when a bar customer realized that one of the men who entered the premises was carrying a firearm. That person made the 911 call. That person, a regular patron always orders precisely one pint of Guinness and precisely one basket of chicken wings happened to be an off-duty cop. Sources have identified the officer as Const. Kevin Marshall, from downtowns 51 Division. Marshall noticed one of the men had a gun tucked in his waistband. He watched as the man left the bar and ordered employees to lock the doors to prevent the man from possibly re-entering. Simultaneously he placed the 911 call, as described by a bartender. Cops were on the scene within minutes. It is unclear what triggered the shootout but sources say the suspect fired first. I cant get into that information, said Special Investigations Unit (SIU) spokesperson Monica Hudon, during a news conference at the scene late Thursday morning. That will be part of the investigation. But the suspect was still in the car when shooting erupted. Bar employees told the Star that the shooter and the man he was with were familiar to them as associates of an individual who has purportedly been in negotiations to take over the lease on the premises. Muckish named for a mountain in Donegal, Ireland and recently celebrating its 10th anniversary is operated by publican John McFadden. McFadden spent several hours Thursday being interviewed by members of the Special Investigations Unit, which probes all incidents involving police when a civilian is either killed, seriously injured or sexually assaulted. Half a dozen SIU investigators have been assigned to the case, along with three forensic investigators. Hudon could not, or would not, say how many times the victim had been struck. The mans identity was being withheld until next of kin can be informed and consent obtained to release his name. All three subject officers discharged their weapons. Despite accounts provided to the Star, it is not absolutely confirmed that Raveendran was shot by the suspect during the frantic fusillade, with four guns firing. In terms of what firearm (struck the officer), that would be determined by forensic analysis, said Hudon. Neither has it yet been established whether the shooter had threatened anybody in the bar before he left. We are trying to determine what transpired in the pub, said Hudon. That information will come out later as the investigation proceeds. The Star has obtained documents showing that the Mercedes had been leased from the Kharisma Saree Centre a Scarborough womens clothing store specializing in saris, which was shut up tight Thursday by Platinum Car Rental, and then rented out. At Platinum, the day manager confirmed the plate number as one of their rentals but would not provide any details about who had leased it. Until informed by the Star, he was unaware that one of the companys cars had been shot full of holes by police. Police Chief Mark Saunders was at the scene early Thursday morning. Having the proper equipment from all aspects of policing is something that I feel is so much more critical in todays environment, he told reporters. Kevlar vests are bullet-resistant, not 100 per cent bullet proof, against projectiles travelling at more than 1,000 feet per second, at close range. When I got on the job wearing a vest was optional and I remember police would be complaining because theyre cumbersome and its summer and its hot. And Ive got to tell you I think those days are gone now when we talk about options. The wild shooting episode is only the latest in a slew of gunfire incidents, with 175 shootings in Toronto as of June 3, with 229 victims 62 in May alone and 38 homicides since the start of 2018. Saunders commented on the increased gun violence, especially over the past few weeks. I dont care what people say about whether or not we like or dont like the police, nobody wants to get shot. Were in communities where we have young kids that are playing, summer is coming up and the fact that people will pull a gun out and use a firearm is of great concern. The SIU has interviewed numerous witnesses, civilians and police in the Muckish event but are anxious to obtain any video evidence that may have been captured by cellphones. Footage can be uploaded directly onto the SIU website. One man dead but it could have been so much worse. Just pure luck, said Mike McCormack, head of the Toronto Police Association, addressing how close the city came to losing a police officer. If the trajectory of the bullet had been just a bit higher, he would have been hit in the head. What I can tell you about the officer is that hes a good copper. With files from Wendy Gillis Read more about: VANCOUVER Without the use of forced labour and current subsidies, more than half of the worlds industrial fisheries would not be profitable. High levels of secrecy made cost estimates of fishing in the high seas waters beyond international jurisdiction nearly impossible, according to a new report released on Wednesday. Findings also outlined the possibility of individual companies catching more than they are releasing to fisheries agencies, thereby making more money while still receiving government subsidies. Global catches are 30 per cent larger than those reported by the Food and Agriculture Organization on behalf of countries, said Daniel Pauly, Sea Around Us principal investigator. And unfair labour compensation or no compensation at all are key cost-reducing factors. This phenomenon manifests itself both at sea through forced labour, and on land through the use of child slavery, added Dirk Zeller, head of Sea Around Us at the University of Western Australia. Some high-sea fisheries, such as those exploited by China and Taiwan are profitable only after assuming government subsidies and low labour costs. Overfishing and harmful practices have environmental, social and economic impacts, analysts said. Researchers from the National Geographic Society, the University of California at Santa Barbara, Global Fishing Watch, and the Sea Around Us at the University of British Columbia and Western Australia joined forces for the project. Using newly compiled satellite data combined with machine learning, the group was able to paint a far more accurate picture of fishing efforts, using imaging to track 3,620 individual vessels behaviour and fishing activity in near real-time. Thats how the team determined how large a catch was and how much profit it generated. Just six countries China, Taiwan, Japan, Indonesia, Spain and South Korea accounted for 77 per cent of the global high seas fishing fleet. Profit estimates without accounting for subsidies ranged from a loss of $364 million to $1.4 billion in 2014. But governments subsidized high-seas fishing with $4.2 billion, the report noted, identifying fishing hot spots near Peru, Argentina and Japan which were dominated by Chinese, Taiwanese and South Korean squid fishing fleets. In fact, evidence linking human rights abuses to Taiwans international fishing fleet throughout the supply chain, including major seafood trader Fong Chun Formosa Fishery Company, was released last week by Greenpeace International. High-seas fishing covering 64 per cent of the oceans surface but yielding 10 per cent of the catch is a free-for-all and poorly managed, said Rashid Sumaila, director of fisheries economics research at the University of British Columbia Fisheries Centre. And monitoring activity in the deep waters was difficult for several reasons; boats may sneak in to the region to avoid reporting catches and transhipment, a method by which larger boats off-load their catch onto smaller country boats so that they dont have to return to port and stay out months at a time. These methods are illegal, Sumaila noted. Theyre competing over taking the fish but there is no monitoring, he explained. Theyre overfishing and killing the base. Industrial fishing countries argue that the industry provides jobs and food security, suggesting that new controls would reduce the global catch, estimated at 4.4 million tonnes per year. But the data shows fish stock can actually increase when controlled and managed sustainably, Sumaila said. And once a government offers subsidies its impossible to remove as people will vote against new regulations. Fish do not respect borders and move from the high seas to country waters: With better controls, countries would be able to catch sustainably rather than overfish, he added. Researchers are calling for significant fishery reforms and pointed to an upcoming United Nations meeting which has been attempting at regulating subsidies in September, where hopes are to create protected areas in the high seas. We can play a vital role internationally such as the upcoming G7 meetings to help push the world to sensible management of the high seas, Sumaila said, noting Canada has virtually zero footprint in the high seas. Meanwhile on the first UN International Day for the Fight against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing, Fisheries and Oceans, Canada stated in a release on Tuesday that IUU fishing would be a critical point of discussion at G7 talks in Quebec beginning June 8. The impacts of IUU fishing can be seen in fish stocks around the world and directly affect global food security, in addition to being linked to other security threats, such as illegal trafficking of drugs, weapons and people, said Fisheries Minister Dominic LeBlanc. Subsidies are propping up fishing activity to levels far beyond what would otherwise be economically rational, said Christopher Costello from UC-Santa Barbara. This implies that through targeted subsidy reforms, we could save taxpayers money, rebuild fish stocks, and eventually lead to higher value, lower volume fisheries. The study was released on Wednesday in Science Advances. Read more about: VANCOUVERWhile the province has just released a report summarizing the results of their public engagement progress how to promote unbiased policing, data from Vancouver Police Department show that street checks, also known as carding, happen to Indigenous and Black people at a disproportionately high rate. In March and April, the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General invited the public to fill out a questionnaire on how to promote unbiased policing as part of new policing standards being developed across the province. The new report summarized 231 responses as well as a number of expert submissions. The report shows that the majority of respondents found all suggestions for improving bias to be important or very important, including training officers in diverse community needs and engaging with communities on their policing priorities. Dylan Mazur, community lawyer at B.C. Civil Liberties Association who submitted a letter with several suggestions, said that in order to reduce bias, the police must reduce the opportunities they have to exercise potentially biased judgment in the field such as pulling people over for public intoxication or other offences that are usually situational. The potential for bias is more certain where police exercise discretion. For the purposes of policing, its important they have discretion, but its important to know that bias can be expressed where they can exercise discretion. Read more: Vancouver police want public to prepare for active-shooter incidents Joint VPD-mental health program a flop in Downtown Eastside One of those key situations in which police show bias is during street checks, sometimes known as carding, when people are stopped on the street on the suspicion they are involved in illegal activity and may be asked for identification. In late May, the Vancouver Police Department released data on its street checks from 2008-2017, showing that, while total numbers of street checks are decreasing over time, people of certain ethnic backgrounds get checked at a higher rate that others. Indigenous people, who make up two per cent of the Vancouver population, made up 16 per cent of street checks; and Black people, who make up just one per cent of the population, made up five per cent of checks. Theres nothing to say in the research at all that people from marginalized communities have a higher propensity to commit crimes, said Mazur. He added that it is essential to keep track of this data in order to evaluate why this is happening. Mazur said that while there are already laws that demand a lack of bias in policing, they need to be applied on the ground. The primary statement we want to make is the standards and guiding principles for the province should be operational rather than aspirational, Mazur said. He suggests the province develop practical guidelines that relate to specific police practices on the street. Darcie Bennett, director of strategy at Pivot Legal Society, said that street checks are only a part of the larger picture of policing bias she has encountered in her work. We work with communities that have a high level of interaction with police, she said, The scope of that is everything from carding, being asked for I.D. and being displaced. Bennett said that displacement happens frequently to people who are experiencing homelessness, who often don't have a choice about being in a public place. Constantly having to move because of policing practices has a negative impact on peoples health and safety, especially when they don't have access to private space. Read more: Opinion | Without amnesty for pot convictions, legalization is a half-measure Human Rights Commission launching inquiry into racial profiling by Toronto police Bennett said that the over-policing of marginalized communities discourages those people from reaching out for police services when they need it. Routine negative interactions have a really negative effect. People who live in public space, particularly women with high levels of victimization the vast majority said they wouldn't call the police. Bennett said that a key recommendation is for the province to involve people from marginalized communities in the development of their unbiased policing strategy. The VPD and the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General could not be reached at the time of publication. Read more about: For many people today, the phrase, Sending thoughts and prayers, has become a meaningless cliche, but Christian Scientists annual meeting this week offered the view that it doesnt have to be that way. Members throughout the world gathered in Boston or streamed it online to hear this years messages, said Thomas (Tim) Mitchinson, with the Christian Science Committee on Publication for Illinois. Church members gathered Monday at the denominations First Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston, as well as via live video streaming around the world, to hear and share experiences that showed how powerful prayer rooted in love can be in peoples lives and the progress and healing this can bring in a troubled world, Mitchinson explained to The Telegraph. Christian Scientists say that churches are a place of light. The meetings theme was from the New Testament: If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit. We need to not just talk the talk, but to walk the walk by taking responsibility for how we act toward one another, so that we really are going to let spirit, actual love for one another, animate us, said a member of the churchs board of directors, Scott Preller. The denominations five-member board recently completed 17 regional meetings with church members in the United States and Europe. More meetings are planned in North America and other continents. The board said they wanted to meet face to face with as many members as possible, to listen and talk. In reporting back to members, they spoke frankly of difficult issues facing the church, as well as other Christian denominations and society at large. But, they noted that they also found a new vitality, a deepening of engagement with core values, and what they called a new energy and willingness of members to work together as a church to be a force for good in the world. Weve seen again and again that its actual spiritual living and genuine love that matter most, board chairperson Robin Hoagland said. We heard so much from members about the healing of debilitating or incurable conditions, which is a natural consequence when were feeling the reality of spirit, the love of God, at hand. One report at the annual meeting cited a paper on Christian Scientists practice given at an international academic conference in Asia on religion and healing. What are objective scholars to make of experiences such as these? the paper asked, addressing the natural skepticism that many feel regarding spiritual healing in an age of accelerating technological advancement. The paper acknowledged that the practice of Christian healing cant be approached dogmatically or blindly It isnt a decision Christian Scientists would impose on others. Yet Christian Scientists experiences of healing may have something to teach us all about the deepest sources of healing in peoples lives and our common humanity and spiritual core. The Church of Christ, Scientist, founded by Mary Baker Eddy in 1879, has branches in some 70 countries. In Madison County, Illinois, First Church of Christ, Scientist is located at 1430 W. Delmar Ave., in Godfrey; in Jersey County, a branch is located at 53 LaSalle St., in Elsah. Christian Science Reading Rooms are located at 17 LaSalle St., Elsah, and in Alton at Alton Square Mall, on the upper level, next to JCPenny. Elsah is also home to Principia College, offering a liberal arts academic program with a focus on Christian Science-based character education. The college enrolls nearly 450 students from 36 states and 27 countries, according to its website. Principias values, as follows, are grounded in the teachings of Christian Science: teaching and learning; thinking and acting from the basis of principle, love; unfoldment of character; individual and collective excellence; citizenship and service; and, innovation and continuous improvement Church officials announced at the meeting that a new translation of Eddys book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, has been completed in Igbo, one of the four official languages of Nigeria. Eddy saw the scriptures as the chart of life and the Bible, together with Eddys book, are considered to be the churchs Pastor. Members of the denomination come from a wide range of backgrounds and all walks of life. New church president Keith Wommack, a Christian Science practitioner and teacher from Corpus Christi, Texas, toured in a rock band for 10 years until he found himself dedicating hours to praying and spiritual study and being asked by others for help through prayer. Unselfed love is the heart of church, said director Rich Evans. It reignites in us the teachings of the master Christian, Christ Jesus, to love God and all humanity. As a workshop report related to the meeting described referring to the healing of a homeless addict church becomes a place of light when the congregation lives the love that God is expressing. ALTON The cost of sewer treatment for the Alton Housing Authority has doubled since the city increased the rates, Executive Director Greg Denton said at a meeting Tuesday. He said he plans to investigate installing individual meters on the homes at Oakwood Estates and Alton Acres so homeowners can be billed for the cost. He said the authority is now paying at a rate of $82,000 per year. ALTON Two Alton Memorial Hospital departments have received awards from national health care research leader Professional Research Consultants Inc. (PRC). The Human Motion Institute received a 5-Star Award and the Emergency Department earned a 4-Star Award. Its the 11th year in a row that the Human Motion Institute has received the 5-Star Award. Presentations were made during the 2018 Excellence in Healthcare Conference in Charleston, South Carolina, May 22. Service lines that score in the top 10 percent of the national client database for the prior calendar year earn 5-Star Awards. Service lines that score in the top 25 percent of the national client database for the prior calendar year earn 4-Star Awards. The awards are based on the percentage of patients who rate the facility or unit Excellent for Overall Quality of Care questions. Everyone in our hospital works extremely hard to earn the respect and trust of our patients, physicians and the communities we serve, says Dave Braasch, president of AMH. Im very proud of everyone who has contributed to earning these awards. We will continuously strive to improve the quality, safety and experience of our patients and their families. Our teams focus is to always make medicine better. The Human Motion Institute includes Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy and Speech Therapy located both on the hospital campus and at the Alton North location at 226 Regional Drive. Im proud of each and every one of our staff members and proud of the work we do together to serve our patients and our community, said Sue Walker, manager of HMI. Alton Memorial Hospital operates one of the busiest emergency departments in the Metro East and is also recognized by the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Emergency Medical Services for Children (EMSC) program as an Emergency Department Approved for Pediatrics. The goal of the Emergency Department at Alton Memorial is to provide excellent care to each and every patient that comes through our doors, and this award is proof that we are meeting that goal, said Cindy Bray, manager of the ED. Each member of our team and it is a team effort, from the physicians, the nurses, unit clerks and patient care techs works diligently every day and night to meet the needs of our patients. The team also extends to all of the other departments that help us run efficiently the inpatient units, Medical Imaging, Laboratory and Pharmacy. It is an honor to be able to serve the community we live in and the surrounding communities and provide them the best care possible in this area. Professional Research Consultants, Inc. is a national health care market research company. For more than 35 years, PRC has facilitated millions of interviews, delivered insightful reports and provided customized research solutions to hospitals and healthcare organizations. Services measure community perceptions, brand positions, patient experience, physician alignment and engagement, and employee engagement. ALTON To help protect area residents from becoming victims of identity theft, state Rep. Monica Bristow, D-Godfrey, is partnering with Rotary Club of the Riverbend to host a free Community Shred Day on Saturday, June 23. Anyone can become a victim of identity theft. A lot of people hold on to old tax returns, bills or other documents with sensitive information that they dont need anymore, Bristow said. These sensitive documents need to be disposed of properly so that people cannot gain access to your personal information, putting you at risk for identity theft. The OSCE will monitor the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops tomorrow, Azerbaijans Defense Ministry said in a statement. The monitoring will be held under the mandate of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Personal Representative along the line of contact near the Terter district. On the Azerbaijani side, the monitoring will be held by field assistants of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Personal Representative Ognjen Jovic and Simon Tiller. On the Armenian side, the monitoring will be carried out by Andrzej Kasprzyk, Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, and his field assistant Mihail Olaru. WOOD RIVER City Council on Monday approved a resolution declaring certain structures unsafe and a public nuisance in Wood River. One of the structures included in the resolution is located at 864 E. Acton and authorizes the city attorney to proceed with legal action, as submitted by building and zoning. The house is in irreparable condition, said Wood River Mayor Cheryl Maguire. People from out of town own it and they have no interest in going in and making it structurally sound. What happens usually is we go through the court system and we get the okay to demolish the building, said Maguire. She said the city would use their personnel to remove it and will also plan to have all the waste products taken to the landfill. Just like the house next door to the library, the city took care of the costs themselves, she said. We are able to keep the costs down that way. You really hate to see a home demolished, but if its beyond repair, it helps the neighborhood and the values, said Maguire. Maguire added that in the past the city has acquired the property itself and has donated it to Habitat for Humanity. Thats how the city comes to own these parcels that are scattered throughout the city, she said. During the pre-meeting, the Wood River Lions Club donated $3,000 to the Parks and Recreation Director Jason Woody for the Lions Shelter at Bell Park. This time last year, we were talking about how to improve things, said Woody. There wasnt a sidewalk or any parking really in front of that shelter and it wasnt something that was handicapped accessible. We got bids last year on asphalt and concrete that were over $10,000 and with the help of Steve (Palen) and his guys, we were able to do it for only $3,000 and the Lions Club has donated that money for us to do that and we were able to save about $7,000, said Woody. The club has been with Wood River in every way possible, said President James Bailey. Our motto is, We Serve and its a pleasure to donate the money to the city. Also approved: An ordinance establishing the prevailing wage rate for 2018 as required by State Law. An ordinance authorizing the execution of a 2-year lease purchase agreement with First Mid-Illinois Bank and Trust in the amount of $42,275 for the purchase of two vehicles at a rate of 3.25 percent as submitted by the Finance Director. Reach reporter Kelsey Schulz at 618-208-6452. The European Union(EU) is a unique economic and political partnership between 28 Europeancountries that together cover much of the continent. The EU was created in theaftermath of the Second World War. The first steps were to foster economiccooperation: the idea being that countries who trade with one another becomeeconomically interdependent and so more likely to avoid conflict. The resultwas the European Economic Community (EEC), created in 1958, and initiallyincreasing economic cooperation between six countries: Belgium, Germany,France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Since then, a huge single markethas been created and continues to develop towards its full potential. All suitablyqualified and interested candidates should send an updated CV and applicationletter MERGED into ONE document to email address: recruitment@cnoocuganda.com.Please DO NOT attach any other documents and ensure to quote the JOB TITLE inthe Subject of your email. Only candidates that follow these instructions andmeet the minimum requirements shall be contacted. The Internship opportunities will be anexcellent opportunity to gain hands-on design experience working with ourhighly motivated teams to gain an understanding of the different organizationoperations hence developing your skills in line with your career aspiration. Itis also a chance to support the achievement of Organization goal of ignitingthe potential of 1 million women to come out of poverty through the StreetBusiness School entrepreneurial training program. The Internship arrangementshall be for a period of 02 months (July/Aug 2018) with a possibility forfuture longer term engagement as and when need may be established. A frontal view of precariously perched box-like houses in yellow, beige and blue over an bustling bazaar in old Kabul, is perhaps the centrepiece of the ongoing exhibition on contemporary Afghan art in New Delhi. It immediately arrests your attention with its densely-packed imagery, layered in a soothing colour palette. This 190x152cm oil-on-canvas is also the highest priced artwork at Rs1,50,000. It is made by 30-year-old Moheb Sadiq, a self-taught painter from Kabul. Sadiq once used to paint pictures of war and bloodshed in Afghanistan, but later abandoned depressing realism in favour of vibrant colours and dramatic brushstrokes. Sadiq's brother Mohammad Salim Attaie goes about fielding queries from a number of interested buyers. For 47-year-old Attaie, whose many stories of loss and survival in a war-torn country might fill a book, art-school training is overrated. "A real, original artist is not taught or schooled," he says half-smilingly. It is Attaie's persistence which has brought 'Afghan Art: A Land In Conflict and Hope' to India. A self-taught painter like his brother, Attaie dreams of opening an art gallery in India one day and educate audiences about Aghanistan's growing art scene. For now though, he has to be content with curating his first ever exhibition outside Kabula group show of largely self-trained artists who have used watercolours and oil paintings to depict an Afghanistan unperturbed by rising violence or surveillance. Caravan merchants, busy barbers, horse-mounted buzkashi players, watchful Pashtun nomads, sleepy carpet sellers, placid vistas of the Kabul canal and or even the imposing Ghorband mountainsthe ordinary and humdrum is executed in its fulsome glory, attesting to the unchanging reality that life goes on in spite of everything. Attaie would know. Forced to join the army at age 16 to fight the Russians, in the 1980s, Attaie's adolescence and early adulthood was devoted to saving life and limb for four long years. Subsequently, he kept taking up whatever jobs he could find to stay afloat. He was once a tea-seller, a construction labourer, a dry-fruit peddler and a thelawala. He dabbled in countless other odd jobs he can hardly recall. It was only after he came across discarded paintings at pawn shops, passed on by families fleeing Mujahideen violence, that Attaie was charged up again, infused with a renewed sense of hope and vigour. He soon became an art seller. He also started painting. In 2002, he opened an art gallery in Kabul called Gallery Nootaq, which means starting from scratch . "I am pretty sure it was the first ever art gallery in Kabul then. Now, there are many," says Attaie. Afghanistan's art scene did, in fact, witness a revival with the fall of the Taliban in 2001, after a ban on any kind of artistic expression from 1996 to 2001. Even so, widespread poverty and economic downturn limits public exhibitions in the country. There are very few art buyers there. But Attaie is determined to change that as he seeks to bring to the fore artworks of the many young artists in the country. Says Delhi-based Anita Anand, a development and communication specialist who has been working in Afghanistan since 2004 and facilitated the exhibition, "When you have conflict in your country for such a long period of time, you kind of have to live by your wits. Attaie is clearly a man who sees opportunity. When you have to put bread and butter and keep yourself together, then you have to do what it takes." Attaie paints abstracts and figurative musings which bespeak hope, love and rejuvenation. There is an odd "Imagined City" which stands out for its jet black tones streaked with blinding colours. Attaie calls it "kharaba sheher", a city riddled with darkness and desperation. He painted this a year ago when a bomb blast claimed 200 innocent lives at one go in Kabul. But then such is the curatorial prowess of Attaie. His artistic vision of the everyday doesn't preclude the unfortunate, recurring realities of his beloved Afghanistan. 'Afghan Art: A Land In Conflict and Hope' is on display till June 9 at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi. Vijaylakshmi Nadars most vivid childhood memories involve waking up in mornings to see a horde of men and women outside their small home in Sion, Mumbai, waiting to see her father as he addressed their problems. Be it the hapless Tamils from the slums of Dharavi or the high and mighty, I have seen some of them literally fall at his feet, she tells THE WEEK on phone from the US. Daughter of Dharavis godfather Thiraviam Nadar, known as Gudwala Seth and Kaala Seth during his hey days, Vijaylakshmi says her father is the inspiration behind Tamil director Pa Ranjiths Kaala starring Rajinikanth. "If Pa Ranjith has a spine, he should admit it is my fathers story. It is also disrespectful to dismiss my fathers work as a piece of fiction." "I watched the movie and I confirm it is based on my father's life, with a sub-plot of present day Dharavi which adds no value to the film whatsoever," she says. Ranjith and his team, however, on multiple occasions have denied her claims, and called it a fictional story. Moreover, Ranjith said in an interview last week that the titular character was inspired from his grandfather. After a year-long struggle to get the filmmakers credit the story to her father saw no results, her brother Jawahar Nadar filed a Rs 101 crore defamation suit against Rajinikanth for "portraying their father and the Nadar community in a negative light". Though the Madras High Court refused to stall the release of Kaala, hearing on the defamation case will continue on Thursday as the film hits the screens globally. Nothing much has been documented about my father and Pa Ranjith is taking advantage of it, Vijaylakshmi says. Right from last year after Pa Ranjith, in an interview, spoke about his new project that revolves around an aged Tamil don in Mumbai, who was from Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu, Vijaylakshmi knew this was her fathers story. That was the first cue, she says. Rumours flew that it could be the story of Varadaraja Mudaliar or Haji Mastan, but neither of them is from Tirunelveli. But my father is. She pieces together her fathers story which has all the elements of a perfect pot-boiler: An impoverished boy of 16, Thiraviam Nadar fled to Mumbai in the 1950s after his village in Tirunelveli was hit by drought. With a group of other Tamilians, who brew illicit liquor around the region, he went on to grab land and set up makeshift structures which became shops and homes in the desolate no-mans land of Dharavi. Vijaylakshmi Those days Dharavi was a stinky, mosquito-ridden swamp where no one wanted to go to, she adds. Another major contribution by my father was the Kamarajar memorial high school which started off with just one room. It was a necessity at that time because the nearby schools were Tamil Brahmin-dominated and they refused to admit students from Dharavi. The second cue came from the first look of Kaala which featured the family of Rajinikanths charactera photo of the husband, wife, one daughter, three sons and five grandchildren. This is the exact composition of my family, it could be no coincidence, she says. Rajinikanth was also shown as sitting on a jeep with registration plate that read 1956, the exact year her father reached Mumbai. The protagonist's fully black attire, though a contrast, is also a stark reminder of her father who always dressed in a white mundu and white shirt. The teaser dropped another interesting cue, she says. "While many may not have realised that the antagonist Nana Patekar is modelled around Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray, that has a clear significance in our lives. Those were the days when Thackeray had sent out a clarion call for all Madrasis (a colloquial term for South Indians) to leave Mumbai. The Tamils of Dharavi grouped under her father and Varadabhai to rubbish Thackerays threats to vacate. The popular dialogue from the teaserkya re, setting ah?is a slice from the real life, she adds. Vijaylakshmi and her brothers got a taste of their fathers enduring appeal when he died in 2003. Though they had planned of a simple cremation at the nearby crematorium a few minutes away from home, things didnt work out that way. Nadars body was taken out in a flower-bedecked truck, in a procession through all the areas her father used to frequent. As thousands, including general public and elected representatives thronged the procession, it took them nine hours to reach the crematorium, she recalls. For months after his death, people paid their respects in local Tamil newspapers about how my father had changed their lives. We never wanted to bring it to this level, but now with the defamation suit, we are getting people to listen to us, says Vijaylakshmi. "Watching the film will give us more points to fight for; the battle has just begun." Speaking about caste equations in the films, she says the Nadar community is concerned if the director will bring in an unwarranted dalit angle, like in some of his previous works. "If Pa Ranjith has a spine, he should admit it is my fathers story. It is also disrespectful to dismiss my fathers work as a piece of fiction," she says. For the Nadar family, this defamation suit is not about the money. The money will be given to the people of Dharaviher fathers people, she says. The newly appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia to Armenia Sergey Kopyrkin presented his credentials to Armenian President Armen Sargsyan, the presidential press service reports. According to the diplomat, he will make every effort to develop strategic bilateral relations. Armenia's President, in turn, confirmed his readiness to assist the implementation of all initiatives aimed at strengthening the ties between the two peoples. "The President congratulated the Ambassador on his appointment and wished him good luck," Sputnik-Armenia cited the statement as saying. Sergei Kopyrkin served as deputy Russian ambassador to the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community in Brussels. He was appointed Russian Ambassador to Armenia on April 6 this year, replacing Ivan Volynkin. The adage that failures can teach many lessons seems quite... In an apparent call to YSR Congress president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy to return to the Congress fold, Oommen Chandy, the new AICC general secretary in-charge of Andhra Pradesh, on Thursday said he will request old friends who have left the party in the state in the last few years to return. The former Kerala chief minister, who took charge as AICC general secretary on Thursday, was asked if the Congress would look to forming an alliance with other parties in the southern state. He said: I am going to Andhra Pradesh with an open mind. However, I have to assess the feeling of the state leaders on this issue. I have a feeling that all old friends, who had left the Congress, will come back to the party. Specifically asked if he would reach out to Jaganmohan Reddy to form an alliance in the state, he told THE WEEK, I have a feeling that all old friends, who had left the Congress, will come back to the party. I will request all the leaders and workers who left the party in the last few years to come back. The veteran leader has been given the charge of Andhra Pradesh in the run up to a crucial election season. Assembly elections in the state are due in 2019, together with the Lok Sabha polls. The Congress finds itself sidelined in state politics, with YSR Congress emerging as the main challenger to the ruling TDP. The party's fortunes nosedived after the death of its charismatic leader Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, who perished in a helicopter crash in 2009. Upset with the party high command refusing to acknowledge him as Rajasekhara Reddy's political successor, Jagan went on to split the Congress. While Jagan gained politically, the parent party suffered as it had to face the wrath of the people of Andhra Pradesh for bifurcating the state. Andhra Pradesh was always with the Congress. The people of Andhra Pradesh gave immense love to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. After the Rajiv Gandhi era, the Congress entrusted P.V. Narasimha Rao, who was from Andhra Pradesh, with the responsibility to lead the country, Chandy said. Unfortunately, in the last few years, because of some differences of opinion and some misunderstanding, the party has suffered. There have been some lapses. We will work hard to rebuild the party and return to it the original glory that it enjoyed in Andhra Pradesh, he added. Chandy will be going to Vijaywada on June 11 for a two-day meeting with state leaders. I will engage with Congress leaders in Andhra Pradesh regarding the political situation, the present position of the party in the state as also the future of the party. After that, I will come to Delhi and have a detailed discussion with the Congress president, he said. Chandy was very close to Rajasekhara Reddy. The party leadership would be hoping that this will help Chandy in reaching out to Jagan and bringing him back to the Congress. After he vacated the Rashtrapati Bhavan in July 2017, former president Pranab Mukherjee has hardly made it to news headlines. However, that has not been the case ever since he accepted an invitation from the RSS to be the chief guest at a function at the Sangh headquarters in Nagpur on Thursday. The new-found bonhomie between the former Congress leader and the RSS did not go down well with the Congress, with a few party leaders openly criticising the move and asking Mukherjee to reconsider his decision. Curiously, top Congress leaders and those close to Nehru-Gandhi family had maintained a staunch silence on the event. That's when Rajya Sabha MP Ahmed Patel tweeted that he had least expected something like this coming from Mukherjee who was also the finance minister during UPA-2 regime. "I did not expect this from Pranab da," Ahmed Patel, who is known to be close to Sonia Gandhi, tweeted on Wednesday night. I did not expect this from Pranab da ! https://t.co/VBqXZ8x7SE Ahmed Patel (@ahmedpatel) June 6, 2018 Ahmed Patel's tweet will fuel suspicion that the Congress high command is not impressed with Mukherjee's decision to attend the RSS event. Media reports suggested that Mukherjee's son and Congress MP Abhijit Mukherjee and party leader Anand Sharma had attempted to dissuade the former from attending the RSS event. On Wednesday, Mukherjee's daughter and Congress leader Sharmishta Mukherjee disapproved of his decision, saying he was giving the BJP and the Sangh a handle to plant false stories as his "speech will be forgotten" but "visuals will remain." While several Congress leaders urged him to reconsider his decision, many said that his visit would create an "undesirable difference" in the country. Senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram said that since Mukherjee has accepted the invitation, he should go and tell the RSS "what is wrong" in their ideology. Ramesh Chennithala, a senior Congress leader from Kerala, last week sent a letter to Mukherjee, requesting him to refrain from attending the event. Chennithala, also leader of the opposition in Kerala Assembly, had said Mukherjee's decision had come as a "rude shock" to the secular minds of the country. "As a person who has served as the first citizen of our country and the greatest ambassador of secularism, I request you to reconsider your decision to attend the RSS meet on June 7, 2018," said Chennithala in his letter. West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Chowdhury and senior Congress leader V. Hanumantha Rao too, had urged Mukherjee not to attend the event. Russia will inject 2.2 trillion rubles ($35.64 billion) of oil and gas revenue to the National Wealth Fund after 2018, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told lawmakers in the lower house of parliament. "The National Wealth Fund will reach 3.6 trillion rubles by the end of this year," Reuters cited Siluanov as saying. The Fund stood at 3.9 trillion rubles as of June 1. Amid strained relations and constant bickering between the two saffron allies, BJP president Amit Shah called on Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray at the latter's residence 'Matoshree' here this evening. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Uddhav Thackeray's son Aaditya Thackeray were also present at the meeting which lasted about two hours. While officially there was no word from both the parties about what transpired in the meeting, BJP sources claimed that the discussion was "positive" and would help reduce the tension between the two allies significantly. The two parties may have two or three more such meetings, the sources added. State BJP chief Raosaheb Danve, who accompanied Shah earlier in the day when he called on actor Madhuri Dixit-Nene and industrialist Ratan Tata, did not attend the meeting with Thackeray. "My schedule was pre-decided. I was busy with organisational work," Danve told reporters. The BJP had earlier said the meeting was in connection with its 'Sampark se Samarthan' (contact for support) campaign, being led by Shah in the run-up to next year's Lok Sabha polls. The Sena and the BJP contested the May 28 bypolls to Palghar Lok Sabha constituency in Maharashtra separately and engaged in a bitter campaign against each other. The Shiv Sena has particularly been upset with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and has repeatedly attacked him. After facing defeat in the Palghar bypoll at the hands of the BJP, the Shiv Sena labelled its ally as its "biggest political enemy". Even on Wednesday, the Sena questioned the "need" for the meeting between Shah and Thackeray "after a gap of four years" (since the Modi government was formed). The Shiv Sena has already declared that it will go it alone in the 2019 general elections. The two parties were allies for over two-and-a-half decades before they severed ties ahead of the 2014 Maharashtra Assembly polls, only to join hands later to form government under the leadership of Fadnavis in the state. In today's editorial in party mouthpiece "Saamna", Shiv Sena questioned the BJP's outreach programme after suffering defeat in bypolls in various states. The editorial maintained that the Sena will fight all the upcoming elections alone. "The prime minister is touring the world and BJP chief Amit Shah is going around the country as part of their 'sampark' programme. Shah will be meeting NDA allies. However, what exactly will he do? Why is he meeting at this juncture when the BJP has suffered defeat in bypolls," the Sena asked in the editorial. Just weeks after John Boltons hardline rhetoric infuriated North Korea and nearly derailed a planned summit between Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump, the US national security adviser appears to have taken a back seat to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for the historic meeting. While the hawkish Bolton who has adopted a lower-key approach in recent days - is expected to be in Singapore for the talks on Tuesday, Pompeo has taken the lead as the administration assumes a softer tone toward Pyongyang ahead of the summit, several US officials said. Pompeos ascendance combined with Boltons more muted public role illustrates how the sometimes messy power dynamic in Trumps inner circle has played out going into the first-ever meeting between US and North Korean leaders. But Trumps ability to deliver the biggest foreign policy success of his presidency could rest heavily on the team he has hastily cobbled together to advise him after announcing in March he was prepared to meet Kim in an effort to persuade the North Korean leader to give up a nuclear arsenal that now threatens the United States. This summit is being thrown together faster than any weve ever seen for something this important, said one US official, speaking on condition of anonymity. So unless we want the president to get played by Kim, a lot rests with the team thats putting this all together. Pompeo, first as Trumps CIA director and now as his chief diplomat, quickly made North Korea his main focus. But even as Pompeo was launching delicate diplomacy, Bolton an outspoken former UN ambassador with a history of fraught dealings with Pyongyang - took up his post and began pushing a tougher approach to North Korea that he has long advocated. Never was that clearer than when Bolton went on television on May 13, just days after Pompeo returned from a second visit to Pyongyang, and pressed North Korea to follow the Libya model in nuclear negotiations. Libya unilaterally surrendered its nuclear weapons programme in 2003, but its leader, Muammar Gaddafi, was killed in 2011 by NATO-backed rebels. Boltons demand angered North Korea, which threatened to pull out of the summit. Trump, who according to one US official was furious that Bolton had made the Libya comparison, sought to salvage the meeting by disavowing his remarks. But North Korea responded harshly. Trump on May 24 then cancelled the summit, only to reinstate it a week later after meeting a North Korean envoy at the White House, where the president appeared to back away from his demand for Pyongyangs swift, complete denuclearization. Bolton once denounced by North Korea as human scum during his days at the State Department under former President George W. Bush - was conspicuously absent from the Oval Office encounter, raising speculation he was sidelined. The White House did not respond to a request for comment. Taken the hint Trump, however, has not frozen Bolton out on North Korea and he remains a key player, according to multiple US officials. Bolton, known as a skilled bureaucratic operator, has taken the hint to assume a lower profile and is mindful that his earlier clashes with Pyongyang could cause problems that should be avoided, one of the officials said. Before taking office, Bolton openly advocated North Korean regime change. Bolton has not commented publicly since the president distanced himself from the Libya comparison and the White House insisted he would follow the Trump model. Despite that, White House adviser Kellyanne Conway said on Wednesday that Bolton would travel to Singapore. Secretary of State Pompeo has clearly taken the lead on the negotiations, she told reporters. But the national security adviser is going, hes going to Singapore and will be part of the talks. Pompeo initially developed a rapport with Trump by delivering his morning intelligence briefings. Trumps faith in Pompeo is seen as a key factor for entrusting him with the North Korea portfolio. But some US officials and analysts have expressed concern about what they see as the former Republican congressmans habit of telling Trump what he wants to hear. Suzanne DiMaggio, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation think tank, suggested that if negotiations soured, then we have Mr. Bolton looming in the background, ready to jump in. Also expected to play an important role on Trumps summit team is Matt Pottinger, Trumps Asia adviser who reports to Bolton at the National Security Council. The former journalist and ex-US Marine has helped coordinate North Korea policy and is seen by Korea watchers as a pragmatic voice. Sung Kim, a veteran diplomat serving as ambassador to the Philippines, was called in to lead a small delegation that met in recent days with North Korean officials in the demilitarized zone between the Koreas to discuss the summit agenda. He is an ex-ambassador to Seoul and a former nuclear negotiator with Pyongyang. It was a reminder the administration remains short on Asia expertise, especially after the departure of North Korea negotiator Joseph Yun, delays in getting in place a new ambassador to South Korea and the lack of a Senate-confirmed top diplomat for East Asia. Qatar could not join NATO, the alliances Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday, RT reports. NATO is an alliance for North America and for Europe. That is stated in Article 10 of our founding treaty, he said. So members of the alliance have to be countries in North America US, Canada and Europe. So NATO is not an alliance that will go beyond North America and Europe. According to the NATO chief, the alliance welcomes the partnership with Qatar, as with several partner nations in the Gulf region. On Tuesday, Qatars defense minister was quoted as saying that the country has a long-term strategic ambition to join NATO. US President Donald Trump announced Thursday that his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore on June 12 is "ready to go". The president promised that the summit would be "more than a photo op", Sputnik reports. The US president stressed that it would be "unacceptable" if North Korea does not agree to denuclearize. "They have to de-nuke. If they don't denuclearize it would not be acceptable. We cannot take sanctions off," Trump said before a working lunch with Japanese President Shinzo Abe at the White House. Trump said he could put more sanctions on North Korea, but decided not to do it at this time and added that his administration can enforce more punitive measures against Pyongyang in the future. 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Ltd. (Polyester), Shanghai Ashland Industrial Trading Co. Ltd., St Croix Petrochemical Corp, Taiwan Ashland Co. Ltd., Techwax Limited, Vemera S. de R.L. de C.V., and WSP LLC. The following companies are subsidiares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.: 2235158 Alberta Limited, A.J. Amer Agency, AHC Digital LLC, AIX Limited, AJG Coal LLC, AJG Financial Services LLC, AJG Meadows LLC, AJG North America ULC, AJG RCF LLC, AJGRMS of Louisiana LLC, ARM RE Ltda., AVIATION INSURANCE SERVICES, AVRECO, Ace IRM Insurance Broking Group, Acumus Holdings Limited, Acumus Interco Limited, Acumus Ltd, Adams & Associates International, Adaptive Marketing LLC, Adco General Corporation, Advanced Benefit Advisors, Aequus Trade Credit, Affinity Marketing Group, Ahrold Fay Rosenberg, Aires Consulting Group, Alesco Risk Management Services Limited, Alize Limited, Allied Claims Administration Inc., Alternative Market Specialists, Altman & Cronin Benefit Consultants, American Freedom Carriers Inc., American Security Services Corp., American Wholesalers Underwriting Ltd, Andrew-Anthony Insurance Agency, Anthony Hodges Consulting Limited, Antrobus Investments Limited, AquaSurance, Argentis, Argentis Financial Group Limited, Argentis Financial Management Limited, Argus Benefits, Armstrong/Robitaille/Riegle, Artex (SAC) Limited, Artex Cedar Hill, Artex Corporate Services (Malta) Limited, Artex Corporate Services Limited, Artex Holdings (Gibraltar) Limited, Artex Holdings (Malta) Limited, Artex Insurance (Guernsey) PCC Limited, Artex Insurance (Tennessee) PCCIC Inc., Artex Insurance Brokers (Malta) PCC Limited, Artex Insurance ICC Limited, Artex Intermediaries Ltd, Artex Risk Solutions (Bermuda) Ltd, Artex Risk Solutions (Cayman) Limited, Artex Risk Solutions (Gibraltar) Limited, Artex Risk Solutions (Guernsey) Limited, Artex Risk Solutions (International) Ltd, Artex Risk Solutions (Malta) Limited, Artex Risk Solutions (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Artex Risk Solutions (UK) Limited, Artex Risk Solutions Inc., Arthur J Gallagher (Norway) Holdings AS, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (AUS) Ltd, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (Bermuda) Limited, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (Illinois), Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Insurance Brokers of California Inc., Arthur J. Gallagher (Aus) Pty Ltd, Arthur J. Gallagher (Bermuda) Holding Partnership, Arthur J. Gallagher (Life Solutions) Ltd, Arthur J. Gallagher (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Arthur J. Gallagher (U.S.) LLC, Arthur J. Gallagher (UK) Limited, Arthur J. Gallagher Asesoria S.A.C., Arthur J. Gallagher Australasia Holdings Pty Ltd., Arthur J. Gallagher Brokerage & Risk Management Services LLC, Arthur J. Gallagher Broking (NZ) Limited, Arthur J. Gallagher Financial Services Professionals Risk Purchasing Group LLC, Arthur J. Gallagher Group Quebec ULC, Arthur J. Gallagher Holdings (UK) Limited, Arthur J. Gallagher Insurance Brokers Limited, Arthur J. Gallagher Latin America LLC, Arthur J. Gallagher Management (Bermuda) Limited, Arthur J. Gallagher Real Estate Risk Purchasing Group LLC, Arthur J. Gallagher Risk Management Services (Hawaii) Inc., Arthur J. Gallagher Risk Management Services Inc., Arthur J. Gallagher Risk Management Services of Utah Inc., Arthur J. Gallagher School Risk Purchasing Group LLC, Arthur J. Gallagher Service Company LLC, Arthur J. Gallagher Services (UK) Ltd, Ashmore & Associates Insurance Agency, Atlantic Risk Management Corp., Atrex Insurance (Cayman) SPC Limited, Avantek Pty Ltd, Axe Insurance PCC Limited, BIS Insurance Services, Baker - Tillys employment benefits solutions, Ballard Benefit Works, Bankers Financial Benefits, Barmore Insurance Agency, Behnke & Co. Inc., Bellisle Pty Ltd, Belmont Associates Consultants, Belmont Insurance Holdings Limited, Belmont International, Belmont International Limited, Benefit Development Group, Benefit Management Group, BenefitLink Resource Group, Benefits Planning & Insurance Agency, Benefits Unlimited, Bennett & Shade Co., Bergvall Marine, Bergvall Marine A.S., Besselman & Little Agency, Big Savings Insurance Agency Inc., Blenheim Park Ltd, Blenheim Park Services Limited, Blue Holdings Pty Ltd, Blue Horizon Insurance Services, Blue Water Benefits, BluePeak Advisors, Blueleaf Consulting Pty Ltd., Bluewater Incorporated Cell Insurance Company, Bollinger Inc., Bollinger Insurance Services Inc., Bowen Miclette Britt & Merry of Arkansas Inc., Brendis & Brendis, Brim AB, Broker Benefit Services, Brokerage Professionals, Brown Hobbs & McMurray Insurance, Bultman/Bell Associates Inc., Burkwald & Associates, Burns-Fazzi Brock & Associates, Bushong Insurance Associates, C&B Consulting Group, CGM Gallagher Insruance Brokers (Trinidad & Tobago) Limited, CJM Solutions Inc., CMA Solutions LLC, Cairnstone Financial, California Insurance Center, Capital Bauer Insurance Agency, Capitol Benefits Group, Capsicum CRLA LLP, Capsicum Re Brasil Participacoes Ltda, Capsicum Re Latin America Corretora De Resseguros Ltda, Capsicum Reinsurance Brokers Bermuda Limited, Capsicum Reinsurance Brokers Miami Inc., Carefree Marketing Inc., Carpenter Cammack & Associates, Cashan & Co., Castle Insurance Associates, Centennial Insurance Agency, Charity First Insurance Services Inc., Charles Allen Agency, Charter Lakes Insurance Agency, Chris Schroeder Insurance, Christie-Phoenix, Cintran Claims Canada Limited, Classic Insurance Services, Cleaveland Insurance Group, Cohen & Lord Insurance Brokers, Cohn Financial Group, Coleman Group Holdings Limited, Coleman Holdings Limited, College and University Scholastic Excess Risk Purchasing Group LLC, Commercial Insurance Brokers, Complete Benefit Alliance, Complete Financial Balance, Complete Financial Balance Pty Ltd, Consolidated Casualty Specialties LLC, Construction Risk Solutions, Contego Underwriting Limited, Contego Underwriting Ltd, Continental Excess & Surplus, Convergence Risk Services Ltd, Copper Mountain Assurance Inc., Cornwall & Stevens Co., Corporate Benefit Advisors, Corporate Life Consultants, Countrywide Accident Assistance Limited, Coverdell & Company Inc., Coverdell Canada Corporation, Cowles and Connell, Craig M. Ferguson & Co., Crist Elliott Machette Insurance Services, Crombie Lockwood (NZ) Limited, Davis-Poston & Associates, Denman Consulting Services, Detlefs Johnson & Partners, DiBrina Group, Dickinson & Associates, Discount Development Services L.L.C., Discovery Benefit Solutions, Dodson-Bateman & Co., Donald P. Pipino Co. Ltd., E. S. Susanin Inc., EHE Holdings LLC, EHS Holdings Limited, Elantis Premium Funding (NZ) Limited, Elantis Premium Funding Limited, Elite Benefits Insurance Marketing Services, Employee Benefits Analysis Corp., Employee Benefits of The Carolinas, Encore Insurance & Bonding, Everett James, Evolution Risk Services Limited, Evolution Technology Services Limited, Evolution Underwriting Group, Evolution Underwriting Group Limited, Evolution Underwriting Limited, Excel Insurance Services, FYI Direct Canada Corporation, FYI Direct LLC, Farallone Pacific Insurance Services, Fenchurch Faris Limited, Fidelity Benefits & Insurance Services, Financial Profiles Inc., Finergy Solutions Pty Ltd, First Agency, First Iowa Insurance Agency, First Premium Inc., First Premium Insurance Group, Fish & Schulkamp, Fishermans Insurance Services, Foley Healthcare Limited, Fortress Financial Solutions Pty Ltd, Fortress Insurance LLC, Foundation Strategies, Fox Lawson & Associates, Franklin-Case Agency LLC, Fraser MacAndrew Ryan Limited, Friary Intermediate Limited, Fuller & O'Brien, G.S. Chapman & Associates Insurance Brokers, G.S. Levine Insurance Services, GBS (Australia) Holdings Pty Ltd, GBS Administrators Inc., GBS Insurance and Financial Services Inc., GBS Retirement Services Inc., GBS Specialty Markets LLC, GGB Finance 1 Limited, GGB Finance 2 Limited, GGB Finance 3 Limited, GGB Finance 4 Limited, GPL Assurance, GPL Assurance Inc., Gabor Insurance Services, Gale Smith & Co. Inc., Gallagher (Bermuda) Insurance Solutions Ltd., Gallagher - Grace/Mayer Insurance Agency, Gallagher Bassett Aires Inc., Gallagher Bassett Canada Inc., Gallagher Bassett Insurance Services Ltd., Gallagher Bassett International Ltd., Gallagher Bassett NZ Pty Ltd., Gallagher Bassett Services Inc. , Gallagher Bassett Services Pty Ltd., Gallagher Bassett Services Workers Compensation Victoria Pty Ltd., Gallagher Benefit Services (Canada) Group Inc., Gallagher Benefit Services (Holdings) Limited, Gallagher Benefit Services Inc., Gallagher Benefit Services Management Company Limited, Gallagher Benefit Services Pty Ltd, Gallagher Benefits Consulting Limited, Gallagher Bomford Couch Wilson, Gallagher Burgess, Gallagher Canada Acquisition Corporation, Gallagher Caribbean Group Limited, Gallagher Clean Energy LLC, Gallagher Communications Limited, Gallagher Community Clinic RPG LLC, Gallagher Consulting Ltda, Gallagher Corporate Services LLC, Gallagher Coyle, Gallagher CyberRisk, Gallagher Energy Risk Services Inc., Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC, Gallagher Holdings (UK) Limited, Gallagher Holdings Bermuda Company Limited, Gallagher Holdings Four (UK) Limited, Gallagher Holdings Three (UK) Limited, Gallagher Insurance Brokers (Barbados) Limited, Gallagher Insurance Brokers (St. Kitts & Nevis) Limited, Gallagher Insurance Brokers (St. Lucia) Limited, Gallagher Insurance Brokers (St. Vincent) Limited, Gallagher Insurance Brokers Jamaica Limited, Gallagher International Cash Management s.r.l., Gallagher International Holdings (US) Inc., Gallagher Investment Advisors LLC, Gallagher Inwest Group, Gallagher Koster, Gallagher Lambert Group, Gallagher Madison Risk & Insurance Services, Gallagher Mauritius Holdings, Gallagher Mississippi Brokerage LLC, Gallagher RE Colombia Ltda Corredores de Reaseguros SA, Gallagher Risk & Reward Limited, Gallagher Risk Group LLC, Gallagher Risk Placements Pty Ltd, Gallagher SKS, Gallagher Service Center LLP, Gallagher-Tarantino, Galtney Group, Game Day Insurance Inc., Gardner & White Corp., Gardner Marine Agency, Garza Long Group, Gatehouse Consulting Limited, Gault Armstrong Kemble Pty Ltd, Gault Armstrong SARL, Giles Group, Giles Holdings Limited, Giles Insurance Brokers, Gillis Ellis & Baker Inc., Goodman Insurance Agency, Grandy Pratt Co., Greenseed Alternative Mangaers Platform Ltd, Grossman & Associates, Group Benefits of Arkansas, Group Insurance Associates, Gruppo Marcucci, HLG Holdings Limited, HMG-PCMS Limited, HPF Investments LLC, HR Owen Insurance Services Limited, Hagan Newkirk Financial Services, Hagedorn & Company, Hardman & Howell Benefits, Harlequin Insurance PCC Limited, Hartstein Associates Inc., Healthcare Professionals Purchasing Group LLC, Healthcare Risk Solutions, Heath Lambert Group Ltd., Heath Lambert Limited, Heath Lambert Overseas Limited, Heiser Insurance Agency, Henderson Phillips Fine Arts Insurance, Herbruck Alder & Co., Heritage Insurance Brokers (CI) Limited, Hesse & Partner AG, Hesse Consulting, Hexagon ICC Limited, Hexagon Insurance PCC Limited, Hill Chesson & Woody, Hogan Insurance Services, Home & Travel Limited, Honour Point Limited, Horseshoe Corporate Services Ltd, Horseshoe Fund Services (Cayman) Ltd, Horseshoe Fund Services Ltd, Horseshoe Fund Services USA Inc., Horseshoe ILS Services UK Ltd, Horseshoe Insurance Advisors US LLC, Horseshoe Insurance Advisory Ltd., Horseshoe Insurance Services Holdings Ltd, Horseshoe Insurance Services Holdings US Inc., Horseshoe Management (Gibraltar) Limited, Horseshoe Management (Ireland) Ltd, Horseshoe Management Ltd., Horseshoe PCC Limited, Horseshoe Re Limited, Horseshoe Services (Cayman) Ltd, Horseshoe Services (Pty) Ltd, Horton Insurance Agency, Housing Authorities Services Risk Purchasing Group LLC, Human Resource Management Systems, I-Protect Underwriting Pty Ltd, IBIS Advisors, IBS Reinsurance Singapore Pte Ltd, ILS Fund Services Ltd., ISG International, ITI Solutions, Igloo Insurance PCC Limited, Independent Benefit Services, Independent Fiduciary Services, Ink Underwriting Agencies Limited, InsSync Group Pty Ltd, Inspire Underwriting Limited, Instrat Insurance Brokers, Instrat Insurance Brokers Pty Ltd, Instrat Integration Holdco Pty Ltd, Insurance Acquisitions Holdings Limited, Insurance Associates Inc., Insurance Dialogue Limited, Insurance Dialogue Ltd., Insurance Plans Agency, Insurance Plus Risk Purchasing Group LLC, Insurance Point, Insurance Risk Managers of Missouri Inc., Insure My Villa Limited, Insure Pty Ltd, Integrated Healthcare Strategies, InterNational Insurance Group, InterPacific Underwriting Agencies, Intermountain Financial Benefits, Interstate Insurance Underwriters, JPGAC LLC, James F. Reda & Associates, James R. Weir Insurance Agency, Jenkins and Associates, Joe E. Martin Inc., John P. Woods Co. Inc., Jones Brown, Jones Brown Group Inc., Jones Brown Insurance Solutions Inc., Joseph Distel, Joseph James & Associates Insurance Agency, Just Landlords Insurance Services Ltd, KDC Associates, KRW Insurance Agency, Kahl Insurance Services, Kaler Carney Liffler & Co. Inc., Kane Group - Insurance Management Operations, Kelly Financial, Kent Kent & Tingle and RBS, Keyser Benefits Corp., Kingspark Enterprises Pty Ltd, L&R Benefits, LSG Insurance Partners, Learn About Money Limited, Lewis & Associates Insurance Brokers, Leystone Insurance & Financial, Life Plans Unlimited, Lincoln Financial Management, Longfellow Financial, Lucas Fettes Limited, Lucas Fettes and Partners Limited, Lutgert Insurance, MA Underwriting Pty Ltd, MDM Insurance Associates, MG Advanced Coal Technologies-1 LLC, MGA Insurance Services, MRS Holdings Ltd., Madison Scott & Associates, Managed Healthcare Solutions, Mannequin Insurance PCC Limited, Marchetti Robertson & Brickell Insurance, Marine Insurance Service, Martin Gordon & Jones Inc., McDowall Associates Human Resource Consultants, McIntyre Risk Management, McLean Insurance Agency, McNeary, McPherson Benefits Group, McRory & Co., Mecacem Insurance SPC Ltd, MedInsights Inc., Melton Insurance Associates, Memberworks Canada LLC, Merit Insurance, Metcom Excess, Metzler Bros. Insurance, Meyers-Reynolds & Associates, Mid America Group, Midwest Surety Services, Mike Henry Insurance Brokers, Mike Henry Insurance Brokers Limited, Mike Henry Insurance Funding Limited, Miller Buettner & Parrott, Miller-Harrison Insurance Services, Milne Alexander Pty Ltd, Minvielle & Chastanet Insurance Brokers, Monument Insurance (NZ) Limited, Monument Llc, Monument Premium Funding Limited, Mortgage Insurance Agency, Murphy Consultants, Mutual Insurance Services, NationAir Aviation Insurance, National Administration Co., National Ethics Association, National Transportation Adjusters, Nelson/Monarch Insurance Services, Nicoud Insurance Services, NiiS/Apex Group Holdings, Nonprofit Insurance Risk Purchasing Group LLC, Noraxis Capital Corp, Nordic Forsakring & Riskhantering AB, North Alabama Insurance, Nourse Insurance Brokers, O'Gorman & Young, OAMPS (UK) Limited, OAMPS Gault Armstrong Pty Ltd, OAMPS Limited, OAMPS Special Risks Ltd, Offshore Market Placements Limited, Optimum Talent, Orb Financial Services, Orb Financial Services Limited, Osprey Insurance Brokers Limited, Oval Group, Oval Healthcare Limited, Oval Insurance Broking Limited, Oval Limited, Oval Management Services Limited, Oxygen Insurance Managers, P2 Group, PEN Insurance Management Advisors Ltd, PT IBS Insurance Broking Service, Pacific Insurance Agency, Palmer Atlantic Insurance, Palmer Atlantic Insurance Ltd, Palmer Atlantic Risk Services Ltd., Park Row Associates, Parkstar Enterprises Pty Ltd, Parmia Pty Ltd, PartnerSource, Pastel Holding (NZ) Company, Pastel Holdings Pty Limited, Pastel Purchaser (NZ) Limited, Pastel Purchaser Pty Limited, Pavey Group Holdings (UK) Limited, Pavey Group Holdings Limited, Pavey Group Limited, Pearson Dunn Insurance Inc., Pen Underwriting Canada Limited, Pen Underwriting Group Pty. Ltd., Pen Underwriting Limited, Pen Underwriting Pty Ltd, Persing Dyckman & Toynbee Inc., Personal Advice Services Pty Ltd, Petty Burton Associates, Pointer Insurance Agency, Portmore Insurance Brokers (Wilshire) Limited, Portmore Insurance Brokers Limited, Potter-Holden & Co., Powell Insurance Agency, Premier Insurance Services Inc., Premier Risk Services, Premium Finance Corporation, Preston-Patterson, ProSource Financial, Professional Agents Risk Purchasing Group LLC, Professional Claims Managers, Proinova AB, Proinova Agency AB, Pronto California Agency LLC, Pronto California General Agency LLC, Pronto Florida Claims LLC, Pronto Florida General Agency LLC, Pronto Franchise LLC, Pronto General Agency Ltd, Pronto General Agency Management LLC, Pronto Holdco Inc., Pronto Holding California LLC, Pronto Holding Florida LLC, Pronto Insurance Agency of Laredo Inc., Pronto Premium Finance LLC, Property & Commercial Ltd., Property Insurance Initatives Limited, Property and Commercial Limited, Protected Insurance Company, Protection Plan Association Inc., Protek Group Limited, Providium Consulting Group, Ptarmigan Underwriting Agency Limited, Ptarmigan Underwriting UK Limited, Purple Bridge Claims Management Limited, Purple Bridge Finance Limited, Purple Bridge Group Limited, Purple Bridge Investments Limited, Purple Bridge Online Services Limited, Purple Bridge Publishing Limited, Quantum Underwriting Solutions Limited, Quillco 226 Limited, Quillco 227 Limited, R. L. Youngdahl & Associates, R.G. Speno Inc., R.W. Scobie, RA Rossborough (Guernsey) Ltd., RA Rossborough (Insurance Brokers) Ltd, REGENCY Group inc., RGA Referencing Limited, RGA Underwriting Limited, RIL Administrators (Guernsey) Ltd., RJ Dutton Inc., RSM Insurance Services Limited, Reassurance Holdings Inc., Rebholz Insurance Agency, Reid Manson Ltd., Reimbursement Services, Rentguard Limited, Reward Management Limited, Reynolds & Rodar Insurance Group, Riley & Associates, Rio 587 Limited, Rio 588 Limited, Risk & Reward Group, Risk Management Partners Limited, Risk Placement Services Inc., Risk Planners, Risk Services (NW) Limited, Risk Services (NW) Ltd., Risk Solutions Group Limited, Robert A. Schneider Agency, Robert Keith & Associates, Roberts & Roberts Insurance Service, Robinson-Adams Insurance, Rossborough Healthcare International Ltd, Rossborough Insurance (IOM) Ltd., Rossborough Insurance Services Ltd. (Jersey), S. A. Freerks & Associates, SEG Insurance Ltd, SGB-NIA Insurance Brokers, SHILLING Ltd, SKANCO International, SMERI AB, SRS Underwriting Pty Ltd, Secure Enterprises Pty Ltd, Securitas Re, Sellers Group, Sentinel Indemnity LLC, Septagon Insurance PCC Limited, Shuford Insurance Agency, Sigma II Insurance Agency, Sinclair Billard and Weld Limited, Sobieski & Bradley, Solid Benefit Guidance, Spanjers Insurance Agency, Spataro Insurance Agency, Specialised Broking Associates, Specialty Risk, Stackhouse Poland, Stackhouse Poland Bidco Limited, Stackhouse Poland Group Limited, Stackhouse Poland Holdings Limited, Stackhouse Poland Midco Limited, Stackouse Poland Limited, Stanton Group, Stark Johnson & Stinson Inc., Steel Agency, Strata Solicitors Ltd, Strategic Health Plans Corp., Strathearn Insurance Brokers, Strathearn Insurance Brokers (Qld) Trading Trust, Strathern Insurance Group Pty Ltd, Strathern Integration Holdco Pty Ltd, Strathern Unit Trust, Strong Financial Resources, Summit Insurance Group, Sunday and Associates, Sunderland Insurance Services, Super Advice Corporate Services Pty Ltd, Taylor Benefits, Texas Insurance Agency, Texas Insurance Managers, The BeneTex Group, The Buchholz Planning, The Chapman Group, The Commonwealth Consulting Group, The Daniels Group Inc., The EHE Group LLC, The EHE Insurance Agency LLC, The Eagle Insurance Agency LLC, The Eriksen Group, The Forker Company, The Gleason Agency, The Great Lakes Agency, The HR Group, The Hawk Agency, The Human Capital Group, The Lance Group, The Levitt/Kristan Co., The MW Bagnall Company, The Old Greenwich Consulting Group, The Parks Johnson Agency, The Plus Companies Inc., The Presidio Group, The Producers Choice, The Rains Group, The Splinter Group, The Titan Group, The Treiber Group, The Woodsmall Companies Inc., Title & Covenant Brokers Ltd., Title Investments Limited, Tom Sherwin Insurance Agency, Total Reward Group, Total Rewards Group (Holdings) Limited, Towle Agency, Transwestern, Tri-State General Insurance Agency, Triad Insurance Agency, Triad USA, Tribeca Strategic Advisors, Trinder & Norwood, Trip Mate, Trissel Graham & Toole, Tropp & Co., Tudor Risk Services, Tyloma Holdings Limited, Uni-Care Inc., Unison Inc., Universico Group, Unoccupied Direct Limited, V2V Holdings LLC, VEBA Service Group, Vasek Insurance Services Limited, Velo ACU LLC, Velo Holdings Inc., Verbag AG., Vertrue LLC, Victory Insurance Agency, Vincent L. Braband Insurance, Vital Benefits, Voluntary Benefits Solutions, W. E. Kingsley Co. Inc., WM. W. George & Associates, Walker Taylor Agency, Welling Associates, Wesfarmers Insurance - Insurance Brokerage Operations, Western Benefit Solutions, White & Company Insurance, Whitehaven Insurance Group, William Gallagher Associates Insurance Brokers, William H. Connolly & Co., Williams Insurance Agency Inc., Williams-Manny Insurance Group, Winn & Company Insurance Brokers, Wischmeyer Benefit Partners, Woodbrook Underwriting Agencies, Woods & Grooms, WorkCare Northwest, Worksite Communications, Y. S. Liedman & Associates, YOA Capsicum Reinsurance Broker Limited, Zenor Limited, Zuber Insurance Agency, and e3 Financial. Russia's government should consider drawing up legislation to freeze the assets of banks being bailed out by the state and those of their owners, Russian Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina said. She said that her bank would propose a mechanism to prevent the owners and senior executives of lenders undergoing rescues from leaving the country. "Regrettably bankers are escaping abroad and regaining access to withdrawn assets there, Nabiullina told a banking congress in St Petersburg. Nabiullina reiterated that the bulk of weak banks or those with doubtful business practices have left the Russian banking system, Reuters reported. ALBANY Almost five years after the start of the most high-profile First Amendment legal battle in the history of Capital Region cuisine, the food truck known as the Wandering Dago will sell its braised short rib sandwiches, tater tots and shakes on the Empire State Plaza starting Monday. In 2013, Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration banned the Wandering Dago from serving its wares on the Plaza, a decision the state Office of General Services later acknowledged was due to the truck's name. While "dago" is generally understood to be a slur on Italians and others (derived from the common name "Diego"), the truck's owner Andrea Loguidice has insisted its moniker was intended as nothing more than a tribute to her ancestors, laborers who were paid "as the day goes." "Andrea's very pleased that after several years of struggle, she'll be able to sell her fine goods on the Plaza," said Loguidice's attorney, George Carpinello of Boies Schiller Flexner. The Wandering Dago filed suit in August 2013 against several employees and leaders of the state Office of General Services as well as the New York Racing Association, which ejected the truck from the Saratoga Race Course in July of that year after receiving a monitory email from a Cuomo administration official. NYRA, which at the time of the Wandering Dago's ouster was under state control, quietly reached a $68,500 settlement with the truck's owners in January 2015. While a March 2016 decision by U.S. District Judge Mae D'Agostino granted summary judgment to the OGS defendants including Commissioner RoAnn Destito and Executive Deputy Commissioner Joe Rabito the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit concluded in January 2018 that summary judgment should have gone to the Wandering Dago. "It is undisputed that defendants denied WD's applications solely because of its ethnic slur branding," the court said in a 32-page decision that called the state's action unconstitutional "viewpoint discrimination." The Second Circuit's decision was based in large part on the U.S. Supreme Court's June 2017 decision in Matal v. Tam, in which the leader of an Asian-American rock group called The Slants was initially denied the chance to register the band's name with the U.S. Trademark Office due to its ironic use of another offensive ethnic epithet. While the plaintiffs in the Wandering Dago suit dropped their claim seeking damages from the state, the Cuomo administration meaning taxpayers will be required to cover their legal bills. Carpinello said they are still in negotiations to determine the final cost. Loguidice, who now operates the truck as part of her Rogue Hospitality catering business, filed a separate lawsuit in late 2014, claiming that she was fired from her job as an attorney for the state Department of Environmental Conservation due to her connection to the truck. DEC officials dismissed her after it came to light that the truck had been hired by a General Electric contractor to cater an event on GE's Niskayuna campus; agency officials said DEC's work on GE's PCB dredging project on the Hudson should have raised a red flag for Loguidice. The DEC-Loguidice suit remains bogged down in legal wrangling about the scope of the questions state attorneys are obligated to answer in depositions. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. The truck's placement on the Plaza will put it in view of Cuomo's office on the south side of the Capitol. A few weeks after the filing of the lawsuit, the governor called the name "obviously offensive." "I think if you had a state official that didn't see the name 'Wandering Dago' and a buzzer went off or a flag was raised, then you would say that person was asleep at the switch, right?," Cuomo told reporters in September 2013. On Thursday morning, Loguidice was at the Plaza checking out the truck's designated location in front of Building 3 on the west side of the reflecting pool. She said she was not concerned that the Wandering Dago's presence might attract protesters. "It's their right as Americans," she said. "We all have a First Amendment right to freedom of speech." cseiler@timesunion.com - 518-454-5619 - @CaseySeiler ALBANY A judge issued a protective order Thursday barring an Essex County farmer from emailing a veterinarian he filed a complaint against, the veterinarian's lawyer and other members of the lawyer's firm. Sandy Lewis, an outspoken former Wall Street broker who owns Lewis Family Farm outside the Town of Essex, claims that veterinarian Alan Clarisse and Animals First Veterinary Services didn't properly care for his cattle, which led them to contract anaplasmosis, a disease that affects a cow's red blood cells. At some point before the start of 2015, Clarisse and Animals First came to an agreement with Lewis to provide veterinary services, according to court documents filed in January. But the services were "carelessly and negligently provided or performed" and included "failing to properly vet and inspect the cattle" and actions that caused the herd to contract the ailment, according to the complaint. Damages to the herd included "devaluation" and "loss of a portion of the cattle herd." Lewis and his farm are seeking "an amount in excess of the jurisdictional limits of all lower courts which would otherwise have jurisdiction" as well as costs and disbursements. Last month the lawyer representing Clarisse, Marc Kaim of Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP, sent a letter to U.S. Magistrate Judge Christian Hummel, who is presiding over the case. Kaim requested a conference to address "close to one thousand emails" Clarisse said Lewis had sent him, which included "harassing, defamatory, demeaning, threatening, and/or hostile" content. Lewis is also claiming that Clarisse "is part of nationwide conspiracy among veterinarians to spread anaplasmosis throughout beef herds to that the drug companies can make money on the wholesale use of antibiotics," Kaim wrote. The farmer's experiences and the use of antibiotics in meat were the topic of a recent op-ed published in the New York Times. Last year, the Food and Drug Administration banned the use of human antibiotics for the purpose of promoting animal growth, but Lewis "is convinced that some ranchers continue to use antibiotics for growth purposes," journalist William Cohan wrote in the piece. Lewis has asked the FDA to "close the loophole that allows ranchers to feed antibiotics to their animals prophylactically, and for violations to be a criminal offense," Cohan wrote. According to Kaim's letter, Clarisse asked Lewis in early May to stop contacting him, at which point Lewis "immediately" began emailing Clarisse, Clarisse's wife, faculty at Cornell University and members of the press, Kaim wrote. Lewis started "making threats by disclosing Dr. Clarisse's private medical conditions" to these recipients and also tried to "provoke" Kaim via email and tweeted about the lawyer, according to the letter. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. These concerns were the topic of a conference in Albany on Thursday morning, attended by Kaim as well as Lewis and his attorney, Joseph Brennan of Brennan and White LLP. "Nothing that we've done has stopped him," Kaim told Judge Hummel, referring to Lewis. The attorney sought a protective order to prevent Lewis from emailing Clarisse, which Hummel issued. The order also bars Lewis from emailing Kaim and other members of the firm. Kaim said he was also worried about Lewis "potentially tainting" the pool of experts the farmer had emailed, people they might want to use during the case. Judge Hummel said he was attempting to balance that concern, as well as those about the emails, with Lewis' rights under the First Amendment. miszler@timesunion.com 518-454-5018 @madisoniszler Carrie Underwood continued to make history as the most decorated act at the CMT Music Awards with 18 wins, while Blake Shelton walked away with the night's top prize. Shelton, the only person to win two awards Wednesday, won video of the year for "I'll Name the Dogs" at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn. Underwood won female video of the year for the Ludacris-assisted song, "The Champion," also giving the rapper-actor his first CMT Award. Ludacris didn't attend the show, but others from outside of country music were in the house, from Kelly Clarkson to Backstreet Boys, who both performed at the show. The boy band also picked up an award, winning CMT performance of the year for the Florida Georgia Line-featured version of their classic hit, "Everybody," from the "CMT Crossroads" TV special. Associated Press Porn star: Ex-lawyer was Trump's puppet Porn actress Stormy Daniels says her ex-lawyer was a "puppet" for President Donald Trump and worked with the president's attorney to get her to appear on Fox News and falsely deny having sex with Trump. The allegations are made in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Los Angeles. Daniels is fighting to invalidate a confidentiality agreement she signed days before the 2016 presidential election. The suit alleges Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen "colluded" with Daniels' then-attorney Keith Davidson to have her deny the relationship on Fox News after a tabloid magazine ran a story about Daniels and Trump. Daniels didn't end up giving the interview. It also alleges Cohen met with first lady Melania Trump in March to tell her Daniels would disclose the alleged 2006 tryst in a lawsuit. A spokesman for Davidson didn't immediately comment. Cohen's lawyer didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Associated Press Offender championed by Kim K is pardoned President Donald Trump commuted the sentence Wednesday of a woman serving a life sentence for drug offenses whose cause was championed by reality TV star Kim Kardashian West in a recent visit to the White House. "BEST NEWS EVER!!!!" was the Twitter response from Kardashian West. Alice Marie Johnson, 63, has spent more than two decades behind bars and was not eligible for parole. Trump's decision comes amid a recent flurry of pardons issued by the president, who has seemed drawn to causes advocated by conservatives, celebrities or those who once appeared on his former reality show, "The Apprentice." This use of executive power is taking place against the backdrop of the Russia investigation that hangs over his presidency. The White House said Johnson "has accepted responsibility for her past behavior" and has been a model prisoner, working hard to rehabilitate herself and serve as a mentor to fellow inmates. Associated Press Reporter speaks to inmate college grads Bill Whitaker of CBS News has spoken at college commencements before, but never one where the graduates weren't free to leave with their families. That was before Wednesday. The reporter who has done several stories on criminal justice for "60 Minutes" spoke to 44 men who earned college degrees while inmates at New York's Sing Sing state prison. He urged the graduates to "seize your place in the universe." Whitaker, who is black, said there are many people in correctional systems treated unfairly who look like him, the graduates and their families. He says that has motivated him to tell stories. Sing Sing is 30 miles north of New York City the prison for which the phrase "up the river" was coined. Associated Press Slavery historian Ira Berlin dead at 77 Prize-winning and influential slavery scholar Ira Berlin has died. Berlin's death was confirmed Wednesday by the University of Maryland, where he was a history professor. He was 77. The university did not immediately have additional details about his death. Berlin's books included "Generations of Captivity," "Slaves Without Masters" and "Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America," for which he won the Bancroft Prize. Berlin wrote the introduction for a tie-in book to the acclaimed movie "Twelve Years a Slave." Associated Press Albany Jim Furlong lives on Lark Street. The other side of Lark Street. The Lark everybody knows has good bars and better restaurants. On Furlong's section of the street, north of the Washington Avenue dividing line, there used to be one bar and one restaurant. Both are boarded over now. That tells you something about the plight of the neighborhood, which, since Furlong moved there 29 years ago, has suffered through that familiar story of urban decline and blight. This is not what Furlong expected. When he and his wife bought the row house from a preacher who delivered sermons in the basement, Furlong figured that rehabbing the 1892 building was an investment with certain dividends. He thought the rehab wave then happening in Center Square would travel up Lark Street. The opposite happened. Disinvestment spread around the neighborhood like gossip. "This block went from all occupied to 50 percent vacant," Furlong said. "It looks like a war zone." That's overstating things a bit, but Furlong, now 64, is right to be dismayed. When he showed me around last week, there was garbage piled up against buildings, boards on many windows and code violations galore. There was even a used mattress leaning against a tree. On Furlong's block and the one opposite it, six building are marked by those red X placards. You've seen them, no doubt the signs that are one stripe short of looking like an old Van Halen album cover. Don't get Furlong started on the X's. They are a major pet peeve, just as they are for many others in the city's zones of disinvestment. From Furlong's point of view, the placards all but scream, "This is a bad neighborhood, so don't you dare invest here!" Or, "Hey, I'm empty! Break into me and nobody will ever care!" Neighbors say vagrants and prostitutes are drawn to the doorways of X houses, and squatters live in them. Last month, a fire at an X-marked building at 124 Lark St., two blocks from Furlong's home, displaced 15 people from neighboring structures. "People were going in and out of the (vacant) building," said Chris Singleton, owner of 256 Sheridan St., which was razed after the fire. "We called it in several times." Good intentions led to the X's. A requirement of the International Fire Code adopted by the state in 2015, they are supposed to tell firefighters that a building might be unsafe. In 2016, they popped up around Albany like dandelions in spring. On some blocks, particularly in West Hill, there are more X-marked buildings than occupied ones. They make it shockingly clear how far some parts of Albany have fallen. They are like scarlet letters that remind us what we've allowed American cities to become. "I don't think they help attract investment," said Assemblyman John McDonald, the former Cohoes mayor who represents some of Albany's X-plagued areas. "You're basically admitting that you have a property available to have a drug party in or do something else." McDonald is urging cities to forgo the X's, which the state will allow, he said, if municipalities show they are notifying firefighters of troubled buildings via the 911 system. In Albany, City Hall says doing so will take time and a significant investment in technology. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. "We are working toward a solution that will allow us to apply for waivers while protecting the health and safety of firefighters and other first responders," said Brian Shea, spokesman for Mayor Kathy Sheehan. But you can understand if Furlong is out of patience with red X's, with the garbage he's always picking up, with all the other quality-of-life issues bedeviling his neighborhood. More Information Contact columnist Chris Churchill at 518-454-5442 or email cchurchill@timesunion.com See More Collapse "There's more and more people taking advantage of the fact that nobody's paying attention," said Furlong who owns Last Vestige Music Shop on Quail Street. "The police are doing what they can, but the bureaucracy of the city lets this fester." Furlong believes his neighborhood is continuing to decline, but I don't want to paint too dire a picture. There are good things happening in parts of Sheridan Hollow, including new Habitat for Humanity homes near Furlong's place. And there are good things happening around Albany investment that is making much of the city a better place to live. I talked recently to John Clarkson, the former supervisor in Bethlehem, who has moved back to Albany after decades in suburban purgatory. (My word, not his.) He's enjoying life in a newly rehabbed Lake Street row house, near Washington Park. And why wouldn't he? City living can be great. More people are happily celebrating its charms. But there's Lark Street. And then there's the other side of Lark Street. cchurchill@timesunion.com 518-454-5442 @chris_churchill ALBANY - Great White, the 1980s rockers known for the hits "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" and "Rock Me," will kick off this year's Alive at Five concert series with a show Thursday night in the Corning Preserve. The show starts at 5 p.m. and is free. Upstate performers Joe Mansman and the Midnight Revival Band are the opening act. While Great White rose to prominence with the string of modest hits, they will probably be remembered to some as the group that was on stage when an accidental fire burned down a Rhode Island night club in 2003, killing 100 people. The fire was sparked by a pyrotechnic display that started foam to burn in the walls and ceiling at the Station night club in West Warwick. The Alive at Five concerts are held on the stage in the Corning Preserve on most Thursday in June, July and early August. Tito Jackson joins B.B. King's Blues Band on June 28. Jackson, the brother of Michael Jackson, will fill in for the late blues man when the band arrive in Albany on June 28. Big Daddy Kane leads a line-up for rappers who head to the Corning Preserve stage on July 12. Albany's DJ Trumastr is part of that night's line-up. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. The reggae band Third World performs on July 19. Blue-grass masters Yonder Mountain String Band is scheduled to play on July 26. Sir Sly plays on Aug. 2. Great White's manager pleaded guilty manslaughter for setting off the display that triggered the blaze and was sentenced to four years in prison. The owners of the club also pleaded not contest to involuntary manslaughter charges in 2006, according to the New York Times. Investors need USD 44 million to establish universities in Vietnam Updated: 09:22 - 07/06/2018 South Saigon campus of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) Vietnam in Phu My Hung urban center, Ho Chi Minh City__Photo: Internet , , , , Investors, both domestic and foreign, that wish to establish a university in Vietnam would be required to have a capital of at least VND 1 trillion (USD 43.9 million).This is a provision of a draft decree designed to replace Decree 73 of 2012 on foreign investment and cooperation in education, which is expected to create a fair playground for both local and foreign investors in the education sector.Under the draft decree, any investment project to open a university must have a minimum investment capital of VND 1 trillion, exclusive of the value of the land area on which the institution will be built. Such capital amount would be determined in cash and property and approved in writing by competent authorities.Compared to the current requirement of VND 300 billion (USD 13.2 million) stipulated in Decree 73, the total amount of investment capital that foreign investors are required to have would increase significantly. As explained by the drafters of the decree, the increase aims to guarantee the quality of universities.Le Truong Tung, Chairman of FPT Universitys Executive Board, considers the new requirement reasonable as it is at least equal to the requirement for local investors.Under Decree 46 of 2017 on conditions for investment and operation in the education sector, local investors that wish to establish private universities are required to have an investment capital of at least VND 1 trillion. However, as Decree 46 mentions nothing about universities established before its effective date, such provision is seen as a barrier for new investors rather than a tool for guaranteeing quality.In order to create fairness for new players, including local and foreign investors, institutions already in existence would also have to increase their investment capital according to a specific schedule, Tung suggested.Another concern of investors is the requirement on teacher profiles upon submitting dossiers of application for an establishment license, which, according to some legal experts, should be abolished.When investors are in the stage of applying for a license, their projects have not yet commenced operation, thus not able to sign contracts with employees. Not to mention that it takes extremely long for investors to get a license, Nguyen Kim Dung, Legal Director for Apollo and British University Vietnam, was quoted by the Vietnam Investment Review as saying.Dung also suggested eliminating the requirement that foreign language teachers must have five years of experience and reconsidering another requirement regarding the acceptance rate for Vietnamese students at foreign-funded high schools.According to Phillip Dowler, head of RMIT Vietnams branch in Hanoi, this requirement makes it difficult for schools to hire teachers because some have experience but have not yet been teaching for five years, and vice versa.Sharing this view, Dang Van Dinh, head of the Policy Research and Development Department under the Association of Vietnam Universities and Colleges, believed that schools should be given greater autonomy.Dung also suggested the abolition of the requirement that an investor must have a license to establish a short-term education institution.Short-term education institutions must undergo three processes for being granted an investment certificate, an establishment decision, and an operation license - each requiring 30 working days to complete. This is too much work. Perhaps after these institutions obtain an investment license and establishment decision, management agencies should automatically provide them with a license for operation, Dung suggested.- SCHENECTADY - A man who fired a gun into a crowd, killing a man in an act of frustration that prosecutors said was motivated simply by his dissatisfaction with life, was convicted of second-degree murder on Wednesday. Niam Dorvil, 26, faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison when sentenced Aug. 2 by visiting County Court Judge Kate Hogan. On July 29, Dorvil fired seven rounds from a 9mm pistol into a crowd of 30 people on Crane Street. Dorvil had been dropped off by a friend outside the El Dorado bar shortly before he opened fire on the crowd. One of the bullets killed 20-year-old Jonathan Olds. Prosecutors said Dorvil retreated to his friend's car. "When Dorvil was interviewed by members of the Schenectady Police Department and FBI, he indicated that he fired into the crowd because he was not satisfied with his life and mad at the world in general. He had no other motive in the shooting, and Jonathan Olds was not Dorvil's target," the Schenectady County District Attorney's office said. Dorvil knows what it's like to be on the other end of a gun. He was standing just feet away from promising Schenectady High School basketball player Eddie Stanley when Stanley was shot dead by James Wells at a Schenectady party in June 2011. "He put his back to the door, pulled back two guns, and started shooting," said Dorvil, who described the weapons as a "357 and 44 bulldog, told a jury at Wells 2013 murder trial." Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. "How big were they?" asked since-retired Chief Assistant District Attorney Philip Mueller. "Big enough," responded Dorvil, who was 21 at the time. Wells, who is now 38, is serving 27 years to life in state prison for his own second-degree murder charge. In addition to the murder charge, Dorvil was convicted of weapons offenses and reckless endangerment. The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Brian Gray and Eamonn Neary. Dorvil was represented by Fred Rench. ALBANY A program manager at the state Division of Criminal Justice Services has filed a federal discrimination complaint alleging she was sexually harassed and bullied for years by a former forensics director before the agency transferred her to a new job against her wishes and moved her into an office that was formerly a storage closet. The complaint was filed this week with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission by Kimberly Schiavone, who has worked at DCJS since 2005. She alleges the agency's leaders did nothing in response to complaints by her and others against Brian J. Gestring, who was fired by the agency in March following a series of stories in the Times Union that exposed the agency's handling of the case. Schiavone's discrimination complaint was submitted less than two weeks after a female attorney for DCJS filed a related federal lawsuit accusing the agency of covering for Gestring and terminating her job after she cooperated in an inspector general's investigation of his behavior. The civil rights suit was filed by Gina L. Bianchi against DCJS Commissioner Michael C. Green and two other agency leaders, General Counsel John M. Czajka and Human Resources Director Karen Davis. Bianchi and Schiavone have become symbolic of what some say is a pattern in some state agencies in which high-ranking men accused of sexual harassment or other workplace misconduct have received private counseling memos or job transfers, but no formal discipline, while their accusers have faced retribution. The women's cases also received attention because the office of Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott turned over Bianchi's confidential testimony in the Gestring investigation to DCJS, which used it to interrogate Bianchi before she was fired. Schiavone had filed a workplace violence complaint against Gestring last August, but the agency did not follow up and never interviewed her about the complaint, said John W. Bailey, the attorney for Schiavone and Bianchi. In a prior statement, DCJS said its decision last December to terminate Bianchi and transfer Schiavone were "appropriate actions ... to maintain the appropriate work environment at DCJS." Under state regulations, Bianchi was able to fall back to a junior-level attorney's position with the agency but suffered a $44,000-a-year pay cut. Schiavone was transferred out of the forensics unit where she was a program manager and had worked since 2005. Her new office was formerly a storage closet, her attorney said. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has declined to comment on the case. Schiavone's complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleges she was "subjected to ongoing harassment, gender-based discrimination, sexual harassment, a hostile work environment, age-based discrimination, and retaliation for complaining about the same." In a recent interview, Gestring, a former New York Police Department scientist who was appointed director of DCJS's Office of Forensic Science in 2012, denied that he had harassed anyone and noted that DCJS conducted an independent investigation late last year that cleared him of wrongdoing. Gestring described Schiavone as a "constant complainer" and alleged her job performance was problematic. The inspector general's investigation of Gestring last year revealed a history of offensive and inappropriate behavior that began shortly after he started working for DCJS in July 2012. Records indicate that about four months after Gestring was hired, he received two counseling memos for misbehavior. Gestring signed the memos certifying that had read them, but added handwritten notes claiming he disagreed with the findings, had been forced to sign them, and that staff at DCJS had "agendas," according to details of the inspector general's investigation obtained by the Times Union. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. Leahy Scott's investigators, who obtained sworn testimony from DCJS employees, said they were also told that Gestring had once encouraged Schiavone to file fraudulent sexual harassment charges against a male colleague a former Albany police officer in an apparent effort to have him terminated. Schiavone's EEO complaint provided additional details about that allegation, including her assertion that she told Gestring the other employee had not sexually harassed her. "Mr. Gestring indicated that it did not matter, and that I should file the report anyway because that was how you can get rid of employees," her complaint states. "Mr. Gestring also stated in front of me and others that when he worked in the New York City Police Crime Lab 'they' would plant evidence in a co-worker's drawer if they wanted the coworker 'gone.'" In October, Leahy Scott and her deputy inspector general, Spencer Freedman, met with Czajka, DCJS's top legal counsel, and Green to outline the findings of their investigation. Leahy Scott, who was appointed inspector general by Cuomo in 2013, followed up the October meeting with a five-page letter to DCJS on Dec. 6 outlining the findings of her investigation. The letter recommended the agency take action against Gestring and two other officials accused of mishandling the allegations, First Deputy Commissioner Mark Bonacquist and Davis, the human resources director. The agency did not take action against those employees, Instead, DCJS said it had conducted its own investigation and could not sustain the allegations against Gestring. Bianchi's lawsuit said that Green, who had counseled Gestring in 2012 for workplace misconduct, told her repeatedly when he interrogated her about her statements to the inspector general's office that she should have been more evasive in her answers. After the case involving Gestring was made public in a Times Union story published March 18, Cuomo's office issued a statement saying the governor had asked the state's Joint Commission on Public Ethics to investigate the case -- the fourth investigation of the allegations by a state agency. ALBANY The village of Green Island has agreed to pay $375,000 to settle a federal lawsuit filed by a man whose leg had to be amputated as a result of injuries he said were the result of excessive force by police officers during a 2013 arrest. The settlement ends a civil rights lawsuit filed four years ago by Kevin T. Kavanaugh, who said that a police officer violently and unnecessarily twisted his lower leg after Kavanaugh had been handcuffed following a high-speed chase that began in Green Island and ended in Albany. The settlement was negotiated by the village's insurance carrier. Last year, several other police agencies that were involved in the arrest or with Kavanaugh's custody and treatment following his arrest also reached settlements in the case. Correctional Medical Care, Inc., a Pennsylvania company which had previously provided medical services at the Albany County jail, agreed to pay $84,000. The other police agencies, including the State Police and Watervliet Police Department, paid smaller amounts that totaled roughly $13,ooo. In the settlements, neither the agencies nor the medical services provider admitted wrongdoing. "I'm disappointed the insurance carrier wouldn't pursue this further," said Green Island Mayor Ellen McNulty-Ryan. Kavanaugh, 32, is incarcerated in state prison and scheduled to be released next month after serving a five-year prison sentence for a drug conviction related to his arrest. "This wasn't just a broken ankle. Kevin had pins and screws in his ankle (from a prior injury) and they basically twisted his ankle until they popped out of the bone," said his attorney, Lee Kindlon. "They actually killed his leg, and it was dying from the toe up." One of the Green Island officers, Paul Johnson, testified in a pre-trial deposition that when they were processing Kavanaugh at their station, he complained of extreme pain in his lower leg that the officer said "just looked like a dead leg, grayish white, like a wax museum leg or something." The officers brought Kavanaugh to Samaritan Hospital for evaluation, but no surgery was performed. Kavanaugh was booked into the Albany County jail, where his injuries ultimately caused him to lose blood circulation in his leg. The pursuit began when Kavanaugh, who was smoking marijuana and had drugs in his car, took off as Green Island police tried to pull him over. Kavanaugh, who did not have a driver's license, led police south on Interstate 787 at speeds around 90 mph before his vehicle was blocked as he entered the city of Albany. Kavanaugh tossed drugs out the window of the vehicle he was driving as the chase unfolded. According to court records, Kavanaugh also swallowed some of the ketamine commonly referred to as "Special K" that he was carrying and then climbed out of his car and surrendered. He said police officers threw him to the ground, hit him with a club and kicked him in the head. The officers, including a state trooper, gave depositions saying they had used the necessary force to subdue Kavanaugh. After he was placed in handcuffs, a Green Island police officer Kavanaugh couldn't specifically identify the officer grabbed his foot and twisted his right leg violently as he pulled off Kavanaugh's sneaker. Albany police were also named in the lawsuit initially because Kavanaugh alleged one of their officers, who was riding with a trooper that night, stood by and did nothing as he was pummeled. That officer was later dropped as a defendant. Kindlon said the jail's former medical provider, Correctional Medical Care, at that time had a contract in which their profit margin would decrease if they sent inmates to the hospital for treatment. He said that they delayed getting Kavanaugh medical help. "CMC's actions always bothered me the most," Kindlon said. "The way Correctional Medical Care worked is they got money if they didn't send people to the hospital, if they didn't refer people out. It's grotesque the way their contract with the county operated." Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. A year before the incident, Kavanaugh had undergone surgery on his right foot following a construction accident, including having 13 screws implanted. The new injuries to the foot during his arrest prompted Samaritan Hospital workers to determine that Kavanaugh needed urgent vascular surgery to save the limb, according to Kindlon. Kavanaugh was treated at Albany Med for nine days but did not undergo surgery, according to the lawsuit. Instead, he was taken to the Albany County jail, where he was unable to walk on his discolored and swollen foot. Two days later, after he begged jail officers and medical staff for help, he was taken back to Albany Med and his leg was amputated below the right knee, Kindlon said. Initially, Kavanaugh was told he would lose just his foot, but the delays in his surgery caused the condition to worsen and doctors needed to amputate half his leg, Kindlon added. Last year, in an unrelated case, Correctional Medical Care and Albany County agreed to pay nearly $1.1 million to the estate of a Troy man who died when nurses waited more than 12 hours to call an ambulance after he suffered a stroke while being held at the county jail in August 2014. A report issued by the Commission of Correction in 2016 determined that the care given to 24-year-old Mark Cannon was "so grossly inadequate ... it shocks the conscience." Within weeks of Cannon's death, the office of New York's attorney general reached an agreement with the company that allowed it to remain in business in New York with monitoring through last month. The company paid a $200,000 penalty and agreed to improve staffing levels and training practices. At that time, Correctional Medical Care had contracts worth more than $32 million a year with 13 county jails in New York, including Albany and Schenectady counties. "Mr. Kavanaughs injuries occurred prior to his incarceration at the Albany County Correctional Facility, not under our care," said Shane Sunday, a vice president with CMC. "Correctional Medical Care resolved this dispute over a year ago, settling for a nominal amount less than the cost to defend the case." Albany County last year terminated the $3.7 million annual contract it had with the company. A company spokesman previously said the termination of the contract, which began in 2012, was a mutual agreement between the company and county officials. ALBANY Following weeks of dysfunction culminating in a dramatic showdown this week between the politically divided state Senate, work resumed in the chamber Wednesday afternoon but with a pair of Democratic "hostile" amendments relating to abortion rights and contraception failing to move forward along partisan lines. Senate Democrats had introduced the women's health amendments many times, but their efforts to force a vote on the bills have been blocked by the Republicans. Seizing on a 31-31 evenly split chamber due to the recent absence of a Republican senator called up for military duties the Democrats had hoped to force a vote on Tuesday when Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul invoked her authority to preside over the chamber, a move that also allowed her to act as a deciding vote on procedural issues. But the Democrats' plan quickly fell apart when the Senate Republicans abruptly accepted the amendment and did not allow Democratic Sen. Liz Krueger to speak on the legislation. A tense back-and-forth ensued before the acceptance of the amendment was withdrawn by the Senate Republicans. Without Hochul's presence on Wednesday, the Democrats did not have the leverage to compel their Republican colleagues to vote on the bill and expose their views on the legislation. Still, the Democrats were able to talk about the legislation on the chamber floor, with Krueger taking a jab at Senate leadership for silencing her and patronizing Hochul the day before. "Presuming that the men in the room are done mansplaining today," Kreuger said, before delving into the necessity of the bill that expands protections for women seeking to terminate a pregnancy. The Democrats' hostile amendments last-minute additions to a bill introduced by the minority conference before a vote, a tactic that rarely succeeds were tied to legislation addressing animal cruelty. But they were deemed non-germane and the Senate Democrats did not have the votes to overturn that decision on Wednesday. Hochul had been clearly caught off guard during Tuesday's session, when Republicans unexpectedly forced her to preside over the largely symbolic override of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's veto of a bill to implement full-day kindergarten classes that had received bi-partisan support. Hochul did not preside over the session Wednesday, after an agreement was hammered out by Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan and Senate Minority Leader Andrea Stewart Cousins during a closed-door meeting Wednesday morning, a spokeswoman for Hochul's office said. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. "She has said that she'll go when it matters. We felt that yesterday mattered and today was just not one of those days. The reason they are actually discussing reproductive health on the floor is because she brought it up and made it an issue," Hochul's spokeswoman, Haley Viccaro, said. Still, Senate Democrats touted the procedural vote, which was done by a show of hands at the behest of Democratic Sen. Jeff Klein, as a victory. "Today we saw unanimous Republican opposition to women's health bills, the Comprehensive Contraception Coverage Act and the Reproductive Health Act," Senate Democratic spokesman Mike Murphy said. "For weeks, Senate Democrats have fought to simply have a vote on these women's health bills, and for weeks the Senate Republicans have gone to extreme lengths to avoid being put on the record. Clearly, no women's health bills will pass the State Senate so long as Republicans are in charge." Robin Chappelle Golston, president of Planned Parenthood Empire State Acts, condemned the Senate's GOP leadership for choosing "politics over women's health." "Their failure to advance important legislation that safeguards access to abortion and contraception is out of step with what New Yorkers need and want," she said. ALBANY A fundraising agreement between a statewide third party and the state Senate's now-defunct Independent Democratic Conference has been deemed invalid by a state Supreme Court justice. The 2016 arrangement with the Independence Party boosted then-IDC Leader Jeff Klein's ability to raise and spend campaign money, as the new account was able to accept six-figure campaign donations and transfer unlimited amounts to candidates. The increased fundraising muscle was flexed in 2016 and had been expected to play a pivotal role in September, when the eight former members of the conference may face Democratic primaries. State Board of Elections Chief Enforcement Counsel Risa Sugarman filed the case last August against the campaign fundraising committees set up by the IDC, which broke away from the main Democratic conference in 2011 and allied itself with Republicans. That arrangement ended in April, when the IDC rejoined the main body of Democrats at the urging of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who faced significant election-year pressure to help his party take control of the chamber. "I'm very pleased with the decision," Sugarman said. "We have to review the decision to determine what our next steps can be." She expected to make a determination before November's elections. The decision from state Supreme Court Justice Kimberly O'Connor requires the committee to comply with state Election Law, which could mean transforming their account to a traditional political action committee or an independent expenditure committee, which couldn't be controlled by Klein. There could also be ramifications for violating contribution and expenditure limits. "To allow the Independence Party to turn over a party committee to members of the IDC, enrolled Democrats, would open the door to political parties allowing other independent bodies or special interest groups, regardless of party affiliation, to control party committees, have their own housekeeping accounts and receive benefits afforded solely to party and constituted committees under the Election Law," O'Connor wrote in a decision posted by Politico New York. She concluded that the breakaway Democrats, who created their conference through internal legislative rules, were not entitled to the same free speech protections as a political party. O'Connor added that fundraising committees should be controlled by members of that political party to prevent "quid pro quo corruption or its appearance." When Klein controlled the campaign account, as well as a housekeeping account able to accept unlimited contributions to be spent on party building, he was enrolled in the Democratic Party. The court's decision could affect the ability of the former IDC members to fend off primary challenges. Prior to the court's ruling in April, Klein said he would spend what was needed to protect the incumbent members. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. The attorney for the Independence Party and former IDC members, Lawrence A. Mandelker, said: "My clients respectfully disagree with Justice O'Connor's analysis, but will follow her directive to bring (the Senate Independence Campaign Committee) into full compliance by filing an amended registration reflecting SICC's status as a party committee." A spokesman for the fundraising arm of the Senate Democrats did not address a direct question about whether they will spend money on behalf of former-IDC members with primary challenges. He noted that all eight of the senators were endorsed by Senate Democratic Conference Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and that they traditionally don't support primary campaigns. The Senate Independence Campaign Committee reported having about $1.2 million in a January filing with the state Board of Elections. The fate of that money isn't clear, as it will likely be regulated by stricter campaign finance rules moving forward. In 2016, the campaign account reported spending more than $686,000 on behalf of five senators, including nearly $540,000 for Marisol Alcantara, about $57,000 for Tony Avella and $50,000 for David Carlucci. All of Carlucci's support came in the form of one transfer before the fall election. The housekeeping account had about $220,000 in January. This is not the first time Sugarman's unit has investigated the IDC's campaign finances. In 2016, the IDC settled with Sugarman for $27,000 over its political action committee's activities during the 2014 elections helping Avella. Additional reporting by Chris Bragg. ALBANY Days after a jury concluded that their school district was negligent but not liable in a 13-year-old boys 2015 suicide, his parents blasted the state Assembly for what they said was its stalling on a measure that would force schools to inform parents when their kids are bullied. Lawmakers, though, say the bill could have unintended consequences, such as outing or exposing a child who may be gay to his or her parents. That could conflict with other laws aimed at protecting LGBT students. Had we been notified by Jacobes school about what was going on during the day at school and on the school bus, we would have intervened to stop the harassment and protect our child, said Richard Taras, whose son Jacobe shot himself after being taunted by anti-gay slurs at the South Glens Falls school district. Taras last week issued an open letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Assembly Democratic Majority Speaker Carl Heastie expressing frustration that the bill, dubbed "Jacobe's Law," is stalled in the Assembly. The bill has already passed in the Senate, where GOP Saratoga County Sen. Jim Tedisco was the sponsor. Albany Democratic Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy, who sponsored the bill in the Assembly, pulled it off the table on Wednesday pending further discussion when it wasn't moving forward. We're still trying," Fahy said on Wednesday. Open Letter.doc by rkarlin on Scribd One of the potential questions centered on the privacy that LGBT students are afforded under another law, the Dignity for All Students Act. That privacy extends to parents, and schools could be violating that if they were to tell parents, for instance, that their kids were being targeted with homophobic bullying. "We have to always remember about the unintended consequences," said New York City Democratic Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan, who chairs the Assembly Education Committee. "We certainly don't want to make something worse." Taras, though, said he believed parents should know what's happening to their children when they are in school. "I never knew that parents gave up their rights to know what's involved in school with their children," he said on Wednesday. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. Others have added that parental notification could be better enforced if the state Education Department were to impose a regulation requiring such notices to parents if their kids were bullied. Fahy noted that she has added an amendment that would give schools a bit of leeway by letting students veto parental notification. That, she said, could thread the needle between the need for privacy and parental notification. rkarlin@timesunion.com 518-454-5758 @RickKarlinTU Colonie police said they are looking for a woman who stole $2,600 from a disabled man with whom she has an on again-off again relationship. Police said Ashley M. Mowatt helped the paralyzed man into a device on June 2 that allows him to use a bathroom and took the money and the man's vehicle. The man was found the next day by a home health aide and he was taken to Albany Memorial Hospital with dehydration and sores from being left on the lift device for 18 hours, police said. The slideshow above is review of recent scandals that include allegations of sexual abuse or harassment involving prominent local and state officials. For in-depth reporting and updates on these incidents, visit timesunion.com/harassment. HA NOI The Vietnamese economy is witnessing a good growth momentum, marking a positive signal for the development of the automobile market, said deputy minister of Industry and Trade o Thang Hai. Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 15th International Exhibition on Automobile, Transportation and Supporting Industries (Vietnam AutoExpo 2018) at the National Convention Centre in Ha Nois Nam Tu Liem District on Wednesday, Hai said the Government would build the automobile industry into an important industry to meet the domestic market demand for trucks, passenger cars and special-purpose vehicles. The Government is also striving to provide a market supplying auto components, parts and some high-value component sets for the global automotive industry, he added. It is predicted that by 2030, Viet Nam will have between 466,000 and 863,000 new cars entering the automobile market. By 2020, the number of motorbikes is expected to reach 36 million units. Hai said the Government has paid attention to the development of the supporting industry and issued many supportive and preferential policies to promote the industry. In addition to this, the improved infrastructure is also a favourable factor helping automobile and motorbike manufacturers and supporting suppliers to develop production and business. With the above predictions and the Governments efforts, the automobile industry, the auto and motorbike market and the supporting industry in Viet Nam offer a lot of potential for businesses to invest in this industry. Taking this trend forward, the Vietnam AutoExpo 2018 is seen as a meaningful activity for manufacturing and trading enterprises in the automotive, motorcycle and supporting industries. The exhibition will act as a bridge for domestic and foreign enterprises to meet, exchange and co-operate in business as well as investing in, expanding and developing the market. In doing so, they will contribute to promoting the domestic industry in future. Covering nearly 10,000sq.m with 450 booths, the Vietnam AutoExpo 2018 aims to provide visitors with a complete understanding of the market of automobiles, motorcycles and supporting industries in Viet Nam. In the field of transportation, the Vietnam Engine and Agricultural Machinery Corporation and brands from Russia, South Korea and China are showcasing many new products, including trucks, buses, commercial vehicles and special-purpose vehicles. Also on display at the exhibition are popular motorcycle manufacturers, such as Ducati, Harley Davidson, Triumph, Royal Enfield and Kawasaki, with hundreds of models in high-engine displacement. There are hundreds of exhibits on supporting industries, spare parts and components, maintenance and repair services as well as domestic and foreign car accessories. During the exhibition, there will be a seminar on developing the supporting industry, connecting demand and supply to serve production and assembly of commercial cars and special-purpose vehicles in Viet Nam. The exhibition will conclude on June 9. VNS Whenever and wherever President Donald Trump and North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un meet, any progress in reducing the two nations' military tensions will be valuable. Both Trump and Kim seem to want to step back from the nuclear abyss they seemed to be approaching a few months ago, and Moon Jae-in, president of South Korea, whose skillful diplomacy has been essential, does not want the peninsula engulfed in the destruction of another war, nuclear or conventional. Back in 1980, I met North Korea's foreign minister in Pyongyang as part of an American Friends Service Committee delegation, and there was clearly a strong interest in a nonaggression relationship with the U.S. Sadly, the incoming Reagan administration refused. To make the most progress now, three factors seem essential: First, both North Korea and the U.S. must gain from any agreement, and both sides must experience rewards in a step-by-step process. What North Korea had objected to earlier was a U.S. demand for unilateral action complete denuclearization by the North. What will North Korea want in return? Above all, as William Perry, a former U.S. Secretary of Defense and negotiator with North Korea, explained recently, "their security is pre-eminent. They know we have the capability to defeat them, and they believe we have the intent to do so." Loose talk by Trump staff about regime change and the "Libya model" only reinforce this fear. To provide security, North Korea will want a nonaggression pact, a peace treaty to end formally the Korean War, an end to U.S. nuclear-capable bombers and naval vessels on and around the Korean peninsula, and normal diplomatic relations. Beyond that, the size and location of the U.S.'s 28,000 ground forces in South Korea, the annual U.S.-South Korea war games, and the U.S. sanctions campaign (at a time North Korea is eager to focus on economic development) all could be important bargaining points. Second, the demand by Trump and his hawkish national security advisor, John Bolton, for a rapid denuclearization is either proposed to ensure failure or an unrealistic ignorance of the process. Decommissioning anything nuclear takes years. Siegfried S. Hecker, a top U.S. government advisor who has visited North Korea's nuclear complex repeatedly, estimates it could take up to 15 years to dismantle a well-advanced nuclear program like North Korea's. He suggests prioritizing dismantling the most dangerous parts of the program first. The key, he says, is to establish a different relationship with North Korea where its security rests on something other than nuclear weapons." He notes that not everything has to be dismantled; some of the risks of North Korea's program are manageable. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. Third, what is included in the agreement and what is not included must be totally clear. Consider what it will take for North Korea to trust that the U.S. will keep its commitments. Just weeks ago, Trump undermined the nuclear agreement with Iran not because Iran wasn't complying with the provisions, but because he was angry that the agreement didn't cover other issues such as Iranian arms sales or involvement in regional conflicts. In addition to North Korean denuclearization, Trump and Bolton have mentioned arms sales, possible chemical weapons and human rights abuses. How will any agreement affect the North's energy needs? Will they be able to build nuclear energy plants? Any agreement needs to be clear on exactly what's included and what compliance on both sides will mean. Complimentary guarantees and oversight by the U.S. Congress, South Korea, China and Russia might reassure North Korea in the face of erratic U.S. presidential policies. If Trump realizes he must give as well as take, if a step-by-step process is developed, and if an agreement is very clearly defined, perhaps he, Kim and Moon together might win the Nobel Prize he covets. [June 06, 2018] Accenture Commits US$200 Million to Education, Training and Skills Initiatives Over Next Three Years to Equip Disadvantaged People for Work in the Digital Age NEW YORK, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Supporting its vision to improve the way the world works and lives, Accenture (NYSE: ACN) is committing more than US$200 million over the next three years to help equip disadvantaged people with job skills for the digital age. Commitment includes company's Skills to Succeed goal to equip more than 3 million people with job and entrepreneurial skills by 2020. "As a technology leader, we have an obligation to apply new scalable technology solutions to help solve complex societal challenges," said Pierre Nanterme, Accenture's chairman and CEO. "Our investments will continue to empower Accenture to produce socially minded partnerships and programs that will have a profound impact on the lives of millions of people throughout the world, now and for the future." Accenture's commitment will help support Skills to Succeed, Tech4Good, Accenture Development Partnerships and related Accenture initiatives. The company's Skills to Succeed initiative advances employment and entrepreneurship opportunities, leveraging digital innovation to help close employment gaps at scale. Together with a network of nonprofits and other ecosystem partners, Accenture has since 2010 equipped more than 2.2 million people with the skills to get a job or build a business, with a goal of equipping a total of more than 3 million people by 2020. Examples of Accenture's Skills to Succeed partnerships include: Helping Youth Business USA develop a platform that uses artificial intelligence and analytics to connect young entrepreneurs from under-represented ommunities with the resources, skills, training and mentoring needed to grow their business. develop a platform that uses artificial intelligence and analytics to connect young entrepreneurs from under-represented ommunities with the resources, skills, training and mentoring needed to grow their business. Working with Rede Cidad a and Instituto Ser Mais in Brazil to provide low-income populations with the business and technical skills they need to build meaningful, lasting careers in technology, including the opportunity to be hired by Accenture. Tech4Good projects use advanced technologies to help solve critical challenges facing business and society. For instance, the company collaborated with The Grameen Foundation India, using technologies from AI to augmented reality, to help disadvantaged people improve their financial literacy to enhance their financial and social well-being. In collaboration with Club Egalit e , Accenture Labs in Sophia Antipolis, France , is developing a virtual-reality game that helps primary and middle school students explore future-proof jobs and develop critical skills for the digital economy, with the goal of encouraging an interest in STEM careers. Accenture Development Partnerships works across government, business and civil society, applying business and technology solutions to build capacity and strengthen programs for development organizations around the globe. For example, Accenture collaborated with the Spanish Ministry of Employment and a consortium of nonprofit partners and corporations in 2013 to create Emplea+, an online program that helps marginalized individuals develop technical, digital and soft skills needed for employment. "The opportunity to improve lives requires collaboration across business, government and non-governmental organizations," Nanterme said. "As leaders weigh new technologies and applications, we all must ask ourselves: Does this benefit the next generation? If the answer is yes, it's the right thing to do." 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. Accenture Indonesia Nia Sarinastiti Marketing & Communication Director Wisma 46 - Kota BNI - Lantai 18 Jl. Jend. Sudirman Kav.1, Jakarta 10220 Tel : +6221 574 6575 Email: nia.sarinastiti@accenture.com SOURCE Accenture [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 07, 2018] TUV Rheinland announces launch of its Global Industrial Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Global testing and inspection service provider continues to build next generation industrial cybersecurity centre of excellence for delivering Industrial Security Services & Solutions to its clients. Offers a new Operational Technology (OT) laboratory for assessing threats to industrial plants and industrial IoT systems based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- TUV Rheinland announces the launch of its global Industrial Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence (CoE) based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Centre of Excellence will address the cybersecurity needs of its industrial clients such as manufacturing companies, plant operators, energy and utility companies, transportation and transit system operators to secure their operational technology landscape. In a rapidly evolving digitalization of markets across all businesses there is a significant need and demand for deep Industrial Security skills and expertise that this Centre of Excellence will continue to develop worldwide. Under the Global Centre of Excellence, the first Operational Technology (OT) Security Lab based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia will serve as the Regional Hub for showcasing industrial cybersecurity technology, knowledge and client consultations. The Operational Technology Security Lab will provide a safe controlled environment for clients to experience scenario -based simulations to test and demonstrate industrial systems vulnerabilities and cybersecurity threats. "Combining our expertise in Industrial Services and Operational Technology Security in our Centre of Excellence, we are one of the few organizations developing deep capabilities and able to offer this level of cybersecurity expertise to our clients concerned about the safety andsecurity of their operations," explains Frank Luzsicza, Executive Vice President, at TUV Rheinland. The facility will have equipment to showcase industrial manufacturing processes generating real-time industrial data which will be integrated with technologies that detect threats and secure such industrial facilities. "The OT Security lab is a unique and significant step to serve the needs of our clients. Using a combination of training sessions, pilots, demonstrations, threat research and cyber-attack simulations the Operational Technology Security lab will help our clients stay ahead of industrial cyber threats," adds Urmez Daver, Global Head for Industrial Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence. Cybersecurity in the world of Operational Technology and Industrial Control Systems Organizations operating industrial facilities have a responsibility to monitor, detect and mitigate cybersecurity attacks in order to maintain the safety, integrity and availability of their plant which, if compromised, may have a severe and detrimental impact on society. Leading cybersecurity standards for industrial control systems emphasize that systems operators should have cybersecurity management solutions in place. TUV Rheinland has over 100 years of experience in testing and certifying industrial systems and has worked across some of the most challenging industries. Its services portfolio includes end-to-end visibility, threat detection and continuous vulnerability assessment and monitoring for OT and industrial cybersecurity risks. Visit TUV Rheinland website for more information on Industrial Cybersecurity Solutions. https://www.tuv.com/world/en/ot-security.jsp About TUV Rheinland TUV Rheinland is a global leader in independent inspection services, founded 145 years ago. The group maintains a worldwide presence of more than 20,000 people; annual turnover is nearly EUR 2 billion. The independent experts stand for quality and safety for people, technology and the environment in nearly all aspects of life. TUV Rheinland inspects technical equipment, products and services, oversees projects, and helps to shape processes and information security for companies. Its experts train people in a wide range of careers and industries. To this end, TUV Rheinland employs a global network of approved labs, testing and education centres. Since 2006, TUV Rheinland has been a member of the United Nations Global Compact to promote sustainability and combat corruption. For almost 20 years, TUV Rheinland has been supporting the private and public sector with comprehensive consulting and solution expertise in Cybersecurity and Telecommunications through digital transformation processes. The business stream's core business areas include cybersecurity solutions, digital transformation consulting, planning of telecommunication infrastructures, IT services, management consulting and development of innovative research projects. With more than 600 specialists around the world, ICT & Business Solutions provides a comprehensive service portfolio for a protected digital enterprise. For more information please visit http://www.tuv.com/informationsecurity SOURCE TUV Rheinland Singapore Pte Ltd [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 07, 2018] Speedcast Offers Unlimited Data and Double Bandwidth for "Endless Summer" Campaign Promotion Includes Unlimited Data and Double Bandwidth for Selected Plans SYDNEY, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Speedcast International Limited (ASX: SDA), the world's most trusted provider of remote communication and IT solutions, today announced it will be offering two unique promotions on its new Ku-band connectivity services as part of its "Endless Summer" campaign. This promotion provides a cost-effective way for customers to try Speedcast Atlas and the four new VSAT plans. As part of the introduction of the new Ku-band VSAT propositions for Speedcast Atlas, the Company is introducing two promotions. The first "Endless Summer" promotion is for Quota plans, while the second promotion covers all other VSAT plans: Guaranteed, Burst and Professional. Both promotions run through 2018. The "Endless Summer" Quota promotion offers new customers six months of unlimited data on select Speedcast VSAT Quota Plans, with no overruns on usage. After six months, the normal selected Quota plan will apply. The second "Endless Summer" promotion covers Speedcast's Guaranteed, Burst and Professional VSAT plans. All new Speedcast standard activations will receive a period of double bandwidth on their VSAT subscriptions. Customers will have two options: Signing a one-year contract yields double the committed bandwidth for the first three months of the contract, while signing a three-year contract yields double the committed bandwidth for the remainder of 2018. "We're excited to announce the 'Endless Summer' campaign and give people a taste of what our new VSAT services can do as a key component of our managed service, Speedcast Atlas," said Tim Bailey, Executive Vice President, Products, Marketing & Business Development, Speedast. "This is a perfect, cost-effective opportunity for customers to make the switch to Speedcast Atlas and our strong Ku-band VSAT services. As part of Speedcast's Atlas managed service, our four new Ku-band propositions will meet any customer's communication requirements and the 'Endless Summer' promotion provides the opportunity to experience the power of Speedcast Atlas." Each of the new Ku-band solutions are offered with a guaranteed minimum Committed Information Rate (CIR). These solutions will help a customer to choose the best flavor of Ku-band connectivity to run applications and meet the onboard crew and business needs. Standard features of the new connectivity services as part of our managed service, Speedcast Atlas include: Quota a metered VSAT service sold in a gigabyte (GB) packages up to a 30 GB plan. Quota can be extended to the entire fleet: Fleet Quota is offered in 50GB, 75GB or 100 GB plans to allow for a fleet of vessels to share the GBs throughout the month. Burst - provides a guaranteed minimum CIR with a higher maximum information rate (MIR). Guaranteed - a CIR only service when minimum bandwidth is required. Specific applications and data transfers require a minimum guaranteed bandwidth to ensure the application is running or the data transfer occurs with unlimited usage throughout the month. Professional - can be tailored to meet all onboard requirements. Professional customers have the opportunity to choose from a wide variety of service levels all with a CIR and MIR. To contact Speedcast about this promotion, visit http://events.speedcast.com/summer18. About Speedcast International Limited Speedcast International Ltd (ASX: SDA) is the largest provider of remote communications and IT services in the world. Speedcast's fully-managed service is delivered via a leading global, multi-access technology, multi-band and multi-orbit network of 70+ satellites and an interconnecting global terrestrial network, bolstered by extensive on-the-ground local support from 40+ countries. This global "network of networks" allows customers to fully rely on the most robust, integrated infrastructure available in the market for their mission critical applications. Speedcast is uniquely positioned as a strategic business partner, tailoring communications, IT and digital solutions to meet unique customer needs and enable business transformation. Speedcast extends its managed services through differentiated technology offerings including cyber-security, crew welfare, content solutions, data and voice applications, and network systems integration services. With a passionate customer focus and a strong safety culture, Speedcast serves more than 2,000 customers in more than 140 countries in sectors such as Maritime, Energy, Mining, Enterprise, Media, Cruise, NGOs and Government. Learn more at www.speedcast.com. Speedcast is a trademark and registered trademark of Speedcast International Limited. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective owners. 2017 Speedcast International Limited. All rights reserved. Contact Information: Toni Lee Rudnicki Vice President, Global Marketing Speedcast International Ltd ToniLee.Rudnicki@Speedcast.com +1-832-668-2634 Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/610079/Speedcast_International_Ltd_Logo.jpg [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 07, 2018] 21North (ONB Technologies) Secures 'Multi Million Dollar' Funding From Europ Assistance BANGALORE and SINGAPORE, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- ONB Technologies Pte Ltd that operates under the name 21North, a vehicle assistance company announced that Europ Assistance Group, a Paris based global assistance firm invested multi million dollars. In India, ONB operates in 11 cities and seeks to expand services to 40 cities soon. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/702630/21North_EA_Logo.jpg ) (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/702631/21North_App.jpg ) Praveen Surendiran, Managing Director, ONB Group said, "We are excited about our partnership with Europ Assistance. Our collective ambition is to establish the Vehicle Servicing business in various international markets leveraging Europ Assistance's global presence and customer base. ONB India's founding & leadership team are Nitin Mehra, Executive Director, Mohammad Umar Sharif, Director - Service Delivery & Madhu Jindal, Director - HR & Admin & Sreekumar, Director - Technology. We are currently delivering services to 35,000 vehicles / month and projected to reach 100,000+ vehicles by the end of 2018." Benoit Chaumette, CEO Asia of Europ Assistance Group said, "We are pleased to be formally engaged in a partnership with 21North. Their services provide a significant value proposition to Automobile OEMs, Dealerships, Workshops, and end Consumers by solving major pain and frustration points. We have invested in ONB based on our confidence in the core team, technology, operations capabilities, and their strong domain knowledge. With this partnership and expansion of product and solution capabilities, we are a step closer to completing our transformation into a Vehicle Ownership Lifestyle Assistance (VOLA) Company in Asia." About Europ Assistance: Founded in 1963, Europ Assistance http://www.europ-asssistance.com, the inventor of assistance, supports over 300 million customers in 208 countries thanks to our network of 750.000 approved providers and 37 assistance centres. Our mission is to bring people from distress to relief - anytime, anywhere. Europ Assistance provides roadside assistance, travel insurance & assistance, personal assistance such as senior care, digital identity protection, telemedicine and Concierge services. The vision of our 7.530 employees is to be the most reliable care company in the world. Europ Assistance is part of the Generali Group, one of the world's leading insurers. About ONB Technologies / 21North: ONB Technologies ("ONB") / 21North (http://www.21north.in) is a path breaking concept in the Auto After Sales Industry; aimed at solving the perennially existing problem of vehicle owners sacrificing valuable personal time in managing their vehicle needs. 21North empowers dealers and workshops with technology solutions to deliver superior customer experience and achieve critical business performance metrics with consultative approach. Media Contact : Kathie Gao Cheng kathie@21north.sg +91-9845950220 Head - Corporate Communication & Projects ONB Technologies Pte Ltd [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 07, 2018] Prione Onboards 60 Thousand Small Sellers in India BENGALURU, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- - Adds unique and indigenous products to the online marketplace Prione Business Services Pvt. Ltd., a joint venture between Catamaran Ventures and Amazon, has enabled 60,000 small and medium businesses (SMBs) across 150+ cities in India to sell their products in the online marketplace. In addition, Prione has onboarded numerous unique products which include indigenously crafted artifacts and handicrafts produced from across the country. Thereby providing sellers and SMBs with an additional channel to increase their sales. Backed by specialized e-commerce expertise and experience, Prione helps SMBs quickly and seamlessly start their online business without the usual heavy investment required in traditional retail. Prione organizes special workshops and training sessions across India to help SMBs manage and grow their business online. Prione also helps SMBs identify the right products for e-commerce and offers support with digitizing product catalogs, extending world-class fulfilment services, and developing capabilities to deliver best-in-class customer service. "Today, technology driven innovations such as digital payments, hyper-local logistics, analytics driven customer engagement and digital advertisements have enabled the e-commerce industry in India to grow at a much faster rate," said Sandeep Varaganti, CEO of Prone. "We strive to deliver the best experience to the SMB community and help them find new avenues of growth and expansion for their business through the online marketplace. With over 51 million SMBs in India, our initiative of supporting SMBs that are manufacturing unique products is a step towards providing them with a wider reach across India," he added. Prione has expanded its product offerings by onboarding unique products that vary from hand painted stationary to soaps made from pure milk and Ghee by sellers in Mumbai and Ludhiana, Punjab respectively. These sellers are seeing a steady growth in their revenue as they sell over 3,000 products monthly. Startups providing unique products such as coolers for helmets and phone stands along with powerless amplifiers for mobiles are witnessing a rapid growth with Prione's assistance in selling online. Speaking on how business has grown tremendously, Sundara Rajan from BluArmor said, "Prione was extremely helpful in onboarding us onto the e-commerce marketplace. The process was seamless, and we were able to list our product and get up and running on the portal in no time. Our customer reach has increased multi-fold because of this and about 30% of our online business is through the online platform." E-commerce is India's fastest growing and most exciting channel for commercial transactions. In the last 3 years, Prione's SMB base has grown by 10 times and the company has seen an increase of new sellers from 60+ cities who are selling products through their services. Having a strong presence in 150+ cities directly and through its franchisee partner network, Prione has successfully provided services to these 60,000 sellers to scale their business and supply an array of products. About Prione Prione Business Services is a joint venture between Catamaran Ventures and Amazon. Prione's vision is to enable Indian small and medium businesses (SMBs) to take advantage of the digital economy by creation, maintenance and upgrading of SMB capabilities from the offline unorganized world to the new age organized digital market. Prione has supported 60,000+ SMBs in India selling products across 30+ categories and aspires to enable many more SMBs in the fast-growing digital economy. Prione has 550+ employees across 150+ cities in India. For more about Prione, please visit http://www.prione.in/. Media Contact: Yamini R yamini@the-practice.net +91-7760413049 The Practice [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 07, 2018] Facepoint Joins NVIDIA Inception Program PARIS, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Facepoint today announced it has joined the NVIDIA Inception program, which is designed to nurture startups revolutionizing industries with advancements in AI and data sciences. Facepoint offers a breakthrough-type response in the fight against money laundering and financial risk. Facepoint builds up an image library of faces of heightened risk individuals. Facepoint then leverages it with a powerful facial recognition system to boost identity resolution performance. The result of such a unique combination is a massive dropin false alarm rates during the customer screening process. The NVIDIA Inception program is helping to dramatically improve the progress of using biometrics in the fight against financial crime. NVIDIA's technology provides speed and accuracy of image processing. "Nothing we do in the fight against crime would have been possible without the recent incredible progress in AI," said Damien Martinez, CEO of Facepoint. "NVIDIA technology has been key in our actioning of this new type of intelligence." NVIDIA's Inception program is a virtual accelerator program that helps startups during critical stages of product development, prototyping and deployment. Every Inception member gets a custom set of ongoing benefits, from hardware grants and marketing support to training with deep learning experts. About Facepoint Facepoint is a world pioneering Crimetech bringing Facial recognition and recommendation at its best. Our content brings risk mitigation to the next level: augmented compliance. Facepoint's goal is to assist risk and compliance professionals in taking quick and informed decisions. For more information on Facepoint, please visit www.facepoint.co [June 07, 2018] Symphony Community Embraces Automation, Bots HONG KONG, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Symphony Communication Services, LLC announces that its growing community of over 320 firms is using Symphony as a full workflow platform, investing resources to build customized bots, automated workflows and integrations to extend Symphony's secure enterprise collaboration capabilities. Today, over half of Symphony's enterprise customers operate bots within their Symphony platform. Globally, more than 500 unique bots have been developed by customers using Symphony's open APIs since the SDK launch just a year ago. Furthermore, Symphony customers plan to migrate over 2,500 existing bots from other communication platforms to Symphony in the coming months. Many of these customer- and partner-developed workflows will be demoed live at Symphony's flagship conference, Symphony Innovate Asia 2018, held in Hong Kong on the 7th of June. Bots and automation reduce manual processing and resolve major workflow challenges currently faced by the financial services industry such as client onboarding, post-trade management and research distribution. These bots can integrate with third-party systems like news feeds, or internal research and data sources, while maintaining the same security and compliance inherent to the Symphony platform. "Symphony enables and represents a community of innovators - including our customers and partners - together we are building the future of enterprise collaboration," says David Gurle, Symphony Founder and CEO. "We are thrilled that the majority of our enterprise customers have begun to embrace the possibilities that automation, bots and workflow provide and are using our open APIs to extend our collaboration platform. We believe that this is just the beginning of truly game-changing innovations coming to the financial services industry as it implements its digital agenda." "Concerto - a Natixis in-house bot - is equipping Symphony with a 'one-stop-shop' feature by re-engineering our front office force's daily workflow. A tool that has a real business impact leads to enhanced internal efficiency and client engagement. We are now working on developing further this solution while plugging in automation, intelligence and more," says Emmanuel Lefort, Head of Global Markets, APAC, Natixis. "J.P. Morgan continues to expand bot workflow innovations on Symphony across the trade life-cycle. It is enabling new workflows that deliver an enhanced client experience, automation and efficiencies. The J.P. Morgan Markets Search Bot demonstrates the ability to access the latest pre-trade content through a one-click workflow from Symphony," says Will Quan, Executive Director, CIB - Markets Execution, J.P. Morgan. Symphony Innovation Award Winners At Innovate Asia 2018, Symphony will announce the winners of its new Innovation Award, an honor bestowed upon Symphony customers and partners who transform legacy workflows by developing unique, innovative bots, applications or integrations for the platform. Winning entries all represent innovations live in production. ANZ wins for its Trade Butler Bot, which automates the trade validation control for foreign exchange (FX) trades to make the process easier and more effective. Previously a manual process, the Symphony integrated bot solution delivers significant benefits in terms of operational risk mitigation and resource utilization. "We are very excited to receive this award and particularly pleased to be recognised as one of the top innovators in the industry. We started our digital transformation journey with Symphony 12 months ago and it provides us with a great solution to the use of bot, AI and Machine Learning within our trade lifecycle workflow," said Nicola Lanteri, Project Director Global Markets, ANZ. "While we tested the platform with a specific use case, there is great potential for Symphony to streamlining other complex workflows which ill significantly change the way we operate. We look forward to further exploring new use cases and unlocking the full capabilities of Symphony," said Gianpaolo Mangiacasale, Director Global Head of Markets Transaction Management & Controls, ANZ. ipushpull wins for its offering which enables users to share the latest data from their external applications with other Symphony users without sharing files. By integrating with the secure Symphony Data Layer, ipushpull is able to deliver live data sharing while leveraging Symphony's powerful security, encryption and access controls. "The powerful combination of Symphony's secure chat and ipushpull's live data sharing, inter-operability and workflow management features have introduced a new paradigm in the way teams are able to interact and clients can be serviced," says Matthew Cheung, CEO of ipushpull. "Where Symphony is replacing emails, ipushpull is replacing file sharing," adds Cheung. "The innovation project took this concept one stage further by fully embedding ipushpull's data sharing features into Symphony's own secure messaging layer meaning seamless on-boarding and deployment of ipushpull for new and existing Symphony users." "We are excited to honor both ANZ and ipushpull with the Symphony Innovation Award for their outstanding developments which bring together many of the hallmarks of the Symphony vision: automation, community and streamlined workflow. These developments represent a major step in the mission to reduce manual processes within the financial services industry, and to integrate existing systems within the Symphony platform," adds Gurle. Symphony Innovate Asia 2018 Partner Showcase The Symphony Partner Program fosters an ecosystem of over 50 innovative companies who share a common goal of developing workflow and content applications and integrations to extend Symphony. These partners offer complementary business applications to Symphony's platform, many of which will be showcased at Symphony Innovate Asia 2018: BlueFire AI -- BlueFire AI is an Intelligence Company for Capital Markets. Blue Fire AI curates & distills large information sets to create intelligence edge on 75k private / public companies from over 60 countries. These insights are used by Investment Banks, Assets Managers and Intermediaries for driving sales productivity, capturing asset performance or monetizing information. Blue Fire AI combines quantitative analytics on company fundamentals and security prices with machines powered by artificial intelligence that read and understand text (unstructured data) like capital markets experts. IHS Markit -- The Markit Trade Manager integration enables buy-side users to manage trade exceptions directly from a Symphony conversation with a counterparty. Real-time collaboration integrated with MarkitSERV workflow allows trading teams to affirm transactions more efficiently, reducing operational risk and increasing operational alpha. ipushpull -- ipushpull, winner of the Symphony Innovation Award, improves workflow efficiency by allowing secure live data sharing and collaboration between Symphony and desktop applications such as Excel, databases and internal systems. By sharing data instead of sharing files, data is live and interoperable cross application while eliminating file sharing, static data, cutting & pasting and manual processes. LamBots * -- Started by a former Symphony employee, LamBots is an application and bot development agency in Singapore that has helped several financial institutions turn their productivity enhancing ideas into working bots and applications on the Symphony Platform quickly and cost-effectively. Nikkei -- Nikkei Inc. is a media organization with newspaper publishing at its core. Established in 1876, The Nikkei has become world's largest financial paper, which has nearly three million subscribers. Also, Nikkei welcomed The Financial Times into its group in 2015. Nikkei's multi-platform media distribution also includes online, broadcast, magazines and financial data vending services. Nikkei 225, a stock market index for the Tokyo Stock Exchange, has been calculated by the Nikkei for decades. Quick -- Since its founding in 1971, QUICK has developed an information infrastructure that supports Japan's securities and financial markets. QUICK's mission is to support the decision making of a wide range of customers, from securities firms and financial institutions to institutional investors, corporations and individual investors. QUICK delivers high-value-added global market information from a fair and impartial perspective. QUICK is headquartered in Tokyo, with offices in Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, London and Hong Kong. Smartkarma -- Smartkarma is the world's premier research network connecting institutional investors to a community of world-leading independent research providers and a wealth of investment research. Smartkarma's focus areas of coverage are often under-covered by traditional research providers including emerging markets, small and mid-caps, and in-depth event-driven and IPO analysis. Headquartered in Singapore, Smartkarma is Asia's largest provider of investment research with offices in Hong Kong, London, Frankfurt and New York. Thomson Reuters -- Thomson Reuters Eikon delivers unparalleled and easy access to trusted news, data, and analytics; instant connection to new and emerging markets, deep and varied pools of liquidity and professional networks. Eikon subscribers can now share its world leading content as part of their Symphony workflow to enhance collaboration, discover more opportunities and make crucial decisions with confidence. *Sponsor of Symphony Innovate, pending member of the Symphony Partner Program. About Symphony Symphony transforms the way users communicate effectively and securely with a single workflow application. Forging a new path in the industry, Symphony is designed to help individuals, teams and organizations of all sizes improve productivity, while meeting complex data security and regulatory compliance needs. Symphony was founded in October 2014 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, CA, with offices in New York, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Stockholm, Sophia-Antipolis and London. For more information, visit www.symphony.com and connect with Symphony on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20180607/2154313-1LOGO SOURCE Symphony [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 07, 2018] Carvana Opens Newest Car Vending Machine in Orlando Carvana (NYSE: CVNA), a leading e-commerce platform for buying used cars, debuted its newest Car Vending Machine in Orlando, Florida today, only two days after opening its Washington, D.C. Car Vending Machine. The Orlando location is Carvana's 11th Car Vending Machine in just three years, and the third Car Vending Machine in the Sunshine State. Delivering a unique and memorable pickup experience for cars purchased online, Carvana is making car buying fun again with the fully automated, coin-operated Car Vending Machine, which stands eight stories high, and holds up to 30 vehicles. The newest Car Vending Machine in Orlando joins 10 counterparts across the country in Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Dallas, Nashville (Tenn.), Raleigh (N.C.), Charlotte (N.C.), Jacksonville (Fla.), Tampa (Fla.) and Washington, D.C. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180607005101/en/ Carvana has launched its 11th Car Vending Machine, located in Orlando, Florida. The eight-story, all-glass structure holds up to 30 vehicles, providing a fun and unique pickup experience for customers who have purchased their vehicles on Carvana.com. (Photo: Business Wire) Carvana first launched its free, as-soon-as-next-day delivery service in Orlando in March 2016, making the car-buying process easy and convenient for metro area residents. Customers who visit Carvana.com from home or on the go via their mobile device can shop more than 10,000 vehicles, finance, purchase, and schedule as-soon-as-next-day delivery or Car Vending Machine pickup in as little as 10 minutes. After purchasing a vehicle on Carvana.com, customers can schedule a convenient day and time to come to the Car Vending Machine to pick up their vehicle. Upon arrival, they receive a commemorative, oversized Carvana coin to activate the vending process and transport the car into the delivery bay. After some quick paperwork, the customer can take the vehicle home. All Carvana vehicles come with a seven-day return policy, giving customers the chance to see if the vehicle really fits their life; an upgrade from the traditional dealership test-drive. Additionally, all vehicles are Carvana Certified, meaning they have passed a rigorous 150-point inspection, have never been in a reported accident and have no frame damage. Features, imperfections and updated information about open safety recalls are listed on every car's vehicle description page. "A little over two years ago, we launched our free, as-soon-as-next-day vehicle delivery in Orlando. In that short time, Orlando has shown its enthusiasm for the new way to buy a car," said Ernie Garcia, founder and CEO of Carvana. "We're proud to bring our newest Car Vending Machine to a city that has welcomed us from day one." Located at 3511 Rio Vista Avenue, the Orlando Car Vending Machine is open Monday through Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET. Vehicle pickup at any of Carvana's Car Vending Machines is free for all Carvana customers. For customers that live outside of the Orlando area but would still like to pick up their car at the Vending Machine, Carvana will subsidize $200 in airfare and arrange transportation from the Orlando International Airport. To learn more about Carvana and its Car Vending Machines, visit: carvana.com/vendingmachine. About Carvana (NYSE: CVNA) Founded in 2012 and based in Phoenix, Carvana's (NYSE: CVNA) mission is to change the way people buy cars. By removing the traditional dealership infrastructure and replacing it with technology and exceptional customer service, Carvana offers consumers an intuitive and convenient online automotive retail platform. Carvana.com enables consumers to quickly and easily buy a car online, including finding their preferred vehicle, qualifying for financing, getting a trade-in value, signing contracts, and receiving as-soon-as-next-day delivery or pickup of the vehicle from one of Carvana's proprietary automated Car Vending Machines. For further information on Carvana, please visit www.carvana.com, or connect with us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180607005101/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 07, 2018] Leidos Honored with Prestigious Defense Security Service Award RESTON, Va., June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Leidos (NYSE: LDOS), a FORTUNE 500 science and technology leader, today announced the company's Reston-based Corporate Security office was one of 39 facilities that received the 2018 James S. Cogswell Outstanding Industrial Security Achievement Award, the most prestigious honor the Defense Security Service (DSS) may bestow to cleared industry partners of the Department of Defense. The annual award, in its 52nd year, recognizes large and small companies for establishing and maintaining a security program that far exceeds the basic National Industrial Security Program requirements and providing leadership to other cleared facilities in developing best practices while maintaining the highest standards for security. Of the more than 13,300 cleared contractors, less than one percent are annually selected to receive this award. Leidos' Corporate Security department was honored with the award. Facilities are only eligible for the recognition if they achieve a minimum of two consecutive "superior" industrial security review ratings and show a sustained degree of excellence and innovation in their overall security program management, implementation and oversight. "Our customers entrust Leidos with highly sensitive data and we take that trust very seriously," said Roger Krone, Leidos Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "Being named a Cogswell Award winner is a testament to our security team's commitment to implementing best practices and creating an environment where security and safety come first." The Cogswell award was established in 1966 in honor of the late Air Force Col. James S. Cogswell, the first chief of industrial security within the Department of Defense. Cogswell was responsible for developing the basic principles of the National Industrial Security Program, which includes an emphasis on the partnership between industry and government to protect classified information. About Leidos Leidos is a Fortune 500 information technology, engineering, and science solutions and services leader working to solve the world's toughest challenges in the defense, intelligence, homeland security, civil, and health markets. The company's 31,000 employees support vital missions for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $10.17 billion for the fiscal year ended December 29, 2017. For more information, visit www.Leidos.com. Statements in this announcement, other than historical data and information, constitute forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause our actual results, performance, achievements, or industry results to be very different from the results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Some of these factors include, but are not limited to, the risk factors set forth in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period ended December 29, 2017, and other such filings that Leidos makes with the SEC from time to time. Due to such uncertainties and risks, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. Contact: Melissa Koskovich Jason Kello (571) 526-6850 (571) 526-6011 Koskovichm@Leidos.com Jason.Kello@leidos.com View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/leidos-honored-with-prestigious-defense-security-service-award-300661456.html SOURCE Leidos [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] HCM CITY Many Vietnamese firms are set to participate in the Vibrant Tamil Nadu Expo and Summit in Madurai city, India, to seek information and business opportunities, a meeting heard in HCM City yesterday. Speaking at the meeting, Jeevan Kandpal the Indian consul in the city, said the food industry-focused expo from August 12 to 15 would provide opportunities to forge business partnerships world-wide. The expo aims to bring together all the stakeholders from farm to fork a reference to farmers, food processors, manufacturers, traders, exporters and importers, and consumers -- he said. India is the worlds second largest producer of fruits and vegetables, marine products, and meat and poultry. It is the largest producer of milk with production estimated at 155.5 tonnes, or approximately 19 per cent of the worlds production. Its food and grocery market is the worlds sixth largest, with retail contributing 70 per cent of the sales. Domestic consumption is immense, given the 1.3 billion population and increasing affluence, Kandpal said. It would be a lucrative food market for Vietnamese firms, he said. The Indian Government has relaxed norms for the sector, allowing up to 100 per cent FDI in food product e-commerce through the automatic route, and the wide consumer base should be a magnet for creating successful business ventures. Nguyen The Hung, deputy director of the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industrys HCM City office, said food is among Viet Nams industries with the greatest potential. Food products not only meet domestic demand but are also exported to many countries and territories around the world. Viet Nam is becoming an important supplier of agricultural products and food globally. Hung hoped through the expo Vietnamese agricultural products, foods and beverages would enter the Indian market. Vietnamese firms would also have the opportunity to network with international partners at the event, he said. Nguyen inh Truong, representative of the Viet Nam Cashew Association, said cashew enterprises are very interested in the Indian market and, in addition to participating in the expo, would also want to visit leading cashew processing facilities there. The District 5 Business Association said it would send a delegation to the expo. K Thiruppathi Rajan, chairman of the event organising committee, provided information about the event and took questions. Kandpal said bilateral trade grew by 35 per cent last year to $12.27 billion, and the two countries are striving to lift it to $15 billion by 2020. VNS [June 07, 2018] New Customers and Funding Fuel D-Wave's Growth BURNABY, British Columbia, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- D-Wave Systems Inc., the leader in quantum computing systems and software, announced significant growth of its customer base in Japan, Europe, and North America. These new customers have subscribed to D-Waves remote access service and are developing prototype applications, adding to dozens of such applications previously developed. Roughly half of the more than 50 prototype applications developed using D-Wave computers are in optimization, about twenty percent are in machine learning, and the remainder are in a wide range of areas including quantum material science. Some of these results have shown that the D-Wave systems are approaching, and sometimes surpassing, conventional computing in terms of performance or solution quality, heralding the first examples of real customer application advantage on quantum computers. The company also announced it has received CAD$10M in funding and support from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC). SDTC helps Canadian entrepreneurs accelerate the development and deployment of globally competitive clean technology solutions. D-Wave received funding based on the low energy consumption of its next generation quantum computers as compared to classical computers. Separately, the company closed on US$20M in previously-announced funding from Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments), based on having met key technology and business milestones. D-Waves leadership in quantum computing has expanded far beyond hardware systems. Our customer base is growing rapidly and the breadth of prototype applications being developed for our systems is far beyond other quantum architectures, said D-Wave CEO Vern Brownell. While a diversity of approaches is helping to build this new industry, D-Waves quantum annealing systems provide the only scalable platform that can be used to develop such applications today. Independent experts, such as researchers from the Julich Supercomputing Centre, have evaluated the maturity of quantum technology and validated D-Waves lead in the market. 2018 growth highlights include: New customers and applications: With a growing customer base across Japan, Europe, and North America, D-Wave provides quantum system access to many organizations developing prototype applications for real-world problems. Recent examples include: Optimization of traffic flows by Volkswagen, Toyota Tsusho , and Denso and Denso Optimization of web advertising by Recruit Communications Financial portfolio optimization by Nomura Securities, Tohoku University , and Standard Chartered Development of software for quantum machine learning to enable applications in finance, automotive, and drug discovery by MDR Corp A UK-funded project with BT Group, University College London, University of Bristol, and led by Plantagenet Systems , applying quantum annealing to complex planning problems in a wide range of industries applying quantum annealing to complex planning problems in a wide range of industries Scientific research using machine learning to solve a Higgs-boson optimization problem at the California Institute of Technology and USC, and to study DNA binding applications at USC Funding for new quantum architecture: The announcement of the funding from the Sustainable Development Technology Canada was made last week by the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development. The funding will be used for the development of D-Waves next generation system. Additional funding from PSP: The additional $20 million in funding from PSP Investments has now closed. It was locked in in February when D-Wave satisfied all the key conditions including fabrication and testing of a working prototype of its next-generation processor. Promoting Collaboration Among Users: D-Wave hosted its first European "Qubits" users conference in Munich, Germany this past April. The conference included updates from Lockheed Martin, NASA/USRA, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and other users and customers. Presentations spanned the aerospace industry (Airbus), subsurface reservoir modeling (Los Alamos National Laboratory), tsunami evacuation (Tohoku University), materials simulation and traffic optimization (Volkswagen). The fourth D-Wave users conference will take place in Knoxville, TN, in September 2018. Delivering Quantum Computing Education: As programming a quantum computer is very different from traditional programing, D-Wave offers in-person classes, covering everything from the physics of the system to programming with newly developed quantum software tools. In 2018, D-Wave held classes in the U.S., Europe, and Japan, at locations including NAVAIR, Stanford University, Warsaw University, Julich Supercomputing Centre, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tohoku University, and the Creative Destruction Lab in Toronto. D-Wave will soon launch additional online learning tools, and will deliver its annual quantum computing seminar at the International Supercomputing Conference (ISC) in Frankfurt, Germany on June 25. Launch of Quadrant Business: D-Wave announced its new Quadrant business unit to provide quantum-inspired machine learning algorithms and services that make state-of-the-art deep learning accessible to companies across a wide range of industries and application areas. Leveraging generative machine learning algorithms, Quadrant delivers better results with less labeled data. Quadrants algorithms provide benefits running on GPU-based systems today, and are designed to run on D-Waves next-generation quantum technology. About D-Wave Systems Inc. D-Wave is the leader in the development and delivery of quantum computing systems and software, and the world's only commercial supplier of quantum computers. Our mission is to unlock the power of quantum computing for the world. We believe that quantum computing will enable solutions to the most challenging national defense, scientific, technical, and commercial problems. D-Wave's systems are being used by some of the world's most advanced organizations, including Lockheed Martin, Google, NASA Ames, USRA, USC, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. With headquarters near Vancouver, Canada, D-Wave's US operations are based in Palo Alto, CA and Hanover, MD. D-Wave has a blue-chip investor base including PSP Investments, Goldman Sachs, Bezos Expeditions, DFJ, In-Q-Tel, BDC Capital, Growthworks, 180 Degree Capital Corp., and Kensington Capital Partners Limited. For more information, visit: www.dwavesys.com. About Sustainable Development Technology Canada Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) is a foundation created by the Government of Canada to advance clean technology innovation in Canada by funding and supporting small and medium-sized enterprises developing and demonstrating clean technology solutions. dwave@launchsquad.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 07, 2018] Dodge Momentum Index Inches Up in May NEW YORK, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Dodge Momentum Index eked out a small gain in May, moving 1.8% higher to 167.8 (2000=100) from the revised April reading of 164.9. The Momentum Index is a monthly measure of the first (or initial) report for nonresidential building projects in planning, which have been shown to lead construction spending for nonresidential buildings by a full year. May's gain was the result of a 4.7% increase by the commercial component of the Momentum Index, while the institutional component fell 2.4%. The Momentum Index has posted solid gains through the first five months of 2018, rising 19% from the same period of 2017 and reaching a level not seen since mid-2008. However, the upturn to this point shows that the current expansion has been more drawn out than what occurred during the previous cyclical expansion. It has been nearly seven years since the Momentum Index hit bottom in July 2011, but it has yet to eclipse its previous peak set in December 2007. At the same time, the recent gains for the Momentum Index suggest that construction spending for nonresidential buildings should remain healthy through the rest of 2018. In May, 16 projects each with a value of $100 million or more entered planning. The two leading commercial projects were a $310 million mixed-use complex in Newark NJ and the $300 million second phase of Nvidia's headquarters in Santa Clara CA. The leading institutional projects were the $300 million Milwaukee County safety building in Milwaukee WI and the $300 million Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital expansion in Fort Worth TX. Dodge Momentum Index (Year 2000=100) May-18 Apr-18 % Change Dodge Momentum Index 167.8 164.9 1.8% Commercial Building 184.7 176.4 4.7% Institutional Building 146.9 150.6 -2.4% Source: Dodge Data & Analytics About Dodge Data & Analytics: Dodge Data & Analytics is North America's leading provider of analytics and software-based workflow integration solutions for the construction industry. Building product manufacturers, architects, engineers, contractors, and service providers leverage Dodge to identify and pursue unseen growth opportunities and execute on those opportunities for enhanced business performance. Whether it's on a local, regional or national level, Dodge makes the hidden obvious, empowering its clients to better understand their markets, uncover key relationships, size growth opportunities, and pursue those opportunities with success. The company's construction project information is the most comprehensive and verified in the industry. Dodge is leveraging its 100-year-old legacy of continuous innovation to help the industry meet the building challenges of the future. To learn more, visit www.construction.com. Media Contact: Ryan Chin | AFFECT Public Relations & Social Media | +1-212-398-9680, rchin@affectstrategies.com View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dodge-momentum-index-inches-up-in-may-300661483.html SOURCE Dodge Data & Analytics [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 07, 2018] UiPath and Booz Allen Hamilton Partner to Drive Process Efficiencies in the Public Sector UiPath, the leading enterprise Robotic Process Automation (RPA) software company, and Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE: BAH) today announced they have partnered to help federal agencies drive process efficiencies with RPA. Combining UiPath's market-leading RPA platform with Booz Allen Hamilton's (News - Alert) renowned management and IT consulting capabilities, the partnership offers government agencies the most advanced solutions for enhancing core processes, delivering improved service and enabling federal employees to focus on more value-add work. "This technology has the potential to drastically improve the ways we work, from enhancing employee operations to improving user experiences. We are proud to partner with one of the RPA market leaders to usher in a new work paradigm and ultimately deliver the experiences our citizens deserve," said Brett Fraser, director of automation, Booz Allen Hamilton. UiPath's partnership with Booz Allen Hamilton addresses mounting federal interest to develop and leverage AI-related technologies. Earlier this month, the White House announced the Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence to forge better collaboration between industry, govrnment and academia to ensure continued AI leadership. "The U.S. public sector has been incredibly enthusiastic about RPA," said Jonathan Padgett, vice president, U.S. public sector, UiPath. "We are of course very bullish on how RPA and other AI technologies can enable better ways of working, and are excited to have Booz Allen Hamilton and so many forward-thinking federal agencies share in our vision. We're living in a very transformative time, and we're thrilled to be at the helm of such positive changes." About Booz Allen Hamilton For more than 100 years, business, government, and military leaders have turned to Booz Allen Hamilton to solve their most complex problems. They trust us to bring together the right minds: those who devote themselves to the challenge at hand, who speak with relentless candor, and who act with courage and character. They expect original solutions where there are no roadmaps. They rely on us because they know that-together-we will find the answers and change the world. We solve the most difficult management and technology problems through a combination of consulting, analytics, digital solutions, engineering, and cyber expertise. With global headquarters in McLean, Virginia, our firm employs approximately 24,700 people and had revenue of $5.80 billion for the 12 months ended March 31, 2017. To learn more, visit www.boozallen.com. (NYSE: BAH) About UiPath Built for both business and IT, UiPath is the leading platform for enterprise Robotic Process Automation (RPA). More than 700 enterprise customers and government agencies use UiPath's Enterprise RPA platform to rapidly deploy software robots that perfectly emulate and execute repetitive processes, boosting business productivity, ensuring compliance and enhancing customer experience across back-office and front-office operations. With a thriving RPA developer community of more than 120,000 worldwide, UiPath is on a mission to democratize RPA and support a digital business revolution. Based in New York City, UiPath's presence extends to 14 countries throughout North America, Europe and Asia. The company is backed by $183M in series A & B funding from Accel, CapitalG, Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, Credo Ventures, Earlybird's Digital East Fund and Seedcamp. UiPath's Series B valuation exceeded $1 billion. For more information, visit https://www.uipath.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180607005183/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 07, 2018] Sheppard Mullin Expands Tax Practice with Two Partners in New York Judith R. Fiorini and Dmitriy Chelnitsky have joined the New York office of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP as partners in the Tax, Employee Benefits, and Trusts and Estates practice group. Fiorini joins from the Royal Bank of Canada, where she was managing director in the tax department. Chelnitsky joins from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. "We're thrilled to have Judy and Dmitriy on board. Judy's in-house background at one of the largest multinational banks and deep experience in a range of tax matters - including domestic and cross-border transactions, structured finance and financial products - combined with Dmitriy's executive compensation and benefits expertise make them valuable additions to the firm's already prominent Tax practice," said Jon W. Newby, vice chairman of Sheppard Mullin. "Expanding our transactional practices on the East Coast and firmwide is a strategic focus of the firm, and these two have ideal skill sets that further deepen our bench strength." In addition to Fiorini and Chelnitsky, Sheppard Mullin has added a number of transactional partners to its growing Private Equity team in key locations this year, including John Booher in Palo Alto, Eric Newsom in San Francisco, Gemma Descoteaux and Evan Williams in Dallas, and Ben Kwon in Orange (News - Alert) County. "I am excited about joining Sheppard Mullin and coming back to private practice. I look forward to being a part of the firm's dynamic and growing transactional team and working collaboratively with the talented attorneys here," Fiorini commented. Chelnitsky added, "I was particularly impressed by the deph and breadth of Sheppard Mullin's tax and employee benefits practice and overall transactional capabilities, as well as firm management's commitment to support and grow it further. I look forward to working closely with Judy and building on this momentum." Fiorini spent nearly 20 years at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP before joining the Royal Bank of Canada. She focuses her practice on advising multinational banks and financial institutions, international corporations, private equity funds and high net worth individuals on a wide range of complex tax issues, including domestic and cross-border transactions; mergers and acquisitions; passive foreign investment company (PFIC), controlled foreign corporations (CFC) and foreign tax credit issues; structured finance; financial products and derivatives; and partnership transactions. She also has significant experience in tax controversy matters, including negotiations with the Internal Revenue Service. Fiorini received a J.D., with distinction, from Emory University School of Law in 1996 and a B.A. from Oberlin College in 1985. Chelnitsky advises public and private companies, executives and boards on executive compensation and employee benefits issues, with a particular emphasis on issues arising in the context of mergers, private equity-sponsored entity management, entity formations, acquisitions, IPOs and other corporate matters. He also counsels companies, executive management teams and individual executives with the design, implementation and termination of compensation and benefit arrangements, including equity investments, executive employment and severance agreements; consulting arrangements; retention, severance and change-in-control plans; cash and equity-based incentive programs; and nonqualified deferred compensation plans. Chelnitsky received a J.D. from Fordham University School of Law in 2007 and a B.A. from Fordham University in 2004. Sheppard Mullin has 90 attorneys based in its New York office. The firm's Tax practice includes 30 attorneys, and the Corporate practice includes more than 170 attorneys. About Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP Sheppard Mullin is a full service Global 100 firm with more than 800 attorneys in 15 offices located in the United States, Europe and Asia. Since 1927, companies have turned to Sheppard Mullin to handle corporate and technology matters, high stakes litigation and complex financial transactions. In the U.S., the firm's clients include more than half of the Fortune 100. For more information, please visit www.sheppardmullin.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180607005127/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 07, 2018] Devo Announces $25 Million Funding Round to Meet Accelerated Enterprise Demand for Data Operations Platform BOSTON, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Devo, the data operations company, today announced a $25 million Series C funding round led by Insight Venture Partners with participation from Kibo Ventures. This new funding and rebrand follows a momentous year for the company, formerly known as Logtrust, marked by rapid growth and market expansion. Leveraging its strong data and analytics experience working with global organizations in the financial services, telecommunications, retail, and manufacturing industries, Devo is changing the way enterprise organizations use data to improve operations and more quickly evolve in today's digital marketplace. Moving beyond the periodic and siloed analysis of operational data, Devo empowers organizations to combine streaming with historical data to make contextually informed, real-time decisions that deliver new business insights. Devo enables organizations to more efficiently derive deeper value from operational, security, application, IoT and machine data, helping drive continuous improvements, from enhanced customer experiences to reduced operating costs. "Organizations are experiencing the evolution of data and the requirements for acting on it," said Walter Scott, CEO, Devo. "Today's digital economy requires businesses to advance their real-time operational analytics to keep pace with rapidly-changing market conditions and their customer. With a more scalable, cost-effective and complete approach for solving the often-crippling challenges presented by the massive growth of machine data, Devo empowers large enterprises to extract greater value from their operational data." "Supporting the world's largest organizations in their efforts to collect and analyze hundreds of terabytes of data every day requires significant research and development resources," said Pedro Castillo, founder and CTO, Devo. "Today's funding bolsters our commitment to continuous innovation, enabling us to increase investment in our research and development, sales, and marketing teams." To coincide with the rebrand, Devo has launched a new website which can be found at www.devo.com. To read more about the rebrand, please visit the Devo blog. About Devo Devo, formerly Logtrust, is a leading Data Operations Platform for the digital enterprise. Devo delivers real-time business value from analytics on streaming and historical data to help Fortune 1000 enterprises drive sustained performance and growth. The Devo Data Operations Platform collects, enhances and analyzes machine, business and operational data from across the enterprise. Devo provides real-time analytics and insight for IT operations, security analytics, business analytics, customer insight and log management for the world's leading organizations. For more information visit www.devo.com. About Insight Venture Partners Insight Venture Partners is a leading global venture capital and private equity firm investing in high-growth technology and 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. View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/devo-announces-25-million-funding-round-to-meet-accelerated-enterprise-demand-for-data-operations-platform-300661317.html SOURCE Devo [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 07, 2018] Toyotsugu Kuwamura To Retire From Canon U.S.A., Inc. MELVILLE, N.Y., June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- After more than 38 years working at Canon, Toyotsugu Kuwamura, executive vice president and general manager of Canon U.S.A.'s Business Imaging Solutions Group (BISG) and Chairman and CEO of Canon Solutions America is set to retire effective July 1, 2018. Mr. Kuwamura first joined Canon, Inc. in 1980 and has held a number of positions within the organization in Japan, Canada, and the United States. During his time at Canon U.S.A. Inc., he was responsible for overseeing the Oce integration into Canon Solutions America in 2013 and, most recently advocating the "One Canon" approach to customers. Effective immediately, Mr. Shinichi Yoshida has been named his successor as Executive Vice President and General Manager, Business Imaging Solutions Group (BISG) and Vice Chairman, Canon Solutions America, Inc. In addition, Mr. Joe Adachi will assume the role as Chairman and CEO, Canon Solutions America, Inc. "I want to thank Mr. Kuwamura for his years of service, strong leadership and dedication to Canon and I wish him luck in his retirement," said Joe Adachi, chairman and CEO, Canon U.S.A., Inc. "It is with great pleasure that I welcome back Mr. Shinichi Yoshida who spent more than 23 years with Canon U.S.A. and I look forward to having him on my management team as we continue to position ISG for future growth." Mr. Shinichi Yoshida joined Canon Inc. in 1983, and has worked at Canon Europe, Canon Virginia, Canon U.S.A. and most recently as Executive Vice President/GM at Canon Canada. His successor will be Mr. Nobuhiko Kitajima as Executive Vice President/GM, Imaging Systems Group and Professional Printing Solutions Group, Canon Canada. Mr. Kitajima joined Canon Inc. in 1981 and has had various assignments at Canon Inc., Canon Europe and Canon U.S.A. throughout his career. Mr. Kitajima was promoted to Vice President and General Manager, Marketing, Business Imaging Solutions Group, Canon U.S.A. in July 2016. "I thank Mr. Kitajima for his successes with Canon U.S.A. and I wish him good luck in Canada," comments Mr. Adachi. For more information on Canon U.S.A., please visit. www.usa.canon.com. About Canon U.S.A., Inc. Canon U.S.A., Inc., is a leading provider of consumer, business-to-business, and industrial digital imaging solutions to the United States and to Latin America and the Caribbean markets. With approximately $36 billion in global revenue, its parent company, Canon Inc. (NYSE: CAJ), ranks third overall in U.S. patents granted in 2017 and is one of Fortune Magazine's World's Most Admired Companies in 2018. Canon U.S.A. is committed to the highest level of customer satisfaction and loyalty, providing 100 percent U.S.-based service and support for all of the products it distributes in the United States. Canon U.S.A. is dedicated to its Kyosei philosophy of social and environmental responsibility. In 2014, the Canon Americas Headquarters secured LEED Gold certification, a recognition for the design, construction, operations and maintenance of high-performance green buildings. To keep apprised of the latest news from Canon U.S.A., sign up for the Company's RSS news feed by visiting www.usa.canon.com/rss and follow us on Twitter @CanonUSA. For media inquiries, please contact pr@cusa.canon.com. Based on weekly patent counts issued by United States Patent and Trademark Office. View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/toyotsugu-kuwamura-to-retire-from-canon-usa-inc-300661678.html SOURCE Canon U.S.A., Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 07, 2018] LexShares Launches Private Institutional Litigation Finance Exchange LexShares, the commercial litigation finance firm, has launched the LexShares Private Market, an exchange for secondary litigation finance transactions. Built exclusively for qualified institutions, the LexShares Private Market (LPM) is an online exchange that serves to bring litigation funders and institutional investors together on a unified platform, improving access to and liquidity of legal finance assets. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180607005672/en/ "Inspired by surging demand from institutional investors seeking exposure to litigation finance assets at scale, and a burgeoning but disjointed secondary market, the LexShares Private Market brings much needed centralization and efficiency to the space," said LexShares Chief Executive Officer Jay Greenberg (News - Alert) . "The platform expands access and simplifies the process for buyers. For sellers, it promotes liquidity and streamlines secondary transaction execution." How LPM Works With limited entry points to invest in litigation finance, LPM offers institutional investors exposure to an asset class that has been historically difficult to access because of the expertise required to originate underwrite, and structure these deals. Litigation funders may also seek to purchase assets in the secondary market to expand their portfolios and deploy additional capital. With LPM, buyers can analyze available deals, connect with sellers directly, and transact securely. Sellers of litigation finance assets are primarily dedicated litigation finance funds that have made prior investments in multiple claims through their own investment vehicles. LPM enables these funders to manage their cash flow and liquidity needs, rebalance their portfolios, and fine tune their exposure to different types of litigation finance products. LPM makes it simple to post available deals for investment, providing direct access to the platform's network of buyers. "Now that litigation finance has reached a certain level of maturity, and is evolving into a mainstream asset class, a centralized secondary market is a natural extension," said Max Volsky, Chief Investment Officer at LexShares. "It has become clear to us that firms originating and investing in commercial litigation can benefit as both a buyer and seller on this type of private institutional exchange." About LexShares LexShares is a litigation finance firm that focuses on funding commercial claims. It connects plaintiffs in commercial legal disputes with investors to fund their cases. Founded in 2014, LexShares is privately owned with offices in Boston and New York City. For more information, visit www.lexshares.com. This release may contain "forward looking statements" which are not guaranteed. Investment opportunities posted on LexShares are offered by WealthForge Securities, LLC, a registered broker-dealer and member FINRA / SIPC. LexShares and WealthForge are separate entities. Investments in legal claims are speculative and involve certain risks including but not limited to concentration risk, lack of control over the prosecution of underlying claims, claimants' inability to assert and collect on their claims, potential to lose part or all of the invested principal and long hold periods. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180607005672/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 07, 2018] ViewSonic Drives Innovation with New Large Format and Interactive Display Solutions That Boost Collaboration for Education, Enterprise, and Commercial Customers New CDE8600 and CDX5565 Commercial Displays and IFP60 Series Interactive Flat Panel Displays Deliver Powerful New Interactive Features and Revenue Opportunities for Channel Partners TORONTO, June 7, 2018 /CNW/ - ViewSonic Corp., a leading global provider of visual solution products, today unveiled its latest large format and interactive display solutions at InfoComm 2018. These new offerings deliver advanced interactive capabilities that enhance the viewing and learning experience for a diverse range of customers, from education and commercial, to enterprise and small business. Easy to install, seamless to integrate, and competitively priced, ViewSonic's new lineup provides channel partners with even more opportunities to reach new markets and create connected, collaborative spaces powered for tomorrow. "ViewSonic continues to innovate, helping customers transform education, enterprise, and commercial spaces with feature-rich collaborative and interactive display solutions," said Deidre Deacon, General Manager for ViewSonic Canada. "As market demand for large format and interactive displays continues to grow, new applications and market segments are emerging. We are continuing to deliver on our brand promise with these latest products, providing industry-leading display performance, great value, and world class support. Alongside our valued channel partners, we are positioned to drive growth, and open and lead new markets for display solutions." ViewSonic's new product offerings include: ViewSonic CDE8600 86-inch 4K UHD Commercial Display for Larger-Than-Life Digital Signage Projects This easy-to-install large format display enables integrators to deliver a powerful 4K experience at an affordable price (under $7,000 CAD). The ViewSonic CDE8600 engages users with images that are sharp and vibrant, delivering a larger than life viewing experience. Features include native 4K (3840x2160) resolution and 400-nits of brightnss and wide viewing angles. It comes bundled with Viewsonic's vBoard collaboration software and ViewBoard Cast and vController software for easy collaboration and content sharing from any mobile device, as well as remote management through a PC server or laptop. ViewSonic CDX5562 55-inch Commercial Display with Narrow Bezel High-Impact Wall Applications Optimized for professional multi-panel video wall applications, the CDX5562 commercial display is the ideal solution for virtually seamless, high-impact visual installations and messaging in public spaces, command and control centers, transportation hubs, retail, and other industrial environments. Combining SuperClear panel technology for wide viewing angles, pre-calibrated settings, 700-nits of brightness, and dual 10W stereo speakers, the CDX5563 delivers a professional digital signage all-in-one multimedia messaging experience. It features Full HD 1080p resolution and an edge-to-edge bezel width of 1.8mm, as well as a DisplayPort and DVI connectors for stunning and creative daisy chain applications including up to 10x10 tiling options. The ViewSonic CDX5562 55-inch commercial display is now available in Canada for $8,999 CAD. ViewSonic IFP60 Series for workplace collaboration: IFP6560 (65-inch) and IFP7560 (75-inch) interactive flat panels with UHD 4K (3840x2160) resolution Featuring powerful collaboration features, the ViewSonic IFP60 Series with ViewSonic myViewBoard Whiteboarding software delivers a powerful enterprise solution for collaboration in small to large business environments. The interactive flat panels are "out-of-the-box" ready, with pre-installed ViewSonic vBoard collaboration software and ViewBoard Cast. For even more powerful collaboration tools and features, users can easily download the myViewBoard digital whiteboarding software, which offers advanced annotation tools and enterprise-level security with AES256 encryption and single sign-on and sign-off. Cloud-based portability enables users to store and retrieve files with one-touch retrieval. The IFP6560 is priced at $6,399 CAD; the IFP7560 is priced at $9,999 CAD. Both solutions will be available in Canada in July. ViewSonic Integrates Zoom to Boost Workspace Collaboration Zoom software, which is available for download, is now compatible with ViewSonic myViewBoard software. By integrating with Zoom, myViewBoard delivers an even more comprehensive ViewBoard interactive flat panel solution. All Zoom plans are compatible with myViewBoard. ViewSonic is showcasing these new solutions at InfoComm 2018 Las Vegas (Booth C2355), the largest event in North America focused on the pro-AV industry, taking place June 6-8. For more information, visit the ViewSonic press room for the complete media kit, which includes comprehensive product press releases, images, and product data sheets. For further news and information about ViewSonic, visit ViewSonic.com and follow on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. About ViewSonic Founded in California in 1987, ViewSonic is a leading global provider of visual solution products. An innovator and visionary, ViewSonic connects people and business with a portfolio of professional level visual solutions that enhance the way the world computes, collaborates, communicates and connects. Its award-winning line of display solutions include LED monitors, interactive commercial displays, touch displays, projectors, thin clients, zero clients and smart displays, used in business, commercial, home and classroom applications. A trusted business partner, ViewSonic solutions are available through a distribution and dealer channel, online retail, integrated solution providers and its website. ViewSonic is a privately held company with operations in global markets. ViewSonic Canada has dedicated regional and bilingual sales teams across Canada. For more information, visit viewsonic.com or call 1-800-688-6688. This news release contains forward-looking statements that reflect the Company's expectations with regard to future events. Actual events could differ significantly from those anticipated in this document. Trademark footnote: ViewSonic and the ViewSonic trademarks are trademarks or registered trademarks of ViewSonic Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other corporate names and trademarks stated herein are the property of their respective companies. SOURCE ViewSonic [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 07, 2018] Gartner Identifies Five Steps Security Leaders Can Implement to Create A Better Customer Experience for Their Business Executives While IT, and most businesses, have been focused on operational excellence for the past 20-30 years, Gartner (News - Alert) , Inc. analysts said it's time security leaders put the focus on customer experience. "Today, the battle ground for the digital industrial revolution is the customer experience," said Leigh McMullen, research vice president at Gartner. "It's not about cost; it's not about efficiency; it's not even about product. It's about experience." Gartner analysts explained during today's keynote at the Gartner Security and Risk Management Summit the importance of creating a better executive engagement to an audience of more than 3,400 security and risk leaders and practitioners. Everyone is a big digital consumer, and in this digital world, users expect customization to all their preferences. For security leaders, this means giving up some control, and it is resulting in the nexus of the cultural clash. This clash is taking place when risk issues are passed from the business department to the security department, with the expectation that the security team will deal with the problem. Gartner analysts said the key to changing this relationship is engagement. "We as security people want things to be controlled," said Mr. McMullen. "We want them stable, but people's expectations are being set by forces outside our control. Which means we (security leaders) need to change how we engage if we want to be successful. We have to give up control to gain influence." Create an Effortless Experience The experience that customers are looking for is an effortless experience. The analysts pointed out that effort, not satisfaction or net promoter score, is the best predictor of future buying behavior. "Security should not wreck the customer experience, but it often does," Mr. McMullen said. "Customers, and that is everyone in your enterprise, want the effort they put in to match the value they expect to get. If you deliver the wrong experience, they'll just tune you out." Gartner has identified five things security and risk leaders can work on now to create a better experience for their executives. They include: Actually Speak to Executives About Things That Matter to Them. Gartner analysts said studies have shown that fear of risk and security is materially impacting innovation. "Organizations are slowing down because they fear this issue," said Paul Proctor, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. "If you can improve their comfort and understanding of risk and security, you can help your company move faster. That is truly a business value of security." Mr. Proctor said it's important for security leaders to talk to business leaders about what matter to them. Show them how their business outcomes are directly dependent on technology. He said security leaders need to engage with business executives over thngs those executives think are important. Help Executives With Their Decisions Through Operationally Focused Risk Assessments. To help business executives, Gartner recommends that security leaders start with a business process and conduct interviews with the people who execute that process. Gartner analysts shared an example of a police department that has created an operationally-focused risk assessment process that takes two weeks, delivers summary recommendations in a business-focused context, and requires a non-IT executive decision maker to act on the results. "Offering executives decision-making in the context of operational outcomes makes these engagements more than interesting to them. It directly impacts the decisions they make," Mr. Proctor said. "You are now helping them do their job." Create Defensibility for Your Executives. Executives do not directly control technology risk and security. However, when an organization gets hacked, the public wants executives to face consequences for the security breach. "We have treated security like a dark art for so long that when an organization gets hacked, people don't understand," Mr. McMullen said. "So, the primary question is, 'Who screwed up?' You can't guarantee the organization won't get hacked, so stop selling your executives protection, and start selling something they truly need, defensibility." Take Tech Out of Your Conversations. The ability of security leaders to abstract out technology and put decisions in terms of business outcomes is critical to their success in a modern risk-based world. Gartner analysts said security leaders need to understand their company's business model. "When we talk about technology risk and security, primarily in technology terms, stakeholders treat us like wizards who cast spells and protect the organization," Mr. Proctor said. "Making risk and security more transparent and business-aligned is an absolute requirement to get you out of the wizarding world." Move From Project to Product Management. Project management is something security leaders have always done. They prioritize and fund activities. For example, there are start times, execution gates, implementation, acceptance testing, integration, and deployments included in project management. There is a beginning and an end. In product management, everything is continuous. Typically, it's organized around a business process, and the IT requirements to support that business process. For example, in an insurance company, a product line could be underwriting, and in a risk and security context, underwriting needs access to control, perimeter protection, threat and vulnerability management, handling and treatment of sensitive data continuously. There is no end date. "Doing these five things will improve executive experience, their perceived value, and result in a better, more appropriately protected organization," Mr. Proctor said. About Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit The Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit offers the latest research and to help organizations transform their security strategy and build resilience across the enterprise. This year's event delivers leading-edge thinking on emerging technologies such as AI, machine learning, analytics, IoT and blockchain, evolving security technologies and the ever-changing threat landscape. Upcoming dates and locations for the Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit include: July 24-26, 2018, Tokyo August 14-15, Sao Paulo August 20-21, Sydney August 30-31, Mumbai September 10-11, London October 22-23, Dubai Follow news and updates from the events on Twitter (News - Alert) at #GartnerSEC. About Gartner Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT), is the world's leading research and advisory company and a member of the S&P 500. We equip business leaders with indispensable insights, advice and tools to achieve their mission-critical priorities and build the successful organizations of tomorrow. Our unmatched combination of expert-led, practitioner-sourced and data-driven research steers clients toward the right decisions on the issues that matter most. We're trusted as an objective resource and critical partner by more than 15,000 organizations in more than 100 countries - across all major functions, in every industry and enterprise size. To learn more about how we help decision makers fuel the future of business, visit www.gartner.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180607005836/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 07, 2018] Generali Global Assistance Featured in G7 Summit Global Briefing Report BETHESDA, Md., June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The G7 Summit, a forum for highly industrialized democracies to coordinate economic, security, and energy policy, commenced today in the Canadian province of Quebec's Chrlevoix region. Generali Global Assistance, a leader in the assistance industry since its founding in 1963, part of the multinational Generali Group, and the developer of a proprietary and innovative identity and digital protection platform, today announced that it has a featured article in the G7 Summit's official publication, the Global Briefing Report. The article also ran in the G7 Summit's Digital Future supplement, which focuses on cybersecurity, AI, and cryptocurrency. The article provides a review of the identity theft protection industry's evolution, a look at where the industry is today in terms of services, and the future of data privacy and identity protection. Already, half of the world's services are delivered digitally, which means business can serve customers anywhere they have access to a connected device. At the same time, hackers and fraudsters are becoming even more advanced with 2017 seeing a record nuber of data breaches for a single year, representing nearly a 45% increase over the prior year. Commenting on today's news, Paige Schaffer, President and COO of Generali Global Assistance's Identity and Digital Protection Services Global Unit, said "The more devices or services that ask us to input our personal data, to provide customizable experiences or remote access capabilities, the more gateways we open up to identity theft. With data breaches now, an all too familiar occurrence, it's only a matter of time before the majority of the world's population is squarely at risk of becoming a victim of identity theft. We believe that what this unfortunately means is that preventive measures, while important, are simply no longer enough. Consumers must have resolution services available to them to help mitigate issues after their data becomes compromised, something that we at Generali Global Assistance have built our value proposition on for many years." The G7 Summit consists of representatives from seven of the world's most advanced economies the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom. The EU also attends as an "non-enumerated" member. The summit affords these world leaders with an opportunity to positively affect policy on issues that are of paramount importance to the world economy. Ms. Schaffer concluded, "We are pleased to see that cyber and data security will be on the agenda for this important event, as we agree that it is certainly one of the larger global challenges. Identity theft can have a profound emotional and financial effect on its victims leading to lost productivity and revenues for individuals and companies alike." To learn more about Generali Global Assistance's identity protection offering, please visit http://us.generaliglobalassistance.com/solutions/identity-protection. About Generali Global Assistance Generali Global Assistance has been a leading provider of identity and digital protection solutions, travel insurance, and other assistance services for more than 25 years. The Company offers a full suite of innovative, vertically-integrated identity protection solutions, beneficiary companion services, travel insurance, and emergency services. Generali Global Assistance is proudly owned by Europ Assistance Holding, a division of the multinational Generali Group, which for over 185 years has created a presence in 60 countries with over 76,000 employees. Our success has been built on the foundation of trust that clients have placed in our ability to provide assistance in the most difficult of circumstances. GGA Media Contact Jay A. Morakis M Group Strategic Communications (for Generali Global Assistance) +1 212.266.0191 jmorakis@mgroupsc.com GGA Marketing Contact Eugenia Buggs VP, Global Marketing, Identity and Digital Protection Services Global Unit +1 240.330.1091 eugenia.buggs@us.generaliglobalassistance.com View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/generali-global-assistance-featured-in-g7-summit-global-briefing-report-300661786.html SOURCE Generali Global Assistance [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] HCM CITY Technology 4.0 and market research are key to improving Viet Nams poor productivity, experts told a conference on in HCM City on Wednesday. Pham Ngoc Hung, deputy chairman of the HCM City Union of Business Associations, said production efficiency was key to competing in international markets as Viet Nam opens up to the world. Viet Nams productivity is only around 7 per cent that of Singapores, 17 per cent of Malaysias and 37 per cent of Thailands, according to a 2016 report. Over 90 per cent of businesses in Viet Nam are small or medium sized, and many of them still use outdated technologies, causing their quality to suffer. Hung said 70 per cent of Viet Nams exports are by FDI companies, admitting: There is a lack of trust in Vietnamese products due to perceived lower quality, and many firms choose not to do business with domestic suppliers. This in turn deters domestic suppliers from investing heavily in upgrading their facilities. Many small firms generally struggle to improve their technologies also because they do not have access to funding and market information and the drive to constantly update their technologies, he said. Certain funding programmes are inaccessible to them due to complicated and lengthy procedures, he said. The lack of a skilled workforce is also a problem, with many university graduates lacking practical experience, he said. The relatively poor protection of intellectual property rights deter businesses from spending resources on research since they are afraid their work could be stolen, he said. Many small businesses suffer from poor market research and often make plans without considering their customer base. Ly Truong Chien from Tri Tri Consulting said to improve productivity Viet Nam has to constantly keep abreast of the rapidly changing technology trends. Businesses need to study market trends and embrace technology 4.0 and modern techniques, utilising, for instance, big data to get a better picture of their customers, make a close examination of every stage of production rather than just the end products, and focus on developing the talents of their employees, he said. He stressed the importance of market research, urging businesses (especially SMEs) to know their own products and customer base to gain a foothold in the market. But businesses should carefully examine their own situation and adopt technologies appropriately rather than blindly copy from other countries, he added. VNS [June 07, 2018] Tagnos Receives Cisco Investment ALISO VIEJO, Calif., June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Tagnos, developer of the leading clinical logistics automation solution for hospitals and clinics, announced today that it has received funding from Cisco Investments through the Cisco Webex Innovation Fund to help support Tagnos' 18-month-old integration with the cloud-based Webex Teams app for continuous teamwork. In February, Tagnos, which already has hospital customers across the country, received series A funding of $5 million from Benhamou Global Ventures, Morpheus Ventures and Zebra Ventures, the investment arm of Zebra Technologies Corp. "With the additions to our management team and the continuing support of Cisco Investments and our other investors, Tagnos is well-positioned to build on its initial success with the next generation of workflow optimization tools for hospitals and healthcare systems," said Neeraj Bhavani, Founder and CEO of Tagno. "The integration of Cisco Webex Teams into our software gives hospitals an essential tool for rapid identification of emergent problems with patient flow, staffing and other logistical issues so that staff members can quickly resolve them. At the same time, Tagnos can be a gateway for clinicians to access patient information as they collaborate on problem-solving in Webex Teams spaces." Tagnos is the first company to take Webex Teams HIPAA-compliant tools into hospitals. The first two hospitals to pilot the integrated solution are Covenant Speciality Hospital in Lubbock, Texas, and White Memorial Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. "We are pleased to invest in Tagnos through the Webex Innovation Fund," said Rob Salvagno, vice president, Corporate Development at Cisco. "Tagnos has displayed technical ingenuity, combined with a deep understanding of what makes healthcare tick." For example, Tagnos has used Webex Teams to help reduce hospital wait times. When patients register in a hospital that uses Tagnos, they receive radio identification tags like those used to track equipment in real-time location systems (RTLS). After a patient has waited in an area for a specified period of time, a notification is automatically sent to team members about an "exception" to normal policy. Webex Teams creates a "space," similar to a chat room but within the patient context, in which the staff can communicate about how to solve the issue, working from any device they are using. Clinicians can also click on one of five to seven buttons to indicate that they are unavailable or to send some other brief response. Tagnos' software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform is designed to orchestrate hospital workflows in ways that reduce wait times, enhance the patient experience, boost staff efficiency and optimize the utilization of supplies and equipment. The company's analytics engine can ingest data from any RTLS solution that tracks the locations of patients, staff members and physical assets. In addition, Tagnos incorporates data from electronic health records (EHRs), computerized physician order entry (CPOE) systems, laboratory and radiology information systems, bed management systems and hospital admission-discharge-transfer (ADT) systems. The solution analyzes all of this contextual data to improve patient flow and to prevent bottlenecks by alerting staff about anticipated problems. The insights generated by the platform are also used to reengineer workflows so that care teams can further streamline care delivery. Tagnos gives hospital administrators visibility into workflow patterns, enabling them to optimize staff utilization and reduce cycle time. This decreased cycle time results in shorter patient wait times and increased throughput. Especially in operating rooms and emergency departments, better throughput can translate into additional revenue and ROI. Moreover, the Tagnos solution advances patient satisfaction by keeping patients and their loved ones informed about the status of their care at every step. ABOUT TAGNOS Tagnos offers the leading clinical logistics automation solution for hospitals and clinics. Its SaaS platform analyzes data from clinical systems, including EHR, CPOE, LIS, RIS, and ADT systems, along with RTLS tracking devices, to facilitate patient flow through the hospital. The insights produced by its AI algorithms help healthcare organizations optimize their staff and asset utilization to prevent bottlenecks, reduce wait times and improve throughput, while increasing patient and staff satisfaction. For more information, visit www.tagnos.com. Media Contact for Tagnos: Jodi Amendola Amendola Communications 480-664-8412 X11 jamendola@acmarketingpr.com View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tagnos-receives-cisco-investment-300661453.html SOURCE Tagnos [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 07, 2018] Logicalis Named to CRN's 2018 Solution Provider 500 List NEW YORK, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Logicalis, an international IT solutions and managed services provider, announced today that CRN , a brand of The Channel Company, has named Logicalis to its 2018 Solution Provider 500 list. The Solution Provider 500 is CRN's annual ranking of the largest technology integrators, solution providers and IT consultants in North America by revenue. The Solution Provider 500 is CRN's predominant channel partner award list, serving as the industry standard for recognition of the most successful solution provider companies in the channel since 1995. The complete list is published on CRN.com, making it readily available to vendors seeking out top solution providers with which to partner. "We are honored to be included in CRN's 2018 Solution Provider 500 List for the seventh consecutive year," said Mike Houghton, chief sales officer at Logicalis. "This recognition acknowledges our efforts to deliver world-class, custom solutions for our customers that are compelling, collaborative and innovative, while driving growth for the business. For example, in the last year, we achieved Cisco Global Gold certification, and we look forward to maintaining our reputation as a progressive, transformative, and community based-service provider." "CRN's Solution Provider 500 list spotlights the North American IT channel partner organizations that have earned the highest revenue over the past year, providing a valuable resource to vendors looking for top solution providersto partner with," said Bob Skelley, CEO of The Channel Company. "The companies on this year's list represent an incredible, combined revenue of $320 billion, a sum that attests to their success in staying ahead of rapidly changing market demands. We extend our sincerest congratulations to each of these top-performing solution providers and look forward to their future pursuits and successes." Follow The Channel Company: Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook Tweet This: @TheChannelCo names @LogicalisUS to @CRN 2018 SP500 list #CRNSP500 www.crn.com/sp500 About Logicalis Logicalis is an international multi-skilled solution provider providing digital enablement services to help customers harness digital technology and innovative services to deliver powerful business outcomes. Our customers span industries and geographical regions; our focus is to engage in the dynamics of our customers' vertical markets including financial services, TMT (telecommunications, media and technology), education, healthcare, retail, government, manufacturing and professional services, and to apply the skills of our 4,500 employees in modernizing key digital pillars, data center and cloud services, security and network infrastructure, workspace communications and collaboration, data and information strategies, and IT operation modernization. We are the advocates for our customers for some of the world's leading technology companies including Cisco, HPE, IBM, NetApp, Microsoft, VMware and ServiceNow. The Logicalis Group has annualized revenues of over $1.5 billion from operations in Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific and Africa. It is a division of Datatec Limited, listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, with revenues of over $4 billion. For more information, visit https://www.logicalis.com/ Follow Logicalis: Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. About the Channel Company The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers and end users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequaled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. www.thechannelco.com View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/logicalis-named-to-crns-2018-solution-provider-500-list-300661803.html SOURCE Logicalis [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 07, 2018] U.S. Army Awards Robotic Research Major Contract for Autonomy Kits for Ground Resupply Convoy Vehicles CLARKSBURG, Md., June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Army has awarded Robotic Research, LLC, of Maryland, a 3-year, $49.7 million contract to provide Autonomy Kits for large convoy resupply vehicles as part of the Expedient Leader Follower (ExLF) program. The purpose of ExLF is to extend the scope of the Autonomous Ground Resupply (AGR) program by developing and installing sophisticated Autonomy Kits for additional Army vehicles (Oshkosh PLS A1s), thereby enabling effective autonomous resupply convoy operations. In such convoys, a series of optionally manned vehicles autonomously follow the path of the first (manned) vehicle. The ExLF program builds on the progress demonstrated during the Autonomous Mobility Applique Systems (AMAS) Joint Capability Technology Demonstration (JCTD) and AGR programs to develop unmanned prototype systems that address the needs of the Leader Follower Directed Requirement and Program of Record. ExLF will equip existing military ground vehicles and will conduct an Operational Technical Demonstration with scalable autonomy technology showcasing the integration of modular kits, common interfaces, and a scalable open architecture. The AGR architecture is being developed to become the de-facto autonomous architecture for all foreeeable ground robotic vehicles. Robotic Research, LLC, is an innovative engineering company that provides autonomy software and robotic technology solutions to numerous Federal and commercial customers. Following the award, Alberto Lacaze, President of Robotic Research, stated "We are deeply honored to have been selected to perform this critical work for the U.S. Army. The Robotic Research team shares the Army's commitment to rapidly fielding effective autonomy solutions to our Nation's soldiers." Autonomous operations of ground vehicles has become a major modernization thrust of the Army leadership. During a recent visit to the Army's Tank and Automotive Research, Development & Engineering Center (TARDEC), Army Secretary Mark Esper stated, "If you look back at the Iraq war, one of the most dangerous duties was driving, riding in a convoy.... We lost many, many soldiers to IED [roadside bomb] attacks, other attacks on convoys. I could've reduced that vulnerability, that sacrifice [with] unmanned convoys or convoys that were manned by [only] a couple of a soldiers." ("Army Secretary Rides Robot Truck: 'Critical' Tech for Big Six", Breaking Defense, Sydney Freedberg: (https://breakingdefense.com/2018/05/army-secretary-rides-robot-truck-critical-tech-for-big-six/) For more about Robotic Research, please see www.roboticresearch.com. For additional information on the ExLF and AGR programs, please contact via 240-631-0008 or jhughes@roboticresearch.com. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/us-army-awards-robotic-research-major-contract-for-autonomy-kits-for-ground-resupply-convoy-vehicles-300661841.html SOURCE Robotic Research, LLC [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 07, 2018] Golden Gate Capital Announces Eddie Bauer and Pacific Sunwear to Become Portfolio Companies of New Operating Company, PSEB Group Golden Gate Capital ("Golden Gate"), a leading private equity investment firm, today announced that it has established a new operating company, PSEB Group ("PSEB"). PSEB will be composed of two Golden Gate portfolio companies: Eddie Bauer, LLC ("Eddie Bauer"), an authentic outdoor brand offering performance outerwear, apparel, footwear, accessories and gear; and Pacific Sunwear of California, LLC ("PacSun"), a leading specialty retailer offering a cross-section of emerging brands and trending fashion through the lens of Los Angeles. In connection with the establishment of PSEB, Golden Gate will invest additional equity in PSEB to support its growth. PSEB will have a retail footprint of over 700 stores and is on track for approximately $1.5 billion in combined total sales in 2018, including $400 million in ecommerce sales. Both brands are performing well, as Eddie Bauer and PacSun grew same-store sales by 6.5% and 5%, respectively, in 2017, and year-to-date, same-store sales are up 6% at Eddie Bauer and are up 8% at PacSun. Eddie Bauer and PacSun will continue to operate independent front ends, including unique brand identities, design, merchandising, marketing, ecommerce and retail operations, while benefitting from shared services and enhanced scale. Eddie Bauer and PacSun stores will continue to operate as usual and customers will experience no changes. Josh Olshansky, Managing Director at Golden Gate Capital, commented, "Eddie Bauer and PacSun are powerful brands with differentiated, loyal customer bases. By creating PSEB and investing additional equity, we will accelerate the growth trajectories for both businesses, while preserving the autonomy and discrete cultures of each brand. Both brands have made great progress in the past 24 months and have generated strong performance. Bringing these two brands onto a shared platform will allow us to fuel this momentum and unlock their next stages of growth." Eddie Bauer Chief Execuive Officer and President Mike Egeck will serve as Chief Executive Officer of PSEB, with oversight of both the Eddie Bauer and PacSun brands. Mr. Egeck commented, "PacSun's curation of youth culture and brands through the lens of the California lifestyle permeates its brand in the same way Eddie Bauer's heritage of outdoor innovation underpins its nearly hundred-year history. And while customers and fans of Eddie Bauer and PacSun won't see any change in their store or online experience as a result of the creation of PSEB, they too will benefit as the brands are powered by a larger and stronger platform. We look forward to the competitive advantages that a unified shared services platform will provide us, while we continue to invest in the two brands' consumer connections and distinct identities." The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2018 and is subject to certain closing conditions. About Golden Gate Capital Golden Gate Capital is a San Francisco-based private equity investment firm with over $15 billion of capital under management. The principals of Golden Gate Capital have a long and successful history of investing across a wide range of industries and transaction types, including going-privates, corporate divestitures, and recapitalizations, as well as debt and public equity investments. Representative consumer sector investments sponsored by Golden Gate Capital include Express Oil Change & Tire Engineers, Mavis Discount Tire, Bob Evans Restaurants, Red Lobster, California Pizza Kitchen, and Zales. For more information, visit www.goldengatecap.com. About Eddie Bauer, LLC Eddie Bauer is an outdoor brand offering performance outerwear, apparel, footwear, accessories, and gear. For nearly 100 years, Eddie Bauer has been inspiring and enabling people to live their adventure. Eddie Bauer products carry a lifetime guarantee and are available online at www.eddiebauer.com, and at more than 400 stores in the United States, Canada, Germany, Japan, and other international markets. About Pacific Sunwear of California, LLC Pacific Sunwear of California, LLC and its subsidiaries (collectively, "PacSun" or the "Company") are a leading specialty retailer delivering a curated collection of the most relevant brands and styles to a community of inspired youth through its unique 34-year heritage at the center of California lifestyle. The Company sells a combination of branded and proprietary casual apparel, accessories and footwear designed to appeal to teens and young adults. As of Jan. 2, 2018, the Company operates 422 stores in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. PacSun's website address is www.pacsun.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180607005918/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 07, 2018] A.M. Best Affirms Credit Ratings of Hyundai Insurance (China) Co., Ltd. A.M. Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of B++ (Good) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of "bbb" of Hyundai Insurance (China) Co., Ltd. (HIC) (China). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (rating) remains negative. The ratings reflect HIC's balance sheet strength, which A.M. Best categorizes as strong, as well as its marginal operating performance, neutral business profile and marginal enterprise risk management. HIC's strong balance sheet strength is supported by its risk-adjusted capitalization being at the strongest level. The company occupies a niche market by focusing on servicing Korean interests abroad and has a competitive advantage in this market due to its long-term client relationships. Since 2016, HIC has diversified its portfolio by expanding into the personal accident line through partnerships with brokers and online platforms. Offsetting rating factors include the company's historical negative and volatile operating results, which have exerted pressure to its risk-adjusted capitalization. In the absence of catastrophe losses in past two years, the company's operating performance has improved, but underwriting profit remains marginal due to its high cost structure. In addition, HIC's gross leverage and high dependence on reinsurance in its commercial lines expose the company to reinsurer credit risk and liquidity pressure in the event of large losses. The negative outlooks reflect HIC's continued exposure to potential large-scale reinsurer credit and liquidity risks and volatility in its risk-adjusted capitalization frm fronting large sums of risks relative to the company's capital. While positive rating actions are unlikely to occur in the near term, negative rating actions could occur if there is material deterioration in the company's risk-adjusted capitalization or a reduced level of support from its parent, Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance Co., Ltd. Ratings are communicated to rated entities prior to publication. Unless stated otherwise, the ratings were not amended subsequent to that communication. This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on A.M. Best's website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see A.M. Best's Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Understanding Best's Credit Ratings. For information on the proper media use of Best's Credit Ratings and A.M. Best press releases, please view Guide for Media - Proper Use of Best's Credit Ratings and A.M. Best Rating Action Press Releases. A.M. Best is the world's oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source. For more information, visit www.ambest.com. Copyright 2018 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180607005978/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 07, 2018] Advanced Space Wins $250,000 Innovation Award from Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade Advanced Space LLC., a Boulder, CO company that designs software and provides specialized services for NASA, the U.S. Air Force, and commercial operators, announced today that it was selected from among 113 companies to receive a $250,000 Advanced Industries Accelerator Grant from the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (COEDIT). This grant, announced in May, was created by COEDIT to "fund companies commercializing innovative technologies to create viable products that meet a market need and can be created or manufactured in Colorado and exported globally." Applications were reviewed by select committees of business, technical and financial experts. This matching grant will complement a recently signed contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for Advanced Space to continue the development of a peer-to-peer navigation system for the Moon. To see what Advanced Space is creating, check out this infographic on the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System "Colorado has a long history of leadership and excellence in supporting humanity's mission to visit, learn and live among the stars, most notably the global positioning system (GPS) we all use every day to travel on Earth," said Bradley Cheetham, CEO of Advanced Space. "It's exciting to think that our company can be part of a new generation of Colorado space companies that will support American, commercial, and international missions off-planet for decades to come." About Advanced Space Advanced Space (http://advancedspace.com) supports the exploration, development, and settlement of space through software and services that leverage unique subject matter expertise to improve the fundamentals of spaceflight. Advanced Space is dedicated to improving the next generation of launch vehicles and spacecraft; developing autonomous, onboard capabilities for enhanced spacecraft operations; and supporting advanced spaceflight mission design efforts to the Moon, Mars, asteroids, and beyond. Press Kit for this Announcement: http://advancedspace.com/media-kit/ View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180607005363/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 07, 2018] Routier Helps Hotels Provide Real-Time Solutions for Real-Time Issues So That They Don't Become Permanent Problems NEW YORK, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Imagine if you could communicate with your guests in real-time during their stay at your property. And imagine that they wouldn't need to download or install a thing. And imagine that you could actually find out if your guest is unhappy or happy and follow up with the right messaging, at the right time. Now stop imagining because it's real. Routier's seamless engagement, operational, and marketing solutions help hotels and hotel groups increase engagement with their guests in real-time in order to identify guest satisfaction levels during-stay and follow up accordingly. In instances when guests are satisfied with their stay, they will have the opportunity to leave positive online reviews, become loyalty members, and qualify for upsells or upgrades. On the other hand, when guests are unsatisfied, hotel staff are alerted in real-time and tickets are automatically created in Routier's cross-channel ticketing platform, enabling the staff to identify, handle, and resolve guest issues instantly and ensure that no guest leaves their venue unsatisfied. Oh yeah, did we mention the guests don't need to download a thing or fill out any extra forms? "Hospitality is based on delivering superior service and if businesses don't deliver, they lose. It's as simple as that," says Gal Bareket, CEO of Routier. "We live in an era where 96% of guests don't voice their complaits; 91% of them simply never return and take their business elsewhere. The incredible thing is that a majority of the issues the guests faced could have been solved during their stay if the property only knew about it!" With its robust set of guest-facing and staff-side solutions, Routier helps hotels build revenues, improve online reputation, increase guest satisfaction, grow their loyalty member base, optimize staff performance, and much more. Gal added, "At a time when guests are demanding new kinds of efficient and personalized service, Routier is helping hotels deliver it while streamlining operations and increasing margins. We look forward to helping hotels and boutique brands stay on the cutting edge." Routier's growing client list includes luxury branded hotels in Manhattan, London, Tel Aviv and Toronto. The company expects rapid deployment in additional cities in the U.S and Europe, and is in discussions with the leading airline and cruise companies to bring its solutions to their verticals. For more information about Routier and its products, please visit routier.io or contact us at solutions@routier.io About Routier Routier creates disruptive communication technologies for hospitality businesses, including hotels, airlines, and cruises. The company's solution transforms the way hospitality providers connect, communicate, and share information with their customers and staff to substantially improve customer experience, customer engagement, and staff performance. More information at http://www.routier.io Media contact: Gal Perelman, Marketing Director Routier Email: galp@routier.io Tel: 972546102466 View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/routier-helps-hotels-provide-real-time-solutions-for-real-time-issues-so-that-they-dont-become-permanent-problems-300661891.html SOURCE Routier [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 07, 2018] After 70 Years of Hostilities on the Korean Peninsula National Geographic Explores the Unpredictable Proceedings Leading Up to U.S.-North Korea Summit National Geographic will premiere Inside North Korea: Race to Peace on Sunday, June 10, at 10/9c, two days before the summit with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump takes the world stage. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180607006122/en/ South Korean President Moon Jae-in waves as he is welcomed by President Donald Trump to the White House in Washington - 22 May 2018. (Mandatory Credit: Photo by Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP/REX/Shutterstock) Inside North Korea: Race to Peace is the story of the twists and turns leading to this momentous event, following 70 years of hostilities on the Korean Peninsula. Combining current and archival footage with insights from leading dignitaries and noted experts, including new interviews with former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and Bill Richardson (News - Alert), former governor of New Mexico and U.S.-North Korea emissary. Inside North Korea: Race to Peace moves beyond the headlines to dive into the story behind what could be one of the most significant diplomatic events of our time. Setting the Stage On March 26, 2018, a passenger train departed Pyongyang, North Korea. Twenty-one bulletproof cars crossed the border into China and the international community was abuzz with speculation. Who was onboard? As the train reached its final destination in Beijing, it was revealed that North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un was on it. Kim Jong Un met with China's President Xi Jinping on this, his first trip outside North Korea since his he took power in 2011, and it was his first meeting with a foreign leader. Kim Jong Un would visit China again and South Korea, to meet with President Moon Jae-in. Are these the first steps to what may be the most important diplomatic event of our young century? The on-again, off-again, summit between Kim Jong Un and Trump is now on again, and the two leaders will meet in Singapore on June 12. Could thi be a path to peace on the Korean Peninsula and a way to bring the North Koreans into the international fold after 70 years of isolation? National Geographic's Role National Geographic played an interesting, albeit unintentional, role in the creation of a separate North and South Korea. Near the close of World War II, in August 1945, the U.S. sought to divide the Korean Peninsula after the surrender of Japan. When the State Department's Charles Bonesteel and future Secretary of State Dean Rusk were tasked with determining how to divide the zones of occupation they selected the 38th parallel based on a National Geographic Society map that would be featured in an issue of National Geographic Magazine. How We Got Here Inside North Korea: Race to Peace takes an unflinching look back at the complicated diplomatic history of the region, with a trained eye on the future. "I think he [Kim Jong Un] does have a good hand to play," Albright says in the special. "He has managed to scare the whole region into doing something." While all eyes will be on June 12, proper historic context will only enhance what unfolds. For Inside North Korea: Race to Peace Christine Weber is executive producer and Robert Zakin is the writer and producer. National Geographic Partners LLC National Geographic Partners LLC (NGP), a joint venture between National Geographic and 21st Century Fox, is committed to bringing the world premium science, adventure and exploration content across an unrivaled portfolio of media assets. NGP combines the global National Geographic television channels (National Geographic Channel, Nat Geo WILD, Nat Geo MUNDO, Nat Geo PEOPLE) with National Geographic's media and consumer-oriented assets, including National Geographic magazines; National Geographic Studios; related digital and social media platforms; books; maps; children's media; and ancillary activities that include travel, global experiences and events, archival sales, licensing and e-commerce businesses. Furthering knowledge and understanding of our world has been the core purpose of National Geographic for 130 years, and now we are committed to going deeper, pushing boundaries, going further for our consumers and reaching millions of people around the world in 172 countries and 43 languages every month as we do it. NGP returns 27 percent of our proceeds to the nonprofit National Geographic Society to fund work in the areas of science, exploration, conservation and education. For more information visit natgeotv.com or nationalgeographic.com, or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180607006122/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 07, 2018] Pramata CEO Praful Saklani Named to Comparably 2018 Best CEOs Lists BRISBANE, Calif., June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pramata, the leading commercial relationship operations company, today announced that CEO Praful Saklani has been recognized as being in a select group of Best CEOs for Diversity and Best CEOs for Women, by Comparably. CEOs who were honored include leaders from Salesforce, Microsoft, Costco and Adobe, all rated by their own employees between March 2017 and March 2018. Im honored to receive this recognition and to be among such great company, said Praful Saklani, CEO, Pramata. This award is doubly meaningful to me because diversity is a key value of mine, and because the judges are the people I work with every day and who share this award with me. Although we didnt set quotas, weve been able to achieve gender equity and to create a team where all perspectives and the best ideas are discovered and implemented. Pramata receives consistently high satisfaction ratings from both customers and its workforce, which is more than 50% female. CEO Praful Saklani credits the balanced gender representation and positive work experience to a virtuous cycle of hiring the right people who continue to do the right thing and attract other high achievers. 2018 is the year in which women across the contry stood up and spoke out against gender discrimination, pay inequality, and harassment in the workplace," said Jason Nazar, Comparably CEO. "Comparably's Best CEOs for Women awards recognizes the leaders that female employees ranked as the best of the best. Comparablys site notes that overall Pramatas employees give their leadership team an A+, putting them in the top 5% of similar sized companies in the U.S. The site can segment responses by employee category to determine rankings by female employees and rankings by employees of color. "We take a data driven approach to show how specific demographics of employees rate their CEOs so that workplaces are dramatically more transparent and rewarding, added Nazar. Comparably's Best CEOs for Diversity awards recognizes leaders who create cultures that support and encourage employees of color, providing a positive framework for other executives to model." The full list of Best CEOs for Women can be viewed here: https://www.comparably.com/blog/best-ceos-for-women-2018/ The full list of Best CEOs for Diversity can be viewed here: https://www.comparably.com/blog/best-ceos-for-diversity-2018/ About Pramata Pramata helps large B2B enterprises eliminate revenue leakage. Pramata has created millions of dollars in value for some of the largest companies in the world including Allergan, CenturyLink, Comcast Business, FICO, NCR, Micro Focus, Novelis and Vertafore. Headquartered in Brisbane, Calif., Pramata also has offices in Kansas City, MO, and Bangalore, India. For more information, visit www.pramata.com. Media Contact: Marina Greenwood Activa PR for Pramata 415.776.5350 marina@activapr.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 07, 2018] BDC Capital and Startupfest renew their partnership to support technology companies and women in tech MONTREAL, June 7, 2018 /CNW/ - BDC Capital, the largest and most active venture capital investor in Canada, has renewed its partnership with Startupfest, the biggest start-up conference in the country. Through this partnership, BDC Capital and Startupfest will continue to co-host Scaleupfest, the premium fest created together in 2016 focused on founders in the series A gap looking to scale. Scaleupfest will take place on Wednesday July 11th. BDC Capital will also support Startupfest's Inclusion Initiative, which will give entrepreneurs who are underrepresented in the tech industry access to the Startupfest conference. New this year, BDC Capital will be launching a Women in Technology (WIT) Boot Camp, which will be hosted at the Startupfest Village. WIT Boot Camp is designed to help pre-seed to seed-stage technology companies founded or led by women learn what it takes to build a tech start-up and connect with the resources they need to grow their business, such as woman-focused accelerators and investors. "This can't-miss half-day session promises to provide direct access to key actors in the tech space that will share candid stories about their journey and tips on how women entrepreneurs can overcome similar situations", said Michelle Scarborough, Managing Director, Strategic Investments and Women in Tech at BDC Capital. "BDC Capital is committed to fostering a robust network to support and encourage women in technology and help in creating the next generation of Canadian women echnology entrepreneurs." "The full and equal participation of women in the economy is essential to Canada's future competitiveness. The Government announced Canada's First Women Entrepreneurship Strategy in Budget 2018, a nearly $2B investment to help women grow their businesses and gain access to financing, talent, networks and expertise. BDC is an integral partner in the delivery of this strategy, and the Boot Camps are a way of ensuring that promising women entrepreneurs looking to start a business have the financial and business literacy skills required to succeed", said the Honourable Bardish Chagger, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister of Small Business and tourism. For Philippe Telio, the founder and producer of Startupfest, this renewed partnership with BDC Capital is a sign of the preeminent role Startupfest has assumed in Canada's start-up ecosystem over the years. "BDC Capital has been a supporter of Startupfest since its very inception", said Mr. Telio. "We are excited to see the event grow and continue its mandate of inclusivity and continued support of all entrepreneurs, while creating more opportunity for underserved groups in technology." The WIT Boot Camp will be held Wednesday, July 11th during the afternoon at the Startupfest Village. Two hundred passes have been reserved for female entrepreneurs through the Startupfest Inclusion Initiative. http://www.startupfestival.com/wit-bootcamp/ About Startupfest Startupfest is Canada's leading startup event, and one of the world's "must attend" events for startups. Set in the iconic festival city and technology hub of Montreal- the unique, informal format tackles the entire lifecycle of new venture creation, from the spark of an idea to the final signature on acquisition or the ringing bell of an IPO. Attendees leave with five days of world-class content; fresh connections; back-of-the-napkin ideas; and the allure of champagne-popping exits. Visit startupfest.com About BDC Capital BDC Capital is the investment arm of BDC- Canada's only bank devoted exclusively to entrepreneurs. With $3 billion under management, BDC Capital serves as a strategic partner to the country's most innovative firms. It offers a full spectrum of risk capital, from seed investments to transition capital, supporting Canadian entrepreneurs who wish to scale their businesses into global champions. Visit bdc.ca/capital SOURCE Business Development Bank of Canada [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] HA NOI The World Transportation Services Joint Stock Company (WorldTrans) on Wednesday launched a direct air route between the Vietnamese city of Can Tho City and Bangkok, Thailands capital city. The first flight carrying 180 passengers departed from Can Tho International Airport to Bangkok on Wednesday morning on board an Airbus 320 owned by Thai Vietjet Air, a Thai low-cost airline and an associate company of Vietjet Air. WorldTrans said it would co-operate with domestic travel companies to operate charter flights between the Vietnamese and Thai cities. WorldTrans will operate 28 charter flights within three months from June to August 2018, serving about 5,000 passengers. The first Can Tho-Bangkok flight leaves at 9:05 am, while the first trip from Bangkok leaves at 7:00 am. The flight duration is one hour and 25 minutes. To date, WorldTrans has sold 5,000 tickets. WorldTrans General Director Vu uc Bien said after three months of operation, WorldTrans will study the possibility of maintaining the air route until the end of 2018 and come up a new plan for 2019. Apart from this air route, WorldTrans aims to operate 100 charter flights from Can Tho and other Vietnamese cities and provinces to Japan, the Republic of Korea, China, and other Asian countries. According to the municipal Peoples Committee, the travel demand in Can Tho and the Mekong Delta in general is increasing.The launch of the Can Tho-Bangkok air route is expected to open new opportunities for the tourism sector in the Mekong Delta city. VNS [June 07, 2018] Transport Canada supports projects to prepare Canada for connected and automated vehicles Groups in Calgary receive funding for research on connected and automated vehicles OTTAWA, June 7, 2018 /CNW/ - Connected and automated vehicles will bring about significant transformation in our transportation system, our communities, and our economy. They have the potential to improve road safety, reduce congestion, increase mobility, protect the environment, and generate new economic opportunities for middle-class Canadians. The Government of Canada welcomes innovation that will help to create Canada's transportation system of tomorrow. That is why Transport Canada is providing $2.9M in funding under the program to Advance Connectivity and Automation in the Transportation System in order to help Canadian jurisdictions prepare for connected and automated vehicles. In particular, Transport Canada funding will support research, studies, and technology demonstrations across Canada. Results will help address technical, policy and regulatory issues related to connected and automated vehicles. Findings will be shared extensively to encourage further innovation across Canada. In support of this program, the Honourable Marc Garneau, Minister of Transport, today announced $390,000 in funding to the following groups in Calgary: City of Calgary To establish a connected vehicle test-bed on 16th Avenue North ($290,000) To establish a connected vehicle test-bed on 16th Avenue North Canadian National Institute for the Blind To study impactsof connected and automated vehicles on pedestrians with sight loss ($50,000) To study impactsof connected and automated vehicles on pedestrians with sight loss City of Calgary To test an automated shuttle connecting light rail transit with the Calgary Zoo and Telus Spark Science Centre ($50,000) Quotes "Connected and automated vehicle technology has immense potential and will have a tremendous impact on our transportation system. This funding will help our stakeholders improve their understanding of connected and automated vehicle technologies, and how to safely and securely integrate them into our road system in order to capture their many benefits." The Honourable Marc Garneau Minister of Transport "This research will allow our communities to be better prepared for connected and automated vehicle technology and will ultimately provide us with many opportunities to make our roads safer, reduce congestion, and benefit our local economy." Kent Hehr Member of Parliament for Calgary Centre Quick Facts From September 28, 2017 , to November 30, 2017 , provinces and territories, municipalities, Indigenous peoples, academia, and not-for-profit organizations were eligible to submit proposals for grants and contributions through the program. All projects will be completed by March 31, 2022 . , to , provinces and territories, municipalities, Indigenous peoples, academia, and not-for-profit organizations were eligible to submit proposals for grants and contributions through the program. All projects will be completed by . Connected and automated vehicles use technology, such as on-board sensors, cameras, global positioning systems, and telecommunications to provide warnings and assist with driving. Many of today's vehicles already feature partial automation, including speed control, and braking and steering assist. Transport Canada has for many years been assessing some of the components of automated vehicles and continues to assess their benefit to the overall safety of Canadians. has for many years been assessing some of the components of automated vehicles and continues to assess their benefit to the overall safety of Canadians. Transport Canada is working with international governments through the United Nations to develop guidelines and regulatory requirements that facilitate innovation and aid in the safe deployment of automated features. is working with international governments through the United Nations to develop guidelines and regulatory requirements that facilitate innovation and aid in the safe deployment of automated features. Transport Canada and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada are working in close collaboration and with other federal departments and provincial and territorial governments to develop a coherent national approach that will facilitate the safe introduction of these technologies on Canadian roads. Associated Links Program to Advance Connectivity and Automation in the Transportation System Trade and Transportation Corridors Initiative SOURCE Transport Canada [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] 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 Electric vehicles are taking the world by storm, and no more is that evident than in the sizzling hot SUV market. With the exception of a few holdouts who, presumably, have yet to see the light, just about every automaker thats worth its salt has an electric SUV. Some already have theirs populating the roads while others are still in development. Electric SUVs have become more than just novelties; theyve become industry standards. So as it is, were going to take a look at five electric SUVs and tell you why theyre leading the electric SUV revolution in the auto industry. Theres something to be said for the legitimacy of electric vehicles, and how far theyve come to get to this point. We can go into the minutiae of how theyve evolved in recent years, but instead, well simply shine a light on how EVs have reshaped our own lives, opening doors we didnt know existed as recently as a few years ago. Its no wonder then that when were talking about cars these days, no conversation means anything without talking about electric vehicles. Electric vehicles have come a long way in the last few years. There once was a time not too long ago when cars running on pure electricity were seen as novelties or quirky creations that were developed to showcase alternative ways to get us from point A to B. Fast forward a few years later and here we are. Jaguars new pride and joy, the I-Pace electric SUV, is all set to light the electric SUV world on fire. Introduced at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show, the I-Pace is a good model to introduce yourselves to the world of all-electric SUVs. It looks like a proper Jaguar, has a luxurious, five-seat interior that underscores its British roots, and is loaded on the tech front, thanks mainly to having Amazon Alexa connectivity, a 4G Wi-Fi hotspot, and 6 USB ports for device support. More than that, the I-PAce also features a 90-kWh battery pack thats made up of 432 individual lithium-ion battery modules, the same type of battery thats currently powering your mobile phones at the moment. The pack is combined with a pair of electric motors, and together, they generate an output of 394 horsepower and 512 pound-feet of torque, enough power to propel the I-Pace from 0 to 60 mph in just 4.5 seconds before hitting a top speed of 124 mph. Its expected range of 298 miles puts right on the cusp of having one of the best in its segment. It also takes a half day (12 hours) to get a full charge from a standard plug, though if you use a DC quick-charger outlet, you can get 80 percent charging capacity in as fast as 40 minutes. Pricing for the I-Pace starts at $69,500, excluding the $995 destination charge. Read our full review on the 2019 Jaguar I-Pace. BMW is still developing its first all-electric SUV, but we did get a solid preview at the 2018 Beijing Motor Show with the unveiling of the iX3 Concept. Using Bimmers new eDrive electric drive system, the iX3 Concept gives us a good idea of what to expect when the production model arrives sometime in the next few years. Theres a lot to expect out of the iX3, even though we still dont know Bimmers plans for the production model. The concept was presented with a 70-kWh battery pack, which is slightly lower than the one powering the Jaguar I-Pace. The smaller pack could mean that the iX3 will be down on power compared to the I-Pace, but BMW is already touting it as having more than 270 horsepower. Its also expected to have a range in the 250-mile area, though theres a good chance that a more powerful model could have more in that department. Once the iX3 hits the streets - likely around 2019 or 2020 expect the entry-level unit to be priced in the $60,000 range on account of the likelihood that its going to have more powerful versions on the horizon. Perhaps an M-badged version is in the works, too? Read our full speculative review on the 2020 BMW iX3. Audi is calling its shot with the e-Tron Quattro electric SUV. Not only is it leaving behind the Jaguar I-Pace and the BMW iX3 behind, but its also going to venture into the world of the Tesla Model X with hopes of taking down the segment heavyweight. Its a ballsy move on Audis part, but it could also be a calculated one. The production model of the e-Tron Quattro hasnt arrived, though, it is scheduled to be unveiled at the Audi Summit on August 30, 2018, and is expected to go on sale in 2019. From what weve gathered about the model, Audi is going to put a 95 kWh battery in the electric SUV, putting in the vicinity of the 100-kWh-powered Model X P100D. Output has been tipped at 500 horsepower and 600 pound-feet of torque, which, again, is right in line with the Model X P100Ds output of 503-horsepower and 487 pound-feet. 310 miles on a single charge is the range figure thats being floated around, though we wont know the charging time for the SUV until the production model arrives. We do know that Audis not charging peanuts for this model. The automaker announced back in March 2018 that the production e-Tron Quattro will have a price that starts at 80,000, which converts to just under $100,000 based on current exchange rates. Read our full speculative review on the 2019 Audi E-Tron Quattro. Mercedes-Benzs all-electric SUV is called the EQC, and, like the BMW iX3 and Audi e-Tron Quattro above, the production model has yet to be revealed. That shouldnt be an issue in determining the merits of the soon-to-arrive model because Mercedes has already divulged a few nuggets about its model. Based on what weve gathered, the EQC will get a 70 kWh battery pack that will work in concert with a pair of electric motors to produce a variety of power figures, the highest of which sits at 402 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque. Less powerful versions are in the pipeline with outputs ranging from 200 to 300 horsepower. Evidently, the 402-horsepower version would sit at the top of the range. From a performance perspective, the SUV is tipped to sprint from 0 to 62 mph in less than five seconds, an impressive number for an all-electric model. Top speed should fall in the vicinity of 155 mph, which would be near segment standards. More important than any of that, though, is the SUVs range. Mercedes indicated that the EQC will have a range of 310 miles, which would be a solid number for a range-topper. Lower-end models wont have as much, but should still hover at around 240 miles of range, right around what BMW and Audi are expecting from their own entry-level, all-electric SUVs. Theres no mention of price for the EQC, but expect it to have a similar tiered structure once it arrives in 2019. The base model could cost around $60,000 while a range-topping unit could follow at a later date with a price of around $90,000. Read our full speculative review on the 2020 Mercedes-Benz EQ SUV Volvo already has one of the best-looking SUVs in the market. Now, its planning to give one of those models the XC40 the all-electric treatment. An all-electric XC40 would be another gem for the revitalized Swedish automaker. Volvo has yet to give a concrete timetable on when we can expect the all-electric XC40, but if it does happen, it could arrive sometime in 2020 with an eye towards a 2021 launch date. At this point, reports have said that the EV XC40 will have a range of 310 miles, which would vault it on the top of the list of EV SUVs with the longest range. Of course, if Volvo is looking at that kind of range, its going to need a big battery pack to do it. The automaker has been coy in that department, but with that kind of reach, anything less than a 90 kWh battery pack would be implausible. If Volvo goes that route, output could max out around 400 horsepower with even more torque at its disposal. That would be a good option because it also opens the possibility for a more powerful version perhaps an all-electric XC90? to slot above the EV XC40 with a bigger 100 kWh battery pack that could give Tesla and the Model X a serious run for its money. Read our full review on the 2018 Volvo XC40. References Read more electric car news. The 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe is a perfectly suitable choice in the compact crossover segment. But with an all-new, redesigned Santa Fe coming for the 2019 model year, how competitive is the outgoing model? 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe Design Notes The face of the 2018 Santa Fe is cleanly designed, with round headlight and turn signal reflectors housed in a wraparound glass Right now, the 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe doesnt look too dated because the next-generation Hyundai design cues seen on the forthcoming 2019 Santa Fe and the already on-sale 2018 Kona are not dominating the brands entire lineup yet. The face of the 2018 Santa Fe is cleanly designed, with round headlight and turn signal reflectors housed in a wraparound glass. The grille is hexagonal and, in my Limited trim tester, featured five horizontal chrome-plastic bars behind the big Flying H logo. Daytime running lights were a stack of vertical LEDs on the outer edges of the front bumper, and there was an air intake that was kinda mean-muggin at the bottom of it all. The side view was clean but a little anonymous. Horizontal creases dominate below the upward-raking greenhouse. First, a crease that emanates from the headlight nacelle flows back to form a sill below the windows. Second is a crease that starts at about 1 oclock on the front fender opening and sweeps back to bisect both door handles before forming an eyebrow above the tail light lens. Finally, a crease low in the doors gives the design a solid base, which is accentuated by further horizontal elements in the black and gray trim below it. The tail lights are big, red lozenges with two squarish lighting elements inside Its more of the same at the rear, with a relatively large rear glass that appears to wrap around the D-pillars. That first horizontal line I mention above continues just below this glass, joining the two sides of the vehicle with a harmonious element. The tail lights are big, red lozenges with two squarish lighting elements inside. They are conjoined by a thin chrome strip just above the license plate space. Red reflectors are featured in the rear bumper, and black-and-gray plastic trim finishes off the bottom of the design with some rhomboid exhaust outlets. Inside, the 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe is pretty luxuriant, as a $40,000 compact mainstream-brand crossover probably ought to be Inside, the 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe is pretty luxuriant, as a $40,000 compact mainstream-brand crossover probably ought to be. Seats were covered in buttery tan leather. The dash had impressive burled wood trim over black-and-tan panels. Hyundais use of twin binnacles and a relatively small info screen in the gauge cluster, as well as its use of neon blue lighting at night, struck me as a dated touch. The glass roof was nice, providing a lot of light to the interior during the day but it also caused the interior to get hot quickly. 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe Driving Impressions Take the 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe on your favorite curvy road, and the handling is pretty meh-inspiring, to be honest. Take the 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe on your favorite curvy road, and the handling is pretty meh-inspiring, to be honest. Thats nothing out of the ordinary in this segment, though a few do tune their chassis for a more engaging drive the Mazda CX-5 and VW Tiguan, for instance. Powering my Santa Fe tester was Hyundais naturally aspirated 3.3-liter gasoline direct injection V6 engine making a Hyundai-reported 290 horsepower at a wailing 6,400 RPM and 252 lb-ft of torque at 5,200 RPM. While the engine was smooth in all but the most demanding of acceleration runs, it needed a little prodding to get up and move. Its dated six-speed automatic transmission may share part of the blame. Others in this segment have moved on to eight- or nine-speed automatics, or they at least feel like they have a shorter final drive ratio or more aggressive throttle tuning to make them faster on initial takeoff. Powering my Santa Fe tester was Hyundais naturally aspirated 3.3-liter gasoline direct injection V6 engine making a Hyundai-reported 290 horsepower at a wailing 6,400 RPM and 252 lb-ft of torque at 5,200 RPM. The transmission tuning might have had something to do with the middling fuel economy I experienced, as well. In a week of driving 257.2 miles of mostly gentle, rolling rural highways, I averaged a trip computer-reported 24.9 mpg. Thats not terrible for something that can haul seven passengers, but again, more recently updated competitors are doing it better. EPA estimates for the Santa Fe Limited Ultimate that I tested, by the way: 17 city, 23 highway, 20 combined. Ehh. Despite its nice-looking leather seats, I had some trouble getting comfortable in the drivers seat of the Santa Fe. The headrest was uncomfortable to me in all but the lowest position. The rest of the seat seemed to be trying for that Germanic hardness without actually figuring out the ergonomics, leaving me with a tired back and a numb butt after a couple of hours of driving. If it wasnt the most ergonomically pleasing compact crossover, at least it was roomy. Theres a total passenger volume of 146.6 cubic feet most of it for the first two rows of occupants. The third row, as is the norm in this segment, is best reserved for the rare transport of an extra kid or two. It has just 30.9 inches of legroom and 35.7 inches of headroom. The first row clocks in at 41.3/39.9, and the second row measures 40.4/39.4, respectively. Fold the third row down, however, and theres a comparatively enormous 40.9 cubic feet of hauling roomv With the third row in use, theres not a lot of cargo room. Hyundai says theres 13.5 cubic feet back there. Fold the third row down, however, and theres a comparatively enormous 40.9 cubic feet of hauling room. Fold both the second and third rows, and you can pack most of your belongings for a cross-country move thanks to 80 cubic feet of cargo capacity. Finally, a word on a disappointing Android Auto experience: While I was glad the 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe had Android Auto, it did not work well. Its hard to tell if this was a problem related to the head unit in the vehicle or if it was a problem with my phone, but Android Auto was glitchy the entire week of my test. It was impossible to use navigation because it kept trying to bring up the last destination I had entered on a trip weeks earlier. Info cards on the home screen of Android Auto were constantly appearing and disappearing, as if being refreshed. For most of the test week, I defaulted to using the Santa Fes built-in navigation and Bluetooth audio streaming. 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe Competition I drove the newly redesigned, slightly enlarged 2018 Volkswagen Tiguan a week before I drove the 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe. I found the VW much more satisfying to drive. The Germans chassis was better-sorted, its seats were more ergonomic, and its head unit functioned smoothly as expected. Volkswagens engine is turbocharged and has an early torque peak compared to the Santa Fe, making it far more lively around town despite being way down on actual horsepower and torque numbers 184 and 221, respectively, compared to the Santa Fes 290 and 252. Another way in which the VW bridges the power gap with the 1,300-cc and two-cylinders larger Hyundai powerplant is in its addition of two extra gears. But the VW is tighter inside that the Santa Fe, and it has a tighter third-row seat than its Korean competitor. Theres slightly less cargo space behind the VWs third-row seats, and quite a bit less cargo room behind the second row when the third row is folded. VW added its People First warranty coverage with the new Tiguan, so you get six years or 72,000 miles of bumper-to-bumper, transferable warranty coverage. But Hyundais warranty is competitive there, with a 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain warranty and a five-year/60,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty that the automaker says is Americas Best Warranty. For driving enthusiasts, the VW probably wins. Those more concerned with practical matters may prefer the Hyundai. Read our full review on the 2018 Volkswagen Tiguan. Nissan Rogue had an available third-row seat in 2017 but thats no longer the case for the 2018 model year. Its still the brands best-selling model, however. In 2017, Nissan moved more than 400,000 examples of its compact crossover. So successful has the Rogue been that Nissan started selling the Qashqai, long the brands best-seller in Europe, as the Rogue Sport here in the States in late 2017. The Luxury edge goes to Hyundai, whose interior outclasses the Rogues top Platinum trim just a bit, in my opinion. But in some respects, Nissan has the technology edge. Theres now Android Auto and Apple CarPlay in the Rogue, and there is ProPilot Assist, Nissans semi-autonomous driving technology. While Hyundai has a 360-degree parking camera, it bears mentioning Nissan pioneered the technology. Nissan also has the Rogue Hybrid, where Hyundai offers no hybrid version of the Santa Fe at the time of this writing. The Rogue Hybrid gets up to 33 MPG city and 35 MPG highway, according to EPA, which would crush the admittedly EPA highway estimate-beating performance I saw in the Santa Fe. Value-oriented shoppers wont find nearly the same willingness to discount prices at Hyundai dealerships as they probably will at Nissan dealerships. If you can live with five seats, no V6 engine, and slightly less-luxurious interior materials along with a shorter warranty, the Rogue is probably cheaper just about anywhere you shop. Honorable mention here to the Nissan Pathfinder, which skews closer to the seven-seat Santa Fe in size and amenities. Its also V6-powered and more expensive than the Rogue. But its technology leaves a lot to be desired, and its design and ride are the softest and least-inspiring in the segment. Even though its smaller than the Santa Fe, the Rogue is the better competitor in Nissans lineup unless you just need the extra seating and cargo capacity. Read our full review on the 2018 Nissan Rogue. GMCs Acadia is a fine competitor to the Hyundai Santa Fe. It seats up to seven people, its interior is luxurious enough to shame some luxury brands in upper trim levels, and its attractively designed. I loved the good-for-the-segment driving feel of the last Acadia All-Terrain I drove, which received a lot of compliments from passers-by. If handsome is what you aim for, the 2018 GMC Acadia beats the 2018 Santa Fe hands-down. GMCs infotainment is about on-par with Hyundais for ease-of-use while driving. And its V6 found in all but the basest of Acadias is going to feel similar to the Santa Fes V6 while returning similar fuel economy, to boot. Given the choice between a Santa Fe Limited or an Acadia Denali, Id take the Acadia every time. Its a little nicer to drive, and a whole lot nicer to look at. Pricing between the two should remain competitive, with GMCs willingness to discount perhaps giving the Acadia an edge when theres a sale going on. Read our full review on the 2018 GMC Acadia Conclusion The 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe is showing its age, and yeah, my test unit might have had problems with Android Auto. But it remains a competitive entry in a segment full of near-SUV family haulers. For folks who wouldnt dare be caught in a minivan and who wont mind driving last years model when the 2019 Santa Fe becomes commonplace in advertisements and on the street, the 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe is worth a test drive. Disclosure: Hyundai provided the vehicle, insurance, and a tank of fuel for this review. Further Reading Read our full review on the 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe. Read our full review on the 2019 Hyundai Santa Fe. Read more Hyundai news. Foreign direct investment (FDI) flows to Africa slumped to $42 billion in 2017, a 21% decline from 2016, according to UNCTADs World Investment Report 2018. Weak oil prices and harmful ongoing macroeconomic effects from the commodity bust saw flows contract in major host African economies. The beginnings of a commodity price recovery, as well as advances in interregional cooperation through the signing of the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement, could encourage stronger FDI flows to Africa in 2018, provided the global policy environment remains supportive, UNCTAD Director, Division on Investment and Enterprise, James Zhan said. FDI flows to North Africa were down 4% to $13 billion. Investment in Egypt was down, but the country continued to be the largest recipient in Africa. FDI in Morocco was up 23% to $2.7 billion, including as a result of sizeable investments in the automotive sector. Lingering effects from the commodity bust weighed on FDI to sub-Saharan Africa, with inflows declining by 28%, to $28.5 billion. FDI flows to Central Africa decreased by 22% to $5.7 billion. FDI to West Africa fell by 11% to $11.3 billion, due to Nigerias economy remaining depressed. FDI to Nigeria fell 21% to $3.5 billion. East Africa, the fastest-growing region in Africa, received $7.6 billion in FDI in 2017, a 3% decline on 2016. Ethiopia absorbed nearly half of this amount, with $3.6 billion (down 10%) and is now the second largest recipient of FDI in Africa. Kenya saw FDI increase to $672 million, up 71%, due to strong domestic demand and inflows in information and communication technology sectors. In Southern Africa, FDI declined by 66% to $3.8 billion. FDI to South Africa fell 41% to $1.3 billion, due to an underperforming commodity sector and political uncertainty. FDI into Angola turned negative once again (down to -$2.3 billion from $4.1 billion in 2016) as foreign affiliates in the country transferred funds abroad through intra-company loans. In contrast, FDI into Zambia increased, supported by more investment in copper. Multinational enterprises (MNEs) from developed economies (such as the United States, United Kingdom and France) still hold the largest FDI stock in Africa. At the same time, developing-economy investors from China and South Africa, followed by Singapore, India and Hong Kong (China), are among the top 10 investors in Africa. FDI outflows from Africa increased by 8% to $12.1 billion, reflecting a significant increase in outward FDI by South African firms (up 64% to $7.4 billion) and Moroccan firms (up 66% to $960 million). Outward FDI by Nigerian firms, in contrast, remained flat at $1.3 billion, focused almost exclusively on Africa. FDI inflows to Africa are forecast to increase by about 20% in 2018 to $50 billion. The projection is underpinned by the expectations of a continued modest recovery in commodity prices and strengthened interregional economic cooperation. Yet Africas commodity dependence will cause FDI to remain cyclical. Figure 1: African FDI inflows, by subregion, 2010-2017 (Billions of dollars) Source: UNCTAD, World Investment Report 2018. Figure 2: The top investor economies in Africa, 2011 and 2016 (Billions of dollars) Source: UNCTAD, World Investment Report 2018. Note: Numbers presented in this figure are based on the FDI stock data of partner countries. Global foreign direct investment flows fell sharply in 2017 Global foreign direct investment (FDI) flows fell by 23% in 2017, to $1.43 trillion from $1.87 trillion in 2016, according to UNCTADs World Investment Report 2018. The decline is in stark contrast to other macroeconomic variables, which saw substantial improvement in 2017. Downward pressure on FDI and the slowdown in global value chains are a major concern for policymakers worldwide, and especially in developing countries, UNCTAD Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi said. Investment in productive assets will be needed to achieve sustainable development in the poorest countries. The global fall was caused in part by a 22% decrease in the value of cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As). But even discounting the large one-off deals and corporate reconfigurations that inflated FDI in 2016, the 2017 decline remained significant. The value of announced greenfield investment an indicator of future trends also fell by 14%, to $720 billion. Investment downturn Prospects for 2018 are therefore muted. Global flows are forecast to increase marginally but remain well below the average over the past 10 years. An escalation and broadening of trade tensions could negatively affect investment in global value chains (GVCs). Tax reforms in the United States are likely to significantly affect global investment patterns. UNCTAD observed that the negative FDI trend is caused in large part by a decrease in rates of return. The global average return on foreign investment is now at 6.7%, down from 8.1% in 2012. Return on investment is in decline across all regions, with the sharpest drops in Africa and in Latin America and the Caribbean. The lower returns on foreign assets also affect longer-term FDI prospects. As a result of the investment downturn, the rate of expansion of international production is slowing down. The modalities of international production and of cross-border exchanges of factors of production are shifting from tangible to intangible forms. Sales of foreign affiliates continue to grow (up 6 per cent in 2017) but productive assets and employees are increasing at a slower rate. This could negatively affect the prospects for developing countries to attract investment in productive capacity. Chain reaction Growth of GVCs has also stagnated. GVC trade peaked in 2010-2012 after two decades of continuous increases. UNCTADs data shows foreign value added in trade (the key GVC indicator) down 1 percentage point to 30% of trade in 2017. The GVC slowdown shows a clear correlation with the FDI trend and confirms the impact of the FDI trend on global trade patterns. FDI remains the largest external source of finance for developing economies. It makes up 39% of total incoming finance in developing economies as a group. It now accounts for less than a quarter in the least developed countries (LDCs), with a declining trend since 2012. Meanwhile, the report shows, industrial policies have become ubiquitous. Over the past 10 years, at least 101 economies across the developed and developing world (accounting for more than 90% of global GDP) have adopted formal industrial development strategies. The last five years have seen an acceleration in the formulation of new strategies. New industrial revolution UNCTADs survey shows that modern industrial policies are increasingly diverse and complex, addressing new imperatives, such as GVC integration and upgrading, the knowledge economy, build-up of sectors linked to the Sustainable Development Goals and competitive positioning for the new industrial revolution. The new industrial revolution is already affecting cross-border investment patterns. Investment policies must adapt as part of new industrial development strategies, Dr. Kituyi said. Some 40% of industrial development strategies contain vertical policies for the build-up of specific industries. Just over a third focus on horizontal competitiveness-enhancing policies designed to catch up to the productivity frontier. And a quarter focus on positioning for the new industrial revolution. About 90% of modern industrial policies stipulate detailed investment policy tools, mainly incentives and performance requirements, special economic zones (SEZs), investment promotion and facilitation and, increasingly, investment screening mechanisms. Modern industrial policies are a key driver of investment policy trends. More than 80% of investment policy measures recorded by UNCTAD since 2010 are directed at the industrial system (manufacturing, complementary services and industrial infrastructure), and about half of these clearly serve an industrial policy purpose. The report suggests that the new industrial revolution requires a strategic review of investment policies for industrial development. It advises policymakers to keep investment policy instruments up-to-date by re-orienting investment incentives, modernizing SEZs, retooling investment promotion and facilitation, and developing smart mechanisms for screening foreign investment. HCM CITY More than 200 Vietnamese and foreign cosmetics firms will showcase their new technologies and innovations at the 2nd Mekong Beauty Show in HCM City from June 14 to 16. The annual business-to-business beauty exhibition has established a platform for industry players in the entire supply chain covering beauty and cosmetics, hair and nails, herbal and health, and OEM and packaging, Joy Zou, international marketing manager of Informa Exhibitions, the organiser, said. The South Korean beauty industry would be the most important driver of the event, with 110 firms from that country exhibiting more than 400 brands, Zou told a press meeting on June 7. More than 150 buyers from Viet Nam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar are expected to visit the event to source products and seek new partnerships, she said. The three-day expo at the Saigon Exhibition & Convention Centre is expected to attract more than 12,000 visitors. Tran Quang Thang, director of the HCM City Institute of Economics and Management, said Viet Nams cosmetics industry with annual growth of 30 per cent offers enormous potential for foreign and local firms. The countrys middle class is set to become 33 million strong by 2020, and is looking for healthier and higher quality brands, he said. Seeing the huge potential of the beauty market, most premium foreign brands have entered the market and now dominate all categories of the industry, he said. But counterfeit beauty products have also flooded the market, with more than 50 per cent of products sold online being substandard or fake, he added. Bart Verheyen, commercial director of beauty, health and wellbeing retail chain MEDiCARE, said its number of stores would be expanded to 100 by the end of this year from the current 72 to meet the rising demand. The chain enjoyed growth of 30 per cent last year, he said. VNS Traveling can truly be relaxing. However, it does not imply that whenever you're visiting a new place outside of your hometown, you can freely do whatever you please. While most laws serve a clear purpose, some laws are downright weird. We've gathered some unusual laws to make sure you don't get in trouble when you're traveling. In Venice, It's Prohibited To Feed The Pigeons If you're lounging outside St. Mark's Square, or any of the beautiful parks in Venice, chances are, you'll probably see pigeons. It may seem harmless to feed them but Venice has actually banned people from doing this since 2008. This is because pigeons have damaged numerous statues and the waste they leave behind requires so much upkeep. Buddha Tattoos And Selfies Are Not Allowed In Sri Lanka According to Census of Population and Housing of Sri Lanka [pdf], 70.2 percent of Sri Lankan are Buddhists. This explains why Sri Lankans don't want images of Buddha to be mistreated and used for vanity. There are tourists who have not been allowed to enter the country because of tattoos of the Buddha. Posing in front of the Buddha's statue is also not allowed. Thinking Of Bashing The Government? It's Illegal In China Research is extremely important when you're visiting another country. For example, while some people can diss their country freely, the way things work in China is extremely different. As a matter of fact, a couple of tourists in China has been arrested for watching a Genghis Khan documentary. Don't Bring Camouflage In Barbados Unless you're a member of its military, you are not allowed to wear camouflage in the country. This was prohibited during the 1980s in order to prevent the impersonation of its soldiers. No Public Display Of Affection In Dubai Or Adu Dhabi The United Arab Emirates is a Muslim country. This is why people who are visiting the area should know that any public display of affection including kissing, touching, or hugging will most probably land you in prison. Love Gum? People Can't Have Those In Singapore Since 1992, gum has been banned in Singapore because of the damage it has caused to its public modes of transportation. Importing and selling of bubble gum is also not allowed. Tourists Are Not Allowed To Wear Heels In Greece's Archaeological Sites Tourists planning on wearing heels while visiting The Acropolis should think again. High heeled sandals have been banned in the area for causing some damage in the historic wonders. In South Carolina, Minors Are Not Allowed To Play With Pinballs In this state, no one under 18 is allowed to use a pinball machine. People Can't Step On Thailand's Money Due to Thailand's great respect for its king, any form of photographs featuring members of its monarchy is held in high respect. Therefore, since his image is in the country's currency, people cannot step on it. It Is Illegal To Overuse The Penny In Canada Thinking of breaking your piggy bank and buying something at the mall? Think again. Canada prohibits the use of more than 25 pennies in a single transaction. Dying On The House Parliament Is Illegal In England The law mandates anyone who dies in the House Parliament will have a state funeral. This law is to prevent that from happening. See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 Treehugger and our third-party partners use cookies and process personal data like unique identifiers based on your consent to store and/or access information on a device, display personalized ads and for content measurement, audience insight, and product development. To change or withdraw your consent choices for Treehugger.com, including your right to object where legitimate interest is used, click below. At any time, you can update your settings through the "EU Privacy" link at the bottom of any page. These choices will be signaled globally to our partners and will not affect browsing data. List of Partners (vendors) HA NOI Vietnamese people can control their own forest resources, ensure food security and diversify their income by using Management Information System for Forest Sector in Viet Nam (FORMIS). Ha Cong Tuan, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development made the statement at the forum on information and forest resources database held in Ha Noi on Wednesday by Viet Nam Administration of Forestry (VNFOREST) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development with the support from the FORMIS phase two project. People will be involved in the management and alleviation of poverty by sustainable use of timber and other forestry products, contributing to localities economic development, he said. The development of the Management Information System for Forestry Sector Phase II (FORMIS II) project is financed by the government of Finland, the Trust Fund for Forests and the Government of Viet Nam. Implemented by VNFOREST, the project aims to develop a fully integrated management system for sustainable management of forest resources at maps.vnforest.gov.vn . The software is free to access. Up-to-date information on forest resources and forest coverage development will be used for decision making in the forestry sector at all levels and for statistical purposes. The projects key aims are to create information standards and information sharing mechanisms for the sector, to develop and maintain a centralised IT platform and portal within VNFOREST, to create capacity for forest related information management and to set up a forest information centre within VNFOREST. Tuan said this was the most modern software on forest resource database. The software is not only effective for State management and the building of forestry strategy but also useful for future scientific research on forestry development. The database should be popularised so that data could be fully exploited, he said. In addition, it should be open source because it didnt only serve the forestry sector, but other sectors and the whole society can access and use the data, Tuan said, adding that people could evaluate data themselves. According to Nguyen Binh Minh, deputy director of the project, the database of forest resources includes national forest inventory data of all 60 provinces with forest coverage, poverty alleviation and results of forest protection efforts. Data on forest changes would be updated annually by forest rangers from district level. It consists of information on the causes for changes in forest coverage, incidents like forest fires and exploiting activities, he said. Tapio Leppanen, chief consultant of the project, said the database was the achievement of the whole country. It was hoped that it would be updated and used effectively and everyone could access the database, he said. The system would help improve efficiency and cost effectiveness in forest management and planning by reducing the cost of collecting data on forest inventory, he said. He also said that the openness of the database would help strengthen its feasibility. Participants at the forum agreed that that the software should be updated and provide accurate information. Therefore, it was necessary to improve the capacity of local officials, information processing and policies for software development, they said. VNS The cork industry is no longer in crisis as demand increases for this greenest of materials. We have long been fans of cork at TreeHugger, and have shown it being used in everything from tiles to wallets and even bathing suits. But most importantly, it is a terrific building material. Albert of Small Planet Building Supply, who covered his house in Olympia, Washington, described how easy it is to use: Working with cork doesn't leave you itching and scratching. It doesn't leave the job site covered in foam particles. There are no endocrine damaging fire retardants. It doesn't compress like mineral wool so there are no tedious screws to move in or out to keep a wall plane straight. It comes in packs that are easy to lift and carry, and panels that are easy to apply and can be nailed in place with a nail gun. Alex Wilson Now Blaine Brownell, the materials expert at Architect Magazine, picks up the story of cork, describing how a decade ago, cork was in crisis. Though the material had been used in wine bottles for centuries, the Portuguese cork industrywhich supplies most of its raw material for use in wine bottleswas facing stiff competition from manufacturers of plastic and metal screw-caps, which were gaining in popularity due to increasing instances of corked bottles. Iberian Lynx/CC BY 2.0 They were also losing their trees to real estate development, jobs in cork were being lost and the cute little Iberian Lynx was losing its habitat. Brownell notes that the industry reinvented itself, and describes the reasons that it has become such a popular and green architectural material: Cork oak trees are not cut down to harvest the material; rather, their bark is stripped every nine years. Additionally, the trees that comprise more than 5 million acres of cork forest globally can live up to three centuries. Like other cellulosic materials, cork stores carbon. Conservative estimates by researchers at Netherlands-based environmental consultancy CE Delft suggest that between 0.95 and 1.25 metric tons of carbon are sequestered per metric ton of harvested raw cork, and, like timber, this carbon remains trapped within the material until it is destroyed. Considering that discarded cork is routinely recycled into new products, it makes for an ideal carbon bank. A wall of cork at Small Planet Building Supplies: It doesn't weigh much but it takes up space/CC BY 2.0 Whenever we write about cork, readers complain about the transatlantic shipping, and Brownell mentions it as well. Alex Wilson of BuildingGreen agonized over this when he insulated his house with the stuff, but in the end concluded that the virtues outweighed the distance. It is not like the stuff is air-freighted, and look at the advantages: a traditional craft is maintained, a natural habitat is preserved, and it is a renewable, sustainable material that can be used as insulation, cladding or flooring. It is fire resistant and totally natural. Outside of the shipping, it has a positive carbon footprint; it is hard to imagine anything greener, unless it is recycled cork. Alex exclaimed: It contains nothing but corknothing! As it is produced today by Amorim Isolamentos, S.A., the granules are poured into large vats and heated with steam in an autoclave at about 650F for 20 minutes. The heat expands the granules by about 30% and releases a natural binder, suberin, that exists in the cork. There are no added ingredients. Fortunately, people are catching on to this; Brownell concludes by quoting the head of the Cork Association: We are living in a historic moment for cork. We have a new confidence, and we see a changing perception of the cork industry. Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. ONE family, two brutal killings six years apart, no one in jail for either, and immeasurable Re: Vacation destinations easy to get to from Cairns? 1. Re: Vacation destinations easy to get to from Cairns? You could fly to Hamilton Island from Cairns for a nice break. Spending time on the Gold Coast and Brisbane is another option. It does not shorten your flight home, but there really isnt anywhere that will if the "not driving" is a criteria. I don't know how fights would work to Japan? No driving but the heat is stiffling in August. San Francisco is alwaysfun or a holiday.....there are direct flights from Brisbane. Cheers. Hi all - Looking for advice/suggestions please! My gf and I are planning on two weeks at the end of May next year in the US. Current plan is: One week in NYC Hire a car to drive up to Niagara Falls Remaining time in Niagara Falls, ON I have visited NYC and NF before, so I've got a good idea of each place, however I'm looking for ideas/suggestions for the mini roadtrip. We don't want to rush it, and would like to spread the driving out over 2/3 days. I was thinking: Sat: Drive NYC to Albany, stay overnight in Albany Sun: Drive Albany to Finger Lakes, overnight Finger Lakes Mon: Drive Finger Lakes to NF What do you guys think? We're very keen on Finger Lakes - specifically, visiting/staying at a winery (recommendations?). But is Albany a good option? Or would you recommend a different route? Thoughts/suggestions/"Don't be ridiculous that's a stupid idea" welcome (though perhaps go easy on the last one...!) Thanks! We are two couples ranging early to late 60's. I was in Vietnam and SR 10yrs ago and I put together this fairly fast paced self organised itinerary. I know 8 destinations is frowned upon by the expert advisors here, but I knew with some good pre-booking and precise planning it could be done. Thank you to those on here who helped me with my research and planning, it is much appreciated. Well, we arrived home last night and I am pleased to report that our trip went perfectly. My goal was not to be scammed once, and I achieved that (as far as I know), through some great research and advice from this site. All our internal flights were on time and accommodations were top notch, I would encourage anyone wanting to go to Vietnam and Siem Reap that doing your own planning and sight seeing tours is easy to do providing you do your homework by checking on-line reviews etc., We flew into and our of HCMC from Sydney arrived 9pm and stayed first night at the Airport Hotel HCMC, next morning we caught a domestic VietJet flight to Hue. Hue Riverside Villas - 2nights, we knew we would be very happy here. Afternoon we went for a walk, caught a dragon boat across the river to the market, exchanged money and went out on the town in the evening for dinner and drinks.. How good is Hue on a Saturday night when they close off the street to traffic and have music and dancing in the street? Such a great family vibe and we even had a dance or two. There were so many people filling the restaurants and families enjoying the atmosphere. We already liked Hue very much!!! Sunday - we visited two tombs and two pagodas - Minh Mang, Khai Dinh, Thien Mu Pagoda and another plus the Citadel. This was a fairly full day but we enjoyed it a lot. Having an aircon 7seater and great tour guide pre-organised by accommodation was perfect, he factored in coffee and lunch breaks. It was very hot and I have never consumed so much water with hydrolites in my life before. This was enough temples/pagodas in Hue, we didn't feel the need to visit every one and we were happy with our choice and what we saw. Monday - Hue to HoiAn via HaiVan Pass and Marble Mountain, seafood lunch at LangCo transferred by our tour driver from Sunday in the 7 seater, was very comfortable. We arrived at HoiAn at about 2:30pm and settled into the Silk Luxury Hotel on the edge of the 'Old Town' for two nights. This is a great hotel in a very good location. After a swim and relax we wandered out in the evening for cocktails by the river. I must say that it was very different from 10 years ago. The crowd was huge so after a cocktail overlooking the river we found a 'street food' location and ate dinner by the river. Food was very good and it was quite nice watching the people taking boat rides etc., but I was a bit taken back by the crowds of people who probably flock to this strip each evening. After we ate we retreated to our hotel for a peaceful relax. I was not as impressed with HoiAn second time round but there is tomorrow to wander the 'Old Town' and redeem itself. Tuesday - we walked the 'Old Town', where had all the people gone?? It was so peaceful in the morning and so different to the evening before. We really enjoyed the day looking at the ancient buildings,and just had a nice time roaming about. Maybe people had taken bus tours out of town or to the beach but HoiAn had redeemed itself!!! TBC only for those who may be interested. Cheers RR Hello, I am currently planning a trip with my family ( 2 children 13 and 10) to Vietnam April 2019 and I have a some questions and I really could use some advice. I want to fly from Heathrow to HMC and then out of Hanoi at the end of the trip. I am thinking Vietnam airlines (direct) but should I buy the tickets or wait and hope they come down in price? I also want to know if I can preselect my seats to ensure that the children are sitting with an adult, or do I have to go direct to airline and pay for the more expensive tickets. If buy through Skyscanner or another online agent, will I have the opportunity to select seats and if so how soon before the flight can you do it. Thank you in advance I don't know of any resorts that have a 0% charge on credit cards. The lowest I know of is 2.5% for Paradise Cove, Octopus and Blue Lagoon Resort (the Yasawas) and owned by the same company. I also would like to know of any resorts that do not impose cc charges in Fiji or anywhere else. ""The foreign transaction fee is composed of two parts. The first is charged by the credit card network (Visa, MasterCard, etc.) while the other part is imposed by the issuer (Your Bank). Visa and MasterCard both charge a fee of 1%. Regardless of the type of credit card, this fee is applied to all transactions. Depending on the credit card you use, some issuers will choose to add a charge on top of this fee - usually between 2% and 3%"". I also know of some large popular resorts that currently impose an extra 10% charge if you are staying on a 'Public Holiday' ! This added with the 25% taxes (which in these cases are NOT included in prices shown on menus for food & drinks) plus cc charges on paying, your account can come as a bit of a shock. This mainly pertains to American owned franchises. It pays to read the very fine print. I read recently that the Fiji Tourism Board has been made aware of the cc charges, Govt taxes and extras imposed on tourists/visitors, so maybe they will eventually look at this. As I have mentioned previously, it costs me approx. $18-00 to take money out of an ATM (which is the fee for 'using' that machine, plus a foreign transaction fee). Is all there to see when I return home ! It is also a timely reminder to travellers to advise their bank the location of their overseas travel, and for how long, so a track of transactions can be monitored by them. I often wonder about weworks type of companies, seems they as bldg owners can do the minimum in terms of investment and get control of what is truly of value 2018 and next 10 yrs which is real estate in Manhattan and flexible availability to the highest bidder. In my gentrifying sorta hot neighborhood in rapidly growing Guadalajara MX there are a number of buyers snatching up "good bones" bldgs and subletting to office use like Weworks because they just do the minimum, no big probs like restaurant kitchens or huge long leases that could interfere with mega sales to whatever oligarch happens by in their fecund imaginations. Im likely smack center of TA forum demographics and here in north central Mexico where I have been based for 14 yrs with biz in LA and NYC and elsewhere US its just like watching a replay of earlier 20th C history and before in fast motion the changes...like for my media projects and yes for fun mega-outfits I can find tailoring that is great quality and care for very inexpensive especially in the more outlying cities and neighborhoods. But they are old the tailors. Their kids and grandkids are studying engineering at the Universities and working for big companies, small new enterprises, making the new big thing presumably, ahh what a joy to grow aged!! Fox - Wanamakers was the best Risa - I mourn daily what great outfits I have given away!! Delta detour: John Balaban on a trip to Can Tho in 1989 to visit a family of one of the children he helped treated in the US for her war injuries. Photo courtesy of John Balaban Viet Nam News By Le Huong & Hong Van Coming to Viet Nam during the American war as a voluntary teacher of English at Can Tho University, a 24-year-old American man did not know he would find the inspiration for his lifes work. Over the past half century, over dozens of visits to Viet Nam, John Balabans warm smile, friendly manner, sincerity and especially his profound knowledge of Vietnamese folk songs and literature has made him a close friend to many Vietnamese scholars. Balaban is the author of 12 books of poetry and prose, including four volumes which together have won The Academy of American Poets Lamont prize, a National Poetry Series Selection and two nominations for the National Book Award (one for After Our War, published in 1974, and the other for Locusts at the Edge of Summer, published in 1998). He has also been known as a researcher of Vietnamese literature and the founder of the Vietnamese Nom Preservation Foundation, which helps popularise the ancient ideographic vernacular script of the Vietnamese language over the internet. He first came to Viet Nam with the International Volunteer Services in 1967, where he taught at what was then called Can Tho University until it was bombed during the Tet Offensive in 1968. He was wounded in the shoulder by shrapnel and evacuated; after his recovery, he worked for the Committee of Responsibility to Save War-burned and War-injured Children. Sometimes I travelled along the rivers, along the Mekong, I could hear people singing folk songs (ca dao in Vietnamese), and I didnt know what it was, he told Viet Nam News. I visited families, I would hear people singing all the time, everywhere, in the orchards, behind the house. I got curious and I decided to collect them on tapes. He returned to the US in 1969 but again found himself in war-torn Viet Nam in 1971, to wander around the countryside with a recorder over nine months to record folk songs. The singing tradition is almost thousands of years oldeverybody can sing, from little children to men and women. The war was going on when I collected ca dao. You can hear rifle and mortar fire in the background on some of them. And so it wasnt safe for me to go everywhere I wanted, deep into the countryside where ca dao lives. Otherwise, I had nothing but help from the Vietnamese I met, recorded, and spoke to, he said. To him, the beauty of the singing and the content of the songs reflect a cosmology that is itself old and powerfully informative. In 1973-74, he joined Prof Tran Van Khe and film maker David Grubin to produce a short film titled Ca Dao: The Folk Poetry of Vietnam, which was then screened at many universities in the US. His first book of translation, Vietnamese Ca Dao, was published in 1980 by the Unicorn Press. The Copper Canyon Press reprinted it with the Vietnamese originals and more authorative introduction. In 1984, the Pennsylvania State University re-distributed his short film Ca dao: The Folk Poetry of Vietnam. My one contribution to knowledge about ca dao may be my research into its music; my other contribution -- besides collecting hundreds of the songs on tape -- was in finding a way to date the tradition through lexico-statistics dating, he commented. Humanitarian: In a photo taken in 1969, Balaban embraces a little girl who was being sent to the US for medical care. Courtesy Photo of John Balaban Bookworm: Prof Balaban poses with a copy of his book on Vietnamese ca dao that he finds at a bookstore in Ha Noi. VNS Photo Hong Van Ca dao led him to Ho Xuan Huong, a preeminent18th-century poet of Viet Nam. Some Vietnamese scholars suggested him to do research on Ho Xuan Huong, whose vocabulary was close to that of ca dao, although of course it is still imbued with the tho uong luat (Vietnamese variant of Chinese Tang poetry) tradition. At first, I did not even understand that she wrote in chu nom, or what that is. To understand her, I needed to be educated once again by learned Vietnamese. His book of translations of Ho Xuan Huongs works called Spring Essence: The Poetry of Ho Xuan Huong garnered great interest when it came out in the year 2000. Though he made the translations from modern Vietnamese language as well as the French translation by Maurice Durand and with help from Vietnamese Professor Nguyen Quang Hong and scholar ao Thai Ton, her work showed him the possibility that there was much more literature written in nom that deserved to be brought to world attention. With the IT experts James o Ba Phuoc, Ngo Thanh Nhan and later Ngo Trung Viet, he started the Vietnamese Nom Preservation Foundation to open worldwide access to all the poetry, history, religion medicine, royal decrees written in nom, which can be read by fewer than 100 scholars throughout the world. Since its establishment in 2009, the foundation has praised nine Vietnamese scholars and one Japanese scholar for their efforts in preserving the ancient writing system of Viet Nam. Balaban said he remembered three words that a monk gave him long time ago: Thien, ia, Nhan (Heaven, Land, People) and he used those words to describe Viet Nam and Vietnamese culture, which is a general harmony between the three factors of the universe. "I find him a person with special love for Viet Nam from a very young age," said Ngo Trung Viet, a retiree from the Viet Nam Science & Technology Institute and a close friend of Prof Balaban since 1999. "His translations of Vietnamese folk songs and Ho Xuan Huongs poems have been highly appreciated by both international and Vietnamese scholars. He is also an intellectual with good capability to connect experts from various fields to work for a purpose, like for the Vietnamese Nom Preservation Foundation," he added. "He has really done a lot for Vietnamese literature." Mentioning the changes of Viet Nam over the time, Balaban noted that the countrys colour palette seemed to have shifted from the grey necessities of nation at war to the vibrant hues of a fast-evolving and diverse country. At 74, Balaban said he was afraid that this would be his final visit to Viet Nam. "I just retired from teaching as a university professor. I am working on a new book of poetry, my own, he said. Looking at his eyes and listening to him reciting Vietnamese folk songs, one could not help believing that he will keep thinking of Viet Nam until his last gasps. VNS - Kenya Power cut electricity at City Hall over a KSh 732 million power bill - City Hall and City Hall Annex went for two days without power over the pending bill - Most activities and operations were paralysed as City Hall resorted to use generators - The county hit back by hunting for the company's vehicles parked in CBD and towed them Nairobi governor Mike Sonko's administration has retaliated harshly by hauling Kenya Power vehicles hours after the company disconnected electricity supply as their feud intensifies over KSh 732 million bill. Sonko spent the better part of Wednesday, June 7, in a meeting after City Hall services were paralysed following the electricity company's move to cut off power. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens TUKO.co.ke understands that City Hall and the adjacent City Hall Annex were forced to rely on generators for the second day. READ ALSO: Hawa ndio abiria waliokuwa ndani ya ndege iliyoanguka Aberdares READ ALSO: Nyota Ndogo strikes again with hideous make up after beauty classes flopped The forced power outage came barely three weeks after Kenya's richest county lost in a case to halt Kenya Power's move to disconnect power supply to its facilities. City Hall has been locked in a fierce tussle with the the utility firm since 2014, holding that Kenya Power owes it more than KSh 600 million in way leave and rent arrears for electricity poles. In 2016, the county was granted a court order blocking the company from disconnecting electricity supply to its facilities until the case was heard and fully determined. READ ALSO: List of passengers who were aboard the ill-fated FlySax missing plane Kenya Power had earlier threatened to disconnect power at the City Hall Annex, Pumwani Hospital, Mama Lucy Hospital, public primary and nursery schools, county depots and also to turn off street lights. The county government remained adamant stating it shouldn't be tasked with the burden of paying debt inherited from the former City Council. The recent electricity saga at the country's capital's headquarters is a huge headache to the city which is already facing myriad problems including refuse, upsurge in insecurity and the incessant hawkers menace. Barely two months ago, irked Nairobi residents lambasted the county boss over his performance in the county once described as the city in the sun. 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. Awful day to die (Animated Joke) | Tuko TV Source: Tuko.co.ke - Reports were circulating online that Kahiga was critically ill and was receiving treatment in US - The county government refuted the claims assuring residents the governor was well - It also issued a warning to those peddling lies saying they would be dealt with accordingly Nyeri county government has been forced to respond to claims concerning governor Mutahi Kahiga's health after reports emerged that the county boss was critically ill and currently being treated in the United States. The disconcerting reports which went viral online were sparked by a Facebook blogger who even claimed Kahiga had collapsed four times since the beginning of his tenure. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens In press statement released on Thursday, June 8, and seen by TUkO.co.ke, the county government refuted the claims assuring residents of the governor's well being, adding that he was in USA for investment purposes. READ ALSO: Picha 9 za kupendeza za mrembo aliyekuwa rubani wa ndege iliyoanguka Aberdares Nyeri governor Mutahi Kahiga. Nyeri county refuted claims that Kahiga was critically ill. Photo: Mutahi kahiga/ Facebook "Our attention has been drawn to a false post that is circulating on social media, emanating from a Facebook account that has previously spun outright lies and is seemingly at it again," "We would like to assure the people of Nyeri County that H.E Governor Mutahi Kahiga is well and in the USA together with a section of senior officials, to meet investors,"a section of the statement read. The statement further divulged Kahiga led a delegation from Nyeri to America for an inter-city exchange program between Nyeri and Reston City. READ ALSO: School principal jailed for 6 years after receiving KSh 10k bribe late Nyeri governor Wahome Gakuru. Kahiga succeeded his boss after his sudden death in a freak accident. Photo: Wahome Gakuru/ Facebook "Nyeri-Reston relations previously existed in the past and have since been revived for the mutual benefit of its citizenry," The county leadership urged members of the public to ignore the rumours concrening the governor's alleged illness assuring residents Kahiga was as fit as a fiddle. According to the statement, the county boss will return in a weeks time to carry on his gubernatorila duties. READ ALSO: Mathioya MP Peter Kihara arrested, locked up for drink-driving At the same time, the county government issued a stern warning against those propagating lies even through fake social medi accounts, saying they would be severely punished for causing unnecessary alarm. "We would like to caution those peddling lies (even behind pseudo accounts) that it is criminal to do so and punitive measures can be taken against those peddling lies and causing undue anxiety. We reiterate that H. E Governor Mutahi Kahiga is well," Barely a month ago, the governor declared his support for Deputy President William Ruto in his 2022 presidential bid after he was forced to come clean about his preferred choice between Ruto and Machakos governor Alfred Mutua. READ ALSO: Confirmed! All 10 on board aircraft which crashed in the Aberdares dead Kahiga succeeded his boss, the late Wahome Gakuru as Nyeri governor following Gakuru's sudden demise on Tuesday, November 2017, in a freak accident that sent chills across the country. Gakuru's death left the county in limbo and searching for answers considering he was the second Nyeri governor to die in office. On Friday, February 2017, Kenyans woke up to shocking news that the first Nyeri governor Nderitu Gachagua had passed on at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London while receiving treatment for pancreatic cancer. 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: Tuko - Mandera, Wajir and Garissa are also targeted by the terrorists - The terrorists targets are key infrastructure in the region along the borders with Somalia - Security agencies have deployed sufficient resources to avert any attacks - The police are also hunting down an al-Shabaab suspect in Mombasa The National Police Service Commission (NPSC) has warned of impending terror attacks in different parts of the country and called on the public to be alert. According to the police, they had been monitoring al-Shabaab activities since the commencement of the holy month of Ramadan on Thursday, May 17, and in the process, established several threats. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens In a statement by NPSC Director of Corporate Communication Charles Wahong'o posted on Twitter on Thursday, June 7, the police stated they had reliable information that the militants were planning to strike. READ ALSO: Picha 9 za kupendeza za mrembo aliyekuwa rubani wa ndege iliyoanguka Aberdares "We do have reliable information that al-Shabaab militia may be planning to attack some key infrastructure in Mandera, Wajir and Garissa and the coastal region. They are particularly targeting installations that are far flung along the border," the statement read. The police however assured the public that they had deployed resources appropriately to counter any such actions by the terrorists. "Our officers are on high alert and will continue monitoring their movements at all times. We also wish to clarify that the recently reported attack on El-Wak town actually happened in the Somalia side and bit within our borders. The heavy deployment of security personnel in El-Wak and along the borderline helped in providing refuge for Somali civilians fleeing the attacks," added Wahongo. READ ALSO: Police warn of impending terror attack in Kenya during Ramadan period The statement confirmed that on Thursday, June 6, between the towns of Liboi and Harara, a patrol team encountered an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) planted on the patrol route which led to the killing of five General Service Unit (GSU) officers. "This was an isolated incident that is not going to distract us from our objective to rid the country of terrorist elements and ensure the safety and security of all Kenyans. We have therefore enhanced security deployment in the area to work on clearance of the patrol routes to avert further attacks," the police stated. Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinett and Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI). Boinett said police are hunting down an al-Shabaab operative in Mombasa. Photo: DCI/Facebook. Source: Facebook Wahong'o urged the political leadership and local communities in the areas targeted by the militants to support ongoing operations and warned that al-Shabaab sympathisers would be dealt with according to the law. "For those who may be collaborating with the criminals, we want to sternly warn them that their days are numbered and that they will soon be brought to book to be dealt with in accordance with the law," he stated. READ ALSO: Bungoma man who refused to board ill-fated aircraft warned pilots of bad weather Police sources also indicated they had launched a manhunt for a suspected al-Shabaab militant, Salim Aboud Sultri, believed to have entered the country from Somalia. According to Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinett, Sultri is suspected to have been hiding around Mombasa Old Town in Mlango wa Papa Mosque. Sultri is alleged to have been closely working with Ramadhan Rai Tsungu alias Rambo, who both disappeared on learning the police were pursuing them. 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. Government demolishes Kiosks in Kibera following rape at Moi Girls School - On Tuko TV Source: Tuko The National Security Minister says that while there is a vacancy in the post of Commissione At UBS, philanthropy and volunteering are key to our culture. Anchored by our annual Season of Service campaign, UBS Community Corps mobilizes employees across the Americas to support their communities year-round through hands-on and skills-based volunteering to make an impact. 2020 was no exception, with employees stepping to address the myriad of challenges communities faced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. From packing meals at home to fight hunger, mentoring students virtually to prepare them for college and careers, and friendly phone calls with the elderly, to name a few ways, our employees took action while staying safe. And UBS employees didnt just lend their time and talent, .through our special COVID-19 relief campaign and traditional matching gifts program, collectively our employees donated over $7.6M to provide nonprofits critical support when it was needed most, including organizations such as Americares and the Feeding America network. The National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine is preparing a decision that will greenlight direct export and import to all arms producers regardless of the form of ownership. "Over 50% of the state order is fulfilled by private companies. Moreover, I want to announce that the National Security and Defense Council is preparing a decision on liberalization of the foreign economic activity. We plan to make this decision in the near future. It will allow direct export to all manufacturers of military equipment and weapons, regardless of whether they belong to the public sector or private. We will allow imports without restrictions for producers regardless of their form of ownership for the own needs and production of military equipment and weapons," NSDC Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov said during the IX National Expert Forum in Kyiv, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. Turchynov added that all the restrictions on direct contracts on purchase of weapons abroad for the domestic security agencies would also be lifted in case of need. ol Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak has begun a visit to NATO Headquarters in Brussels, where he will hold meetings with defense ministers of the partner countries and the NATO Secretary General. This was reported on the website of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry. "Today, June 7, Ukrainian Defense Minister General of the Army of Ukraine Stepan Poltorak is on official visit to NATO Headquarters in Brussels," the report reads. The program of the visit includes meetings with the defense ministers of the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Lithuania and Poland in a multilateral format, bilateral talks with defense ministers of Canada and Poland, participation in the ministerial meeting of the North Atlantic Council with NATO Resolute Support contributors. General Poltorak is expected to meet with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. ish Last year, cyberattacks by the Russian Federation against Ukraine caused billion in economic losses. National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov said this during the 9th National Expert Forum in Kyiv on Thursday, an Ukrinform correspondent reported. "Last year's cyberattacks inflicted a severe blow to our economy. There were billion in losses," he said. Turchynov noted that in response to these challenges, the Ukrainian Government managed to achieve serious results. "In a very short time, a protection network has been built, which today reliably protects the information resources of the state institutions, and begins to protect strategic infrastructure facilities," he said. According to the NSDC secretary, the cyberdefense in Ukraine is now at the level of many European countries. ish Ukraine and Liechtenstein are ready to intensify trade and economic cooperation in the context of using the opportunities of a free trade regime, as well as the Regional Convention on pan-Euro-Mediterranean preferential rules, which Ukraine joined this year. This issue was discussed during the talks between Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman and Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein Alois, the Governmental portal reported. The head of government expressed hope that the first visit of a monarch to Ukraine would help deepen ties between the states. "I hope you will discover Ukraine," Groysman said. The head of government thanked Prince Alois for the consistent political position of Liechtenstein on the condemnation of the annexation of Crimea and the confrontation in the east of Ukraine and assured that Ukraine was equally consistent in its actions aimed at establishing democratic institutions and the rule of law, taking measures to overcome corruption, modernize the economy and infrastructure. Groysman briefed the Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein on the progress of reforms and on transformations in the most important spheres of life - from education and health to the formation of a favorable business climate that will accelerate the process of attracting investment and upgrading the industry. In this context, the parties noted that as of the beginning of 2018, the total investment volume of Liechtenstein in the Ukrainian economy made up 49.3 million dollars. The key areas of investment are industry and construction. Business representatives of Liechtenstein are also interested in infrastructure and energy sectors. "We are inviting business circles of Liechtenstein to more actively enter the Ukrainian market, which is rapidly developing and offers great opportunities. I'm sure we have the potential to expand cooperation. In the first quarter of 2018, the trade turnover between our countries increased fourfold. We hope that the volume of investments from your country will continue to increase," Groysman stressed. "Thank you very much for the invitation. Year after year, we are deepening cooperation - both at the political level and on the international arena, as well as within the framework of the Free Trade Area," the Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein said. HA NOI Two flamenco and classical guitar concerts by Michel Grizard and Helena Cueto will be hosted by LEspace on June 21 and 23. The combination of flamenco and classical guitar continues to be a hit with the Vietnamese public. In this spirit, Grizard, a guitar virtuoso and winner of many international awards, will grace the stage of LEspace with his daughter, Cueto, a brilliant flamenco dancer. They will introduce the audience to a recital performance of flamenco dance and classical guitar, creating a moment of beauty and grace. The concerts, which are part of the Fete de la Musique (Music Day) 2018, will take place at LEspace Ha ong on June 21 and at LEspace in downtown Ha Noi on June 23 at 8pm. Both the concerts have free entry with limited seats. LEspace is located at 24 TrangTien Street, and LEspace Ha ong is on Level 3, Block I, Ha Noi Architectural University, KM 10, Nguyen Trai Road, Ha ong. VNS Russia's Gazprom has included in its budget for 2018 the funds for payment of debt under a Stockholm arbitration ruling, but does not pay them due to a political decision of the Russian leadership, Ukraine's Naftogaz has reported on Facebook. "Experts believe that Gazprom refuses to pay Naftogaz the money lost in court not at its discretion. The necessary funds are envisaged in Gazprom's budget for this year. Not paying Naftogaz is a purely political decision. Gazprom has long been called 'Putin's purse' in Russia. So he does not like when strangers are coming to his purse, even by a court judgment," Naftogaz wrote. Previously, Naftogaz said that the a Dutch court had frozen the local assets of Gazprom because of the refusal of the Russian company to comply with the Stockholm arbitration ruling to pay $2.6 billion. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin will be on a working visit to Turkey's capital Ankara on June 7-8, the press service of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has reported. "The visit will take place as part of joint events being held by Ukraine and Turkey to commemorate the 74th anniversary of the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people in 1944," the ministry said. Klimkin is due to hold talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Berat Albayrak. Klimkin is also expected to give an interview to leading Turkish media. France opposes abolition of anti-Russian sanctions until the peace process in eastern Ukraine is achieved. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said this on France's Europe 1 radio, commenting on the proposal of the Italian Government to review sanctions imposed on Russia for its aggression in Ukraine, Radio Liberty reported. "When we achieve progress [in the settlement of the armed conflict in Donbas], then we can raise the issue of sanctions, and this is what we will tell Italy," the French foreign minister said. As reported, on June 5, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte called for a revision of the EU sanctions against Russia, as they "demean Russias civil society." At the same time, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the North Atlantic Alliance supported economic sanctions imposed on Russia in order to force the Kremlin to stop its aggression against Ukraine. ish The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine appeals to the world community in connection with the unlawful verdict of the Moscow court in the case of journalist Roman Sushchenko. As an Ukrinform correspondent reports, 254 lawmakers voted for the corresponding draft resolution No. 8446. "[The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine] demands that the Russian Federation immediately stops to deliberately violate the human rights and freedoms, cancels the unlawful verdict in the case of Roman Sushchenko, releases him and ensures his unimpeded return to Ukraine," the appeal reads. The Parliament condemned the verdict of the Moscow City Court and voiced a protest over the decision to sentence Sushchenko to 12 years' imprisonment on fake accusations of "espionage." "The verdict of the Moscow City Court in this case is based on blatantly trumped-up accusations, falsified evidence and once again demonstrates absence of justice in the Russian Federation and continuation of politically motivated persecution of Ukrainian citizens," the statement reads. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine called on the international community to condemn the aggressive policy of the Russian Federation and to step up pressure on Russia with a view to release Sushchenko and other Ukrainians, who are political prisoners in Russia, and return them to Ukraine. Ukrainian lawmakers call on the all world countries to impose new sanctions on the Russian Federation and encourage the prosecution of persons involved in systemic human rights violations. As reported, on June 4, the Moscow City Court sentenced Ukrinform correspondent Roman Sushchenko to 12 years in a high-security prison on espionage charges. He has been under arrest in Moscow since September 30, 2016. ol Britain says their imprisonment appears politically motivated. The United Kingdom has called on the Russian Federation to release four Ukrainian political prisoners, namely Oleh Sentsov, Oleksandr Kolchenko, Oleksandr Shumkov and Volodymyr Balukh, who are on hunger strike in Russian prisons over Russia's continued detention of Ukrainian political prisoners. Read alsoPEN America demands Sentsov's immediate release "We are deeply concerned about the welfare of the four Ukrainian nationals held by Russia, who are on hunger strike in protest against Russia's continued detention of Ukrainian political prisoners. Their imprisonment, and that of many more Ukrainians who have been jailed by Russia, appears politically motivated. We call on the Russian authorities to release them immediately," according to a statement on Ukrainian political prisoners held by Russian authorities, published on the official website of the UK's government. The abovementioned four Ukrainian prisoners expressed disagreement with the annexation by Russia of Ukraine's Crimea and were imprisoned on trumped-up charges. The UK continues to insist that Russia's control over Crimea remains illegal and illegitimate, and is a flagrant violation of a number of Russia's international commitments. The United States is building up the means of self-defense for those states most directly threatened by Russia militarily. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Wess Mitchell says that Ukraine and Georgia are part of the West. "We must view the West as a community of democratic nations united by history, culture and shared sacrifice. Some of its members are old democracies, some are not. Some are members of the EU or NATO, some are not. Some are weak, some are strong. Some are geographically insulated, some are exposed. Ukraine and Georgia are part of the West, both by virtue of history and the choices of their people," he said while delivering the report titled "The Transatlantic Bond: Preserving the West," delivered at The Heritage Foundation, a U.S. public policy think tank, on June 5, 2018. Read alsoItaly's new PM calls for review of Russia sanctions in EU According to him, Britain will still be very much at the heart of the West after Brexit. "The point is that there has to be a concept that binds us that is not just an institution. Institutions are means and not an end. Mitchell also said that the United States would raise costs on Russia over aggression. "We are building up the means of self-defense for those states most directly threatened by Russia militarily, Ukraine and Georgia. We have lifted the previous administration's restrictions on lethal aid and helped those states acquire much-needed defensive weapons," he said. He also mentioned other spheres where the U.S. helps Ukraine and Georgia. "We also worked to keep Ukraine on the path of reform, including most recently by working to ensure an anti-corruption court that meets IMF standards, and we are working to strengthen U.S. political, military and economic engagement in Georgia," he added. Savchenko is challenging the decision to prosecute and arrest her. Ukrainian Member of Parliament Nadiia Savchenko, who has been arrested on charges of plotting a coup, has sued the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament. She appeals to parliament, demanding to recognize the decision to grant consent to bring her to criminal liability, detention and arrest as unlawful. Her lawyer Constantine Globa has filed an administrative lawsuit in the Court of Cassation under the Supreme Court "on recognizing unlawful inaction of the subject of power and recognizing unlawful and abolishing decisions," as reported on the website of the political party "The community-political platform of Nadiia Savchenko." Read alsoNadiia Savchenko fails lie-detector test "The respondent is the Verkhovna Rada. Nadiia is challenging the decision to prosecute and arrest her, which was shamefully and unlawfully voted by the parliament. It's worth mentioning that the case of Nadiia Savchenko is politically motivated and the arrest of an MP is not legal," it says. As UNIAN reported, the Verkhovna Rada on March 22 green-lighted the arrest of MP Nadiia Savchenko, a former Ukrainian pilot released from a Russian prison as part of a prisoner-of-war exchange. Ukraine's prosecutors charged Savchenko with plotting a coup and an act of terror in Ukraine, following an elaborate sting operation by SBU Security Service agents, who initially targeted former hostage swap negotiator Volodymyr Ruban. Read alsoSavchenko ready to serve 22 years in Russian jail in exchange for 60 Ukrainian prisoners The latter is believed to have conspired with Savchenko. Savchenko is suspected of committing crimes under Part 1 of Article 109 (actions aimed at the forcible change or overthrow of the constitutional order or seizure of state power); Part 1 of Article 14 (preparations for a crime), Part 2 of Article 28 (committing a crime by a group of persons, a group of persons by prior agreement, an organized group or a criminal organization), Article 112 (an attempted attack on the life of a public figure), Part 3 of Article 258 (an act of terror); Part 1 of Article 258-3 (creation of a terrorist group or organization) and Part 1 of Article 263 (illegal possession of weapons, ammunition or explosives) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. On March 23, Kyiv's Shevchenkivsky district court ruled that Savchenko be remanded in custody for 59 days without bail. She announced in the courtroom she would go on hunger strike, denying plans to flee Ukraine. On March 29, Kyiv's Court of Appeals upheld the decision of the first instance court to keep Savchenko behind bars for a period of 59 days until May 20. On May 15, the arrest was extended until July 13. Ruban will remain in custody until July 2. The creation of the Anti-Corruption Court in accordance with the recommendations of the Venice Commission is one of the conditions for continued cooperation between Ukraine and the International Monetary Fund. The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, has passed the presidential draft law "On the High Anti-Corruption Court" (No. 7440) in the second reading. Some 315 MPs voted for the decision. The draft law establishes that the High Anti-Corruption Court is a permanently acting higher specialized court in the system of Ukraine's judiciary; it will be located in Kyiv. The court's jurisdiction is applicable to the entire territory of Ukraine. Read alsoU.S. stresses importance of independent Anti-Corruption Court for Ukraine On March 1, Ukrainian lawmakers backed the draft law "On the High Anti-Corruption Court" (No. 7440) in the first reading, which was submitted by President Petro Poroshenko. After that, a number of international partners of Ukraine criticized the document and raised requirements for Kyiv. In particular, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that Poroshenko's draft on the Anti-Corruption Court contradicted Ukraine's commitments. In addition, the World Bank put forward its demands, having warned that the point at issue was $800 million in its loan funds. The European Union also criticized the Administration of the President of Ukraine, saying that Poroshenko had submitted a bill on the Anti-Corruption Court, which contradicts the promises of Kyiv and the recommendations of the Venice Commission. Stumbling block One of the most important uncoordinated moments in the draft law was the norm on the authority of the Public Council of International Experts on the selection of judges of this court. The key claim of international partners and non-government organizations as for the draft law was the limitation of the role of international experts to advisory functions in the process of selection and appointment of judges. According to international partners, including the International Monetary Fund, the full role of international experts in appointing judges is a guarantee of the independence of this court and its ability to effectively perform its functions. The point at issue The creation of the Anti-Corruption Court in accordance with the recommendations of the Venice Commission is one of the conditions for continued cooperation between Ukraine and the IMF, which is necessary to repay the country's external debts in the coming years. According to Atlantic Council expert Anders Aslund, the termination of cooperation between Ukraine and the IMF will lead to a significant devaluation of the hryvnia. On June 5, the U.S. State Department emphasized that the law on the High Anti-Corruption Court in Ukraine should meet the requirements of the International Monetary Fund and provide for the selection of qualified judges with the participation of international experts. Ukrainian Finance Minister Oleksandr Danyliuk earlier said that the parliament's failure to pass the Anti-Corruption Court law this Thursday, June 7, might postpone the vote in the European Parliament for providing EUR 1 billion in macro-financial assistance from the European Union to Ukraine. Read alsoUkraine PM threatens to quit if corruption court law not passed media On June 6, ambassadors of the G7 countries (the United States, the UK, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, and Japan) emphasized that international experts should play a central role in the selection of qualified judges after the establishment of the High Anti-Corruption Court in Ukraine. The G7 ambassadors called on the Verkhovna Rada to adopt a law to create an independent High Anti-Corruption Court that will be trusted by citizens. As many as 1,927 amendments On May 23, the parliament began consideration of the bill in the second reading. In total, 1,927 amendments were submitted. The provisions of the bill concerning to the Public Council of International Experts remained unattended until the last minute. During most of the days of the consideration of the amendments, there were fewer lawmakers present in the session hall. In particular, only about 50 lawmakers were present at the end of the meeting. At least 226 votes are required for decision making. However, on June 6, the Verkhovna Rada completed the consideration of amendments to the presidential bill, and Poroshenko arrived at the session hall after the consideration of the amendments. Groysman's promise Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman earlier said that he would resign if the law on the Anti-Corruption Court were not passed. "If this court fair and independent is not be created, I will step down," he warned. Russia is actively pursuing its efforts related to the new concept of improving the capabilities of the Russian army in various areas. Russia has changed approaches to the conduct and preparation of military campaigns and is now readying for simultaneous action in three directions, including in the Black Sea region. Any drills conducted by NATO and Russia are today an attempt to balance capabilities In general, Crimea exercises are an echo of a general strategy. Russia's strategy has changed, and this, in turn, has forced NATO to reconsider its own approaches. Russia is trying to improve its decision-making and actions. Given this fact, any drills conducted by NATO and Russia are today an attempt to balance capabilities. It should be noted separately that Russia, in the format of its new concept of "anti-escalation", is planning to actually use nuclear weapons. This new reality is worthy of attention precisely today, against the backdrop of NATO's large-scale military exercises, "Saber Strike," taking place June 3-15 in Poland and the Baltic States. Some 18,000 troops from 19 states are taking part, of which 12,500 are Americans. More than a 1,000 high-capacity armored vehicles, more than 60 helicopters and fifty tanks are also involved in maneuvers. In essence, Saber Strike was NATO's response to Russian Zapad-2017 [West-2017]drills. But now everything is different. American think-tanks are actively studying Ukrainian experience, trying to impose it on a model of military confrontation with Russia in Europe. For example, the Washington-based New Generation War Research Center (NGW Center) conducted a series of experiments on modeling possible military operations in Europe, which should help military and civilian authorities improve the structure of forces and tools required to counter Russia. The scenarios proposed by NGW were created taking into account the experience of the Russian annexation of Crimea and the beginning of hostilities in Donbas. Now I will highlight key military risks Europe is facing today. NATO preparations to protect the Allies pushed the Russian General Staff to new ideas and needs in their military planning In 2016, a U.S.-based think-tank, RAND Corporation, published a report claiming that NATO was not able to protect the Baltic states. According to the results of a series of military games, it was concluded that the armored units of the Russian army will be able to capture Estonia and Latvia in just 60 hours or even less. RAND has shown that the United States must defend the Baltic States and contain aggression against them. Now the situation has changed, both from the NATO-U.S. side and that of Russia. NATO has strengthened its capacities to protect the Baltic States. The process of providing reinforcement for the armies of the Baltic States was reduced to a few days, although in 2015, it would have taken some four weeks. The Alliance has deployed reinforced spearhead battalions in the Baltic States and Poland, while Latvia and Lithuania have pledged, following Estonia, to increase their defense spending to 2% of GDP, as requested by NATO. Russia does not remain idle, either. NATO's preparations for defending itself has pushed the Russian General Staff to new ideas and needs in their military planning. From Moscow's perspective, Russia is now in a "state of war" with the European Union/NATO. At the same time, Russia has updated its views on how to best tackle the wealthy Europe. It's about the whole set of those "hybrid" efforts already tested in Ukraine. It includes asymmetric non-military methods; operations to destabilize the political and social situation in other countries; financing proxy forces and supporting them with arms supplies; latent military intervention and, if necessary, an open invasion to occupy the territory and ensure a halt to any resistance. At each of the stages of this multi-dimensional war, Russia seeks to retain the initiative and play first. However, until the open stage of escalation, the General Staff of the Russian army will try to hold back the conflicts at the minimum possible level of use of force. This is what we are seeing in eastern Ukraine. The Russian army is no longer the Soviet Army. Russia has pledged to create spearhead, flexible forces that can be quickly reformatted during the conflict. Analyzing the Zapad [West] military exercises conducted by the Russian army, and especially Zapad-2017, I can suggest that Russia has worked out both quantitative and brand new qualitative models of the development of a local military conflict, up to the operational-strategic level. If we talk about numbers, there are reports claiming that Russia is ready to conduct combat operations in three strategic directions, including the Baltic, Black and Barents seas. If we talk about a new quality, it's about integrating nuclear tactical weapons into the operational plan of the Russian armed forces in the European military theater as a means to ensure balance. Russia has an obvious shortage of manpower needed in case of a direct and simultaneous confrontation with all potential adversaries. This is especially true of the units and subdivisions of their ground forces. So Russia will have to make difficult decisions if it wants to reduce the risks of escalation in a situation where NATO and EU member states will be able to mobilize forces sufficient to defeat Russian troops. Russia is using Ukraine as a testing ground for a variety of concepts and new weapons Russia will do so under the so-called new concept of "escalation for the sake of de-escalation." The realization of the de-escalation function implies the actual use of nuclear weapons both for demonstrating determination and for direct nuclear attacks on the enemy. Russia will most probably perform the task with the use of the least powerful nuclear weapons, aimed at preventing a massive international nuclear fallout. Therefore, it is believed that Russia will be exploiting all existing contradictions between NATO Allies and keep threatening the world with the possible use of low-power nuclear weapons (0.2 Kt). They could be used to isolate the conflict zone and undermine the resolve of enemy forces and the coalition to continue any further military action. In this case, as Russia expects, the most acceptable solution for their enemy will be to cease hostilities. At the same time, Russia is using Ukraine as a testing ground for a variety of concepts and new weapons, ranging from attacks on computer networks to the use of thermobaric ammo. Deploying unmanned aerial vehicles allowed Russians to spot artillery fire within 15 minutes, while "NATO is no longer capable of this." For the U.S. and NATO, Russian operations in Ukraine give an idea of how a hybrid war can unfold on other territories - including Europe. And it's Ukraine's managed experience that allows Americans to carry out their modeling with fewer mistakes and assumptions. However, I can't say that Ukraine is perceived as the first echelon of defense against Russian threat. Poland is, but not Ukraine. It was stressed numerous times that Russian troops had a good disposition for a rapid offensive on Ukraine. The units of the Russian ground forces are mostly amassed in the territory of the Western and Southern military districts. The deployment of units of the Western Military District has been planned, taking into account the confrontation with NATO forces; however, the 20th Army and its six military regiments are deployed in the immediate proximity of the Ukraine border at a distance, which makes it possible to easily strike at Kyiv. Operations of the 20th Army could be reinforced by the efforts of the 8th Army based in Rostov. The 8th Army was formed in 2017, with its headquarters located less than 110 km from the Ukrainian border. Now this army is training personnel to wage conventional war. The deployment of Russian troops along Ukrainian borders shows how, under the current doctrine, preparations are carried out for a blitzkrieg by "a couple of regiments located in the zone of responsibility of the same headquarters, on separate, but converging, offensive lines with the well-protected rear. And all of this is happening within 80 km of the Ukrainian border." Actually, Ukrainians have for so long been aware of these threats that, even when they are from time to time recalled by the secretary of the National Security and Defense Council or the minister of defense, they don't really sound that disturbing anymore. But when Europe launches a major military buzz, such as the "Saber Strike" drills, people suddenly ask me, what's going on. So, I actually wrote the column to address such concerns. The United States and NATO are trying to separate themselves from the evil empire with their own strength. But what about us? Well, I'll say that, for some reason, the echo of Saber Strike is heard better than shots and explosions on our own territory. That's because, in a strange way, have simply become used to that. Serhiy Zgurets is a Director of DefenseExpress Information and Consulting Company The Russian leader questions possibility of exchanging someone sentenced for "plotting terrorist attacks" for someone charged over his "journalistic activities." Russia has not yet considered the possible exchange of editor-in-chief of RIA Novosti Ukraine Kirill Vyshinsky for Ukrainian film director Oleh Sentsov, that's according to Russian President Vladimir Putin. As "As for another individual in question, Mr. [Oleh] Sentsov, he had been detained in Crimea, and by the way- not for his journalistic activities, but for plotting a terrorist act, preparing an explosion, which could hurt specific people.These are completely different things we're talking about. They are different and incomparable," Putin said while answering questions during a major "Hot Line" event on Thursday. "Therefore, we have not yet thought about it," he said, answering the question whether the possibility of a Vyshinsky-Sentsov swap was on the table. Putin claims that Vyshinsky was arrested in Ukraine for his direct professional activities, and expects that he will be released under pressure from the international community. "This is an absolutely unprecedented and absolutely unacceptable policy of today's Ukrainian leaders. It should be adequately reflected in the reaction of the journalistic community and international human rights organizations," Putin said. As UNIAN reported earlier, Sentsov was detained by FSB operatives in Crimea in the spring of 2014. He was transferred to Russia, where he was tried on trumped-up charges of plotting terrorist attacks and arson of party offices on the peninsula. The Russian court in August 2015 sentenced Sentsov to 20 years in prison. On May 14, Sentsov announced an indefinite hunger strike demanding the release of all 64 Ukrainian political prisoners of the Kremlin. Read alsoLawyer: Sentsov "on the brink", compulsory feeding may start soon Kirill Vyshinsky was arrested in Ukraine on high treason charges. The SBU and prosecutors reported they had revealed the illegal activity of the Russian-controlled media network in Ukraine. It was established that in spring 2014, when Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea, Vyshinsky produced anti-Ukrainian materials and received a medal "For the Return of Crimea" from Russian President Vladimir Putin, the SBU said. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc speaks to Reuters News Agency about how Viet Nam benefits from and contributes to international exchange at multilateral forums on the occasion of the G7 outreach meeting in Quebec City, Canada. Prime Minister Trudeau has invited you to attend the G7 Summit in Canada this June. One of the themes there is climate change, oceans and clean energy. Since the international investment community sees Viet Nam as one of the best places for growth in terms of renewables, can you tell us how Viet Nam aims to enable and support the development of and investment in clean energy and renewables? For example, Viet Nam has large rare earth reserves. Could those be used to manufacture batteries that would back up solar energy production in Viet Nam, and does Viet Nam therefore have a plan to explore and extract these rare earth reserves? Viet Nam is blessed with immense potential for clean renewable energy development. The potential capacity of Viet Nams wind energy is estimated at 500 1000 kWh/m2 per year, and its annual average hours of sunshine ranges from 2500 3000 with an average temperature above 21 degrees Celsius. The report released by the German Federal Enterprise for International Cooperation (GIZ) in June 2017 estimated the technical potential for wind and solar energy in Viet Nam at 215,000 MW and 340,000MW, respectively. Furthermore, as a major producer of agricultural products, Viet Nam is also rich in biomass. With such immense potential, Viet Nam is well positioned to strongly develop renewable energy and gradually reduce the use of fossil fuels. Viet Nam has been implementing the Strategy of Renewable Energy Development to 2030 with vision until 2050. Accordingly, Viet Nam engages all social resources for investment in renewable energy development, encourages the development and use of renewable energy, and strives to raise the share of renewable energy in the national energy mix. A number of concrete objectives of this Strategy are as follows: (i) reduce GHG emissions, as pledged under the Paris COP21 Agreement, by 5 per cent by 2020 and, with international assistance and support, by 25 per cent by 2030; (ii) further reduce the use of coal and petroleum products by 40 million tons and 3.7 million tons, respectively, by 2030; (iii) increase the electricity output produced from renewable sources from approximately 58 billion kWh in 2015 to 101 billion kWh by 2020, and 186 billion kWh by 2030; (iv) increase the rate of households owning solar energy equipment from 4.3 per cent in 2015 to approximately 12 per cent and 26 per cent by 2020 and 2030, respectively; (v) increase the biofuel output to meet about 13 per cent of the transportation demand by 2030. To this end, the Vietnamese Government has put in place incentive mechanisms and policies with regards to land, taxation, pricing and public-private partnerships (PPP) so as to promote investment from within and outside the country into the development of renewable energy, including solar power projects. According to decisions by the Government, solar power projects (i) are eligible for import duty waivers for a number of items constituting the projects fixed assets; (ii) may be considered for exemption or reduction of land use fees, land rent, water surface rent (ii) electricity tariff can be adjusted with fluctuations of the VND/USD exchange rate. The Government is considering the possibility of adjusting the tariff for electricity produced from wind energy in order to encourage investment in the years ahead. In addition to renewable sources, Viet Nam is also blessed with mineral wealth, including rare earth. Viet Nam ranks among the top three in the world with estimated reserve of more than 20 million tons of rare earth. We wish to cooperate in research and development and transfer of advanced technologies in mining and in-depth processing of rare earth in order to create high value-added and environment-friendly products. It is important that we will not pursue economic growth at the expense of the environment. On the subject of clean energy, how could strategic investment in renewables help Viet Nam both offset its falling oil and gas reserves and develop cleaner energy projection? And is Viet Nam looking to therefore attract more investment from G7 countries, either in renewable energy or more generally? If so, how is Viet Nam planning to do this? The Vietnamese government has put in place mechanisms and policies to encourage investors from within and outside of the country to invest and do business in renewable energy on the basis of harmonizing the interests of the state, the investors and the community. Viet Nam is enjoying effective cooperation with many countries, including G7 members, in the field of renewable energy development. In fact, G7 countries are implementing major renewable energy projects in Viet Nam. I can cite a few examples: the Mui Dinh wind power plant (total output 37.6 MW) worth VN 1,272 billion, developed by Germanys EAB; Tuy Phong wind power plant (output 30 MW) using German technologies; Phu Lac wind power plant (output 24 MW), using German and Danish technologies and finance. We stand ready to cooperate with and facilitate all partners in this regard. I trust that the renewable energy market in Viet Nam may offer immense opportunities for G7 investors, who have strong financial position, technological know-hows and experience, to become strategic partners in the journey. She will assume her duties on Friday, June 8. The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has appointed Oksana Markarova acting Minister of Finance. Markarova was a first deputy finance minister under the leadership of Oleksandr Danyliuk, who was earlier today sacked from post by Ukraine's Parliament. According to the report on the government website, the corresponding decision to appoint an acting minister was passed at an emergency Cabinet meeting Thursday. The report says Markarova will assume duties on Friday, June 8. Read alsoUkraine's parliament sacks finance minister As UNIAN reported earlier, the Verkhovna Rada on June 7 backed an appeal by Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman calling on MPs to dismiss Finance Minister Oleksandr Danyliuk. At a government meeting May 23, the minister reacted sharply to the fact that the issue of an appointment to a deputy minister's post of Yana Buhrimova, whom he had been promoting for about two years, was off the agenda. After Danyliuk in a letter complained about the situation to G7 Ambassadors, claiming that he was being forced to give in to the appointment to his deputy's post of someone from the president's team. Danyliuk took up his post in April 2016 after Volodymyr Groysman was appointed prime minister. Volodymyr Vasylenko, a NABU Auditor appointed today by the Verkhovna Rada, an expert in international law, honorary lawyer of Ukraine, Doctor of Law, told UNIAN about the purpose of the audit of anti-graft bodies and his mission as an auditor. After the creation of new anti-corruption bodies in Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada, Cabinet of Ministers and President of Ukraine each had to appoint members to the Commission for external control over the effectiveness of performance of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine. However, the election of a Commission member by the Verkhovna Rada was several times disrupted. Finally, in June last year, the EU expressed concern over the politicization of these appointments. And only now did the people's deputies finally manage to elect their NABU auditor. UNIAN talked to Mr Vasylenko following a successful parliamentary vote. On Thursday, the Verkhovna Rada appointed you member of the Commission for external control to independently assess (audit) the effectiveness of NABU. Should we congratulate you or say we feel sorry for you? This is exactly the way you should pose your question. Probably, I'd rather you say you're sorry for me than greet me. But why? This is not a creative kind of work. What is my goal? To see what's going on and to somehow help avoid such hostile competition between various law enforcement anti-corruption bodies. You mean, putting a stop to squabbles between NABU and the Special Anti-corruption Prosecutor's Office we all witnessed last year? Yes, that, too. What is the role of auditors in general and what is the ultimate goal of auditing NABU? It is difficult to answer in one word. I would say that my interest is to make everything so that NABU functions properly and so that there are no artificial complaints regarding its performance. On the other hand, so that NABU activities take place within the framework of law and remain effective. That is, I see my task in assessing the activities of this institution. For example, if we take police or courts, they very often act not as law enforcers but as law violators, because they fail to act within the framework of the Constitution and other legislation... NABU is called to defend the law, therefore, its activities must remain within the legal framework. That is, the agency must be operationally and institutionally independent. And this is one of the tasks of the auditors - to determine whether it always acts as an institutional and operationally independent body. After the creation of anti-corruption bodies, the public expected high-profile verdicts. But over these few years, there were no high-profile cases, no high-profile sentences. Moreover, some NABU targets are now appealing the agency's moves with European courts. And what if decisions are not in favor of NABU, and Ukraine, as a result? I see it this way: if any law enforcement agency complies with the laws - and our laws are in line with international standards - then the problem should not arise at all. But if a law enforcement agency violates the law, there arise problems associated with decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. Did you track practices of foreign anti-corruption agencies? Romania is often cited as an example, but there is no special audit for their anti-corruption bureau. It's just that the leadership of that agency releases a public report once a year... I have not studied these issues. But in general, in Romania, they decided that they would do it this way and that this would be enough. In Ukraine, they decided differently. Incidentally, our law also says that the NABU leadership shall report every six months. And this report must be approved by the Verkhovna Rada. In addition to that, their work must be controlled by auditors. In other words, the Commission's audit results will be passed to the Verkhovna Rada, right? Yes, at least, that's what the law says. That is, if there are some issues in NABU's work, if its leadership should be dismissed, the final decision is is still to be taken by the Verkhovna Rada, is that correct? I see it this way. I believe that in the NABU cases and their investigation must not see any selective and politicized approach. The case must not be opened to get a bribe or exercise political influence. Are there any deadlines for the audit? After all, it's only three people who will have to track hundreds of NABU cases... In accordance with the law, the Commission is elected for a year. That is, logic suggests that it should review the activities of NABU throughout this year. But now the situation suggests that you have to deal with cases that have amassed over several years Today's situation is anything but normal. That's because formally, NABU began its work in April 2015, and now it's already 2018. Of course, they made their reports, but nobody really controlled them and nobody checked anything. Therefore, there is a very practical question: from which period are we supposed to conduct an audit? There are many cases there. According to their statistics, it's nearly 700 of them. For a qualified and diligent analysis, a year won't be enough. Therefore, it seems to me that it is necessary that a longer term be set for reviewing the NABU work. That's the first problem. Another problem is that, unfortunately, the law on NABU does not specify how our activities are provided for - that is, how the Commission should work, and with whom, since three persons cannot carry that burden by themselves. We need to hire staff, contracted specialists - to perform certain tasks on reviewing cases, and so on. And how should these problems be addressed? I hope that amendments to the law on NABU will be made and approved in the near future and all these issues will be resolved. Looking back at these three years of work of anti-corruption agencies in Ukraine, how would you evaluate it at the beginning of your audit mission? I cannot give an assessment right now, because I only know about the NABU work from mass media. I never met their leadership and staff, and I was never briefed on any of their cases. I should look into this all and review everything specifically to build my conclusions. There are no grounds to do any assessment now by just looking at the blank ceiling. Have you met any of your new colleagues before? Do you think you'll get along well? The Cabinet appointed my colleague, international lawyer Mykhailo Buromensky. We are not friends, but, let's say, we're from the same field, so we know each other as experts. And we still don't know whom the president will appoint. Obviously, we will have to agree on our methods of work, divide functions, and so on. However, I am up for a constructive work. I believe that there should be no competition, there should be cooperation. Tetiana Urbanskaya If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+Enter He left a suicide note. Chernihiv region's police have named suicide as a major theory behind the death of Ukrainian film director Leonid Kanter, 36, a co-director of the 'Myth' documentary (2018). "We are considering the degree of [his] gunshot wound. There is a suicide note, other evidence indicating that the man has committed suicide," chief of the media liaison office of the National Police's main department in Chernihiv region Serhiy Bryl said. The incident happened in a village in Chernihiv region, where the film maker lived, on the evening of June 4. Police reported that the man had a gunshot wound in the jaw. A rifle was found near the body. Speaker for the National Police Yaroslav Trakalo said that the police had preliminarily opened a criminal case under Part 1 of Article 115 of the Criminal Code (homicide). Kanter lived in the village of Obyrok in Chernihiv region. He was the founder and producer of Obyrok Art Island and the organizer of ethnic festivals, such as Mama Africa Fest, Khlib ("Bread"). Kanter raised three children with his wife. He served in the army as a volunteer of the 2nd Battalion of the National Guard of Ukraine in August 2014. In 2015, he filmed a documentary about the Heavenly Hundred Heroes, 'The Ukrainians (Volunteers of God's Hundred).' Read alsoSuicide rate surges in Kyiv National Police In 2018, he co-directed 'Myth: What Has Wassyl Slipak Died For,' a story about Ukrainian-born French opera singer Wassyl Slipak who died in the Ukrainian-Russian war in Donbas. He actively promoted his films abroad. He was also a traveler and a writer. He is said to have started work on a new film, 'Human with a Stool' by his book with the same title (2014), co-authored with Pavlo Solodko, about adventures of Ukrainian street artists who had to carry four stools from their kitchen to the four oceans. Her fame transcended the Soviet era, and her works influenced a new generation of Russian and Ukrainian filmmakers. Kira Muratova, one of the Russian-speaking world's most influential filmmakers, has died. She was 83. Muratova died in Odesa, Ukraine, where she had lived and worked for many years, her husband, Yevgeny Golubenko, told the Ukrainian news portal Buro. Friends on social media said she had been ill for some time, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Read alsoPEN America demands Sentsov's immediate release A director and screenwriter, Muratova earned plaudits at home and abroad for her fearless work, which included critically acclaimed features such as The Asthenic Syndrome, a dark satire of Soviet society revolving around a student with acute melancholia. It received a special jury prize at the 1990 Berlin Film Festival. Writing on his Facebook page, producer Yura Minzianoff recalled screenings at Moscow's famous VGIK film school of one of her early films, Dolgie Provody (Long Wires). It was made in 1971 but not honored at Russia's domestic Oscars, the NIKA Awards, until 1988. "With Kira's passing," he wrote, "an entire epoch ends. I remember how her students cried over Long Wires." Born in a part of Soviet Bessarabia that is now Moldavia, Muratova graduated from VGIK in 1959 and went on to work with some of the Soviet Union's most noteworthy actors and entertainers, including Vladimir Vysotsky, theater director Oleg Tabakov and actress, director and screenwriter Renata Litvinova. Her last film, Eternal Homecoming a love triangle about old school friends who run into each another and find they share a love for the same woman screened at the Rome Film Festival in 2012. Muratova's international honors included the American Cinema Foundation's Freedom Award in 2000, an honorary Golden Leopard from the Locarno festival in 1994 and Golden Lilies from Germany's goEast Festival in 2001 for Second Class Citizens and in 2005 for The Tuner. "Kira Muratova was probably not so popular with the Russian public, but film critics and people who love and know cinema consider her an outstanding director and author," Russian distributor and sales agent Raisa Fomina told The Hollywood Reporter. "She was a rare example of honesty, artistic independence and dedication to her profession for all her life in cinema. She did not make many films during her life, and she had to overcome so many obstacles, which the state and censorship created. But if you saw her films, you will never forget them." A clinic in Ukraine is doing the seemingly impossible and using the DNA of three different people to create babies. Valery Zukin, director of the Nadiya Clinic, in Kyiv, says the process has helped several women, who have been infertile for years, finally conceive by inserting the parents' DNA into the egg of a donor. Zukin told NPR in the first ever inside look at the clinic that, so far, four children have been produced this way and three women are currently pregnant, as reported by the Daily Mail. Additionally, he says that several women from around the world, including Brazil and Israel, are going through the process. However, the clinic's work is contentious and many geneticists and ethicists worry the procedure could result in new, inheritable diseases or that it could lead to 'designer babies' - parents who want to genetically modify their future children. The procedure starts with fertilizing the egg of the woman with the sperm of her male partner to create an embryo. Then the egg of another woman, who was paid to donate her eggs, is fertilized with the same man's sperm to create a second embryo. Both embryos are put under a microscope and, from there, the scientists have 15 minutes to complete the process without risking damage. Carefully, a small glass needle is inserted into the fertilized egg of the mother and her male partner. Read alsoChildren's Day: Ukraine's birth rate at 1,276 newborns daily The scientists extract the future parents' DNA and then they do the same thing with the fertilized egg from the female donor. All that is left behind in the second egg is something known as mitochondrial DNA. Mitochondria known as the 'powerhouse of the cell' is like a battery that provides energy to the cells. Most DNA is found within the nucleus, or center, of a cell, but less than one percent is found in the mitochondria, which is passed from mother to child through the egg. However, if the mother has damaged mitochondria, she could pass rare but serious, mitochondrial diseases that could cause muscle weakness, vision and/or hearing loss, and organ failure. In other cases, damaged mitochondria could be what is preventing a woman from getting pregnant. However, the procedure allows the damaged mitochondria to be replaced with the healthy mitochondria of the donor. So the DNA of the couple trying to have a baby is transferred to the donor embryo. Once this process is complete, scientists at the Nadiya clinic will transfer the embryos carrying the DNA of three people into the womb of the woman who wants to get pregnant. In total, 21 women have undergone this procedure. The clinic says 14 transfers were unsuccessful likely due to the age of the women trying to get pregnant. The women who have had babies or are pregnant are younger but were unable to produce viable embryos, according to clinic staffers. It's a very expensive procedure. While women in Ukraine pay around $8,000, foreigners pay close to $15,000. Zukin has helped form a company, Darwin Life-Nadiya, with a New York clinic to market the service to American women who want to travel to Ukraine to try the procedure. The New York clinic, New Hope Fertility Clinic, is run by Dr. John Zhang. He made headlines in 2016 after he delivered a baby that was conceived via this three-parent process. The mother of the baby, who was born in April 2016, had Leigh syndrome, a genetic disorder affecting the nervous system, which she didn't want to pass down through her own mitochondrial DNA. The procedure is banned in the U.S. but, because Dr. Zhang performed part of the procedure in Mexico, he did not face any criminal charges but was told to stop promoting it. The FDA reprimanded Dr. Zhang last August, saying he was continuing to market the procedure, particularly as 'the first proven treatment for certain genetic disorders'. Marcy Darnovsky, head of the Center for Genetics and Society, a U.S.-based watchdog group, told NPR that she fears a slight mistake could result in creating a new, inheritable disease. She is also worried the procedure could lead to parents who want to genetically modify their children for other reasons. 'What we're seeing is a fast slide down a very slippery slope toward designer babies,' Darnovsky said. 'We could see parents feeling eager to give their children traits like greater strength, needs less sleep. Some people are saying that: "Yes, there are genes for IQ and we could have smarter babies".' Five members of the Russian occupation forces were killed and another three were wounded, according to Ukrainian intelligence reports. Russia's hybrid military forces mounted 25 attacks on Ukrainian army positions in Donbas in the past 24 hours, with two Ukrainian soldiers reported as killed in action (KIA) and another two as wounded in action (WIA). Read alsoOSCE's Apakan: Security situation around Donetsk Filtration Station remains critical "The Russian occupation forces were active near the town of Maryinka, and the villages of Krymske, Novozvanivka, Opytne, Vodiane and Shyrokyne at night," the press center of Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation (JFO) said in an update on Facebook as of 07:00 Kyiv time on June 7, 2018. According to intelligence reports, the enemy also suffered losses: five soldiers were killed and another three were wounded. "There was escalation in Luhansk region this night the invaders opened fire five times from 120mm and 82mm mortars near the villages of Krymske and Novotoshkivske. The situation is under the Joints Forces' control. No casualties among our troops have been reported since the beginning of the day," the press center said. Two enemy army corps belonging to the 8th army are trying to block the advance of the Ukrainian troops. Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksandr Turchynov says the Russian General Staff has changed the tactics of waging war in Donbas. Read alsoJFO: Ukraine reports 2 KIA's, 2 WIA's amid 25 enemy attacks in past day "I want to emphasize that the tactics of war in Donbas, which is being implemented by the Russian General Staff, have changed. The two army corps belonging to the 8th army are carrying out functions similar to those performed by [the Soviet] penal battalions amid the Second World War," Turchynov said during the panel discussion at an expert forum in Kyiv, an UNIAN correspondent reported. "Their main task is to block the advance of our troops at the cost of their own lives before the arrival of the [enemy's] main forces," he said. NATO allies addressed Russian attempts to influence both allied and partner countries, using a range of military and non-military techniques. NATO told Russia to put a stop to its "malign activities" against the alliance as the two sides met Thursday for their first political talks since the nerve agent attack on a former Kremlin double agent in Britain. The 29 members of the Alliance delivered a "strong, unified message" to Russia, U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison said, to end its interference in Ukraine and drop its campaign of disinformation and cyber attacks, according to Military.com. Relations between NATO and Moscow have plunged to post-Cold War lows in recent years over Russia's involvement in the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine, its suspected attempt to assassinate former spy Sergei Skripal in the British city of Salisbury and what the Alliance says is a sustained campaign of destabilization waged by the Kremlin. "In a meeting today @NATO, Allies shared a strong, unified message to Russia: Stop interfering in Ukraine & cease malign activities that seek to divide our Alliance," Bailey Hutchison said in a tweet. Read alsoU.S. pushes NATO to ready more forces to deter Russian threat The three-hour meeting was the seventh of the NATO-Russia Council (NRC) in the last two years, held for the first time at the alliance's brand-new headquarters in Brussels, which a NATO diplomat described as an "open exchange." "During today's meeting, NATO allies addressed Russian attempts to influence both allied and partner countries, using a range of military and non-military techniques," the diplomat said. "NATO allies expressed their deep concern over a wide range of issues, including cyber-attacks, disinformation campaigns and interference in national elections." NATO also tackled the Russian delegation, led by their acting representative to the alliance Yuri Gorlach, over the March poisoning of Skripal and his daughter Yulia with the Soviet-developed nerve agent Novichok. The Skripal poisoning prompted NATO to expel seven Russian diplomats as part of a coordinated international response to the attack, which alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg said fitted a "dangerous pattern of behavior" from Moscow. Read alsoNATO war games: 18,000 troops in eastern flank maneuvers media NATO's Baltic states -- Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania -- have complained for years of sustained Russian "hybrid warfare" attacks against them -- military, financial and political manipulation backed by computer hacking and propaganda. There have also been allegations of Russia seeking to influence political debate and even elections in Western countries through "fake news" and manipulative use of social media platforms. "NATO allies urged Russia to desist from further attempts to interfere in our nations and destabilise our political system and social order," the NATO diplomat said. Read alsoNATO's Stoltenberg shows no support for Italy's idea to lift Russia sanctions Last week NATO and the European Union urged Moscow to take responsibility for the 2014 downing of flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine, after international investigators concluded that a missile that destroyed the plane came from a Russian military brigade. The NRC met regularly until the Ukraine crisis plunged relations between the West and Moscow into a deep freeze in 2014, but the meetings resumed in 2016 after months of debate within the alliance over whether it would send the wrong signal to Moscow. Turkey attracted $2.2 billion in investments in the first quarter of 2018, according to Investment Support and Promotion Agency (ISPAT) President Arda Ermut Thursday ANKARA, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th Jun, 2018 ) :Turkey attracted $2.2 billion in investments in the first quarter of 2018, according to Investment Support and Promotion Agency (ISPAT) President Arda Ermut Thursday. Speaking at Anadolu Agency's Finance Desk in Istanbul, Ermut said Turkey also attracted one percent of all foreign direct investments in the world in the last 15 years. "We do not see a perceptual disorder in investors who invest directly in our country," he said. He said investors' perception was focused in the long term and Turkey's performance in the last 15 years had influenced this result. "Based on this performance, there are confidence and long-term investments in our country," he added. He highlighted that Turkey will be more positive in the second half of the current year in terms of investments. "73 percent of all investments in the 2002-2010 period were in the services sectors, but in the last period investments in the industry and energy sector have been rising," Ermut said. Turkey, which attracted $15 billion investments till 2002, has now attracted $194 billion investments since 2002, he said. He said six of the top 10 investor countries come from the EU but investments from the far east, central Asia, and Gulf countries were increasing. "This situation is a positive development to reduce Turkey's fragility," he added. He said the country continues to attract investments despite problems such as the 2016 defeated coup. "57 percent of investments in 2016 came after July," he said. Meetings of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and Turkish ministers with investors abroad produced positive results, Ermut said. Mentioning credit rating agencies' credit scores on Turkey, he highlighted: "Their influence on investors is limited. Turkey's growth in the last 15 years with records bring into doubt these agencies' scores." He also said investors, who avoided Turkey in the last 15 years depending on credit rating agencies, incurred losses. He said Turkey took several steps to reduce the current deficit and increase savings such as incentives for the individual annuity insurance system and decreasing imports. The 135-billion-Turkish lira ($33.6 billion) incentive package, which will support 23 projects by 19 selected Turkish firms, was revealed in April. It is expected that the incentive package will narrow Turkey's current deficit by nearly $19 billion as they are expected to boost exports by $6.3 billion and cut imports by $12.3 billion. Touching on early elections in Turkey, he said the fact that the election was made in a short time and that the investment was weak in the summer period was positive in terms of investments. Early presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey are scheduled for June 24. Turkey needs to continue with growth and dynamism, and it requires to increase value-added production and technology, he said. "We prioritize investors who are reducing our imports and raising value-added production; Turkey needs to attract investments in petrochemical, information technologies, energy and logistics sectors in the coming period." (@FahadShabbir) City Traffic Police Rawalpindi has launched a grand operation against one wheeler's and registered 33 FIR's against the violators on Wednesday. RAWALPINDI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Jun, 2018 ) :City Traffic Police Rawalpindi has launched a grand operation against one wheeler's and registered 33 FIR's against the violators on Wednesday. Chief Traffic Officer (CTO) Capt Bilal Ifthikar said special drive was launched to curb this dangerous activity under section 99/A, According to a statement issued here on Wednesday. He said that traffic police officers have been directed to keep a vigilant eye on the one-wheelers so that action in accordance with the law could be taken against them. The traffic officers and circle heads have been directed to take stern action against the one-wheelers without discrimination and no one would be spared if found involved in this dangerous game. He urged parents to come forward and play an active role to curbthe activity as one wheeling, adding that rash and negligent driving are themain causes of fatal accidents. HA NOI Deputy Prime Minister Vuong inh Hue yesterday took the floor to answer National Assembly (NA) deputies questions on several socio-economic issues. This was the first time Deputy PM Hue had fielded queries from lawmakers since assuming office in 2016. Special economic zones The three proposed special economic zones (SEZs) Van on, Bac Van Phong and Phu Quoc received particular attention from lawmakers, with questions ranging from human resources development, leadership selection, implications on the planning of seven economic regions and national security. Deputy PM Hue said special zones mean the officials must also be special. He said the three-step process to choose the leader of the SEZ nomination by the provincial chairman, assessment by the home affairs ministry, voting by the Peoples Council and final approval from the Prime Minister would be sufficient to select a qualified and virtuous leader to guide the success of the SEZ. Regarding questions on the realistic effectiveness of SEZs to the Vietnamese economy as well as national security and the countrys sovereignty concerns regarding SEZs, Deputy PM said the zones are meant as a place to test out experimental policies. He also affirmed that Ha Noi and HCM City would continue to be the economic locomotives of the country and receive focal resources support, whether or not the proposed SEZs come into existence. NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan said SEZs laws are still being studied and asked unsatisfied deputies to allow the Deputy PM to answer later via documents. Cryptocurrency Deputies asked Deputy PM Hue on the Governments plans for managing virtual currency, to which he said the State Bank has announced bitcoin as an illegitimate currency in Viet Nam. However, Deputy PM admitted there is a robust market for bitcoin transactions in the country, therefore ministries and agencies must study international practices to implement reasonable policies. Related mining rigs importation in the country, with the latest data from finance ministry showing that 15,600 rigs have been imported into Viet Nam, Deputy PM said the Government is considering whether to ban the import of cryptocurrency mining machines, but only if a legal basis for such ban could be constituted. Other issues Deputy Hue also delivered a report on the economy in the first five-months of 2018, affirming that the overall trend of positive growth is continuing and the macro-economy remains stable, with a strong US$3.4 billion export-import surplus, a 9.8 per cent increase in foreign direct investment and stable growth in all sectors. However, he admitted there are still causes for concern, including the slowing of industrial production, underwhelming progress in administrative reforms and sluggish budget disbursement in key projects. Other issues raised at the Q&A session include transparency in public-private partnership projects, anti-corruption efforts, increasing retirement age, credit priorities for the climate change adaptation programmes in Mekong Delta and tackling fake and overpriced medicine. Deputy PM Hue was the last cabinet member to participate in the Q&A session covering four topics (traffic and transport, environment and natural resources, education and training, labour and social affairs) in the ongoing 14th National Assemblys meeting. The Q&A format, restricting the time for questions down to one minute each and answers down to three minutes each, proved to be effective and was appreciated by both NA deputies and citizens alike, said NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan during her closing speech. 250 deputies questioned Government members during the three-day session. VNS (@FahadShabbir) Ambassador of China to Pakistan Yao Jing has acknowledged that the valuable services rendered by Pak-China Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCJCCI) to bridge the communication gap between China and Pakistan would go a long way to strengthen economic relations of the two friendly nations. Islamabad, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th Jun, 2018) : Ambassador of China to Pakistan Yao Jing has acknowledged that the valuable services rendered by Pak-China Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCJCCI) to bridge the communication gap between China and Pakistan would go a long way to strengthen economic relations of the two friendly nations. Speaking at a meeting held at the embassy premises with PCJCCI President Mr. S.M. Naveed and Secretary General Mr. Salahuddin Hanif on Thursday, Chinese Envoy Yao Jing extremely applauded the initiatives of promoting Chinese Language and culture, video conferencing facility and especially the efforts to support the visit of business delegations coming from China and vice versa. He hoped that the enhanced communication and frequent exchange of trade delegations between the two countries would prove to be highly beneficial in achieving the ultimate goal of mutual prosperity and economic development. The Chinese Ambassador highly appreciated the forthcoming visit of delegation comprising Executive Committee Members of PCJCCI to Beijing, Guangzhou and Chengdu and offered his support to make it even more fruitful so this can be utilized for business matchmaking and arranging meetings with concerned business counterparts in China. PCJCCI Chief S.M. Naveed, while exchanging his views with the Ambassador, requested preferential treatment to PCJCCI on visa issuance for China as the chamber works on all Pakistan basis and caters the requirements of businessmen across the board which Ambassador Yao Jing supported. S.M. Naveed reiterated that Pak- China Chamber provides one stop solution to Chinese delegates which includes but not limited to facilitating Visa issuance, security provision, business to business, business to government meetings, industrial visits, SEZ, Providing awareness regarding taxation policies, SECP formalities, banking network, prefeasibility reports and market assessment report. The Ambassador highly appreciated the efforts of PCJCCI. During the Course of discussion, the President PCJCCI also proposed to support the restarting of operations of Cathay Pacific airlines which was ceased in 2014 as this is the only airline which caters to twenty destinations from Pakistan to China while other airlines presently operating China Pakistan route only caters to 5 or 6 destinations. Expressing gratitude to the Ambassador Yao Jing for an in-depth discussion, President S.M. Naveed expressed hope that this meeting will prove fruitful in further promoting private companies partnership/ joint ventures and strengthening Sino Pak bilateral ties. (@ChaudhryMAli88) Pakistan signed here a MoU for launching the Media Summit Initiative of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to strengthen media cooperation among the member States Beijing, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Jun, 2018) : Pakistan signed here a MoU for launching the Media Summit Initiative of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to strengthen media cooperation among the member States. The signing ceremony was held on the occasion of Ist Media Summit of the SCO's member States. The summit of the SCO, was proposed by President Xi Jinping a year ago. In his congratulatory message, he called upon the media outlets to promote the Shanghai spirit and serve as the pioneer for practical cooperation within the SCO's framework. Xi said media outlets should also serve as the communicator for people's friendship. China stands firm in supporting the development of the SCO, and is willing to make steps forward hand-in-hand with all parties to develop a more closely related regional community with a shared future, and to push forward the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, he added. During the Summit, the Media's representatives of SCO's full member states, observers and dialogue partners pledged to work jointly to promote peace, stability and economic prosperity in the region through news exchange arrangements. The summit was organized by China Public Diplomacy Association, Beijing Municipal Information Office and Radio Beijing Corporation. Pakistan was represented at the summit by the senior official of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Shafqat Jalil and Pakistan's ambassador to China Masood Khalid, besides some members of Pakistani media. Shafqat Jalil assured the SCO's States that Pakistani media will always be on forefront in promoting the cooperative partnership to achieve their common goals within the organization's framework. He lauded the China's leadership role in spreading the message of peace, tranquility and win-win cooperative partnership World over. While opening the summit, Huang Kunming, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee emphasized that the SCO countries should strengthen unity and coordination and contribute more "SCO wisdom and solutions" for long-term regional stability and prosperity. Huang asserted that the media outlets should build up the strength for mutual cooperation to build a shared communication network, while promoting the "Shanghai Spirit", SCO Secretary-General Rashid Alimov also spoke on the occasion, highlighting the importance of media's role in promoting the "Shanghai Spirit". He underlined the need of pushing forward cooperation in the media sector to develop a community of shared destiny and to serve the common aspirations of their people. A series of cooperation agreements were signed between governments and media organizations of the SCO on the sidelines of the Media summit, including one between Independent News Pakistan (INP) and Radio Beijing Corporation. Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa and United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday held a phone conversation to talk about various matters, including strategy in South Asia. Washington, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th Jun, 2018) : Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa and United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday held a phone conversation to talk about various matters, including strategy in South Asia. In the call made by Pompeo, the two leaders discussed ways to advance the bilateral relations between Pakistan and the US, the Department of State confirmed. According to Heather Nauert, the spokesperson for the US State Department, other topics included "the need for political reconciliation in Afghanistan and the importance of targeting all militant and terrorist groups in South Asia without distinction". The US-Pakistan linkages have been tense as of late, and aid that Washington sends to Islamabad has been suspended as well, primarily after the Trump administration accused the latter of providing safe havens to terrorist outfits. The US has also demanded that Pakistan take action against the Haqqani network as well as the Taliban, both of whom threaten and attack the US soldiers in Afghanistan. Pakistan, however, has denied all such allegations, maintaining that it would continue to wage its war against terrorism. Mid-May, the two countries imposed travel restrictions on each other's diplomats working at the respective embassies. Pompeo, in this regard, had told lawmakers two weeks back that officials at the US embassy in Islamabad were not being treated well. Pakistan, in return, had offered a fast-track mechanism to address any complaints and asked US to discuss issues of mutual concern. It is noteworthy that this is the first time since travel restrictions were imposed that a high-level engagement has taken place. (@rukhshanmir) China Wednesday called upon relevant parties of Iranian nuclear issue to fully implement their obligations to help maintain the international nuclear non-proliferation system and peace and stability in the Middle East as it is in common interest of the international community. BEIJING, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Jun, 2018 ) :China Wednesday called upon relevant parties of Iranian nuclear issue to fully implement their obligations to help maintain the international nuclear non-proliferation system and peace and stability in the middle East as it is in common interest of the international community. "Under the current situation, China hopes that all parties concerned can proceed from the long-term and overall interests, continue to maintain and implement comprehensive agreements, and fully implement their agreement obligations. This helps maintain the international nuclear non-proliferation system and peace and stability in the Middle East, and it is in the common interest of the international community," Chinese foreign ministry's spokesperson Hua Chunying said during her regular press briefing held here while responding to a question regarding announcement of Iranian government for upgrading uranium enrichment capacity. When asked regarding the possibility of a discussion on the Iranian nuclear issue at the forthcoming summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, she said as, for the comprehensive agreement on the Iranian nuclear issue, China has repeatedly stated its position. "We believe that all parties should fulfill their due responsibilities and obligations and maintain the solemnity and authority of the agreement," she added. Hua said as, for the SCO Qingdao Summit, the Chinese side hopes that all parties will focus on the theme of the summit and focus on pragmatic cooperation in all fields under the new situation of the SCO, so that the SCO will be able to display new vigor and vitality in Qingdao. Explaining China's position on Iran's accession to the SCO, she said the SCO has consistently adhered to the principle of openness and actively carried out foreign exchanges. After India and Pakistan became member states, the SCO's cooperation was even broader and its international influence was further enhanced, she added. The spokesperson said at present, more and more countries want to deepen their contacts and cooperation with the SCO. This fully reflects the strong attraction of the SCO. The SCO member states attach great importance to the wishes of relevant countries and will earnestly study it in accordance with the provisions of the relevant documents of the SCO and the principle of consensus, she added. While commenting on a report that Nepalese government may have decided to cancel cooperation with Chinese companies on a hydropower project, she said the report is not true. The project is a commercial project, and Chinese related companies are negotiating with Nepal on specific issues related to economic feasibility and other cooperation. Ethiopia's surprise declaration that it will implement a nearly 20-year-old peace agreement with its neighbour Eritrea could spell an end to a long cold war that has damaged both countries, analysts say. Addis Ababa, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th Jun, 2018 ) :Ethiopia's surprise declaration that it will implement a nearly 20-year-old peace agreement with its neighbour Eritrea could spell an end to a long cold war that has damaged both countries, analysts say. Reconciliation, they say, could transform both nations' politics and economies -- but it first faces a mighty hurdle of animosity between the two neighbours. "This is a really important first step," said Dan Connell, a researcher on Eritrea at Boston University. "We should welcome the announcement with a degree of caution," said Rashid Abdi, Horn of Africa director at the International Crisis Group think tank in Nairobi. Once a part of Ethiopia, Eritrea fought a three-decade independence war against Addis Ababa. The two then fought again, from 1998-2000 over a disputed border, and tensions have persisted after Ethiopia refused to accept the 2002 ruling of a UN-backed boundary commission that divided up contested territory. On Tuesday, Ethiopia's new prime minister Abiy Ahmed -- a former army officer who fought against Eritrea -- declared the country would abide by the accord, handing back the occupied frontier town of Badme. Eritrea is yet to respond to the announcement while Ethiopia has not said whether its troops have begun their withdrawal from Badme. - Isolated, authoritarian - Eritrea's president, Isaias Afwerki, has long justified restrictive rule, punishing military conscription and the jailing of dissidents as necessities to defend itself against its much larger neighbour. His authoritarian leadership has left his country diplomatically isolated and triggered an exodus of Eritreans making the dangerous migration to Europe. The Ethiopian move, "pushes the ball into Eritrea's court and actually puts pressure on Eritrea," said Abdi. It could in fact undermine Isaias' rule. "They've evolved a system of governance [in Eritrea] that has depended almost entirely on a national emergency," said Connell. Supporters of Eritrea say it was doubly betrayed, by Ethiopia refusing to accept the boundary ruling and the international community -- chiefly the US -- failing to hold Addis Ababa to account. The tiny Red Sea nation was once part of Ethiopia, comprising its entire coastline, until 1993 when it voted to secede, rendering Ethiopia landlocked. Not long after, a disagreement over the demarcation of their shared border sparked a war that killed around 80,000 people. A UN-backed boundary commission ruled in Eritrea's favour in 2002 but Ethiopia ignored the findings. Abiy's surprise announcement was unanimously sanctioned by 36 top officials of the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), Connell said. A Western diplomat said Eritrea was not consulted. Since taking office in April, Abiy has been under pressure to maintain years of rapid economic growth while addressing unrest over the EPRDF's authoritarian one-party rule. This week, as well as announcing the unilateral detente with Eritrea, Abiy lifted the latest state of emergency imposed to quell anti-government protests, and permitted for the first time foreign investment in key state-run industries, including its sole telecom company, in a bid to address rising debt and a shortage of foreign exchange. - 'More than lines on a map' - Since the war with Eritrea, Ethiopia has relied on Djibouti's port most of its imports and exports, and has imposed a costly militarisation of its northern frontier, which local leaders complain is hampering development. Abiy's "internal reforms will be incomplete while a frozen conflict [with Eritrea] remains in place," Abdi said. But announcing compliance with 2000 peace deal and 2002 boundary ruling, and implementing them, are very different things, Connell said. Under the UN ruling, Ethiopian troops must pull out of the disputed area and neighbouring communities will find themselves marooned in either country. Gebru Asrat, who served as president of Ethiopia's Tigray state during the war, said the hostilities are about more than lines on a map. He traced the conflict's roots to Eritrea's 1997 decision to introduce its own Currency, enraging Addis Ababa and complicating trade. "Future negotiations must address this important issue," said Gebru, who now leads an opposition party. "Otherwise sustainable peace may not prevail in the region by ceding land to Eritrea."Lea Brilmayer, a law professor at Yale University in the US argued Eritrea's case before the boundary commission and is sceptical of Ethiopia's announcement. "There have been previous occasions when it seemed that things were definitively solved, only to find out that Ethiopia had a rather eccentric and self-serving idea about what it meant to treat the decision as final and binding," she said. The remains of a Lithuanian national hero who led a guerrilla war against the Soviet occupation after World War II have been identified, authorities said Thursday, solving a 60-year-old riddle about his fate. Vilnius, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th Jun, 2018 ) :The remains of a Lithuanian national hero who led a guerrilla war against the Soviet occupation after World War II have been identified, authorities said Thursday, solving a 60-year-old riddle about his fate. Vilnius University said in a statement that a DNA test had confirmed that the remains found earlier this year in a Vilnius cemetery did, in fact, belong to Adolfas Ramanauskas, who operated under the nom de guerre, Vanagas. He was one of the most senior commanders of the 1944-1953 Lithuanian partisan resistance movement against Soviet terror, mass deportations to Siberia and forced conscription into the Red Army. Enjoying broad support in the countryside, it numbered around 20,000 "forest brothers" in its initial stages, but that number quickly fell to 5,000, and by 1952 only several hundred active partisans remained. "For patriotic Lithuanians, they were heroes, who embarked on their hopeless struggle in order to bear witness to Lithuania's longing for freedom and independence," said Kestutis Girnius, a philosopher who has authored a book about Lithuania's post-war guerrilla warfare. After several years in hiding, Vanagas was captured by Soviet authorities in 1956, brutally tortured, executed the following year and thrown into an unidentified mass grave. It was only last year that Lithuanian archaeologists received a tip about the whereabouts of fighters executed for "political crimes". "The discovery and positive identification of his remains has raised expectations that the bodies of other partisan leaders will be uncovered and finally given a proper burial," Girnius told AFP. During World War II, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed Lithuania, which became the first Soviet republic to declare independence in 1990, before joining the European Union and NATO in 2004. vab/mas/spm Suspected jihadists killed five people using knives and machetes in an area of Mozambique that has been rocked by a spate of attacks blamed on radical Islamists, police said Thursday. Johannesburg, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th Jun, 2018 ) :Suspected jihadists killed five people using knives and machetes in an area of Mozambique that has been rocked by a spate of attacks blamed on radical Islamists, police said Thursday. Cabo Delgado, a northern province expected to become the centre of a natural gas industry after several promising discoveries, has seen a string of assaults on security forces and civilians since October. "There was one more attack (by) the same group that has been attacking the neighbouring villages, (it) attacked a village on Wednesday around 9:00 p.m. and killed five and destroyed houses and left running," a police source told AFP. The attackers targeted Namaluco village in the Quissanga district of Cabo Delgado. Police reinforcements had been deployed to the area to step up security but attacks have continued unabated. Police believe the same group also hacked seven people to death in another village in the region on Tuesday after beheading 10 people in another settlement on May 27. "The strategy of the group is to attack different villages over several days, confusing the strategic response of government forces," added the police source. Cabo Delgado police spokesman Augusto Guto said that "defence and security forces are on the ground hunting the attackers". The May 27 bloodshed 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 Cabo Delgado. - Jihadist attack - Wednesday slayings ocurred roughly 100 kilometres (62 miles) from Pemba, a town that is also an emerging tourist destination. In October, armed men targeted a police station and military post in the regional town of Mocimboa da Praia in what was believed to be the first jihadist attack on the country. Two officers died and 14 attackers were killed. The group, often described by locals and officials as "Al-Shabaab", 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. The increase in attacks in the north of the country could pose serious issues for Mozambique, which holds general elections next year and hopes to cash in on the recently discovered gas reserves. The vast gas deposits discovered off the shores of Palma could transform the impoverished country's economy. Turkey on Wednesday condemned triple suicide attacks in southeast Niger late Monday. ANKARA,(APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Jun, 2018 ) :Turkey on Wednesday condemned triple suicide attacks in southeast Niger late Monday. "We learned with sorrow that a suicide attack perpetrated in Diffa, Niger, resulted in loss of lives and left many others wounded," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "We condemn this heinous attack, wish Allah's mercy upon those who lost their lives, speedy recovery to the wounded and extend our condolences to the people and Government of Niger," the statement added. At least nine people were killed in three suicide attacks in southeastern Niger late Monday, according to local media reports. The suicide bombings took place in Niger's southeastern Diffa city near the border with Nigeria. (@FahadShabbir) Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) has provided food aid to 2,400 families in Cameroon and Mauritania, the agency said in a written statement Thursday. ANKARA, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th Jun, 2018 ) :Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) has provided food aid to 2,400 families in Cameroon and Mauritania, the agency said in a written statement Thursday. TIKA said it provided 45 tons of food aid for 1,300 Central African families living under difficult conditions at Uni Pour Servir refugee camp in Cameroon. TIKA said there are around 6,000 people living in the refugee camp, who have been denied access to basic food supply for months. According to UNHCR, 300,000 Central African migrants are living in Cameroon of whom 62 percent are children. TIKA said it also delivered food aid to 1,100 families in Mauritania. (@ChaudhryMAli88) US ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, hand-picked by US President Donald Trump, is unhappy at the reaction to remarks he made in support of the right in Europe and wants close cooperation with Berlin, German government sources said Wednesday. Berlin, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Jun, 2018 ) :US ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, hand-picked by US President Donald Trump, is unhappy at the reaction to remarks he made in support of the right in Europe and wants close cooperation with Berlin, German government sources said Wednesday. "Ambassador Grenell was unhappy with the reaction his interview has sparked," one of the sources said after the US envoy visited the German foreign ministry. "He especially does not want to be considered in Germany as a supporter of the forces of the right," the source said. "Instead, he wishes to lay the basis for close and confident cooperation with German partners." The foreign ministry said that Grenell's visit -- long planned -- took place in an "open atmosphere." Grenell took up his Berlin post on May 8 and immediately irked his host country when he tweeted the same day that German companies should stop doing business with Iran after Trump quit the nuclear deal with Tehran. He caused further outrage last weekend with reported comments to right-wing news website Breitbart of his ambition to "empower other conservatives throughout Europe, other leaders." Grenell also raised eyebrows with his plan to host a June 13 lunch for Austria's arch-conservative Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, described by the US envoy as a "rock star. " For some, Grenell's comments went well beyond diplomatic convention and warranted a request for him to leave his post. In Washington, the Trump administration backed Grenell. "Ambassadors have a right to express their opinion," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Tuesday when asked whether Grenell had expressed the views of the administration. "They're representatives of the White House, whether it's this administration or other administrations, and we hear them voicing their opinions," she said. "And they're sometimes opinions that people may or may not like. And there is the right to free speech as well." The appointment of Grenell, a hawkish supporter of Trump's "America First" stance, was long held up by US senators who objected to his allegedly disparaging tweets on female politicians and apparent refusal to take seriously claims of Russian meddling in the US election. The controversy comes as ties between Germany and the United States are strained after Trump ditched the Iran nuclear deal and imposed punishing tariffs on European aluminium and steel. ilp/glr/bmm/pvh HCM CITY All secondary and high schools in the country will offer professional career counselling to students that would match employment demands of local businesses by 2025, according to the Ministry of Education and Training. The schools will also have teachers trained in offering career counselling by that time. The goals are part of a project titled Education on Career Guidance and Trends for Division of High School Students in different vocational and education paths, which has been approved by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc. The project aims to divide secondary and high school students into two tracks, either vocational school or university/college. The goal is to have at least 30-40 per cent of high school students study at vocational schools that are classified as primary or intermediate level. Under the plan, 35 per cent of students in disadvantaged areas in the country are expected to study at vocational colleges (three-year programme as opposed to one or two years at vocational schools) after graduating from secondary schools. The Government would allocate capital for the project annually to local agencies, while financial sources from the private sector would also be sought. In HCM City, the citys Department of Education and Training aims to increase the number of secondary school students in vocational schools by 3 per cent in order to reach the programme goal of 30 per cent by 2020. According to the Ministry of Education and Training, high schools have not yet focused on offering counselling advice to different groups of students. In 2006, career guidance was offered in the ninth grade with three classes every month, according to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper. But the figure fell to one class per month in 2008. In the 2016-2017 academic year, nearly 76 per cent of all graduates from secondary schools nationwide went on to study at high schools. Only 7 per cent of them studied at continuing education and vocational education centres, while nearly 3 per cent went on to professional education schools and 5 per cent to vocational schools. The rest did not continue school. In the 2016-2017 academic year, the number of high school students applying for universities and colleges accounted for 41 per cent of all high school students. Only 23 per cent of them applied for vocational schools, and nearly 13 per cent for short-term courses at vocational training centres. The rest did not continue and decided to work instead. A representative of Ly Tu Trong Technical College in the city said that most secondary and high schools provided career guidance for university instead of vocational schools, according to HCM City Giao Duc (Education) newspaper. Nguyen Thi Ly, rector of Thu uc College of Technology, told the newspaper that career guidance should focus on the potential social demands in future and the studentscapacities so they can choose suitable careers. Though many teachers at high school acknowledge the importance of career counselling, they cite as hindrances including the shortage of funds, their teaching load, and the pressure of examinations for students in the final year at secondary schools and high schools. VNS Spain's government has been sworn in with the highest proportion of female ministers in Spanish and European history. Thursday's ceremony also completed the fastest power transition in Spain's four decades of democratic rule. By Stefan Bos Many women were taking their oaths on Thursday before Spanish King Felipe VI. The new Socialist government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is comprised of 11 female ministers overseeing key areas such as the national economy, finance and defense and just six men. Official figures show that the women represent nearly 65 percent of the new Cabinet. That's even more than the over 62 percent that the Finnish government scored in 2015. Most of the new ministers referred to the female majority in their oath-taking. The new government was sworn after a court ruling over corruption scandals involving the conservative Popular Party prompted a no-confidence vote against Mariano Rajoy. He had been prime minister since 2011. FEMINIST GOVERNMENT Sanchez replaced Rajoy last week. He has defined his government as feminist, progressive, pro-European and "a loyal reflection of the best in the society that it aspires to serve." Carmen Calvo, an expert in constitutional law and former culture minister, will be Sanchez's deputy prime minister and also in charge of the resurrected Ministry of Equality. She said that the government "has to work to reduce inequalities and achieve greater equality, which affects men and women." But the cabinet of Prime Minister Sanchez will also face tensions including over Catalonia, where nationalists have pledged to seek independence for the wealthy region. UK fitness model, MTV and television personality Joss Mooney paid a visit to the Chippendales at Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas and added to the hot factor backstage at the Chippendales Theatre (Photo credit: Cyndee Dodd). Photo credit: Cyndee Dodd Mooney chatted with the cast and took some time to pose for photos before taking his seat to enjoy the show. Photo credit: Cyndee Dodd Awareness about fibromyalgia should be spread not only among those who are affected but also to others who are not. This is because the biological test results will show that there is no problem related to ones health. Even those who are close to those who suffer might even go to an extent of saying that the sufferers are simply exaggerating it and there is no problem as such, based on the test results. This will further exacerbate the pain of those who really suffer. Popular ride-sharing firm Grab has partnered with the Cambodian government and U.N. Development Program to launch a project to collect traffic data in Phnom Penh. The project, known as Sumai, hopes to provide data to better inform decisions about transport policy in the Cambodian capital. Sun Chanthol, minister of public works and transport, told reporters at the launch event this week that the project would cost the governments partners $500,000 and could pave the way for better policies to reduce traffic accidents and congestion. The Ministry of Public Works and Transport joined UNDP and Grab to oversee this issue. On the Grab side, they have a lot of information about traffic congestion. Thus, they will provide it to us for us to implement, to study, and to seek procedures for solving our traffic congestion issues, he said. Rapid urbanization in Cambodia has led to a 20 percent annual increase in the number of vehicles on Cambodias urban roads, according to a statement about the project. The increased congestion is also contributing to a rise in greenhouse gas emissions, it said. This initiative went well beyond Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and offered a new model of private and public sectors engaging to do well while doing good, Nick Beresford, country director for UNDP in Cambodia, was quoted as saying in the statement. As such it offers a platform for better-informed policies to encourage increased investments in sustainable urban development, he added. Russel Cohen, head of regional operations at Grab, said the company was committed to working with its partners to increase road safety. Apart from co-funding support, Grab has committed to providing in-kind contributions, such as expertise, software development, traffic management, and staff man-hours via Sumai, he said. Chanthol said the project would also operate in Siem Reap before expanding to other cities. Tim Malay, director of the Cambodian Youths Network, said reforming Cambodias traffic system would take time. For me as a user of the roads, I see that there is no full implementation of the law yet among either public officials or law enforcers as well as ordinary Cambodians, he added. Afghanistans President, Ashraf Ghani has announced his forces will halt offensive operations next Tuesday until June 20 to encourage the Taliban to seek a peaceful resolution to the war. In a nationally televised speech Thursday, Ghani explained he has taken the unilateral move in response to an Islamic decree, or fatwa, top Afghan clerics issued earlier this week calling on all sides to stop hostilities to pave the ground for peace talks. The Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan announces cease-fire from the 27th of Ramadan (June 12) until the fifth day of Eid-ul-Fitr (June 19) following the historic ruling [Fatwa] of the Afghan Ulema (clerics) Afghan National Defense and Security Forces will only stop offensive maneuvers against Afghan armed Taliban, Ghani said. He added that the cease-fire is an opportunity for Taliban to "introspect that their violent campaign is not winning them hearts and minds but further alienating the Afghan people from their cause." The U.S. military in Afghanistan confirmed in a statement that they will honor Ghani's ceasefire with the Taliban. We will adhere to the wishes of Afghanistan for the country to enjoy a peaceful end to the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, and support the search for an end to the conflict, said Gen. John Nicholson, who commands U.S. forces NATO-led non-combat Resolute Support mission in the country. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan has also welcomed the cease-fire. More than 2,000 Afghan clerics on Monday held a gathering in Kabul and issued the fatwa that outlawed the Taliban-led insurgent as un-Islamic and declared that suicide attacks are forbidden in Islam. With the cease-fire announcement we epitomize the strength of the Afghan government and the will of the people for a peaceful resolution to the Afghan conflict, said the president in his speech on Thursday. However, Ghani explained that government security forces will continue to target Islamic State and other foreign backed terrorist organizations in Afghanistan. Expanding on Ghani's ceasefire truce, Afghan army chief Mohammad Sharif Yaftali later told a news conference his forces will also cease offensive operations against members of the Haqqani network "because they are also Afghan citizens. This is the first time the government has extended its peace overture to Haqqanis who the United States has declared global terrorists. Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, when contacted for a reaction to Ghanis temporary cease-fire announcement, told VOA it was too early for him to offer any comments. President Ghani offered unconditional peace talks in February under a comprehensive plan to reconcile with the Taliban. The insurgents have not formally responded to the peace overture but have since indirectly reiterated the Talibans stance that it will not engage in any talks with the Afghan government until all U.S.-led foreign forces withdraw from the country. U.S.-backed Afghan forces also have stepped up anti-Taliban offensive operations, inflicting heavy casualties on the insurgents and retaking some of the last ground during recent operations. The increased military activity against the Taliban is being undertaken since U.S. President Donald Trump announced his new South Asia strategy in August. The strategy aims to raise battlefield pressure on the Taliban to force it to come to the negotiating table with the Afghan government. But analysts say that security conditions have since deteriorated across Afghanistan causing record bloodshed. The Taliban in response to Trumps strategy has intensified attacks against Afghan security forces, killing around 500 of them in just the month of May, according to Afghan officials and local media reports. Nearly 200 civilians also died last month in conflict-related activities. The insurgency currently controls or contests nearly half of Afghanistan's 407 districts. The United Nations has warned Afghan civilians continue to suffer record levels of casualties this year. In 2017, a record more than 10,000 Afghan civilians were killed and wounded. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is visiting the White House on Thursday to impress upon President Donald Trump Japan's interests ahead of Trump's historic summit next week with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The U.S. and Japanese leaders are scheduled to hold about two hours of talks and a joint press conference. Trump tweeted Thursday that two two will be discussing "North Korea and trade." Before departing for Washington, Abe said his government wants to see progress on limiting North Korea's nuclear program and ballistic missile work, and he wants Trump to discuss with Kim the issue of Japanese nationals who were kidnapped by North Korea during the 1970s and 1980s. Other powers in the region have had more of a voice in the upcoming Trump-Kim summit in Singapore on June 12. The leaders of China and South Korea have met with Kim twice in addition to consultations with the Trump administration. Abe has signaled he is open to talks with Kim, but only if doing so would help resolve the abduction issue. Ahead of the Trump-Kim summit in Singapore, the leaders of China and South Korea have met with Kim twice, and while Abe has signaled he is open to such talks, none have yet taken place. Abe is also likely to discuss Trump's recent decision to apply steel and aluminum tariffs meant to protect American workers. U.S. allies, including Japan, have objected to the measures and sought waivers. Abe said such trade restrictions are not useful. Trade is likely to be a key topic when Trump and Abe join leaders for a G-7 summit this week in Canada. A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers on Thursday unveiled new legislation that would allow states to choose their own marijuana laws, despite a 48-year-old federal prohibition on cannabis. While the bill would not lift the ban, it seeks to amend the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, exempting the production, possession and distribution of marijuana in states where it's legal. The bill's sponsors cast it in terms of states' rights, saying the legislation ensures that "each state has the right to determine for itself the best approach to marijuana within its borders." "The federal government is closing its eyes and plugging its ears while 46 states have acted," said Republican Senator Cory Gardner of Colorado, the first state in the nation to legalize recreational marijuana. "The bipartisan, commonsense bill ensures the federal government will respect the will of the voters whether that is legalization or prohibition and not interfere in any states' legal marijuana industry." Federal cannabis laws Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, another state that allows recreational marijuana use, said federal cannabis laws "have perpetuated our broken criminal justice system, created barriers to research, and hindered economic development." "States like Massachusetts have put a lot of work into implementing commonsense marijuana regulations and they have the right to enforce their own marijuana policies," she said. "The federal government needs to get out of the business of outlawing marijuana." The impetus for the legislation was a decision by Attorney General Jeff Sessions in January to rescind Obama-era Justice Department guidelines that encouraged prosecutors to adopt a hands-off approach to marijuana law enforcement in states where the substance was legal. Instead, Sessions directed U.S. attorneys general around the country to "enforce the laws enacted by Congress and to follow well-established principles when pursuing prosecutions related to marijuana activities." The decision proved controversial. While several leading law enforcement associations backed the move, it was excoriated by marijuana advocates, civil libertarians and states with pro-marijuana measures. Shares of publicly traded marijuana companies plummeted. Leading the charge against the decision was Gardner, who blocked key Justice Department nominees who require Senate confirmation, triggering a standoff with the White House. But he later backed off after reportedly receiving reassurances from President Donald Trump that the Justice Department would not interfere in the Colorado's billion-dollar marijuana industry. Speaking to reporters, Gardner said he's spoken to Trump about the proposed legislation and that the president supports a "states' rights approach" to resolving the conflict between federal and state laws on marijuana. The White House has not commented on the legislation. A Justice Department spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment. Legal in many states While prohibited by federal law, marijuana has gained social acceptance in recent years, leading a growing number of states to legalize it in one form or another. Twenty-nine states allow for medical use, while eight states plus the District of Columbia allow its recreational use. Public support for marijuana legalization has also grown in recent years. A 2017 Gallup poll showed 64 percent of Americans supported legalization, the highest level of support it has recorded in almost half a century. The Gardner-Warren bill represents the latest congressional attempt to support the marijuana industry in the face of a federal ban. Last year, more than a dozen stand-alone bills were introduced that aimed to change the federal government's approach to marijuana. However, efforts to remove marijuana from the federal list of controlled substances have failed. While the latest legislation has been endorsed by trade groups and civil liberties advocates, it faces uncertain odds. Emily Burns, a marijuana law policy expert, said the bill fails to address a plethora of legal issues presented by conflicting federal and state marijuana laws. For example, banks won't be able to serve marijuana businesses even if the bill were to pass, she said. In addition, the legislation is unlikely to pass constitutional muster, she said. "If federal government allows each state to pass laws regulating an industry that implicates interstate commerce, the legislation violates the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution," she said. In 2005, the Supreme Court held that the federal government's power to regulate interstate commerce applied to marijuana. The leader and chief negotiator of the Confederation of Labor Unions in Burkina Faso said the West African economic regional bloc Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is partly to blame for the political and military crisis in Burkina Faso. Bazie Bassolma told VOA Tuesday ECOWAS should not force the Burkinabe people to negotiate with the coup leaders, who he said have been characterized by the African Union as terrorists. His comments came as West African leaders who met Tuesday in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, announced they are sending a new peace mission to Burkina Faso Wednesday. ECOWAS Commission President Kadre Desire Ouedraogo said one purpose of the new delegation is "to re-establish Michel Kafando as transitional president. He also said the delegation, which comprises Nigeria, Niger, Togo, Ghana, Benin and Senegal, will "initiate a political dialogue among all stakeholders with a view to finding concessional solutions" to the proposed ECOWAS peace plan. But labor unions leader and chief negotiator Bassolma said the Burkinabe people will not negotiate with what he called "terrorists." Our position is this: We say that ECOWAS is also part of the problem in our country because we see the presidents of ECOWAS tried to discuss with terrorists in our country, he said. Bassolma said by holding discussions with the coup leaders, ECOWAS is in reality saying that the peoples transitional government led by Michel Kafando is null and void. We say we are fighting for peace in our country; we are fighting for our rights in our country. But we cannot accept that ECOWAS comes to our country to negotiate with terrorists, Bassolma said. In addition to reestablishing Kafando, Ouedraogo said Tuesday that another purpose of the delegation is "initiate a political dialogue among all stakeholders with a view to finding concessional solutions" to the proposed ECOWAS peace plan. The first round of talks mediated by Senegalese President Mackey Sall focused on returning power to the interim government while offering amnesty to the coup leaders. The deal would also have allowed for pro-Compaore candidates, who had been excluded from the October 11 elections, to take part in coming elections. The presidential guard overthrew Burkina Faso's transitional government last Wednesday less than a month before elections. Coup leader General Gilbert Diendere said the polls were "biased," because supporters of former president Blaise Compaore were barred from running. Diendere has said he will hand over power when requested by West African leaders from ECOWAS. Bassolma said the Burkinabe people agree with ECOWAS that the deposed transitional government should be returned to power and lead the country to election. But he said granting amnesty to the coup leaders is out of the question. We said that we want the transitional government take back its road. We think that this group of military must go back to the barracks. We cannot accept that one party of this army takes our country on a dangerous road, he said. He said civil society will never grant amnesty to the coup leaders because they have the Burkinabe peoples blood on their hands. We cannot accept that terrorists killed many people and now want to get amnesty. We will not accept [it], Bassolma said. HCM CITY HCM Citys Department of Home Affairs has outlined a new policy on the prevention and handling of child abuse cases which includes new hotlines for victims and their families. The hotlines are 111, 113, 1900.54.55.59 or 1800.90.59. Victims and families can also directly contact the Peoples Committee of districts and wards, as well as the police. Within two hours after receiving the information, the person in charge must check the authenticity of the information and report it to the Peoples Committee. The Peoples Committee will then send the child to the hospital for emergency medical examinations and treatment. The hospital will send the initial diagnostics to the Peoples Committee two hours after receiving the child. After that, the chairman of the Peoples Committee will petition for prosecution, with documents and evidence sent to the police. In a National Assembly question and answer session on Tuesday, Public Security Minister To Lam recommended measures to increase awareness of child protection among the public. In addition, Deputy Prime Minister Vu uc am called on society to make the issue a top priority. Child abuse is defined as an act that has physical and psychological damage in the form of violence, maltreatment, or sexual assault. VNS Burundi's president announced Thursday he will not run for another term, even as he put in place a new constitution that would allow him to stay in power until 2034. Speaking in the Kirundi language, President Pierre Nkurunziza told supporters: "We assure Burundians and the international community. Our term will end in 2020. This constitution was not modified to favor President Nkurunziza, as the enemies of the country spread recently. I swear and am really ready, with all my heart, with all my mind and with all my strength, to support the new president we will elect in 2020." He added: "A man can change his position in the bed, but he cannot change his word." Deadly political violence and a failed coup attempt followed Nkurunziza's decision in 2015 to pursue a third term, which critics called unconstitutional. More than 1,200 people were killed and hundreds of thousands fled the country, and last year International Criminal Court judges authorized an investigation into allegations of state-sponsored crimes. More than 73 percent of Burundi's 4.7 million voters in a referendum last month approved changes to the constitution, promoted by Nkurunziza, which extended the length of the president's term from five years to seven. That could allow the 54-year-old Nkurunziza, in power since 2005, another 14 years when his current term expires in 2020. Opposition activists called the referendum another effort by the president to cling to power, part of a trend by a number of African leaders changing laws to eliminate or loosen term or age limits. The opposition also alleged intimidation and harassment of people who didn't support the amendments ahead of the May 17 vote, including threats of drowning and castration. A presidential decree criminalized calls to abstain from voting, with a penalty of up to three years in jail. Key opposition figures in the East African country could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday. The government rejects allegations of abuses, calling them propaganda by exiles. Passenger jets of the future will be safer, lighter, faster, more fuel-efficient and ... windowless. So predicts Emirates Airlines chief Tim Clark. The Dubai-based airline has already introduced virtual windows in the first-class suites of its newest planes. Instead of being able to see out a conventional window, the passengers will be able to enjoy the view on a full display of windows that will project live camera feeds on a high-definition screen. Clark said the images are "so good, it's better than with the natural eye." Clark told the BBC that the ultimate goal was to have a completely windowless plane. "Now you have a fuselage which has no structural weaknesses because of windows. The aircraft are lighter, the aircraft could fly faster, they'll burn less fuel and fly higher," he said. But Emirates' experiment has raised concerns that might not win it the votes of safety regulators. Some passengers have expressed concerns of possibly feeling claustrophobic on windowless planes. Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt laughed off questions Wednesday about whether he used his office to try to help his wife get a "business opportunity'' with Chick-fil-A, while a close aide abruptly resigned amid new ethics allegations against her boss. Pruitt said in a statement that his scheduling director, Millan Hupp, 26, had resigned. It came two days after Democratic lawmakers made public her testimony to a House oversight panel that Pruitt had her do personal errands for him, including inquiring about buying a used mattress from the Trump International Hotel. Last year, Pruitt also directed Hupp's younger sister to reach out to a senior executive at Chick-fil-A to inquire about a "business opportunity.'' At the time, Sydney Hupp, 25, was also working in Pruitt's office as an EPA scheduler. That business opportunity turned out to be Pruitt's desire to acquire a fast-food franchise for his wife. Federal ethics codes prohibit having staffers conduct personal errands and bar officials from using their position for private gain. 'My wife is an entrepreneur' On Wednesday, Pruitt laughed when a reporter asked about the reports he had tried to use his government position to financially benefit his spouse. "I mean, look, my wife is an entrepreneur herself. I love, she loves, we love Chick-fil-A as a franchise of faith,'' Pruitt told a reporter for Nexstar Media Group, which owns local television stations around the country. A Republican former Oklahoma attorney general, Pruitt added that there needs to be more locations of the fast-food chain in his hometown of Tulsa. Founded in Atlanta, the Chick-fil-A chain is known for incorporating Christianity into its business code, including shutting down nationwide on Sundays. The two-generation family business has angered some customers and pleased others with its donations to conservative causes, including funding campaigns fighting same-sex marriage. Democrats quickly pounced on Pruitt's statement, accusing him of using religion to try to deflect from his misdeeds. "He's hiding behind a very cheap version of faith, in the form of chicken,'' said Representative Gerry Connolly of Virginia, the ranking Democrat on a House subcommittee on government operations. "This is somebody who is profoundly ethically challenged, who's self-dealing. He's in the trough with all four paws and snout. ... We're dealing with a real pattern here, and frankly it's disgusting.'' Despite the mounting scandals, President Donald Trump continues to stand by Pruitt and lavished praise on him at a hurricane-preparedness briefing attended by Cabinet secretaries and agency heads. "EPA is doing really, really well,'' Trump told Pruitt on Wednesday. "And you know, somebody has to say that about you a little bit. You know that, Scott. But you have done I tell you, the EPA is doing so well. ... And people are really impressed with the job that's being done at the EPA. Thank you very much, Scott.'' GOP members of Congress have largely followed Trump's lead in sticking by Pruitt, though there were increasing signs cracks are developing in that support. Iowan critical Iowa Republican Senator Joni Ernst suggested this week that it might be time for Trump to tell Pruitt to go. Pruitt "is about as swampy as you get here in Washington, D.C. And if the president wants to drain the swamp, he needs to take a look at his own Cabinet,'' Ernst said Tuesday at an energy policy forum. Pruitt is the subject of more than a dozen federal investigations into his spending on travel and security, his dealings with subordinates and other matters. Millan Hupp was described by former EPA staffers as one of Pruitt's closest and most loyal aides. She told the House panel that Pruitt had her ask about getting an "old mattress'' from the Trump hotel at about the same time he was moving to a new apartment in Washington. Pruitt also directed the elder Hupp, an Oklahoman like her boss, to book a personal trip to the Rose Bowl for him and search for housing for him in the Washington area, she told the investigators. Pruitt's statement announcing her resignation called Hupp "a valued member of the EPA team.'' The EPA gave no reason for her departure. She was the fourth senior EPA political appointee to resign in the last two months, since news first broke that Pruitt last year leased a bargain-priced Capitol Hill condo tied to an oil-and-gas lobbyist. In appearances before congressional panels since then, Pruitt has repeatedly blamed subordinates for his alleged ethical lapses. Cummings: Don't blame Hupp Representative Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the House oversight committee investigating Pruitt, said Hupp shouldn't have to take the fall for her boss. "Ms. Hupp cooperated with our investigation and should not become the latest scapegoat for Administrator Pruitt's litany of abuses, his disregard for our nation's ethics laws, and his refusal to accept responsibility for his own actions,'' Cummings said. Pruitt's chief of staff, Ryan Jackson, and former top policy adviser Samantha Dravis are due to appear before the oversight committee's investigators later this month. For his part, Pruitt suggested the criticism, investigations and unending stream of negative revelations about him were all political attacks motivated by his efforts to roll back environmental regulations. "I just think that with great change comes, you know, I think, opposition,'' he said. Making her first public appearance in nearly a month, first lady Melania Trump attended a FEMA briefing alongside her husband in Washington on Wednesday. This comes after weeks of public speculation over the first lady's whereabouts and extended absence, following the first lady's hospitalization for kidney surgery in May. VOA's Elizabeth Cherneff has more. Two years ago, Ilhan Omar made headlines when she became the first Somali-American elected to a U.S. state legislature. She was chosen to represent Minneapolis, a city in the upper Midwestern state of Minnesota. Now, she is running for a seat in the U.S. Congress. The opening for Omar a Muslim, mother of three and former refugee emerged Tuesday after U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison withdrew from his re-election campaign to enter the race for Minnesota attorney general. He filed the official paperwork just hours before the deadline. Ellison, a liberal Democrat and the first Muslim elected to Congress, has represented the Minneapolis-based 5th Congressional District since early 2007. He said he was seeking the attorney general's post to counter the Trump administration's restrictive policies on Muslims and immigrants. "It was attorney generals who led the fight against the Muslim ban," Ellison said after filing to run for the office, referring to U.S. President Donald Trump's ban on travel to the United States by visitors from several Muslim-majority countries. "I want to be a part of that fight." After filing papers for her own candidacy Tuesday, Omar told reporters she looked forward to carrying on Ellison's legacy "fighting for all of us not only at the capital, but here, making sure every voice matters and every voice counts." Omar is among seven candidates competing in the Aug. 14 primary to represent the heavily Democratic district. Flanked by dozens of supporters, she said she faced a hard fight for state office and was ready for another test. "I have proven myself to be someone who shows up, takes on the hard fight and delivers, and I am ready to do that for the people of the 5th Congressional District and the people of our state," she told reporters, including VOA. Omar's family fled from the Somali civil war and spent four years in a refugee camp in Kenya. She immigrated to the United States in 1995. Ellison, a six-term lawmaker regarded as one of the most liberal members of Congress, was lured to the attorney general's race after incumbent Lori Swanson jumped into the governor's race Monday. Ellison is in for a tough statewide fight. He will be challenged by the state party's endorsed candidate, Matt Pelikan, and former Minnesota attorney general Mike Hatch. This report originated in VOA's Somali service. Mohamud Mascade contributed from Minneapolis. Google won't do artificial intelligence work for weapons, the company said Thursday. The company will not work on "technologies that cause or are likely to cause overall harm," wrote Sundar Pichai, Google's CEO, in a blog post. Google has come under fire in recent months for its contract with the U.S. Department of Defense to use AI for sifting through drone footage. AI is a field of study whereby a computer or technology is able to do things typically associated with human behavior, such as make decisions, plan and learn. Google and other tech firms have been bringing the advances in AI to fields such as medicine, natural disaster planning, energy, transportation and manufacturing. But these advances have also led to ethical concerns about the kinds of decisions being made without human input. "How AI is developed and used will have a significant impact on society for many years to come," Pichai wrote. "As a leader in AI, we feel a special responsibility to get this right." Sifting through drone footage In recent months, more than 4,000 Google employees signed a petition calling for the cancellation of the company's contract with the Department of Defense as part of the DoD's Project Maven initiative. They joined other critics in raising alarms that the project could lead to the use of autonomous weapons. Last week, a Google executive reportedly told employees that the company would not seek to renew its Project Maven contract with the military. Kirk Hanson, the executive director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, which counts Google as a financial supporter, said Google's contract highlights a larger debate about AI and military applications. "Until we have trust that those systems will not make mistakes, we're going to have a lot of doubts about the use of artificial intelligence for autonomous weapons," Hanson said. Google will continue some work for the military, Pichai said. "We want to be clear that while we are not developing AI for use in weapons, we will continue our work with governments and the military in many other areas," he said. "These include cybersecurity, training, military recruitment, veterans' healthcare, and search and rescue." An international student who earned his law degree in the U.S. was arrested and driven away by plainclothesmen after he returned to Azerbaijan, provoking outrage among civil society activists. Hours after Emin Aslanov was detained in downtown Baku on Monday, he reappeared at the Narimanov district court and was sentenced to 30 days in jail on charges of "disobeying the police," witnesses said. Civil society activists quickly condemned the Azerbaijani government, saying the arrest was politically motivated. In a public appeal, dozens of activists called for Aslanov's immediate release. "We know Emin Aslanov as a professional lawyer and as one of the most distinguished young persons," activists said in a statement. "We can confidently state that he has not committed any crime." The Azerbaijani government has not issued any statement on the arrest or responded to the condemnation. An outspoken defender of human rights in his native country, Aslanov had returned to Azerbaijan four days earlier, after completing his studies at Syracuse University in upstate New York. 'Deeply distressing' "Emin Aslanov was my first Azerbaijani student and [his arrest] is deeply distressing," Cora True-Frost, one of his professors, told VOA via Skype. She spoke about the widespread concern among the university faculty and students regarding the arrest of the alumnus in a country frequently criticized for politically motivated arrests. True-Frost, who said she was a former human rights advocate, advised that "all concerned people try to keep Emin in public scrutiny and be aware of his situation so that there might be pressure put on the Azerbaijani government to provide him with an open trial, due process and the opportunity to have the charges made against him public and the evidence that supports those charges made public." Aslanov's arrest and reappearance in court echoed the arrest of journalist Afgan Mukhtarli in May 2017. The investigative journalist went missing from Tbilisi, Georgia, and appeared in a detention facility in Baku a day later. He was sentenced to six years in prison on numerous charges, including illegal border-crossing. According to Amnesty International, Azerbaijani authorities arbitrarily arrest and detain dissidents, independent journalists and bloggers. The government of Azerbaijan denies holding political prisoners, but Azerbaijani human rights defenders estimate that more than 150 people remain in prison on politically motivated charges. Hong Kongs LGBT community has notched small, incremental victories in recent years, but new developments have made those triumphs seem fragile and fleeting. Last Friday, the Hong Kong Court of Appeal overturned a landmark ruling that granted health benefits to the husband of a male civil servant, the same benefits enjoyed by heterosexual spouses. On Monday, the government asked the Court of Final Appeal to reverse another gay rights milestone that found that the Hong Kongs government engaged in indirect discrimination when it failed to issue a visa to the spouse of a British lesbian. QT, as the petitioner was called, won her case at the Court of Appeal in September. Discouraged, angry Members of the citys LGBT community said they were discouraged and angered. The fact that it comes from COA [Court of Appeal] I would say it reinforces the kind of inferiority or sense of inferiority and prejudice that they feel from every area, every facet of life. This is just another blow with all the prejudice and discrimination they feel, said Geoffrey Yeung, a member of Progressive Lawyers Group, an association of liberal bar members. They basically said there needs to be a full protection of the institution of marriage, Yeung said. From my perspective and the perspective of the LGBT community, this basically means full exclusion of LGBT people from the institution of marriage. In an email, the citys office in charge of constitutional and mainland Chinese affairs said, We have been actively pursuing measures to eliminate discrimination faced by sexual minorities in Hong Kong, including preparation of training resources for personnel in specific fields to increase their understanding and sensitivity towards sexual minorities. Hong Kong is a free and open society which welcomes talent, professionals and entrepreneurs from all over the world. Socially conservative city Hong Kong is a socially conservative city that has been slow to recognize the rights of gay residents, and allow them the rights of heterosexual locals. The citys legislature allowed male homosexual relations in the then British colony in 1991, 24 years after such prohibitions ended in the United Kingdom. Hong Kong law defines marriage as a monogamous union between a man and a woman, and courts have pointed out that the citys constitution favors heterosexual bonds. In September, three appellate judges pointed out that our legislature, which is free to go beyond the Basic Law protection and grant gay people equal access to marriage, has instead chosen to restrict marriage to heterosexual marriage. Angus Leung Chun-kwong, a senior immigration officer, petitioned the courts in 2015 after the government refused medical and dental benefits to his spouse, Scott Paul Adams. The couple married in New Zealand in 2014. After the citys High Court ruled last year that Adams was entitled to spousal benefits, an appellate panel disagreed, saying Given that the [Hong Kong] Basic Law itself inclines toward heterosexual couples in terms of access to marriage, by definition, in Hong Kong one simply cannot say it is wrong or discriminatory for marriage to exclude homosexual people. That made local gay, bisexual and lesbian residents feel like second-class citizens, said Tommy Chen, spokesman for Rainbow Action, an advocacy organization. The Hong Kong gives out a very clear message: It's clearly not a spousal benefit. Its a heterosexual privilege, he said. QTs lawyers argued Monday that there is no rational connection between the exclusion of gay spouses and tight immigration control. Whether the spouse is the same or different sex has no bearing on city policy, they argued. Bad for business Several activists, lawyers and residents have argued that any attempt by the city to suppress the rights of gay residents is not just discriminatory, but in a world financial capital bad business. Several members of the LGBT community argue that Hong Kongs conservative views will discourage top talent from settling in the city. Indeed, the judges in QTs case made a similar point. The QT case become something of a rallying cry for companies doing business in Hong Kong. Fifteen international banks, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, and 16 law firms asked the court to intervene in QTs case in support of her claim. Indeed, the Court of Appeal found that denying dependent visas was quite obviously counter-productive. The corporate intervention was denied by the Court of Final Appeal. Brexit is actually about to get interesting. That was the view Thursday of the political sketch writer of Britains Daily Telegraph. For the past few months, British politics have been obscured by a mind-numbing fog of squabbling, irritability and bravado about how, when and on what terms Britain will exit the European Union and what the countrys relationship will be with its largest trading partner after Brexit. So far there has been no clarity no clear decisions taken by Britains ruling Conservatives, who hold office thanks to parliamentary support from a quirky Northern Irish party. At war with themselves over Brexit, the Conservatives have been more consumed in internecine battling than with actual negotiations with EU officials, who have become more frustrated as British ambiguity has deepened and intransigent as London has demanded free and uninterrupted post-Brexit access to Europe for British goods and so-called passporting rights, which allow firms to do business in other European Economic Area nations - for the City of Londons banks. Next week, Britains House of Commons will debate key EU withdrawal legislation. Lawmakers will also vote on amendments passed by the House of Lords that would tie Britain to the EU. The government is facing a rebellion by more than a dozen pro-EU Conservative lawmakers who, along with opposition parties, are likely to inflict a series of embarrassing parliamentary defeats. Those defeats may clarify how Britain exits out that could equally cloud the issue even more and throw doubt on whether Britain departs at all. Hence Telegraph sketch-writer Michael Deacons excitement that something is about to happen after months of skirmishing! Complex negotiations with Brussels since Britain voted in a referendum narrowly for Brexit have been largely left to civil servants . They complain privately that their political masters have given them no clear mandate. Meanwhile, the civil servants are portrayed as fifth columnists by pro-Brexit tabloid newspapers, which campaigned jingoistically to leave the bloc. The suspicion of so-called hard Brexiters, those who want a sharp clean break with the European Union, is that the civil servants are treacherously preparing the ground for Britain to retain backdoor membership either by ensuring Britain remains a member of the customs union or its Single Market, which would require Britain to abide by EU regulations, observe rulings by the European Court of Justice and block it from negotiating individual trade deals with non-EU countries. And there are suspicions May is maneuvering Britain into a position of backdoor membership. She has delayed publishing a formal White Paper outlining the governments Brexit proposals, partly for fear of provoking a party rebellion. May was accused Thursday of deceiving ministers over Brexit and keeping eurosceptic members of her cabinet, including Brexit minister David Davis, in the dark over a key negotiation document concerning what happens to the border post-Brexit between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. Allies say the Brexit minister has considered resigning over Mays plan for Britain to remain in the EU customs union until there is an agreement on the border, allowing "frictionless trade" between the two halves of the island of Ireland. So-called hard Brexiters fear that could be extended indefinitely, enmeshing Britain with the EU. Mays Cabinet is sharply split between ministers led by the countrys finance minister, Philip Hammond, who want Britain to maintain close ties, like Norway, with the EU post-Brexit, including maintaining membership of the blocs customs union and/or membership of the single market, and ministers like the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, and environment secretary Michael Gove, who favor a total break allowing the country to become what they term global Britain. The countrys embattled prime minister has made various stabs at trying to define what the terms of exit the government wants and what kind of future relationship Britain should have with the European Union, only to be undermined by her warring Cabinet, or by EU officials. Earlier this year, May and her Cabinet ministers outlined collectively Britains Brexit future, as far as they see it, in a series of confusing and contradictory speeches that left questions unanswered and baffled EU officials. And since then, negotiations within the cabinet and with the European Union have gone nowhere. Decisions keep being deferred. Internecine fights within the Cabinet are started, but then shelved for fear it will collapse the government, trigger a snap general election that the opposition Labour Party is poised to win. It has become a shambles, a Conservative official admits. If Rubik invented another cube, he should call it Brexit; but I am not sure anyone would be able to solve the puzzle, he told VOA. Human Rights Watch (HRW) says the Zimbabwe government's failure to carry out legal and electoral reforms threatens the credibility of the country's general election next month. Without electoral reform before the July 30 general election, Zimbabwe risks having another sham election, said HRW's Southern Africa Director Dewa Mavhinga. "There is lack of reforms that risks credible elections," he said. "We call on President Mnangagwa to act on his pledge for free and fair elections. We ask President Mnangagwa go beyond mere rhetoric and genuine steps to level the playing field for candidates and their parties. Speaking Thursday in Harare, Mavhinga called for institutional bias to be eliminated. "A key step would be whether state [owned or controlled] media gives equal coverage to all political parties without bias or favor," he said. "Zimbabwe's military and other state security forces have for many years interfered with nation's political and electoral affairs adversely affecting the right of Zimbabweans to vote for candidates of their choice." Elections and the military Human Rights Watch says its research in May found security forces involved in the electoral process, abusive laws that remain in effect, and violence and intimidation by the ruling party all contribute to an environment that is not conducive to free and fair elections. HRW said it discovered at least 15 percent of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission's leadership is serving or former military officials. Mnangagwa faces Nelson Chamisa of the country's main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, among several other opponents. The July 30 election will be the first in Zimbabwe's 38 years of independence without Robert Mugabe, who resigned last November after giving in to military led pressure. Mnangagwa has lifted a ban on Western election observers, but the opposition says that is not good enough. This week, opposition parties protested the Electoral Commission's refusal to release the voter roll and said Mnangagwa must have the roll audited if Zimbabwe is to have a credible election. HA NOI - Summer has come along with heavy downpour, and with each bout of torrential rain parts of the city remain flooded for hours. This has been a problem that Ha Nois leading officials have been working to solve for years, and as yet have failed to find a successful solution for. A downpour which brings around 50 to 100mm of water during a two hour period will likely cause flooding in 15 areas, according to the municipal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. Ha Noi Sewage and Drainage Company recently came up with the idea of building an underground pool at the crossroads of uong Thanh and Hang Da streets, in order to prevent flooding. The proposed underground pool which has been submitted to the municipal Peoples Committee for feedback would be able to store 2,000 cubic metres of water. Vo Tien Hung, the company director said that the pool will apply cross-wave technology from Japan, which uses polypropylene a kind of thermoplastic polymer to soak up water. The company is asking Japan to work with polymer manufacturing companies to use domestically-manufactured materials to reduce costs. He said that the environmentally-friendly technology is easy to install and construct. It is suitable for cities with limited land and funding such as Ha Noi and HCM City. Bui Ngoc Uyen, deputy head of the companys external affairs and communication division, told Lao ong (Labour) newspaper that if the proposal gets approval from local authorities, the underground pool will be a pilot anti-flooding solution for the Old Quarter area. The water stored in the pool will then be used for firefighting, watering plants or cleaning roads, he said. A leading official of the citys Construction Department told the newspaper that the pool, alongside pumping stations, will help reduce floods in the area. The department will first study the proposal to assess whether it is feasible or not, he said. However, Professor Vu Trong Hong, former deputy minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, is in doubt over the pools capacity. A 2,000 cubic metre capacity is relatively small and can only partly reduce flooding in narrow areas during light rain. If the rain is heavier and the pool is full, where will the water flow to? he said. Hong said that the foundation of the street in which the underground pool will be located must be firm; otherwise it will sink and affect the structure on the ground potentially causing a sinkhole. There has to be a structure stopping water from flowing into the pool when its full. Otherwise, the foundations will become weak, he said. The best way, I think, is to connect it to lakes around the city, taking advantage of their storing capacity. Connecting pipes should be built to link lakes. For example, Thien Quang and Hoan Kiem lakes could easily be connected together. The water can then be pumped to West Lake or pour into the Hong (Red) River, he said. The anti-flood projects must be constructed before the rainy season comes; so they cannot be built now, he added. Tran Huy Anh, an architect of Ha Noi Architects Association said that the pools should be constructed in the outskirts of the city, not in the Old Quarter, as the construction would cause chaos to local residents. He thinks the proposal will be wasteful and not address the roots of the problem. The idea of building an anti-flood underground pool has already been implemented in HCM City. Earlier an underground pool with a capacity of more than 100 cubic metres of water was constructed on a pilot basis in Thu uc District. - VNS Relatives of an Iranian environmentalist detained in Iran as an alleged spy are waging an increasingly public battle for his release, defying what they say are official efforts to discourage their campaign. Environmentalist Sam Rajabi, a member of the Persian Heritage Wildlife Foundation, has been jailed since January 25, when Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps detained him at his Tehran home. Rajabi is one of 15 Iranian environmentalists detained by the IRGC in late January and February on suspicion of spying for U.S. and Israeli intelligence, an allegation ridiculed by their family members. Iranian rights group Campaign for the Defense of Political and Civil Prisoners published an open letter from Rajabis sister to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday. In the letter, which the group says Katayon Rajabi posted on Instagram, she demands to know which Iranian institution is behind her brothers detention. On what legal basis are authorities threatening families (of the detained environmentalists) by telling them that their children will be executed if they continue to pursue the cases? she also asked Rouhani. Sam Rajabis mother also spoke out about his case to VOA Persian on Wednesday. Speaking by phone from Tehran, Lili Houshmand Afshar said she was part of a group of mothers of the detainees who met with Irans deputy judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejeie two weeks ago to appeal for their release. She said Ejeie responded by telling the mothers that he only could ask the judge presiding over the detainees to try to expedite the legal process and could not tell the judge what to do. Rajabis mother, who has cancer, said authorities allowed her to meet her son at Tehrans Evin prison two weeks ago. She said she also received a prison phone call from her son three days later, but has not heard from him since. My physical health is not the priority, Houshmand Afshar said. My spirits are steady, and in order to prove the innocence of my child, I will do anything. A fact-finding committee of Iranian government ministers who examined the detentions of the environmentalists announced May 22 that it found no evidence of spying by the detainees. But Tehrans chief prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi rejected that finding, telling reporters May 24 that the ministers did not have all the facts and judicial authorities would continue their investigative work. One of the detained environmentalists, Iranian-Canadian sociology professor Kavous Seyed Emami, died in prison in February under disputed circumstances. Judicial officials said he committed suicide, but overseas family and friends of Emami said they doubted that assertion. This report was produced in collaboration with VOAs Persian Service. Jordan's incoming Prime Minister Omar Razzaz said Thursday he will rescind a controversial income tax bill that has triggered a week of protests after he is sworn in by King Abdullah. "An agreement has been found to withdraw the bill," Razzaz said during an Amman news conference after meeting with lawmakers. King Abdullah appointed Razzaz, a cabinet member, as the new prime minister Tuesday after Hani Mulki resignation Monday amid massive street protests against his support for austerity measures. Thousands of angry Jordanians took to the streets to demand the government drop the unpopular reforms derived from International Monetary Fund-driven policies they claim have eroded living standards. Doctors, lawyers and teachers staged a strike across the country Wednesday, angry over high unemployment, poverty and price increases. Jordan has blamed its economic woes on instability wracking the region and the burden of hosting hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees without adequate international support. International lenders have pushed for economic reforms to help reduce Jordan's public debt, a result of a sluggish economy linked to regional turmoil. The Lahore Literary Festival (LLF), an annual three-day gathering in Pakistan's second largest city, is considered one of the premiere literary festivals of South Asia. Since 2016, New Yorks Asia Society has been hosting an edition of this famous festival in the Big Apple, to showcase Pakistans contemporary art and literature for American audiences. Lahore Literary Festival New York is the abbreviated version of a much larger festival that has been held in Pakistan each year since 2011. But it packs a lot into one day, says Rachel Cooper, Asia Society's Director for Global Performing Arts and Special Cultural Initiatives. In Lahore, its a three-day festival and there are multiple sessions happening at the same time. So, we are really a condensed version," Cooper said. "But we try to take advantage of these important ideas and these important personalities. Its both about ideas and about the people who are talking about them and bringing them to us. The festival showcases the work of more than two dozen writers, artists, and commentators -- discussing art-related topics such as the Mughal Empires influence on Pakistani art, the preservation of historic buildings, or how South Asian writers can heal divisions in conflict prone regions. For author Maha Khan Phillips, it's a unique opportunity to present her work to a receptive American audience. It is wonderful to share our work with diverse audiences and learn from each other and to have a space where we can come together and talk about what we are doing and how we are doing it," Phillips told VOA. For students like Casey Odesser, the festival provides insight into Pakistans contemporary art scene directly from the source. It is super important for me because at the end of the day, as a New Yorker, I dont want to learn about Pakistan from Non-Pakistanis and I dont want to learn about Lahore from Non-Lahorees," Odesser noted, "so it is super important to have that authentic, subjective opinion that is being celebrated, that is being studied, thats being understood and debated and is widely accessible. The festival is also a great way to bridge cultural divisions created by geopolitical disagreements, says Pakistan's permanent representative to the UN, Dr. Maleeha Lodhi. In todays world, relations between countries are not just confined to the governments. People to people contact is an important aspect of those relations. So, I think events like these help promote the people to people contact between American and Pakistani public," Lodhi said. In a world beset with tensions and conflict, Lodhi says the soft power of culture is a powerful bulwark against the walls of hatred, division and discord. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa told the white Afrikaner community on Thursday that it should not view his government's land reform plans as a threat, but as a way to harness the countrys economic potential and heal divisions from the past. Ramaphosa, who replaced scandal-plagued Jacob Zuma in February, has promised to redistribute land to the black majority to address the deep racial inequality that persists more than two decades after the end of apartheid. He has been at pains to dispel fears among some white South Africans that they could face violent land seizures if the governments land reform program is bungled. Tonight I want to say to all of you: Let us not see the issue of land as a reason to pack up and go, Ramaphosa told a gathering of the Afrikanerbond, an organisation founded 100 years ago to defend the interests of the descendants of mainly Dutch settlers. It is an opportunity to build a more just and equitable society that makes full and effective use of the resources we have, Ramaphosa said, peppering his speech with phrases in Afrikaans, Afrikaners mother tongue. Ramaphosa has embarked on a charm offensive ahead of next years national election as he seeks to restore confidence in the ruling African National Congress (ANC) and kick-start economic growth after a decade marred by corruption and mismanagement. The ANC has faced criticism that its land policies could erode property rights and deter investment, even though privately owned land is not expected to be expropriated until after the election. Ramaphosa, who played a key role in the negotiations that led to the end of white minority rule in 1994, on Thursday urged Afrikaners to approach land reform in the same spirit as the transition to democracy. You are Africans, and we must accept that, he said, ending his speech to applause from the crowd. Afrikaners are as integral to the South African nation as any other community that we have. The last Munchkin has died. Actor Jerry Maren was the last survivor of the group of little people known as Munchkins who greeted Judy Garland's Dorothy when she landed in Munchkinland in the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz. He died May 24 at age 98 in a San Diego nursing home, but news of his death did not become widely known until Wednesday. Maren immortalized himself as a member of the Lollipop Guild when he sang, shuffled his feet and presented Dorothy with a lollipop. He appeared in countless television shows and commercials and in dozens of other movies, most notably the Marx Brothers' At the Circus. Hundreds of people in southwestern Colorado were ordered to evacuate their homes Thursday as hot, dry and windy conditions stoked a wildfire that was still 90 percent uncontained, federal and local officials said. Residents living near Hermosa, located about 10 miles north of Durango, joined others who were ordered to evacuate nearly a week ago. The blaze dubbed the 416 Fire had burned a total of 5,103 acres (2,065 hectares) by Thursday morning, including about 1,000 acres in the past 24 hours, officials said. By Thursday morning, the 416 Fire had displaced residents of nearly 1,200 homes since it started last Friday. Residents of nearly 1,600 other houses have been told to be prepared for possible evacuation, said Megan Graham, spokeswoman for La Plata County. Temperatures in the mid-80s F (30 C), 15 mile (25 km) per hour winds and low humidity are in the forecast for the area Thursday, the National Weather Service said. More than 600 firefighters battling the Colorado blaze were preparing "for another challenging day," the National Forest Service said in an alert. The fire, which remained 10 percent contained, has expanded to the north, the west and the south but has not crossed U.S. Highway 550, which has helped firefighters protect houses east of the highway, Graham said. Vehicles were allowed to pass through the area in single-file convoys escorted by law enforcement officers, she said. Investigators have yet to determine the cause of the blaze, U.S. Forestry officials said. The National Weather Service has placed large sections of the Four Corners region of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah under an elevated fire risk. In northern New Mexico, the Ute Park Fire that started May 31 had burned 36,800 acres (14,892 hectares) by Wednesday. It was 35 percent contained, according to the multi-agency group fighting the fire. While the fire continued to burn Thursday, it was "surrounded by previously burned areas that will confine its spread," officials said. No injuries or major damage to structures have been reported from either fire, officials said. More than 14 percent of $140 billion in annual U.S. farm exports have been or are likely to be hit by retaliatory tariffs in trade disputes with countries such as China and Mexico, a top U.S. trade negotiator said Thursday. Mexico imposed tariffs on American products including steel, pork and bourbon Tuesday, striking back against import duties on steel and aluminum imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump. The duties raised trade tensions and further complicated efforts to renegotiate the trillion-dollar North American Free Trade Agreement between Canada, the United States and Mexico. Trump blames the 1994 pact for U.S. manufacturing job losses to lower-cost Mexico. Mexico is the largest export market for U.S. pork, the product likely being targeted for retaliatory tariffs more than any other commodity, said Gregg Doud, the chief agricultural negotiator for the office of the U.S. trade representative. "We've got to get this NAFTA thing sorted out," he told a room full hog farmers at an agricultural event in Iowa. China has also imposed tariffs on U.S. pork and other products. It was the second-largest destination for U.S. pork by volume last year. Trump has threatened tariffs on up to $150 billion worth of Chinese exports as part of a different dispute over Chinese intellectual property protections. Separately, Trump has withdrawn from the multilateral Trans-Pacific Partnership promoted by Japan, the top destination for U.S. chilled and frozen beef. Europe is expected to become a bigger competitor to U.S. meat in Japan unless Washington strikes a new deal with Tokyo. "I am very concerned about the situation with Japan," Doud said. A bright spot for U.S. pork is an agreement that allows U.S. pork exporters to ship meat to Argentina for the first time in 26 years, Doud said. "These things now that we have to fix are very, very difficult," he said. "This is going to get a little more difficult here in the short term." Ty Rosburg, who transports hogs for a living in Iowa and heard Doud speak, said he worried trade disputes could hurt the farmers who are his customers. Still, he said he believed U.S. officials were attempting to improve trade. "I guess at some point you have to trust they're working for the greater good and hope that we don't get bit too bad," he said. Major changes could be ahead for the International Space Station but there will always be an American astronaut in orbit, NASAs new boss said Wednesday. The space agency is talking with private companies about potentially taking over the space lab after 2025, but no decision will made without the other 21 countries that are partners in the project, NASA Administrator James Bridenstine said in his first briefing with reporters. President Donald Trumps recent budget requests have put discussions about the stations future on steroids, he said. Under Trumps 2019 proposed budget, U.S. funding for the space station would end by 2025. The U.S. has spent more than $75 billion on the space station. Options include splitting the station into different segments or reducing its size by breaking it up and discarding one part. Always a US astronaut in orbit But no matter what happens, there wont be any gap when Americans arent in space, Bridenstine vowed. It wont be as it was after the Apollo moon program closed or even the retirement of the space shuttle fleet, which has forced NASA to pay Russia to ferry astronauts to the station. There are kids graduating from high school this month, that their entire lives, weve had an astronaut in space, Bridenstine said. And we want that to live on in perpetuity forever. No gaps. Companies are interested in running the station and theres a range of options that are just now being examined, he said. The first station piece was launched in 1998. The complex was essentially completed with the end of the shuttle program in 2011. It is about the size of a six-bedroom house, complete with two bathrooms, a gym and a 360-degree bay window. It usually has a crew of six. Climate change In wide-ranging remarks, the former Oklahoma Republican congressman said he generally supports NASAs Earth science missions, including missions that monitor heat-trapping carbon dioxide. He said at least three climate science satellites that the Trump administration had tried to cancel earlier in budget proposals could all end up in very good shape and that he supported them in Congress, crossing party lines. Were going forth with missions that are going to do carbon monitoring, he said, ticking off a couple of projects. Were committed to that. When told that a Pew Research poll out Wednesday said that 63 percent of Americans said NASAs top priority should be monitoring key parts of Earths climate, Bridenstine said good and reiterated his acceptance of human-caused climate change as a threat to national security and the globe. Back to the moon Bridenstine also said he hopes NASA will put some kind of small robotic landers on the moon next year, followed at some later date by humans. Astronauts should use the moon as a proving ground for future missions to Mars, especially checking out potential health issues for living far away from Earth for a long time. He said he worried about balance, vision, bone loss and heart issues that have been reported with space station astronauts. We do not want to go to Mars and have our astronauts to be marshmallows on the surface of Mars, Bridenstine said. The moon is our best opportunity to be successful when we go to Mars. A New York man convicted of killing a Muslim cleric and his aide has been sentenced to life in prison. Oscar Morel gunned down Imam Maulana Akonjee and Thara Uddin as they walked home after prayers at a mosque in Queens. Morel, who will never be eligible for parole, shot the men in the head from behind in August 2016. Some members of the Queens Muslim community called the killings a hate crime, since the victims were from Bangladesh. But prosecutors said they could not ascertain a motive. Morel has denied any involvement in the incident. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hinted Thursday that Congress might be given a say in any deal President Donald Trump reached with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Pompeo was responding to a reporter's question about whether a future president could undo an agreement the way Trump pulled the United States out of the Obama administration's nuclear deal with Iran. "They signed a flimsy piece of paper and we're hoping to submit a document that Congress would also have a say in," Pompeo replied. "That would give currency and strength and elongation to the process. ... Chairman Kim will have comfort that American policy will continue down the same path, on the same course that we hope we're able to set in Singapore." But Pompeo did not say if that "document" sent to Congress would be a treaty or some other agreement. He said North Korea had confirmed its willingness to denuclearize. He called that the only acceptable outcome for the United States and one that would bring a "brighter path" for the North Korean people. Pompeo did not directly answer a question about whether he personally trusted Kim after his own meetings with the North Korean leader. He did say the U.S. and North Korea could have a future defined by trust and collaboration. Pompeo said both sides were very serious and that Trump was going to Singapore with his "eyes wide open." THANH HOA Authorities in central Thanh Hoa Province arrested a suspect who was caught illegally transporting drugs from the Viet Nam-Laos border area into the province, police said on Thursday. Nguyen Ngoc Thanh, 41, was caught in the act of transporting nearly 3kg of methamphetamine, over 5,800 pink meth pills, and nearly 40g of heroin from the border area between the provinces of Thanh Hoa and Hua Phan for sale in Thanh Hoa City. Thanh said he was hired by an unknown man to transport the drugs in exchange for VN50 million (US$2,200). The case is under further investigation. VNS The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Thursday it had pulled 71 international staff out of Yemen because of security incidents and threats, moving them to Djibouti. The aid agency called on all the warring sides in Yemen's three-year conflict to provide security guarantees so it can keep running its surgical, water and food assistance programs, which it said had been crippled by the partial evacuation. Some 450 ICRC employees remain in Yemen, including dozens of expatriate staff, spokeswoman Marie-Claire Feghali said. "Our current activities have been blocked, threatened and directly targeted in recent weeks, and we see a vigorous attempt to instrumentalize our organization as a pawn in the conflict," the ICRC said in a statement. An ICRC employee, a Lebanese national, was killed on April 21 by an unknown gunmen who opened fire on his car in the southwestern Yemeni city of Taiz as he was on his way to visit a prison, it said at the time. "While the Yemen delegation has received numerous threats in the past, we cannot now accept additional risk less than two months after a gunman killed a staff member. The security of our staff, who are being intimidated by parties to the conflict, is a non-negotiable prerequisite for our presence and work in Yemen and an absolute priority," the statement said. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Sunni Muslim allies entered the war in 2015 to try to drive back the Houthis, an Iran-allied Shi'ite movement that forced a Saudi-backed government into exile in 2014. The United Nations said there were no plans to evacuate staff. "We can confirm that U.N. international and national staff remain in place in Yemen, including in all five active field hubs (Aden, Hodeidah, Ibb, Sa'ada and Sana'a)," said Jens Laerke of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Unidentified forces attacked a U.N. aid vessel off the main Yemeni port of Hodeidah at the weekend, port authorities have said. As forces of the Saudi-led military coalition close in on Hodeidah, aid agencies fear a major battle will shut down a vital lifeline for millions of hungry civilians. The streets of Washington are dark and empty when Majed Abdalraheem first arrives at Union Kitchen, a shared commercial cooking space in a warehouse on the city's northeast side. By 4 a.m., he has already made headway on preparing a meal for 150 people. Just before dawn, the 29-year old pauses to gulp down water and say a brief prayer under his breath before getting back to mixing a large bowl of chopped chicken with spices for a popular Syrian dish called shawarma. During Ramadan, the holy month that began May 16 and ends June 14 when devout Muslims abstain from all food and drink between dawn and sunset, Abdalraheem works a customized nocturnal schedule. The Syrian refugee, who cooks for a meal delivery service called Foodhini, starts his working day around 2 a.m. That way he doesn't have to spend his days over a hot stove without being able to drink water. "The grill makes you thirsty," Abdalraheem said. "That kind of work while you're fasting is very difficult." Abdalraheem has faced far greater challenges: A native of the Syrian city of Deraa the birthplace of the Syrian revolution he was working as a chef in Damascus when he decided to flee his war-torn homeland in 2013. He ended up as a refugee in neighboring Jordan, where he married Walaa Jadallah, a distant relative from Syria and a fellow refugee. "Three years in Jordan felt like 30," Jadallah said. Conditions in the Zaatari refugee camp were atrocious. Life in Jordan was expensive, and as a refugee, Abdalraheem wasn't allowed to work legally. He took under-the-table odd jobs as a chef, cashier and newspaper deliveryman. At one point, he was rounded up by police while on a newspaper run and spent 10 days in jail for working illegally. Jadallah was pregnant with their first child and thought the whole family would be deported back to a disintegrating Syria. "I was tearing my hair out. It was the worst day of my life," she said. In June 2016, months before the American presidential election, the family was approved to come to Tucson, Arizona. As the campaign reached full swing, so did the rhetoric surrounding immigrants and refugees, propelled by presidential candidate Donald Trump. "I don't know ... Trump maybe no like refugee," Abdalraheem says he remembers thinking at the time. "I thought people would be hostile and wouldn't accept us. In Jordan, we would hear that [Americans] don't like refugees, especially Syrians." But those misgivings were quickly dismissed the first time Abdalraheem wandered out to learn the Tucson bus system and buy some household supplies. "I was amazed that the first people I met on the street smiled at me without even knowing me," he recalled. "Then the people after that smiled and said 'Hi.' It was strange to me." After eight months, Abdalraheem, Jadallah and their two daughters moved to a small apartment in Riverdale, Maryland, just outside of Washington. Shortly afterward, Abdalraheem found work with Foodhini. Foodhini's origins Company founder and CEO Noobtsaa Philip Vang, the son of Hmong refugees from Laos, felt connected to stories of migration and asylum. After arriving in Washington for graduate school, Vang found himself missing his mother's home-cooked Laotian meals. So, he decided to find someone in the local community who could cook just as well. From there, the idea expanded to include immigrant and refugee chefs from other countries to develop their own personalized menus that Washington residents can order for meals or catering services. "People are aware of the situations that are abroad, but maybe they haven't really been able to even connect with a refugee," Vang said. "I think what's cool is we can kind of bridge those two worlds." Customers say they get the satisfaction from a tasty meal and a deeper understanding of stories like Abdalraheem's. "It's a win-win. I get his food and I also can feel that I'm helping him through what must be just an incredibly difficult, difficult time," said Danielle Frum, who frequently orders from Foodhini. 'Gift' of America Abdalraheem may run his own operation at work, but at home he jokes that his job is to be the sous chef for Jadallah. "Manager kitchen my wife," Abdalraheem says in broken English with a hearty laugh. The two dance around each other in the close quarters of their small home, as they bring out dishes of fatteh, kabsa and fattoush to the table. Just before iftar time the evening meal to break the Ramadan fast a neighbor knocks on the door. It's the son of the Iraqi immigrant family upstairs. He's brought several dishes to share, a gesture of Ramadan kindness that will be reciprocated by Abdalraheem and his wife in the coming days. Their whole apartment complex is filled with immigrants and refugees from around the world. A sign outside the gate proclaims, "We Welcome Refugees." Says Jadallah, "Coming to America was a gift from God." The conservative leader of South Koreas main opposition party on Thursday spoke out against the upcoming U.S.North Korea summit. He also voiced concern that political considerations are driving U.S. President Donald Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in to compromise joint security for more false denuclearization promises from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. I am rather pessimistic about whether this negotiation will work out well or not. The only means for North Korea to maintain its regime is its nuclear program. The moment that North Korea gives up its nuclear program, and the moment it opens up to reform, the Kim Jong Un regime will collapse, said Hong Joon-pyo, the chairman of the Liberty Korea Party. On June 12, Trump and Kim will meet in Singapore to try to reach an agreement to end the Norths threatening nuclear weapons program in exchange for economic incentives and security guarantees that could include a formal peace treaty to replace the armistice that has been enforced since the end of the Korean War in 1953. Easing US pressure Many South Korean conservatives had voiced strong support for Trumps maximum pressure polices to force Pyongyang to unilaterally give up its nuclear weapons through tough international sanctions in place that ban 90 percent of the countrys trade, and the threat of military action. But they have been troubled by recent statements coming from the Trump administration indicating the United States may be willing to soften its demands for the complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement (CVID) of the Norths nuclear program before offering any sanctions relief. Hong is worried that Trump may seek a deal that would quickly end the Norths intercontinental ballistic missile program that directly threatens the U.S., and leave the regional nuclear threat to be resolved later. Trump seems overly intent to achieve a diplomatic breakthrough, Hong said, to shift the media focus away from the ongoing special prosecutor investigation he is facing over Russias alleged involvement in the 2016 election. Trump has strongly denied any allegations of collision with Moscow and has called the investigation a politically motivated witch hunt. Trumps Republican Party also faces highly contested midterm congressional elections in November. In the last year, the opposition Democratic Party has won a number of special elections in regions that Trump won in 2016. There is a midterm election coming up in the United States and the domestic political situation also seems to be complicated. And there are some reports saying that this is one possible way to reach an agreement toward a safe direction at least for the U.S., Hong said. South Korean elections South Korea will also hold local elections just days after the Trump-Kim summit in Singapore. The South Korean opposition leader accused the progressive Moon government of appeasing the repressive Kim government to bolster popular support for his party. Considering the pro-North Korea posture of the current South Korean government, it is highly likely that North Korea will welcome such temporary stop-gap policies, he said. However Hongs hawkish views that there be no concessions until the Norths nuclear, missile and chemical weapons program are eliminated and significant human rights progress is made, has not resonated with the South Korean public, according to recent polls. President Moon continues to enjoy a public approval rating of more than 70 percent, in large measure for his successful diplomatic outreach to North Korea that resulted in two inter-Korean summits in the last month, agreements to engage in joint military talks and family reunions, and in facilitating the U.S.-North Korea summit. His ruling liberal Democratic Party is expected to make gains in the upcoming elections for mayors, governors and a few off-year National Assembly seats. A recent Realmeter poll showed the Democratic Party with a 52 percent approval rating and the Liberty Korea Party with 18 percent support. The conservative movement in South Korea is still recovering from the impeachment last year of President Park Geun-hye, who was later convicted on bribery charges connected to a multimillion-dollar influence peddling scandal involving some of the leading Korean conglomerates. Park left office with an approval rating of less than 10 percent. Lee Yoon-jee in Seoul contributed to this report. Days ahead of a historic summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Republican lawmakers on Thursday rallied behind Trump, while Democrats expressed concerns about the encounter but stressed they are not rooting against the president. "I'm hopeful we've got a president who is determined to stop the [North Korean nuclear] program but prefers to do it peacefully," Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told VOA. "I think what's at stake here is whether or not we have a war [with North Korea]. And we're going to have a war if we don't end this [nuclear standoff] peacefully." North Carolina Republican Senator Thom Tillis said Trump has already exceeded expectations when it comes to North Korea, a country that has vexed U.S. administrations for decades. "We've seen this president do what several presidents before him have not been able to, and that's get the discussion [with Pyongyang] going," Tillis said. Democrats said they support the diplomatic initiative despite misgivings about what a Trump-Kim encounter might produce. "I want the president to succeed," Virginia's Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told VOA. "But it appears there has not been the kind of planning that normally goes into this kind of summit." "We should all as Americans unite in hoping for a resolution to this nuclear crisis," New Jersey Democratic Senator Cory Booker said. "We'll see what happens. I know how challenging, how hard these things are." Democrats questioned Trump's ability to handle delicate and extraordinarily complex nuclear negotiations, given what he has demonstrated to date as commander-in-chief. "I have not seen from this president attention to detail on any issue," Warner said. "He took the right step on ZTE, the Chinese telecom firm that is a national security risk, but at the first pushback [from Beijing], immediately retreated from his position. That doesn't give me confidence with him going into negotiations with the North Koreans, who clearly have had a long history of being wily in negotiations." Trump himself may have exacerbated such concerns at Thursday's Oval Office meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. When asked about his preparations for the summit in Singapore, the president said, "I think I'm very well prepared. I don't think I have to prepare very much. It's about attitude, it's about willingness to get things done." Questions about Trump's mastery of details are overblown, according to Tillis, who noted the president will depart for the summit with a full team to support him. "With any executive, whether it's the chief executive of the country or a large, complex organization, you have experts there with you to fill the gaps," the North Carolina Republican said. "I like President Trump's mindset when it comes to North Korea open-minded determination," Graham said. "I think this [summit] starts a process. Success of the meeting would be if a serious process of negotiations follows the meeting, with time limits. North Korea has always run out the clock. They enter into agreements only to back off [later]. That has to end." Turkey has temporarily stopped filling a huge dam on the Tigris River after complaints from neighboring Iraq, which is suffering water shortages, officials said on Thursday. Turkey's ambassador to Baghdad and Iraq's water minister also said the two countries had agreed that when Ankara resumes filling the Ilisu dam in July it will still allow sufficient water to flow into Iraq. The dam, more than 20 years in the making, will generate electricity for a large area of southeast Turkey. But it has been heavily criticized over its impact on the environment and on the tens of thousands of villagers who will be displaced. Its waters will also submerge a 12,000-year-old town. Turkey started filling the Ilisu dam last week, prompting deep concern over water shortages in Iraq. Ankara had already delayed the planned start by three months at the request of its southern neighbor. Turkey's ambassador to Iraq, Fatih Yildiz, said on Twitter Turkey stopped filling the dam on President Tayyip Erdogan's orders to address Iraq's worries. "As of this moment, Tigris waters are being transferred to Iraq without touching a drop of it in Ilisu," Yildiz said. "With the second decision to postpone, we have shown once again that we can put our neighbor's needs ahead of our own." The filling will resume on July 1, he said, adding that water will still flow into Iraq in accordance with agreements between the two countries. "Gigantic project" Iraq's Minister of Water Resources Hassan al-Janabi said Iraq had asked for the postponement and that the two countries had agreed on a way to fill it while still allowing adequate water supplies to Iraq. "We asked them to postpone until the end of June. Turkey agreed and we were very happy," he told a news conference in Baghdad. "The way the dam gets filled is very important ... and we found a filling method that guarantees Iraq's interests." Around 70 percent of Iraq's water resources flow from neighboring countries, especially in the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers which run through Turkey. The dam, which first got Turkish government approval in 1997, is a key part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Project, designed to improve its poorest and least developed region. But Western export credit insurers quit the project saying it did not meet international standards on the environment and preservation of cultural heritage. The government later secured credit from three local banks to continue construction. Erdogan said in an election rally two weeks ago that the 9 billion lira ($2.00 billion) dam, which he described as a "truly gigantic project" would start generating electricity next year. Once it is filled, Ilisu will completely or partially flood 199 villages and the 12,000 year-old town of Hasankeyf, which is home to 78,000 people, according a report from a campaign group, The Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive. Hasankeyf was used by the Romans as a fortress to ward off Persians. The town was later destroyed by Mongols and rebuilt in the 11th century by Seljuk Turks. Some of the ancient structures have been moved to a nearby area. The U.N. Special Investigator on human rights in North Korea is calling for human rights issues to be included in next week's U.S.-North Korean summit in Singapore on the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. U.N. investigator Tomas Ojea said he does not believe a discussion of the human rights situation in North Korea will undermine the summit. On the contrary, he said such a discussion would work in North Korea's favor because it would show its desire to become a normal state. He told VOA the United States has taken a very strong stance regarding the human rights situation in North Korea, so he believes and hopes U.S. President Donald Trump will follow up on this during his discussions with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. "Otherwise," he added, "that will be a misstep, first in terms of the negotiations because unless human rights is addressed in the negotiation of the de-nuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, I think that would not allow for a sustainable agreement." Ojea said history shows that ignoring human rights works against everyone's interests. He noted that human rights issues were put aside 25 years ago when a framework agreement was worked out to freeze North Korea's nuclear power plant. And he said human rights were left out again during six-party talks not too long ago. "Those processes, although they were well-intentioned, were not successful," he said. "So for this new process to be successful, my humble opinion as a human rights rapporteur is that the human rights dialogue should be included because it is part of the discussion.Human rights and security and peace are interlinked, definitely, and this is the situation where we can prove that." North Korea is considered to have one of the worst human rights records in the world. The United Nations accuses the government of widespread, gross violations of human rights, some amounting to crimes against humanity. They include violations of the right to food, forced labor, arbitrary detention and torture.A report in 2014 finds between 80,000 and 120,000 people are detained in political prison camps. The U.N. Security Council has designated six human traffickers for international sanctions for their exploitation of thousands of migrants off Libya's coast. The six men four Libyans and two Eritreans head up criminal networks and militias that exploit sub-Saharan African migrants seeking to cross the Mediterranean to Europe and beyond. The sanctions, which went into effect immediately on Thursday, will freeze their bank accounts and prohibit them from traveling internationally. This is the first time the council has imposed sanctions on the leaders of violent human-trafficking and people-smuggling networks. In November, cable news channel CNN broadcast video of smugglers in Libya auctioning off African migrants at a slave market, casting a spotlight on the abuse. "Today's sanctions send a strong message that the international community is united in seeking accountability for perpetrators of human trafficking and smuggling," U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said in a statement. "There is no place in our world for such abuses of human rights and human dignity." The Netherlands, a council member, put forward the six individuals for sanctions. Among them are Mus'ab Abu-Qarin, who is accused of organizing an April 2015 crossing that ended in the shipwreck deaths of 800 people; Abd al Rahman al-Milad, who heads the regional unit of the Coast Guard in Zawiya and is believed to collaborate with the smugglers; and two Eritreans Fitiwi Abdelrazak and Ermias Ghermay who traffic tens of thousands of mostly Horn of Africa migrants to the coast of Libya and onward to Europe and the United States. Also listed are Libyan militia commanders Ahmad al-Dabbashi and Mohammed Kachlaf. "This Dutch initiative sends a clear message," Foreign Minister Stef Blok said in a statement. "We are tackling human trafficking in Libya." The European Union has been working for several years to discourage migrants from making the dangerous and often deadly trip through Africa and across the Mediterranean. Its naval forces run Operation Sophia, which identifies, captures and destroys vessels belonging to the smugglers. Political rivals seeking to control Libya have kept the country in armed conflict and chaos for years, making the territory fertile ground for human traffickers, militias and terrorist groups. The new U.S. ambassador to South Sudan is denying oft-repeated accusations from the Kiir administration that the United States wants regime change in South Sudan; but, Thomas Hushek says the U.S. wants to see peace restored after four-and-a-half years of fighting. In an exclusive interview Wednesday with VOA's South Sudan in Focus radio program, Ambassador Hushek said the U.S. wanted to see an end to violence and continued to stand behind the people of South Sudan. We would like to see change in the behavior of the leaders both in the government and out of the government in order to aim and achieve that peace, he said. To achieve that goal, Hushek said, the U.S. would utilize techniques that include targeted sanctions along with positive techniques such as engaging South Sudan's people and leaders. South Sudans information minister, Michael Makuei, has often accused the United States of wanting to see the government in Juba change hands. For us as a government, this is not something new. This is the continuation of a policy of a regime change. So to us it is not an issue, he told reporters in Juba late last month. The U.N. Security Council recently renewed sanctions for an additional 45 days on South Sudan following a U.S.-led effort. The council, however, delayed a decision for 30 days on imposing travel bans and asset freezes on six South Sudanese leaders accused of impeding peace. The council said the move is still on the table pending a review of the parties commitment to observe a cease-fire agreement which they signed last December. If Washington does not win the support of the United Nations, the African Union, or regional bloc IGAD, the U.S. may impose those sanctions unilaterally, Hushek warned. South Sudan's conflict began in 2013 as a power struggle between President Salva Kiir and his former deputy, Riek Machar. The conflict has driven more than 4 million South Sudanese from their homes and according to the U.N., more than half the population, or 7 million people, need humanitarian assistance. South Sudan is the worlds youngest country. The Trump administration's tough talk on immigration did not deter Telma Ramirez from making the trip from El Salvador to seek asylum in the United States. She arrived at the border in Tijuana with her 5-year-old son and 1-year-old daughter only to find a crush of other immigrant asylum-seekers already in line ahead of them. The 27-year-old mother had been checking in at the Mexican entrance to the border crossing to see if civilian volunteers were close to calling their numbers, reminiscent of a host station at a crowded restaurant. Finally, on the 20th day, Ramirez made it to the front of the line to come across the border. Lines at border crossings in California, Texas and Arizona are so busy with asylum seekers that some have to wait days, even weeks, to present themselves to U.S. border inspectors. At the Hidalgo, Texas, border crossing, parents and children sleep on cardboard on a bridge separating the two countries, waiting for U.S. authorities to signal their time has come, according to volunteers bringing them food and water. Some wait several days in sweltering heat. Lawyers say asylum seekers at the Nogales, Arizona, crossing are camping out up for five days to make a claim. Across from San Diego, more than 100 asylum seekers gathered Monday in a large plaza at the Tijuana side of the nation's busiest border crossing, alongside taxis dropping off kids who cross the border for school and vendors selling oatmeal, tamales, burritos and smoothies from carts. Families whose numbers aren't called return to Tijuana migrant shelters to idly pass the time with their children. Volunteer Carlos Salio tells them the wait is about three weeks. "You have to come here every day," Ramirez said. "If not you, lose your place in line." Salio consults his tattered notebook of people who left their names with him, calling them out when their turn comes. When U.S. authorities said 50 would be allowed to claim asylum that day, Salio encouraged people to go back to their shelters. "Everyone knows that when your number is close, you better be here," he tells the crowd, many of them women with young children. The exact reasons for the border crossing bottleneck are unclear. It comes amid the Trump administration's new "zero-tolerance" policy to prosecute every immigrant arrested for illegal entry, setting off an uproar among critics because it is causing immigrant parents to be separated from their children. Asylum seekers who turn themselves in to border inspectors do not face such a fate, with rare exceptions. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement that any waits in Mexico are expected to be temporary. The number of people the agency can take depends on detention space, complexity of cases, translation requirement, medical needs, traffic at the crossing, ongoing enforcement actions and available resources, the statement said. It is not uncommon for asylum seekers to have a wait a short time. A caravan of Central Americans who caught President Donald Trump's attention waited nearly a week. The waits have not reached levels of 2016, when thousands of Haitians overwhelmed U.S. border inspectors in San Diego and had to wait up to five weeks. Federal law and international treaties require the U.S. to consider if people should be granted asylum for fear of persecuted back home on grounds of race, religion, nationality or political affiliation. To Trump administration officials and their allies, the system is rife with fraud and meritless claims. The administration has become more outspoken about wanting to close "loopholes" that officials say lead to frivolous claims. They want to raise the standard for passing an initial screening and overturn laws and court rulings that make it easier for families to be released while their claims wind through immigration court. Senior White House aide Stephen Miller told reporters last month that more than 300,000 asylum cases in the immigration court backlog have "completely shattered the integrity of the immigration system, and (turned) legitimate asylum cases into a needle in a haystack." Jill Bussey, a lawyer with the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, said she met one family from Guatemala camped out in the heat on the Mexican side of the border crossing connecting to Nogales, sleeping on the hard concrete outside the station. "They tell people all the time, `Get in line and wait,"' Bussey said. "These people are in line, and they're waiting." In Texas' Rio Grande Valley, the busiest corridor for border crossings, people have been seen waiting on the bridge at Hidalgo, Texas, for at least two weeks, according to witnesses and news reports. One volunteer, Esperanza Chandler, said Friday that families have been told by U.S. authorities that they have to wait because there's no room to process them. "Where they are, the sun hits them all day long," Chandler said. "They're under a little bit of covering, but the concrete and that whole area is very, very hot. Another volunteer visited the bridge Sunday with a group that brought umbrellas to provide some shade. To keep order in Tijuana, activists created a system in which asylum seekers who show up at the crossing give their names, ages and hometowns. They are assigned a numbers, ensuring that people who arrived after them won't jump ahead. Mexicans dominated the list of asylum seekers waiting to cross in San Diego, with large numbers of Central Americans. Blanca Estela Garcia, 31, said she fled the violent Mexican state of Michoacan because a neighbor had been kidnapped and she received an anonymous death threat by phone. She didn't know where she would go with her husband and children ages 14, 8 and 1, if they are allowed into the United States. "The important thing is not to go back," she said. After spending her first night in Tijuana on concrete outside the border crossing, she got a number and planned to look for shelter for the next few weeks. The U.S. State Department has evacuated at least two more Americans who fell ill after hearing strange noises in China, the New York Times reported on Wednesday, another instance of a mysterious malady linked to sound that has affected U.S. diplomats in Cuba and China. The State Department was not immediately available to comment and Reuters did not independently verify the report. A medical team has been flown to the U.S. Consulate in China's southern city of Guangzhou to test diplomatic staff and their families, the New York Times reported. So far, 24 U.S. government personnel and family members who served in Cuba and one employee in China have suffered symptoms of the strange sickness, the State department has said. It presents symptoms and clinical findings that are similar to those related to concussions and mild traumatic brain injury, according to the department. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo released a statement on Tuesday saying that the department, which sends diplomats, support staff and their families to postings all over the world, established a task force last month "to direct a multi-agency response to the unexplained health incidents." "The precise nature of the injuries suffered by the affected personnel, and whether a common cause exists for all cases, has not yet been established," Pompeo said. HA NOI Two Vietnamese universities are among the top 1,000 universities in the world, according to the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings. Viet Nam National University, HCM City and Viet Nam National University, Ha Noi are in the list for the first time, joining 60 other universities that are making their debut in the rankings this year. The ranking was published Wednesday following an examination by QS of data from 4,763 universities in 151 countries around the world in 2018. Viet Nam National University, HCM City is in the group of universities ranked 701st to 750th, while Viet Nam National University, Ha Noi is in the 801st to 1,000th group. Four US universities Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, Harvard University, and the California Institute of Technology maintained their hold on the top spots, while the United Kingdoms University of Oxford ranked 5th in the world. The QS World University Rankings is an annual publication of university rankings by London-based Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). Being the only international ranking to have received International Ranking Expert Group (IREG) approval, the QS ranking is viewed as one of the three most widely-read university rankings in the world, along with the Academic Ranking of World Universities and the Times Higher Education World University Rankings The QS World University Rankings evaluates universities according to six metrics - Academic Reputation, Employer Reputation, and Faculty/Student Ratio, as well as Citations per faculty, International Faculty Ratio, and International Student Ratio. Professor Nguyen Huu uc, vice director of Viet Nam National University, told online newspaper dantri.vn that the rankings proved the quality of training and prestige of the two Vietnamese universities were becoming increasingly recognised by the global academe and employers. Researches conducted by Vietnamese universities were cited more and had a wider reach, as evidenced by their scores in the citation index which showed that lecturers of Viet Nam National University, Ha Noi were cited an average 4.5 times each. VNS The U.S. and China have reached a deal to lift sanctions against the giant Chinese ZTE telecommunications company that hobbled the firm when the United States banned the sale of American-made components it needed for its consumer products, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Thursday. Ross told CNBC the accord will force ZTE, which employs nearly 75,000 workers, to pay a $1 billion fine for violating the U.S. ban on trade with North Korea and Iran, put another $400 million in escrow, and within 30 days replace its entire management and board. Ross said going forward, the deal imposes the "most strict" compliance on ZTE. He said the penalties should serve as a very strong deterrent for "other potential bad actors" to force compliance with U.S. trade restrictions. "If they do violate it again, in addition to the billion dollars they are paying us up front, we had them put $400 million in escrow," he said. "The total deal is $1.4 billion. That money will be forfeited if they violate anything ... and we still retain the power to shut them down again." ZTE must hire a new compliance team selected by the U.S. Commerce Department for a 10-year term. "We are literally embedding a compliance department of our choosing into the company to monitor it going forward," Ross said. "They will pay for those people, but the people will report to the new chairman." "This is a pretty strict settlement," he added. "The strictest and largest settlement fine that has ever been brought by the Commerce Department against any violator of export controls." The commerce secretary said he did not think the settlement of the ZTE dispute would have any impact on ongoing contentious trade and tariff talks between the U.S. and China, the world's two biggest economies. Washington and Beijing have threatened each other with massive new tariffs on up to $150 billion of exports from the two countries, the fallout from the U.S. demand that China buy more American goods to sharply cut last year's $375 billion Chinese trade surplus with the U.S. The ZTE agreement was reached after weeks of talks between U.S. and Chinese officials. The dispute stemmed from a U.S. decision to block sales of American-made components ZTE needs to manufacture its products for seven years, until 2025. The agreement calls for a 10-year suspended ban that can be activated if ZTE commits new trade violations. Most of the world first heard of the dispute over ZTE nearly a month ago following a tweet by U.S. President Donald Trump. Some U.S. lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, balked at Trump's effort to reach an accord on ZTE, saying that firm was a threat to U.S. national security through intelligence gathering on its devices. But Trump ignored the complaints, pushing Ross to settle the dispute. Later Thursday, Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida said: "Huawei and ZTE pose a serious threat to America's national security. ... After today's decision to give #ZTE a pass, we have introduced a bipartisan amendment to restore penalties on ZTE." Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said, "There is absolutely no good reason that ZTE should get a second chance and this decision marks a 180-degree turn away from the president's promise to be tough on China. ... It's up to Congress now to act to reverse the deal." They both were part of a bipartisan effort behind the amendment. No Turkish troops or allied Syrian fighters will deploy inside the strategic Syrian town of Manbij following a Turkish-U.S. deal that is expected to see the local U.S.-backed Kurdish militia pull out of the area, the head of the local military council said Thursday. The comments by the head of the Manbij Military Council, who goes by the name Mohammed Abu Adel, came following his meeting with a U.S. delegation to the town that included the commander of the U.S.-backed anti-Islamic State coalition Maj. General James Jarrard and veteran Middle East diplomat William Roebuck. Abu Adel said the delegation told his council that details of the U.S.-Turkey deal are still being firmed up, and that they will keep the local council and the U.S.-backed leadership in Manbij updated. He said according to details discussed with the U.S. delegation, joint U.S.-Turkish patrols will only take place along already-delineated front lines between the strategic town and other Turkish-controlled areas to the west. "If the patrols are only on the front lines, we don't have a problem with that," said Abu Adel. "But not inside the town." Ilham Ahmed, a senior Kurdish official, said the U.S. delegation gave guarantees that no Turkish or Turkey-backed Syrian forces will enter Manbij. She didn't elaborate. There was no immediate comment from the U.S-led coalition. Abu Adel said the Turkey-backed Syrian forces will have no role in the town. The delicate U.S.-Turkey deal has been long in the making. It could ease tensions between Washington and Ankara, NATO allies whose relations have soured over their respective Syria policies. The deal could also force a realignment of troops along the volatile Syria-Turkey frontier, meeting a long-standing Turkish demand to push the Kurdish militia known as YPG east of the Euphrates River. Abu Adel called the deal "political" and meant to deal with the balance of power in northern Syria but didn't elaborate. He said there will be no changes to the local military council he heads, suggesting that changes may come in the local civil administration. Turkey considers the YPG a terror group tied to a Kurdish insurgency within Turkey's borders. Soon after the deal's announcement, the YPG said it would pull its advisers out of Manbij. Other details of the deal remain unclear. The United States and Turkey offered differing descriptions of what the deal entailed, how it would be carried out and when. Turkish officials suggested a plan had been hashed out in which the withdrawal would be complete within six months, with Kurdish fighters giving up their weapons as they leave Manbij. A Turkish official said Turkey would review the withdrawal before a new council is set up to administer the multiethnic town, which has been run by the Manbij Military Council and an affiliated civil administration since 2016. U.S. officials wouldn't discuss whether the Kurdish troops would have to give up their weapons and insisted the plan included only "estimated timelines" based on events on the ground and no hard deadlines. U.S. officials said joint U.S.-Turkish patrols will be dispatched along a pre-existing demarcation line around Manbij in a trust-building exercise to pave the way for a withdrawal. Asked if his council has made any demands in the talks between the Americans and the Turks, Abu Adel said: "We are all right. We want nothing and if we are left alone, we will be all right." House Republicans continue to struggle over immigration legislation as factions disagree on key issues, including how to deal with the thousands of young undocumented immigrants, known colloquially as Dreamers, brought to the U.S. as children. More than 200 GOP representatives met early Thursday and discussed several options but failed to arrive at a firm proposal. House Speaker Paul Ryan said at a news conference after the meeting that it was time to "put pen to paper" and draft legislation. But he gave no deadline. WATCH: House Republicans Scramble to Avoid Immigration Fight House leaders are eager to put forth a compromise to keep the moderates from following through with a threat to use a discharge petition to force a vote on four immigration bills. A discharge petition is a procedural move that forces a bill out of committee and to the House floor for a vote. In order to succeed, it needs 218 signatures. The discharge petition drafted by the moderate Republicans in the House has already been signed by 216 members. If it gets the last two required signatures, there would be votes on the four immigration plans before the House on June 25. One of them is the Dream Act, overwhelmingly supported by Democrats, which guarantees a path to citizenship for the Dreamers. The Republican leadership fears it will pass, embarrassing the GOP-led House. House Republicans have been struggling over immigration legislation since U.S. President Donald Trump last year ended the program implemented by former President Barack Obama that protected the Dreamers. The fate of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) is now caught up in the courts. The U.S. on Thursday imposed visa restrictions on Nicaraguan police and other officials in the wake of violence in the Central American nation that has left more than 120 people dead. The State Department said in a statement, "The political violence by police and pro-government thugs against the people of Nicaragua, particularly university students, shows a blatant disregard for human rights and is unacceptable. These officials have operated with impunity across the country." The U.S. did not identify the officials or say how many were covered by the restrictions. But the State Department said the sanctions included members of the National Police, municipal governments and at least one Health Ministry official in the capital of Managua and cities of Leon, Esteli and Matagalpa. The State Department said that in some instances, the officials' family members could also be stopped from traveling to the U.S. Demonstrations first erupted in Nicaragua in mid-April after President Daniel Ortega announced cuts in the country's social security system, which he later withdrew. Protesters have been calling for Ortega's exit. Last Sunday, Pope Francis expressed his "sorrow for the serious violence, with dead and wounded, carried out by armed forces to repress social protests. I pray for the victims and their families." The proliferation of nonmilitary drones in the United States poses a growing national security threat, top U.S. security and aviation officials warned Wednesday as they pressed Congress to pass legislation that would allow agents to target and potentially take down suspicious drones. While the recreational and commercial use of drones has skyrocketed in recent years there are now more than 1 million unmanned aircraft in the U.S. criminals and terrorist increasingly use the technology for nefarious purposes, according to officials from the FBI, U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Federal Aviation Administration, who testified before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. While (drone) technology offers tremendous benefits to the economy and society, we recognize the misuse of this technology poses unique security challenges, said Angela H. Stubblefield, deputy associate administrator for the FAA. Scott Brunner, a deputy assistant director of the FBI, said the bureau is concerned that criminals and terrorists will exploit (unmanned aircraft systems) in ways that pose a serious threat to the safety of the American people. Terrorists and criminals could use drones to conduct illegal surveillance, carry out chemical, biological and radiological attacks as well as more traditional attacks on large open air venues such as concerts, sporting events and government facilities, Brunner said. That threat could manifest itself imminently, he said. Terror groups The FAA has registered more than 1 million drones, including 122,000 primarily commercial and public drones. The agency said the number could grow to as many as 4 million by 2021. In recent years, drones have grown cheaper, easier to use and more widely available. Their use has multiplied, for purposes ranging from aerial photography to firefighting and dust cropping. Theyre also hard to detect, making the technology attractive to terrorists and criminals. Islamic State and other terrorist groups have used them to conduct reconnaissance and launch attacks, posting videos of their exploits online. Officials said criminals have used unmanned aircraft to traffic drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border, conduct surveillance to evade law enforcement, and fly contraband into prisons. Last year, criminals used small drones to block FBI agents from observing a hostage situation, an official said last month. But law enforcement agencies lack the legal authority to target drones even if theyre involved in criminal activity. That is because drones are designated as aircraft for the purposes of federal law. Current U.S. laws make it a crime to damage or destroy an aircraft or otherwise interfere with its operations. Now, officials want Congress to pass the Preventing Emerging Threats Act of 2018, a bill proposed by the White House that would authorize FBI and Homeland Security agents to disable, seize and potentially destroy drones that threaten public safety. The U.S. departments of Defense and Energy already have the authority to target suspicious drones that fly over military and nuclear facilities. The proposed legislation would extend that authority to the departments of Justice and Homeland Security, authorizing their heads to designate additional facilities and mass gatherings for counter-drone operations. That will be done through risk-based assessment, said Hayley Chang, deputy general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security. David Glawe, DHS undersecretary for intelligence and analysis, said the legislation is critical to the security of the homeland. The bill would allow law enforcement agents to detect, identify, monitor and track hostile drones through radio transmission and other communications without prior consent. It would also authorize officials to seize, disable, damage or destroy drones deemed threatening. Without the additional authority, Brunner said the bureau is unable to effectively protect the U.S. from this growing threat. Legislation proposed Sen. Ron Johnson, Republican chairman of the panel, said he planned to tag the legislation as an amendment to the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, which the Senate began debating Wednesday. Civil liberty advocates have raised constitutional concerns about the legislation. In a letter opposing the bill, the ACLU, the countrys oldest civil liberties organization, wrote the measure amounts to an enormous unchecked grant of authority and lacks strong checks and balances to protect property, privacy, and First Amendment rights But Chang told lawmakers that the bill sets a high bar for launching a counter-drone operation. It has to be necessary to mitigate the threat, she said. The decision as to where these technologies will be deployed is going to be made at the highest level, Chang said, adding that the secretary of Homeland Security or the attorney general will make the decision in consultation with the FAA. The Aerospace Industries Association trade group said it was in the process of vetting this (bill) with our members, but were not ready to take a position as of yet. The FAA has registered more than 1 million drones, including 122,000 primarily commercial and public drones. The agency said the number could grow to as many as 4 million by 2021. The United States appears to be easing public pressure on Pakistan in a bid to encourage the country to help promote peace and reconciliation with the Taliban to bring an end to the war in Afghanistan. The optimism, analysts say, stemmed from Wednesday's rare telephone conversation U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held with Pakistani army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa. The two leaders discussed ways to advance bilateral relations, said State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert. She said "the need for political reconciliation in Afghanistan, and the importance of targeting all militant and terrorist groups in South Asia without distinction," was also discussed. Pakistani officials describe Bajwa's first direct conversation with Pompeo as "positive and productive." On Thursday, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence called Pakistani caretaker Prime Minister Nasir ul-Mulk to congratulate him on assuming office and conveyed "good wishes" from President Donald Trump. An official statement said Mulk and Pence "agreed upon the importance of strengthening bilateral relations as well as pursuing the common objective of achieving peace and stability in Afghanistan." The prime minister told the U.S. vice president his caretaker government is committed to holding free and fair elections scheduled for July 25 and the smooth transition of power to the constitutionally elected new government. Relations between the two uneasy allies in the "war on terrorism" have deteriorated since August when U.S. President Donald Trump announced his South Asia Strategy. The policy blamed Pakistan for not preventing Taliban and members of the terrorist Haqqani network from launching attacks on U.S. forces in Afghanistan, charges Islamabad rejected. While Washington has cut civilian assistance to Pakistan and suspended all military aid in January. Both sides have recently imposed tit-for-tat travel restrictions on each other's diplomats and have had no high-level political contact until Wednesday when Pompeo called Bajwa. New dialogue Analysts say the U.S. statement issued after the phone call marked a significant departure from Washington's traditional stance regarding terrorist groups allegedly running sanctuaries in Pakistan. "[The] Trump Administration seems to be easing public pressure on Islamabad by not using its standard Pakistan based groups' accusation and by replacing it with a more general reference to South Asia," said Talat Hussain, Pakistani television talk show host and columnist. "The aim appears to be to create more space for a peace process in Afghanistan inclusive of the Haqqanis," Hussain observed. "This is placing diplomacy above guns and negotiations before fighting." Just two days before Pompeo spoke to Bajwa, the Pakistan army offered to use "whatever leverage" Islamabad has to try to get Afghan insurgents to the negotiating table for peacefully terminating the war. Army spokesman Major-General Asif Ghafoor acknowledged Pakistan's relations with the United States "are under stress", but said his country would still like U.S. forces to succeed and go back from Afghanistan "with a notion of victory." But Ghafoor said the goal is achievable only through political means, because neither side is in a position to win the war on the battlefield. "The Afghan Taliban cannot conquer Kabul militarily, but no force can eliminate all of them either to bring peace to Afghanistan. So, there has to be a midway to achieve a political reconciliation acceptable to all sides," Ghafoor noted. War on terror "Whatever leverage Pakistan has [over the Taliban], although it is receding with the passage of time, we will try to use it to help find an amicable solution for Afghanistan," the general noted. "But the Afghan government will have to play the lead role in any such effort, together with America who is the main stakeholder by all means." "No one desires more than Pakistan to see peace in Afghanistan,"the Pakistan military spokesman said. "We want the U.S. to go back from Afghanistan with a notion of victory, a notion of success. We don't want them to leave behind a chaotic Afghanistan like they did before." Ghafoor said sustained military-led operations have pushed out or eliminated all terrorist groups on Pakistani soil, including the Haqqani network, and "organized infrastructure" of any terrorist organization. Pakistan has suffered tens of thousands of casualties, including security forces, while countering terrorism, he said. U.S. officials allege the Haqqanis maintain ties to the Pakistani spy agency, charges Islamabad vehemently rejects. The militant network has long been an integral part of the Afghan Taliban. The leader of the Haqqani network, Sirajuddin Haqqani, is believed to be militarily guiding the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan. Ghafoor noted his country has secured its traditionally volatile regions along the nearly 2,600-kilometer Afghan border, saying ongoing fencing and construction of new forts will further boost security and prevent illegal cross-border movements and terrorist infiltration. The United States is providing emergency assistance to people affected by the eruption of Guatemala's Fuego volcano, the White House said Thursday. Spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said financial resources are being provided, in addition to food and water, at the request of the Guatemalan government, which followed the U.S. in recently relocating its Israeli embassy from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. Sanders expressed condolences to the victims and said the U.S. would continue to coordinate with the Guatemalan government. Also Thursday, six children burned in the eruption arrived in Texas on a U.S. military transport. They will be treated at the Shriners Hospital for Children in Galveston. Guatemalan officials said there have been at least 100 deaths, with many others missing, and have suspended the search for survivors. Since eruptions began on Sunday, rescue workers have been searching for victims. David de Leon, a spokesman for the national disaster agency CONRED, said the search may resume if ground conditions in the lava-ravaged area improve. He urged residents to stay away from the area, which is about 40 kilometers southwest of Guatemala City. Meanwhile, Guatemalan authorities have opened an investigation into whether emergency protocols were followed properly. Opposition politicians are accusing CONRED of being slow to order evacuations, leaving villagers vulnerable. An Uzbek man who drove a stolen truck into a crowd of people in Stockholm, Sweden, last year has been sentenced to life in prison for terror-related murder. Rakmat Akilov was charged with terror-related murder and attempted murder for the attack that killed at least five people in April of 2017. Akilov claimed to be a member of Islamic State. Witnesses said the truck drove straight into the entrance of the Ahlens Department Store on Drottninggatan, the city's biggest pedestrian street, sending shoppers screaming and running. Television footage showed smoke coming out of the store after the crash. Rising populism across Europe is fueling human trafficking in Libya where a growing number of migrants are being trapped in detention centers and sold into slavery, aid officials told a conference on modern-day slavery on Wednesday. The rise of anti-immigration political parties in nations from Italy to Slovenia and Europe-wide efforts to stem migration means more migrants in Libya are struggling to leave and are falling into the hands of traffickers, several experts said. A video appearing to show Africans sold as slaves in Libya sparked a global outcry last year and put the spotlight on the lawless nation where thousands of migrants are held, tortured, and even killed, say the United Nations and rights groups. "It is more difficult [for migrants] to leave Libya now ... and the traffickers have to monetize their investments," said U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) senior official Vincent Cochetel. "They sell people, they lease them, they rent them," the UNHCR Special Envoy for the Central Mediterranean told the Thomson Reuters Foundation's one-day Trust Conference at the European Parliament in Brussels. The number of migrants reaching Italy has fallen sharply since last July when a major smuggling group in Libya struck a deal to halt departures under Italian pressure. Libya's coastguard has also returned more migrants after intercepting them at sea with backing from the European Union. European countries need to do more to stop illegal trade in Libya in inflatable boats which are bought from China and exported through the continent, and enforce a European Union ruling to limit their sale, according to Cochetel. "These dinghy boats have killed more people than the country's civil war since 2011," he added. About 140 East African migrants escaped from traffickers holding them captive near the Libyan town of Bani Walid last month, with several hospitalized due to torture during captivity or efforts to recapture them, the U.N. migration agency said. "Several of these people were brought to detention centers when they should have been treated as victims of trafficking," said Inma Vazquez, representative to the EU and NATO for global aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres [Doctors Without Borders]. "We are seeing people physically and mentally broken with burns, scars on their backs and legs broken in several parts." Pierre Vimont, a former head of the European Union's foreign service, said the number of migrants trapped in Libya is likely to increase further as populism sweeps across Europe in countries including Italy, Austria and Germany. Italy's new interior minister Matteo Salvini this week said his country would not be Europe's "refugee camp," having seen more than 600,000 migrants arrive since 2014, and vowed tough action to reduce arrivals and send back migrants. "Europe is looking to push back this migration wave ... to see how they can contain and push back migrants," said Vimont, adding that more needed to be done to stop people leaving African nations trying to reach Europe. "But the problem with their reaction is that they are behind the curve, reacting too late. They don't know how to act." HARARE (Reuters) - Impala Platinums Zimbabwean subsidiary said on Wednesday that it had agreed to lease nearly half of its mining land to the government and that in turn it had received two mining leases valid for the life of its operations. The southern African nation had since 2013, under former president Robert Mugabe, unsuccessfully tried to seize the land from Zimplats, the countrys biggest platinum miner. Zimplats Holdings Limited produces platinum group metals (PGMs) and associated metals, which include nickel, gold, copper, cobalt and silver mined from the Great Dyke in Zimbabwe. Its segments include Platinum, Palladium, Gold, Rhodium, Nickel, Ruthenium, Iridium, Silver, Copper and Cobalt. The Company, through its subsidiary Zimbabwe Platinum Mines (Private) Limited, a producer of PGMs, is engaged in exploiting the ore bodies located on the Great Dyke in Zimbabwe. It operates approximately four underground mines and an open pit mine, which supply ore to three concentrator modules. The Company sells white matte (a concentrate of metals), which consists of platinum, palladium, rhodium, gold and nickel. Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe Editing by Alexander Winning) HCM CITY Phu My Hung Development Corporation has donated 256 litter bins for public use to District 7 authorities. The urban developer said this was its contribution to the citys plans to reduce pollution and install more litter bins and raise public awareness of keeping streets clean. The bins have a separate compartment for organic wastes. Le Hoa Binh, chairman of the District 7 Peoples Committee, said the district is working on plans to distribute the bins efficiently to enable people to use them. Nguyen Thi Thanh My, deputy director of city Department of Natural Resources and Environment, commended the effort of Phu My Hung Development Corporation and other companies in helping the city instal facilities such as public restrooms and garbage cans. She also hoped the businesses would continue to support the city in making the streets cleaner. VNS Click here to search our database for earlier earthquakes in the same area since 1900! Please wait while we search through millions of records.This can take up to 20-30 seconds. Contribute: Leave a comment if you find a particular report interesting or want to add to it. Flag as inappropriate. Mark as helpful or interesting. Send your own user report! 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Unfortunely this content is expired and cannot be viewed anymore; if You are the owner of this content please login to our Website, go to our access panel and enable this content again. Fried fish festival returns to Fiumicino on Rome coast. 14-16 June. The Sagra del Pesce, or Fish Festival, returns to the coastal town of Fiumicino outside Rome from 14-16 June. Now in its 49th edition, the annual culinary festival dedicated to fish, particularly the fritto variety, is open each night from 18.00 until 23.00. The event involves shrimp and squid being fried in a giant pan and distributed to spectators on Friday and Saturday evening from 20.00, and on Sunday from 18.00 until all eaten. Its a strategy that has maintained the papers unique stranglehold on Britains political classes, with the vote for Brexit arguably the ultimate consummation of Dacres vision for the country. But with social media usurping the power of U.K. tabloids to determine elections, and the internet taking its toll on the Mails readership and profitability, this is a good time for the 69-year-old to hand over the reins as he plans to do in November. Adlers big worry is his Mexican customers. He hopes they wont bolt for a cheaper, non-American alternative. But he cant be sure what the president plans. I try to erase what he says and look at the [economic] levers hes pulling, Adler said. Is this all a negotiating tool to end up with a good result? I dont know. But if it is, its got to go fast. Record exports shaved the U.S. trade deficit in April for the second straight month. But so far this year, the deficit is up 11.5 percent from a year ago despite President Trump's vow to reduce the gap through new import tariffs and renegotiated trade deals. The Commerce Department said Wednesday the trade deficit dropped to $46.2 billion in April, down from $47.2 billion in March and the lowest since September. Exports rose to a record $211.2 billion; imports dipped to $257.4 billion. The trade deficit in goods with China widened by 8.1 percent in April; the gap with Mexico narrowed by 29.8 percent. He followed it up with another tweet targeting Trudeau. Prime Minister Trudeau is being so indignant, bringing up the relationship that the U.S. and Canada had over the many years and all sorts of other things . . . but he doesnt bring up the fact that they charge us up to 300% on dairy hurting our Farmers, killing our Agriculture! he wrote. Broadbent said in the email that Murray has always sought to secure reliable, low-cost electricity for all Americans, as well as to preserve and protect the jobs and family livelihoods of thousands of coal mining families. We applaud the actions taken by President Trumps Administration, to date, to protect these jobs and to advance the energy security of the United States. Ross insisted Thursday that the ZTE matter was quite separate and apart from ongoing trade talks with China. But the president has repeatedly spoken of the enforcement matter as part of efforts to overhaul the U.S. commercial relationship with China. To satisfy Trumps demand for a reduction in the $375 billion in goods U.S. trade deficit with China, the government in Beijing has reportedly offered to buy up to $70 billion more each year in U.S. products. QUANG NINH Two builders died while one was injured at a construction site in Bai Chay Ward, Ha Long City Wednesday afternoon when a 600-cubic-metre water tank broke, falling on them. In the evening of the same day, a miner was buried alive while working in a coal pit for the Duong Huy Coal Company in Cam Pha City. Ha Van Nhan, 33, from northern Bac Ninh Province, was reportedly installing mobile hydraulic loaded shields at the coal pit when a layer of coal at the top of the pit collapsed and buried him. His body was found at midnight. Last September, two miners from the Duong Huy Coal Company died in a similar accident. VNS She eventually quit her job and created the Kate Spade New York label in 1993 with her soon-to-be husband, Andy. Their handbags were both fashionable and functional, carried by the women in your office and on your TV screen alike. Kate Spade bags, while still out-of-reach purchases for many girls and women, became known as affordable luxuries for a subset of consumers. Although the couple eventually sold the label, the name became synonymous with defining moments in many womens lives. A D.C. Superior Court judge dismissed a case Wednesday against the Office of the State Superintendent of Education after the agency agreed to resend notices to families explaining why they are accused of fraud. The families are accused of living outside the city and fraudulently enrolling their children in the school without paying the tuition required of suburbanites who attend D.C. schools. BAGHDAD At least 16 people were killed and dozens injured after an arms depot exploded in the Sadr City district of the Iraqi capital late Wednesday, security and medical sources said. An arms depot exploded... The security forces have opened an inquiry to determine the cause, Baghdads security operations command said in a statement. A senior police source said on condition of anonymity that the blast was caused by heavy weapons, including rocket-propelled grenades and shells, belonging to an armed group and stored in a house. He said at least 16 people were killed and some 32 injured in the explosion. Medical sources confirmed the toll and said that women and children were found among the victims. Sources said the blast struck near a Shiite mosque in the district of northeast Baghdad. Witnesses reported heavy material damage to homes and other buildings in the Sadr City district, which is a stronghold of populist Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr. AFP When asked whether the mayor would sign the measure, her office said she is reviewing her options and referred to an emailed comment from the citys deputy mayor for education that sharply criticized the legislation. Bowser, who is seeking reelection this year, has not vetoed a bill since taking office in January 2015. Lee, who owned Palmer Liquor Store, was involved in five bribes in 2015 and 2016, including one each to Campos and Vaughn on April 22, 2015, prosecutors said. The first of those two occurred at a lunch in which Campos received an envelope containing $4,000 in a restaurant bathroom, prosecutors said. The union, which represents about 14,000 teachers and specialists, endorsed in other races, including county council, earlier this year. But it held off on saying who it would back for the top elected post in Marylands most populous county. I wanted to create a space where people could be living their everyday lives, not thinking about kids being shot and killed in the poorest corners of the city, and then theyd see the mural, Lauryn said. I want to make people uncomfortable and encourage them to have those hard conversations about whats happening in this city and to use their power and privilege to do something about the issue. Todays Headlines The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning. Email address By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy We seem determined to impose our will and way of life upon most of the rest of the world, whether or not they want it, appreciate it or ask for it, he wrote in I Protest!, a scathing 1968 book that collected some of his Khe Sanh images. ESCUINTLA Explosions boomed from Guatemalas fearsome Fuego volcano Wednesday, unleashing fresh torrents of molten mud and ash down slopes, as the death toll from a previous eruption rose to at least 99. Fears of a new blowup of the 3,763-meter (12,346-foot) volcano have stalked rescue workers since Sundays eruption buried entire villages on its southern flank. The National Forensic Sciences Agency said in a report Wednesday that morgues had received the remains of 99 people killed as a result of the eruption. Only 28 have been identified so far, it said. We already have data with names and locations where there are missing persons and that number is 192, Sergio Cabanas, head of Guatemalas disaster management agency, told reporters earlier in the day. Experts warned Wednesday that heavy rains in the area could provoke avalanches due to the large flows of volcanic mud, known as lahars, since the eruption on Sunday. Volcanologists recorded the volcano exploding several times an hour Wednesday, which generated a fresh 4,700 meter (15,500 feet) high column of gray ash. The explosions are generating moderate avalanches that have an approximate distance of 800 to 1,000 meters, the Vulcanology Institute said. It said the lahars could sweep down the mountain laden with concrete, rocks up to a meter (yard) in diameter and tree trunks. The activity continues and the possibility of new pyroclastic flows in the next hours or days cannot be ruled out, so it is recommended not to remain near the affected area, it said. Emergency workers had to temporarily suspend their search late Tuesday after a new eruption triggered a landslide. Hundreds of people were evacuated from seven communities in the Escuintla area near the summit, as panicked locals rushed to their cars to escape, causing chaotic traffic. Ongoing search Hundreds of rescue workers, including firefighters, police and the military, were battling adverse conditions to search for remains in the tangled morass of rubble, dust and earth left behind by the landslides. General Walter Sanchez, in charge of operations around the epicenter of the destruction near the village of El Rodeo, said the heat from the ash and hot sediment made rescue work difficult. Firefighters hosed down their smoking boots, which had sunk into molten volcanic material just below the ash surface. Everything in the search area was covered in a thick blanket of dust. In the murk created by the dust, police were using red ink to mark homes that had already been searched for bodies. More than 12,000 people have been evacuated from their homes, the disaster management agency said, more than 3,000 of them housed in temporary shelters. On the slopes Wednesday, local volunteers distributed food to rescue workers, and columns of cars handed out food, water, toilet paper, diapers and other necessities to residents. Some residents said they had organized themselves to prevent looting that they claimed occurred on the first night of the disaster. AFP In a review for the New York Times, the Southern historian Charles B. Dew wrote that Dr. Berlins book Generations of Captivity comes closer than any other contemporary historian to giving us an opportunity in a single, readable volume to come to grips with a subject very few of us wish to think about but which all of us surely need to consider: How millions of white Americans over the course of three centuries came to hold millions of black Americans in chattel bondage while managing to lose nary a moments sleep over their complicity in this monstrous enterprise. It was one of the earliest of his many hustles, which culminated with the advance-fee scam. Mr. Weinberg was by then on his second marriage, to Cynthia Marie Regan, and spending much of his time with Evelyn Knight, whom he described in The Sting Man as the salad dressing, the schmaltz of his cons. When he was arrested in 1977, he told Britains Telegraph newspaper, he cut a deal with the FBI to hand her over, part of an effort to reduce his prison sentence. It was followed by a second deal, to join up with the bureau. He edited an 18-volume series, The Enzymes, served on the editorial boards of several scientific journals and was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He contributed much of his Nobel earnings to the universities where he studied and taught. A Maryland judge issued the warrant for Edwards on May 17. On the same day, the Prince Georges County Sheriffs Office entered information on Edwards into the National Crime Information Center and the Criminal Justice Information System to flag other law enforcement agencies that he was wanted on a charge of attempted first-degree murder, said Sharon Taylor, a spokeswoman for the sheriffs office. Taylor said a deputy working with the U.S. Marshals task force was assigned to begin tracking down Edwards on May 18. Bashir had been stalking a young woman in Old Town with the intention of raping her, but when the shop owner where she worked told a police officer of the threat, Bashir took off in his cab. Laboy responded to a radio call for help and encountered Bashir near Lyles-Crouch Traditional Academy. He was shot in the head before he could completely dismount from his motorcycle. Bashir was caught several miles away, after crashing into another vehicle. In April, U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan barred the government from ending the mans U.S. custody by transferring him, also against his will, to the custody of a third country that had agreed to accept him and formally confirmed he would not face torture. References in the filing suggested the country was Saudi Arabia, although the country was not disclosed publicly. In asking for a temporary restraining order to block the release, the ACLU said in court papers that the man does not oppose his release from U.S. custody. To the contrary, he is urgently seeking the restoration of his liberty. What he opposes is release into an area of certain danger and possible death. OTTAWA French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed support for strong multilateralism in Ottawa Wednesday before the G7 summit, where US President Donald Trumps aggressive trade policies are sure to raise hackles. Displaying a united front, the two leaders in their 40s said in a statement they support a strong, responsible, transparent multilateralism to face the global challenges. The pair were scheduled to hold formal talks and a private dinner on Wednesday, followed by a joint news conference early Thursday. Those discussions are likely to focus on Trumps decision last week to impose punishing tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum from Washingtons closest allies, including Canada, the European Union and Japan. In retaliation, all of them have either hit back with their own tariffs on US goods or threatened to do so, as well as challenging the US trade measure at the World Trade Organisation. Both Trudeau and Macron had tried to persuade Trump not to impose the tariffs. There will be frank and sometimes difficult discussions around the G7 table, particularly with the US president on tariffs, Trudeau told reporters. His private meeting with Macron, he said, will be an opportunity to talk about the relations between Canada and France that are going very well, but also to highlight the challenges that we are going to have around the G7 table, and to make sure we are aligned. Economic order under attack The EU and Canada were originally shielded from the aluminum and steel tariffs, but Trump ended that exemption last week. Since then, Trudeau, Macron and other European leaders have toughened their tone, lamenting what they see as rising US protectionism. The world economic order is... under attack, Canadas Trade Minister Francois Philippe Champagne commented. Trump economic advisor Larry Kudlow, however, framed the trade spat as a family quarrel which he said would be worked out, while adding that his administration will do what is necessary to protect the United States, its businesses and its workforce. Macron -- who had formed an unlikely bond with Trump -- declined to characterise his last conversation with the US leader, but unnamed White House insiders told US media it was terrible. Still, the French leader pledged to have a productive and frank discussion with President Trump at the G7, the Group of Seven industrialized democracies. It does not detract from the friendship we have for each other and the friendship between our two countries, he said. Trudeau, who has been cordial with Trump, said in March he had received assurances that Canada would be spared as they worked toward a revamp of a 1994 continental trade pact with the United States. But that all changed with the announcement of the US levies, and Trudeau retaliated with C$16.6 billion (US$12.9 billion) in tariffs on US goods. The two sides are also deadlocked on negotiations over the future of their North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Mexico. Ottawa refuses to grant US demands for a clause that would end the trade deal after five years unless it is renewed by the parties. Canada has also rejected for now a proposal floated by the White House for new separate US trade deals with Canada and Mexico. The left-leaning Trudeau and Macron see each other as natural allies in a world increasingly shaped by right-wing nationalism. That bond should only grow deeper ahead of the G7 in Quebec. According to a statement, they settled on the creation of an international working group to advance research and best practices in artificial intelligence, as well as a new defense alliance. The French-Canadian Council for Defense Cooperation will meet by years end and look at boosting cooperation between their respective armed forces, including conducting joint military operations and partnering on UN missions. Focus on trade The GSeven summit on Friday and Saturday in La Malbaie, a small town 140 kilometers (87 miles) from Quebec City, will bring together the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States. Trudeau hoped to put the focus on jobs, security concerns, cleaning up the worlds oceans and empowering women. But officials concede the agenda is likely to be overtaken by trade disputes. I think its fair to expect that any discussions on the global economy... in the current environment will quickly turn into a discussion about trade, a senior Canadian official said. The other six members of the G7 are holding out hope they can find common ground with Trump, but are prepared to stand up to US protectionism. The challenge is to try to preserve a form of unity within the G7, but not hesitate to express firmly and strongly the interests of France and of Europe, Macrons office said. AFP Im getting a little tired of the Republican Party getting slammed with these sort of accusations because someone like Corey Stewart cant figure out who he should not be associating with, Freitas said Wednesday. This isnt him getting caught in a picture with somebody. This is him proactively associating himself with these people. Under the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010, Washington allows states to open their Medicaid rolls to people with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, which is $16,750 a year for an individual and $28,700 for a family of three. The federal government pledged to pay at least 90 percent of the cost, which in Virginia would amount to about $2 billion a year. Horowitzs report is expected to blast former FBI director James B. Comey and other top bureau and Justice Department officials for the handling of the case, people familiar with it said. It will almost certainly be used by President Trump to attack current and former law enforcement leaders at whom he has repeatedly taken aim in recent days and months. For the Affordable Care Act, California is a bellwether state, said David Blumenthal, president of the Commonwealth Fund, a New York-based health policy research organization. If California voters dont elect more Democrats to Congress, it will be harder for the party to gain legislative control and the Affordable Care Act will continue, as it has been, to be under attack from an empowered Republican majority, he said. Trump imposed tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on imported aluminum from the E.U. on June 1. He said the move is meant to protect U.S. national security interests, but the Europeans claim that it is simply protectionism and breaks global trade rules. Ethiopia gets new army chief: Ethiopia's prime minister appointed a new army chief of staff with a specialist's background on Eritrea, days after authorities said they would implement a peace deal with their Horn of Africa neighbor and long-standing foe. Seare Mekonnen's appointment marks the first change in 17 years at the top of the army, which plays a dominant role in Ethiopia. His appointment was announced by Fana Broadcasting Corp., which is funded by the ruling party. A federal district court judge in 2016 blocked the law from taking effect, determining that the medical benefits were few at best and were far outweighed by the burdens it imposed. The requirement is difficult to meet because it limits eligible backup providers to a narrow scope of practitioners, and the absence of a guarantee of privacy caused doctors to be fearful of antiabortion backlash against their practices and families. But a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit vacated the district court decision, saying no determination had been made of how many women would be affected. The Supreme Court which in 2016 struck down a Texas law that was similar to that in Arkansas declined to hear the case. For the time being, that means medication abortions are effectively banned in Arkansas, the first state to do so. Pages Russia experience began in 2004, when he joined the Moscow office of Merrill Lynch, dealing with Gazprom, the government-controlled gas company. Sergey Aleksashenko, who supervised Page as the chief executive of Merrill Lynch Russia, explains: Carter was fairly good, no complaint. But he was not creative. Aleksashenko says Page left Moscow in 2007 when told he wouldnt be promoted above vice president there; Page says that account is false and that Aleksashenko, now a fellow at the Brookings Institution, has been critical of Trump supporters. It is true that Nixons chief of staff, Al Haig, had asked Ford a week before the resignation to pardon Nixon. But Ford was noncommittal . Fearing that Haig might have taken this as tacit agreement, Ford called him in the presence of witnesses to say he had not committed, and would not commit, to pardoning Nixon. Two months later, in response to a House panels question about a possible quid pro quo, Ford recounted the timeline and assured the panel that there never was at any time any agreement whatsoever concerning a pardon to Mr. Nixon if he were to resign and I were to become president. If Ford, an honorable man by all accounts, flat-out lied to the House committee, there is no proof of it. Seventeen years later, Ted Kennedy presented Ford with a Profile in Courage award, not for cutting a sleazy deal but for making a brave decision that probably cost him the 1976 election. There is little dispute about the facts of the case. Stutzman had counted Robert Ingersoll as a customer for nearly a decade when he came in one day in 2013 and said he wanted to talk about flowers for his wedding to his longtime companion, Curt Freed. Stutzman said she held his hand and said she had to decline his request because of her relationship with Jesus Christ. I dont know if that means anything. Ive never heard of a generic poll. Im not sure I believe in a generic poll when you have so many races between the Senate and the House, he said. Weve never been up in a generic poll, and now were up in two of them. . . . The Republican Party has . . . never been up in generic polls. And now its up in two of them. Hagin, who prefers to work behind the scenes and rarely talks to the press, has been a key planner for the North Korea summit. He led a U.S. delegation to try to arrange logistics for the event in May, and the summit appeared in danger when the North Korean delegation didnt show up. But Hagin returned with his advance team over Memorial Day weekend for another try, a persistence that eventually made it possible last week for Trump to declare the June 12 meeting was back on. Flake stoked speculation about a 2020 challenge to Trump in March, when he traveled to New Hampshire, the nations first primary state, to deliver an address to a crowd of business leaders and political activists. In his speech, he decried the degradation of the United States and her values by the current occupant of the White House. You know, our system of government has got a system of checks and balances for a reason, she told the shows host, Jeanine Pirro. And sometimes, the courts and these prosecutors get it wrong whether maliciously or just by accident, and it takes a strong leader like President Trump to right those wrongs. A series of Jan. 17 texts, filed with the suit, show the back-and-forth between Cohen and Davidson about whether she should speak publicly and about the possibility of an appearance with Hannity, who is close with the president. Cohen revealed in court in April that Hannity was among his three legal clients in the past year and a half. Trump is a homebody president, preferring to sleep in the White House or at one of his signature properties than in hotels, so he is generally reluctant to take long journeys. Furthermore, he prefers visiting places where he is feted such as on his trips last year to Beijing, Paris and the Saudi capital over attending summits where the attending leaders are treated as equals. Warning that he was prepared to impose even harsher sanctions against North Korea if a deal could not be struck, Trump indicated that his decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear agreement last month had already reaped benefits. Iran is not the same country that it was a few months ago, he said. Theyre a much, much different group of leaders, and I hope at some point theyll come to us, and well sit down, and well make a deal thats good for them, and good for us, and good for everybody. . . . I want it to be great for Iran. In fact, there are 17 staff members in Muellers office. Thirteen are registered Democrats, and four are unaffiliated or their affiliation is unknown, The Washington Post has reported. Mueller himself is a registered Republican, as is Rosenstein, a Trump appointee who is overseeing the investigation. It shouldnt take a speaker of the House to have to get involved every one of these times to get the Department of Justice or any other department to comply with congressional oversight requests, Ryan complained. The sooner the Department of Justice complies with all of our document requests, which are legitimate document requests, the better this is going to be for everybody. . . . Had they complied with these document requests earlier when we made them, we probably could have spared the country all of this drama. The famously liberal 9th Circuit covers nine Western states from Hawaii to Arizona and is based in California. Bounds, now an assistant U.S. attorney in Oregon, was nominated for the seat that has traditionally gone to an Oregonian. While he was born in and spent much of his career in the state, he failed to secure the support of either Oregon senator both of whom are Democrats. Hundreds of thousands of dreamers have been protected from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that was canceled last year by Trump but remains in effect due to a pending court review. Otherwise, dreamers have scant options if they want to remain legally in the U.S.: They can marry a citizen or legal permanent resident, they can seek asylum, or they can return to their country of birth and apply for a visa under existing immigration pathways such as having a family member in the U.S. petition for their admittance. This cease-fire is an opportunity for Taliban to reflect on the fact that their violent campaign is not winning them hearts and minds but further alienating the Afghan people from their cause, Ghani said. With the cease-fire announcement, we epitomize the strength of the Afghan government and the will of the people to achieve a peaceful resolution to the Afghan conflict. Hua said the Foreign Ministry had not yet been formally informed by the U.S. government about the new cases, having only heard about them through media reports. If the United States communicates with us, we will adopt a responsible attitude to investigate this, she said. We will maintain communication with the United States on this. During periods of rapprochement between the two Koreas, the North has sometimes agreed to allow brief family reunions in which South Koreans cross the border for a few hours. The scenes from the reunions brief encounters with a mother or brother not seen for six decades are always heart-wrenching, exposing the human toll of what was supposed to be a temporary division. The 39-year-old still has shrapnel peppered throughout her body from battles waged during the 1990s. (She signed up at the age of 12.) She managed to keep from being swept into the system of government-run camps set up to hold the defeated rebels, camps that have been dogged by allegations of torture and rape and that has enabled her to avoid being placed under surveillance. Ryan is retiring at the end of the year, but as leader of the House Republicans, he has found himself refereeing the acrimonious standoff between GOP lawmakers and the Justice Department over access to classified information and documents relevant to the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and whether anyone in the Trump campaign coordinated with the Kremlin to influence its outcome. For the most part, Ryan has sided with his fellow Republicans on that dispute, and has previously denied any collusion between Trump associates and Russia. He did so again emphatically on Thursday. On May 23, the State Department issued a health alert for China after revealing that one employee of the Guangzhou consulate had reported hearing strange noises and exhibiting symptoms of brain injury. The State Department described his experience as subtle and vague, but abnormal, sensations of sound and pressure, and ordered his evacuation. The State Department said at the time that it was unaware of any similar situation elsewhere in China, either among diplomats or outside the diplomatic community. It is unusual, but not unprecedented, for a president to weigh in on specific criminal cases while they are pending. Trump has done so repeatedly. Last year, he suggested a terror suspect in New York should be sent to Guantanamo, before reversing himself. He also spoke out against Bowe Bergdahl during the American soldiers military trial on desertion charges. Some State Department officials who have served in both Democratic and Republican administrations say colleagues and ambassadors who have come in with the Trump administration often are more resistant to advice from the career diplomats because they consider Foggy Bottom a bastion of liberal, deep state values. Others say that only a handful of political appointees are dismissive of the briefings they receive from experts in their assigned regions before they leave for posts. Fintech Prospa has postponed its plan to list on the sharemarket on Friday, after it blamed queries from the corporate watchdog for a last-minute decision to delay the float earlier in the week. The company released a statement last night saying it had decided it was in the best interest of the company and new investors to postpone the listing and provide a briefing on the matters raised by ASIC [Australian Securities and Investments Commission] in the context of the industry wide review. A revised listing schedule will be communicated, the company said. On Wednesday Prospa delayed the float for 48 hours about half an hour before trading in its shares was to begin, citing queries from the corporate watchdog over its loan conditions. The eyes of the tech world were on Apple this week - until Facebook's latest privacy crisis subsumed everything. Thousands of software developers flocked to San Jose, California for Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference. But even at WWDC, with Apple on the brink of becoming history's first trillion dollar company, Facebook and privacy were inescapable. Apple chief executive Tim Cook at the WWDC keynote. Credit:Bloomberg Among the many announcements made this week by Apple were new measures designed to protect privacy, including features in the Safari browser that will block ad-tech companies from tracking users, building detailed profiles of them, and serving them creepy ads as they surf the internet. Even social media sharing buttons and comment fields on other websites can be used by these companies to collect data, Apple claimed. "We're shutting that down," Craig Federighi, the company's top software engineer said to cheers at the conference. Elon Musk is confident Tesla can finally meet a production target with its crucial Model 3 and predicted that manufacturing will actually become a strength for the electric-car maker over time. The shares surged Wednesday after Musk, Tesla's chief executive officer, said the company was "quite likely" to build 5,000 of the sedans a week by the end of this month. Musk reaffirmed his forecasts for second-half profit and cash generation based on that target, and said he still sees no need to raise more capital. Loading "It's very difficult to become a mass-manufacturing car company," Musk, 46, said Tuesday after shareholders voted down a measure that would have required an independent director replace him as chairman. "No one has succeeded in doing this in a very long time in United States." Mortgage Choice investors should have smelt a rat two months ago when its CEO, former NAB executive John Flavell, resigned with zero notice and was replaced by his veteran CFO, Susan Mitchell, who had already resigned to take a number-crunching role elsewhere. Flavell had always conducted himself and led the business in a professional and exemplary manner, the company said in an amazingly bland statement from chairwoman Vicki Allen. Former Mortgage Choice chief executive John Flavell's abrupt departure should have raised alarm bells.. Credit:Pat Scala Its one of those things after a period of time, you know its been a really good three years and the business has prospered. From my perspective its time to do some other things, Flavell told The OZ in a thoroughly unconvincing fashion. On Monday, alarm bells were ringing for CBD when the mortgage broker franchise operator announced - completely out of the blue - that it was reviewing its franchise remuneration structure. The boss of Australian copper miner Oz Minerals, Andrew Cole, is confident his companys takeover bid for the Brazilian-focused junior copper company Avanco Resources will win the backing of Avanco shareholders. Speaking on the sidelines of a Melbourne Mining Club event on Thursday, Mr Cole said Avancos portfolio of assets in Brazil was an ideal fit for his company, and that support for the bid among Avanco shareholders was progressing well. Oz Minerals' Prominent Hill operation in South Australia. Credit:AFP Mr Cole also painted a strong outlook for the future of copper, citing the rise of electric vehicles, the surge in renewable energy and regulatory moves to reduce emissions and pollution across the world. If you want to generate renewable energy through wind, you need a lot of copper in those wind towers. If youre going to use electric vehicles, an electric vehicle has a lot more copper than its analogue counterpart. An independent regulatory body is needed to oversee the franchising system, lawyers will tell a parliamentary inquiry on Friday. Maurice Blackburn employment principal Giri Sivaraman . Maurice Blackburn Principal Giri Sivaraman, who has acted pro-bono for exploited 7-Eleven and Caltex workers, will urge the Federal Government inquiry into franchising conduct to look at how the Franchising Code of Conduct can be expanded to better protect workers. Mr Sivaraman, who will appear at a public hearing in Brisbane with the shoppies union and former 7-Eleven worker Sam Rao, said the franchising model in Australia is "broken". It is crucial that in reviewing the Franchising Code of Conduct that the Federal Government mandates measures to better protect workers from exploitation," he said. J.K. Simmons plays a low-ranking bureaucrat in Counterpart. Aunty's approach to Mystery Road, Riley believes, typifies the way forward. The six-part series is an expensive Australian production, starring Judy Davis and Aaron Pedersen. In other words, it's a "flagship" drama; the kind likely to attract big TV audiences. No surprise it enjoys one of the best spots in the schedule: 8.30pm on Sundays. But as the first episode went to air last week, ABC put the entire season on iview. Sandra Oh has her first lead role in Killing Eve. Credit:ABC For Riley, it doesn't matter where people see it as long as they do see it. "We count both audiences," she says. "Broadcast is declining [across the industry] and we're trying to stem the flow by providing content on iview." Privately, ABC managers insist that maintaining healthy broadcast audiences is vital, lest politicians use dwindling ratings to justify further budget cuts. Yet the average age of ABC's TV viewership is 66 higher than our average retirement age. If younger people prefer to binge-watch drama online, Riley is happy to oblige them. Australian series Harrow, she says, delivered the best of both worlds: "It brought that crime audience [to the main channel] on Friday nights but it also tapped a younger audience on iview. That's the sweet spot for us." When iview launched in July 2008, it was billed as a catch-up website; its homepage dominated by the shows "you missed last night". When it relaunches later this month, catch-up will be a smaller part of what's intended to be a "standalone service". Programs will be grouped into entire seasons, and what you watch will determine via a Netflix-style algorithm what is recommended to you. Down the track, iview may also require users to create a profile, allowing ABC to harvest broad demographic data. "We don't program it in a vacuum," says iview boss Sally O'Donoghue. "We have to think about how we serve different audiences on different platforms." It's important, she adds, that iview not become a dumping ground for cheap, second-rate dramas: "Curation is absolutely everything; viewers need to see they're getting quality programs." Increasingly, this means high-end drama exclusive to iview or at least available to binge before it airs on TV. In June, for instance, iview will feature British crime series Killing Eve and Apple Tree Yard; British-French drama The Tunnel: Vengeance; sci-fi program The City and The City; and Australian comedy-drama F*!#ing Adelaide. It's a strategy already established at SBS. Among the dramas exclusive to SBS On Demand are The Bureau (France); Black Widows (Finland, Norway and Sweden); Cromo (Argentina); Professor T Flemish (Belgium) and The Border (Poland). Not to mention those that could be seen online before their TV debut: season one of The Handmaid's Tale (US); Midnight Sun (France); The Young Pope (Italy, France and US) and Trapped (Sweden). "It makes sense for SBS, as the smallest of the channels, to distribute our content in a variety of ways," says Marshall Heald, director of TV and online content. "Sometimes, an On Demand premiere will deliver a different audience to TV or will increase awareness of the show overall." Around three-quarters of the dramas acquired for On Demand are in non-English languages, helping counter the accusation that SBS has moved too far from its multicultural roots. (Anecdotal evidence suggests some viewers prefer searching for language-specific dramas online instead of waiting for them to appear on TV.) Those who watch drama through SBS On Demand are generally younger than those watching the same programs on air. And half of these online viewers don't even watch SBS on their televisions. To commercial networks, this would be cause for despair but to Heald, it's a chance to lure new audiences. "We strategically promoted [local drama] Safe Harbour during The Handmaid's Tale," he says. "This strategy enables us to increase engagement with Australian-commissioned programs." Currently, On Demand offers more than 80 binge-ready dramas. Some are popular Scandi-noir titles (The Bridge), or acclaimed Australian productions (Sunshine, The Principal). But others, according to Heald, "would have struggled to find audiences on free-to-air, whether due to their thematics or language content". The beauty of On Demand is that such programs don't fall through the cracks. "The diversity of our offering is the differentiator," he says. "On Demand enables us [to] present a truly global catalogue that Australians would never have seen otherwise." Binge-worthy dramas: 10 of the best Atlanta, SBS On Demand Donald Glover and Zazie Beetz in Atlanta. Credit:Guy D'Alema This offbeat drama-comedy was created and written by Donald Glover, who plays a Princeton dropout trying to get his cousin's rap career off the ground. ML Bad Banks, SBS On Demand German actress Paula Beer plays an ambitious and morally ambiguous banker who encounters the glass ceiling, rampant misogyny and selfless greed in this female-led, Billions-like drama set in the world of European high finance. PK The Bridge, SBS On Demand Sofia Helin stars in The Bridge. Credit:SBS Counterpart, SBS On Demand J.K. Simmons plays a low-ranking bureaucrat who discovers he has been cloned in this moody Berlin-set, Orwellian drama that taps into the murky world of state-sanctioned espionage. PK The Good Fight, SBS On Demand The cast of The Good Fight. Credit:Joe Pugliese A spin-off of The Good Wife, this legal-political drama stars Christine Baranski as accomplished lawyer Dianne Lockhart. After a financial scam destroys her savings (and her retirement plans), Dianne joins Chicago's top African-American-owned firm. ML Killing Eve, iview Sandra Oh gets her first lead role, playing an MI5 detective in pursuit of a psychopathic female assassin. As the series progresses, the two women become strangely obsessed with each other. ML Mystery Road, iview Aaron Pedersen and Judy Davis in Mystery Road. Credit:ABC The appeal is obvious: Judy Davis, Aaron Pedersen and an intriguing murder-mystery. But it's the subtler themes from racism to the hardships of outback living that add heft to this superb series. ML Spin, SBS On Demand While never reaching the heights of Danish political drama Borgen, this French series comes close. After the President is killed in a suicide attack, the Prime Minister decides to run for the Elysee but the President's former spin doctor has other ideas. ML The Tunnel: Vengeance, iview The fourth outing of this underrated French-British crime series, which was initially dismissed as Bridge-lite, delves into the current European crises of refugees and right-wing militancy. PK The Young Pope, SBS On Demand Jude Law and Diane Keaton star in The Young Pope. Credit:SBS Rhiannon Bell still misses her baby's cleft lip smile; the gaps that ran from Rileys tiny nostrils to the bottom of his top lip. Its the only smile we knew. It was his cute little smile, she said. Breakthrough finding: Aidan and Rhiannon Bell with baby Riley, who was born with a cleft lip and palate. Credit:Louise Kennerley In April, Riley, then five months old, had surgery to repair his cleft lip. In September, Riley will undergo a more intensive operation to reconstruct his palate, where two large holes create caverns between his mouth and his nasal canal. Riley will need several more operations before he starts kindergarten. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will intervene in the ANU's decision to pull out of a controversial new degree in Western Civilisation, saying he wants to talk to the university's vice-chancellor about it directly. On Thursday, Mr Turnbull became the latest Liberal politician to wade into the furore over the course, which was to be funded by the John Howard-headed Ramsay Centre. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says he will speak to the ANU directly about its decision to pull out of a course. Credit:Lisa ALexander The Prime Minister said he was "very surprised" by the ANU's decision last week to end six months of negotiation with the centre and would be speaking to vice-chancellor Brian Schmidt personally "to get his account of it". "I find it very hard to understand why that proposal from the Ramsay Foundation would not have been accepted with enthusiasm," Mr Turnbull said. Police have appealed to the public to help identify a man whose body was found on the side of the road in Homebush on Wednesday night. Investigators were called to Homebush Bay Drive, 200 metres north of Australia Avenue, about 10.30pm on Wednesday after a truck driver whose vehicle had broken down discovered the body. The body was found on the side of the six-lane road covered in a type of material. Detective Inspector Paul Arnold said a post mortem on Thursday had revealed the deceased person was male, however there were "no further identifying features, documentation or other objects that may indicate the name of this person". Alexander and Bridget Jones with their parents Ian and Sue. Construction giant Grocon was responsible for the safety of a wall that collapsed on Melbournes CUB site in 2013, killing three passing pedestrians, the state coroner has found. Montmorency siblings Bridget and Alexander Jones, and the French-born Marie-Faith Fiawoo died after the free-standing brick wall fell onto Swanston Street in Carlton in high winds in March 2013. State coroner Sara Hinchey on Thursday said the onus to ensure the wall's structural integrity had rested with Grocon, which owned the site at that time. Mr Jones, a 19-year-old Melbourne University student, was walking with his 18-year-old sister and fellow Melbourne University student at the time. The siblings were on their way to meet their father at the football. Rockingham Detectives have charged a man with a string of offences after he allegedly crashed into a home before assaulting one of the occupants with a metal pole. Police arrested the man on Wednesday afternoon. Credit:File Image Police will allege the man was involved in a range of incidents across the Rockingham area on Wednesday morning. The first incident occurred about 7.15am when a Nissan Navara utility struck a house on Barnes Street, Rockingham. It will be alleged the driver of the vehicle entered the home and assaulted a man with a metal pole and acted in a threatening manner towards a woman living at the house. Jennifer said she then continued to go to the casino for the next 11 months without issue. "I would smile and say hello to the staff at the doors as I would walk in," she said. "I would only ever intend to gamble $100, but I would be seen going back and forth past security to the ATMs until I had exhausted the $400 limit on my [accounts] ... I was not once stopped by the security at the door." 'She blew all of it' Rob knew about his partner's self-exclusion, but said he had no idea about the extent of her addiction until December last year. "I didnt have any idea of how bad it was," he said. "I thought she was going to work, when she was just going gambling. "I had 10 grand set aside to get us through Christmas and to start us off this year, but she blew all of it. "When that happened, she confessed to me. It all came flooding out, and all the stuff seemed to make sense." Following her confession Rob realised in two weeks, Jennifer had lost the entire $10,000 he had saved to help his family through the holiday period. With his partner by his side so he could point out her appearance to Crown staff once and for all, Rob went to Crown Casino in Burswood. Crown Casino in Perth. "I went to the cashier straight away," he said. "I was in a good frame of mind when I went in there, and I wasnt angry. "I really thought I had a good argument look, shes come to you for help. Youve got this policy in place for people like her. "I knew that I probably wouldnt get anything, but I was going to make them explain to me why they shouldnt give me my money back. "I thought I had pretty good grounds for this one." 'Shed left me a note on the windshield' Rob spoke with senior Crown staff who explained the self-exclusion agreement to him, and the clauses contained in the contract designed to indemnify the casino of any liability in the event Jennifer broke the agreement. After a 40-minute discussion with staff about anything they could do to prevent Jennifer from entering in the future, Rob said he felt like he had a small win in making them understand the impact Jennifer's gambling had on his business and relationship. He went to leave the casino, and soon noticed Jennifer had disappeared. "I went back to the car and shed left me a note on the windshield saying she was going home to get money," he said. So Rob quickly drove to their Perth property to find both Jennifer and the money gone. "Shed gone back to the casino," Rob said. "So I ended up racing back, and they wouldnt let me in. "But she was in there." Rob said he was in shock because not only had Jennifer signed up to the self-exclusion program and been pointed out to security that very day, she had actually been found in breach of it earlier in the year. A letter escalating Jennifer's* ban from January this year. "One night after losing all the money I had, I was approached by security staff and asked if I was Jennifer," Jennifer said. "I admitted I was, and they told me to remain where I was as they had to get me to sign something before escorting me from the casino. "I signed the statement that I had breached the exclusion contract and would now be on a watch list and would be fined if I again came to the casino. The letter, addressed to Jennifer, stated she was "hereby revoked [of] any invitiation, licence, consent or authority, whether express or implied, permitting you to enter or remain on crown Perth Property". From the date of the notice, December 24, 2017, Jennifer was prohibited from entering any part of Crown Perth property. Later Rob found out that during her exclusion period, Jennifer had also been spurred on in her addiction after she had a $14,500 win on a pokie machine. "She was really worried, she said, that she wouldnt be able to collect her win," Rob said. "So she was going to get one of her friends to go and get it, but in the end she didnt trust them enough so she went and did it herself. "They still gave her the money." Jennifer lost the majority of her money through poker machines. But by the time Rob finally spoke to Crown staff, she had already lost more than $50,000 of their savings. Self-exclusion contracts The experience may have left Rob burned, but he is determined to educate other gamblers and their families about the nature of self-exclusion contracts. "The whole thing is just a waste of time," Rob said of the self-exclusion contract. "I reckon, right now, I could just walk in with her again. "She tried to do the right thing. Gambling is a really serious addiction, its like a disease. She couldnt stop, and I loved her so much. I didnt realise [the extent of it]. "They deserve to be locked up. They're destroying peoples lives. She couldnt stop, and shes done the one thing she could do to try and stop." Rob and Jennifer are currently rebuilding their lives separately. Jennifer agrees with her ex-partner's assessment. "The system for detecting self-excluded gamblers does not work," she said. "I thought after being discovered as a self-excluded problem gambler and admitting I had been coming in most days undetected, it would now make it harder or even not possible for me to enter the casino in the future," Jennifer said. "I was wrong." In response to Rob and Jennifer's story a Crown Casino spokeswoman said: "Crown does not comment on whether any particular individual visits Crown, nor does it disclose any detail of their visit. "Crown has a very strong commitment to responsible gambling and assisting persons in their decisions in relation to their gambling, and we treat any responsible gambling issue raised very seriously." According to Gambling Help Online, "all Australian gambling providers are required to provide customers with the option to self-exclude from their venue or products". However, the WA Department of Racing, Gaming and Liqour said self-exclusion was regulated by individual casinos and not by an overarching authority or piece of legislation. "While section 26 of the Casino Control Act 1984 deals with banning people from casinos, this does not extend to self-exclusion," a spokeswoman said. "Problem gambling is an issue the department takes very seriously through working with the gambling industry and health services sectors to support initiatives that educate and raise awareness of responsible gambling. "The department, through the Problem Gambling Support Services Committee, recently launched a major advertising campaign to encourage people affected by problem gambling to access free and confidential counselling services. "The committee also funds a 24/7 helpline, online counselling and face-to-face counselling services. "The department encourages anyone who may be affected by problem gambling to access these services." A former WA police officer is vowing to hold a tent city protest opposite State Parliament in an effort to highlight the "shocking" treatment of medically retired cops. Joe Shaw was medically retired from the force in the 1990s. Credit:WA Police Joe Shaw, a former WA Police Sergeant, was medically retired from the force in the 1990s. He says he had been stabbed numerous times, had both his knees destroyed and almost lost a leg in the line of duty. Mr Shaw, who now lives in Queensland, said the tent city protest slated for later this year would bring home to the public and politicians the "utter despair" felt by WA cops who were not protected by compensation. One-time Australian terror suspect Zaky Mallah has been detained in Singapore after attempting to visit the country just under a week ahead of the historic nuclear talks between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. From what he said was a holding cell at Singapore Airport, Mallah told Seven News he was interrogated for more than five hours about the nature of his visit and his past dealings, including a 2012 trip to Turkey and Syria. Zaky Mallah's infamous appearance on Q&A. Credit:Q&A "They asked me a lot of questions about my history, my dealings with the Australian government, ASIO, my trip to Turkey, Syria" The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade have confirmed the detention of an Australian in Singapore, and will provide no further comment, a spokesperson said. On Thursday afternoon, 19-year-old Fatima* secretly met with her case worker, Betul Tuna, about her plan to run away from her Shepparton home. But unlike most social workers in this situation, Tuna is helping her do it. Fatima is one of thousands of young women - and men - forced into engagements and marriages by their families. Since 2013, when it became criminal, the Australian Federal Police has received 232 referrals relating to forced marriages. Fifty-two of those people went on to receive government help. No one has ever been convicted under the relevant federal laws. Part of the problem is the requirement for victims to co-operate with a police investigation, which usually means sounding the alarm on their own parents. "A lot of the time, young people are really fearful of getting their family in trouble," says Tuna. Betul Tuna, community worker who works with young women at risk of forced marriage. Credit:Laura Briggs The federal Labor Party will on Friday unveil a new policy on forced marriage that will make two significant changes to the way the crime is managed. It will introduce civil protection orders for all victims, no matter their age, which will allow courts to intervene on behalf of adults at risk. Australians will instantly understand what their politicians cannot say about this new law against foreign interference: of course it is about China. Allies such as the United States and Britain have to contend with meddling by Russians, but the risk to Australia is primarily from Chinese agencies or their proxies. The downfall of Labor senator Sam Dastyari, who quit Parliament after a scandal over his links to a Chinese donor, is only one example of a significant vulnerability in any democracy. Forced to resign over foreign links: Labor's Sam Dastyari. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen The Director-General of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, Duncan Lewis, said last month that foreign interference against Australia was occurring on an unprecedented scale so this is not a political scare campaign. Women are ready to change the rules to address penalty rates, insecure jobs and flexible work arrangements because they are being harder hit, unions argue. Polling for the Australian Council of Unions found 67 per cent of women said they had not had a pay rise in the past 12 months, compared with 61 per cent of men. ACTU secretary Sally McManus. Credit:Justin McManus The poll of 1500 people, by Cadreon, found 66 per cent of women thought business had too much power, compared with 54 per cent of men. While 50 per cent of men opposed cuts to penalty rates, it rose to 63 per cent for women. In Monday's keynote address at Apples World Wide Developers Conference a week-long gathering for developers that has grown in pomp, ceremony and stature to become the tech equivalent of a cross between the Oscars and the State of the Union address the company announced new features built into its soon-to-be-released iOS 12 operating system to tackle our growing addiction to phones and tablets. These include an enhanced "do not disturb" mode that hides your alerts during sleeping hours and Screen Time, which provides a report of your phone usage and allows for time limits to be set on the use of certain applications. Google has introduced similar measures for its Android phone operating system. Apple CEO Tim Cook explains the new iOS 'Screen Time' feature at the World Wide Developers Conference in California on Monday. Credit:AP Apple has also developed more in-depth parental controls that allow parents to block the use of particular apps on their children's devices during specified hours and have more oversight over how the devices can be used. We have become inseparable from our mobile phones. The term "nomophobia" (no-mobile-phone-phobia) has entered our lexicon and a study by MIT Sloan Management School has shown most people who have to "give up" their phone for a day suffer at least some level of anxiety. London: Australian government officials have paid a mysterious visit to Julian Assange in his Ecuadorian embassy refuge in London, in a sign there may be a breakthrough in the stalemate that has lasted almost six years. Two officials from Australia's High Commission were spotted leaving the embassy in Knightsbridge in west London on Thursday. Julian Assange greets supporters outside the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2017. Credit:AP It is the first time Australian consular officials have visited Assange at the embassy. They were accompanied by Assange's lawyer Jennifer Robinson. WESTPORT Finance board members pushed back against a plan to hire more police officers to patrol town schools, calling it a massive expansion of the force. Im a little concerned about overselling the concept because I think the SROs do have a lot of merit and can do a lot of good, but its not an end-all-be-all cure for the potential for a school shooter and I think its important we be honest with parents about that, Finance board member Sheri Gordon said Wednesday night. Gordon said the question was not about money but about the best way to provide security and added shes concerned mixed data and examples from the recent shooting at a Santa Fe, TX, high school where an SRO was present, but 10 students and teachers died anyway, show SROs are not super-heroes. BOF Chairman Brian Stern urged caution and called on the board not to make a rushed decision. Board member Jim Westphal concurred with Stern, saying once the program is implemented it will be very difficult to undo and will cost the town millions of dollars into the future. Youre talking about a massive expansion of the police force, which is really on a present value basis going to be tens of millions of dollars, Westphal said. With a stated goal to prevent and protect against gun violence in Westport schools, School Superintendent Colleen Palmer asked the Board of Finance to fund the addition of three School Resource Officers (SROs) for the upcoming school year at a cost of $320,114. The whole idea is an SRO is a huge preventative force, a deterrent to something happening that would harm students or staff. Not only has their presence shown someone coming to do harm may just not come at all, but the strong relationships that SRO forges with students in the building helps all kinds of information to come forward, Palmer said at the June 7 Board of Finance meeting. Palmer presented the proposal for three SROs on behalf of the Board of Education, which voted 5-2 in favor of adding a SRO at a meeting in March. Police Chief Foti Koskinas spoke in favor of the proposal, saying the program would be a combined effort between the towns police department and school system. Palmer, who started oversaw a SRO program as Westons superintendent, first proposed adding a similar program in Westport in the fall, well before the Parkland and Santa Fe shootings, she said. I want to underscore that this is not an emotional reaction to some of the very horrific violent school shootings that have happened in the last six months, but it really was something the Board of Education began to consider well before. The recent events only highlight for me the urgency with which Im asking us to move forward, Palmer said, adding that each of the systems in Westports school reference district, which include towns such as Darien, New Canaan, and Weston, all have SRO programs already in place. Palmers initial recommendation called for a slow start to the program with one SRO officer for the school district who would be fully-funded from money already in the police budget for the DARE officer program, whos curriculum Palmer said has not kept up with current needs and would thus be phased out to provide funds for an SRO. Over time, however, Palmer and the education boards proposal evolved to include three officers, but a funding for two SROs, in addition to the one SRO that would be fully-funded by DARE money, was not included in the boards $116 million education budget for fiscal year 2018-19 that was passed by the passed by the finance board in April and the Representative Town Meeting in May. One-full time SRO would be placed at Staples High School because the internal threats tend to come from the secondary level, Palmer said, adding the other two officers would spend most of their time in each of the two middle schools but would also occasionally visit the elementary schools to do educational lessons and make connections with students so as to foster a positive image of law enforcement with students. The $320,114 price tag for the coming year would include total compensation packages for each of the two officers at $124,557 a piece, which would include not just salary, but benefits, such as pension, workers compensation, and medicare, Koskinas said. In addition, the proposal included a $70,000 one-time capital cost for police cars for the SROs and funds for SRO officer uniforms and equipment. In each of the following years, the annual cost for SROs would be about $250,000 BOF member John Hartwell pointed out, noting the capital costs for cars wouldnt be a yearly expense. Outgoing Board of Education chair Michael Gordon said the board had not yet formulated an official proposal for where they expect the money to come from, but said the the board is looking at the reserve cafeteria fund as a potential source of funds. The official proposal will be made in advance of the BOFs next meeting on July 11, at which it will vote on the SRO proposal. The board urged members of the public to attend its July 11 meeting to provide input on the SRO decision in advance of the boards vote on the program on the same night. svaughan@hearstmediact.com; 203-842-2638; @SophieCVaughan1 International artists can be the making of British theatre. Paradoxical as that sounds, you only need look at all the stripped-back stagings knocking around to see the influence of Ivo van Hove. A small selection of the Belgian directors shows none more so than his steely, spartan A View from the Bridge have shifted the prevailing style of our theatre. Pared back has become par for the course. That's what makes the London International Festival of Theatre (or just LIFT), which kicked off last weekend, quite such an important occasion for British theatre. A month-long programme of shows and events pulled into the capital from all over the world, it acts as a kind of theatrical intervention. By showing us other ways one might use the stage, other styles and approaches, it sends ripples out through the culture at large. The LIFT founders initially met with scepticism and suspicion There are plenty of examples. Elevator Repair Service's eight-hour Gatz might be responsible for a rise in literature staged faithfully, from Simon McBurney's Beware of Pity to National Theatre Wales' ILIAD. Rimini Protokoll and Lola Arias' work with real people construction workers, children of Chile's revolution and Falklands War vets preceded those at the Young Vic and elsewhere, while Campo's shows made with children and work with disabled performers by Back to Back and Nalaga'at have also led the way. It runs a long way back too: through De La Guarda's Fuerzabruta and its immersive circus, through Deborah Warner's proto site-specific St Pancras Project, through public spectacles by Urban Sax and Stationhouse Opera. Gob Squad's Creation Jade Mainade When Rose Fenton and Lucy Neal launched the festival back in 1981, they initially met with scepticism and suspicion. LIFT was, after all, the first major open invite to international artists since Peter Daubeny's World Theatre seasons wound up in 1973. "People said, 'But why? Isn't British theatre the best in the world?" one remembered in a old Theatre Voice interview. No-one would say that now, even if British theatre is still, broadly speaking, as insular as it ever was. One producer told me that her company's shows generally skip the UK because the deals out theatres offer just don't stack up The Barbican's retreated since the days of BITE, the National has only hosted Steppenwolf in 15 years and we can only hope Kwame Kwei-Armah maintains David Lan's internationalism at the Young Vic. Only last week, at a festival in Ruhr, one globe-hopping producer told me that her company's shows generally skip the UK because the deals out theatres offer just don't stack up. Yet, the value of such visits is undeniable. They shake our sense of the stage up and out of itself, and LIFT's opening shows have show that straight off. You only had to be hit by the wall of wailing song in Ong Keng Sen's operatic Trojan Women a melding of K-Pop and ancient Korean pansori to feel that. It turned the human voice into a visceral experience. Gob Squad's Creation (Pictures for Dorian) functions more like a staged essay, mixing participation with personal revelation into a meditation on aging, invisibility and art. It blurs the line, brilliantly, between process and performance. There's a sense that LIFT has settled into itself of late In that Theatre Voice interview, Fenton and Neal explain why LIFT runs biennially: "We recognised that a two-year cycle was very healthy, in terms of being able to explore London really widely, but also to be able to reinvent the festival every time." The fallow year allowed them to step back and assess, to see what's missing from British stages and make its programming count. It was, from the off, a targeted intervention. Artistic director Mark Ball kept that up the decade he was in charge, yet there's a sense that LIFT has settled into itself of late. It's found its footing, and with it, a formula and it's telling that eight of the 12 international artists programmed by this year's guest AD, David Binder, have played LIFT before. Even if that makes this festival seem something of an interim period, ahead of Kris Nelson's takeover in 2020, I'd bet anything that LIFT still leaves a mark. I met Michael Longhurst for the first time when he was rehearsing Amadeus at the National Theatre with the entire cast and a full orchestra. There was a lot going on, and it wasn't all going entirely to plan. So, what was noticeable was the calm sweetness with which he answered my questions and the high intelligence he brought to them. It was a brief encounter, but one which, combined with his illustrious track record as a director, makes me think he is an inspired appointment to take over the helm of the Donmar Warehouse from March next year, when the current artistic director Josie Rourke steps down. I had hoped that a woman would be appointed. Rourke and her executive director Kate Pakenham (also leaving) had brought about genuine change in terms of gender equality and diverse thinking, not least in their ground-breaking Shakespeare Trilogy, directed by Phyllida Lloyd. To choose a woman to succeed Rourke would have had the effect of cementing the ideas that they have espoused To choose a woman to succeed Rourke would have had the effect of cementing the ideas that they have espoused. Instead, Longhurst looks like a return to the white male tradition established by Rourke's predecessors, Sam Mendes and Michael Grandage. There are many women waiting in the wings for their chance to run a theatre. It would have been cheering to see one of them given a chance. Michael Longhurst David Jensen But if we climb over that uncomfortable fact, there's no doubting that Longhurst is a good choice. His reputation as an all-round good egg precedes him. Rourke said in her statement that, having collaborated with him both at the Bush and the Donmar, she knows he is "one of the most gifted, original and impressive directors in the country" and "a deeply kind and thoughtful leader who commands huge respect." Longhurst is bold and radical but never at the expense of distorting the text in front of him It's hard to disagree. His directorial record in plays such as Constellations, Linda, A Number and They Drink It In The Congo, and also interestingly plays with music and musicals such as Amadeus, Caroline, or Change and Carmen Disruption, is one to reckon with. These are productions that stick in the mind and the heart and indicate a man who is completely in command of his material. Equally, at a time when directors tend to be divided into those whose interventions serve the play and those whose interventions serve themselves, he is very much in the former camp. He is bold and radical but never at the expense of distorting the text in front of him. But his generous qualities as a man are also relevant. When he takes over the Donmar it will be the 37-year-old's first time in charge of a building and everyone knows that there is no real equation between directorial talent and the ability to run a theatre. Talk to any artistic director and you realise the balls they are juggling at any given moment are many, and it is incredibly easy to drop one. Only the strong thrive. Yet the omens are good for Longhurst. As my rehearsal room encounter proved, he's someone who thrives in a busy, collegiate environment; he relishes a challenge and he has the temperament to cope with the difficulties. It takes a good spirit as well as a good director to be an effective boss; Michael Longhurst is both. His Donmar Warehouse should be one to watch. This is special. A monologue that feels like a dialogue; a story that doesn't quite conform to any rules of narrative yet holds you in its dreamlike grasp; a magical performance. The bald facts are these. Laura Linney is making her British stage debut in Rona Munro's deft 90-minute long adaptation of the best-selling novel by Elizabeth Strout, which is the story of Lucy Barton, a writer. She tells us about the time, in the mid-1980s, when she found herself in hospital for nine weeks, uncertain of her survival, after an appendectomy goes wrong. Her husband isn't visiting, she misses her daughters, then one night she wakes up to find her estranged mother sitting at the end of her bed. Linney says all this with wide-eyed, open-faced warmth. Under Richard Eyre's deeply sensitive and beautifully modulated direction, she owns the space: her only companions are an armchair, a hospital bed, Peter Mumford's delicate lighting and Bob Crowley's simple set, with evocative video designs from Luke Halls. The elegant Chrysler Building dominates the view from the hospital room but as Lucy talks about her childhood in Amgash, Illinois, the picture changes to fields of crops, an isolated farmhouse. Slowly, we begin to learn about Lucy's past and her present. She is concerned with the stories you can and can't tell, the things you can or chose not to say. Her desire to tell stories springs from the pain of her childhood when she grew up as the child no-one would talk to, isolated by poverty and sadness, cruelly treated by her parents. "Loneliness was the first flavour I tasted in my life," she says. Books were her escape and her salvation. She built a different life. But did it betray what she had left behind. Loading... What is both extraordinary and wonderful about this piece, is the way it builds its picture of Lucy both by what we see and what she tells us we see her isolated in a truck, the condensation on the windscreen but also by what we infer from the other voice on the stage, that of her mother, sitting in a chair, telling stories, full of bitchy, vibrant anecdotes about other people's lives. Linney incarnates her too, with a twang in her voice, wrapping her cardigan around her. She is vividly present. Munro's adaptation occasionally shows the strain of moving from page to stage. The beginning is slow and oddly cumbersome, some themes such as the death of a friend from AIDS feel shoe-horned into this narrative, where in the book they would be able to expand and flow. But the precision and loveliness of the language is all there. It has great restraint. Lucy remembers her father being "keenly interested" in some Native American dancers and that word "keenly" lands with careful exactitude. Linney's performance is equally disciplined, but intensely moving. It is full of damped-down emotion, bubbling under the surface, but always there. The play ranges across huge themes the impossibility of knowing another human being, the ruthlessness of the writer, the consequences of being deprived of love and sad subject matter, yet it is always humane and gentle. At the close, Linney walks to the very front of the stage in a great wash of light and the directness of her contact with the audience is amazingly powerful. It is a wonderful performance in a memorably resonant piece. An agreement has been struck between the province and CentrePort Canada that has cleared the way for the inland port to finally get started on the development of a unique industrial rail park. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 7/6/2018 (1225 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. An agreement has been struck between the province and CentrePort Canada that has cleared the way for the inland port to finally get started on the development of a unique industrial rail park. On Thursday, CentrePort released a request for proposal seeking private-sector partnership for what is likely to become a $100 million-plus development designed to attract rail-intensive industrial tenants that will be able to access Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd.s main line. The expectation is that the facility will be built in phases it could take as long as 15 years to complete on a 665-acre parcel of land just west of Sturgeon Road on the north side of CentrePort Canada Way. The province has agreed to sell the land to CentrePort. The development will include switching and spur lines connecting to the CP main line that runs through the north part of CentrePorts 20,000-acre footprint. With new federal inter-switching rules, it also means tenants will have access to Canadian National Railway and BNSF Railway. It is a rare opportunity in Canada to have access to three tier l railways. The rail park concept has been in the works for years. An anchor tenant was announced more than two years ago but, because of delays in getting to this point, the company, BroadGrain Commodities, has since gone on to do a development in Saskatchewan. In the course of its review of provincial business commitments, the province has recently signed off on CentrePorts business plan, including guaranteeing an additional $1.5 million to CentrePorts line of credit. SCATLIFF + MILLER + MURRAY CentrePort Rail Park rendering CentrePort CEO Diane Gray said she's confident about the potential for this development. She said in pre-marketing discussions with potential development partners from Canada and the U.S., there has already been keen interest. "This is the transformational piece of the inland port," she said. The provincial government decision to give the go-ahead sets the stage for CentrePorts future self-sufficiency. Negotiations with potential partners will include ongoing revenue for CentrePort Canada Inc. and a share in the profits of the operation of the rail park. "What this does is confirm the government support for what is the key priority of our business that then sustains the vision of CentrePort going forward," Gray said. "The government has put all major economic projects under review. They were entitled to do so. If I was a new government, I would have done the same thing." Gray said plenty of negotiations with the prospective developer -- who will need to be willing to finance the construction -- will be required before it is determined what the ultimate partnership arrangement will be. But the fact that CentrePort will own the land will allow it to leverage that asset to fund other operations. Since it was formed in 2008, a lot of heavy lifting has been done at CentrePort to get to this point. The development of the $200 million CentrePort Canada Way that connects the Perimeter Highway to Inkster Boulevard, creates an important thoroughfare that allows a large volume of truck traffic to by-pass formerly congested routes. Gray and her team at CentrePort have led the way in getting many agreements with the city and regional municipalities for water and sewage servicing work, as well as zoning and subdivision work. The development of several industrial parks in the inland port has meant the addition of 54 new companies that have either built or are building new operations at CentrePort. The overall plan for Centreport. (Handout) Martin McGarry, president and CEO of Cushman & Wakefield Winnipeg, has been active in marketing industrial land at CentrePort and is currently selling fully serviced properties at the 89-acre Brookside Industrial Park Phase III. "We have finally arrived," he said. "For the first time in many years we have shovel-ready inventory thats fully serviced which is great. Now to augment that with access to an intermodal yard in your backyard, thats another fantastic step." Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. It was almost not to be. Don Leitch, the CEO of the Business Council of Manitoba, has been a long-time advocate for the strategic importance of CentrePort. He said there was a real concern that CentrePort would not be allowed to get to this point. "The provincial government has been debating their position and view on CentrePort," said Leitch. "We've always said it's OK if there is an issue around the business plan... but when government hesitates too long... timely decisions are critical when there is private capital at play. We don't want to lose the gem that is there." More than two years ago, when a large press conference was held announcing that BroadGrain Commodities would be the anchor tenant of a new rail park, there were several pieces not yet in place. Gray said that its initial arrangement with BroadGrain was during a phase when the rail park was being marketed on a client-by-client basis. She said now that there is committed support from the province to proceed, there is renewed confidence in the market demand for the project. "We went back to the drawing board to develop a new business model for the rail park," Gray said. "This is the model we are advancing through the RFP today. It required provincial government review and due diligence. We are pleased to be moving forward with this project with the government's full support." Blaine Pedersen, provincial minister of Growth, Enterprise and Trade, said, "We commend CentrePort and its board of directors for seeking private sector input in this initiative to further develop these lands. Manitoba is an excellent place for business to invest, build and grow. We will continue to work together with CentrePort and industry leaders to increase private sector investment in our province." martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca Senior elected and administrative officials at Winnipeg city hall are backing away from a fall of 2019 date to reopen Portage Avenue and Main Street to pedestrians. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 6/6/2018 (1226 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Senior elected and administrative officials at Winnipeg city hall are backing away from a fall of 2019 date to reopen Portage Avenue and Main Street to pedestrians. Officials repeatedly said Wednesday the time frame in the request for proposal released Tuesday is only a "target" and a decision to reopen the iconic intersection to foot traffic still must be taken by city council. Even Mayor Brian Bowman, who made the issue a campaign promise four years ago and has been an enthusiastic supporter ever since, toned down his rhetoric. Council set wheels in motion for historic intersection last fall City hall observers might be surprised to hear some members of council expressing concern over details in a request for proposals seeking a consultant to plan the reopening of Portage and Main to pedestrians. click to read more City hall observers might be surprised to hear some members of council expressing concern over details in a request for proposals seeking a consultant to plan the reopening of Portage and Main to pedestrians. While the fall 2019 date is new, opening the intersection really was never in question following the intense debate and series of 10 votes on a report all overwhelmingly in favour of the project on the floor of council last October. The motion approved by council authorized the reopening of the intersection to pedestrians and instructs the CAO to negotiate with the property owners the terms of an agreement that would amend or terminate the previous 40-year-old agreement that led to the construction of the underground concourse and blocked pedestrian access at street level. While Item 9 of the motion requires the administration to bring a plan back to council before reopening the intersection, councillors were repeatedly told that if they approved the proposal, they would be setting in motion a plan that would lead to the removal of the concrete barriers. If the recommendations are approved, a new capital project will be created in the 2018 budget which will provide a commitment to the creation of a vision and the renewal and reopening of the intersection at Portage and Main, states the first paragraph, on page 12, in the section of the administrative report titled Implications of the Recommendations. The online link to the debate from the council minutes is available here: There are several references throughout the administrative report and minutes of the meeting that council is setting in motion the reopening of the intersection: From Page 1, Recommendation 1 of the motion: That the intersection of Portage Avenue and Main Street be identified as a priority, through a phased-approach, for renewed purpose and investment that allows for full use by everyone, pedestrian (both at and below grade) and vehicle, to increase walkability, safety and connectivity throughout the entire downtown. (passed in a 10-5 vote). From Page 2, Recommendation 6 of the motion: That the City enter into, execute and deliver agreements with the property owners at the intersection of Portage Avenue and Main Street to reintroduce at grade pedestrian activity at the intersection... (passed in a 10-5 vote). From Page 2, Recommendation 7 of the motion: That authority be delegated to the Chief Administrative Officer to negotiate and approve the terms and conditions of the agreements referred to in Recommendations 5 and 6 (passed in a 10-5 vote). From Page 10: This report recommends that the City commit to collaboration and investment with stakeholders, through a multi-phased approach, to reintroduce pedestrian activity, recognizing that the barriers at the northeast corner will likely need to be removed in conjunction with the proposed development by Richardsons and the adjacent work by the City. From Page 10: The following actions are recommendedIssue a Request for Proposals (RFP) for Architectural and Engineering services that will ensure that the project is led by a vision that can collaborate with the private stakeholders on their interests and investments and considers the integration of all aspects of re-introducing pedestrians at the intersection. From Page 12, under the section titled Implications of the Recommendations: If the recommendations are approved, a new capital project will be created in the 2018 budget which will provide a commitment to the creation of a vision and the renewal and reopening of the intersection at Portage and Main. From Page 13: As barriers are removed at this intersection the City of Winnipeg is looking to ensure that there is a plan that aligns both public and private interests. From page 16: The preliminary design study will also quantify the implementation of opening only the east crosswalk, as well as reducing the eastbound through movement from two lanes to one lane to accommodate changes to the southeast (Bank of Montreal) corner, as Phase 1 of a staged approach to allowing pedestrians at the intersection. aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca Close "Id like it to be open, but I want to make sure were doing it in a thoughtful way that considers all the items," Bowman said during an exchange with reporters. "Despite the fact that, obviously, I would like it opened sooner than later, there is a process and this is part of the council-directed process. "I think its just important to keep in mind that council has not provided that direction to open it to pedestrians yet. This RFP doesnt change that." MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Portage and Main in Winnipeg on Wednesday, June 6, 2018. The RFP inviting bids for consulting services for the design and Phase 1 construction associated with the intersection reopening was the talk of the city Wednesday. While council had approved the project at its October 2017 meeting, no dates were given in an administrative report. The RFP states city hall expects the first barriers to be taken down to allow pedestrians to cross Portage Avenue East, between the Richardson Plaza and the Bank of Montreal, and the city is "targeting completion of construction," of that portion by the fall of 2019. The document, or at least its timing, seemed to catch elected officials by surprise. Bowman and other members of his executive policy committee said they werent given advance notice the RFP was being posted nor had they viewed the document ahead of time. "I need to have much more information before I agree to open up Portage and Main, and thats the information were supposed to be getting back from the RFP," said Coun. John Orlikow, chairman of councils property and development committee. "Council is quite clear, before any suggestion of that happening, it has to come back towards council. We have some traffic issues we have to deal with, we have some transit issues to deal with. The RFP report may come back as such but again, council will need that information to make their decision to move forward." City of Winnipeg chief administrative officer Doug McNeil took responsibility for failing to advise members of council. "Theres a lot going on in this city, and weve been working on the RFP for some time now," McNeil said. "Maybe (its) my fault I didnt inform council we were releasing the RFP when we did." He said there is no significance to the fall 2019 date in the RFP. "Its not a hard date, its a target and so were just following through with councils direction," McNeil said. "Councils directions was: Go back, do some more engineering, get us some cost estimates, bring that information back to us for our approval. And thats what our plan is and thats what this next stage is." Winnipeg appears divided on the issue. Supporters say removing the barriers is essential to restoring human-scale activity to the area, connecting the various downtown neighbourhoods, and will complement private-sector investments being made by the corner property owners. Opponents say the move poses a serious safety threat and would worsen downtown traffic flows. The intersection was closed to pedestrians in 1979, as part of a deal with developers and property owners on its corners to construct an underground shopping concourse. Terms of the deal, which was struck in 1976, stipulated the intersection remain closed to pedestrians and all efforts made to redirect people to the underground. However, Bowman has in recent years received the formal support for the project from all the corner-property owners. A year-old traffic study estimated the costs to alter the routes through the intersection and widen sidewalks would cost about $6.13 million. The subsequent consultant work is expected to get a more accurate figure and detail how and when the corners can be opened. Coun. Jeff Browaty, a staunch opponent of the project, said the revelation of the fall 2019 date and the scope of the work outlined in the RFP warrants the whole issue going back to council for another vote. Other voices The provinces trucking industry hopes Winnipeg city council moves cautiously on the issue of reopening Portage Avenue and Main Street to pedestrians. Terry Shaw, executive director of the Manitoba Trucking Association, said while his group supports revitalizing the intersection and making it more people-friendly, he hopes the winning consultant will consider constructing elevated pedestrian bridges as an alternative to allowing people to walk through the intersection. click to read more The provinces trucking industry hopes Winnipeg city council moves cautiously on the issue of reopening Portage Avenue and Main Street to pedestrians. Terry Shaw, executive director of the Manitoba Trucking Association, said while his group supports revitalizing the intersection and making it more people-friendly, he hopes the winning consultant will consider constructing elevated pedestrian bridges as an alternative to allowing people to walk through the intersection. We have some concerns, Shaw said. Were just hoping the city, if and when they proceed, factor in those concerns to ensure we reduce, eliminate or mitigate as much as possible any efficiency concerns but primarily any road safety concerns. Meanwhile, the Winnipeg Police Association condemned councils pursuit of its pet project, saying it is jeopardizing other civic needs. Its bad enough that this mayor and council continue to find millions of dollars for a pet project like the opening of Portage and Main, while leaving front-line police resources under pressure, WPA president Maurice Sabourin said. But doing this assuming it is the first thing the new council will do after the next civic election (in October) is even worse. "If the election is just a formality, then what else is going on that we dont know about? Close Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Browaty (North Kildonan) said he questions the direction outlined in the RFP, explaining the previous traffic study suggested opening the corners in phases would pose a safety hazard. "Allowing pedestrians to cross one section introduces both confusion for motorists and encourages pedestrians to consider dangerous crossings that are not open," Browaty said in a statement Wednesday. "Did CAO Doug McNeil, the project's apparent project manager, also a professional engineer, sign off on this RFP, despite these warnings?" Browaty also said council had agreed last year to improve the area's underground concourse -- and hes concerned that work wont happen before the intersection is reopened to pedestrians. At its meeting Oct. 25, 2017, council approved spending up to $3.5 million on the intersection in 2018. In addition to the $1.5 million for engineering and architectural work, council also approved: $500,000 for new sidewalks, curbs and street trees for the plaza area directly in front of the Richardson Building; and $1.5 million to upgrade the underground concourse underneath the tower at 201 Portage Ave. McNeil said a second RFP will be issued shortly for work to improve the underground concourse. aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca In a day marked by insults and bell-ringing, the NDP claimed that the Tories have violated MLAs privileges as the acrimonious impasse continued at the legislature Wednesday. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 7/6/2018 (1225 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. In a day marked by insults and bell-ringing, the NDP claimed that the Tories have violated MLAs privileges as the acrimonious impasse continued at the legislature Wednesday. Premier Brian Pallister told reporters as the bells rang incessantly at 5 p.m. that NDP Leader Wab Kinew had clearly put his partys work ethic on display Wednesday after bragging Tuesday they were willing to work through the summer. WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES NDP Leader Wab Kinew was criticized by Premier Brian Pallister, who said on Wednesday that Kinew broke his word. The premier pointed out the New Democrats had voted against sitting Fridays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. to get emergency business done, they voted against sitting until 9 p.m. Monday to Thursday, and the bells were ringing because the NDP wanted to go home at 4:40 p.m. "The opposition did put their work ethic on display for all Manitobans to see," he said. The legislature was supposed to break Monday until early October, but now its sitting for three more weeks in June, and maybe three more weeks in July. So far, nothing has been accomplished. NDP house leader Nahanni Fontaine earlier insisted that the Opposition wants to see and debate the governments budget implementation bill because its likely full of what she claims will be hidden atrocious and egregious cuts. "What else is this government hiding in cuts?" Fontaine challenged, after pointing out that the budget implementation bill last year included cuts to transit and other municipal funding. Pallister said his government cant finalize its budget until Ottawa makes it clear whats involved financially in all aspects of legal pot. "Were clearly in a historic period where the federal government has rushed the introduction of cannabis. It could have real ramifications," Pallister told reporters. Crown Services Minister Cliff Cullen said Wednesday that if the session is going to continue for at least three weeks more, the Tories want to pass their controversial bill that would ban night hunting. Pallister explained that banning night hunting, and some other business, would allow the house to "make productive use of the time" if MLAs are forced to sit well into the summer. Fontaine argued that the Tories recalled the legislature in an emergency session to handle financial matters. The Pallister government immediately released its official notice, which cited "financial matters and other important undertakings which serve in the best interests of Manitobans." Bells rang throughout the legislature Wednesday afternoon after the government and opposition squabbled, and the NDP challenged rulings from Speaker Myrna Driedger. At 4:40 p.m., Fontaine moved adjournment, the Tories opted to keep working, and Fontaine demanded a recorded vote, setting off the bells for another hour. The NDP initially said Wednesday it was OK with sitting Fridays during June, if there was a question period; Cullen offered 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays to get the business done, including a question period, and the NDP subsequently refused. Cullen offered to sit until 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday normally the house adjourns at 5 p.m. and again the NDP said no. In the house earlier, Pallister and several cabinet ministers responded to a wide variety of NDP questions by hurling back insults about the NDPs integrity. "He broke his word," Pallister accused Kinew. "Well have to go back to the days of getting agreements in writing." Said Kinew: "Weve seen how little the Conservatives like to work in June." Meanwhile, Christopher Adams, a political scientist at the University of Manitoba, said that procedural wrangling gets worse the greater the ideological split between government and the Opposition. "This is just one of the pieces in the tool kit of the Opposition," Adams said. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Adams could not recall the last time a Manitoba government had invoked closure, in which it uses its enormous majority to close debate. "That wouldnt be the greatest optic (but) I wouldnt be surprised if we see closure. Once again, the premier drives the bus here," Adams said. "The government could use closure to cut off debate and force the end of a session, but this will lead to screams of a heavy-handed use of majority power and an attempt by government to escape accountability," retired University of Manitoba political science professor Paul Thomas said. Thomas said that within recent years, the parties agreed to new schedules and hours of debate intended to avoid having sessions extend deep into the summer. Cullen says the Tories have met those terms. Fontaine says they havent. nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca Ad Investing Trends 2,506 Recent Views Biden: By 2030, 50% Of All Vehicles Will Be Electric. Sparking New "Lithium Gold Rush." Experts predict that the global lithium market will balloon by 500%. That's wonderful news for investors, because a "sure-thing" like this appears once in a lifetime. And this small-cap company just snagged what could be one of the world's largest lithium deposits. Civeo Corp. engages in the provision of workforce accommodations, logistics and facility management services to the natural resource industry. It operates through the following business segments: Canada, Australia, and U.S. The Canada segment provides accommodation services through lodges, open camps and mobile assets, which supports workforces from oil sands and in a variety of oil and natural gas drilling, mining and related natural resource applications, as well as disaster relief efforts. The Australia segment provides accommodations services on a day rate basis to mining and related service companies, such as construction contractors. The U.S. segment provides open camp facilities and highly mobile smaller camps that follow drilling rigs and completion crews as well as accommodation, office and storage modules that are placed on offshore drilling rigs and products platforms. The company was founded in 1977 and is headquartered in Houston, TX. Read More Royal Bank of Canada operates as a diversified financial service company worldwide. The company's Personal & Commercial Banking segment offers checking and savings accounts, home equity financing, personal lending, private banking, indirect lending, mutual funds and self-directed brokerage accounts, guaranteed investment certificates, credit cards, and payment products and solutions; and lending, leasing, deposit, investment, foreign exchange, cash management, auto dealer financing, trade products, and services to small and medium-sized commercial businesses. This segment offers financial products and services through branches, automated teller machines, and mobile sales network. Its Wealth Management segment provides a suite of advice-based solutions and strategies to high net worth and ultra-high net worth individuals, and institutional clients. The company's Insurance segment offers life, health, home, auto, travel, wealth, annuities, and reinsurance advice and solutions; and creditor and business insurance services to individual, business, and group clients through its field sales force, advice centers, and online, as well as through independent insurance advisors and affinity relationships. Its Investor & Treasury Services segment provides asset, cash management, transaction banking, and treasury services to institutional clients; correspondent banking and trade finance services for financial institutions; and short-term funding and liquidity management services. The company's Capital Markets segment offers corporate and investment banking, as well as equity and debt origination, distribution, sale, and trading services for corporations, institutional investors, asset managers, governments, and central banks. Royal Bank of Canada has a strategic partnership with Royal College Of Physicians & Surgeons Of Canada to support the needs of Canada's medical specialists. The company was founded in 1864 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Read More Daimler AG, together its subsidiaries, develops and manufactures passenger cars, trucks, vans, and buses in Germany and internationally. It operates through Mercedes-Benz Cars & Vans, Daimler Trucks and Buses, and Daimler Mobility segments. The Mercedes-Benz Cars segment offers premium and luxury vehicles of the Mercedes-Benz brand, including the Mercedes-AMG, Mercedes-Maybach, and Mercedes-EQ brands; small cars under the smart brand name; and ecosystem of Mercedes-Benz under the Mercedes me brand, as well as vans and related services under the Mercedes-Benz and Freightliner brands. Daimler Trucks and Buses segment offers its trucks and special vehicles under the Mercedes-Benz, Freightliner, Western Star, FUSO, and BharatBenz brands; and buses under the Mercedes-Benz, Setra, Thomas Built Buses, and FU brands, as well as bus chassis. The Daimler Mobility segment provides financing and leasing packages for end-customers and dealers; and automotive insurance brokerage, banking, investment, and fleet management services under the Athlon brand. It also sells vehicle related spare parts and accessories. Daimler AG was founded in 1886 and is headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Bristol-Myers Squibb: 1096271 B.C. ULC, 345 Park LLC, A.G. Medical Services P.A., AHI Investment LLC, AbVitro LLC, Abraxis BioScience Australia Pty Ltd., Abraxis BioScience Inc., Abraxis BioScience International Holding Company Inc., Abraxis BioScience LLC, Abraxis BioScience Puerto Rico LLC, Acetylon Pharmaceuticals Inc., Adnexus, Adnexus a Bristol-Myers Squibb R&D Company, Allard Labs Acquisition G.P., Amira Pharmaceuticals, Amira Pharmaceuticals Inc., Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Apothecon LLC, B-MS Generx Unlimited Company, BMS Benelux Holdings B.V., BMS Bermuda Nominees L.L.C., BMS Data Acquisition Company LLC, BMS Forex Company, BMS Holdings Sarl, BMS Holdings Spain S.L., BMS International Insurance Designated Activity Company, BMS Investco SAS, BMS Korea Holdings L.L.C., BMS Latin American Nominees L.L.C., BMS Luxembourg Partners L.L.C., BMS Omega Bermuda Holdings Finance Ltd., BMS Pharmaceutical Korea Limited, BMS Pharmaceuticals Germany Holdings B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals International Holdings Netherlands B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals Korea Holdings B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals Mexico Holdings B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals Netherlands Holdings B.V., BMS Real Estate LLC, BMS Spain Investments LLC, BMS Strategic Portfolio Investments Holdings Inc., Blisa Acquisition G.P., Bristol (Iran) S.A., Bristol Iran Private Company Limited, Bristol Laboratories Inc., Bristol Laboratories International S.A., Bristol Laboratories Medical Information Systems Inc., Bristol-Myers (Andes) L.L.C., Bristol-Myers (Private) Limited, Bristol-Myers Middle East S.A.L., Bristol-Myers Overseas Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb (China) Investment Co. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (China) Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (Israel) Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (NZ) Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Proprietary) Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (Singapore) Pte. Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Taiwan) Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (West Indies) Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb A.E., Bristol-Myers Squibb Aktiebolag, Bristol-Myers Squibb Argentina S. R. L., Bristol-Myers Squibb Australia Pty. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Axia Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb B.V., Bristol-Myers Squibb Belgium S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb Business Services Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada Co., Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada International Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Delta Company Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Denmark Filial of Bristol-Myers Squibb AB, Bristol-Myers Squibb EMEA Sarl, Bristol-Myers Squibb Egypt LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Epsilon Holdings Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Farmaceutica Ltda., Bristol-Myers Squibb Farmaceutica Portuguesa S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb GesmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb GmbH & Co. KGaA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holding Germany GmbH & Co. KG, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings 2002 Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Germany Verwaltungs GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Ireland Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Pharma Ltd. Liability Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Ilaclari Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb India Pvt. Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb International Company Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb International Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb Investco L.L.C., Bristol-Myers Squibb K.K., Bristol-Myers Squibb Kft., Bristol-Myers Squibb Luxembourg International S.C.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Bristol-Myers Squibb MEA GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb Manufacturing Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Marketing Services S.R.L., Bristol-Myers Squibb Middle East & Africa FZ-LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Norway Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Nutricionales de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Bristol-Myers Squibb Peru S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma (HK) Ltd, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma (Thailand) Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma EEIG, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Holding Company LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Ventures Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Polska Sp. z o.o., Bristol-Myers Squibb Products SA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Puerto Rico Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb Puerto Rico/Sanofi Pharmaceutical Partnership Puerto Rico, Bristol-Myers Squibb Romania S.R.L., Bristol-Myers Squibb S.A.U., Bristol-Myers Squibb S.r.l., Bristol-Myers Squibb SA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Sanofi Pharmaceuticals Holding Partnership, Bristol-Myers Squibb Sarl, Bristol-Myers Squibb Service Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Services Sp. z o.o., Bristol-Myers Squibb Spol. s r.o., Bristol-Myers Squibb Theta Finance Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Trustees Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Verwaltungs GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb de Colombia S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb de Costa Rica Sociedad Anonima, Bristol-Myers Squibb de Guatemala S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Bristol-Myers Squibb/Astrazeneca EEIG, Bristol-Myers Squibb/Pfizer EEIG, Bristol-Myers Squibb/Sanofi Pharmaceuticals Partnership, Bristol-Myers de Venezuela S.C.A., CHT I LLC, CHT II LLC, CHT III LLC, CHT IV LLC, CR Finance Company LLC, Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals, Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals Inc., Celem LLC, Celem Ltd., Celgene, Celgene A.B., Celgene AS, Celgene Ab (Finland), Celgene Alpine Investment Co. II LLC, Celgene Alpine Investment Co. III LLC, Celgene Alpine Investment Co. LLC, Celgene ApS, Celgene B.V., Celgene BVBA, Celgene Brasil Produtos Farmaceuticos Ltda., Celgene CAR LLC, Celgene CAR Ltd., Celgene Chemicals Sarl, Celgene China Holdings LLC, Celgene Co., Celgene Corporation, Celgene Distribution B.V., Celgene EngMab GmbH, Celgene Europe B.V., Celgene Europe Limited, Celgene European Investment Company LLC, Celgene Financing Company LLC, Celgene Global Holdings Sarl, Celgene GmbH [Austria], Celgene GmbH [Germany], Celgene GmbH [Switzerland], Celgene Holdings East Corporation, Celgene Holdings II Sarl, Celgene Holdings III Sarl, Celgene Ilac Pazarlama ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Celgene Inc., Celgene International Holdings Corporation, Celgene International II Sarl, Celgene International III Sarl, Celgene International Inc., Celgene International Sarl, Celgene K.K., Celgene Kft., Celgene Limited [Hong Kong], Celgene Limited [Ireland], Celgene Limited [New Zealand], Celgene Limited [Taiwan], Celgene Limited [UK], Celgene Logistics Sarl, Celgene Ltd, Celgene Luxembourg Sarl, Celgene Management Sarl, Celgene NJ Investment Co, Celgene Netherlands B.V., Celgene Netherlands Investment B.V., Celgene Pharmaceutical (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Celgene Pte. Ltd., Celgene Pty Ltd, Celgene Puerto Rico Distribution LLC, Celgene Quanticel Research Inc, Celgene R&D Sarl, Celgene RIVOT LLC, Celgene RIVOT Ltd., Celgene RIVOT SRL, Celgene Receptos Limited, Celgene Receptos Sarl, Celgene Research Incubator At Summit West LLC, Celgene Research S.L.U., Celgene Research and Development Company LLC, Celgene Research and Development I ULC, Celgene Research and Development II LLC, Celgene Research and Investment Company II LLC, Celgene S. de R.L. de C.V., Celgene S.L.U., Celgene S.R.L., Celgene SAS, Celgene Sarl AU, Celgene Sdn Bhd, Celgene Services Sarl, Celgene Sociedade Unipessoal Lda, Celgene Sp. Z.o.o., Celgene Sro [Czech Republic], Celgene Summit Investment Co, Celgene Switzerland Holding Sarl, Celgene Switzerland II LLC, Celgene Switzerland Investment Sarl, Celgene Switzerland LLC, Celgene Switzerland Sarl, Celgene Tri A Holdings Ltd., Celgene Tri Sarl, Celgene UK Distribution Limited, Celgene UK Holdings Limited, Celgene UK Manufacturing II Limited, Celgene UK Manufacturing III Limited, Celgene UK Manufacturing Limited, Celgene d.o.o., Celgene sro [Slovakia], Celmed LLC, Celmed Ltd., ConvaTec Divestiture, Cormorant Pharmaceuticals, Cormorant Pharmaceuticals AB, Crosp Ltd., Delinia Inc., Deuteria Pharmaceuticals Inc., DuPont Pharmaceuticals, E. R. Squibb & Sons Inter-American Corporation, E. R. Squibb & Sons L.L.C., E. R. Squibb & Sons Limited, EWI Corporation, EngMab Sarl, F-star Alpha, FermaVir Pharmaceuticals L.L.C., FermaVir Research L.L.C., Flexus Biosciences, Flexus Biosciences Inc., Forbius, Galecto Biotech, GenPharm International L.L.C., Gloucester Pharmaceuticals LLC, Grove Insurance Company Ltd., Heyden Farmaceutica Portuguesa Limitada, IFM Therapeutics, Impact Biomedicines Inc., Inhibitex, Inhibitex L.L.C., Innate Tumor Immunity Inc., JuMP Holdings LLC, Juno Therapeutics GmbH, Juno Therapeutics Inc., Kosan Biosciences, Kosan Biosciences Incorporated, Linson Investments Limited, Mead Johnson (Manufacturing) Jamaica Limited, Mead Johnson Jamaica Ltd., Medarex, Morris Avenue Investment II LLC, Morris Avenue Investment LLC, MyoKardia, O.o.o. Bristol-Myers Squibb, Oy Bristol-Myers Squibb (Finland) AB, Padlock Therapeutics, Padlock Therapeutics Inc., Pharmion LLC, Princeton Pharmaceutical Products Inc., Receptos LLC, Receptos Services LLC, RedoxTherapies Inc., Route 22 Real Estate Holding Corporation, SPV A Holdings ULC, Seamair Insurance DAC, Signal Pharmaceuticals LLC, Sino-American Shanghai Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited, Societe Francaise de Complements Alimentaires(S.O.F.C.A.), Squibb Middle East S.A., Summit West Celgene LLC, Swords Laboratories, VentiRx Pharmaceuticals Inc., Westwood-Intrafin SA, Westwood-Squibb Pharmaceuticals Inc., X-Body Inc., ZymoGenetics, ZymoGenetics Inc., ZymoGenetics LLC, ZymoGenetics Paymaster LLC, iPierian, and iPierian Inc.. The following companies are subsidiares of Crane: "CPI-Kiev" LLC, ARDAC Inc., AeroHose, Alfa Laval - The Industrial Flow Group, Armature d.o.o., Automatic Products (UK) Ltd., Automatic Products international - Assets, B. Rhodes & Son Ltd., Barksdale GmbH, Barksdale Inc., CA-MC Acquisition UK Ltd., CR Holdings C.V., CashCode Co - Assets, Coin Controls International Ltd., Coin Holdings Ltd., Coin Industries Ltd., Coin Overseas Holdings Ltd., Coin Pension Trustees Ltd., Conlux Matsumoto Co. Ltd., Consolidated Lumber Co, Corva Corp, Crane (Asia Pacific) Pte. Ltd., Crane Aerospace Inc., Crane Australia Pty. Ltd., Crane Canada Co., Crane Composites Inc., Crane Composites Ltd., Crane Controls Inc., Crane Currency, Crane Electronics Corporation, Crane Electronics Inc., Crane Environmental Inc., Crane European Financing LLC, Crane Fengqiu Zhejiang Pump Co. Ltd., Crane Fluid & Gas Systems (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Crane Global Holdings S.L., Crane GmbH, Crane Holdings (Germany) GmbH, Crane International Capital S.a.r.l., Crane International Holdings Inc., Crane International Trading (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Crane Ireland Ventures Designated Activity Company, Crane Ltd., Crane Merchandising Systems Inc., Crane Merchandising Systems Ltd., Crane Merger Co. LLC, Crane Middle East & Africa FZE, Crane Ningjin Valve Co. Ltd., Crane North America Funding LLC, Crane Nuclear Inc., Crane Overseas LLC, Crane Payment Innovations GmbH, Crane Payment Innovations Inc., Crane Payment Innovations International Ltd., Crane Payment Innovations Ltd., Crane Payment Innovations Pty Ltd., Crane Payment Innovations Sarl, Crane Payment Innovations Srl, Crane Pension Trustee Company (UK) Limited, Crane Process Flow Technologies (India) Pvt. Ltd., Crane Process Flow Technologies GmbH, Crane Process Flow Technologies Ltd., Crane Process Flow Technologies S.P.R.L., Crane Process Flow Technologies S.r.l., Crane Pumps and Systems Inc., Crane Resistoflex GmbH, Crane SC Holdings Ltd., Crane Stockham Valve. Ltd., Crane Yongxiang (Ningbo) Valve Company Ltd., Croning Livarna d.o.o., Cummis-Allison Corp, Delta Fluid Products, Delta Fluid Products Ltd., Dixie Narco, Donald Brown (Brownall) Ltd., ELDEC Corporation, ELDEC Electronics Ltd., ELDEC France S.A.R.L, Edlon - PSI division, Environmental Products USA, Etex Group - Business, Flow Technology Inc., Friedrich Krombach GmbH Armaturenwerke, General Technology Corp., Hattersley Newman Hender - Assets, Hattersly Newman Hender Ltd., Hydro-Aire Inc., Inta-Lok Ltd., Interpoint S.A.R.L., Interpoint U.K. Limited, Kessel (Thailand) Pte. Ltd., Kontron America - Mobile Rugged Business, Laminated Profiles - Assets, Lasco Composites, Liberty Technologies, MCC Holdings Inc., MEI Australia LLC, MEI Auto Payment System (Shanghai) Ltd., MEI Conlux, MEI Conlux Holdings (Japan) Inc., MEI Conlux Holdings (US) Inc., MEI Payment Systems Hong Kong Ltd., MEI Queretaro S. de R.L. de CV, MEI de Mexico LLC, MOVATS - Nuclear Valve Division, Merrimac Industries, Merrimac Industries Inc., Mondais Holdings B.V., Money Controls, Money Controls Argentina SA, Money Controls Holdings Ltd., Multi-Mix Microtechnology SRL, NABIC Valve Safety Products Ltd., Nippon Conlux Co. Ltd., Noble Composites, Noble Composites Inc., Number One Supply, Owens Corning - FRP Panel Business, P.L. Porter, P.T. Crane Indonesia, Pegler Hattersly Ltd., Resistoflex, Sequentia Holdings, Signal Technology, Sperryn & Company Ltd., Stentorfield, Streamware, Telequip, Terminal Manufacturing Co., The Dow Chemical - Plastic-Lined Piping Products division, The Krombach Group, Triangle Valve Co. Ltd., Unidynamics / Phoenix Inc., Ventech Controls, Viking Johnson Ltd., W.T. Armatur GmbH, Wade Couplings Ltd., Wask Ltd., Westlock Controls, Xomox, Xomox Chihuahua S.A. de C.V., Xomox Corporation, Xomox Corporation de Venezuela C.A., Xomox France S.A.S., Xomox Hungary Kft., Xomox International GmbH & Co. OHG, Xomox Japan Ltd., Xomox Korea Ltd., Xomox Sanmar Ltd., and Yilme Holdings B.V.. Saratoga Resources, Inc., an independent oil and natural gas company, acquires, exploits, develops, and produces crude oil and natural gas properties in the United States. Its properties consist of approximately 51,500 acres under leases, including 31,700 acres gross/net located in the transitional coastline in protected in-bay environments on parish and state leases in south Louisiana; and 19,800 acres gross/net under federal leases in the shallow Gulf of Mexico shelf. As of December 31, 2014, the company had proved reserves of 10.2 million barrels of crude oil equivalent (MMBoe), including 5.8 million barrels of oil (MMBbls), and 26.6 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of natural gas; and 25.9 MMBoe comprising of 10.4 MMBbls, and 93.2 Bcf of natural gas. Saratoga Resources, Inc. was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas. Read More SociAtA GAnArale SociAtA anonyme provides financial services in Europe, the Americas, Asia, Oceania, Africa, and France. The company offers retail banking services, including deposits and loans, vehicles and asset management, corporate finance, insurance, payments, investment, and online brokerage and financial information services; Internet, mobile, telephone, and service platforms; and online banking to individual and professional customers, businesses, non-profit associations and local authorities under the Societe Generale, CrAdit du Nord, and Boursorama Banque brands. It also provides international retail banking and financial services, comprising of deposit and loan products; consumer finance and car finance; mortgage facilities; corporate and investment banking; infrastructure, renewable energies, and agribusiness financing; life, retirement savings, and personal protection insurance products; vehicle leasing and fleet management services; and vendor and equipment finance services to corporate and individual customers. In addition, the company offers capital market services, such as fixed income and currencies, equities, and securities services; mergers and acquisitions, advisory and other corporate finance advisory services, and corporate banking and investment banking, as well as capital raising solutions for debt or equity, financial engineering, and hedging for issuers; transaction and payment services, comprising of cash management, trade finance, cash clearing and correspondent banking, supply chain finance, and foreign exchange services; and export finance, aircraft finance, shipping finance, real estate finance, and structured solutions and leasing. Further, it provides financial engineering and wealth management solutions; structured products, hedge funds, mutual funds, private equity funds and real estate investment solutions; and asset management solutions. SociAtA GAnArale SociAtA anonyme was founded in 1864 and is headquartered in Paris, France. Read More National Grid plc transmits and distributes electricity and natural gas. It operates through UK Electricity Transmission, UK Gas Transmission, US Regulated, and National Grid Ventures (NGV) and Other segments. The UK Electricity Transmission segment owns and operates electricity transmission networks, which comprise approximately 7,236 kilometers of overhead lines. The UK Gas Transmission segment owns and operates gas transmission systems, as well as third-party independent systems and liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage facilities. The US Regulated segments owns and operates transmission facilities across upstate New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont; and electricity distribution networks in upstate New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Its assets comprise 14,439 kilometers of overhead lines; an electricity distribution network of approximately 117,498 circuit miles; and a network of approximately 57,551 kilometers of gas pipeline. The NGV and Other segment engages in the energy metering business; transporting renewable energy long distances through its electricity interconnectors; and storing LNG, as well as commercial property and insurance activities in the United Kingdom. The company was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom. Read More The Williams Cos., Inc. operates as an energy infrastructure company, which explores, produces, transports, sells and processes natural gas and petroleum products. It operates through the following segments: Transmission and Gulf of Mexico; Northeast G&P; and West. The Transmission and Gulf of Mexico segment comprises of interstate natural gas pipelines, Transco and Northwest Pipeline, as well as natural gas gathering and processing and crude oil production handling and transportation assets in the Gulf Coast region. The Northeast G&P segment includes midstream gathering, processing, and fractionation businesses in the Marcellus Shale region primarily in Pennsylvania and New York, and the Utica Shale region of eastern Ohio. The West segment consists of gas gathering, processing, and treating operations in the Rocky Mountain region of Colorado and Wyoming, the Barnett Shale region of north-central Texas, the Eagle Ford Shale region of south Texas, the Haynesville Shale region of northwest Louisiana, and the Mid-Continent region which includes the Anadarko, Arkoma, and Permian basins. The company was founded by David Williams and Miller Williams in 1908 and is headquartered in Tulsa, Read More TCF Financial Corporation operates as the financial holding company for TCF National Bank that provides various financial products and services in the United States and Canada. It operates through Consumer Banking, Commercial Banking, and Enterprise Services segments. The company offers checking, savings, and money market accounts; certificates of deposit; individual retirement accounts; debit and credit cards; and check cashing and remittance services. It also provides investment management and custodial services, trust services, financial and estate planning, and retirement planning and employee benefit programs; residential, consumer, and small business lending products; and consumer real estate secured lending, consumer loans, loans secured by personal property, and unsecured personal loans. In addition, the company offers loans and lines of credit, deposits, cash management, capital market products, international trade finance, letters of credit, foreign exchange management services, and loan syndication services. Further, it provides commercial and industrial, commercial real estate banking, and lease financing; and treasury services comprising investment and borrowing portfolios, as well as manages capital, debt, and market risks. As of December 31, 2020, the company operated 478 branches, including 373 traditional branches, 102 supermarket branches, and three campus branches located in Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Colorado, Ohio, Wisconsin, Arizona, and South Dakota; and 1,062 ATMs. TCF Financial Corporation was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. Read More Victoria Gold Corp. engages in the acquisition, evaluation, and exploration of mineral properties in Canada and the United States. The company primarily explores for gold deposits. Its principal property is 100% owned Dublin Gulch property, which hosts the Eagle Gold deposit covering an area of approximately 555 square kilometers located in central Yukon, Canada. The company was formerly known as Victoria Resource Corporation and changed its name to Victoria Gold Corp. in July 2008. Victoria Gold Corp. was founded in 1981 and is based in Toronto, Canada. Read More (GGP) (NYSE:GGP) issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July, 31st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.01. The real estate investment trust earned $583.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $593.94 million. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.35 earnings per share. View (GGP)'s earnings history. On April 2 and 3, 2018, the Partido Obrero (Workers Party) of Argentina hosted a conference in Buenos Aires in the name of the Coordinating Committee for the Refoundation of the Fourth International (CRFI). The slogan of refounding or reconstructing the Fourth International, founded by Leon Trotsky in 1938, is hardly a new one. The Partido Obrero, (PO) has been involved in such efforts for some 45 years, going back to its alliance with the French OCI (Internationalist Communist Organization) of Pierre Lambert in the 1970s in what was known as CORQI (Comite dOrganisation pour la Reconstruction de la Quatrieme International). That venture fell apart as Lambert turned to the Socialist Party in France and to all manner of right-wing bourgeois nationalist movements in Latin America, while denouncing his erstwhile CORQI allies as police agents. The PO would later ally itself with the extreme Pabloite tendency in Argentina led by Nahuel Moreno in a similarly abortiveand even more short-livedattempt at refoundation. All of these ephemeral alliances are based upon a common agreement that the Fourth International does not exist, and even that it never existed. What is actually meant by reconstruction is the amalgamation of politically heterogeneous organizations, without any agreement on essential questions of program and strategy. The only point on which they absolutely agree is the right of each organization to pursue whatever national policy that is deemed to be in its own best interests. This utterly unprincipled approach to politics has absolutely nothing in common with Trotskyism. Its attitude to the experiences and lessons accumulated by the Fourth International since 1938 is defined by a combination of political hostility, theoretical indifference, shortsighted national opportunism and the crudest ignorance. The history of the Fourth International, it is implied, is of no objective significance, and there is nothing to be studied and learned. All that Trotsky wrote in his struggle against Stalinism and myriad forms of centrism and opportunism belongs to the distant past and can be ignored. As for the political struggles waged by the Fourth International against revisionist anti-Trotskyist tendenciesprincipally Pabloism and Shachtmanismthese are viewed as politically meaningless. Thus, there is to be no examination or discussion of the role played by these anti-Trotskyist parties and tendencies in the political struggles of the past 80 years. The betrayals and crimes of the past can all be forgotten. A general amnesty is granted to one and all, and everyone is allowed to begin again with a clean slate. The April gathering in Buenos Aires went far beyond any previous event in the foul political history of such exercises in refounding and reconstructing the Fourth International. Jorge Altamira, the leader of the Partido Obrero, and Savas Michael-Matsas, the head of the Greek EEK (Workers Revolutionary Party), declared that the reconstructed Fourth International should include pro-Stalinist organizations in Russia. The crimes committed by the Stalinist regimesincluding the murder of hundreds of thousands of communists and the assassination of Trotskyare to be forgotten in the interests of unity. A bridge is to be built over the river of blood that, in Trotskys words, separated Trotskyism from Stalinism. The proposed reconciliation of Stalinism and Trotskyism found concrete expression in the invitation extended by the CRFI to Darya Alexandrovna Mitina, a leader of the rabidly pro-Stalinist United Communist Party of Russia (OKP). She participated fully in the discussions of the CRFI and was invited to deliver one of the main addresses to the assembled membership of the PO at the close of the conference. Her invitation to the conference was arranged by Michael-Matsas, who has maintained a close political relationship with Mitina for more than a decade. Mitina and Michael-Matsas at Buenos Aires conference Mitina declared her agreement with the building of a new international to better coordinate the class struggle in different countries and organize actions of international solidarity. Her speech was warmly greeted by the audience, who, for the most part, knew nothing about Mitinas political affiliations and activities, let alone the program and history of the OKP. We will review the facts that were concealed by Altamira and Michael-Matsas from the PO rank and file. The United Communist Party of Russia emerged in 2014 as a split-off from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF), led by Gennady Zyuganov. The OKPs differences with Zyuganovs national chauvinist organization, which is a political ally of the Putin regime, are of a tactical character. Like Zyuganovs party, the OKP glorifies Stalin and justifies his crimes. An article recently posted on the OKPs web site declared: It was Stalin who continued the work of the great Lenin, rallying around himself a cohort of persistent and faithful Bolsheviks. It was under his leadership that socialist industrialization, collectivization of agriculture and the cultural revolution were realized. Stalin exposed and defeated supporters of a return to capitalism: the Trotskyites, Zinovievites, Bukharinites, various bourgeois nationalists and other capitulators. The OKP calls for the revival of the Soviet Union and praises the Soviet Constitution of 1936, also known as the Stalin constitution, a reactionary document adopted on the eve of the Moscow Trials and the launching of the 1936-1940 Terror. The OKPs main political objective is to push Zyuganovs CPRF, which seeks the re-Stalinization of Russia in alliance with the Orthodox Church, to the left. United Communist Party of Russia demonstration Darya Mitina is a long-time Stalinist political operative with deep ties to the Russian state. She is the granddaughter of Afghan Prime Minister Mohammed Yusuf, later appointed ambassador to the Soviet Union. According to her Wikipedia biography: Since 2014 she has been a secretary responsible for international affairs of the party and member of the Political Commission of the United Communist Party (Russia). She was a deputy of the State Duma for the second convocation (1995-1999). During the 2016 State Duma elections she was a candidate from the Communists of Russia at the Cheremushkinskiy election district, but did not succeed. She is the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Youth League (Komsomol), and she was one of its founders in 1993. In MayAugust 2014, Mitina was the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Donetsk Peoples Republic in Moscow. Mitina with troops in Donetsk As the OKPs secretary of international affairs, Mitina has been assigned to cultivate international connections on behalf of the Russian state with a wide range of Stalinist, Pabloite, bourgeois nationalist and anti-immigrant organizations. One recent trip took her to a meeting with representatives of Euro-Rus, a right-wing group that promotes the unity of Europe with Russia on the basis of family values, the right to life, national protectionism, protection of European borders and white nationalism. Her travels are extensive and indicate substantial financial backing. Since leaving Buenos Aires, she has gone to China, Vietnam and Nepal, meeting with state officials as well as Stalinist and Maoist parties. Mitina with Kris Roman (elderly man wearing suit jacket), leader of Euro-Rus On March 5, 2018just one month before flying to Argentina to attend the POs Refoundation ConferenceMitina participated in a public tribute to Joseph Stalin on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the dictators death. She and other members of the OKP honored the memory of Stalin, alongside groups of Stalinists, Russian nationalists, anti-immigrant chauvinists and neo-fascists, by placing flowers beneath Stalins grave at the wall of the Kremlin. Mitina and her OKP associates also placed wreathes at the graves of Stalins successors, Leonid Brezhnev and Yuri Andropov. Mitina proudly memorialized the celebration in a blog post, writing: 65 years ago, a man left to whom, up to this day, no one can stand on an equal footing. I stand with Josef Vissarionovich [Stalin]and twice a year I take flowers to the monument. Someone who goes twice a year to place flowers at the tomb of Stalin can be described only as a wretched political reactionary, and anyone providing him or her with a platform is an accomplice. The presence of Darya Alexandrovna Mitina at the POs conference was not an accident. An alliance with such forces is a critical component of the Refoundation planned by Altamira. In his remarks to the conference, Altamira justified the presence of the OKP representative, declaring: We are not building a do it yourself International; that is, an extension of a political sect from one country to other countries. In this political fight, at the platform today, you have had a comrade who speaks in the name of the tradition of communism in Russia, which for her would be Stalinism. We are holding political discussions with these comrades to learn if we can all work together to take a step forward toward the construction of an International so that Russia can once again be, as it was for a long historical period, the territory of the October Revolution. With these words, Altamira repudiates not only the historically rooted program and principles of the Fourth International, but the significance of history itself. What he is saying amounts to a declaration that what happened in the past is of no significance for the present. That the Stalinist regime murdered hundreds of thousands of communists, presided over countless betrayals and led ultimately to the destruction of the Soviet Union should not stand in the way of collaborating with present-day Stalinists in the reconstruction of the Fourth International. In practice, this utterly pragmatic approach to politics opens the possibility of collaborating with virtually any political organization, tendency or person. Whatever they may have done in the past is to be treated as without any particular, let alone enduring, significance. The crimes of the past can be glossed over as unfortunate and even regrettable mistakes, but essentially unrelated to their present political identity. The only thing that really matters is finding points of agreement on particular practical tasks, however minimal and conjunctural, in the here and now. And if this method of opportunist political horse-trading can be applied to Stalinist parties whose histories are steeped in betrayals and crimes, why cant it be applied to all organizationsincluding those of the nationalistic, and even fascist, right? In fact, the real present-day purpose of Altamiras efforts to forge relationships with Stalinist and neo-Stalinist organizations is to legitimize political collaboration with precisely such forces, not only in Russia, but internationally. The principal characteristic of Stalinist organizations, especially in Russia, is their nationalist character. Whatever communist verbiage they occasionally employ is nothing but the thinnest veneer to cover over Russian chauvinism. The glorification of Stalin as a great national leader has far more in common with fascism than anything that could be legitimately described as socialist. Savas Michael-Matsas, the general secretary of the Greek EEK and the Partido Obreros principal ally in Europe, has played the role of middle man, making the connection between the Argentine party and Darya Mitina, Putins roving ambassador to opportunist left organizations willing to play the nationalist card. Political relations between Michael-Matsas and Mitina go back more than a decade. She was an invited speaker to an EEK meeting in Greece on the 90th anniversary of the October Revolution in 2007. Two years later, she reported on her blog that she and her husband, Said Gafurov, were picked up at the airport by Michael-Matsas in Athens as they arrived for a September 2009 meeting of the organizing committee of the European Social Forum, where we represented Russia. Darya Mitina and Savas Michael share platform at 2007 meeting in Greece Said Gafurov, like his wife, has close ties with the Russian state. He has worked in various state ministries and served as the deputy chief editor of a Russian monthly economic journal known for its strong support for Vladimir Putin. He does regular broadcasts in Arabic in support of Russian geo-strategic interests and is a commentator for the pro-Stalinist pravda.ru. To represent Russia at the European Social Forum means defending the Kremlins interests within a medium that brings together NGOs, intelligence agencies and representatives of governments, along with various left organizations. Mitina has helped Michael-Matsas make broad connections among Stalinist circles in Russia. In 2017, he was an invited guest at a congress in St. Petersburg dedicated to uniting the Communist Parties of Russia and the other former Soviet republics. These efforts have apparently begun to bear fruit. The OKP recently announced that Working Russia has urged its members in Moscow to join the party. Working Russia, led until his recent death by Viktor Anpilov, is known for its extreme nationalism and anti-Semitism. It participated in elections under the banner of the Stalinist Bloc in an alliance with Stalins grandson. Who is Savas Michael-Matsas? While Michael-Matsas has appeared at conferences organized by the PO over the course of two decades, the Argentine party has never given its membership a serious accounting of this individuals political history. He was introduced to the audience as a comrade who is a founder and constructor of the CRFI, a protagonist in the construction of the CRFI in Europe and the Middle East, and a comrade who is the leader of a party that has to its credit 50 years of intervention in the class struggle in Greece. Such a description is a deliberate act of deception of the PO membership. Michael-Matsas is a dubious political figure whose entire history is one of unprincipled and duplicitous political maneuvering. In the late 1970s, he became the national secretary of the Workers International League, the Greek section of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI). His elevation to this position came after the removal of two previous leaders over political differences that were never clarified within the ICFI. The only constant feature of Michael-Matsass politics was his nationalist orientation. The principles of socialist internationalism were continuously subordinated to the most vulgar national calculations. In 1983, behind the back of the ICFI, Michael-Matsas traveled to Iran as the Khomeini government was brutally repressing left-wing groups and activists. In the midst of this crackdown, Michael-Matsas wrote a series of articles extolling the Iranian government. He appeared on Iranian state television in an act of public support for the regime. In 1985, Michael-Matsas carried out an unprincipled split with the ICFI as it was conducting a political fight against the nationalist and opportunist degeneration that led to the collapse of the British Workers Revolutionary Party (WRP) led by Gerry Healy. He refused all discussion with other sections based on the absurd contention that they had no authority even to meet without the permission of Healy, whom he described as the ICFIs historic leader. In aligning with Healy and breaking with the International Committee, Michael-Matsas calculated that he would be free to pursue whatever alliances, within Greece and internationally, might best serve his pragmatic calculations. Within months of his split with the ICFI and his launching of the EEK, Michael-Matsas proclaimed a new era for the Fourth International that would mark a break from abstract propagandism and the practices of the periods of defeats and isolation of Trotskyism. This new era was in reality the implementation of Pabloite politics in its most extreme form. Within Greece, freed from the constraints of the International Committee and Trotskyist principles, Michael-Matsas embroiled the EEK in a slew of unprincipled alliances with the bourgeois party Pasok, the Stalinist Communist Party and the trade union bureaucracy. On the international front, Michael-Matsas hailed Mikhail Gorbachev as the leader of the political revolution in the Soviet Union. While the membership of the EEK remained minuscule, Michael-Matsas became a fixture in the corrupt milieu of the petty-bourgeois left in Athens. The relationship between Jorge Altamira and Savas Michael-Matsas is based on a contemptuous attitude held by both toward the history of the Fourth International. The CRFI was founded on the principle that there was to be no discussion of past differences or the historical development of the various tendencies that adhered to it. The committees founding document stated this explicitly. Its last lines read: In opposition to the method of the sects, which consists in conditioning the immediate re-founding of the IV International to a prior solution, purely literary at that, of the political differences that may exist, we raise the organization of an international revolutionary party, the IV, on the basis of an exact political delimitation regarding all divergences. To build the international party is the programmatic point that separates revolutionary Marxists from the sect. Thus, the Fourth International was to be refounded on the basis of an anti-sectarian agreement not to discuss any of the historical lessons from the struggle against Pabloism and an agreement that each adherent of the CRFI would remain free to pursue its own national opportunist politics without criticism or interference. For the EEK, this has consisted of working in the periphery ofand promoting illusions inSyriza. Greeting Syrizas January 2015 election victory as a triumph for the Greek working class, the EEK peddled the line that this bourgeois party could be pushed to the left and compelled to break with the bourgeoisie. With its promotion of Syriza and its attacks on the ICFI as sectarian for warning that Syriza was a bourgeois party the Greek working class had to oppose, the EEK played an auxiliary role in an historic betrayal. The Partido Obrero pursues its own narrow national opportunist policies, for which the CRFI is meant to provide an internationalist cover. Since shortly after its founding in 1964, the PO has combined formal criticisms of the right-wing Pabloite tendency known as Morenoism, founded by the Argentinian national opportunist Nahuel Moreno, with a political practice centered on the pursuit of alliances with the Morenoites themselves. In 2017, PO leader Altamira criticized the Morenoite Socialist Workers Party (Partido de los Trabajadores SocialistasPTS), pointedly describing it as a Podemos in diapers, a reference to the bourgeois left party that has integrated itself into Spains ruling establishment. But that same year, the PO once again entered into an unprincipled electoral bloc with the PTS, the so-called Left Front (FIT), subordinating any criticisms to a program of the lowest common denominator of anti-Macri populism and the quest for more parliamentary posts. The POs opportunist maneuvers with the Morenoites and the Kirchner wing of Peronism are directed at preparing a Podemos- or Syriza-style trap for the Argentine working class. In his address to the rally in Buenos Aires, Altamira laid special emphasis on the struggle in Argentina for the right to abortion, declaring, If we can put the seal of the Partido Obrero and the Left Front on the victory of this struggle, we will be, in a short period, candidates for power. When the PO leader speaks of his own movement, as well as its opportunist electoral front with the Argentine Morenoites of the PTS, becoming candidates for power as a result of their role in protests in support of legislation to legalize abortion, it can mean only one thing. He is not talking about the independent mobilization of the working class in a revolutionary movement to take power and establish a workers government. On the contrary, he is contemplating the possibility that the Left Front (FIT) will be called upon, under conditions of intense crisis for Argentine capitalism, to form a bourgeois government, much as Syriza did in Greece. As a party preparing for state power, the POs leadership is establishing state relationships. That is the real meaning of the cementing of ties with the OKP and Darya Mitina. Darya Mitina (second from right) with Vladimir Putin In its contribution to the CRFI conference, the PO put forward the position that neither in Russia nor China has a bourgeoisie emerged as a class, since in both cases it is mediated by the state, which continues to hold on to a large part of its pre-capitalist bureaucratic structure. The PO refers to both Putin and Xi Jinping as special bonapartists, balancing between the emerging capitalists and the need to contain the disintegration of their states. Underlying this neo-Pabloite perspective is the conception that Putin has the potential to present some sort of anti-imperialist alternative, a counterweight to the domination of US imperialism. Under conditions in which both China and Russia have attempted to expand their influence within Latin America, this outlook has concrete implications in terms of state policy. The international politics of a party like the Partido Obrero are always an extension of national politics. The turn toward an alliance with Russian Stalinism, a right-wing force, is in line with its opportunist electoral orientation within Argentina itself. As the POs contribution acknowledges, the FIT front in which it is united with the Morenoites is founded on an electoral adaptation that justifies itself in the need to co-opt the left wing of Kirchnerismi.e., Peronism. Under the cover of refounding the Fourth International, a deeply reactionary axis is being prepared involving an alliance with bourgeois nationalist and even right-wing currents. The conference in Buenos Aires and the pretense of refounding the Fourth International in alliance with Stalinism must be taken as a warning to the working class. It represents a bid to forge new political instruments to subordinate the working class to the bourgeoisie precisely at a point where a resurgence of the class struggle is emerging on every continent. It is 80 years since the founding of the Fourth International and 65 years since the 1953 split in the FI and formation of the International Committee to defend Trotskyism against Pabloite revisionism. The attempt to create an international tendency based on suppressing the lessons of the history of the Fourth International can result only in the betrayal of the working class. For all those in Argentina and throughout Latin America who want to defend Trotskyism, the assimilation of the lessons of these betrayals and of the protracted struggle of the International Committee to build the Fourth International through an implacable fight against Pabloism and all forms of opportunism is vital. We call upon the readers of the World Socialist Web Site in Argentina and throughout the Americas to take up a serious study of the documents of these struggles and begin the fight to build sections of the ICFI in every country. The authors also recommend: How the Workers Revolutionary Party Betrayed Trotskyism The Heritage We Defend According to preliminary counts in the midterm primary elections in California, David Moore, the Socialist Equality Party (SEP) candidate for Senate, won 14,504 votes (0.4 percent), and Kevin Mitchell, the candidate for House of Representatives in the 51st district, received 900 votes (1.9 percent). The results show a significant class-conscious vote for the SEP candidates. In their respective races, Moore and Mitchell advanced a socialist and revolutionary program to mobilize the working class against inequality, war, censorship, the attack on immigrants and the capitalist system. Moore finished first out of nine independent candidates (and 22 out of 32 candidates overall). He received more votes than John Parker, the candidate for the Peace and Freedom Party, which has a party ballot line. Moore received only 3,000 votes fewer than David Hildebrand, the candidate backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, who ran as a Democrat and had significant financial and institutional support. Outside of the Democrats and Republicans, only the Libertarian candidate did better than Moore, with 33,703 votes, but the total Libertarian vote was down over 75 percent, from 141,000 in the 2016 primary. Overall, the election saw a fall in voter turnout, an expression of widespread disaffection with the political system. Only 3.9 million people voted in the Senate primary, down from 7.5 million in 2016 and 4.8 million in 2010, the last time California had a midterm senate race. The SEP candidates faced significant hurdles in promoting their campaigns. Anti-democratic ballot access laws meant that their affiliation with the Socialist Equality Party was not listed on the ballot. Instead, they ran as independents. Moreover, Facebook refused to allow either SEP candidate to purchase ads on their platform for over a week in the immediate run up to the election. Despite these difficulties, the SEP saw a large increase in its vote. The last statewide election the SEP contested in California was the 2003 gubernatorial recall election, when the SEP candidate won 5,915 votes out of 9.4 million cast, compared to Moores result of 14,465 out of 3.9 million cast. Details of the vote indicate that the SEP received a higher percentage of the vote in more heavily working-class areas, particularly in the Central Valley, San Diego and Los Angeles. Moore won 1.0 percent of the vote in Fresno County, a heavily agricultural region located in the Central Valley. This was significantly higher than the vote for Hildebrand, the DSA candidate. Moore received 1.4 percent of the vote in Imperial County, the most impoverished and heavily immigrant county in the state, located on the Mexican border. Imperial County is in the 51st district, where Kevin Mitchell ran for the SEP, receiving one out of every 50 votes cast. The fall in support for both the Democrats and Republicans, as well as the established third parties, alongside a small but growing vote for the SEP, is a reflection of the initial stages of a political radicalization of the working class and widespread hostility to the Republicans and the Democrats. I want to thank everyone who supported the SEP campaign, including through financial donations, Moore said. Our campaign marked an important advance and makes clear there is a strong foundation for expanding the political influence of the SEP throughout the state and beyond. We launched this campaign in order to organize workers on an independent political basis, in opposition to the capitalist system, Moore explained. This year we have seen a surge of working class struggles, particularly among teachers, who have sought to break free from the stranglehold of the Democratic Party and the unions. This is a sign of things to come. The SEP campaign won a strong response from immigrant workers, Mitchell said, who are facing a brutal wave of repression at the hands of the Trump administration. Immigrant workers know that the Democratic Party offers no alternative, having gone through the experience of the deporter-in-chief, Obama. The Democratic Party has collaborated with Trump to fund the border wall with Mexico, inflate the military budget and cut corporate taxes, Mitchell added. Their opposition to Trump has centered on criticism that he is too soft on Russia, which is combined with the promotion of the identity politics of the upper middle class. Moore concluded with an appeal: The aim of the SEP is to unite all workers, immigrant and native born, of all races, genders and nationalities, in a common struggle for their social rights, and against war and dictatorship. This requires a fight against the capitalist system. Even though our election campaign is over, our work is just beginning; I call on all our supporters to join the SEP and take up the fight for socialism. Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu completed a tour of three major European capitalsBerlin, Paris and Londonto push for an all-out offensive against Iran. His message to Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Theresa May was that the nuclear deal with Iran is effectively dead and buried, and that the task now is to oppose Iranian influence in Syria and throughout the Middle East. Netanyahu spoke with the full backing of Washington. His visit takes place just weeks after President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the Iran nuclear accord signed in July 2015 by the US, Germany, France, Britain, Russia and China. The US not only announced that it would re-impose crippling economic sanctions on Iran and introduce further unspecified sanctions, but also demanded that the European Union (EU) sever its trade relations with Iran worth $25 billion in 2017or face secondary sanctions, making it clear that the EU was no less a target than Iran. The European powers are furious because Trumps moves cut across their attempts to exploit Iran economically. They fear that the move presages a war with Iran that would destabilise the entire Middle East and lead to soaring oil prices and a further mass influx of refugees. They have called for the treaty to be preserved and vowed to defend their business interests. US-EU tensions are already growing over US demands that the European powers increase their military spending, its pull-out from the climate agreement, the imposition of tariffs against EU steel and aluminium and its threats to impose a 35 percent tariff on the import of European cars. However, their position is weak, faced with a globally linked economy tied to dollar-denominated trade and investmentand both they and Netanyahu know it. Major European companies have already started curtailing their activities in Iran, while the European Investment Bank has baulked at EU proposals that it should support investment by European firms. Netanyahu said he was not seeking to persuade Merkel, Macron or May to withdraw from the deal, because I think it will be dissolved by weight of economic forces. He focused instead on claims of Iranian aggression, warnings over Tehrans growing influence in the regionincluding Gazaand unsubstantiated allegations that it is still in pursuit of nuclear weapons. In Berlin, Netanyahu sought to stoke racist tensions against refugees, warning that Iran was trying to wage a religious war in Syria. Speaking at a joint press conference with Merkel, he said, This will inflame a religious war, and the consequences will be many more refugees, and you know exactly where theyll come, adding that Iran must leave Syria. All of Syria. Following his meeting with Merkel, Netanyahu went directly to see the US ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, apparently at the ambassadors invitation. Grenell, a former US spokesman at the United Nations, had earlier told right-wing website Breitbart News, I absolutely want to empower other conservatives throughout Europe, other leaders. His statement was criticised by politicians across the German political spectrum, who warned him against interfering in domestic politics. In Paris, Netanyahu warned that a nuclear-armed Iran was the greatest threat to the world and claimed Tehran had lied to the world about its weapons programme. He was met wherever he went with angry demonstrations protesting Israels murder of at least 120 Palestinians and the wounding of tens of thousands more during the nine weeks of the Great March of Return in Gaza. For all their differences with Trump and their evident distaste for Netanyahu, the European leaders did not seek to distance themselves from his demands because they know he speaks for Washingtonagainst which they have been unable to formulate a coherent and effective response. Israel is becoming increasingly integrated into Washingtons military activities, sending dozens of paratroopers for the first time to Eastern Europe to take part in the US-led NATO Saber Strike 18 drill, in which 18,000 troops from 19 countries are participating. In the run-up to the talks, Netanyahu again exposed himself as a liar and provocative charlatan. Two days ago, Israels intelligence service Shin Bet claimed that it had foiled an alleged Syrian-led terrorist cell targeting US consulate buildings, a Canadian delegation and Netanyahu, although it admitted that the operatives had never met, no money was transferred and no arms were purchased. In another stunt on April 30, Netanyahu said Israel had obtained documents proving Iran had been covertly gathering nuclear weapons know-how. All these documents related to the period before 2003 and presented no new information. While the European leaders expressed their concern over Israels massacre of peaceful protesters in Gaza, Netanyahu argued that Iran funded Hamas, the bourgeois Islamist group that controls Gaza, and Islamic Jihad, which he alleged had incited the anti-Israel demonstrations. Merkel stressed that Germany supported Israels right to security, saying, We have the same goal that Iran must never get a nuclear weapon and the difference between us is how to do that. Germany would exert our influence in such a way that Iran is pushed out of this region and would take a very close look at Irans activities in the region and seek to contain it. While Macron criticised Trumps decision to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, saying it had led to people dying and did not promote peace, he both stressed the importance of the nuclear accord and called for an additional agreement aimed at limiting Tehrans ballistic-missile programme and activities in the region. The following day, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said that Tehrans announcement that it would increase its uranium enrichment capacity if the nuclear deal collapsed sailed close to the red line, although he conceded that the initiative taken ... remains totally within the framework of the Vienna (nuclear) deal. May made pro-forma criticisms of Israels massacre in Gaza, before adding, Along with France and Germany, the UK continues to believe that [the 2015 nuclear accord] is the best route to preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. We will remain committed to it as long as Iran meets its obligations. But we do recognise that there are other issues that need to be addressed in relation to Iranits destabilising regional activity in countries like Syria and Yemen and also the proliferation of ballistic missiles. Increasingly isolated after the referendum vote to leave the EU, the UK has become ever more dependent on securing favourable trade and military relations with the US. London is seeking to carve out a prominent position in supporting the US-backed insurgency against the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad and the increasingly bellicose moves against Russia. This also sets it on a collision course with Iran. Last year, the Royal Air Force (RAF) carried out joint exercises with the Israel Air Force (IAF), the first time such an exercise was made public. In November, HMS Ocean, the fleet flagship of the Royal Navy, docked in Haifa as part of a visit marking Israels active partnership with NATO. Last April, the RAF joined Poland, Austria, Greece, Italy and Canada in the IAFs traditional flyover for Israels 70th anniversary celebrations. Britain has targeted Israel as one of 10 countries with which it is trying to sign new bilateral free trade and investment agreements. Bilateral trade of goods rose from $7.2 billion in 2016 to $9.1 billion in 2017, plus an additional $1.6 billion for trade in services in 2015. Following the referendum, Israeli investment in the UK rose from 114 million to 154 million. The May government has, along with the Trump administration, downgraded the Palestinian issue, and last month, abstained in the vote at the UN Human Rights Council to establish a commission of inquiry into Israels criminal actions in Gaza. An incident last month revealed plans to prevent some forms of autism from being eligible for support under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). This underscores the cost-cutting agenda behind the NDIS, introduced by the last Labor government to privatise disability services. A staff member from the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), the government agency running the NDIS, modified a list on the schemes website of pre-qualifying conditions to automatically access the scheme on the NDIS website, removing autism level 2. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a lifelong developmental condition that affects an estimated 1 in 150 people in Australia. The symptoms can vary widely, from difficulty in communication and social interaction, to extreme obsessive interests and repetitive behaviours. As a result, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) separates ASD into three severity levels. Level 3 is for people requiring very substantial support. Level 2 requires substantial support. Level 1, which was already not on the immediate approval list, is deemed to require support. A day after the change was posted, the original list was restored. In an attempt at damage control, Social Services Minister Dan Tehan sent a letter to advocacy organisations claiming that no changes would be made to the NDIAs operational guidelines, unless those changes are informed by research, evidence and extensive consultation with stakeholders and the community. Despite this token assurance, NDIA CEO Robert De Luca effectively confirmed that plans were underway to restrict access. At a budget estimates hearing last week, De Luca was asked for a guarantee that level 2 autism would not be removed from the list. De Luca replied: No, I cannot guarantee that. There are serious concerns about what these changes will mean for the thousands of adults and children diagnosed with autism in Australia. Currently 29 percent of the participants in the NDIS, or 142,000 people, have autismthe same proportion as those diagnosed with an intellectual disability. Autism Awareness Australia CEO Nicole Rogerson said she was shocked but maybe not surprised. Rogerson said: I think its fairly obvious that the government is going to make changes to certain sections of children with autism and their eligibility under the NDIS, and youd have to say the reason for that is cost cutting. Despite Tehans claims, Rogerson said her organisation had not been consulted regarding any possible change. My fear is that its a decision thats been made already, she said. Such a proposal would be counterproductive because research showed that early intervention meant a child with autism could lead happy, healthy and independent lives with minimal support. The NDIS was launched in 2012 by the Gillard Labor government as a once in a lifetime reform, fully supported by the Liberal-National opposition, the trade unions and the Greens. Since taking office in 2013, the Liberal-National government has continued the scheme. The WSWS warned from the outset that the NDIS was designed to cut government funding, push people off the disability support pension (DSP) and dragoon them into the low-wage workforce. That has been confirmed on many fronts. First came the shutting down of state-run residential facilities, forcibly transferring some severely disabled people into underfunded non-government group homes. With the national rollout of the scheme in 2016, advocacy services and services for carers were reduced or extinguished, and caps imposed on the number of plans rolled out, potentially denying essential services to thousands of people. Many families have said they are worse off under the scheme, citing long delays in vital assistive equipment, such as wheelchairs, hoists and basic ramps and handrails. A Tasmanian man, Tim Rubenach, died while waiting for a medical tilt bed, suffering bleeding stomach ulcers. Families have also condemned the annual planning process, in which participants are reassessed by the NDIA and often have their funding reduced. In April this year it was announced that the NDIS call centre, the main point of contact for inquiries, requests and complaints, would be outsourced to Serco, a company that runs private prisons and immigration detention centres, where asylum seekers are incarcerated indefinitely in shocking conditions. NDIA deputy CEO Vicki Rundle pointed to the underlying agenda of the NDIS in a May 29 opinion piece for Fairfax Media. She addressed some misconceptions around the underpinning of the NDIS, insisting: The NDIS is an insurance-based scheme. It is not welfare. Responding to reports of support plans being cut back, she said: In an insurance-based scheme, as opposed to a welfare system, there should be no expectation that plans should not be reduced. The struggle of New Zealand hospital workers for decent wages and conditions is at a crossroads. This week and next, 27,000 public hospital nurses, midwives and healthcare assistants are voting on an offer from District Health Boards (DHBs) to increase pay by 9 percent over two years and slightly raise staffing levels. The offer was made in a desperate attempt to avoid a strike, for which nurses voted last month after rejecting two previous pay offers of 2 percent presented by DHBs and the New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO). The revised deal is falsely portrayed as a generous offer by the Labour Party government and corporate media. In fact, it does not make up for a decade-long effective wage freeze and is grossly inadequate given the scale of the crisis facing public hospital staff. The Socialist Equality Group (SEG) calls on health workers to decisively reject this sellout, organise independently of the union bureaucracy and prepare for a nationwide strike. The SEG warns that the two 24-hour strikes foreshadowed by the NZNO for July are deliberately limited in scope and designed only to let off steam. Workers demands cannot be constrained by what the government and ruling elite deem affordable. Appeals must be made to other sections of the working class in New Zealand and internationally to combine their strength in a political and industrial campaign for the basic social right of all people to high-quality, free health careprovided by the necessary number of well-paid doctors, nurses and other medical professionals. The nurses fight is part of a global upsurge of the class struggle, including strikes by teachers in the United States and Latin America, truck drivers in Brazil, rail workers in France and Sri Lanka, and bank workers in India, and repeated general strikes in Greece. New Zealand nurses wages increased by 19 percent over the past decade, while housing costs soared 62.9 percent. The weekly median rent in Auckland almost doubled from $280 in 2008 to $550 this year, while the starting salary for a registered nurse increased by just $127 a week. On social media, many nurses have demanded an increase of 18 percent or more. The proposed 2 percent increase in staffing is insulting. It equates to just 500 workers, divided among 20 districts, which will not make up for attrition. A Nursing Council study published in 2015 revealed that 7 percent of nurses left the profession after one year and 41 percent were no longer nursing in New Zealand eight years after registering. Many moved overseas, seeking better pay and conditions. Hospitals are extremely overcrowded and patients are being placed at risk. Auckland DHB told the government in February that in the past five years the citys population grew 9.4 percent, emergency department admissions increased 18.8 percent and in-patient discharges rose by 15 percent. Hospital operating budgets, however, have been frozen. Health workers simply cannot cope with the pressures they are under. The draft agreement contains no mandatory staff-to-patients ratio. Many nurses have demanded a legally binding ratio of one nurse-to-four patients. There is widespread anger at the DHBs offer and determination to strike. In a Facebook poll posted on May 28, in the nurses group New Zealand, please hear our voice, more than 3,350 people opposed the deal and only 40 were in favour. It is not accidental that health workers have taken a stand against the government. They are directly exposed to the social crisis produced by decades of pro-business restructuring by Labour and National Party governments alike. Hospitals in rural areas have been closed; every year thousands of people are denied essential surgery; and mental health and poverty-related hospital admissions have soared. A two-class system exists. The wealthy can always get the best care money can buy via the private health sector. The working class in contrast only has access to the dysfunctional public system, operated by under-paid, under-staffed and over-worked nurses, doctors and ancillary workers. After falsely promising during the 2017 election to address the crisis in health, education and housing, the Labour Party and its coalition partners, the Greens and New Zealand First, are continuing the austerity regime of the previous National government. Social services are being starved while taxes for the rich and corporations are kept down. The urgent task facing health workers is to forge links with other workersparticularly teachers, who are demanding a 16 percent pay increase, and transport workers who have waged a series of strikesto spearhead a campaign against the Labour government and the business elite. Such a struggle requires a rebellion against the trade union bureaucracy, which has colluded for decades with National and Labour Party governments to divide and suppress the working class. The NZNO leadership claims to be neither for nor against the DHBs proposal, while portraying it in bright colours. A union bulletin hailed the meagre staffing increase as a very positive response to our claim for immediate remedies to provide safe staffing and healthy workplaces. Another union fact sheet falsely described the Labour government as fully committed to pay equity. In fact, Health Minister David Clark told the media that female nurses will not be granted equity with similar male-dominated professions in the current term of government. The 1999-2008 Labour Party government of Prime Minister Helen Clark made empty promises of pay equity, which the unions similarly promoted. Health workers must demand mass stopwork meetings to democratically discuss and debate the proposed agreement. The NZNO is seeking to prevent such a discussion by holding hundreds of small ratification meetings in hospitals. At Auckland City Hospital alone, more than 40 meetings are scheduled. The aim is to divide workers and apply as much pressure as possible to accept the deal. The union bureaucracy is part of a privileged upper middle class layer, which has a material interest in the defence of the status quo and opposes any struggle for social change. The Council of Trade Unions is currently working with the government and business leaders to design a framework that will outlaw strikes during industry-wide fair pay negotiations. Nurses have been compelled to organise independently of NZNO, through the Facebook group New Zealand, please hear our voice, which was established by two nurses and last month organised nationwide protests. Teachers in the United States have similarly organised strikes and rallies through social media in recent months, frequently in opposition to the unions. The groups administrators, however, have expressed support for the NZNO and imposed a ban on what they call union bashing. Many comments critical of the union have been deleted, as well as links to World Socialist Web Site articles. The aim is to shackle workers to the union bureaucracy and the Labour government. Health workers must be able to democratically debate the way forward in their struggle without being censored or intimidated. The Socialist Equality Group calls for the formation of new organisations: rank-and-file committees controlled by workers themselves. Once the movement for decent health services, wages and conditions is taken out of the hands of the unions, it will win ever-greater support and set a powerful example for other workers. Workers can only succeed to the extent that they base their fight on a conscious socialist and internationalist strategy, opposed to the entire political establishment. The tens of billions of dollars needed to provide free, high-quality public health services must be obtained by redistributing the wealth currently wasted on military spending, or hoarded by the super-rich, the banks, and major corporations. We call on workers who agree with this perspective to contact us. The United States committed war crimes of staggering proportions last year during its four-month-long siege of the Syrian city of Raqqa, demolishing up to 80 percent of the city with an unrelenting blitzkrieg of bombs and artillery shells that killed hundreds of civilians. The devastation left behind by the US military and its proxy troops in the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces was detailed in a damning report published this week by Amnesty International grimly titled War of Annihilation. Defense Secretary James Mad Dog Mattis routinely used the phrase when describing the effort to take control of the city from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The US dropped thousands of bombs on Raqqa and shelled the city with 30,000 artillery rounds in just five months. The population of Raqqa and its surrounding villages have been reduced from a pre-war total of 340,000 to less than 100,000. Most of those who fled the city are unable to return as most homes and critical infrastructure have been damaged or destroyed. Those who have returned face the prospect of being blown apart by unexploded bombs and missiles dropped by the US and its allies or landmines set by ISIS. While the US has been officially waging war in Syria to defeat ISIS, the report notes that artillery and airstrikes continued to pound civilian areas even as a deal was struck which allowed thousands of the groups members to evacuate the city. With at least 2,000 US troops currently illegally occupying Syria, Washingtons ultimate aim is to overthrow the government of Bashar al-Assad and install a regime which is more pliant to the needs of American imperialism. Amnestys researchers interviewed more than 100 survivors and surveyed the sites of 42 US airstrikes across the city, providing a sense of the death and destruction wrought by last years onslaught. The human rights group spoke to the Badrans, a family that lost 39 of its members, most of them women and children, to four separate US air strikes as they scrambled to find shelter. The commander in charge of the assault boasted at its height that the attack on Raqqa was the most precise air campaign in history. The Pentagon has absurdly claimed that it killed fewer than 500 civilians in 2017 in all its various military operations across the globe, admitting to just 32 civilian deaths in Raqqa. A report by the Associated Press in April found that close to 500 corpses had been pulled from the rubble and that hundreds of bodies were still being uncovered many months after the siege had ended. Airwars, which closely tracks airstrikes by the US and its allies in Syria and Iraq, has documented 1,400 civilian casualties resulting from US airstrikes in Raqqa. Unlike the hysteria generated over the fake gas attack in Douma earlier this year, the revelations of widespread war crimes carried out by the US and its allies in Raqqa, as with the assault itself, have been treated as a non-event by the corporate media. Neither the New York Times nor the Washington Post, the political establishments two main newspapers of record, carried any mention of the Amnesty report in their print editions. Times columnists Nicholas Kristof and Thomas Friedman, who both jump at any opportunity to denounce with the utmost moral outrage alleged atrocities carried out by the Assad regime or Russian forces in order to clamor for an escalation of US humanitarian intervention, apparently caught a joint case of writers block. The editorialists and commentators in the American media, by and large, argue that Trump has not gone far enough in Syria, and that the US wars and occupations which have been raging for more than 15 years must be expanded to counter any challenge by Russia and Iran to US domination over the Middle East. Amid the never-ending mudslinging over Trumps supposed collusion with the Russians to win the 2016 election, all sides agree that the wars for complete control over the regions oil reserves must continue and in fact be expanded, regardless of the cost in civilian lives. The medias failure to report on the atrocities in Raqqa and its coverup of Amnestys findings make them complicit in these crimes. They have made a deliberate decision to conceal from the American people the scope of the crimes carried out in their name in an effort to block the development of broad antiwar sentiments into a politically conscious movement against imperialist war. A critical role in this effort is played by the pseudo-left, including organizations calling themselves socialist who work tirelessly to justify imperialist intervention. The International Socialist Organization has routinely attacked those who oppose the US war in Syria and Washingtons so-called rebel proxy forces. They have responded to the repeated illegal missile strikes by President Trump on the Assad government, which could have sparked a war with nuclear-armed Russia, by charging that they did not go far enough, while complaining that both Obama and Trump have failed to do enough to arm the Al Qaeda-linked rebels unleashed upon Syria. Similarly, the Pabloite International Viewpoint published a statement this week calling for a renewal of the war for regime change in Syria, claiming that the US and its imperialist allies have refused to allow the democratic components of the uprising to defend themselves, meaning that the US has not bombed Syria enough or delivered a sufficient amount of weaponry to their proxy forces. The ever-compliant media has worked with the Pentagon to falsely portray its wars as bloodless surgical operations in which terrorists are being killed with precision bombs, while in fact the bodies of the innocents continue to pile up. The US effort to retake Mosul in Iraq from ISIS in 2016 and 2017 killed as many as 40,000 civilians, according to an estimate by Iraqi Kurdish intelligence, while more than a million people were displaced. The three-year-old Saudi-led war in Yemen, backed by US special forces on the ground, has killed over 13,000 civilians and threatens more than 18 million with starvation. And now the Trump administration is considering more directly joining the Yemen war, while preparing for a far more dangerous military confrontation with Iran, placing millions more civilians in the crosshairs. As a part of the ongoing international campaign to free Julian Assange, Trotskyists in Sri Lanka and India will hold protests in Colombo and near Chennai, in Tamil Nadu, on June 19. The International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) and the World Socialist Web Site are mobilising workers and youth internationally to demand freedom for the WikiLeaks editor. While Ecuador provided Assange asylum at its London embassy six years ago, it is capitulating to political pressure from the US to silence the Australian journalist. If Assange is forced out of the embassy, he faces the danger of falling into US hands and being tried on espionage charges that carry the death sentence. His only crime has been to expose illegal wars and military intrigues of American imperialism and its allies. The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) will hold its rally outside the main Fort Railway Station in Colombo, the Sri Lankan capital. On the same day, Indian supporters of the ICFI will protest at the central bus terminal in Sriperumbudur, a global auto and electronic manufacturing hub about 40 kilometres from Chennai, the capital of the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Both campaigns support the demonstration and rally to be held on June 17 in Sydney, organised by the Socialist Equality Party in Australia. The major powers and their subordinate governments are attempting to block the free and democratic flow of information through Internet and social media. In line with the US-led assault on Assange, Google and Facebook are censoring the World Socialist Web Site and other left-wing and anti-war web sites. The Sri Lankan and Indian governments are also stepping up their efforts to curb access to the Internet and social media. The defense of Julian Assange is part of the fight to defend freedom of speech and expression and all democratic rights. We urge workers, students, young people and the oppressed masses to support this campaign and join the demonstrations in Sri Lanka and India. Sri Lanka protest Fort Railway Station in central Colombo Tuesday June 19, 4.00 p.m. India protest Sriperumbudur bus terminal Tamil Nadu Tuesday June 19, 5.00 p.m. The Socialist Equality Party and International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) in Sri Lanka are winning support from workers, students, artists and academics for the International Committee of the Fourth Internationals campaign to defend Julian Assange. The Sri Lankan Trotskyists have organised a rally on 19 June outside the Fort Railway Station in Central Colombo to demand freedom for the WikiLeaks editor. A rally has also been organised in the Indian city of Sriperumbudur, near Chennai. (Click here for details) We publish below interviews and statements from Jayawardenapura University students, Katunayake free trade zone employees and other workers in Sri Lanka. Sasanka Sasanka, a fourth-year sociology student, said: I strongly support the SEPs campaign demanding freedom for Julian Assange. The reason US imperialism wants to capture people like Assange is because it fears that any exposure of its war crimes will radicalise masses of people. Assange is being victimised in order to intimidate others who may come forward to reveal the anti-democratic programs of capitalist governments. The Sri Lankan government is also taking censorship measures against social media and so this campaign is very relevant to people in Sri Lanka. Heshan, a third-year science student, said: I oppose war and stand for world peace. War destroys our right to live. US imperialism is heading toward another world war and it doesnt want the truth of this to be revealed. No country should be allowed to violate our right to freedom of speech. I welcome this campaign to free Assange and the development of a socialist movement to put an end to capitalism and its destructive agenda. Tharindu Tharindu, a final year student, said the persecution of Assange was part an attack on freedom of the media. He pointed to the disappearance of several Sri Lankan journalists who had criticised the government. Not a single journalist who has disappeared in recent years has been found, Tharindu said. These attacks are connected to the global crisis of capitalism. Their purpose is to terrify and silence those journalists who fight to protect democratic rights. Assange is being persecuted because he has revealed some of the crimes of imperialism. The campaign to protect Assange must be widely supported by Sri Lankan student unions and youth organisations. Hasitha Hasitha, a sociology student, decided to speak with SEP campaigners after seeing one of their Demand freedom of Julian Assange placards. I know Assange is an Australian journalist and the founder of WikiLeaks, she said, but I didnt realise that he has been virtually imprisoned in Ecuadors embassy in London. And I didnt know that he has been barred from any contact with the outside world. I oppose these anti-democratic actions. SEP campaigners spoke with workers from the Katunayake Free Trade Zone (FTZ), located north of Colombo, near Sri Lankas main international airport. About 40,000 workers, mostly women from rural areas, are employed at the cheap-labour export processing facility. Wasantha, a garment worker, originally from Anuradhapura in Sri Lankas central north, declared: I say that Assange should be released. It is clear that this is not just an attack on him. Wasantha Its also important for workers everywhere to fight against the danger of a world war because the destruction from such a conflict would be immense. It is therefore necessary to disclose as much information as possible about government preparations for war. Wasantha said he worked from 7.30 a.m. until 8.30 p.m. and had little time to think about anything else. His monthly salary was only 35,000 rupees ($US220) and 150 rupees per hour for overtime work, which made it difficult to survive. The 2,500-rupee monthly attendance allowance was not paid, he said, if an employee missed just two days work. Its only by talking to you that Ive been able to learn about international politics. I read your pamphlet Socialism and the Fight Against War and need to discuss this more. Mahesh, another FTZ worker, commented on the danger of a world war and called for freedom for Assange. I am against war, he said. The US had been waging war for years and has caused immense destruction in the Middle East. A world war is possible. Koushalya, a shoe factory worker from Meethotamulla, the site of an April 2017 garbage dump disaster that killed over 30 people, said: Politicians are openly engaged in corruption and crimes. Exposing them should not be illegal. Anyone who exposes this corruption is standing up for the rights of the people. The method of those in power is to hunt down and kill such whistleblowers. Koushalya said the garbage dump collapse had shattered any faith residents had in the government, the ruling establishment and the media. Only the SEP and the WSWS had intervened to explain the central political issues. This shows the importance of forthright journalists who will stand up to the crimes of the government, like Julian Assange has done. Assange must be released. We stand in solidarity with him. Amila, a young accountant, said: I was greatly concerned several years ago when Julian Assange lost his basic human rights and had to seek refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Now he is being threatened with losing that right to protection as well. Assange is already a political prisoner precisely because he spoke the truth against power. Cutting off his human rights is an attempt by the US to cover the truth about its various crimes. Induni, a construction industry engineer, said: Julian Assange is a brave journalist who has provided information related to US war crimes. His actions are very similar to the release of the Pentagon Papers. We, like all other workers, should be with him, in solidarity. She opposed Ecuadors decision to isolate Assange and prevent him receiving visitors or accessing the Internet. This as an instance of the capitalist system trying to prevent the working class and ordinary people from accessing honest information I fully endorse the ICFI campaign to free Assange and the June 17 rally in Sydney. Jeewithan Jeewithan, a media worker from Colombo, condemned the anti-democratic campaign against Assange. In attacking honest and genuine journalists, the US is attempting to cover up its conspiracies and crimes, he said. The US is waging war in the Middle East for resources and it will incarcerate or kill individuals who tell this truth. We have to determinedly oppose that. Jeewithan, a member of Sri Lankas Tamil minority, said the government carried out similar attacks against the media during the countrys civil war. International reporters were blocked from going to the war zone and reporting the truth, he said. Local media people who dared to point out the truth were threatened, abducted and some were killed. These things have not stopped with the change of government. 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United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe This Week's Deals With Gold Include Hitman 2, Injustice 2 and Watch Dogs 2 Former President Barack Obama went through stages after Donald Trump was elected his successor, a new book by Obamas former national security advisor Ben Rhodes reveals. And, the Thursday after the election, Obama had a meeting with his successor that rendered him somewhat stupefied. Im trying to place him in American history, Obama told a few of his aides after the meeting, according to The World As It Is: A Memoir of the Obama White House, out Tuesday. Rhodes writes that during Obamas meeting with Trump, the president-elect repeatedly brought up his rally sizes. Trump also seemed open to Obamas arguments about healthcare, the Iran deal, immigration. The new president was polite, but, as Obama explained it to Rhodes, Trump had almost taken pride in not being attached to a firm position on anything. Rhodes has a theory about this, and shared it with President Obama. Trump and Obama [Trump] peddles bulls. That character has always been a part of the American Story, Rhodes remembers telling Obama. You can see it right back to some of the characters in Huckleberry Finn. Obama laughed, Maybe thats the best we can hope for. While Obama tried to remain optimistic for his staff, days after the election he started to express his disbelief that Trump won, according to the book. The former president started trying on different theories, and centered on the fact that there had been multiple car crashes at once before the election, Rhodes writes. From then-FBI director James Comeys decision to reopen the investigation into Hillary Clintons email server, to the rabid right-wing propaganda machine that aided Trumps depiction of Corrupt Hillary, many factors were against the democratic nominee. [Comeys announcement] stopped my momentum, Hillary Clinton said in an interview last year on Today while discussing her post-election memoir and the factors that led to her loss, which she said included Comey and rampant sexism. It drove voters from me understandably. This is not about the voters who were saying, Well wait, what does this mean and how do I evaluate it? So I think in terms of my personal defeat, that was the most important factor. Story continues But, during Obamas chat with his aides, Rhodes reveals Obama also made a subtle dig at his successor. Hillary Clinton post-election results To win, [Obama] told us, you have to have a core reason why youre running, and you need to make it clear to everyone how much you want to win, Rhodes writes. You have to want it, he said, like Michael Jordan demanding the ball the final moments of a game. Hillary Clinton was routinely criticized during and after the 2016 presidential campaign for not clearly articulating her reason for running for president. Despite the multiple factors that led to her loss, the result was catastrophic for both Clinton and Obama. [Clinton] had let [Obama] down. She had let herself down. She had let her party down. And she had let her country down, political journalists Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes wrote when describing the night of the election in their book, Shattered. Obamas legacy and the dreams of her presidency lay shattered at Donald Trumps feet. This was on her. Mr. President, she told Obama on the phone, according to the book. Im sorry. Even Obamas natural buoyancy couldnt stop him from having self-doubt and intense anxiety about the state of the country after the election, Rhodes writes. Maybe we pushed too far Maybe people just want to fall back into their tribe, Obama is quoted as saying in The World As It Is. However, the then-president didnt lose all hope. The one thing [Obama] kept coming back to was the expanse of time, the fact that we were just a blip in human history, Rhodes writes. In giving advice on how to deal with Trump, he offered a simple maxim: Find some high ground, and hunker down.' The World As It Is is on sale now. During a tense phone call with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau regarding the recent imposition of tariffs on Canadian metals, President Donald Trump blamed Canada for burning down the White House during the War of 1812, CNN reported. CNNs chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta said the exchange took place on Wednesday when Trudeau asked Trump how he could justify the tariffs as a national security issue. In response, Trump joked to Trudeau: Didnt you guys burn down the White House? However, as many gleeful Twitter users were quick to point out, the incident in question was actually committed by British troops in 1812, who targeted Washington in retaliation to an American attack on York, Ontario, which was then a British colony. Also Read:Stormy Daniels Lawsuit: 'Puppet' Ex-Attorney 'Colluded' With Trump, Michael Cohen VoteVets pointed out that visitors learn this piece of historical knowledge during tours to the White House, while students also learn about the War of 1812 in grade school. They actually tell you it was the British (not Canadians) on White House tours. They also teach it in grade school. Yet, Trump suggested to @JustinTrudeau that CANADA burned down the White House, during the War of 1812. https://t.co/NYGtdi7HuH VoteVets (@votevets) June 6, 2018 Greg Olear, the founding editor of The Weeklings, said Trumps comments came on the anniversary of D-Day, when Allied troops including Americans and Canadians invaded Normandy during World War II. Canada did not torch the White House during the War of 1812. Canada DID, however, commit many troops to the D-Day mission in WWII. The only thing Trump should be telling Canada on 6/6 is THANK YOU. Greg Olear (@gregolear) June 6, 2018 Story continues Activist and author Amy Siskind argued that Trumps comments were only the latest in the series of factual inaccuracies supported by the Trump administration. "Didn't you guys burn down the White House?" referring to the War of 1812. Yes, I recall this too. It was right after the Green Bowl Massacre. https://t.co/CEcTFIS6v1 Amy Siskind (@Amy_Siskind) June 6, 2018 Representative Ted Lieu told Trump that Canada should not be considered a national security threat. Dear @POTUS: Heard you blamed Canada for burning down the White House during the War of 1812 while discussing tariffs with PM Trudeau. Sharing this memo with you, again. pic.twitter.com/vLZgBJtQDt Rep. Ted Lieu (@RepTedLieu) June 6, 2018 Below are more tweets clowning POTUS for his factual flub: The War of 1812 is trending proving once again that 2018 is insane. Roland Scahill (@rolandscahill) June 6, 2018 I'm surprised that the Dotard even knew about the War of 1812. Not much though, apparently since he blamed the wrong country David Leavitt (@David_Leavitt) June 6, 2018 Like we always said, this thing is gonna come down to Rudy Giuliani and the War of 1812 Alex Burns (@alexburnsNYT) June 6, 2018 When the President thinks that a war which happened 206 years ago is a bigger threat to our "National Security" than Russia's current cyber war with us, you know we are in trouble as a nation. Canada wasn't even a nation when the War of 1812 took place, you moron! Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) June 6, 2018 CANADA: But why? TRUMP: War of 1812! FRANCE: *scrambles to find receipt for Louisiana Purchase* TrivWorks (@TrivWorks) June 6, 2018 Related Video: Mnuchin Reportedly Asked for Exemption for Canada Tariff Watch news, TV and more on Yahoo View. Related stories from TheWrap: Kellyanne Conway Calls Trump 'Commander of Cheese,' Internet Melts (Video) Chrissy Teigen Urges People to Sign Trump's Official Birthday Card Guess What Happened Kim Kardashian Watched a Mic Video, Then Got Trump to Free Alice Johnson Joe Scarborough Fact-Checks Trump on Melania Facelift Tweet Ines Zorreguieta, pictured here with her sister, Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, has died. (Photo: Getty) Ines Zorreguieta, the younger sister of Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, has sadly passed away at the age of 33 in an apparent suicide. According to local Argentinian media outlets, she was found dead at her Buenos Aires home on Wednesday night and is believed to have been suffering from depression. A Dutch government spokesperson told Dutch NOS TV that her cause of death is most likely to have been a suicide. Zorreguieta worked as a civil servant for the Argentinian government in the Ministry of Social Development. She was also the godmother of Queen Maximas youngest daughter, Princess Ariane, and was the youngest child of Maria del Carmen Cerruti Carricart and the late Jorge Zorreguieta, who passed away last year. Queen Maxima with her husband, King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands (Photo: Getty) Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant reports that Queen Maxima is shocked and devastated by the news of her sisters death. The Dutch queen is expected to fly home to her native Argentina for the funeral, as she did for her fathers burial in August 2017. As a consequence of the tragic news, the queen will no longer be joining her husband, King Willem-Alexander, on their upcoming tour of Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia next week. Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: I will love her forever: Author of Eat, Pray, Love shares post 6 months after partners death Kate Spades suicide is proof that money and fame cant deter depression Topshop heiress Chloe Green welcomes baby with hot felon Jeremy Meeks Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. By Hamid Shalizi KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Thursday announced for the first time an unconditional ceasefire with the Taliban, coinciding with the end of the Muslim fasting month, but excluding other militant groups, such as Islamic State. The decision came after a meeting of Islamic clerics this week declared a fatwa, or ruling, against suicide bombings, one of which, claimed by Islamic State, killed 14 people at the entrance to the clerics' peace tent in Kabul, the capital. The clerics also recommended a ceasefire with the Taliban, who are seeking to reimpose strict Islamic law after their ouster in 2001, and Ghani endorsed the recommendation, announcing a laying down of arms until June 20. Ghani has urged ceasefires with the Taliban before, but this was the first unconditional offer since he was elected in 2014. "This ceasefire is an opportunity for Taliban to introspect (sic) that their violent campaign is not winning them hearts and minds," Ghani said in a message on social network Twitter after a televised address. There was no immediate reaction from the Taliban but an international political analyst based in Kabul was unimpressed. "It's a one-sided love story," he said. U.S. Forces-Afghanistan said they would honor the ceasefire. "We will adhere to the wishes of Afghanistan for the country to enjoy a peaceful end to the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, and support the search for an end to the conflict," Gen. John Nicholson, U.S. Forces-Afghanistan and the NATO-led Resolute Support commander, said in a statement. The ceasefire would not include U.S. counter-terrorism efforts against Islamic State and al Qaeda, it said. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the announcement which he said "shows the seriousness of President Ghani and the Afghan government". Both he and the United Nations urged the Taliban to reciprocate. The United States and Russia also praised the decision. "The Afghan governments offer of a temporary ceasefire underscores its commitment to peace as both a national and religious responsibility," the State Department said in a statement. But former Afghan army general Atiqullah Amarkhel said the ceasefire would give the Taliban a chance to regroup. "From a military prospect, it is not a good move," he told Reuters. He also said he doubted the Taliban would lay down arms and deny themselves the opportunity of fighting during the holy month of Ramadan, in which attacks have intensified. The Eid al-Fitr holiday ending Ramadan falls at the end of next week. Ghani in February offered recognition of the Taliban as a legitimate political group in a proposed political process that he said could lead to talks to end more than 16 years of war. Ghani proposed a ceasefire and a release of prisoners among options including new elections involving the militants and a constitutional review in a pact with the Taliban to end a conflict that last year alone killed or wounded more than 10,000 civilians. In August, U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled a more hawkish military approach to Afghanistan, including a surge in air strikes, aimed at forcing the Taliban to the negotiating table. Afghan security forces say the impact has been significant, but the Taliban roam huge swaths of the country and, with foreign troop levels of about 15,600, down from 140,000 in 2014, there appears little hope of outright victory. (Additional reporting by Qadir Sediqi and Rupam Jain in Kabul, Polina Devitt in Moscow, Doina Chiacu in Washington and Idrees Ali and Robert Emmott in Brussels; Writing by Nick Macfie; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Robert Birsel) Alice Marie Johnson cant wait to hug Kim Kardashian and shell soon get her wish. The great-grandmother who had her drug sentence commuted by President Trump, thanks to Kardashians persuasion, has been singing the reality queens praises since she walked out of an Alabama prison on Wednesday. Shes dubbed Kardashian a war angel and has said theyll soon meet so that she can thank Kardashian in person. Alice Johnson has a special message for @KimKardashian who pled to get her out of prison: "Thank you for never giving up. You did it. You never gave up on me and you fought until I was free I'd just like to thank her and hug her." https://t.co/ae4nFzzbDA pic.twitter.com/WTLw9qiuj4 CBS News (@CBSNews) June 7, 2018 On Thursdays CBS This Morning, Johnson talked about how she started screaming and jumping when Kardashian called Wednesday to give her the news that she would be leaving prison after serving 21 years due to her role in a cocaine distribution ring. It was the most incredible, amazing, overwhelming moment of my life, Johnson said. As for what she would want to say to Kardashian, I want to tell my war angel, Thank you for never giving up. You did it! You never gave up on me. You fought and fought until I was free. That is one thing that she told me: that she would not give up on me. Id just like to thank her and hug her. In the interview, Johnson also thanked Trump, who posted a short but sweet (and error-free) tweet about her Thursday morning. Good luck to Alice Johnson. Have a wonderful life! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 7, 2018 While there is no set plan for Kardashian and Johnsons in-person meeting, CBS News said it would be very soon. Last night, Johnson had a huge reunion with family, connecting with relatives she had been kept apart from for more than two decades. Today is phase two family and friends, she said. Story continues Going along with what CBS reported, TMZ said that the face-to-face could take place this week. Kardashian will likely travel to Alabama, which Johnson says has changed a lot in the last 20 years (Ive noticed people on the phone a lot), so that Johnson can adjust to life out of prison. Kim Kardashian and her attorney Shawn Holley, right, arrive at the White House on May 30, 2018, to speak with President Trump about getting clemency for Alice Marie Johnson. (Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP) On Wednesday, when Johnson was released, she also sang Kardashians praises. Ive always called her my angel, but with this she turned into my war angel. Only war angels never give up. She has truly been relentless in her fight for me, and to know a woman who has never met me, who has embraced my story and taken me into her heart And this is not just a publicity thing for her. Kim told me that when she left that White House meeting, that no matter how this turns out, that she would never stop fighting for me until I got home. She is an incredible woman, an amazing woman. Kardashian has said that Johnson screaming and crying after getting the good news will always be one of my best memories. BEST NEWS EVER!!!! https://t.co/JUbpbE1Bk0 Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) June 6, 2018 The phone call I just had with Alice will forever be one of my best memories. Telling her for the first time and hearing her screams while crying together is a moment I will never forget. Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) June 6, 2018 Kardashian has been getting a lot of accolades from her family for her work to free Johnson, something that started last fall after she watched a video produced by Mic that profiled Johnsons case. She shared a post from sister Khloe patting her on the back. Kris Jenner is a proud mama. While Kardashian certainly played a big part in Johnsons release, prison reform activists have trying to secure her clemency for years. Theyre taking well-deserved victory laps today as well. I am honored to have been part of the legal team that represented Alice Marie Johnson. Im grateful to the president for allowing Alice to go home after 21.5 years in prison and to @KimKardashian for her tireless advocacy on Alices behalf. https://t.co/gI7oHB2BNW Jennifer Turner (@JennTurner) June 7, 2018 Amazing, life-saving journey with an amazing team! https://t.co/mP4L5tD9rp Brittany K. Barnett (@MsBKB) June 7, 2018 Thank you @realDonaldTrump for giving #AliceJohnson her life back. You showed real courage and compassion and we are so appreciative. She wont let you down. https://t.co/QnF7ws3dzP Shawn Holley (@theshawnholley) June 7, 2018 .@jacobdhorowitz Jake!!!!! You are AMAZING!!!! What a victory for Ms. Alice!!! For us all!! #DreamTeam Brittany K. Barnett (@MsBKB) June 7, 2018 Read more from Yahoo Entertainment: Let's check out the Yahoo Finance charts of the day. Allergan (AGN): Shares are up in early trade, at around 3.6%. Billionaire investor Carl Icahn has acquired a small stake in the drug maker at a time when Allergen is under pressure from other activist shareholders. Icahn didn't comment on the investment. Vail Resorts (MTN): Shares up here, at around 6.1%. The resort operators revenue beat forecasts with quarterly earnings of $6.17 per share, 5 cents a share above estimates. Season pass sales were also up 12 percent in units compared to a year ago. Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): Shares down here, at around .2%. J&J received a $2.7 billion dollar offer from Fortive Corporation to acquire its advanced sterilization products. The company confirmed receiving the offer and said it had four months to accept it. For more on today's big stock movers check out the Final Round, live at 3:55 p.m. ET, right here on Yahoo Finance. President Trump seems to have fumbled on historical accuracy during a fraught phone call about trade with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau late last month, reportedly asking his northern counterpart, Didnt you guys burn down the White House? CNN reports that sources familiar with the conversation said Trump was responding to Trudeaus query over how trade tariffs could be justified as a national security issue. Canadian broadcaster CBC also confirmed that the conversation took place. But Trumps quip, an apparent reference to the War of 1812, was erroneous; it was in fact the British who set the residence and other sites ablaze in 1814, in retaliation for an American attack on York, Ontario, which at the time was a British colony. Canada did not become a nation until 1867. The May 25 phone call reportedly took on a contentious tone as the two North American leaders discussed Trumps new tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada, Mexico and the E.U. The administration premised the tariffs on a little-used trade statute pertaining to threats to national security. Canada announced plans to impose reciprocal duties on $12.8 billion worth of U.S. products. That Canada could be considered a national security threat to the United States is inconceivable, Trudeau said, according to the Associated Press. The White House declined to comment, according to CNN. Motley Fool This week, some Americans eager for more stimulus money will get their wish. Payments will be deposited into bank accounts on Oct. 15, 2021 for one of the key types of financial assistance made available by the American Rescue Plan Act. The payments that are being delivered on Oct. 15 are going to eligible parents and will come as a result of the expansion of the Child Tax Credit authorized by the American Rescue Plan Act. By Ruma Paul and Zeba Siddiqui DHAKA/MUMBAI (Reuters) - The death toll in a Bangladeshi "zero tolerance" crackdown on drugs has risen to 140, with about 18,000 people arrested, the government said on Thursday, as a group of activists urged the United Nations to step in to stop the bloodshed. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina approved the anti-narcotics campaign in early May to tackle the spread of methamphetamines but the killings have raised fears among rights groups of a bloody Philippine-style campaign to wipe out drugs. "In a manner reminiscent of the Philippines drug war, Bangladeshi police justified these killings as supposedly happening during 'gunfights' with rival gangs or law enforcement officers acting in self-defense during anti-drug operations," the International Drug Policy Consortium said in a statement, urging U.N. agencies to act. "Evidence worldwide have shown that such a violent and abusive approach has not managed to curb the illicit drug market, but it can be used as a political tool to win political elections and target unwanted opposition," said the consortium of nearly 200 non-governmental organizations. Their call joins a chorus of international pressure on Bangladesh to stop the violence, which a home ministry official told Reuters had claimed 140 lives, with some 18,000 under arrest. The war on drugs in the Philippines has killed thousands since President Rodrigo Duterte took office two years ago. Duterte won a landslide victory after vowing to crack down on what he called the "drug menace". Hasina, who faces a general election later in 2018, has dismissed accusations of extra-judicial killings, and said the crackdown enjoys popular support. The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein on Wednesday called for independent investigations into the killings and said there was a "high likelihood" that many people may have been arbitrarily detained. The consortium also asked the United Nations to advise Bangladesh against bringing in the death penalty for drug-related offences, which is under consideration in the South Asian nation. (Reporting by Ruma Paul in Dhaka and Zeba Siddiqui in Mumbai; Additional reporting by Andrew Marshal in Bangkok; Editing by Euan Rocha, Robert Birsel) The Bermuda Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that gay couples would be able to marry once again on the island, declaring a law rescinding same-sex couples marriage rights unconstitutional. Chief Justice Ian Kawaley said sections of the Domestic Partnership Act signed into law this year, were invalid because they were inconsistent with provisions in the Constitution protecting the right to freedom of conscience and creed, according to The Royal Gazette. The ruling wont go into effect for six weeks, so the government has time to decide whether to appeal. (Photo: Bennian via Getty Images) The decision settles a challenge to the new law brought by gay Bermudians Rod Ferguson and Maryellen Jackson, and a charity called OutBermuda. They sought to enforce the rights of those who share their beliefs to freely manifest them in practice and not compel those who dont believe in same-sex marriage to endorse or celebrate it, the chief justice noted. Persons who passionately believe that same-sex marriages should not take place for religious or cultural reasons are entitled to have those beliefs respected and protected by law, Kawaley said. But, in return for the law protecting their own beliefs, they cannot require the law to deprive persons who believe in same-sex marriage of respect and legal protection for their opposing beliefs. Ferguson called the ruling wonderful and that it was the correct outcome in my mind and also its the correct legal outcome. The important thing is we have spoken up for ourselves as a community. This really is for equality. It seems like just a word but it means so much, Ferguson said, according to The Gazette. Foremost in our minds is the message this sends to young people in Bermuda that there are proud gay and lesbian Bermudians who dont buy the line that there is any shame in being gay. Same-sex marriage in Bermuda has had a tumultuous year. Gay weddings were allowed as of May 2017, when the islands high court ruled in favor of an appeal from campaigners. In Feburary, the British territorys governor signed the law that was struck down on Wednesday a compromise measure that effectively replaced same-sex marriage with domestic partnerships. Story continues Also on HuffPost Malta People celebrate in front of the rainbow-colour lit Auberge de Castille, the office of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, after the Maltese parliament voted to legalise same-sex marriage on the Roman Catholic Mediterranean island, in Valletta, Malta, July 12, 2017. REUTERS/Darrin Zammit Lupi Australia Members of Sydney's gay community react as they celebrate after it was announced the majority of Australians support same-sex marriage in a national survey, paving the way for legislation to make the country the 26th nation to formalize the unions by the end of the year, at a pub located on Sydney's Oxford street, Australia, November 15, 2017. REUTERS/Steven Saphore Germany Bode Mende (R) and Karl Kreile stamp their marriage certificate as they became Germany's first gay couple to be legally married tying the knot at the Schoeneberg town hall in Berlin on October 1, 2017.. Germany celebrates its first gay marriages as same-sex unions become legal after decades of struggle. Local authorities rushed to get weddings underway as soon as possible, after lawmakers voted on June 30th to give Germany's roughly 94,000 same-sex couples the right to marry. / AFP PHOTO / Odd ANDERSEN (Photo credit should read ODD ANDERSEN/AFP/Getty Images) Finland Supporters of the same-sex marriage celebrate outside the Finnish Parliament in Helsinki, Finland on November 28, 2014 after the Finnish parliament approved a bill allowing same sex marriage. AFP PHOTO /Lehtikuva/ VESA MOILANEN *** FINLAND OUT *** (Photo credit should read VESA MOILANEN/AFP/Getty Images) Ireland People react as Ireland voted in favour of allowing same-sex marriage in a historic referendum, in Dublin May 23, 2015. Ireland became the first country in the world to adopt same-sex marriage by popular vote as 62 percent of the electorate backed a referendum, official results showed on Saturday. REUTERS/Cathal McNaughton TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY United States WASHINGTON, DC- JUNE 26: With at colorful White House backdrop, (L) Kevin Barragan and his partner Adam Smith celebrate the decision today as do Kelly Miller (with glasses) and her wife Lindsey Miller. The Miller's were married 2 years ago in Washington State where gay marriage was legal.The White House was lit in multi-colored lights tonight to honor the Supreme Court decision to allow gay marriage. Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post via Getty Images) Scotland GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - DECEMBER 31: A couple of the same sex Joe Schofield (blue kilt) and Malcolm Brown from Tullibody, Clackmannanshire are married by Ross Wright, Celebrant from Humanist Society Scotland in the Trades Hall shortly after midnight in front of friends and family in one of the first same-sex and belief category weddings in Scotland on December 31, 2014 in Glasgow, Scotland. Same-sex couples have been able to enter into 'civil partnerships' since 2005, however following a change in the law on February 4, 2014. A couple of the same sex are now eligible to marry in Scotland. Parliament's decision to grant same-sex couples an equal right to marriage has been met with opposition from religious groups. Gay marriage is already legal in England and Wales, however the Northern Ireland administration has no plans to make it law. (Photo by Mark Runnacles/Getty Images) England Gay couple Andrew Wale (L) and Neil Allard reacts to crowds, friends, family and the press after marrying in the first same-sex wedding in Brighton, at the Royal Pavilion in southern England March 29, 2014. Saturday will be the first day gay couples will be allowed to tie the knot in England and Wales after the government legalised same-sex marriage last July. Wale and Allard are the first out of five same-sex couples tying the knot in Brighton on Saturday. REUTERS/Luke MacGregor (BRITAIN - Tags: SOCIETY) New Zealand Gay-rights supporters celebrate at the San Francisco Bath House bar in Wellington on April 17, 2013 after New Zealand became the first Asia-Pacific country to legalise same-sex marriage after a decades-long campaign. A parliamentary vote overwhelmingly backed a move to amend the 1955 Marriage Act 77-44 to describe matrimony as a union of two people regardless of their sex, sexuality or how they choose to identify their gender. AFP PHOTO / MARTY MELVILLE (Photo credit should read Marty Melville/AFP/Getty Images) France People gather to celebrate the passage of a law allowing same-sex couples to marry and adopt children, in Paris April 23, 2013. French lawmakers passed a bill on Tuesday, a flagship reform pledge by French President which sparked often violent street protests and a rise in homophobic attacks. The law legalises gay marriage and gives gay and lesbian couples adoption rights. Sign reads, "Yes to Equality". REUTERS/Charles Platiau (FRANCE - Tags: POLITICS SOCIETY) Brazil Deco (R) kisses his partner Lohren Beauty as they hold a rainbow flag before their wedding ceremony in Campinas, 100 km (62 miles) from Sao Paulo March 21, 2013. Deco works as a journalist and Lohren Beauty works as a stylist and drag queen. Sixteen same-sex couples gathered and wed in Campinas on Thursday. The first same-sex marriage in Brazil occurred in the state of Sao Paulo in 2011 after a court ruled that a same-sex civil union could be converted into a legal marriage. The formalization of same-sex marriage was legalized by the state of Sao Paulo in December 2012, after a court ruled that gay couples could marry without having to first have their union authorized through a court. The new standard went into effect on March 1, 2013. REUTERS/Nacho Doce (BRAZIL - Tags: SOCIETY) Uruguay A man celebrates outside the Congress building after Uruguay's Congress passed a bill to allow same-sex marriages, making it the second country in predominantly Roman Catholic Latin America to do so April 10, 2013. Seventy-one of 92 lawmakers in the lower house of Congress voted in favor of the proposal, one week after the Senate passed it by a wide majority. Leftist President Jose Mujica, a former guerrilla fighter, is expected to sign the bill into law. REUTERS/Andres Stapff (URUGUAY) Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. It is a moment etched into Americas collective memory when Britain took a torch to the White House in 1814. But according a private conversation which leaked to CNN, Donald Trump thinks another close ally was behind the famous blaze. The US president reportedly blamed Canada for the fire in a testy phone call this week about his new tariffs with Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister. Mr Trudeau has opposed Mr Trumps steel and aluminium sanctions and questioned Americas claim that they are needed in the interests of national security. Rebuffing the criticism down the line, Mr Trump reportedly shot back: Didn't you guys burn down the White House?" The historical faux pas could be explained by the fact that the act was in retaliation to Americas attack on York, Ontario a British colony that eventually became Canada. Fire of 1814 It is not the first time details of the infamous White House fire have been mistaken by contemporary politicians looking to score points. Earlier this year Emmanuel Macron, the French president, made a joke about the White House being burned down in 1815 during his visit to Washington, according to an official briefing. It actually took place a year earlier. Similarly in May when Sir Kim Darroch, the UK ambassador to Washington, tweeted about the role Britain played in building the White House, his French counterpart shot back: And in the burning of it in 1815 Mr Darroch responded: I was wondering who would be the first to say that. But Gerard, unusually, your history is a little inaccurate. It was 1814. Another Twitter user commented: "And Britain with the BURN. #waterloo." Voters in California, New Jersey and six other states are choosing their nominees for the U.S. House and Senate, with Democrats hoping to prepare the political ground for a blue wave of support to seize the House and hobble President Donald Trumps legislative agenda. Establishment-backed Democrats muscled past liberal challengers in key New Jersey congressional races on Tuesday, results showed, as voters chose candidates for Novembers midterm elections. GettyImages-968050466 Getty Images Trending: New Acne Cream Clears Skin Without Harsh Side-effects, Study Shows Democrats, buoyed by President Donald Trumps poor approval ratings and a string of victories in special elections, hope to gain a majority in the 435-seat U.S. House of Representatives by flipping 23 seats this fall. The party has targeted more than a dozen Republican-held seats in California and New Jersey alone. Control of the House would likely stall much of Republican President Donald Trumps policy agenda, while ushering a new era of committee oversight and investigation into the administration. A power shift would also lend strength to any potential effort to impeach Trump if Democrats decide grounds exist, perhaps following the probe into Russian election interference by special counsel Robert Mueller. California is seen as key to the eventual outcome in November. Democrats have taken aim at 10 of the 14 House seats held by Republicans. Tuesdays contests will determine whether Democratic candidates in the swing districts are moderate or more liberal, as well as whether they are shut out of some races altogether. The states so-called jungle primary system allows the two highest vote-getters to advance to the general election, regardless of party. The number of Democrats vying for election in some districts could split the vote, leaving two Republicans on the ticket for Novembers election and denting Democrat hopes of seizing a majority of the assembly. Story continues Don't miss: In-Flight Airplanes Can Now Be Hacked from the Ground, Cyber Expert Warns However the Republican party could also face the embarrassing prospect of having no candidates on the ballot for the U.S. Senate. The battle for the top spots is particularly dramatic in the 48th Congressional District, where voters chose Democrat Hillary Clinton over Trump in the 2016 presidential election but re-elected longtime Republican Representative Dana Rohrabacher. So many Democrats are vying to challenge Rohrabacher that there is a chance they will divide their partys vote, setting up a general election fight between the incumbent and a leading Republican opponent, Scott Baugh. Polls closed at 11 pm ET, but it could be days before results filter through in some districts, owing to the state's use of mail-in ballots and its top two primary system. More than 118,000 voters names were omitted from rosters at Los Angeles County polling places because of a printing error, Register-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan told Bloomberg. He urged voters to cast provisional votes, which may delay when we know results in districts effected. In Californias gubernatorial primary, Democratic Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom claimed top spot and Republican businessman John Cox second, ensuring the GOP won't be shut out in the race to replace Governor Jerry Brown. Cox's placing is a boost for Republicans, and could spur other GOP candidates in the state come November. Trump in a series of Tuesday tweets backed Republican candidates. Most popular: Kate Spade Might Have Had Bipolar Disorder and Refused Treatment, Sister Says In High Tax, High Crime California, be sure to get out and vote for Republican John Cox for Governor. He will make a BIG difference! Trump tweeted. In southern New Jersey, where the retirement of a longtime Republican incumbent gave Democrats an opening, state Sen. Jeff Van Drew, a conservative Democrat, appeared set to prevail over left-leaning candidates frustrated by his past votes against same-sex marriage and minimum wage increases. He will face Republican Seth Grossman, a former city and county official, who emerged from a four-way contest. In a suburban New Jersey district, former Obama official Tom Malinowski was well ahead of two Democrats backed by independent liberal groups and will take on the moderate Republican Leonard Lance in what is expected to be a competitive race. Democrats also hope to capture two other Republican-held seats in the state. Republicans control both chambers of Congress, while Democrats need only a net total of two seats to take command of the Senate. But Democratic senators must defend a bevy of seats in rural states such as Indiana, Montana, North Dakota and West Virginia that supported Trump two years ago. Voters on Tuesday also went to the polls to choose candidates in primaries in Iowa, Mississippi, Alabama, Montana, South Dakota and New Mexico. A number of women won Democratic contests, continuing a trend that began earlier this year. Women will represent the party in key House races in Iowa, New Jersey and New Mexico, based on Tuesdays results. Democrat Deb Haaland, a New Mexico congressional candidate vying to be the first Native American elected to the House, was in the lead with about half the vote counted. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek Republican gubernatorial candidate John Cox speaks at his election night headquarters in San Diego, California after placing second in the primary: REUTERS/Mike Blake Both Republicans and Democrats have averted disaster scenarios in a California primary election seen as critical to who will control Congress in 2019. A crowded field of Democratic challengers were vying to claim a cluster of Republican-controlled seats. Since California election rules allow the top two vote-getters to advance regardless of party, Democratic officials worried that candidates would fragment the vote and allow Republicans to claim both general election spots in a number of districts. But Democrats were poised to win one of the top two spots in those districts, allaying fears that the party would fumble away key pickup opportunities. For Republicans looking to defend their seats, the paramount concern was that no Republican would win a top spot in the race to be Californias next governor - thus denying voters a top-of-the-ticket option and suppressing turnout. But Republican businessman John Cox came in second, buoyed by a late endorsement from Donald Trump, and will be the underdog challenger to Gavin Newsom, the Democratic lieutenant governor and top vote-getter. Congratulations to John Cox on a really big number in California. He can win, Mr Trump tweeted the following morning. In a sign of how heavily Mr Trump's presence will inform the race, Mr Newsom - a vocal critic of Mr Trump - responded by urging the president to continue weighing in, which would allow Mr Newsom to sharpen his contrast with the president. Please come campaign for him as much as possible, Mr Newsom replied on Twitter. Republicans will be locked out of a US Senate race in California, where incumbent Sen Dianne Feinstein coasted to a spot in the general election. She will face off against a fellow Democrat, former state Senate leader Kevin de Leon, who has positioned himself to Ms Feinsteins left. California was only one of eight states that held primary elections, and the results will shape November contests that could determine control of Congress and the shape of Donald Trumps presidency. Story continues In Montana, state auditor Matt Rosendale secured the Republican nomination in a critical US Senate race against incumbent Democrat Jon Tester. Given the states conservative lean, Mr Tester is seen as one of the most vulnerable Senate Democrats. Mr Trump has repeatedly assailed Mr Tester, and Mr Rosendale aligned himself with Mr Trump - backing the presidents proposal for a border wall - while picking up endorsements from top conservatives. There were also signs of trouble for incumbent New Jersey senator Bob Menendez, who was rebuked by a Senate ethics committee for taking gifts. While Mr Menendez won the Democratic nomination, nearly 40 per cent of party voters went for another Democrat - suggesting Mr Menendez may need to surmount an enthusiasm gap as he squares off against Republican Bob Hugin. Democratic women registered a string of victories in competitive primaries across the country, securing the chance to challenge incumbent Republicans. Female candidates secured their partys nomination in a pair of contested Iowa districts; in Montanas sole House district, where Democrats are keen to knock out recently elected Republican Greg Gianforte, who assaulted a reporter during a contentious special election contest; and in New Mexico, where Democrat Xochitl Torres Small won a chance to seek a seat that opened up when incumbent Republican Steve Pearce decided to run for governor. New Mexico is also poised too send the first Native-American woman to Congress after Deb Haaland secured the Democratic nomination in a heavily Democratic district. Los Angeles (AFP) - A US judge who came under seething criticism for sentencing a Stanford University student to six months in jail for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman has been ousted from office by voters in California. Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky was recalled by a majority of voters in Santa Clara County, south of San Francisco, during primary elections held in the state on Tuesday. Persky, who has served on the bench for 15 years, is the first California judge to be recalled since 1932. He set off a storm of outrage in 2016 after he handed down what was perceived as a far too lenient sentence in the sexual assault trial of Stanford student Brock Turner. Turner, who was 19 at the time, was arrested after two students discovered him lying on top of an unconscious 22-year-old woman near a dumpster. He denied having assaulted the woman and said they had consensual sex after meeting at a fraternity party where there was heavy drinking. A jury, however, rejected his defense and he was convicted of three felonies. The case drew international attention after the victim -- identified as "Emily Doe" -- read an emotionally charged 12-page letter at the sentencing, telling Turner he had taken away "my worth, my privacy, my energy, my time, my intimacy, my confidence, my own voice, until today." The letter, which went viral, threw the spotlight on the problem of rape and sexual assault on US college campuses and galvanized women's rights groups. The case also sparked a national debate about judicial independence. "This is a sad day for the California judiciary," LaDoris Cordell, a former Santa Clara County judge who was active in the campaign against the recall, told the San Francisco Chronicle. The voters' message to judges, she added, was that "if they don't go along with popular opinion... they can lose their job." However, supporters of the recall said Persky's ouster was a clear message that perpetrators of such crimes would no longer get impunity. "We're in the middle of a historic moment, when women across all sectors of society are standing up and saying, 'enough is enough'," Michele Dauber, a Stanford law professor who led the campaign for Persky's recall, told local media. "And I think there is a sort of national reckoning with the fact that women aren't going to experience equality as long as we're subject to high rates of sexual violence and sexual harassment." A man smokes marijuana during the annual 4/20 rally on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario: LARS HAGBERG/AFP/Getty Images Canada is poised to legalise recreational marijuana across the country this week, making it the first G7 country to do so. The Canadian Senate is due to vote on Thursday on bill C-45, which would legalise the use and purchase of marijuana for people over 18. The bill has already passed the House of Commons, and is supported by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The Senate has studied the bill for six months and is expected to pass it. Sales of legal cannabis will not be permitted until two to three months after the legislation passes, the countrys health minister has said. Canada would be the first of the G7 countries a group of seven of the worlds largest economies to legalise the drug nationwide. Some of the countries, including Canada, have passed legislation allowing marijuana for medical use. Several US states have legalised recreational use of the drug. Becoming a leader in legalisation could have major impacts on Canadas economy. Legal marijuana is expected to me a more than $6bn business, according to a report by financial services company Deloitte, with $4.3bn coming from recreational sales and $1.7bn from medical. Legal cannabis will be heavily regulated, however. Under guidelines from Canadas public health agency, marijuana products will be sold in plain packaging with limited branding. Packaging will include a yellow health warning and a red stop sign indicating that the product contains cannabis, as well information on the particular strain and THC content. Under the current legislation, adults will only be allowed to carry up to 30g of dried cannabis. Exceeding this amount in a public space including an individual's own vehicle will be punishable by up to five years in prison. Driving under the influence of cannabis will also be highly punishable. The current proposal puts the penalty for a first offence at a minimum $1,000 fine, with a minimum of 30 days imprisonment for a second offence. Third and subsequent offences will be punishable by a minimum of 120 days. Story continues The details of the legalisation effort will be handled at a provincial level. Some provinces, for example, plan to ban home cultivation of marijuana, even though the current legislation allows for it on a federal level. Provincial law also varies widely on smoking in public, according to CTV News. "We've had to amend our zoning here in the city in order to accommodate retail stores, we've had to adjust our business licensing, and amending our smoking and vaping bylaw," Matt Zabloski, the City of Calgary's project lead for the legalisation of cannabis, told CBC News. He added: "There's a myriad of other effects, we're looking at events and festivals and just really preparing to make sure people know what's coming down the pipe." Brussels (AFP) - Europe is witnessing a "resurgence" in cocaine use as the drug's output increases in Latin America, an EU watchdog reported Thursday, voicing concern over tens of thousands of people seeking treatment for the first time. An estimated 2.34 million people aged 15 to 34 years old used cocaine in the last year in the European Union, or 1.9 percent of that age group, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction said. "The findings from our new report indicate that Europe is now experiencing the consequences of increased cocaine production in Latin America," EMCDDA Director Alexis Goosdeel said. The report, based mainly on figures from 2016 and 2017, said water analysis, the presence of purer strains and increased seizures all pointed to cocaine becoming more available in Europe. It said there were increases of cocaine residue in municipal waste water in 26 of 31 European cities surveyed in the last three years. The highest traces were found in cities in Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Britain, with the lowest in eastern European cities. The agency said the purest strains of cocaine in a decade were being sold on the street, even if the price has remained relatively constant. "The substances detected are becoming more and more potent and therefore dangerous," the EU's home affairs commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos told reporters. Authorities made 98,000 seizures of the drug amounting to 70.9 million tonnes in 2016, up from 90,000 seizures in 2015, the agency said. The EMCDDA noted that 30,300 people were admitted for the first time to specialised treatment centres in 2016 -- up nearly 20 percent from 2014. Though treatment centre admissions have not returned to the high levels of a decade ago, Goosdeel warned: "We must be concerned about the health implications of cocaine." He stressed "the growing importance of providing effective prevention, treatment and harm-reduction interventions for cocaine users". Story continues - More local production - In Europe, cocaine is most commonly available in the form of white powder that is snorted, though it is also found in the smokeable form of crack cocaine. It is made from the leaves of the coca bush, which is cultivated mainly in Bolivia, Colombia and Peru. Traffickers send the cocaine to Europe via passenger flights, air freight, postal services, private aircraft, yachts and maritime containers. The EMCDDA estimated the European cocaine retail market at a minimum of 5.7 billion euros ($6.7 billion) in 2013, the latest figures available. The report noted that more cocaine now appeared to be entering northern ports such as in Belgium than southern ports like those in Spain, the historic entry point. In 2016, Belgian authorities seized 30 tonnes of cocaine, about 43 percent of the annual total seized across the EU. In contrast, Spain seized 15.6 tonnes. Despite concerns over cocaine, the agency noted that cannabis remained the most widely consumed drug in Europe, with 17.2 million young people aged 15 to 34 years old using it in the last year. Some 77 percent of the 800,000 drug use or possession offences reported in the EU in 2016 involved cannabis, it added. Though Europe has long been a market for drugs from South America, north Africa and central Asia, homegrown laboratory production of cocaine and ecstasy targeting home markets is on the rise, the report said. burs-lc-kjl/js/dl Casey the crocodile on Goat Island A crocodile in Australia has eaten a small dog that had taunted it for a decade and was famous for chasing the eleven-foot reptile into the water. To the horror of guests at a riverside lodge who had gathered to watch the spectacle, the saltwater crocodile did not scurry towards the water as the dog ran at its head. Instead, as the dogs owner, Kai Hansen, said, the crocodile "did what crocs do and clenched the dog in its teeth before returning to the water. Mr Hansen said he was really sad and had not watched the graphic footage of the incident, which was captured by onlookers. But he said he did not blame the 220-pound crocodile for attacking his 15-pound dog. Casey the crocodile on Goat Island It was something that had a high probability of happening sometime, Mr Hansen told ABC News. "She's not doing something wrong, she's just doing what crocs do. In the early days she actually had a go at me a couple of times. These days I just throw food out from up the top and no-one is allowed to walk down there." Mr Hansen runs the Goat Island Lodge, a ramshackle lodge on the crocodile-infested Adelaide River, south of Darwin in the Northern Territory. Guests captured footage of the dog being eaten and could be heard gasping and yelling expletives. A crocodile expert, Adam Britton, said the creature should not be destroyed for eating the dog and may not necessarily attack humans. He said crocodiles which attacked people effectively learnt how to target large prey items. "The dog got right up close to the crocodile's head," Mr Britton told ABC News. "That basically triggers a reflex reaction, and a crocodile, if you get that close to its head, it doesn't even think about it it will just strike. If a crocodile attacks a person it's a little bit different because that can potentially lead to it getting [another] large prey item, to put it bluntly." Story continues Mr Britton said the incident was a reminder to people to stay away from crocodile habitats, particularly if small dogs were present. Related Video: Lucky Wildebeest 'Cheats' Death in Dramatic Video For more news videos visit Yahoo View. Brexit secretary David Davis is said to be furious about a fall-back position in which Britain would stay aligned to the EUs customs union after leaving the bloc (AFP Photo/Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS) Theresa May has swerved a cabinet revolt following crisis meetings with David Davis, who was this morning rumoured to be on the cusp of resignation. The Prime Minister and Brexit secretary have been at loggerheads over the Governments latest backstop plan to avoid a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland after Brexit. Mr Davis had refused to support a proposal that would allow the UK to effectively stay within the EU customs union and single market for an unspecified amount of time as a fall-back position if no border agreement is reached. Number 10 has now released the position paper, which states that temporary arrangements to prevent a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic should not continue beyond December 2021. But European Commissioner Guy Verhofstadt poured scorn on the proposal, saying it was difficult to see how UK proposal will deliver a workable solution. Difficult to see how UK proposal on customs aspects of IE/NI backstop will deliver a workable solution to avoid a hard border & respect integrity of the SM/CU. A backstop that is temporary is not a backstop, unless the definitive arrangement is the same as the backstop. #Brexit Guy Verhofstadt (@guyverhofstadt) June 7, 2018 The EUs Chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said that he would examine the idea. I welcome publication of #UK proposal on customs aspects of IE/NI backstop. We will examine it with 3 questions: is it a workable solution to avoid a hard border? Does it respect the integrity of the SM/CU? Is it an all-weather backstop? Michel Barnier (@MichelBarnier) June 7, 2018 And the PM has been accused by political commentators of yet another fudge over the wooly wording of the proposal. Story continues If this is victory for DD, Id hate to see defeat. Should (not must). Until (who decides). Expects not will DD looks like hes accepted a carefully worded fudge to me pic.twitter.com/72G1eaQGYV Sam Coates Times (@SamCoatesTimes) June 7, 2018 Brexiters sharing that clause, with the Dec 2021 date underlined; Remainers pointing out, "it's an expectation". Classic fudge highly likely to melt on contact with Brussels. Heather Stewart (@GuardianHeather) June 7, 2018 The note reads: The UK is clear that the temporary customs arrangement, should it be needed, should be time limited, and that it will be only in place until the future customs arrangement can be introduced. The UK is clear that the future customs arrangement needs to deliver on the commitments made in relation to Northern Ireland. The UK expects the future arrangement to be in place by the end of December 2021 at the latest. There are a range of options for how a time limit could be delivered, which the UK will propose and discuss with the EU. Cabinet tensions on the backstop initiative emerged yesterday after Mr Davis was believed to be insisting that the UK should be able to unilaterally withdraw from any border agreement in order to maintain leverage with Brussels in ongoing negotiations. Theresa May is gathering her ministers to try and thrash out the issue of an Irish hard border (AFP Photo/Ben STANSALL) Theresa May also infuriated the pro-Brexit faction of her party by showing the blueprint for avoiding a hard border to Remainer ministers before letting the Eurosceptic minister see it, The Times reports. As well as the border dispute, the Prime Minister is also working to appease Remain-leaning members of her party in order to quell a backbench revolt over the EU Withdrawal Bill. A number of Tory MPs are threatening to inflict humiliating defeats on the Government when the bill returns to the Commons next week by siding with the House of Lords on issues such as the customs union and membership of the EEA. Former Democratic state party leader Deb Haaland could potentially become the first Native American woman in Congress after winning the primary for New Mexico's 1st Congressional District on Tuesday. "Tonight, New Mexico made history," Haaland, who is an enrolled member of the Pueblo of Laguna, said in a statement on Tuesday evening. She called the win a "victory for working people, a victory for women and a victory for everyone who has been sidelined by the billionaire class." Deb Haaland Deb Haaland/Facebook Trending: Tsum Tsum Space Ranger Event: Best Springy Hair, Burst Skill, Pointy Ear and Other Character Tips Included in that billionaire class was President Donald Trump, who Haaland warned "should consider this victory a warning shot" that the "blue wave is coming." Haaland will be running against Republican Janice Arnold-Jones, who ran unopposed in November to replace Representative Michelle Lujan Grisham, who is stepping down from the post to run for governor. Mostly held by Republicans since the district was created in January 1969, New Mexico's 1st Congressional District has had a Democratic representative since January 2009, when Martin Heinrich was elected. He retired to run for U.S. Senate in 2013 and was succeeded by Lujan Grisham. Story continues If elected as the next Democrat to represent the district, Haaland would also become one of the first sitting members of Congress who supports an emerging movement calling for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency to be abolished. The politician has joined a number of 2018 candidates in demanding that the increasingly contentious agency be defunded and dismantled. Don't miss: ACLU Files Lawsuit Against 'Racist' Trump Administration for 'Weaponizing' 2020 Census Against Immigrants It is time to pull our tax dollars from an agency whose policies demean and abuse people, Haaland recently told Newsweek in a statement. The role of Immigration and Customs Enforcement should never include killing people, ripping children from their parents' arms, or sexual assault. Until we can stop this violence and dehumanization, we must stop ICE," she said, referring to the recently announced practice of separating parents and children at the southern border and to reports of abuse by ICE agents and officers against undocumented children. Haaland said the issue is a personal one for her as a Native American woman who views ICE's practices as a continuation of the state-sponsored violence endured by those in the Native American community, including her grandparents, who were "torn from their families" by the U.S. government. The story of brutal family separationof ripping children from their parents armsis as old as America, Haaland said. But weve had enough. We can rise above our past. Every human life has value and we cannot allow one rogue agencyunder the direction of an immoral presidentto terrorize people across America. In a statement posted online, Haaland has said Trump's immigration policies "are downright hateful and must be stopped." Most popular: North Korea Destroyed Key Missile Test Facility It Could Use to Attack the U.S., Satellite Imagery Reveals In addition to fighting to see ICE abolished, Haaland has also vowed to work to see the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program "protected and expanded into a permanent solution for children and young people who immigrate to the U.S. with their families." She also said she stands in support of sanctuary cities and would continue to "raise my voice to protect them" in Congress, adding that law enforcement should not play a role in "intimidating and targeting hardworking, taxpaying families to advance an agenda of hate and xenophobia" by working with federal immigration authorities. She also vowed to fight against the long-promised development of Trump's border wall, separating the U.S. and Mexico, calling the proposed wall "as divisive as the president pushing it." Her rival Arnold-Jones's stance on U.S. immigration policies are less clear, however. Responding to a Vote Smart 2018 Political Courage Test, Arnold-Jones said she supports the Trump administration's plans for construction of a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico and said she also supports requiring immigrants who are unlawfully present to return to their country of origin before being eligible for citizenship. She did say that the 10-year waiting period, in some cases, "is excessive." During a Latino Community Congressional District 1 Candidate Forum on May 16, Arnold-Jones said she would "do the work to make sure we get the best kind of legislation" for New Mexico's "diverse culture." During the same forum, Haaland said Congress needs "new strong voices." She added, "I have never seen myself in that body, and I should also say that right now, women of color are a drastic minority in any level of government." "A woman of color should represent this diverse state," Haaland said, also noting, "We've never had a Native American woman in Congress in 240 years." According to New Mexico's Indian Affairs Department, there are 23 tribes in the state and Native Americans make up nearly 10.5 percent of its population. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek On Tuesday night, primaries were held across the US ahead of Novembers midterm elections. And while there were many races to watch, the Democratic race in New Mexicos 1st Congressional District could be history-making newly minted nominee Deb Haalands win in her districts primary means she could become the USs first Indigenous congresswoman ever. Haalands qualifications will serve her well on the campaign trail. She was the states Democratic party chair between 2015 and 201 and has authored bills tabled in the state Senate. She has also been an advocate for LGBTQ2+ rights within the state and volunteered on both of President Obamas campaigns. Tonight, New Mexico made history, Haaland tweeted after the primary results came in. Thank you to the tens of thousands of volunteers, grassroots donors, and supporters who won this election today. Im honored and humbled by your support. Our win is a victory for working people, a victory for women, and a victory for everyone who has been sidelined by the billionaire class. In an interview with ABC News ahead of the primary, Haaland said she had once found it difficult to imagine herself as an elected official. Story continues In 230 years, theres never been a Native American woman in Congress, Haaland said. I have never seen myself in that body of our government. Haaland is a member of the Pueblo of Laguna, an area 45 miles south of Albuquerque and one of 23 federally recognized tribes in New Mexico. She has worked tirelessly for indigenous rights in the US, even protesting during the Dakota Access Pipeline protests in 2016 and 2017. Our campaign is about putting people before corporate profits, standing up to bullies like the Fossil Fuel industry, and ensuring every New Mexican and American has the chance to thrive regardless of our skin color, neighbourhood, religion, gender, who we love, or the size of our bank account, Haalands post-primary statement adds, solidifying the principals shes running on while calling out the current administration. Donald Trump and the billionaire class should consider this victory a warning shot, Haaland concludes. The blue wave is coming. (Photo via Deb Haaland for Congress/Facebook) You Might Also Like 967860422 Joe Manchin, the Democratic Senator from West Virginia, is breaking with his party in his refusal to rule out endorsing President Donald Trump in 2020. Im open to supporting the person who I think is best for my country and my state, Manchin told Politico. If his policies are best, Ill be right there. Trending: Judge Orders EPA to Share Evidence for Pruitts Climate Change Claims Trump is an intensely popular figure in West Virginia. He beat Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election by more than 40 percentage points in the state, and a Gallup poll in January found West Virginians approved of Trump more than any other state in the nation. 961422958 ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP/Getty Images Im with him sometimes more than other Republican senators are with him, Manchin said. As a Democrat in a deep-red state up for re-election in November, Manchin has aligned himself with Trump in hopes to catch some of his popularity and win over Republican districts. If its good for the state and its good for the nation, Im going to support that person, Manchin told Politico. A lot of the policies hes done [have] been good for the state. Don't miss: Destiny 2 Faction Rally Guide - How to Get Renown & Faction Tokens Fast Manchin has taken his support for Trump so far he said he regrets supporting Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. It was a mistake. It was a mistake politically, he said. Manchin cited Clintons pledge of $20 billion to the state as the reason he supported her. Whether its related to his support of Trump or not, Manchins bid for re-election in the Senate has been a success so far. A poll, conducted by Geoff Garin of Hart Research Associates and released May 29, showed Manchin leading Republican challenger and Attorney General Patrick Morrisey by double digits. Manchin polled at 52% while Morrisey held 40% of the likely voters who were polled. Story continues 916030018 Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Even as Manchin has gravitated towards Trump, the White House is still throwing its support behind his opponent. Donald Trump Jr., the presidents son, visited West Virginia Tuesday to campaign for Morrisey. The people in this state get it, theyve been forgotten, theyve been left behind and theyve been left behind by one of two people thats representing them in the senate, he said of Manchin according to WVNS. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek More than 50,000 people were arrested crossing the U.S. southern border during the month of May, the Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday, despite the Trump Administrations crackdown on illegal immigration and threat to separate families at the border. May marks the third month in a row with more than 50,000 border arrests a number used by the Trump Administration to measure the rate of illegal border crossings. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced in early May that officials would separate parents and children who are caught illegally crossing the border and prosecute the parents as part of a zero tolerance immigration policy. The Trump Administration argued that separating families at the border would serve as a tough deterrent to people looking to enter the country illegally. It could be a tough deterrent would be a tough deterrent. A much faster turnaround on asylum seekers, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly said of family separation in an NPR interview last month. The more than 50,000 border arrests represents a 160% increase compared to May 2017. The number of border arrests fell to historic lows last year which the Trump Administration touted as an example of improved border security. [The arrests] show that while the Trump administration is restoring the rule of law, it will take a sustained effort and continuous commitment of resources over many months to disrupt cartels, smugglers, and nefarious actors, Department of Homeland Security Press Secretary Tyler Houlton said in a statement Wednesday. We are taking action and will be referring and then prosecuting 100 percent of illegal border crossers, we are building the first new border wall in a decade, and we have deployed the National Guard to the border. No one expects to reverse years of political inaction overnight or in a month. While the number of arrests in June may provide a better indication of how the family separation policy is affecting border crossings, Mays numbers indicate that many migrants have not been deterred. The number of family units trying to cross the border increased by 435% in May 2018, compared to May 2017. By Robin Emmott and Idrees Ali BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO defense ministers rallied around their latest plans to contain Russia on Thursday, while keeping a lid on their frustrations over new steel tariffs that U.S. President Donald Trump has justified on national security grounds. Briefly putting aside what NATO's chief said were "serious differences" within the alliance, defense ministers agreed a plan to protect the North Atlantic against increased Russian naval strength, move troops more quickly across Europe and have more combat-ready battalions, ships and planes. "There are differences related to issues like trade, the Iran nuclear deal and climate change," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters. "We have disagreements between NATO allies but we stand together in NATO when it comes to the core task of NATO ... to protect each other." German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said there were "controversial issues" but that "the atmosphere and our cooperation here in the alliance are full of trust." At the first meeting in NATO's new glass and steel headquarters, U.S. Defence Secretary Jim Mattis appeared relaxed and smiling in parts of the closed-door meetings broadcast to reporters but he did not speak publicly at NATO on Thursday. Many ministers also avoided public comments. One alliance diplomat told Reuters that in preparatory meetings, Trump's decision to target Europe on trade and Iran was absent from debates in an attempt to preserve unity, but that there were "elephants in the room". Trump's "America first" rhetoric and inconsistent statements on NATO have morphed into policy that directly challenges European priorities, the diplomats said, citing new U.S. metal tariffs and Trump's withdrawal from the Paris climate change accord and the 2015 Iran nuclear accord. A second NATO diplomat described the U.S. president as an unknown quantity with a lack of interest in the transatlantic ties that Europe and Canada cherish. "U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo came to NATO in April and made a very favorable impression, and everyone respects and admires Jim Mattis. But there's a fear and an uneasiness about what Trump will do next," the diplomat said. DEFENSE SPENDING INCREASE Trump is expected at a NATO summit in Brussels in July, a year since he first came to the alliance and publicly admonished allies for not spending enough on defense. Stoltenberg unveiled higher expenditure estimates for NATO in 2018 to defense ministers. Spending by European governments, Turkey and Canada is expected to rise by 3.82 percent in 2018, which would be the fourth straight year of increases and would mean an $87.3 billion cumulative increase since 2015. But Trump's envoy to the alliance, Kay Bailey Hutchison, warned before the meeting that the spending issue would remain a sore point for the president. Following Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, NATO leaders committed to raise their defense spending toward 2 percent of economic output by 2024, but under current projections, only 15 of the 29 allies will meet that target. "It will be an issue until we have that realized, it was a commitment made in Wales, to strive for that level," Hutchison said of the 2014 summit at which leaders made the pledge. Mattis was in a delicate position in Brussels, trying to balance the need for a strong NATO, while backing Trump's decision to impose tariffs. Trump infuriated European Union members, Canada and Mexico by imposing tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum, which experts say could bleed into U.S. security relationships, even among America's closest allies. "I think it's still premature to call it a trade war, because as it starts maturing, you know, there's only give and take on these things," Mattis told reporters en route to Brussels. (Reporting by Robin Emmott and Idrees Ali; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Andrew Roche) Relations between Israel and Iran are at breaking point. The multinational nuclear deal signed with Iran is on the verge of collapsingpartly thanks to Israeli lobbying against it. Iranian leaders have warned that if it fails, the country will resume its uranium enrichment program, a step Israel considers a threat to its very existence. Meanwhile, multiple Israeli strikes have sought to dislodge Iranian forces from Syria, where Tehran enjoys increasing influence. Israeli leaders are fighting hard to stop Iranian soldiers deploying along its northern border. Though it would appear that neither nation wants a full-scale war, the potential for miscalculation and escalation remains. Both nations have considerable military clout, and any prolonged confrontation between them would be bloody. Trending: Where is Kim Jong Un Staying in Singapore? U.S. Company Offers To Pay His Hotel During Summit with Trump RTS1IFO9 REUTERS/Ammar Awad Iran is a much larger country with a far higher population than Israel, but numbers alone do not dictate military capabilitycombat technology and experience are vital factors too. Technological capability is even more important in an era where technology is changing the way war is waged, allowing nations to hit each other harder, from further away and with less human involvement. A small nation with a population of just 8.5 million, Israels military punches significantly above its weight. Formed amid a war with seven Arab neighbors, the countrys short history is punctuated with conflicts fought for its survival. This tough history combines with a burgeoning technology sphere and close relations with powerful western nations to create one of the worlds most formidable fighting forces. According to Global Firepower, Israel has approximately 170,000 active personnel with a further 445,000 in reserve. Conscription exists for all non-Arab citizens of Israel over the age of 18, giving the country a large and well-trained pool of fighters to call up in the event of war. Story continues Though less sophisticated than Israel, the Iranian military is a force to be reckoned with. Its large populationaround 82 millionenables Tehran to maintain a standing force of around 534,000 soldiers, with a further 400,000 in reserve, making it the largest force in the Middle East. Don't miss: Stormy Danielss Former Lawyer Was Puppet for Trump and Tried to Get Her to Deny Affair on Fox News, Lawsuit Claims In a drawn-out engagement, national manpower becomes an important issue. Iranian available manpower is around 47 million compared with just 3 million for Israel. Of course, how important this is will depend on the nature of any war being fought. RTXYQI5 REUTERS/Hamid Forootan/ISNA/Handout In 2017, Israel spent $16.5 billion on its armed forces, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Iran was not far behind on $14.5 billion. Though this does not seem like a big gap, the fact that Israel is spending billions more than Iran on a smaller military indicates the gulf in the quality of equipment used. Israel fields more tanks than Iran2,760 compared to 1,650. Israel wins this matchup on quality as well as quantity, the latest version of its Merkava tank being one of the best and most heavily defended in the world. Iran is mostly using second-rate tanks, though it has announced the development of the new Karrar platform, which it claims will be able to compete with top-class opponents. The Israeli air force is one of the best in the world, equipped and trained to the highest level. Its pilots are experienced too, having regularly conducted missions against targets in Syria, Lebanon, the Gaza Strip and even Egypts Sinai Peninsula. Its 250 or so fighters include a handful of Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II aircraft, one of just four fifth-generation fighter planes in the world. Israel will eventually have 50 F-35s. Most popular: Video: Chicago Police Handcuff 10-Year-Old After Call About Black Male With Gun By contrast, Iran fields around 160 fighter jets, none of which are as advanced as the F-35. Furthermore, its pilots are less well-trained and experienced than their Israeli counterparts. Neither nation is a significant maritime power. Iran has more than 30 submarines, five frigates, three corvettes and more than 200 patrol craft. Israel currently has five submarines, three corvettes, eight missile boats and 45 patrol boats. Considering the geography, the naval theater is unlikely to play any significant role in a potential conflict. RTX2UPSI REUTERS/Amir Cohen In the event of an all-out war, Israel holds the nuclear trump card. Notoriously secretive about its nuclear arsenal, the country is believed to possess between 75 and 400 warheads. The weapons can be delivered using Israels Jericho ballistic missiles, submarine-launched cruise missiles or even fighter planes. Iran has no nuclear capability. Even if talks break down, it will take many years before Tehran joins the nuclear club. Iran is working hard to improve its ballistic missile arsenal, already one of the most potent in the region and well-able to hit Israel. But Iran has other tricks up its sleeves. Financial and military support for anti-Israeli militant groups across the Middle East give it an unconventional way to hit its rival in the event of conflict. The Shiite Lebanese Hezbollah group, especially, is a worry for Israeli leaders. Hezbollah has a well-trained and well-equipped military, far more powerful than the Lebanese army and able to operate freely. Hezbollah's experience fighting alongside regime forces in Syria has given it vital combat exposure. The group maintains a huge rocket arsenal, and its weapons can hit anywhere in Israel. Iran also provides support to the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad groups in Gaza, which maintain smaller, but still significant, rocket capabilities. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek President Donald Trumps vocal distaste for Attorney General Jeff Sessions has been well known for over a year now. But the presidents apparent contempt for Sessions has reportedly reached a point where Trump would prefer to watch Fox News rather than even hear the former Alabama U.S. senators name. Trump reportedly un-muted a television playing Fox News after an aide brought up Sessions during the presidents trip back to the White House aboard Air Force One Thursday, following his short trump to Texas, the Associated Press reported Wednesday citing an unnamed person trip with the exchange. The president was apparently in good spirits at the time after holding a fundraiser in the Lone Star State and receiving a positive jobs report from top economic adviser Larry Kudlow. But Sessionss name soured Trumps mood, according to the report. Trending: Stormy Danielss Former Lawyer Was Puppet for Trump and Tried to Get Her to Deny Affair on Fox News, Lawsuit Claims Trump reportedly dismissed the staffer and returned to watching his preferred cable news outlet. The president has repeatedly made it known the degree to which Sessions has angered him, stepping up his attacks again in recent days. The attorney generals decision to recuse himself in March of last year from any Justice Department investigation involving Russias interference in the 2016 election has led Trump to publicly, and repeatedly, bash the top law enforcement official in the United States. GettyImages-958877226 Getty Images/Alex Wong Don't miss: Video: Chicago Police Handcuff 10-Year-Old After Call About Black Male With Gun Deriding Sessionss decision, Trump has stated that he would never have appointed the long-time Republican lawmaker to head up the nations main law enforcement arm if he had known Session would recuse himself. On Tuesday, Trump claimed Sessions, who endorsed the presidents campaign and helped his transition team, knew better than most that there was No Collusion! Story continues The Russian Witch Hunt Hoax continues, all because Jeff Sessions didnt tell me he was going to recuse himself...I would have quickly picked someone else. So much time and money wasted, so many lives ruined...and Sessions knew better than most that there was No Collusion! the president said. Most popular: Full List of Donald Trump's Pardons and Commutations After Granting Alice Johnson Clemency The APs report delved into Trumps eagerness for the release of the Justice Department Inspector Generals report over the FBIs, and former director James Comeys, handling of Hillary Clintons private email server investigation. The president and his allies are hoping to use the government watchdogs report as a means to discredit both Comey and possibly Special Counsel Robert Muellers probe of Russias meddling. The president expressed impatience Tuesday that the inspector generals report had yet to be released. What is taking so long with the Inspector Generals Report on Crooked Hillary and Slippery James Comey. Numerous delays. Hope Report is not being changed and made weaker! There are so many horrible things to tell, the public has the right to know. Transparency! Trump tweeted. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek Unofficial adviser to President Donald Trump Sean Hannity and former White House adviser Sebastian Gorka will join the president during his negotiations with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un next week. The pair will make their way to Singapore to cover the event for Fox News. Gorka, now a Fox News contributor, announced on air Wednesday that he would be providing Fox News with live on-the-ground coverage during the summit. Im delighted to join Sean Hannity and his team, he said. We will be there reporting for Fox and Fox Business. Hannity will host three episodes of his show live from Singapore, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Chris Wallace will also fly out to host Fox News Sunday on location. Gorka worked as assistant deputy to President Trump for about eight months prior to his departure last August. At the time, he said he resigned because other White House officials had corrupted Trumps message, but the White House claimed that he was terminated. Trending: If Not Rumi and Sir, Who Were the Twins in Beyonce and Jay-Z's On the Run II Tour Intro Video? According to a New York Magazine report, Hannity speaks with the president nearly every day, and Trump sometimes calls the Fox News host to decompress before bed. Some White House aides even refer to Hannity as the "unofficial chief of staff," The Washington Post reported in April. Hannity has interviewed Trump more than 19 times. President Trump will be joining Kim next week at the Capella Hotel on the Singaporean island of Sentosa to discuss nuclear disarmament. The will-they-or-wont-they meeting was initially called off after a close adviser to Kim called Vice President Mike Pence ignorant and stupid but Trump announced last week that the summit was back on again following a successful Oval Office meeting with North Korean envoy Kim Yong Chol. The New York Post reported Tuesday that Dennis Rodman, a known friend of Kims, would likely join the summit in Singapore. When contacted for comment, Rodmans representative told Newsweek that Rodman could not comment because he was prioritizing paid interview requests. Story continues Don't miss: Ivana Trump Will Tour Country on Crusade to End Adult Obesity GettyImages-632614648 NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images Trump has long tempered expectations for his historic meeting with Kim, telling reporters that it will take many meetings for an agreement to be reached. There could be more than one meeting, more that one conversation White House counselor Kellyanne Conway told reporters Wednesday. Getting to a deal, she added, could take two, three, four, five summits. White House insiders say that Trump is toying with inviting Kim to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida if talks go well, according to a Bloomberg report. This would be the first time a North Korean leader had set foot on United States soil. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek Following a meeting with Kim Kardashian West last month where the pair discussed prison reform, President Donald Trump has granted clemency to a great-grandmother serving life in prison. As initially reported by Axios, on Wednesday morning, Trump commuted the sentence of Alice Marie Johnson, a 63-year-old woman who's been serving a life sentence for a nonviolent, first-time drug offense. According to the AP, Johnson was released from federal prison on Wednesday. Kardashian West became a public advocate for Johnson at the end of 2017 when she stumbled upon a video published by Mic that tells the woman's story. SEE ALSO: Black Lives Matter reveals a six-point plan to combat systemic racism Johnson has been in an Alabama federal prison since 1996, according to Mic, which began reporting on Johnson in 2013. Kardashian West says Mic's story inspired her to get involved, tapping her own team of lawyers to help Johnson. "If you think about a decision that youve made in your life and you get life without the possibility of parole for your first-time nonviolent offense, theres just something so wrong with that, Kim told Mic in May. "Where Im at in my life right now, just like, to go and spend my money buying material things just doesnt satisfy me the way that it used to," she said in the interview. "To save someones life and do that once a year, then that would make [my] heart fuller." Her efforts led to her meeting with Trump at the White House on May 30. On Wednesday, Kim tweeted news of the president's decision. BEST NEWS EVER!!!! https://t.co/JUbpbE1Bk0 Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) June 6, 2018 "So grateful to Donald Trump, Jared Kushner & to everyone who has showed compassion & contributed countless hours to this important moment for Ms. Alice Marie Johnson," Kardashian West tweeted following the announcement. "Her commutation is inspirational & gives hope to so many others who are also deserving of a second chance." Story continues She also explained in a tweet that she hopes to work with "organizations who have been fighting this fight for much longer" and "deserve the recognition." I hope to continue this important work by working together with organizations who have been fighting this fight for much longer than I have and deserve the recognition. Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) June 6, 2018 Kardashian West also revealed that she spoke to Johnson on Wednesday. "The phone call I just had with Alice will forever be one of my best memories," she wrote on Twitter. "Telling her for the first time and hearing her screams while crying together is a moment I will never forget." The phone call I just had with Alice will forever be one of my best memories. Telling her for the first time and hearing her screams while crying together is a moment I will never forget. Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) June 6, 2018 One of Johnson's attorneys, Brittany K. Barnett, released the following statement on Wednesday afternoon: This isn't Kardashian West's first time advocating for incarcerated women. The reality star and entrepreneur tweeted in November that she consulted her legal team about Cyntoia Brown, a 29-year-old woman who was arrested for killing a man who sexually abused her when she was a teenage victim of trafficking. UPDATE: June 6, 2018, 4:26 p.m. PDT This post has been updated to include Kardashian West's statements via Twitter about Johnson, a statement from Johnson's attorney, and to report that Johnson has officially been released from prison. CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi appointed Housing Minister Mustafa Madbouly as acting prime minister on Thursday and tasked him with forming a new cabinet, the state-run Ahram Gate news website said. Egypt's cabinet, including Prime Minister Sherif Ismail, resigned this week to pave the way for Sisi to appoint a new government following his re-election to a second term in office. Ministers will retain their portfolios in a caretaker government for now. Madbouly has been housing minister since Sisi first took office in 2014, and filled in for Ismail when he traveled abroad for medical treatment last year. Ismail had been prime minister since 2014. Sisi took office that year after leading the overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Mursi, who was Egypt's first freely-elected head of state. Supporters of Sisi say tough austerity measures and a crackdown on dissent, which have continued since his re-election, are needed to bring stability and revive the country's economy. Egypt was rocked by a 2011 popular uprising that toppled longtime leader Hosni Mubarak and unrest that followed. (Reporting by John Davison and Sameh Elkhatib; Editing by Andrew Roche) ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopia's parliament approved on Tuesday the government's decision to lift a six-month state of emergency two months earlier than planned, state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting reported. The government imposed emergency rule in February to clamp down on unrest sparked by a planned development scheme for the capital Addis Ababa which some fear will lead to land seizures in the nearby Oromiya region. The matter led to Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn to step down. On Saturday, Ethiopia's cabinet had met to assess the security situation and "noted that law and order has been restored", setting the stage for Tuesday's vote in parliament. Abiy Ahmed, a former army officer who replaced Hailemariam as premier, has travelled around Ethiopia, promising to address grievances strengthen a range of political and civil rights. Authorities have pledged to push through a raft of reforms that have included the release of thousands of prisoners. (Reporting by Aaron Maasho; Writing by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky) Sarajevo (AFP) - The European Commission provided Bosnia on Thursday with 1.5 million euros ($1.8 million) to help the impoverished country cope with an influx of migrants passing through on their way towards Western Europe. "The number of refugees and migrants arriving in Bosnia-Herzegovina has increased and we must act swiftly," the European Union's aid commissioner Christos Stylianides said. The funds should help the Balkan country to meet the migrants' "basic needs and provide emergency shelter, food and health assistance, as well as protection," he said in a statement. More than 5,500 illegal migrants have entered Bosnia since the start of the year, particularly young men, but lately also families with children, notably from Iran and Pakistan. Their number still does not compare with the hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Asia and Africa who arrived in Europe in 2015-16 using the so-called Balkans route. The route was closed in March 2016 but small numbers of people, seeking alternative ways, still cross the region to reach the European Union. They gather in northwestern Bosnia, in Bihac and Velika Kladusa, near the border with EU member Croatia. Meanwhile, police officials from southeastern Europe pledged Thursday in Sarajevo to cooperate to avoid a humanitarian crisis feared by non-governmental organisations. "The joint view is ... that 2015 and migrations from that time cannot happen again at any price," Bosnian Security Minister Dragan Mektic told reporters after their meeting. Slovenia's top interior ministry official Bostjan Stefic voiced his countrys concern over the rise in number of illegal migrants. "Our first task is to protect EU borders," he said, warning it was "high time that we all together ensure that these migrations be under control." Since the start of the migrant crisis in the Balkans three years ago, Brussels has allocated more than 25 million euros to Serbia and over four million euros to Macedonia to help them deal with the issue. Brussels (AFP) - NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday he was battling to stop the increasingly bitter row between Europe and the US spilling over into the alliance, warning of "serious disagreements" among member countries. European countries are at loggerheads with Washington over punishing new US tariffs on steel and aluminium as well as President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris climate accord. NATO defence ministers will meet in Brussels on Thursday to approve plans to beef up the alliance's ability to mobilise forces quickly in the event of a crisis, as concern about the threat from Russia shows no sign of abating. They will also sign off on two new command centres -- one to protect Atlantic shipping lanes, based in Norfolk, Virginia, and another to coordinate troop movements around Europe, located in the southern German city of Ulm. But the meeting, just five weeks out from a full summit of NATO leaders, looks set to be overshadowed by the spat between European countries and their longtime ally across the Atlantic. "There are now serious disagreements with NATO allies on serious issues," Stoltenberg told reporters, saying he was working hard to minimise the fallout for the alliance. "As long as they're not solved I have to be focused on how to reduce, limit the negative consequences for NATO." - 'Strong together' - Stoltenberg, who held talks with Trump in Washington last month, insisted the "transatlantic bond" remained strong and pointed to the way NATO survived major differences among members over the Iraq war in 2003 and the Suez crisis of 1956. "What we have seen again and again is that we have been able to unite around NATO's core task, to protect and defend each other despite those differences," he said. US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told reporters that it was too early to start talking about a trade war -- "you know, there is always give and take on these things." Story continues "What we are looking for is fair and reciprocal trade," Mattis said en route to Brussels, adding: "I don't anticipate any effect on the security arena." He said he was going to Brussels "to listen to them, to take notes, to work these things forward and to find a common ground to work at." The leaders of all 29 NATO members will meet in Brussels for the summit in July when all eyes will be on Trump, who has repeatedly attacked European countries for not pulling their weight in the alliance. Germany, Europe's largest economy, has suffered the worst of Trump's wrath for its failure to live up to a pledge by all NATO countries to try to spend at least two percent of gross domestic product on defence. US neighbour Canada is also upset at being included on the tariff list and has rejected a US proposal to go further and slap steep tariffs on car imports over American national security concerns. "I will be very vocal" about the trade fight, said Canadian Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan. "To consider Canada as a national security risk as a result of steel is beyond ridiculous." - 'Four 30s' plan - NATO is modernising its command structure and beefing up its defences in response to growing fears about Russia, following Moscow's annexation of Crimea in 2014. Thousands of NATO troops are already stationed on standby in the Baltic states and Poland as deterrent and on Thursday defence ministers will give the go-ahead to a new US initiative called "30-30-30-30" or "four 30s". Under the plan, by 2020 NATO will have 30 battalions, 30 air squadrons and 30 warships ready to be used within 30 days to back up existing rapid response forces. "This is about establishing a culture of readiness and we need that because we have a more unpredictable security environment, we have to be prepared for the unforeseen," Stoltenberg said. By Idrees Ali BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis arrived in Brussels on Wednesday seeking to mollify European allies, again finding himself in the familiar position of mending relationships frayed by President Donald Trump's policies. Trump infuriated European Union members, Canada and Mexico by imposing tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum, which experts say could bleed into U.S. security relationships, even among America's closest allies. While the meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels is a routine affair, it will be watched closely in European capitals. On his debut trip to Brussels as secretary of defense last year after Trump questioned the need for NATO, Mattis told members that while they must honor military spending pledges, the alliance was "the most successful and powerful military alliance in modern history." "This ministerial is going to be overshadowed by the tariffs issue," said a U.S. defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "Mattis is going to be looking to reassure allies, try to strengthen relationships and continue to press the need for them to live up to their 2 percent commitment," the official added. The United States has been pushing NATO countries to reach a target to spend 2 percent of economic output on defense every year by 2024. Speaking with reporters on the way to Brussels, Mattis suggested that while talks with NATO partners would be tough, he did not expect Trump's tariffs decision to have an impact on defense issues for now. "Along the path going there, certainly it'll be a little rocky, a little bumpy at times, but so far I do not anticipate any effect in the security domain," he said. Barry Pavel, a U.S. national security expert at the Atlantic Council think-tank, said while issues of national security are usually unaffected by politics, Trump's decision was far too provocative not to have an impact. "I think it was such a shock and the reactions from several allies being so unprecedented and so emotional and insulted, that I think some of that will bleed into some of the discussions at the sort of geopolitical level," Pavel said. In response to Trump's decision to impose tariffs, the EU threatened tariffs on Harley Davidson motorcycles and bourbon, measures aimed at the political bases of U.S. Republican legislators. While in Brussels, Mattis will also meet his Turkish counterpart as Washington tries to balance Ankara's concerns about Kurdish fighters among U.S.-backed SDF forces trying to retake the Islamic State's remaining territory in Syria. "How do we take Turkey's legitimate security concerns and enhance their security... at the same time, the SDF was the only organization at the time that was able to throw ISIS off the track and defeat them in the field in very, very tough fighting and we will not simply cast that organization aside," Mattis said. Turkey and the United States on Monday endorsed a roadmap for the northern Syrian city of Manbij and underlined their mutual commitment to its implementation. WANING INFLUENCE? The informal portfolio of soothing traditional U.S. friends upset by Trumps often sharp comments and tweets on foreign policy is one that the retired Marine general is becoming used to. Less than a week ago in Asia, Mattis attempted to do much the same with allies Japan and South Korea, where some officials are concerned that Trump may put U.S. security interests ahead of theirs in pursuing a peace deal with North Korea. In recent months, however, there have been growing questions about whether Mattis' voice in internal administration debates could increasingly be drowned out by those of other advisers and the president himself, who increasingly trusts his own instincts. In one notable instance, Mattis publicly suggested sticking with the Iran nuclear deal. Dismayed European allies also sought to salvage the Iran nuclear deal and preserve their Iranian trade after Trump withdrew the United States from the landmark accord and ordered sanctions reimposed on Tehran. (Additional reporting by John Walcott E; Editing by Leslie Adler and Alistair Bell) BERLIN (Reuters) - Ministers from Germany, France and Britain have written to senior U.S. officials urging them to protect European companies working in Iran from getting caught up in Washington's new sanctions on the Islamic Republic. In the June 4 letter, the foreign and finance ministers singled out key areas where they expected exemptions for EU firms, including pharmaceuticals, healthcare, energy, automotive, civil aviation, infrastructure and banking. Washington said last month it would impose new economic penalties after pulling out of a 2015 pact that world powers signed with Iran, under which Tehran agreed to curb its nuclear activities in return for sanctions relief. Germany, France and Britain were all signatories to that deal and said in the letter they were still committed to keeping it going. "An Iranian withdrawal from the (nuclear agreement) would further unsettle a region where additional conflicts would be disastrous," said the ministers and the EU's top diplomat in the letter to the U.S. Treasury Secretary and U.S. Secretary of State seen by Reuters on Wednesday. The European ministers said they shared most of Washington's concerns about the status of Iran's nuclear program after 2025, its development of ballistic missiles and "destabilizing actions" in the Middle East. But they said preserving the 2015 nuclear deal was "the best basis on which to engage Iran and address those concerns". The ministers said they expected the United States as an ally to refrain from taking actions that would harm Europe's security interests, including secondary sanctions that could prevent the European Union from continuing to uphold the nuclear accord. "As close allies, we expect that the extraterritorial effects of U.S. secondary sanctions will not be enforced on EU entities and individuals, and the United States will thus respect our political decisions," they wrote. The ministers also urged Washington to grant exemptions to maintain banking and financial channels with the Central Bank of Iran and other Iranian banks that are not sanctioned by the EU. (Reporting by Tom Koerkemeier; Writing by Madeline Chambers and Andrea Shalal; Editing by Paul Carrel and Andrew Heavens) It was an emotional affair as Oprah Winfrey toured her exhibit at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. On CBS This Morning, anchor Gayle King, Winfreys good friend, joined her for a tour of the exhibit. It had many pieces from throughout her career, including clips of her humble local news beginnings. Winfrey also read a letter she had written just eight hours before taping her first national The Oprah Winfrey Show. She prophetically wrote, Why have I been so blessed? Maybe going national was to help me realize that I have an important work or that this work is important. I just know that I must be pressed to the mark of a high calling. The legendary TV host took much of the exhibit in stride until she read the guestbook, signed by visitors. One person wrote, Oprah Winfrey is the reason I love myself so fiercely and know that my voice matters. She was overcome with emotion, saying, That makes me want to cry. In closing the segment, King also became emotional, telling her co-anchors that what most affects Winfrey is seeing the positive impact on peoples lives. Watch: Mira Sorvinos emotional reaction to Harvey Weinsteins arrest: Read more from Yahoo Entertainment: By Dave Graham and Frank Jack Daniel MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The front-runner to win the Mexican presidency, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, would aim to bring "fresh blood" to the central bank's board as members' terms expire if he wins election on July 1, one of his top economic advisers said. Carlos Urzua, the leftist Lopez Obrador's pick for finance minister, said it was important to bring new perspectives onto the board of the Bank of Mexico, while rejecting the idea of altering the central bank's focus on price stability. "We think that it is time for fresh blood," Urzua told Reuters in an interview late on Tuesday. More nationalist in his outlook than the current government, Lopez Obrador's populist instincts stirred concerns about his economic competence during his previous two bids for the presidency. He finished runner-up in 2012 and 2006. This time he has established a broader base of support, and his advisers have met dozens of financiers and investment funds to help reassure them he would not be a liability. The next Mexican president will take office in December. Most opinion polls give a double-digit lead to Lopez Obrador, who was mayor of Mexico City from 2000 to 2005. 'A GOOD EXAMPLE' On Dec. 31, 2018, the eight-year term of one of the central bank's five-strong board, Manuel Ramos Francia, will end. Urzua noted the Senate could be deliberating who should occupy that seat by November, and that a victorious Lopez Obrador team would like to be able to submit a name. He gave no indication of who that might be, but praised current governor Alejandro Diaz de Leon as "a good example of what we would like to have" on the board. Diaz de Leon took office in December to complete the final portion of his predecessor Agustin Carstens' second term. That will conclude at the end of 2021. Urzua said it was too early to say whether a Lopez Obrador administration would want to re-appoint Diaz de Leon. Story continues "We will see. At that point he is going to be a possible candidate of course," said Urzua, who served as Lopez Obrador's finance minister during his term as mayor of the capital. "Diaz de Leon from my personal point of view has been a very good governor," he added. "Not only in terms of monetary policy, but also in terms of (being) administrator of the central bank." The terms of two other board members will expire at the end of 2020 and 2022 respectively, well inside the remit of the next Mexican president's six-year term in office. Urzua said Lopez Obrador's government would be "very careful" and was wary of appointing "a dove" to the board. "Because everyone is going to think that we are taking advantage of our power," he said. The central bank's stated priority is to ensure price stability and Urzua said a Lopez Obrador administration would not want to modify that when asked if it might look to push towards a more growth-oriented focus. "No, we wouldn't change that. It's in the constitution," Urzua said. "We wouldn't want to mess with that, because we would lose our credibility." The 62-year-old also said he believed that Mexico's financial authorities had been "totally correct" in how they have handled the peso exchange rate, which has come under pressure from economic threats from U.S. President Donald Trump. "We are going to be extremely pro-floating exchange rates," he said. "I would say that in the last 100 years more than 50 percent of our crises were partly due to the mismanagement of exchange rates through artificially fixing exchange rates." (Reporting by Frank Jack Daniel, Dave Graham, Jean Yoon, Paritosh Bansal and Daniel Flynn; Editing by Susan Thomas) Former United States Attorney and University of California law professor Harry Litman speculated Tuesday that former Trump campaign adviser Paul Manafort will be headed to jail for alleged witness tampering. His prediction came after special counsel Robert Mueller asked a judge to yank Manafort's bail on Monday for allegedly attempting to incite perjury among witnesses. Litman made the prediction during an appearance on MSNBC's Deadline: White House with Nicolle Wallace. Manafort's behavior was a textbook case of what not to do while on pretrial release, Litman said. This is the stupidest thing that a defendant can do, this sort of witness tampering," the former deputy assistant attorney general said. Trending: Where is Kim Jong Un Staying in Singapore? U.S. Company Offers To Pay His Hotel During Summit with Trump Prosecutors allege that Manafort attempted to contact witnesses by phone and via WhatsApp, an encrypted messaging program. Two witnesses told investigators that the embattled former campaign chair attempted to coax them into perjuring themselves. Prosecutors hate this, judges hate this," Litman explained. "Hes going to have to bring his toothbrush to court on Friday because the statue says, if they find this happened, theres a presumption that no circumstances exist that will get him safely there for trial." He continued, "So theres the real prospect that he now goes to jail, never to leave even until the end of his sentence. Don't miss: Stormy Danielss Former Lawyer Was Puppet for Trump and Tried to Get Her to Deny Affair on Fox News, Lawsuit Claims Judy Amy Berman is expected to rule on Manafort's bail on June 15. The embattled former campaign chair was indicted in October of last year in connection with Mueller's probe into election meddling, along with his former business partner Rick Gates and Trump adviser George Papadopoulos. Manafort, who resigned from the Trump campaign in August 2016, is now facing a slew of federal charges, including conspiracy to launder money and engaging in a conspiracy against the United States. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and maintained his innocence against the witnessing claims in a statement. Story continues "Mr. Manafort is innocent and nothing about this latest allegation changes our defense," his spokesperson Jason Maloni said in a public statement. "We will do our talking in court." Manafort's former business partner and co-defendant, Rick Gates, pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges and lying to federal investigators. Most popular: Video: Chicago Police Handcuff 10-Year-Old After Call About Black Male With Gun President Donald Trump has repeatedly slammed Mueller's investigation and branded it a "witch hunt." He has also tried to downplay Manafort's role in his campaign, as he did via Twitter on Sunday. "Paul Manafort came into the campaign very late and was with us for a short period of time (he represented Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole & many others over the years), but we should have been told that [Former FBI director James] Comey and the boys were doing a number on him, and he wouldnt have been hired!," Trump tweeted. 02_22_Paul_Manafort_indictment_Gates Chip Somodevilla/Getty This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek Paris (AFP) - France, Britain, Germany and the EU on Wednesday sent the United States a joint official request for their companies to be exempt from punitive measures resulting from fresh US sanctions on Iran. "As allies, we expect that the United States will refrain from taking action to harm Europe's security interests," said the letter to US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said the three countries and the EU were asking the US "to exempt European businesses doing legitimate trade in Iran from all extraterritorial American sanctions". "Those businesses must be able to pursue their activities," he wrote on Twitter. The plea comes as European leaders scramble to save the hard-fought deal signed between Iran and world powers in 2015 under which Tehran agreed to limits on its nuclear capacities in exchange for relief from crippling economic sanctions. US President Donald Trump announced he was abandoning the deal last month -- which will mean new sanctions on the Islamic republic and punitive measures for those who trade with it. Analysts say European firms which have rushed to invest in Iran after the lifting of sanctions over the past three years have the most to lose from the renewed sanctions. Several major companies including France's Total and the Netherlands' Maersk have already said it will be impossible to stay in Iran once the sanctions are fully reimposed over the next six months, unless they receive explicit exemptions from Washington. French automaker PSA said Monday that it would pull out of two joint ventures to sell its cars in Iran to avoid the risk of punishing fines. President Trumps lawyer Rudy Giuliani doubled down Thursday on his assertion that adult film actress Stormy Daniels has no credibility because of her profession. If youre involved in a sort of slimy business, [that] says something about you, Giuliani told CNN. Says something about how far youll go to make money. The former New York City mayor said that if youre a feminist and you support the porn industry, you should turn in your credentials. Our real point about her is that shes not just generally un-credible, shes un-credible from the point of view of wanting to get money, Giuliani said. Shes a con artist. During a panel discussion in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Wednesday, Giuliani was asked for his thoughts about Daniels, who received a $130,000 hush money payment from Trumps longtime personal attorney, Michael Cohen, in October 2016 in exchange for her silence about the sexual relationship she said she had with Trump in 2006. The president has denied the affair. Giuliani said he believes Trump, citing Danielss appearance as evidence. When you look at Stormy Daniels I know Donald Trump. Look at his three wives beautiful women, classy women, women of great substance, Giuliani said. Stormy Daniels? Rudy Giuliani, Stormy Daniels (Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Win McNamee/Getty Images, ingo H.W. Chiu/AP, Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images) He continued: Trump is a real gentleman who respects his wife and loves his daughter and has a warm relationship with his ex-wives thats not something I can say about everybody. I havent heard a bad word about him from his ex-wives. In a 1993 book that detailed Trumps divorce case with his first wife, Ivana Trump, she used the word rape to describe a violent sexual encounter she said she had with Trump. When the allegation resurfaced during the 2016 Republican primary, Cohen told the Daily Beast that Trump never raped anybody and added that, by definition, you cant rape your spouse. Giuliani added, I respect all human beings. I even have to respect, you know, criminals. But, Im sorry, I dont respect a porn star the way I respect a career woman or a woman of substance or a woman who has great respect for herself as a woman and as a person and isnt going to sell her body for sexual exploitation. Story continues Daniels is suing the president and Cohen for defamation. So Stormy, you want to bring a case, let me cross-examine you, Giuliani said in Israel. Because the business youre in entitles you to no degree of giving your credibility any weight. And secondly, explain to me how she could be damaged. I mean, she has no reputation. If youre going to sell your body for money, you just dont have a reputation. Maybe old-fashioned, I dont know. Danielss attorney, Michael Avenatti, responded in a statement: Mr. Giuliani is a misogynist. His most recent comments regarding my client, who passed a lie detector test and who the American people believe, are disgusting and a disgrace. His client Mr. Trump didnt seem to have any moral issues with her and others back in 2006 and beyond. Avenatti added Thursday: If any [attorney] for any Fortune 500 co. made the public comments that Giuliani did yesterday (which he affirmed this morning), they would be immediately fired. Giuliani must be fired by Mr. Trump NOW. Otherwise, it sends a message to the world that the comments are acceptable. Read more from Yahoo News: Geneva (AFP) - Child abuse victims and human rights activists from 15 countries on Thursday launched a new pressure group to campaign against abuse by Catholic clerics. "The church has got away with crime for too long", said Peter Saunders, a British survivor of abuse, announcing the creation of the Ending Clerical Abuse (ECA) group at a press conference in Geneva. "ECA stands to compel the Roman catholic church to end clerical abuse, especially child abuse, in order to protect children and to seek justice for victims," added Saunders, a former member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. Jose Andres Murillo, a Chilean victim of clerical paedophilia who recently met with Pope Francis, said: "There is progress regarding clerical abuse in some countries, primarily due to brave victims who have fought to raise their voices." However, "there are many more places in the world where victims voices are silenced," he added, notably Africa, Latin America and Asia. "ECA seeks to be that voice". Last month, all 34 Chilean bishops announced their resignation over a child sex abuse scandal that has come to haunt the reign of Pope Francis. Several members of the Chilean church hierarchy are accused by victims of ignoring and covering up child abuse by Chilean paedophile priest Fernando Karadima during the 1980s and 1990s. On May 17, the Argentinian pope promised "changes" to the Chilean church to "restore justice", but gave no indication of eventual consequences for those suspected of keeping silent about the abuse. Twenty members of the new ECA group, from Chile, DR Congo, Italy, Jamaica, Mexico, Poland, the United States and Switzerland, held up pictures of bishops, from their respective countries, accused of having covered up abuse by priests. lp-jkfjb/pvh/spm United Nations (United States) (AFP) - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for the world body's mission in Mali to concentrate more on political goals, seeing serious shortcomings three years after a peace agreement. The UN stabilization mission, known by its French acronym MINUSMA, along with international partners "should reprioritize its actions to focus on political tasks," Guterres said in a report this week to the Security Council looking at renewing the force at the end of June. "I intend to explore ways of broadening MINUSMA's political role in support of the peace process," he said, citing a strategic review conducted this year. The government in Bamako and Tuareg-led rebels signed an agreement in 2015 which Guterres described as the "cornerstone" of the peace process in the Saharan country. But the review found that the peace agreement "had not resulted in enough meaningful progress on the ground," Guterres said. He voiced alarm that the security and humanitarian situations have kept declining since the signing of the pact and pointed to concerns of food shortages. Guterres said that the 12,500-strong international force faced a dilemma "between the need to reform and reconstitute the Malian defense and security forces while simultaneously supporting existing forces in addressing the current instability." Mali has been in disarray since 2012 when guerrillas linked to Al-Qaeda seized much of the north, staying in control until France launched a military intervention in January 2013. But vast parts of Mali remain outside the control of Malian, French and UN forces, who have faced frequent attacks. An entire neighbourhood has disappeared in Hawaii after being covered by a river of lava. The Vacationland neighbourhood has been wiped off the island as Kilauea continues to spew lava, destroying homes and altering the landscape on Hawaii's Big Island. Homes have been seen bursting into flames as the lava hits them, before being destroyed completely by the unstoppable flow. Officials say only a few homes remain intact in the nearby Kapoho area. Geological Survey geologist Wendy Stovall said: "The bay is completely filled in and the shoreline is at least 0.8 miles out from its original location. "Vacationland is gone, there is no evidence of any properties there at all. On the northern end of that, there are just a few homes in the (Kapoho) beach lots area." A magnitude 5.6 earthquake struck the summit of Hawaii's Kilauea volcano on Wednesday, sending a plume of ash and rock about 10,000ft into the sky. Lava has destroyed homes and filled in the coastline almost a mile out from its original location (Reuters/Terray Sylvester) Scientists are still measuring volcanic activity, with cracks continuing to spew the destructive molten rock. Ms Stovall said it is "really impossible to tell" when the volcanic activity will end. More than 400 homes have been destroyed since the lava started surfacing around a month ago. While no deaths have been reported, the disaster is thought to be the most costly and destructive volcano incident in US history. Mark Johnson's home lies on his citrus farm near near the base of Kapoho crater. The lava has missed his home so far, however it has cut off access to his farmland, and Mr Johnson has accepted that it might eventually take his house. "I'm kind of at peace, actually. I feel that I've had a really great experience," he said. The volcano started offering a new danger last week, in the form of volcanic fog, or "vog" air pollution which is created by vapour, carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide gas released from Kilauea. Vog causes burning eyes, headaches and sore throats and can potentially hospitalise people suffering with asthma or other respiratory problems. It is particularly dangerous in a disaster area as it can be carried for miles by the wind, affecting people previously considered safe. Story continues Hawaii isn't the only region of the world to be devastated by a volcano recently. Over the weekend a massive eruption of Guatemala's Volcan de Fuego killed at least 75 people, with 200 still missing. Entire villages were buried in ash and debris due to the vulcanian eruption, with people being burned to death as the fast moving pyroclastic flow entered their homes. Shocking footage emerged of a disorientated woman walking away from the destruction covered in ash, telling a cameraman her entire family had been buried by the volcano. AP Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that the Syrian regime is no longer immune from retaliation. Speaking at the Policy Exchange think tank in London during a diplomatic tour of Europe, Netanyahu warned that Israel would destroy Syrian forces it deemed a threat to Israel. He is no longer immune, his regime is no longer immune, the prime minister said. If he fires at us, we will destroy his forces. There is a new calculus that has to take place. Trending: Will Kim Jong Un Visit Mar-a-Lago? Trump Says Maybe Well Start With The White House RTX67IA6 REUTERS/Axel Schmidt Netanyahu is visiting several European leaders to seek their support in curbing the influence of Iran in the Middle East. The high-level conversations also include the Iran nuclear deal, now under threat of collapse following U.S. President Donald Trumps withdrawal last month. The remaining signatories to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)the U.K., France, Germany, Russia, China and the European Unionhave all voiced their continued support for the agreement. But Netanyahu has dismissed the JCPOA as based on Iranian lies and Iranian deception. Don't miss: Trump Associate Who Negotiated Moscow Tower Says No One Thought Blowhard Trump Would Win, Including Donald Israel has been fighting against Iranian influence in Syria, which has allowed Tehran to station troops within sight of the northern Israeli border. Netanyahu considers this an unacceptable threat to national security, and has already warned he will not allow Iran a foothold in the country. RTX4VEHN REUTERS/Ammar Awad Story continues Israeli forces have launched multiple attacks on Iranian targets in Syria. Last month, Israel and Iran exchanged airstrikes and missiles after several weeks of aggressive rhetoric and Israeli attacks. Most popular: Lindsey Graham Not Buying Claim Mueller Is Trying to Frame Donald Trump In response, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) jets struck a range of targets in Syria, claiming to have hit almost all of the Iranian infrastructure in the country. Iran is trying to move its army a thousand miles so it can threaten Israel, Netanyahu told reporters. They want to bring in precision guided rockets with half a ton warheads and submarines to the Mediterranean. Israel, the U.S. and their European allies have voiced concerns over Tehrans regional influence, which has been buoyed by wars in Syria, Yemen and Iraq. Iran is devouring one nation after another, using the money they get from the nuclear deal, Netanyahu said. My real focus for this visit was not about the [nuclear] deal, but about reversing Iran's aggression in the region and getting them out of Syria. Answering questions from reporters, Netanyahu spoke of his good relationship with Trump, praising the united anti-Iran front the two nations have built. There is no disagreement between President Trump and me on Iran, and I appreciate that very much, he said. I've done very well with U.S. presidents, those I agree with and those I disagreed with. The main disagreement with Obama was on Iran, and I was quite forthright about it, he added. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek By Tim Kelly and Linda Sieg TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, seeking to draw on his close ties with President Donald Trump in talks on Thursday, will urge the U.S. leader not to forget Tokyo's security concerns in his drive for a historic deal with North Korean leader Kim Jung Un. Abe has spoken to Trump 30 times since he became president, including eight face-to-face meetings, and officials say Washington is well-aware of Tokyo's stance towards Pyongyang. "Through summits and telephone conversations with President Trump, we have closely liaised and our positions are exactly the same," Abe told reporters before departing for Washington. "Ahead of this historic U.S.-North Korea summit, I will meet President Trump to coordinate in order to advance progress on the nuclear issue, missiles and - most importantly - the abductees issue," he said, referring to the emotive matter of Japanese citizens kidnapped by Pyongyang's agents decades ago. "I want make the U.S.-North Korea summit a success," he added. Still, concerns have simmered in Tokyo that Trump, his eye on November congressional elections, could cut a deal that would allow him to boast of protecting U.S. cities from nuclear attack but leave Japan vulnerable to shorter range missiles. Japan also fears Trump could eventually agree to reduce U.S. military forces in South Korea, leaving Japan as a frontline state against a Korean peninsula under heavy Chinese influence. That would mean "Japan's constitution, diplomatic policies and national security policies all will have to be totally reviewed for the completely new situation," Katsuyuki Kawai, a special advisor on foreign affairs to Abe, told Reuters. "It would be a nightmare for Japan and also for the United States," he said. ABDUCTEES MATTER Trump suggested on Friday that the most tangible outcome of the June 12 summit could be the "signing of a document" to end the technical state of hostilities - 65 years after the Korean conflict ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. Trump also said he wanted to drop the term "maximum pressure" that his administration -- and Japan -- had used to describe an approach that combined tough economic sanctions with diplomacy and military threats from the U.S. president. The White House said on Monday that the U.S. policy had not changed. Japan has made clear that it will not provide economic assistance for North Korea until all three issues are resolved, including the abductees issue. "Our position toward economic assistance is quite clear," a Japanese foreign ministry official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity. Abe, who has made resolving the abductees issue a keystone of his political career, will also likely seek reassurance that Trump will keep that on his agenda with Kim Jong Un, after the president said he had not discussed human rights with North Korean envoy Kim Yong Chol at the White House last week. "I think what Mr. Abe expects is (that Trump) will at least raise this issue with Kim Jong Un when they meet," said Tetsuo Kotani, a senior fellow at the Japan Institute of International Affairs. Japan could seek its own summit with the North Korean leader, depending on the outcome of his meeting with Trump. Abe's close ties with Trump have so far done little to insulate Japan from Washington's "America First" stance on trade. Trump is pressing Tokyo for a bilateral free trade agreement while Japan insists multilateral deals work best. Japanese officials declined to speculate on whether trade would join North Korea on the agenda at Thursday's talks, but White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters that "trade issues and other matters" were expected to come up. (Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in Washington; Editing by Michael Perry and Darren Schuettler) A Washington D.C. judge ordered Friday the Environmental Protection Agency must comply with a legal request to produce scientific evidence backing the EPA administrators claims about climate change. The Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, or PEER, filed a Freedom of Information Act Request to the EPA, which seeks the release of studies and documents that support EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's claim that human activity is not the largest factor causing global climate change. If the case proceeds as scheduled, the EPA will have to produce research to back Pruitt's claim in the coming months. Trending: Democrats Request 9/11-Style Commission to Investigate Hurricane Maria Death Toll, Trump Administration Response 959168550 Mark Wilson/Getty Images Measuring with precision human activity on the climate is something thats very hard to do, Pruitt said on CNBC weeks after being sworn as EPA administrator. Theres tremendous disagreement about the degree of impact... Despite Pruitts assertion, 97 percent of climate scientists agree human activity is the driving force behind climate change. I expect the documents will show the scientific case for Pruitts claim is not only thin, but positively anorexic, Michael Gerrard, director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University told Scientific American. They may reveal even greater contacts with the climate denial community than has already been shown. Don't miss: NASA Wakes New Horizons Probe to Investigate Mysterious Peanut-Shaped Object a Billion Miles Beyond Pluto He then added: This could also strengthen the challenges to some of the deregulatory actions by the administration, showing they have no valid basis. Story continues 951569398 Alex Edelman/Getty Images Pruitt has come under fire in recent weeks for multiple controversial decisions in his role as EPA administrator. This included enlisting the help of an agency aide to coordinate with Chick-fil-a, a fast food chicken franchise, to help his wife find a job, as first reported by The Washington Post. Most popular: Video: Alligator Headbutts Florida Police Officer, Knocking Him Unconscious Pruitt also faced backlash after a letter to GOP Representative Trey Goudy of South Carolina, the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, showed the EPA administrator told an aide to buy an old mattress from Trump International Hotel in Washington D.C. Prior to these scandals, President Donald Trump tweeted in April that Pruitt does a great job and that he is under siege from the media. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek In what womens rights advocates are calling a huge step for judicial accountability, voters in Santa Clara County, California, voted to recall a local judge who handed down a six-month sentence to a former Stanford student convicted of sexual assault. The ouster marks the first time a California judge has been recalled from the bench in almost a century. With almost all precincts reporting on Wednesday, close to 60 percent of voters cast a ballot to disrobe Judge Aaron Persky. Elected to a six-year term in 2016, the judge caused national outrage after he sided with probation officers and handed a six-month jail sentence to Brock Turner, the Stanford swimmer who was convicted of sexually abusing an unconscious woman near a dumpster on the Ivy League campus. The maximum sentence was 14 years. Turner not only avoided a prison term, but was let out early after serving three months behind bars. His victim wrote a searing account of the aftermath of the attack, which soon went viral. Recalling a judge is not easy, a reality reflected by its rarity in the electoral process. The Bay Area women who led the grassroots campaign to remove the judge formed a Recall Persky coalition about two years ago and devoted thousands of hours to the cause, with Stanford professor Michele Dauber at the helm. For them, Tuesday night was a long-awaited victory. Trending: Couple Who Insisted a Stuffed Animal Was Their Lawyer Lose Child Custody "It was thousands and thousands of hours," Dauber told Newsweek, when asked how much time had been devoted to the campaign. "We're fighting for women's equality. There aren't going to be any breaks in that fight." Jenny Higgins Bradanini, a committee co-chair of Recall Persky, described feeling a mixture of emotions as exit polls showed they had a strong lead. It was quite emotional for me. It was ... a lot of work getting this far, Bradanini told Newsweek. It's not that easy, but I guess thats why there hasnt been one in 84 years. Story continues Don't miss: Will War in Afghanistan End? Government Announces Taliban Ceasefire in Desperate Move to End Violence According to the California Constitution, a recall can be called whenever voters wish to express their dissatisfaction with their elected representatives. The process to get to a recall is so arduous and time-consuming and requires so much unpaid labor that a vote like Tuesdays is, at least for California voters, a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Brock Turner Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office/Reuters In order to remove an elected official, a group of people must first get the recall vote on a ballot. For the Recall Persky campaign, that required 90,000 signatures from Santa Clara voters and a meticulously crafted spiel. The state constitution regulated the petition, too, quite literally down to font size. It was seven days a week, from knocking on doors to sitting outside grocery stores to asking people on buses if they were registered voters, Bradanini said. But we found that a lot of the voters were educated. They did their homework. Most popular: If Not Rumi and Sir, Who Were the Twins in Beyonce and Jay-Z's On the Run II Tour Intro Video? Money, too, was an issue. The Recall Perksy campaign accepted donations, eventually raising $1 million in funds, which soon became necessary as Persky's supporters began spending money on a defensive Reject the Recall campaign. That effort found support among judges, attorneys and even the district attorney, who argued that removing a judge because he issued an unpopular ruling went directly against principles of judicial independence. Without any checks and balances and driven by outrage, these cases of sexual misconduct become as heinous as the emotional hysteria that they generate, wrote Carlos Tahmazian, a critic of the #MeToo movement, in an op-ed for The San Francisco Chronicle. And today, unfortunately, judgment and sentencing in a court of law is expected to emulate the court of public opinion. But that argument didnt resonate on college campuses, where #RecallPersky became a rallying cry to stop what advocates described as a rape culture on college campuses. Bradininis 18-year-old daughter Daisy voted for the first time to recall the judge, as did some of her peers. She described voting him out of office as empowering. As a woman, I demand that our justice system take campus sexual violence seriously, Daisy Bradinini told Newsweek. If they dont, I will continue to use my vote, when I can, to vote out rape culture. Dauber, who said she has faced considerable backlash for speaking out against Stanford University and the case over the last two years, said she'll continue the fight. "One thing that came out of this was, I got a lot of contacts from people in different states saying, 'This city council member abused his wife, you know, how can I make a movement like yours,'" she said. "You know, it doesn't have to be a judge. These are issues that are holding women back, issues that are holding women down." She continued, "It's about the basic human rights of women. The more places in which that signal can be sent, the better women will do." This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek Gaffe-prone White House counselor Kellyanne Conway has set Twitter ablaze after appearing to refer to President Donald Trump as the Commander in Cheese. In a verbal blip that left social media users delighted, Conway stumbled over her words while in an interview with CNN on Wednesday. The commander in cheese chief, she quickly correctedbut not before her mistake was spotted and shared on Twitter, with several clips posted online and a slew of comments following. Trending: Earth Moving Too Close to the Sun Causes Venezuela's Power Outages, Maduro Ally Says Twitter give Kellyanne Conway a break with #CommanderCheese....It wasn't referring to Trump..She's still in mourning w/ 3 incidents. Commander Cheese was tragically lost in the Bowling Green massacre after going there to avoid melting away in the Obama microwave spying scandal, one user commented, while another added: For once I agree w. Kellyanne Conway. He is far better suited to be the Commander in Cheese. Commander in Cheese? Kellyanne Conway said it, not me. pic.twitter.com/YgZ7vyDJam Red T Raccoon (@RedTRaccoon) June 6, 2018 It is not the first time Conways often unpredictable interviews have been mocked on social media, with previous comments that have prompted something of a backlash including her coining the phrase alternative facts when defending then press secretary Sean Spicers description of the size of the presidents inauguration crowd. Story continues Conway also raised eyebrows when she referenced the Bowling Green massacre during an interview, despite there being no such occurrence, and using flashcards to explain allegations of Russia collusion. But despite some odd TV appearances, President Trump remains a big fan of his counselor, praising her at a recent anti-abortion gala for taking on TV appearances that other people were afraid to do, the Washington Examiner reported at the time. Shell do the shows that nobody else dares go near. Ill say, Do this one or that one. No problem, sir. Others say, Sir, do you think I could take a pass, please? I beg you, please? Great going, Kellyanne, thank you, Trump said, also referring to Conway as a beloved member of my administration. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek NAIROBI (Reuters) - A Kenyan parliamentary committee has cut funding for the state-run National Youth Service (NYS) after two corruption scandals there, the committee's chairman said on Thursday. Dozens of senior officials and business people are being held in custody and face charges related to the theft of nearly $100 million from the youth agency. Kimani Ichungwah, the chairman of the influential budget committee in the national assembly, told Reuters they had cut the proposed budget for the agency for the financial year starting next month by 8 billion shillings ($79.40 million) to stem the rampant theft of funds. The state-run NYS trains young people and deploys them to projects ranging from construction to traffic control. The Treasury had proposed to allocate 18.36 billion shillings to the agency to fund its programs for the 2018/19 fiscal year. "Any ministry department or state agency that is subject to investigation for misappropriation of public funds, we will ensure that we take measures so that we don't give them more money to steal," Ichungwah said. "We will just ensure even for NYS we give them money to continue with ordinary operations but not excessive budgets which could be subject to abuse." The current scandal follows one three years ago at the same agency. Earlier this year, a court acquitted nearly two dozen NYS officials of charges related to the alleged theft of 48 million shillings in 2015. In 2016, the then-head of Kenya's anti-graft agency said Kenya was losing a third of its state budget -- the equivalent of about $6 billion -- to corruption every year. While the finance ministry disputed the losses were that large and instead blamed poor accounting, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta acknowledged that corruption had reached levels that threatened national security. He has vowed to fight graft in his second and final term and has unveiled a range of measures including compelling officials who work in government procurement departments to take lie detector tests. Ichungwah said his committee had also lopped 450 million shillings from the proposed allocation to a government program for planting trees in schools, which he said had already gobbled up 2 billion shillings. Parliament has to adopt the recommendations of Ichungwah's committee before they can take effect. (Reporting by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Catherine Evans) Fred Fleitz, left, and national security adviser John Bolton, right. (Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, AP, Getty Images) WASHINGTON In a book published just three months ago, Fred Fleitz, the recently appointed chief of staff of the White House National Security Council advocated the limited use of military force against North Korea, whose leader President Trump will meet in Singapore next week. Fleitz also described the presidents top national security adviser, John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, as believing the U.S. must soon use force against North Korea. Its a stark contrast from the presidents optimism about the possible outcome of the summit with Kim Jong Un: There are some conservative experts who believe the North Korean government is so corrupt, malevolent and obsessed with taking over the South that it is pointless to negotiate with it. These experts include Ambassador John Bolton, who believes regime change is the only solution to the North Korean threat and that it is vital that the U.S. use force soon to end this regime before the costs of doing so and the risks to the U.S. homeland become unacceptable, Fleitz wrote. Fleitz offered these views in his book The Coming North Korea Nuclear Nightmare, published on March 8, exactly one day before the White House announced that Trump would hold talks with Kim, the first meeting between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader. Kims family has led a brutal regime in the country since it was founded after World War II. America and North Korea do not have diplomatic relations and have technically been in a state of war since the outbreak of the Korean War, which ended in 1953 with an armistice rather than a formal peace treaty. Tensions between the two nations have increased in recent years as North Korea made advances in its nuclear weapons program and threatened to attack the U.S. The comments in Fleitzs book are particularly noteworthy given both his position in the administration and his long association with Bolton. Fleitz, who has been described as a Bolton loyalist, was named as the NSC chief of staff and executive secretary late last month. When Bolton was an undersecretary of state under President George W. Bush, Fleitz was his chief of staff. Fleitz has also served as a CIA analyst, made frequent appearances on Fox News, and worked as a senior vice president at the Center for Security Policy, a conservative think tank notable for its strident warnings about Islamic expansionism. The Center for Security Policy published Fleitzs book on North Korea. Story continues In his description of Boltons position, Fleitz wrote that the national security adviser knows an American strike against North Korea could lead Kim to launch attacks on other countries in the region, including American allies South Korea and Japan, and, even potentially on the United States itself. Still, Fleitz said both Bolton and Trump think its worth the risk. Bolton concedes that attacking North Korea could result in deadly North Korean attacks against regional states, but he believes such attacks are inevitable if the world allows North Korea to complete its nuclear weapons and missile programs. President Trump has made statements suggesting that he also may hold this view, Fleitz wrote. Yahoo News contacted the White House to ask if the characterizations of Boltons positions in Fleitzs book were accurate and whether the views he described reflect administration policy. National Security Council spokesperson Garrett Marquis responded by simply saying Bolton and Trump are united in their approach. President Trumps policy is Mr. Boltons policy. There is no daylight between them, said Marquis. Bolton, who has a well-established reputation as a foreign policy hawk, became Trumps top national security adviser in April, the third person to hold that position since Trump took office in January 2017. Bolton was considered a hard-liner on North Korea and skeptical about the summit, which was briefly canceled before being reinstated. He was reportedly not going to attend the meeting, but top White House adviser Kellyanne Conway said Wednesday that he will be there. The White House did not respond to questions from Yahoo News about whether Fleitz will also be at the meeting with Trump and Kim. While different officials and ideas rapidly fall in and out of favor in the White House, Fleitzs book sheds light on what exactly Bolton and his allies could be pushing for on one of the most crucial foreign policy issues facing the Trump administration. Fleitz also discussed one of the more controversial North Korea strategies that has been considered by the Trump administration a so-called bloody nose strike. In February, there were multiple reports White House officials were clashing over whether or not to launch a limited strike against North Korea that would get the country to reconsider its nuclear weapons program. White House officials subsequently denied considering the idea. However, Fleitz said sources told him the plan was considered and remains on the table. Although the bloody nose strategy was supported by many conservatives, Trump officials began to deny its existence in mid-February 2018, probably in response to the negative publicity it received and concerns raised by South Korean officials. The author is skeptical about those denials, Fleitz wrote, adding, This strategy is consistent with what President Trump told a senior foreign policy expert (relayed by this expert to the author) during a December 2017 meeting: that [former National Security Adviser General H.R. McMaster] and [Secretary of Defense James Mattis] favored some kind of limited attack on North Korea. Although some Trump officials always opposed the bloody nose strategy, the author believes this was and continues to be a Trump administration policy option for dealing with North Korea. Fleitz shared his own views on North Korea in the book. He makes a lengthy indictment of President Obamas North Korea policy, which he dismisses as dithering and disinterest[ed]. The previous administrations policies significantly worsened the threat from the rogue state by giving it eight years to develop advanced missiles and nuclear weapons with almost no opposition from the U.S. and the international community, he writes. Fleitz also criticized South Korean President Moon Jae-in as a liberal politician who favors a more conciliatory approach to North Korea. The U.S. faces difficulties when relying on South Korean President Moon, he wrote. The president was dealt a bad hand by Obama, Fleitz wrote, and praised Trump for making the best of a difficult situation. He argues that Trumps campaign of maximum pressure that included stiff economic sanctions and threats of fire and fury was successful, encouraging North Korea to come to the negotiating table. Fleitz suggested that, when it comes to North Korea, there are two major sobering questions facing Trump. Are there ways to use military force to contain or roll back North Koreas nuclear and missile programs without sparking a war? What is the actual purpose of North Koreas nuclear and missile efforts? Deterrence? Blackmail to extort concessions? Or as a means to one day force the reunification of the Korean Peninsula on Pyongyangs terms? asked Fleitz. Fleitz was unambiguous in his answer to the latter question. My view is that North Koreas missile and nuclear programs are offensive in nature, not a deterrent and not simply blackmail tools, Fleitz wrote. Rather than a tool to extract foreign aid, Fleitz said he viewed the weapons as an arsenal North Korea will one day use to force the reunification of the Korean Peninsula on its terms and expel American forces from the region. On the question of whether America can use force to deter North Koreas nuclear program without sparking a catastrophic conflict, Fleitz offered a more nuanced answer. In the end, he recommended what he described as limited military action. According to Fleitz, before the U.S. considers military action, every option short of war must be fully explored and exhausted. But, somewhat contradictorily, he repeatedly dismissed the idea negotiations would yield meaningful results. The Kim familys 70-year legacy of tyranny, belligerence, corruption and criminality, coupled with its iron grip on power controlling North Korea makes negotiating a meaningful nuclear agreement with the Kim regime difficult, if not impossible, wrote Fleitz. The likely outcome of negotiations, he wrote, is cutbacks or halts in its missile and nuclear programs that Pyongyang has no intention of implementing. For Fleitz, anything short of full denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula amounts to appeasement. He described overtures North Korea made during the Winter Olympics, which were held in South Korea earlier this year, as a propaganda ploy and a charade. If diplomacy and sanctions fail my recommendation is that President Trump consider carefully calibrated, limited use of military force to change the dynamics of the North Korea situation and compel it to negotiate the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, Fleitz wrote. This limited use of force could include declaring a missile no-fly zone over North Korea, shooting down any missiles Pyongyang tests, a naval blockade and stopping and searching North Korea ships for WMD-related cargo. While he said Bolton hopes to see regime change in North Korea, Fleitz did not directly state his own view on that possibility. But he noted many experts believe the only real solution to the threat from North Koreas nuclear program is regime change. Fleitz also discussed the idea of letting China take out the Kim regime or invade North Korea. He described the prospect of war as a horrifying thought given the massive loss of life that would occur if North Korea was to attack South Korea, especially Seoul, with its huge artillery arsenal, missiles, chemical and biological weapons as well as nuclear weapons. A major outbreak in hostilities could also include North Korea attacking U.S. bases in the region and Japan, Fleitz added. If anything, Fleitz is more pessimistic about North Koreas ability to retaliate than other experts. Due to the reclusive nature of the Kim regime, its difficult to verify the extent of North Koreas weapons program. However, Fleitz seems to take the view that the country will be imminently capable of striking the U.S. with a nuclear weapon. He cited one estimate that a military conflict with North Korea by 2020 could result in 8 million dead in North and South Korea, Japan and the U.S., due to North Korean nuclear strikes against Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Portland. Fleitzs recommendation of limited military action is based on a belief that it hopefully would not spark a counterattack against the U.S. or even South Korea. He predicted carefully calibrated measures would change the policy assumptions of North Koreas leadership by demonstrating that America now has a decisive president who will use and will escalate military force to protect the security of the United States and its allies. Fleitz acknowledged that the U.S. cannot be sure whether limited military action would result in North Korean retaliation and escalation. Still, Fleitz argued that limited military action is a risk worth taking to avoid a future war with a nuclear North Korea. Victor Cha is a policy expert on North Korea who was Trumps original pick to be ambassador to South Korea. The White House did not submit his nomination after he expressed opposition to a potential bloody nose strike. In a phone conversation with Yahoo News, Cha said he believes Fleitzs description of Boltons views is accurate and said he was not surprised to hear it, given some of the national security advisers past statements. Cha noted the more hawkish approach to North Korea was sort of where we were in 2017, before Kims Olympic overtures and the plans for talks with Trump. I think if this summit fails spectacularly we could end up going back to those sorts of things, Cha said. While Cha doubted that Bolton supported the summit, he said the national security adviser was unlikely to oppose Trumps wishes. Bolton is a smart man, Cha said, adding, He knows that if the president wants to do a meeting hes not going to get in the way. In the meantime, Cha predicted Boltons influence will be felt mainly through the national security adviser resisting attempts to lift the sanctions too early. And if the meetings with Kim dont reach a successful conclusion does Cha see Bolton and his team pushing for a military solution in North Korea? I dont know. I mean I just dont know, Cha said. Its impossible to say. Read more from Yahoo News: Kim Jong-un must realise the US president is the stronger figure, Rudy Giuliani said - REUTERS Rudy Giuliani, the former New York Mayor, on Wednesday boasted that Donald Trump's tough line had forced the North Korean leader to beg to re-schedule a high-profile summit after the president abruptly called off the meeting. After the cancellation, "Kim Jong Un got back on his hands and knees and begged for it, which is exactly the position you want to put him in," Mr Giuliani told a business conference in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv. In an interview later with The Associated Press, Mr Giuliani rejected suggestions that such comments might sour the atmosphere ahead of next week's summit, saying that the North Korean leader must understand that the United States is in a position of strength. "It is pointing out that the president is the stronger figure," Mr Giuliani, who is Mr Trump's lawyer, said. "And you're not going to have useful negotiations unless he accepts that." Mr Giuliani said Mr Trump had no choice but to call off the meeting after the North Koreans insulted Vice President Mike Pence, National Security Adviser John Bolton and threatened "nuclear annihilation" of the US. "President Trump didn't take that. What he did was he called off the summit," he said. Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani rejected suggestions that such comments might sour the atmosphere ahead of next week's summit Credit: AFP Mr Giuliani said Mr Kim quickly changed his position, expressed willingness to discuss denuclearisation and asked to have the meeting again. "That's what I mean by begging for it," Mr Giuliani said. The summit is back on in Singapore next Tuesday. Mr Giuliani, the president's lawyer in the Russian investigation, noted that he was sharing a personal opinion and was not part of the US foreign policy team. US officials are reportedly drawing up plans for Donald Trump to hold a second day of talks Credit: Getty The announcement came a day after the White House revealed that the historic June 12 meeting between the US and North Korean leaders will take place in a luxury hotel on Singapore's resort island of Sentosa. With preparations for the summit continuing apace, Singapore's Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan was visiting Pyongyang on Thursday. Balakrishnan, who went to Washington earlier this week, will meet his North Korean counterpart, Ri Yong Ho, and the president of the Supreme People's Assembly and ceremonial president, Kim Yong Nam, during his two-day visit to Pyongyang, a government statement said. While the summit in Singapore is currently scheduled to last one day, US officials in Singapore have established a contingency plan for a second day of discussions, sources told CNN. WASHINGTON (AP) The Latest on primaries being held Tuesday in Alabama, California, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota (all times local): Midnight Early results show voters favoring the recall of a Northern California judge over a sexual assault sentence that garnered national attention. Santa Clara County's voter registrar reports the first returns Tuesday night show 59 percent of voters favoring removing Judge Aaron Persky from office, with 40 percent opposed. Persky sentenced former Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner in June 2016 to six months in jail instead of prison after he was convicted of sexually assaulting a woman outside a fraternity house. The recall campaign launched shortly afterward. The campaign gained national prominence after the victim's powerful courtroom statement lamenting her treatment by the judicial system was circulated widely online. ___ 11:35 p.m. U.S. Rep. Kristi Noem has won the Republican primary for governor in her bid to become the first woman elected South Dakota governor. Noem beat Attorney General Marty Jackley on Tuesday, becoming the first GOP woman to win the nomination. The campaign soured at the end as the candidates sought to break out. Noem overcame criticisms that she turned the race negative and broke several congressional campaign promises. Noem who was first elected to Congress in 2010 touted her role negotiating Republicans' recent federal tax cuts with President Donald Trump and her farming and ranching background. Noem will face Democrat Billie Sutton, a state senator and former professional rodeo cowboy, in the general election. Sutton avoided a primary, allowing him to bank cash. ___ 11:30 p.m. Former Miss America Mallory Hagan of Opelika has won the Democratic nomination in an Alabama congressional race. She defeated Adia Winfrey of Talladega and will face U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers in the fall. Hagan was crowned Miss America in 2013 and until recently worked as a news anchor at WLTZ-TV in Columbus, Georgia. She says many people feel unheard after nearly four terms of Rogers holding the seat. Story continues Winfrey is a psychologist who said she was inspired to run by the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. She was a volunteer in Sen. Doug Jones' successful Democratic campaign last year. Rogers is unopposed for the GOP nomination. He's from Anniston. ___ 11:25 p.m. U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein has won first place in the California primary, easily moving to the general election as she seeks a fifth full term. Feinstein's opponent hasn't yet been determined. California runs a primary system where the two highest vote-getters move on, regardless of party. That means Feinstein could face a fellow Democrat in November. The 84-year-old Feinstein was first elected to the Senate in 1992 after serving as San Francisco mayor and running unsuccessfully for governor. She is the top Democrat on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. ___ 11:15 p.m. Twenty-eight-year-old state legislator Abby Finkenauer has won a Democratic congressional primary in Iowa and is fighting to be the youngest woman ever elected to the U.S. House. Finkenauer won the nomination Tuesday over three other candidates by stressing her blue-collar roots and support for policies intended to support working families. She now will face two-term Rep. Rod Blum, who ran unopposed in the GOP primary. Finkenauer frequently notes she's running for Congress while still paying off student loans. Finkenauer is serving her second term in the Legislature. She has called for improving health care through the Affordable Care Act, supported more infrastructure spending and questioned federal tax cuts she argues primarily helped corporations and the wealthy. Republican Elise Stefanik of New York became the youngest woman ever elected to Congress in 2014 at age 30. ___ 11 p.m. California polls have closed and results are trickling in in hundreds of contests across the state that could solidify Democratic dominance and reshape the fight for control of the U.S. Congress. Traffic at polling stations was light Tuesday because many people voted in advance in races setting the stage for the November election. Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom is the front-runner in the race for governor. President Donald Trump tweeted support for Republican businessman John Cox in the governor's race. The secretary of state's office said more than 2.5 million people had voted by mail as of Monday night. ___ 10:55 p.m. Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox has won the Democratic primary in Alabama's race for governor. Maddox defeated former Alabama Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb and other candidates in the Tuesday race. Maddox has been the mayor of Tuscaloosa since 2005. His platform includes establishing a state lottery to fund a mixture of college scholarships, prekindergarten programs and financial assistance for the state's poorest and struggling schools. In seeking the Democratic nomination, Maddox obtained valuable endorsements from Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin and the Alabama Democratic Conference, which is the state's largest African-American political organization. Alabama hasn't elected a Democrat to the governor's office since 1998. Energized by the December victory of U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, the party is seeking a resurgence in state politics. ___ 10:50 p.m. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has clinched the Republican nomination for governor without a runoff. Ivey was declared the winner Tuesday night after beating back a field of GOP challengers. She is seeking to win the office in her own right after becoming governor 14 months ago when her scandal-battered predecessor, Robert Bentley, resigned. Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle, evangelist Scott Dawson and state Sen. Bill Hightower did not collectively pull enough votes to force Ivey into a runoff. She will face the Democratic nominee in November. In her campaign, Ivey emphasized the state's robust economy, falling unemployment rate and the quieting of the scandal that had engulfed the state's previous governor. Her challengers had condemned her refusal to debate and indirectly questioned whether the 73-year-old governor could complete a four-year term. ___ 10:45 p.m. David Baria and Howard Sherman are headed to a June 26 runoff in Mississippi's Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. Six candidates ran in Tuesday's primary. The Senate seat has been held since 2007 by Republican Roger Wicker. Mississippi last had a Democrat in the Senate in 1989. Baria, of Bay St. Louis, is an attorney and served one term in the state Senate before being elected in 2011 to the Republican-led Mississippi House, where he's now the Democratic leader. He criticizes Republicans for cutting taxes and refusing to expand Medicaid. Sherman is a venture capitalist and the husband of actress Sela Ward. They raised their two children in Los Angeles, where he grew up, and the couple now lives near her hometown of Meridian, Mississippi. ___ 10:40 p.m. U.S. Rep. Martha Roby has been forced into a runoff in Alabama's Republican primary after challengers blasted her 2016 criticism of Donald Trump. Roby faces Bobby Bright in a July runoff in Alabama's conservative 2nd district where Trump loyalty has been a central issue. Roby is a four-term incumbent. In campaigning for Tuesday's primary, she emphasized her record and working relationship with the White House. In 2016, Roby criticized Trump after a 2005 recording surfaced of him making lewd comments about women, saying the behavior made him an unacceptable candidate and suggesting he step away from the presidential ticket. Bright is a former Montgomery mayor who represented the district for two years as a Democrat before losing in 2010 to Roby. He ran an ad with footage of Roby's Trump comment. ___ 10:35 p.m. Retired Des Moines businessman Fred Hubbell has won the Iowa Democratic primary and a chance to face Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds in November. Hubbell hasn't been elected to office but has held numerous business positions he says make him well-positioned to lead state government. Those jobs include executive roles at Younkers department stores, Equitable Life Insurance and the ING Group. Hubbell's victory in Tuesday's primary over four other candidates followed a campaign in which he outspent all of his opponents. Much of Hubbell's campaign was self-funded, with him contributing $2.1 million of his own money in 2018. Hubbell says his priorities include improving wages, health care and education. A sixth candidate on the ballot, state Sen. Nate Boulton, dropped out of the race after allegations of sexual misconduct. ___ 10:10 p.m. U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham has won the Democratic nomination for New Mexico governor and will take on Republican congressman Steve Pearce in November for the state's top job. The three-term congresswoman defeated state Sen. Joseph Cervantes and former media executive Jeff Apodaca in a campaign focused on improving the state's lagging economy and public education. Lujan Grisham leads the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and has been a vocal critic of President Donald Trump and his immigration policies. She previously led state public health agencies under three former governors, including Democrat Bill Richardson. Her campaign received endorsements from an array of labor unions, progressive advocacy groups and several tribal governments. State law prevents Republican Gov. Susana Martinez from seeking a consecutive third term. ___ 10:05 p.m. Polls have closed in Iowa and Montana on a night when eight states are holding primaries. In Montana, races were called at closing time Tuesday for the unopposed incumbents, Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester and Republican U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte. They and other candidates running unopposed advanced to the Nov. 6 general election. In Iowa, election officials say there appeared to be record turnout Tuesday, fueled in part by a five-way race for the Democratic governor nomination. The winner will face incumbent Gov. Kim Reynolds, who wasn't opposed for the Republican nomination. There also were contested Democratic primaries for three of Iowa's four U.S. House seats. Republican Rep. Steve King was the only incumbent who was challenged in the primary. ___ 9:25 p.m. U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez has fended off a primary challenger and will be the Democratic nominee in New Jersey's only statewide race this fall. The 64-year-old on Tuesday defeated publisher Lisa McCormick in his push for a third term. Menendez is heading into the general election after federal criminal corruption charges against him were dropped and he was rebuked by the Senate's ethics panel. Republican challenger Bob Hugin (HYOO'-gihn) has been pummeling Menendez over the allegations he accepted gifts in exchange for helping a friend with personal and business matters. A jury couldn't reach a verdict on the charges last year, and federal prosecutors decided not to retry the case. Menendez has denied he did anything wrong and has cast himself as a check against President Donald Trump in a year when the Senate could be up for grabs. ___ 9:20 p.m. Los Angeles County officials say the names of more than 118,000 voters were omitted from voter lists because of a printing error, but residents can still cast their ballots. The county's registrar-recorder's office says registered voters can cast provisional ballots in Tuesday's primary election. They say the issue involves 118,522 voters in Los Angeles County. They say poll workers have been instructed to offer provisional ballots to every voter whose name doesn't appear on the poll site's roster. The county says votes cast on provisional ballots will be counted once the voter's registration is confirmed. Democratic U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff tweeted Tuesday: "Don't let this affect the election results. Make sure your vote is counted!" Democrats need a good day in California to have much hope of seizing the House majority this fall. ___ 9:10 p.m. Polls are closing in New Mexico as voters decide on a Democratic candidate for governor and major-party nominees for two open congressional seats. More than 92,000 votes were cast as the race narrows to succeed Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, who cannot run for a consecutive third term. In all, eight states are holding primaries Tuesday. Democratic U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham is competing against state Sen. Joseph Cervantes and former media executive Jeff Apodaca, the son of a former governor. The winner will face the sole Republican candidate, U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, in the November general election. ___ 8:55 p.m. A wealthy former biopharmaceutical executive and Marine has won New Jersey's Republican Senate primary. Bob Hugin defeated Brian Goldberg on Tuesday. Hugin ran Celgene until this year and is a first-time candidate spending millions of his own fortune to finance his race. He says he's running as an independent Republican in a state with roughly 900,000 more Democrats than Republicans. Hugin barely concentrated on Goldberg, a former IT professional and construction firm executive. Hugin's entrance into the race buoyed Republicans, who have been on a downswing in statewide politics since Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy won last year. Hugin has loaned his campaign at least $7.5 million and has pledged to restore dignity to the state. That's a ding at Democratic incumbent Bob Menendez, who defeated federal corruption charges after a hung jury last year. ___ 8:50 p.m. Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi has won his party's primary, months after being endorsed by President Donald Trump. Mississippi is heavily Republican. It last had a Democrat in the Senate in 1989. Wicker said in a recent fundraising appeal that he wants to help the president "enact his America-first policies." In Tuesday's primary, he defeated one opponent, Richard Boyanton. Boyanton ran a low-budget campaign. Wicker served nearly 13 years in the U.S. House before he was appointed to the Senate when fellow Republican Trent Lott resigned in late 2007. Six people were competing Tuesday in Mississippi's Democratic primary for Senate. They include state lawmakers David Baria and Omeria Scott and venture capitalist Howard Sherman, who is married to TV and movie actress Sela Ward. ___ 8:10 p.m. Polls have begun closing in the eastern half of the United States as eight states hold primaries ahead of the November midterm elections. Races were called at closing time Tuesday for candidates running unopposed in New Jersey, Alabama and Mississippi, and they advanced to the general election. With primary elections across California and seven other states on Tuesday, the political battlefield will soon be set for the first midterm elections of Donald Trump's presidency. With the possibility of a Democratic wave on the horizon, the elections will test voter enthusiasm, candidate quality and Trump's influence as each party picks its nominees to face off in November. ___ 10 a.m. President Donald Trump is urging Californians to vote Republican in the state's gubernatorial and congressional primaries. Trump tweeted Tuesday: "In High Tax, High Crime California, be sure to get out and vote for Republican John Cox for Governor. He will make a BIG difference!" The president also plugged California's GOP congressional candidates, specifically naming Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the No. 2 House leader, and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes. Trump tweeted: "Keep our country out of the hands of High Tax, High Crime Nancy Pelosi." Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, hopes to reclaim the speaker's gavel if her party regains control of the chamber in November. Trump also encouraged voters in Mississippi to "get out and vote" for Sen. Roger Wicker. In a tweet, Trump said Wicker "has done everything necessary to Make America Great Again!" ___ 9:25 a.m. For years sidelined on the national political fringe, California has lurched to the center of the fight for control of Congress. No state will be more consequential to the success or failure of a prospective blue wave this fall. Before then, Democrats must avoid self-inflicted wounds in Tuesday's so-called jungle primaries that feature a swarm of candidates who could cannibalize their own party's chances. Republicans face the embarrassing prospect of failing to nominate any candidates in Senate and gubernatorial races. California tops a list of eight states holding primary contests on Tuesday. With the possibility of a Democratic wave on the horizon, the elections from Montana to Alabama to New Jersey will test voter enthusiasm, candidate quality and President Donald Trump's influence as the 2018 political battlefield begins to settle. ___ Sign up for "Politics in Focus," a weekly newsletter showcasing the AP's best political reporting from around the country leading up to the midterm elections: https://bit.ly/2ICEr3D WASHINGTON (AP) The Latest on primaries being held Tuesday in Alabama, California, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota (all times local): 11 p.m. California polls have closed and results are trickling in in hundreds of contests across the state that could solidify Democratic dominance and reshape the fight for control of the U.S. Congress. Traffic at polling stations was light Tuesday because many people voted in advance in races setting the stage for the November election. Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom is the front-runner in the race for governor. President Donald Trump tweeted support for Republican businessman John Cox in the governor's race. The secretary of state's office said more than 2.5 million people had voted by mail as of Monday night. ___ 10:55 p.m. Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox has won the Democratic primary in Alabama's race for governor. Maddox defeated former Alabama Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb and other candidates in the Tuesday race. Maddox has been the mayor of Tuscaloosa since 2005. His platform includes establishing a state lottery to fund a mixture of college scholarships, prekindergarten programs and financial assistance for the state's poorest and struggling schools. In seeking the Democratic nomination, Maddox obtained valuable endorsements from Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin and the Alabama Democratic Conference, which is the state's largest African-American political organization. Alabama hasn't elected a Democrat to the governor's office since 1998. Energized by the December victory of U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, the party is seeking a resurgence in state politics. ___ 10:50 p.m. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has clinched the Republican nomination for governor without a runoff. Ivey was declared the winner Tuesday night after beating back a field of GOP challengers. She is seeking to win the office in her own right after becoming governor 14 months ago when her scandal-battered predecessor, Robert Bentley, resigned. Story continues Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle, evangelist Scott Dawson and state Sen. Bill Hightower did not collectively pull enough votes to force Ivey into a runoff. She will face the Democratic nominee in November. In her campaign, Ivey emphasized the state's robust economy, falling unemployment rate and the quieting of the scandal that had engulfed the state's previous governor. Her challengers had condemned her refusal to debate and indirectly questioned whether the 73-year-old governor could complete a four-year term. ___ 10:45 p.m. David Baria and Howard Sherman are headed to a June 26 runoff in Mississippi's Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. Six candidates ran in Tuesday's primary. The Senate seat has been held since 2007 by Republican Roger Wicker. Mississippi last had a Democrat in the Senate in 1989. Baria, of Bay St. Louis, is an attorney and served one term in the state Senate before being elected in 2011 to the Republican-led Mississippi House, where he's now the Democratic leader. He criticizes Republicans for cutting taxes and refusing to expand Medicaid. Sherman is a venture capitalist and the husband of actress Sela Ward. They raised their two children in Los Angeles, where he grew up, and the couple now lives near her hometown of Meridian, Mississippi. ___ 10:40 p.m. U.S. Rep. Martha Roby has been forced into a runoff in Alabama's Republican primary after challengers blasted her 2016 criticism of Donald Trump. Roby faces Bobby Bright in a July runoff in Alabama's conservative 2nd district where Trump loyalty has been a central issue. Roby is a four-term incumbent. In campaigning for Tuesday's primary, she emphasized her record and working relationship with the White House. In 2016, Roby criticized Trump after a 2005 recording surfaced of him making lewd comments about women, saying the behavior made him an unacceptable candidate and suggesting he step away from the presidential ticket. Bright is a former Montgomery mayor who represented the district for two years as a Democrat before losing in 2010 to Roby. He ran an ad with footage of Roby's Trump comment. ___ 10:35 p.m. Retired Des Moines businessman Fred Hubbell has won the Iowa Democratic primary and a chance to face Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds in November. Hubbell hasn't been elected to office but has held numerous business positions he says make him well-positioned to lead state government. Those jobs include executive roles at Younkers department stores, Equitable Life Insurance and the ING Group. Hubbell's victory in Tuesday's primary over four other candidates followed a campaign in which he outspent all of his opponents. Much of Hubbell's campaign was self-funded, with him contributing $2.1 million of his own money in 2018. Hubbell says his priorities include improving wages, health care and education. A sixth candidate on the ballot, state Sen. Nate Boulton, dropped out of the race after allegations of sexual misconduct. ___ 10:10 p.m. U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham has won the Democratic nomination for New Mexico governor and will take on Republican congressman Steve Pearce in November for the state's top job. The three-term congresswoman defeated state Sen. Joseph Cervantes and former media executive Jeff Apodaca in a campaign focused on improving the state's lagging economy and public education. Lujan Grisham leads the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and has been a vocal critic of President Donald Trump and his immigration policies. She previously led state public health agencies under three former governors, including Democrat Bill Richardson. Her campaign received endorsements from an array of labor unions, progressive advocacy groups and several tribal governments. State law prevents Republican Gov. Susana Martinez from seeking a consecutive third term. ___ 10:05 p.m. Polls have closed in Iowa and Montana on a night when eight states are holding primaries. In Montana, races were called at closing time Tuesday for the unopposed incumbents, Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester and Republican U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte. They and other candidates running unopposed advanced to the Nov. 6 general election. In Iowa, election officials say there appeared to be record turnout Tuesday, fueled in part by a five-way race for the Democratic governor nomination. The winner will face incumbent Gov. Kim Reynolds, who wasn't opposed for the Republican nomination. There also were contested Democratic primaries for three of Iowa's four U.S. House seats. Republican Rep. Steve King was the only incumbent who was challenged in the primary. ___ 9:25 p.m. U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez has fended off a primary challenger and will be the Democratic nominee in New Jersey's only statewide race this fall. The 64-year-old on Tuesday defeated publisher Lisa McCormick in his push for a third term. Menendez is heading into the general election after federal criminal corruption charges against him were dropped and he was rebuked by the Senate's ethics panel. Republican challenger Bob Hugin (HYOO'-gihn) has been pummeling Menendez over the allegations he accepted gifts in exchange for helping a friend with personal and business matters. A jury couldn't reach a verdict on the charges last year, and federal prosecutors decided not to retry the case. Menendez has denied he did anything wrong and has cast himself as a check against President Donald Trump in a year when the Senate could be up for grabs. ___ 9:20 p.m. Los Angeles County officials say the names of more than 118,000 voters were omitted from voter lists because of a printing error, but residents can still cast their ballots. The county's registrar-recorder's office says registered voters can cast provisional ballots in Tuesday's primary election. They say the issue involves 118,522 voters in Los Angeles County. They say poll workers have been instructed to offer provisional ballots to every voter whose name doesn't appear on the poll site's roster. The county says votes cast on provisional ballots will be counted once the voter's registration is confirmed. Democratic U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff tweeted Tuesday: "Don't let this affect the election results. Make sure your vote is counted!" Democrats need a good day in California to have much hope of seizing the House majority this fall. ___ 9:10 p.m. Polls are closing in New Mexico as voters decide on a Democratic candidate for governor and major-party nominees for two open congressional seats. More than 92,000 votes were cast as the race narrows to succeed Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, who cannot run for a consecutive third term. In all, eight states are holding primaries Tuesday. Democratic U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham is competing against state Sen. Joseph Cervantes and former media executive Jeff Apodaca, the son of a former governor. The winner will face the sole Republican candidate, U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, in the November general election. ___ 8:55 p.m. A wealthy former biopharmaceutical executive and Marine has won New Jersey's Republican Senate primary. Bob Hugin defeated Brian Goldberg on Tuesday. Hugin ran Celgene until this year and is a first-time candidate spending millions of his own fortune to finance his race. He says he's running as an independent Republican in a state with roughly 900,000 more Democrats than Republicans. Hugin barely concentrated on Goldberg, a former IT professional and construction firm executive. Hugin's entrance into the race buoyed Republicans, who have been on a downswing in statewide politics since Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy won last year. Hugin has loaned his campaign at least $7.5 million and has pledged to restore dignity to the state. That's a ding at Democratic incumbent Bob Menendez, who defeated federal corruption charges after a hung jury last year. ___ 8:50 p.m. Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi has won his party's primary, months after being endorsed by President Donald Trump. Mississippi is heavily Republican. It last had a Democrat in the Senate in 1989. Wicker said in a recent fundraising appeal that he wants to help the president "enact his America-first policies." In Tuesday's primary, he defeated one opponent, Richard Boyanton. Boyanton ran a low-budget campaign. Wicker served nearly 13 years in the U.S. House before he was appointed to the Senate when fellow Republican Trent Lott resigned in late 2007. Six people were competing Tuesday in Mississippi's Democratic primary for Senate. They include state lawmakers David Baria and Omeria Scott and venture capitalist Howard Sherman, who is married to TV and movie actress Sela Ward. ___ 8:10 p.m. Polls have begun closing in the eastern half of the United States as eight states hold primaries ahead of the November midterm elections. Races were called at closing time Tuesday for candidates running unopposed in New Jersey, Alabama and Mississippi, and they advanced to the general election. With primary elections across California and seven other states on Tuesday, the political battlefield will soon be set for the first midterm elections of Donald Trump's presidency. With the possibility of a Democratic wave on the horizon, the elections will test voter enthusiasm, candidate quality and Trump's influence as each party picks its nominees to face off in November. ___ 10 a.m. President Donald Trump is urging Californians to vote Republican in the state's gubernatorial and congressional primaries. Trump tweeted Tuesday: "In High Tax, High Crime California, be sure to get out and vote for Republican John Cox for Governor. He will make a BIG difference!" The president also plugged California's GOP congressional candidates, specifically naming Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the No. 2 House leader, and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes. Trump tweeted: "Keep our country out of the hands of High Tax, High Crime Nancy Pelosi." Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, hopes to reclaim the speaker's gavel if her party regains control of the chamber in November. Trump also encouraged voters in Mississippi to "get out and vote" for Sen. Roger Wicker. In a tweet, Trump said Wicker "has done everything necessary to Make America Great Again!" ___ 9:25 a.m. For years sidelined on the national political fringe, California has lurched to the center of the fight for control of Congress. No state will be more consequential to the success or failure of a prospective blue wave this fall. Before then, Democrats must avoid self-inflicted wounds in Tuesday's so-called jungle primaries that feature a swarm of candidates who could cannibalize their own party's chances. Republicans face the embarrassing prospect of failing to nominate any candidates in Senate and gubernatorial races. California tops a list of eight states holding primary contests on Tuesday. With the possibility of a Democratic wave on the horizon, the elections from Montana to Alabama to New Jersey will test voter enthusiasm, candidate quality and President Donald Trump's influence as the 2018 political battlefield begins to settle. ___ Sign up for "Politics in Focus," a weekly newsletter showcasing the AP's best political reporting from around the country leading up to the midterm elections: https://bit.ly/2ICEr3D Masaya (Nicaragua) (AFP) - From little boys with skinny arms to old women with creased faces, it seems everyone in Masaya, Nicaragua is ready to go to war. Toting home-made mortars, their faces covered with balaclavas and bandanas, the young men of Masaya stand guard at myriad barricades, determined to keep out President Daniel Ortega's riot police -- whom they accuse of pillaging the city and massacring its people. Built with tree trunks, cobblestones, scrap metal and whatever else is at hand, the barricades depend on an improvised logistical network that seems to involve almost every one of the city's 100,000 inhabitants. Masaya has become the front line in the Central American country's escalating crisis, which started on April 18 with a crackdown on protests over a much-hated pension reform. That unleashed a wave of protests and repression that has now left more than 120 people dead. It is not the first time this tree-lined city just southeast of the capital, Managua, has found itself at the center of a battle to decide the nation's future. Ramona Garcia, 83, remembers working on the supply chains for barricades just like these in the 1970s, when Ortega was a guerrilla leader and Masaya was on his side, fighting against the brutal regime of dictator Anastasio Somoza. "Back then we fought just like we are now, bringing food and water to the barricades," said the diminutive woman with a wrinkly brown face. "But (Somoza) wasn't like this one, he didn't kill as many people," she said, referring to Ortega -- the man who has dominated Nicaraguan politics since his Sandinista rebels ousted Somoza in 1979. At the other end of the demographic scale, a 14-year-old boy helping volunteer paramedics evacuate the wounded from the nearly nightly clashes with police has put his childhood on hold to join his city's struggle. He asked that his name not be used. "This isn't normally something for young people," he told AFP Tuesday night as bursts of gunfire sounded from the direction of a local police station and mortars -- a sort of glorified firecracker -- exploded in response. Story continues "But we're all fighting the same struggle. Work, school, all that's on hold," said the boy. - History of resistance - Masaya is the birthplace of Augusto Sandino, whose revolt against the US military occupation of Nicaragua in the 1920s and 30s inspired Ortega's guerrilla army. The city played a crucial role in Ortega's leftist rebellion, giving the Sandinistas refuge when they staged a tactical retreat from Managua on June 27, 1979 -- today, a national holiday. After regrouping in Masaya and enlisting many in the city in their cause, the Sandinistas overthrew Somoza less than a month later. Ortega -- who lost power in 1990, regained it in 2007, and is now serving his third consecutive term at age 72 -- appears to have taken it hard when this one-time Sandinista bastion turned against him. Residents accuse police and pro-Ortega gangs of looting and pillaging Masaya and twice torching its artisans' market -- a symbol of a city that prides itself on its traditional crafts. - 'Nerves on edge' - That's what prompted residents to organize to protect themselves. But the city has paid a heavy price. Snipers posted at its besieged police stations regularly pick people off, while mobs led by riot police attack the barricades and pillage the city almost every night, residents say. An evening walk through the city is a strange mix of sprinting past cross-streets where snipers are feared to lurk, only to come across a group of neighbors casually chatting on a stoop a block away, enjoying the cool air on a summer night in the tropics. The constant terror, though, is how quickly those separate realities can collapse into one. Zeneyda del Rosario, 34, learned that when her 17-year-old son Elias Josue was killed in a hail of gunfire. Now she has trouble sleeping, fearing she could hear church bells any minute -- the signal that an attack is under way. She only has one child left -- a 14-year-old son -- and is terrified she could lose him, too. "My nerves are constantly on edge because of all this. I can't hear a 'boom,' I can't hear mortars exploding," she said. "I don't think I can take this violence anymore." - 'We are warriors' - Nearby, at a field hospital set up in San Miguel church, a doctor working the night shift is also haunted by memories of the past several weeks. The impromptu hospital has a staff of some 30 volunteers, rudimentary equipment and limited supplies. "It's been very, very difficult, horrible in fact," said the doctor, 51, who also did not want to give his name, for security reasons. "We feel a sort of impotence as doctors. We don't have the equipment we need. This is a medical post we just set up spontaneously.... But a lot of times our patients die on us because we don't have the means to save them." But in this city that takes pride in its fighting spirit, there is a sense this may only be the beginning. "People in Masaya are warriors," said Elias Mendoza, a 27-year-old father of two, readying his mortar at a barricade during a recent confrontation with police. "We can go to war if we have to." (Photo: AAron Ontiveroz via Getty Images) The United States Supreme Court offered dangerous encouragement on Monday to those scheming to undermine marriage equality and otherwise deny civil rights to LGBTQ people. The court issued what many are calling a limited ruling in the much-anticipated case of the Colorado baker who refused to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple: Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Human Rights Commission. The ruling focused on the argument that certain members of the commission had demonstrated bias against religion, and thus deprived the baker of the impartial hearing he deserved. But that only makes the ruling slightly less troubling. There was no outright decision made about whether religious freedom entitled the baker to discriminate against LGBTQ customers. The Supreme Court did affirm that religious beliefs do not give a broad free pass to violate civil rights laws. And yet, whether intended or not, the court majoritys musings about potential exemptions invite both more discrimination and more lawsuits crafted to undermine marriage equality and civil rights protections more generally. Religious freedom under our Constitution has always meant the right to believe whatever you wish but not to act on your beliefs in ways that harm others. The Supreme Court should have simply applied that principle, as every one of a dozen state appeals courts has done in nearly identical cases. Instead, the Court described the issue as difficult and hypothesized numerous contexts in which religion- and speech-based exemptions might be warranted. In doing so, the Supreme Court has become an accomplice in Christian conservatives strategy to hollow out the right to equal marriage. This risks creating what Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg memorably termed skim-milk marriages. The courts previous marriage equality decisions were emphatic that LGBTQ couples marriages are equal in every respect to the marriages of different-sex couples. There is no such thing as same-sex marriage theres just marriage, and if youre married, you are entitled to the same protection under the law as any other married couple, regardless of sex or race. That needs to mean equality when a couple enters a business that offers services to everyone else. Story continues Theres nothing unfair about this. When you open a business, you have wide latitude in choosing what product to sell and how to run your store but you cant choose your customers. You dont have to like them, you dont have to approve of them, and you certainly dont have to invite them into your home. But you cant reject them because of who they are, and you cant be coy about your reason for doing so, pretending its not the customer you dislike, just the fact of their marriage. At least not until now. As Ginsburg said in her dissent, Phillips declined to make a cake he found offensive, where the offensiveness of the product was determined solely by the identity of the customer requesting it. Lambda Legal, together with the Family Equality Council and 11 other organizations, filed a friend-of-court brief in the case, documenting the pervasiveness of the discrimination LGBTQ people already face. The brief detailed the everyday experiences of hundreds of LGBTQ individuals, spouses, parents and children who have contacted our organizations. We hear from people facing discrimination at every stage of life, from being rejected from a childbirth class because the other couples wouldnt feel comfortable with a lesbian couple here, or having a pediatrician refuse to treat the child of gay parents, to more quotidian rejections: at the post office, changing your name on a post office box or being turned away by a tax preparer who wouldnt do a married couples taxes. Mondays ruling was a step backward for LGBTQ rights, and for America at large, because it accepted the idea that discriminatory beliefs about a group of people deserve special respect and solicitude if theyre based in religion. Its one thing to say such beliefs have firm constitutional protection. Its quite another to say they deserve respect and kid-glove treatment by state civil rights enforcers. The lives and livelihoods of LGBTQ people and so many other minorities are at stake when we excuse prejudice of any kind. As movements striving for social justice in this country, we all have worked too hard and for too long for the court to defend the honor of discriminators and castigate those who call it out when religious liberty is misused as a tool of dominance and exclusion. We will continue to fight in every arena and in every court until LGBTQ people and people living with HIV have full equality under the law in every aspect of our lives. We will fiercely resist the coming effort that will seek to turn this ruling into a broad license to discriminate. We deserve no less. Rachel B. Tiven is the CEO of Lambda Legal. Also on HuffPost Opinion... Turning Away Gay Homebuyers Isn't Religious Liberty, It's Discrimination The Next Generation Of LGBTQ Leaders Is Here The Religious Right's True Colors Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. US President Donald Trump applauds after US first lady Melania Trump spoke in the Rose Garden of the White House on 7 May 2018 about the Be Best programme: Win McNamee/Getty Images First Lady Melania Trump made her first appearance in 24 days at a White House event honouring Gold Star military families. The event had been closed off to the press out of respect for the 40 families in attendance who lost loved ones in the US military. Ms Trump's attendance was her first since 10 May, just days before being admitted to hospital to undergo a "successful" surgery for a "benign" kidney condition, the White House had announced on 14 May. Mr Trump had, according to one person at the event who spoke to CNN, gone off on a minute-long apparent comedy "riff" about the speculation over where Ms Trump may have been. Ms Trump "has always been a strong and independent woman who puts her family, and certainly her health above all else, and that won't change over a rabid press corps. She's confident in what she is doing and in her role, and knows the rest is just speculation and nonsense," said White House communications director Stephanie Grisham said ahead of the event. It was closed press last year as well. These are Gold Star families. They have lost loved ones and deserve respect and privacy, Ms Grisham said about the decision not to allow media into the event. Whether health issues continue to plaque the first lady after her five-day stint at Walter Reed Medical Centre in Washington, DC, has not been disclosed to the public. However, the White House did announce Ms Trump would not be accompanying the president to the upcoming G7 Summit in Montreal, Canada from 7-9 June nor the hotly anticipated meeting with North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un set to take place on 12 June in Singapore. Ms Trump also issued a statement about the Gold Star families event. She said it "was a privilege to...recognise our Nations fallen heroes and their families. To all those who have lost loved ones in service to our country, our nation grieves with you. It is a solemn reminder that we, the American people, are able to live as freely as we do because of the selfless sacrifices of our men and women in uniform. We remain indebted to each of them and we honour them today, together, with their families. Thank you to those who joined us this evening and to the men and women currently serving overseas and to their families, thank you for your service. We send our prayers to all of those in harm's way". Story continues The first lady's attendance at such events is normal and several of Ms Trump's predecessors have hosted them. It was Ms Trump's prolonged absence given her rising popularity - she led the president in approval rating in many polls - that was notable. Ms Trump recently announced her "Be Best" initiative in order to combat opioid addiction, cyberbullying, and low self-esteem among America's children. BEIRUT (Reuters) - The militia controlling the flashpoint north Syrian town of Manbij said on Wednesday it would not accept any Turkish military deployment there, after Ankara and Washington said they had reached an agreement for administering the area. "We will not accept that," said a spokesman for the Manbij Military Council, which is allied to the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northern Syria, when asked by Reuters if it would accept a Turkish military presence. The spokesman, Sharfan Darwish, said the council had not yet been officially informed of the mechanisms of a Turkey-U.S. roadmap for Manbij announced on Monday, but said the council was capable of preserving the security and borders of the town against any external threats. "We are awaiting high-level visits by coalition officials to inform us of the details, and for consultations and discussions," Darwish added. The fate of Manbij has been a focus of friction between the United States and Turkey because of the presence there of the YPG, a Syrian Kurdish militia that forms the largest part of the U.S.-backed SDF. Turkey sees YPG as a terrorist group and an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a three-decade insurgency on Turkish soil. Washington views the YPG as a key ally in the fight against jihadist group Islamic State. Turkey launched a cross-border military operation into Syria earlier this year and drove YPG fighters out of the town of Afrin, further west. But it has so far held back from a threatened assault on Manbij, in an SDF-controlled zone where the United States has 2,000 special forces troops. The YPG said on Tuesday its military advisers would leave the town. The Manbij Military Council on Wednesday said this would occur "in the coming days". Ankara has been angered by Washington's support for the YPG-dominated SDF, and pledged earlier this year to drive the Kurdish group from Manbij by force, raising the possibility of confrontation with U.S. forces in the area. (Reporting by Dahlia Nehme, Lisa Barrington and Angus McDowall; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg and Peter Graff) Miss America will no longer make contestants parade on stage in swimsuits and will stop referring to itself as a pageant an effort to move the 97-year-old event forward in the #MeToo era after its upper ranks were rocked by scandal. Gretchen Carlson, the new chair of the board of trustees for the Miss American Organization, announced the changes on ABCs Good Morning America Tuesday morning as part of the competitions attempt to shift its emphasis away from comparing womens looks and bodies. We will no longer judge our candidates on their outward physical appearance, Carlson, who was crowned Miss America in 1989, said. Thats huge. The re-imagined event will feature a live interactive session with the judges in place of a swimsuit competition and contestants can opt to wear any attire that makes them feel comfortable and confident during what typically is the evening gown portion, according to ABC News. The changes will be in place for the next Miss America competition, set for Sept. 9 in Atlantic City. Its going to be what comes out of their mouth that were interested in when we talk about their social impact initiatives, Carlson said. JUST IN: "We will no longer judge our candidates on their outward physical appearance. That's huge. And that means we will no longer have a swimsuit competition." - @GretchenCarlson on the major changes coming to @MissAmericaOrg https://t.co/ICRIsRN71h pic.twitter.com/IWKcVvCC50 Good Morning America (@GMA) June 5, 2018 By shifting the emphasis away from physical appearance and focusing instead on personality and intellect, Carlson said she believes the competition will see an influx of new contests and new company sponsorships. In her appearance on Good Morning America, Carlson emphasized the Miss America Organizations work to provide women with educational scholarships and opportunities. Contestants between the ages of 17 and 25 from all 50 states and the District of Columbia can compete. Story continues The change comes amid a national reckoning of sexual harassment and assault in the workplace a conversation Carlson herself helped draw attention to when she spoke out against and sued her former boss, former Fox News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes, for sexual harassment in 2016. This is a new beginning, and change can sometimes be difficult, but I know a lot about change, she said on Good Morning America. My life has worked in mysterious ways. In the years since Carlson spoke out against her former employer, more women have stepped forward to share their stories and demand an end to sexual harassment and assault in the workplace as the #MeToo movement garnered widespread attention. Miss America itself came under fire in the winter when a Huffington Post report exposed emails from former Miss America CEO Sam Haskell that included disparaging language about contestants, their bodies and their sex lives. Haskell resigned from his position, and so did the organizations former chair, Lynn Weidner. Thousands of women have been inspired to know that they can stand up and speak up and their voices can be heard, Carlson said. And if Ive been a beacon of hope to any woman in that process, it will have been worth it. At least two more Americans who fell ill were evacuated by the State Department from the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou after reportedly hearing strange noises. Officials expect additional American personnel from the American Consulate in Guangzhou to be evacuated. State Department officials said that a medical team flown into China is testing other employees and their family members for related symptoms. The mysterious illness first affected American diplomats and their relatives in Cuba before its appearance in China back in May, The New York Times reported. RTX5GZ5A REUTERS/Thomas Peter Trending: Cyber Firm Blasted for Using Booth Babes at Major Security Conference On May 23, the State Department issued a health alert after a U.S. government employee reported subtle and vague, but abnormal, sensations of sound and pressure. The employee was later diagnosed with a mild traumatic brain injury, according to The Washington Post. An employee first fell sick last month in China, and now another employee, his wife and their two children were evacuated after the adults showed signs of neurological symptoms. Mark Lenzi, a security engineering officer at the consulate, and his family left China on Wednesday after experiencing excruciating headaches. Though the State Department claimed in May that it was unaware of other cases, Lenzi told The Washington Post that he repeatedly informed the U.S. Embassy in Beijing and the State Department headquarters in Washington about his symptoms. Don't miss: Restaurant Manager Beat, Enslaved Mentally Challenged Black Employee, Forced Him to Work 100 Hours a Week Unpaid Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that Deputy Secretary John Sullivan had established a task force to direct a multi-agency response to the unexplained health incidents that have affected a number of U.S. government personnel and family members stationed overseas. Story continues The U.S. decided to withdraw a large number of its diplomats stationed in Havana after 24 government employees and family members complained of hearing loss, tinnitus, headaches, dizziness, visual difficulties and fatigue. The affected individuals were diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injury and permanent hearing loss, the American Foreign Service Association said. The medical mystery further strained relations with Cuba and resulted in the U.S. expelling Cuban diplomats. Most popular: Fortnite Week 6 Free Tier Location & Blockbuster Challenge Loading Screen The medical indications are very similar, and entirely consistent with, the medical indications that were taking place to Americans working Cuba, Pompeo told Congress last month. Jinnie Lee, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Beijing told The Washington Post in May that the Chinese government has assured us they are also investigating and taking appropriate measures. According to The New York Times, American officials are now raising suspicions as to whether other countries, such as China or Russia, may be behind the mysterious ailments. It is unclear whether sonic attacks are behind the illnesses affecting American diplomats abroad. Some have speculated that toxins, listening devices that have accidentally emitted harmful sounds or mass hysteria could be responsible. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek London (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was "no longer immune" from retaliation, while declaring the Iran nuclear deal over after Washington ditched the accord. Noting that Israel had stayed out of Syria's protracted civil war, in which Tehran backs Assad, Netanyahu said increasing Iranian encroachment required "a new calculus". "He is no longer immune, his regime is no longer immune. If he fires at us, as we've just demonstrated, we will destroy his forces," the Israeli leader said at an event organised by the Policy Exchange think tank in London. Last month, Israel launched a large-scale attack on purported Iranian targets in Syria following what it said was a barrage of rockets fired by Iran from the country toward its forces in the occupied Golan Heights. Even before that, Israel had been blamed for a series of recent strikes inside Syria that killed Iranians, though it has not acknowledged them. "Syria has to understand that Israel will not tolerate the Iranian military entrenchment in Syria against Israel," Netanyahu added. "The consequences are not merely to the Iranian forces there but to the Assad regime as well," he said, adding: "I think it's something that he should consider very seriously". Netanyahu is on a three-day European tour -- visiting Berlin and Paris earlier this week -- marked by strategic differences on Iran, as its leaders attempt to rescue the nuclear deal after US withdrawal in May. He met Wednesday with British Prime Minister Theresa May, who reiterated London's "firm commitment" to the accord, according to Downing Street. But the Israeli leader said Thursday "the weight of the American economy" was already dooming "this very bad agreement". "It's a done deal -- in the other meaning of the word," he added, noting companies were already pulling out of Iran under threat of damaging US sanctions. Story continues "You have to choose whether to do business with Iran, or forego doing business with the United States... that's a no-brainer and everybody's choosing it effectively as we speak." Netanyahu said he had reiterated his dislike for the 2015 deal, which offers sanctions relief in exchange for strict limits on Iran's nuclear activities. However, the focus of his discussions in Europe had been on reducing Iran's presence in Syria, he added. "I found considerable agreement on that goal." At the same time, he criticised his European hosts for an outdated approach to the region. Netanyahu said Iranian expansion had led to a "realignment" of relations with Arab states in the Middle East who also oppose Tehran -- something Britain and western Europe were "evidently not understanding". "There is a whole realignment taking place in the Middle East -- they're sort of stuck in the past," he added, displaying a map of the world with numerous countries highlighted to show Israel's "expanding diplomatic horizons". "I think there's a west European problem with recognising that the world is changing," he said. Managua (AFP) - President Daniel Ortega will meet Nicaragua's Catholic bishops Thursday to discuss resuming church-mediated talks on ending a political crisis and protest violence that has left more than 120 people dead, the bishops' conference said. The announcement came as the Nicaraguan opposition ramped up the pressure against Ortega's government, blocking streets and roads around the country after seven weeks of protests. The bishops called off the peace talks after a crackdown last week on a protest led by victims' mothers left at least 16 more people dead, and said they would not resume for as long as the government failed to end the repression. But the Nicaraguan Episcopal Conference said Wednesday in a statement that after listening to "various sectors" both in Nicaragua and abroad, the bishops had proposed the new meeting and the president had accepted. "We asked the president... for an audience to discuss the essential and urgent issues of our country, justice and democracy, which peace depends upon, with the goal of evaluating the viability of continuing the dialogue," the statement said. The meeting will be held at the government's convention center in the capital Managua and be followed by a press conference at 7:00 pm (0100 GMT), it said. Opposition members said Wednesday that most of the country's roads were blocked, primarily south of the capital, in a bid to protect the city of Masaya, which has been the scene of looting, fires and violence allegedly carried out by police and pro-government riot forces since protests broke out in April. "The idea is to increase the blockades to defend Masaya, which has become a target of the dictatorship," former guerrilla leader and dissident Monica Baltodano told AFP. Local media reports said demonstrators had let children, the elderly, pregnant women and ambulances pass. The barricades also aim to block the path to the historical tourist city of Granada, which on Tuesday suffered fires and looting amid clashes that left at least one dead. Story continues "We are saddened by the events yesterday in the historic city of Granada, Nicaragua's cultural heritage center, which was devastated and burned," said Vice President Rosario Murillo, Ortega's wife. According to the government, the blazes did not only affect public buildings and houses belonging to the ruling party, but also a number of businesses. - 'He's killing his people' - The protests are led by young people armed with stones and homemade mortars who have faced bullets from pro-government forces, they say. "That's our only weapon, mortars... the goal is to try to continue defending ourselves until this is over," said Alvaro Torres, a mechanic who spent the day making homemade mortar rounds with three neighbors to defend their Masaya neighborhood. "What Daniel Ortega is doing is unfair... he is killing his own people," lamented Zeneyda del Rosario Cuesta, the mother of a 17-year-old boy killed Sunday by a flurry of gunfire that his family since claims came from police. "I don't want any mother to lose her son (like me), because it hurts, most deeply in my heart," she said. On Wednesday, a teenager was shot in the violent Monimbo neighborhood of Masaya. The opposition Citizens for Freedom party, meanwhile, denounced the destruction and burning of the town hall by pro-government groups in Cua, in the northern department of Jinotega. On Tuesday, the general assembly of the Organization of American States approved a declaration "in support with the people of Nicaragua," which urged Ortega and Nicaraguans alike to engage in constructive dialogue to address the crisis and prevent further violence. A storm seems destined to bring rain to Belmont Park, New York, to complete a soggy third leg of the 2018 Triple Crown. "The storm will be the remnants of a complex of thunderstorms that is scheduled to affect part of the lower Great Lakes region from late Friday and Friday night," according to AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Elliot Abrams. "Sometimes, these systems fall apart by the next day, but on occasion, they may keep rolling along." While an increase or decrease in the forward speed of the storm may still occur, at this time there is the risk of rain for at least part of the afternoon and evening hours on Saturday. There may also be thunder and lightning. Static Belmont 10 am "Belmont has a sandy consistency to the track and drains very well," according to AccuWeather Meteorologist Brian Thompson. "In order for sloppy conditions to occur for the 2018 Belmont Stakes, it would have to pour right before or during the race," Thompson said. This type of weather pattern, which involves thunderstorm complexes, has the potential to bring drenching downpours and urban flooding. Fans heading to Belmont Park on Long Island, New York, should allow some extra time to get there and be patient when heading home as one or both parts of the trip may be wet. Those that will be attending should consider taking a rain slicker and waterproof shoes. If it rains during the race or right up to post time, this will be the third of the three Triple Crown races this year that were run in wet conditions. Both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness were run in the mud and the rain in 2018. The 2018 Kentucky Derby was the wettest on record with more than 3 inches of rain. Rain fell every day for a week leading up to and including the Preakness at Pimlico in Baltimore. Static AP Preakness Justify with Mike Smith atop wins the the 143rd Preakness Stakes horse race at Pimlico race course, Saturday, May 19, 2018, in Baltimore. Horses, riders and fans may face wet weather at the 150th annual Belmont Stakes in Elmont, New York, on Saturday, June 9. The date marks the 45th anniversary of Secretariat's record-setting victory at Belmont Park. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) Story continues As we have seen, Justify seems to handle sloppy conditions well. If Justify wins in the rain, not only will he be the 13th Triple Crown winner, he will be the first horse to win all three Triple Crown races in the rain and slop. One triple crown winner that pulled out a victory in the rain at Belmont was Omaha in 1935. However, there were good to fast racing conditions at the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes that year. In 1948, Triple Crown winner, Citation, won in rainy and sloppy conditions at the Derby but had dry and fast racing conditions for the Preakness and Belmont that year. An Oregon man was arrested on Friday night after he broke a womans arm with his bare hands, punched her repeatedly and knocked her fiance unconscious in a vicious road rage attack. On Monday, Jay Allen Barbeau, 49, was arraigned in Deschutes County Court on one count of criminal mischief, one count of reckless driving and three counts of assault, reported The Oregonian. He is still being held in Deschutes County Jail. Following the attack, Megan Stackhouse and Lucinda Mann were left wounded. The incident took place at a roundabout in Bend. "The whole thing was absolutely horrifying," Stackhouse, 34, told the Oregonian. "He was relentless," Mann, 26, added. Trending: Belmont Stakes 2018 Cocktail: Belmont Jewel, Breeze Punch Drink Recipes 180605-oregon-man-snaps-womans-arm-feature Deschutes County Jail Stackhouse and Mann, who had recently gotten engaged, were leaving a carnival when they drove their vehicle in front of Barbeaus truck around 8 p.m. After their maneuver, the trucks engine flared up and Barbeau tailed the two women closely for a few blocks, before they eventually pulled over at a roundabout to let him pass. However, instead, Barbeau leaped out of his truck and pounded towards the women. When he reached their vehicle, Barbeau smashed the rear window and the left taillight with his hands before rushing to the drivers side of the car, where Stackhouse was seated. When he reached her, he grabbed her arm and twisted it until it snapped. Don't miss: What is CBD? Marijuana Compound Could Help Smokers Quit By Stopping Intrusive Thoughts, Study Finds "It was a compound fracture... It was visibly broken," Stackhouse said. "What would have happened if he had a gun?" According to the two women, Barbeau then began repeatedly punching Stackhouse in the face with his fist, eventually breaking her glasses. Mann said she immediately rushed out of the passengers door of the car towards Barbeau in a bid to stop him. When she reached him, Barbeau grabbed her and threw her to the concrete pavement. The impact knocked Mann unconscious. Story continues Most popular: ICE Arrested Man Delivering Pizza to Military Base and He Now Faces Deportation Authorities arrived on the scene shortly after and consulted with multiple witnesses before arresting Barbeau. Stackhouse and Mann were transported to a nearby hospital. According to the Bend Bulletin, Stackhouse said she has been ordered by doctors to wear a cast for two months and will likely be unable to work for several weeks. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek Paris (AFP) - Thirty-seven camps in three years and counting. French authorities are on a mission to keep Paris free of makeshift migrant shelters but endless police operations to raze them -- around one a month -- have failed to stop new camps sprouting up. Men in white protective suits fanned out along the scenic Canal Saint-Martin this week, tearing down dozens of tents where hundreds of migrants had been sleeping for months. Grubby mattresses and sleeping bags were piled into skips during Monday's operation, as tourists looked on in what is billed as one of the most romantic spots in Paris. Authorities evicted 973 migrants from that camp and another, just a few days after clearing a similar number -- mainly Sudanese, Somalians and Eritreans -- from the sprawling Millenaire camp further up the canal. "It's completely unrealistic to think these clearances are a long-term solution," said Alix Geoffroy, general manager at migrant aid group Utopia56. After eviction, "migrants spend several days (sleeping in) gymnasiums, and then, once the administrative process has begun, they leave," she said. Many slip through the net, having been tipped off about the police operations in advance. In the case of the Millenaire camp, some 600 residents had already packed up by the time security forces arrived. - The 'Dublin' problem - For many migrants, the root of the problem -- and the reason they want to stay under the radar -- is the EU's Dublin Regulation, under which they must apply for asylum in the European country where they first arrive. This has put huge pressure on Italy and Greece, the entry points for more than 1.5 million people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia since 2015. For most of those in France, that means being deported to Italy, where they were registered and fingerprinted after the perilous Mediterranean crossing from Libya. "The fingerprints are a big problem for us," said Mohammad, a Sudanese 23-year-old who has been sleeping rough in Paris since arriving a month ago. Story continues He and his friend Ibrahim, 22, had slept on the streets in Italy and came to France because they were frustrated by their lack of progress there. Mohammed wants to learn French and get a job driving a bulldozer -- a skill he learned in Sudan's war-torn Darfur region -- but feels helpless in the situation created by the Dublin rule. NGOs describe a revolving door of migrants being sent back to Italy, turning around and slipping back into France again. "I met a migrant who had been to Italy and back five times," said Geoffroy. - 'Invisible' migrants - Out of 125,000 people with pending asylum applications, only 65,000 are sheltered by the French state, according to Gerard Sadik, who handles asylum at migrant aid group Cimade. Yannick Le Bihan, director of French operations at medical charity Medecins du Monde, said that while the operations to clear unsanitary camps were "necessary" it was up to authorities to provide migrants with a "dignified" alternative. Asylum-seekers are not the only ones affected by a lack of state-run accommodation. Some who have already been granted refugee status have also been literally left out in the cold. Of those evicted from the Millenaire camp around 10 percent had refugee status and yet "still find themselves in the street", said Pierre Henry of asylum seekers' support group France Terres d'Asile. For them, getting asylum was just "the start of another struggle, because once accepted they have only three to six months before they have to leave their (temporary) housing", he said. Sadik said this was one of the factors swelling the camps. "The state knows perfectly well that if they want to bring an end to the camps, it's up to them to create spaces in shelters," he said. "And it's not up to the city of Paris," he added, siding with Socialist Mayor Anne Hidalgo in her ongoing dispute with President Emmanuel Macron's centrist government over who is responsible for finding a solution. Hidalgo has pushed for the government to create a large new migrant shelter for Paris, though critics say this would serve as a magnet for arrivals. For now, Mohammad and Ibrahim said many migrants were laying low on the city fringes -- which, Le Bihan charged, is exactly what the state wants. "They want to make migrants invisible," he said. The Broward County school resource officer who was forced to resigned following the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, admitted he failed the 17 students and staffers who were killed on Feb. 14 but insists its not because he was a coward. Scot Peterson, who was the only armed officer at the school when the shooting started, blamed confusion, communication problems and his belief that the gunman was outside of the school not inside of it for his failure to enter the building and stop alleged shooter Nikolas Cruz. I would have had to check every single classroom. Thats what were trained, Peterson told Savannah Guthrie in an interview Tuesday on NBCs Today show. You cant just go willy nilly and go Oh lemme look here, lemme look there. You have to check each room. I dont do a lot of the what ifs because, you know, this has been so hard. As for claims that he was the Coward of Broward for not confronting the gunman, Peterson said, I never thought for a moment of being scared or a coward because I was just doing things the whole time. It never entered my mind. He added: The families need to know I didnt get it right, but it wasnt because of some, Oh, I dont want to go into that building. It wasnt like that at all. Why did it not occur to you that it could be an active school shooter when weve had so many school shootings? @savannahguthrie to Parkland school resource officer Scot Peterson pic.twitter.com/nbzj0lHB4S TODAY (@TODAYshow) June 5, 2018 Guthrie asked: Why did it not occur to you that it could be an active shooter when weve had so many school shootings and youve had all that training? Why wasnt that the first thing youve thought? My goodness, its happened here. Story continues Peterson responded, It really wasnt. Because when I heard those shots outside, I didnt even think someone was inside the building. It just didnt even, those first several minutes because my mind was racing. The families need to know I didnt get it right, but it wasnt because of some, Oh, I dont want to go into that building. It wasnt like that at all. Parkland school resource officer Scot Peterson to @savannahguthrie pic.twitter.com/MmWp23jXDx TODAY (@TODAYshow) June 5, 2018 Peterson had previously issued a statement through his lawyer, Joseph DiRuzzo III, saying that he followed Broward County Sheriffs Office protocol on the day of the shooting and that he didnt rush into the school because he believed the gunfire was coming from outside. In the days following the shooting, President Donald Trump weighed in, telling reporters that Peterson certainly did a poor job, theres no question about that. He added: Thats a case where somebody who is outside, theyre trained, they didnt react properly under pressure, or they were a coward. Peterson also admitted that he had not stopped thinking about that day. This will haunt me the rest of my life, he added. Those were my kids in there. I never wouldve sat there and let my kids get slaughtered. Never. David Hogg speaks to the media before particpating in a 'die'-in' protest in a Publix supermarket: Joe Raedle/Getty Images A SWAT team was called to the Florida home of a Parkland school shooting survivor, and two schools were placed on lockdown after someone made a prank call to the local sheriff's office. The Broward County sheriff's department received a call at 8:39am claiming there was someone with a weapon inside the home of shooting survivor David Hogg, a department spokesperson told The Independent. Two local elementary schools were placed on lockdown while the incident was investigated, according to CBS. When a SWAT team arrived at the residence, however, they found no one inside. The sheriffs department determined the call was a prank, and is investigating who had placed it. Mr Hogg did not tweet directly about the incident, but did remark on Twitter shortly thereafter that he could really use a chocolate chip muffin. He later told CBS that he had no idea who made the call, but called it a distraction from the issues at hand. This is a serious attempt of people try to distract us from what we are trying to do here, which is solve the gun violence epidemic and get youth out to vote, he said. Mr Hogg has become a target for many on the American right because of his strong stance on gun control. Seventeen of Mr Hoggs teachers and classmates died in a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February, prompting him and several classmates to start a campaign for stricter gun control laws. The students have helped organise marches, rallies, and lobby days across the country. From the early days of the campaign, Mr Hogg an eloquent and outspoken 18-year-old has been the target of conspiracy theories claiming he is a crisis actor or an FBI plant. One conservative blog suggested Mr Hogg may not have even been at the school at the time of the shooting. Later, Fox News host Laura Ingraham mocked the high school senior for being rejected from several colleges, causing a number of advertisers to boycott her show. Mr Hogg has continued his activism, however, telling ABC News that he is taking a gap year before college to focus on lobbying for gun control. He plans to take a 60-day road trip called March for Our Lives: Road to Change to encourage young people to register to vote. The teenager was in Washington picking up a human rights award when the prank call was placed. After a school year that consisted of several school shootings according to [CNN] (https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/02/us/school-shootings-2018-list-trnd/index.html), an average of one school shooting a week in 2018 St. Cornelius Catholic Schools principal, Barbara Rosini, reportedly reached out to Rob Vito, the founder of Unequal Technologies and parent of daughters at the middle school for his help. NBC affiliate KVOA reported that Vito then constructed what would eventually be gifted to the graduating 8th graders: bulletproof shields for their backpacks. Jim Caldwell, the executive vice president of Unequal Technologies a company that makes protective gear for athletes, told [Vice News] (https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/evk5zj/these-8th-graders-got-bulletproof-backpack-shields-as-a-welcome-to-high-school-gift) that they started manufacturing the Safe Shields about 45 days ago, after the schools principal asked for them. Caldwell [told the Associate Press]9https://www.apnews.com/b7029151692f4ed38671ca00f149cd45/Graduating-8th-graders-get-ballistic-shields-for-backpacks) that the shields are a gift that hopefully theyll never have to use. The shields are 10-by-12-inch inserts that can remain in backpacks or be held in front of students to resist many types of bullets, shotgun blasts, shrapnel and knives, reported the AP. However, they wont provide protection against high-powered rifles, like the AR-15 that was used in the Parkland shooting [https://www.teenvogue.com/story/student-texts-florida-shooting]. I never thought Id need this, said one student. "I think its a really great product that can help protect us, Jake Nicosia told KVOA. But I hope I never have to use it." Principal Barbara Rosini told FOX 29, "Anything that we can do to protect our children and our staff, thats what we have that's my job, to try to protect them and I try to do the best I can. Story continues In 2016, the Center for American Progress reported that Pennsylvania, where the middle school is located, ranks 16th among the states for the highest rate of gun homicides. Pennsylvania has also been called out by neighboring state, New Jersey, for its gun laws. NBC 10 reported that most of the guns used in New Jersey crimes came from Pennsylvania. In a statement released by Philadelphias mayor's office, some of Pennsylvanias gun laws were outlined: the state doesnt require background checks for every gun sale, it doesnt require firearm owners to have a license, a person can open carry a gun, such as wearing it in a holster, or on a belt without a permit everywhere in Pennsylvania except in Philadelphia, and the state doesnt ban assault rifles such as the one used in the Parkland shooting. The New York Times reported that gun control advocates, like Peter Ambler, the executive director of Giffords a gun control group founded by Gabrielle Giffords, the former congresswoman who was shot in the head in 2011 have publicly criticized the idea of students with bulletproof backpacks. Saying that these actions are placing the responsibility on students, rather that legislators. We should never tolerate an America where we make children protect themselves while letting elected officials get away with doing nothing, Ambler said. All of this comes months after Marjory Stoneman Douglas began requiring students to use clear backpacks and according to the Times, two weeks ago, Louisiana Governor, John Bel Edwards, signed a proposal allowing students to wear bulletproof backpacks to Louisiana schools. In January of this year, a local CBS affiliate in Pittsburgh reported that a Pennsylvania school shooting may have been prevented after a student reported a threat hed heard. The report led to a 14-year-old being searched and arrested after police found multiple weapons and ammunition in the student's possession. Teen Vogue reached out to St. Cornelius for comment. Neither the school nor the principal were made available, but a representative for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia said in an email that "The backpack shields were a gift from a parishioner to the graduating 8th graders. It was not solicited from the school and the school did not proactively seek media attention regarding this matter." Related: Parkland Seniors Celebrated Graduation by Wearing Orange and Decorating Their Caps The outer solar system is a weird place full of weird things displaying weird behavior. Scientists are still trying to figure out how all those mysteries have fit together, leading to hypotheses like the existence of a so-called Planet 9 wreaking havoc on otherwise orderly orbits. But one key piece of the outer solar system puzzle doesn't need a ninth planet to make the numbers work, according to research presented at the annual conference of the American Astronomical Society being held this week in Denver. (That doesn't mean it proves Planet 9 doesn't exist, however.) That research focused on what scientists call "detached objects," large bodies that hang out way beyond Neptune, nearly 8 billion miles away from the sun. Usually, even stuff that wanders so far away still swings by the sun now and then. But detached objects have such giant, circular orbits that they never do. That's one of the mysteries that inspired the Planet 9 hypothesis in the first place. Trending: Stolen Christopher Columbus Letter Returned To Spain By U.S. Immigration Authorities The detached objects scientists have spotted so far are all pretty bigsmaller than the moon, but still large enough to form a fairly regular sphere, rather than the odd lumpy shapes of asteroids. We haven't found very many yet, just a handful, which makes studying them a little trickier. They're surrounded by a huge number of much, much smaller companions called trans-Neptunian objects. No one had really looked at all those objects' movement at once. "This seems like a really obvious thing to do," Ann-Marie Madigan, an astrophysicist at the University of Colorado Boulder who led the research, told Newsweek. "It should have been done before, but they're really expensive computer calculations." So she and an undergraduate student, Jacob Fleisig, did it, modeling about 400 objects. And when Fleisig watched models of their movements, he saw something weird: All those tiny trans-Neptunian objects have orbits scientists call highly elliptical, stretched out to a long, thin oval, rather than circular. In each of those paths, the sun is off to the side of center. Story continues As the object travels in its orbit along the edge of that spinner, the orbit itself also orbits around the sunif you had a birds'-eye view of the whole spectacle and plenty of time to watch, you'd see it gradually trace out a flower-like shape as the object isn't quite able to retrace its path from last time around the sun. Don't miss: Jupiter's Lightning Is the Polar Opposite of Earth's And it turns out that as the small trans-Neptunian objects make this long dance, the gravity of the comparatively huge objects ends up tugging them along in such a way that the orbits themselves end up piled together on one side, like a flower that lost most of its petals except for one little patch. Read more: Should we colonize space? Some people argue we need to decolonize it instead The model suggested that when that celestial imbalance builds up strongly enough, the total gravity of all the tiny objects can be strong enough to influence a large one, kicking it out into the super-large, super-circular orbit and making it a detached object. But it's a little more complicated than that: The model also showed the collective gravity effect can do the reverse, pulling a detached object in off its giant orbit and back to a path that carries it reasonably close to the sun. Most popular: What Does Human Meat Taste Like? 'Super Beefy,' According to Man Who Ate His Foot Despite the intriguing model results, Madigan said it's far too early to be confident that this is what's really happening out at the edge of our solar system. That's because astronomers just haven't identified enough detached objects yet to build particularly authoritative models. 06_06_sedna_detached_object NASA/JPL-Caltech "It's a very small number that we've actually detected," Madigan saida little more than half a dozen. We can never know how many are actually out there until someone can put a number on just how hard they are to spot. But she's suspicious that it's a matter of how to find these detached objects, not whether there are more to be found. "By definition, they are extremely hard to detect," she said. "That suggests to me that there's a large reservoir of detached objects out there, and we'll detect more and more of them as our telescopes improve." If that holds up, she may someday have the data to know for sure. Although explaining the detached orbits that this mechanism tackles is one of the key motivations of the Planet 9 hypothesis, Madigan was careful to say her team's results don't shed any light on whether there's another planet lurking out there that we haven't spotted yet. "We can't explain everything in the outer solar system," Madigan said, including some of the other mysteries Planet 9 attempts to solve. "This is just a really natural way of explaining detached objects." This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek When Robert F. Kennedy was shot on June 5, 1968 exactly 50 years ago the shock of the assassination was felt far beyond the Los Angeles hotel in which the bullet was fired. Struck down in the middle of his own run for the White House, the New York Senator and brother of a murdered president died the next day. Two days after that came the funeral mass at St. Patricks Cathedral in New York City. Then, his casket was draped in an American flag and brought by train the 225 miles to Washington, D.C., so Kennedy could be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Though 2,000 people were invited to the church service, the funeral would unexpectedly end up becoming a much bigger affair. Somewhere between 1 and 2 million people showed up to pay their respects by standing alongside the tracks to see the 21-car train carrying the casket, in an echo of the sendoff that Abraham Lincoln got in 1865 after his assassination and General Douglas MacArthur got in 1964. Kennedys coffin was in the last car, propped up by red velvet chairs in the dining section so that the public could catch a glimpse of it. What was usually a four-hour train ride took eight hours, to avoid hitting anyone on the tracks. (A train passing by in the other direction fatally struck two onlookers in Elizabeth, N.J.) Some of the most famous images of that journey were taken by Look magazines Paul Fusco, who had no other choice but to make the bystanders the center of the story. As he recalled to Publishers Weekly in 2008, There were two private cars, the last two, and we couldnt get near themthis was a private event. It was off-limits to the press. All I was thinking about was how to get access when we got to Arlington. Then, when the train emerged from beneath the Hudson, and I saw hundreds of people on the platform watching the train come slowly through it went very slowly I just opened the window and began to shoot. Of the more than 1,000 slides that Fusco shot, only one was published; the editors thought the pictures would seem behind the news by the time the next issue of the bi-weekly magazine hit newsstands. When the magazine folded about three years later, the Library of Congress acquired its archive and most of Fuscos funeral train photos. Story continues Thus the funeral train photos would remain largely unseen until the 30th anniversary of the assassination, when some were published as a photo essay in George magazine, which had been founded by Bobby Kennedys nephew John F. Kennedy Jr. (who would die tragically a year later in a plane crash). More were published in a photo book that came out the following year, and Aperture published even more in 2008. A further selection of photos of these onlookers has been on view at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and is currently in New York City, both at the Danziger Gallery and the International Center of Photography, but Fuscos images from that day still provide something new to see in fact, featured here are five of his images that had never been seen publicly before the International Center of Photography Museum opened its exhibition on May 23. Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter Photos and home video taken by the people on the other side of the camera lens are also on display via RFK Funeral Train: The Peoples View, a project by Dutch artist Rein Jelle Terpstra, which comprises a book of stories from onlookers and a film that uses pictures and footage that Terpstra tracked down largely through Facebook and local historical societies. The onlookers tales in Terpstras project are each unique, but clearly part of the same story. Judy Rogers, then a 32-year-old mother of three and RFK presidential campaign volunteer, tells TIME that she remembers linking arms with other onlookers at the North Philadelphia station to sing the Glory, glory Hallelujah chorus of the Civil War battle anthem Battle Hymn of the Republic, one of RFKs favorite songs. Michael Scott, then the 15-year-old son of a NAACP chapter president in North East, Md., remembers watching hopes and dreams in a casket going right by me hopes and dreams his family had pinned onto RFK ever since he arranged for state troopers to protect the Freedom Riders when he was the U.S. Attorney General. And 16-year-old Washington Post paper boy Jerry Lewis, who recalls crying in his driveway over the stack of papers that brought him the news of the assassination, spotted the casket from a knoll in Bowie, Md., after nearly two hours of waiting. All told TIME that they showed up to see the train because they wanted to witness history, and to say goodbye to a man they had believed could unite the country at a time of immense division. As Rogers put it, We dont always know where truth is, but my gut told me Bobby Kennedy was real at a time when so much wasnt. The Fusco photo set is part of that story too. Those onlookers identities may be harder to pin down, but the images they left are indelible. The man waving a crutch. The woman kneeling in the dirt with her hands clasped in prayer. The people with the signs. As one of those signs famously put it, So long Bobby. (WASHINGTON) Wishing Muslims around the world a Ramadan Mubarak a blessed holiday President Donald Trump on Wednesday hosted his first White House dinner for Islams holy month of Ramadan, an overture that surprised many in the Muslim community after he skipped hosting such a meal last year. Speaking at an iftar dinner, which breaks the daylong fast, Trump offered a message of unity, recognizing members of the Muslim community at home and abroad. In gathering together this evening, we honor a sacred tradition of one of the worlds great religions, he told an intimate audience that included Cabinet members and ambassadors from many Muslim-majority nations including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. It was a dramatic departure from the inflammatory rhetoric Trump used during his campaign, when he called for a complete and total shutdown of Muslims entering the country, compared Syrian refugees fleeing civil war to a deadly snake and declared, I think Islam hates us in an interview with CNN. Instead, Trump spoke of the renewed bonds of friendship and cooperation forged with valued partners from across the Middle East and said Iftars mark the coming together of families and friends to celebrate a timeless message of peace, clarity and love. There is great love. He recalled his visit last year to Saudi Arabia his first foreign trip as one of the great two days of my life. Only by working together can we achieve a future of security and prosperity for all, he said. The dinner came as the Supreme Court considers legal challenges to Trumps travel ban, which critics say unfairly targets some Muslim-majority countries. A ruling is expected as early as this month. Several Muslim civil rights groups pushed back, organizing a NOT Trumps Iftar protest at a park across from the White House. The groups say Trumps heated rhetoric has contributed to an increase in bullying and discrimination against Muslim Americans. Story continues Sharif Aly, CEO of Islamic Relief USA, a humanitarian and advocacy organization, said the group was glad to see the White House had reinstated the iftar, an event that should be hosted every year, just like the Easter Egg Roll, the Passover Seder and Christmas Open House. But he urged the administration to actively engage on issues impacting our beneficiaries, including the travel ban and proposed cuts to social welfare programs. During his presidential campaign, Trump called for a complete and total shutdown of Muslims entering the United States. Last year, he drew international criticism for retweeting anti-Muslim videos posted by a far-right group in Britain. And his decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital was seen by many critics as an unnecessary provocation in the Muslim world. The White House has defended Trumps policies as necessary for national security. Iftar dinners have been held regularly at the White House since the Clinton administration as a form of outreach to the Muslim world. Shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, President George W. Bush hosted ambassadors and diplomats in celebration of Ramadan, declaring evil has no holy days. President Barack Obama took up the tradition, saying that discriminating against Muslim Americans feeds the lie that the West is at war with their religion. Last year, Trump broke tradition. Instead of hosting a dinner, the White House issued a statement on the Islamic holiday that focused heavily on the threat of terrorism, noting that recent attacks steel our resolve to defeat the terrorists and their perverted ideology. The White House struck a considerably warmer tone last month, when it released a statement from the president declaring Ramadan Mubarak, a common greeting in Islam for a blessed holiday. The statement praised the Constitution for ensuring Muslims can observe the holiday unimpeded by government and did not mention terrorism. Ramadan reminds us of the richness Muslims add to the religious tapestry of American life, the statement said. The current version of Trumps travel ban applies to travelers from five countries with overwhelmingly Muslim populations Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. It also affects two non-Muslim countries, blocking travelers from North Korea and some Venezuelan government officials and their families. Prince Harry and Meghan are back from their honeymoon! Put the tea on! (Photo: The Cut) Prince Harry and Meghan Markle apologies, my liege Duchess Meghan, have returned to London after their very romantic (and very secretive) honeymoon. It seems like the royal couple, who tied the knot on July 19, dropped off their suitcases at Kensington Palace and jumped right back into their charity work. On Thursday, Prince Harry welcomed OnSide Youth Zones into the palace for the summer gala dinner, hosted by comedian David Walliams. OnSide Youth Zones provide places for people ages 8-19, or up to 25 if the person is disabled, to go to keep active, both mentally and physically, especially those who live in deprived areas. Their aim is to keep kids off the streets and to provide a positive social atmosphere for children who have nowhere else to go except their bedroom, surfing the internet. Prince Harry & Meghan are back from their honeymoon! Harry was guest of honour @OnSideYZ gala dinner at Kensington Palave tonight. Host @davidwalliams made everyone laugh by introducing him as a newly-married man. pic.twitter.com/KJBw0MbU4F Emily Andrews (@byEmilyAndrews) June 7, 2018 While were sure royal family watchers applaud the charitable acts done by the couple, theyre still curious about where the newlyweds chose to honeymoon. For those asking re #harryandmeghans honeymoon they arrived back today & KP never confirmed where they went. Much speculation about Canada & then Ashford Castle in Ireland. @scobie & I go through speculation in latest #OnHeir but we reckon theyve just returned from Africa. Emily Andrews (@byEmilyAndrews) June 7, 2018 The English are famous for keeping a stiff upper lip, but no one could have predicted they could also be so tight-lipped. Story continues According to the Oh Heir podcast co-host, Omid Scobie, 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. But theyre back now! Surely the juicy deets will leak soon? The American actress turned duchess should be making her way back to the spotlight soon. On Saturday, Meghan will make her first appearance on the Buckingham Palace balcony. On top of that, the queen will soon be celebrating her 92nd birthday, and the newlyweds will likely be in attendance at the Trooping the Colour parade. From this humble investigative journalists perspective? My guess is they honeymooned at Sandals, the all-inclusive Caribbean resort where all your drinks are free. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. Queen Maxima of the Netherlands is shocked and bereft after receiving the news that her younger sister, Ines Zorreguieta, has taken her own life at 33. A spokesperson for the Dutch government confirmed the news to La Nacion: We can confirm that Ines Zorreguieta, sister of Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, died on Wednesday night. It is a suspected suicide. Ines' body was found in her home in Buenos Aires. Although no additional details surrounding her tragic death were provided, it has been reported that she was known to suffer from depression. Ines was godmother to Queen Maxima's daughter, Princess Ariane Photo: Getty Images Argentina-born Queen Maxima has cancelled all engagements on her upcoming agenda, the Royal Palace has confirmed. Her expected schedule had included the opening of musical event the Holland Festival, and next weeks royal tour of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. IN MEMORIAM: STARS WE'VE LOST IN 2018 The monarchs sister, who is godmother to Maxima's 11-year-old daughter Princess Ariane, studied Psychology at the University of Belgrano and later worked at the UN in Panama, focused on Human Resources and Communications. In 2014, she began working for the Department of Social Development in Buenos Aires, the start of her government career. Argentina-born Queen Maxima gave her sister a kiss at a royal event held at the Universidad Catolica Argentine in Buenos Aires in October 2016 Photo: WENN Ines death is the latest sad family news for Queen Maxima. The Dutch royals father, Jorge Zorreguieta, passed away last August at the age of 89. An official statement confirmed at the time confirmed that the father-of-seven had suffered from a form of non-Hodgkins lymphoma. King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima attended his private funeral in Buenos Aires with their three daughters, Ariane, Princess Amalia, 14, and 12-year-old Princess Alexia. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline provides 24/7, free and confidential support for people in distress. If you or someone you know needs help, call 1-800-273-8255. Ines Zorreguieta pictured here with her sister Queen Maxima of the Netherlands has sadly passed away aged 33 [Photo: Getty] Queen Maxima of the Netherlands younger sister, Ines Zorreguieta, has sadly passed away at the age of 33 in an apparent suicide. According to local Argentinian media outlets, she was found dead at her Buenos Aires home on Wednesday night and is believed to have been suffering from depression. A Dutch government spokesperson told Dutch NOS TV that her reason for death is most likely to be suicide. Ines worked as a civil servant for the Argentinian government in the Ministry of Social Development. She was also the godmother of Queen Maximas youngest daughter, Princess Ariane, and was the youngest child of the late Jorge Zorreguieta (who passed away last year) and Maria del Carmen Cerruti Carricart. Queen Maxima photographed with her husband King Willem Alexander of the Netherlands [Photo: Getty] Dutch newspaper, De Volkskrant, reports that Queen Maxima is shocked and devastated by the news of her sisters death. The Dutch Queen is expected to fly home to her native Argentina for the funeral, as she did for her fathers burial back in August 2017. As a consequence to the tragic news, the royal will no longer be joining her husband, King Willem-Alexander, on their upcoming tour of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia next week. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for non-stop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. For Twitter updates, follow @YahooStyleUK. Read more from Yahoo Style UK: The rules Meghan Markle will have to follow that shes a fully-fledged royal Everything you need to know about Trooping the Colour Princess Eugenies wedding: Who shes marrying and all the latest news White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Chris Cuomo of CNN tangled on Wednesday night about whether she should discuss her inaccurate statements about President Donald Trumps role in his sons response to the revelation of a 2016 meeting at Trump Tower with a Russian lawyer. Sanders said she did not regret making a statement last August that the president certainly didnt dictate the initial letter from Donald Trump Jr. More recently, the presidents outside counsel, Rudy Giuliani, said that Trump did, in fact, dictate his sons response. Now Sanders refers all questions about the letter even questions about whether her earlier statement undermined her credibility to the outside counsel. Cuomo did manage to get Sanders to say that she did not regret making the initial statement. Check the video above to see the thrust and parry from Cuomo Prime Time. Also on HuffPost Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. By Amanda Becker and Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan said on Wednesday that President Donald Trump should not pardon himself, becoming the second Republican leader in Congress to balk at the president's assertion that he had "absolute" power to do so. Ryan also dismissed another of Trump's contentions - that the FBI and Justice Department planted an informant in his 2016 presidential campaign. He said he agreed with the assertion by U.S. Representative Trey Gowdy, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, that federal authorities had acted properly. "I think Chairman Gowdy's initial assessment is accurate, but we have more digging to do," Ryan said. Ryan, who is not seeking re-election, had a strained relationship with Trump during the campaign but has avoided taking a confrontational approach with him since he took office. Asked whether Trump can legally pardon himself, Ryan told reporters at the U.S. Capitol: "I don't know the technical answer to that question but obviously he shouldn't. No one is above the law." Trump made the pardon assertion in a series of Twitter posts on Monday in which he criticized federal Special Counsel Robert Mueller's criminal probe of whether his 2016 presidential campaign colluded with Russia to sway the election. Video: Trump Declares Absolute Right to Pardon Himself For more news videos visit Yahoo View. "As has been stated by numerous legal scholars, I have the absolute right to PARDON myself, but why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong?" Trump said. In another tweet he called Muellers appointment totally UNCONSTITUTIONAL. The comments came as Muellers investigation, which includes possible illegal obstruction of the Russia probe by the president, entered its second year. Trump denies he colluded with the Russians or obstructed justice and calls Mueller's investigation a "witch hunt." Story continues On Tuesday, the Senate's Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, also discouraged talk of a self-pardon by Trump. "Let me just tell you that from - from my perspective - I don't think the president needs any advice on pardoning himself," McConnell said. "He obviously knows that would not be something that he would or should do." Trump's suggestion that he could legally pardon himself followed a New York Times report on Saturday that his personal lawyers argued in a memo to Mueller that the president could not have obstructed justice because he has vast authority over all federal investigations. In an interview with Reuters on Sunday, Trump lawyer Rudolph Giuliani played down the possibility of a Trump self-pardon. "Hes not going to do it. Hes not going to pardon himself. If he did, hed be impeached so fast," Giuliani said. (Reporting by Richard Cowan, Amanda Becker, Susan Cornwell, Karen Freifeld; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Dan Grebler) On Monday, President Donald Trump made it clear: He was not answerable to any law, constitutional or otherwise. I have the absolute right to PARDON myself, he tweeted. His attorney, Rudy Giuliani, even said that Trump could shoot former FBI Director James Comey in the Oval Office and, legally, be in the clear. Many were stunned. They shouldnt have been. The rule of law has been under siege for a long time. Most Americans havent noticed because it appeared that they werent directly affected, and that the system worked. But African Americans have lived with the reality of abuse of power and contempt for the law for generations. For more than a century, each lynching, each murder, each ethnic cleansing, each wink, wink, nod, nod not guilty, especially in the face of overwhelming evidence, loosened and discredited the norms of a law-abiding society and put American democracy in Trumps crosshairs. That is what should stun so many who are now apoplectic about his threat. The destruction of the rule of law has actually been going on for a long, long time. The destruction of the rule of law has actually been going on for a long, long time. In 1918, Walter White, the associate secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, futilely demanded that Georgias governor bring to justice the known killers of Mary Turner, who had lived near Valdosta. Turner, eight-months pregnant at the time of her murder, was stripped naked, hanged upside down and burned to death; her stomach was cut open to let her baby fall to the ground and its head was stomped into the red Georgia dirt. Her murderers never spent a day in jail. In 1921, whites burned and bombed black Tulsa, Oklahoma, to the ground, destroying a thriving, vibrant community and killing up to 300 African Americans. One photo of the destruction happily proclaimed running the Negro out of Tulsa. Pleas from Walter White went unheeded. As did the 21st-century work of Harvard law professor Charles Ogletree, who attempted to wrench from the warped system some semblance of justice for the surviving victims. Over the span of more than 80 years, though, despite the carnage and the destruction, the lawyers, the politicians and the courts couldnt fathom that any law had been broken. Story continues In 1951, Florida Sheriff Willis McCall, who saw himself as the alpha and omega of the law in citrus-growing Lake County, was determined to stem the tide of liberalism that appeared to be encroaching on his world. He loved running slave labor camps for the growers. He loved having interracial couples taken into the woods and savagely beaten by his deputies. And he loved putting uppity Negroes in their place. When a white woman falsely accused several black men of rape, he was ready for their execution, until the U.S. Supreme Court ordered a new trial. An angry McCall then drove two of the men into the woods and gunned them down. One survived to tell the grisly story of murder and attempted murder. McCall, however, as I previously wrote in LitHub, kept his job for twenty-one additional years until he finally lost a re-election bid (but was found not guilty) after bludgeoning yet another black man to death. Black residents search through rubble after the Tulsa Race Riot of June 1921. (Oklahoma Historical Society via Getty Images) As the deaths in Valdosta, Tulsa, and Florida make clear, the rule of law, one of the bedrocks of American democracy, was brutally and willfully trampled on, then dismissed. The justice system looked at the killers sheriffs, deputies, store owners, salesmen, and farmers and saw nothing untoward, nothing villainous, nothing murderous. Nothing except white respectability. Even the incredible power of the Civil Rights Movement and the seismic transformation of American society couldnt shake that reality and make the rule of law viable. Even the incredible power of the Civil Rights Movement couldnt make the rule of law viable for black citizens. In 1969, the Chicago Police Department, aided by the FBI, raided the apartment headquarters of Black Panther Fred Hampton, killing him and fellow Panther Mark Clark, and seriously wounding four others. The next day the Cook County states attorney, Edward V. Hanrahan, told the tale of a massive gun battle in which the Panthers opened fire, their shotguns blasting through the door. In this retelling, the police had no choice but to defend themselves with deadly force. Hanrahan pointed to pictures of bullet holes that riddled the small apartment, leaving plaster and wood looking like dirty Swiss cheese. There was just one problem: It was all a lie. He and 13 other members of law enforcement made it all up to obstruct an investigation into the killings. Forensic specialists proved that the first shot was in fact fired by police, followed by an errant bullet from Mark Clark, and then a volley of nearly 100 police shots raining into the small first-floor apartment. Yet, for blatantly lying about a double murder, Hanrahan and other members of law enforcement were found not guilty, and walked away. The Black Panthers' Fred Hampton speaks at a rally in Chicago's Grant Park in September 1969. Hampton and fellow Panther Mark Clark were killed by police later that year. This isnt ancient history or living in the past. This is the condition of justice and the rule of law right now. It was apparent when four NYPD officers fired 41 shots at unarmed Amadou Diallo in 1999 and were found not guilty of any wrongdoing. And when George Zimmerman walked out of court a free man, although the unarmed teenager, Trayvon Martin, whom he had stalked through the neighborhood with a loaded 9 mm in 2013, lay dead with a bullet in his heart. And when 12-year-old Tamir Rice... when 7-year old Aiyana Stanley Jones... when Jonathan Ferrell... when Philando Castile... This willingness on the part of court systems, law enforcement and the respectable folk in society to ignore or explain away egregious violations of the law has consequences beyond the black lives it ruins. Eventually, rampant but selective disregard for the rule of law taints and corrupts the entire system it leads to a culture of impunity. Trumps recent boast makes clear that lawlessness cant be contained to cops on the ground killing black people. Eventually, rampant but selective disregard for the rule of law taints and corrupts the entire system. Nevertheless, many whites believed for so long that they were safe; that this contempt didnt and couldnt affect them. They were wrong. A culture of impunity is dangerous and seductive. It creates a heady sense of immunity so heady that a presidential candidate can brag that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue in New York and not lose a single vote. Trump is already in the habit of circumventing procedures without consequence, having pardoned Joe Arpaio, a known torturer who defied a federal court order. He also pardoned I. Lewis Scooter Libby, who was convicted of outing a CIA agent and lying to federal authorities about it. Just last week, he pardoned Dinesh DSouza, a blatant racist and anti-Semite who used straw donors to make illegal campaign contributions. Trump now insists that he has more pardons in his pocket, including one for himself, for whatever crimes he may or may not have committed. The president of the United States, a man long accustomed to circumventing the rules that apply to most other people, looks around and sees a system that hasnt deigned to hold the powerful accountable. And so, he declares that he might make himself president for life, and appears to exchange U.S. national security for some Chinese trademarks for his daughter, and rails against fake news and calls the media the enemies of the American people, and attacks the Department of Justice and special counsel Robert Mueller because they wont do his bidding. When he does those stunning-to-some things, remember that this unrelenting assault on the rule of law is just another version of the same contempt for the nations statutes and American democracy that left Mary Turner hanging upside down, disemboweled and burning. The canary in the American mine is once again gasping for breath. The air is toxic and the poison of lawlessness is likely to take us all down. Maybe this time America will listen. Carol Anderson is the Charles Howard Candler Professor of African American Studies at Emory University. She is the author of White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide and the forthcoming One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression is Destroying Our Democracy. Samantha Bee on Full Frontal. (Photo: TBS) Samantha Bee followed up last weeks C-word controversy with an A word: She apologized extravagantly for the ruckus she stirred up on her TBS show, Full Frontal. I crossed the line. I regret it, and I do apologize for that, Bee said at the start of her show on Wednesday night, the first one since the May 30 show in which she called Ivanka Trump the presidents daughter and adviser a very bad word. The problem is that many women have heard that word at the worst moments of their lives, said Bee, adding a lot of them dont want that word reclaimed. I dont want to inflict more pain on them. I want this show to be challenging, and I want it to be honest. Bee apologized to any female viewers who may have been offended. As for men who were also offended? I do not care about that, she said. I never intended [for this show] to hurt anyone except Ted Cruz, she joked. Bee tried to get a few laughs from the situation by presenting a bunch of supposed TBS mandatory censors whod keep her from committing another bad-taste error, but it wasnt very funny. And she proceeded to do a solid segment about the original subject of her Ivanka joke Trump administration policies regarding missing migrant children. One significant thing Bee said about the C word on Wednesday will, I suspect, be overlooked: It is a word I have used on the show many times. Indeed, when all the media explosions went off, when suddenly everyone starting using the same word vile over and over and over again, I was initially surprised, because I did recall that Bee had used that word before on the show with no repercussions. This time its different because we live in Trump World. Once again, we find ourselves operating in a media world in which Donald Trump supporters call the cultural shots. By now, we know that Trumpists are on the alert for even the most mild criticism of the president and his family. The media knows this and anticipates the Trump outrage, thereby helping the Trump side by calling attention to even potential insults and saying, in effect, Oooh, did you Trump supporters hear what this person said? Are you angry? Can we get that on camera, please? This is outrage being manufactured once again. Bee wasnt doing anything new in using the C word she just got caught saying it about the wrong person. Story continues Bees apology came the same day the Hollywood Reporter reported that the management of TBS will have more scrutiny over Bees show. The network had previously given Bee essentially full creative license, the report said, but now, the plan is for management to work with the show to prevent another incident that could potentially scare advertisers and draw condemnation from both sides of the political aisle. I wonder how this sort of oversight is going to play out as Full Frontal proceeds. Its hard to imagine that Bee will stand for having her show edited or modified to placate nervous network executives who are bound to be more cowardly about attacking the powerful than Bee might be. But then again, I didnt think Bee would apologize as quickly as she did for criticizing Ivanka Trumps professional life in the White House. I wish she hadnt. Full Frontal With Samantha Bee airs Wednesdays at 10:30 p.m. on TBS. More: Last Night Now on Bees apology: Read more from Yahoo Entertainment: A woman attending Tuesday nights game between the San Diego Padres and Atlanta Braves ended up being the biggest hit of the night despite never making it onto the field. Gabby DiMarco was at Petco Park in San Diego enjoying a beer when Braves outfielder Ender Inciarte hit a foul ball into the stands at the top of the 5th inning. The ball went flying straight toward the 23-year-old, but she wasnt crying foul even when it landed in her beer. It bounced from behind me, I was trying to catch it all, and it landed in my cup, she told MLB.com. Meet Gabby DiMarco, the fan at the Padres game who caught the foul ball in her beer, and finished it: Blog: https://t.co/CBdwVxKSjO Jessica Kleinschmidt (@KleinschmidtJD) June 6, 2018 A true champion to the end, DiMarco celebrated by chugging her brewski without removing the ball. So many people were cheering, Chug! I was like, Absolutely I will chug this beer. Are you kidding me? she told the San Diego Union-Tribune. I still have the ball in my cup, and Im never going to lose it. Also on HuffPost Heaviest Living Athlete The heaviest living athlete in the world is sumo wrestler Emmanuel 'Manny' Yarborough, of Rahway, New Jersey. He stands 6ft 8in tall and weighs a colossal 704lb. He was introduced to the sport by his judo coach and seven years later, he is ranked number one in the Open Sumo Wrestling Category for Amateurs. Farthest Throw of a Person Jonathan Macfarlane (New Zealand) threw Andrew Rainford a distance of 4.87 meters (15 ft 11 in) on the set of NZ Smashes Guinness World Records at the Sylvia Park shopping mall in Auckland, New Zealand, on July 25, 2009. Most Passes of a Giant Volleyball The most consecutive passes of a giant volleyball is 582 and was set by Vanessa Sheridan and Paddy Bunce (both from the United Kingdom) during Capital Breakfast with Johnny Vaughan, Capital Radio, London, UK on November 9, 2006 as part of Guinness World Records Day. Fastest Mile on Spring Loaded Stilts The fastest mile covered on spring loaded stilts is 7 min 13 sec set by Ashrita Furman (USA) at the TSV 1865 Dachau Sports Club in Dachau, Germany, on March 30, 2008. Longest Beach Volleyball Marathon The longest beach volleyball marathon lasted 25 hr 39 min achieved by Mateusz Baca, Sebastian Ludke, Tomasz Olszak, and Wojciech Kurczynski (all Germans) in Gorlitz, Germany, on July 3-4, 2010. The attempt was made at the Rosenhof sports and leisure center by the four members of sports club VfB Gorlitz. Longest Professional Wrestling Match The longest professional wrestling match lasted 12 hours and was promoted by Shockwave Impact Wrestling as the Ultimate Iron Man Match at the Shelby County Fairgrounds in Sidney, Ohio. on November 6, 2010. The match was contested by American Kickboxer II aka Brandon Overholser, Dark Angel aka Mike White, DJ Tom Sharp aka Tom Crone, Logan Cross aka Logan Jones, Sid Fabulous aka Mark Easterday, and "Lightning" Tim Lutz. Longest Time Controlling A Soccer Ball While Lying Down The record for the longest time controlling a soccer ball whilst lying down is 10 min and 4 sec and was achieved by Tomas Lundman (Sweden) at the Nordstan Shopping Mall, in Gothenburg, Sweden on November 24, 2007. Most Items Kicked Off Heads In One Minute The most items kicked off people's heads in one minute is 43 and was achieved by Zara Phythian (UK) on the set of Guinness World Records Smashed, at Pinewood Studios, UK, on March 25, 2009. Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. A man in Texas needed 26 doses of anti-venom after being bitten by the severed head of a four-foot rattlesnake. Jennifer Sutcliffe, from Corpus Christi, told KIII TVthat her husband had been clearing the yard on Memorial Day weekend when he saw and decapitated a rattlesnake. But as the man, whose name was not given, picked up the snake to get rid of it, the head bit him and released an almost fatal amount of venom. Trending: What Is the Pacaya Volcano? Neighboring Active Volcano Next to Fuego Volcano Emits Lava Since there is no body, it released all its venom into him at that point, so he had a lot of venom, Sutcliffe told the station, explaining she had driven her husband to hospital following the bite. 2008-08-08T120000Z_94228247_GM1E4890F6L01_RTRMADP_3_CANADA-SNAKES A rattlesnake pictured in Alberta. In a separate incident a man was bitten by the severed head of a rattlesnake. Reuters They HALO-Flighted him into the hospital," Sutcliffe said, explaining she could not get to the emergency room quickly enough so met with an ambulance en-route. A normal person who is going to get bit is going to get two to four doses of antivenom. He had to have 26 doses." Don't miss: Americans Think Climate Change Should Be NASA's Top Priority, Not Sending Astronauts To Mars While the mans injuries were life threatening, he is in a stable condition following treatment, KIRO 7 reported, despite doctors warning Sutcliffe initially that he may not pull through. The bite came just a week after a kayaker in South Carolina was hospitalized after a rattlesnake attacked him after falling from a tree. The 28-year-old man, from Anderson, was kayaking along the Edisto River when the snake struck, biting him a number of times and leaving him in need of urgent medical treatment, ABC News 4 reported. Friends of the man, who caught the rattlesnake, called an ambulance for the man. He was given anti-venom at the Colleton Medical Center and was later transferred to the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) for treatment after his condition took a turn for the worse. Story continues This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek A luxury hotel designed by a British architect and located on a former pirates hideaway is to host the historic meeting between Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. After weeks of speculation over where the 12 June summit would be held, the White House revealed that the Capella hotel on Sentosa, an island located a quarter of a mile off the coast of Singapore, would play host to the event. UPDATE: The venue for the Singapore summit between @POTUS and Leader Kim Jong Un will be the Capella Hotel on Sentosa Island, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders wrote on Twitter. We thank our great Singaporean hosts for their hospitality. In Singapore, reporters have been visiting the various hotels rumoured to be among those being considered as potential venues, including the Shangri-La and the Marina Bay Sands. At this point, they reported, the hotels seemed calm and quiet, with no sign of the huge security presence expected next week. Earlier, the president had told reporters preparations for the meeting were going well, despite him at one point cancelling the event after claiming the North Koreans were not taking the issue seriously. Mr Trump announced last Friday that the summit was back on the calendar, after meeting a senior North Korean envoy, General Kim Yong-chol, at the White House. The Capella Singapore incorporates buildings dating from the 1880s (Reuters) The general delivered Mr Trump a large envelope said to contain a letter from the North Korean leader himself, underscoring his commitment to the meeting. Mr Trump said this week that preparations for the meeting were moving along very well. A lot of relationships being built, a lot of negotiations going on before the trip, he said. Well see what happens. But its very important itll be a very important couple of days. Mr Trump, who is seeking to persuade Mr Kim to shut down a nuclear missile programme that he says now threatens the United States, said last week he expected an eventual very positive result with North Korea but dampened expectations for a breakthrough in Singapore, saying it could take several meetings to reach an agreement. Story continues He said one thing that could come out of the summit was an agreement formally ending the 1950-53 Korean War, which was concluded only with a truce, not a peace treaty. Clues that Sentosa had been selected as the venue included the fact that Mr Trumps deputy chief of staff, Joe Hagin, and Mr Kims de facto chief of staff, Kim Chang Son, had been holding pre-summit discussions on the island in recent days. The hotel was designed by celebrated British architect Sir Norman Foster. On Monday, Singapore declared a central region that is home to its foreign ministry, the US embassy and several hotels, as a special zone from 10-14 June. In its online gazette, the government amended the area to include Sentosa and an area of the sea stretching more than half a mile off its southwestern shore. Make time for moments of stillness, and listen to your inner voice. Picture: sissi.lsy at The Library at Capella Singapore via Instagram pic.twitter.com/wcRwSdQZ1U Capella Singapore (@CapellaSIN) June 6, 2018 The Singapore government has said police would make stricter checks of people and personal belongings and items such as public address systems and remotely piloted aircraft system would be prohibited in the area. Before Britain seized control of Singapore in 1824, the island was a flourishing trade centre, frequented by merchants and traders and known for its piracy. At the time, Sentosa was known as Pulau Blakang Mati, which directly translates as the island where death lurks from behind. After Singapore fell to Japanese forces in 1942, it was given a new Japanese name Syonan, meaning Light of the South. Thousands of people were killed under an operation to purge anti-Japanese elements from the ethnic Chinese community. After Singapore gained independence in 1965, the island was renamed. A 1972 contest organised by the Singapore tourist promotion board resulted in it being named Sentosa, a Malay word meaning peace and tranquility. The revelation that Sentosa had been selected as the venue for the talks came as Republican and Democratic members of the US House of Representatives introduced a bill that would require Mr Trumps administration to provide a detailed report on North Koreas nuclear programme to set a baseline for progress on talks with Pyongyang. The bill, seen by Reuters, is one of a series of efforts by members of congress to have some say in negotiations ahead of next weeks summit. Some member of congress have expressed concern that Mr Trump is so eager for a deal that he will concede too much. The North Korea Nuclear Baseline Act was introduced by Representative Eliot Engel, the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, as well as politicians including Republican Representative Mike McCaul, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee and a senior member of the foreign affairs panel. It would require the administration to transmit to congressional national security committees within 60 days of its enactment a report on the status of North Koreas nuclear programme. SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore's Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan is set to arrive in Pyongyang on Thursday, the Singapore government said, days before it plays host to the leaders of North Korea and the United States at a summit. Balakrishnan, who went to Washington earlier this week, will meet his North Korean counterpart, Ri Yong Ho, and the president of the Supreme People's Assembly and ceremonial president, Kim Yong Nam, during his two-day visit to Pyongyang, a government statement said. U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are due to hold their historic meeting in Singapore on Tuesday next week. "Obviously, what all of us are hoping for is it would lead to a de-escalation of tension, raise the prospects of peace and for the sake of the North Koreans themselves improve the prospects for economic development," Balakrishnan told the Straits Times referring to the June 12 summit. "I don't think one meeting next week in Singapore can certainly unlock the entire situation on the Korean peninsula," he said. The United States and North Korea agreed upon Singapore last month as the venue for the first ever meeting between leaders of the two countries. The White House said then it chose Singapore because it could ensure the security of both leaders and provide a neutral meeting ground. Balakrishnan also said that it was the United States that had asked Singapore to host the historic event. Singapore has diplomatic ties with both the United States and North Korea. The Southeast Asian city-state serves as a regional headquarters for many large U.S. companies and U.S. navy vessels use its port facilities. Singapore suspended trade relations with the reclusive Northeast Asian state last year following tightened U.N. sanctions over its weapons program, however, North Korea still operates a small embassy in the city. In 2008, Singapore sent its then foreign minister, George Yeo, on an official visit to North Korea. During that trip, he toured the Nampo Port and Kaesong industrial zone, but visits by senior officials to the isolated state are rare. (Reporting by Aradhana Aravindan and Fathin Ungku; Writing by Sam Holmes; Editing by Jacqueline Wong & Simon Cameron-Moore) Cairo (AFP) - Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Thursday tasked his housing minister to form a new government after the resignation of prime minister Sherif Ismail, a spokesman for the presidency said. Ismail stepped down Tuesday just days after Sisi was sworn in for a new term, in line with the tradition in Egypt of premiers resigning at the onset of a new presidential term. Mostafa Madbouli, who was asked to form the new government, had served as housing minister since 2014. The 52-year-old stood in as prime minister for nearly two months from November when Ismail travelled to Germany for medical treatment. Ismail oversaw tough economic reforms tied to $12 billion in loans from the International Monetary Fund which Cairo secured to ease a fiscal crisis that saw its deficit balloon to 12.5 percent of gross domestic product in 2015-16. Sisi on Saturday was sworn in for a second four-year term after winning 97 percent of valid votes in March's presidential election, for which all serious contenders either dropped out or were sidelined or arrested. Sisi defeated lone rival Moussa Mostafa Moussa, who was relatively unknown and a fervent supporter of the president. Critics said Moussa was a token candidate to try to legitimise the president's re-election. Two Face Meth Charges after Man Drives Into Yard Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff Jun. 06, 2018 | PADUCAH, KY By West Kentucky Star Staff Jun. 06, 2018 | 06:39 AM | PADUCAH, KY Two people were arrested Wednesday morning on drug charges in McCracken County. The McCracken County Sheriff's Office says deputies saw a vehicle run off the road and into the yard of a home shortly after 1 a.m. They identified the driver as 48-year-old John Gorostiza of Wickliffe. Deputies said Gorostiza told them he was lost and that he must have made a wrong turn at some point while driving back to Wickliffe from Paducah. They determined that Gorostiza was under the influence and arrested him. The front seat passenger, 28-year-old Stevie Gray of Wickliffe, reportedly admitted to hiding two baggies of meth in her clothing during the stop. They also found more meth, hydrocodone pills and several paraphernalia items during a search of the vehicle. Gorostiza and Gray were both arrested and booked into the McCracken County Regional Jail. Gorostiza is charged with DUI, possession of meth, possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, tampering with evidence, driving without a license, careless driving, and having an open alcohol container in a vehicle. Gray is charged with possession of meth and drug paraphernalia, and tampering with physical evidence. Ljubljana (AFP) - The Slovenian anti-immigration party that came first in last week's election will attempt to form a coalition government, its leader said Thursday, despite falling well short of a parliamentary majority. "We'll try to form a coalition for Slovenia," veteran rightwing leader Janez Jansa said after an informal meeting with President Borut Pahor. Jansa's Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) came first in Sunday's election with under 25 percent of the vote, giving it 25 seats in the 90-seat assembly. It was well ahead of the "anti-establishment" LMS party of comedian-turned-politician Marjan Sarec, which came second with 12.7 percent and 13 seats. LMS and other centre-left parties have ruled out a coalition with Jansa and, according to local media reports, have started discussing putting together their own alternative coalition if SDS fails to win the approval of a majority of MPs. The only party which has so far said it would work with Jansa, the centre-right Nova Slovenija, won just 7.1 percent and seven seats, leaving the two parties well short of the 46 needed for a majority. Once parliament is officially convened later this month, Pahor is expected to officially ask Jansa to form a government. Given this, Pahor emphasised the informal nature of Thursday's meeting and stressed he "was not advocating any particular coalition, but I want any party given a mandate to form a government to be successful". Alluding to the possible failure of Jansa to form an administration, Pahor added: "Of course, somebody else can also form the government, but experience has taught us that would only be the second-best option." Analysts warn that any alternative government headed by Sarec would have to include a minimum of five parties and could be highly unstable. Sarec had made clear his unwillingness to work with Jansa throughout the campaign, citing his abrasive anti-immigrant rhetoric and his joint appearances with fellow rightwing firebrand Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. By Marja Novak LJUBLJANA (Reuters) - Slovenia's President Borut Pahor said on Thursday he would invite Janez Jansa of the anti-immigrant Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) to form a government, although it remains unclear whether Jansa will be able to secure a majority in parliament. After meeting Jansa, Pahor said he would give him the mandate after parliament convenes next week on June 22 or 23. He also told a news conference that Jansa would not accept the nomination if another party can show by then that it is able to form a governing coalition. Jansa confirmed that at a joint news conference, adding that he will invite all parliamentary parties to talk about forming a government. "We want a coalition which will work for Slovenia and will not focus on marginal issues," Jansa said. His party won a June 3 election, taking 25 out of parliament's 90 seats, on pledges to abolish migrant quotas, strengthen the security forces, cut taxes and speed up privatizations. But most other parties have said they would not go into coalition with the anti-immigrant SDS. Jansa said on Thursday he would be willing to leave the post of prime minister to some other member of his party if that would make forming a government easier. "The SDS is a party that has been around for decades ... I am not the only option (for the prime minister)," he said without elaborating. The second largest party, the center-left List of Marjan Sarec (LMS), which has 13 seats, meanwhile said it had started informal talks with other parliamentary groups, repeating that it does not plan to go into a coalition with the SDS. Analysts said coalition talks would be long, with the new government unlikely to be in place before September. "There is also an option of a snap election but I think parties are likely to do everything to avoid that," Tanja Staric, a political analyst for Radio Slovenia, told Reuters. The yield on Slovenia's 10-year benchmark bond rose to 1.234 percent by 1200 GMT on Thursday from 1.210 a day before but analysts said that reflected similar moves in core euro zone debt rather than worries about Slovenian political uncertainty. (Reporting By Marja Novak; Editing by Catherine Evans) Kimberley (South Africa) (AFP) - Grandmother Clara Maitse, 77, has been arrested seven times over the past decade for illegally mining precious stones in Kimberley, South Africa's diamond hub. Despite the steep legal penalties for DIY mining, the mother of 11 was not "scared of being arrested because the earth and its minerals belong to us black people". Unlike formal mining operations, small-scale miners pan for precious minerals around the edge of established quarries in the hope of coming up lucky. "We voted for Mandela and now there is no more fear," added Maitse. Her defiant patience has paid off and small-scale mining, an industry that employs many thousands of people, has been decriminalised for the first time under a permit system. In April, Maitse and 800 other illicit miners received licences to operate on a vast tract of land near Kimberley in the country's centre. The landmark deal was aimed at curbing the rapid growth of illegal mining which has been spurred on by rising unemployment. "The most effective way of combating illegal mining is legalising it," said deputy mining minister Godfrey Oliphant. "Once you formalise it, it solves many problems." Armed with rudimentary hand tools, workers set off from their shacks at sunrise to work the soil. Dotted across a vast plain, they shovel gravel into recycled plastic buckets before sieving it for hidden treasures. "I feel very relieved now that we have licences," said Maitse, a former maid, as she crushed clumps of soil in search of precious stones. "Beautiful money is what we will get." Maitse, who lives with her 94-year-old husband, turned to illegal mining to provide for her nine grandchildren after three of her daughters died. Obakeng Monyera, 36, has been working the soil around Kimberley since 2007 and has dozens of scars from where police fired rubber bullets at him and other illicit miners. - 'Millionaires in the making' - Story continues "I don't even remember how many times we have been arrested, we were beaten by dogs, chased with helicopters -- just to try to break our spirit," said Monyera. "We were treated like terrorists. Now we are millionaires-in-the-making," added Monyera, who has thick locks and goes by the name "Rasta". "It was a hard journey." The new permits have meant more than just increased earnings for the miners -- they have restored their dignity. Elisa Louw, a 47-year-old mother-of-five joined the so-called "zama-zama" miners, a Zulu word for "chance takers", in January 2013. She laboured for 12 months without uncovering a single diamond. Then on Christmas Day she discovered a small stone that earned her 1,200 rand ($95, 80 euros). It was around that time that her and others decided to lobby the government for recognition. After more than a year of protests and negotiation "change came to our lives", said Louw. - 'Treated like animals, like criminals' - "We were treated like animals, like criminals -- (now) we have a permit, we are free." Fighting to hold back tears, she described the "happiness, that pride, when you wake up in the morning saying 'I'm not an illegal miner anymore'". Oliphant, the deputy minister, agreed that decriminalisation had brought about greater dignity and certainty. "When we gave them the licences, you could see the sparkle in their eyes," he said. The diamond mining pilot saw the newly-licensed informal miners given access to 500 hectares (1,200 acres) of land owned by Kimberley Ekapa Mining -- a joint venture between Petra Diamonds and Ekapa Mining. "It's been a long time coming, it's something we have always envisaged," said Petra Diamonds spokesman Gert Klopper who added that industrial mining and small-scale miners "can co-exist". The company's security officers used to chase away the miners but now they protect them. The choice of Kimberley for the small-scale diamond mining pilot is highly symbolic as the hub of the country's mining sector and where gem giant De Beers was founded in 1888 by British colonialist Cecil Rhodes. It is also the home of the Kimberley Process, an international certification scheme to keep conflict diamonds off the market. The informal miners can make discoveries worth as much as 20 million rand a month although weeks go past without major discoveries. Sleek Mercedes-Benz and SUVs clog the dusty narrow roads around the informal mine, testament to the success of some who toil there. Others travel to work on foot and live in squalor. "This is a milestone and we hope it will be a turning point for other zama-zamas," said Sifiso Dladla, who works for British charity ActionAid supporting mining communities. According to the International Labour Organisation, up to 20 percent of the world's diamonds are dug-up by independent miners like Louw and Monyera. "Communities affected by mining have never benefited from mining," added Dladla. Until now. Madrid (AFP) - Spain's King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia will head to the United States next week and meet with President Donald Trump at the White House, the foreign ministry said Thursday. The royals will also take in New Orleans and San Antonio during their six-day trip starting on June 14, the ministry said in a statement. The two cities are celebrating their tricentennial this year and "have important historical evidence of the deep and close ties that link Spain and the United States," the statement added. The Spanish king and queen will get together with Trump and his wife Melania on June 19 on the last day of their visit. They royals will be accompanied during the trip by the new Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell, a former European parliament president. The royal couple met with former US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle at the White House in 2015. Maputo (AFP) - Suspected jihadists wielding knives and machetes killed five people in a Mozambique region that has been rocked by attacks blamed on radical Islamists, police said Thursday. Cabo Delgado, a northern province expected to become the centre of a natural gas industry after several promising discoveries, has seen a string of assaults on security forces and civilians since October. "There was one more attack (by) the same group that has been attacking the neighbouring villages, (it) attacked a village on Wednesday around 9:00 pm and killed five and destroyed houses and left running," a police source told AFP. The attackers targeted Namaluco village in the Quissanga district of Cabo Delgado. Rights group Amnesty International said in a statement that as many as 10 people were killed in the latest attacks, but AFP was unable to confirm this toll. Police reinforcements had been deployed to the area to step up security but attacks have continued unabated. Police believe the same group also hacked seven people to death in another village in the region on Tuesday after beheading 10 people in another settlement on May 27. "The strategy of the group is to attack different villages over several days, confusing the strategic response of government forces," added the police source. Cabo Delgado police spokesman Augusto Guto said that "defence and security forces are on the ground hunting the attackers". The May 27 bloodshed 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 Cabo Delgado. - 'An alarming deterioration' - Wednesday's slayings ocurred roughly 100 kilometres (62 miles) from Pemba, a town that is an emerging tourist destination. In October, armed men targeted a police station and military post in the regional town of Mocimboa da Praia in what was believed to be the first jihadist attack on the country. Story continues Two officers died and 14 attackers were killed. "It is an alarming deterioration. It has contributed to a climate of uncertainty and fear in Cabo Delgado," said Alex Vines, a Mozambique expert at the London-based Chatham House think-tank. "International investors are asking questions about the ability of the Mozambican authorities to both contain and counter this emerging problem." The group, often described by locals and officials as "Al-Shabaab", has no known link to the Somali jihadist group of the same name. In the weeks following the initial attacks, at least 300 Muslims, including Tanzanians, were arrested and several mosques were forced to close. Signal Risk, an Africa-focused consultancy, said that "the group goes by different names... and has about 1,000 members". "It is deemed unlikely that the group will formalise a relationship with the Islamic State group or any other Islamist extremist network given that criminality may serve as the primary motivation for (their) actions," they added. Analysts have previously suggested group members may have used proceeds from organised crime, including timber, gemstones and narcotics trafficking, to travel abroad to Tanzania and Democratic Republic of Congo to receive training in guerilla tactics. The increase in attacks in the north of the country could pose serious issues for Mozambique, which holds general elections next year and is hoping for a bonanza from the recently-discovered gas reserves. The vast deposits discovered off the shores of Palma could transform the impoverished country's economy. Experts predict that Mozambique could even become the world's third-largest exporter of liquefied natural gas. The north has largely been excluded from the economic growth of the last 20 years, and the region sees itself as a neglected outpost, creating fertile ground for radical Al-Shabaab-style ideology. According to official statistics, 17 percent of Mozambicans are Muslim but Islamic leaders say the real figure could be double that. In Mocimboa, more than half of the population is Muslim. Mozambique last month passed an anti-terrorism law that punishes terror activity with prison sentences of more than 40 years. Frankfurt am Main (AFP) - The growing use of electrified vehicles is expected to cost Germany's crucial car sector some 75,000 jobs by 2030, a study found Tuesday, with smaller auto parts suppliers set to be worst hit. The IG Metall union, which commissioned the study along with BMW, Volkswagen, Daimler and a string of car parts makers, said the pivot towards cleaner engines posed a "major challenge" to Germany's biggest industry, which employs more than 800,000 people. Electric engines are simpler to build and require far fewer parts than petrol- or diesel-fuelled cars. According to the study, carried out by the Fraunhofer Institute, the shift will eliminate 100,000 of the 210,000 jobs in drivetrain manufacturing by 2030, while around 25,000 new roles will be created linked to batteries and other specific requirements for electric cars. The figures were calculated on the assumption that by then, 25 percent of all cars on Germany's roads will be fully electric, while another 15 percent will be hybrids, which combine an electric motor with a traditional internal combustion engine. Today, these cars account for less than two percent of the market. IG Metall chief Joerg Hofmann said the government and company bosses needed to take urgent action to prepare the industry for the upheaval, including through retraining schemes. But he also warned that not everyone would survive the electric revolution. "There will be suppliers who won't be able to adapt their business model, especially among small- and medium-sized companies," Hofmann told reporters in Frankfurt. Whereas it takes some 4,000 workers to assemble a million gasoline-powered engines per year, just 1,840 are needed to build the same number of electric motors, the study said. Volkswagen's staff representative Bernd Osterloh told reporters that the car giant would respond to the changes by phasing out jobs through retirement schemes and "using the opportunities presented by the transformation". Despite being home to some of the world's biggest and best known carmakers, Germany's auto industry was slow to focus its attention on the greener, smarter vehicles of the future -- allowing newcomers like Tesla to take the lead. But German firms have stepped up their efforts in the wake of Volkswagen's 2015 "dieselgate" emissions cheating scandal, which badly damaged the reputation of diesel cars and spurred a push towards more environmentally friendly engines. Fighter jets, helicopters and thousands of troops in Taiwan fought back a simulated Chinese invasion Thursday as the self-ruled island faces increasing military and diplomatic pressure from Beijing. Relations between Taipei and Beijing have deteriorated since President Tsai Ing-wen was elected in 2016, as her government refuses to acknowledge that Taiwan is part of "one China". Live-fire drills began Monday with troops simulating surprise air and coastal assaults to reflect increased military threats from China, which sees Taiwan as a renegade province to be brought back into the fold -- by force if necessary. Tsai watched Thursday's session of the ongoing "Han Kuang" (Han Glory) exercise involving 4,100 soldiers, attack helicopters and fighter jets from an air base in Taichung. Thursday's scenario simulated the enemy bombing of an airfield and a paratrooper attack, with air and ground troops deployed to take back the base. An F-16 fighter flew overhead and deployed flares in a defensive move against heat-seeking missiles. Special operations troops were seen moving to secure a building. "I have seen our troops' capabilities and I have faith that our troops can achieve the goal of 'solid defence and multiple deterrence'," Tsai said. China held its own live-fire drills in April in the Taiwan Strait -- the narrow waterway separating the Chinese mainland from Taiwan -- following weeks of air and naval manoeuvres in the area. Beijing has also stepped up diplomatic pressure on Taipei, luring four countries to switch allegiance from Taiwan to China since Tsai took office. China has been incensed by a recent warming in relations between Taiwan and the United States, which remains the island's most powerful ally and arms supplier even though it has no official diplomatic ties. President Donald Trump recently signed a symbolic bill paving the way for mutual visits by high-level officials and Washington gave long-awaited approval for a licence necessary to sell submarine technology to Taiwan. Story continues A defence spending bill currently before congress in Washington calls on the US military to participate in Taiwan's drills, including the annual Han Kuang exercise. "We are optimistic about all exchanges with the US as long as it's about national security, and regional peace and stability," defence ministry spokesman Chen Chung-chi said when asked to comment on American participation in Taiwan's drills. On Monday, the pilot of an F-16 jet involved in the drills was killed after crashing into a mountain in northern Taiwan. The cause of the incident was under investigation. Photo: @nanatat07/Twitter Tradition is important to high school student Savannah Inthalangsy. Thats why she has taken the same photo with her mother semester after semester since she started high school. After her mother died, she carried on the tradition in her honor. Yesterday was my last day of high school. For 4 years Ive taken pictures with my mom on my first and last days of school. She wasnt able to make it for the last one, but her strength motivated me to stay strong during this time. All of my hard work is for her! pic.twitter.com/pDGlOEoxod sav-age (@nanatat07) May 23, 2018 Inthalangsy shared a now viral tweet consisting of seven photos of her and her mom and one of herself alone. In all the photos, the women are holding a drink or ice cream, and in some they are making goofy faces. For 4 years Ive taken pictures with my mom on my first and last days of school, Inthalangsy said on Twitter. Unfortunately, after a seven-year battle with cancer, her mother, Phelana Foster, died before Inthalangsy finished high school. So on the Mesquite, Texas, residents last day of senior year, the tradition turned into a selfie. She wasnt able to make it for the last one, but her strength motivated me to stay strong during this time. All of my hard work is for her! The series of images show Inthalangsy getting older and her mother getting more seriously ill. In the second to last photo of the two together, Foster has lost her hair, and in the last one, her hair is growing back. The tweet struck a chord with users and resulted in 125k retweets and 606k likes. Inthalangsy told a local Fox affiliate that her mother died in December of a brain aneurysm. It was kind of a combination of that and ovarian cancer that she went into a coma. And then she passed away, she said. But as the photos show, Fosters spirits remained high throughout her struggle. All throughout her cancer, she didnt really cry or get upset in front of other people about it, the teen told local news. Story continues I wanted to be strong for her because she was strong for me the whole time, Ithalangsy told the Wichita Eagle. Which is why she visited her mothers grave, with Fosters favorite Starbucks drink in hand, to snap the final photo for the series. Inthalangsy says she can feel her moms pride in her, telling the Fox affiliate, Im glad shes proud of me. Why wouldnt she be? The soon-to-be graduate is going off to college in the fall and plans to follow in her mothers footsteps and pursue a career in education (Foster was a preschool teacher). Thanks to Inthalangsys picture, many others on social media are sharing memories of their own mothers lost in similar ways. I lost my mom last year, which was also my junior year of high school. I understand completely. May your mom Rest In Peace, one wrote. I lost my mom to cancer my junior year of high school and just wanted to say that Im sending you love and peace. Its hard to keep going with the normalcy of school when something so abnormal is happening elsewhere in life, but you did it and this kindred stranger is so proud, said another. I lost mine to leukemia. May your mom continue to Rest In Peace, shared a third. Inthalangsy is in awe of this outpouring of love. Thank you for all of the kind words and support, it means a lot! she wrote on Twitter. The replies have me crying because I never noticed our close bond showed through like this, and Im so glad it did. Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: Chrissy Teigen shares photo of baby Miles in honor of his due date 3 weeks after his birth Dads complaint about lack of diaper-changing tables in mens rooms goes viral Why are people more likely to kill themselves in the spring and summer? Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. On June 6, 1944, about 150,000 troops stormed the beaches of France in the epic D-Day invasion that proved pivotal to the Allied war effort. But how did the idea originate and how did the Allies pull off such a huge task? The numbers involved in the Normandy landings are still staggering today, and unlikely to be seen again in a modern age of combat. Here are a few of the numbers, and some fascinating facts about this historic event. 1. What does D-Day mean anyway? That remains a topic of debate today, since the operation was cloaked in secrecy. One prominent theory is that the word D-Day originated in a World War I tradition of assigning generic words like D-Day and H-Hour to events with unassigned dates. Another is that the D stands for the word departed, as in departed date. 2. The invading force by sea and air was staggering. The D-Day attack consisted or more than 150,000 personnel coming across the English Channel by sea and air, and about 100,000 troops were involved in the invasion on June 6. 3. The cost of the invasion was high. Of the 100,000 or so fighters in the invading force, about 9,000 were killed or wounded on June 6, 1944. 4. How rare is a major amphibious attack? Throughout history, attacks over water were a feature of many wars and campaigns, but not on the scale of the D-Day invasion. The Spanish Armada in 1588 that failed to invade England had about 130 ships and a potential 55,000 fighters. The D-Day force had about 5,000 vessels involved in various roles. 5. Was D-Day the biggest marine invasion ever? Again, that is another debate topic. Many people believe the Normandy invasion was the largest such operation during World War II, but others can make an argument for the April 1945 invasion of Okinawa in the Pacific. The 1943 Allied landing in Sicily was also a very large and complicated operation. 6. There were live broadcasts of the invasion on radio. After a German news agency scooped the Western press by confirming the invasion in a wire report, press coverage began in the Allied nations. One CBS reporter broadcasted live from a ship within the invading force. In all, more than 700,000 words recounting the events of June 6, 1944 were relayed back to the public. Story continues 7. How did the Allies fool the Germans? The grand plan included the construction of a dummy invasion force across from the Pas de Calais near Dover. Rubber ships and plywood tanks were part of the fake invasion force. 8. How did D-Day happen on June 6th? Since everyone knew an invasion of some type was imminent, so weather and timing played prominent roles. General Dwight Eisenhower picked June 5, 1944 as the date for the invasion, but bad weather forced a postponement. After meteorologists told Eisenhower that the weather would clear the next day, the invasion was on. In reality, the weather was nearly as bad on June 6. 9. Where did the name Operation Overlord come from? Winston Churchill is believed to be the person who assigned the codename to the D-Day invasion, since he had a very high interest in selecting code names. The Germans actually pioneered the use of code names in World War I. 10. What was Eisenhowers message to the troops? Ikes Orders of the Day told the force, The eyes of the world are upon you. By The Associated Press Jun. 05, 2018 | 04:49 AM | FRANKFORT, KY Anti-poverty activists were denied group access into Kentucky's Capitol on Monday following an outdoor rally where the nation's first work requirements for Medicaid were denounced. About 400 people demonstrated in front of the statehouse, and many then marched to the front doors of the Capitol in hopes of entering. They were greeted by uniformed officers, and the group's leader was told only two demonstrators could enter at a time. When those two exited, another two would be allowed inside, rally members were told. "So you're going to literally block us from our constitutional right?" asked the Rev. William Barber, co-chairman of the Poor People's Campaign, which helped organize the rally. "Two at a time, sir," an officer replied. A peaceful standoff ensued. The group chanted "let us in," prayed and sang a spiritual before moving from the front entrance. There were no arrests, and the activists vowed to return for another protest. "That's not America," Barber said. "People who want health care, who are dying because they don't have it ... have a right to redress their government. This is a public building." An officer told Barber the two-in standard was put in place recently. Kentucky State Police officers limited statehouse access to the demonstrators because the group did not seek approval to protest inside the building, said Josh Lawson, public affairs commander for state police headquarters in Frankfort. "They have been stopped from entering as a protest group," Lawson said in a phone interview. He said some protesters spent the night in the Capitol a couple of weeks ago, which prompted the restriction to allow just two demonstrators into the building at a time. "This has been in effect since the group stayed overnight," Lawson said. "Since that incident, that's what has created that policy so that we can maintain a better control over how many people we have in there so that at the end of the day we know we can close up and secure the facility." Lawson said extra security would be needed if the protesters were allowed in and attempted to stay overnight again. Barber said concerns about another possible sit-in didn't justify denying people access to the Capitol. He said the group wanted to assemble for more speeches. More than a dozen uniformed officers were deployed just inside the Capitol at the front entrance as the demonstrators arrived. Barber said he wasn't angry at the officers for enforcing the standard, but he threatened to take the matter to court. "We have a right to go in together," he said. The Kentucky event was part of nationwide rallies as activists call for new programs to help the poor, an overhaul of voting rights laws and other social changes. Speakers in Kentucky railed against tax cuts for corporations and weaker environmental regulations. Also targeted at the Kentucky rally were new work requirements for Medicaid. The activists pointed to predictions from state officials that Medicaid will cover 95,000 fewer people in five years, once the work rules take effect. Medicaid is a joint federal and state health insurance program for poor and disabled people. Kentucky was among states that expanded their Medicaid programs under President Barack Obama's health care law. By including able-bodied adults with no children, Kentucky's Medicaid rolls swelled by more than 400,000 people. But the state still faces significant health problems, and Gov. Matt Bevin and other Republican leaders say the program was too expensive to continue without changes. In January, the Trump administration gave Kentucky permission to require adults between ages 19 and 64 to have at least 80 hours each month of "community engagement," to be eligible for Medicaid benefits. That includes working at a job, going to school, taking a job training course or community service. It was the first time the federal government had allowed a work requirement for Medicaid. Barber denounced the work requirements at Monday's rally, saying: "The governor shouldn't be trying to take health care. He should be trying to find a way to get more health care for Kentucky." Barber said taking health care away from people is immoral. "These politicians who put their hand on the Bible and swear to uphold the Constitution, the problem is half of them don't know what's in either the Bible or the Constitution," he said. "You can't find a Scripture anywhere that says deny people health care." BEIRUT (Reuters) - Around 3,000 refugees in Lebanon are expected to go back to Syria in the coming week, a local official said on Thursday, a week after Lebanon said it was working with Damascus for the return of thousands of refugees who want to return. The refugees living in a border town in northeast Lebanon will travel around 20 km (12 miles) over mountains that have separated them from their homes in Syria's western Qalamoun region for years. Bassel Hujeiri, mayor of Arsal town, told Reuters by phone the refugees had asked to go back to Syria. As the Syrian army backed by Iran and Russia has recovered more territory, Lebanon's president and other politicians have called for refugees to go back to "secure areas" before a deal to end the war. This is at odds with the international view that it is not yet safe. Lebanon hosts around 1 million registered Syrian refugees according to the United Nations, or roughly a quarter of the population, who have fled the war since 2011. The government puts the number at 1.5 million and says their presence has strained public services and suppressed economic growth. Hujeiri said the return would likely happen before the Eid al-Fitr holiday, which this year will fall around June 14. Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and depends on the sighting of the moon. Last Thursday, the head of Lebanon's General Security agency Major General Abbas Ibrahim told reporters that Lebanon is working with Damascus for the return of thousands of refugees who want to go back to Syria. On Wednesday Lebanese President Michel Aoun asked a European Parliament delegation to persuade European nations to help with returning refugees in Lebanon to Syria. The U.N.'s refugee agency UNHCR told Reuters it was not involved in this transfer, but has spoken to some of the refugees as part of its global policy of making sure people who want to return home have the documentation needed to re-establish themselves and access services. In April, several hundred refugees were bussed back to Syria from the Shebaa area of southern Lebanon in an operation overseen by General Security in coordination with Damascus. (Reporting by Dahlia Nehme; Writing by Lisa Barrington; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg) Riga (AFP) - A senior US Treasury official met Wednesday in Latvia with Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis to discuss the Baltic eurozone member's bid to reform its banking sector after money laundering allegations felled a top lender. "We stand with the (Latvian) government as it is moving to clean up a very difficult situation that has been accreted over several decades -- poor policies, lax oversight and weak enforcement," US assistant secretary for terrorist financing Marshall Billingslea said in an interview ahead of his visit. "The government is coping with a banking sector that was specifically designed to attract non-resident deposits and offshore accounts, and that has led to the situation Latvia finds itself in, which is that it has a banking sector that remains one of the most vulnerable in Europe," he told public broadcaster LSM. Shareholders decided to liquidate the country's third largest bank, ABLV, in February after the European Central Bank froze its payments. The ECB's move came after Washington accused ABLV of money laundering with connections to North Korea's nuclear weapons development programme. Kucinskis told reporters Wednesday that Latvia is consulting the United States on the liquidation, adding that the measures "will be agreed upon by US authorities". Latvian Finance Minister Dana Reizniece-Ozola added that "the US government wants to ensure that money still held by ABLV is not dirty. We have to take care that this money does not pass back into criminal hands." Other Latvian banks are now facing increased scrutiny from authorities as well. The banking sector has also been hit by bribery allegations against longtime central bank chief Ilmars Rimsevics by anti-corruption authorities. He denies the claims. Rimsevics has refused to resign, but has been barred from carrying out his duties at both the Bank of Latvia and the board of the ECB. President Donald Trump is getting scorched on Twitter after he reportedly accused Canada of setting fire to the White House during the War of 1812. During a phone conversation on May 25, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asked Trump how tariffs against his nations steel and aluminum could be justified in the name of U.S. national security, as the president claimed. Didnt you guys burn down the White House? Trump said, according to CNN and the CBC. Canada, a British colony at the time, did not become a nation until 1867. Canadians often do at times mockingly take credit for burning Washington in 1814 as it was in retaliation for the United States burning York, present-day Toronto, the previous year. Last month, former Canadian Prime Minister Kim Campbell even tweeted: Good old War of 1812 when we burned Washiington! https://t.co/Y1k5Sxu3wZ Kim Campbell (@AKimCampbell) June 1, 2018 However, the war was with Britain and the troops who burned Washington were all British, as Canadas National Post noted: Granted, at the time Canada was still a British colony and any resident there would have been considered British. However, the soldiers who burned down Washington were all expeditionary troops sent direct from Great Britain, unlike the local militias and Indigenous warriors who had done much of the fighting during earlier U.S. attempts to invade what is now Ontario. Trump was either joking or needs a history lesson and tweeters were standing by to school him on the issue: "Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?" I'm guessing that maybe he went to the same school as Bluto Blutarsky in Animal House & has never actually read a history book. #TheBestSkools https://t.co/hs5aMhADZh Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) June 6, 2018 CANADA: But why? TRUMP: War of 1812! FRANCE: *scrambles to find receipt for Louisiana Purchase* TrivWorks (@TrivWorks) June 6, 2018 They actually tell you it was the British (not Canadians) on White House tours. They also teach it in grade school. Yet, Trump suggested to @JustinTrudeau that CANADA burned down the White House, during the War of 1812. https://t.co/NYGtdi7HuH VoteVets (@votevets) June 6, 2018 When Canadians say sorry, its always for the White House fire during the War of 1812. m i t h (@ManInTheHoody) June 7, 2018 Im 15. How is it that I knew what happened during the War of 1812, but the president didnt? Stop calling the president an immature teenager - thats an insult to us. Hes an immature idiot. Emilia (@PoliticalEmilia) June 6, 2018 Dear @POTUS: Heard you blamed Canada for burning down the White House during the War of 1812 while discussing tariffs with PM Trudeau. Sharing this memo with you, again. pic.twitter.com/vLZgBJtQDt Rep. Ted Lieu (@RepTedLieu) June 6, 2018 Like we always said, this thing is gonna come down to Rudy Giuliani and the War of 1812 Alex Burns (@alexburnsNYT) June 6, 2018 I think we might've been responsible for the Bowling Green massacre too. Lloyd Davis, Copyeditor (@LCopyeditor) June 7, 2018 I had joked previously that Trump would invoke 1812 to Trudeau to justify the "National security risk" Canada poses to the U.S. I find that joke less funny now. (@filmfest_ca) June 6, 2018 On this episode of "Drunk history" Trump blames Canada for burning down the White House during the War of 1812 (((DeanObeidallah))) (@DeanObeidallah) June 7, 2018 I'm actually impressed Trump knew anything about the war of 1812. https://t.co/rBwvvuhFqf Andray (@andraydomise) June 6, 2018 Also on HuffPost Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. President Donald Trump announced he commuted the life sentence of Alice Marie Johnson, a 63-year-old serving for a first-time, nonviolent drug offense, on Wednesday. Trumps decision comes days after reality star Kim Kardashian spoke with the president at the White House about prison reform and sentencing. Kardashian has spent months using her platform to bring attention to Johnsons case. She met with the president to discuss the possibility of revisiting Johnsons sentence. One of Johnsons attorneys, Brittany K. Barnett, released a statement on Wednesday thanking the president and claimed his clemency saved Alice Johnsons life. Justice has been served today, and its long overdue, Barnett said in her statement. Alice has more than paid her debt to society by serving over 21 years of a life-without-parole sentence as a nonviolent drug offender. Life in prison without the possibility of parole screams that a person is beyond hope, beyond redemption. And in Alices case, it is a punishment that absolutely did not fit the crime. Kardashian also thanked Trump and a number of others who worked on Johnsons case in a series of tweets. The reality star also described what happened as she broke the news to Johnson about her commuted sentence. The phone call I just had with Alice will forever be one of my best memories, Kardashian tweeted. Telling her for the first time and hearing her screams while crying together is a moment I will never forget. So grateful to @realDonaldTrump, Jared Kushner & to everyone who has showed compassion & contributed countless hours to this important moment for Ms. Alice Marie Johnson. Her commutation is inspirational & gives hope to so many others who are also deserving of a second chance. Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) June 6, 2018 I hope to continue this important work by working together with organizations who have been fighting this fight for much longer than I have and deserve the recognition. Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) June 6, 2018 The phone call I just had with Alice will forever be one of my best memories. Telling her for the first time and hearing her screams while crying together is a moment I will never forget. Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) June 6, 2018 Johnson was sentenced in 1996 for helping a multimillion-dollar cocaine ring, something Johnson said she became involved with after she lost her job and was unable to support her family. In an op-ed titled Why Kim Kardashian Thinks I Should Be Released From Prison for CNN, Johnson wrote that her life began to spiral out of control after the loss of her son and her divorce. Story continues I made the biggest mistake of my life to make ends meet and got involved with people selling drugs, Johnson wrote in her CNN piece. This was a road I never dreamed of venturing down. I became what is called a telephone mule, passing messages between the distributors and sellers. I participated in a drug conspiracy, and I was wrong. The White House released a statement on Wednesday commending Johnson for her ability to rehabilitate herself in prison. Johnsons clemency was supported by her warden, Arcala Washington-Adduci, who told the White House she is a model inmate who is willing to go above and beyond in all work tasks. While this Administration will always be very tough on crime, it believes that those who have paid their debt to society and worked hard to better themselves while in prison deserve a second chance, the White House statement read. Kardashian became aware of Johnsons case last year after seeing Mic.coms October video profiling the grandmother of six and the great-grandmother of one. Johnson has been in prison for more than 21 years and is not eligible for parole after being convicted in federal court, according to Mic. Kardashian told Mic after her White House visit that she believed Johnson deserved a second chance. The reality star and businesswoman cited Johnsons spotless record in prison and family support system as reasons why she makes a good candidate for clemency. I just really strongly believe that she is someone that has completely rehabilitated herself and will continue to do so outside of prison, Kardashian told Mic in May. You know, shes done her time. Johnson applied for clemency three times under the administration of former President Barack Obama. Obama pushed for commuted sentences and pardons for drug convictions a number of times during his presidency but he didnt approve Johnsons requests. Kardashian revealed a letter from Johnson on her Instagram story after the White House visit in May. Johnson wrote that the reality star was literally helping to save my life and restore me to my family. This story has been updated with statements from the White House, Johnsons attorney and Kim Kardashian. Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. Washington (AFP) - US President Donald Trump insisted Thursday he is "very well-prepared" for a historic and potentially fraught summit with Kim Jong Un in five days, while hinting at the signing of a peace treaty and even a future White House visit by the North Korean dictator. Hosting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Washington, Trump tried to quell concerns about his lack of diplomatic or foreign policy experience heading into the high-stakes talks. "I'm very well prepared. I dont think I have to prepare very much," Trump said with characteristic bravado. "It's about attitude, it's about willingness to get things done." Trump will meet Kim in Singapore on June 12, a first-ever meeting between sitting North Korean and US leaders and one focused on Pyongyang's ominous nuclear weapons program. Abe jetted into Washington hoping to ensure a decades-old tough united front on North Korea is not swept away by the history of the moment. Since the first inkling that a Trump-Kim summit could be on the cards, Japan has repeatedly insisted that Washington be mindful not to let its guard down with the nuclear-armed regime in Pyongyang. The Japanese prime minister will have been encouraged by Trump's insistence -- during a joint Rose Garden press conference -- that the summit will be only the start of a process and his vow to raise the issue of Japanese abductees in the North. But in their joint appearance, the mercurial US president also displayed his instinct to make the sensitive, technical diplomatic effort into a dramatic world-stopping event. Trump mused that he was willing to consider normalizing ties with North Korea, that a peace treaty to formally end the Korean War could be signed in Singapore and that a leader accused of gross human rights violations could visit the White House. "We could absolutely sign an agreement and we're looking at it," said Trump. "But that's the beginning. Sounds a little bit strange, but that's probably the easy part." Story continues Although an armistice was signed to end the war, there was never a full peace treaty -- something that fuels the North Korean regime's fears about its own security. Trump even went so far as to say he would consider inviting Kim to visit the United States if the June 12 summit in Singapore goes well. "Maybe we'll start with the White House, what do you think?" he said when asked if Kim would be invited to Washington or his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. - 'Bright future' - When asked about eventual normalization of ties, he said: "That is something I would hope to do that when everything is complete." The Japanese leader said he too was willing to have full relations with North Korea, but not before key demands were met. "I wish to directly face North Korea and talk with them so that the abduction problem can be resolved quickly," Abe said. But Abe added there was no change in Japan's policy to pursue "real peace in Northeast Asia" and that if North Korea "is willing to take steps" in the right direction, it will have a "bright future." Before leaving Tokyo, Abe clearly outlined what would need to happen for the summit to be a success: tangible progress on curbing the North's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, as well as answers about the Japanese nationals kidnapped by Pyongyang in the 1970s and 1980s. The intensifying diplomacy on North Korea has so far left Abe as the odd man out: Trump is preparing to meet Kim, while Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korea's Moon Jae-in have each already seen the North's leader twice. - Japan 'isolated' after Singapore? - For Richard Armitage, a former senior diplomat in the George W. Bush administration, Tokyo runs a very real risk of finding itself out in the cold after the Trump-Kim talks. "We should absolutely prevent decoupling Japanese and US security," he told AFP. "This is and has been an aim of China and North Korea for a long time, and we can't allow this to happen. That would be falling into a terrible trap." Trump's meeting with Abe comes ahead of what promises to be a tense Group of Seven summit in Canada, clouded by the US leader's aggressive trade policies. Japan had hoped to convince the US to shield it from fresh tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, and did not hide its bitter disappointment when those talks failed. "I will stress that measures to restrict trade would not serve the interests of any country," Abe said before heading to Washington. Quebec City (AFP) - Europe and hosts Canada warned US President Donald Trump on Thursday that they will not be intimidated at the G7 summit, despite fears that a trade war will weaken the Western alliance. With the leaders of the Group of Seven industrialized democracies due in Quebec, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned the US leader that they would not roll over on trade tariffs. And France's President Emmanuel Macron, who met Trudeau in Ottawa before they headed on to the summit, said he would rally support from his British, German and Italian counterparts before they all sit down with Trump. "The American President may not mind being isolated, but neither do we mind signing a six country agreement if need be," Macron tweeted in English, turning to the medium Trump has made his own. "Because these six countries represent values, they represent an economic market which has the weight of history behind it and which is now a true international force." Trump, of course, responded in kind. "Please tell Prime Minister Trudeau and President Macron that they are charging the US massive tariffs and create non-monetary barriers," he tweeted. "The EU trade surplus with the US is $151 Billion, and Canada keeps our farmers and others out. Look forward to seeing them tomorrow." "Why isn't the European Union and Canada informing the public that for years they have used massive Trade Tariffs and non-monetary Trade Barriers against the U.S.," he later added. "Take down your tariffs & barriers or we will more than match you!" Trump, who met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Washington before the summit, may be more preoccupied with next week's historic nuclear summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. But before leaving Washington, he made clear that he too has no intention of backing down on his plan to rebalance trade by imposing tariffs on steel, aluminum and other goods imported from US allies. Story continues - All-out trade war - So great is the rift between traditional allies that some observers have suggested renaming the G7 summit the G6+1 -- and Macron said they should not hesitate to reach agreements without Trump. But observers point out that the group has never before failed to agree on some form of final communique, even in 1985, when they were likewise divided over trade. Despite the threat that tensions over trade could tear the Western alliance apart and damage the cause of globalization and free trade, the usual group of anti-capitalist protesters gathered. The main meetings will be held two-and-a-half hours north of Quebec City -- and of the international media center housing most of the reporters following the summit -- in La Malbaie, Charlevoix. But a small group of around 400 protesters had gathered in the provincial capital anyway on Thursday night, and were confronted by a large police operation to contain them. As night fell crowds gathered near the conference media center, some of them burning G7 flags and assaulting journalists. Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel had already admitted it will be difficult to even agree on wording for the traditional joint communique at the two-day meeting. Merkel said Wednesday there would be "no compromise for its own sake" and dropping the statement "may be the more honest way." Canada's Trade Minister Francois Philippe Champagne was even more blunt, declaring: "What we are seeing is that the world economic order is under pressure, under attack." Top White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow opposed tariffs before joining Trump's team, but now says he agrees the trade status quo hurts America. "Until we can have reciprocal relationships, we will not have free trade, and we will not have fair trade," Kudlow said. - End of the world order - The G7 developed in part because the world's rich powers -- despite their Cold War victory -- became frustrated working through the broader multilateral system with lesser rivals. The globalized economy they helped build had both winners and losers but, until Trump's election, the United States was seen as the system's uncontested leader and a major beneficiary. But since coming to office in January 2017, Trump has pulled the US out of the Paris climate accord, the Iran nuclear deal and the TPP Pacific free trade deal. The summit begins Friday in La Malbaie, in Charlevoix, north of Quebec, and runs until Saturday, when Trump flies on to Singapore. President reportedly invoked war of 1812 when Canadian PM asked how he could justify tariffs on national security grounds Justin Trudeau and Donald Trump shared a testy phone call last month. Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images He has criticized Canadas trade polices as unfair and dismissed its dairy policy as a disgrace. Now, Donald Trump has reportedly added a 200-year-old battle to his litany of complaints against the United States northern neighbor. During a tetchy phone call last month to discuss looming steel and aluminum tariffs, Canadas prime minister, Justin Trudeau, reportedly asked how Trump could justify the new duties on national security grounds. In reply, Trump asked, according to CNN: Didnt you guys burn down the White House? The White House did not respond to a request for comment and Canadian officials declined to comment on the record. The White House was burned by British troops in 1814 as part of a failed invasion of the mid-Atlantic, more than 50 years before the signing of Canadas confederation paved the way for the founding of modern-day Canada. Although the British successfully took Washington and burned much of the city, they failed in their major goal of taking Baltimore when their forces were rebuffed at the battle of Fort McHenry. Canada was a major battleground during the conflict known as the war of 1812 which played a significant part in the creation of the Canadian national identity. Trumps comments come at a time of increased tensions between the US and Canada, shortly before the US president unilaterally announced increased tariffs without congressional approval, citing national security needs. The border between the US and Canada has been demilitarized for two centuries. Trumps justification for the new duties has provoked outrage from Canadians. Trudeau said in an interview with NBC on Sunday: One of the things that I have to admit Im having a lot of trouble getting around is the idea that this entire thing is coming about because the president and the administration have decided that Canada and Canadian steel and aluminum is a national security threat to the United States. Story continues Trudeau also noted the long history of military and diplomatic partnership between the countries. Our soldiers had fought and died together on the beaches of world war two and the mountains of Afghanistan and have stood shoulder to shoulder in some of the most difficult places in the world, that are always there for each other, somehow this is insulting to that, said Trudeau. The idea that the Canadian steel thats in military vehicles in the United States, the Canadian aluminum that makes your fighter jets is somehow now a threat. Trump travels to Canada on Friday for the G7 summit in Quebec. The following statements were posted to the verified Twitter accounts of U.S. President Donald Trump, @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS. The opinions expressed are his own. Reuters has not edited the statements or confirmed their accuracy. @realDonaldTrump : - Mitch McConnell announced he will cancel the Senate's August Recess. Great, maybe the Democrats will finally get something done other than their acceptance of High Crime and High Taxes. We need Border Security! [0002 EDT] - Great night for Republicans! Congratulations to John Cox on a really big number in California. He can win. Even Fake News CNN said the Trump impact was really big, much bigger than they ever thought possible. So much for the big Blue Wave, it may be a big Red Wave. Working hard! [0916 EDT] - Gold Star father, Ceejay Metcalf, whose great son Michael was just honored at the White House, was fantastic this morning on @foxandfriends. He is a special man! [0937 EDT] - The Fake News Media has been so unfair, and vicious, to my wife and our great First Lady, Melania. During her recovery from surgery they reported everything from near death, to facelift, to left the W.H. (and me) for N.Y. or Virginia, to abuse. All Fake, she is doing really well! [0948 EDT] -- Source link: (http://bit.ly/2jBh4LU) (http://bit.ly/2jpEXYR) (Compiled by Bengaluru bureau) DUBAI (Reuters) - A senior United Arab Emirates (UAE) official said in remarks published on Thursday that Iraq's parliamentary election, won by a block led by nationalist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, was a setback for Iran's regional ambitions. Shi'ite cleric Sadr, a long-time adversary of the United States who also opposes Iranian influence in Iraq, is now in a position to influence the formation of the government due to his bloc's surprise win, even though he cannot himself become prime minister because he did not run in the May 12 election. UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash told The National newspaper that the results indicated the Arab world was moving away from viewing its problems through a "sectarian lens" and urged the region to support an "Arab Center". "Much of the rhetoric coming out of Iraq is staunchly opposed to Iran's influence in the country, indicating a strengthening Iraqi identity that can cut through sectarian divides," the English-language daily quoted him as saying. "While Iran still has the messianic sectarian view to be the major regional power, I would argue that Iran is getting its own blows and it's not a linear progression," he said. A close U.S. ally, the UAE, along with Saudi Arabia, has accused Shi'ite Muslim Iran of backing armed groups across the region in a bid for domination. Both Sunni Muslim countries swiftly backed a decision last month by U.S. President Donald Trump to pull Washington out of an international deal to limit Tehran's nuclear program. Iran has steadily increased its influence in Iraq, its most important ally in the Middle East, since a U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003. Last year, Sadr traveled to Irans regional archrival Saudi Arabia, which has been tentatively seeking to increase its involvement in Iraq. Gargash's comments came after Iraq's parliament passed a law on Wednesday ordering a nationwide manual recount of votes in the parliamentary election. (Reporting by Ghaida Ghantous; Editing by Toni Reinhold) By The Associated Press Jun. 06, 2018 | 11:28 AM | FRANKFORT, KY Kentucky's chief justice will not remove a judge from a case involving the state's public pension system, setting up a potentially contentious court hearing Thursday about the legality of a law that prompted thousands of teachers to march on the Capitol and close dozens of school districts in protest. Republican Gov. Matt Bevin signed a bill into law earlier this year that made changes to Kentucky's woefully-underfunded public retirement systems. It requires all new teacher hires put into a hybrid pension system. It also changes how current teachers can use their sick days to calculate their retirement benefits. Many teachers opposed the bill, mostly because the legislature passed it on one of the final days of the legislative session without giving them a chance to read it first. Schools in more than 30 districts closed for one day in April while teachers came to Frankfort to protest. Democratic Attorney General Andy Beshear sued to block the bill, one of the many lawsuits he has filed against Bevin. Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd has the case. Shepherd has ruled for and against Bevin in several of the Bevin-Beshear conflicts. But Shepherd angered Bevin in this case when he ruled Bevin's lawyers could not take deposition testimony from staff in the Attorney General's Office and the Kentucky Education Association, the state's largest teachers' union. Bevin went on talk radio and called Shepherd an "incompetent hack." Soon after, his lawyers sent Shepherd a letter asking him to recuse himself from the case. They argued he could not make a fair ruling because he is a member of one of Kentucky's retirement systems. When Shepherd refused to step aside, Bevin's lawyers asked Kentucky Chief Justice John Minton to remove him. The request threatened to delay legal arguments in the case scheduled for Thursday, which are expected to attract more teacher protests at the courthouse in Kentucky's capital city. But Minton denied Bevin's request Wednesday afternoon, clearing the way for the hearing to proceed. Steve Pitt, Bevin's chief attorney, cited a 1941 Kentucky Court of Appeals' decision where every member of the state's highest court recused themselves from a case relating to the retirement of judges. Pitt argued the case set the standard that "a judge with a public pension cannot sit in judgment of legislation that could affect that pension." Minton rejected that argument. He noted the reason the judges recused themselves in 1941 is because they were the ones who had filed it. That does not apply to Shepherd. Wednesday, Beshear accused Bevin of trying to delay the case. Portions of the pension bill are scheduled to take effect July 14. "If your legal arguments are strong, you're not afraid of getting a ruling," Beshear said. "I believe the actions of the General Assembly and the arguments of the governor are unconstitutional. And at some level they know it." Wednesday, during a background briefing with reporters, Bevin's legal team denied they were trying to delay the case. They noted the portion of the bill scheduled to take effect in July will not affect state workers who are contemplating retirement. London (AFP) - Prime Minister Theresa May revealed plans Thursday for Britain to temporarily align with EU customs rules after Brexit as a fall-back option to resolve the Irish border problem, but only to 2021 in what was viewed as a compromise with eurosceptic ministers. The so-called backstop proposal was published after last-minute wrangling over the wording with Brexit Secretary David Davis, who was reported to have been considering resigning unless it included a time limit. Brussels has proposed that Northern Ireland stay aligned with the EU until another way is found to avoid customs checks with the Republic of Ireland after Brexit. London says this is unacceptable, offering instead a "temporary customs arrangement" for the whole of Britain that would "maintain the status quo for traders in respect of customs processes". May hopes to resolve the border issue with a wider trade deal between the EU and Britain, but has agreed to the need for a plan B if this is delayed or does not happen. "The UK is clear that the temporary customs arrangement, should it be needed, should be time limited," said the document. "The UK expects the future arrangement to be in place by the end of December 2021 at the latest" -- a year after the end of the post-Brexit transition period. The EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, welcomed the plan, saying on Twitter that it would be examined with three questions in mind. "Is it a workable solution to avoid a hard border? Does it respect the integrity of the SM/CU (single market / customs union)? Is it an all-weather backstop?" he said. The Irish government -- which is pressing for "substantial progress" on the issue by an EU summit later this month -- said it would consider the proposals. However, the European Parliament's chief negotiator, Guy Verhofstadt, warned against trying to impose a time limit, saying: "A backstop that is temporary is not a backstop." Story continues - Fudged document - The idea of the backstop is controversial with eurosceptics, who fear it will keep Britain tied to the EU's rules for years after it leaves the bloc on March 29, 2019. Reports that Davis might quit unless there was a time limit have been swirling for several days. His chief of staff, Stewart Jackson, tweeted Thursday that there had been a "helpful dialogue" and the paper now included more detail on "the time limited nature of our proposal". "This is a clear compromise to keep David from resigning, but it does undermine Theresa hugely," one pro-European MP in May's Conservative Party said. Others questioned the substance of the proposal. "After weeks of the government negotiating with itself, the fudged document they have produced doesn't engage with any of the key Brexit dilemmas," said opposition Labour MP Chris Leslie. "It is highly unlikely to lead to anything but more gridlock in the ongoing talks with the EU." May also held separate meetings on Thursday with Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and International Trade Secretary Liam Fox, both leading eurosceptics. On Wednesday reporters asked Davis if he would quit if the backstop did not have his explicit approval, replying: "That's a question I think for the prime minister, to be honest." Asked if she expected Davis to remain in his position on Thursday, May's spokeswoman said: "Yes... of course." All sides in the Brexit negotiations have committed to avoiding any physical infrastructure on the Irish border, where free movement of people and goods is viewed as key to peace on the island. But the government is struggling to find a way to fulfil this commitment while sticking to its plan to leave the EU's single market and customs union after Brexit. Kiev (AFP) - Ukrainian lawmakers on Thursday approved key legislation to create a long-awaited anti-corruption court while also voting to dismiss the country's finance minister, a respected reformer backed by the West. A total of 254 lawmakers in the 450-seat parliament supported a motion submitted by Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman to sack Oleksandr Danylyuk. The 42-year-old anti-corruption campaigner ruffled many feathers as he sought to clean up the former Soviet country's fiscal and customs services. He is supported by global donors including the International Monetary Fund and his dismissal is expected to raise concern among Ukraine's lenders and foreign governments. In another crucial development expected to be received more favourably by the West, the parliament approved in the second and final reading a draft law to create an anti-corruption court -- a key IMF condition for it to distribute more aid to Ukraine. President Petro Poroshenko hailed the move as a "victory for Ukraine" after 315 lawmakers supported the legislation, with just 25 voting against. "I believe this is a historic day," Poroshenko said in parliament. "Today we have completed the formation of anti-corruption infrastructure," he added on Twitter. - 'Corruption threatens security' - Ukraine's Western allies have long called on Kiev to reform the country's kleptocratic system and create an independent court to handle corruption cases. The State Department said this week the legislation should satisfy the IMF which has long insisted that international experts should have veto power in the appointment of Ukrainian judges to root out corruption and speed up economic growth "The establishment of a genuinely independent anti-corruption court is the most important, immediate step the government can take to meet those demands and roll back corruption that continues to threaten Ukraine's national security, prosperity, and democratic development," Washington said. Story continues Poroshenko said the legislation adopted Thursday was in line with Western recommendations and Ukrainian law. Poroshenko initially balked at the idea of creating an independent anti-corruption court, saying in 2017 that such institutions existed in "Kenya, Uganda, Malaysia and Croatia" but not in western Europe or the United States. The IMF and the World Bank have in the past criticised Ukraine's draft legislation for the anti-corruption court, saying it was not in line with Western requirements. The IMF said Thursday it needed time to review the legislation. "The IMF staff look forward to reviewing the approved law to assess its consistency with agreements under the IMF-supported program," said Goesta Ljungman, the organisation's Ukraine representative. Reformist lawmaker Sergiy Leshchenko, writing on Twitter, expressed hope that the creation of the anti-corruption court would "restore the confidence of international financial institutions and support the hryvnya," the country's currency. - 'Good reputation' - Over the past years, global lenders have provided Ukraine -- which is locked in a conflict with Russian-backed rebels -- with billions of dollars of financing to allow its stricken economy to stay afloat. After Danylyuk's dismissal the government appointed his first deputy, Oksana Markarova, acting finance minister. "In Ukraine and abroad, she has a good reputation among technocrats and reformers," Tymofiy Mylovanov, an associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh, told AFP. Mylovanov, who is also honorary president at the Kyiv School of Economics, said Danylyuk's sacking could be seen as "a bad sign for relations with creditors, agencies and markets" but added it was more important for the IMF that Ukraine had adopted the legislation for the anti-corruption court. Ukrainian media reported last week that Danylyuk wrote a letter to the Group of Seven nations, complaining the government was trying to hamper his efforts to push through fiscal and other reforms and accusing officials of "corruption (and) vested interests." Addressing lawmakers before the vote, Danylyuk said he had been accused of "defending the interests of international organisations." "I am defending the interests of Ukrainians," he added. Danylyuk said Wednesday he "had faced colossal pressure over the past year" and accused the authorities of corruption. "I was given a choice -- either leave or become an accomplice," he said. Corruption was among top reasons that prompted Ukrainians to take to the streets and oust a Kremlin-backed regime in 2014. When Nick Hanauer was just 7, his father made sure he and his brother knew every aspect of the family business. Afterschool and summer vacation activities included doing small jobs at the familys Seattle-based pillow and down comforter company, Pacific Coast Feather. Im pretty deeply acquainted with what that kind of work is and what its like, says Hanauer, but Ive [also] worked sort of doing all kinds of jobs in a variety of companies. Today, Hanauer is a self-made billionaire. He made his money as a serial entrepreneur and venture capitalist and has also created a broad array of companies ranging from e-commerce software to biotechnology. Hanauers business acumen has allowed him to become one of the wealthiest Americans the so-called 1 percent but it has also made him an unlikely champion of the poor and a passionate advocate for the advancement of economic equality in the U.S. If youre a middle-class person and feel like the country has left you behind, that is an objective truth. That didnt happen by accident. Hanauer is aware that some form of economic inequality is an essential part of a healthy economy. Thats not in dispute, he says. The question, however, is how much of it should exist. In the late 1970s, the richest 1 percent of Americans shared only about 8 percent of the national income. By 2007, however, that number had grown to almost 23 percent, while the income share of the bottom 50 percent had fallen from about 20 percent to about 12 percent in 2015. It doesnt take a mathematical genius to see that if that trend continues, we will no longer have really a capitalist economy or a democracy, notes Hanauer. He believes there are multiple factors contributing to the probleme: trickle-down tax policies, dwindling overtime pay and decreasing wages. There is no excuse for any company in America to pay their workers so little that they need food stamps, and Medicaid and rent assistance, explains Hanauer. This is bulls***. Story continues Thats not capitalism. Thats socialism for the rich. According to Hanauer, all businesses share the same econo-erotic fantasy: My customers will all be rich and be paid a lot by their employers. My workers, sadly, will not be paid a lot, so my margins are very high. Ill exist in this world where my workers need food stamps, sadly, but my customers are wealthy enough to both buy my stuff and pay the taxes that will fund the food stamps. Hanauer appreciates the appeal of the fantasy, but there is one problem: If everybody gets that deal, then you have no economy anymore. However, Hanauer believes this crisis is a direct result of policies enacted by governments from both the right and left. When President Trump signed the GOP tax bill on December 20, 2017, he touted it as the coming of jobs, jobs, jobs. And while Republicans have said that the bill will benefit the middle class and spark job growth by giving corporations permanent tax cuts, Hanauer says that those claims are far from the truth. Rich people no more create jobs than farmers create tomatoes. The economy generates jobs, not rich people, he explains. The more money consumers have, the more jobs that are created, because people buy things and people like me are required to hire people in order to meet that demand. Low wage workers and supporters protest for a $15 an hour minimum wage on November 10, 2015 at Foley Square in New York. (Photo: Cem Ozdel/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) In order for those consumers to get the money needed to buy the products, they would have to have that money in the first place which is why Hanauer believes every state should institute a $15 minimum wage, which he successfully lobbied for in the state of Washington. The idea that raising wages kills jobs lies in the face of all common sense. If people dont have any money, who will buy the stuff? And even though Hanauer was one of the first investors in Amazon, he holds Jeff Bezos to the same standard he would to any CEO who runs a successful business empire. Until we collectively raise standards so that we require Jeff Bezos to pay his workers enough to get by without food stamps, its not his obligation to do that unilaterally, he says. Certainly, thats not what Walmart is doing, or Walgreens, or any of his competitors and I think thats a problem. The availability of overtime is another area Hanauer believes should be a key labor protection for the middle class: In 1975, more than 65 percent of salaried American workers earned time-and-a-half pay for every hour worked over the weeks allotted 40 hours. By 2013, however, only 11 percent of salaried workers qualified for overtime pay which means employees can be made to work over 40 hours a week without getting paid their time and a half. Hanauer says this causes more jobs to be taken out of the economy and a softening of the labor market, making it harder for workers to negotiate higher wages. He explains, If you do that 30, 40, or 50 million times across the economy, you have turned three jobs at 40 hours a week into two jobs at 60 hours a week, millions of times. Thats a way to take 20 million jobs out of the economy. Ultimately, Hanauer believes people should call their elected representatives and demand policies that create wage-and-overtime increases and reject cutting taxes for wealthy corporations, [Dont] get conned by this trickle-down nonsense that raising wages kills jobs It doesnt. Its just a thing rich people say to poor people to keep rich people rich and poor people poor. Its a lie. Dont believe it. Washington (AFP) - The United States has set up a task force to oversee the response to mystery ailments among its diplomats in Cuba and China, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday. The State Department has previously said brain injuries suffered by 24 US officials and family members posted in Havana could have been the result of a "health attack," perhaps from an unidentified secret weapon. Washington has said in the past that Cuban authorities must take responsibility for the safety of US diplomats on their soil, but the Havana government denies any knowledge of an attack. Last month, another American employee fell ill with similar symptoms in China, reviving fears that a US rival has developed some kind of invisible acoustic or microwave device. Announcing the task force, however, Pompeo said: "The precise nature of the injuries suffered by the affected personnel, and whether a common cause exists for all cases, has not yet been established." According to the State Department, the "Health Incidents Response Task Force" will coordinate both the investigation and the treatment of the victims and work with several government and military agencies. The statement makes no reference to the possibility of a deliberate attack. But it warns that US diplomats should alert their mission's medical staff "if they note new onset of symptoms that may have begun in association with experiencing unidentified auditory sensations." "Reported symptoms have included dizziness, headaches, tinnitus, fatigue, cognitive issues, visual problems, ear complaints and hearing loss, and difficulty sleeping," it adds. Stockholm (AFP) - A Swedish court on Thursday sentenced a radicalised and rejected Uzbek asylum seeker to life in prison for terrorism after he mowed down pedestrians with a stolen truck in central Stockholm last year, killing five people. The assault mirrored other truck attacks in 2016 that left scores dead in France, Germany and the UK. It occurred as Sweden grappled with the aftermath of having taken in more migrants per capita than any other country in Europe. Arrested hours after the April 7, 2017 attack, Rakhmat Akilov, 40, who swore allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) group on the eve of the assault, said that IS members had given him the green light on encrypted chat sites to carry out a suicide attack in the Swedish capital. However, the jihadist organisation never claimed responsibility for the assault. The Stockholm district court convicted Akilov of "terrorist crimes" for five murders and 119 attempted murders in one of Stockholm's busiest shopping streets. Three Swedes -- including a girl who would have turned 12 on Thursday -- were killed along with a 41-year-old British man and a 31-year-old Belgian woman. Another 10 people were injured. Akilov, who confessed almost immediately to the attack, expressed no remorse during his nearly three-month trial. His gaze often remained empty, even when photographs and footage of the bloody attack were projected onto a large screen in the courtroom. "The effects (the attack) had on Sweden were rather severe and his intention was to scare the Swedish public," senior judge Ragnar Palmkvist told AFP. "He acted with the direct intention to kill as many people as possible," the court said in its verdict, adding that Akilov would be expelled after serving the life term, which averages 16 years in Sweden. After swerving wildly to hit as many people as possible, Akilov's rampage ended when the truck smashed into the facade of a large department store. Story continues Another judge in the trial, Carl Rosenmuller, said Akilov saw the victims as "pins in a game", not human beings. An explosive device -- made up of five gas canisters and nails -- did not explode as planned and caused fire damage only to the truck. Akilov fled the scene, running into a nearby metro station, and was arrested several hours later after being identified by public transport video surveillance images and eyewitness reports. - 'Disappointed' - Investigators found text messages on Akilov's cell phone with contacts identified only by pseudonyms, and whom Akilov said were high-ranking members of IS or the "Islamic caliphate" declared in parts of Iraq and Syria. While the text messages indicated Akilov consulted with his contacts on how to carry out his attack, prosecutors have insisted that he acted alone. Authorities said Akilov "intended to force Sweden to stop participating in the global coalition against IS" and to "spread fear among the population". Sweden, a non-NATO member, has around 70 military personnel based mainly in northern Iraq to provide training as part of the US-led coalition against IS. Akilov told the court he had planned to die as a martyr and did not expect to survive the attack. His lawyer Johan Eriksson said Akilov "was disappointed" with the verdict and was contemplating whether or not to appeal. Suzanne Diamantakidou, 59, who was almost hit by the truck and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after the attack, told the daily Expressen that she was "happy" with the verdict. - Gone underground - After arriving in Sweden in 2014, on the cusp of a huge wave of migration to Europe, Akilov's application for residency was rejected in June 2016. He later went underground to avoid expulsion and worked odd jobs in construction. The father of four, who drank alcohol and used drugs according to colleagues and acquaintances, lived alone in Sweden. His wife and children stayed behind in Uzbekistan. After the attack, Swedish authorities were heavily criticised for having failed to find Akilov and expel him from the country. While the government has since adopted a series of measures aimed at ensuring that rejected asylum seekers really do leave Sweden, only 1,000 of 3,000 who were definitively rejected actually left the country in the first three months of 2018. Security and immigration are two of the main themes dominating Sweden's general election campaign ahead of a September 9 vote. The Scandinavian country has registered 400,000 asylum applications since 2012 -- or one for every 25 inhabitants, a record in Europe -- with a peak of 162,000 applications in 2015. Russian President Vladimir Putin has pledged that his country will make sure that President Donald Trumps upcoming meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is a success. Trump and Kim are slated to meet on June 12 in Singapore to discuss the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, and Putin says that all major regional players, including Russia, should offer North Korea guarantees in order to have a fruitful meeting. "We will be waiting for the outcome of the meeting between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and will contribute to the success of this meeting in every possible way," Putin told Chinese reporters Wednesday in the lead-up to a security meeting in China next week. Putin also said that the international community should help North Korea with its economic development and guarantee Kim's safety in exchange for the abandonment of Pyongyangs nuclear weapons program. Trending: Where Was Melania Trump? President Says She 'Went Through a Little Rough Patch' "There are numerous prospects for joint work both in the three-and four-party format; it is just necessary to move in this direction," Putin said. The comments echo those already made by Trump and members of his administration. Speaking last month in the oval office, Trump said that North Korea can be very rich under Kim if the isolated country agrees to give up its nuclear weapons. A week later, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Trump should provide Kim with comfort and security in order for the meeting to be successful. Don't miss: Where Is Kim Jong Un Staying in Singapore? U.S. Company Offers to Pay His Hotel During Summit With Trump The North Korean leader believes that his regimes survival depends on having nuclear weapons to deter an attack from the United States. World leaders appear to believe that Kim could be more open to getting rid of his country's nuclear weapons program if he has any guarantee that he will not be deposed and his country will not be attacked. Story continues Meanwhile, Trumps national security adviser John Bolton was sidelined from discussions with North Koreas envoy after he suggested that the U.S. could follow the Libya model with the hermit kingdom, a comment interpreted by the rogue regime as a suggestion that Kim could eventually be overthrown. In the run-up to the meeting, however, regional analysts have suggested that Kim and Trump do not see eye to eye on what denuclearization means. The diplomatic process toward nuclear disarmament and peace on the Korean peninsula, which North and South Korea have both expressed support for, will likely take some time. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek The venue for the historic summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was announced Wednesday as Capella Hotel on Sentosa Island, but with the meeting six days away, where Kim will stay and the big question of who will pay for it remains unanswered. Related: Who Is Going to Kim Jong Un Summit With Trump? Melania and Ivanka Have Accompanied Him Before Kim and Trump, whose accommodations also have not been revealed, are likely to stay at separate hotels other than Capella Hotel, according to diplomats. For his part, Kim reportedly wants to stay at the Fullerton Hotel, which has a more than $6,000 per night presidential suite, and not pay for it, leaving American officials to figure out how to waive sanctions prohibiting the U.S. from covering the costs, or see if Singapore can pick up the tab. Trending: Is Pedro Sanchez the New Justin Trudeau? Spain's Handsome Prime Minister Sworn in With Majority Female Cabinet Following the reports of the payment issue on Friday, Tim Hentschel, co-founder and CEO of HotelPlanner.com, an online group travel website that often works with government officials, extended an offer to cover Kims lodging of choice from the site, as well as his meals. Hentschel told Newsweek that his company, based in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday faxed a letter with the offer to North Korea through the countrys embassy in China. Were just waiting to hear back, he said. He added that he spoke with an official at U.S. Department of Commerces Office of Travel and Tourism Industries. Theyre just excited; if we can make it happen, its great, Hentschel said. Don't miss: Georgia Democrat Apologizes For Cross-Burning Facebook Post On D-Day Anniversary While the Fullerton is not on the list of 11 hotels that HotelPlanner.com is offering Kim, Hentschel said he does not have a dollar amount cap and, I mean, who doesnt want world peace, right? He should go with the hotels on our list. Were used to working with dignitaries, anybody who demands high-level privacy and security, Hentschel said. We will definitely make sure he gets the best room the hotel has to offer. Story continues The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Newsweek on Wednesday. Most popular: Republican Slams Donald Trump's 'Spygate' Claims, Says They Create 'More Chaos' Trump reportedly wants to stay at the Shangri-La Hotel, where a suite in the Valley Wing costs about $7,471 on June 12. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek President Donald Trump and adviser Kellyanne Conway. She famously described falsehoods from his White House as alternative facts. (Photo: Kevin Lamarque / Reuters) WASHINGTON With both new and newly revealed falsehoods providing fresh evidence undercutting the credibility of President Donald Trump and his staff, one top aide has turned to familiar scapegoats: the news media. You neither wanted nor expected him to be the president, Kellyanne Conway told reporters Wednesday. The president says plenty of things that are true and right and important to America ... Hes not serially untruthful. Foreign policy experts, foreign diplomats, communications experts and even other Republican press staffers have long warned that the willingness of those in Trumps White House to say untrue things (and at times to do so knowing what they are saying is untrue that is, to lie) will eventually come back to haunt the country. I worry about the loss of credibility in the institution, said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, the director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center. There may be a situation thats consequential where the public needs to do something, and the president says to take action, and the public says, Yeah, right. One GOP consultant who spoke on condition of anonymity said Trumps falsehoods seem deliberate. Trump understands that voters expect that all politicians lie. Hes made the calculation that he can talk himself out of any situation, the consultant said. Trump typically says or writes several things each day that are provably false. In the past week, he has claimed that he has started building his wall on the border with Mexico, that the military hadnt received a pay raise in 10 years before he took office and that his stewardship has created the Best Economy & Jobs EVER all of which are not true. But the falsehood that has refocused attention on his credibility took place nearly a year ago, as Trump flew back to Washington from Germany after attending the G-20 meeting. Aboard Air Force One, Trump crafted a statement for release by his son Donald Trump Jr., saying that a June 2016 meeting between members of his campaign and a Russian lawyer was primarily about the adoption of Russian children by Americans. Story continues That Trump Tower meeting has become a focus of the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into possible cooperation by Donald Trump Sr.s campaign and Russian intelligence agencies, which were working to help him win the presidency. A 20-page letter from his lawyers to Muellers office in January acknowledged that Trump dictated that statement flatly contradicting previous statements from Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow and White House press secretary Sarah Sanders. Sanders this week refused to explain the discrepancy, instead referring questions to Trumps outside lawyers, and eventually said she tries to be truthful. I work every single day to give you accurate and up-to-date information, she said Tuesday. I think you all know Im an honest person. Ten months earlier, though, she not only denied that Trump had done anything more than weigh in on the writing of the statement like any father would, but she attacked the media for even asking the question. You guys are focused on a meeting that Don Jr. had of no consequence, when the Democrats actually colluded with a foreign government like Ukraine, Sanders said at a press briefing on Aug. 1, 2017. The Democrat-linked firm Fusion GPS actually took money from the Russian government while it created the phony dossier thats been the basis for all of the Russia scandal fake news. And if you want to talk further about a relationship with Russia, look no further than the Clintons. At a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor on Wednesday, Conway took the same approach when asked why Trump continued his habit of falsehoods and whether anyone in the White House had advised him against it. Has the president said something that even comes close to It was a videotape that caused the loss of life for people in Benghazi? Conway said in an 850-word response that answered neither of the questions posed. I mean, why was I the campaign manager for the winning part of the campaign and talking to people in McComb County, Michigan, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, and not Moscow? Why have I never met George Papadopoulos or Carter Page? The Trump White Houses strained relationship with facts began on his first full day as president. During a visit to CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, Trump claimed that his inauguration drew some 1.5 million people when in reality, it had attracted only a fraction of that. Trump that evening sent his thenpress secretary Sean Spicer into the White House briefing room to scold reporters. Spicer did that, falsely claimed that Trumps inaugural had the largest audience ever and left without taking questions. Conway, the following day, famously labeled Spicers falsehoods alternative facts and then launched into unrelated topics and ultimately attacked her NBC News interviewer. You want to talk about things the media doesnt want to cover. You totally missed Brexit and Theresa May, Conway said. You totally missed Trumps campaign. You want to talk about provable facts? Youve missed it all along. America doesnt really I mean, look, you got 14 percent approval rating in the media that youve earned. You want to push back on us. Short of a national emergency, how much the White Houses propensity for untruths matters is unclear. The fact is that Trumps supporters dont believe what the press says about him. They believe the press distorts his positions and twists what he says, said Republican pollster Neil Newhouse, estimating that 35 to 38 percent of voters are hard-core Trump supporters. Continuing attacks on his credibility simply harden his base. A new Quinnipiac poll shows that while 44 percent of Americans surveyed said they believe Trump is less honest than most previous presidents, 27 percent believe he is about as honest, and 26 percent believe he is more honest. Those numbers have been relatively stable over the past year. When the economy is doing well, people feel it. When a politician lies, people move on, the GOP consultant said. If the economy goes down or if were attacked, then it will matter. In the meantime, Trumps White House continued dealing with his untruths. Chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow asked about Trumps false claim that the current unemployment rate of 3.8 percent is the best ever said the rate was among the lowest but would not acknowledge that Trump was incorrect. The facts stand on their own. Im not going to quibble with you about such things, he said. And Conway, at the Christian Science Monitor breakfast, dealt with Trumps repeated false claim that the military had not had a pay raise in 10 years before he became president by repeating it. Its first pay raise in quite a while, she said during a rundown of Trumps various accomplishments. Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. By Nate Raymond BOSTON (Reuters) - The ex-partner of convicted Boston gangster James "Whitey" Bulger testified on Thursday that he witnessed the strangling of a nightclub manager who died in 1993 as the former boss of the New England mafia watched. Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi, who is serving a life sentence for 10 murders, told jurors in federal court in Boston that he saw Francis "Cadillac Frank" Salemme's son strangle Steven DiSarro as his father watched. Flemmi delivered the testimony during his second day on the stand as the star witness in Salemme's murder trial. Salemme, who has confessed to eight other murders, denies killing DiSarro. Flemmi said he saw the incident after Salemme, who headed the New England family of La Costa Nostra, in an earlier conversation expressed concerns that DiSarro was speaking to authorities and might implicate him in criminal activities. "Did you obtain impression about Mr. DiSarro's fate?" Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred Wyshak asked. "Oh yes, Frank wanted to kill him," Flemmi said. Flemmi, 83, said he witnessed the strangling when on May 10, 1993, he went to Salemme's home to talk to Salemme, 84, who he had known and worked with since the 1960s. He said that he saw Frank Salemme Jr in the kitchen strangling DiSarro as Paul Weadick, an associate also on trial, held his legs and the senior Salemme watched. Weadick also denies killing Salemme. Concerned Salemme might be under surveillance, Flemmi said that he quickly left. But he said Salemme later told him DiSarro was killed and that his body was buried in a 20-foot deep hole at a Rhode Island construction site. The testimony by Flemmi, who has been cooperating with authorities, provided a flashback to an era when organized crime in Boston was run by Salemme and Bulger, the notorious gangster now serving life in prison. Flemmi, who also testified against Bulger at his 2013 trial, said he last saw Salemme while in jail in 1999. On Wednesday, Flemmi said he did not recognize Salemme in the courtroom even though he was sitting nearby. Story continues "I would recognize him if I see him, but I don't see him," Flemmi said. According to prosecutors, Salemme had a secret interest in a music venue called The Channel, which DiSarro had purchased. In 1993, a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent told DiSarro he would be indicted and should cooperate with authorities who were probing Salemme and his son, who died in 1995, prosecutors have said. Authorities found his body in 2016 behind a mill in Providence, Rhode Island. (Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) Texas police dashcam footage appears to show the moment a woman was found sleeping in the road. The Fulshear Police Department released the tape that shows one of their officers, Sgt. Charlie Scott, rushing to the aid of the woman as she lay motionless in the road west of Houston Saturday. "The (suspected) intoxicated woman decided to take a nap in the middle of FM 1093 after possibly running off the road and getting her car stuck in a ditch about 200 yards from where she 'bedded down' for the night," police wrote in a statement posted to Facebook. In the video, you see the car in front of Sgt. Scott's cruiser swerve to avoid an object in the road. That object, he soon realized, was a person, and he quickly ran out to help. The woman was able to sit up, but then stumbled to her feet before she was arrested for public intoxication. "However, this unfortunate mistake could have ended tragically and the ride could have been to the morgue," police warned. Police confirmed to InsideEdition.com the woman's name is Jeanette Murillow. She was released on bond Sunday from the Fort Bend County Jail. 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7 Sep (15) 24 Aug - 31 Aug (14) 17 Aug - 24 Aug (9) 10 Aug - 17 Aug (5) The woman who wound up with a face full of sand during a violent arrest on a New Jersey beach over Memorial Day weekend is telling her side of the story to Inside Edition. Emily Weinman, 20, was at the Wildwood beach with her aunt and young daughter when she was questioned by police about alcohol in a cooler that was with her. Footage caught on cell phones and police body cams shows Weinman complying with officers as she takes a breathalyzer test. I did it twice," she told Inside Edition. "Both came back negative." The situation, however, took a turn for the worse after she refused to give the police her name. You dont need to know my name, she is heard saying to the officers. Weinman told Inside Edition that she didnt give her name because she was scared. After the verbal confrontation, an officer says, Youre about to get dropped. In video of the incident, Weinman appears to push the officer, but she says she was just holding her arms up. "I didnt do anything to him first," Weinman said. Weinman also appears to be pushed into the sand as she yells, Theyre choking me! An officer is then seen punching the woman. This police officer just punched me in my head," Weinman said. "Obviously, hes not trained right. I didnt do anything to be abused like that." Weinman admitted to giving the officer an attitude, but doesnt believe her behavior warranted getting punched. "They think they can do whatever they want," she said. The tape also shows her spitting in the direction of an officer, but she claims that portion of the video did not happen as it appeared. I had sand all in my mouth," Weinman said. "It looks like I spit at him. She is now facing charges of resisting arrest and spitting at an officer. The officers who handled the situation will not be charged in the case which has angered both Weinman and her lawyer, Stephen Dicht. "They just kept pushing and pushing and pushing until you hear that infamous, 'Youre about to get dropped,'" Dicht told Inside Edition. Story continues "He could have handled it a different way," Weinman added. RELATED STORIES Police Officers Seen Yanking 65-Year-Old Woman From Her Car in Disturbing Video Virginia National Guard Soldier Steals Armored Vehicle, Leads Police on 2-Hour Chase Washington Fugitive Brags About Eluding Police on Facebook, Then Gets Arrested Related Articles: By Natalie Thomas and Thomas Peter BARUUNBUREN, Mongolia (Reuters) - Buddhism is one of the world's oldest religions, but its fate in Mongolia now rests on very young shoulders. The country's monasteries are increasingly run by millennial monks, the first generation to come of age after decades of religious repression under the Soviet system wiped out almost all Buddhist clergy. (Click https://reut.rs/2xvsBr3 for accompanying picture package.) Just four years into his own studies, 29-year-old Lobsang Tayang is already teaching two young monks, a position he would normally attain only after 20 years. "I felt like I hadn't gained enough knowledge yet," he said. "I was thinking, 'Is it right for others to call me teacher when I myself am still learning?'" He is stepping up because the repression, begun in the 1930s with the arrival of Communism, killed an estimated 17,000 monks, official figures show. At the time, most Mongolians were devout adherents to a form of Buddhism similar to that practiced in Tibet. After democracy came to Mongolia in 1990, monasteries and schools were re-established by the survivors, many already then in their 70s. Lobsang Tayang's monastery, Amarbayasgalant, is a sprawling complex deep in the endless grasslands, 35 km (22 miles) from the nearest road. It was home to around 800 monks before the Soviet era. After the purges began, half the monastery's monks fled, while most of those who remained were killed. Now fewer than 40 are left, and the oldest, the head of the monastery, is just 35. The young monks are struggling to maintain crumbling monastery buildings that date from the 18th century, and were declared a world heritage site by the cultural agency UNESCO. Today just 28 of more than 40 original temples remain. Flocks of nesting pigeons stain the walls with faeces and leave the monks, whose religion forbids killing, in despair. UNCERTAIN FUTURE Lobsang Tayang wakes his students, 10-year-old Batkhan Tuul and 11-year-old Temuulen, at around seven to test their memory of the scriptures, chanting which fills the rest of the morning. In the afternoon, the younger monks can study topics such as mathematics and literature - if a teacher can be found. Such a choice of career is unusual in the modern world, and finding children willing to sign up can be tricky. The choice is often made as much by parents as their children, and is rarely a straightforward task. "He didn't like the idea because he was afraid of the paintings and altars of the deity," said Temuulen's mother, Badamkhand Dambii, recounting her son's reaction the first time she broached the topic. "He said they were frightening." It took him a while to come round, she added. Getting children to come is only half the battle, however. Keeping them there is the real challenge. "Nowadays it's very rare to find monks who can remain faithful to their vows," said Lobsang Tayang. Many monks who grow up at the monastery yearn for the outside world, which they are only allowed to visit twice a year for two weeks. The monastery has 3G internet access, but mobile telephones are restricted to those older than 25. "It's easy to chop down a forest, right?" said Lobsang Rabten, the monastery's second-in-command. "But it takes a long time for new trees to grow back." He hopes to return the monastery to its former glory. For now, Temuulen is committed to a future at Amarbayasgalant and hopes to help rejuvenate it. "When I grow up, if the monastery becomes bigger and more renowned, then hopefully lots of children will come." (Reporting by Natalie Thomas; Additional reporting by Munkhchimeg Davaasharav in ULAANBATAAR; Editing by Clarence Fernandez) Vienna (AFP) - An Austrian court has ruled that video-sharing platform YouTube can be held partly liable for copyright breaches in videos uploaded by its users, in a ruling that may have far-reaching implications. In a judgement issued on Tuesday and confirmed to AFP on Thursday, Vienna's commercial court said that YouTube had played an active role in spreading such content and therefore could not claim the status of "neutral intermediary", according to the ruling cited by the Ploil-Boesch law firm. The firm is acting on behalf of Austria's Puls 4 television station, which brought a case against YouTube in 2014 over the unauthorised presence of its content on the site. Puls 4 and its lawyers said they had established YouTube's complicity in spreading the content through a "painstaking" analysis of how the site works. The court found that because of the site's "links, mechanisms for sorting and filtering, in particular the generation of lists of particular categories, its analysis of users' browsing habits and its tailor-made suggestions of content... YouTube is no longer playing the role of a neutral intermediary". "YouTube must in future -- through advance controls -- ensure that no content that infringes copyright is uploaded," it added. According to Puls 4, if the decision is upheld on appeal it could be an important landmark in defining the responsibility of sites like YouTube in the field of copyright protection. "The media companies who call themselves social networks will have to recognise that they too have to take on responsibility for the content with which they earn their millions," said the head of Puls 4, Markus Breitenecker. Austrian media quoted YouTube as saying it takes copyright protection "very seriously" and that it would study the judgement closely, while not ruling out an appeal. The judgement comes as the European Union discusses possible reforms to copyright law to ensure news publishers and artists are better compensated for their work when it appears on online platforms. Among the measures being considered in Brussels is forcing video-sharing sites like YouTube or Dailymotion to introduce technology to identify and delete songs or other audio-visual works which have been flagged by copyright holders. Thank you for reading! Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. 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(1) A video came to light on Wednesday of a 2013 incident in which a 16-year-old Palestinian was killed , days after the State Attorney's Office decided to withdraw an indictment against two former Armored Corps soldiers for their involvement in the incident. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter In January 2013, a force from the Armored Corps' 71st Battalion lying in ambush spotted a group of Palestinian teens approaching the separation barrier near the village of Budrus in the Ramallah area. The Palestinians started hurling stones at the fence, hitting two of the soldiers, but the troops remained hidden. : " X The soldiers then spotted 16-year-old Samir Awad entering an area between the fence proper and an additional barbed wire fence added on the Palestinian side. The troops were supposed to throw a stun grenade at Awad, but their cover was blown. Awad, who was unarmed, spotted the force and started fleeing. Awad between the fence proper and the barbed wire fence (Photo: IDF Spokesman's Office) The soldiers ordered Awad to stop in Arabic. When he ignored them, the platoon commander fired into the air in warning. Awad then jumped over the barbed wire fence to the Palestinian side. He became tangled in barbed wire, but was able to extract himself and continue running toward the village. Awad climbing over the fence (Photo: IDF Spokesman's Office) The platoon commander then shot at Awad three times, one shot to the side of his leg and two below the knees. At this point, another soldier shot into the air once or twice and asked the platoon commander whether he should throw the stun grenade. Soldiers throw stun grenades (Photo: IDF Spokesman's Office) Less than a minute had passed and Awad collapsed from his wounds and fell to the ground. The IDF force tried to provide him with medical aid, but his relatives evacuated him to a nearby Palestinian hospital, where he was declared dead. The platoon commander and one of the soldiers under his command, who allegedly shot the Palestinian, were charged only with "reckless behavior and negligence," though they initially faced more serious charges. The case against the two, which was opened after their release from the IDF, was fraught with evidentiary issues, including difficulty of getting credible information from the Palestinians about Awad's autopsy and changes of versions made to some of the witnesses' testimonies. In addition, the IDF was unable to determine which of the two fired the fatal shot. The two soldiers (Photo: Avi Moalem) Recently, the two soldiers' lawyers have asked the military court to order the prosecution to provide them with all 110 legal military opinions in similar cases over the past decade of Palestinian suspects' death by IDF soldiers, which were closed without an indictment. The court was leaning towards accepting the unusual request, which was filed under the claim of selective enforcement. Such a move could have opened a Pandora's box, which would have revealed why the IDF hasn't charged soldiers who shot unarmed Palestinians. Eventually, the military prosecution decided to withdraw the indictment. Military Advocate General Col. Ran Cohen welcomed the decision. "For three years now, we've been waging a battle to acquit an IDF officer and a soldier who encountered a situation of war and acted as their commanders expected and in accordance with the instructions they received before leaving for the ambush," he said. British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson condemned the "incitement and rocket fire against Israel" in a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday. He also called on Israel "to carry out a transparent, independent inquiry into the loss of more than 120 Palestinian lives during the recent Gaza protests." British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called on Israel "to carry out a transparent, independent inquiry" into the deaths of Palestinians in Gaza border clashes on Wednesday. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter During a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in London, Johnson also condemned the "incitement and rocket fire against Israel." "The people of Israel and Gaza have the right to live safely in peace, without constant fear for their security," Johnson said in a statement released by his office. Prime Minister Netanyahu with British Foreign Secretary Johnson (Photo: Haim Tzah/GPO) "We continue to press both Israel and the Palestinian Authority on the need to refrain from actions which make peace more difficult. Settlement construction is a significant barrier to achieving this goal, as are terrorism, incitement to violence, and the refusal by some to acknowledge Israels right to exist," he added. British Prime Minister Theresa May also expressed concern "about the loss of Palestinian lives" in Gaza in her meeting with Netanyahu earlier Wednesday. Britain "absolutely recognizes" the Israel's right to self-defense against "extremists and terrorists," she said. "But with 100 Palestinian lives lost and a deteriorating situation in Gaza, I hope we can talk about how we can alleviate that situation, and how we can ensure that we can get back to a position where we are able to find a way through to talk about a two-state solution," May added. In his own meeting with Netanyahu, Johnson also addressed the Iranian nuclear deal also echoing May's remarks. "The UK, alongside France and Germany, firmly believes that the Iran nuclear deal is the best way to ensure a safe, secure future for the region," Johnson said. "We are committed to making sure Iran continues to abide by its obligations under the deal and are in full agreement with Israel that we must prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons." "The UK has an unwavering commitment to Israels security and stability and we look forward to continuing to work together to achieve our common goals," he stressed. A moment before leaving for Europe on Monday to discuss ways to continue the pressure on Iran with the leaders of Germany, France and Britain, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed his office to collect a price tag from the Palestinian Authority for the damage caused by the fires in the Gaza vicinity. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The funds, which come from taxes imposed on goods making their way from Israels ports to the territories, should cover the damages inflicted on the southern residents by the incendiary kites. So far, Israels attempts to impose economic sanctions on the Palestinian Authority by forfeiting, boycotting or freezing the tax funds it collects for the Palestinians have ended with the funds being transferred to the PA several months later at the most. Fire causaed by Gaza-sent incendiary kite In 2015, for example, Netanyahu approved the transfer of PA funds that had been frozen in previous months following a recommendation from Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, the IDF and the Shin Bet. Netanyahu explained that his decision was based on humanitarian considerations and an overall view of Israels interests. In short, empty words, then and now. Words aimed at satisfying the political base. Meanwhile, our southern fields are burning. Thousands of dunams of forests and fields have been consumed so far by 600 flaming kites launched from the strip into the Gaza vicinity community. The attempts to infiltrate Israel are continuing too, and so is the mortar and rocket fire. And thats not all: The Naksa Day protests, marking the Arab armies defeat in 1967, are expected to take place near the border on Friday, and theres no way of knowing how many Palestinian will participate in them and how they will end. It seems Hamas and the other organizations in the strip are unimpressed by Defense Minister Avigdor Liebermans threats to settle the score. Netanyahu with French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday (Photo: Reuters) We must admit that after years of rounds of fighting and bragging from the prime minister and his ministers, the reality on the ground is terribly simple: We keep suffering blows, and they keep dealing us blows. Each side with its own measures. We activate the Air Force, and they send flaming kites across the border. On this background, the tens of thousands of Israelis living in the south have the right to demand a solution or a response from the government to the impossible reality they are living innot threats to kill Hamas leaders or statements about toppling the Hamas rule, but practical proposals that would give both sides some hope. At the moment, there is no plan or horizon that could indicate a point of exit from this brutal reality. Former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon used to offer his colleagues and decision makers, both on personal issues and on national topics, the advice of Chazon Ish, Rabbi Avraham Yeshaya Karelitz, one of the greatest halachic decisors of the previous century. According to Chazon Ish, if you have to solve two problems at the same time, first solve the urgent problem which requires immediate attention, and only then deal with the less pressing problem. If only Netanyahu had implemented this advice, and instead of travelling to Europe, had stayed in Israel and rolled up his sleeves to try to deal with the roots of the problem the Gaza Strip is inflicting on every Israeli. Talking about bringing down Hamas and about targeted assassinations of Gazas leaders (his blood is on his own head) isnt serious. The biggest absurdity in the government speakers recent messages is that the system is giving priority to the northern arena over finding a solution to the threats from the south. Fire caused by a flaming kite in the Eshkol Regional Council (Photo: Yoav Zitun) This is where we should say to the prime minister and the cabinet: Stop dealing with Iran. Leave something for the Americans and world leaders. The rage of millions of Palestinians in the strip isnt because of Iran, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict requires some sort of arrangement. But Netanyahu announced that he would talk about three issues in Europe: Iran, Iran and Iran. He seems to have borrowed this sentence from a real-estate agencys commercial, which declares that an apartments value is measured according to three parameters: Location, location and location. That may be good for commercials, but it isnt very practical when you look at the burning fields in the Gaza vicinity. After four days of violent protests in south Tel Aviv, which left several people injured and arrested, hundreds of Eritreans gathered Wednesday in the Levinsky Park, to demonstrate against Eritrean dictator Isaias Afwerki but also call for an end to violence in the Eritrean community in Israel. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Some even called for those Eritrean asylum seekers who support Afwerki to be deported. Towards the end of the event, some Afwerki supporters arrived at the scene equipped with rocks and sticks and began rioting, which resulted in a brawl. The police securing the event did not intervene. (Photo: Amit Huber) The protests are a result of clashes which broke out Saturday, when thousands of Eritreans living in Israel gathered under heavy police presence near the Kanot Junction to celebrate the Eritrean Independence Day. This has angered those in the Eritrean community who oppose the oppressive regime in their country. Every single day ever since has been marked by protests involving hundreds of Eritreans in south Tel Aviv, pelting each other with rocks, smashing windows of cars and nearby stores, and even using cold weapons. This isnt the first year clashes of this kind have broken out, yet this year has been marked by the increase in violence. Violence at the protest (: ) X The demonstration on Wednesday was led by a group containing dozens of women holding signs that read Stop the Violence, Stop Dictatorship and Our Lives is Israel, among other slogans. The women condemned the riots. We dont want the blood of our brothers to be spilled here. We want peace rather than chaos, one woman said. She went on to further condemn the Afwerki supporters. They disturb us. We came to Israel to live rather than just work. We left our home because of the dictatorship, which made our country a dangerous place to live in. We came to seek asylum. We have friends who call themselves refugees, but they are actually work migrants who pay two percent of their monthly salary to the Eritrean government in taxes, raged Etkili Abraham Michael, an asylum seeker who opposes his countrys regime. They terrorize Neve Sha'anan. Some of our friends have been assaulted, stabbed and are now in hospitals. Over the last few day, weve been scared to go to work ... we just stay home, he lamented. (Photo: Amit Alon) Etkili claims that around 3,000-4,000 supporters of the regime are the ones who initiated the violence. We ask the Israeli government to deport them back to Eritrea. If they celebrate the Eritrean Independence Daythey might as well just go there ... the chaos in Eritrea is more than enough for us, we dont need it here in Israel as well. After they assaulted me, I cant stay silent. Rocks are being thrown at us, and were defending ourselves. We didnt start this mess, he insisted, referring to those protesters who oppose the regime. Snait Zerbrock, another asylum seeker, added, Were all Eritreans and I cant go against my brothers, but if theyre rooting for the dictator, thats an issue. We didnt come here to beg for food but to save our lives. I cannot go back to my country, but if they dont have a problem with it, theyre free to go back. Sheffi Paz, one of the leaders of the fight against Eritreans being granted asylum, also came to the demonstration on Wednesday. Were dealing here with an Intifada of the asylum seekers," she asserted. We cant differentiate between those who support the regime and those who oppose it. Weve been talking about this problem for a while since it didnt start this week but has been happening for a long time. Paz claims the situation has worsened over the recent days. Theres a surge of violence day after day. Dozens of people with rocks in their hands that youre constantly worried might strike you ... these people have brought their diseases with them, while old local women are dying of fear and cant leave their homes. In the meantime, over 20 Eritrean citizens, accused of being involved in the riots in south Tel Aviv, have been arrested by the police. They will be transferred to the Saharonim facility once the police proceedings are finished. Two caregivers from the nursing home Naiot Kipat Hazahav, who tortured their elderly patients, were sentenced Thursday to a year-and-a-half in prison by the Haifa District Court. Another caregiver was sentenced to nine months and a female nurse was sentenced to a year-and-a-half of community service. The caregivers in question will be able to appeal their sentences next month and will have to pay compensation to their victims, with sums ranging between NIS 3,000-15,000. The IDF's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted a video on his Facebook page on Thursday purporting to show Palestinian nurse Razan Najjar, who was killed in clashes on the Gaza border last week, throwing a gas grenade. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter "She's not a merciful angel," text on the screen says. "Hamas used her as a human shield." Najjar, 21, is the second woman killed in the rioting since they began in March. She lived Khuzaa, a village near Khan Yunis that is close to the border and has served as one of five protest encampments across Gaza in recent weeks. Razan Najjar throwing grenade (: ") X Palestinian health officials and witnesses claimed IDF forces shot dead Najjar, a volunteer medic, as she ran towards the border fence, east of the south Gaza city of Khan Yunis, in a bid to reach a casualty. Fares al-Kidra, a colleague of Najjar, said they were approaching the fence to evacuate a wounded man and, as they were leaving, three gunshots were heard and Najjar fell to the ground. Al-Mezan, a Gaza-based rights group, said Najjar was 100 meters from the fence and wearing a clearly marked paramedic's vest when she was shot. Razan Najjar on the Gaza border Social media videos, and one captured by Associated Press footage, purported to show Najjar and a cohort of medics walking toward the fence and raising their hands to reach a wounded man lying on the ground. Najjar wore a dark blue headscarf and a white coat with the logo of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society, where she volunteered. An initial IDF investigation of the incident found that while a small number of bullets were fired during the incident, the gunfire wasn't aimed at the Palestinian nurse. One possibility is that Najjar was killed by the ricochet of a bullet. The IDF said the investigation is still ongoing. The Joint Council of the Pre-Military Academies decided Thursday to temporarily close the Bnei Zion pre-military academy, a month and a half after 10 teens were killed in a flash flood during a trip organized by the school. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter "The council sees great value in the continued operations of the Bnei Zion pre-military academy as part of the pre-military academies enterprise," the council said in a statement. It said it offered to help Bnei Zion in rebuilding itself following the disaster "in a transparent and public process that the council would take part of." Bnei Zion pre-military academy (Photo: Motti Kimchi) "We believe the academy should not be reopened before the completion of this process," it said. Gabi Barshishat, a father of one of the academy's alumni whose daughter is supposed to attend the school next year, rejected the council's decision. "The Joint Council of the Pre-Military Academies is not a body that gets to decide whether to close the academy or not," he said. "To me, it's clear this academy is not closing. There are 30 kids who registered to this academy even before the disaster. Trying to close the academy would be a catastrophe." "There's no reason to close the academy and punish the children, who are definitely not at fault," the father continued. "They postponed their military service, gave up on positions in the armysome very meaningful roles." "This decision is not wise, it would traumatize children who feel part of a group," he concluded. The 10 teens killed in flash flood disaster After the disaster at the Zafit Stream, a special investigations team was established, which questioned several of the academy's staff, including its principal Yuval Kahan, who was arrested along with one of the instructors. The instructor, Aviv Bardichev, is suspected of manslaughter , while the principal is suspected of negligent homicide. Manslaughter attributes the results of an offense to indifference or recklessness, while in negligent homicide cases, the suspect is believed to not have been able to foresee the outcome. Bardichev is suspected of deciding to go ahead as planned with the trip despite warnings of flooding in the area. He is also suspected of being the one to organize the trip. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Syrian President Bashar Assad on Thursday, saying if he fires at Israel, the IDF will "destroy his forces." Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter "When they waged this horrific civil war, Israel did not intervene. We built a hospital. Now the war is nearly over, he invites Iran in? He is no longer immune. If he fires at us, we'll destroy his forces," Netanyahu said at the Policy Exchange Institute in London, after visiting France and Germany to discuss Iran. Discussing his relationship with former US President Barack Obama, Netanyahu said "The main disagreement with Obama was on Iran and I was quite forthright about it," adding "there is no disagreement between President Trump and me on Iran, and I appreciate that very much." PM Netanyahu talks in London about Iran, Syria (: ") X Despite his disagreements with Obama, Netanyahu noted, he signed a 10-year $38 billion military aid agreement with the former president. The prime minister praised Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and move the US embassy there . "Any conception of peace will have Jerusalem as Israel's capital, so why not recognize facts?" he argued. Prime Minister Netanyahu at the Policy Exchange Institute (Photo: Haim Tzah/GPO) Netanyahu was asked why the IDF has not been using other methods to deter Palestinians from trying to breach the border fence, such as rubber bullets or shooting at instigators' lower extremities. "Everything you suggested has been tried. Hamas's goal was to have many casualties, ours was to minimize casualties. If you had a similar situation here and you found non-lethal means to deal with it, I would be the first to want to use it," he responded. He was also asked whether he believed the Syrians would reduce Iranian influence in their country. Protests in Gaza (Photo: Reuters) "Iran is trying to move its army a thousand miles, so it can threaten Israel. They want to bring in precision-guided rockets with half a ton warheads and submarines to the Mediterranean," Netanyahu said, warning Israel would not tolerate such moves. Commenting on a planned "Al Quds Day" march in London in three days, Netanyahu described it as "wrong." "Both wings of Hezbollah seek the destruction of not only Israel but also of Jews. These are horrible people, the worst theocratic gangsters in the world. Why are progressive forces behind one of the least progressive forces in the world? It's because they oppose Israel. There's a word for that. It begins with A: anti-Semitism," he charged. "The idea of aligning with the forces of barbarism against one of the most modern pluralistic states in the world, it's horrific. "Why are they not protesting against other countries? This is not because of any wrongdoing by Israel, this is because Israel exists. They're leaving aside all the wrongs in the world and focusing on the one Jewish State." Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi appointed Housing Minister Mustafa Madbouly as acting prime minister on Thursday and tasked him with forming a new cabinet, the state-run Ahram Gate news website said. Egypt's cabinet including Prime Minister Sherif Ismail resigned this week to pave the way for Sisi to appoint a new government following his re-election to a second term in office. The IDF began dropping leaflets across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, urging residents not to allow Hamas to turn you into tools for serving its narrow interests as they prepare to stage mass border protest on Friday. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Military officials are expecting a large turnout, raising the likelihood of bloodshed in the upcoming annual Naksa Day protests, as Palestinians mark the displacements that accompanied Israels victory in the multi-front 1967 Six Day War against neighboring Arab states. By the end of the war, Israel had unified Jerusalem and taken control of the West Bank from Jordan and the Gaza Strip from Egypt. The IDF leaflets scattered throughout the coastal enclave warned residents to stay far from the Israeli border, to refrain from attempting to breach or damage it, or carry out terror attacks against Israeli civilians or security forces during the protests, which will be held under the banner of March of the Million to Jerusalem following weeks of violent March of Return riots that have resulted in over one hundred Palestinians being killed by IDF live fire. While Palestinians claim that the Palestinians were protesting peacefully, Israel insists that those killed were engaged in terror-related activities, including attempts to breach or damage the border fence or fly incendiary kites over the border, hundreds of which have wreaked havoc on Israels southern residents Echoing warnings made in the past, the IDF once again urged Gaza residents not to be exploited as tools of the ruling Hamas terror group by approaching the border in a repetition of recent weeks. The military has also warned the residents that it is ready to respond as necessary to any scenario to protect Israels southern residents and Israels sovereignty. No attempts to damage Israels security infrastructure or harm its citizens will be tolerated, the IDF Spokespersons Unit has said. Leaflets written in Arabic (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit) A wise person is a person who takes into account the consequences of his actions and decides in favor of the act in which the benefits surpass the damages it causes, the leaflets began. If you consider this as it relates to approaching the fence or crossing the fence, you will reach the conclusion that this is not worthwhile and even harmful. Therefore, for your own good, you are advised not to take part in the violent protests near the fence, not to breach it, and not to allow Hamas to turn you into tools for serving its narrow interests, the leaflets warned. Violent protests in Gaza (Photo: Reuters) Shiite Iran stands behind those interests and aims to ignite the region for its religious and sectarian interests, it claimed. It is worth you not allowing Hamas to turn you into hostages so that it can make political gains at the expense of the good and future of the Gaza residents, and especially the youth. Concluding the warning, the IDF repeated in the leaflets: It is worth avoiding damaging consequences. We call on you all not to take part in the protests and anarchy and not to place yourselves in danger. Despite the IDFs warnings, Hamas has urged the Gaza residents to take part in the demonstrations. In a video broadcast on the Hamas-controlled Al-Aqsa TV station, residents are called upon to make their way to the March of Return and to destroy the blockade. Earlier, the IDF Spokespersons Unit addressed the residents of Gaza once again attempting to convince them that Hamas and Iran were misleading them for sinister aims. The IDF also said that the Palestinian nurse, Razan Najjar, who was killed in clashes on the Gaza border last week, was not the merciful ange as Hamas propaganda tried to portray her. The video of her shows that she was used as a human shield by the inciting rioters, and proves how Hamas uses all Gaza population groups to further its goals and the goals of Iran." Razan Najjar The IDF's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted a video on his Facebook page on Thursday purporting to show Najjar throwing a gas grenade. Do paramedics around the world throw grenades, participate in riots and call themselves human shields?, the post asks. Najjar, 21, is the second woman killed in the rioting since they began in March. She lived in Khuzaa, a village near Khan Yunis that is close to the border and has served as one of five protest encampments across Gaza in recent weeks. Around 3,000 refugees in Lebanon are expected to go back to Syria in the coming week, a local official said on Thursday, a week after Lebanon said it was working with Damascus for the return of thousands of refugees who want to return. The refugees living in a border town in northeast Lebanon will travel around 20 km (12 miles) over mountains that have separated them from their homes in Syria's western Qalamoun region for years. Bassel Hujeiri, mayor of Arsal town, told Reuters by phone the refugees had asked to go back to Syria. As the Syrian army backed by Iran and Russia has recovered more territory, Lebanon's president and other politicians have called for refugees to go back to "secure areas" before a deal to end the war. This is at odds with the international view that it is not yet safe. Lebanon hosts around 1 million registered Syrian refugees according to the United Nations, or roughly a quarter of the population, who have fled the war since 2011. The government puts the number at 1.5 million and says their presence has strained public services and suppressed economic growth. Hujeiri said the return would likely happen before the Eid al-Fitr holiday, which this year will fall around June 14. Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and depends on the sighting of the moon. The Military Police have launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of a young Palestinian who was killed Wednesday morning in clashes during a military detention activity in the West Bank village of Nabi Salih in southern Samaria. Izzideen Tamimi, 21, threw a rock during the violence which struck a soldier on his head and was shot dead by the IDF. German authorities are searching for a 20-year-old Iraqi refugee who is suspected of involvement in the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Jewish girl in the city of Mainz two weeks ago. Another Turkish asylum seeker aged 35 has also been arrested on suspicion of his involvement. The German authorities said that the Iraqi suspect, who has been identified as Ali Bahar, fled from the state to Erbil in Iraq. The Cybercrime Unit of the Philippine Police has arrested eight Israelis who are suspected to have been behind a huge Bitcoin currency and online investments fraud scheme worth millions of dollars. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The Israelis were arrested on Wednesday in raids carried out by the local police at three offices in the city of Angeles. In addition, 480 Filipinos citizens were arrested who worked in the call center used for gathering customers and convincing them to invest money online. The Israeli Foreign Ministry is looking into the matter. Israeli suspects arrested X According to the suspicions, the Israelis ran and supervised the scheme which defrauded citizens of New Zealand, Russia, Australia and South Africa who were asked to invest in foreign trade, Bitcoin and shares. Two Australian pensioners who fell prey to the online scam flew specially to the Philippines in order to collect the money they had been cheated out of. Our whole lives went. Our families went. Our money went. My family is suffering because all the money went, sid one of the victims, who had been intrigued and excited by the advert on Bitcoin which she had seen online. She also added that she had been intrigued and excited by the advert on Bitcoin which she had seen online. I clicked on the banner and the next thing I know was that I had gotten a phone call and I was asked to give just $250, and I said to myself, ok, youll make a lot of money, she explained. (AP, Philippine National Police) According to the pensioner, she was asked to provide access to her bank account in order to make more investments. They took the maximum from all of my cards. They took everything. I have nothing. I cant even pay the bills. I sold my home that was for my children Another Singapore-Australian victim of the online extortion racket said that she lost half a million Australian dollars. I sold my house. It was for my children. My money went. I was left with $100. I couldnt recover from it and recoup the money they took from me, she said. The complainants say that the Israelis who headed the scheme were in their late 20s and that they employed Filipino citizens to carry out their fraudulent activities. They are young men, and they are full of money after cheating us and now they can enjoy their lives, one of the victims from Australia said. (Photo: AP, Philippine National Police) The authority that exposed the online deception operation says that their clients would first be given money in order to create the impression that they have made a successful investment. Feeling confident of the potential financial gains involved in further investments, the duped victims would then pump more and more money into investments that would inevitably end in a loss. One of the workers in the scam said that he and his friend were aware of how the system worked but carried out instructions given by the Israeli bosses for fear of losing their jobs. One Filipino police officer said that one of the companies had been operating since November 2017 and that it employed 527 people and received a license to work as a business that provides technical, web design and search engine optimization services to customers. (Photo: AP, Philippine National Police) The investigation and raids were carried out, he added, following complaints that were filed by Australian and South African citizens, who said that the company had been taking hundreds of dollars from their bank accounts under the guise of investing in online stock. One victim, who said that after the initial investment was unable to withdraw her money from the company or establish contact with a representative, was cheated out of 100,000 Australian dollars. US President Donald Trump said on Thursday his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore on June 12 was ready to go. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Speaking to reporters as he welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to the White House, Trump said he and Abe would discuss North Korean issues and trade. "Looks like the meeting is set. The summit is all ready to go. Subject always to change. You never know in this world," Trump said. President Trump and Kim Jong Un (Photo: AFP) Abe said he hoped the summit would be a dramatic and transformational moment for Northeast Asia. Trump said North Korea has to give up its nuclear weapons, and the United States could add more sanctions if necessary. "If they don't denuclearize, that will not be acceptable," Trump said. "We cannot take sanctions off. The sanctions are extraordinarily powerful. And I could add a lot more but I've chosen not to do that at this time, but that may happen." Trump said he thought he was very well-prepared for the meeting with Kim. "I don't think I have to prepare very much. It's about attitude. It's about willingness to get things done," he said. "I think it's going to be a very fruitful meeting." President Trump and Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe (Photo: EPA) Trump also said he is "very well prepared" for next week's summit with Kim but added thay the outcome depends less on preparation than "attitude ... willingness to get things done." Still Trump predicted that he'll know very quickly whether Kim is serious about dealing with US demands. "I don't think I have to prepare very much," Trump said. "It's about attitude. It's about willingness to get things done." Trump, who spent the morning before meeting Abe firing off a dozen unrelated tweets, added: "I think I've been prepared for this summit for a long time, as has the other side. I think they've been preparing for a long time also. So this isn't a question of preparation, it's a question of whether or not people want it to happen." Trump is to huddle with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton Thursday afternoon "to continue their strategic discussions" ahead of the summit, said National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis. German authorities investigating the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Jewish girl said Thursday they are seeking a fugitive Iraqi asylum-seeker and have arrested a Turkish man in the latest high-profile case involving migrants. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The body of the girl, who had been missing since May 22, was found Wednesday on the outskirts of the western German city of Wiesbaden. Prosecutors said two mena 20-year-old Iraqi and a 35-year-old Turkish citizen, both of whom lived at homes for asylum-seekers in the cityare suspected of raping and killing the girl on the evening she went missing. They believe the two then buried her body. Susanna Feldman Police said the Iraqi man, whom they identified as Ali Bashar, appears to have left abruptly with his family last week, flying to Erbil, Iraq via Istanbul. He was a suspect in a string of previous offenses in the area, including a robbery at knifepoint. He's believed to have arrived in Germany in October 2015, at the height of the migrant influx to Germany, and was appealing the rejection of his asylum application. The Turkish suspect, who wasn't previously known to police, was arrested Wednesday evening. Police said a 13-year-old refugee boy went to a police station in Wiesbaden on Sunday and told officers the girl had been raped and killed, and named the Iraqi as a possible perpetrator. Ali Bashar Germany's Central Council of Jews said the murdered girlidentified by police as Susanna Feldmanwas a member of the Jewish community in Mainz, near Wiesbaden. It called for a thorough investigation and warned in a statement against "premature conclusions." Previous killings by asylum-seekers in Germany have fanned tensions over the influx of more than a million migrants in 2015 and 2016, an issue that helped the far-right Alternative for Germany enter the German parliament last year. The surge of migrants also sparked a rash of attacks on asylum-seekers' homes, which has since tapered off. In one case, two men were convicted Thursday in the southwestern city of Landau of setting fire to a home being built for asylum-seekers in the nearby town of Herxheim in 2015. They both received probation. The New South Wales Government announced changes to the states short-term letting laws on Tuesday, which would lead to some apartment owners being banned from listing their apartment on Airbnb. Under the new rules, strata owner corporations will have the power to introduce by-laws that prohibit short-term letting for houses in their block that are not the principal place of residence of hosts. The changes also limit hosts based in the greater Sydney area to rent out their homes for up to 180 nights a year, ABC News reported. Regional areas will have no caps, but councils can choose to impose limits. In a speech before the New South Wales Legislative Assembly on Tuesday, Minister for Innovation and Better Regulation Matt Kean said sort-term holiday letting is estimated to be worth more than $31 billion to the Australian economy, and New South Wales is responsible for approximately half that amount. The bill will introduce Australias toughest mandatory code of conduct on short-term letting, including a two-strike policy. Hosts or guests who commit two serious breaches of the code within two years will be banned from short-term holiday letting for five years. The code also provides a complaints system for neighbours of short-term rental accommodation, strata committees, and owners' corporations. These provisions strike the appropriate balance between permitting individuals to use their homes within reasonable limits with the need to protect the interests of neighbours, said Kean. Related stories: 3 tips to surviving the low Airbnb season with your short-term rental investment property Short term rentals move mainstream Health News Washington, DC - "My pledge to you, our noble warriors, is that my Administration will support you, and your loved ones, and your amazing families every single day, now and always." ~ President Donald J. Trump FUNDING HEALTHCARE FOR OUR VETERANS: Today, the President signed legislation providing our veterans with the funding they have earned through their sacrifices for our country. President Trump signed S. 2372, the John S. McCain III, Daniel K. Akaka, and Samuel R. Johnson VA Maintaining Internal Systems and Strengthening Integrated Outside Networks Act of 2018, or the VA MISSION Act of 2018. Americas veterans deserve timely access to the highest quality of care possible and funding for the programs that keep them healthy and well. That is why President Trump and the Department of Veterans Affairs worked closely with Congress and Veterans Service Organizations to create draft legislation to support our veterans. The VA MISSION Act provides $5.2 billion in mandatory funding for the Veterans Choice program until a new consolidated program is implemented, which provides veterans with flexibility to receive care at both Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and private health facilities. Since its creation in 2014, more than two million veterans have used the Veterans Choice program and have scheduled more than 41 million appointments in their communities. STREAMLINING VETERANS CHOICE: The VA MISSION Act consolidates the VAs community care programs, creating a new, single program for veterans care. The VA MISSION Act takes the long-overdue step of consolidating the complex, bureaucratic web created by seven different veterans community care programs into one unified program, simplifying and strengthening healthcare opportunities for Americas veterans. The new program is projected to take effect one year from enactment. The new consolidated program will increase transparency and accountability, and ensure that veterans receive the right care at the right time with the right provider. The bill also accelerates the processing of claims by community providers so that they are addressed in a prompt and timely manner. The bill authorizes access to walk-in community clinics, so that veterans have immediate, local access to non-emergency convenience care. The new program strengthens the process between the VA and the community healthcare providers who prescribe opioids to veterans. IMPROVING AND EXPANDING CARE: The VA MISSION Act provides new resources and creates new programs to build on and improve the care our veterans receive. EDF agrees to nuclear energy cooperation with Brazil 06 June 2018 Share French utility EDF has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Brazilian companies Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras (Eletrobras) and Eletrobras Termonuclear SA (Eletronuclear) to promote cooperation in nuclear energy. This could include participation in the completion of Angra 3 and possible follow-up projects. Angra 3 under construction, with 1 and 2 operating in the background (Image: Eletronuclear) Eletronuclear - a subsidiary of Eletrobras - announced the signing of the agreement yesterday. "According to the text, the three companies will study opportunities for EDF to collaborate with the resumption and conclusion of Angra 3 and the development of new nuclear power plants in Brazil," it said in a statement. "In addition, the French company will contribute with its expertise to the operation of the Angra 1 and 2 nuclear power plants in the prevention of the aging of materials, in the identification of the risk of equipment obsolescence, maintenance and training." The MoU is valid for three years and may be extended for up to a further five years. The cooperation activities to be carried out under the MoU will be made through specific contracts, which will be defined at a later date, Eletronuclear noted. In November 2017, Eletronuclear and Eletrobras signed a similar MoU with Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom to promote cooperation in nuclear power, including the possible construction of a new nuclear power plant in Brazil. Russia and Brazil signed an inter-governmental agreement on cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy in September 1994. Two months earlier, Eletrobras and Eletronuclear signed an MoU to further promote cooperation in nuclear energy with China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC). That agreement also covered the completion of Angra unit 3 and possible follow-up projects. In 2015, Eletronuclear signed an MoU with CNNC and Eletrobras aimed at nuclear cooperation. In December 2016, Eletronuclear signed a bilateral MoU with CNNC to guide cooperation in the resumption of construction of Angra 3. Brazil has two nuclear reactors, Angra 1 and 2, which generate about 3% of its electricity, and a third under construction. Its first commercial nuclear power reactor began operating in 1982. Four more large reactors are proposed to come on line in the 2020s. Construction of Angra 3 originally started in 1984 on a PWR designed by German company KWU, but this faltered two years later. At that stage some 70% of the plant's equipment was said to have already been purchased and delivered to the site. A return to construction was approved in 2007, and an industrial agreement for the unit's completion was signed with Areva in December 2008. Two Brazilian consortia were awarded contracts, one for electro-mechanical assembly associated with the reactor's primary system, the other for secondary-side work. However, following a corruption probe in mid-2015, Eletrobras suspended both contracts. In March 2017, the government announced it planned to sell Angra 3 by 2018. The National Energy Policy Council in June last year reviewed ways to restart construction, but the government expects that it will take about five years and USD2.9 billion to complete the unit. Researched and written by World Nuclear News Related topics Education is vital for anyone that deems to be regarded as an expert in any profession. This is the case, especially for occupations such as Accounting in Ghana. With so many people wishing to study the course and become certified accountants, the Government of Ghana established ICA as an oversight body to regulate and certify public accountants whose desire is to carry out audits in the country. Image: facebook.com, @Institute of Chartered Accountants Source: UGC The Institute of Chartered Accountants Ghana established by an act of parliament and carries the mandate to vet and give the accreditation to qualified persons. Important to note, ICA registration is carried out twice in a year. Once you have passed the exams, you are recognized as a certified accountant and can practice accounting in Ghana. ICA Ghana registration 2020 If you desire to register as a student, you need to send your application to express interest in ICA Ghana. This is possible by accessing the ICAG portal and going through the requirements. You can also apply for exemptions as you make your registration to the institution. Successful applicants are required to pay a registration fee of GH150.00 and subscription of GH150.00. Image: facebook.com, @Institute of Chartered Accountants Source: UGC Applicants who are qualified for exemptions also pay an exemption fee. For SSSCE/GBCE/DBS holders, you need to have six passes (A-D) including Mathematics and English). For WASSCE holders, you need to have six credits, including Mathematics and English. Here are some of the requirements that one should meet during the registration; Submission of application in person Photocopy of any birth identity (passport, national ID, birth certificate, NHIS ID, etc.) Three passport size photographs Original transcript for graduates Original and photocopy of the educational certificate(s) Submission of application by post Photocopy of any birth identity (passport, national ID, birth certificate, NHIS ID, etc.) Three passport size photographs Original transcript for graduates Photocopy of education certificate(s) must be certified ICAG student portal Once you are successfully registered, you can access the student portal. There are two options to access the portal which include; Being an existing ICAG Student with a valid student registration number. If you are already registered on the portal, you can log in by feeding either your email/mobile no. /student no. and password. You can also request for a password reset if you have forgotten yours. If you are not an existing ICAG student and have no student registration number, you can fill in your details as a first-time registration. Some of the details that you will be required to fill include your title, surname, other names, gender, job title, mobile number, and email address. ICA Ghana courses ICAG provides examinations for two main programmes which include; Chartered Accountant (CA) Professional programme Accounting Technician Scheme, West Africa (ATSWA) programme held for students within the sub-region. Once a student completes the ICAG Ghana professional programme, obtains the required working experience, and the ICAG council approves them, they are eligible to use the designatory letter CA after their name. Successful completion of the ATSWA programme qualifies one to take up middle-level managerial jobs. Once also becomes eligible to pursue the CA professional programme and later qualify as chartered accountants. READ ALSO: Nursing schools in Ghana 2020/2021 fees, course, requirements ICA exams Image: facebook.com, @Institute of Chartered Accountants Source: UGC The students are tested on technical knowledge and skills that professional accountants should possess. Examination requirements Exams are held in May and November every year. This means that students are required to apply to sit for examinations at least two months to the date of the examination, which is the deadline. Exams registration opens in February for May exams and August for November exams. Here are some requirements that a student should meet to be eligible; Students are required to complete and submit an examination form before the examination date. Students receive an authority to sit confirming receipt of examination form. Approval forms or admission forms are sent to eligible candidates and include the location of the examination centres and their examination index numbers. Students without proper identification are referred to the examination supervisor to check their eligibility against the master list. Students are expected to indicate only their student number on their answer booklet for anonymity. Students are required to enter the examination room 30 minutes before the start of the examination. Late entry is up to the first 30 minutes after the examination has commenced. Exit and re-entry of examination room are permissible only in the case of emergencies or officially excused exits such as restroom visits for which students are accompanied. Candidates are required to sign-out and surrender examination material before they leave to room, even if they intend to return. Students are required to sign-in before their materials are re-issued to them. Examination malpractice Any student found to have misconducted themselves in any way in the course of the examination would be severely penalized. Candidates with disabilities Special consideration is given to accommodate candidates with disabilities. However, the considerations provided do not alter the measurement of the skill or knowledge the examination intends to test. ICA Ghana exams results Once the results are out, you can access your performance results through the official website by visiting the examination results portal and filling the following data; Student number or index number, examination period Examination period ICAG past questions One of the ways the institution ensures that it provides quality education is by giving students access to past examination questions and solutions. You can access the ICA past questions and give yourself an upper hand in passing the examinations. ICA fees Successful applicants are required to pay a registration fee of GH150.00 and subscription of GH150.00. For CA-level 1 exemptions, one is required to pay GH300.00 for each paper, and GH350.00 for CA-level 2 exemptions per paper. For examinations, a student is required to pay GH180.00 for each paper in CA-level 1, GH280.00 for each paper in CA-level 2, and GH300.00 for CA-level 3. As a local student, you are liable to receive three copies of confirmation or transcripts for free, while overseas students pay GH50.00. READ ALSO: Regional Maritime University fees, courses, and admission requirements ICAG contact information Here are the different ways you can reach the institution; Location: Accountancy House, Trinity Av, Okponglo, East Legon, Accra. Accountancy House, Trinity Av, Okponglo, East Legon, Accra. Contact numbers: 0302738538 / 0544336701 / 0277801422. 0302738538 / 0544336701 / 0277801422. Email address: info@icagh.com ICA Ghana is headed by eleven executive members who are also chartered accountants certified by the body. Four of the members are elected by the Government in the election year, while the remaining seven members go through a voting procedure during the annual general meeting. READ ALSO: Accra Institute of Technology courses and admission requirements Source: Yen News - Okyeame Kwame has described his wife Annica, as a good witch - He explained that she is able to easily understand and reason out issues Popular Ghanaian musician, Okyeame Kwame, has described his wife as a good witch. According to a report by GHpage.com, he explained that his wife, Annica, has unique qualities, which are of importance to him. He went on to say that she is able to understand something instinctively, without the need for conscious reasoning. Okyeame Kwame, Annica and their children READ ALSO: My wife knows i am a thief; she prays for me before i go for operations - Suspect Okyeame Kwame expressed his conviction about his wifes abilities, saying that they have gone a long way to help him take some good business decisions. There was a time I was going to have a meeting on hepatitis with the American ambassador, the Italian ambassador, and another man in Villagio. When we arrived, she directed me to speak to the man who was alone, whiles she speaks to the American and the Italian ambassadors, he said. Taking his wifes advice, he proceeded to talk to the man, whose name was Imard, the then General Manager at Japan Motors, as his wife interacted with the ambassadors. Since then, he went on, Japan Motors sponsors everything he does. READ ALSO: Anas' judicial expose': Sacked judge now uses 'trotro' - Top lawyer Animated Joke: Dead Horse Lottery | Yen.com.gh: Use the comments section below to share your views on this story. Do you have a story to share or you have information for us? Get featured on YEN.com.gh. Message us on Facebook or Instagram Source: Yen Ghanaian journalist, Paul Adom Otchere, was subjected to attacks on social media, as the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) shut down Metro TV, a local television station because it owes taxes. YEN.com.gh has learnt that the station had an unpaid taxes accruing from the year 2014 to 2018, to the tune of GHc2.3 million. Photos and a video of GRA officials closing down that station have surfaced on social media, and this led to various comments from Ghanaians: READ ALSO: Kennedy Agyapong begins promotion of his investigative piece on Anas Aremeyaw Anas Some statements were directed at Paul Adom Otchere, a popular Ghanaian journalist: READ ALSO: 5 public figures who will be shaking today ahead of Anas' video premiere Animated Joke: Dead Horse Lottery | Yen.com.gh: Use the comments section below to share your views on this story. Do you have a story to share or you have information for us? Get featured on YEN.com.gh. Message us on Facebook or Instagram Source: Yen There was so much tension in Ghana yesterday, June 6, as aside from the premiere of ace investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas latest expose, Number 12, some top management officials in key state institution were also asked to step aside. The bosses of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, Paul Ansah, Chief Executive Officer of Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr Felix Anyah, Alfred Obeng of the Bulk Oil Storage and Transport Company BOST and Gifty Klenam of the Ghana Export Promotion Council have all been given the boot with SSNIT and others yet to follow. But it seems there is still an uneasy calm as a report on Mynewsgh.com suggests that a high level ministerial and deputy ministerial reshuffle is expected to cut down the number of Ministers from 110 to about 87. Akufo-Addo to reshuffle ministers READ ALSO: NPP big men who were captured in Anas' No. 12 video The source also indicated that bosses of SSNIT and others are likely to follow suit. Other sources also say the President is looking for replacement of some of the state companies before announcing their sack. Sources have said Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) Chief Executive Officer was saved only because he hails from the Ashanti Region and a key constituency. It is not conclusive if the President will change his mind or not. Mr Isaac Osei and his boss, Minister of Energy have been in the news over a public disagreement about the conversion of TOR into a Tank Farm. READ ALSO: Kwesi Nyantakyi's wife calls on God ahead of Anas' premiere For the Energy Minister, he is likely to be reassigned, our source suggested. President Akufo-Addo was widely criticized, both in Ghana and abroad, for appointing 110 Ministers, the largest in the history of Ghana. But MyNewsGH.com has reported that the President as is characteristic of his listening President tag, is willing to eat a humble pie and cut the number to 87, maximum 90. The source also disclosed that while some ministries will be merged, ministers who have faced controversies are likely to be affected. READ ALSO: Number 12: Nyantakyi did no wrong Bernard Morna Share your views on this with us in the comments section below. Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish on YEN.com.gh? Please contact us on Facebook or Instagram now. Source: Yen When we detect a really great trend, sometimes our inner urge is to keep it to ourselves. But that wouldn't be very millennial of us. Alas, telling the best-kept secrets of San Francisco is literally our job, so we'd be remissfireable, evenif we didn't let you in on the latest: frozen boozy things are seriously happening. That's right: If you're old enough to remember the days when frozen daiquiris and margaritas were fashionable, you're either ready to throw up (oh the hangover!) or throw a party right now. We suggest the latter, especially seeing as the old slushy classics are getting hipsterfied updates in the form of well-balanced pina coladas (oh yeah), spiked milkshakes (bring it), Tang (not even kidding), and that most millennial beverage of all: frose (all day, baby). Here's where to chill out (and pretend like we actually have summer) in SF. Alba Ray's If you've ever been to New Orleans, you no doubt have some memory (or not) of the frozen daiquiri bars. It's always Mardi Gras at Alba's, where you can not only chow on Cajun food, you can mix it up with frozen drinks galore. The strawberry daiquiri is tradish and delish; finish with a frozen Irish coffee. Happy hour goes down weekdays from 5:30 to 6:30pm. // 2293 Mission St. (Mission), albarays.com Bear vs. Bull If you're catching a flick a Alamo Drafthouse or just looking for a drink in the 'hood, belly up at Bear vs. Bull for one of their delicious blended pina coladasa nice balance of pineapple, coconut, and El Dorado Rum. // 2550 Mission St. (Mission), bearvsbullbar.com Rooftop 25 Newly opened Rooftop 25 has the outdoor space and sunshine to lure you inand the slushy drinks that will make you stay for hours. We love the passionfruit margarita with just a hint of spiciness, and the icy John Daly (lemonade, iced tea, and vodka). // 25 Lusk St. (SoMa), 25lusk.com/rooftop-25 The Beehive ICYMI, The Beehive is the latest It cocktail spot, with retro-glam charms and interiors that feel like a set on Mad Men. Direct yourself toward the throwback Tang, a boozy take on the classic orange drink, or the Quimbara cocktail, blended with Santa Teresa rum, Aperol, pink guava, and lime. // 842 Valencia St. (Mission), thebeehivesf.com The Dorian Whether your stopping in for brunch, dinner, or happy hour (Tuesday through Friday, 4:30 to 6pm), The Dorian's All Day Frose is truly a refreshing all day deal. Dive into a glass or two of the frosty drink made with vodka, rose, watermelon, and a hint of lemon. // 2001 Chestnut St. (Marina), doriansf.com Palm House Over the past few years, Palm House has become synonymous with fruity bevvies and good times, attracting throngs of Marina dwellers at all times of day. They come for the icy dranks, including the trademark Palm House Slushy, which can be customized for a choose-your-own-beverage adventure. Go for guava, passionfruit or strawberry, and top it off with a dark rum floater. Happy hour is from 4 to 6:30pm Tuesdays through Fridays. // 2032 Union St., Marina, palmhousesf.com Trademark & Copyright On the sweeter side of things, Trademark & Copyright keeps things chill with their boozy milkshakes. Indulge in the Samoa Scout Cookie (with Girl Scout Samoa cookies, bourbon, vanilla bean custard, chocolate syrup, and burnt caramel) or the Berry Nana (Appleton rum, vanilla bean custard, strawberry sauce, and banana). Make sure to head to the back patio when the weather is nice. // 1123 Folsom St. (SoMa), trademarksfc.com Brewcade The only thing better than a frozen cocktail? Frozen cocktails with tons of video games. Brewcade serves up the fun with old and new school video games and five flavors of slushies (strawberry, watermelon, peach, green apple, and "O.G.") made with sparkling grapefruit wine and dry aromatic riesling. Go for happy hour, from 4 to 7pm weekdays. // 2200 Market St. (Castro), brewcadesf.com Pagan Idol Pagan Idol is one of our guilty pleasureswe can't say no to a tropical tiki bar with dark nooks and crannies and tropical plants that make us feel like we've just discovered a hidden oasis. Celebrate your new fave spot with a Hemingway is Dead (rum, grapefruit, lime, bitters) served in a skull cup or a blended off-menu pina colada to satisfy your frosty needs. // 375 Bush St., FiDi, paganidol.com Hawker Fare The printed tablecloths are obnoxiously loud, the music is pumping, and rows of twinkling lights strung across the dining room suggest the party to come. Keep it going with a pina colada straight from the slushy machine. // 680 Valencia St. (Mission), hawkerfare.com Glena's In a city filled with delicious Cal-Mexican fare, good margaritas are kind of a dime a dozen. But an A+ frozen margarita just isn't something we come across everyday. Glena's has the good stuff, blended with Tapatio Blanco tequila, lime, and agave. // 632 20th St. (Dogpatch), glenassf.com Botellon On a busy corner of Market Street, Botellon delivers a mix of playful American food (potato bombas, crab ravioli, mac 'n cheese bites), but we're here for the boozy slushies. Choose from a Fernet Brancainfused twist on the Rose All Day, the Hemingway daiquiri (Royal Standard rum, Luxardo maraschino, grapefruit, lime), and a spicy margarita with blanco tequila and jalapeno. // 2200A Market St. (Upper Market), botellonsf.com Novela What's a sober downtown worker bee to do after 5pm? Get your frozen fix at Novela where, despite a rotating cocktails list, there's always a slushy on offer. // 662 Mission St. (SoMa), novelasf.com Woodbury If you want to turn your evening into a slushy bar crawl, keep heading south from Novela to Woodbury, a fun gastropub that's always bumping at happy hour. Choose from pina coladas, frose, frozen Irish coffees and margaritasgiven the copious choices, you might also want to dabble in their savory, salty bar bites. Happy hour is 4:30 to 7pm weekdays. // 685 3rd St. (SoMa), woodburysf.com Tiki Haven When you venture to the Outer Sunset, don't say no to a visit to Tiki Haven. This old school dive bar is the perfect place to get your drink on with the deceptively boozy blended Fire Bowl. Each punch bowl is intended to serve two to four people, so heed the warning: It's so good, you can hardly taste the vodka, rum, and gin (yes, srsly). Happy hour is 4 to 6pm weekdays. // 1334 Noriega St., Outer Sunset, tikihavensf.com Increases Ownership to 51.35% of the Maricunga Lithium Brine Project and Strengthens Board Sydney, June 7, 2018 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Lithium Power International Limited ( ASX:LPI ) ( OTCMKTS:LTHHF ) ("LPI" or "the Company") has entered into a term sheet with its joint venture partner, Minera Salar Blanco SpA ("Minera Blanco"), to acquire a further 1.35% of the shares in the Maricunga Joint Venture Company, Minera Salar Blanco S.A. ("MSB").(see Note below)Highlights- LPI enters agreement to increase its ownership to 51.35% of Minera Salar Blanco S.A. ("MSB").- LPI strengthens its board by appointing MSB's Director and significant shareholder, Mr Martin Borda and MSB's CEO, Mr Cristobal Garcia-Huidobro as Non-Executive Directors.- These agreements tighten strategic and operational alignment with the Chilean partners of the Maricunga Lithium Brine Project.The transaction will take LPI's ownership of MSB to 51.35%, for a cash purchase price of A$2.03m. This will be paid from the Company's existing cash reserves. Post transaction, LPI will retain cash reserves of around A$22m with a further US$7m held by MSB.On completion, LPI's interest in MSB will increase to 51.35%; Minera Blanco's interest will decrease to 30.98%; and Bearings Inc.'s ("Bearings") interest will remain unchanged at 17.67%.The acquisition is subject to:- each party obtaining all necessary corporate authorisations and approvals, along with the execution and completion of binding transaction documentation by 1 August 2018; and- a pre-emptive right held by Bearings to acquire its pro rata share of the sale shares.If Bearings exercises its right, it will acquire approximately 0.35% of the 1.35% interest being sold. This would give LPI an interest of 51% in MSB; Minera Blanco 30.98%; and Bearings 18.02%.The transaction is further evidence of the strategic alignment between LPI and Minera Blanco on all matters relating to the governance and operations of MSB and the overall development of the Maricunga Lithium Brine Project.LPI will also further strengthen its Board of Directors. The Company is pleased to welcome, upon completion of the transaction, two new Chilean directors, Mr Martin Borda, President and major shareholder of Minera Blanco, and Mr Cristobal Garcia-Huidobro, the CEO of MSB. Short biographies are set out below.Mr Borda is also a substantial shareholder in LPI, with approximately 6.14% shareholding in the Company.LPI's Chairman, Mr David Hannon said: "The acquisition of this extra ownership interest of MSB makes LPI the majority shareholder of MSB as we near completion of the Definitive Feasibility Study for the Maricunga Lithium Brine Project in 2018 and the finalisation of the permitting process. ""We are delighted to welcome Mr Borda and Mr Garcia-Huidobro to the LPI Board on completion of the transaction and look forward to further aligning the strategic and operational focus of the Maricunga Joint Venture."Mr Hannon added: "Our sincere thanks go to LPI Non-Executive Director, Mr Ricky Fertig, who also serves as President of MSB and Martin Borda, who have developed a constructive relationship during the past three years. By working together to facilitate this transaction, they have further strengthened the relationship between LPI and Minera Blanco for the benefit of the Maricunga Joint Venture."Martin Borda biographyMr Borda is MSB's founding shareholder and board member and has more than 40 years' industrial and commercial experience across the banking and food and consumer products sectors. Mr. Borda is a board member and founding shareholder of Multiexport Foods, one of the largest salmon farming companies in the world, and a board member of Molinera San Cristobal, a milling company. He also served as a board member for Scotiabank in Chile for more than 10 years. Mr. Borda has a B.A. from the Roosevelt University of Chicago.Cristobal Garcia-Huidobro biographyMr Garcia-Huidobro is MSB's CEO and a board member and has more than 18 years' experience on the development and financing of mining, energy, infrastructure, and property projects in North & South America. Mr Garcia-Huidobro was formerly Chief Investment Officer of investment company CENTINELA, and board member of a number of mining, energy and property companies, as well as member of the investment committees of numerous investment funds operating in these sectors. Mr. Garcia-Huidobro is a Civil Engineer from the Universidad Catolica of Chile and holds an M&A certificate from the Chicago University.Note: the difference between a SpA registered company and a S.A registered company in Chile is similar to the difference between a Pty Ltd registered company and a Limited registered company in Australia.About Lithium Power International Ltd Lithium Power International Limited (ASX:LPI) is a pure-play lithium explorer and developer, focusing on developing and fast-tracking to production the high-grade Maricunga lithium brine project in Chile. LPI has a well-known performing technical team with the experience to take the Maricunga project all the way through the development stages to production. The regions that LPI is currently focused on are: 1. Maricunga JV (Chile) - Located within the "Lithium Triangle", Maricunga is Chile's highest grade and most advanced lithium project outside the Salar de Atacama. The project lies 170 km northeast of Copiapo and 250 km from the port of Caldera. 2. Pilbara (Western Australia) - LPI has three granted exploration tenements covering 203 km2 in the Pilbara region of northern Western Australia. The largest granted exploration tenement is the Pilgangoora tenement which is 2-3 km west of the Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) and Altura Mining (ASX:AJM) lithium deposits. 3. Greenbushes (Western Australia) - LPI has two granted exploration tenements covering 400 km2 in the Greenbushes area of southern Western Australia. The tenements are adjacent to the world's largest hard rock lithium mine owned and operated by Tianqi/Talison. 4. Centenario (Argentina) - Through its Argentinian subsidiary, Lithium Power holds a total of seven granted tenements in the Centenario lithium brine salar within the Salta province of the Puna Plateau. In total, the seven granted tenements cover an area of 68.46 km2. With the exception of the Maricunga JV, all tenements are 100% owned by LPI or LPSA (including rights to the Centenario tenements). Ethiopia is undergoing remarkable political transformation never seen in the country's recent history. Since coming to power just over two months ago, the new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, has taken a series of radical steps that are transforming the political map and restoring trust in public authority. On Tuesday (June 5), the government made three major and politically consequential announcements: it lifted the state of emergency imposed shortly after former Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn resigned, announced plans to liberalize the economy and declared it was ready to fully comply with and implement the Algiers Agreement that ended Africa's most deadly conflict. Reforms at home Perhaps the most popular Ethiopian leader to date, the Prime Minister's performance over the last two months has been stellar. Since his inauguration, the Prime Minister has toured the country, listening to the people's grievances. He has reassured the public that his government is ready to take concrete steps towards democratic opening and national reconciliation. His government has released thousands of political prisoners, met with the political opposition and civil society to discuss reform, invited previously exiled political parties to return to their country, and embarked on major institutional reforms, including the security and the justice sectors. In just 66 days, the Prime Minister has turned a new page in Ethiopian history, restoring hope and optimism in the direction the country is taking. The concrete and symbolic steps being taken on both national and regional levels show that the Ethiopian leadership is making impressive strides towards the party's promise to widen the democratic public space and foster national reconciliation. A deadly war In 1998, Ethiopia and Eritrea fought one of Africa's senseless and deadliest war, which killed an estimated 100,000 people, ripping the social fabric that tied these culturally and economically interconnected peoples together. In 2000, the two countries signed the Algiers Peace Agreement, which was designed not just to end the military hostilities and the killings but also to repair the socio-economic fabric ruptured by the war. Yet, 16 years on, the countries are still at a 'no peace, no war' situation, with thousands of soldiers still manning the border regions. Although both countries presented territorial disputes as an official justification for the war, the real reason behind the war is far more complex and has uniquely regional historical and cultural roots. Ethiopia invoked technical and bureaucratic justifications to derail the implementation of the boundary commission's decision and ultimately frustrated the process, setting the scene for the intractable stalemate. The Eritrean government used Ethiopia's refusal to relinquish sovereign Eritrean territory and the subsequent militarization of the border to justify its own repressive rules at home. The regime maintained compulsory military service, and pursued politically and economically that forced an estimated 3% of its people to flee the country. Over the last 16 years, the Eritrean government demanded Ethiopia's full compliance with the Boundary Commission's decision as a condition for normalizing relations. Now that Ethiopia has satisfied Eritrea's demands, putting the ball firmly within Eritrea's court, the Eritrean regime cannot use these excuses to prolong the conflict and maintain the persistent repressions at home. Given the transformational changes taking shape in Ethiopia and the concrete steps the new leadership have taken in the domestic arena, there is no reason to doubt the sincerity of the government. After all, this announcement is a continuation of the promise Prime Minister Ahmed made during his inaugural speech two months ago. Ethiopia's announcement to comply fully with the Boundary Commission's decision will mark a new chapter in the relations between the two countries and will be consequential for regional peace and stability. Fastest growing economy Another major announcement by the new government center around plans to liberalize the economy, including decisions to privatize fully or partially lucrative state enterprises such as aviation, energy, telecommunication, and manufacturing. Under the plan, foreign and domestic investors can buy minority stakes in sectors that were previously deemed off limits to private enterprise. This announcement represents a major policy shift by the government as the new leadership seeks a new direction for the economy while maintaining the interventionist aspects of the developmental state policy. Since the 2005 disputed National Election, the ruling party and its leadership embraced the 'Democratic developmental state' economic model and used this phrase to describe the ruling party's ideology and to criticize the neo-liberal economic model. Over the last decade, Ethiopia registered impressive economic performance. Although there are reasons to suspect the credibility of the data and the real extent of the growth, it was among the fastest growing economies in the world, averaging double-digit economic growth and cutting poverty by half. However, the developmental state model as practiced by the previous government is not merely an economic policy. It is a politico-economic whole underpinned by a project of social engineering and political control, leading to massive land grab and the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of people from their ancestral lands without appropriate consultation or compensation. While the policy shift does not constitute a wholesale abnegation of the developmental state model, it certainly represents a significant departure from the previous approach. According to the press statement, the government will continue to participate in economic activities to ensure increased spending on infrastructure investments and other socially rewarding projects. However, as the government seeks to widen the political space and empower citizens, the authoritarian economic model practiced by the previous governments needs to undergo a renewal. Many of Ethiopia's public enterprises have been neither efficient nor profitable and their privatization is long overdue. Several sectors under public ownership such as telecommunication and electricity can benefit from private sector investment and dynamism. Serious risks While Ethiopia's economy certainly needed a new direction, the government must be cautious and must move with extreme care in rolling out these policies, particularly in opening up certain sectors to foreign investment. For example, it is not clear why the government seeks to partly privatize the Ethiopian Airlines, the most efficient, profitable, and reliable African airline. The carrier, which has dominated the African sky by acquiring several under performing airlines, is considered a national treasure, which has a significance far greater than revenue generation. The government must undertake a thorough impact assessment sector by sector, and industry by industry, if necessary, to minimize the devastating effects of opening up capital strapped markets to foreign competition. Finally, Ethiopia's new leadership is making remarkable progress on several fronts, but faces serious risks from within which could jeopardize the progress made over the last two months. It is important that regional powers and Western governments support the transition in this country whose stability is critical for the entire Horn of Africa region. Chico, Calif. -- On Tuesday several Chico community groups protested outside of the Chico City Council Chambers. Chico Friends on the Street and Mobilize Chico are two of the groups that protested several proposed ordinances they say are aimed at criminalizing homelessness in the city. Members say some of these proposed ordinances are immoral and unethical because they target the homeless and will make trying to survive on the streets a crime. So you have four issues there, all of them pointed at trying to make life in the public space more difficult for people, said Chico Friends on the Street member Patrick Newman. The group is a public space advocacy group, and he says people are on the street because the system has failed them. He says lack of affordable housing is the biggest culprit. 90% of homelessness would go away if there was affordable housing. It does everywhere in the world, he said. He says until then, we have to figure out how to deal with the problem humanely, and not simply make it harder for those people to live on the streets, which is why his group is protesting several proposals put forth by councilmember Andrew Coolidge. To me, it's more important to look at all of these people who are already suffering, make space for them, and allow them to live in our community as friends, as people that we can ally with. He says considering the shopping cart ordinance, closure times for city parks, and the controversial sit & lie ordinance which says people cant be on sidewalks or anywhere where they would obstruct public traffic are simply punishing people living in the public space; theyre criminalizing homelessness, and making those people's lives more difficult doesn't do anybody any good. I can spend money in the downtown myself because I have money in my pocket, so I can go and sit in any cafe or restaurant that I want to. Better to think about people's human rights first, in other words, are we going to accommodate them. NEWS APP: DOWNLOAD OUR NEWS APP FOR LATEST UPDATES: iOS | Android Butte County, Calif. -- On Wednesday, Butte County supervisor leading candidates reacted to the results of the June primary election. The Butte County Clerk Recorder's office is still tallying the votes received from mail-in ballots. The office has 30 days from June 5th to certify the election results. "June primaries, right, selecting candidates for the June primary, where turn out is likely to be low, you can't exactly predict who is going to turn out, which means it's also hard to predict who is going to win," said Andy Potter, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Chico State. In the race for the supervisor district two spot, Debra Lucero is the leading candidate over incumbent supervisor Larry Wahl in the race for the district two seat. Lucero had 55% of the vote to Wahl's 45%. "It's not particularly surprising, even though Larry Wahl has won the last two elections. You know, an election that's decided in a June primary that involves students, it's not going to be easy to predict what's going to happen," said Potter. On Wednesday afternoon, Lucero reacted to being the leading candidate. "I'm very excited, I'm honored that the district, the people of district two voted me in, I'm thrilled," said Lucero. This was Lucero's first run at elected office. If the final results declare her the winner, Lucero will be replacing Wahl who held his seat for eight years. "I don't think that Larry and I could be more different in a lot of ways so I feel it's looking forward," said Lucero. Lucero said she hopes to focus on solution-based governance. "We have really big issues and I don't think any one jurisdiction is going to be able to cover this. We need a lot of collaboration," said Lucero. Wahl is a Vietnam veteran and has also served on the Chico City Council and the City Planning Commission. 'Needless to say, I'm disappointed, I would have liked to have been on the winning side and it wasn't meant to be so we'll move on and do other things," said Wahl. In the race for the supervisor district three spot, Chico city councilwoman Tami Ritter is the leading candidate over Norm Rosene and Bob Evans with 53%. "Yeah it's a lot of relief right now. Hopefully once all the mail-ins are counted, the vote is finalized, I'm hoping to be in the same position, that I'm not running in November," said Ritter. NEWS APP: DOWNLOAD OUR NEWS APP FOR LATEST UPDATES: iOS | Android FOLLOW LAURA ENG ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Facebook: @LauraEngNews Twitter: @LauraEngNews Update Friday 6-8-2018 - The Flores family has issued a statement. The family of Abraham (Abe) Flores would like to thank everyone who has supported our family during this difficult time. Abe successfully coped with his mental illness until just recently he was diagnosed with a brain tumor that was affecting his motor skills, memory and speech. Because of Abes desire to be private and not worry his family we were unaware of the emotional impact that this made on him. Prior to his illness and even while he was managing it he was a wonderful human being he was a loving son, brother and an amazing uncle. Our prayers go out to the officers and the first responders as this is a difficult time for all of us. We would like to ask for privacy during this difficult time and we request that personal opinions and comments stay off of social media and public forums. Thank you from the family of Abraham (Abe) Flores. RED BLUFF, Calif. - Tehama County Sheriff's Deputies fatally shot an armed suspect, prompting the lockdown of a nearby community college in Red Bluff. Tehama County Assistant Sheriff Phil Johnson says that a 34-year-old Los Molinos man was shot twice after leveling a rifle at officers. Johnson said the man's girlfriend called 911 earlier in the day, to report the man was armed and suicidal. He was located just south of the Shasta Community College Tehama campus . Johnson said deputies negotiated with the man for about 45 minutes and he urged deputies to shoot him. They did not release the man's name. Classes at the community college were canceled for the day. No other injuries were reported. The California Department of Justice is investigating. Here is another story about this fatal Officer-Involved Shooting in Red Bluff REDDING, Calif - At the young age of 9, Rafael Helbig-Kostka entered his first choir class Thats when teachers saw something in him and he soon after began music lessons. but after being in choir with him he spoke with my mom he was liek i'd really like to give your son voice lessons. I was like absolutely I think this is a sign," said Helbig-Kostka. Through years of school Rafael tells Action News Now, that core classes like English and math were never his strong suit. But one day in English, while writing in his journal, he was contemplating how everyone around him knew what they wanted to do then it hit him he should study music. "I don't know what I'm doing with my life. I'm obvisouly not going to those places I don't know then it hit me. I should do music," said Helbig-Kostka. Now, years later, and two music degrees in hand Rafeal is returning from South Africa where he performed at Bachs St. John Passion to the place that sparked his passion Redding. Unfortunately for Redding residents he isnt spending much time here because hes continuing his fairy tale and joining the opera studio of the Landesthear Linz in Linz, Austira for the 2018 - 2019 season. Im sure there are other things that I can do but its not what I do," said Helbig-Kostka. Redding Police have arrested one of two suspects in connection with the recent theft of a van that had 14 show dogs in it. 41 year old Benjamin Larson was arrested Thursday afternoon. Police say he is a parolee with an extensive criminal history. 28 year old Billie Jo Patterson is still wanted for the crime. Both men are from Redding. The theft happened on June 6 when the van and dogs were taken from the parking lot of the In-N-Out burger restaurant. They were found the next day in the south Redding area. The animals were okay and were reunited with their owners. The suspects face charges of animal cruelty, vehicle theft and possession of stolen property. UPDATE 10:08 a.m. Friday, June 29, 2028 An arrest has been made in this case. Look back here in a few minutes for a picture of the person arrested, and for the person still wanted. The name of the man who was arrested is Benjamin Larson of Redding. He is in custody. The man still wanted in relation to this case is Billie Jo Patterson of Redding. UPDATE: 6/7/2018 11:15 a.m. REDDING, Calif.-- The van that had been filled with the missing show dogs has been located, say Redding Police, and all 14 of the missing dogs were located inside the van. The van was located at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday morning in a wooded area ner Valley Drive in Redding. The dogs are being moved to Haven Humane, where they will be checked, but they appear to be in good health, said authorities. Some of the dog owners have been reunited with their dogs. Later the dogs will be released either to their owners or to the dog trainer, Tony Carter. Anyone with information that can assist Redding Police with this investigation are asked to call them and provide details. Stay with Action News Now for all your local coverage. SIGN UP: Get our daily newsletter REDDING, Calif. - A Seattle dog trainer on his way to a Vallejo show stopped for lunch in Redding. When he went into the In and Out Burger on Dana Drive, the top-dogs and his van were stolen. We have a photograph of the missing van, and pictures of some of the missing dogs. They all belonged to clients of trainer Tony Carter, who left his van running as he stepped into the In and out Burger Wednesday afternoon at 1:19 p.m. He said it was less than three minutes later that the culprit was caught on surveillance video driving off in the van. Redding Police quickly sent out an investigative team to search for the missing van and the missing dogs. The stolen van was a 2018 Dodge ProMaster Cargo Van with Washington license plate number BKD2048. Some of the dog breeds that were taken include rat terriers, golden labs, and rottweilers. Please contact Redding Police at (530) 225-4200 if you have any information regarding the whereabouts of the van or the dogs. According to NHS data, the main cause of Type 2 diabetes is being overweight, and nearly 68% of adult males in England fall into this category. Lifestyle changes, including healthier eating and exercise, are required, and one area that can support this is the workplace. Work cultures that encourage networking through late night drinking, regular staff cake sales and office canteens full of unhealthy options for example - may be exacerbating the issue. Whilst organisations dont want to take all the fun out of the workplace, its important to consider unhealthy practices, and focus on supporting individuals in managing their health more effectively. Free fruit in the office, nutrition talks and social sport activity days, instead of networking in the pub, are some of the ways employers can encourage healthier lifestyles. Health checks Men are less likely to visit their doctor than women**, and this can reduce the opportunity for early diagnosis of diabetes. The ramifications of this are significant; men are more likely to suffer from diabetes, twice as likely to have complications including foot ulcers, more likely to require an amputation, and twice as likely to die prematurely***. With obesity being identified as a main cause of diabetes, alongside evidence suggesting men prefer weight loss programmes targeted for them****, employers can play a key role in tailoring healthcare programmes to men more effectively. For example, encouraging men to take more interest in their health and improve their eating habits through health check-ups and healthy eating workshops, both of which can be provided in the workplace. Holistic approach to health Whilst Mens Health Week this year focuses on diabetes, its important to take an holistic approach when it comes to thinking about health. Taking the physical aside, a significant focus in the press this year has been on mental health with the Samaritans highlighting that the single biggest cause of death for men under the age of 45 in the UK is suicide. Exercise and mental wellbeing are intrinsically linked, with the Department of Health finding that being physically active can reduce someones risk of depression by up to 30%. Creating a workplace, where employees are encouraged to stay healthy both mentally and physically should be a key priority for businesses. Brett Hill, managing director, The Health Insurance Group said: Men, in particular, mustnt stick their heads in the sand about health concerns but, instead, take every opportunity offered to them. This might include health screening, GP check-ups or online assessments that can highlight critical lifestyle changes to enable them to look after themselves. Whether that is having medical tests to support early diagnosis with conditions like diabetes, or identifying mental health concerns that would benefit from intervention, employee benefits are there to support individuals at every stage of their health. For employers, healthcare benefits act as a great attraction and retention tool, providing ongoing support to employees when they need it the most. With Mens Health Week shining a spotlight on gender-specific health issues, organisations can respond in a positive and supportive way through reviewing their current working practices, and utilising and communicating their benefits programmes effectively. Eyewitnesses, whistleblowers, UFO researchers and Exopolitics scholars have documented accounts of human looking aliens. Perhaps the most famous of these claims are those of David Icke who alleges that demonic reptillian aliens taking on the appearance of humans are occupying various positions of authority on Earth. Former Canadian Defence Minister Paul Helleyer has also made claims of aliens "looking just like humans" in the halls of power. There are three apparent major reasons for this masquerade according to various accounts. Reason One - Demonic aliens that are of an artificial intelligence use the human mind as a "doorway" to abduct humans to then experience a range of human senses which allude these aliens in their own bodies. Indeed, much of the uncivilized behaviour that we, as humans, see reported in the news from pedophilia to rape to murders to avarice / corruption to sadism, and mayhem in general can be attributed to these aliens seeking to experience the extremes of human emotion without any regard to morality. Reason Two - Demonic aliens seek to masquerade as humans so that they can infiltrate human organizations and mis-direct us to support an alien agenda. Many environmental, media and other organizations are apparently being misdirected by manipulative aliens through "archons" on our planet Earth according to Dr. Michael Salla's "Typology of Extraterrestrials". David Icke's research in this area is by no means speculation but instead relies of the historical testimony of indigenous elders like African Zulu Elder Credo Mutwa who detailed demonic repitillian aliens attempts to infiltrate African pre-European colonial governments through assassination and replacement of leaders with "alien clones". "Archons" represent the "humanized face of aliens" according to the ancient Pagan Gnostics. In the above video could ABC-TV's "V" leak out before it was cancelled the manipulative alien agenda that creates havoc on our planet as a result of manipulative aliens that have been documented to be infiltrating human organizations? According to Dr. Salla, science fiction editors and producers often seek to "hide truth in plain sight". Reason Three - Demonic aliens seek to destroy an appreciation and value for what it means to be human based upon ideals of empathy, love and peace with the idea that human "growth" relies on the existence of exploitation of each other and the environment through capitalism; and both war and oppressive ideologies as "natural expressions" of human behaviour. The more that aliens can masquerade as humans and create havoc on our planet is the more than humans will view the "artificial intelligence" of the alien puppet masters as necessary. Through such mass psychological manipulation manipulative aliens seek to subordinate the higher dimensional conscience of the spiritual-biological life of our planet Earth with the existentially inferior "world of artificial intelligence" which uses simulation and deception to deceive its adversaries. Eric Brazau Candidate for beaches I am a person with varied experience. Art sales contracting I do not ascribe to any political ideology. AS for religion Raised a Catholic, worshiped as Anglican for 4 years and practiced Buddhism for five. Was born in Montreal in 64. Was anti-French separatist only for identity politics. Today I would vote yes in the referendum. Canada has lost its Nation to the Globalist agenda. We are a debtor nation with no intention of regaining sovereignty. Many policies are predicated on false unchallenged assumptions. Some mistakes cannot be rectified. Ex: Islam is a religion of peace. All Muslims want to live in harmony. Maybe but maybe not. It is a fact that in every Muslim community exist a percentage of extreme misunderstanding Muslims willing to kill and die for Allah. The question I want to ask is. What percentage is acceptable? Why is Justin willing to roll the dice with our live concerning returning irregular ISIS travelers? We need more than ever to debate issues that many find uncomfortable. LATAM Airlines Groups has outlined the effect the Brazilian truckers strike had on cargo operations and also the financial implications for the overall company. Although the action did not directly involve the carrier, blockades by truckers led to a shortage of aviation fuel at most of the countrys airports, while trucking services ground to a halt. LATAM Airlines Brazil had to cancel 151 domestic flights between May 25 and 30, out of a scheduled total of 3,422, and was unable to carry around 1,500 tons of cargo. It estimates that the action has cost the airline around $13m. The strike, which lasted 10 days, was over rising fuel prices, implemented by the state-owned oil company Petrobras, and came to an end when the government agreed to subsidies. Reports say the strike resulted in shortages of food and water and paralysed much of the countrys economy. Share this story Chapman Freeborn colleagues from every office, function and seniority around the world gathered for a weekend of fun in Malta to celebrate the charter companys 45 years in business. Over the past four and half decades it has grown from a small UK-based operation to become an international business with a global footprint. Guests enjoyed a variety of activities during the event, including boat trips, a treasure hunt and an evening event in the 6,000 year old city of Mdina. Chief executive Russi Batliwala said: Its our people who make the business what it is today. Ive been with Chapman Freeborn for over 30 years and many of my colleagues have also been with the company for 10 and 20 years or more. It was great to spend a weekend away with so many familiar faces as well as the talented new starters coming through. Founded in the UK in 1973, the Chapman Freeborn group was originally set up to market Alaska International Airs fleet of Hercules freighters. The company now has offices in North America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia. Its subsidiaries include Chapman Freeborn OBC, Logik Logistics and Wings 24 providing on board courier services, time-critical logistics and flight operation services respectively. Five years ago the group acquired equine, livestock and exotics transport specialist Intradco Global. Last year it increased its stake in UK-based wide-body cargo aircraft specialist Magma Aviation from a minority holding to 75% to help support long-term growth plans. Read more charter company news Share this story Santa Fe College Police arrested a man Tuesday afternoon accused of stealing animals from Santa Fe College Teaching Zoo in May. Sedrick Price, 20, was charged with grand theft. On May 23, four animals, two gopher tortoises and two box turtles, were stolen from the teaching zoo, according to a Santa Fe media release. On May 30, seven more animals three box turtles, two red-foot tortoises, a skink and a squirrel monkey were also stolen. Evidence at the zoo showed that the animals were forcefully taken from their enclosures, according to a media release. SFPD received a tip Monday afternoon that led them to the Crossings at Santa Fe apartments, located at 3205 NW 83rd St., according to the media release. Seven animals were recovered from an apartment six from the May 30 burglary and one box turtle from the May 23 burglary. Price lived in the apartment the animals were found in. Four other animals are still missing, including David Beckham the box turtle, according to the zoos Facebook post. According to a SFPD arrest report, Price knowingly obtained the 11 animals which value at about $10,000 to $20,000. SFPD said even though an arrest was made, the investigation continues and more arrests are possible, according to the media release. Price was in Alachua County Jail on Tuesday and a judge released him without bail Wednesday afternoon. Anyone with information regarding the animals can call SFPD at 352-395-5519. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now Follow Devoun Cetoute on Twitter @Devoun_Cetoute and contact him at dcetoute@alligator.org. David Beckham, a box turtle, is one of four animals still missing after 11 were stolen from the Santa Fe College Teaching Zoo. Another box turtle and two gopher tortoises are also still missing. Student Government may have more money available to use soon. Changes to the annual budget unanimously passed first readings at Tuesdays Student Senate meeting. The newly proposed budget is now worth $20,819,571, according to Student Senate Bill 2018-1047. SG Budget and Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Emily Dunson said the $408,219 increase from the original budget is based on an estimation that students will sign up for more credit hours in the coming year than was originally anticipated when the budget was first written. Its important that we are remaining updated in our budgets so that we can remain as fiscally responsible as possible and as accurate as possible, Dunson said. One of the largest increases in spending on a single item will be awarded to SG projects in the new budget, according to the bill. This will be a $73,140 increase over the original budget, if approved at the next meeting. Student Body President Ian Green intends to use the new funds on a variety of new projects, he said. These projects include the previously announced Bridges, a minority outreach program,and new projects like the Bledsoe Drive parking lot project. It would allow students going to Southwest Recreation Center to park for free. We are constantly looking for innovative ways to enhance the student experience, Green said. And, we always accept different suggestions throughout the school year. The money in the budget comes from student activity and service fees, Dunson said. Students pay $19.06 in fees per credit hour they enroll in, a cost that hasnt increased in the past four years. The budget will be heard again in second readings at next weeks senate meeting Tuesday. Follow Gillian Sweeney on Twitter @gilliangsweeney and contact her at gsweeney@alligator.org. Student Government Budget and Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Emily Dunson gives the committees report. Dunson addressed the reason for budget increases in her report. (June 7,2018) Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now The Gainesville community will come together Saturday to enjoy local artists all while supporting a local cause. Cypress & Grove Brewing Company, located at 1001 NW Fourth St., will be hosting its first Arts & Vintage Market on Saturday from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. Gainesville citizens who come out can enjoy the work of local artists, makers and healers while grabbing an ice-cold beer or kombucha. Attendees can also enjoy food from Mayflower Cellars, a locally sourced company with a focus on sustainability, and a live performance from Florida bluegrass band Dim Lights in the evening. The cause this event supports is what sets it apart. All attendees who make purchases will be helping to support the YogaLoka Project, as a portion of all proceeds from the market will benefit this project. People who want to support the cause without making a purchase can donate while at the market. YogaLoka volunteer Jaya Holmes-Brew said the organization provides yoga sessions for people with mental illnesses and for the marginalized communities in Gainesville. "We teach yoga at Grace Marketplace and the Gainesville veteran center, she said. Holmes-Brew said the neighborhood brewery is close to her house, and after previously trying to plan this same type of event herself, she asked the brewery if they would host. Cypress & Grove Brewing Company owner Anna Heinemann said Holmes-Brew introduced them to the YogaLoka Project, which was completely new to them. We're always open to helping good local causes, Heinemann said. Holmes-Brew said YogaLoka will soon have a website for people to make donations throughout the year. In the meantime, willing donors can contact volunteers to donate directly. YogaLoka wants the main Gainesville community to integrate with the community that the project tries to reach, Holmes-Brew said. Classes at Grace Marketplace are free and open to the public Monday through Friday. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now Tampa Indie Flea will host an indie flea pop-up market in Gainesville this Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Depot Park. The event is expected to draw in 25 to 30 vendors. Attendees can expect vintage and remade garments, handcrafted jewelry, pottery, succulents and cacti, handcrafted food and other locally created goods. The pop-up event, which is the second flea market to be hosted by Tampa Indie Flea in Gainesville this year, is the brainchild of a team led by Rosey Williams and Seanissey Loughlin. Loughlin, the creative director for Indie Flea, said Gainesville has an especially unique atmosphere. Bringing Indie Flea to Gainesville just felt right, Loughlin said. It has the right vibe. It has the right kind of shoppers coming out and meeting the right kind of makers." Tampa Indie Flea expanded into Gainesville two years ago. Since then, the Indie Flea has reduced its presence in the city from being a monthly event to being a now quarterly event. This shift was caused by personal changes among the team at Indie Flea. However, Loughlin said these changes do not reflect a disinterest in the Gainesville community. Gainesville has just always been a really fun environment for us to work in, Loughlin said. This project in Gainesville has the potential to do some really awesome things for the city and the people who live in it. Loughlin and Williams, who had already launched St. Pete Indie Market in 2012, first began collaborating in 2015. Together, they launched Tampa Indie Flea, a monthly curated event that showcases talent and artistry with the Tampa Bay community. However, because Tampa Indie Flea occurs only once a month, the curators sought to expand their business into other cities in Florida, including St. Petersburg and Lakeland. The team is currently eyeing other cities, such as Orlando. Loughlin said he feels pride in knowing that he and his team are making an effort to help local businesses. The importance of supporting local art and creativity is not lost on the team at Indie Flea. Youre putting money into a real persons hands, Loughlin said. Youre not just throwing money away at some corporate entity. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now Loughlin said that no matter the city, the the local community has always been the focus of Indie Flea. If youre spending money in Gainesville, lets keep that money in Gainesville, Loughlin said. Thats what its all about: supporting the people who make our communities better." You might notice something different here. As we continue our evolution, our data and market news is now available through the Fastmarkets platform and a trial of this website is no longer available. Our new delivery solution allows you to access the prices and news that matters most to you in a way that delivers value, quality and a unique, fully customizable view for you. We are working hard to develop an experience that allows you to test drive building your view of our data and news on the new platform. In the meantime, learn more about us through any of the options below. Posted on: June 7, 2018 2:14 PM Survivors of abuse have been telling their stories to members of the Anglican Communions Safe Church Commission. The Commission was set up to promote the safety of people within churches of the Anglican Communion throughout the world, with a particular focus on children, young people and vulnerable adults. It met last month in South Africa to plan the next step of its work, and to meet with abuse survivors. Every time he would go to work I would just look through the window and just stand, one survivor said as she recounted the abuse she had endured as a child. Neighbours would see me and come close to the window and talk to me. I couldnt speak it. I dont know. . . even the word help I didnt know how to say it. I didnt know what to say. They want to reach out. They would ask me why I was not in school . . . but I cant respond. Commission member Cleophas Lunga, the Bishop of Matabeleland, said that the Commission was humbled by the courage of the survivors who met with them. In many cases, the stigma associated with such kind of stories makes it difficult for people to come out publicly, to tell their stories and to find ways as to how best that they can be helped. So the work of this Commission is quite important in that regard. Mary Wells, a Canadian social worker, is a member of the Commission. I felt that their final plea was how can I be safe in the Church?, she said, speaking of the survivors stories. Developing policies that make everyone safe will help them but I would personally suggest that . . . in a very practical way parishes can help women who are emerging from abuse or trying to leave shelters and need help in transitioning. Sereima Lomaloma from the Diocese of Polynesia is another member of the Commission. One of the greatest challenges we face is the culture of silence, she said. In the community, the majority of the population in the Pacific are Christians and faith is an integral component of our lives. . . And the culture of silence is also a very important part of our lives and so we dont speak publicly about abuse. The Commission is chaired by barrister Garth Blake, a senior counsel in Australia. He said: Hearing from survivors is extremely important to our work. We need to ensure we understand the harmful effects that they have experienced and, as best we can, ensure that the guidelines we are developing will prevent that sort of abuse from happening in the future; and where abuse of that nature does happen, that there is proper care for survivors. Explaining why the Commission was established, he said: Over the last 20 years-or-so there had been public disclosures of abuse sexual abuse but other forms of abuse in a number of provinces. Our task is threefold: firstly we are to identify what policies are currently in place in the churches of the Communion; secondly, we are to develop guidelines to enhance the safety of people in the churches of the Anglican Communion; and thirdly, to develop resources for the implementation of those guidelines. Another senior lawyer who is a member of the Commission is Canon Andrew Khoo, the Chancellor of the Diocese of West Malaysia and the co-chair of the human rights committee of the Malaysia Bar Council. Where do victims or survivors, people who want to get over this, where do they go for help, he asked. Where do they go for assistance? Can they actually come to the Church? Or is the Church seen as the very institution that has allowed these horrible incidents to happen? The Commission is continuing its work through virtual meetings and are expected to gather again in November. Posted on: June 7, 2018 12:52 PM The former Vicar of Baghdad, Canon Andrew White, has said that he faces no charges after police concluded an investigation into allegations that he paid money to Daesh the so-called Islamic State or ISIS to secure the release of girls held as sex-slaves. Canon White has denied paying money to secure the release of the girls. He had been the founding director of the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East, but resigned after being suspended when British regulators the Charity Commission launched an investigation. After the Charity Commission began their investigation, Londons Metropolitan Police launched their own criminal investigation, during which Canon White was interviewed in the presence of his solicitor. This week he told The Times newspaper that this investigation is now complete. If I was not a person of such profound, simple faith I would feel very angry but I know that anger does not really achieve anything, Canon White told The Times. I feel very hurt by it all, but it has not affected my faith. . . It is quite amazing. You would think that releasing sex slaves from Isis was a good thing. But [the police] were convinced that I could only have done it by paying for them. Canon White said that he had never paid any money to Daesh, had managed to secure the release of six or seven women through connections he had developed with Sunni Muslims while he was in Iraq. He was forced to leave Iraq as Daesh insurgents continued to take territory and now works to support Iraqi refugees in Jordan. Posted on: June 7, 2018 3:45 PM A priest who worked as adviser on a popular television drama about a female vicar in rural Wales has been appointed to oversee the training of all licensed ministers in the country. Canon Dr Manon Ceridwen James was recruited as an adviser for the Welsh-language television programme Parch, for public service broadcaster S4C. Written by Fflur Dafydd, the series followed fictional rural vicar Myfanwy Elfed, and ran for three years before coming to and end in April. Canon James was born and raised in the small town of Nefyn on the Llyn the peninsula in north-west Wales. After a curacy in Llandudno she served in a number of parishes across north Wales before becoming Director of Ministry for the Diocese of St Asaph. The Province recently combined its training operations into a single organisation the St Padarns Institute. Canon James will join St Padarns in September as Director of Formation for Licensed Ministry, where she will lead the training and education of all licensed ministers, including new lay ministry roles of evangelist, pioneer, youth and childrens and pastor, as well as Readers and those preparing for stipendiary and self-supporting ordained roles. It is excellent to welcome Manon to the senior team at St Padarns, the institutes Principal, Professor Jeremy Duff, said. She brings with her a wealth of experience in parish ministry in the Church in Wales and in the formation and education of ministers. Her research is cutting edge and Welsh is her first language. As the Church in Wales seeks to implement its 2020 Vision strategy and put growth and the transformation of communities at the heart of its life, it needs outstanding training for licensed minsters across the whole of Wales. After a demanding selection procedure, we are confident that in Manon we have found the person to take forward this work, and contribute at a senior level to the overall leadership of St Padarns. Having worked with her in her current role, I know that Manon will also be a creative, supportive, committed colleague. Canon James, the author of Women, Identity and Religion in Wales (University of Wales Press), described her new role as an exceptional opportunity for me to play a part in growing lay and ordained ministers who will equip our churches to serve our communities and share the good news of Jesus Christ with them. She added: the St Padarns Institute is at an exciting stage in its development, and I feel fortunate to be working with a very gifted team of tutors and staff, in offering resources and equipping the Church in Wales in various ways to address the challenges we face, as we approach the centenary of disestablishment. (ANSA) - New York, June 7 - The International Monetary Fund said Thursday it was confident that the new Italian government would safeguard public accounts. "It's clearly at the start. We have confidence that Italy will launch policies to maintain the sustainability of public accounts," and build on past reforms, said IMF spokesman Gerry Rice. "We have not yet had the opportunity of meeting the new authorities.. Rice was answering a question whether he was concerned about sustainability of public debt and if the IMF had advice to give the new government, which has been accused of not having financial cover for all its planned policies. (ANSA) - Brussels, June 7 - Italy respects and honours its commitments to NATO, Defence Minister Elisabetta Trenta said at NATO talks Thursday. Italy "always respects honours the commitments it has made" but "for what we have given so far and want to continue to give, I think it is time to receive also", she said. "It's a question of solidarity," referring to missions, said Trenta, an army reservist named in the new Five Star-League government. "Today at these talks I ask the will for a NATO more attentive to the Mediterranean to be strengthened" to help Italy and the EU in "the main challenges that face us: the fight against terrorism and the fight against human trafficking". BRUSSELS - Several EU countries are discussing the creation of camps for asylum seekers in a country on the continent but outside the European Union. Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen spoke of the idea with local media on Wednesday. ''I am optimistic,'' he was quoted by De Standaard as saying, ''on the basis of my talks with other EU leaders, and dialogue at the official level. I expect us to be able to make the first step this year.'' Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz seconded Rasmussen in speaking in Brussels, according to Thursday's German edition of Handelsblatt. "We suggested a long time ago that it would make sense to offer protection outside of the European Union, where (migrants) get protection where it is necessary but do not have the opportunity to pick the best system in Europe," Kurz said. Rasmussen and Kurz said talks were being held between European governments but not within the EU framework. TUNIS - Some 71 corpses have been recovered from the latest shipwreck off the Tunisian coast of Kerkennah, according to interior ministry figures. Search and rescue operations have meanwhile resumed in the part of the sea around which the vessel sunk. The prime minister of the Tunisian national unity government, Youssef Chahed, on Wednesday removed Interior Minister Lofti Brahem and replaced him with Justice Minister Ghazi Jeribi, without providing additional details. On Wednesday evening a group of citizens protested in front of the interior ministry against the decision. About a dozen of high-ranking leaders of the National Guard and the Coast Guard of Sfax and Kerkennah had been suspended earlier in the day and the Sfax prosecutor's office has opened an investigation into possible complicity between security offices and human traffickers in connection with the latest sinking. More migrants in Med out of hunger than fleeing war Barilla in Brussels to discuss food-migration links (ANSAmed) - ROME, JUNE 7 - The people who arrive in and migrate from the Mediterranean area do it mostly due to a lack of food security, with soil erosion, climate change and population growth making it a more serious reason to leave their homes than wars. This was stressed on June 6 at the Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition (BCFN) International Forum in Brussels. The forum was held for the first time in the EU capital ahead of a longstanding appointment in Milan in November and a stop in New York in September, at the same time as the United Nations General Assembly. The link between food security, climate change and migration and the need to promote a rural development model for the Mediterranean were the main issues focused on during the forum. ''Over the past 10 years the Sahara,'' said Lucio Caracciolo from the MacroGeo, ''grew by 10% and erosion has become a problem in some of our southern regions as well.'' This means less arable land and new risks for food production. European agriculture, noted an analysis by the Economist Intelligence Unit, produces 10% of the total greenhouse gas emissions at the EU level, which rises to 20-35% if taking into account the entire agrofood sector. Moreover, 12% of EU agricultural terrain is at risk of erosion due to intensive agricultural activities. It is in this context in the Mediterranean that all the challenges of sustainable development are concentrated, from the fight against hunger to climate change and large-scale environmental issues, from air quality to clean energy supply and education. ''We should be frightened by the situation that we are facing but also fascinated by the solutions,'' BCFN vice president Paolo Barilla said in opening the conference. The conference supported the idea that the Mediterranean can be a laboratory for solutions, such as one by the entrepreneur Faris Farrag, an Egyptian who raises fish and grows vegetables in the desert a few kilometers from Cairo through aquaponics. EU agriculture commissioner Phil Hogan took part in the conference, who last week presented a draft reform of EU agricultural policy, which BCFN said was one of the areas in which the EU can contribute to sustainable development of the Mediterranean and the world. Among the proposals that BCFN brought to Brussels is support for a 'new vision' for EU agricultural policy focused on sustainability, which promotes a Mediterranean model of rural development for all countries in the area and that takes migration and food security into account. (ANSAmed). European leaders weigh asylum center outside EU Danish PM and Austrian chancellor support idea (ANSAmed) - BRUSSELS, JUNE 7 - Several EU countries are discussing the creation of camps for asylum seekers in a country on the continent but outside the European Union. Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen spoke of the idea with local media on Wednesday. ''I am optimistic,'' he was quoted by De Standaard as saying, ''on the basis of my talks with other EU leaders, and dialogue at the official level. I expect us to be able to make the first step this year.'' Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz seconded Rasmussen in speaking in Brussels, according to Thursday's German edition of Handelsblatt. "We suggested a long time ago that it would make sense to offer protection outside of the European Union, where (migrants) get protection where it is necessary but do not have the opportunity to pick the best system in Europe," Kurz said. Rasmussen and Kurz said talks were being held between European governments but not within the EU framework. (ANSAmed). Sanchez appoints first 'women-dominant' government 11 out of 17 ministers, 'reflection of Spanish society' (ANSAmed) - MADRID, JUNE 7 - Spain's new socialist prime minister Pedro Sanchez has appointed 11 women and 6 men to his cabinet. He noted in presenting the list to King Felipe VI that his new government is ''unmistakably committed to equality'' and intends to reflect recent changes in Spanish society. He added that it was ''a highly qualified government for a society with equal representation, open to the world but anchored in Europe'', also calling it ''feminist''. The eleven female ministers will be taking on key roles as ministers of defense, justice, economy, finance, and territorial administration. The latter is a ministry that will be crucial for solving the Catalan crisis. The deputy prime minister is a woman, minister for equality Carmen Calvo, and Sanchez noted in his first speech as president that equal rights would be a priority for his government. Jose Luis Zapatero, the last socialist prime minister, had appointed an equal number of male and female ministers. The Sanchez government, the new PM said, ''will be open to dialogue and respect for those who think differently''. It will begin from a weak position, however, with parliamentary support of only 84 PSOE MPs out of 350. Foreign minister will be former EU Parliament president Josep Borrell, from Catalonia but a unionist 'hawk' against Catalan independence. Catalan president Quim Torra called the announcement of his appointment ''very bad news''. The minister for territorial administration, Meritxell Batet, is instead a Catalan federalist. In the justice ministry will be prosecutor Dolores Delgado, a specialist in the fight against jihadism who will be tasked with handling the thorny issue of Catalan 'political detainees'. Economy minister will be Nadia Calvino, EU budget director and a clear gesture towards Brussels, while finance minister will be Maria Jesus Montero, who is close to Andalusia president Susana Diaz. Loyal supporters of the new PM Jose Luis Abalos (second in command of the PSOE) and former prosecutor Margarita Robles will instead be heading the investment and defense ministries, while former astronaut Pedro Duque will be science minister. Another judge, Fernando Grande Marlaska, will be interior minister. (ANSAmed). The Abu-Dhabi-based National Search and Rescue Centre (NSRC) is the first of its kind in the UAE. Alan Warnes looks at how it came into being and what success it has had. The UAEs national search-and-rescue (SAR) operation was, until recently, run by the military but it was quite restrictive. According to one source: Anyone requesting assistance would have to call one central focal point in the UAE Armed Forces Joint Operations Centre (JOC). It wasnt quick or easy. So, a plan was put together to take the responsibilities away from the military and overhaul the system. Recommendations were made to change legislation and find a body that would be responsible for the SAR effort. Until those components were right, we couldnt get the SAR effort into the right place to do the job, explained the source. All the support issues needed considering; how to work with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO); the International Maritime Organisation (IMO); as well as the regulators and jurisdictions on the ground. We wanted to stand up capabilities to work with everyone, including the military and the police. But we needed them to recognise us. Objectives were drawn up to be an international example of rapid response and operational readiness by harnessing the latest resources, technology and communications, and a plan was formed to fulfil all land, sea and air SAR requirements within a maximum of one hour, known as the golden hour. Things started to move in 2013, when the SAR role was set up under the Supreme Council for National Security. That meant the NSRC, which was launched at the 2015 Dubai Air Show, was part of a super structure above the military and police, explained the source. It meant we could gain their support in the right way. If we had been part of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), we might not have got their support on a day-to-day basis. The NSRC is now in charge of all UAE search-and-rescue operations. One of the driving forces behind the facility is Sheikh Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAEs national security advisor. In August 2016, when the NSRC joined the International Maritime Rescue Federation (IMRF), His Excellency, Major General Staff Pilot Stephen Toumajan, the general manager of NSRC said: Our objective is saving lives in all of the UAE. Joining the IMRF will certainly enhance learning from experience and exchanging perspectives and knowledge among SAR practitioners. There are seven emirates in the UAE, which all require SAR coverage. They are looked after by five AW139 helicopters, on alert at Abu Dhabi (Al Bateen Airport), Fujairah IAP (Fujairah), Al Ain (Abu Dhabi), Al Hamra (Abu Dhabi) and Liwa (Abu Dhabi). Between them, the helicopters can reach anywhere in the UAE within the golden hour, which includes a 15-minute brief. For SAR missions, the helicopters are manned by a pilot, a co-pilot, a crewman and a paramedic. The pilots, who are mainly Emiratis, come from the UAEs Joint Aviation Command, based at Al Bateen. Abu Dhabi Aviation (ADA) the Middle Easts largest commercial helicopter operator provides the rear crew with the paramedics all certified to category one trauma nurse status. The crewmen are a mix of military expats from Australia, South Africa, Malaysia and France, while the paramedics are mainly from South Africa, largely due to the head of ADAs paramedic recruitment being from that country. According to one source, it was requested that paramedics to be sent to cover UAE combat search-and-rescue (CSAR) operations, where helicopters would often fly into enemy territory to pick up downed aircrew or ground troops, but, as they were civilians, they were not allowed to go. Whether this might mean more military Emirati personnel being trained in the paramedic role isnt clear. Initially, the UAE Air Force and Air Defence (AF&AD) operated five AW139s, in military markings, to cover the SAR role. The intermediary helicopter is powered by two PT6-67C turboshaft engines with full-authority digital engine control (FADEC) to minimise pilot workload and offer high power margins for maximum safety. In 2015, the UAE armed forces ordered a further six, which were delivered in two batches from the Finmeccanica (now Leonardo) Helicopters facility in Milan. While all 11 aircraft are owned by the UAEAF&AD, they are operated and maintained by ADA at the international airport. It has meant the original five aircraft, which operated in the grey scheme, have been repainted in the red and white NSRC markings. All the aircraft operate with a Spectrelab SX-16 NiteSun, designed to provide a mobile, high-intensity light source. All 11 AW139s are also equipped with L3 Wescam electro-optical/infra-red (EO/IR) forward looking infra-red (FLIR) turrets. The first five have the MX-10, while the latter six are fitted with the MX-15, which means they can fly at a medium altitude, ideal for CSAR operations. They also have a shortwave infra-red (SWIR) camera, which means the FLIR operator can see through haze. In November 2015, at the Dubai Air Show, the UAE Joint Aviation Command placed a tentative order for three Leonardo AW609 tilt rotor helicopters. They will be used by the NSRC, most probably for long-range SAR. At the time, the AW609 programme was still reeling from the loss of the prototype AW609, which had crashed in northern Italy, just days before claiming the lives of both test pilots. According to Major General Abdulla Al Sayed Al Hashemi, of the UAE Defence Ministry, the AW609 would significantly improve the services SAR capabilities: It will provide the flexibility of a rotary and fixed-wing, with its 275kt (500km/h) speed and 750nm (1,400km) range, much faster and further than conventional helicopters, he said. By November 2017, Leonardo was close to clinching the deal, with the avionics packages and the UAEs concept of operations (CONOPS) to be finalised. Certification of the Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6C-67A-powered tiltrotor is still to be approved, which means delivery would be pushed back into the initial months of 2019, rather than the previous target of late 2018. There were more than 1,000 rescue missions in 2016 157 of them life-saving. These included a walker, who fell off a ledge in Ras al Khaimah, where rescuers couldnt get in or out to the site. Fortunately, one of the party called the Ras al Khaimah police, who contacted the NSRC, followed by a WhatsApp message with the location. A helicopter was launched and was overhead 23 minutes after the initial distress call. Another incident involved a seven-year-old boy, who suffered a brain injury and a collapsed lung after an accident. He was taken to a hospital in Diba, Fujairah, but wouldnt have survived because it did not have all the services and amenities he needed. He was put on a helicopter in what would be, for him, a high-risk flight, and transported to the trauma centre in Abu Dhabi. Today he is alive and well. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A Kansas man who returned a $1 million lottery ticket to a customer who left it on a store counter says he has no regrets about giving up the prize money. Kal Patel, whose parents own the Pit Stop convenience store in Salina, returned the ticket to a longtime customer after tracking him down in his car. Good deeds come back to help you, and bad deeds come back to haunt you, he said this week. It felt good to find it and then find them. The winner, who has chosen to remain anonymous, bought three tickets at a store in nearby Lincoln, but went to the Pit Stop his neighborhood convenience store to check if they were winners. The clerk checked two tickets and the winner accidentally left the third on the counter, The Salina Journal reported. When clerk Andy Patel ran the numbers and discovered it was a $1 million winner, he called Kal Patel. He said six zeroes were popping up on the screen, said Kal Patel, who is not related to Andy. We couldnt believe it. Kal Patel knew who the customer was based on the clerks description and knew the area where he lived. He drove around the neighborhood once but couldnt find the mans house. He returned to the store, but later decided to give it another try. That time, he found saw the man and his brother driving away and was able to stop them. I showed them the ticket and told them they were winners, he said. They started shaking. They couldnt believe it. Friends have chided Kal Patel for giving up the $1 million, but he said he didnt want to live with the guilt of keeping the money. It felt good to give it to them, he said. And the praise we got back from everyone for doing this was really nice. They said it restored their faith in humanity. KWCH reports that Wichita law firm DeVaughn James Injury Lawyers this week gave Kal a $1,200 check to reward him for his good deed. Kaala is expected to open with 15-20 crores and the movie has tough competition from Salmans Race 3. Rajinikanth fans in Chennai cheered with joy, bursting crackers and dancing to their hearts content (inside and outside the theatres). A large numbers of Rajinikanths fans, some wearing customised Kaala t-shirts, gathered to watch the movie in Chennai's Rohini theatre for the first show of the movie which began at 4 am. Back in Mumbai too, it was time for celebrations with the films release. Fans danced to the beat of drums, worshipped their idol, wore Kaala tees or tattooed Rajinis face on their chest and women clad in sarees made their way from temple directly to the theatre. The police have been deputed at all theaters where Kaala is being released on Thursday. The city police have made security arrangements to ensure smooth screening of Rajinikanth starrer Kaala in Bengaluru after the High Court directed the state government to make way for its release in the state. Yet, some groups have protested and torn Rajinikanths Kaala poster outside theatres in Karnataka. Hooliganism in the name of #Kannada pride. Posters of #Kaala torn down and violance threatened ahead of movie release in #Bengaluru. #Rajnikanth has every right to express himself over #Cauvery or anything else. Disagree if you want. pic.twitter.com/JYh1If0wbj Pooja Prasanna (@PoojaPrasanna4) June 6, 2018 Kaala is expected to open with 15-20 crores due to lack of promotions and later, the movie has tough competition from Salman Khans Race 3. The actress talks about learning Urdu, her style statement, her motivation to join Bollywood and lots more. Apart from learning Hindi, you are also trying your hand at Urdu? Yes, I am learning Urdu now. Its just the initial stage. However, I am first learning to read and write. Post this I will learn to speak Urdu. In Urdu, the diction has to be perfect. Certain Urdu words are really tough and hence, learning to read and write first will make speaking easier. What was Salim Khans reaction to you learning the language? Oh! He told me tum pehele Hindi theek se seekh lo, phir baad mein Urdu seekhna. (First learn Hindi properly, and then try to learn Urdu.) How did you like shooting in Kashmir? Kashmir is my favourite shooting location. While shooting for Race 3, Salman and I drove through the snow. We went on bike to Ladakh and rode through a pass close to the border. It took us three hours to reach our destination. What is your style statement? Also, what do you think of Salmans and Anil Kapoors style quotient? Honestly, I dont have any fashion statement. My funda is wear whatever you look good in. Salmans style statement in reel and real life is unique. None of us can compete with him in that department. Anil Kapoors style statement, especially in Race 3, is sharp and he looks extremely handsome. After all, his daughter Rhea, who is an extremely talented designer, takes care of his designing needs. Looking back, what do you make of your journey in the industry? I think my journey in the industry has been slow and steady. With every film, I have gone a step ahead. I remember working in some not so good films. Today, I am constantly working and that makes me feel good. You feel so energetic and blessed. Also, if you deserve something, you will get it. If you dont, it will not come to you. I am indeed happy with my journey. What made you enter Bollywood? When I first watched Devdas at the Cannes Film Festival, I returned home, called for a DVD and watched the film again. I found the film unbelievable; all the actors looked so amazing and their performances were so wonderful. Thereafter, I watched another Sanjay Leela film, Black, and it was so emotional and different. Having watched two films of Sanjay, I decided to come to India and work with him. My dream has not yet been fulfilled. The operationalisation of PSLV has made India self-reliant in launching satellites for earth observation, navigation and space sciences. The cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, also gave its nod for funding 30 PSLV operational flights under the programme. (Photo: File/ISRO) New Delhi: The Union government on Wednesday approved the continuation of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle and Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark-III programmes, together costing more than Rs 10,000 crore, in a move that will help ISRO launch light and heavy-weight satellites. The operationalisation of PSLV, ISRO's most-trusted workhorse, has made India self-reliant in launching satellites for earth observation, disaster management, navigation and space sciences. For heavy satellites, India is helped by the French, which launches its satellites from Kourou in French Guinea in South America. The cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, also gave its nod for funding 30 PSLV operational flights under the programme. The PSLV programme is expected to meet the launch requirements of satellites for earth observation, navigation and space sciences and will also ensure the continuity of production by the Indian industry. The fund requirement is Rs 6,131 crore and includes the cost of 30 PSLV vehicles, essential facility augmentation, programme management and launch campaign. The PSLV Continuation Programme (Phase 6) will meet the demand for the launch of satellites at a frequency of up to eight launches per year, with maximum participation from the Indian industry. All operational flights would be completed during the period 2019-2024, the government said in a statement. PSLV continuation programme was initially sanctioned in 2008, and four phases have been completed and the fifth phase is expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2019-20. The phase-6 approval will cater to the launch of satellite missions from the third quarter of 2019-20 to the first quarter of 2023-24. With the recent successful launch of PSLV-C41 on April 12, PSLV has completed three developmental and 43 operational flights and the last 41 flights have been successful. The cabinet also approved funding for the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark-III Continuation Programme (Phase-1), consisting of 10 GSLV (Mk-III) flights, at an estimated cost of Rs 4,338 crore. The GSLV Mk-III Continuation Programme (Phase1) is the first phase of operational flights that will enable the launch of a four-tonne class of communication satellites. The operationalisation of GSLV Mk-III will make India self-reliant in launching the four-tonne class of communication satellites, sustain and strengthen the space infrastructure and reduce the dependence on procured launches from foreign countries. The cabinet was also apprised of a memorandum of understanding signed between India and Oman in February in Muscat for peaceful use of the outer space. The MoU shall enable cooperation in areas such as space science, technology and applications including remote-sensing of the Earth, satellite-based navigation, space science, planetary exploration, use of spacecraft and space systems and ground system and application of space technology. VHP says churches are contract killers, slams Archbishops letter. The VHP leader said what was mentioned in the letter were not the church's view-point but a conspiracy to install governments which can run on the directions of the Vatican. New Delhi: Accusing the churches in India of conspiring with the Vatican as contract killers to destabilise elected governments and prop up the puppet ones, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Wednesday asserted that India's Constitution is in danger because of the attacking political stand of the church and its agenda of religious conversions. After a recent letter by Delhi Archbishop Anil Couto's letter stating Constitution is under threat created a massive controversy, another letter by the Archbishop of Goa and Daman Father Filipe Neri Ferrao on Monday to churches saying that the Constitution is in danger and most people are living in insecurity further fuelled the controversy. Reacting sharply to these letters, VHP joint-general secretary Surendra Jain alleged that it is now amply clear that the churches in India are in collusion with the Vatican and is trying to create an atmosphere of distrust against the present government...On the contrary, Constitution of India is in danger because of the attacking political stand of the church and its agenda of religious conversions. The VHP leader said what was mentioned in the letter were not the church's view-point but a conspiracy to install governments which can run on the directions of the Vatican. Like the award-wapsi gang, the church too is acting like a contract killer to destabilise the elected governments, referring to a group of artists and academicians returning government awards in protest of perceived intolerance. He further said that the Vatican not only denigrates the Hindus all over the world but also India as a nation and the Indian churches are acting as puppets in their hands. The same church remains a mute spectator when emergency was imposed in the country, Kashmiri Hindus were brutally killed in the valley and Sikhs were butchered in the 1984 riots. For the Church, these events do not put the Constitution in danger, Dr Jain wondered. He also questioned why does the church behave in this fashion only when BJP-led government is in office. A malicious campaign about attacks on churches was made by these people when Modi ji took over as Prime Minister. When their falsehood was exposed, they did not show the courtesy by apologising for the same, Dr Jain added. In a controversial letter addressed to all the churches in the national capital, the Archbishop of Delhi had last month said that there was a turbulent political atmosphere in the country which threatens democracy and secularism. Archbishop Anil Couto, in his letter dated May 8, has also urged all the priests in Delhi to pray for the country ahead of the crucial 2019 Lok Sabha election, in which the BJP hopes to retain power. After coming out of CBI headquarters, Chidambaram said he had appeared before the CBI and the FIR did not contain any allegations against him. New Delhi: The CBI on Wednesday questioned former union finance minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram for nearly four hours in connection with its probe pertaining to the alleged irregularities in clearances to foreign investments in INX media during his tenure. After coming out of CBI headquarters, Chidambaram said he had appeared before the CBI and the FIR did not contain any allegations against him. Questions and answers were based on the files of FIPB. Hence there was little to add to the record, the Congress leader said on Twitter. Mr Chidambaram's alleged role has come under the scanner of investigating agencies in connection with the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance of `305 crore given to INX media. Mr Chidambaram has also been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on June 12 over the alleged money laundering case in the Aircel-Maxis case. On Tuesday, the former union finance minister was for the first time questioned by the ED for nearly six hours in connection with the Aircel-Maxis case, following which, Mr Chidambaram had said in a series of tweets that the questions and answers were what was already on file. Both central agencies CBI and the ED are investigating the foreign investment clearance granted in 2006 for the Aircel-Maxis deal and in the INX Media case in 2007, when Mr Chidambaram was finance minister in the UPA government. The CBI has alleged irregularities in the clearance of foreign investment in INX media, a venture promoted by former media baron Peter Mukerjea and his wife Indrani, both probed by the CBI in connection with the murder of their daughter Sheena Bora. The CBI had registered an FIR on May 15 last year for alleged irregularities in the FIPB clearance to INX Media for receiving overseas funds to the tune of Rs 305 crore in 2007. A gunbattle began early morning in Dalbhaga-Arki area when joint team of 209th battalion of CoBRA, Jharkhand police was out for operation. The encounter took place in Saraikela, the administrative headquarter of Saraikela Kharsawan district which is about 135-km from the state capital here. (Photo: PTI/Representational) Ranchi: A CoBRA commando of the CRPF was killed and a policeman injured during an encounter with Maoists in Saraikela area of Jharkhand on Thursday, officials said. They said a gunbattle began early morning in the Dalbhaga-Arki area of the Saraikela-Kharsawan district at about 7 am when a joint team of the 209th battalion of the CoBRA (commando battalion for resolute action) and Jharkhand Police was out for operation. A commando has been killed while a state police personnel has been injured during the encounter, they said. The encounter took place in Saraikela, the administrative headquarter of Saraikela Kharsawan district which is about 135-km from the state capital here. Heavy firing is still on and further details are awaited, they said. In a note to the state government, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thaawarchand Gehlot expressed concern over the deaths. The body of an 18-year-old man, whom the BJP claimed as its member, was found hanging from a tree near his home in Purulia district last month. (Photo: ANI | Twitter) Kolkata: The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has sought a report from the West Bengal government on the deaths of Dalit men in the state after the panchayat election results were announced. The body of an 18-year-old man, whom the BJP claimed as its member, was found hanging from a tree near his home in Purulia district last month. Read: WB BJP worker found hanging from tree, killers left message on his t-shirt The incident invited strong criticism of the TMC government from BJP chief Amit Shah, who said the ruling dispensation has "surpassed the violent legacy of the Communist rule" in West Bengal. An unsigned handwritten note in Bengali found near the body of Trilochan Mahato near his home in Balarampur, about 295 km from Kolkata, stated that he was "punished for working for the BJP" during the recent rural polls in the state, a senior district police officer had said. Within a couple of days, the body of a 35-year-old man was found hanging from a high-tension tower in Purulia district, triggering protests by locals and the BJP claiming him to be its member. In a note to the state government, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thaawarchand Gehlot expressed concern over the deaths. The West Bengal government on Saturday ordered a probe by the criminal investigation department into the deaths. On Wednesday, HR head of Mitsubishi Binesh Sharma, had sacked an employee, Joginder, over his alleged 'unprofessional behaviour'. Gurgaon Police have registered a case under relevant sections against Joginder and his accomplice. Investigation is underway and raids are being conducted at all possible hideouts of the attackers. (Photo: ANI/Representational) Gurgaon: Infuriated at being terminated, a sacked employee along with an accomplice on a bike today opened fire and injured a Gurgaon-based Japanese company's human resource wing head, police said. The incident occurred at around 9 am when the victim, Binesh Sharma, HR head of Mitsubishi, was going to his office in IMT, Manesar, in a car. Two persons on a bike tried to intercept Binesh Sharma's car on gun point. When he did not stop but accelerated instead, the pillion rider opened fire aiming to kill Sharma, Gurgaon Police PRO Ravinder Kumar told PTI. Sharma suffered two gunshot injuries, he said. "The attackers, one of whom was later identified as Joginder, managed to escape from the spot. Some passersby called the police and Sharma was admitted to Rockland Hospital where he is said to be out of danger, Kumar said. On Wednesday, Sharma had sacked an employee, Joginder, over his alleged "unprofessional behaviour", officials said. Joginder later threatened Sharma of dire consequences but the HR head did not take his warning seriously, the officer added. We have registered a case under relevant sections against Joginder and his accomplice. The investigation is underway and raids are being conducted at all possible hideouts of the attackers. We will arrest them soon, the PRO said. Yaseen told police that his wife, Janhavi, often used to nag him, quarrelled with him and that he strangled her with a rope in fit of rage. Yaseen was arrested after the police recovered the body from their home in Shakurpur. (Photo: File | Representational) New Delhi: A man walked into Netaji Subhash Place police station in northwest Delhi on Wednesday and confessed that he has killed his wife in a fit of rage, the police said. Yaseen told the police that his wife, Janhavi, often used to nag him and quarrelled with him and that he strangled her with a rope in a fit of rage. He was arrested after the police recovered the body from their home in Shakurpur. However, he reiterated his statement before the sub-divisional magistrate. According to Yaseen's statement, Janhavi again picked up a fight with him on Tuesday and in a fit of rage he killed her. Janhavi, who hailed from Bihar, and Yaseen, a resident of West Bengal, got married last year. Yaseen works at a private firm. Janhavi's family members have been informed. Police said Yaseen was also upset that he killed his wife. Court raps lawyer, such pleas deserve condemnation, have to be strongly discouraged. New Delhi: The Delhi high court on Wednesday dismissed a PIL seeking a detailed probe into alleged lapses of the Centre in saving 39 Indians, who were killed by ISIS in Iraq in 2014, saying such pleas deserve condemnation and have to be strongly discouraged. A bench of acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar said the petition, by a lawyer, ignores the welfare, interest and sensitivities of the families of the victims as well as the need to ensure healthy international relations and diplomatic ties. The court said the submissions made in the PIL by the lawyer, Mehmood Pracha, reflected extreme insensitivity to the tragedy that befell the 39 Indians and the devastation their family members would have undergone. It further noted that the petition did not even refer to the elaborate steps, like getting DNA samples from the victims relatives and carrying out DNA profiling and matching, taken by the Indian and Iraqi authorities to establish the identities of the individual bodies. Thereby the petitioner is guilty of concealment of material facts, the bench said and added this writ petition in our view also is not guided by any motive of public interest. The writ petition which ignores the welfare, interest and sensitivities of dependants and relatives of Indian citizens who were killed after being taken into custody by a militant organisation and the public interest in ensuring healthy international relations and diplomatic ties deserves condemnation in the strongest terms. Such attempts also have to be strongly discouraged. For all of these reasons, the writ petition is dismissed with costs which are quantified at Rs 1,00,000. Costs shall be deposited with the Delhi High Court Advocates Welfare Trust within four weeks from today, the court said in its 31-page decision. Pracha, in his plea, had contended that the Centre was aware long back that the Indians had been killed by the terror outfit after their abduction from Mosul, but had chosen not to disclose it and kept taking the stand that they were alive. He had claimed that there were glaring anomalies in the statement made by the external affairs minister on the floor of Parliament. He had sought an investigation into the deaths as he wanted to know when and how the Indians were killed. Rejecting the arguments made by him, the bench said that he has carried his submission to ridiculous lengths by contending that the burden to prove the workers dead would fall on the external affairs minister which has not been discharged. The court said that the petitioners attempts to denigrate the Indian effort deserves to be staunchly deprecated. The court also rejected his plea for public disclosure of more information regarding efforts made by the Indian government. They had said the mandate of the guidelines was to promote charitable organisations only, which were willing to work on a no-profit basis. New Delhi: The Delhi high court on Wednesday quashed the Delhi governments eligibility condition related to average annual turnover for NGOs seeking tender of the midday cooked meal scheme, terming it as arbitrary and unreasonable. The court directed the government to appropriately rework the eligibility condition (of possessing an average annual turnover of Rs 3 crore for the preceding 3 years) and other minimum requirements to enable wider participation of NGOs. A two-judge bench of Justices S. Ravindra Bhat and A.K. Chawla said, This court is of the opinion that the impugned eligibility condition is arbitrary and unreasonable, and is accordingly quashed. The courts order came on a petition by four NGOs challenging the tender condition formulated by the Delhi government while inviting bids for the mid-day cooked meals scheme. The NGOs had alleged that the eligibility condition of a minimum threshold of Rs 3 crore average financial turnover, during the previous three years, was arbitrary. The petitioners said they were voluntary NGOs formed between 1995 and 2006 and were ISO certified agencies and have been providing services to the Delhi government in the past by supplying mid-day meals to children studying in its schools. They had said the mandate of the guidelines was to promote charitable organisations only, which were willing to work on a no-profit basis. The scheme of supplying mid-day-meal was a benevolent scheme aimed at providing nutritional hot cooked meal to poor children studying in government and aided schools or institutions. The petitioners said had said that by incorporating the pre-qualification criteria, the essence of the scheme to associate with voluntary organisations has been violated and commercialisation was being promoted and it was highly improbable to believe that an NGO having experience of five years could have a turnover of Rs 3 crore average annually. The Delhi governments counsel had submitted that the re-modelling of the clusters meant that under the request for proposal issued by the Directorate of Education, each successful bidder had to supply to a larger group or cluster- with a minimum student size of 35,000. Unless the contractor NGO had sufficient financial capability to wait for release of funds, which took about 4 months, it would fold up and in effect go bankrupt, it said, adding that this meant that a higher ability to withstand had to necessarily be indicated. The court, however, said that the emphasis by the government that the NGO concerned should be able to sustain four months itself without payment was baseless and unreasonable and wholly irrational and arbitrary. The court said: A deeper analysis would show that what the government of NCT of Delhi is saying that its existing administrative capability is so inefficient that the bills of every NGO would take at least four months for processing which is the reason why the eligibility condition needs to be factored in, is also an extraneous and an entirely unreasonable fact. In fact, it amounts to placing a premium on its own inefficiency in the guise of pragmatism. It noted that change in the criteria was influenced by the size of the NGOs who were providing mid day meals to the three municipal corporations East, South and North. The court said that in its opinion, the blind and uncritical adoption of the municipal corporation-based model of eligibility criteria, which was based upon 18 NGOs catering to varying student populations of those schools within their jurisdiction, was entirely arbitrary and unreasonable. Family was asleep, short-circuit suspected: Officials. The police suspects that the fire started due to short-circuit in a junction box of the house. (Representational Image) New Delhi: A four-year-old boy died of suffocation and three others were injured on Wednesday after a fire broke out in a house in southwest Delhis R.K. Puram area. The police suspects that the fire started due to short-circuit in a junction box of the house. Four persons, including the boy, were found in an unconscious condition and were rushed to a hospital where the child was declared brought dead. The boy, Abhinav, died due to suffocation, the police said. A call was received at 1 am about the fire and three fire-tenders were rushed to the spot, an officer from the Delhi Fire Service said. The flames were brought under control at about 2 am. The fire started due to short-circuit in a junction box of the house, the police said. Four people, including the boy, were found in an unconscious condition and were rushed to hospital, they said. Abhinav, 4, died due to suffocation while his grandmother Darshana (74), his father Pankaj (37) and mother Swati (34) were injured during the rescue operation at second floor. Pankaj works as a stenographer in Udyog Bhavan. The injured persons are being treated in a private hospital, said a senior police official. Prima facie, it appears that the fire broke out due to short circuit in wires when the entire family was asleep. Mr Goel, Mr Sisodia, Cabinet ministers and all AAP MLAs wore black bands during the House proceedings against the L-Gs move. New Delhi: Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel on Wednesday directed three senior bureaucrats to be present during the Assembly proceedings on Thursday after their departments allegedly did not supply answers to written questions of legislators. Angry with the development, the speaker termed as undeclared emergency the situation where government officers are not providing answers asked by MLAs and blamed lieutenant-governor Anil Baijal for it. Mr Goel directed principal secretaries of education, revenue and power departments to appear in the House during the proceedings tomorrow, saying questions whose answers have not been provided today would be asked again on Thursday. Mr Goel adjourned the House proceedings for 15 minutes after some of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party legislators trooped into the Well to protest over officers not providing answers to questions on reserved subjects, including law and order, services and land. The Speaker has also referred the matter of around eight questions not being answered by officers to the Question and Reference Committee of the Delhi Assembly for further action. Not only the House, this is also a bigger insult to democracy....this (situation) is worse than emergency (this is) undeclared emergency, Mr Goel said while expressing anguish over the matter. Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia informed the House that the education department has allegedly not provided answer to a question on the number of vacant posts, citing it falls under reserved subject. During the Budget Session in March this year, Mr Goel had hit out at the L-G after he communicated to him that he could not admit questions on reserved subjects including law and order, services and land. In a protest, Mr Goel, Mr Sisodia, Cabinet ministers and all AAP MLAs wore black bands during the House proceedings against the L-Gs move. The matter was resolved with both sides reaching a compromise, but later that night, a mob had gathered and started the stone-pelting and arson. The hill town has been in the grip of violence since Thursday following a fight between the Sikh residents in Shillong's Punjabi Lane area, also known as sweeper colony, and the Khasi drivers of state-run buses. (Photo: PTI/File) Nights are usually silent in Shillong, Meghalayas cloud-capped capital city. But the night of Thursday, May 31, was different. The city was rocked by sudden bouts of stone-pelting and arson, with mobs hurling petrol bombs at a locality popularly called the Punjabi Colony. The mob frenzy continued till the crack of dawn, with the police and paramilitary units forced to fire teargas shells. The residents of this colony are dalit Sikhs, originally engaged in manual scavenging, who had settled there during the British era. The trigger for this upsurge was an incident that morning when a few residents of the locality were accused of assaulting a bus cleaner, a local tribal boy who was a minor, over a parking issue. The matter was resolved with both sides reaching a compromise, but later that night, a mob had gathered and started the stone-pelting and arson. What began as a brawl turned into a riot. Shillong is actually a cosmopolitan city with a population of around 150,000 people, an estimated 65 per cent of whom are Khasis, the majority ethnic group. The rest of the people comprise of other ethnicities besides Assamese, there are Bengalis, Nepalis and Sikhs, among others. The city had seen quite a few ethnic riots in the past directed against communities like Bengalis and Nepalis. But why this current unrest, which had spiralled out of control? There has been a long-standing demand from local organisations and groups to resettle the residents of Punjabi Colony elsewhere on the ground that the place had become a den of anti-socials and that it has become necessary to ease traffic congestion in the area. However, the residents of Punjabi Colony claim the Syiem of Mylliem (a powerful local chieftain) had granted them this piece of land in 1853, and that the then Syiem of Mylliem had reconfirmed this in a 2008 letter to the Meghalaya state authorities. The Sikhs in the area also say that a deal between the British and the Syiem of Mylliem about granting the land to dalit Sikhs was signed on December 10, 1863. What Shillong had been witnessing for over a week now was actually a turf war. Realising it is an extremely sensitive issue, the newly-elected Nationalist Peoples Party-led government of Conrad Sangma had adopted a lot of caution in the first few days. The police and the paramilitary forces were directed to exercise maximum restraint, and this forced them to resort to only lobbing teargas shells to disperse the stone-pelters. Several policemen, including a superintendent of police, suffered injuries. After putting up a brave face for the first few days, chief minister Conrad Sangma suddenly told journalists that the unrest was sponsored and that it was funded by certain people. He said even high quality alcohol was being distributed to the agitators. This vague statement led to demands from various quarters, who asked the chief minister to identify and name the people who he claimed were funding the stir. As the beleaguered state government was discussing the issue with an all-party delegation, a noisy group of women stormed the chief ministers secretariat by breaking open the gate and staged a demonstration. The Army had to be called in and flag marches staged. The political acumen of Conrad Sangma, a graduate from Imperial College London and the Wharton School, is on test. In a bid to defuse the crisis, he set up a high-level inquiry committee headed by the states deputy chief minister Prestone Tynsong. The terms of reference of the probe committee clearly indicates that the state government has decided in principle to shift the residents of Punjabi Colony, also referred to as Sweeper Colony, elsewhere. The terms of reference says: (1) The committee shall examine all relevant records and documents relating to the relocation of the Sweeper Colony, Sweeper Lane... and (2) The committee shall recommend practical feasible solution(s) for relocation of the said Sweeper Colony. The question now is can the state government really execute its plan? There is no doubt that the issue will reach the courts sooner rather than later. Besides, there is bound to be immense political pressure mounted on the government. As one has already seen, within 48 hours of the unrest starting, Conrad Sangma was flooded with calls from concerned Sikh leaders like Punjab chief minister Capt. Amarinder Singh and leaders of the Akali Dal. In fact, delegations from the Akali Dal as well as the Punjab government had arrived in Shillong to ensure that their fellow Sikh brethren are safe, and to see that adequate security was provided to them. But it is also true that the Conrad Sangma government will have to listen to popular opinion, which is for the resettlement of the dalit Sikh residents of Punjabi Colony elsewhere. But can the government find an alternative location that easily? What if local tribes people in the vicinity of the alternative earmarked locations oppose the settlement of these people? Can the government totally ignore the documents supposed to be in possession of the Sikhs in the locality, including letters from the influential Syiem of Mylliem? The fledgling coalition government in Meghalaya has a situation in hand which can lead to major a flareup at any moment. Political parties many not be able to resist fishing in troubled waters. The United Democratic Party (UDP), a constituent of the NPP-led alliance, has held the Opposition Congress responsible for keeping the dalit Sikh resettlement issue alive for years. With chief minister Conrad Sangma claiming that the agitation was funded, it remains to be seen if he is pointing fingers at some political party or forces opposed to the alliance in the state. With the Congress winning a crucial Assembly byelection and emerging the single largest party with 21 seats in the 60-member Meghalaya Assembly, the NPP-led alliance will have to weigh in several factors before taking any major step. The latest flareup has only added to the immense challenges facing the Conrad Sangma government. In the new see-saw world order, the populists are now on the Rome gaddi. After the Boston Brahmins, other words derived from our enduring practice of caste surface in different parts of the world. Last week I found that caste itself has entered the political lexicon of those Italian politicians who are described disparagingly as populist. In the new see-saw world order, the populists are now on the Rome gaddi. The ones they have dethroned are referred to as caste leaders, or leaders who believed it was their divine right to rule in perpetuity. This sense of a permanent ruling class derives from the post-World War II power structure, kept in place by the entire Western bloc as a bulwark against the Soviet Union. The permanent stranglehold of Christian Democrats on Rome was for two diametrically opposite reasons: (a) the hyper-anxiety of the Vatican about Communism, both external and internal; and (b) Europes largest Communist Party, which the conservative Italian ruling class feared might clasp the Soviet hand should be Christian Democrats somehow not be there. It is, therefore, reasonable to infer that elements in the CD saw the twin dangers of the Soviet Union and the enduring Italian Communists as guarantors of their permanence. If power corrupts then it follows, as night follows the day, that power with permanence built into it, would corrupt absolutely. The Italian Communists under charismatic leader Enrico Berlinguer did everything possible to acquire wider acceptability in a deeply Christian country he distanced himself from the Soviets and even sought what came to be known as a historic compromise with the Christian Democrats. The upshot was the Communists diminished themselves. And when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991-92, the Christian Democrats had lost both their blackmail cards, the ones that kept them permanently in office. Italys conscientious judges, suffocated by the unspeakable corruption during the Cold War, came into their own once the Soviet threat was over. In 1992 began an epochal series of investigations which sent hundreds of politicians, civil servants and businessmen to jail. Protected during the Cold War, the right-wing political class stood exposed and naked. Silvio Berlusconi, Italys richest businessman and media mogul, spotted an opportunity. With a touch of cunning he chastised the entire political class. Plague on all your houses, he blared. A nation, disgusted with politicians, decided to give Mr Berlusconis non-politics a chance. He set himself up as a model. Look, by sheer dint of hard work, how far have I come. Having succeeded in becoming Prime Minister in 1994, Mr Berlusconi proceeded to dedicate his monopoly on Italian TV channels to the singular task of promoting Berlusconi, the owner of the channels. Just when Mr Berlusconi seemed invincible with every frame on TV screens designed to promote him, came the technological revolution the Internet. Beppe Grillo, a popular comedian, chastised Mr Berlusconis non-politics as bullshit. He fell back on the Internet and the social media where he first created a group dedicated to the issues of daily life water, electricity, housing, price of food, unemployment, public transport, pollution, climate change. With Mr Grillos choreography, the Internet political revolution exploded the Five Star Movement. Its present leader is Luigi Di Maio, now 31 years old. It overtook all other political parties on its anti-austerity, anti-establishment and anti-EU platform. The word which establishments gave currency to in describing the new political force was populist. As the post-9/11 wars in West Asia uprooted millions, a sizeable number sought refuge in Europe. For the North African migrant, Italy became the entry point. Matteo Salvini, 45, of the League came riding on a wave of anti-immigrant, anti-EU xenophobia. Resurgent anti-German rhetoric has become part of the political discourse. Germany, being the most dynamic economy in Europe, has become an easy target. Envy is only the hidden sentiment, but the real anger is with Italys own unflattering performance. Nevertheless, take this outburst from Mr Salvini, for example: German newspapers call us beggars, ungrateful, lazy, freeloaders and they want us to have a finance minister they like? What occasioned this outburst? Since Five Star and the League are markedly different in temperaments, there was hesitation on the part of one to concede the prime ministership to the other. With great difficulty they agreed on the name of an outsider for Prime Minister a 53-year-old lawyer, Giuseppe Conte. The PM candidate has had some association with Five Star. This was the unstated reason for Mr Salvinis League to up the ante when its turn came to propose a finance minister. It pushed for an extreme anti-EU, anti-Germany finance minister, 83-year-old economics professor Paolo Savona. Given that the Italian Constitution gives President Sergio Mattarella, who is a known Europhile, sufficient powers to reject a name, proposing Mr Savona as finance minister was like a red rag to the bull. Not only did the President reject Mr Savonas candidature, he named a replacement which set the cat among the pigeons. Carlo Cottarelli, a 64-year-old former IMF director, as Italys finance minister seemed to upturn the peoples agenda on which the Di Maio-Salvini team had surged to power. That is when Give Stars Di Maio tore into the Presidents decision: What is the point of holding elections when rating agencies, major banks, corporations, and other wings of the establishment make all the decisions? Fearing an almighty storm, the President agreed to drop Mr Cottarelli. Di Maios favoured nominee, Giuseppe Conte, was back as Prime Minister. The situation has barely been saved, but for the first time in history the Italian establishment is on the backfoot. Throughout the Cold War, power was monopolised by an establishment which, according to LEspresso deputy editor Alessandro Gilioli, was increasingly described as caste. There is deep consternation in the ranks of those who have grown accustomed to running the world according to their preferences. Such stalwarts of the global establishment as George Soros and Steve Bannon, the brazen right-winger whom even Donald Trumps White House could not tolerate, are running around Europe warning the world about the caste structure being upturned. Mr Bannon has declared that a populist crusade threatens our way of life. An epic battle is now shaping up on the issue of inequality, which nations can ignore only to their peril. Chinese firms Huawei, Lenovo, Oppo and TCL were among numerous handset makers that were given access to Facebook data in a controlled way. Huawei, a company flagged by US intelligence officials as a national security threat, was the latest device maker at the centre of a fresh wave of allegations over Facebooks handling of private data. Chinese phone maker Huawei said it has never collected or stored Facebook user data after the social media giant acknowledged it shared such data with Huawei and other manufacturers. Huawei, a company flagged by US intelligence officials as a national security threat, was the latest device maker at the centre of a fresh wave of allegations over Facebooks handling of private data. Chinese firms Huawei, Lenovo, Oppo and TCL were among numerous handset makers that were given access to Facebook data in a controlled way approved by Facebook, according to a statement from Francisco Varela, Facebooks vice president of mobile partnerships. The development marked the latest privacy gaffe for Facebook since allegations emerged in March that a Trump-affiliated political consultancy firm, Cambridge Analytica, had improperly harvested data from tens of millions of Facebook users in an effort to influence elections. On Wednesday, the former CEO of the now-defunct firm, Alexander Nix, clashed with British lawmakers as he denied his firm was unethical. Nix said hes embarrassed at having been caught on camera boasting that he could entrap political figures by compromising them with bribes and Ukrainian women. But he insisted he was entrapped by unscrupulous, undercover journalists a claim Channel 4 News rejected. Nix added that the firm was unfairly blamed for putting Donald Trump in office, a vote that put an incredibly huge target on the back of his firm. As for Facebooks partnerships with phone makers, The New York Times has detailed how Facebook has given device makers deep access to data, including work history, relationship status and likes on device users and their friends. In a follow-up report, the Times said the recipients of Facebook data included Huawei and other Chinese firms that have long been labelled a national security threat by Congress. Facebook said it would end its data partnership with Huawei by the end of this week. While Facebook is banned in China, the government could have had access to user profiles elsewhere, including those of Americans with Huawei phones. However, theres no evidence that happened. Facebook said it helped design and approved Huaweis app, so it knows the data remained on users phones and wasnt transferred to Huawei. Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the news raises legitimate concerns and wanted to know how Facebook ensured data was not transferred to Chinese servers. Huawei spokesman Joe Kelly said in a text message Wednesday that the arrangement was about making Facebook services more convenient for users. Facebook said it granted smartphone access to users data before mobile apps became popular, as a way of making its service work on a broad range of devices. Device makers could then build their own software that incorporated Facebook functions, for things like messaging or posting photos. User would log into their Facebook accounts, allowing the phone software to pull in data from Facebook itself. The partnerships were used for older phones to make Facebook work or at least work better, according to the company. Newer phones are more powerful and dont need such data sharing. Nonetheless, Facebook didnt get around to reviewing these partnerships until after the Cambridge Analytica scandal developed. Apple said it has worked with Facebook for years to let users share things on Facebook through iPhone and Mac apps. Apple said it used data pulled in from Facebook to let people post photos and other items on Facebook without opening the Facebook app. It ended that practice on the iPhone last September, although similar features persist on Mac computers. Hua Chunying, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, declined to comment on the issue but said: We hope the US can provide a fair, transparent, open and friendly environment for Chinese companies operation and investment. The company, founded by former Chinese military officer Ren Zhengfei, has long denied that its products pose security risks even as it grew into the worlds largest telecom equipment provider and a leading phone manufacturer behind only Apple and Samsung. Huawei and its Shenzhen-based rival ZTE have been the subject of security misgivings in the U.S. for years, but they have come under particular scrutiny since the start of the Trump administration amid rising US-China tensions on a range of subjects. The Pentagon in May banned the sale of Huawei and ZTE phones on military bases, four months after AT&T dropped a deal to sell a new Huawei smartphone. Samsung looks to keep costs low by launching the Galaxy Note 9 with similar design cues as the Galaxy Note 8. Samsung will use the same design on the Note 9 as the Note 8 to cut costs. With the first half of the year almost over, our attention is now focused on to what smartphone manufacturers will unveil in the second half of 2018. There have been a little rumbling regarding Samsungs next flagship device, the Galaxy Note 9 and as per a leak on Twitter, one should not get too excited about the design of the upcoming handset as it is rumoured to have similar design elements as its predecessor, the Galaxy Note 8. It may be to save manufacturing costs and not use a better design. pic.twitter.com/lOrfBhrBs8 Ice universe (@UniverseIce) May 11, 2018 It is widely believed that the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 will be larger than its predecessor, come with a bigger storage option and will be upgraded to have a second camera. The Twitter user @UniverseIce has a track record of leaking important details prior to announcements had previously revealed real-world images of the Galaxy S8 among others. This time he claims to have exposed the real Galaxy Note 9 design. From the images, we can see that it looks pretty identical to the Note 8 and Samsung have used this design cue to save on some manufacturing costs. This comes on the back of Samsung using similar design elements with the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S9. Very little is known but people familiar with the matter claim that when Samsung unveils the Galaxy Note 9, the South Korean tech giants will highlight an upgraded camera. There may be no cosmetic changes to the design and in all likelihood, the Galaxy Note 9 will look similar to the Note 8. The next generation Note will feature an upgraded Qualcomm processor for certain markets. The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is believed to have two variants, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor for some markets, and an Exynos 9810 for others. The next Galaxy Note is expected to come with 8GB RAM and a massive 512GB of internal storage. As of now, these are still rumours and more details should leak closer to the launch date. Disclaimer: The above report is completely based on online rumours and leaks from the respective sources. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of The Asian Age and/or other staff and contributors to this website. (Source) Out of the three Vivo NEX devices, the NEX S is set to be the flagship device. A few days ago, not one but three Vivo NEX handsets appeared on 3C China and they all had passed the regulatory agency. The three variants of the Vivo NEX that had been listed on the 3C certification website were revealed as Vivo NEX, Vivo NEX S and Vivo NEX A. The listing did not release much information regarding the specifications of the devices except that they could support fast 5V/2A, 9V/2A and 10V/2.25A charging over USB type C. It now appears that a benchmark on Geekbench has spilt the news as to which handset of the three will be the flagship device. According to a Geekbench listing, we can see that the Vivo NEX S will be the flagship device as it comes loaded with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset paired with 8GB of RAM and run on Android 8.1 Oreo. As per a report, the other two versions, the Vivo NEX and Vivo NEX A are expected to come with Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 chipsets. Out of the two, the Vivo NEX A will come with a 6.59-inch screen with a resolution of 2316x1080 pixels. The battery available here is said to be 4000mAh. The Vivo NEX is believed to come with a 6.01-inch screen, 20MP and 16MP dual camera setup and a Snapdragon 710 chipset. The flagship Vivo NEX S is expected to arrive with a huge 6.59-inch display and a 4000mAh battery as well. All this and more will be made official when Vivo announces all three handsets on June 12, 2018. Disclaimer: The above report is completely based on online rumours and leaks from the respective sources. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of The Asian Age and/or other staff and contributors to this website. (Source) Outside WH, a group of demonstrators chanted in protest against Trumps efforts to ban immigrants from several Muslim-majority countries. Donald Trump hosts his first iftar dinner as president, marking the traditional Ramzan fast-breaking meal with Muslim invitees at the White House. (Photo: AFP) Washington: Donald Trump hosted his first iftar dinner as president Wednesday, marking the traditional Ramzan fast-breaking meal with Muslim invitees at the White House. Trump, who has frequently engaged in inflammatory anti-Muslim rhetoric, defied recent custom by not holding a similar event during his first year in office. Hundreds of millions of devout Muslims observe the holy fasting month of Ramzan, which is slated to end on June 14 this year. From sunrise onwards, they abstain from food and drink, breaking their fast at sunset. There were more than 50 guests. At the head table, Trump sat with Saudi Ambassador Prince Khalid Ben Salman, and Jordanian Ambassador Dina Kawar. Ambassadors were invited from the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Tunisia, Iraq, Qatar, Bahrain, Morocco, Algeria and Libya. To each of you and to the Muslims around the world: Ramadan Mubarak, Trump said. Tonight, we give thanks for the renewed bonds of friendship and cooperation we have forged with our valued partners from all across the Middle East, he said. Outside the White House, a group of demonstrators displayed slogans and chanted in protest against Trumps efforts to ban immigrants from several Muslim-majority countries. We think its the height of hypocrisy for Donald Trump to ban Muslims with one hand and then invite lead diplomats into the White House and break fast with them, said Bilal Askaryar. Its hypocritical and his actions with the Muslim ban and spreading hate speech about Muslims is un-American and un-presidential. Iftar dinners have been a regular feature on the White House calendar, along with prayer breakfasts, Passover Seders and similar events. Several American Muslim groups said they would not participate in Wednesdays iftar. Several other inquiries against Balochistan provincial ministers, officials of forestry department in Gilgit-Baltistan and others were also approved. Islamabad: Pakistans National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday approved probe against Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) supremo Nawaz Sharif and former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqqan Abbasi over awarding contract of Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) terminal in non-transparent way. NAB Chairman Javed Iqbal presided over huddle of NAB Executive Board in Islamabad and declared that contract was awarded to dearest companies purely on basis of nepotism. The executive board also approved probe against PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, former Sindh chief minister Qaim Ali Shah over alleged financial irregularities in Sindh Cultural Festival 2014, Saad Rafique in Paragon Housing Scheme, former Karachi Port Trust Ahmed Hayat and former Balochistan Minister Sheikh Jafar over misuse of authority and disproportionate assets. The NAB also approved investigation against former speaker and deputy speakers of Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly over irregularities in recruitment, and former member Punjab Assembly Kot Addu Jawad Kamran over inflicting loss worth Rs 120.70 million on national exchequer. Earlier back then in February 2018, Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmed had met NAB chairman and submitted evidence against Shahid Khaqqan Abbasi over alleged corruption in awarding contract for import of LNG. At the time of contract, Shahid Khaqqan Abbasi was petroleum minister. Several other inquiries against Balochistan provincial ministers, officials of forestry department in Gilgit-Baltistan and others were also approved. The graft watchdog made clear that it is simply beginning investigations and nothing has been proven against anyone in the cases up till now. After winning the presidency in July 2016, President Duterte launched a war on illegal narcotics. More than 8,000 suspected drug users and dealers have lost their lives during operations by the security forces. The Catholic Church is among the few who have denounce the killings. Manila (AsiaNews) "Human rights violations exist and we cannot accept that," said Fr Edwin A. Gariguez, head of the National Secretariat for Social Action (NASSA) and Caritas Philippines, humanitarian arm of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). Speaking to AsiaNews, the priest criticised the anti-drug action undertaken by the authorities the day after police chiefs and Card Luis Antonio Tagle, archbishop of Manila, held a brief meeting. The head of the Philippine national police (PNP), General Oscar D. Albayalde yesterday reassured the prelate that the government's war on drugs respects human rights and the rule of law. On the 25th anniversary of Card Tagles ordination as a priest, General Albayalde paid a courtesy call to the Archbishops Residence in the capital (picture). He was accompanied by the new National Capital Region Police Office director Chief Supt Guillermo Eleazar, and five Metro Manila police district directors. During the brief meeting, Albayalde told the archbishop that all of them believe in God and respect human rights. "The war on drugs is primarily a government operation, whose objective is to fight the spread of drugs in the country, Fr Gariguez said. We all agree that action is necessary, but the Church and civil society organisations are opposed to how the authorities are tackling the problem. Violations of human rights do happen. "People accused of involvement in drug-related crimes are executed without due process. We cannot accept this because it is contrary to the teachings of the Lord. Most of the victims of extrajudicial killings are among the poorest people in the community, while drug bosses are not punished at all. This is further injustice towards poor people." After winning the presidency in July 2016, President Duterte launched an unprecedented war on illegal narcotics, promising to kill tens of thousands of criminals. The Catholic Church is among the few who have denounced the deaths, this despite polls that show the widespread popularity of the Philippine president. In response to criticism of extrajudicial killings, Duterte has repeatedly launched harsh attacks on bishops and priests. More than 8,000 suspected drug users and dealers have lost their lives during operations by the security forces. In recent months, the police have confirmed the killing of more than 3,500 people, claiming that they acted in self-defence. According to police, more than 2,000 other people have been killed in drug-related crimes and thousands more have been murdered in unexplained circumstances. The government's anti-drug campaign is, however, the subject of legal action, including a preliminary investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of crimes against humanity and a petition to the Philippine Supreme Court. In addition to denouncing the killings and violations of human rights, the Church has continued her efforts at rehabilitation and reintegration into society of drug addicts. "Through spiritual and psychological support, we try to help these people overcome addiction and regain their lives," said Fr Gariguez. In October 2016, the Archdiocese of Manila launched Sanlakbay, a programme subsequently adopted by numerous dioceses in the country, in collaboration with local governments and the police. It stems from the involvement of parish communities in providing drug addicts with counselling, spiritual support and even employment opportunities. The work of the Filipino Church against drug addiction has also received the appreciation and support of Pope Francis. The Iraqi Parliament has approved a motion that requires the recounting of the ballots. Controversy over the electronic voting system. Yonadam Kanna: "Correct" approach to dispel "doubts" and guarantee "trust" in institutions. An explosion shakes Sadr City in Baghdad, but not suspected terrorism. Baghdad (AsiaNews) - The decision to proceed with a vote check is "a correct approach" because, in recent weeks, "several doubts" have emerged around the legitimacy and regularity of the electronic voting system that "caused quite a few problems", says Christian parliamentarian Yonadam Kanna. The leader of the Assyrian Democratic Movement, and a member of the Parliamentary Committee on Labor and Social Affairs was commenting to AsiaNews on the recent decision to hold a vote recount. Kanna is a member of the outgoing Parliament, which will remain in office until the end of the month awaiting the official results of the recent elections. However, as confirmed by the Christian leader himself "there are suspicions of fraud and irregularities, so we decided to proceed with the manual recount of votes". A choice dictated by the intention to send a clear signal to voters and citizens, to help boost a "greater trust" in the institutions. Yesterday, the Iraqi Parliament approved the motion for a recount of the votes of last 12 May, which saw the victory of the radical Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr and his populist and anti-system movement. Recently rumours of rigging and disputes had emerged, prompting the government to form a commission of inquiry and to postpone the officialization of the results. In recent days, the deputies have changed the leadership of the electoral commission and cancelled the votes of Iraqis abroad and internally displaced persons. The same outgoing premier Haider al-Abadi, third with his Nasr coalition, spoke of "unprecedented" violations that undermine the regularity of the vote and accuses the commission of "not having taken the necessary measures" to ward off irregularities. At the centre of the dispute are the electronic voting machines (pictured) used for the first time in the history of the country on May 12th. At the moment it is not possible to predict if the decision to recount the votes will bring changes; however, Yonadam Kanna believes that there may be some surprises and does not exclude some "change" in the number of votes and in the names of elected parliamentarians. "All three powers of the State, executive, legislative and judicial - he underlines - agree on the need to proceed with the recount. Even among the elected Christian parliamentarians there could be some news, even if there remains a basic dissatisfaction because the minorities vote was not given the right importance ". Meanwhile, overnight, a major explosion in the Sadr City district of Baghdad caused the death of at least 16 people and injured dozens. According to some witnesses, a weapons depot exploded. Security forces have opened an investigation to trace the causes and identify those responsible. Local sources, behind anonymity, report the explosion was caused by heavy weapons, including a grenade launcher, stored in a private home. "This episode has no relation to the security issue or the danger of attacks. It was not, in all probability, a terrorist action. It is reasonable to think - concludes the Christian leader - that it was an accident."(DS) by Lawrence Jangma Gam Myanmar is committed to a rapid implementation of the agreement and is taking the necessary steps to do so. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) will support the government with comprehensive and lasting solutions. Card Bo gave Aung San Suu Kyi a donation of 300,000 euros from Pope Francis. Yangon (AsiaNews) The Government of Myanmar and two UN agencies have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to assist the process of repatriation of refugees from Rakhine, including the Rohingya. The agreement was reached yesterday at the National Reconciliation and Peace Centre in Naypyidaw in the presence of the UN delegation and the Myanmar Minister of Labour, Immigration and Population (MoLIP). The deal is the result of a bilateral agreement struck by Myanmar and Bangladesh for the voluntary, safe and dignified return of refugees to Myanmar. Under its terms, Myanmar is committed to quick preparations and implementation. The MoU also says that the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) will support the Government of Myanmar with comprehensive and lasting solutions. The role of the two agencies is defined by the agreement. They will assess and work on the recovery and resilience-based development in potential resettlement areas and will support access to livelihoods and promote social cohesion among Muslim and Buddhist communities. The MoU signing ceremony (picture 1) ended the talks that began on 31 May (picture 2) and was welcomed by U Kyaw Tint Swe, Myanmars Minister for the Office of the Counsellor. It was witnessed by diplomats, ambassadors, senior UN officials, Myanmar ministers, government officials and distinguished guests. Two days ago, Myanmar authorities appointed U Toe Oung as adviser to the president of the Union Enterprise for Humanitarian Assistance, Resettlement and Development in Rakhine (UEHRD). Following State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, the government committed itself last October to implement the directives of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State chaired by Kofi Annan. Since the latter was set up, the Catholic Church in Myanmar has supported and promoted the UEHRD. The other day, after his last visit to Rakhine, Card Charles Maung Bo, archbishop of Yangon, met with Aung San Suu Kyi and the Minister of Religious Affairs and Culture, Thura U Aung Ko. The cardinal handed them a donation from the Holy See (pictures 3 and 4). During his historic apostolic visit to Myanmar (27-30 November 2017), Pope Francis gave the Archbishop of Yangon 300,000 euros as a contribution of the Church to the resolution of the crisis in the western state. By Scarlett Howard, PhD candidate, RMIT University from www.shutterstock.com When it comes to bees, it seems that nothing really does matter. As shown in a paper published today, our research demonstrates that the honeybee can understand the quantitative value of nothing, and place zero in the correct position along a line of sequential numbers. This is the first evidence showing that an insect brain can understand the concept of zero, and has implications for our understanding of how complex number processing evolved. More broadly, it may help us design better artificial intelligence solutions for operating in complex environments. Read more: Want a better camera? Just copy bees and their extra light-sensing eyes What is zero, anyway? There are four stages of understanding the concept of zero in human culture, history, psychology and animal learning. Stage one: Understanding zero as the absence of something, such as no food on your plate. This first level is likely enabled at an early stage of visual processing. 'Adrian Dyer/RMIT University' Stage two: Understanding zero as nothing vs. something, such as the presence or absence of light in a room. Nothing is thus treated as a meaningful behavioural category. 'Adrian Dyer/RMIT University' Stage three: Understanding that zero can have a numeric value and belongs at the low end of the positive number line. For example: 0 < 1 < 2 < 3 etc. (where < means less than). Scarlett Howard, Adrian Dyer and Jair Garcia/RMIT University Stage four: Understanding that zero can be assigned a symbolic representation which can be used in modern mathematics and calculations, for example: 1 1 = 0. Our new study shows honeybees have achieved stage three of understanding the concept of zero. The honeybee now joins the elite few species which have demonstrated an understanding of zero to this advanced level. While rhesus monkeys, vervet monkeys, a single chimpanzee, and one African grey parrot have demonstrated the ability to learn or spontaneously understand the concept of zero, this is the first time that such a high level of cognitive number processing has been observed in an insect. Why care about zero? The importance of zero throughout human history is not to be underestimated. Chinese counting rods used a blank space to help represent a place holder in values, however zero went unnoticed as a number with a quantitative value for centuries. For example, Roman numerals do not have a symbol for zero. Wikimedia Commons It was not until 628AD that zero had a written record which noted it as a number in its own right by Indian mathematician Brahma Gupta in his book Brahmasputha Siddhanta. This is the first written record to provide rules to use when doing calculations with zero. The earliest record of the symbolic zero (0) we are familiar with today is from an Indian inscription on the wall of a temple in Gwalior, India (AD 876). Arabic numerals, along with the modern idea of zero, did not reach the West until 1200 AD. Interestingly, while it took centuries for the concept of zero to be fully understood and utilised in human culture, honeybees have learnt to apply previous number knowledge to demonstrate an understanding of zero within a day when presented with training to promote numerical cognition. How we asked bees about zero Bees often forage in complex environments and have evolved visual processing solutions adapted to this life. Read more: Which square is bigger? Honeybees see visual illusions like humans do In our research, we tested number processing in bees by individually training them with special apparatus to collect a sugary reward, and learn the rules of less than considering the numbers 1 6. An individual bee would need to choose between two numbers each time it returned to the experiment. For example, a bee would be presented with two new numbers (3 vs. 4; 1 vs. 2; 2 vs. 5, etc.) until it had reached, over many learning events, at least 80% accuracy for landing on and thus choosing the lowest number. Once the bee achieved this, it would be presented with the previously unseen stimulus of an empty set representing zero. Scarlett Howard/RMIT University Surprisingly, bees trained to the less than rule preferred to visit the empty set rather than any other higher value number. This means bees understood an empty set was lower in number than a set containing actual elements. In further experiments, other bees were able to place zero at the low end of the numerical continuum and demonstrated numerical distance effects. Numerical distance effects are demonstrated when accuracy increases as the difference between two numbers increases. The study showed that while bees could differentiate between zero and one, they performed better when the numbers were further apart, such as in the case of zero vs. six. The next step for research on the processing of zero is to understand how small and seemingly simple brains (like those of bees) represent zero in a neurological sense. Read more: Plants use advertising-like strategies to attract bees with colour and scent Andreas Nieder, an expert in numerical competency in animals from the University of Tubingen in Germany writes: The advanced numerical skills of bees and other animals raise the question of how their brains transform nothing into an abstract concept of zero. This new research on bees has created many new questions in the field and also makes it clear that brain size and complexity does not fully determine intelligence and, in particular, numerical ability. Scarlett Howard received funding from The Company of Biologists (JEB Travelling Fellowship) and has an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship. Adrian Dyer receives funding from The Australian Research Council. Aurore Avargues-Weber a recu des financements de la fondation Fyssen. Originally published in The Conversation. There are a significant number of cases where second stage Subclass 100/801 visas are being refused by the Department. In the past this was unusual after all the Department had already decided the relationship was genuine. The Department is now going in for more detailed investigations in second stage processing of relationships that fit their risk profiles. These include cases where there is a big age difference between the couple, where the couple come from vastly different cultures and, most importantly, where the visa holder had visa applications refused before applying for a partner visa. These investigations can include home visits, telephone interviews and telephone calls to people who have provided supporting statements or statutory declarations. In one case a Subclass 801 visa was refused to an Indian national after Departmental officers visited his parents in India and decided that they did not know enough about his Australian wife. Following the Supreme Courts ruling in favor of a baker refusing to make wedding cakes for gay couple that was actually not about the cake or religious freedom an East Tennessee hardware store owner who two years ago decided to express his beliefs by putting up a sign reading No Gays Allowed now feels vindicated The owner, Jeff Amyx, is both the owner of the hardware and roofing supplies store and a baptist minister who says love between LGBT people is against his religion Amyx told WBIR he was, inspired by LGBT peoples willingness to stand up for what they believe in, deciding that as a Christian, he should do the same. And that he was celebrating a win after the Supreme Court narrowly ruled in favor of a Colorado baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. The SCOTUS ruling said the Colorado Civil Rights Commission violated Jack Phillips rights under the First Amendment, though Colorado law prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. On Tuesday, Amyx removed the No Gays allowed sign he has hung on his door for the past 2 years and replaced it with a sign that says: We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone who would violate our rights of freedom of speech & freedom of religion. I was shocked. I was really shocked because of the track record of our Supreme Court, Amyx said. Christianity is under attack. This is a great win but this is not the end, this is just the beginning, he said. Right now were seeing a ray of sunshine. This is happy days for Christians all over America, but dark days will come. June 7: 1778 Beau Brummell born in London. His real name was George Bryan Brummell. This English dandy is responsible for the caricature of the gay males that persisted for generations. He lived in the poshest apartments, wore the most stylish clothes, and lived beyond his means to attain them. His bons mots have survived him. Asked if he ever ate vegetables, he replied that he once ate a pea. He also claimed to have caught a cold from a damp stranger and is credited with introducing and establishing as fashion the modern mans suit, worn with a tie. He said it took him five hours to dress and he recommended that boots be polished with champagne and had the most bitchy sense of humor in England. Brummell died in an insane asylum hounded by his creditors. 1928 Birth date of James Ivory, director. Ivory is best known for the results of his long collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions, which included both Indian-born film producer Ismail Merchant, and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. Their films won six Academy Awards. 1954 Alan Turing, father of computer science and mathematical genius, commits suicide using cyanide. He had been responsible for cracking a code used by Germany during World War II, which gave the Allies an advantage. After being tried for homosexual acts, he was forced to undergo medical treatments including estrogen injections. 1970 Author E.M. Forster died after a series of strokes. He is known best for his ironic and well-plotted novels examining class difference and hypocrisy in early 20th-century British society. Forsters humanistic impulse toward understanding and sympathy may be aptly summed up in the epigraph to his 1910 novel Howards End: Only connect . His 1908 novel, A Room with a View, is his most optimistic work, while A Passage to India (1924) brought him his greatest success. 1975 New Hampshire state legislators accidentally repealed their states sodomy laws due to ambiguous wording in a rape penalties bill. They didnt know they had done it until gay publications pointed it out, but allowed the repeal to stand. 1977 A referendum, in Dade County, Florida forced by fundamentalist Christian Anita Bryant, husband Bob Green and their Save Our Children organization repealed the countys gay rights ordinance prohibiting discrimination on basis of sexual orientation. It was the first major battle and defeat in the struggle for gay civil rights in United States. It was also the first successful use of child molestation tactic by anti- gay forces and set the pattern of attack for remainder of Seventies and into Eighties. Bryants game plan against homosexuals was fearmongering and thier access to children which would be her groups main focus. She told one audience, Some males who would become teachers even want to wear dresses to work and flaunt their homosexuality in front of our children. To another, she warned, When the law requires you to let an admitted homosexual teach your children and serve as a role model for them, its time to stop being so tolerant. She also blamed homosexuals for the weather. Do you know why California has a drought? Because a Southern California city passed a gay rights ordinance. Thats Gods way of punishing civilizations that are tolerant of homosexuals. Bryant who would later lose her lucrative Florida orange juice spokeswoman gig also lost a planned syndicated television series when producers backed away from the controversial singer. This gave her a chance to reveal her persecution complex. Declaring that the blacklisting of Anita Bryant has begun, she claimed that in losing that job, it destroys the dream that I have had since I was a child. After failing at almost everything she has tried since the late 1970s Anita Bryant resurfaced in 2010 at the anti-gay, Reclaiming America for Christ rally in Oklahoma City alongside state Rep. Sally Kern (R) and the ever-lying David Barton of Wallbuilders Anita Bryant will forever be etched in history as the most homophobic EVIL BITCH ever. 1978 Californias Proposition Six, also known as the Briggs initiative, qualified for the November ballot. The bill sought to ban gay teachers and forbid discussion of homosexuality that was neutral or positive. 1989 Health officials in Alabama announced that its state Medicaid program would begin paying for the drug AZT. Alabama was the only state at that time that refused to cover AZT. 1989 Ethel May Punchon, who publicly came out as a lesbian at age 105, died of natural causes in Melbourne, Australia at age 106. 1990 A demonstration was held in Hyde Park (London) against police entrapment. 1997 President Clinton made an address to the nation calling for action against hate crimes, including anti-gay violence. Of course this was years before Bill Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act and Dont Ask, Dont Tell into law destroying the lives of thousands of gays and lesbians for our own good. 1998 Pope John Paul II gives a speech attacking the recognition of same-sex relationships. 1998 Reggie White, defensive end for the Green Bay Packers, vowed to continue to fight against homosexual rights. The homophobe also claimed that God told him not to retire from the Green Bay Packers. 2003 Reverend V. Gene Robinson was elected bishop coadjutor of the Episcopal diocese of New Hampshire, becoming the first openly gay bishop in the churchs history. 2003 Just weeks after the Philadelphia council of the Boy Scouts of America passed a resolution to add sexual orientation to its nondiscrimination policy (in order to receive funds from United Way), it expelled an 18-year-old scout for being openly gay. 2006 Macys department store in Boston removed a window display marking the citys Gay Pride week after MassResistance, a group that opposes same-sex marriage, complained it was offensive. The display at the downtown Boston store featured two male mannequins, with one wearing a Gay Pride rainbow flag around his waist, next to a list of several planned Boston Pride Week events. MassResistance said the mannequin wearing the flag had a skirt on. 2007 Isaiah Washington lost his acting job on the hit ABC medical drama Greys Anatomy, five months after creating a furor with his use of an anti-gay slur toward another actor. Washington is still unemployed most of the time till this very day. Contact The Californians Robert Price at 661-395-7399, rprice@bakersfield.com or on Twitter: @stubblebuzz. His column typically appears on Sundays, Wednesdays and Saturdays; the views expressed are his own. Former Kern County District Attorney Ed Jagels said he is most likely going to work as a consultant for new District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer s Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism. For Immediate Release, June 7, 2018 Contact: Michael Robinson, (575) 313-7017, michaelr@biologicaldiversity.org Rare Colorado Butterfly Plant's Recovery an Endangered Species Act Success Flower Bounces Back Despite Front Range Sprawl DENVER The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today proposed removing Endangered Species Act protections for the Colorado butterfly plant, a flower species that has made a rapid recovery thanks to this life-saving environmental law. The flower was threatened by urban sprawl along the Front Range of Colorado and southern Wyoming. But the Fish and Wildlife Service says it no longer needs federal protection. If delisted, the agency plans to continue monitoring the plant. The pink flowers atop the Colorado butterfly plants long stalks will continue to bloom thanks to the Endangered Species Act, said Michael Robinson, a conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. Even as development transforms Colorado and southern Wyoming, this science-based law has created safe havens for this and many other plants found nowhere else in the world. Federal protection for the Colorado butterfly plant began in 2000, followed by designation of critical habitat in 2005. Eleven land owners agreed to conserve populations they owned. Fort Collins protected the plants on city-owned land, and the Air Force protected the plants on Francis E. Warren Air Force Base near Cheyenne, Wyoming. Many if not all of those voluntary protections are expected to continue after delisting. The Fish and Wildlife Service is soliciting additional information from the public before finalizing the delisting. Background The Colorado butterfly plant is in the evening primrose family and grows 2 to 3 feet high. It grows between 5,000 and 6,400 feet in elevation in Boulder, Douglas, Larimer and Weld counties in Colorado. In Wyoming, it lives in Laramie and Platte counties, as well as Kimball County in Nebraska. The Colorado butterfly plant joins a growing list of species that have recently recovered with protection under the Endangered Species Act. Since 2016, at least 13 species have been recovered. These include four subspecies of island foxes from Californias Channel Islands, two humpback whale populations and the Kirtlands warbler in Michigan and Wisconsin. Listing a plant or animal as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act leads to science-based measures tailored to prevent its extinction. The Act has been successful in saving more than 99 percent of species placed under its care, despite significant underfunding of the laws vital measures and political attacks maligning the Act itself. For Immediate Release, June 6, 2018 Contact: Brett Hartl, (202) 817-8121, bhartl@biologicaldiversity.org House Republicans Strip Protections From Wolves in Funding Bill Bill Marks 11th Attack on Gray Wolves by This Congress, Slashes Listing Budget WASHINGTON House Republicans in the Appropriations Committee today passed legislation to fund the Department of the Interior for 2019 that includes riders to strip Endangered Species Act protection from gray wolves nationwide, delay protections for sage grouse and grizzly bears, and prohibit any federal agency from protecting public health and wildlife from toxic lead ammunition. The legislation also slashes the budget for listing threatened and endangered species under the Act to less than $11 million, a decrease of nearly $8 million from 2018 levels. This bill means that the current Congress has introduced 11 separate attacks seeking to prematurely remove protection from gray wolves. This builds on the 32 attacks since 2011 that specifically target these important predators. Similarly, this legislation marks the 11th attempt to delay protections for imperiled sage grouse. Republicans constant meddling in both the science and law are putting our nations most imperiled wildlife in the crosshairs, said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity. These insidious attacks have no place in funding legislation and undermine the Endangered Species Act, which has saved 99 percent of species in its care from extinction. The legislation also seeks to prevent every federal agency from taking any action to protect human health, wildlife or the environment from toxic lead ammunition and fishing tackle. Spent lead ammunition causes lead poisoning in 130 species of birds and animals. Nearly 500 scientific papers document the dangers to wildlife from this lead exposure. Poisoning wildlife to appease the gun lobby is reprehensible, but its par for the course for this Congress, which is the most anti-environmental in history, said Hartl. These attacks are completely out of touch with the American people, who overwhelmingly support endangered wildlife. Instead of slashing the budget, Congress should heed the publics wishes and fully fund the Act. Since January 2017 congressional Republicans have introduced 85 attacks on the Endangered Species Act or particular endangered species. Since the Republican takeover of the House of Representatives in 2011, more than 380 attacks have been launched. These attacks continue despite the fact that nine out of 10 Americans support the Endangered Species Act and want it either strengthened or left unchanged by Congress, according to a 2015 poll. For Immediate Release, June 6, 2018 Contact: Ileene Anderson, Center for Biological Diversity, (323) 490-0223, ianderson@biologicaldiversity.org Madison Donzis, Courage Campaign, (210) 488-6220, madison@unbendablemedia.com Settlement Ends Nestles Expired 'Zombie' Permit to Siphon Water From San Bernardino National Forest Strawberry Creek, Wildlife Remain at Risk From Commercial Exploitation SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. Federal officials and conservation groups reached an agreement today that will finally end Nestle Corp.s ability to rely on a permit that expired 30 years ago to siphon water from the San Bernardino National Forest for its massive bottled-water operation. The companys diversion has severely reduced water in spring-fed Strawberry Creek, which forest wildlife and plants need to survive. Todays settlement of the 2015 lawsuit requires the U.S. Forest Service to decide in 30 days whether or not to issue a new permit for the pipeline and Nestles associated activities in the San Bernardino National Forest. The Center for Biological Diversity, Courage Campaign Institute and the Story of Stuff Project agreed to dismiss an appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals regarding the old zombie permit after a new decision is issued. The groups reserved the right to challenge any new Forest Service decision. Under the expired permit, Nestle siphoned off as much as 162 million gallons of water a year from Strawberry Creek. Nestle, the worlds largest water-bottling company, earned $8.3 billion in profits from its water business in 2016. U.S. Geological Survey reports from July 2017 show that, despite heavy winter precipitation across California, Strawberry Creeks streamflow levels were the lowest since the agency began keeping track 96 years ago. This agreement stops Nestle and the Forest Service from relying on a 30-year-old permit, but Strawberry Creek still desperately needs protection, said Ileene Anderson, a senior biologist at the Center for Biological Diversity. The real tragedy is that Nestle is sucking the creek dry to bottle water for profit, dooming plants and wildlife that have relied on it for tens of thousands of years. Well keep fighting to protect Strawberry Creek and our forests from commercial exploitation. The groups are urging the Forest Service to deny a new permit to Nestle to safeguard the public land, water, plants and animals of the San Bernardino National Forest. If a new permit is issued, the agency should ensure there is enough water left in Strawberry Creek to support fish, wildlife and native plants year round. The State Water Resources Control Board is also evaluating Nestles water rights on Strawberry Creek, which a board investigation determined is far less than the corporation claims. We are encouraged that the Forest Service is finally fulfilling its duty to the public by ending Nestles unpermitted water taking from the San Bernardino National Forest. Any objective, scientifically rigorous analysis will demonstrate what biologists have been saying for decades: the Nestle operation is detrimental to the health and vibrancy of our public lands and should be discontinued," said Miranda Fox, campaigns manager at The Story of Stuff Project. "We want to ensure that Strawberry Creek and its ecosystem are properly managed for generations to come." While we are glad to have slayed Nestles zombie permit, we fear that the Forest Services action will ultimately do little to protect this national forest owned collectively by all Americans from continued exploitation by Nestle, one of the largest and most profitable corporations in the world, said Eddie Kurtz, executive director of the California-based Courage Campaign Institute. If the Forest Service issues a new permit that again prioritizes Nestles obscene profits over ensuring sufficient water remains to protect this fragile ecosystem that will NOT be a viable solution. This fight will be far from over. Nhlanhla Kubeka, communications account manager, Frayintermedia. Timing is key From a PR professional perspective, there are a lot of opportunities that exist for us to profile the great work being done in Africa by Africans. The anticipation of new business on the continent means that investors will also be looking for reputable communications companies to uphold a positive image for them in the media space.Media relations plays an important role in assisting clients to engage with important stakeholders and build meaningful and sustainable relationships with the media, which includes creating awareness for specific campaigns using different mediums of communication.Public Relations (PR) professionals, also known as influencers of public perception and behaviour, need to continue with the challenging work of positioning their clients as the go-to people for information in their respective fields of expertise.It starts with understanding a clients organisational strategy, developing key messages, building a strong and targeted media list, writing and distributing press statements, and securing the right interviews and speaking opportunities.But it doesnt end there. I sometimes question why certain statements and efforts dont get the desired attention from journalists, but the truth is that the right message communicated at the wrong time often receives minimal attention.In addition, media relations encompasses reputation management and the application of ethics. The implications of the Bell Pottinger saga provides lessons in this regard. The British PR company was expelled from the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) after being accused of inciting hatred through a campaign that supported the controversial Gupta family. Africa needs to reflect on such incidents and try not repeat previous mistakes.Timing is also key, especially when it comes to hosting events and commenting on hot issues. Communication professionals could miss out on a lot of opportunities to grow a clients voice in the media space if they do not act timeously.For example, sending an update on an event that happened three days ago as opposed to sending the update a few hours after the event will yield different results. It is always a good idea to establish key messages and have a draft beforehand. In that way, you can quickly update the information and send it to the relevant people (also considering the time it takes to get sign off from clients).This also sends out a message (to journalists) that you understand the art of media relations and know how to utilise established relationships.As communications practitioners, we also need to look at the media landscape in Africa and understand where media in the communication mix plays an important role. It is important to establish when and where it is best to utilise different mediums. While marrying old and new media is sometimes a good idea, it is crucial to first understand and identify platforms where our target audience(s) mostly consume information.The picture is quite clear that there is thorough thought process that precedes a perfect project report which reflects a high number of media coverage and other desired outcomes.From a PR professional perspective, there are a lot of opportunities that exist for us to profile the great work being done in Africa by Africans. Late last year the World Economic Forum's (WEF's) Global Gender Gap Report showed that the global gender gap had widened for the first time in the 11 years of the study. The decline may not seem that significant - 32% in 2017, compared to 31.7% in 2016 - but the ramifications are severe. Temitope Iluyemi, associate director, global government relations, Procter & Gamble. Shaping the future of Africa Rwanda leads the way Why global corporations have a responsibility to advocate gender equality According to WEF, it could now take an estimated 217 years for the global gender gap to close, if progress continues at this glacial pace. That means that our children, our grandchildren, our great grandchildren, and even our great, great grandchildren, will not live in an era of gender equality.If social, political, and economic inequality are not adequate reasons to spur a desire for change, then perhaps dollar signs can serve as motivation.McKinseys Women Matter 2017 Report found that African companies with at least 25% of women on their boards were achieving an earning margin that was about 20% higher than the industry average. The report also noted that $12 trillion could be added to global GDP by 2025 simply by advancing womens equality.In May this year the Global Shapers Community gathered in Johannesburg for the Shape Africa Conference to discuss ways of narrowing the gender gap on our continent. The Shapers are a network of young people in 158 countries driving dialogue and change. The conference aimed to further develop the partnership between P&G and the Global Shapers Community to raise awareness of gender inequality and continue P&Gs #WeSeeEqual campaign, which was started in 2017.I was privileged to be part of a panel discussion at the Shape Africa conference, where we focused on examining the gender gap issues in Sub-Saharan African communities specifically and exploring existing and potential Shaper projects that could help narrow the gap in our region. We looked at the conscious bias that comes from long-standing cultural norms and traditions, such as men being the head of the household. We also explored unconscious bias, which shows up in subtle attitudes and behaviour that we often dont even see.An interesting case study for gender equality on our continent was the example of Rwanda, the only African country to appear in WEFs Top 10 list of most equal countries in terms of gender they were in fact, number four ahead of nations like the UK (15), France (11), and even the United States (49).Rwanda excels particularly in the arenas of economics and politics. This country has one of the highest rates of female labour force participation in the world at 86% - in the US, that figure stands at 56%. The wage gap is also narrower in Rwanda, women earn 88 cents for every dollar men do; in the US, its just 74 cents.Many of the reasons for Rwandan womens empowerment in the workforce can be traced back to their better political participation. Rwandas laws stipulate that their parliament must be 30% female, which means that they put important but otherwise neglected issues on the table, such as a womans right to maternity leave.Rwandas narrowing gender gap in terms of economics and politics can be largely attributed to the tragic genocide in 1994, where women made up between 60% to 70% of the surviving population. It was out of necessity and new equality laws that women became more active participants in Rwandas economy and parliament.Rwandas equality still has a way to go, however. For example, prosecuting genocide-era rapists is not a priority for this nation, and violence against women is also unacceptably high - in 2011, 93% of victims of abuse here were women.As part of the P&G team in Africa, I believe that P&G is an excellent company case study of how a global citizenship of gender equality can achieve real dividends, not only for the prosperity of a company, but for the society within which it operates. Female empowerment is a natural focus area for P&G, as most of our products are made uniquely for women and girls, and women buy or influence the purchase of virtually all the restBecause we improve the lives of billions of people every day, and are therefore an influential force globally, P&G wants to use our voice and actions to tackle gender bias and to do it in a way that sparks conversations and motivates change. We know that when we make gender bias visible, we bring awareness to it and therefore have the power to change mindsets.One of the ways we do this is through advocating for gender equality in advertising and media. For example, our Always #LikeAGirl movement is being fueled by the millions of girls around the world who are changing the phrase like a girl to mean amazing things, rather than undermining girls achievements and strengths.We even recently tackled the subtle bias conveyed through emojis, resulting in the UNICODE Consortium to release 44 new girl-power emojis, which are now used globally.We also have initiatives that address barriers to education for girls, such as the Always Keeping Girls in School Programme, which provides sanitary towels and puberty education for girls who cannot afford them and whose education is suffering as a result.The programme has been active in Africa for over 10 years now and has ensured that almost 200,000 girls are still able to attend school, even when they have their periods.Lastly, P&G is modelling a gender equal reality within our own walls, by building an organisation with a vision for 50-50 representation of women and men for all ethnicities, at all levels, in all parts and all regions of P&G. We have currently reached 31% female representation at board level globally, and Africa is catching up, with 39% of senior management roles occupied by women. Marriott International has unveiled its transformation vision for Sheraton Hotels and Resorts. The company showcased its vision for Sheraton's public spaces at the NYU International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference in New York - bringing its brand strategy and signature focus on guest experience, hotel operations and design philosophy to life for owners and investors. Image Supplied The Sheraton experience Sheraton by the numbers From the moment we closed the Starwood merger in late 2016, the revitalisation of Sheraton has been a top priority for our company, said Arne Sorenson, president and CEO of Marriott International. With our Sheraton transformation plan, weve put together all of the pieces of the equation to work cooperatively with our owners to set this iconic brand on a new, disciplined and successful path. We are ready, our vision is clear and the energy is robust for Sheraton.Owners are already responding to the new vision with optimism and energy, committing an estimated half-a-billion dollars in renovations of hotels across the US. Globally, 25% of Sheraton hotels have committed to renovations with some already underway.Sheraton has built out a 4,200-square-foot vignette at the NYU International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference that brings its vision to life, allowing investors to understand and experience Sheratons transformation plans firsthand, particularly the concepts for the hotels public spaces.Reverting to its roots as the gathering place for locals and guests, Sheraton today amplifies that legacy by leaning into services and design that enable socialisation, productivity, and personalisation. Its strategy features collaborative venues, technology-enabled designs, and a host who helps deliver a unique experience that is exclusive to Sheraton.Marriott International is well positioned to deliver a comprehensive strategy for Sheratons brand transformation and we already have great momentum. This is the first time in years that the brand has been above competitive benchmark in both rate and occupancy, said Tina Edmundson, global brand officer, Marriott International. We have improved brand standards, increased group bookings, and have ramped up our business engine over the last year as the first step in a multi-phase, multi-year plan, leveraging our experience in revitalising lodging brands.The company undertook a repositioning of the Marriott Hotels brand beginning in 2013, redesigning the guest room and MClub Lounge working in close cooperation with Marriott Hotel owners. The work has resonated with guests and owners alike. Renovated Marriott Hotels have seen market share gains of, on average, 9% and intent to recommend scores from customers that are eight points on average higher than non-renovated hotels."Since joining Marriott International as part of the acquisition of Starwood Hotels and Resorts in September 2016, Sheraton has exited 6,000 rooms with another 2,000 expected to depart by the end of the year. During the same period, 5,000 rooms have been signed to the portfolio. Intent to recommend for the brand has already increased two points year-over-year and market share has grown for the first time in years.System-wide, Sheraton generates $9.2bn in property revenue globally. Sheratons portfolio currently consists of nearly 450 open hotels with 80 additional projects in the pipeline in 72 countries and territories. By 2020, the brands footprint is expected to expand to 90 countries. Many have questioned the origin of human existence and searched every corner of their mind to find a reasonable explanation. Some have yielded themselves to the idea of a higher power, a creator, who thought out the universe, nature and humanity and brought it to be. Image credit: Rachael Gorjestani via Unsplash.com The ability to create Being brave with creativity Christianity, as one example, teaches of a being who made man in His image and so gave humankind the ability to create as He did. The direct result of this, at least by this example, is the attribute humankind has, which is creativity.Defined by Merriam Webster as the ability to create, creativity seems to sit at the very core of all industries that seem to springboard off of the platform offered by advertising. Advertising is "the action of calling something [a product or service] to the attention of the public". It brings about engagement between people and businesses in any given industry.Another way of thinking about this is that advertising is the bridge between people and products (or services), and creativity is the vehicle which moves to keep the connection between advertisers and the masses going. The implication here is that creativity, as a vehicle, is a critical component in how people connect with things offered to them. If creativity loses momentum or breaks, then the link between people and the products or services is weakened or slowed down at the very least.Resultantly, advertising hinges on the effectiveness and power of creativity, which then suggests that advertising and creativity are interdependent, if not inseparable. So then, how does one keep the connection between people and products or services going? How does one move the motor of creativity in a near perpetual way?One can suggest that being brave with creativity, among many other variables, is the starting point of effective advertising. What is meant by brave? It means to "show strength in the face of fear or difficulty" or "having courage."Courageous ideas are undoubtedly challenging to create because of individual preferences, beliefs and cultures. It is, however, desirable for advertisers to appeal to more than just their target audiences and to expand the reach of what they offer, so it becomes evident that to help advertisers to grow, creativity has to be bold and tenacious. Sometimes this means challenging what could be perceived as dangerous, sensitive or offensive territory and braving through it.After all, the best way to get to new heights is to take strides in the direction of those heights, and not to grow too comfortable in where we find ourselves. Otherwise, we strangle the life out of creativity and make advertising redundant.Perhaps creating or being creative is one of the greatest attributes of humankind. From nothing, we can bring into existence ideas that unimaginably move people, that are immeasurable at times. The limit is defined by our individual parameters, making the power of our imagination nigh unfathomable if we challenge ourselves to break through what we know to be boundaries. An FCB Joburg designer, Nontokozo Tshabalala, has beaten out 20,000 applicants to join nine other young South Africans to be awarded a Sweden Institute Study Scholarship (SSIS) to study for her Masters degree in that country. An opportunity to further her chosen profession abroad is not a first for Tshabalala, who was selected while an intern at FCB Joburg to attend a Minds Wide Open conference at the Michigan State University (USA) in 2017.Always a high achiever (she was the first black head girl at her primary school), the Standerton-born Tshabalala attended the University of Johannesburg and graduated in 2016 with a BA Honours in Communication Design (Graphic Design), joining FCB Africas Graduate Programme the following year. She also co-founded MamGobozi Design Factory to create proudly African design work.While at university, Tshabalala was one of three students to be selected for a Student Exchange programme at the Dominican State University of California in 2015, an active participant in the Fees Must Fall (#FMF) movement and the first student in (what sounded like a long time) to create a documentary ('Blak Voices of FADA') that addressed the Faculty of Art, Design & Architecture and its systems, which made black students feel like they didnt belong.Inspired by the African identity in all its spheres identity, politics, advertising, history and gender and how graphic design influences it, she intends structuring her MFA course at the University of Gothenburg around child identity and design.Tshabalala attributes her passion and fire to her grandmother: My grandmother taught me to fight for what I want, always do my best and live a life of breaking records. I want to produce design work that evolves around children, their needs and their wild imagination that shapes their world. By completing my Masters, I hope I will come back into my country and rebuild the human connection through art and design, not only in my family but my community, she said. 2018 has certainly been an exhilarating roller coaster ride for South Africans so far. A new president, a cabinet reshuffle, stronger (but still uncertain) currency all point to positives, but a 1% increase in VAT, volatile fuel prices and a general rise in the cost of living for everyday South Africans, means consumers and businesses and critically reviewing their budgets - and spend for the foreseeable future. Image credit: Jakub Jirsak via 123RF.com Capitec and Viceroy incident Long-term effect of culling PR For many businesses, it means looking for ways to reduce expenses in order to balance the impact of the current economy. More often than not, this results in the PR budget being amongst the first to be culled.Culling PR might just be one of the biggest mistakes any company can make. PR allows an organisation to build its reputation, create a brand presence, engage and forge a relationship with an audience and earn their trust. In a consumer-led economy, all of these elements are critical in sustaining a business through times of instability and uncertainty.These are also the elements that come to an organisations rescue during times of crisis. A recent example of the importance of PR, was the Capitec and Viceroy incident, which happened earlier this year.Within the banking sector, Capitec has earned a reputation as the underdog who has taken on the big four banks and beating them at their own game. It is also considered the champion for the people. It was, therefore, with an air of disbelief, that people read about the Viceroy report that detailed reckless lending practices allegations against the bank.Having a brand presence and reputation doesnt only serve to avert a potential crisis, there is also much truth in the old adage - out of sight, out of mind. In a highly competitive and economically pressured environment, it is important to remain visible and be perceived as an active role player in the market.Customers need to see what a brand is doing, understand its offering or cause, and feel a brand affiliation. They need to believe that a brand listens to them, understands them, their needs and responds accordingly.Without PR and an integrated communications approach, a potential customer has no means of understanding your business, its values, offerings and propositions. Therefore, there is no association or affinity towards your brand to encourage loyalty or support. This ultimately influences the success or failure of a business or organisation.Culling PR is a short-term solution that may provide temporary relief on budgets, but the long-term effect of this will invariably impact business revenue. It is during the toughest times that your name and what it represents is sometimes all you have. Businesses need to nurture and build this continuously. The Burn Media Group, a media stable with publications that include Ventureburn and Memeburn, has broken away from M&C Saatchi Abel's digital agency Creative Spark and has embarked upon a new "aggressive" growth curve, says Burn Media's founder Matthew Buckland. Burn Media's founder, Matthew Buckland. Burn Media can now get the focus, attention and investment it needs to grow it aggressively and reach its full potential Matthew Buckland Cannot exist on advertising alone Not concerned of competition Plan to triple size of company Buckland, the former CEO and founder of Creative Spark, this week announced the conclusion of a deal with M&C Saatchi Abel and the formation of Burn Media Group an independent digital media company.The deal with advertising company M&C Saatchi Abel was concluded on Monday (4 June). It follows Bucklands exit in April from Creative Spark the company he founded in 2010 and which he subsequently sold to M&C Saatchi Abel in 2015.Buckland says when he founded Creative Spark and Burn Media in 2010 the intention was that the two would be separate companies.We however decided to keep things simple and keep the companies combined as they worked nicely together. The digital agency exploded in growth, whereas Burn Media struggled, and naturally the focus of the company became mainly the agency, he said.But he said as a stand-alone entity Burn Media can now get the focus, attention and investment it needs to grow it aggressively and reach its full potential. The Burn brands are amazing brands, but we can do so much more with them, he added.While Buckland would not disclose the details of the deal with M&C Saatchi Abel because of a confidentiality agreement, he was able to say that the sale was in exchange for his remaining equity stake in Creative Spark. Ventureburn believes this stake to be 10%.He described the sites current performance as under potential from a traffic point of view with some stand-out performers, most notably Ventureburn which has built a loyal community around it.Ventureburn has emerged, in a short space of time, as the top startup and entrepreneur resource in the country and continent, he said.He said the sites are also currently undergoing a redesign.We want to shift the focus to Meme(burn) and Venture(burn). We will consolidate on a tech, CMS and possibly a domain level but we will keep the brands distinct for now as they are part of the DNA of the group, he explained.Commenting on where digital media is at present, he said in terms of new revenue streams, media cannot exist on advertising alone.Media companies need to be multi-platform, multi-formatted content creators both, online and offline, with diverse revenue streams, he said, adding that followers of the sites can expect more events and media products launched around Ventureburn and Memeburn that serve those sites respective community and readership.There is so much more we can do in the startup ecosystem to support and tell the stories of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, private equity players, startups, incubators, co-working spaces and more, he said, adding that Burn Media plans to move more into the rest of the continent and grow its presence in Lagos and Nairobi.While the technology publications market in South Africa has seen the emergence of late of a whole number of players, Buckland says he isnt concerned that perhaps the market is too saturated.I never worry about the competition, thats out of my control. The competition must do what the competition must do.Together with our talented and committed team, I am focused on building a solid, quality digital media business with our own approach and flavour which involves quality journalism that serves and connects the community of readers around it.There is an exciting entrepreneur and startup story developing in South Africa, Africa and the world and we form part of the ecosystem as media to tell that story and accelerate the growth of the startup industry as a whole, he said.How then did the sites shift from essentially being blogs to what one could consider are perhaps fully-fledged news sites?In my view a blog is just a format. From the very start, we were always a commercial media company that just used the format of a blog.Burn Media started selling advertising and job listings in the first month of its existence.Although we are a commercial media company, retaining our blog heritage from a cultural point of view is important ie we will still retain our irreverence and informality in terms of our approach to content, but without ever sacrificing our commitment to quality, balanced and critical journalism, he pointed out.Buckland said his team includes some long-serving staff members, such as Andy Walker who has been with the team for more than five yearsHe said while the companys team of journalists reside mainly in Cape Town, the commercial team, under Carl Davis (the companys general manager) operates from the companys Johannesburg office.Under Carl, we are working on a new strategy to triple the size of the company in the next few years and we have some exciting proposals which we are developing together, he said.Davis said hes excited by the prospect of a stand-alone company, that will allow him and his team to make decisions in real time. It will also allow us to explore more commercial opportunities and aggressively expand our offering and drastically improve revenue, he said.For now the next few months will see Buckland and his company effectively going back into startup mode again back to the early days of Creative Spark that he still remembers fondly.But hes looking forward to it. After all, this he says will provide him and his team with the freedom necessary to reshape the company and its culture.These, he says, are exciting times. Turkish menswear brand D'S Damat has entered the South African market, opening a store in Menlyn Park in Pretoria. The company markets itself as an "affordable luxury" brand, catering to men who want stylish apparel for both casual and formal affairs. DS Damat was established in 1986, and now operates worldwide with 360 stores in 79 countries. The brand initially hit South African shores as a flagship store back in 1995, sponsoring sporting clubs like Kaizer Chiefs.The Menlyn Park retail outlet is owned by franchisee Callistus Phologolo, who opened his first D'S Damat store in Botswana in November 2017.The official opening was led by the first secretary of the Turkish Embassy, Deniz Cankaya, who said, We are very excited to present the brand, and I genuinely believe that DS Damat will contribute in the bilateral trade of the textile sector, as well as the relationship with South African and Turkish people.South African ambassador in Turkey, Pule Malefane, commented on what DS Damat means for the South African economy, and how the store opening will contribute to strengthening the relationships between Turkey and South Africa.Despite all the challenges we are faced with in the country there is an opportunity to position our country as one of the successful economies in the world, and DS Damat is one of those brands that has demonstrated this opportunity by creating jobs in the country and improving our innovation and creativity. These relationships should not be viewed as a threat but must be embraced as supplementing the efforts of ensuring that we are able to produce affordable, quality products that can be appreciated by the global market."The event was attended by celebrity guests Donovan Goliath, Kay Sibiya, Leroy Marc, Chef Lentswe and Bhekisizwe Mahlawe, as well as sporting heroes Dr Khumalo, Pollen Ndlanya, Fani Madida and John Mametsa. Traditionally shooting commercials or anything else in Durban has relied on production having to find a way to truck in the crew, gear, caterers etc from Cape Town or Johannesburg. You only went to Durban if the client was based there, the scene called for an authentic Durban scenario, or you were shooting for KZN tourism. Image credit: HONGQI ZHANG via 123RF.com Increased experience and opportunities Brutally competitive environment For a while, prior to that, there was a point where Durban had a chance to make a go of it but for some reason decided that it was happy with its tiny slice of the big commercial pie and let the moment pass by. When the last gear house finally decided it was no longer viable to stock and maintain gear in Durban and packed up, the last reason for production to take Durban seriously also went into a box.That was then, but things have changed. Durban and the wider KZN is no longer a quiet backwater for commercials. A shrinking economic climate coupled with the changing face of production has meant that Durban once again is poised for bigger things. The difference this time is that there are a number of players who are determined to make sure it takes advantage of the opportunities on offer.As the KZN Film Commission concedes, they have not focused on commercials so much as generating interest in more long-form projects. TV projects likeand a series of features have all been actively promoted, funded and incentivised. The ever-present murmurs of Anant Singhs eThekweni Film City project have finally moved past rumour and legal challenges to approval. The lack of local crew is now starting to remedy itself as local work allows for increased experience and opportunities. A crew that spent the bulk of their year away from home to make a living are returning to take up positions on local productions.The return of Media Film Services has taken care of the need to truck gear in and relieves production concerns about maintenance and gear breakdowns on set. The spin-offs of this increase in long form and the logistical improvements are a boon to a commercials industry that has undergone serious challenges in the last 2 years. Cape Towns drought put a serious dent in the service season and local commercials in Johannesburg have been constrained by a global recession that has seen companies slash budgets for advertising.Durban is positioning itself to step into the chasm between smaller budgets and the rapidly escalating costs of shooting in Cape Town and to a lesser extent Johannesburg. Beachfront locations that would cost as much as a small web series but are the norm in Cape Town cost less than a Johannesburg, Emmarentia house location.Caterers, a nightmare in the past, have become more savvy, offering up good food at competitive rates. The rapid expansion of Ballito due to the King Shaka airport move has meant that the North Coast has now opened up as a viable shoot location. Courtesy of the combined efforts of the Durban Film Office and the KZN Film Commission, hotels are now putting production rates in place and offering production facilities.There are still challenges to getting a foothold in this brutally competitive environment. The lack of local advertising agencies with above the line or digital heavy accounts is a big stumbling block. In order for the local industry to thrive, it has to be supported by local private industry, not government.The argument that Cape Town is not reliant on local accounts is not a reliable reference, you have to compare apples to apples. Cape Town occupies a unique position geographically and possesses the added bonus of being first to the trough. There are a few agencies that have retained big accounts but they tend to outsource the productions to Johannesburg based production companies who then shoot in Johannesburg.The benefit to local production is minimal if at all. The other challenge is the lack of local production houses with sufficient expertise to support the scale of shoots that are taken as a given in your major shoot centres. Its hard to offer work to local suppliers if they dont exist or dont offer a comparable level of service. Thats not to say there are no quality production facilities in Durban, just that the choice factor is vastly reduced. Location scouts are few and far between, a hassle shared by Johannesburg but without the safety net of up to date databases.Every industry has its obstacles and these are being addressed. Local agencies are shooting more content than before which is slowly increasing the pool of talent. Production houses with the relevant experience have started to move in and coupled with new remote workflows are offering the same production and post-production calibre at far more competitive rates with no compromise in quality. The KZN Film Commission is looking at finding ways to support local initiatives and Durban Film Office have been actively putting permit processes etc. in place to expedite the usual yesterday production turn around.Unlike previous attempts to kickstart things, there is an air of optimism and sense of can do that if successful will bring a new player to the table. Change isnt always doom and gloom, sometimes it spawns a new way of doing things that shake the system up and makes for a better product and a bigger pie. Thats something we should all be getting behind. A team of two senior members of the US-based Oromia Media Network (OMN) are en route to Ethiopia in what the media company said was a mission of "exploring logistics and opportunities" to open its branch offices in Ethiopia. Paul Stringer via 123RF Draconian media laws A management team of two led by Mohammed Abdosh, deputy director for operations, are "on the way to Ethiopia as of now", according to Jawar Mohammed, executive director of OMN. "While we are aware of the potential challenges of operating from the ground by opening up branch offices, we want to explore opportunities based on the recent encouraging developments," Jawar told Addis Standard in an email interview.In a speech delivered to a public gathering in Hawassa, the capital of the southern regional state, on April 26, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said Ethiopian media organisations based abroad can relocate their offices and operate from within Ethiopia.The Prime Minister made the remark as part of his administration's efforts to loosen up the current restrictive space for independent and critical media organisations. In a recent separate remark, the Prime Minister also said media plurality was an essential element of improving professionalism.OMN board of directors responded to the Prime Minister's speech in Hawassa, stating three conditions that would make it impossible for the media organisation to relocate and operate from within Ethiopia. One of which was the pending terrorism charges against OMN and the criminal charges against Jawar Mohammed. Both have since been discontinued.The second was the six months state of emergency. But in its regular meeting yesterday, the Council of Ministers has approved a draft law that lifts the current state of emergency pending the parliament's approval.In a statement released on May 31, OMN board of directors said, "We are encouraged that charges of violating the Anti-Terrorism Law of 2009 brought against the OMN and its executive director, Jawar Mohammed, were dropped on May 29, 2018. While we await the lifting of this unconstitutional and unnecessary law, we interpret this legal action as meaning one of our conditions were met."The statement also said, "The Press Law currently in effect in Ethiopia does not allow freedom of speech and the unencumbered flow of ideas", and called for "a swift parliamentary action to repeal the current law and replace it with one that allows for free press and free expression."Jawar Mohammed said despite no change to that end, OMN was "hopeful that the current administration will take the call to heart and consider to repeal such a draconian media law that made the progress of independent media in Ethiopia nearly impossible."Asked if OMN has set a date to open its branch offices and begin operations from Ethiopia anytime soon, Jawar said they were taking "one step at a time".Established in 2012, OMN is licensed under the US Federal Communications Commission. It is "governed by a Board of Trustees, an Executive Council, and an independent editorial team made up of professional journalists", according to a statement on its website.Read the original article on Addis Standard Nelson Mandela Bay hosts the #ECMeetUp The #ECMeetUp 2018 Bloggers and Influencers Conference took place on 2 June 2018 at the Fairview Race Course in Nelson Mandela Bay. The EC MeetUp team in collaboration with Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism and Herald Live welcomed guest speakers, bloggers, and social media influencers at the event. The annual ECMeetUp provides a platform for experienced and novice bloggers to interact, grow, and gain knowledge about the digital sphere and how to improve working with brands. Reciba en su email: noticias de ultima hora, analisis tecnicos o el cierre de mercado Email no valido Nombre requerido Recibira las informaciones mas relevantes del dia en tiempo real Que informacion desea recibir? Noticias de Ultima hora Boletin Cierre de Mercado Boletin analisis tecnico Boletin Fundsnews Debe seleccionar un tipo de boletin Acepto la Politica de privacidad Debe aceptar la politica de privacidad Responsable EMPRESAS DEL GRUPO WEB FINANCIAL GROUP Finalidad La remision de informacion, novedades y promociones Establecimiento o mantenimiento de Relaciones Comerciales. Legitimacion Consentimiento del interesado. Interes legitimo en el desarrollo de la relacion comercial Destinatario Empresas del Grupo WEB FINANCIAL GROUP Derechos Acceso, rectificacion, supresion, limitacion, oposicion y portabilidad Informacion adicional Politica de Privacidad de nuestra pagina Web + INFORMACION An internet imagery. NEW DELHI (PTI): The Union government has approved the continuation of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle and Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark-III programmes, together costing more than Rs 10,000 crore, in a move that will help ISRO launch light and heavy-weight satellites. The operationalisation of PSLV, ISRO's most-trusted workhorse, has made India self-reliant in launching satellites for earth observation, disaster management, navigation and space sciences. For heavy satellites, India is helped by the French, which launches its satellites from Kourou in French Guinea in South America. The cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday also gave its nod for funding 30 PSLV operational flights under the programme. The PSLV programme is expected to meet the launch requirements of satellites for earth observation, navigation and space sciences and will also ensure the continuity of production by the Indian industry. The fund requirement is Rs 6,131 crore and includes the cost of 30 PSLV vehicles, essential facility augmentation, programme management and launch campaign. The PSLV Continuation Programme (Phase 6) will meet the demand for launch of satellites at a frequency of up to eight launches per year, with maximum participation from the Indian industry. All operational flights would be completed during the period 2019-2024, the government said in a statement. PSLV continuation programme was initially sanctioned in 2008, and four phases have been completed and the fifth phase is expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2019-20. The phase-6 approval will cater to the launch of satellite missions from the third quarter of 2019-20 to first quarter of 2023-24. With the recent successful launch of PSLV-C41 on April 12, PSLV has completed three developmental and 43 operational flights and the last 41 flights have been successful. The cabinet also approved funding for the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark-III Continuation Programme (Phase-1), consisting of 10 GSLV (Mk-III) flights, at an estimated cost of Rs 4,338 crore. The GSLV Mk-III Continuation Programme (Phase 1) is the first phase of operational flights that will enable the launch of four-tonne class of communication satellites. The operationalisation of GSLV Mk-III will make India self-reliant in launching four-tonne class of communication satellites, sustain and strengthen the space infrastructure and reduce the dependence on procured launches from foreign countries. The cabinet was also apprised of a memorandum of understanding signed between India and Oman in February in Muscat for peaceful use of the outer space. The MoU shall enable cooperation in areas such as space science, technology and applications including remote-sensing of the Earth, satellite-based navigation, space science, planetary exploration, use of spacecraft and space systems and ground system and application of space technology. A representational photo. NEW DELHI (PTI): A missile corvette and a maritime patrol aircraft of the Indian Navy on Wednesday reached Indonesia, days after the two countries vowed to deepen maritime engagement. The Indian Navy said the visit of the warship INS Kulish seeks to underscore India's peaceful presence and solidarity with friendly countries towards ensuring good order in the maritime domain. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited Indonesia last week during which both the countries agreed to upgrade their ties to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and called for freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region. China has been expanding its military influence in the Indo-Pacific region and India and several other countries including the US have been pushing for a rules-based order for the region. The two countries, particularly, decided to enhance maritime cooperation. The missile corvette and Dornier maritime patrol aircraft of the Andaman and Nicobar Command arrived at Belawan in Indonesia to attend the final phase of the 31st edition of the India Indonesia coordinated patrol from June 6 to 9. Indian Naval assets have been increasingly deployed in recent times to address the main maritime concerns of the region. The Indian Navy has also been involved in assisting countries in the Indian Ocean Region with surveillance of Exclusive Economic Zones, search and rescue and capability-enhancement activities. "The current deployment will contribute towards the Indian Navy's efforts to consolidate inter-operability and forge strong bonds of friendship across the seas," the Navy said. An internet imagery. NEW DELHI (PTI): The Indian Defence Ministry is likely to finalise in the next few days the broad contours of Indian Navy's ambitious project to build six advanced submarines under the multi-billion P-75 (I) programme. Sources said that the state-run Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd (MDL) is likely to be given the responsibility to implement the project as against the government's earlier indication that private shipbuilders would be involved in constructing the submarines. A meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), defence ministry's highest decision-making body on procurement, is likely to deliberate extensively on the submarine project in the next few days, the sources said. The government is seriously considering involving MDL in the nearly USD 8 billion project, they said. Last year, the ministry had given indications that the six submarines would be built under the strategic partnership model with the involvement of private players. The strategic partnership model was unveiled in May last year under which select private firms are to be roped in to build military platforms such as submarines and fighter jets in India in partnership with foreign entities. Six Scorpene-class submarines are currently being built under 'Project 75' of the Indian Navy. The submarines, designed by French firm Naval Group, are being built by the Mazagon Dock Limited in Mumbai. The project P-75 (I) will be a follow-on for Project 75. Murder accused Jonathan Keogh looked panicked as he ran up a street on the morning Gareth Hutch was shot dead, a witness has told a trial. Mr Keogh is one of three Dubliners accused of murdering Mr Hutch (36), nephew of Gerry the Monk Hutch. It is the prosecution case that Mr Keogh was one of the two gunmen, together with another man, who directed the attack which killed Mr Hutch. Both he and Thomas Fox were instrumental in the planning and carrying out of the attack, the State says. The deceased was fatally injured as he was getting into his car outside Avondale House flats on North Cumberland Street in Dublin on the morning of May 24, 2016. Thomas Fox (31) with an address at Rutland Court, Dublin 1, Regina Keogh (41) from Avondale House, Cumberland Street North, Dublin 1 and Jonathan Keogh (32) of Gloucester Place, Dublin 1, have pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Hutch. Mr Fox has also denied unlawfully possessing a Makarov 9 mm handgun on May 23, 2016 at the same place. Giving evidence today, Colette Geoghegan told prosecuting counsel Paul Burns SC that she lived in a flat on North Richmond Street. Ms Geoghegan agreed with counsel that she knew Jonathan Keogh through her friend. He would drop over (to her) quite often, she added. Ms Geoghegan said she left her house at 9.50am with her partner, Maurice Farrell, on the morning of May 24. They were walking down Summerhill to the National Youth Project on Rutland Street. She told the court that her partner said something to her, she looked over and saw Jonathan Keogh. He was running fast enough, he seemed panicked. The accused could have been wearing dark shorts, she said. When Ms Geoghegan got to the club, she heard there had been a shooting. She listened to the news when she returned home and went to see her friend, she said. Later that day, this friend produced an envelope with 50 notes in it. There was quite a large amount of 50 pound notes, she said. The witness said she minded her friend's children that night, it was her first time to do it. The next day her friend called her from a number she did not recognise. Maurice Farrell gave evidence and said his partner Colette Geoghegan had a friend who was Mr Keoghs partner at the time and he would see the accused coming and going in the area. Mr Farrell said he and Colette left North Richmond Street at 9.50am on May 24 to go to the National Youth Project on Rutland Street. As they were coming down Summerhill, they stopped at pedestrian traffic lights and he saw Mr Keogh running up Rutland Street. The court previously saw footage of Gareth Hutch walking towards his black car in Avondale House flats at 9.53am. As he opened the front door of his vehicle, two men approached him very quickly and shot him. Jim Holmes yesterday told the court that he was walking in the direction of Gardiner Street at 9.50am on the morning when he saw two men running in the center of the road. One of the men was wearing a balaclava which looked suspicious so he rang 999. This morning, the court heard that Professor Marie Cassidy, the Chief State Pathologist, carried out a post-mortem on Mr Hutchs body on May 24. Fiona Murphy BL read the post-mortem report to the court in which Dr Cassidy said Mr Hutch died as a result of multiple gunshot injuries. She said Mr Hutch suffered four gun shot injuries, two to the back of the neck, one to the lower back and one to the right of the upper chest. In her statement, Dr Cassidy said three of the bullets had travelled in a similar direction from the back to the front of Mr Hutchs body. The fourth bullet had travelled across the deceaseds chest cavity and lodged in his left arm. Mr Hutch had suffered injuries to his neck, ribs, heart and brain, she said. Attempts were made to resuscitate Mr Hutch but he had lost in excess of 2.5 litres of blood, said Dr Cassidy. The scene of the shooting. The court also heard evidence from Garda Jack Costigan and Garda Amy Collins, who were the first officers on the scene. Gda Costigan said that he arrived at Avondale House at 10am on May 24 where large crowds had gathered in the carpark. Gda Costigan said Ross Hutch, Gareths cousin, approached him in an erratic manner and asked him what had taken him so long to get there. The court also heard that Garda Jason Walsh arrived at Avondale house at 10.05am. He said there was a large crowd gathered in the car park, they were "roaring and shouting". Gda Walsh said he recognised Ross Hutch. He was asked who was on the ground and he replied: "you f**king know who it is. Do your job". The court heard previously that the slain man's cousin had arrived on the scene after the alleged murder, saw Gareth on the ground and followed the two attackers for a while before turning back. Gda Costigan testified that he saw a brown-handled handgun in the middle of the carpark with a silver silencer attached to it. A second gun was lying between a white van and a black BMW car, he added. Gda Collins gave evidence that the drivers door of the black BMW was slightly open and the engine was running. Using latex gloves, Gda Collins said she lent into the car and switched off the engine. The statement of Dr Sinead McArdle, a consultant in emergency medicine at the Mater Hospital, was read into the record by the prosecution. The court heard Dr McArdle pronounced Mr Hutch dead at 10.38am. A statement by John Hutch, father of the deceased, was also read into evidence in which he said he identified his sons body to Detective Garda Fergal OFlaherty at 12.53pm on May 24. The court previously heard that John Hutch arrived to Avondale House on a moped that morning and saw his sons body on the ground. The chaplain of the Mater hospital later said a prayer over Mr Hutchs body which was done at the request of his family. At the opening the trial, Mr Burns told the court that the killing of Mr Hutch was not a spontaneous or spur of the moment act but a brutal and callous murder. It was premeditated and a significant amount of planning had gone into it. The prosecution say the three co-accused each had their own part to play in bringing about the death of Mr Hutch. The prosecution contend that the evidence of Mary McDonnell, who had a flat at Avondale House, is "important" in this trial, as the three accused had gathered in her home in the hours before the murder. Her kitchen window had a view into Mr Hutch's flat. The trial continues tomorrow before Mr Justice Tony Hunt, presiding, sitting with Judge Patricia Ryan and Judge Michael Walsh. by Gordon Deegan A bank here has been ordered to pay 20,000 to an Iranian couple in business here over demanding that they not transfer any funds to bank accounts in their native country. In the case, the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) has ordered that the un-named bank pay 12,000 to the woman and 8,000 to her husband after finding that the bank discriminated against the couple of the grounds of race. The woman - who has a PhD - secured Irish citizenship in 2015 and the two came to Ireland as students and set up a small medical data analysis company here. The woman had operated a bank account with the bank for 10 years and her husband for five before they received a request last year to agree to a number of restrictions on the operation of their bank account. The bank argued that the restrictions were necessary and could be objectively justified because it was obliged to comply with national and EU legislation in relation to anti-money laundering/ combating financing terrorism and the requirement to comply with sanctions against Iran. However, in her ruling, WRC Adjudication Officer, Marian Duffy found that the bank did discriminate against the two on the grounds of race. Ms Duffy said that alternative methods to counter money laundering/terrorist financing and US sanction breaches were open to the respondent. She said: These include the implementation of robust IT systems and procedures, customer advice/guidance and information systems and or a helpline as part of the process to monitor account activities. Ms Duffy found that the banks policy was neither appropriate nor necessary to achieve its stated aims and therefore was not objectively justified. The couple said that they had no difficulty in providing the documentation about proof of their address and identities, the sources of their funds, and copies of their passports. They said that if they signed the bank's declaration form they could no longer use their account for any purpose relating to Iran such as to buy airline tickets for holidays in Iran, to give parents cash presents or to do any business with Iran. They did not sign the form and they were told by the Bank if they did not do so their account would be closed. The two submitted that the bank discriminated against then on the grounds of their Iranian nationality. The bank stated that the two were rated as high risk customers because of their Iranian nationality and withdrawals from the accounts during the months of October to December 2016, they had to be subjected to enhanced due diligence, including signing the contentious declaration form. The couple stated that the transactions of 2016 were for the payment of wages and purchasing shares. The bank stated it is subject to EU regulations called the Iran Regulations as well as the US laws and regulations regime in relation to sanctions. There banks Head of Sanctions said that the bank had no appetite for dealing with customers who had affiliations with Iran. She said that the purpose of the declaration form was to transfer the risk associated with the sanctions regime to the customer. The official said that if the Central Bank fined the bank in connection any breaches in relation to the account, the bank can pass on the fine to the customer. She said that the bank has a branch in the US and for this reason they are caught by the sanctions. While the US sanctions do not prohibit financial transactions, they can fine Banks if they deem the financial transactions are against US national interest. By Gerard Cunningham Update 5.45pm: Irish Times security and crime editor Conor Lally has told the Charleton tribunal he was "extremely surprised" to be included in a list of journalists former garda press officer Supt David Taylor said were briefed negatively about whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe. The tribunal is looking at allegations by Supt Taylor that he was directed to smear Sgt McCabe. Former commissioners Martin Callinan and Noirin O'Sullivan deny there was any smear campaign. "I was extremely surprised to see from the opening statement of counsel to the tribunal that my name was given by Supt David Taylor as a journalist to whom he had given a negative briefing about Sgt Maurice McCabe," Mr Lally said in a statement to the tribunal. Mr Lally said that in the course of his career he "took great care not to become too close to An Garda Siochana or anybody else so as to preserve the independence and integrity of my journalism". Mr Lally claimed privilege when asked to identify his own mobile phone number to tribunal investigators, and said he was concerned that if he began to answer questions on particular conversations he might have had, it could lead to sources being identified. No member of the garda ever, past or present, negatively briefed me about Sgt McCabe. Mr Lally said he became aware around 2011 that there was "a historical complaint" made against Sgt McCabe. On making inquiries, he learned from "a source independent of An Garda Siochana" that the case was "thrown out" by the DPP. "Even from the outset it was clear to me this had gone absolutely nowhere," Mr Lally said. Mr Lally said the information was given to him as an "explainer" of Sgt McCabe and nobody was saying Sgt McCabe was "a bad guy". Mr Lally said the rumour resurfaced in 2013 or 2014, when it was "doing the rounds in journalistic circles. "It was a dead piece of information from the off," Mr Lally said. Mr Lally said that around the time of Public Accounts Committee hearings in January 2014, other journalists seemed to have the same information he did, and he remembered thinking "I'm not the only one who is aware of this. Mr Lally said he spoke often to press officer Supt Taylor. "It sounds bizarre but I don't recall ever having a conversation with him [Taylor] about Maurice McCabe," Mr Lally said. I value my independence very much. I don't get close to An Garda Siochana, I'm not close to Garda headquarters. Mr Lally said he did not recall reading a series of articles written by journalist Paul Williams about Miss D in 2014. Michael McDowell SC, representing Sgt McCabe, said that the stories reported by Mr Williams "escalated from an interview with Miss D, to the matter being raised with Micheal Martin, to the matter being raised with an Taoiseach. "I have no specific recollection of reading them at the time. That's not the same as saying I was unaware of them," Mr Lally said. He said that after four years he could not recall which stories he might have read. Mr Lally said that when he interviewed Miss D in 2017, it was to get her side of a story of how a Tusla copy and pasting error in handling her information led to an investigation into Sgt McCabe and his family. Mr Lally said that the abuse allegation against Sgt McCabe was "completely out of bounds. "The minute you start talking about it you were perpetuating and spreading a really nasty rumour about Sgt McCabe for which there was no evidence. Mr Lally continues his evidence tomorrow. Earlier: Editors not given negative briefing about garda whistleblower, tribunal told By Gerard Cunningham Update 3.30pm: Two senior newspaper editors have told the Charleton tribunal that they were not given negative briefings or smears about garda whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe. The tribunal is looking at allegations by former garda press officer Supt David Taylor that he was directed to smear Sgt McCabe. Former commissioners Martin Callinan and Noirin O'Sullivan deny there was any smear campaign. Irish Mail on Sunday editor Conor O'Donnell told the tribunal that in early 2014 journalist Debbie McCann went to her news editor Robert Cox saying there was "an allegation of sexual impropriety" against Sgt McCabe. Mr Cox then reported this to Mr O'Donnell, who authorised Ms McCann to approach the D family. Conor O'Donnell arriving at the Disclosures Tribunal today. Photo: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie. The DPP had previously directed no prosecution saying there was no evidence of an offence disclosed following an garda investigation into an allegation by Miss D in 2006. Ms McCann called to the D household, spoke to Miss D's mother, and learned the family were not willing to speak to a reporter. Mr O'Donnell said that Sgt McCabe was identified to him by Mr Cox, but he was not told the identity of the D family, and did not know Miss D's father was a garda officer. Mr O'Donnell said he had no knowledge of any reporter being negatively briefed. "We had a duty to investigate it, and we did. Nothing came of it, and we printed nothing," Mr O'Donnell said. Mr O'Donnell said he did not discuss the story with Irish Daily Mail group editor Sebastian Hamilton. Journalist Alison O'Reilly told the tribunal last week that she was informed by Ms McCann that Mr Hamilton stopped the story. Mr O'Donnell said that he did not know who Ms McCann's source was for the story. He agreed with Michael McDowell SC, representing Sgt McCabe, that the source was most likely a garda source. Irish Daily Mail group editor Sebastian Hamilton said that Mr O'Donnell as editor of the Irish Mail on Sunday had editorial independence and would not need Mr Hamilton's approval to run a story. Sebastian Hamilton arriving at the Disclosures Tribunal today. Photo: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie. "We trust our editors to do their job, and they do their jobs extremely well," Mr Hamilton said. "I never heard any negative story, was not aware of any negative story at any point about Sgt McCabe beyond what appeared in public," Mr Hamilton said. Mr Hamilton said that he did not believe he should be compelled as a journalist to discuss who he met or talked to, and said journalists had a duty of confidentiality to protect their sources. "I would regard this, and I think most journalists would, as a duty we owe to the profession of journalism and to press freedom to not reveal sources," Mr Hamilton said. Mr Hamilton said that the account given by Ms O'Reilly was not logical, and that Ms O'Reilly had a grievance against her employer and was bringing a legal case against the newspaper. Mr Hamilton said that Ms O'Reilly had described an interview with Miss D which everyone accepted could not have taken place. Tribunal chairman Mr Peter Charleton said the tribunal was set up in February 2017, and it took until July 2017 for the Daily Mail to talk to tribunal investigators "while at the same time you're thundering in your editorials." "All I can say is that from the beginning I was concerned about any breaches of journalistic privilege," Mr Hamilton said. Gardai are renewing their appeal for help in finding a man who is missing from Limerick for the past 20 years. Matthew Carroll disappeared on Monday, June 8, 1998, and would be 51 years old on his next birthday. Irish Water says it hopes swimming bans at a number of Dublin beaches can be lifted shortly. After wastewater overflowed from a pumping station, notices have been issued for Dollymount, Sandymount and Merrion strands. Swimming bans had already been in place at Sandymount and Merrion for the entire summer because of an issue with dog and bird poo. John O'Donoghue from Irish Water is hoping the separate notice at Dollymount will be lifted. "We are hoping that they will be lifted very shortly," he said. We're still doing some tests and monitoring on that before we can give the final go-ahead on lifting them but we are working to get it lifted as quicky as possible. Meanwhile, the long spell of warm weather has left the Skerries area of Dublin running low on water. Restrictions are being put in place between now and Monday to help bring levels back up. Irish Water is asking people in the area to limit the amount of water they use. Digital Desk The Irish Penal Reform Trust says allowing life serving prisoners to have a phone in their cell is a good idea. The Irish Prison Service has made the recommendation in a report that is yet to be published, to prevent long-term inmates from becoming institutionalised. 526 illicit mobile phones were seized in Irish prisons in 2016. Deirdre Malone from the Irish Penal Reform Trust says life prisoners should be allowed to keep up with what is going on in the outside world. "What was envisaged, I think, is that a very cautious approach to providing in-cell phones to certain prisoners who are serving life sentences," Ms Malone said. "The average length of those sentences would be 19-20 years. They could have an in-cell phone in order to stay in touch with family members, perhaps elderly members of the family or those who are not in the jurisdiction. John Whelan from Sentence and Victim Equality says sentences are already too lenient and people in prison should not be able to avail of extra phone privileges. "I know of families who are part of our group and who know already that the perpetrator in their crimes is in contact with their families over the phone," Mr Whelan said "It's happening anyway, and when we as victims hear this it's quite hurtful to think that's going on. It's like they're living in hotels. Former prison officer and Criminologist, John Cuffe says it would be difficult to monitor and there are other more pressing issues that need to be dealt with in Irish prisons. "I don't think it's a crying out problem in the prison service at the moment," Mr Cuffe said I think there are other issues in the system and for prisoners that need addressing. I think it's not something that's that necessary. Digital Desk The Health Minister says he is happy to look at any proposal to reduce the tax on sunscreen. Health advocates want the typical 23% Vat slashed, and claim sun protection is a necessity, not a luxury. By Tom Tuite A-17-year-old teenager has been sent forward for trial for taking part in a litany of extreme violence during a series of unprovoked street attacks in Dublin over the course of 28 minutes of madness. The teenager appeared at the Dublin Childrens Court where he was served with a book of evidence. Judge Brendan Toale then made an order sending him forward for trial to the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court where he will face his next hearing later this month. The teen, who was accompanied to court by his lawyer and his mother, was remanded on continuing bail. Due to the seriousness of the case, the juvenile court refused jurisdiction and held he had to be tried in the higher court which has tougher sentencing powers. The court heard the teenager was filmed on a phone with blood-stained hands bragging about the incidents and a victims inability to defend himself. He faces 14 charges arising out incidents in the city centres south-side in the early hours of Nov. 17 last when eight young men were attacked, and seven of them sustained serious injuries including one man who was allegedly on his knees begging for his safety. The court heard the victims were aged 19 and in their early 20s. In an outline of the allegations, Garda Niall Murray told the court earlier that the first incident happened at 3.12am at Harcourt Street when a man was punched. Seven minutes later another young man was attacked resulting in the loss of his front teeth and he needed two stitches to the back of his head. It was alleged the teen was the first to come at him with a flying kick and he was also involved in the attack afterwards, Garda Murray said. Four minutes later at Montague Street three men were attacked with punches to the head. It was alleged it continued on to Camden Street and the garda said the boy, who cannot be identified because he is a minor, was involved and could be clearly seen striking their faces. The court heard the teen knocked one of the men unconscious and the second man had a broken nose and to two other fractures on his face. A minute later another man was attacked at Camden Row after his phone was grabbed from his hand and smashed against a wall, allegedly by the 17-year-old. The man was knocked to the ground after he sustained a number of blows to his head. He needed three stitches above his right eye and had an abrasion on his cornea and suffered blurry vision for two weeks after the attack. Garda Murray said the teenager engaged in extreme violence during this incident. The last attacks, on two other men, was minutes later where Montague Street intersects with Harcourt Street, the Childrens Court was told. One man suffered a broken jaw while the second man had fractured ribs after the attack. The court heard one of the men had been on his knees begging for his safety before he was flattened by another person facing separate proceedings. Garda Murray said it was a savage assault. Phone footage of the teenager boasting while showing his blood covered hands was recovered. It was also alleged he was filmed slagging one of the victims saying he needs to learn to defend himself. Defence solicitor Gareth Noble described the teens involvement as 28 minutes of madness and he added that the youth intended to plead guilty. He said the teenager wanted to carry on his education and had never been in trouble in school. At the time of the incidents the boy was was barely able to hold himself up, Mr Noble said. Medical reports and photos of the mens injuries were handed in to court. Three other men are also before the courts awaiting trial in connection with the incidents. By Fiachra O Cionnaith and Elaine Loughlin Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has urged pro-choice parties in Northern Ireland to come together and help rebuild the devolved government to ensure the province can vote on the future of its abortion laws. In a high-profile move, the seven-strong UK supreme court said the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission had no legal reason to challenge the current laws. However, the majority of the supreme court panel also said the existing laws are at odds with European laws on cases of rape, incest and fatal foetal abnormalities, and as such need to be re-examined. Speaking at an event in Dublin, Mr Varadkar declined to comment specifically on the UK supreme court ruling. However, in a clear reference to the case, he said if the devolved Assembly government is rebuilt it would allow people in Northern Ireland to have their say on the matter. I think that's something that should be decided by the people who live in Northern Ireland. "Ultimately if we had an assembly or an executive up and running that could be determined and you could have a vote in the Assembly and a decision in the Executive. "It really emphasises more and more why it's so important that we have the institutions up and running again in Northern Ireland," Mr Varadkar said. Speaking at a separate event, Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said "the truth is the issue of the abortion law in Northern Ireland has to be addressed". Saying "we all live on this island and it's a single island", Ms McDonald said she would be in favour of new rules in Northern Ireland that would allow for abortion "legislation applicable in the south and north", saying: It doesn't really make sense to have two different legislative regimes on such a small island. Meanwhile, the HSE said yesterday the number of Irish women using British addresses to access UK abortion services has fallen from 3,265 in 2016 to 3,091 last year. The pro-life Love Both campaign said the figures show pro-choice groups have "exaggerated" the number of women accessing services. A British Government position paper has said that temporary "backstop" arrangements to prevent a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland should not continue beyond December 2021. Here are some key questions answered. - What is the backstop? Downing Street is planning to prevent a hard frontier at the UK's only land border with an EU state, the Republic of Ireland, after Brexit if no preferred trade agreement is reached on withdrawal. Ensuring frictionless passage of goods and services through the Irish border is one of the most vexed issues facing negotiators and the backstop is the British Government's option of last resort if current talks fail. Maintaining customs harmony would make border checks less likely or unnecessary but keeping common food or other regulatory standards covered by the EU single market for goods and services could pose other challenges. - What is the British Government's latest position? The UK said a backstop customs arrangement would be temporary and only in place until a future deal is introduced. It expects that permanent future arrangement to be introduced by the end of December 2021 at the latest. - What would it mean? Elimination of tariffs, quotas and customs processes on all UK-EU trade. Applying the EU's common external tariff at the UK's border. The UK would be able to negotiate, sign and ratify free trade agreements with other countries and implement those elements that do not affect the functioning of the backstop. - When would the backstop be introduced? Following the Brexit implementation period, in "specific and narrow" circumstances, such as delay in the implementation of a permanent customs arrangement, and would be time-limited. The transitional period will last from Brexit day on March 29, 2019, to December 31, 2020. - What does this mean for trade? Common Irish cross-border processes and procedures for VAT and excise, some administrative cooperation and information exchange between enforcement agencies. Applying preferential tariff rates for trade with the rest of the world as set out in the EU's existing agreements. Participating in any new EU free trade agreements that come into force during the period of the backstop. - Why is Brexit such a difficult political issue for the British Government? The UK Cabinet is split over how to manage customs arrangements with the entire bloc, including the Republic of Ireland, long term. The British Prime Minister has established two groups of ministers to try to reconcile their differences. - What options are on the table? Brexiteers like Boris Johnson oppose a "customs partnership" with the EU, whereby the UK would collect tariffs set by the EU customs union on goods entering the country on behalf of the bloc. The other possibility is maximum facilitation and, rather than scrapping customs checks, would use technology to minimise the need for them. Britain's Brexit Secretary David Davis has talked of trusted trader arrangements, which could allow companies to pay duties in bulk every few months rather than every time their goods cross a border, and automated number plate recognition. PERKASIE >> The Council Rock High School North Marching Band, competing for the first time in two years, brought home the first-place trophy in its division Saturday, October 9, in a Cavalcade of Bands competition at Pennridge High School in Perkasie. Under the leadership of band director Wayne Bishop, the 59-member ensemble performed its 2021 show Shattered, which picks up... Campus News PSS recognizes pair for outstanding service President Satish K. Tripath (center) poses with members of the professional staff who were recognized at the annual PSS Awards Luncheon. They are, from left, Erika Grande, Elizabeth Lidano, Rebecca Brierley and Peter Logiudice. Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki UBNOW STAFF Erika Grande and Peter Logiudice are this years recipients of the Professional Staff Senates Outstanding Service Award. The award is given to full-time professional staff members for outstanding volunteer service to the community and excellence within the individuals professional position at UB. The awards were presented at the PSS annual awards luncheon held on June 5. Also recognized at the luncheon were this years recipients of the SUNY Chancellors Award for Excellence in Professional Service: Rebecca Brierley, assistant dean for external affairs and director of communications and alumni relations, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Elizabeth Lidano, director of the Office of Student Conduct and Advocacy. Read a related story about the Chancellor's Award winners. Erika Grande is a senior staff assistant in UBs Police Department, responsible for overseeing the departments payroll functions, monitoring of all accounts and budget projections, and identifying and researching potential grant opportunities. Members of the UBPD noted her workload and job responsibilities increased tremendously as new employees were hired when the department expanded its presence on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus with the opening of the new building for the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. Several called her an unsung hero in keeping campus polices 24/7 operation running smoothly and without any interruption. Outside of UB, Grande has served as a program coordinator at Jericho Road Ministries, working on the Hope Refugee Program. She holds a bachelors degree from Szeged University in Hungary and a masters degree from Canisius College, as well as four separate New York State teaching certifications in four unique disciplines. She recently obtained her U.S. citizenship. Burnham-On-Sea and Highbridge residents of all ages are being urged to become scam aware amid a rising number of fraud cases. Local Trading Standards bosses are raising awareness of scams during Scam Awareness Month, explaining how to spot them and how to report them so others dont fall for them. Whether its vishing (phone scams), phishing (text message scams) or smishing (email scams), knowing how to spot a scam is the first step to avoiding it. A scam is a scheme to try to steal money, personal information or data from a person or an organisation. Other names including fraud, hoax, swindle, cheat, or a con. The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau has found a seven per cent increase in the number of offences in England and Wales compared to last year which is more than 660,000 reports made to the bureau and experts estimate that only 5-15 per cent of all scams are reported. Councillor David Hall, Somerset County Councils Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Planning and Community Infrastructure, says: We need to have our wits about us at all times when it comes to scams. Scammers often target older people so its always helpful to have a chat with elderly friends and family about the subject. And younger people increasingly need to be aware of the scam pitfalls that come with modern technology. This awareness month is a useful time to remind everyone of the simple steps we can take to reduce any risk. Scams are becoming more and more sophisticated, said Paul Thomas, Head of Devon, Somerset and Torbay Trading Standards. Criminals are coming up with new and quite innovative ways to fool people into giving up their hard cash, personal information or other data. Many of us fall victim to scams. Theres no shame in that because scams can look so credible. And yet we dont like to talk about it, even though talking about it raises awareness of scams and is actually one of best ways of preventing these crimes. Age UK research found that around two-fifths of older people across the UK around five million people who believed that theyd fallen victim to scams, didnt report it to an official channel. Many said theyd not reported it because they felt too embarrassed. Seventy-five is the average age of reported scam victims. Figures from National Trading Standards show that older people are deliberately targeted, and fall victim most to phone and mail scams. The over 70s group sees the largest proportion of people who are recurring victims of scams. But its not just older people. Theres evidence that the number of under 25s becoming victim to scams is rising; fuelled possibly by an over-confidence in using new digital technology, making them complacent and increasingly vulnerable. The most common scams: Some of the most prevalent scams at the moment include: Contactless card scams Online shopping and auction sites Callers or websites claiming to be a Government service, when theyre not Pension scams Investment scams Subscriptions traps or free trial scams Computer scams Ticket scams Council tax re-banding scams Advertising scams What to do if you have being scammed: There are three things that people can do if they suspect they are the target of a scam: 1. Get advice from Citizens Advice consumer service 03454 04 05 06. Look for online consumer advice and information at www.citizensadvice.org.uk. To report a problem to Trading Standards, contact the Citizens Advice consumer service. 2. Report scams and suspected scams to Action Fraud 0300 123 2040, www.actionfraud.police.uk. Action Fraud is the UKs national reporting centre for fraud and internet crime. If debit cards, online banking or cheques are involved in the scam, your first step should be to contact your bank or credit card company. 3. Tell family, friends and neighbours so that they can avoid scams. Cutting down on unwanted phone calls: Register your number with the Telephone Preference Service at www.tpsonline.org.uk or 0345 070 0707. You can also register your mobile by texting TPS and their email address to 85095. Report unsolicited marketing calls to the Information Commissioners Office https://ico.org.uk/concerns/marketing, or 0303 123 1113. Blocking phone calls: Use a product to block telephone calls: Your phone company may have a blocking service or help available to protect people from nuisance calls. Call your companys customer service helpline to find out. TrueCall www.truecall.co.uk CallBlocker www.cprcallblocker.co.uk Halted potential scam letters and post: Mail/post: People who want to report potential scam mail can write to Royal Mail at: Freepost Scam Mail. Phone: 03456 113 413, or email scam.mail@royalmail.com. They can also report it to the Citizens Advice consumer service. The Mailing Preference Service (MPS) is free and may help reduce unsolicited mail www.mpsonline.org.uk or 0207 291 3310. To opt out of deliveries from unaddressed mail distributors consumers can register with Your Choice preference scheme Direct Marketing Association (UK) Ltd. at yourchoice@dma.org.uk or 0207 291 3300. A short, helpful video and training module is available online here. | BY Ricki Green | The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has announced the launch of its first Digital Pass, designed to enable more people to experience the Festival through a world-class online broadcast, delivered to digital screens around the world. From 9.30am to 9.30pm each day, throughout the Festival, the curated broadcast will be available for all Digital Pass delegates, with catch-up accessible throughout the night, providing round the clock learning and inspiration to fit international time zones. The Festivals first Digital Pass provides access to a curated broadcast of live and recorded content, featuring the very best highlights of the Festival. Outstanding production and direction, delivered by former BBC Director & Producers, Glenn Barton and Ian Russell, is combined with reporting from an esteemed team of presenters, led by British journalist and BBC presenter, Tina Daheley. The broadcast will include over 30 talks from Cannes Lions world famous speaker programme of creators, marketers and innovators. Over 150 exclusive interviews with selected speakers in the Palais and backstage, as well as interviews with CMOs from leading global brands live in the studio, will be supplemented by roving reporting from the Croisette, as well as interviews with industry experts who will share insights and analyse the big ideas. The Lions, the global awards that honour the best creative work in the world, are at the centre of the Festival experience. The Digital Pass provides exclusive, behind-the-scenes access to the awards, from morning review shows interviewing the previous nights winners and jury Presidents, to live broadcasting from inside the jury rooms as judging takes place. There will be red carpet interviews before every awards show and each ceremony will also be viewable. A first of its kind offer for the creative communications and marketing industry, the new Digital Pass costs 99 for five days of festival content and the broadcast is accessed through an online log in. The Digital Pass will allow more people than ever before to benefit from the Festival, from all career levels and geographical locations. It aims to drive creativity and better business results and enable more global businesses to gain insight and inspiration from Lions award-winning work. Says Jose Papa, managing director, Cannes Lions: Were delighted to launch the Digital Pass this year to bring learning and inspiration to more people, in more places, than ever before. This new pass will enable more brands and businesses to experience world-class creative work and discover the power of creativity to drive business growth. Says Duncan Painter, CEO, Ascential: At Ascential, providing insight and intelligence to our customers is fundamental to our proposition. The launch of the new Cannes Lions Digital Pass marks a new phase for the Festival. It sits alongside other Cannes Lions launches in 2018, such as the new digital platform, The Work, which both aim to extend the reach of the Festival and support more businesses to drive results. | BY Ricki Green | Eight has signed Steve Saussey (left) for representation in Australia, New Zealand and Asia. His first spot for Budget Direct through Eight via 303 MullenLowe Sydney went to air on Sunday night. Theres something funny about Steve Saussey. One of the most well known commercial directors in Australasia, hes been perfecting the craft of bringing humour to the screen for longer than he cares to reveal. Saussey is a specialist in comedy performance with an emphasis on character. From the wry, subtle and awkward to the utterly ridiculous, and all the bits in between, Saussey is always looking for a way to make a funny script funnier whilst preserving the idea in the clearest possible way. His unique insight into the creative process comes from his years as a multi award-winning agency copywriter, while his eye for production design and overall visual expertise comes from his training at Elam School of Fine Arts, where he graduated as a graphic designer and illustrator. Saussey has worked for all the major agencies in Australia and New Zealand on brand campaigns across many categories with more than 250 commercials to date for the New Zealand, Australian, American and Asian markets. Says Saussey: Transmuting ideas, stories, and feelings from page to the screen can be a complex, delicate, mysterious process. My first rule? Work with nice people who know what theyre doing. Hence the team at Eight. But dont tell them I said that. What? Theyre reading this? Oh, hi Eight! Says Katie Millington, managing director and executive producer, Eight: Everybody loves Steve, its just such a pleasure having him in the building. He tells a bloody good story. Hes such a calming force and a wealth of experience, which is so exciting for our younger directors | BY Ricki Green | Melbourne based digital agency Inlight has appointed a new CEO as it celebrates its 10th anniversary, marking a new chapter for the business. Mark Oliver joins Inlight from global digital products company Tikerspike where he spent eight years leading, growing and evolving their APAC business. Says Ben Howden, director, Inlight: In Mark weve found someone who shares our vision and echoes our core values. He has the experience and energy to take our delivery effectiveness to the next level and help us solidify our market position within a rapidly evolving digital landscape. Says Oliver: We identified a shared language pretty quickly. I believe that its a real privilege to be working in digital services at this time. I spent eight wonderful years at Tigerspike. That same sense of ambition, enthusiasm and curiosity ripples through Inlight. Were going to have a lot of fun with some terrific talent, creating some unique digital stories. Inlight augments its customers capability by providing highly skilled teams across strategy, UX, and engineering to rapidly develop and launch digital products. Products span internal web applications that deliver operational gains, through to user-focused customer platforms that grow and retain customers. Says Patrick Carne, co-founder, Inlight: Our approach to digital takes inspiration from the best startups in the world. When starting Inlight 10 years ago we wanted to take the experience gained from our time at a top tier firm and combine it with the agility and entrepreneurial thinking that the startup community has been built on, he continues. Startups are part of Inlights DNA, having incubated a fast growing workforce management platform, Lighthouse.io, that has recently closed a seed round of funding and expanded to the US. | BY Ricki Green | The first round of jurors for The Immortal Awards, the free-to-enter global award for all Little Black Book members, has been announced including Aussie expat Wayne Deakin, executive creative director EMEA, HUGE. The jury will decide which finalists deserve the title of Immortal in New York in November 2018 and includes a host of industry leading names across the agency, brand, production and post-production spheres. Jury members, so far, include: Anuraag Trikha, global brand director of Heineken and Instagrams global lead and director, Kay Hsu. Bruno Bertelli, global chief creative officer of Publicis Worldwide, and Malcolm Poynton, Cheil Worldwides global chief creative officer, will be joined by Joanna Monteiro, chief creative officer of FCB Brasil and Noriaki Onoe, creative director at Dentsu Inc. Droga5s chief creation officer, Sally-Ann Dale and R/GAs chief creative officer US, Taras Wayner, represent US agencies whilst Chaka Sobhani, Leo Burnett Londons chief creative officer, and Wayne Deakin, cxecutive creative director EMEA of Huge, represent UK agencies. Production jurors include Kerstin Emhoff, co-founder and president of PRETTYBIRD, Laura Gregory, founder and CEO of Great Guns and Sergio Lopez, chief production officer of McCann Worldgroup EMEA. Framestores co-founder and CCO, Mike McGee, is the first post-production juror to be announced. Says Paul Monan, Awards director: Were incredibly excited to unveil our first wave of jury members and its an honour to have them all involved in our inaugural year. Little Black Book has established itself as a truly global platform, so its important that The Immortal Awards is a global award show which reflects the advertising industry of 2018. Selecting a first-class international jury that represents the industrys current fluidity across brand, agency, production and post-production has been a pleasure, and we cant wait to unveil the rest of our jury over the coming weeks. The Immortal Awards jury currently includes: Anuraag Trikha, Global Brand Director, Heineken Bruno Bertelli, Global Chief Creative Officer, Publicis Worldwide Chaka Sobhani, Chief Creative Officer, Leo Burnett London Joanna Monteiro, Chief Creative Officer, FCB Brasil Kay Hsu, Global Lead & Director, Instagram Kerstin Emhoff, Co-Founder & President, PRETTYBIRD Laura Gregory, Founder & CEO, Great Guns Malcolm Poynton, Global Chief Creative Officer, Cheil Worldwide Mike McGee, Co-Founder & CCO, Framestore Noriaki Onoe, Creative Director, Dentsu Inc. Sally-Ann Dale, Chief Creation Officer, Droga5 Sergio Lopez, Chief Production Officer, McCANN Worldgroup EMEA Taras Wayner, Chief Creative Officer US, R/GA Wayne Deakin, Executive Creative Director EMEA, HUGE The full jury line up is available to view online at https://lbbonline.com/immortals/jury/. | BY Ricki Green | Group chief executive officer and co-founder of The Monkeys, Mark Green, has been appointed chair of The Communications Council, following the Annual General Meeting held last week in Melbourne. Green will oversee a number of initiatives during the coming months. His focus will be on showcasing the value of commercial creativity, building the talent within the industry through training and celebrating how creativity can drive commercial outcomes that fuel the long-term prosperity of the industry. Says Green: Im looking forward to taking on the role of Chair of The Communications Council. The opportunity is to really help drive the value of commercial creativity on behalf of our members. Never has commercial creativity been more important to business. Tony and I will be working harder than ever to make this understood and celebrated. Says Tony Hale, CEO, The Communications Council: Since joining the board in August 2015, Mark has played a key role in setting our strategic direction and driving TCC initiatives. We now have an opportunity to build on all the good work that has been done. Mark will bring a great deal of energy to the role and unique insights given he is a founding partner of a great Australian independent agency, now owned by one of the large global consultancies. Green takes over the role from group chief executive officer of M&C Saatchi, Jaimes Leggett, who held the position since October 2015. Key achievements under Leggetts leadership include the launch of the landmark Advertising Pays study, reinvigorating the Effie Awards and database including bringing Peter Field to Australia on several occasions. Plus the launch of many educational initiatives including the IPA courses and the highly regarded AWARD Creative Leadership course. Says Hale: I would like to extend a huge thank you to Jaimes. He has led with a very steady hand, has provided valuable guidance at both an industry and personal level and has been responsible for many progressive initiatives for the industry in Australia. We are extremely grateful for his achievements and commitment. At the AGM, the incoming CEO of McCann Worldwide, Nicole Taylor was elected as deputy chair. Laura Aldington, CEO of Host/Havas, Nick Garrett, CEO of Clemenger BBDO and Tara Ford, executive creative director of DDB Sydney were also elected to the board. The full board of The Communications Council is now: A Lee County Grand Jury has indicted a Minnesota woman accused of shooting a woman to death on Fort Myers Beach so she could steal her identity, money and car as she continued to run from an earlier homicide. Lois Ann Riess, 56, was indicted Wednesday with first degree murder with a firearm, grand theft of a motor vehicle, grand theft and criminal use of personal identification of a deceased individual, $5,000 or more in connection with the death of Pamela Hutchinson, 59, in April. If convicted, the charge of first degree murder with a firearm carries a mandatory life sentence in prison, a release from the 20th Judicial Circuit state State Attorneys Office, which convened the grand jury, states. Riess previously was charged with second degree murder. In Florida, only a grand jury may charge first degree murder. Riess is accused of killing Hutchinson sometime between April 5 and April 9, after she first befriended Hutchinson, then shot her in her condo at Marina Village at Snug Harbour. Officials say Riess selected Hutchinson because of their similar appearance. Riess then stole Hutchinsons identity, cash and car, and fled to South Padre Island, where she was later apprehended and arrested. Riess had been fleeing another homicide she allegedly committed in Minnesota in March. Her husband David Riess, 54, was found shot to death in the couples Dodge City home. Money from his accounts was stolen, along with his car, when she fled to Florida. Riess will be arranged on June 11. Endless and tireless work led us to this indictment, said Carmine Marceno, Lee County Undersheriff, said at a press conference held Wednesday. Photo: Jenn Chan and Steve McConnell via CTV Richmond night market How far do you have to go to find the best Asian food in North America? Not far for British Columbians. A recent New York Times article proclaims Richmond as having the best Asian food on the continent. Taras Grescoe, the piece's author and a Vancouver native, says immigrants from Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China have turned the city into a one-stop paradise for lovers of Asian food. Grescoe highlights many of the city's offerings, including Parklane, Golden Paramount, HK B.B.Q. Master, Chef Tony Seafood Restaurant, Top Shanghai, M & W Food Kitchen and O'Tray Noodles. This isn't the first time the Metro Vancouver city has been recognized as an Asian food hotspot. In January, Eater said the city offers the best Cantonese food in North America. with files from CTV Vancouver Photo: Contributed The B.C. governments proposed speculation tax already appears to be having an effect on housing prices. But the Okanagan is bucking that trend, new stats reveal. Royal LePages newly released Recreational Property Report predicts the average home price in the province will fall by 2.8 per cent by the end of September, to $531,333. The price drop will happen despite a Canada-wide housing market primed for healthy growth," with home prices predicted to increase 5.8 per cent year-over-year, to $467,764. The report, which surveyed hundreds of realtors from across the country, says B.C.s bucking of the national trend will be primarily because of the provincial governments proposed speculation tax, which will take many out-of-province buyers out of the impacted markets. The Okanagan doesn't seem to be following the rest of the province, however. To find out why, check out the full story on Castanet's sister business news website Okanagan Edge. Photo: RCMP David McHale A dangerous offender hearing began in Kelowna court Wednesday for a Peachland man who has admitted to molesting six children over several decades. In 2012, David McHale pleaded guilty to molesting two children in 1996, along with a third several times over a two-year period from 2006 to 2008. McHale, 70, was sentenced to less than two years imprisonment for the sexual assaults, but he appealed his sentence, and remained out of custody. The appeal was eventually dismissed, but it came to light in 2015 that he continued to sexually assault another child while on bail. He admitted to molesting a young boy several times a month over a three-year period from 2012 to 2015 until the child was 11 years old. He also molested the boy's sister in 2010, when she was 10. McHale also admitted to molesting a nine-year-old boy during a ski trip in 2003. The identities of the victims and their relationships to McHale are protected under a publication ban, but McHale was frequently in positions of trust with his victims. During the hearing, the Crown will also attempt to show that McHale molested the child of his Simon Fraser University classmate in 1973. The dangerous offender hearing is scheduled until June 21, followed by two more dates in the winter. He currently remains in custody. A dangerous offender designation is reserved for Canada's most dangerous violent and sexual predators. A dangerous offender can be sentenced to an indeterminate prison sentence. In March, Ronald Teneycke was labeled a dangerous offender in Penticton while Michael Ellis was designated a dangerous offender in Kelowna in December 2016. McHale was stabbed while in custody at the Okanagan Correctional Centre last September. He is suing the prison, seeking $25,000 in damages. Photo: Contributed A trade war Canada will lose, has been a common theme in recent Canadian media headlines after the United States announced a tariff of 25 per cent on Canadian steel and 10 per cent on Canadian aluminum last week. In response, Canada has announced targeted tariff increases on a broad range of United States manufactured goods that are imported into Canada. Is this a full-blown trade war? At the moment, it is a tariff-related dispute designed to increase pressure on NAFTA negotiations. Having said that, I believe it is also important to be mindful of the year 2008 when the Canadian dollar not only reached parity with the U.S. dollar, but, for a brief period, it actually rose above it I mention that because although the 25 per cent tariff on steel is both punitive and unfair to Canada, it ultimately negates the Canadian currency advantage that is around 23 per cent between the United States and Canadian dollars. This tariff approach follows a similar pattern from the United States where Canadian softwood lumber exports were hit with a tariff up to 24 per cent, essentially wiping out the currency advantage that historically works in Canadas favour. As I have previously commented, I believe it is important to point out our Prime Minister has largely shown restraint in not getting involved in U.S. domestic politics, even though it would be politically convenient to do so. I believe most political pundits would agree that our Liberal government has made considerable effort to work proactively with the United States administration in several areas and I believe these efforts will continue. As the official Opposition, we will continue to hold the Prime Minister to account for the failure to conclude a successful new NAFTA deal with the United States. Some in Ottawa do not like this fact, however, it should be pointed out that holding someone accountable to produce results for Canadians is not necessarily the same thing as assigning blame. In this case, we have a U.S. president who was elected in part with a promise to renegotiate trade deals such as NAFTA. Here in Canada, we have a Prime Minister who has expressed an agenda to also change trade deals and promote progressive trade values that other countries continue to strongly reject. In my view, we should recognize that in the event our Canadian dollar returns to parity with the U.S. dollar, either through natural market forces or through artificial means such as punitive tariffs, we will have to be able to compete. On that note, a national carbon tax and increased payroll taxes that the United States does not have will make Canada less competitive. Recent comments from the International Monetary Fund highlights the lack of Canadian tax competitiveness compared to the U.S. I believe in the absence of a new NAFTA deal Canada needs to focus on measures that increase our international competitiveness. To date, the federal government and many provinces, including British Columbia with an incoming new health employers tax, will achieve the opposite. My question this week relates to NAFTA: Do you believe Canada should show more flexibility to achieve a new NAFTA agreement or aggressively pursue the status quo? I can be reached at [email protected] or call toll free at 1-800-665-8711. Photo: Castanet webcam You might not see it right now, but there is a thin layer of smoke way above your head. Environment Canada satellite images on Wednesday showed high-elevation smoke streaming up from the U.S over B.C.'s Southern Interior. Meteorologist Doug Lundquist says there are fires all around the Okanagan, but the smoke is likely coming up from Washington state. The high-level murkiness may be a little bit of smoke you see here, way above the puffy clouds, said Lundquist. That smoke may drop to lower elevations as winds swing more south in coming days. Rain in the forecast and severe thunderstorms are more of a concern for Lundquist, however. On the weekend, we are expecting rain, which will help the situation, he said. My bigger concern than smoke is the possibility of severe thunderstorms. Kelowna, Vernon and Penticton were no stranger to smoke-filled skies last summer. Last year was such a big event, but the good news is the rain coming up this weekend is going to ... slow things down a bit, and hopefully in Washington they get some, too. A 30 per cent chance of showers is expected late Thursday afternoon with a risk of thunderstorms. Showers are expected to continue Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Chantelle Deacon Enjoy yoga with goats throughout the month of June at Vernon's Historic O'Keefe Ranch. Yoga is known to be a great mental and physical workout, but if you add some goats it's much for fun, at least that's what they're saying out at the Ranch. "Fun is the best way to sum it up," Jennifer Greenwood, yoga instructor and owner of Breeze Wellness. "I started teaching yoga with goats last fall and it was a huge hit." "It's seriously the most fun class I have ever taught." If you're an avid 'yogi' then no worries, the goats will not hinder your workout. "What we do is we go through an all-levels yoga class and the goats wander around," Greenwood said. "They are super friendly, they're not aggressive in any way, they want to check you out, maybe nibble on your hair, sit on your mat and sometimes they'll climb on you a bit." "It's just a great outdoor yoga experience and seriously you can't help but giggle a little and laughter is so good for the soul, the goats help us do that." If you want to partake in goat yoga you must call the Ranch at 250-542-7868 and sign up in advance. Classes will run throughout June on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. Sessions are about one hour and beginners are welcome as well as children with the company of a guardian. Please bring a yoga mat or towel. In case of rain, the session will be moved from the grass to the pavilion. The fee includes Ranch admission. Photo: Dave Ogilvie A motorcyclist was struck in West Kelowna late Wednesday afternoon. UPDATE: 8 p.m. A witness at the scene believes a motorcyclist skidded to avoid an on coming vehicle on Wednesday. An employee working in the area said he witnesses the incident and that the biker was not struck. ORIGINAL: 5 p.m. First responders rushed to the scene of a motorcyclist struck by a gravel truck in West Kelowna Wednesday. The collision occurred just before 4 p.m., at the intersection of Compass Court and Byland Road. A witness on scene said the injuries suffered by the rider appear serious. It is not yet clear what caused the collision. Photo: RCMP Dan Archbald, left, and Ryan Daley, right, have been missing since May 16, 2018. Vancouver Island Major Crime Unit is investigation the disappearance of two men last seen in Ucluelet three weeks ago. Dan Archibald, 37 and Ryan Daley, 43 had recently sailed back from Panama and docked at the Ucluelet Small Craft Harbour on May 13. The two were last seen leaving the harbour on May 16 and since then have not made any contact with family members or friends. They were reported missing and may have been heading to Jordan River. Vancouver Island Major Crime Unit is now calling the case suspicious and asking for the publics help in finding them. "Since being reported missing, Ucluelet RCMP have pursued a number of investigative avenues in an effort to locate them, reads a release from Vancouver Island Major Crime Unit. "These efforts included a search of the area they were last seen by the local Search and Rescue team as well as an aerial search. Archibald and Daley were last seen the same day Cobble Hill resident Ben Kilmer was reported missing. But RCMP say there is no evidence to suggest Archibald and Daley's case is linked to any other missing persons case at this point. RCMP are asking anyone who saw the men or talked to them between May 13 and 16 to contact them at 250-380-6211. with files from CTV Vancouver Island Photo: The Canadian Press Doctors and researchers are telling Canadian politicians there is little evidence that legalized marijuana poses a threat to public health and safety. Dr. M.J. Milloy with the B.C. Centre on Substance Use is one of the authors of a report submitted to the Senate this week, outlining the positive and negative impacts legalization has had in other jurisdictions. Milloy says researchers did not find significant declines in road safety in American states where marijuana had been legalized, but they did find a drop in alcohol sales and in fatal opioid overdoses. Read more Photo: Flickr/David G. Holmes A Good Samaritan rushed to help two people after truck vehicle crashed, but ended up getting their vehicle stolen. RCMP in Williams Lake said a truck crashed in the 70 Mile House area just after 7 a.m. on Wednesday. The Good Samaritan went to help the man and woman inside the truck and they then stole the Good Samaritans vehicle and fled north on Highway 97. According to police, the man and woman were involved in criminal activity in Alberta. Police immediately searched for the stolen vehicle with the help from Williams Lake RCMP, Quesnel RCMP, ERT, PDS and Air 3. Air 3 was a crucial component in the search assisting the troops on the ground" said Sgt. Del Byron. The man and woman were located and arrested. Photo: CTV News Rooftopping act performed in Vancouver on June 5, 2018. Social media is causing people to put their lives at danger and police are calling it a selfish. A CTV News employee capture what appeared to be three people performing a rooftopping stunt in Vancouver. A video shows one of them slowly walking out onto a beam from the top of a high-rise condo at Smithe and Seymour streets, while holding a cellphone or camera. The illegal act is nothing new in the city and police have responded to several incidents. Const. Jason Doucette tells CTV News investigators take these kinds of incidents very seriously. If anything were to go wrong the thrill-seekers can put first responders and even innocent bystanders at risk. "This is selfish," Doucette told CTV News. "The selfie's not worth it." with files from CTV Vancouver Photo: BC SPCA A Vancouver Island couple has pleaded not guilty to a shocking case of animal cruelty. SPCA officials were alerted in February to dog named Teddy, found severely emaciated and standing in filth, with a dog collar deeply embedded in its neck. Melissa Tooshley and Anderson Joe of Duncan face up to five years in jail and a $10,000 fine if convicted. A trial date is expected to be set on June 19. with files from CTV Vancouver Island Photo: RCMP Police continue to investigate the deaths of two teenage boys, found this week on the side of a rural Surrey street. Jaskarn (Jason) Singh Jhutty and Jaskaran (Jesse) Singh Bhangal were found shot to death Monday evening on 40th Avenue, but there have been no details on what may have led to their killing. Police say neither boy had a history with law enforcement. Neighbour Harvinder Sharma says says the Bhangal family is mourning. Their children grew up playing together. "He was so lovely. I miss him a lot. I feel like I lost my kid," Sharma told CTV. "We lost a great kid. "We don't know what happened to him. I asked his dad what happened. He told me that we know nothing." Shots were heard Monday night, and a witness saw two vehicles leaving the scene. Investigators have not said whether those may be two cars later found on fire. with files from CTV Vancouver Photo: Google Street View A man suspected of being a "high roller" and international money launderer has been arrested in Richmond. Police say Dan Bui Shun Jin was issued a deportation order for his alleged criminal activities abroad on Wednesday at a hearing before the Immigration and Refugee Board and ordered held in detention until his departure. RCMP say a warrant has been issued in the United States for Jin's arrest for alleged fraud of over $1.4 million from the state of Nevada and they also say he is suspected of laundering $855 million through Australian casinos. They say Jin was temporarily living at the River Rock Casino and was arrested May 25, a few days after he arrived in the province. More than $75,000 was seized from him and a search warrant was executed at his hotel room, which RCMP say provided investigators with documents of Jin's alleged involvement in money laundering and a recent money movement scheme through the Vancouver International Airport RCMP say the money movement scheme involved a money courier, a female traveller visiting from the U.S., who was referred for examination by CBSA border services officers after she brought $25,000 cash from Las Vegas to Richmond. The female was directed to pick up bulk cash from an unidentified male in a parking lot in Las Vegas, then tasked with delivering that money to Jin at the River Rock Casino, RCMP said in a statement. The multi-faceted police operation consisted of intelligence gathering and assessment by investigators into alleged money laundering activity under investigation by international law enforcement partners. Jin is being investigated for money laundering in Australia, United States, Macau and Singapore, RCMP say. RCMP in BCs Federal Policing Program in conjunction with the Canada Border Services Agency, the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Units Joint Illegal Gaming Investigation Team, and British Columbia Lottery Corporation security worked together to act on intelligence and prevent Jin from allegedly using B.C. casinos as a conduit for illicit transactions, Mounties said. Photo: True Leaf Phase one in a massive cannabis growing and distribution facility in Lumby is taking shape. True Leaf announced that its cannabis cultivation campus is on schedule for completion in fall 2018. "This means True Leaf is getting closer to its inspection by Health Canada and nearing the final milestone of receiving our license to produce cannabis," said Darcy Bomford, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of True Leaf. The first phase of the project includes a 16,000 square foot cannabis cultivation and production facility with over 9,000 square feet for the initial grow area, laboratory services, whole-plant extraction, and the production of therapeutic cannabis products. "The facilities, known as True Leaf Campus, will be a hub for the development of the companys medicinal cannabis products." The project is expected to employ approximately 150 workers during construction and create 35 full and part-time jobs at the start of operations. "True Leaf seeks to become a major employer in Lumby." Photo: Twitter The Metis community in British Columbia has signed an agreement with the provincial government to assume authority over Metis child and family welfare by 2021. Metis Nation B.C. president Clara Morin Dal Col and Minister of Children and Family Development Katrine Conroy signed the joint commitment at a ceremony in Kamloops. A ministry news release says the main objectives are to significantly reduce the number of Metis children and youth in government care, support family preservation, and work toward the transfer of authority over B.C.'s Metis children and families to Metis Nation B.C. Once the transfer is complete, the ministry will be able to refer Metis children and families to Metis-specific child and family services as established by the Metis group. There are about 90,000 Metis in B.C. and data from the Ministry of Children and Family Development shows approximately 520 Metis children and youths are currently in government care. Dal Col says by signing the pact, Metis assert the right to develop their own laws, policies and practices in accordance with their own traditions. Photo: Contributed The 60-year-old woman accused of committing a string of arsons in Armstrong was in court Thursday. Colette Leneveu will remain out on bail until her next court appearance June 21, which is expected to be an arraignment hearing. Leneveu also had further bail conditions imposed on her. She is prohibited to go near where the alleged offences occurred and must stay away from one of the alleged victims. In March 2018 a series of fires were allegedly deliberately set in a suburban area of Armstrong. RCMP arrested Leneveu after a witness saw a suspicious person in the area of the fires and was able to give police a detailed description. Between March 8 and March 12, six suspicious fires were set in the Armstrong area, all causing varying levels of damage. Alanna Kelly Smoke still lingered in the air hours after an early morning campfire spread to bushes in Kelowna's Ellison area, Wednesday. Firefighters rushed to the scene just after 5 a.m., but had a difficult time getting to the blaze. There was a lot of ... bicycles and shopping carts, said fire inspector Rick Euper. They had a campfire, and it was left abandoned and got into the surrounding bush. Residents on Spencer Road woke up to smoke and watched as firefighters had to go back and forth trying to find a way in to the private property. A KFD bush truck was able to reach the site, but other firefighters had to walk in. "Its a good thing it wasnt a hot, dry fire season because you can see from the intensity of the smoke in the video she was cooking there for a bit," said one resident. The area is known to be used as a homeless camp along the shore of Ellison Lake. Open fires of any kind are not allowed in Kelowna city limits, and if caught, violators could be fined. The heat is just going to keep building, and the moisture level is going to go down, so it is not going to take much to get a fire going, said Euper. Photo: Ed Henczel Log booms on Kelowna waterfront. A state of local emergency has been rescinded on Westbank First Nation land. The Central Okanagan Emergency Operations Centre says the threat of flooding is now reduced. An evacuation alert for 9284 Hodges Rd. has also been lifted. One property remains on alert, however, while an evacuation order for another property in West Kelowna is still in effect. States of emergency remain in Kelowna, West Kelowna, Peachland, and the Regional District of Central Okanagan. As of this morning, Okanagan Lake is at 342.65 metres above sea level, a reduction of one centimetre from Wednesday. Flood protection measures should stay in place, however, until the lake drops another 17 cm to its "full pool" level of 342.48 m. Photo: Colin Dacre THIS STORY CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT SOME MAY FIND DISTURBING An Okanagan Falls man that has already admitted to sexually abusing his stepdaughter took the stand Thursday in Penticton court to argue he didnt start the abuse as young as the victim claims. The man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, pleaded guilty in July 2017 to sexual assault and sexual interference of a person under 16. Last week, the now-19-year-old victim testified about constant sexual abuse and rape at the hands of her stepfather starting at age 11. Defence lawyer James Pennington questioned his client about the timelines of the abuse, who maintained it started when she was 15 and continued only sporadically until his arrest in Sept. 2016. It happened for a short period in 2015, then it ended while I was gone, the stepfather said, referring to a job he took in the oil patch that saw him out of town for many weeks at a time. He, however, admitted to sexually assaulting his stepdaughter on an ATV trip during May Long weekend 2016. He also admitted to two encounters when he had taken her to learn how to drive, something the victim testified also happened in 2016. Are you able to pinpoint when all this interaction with [victim] starts that you have plead guilty to, Pennington asked. Id say 2015, the stepfather replied. You are sure it's 2015 there couldnt be anything going on in 2013-14? Pennington followed up. Not that I can recall, he replied. The defence spent a great deal of time going over employment records that indicated he was out of town for long stretches at time, but offered little insight into the purpose of the evidence. You agree that you were basically acting like a father to all these kids? Pennington asked. Would you agree you breached that trust? The stepfather replied with a simple yes to both questions. During cross examination, Crown prosecutor Nashina Devji pressed the stepfather about his claims that he was rarely left alone with the children prior to 2015. Im having a hard time understanding this. You were never alone with [children] for any period of time, even though you were their stepdad, lived in the home, were the spouse of their mother and father of their biological brother, she asked. There might have been a 10 minute run to the IGA, the stepfather said, maintaining his common-law wife very rarely left her children alone with him from when their relationship started in 2008 until 2015. Outside the courtroom, Devji said she didnt expect the judge to make a decision Thursday. While the stepfather has already pleaded guilty, Justice Gregory Koturbash has to decide at what age the abuse occurred and the frequency of it. That finding will impact sentencing submissions, which will likely be given at a later date. The stepfather remains in custody. Photo: David Ogilvie A vehicle caught fire on Highway 97 near the Okanagan Connector. UPDATE: 4:15 p.m. It appears that fire crews have extinguished the car fire on Drought Hill. Traffic remains backed up in the northbound lanes, but a single lane has recently opened up in the northbound direction. Southbound traffic has not been impacted. A witness on scene says a man and a woman who presumably were in the car are sitting on the side of the highway. It appears they are uninjured. UPDATE: 4:05 p.m. Traffic is now at a standstill in the northbound lanes of Highway 97 on Drought Hill as fire crews work to extinguish a car fire near the Okanagan Connector interchange. ORIGINAL: 3:55 p.m. A vehicle is on fire on the east shoulder of Highway 97, near the Okanagan Connector interchange. The cause of the fire is unknown, but several fire trucks are responding to the area. Pictures from DriveBC show the fire doesn't appear to be impacting traffic at this time. Photo: Contributed South East Kelowna Irrigation District, 1920-2018. It is with sadness we announce the demise of a local pioneer. Born from the necessity of water to develop land, local pioneers used ingenuity to harness the mountain lakes, using gravity. Communities throughout the Okanagan were built on these engineering feats, and almost a quarter of the land area governed by the City of Kelowna has been serviced by SEKID. As the demographics of the community changed from farmers to retirees, so too did the demands on the system. In the late 1960s, the irrigation districts qualified for senior government funding. But alas, times change. Even though in 98 years no health issue has been attributed to water in the district, Interior Health rightfully said to improve water quality. The Agricultural Land Commission said no development. And the province said no funding. The locally elected board asked ratepayers if they could borrow $20 million for a fully engineered plan to address water quality. But, residents said no. A few more engineering studies, and the correct solution was found. Residents will actually pay more for the project they didnt want, and rejected previously. The final blow came by the stroke of a pen in Victoria, however the demise was caused by apathy amongst landowners. Predeceased by many supporters, including Tom and Rose Carter, Ken Day, Alan Borrett, Vic Koenig, Maurice Baulne. The district is fortunate to have many dedicated employees, who have now moved over to the Mother Ship. May their sense of community endure. David Stirling, Kelowna Photo: Skylar Noe-vack Fire crews in Penticton made quick work of a dumpster fire downtown Thursday afternoon. The Penticton Fire Department was called to the 300 block of Ellis Street around 3:50 p.m. for a fire behind one of the buildings. Upon arrival, the dumpster was fully involved, but firefighters quickly contained it. Crews were mopping up and clearing the scene by 4:10 p.m. An exotic magnetic insulator conducts electricity along its edges without energy loss. The M stands for magnetization of the magnet. A Rutgers-led team of physicists has demonstrated a way to conduct electricity between transistors without energy loss, opening the door to low-power electronics and, potentially, quantum computing that would be far faster than today's computers. Their findings, which involved using a special mix of materials with magnetic and insulator properties. "This material, although it's much diluted in terms of magnetic properties, can still behave like a magnet and conducts electricity at low temperature without energy loss," said Weida Wu, senior author of the study and associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. "At least in principle, if you can make it work at a higher temperature, you can use it for electronic interconnections within silicon chips used in computers and other devices." Study co-authors in China combined chromium and vanadium as magnetic elements with an insulator consisting of bismuth, antimony and tellurium. When electrons in this special material are aligned in one direction - like a compass needle pointing north - an electric current can only flow along its edges in one direction, leading to zero energy loss. That means electricity could be conducted between transistors within silicon chips used in computers and other electronics with maximum efficiency. Current silicon chips use primarily metal for electrical interconnections in transistors, but that leads to substantial energy loss, Wu said. The scientists demonstrated the uniform alignment of spinning electrons in the special magnetic insulator - called the quantum anomalous Hall insulator. It conducts electricity without energy loss when the temperature is close to absolute zero. Next steps would include demonstrating the phenomenon at a much higher and more practical temperature for electronics, along with building a platform for quantum computing. A new report found that the share of American workers who are employed in the so-called gig economy has shrunk over the past 13 years a time before Uber and its brethren even existed. (AP) If you look at the tobacco use rate for youth, its up to around 30 percent, and thats mainly because of the e-cigarettes, Drea said. The 18-year-old in high school often buys tobacco products for the younger age group, the 14- through 17-year-olds. If you take away that supplier, the younger group has a much more difficult time obtaining tobacco products. We are always evaluating ways to better serve our customers and continue to grow our business. With that in mind, we are putting into place a new U.S. field structure that will better support our franchisees and will ensure McDonalds continues on a path to being more dynamic, nimble and competitive, Hickey said in a statement. Some, like Target and Walmart, have been working to develop new shopping and delivery options of their own. Walmart has tested a system that allows shoppers to scan items with an app as they shop and pay without visiting the cash register. The system already is available in Sams Club stores. More than 500 new Pickup Towers, where customers can retrieve online orders, will be in Walmart stores this year, the company said in April. Still, the resolution of the ZTE case may clear the way for the United States to make progress in its trade talks with China. The two countries have threatened to impose tariffs on up to $200 billion worth of each other's products in a dispute over China's tactics to supplant U.S. technological supremacy, including demands that U.S. companies hand over trade secrets in exchange for access to the Chinese market. "So much of me is because of what my parents experienced in this country," Tran wrote of Vietnam in an Instagram post. "So much of me is because of the things my parents overcame so that I could have the luxury of having a dream." Which means Desnas employees at the salon are also her closest friends: Jen, the wonderfully tacky but true-blue Southern belle (played by Jenn Lyon with a headful of blonde extensions). Quiet Ann (a soulful and very funny Judy Reyes of Scrubs), the deeply loyal butch lesbian who falls in love with a cop, which complicates the money laundering scheme. Polly (the hilarious Carrie Preston of True Blood), the ex-con who did time for identity theft and can shape-shift into any number of preppy white lady country club incarnations when needed. And Virginia (a breakout performance from newcomer Karrueche Tran), who ditches her work as an exotic dancer at the mob-run club She Shes to work at the salon. She is the youngest of the women and also the most unreliable, at first glance at least. In 2016, according to the journal article, the estimated rate of new HIV infections was 82.8 in 100,000 for black males, compared with 26.2 in 100,000 for black females and 5.4 in 100,000 for the U.S. population overall. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were 10,223 new HIV diagnoses among black men having sex with men in 2016, compared with 7,390 new HIV diagnoses among white men having sex with men. Chip Gaines and Joanna Gaines in New York on Oct. 19, 2016. (Mireya Acierto / FilmMagic) WARSAW, POLAND Polish vodka has been drunk by kings and peasants, used as a medicine, and during World War II even served to bribe the occupying Nazi German forces. Now a museum is opening in Warsaw devoted solely to the 500-year history of the Polish national alcoholic beverage. Known in Polish as "wodka" meaning "little water" it got its name from the clear liquid that results from the distillation of cereals traditionally rye, wheat or another grain or potatoes. The Polish Vodka Museum is an attempt to celebrate this long national tradition and promote one of the country's best-known exports at a time when sales are flat domestically, with newly affluent Poles often prefering wine. Explore is a company that offers small-group, well-priced trips with an emphasis on getting up-close to the destination. Theyve put together a listing of what they consider their top 10 summer trips in Europe for those who want to sample the local culture. Though Portugal is on their list, much of it is made up of destinations in lesser visited parts of Eastern Europe, such as the Baltics and the Balkans. For example, the 16-day Former Yugoslavia Rail Adventure explores Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia. Transport and lodging on Explore trips is modest as befits the mission of experiencing a destination. On this trip, the website explains: This is one of the last places in Europe where you can experience authentic rail travel on ex-socialist and Soviet trains, travel with the local people and it's the only way to see the incredible scenery along the way. Take toilet roll, hand sanitizer and an open mind for maximum enjoyment! Check out the 10 trips at http://tinyurl.com/ycy79tva. As Brooks gained international support and fame for her writing, in Chicago, she was known for her literary activism and devotion to mentoring young writers. She lectured and groomed schoolchildren and worked to ensure other black poets were heard and given a spotlight. She shared her resources and her audience. At the height of her literary success, she decided to forgo larger publishing houses to have her works released by small, black publishers, so that they could benefit. The car was traveling east in the 5000 block of West Montana Street in the Cragin neighborhood around 5:45 p.m. when the child ran into the road, according to police. A 32-year-old man was critically wounded when he was shot about 5:05 p.m. in the Roseland neighborhood on the Far South Side, according to a police media notification. The man was shot in the abdomen in the 300 block of West 110th Place and taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was in critical condition, police said. The Chicago Department of Transportation posted notices around a small barricaded area near Wabash Avenue and East Lower Wacker Drive, known as the Triangle, informing members of the homeless contingent who live there to gather their belongings and leave by Monday. Though the bulletins says the site will be closed for construction until June 22, the city will be erecting a fence around the area, which will remain in place indefinitely, according to CDOT. Hes donated in the past to organizations that aimed to help Guatemala after the country was hit by a natural disaster or some other tragedy, but found his contributions didnt always end up in the right hands. This time, he looked for a more personal way to help and partnered with the Guatemalan society. After Rosas refused to be their informant, the officers falsified police reports to make it appear he had been arrested with a loaded Smith & Wesson 9 mm semi-automatic handgun, according to the suit and a copy of the arrest report. First off, dont show up naked, but do show up with your bike or risk being turned away, organizers say. Disrobe when you get there. The starting location and exact route for the ride is under wraps to ward off creeps, organizers say. An initial meeting location will be announced on World Naked Ride Chicagos Facebook page, most likely about 6 p.m. near downtowns Ogilvie and Union stations. From there, riders will be sent to the nearby starting location. The ride begins at sunset. Before making his sweeping decision against not just Uptowns tent cities but all homeless people in the city, Schenkier displayed remarkable cluelessness about their situations, said Andy Thayer, one of the plaintiffs in the suit, in a news release Wednesday afternoon. For example, in ruling against our Eighth Amendment case for an injunction against the City, he argued that homeless people could endlessly ride the (L) through the night in order to get the necessary sleep that all human beings require even though doing so is illegal. Garrett said that in 2013, Dunkin approached her and another staffer on the House floor and said, I want to take both of you home and see which of you will be the naughtiest. She said she reported the incident, but later learned that Mapes response was that it would blow over. She said Mapes later addressed it, but called the incident an example of him not taking harassment complaints seriously. Zell said he had never promoted or demoted "a woman because she was a woman. My issue is what do you do, what do you produce, how do you interrelate to the rest of the business," according to Bloomberg. "I don't think there's ever been a, 'We gotta get more (expletive) on the block, OK?'" Quinns Take Charge Chicago campaign has been collecting signatures for about two years. He said volunteers have gotten about 50,000 people to sign petitions to get the term limit question on the ballot, approaching the minimum of about 52,000 signatures they need. But with someone certain to challenge the signatures on Emanuels behalf, Quinn said they want to get at least 100,000 names by the Aug. 6 deadline. GAZA CITY, GAZA STRIP Samia Hassan used to have enough money to feed her two dozen children and grandchildren. Now she spends much of her time worrying about food, scouring Gaza's vegetable markets for end-of-day discounts or walking miles for a pot of free gruel from a soup kitchen. Large numbers of Gaza families have been pushed deeper into poverty in recent months by Palestinian political infighting and the freezing of U.S. aid. Life is tougher than ever for most of the 2 million Palestinians locked into tiny, blockaded Gaza, where electricity is off most hours of the day, unemployment approaches 50 percent and the Islamic militant group Hamas rules with a tight grip. "It's a perfect storm," said Hilary DuBose of the Catholic Relief Services , which has had to forego emergency food distributions because the Trump administration is withholding funds. "At the same time that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is worsening, humanitarian aid is disappearing." Growing despair in Gaza has helped drive recent Hamas-led protests against the border blockade by Israel and Egypt. The closure was imposed after Hamas, branded a terrorist group by Israel and the West, seized Gaza in 2007, driving out forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas . The escalating crisis also spotlights the lack of a coherent Gaza policy by the external players trying to shape its future. Israel and Egypt say they need the blockade to contain Hamas, but have not offered a viable plan for Gaza. The international community wants the blockade lifted, but hasn't said how it would deal with Hamas, which refuses to disarm or renounce violence. Hassan who shares her unfinished cinderblock home with seven of her 12 adult children, three daughters-in-law and 16 grandchildren said she joined the border protests repeatedly, intentionally getting close to the fence in hopes of getting shot and killed by Israeli troops. "Death is better than this life," she said to her sons' astonishment as the family gathered for the meal breaking the dawn-to-dusk fast of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Hassan said she only pulled back because she realized she could end up crippled rather than dead and become a burden. In the past two months, more than 115 Palestinians have been killed and close to 3,800 wounded by Israeli fire in near-weekly border protests, with some facing lifelong disabilities. Hassan, who wears the black robe and full face veil of ultra-conservative Muslim women, is angry at Hamas, which has fought three cross-border wars with Israel. "It's because of them," she said of her family's hard times. In the last war in 2014, the family taxi, an important source of income, was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike on a neighbor's house. After the war's devastation, her sons only found work sporadically and one a father of six is now in jail for being unable to pay his debts. The family suffered a new blow after Abbas ordered his West Bank autonomy government to curtail its regular support payments to Gaza, in hopes of pressing Hamas to hand over authority. The Hassans used to get $500 every three months from Abbas' Palestinian Authority , but haven't been paid since the beginning of the year, along with tens of thousands of Gaza welfare recipients, said Social Affairs Ministry official Khaled Barghouti. Meanwhile, some 60,000 former civil servants, paid by Abbas since 2007 to ensure their loyalty, have received only a fraction of their salaries since March. With barely any money coming in, the Hassans increasingly rely on charity. During Ramadan, Samia Hassan often walks three miles to another Gaza City neighborhood to line up for wheat gruel cooked in a large cauldron over an open fire. Hassan said her sons won't make the trip, embarrassed to be seen asking for handouts, but that she doesn't mind because her face is veiled. On a recent afternoon, dozens of people jostled, pushing their aluminum or plastic food containers to be filled. The huge pot was empty within 10 minutes. "The situation is difficult for everyone," said Walid Hattab, 50, who owns a small coffee-and-spice store and cooks the free meals as Ramadan charity. Demand is up from last year, he said, noting that merchants have stopped selling on credit. Along with the Palestinian Authority, the U.N. has been instrumental in propping up Gaza's fragile economy. About two-thirds of Gaza's residents are eligible for health, education or welfare services from UNRWA, the agency that aids descendants of Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war over Israel's creation. Need has grown exponentially, with some 1 million people in Gaza now receiving U.N. food aid, compared to 80,000 two decades ago, said agency spokesman Chris Gunness. At the same time, the Trump administration has blown a $305 million hole into the agency's annual $1.2 billion budget the result of a decision earlier this year to suspend most aid to the Palestinians until further notice. Washington has said it's linking future funding to UNRWA reforms. UNRWA has raised more than $200 million from other donors, but is still struggling. Money for Gaza food distributions could run out in a couple of months, Gunness said. With the exception of the funds already spent this year, all U.S. assistance to the Palestinians is under review. This includes projects funded by USAID and the State Department, including health, education, good governance and security cooperation programs. There is no indication the review will be completed any time soon, if ever, and it appears to be driven in part by Abbas' decision to boycott Washington's Mideast peace efforts as well as Palestinian moves to assert themselves at the United Nations. Charities such as Catholic Relief Services rely heavily on U.S. support. In Gaza, its operations have been underwritten by a five-year, $50 million USAID grant. This year, the charity should have received about $10 million, but hasn't gotten any money so far, said DuBose. As a result, 20,000 Gaza families aren't receiving food vouchers and about 2,200 people eligible for job-creation programs are staying home, she said. Muslim countries such as Qatar, Iran, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates have stepped up aid during Ramadan. Qatar is distributing 1 million meals for the month and Iran 11,000 per day. But it's not clear if such aid will be sustained after the holy month. On a recent evening, Samia Hassan and two dozen family members sat on the straw mat-covered floor of their home. Salad and leftover gruel from the day before had been laid out. Just before iftar, volunteers from a nearby mosque sent over a tray of rice with one chicken. "It came at the right time," said daughter-in-law Samah, holding a toddler in her lap. Such uncertainty is tough for Samia. "Our situation has never been like this," she said. Daraghmeh reported from Ramallah, West Bank. Karin Laub in Berlin contributed reporting. President Donald Trump, right, meets with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the Oval Office in October 2017. Trump will meet with Trudeau and other world leaders at the G-7 summit in Canada beginning this weekend. (Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post) Coal tycoon Robert Murray points on a map to where six trapped coal miners are believed to be trapped at Crandall Canyon Mine on Aug. 6, 2007, in Utah. Trump officials have taken actions that closely resemble measures contained in drafts of half a dozen executive orders and other proposals submitted by coal tycoon Murray, documents show. (Douglas C. Pizac / Associated Press) President Donald Trump participates in the signing ceremony for a new veterans health care program, the VA Mission Act of 2018, in the Rose Garden of the White House on June 6, 2018. (Olivier Douliery / Tribune News Service) The child of immigrants from the Cape Verde Island, Leightons farm work as a boy and a teenager kept him out of school for months, and he was still in seventh grade at age 17 when he left Massachusetts to work on an oil tanker sailing for the Dutch West Indies. But since he was 12, during the back-breaking work of picking berries, he had yearned to become a lawyer. Despite a sporadic formal education, he was an avid reader, a chess player and a talented writer. And so in 1936, at age 24, he entered a writing essay competition to Howard, winning a scholarship. I came to the U.S. at age 10, nearly 18 years ago. My family fled the Mexican border city of Juarez due to the increased violence and corruption of drug cartels there. Most of my early memories are filled with anxiety and fear. My father became ill during this time, and the lack of access to health care meant that our family suffered for years as his diabetes went undiagnosed. Its those experiences that set me on the path to be a physician, but it was America that gave me a chance to make this dream a reality. It is true that Nixon's chief of staff, Al Haig, had asked Ford a week before the resignation to pardon Nixon. But Ford was noncommittal. Fearing that Haig might have taken this as tacit agreement, Ford called him in the presence of witnesses to say he had not committed, and would not commit, to pardoning Nixon. Two months later, in response to a House panel's question about a possible quid pro quo, Ford recounted the timeline and assured the panel that "there never was at any time any agreement whatsoever concerning a pardon to Mr. Nixon if he were to resign and I were to become president." If Ford, an honorable man by all accounts, flat-out lied to the House committee, there is no proof of it. Seventeen years later, Ted Kennedy presented Ford with a Profile in Courage award, not for cutting a sleazy deal but for making a brave decision that probably cost him the 1976 election. The suit says this crisis has contributed to a high human-caused mortality rate among the bears because they have had to range farther in search of food and are killed by vehicles, poachers and ranchers protecting livestock. Some experts say that the bears numbers have already started to shrink. Given the serious pressures on these beasts, this is no time to strip them of protection and put them literally in the crosshairs of sport hunters. Lopez Obrador would undo policies that led to strong collaboration between the U.S. and Mexican energy sectors, promising to ensure that his countrys oil never falls back into the hands of foreigners. He wants to scale back U.S. farm exports to Mexico, and instead help Mexican farmers produce their own beans, corn and beef. His disdain for the media is a calling card he labels the press fifi, his way of saying elitist. He views Mexicans through an us vs. them prism, saying people who dont back him support the mafia in power. Sabraw wrote: Ms. L. did everything right. She and her child presented at the port of entry and requested asylum. She passed a credible fear screening interview, was taken out of expedited removal proceedings, and placed in removal proceedings to pursue her asylum claim. Ms. C., by contrast, did not do everything right. She committed a crime by entering the United States illegally, and was prosecuted and imprisoned for her transgression: 25 days in custody. However, having served her sentence, Ms. C. was then returned to ICE detention to pursue her asylum claim, as she too had passed a credible fear screening. Ms. L.s claim is based on the initial separation from her child, while Ms. C.s claim is based on the continued separation from her child. Let's look deeper. Napolitano is representing his constituents, who most likely fear what affordable housing means to them low-income people who may be racially diverse moving into the neighborhood potentially bringing crime, drugs, gangs, changing the complexion of the neighborhood, and lowering house prices too. It's the same old thinking from decades ago. We need to change attitudes about what affordable housing really means especially to those who live in a traditionally all-white middle-class Chicago neighborhood. To educate, to alleviate fear, to better engage communities, that's how affordable housing developments will get built. A west/east-oriented frontal boundary will vacillate along and generally south of the Interstate 80 corridor, with hard-to-time periods of showers and thunderstorms likely. At this juncture, it appears the best chance of heavier rainfall will occur later Friday into Saturday when an inch or more of rain is likely at many locations. The hosts of the best show in late night Desus Nice and The Kid Mero aka Bodega Boys are currently in their second season of Desus and Mero on Viceland, as well as their first nationwide tour, coming to Chicago at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Chicago Theatre. Desus and Mero are both Bronx born and raised, and both came up as comedians on Twitter. Theyve developed a strong voice since their on-air debut and are two of the most hilarious people on TV right now think real-life Weekend Update thats even more New York and 50 percent less white. Tickets: $39.50. chicagotheatre.com This is unique in that it's the first of its kind in the western suburbs, and it's long overdue in a city of Aurora's size and diversity, said organizer Gwyn Ciesla. Other communities have begun planning their own celebrations, such as Bolingbrook, and we couldn't be more pleased. Arturo Sanchez, 30, of the 600 block of Gates Avenue, will face a minimum of 33 years in prison, according to a news release from the Kane County States Attorneys Office. I think the executive directors lack of communication about how the grant applications were going to be reviewed and scored was unfortunate, McMahon said. We have a victims service unit that has been recognized across the state by various groups for providing exemplary services, and the authority completed disregarded that. I think its a mistake. Pietrowiak said residents he has spoken to would prefer a decorative fence around the perimeter of the property rather than a black vinyl-coated chain link fence. The plans are to have a decorative fence at the front of the development along Fifth Street, according to village documents. According to the statement, all 23 contestants are in great spirits and eager to showcase their communication skills at this weeks contest. I tried getting in touch with those in charge of the Miss Northern Suburbs preliminary contest. (Miss Northern Suburbs, by the way, is lovely 22-year-old Isabelle Hanson from Glen Ellyn, who was a former teen winner). But the voice mail and emails could not go through. And I did not receive a response by early Thursday evening to a request sent that morning to the email listed under the official statement. Jones is free on bail, and Bakalis has allowed her to live with relatives in the Atlanta area. She may not return to Illinois until her next court date, Bakalis ordered. But the judge granted her permission to travel to Tennessee for two days in August, according to court records. She has been under electronic monitoring as part of her bond conditions. The third officer, John Cichy, held out, and his case dragged on for five years. On the day his trial was due to begin, prosecutors suddenly announced they were dropping the charges against him due to new information of criminal activity by the informant in the case, who was expected to be the main witness against the cops. The city will get a majority of the funds nearly $1.3 million while the remainder will be split between the police pension fund ($491,608.12), the firefighters pension fund ($196,643.25) and bondholders ($387,274.45), comptroller spokesman Abdon Pallasch said. Bondholders are further directed to pay a portion of the funds they receive to the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund, which also has certified a claim with the comptroller, according to the agreement order. But he had worn a dinosaur shirt every single day for the 10 previous years, and he wasnt about to stop because of what other people might think as he prepared for his freshman year at Lincoln-Way Central High School in New Lenox. When people register in Blue Island they will get maps as to where to go in each town and where to stop. Theyre issued a passport and everybody in the car, even the kids, can be involved. When you get down to Momence we give you a free raffle ticket for every stamp on your passport, Egdorf said. Rochford exhibited quiet leadership, Seaman said. He drew smiles from the 100 or so people in the church when he said if the windows were blown out and the roof torn out, he imagined Rochford would thoughtfully stroke his chin as he calmly surveyed the scene. The tax break, which would need Cook Countys approval, although it is generally a formality, will lower the property's assessment level from 25 percent of fair market value, which is the level used for commercial property, to 10 percent, or the same level as homes are assessed at. That lower rate would remain in place for 10 years, then rise to 15 percent in the 11th year and 20 percent in the 12th year. The tax incentives are renewable. Basically cutting almost everything out and remaining with the story and the bits that I think really tell the story and push it forward, he said. Usually a persons memory is a little bit patchy and mine is the same. When I sit down at the computer I dont bother to watch the movie and make notes. I know the films already, what do I remember if I have to tell the story? What scenes would I be recounting? Sometimes its only little bits of scenes. Weirdly enough, it works incredibly well. I think what I remember is usually what the average person remembers. This Gun Buyback Event is a great opportunity for those at risk to surrender their firearms and make a positive step towards turning away from criminal activity, according to the release. It is also gives citizens a way to turn in unwanted firearms so they are not at risk for being stolen or misused. 30 E. Scott St., Chicago: $2,895,000 | Listed: July 8, 2021 This four-bedroom home has three full bathrooms, two half-baths, a skylight, hardwood floors and a landscaped rooftop terrace. The foyer has original terrazzo floors, a coat room and a half bath. The kitchen features a six-burner Wolf range, a venting hood, a marble waterfall island and backsplash, a Sub-Zero refrigerator, a Miele dishwasher, LeFroy Brooks spa bath fittings and built-in custom cabinetry. Two of the bedrooms have en-suite bathrooms and two other bedrooms share an en-suite bathroom. This home has a dining room/living room with a fireplace, a wet bar/den/office and a laundry room. The first-floor entry level has room for exercise equipment and storage. Agent: Monique Crossan, Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Chicago, 312-933-5363 *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. LTHS officials contend an agreement was reached in 1999 in open session with Healy so that the high school would process its own payroll and accounts receivable and payable, and receive a credit from the treasurers office to avoid paying twice for the same function. Both the high school and treasurers office boards approved operating procedures based on the agreement, LTHS officials have said. The Hartford is one of the worlds most advanced fast-attack submarines, and its stealth and ability to be anywhere at any time as part of a defense strategy, provides a deterrence for anyone looking to attack the U.S. Fire Marshall Steve Lenzi said the fire started on the stairs leading to the second floor of the two flat at 122 N. St. James St., around 5 p.m. and both families escaped without injury. He said the 911 call was delayed slightly because one of the homeowners tried putting the fire out before calling. If one of my friends chooses to smoke, Im not judging them, but I want them to be aware of the dangers, said the 18-year-old Serena, who recently graduated from Stevenson. If you dont like something that is happening, you cant just sit around and complain about it. You have to get out there and do something. Admission is $30 in advance or $35 week of the show and includes entry for one car and its occupants, up to four people. Cantigny members are $25 per car. If you are arriving in a limo, bus or trolley, you need to purchase one entry for every four occupants. Concert is rain or shine. City zoning requires 132 parking spaces, but parking studies conducted by the cheer company show there are a maximum of 20 vehicles currently using the buildings 160-space parking lot at any given time, leaving more than enough parking for the gym, he said. The Naperville town hall is one of the 50 stops on the 20-state Road to Change tour being conducted by David Hogg, Emma Gonzalez, Cameron Kasky, Jaclyn Corin and about two dozen other students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., who experienced the mass shooting at their school in which 17 people were killed in February. In my position as regional superintendent I dont want to ever give anybody the thought that Im on one side or the other, Klaisner said. I tried to be clear when I talked to the organizers of the meeting Im not an advocate of consolidation. Im not against consolidation. I am a resource, and to make it look like I am speaking on behalf of one of the districts is very detrimental to my ability to be unbiased. When you look at the posting, it looks like Im the districts guest speaker at the meeting. To frame it that way is awkward for me as a public servant. A: When I was growing up I told my counselor Id be the next Katie Couric. I went on to work for NBC covering the War in Iraq and I covered Sept. 11 for CNN. I was also a producer for Oprah. Storytelling extends to Jar Bar because we share experiences over food. Thats why people share where they ate and what they like to eat. I wrote it into the play and the reason it got its name is because there was a player named Charlie on one of the teams down the road at Valparaiso University. He was a big guy and he would come in and ask for this particular stacked sandwich all the time. So finally, Grandma just put it on the menu and named it after him. Trinity Baptist Church: 1831-37 Virginia St. Gods Girls Rock will host a spring bazaar in the church parking lot from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. Pastor Otis Moss Jr., of Cleveland, will deliver the opening anniversary celebratory message at 10:30 a.m. Sunday. The Rev. Dwight E. Mobley, pastor of Van Buren MBC in Gary, will present the afternoon celebratory anniversary service at 4 p.m. Vacation Bible School will be at 5:30 p.m. Monday through June 15. The church will hold its centennial celebratory banquet at 6 p.m. June 16 at Marquette Park. On June 20, Village Keepers Fish Fry will start at 11 a.m. The donation is $10 per plate. Call Village Keepers members or 219-883-2720 to place orders. On June 24, the Rev. R.E. Robinson, pastor of St. John MBC, Gary, will present the closing afternoon celebratory anniversary service at 4 p.m. City officials said the work will require intermittent closures of the cross streets lasting up to four hours to allow the paving vehicles and equipment to pass. Flaggers will direct traffic during these closures. City engineer Phil Gralik said the resurfacing work will be done during the day. He said Rieth-Riley said there are too many power lines in the area, which they might not be able to see at night. As explained by Jakubowicz, of Schererville, the team had to conduct simulations in order to determine the expected revenue and expenses that would come from the program. We also had to analyze the impact of income from the taxpayers and how the expenses of the long-term care insurance were going to progress throughout the future. The suspect later entered the room, began touching the victim while she slept and then proceeded to force himself on the victim while she tried to get away from him, the release states. Would you rather live in Trump-land or in Mr. Rogers neighborhood? Caught for now in the one, untold numbers of folks who get little attention work tirelessly to create the other. My family recently happened into a genuine neighborhood thanks to a gift of lessons in Indian cooking. We expected formal instruction in a impersonal setting. Instead, we found ourselves guests of a recently retired couple, both professionals, who serve on the boards of numerous social service agencies and who volunteer time all over Chicagoland. We learned cooking, but we also discovered we have remarkable neighbors we didnt yet know, people very different from us in some ways, but alike in the most important. We all hunger, eat, laugh, love our children, and long to have a purpose in life that entails, oddly enough, making a gift of ourselves. A: She had my older sister and me. It was after the war and she needed to work. My father was not in the picture. She had to do something with me so she and her partner somehow came up with the concept of a nursery school, which is what it was called in those days. They each had $200 apiece when they started. Duane Nava ready to take on new role as chamber president business A collection of 231 Afghan artifacts from the National Museum of Afghanistan is on display in central China's Henan Province, the fourth leg of the Afghan treasures' China tour. The exhibition features a number of ancient artifacts unearthed from Afghanistan's famous archaeological site of Tillya Tepe that show clear cultural connections with China, including fragments of Chinese silk, bronze mirrors and lacquerware dating back to China's Han Dynasty (202 BC - 220). "This gold plate from a man's tomb was covered with Chinese silk when it was excavated," said Tang Wei, head of the exhibition department of Zhengzhou Museum, while guiding visitors through the exhibition hall. He pointed out an iron sword from Tillya Tepe with dragon patterns on its sheath. Tang said that the audience has been enthusiastic about the Chinese features in the Afghan exhibition, which are evidence of cultural exchange and trading between the countries through the ancient Silk Road. Tang said that over the weekend, the daily visitor flow topped 6,000. The museum had to impose a limit to curb the inflow and add guardrails to protect the artifacts. The collection, which includes Afghan artifacts from ancient China, ancient Greece and Rome and India, came to Zhengzhou, capital of Henan Province, after stops in Beijing, Dunhuang, and Chengdu. Abdullah Hakimzada, a relic repair expert with the National Museum of Afghanistan, told Xinhua that since the Afghan war broke out in the 1980s, 70 percent of the treasures held in the museum suffered damage. He said the museum selected a collection of its artifacts for a world tour in 2006. The tour has been ongoing for 12 years as security concerns continue to affect Afghanistan. Guan Ying, a Chinese visitor to the exhibition, noted that China also has had a war-torn past and a great deal of treasures were looted and lost. Guan said the long tour, though difficult, was a way to protect the Afghan items. The exhibition in Zhengzhou will continue until July 10. After that, it will move to Shenzhen in south China's Guangdong Province. The China Art Exhibitions, which is coordinating the Afghan exhibition's China tour, said it is looking for the next venue for the exhibition in hopes of prolonging its China tour. You are here: Business China's ICT giant Huawei announced an investment of US$81 million in Southeast Asia in three years on the 4th Annual Huawei Asia-Pacific Innovation Day held in Bangkok on Wednesday. Huawei Technologies (Thailand) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Thailand's National Science and Technology Development Agency and National Innovation Agency, outlining a series of joint research and innovation objectives, including developing deeper technological insights to advance the Thailand 4.0 agenda, strengthening communications and coordination throughout the innovation and planning processes, and fostering a startup-friendly ecosystem in Thailand. Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak and Huawei Rotating Chairman Guo Ping witnessed the signing of the MoU. Later on Wednesday, James Wu, president of Huawei's Southeast Asia Region, unveiled Huawei's Developer Enablement Plan for the region, which aims to support digital economy and ecosystem building. According to Wu, Huawei will invest US$81 million over the next three years in building OpenLabs, enabling cloud developers, and cultivating ICT talent in the Southeast Asia region. Huawei will also open an OpenLab in Delhi in August this year, which, along with the one in Bangkok, will serve as open innovation platforms where Huawei joins forces with local partners to develop industry solutions for the region. Nearly 300 attendees from government, industry, and academia gathered at the 4th Huawei Asia-Pacific Innovation Day to explore how digital infrastructure accelerates the growth of digital economy, enriches life, drives innovation, and helps cultivate an ecosystem of shared success. In his speech, Thai Deputy Prime Minister Somkid spoke highly of Huawei's contribution to the kingdom's digital transformation in the past three years. The fourth China-CEEC Investment and Trade Expo is being held in Ningbo, a coastal city in eastern China's Zhejiang province, from June 7 to 11. According to Zhang Qianjiang, deputy director of the Zhejiang Provincial Commerce Department, this year's expo will bring together representatives of more than 257 companies from the 16 Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC)including Latvia, Poland and the Czech Republic. Speaking at a June 6 press conference held in Ningbo, Zhang highlighted the expo's growth, with the number of exhibitor booths having gone up by 30 since last year to 310, and with the event being held in an 8,400-square-meter exhibition hall, or 40 percent larger than previously. The expo will feature 16 forums as well as exhibitions and cultural activities covering the fields of investment, cross-border e-commerce, customs, intelligent manufacturing technology, education and tourism, said Zhang. Different events will take place to facilitate communication among government department ministers, mayors, high-level talent and youths of China and CEEC, he added. In addition to the expo, sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce and Zhejiang Provincial Government since 2014, Ningbo will also host the 20th China Zhejiang Investment and Trade Symposium and the 17th China International Consumer Goods Fair during this year's expo. The International Investment Forum of the 20th China Zhejiang Investment and Trade Symposium was held in Ningbo, a coastal city in east China's Zhejiang province on June 7, with over 30 billion yuan of contracts signed between the province and foreign countries during the event. A total of 14 foreign-invested contracts worth 31.03 billion yuan (US$ 4.86 billion) were signed, covering sectors including the digital economy, new energy, new materials and intelligent manufacturing. In addition to the foreign-invested ventures, 10 domestic projects with a combined worth of 34.86 billion yuan were also signed during the event, covering sectors including food processing, new materials, integrated circuit and high-end equipment manufacturing. Kanneth Jarrett, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, said based on a quarterly survey of its organization that the investment of American companies in China has remained stable in recent years, and China's increasing consumption and urbanization will create more opportunities for foreign companies. According to the Department of Commerce of Zhejiang provincial government, by April 2018, Zhejiang province had attracted 61,998 foreign-invested companies and a total investment volume of US$ 644.53 billion. From January to April this year, 918 new foreign-invested companies settled in Zhejiang, with a total investment volume of US$ 21.78 billion. Looking forward, Zhu Congjiu, vice governor of Zhejiang province, said at the forum that "Zhejiang will strive for a new ground of all-round opening up, and serve as a critical part of the Belt and Road." Nearly 700 representatives attended the forum, including those from the worlds Top 500 companies and industrial leading companies, foreign chambers of commerce, outstanding companies in Zhejiang province, and relevant Zhejiang provincial government departments. The provincial symposium also includes two B2B communication sessions after the forum in the city on the same day as well as a tour for international companies to visit companies in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, on June 8. The symposium, which has been sponsored by Zhejiang provincial government in 1999, has now grown into the largest platform for investment and trade communication in Zhejiang. In addition to the symposium, Ningbo will also host the fourth China-CEEC Investment and Trade Expo and the 17th China International Consumer Goods Fair during this week. Wang Yang, top political advisor and senior Party official, has urged the expediting of the implementation of preferential policies for Taiwan compatriots to further communication and cooperation across the Strait. Wang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, made the remarks during his visit to the 10th Straits Forum in Xiamen in east China's Fujian Province. Calling for upholding the notion that "both sides belong to one family," he said that Taiwan compatriots who study, work, or live on the mainland will step by step gain equal rights with mainland citizens. Noting that economic and cultural communication and cooperation should be continuously strengthened, Wang stressed enhancing the relationship and improving the well-being of people across the Taiwan Strait. Every Taiwanese who studies, works, or lives on the mainland tells a story of the notion "both sides belong to one family" with their unique experiences, said Wang, calling them the contributors and practitioners of the peaceful development across the Strait. He required Party and government officials at all levels to listen to and respond to the opinions and concerns of Taiwan compatriots, and create a more convenient and better environment for their development on the mainland. Wang visited several Taiwanese enterprises and communities in Xiamen, as well as the Graduate Institute for Taiwan Studies at Xiamen University, and held a symposium with Taiwan representatives on Wednesday and Thursday. I've just returned from a two-week trip to the country of my birth, the United States of America. I hadn't been back since the B.C. years. No, I'm old but not quite that old I mean the "Before Chaos" years. That's the era that preceded the current "Always Donald" A.D. era, in which the maniacal machinations of the self-described "stable genius" President Donald Trump dominate the media and public discourse. I honestly was unprepared for what I found in this brave new world of a country, hopelessly divided by the president's antics in the supposedly "United" States of America. To be sure, it's a stark 180-degree difference from the discourse of governance in China. While there, I watched a two-episode CNN series titled "1968," examining that pivotal year in American history when President Lyndon Johnson bowed to public pressure and did not run for re-election over his prosecution of the Vietnam War; when the black civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis; when presidential candidate and brother of slain President John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, was murdered in Los Angeles; and when Richard Nixon was narrowly elected president. Much of the social chaos took place in Chicago, where I watched the documentary. As a student and the president of my university's Young Democrats at the time, and therefore being somewhat close to those events, I honestly feel that the nation was as divided in those days as now but that our political system worked then despite the strains. I can't say that for today, 50 years later. In 1968, when politics was still very much the art of the possible, Johnson, a Democrat, could "reach across the aisle" to Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen and House Minority Leader Gerald Ford and play "let's make a deal." Legislation lots of it was passed. Contrast that with today, in an era when parties are at war with each other and when politicians put their own partisan interests ahead of the country's and the world's. Take, for example, the despicable Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who held back President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, or Trump staffer Kelly Sadler, who demeaned a terminally-ill Senator John McCain from their own party as irrelevant since "he's dying anyway," and neither she nor Trump publicly apologized. It's really difficult to watch TV news these days, when celebrities and athletes get more coverage than current events. And unlike even a decade ago, news today is either infotainment or centered around Trump, if not a combination of the two. Where it is about policy, people are screaming themselves hoarse yelling at each other, not bothering to listen. This trend happened almost overnight following Trump's election, aided by the fact that under our archaic system, Trump got nearly 3 million fewer votes than his opponent. There's even an empirical study from UCLA to prove it, based on data from three weeks after Trump's surprise election. The study shows that, "Thanksgiving dinners attended by residents from opposing-party precincts were 30 to 50 minutes shorter than same-party dinners," presumably due to family members prematurely absenting themselves from the heated political discussions around the table. Now more than 500 days into the A.D. era, the frequency and intensity of these arguments continue, and Trump's favorable ratings are in the low 40s. I discern that while there is no particular animosity toward Chinese people, like there was against the Japanese in the late 1980s, there is a fear that China is beating us. Nobody likes to go from No. 1 to No. 2. There is, however, a lack of tolerance for Muslims and other immigrants and minorities. And the great political divide between right and left, liberals and conservatives, is just as wide as it's ever been in my lifetime. The rules seem to be: take no prisoners, don't speak to the enemy, and get them before they get you. There is no talk about higher goals and the values that previously made the country great. I am truly worried. President Abraham Lincoln said that, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." We are as divided as we've ever been. I visited Philadelphia, the site of the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Benjamin Franklin, one of our greatest statesmen, mused during the long, hot summer deliberating the U.S. Constitution about the sun symbol on the back of George Washington's ornate chair, and wondered whether it was a rising or a setting sun. He concluded, with their work done and the document drafted, that it was a rising sun. I sadly feel that today he would have to say that, unless current trends change, the sun rapidly rising in the East is fast setting in the West. The author is a research fellow for the think tank Center for China and Globalization, senior adviser to Tsinghua University and former director and vice president of ABC Television in New York. Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn. Flash The new Italian government cleared its second administrative hurdle in as many days on Wednesday, winning a confidence vote in the lower house of Italy's parliament. The government, led by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, won the vote with 350 votes in support and 237 against, with 35 abstentions. The result was widely expected. A day earlier, parliament's upper house, the Senate, voted 177-117 in favor of the Conte government, with 25 abstentions. If Conte had lost either of the votes he would have been forced to step down. With support of the anti-establishment Five-Star Movement and the nationalist League, two of Italy's three largest parties, the two outcomes were in line with expectations. But they gave Conte a chance to outline his plan of government and gave lawmakers their chance to declare their support to give voice to their points of opposition. Conte spoke for more than an hour Wednesday, and was interrupted multiple times by applause and catcalls. He spoke about proposed plans for an across-the-board flat tax for companies and individuals: "We can all agree, the current tax system leaves a great deal to be desired," he said. Conte also mentioned the need to pay down government debt, seek help in addressing the high number of migrants landing in Italy, confront organized crime, digitalize the country's civil bureaucracy, and the need to heel political wounds remaining from the campaign. You are here: World Flash Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan will pay an official visit to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said here Wednesday. Balakrishnan will visit the DPRK at the invitation of his counterpart Ri Yong Ho on Thursday and Friday. During his stay, he will also call on President of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly Kim Yong Nam. Singapore will host the summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and DPRK top leader Kim Jong Un on June 12. By Angus Whitley, Benjamin D Katz, Kyunghee Park, Bloomberg News | Jun. 06, 2018 Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker, who said his job was too difficult for a woman, has offered his "heartfelt apologies" for the comments and defended his record of promoting women. The airline boss caused a firestorm Tuesday when he said Qatar Airways had to be run by a man because of the challenges the job involved. But later he said his initial comment had been a joke. Al Baker is the new chairman of the International Air Transport Association's board of governors, one of the world's biggest boys' clubs. "I would like to offer my heartfelt apologies for any offense caused by my comment yesterday, which runs counter to my track record of expanding the role of women in leadership throughout the Qatar Airways Group," Al Baker said in an emailed statement. At a conference organized by CAPA Centre for Aviation in Sydney, Al Baker was asked again to explain himself. "It was just a joke," he said. "Everybody laughed. I thought that was the end of the story." Few people laughed at a press conference on Tuesday when Al Baker told reporters that Qatar Airways "has to be led by a man, because it is a very challenging position." Women, Look Away: Qatar Airways CEO Says Only Men Can Do His Job The controversy started when Al Baker was asked what could be done about the woeful representation of women in the aviation industry in the Middle East. That's not true for Qatar Airways, Al Baker told the reporter. Increasing Representation His comments contrast with efforts by some industry rivals to increase female representation at the upper echelons. Qantas Airways Ltd.'s senior management is 40 percent female, including the heads of the international and frequent-flier loyalty businesses, CEO Alan Joyce said. SkyTeam appointed Delta Air Lines Inc. executive Kristin Colvile as chief executive of the airline alliance earlier this month. Joyce, who is openly gay and has supported a same-sex marriage campaign in Australia, said not only is diversity a competitive advantage, but "it's the right business thing to do and it's the right moral thing to do." Earlier in the week, IATA members from airlines across the world had listened to a panel discussing ways to address gender imbalances in the industry. When the IATA board posed for a group photo last week, there was one woman among 26 airline chiefs -- Christine Ourmieres-Widener, CEO of U.K. regional carrier Flybe Group Plc. "What disturbs me when I look at the aviation industry is that we're not succeeding in encouraging girls to consider aviation as a career," IAG SA CEO Willie Walsh said at the CAPA event. "It's important that people look at our industry as an industry that they can aspire to join." Al Baker clarified his position Tuesday in an interview with Bloomberg Television's Haidi Lun after his press conference. "I was only referring to one individual," he said. "I was not referring to the staff in general." The company followed up with a statement later, reaffirming its commitment to gender equality. "While I am known in the media for some lightheartedness at press conferences, it is crucial that I emphasize the facts as I did today and the importance of women representatives in the airline industry," the statement read. The comment "has been sensationalized by the media," he said. Qatar Airways staff is more than 44 percent female, the company said. The carrier has female pilots and female senior vice presidents, he said. There's no gender inequality at Qatar Airways, Al Baker said in the interview. Asked whether he'd welcome a female executive as CEO, Al Baker said: "It will be my pleasure to have a female CEO candidate I could then develop to become CEO after me." By Elias Biryabarema, Reuters | Jun. 07, 2018 Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni said on Wednesday the East African country would revive its defunct national carrier to share in the region's growing aviation business and invigorate its services sector. Founded by Uganda's former dictator Idi Amin in 1976, Uganda Airlines was liquidated in the 1990s by Museveni's government under a broader program to privatize troubled state firms and open up the economy to private enterprise. In a speech to parliament, Museveni said he was now reviving the airline "to invigorate our services sector." Regional giants Kenya Airways, Ethiopian Airlines and South African Airways dominate Uganda's air travel business. "The Government will revive the Uganda Airlines. We have already booked slots for the manufacture of medium and long -- distance planes," he said. He did not say from which manufacturer the planes had been ordered but transport and works minister has previously told local media they had ordered the planes from Canada's Bombardier. Annually Ugandans spent US$430 million on air travel, he said, describing it as a "hemorrhage that must stop." Uganda is building a second international airport in its west primarily to service its emerging crude oil industry that is expected to boost a range of sectors including air travel. Its sole existing international airport, Entebbe, south of the capital Kampala, is also being expanded with a loan from China to handle more passengers and cargo. China Aviation Daily | Jun. 07, 2018 Boeing and Safran have agreed to jointly design, build and service Auxiliary Power Units (APUs), creating better value for customers and for both companies. An APU is an onboard engine that is used to primarily start the main engines and power aircraft systems on the ground and, if necessary, in flight. The agreement will establish an important relationship between two of the world's leading aerospace companies to work together on products and expanded service capabilities to benefit both customers and the industry at large. Both companies will have a 50 percent stake in the partnership, which will be based in the United States. The completion of the transaction is subject to customary conditions including regulatory and antitrust clearance. The deal is expected to close in the second-half of 2018. "This strategic partnership will leverage Boeing's deep customer and airplane knowledge along with Safran's experience in designing and producing complex propulsion assemblies to deliver expanded, innovative services solutions to our customers," said Stan Deal, President and CEO, Boeing Global Services. Safran currently supplies a wide range of components to Boeing commercial and defense programs, including as a partner to produce CFM's LEAP-1B engine for the 737 MAX (through CFM International, a 50/50 JV between Safran Aircraft Engines and GE). Boeing and Safran also are partners in MATIS, a joint venture in Morocco producing wiring products for several airframe and engine companies. "This will represent a new step in the long-lasting and fruitful partnership between Safran and Boeing. We are extremely proud of the continued confidence that Boeing has placed in our company. Safran has contributed to prestigious international military and civil programs, providing reliable, high-performance APU systems since 1962. Together we are committed to delivering advanced APUs and world-class support to our customers," said Philippe Petitcolin, Chief Executive Officer of Safran. "This partnership will have no impact on our 2018 guidance nor on our plan to return EUR2.3 billion cash to shareholders over 18 to 24 months," he added. "This move will strengthen Boeing's vertical capabilities as we continue to expand our services portfolio and make strategic investments that accelerate our growth plans," Greg Smith, Boeing Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of Enterprise Performance & Strategy. "The establishment of the joint venture will have no impact on Boeing's 2018 guidance or on our commitment to returning approximately 100 percent of free cash flow to shareholders." Contributed by Safran By Gareth Davies, The Telegraph | Jun. 06, 2018 A British Airways pilot was hauled out of the cockpit by armed police after a flight technician called 999 as the aircraft was being prepared for takeoff. Julian Monaghan, 49, was arrested amid dramatic scenes on board the 300-passenger plane at around 8pm at Gatwick Airport in January. The 12-hour flight to Mauritius was minutes from departing when police were called because cabin crew could smell alcohol on the pilot's breath. Emelyn Jones, defending, said his client had a vodka and coke at 10.30am, claiming the pilot had drunk in an attempt to send him to sleep before the evening flight. But Monaghan, a long-serving British Airways first officer, was allegedly still drunk when he stepped into the cockpit. Airport police rushed to the departure gate after receiving the 999 call and Monaghan was arrested and led off in handcuffs in front of stunned passengers. On Wednesday he appeared at Crawley Magistrates' Court where he pleaded guilty to being over the limit while reporting for flying duty. Wearing a dark suit and tie, Monaghan, who divides his time between South Africa and Harmondsworth, west London, spoke only to confirm his name, date of birth and address as being under the care of his solicitors. Mel Wotton, prosecuting, told the court Monaghan had boarded the flight along with the pilot and was preparing the plane. She said: "One of the aircraft technicians was concerned they could smell alcohol on the pilot. Bosses spoke to police who duly arrived and they could also smell alcohol on his breath." She said a breath test was carried out and he was found to have 52mg of alcohol in his breath - the legal limit is 9mg for a pilot. The court heard a blood sample was subsequently taken and found it have 86mg in 100ml of blood - the drink drive limit is 80mg but the legal limit for a pilot is just 20mg. Mr Jones, defending, said Monaghan had only had one vodka and coke more than eight hours before the flight was due to take off. Monaghan had been a passenger on a flight the night before and had not slept, the court heard. Mr Jones added: "He had the drinks that morning to help him sleep in the afternoon. He spent the day without food and without sleep. "He turned up for work appalled astonished and horrified to find he was over the limit." By Brenda Goh, Reuters | Jun. 05, 2018 State carrier Air China will resume regular flights between Beijing and Pyongyang on Wednesday, a company official said, as diplomatic relations improve between China and North Korea. China's flag carrier indefinitely suspended flights between the two cities in November citing poor demand. The suspension came at a time when ties had been frayed by Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program and Beijing's backing of tough U.N. sanctions in response. An Air China company official told Reuters on Tuesday that flights would resume, saying that this was due to "market reasons". He declined to provide further comment. The airline now allows travelers to book tickets for the CA121 route from Beijing to Pyongyang which flies on Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons, its website showed. State media has said that Air China flights to Pyongyang began in 2008 but have frequently been canceled because of unspecified problems. Relations between the two countries have warmed lately with Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un holding two meetings in China since March. North Korea is in the meantime preparing for a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore on June 12. Last month, two officials from North Korea's Air Koryo told Reuters that the airline planned to launch charter flights between Pyongyang and Chengdu in south-west China amid the diplomatic thaw. By Zhang Yangfei, China Daily | Jun. 06, 2018 Air China and Air Canada signed a joint venture agreement on Wednesday in Beijing, which will enable the two aviation groups to offer better customer services, including optimizing flight schedules, improving lounge services and promoting joint sales, according to Calin Rovinescu, the president of Air Canada. He added that the Chinese aviation market is expected to become the world's largest by 2022 and the new joint venture is a "tremendous opportunity" for Air Canada that will further drive its participation in this market. The agreement was made in time for the 2018 China-Canada Year of Tourism and followed an expansion of code-share services that was announced by the two airlines last month. Air Canada is the third international airline that Air China has a joint venture with, following that with Lufthansa in 2016 and with Air New Zealand in 2015. "We're very proud to be the first North American carrier to sign a joint venture with this Chinese carrier, and I know that together we'll accomplish remarkable things for our customers, our countries and our respective airlines," Rovinescu added. Air China Chairman Cai Jianjiang said Canada is one of the very important aviation markets for China and the number of passengers going to and from the two countries in 2017 increased by 17.8 percent year on year. The joint venture agreement will help deepen the partnership and offer customers more choices in terms of flight schedules and lounge services. "I believe this cooperation will put Air China on track to enhance our international standards and our service levels and expand our brand presence globally," Cai added. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Anti-corruption investigators questioned the wife of former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak on Tuesday about alleged theft and money-laundering involving the 1MDB state investment fund, as officials announced a probe into other suspicious multibillion-dollar transactions under Najib's leadership. The prosecution of Najib and his wife Rosmah Mansor over the 1MDB scandal, which helped lead to Najib's stunning ouster in May 9 national elections, could be sped up with the government's appointment on Tuesday of a new attorney-general. The appointee, distinguished lawyer Tommy Thomas, is the first person from outside Malaysia's Malay majority to hold the powerful position in more than half a century. His Najib-appointed predecessor had stifled investigations. Thomas, 66, is a renowned senior lawyer whose first task will be to handle prosecution of the 1MDB case. Rosmah, accompanied by her daughter and son-in-law, didn't speak to reporters as she was escorted into the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission office, where she was questioned for three hours. She was summoned nearly two weeks after Najib was questioned twice by the agency. In another blow to the former first couple, their lawyer M. Puravelan said that he is no longer representing Rosmah and Najib. He said another prominent lawyer Yusof Zainal Abideen had also withdrawn. He said they didn't quit because of disagreement over legal strategies for the 1MDB case but declined to elaborate. Najib set up the 1MDB fund when he took power in 2009 but it accumulated billions in debts. US investigators say Najib's associates stole and laundered $4.5 billion from the fund from 2009 to 2014, some of which landed in Najib's bank account. They say $27.3 million was used to buy a rare diamond necklace for Rosmah. New Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad reopened investigations into 1MDB that were suppressed under Najib's rule. He has also banned the couple from leaving the country. The country's new anti-graft chief has said Najib, who denies any wrongdoing, could soon face criminal charges. On Tuesday, officials announced they had alerted the anti-graft commission to at least $2 billion worth of government-related transactions that are "highly suspicious". Najib was grilled last month over why an additional 42 million ringgit ($10.6 million) was transferred into his bank account from SRC International, a former unit of the 1MDB fund, using multiple intermediary companies. Rosmah is being questioned in the same case. Police have seized 114 million ringgit in cash and hundreds of expensive designer handbags and jewelry from Najib's home and other properties. Associated Press (China Daily 06/07/2018 page11) SCO media marvel at China's Silicon Valley ( chinadaily.com.cn ) Updated: 2018-06-06 A Belarusian journalist (M) tries out an electric self-balancing scooter during her visit to Beijing's Zhongguancun Science Park on May 29. [Photo/Qianlong.com] Some 20 representatives from 13 mainstream media were impressed by the rhythms of innovation and entrepreneurship in Beijing, a capital of technology and creativity, on May 29. Media representatives of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member countries paid a visit to Beijing's Zhongguancun Science Park, also known as China's Silicon Valley. In Zhongguancun Dongsheng Science and Technology Park, a sub-park featuring one-station services and startup incubation, reporters gave their thumbs up for its business-friendly environment. "Beijing plays a leading role in the global frontier of technology innovation," said a Tajikistan media chief, "and young entrepreneurs embrace the idea of innovation with which they can accomplish something massive". "Zhongguancun Science Park, from where I am standing, provides the optimal ecosystem for the youth to make their dreams come true," he said. The media representatives also had a close look at several notable Zhongguancun enterprises, such as robotics manufacturer Ninebot Co, digital display provider Leyard Group and facial recognition unicorn Megvii Inc. "These high-tech companies are developing on a fast-paced track," a journalist from Belarus said in admiration, "Belarusian companies should follow in their paths and try to catch up". According to her, China-developed devices like smartphones, computers and self-balancing scooters are already ubiquitous in Minsk, capital of Belarus. The visiting group rounded off their trip in Zhongguancun's innovation center and experienced cutting-edge technologies covering artificial intelligence, voice recognition and augmented reality. A foreign reporter interviews Zhongguancun entrepreneurs in front of a UHD (ultra high definition) screen made by Leyard Group on May 29. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] Evangelist Andrew Palau Shares the Gospel with Hundreds of Thousands at Historic March for Jesus Festival in Brazil Contact: Jay Fordice, Luis Palau Association, 503-614-1500 SAO PAULO, Brazil, June 6, 2018 /Christian Newswire/ -- Global evangelist Andrew Palau, son of Luis Palau, was the featured speaker this past week at the massive March for Jesus Festival in Sao Paulo, Brazil (population: 12 million). The event is being hailed as one of the largest gatherings of its kind and proved to be a truly blessed Gospel moment for the Church and the nation. Organized by the local evangelical community and supported by hundreds of local church congregations, the event built off of 25 years of similar marches and rallies. This gathering in Sao Paulo grabbed the attention of the entire continent and brought the Gospel to millions through the live event and surrounding media. Coming at the end of an 8-day transportation strike that paralyzed the city, the organizers overcame numerous challenges to accomplish the historic event. Starting at 10:00 a.m. in the morning on May 31, ten massive semi-trailers equipped with sound and stages led the crowd in joyful celebration on a 3-mile march through the city. The crowd increased to several hundred thousand as the parade progressed, eventually filling many city blocks of the 8-lane boulevard near the Praca Campo de Bagatelle park where a massive stage had been built for the evening festival. A variety of musical artists performed throughout the night, culminating with a clear Gospel message from Palau. "To see so many people marching in unity of their dedication to follow Jesus together it was truly unbelievable," said Palau. Focusing his message on John 10:10 "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full" Palau ended his message with a clear call to faith and repentance. The sea of hands that raised in affirmation to his call was evidence of the impact of the Word. He went on to imploring those who had publicly confessed Jesus Christ to dig into Scripture, get their roots deep into a local church, and pursue God daily. The local participating churches will work over the next several weeks to connect with and disciple those who made decisions. During Palau's time in Brazil he also gathered with local pastors, church leaders, and evangelists, encouraging them in the Word, focusing on continuing in unity, and inspiring them to keep evangelism a top priority. Palau's father, the famed Latin evangelist Luis Palau, was originally invited to share the Good News at the event in Brazil. Due to his recent stage IV lung cancer diagnosis, he was not able to make it to the event but was overjoyed to have his son Andrew take his place. March for Jesus continues in many countries through multiple and varied initiatives. It continues to gather the largest crowds of any organized event of its kind throughout the world. "The March for Jesus is an international and interdenominational event that occurs annually in several nations," local organizers state. "In it, the church has the opportunity to show that it is not restricted to buildings, but alive and open to the whole of society." To learn more about March for Jesus, visit marchaparajesus.com.br. The next festival with Palau will take place in Sunbury, England, June 13-17, 2018. Andrew Palau will also travel throughout the United States and to Colombia, Argentina, and China later this year to lead outreaches in several additional cities. Learn more at www.palau.org. About Andrew Palau: For nearly 25 years Andrew Palau has played a key role in the ministry of the Luis Palau Association. He has been instrumental in building the LPA model for citywide outreach as an evangelist, director, and key team leader. He has guided campaigns, led church relations efforts, trained thousands of believers in friendship evangelism, and proclaimed the Good News of Jesus Christ in person to hundreds of thousands of individuals in cities throughout Latin America, Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia, the Caribbean, and the United States of America. Palau's weekly radio broadcasts are heard by millions of people on hundreds of radio outlets. He is also the author of multiple books and a regular contributor to national publications with articles on issues of faith. Share Tweet Judicial Watch Uncovers Hidden Strzok Emails in Latest Production of Clinton-Lynch Tarmac Meeting Docs -- Strzok Email Suggests Clinton Investigation Decision Made in April 2016 WASHINGTON, June 7, 2018 / The FBI The new documents were obtained... Read more... Share Tweet Contact: Jill Farrell, Judicial Watch , 202-646-5188WASHINGTON, June 7, 2018 / Christian Newswire / -- Judicial Watch today released 16 pages of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) documents related to the June 2016 tarmac meeting between former Attorney General Loretta Lynch and former President Bill Clinton showing involvement of the FBI's former Chief of Counterespionage Peter Strzok.The FBI originally informed Judicial Watch they could not locate any records related to the tarmac meeting. However, in a related FOIA lawsuit , the Justice Department located emails in which Justice Department officials communicated with the FBI and wrote that they had communicated with the FBI. As a result, by letter dated August 10, 2017, the FBI stated, "Upon further review, we subsequently determined potentially responsive documents may exist. As a result, your [FOIA] request has been reopened ..." This is the second batch of documents the FBI produced since telling Judicial Watch they had no tarmac-related records.The new documents were obtained... Hindu extremists have launched series of arson and bomb attacks on four church buildings in Nepal this month. In addition, six Christians have been arrested for evangelizing. The attacks caused extensive property damage but no casualties. On May 9, the Hebron Church building in the eastern hilly region was set on fire. On the following day, Emmanuel Church's building in western Nepal's Doti District was attacked and set on fire. On May 11, the Kanchanpur Emmanuel Church building in the midwest hilly region was burned; and on May 12, the Mahima Church building in Dhangadhi, in western Nepal, was bombed. Also, on May 9 two Christians were arrested while singing worship songs on the street and allegedly proclaiming Christ, while four were arrested at their homes. They appeared in court on May 17, when their remand to jail was extended for seven more days. The miscreants burned the records of Kanchanpur Emmanuel Church, along with 300 kilograms of grain and electric appliances. Police have attributed the attacks to the Nepal Communist Party, known as the Biplab Group, but a formal statement on suspects has not been issued. But Christian leaders in Nepal suspect a coordinated campaign by Hindu extremists as there is similarity in the attacks. "Though it might appear that these attacks have been carried out by the same person, geographically this is not possible," said Pr B.P. Khanal of The Lord's Assembly told Morning Star News. "Which means that these are performed by people who are in a network and are well connected to each other," he added. Police are lax in investigating as government officials have told them to probe slowly, Tanka Subedi, chair of the Religious Liberty Forum Nepal (RLFN), told MSN. "They have not made any arrests yet, as it seems that they have been clearly notified to not carry out arrests in these cases," said Subedi. Hate campaigns against Christians on social media are gaining popularity. A recent social media movement with hashtag "Hindu Awakening against Conversion (Esai Karan ke Virudh Hindu Jagaran Abhiyaan)," is an open threat to attack and kill, said Khanal. "They have gathered a lot of support and fan-following from the Nepali masses," he said. "These attacks have not come upon the Nepali churches as a surprise, but these are well-planned and coordinated attacks against the Christian community, and the government is doing nothing about this," he added. Deadly waves of suicide bombings carried out by members of the same family have struck three churches in Indonesia on May 13 killing 13 people and injuring another 41. A family of six members, the youngest of whom were girls aged 9 and 12, and another person were killed in the attack on the churches during Sunday morning services in Surabaya, according to police. Indonesia's president condemned the attacks as "barbaric." National police chief Tito Karnavian said that members of one family carried out the suicide bombings. For their attacks, the father used a car bomb, two sons aged 18 and 16 denoted a motorcycle, and the mother and her two daughters wore explosives, Karnavian added. Police said it is one of the worst attacks since the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed over 200 people mostly foreign tourists. A pastor was saved by his wife from 25 masked Hindu extremists armed with wooden sticks who attacked a church service in Uttar Pradesh last month and beat up a 55-year-old man, leaving him unconscious. Women and children were not spared in the attack last month on the Full Gospel Pentecostal Church in Baburia Khera, UP, after which police treated the church members as criminals. Pr Kamlesh Kumar, the pastor of the church, was the main target for the attackers. "They were looking for the pastor, saying, 'We will kill him today,'" Kumar's wife, identified only as Shashikala, told Morning Star News. Her voice shaking, she said, "We had hidden him inside a room and locked the room from outside. They went on hunting for him everywhere. This is how we were able to save his life." To stop the attackers from beating the congregation in the April 29 assault, Ram Prasad, 55, intervened. The attackers seized him and beat him until he lost his consciousness. "I saw Ram Prasad fall on the floor bleeding profusely after being hit by a brick, but the attackers continued kicking him and hitting him with wooden sticks until he lay motionless on the floor," said Shashikala. They forced their way into neighboring homes in search of Kumar, terrifying the resident women and girls. "They manhandled women, beat them, pulled their clothes, spoke to them in a filthy language and disgraced them," Kumar told MSN. Chanting "Jai Shri Ram (Hail lord Ram)," they attacked the congregation, beating men, women and small children, he added. They also used bricks and church's chairs as weapons to attack. According to MSN, Prasad received stitches for his head wound, and several others sustained injuries requiring medical examination. Shashikala and three other women, identified as Mithlesh, Kalavati and Maya, received medical treatment. Police was called immediately but the officer who arrived rebuked the Christians for being an active church. "Instead of taking action against our plight," said Kumar, "the police began to question us as to, 'Why are you running a church? You are not supposed to worship here...otherwise you will get killed and we can do nothing to help you.'" The officer demanded Christians to "flee from the church," said Shashikala. Interrogating church members, he enquired them if they had been forcibly converted to Christianity. "The people told the police that none of them have been forced, but that they all come willingly," said Shashikala. "They told the interrogating police personnel that they come here for prayers and get healed from their diseases and get peace of mind," she added. Police have registered a First Information Report (FIR) but no arrests have been made, church leaders said. We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form We attempted to send a notification to your email address but we were unable to verify that you provided a valid email address. Please click here to update your email address if you wish to receive notifications. Otherwise, you may click here to disable notifications and hide this message. CRJM anunta concurs de selectare a unei companii sau persoane fizice care sa presteze servicii de traducere scrisa Prime Minister Theresa May speaks during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, London Many people, be they Remainers or Leavers, are sunk in depression over Brexit. What follows is a rousing speech Theresa May could give to lift our spirits and her political fortunes. This is the fourth major speech I have made about this countrys future after Brexit, and it is to my mind by far the most important. I accept many people feel a sense of drift. They accuse the Government of confusion and indecision. They believe our European partners are making all the demands, and we are making all the concessions. Some commentators even suggest we dont have much of a plan. They predict the proposals we unveil at the EU summit in late June will be negligible and immediately rejected. The time has come to set out some essential home truths. The first thing to say is that I am convinced this country will have a glorious future after we leave the EU. I voted Remain during the referendum, but the more I have thought about the opportunities ahead, the surer I have become that the British people made the right choice on June 23, 2016. I believe in Brexit. And, to be frank, the condescending, unbending and sometimes downright arrogant way in which European Commission officials have approached negotiations has not increased my admiration for the EU or its institutions. The latest insult fired in our direction by officials in Brussels is that we are chasing a fantasy. This is outrageous. I am a practical woman and we are a pragmatic people. We want a commonsense solution that benefits both Britain and Europe. Might it be that our friends in the Commission are accusing us of the very defect a lack of realism from which they themselves are suffering to an alarming degree? All over Europe, governments led by populists are openly challenging the EU and its diktats. The new government in Italy proposes the mass deportation of illegal immigrants in defiance of EU practice. There are serious questions over Italys continued membership of the euro. In Austria and Hungary and Poland and Slovenia and the Czech Republic, governments are springing up, elected by people who love their countries and are increasingly exasperated by interference from unelected Eurocrats with their unrealistic dreams of a European superstate. By the way, on the subject of dreamers, the Archbishop of Canterbury was silly to say the EU is mankinds greatest achievement since the fall of the Roman Empire. What about the Renaissance and the Enlightenment? Justin Welby didnt just loftily dismiss the 17.4 million people who voted for Brexit. He also overlooked the fact that 60 per cent of his own depleted Church of England flock are estimated to have done so. To return to those EU officials in Brussels. I suggest it is they who are the true fantasists. Isnt a smidgin of humility on their part in order as their ramshackle empire totters? Which brings me to Michel Barnier, the EUs supercilious chief negotiator, who has not gone to the bother of putting himself in front of electors for nearly two decades. Mr Barnier is a former Gaullist politician born into a Gaullist family. His hero, Charles de Gaulle, was a great Frenchman. He was, however, unable ever to thank Great Britain for the decisive role it played in saving his country from fascists some of whom were French. I wonder whether it ever occurs to Mr Barnier, and his jovial boss Jean-Claude Juncker, that they would not be standing where they are, haranguing the British people, if this country had not fought on alone after France capitulated to Hitler 78 years ago? The absence of any acknowledgement of historical debt is shocking. Like his idol and, one must regretfully add, some of his fellow countrymen Mr Barnier doesnt do gratitude. My own ruffled feathers are unimportant. But Britain is a great country with a proud history. Its government should not be dismissed as a contemptible supplicant or bankrupt banana republic, and its elected ministers patronised. As I have said before, no deal is better than a bad deal. We wont be browbeaten into accepting terms that would make it more difficult for us to pursue a prosperous path after Brexit. We wont submit to a public punishment beating. Glover is calling on the likes of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to 'countermand the destructive impulses of Brussels' In recent weeks, the Commission has shown appalling small-mindedness. It has doubted whether Britain can retain access to the European Arrest Warrant and Europol database. Does it want to boost terrorism? Brussels pours doubt on whether there can be a frictionless border between Northern Ireland and the Republic even though such a border exists, on a far bigger scale, between non-EU Switzerland and its EU neighbours. Let me emphasise that Northern Ireland is as much part of the United Kingdom as Surrey or Argyll, and a British government could never undermine its integrity. No French politician certainly not De Gaulle would compromise French territory. As for the Commission questioning whether Britain can remain part of the Galileo satellite project, which hopes to establish a rival system to the U.S.-run GPS network, I should be absolutely clear. If the Commission insists we leave this worthwhile project, we shall be presenting it with a bill for more than 1 billion, which represents the investment British taxpayers have made in Galileo. More precisely, we will be reducing the 40 billion which we have rather too generously, some might say agreed to pay the EU over a number of years by way of an exit fee. And because our admirable but sometimes over-accommodating Chancellor of the Exchequer may have given our EU colleagues the wrong impression, let me reiterate that if there is no deal, we shant pay Brussels a penny. Yet it need not come to that. I hope it doesnt. It remains in the interests of this country and our European friends to make a deal based on the uninterrupted and tariff-free movement of goods. That is what European companies want, as much as our own. On Tuesday, the head of Audi one of Germanys biggest carmakers called for a tariff-free trade deal with Britain that would preserve existing markets on both sides of the Channel. This is what many European politicians, alive to the interests of their businesses, also want. The trouble is that unelected and uncommercial officials at the Commission put ideological purity, and their desire to punish Britain, before workers wellbeing. We therefore ask Angela Merkel in Germany, the business-friendly Emmanuel Macron in France, and the new Eurosceptic government of Italy, to countermand the destructive impulses of Brussels and help forge an agreement in all our interests. I also believe EU countries rightly value our military prowess and intelligence capability, both of which are unequalled in Europe. Why on earth would they not wish to maintain so valuable a partnership? But if they are determined to try to humiliate our country even at the expense of their own economies and security, we will leave the EU without an agreement rather than accept abject conditions that might include the fragmentation of the United Kingdom. It goes without saying that we are making detailed contingency plans for no deal, and that stories of possible shortages of food and medicines are as irresponsible as they are unfounded. Unlike many on the Labour benches and a few misguided souls on my own, I have a deep faith in this countrys genius, and am proud of its great trading history. And I have no doubt our best days lie ahead after Brexit. Whether we like it or not, money makes the world go round. But for a staggering number of Australian adults, it seems their world may hardly be turning at all. In fact, new research announced on the Today Show recently revealed that an astounding 75 per cent of Australians are living with debt. Equally alarming is the revelation that a startling 50 per cent of us are saving nothing from one month to the next. Startling new research reveals worrying patterns in Australian's savings (or, rather, the lack thereof) The worrying statistics show that two in five Australians are living from pay check to pay check, with no savings whatsoever. And the average overdrawn Australian owes a staggering $600 by the end of every month. Discussing the issue on the Today Show, Australian financial adviser and business expert Jackson Millan believes that we need to understand what type of spender we are before we start trying to save. Mr Millan, self-proclaimed 'wealth mentor' and author of 'Enjoy The Journey: Creating Wealth and Living the Life You Desire', has classified consumers into seven distinct groups of spending. Jackson Millan (pictured), wealth management mentor and business expert 1. The Cash Splasher Do you like to 'make it rain'? Are you always first to the bar ordering drinks for a table of people who you don't know? Does money come in one hand and fly straight out the other? If you answered yes, then signs on it, you might be a cash splasher. Although these people are typically generous to a fault, Jackson Millan warns that they are a category of spender who can struggle to save. Mr Millan says that while cash splasher's can throw themselves into penny pinching in order to reach attain a specific goal, without a clear aim or significant event to save for they often lack motivation and throw their money around recklessly. Advice: Pause before swiping that card or parting with stacks of cash. Consider whether or not you really need to spend this money, and keep focused on long term goals such as paying off existing debts or buying a property. Drinks for everyone: The cash splasher doesn't discriminate with their generosity, which can leave them seriously short at the end of the month (stock image) 2. The 'Cash Makes Me Happier' We've all felt it at one point in our lives - the adrenaline rush you get from making a spontaneous purchase. Jackson Millan describes 'cash makes me happier' spenders as people who experience genuine elation when clutching handfuls of freshly bought merchandise. Retail therapy is a special treat for everyone, provided that it remains an occasional one and not a weekly occurrence. The more regular and frivolous the shopping gets, the more dangerous it becomes. Advice: Mr Millan recommends keeping a week-by-week diary of outgoings for this kind of spender. 'It is important to have the right cash flow structure in place to ensure you put a cap on your discretionary spending,' he warns. Mr Millan advises these people to make retail therapy a rare treat, not the norm Poll What kind of spender are you? The Cash Splasher The Cash Makes Me Happier The Cash Stasher The Ignorer The Chicken Little Investor The Midas The Points Accumulator What kind of spender are you? The Cash Splasher 0 votes The Cash Makes Me Happier 15 votes The Cash Stasher 18 votes The Ignorer 4 votes The Chicken Little Investor 4 votes The Midas 3 votes The Points Accumulator 8 votes Now share your opinion 3. The Ignorer We all know them: that person who is in total denial about the mounting pile of bills on the kitchen counter. Unfortunately, the Ignorer often allows their financial woes to spiral out of control to the point that they are seriously struggling to make ends meet. So, what does the expert suggest? Advice: Mr Millan's message for people who shy away from reality and responsibility is to wake up and take note of where their money is really going. Identify areas where you can make savings and always begin by paying off outstanding debt, says the finance guru. 4. The Points Accumulator Are 'free', 'bargain' or 'discount' your favourite words? Do signs announcing 'buy one get one free' offers set your heart racing? Do you get a thrill from swiping your credit card just to rack up shoppers rewards points? The 'Points Accumulator' generally has a tight control over their expenses, checking every receipt, bill and bank statement for errors. This type of spender is risk averse and has what Jackson Millan calls a 'scarcity mindset', an outlook which limits potential financial growth opportunities. Advice: Curb your obsession with earning 'points' and write down your major long-term financial goals. 'Centre this plan on what you ultimately wish to achieve,' Mr Millan urges. Reward hungry: Financial advice author Mr Millan urges shoppers obsessed with collecting loyalty points to make a clear plan for their financial goals Jackson Millan (above) guides struggling savers down the path to financial security 5. The 'Chicken Little' Investor People who get their kicks from investing and who can often be found reading finance magazines are what the wealth management expert refers to as 'Chicken Little Investors'. These types of spenders are prone to bragging about their investment skills, but usually share stories about their wins rather than their losses - which makes it easy to lose track of how much they are making and most importantly, spending without return. 'The problem with the Chicken Little Investor is that they aren't clear on what they're are working towards and will treat the investment itself as the destination,' explains Jackson Millan. Advice: Mr Millan says that people who identify with this type of spending should define their short-term and long-term goals in order to map out a viable financial plan. 'Don't be afraid to reach out to an expert for guidance,' the adviser added. 6. The Cash Stasher Mr Millan says that cash stashers are usually people from the Baby Boomer generation, who have lived through incredibly challenging periods of economic recession. Life experience has made these spenders risk averse, and they would much rather save money than think about investing it. Cash stashers are typically low in debt or debt free altogether, living comfortable lives and passing comments like 'the bubble will burst soon'. Cash stashers can be genuinely frightened of potentially lucrative investments because of what they have witnessed. Advice: 'Set goals, get educated and speak to an expert,' Mr Millan says. The expert advises stashers to assess possible avenues of financial growth rationally to ensure that they are not missing out on opportunities for exponential growth simply because they are afraid of loss. Pinching pennies is usually a good thing, although Mr Millan cautions that it can mean losing out on lucrative long-term financial opportunities 7. The Midas According to Mr Millan, there are two sides of a coin to the person with the Midas touch. The Midas lives a luxurious, materialistic and fulfilled life, doing great things to build their wealth and work towards the future, but they are often blindsided to how quickly their cash pile is depleting, warns the expert. Midas spenders are 'the ones who incorrectly perceive that everything he touches turns to gold,' Mr Millan warned, adding that they are often not as well off as they believe. 'You don't have a motivation problem, you have a vision problem and because of this, you find it hard to defer gratification or sacrifice your day-to-day lifestyle given you haven't worked out what you really want,' Mr Millan said. Advice: Take time out to make a list of what is fundamentally important to you, and write down the financial goals you hope to have accomplished in five or ten years time. Rank these aspirations in order of priority and significance, and structure your savings towards each aim accordingly. A 25-year-old woman who has battled alopecia since puberty has revealed the painstaking lengths she went to in order to hide her devastating hair loss. Jade Bell, from Burton on Trent, spent years coming up with inventive ways to cover her bald spots after she began to lose her hair at the age of ten. The IT worker told how she would style her hair in a side parting, sweep it back into a ponytail and cover it with hats to stop people from noticing the bald patches. Now, Jade has finally seen her hair grown back after trying a supplement recommended by her grandma. An estimated 8 million women in the UK suffer with hair loss and another 1 in 3 has thinning hair. Covering up: Jade Bell, from Burton on Trent, spent years coming up with inventive ways to cover her bald spots due to alopecia (pictured: hiding her hair loss with a side parting) Jade pictured in September 2017 (left), and in November 2017 (right), showing the bald patches on her scalp caused by alopecia which she would hide from friends and family She told MailOnline: 'I first started suffering from hair loss as a child, aged around 10 or 11 years old and now, as a 25 year old female it would be rather remiss of me not to say that my hair means absolutely everything to me. 'When the first signs of hair loss were apparent, I was just hitting puberty and perhaps under an amount of stress with school. 'I felt the pressure of leaving a small school and going to into a larger secondary school. 'I lost the complete underneath section of my hair which was absolutely devastating as i was self conscious anyway at that age. 'Of course the first port of call was to visit the doctors, who referred me to a specialist at my local hospital. The IT worker told how she would style her hair in a side parting, sweep it back into a ponytail and cover it with hats (pictured) to stop people from noticing the bald patches Jade with her boyfriend, covering her hair with a side parting. She told MailOnline: 'I first started suffering from hair loss as a child, aged around 10 or 11 years old' 'I had a couple of appointments but it was pretty clear that there wasn't a lot they could do. They prescribed me an ointment to help, and that was it. 'I didn't have many follow-ups afterwards and lost a lot of confidence that there was much else which could help. I just did everything I could to hide it. 'I would take hours each day pinning it into position to ensure there was no bald spot on show. I didn't tell many friends or family members as I was ashamed. 'My father suffered from alopecia at a relatively early age too so my family put it down to our genes and stress. 'However, for a young girl, the impact was much more obvious on me. Eventually, the hair grew back a little but it was never the same, and always patchy and wispy. Speaking about the painstaking process of covering her bald spots, Jade said: 'I would take hours each day pinning it into position to ensure there was no bald spot on show. I didn't tell many friends of family members as I was ashamed' Jade covered her hair with up-dos (pictured) and ponytails. She explained: 'I was feeling the stress of juggling work, relationships and paying bills - I generally felt a bit run down and over worked. Again, the hair loss became apparent in the form of growing bald patches' 'I have since suffered another two bouts of hair loss, my most recent being in the summer of 2017. 'I was feeling the stress of juggling work, relationships and paying bills - I generally felt a bit run down and over worked. Again, the hair loss became apparent in the form of growing bald patches. 'With my most recent bout, I discovered a bald patch around an inch wide on the top of my scalp - brilliantly placed I might add, I spent many an evening pinning my hair in different sections to hide it from view! 'I decided to take a couple of photos this time round just for my own interest - I was merely intrigued to see what was going on up there.' Last year, Jade began taking Nourkrin, a hair loss supplement recommended by her grandmother who had spotted it in a magazine. She embarked on a six-month course of the tablets, taking twice a day and 'never faltering' on a single dos. Jade (right) covering her patches with a ponytail. She said: 'I've suffered hair loss three times now over the years and whilst it's always been patchy I've always been saddened by the sudden [disappearance]' Jade now with her thick, full hair. She told MailOnline: 'Now a 25 year old female it would be rather remiss of me not to say that my hair means absolutely everything to me' Jade recalled: 'In time, my hair slowly but surely started to grow through the follicles again and grew back at a fairly steady pace. 'I still remember telling my hairdresser to avoid snipping the tufts of hair growing back through and watching her like a hawk with the scissors! 'I've suffered hair loss three times now over the years and whilst it's always been patchy I've always been saddened by the sudden [disappearance].' Jackie Tomlinson, Alopecia UK spokesperson and a dermatology specialist nurse at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, said: 'For women, there's a social stigma attached to going bald. 'Hair loss can affect your sensuality and how you perceive yourself. There are usually emotional trials and tribulations when it happens. 'Some women question whether their partner will still love them. I've known others become socially reclusive and give up enjoyable activities like swimming and going to the gym, because they can't bear using the communal changing rooms for fear of their hair loss being discovered.' Advertisement These poignant photos capture fathers spending their first precious moments with their newborn children. Smiling with laughter or solemn-faced with concern, the images reveal the range of emotions experienced by men in the days and hours after their child's birth. The photos were taken by photographer Adriana Zehbrauskas on maternity wards in five countries - Guinea Bissau, Mexico, Thailand, Turkmenistan and Britain. Zehbrauskas travelled with UNICEF to capture the images as part of a campaign by the charity encouraging fathers to play a more active role in their children's early years. Among the most moving images is a close-up of the hands of Jim Cherrett as he reaches through an incubator to stroke the skin of six-week-old daughter Piper, who was born premature at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital. Another shows father Rogelio Cruz Barrera moving tubes out of the way to kiss daughter Ximena after she and her twin were born prematurely in Mexico City. Meanwhile Supidej Jaithon, 20, of Chiang Mai, Thailand, grins up at his wife after defying his boss' orders leaving work to visit his newborn son in the hours after his birth. The fathers also share their feelings on holding their children - and their hopes for their futures. Paul Barnes does skin-to-skin contact with his son Archie, who was born prematurely, in the neonatal unit of the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, on 28 February 2018. He said: 'I've been here every day, I've been doing skin-to-skin, it helps him relax, it helps his brain function, I feel this connection with him, we are communicating through skin and our feelings, it's a true bonding experience, so warm' Jim Cherrett as he reaches through an incubator to stroke the skin of six-week-old daughter Piper, who was born premature at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital. He said: 'I'm going to be involved in any way I can, cuddles, reading to her, nappy changes, feeds, everything I can do I'll do it' Arif Somsingjai, 30, a construction worker, holds his two-day-old baby boy Karis, his second child, alongside his wife Chayanid Thaopan, 22, at the Regional Health Promotion Centre in Chiang Mai, Thailand. He said: 'I was happy when I held him for the first time. I think he looks like me. I think it's important that I'm a good father and a good leader of the family' Rogelio Cruz Barrera holds one of his twins born prematurely, a baby girl named Ximena, at the Instituto Nacional de Perinatologia (INPER) hospital, in Mexico City, Mexico, on 21 February 2018. He said: 'I think that we dads also have a very important part even though we do not carry the baby in our womb like moms' Juelmo Tchana Ncus smiles as a family member gives him his newborn baby to hold, in Mother Teresa of Calcutta Maternity Hospital in the town of Bula, in the northern Cacheu Region of Guinea-Bissau on 21 March 2018. Juelmo , 31, said he was very happy when he heard his first child was going to be born, and that he was concerned about the health situation of his wife and child. He did not enter the delivery room, but stayed there before and after the birth of his child James Bennett holds his one day-old baby James, in a private room in the maternity ward of the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital in February 2018. He said: 'I'm a civil servant and I've got paternity leave, my work has been supportive as soon. He added: 'I'll settle for healthy and happy for James, everything else is a bonus' Nathan holds his baby Ted, who was born prematurely at 29 weeks, one evening in the neonatal section of the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital in February. Ted was born in December and he's been in hospital since. Nathan said: 'The first time you hold your new baby is one of the best feelings ever... it feels like you're being given someone you already know' Alex Edmonds Brown holds his son Harley James, on the maternity ward of the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital in February 2018. Alex, a tank driver, took two weeks of maternity leave when he son was born. He said: 'I go to work and I come here after I finish work and spend the whole evening with him. At the moment I'm just changing him and feeding him. I've been doing the skin to skin contact, and giving him lots of cuddles. It's so incredible to have something so precious so close to you' Explaining his connection with his daughter, he said: 'Skin-to-skin feels a lot different than just holding a baby for a cuddle, it feels a lot more connected, it seems a lot more tranquil and peaceful, you focus a lot more, and appreciate how tiny they really are' Paul Barnes, pictured with son Archie, who was born prematurely at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital. He added: 'I was scared that our time in the hospital would be painstakingly slow, like we were just waiting to take him home, but with the skin-to-skin and the care my days in the hospital fly by' Eli Rodriguez Zempahua, 22 with his wife Lucia and newborn baby girl Mage Rodriguez Trinidad at the Zongolica IMSS Prospera Hospital in Zongolica, Veracruz, Mexico Yair Cruz, 26, holds his newborn baby girl Mia Gisele, his third child, at the Instituto Nacional de Perinatologia (INPER) hospital, in Mexico City, Mexico, on 21 February 2018 Gerardo Brito Rodriguez tends to his 13-day-old daughter Diana Brito Munoz in the neonatal unite at the Instituto Nacional de Perinatologia (INPER) hospital, in Mexico City, Mexico, on 21 February 2018 New father Shageldi, centre, carries his baby boy through the maternity unit of the Mother and Child Health Centre in Goekdepe, Turkmenistan, on 30 March 2018 FatherArslan, 38, and mother Alina, 33, welcome Damir, their second child, at the Mother and Child Health Centre in Goekdepe, Turkmenistan, on 30 March 2018 Babies are taken from the Mother and Child Health Centre in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan with much fanfare. Mothers and babies change into nice clothes and embellished cars wait for departure from the hospital A young man sits with his newborn baby in his lap, on the edge of a bed where the child's mother is resting at the UNICEF-supported Canchungo Hospital, in the northern Cacheu Region of Guinea-Bissau on 22 March 2018 New fathers are shown how to correctly hold their newborn babies at the Regional Health Promotion Centre in Chiang Mai, Thailand on 8 March 2018. Jumphon Parkmnoi, 27, right, said: 'When I learned I was going to be a dad, I was happy. I've been with my wife for 12 years and we didn't have a child. I want to be with the baby and do everything with her' Sai Tlen, 38, meets his newborn daughter, after his wife is wife underwent a c-section, at the Regional Health Promotion Centre in Chiang Mai, Thailand, on 8 March 2018. He said: 'It is a bit of a shame that my baby isn't that healthy so I have not held her yet. I only touched her a little' Somsak Hameyai, 50, bathes his two-day-old son Sailom, his first child, during a bathing class for parents at the Regional Health Promotion Centre in Chiang Mai, Thailand, on 7 March 2018. He said: 'I didn't go into the delivery room because it was a C-section - I was outside. It was a 10pm. I was nervous while waiting because I wanted to see the baby's face. The hospital don't allow visits after 8pm, so I saw my baby the next day. I couldn't sleep all night because I was so excited to see him' Supidej Jaithon, 20, also known as Boss, and his wife Nartanana look at their newborn baby Matt, born a few hours earlier, at Lerdsin Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand, on 6 March 2018. The new father said: 'I came to see my baby's face. My boss didn't allow me to take the day off because I had lots of work, but I don't care, my family comes first' Queer Eye's Fab Five have candidly shared their coming-out stories, recounting the emotional trials, the fears, and the empowering feelings they experienced when first telling other people about being gay. Antoni Porowski, 34, Karamo Brown, 37, Tan France, 35, Bobby Berk, 36, and Jonathan Van Ness, 31, all opened up about their coming-out process in a moving video for Bustle, in order to mark Pride Month. 'I don't think anybody should judge anybody's coming-out story,' Antoni, Queer Eye's culinary expert, said at the beginning of the clip. Scroll down for video Sharing: Antoni Porowski, 34, Queer Eye's culinary expert, opened up about coming out as gay in a new video marking Pride Month Relatives: Karamo Brown, 37, the show's culture expert, said: 'I come from a Jamaican family, and in Jamaica, there is some homophobia, and my father subscribed to that' Painful memories: Jonathan Van Ness, 31, Queer Eye's grooming expert, recounted being harassed by other children back when he was in school The food and drink connoisseur, who has been with his boyfriend, Joey Krietemeyer, for seven years, said this was only the second time he has ever discussed his coming out publicly. 'I was really uncomfortable when I got this job and people asked me what show I was on. I would whisper "Queer Eye", like I had some shame with the word,' he said. Antoni, who has been open about having dated both men and women prior to his current relationship, added: 'I always like to focus on the person that I'm with and not necessarily their gender. 'Today, I'm in a gay relationship so I guess that makes me gay and we've been together seven years. And, yeah, he's the love of my life.' He added: 'The word "queer", I used to say with such shame. And now I say it with more pride.' Process: Tan France, 35, the show's stylist, said he expected to be 'disowned' when he first came out as gay, but received the 'best response' when he told someone for the first time Telling his story: Bobby Berk, 36, the show's decorator, has opened up on the show about struggling to accept his own sexuality after growing up in a strongly religious family Team work: On Queer Eye (picture), Karamo, Antoni, Tan, Bobby, and Jonathan collaborate to make over other men and help them get a new lease on life Karamo, who acts as the show's resident culture expert, recently got engaged to his partner of eight years, director Ian Jordan. 'My coming-out story seems like it's still happening today,' he told the camera. The licensed social worker added: 'I come from a Jamaican family, and in Jamaica, there is some homophobia, and my father subscribed to that.' For Karamo, RuPaul was an influential figure who helped him feeling more at ease with his won sexuality. 'It was something about seeing this African-American be confident and talk openly about being part of the LGBTQI community,' he recounted. 'So I started to test the waters with friends. Slowly but surely they would say "Oh, yes. We're cool with that."' Jonathan, Queer Eye's grooming expert, recounted being harassed by other children back when he was in school. 'Kids would ask if I was gay. Any name in the book you can think of, they asked if that's what I was,' he said. 'By the time I was eight or nine, I got tired of saying no, so I just started saying "Yes I am gay" when everyone would ask 17 times a day. Every day was so full of slurs and verbal abuse.' Partners: Antoni has been with his boyfriend, Joey Krietemeyer (right), for seven years Congrats! Karamo is engaged to his partner of eight years, director Ian Jordan (right) Eventually, Jonathan said he was able to become more confident, adding: 'My strength and my truth came from when I realized that the one with the issues was not me.' Bobby has been married to his husband, Dewey, for 14 years. The decorator, who has opened up on the show about struggling to accept his own sexuality after growing up in a strongly religious family, recounted running away from his hometown aged 15. 'I didn't come out when I left, I just left,' he said. During an episode of Queer Eye, Bobby explained in a heart-wrenching conversation he used to pray God not to 'make him' gay. 'I kind of got outed, actually, to my family,' he added in Bustle's video. 'I get back to my parents' house and I remember my mom just looking at me and she's like, "I know and it disgusts me." And I just picked my bags up and walked right back out the door.' Going way back: Tan has been married to his husband, Rob (right), for 10 years Spouses: Bobby tied the knot with his husband, Dewey (pictured right), 14 years ago He still shared a hopeful message, adding: 'My parents have broadened their mind a lot. For all those people who are sitting in those little bitty towns, not wanting to come out because you're scared: hang in there.' Tan, the show's stylist, said he expected to be 'disowned' when he first came out as gay. 'I come from a Middle Eastern background, a really religious background, and so telling people was hard,' Tan, who was born in England to Pakistani parents, added. The stylist, who has been married to his husband, Rob, for 10 years, explained that the first time he told someone else he was gay, he did so by text, because he couldn't bring himself to say it. 'I was expecting some kind of adverse reaction. She said, "Tell me more about him." And that was the best response I could have gotten,' he recounted. Tan also shared his advice for other people thinking about coming out, telling them: 'Don't ever let somebody make you feel like you're not strong and you're not powerful just because you haven't come out. Take your time.' While sex drive does come and go, one young woman has had a non-existent libido for the past six months. In a letter to New Zealand-based relationship psychologist, Robyn Salisbury, the worried 20-year-old said she was still 'attracted' to her boyfriend yet had no desire for intimacy. After noticing that her 'want' for sexual pleasure had been absent for more than six months, the woman became concerned that this level of disinterest was not usual for a girl of her age and it had started to impact her relationship. In a letter to New Zealand based relationship psychologist, Robyn Salisbury, a worried 20-year-old woman said she was still 'attracted' to her boyfriend yet had no desire for intimacy (stock) 'I love my partner and am still largely attracted to him... it's starting to worry me as I want to be able to fulfil his needs,' she wrote to Mrs Salisbury as part of her Stuff.co.nz column. 'I have previously been on a contraceptive pill and thought that the pill may be the reason as it mixes with my hormones; however even since changing it I still have no urge,' she continued. So is it really possible that popping a tiny pill could be the reason behind her vanishing sex drive? According to a 2013 study published in the European Journal of Contraception and Reproductive Healthcare, just 15 per cent of women surveyed reported a significant drop in their libido after starting to take oral contraceptives (stock) According to a 2013 study published in the European Journal of Contraception and Reproductive Healthcare, just 15 per cent of women surveyed reported a significant drop in their libido after starting to take oral contraceptives. In her reply, Mrs Salisbury noted that taking the pill impacts every woman differently. 'When you stop taking it, it can be a while before your hormonal function returns to normal,' she added, before encouraging the concerned woman to consult with her GP who would be best placed to deal with the query. The good news is that the vast majority of scientific research finds no link between oral contraceptives and a loss of sex drive. The hormones in oral contraceptive pills can cause mood swings and changes within the body (stock) Dr Kristen Mark, a researcher at the Journal of Sexual Medicine, says that a woman's sexual desire is 'not fixed' throughout life and can naturally increase and decrease in waves with age. 'The message that hormonal pills decrease desire is really prevalent, but our findings are clear: the pill doesn't kill desire,' Dr Mark reported. Mrs Salisbury urged the young woman to remember that libido is governed by a wide variety of different factors and reassured her that 'tides in desire are normal'. 'Couples need to discuss each other taking responsibility for their own sexual needs when tides don't coincide. Your task is to reclaim your body and her sexual energy first for yourself,' Mrs Salisbury concluded. Curious home chefs have been trying to whip up their own recipes to replicate their favourite McDonald's treats for generations. And now an Australian man seems to have cracked the fast food chain's secret recipe to make the restaurant chain's famous Sweet and Sour Sauce at home. Taking to Homemade McDonald's Facebook page, foodie Paul shared his recipe to create the condiment using pantry ingredients. Paul created his own version of the famous Sweet and Sour Sauce using pantry ingredients For generations, millions of people have tried to crack the fast food chain's secret recipes Paul's homemade Sweet and Sour sauce 1/2 cup apricot jam (St Dalfour) 2 tablespoons liquid glucose (corn-based) 5 teaspoons rice wine vinegar 1 1/2 teaspoons cornflour 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce 1/2 teaspoon French's yellow mustard 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder 2 tablespoons water Combine all ingredients except the water in a food processor or a blender and puree until the mixture is smooth. Pour the mixture into a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the water, stir, and bring mixture to a boil. Allow it to boil for five minutes, stirring often. When the sauce has thickened, remove it from the heat and let it cool. Advertisement He made the sauce using apricot jam, glucose, rice wine vinegar, cornflour, soy sauce, mustard, garlic powder and a pinch of salt. Combining all the ingredients in a food processor, he blended everything together until the mixture turned into a puree. Next, he pour the mixture into a saucepan over medium heat, before adding water. He brought the mixture to boil, stirring often until the sauce thickens. 'Something was missing and I then, I had a eureka moment... A splash of pickle juice,' he said. 'At this point I added approximately one to two table spoons of dill pickle juice (Always Fresh Dill Pickles) which to me, made it taste far more maccas-like [sic].' He rated his creation on presentation and taste nine out of 10. Another foodie Leanne also shared her version of the recipe after attempting to create the iconic condiment in her kitchen. 'I made some sweet and sour sauce to go with our chips,' she said. 'I used corn syrup, apricot jam, garlic powder, salt, mustard,apple vinegar, corn flour and soy and blended together before putting on the hob with some water and cooking slowly until it thickened.' She gave her sauce an eight out of 10 for taste and looks. Another foodie Leanne also shared her version of the iconic Sweet and Sour Sauce at home The latest recipes comes as thousands of Australians work together to experiment their own take of the chain's mouthwatering recipes at home. So far, many claim to have made almost identical 'dupes' to top selling items including the chain's famed chicken nuggets, Big Mac sauce, McMuffins, McFlurry flavours and chicken burgers. Previously speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Joel said he feels as though people could really benefit from the Facebook page. 'You know, I'm a big fan of McDonald's and most fast food outlets actually. I like the consistency though which is where McDonald's would sometimes let me down,' he said. 'No cheese, not sauced well enough, forgot the dipping sauce and you don't notice until you're home with the food. I could go on. I figured if I could make it myself I could perfect it.' With the secrets to the mouthwatering McDonald's recipes kept under lock and key, one group of Australians have decided to experiment and attempt to work it out for themselves The brainchild of an avid McDonald's fan in Melbourne, Facebook group Homemade McDonald's now has almost 25,000 members working together to crack the chain's secrets (pictured are the ingredients one member used to make 'Big Mac Sauce' The 'rules' of the group are quite simple and require members to share only food ideas from the McDonald's menu - current or previous - and share 'bite photos' of their creations. 'Posts that do not contain cooks must show a basic constructive discussion to a potential cook. If you're not able to make the meal yourself then call a "CHALLENGE",' the rules read. 'Must post ingredients & rating /10, yes you can replicate items on the drinks and dessert menu, vegetarian/vegan substitutes are acceptable, but a level of aesthetic replication must be upheld.' Your toilet habits can reveal a lot about your health. And although it can be a little embarrassing to bring them up, it's important to be aware of your bowel and bladder habits and what optimal functioning looks like. So, to help people gain a greater understanding of their bodies, Australian GP, Dr Evelyn Lewin, recently revealed how often people should be heading to the bathroom each day and some red flags to be aware of. On average, people will need to go to the bathroom around six to seven times every 24 hours but this can var To start, the doctor explained what 'normal' bladder habits look like for adults. 'Most need to start their day needing to empty their bladder... and then after somewhere between four and ten times a day,' she told Body + Soul. On average, she said people will need to go to pass urine around six to seven times every 24 hours - but this can vary. She said factors such as age, whether you are pregnant, the types of fluid you drink and medications and medical conditions can affect this amount. And the number of times people go to the toilet can also be affected by whether or not the bladder is weak. 'If you're used to dashing to pee every time you feel the slightest urge to go, chances are you pass urine more times a day than someone who has "trained" their bladder to hold onto more fluid before emptying,' she said. Drinking coffee can make you go to the toilet more often because it is a diuretic She said if this is the case, it's possible to 'train' the bladder to hold more urine by delaying heading to the toilet at the first sign you need to go. Dr Lewin (pictured) said should pay heed to changes in their bathroom habits Dr Lewin advised starting with five-minute increments first before building up to longer periods and seeking help from a woman's physiotherapist if needed. She also said the number of times you need to urinate could point to a health problem like diabetes - especially if you found yourself constantly thirsty and drinking more fluid. The GP said if you had the feeling of needing to go to the bathroom a lot only pass a small amount of urine each time, followed by a burning sensation, this could be a sign you are suffering a urinary tract infection (UTI). Dr Lewin said if this was the case, or if your urine was cloudy or had blood in it, you should seek help as soon as possible. Dr Lewin said bowel habits were different for each person but if you noticed any changes to talk to a doctor about your concerns Dr Lewin also revealed how often men and women should be opening their bowels. She said when it comes to this, it's important to remember that everyone is different. 'Some people open their bowels once a day. For others, it's more than once a day. Then there are those who only go once or twice a week,' she said. Three of the most common health myths revealed: You don't need to drink eight glasses of water a day: Australian dietitian Gabrielle Maston said there is actually no scientific evidence supporting this claim, however, she said you do need to make sure you stay hydrated Being cold doesn't make you catch a cold: The colder temperature has very little to do with the likelihood of your catching a cold or flu. We become infected with cold viruses, known as 'rhinoviruses,' through physical contact or being in the same space as infected people Eating eggs are bad for the heart: In the past there has been debate about egg consumption over concern eggs raise blood cholesterol levels. New evidence suggests suggests there is no link between eating lots of eggs and cholesterol imbalance or increased risk of heart problems and type 2 diabetes Advertisement She said if you are tracking how often you go and notice you haven't been for a while, this could indicate constipation. Her advice for keeping yourself regular is to ensure you eat foods high in fibre (fruit, vegetables and whole grains) exercise and drink plenty of water to keep stools soft. Dr Lewin said a change in bowel movements should also be noted as this could be a sign of a health problem. Her advice for keeping yourself regular is to ensure you eat foods high in fibre (fruit, vegetables and whole grains) exercise and drink plenty of water to keep stools soft She also said frequent loose, watery stools could indicate infection or illness. Blood in the stools may be due to haemorrhoids, or a more concerning cause. If you are experiencing bouts of diarrhoea alternating with constipation, she said this may be evidence of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Lastly, her advice to anyone who may be worried or have any concerns about any changes is to see a doctor and get checked out. Chontel Duncan is a busy woman running her lucrative gyms while raising two young sons. But the 28-year-old doesn't let her career come before her health and regularly hits the weights for painful - but effective - HIIT routines. Duncan posted a transformation picture on her Instagram account on Thursday showing why progress snaps are more effective in judging your body than scales. Duncan is about the same weight in both photos - 70 to 71kg. Scroll down for video She posted a transformation picture to her Instagram account on Thursday which shows why progress snaps are so much more effective in judging your body than the scales are 'Just a little reminder that scales don't justify your success,' she explained under the photo. 'Here are two clear examples of how 70-71 kilos looks on me. Now I know I definitely would rather the right image. 'Ignoring the physical differences, the way I feel internally, how strong and fit I feel, how alive I feel and my bodies overall health is incredibly better in the right image.' 'Just a little reminder that scales don't justify your success,' she explained under the photo CHONTEL'S DAY ON A PLATE Breakfast 2 whole eggs 2 pieces of rye toast Half a tomato Brown onion Mushrooms 20g Cheese WPI shake with choc greens powder Morning tea 6 Curry Pumpkin Bites Steamed veggies 120g rice Lunch Black bean & beetroot burger pattie 20g cheese 1 barley wrap Spinach, tomato, onion, capsicum Afternoon tea 4 Quorn Nuggets Steamed Veggies (peas, beans, corn & broccoli) 120g rice Dinner Veggie Vitality burger from Grill'd Dessert Choc coconut protein mousse 50g strawberries 50g banana Advertisement The Queensland-based local said she analysed her body on a composition scanner to 'check in on her three week progression' The Queensland-based local said she analysed her body on a composition scanner to 'check in on her three week progression'. 'I wanted to share it with you because I thought it could help someone out there working hard towards a goal,' she said. 'In three weeks I put on 200 grams of scale weight, put on 1.8 kilos of skeletal muscle mass, dropped 3.2 per cent body fat, dropped 2.2 kilos of pure fat and decreased my visceral fat level from 5 to level 3.' Some of her 570,000 followers were astounded at how much her body could change in less than a month Some of her 570,000 followers were astounded at how much her body could change in less than a month. 'Most women would kill for the first picture. You look amazing,' one woman commented. 'Love this!! It's so true!! The scale doesn't always reflect how much you've changed your body! I love that you put your actual weight too,' another added. 'So just remember you are running your own race, no one can compare to you and SCALE WEIGHT can not justify your success,' Chontel finished her post. Five-year-old Milan Mai was preparing to attend her own fundraising night this coming Saturday - dubbed Milan's Miracle - in an effort to fund her aggressive brain cancer treatment. Tragically, the little girl from Sydney's South has died just two days out from the event. Her official Facebook page announced the heartbreaking news on Thursday, saying she had 'gained her wings and is now a real Angel flying high.' On Saturday night five-year-old Milan Mai (pictured) was preparing to attend her own fundraising night Her official Facebook page announced the heartbreaking news on Thursday, saying she had 'gained her wings and is now a real Angel flying high' (Milan Mai pictured) 'She fought until the very last breath. Please understand Marilee can not respond at this time as this is absolutely devastating,' the status update read. Marilee is Milan's 34-year-old mother, who has been valiantly fighting her cancer battle while raising two other children. Posting to her daughter's GoFundMe page, Marilee explained how her 'eldest child, violinist and ballet dancer' came to be diagnosed with a rare and terrifying brain tumour. Posting to her daughter's GoFundMe page, Marilee explained how her 'eldest child, violinist and ballet dancer' came to be diagnosed with a rare and terrifying brain tumour 'She fought until the very last breath. Please understand Marilee can not respond at this time as this is absolutely devastating,' the status update read It started when Milan began complaining of frequent headaches and fell asleep at a birthday party. Marilee knew immediately something was wrong. 'Our world came crashing down July 17, 2017, with her diagnosis of Medulloblastoma - a very aggressive brain tumour. Her prognosis was supposed to be good with an 80 per cent cure rate,' the page explained. 'Our world crashed again when she relapsed with metastasis and leptomeningeal spread during the end of radiation treatment last year. Prognosis now not so good.' The doctors at the Sydney Children's Hospital in Randwick told the family they'd 'never seen anything like it.' The doctors at the Sydney Children's Hospital in Randwick told the family they'd 'never seen anything like it' (Milan in the middle with her siblings) Medical professionals gave the little girl months to live, buying her time with costly and debilitating chemotherapy treatments 'After three rounds of intensive chemo, she now has widespread leptomeningeal disease. Unfortunately, there is no cure. Prognosis is even worse now.' Medical professionals gave the little girl months to live, buying her time with costly and debilitating chemotherapy treatments. 'We pray to God with all our hearts that it somehow kills off the disease for good, or at least long enough for us to try a new treatment,' the fundraising page said at the time. 'All donations will go to searching healing or curative therapies for Milan whether it be here in Australia or overseas. If we have to go overseas it will cost big time. But what price is a life? Let alone a child's life? The charity night this Saturday, which was supposed to be held at Penshurst RSL, has not yet been cancelled and further updates will likely be posted to the page Previously, Marilee told Kidspot if they'd waited a week after noticing the headaches last year 'they would have lost her' But since that time her and husband Minh have 'just been existing' and finding ways to keep Milan 'happy and alive' 'It will also be used to try and bring big smiles to Milan's face.' The charity night this Saturday, which will be held at Penshurst RSL, will go on in her honour. 'Our main focus for the event on Saturday will now be to celebrate her life and how hard she fought throughout her journey. We will also be showing a tremendous amount of support for Milan's family and friend's, the organisers said. Previously, Marilee told Kidspot if they'd waited a week after noticing the headaches last year 'they would have lost her.' But since that time her and husband Minh have 'just been existing' and finding ways to keep Milan 'happy and alive.' If you would like to donate to the Mai family's GoFundMe page you can do so here. At the tender age of 16, Amber Luke developed an addiction to tattoos. Fast forward seven years, the now 23-year-old looks unrecognisable after she got more than 50 inkings on her body, including her blue tattooed eyeballs. The body piercer, from the Central Coast in NSW, has splashed out more than $10,000 transforming her look - even undergoing an extreme body modification where she got her tongue split and earlobes stretched. Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, the young woman - dubbed 'Blue Eyes White Dragon' - said she has 'no regrets whatsoever'. 'I'm absolutely in love with my image,' she said. Scroll down for video Amber Luke (pictured) has more than 50 tattoos on her body, including her forehead and arms Looking at an old picture of herself, Amber said she thought she looked 'plain' and 'boring' She even undergoing an extreme body modification where she got her tongue split Amber Luke's $10,000 body modification Tongue split Pointed implants in ears Pierced forehead, chest, lip, cheek, wrist and arm Earlobes stretched More than 50 tattoos, including on her chest, neck, stomach, arms, forehead, fingers, thighs, sternum, bottom and hands Advertisement She explained the meaning behind her nickname: 'I got the name "Blue Eyed White Dragon" from my friends, they call me that because I resemble a dragon with my eyes and tongue.' Reflecting back at old pictures of herself, Amber said: 'I see myself as very plain looking when looking at before and after photos, I absolutely hated the way I used to look. I was boring.' Amber - who has more than 21,000 followers on Instagram - said she was inspired to get her first tattoo when she was a teenager. 'As soon as I turned 16, I was inspired by those around me to get tattooed. I craved to know what the feeling was like,' Amber recalled. 'I developed an addiction at 16 years of age. By the time I hit 18, I already had three tattoos. And when I turned 18, I decided to get my first big piece. 'Now, I have over 50 tattoos, I haven't been able to count all of them.' The now 23-year-old woman now looks unrecognisable after she got more than 50 inkings Before and after: The young woman has undergone a transformation, including face tattoos Amber said her friends call her 'Blue Eyed White Dragon' because she resembles a dragon She has also risked going permanently blind after getting her eyeballs tattooed with blue ink. 'The procedure for getting my eyes done was only 40 minutes,' she said. 'It was very intense and very painful. My eyes got held open while a syringe was injected into my eye four times per eye. I was blind for three weeks.' Embarking on her incredible body transformation, Amber went under the knife to modify her tongue split and get 'pointy' ears. 'My tongue split was very uncomfortable as well, I wasn't able to speak or eat for a week afterwards,' she said. 'My ears were a very simple procedure; a silicone implant was inserted into the tips of my ears to shape them.' She has also risked going permanently blind after getting her eyeballs tattooed with blue ink Amber said her friends and family, including her mother, have been extremely supportive The body piercer, from NSW, has splashed out more than $10,000 transforming her look Astonishingly, Amber said she has been met with positive feedback from her friends and family, including her supportive mother. 'My friends have all been very supportive of my modifications, and my mum has been my biggest supporter since day one,' she said. 'My mum cried when she found out that I tattooed my eyeballs, but then she came around. 'I have plenty of people who try to bring me down because of the choices I've made to my body, but that's just it; its my body. 'I also have a lot of positivity surrounding my image. People are often fascinated rather discriminatory towards me.' Amber explained her inspiration stemmed from Australian man Ethan Bramble, 21, who calls himself the 'world's most modified youth', after he got more than 40 body modification procedures. 'He has his eyes blacked out and I was originally going to black my eyes out as well until my body mod artist convinced me to go blue because it would make my natural eye colour pop,' she said. Before and after: The young woman has been documenting her transformation on Instagram Amber said she 'absolutely loves' her transformation and she has 'no regrets' with her decision At the tender age of 16, Amber Luke developed an addiction for tattoos. And fast forward, she now has more than 50 tattoos all over her body Before and after: Amber taking a mirror selfie of herself - the start of her body transformation So what's next on the agenda? 'I plan on sharpening my two fang teeth into vampire teeth,' she said. 'I'm planning on getting tattooed tomorrow actually, getting more on my right leg. 'I draw the line with body modifications when it comes to implants in the skin. I was going to get horns implanted but changed my mind as I don't think I would suit it.' For those who are interested to get body modification, Amber urged: 'Do your research before committing to anything. 'You must find an artist that you can trust and bond with,' she said. 'Same goes for tattooing, you must do your research before getting anything done, make sure you sit on the decision for a while before acting on it.' Barack Obama joked about the Queen's 'bling' during his UK state visit in 2011 - and kept the mouse found in their Buckingham Palace suite secret from Michelle. The president's former national security advisor Ben Rhodes has made the revelations in his new book, entitled The World As It Is: A Memoir of the Obama White House. Rhodes described how Obama told him that he 'loved the Queen', even comparing her to his grandmother. He said that when the US leader was informed by a butler about a mouse in their room in Buckingham Palace, Obama replied: 'Dont tell the First Lady.' Barack Obama joked about the Queen's 'bling' during his three-day state visit in the UK in 2011 The President also kept a mouse found in their Buckingham Palace suite secret from from wife Michelle (above, during the state visit in 2011) According to the People, Rhodes recalls in his new book how Obama pointed to the Queen's impressive jewellery collection during the state visit in 2011. The security advisor had quipped the monarchy 'really is a dying empire', Obama responded 'No, theyve still got a lot going on. Did you see the bling on the queen?' Meanwhile, the President was reportedly informed by a mouse in their suite while wife Michelle was getting ready for bed in another room. When the butler reassured him 'Well try to catch it, sir', Obama is said to have replied: 'Just dont tell the First Lady.' Obama also described how he 'really loves' the Queen, comparing her to his grandmother Obama also spoke about his admiration for the Queen, telling Rhodes: 'I really love the Queen. 'Shes just like Toot, my grandmother. Courteous. Straightforward. All about what she thinks. She doesnt suffer fools.' Obama and wife Michelle first met the Queen at Buckingham Palace in 2009, ahead of a G20 summit. The First Lady famous broke royal protocol by putting her arm around the monarch during the reception. The Obamas first met the Queen in 2009, before returning to the UK for the 2011 state visit The Obamas later came to UK for a three-day state visit in 2011, when they enjoyed a glitzy banquet at the Palace hosted by the Queen. The couple have maintained a close relationship with the royal family since then, particularly through their involvement in the Invictus Games, set up by Prince Harry. There had been speculation over whether they would be attending the royal wedding last month. However, the Obamas are believed to have been left off the guest list to prevent a diplomatic vow, as President Donald Trump was not invited. Those with a kinky disposition and a taste for the finer things in life can now splash out 7,200 on a suitcase full of luxury sex toys. Swedish luxury intimate lifestyle brand LELO has launched its 15th Anniversary Collection, which goes on sale on 20th June, comprising of a sleek suitcase housing 12 'electrifying elegant pleasure objects'. A limited edition set in pink and 18K rose gold, with only 200 available, will cost 7,199. For those one tighter budget, you can snap up one of 800 black cases for a slightly less eye-watering price of 1,749. Even those familiar with the 50 Shades of Grey series of books may struggle to identify some of the more exotic items housed within. Swedish luxury intimate lifestyle brand LELO has launched its 15th Anniversary Collection, featuring 12 very raunchy products, including a leather blindfold A leather Kie Eye Mask that will leave the wearer completely blindfolded, handcuffs and a feather teaser are among the more 'tame' offerings. It also features a Jarlsgatan Flogger with suede tassels for delivering 'light punishment' and Ben Wa Balls, which are designed to be inserted in the vagina. Other products include an Ax Multi-Massager hat vibrates internally and externally at the same time and a dual-action massager with eight different vibrating settings The pink and 18K rose gold kit, with only 200 available, costs 7,199 - but how many of the items within can you identify? A pair of rose gold handcuffs is one of the more 'tame' items in the box The brand boasts that the kit epitmosises LELO's contribution to the pleasure industry by celebrating its commitment to 'boundary-breaking innovation'. LELO currently sells one of the most expensive vibrators in the world - a 24-karat gold plated model costing more than 11,000. Set up by two industrial designers and an engineer, the brand is known for its high concept designs. Charles and Camilla sampled local Cornish produce this morning as they kicked off a busy day of royal duties. The couple, who are known as the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall when visiting the region, are touring the historic county as part of Charles' extended 70th birthday celebrations ahead of his big day in November. Camilla, 70, looked elegant in a blush pink dress coat from couturier Fiona Clare teamed with a taupe handbag, while Charles was smart in a charcoal suit. The couple began their day at the Royal Cornwall Show, an annual celebration of the very best in Cornish agriculture and food and has been running since 1793. It will be the couple's first visit for nine years, according to Cornwall Live. Scroll down for video Say cheese! Camilla, 70, could be seen sampling the local delicacies including a wheel of cheese after touching down at the Royal Cornwall Show on Thursday The Duchess tries out some local produce. Camilla, 70, looked elegant in a blush pink dress coat teamed with a taupe handbag, while Charles was smart in a charcoal suit Camilla took a particular interest in a stand that was selling freshly-baked cookies decorated with white chocolate chips and dark chocolate icing Travelling in style: Evidently reluctant to enjoy the show on foot, Camilla got a lift in a buggy as she toured the Royal Cornwall Show Meet and greet: Prince Charles shook hands with a furry mascot as he attended the event Engaged: The royal looked interested as he stopped to speak to stall owners at the event Prince Charles admired the offering of fried foods also available at the county show Delighted: The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall beamed as they took in the action at the show The three-day show, this year taking place from 7th 9th June, is expected to attract around 120,000 visitors. Charles has been Patron of the Royal Cornwall Agricultural Association (the organiser of the event) since 2002, while Camilla has been Vice President since 2011. They will then watch the Prince's Countryside Parade, with this year's event held as special celebration of The Prince of Waless contribution to the countryside, environment and rural communities in the UK. Young star: The prince showed off his gentle nature as he spoke to one young baker Sharing a joke: He chuckled as the boy appeared to tell him more about his cream tea creation Proud: Prince Charles donned his shades as he spoke to one young girl holding an award Shy: The little girl seemed a little bashful as she posed for a photo with the laughing royal The Duke tried local produce including strawberries used to make fresh sandwich spreads The Royal seemed fascinated by the expert knowledge of each stall holder Prince Charles was impressed by samples of locally produced drinks including wine The duke was given the opportunity to admire the colourful displays among the stalls Prize-winners: The duke and duchess posed for photos with those who topped the competition In total, around 70 patronages will come together in a unique and colourful parade highlighting their work and achievements to date. The parade will showcase broad themes including wildlife and conservation, native breeds, food and farming, and heritage and skills. The Princes Countryside Fund was established by The Prince of Wales in 2010 and aims to enhance the prospects of family farm businesses and the quality of rural life. The royal couple were surrounded by well-wishers as they made their way through the crowd Taking in the action: Charles and Camilla watched the parade at the country fair today Good spirits: Prince Charles was seen laughing and smiling as the procession passed Getting involved: The royal spent time speaking to stall owners and locals at the event Prince Charles was given the opportunity to explore the dairy production Ceremonial plaque: Charles took a look closer look at an engraved drinking fountain It provide more than 1.2million each year in grant funding to projects around the UK as well as commissioning research into issues affecting rural communities. Additionally, it leads projects to strengthen farm business and helps communities in crisis through its Emergency Fund. Charles has been Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay since 1952. Colour coordination: The Duchess, who will turn 71 later this year, teamed a blush pink coat with a patterned dress, taupe handbag and beige court shoes featuring a block heel Special visit: Charles and Camilla are touring as part of Charles' extended 70th birthday celebrations throughout the summer ahead of his big day in November Dressed to impress: Camilla, 70, looked elegant in a blush pink dress coat teamed with a taupe handbag, while Charles was smart in a charcoal suit The royal, who turns 70 in November, chatted to staff and volunteers and was handed a programme for the Royal Cornwall Show shortly after arriving Plus size model Felicity Hayward has hit back at body-shamers with a defiant snap of herself wearing a bikini. The 29-year-old revealed on Twitter that a couple mocked her weight and took pictures of her while she relaxed on the beach on holiday. Felicity later tweeted a snap of herself wearing a thong bikini, which she took in full view of the unnamed couple. Captioning the image she wrote: 'My body is just as worthy as yours babe'. Felicity Hayward, 29, shared a picture of herself to defy a couple who body-shamed her on the beach The plus size model tweeted that the couple had taken pictures of her and mocked her weight while she was in her bikini Felicity, who has modeled for Missguided and L'Oreal, shared the snap from her holiday in Santorini, Greece. In the picture she placed her hands behind her head and flaunted her curves for the camera as an act of defiance. She wrote: 'To the couple sitting on the beach laughing + taking photos of me enjoying my hols, I will stand in front of you + take this photo, my body is just as worthy as yours babe. 'I'm gunna live my best life just like this + you can carry on with dealing with your own insecurities [sic].' 'My body is just as worthy as yours babe': The body positive star had a defiant message for the couple Her post has amassed more than 700 likes in less than 24 hours as her followers assembled in support The stunning snap has amassed over 700 likes in less than 24 hours, with many of the model's followers sending her messages of support. One tweeted: 'You tell them!! Thank you for helping us all feel comfortable in our own skin.' 'You're so beautiful, thank you for being an inspiration,' another posted. A third said: 'Flaunt those curves babe,it's a shame people don't realise that every body is beautiful x.' Some of her 9,000 followers have sent her messages of support, calling her an 'inspiration' An avid campaigner of body image positivity, Felicity spends a lot of time working on her digital campaign and body positive movement, #selflovebringsbeauty. The London-based plus-size model has worked alongside fellow model Tess Holliday in Simply Be's most size inclusive runway. The blonde bombshell was originally approached by a model scout whilst she was on a night out in an East London pub. She was dancing to Diana Ross when she was asked if she would like to pose for Miles Aldridge. The blonde bombshell (pictured during her holiday in Santorini) was originally approached by a model scout when she was in the pub Felicity spends a lot of time working on her digital campaign and body positive movement, #selflovebringsbeauty Since then her career is going from strength to strength and she has appeared in numerous campaigns and on the pages of glossy magazines. Felicity recently said she prefers the term 'curve' model to 'plus-size', arguing that women should be able to use whatever term they choose. Speaking to FEMAIL, the British model said: 'I am curvy and I like that word. I prefer it to plus-size personally for me because I feel it describes my body shape more.' Princess Eugenie stepped out for a star-studded environmental campaign launch in London today. The royal, 28, joined high-profile figures including Jo Wood, 63, and Pixie Geldof, 27, for the event in Carnaby Street in London. Eugenie, who is set to wed Jack Brooksbank in October, donned a black and green printed dress for the occasion. Princess Eugenie stepped out for a star-studded environmental campaign launch in London today The royal, 28, joined high-profile figures at the event. Pictured: Eugenie (centre) with (left-right) Tyrone Wood, Clara Paget, Pixie Geldof, Jo Wood and Jamie Winstone She kept the look simple, pairing the frock with suede knee-high boots. The Pass On Plastic Experience, which launches on Friday, World Oceans Day, is an ocean-themed pop-up highlighting the urgent need to reduce consumption of single use plastic to help stop our oceans from drowning in plastic. A giant whale made up with plastic bottles, part of Sky Ocean Rescue's campaign, provides an eye-catching centrepiece. The event was given a high-profile launch, with famous faces joining forces with volunteers. Jo Wood, ex-wife of Rolling Stones rocker Ronnie, attended with her son Tyrone, 34, an ambassador for Project 0, a group that works to protect the ocean Actress Jamie Winstone, left, and model and actress Clara Paget, right, were also spotted Jo Wood, ex-wife of Rolling Stones rocker Ronnie, attended with her son Tyrone, 34, an ambassador for Project 0, a group that works to protect the ocean. Fellow ambassadors Pixie Geldof, daughter of Bob Geldof and Paula Yates, and actress Jaime Winston, also attended. Princess Eugenie follows in the footsteps of her uncle Prince Charles in supporting environmental issues. Charles, 69, has long been a campaigner for rainforests but spoke publicly last year about how oceans had become 'twin passions' for him. The Pass On Plastic Experience, which launches on Friday, World Oceans Day, is an ocean-themed pop-up highlighting the urgent need to reduce consumption of single use plastic to help stop our oceans from drowning in plastic In January the royal spoke about his 'deep frustration' at the world ignoring plastic waste in the ocean. Charles delivered a speech at a meeting of environmentalists and business leaders to discuss the issue today in central London. He said: 'Over the last few years, the awareness and science about the negative impacts of plastic waste in our ocean have grown significantly.' He added: 'Even though the challenge at hand is extremely grave and unbelievably urgent, I for one at least find some encouragement from the fact that the legacy of plastic in the environment is now very much on the global agenda and in the public consciousness.' Graduation is a time to celebrate and one little girl couldn't help but bust a move during her pre-K graduation ceremony. Aubrey Toby, five, of Durham, North Carolina, graduated from Christian Prep Academy on Saturday at the Hayti Heritage Center. When time came to retrieve her diploma, Aubrey, who was standing with the other students in her cap and gown, danced all the way to the end of the stage and even gave the crowd a little twirl. Celebrate: Aubrey Toby, five, of Durham, North Carolina, graduated from Christian Prep Academy on Saturday Bust a move: During the ceremony, she started dancing to Justin Timberlake's Can't Stop The Feeling as she made her way across the stage Naturally, the crowd loved every second of Aubrey's mini performance - especially her uncle, Merle Murrain, who shared the 26-second video to Instagram along with the caption: 'Her future is going to be amazing! Class of 2018. Pre-K Graduation. Aubrey Christina Toby.' Aubrey's dad, Malcolm Toby, told ABC 11 Aubrey started to dance to the school's graduation song, to Can't Stop The Feeling by Justin Timberlake, simply because she was tired of waiting in line. But her pre-K teacher, Charlyne Thomas, the dance was a testament to how much Aubrey had grown through the year. 'She's just developed. Developed being in the classroom, intermingling with her friends, and just learning and developed. She's just sprouted, like a butterfly,' she told ABC 11. Attention: Naturally, the crowd loved every second of Aubrey's mini performance especially her uncle, Merle Murrain, who shared the 26-second video on Instagram Passing the time: Aubrey's father, Malcolm Toby, said Aubrey started to dance simply because she was tired of waiting in line Viral: Aubrey's dance video has garnered 91,000 views and more than 1,500 shares on Facebook Aubrey, whose other talents include drawing, doesn't mind being the center of attention. 'All of a sudden, she's on the news. And Aubrey runs in and she's like "That's me on TV. Am I star?" And I'm like "Yeah baby, you're a star." It was crazy,' her father Malcom said. He added that as a middle sister, Aubrey is thrilled to find herself in the spotlight. Although her outgoing nature may be nothing new to those who know Aubrey, Malcolm said he was surprised by all the attention the video has received. It has garnered 91,000 views and more than 1,500 shares on Facebook. Thrilled: Aubrey is excited to start kindergarten at Southwest Elementary in the fall Surprised: Her father, Malcolm Toby (pictured with Aubrey), said he was not prepared at all to see his daughter dance and spin onstage 'Utter disbelief. I wasn't prepared for it at all. Like I said, I know my child. She loves the attention, she loves just playing and things like that,' her father said. 'But when she started walking off and the spin happened I was't expecting that at all, I wasn't ready for that it was crazy.' Aubrey's teacher shared the dad's surprise, especially since she had briefed Aubrey on the graduation process ahead of time. While he may not have been ready for Aubrey's dance, both Malcolm and Aubrey are excited for her to start kindergarten at Southwest Elementary in the fall. Brigitte and Emmanuel Macron touched down in windy Montreal on Thursday as part of their Canadian visit, with the French first lady looking chic in a blue pantsuit as she and her husband stepped off the presidential plane. On day two of the pair's visit to Canada ahead of the G7 Summit, Brigitte, 65, cut a chic silhouette in her blazer and matching pants, which she paired with a white shirt and a matching purse. She finished off her outfit with a pair of white stilettos with three-inch heels, making for a modern look with just a touch of retro. Bonjour! Brigitte and Emmanuel Macron touched down in windy Montreal on Thursday as part of their Canadian visit ahead of the G7, which starts tomorrow Weather conditions: There were strong gusts of wind during the Macrons' arrival, meaning Brigitte's blonde bob got a bit ruffled by the elements Outfit: Brigitte, 65, cut a chic silhouette in her blazer and matching pants, which she paired with a white shirt and a matching purse Camera-ready: The French first lady appeared to smooth her hair as she, Emmanuel, Premier of Quebec Philippe Couillard, and his wife Suzanne Pilote posed for photos Tour: Brigitte and Emmanuel were later seen visiting the Pointe-a-Calliere Museum, an archaeology and history museum located in Old Montreal Visit: The pair visited the historic city center of Montreal after touching down on Thursday Local products: Brigitte and Emmanuel looked at maple syrup during their tour of the city Her husband Emmanuel, 40, wore a dark suit and a matching tie, and held his wife's hand as they left the aircraft. The couple were greeted in Montreal by Premier of Quebec Philippe Couillard and his wife Suzanne Pilote, who waited for them on the tarmac. There were strong gusts of wind during the Macrons' arrival, and Brigitte appeared to smooth her classic blond bob after her hair got a bit ruffled by the elements. The Macrons were later seen visiting the Pointe-a-Calliere Museum, an archaeology and history museum located in Old Montreal. They were then pictured looking at bottles of maple syrup during a tour of the historic city center in Montreal, accompanied by their hosts Philippe and Suzanne. Brigitte and her husband arrived to Canada on Wednesday, first touching down in Ottawa two days before the G7, which will take place on Friday and Saturday in La Malbaie, Quebec. Travels: On Wednesday, the Macrons touched down in Ottawa on day one of their visit Sartorial: In Ottawa, Brigitte wore a red jacket paired with a white shirt and black pants, while her husband stuck to his classics in a suit and tie Company: Brigitte seemed thrilled to meet up with Canadian First Lady Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, 43, in Ottawa Schedule: Sophie and Brigitte visited the De La Salle high school, located in Ottawa Mingling: Brigitte, a former middle and high school teacher, was pictured interacting with students In high spirits: Both Brigitte and Sophie appeared to enjoy the time they spent touring the school The French first lady donned a bright red jacket on the occasion, on top of a white top and paired with black pants. She completed her look with black stilettos and a matching purse, while Emmanuel stuck to his classics in a suit and tie. On Wednesday, Brigitte, who was a middle and high school teacher for more than two decadesbefore quitting her job to support her husband's political career, visited the De La Salle high school, a public school in Ottawa. The former French literature, Latin, and drama teacher appeared in high spirits as she toured the facility along with Canadian First Lady Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, 43. She was pictured interacting with students and laughing with Sophie, who wore an all-white outfit with a pale pink biker jacket for the visit. Talk: Also on Thursday, the French president and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave a joint press conference in Ottawa Greeting: The Canadian Prime Minister welcomed President Macron on Wednesday in Ottawa While in Ottawa, the French president and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, 46, gave a joint news conference on Thursday, after the prime minister welcomed Emmanuel on Wednesday. President Macron said on Thursday that no leader was forever, suggesting a more confrontational attitude towards President Donald Trump as leaders from the G7 countries prepare to clash on trade. Asked by reporters whether the problem with Trump was that he 'didn't care about being isolated', Macron said: 'You say the U.S. President doesn't care at all. Maybe, but nobody is forever. 'The six countries of the G7 without the United States, are a bigger market taken together than the American market.' He added: 'There will be no world hegemony if we know how to organize ourselves. And we don't want there to be one.' President Macron had so far taken a more conciliatory tone with Trump, whom he calls his 'friend'. On Thursday, although he said it was important to remain civil, he signaled his intention to close ranks with other leaders. The French president added: 'Maybe the American president doesn't care about being isolated today, but we don't mind being six, if needs be.' What are the hallmarks of a good doctor? Technical expertise and skill, of course but someone who understands you, someone you trust, is also vital. Indeed, research shows that a good relationship with your doctor can improve the chances of a successful outcome. But how do you find a specialist who fits the bill? Thats where this unique series of guides, running every day this week in the Mail, can help. Weve identified the countrys top consultants as judged by their peers. Weve canvassed the views of more than 260 consultants across seven specialties from around the country, and asked them this very simple, but key, question: If your own nearest and dearest were to need treatment in your field, to whom would you refer them and why? The consultants who earned the most votes from their peers are the ones who made it into our guides though patients should bear in mind that this is not a scientific study. And, of course, there are many superb and highly skilled specialists all over the country who didnt make it on to our list, but who spend every day transforming patients lives. To help you make informed decisions about your care, weve also talked to experts about the latest thinking on treatment. Today, we focus on knee replacement surgery... It can make sense to delay surgery Knee replacement surgery is the most common type of joint replacement operation in the UK, and the number of patients having the procedure is rising. The average age for getting a new knee is 69, but what worries some experts is that the percentage of younger people going under the knife for this major procedure is on the rise. Almost 110,000 knee replacements were carried out on the NHS and privately in the UK (excluding Scotland) in 2016 30 per cent more than in 2010. And osteoarthritis wear and tear of the joint that causes pain and deformity is the reason for virtually all cases. Obesity is partly blamed for the boost in demand from younger patients; a joint overloaded with excess weight will wear out faster. But another factor is that the current generation of people aged 40-65 are less tolerant of putting up with a painful knee, says Richard Spencer Jones, a knee replacement surgeon at The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital in Shropshire. He is not suggesting that we should be more robust about pain, rather that he fears the fallout from people swapping their own rickety knee for a replacement too soon, as some of these people will live well into their 90s and that knee is likely to need replacing a couple more times [these will be] increasingly challenging procedures with more risks and potential complications. In fact, 20 per cent of knee replacement patients are not happy with the result and 5 per cent feel worse off after, says Philip Mitchell, an orthopaedic surgeon at St Georges Hospital and the Fortius Clinic, both in London. How to see the specialist you want Its a little-known fact, but under the NHS Constitution, patients in England have the right to choose where to receive their NHS treatment which means you can ask to have your treatment in any hospital or clinic anywhere in the country, as long as it has the necessary expertise. Your GP can arrange a referral to the specialist you would like to see. You (and your doctor) can access the electronic national referral service, called the NHS e-Referral Service, which allows you to select your hospital or clinic as well as the date and time of your first appointment. This is not a guarantee that you will see a specific consultant and there may be a waiting list for that specialist. You must also consider practical reasons for not travelling too far; if you need hospital treatment, you may not want to be hundreds of miles away from family and friends. Note that many of the specialists in our guides work in private practice, too, so seeing them privately may also be an option. Advertisement Unfortunately, if you do an MRI of the painful knee of someone in their 60s, you will definitely find some arthritis. What it wont show is the degree of pain, or if replacing that knee will make it better. Yet armed with this MRI, the patient will almost certainly find a surgeon prepared to operate. All orthopaedic surgeons tend to agree that the timing of a procedure is critical in achieving the best result for patients. Operate too soon and patients with a stiff and occasionally painful knee are unlikely to be happy with the replacement. Delay too long and you risk making patients miserable, housebound and potentially suffering more muscle-wasting and deformity resulting in more complicated surgery and a more challenging rehabilitation. There are concerns that the increasingly long waits too many NHS patients face for surgery may have implications for this. At the knee unit at The Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, surgeons will often first try using conservative measures with borderline patients before they undertake surgery. Think of this as a pre-emptive strike, says Professor Andrew Toms, an orthopaedic surgeon at the hospital. Typically, this will be a mix of exercise, physiotherapy, weight loss and painkillers with the objective of trying to reduce patients pain and improve knee function sufficiently to avoid or stall knee replacement surgery. If after going through this, patients dont feel they have improved, then I will operate, says Professor Toms. Knee replacement falls into two main categories: partial knee replacement, where just one compartment of the arthritic knee is replaced; and total knee replacement, the choice for patients with widespread arthritis, where two or three compartments are replaced. The advantage of partial replacement is that it is a smaller operation which preserves the ligaments, so the chances are it will feel more like a normal knee; with total knee replacement one or both of the main (cruciate) ligaments are sacrificed. But one of the drawbacks is that surgeons who do few of them get worse results than with a total knee replacement (see box overleaf). After surgery, patients have to brace themselves for hard work to regain full function in their new knee. But patients still struggling with pain six months or so later should have no qualms about returning to their consultant to be investigated, says Andrew Porteous, a knee surgeon at Southmead Hospital in Bristol. This could be caused by infection or because the knee was done badly some surgeons try to fob patients off because they are worried a number of re-dos will flag a problem with the data they have to submit to the National Joint Registry [which publishes outcomes for every orthopaedic surgeon and hospital unit]. So they will do X-rays and say, These dont look too bad, off you go. In instances like that, the patient should go back to their GP and ask for a referral to a regional centre. So how do you avoid the pitfalls and pinpoint the very best knee replacement surgeon? The best are high-volume surgeons, who do a large number of operations, and are expert in both partial and total replacements, so you get the full range of options. Patients can check their prospective surgeons profile on the National Joint Registry website to see how their surgeons caseload measures up against the average (see right). To identify the countrys very best knee replacement surgeons, we canvassed the views of almost 40 leading consultants from around the country. Here, we reveal their choices, with a selection of personal comments about why they chose them. Knee Replacement surgeons rated by their peers PROFESSOR ANDREW TOMS Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT HIM: A leader in knee replacement. When he was drafted into the Royal Devon, it was renowned for hip replacement. He has now put the hospital on the map for knees in the same way, says one of his peers. He is honest and thorough and discusses the risks and benefits of surgery with his patients. Andrew has made it his lifes work to eradicate every painful knee in the country, adds another. He takes on very complex and challenging cases and sorts them out. PRIVATE: Nuffield Health Exeter Hospital. ANDREW PORTEOUS Southmead Hospital in Bristol WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT HIM: He is measured, hard-working, considerate and highly skilled in all aspects of knee replacement, one of his peers reveals. He tailors his surgery to the needs of his patients and is a firm advocate of partial knee replacement where appropriate his view is that a lot more knee replacement patients could benefit from partial knees. PRIVATE: Spire Bristol Hospital, Nuffield Health Bristol Hospital. PETER JAMES Nottingham City Hospital WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT HIM: Quietly spoken, gentle and with a beautiful pair of hands in other words he is technically gifted. When you see him operate, he makes everything look so easy. He does a lot of revision [when the implant has failed and has to be replaced] and complex work, says one surgeon. He did my dads knees and is undoubtedly the most experienced and able knee surgeon in the country, says another. PRIVATE: BMI The Park Hospital in Nottingham. RICHARD SPENCER JONES The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital in Oswestry WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT HIM: Highly knowledgeable, he is excellent technically and renowned for his revision surgery. At this top level everyone is dexterous, but he manages to stay cool even with the most challenging cases, says one. He gets very good results and is the sort of person youd want to operate on you, reveals another of his peers. PRIVATE: The Robert Jones & Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital (private care), Nuffield Health Shrewsbury Hospital. PAUL ALLEN Princess Alexandra NHS Trust in Harlow, Essex WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT HIM: A really sensible guy with exceptional experience he does primary knee replacement and a lot of complex revisions [where the implant has failed and has to be replaced], reveals one of his peers. Technically excellent and very reliable. The test of a good surgeon is how you deal with the difficult cases and absolutely nothing fazes him. He has a very good bedside manner and I know my relative would be in good hands with him. PRIVATE: Rivers Hospital in Hertfordshire, The Chelmsford Hospital. DAVID BEVERLAND Musgrave Park Hospital in Belfast WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT HIM: A quietly spoken, gentle man who has the most phenomenal work capacity and who does no private work. He was brought in to clear the waiting lists in orthopaedics in Northern Ireland and has made it his lifes work, but unfortunately this has faltered in recent years due to further demand and no additional funding to pay for it, comments one. A dedicated and very good surgeon. PRIVATE: Mr Beverland does not work privately. PROFESSOR LEE JEYS The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in Birmingham WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT HIM: He does lots of complex revision knee replacements [where the implant fails and has to be replaced] where he deals with infection, bone loss and rebuilding bones and ligaments, according to one of his peers. A lovely chap with a great pair of hands who also does primary [first-time] knee replacement, but he has carved out a niche for himself with challenging revisions. PRIVATE: BMI The Priory and Edgbaston Hospitals. RICHARD CARRINGTON Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in Stanmore in London WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT HIM: Loads of experience and he does everything from primaries, in other words the first knee replacement, to revisions, when implants fail and have to be re-done, says a fellow surgeon. Hes very straightforward and if he feels knee replacement will not work for you, he will say so and spare you lots of unnecessary investigations, says another. PRIVATE: Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (private), The Wellington Hospital, both in London, Spire Bushey Hospital in Watford. PROFESSOR ANDREW PRICE Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Oxford WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT HIM: Part of the next generation, he is very good technically and at teaching, says one. He has a fantastic reputation which is well-deserved and his patients are fond of him. PRIVATE: Nuffield Health The Manor Hospital in Oxford. PROFESSOR NICK LONDON Harrogate District Hospital WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT HIM: An excellent knee surgeon, explains one. He probably does as many partial knee replacements as anyone in the country. He uses a fixed-bearing partial knee [see overleaf] which is now taking off, says another. And he is getting very good results with it. His revision rates for partial knees are very low, almost matching those for total knees, but with the benefits of less invasive surgery. PRIVATE: Nuffield Health Leeds Hospital, BMI The Duchy Hospital. Also highly thought of: CHRISTOPHER DODD Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Oxford WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT HIM: Excellent dedicated knee surgeon who is a specialist in partial knee replacements. PRIVATE: Nuffield Health The Manor Hospital in Oxford. MICHAEL RISEBURY Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT HIM: One of his peers describes him as an excellent surgeon, recognised as an expert in early interventions such as osteotomy. This is where either the top of the shinbone or the bottom of the thighbone are cut and shaped to realign the knee and ease pain. He believes you can sometimes hold off replacing the knee for a while with this. PRIVATE: BMI The Hampshire Clinic. JONATHON LAVELLE Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT HIM: Very empathetic, level-headed and what we in medicine refer to as a good pair of hands. He would not operate unless he felt it absolutely necessary, according to one of his peers. PRIVATE: Bupa Cromwell Hospital, The Lister Hospital, Fortius Clinic, all in London. DAVID HOULIHAN- BURNE Hillingdon Hospital in West London WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT HIM: Gifted technically and down to earth, he gets on well with his patients and is a great communicator. PRIVATE: Bupa Cromwell Hospital, Fortius Clinic, both in London, BMI The Chiltern Hospital in Buckinghamshire, BMI Bishops Wood Hospital in Middlesex. RHIDIAN MORGAN-JONES University Hospital Llandough, University Hospital of Wales WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT HIM: Technically gifted with a massive caseload because he gets so many referrals, says one surgeon. He does lots of knee revisions and I mean people on their third and fourth knee revisions, patients no one else will touch. Hes probably the best surgeon in the country for infected knees. PRIVATE: Spire Cardiff Hospital, BMI Werndale Hospital, London Orthopaedic Clinic. TIM WILTON Royal Derby Hospital WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT HIM: Old-fashioned in the best sense, sensible and meticulous. Hes not interested in fads. He does things because they work and have been shown to work over a long period of time, reveals one surgeon. He is a thinker, who pays great attention to detail. He does knees awesomely once, so they last a jolly long time. PRIVATE: Nuffield Health Derby Hospital. PAUL GIBB Tunbridge Wells Hospital in Kent WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT HIM: A lovely man and excellent technically, very good with patients, he is very thorough and pays great attention to detail, says one. PRIVATE: Nuffield Health Tunbridge Wells Hospital, The Horder Centre in Crowborough. TIM SPALDING University Hospital Coventry WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT HIM: He was my choice for both my fathers knees, one of his peers reveals. A senior surgeon who pays great attention to detail and is very self-driven and organised. PRIVATE: Nuffield Health Warwickshire Hospital, Fortius Clinic in London, Spire Little Aston Hospital in Birmingham. PHILIP CHAPMAN- SHEATH Southampton General Hospital WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT HIM: Technically a really excellent surgeon who does both partial and total knee replacements and primary [first] knee replacement and lots of revision surgery [where the implant fails and has to be replaced]. Also a very nice guy. PRIVATE: Spire Southampton Hospital, Nuffield Health Wessex Hospital. JONATHAN ELDRIDGE Bristol Royal Infirmary WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT HIM: Technically very good and gets good results, says one. Hes also very nice, straight-talking chap with particular expertise in partial knees for younger patients with a history of dislocation. PRIVATE: Spire Bristol Hospital. The questions to ask your surgeon before you sign up How often do you operate? Patients shouldnt be afraid of asking their surgeon about the number of knee replacements they carry out, says Professor Phil Turner, a knee surgeon at the NHS Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport and vice-president of the British Orthopaedic Association. The key is accuracy putting the implant in and, in general, the more operations a surgeon does, the better they will be at it. If a surgeon is doing fewer than 20 a year, thats not a good sign and patients should think about going elsewhere. Most specialist knee replacement surgeons will be doing a least 150 a year. How many knee ops do you have to re-do? Ask your surgeon about his or her revision rate (where a failed implant needs replacing). You can also check The National Joint Registry, which has information on over two million joint replacement operations in England, Wales and Northern Ireland since 2002. This includes more than 2,000 individual surgeons results and how they compare with the national average. It also provides data on the number of knee replacements, revisions and mortality rates by hospital. If yours has a higher-than-expected revision rate, ask why. Rather than a red flag, it could mean theyre specialists in salvaging knees when surgery has gone wrong (and such surgeons are very well-placed to avoid such mistakes themselves). See njrsurgeon hospitalprofile.org.uk and njrcentre.org.uk Should I try anything else before I go under the knife? An artificial knee will never be as good as your own most patients rate them about three-quarters as good, according to the charity Arthritis Research UK. Plus, surgery carries a risk of infection, bleeding and the implant failing, so if you dont need it, you dont want it. There are options to try before surgery, ask your surgeon if you are suitable. If you wait too long, the knee gets stiffer and more deformed, says Professor Turner, and results of surgery are worse if knees are really bad to start with. Steroid injections can ease inflammation and pain, while physiotherapy strengthens the thigh muscles that support the joint. Orthotics (insoles to correct knee alignment and gait) or an off-loading knee brace (which applies pressure to the unaffected side of the knee) may have some benefit, he adds. But in most cases, these only delay surgery by six months to a year. Are there other surgery options for me? Arthroscopy keyhole surgery to clear debris in the knee used to be common for osteoarthritis, but is now rapidly in decline as NICE has said it doesnt help. A recent review of 25 studies in The BMJ concluded that the procedure offers no important benefits, as it neither reduces pain nor improves function and mobility, and carries risks of pain, swelling and difficulty putting weight on the leg. But osteotomy where bone is added or removed from a damaged joint to shift the weight away from the damaged area can buy most patients ten or 15 years before having a knee replacement. Professor Adrian Wilson, a knee specialist at The Wellington Hospital in London, says osteotomy is the operation of choice for people who want to stay active. Wherever possible we advise joint preservation procedures such as osteotomy, he says. Advertisement Could you get away with just HALF a knee op? During a knee replacement operation, the worn ends of the thigh and shin bones and any remaining cartilage are removed and replaced with titanium or cobalt-chrome components. Almost all knee replacement operations which take around an hour are carried out through a 10 in incision down the front of the knee. Just 5 per cent of procedures are keyhole (through a 5 in incision). Here, we guide you through the different types of implants on offer. PARTIAL REPLACEMENT If arthritis affects only one side of the knee, it may be possible to have a partial knee replacement, where only the damaged bone is scraped out and replaced. Most partial replacements are mobile-bearing implants, which means the plastic insert replacing the cartilage is not fixed to the metal part of the implant attached to the shin. Mobile-bearing is said to wear better in partial knee replacements, but needs support from existing tissue, so isnt suitable if you have ligament problems. Because the operation is less invasive than total replacement, as less bone is removed, recovery is quicker and the knee functions better afterwards. It is not uncommon to be off your crutches at two weeks and walking normally by four to six, compared with a total knee replacement where you are off crutches by six to eight weeks, says Professor Adrian Wilson, a knee specialist at Winchester University and The Wellington Hospital in London. A recent study in BMJ Open suggested that half of patients needing a knee replacement could be suitable for a partial replacement. The Oxford University study found that when partial replacements are carried out by surgeons who do lots of them, the outcomes are better than total knee replacements and its cheaper for the NHS. If arthritis affects only one side of the knee, it may be possible to have a partial knee replacement, where only the damaged bone is scraped out and replaced (stock image) However, if the surgeon only does a small number of partial operations, the outcomes are worse than a total replacement. Researcher Professor David Murray said: This is an important finding. If surgeons use partial knees in a quarter or more of knee replacements, this will improve results, save money and more patients will benefit. Currently, partial replacements are only used for 20 per cent of patients more commonly younger, slimmer, active ones as for most patients the wear and tear in the knee is too advanced and the ligaments are not strong enough. Although movement can be better afterwards than with a total knee replacement, figures from the National Joint Registry suggest a partial replacement is also more likely to fail. Around 10 per cent will need a second operation after ten years compared with less than 5 per cent with full replacement. TOTAL REPLACEMENT This is the most common type of knee replacement surgery, used in 75 per cent of cases. It involves replacing joint surfaces at the end of the thighbone and top of the shinbone and inserting a plastic spacer in between; this acts like cartilage, helping the joint move freely. There are several versions of this operation and 60 different prostheses can be used. Cemented OR uncemented? Most artificial knees are cemented into the ends of the thigh and shin bones for greater stability. If cement is not used, the surface of the implant facing the bone is coated to encourage bone to grow on to it, forming a natural bond. Uncemented knees are more expensive, but the surgery is quicker, and some say it fits to the bone better. But there is little difference in results. FIXED VS MOBILE: Normally, the plastic spacer in an implant is fixed to the metal plate on the end of the shin (a fixed-bearing joint) but, with a mobile-bearing joint, the spacer can rotate within a certain range on the plate, so it can find its own position of comfort, says Howard Ware, a knee surgeon at Chase Farm Hospital in London. Its thought this reduces wear and tear, but theres no evidence yet its better than fixed bearing for total replacement. LigamentS: Keep or sacrifice? Ligaments are bands of fibrous tissue that connect bones to each other. They are essential for keeping the joint stable. Some knee implants retain the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) which runs from the back of the shin to the bottom of the thigh; others involve removing it (as the implant is differently shaped) to give the knee the equivalent stability. If the PCL is retained, it should make the knee feel more normal, but is only suitable for those with ligaments strong enough. Yet research shows keeping or removing the PCL makes little difference to the functioning of the knee. Kneecap: resurface it or not? A total knee replacement may also involve replacing the under-surface of your kneecap with a smooth plastic dome. Surgeons are split 50:50 on whether this should be done. Those in favour say its an opportunity to treat arthritis in the kneecap as well as the joint itself and reduce pain afterwards, so theres a lower risk of further surgery. Those against argue that treating the arthritis in the main part of the knee is enough to treat the pain, and resurfacing the kneecap can cause problems of its own. Persistent pain after a knee replacement can occur, and when it does it can be a significant problem, says Mark Wilkinson, a professor of orthopaedics at Sheffield University who operates at Claremont Hospital in Sheffield. This is thought to be caused by the way the nervous system works in some patients. Anything to reduce that risk makes sense, so I always resurface the kneecap, he says. GUIDE TO CONSULTANTS compiled by ANGELA BROOKS. Additional reporting by Rachel Ellis. A game-changing HIV drug has led to a striking fall in the number of gay and bi-sexual men using condoms for anal sex. Researchers discovered condom use in the high-risk group has dropped in two Australian cities at the same time as use of pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, has soared. Critics have repeatedly blasted the controversial drug, which is 90 per cent effective at preventing HIV infection when taken daily, as a promiscuity pill. The NHS appealed a High Court ruling two years ago that forced it to prescribe PrEP because it said the 5,000 ($6,730) annual patient cost will take away funding for 13 other treatments. The new study, published in The Lancet HIV, looked at survey data from gay and bi-sexual men in two cities in Australia. Number of gay and bi men having anal sex sharply rose following increased use PrEP drug It found introducing PrEP resulted in the number of men engaging in condomless penetrative sex in Melbourne and Sydney increased. Over a period of four years, use of the drug rose by 22 per cent while consistent condom use dropped by 15 per cent. Men not on the drug, therefore not benefitting from it, were also having more condomless sex - up from 30 per cent to 39 per cent. A 'striking' rate of reduction Professor Martin Holt, study author, from the University of New South Wales, said: 'Our findings suggest that the rapid uptake of PrEP disrupted condom use at a community level. 'Our study found a striking rate of reduction in consistent condom use when PrEP was introduced in Melbourne and Sydney between 2016 and 2017. 'If individuals not taking PrEP feel safer, they might use condoms less often because they perceive that sex without a condom has become less risky as PrEP use by others increases.' PrEP is a pill that contains two medicines taken by HIV negative people before sex to reduce the chance of getting the virus. The combination kills off the virus during infection, but must be taken consistently to be effective. It does not prevent other STIs. WHAT IS HIV PREVENTION DRUG PrEP? Pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, is a way for people who do not have HIV but who are at substantial risk of getting it to prevent HIV infection by taking a pill every day. The pill (brand name Truvada) contains two medicines (tenofovir and emtricitabine) that are used in combination with other medicines to treat HIV. When someone is exposed to HIV through sex or injection drug use, these medicines can work to keep the virus from establishing a permanent infection. When taken consistently, PrEP has been shown to reduce the risk of HIV infection in people who are at high risk by up to 92 percent. PrEP is much less effective if it is not taken consistently. PrEP is a powerful HIV prevention tool and can be combined with condoms and other prevention methods to provide even greater protection than when used alone. But people who use PrEP must commit to taking the drug every day and seeing their health care provider for follow-up every three months. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Advertisement When taken consistently, PrEP has been shown to reduce the risk of HIV infection in people who are at high risk by up to 92 per cent. How was the study carried out? In the study, researchers analysed data from Melbourne and Sydney surveys of gay and bi-sexual men, taken annually between the years 2013-2016. The researchers were able to gather data on condom use and condomless sex with causal partners from almost 17,000 gay and bi-sexual men. They found between 2013 and 2017 that PrEP use rose from two per cent to 24 per cent - a twelve-fold increase. Over the same period, the number of men on PrEP who reported having condomless penetrative sex with casual partners rose from one per cent - just 26 men in 2,692 men surveyed - to 16 per cent, or 652 individuals in a group of 4,018. However, the number of new HIV infection diagnoses in gay and bi-sexual men fell - suggesting that the drug was working to prevent new infections. Apart from greater PrEP use, HIV testing, HIV treatment and viral suppression may have contributed to the decline in infection rates. The study authors added: 'The rapid increase in PrEP use seems to have outweighed the rapid decrease in condom use in this early phase of PrEP implementation.' Long-term consequences unclear Professor Holt continued: 'The long-term consequences of this shift in community behaviour are unclear. 'It's possible for HIV transmission to rebound in HIV-negative and untested men not using PrEP. 'Our findings will be key to helping other cities and countries implement successful PrEP programmes. Dr Nittaya Phanuphak and Dr Praphan Phanuphak from PREVENTION, the Thai Red Cross Research Centre in Bangkok, in Thailand warned that:As PrEP users who have condomless anal intercourse with casual partners are protected from HIV, it is now time to focus our effort on reaching and engaging non-PrEP users in HIV prevention services. 'Messages must be clear to destigmatise condomless anal intercourse with casual partners and to make people feel welcome to access HIV testing and antiretroviral-based prevention, whether this be post-exposure prophylaxis, PrEP, or ART to achieve undetectable viral load. IS PREP LEADING TO A DROP IN NEW CASES OF HIV? New cases of HIV among gay and bisexual men were slashed by 21 per cent in a year, official new data showed in October. It was the first time such cases in this high-risk group have decreased since the deadly epidemic started to make headway in the 1980s. Experts said it stemmed from quicker testing, fast treatment and PrEP - a controversial drug that can prevent those exposed to HIV from becoming infected. Government figures showed there were just 2,810 cases of HIV among gay and bisexual men in 2016 - down from the 3,570 recorded the year before. Public Health England, behind the data, claimed it is the 'most exciting development in the UK HIV epidemic in 20 years'. Advertisement 'Modelling, campaigning, implementing, and monitoring HIV prevention programmes need to incorporate non-PrEP users, irrespective of condomless anal intercourse with casual partners, and to tailor interventions accordingly.' PrEP controversy NHS England, which funds drugs, initially refused to prescribe PrEP. It argued because it is a preventative medicine, it should be funded by local councils. But this stance was challenged by the National Aids Trust charity and the High Court two years ago ruled there was nothing to stop the NHS from paying. The decision was broadly welcomed by leading medical organisations and MPs, who said it was 'ethical' and would save many lives. What do critics think about the drug? But other campaigners were worried PrEP, branded a 'promiscuity pill', will fuel a rise in sexually transmitted infections. There is evidence of a fall in condom use among men taking the drug, leaving them exposed to other infections. Experts are also worried that the HIV virus may evolve to become resistant to the PrEP drug resulting in a much stronger, deadlier strain. Campaigners argued the decision would bankrupt the NHS, with many in the cash-strapped health service demanding more money to cope with growing demand. Why are gay men most at risk? Gay and bisexual men are most susceptible to catching HIV because anal sex carries a 10 times higher risk of infection than vaginal. This is due to cells in the anus being more susceptible to HIV, as well as fluid in semen and the anus' lining carrying more HIV than vaginal secretions. Gay men at high risk because their partner has HIV are now tested every three months, and are immediately offered anti-viral drugs if they test positive. Well-educated people have a price to pay for spending years studying: they are more likely to be short-sighted. Scientists have discovered the length of time someone spends in education is linked to a greater risk of short-sightedness. It is thought years spent poring over books or staring at computer screens, combined with less time spent outdoors, damages sight. Previously, scientists knew people with more education were more likely to be short-sighted known as having myopia but could not prove whether one caused the other. But a new study by Bristol and Cardiff University researchers, published in the BMJ, has found strong evidence length of time in education did cause eye problems. Researchers warned that eye development happens during school years and said the results had important implications. Scientists say people who spend more time in education are more likely to become short-sighted, and the number of short-sighted people worldwide is expected to triple in 32 years Up to half of adults in Europe are short-sighted but levels are as high as 80 to 90 per cent among school leavers in some East Asian countries, where education is notoriously intensive. Number of short-sighted people expected to triple Based on existing trends, the number of short-sighted people worldwide is due to triple to 5 billion by 2050. The researchers said: [Governments] should be aware that the educational practices used to educate children and to promote personal and economic health may have the unintended consequence of causing increasing levels of myopia and later visual disability. Around one in ten of those are expected to suffer high myopia which carries a risk of blindness. Researchers analysed genes associated with short-sightedness and genes associated with years of schooling for 67,798 people in the UK aged 40 to 69 years old, to see if there was any link. HOW TO KEEP YOUR EYES HEALTHY Australian eye expert Handan Otay has some simple tips for trying to keep your eyes health: Look into the distance 'Gazing off into distances further than six metres away relaxes the eyes.' Get outdoors 'Kids need to get outdoors so they're relaxing their eyes and not concentrating on close activities all the time. 'It is recommended that they wear hats and sunglasses to prevent damage from UV radiation while still getting the benefit of sunlight.' Eat healthily 'A diet rich in betacarotene, found in carrots, omega-3, found in fish, and leafy green vegetables, which contain antioxidants, can help prevent eye problems.' Be eye aware 'Children with vision impairment may rub their eyes more often or have difficulty seeing things at night. 'They may also have hand-eye coordination issues and hold things closer to their faces. If any of these behaviours are consistent over time, seek assessment.' Advertisement Scientists believe analysing data based on genes is a more reliable way of randomising studies to ensure results are not biased by other influential factors, like peoples wealth or healthier lifestyles. Every extra year in education raises risk Results showed every additional year of education was associated with an increase of minus 0.27 dioptre a measure of how effectively the eyes lens refracts light. It means a university graduate from the UK with 17 years of education would, on average, be at least minus 1 dioptre more short-sighted than someone who left school at 16 a level which would mean needing glasses for driving. By contrast, researchers found little evidence to suggest being short-sighted led people to remain in education for longer. Study author Denize Atan, of Bristol University, said todays children may be even more likely to be become short-sighted. Screen time and staying indoors may contribute to eye problems This is because they spend more time looking at screens and less time outdoors than the participants of the study had in their childhood. Dr Atan said: With increasing urbanisation and our greater reliance on screen-based technologies, we are now spending less time outdoors. 'Based on the highest quality evidence currently available, the best recommendation is for children to spend more time outside [to reduce the risk of myopia]. In a linked editorial, Professor Ian Morgan of the Australian National University, said education systems must change to help protect the visual health of future generations. He pointed to problems in East Asia and warned against introducing similar intense educational pressures such as homework at preschool level, combined with little time for play outdoors.' Professor Morgan said early onset of short-sightedness increased the likelihood of serious vision problems in later life. Tanai Smith expected no problems when she visited her doctor to have an IUD inserted. The T-shaped plastic device is one of the most effective and low maintenance forms of birth control and she was told that it would work for between three and six years. Smith, from Baltimore, Maryland, had no complications for three years until an X-ray in November 2017 revealed that the IUD, in a rare instance, had slipped from her uterus into her stomach. An operation to remove the device led to sepsis, and surgery was required to remove her ovaries, her uterus, and her left toes - which had turned black after the tissue died. Now the 25-year-old is sharing her story in educating other women about potential risks. Tanai Smith, 25 (pictured), from Baltimore, Maryland, suffered a rare complication in which her IUD slipped from her uterus into her stomach, causing her to lose her uterus, ovaries and her left toes Smith (left and right) received the IUD six weeks after giving birth to her daughter in 2014. She had no problems for three years until an ultrasound revealed the IUD was no longer in her uterus After Smith gave birth to her daughter, Morgan, three years ago, she wanted to hold off on having any more children, she said in an interview with Women's Health. As a college student working two jobs, and not planning on having any more children with Morgan's father, Smith visited her OB-GYN to discuss her best options. Her doctor recommended a hormonal intrauterine device (IUD), a small T-shaped device inserted into the uterus. The hormonal IUD works by releasing a small amount of a progestin hormone called levonorgestrel each day. The hormone prevents pregnancy in two ways. Firstly, it thickens mucus that lives on the cervix, which blocks and traps the sperm. Secondly, it stops eggs from leaving the ovaries so any sperm that gets through has no egg to fertilize. IUDs are one of the most effective forms of birth control that require little maintenance. They are 99 percent effective - meaning fewer than one out of 100 women who use an IUD will get pregnant each year - and they can last anywhere from three to six years, meaning it is favored among health experts. Other forms of birth control - including the birth control, shot, the birth control patch, the contraceptive pill, and the vaginal ring - are also 99 percent effective when used perfectly. However, when it comes to typical use, these rates vary. The birth control shot is 94 percent effective while the patch, the pill and the ring are 91 percent effective. Condoms have the biggest difference in rates. With perfect use, they are 98 percent effective, but typical use knocks it down to 82 percent. Hormonal IUDs particularly can reduce cramps during your menstrual cycle and make your period way lighter. 'Because it's low risk in terms of complications, [she told me] I shouldn't have any problems,' Smith told Women's Health. 'I was young and healthy. I had no reason to think otherwise. An X-ray in November 2017 revealed that the IUD had slipped from her uterus and was wedged into the wall of her stomach (pictured) and Smith was told she would need surgery Doctors told Smith that her IUD has traveled into her liver and had broken into four or five pieces (pictured), but was successfully removed. Following the surgery, Smith experienced vomiting and vaginal bleeding and was rushed back to the hospital Six weeks after giving birth, Smith received the IUD. She had cramping and constant headaches after the insertion, but was told they would subside. According to Planned Parenthood, one of the side effects include cramping or backaches for a few days after the IUD is put in. Smith said she felt fine after a couple of weeks and, for almost three years, she didn't experience any problems. In October 2017, she visited a new OB-GYN for an annual checkup. While performing the vaginal exam, the doctor told Smith that she couldn't see the IUD. WHAT IS AN IUD ? An intrauterine device (IUD) is a small, T-shaped plastic or copper device that is inserted in the uterus. There are 5 different brands of IUDs approved in the US by the FDA. ParaGard is the only copper IUD while Mirena, Kyleena, Liletta and Skyla are all hormonal. How copper IUDs work: Sperm doesn't like copper, so the ParaGard IUD makes it almost impossible for sperm to get to an egg. How hormonal IUDs work: The IUD releases a small amount of a progestin hormone called levonorgestrel each day. The hormone first thickens mucus that lives on the cervix, which blocks and traps the sperm. Second, it stops eggs from leaving the ovaries so any sperm that gets through has no egg to fertilize. Effectiveness: IUDs are 99 percent effective, meaning fewer than one out of 100 women will get pregnant each year. It can stay in your body between three and 12 years, depending on what kind you get. Additionally, the ParaGard (copper) IUD works can work as emergency contraception if inserted within five days after unprotected sex. However, IUDs do not protect against STDS. Side effects: Pain when the IUD is first inserted Cramping or backaches for a few days after the IUD is inserted Spotting between periods Irregular periods Heavier periods and worse menstrual cramps (ParaGard) When an IUD is inserted, a one- or two-inch string hangs from the end of it. To remove the IUD, a doctor or nurse will gently pull on the string, and the IUD's arms fold up and it will slip out. Source: Planned Parenthood Advertisement The doctor told her that sometimes IUDs fall out, but Smith said she knew hers hadn't. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists reports that rates of IUDs falling out are between three and five percent - or fewer than two out of every 1,000 women using one. Smith was sent to a radiologist, who performed an ultrasound of her stomach, cervix and uterus. 'There was no evidence of the device, which confirmed it had gone missing,' Smith said. 'But because I had no symptoms, I wasn't worried.' Then in November, Smith was at work when she felt a sharp pain in her stomach. It became so bad that she left work early and went the emergency room. An X-ray revealed that the IUD was wedged into the wall of her stomach. Smith showed the X-rays to her OB-GYN, who referred her to a colleague that specializes in IUDs. The colleague said the IUD had slipped due to one or two reasons. One reason was that it put in too soon after Smith gave birth and, as her uterus healed, the IUD was pushed up. Another possible explanation was that her muscles gradually pushed the device up during each menstrual cycle, but doctors were not sure which of the two it was. She was told she would need surgery to remove it and a date was set for December 13. The surgeon had told Smith he expected to only make one incision, below her belly button, and use a scope to extract the IUD. However, three incisions were made: the one under her belly button and one on each side. In the four weeks between the X-ray and the operation, the IUD had traveled to her liver and had broken into four or five pieces, making it difficult to locate and extract. Smith was given pain medication and went home with her mother. However, that night, she began vomiting. An ambulance was called and Smith was taken to the emergency room. By the time she reached the hospital, she was also experiencing vaginal bleeding. X-rays showed that Smith was bleeding internally and she was rushed into surgery. Doctors told Smith's mom that her ovaries were black and she would need a hysterectomy, an operation to remove all or part of the uterus. From there, things began spiraling downward. Following the second surgery, Smith developed sepsis, a life-threatening condition in which chemicals that the immune system releases into the bloodstream to fight an infection cause inflammation throughout the entire body instead. After her second surgery, Smith (pictured) developed sepsis and was told she may lose her limbs, after experiencing tingling in her hands and numbness in her toes Feeling returned to Smith's hands at the end of her third week in the hospital (left) and her wound healed, but her toes were turning black (right) from necrosis, which is the death of body tissue when too little blood flows to that area. Surgery was needed to amputate all of the toes on her left foot and the tips of her toes on her right foot Smith was transferred to the NICU where she spent Christmas and New Year's. Soon she began to feel a tingling sensation in her hands and her feet grew numb. Feeling returned to her hands at the end of her third week in the hospital, but her toes were turning black from necrosis, which is the death of body tissue when too little blood flows to that area. Healing from necrosis can occur without amputation. Through a process called debridement in which the necrotic tissue is surgically removed. In February, Smith was finally discharged from the hospital but was told she would need to return for a final surgery: to remove all of the toes on her left foot and the tips of her toes on her right foot. The surgery was performed in May, and no complications arose. Smith has not been able to return to school or to her part-time jobs at Target and Johns Hopkins Hospital, where she was a residential assistant. But she is happy she can be there for her daughter, despite needing crutches to hobble around. Smith said she doesn't regret getting the IUD, she just doesn't understand where it all went wrong. 'I expected my amputations to bring me some sense of closure, but every day I think about what happened and wonder: "Why me?"' she said. 'It's always on my mind - I wish I knew what went wrong, so when my daughter asks why she has no brothers or sisters, I can explain.' Soldiers and emergency workers could soon be given a jab of friendly bacteria to protect against post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a study found. Scientists at the University of Colorado, Boulder found injections of a probiotic found on the shores of Uganda can have a long-lasting effect on the brain, making it more resilient to stress and depression. New tests on rats have revealed the effect was stronger than anticipated. Senior research associate Matthew Frank in the university's Department of Psychology and Neuroscience said if the findings are replicated in clinical trials it could lead to a widely-distributed vaccine to treat PTSD, anxiety and depression. A bacterium found on the shores of Uganda can have a long-lasting effect on the brain, making it more resilient to stress and depression 'We found that in rodents this particular bacterium, Mycobacterium vaccae, actually shifts the environment in the brain toward an anti-inflammatory state,' Dr Frank said. 'If you could do that in people, it could have broad implications for a number of neuroinflammatory diseases.' Anxiety, PTSD and other stress-related mental disorders affect a quarter of all people at some point in their lives. PTSD is estimated to affect about one in every three Britons who have a traumatic experience, but it's not clear exactly why some people develop the condition and others don't. Mounting research suggested stress-induced brain inflammation can boost risk of such disorders, in part by impacting mood-influencing neurotransmitters like norepinephrine or dopamine. Dr Frank said: 'There is a robust literature that shows if you induce an inflammatory immune response in people, they quickly show signs of depression and anxiety. 'Just think about how you feel when you get the flu.' Other studies suggested trauma, illness or surgery can sensitise certain regions of the brain, setting up a hair-trigger inflammatory response to subsequent stressors which can lead to mood disorders and cognitive decline. Dr Frank said: 'We found that Mycobacterium vaccae blocked those sensitising effects of stress too, creating a lasting stress-resilient phenotype in the brain.' A previous CU Boulder study found mice injected with a heat-killed preparation of M. vaccae and then placed with a larger aggressive male for 19 days exhibited less anxiety-like behaviour and were less likely to suffer colitis or inflammation in their peripheral tissues. The new study published in the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity, Dr Frank and senior author associate professor in integrative physiology Christopher Lowry set out to find out what exactly M. vaccae does in the brain. Male rats injected with the bacterium three times, one week apart, had significantly higher levels of the anti-inflammatory protein interleukin-4 in the hippocampus, a brain region responsible for modulating cognitive function, anxiety and fear, eight days after the final injection. After exposure to a stressor, the immunised animals also showed lower levels of a stress-induced protein, or alarmin, called HMGB1, believed to play a role in sensitising the brain to inflammation. They also had a higher expression of CD200R1, a receptor key for keeping glial cells (the brain's immune cells) in an anti-inflammatory state. The immunised rats, as in the first study, exhibited less anxious behaviour after stress. Dr Lowry said: 'If you look at the field of probiotics generally, they have been shown to have strong effects in the domains of cognitive function, anxiety and fear. 'This paper helps make sense of that by suggesting that these beneficial microbes, or signals derived from these microbes, somehow make their way to the hippocampus, inducing an anti-inflammatory state.' He added one day M. vaccae could one day be given to people at high risk of PTSD such as soldiers preparing to be deployed or emergency workers to buffer the effects of stress on the brain and body. It could also possibly be used to prevent sepsis-induced cognitive impairment. Dr Lowry is also working with University of Colorado Denver researchers to explore whether veterans with PTSD can benefit from an oral probiotic consisting of a different bacterial strain, Lactobacillus reuteri. He said: 'More research is necessary, but it's possible that other strains of beneficial bacteria or probiotics may have a similar effect on the brain.' A new blood test that predicts if a pregnant woman will give birth prematurely has been developed. It is up to 80 percent accurate and can also be used to estimate the mother's due date as reliably as an ultrasound, but costs much less, says the research team at Stanford University in California. Almost one out of every 10 infants born in the US is premature and the rate is going up, according to the CDC. Premature babies suffer a greater risk of breathing problems, feeding problems and are more susceptible to contracting infections. The researchers hope this new breakthrough will accurately predict delivery dates so treatment can be provided immediately after birth or lead to new drugs to delay premature birth. A new blood test that predicts if a pregnant woman will give birth prematurely, accurate by up to 80 percent, has been developed by scientists at Stanford University Premature birth occurs when a baby arrives at least three weeks early. It is the largest cause of infant mortality in the US. In 2015, preterm birth and low-birth weights accounted for approximately 17 percent infant deaths. Prior to this new technique, the best tests only predicted premature birth in high-risk women, such as women who conceived through IVF, suffered multiple miscarriages or had already given birth prematurely. Additionally, they only proved correct around 20 percent of the time. 'They were very good at determining if the woman wouldn't deliver preterm, if the test came back "no",' Mira Moufarrej, a bioengineering PhD student at Stanford, told Daily Mail Online. 'But they were not very good at predicting if or when the woman would deliver preterm, if the test came back "yes". 'The difference is our test is very good at determining "yes".' This new blood test looks at genes in blood samples from pregnant women and measures the levels of RNA, which carries instructions from DNA to parts of the body that make proteins. From there the scientists worked to identify which genes give reliable signals about the risk of premature birth and gestational age, or how far long a pregnancy is. BIRTH CAN CAUSE PHYSICAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL PROBLEMS THAT CAN LAST A LIFETIME About 10 percent of babies born in the US each year are premature. A birth is premature if the baby arrives at least three weeks early - or prior to 37 weeks. Premature babies or 'preemies' are often underweight and small. They sometimes continue to have delayed physical growth and development. Early birth has also been linked to broad behavioral and personality issues, thought to be caused by abnormalities in brain development. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety, neurological disorders and autism are all more common in preemies. The lungs are one of the last vital organs to fully develop - only becoming mature after 32 weeks - so preemies frequently suffer from asthma and other pulmonary problems. Children born premature are also more likely to later have intestinal, hearing, vision and dental problems and get frequent infections. Premature birth is the largest cause of infant mortality in the US. In 2015, preterm birth and low-birth weights accounted for approximately 17 percent infant deaths. Advertisement To figure how to determine preterm birth, the researchers used blood samples from 38 at-risk American women - 13 of whom delivered prematurely and the rest carried babies to term. The women were considered at-risk because they had experienced early contractions or had previously given birth to a preterm baby. One blood sample was taken from each woman during the second or third trimester of pregnancy. The scientists found levels of RNA from seven genes from the mother and the placenta could predict which pregnancies would end early. 'We knew before that we could measure levels of RNA in the blood but not that its useful for anything, so that was surprising,' Moufarrej said. 'And the genes that predicted preterm birth are different than those that gave information about gestational age.' The scientists used blood samples from 21 pregnant Danish women to build a model that identified RNA produced by the placenta that predicted gestational age, and validated it in another ten. Estimates were accurate about 45 percent of the time, compared to 48 percent accuracy from estimates given in first trimester ultrasounds. 'We can now start asking questions like: "Can we understand whats going with RNA in the mothers blood to understand fetal development?" or "If something goes wrong in development, when does it go wrong?"' said Moufarrej. She also added that this could give doctors a better tool for helping pregnant women. 'Ultrasounds are expensive and often they require a hospital, which is not helpful for women who don't get prenatal care,' Moufarrej said. 'If they do get it, ultrasounds works well in the first trimester and then results of what they can predict deteriorate rapidly in the second and third trimester. 'So we hope our test can either complement or substitute ultrasounds depending on the case.' Just two months of stress may damage a man's sperm and slash his chances of having children, a new study suggests. Israeli scientists found men are 47 per cent more likely to have swimmers with weak motility if they are under intense pressure. Weak motility known to be affected by lifestyle choices - makes it less likely that the sperm will successfully fertilise an egg. The findings were derived from 11,000 sperm samples, including those of adults exposed to 'regular rocket warning sirens' in the Gaza Strip. Israeli scientists found men are 47 per cent more likely to have swimmers with weak motility if they are under intense pressure Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Soroka University Medical Center in Beer-Sheva led the study. They analysed 10,535 sperm samples donated by men during periods in Israel deemed unstressful between 2009 and 2017. These were then compared to 659 samples from men take up to two months after fierce military battles between Israel and Gaza. The men had an average age of 32, which, according to figures, is the average age for first time fathers in the UK. Even though the findings related to just those living in conflict zones, the researchers argued they could apply to any mental stress. Dr Eliahu Levitas, study author, said: This study shows that prolonged stress can have an effect on sperm quality. Mental stress is known to have an adverse effect on fertility, but there is little research on the impact of stress on sperm quality. The findings were presented at the International Summit on Assisted Reproduction and Genetics in Tel Aviv. The results follow a landmark study last July that warned humans could face extinction if sperm counts continue to plummet. Western lifestyles have more than halved the sperm count of men in the US, Europe and Australia since the 1970s, it revealed. Researchers at Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai claimed it was an 'urgent wake-up call' to investigate lifestyle factors. Lead author Dr Hagai Levine told Daily Mail Online at the time that if we do not make a drastic change to how we live I am worried about the future. An array of previous evidence has also revealed sperm quality can be affected by chemicals found in soap, sunscreen and plastic. Dr Hana Visnova, medical director at European fertility clinic IVF Cube in Prague, said the research hints at a vicious circle when it comes to stress and infertility. She told MailOnline: 'Those who suffer fertility problems often endure an emotional rollercoaster. 'And if stress has led to the infertility problems in the first place, we could be looking at a vicious circle when it comes to sperm quality and infertility. 'For men, there theres this notion - an outdated and dangerous one - that fertility problems reflect poorly on a mans masculinity, and that they have to stay strong and stoic and strong for the sake of their relationship. 'And that results in men are often going unsupported in their journey to becoming a parent, as the focus shifts primarily to the female. A more open dialogue would be helpful.' Silvertone/RCA RecordsBlues great Buddy Guy is offering fans a swig of "Cognac," his brand-new song featuring two other guitar legends, Jeff Beck and The Rolling Stones' Keith Richards. The track, which will appear on Guy's upcoming album, The Blues Is Alive and Well, has just been released as a digital single and via streaming services. You also can listen to the slow-burning blues tune at Guy's official Vevo YouTube channel. The song finds Buddy singing about "getting drunk in style" by downing some of the classy-yet-potent spirit while reminiscing about his late pal, Muddy Waters. Guy declares, "Can't drink with me no more, Muddy, but I got Keith Richards," and Richards then begins to solo. Buddy soon asks Beck to join in, and Jeff obliges with some fiery licks. Richards and Beck then trade some riffs. The Blues Is Alive and Well, which will be released Friday, June 15, also features a guest appearance by Mick Jagger on a song called "You Did the Crime." The album was produced by Guy's longtime collaborator, Tom Hambridge, who also was behind the board for Buddy's Grammy-winning albums Skin Deep and Born to Play Guitar. Guy has North American tour dates lined up all the way into October. Visit BuddyGuy.net to check out his full itinerary. Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. The White House has released a series of new ads aimed at warning young people about the dangers of opioid addiction. The four ads, which will air on digital and social media platforms and on television, reportedly feature the true stories of young people who have battled addiction. Graphically, the ads show the lengths they've gone to gain access to painkillers including intentionally causing a car crash and self-inflicting a broken hand. Data suggests that young people are especially susceptible to misuse of opioids with more than two-thirds of people in drug treatment for opioids reporting their first use by age 25. The creators hope the ads will be jarring enough to inform young people about the risk and also prevent a willingness to share prescription drugs. The White House has released a series of new ads aimed at warning young people about the dangers of opioid addiction. In this ad, 'Amy' guns her car toward In this ad, 'Amy' guns her car toward a dumpster so she can get a prescription for Vicodin 'Joe's Story' describes how he was prescribed oxycodone after he hurt his neck, but then became so addicted to it, he intentionally caused a car to fall on top of him, breaking his back The ads feature young adults named Amy, Joe, Chris and Kyle and the different lengths they went to get their hands on prescription drugs. In 'Amy's Story', the eponymous character describes how she was prescribed the painkiller Vicodin after a knee operation. 'They kept prescribing it, so I kept taking it,' she says. 'I didn't know it would be this addictive. I didn't know far I'd go to get more.' She is then seen unbuckling her seat belt as she guns the car towards a dumpster. 'Joe's Story' describes how he was prescribed oxycodone after he hurt his neck, but then became so addicted to it, he intentionally caused a car to fall on top of him, breaking his back. Chris says he found Vicodin laying around his mother's house and eventually self-inflicted a broken arm so he would prescribed more. In the last ad, Kyle described how he tried oxycodone at a few parties and thought he had it 'under control', but intentionally smashed his hand with a hammer to feed his addiction. In 2016, more than 63,600 Americans died of a drug overdose, two-thirds of which involved illicit drugs. Chris says he found Vicodin laying around his mother's house and eventually self-inflicted a broken arm so he would prescribed more. In the last ad, Kyle describes how he tried oxycodone at a few parties and thought he had it 'under control', but intentionally smashed his hand with a hammer to feed his addiction. Additionally, in 2016, three-quarters of drug-related overdoses among those between ages 15 and 24 were opioid-related. This is the demographic targeted by the 'Stop Youth Opioid Abuse' campaign, which is a collaboration between the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), the Ad Council and the Truth Initiative. Robin Koval, CEO of the Truth Initiative, told Daily Mail Online that this campaign builds on their ongoing anti-smoking campaigns that also featuring jarring ads. 'We thought we could really make a difference in the opioid crisis,' she said. 'The highest rates of misuse are among young adults. We spent a lot of time talking to young people, interviewing young people, we looked different messages to use in the ads.' Koval said that the team looked at 150 possible messages to use in the ads, which were evaluated based on if they increased viewers' understanding of opioid abuse risk and lessened their inclination to share prescription drugs. Last October, President Donald Trump (pictured, Thursday) declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency and the federal government is expected to spend a record $4.6 billion this year to fight the opioid crisis 'The thing about these stories is that they're raw, they're definitely not sugar-coated, and they're from young people to young people.' According to an analysis released in February, the growing opioid epidemic has cost the US more than $1trillion from 2001 through 2017. Around the same time, the US Senate announced it has allotted $6billion for the opioid epidemic over a two-year period. Last October, President Donald Trump declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency and the federal government is expected to spend a record $4.6 billion this year to fight the opioid crisis. In March, the president unveiled a new anti-opioid abuse plan to fight the epidemic but it has gained little support from drug abuse and judicial experts due to the focus on tougher penalties for drug offences. The majority of the plan calls for mandatory minimum offences for trafficking fentanyl and other opioids 'that are lethal in trace amounts'. The president also called for the death penalty for drug traffickers 'when appropriate'. Two other steps of the plan include a goal of cutting down on prescriptions by one-third over the next three years and boosting treatment, although the latter fails to mention details or how much funding treatment will cost. BOOK OF THE WEEK THE IMPERIAL TEA PARTY by Frances Welch (Short Books 12.99) Like the best plays, this deeply affecting book about the meetings of the Russian and British royal families in the years before the Russian Revolution comes in three acts. Act I: Balmoral, 1896. Pouring with rain. Tsar Nicholas II and his young wife the Empress Alexandra come to stay with Alexandras grandmother Queen Victoria, bringing their fat baby the Grand Duchess Olga. Kilted torch-waving highlanders line the route, welcoming the Russian party to Aberdeenshire. Nicholas is homesick in the freezing castle. Described by one observer as a timid little autocrat, he hates having to have tricky political conversations with the visiting British prime minister. He has no luck stalking and doesnt bag a single deer. From left to right: Prince Edward (later King Edward VIII), Czar Nicholas II of Russia, his son the Czarewitch Alexei, and The Prince of Wales, later King George VI Act II: On board the British and Russian royal yachts at Reval (now Tallinn in Estonia), 1908. Since Bloody Sunday in St Petersburg in 1905, when the Imperial Guard killed 200 peaceful demonstrators, who were petitioning for a fairer Russia, and injured 800 more, the Tsars popularity has plummeted. Jovial King Edward VII, now with a 48-inch waist and known as Tum-Tum, meets increasingly morose Nicholas, with their wives and children, for two days of offshore banquets and friendly speeches, giving assurance of mutual support in the event of war. Act III: On board the royal yachts at Cowes, Isle of Wight, 1909. By this time the Tsar, who has imprisoned 400 editors of Russian newspapers, is so politically toxic among Left-wingers in Britain that the security is tight and hes not allowed onshore, for fear of sparking riots. Queen Victoria at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, with her son Edward, Prince of Wales (right), and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia (left). Also with them is Alexandra, Tsarina of Russia, holding her baby daughter Grand Duchess Tatiana Nicholas and his wife bring all five of their excited children with them: the Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia, and four-year-old Tsarevich Alexis. The main thing the children long to do is to go to a shop something theyre never allowed to do in their own country. On the surface, these three meetings are a catalogue of stifling Victorian and Edwardian niceties. So many curled moustaches, so much dressing by the monarchs in the uniform of the other country as a symbol of mutual respect, so much accompanying of the ladies into the dining room, so many eight-course lunches with menus in grandiose French, followed by tea at five oclock, followed by nine-course dinners, so many stiffly gracious speeches, so much exchanging of inscribed vases and Faberge cigarette boxes.Every tiny action was couched in protocol. You can hardly blame the Tsarina for finding endless excuses to miss meals, pleading various minor ailments ranging from headaches to sciatica. The British and Russian royal families, pictured together, met several times before the Russian Revolution The nearest the Russian children came to a moment of freedom was when they were allowed into Cowes for a morning of shopping in the souvenir shops. They were even given a few minutes on the beach not to get their feet wet, but to collect shells. Those royal and imperial family members were sadly not up to much when it came to diary-writing. Their entries make ditchwater seem scintillating by comparison. Sat down 38. Bed at 12. Weather is awful. Nice little evening. Frances Welch must have wished with her whole curious, investigative heart that the royal diary-writers had given more details. She relies on less discreet attendants to tell the truth: one of Queen Victorias ladies-in-waiting described Alexandra as a rabid, pathetic hausfrau who cannot rouse herself to reform either society or politics. Another attendant noted that the Empress only ate a few vegetables, while greedy Edward VII exclaimed rapturously over his Cumberland sauce: You could eat your mother with this sauce! What gives every sentence, and every glimpse, its fascination and poignancy is our knowledge that those five Imperial children and their parents would be massacred by the Bolsheviks in a brutal bloodbath, eight years after the last of those three meetings. The children of Nicholas II - The Grand Duchesses Maria Nikolaevna, Anastasia Nikolaevna, Tatiana Nikolaevna and Olga Nikolaevna with Tsarevich Alexei, they were all later shot dead This knowledge makes all the generous royal assurances, the polite speeches, the endearing nicknames by which they called each other (Nicky, Alicky, Bertie, Georgie) turn to ashes in ones mouth. In a devastating coda to the three acts, Welch tells the story of the British Royal Familys eventual betrayal of their Russian cousins. The Prince of Wales, soon to be George V, was among the party at Cowes in 1909. He and his cousin the Tsar, as well as being the spitting image of each other with identical moustaches and beards, got on well. The photograph of the two of them with their young sons David (the future Edward VIII) and little Alexis in a sailor-suit, is heartbreaking when you know what would happen. In his farewell message, the Tsar said: The affectionate welcome accorded by the Royal Family . . . the attitude of the British statesmen, people and press are all happy auguries for the future. The Tsar Nicholas II pictured together while they were exiled and held in captivity in 1917 When revolution struck in 1917, Nicky changed overnight from Tsar Nicholas II to Comrade Nicholas Romanov and the family were removed from their palace and exiled first to Siberia and then to the Urals. George V, who had become King after his fathers death in 1910, wrote to his cousin straight away. My thoughts are constantly with you. And I shall always remain your true and devoted friend, he said. The British did at first offer the deposed Tsar and his family asylum in Britain. But the King came under the influence of the jittery private secretary Lord Stamfordham, who was worried that giving the Romanovs asylum would stoke the growing republican movement in Britain. Gradually and tactfully, in the politest possible language, the offer was withdrawn. Could not the Russian Government make some other plans for the future residence of their Imperial Majesties? BOOK OF THE WEEK THE IMPERIAL TEA PARTY by Frances Welch (Short Books 12.99) The British ambassador Sir George Buchanan was commanded to deliver the news to the Romanovs that the offer had been withdrawn, and he was scarcely able to contain his emotions. Reading that brought me up short. There is blood on British hands for this act of betrayal. Couldnt we at least have given the children asylum? Welch gives the stark and horrific facts: on the night of July 16-17, all seven members of the imperial family were shot dead in a cellar. The murder took a full 20 minutes, as bullets ricocheted off the jewels they had sewn into their clothes for safekeeping. On hearing of the killings, George wrote in his diary: Those poor innocent children! The only thing to assuage the British conscience is the belief, among todays historians, that the radical Left-wingers of the provisional Russian government would never have allowed the Romanovs to leave Russia, even if our asylum offer had not been withdrawn. Seventeen Romanovs did manage to get out of Russia after the Revolution. The Royal Family gave the Tsars sister Xenia and her family a house on the Frogmore estate at Windsor but they were treated very much as poor relations. Advertisement The U.S. is on track to accept fewer than 21,000 refugees in 2018, a historically low number that is well below the annual 45,000 cap imposed by the Trump administration. The projection is based on the 6,865 refugees allowed into the country during the first four months of 2018, according to federal data. Of all the states, Texas had the largest influx of refugees, taking in 462 - with the most coming from Uganda - followed by Arizona (456), California (419) and New York (409). Wyoming and Hawaii have taken in no refugees so far this year. A map showing how many refugees were placed in each state during the first four months of 2018, with Texas, Arizona, California and New York taking in the largest proportion of refugees If the overall projection proves true, it would be a significant decrease, even compared to the 33,368 people who were admitted into the U.S. refugee program in 2017 - when the influx was slowed by a restriction in admissions for several months while the Trump administration sought to toughen the screening process. It is a dramatic decrease from the nearly 97,000 who were accepted into the country during Obama's last year in office. The refugee program has shrunk so dramatically that a number of field offices dedicated to handling their arrival have closed over the past year because they aren't receiving enough people at this time. 'This number (of refugees) is historically the lowest number we have resettled at least since 1975,' said Eskinder Negash, CEO of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. The committee recently closed its Vermont office because it had been prepared to take in 100 refugees, but instead received only eight, he said. 'It has human impact,' Negash said. 'Imagine yourself living in a refugee camp for 17 years and you're hoping to get a chance to start again, and then after you go through the whole process (you're told), "I'm sorry, not now."' This map illustrates the top source countries for refugees arriving each state in the first four months of 2018. It shows that Ukrainians were most likely to land on the West Coast, while Eritreans are concentrated in Nevada. The Democratic Republic of the Congo was the top source country in more than half of the U.S. states A spokeswoman with the U.S. Department of State said the goal of the refugee program is not to bring as many people here as possible, but to 'ensure that these vulnerable individuals are protected and that their basic needs are met in the places to which they have fled until they can return home.' Refugee Path to America Step 1: Refugees seeking to enter the U.S. must first apply for refugee status with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. The application is reviewed to determine if the individual meets the definition of someone who has 'a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.' Step 2: Once the applicant is determined to have refugee status, he or she is referred for resettlement in another country, where they will eventually be given legal resident status and the opportunity to apply for citizenship. Step 3: If that country is the U.S., the application is then processed by a Resettlement Support Center. The centers are charged with interviewing the refugee and putting them through an intensive screening process in conjunction with multiple federal agencies. That process includes background checks, medical evaluation, fingerprinting and screening terror lists. Syrian applications are subject to an additional layer of review. Step 3: The Department of Homeland Securitys U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services reviews all the information collected by the resettlement centers and conducts an in-person interview with the refugee before deciding whether to approve him or her for resettlement in America. Step 4: Refugees approved by USCIS receive cultural orientation in advance of their arrival in the U.S. and assistance once they get here. Source: U.S. Department of State Advertisement 'Refugee resettlement is the solution for only a small percentage of the world's refugees, with only one half of one percent of all refugees resettled to third countries each year,' she added. The U.S. has accepted more than 3.3 million refugees since 1975, according to the U.S. Department of State. A map showing the top source countries for each state reveals that Ukrainians are largely settled along the West Coast and Alaska, while Eritreans are placed predominately in Nevada. The Democratic Republic of the Congo was the top source country in more than half of the states in the first four months of 2018. The makeup of where U.S. refugees came from has also changed in 2018, with none of the top five origin countries being Muslim-majority. In 2017, Iraq, Syria and Somalia were still in the top five source countries for U.S. refugees. For the past decade, roughly two-thirds of the world's refugees came from Muslim-majority countries, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of United Nations refugee data. 'The fact is that they're instituting new vetting procedures and tightening up the vetting process and that's why the numbers are below the ceiling,' said Mark Krikorian executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, an anti-immigration think tank based in Washington D.C. 'The fact that there are no Muslim countries in the top countries make sense because that's where the new vetting is most important,' he added. About half of Americans (51 percent) believe the U.S. has a 'responsibility' to take in refugees, compared with 43 percent who believe the opposite, according to a Pew Research Center survey. But the issue is polarizing: When breaking out those results based on political party, only 26 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents believe the U.S. has a responsibility to refugees, compared with 74 percent of Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents. So far in 2018, the U.S. has accepted 6,865 foreign refugees, putting the country on track to accept fewer than 21,000 by the end of the calendar year. It's a significant drop compared to the flow allowed under former administrations, including President Obama, whose administration allowed nearly 97,000 refugees into the country in 2016 'Refugee resettlement is the solution for only a small percentage of the world's refugees, with only one half of one percent of all refugees resettled to third countries each year,' said a U.S. Department of State spokeswoman in an email. Caleb Gashugi (left) is greeted by family at Albany International Airport on November 15, 2017. The 19-year-old traveled from Kenya, where he had lived as a refugee from violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo since he was 10 years old 'The safety and security of the American people is paramount,' she added. 'That is why we are committed to working in concert with our homeland security, law enforcement, and intelligence partners to identify additional opportunities to improve our refugee security screening' That safety could have a cost later on when it comes to international relationships and reputation, said Leon Fresco, former deputy assistant attorney general in charge of the Office of Immigration under President Obama. 'If we don't make a strong commitment to the refugee program, we lose our moral currency to tell other countries to accept refugees - then we create a breeding ground for terrorism,' he said. 'We have to be careful to balance out those different interests.' Caleb Gashugi, 19, is among the refugees who have arrived in the U.S. under the Trump administration. He fled violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo at age 10 and had lived in Kenya including time in a refugee camp since then. Gashugi described the refugee camp has having 'a painful condition' with no clean water or shelter beyond a tent and no opportunity for him to go to school. He now lives in Albany, New York with the family that had informally adopted him after his only surviving family member went missing in Kenya. 'Coming here, it's somehow creating hope in me that I will be able to tackle life as an adult,' Gashugi said. 'If you are here, I think you can do everything.' A US Army hero claims he returned from service in Afghanistan to discover a conman had used his photos to catfish around 30 women and dupe them out of thousands of dollars. Combat medic Albert Lovato, 39, says pictures he posted on Facebook were stolen and used to create fake profiles on social media and dating sites. Posing as the uniformed dad-of-three, the scammer approached women around the world, including in the US, Canada, India, Costa Rica, and the Philippines. Albert says his impersonator showered them with compliments, lured them into a long-distance relationship, and even wooed them with offers of marriage in an effort to win their heart. Then, in chats over Facebook Messenger, the fraudster spun lies about being injured in combat and his children back home being sick and asked them to send him money. Combat medic Albert Lovato, 39, says pictures he posted on Facebook were stolen and used to create fake profiles on social media and dating sites Lovato, a combat medic was deployed to Afghanistan in 2012 and returned home and to find numerous 'foreign women' contacting him through Facebook The conman ripped pictures off the army hero's personal Facebook account and created multiple fake profiles which he used to lure women into 'long-distance relationships' Albert, who is married to 42-year-old landlord Jane Hamilton, was oblivious to the havoc being wreaked in his name until strangers began messaging him online early last year. One claimed to be in love with him, another scolded him for breaking her heart, and a third revealed she had sent the man she believed to him a sum of money. In total, Albert claims he is aware of around 30 women who fell victim to the conman, many of whom sent him money. The veteran said the news, which came shortly after he returned from deployment and following a battle with alcoholism and the death of a close friend, hit him hard. Meanwhile, the accused conman flashed his newfound wealth around online, posting photos of watches and bundles of cash. Albert, of Denver, Colorado, who is now studying to become a physician's assistant, said: 'For someone to do this after everything I had been through - I was really angry. 'I served honorably in Iraq and Afghanistan and this dude swooped in and took my name and face. 'He used all I have done in my life honorably for dishonorable means. 'Someone from a distant country is tearing me down. It's a feeling of helplessness. The conman had targeted a woman named Vivian Rita, 47, and sent her a poorly photoshopped picture of Lovato holding up a notebook which read 'I love you so much Vivian I can't wait to meet you' An exchange on Facebook messenger shows one Indian woman named Lanamica told Albert she had been scammed by a man pretending to be him She sent an edited picture of the two of them saying: 'I'm broken I'm lost because I fall in love with you by mistake (sic).' 'And thinking of what he did to those women is heartbreaking. 'To suddenly have a man who looks really good and is young and he tells you that he loves you; it's wrenching. 'These women were telling me they loved me. These people had formed relationships with me and I wasn't even in the country.' Albert joined the army in 2006 aged 27 and was deployed to Iraq where he served with the military police in Baghdad during the Siege of Sadr City. When he returned to the US he worked at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington, D.C., before being deployed to Afghanistan in 2012 to 2013. Albert, who is dad to Sondra, 19, Trinity, 17, and Novia, 16, said: 'I came home from Afghanistan and all these foreign women started contacting me through Facebook. 'I was like, "What the heck?" 'One said, "Albert, I know you are in a relationship but I fell in love with somebody who said they were you. We were together ten months in a long distance relationship." 'Another woman sent a picture of my face and this girl and it says, "I love you a lot." She said, "I fell in love with you, I'm crying every day." 'He was targeting vulnerable women - single moms, older women and those who didn't have any self esteem. Vivian Rita, 47, contacted Lovato to alert him that a scammer, from Nigeria, admitted to her that he had been using his photos to con people. She said alarm bells rang when he sent her a poorly doctored photo of a plane ticket The accused conman flashed his newfound wealth around online, posting photos of watches and bundles of cash A woman named Rachel (left) contacted Lovato telling him he told he wanted to marry her 'These women were in love with me when they were contacting me and were hoping I could give them some sort of closure, and it breaks my heart to think of that.' It's unclear exactly how many victims there are, but Albert said he has been contacted by around 30 women, many of whom sent the conman money - $300 or $400 a time. In a message to him, one Indian woman who was affected said: 'I'm broken I'm lost because I fall in love with you by mistake (sic).' Another victim wrote: 'You dropped off the face of the earth and never said anything. Now your (sic) in a relationship. I wish you well Albert. This time please stay truthful with this person.' Last July, Albert was approached by Vivian Rita, 47, who had been contacted by the fraudster posing as Albert in December 2016. The office assistant, who does not wish to disclose her last name, was initially taken in by his affection but alarm bells rang when the man promised to fly and see her and sent her a poorly photoshopped plane ticket. She admits she sent $300 to the scammer after he pleaded with her to help pay for his electricity and was subsequently told by Western Union that it was a scam. Albert is married to 42-year-old landlord Jane Hamilton, and is father to Sondra, 19, Trinity, 17, and Novia, 16 Vivian, who has been single six years, confronted the fraudster who revealed himself as a man from Nigeria who had uploaded various photos of watches and bling online. She went on to track Albert down after noticing the last name 'Lovato' on one of the pictures the scammer had sent her and trawling through Facebook. Vivian, of Toronto, Canada, said: 'He messaged me and said he wanted to get to know me. I was thinking, "Why would you want to get to know me?" 'He wooed me. It started very simply - he would say, "How was your day?" or, "Just checking in on you?" Albert also messaged one of the profiles directly to confront the person behind it, and screenshots show the man's bizarre reply in broken English, telling him: 'Get lost you hungry lion' 'Then he started asking for money. He said his internet wasn't working and was saying, "Please, please, please, I won't ask again." 'I did it once, but deep down I knew I should have listened to my gut. 'When I found out it was a scam I was livid that I fell for it. 'I was determined to find out who this guy was. I told him I knew he wasn't the person in the photos and said, "Tell me the truth." 'He was saying, "Please, stop." He finally confessed that he wasn't Albert and then sent me a picture of himself. 'He said he wasn't a scammer, that he needed money for school and food. I said, "You're a thief and a liar." 'I'm doing this for other women. If I can save one person from falling into the trap then I've done my job.' Albert and Vivian did not report the scam to the police because, since the person responsible lives in Africa and his victims were scattered across the globe. They felt it was unlikely they would take action and they also fear that more than one scammer might be responsible. Instead they began reporting the fake profiles to Facebook who investigated and deleted the accounts. Albert also messaged one of the profiles directly to confront the person behind it, and screenshots show the man's bizarre reply in broken English, telling him: 'Get lost you hungry lion.' Con artists have since targeted Albert's military colleagues, prompting the dad to speak of his own experience in an effort to raise awareness. He said: 'I just want to tell people to be careful with their military pictures because, at least in America, military people are viewed as heroic, strong and dependable. 'My Facebook profile was open at the time and now there is no way to get them back. 'I want to get the word out to other people to be careful.' Bill Clinton has garnered attention after insisting that he does not owe Monica Lewinsky a personal apology after her life became defined by their affair during the time she was a White House intern, portraying himself as a victim of the mass media. The former President, speaking in an NBC interview, revealed that he had apologised to everyone and complained that after leaving the presidency, he was financially ruined because of the legal costs associated. Alongside this, he said that the #MeToo movement is overdue and the Democrat claimed credit for empowering women. In the interview, he also promoted his new thriller book, The President Is Missing, with author James Patterson, but what is Bill Clintons net worth? Bill Clinton has insisted that he doesn't owe Monica Lewinsky an apology in an NBC interview Who is Bill Clinton? Born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946, in Arkansas, Bill served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Prior to this, he was the Governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again from 1983 to 1992. He studied at Georgetown, Oxford and Yale Law School, where he met his future wife Hillary. As the third-youngest president, he presided over the longest period of peacetime economic expansion in American history and signed the North American Free Trade Agreement into law. Clinton also ordered intervention in the Bosnian and Kosovo wars, signed the Iraq Liberation Act in opposition of Saddam Hussein, participated in the 2000 Camp David Summit for Israel-Palestine peace process and signed Northern Irelands Good Friday Agreement. After his presidency, Bill published books and made a living from travelling the world and involving himself in public speaking engagements, as well as humanitarian work. Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton wave after the final Millennium Evening Lecture Series Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton was born on October 26, 1947 and is the wife of Bill Clinton. Hillary served as the First Lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001. She was also the junior Senator from New York from 2001 to 2009 and the US Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013. In 2008, she lost the Democratic nomination for US President to Barack Obama and became the nominee in the 2016 election, losing to current President Donald Trump. She was born in Chicago, Illinois and graduated from Wellesley College in 1969, going on to earn a J.D. from Yale Law School four years later. Hillary married Bill in 1975 after moving to Arkansas and during her time as First Lady, advocated gender equality and healthcare reform. Hillary Clinton, accompanied by Bill Clinton, seen conceding the presidential election in 2016 Chelsea Clinton Chelsea Victoria Clinton was born on February 27, 1980 in Little Rock, Arkansas and is the only child of Bill and Hillary Clinton. She worked as a correspondent for NBS from 2011 to 2014 and now works for the organisations, the Clinton Foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative. After attending Stanford University, she attended Oxford and Colombia for Masters degrees. Chelsea married investment banker Marc Mezvinsky in 2010 and the couple have a daughter and a son together. In an interview with The Guardian, Chelsea spoke about Trumps planned visit to the UK and said: If I lived in Britain I would show up to protest, because I dont agree with what hes doing to degrade what it means to be an American. This resulted in a number of media outlets taking her comments out of context, stating that Chelsea Clinton says Trump degrades what it means to be an American. She was also involved in Roseanne Barrs Twitter tirade, who claimed that Chelsea was married to investor George Soross nephew. She replied: 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! 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! https://t.co/mXokiTEwN7 Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) May 29, 2018 Roseanne then apologised for her mistake and went on to say that Clintons husband is the son of a corrupt senator. Edward Mezvinsky was convicted of fraud in 2002 and went on to serve five years in prison. She then tweeted: Sorry to have tweeted incorrect info about you!I Please forgive me! By the way, George Soros is a nazi who turned in 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? Sorry to have tweeted incorrect info about you!I Please forgive me! By the way, George Soros is a nazi who turned in 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? Roseanne Barr (@therealroseanne) May 29, 2018 Chelsea and Bill sit at the town hall debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton Monica Lewinsky Monica Lewinsky was forced into the media spotlight after a sexual relationship between the then 49-year-old President Bill Clinton and herself, a 22-year-old White House intern, came to light in 1998. The relationship, having taken place between 1995 and 1997, led to charges of perjury and the impeachment of Clinton by the House of Representatives, after Bill ended a televised speech stating that he did not have sexual relations with Lewinsky. Despite being acquitted on all charges during the 21-day trial, he was also held in civil contempt of court because he gave misleading information in the Paula Jones case, regarding Monica and was also fined $90,000. Monica Lewinsky was a graduate of Portland, Oregon school Lewis & Clark College and was hired during the former Presidents first term in 1995 and then worked for the White House Office of Legislative Affairs. She is thought to have confided in her co-worker Linda Tripp about her relations with Bill, who recorded their phone conversation. In 1998, it became evident that Lewinsky had sworn an affidavit in the Paula Jones case which denied any relationship with Clinton. Tripp then delivered her recording to the Independent Counsel, Kenneth Starr, who was investigating Bill on other matters. The Clinton-Lewinsky scandal was widely reported and was dubbed as Monicagate and after evidence, a blue dress with Clintons semen on it, that Tripp provided, meant that Bills statement was false and perjurous. Monica Lewinsky, the former White House aide said to have had an affair with Clinton pictured During the deposition, Clinton was asked whether he had had sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky, to which he replied this time round: I have never had sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky. I thought the definition included any activity by [me], where [I] was the actor and came in contact with those parts of the bodies. I know that my public comments and my silence about this matter gave a false impression. I misled people, including even my wife, I deeply regret that. 'Indeed I did have a relationship with Ms. Lewinsky that was not appropriate. In fact, it was wrong. It constituted a critical lapse in judgment and a personal failure on my part for which I am solely and completely responsible. Clinton has since been accused of sexual harassment and assault by at least four other women. In May 2018, Bill Clinton addressed this scandal in a NBC interview and said that he does not owe Monica Lewinsky a personal apology, despite her life being defined by their illicit sexual affair and the global scrutiny that followed. No. I do not - I have never talked to her. But I did say publicly on more than one occasion that I was sorry. I apologised to everyone in the world. A lot of the facts have been omitted to make the story work. I think partly because theyre frustrated that they got all these serious allegations against the current occupant of the Oval Office and his voters dont seem to care. Nobody believes that I got out of that for free. I left the White House $16 million in debt, Clinton complained. Two months earlier, Monica Lewinsky penned an essay for Vanity Fair in which she said that what transpired between Bill Clinton and myself was not sexual assault, although we now recognize that it constituted a gross abuse of power. Im sorry to say I dont have a definitive answer yet on the meaning of all of the events that led to the 1998 investigation. I am unpacked and reprocessing what happened to me. Over and over and over again, she wrote. Monica Lewinsky's life has been defined by their sexual affair and the scrutiny that followed Bill Clinton's impeachment The impeachment of Bill Clinton was initiated at the end of 1998, on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice, stemming from sexual harassment allegations by former Arkansas state employee Paula Jones. Two other articles, a second perjury charge and an abuse of power charge, failed in the House. There was sufficient evidence to impeach the former President and all charges were considered by the House of Representatives and Bill became the second president to be impeached after Andrew Johnson in 1868. Richard Nixon had resigned while an impeachment process was underway against him. However, Clinton was not removed from office due to the trial, which started after the seating of the 106th Congress, in which the Republicans held 55 Senate seats. This meant that 67 senators were required to vote to remove Clinton. While 50 senators voted to remove the former President on the obstruction of justice charge and 45 to remove him for perjury, no Democrat voted guilty on either and he remained President until the end of his term. Former President Bill Clinton pictured here testifying to the grand jury, live on television Bill Clinton book Bill Clinton and renowned author James Patterson have collaborated on a fictional thriller book called The President Is Missing, which riffs on themes such as the civil unrest in Central America, threats against Saudi monarchy and Russian meddling in world affairs. The plot focuses on the protagonist President Jonathan Duncan and follows him after he ditches his handlers and tries to foil a cyberterror plot alone. In addition to this, there seem to be many messages about the current state of politics embedded within the text. What does it mean to be an American today? Its a question that will answer itself if we get back to whats brought us this far: widening the circle of opportunity, deepening the meaning of freedom and strengthening bonds of community. 'Shrinking the definition of them and expanding the definition of us. Leaving no one behind, left out, looked down on, the book read. Another section does the same: Think about how different it would be if we reached beyond our base to represent a broader spectrum of opinions and interests. Wed learn to listen to one another more and defame one another less. Bill Clinton height Bill Clinton is 6ft (183cm), according to Celeb Heights. Listed as 6ft 2.5 when in office, he seems to have lost two inches due to age. Bill Clinton net worth Bill Clintons net worth has accumulated to approximately $80 million (60m), according to The Richest, which also revealed that his salary as President from 1993 to 2001 was an annual $1.6 million (1.2m) into his pocket. As governor, Clinton earned $381,000 (285,000) a year and soon began to make money from his speaking engagements. In 1992, his fees were $3,000 (2,200) when he was the Governor of Arkansas, but this figure increased to a whopping $1.6 million (1.2m) per engagement by 2001. In 2011, Bill took home a total of $106 million (793m) from speaking engagements from 2001 to 2013 and his house in Chappaqua, New York has been valued at $1.6 million (1.2m). One of the wealthiest and most influential political donors and businessmen in the United States will be stepping down. David Koch, the Vice President of Koch Industries and a prominent financial backer of conservative and libertarian causes, announced his retirement on June 5, 2018 from both his business and all political activities. Despite his recent announcement, Koch played a key role in shaping U.S. politics for decades and was also noted for his generous philanthropy for years. But just who is David Koch? Heres all you need to know about who he is, his age, net worth, how he amassed his fortune, his family, political views and activities, philanthropic efforts and recent retirement announcement. David Koch recently announced his retirement from Koch Industries and political activities Who is David Koch? David Koch is an entrepreneur, philanthropist and political activist and donor best-known as the Vice President of Koch Industries, a multibillion dollar privately-held company that specializes in the manufacturing, refining and distributing of chemicals, energy, petroleum and other products. He was born in Wichita, Kansas, on May 3, 1940. The third of four sons, of Fred C. Koch, a businessman who founded an oil refinery that would later become Koch Industries, Koch attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and joined his familys business in 1970 as a technical services manager. He established the companys New York City office in 1979 and later became president of its Chemical Technology Group division. After a foray into national politics in 1980, he entered into a bitter battle for control of the company with two of his brothers in 1985, a dispute that wasnt settled until 2001. Despite the fight for the control of Koch Industries, Koch amassed a huge amount of wealth and often utilized it to support conservative and libertarian political causes as well as to invest in philanthropic efforts for the arts, education and medicine. After the election of President Barack Obama, Koch became a supporter of the Tea Party movement and was often critical of the new president. On June 5, 2018, he announced his retirement from both Koch Industries and political activities, citing health reasons. How old is David Koch? David Koch is 78-years-old. He was born on May 3, 1940. Conservative donor, activist David Koch to retire from Koch Industries and all political groups, citing health issues https://t.co/m8fSI5wQqR The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) June 5, 2018 What is David Kochs net worth? According to Celebrity Net Worth, David Kochs net worth is estimated to be a staggering $50 billion (37.3bn). How does David Koch make his money? Koch draws his immense wealth from his successful business career at Koch Industries, a Wichita, Kansas-based corporation involved in the refining, manufacturing and distribution of petroleum-based products and energy as well as financial trading and other economic sectors. He started his career at Koch Industries, the second-largest privately-held company in the United States, in 1970 as a technical services manager. After establishing a New York City office for the company and became the president and founder of its Chemical Technology Group division. After the company was sued by his brothers Frederick and David in 1985, he entered a protracted battle over the companys ownership that lasted until 2001. As of 2010, he owned 42 percent of Koch Industries, with his brother Charles also owning the same percentage of the multinational conglomerate. David Koch is stepping down from Koch Industries and the Koch political and policy network due to declining health. pic.twitter.com/xnDwAWfqaU Leigh Ann Caldwell (@LACaldwellDC) June 5, 2018 Who is David Kochs wife? David Kochs wife is Julia Flesher. He and Julia have three children: David Jr., John and Mary. Koch is the son of entrepreneur Fred C. Koch, a businessman who founded an oil refinery that eventually became Koch Industries. He also has three brothers: Frederick, twin brother Bill and Charles, whom he co-owns Koch Industries with. David Koch political views Koch is well-known for his longtime financial support for conservative causes in the United States, though his views have shifted over the years. He initially started off as a libertarian, even running for Vice President in 1980 for the Libertarian Party ticket alongside Ed Clark, pledging to cut taxes and spending and dramatically reduce the size and influence of the Federal government in general. However, he left the Libertarian Party in 1984 after he disagreed with its views that all taxes should be abolished and subsequently joined the Republican Party. Koch has been a major donor to conservative and libertarian political causes over the years, donating millions to political candidates and serving as the chairman of free market think tanks Americans for Prosperity and Citizens for a Sound Economy. Hes also been an active supporter of libertarian advocacy organizations such as the Reason Foundation and the Cato Institute. Though a fiscal conservative who supports reducing taxes, government spending and regulations, Koch has also described himself as a liberal on social issues, supporting LGBT rights, gay marriage and stem cell research. He also opposed the 2003 Iraq War, citing its financial and human costs. Koch has been a strident critic of former President Barack Obama, describing the 44th president as the most radical president weve ever had and a hardcore socialist who holds antibusiness and anti-free enterprise views. He also backed the Tea Party movement that emerged early in Obamas tenure in the White House that battled the president on issues like taxes, debt and healthcare reform. Though he backed President Donald Trumps recent tax cut, Koch broke sharply with the president over his steel and aluminum tariffs. David Koch philanthropy A noted philanthropist, Koch founded the David H. Koch Charitable Foundation and has given millions to medical research and educational ventures. Notably, Koch has been very active in supporting New York Citys arts and cultural institutions over the years, especially the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, with the institutions David H. Koch Theater being renamed in his honor in 2008 following his $100 million donation to renovate the facility. Koch often donated to Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and other institutions David Koch health problems and retirement On June 5, 2018, Koch announced his retirement from both Koch Industries and all political activities, citing health issues. The 78-year-old multi-billionaire has reportedly been in declining health since around 2016 and is no longer able to get involved in management of the company and other organizations, according to a message sent to all employees of Koch Industries. The message also stated: We are deeply saddened by this as we miss David's insightful questions and his many contributions to Koch Industries. A 28-year-old man accused of killing his infant son and storing his body in a hotel freezer in Alabama for nearly a week has been arrested after being shot trying to flee a SWAT team in Florida. Authorities say Carlton 'CJ' Mathis will be charged with aggravated assault in Florida in addition to charges in Georgia and Alabama once he's released from the hospital. Alachua County Sheriff's spokesman Brett Rhodenizer said Georgia's Hall County Sheriff's Office had notified them at 8.30pm on Sunday that Mathis could be in north Florida, based on information from an On-Star-enabled vehicle. He was tracked down in nearby Levy County. Scroll down for video Couple caught: Carlton 'CJ' Mathis, 28 (pictured with 'Pale Face' tattoo), and his girlfriend Amanda Oakes (right), 36, of Georgia, have been arrested in the death of their infant son Shocking find: Police recovered the body of six-month-old Carlton Oakes inside a freezer at In Town Suites hotel in Dothan, Alabama, on Friday Courtesy of ActionNewsJax Mathis was reportedly armed and trying to flee in a red SUV when he was stopped by a SWAT unit at 4.30am on Monday at Bronson Villas & Villages. Mathis, who was a passenger in the vehicle, allegedly threatened the driver with a handgun, prompting a SWAT officer to shoot him four times. The suspect was then taken into custody and transported to a hospital for treatment. He is being held for a parole violation warrant out of Gainesville, Georgia, in connection to a robbery case. Track record: Mathis was also wanted for a parole violation warrant out of Gainesville, Georgia, in connection to a robbery case After Mathis and his girlfriend, 36-year-old Amanda Oakes, were taken into custody in Florida, police in Dothan, Alabama, learned that the couple had been staying at the In Town Suites in the 2800 block of Ross Clark Circle. A search warrant was executed at that location and led to the discovery of the body of Oakes and Mathis's six-month-old son, Carlton James Oakes in the freezer. According to police, it appears the infant was in the freezer for five-six days. The baby was taken to the Alabama Department of Forensic Science in Montgomery for autopsy to determine this cause of death, which is pending at this time. It is believed that the child was already deceased prior to being placed in the freezer, but police suspect foul play in his death. The manhunt for Mathis had started after police in Dothan on Friday received information from Hall County Sheriffs Department in Hall County, Georgia, reporting a possible infant death. According to the tip, Mathis and his girlfriend, 36-year-old Amanda Oakes, were possibly in the Dothan area with their baby, Carlton James Oakes. Mathis and Oakes were apprehended in Bronson, Florida, on Monday morning A SWAT officer shot Mathis four times, injuring him, after the man allegedly put a gun to the head of the driver of this red SUV The Hall County Sheriffs Department received information that the infant was possibly dead inside of an apartment. Police were unable to track down the couple, but received information that they had left the Dothan area and were possibly in Florida, where they were eventually apprehended with the help of SWAT units on Monday. Mathis and Oakes were both charged with one count of abuse of a Corpse and the bond for each was set at $15,000. The pair are awaiting extradition from Levy County, Florida, to Dothan, Alabama. Murder charges are expected to be filed against them after the autopsy on their son is completed. A Taliban-bomb maker carried out a 'hostile surveillance' around London before he was to carry out a knife attack outside Downing Street, a court heard. Jurors were shown footage of Khalid Ali, 28, making his way around the capital before he was detained in Whitehall on April 27 last year - just four weeks after Khalid Masood launched a terror attack in Westminster. Khalid Ali, 28, from Edmonton, North London had spent five years with the Taliban before returning to Britain with a 'message' for the country's 'decision-makers'. The court heard that Ali had taken 'hostile reconnaissance' around Downing Street, New Scotland Yard, the Ministry of Defence, the MI6 building and the Cenotaph on March 18 and April 22 last year, the court heard. Jurors were shown footage of Khalid Ali's arrest at the trial at the Old Bailey Ali was arrested by armed police on April 27 last year Khalid Ali spotted walking around London before he was arrested by Metropolitan Police He had taken a Tube on April 22 from near his home in Edmonton Green to Vauxhall underground station, before walking to Westminster and through the underpass under the Victoria Embankment, through crowds of smiling tourists. Three days later, Ali allegedly bought a Cook's Professional stainless steel knife and a Dura stainless steel chef's pack of three knives, as well as a Dura 11ins stainless steel carving knife and sharpener. Ali entered a shop and asked a worker if 'they' could trace an international mobile identity number on a mobile phone. Jurors at the Old Bailey were also shown CCTV of Alis arrest while crowds of people milled around Parliament Square. As officers moved in they shouted out to Ali: 'Armed police. Armed police.' The trained plumber put his hands in the air by his head and lowered himself to his knees then onto the ground. Asked if he had anything on him that could harm a person, Ali said: 'You'll see.' Two knives were retrieved from his jacket pockets and a third from the waistband of his tracksuit bottoms. CCTV shows Whitehall terrorist Khalid Ali on Albert Embankment Khalid Ali was filmed carrying out 'hostile surveillance' before his alleged planned attack Some of the knives allegedly found on Ali The prosecution alleges Ali was targeting MPs, police and members of the armed forces. Early on April 27, his mother raised the alarm when she found knives in his bedroom at the family home in Edmonton, north London. But he re-armed himself with more knives from Wilko before taking the Tube to Westminster, the court heard. His mobile phone was later recovered from where he had dropped it in the River Thames in Westminster, the court heard. Ali denies two charges of possessing explosives with intent abroad in 2012 and one charge of preparing terrorist acts in Britain. A Chinese woman who was abducted as a child has finally found her parents after missing them every day for 30 years. Tears were shed at the Liupanshui Airport in southern China last month as Lin Zhenqin, 39, hugged her long-lost mother and father in her hometown by birth. Ms Lin, whose original name is Yang Faqin, was kidnapped at the age of nine before being adopted by a family 900 miles from her home, according to Chinese state media. Lin Zhenqin and her long-lost family members hug and cry as they meet after 30 years apart The touching scene was captured at the Liupanshui Airport in southern China on May 26 Ms Lin is among the 0.1 per cent of people in China who were separated from their parents as a child and manage to find them later. According to media reports, around 200,000 boys and girls are reported to be missing every year in China and among them, only 200 are able to find their biological parents at one point of their lives. Ms Lin was born in Liupanshui, Guizhou Province, but spent most of her life with the Lin family in Putian, Fujian Province, reported China Central Television Station. It's reported that Ms Lin was taken by human traffickers in 1988, but no details were shared on how she had been separated from her family. Although Ms Lin has vague memories about her childhood in Liupanshui, she always knew she had been adopted and had never given up the hope of meeting her birth parents again. She told a CCTV reporter: 'This matter had been bothering me. I had always wanted to find them.' She said whenever she met people from Guizhou Province, she would always ask them if they had heard of any families looking for their long-lost child. Ms Lin's fate took a turn about a month ago after she moved to Foshan, Guangdong Province, to work in a beauty parlour. After she told a client about her experience, the client encouraged her to go to the police station. Ms Lin (pictured) told CCTV that she had wanted to find her biological parents all these years The 39-year-old migrant worker managed to find her parents through a DNA test last month Ms Lin is among the 0.1 per cent missing children to be able to see their parents again On May 15, Ms Lin went to seek help from the Nanhai Branch of Foshan Public Security Bureau, reported CCTV. Officers took samples of her blood before sending them to its DNA lab. Police compared Ms Lin's blood samples with those stored in a national DNA database. A week later, police managed to find an elderly couple who match Ms Lin's DNA results and happen to live in her birthplace of Liupanshui. One day later on May 23, Ms Lin was invited to the police station to have an online video chat with the elderly couple to see if they were really her parents. In a video released by CCTV, Ms Lin can be heard asking the couple if they remembered she was wearing a pair of red Wellington Boots when she went missing; and an elderly lady said 'your father remembers'. As their conversation went on, more details of the day surfaced and the two parties confirmed that they were indeed one family. Ms Lin was born in Liupanshui but grew up with her adopted family 900 miles away in Putian Speaking to Zhuhai Online, Ms Lin said she had always wanted to find her parents. She added that she didn't undertake a DNA test earlier because she thought the test would be very expensive. She said she was ecstatic to discover it was provided by police free of charge. Ms Lin was arranged to return to Liupanshui from Foshan on May 26 with the help of the two cities' police. After dreaming about meeting her parents for three decades, Ms Lin was finally reunited with her family. She broke down in tears as soon as she met her long-lost family in the Liupanshui Airport. Ms Lin's biological brother, Yang Faxiang, told CCTV: 'We're so happy to find my sister. My parents are very happy. 'We thank the police for helping us reunite after 30 years.' As summer approaches, panda breeding centres around China are getting ready to welcome the arrival of adorable cubs. After the world's first set of captive-bred panda twins were born late last month in Chengdu, the city's giant panda breeding base has announced the arrival of another set of twin cubs. Footage released by the state-run facility shows the two cubs, an elder sister and a younger brother, frolicking in an incubator after they were delivered on Tuesday morning. The twin panda cubs, a female and a male, were born in Chengdu, China, on Tuesday morning The cubs were transferred into an incubator right after being delivered in a breeding centre Giant pandas usually mate in spring and deliver their babies between the months of June, July and August. Baby pandas are born pink, blind and without the iconic black-and-black fur. The newborns are the cubs of seven-year-old panda Ya Yun. The first-time mother went into labour at around 3am on June 5 and lasted for about five hours. The first cub was born at 8:20am weighing 135.3 grams (4.8 ounces) while her brother was delivered nine minutes later at a weight of 148.8 grams (5.2 ounces). One keeper is pictured bottle-feeding one of the cubs while looking after the newborns Baby pandas are born pink, blind and without the iconic black-and-black fur The breeding centre said Ya Yun is a 'caring' mother as she quickly picked up her newborn cubs and licked them. The cubs were transferred into an incubator to be looked after moments after being delivered. Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Base is the world's largest artificial breeding population of captive pandas. A total of 11 panda cubs were born in the centre last year and made their public debut in September. The state-run base started in 1980s with six ill pandas, according to its website. As of 2015, it had bred a total of 214 cubs, many of them sent to zoos around the world. According to latest statistics, the base looks after 152 pandas. Spencer Reinhard never expected a college library tour to change his life. The son of an engineer and a homemaker in Lexington, Kentucky, he was a talented art student when he was shown around the library at Transylvania University idolizing masters such as Monet and van Gogh, tortured artists with lives full of tragedy and passion. He didnt have that in his comfortable, happy, upper-middle-class life in suburban Kentucky. But when he entered the special collections room of the university library, he saw a chance to change all that. Books and manuscripts worth millions were on display, guarded only by an aging librarian. He saw an opportunity to make his life extraordinary. He saw an opportunity for a heist. What followed, improbably, was a bumbling and haphazard caper a criminal attempt to live a life less ordinary that landed Reinhard and three of his friends in jail. Their 2004 plan is the subject of newly released movie American Animals, which is part re-enactment, part interviews with the real people involved. The heist gave the four 20-year-olds the taste of adventure and movie plot excitement that they so craved but it came at a price. Scroll down for video New film American Animals, directed by Bart Layton, tells the story of how four Kentucky college students attempted to steal $12million in rare books and manuscripts from the special collections room of the library at Transylvania University - even disguising themselves as old men at one point (pictured, in a still from the movie) The students who planned the heist and were later sentenced to seven years in prison were, from left to right, Eric Borsuk, Spencer Reinhard, Charles 'Chas' Allen IIand Warren Lipka From left to right: Borsuk, Reinhard, Allen and Lipka have all been released from prison, where they had corresponded with director Layton; he tells DailyMail.com that he was impressed by their honesty behind their motivations, and their interviews are included in the film It was one of those true stories that just didnt need a whole lot of exaggeration or fictionalization or embellishment, says American Animals director Bart Layton, who first began corresponding with the four young men while they were in prison. It was sort of unbelievable on so many levels and I guess a lot of it, to me, these men were almost lost in a movie fantasy that just went way too far. He adds: The idea that they were sort of drawn in by that, and then getting more and more detached from reality, to me presents a really amazing opportunity to tell a new kind of true story that we havent quite seen before. It all began with that library tour, which Spencer mentioned to his friend Warren an excitable athlete considered to be a bad influence by Spencers parents, the type of teen who sported a tattoo of a Tyrannosaurus rex trying to turn on a ceiling fan on his right arm. Spencer explained that $12million in rare books were there for the taking, barely guarded in the sleepy building on Transylvanias manicured campus. Among the items in the library collection were a first edition of Charles Darwins On the Origin of Species by Means of natural Selection; drawings and sketches by naturalist John James Audobon; and an intricate, hand-painted manuscript written in 1425 in Winchester, England. The accessibility and huge pricetag of the items right on their doorstep led the boys to concoct a romantic notion of starring in their own real-life caper that would inject their youth with the excitement Spencer so craved. Growing up, I had a desire for some kind of life-altering experience, real-life Spencer, now 33, says in the film, referring to the trials and tribulations of tortured historical artists. I felt like they understood something more about life that I wasnt getting to experience. Art has to be about more than just, My life is great and Im really good at drawing. Warren, too, seized upon the idea of a heist, beginning research and reconnaissance on the library and the boys studied robberies by watching all the heist movies they could get their hands on. Newly released film American Animals is a dramatization and reenactment of the heist starring actors Barry Keoghan (Reinhard), Evan Peters (Lipka), Jared Abrahamson (Eric) and Blake Jenner (Allen) - interspersed with interviews with the real people involved They monitored staff schedules, building plans and security procedures, realizing the locked rare books room was guarded by motion sensors. Meanwhile, Warren started looking into how they could sell the books once they were stolen, tracking down a shady email address from a contact for a fence. The ended up driving 12 hours across the country to New York City for a seconds-long meeting with a contact in Central Park who passed on another email address. That email address connected them to possible buyers in Amsterdam, where Warren allegedly traveled to discuss a sale posing as the nephew of the real seller. He reported that these underworld characters told him that only items valued by a respected auction house would even be considered for purchase. And all of this occurred before the boys even had the books in their own possession. As planning progressed, however, Warren and Spencer realized they couldnt successfully execute the caper on their own. They brought in Warrens friend, Eric Borsuk an accounting major who dreamed of joining the FBI upon graduation. He pointed out that pulling off the heist at night would be too difficult; it would be easier to steal the books during the day, when people were coming in and out of the building all the time. The boys decided that the best way to get in the room would be to make a viewing appointment and accompany the librarian. Theyd also need a getaway driver, someone with access to a fast car so they settled on Charles Chas Allen II, another student who had his own income as a budding entrepreneur. Initially he told them they were crazy. Once I realized they were serious about the plan, I thought they were smoking too much [marijuana] and I thought they were likely to get themselves in a lot of trouble and get caught, he says in the film. Eventually, however, he was coaxed into joining them. The only big hurdle to pulling off a seamless crime, they figured, was the librarian presiding over the collection Betty Jean Gooch. She would have to be in the room at the start of the heist, having opened the locked section and none of the boys wanted to harm her. Eventually it was Warren who volunteered, reluctantly, to incapacitate her; he bought a stun gun and they packed duct tape and zip ties. Warren rationalized that hed assure the librarian they werent there for her and only wanted the books; after the heist, he said, theyd mail her some money as an apology. In a scene from American Animals, actor Peters, playing Warren Lipka, stands in front of a drawing board for the crime; in the film, as in real life, Lipka assigns code names to the four co-conspirators inspired by the Quentin Tarantino cult heist film Reservoir Dogs Eric Borsuk, played in the film by Jared Abrahamson (pictured), was studying accounting because he wanted to join the FBI - before the caper derailed his plans Hed be solely responsible for taking care of the librarian, he insisted. The others would not be involved whatsoever. The boys made an appointment to view the books at the Transylvania library for December 16, 2004, the second to last day of the semester and a day on which three of them were scheduled to take exams a surefire alibi, Warren reasoned, because who would suspect students who were in finals on the day of the crime? As further assurance, the four of them decided laughably to wear disguises on the day. They dressed up as old men, complete with bushy fake eyebrows and beards. Each of the young conspirators had an assigned role and - in another nod to their youthful, mistaken belief that real life can be just like the movies Warren gave them code names according to color such as Mr. Pink (Chas, who was not pleased), just like in Tarantinos cult heist classic Reservoir Dogs. Eric (Mr Black) and Warren (Mr Yellow) would go into the library. Spencer (Mr Green) would be the lookout. Chas (Mr Pink) would be waiting outside with the engine running and the doors open. The plan went awry almost from the start. After entering the library, Warren realized that there wasnt just one librarian at the rare books collection that day; instead there were several, and it looked like they were having a meeting. The four decided to abort a huge relief for some of them. They fled in their costumes. To get out of that situation, without having done anything wrong, was an incredible feeling, Spencer, now out of jail and working as an artist in Lexington, says in the film. The plan was off, there was no heist it was glorious. The sun was shining, and it was like a new beginning. Warren, however, had other plans. He made an appointment for the following day under the same false name, and the foursome set out yet again, this time without their old men disguises. He and Eric went into the library, with Warren first introducing himself to Ms Gooch and later calling up Eric (before hed incapacitated her.) Warren used a stun gun, and the two of them tied her up but they were in a panic and the books were large and heavy. Then they couldnt find their planned exit and made a run for it through the library, dropping most of their loot along the way. After Chas picked them up, he also panicked and forced them out in the middle of an unfamiliar neighborhood. It had all gone sideways, and they walked away with almost nothing but they did make off with a few small items, including the Darwin book. And they werent giving up. The four, nerves frayed, drove to New York for an appointment at Christies. The lead appraiser wasnt there, so they left Spencers cell phone number. It wasnt until later that they realized theyd used the same email address to book the Christies appointment and the original library viewing at Transylvania. That connection would prove their undoing. Within months, they were tracked down and arrested to the absolute horror and astonishment of their family and friends. We were in shock, Spencers parents say in the film. We did not expect that from our son, ever. It was like we woke up in a nightmare. The boys pleaded guilty to six federal charges including theft of cultural artifacts from a public museum and interstate transportation of stolen property; they were each sentenced to seven years in federal prison. The stolen items were returned to Transylvania undamaged and are still under the care of Ms Gooch, who also agreed to be interviewed for the film. The pain that I caused both to my family and to BJ (Betty Jean) were never worth the adventure that we felt at the time or the change in our life that we were craving, Spencer says in the movie. Warren (played by Evan Peters in the film) is now living in Philadelphia; he re-enrolled in college and is pursuing filmmaking. Eric (played by Jared Abrahamson) has completed a memoir of the caper from which the film takes its name: American Animals. Chas (played by Blake Jenner) is living in California and is now, among other things, a motivational speaker. And Spencer (played by Barry Keoghan) still lives in Lexington and works as an artist specializing in birds. Director Layton, who first met the foursome the day after they were released from prison following a long correspondence, says their motivations behind the crime added a deeper level to the story. It was the things that they wrote in these letters from prison which, for me, turned it from a great stranger-than-fiction true story to something that felt quite kind of prescient, in a way, he tells DailyMail.com. They talked a lot about their motivations, and not all of them were motivated by what you might imagine which is obviously getting millions of dollars and riding off into the sunset. The library at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, housing the special collections room where the rare books and manuscripts - such as works by Charles Darwin and naturalist John James Audubon - are held Following the theft, the four 20-year-olds drove 12 hours to New York City, where they attempted to have the works valued by the auction house - a move that would eventually help lead to their apprehension Librarian Betty Jean Gooch, left, who was attacked by the robbers, continues to look after the rare books at the Transylvania library; Director Bart Layton, right, interviewed her for his film, as well as all four young men who perpetrated the crime and some of their parents. He tells DailyMail.com that he found the four 'unusual' and 'incredibly compelling' and lauded their 'honesty about the naive and idiotic nature of what theyd done but there was something kind of relatable about it ... that's why I decided that if I was going to make a film about it, they would have to be included in some way' Spencer, Layton says, doesnt really have a problem but needs one in order to have an identity to find his voice. Warren also talked about this desire to be interesting and need to make your mark on the world which Layton says now looms even larger in young peoples lives, what with the advent of social media. And he hopes the story resonates with modern audiences for that very reason. I found them quite unusual; I found them incredibly compelling, their honesty about the naive and idiotic nature of what theyd done but there was something kind of relatable about it, he tells DailyMail.com. There was something honest that really spoke to that time of adolescence, that transition into adulthood, realizing that youre probably not going to be special and interesting and important but wondering how to kind of leave a mark on the world and all of those kinds of things. They were very honest, and thats why I decided that if I was going to make a film about it, they would have to be included in some way. He adds: I hope its more than just a fascinating tale. For me, as a filmmaker, thats not enough just to have a great story Really, its a heist movie, but its also about a rather lost group of young men who are searching for an identity. And I think one of the things that I wanted to talk about, or wanted to at least make people think about, is this pressure. It is a very privileged thing to be able to worry about whether youre going to be important or after your basic needs are being met youre then faced with these existential questions. I think now we live in a culture where there is a huge amount of pressure we walk around with these devices which give us a metric for how interesting we are: how many people are following us on Instagram or twitter or facebook or whatever it is. You broadcast your stuff out into the world and then you wait for people to like it or react to it, and then you judge your importance or your value in relation to other people based on how many people are responding to you or liking you or following you or whatever Those are the things and ideas that I wanted to leave you thinking about. A shocking video of a zoo chimpanzee chain smoking in his enclosure has sparked controversy in China. The 28-year-old male primate, named Jiaku, is said to have been a chain smoker for about 16 years. The chimp has carried on his habit after being moved to a zoo in Xinjiang, north-east China, in 2002. Chimpanzee Jiaku (pictured) is seen smoking in its enclosure at Tianshan Wildlife Zoo in China The caretaker of the 28-year-old animal said Jiaku had been smoking since 2002. The caretaker also said that before being moved to a zoo in 2002, Jiaku performed at a circus Tourists in the Tianshan Wildlife Zoo are seen trying to throw a cigarette to the chimpanzee A clip on China's video platform Pear shows Jiaku puffing on cigarettes as tourists watched excitedly by his enclosure in Tianshan Wildlife Zoo last Friday. The video also shows tourists throwing cigarettes and lighters into Jiaku's enclosure to encourage him to smoke. No keepers or staff were present to stop the tourists from doing so. The zoo issued an apology letter yesterday after the public accused the management for not taking good care of the animal. The zoo promised to seal all gaps in the glass windows and add warning signs to prevent visitors from giving Jiaku more cigarettes. Jiaku's caretaker, Yu Xinhua, told Xinjiang Morning Post last year that Jiaku had been smoking since 2002. In a separate interview, Mr Yu told ifeng.com that Jiaku was born in Beijing Zoo in 1990. 'He was trained and had worked in a Chinese circus before,' said Mr Yu, who has looked after the animal for 16 years. Jiaku was transferred from the circus to the Urumqi Zoo in Xinjiang Province under an animals exchange programme in 2002. In 2006, it moved to Tianshan Wildlife Zoo in the same province where he is still living. Jiaku stretches out his arm to fetch more cigarettes behind the glass windows in his enclosure It's not sure how and when did the chimp start learning smoking and picking up the habit More tourists enjoy watching the chimpanzee smoking and throwing in more cigarettes The management of Tianshan Wildlife Zoo have vowed to help the animal quit smoking. The zoo said a statement: 'We will fill up all the gaps and holes between the glass panels to avoid tourists slipping cigarettes into the enclosure. 'We will put up more warning signs on to remind tourists not to throw or feed any food and objects to the chimpanzees.' Jiaku has been smoking before he was transferred to Tianshan Wildlife Zoo in 2006 The 28-year-old primate is always given cigarettes and lighters by tourists Commenting on the matter, Keith Guo, press officer at PETA Asia, told MailOnline that the zookeepers should be responsible for the animal's well-being. 'The "caretakers" facilitate Jiaku's habit for the sake of a few cheap laughs and increased attendance,' said Mr Guo. 'There is nothing natural about watching a chimpanzee smoking or gawking at other animals behind bars, whether they are forced to perform tricks or not.' The zoo also said it would strengthen the training of its animal carers. Wishing Muslims around the world a 'Ramadan Mubarak' - a blessed holiday - President Donald Trump on Wednesday hosted his first White House dinner for Islam's holy month of Ramadan, an overture that surprised many in the Muslim community after he skipped hosting such a meal last year. Speaking at an iftar dinner, which breaks the daylong fast, Trump offered a message of unity, recognizing members of the Muslim community at home and abroad. 'In gathering together this evening, we honor a sacred tradition of one of the world's great religions,' he told an intimate audience that included Cabinet members and ambassadors from many Muslim-majority nations including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. It was a dramatic departure from the inflammatory rhetoric Trump used during his campaign, when he called for a 'complete and total shutdown' of Muslims entering the country, compared Syrian refugees fleeing civil war to a deadly snake and declared, 'I think Islam hates us' in an interview with CNN. President Donald Trump on Wednesday hosted his first White House dinner for Islam's holy month of Ramadan The overture surprised many in the Muslim community after he skipped hosting such a meal last year Trump shakes hands with Dina Kawar, Jordan's ambassador to the United States, at the White House on Wednesday Trump greets guests at the dinner in the State Dining Room on Wednesday Trump offered a message of unity, recognizing members of the Muslim community at home and abroad. The menu for the iftar dinner is seen above Instead, Trump spoke of 'the renewed bonds of friendship and cooperation' forged with 'valued partners' from across the Middle East and said Iftars 'mark the coming together of families and friends to celebrate a timeless message of peace, clarity and love. There is great love.' He recalled his visit last year to Saudi Arabia - his first foreign trip - as 'one of the great two days of my life.' 'Only by working together can we achieve a future of security and prosperity for all,' he said. The dinner came as the Supreme Court considers legal challenges to Trump's travel ban, which critics say unfairly targets some Muslim-majority countries. A ruling is expected as early as this month. Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, also attended the dinner Kushner shakes hands with a guest just before the start of the dinner on Wednesday Several Muslim civil rights groups pushed back, organizing a 'NOT Trump's Iftar' protest at a park across from the White House. The groups say Trump's heated rhetoric has contributed to an increase in bullying and discrimination against Muslim Americans. Sharif Aly, CEO of Islamic Relief USA, a humanitarian and advocacy organization, said the group was glad to see the White House had reinstated the iftar, 'an event that should be hosted every year, just like the Easter Egg Roll, the Passover Seder and Christmas Open House.' But he urged the administration 'to actively engage on issues impacting our beneficiaries,' including the travel ban and proposed cuts to social welfare programs. During his presidential campaign, Trump called for a 'complete and total shutdown' of Muslims entering the United States. Last year, he drew international criticism for retweeting anti-Muslim videos posted by a far-right group in Britain. And his decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital was seen by many critics as an unnecessary provocation in the Muslim world. The White House has defended Trump's policies as necessary for national security. Vice President Mike Pence (left) speaks with Iraqi Ambassador to the United States Fareed Yasseen, right Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross (left) poses for a selfie with a guest Iftar dinners have been held regularly at the White House since the Clinton administration as a form of outreach to the Muslim world. Shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, President George W. Bush hosted ambassadors and diplomats in celebration of Ramadan, declaring 'evil has no holy days.' President Barack Obama took up the tradition, saying that discriminating against Muslim Americans 'feeds the lie' that the West is at war with their religion. Last year, Trump broke tradition. Instead of hosting a dinner, the White House issued a statement on the Islamic holiday that focused heavily on the threat of terrorism, noting that recent attacks 'steel our resolve to defeat the terrorists and their perverted ideology.' Protesters hold banners denouncing Trump at an iftar dinner event at Lafayette Park in front of the White House on Wednesday Muslims perform a prayer following an iftar at Lafayette Park near the White House on Wednesday Iftar dinners have been held regularly at the White House since the Clinton administration as a form of outreach to the Muslim world A woman prepares a sign for a rally against Trump before the iftar on Wednesday The White House struck a considerably warmer tone last month, when it released a statement from the president declaring 'Ramadan Mubarak,' a common greeting in Islam for a blessed holiday The White House struck a considerably warmer tone last month, when it released a statement from the president declaring 'Ramadan Mubarak,' a common greeting in Islam for a blessed holiday. The statement praised the Constitution for ensuring Muslims can observe the holiday 'unimpeded by government' and did not mention terrorism. 'Ramadan reminds us of the richness Muslims add to the religious tapestry of American life,' the statement said. The current version of Trump's travel ban applies to travelers from five countries with overwhelmingly Muslim populations - Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. It also affects two non-Muslim countries, blocking travelers from North Korea and some Venezuelan government officials and their families. Adolf Hitler went to extraordinary lengths to suppress the secrets of his youth and family, an extraordinary book on the dictator's childhood has revealed. At the age of 12 he was an angry bully who had no friends, failed math and history, and only liked to draw. As a teen he had believed 'dark forces' ruled his life, and as a young man he became a dirty, disheveled tramp with an unruly beard, shoulder-length hair and the soles of his shoes so thin, he replaced them with paper. Adolf Hitler said himself in Mein Kampf, he had to alter the disturbing details of his adolescence, his depraved youth, and life as a homeless crank before serving in the military in WWI. All those angry years as a ranting, solitary young man needed to be amended in order to transform him into a legend and messiah-like figure. 'After he was elected chancellor, Hitler went to extraordinary lengths to suppress the facts about his youth even ordering the execution of an "art dealer" who had befriended him as a young man and who threatened to reveal unsavory details of his early life in Vienna', writes Paul Ham in Young Hitler: The Making of the Fuhrer, published by Pegasus Books. The making of the Fuhrer: Adolf Hitler (pictured in 1933) had to lie about his background and upbringing to transform himself into a powerful leader Young Adolf: Growing up, Hitler had a growing resentment for his father who did not support his dream to become an artist. He was a poor student with no friends, was expelled from one school, dropped out of the second school, and then abandoned all formal education at age 16 Adolf Hitler's father, Alois, was born to an unmarried farmer's daughter, Maria Schicklgruber who was impregnated possibly by a blood relative. The Schicklgrubers were poor farmers who had so little money that they sometimes slept in a cattle trough for lack of a bed. Maria later married a poor miller's assistant, Johann Hiedler and at age 39, Alois adopted the surname of 'Hitler' a variant of Hiedler to distance himself from his impoverished past and the name Schicklgruber. He then claimed he was the son of Johann Hitler and not a Schicklgruber. This was the first lie that was made official in the parish directory. Legitimizing Adolf's father erased the greatest impediment to his prospects as a politician. Alois married his housemaid Klara, his third wife who was 24 years younger. He was a brute and a boor who spent more time in the local tavern than at home, where he regularly beat their son, Adolf, Ham writes. Young Hitler: The Making of the Fuhrer, reveals the disturbing details of the German dictator's childhood The family constantly changed homes and villages before settling in Bavaria, on the German side of the Austrian border in 1892. Klara coddled her son and took care of Alois's two children from his second marriage but it was Adolf she smothered with love. Adolf hated his father - feelings which manifested in temper tantrums well into adulthood. Klara gave birth to a second son, Edmund in 1894 and two years later, a little girl, Paula. Adolf was nine years old and resented not being the only child. The family moved to just outside of Linz, Austria in 1898, where Adolf's younger brother died of measles, restoring Adolf's status as his mother's only son. However, that did not abate his hatred for his father that he expressed in his attitude toward teachers and classmates. He turned to the western novels of German Karl May and stories of cowboys and Indians, and recruited younger boys into playing shoot 'em up games with him. Now he became even more imperious and heartless with no friends and listened to no one. He'd fly into a rage over any triviality. The only teacher he liked was Dr. Leopold Poetsch, who taught history with 'stirring tales of Germany's heroic past'. It was Poetsch who 'activated his nascent pride in a Greater Germany and seeded the idea of Jews and Slavs as not only undesirable aliens but also as inferior races'. Adolf's dream was to be a 'great artist', a worthless future criticized by his father. When Alois died at his local cafe in 1903, the family was relieved. Hitler (right) as a young 'runner' on the Western Front, with his beloved dog Fox He was born to Alois Schicklgruber - whose father changed his last name to Hitler to distance himself from his impoverished past, and Klara Polzl - who is said to be the only person he truly loved Adolf continued to fulfill his father's low expectations. He was expelled from one school, dropped out of the second school, and then abandoned all formal education at age 16. He told his mother that his final school report had blown out of the window of the train when in fact he had used it as toilet paper. Adolf frittered away his time pursuing 'a life of leisure.' As a teen he lived in a fantasy world imagining he was a genius who would redesign the city of Linz. A former teacher, Dr. Eduard Huemer, recalled Hitler as 'stubborn, high-handed, dogmatic, and hot tempered, prone to playing pranks on other boys', Ham quotes Jetzinger. He hated school, his schoolmates, his teachers and blamed them all for his failure as well as the Catholic Church and a school priest who had offended him. When he quit school, he loafed and refused to help his mother. He was above being a laborer. Hitler had one childhood friend, August 'Gustl' Kubizek, who later wrote a memoir detailing their very 'lopsided relationship', dominated by Hitler who continually berated his one and only friend, a shy and talented musician, for his conventional ideas. 'Hitler was the braggart and poser, Kubizek, the self-effacing acolyte and patient listener', writes Ham. Twice decorated for bravery, Hitler neverrose above rank of lance corporal It was an audience of one for the bossy, self-important and aggressive Hitler who twirled a small black cane. Adolf was obsessed with 'dark forces' he believed intervened in his life. When he lost the lottery, he attributed that loss to those mysterious dark forces as well as the lottery organizers and government who clearly had rigged the outcome against him, Kubizek wrote in his book, The Young Hitler I Knew. 'Harmless things, like a couple of hasty words, could make him explode with anger'. 'All he wanted from me, was one thing agreement', writes Kubizek describing his friend's 'gusts of unbroken verbiage' about art, the city's design, the bridge over the Danube, the underground railway system and any performance of a Wagner opera. With a rising fury, Hilter astonished his friend with these tempestuous bursts. 'Such rapture I had only witnessed so far in the theatre, when an actor had to express some violent emotions', Kubicek detailed. These garrulous outbursts lacked all compassion, humility and wit. What was extraordinary to Gustl Kubizek about his friend was his eyes. 'Never in my life have I seen any other person whose appearance was so completely dominated by the eyesIn fact, Adolf spoke with his eyes, and even when his lips were silent one knew what he wanted to say', Kubicek remembered. Those eyes were stronger than his facial features thin lips, fleshy nostrils and faint facial hair. Kubicek's mother remembered those eyes as 'shining, blank and cruel'. Early in 1906, Hitler confessed to Gustl that he was in love with the tall, blonde Stefanie Isak he often saw walking in Linz. She was Jewish but Ham writes that Hitler 'showed few signs of Antisemitism at this time, partly because he simply gave the matter little thought', quoting a BBC documentary, The Making of Hitler. Above is a watercolor painting by Hitler of the Messines Church in Flanders. He had taken exams for the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna but failed As a teen, Hitler had fallen in love with a tall, blonde named Stefanie Isak he often saw walking in Linz. He had never spoken to her and she did not know he existed Hitler presumed Stefanie reciprocated his feelings and adored him with the same passion. He wrote letters and poems to her that he never mailed and she had no clue he even existed. He was too shy to speak to her and enlisted Gustl to spy on her for him. Gustl observed that Stefanie loved waltzing and had several suitors. He advised Hitler to take dancing lessons which only enraged him because he loathed dancing. He later described the waltz as 'much too effeminate for a man', Ham quotes German writer Hanfstaengl. 'I shall never dance!' he told Gustl. 'Stefanie only dances because she is forced to by society on which she unfortunately depends. 'Once she is my wife, she won't have the slightest desire to dance.' With no notice from Stefanie, Hitler's jealousy drove him to contemplate suicide by jumping in the Danube. 'Either that or he would kidnap her and force her to marry him', his friend wrote. For four years, Hitler fantasized Stefanie as the 'purest dream of his life' and never was a word exchanged in those years. When Hitler moved to Vienna in pursuit of a failed art career, he sent her an unsigned postcard declaring his love and that she should wait for him. 'He was going to return and marry me', Stefanie is quoted. She had no clue who he even was when she received the postcard. That fantasy of Hitler's evaporated when she married an officer stationed in Linz. Hitler's obsession turned to Wagner's operas and he believed that Rienzi, the hero in Rienzi: The Last of the Tribunes, was 'sending him a psychic message to lead the German people out of darkness. Hitler (left) with Hess (second from the right) in Landsberg Prison, 1925. Lederhosen were one of many privileges granted to Nazi inmates According to the book, Hitler was not always antisemitic, but it was a sentiment that was contrived years later 'to enhance his political ambitions' Determined to make a go of it as an artist, he took exams for the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna but failed. When his mother died of breast cancer in 1907, he had lost 'the only person he loved', writes the author. Now his anger was directed at the graduates of the Art Academy, the wider artistic movement and counterparts in architecture and music and poetry he viewed as ' the sounds and scenes of a monstrous decadence'. He turned back to opera and 'his moods oscillated between fury and despair, lethargy and anxiety', Gustl wrote. Hitler never learned to read music or write music but told his friend he was writing an opera. It was all fantasy since he wasn't earning any money and sinking further into his own bleak poverty and living on the street. He refused to work as an ordinary laborer. His anger turned on politicians in Vienna seeing the poverty surrounding him. He slept on park benches and scrounged for food. He had become 'a dirty, disheveled tramp, unrecognizable from the debonair dandy of Linz'. He was 'notoriously dirty even among the destitute and in danger of being expelled from the hostel as too unkempt'. The vagrant, Reinhold Hanisch, whose bad luck it was to sleep in the shelter's adjoining bed, recalled the tramp whose feet were bleeding from walking the streets and who said he was a painter dispossessed by his landlady. 'Hitler had been reduced to a beggar, preying on misfits and drunks,' writes the author. People close to Hitler said he was ill-tempered and 'harmless things, like a couple of hasty words, could make him explode with anger' He was obsessed with 'dark forces' he believed intervened in his life and blamed them for losing the lottery and other misfortunes As Fuhrer, Hitler would go to murderous lengths to suppress any account of his 'lost' years, and in 1936 ordered Hanisch hunted down and killed.' But it was Hanish who 18 years earlier, insinuated himself into Hitler's life and suggested he paint postcards that Hanish would then sell to tourists. These little pictures of street scenes, buildings, and monuments sold well and Hitler won commissions to sketch consumer products like hair tonic, mattress stuffing, soap, and an antiperspirant powder. Hanisch soon tired of Hitler's bombastic speeches about a world ruled by Germany , ended their friendship when Hitler accused him of short changing him on a picture and reported him to the police. That cost Hanisch a week in jail. Hitler later claimed he knew 'many beautiful women in Vienna' and loved 'big blonde' girls. His ideal woman was 'a cute, cuddly, naive little thing tender, sweet and stupid.' Sexual intercourse horrified him as well as the idea of syphilis. Celibacy appealed to his hatred of decadence and homosexuality disgusted him. According to his old friend, Kubizek, he even refrained from masturbating. All of it was a cover for his fear of sexual inadequacy. Hitler's life and faith was focused on Germany with the idea of Germany as savior of Europe and the German people -- an idea that germinated in his youth and heated up when Germany signed the Armistice in 1918. According to the book, Orthodox Jews in Vienna aroused Hitler's curiosity but he would not become a violent anti-Semite until after the First World War His greatest champion had always been Count Otto von Bismarck, who had unified Germany in 1871, hated social democracy, non-Germans, and believed in secular rule over the Catholic Church. He was Hitler's inspiration through those angry early years. Another lie he penned in Mein Kampf was that he left Vienna with a violent hatred of the Jewish people. In fact, two of his close friends were Jews. And they were the biggest buyers of his postcards that kept him from dire poverty. His antisemitism during that period was only that the orthodox Jews in their traditional black kaftans, broad hats, beards and tassels, provoked a morbid curiosity and not hatred. This fabrication that he was always antisemitic, was contrived years later 'to enhance his political ambitions', according to Ham, and 'an attempt to validate retrospectively his life from impoverished artist to political thinking to revolutionary leader'. The truth was that his murderous hatred of the Jewish people stemmed from his fear that the Jewish race posed a serious threat to his Aryan fantasy that Germany would be great again. Years later, he softened his anti-Catholicism when expedient and turned his wrath on a single target the Jews. Hitler moved from Vienna to Munich in 1913 as a 'draft dodger' on the run. In another lie in Mein Kampf, he blamed his flight on Vienna's racial diversity and degradation. Back in his hometown of Linz, he had not responded to the call to military service and Linz police tracked him down, threatened a possible jail term and heavy fine. The homeless Hitler pleaded poverty. He hired a lawyer and argued that at that time, he had 'no other companion but eternally gnawing hunger'. When he was examined, he was declared medically 'unfit for military service' 'unsuitable for combat and support duty, too weak, and incapable of firing weapons'. A candid photograph of Eva Braun with Adolf Hitler at the dining table. This picture, released by the U. S. Army Signal Corps was taken from the album of Eva Braun, young mistress of the onetime dictator of Germany This was yet another truth he would later attempt to hide. The orphaned, unemployed, and friendless 24-year-old was rescued from himself when Germany declared war on Russia at the start of WWI. Hitler volunteered for the German army and was rejected. He tried again and was accepted as a trained infantryman. Hitler had found a home, a cause, regular employment, and comradeship. 'The war would be the greatest and most unforgettable time of my earthly existence', he later said. He served four days as a foot soldier and then a dispatch runner delivering orders from headquarters to commanders nearer the front line. Never was he in 'a muddy, rat-infested dugout under constant bombardment'. His regiment was a motley assortment of homeless misfits, romantic students, unemployed workers, idealists and Pan-Germans like Hitler. When the Armistice was signed on November 11, 1918, Germany had lost the war on the front line. In four years, 37 million people were killed or wounded. A white-hot hatred exploded in Hitler for those who signed the armistice. He longed for a future ruled by a Greater Germany. 'Post war Germany performed the role of Dr. Frankenstein to cranks, extremists and criminals and provided a man like Hitler a launch pad and a breeding ground', writes the author who warns it could happen again here with young fascists signing up for organized oppression and vilifying 'Muslims' or 'Jews' or Mexicans and all the while failing to deal with the deep economic trauma that is the true scourge of the West.' Authorities released chilling video showing the moment a large crowd gathered at a Las Vegas outdoor concert began to disperse as a gunman opened fire in the worst mass shooting in modern American history. Police released video from a camera atop the Mandalay Bay resort that provided a bird's-eye view of the country music festival where 58 people died and hundreds were injured on October 1. The gunfire came from 32nd-floor windows into a crowd of 22,000 people at the Route 91 Harvest Festival across Las Vegas Boulevard. Authorities say many more people were traumatized when Stephen Paddock, a 64-year-old high-stakes video-poker player, spent 10 minutes firing rapid-fire barrages with assault-style rifles. Authorities released chilling video showing the moments a large crowd gathered at a Las Vegas outdoor concert began to disperse as a gunman opened fire in the worst mass shooting in modern American history The image above shows concertgoers fleeing in terror after the gunfire rang out Police released video from a camera atop the Mandalay Bay resort that provided a bird's-eye view of the country music festival where 58 people died and hundreds were injured on October 1 The gunfire came from 32nd-floor windows into a crowd of 22,000 people at the Route 91 Harvest Festival across Las Vegas Boulevard The camera atop the hotel bears silent witness as floodlights sweep the concert crowd before the shooting starts; follows the massacre as bright lights come up and people flee; and shows small groups huddled over apparently injured victims The image above shows people either fleeing in terror or lying on the ground after having suffered gunshot wounds Police also released 518 calls made to the emergency dispatcher from witnesses The camera atop the hotel bears silent witness as floodlights sweep the concert crowd before the shooting starts; follows the massacre as bright lights come up and people flee; and shows small groups huddled over apparently injured victims. Police also released 518 calls made to the emergency dispatcher from witnesses. Screams and pleas for help, descriptions of people falling amid rapid gunfire, and breathless questions about what to do next emerged in 911 audio made public. 'Shots fired! Shots fired! Hurry!' a woman screams, crying as a dispatcher asks where she is and the call disconnects. The dispatcher calls back and another woman answers. 'Machine guns are being fired into the Route 91 festival,' she says. 'It's coming from above, I would assume from the Mandalay Bay side over by the Luxor.' The haunting 911 tapes reflect a range of emotions among callers, including panic, fear and desperation. 'We just ran from the concert. Can you tell us what's going on? We were there. It was bad,' one man tells a police dispatcher from the safety of a nearby motel room where he and others took shelter. The dispatcher asks if he is injured. 'No,' he replies then sobs. 'Just not shot.' A woman tells a dispatcher that she's hiding under the concert stage where country music star Jason Aldean had been performing before he fled to safety when the gunfire started. 'There's a lot of people here that need ambulances,' the woman tells the dispatcher. 'There's people shot everywhere!' The shooting was perpetrated by Stephen Paddock (seen in the above stock image) Some first names are heard on the calls but last names and phone numbers were bleeped out on the recordings released under a court order obtained by media organizations including The Associated Press. In one call, time-stamped about two minutes after police say gunfire was first reported, a man says he saw his best friend get shot in the stomach. 'Send everyone!' he pleads to the dispatcher, who asks if he's hurt. 'No, but there's a hundred people on the ground bleeding out, right now. 'Send everybody! There's... people running for their lives right now. 'Please, there's another person shot in the leg. Please, hurry up!' About the same time, a man who identifies himself as a military special forces member without a weapon says he hears automatic weapon fire. 'I have no idea where he is,' the man says of the shooter. 'It's a chopper that's going off. There's at least 20 that are down, it looks like. We're in the middle of the festival. I don't have visual on target.' The material, provided more than eight months after the shooting, represents the fifth batch of records made public without comment by Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo or his department. The FBI in Las Vegas also declined to comment. Authorities say Paddock acted alone and that no link has been found to international terrorism. Lombardo has said investigators don't know a motive for the attack and he doesn't think one will be determined. The sheriff, who is running for re-election, told a Republican luncheon group earlier this week that he expects to release a final report about the investigation by August. (Reconstructed) The chilling text message that triggered fears that an Australian student was planning a school shooting This is the chilling text message that triggered fears an Australian student was planning a high school shooting. A student from Elanora State High School (Elanora SHS) in Queensland revealed to a classmate that she thought she was 'going to die' after receiving a note from the student who was allegedly planning the shooting. A text message that read: 'I'm going to die tomorrow' was received by the female student. 'Why's that?' another student replied. The worried student's text read: '**** wrote me a **** note that said "ur cool don't come to school tomorrow."' She added: 'I'm actually so scared. I'm in the bathroom crying.' The shooting threat circulated among students at Elanora SHS on Tuesday afternoon. Daily Mail Australia contacted Queensland Police who confirmed that there is no threat regarding the alleged shooting. A Queensland Police spokesman said: 'The matter has been fully investigated by police and no legitimate threat was identified.' A student from Elanora State High School (pictured) in Queensland revealed to a classmate that she thought she was 'going to die' after receiving a note from the student allegedly planning the shooting Daily Mail Australia contacted Queensland Police who confirmed that there is no threat regarding the alleged shooting at Elanora State High School (pictured) A statement made by Queensland's Department of Education read: 'As part of the Department of Educations commitment to maintaining the safety of students, staff and visitors, individual schools and the Department of Education work with the Queensland Police Service in responding to threats. 'We will always take our lead from the authorities and in this instance the Queensland Police Service thoroughly investigated the matter and advised that there was no credibility to the threat.' Another spokesman from Queensland Education told Daily Mail Australia, 'My understanding was that it was a hoax and the incident has no credibility.' On Wednesday morning the school took to social media to make a statement to concerned parents On Wednesday morning the school took to social media to make a statement to concerned parents. 'The school is aware of messages and screenshots that are circulating of a conversation between two students of Elanora SHS that refers to concerns of another student threatening to harm others,' it read. 'The school has been in contact with the QPS [Queensland Police Service] and parents of students involved. QPS have investigated the incident and are on site and do not believe students and staff are at risk. 'The school is supporting those students involved through the Guidance Officer and meetings have been arranged with key parents. 'The school will continue to monitor the wellbeing of all students and the safety of all on site is our first priority. 'There is no risk to students at the school and it is a normal school day.' The great-grandmother whose life sentence was commuted by President Trump after Kim Kardashian traveled to the White House to plead her case will now meet with the reality TV star. Kim and her team are trying to arrange a meeting with 63-year-old Alice Johnson after she was released from jail on Wednesday,TMZ reports. Sources close to the situation said the pair are currently in talks and the meeting could happen as early as this week. The pair have already spoken on the phone after Kim called Johnson in jail to personally deliver news of the President's pardon. Kim Kardashian is in talks to meet with great-grandmother Alice Johnson after she was freed from a life sentence this week after the reality TV star pleaded her case to President Trump Kim and Johnson have already spoken by phone after Kardashian called her in jail to break the news of the President's pardon Johnson was filmed running into the arms of her waiting family on Wednesday after spending 22 years behind bars Johnson was jailed for life in 1996 for being part of a cocaine ring despite it being a first-time offence and violence not being an issue in the case Johnson was jailed for life in 1996 for being part of a cocaine ring, despite having an otherwise clean record and violence not featuring in the case. She had applied for clemency during Obama's 2014 push to free non-violent drug offenders from jail, but her application was denied. The news of a potential meeting with Kim comes after video emerged of Johnson sprinting into the arms of her waiting family in Aliceville, Alabama. Wearing an all white outfit, she welled up as she was greeted by waiting relatives, one of whom was carrying a bunch of flowers. The footage was captured by local station WVTM-TV. Johnson was not the only one celebrating the news, as Kim posted a story about her release with the caption: 'BEST NEWS EVER!!!!' 'So grateful to @realDonaldTrump, Jared Kushner & to everyone who has showed compassion & contributed countless hours to this important moment for Ms. Alice Marie Johnson,' she said in a follow-up message. 'Her commutation is inspirational & gives hope to so many others who are also deserving of a second chance.' She said: 'I hope to continue this important work by working together with organizations who have been fighting this fight for much longer than I have and deserve the recognition.' Kardashian said later that she'd had a call with Alice Johnson and that it 'will forever be one of my best memories.' 'Telling her for the first time and hearing her screams while crying together is a moment I will never forget,' Kardashian tweeted. The joy on her face was clear to see as she jubilantly ran toward her adoring relatives Relatives give her flowers during the emotional reunion in Alabama Trump met with Kardashian last week to discuss Johnson's case in the Oval Office Johnson's attorneys had prepped Kardashian for the meeting with Trump where she begged for clemency for the for the great-grandmother Kim Kardashian reacted to warm words from her sister, Khloe, who hailed her as a 'beautiful person inside and out' Trump met with Kardashian last week to discuss Johnson's case in the Oval Office. The White House shared a picture of Kardashian and Trump, who was grinning from ear-to-ear, after the meeting that reporters were not allowed anywhere near. Johnson's attorneys had prepped Kardashian for the meeting with Trump where she begged for clemency for the great-grandmother. A lawyer for Johnson did not return a request for comment on the commutation. Reporting out of the White House from the news site Axios originally was that Johnson had been pardoned. A senior White House official told DailyMail.com that was inaccurate. An official White House statement later said that it was a 'commutation' and that it was being granted because 'Ms. Johnson has accepted responsibility for her past behavior and has been a model prisoner over the past two decades.' 'Despite receiving a life sentence, Alice worked hard to rehabilitate herself in prison, and act as a mentor to her fellow inmates,' the White House statement said, noting that even her warden had said she 'exhibited outstanding and exemplary work ethic.' 63-year-old Alice Johnson The White House said: 'While this Administration will always be very tough on crime, it believes that those who have paid their debt to society and worked hard to better themselves while in prison deserve a second chance.' The move to commute the sentence came after internal debate among his top advisers. White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and White House counsel Don McGahn are said to have been less than thrilled, however, with the president's recent reprieve. Both officials are said to have reviewed Johnson's case, which involved drug possession and money laundering, and were not convinced she should be set free, The Washington Post reported. Kelly did not respond to questions from DailyMail.com after news of the commutation broke during a chance encounter. A source told The Post that Trump is 'obsessed' with his almost unchecked ability to issue pardons and could issue a dozen more before the end of the summer. CNN said the number he was considering was closer to 30. An official affirmed the higher number to DailyMail.com. Trump had already told reporters that he's also considering pardons for former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Martha Stewart. The Post says that Trump is also thinking about pardoning two ranchers from Oregon, Dwight and Steven Hammond. They were convicted of arson charges in 2012 and sentenced to minimal time in prison, then re-sentenced to five years each at the behest of the government. Johnson's case has a powerful ally in not just Kardashian, but the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who set up the face-to-face with with the celebrity who's married to Kayne West. Trump reportedly thanked Kardashian at the meeting for boosting his popularity with African-Americans, a group that has not strongly supported his presidency. Two sources familiar with the conversation recounted it to Bloomberg News. Trump received only 8 per cent of African-American vote in 2016, compared to the 88 per cent who supported Hillary Clinton Kayne West praised President Trump on twitter in April for having 'dragon energy' WHO IS ALICE JOHNSON AND WHY IS KIM KARDASHIAN INVOLVED? Inside time: Alice Johnson in federal prison Alice Marie Johnson, a mother-of-five, grandmother-of-six and great-grandmother of one, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after being convicted of drug dealing in 1996. It was her first conviction and some of her co-conspirators testified her against in exchange for plea deals. The 63-year-old grew up in Olive Branch, Mississippi, and was married and pregnant by age 15. In 1989, she and her husband divorced. Her life started to crumble as she struggled, as a single mother, to try and be financially stable for her five children, reports Mic. However, in 1990, because of a gambling addition, she was sacked by FedEx Corporation. After filing for bankruptcy in 1991, Johnson lost her house. The next year, a scooter accident claimed the life of her youngest son, Cory. It was while she was at rock bottom that Johnson became involved in a drug syndicate that imported cocaine into Memphis, Tennessee, where she acted as a go-between and passed on messages to drug dealers, relaying coded messages like 'everything is straight' by telephone. While admitting to acting as a middle man for the drug traffickers, passing on the messages in code via telephone, Johnson claims she never directly sold drugs. She was arrested along with 15 others in 1993 on charges including conspiracy to possess cocaine, attempted possession of cocaine and money laundering. But ten of her alleged co-conspirators turned against her in exchange for reduced sentencing or dropped charges. During the trial, evidence showed an operation with Texas-based Colombian drug dealers and their Memphis connections trading tons of cocaine for millions of dollars in cash. At the time of Johnson's February 1997 sentencing the amount of drugs and money involved meant that federal laws mandated a life sentence, despite the fact Johnson was a first-time, nonviolent offender. US District Judge Julia Gibbons, who sentenced Johnson, called the then 42-year-old the 'quintessential entrepreneur' of the drug ring. Mom: Alice Johnson is now a great-grandmother as well 'And clearly the impact of 2,000 to 3,000 kilograms of cocaine in this community is very significant,' Gibbons said at the sentencing. The quantity of cocaine - up to three tons - would now be worth about $85 million. Johnson was 21 years into her life sentence at FCI Aliceville, in Aliceville, Alabama before it was commuted by President Donald Trump on May 6. Her eldest daughter Tretessa Johnson, told Mic several years ago, 'It's like a waking death; it's like the person is alive but they're not. There's never a point of closure, ever. It's heartbreaking for me.' Tretessa has organized an online petition, via change.org, calling for her to be released, explaining that her family's life 'changed forever' when she was sentenced to life in federal prison. She said her mother had explained that she became a telephone mule passing messages between her co-conspirators after losing her job at FedEx. Alice Johnson is quoted on Tretessa's petition: 'I couldn't find a job fast enough to take care of my family. I felt like a failure. 'I went to a complete panic and out of desperation I made one of the worst decisions in my life to make some quick money. I became involved in a drug conspiracy'. Tretessa said that her 'mom's desire upon release is to assist the community with the needs of ex-offenders to help reduce recidivism. 'It serves no purpose or benefit to society to have her locked up for life. Her large and loving immediate and extended family and friends would welcome her return.' During her time in prison, Johnson has displayed exemplary behavior, become an ordained minister, a published writer and a prison tutor, a biography from Can Do Clemency reports. She had gained a large following of people pushing for her to be granted clemency. Part of this push saw her story turned into a short video, which went viral on social media. Kim Kardashian saw the video and retweeted it to her millions of followers with the caption: 'This is so unfair' in October last year. Since then, she has been working to help Johnson receive clemency from Trump. The reality star had her personal lawyer begin working on Johnson's case, and has spent months in conversation with Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and adviser, on the topic. Kushner - whose father Charles is himself a federal felon - is pushing a criminal justice reform agenda. A grateful Johnson penned a moving letter to Kardashian, saying her efforts were 'literally helping to save my life'. 'I was drowning, and you have thrown me a life jacket and given me hope,' she wrote. On May 30, Kardashian went to the White House to secure Johnson's release. Johnson was released on June 6 after having her sentence commuted. Advertisement Kardashian met with Trump and Kushner at the White House on May 30 to make her case for a presidential pardon for Johnson. Trump has issued a pardon for conservative commentator Dinesh D'Souza since that meeting. Additionally, Trump has publicly said he could pardon Stewart and commute the sentence of Blagojevich. The star of 'Keeping Up with the Kardashians' told Mic News that her meeting with Trump went well after he tweeted the picture of them in the Oval Office. 'He really understood, and I am very hopeful that this will turn out really positively,' she said. Kardashian also sent out a tweet that said, 'I would like to thank President Trump for his time this afternoon. It is our hope that the President will grant clemency to Ms. Alice Marie Johnson who is serving a life sentence for a first-time, non-violent drug offense.' After the meeting, Kardashian left the White House and headed for Kushner and wife Ivanka Trump's Washington D.C. home. Exclusive photos taken by DailyMail.com show the reality star walking inside and laughing with the First Daughter and her husband. Kardashian, who appeared on Trump's NBC show 'The Apprentice' in 2010, said she voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. She arrived at and left the White House for her meeting last week in a black SUV, wearing all black, except for yellow stilettos. Kardashian avoided a pack of press staking her out. In December of 2016, Kayne West actually met with President Trump About a month before, her husband, West, had praised Trump in a tweet that said: 'You don't have to agree with trump but the mob can't make me not love him. We are both dragon energy.' He later revealed that his 'Make America Great Again' hat is signed by Trump himself, posting a picture of the accessory. Trump retweeted the message and wrote, 'Thank you Kanye, very cool!' The president then praised West at a rally in Michigan. 'Kanye West gets it when he sees African American unemployment is the lowest in history, you know, people are watching,' Trump told a crowd of supporters. Trump credited the April tweet from West with raising his approval rating among African Americans during a speech to the National Rifle Association the first week in May. 'Kanye West must have some power because you probably saw I doubled my African American poll numbers. We went from 11 to 22 in one week,' Trump said at the NRA's annual conference in Texas. A Reuters tracking poll showed Trump's approval among African-Americans rose by six points - from 12 per cent in April to 18 per cent in May. His support among male African Americans nearly doubled. Johnson was imprisoned for life in 1996 for drug dealing and money laundering after her 15 accomplices all testified against her and had their own charges dropped, despite Johnson's minor role in the cocaine ring. Kim Kardasian arrives at the Trump/Kushner home after her White House meeting in May Ivanka Trump arrives home on the night Kim Kardashian joined her and Jared for dinner A man who was left with only ashes in the will of his de-facto partner has now been awarded a payment of NZ$300,000 (AU$275,000) from her estate. Steven Moon, from Auckland, New Zealand, gave evidence he had felt 'betrayed' by Mary Doyle after reading through her will following her death from cancer in January 2017. The pair were in a relationship for 27 years but the de-facto nature of it was called into question once it was revealed Ms Doyle had only bequeathed her ashes to him. A New Zealand man who was left with only his partner's ashes in her will has now been awarded a payment of $300,000 from her estate (stock image) She had left Mr Moon a note which read in-part: 'I'm leaving you the most precious thing:- me. (even though it's in a box)'. In a judgement handed down by Justice Grant Powell in the High Court of New Zealand in Auckland in late May, it was noted 'Steven has sought "proper maintenance and support" from Mary's estate'. Mr Moon's claim to Ms Doyle's estate was opposed by Patrick Doyle, her older brother, who had been left with her home in her will. Mr Doyle questioned 'whether Mary would have regarded her relationship with Steven as being in the nature of a de-facto relationship...'. Court documents show how Mr Moon 'was very upset and felt used and unappreciated' when he read through Ms Doyle's will. 'I do feel that in death Mary should have put me first as I put her first in life. I feel betrayed by her,' Mr Moon had told the court. A judgement regarding the matter was handed down in the High Court of New Zealand in Auckland 'I struggle to understand why she treated me as she did. I know that she loved me, but her Will does not reflect that. I am now 62-years-old and will not be able to work for too many more years. 'I have a house but that will not pay my expenses as I grow older. Mary knew that I had little savings for the future.' In his judgement, Justice Powell had said '...I accept that an award is necessary for both emotional support and recognition of Steven and Mary's relationship, and taking into account Steven's financial position'. He later added the payment to Mr Moon will almost certainly require the sale of Ms Doyle's former home which was left to Mr Doyle. According to a Lebanese court dossier an Australian teenager jailed in Lebanon on charges of trying to join Islamic State has allegedly told interrogators that he was radicalised in Australia by a charity. The Sydney-based charity has allegedly been the subject of suspicion by both Australian and Lebanese authorities and the claims were revealed in court documents from Lebanon. Isaak el Matari, 19, is currently incarcerated in a notorious Roumieh after authorities accusing him of trying to find passage into Syria,ABC News reported. He is expected to be deported to Australia in the coming days. Isaak Ul Matari, 19, has alleged he was encouraged to join ISIS by a Sydney based charity already under suspicion, according to court documents The court documents show that during interrogation Mr Matari said he was allegedly encouraged to join ISIS in Syria by a Sydney based charity. Authorities have accused a number of the charities members of 'fundraising and recruiting' for Islamic state. According to the ABC, Mr Matari has recently been transported from Roumieh jail and is expected to be deported to Australia. The charity itself is designed to raise money for Syrian refugees. Lebanese authorties also accus of planning to become a suicide bomber in Lebanon or travelling to Syria to fight for ISIS The former Australian schoolboy is also accused by Lebanese authorities of preparing a suicide bomb attack. Originally from Blacktown in Sydney's west, Mr Ul Matari was educated at the Australian Islamic College and prayed at Rooty Hill Mosque. A man at the family home said things were 'very tense' and 'everyone is fully aware of the situation'. Neighbours said Mr Ul Matari was friendly but could occasionally be heard arguing with his parents. 'But every teenager does that... I never saw anything like [extremism],' a neighbour said. The former Australian schoolboy is also accused by Lebanese authorities of preparing a suicide bomb attack (stock image) 'He was always a polite young kid. That's a bloody shock.' From prison, Mr Ul Matari said he he been receiving visits from the Australian embassy in Lebanon and he is expected to be deported within days. According to Lebanese sources, Australian intelligence officials had been in Lebanon this month collecting Mr Ul Matari's police file. He was 18 when he was arrested in 2017 in Tripoli. The ISF said the teenager was born in Lebanon in 1999 but had lived in Australia. According to the court dossier, Lebanese authorities claim he became radicalised in Australia after watching ISIS videos online. Mr Ul Matari travelled to Lebanon on an Australian passport, and was monitored by ISF. According to the court dossier he has been accused of downloading how to make bombs and videos of ISIS assassinations from the internet (stock image) In August, Mr Ul Matari posted a photo of himself wearing Islamic clothing and squatting next to a sheep which had its throat cut. According to the court dossier he has been accused of downloading how to make bombs and videos of ISIS assassinations from the internet. The ISF allege Mr Ul Matari contacted an ISIS cadre in Syria and was willing to 'carry out a suicide or explosive operation in Lebanon'. 'Hewas convinced of the idea of jihad, and the implementation of suicide operations in favour of Daesh, and to this end, through the internet, downloaded the encyclopedias on how to manufacture explosives, and many videos about previous assassinations carried out,' ISF claimed. The owner of a restaurant where a man left his date with a $100 bill after pretending to go to an ATM has shared details about the heartless act. Christian Avant, who owns Milky Lane, a burger bar at Bondi Beach in Sydney, said he was tempted to post the man's photo after hearing about what happened. Mr Avant praised his staff for taking care of the distraught woman, 29, who was left in tears after her date did a runner and even blocked her phone number. Scroll down for video The owner of a restaurant where a man left his date with a $100 bill after pretending to go to an ATM has shared details about the heartless act (pictured is Milky Lane owner Christian Avant and his girlfriend Molly Cunningham) The woman was made to front a huge bill after the man pretended to go to the ATM but never came back (pictured is a meal from Milky Lane) Christian Avant, who owns Milky Lane, a burger bar at Bondi Beach in Sydney, said he was tempted to post the man's photo after hearing about what happened The Sydney woman had travelled for an hour on public transport to get to Bondi for the date, Mr Avant said, and was devastated when her date disappeared. Staff at the burger joint noticed early on the date wasn't going smoothly, Mr Avant told The Edge. 'A young couple turned up, first date, pretty obvious ... it wasn't going overly well,' he said. The restaurant owner said staff tried to break the ice, even giving them a free cocktail to try and improve the mood between the pair. The owner (pictured) of a restaurant where a man left his date with a $100 bill after pretending to go to an ATM has hit back at the heartless diner Staff at the burger joint noticed early on the date wasn't going smoothly, Mr Avant said (pictured is a customer at Milky Lane) The woman's brother has since been in touch with Mr Avant, sending him messages on social media thanking him for helping his sister 'There was no vibe, no energy or connection, but even still it's just polite to pay your way and go separate ways and say "Thanks for the date",' Mr Avant said. Despite wanting to name and shame the man who did the runner, Mr Avant said he did not want to be responsible if he gets attacked and bullied. The woman's brother has since been in touch with Mr Avant, sending him messages on social media thanking him for helping his sister. 'I am so grateful for your help towards my sister in a awkward situation on Sunday,' he wrote. The restaurant owner said staff tried to break the ice, even giving them a free cocktail to try and improve the mood between the pair (pictured is Milky Lane Bondi) '[My sister] was was prepared/financially secure and ready to go on a date after so long due to having a bad patch in the past after her ex stuffed her around,' he wrote. 'Now this happens I'm appalled on her behalf and disappointed in the culprit responsible for leaving her stranded with the bill.' Mr Avant broke down the 'unfortunate situation' in a post on Facebook, calling the man 'a piece of s***'. 'He went outside to get cash, never came back and blocked her number,' he wrote. 'Our amazing staff took control and consoled the girl, one member who had clocked off had a few shots with her. A devastated young woman was abandoned at the end of a first date in Sydney at burger cafe Milky Lane (pictured is a Milky Lane burger) 'We comped their whole bill and gave a $150 voucher for her to return with someone better. 'Then when our host finished, she took her for a few drinks in Bondi. 'We've never been more proud of the whole team.' Mr Avant told The Edge staff went as far as to offer the 29-year-old woman shots of tequila to cheer her up. 'She was so upset, the poor thing, that was the least we could do to try and save her in this situation,' he said. The restaurant hopes that devastated woman puts her voucher to good use and brings 'a real man' with her next time. Advertisement Chilling photos reveal the shallow graves outside the House of Horrors where three missing women were found. America Lyden, Ernestine Ryans and Kayla Escalante were discovered last Wednesday at the home of suspected serial killer Stewart Weldon, in Springfield, Massachusetts. Photos taken by a neighbor of Welden, shows police and crime scene investigators digging up the backyard of the property, unearthing three shallow graves. Chilling photos reveal the shallow graves outside the House of Horrors where three missing women were found Three bodies found at Springfield house of horrors are local women reported missing months ago. Pictured are their graves A neighbor snapped photos of crime scene experts and police digging up the women's bodies last week Stewart Weldon appeared in court in Springfield, Massachusetts, on Monday June 4 to face charges Police discovered the grisly grave site after Weldon, 40, was pulled over for a broken taillight on May 27, according to court records. His female passenger, 25, who had been in a relationship with Weldon and shares two children with him, then told police he had been torturing her and had held her captive for a month. She was taken to the hospital and treated for 'grotesque' injuries including an infected stab wound to her abdomen. Cops, who took a toddler from the home into state custody, later found bodies at Weldon's home, which was bought by his mother, Constance White, 72, in 2016, records show. Police named the three women found at the home this week. The victims, L-R: Kayla Escalante, 27, had been missing since December. America Lyden, 33, vanished last June and Ernestine Ryans, 47, was also missing. A fourth woman was found in the car Weldon tried to flee police in. She has not been named and is in hospital with grotesque' injuries including stab wounds and rape injuries Crews worked in the back yard of Weldon's home where three bodies have been discovered - and police believe more could be hidden A tent blocks the yard from view of the road, although the neighbor captured the action on camera Lyden, 33, was reported missing in December last year but had not been heard from by her family since last June. It is not clear how long Ryans, 47, had been missing. Escalante was the youngest victim at 26. She had been missing since December. 'They are needless to say distraught and heartbroken,' Hampden County District Attorney Anthony Gulluni said of the women's family members during an afternoon press conference Monday. Officials have not publicly said how or when the women died but confirmed they were investigating the deaths as 'suspicious.' Gulluni said it is 'unlike anything they have ever seen before. Their bodies were found after Weldon's mother called police to report a foul odor at the home on Wednesday, May 30. After being pulled over for the taillight, Weldon was initially charged with one count of kidnapping, one count of sexual assault and other traffic related offense. On Monday, he was charged with a second count of kidnapping. It remains unclear if those charges apply to the woman and the child previously found or if a fifth adult victim may be involved. One of the small, shallow graves where the body of a missing woman had been dumped Police worked through the night at the Springfield, Massachusetts home, looking for other bodies Crews in hazmat suits searched the garage, where Weldon's mom said a terrible stench was coming from Police are pictured using a ground penetrating radar at Weldon's home in Massachusetts to look for more victims after three bodies were found Investigators work at Weldon's home in Springfield, Massachusetts, on May 31 after being sent there by his mother As part of their search, forensics teams were seen pouring through a shed on the property on May 31 Social media post reveals how the desperate families of the missing women searched after they went missing. In December 2017, Lyden's sister wrote her sister was 'MISSING and could be in DANGER.' She wrote that Lyden was last seen in the 'Springfield area' in August 2017. Friends, family and locals suggested places they'd seen her last, 'around Worthington Street' and 'by the Peter Pan bus station' and suggested checking the local jail. But nothing came back. Escalante, who had been a frequent poster on social media, went quiet in December. One of her last photos shows her smiling holding her little girl in her arms. Court records show Escalante's mother, Laurie Higgins, was granted a restraining order against her in December 2018. Her father Michael Escalante, who is divorced from Higgins, said she had asked him not to speak, but said his daughter had lived with him for a short time but was always out of town. 'We didn't have much contact,' he said. Diamond Matos Canales, right, and her bother, Marco Martinez, left, move quickly to pick up a candle which fell over as they hold vigil outside the home in which their aunt's body was found Flowers and candles are left with a message, 'I love you Yakla' on Page Boulevard in Springfield, Massachusetts where State Police continue to investigate a crime scene Marco Martinez, nephew of America Lyden Canales, one of Weldon's victims, adjusts a candle next to a photo of his two deceased aunts, America and Felicia. Felicia died before this event Marco Martinez, nephew of America Lyden Canales, one of Weldon's victims, stands close to his sister, Diamond Matos Canales, right, and mother, Mardeli Canales, center outside the home where their family member's body was found Ryans' sister raised the alarm in March after she went missing on March 8. She urged anyone with information to contact the local police. Weldon has a long history of violent crimes stretching back more than a decade. In September 2006, he was jailed in Maywood County for a year for attempted theft and burglary. He was out of jail for just over a month before he was jailed again in October for a burglary and probation violation in 2008. He had a few more run ins with the police over the years and was recently arrested again on October 14, 2017, near Forest Park in Springfield, Massachusetts. Weldon is pictured in court on Monday to face a second kidnapping charge. It is not clear who the alleged victim in that case is and if it may be a fifth woman whose involvement with him has not yet been reported Stewart Weldon is pictured in court in Springfield, Massachusetts, on Tuesday to face a second kidnapping charge Escalante (left) would have turned 27 on May 31, the day the third body was found. She was a proud young mother who appears to have gone missing in December. It is not known how long Ernestine Ryans (right) had been missing HOUSE OF HORRORS TIMELINE Sunday May 27: Weldon is arrested after leading police on a chase after they tried to pull him over for a routine traffic stop because of a broken taillight. At the end of the chase, a 25-year-old woman in the passenger seat claims he had been keeping her as a sex slave. She is taken to hospital with 'grotesque' injuries and he is charged with sexual assault and kidnap. Tuesday May 29: Weldon appears in court and denies the charges Wednesday May 30: Police search his home after being alerted to it by his mother who told them there was a foul smell. They find the first two bodies. Thursday May 31: Police find third body at the home. They also find a child who is alive. Monday June 4: Weldon is charged with second count of kidnap Advertisement Police had stopped him for reckless driving but the police report reveals he was also arrested for assault with a dangerous weapon, resisting arrest and assault and battery of a police officer during the violent confrontation. After his arrest last Sunday, Weldon's aunt said she believed something 'snapped' in him. She said she felt sorry for the 'girl' he'd been keeping as his apparent sex slave but was glad that she was alive. 'When I saw what had happened to that girl, I said that boy is sick he really is. 'At least he gave her some water to stay hydrated. 'Something had to snap for him to turn like that,' his aunt Hannah Weldon, 63, told DailyMail.com. The woman's injuries were horrifying. They include a possible fractured jaw and scabbed over wounds which, police said, indicated prolonged abuse. When police caught up arrested him on May 27, she told them they had saved her life and that she did not think she would have survived him. She remained in hospital on Friday as authorities continued to search the property where the bodies were found. They used ground penetrating radars as part of the search in a grim hunt for more bodies. According to Weldon's aunt, he and the woman have two children together; a six-month-old baby and a girl. The baby is believed to be the child who was found but police are yet to confirm details of their identity. An elderly widow has broken down in tears as she recalled the moment she feared for her life during an alleged bag snatch. Margaret Mulbacher, 81, was leaving a Townsville shopping centre in North Queensland on Monday when she was allegedly attacked while walking through the car park. Police claim a man on a bicycle rode up behind her and grabbed her handbag. 'The woman was pulled off balance and fell heavily onto the concrete footpath, sustaining lacerations to her head, arm and hand, as well as bruising and pain to her hips,' a Queensland Police spokesperson said. A distraught Margaret Mulbacher (pictured) is now too frightened to leave her home after she was injured in an alleged bag snatch on Monday The grandmother was taken to hospital. 'Whatever it was just whizzed past me, grabbed my purse, took with me with him, then he dropped me,' a distraught Ms Muhlbacher told 7 News. 'I laid there screaming for somebody to help. I couldn't be any sorer than what I am.' Police viewed security footage and recognised her alleged attacker, who was arrested at his home on Tuesday. Townsville Police recognised the alleged attacker (pictured) on security footage and arrested him at his home the following day The grandmother's alleged attacker (pictured) was charged with attempted robbery and is now behind bars An Aitkenvale man, 20, was charged with attempted robbery and appeared in Townsville Magistrates Court on Wednesday. No bail application was made and the case was adjourned until August 5. 'It's a cowardly act on a very innocent victim and a person whose one of the most vulnerable in our community,' Townsville Detective Acting Inspector Phil Watts told reporters. Ms Mulbacher, who recently lost her husband, said she has always been social and picked her grandchildren from school every day. But she's now too frightened to leave her home following the traumatic ordeal. 'I'm really, really scared now. I'm very, very frightened,' she said. TSB may have been hit by up to 10,600 fraud attacks by criminals following an IT meltdown at the bank. Chief executive Paul Pester told MPs that 1,300 customers had lost money to fraudsters after the lender was the focus of an unprecedented assault on a British bank by organised gangs. Mr Pester was forced to deny he planned to resign as politicians on the Treasury Select Committee slammed his failure to get to grips with the disaster. TSB chief executive Paul Pester told MPs that 1,300 customers had lost money to fraudsters It came as TSB revealed the scandal has already cost the bank 70million. The lender said it had wrongly classified 370 people as dead after they tried to switch to another bank. It emerged letters containing highly sensitive financial information to the wrong people. The City watchdog vowed to hold those responsible for the fiasco to account. A botched IT upgrade in April left around 1.9million TSB customers unable to access their accounts. Fraudsters spotted an opportunity to profit with crooks posing as bank staff and offering to help customers before stealing all of their money. Mr Pester said TSB experienced 70 times more fraud attacks than normal, and, with chaos already engulfing the lender, was quickly overwhelmed. As a result, some victims were on hold to the banks fraud team for as long as nine hours while their life savings were taken away. He said that there had been 10,600 suspicious activity alerts on accounts since the attacks started. These would have led to texts being sent to the customers affected, with their accounts locked unless they responded to say it was a false alarm. It does not necessarily mean that they were all real fraud cases. Around 2,200 customers had definitely seen efforts by criminals to access their accounts, with 1,300 of these cases resulting in financial loss to customers. They will all get their money back. MPs told of customers who were sent other clients financial details in the post, and warned that some of the 12,500 people who have switched away from TSB were wrongly classified as dead, with the bank sending letters of notification to energy providers. Mr Pester said this had happened to 370 people. Labour MP John Mann said that one customer had told him she was paid just 100 after her wedding was ruined. TSB has been hit by around 94,600 complaints since the scandal erupted, and has paid more than 24,000 people back Youve broken the law on data protection, youre paying pitiful, embarrassing, cringe-worthy levels of compensation beyond any credulity, he said. The response suggested something fundamentally wrong at the heart of the leadership team, he added, and asked: Will you fall on your sword before you are pushed? Mr Pester replied: I dont think anyone else would be as committed as me to fixing these problems. But he said the bank will take whatever action is necessary after an independent report by law firm Slaughter and May is published. TSB has been hit by around 94,600 complaints since the scandal erupted, and has paid more than 24,000 people back. Mr Pester said he has hired around 2,200 extra staff to try and solve the crisis which has so far cost TSB 70million in compensation, refunds, waived fees and other bills. MPs also heard from Andrew Bailey, head of the Financial Conduct Authority watchdog, who vowed to take action against senior managers found to be at fault. Theresa May is putting the nation to sleep by 'failing to answer questions and doing that at great length in her school-marm warble' A brother scribe, leaving the gallery after PMQs, had never known the Conservatives so flat. This was not the full truth. Flatness was everywhere. It wasnt just Tories whose jaws sagged. The whole House Lab, Libs, SNP, DUP, Plaid, clerks, visitors, journos and even passing moths (I heard one go into a Stuka nosedive, having malfunctioned mid-flight) had drifted into a deep, horrible hebetude. Theresa May does that to you. She is doing it to the country. Is Donald Trump sure he wants to come for a sleepover? Dont expect a fun time, Mr President. Speaker Bercow never helps. That little goblin extends PMQs by 20 minutes simply because it is in his power to do so and he knows it irritates Andrew Neil on BBC1s live politics show. Bercow doesnt let sessions over-run because the crowd is baying for more. Has Mrs May won an encore in her life? The stalls would more likely bawl assez! moins! The ordeal began just after midday. By 12.42pm the Commons was half-empty. Scores of MPs had scarpered. Gone to the bar for trebles of electric soup. Those left behind were yawning. Arms were crossed. So, too, eyes. The Serjeant-at-Arms was practically stabbing himself with his sword. Somnolence Central. The Prime Minister 'just rolls into a ball like a woodlouse until the danger has passed' How does the Prime Minister do it? Partly by failing to answer questions and doing that at great length in her school-marm warble. She also has a deadly habit of stopping when she is heckled and waiting for the noise to abate; then continuing with the sentence she intended all along. Other parliamentarians master the extempore put-down. Mrs May just rolls into a ball like a woodlouse until the danger has passed. Then she uncoils her spine (it is surprisingly pliable) and toddles along her way. Jeremy Corbyn asked an entirely predictable question about the long-promised White Paper on Brexit negotiations. When would it be published? (Brexit Secretary David Davis allegedly wants to get it out but is being stymied by Mrs Mays Downing Street controllers). Mrs May did not produce an elegant formula that would hold the line. She tried a counter-attack, asking Mr Corbyn if he wanted a second referendum. It was done clumsily. There was a punchier moment when she confirmed with a single yes that it was still her intention we will leave the EU in March 2019 and complete the transition by 2020. But the House was unmoved. In fact there was open derision. Two pro-Leave Tories (Henry Smith and Andrea Jenkyns) felt the need to press Mrs May to provide more reassurance that we will indeed be getting out properly on time. Her replies? Burble burble, mashed potato. We are, it is said, living through the most exciting time in British politics since 1940. We have (or had, until Mrs May got to work) a chance to reinvigorate our jaded parliamentary democracy. We had a moment when we could push a fist through the convertibles canvas roof and seize the day. Jeremy Corbyn asked an entirely predictable question about the long-promised White Paper on Brexit negotiation Feel the hippie love! Get rid of all that bureaucratic blether! Boris would have done that. Perhaps he still could. Mrs May may not have killed Brexit but she has almost squashed its spirit. The only ones who are palpably taking back control at present are the Whitehall mandarins, the inspectors, the finger-wagging classes who were so terrified by the Leave vote. You see it with that depressing revival of the Heathrow expansion plan (Mrs May dodged a question on that from Justine Greening). You see it in the revolting torpor on prosecutions against British troops who served in Ulster (she was pressed on that by Mark Francois and her answer was pathetic). You see it in things such as the revived part-privatisation of the Forestry Commission, the swagger of the Blair-Soubry-Grieve-Mandelsons, the conceit of the House of Lords, the cockiness of the activist judiciary, the naked politicking of bishops, and maybe even the awful violence on our summer streets, where criminals scent that the land lacks a leader. David Davis last night issued an ultimatum to Theresa May over controversial Brexit plans amid fears he could even be on the brink of resignation. Friends of the Brexit Secretary suggested his frustrations could spill over, after No 10 circulated proposals that critics say could shackle the UK to the customs union indefinitely. The plans, on the so-called Irish backstop, appeared to open up the possibility that the UK could remain bound by EU tariffs and rules until a resolution is found for the border problem. Mr Davis yesterday refused to say whether he would stay in his job if the plans go ahead without his approval, saying: Thats a question, I think, for the Prime Minister to be honest.' Scroll down for video Brexit Secretary David Davis could be set to quit over proposals to tie Britain to the customs union after Brexit Mr Davis was said to have held inconclusive private talks with Theresa May over the customs union issue One friend of Mr Davis last night said he was ready to resign over the issue. Dont put money on the fact he is still going to be in that job this time tomorrow, he said. Last night he held inconclusive private talks with Theresa May that were described as very difficult. It was a very stern conversation on both sides, one source said. Contingency arrangements were being put in place last night for Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley to present the plan if Mr Davis refuses. A walkout by the Brexit Secretary could spark a vote of no confidence in Mrs May within days. Mr Daviss intervention threw Downing Street into turmoil. He publicly suggested the new plans would have to be signed off by a meeting of Mrs Mays Brexit war cabinet today. The detail of this is being discussed at the moment, he said. It would be improper of me to pre-empt the negotiation but I suspect it will be fairly decisive tomorrow. No 10 sources had earlier indicated that the proposal had already been approved and would be published this morning, before the Brexit war cabinet has even met. The row centres on plans for the Irish backstop that will govern future customs arrangements if the UK and Brussels fail to find a solution to the Northern Ireland border issue. Other Cabinet ministers, including Boris Johnson, are also angry about the proposal, but Mr Davis is leading the opposition to it. Mrs May has pledged there will be no return to a hard border but the EU and Dublin reject the UKs current proposals as unworkable and are demanding a backstop that would operate after the end of the transition deal in 2020. The new proposal would effectively keep the UK in a customs union with the EU while a technological solution is found. Brexiteers had demanded and won a pledge that the new backstop would be time limited. But Brussels opposes the idea and yesterdays document from No 10 said the backstop would not only be time limited but would also have to last unless and until another solution is found. The contradictory wording sparked fears of a fudge that could make it impossible for Britain to throw off the shackles of Brussels without the EUs approval. One Cabinet source said: If the EU have to decide when we are ready to leave then we could trapped in purgatory forever. It is very bad news. Former Cabinet minister Theresa Villiers said: It would be troubling for me and others in the Leave campaign if we were to end up locked into some sort of single market arrangement indefinitely. David Davis arrives for a meeting with the Prime Minister at No. 10 Downing Street earlier this month There is consternation within the Conservative party on what Britain's relationship with Europe will look like after Brexit No 10 last night said it did not expect the backstop to ever be used, as new arrangements would make it unnecessary. But some Eurosceptics fear it could become the default position and would give the EU little incentive to reach a deal on trade. The row added to tensions between Mrs May and her Brexit Secretary over delays in the publication of a 150-page White Paper setting out a vision for future relations with the EU. The stance led to bruising clashes in the Commons with Jeremy Corbyn, who mocked the Governments difficulties in establishing a clear position on Brexit. Backbench Tory MPs also called for clarity on Brexit. Andrea Jenkyns, who quit the Government last month to speak out on Brexit, asked the PM: Has the time not come to reiterate to our EU friends, echoing the words of the Prime Minister herself, that no deal is better than a bad deal? Mr Davis also finds himself locked in a dispute with Brussels over post-Brexit security co-operation. In a speech at the Royal United Services Institute in Westminster, he accused the EU of putting the lives of its citizens at risk by rejecting UK plans. Ministers want to continue British involvement in crime, security and counter-terror agencies after we leave and have promised to pay up. But negotiators are insisting the UK must be excluded from the European Arrest Warrant, criminal records sharing, the Galileo satellite project and other programmes. A young mother accused of poisoning her little boy with epilepsy medication posted a bizarre rant about her son's 'seizure journey' weeks before he overdosed. The south-west Sydney mum, 20 - who cannot be named for legal reasons - was charged with seven counts of using poison to endanger life on Wednesday. Doctors were alarmed when her little boy ingested a near-fatal dose of Tegretol, a prescription medicine used to treat seizures, in January. Just weeks before presenting to hospital, the mother claimed on Facebook that her son had been suffering seizures. The mother, 20, accused of poisoning her little boy with epilepsy medication posted a bizarre rant about her son's 'seizure journey' weeks before he overdosed in January The south-west Sydney mum - who cannot be named for legal reasons - was charged with seven counts of using poison to endanger life on Wednesday 'My boy has been going through the journey of having seizures,' the mother said in a Facebook rant last year 'This is really hard to post ... my boy has been going through the journey of having seizures,' she said. The mother then went into great detail about her son's medical battles in a 912 word treatise about his health fight. Police prosecutors will allege in court that the boy never had seizures and had not been prescribed Tegretol. In her rant, the mother recalled that doctors had eventually found the boy did not have epilepsy. But she argued 'it could still be epilepsy but too deep in the brain for anything to pick it up... 'Whatever the answer is we will cross that bridge and fight whatever we can, to let my little boy have a normal life! Love you (my son)'. The woman was arrested at 7.30am on Wednesday and was led away from her home in a Batman hoodie and handcuffs. The mother was arrested wearing a Batman hoodie about 7.30am Wednesday. The child has been taken into the care of family The woman has been charged with seven counts of using poison to endanger life or inflict grievous bodily harm Tegretol is prescribed in tablet form and is prescribed to control the fits caused by epilepsy Court documents said she had a history of mental health issues. She did not apply for bail at Liverpool Local Court and it was formally refused. 'The good thing is hopefully now she will get the help she much needs,' her lawyer Ted Bramble said outside court. Investigators believe the mother was believed to suffer a rare psychological condition known as Munchausen syndrome by proxy, the Nine Network reported. The condition involves a child's carer 'gaining attention by seeking medical help for exaggerated or made-up symptoms of a child in his or her care', a medical encyclopaedia said. The little boy has been taken into the care of relatives. Outside court, police told reporters it may be years before doctors could say whether the episode had a long-term impact on the boy. Tegretol is sold in tablet form and contains the active ingredient Carbamazepine. It is prescribed to control the fits caused by epilepsy and is also a treatment to control mania and bipolar disorder. A warning by the Dutch government to its countrys manufacturers to avoid UK-made components is being treated as a high priority by British ministers. The Dutch are reported to have told their businesses they risk losing free trade access to the EU after Brexit if they source too many parts from Britain. Under EU rules of origin, at least 55 per cent of a products components must come from within the EU if it is to qualify for free trade access. Treasury minister Mel Stride said the issue had been raised at the highest levels of Government and that they were confident of resolving the issue as part of the ongoing Brexit negotiations. Weve certainly had in-depth conversations with a number of businesses around this issue of rules of origin. This is very high on our agenda, he said. It is an extremely high priority. It is one that I, the Chancellor, the Prime Minister and others are very much engaged with. Labours trade spokesman Barry Gardiner said:This is a problem for our country. The Government dont have a plan to deal with this. Under EU rules of origin, at least 55 per cent of a products components must come from within the EU if it is to qualify for free trade access Labour's Brexit strategy descended into chaos and confusion yesterday after the partys leadership faced a backlash for ruling out a Norway-style deal with the EU. In an attempt to clarify its position on Tuesday night, shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer published plans to maintain full access to the single market without actually being in it. Labour sources claimed it meant that the party was seeking the softest possible Brexit. But at the same time, Sir Keir enraged Labour Remainers by confirming that the party would not support a Lords amendment designed to take Britain into the European Economic Area. EEA membership, enjoyed by Norway, gives full access to the single market, but comes at a heavy price, including accepting free movement, contributing to the EU budget and accepting Brussels rules while having no say in them. Scroll down for video Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit Secretary, published plans to maintain full access to the single market after Brexit Sir Keir, pictured in conversation with Brexit Secretary David Davis, has proposed what is being called 'the softest possible Brexit' It means the partys position is likely to anger both Remainers and Brexiteers. Yesterday, when asked why Labour had decided not to back the amendment on the EEA, Sir Keir acknowledged the party was hopelessly split. The difficulty with that, and I think everybody recognises this, is that there are very strong and very different views across the Parliamentary Labour Party on that particular amendment, he told BBC Radio 4s Today programme. So, whilst theres unity on all the other amendments and we will all be voting together, on that amendment there are very divided views. The stance infuriated Labour Remainers yesterday and also dismayed pro-Brussels MPs on the Tory benches, who have now tabled their own amendment to put Britain in the EEA. Ex-shadow chancellor Chris Leslie said: We should not be in the business of bailing out Theresa May when shes facing rebellion on the single market. Several leading Labour figures called Jeremy Corbyn to reconsider the proposals and back a second referendum Former leadership contender Owen Smith said there was no chance of Labours proposals being accepted by Brussels and called on Jeremy Corbyn to back a second referendum. And Chuka Umunna, another former frontbencher, said he and dozens of Labour MPs would defy Mr Corbyn and vote for the EEA when the Withdrawal Bill returns to the Commons next Tuesday. He urged Mr Corbyn to think again, saying: Whether the UK continues to participate in the single market through the EEA is now in the hands of the Labour frontbench. This is a very unusual position but it is by dint of the fact this is a hung Parliament, tight parliamentary arithmetic and we live in quite extraordinary times. Diehard Tory Remainers signalled they would join forces with Labour over the issue when they tabled a separate amendment to the Trade Bill designed to keep Britain in the EEA. A man has been rushed to hospital after he impaled his knee on a fence. The 68-year-old was working on a roof in inner Sydney on Thursday morning when he fell three metres and impaled himself. Emergency services were alerted and raced to the scene at Belmont Street, Waterloo about 9.15am. A man impaled himself on a fence in Belmont Street, Waterloo (pictured) after falling from a roof he was working on The man was treated on site by paramedics and cut free, before being taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in a stable condition. Police said the incident is not being treated as suspicious. An arrest photograph taken in Barcelona shows Jamie Acourt, 42, from south London who has been charged with drug offences A man has been charged with drug offences after being extradited from Spain. Jamie Acourt has been brought back to the UK and is due to appear in court. The 42-year-old, from south London, arrived on a flight from Barcelona on Wednesday. After flying into the country he was taken to a police station in West London. Acourt has been charged with conspiracy to supply cannabis. He will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Thursday. Acourt was arrested in Spain last month after a joint operation by the NCA, Crimestoppers and the Spanish authorities. A mother-of-four has been accused of stealing a 130,000 luxury motorboat after deserting her family back home in Britain and launching a four-month crime spree across the Italian Riviera. Artist Larissa Watson is said to have enjoyed a lavish lifestyle at the expense of high-end resorts and restaurants, failing to pay her bills before disappearing out of sight. Mrs Watson was finally caught after reportedly climbing aboard an unmanned 130,000 luxury motorboat in Portofino and speeding off from the harbour, with Italian authorities dubbing her the 'Portofino pirate'. A marina worker spotted Mrs Watson, who was born in Canterbury and is the daughter of a criminologist, driving the boat and leapt aboard from the dock, apprehending her. The 50-year-old, a creative director at an interior design firm, suddenly left behind her family life and fashion career in Belfast before heading to Italy in February, with relatives reporting her missing weeks later. Larissa Watson from Canterbury, Kent, has been dubbed the Portofino Pirate after allegedly trying to steal the yacht on the Italian Riviera An Italian newspaper has dubbed Mrs Watson the Portofino Pirate following the incident During a four-month spell, she has been accused by Italian authorities of enjoying a lavish lifestyle at the expense of luxury resorts and restaurants It is just one of a series of crimes attributed to the former lecturer, who boasted of enjoying fine dining and culture on social media as her family back home wondered where she was. Relatives reported her missing in May, by which time she had already been accused of sleeping in a hotel room without paying, The Times reported. Mrs Watson, whose current whereabouts are unknown, could face jail time is she fails return to court to face fraud charges. Captain Simone Clemente, of the Italian military police, said: 'She was brought back to the quay were police were waiting. 'Initially she refused to get off but soon surrendered,' he added. Born in Canterbury and raised in Belfast, Ms Watson's life appeared to take a bizarre twist earlier this year when she moved to Italy. On Mother's Day in March, she posted a message of Facebook to say that she was missing her four children. While her social media pages show her indulging in sumptuous dinners, she was allegedly living on the wrong side of the law, conning hotels and restaurants. Mrs Watson (pictured) has been charged with theft in relation to the incident and is accused of leaving bills unpaid Relatives reported Mrs Watson missing in May, by which time she had already been accused of sleeping in a hotel room without paying (pictured in March) Mrs Watson posted this photo of her enjoying a glass of wine, along with the caption 'good morning life! F*** it' It was claimed she managed to sneak into a room and stay for free one night and on another occasion booked into a hotel in Reggio Calabria in southern Italy and was arrested for allegedly trying to leave without paying. 'One night she wandered into a hotel in La Spezia, pretended to be a guest and got a key, then fled the next day after she was found sleeping in a room,' added Captain Clemente. 'We googled her and thought she was carrying out some kind of artistic experiment. We then learnt her family had reported her missing in May. 'After her arrest she told the British embassy she did not want to go home. Now we hope her family and friends will come to Italy. During her time in Italy, Mrs Watson posted a number of status updates on her Facebook profile, including one in March in which she complained about the quality of margaritas and of being kicked out of a party in Bologna. The Brit has been dubbed the Portofino pirate after allegedly trying to steal the the yacht on the Riviera Her social media revealed that she had undertaken navigation courses and knew how to handle boats During her time in Italy, Mrs Watson posted a number of status updates on her Facebook profile of her enjoying the sights along the Riviera Two days before the boat incident she is said to have ordered a beauty treatment in the Ligurian resort of Santa Margherita. She was arrested and cautioned for allegedly not paying the 100-euro bill. 'When she was arrested she had no cards, no money and a photocopy of her passport,' said Captain Clemente. 'She had a change of clothes in a backpack and might have been sleeping rough. That said, she was well turned out, although that's because she had been to the beauty parlour.' He added: 'Nothing like this has happened before in Portofino.' Police said a search through Mrs Watson's Facebook and Instagram revealed she had undertaken navigation courses and was familiar with how to handle boats. Italian newspaper La Rivieria dubbed Mrs Watson 'the Portofino pirate'. Her social media accounts reveal that in March she posted what seemed to be an old picture of herself with a trophy and wearing a blue dress. The caption read: 'Happy times when I had decent clothes to wear, a great car to drive, a home and a clean, comfortable bed every night - offshore racing - winning in style!' Monte Carlo was among the destinations Mrs Watson travelled to during her tour this summer Her social media account claimed that she was forced to leave a party attended by Jamie Oliver In another post she claimed to have been ejected from a Bologna party attended by Jamie Oliver due to the actions of 'an officious little girl'. Mrs Watson was also charged with fraud after allegedly refusing to pay a 150 bill at a beauty salon in the town of Santa Margherita Ligure. Her current whereabouts are unknown but she faces an international warrant if she fails to attend next month's scheduled court appearance. The artist moved to Belfast as a child before attending the University of Ulster's School of Art and Design. She has exhibited her work in Britain, the United States, Europe and Japan. Mrs Watson will be summoned to court next month and could be jailed for three years if the case goes to trial. She could not be reached for comment last night. A plan by police to deny concert entry to anyone who is targeted by sniffer dogs even if they don't have drugs has led a Greens MP to take them to court. NSW Police announced they will refuse entry to anyone outside the Above and Beyond concert in Sydney who is searched as a result of a sniffer dog, even if no drugs are found. Greens MP David Shoebridge is taking NSW Police to court to seek an injunction to stop them punishing concertgoers singled out by sniffer dogs who aren't found to be in possession of drugs. Greens MP David Shoebridge (pictured) is taking NSW Police to court over its plan to deny entry into a concert for anyone searched by the canine unit even if no drugs are found 'It is not a crime to have a drug dog falsely indicate you are carrying drugs, but right now people are facing the very real prospect of having their tickets torn up because of the failed drug program,' he said. He told Ten Daily he was informed they had a strong case against NSW Police because 'they do not have the power to do this'. 'Drug dogs get it wrong up to 75 percent of the time. This is nothing more than the NSW Police punishing young people for the abject failure of their drug dog program,' he said. Mr Shoebridge, who is a lawyer by trade, also spoke with Sky News about the perceived injustice. He said they run a Facebook page called Sniff Off which is designed to help target unfair policing and since the announcement they have been 'inundated with people' who want to know their rights. Police warn drug dogs who sit next to a person being tested for drugs will be refused entry - even if drugs aren't found on them 'So we have been coordinating a number of those ticket holders, weve got a legal team who have put their hand up to act for us, weve crowdfunded the fees that we are going to need to get the filing fee sorted and cover those costs,' he said. 'Those proceedings will be commenced in the supreme court either later today or tomorrow to injunction the police, to prevent them from doing this and prevent them from abusing their powers.' Criminal lawyers also told Ten Daily that they aren't sure how this plan by NSW Police can be legal, saying it dilutes 'basic human rights'. NSW Police announced they will refuse entry to anyone outside the Above and Beyond concert in Sydney who is searched as a result of a sniffer dog, even if no drugs are found Assistant Commissioner Peter Thurtell said the message from police is simple - dont bring prohibited drugs to the event. 'Police will exclude any person from the venue that the drug dog indicates has or who has recently had drugs on them, regardless of whether drugs are located. 'Quite simply, if you handle or use drugs you will not be permitted to remain at the venue,' he said. Assistant Commissioner Peter Thurtell said the message from police is simple - dont bring prohibited drugs to the event Fans may want to think twice before attending this Saturday's music concert 'Above and Beyond' (pictured) after police said that music goers will be kicked out if a drug sniffer dog merely sits next to them Greens MP David Shoebridge took a swipe at the NSW police statement on Wednesday morning. 'The war on drugs is a war on young people, with little to no impact on public safety or crime,' he said. He added: 'Its hard to see how this kind of action by police could be legal, seeing how it involves punishment in the absence of any offence.' Mr Shoebridge said in a media statement: 'Welcome to NSW, where being young in public is now a criminal offence. Above and Beyond's (pictured) fans are slamming the police for the harsh warning - complaining that it's ridiculous that they'd have to forfeit their tickets 'Penalising people for the failure of the drug dog program is a clear abuse of police powers. 'Young people who have spent upwards of a hundred dollars will see their tickets essentially torn up as some kind of perverse punishment by the police.' Mr Shoebridge said that young people shouldn't be denied entry based solely on drug sniffer dogs as they can also get it wrong. 'Police will exclude any person from the venue that the drug dog indicates has or who has recently had drugs on them, regardless of whether drugs are located' 'We have known for many years that between two thirds and three quarters of drug dog indications are false positives where people are not found to be carrying any drugs,' he said in a media statement. The group's fans are slamming the police for the harsh warning, complaining that it's ridiculous that they'd have to forfeit their tickets if a sniffer dog sits next to them. One social media user said: 'So presumed guilty even after being proven innocent?' Assistant Commissioner Peter Thurtell said the message from police is simple - dont bring prohibited drugs to the event 'This is an over reach of police powers. What gives them the right to presume guilt?' another replied. 'The presence of drug detection dogs only encourages people who will take drugs anyway to take all their drugs at once before arriving at the venue. The police are then factors in the hospitalisations/deaths that follow,' another user said. He added: 'Why not try harm-minimisation: help people to stay alive while taking the drugs that they were going to take anyway. Education, pill-testing, medical care, rover.' Crowd at Sydney Showground (pictured) where the Above and Beyond music concert will be taking place on Saturday Tickets for the English electronic trio don't come cheap - costing between $128.43 to $143.64. Assistant Commissioner Peter Thurtell said: 'Poor choices can have serious consequences and we urge all people attending this festival to remain safe, look after your friends, and dont risk your health or your good reputation.' Above and Beyond will be playing at Sydney Showground from 6pm to midnight on Saturday June 9. This is the sleazy moment a pervert puts his mobile phone under a public toilet cubicle barrier to film a young woman. The 23-year-old victim had her privacy violated when she went to use a toilet next to a popular beach on Queensland's Gold Coast. As Jane walked into the cubicle at Burleigh Heads, she noticed a smart phone poking under the wall was filming her. 'I honestly just feel disgusted by him and his behaviour and I hope that he will face the consequences,' she told 7News. The 23-year-old victim, known as Jane, had her privacy violated (right) when she went to use a toilet next to a popular beach on Queensland's Gold Coast The toilet block, on The Esplanade, is next door to the Burleigh Heads Lifeguard Centre and fronts a playground and barbecue area by the beach, which is popular with families. The Queensland Police Service has confirmed the woman reported the incident to them early on Tuesday afternoon. A spokesman told Daily Mail Australia the man caught using his mobile phone in an inappropriate way fled north on foot, past a car park, towards nearby First Avenue. 'Police conducted patrols of the area but were unable to locate the man,' he said. The toilet block (left) fronts a playground and barbecue area by the beach, which is popular with families. The man was videoed as he fled the scene on foot wearing a bright, orange jacket (right). The alleged offender was described as Caucasian, aged in his mid-30s with short brown hair and wearing a high-visibility jacket. Following the incident, Jane and her friend chased the man, but they were unable to catch him. However, they took video of him wearing an bright-orange jacket, which they gave to the police. Sara Huegill, wife of Olympic swimmer Geoff, is set to fight her shoplifting charge under the Mental Health Act. The Sydney-based socialite fronted a NSW court after she allegedly stole a pair of leather pants worth almost $2,000 from a boutique clothing store on Mother's Day. Her lawyer Paul Hunt on Thursday asked the court to adjourn the matter so that they could prepare for a section 32 inquiry, The Daily Telegraph reported. Section 32 allows a magistrate to consider if a defendant may have been suffering from mental illness or was cognitively impaired at the time of the alleged offence. Sara Huegill, wife of Olympic swimmer Geoff, is set to fight her shoplifting charge under the Mental Health Act The Sydney-based socialite fronted a NSW court after she allegedly stole a pair of leather pants worth almost $2,000 from a boutique clothing store on Mother's Day Her lawyer Paul Hunt (pictured) on Thursday asked the court to adjourn the matter so that they could prepare for a section 32 inquiry Ms Huegill's matter was adjourned to August 10. The 34-year-old was arrested on May 13 by police in Byron Bay and issued a field court attendance notice for the alleged light-fingered offence. Police said the alleged stolen pants had since been returned. The accused shoplifter was spotted running errands a day before she was due to court. The publicist looked downcast while picking up her daughter from daycare on the Gold Coast on Wednesday. The 34-year-old publicist looked downcast while picking up her daughter from daycare on the Gold Coast on Wednesday Olympic swimmer Geoff Huegill was seen shopping for groceries on Thursday morning Mrs Huegill was seen getting in and out of a purple Volkswagen Beetle carrying her daughter's school bag. Casually dressed in light-coloured jeans and a long-sleeved black T-shirt, the mother-of-two looked pensive ahead of Thursday's court appearance. Mrs Huegill said the allegation was 'FALSE' when approached for comment. The PR businesswoman was seen picking up her daughter from daycare on the Gold Coast Casually dressed in light-coloured jeans and a long-sleeved black T-shirt, the mother-of-two looked pensive ahead of Thursday's court appearance Geoff Huegill was seen looking downcast on the day his wife Sara was due to appear in court Her lawyer has also issued a statement apologising for the alleged shoplifting incident. 'Sara deeply regrets the incident and apologises unreservedly,' the statement said. 'Sara has made good progress recently in being treated for issues related to anxiety and depression and acknowledges this is a setback. 'She has asked for privacy and understanding for her family at this time.' Earlier this week Mrs Huegill's husband, former Olympic swimmer Geoff Huegill, broke his silence on his wife's alleged behaviour A day before facing court Mrs Huegill was seen getting in and out of a purple Volkswagen Beetle carrying her daughter's school bag Geoff Huegill took to Instagram on Tuesday appearing to speak about his wife's alleged behaviour saying 'at times, good people make poor choices'. 'We all trip over and make mistakes and unfortunately, we let others down. But that doesn't make us bad people,' he said. 'There are no excuses for the poor choices, however, when we look back at a moment in time, naturally there are things we would all do differently. 'I want to extend my heartfelt appreciation to those who have supported us and those who continue to support us in these challenging times. Mrs Huegill is due to face Byron Bay Local Court on Thursday after allegedly stealing from a clothing store last month Geoff Huegill (pictured, left, right) took to Instagram on Tuesday appearing to speak about his wife's behaviour saying 'at times, good people make poor choices' 'Naturally there are two sides to every story, and there will be a time, when we as a family will share our side. 'For now, my primary focus is to make sure that the health and well-being of my best friend is managed, so she can be the best person she can be for herself and for our family.' The latest allegations follow Geoff and Sara's 2014 arrest for cocaine use at Randwick Racecourse. Both Geoff and Sara pleaded guilty to drug possession and were handed six-month good behaviour bonds. 'We all trip over and make mistakes and unfortunately, we let others down. But that doesn't make us bad people,' he said Mrs Huegill, 35, allegedly allegedly stole a pair of leather pants worth $2,500 from exclusive Byron Bay boutique Bassike in May The housekeeper who discovered Kate Spade after her suicide says she considered the fashion designer to be her 'best friend'. Bella Cariaga would even go on vacation with her employer, while Spade promised to help her son Mark Roldan, who is pursuing a career in fashion, get a foot on the ladder. Roldan, 23, said his mom was traumatized after finding Spade on Tuesday morning, and their entire family was devastated by her suicide aged 55. Spade, who shot to fame with her line of eponymous purses, was found 'unconscious and unresponsive' by Cariaga, who reportedly ran downstairs to inform the building's superintendent. Housekeeper Bella Cariaga (right) found Kate Spade (left) 'unconscious and unresponsive' after she committed suicide on Tuesday Her son Mark Roldan (pictured with Cariaga) said his mom was traumatized after finding Spade on Tuesday morning, and their entire family was devastated by her suicide aged 55 He rushed back to the apartment, cut the scarf around Spade's neck and attempted CPR. The designer was declared dead at the scene. It's not clear how long she had been dead. The medical examiner will perform an autopsy. 'My mom was one of the people that found her,' he told Page Six. 'She is a little shaken, especially with trauma such as this. 'It just really hit our family and I'm pretty sure the Spade family as well. It was just really shocking to find out her best friend Kate Spade and also a big influence in my life just passed.' Cariaga's Facebook page shows at least one family trip to the Spade estate in Napa Valley. 'Tiff and Justin was invited to spend the weekend at kate spade place,' she wrote in August 2017, with a photo of two kids standing in front of a huge, Spanish-Colonial style home. Kate Spade fell into a deep depression days before she committed suicide, police sources said American icon: Kate Spade was found dead at the age of 55 in her Park Avenue apartment on Tuesday (Spade above in 2004) Roldan said he was particularly close with Spade who he viewed as his mentor. On one Napa Valley trip, he says she showed him the property and told him: 'This could all be yours if you do the same thing I did. Really push and push and push day in and day out.' The 23-year-old even brought Spade a bunch of flowers for Mother's Day this year. A touching video captured the moment he surprised the iconic designer. 'Oh my God,' Spade exclaimed as she opened the door, still in her pajamas. 'I was like "It's Mother's Day, that's why I'm in my pajamas,"' she added. 'It's OK,' Roldan replied. Apartment: The designer left a note telling her daughter it was not her fault before taking her own life by hanging and allegedly told the girl to 'ask daddy' reports TMZ (Spade's apartment above) The designer left a note before taking her own life by hanging and was discovered 'unconscious and unresponsive' by her housekeeper just after 10am on Tuesday (Spade is taken from her home in a body bag) Spade's older sister Reta Saffo told DailyMail.com that Kate struggled to cope with her celebrity status, which only made her suspected bipolar disorder worse. She added that her sister had been planning to kill herself for a long time before she hanged herself on Tuesday. 'My little sister Katy was a precious, precious little person,' Saffo told us. 'Genuine in almost every way. 'Just dear - but she was surrounded by YES people, for far too long, therefore she did not receive the proper care for what I believed to be (and tried numerous times to get her help for) bipolar disorder... stemming from her immense celebrity.' Remarks: 'Kate has not been affiliated with the brand for more than a decade, she and her husband and creative partner, Andy, were the founders of our beloved brand. Kate will be dearly missed. Our thoughts are with Andy and the entire Spade family at this time,' said executives for the fashion line Kate Spade Saffo said the 55-year-old never anticipated how successful her brand would become - and how she, with it, would become a household name. 'She never expected it - nor was she properly prepared for it,' she told DailyMail.com. 'Unfortunately, untreated, it finally took its toll on her,' she told the DailyMail.com. 'A very tragic and sad ending to the life of a very colorful and delightful being.' Saffo said she was aware of her sister's battle with mental illness, but it wasn't until comedian Robin Williams killed himself in August 2014, that Saffo began to realize Kate's obsession with suicide and her unraveling mental health as she obsessively watched news coverage of his death. Increasingly concerned about her mental state, Saffo says that she and Kate's husband Andy Spade repeatedly urged her to go for treatment, including to the same treatment program where Catherine Zeta-Jones went for her successful bipolar treatment. But she'd always 'chickened out' at the last moment. TMZ also reports that Kate and her husband Andy were living separate lives, and that Andy had moved into a separate apartment after 24 years of marriage. Kate pictured far left as a young child with her family in the 1960s Kate , 55, hanged herself with a scarf in her Park Avenue home in Manhattan on Tuesday morning. The designer left behind a heartbreaking suicide note to her daughter Frances Beatrix, 13, which read: 'Bea - I have always loved you. This is not your fault. Ask Daddy!' Andy was seen with the couple's only child on Tuesday at the girl's school, with a source telling DailyMail.com that he arrived with a police officer to get his daughter and tell her the news. In a statement, Spade's family reportedly said they were 'devastated by today's tragedy.' 'We loved Kate dearly and will miss her terribly,' they said. 'We would ask that our privacy be respected as we grieve during this very difficult time.' She is survived by her husband Andy, who is the brother of actor David Spade, and daughter Frances. If you or anyone you know needs to talk, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24/7 at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or Lifeline Australia 13 11 14 To contact the Samaritans, visit www.samaritans.org or call 116 123. A father has revealed the terrifying moment a woman decided to use her van as a weapon - reversing into him at speed and knocking him into the middle of a busy highway. Adam Richards lay in shock in the middle of the Pacific Highway at Killara, Sydney, at about 7pm on Tuesday - after what he described as a 'disagreement over a small accident' turned violent. Mr Richards, 44, said the road rage began after he 'high beamed' the woman in the van when she nearly merged on top of him. Adam Richards took this photo of a woman during a road rage incident - and claims she got into her car and reversed into him after it was taken 'She started slamming on her brakes, like she was trying to cause an accident,' Mr Richards said. 'So I decided she was driving too erratically for my liking and tried to pass her further up the road. 'This is where she side-swiped me. I stopped my car and she stopped hers and got out trying to tell me I was in the wrong. 'When I asked for her details she started swearing ''You f***ing c*** I am going to stab you.' Mr Richards said he just wanted the woman's details so he could pass them on to the insurance company - but every time he asked, she started to swear. He then took a photo of the woman after he began to feel threatened by her behaviour. The man's car was damaged during the incident - which started when the woman almost merged on top of him on Sydney That is when she got back into her car. 'I thought she was finally grabbing her licence details for me so I walked over to the door and saw her keys in the ignition. 'I told her she couldn't leave because we needed to sort out the details. 'That's when she flung the door open - at this point I thought she was going to stab me because she had threatened to do it. 'But instead she reversed the car at speed - slamming into me and my car before driving away. Mr Richards has been left with a dislocated knee, bumps and grazes following the incident 'She flung her door wide open and reversed at speed, hitting me and knocking me into the middle of the road,' Mr Richards said. 'I was shocked. I didn't expect her to be using her door as a weapon. She smashed into my car and then drove away.' The incident left Mr Richards in hospital, nursing 'bumps and grazes as well as a dislocated knee'. 'When she hit me I felt my knee pop out. I was lying on the middle of the Pacific Highway and manage to crawl over to the gutter. 'I was still in shock and just lay there in front of my car.' Mr Richards is telling his story in the hope witnesses to the accident will come forward. The matter has been reported to police, who are investigating. A black Michigan woman is claiming she was racially profiled when she was forced to undress in front of staff at a Target after she was falsely accused of stealing a bikini. Ashanae Davis, 20, was walking out of a Target in Southfield, Michigan, on May 22 when she was stopped by a black male security officer who grabbed her on the arm. She was then approached by a second officer - who was white - who handcuffed her and 'dragged' her through the store yelling that Davis was wearing 'stolen bikini panties... underneath her clothing.' 'He said that over and over. Loud enough for other customers to hear and loud enough to publicly humiliate our client,' attorney Jasmine Rand said in a press conference, according to the Huffington Post. Ashanae Davis, 20, (pictured) was walking out of a Target in Southfield, Michigan, on May 22 when she was stopped by a black male security officer 'To obtain her freedom she then has to pull up her shirt with two male employees at target to prove she hasn't stolen a bikini top and then she has to pull down her pants to prove she hasn't stolen a bikini bottom. And only then would they let her leave target,' she added. It was confirmed by a company representative that a Target team member walked Davis into the security office. 'At first I was in shock, of course, and it was just very humiliating,' Davis said to WXYZ. 'I felt degraded. It was sad. I was very upset.' The woman plans to file a race and gender discrimination lawsuit against Target Corporation. At the store (pictured), a second white officer handcuffed her and 'dragged' her through the store yelling that Davis was wearing 'stolen bikini panties... underneath her clothing' 'Someone needs to be held accountable and it shouldn't happen to anyone else,' Davis said. Target released a statement on Tuesday and stated that it had fired one of the employees. They said: 'We want everyone who shops at Target to feel welcomed and respected and take any allegations of mistreatment seriously. 'We're sorry for the actions of our former team member, who created an experience we don't want any guest to have at Target. Upon reviewing our team's actions, we terminated the team member who was directly involved and are addressing the situation with the security team at the store.' Target claimed that there were new bikini tags sticking out from the woman's bag. The swimsuit had been purchased elsewhere. The woman plans to file a race and gender discrimination lawsuit against Target Corporation 'If only one employee was held accountable for the incident, and that employee was fired on the day we held the press conference, I find Target's efforts disingenuous. If Target fired only the African American male employee, I find the effort a compounding act of racial discrimination. Hate can't drive out hate from corporate culture,' Rand said to the Huffington Post. Target claimed that the employee was fired on May 23, a day after the incident occurred. '[Target's] corporate officers need to take a page out of Starbucks' book and close their stores to do racial and gender sensitivity trainings,' Rand added. The store responded to those remarks as well. They said: 'We introduced the first of our unconscious bias trainings in 2017, which are rolling out now to all our teams across our company. Additionally, we're continuing to make it a part of all of our company's learning and development plans, including the ones we use whenever new team members come onboard.' Rand is a prominent civil rights attorney and has represented the familes of Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin. A Sri Lankan man who threatened to set off a bomb on an international flight from Melbourne will serve at least nine years in jail. Manodh Marks, 26, forced Malaysia Airlines flight MH128 bound for Kuala Lumpur to turn back soon after take-off when he screamed that he had a bomb in May 2017. The visibly agitated, ice-fuelled Marks ran down the aisle of the Airbus A330 holding two electronic devices with flashing blue lights, saying he was going to blow up the plane. Marks, who was actually holding a speaker device and a power bank that night, was jailed for 12 years on Thursday with a minimum term of nine years. Manodh Marks, 26, has been sentenced to 12 years' jail after he threatened to detonate a bomb on a flight out of Melbourne Marks forced Malaysia Airlines flight MH128 bound for Kuala Lumpur to turn back shortly after take off Marks screamed that he had a bomb after taking the drug ice in May 2017 'You ran to the galley outside the pilot's door and you announced there that you had a bomb and you wanted to destroy the plane,' County Court Judge Michael McInerney said, in sentencing. 'The passengers and crew were not only concerned but convinced that you were indeed in possession of a bomb. 'One can imagine the fear and distress of everyone on board.' Judge McInerney said the bomb threat occurred during the take-off period, a crucial time of the flight, distracting the captain and putting passengers at increased risk. 'I believe the passengers were placed in danger,' he said. The captain had to make a mayday call to air traffic control and turn the plane around after a crew member gave the hijacking code of 'romeo romeo'. Marks was given a non-parole period of nine years after pleading guilty to attempting to take control of an aircraft Marks was actually holding a speaker device the night the flight was forced to turn back One passenger said in a victim impact statement that he still suffered flashbacks. 'Yes, there was a moment where I feared for my life,' the passenger said in his statement to the court. Marks was eventually overpowered by passengers and restrained with cable ties until the flight landed back at Melbourne Airport. But police made more than 200 passengers stay on the plane for almost 90 minutes before storming the aircraft and arresting Marks. Officers copped criticism for taking so long to remove Marks and free the passengers. Marks pleaded guilty to the federal charge of attempting to take control of an aircraft, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years' jail. A more serious of attempting to hijack an aircraft was previously struck out and other charges were dropped. The Sri Lankan had been living in Dandenong and studying hospitality after his 'prosperous' family sent him to Australia for education. But he had fallen into regular ice use, and on the night of the flight was suffering a drug-induced psychosis with delusions. The ABC reported Marks will most likely be deported from Australia once his sentenced has been served. Marks was on a student visa at the time of the incident and purchased the plane ticket the same day he was released from psychiatric care. A rental home has had a handwritten poster stuck on its 'For Lease' sign with shocking racial slurs. The poster reads: 'Chinese not welcome' and it was placed on top of the real estate sign in Mentone, south-east of Melbourne. Garbageman Sinan saw the poster when he was doing the collection rounds on Wednesday morning. 'I think it's disgusting,' he said. A rental home in Melbourne has hand a hand-written poster stuck on its 'For Lease' sign with shocking racial slurs. The poster reads: 'Chinese not welcome' Sinan took a photo of it and sent the photo to Melbourne broadcaster 3AW. 'I was driving through Cheltenham this morning and just came across this real estate sign, for lease sign, which says ''Chinese not welcome.''' The property is currently listed in real estate company Buxton. Department manager of rentals Cathy Halliwell at Buxton Mentone told Daily Mail Australia, 'We don't know who put it [the sign] up. We are disgusted by it.' Ms Halliwell said she drove past the property at about 11am Wednesday morning and said the sign had been removed. She said neither the real estate agent nor the tenant knew who put the sign up. The property is currently listed in real estate company Buxton for $380 per week Department manager of rentals Cathy Halliwell at Buxton Mentone (pictured) told Daily Mail Australia 'We don't know who put it [the sign] up. We are disgusted by it' 'The For lease sign is still up but the racial slur has since been removed,' Ms Halliwell said. Members of the public have taken to social media slamming the person who put up the racist poster. 'Disgusting, if they are legally in Australia then they have every right to rent,' one user said. Another user guessed that a racist neighbour was the culprit. 'Did they contact the agent to have it removed it would be a racist neighbour that put it there not the agent,' she said. Dr Dvir Abramovich Chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission said: 'We deplore in the strongest possible terms this unacceptable outburst of, prejudice-fuelled behaviour. I am increasingly concerned about the tide of bigotry and anti-immigrant fervour that is reaching fever pitch. 'In addition to the individual directly targeted, such troubling attacks deeply affect the entire community and leaves it feeling vulnerable. As Jews, we know all too well what it is like to be targeted by acts of racism, and we are proud to stand in solidarity with the Chinese community.' The two-bedroom Mentone property is being leased for $380 per week. Samantha Bee apologized to women and detained immigrant children on her TBS program Full Frontal while lashing out at the media just one week after calling Ivanka Trump a 'feckless c***.' I crossed the line. I regret it and I do apologize for it, Bee said at the top of her show on Wednesday night. The problem is, a lot of women have heard that word at the worst time in their lives, and don't want it reclaimed. I dont want to inflict more pain on them. I want this show to be challenging and to be honest.' She then joked: I never intended it to hurt anyone except Ted Cruz.' Scroll down for video Sam addresses the controversy from last week's show. pic.twitter.com/RtqBOhOCVf Full Frontal (@FullFrontalSamB) June 7, 2018 Samantha Bee apologized for the first time on air Wednesday during the opening of her cable talk show for using a slur to describe Ivanka Trump last week I crossed the line. I regret it and I do apologize for it, a solemn-faced Bee said at the start of her show, Full Frontal, on TBS The former Daily Show correspondent also said that she didnt care that some men were offended by her use of the word 'c***.' Bee then criticized members of the media before apologizing to the children being held after they were caught crossing the southern border. 'I hate that this distracted from more important issues. I hate that I did something to contribute to the nightmare of 24-hour news cycles that were all white-knuckling through,' said Bee. 'I should have known that a potty-mouthed insult would be inherently more interesting a to them than juvenile immigration policy. She then stated: 'I would do anything to help those kids. I hate that this distracted from them. So, to them I am also sorry.' Her final remarks took clear aim at the Trump administration for enacting this new policy that separates children from their parents if they are caught making an illegal border crossing. 'I'm really sorry I said that word, but you know what?' said Bee. 'Civility is just nice words, maybe we should all worry little bit more about the niceness of our actions.' Bee used the slur 'feckless c***' to slam Ivanka for not intervening in immigration policy that separates illegal immigrant children from their parents; she is vocally anti-Trump but until Wednesday hadn't branded members of his family with vicious obscenities Ivanka Trump shared a photo with her son Theodore on Instagram Sunday, which showed the mother affectionately holding her youngest child (above) President Donald Trump called Bee's continued employment 'a total double standard,' likely referring to the recent cancelation of conservative Roseanne Barr's sitcom following a racist tweet To drive her point home, Bee finished her monologue and went directly into another segment about immigration, knowing that she would have a curious audience tuning in to see her reaction. Cameras showed four dour-looking men dressed in suits with their hands on red buttons, who she introduced as her show's new censors. Fans of Bee raved about the apology while her detractors were angered at her lack of remorse. President Donald Trump, who was once caught on camera bragging to Billy Bush about how his fame entitles him to 'grab' women by the 'p****,' demanded to know why Bee was not fired in the wake of last week's episode. Trump called it a 'total double standard' that TBS had not cancelled the show, a reference to the fact that Roseanne Barr had been fired days earlier for a racist tweet in which she compared Valerie Jarrett to an ape. The popular television host was criticizing the Trump administration's new policy on last week's episode when she ended her segment with a vulgar plea to the president's closest aide. After showing a photo of Ivanka and her toddler son Theodore, Bee said: 'You know, Ivanka, thats a beautiful photo of you and your child, but let me just say, one mother to another, do something about your dads immigration practices, you feckless c***.' There was a quick backlash and by Thursday afternoon Bee had issued an apology, stating: ''I would like to sincerely apologize to Ivanka Trump and to my viewers for using an expletive on my show to describe her last night. It was inappropriate and inexcusable. I crossed a line, and I deeply regret it.' Bee did point out that while he did not employ the same practice, Barack Obama also reacted a number of immigration policies that were controversial at the time. 'Donald Trump didn't invent this issue he's just making it so much worse,' claimed Bee. 'Now everyone who even approaches the border is treated like a criminal.' Bee also added: 'He listens to you. Put on something tight and low-cut and tell your father to f***ing stop it. Tell him that was an Obama thing and see how it goes.' The late-nigth host was not the only one to criticize Ivanka in the wake of her post, with actor Patton Oswalt tweeting: 'Isn't it the just the best to snuggle your little one -- knowing exactly where they are, safe in your arms? It's the best. The BEST. Right, Ivanka? Right?' Chelsea Handler, a frequent detractor of the Trump administration, wrote: 'What in the world is wrong with this family? Is this picture supposed to remind Mexican asylum seekers what they've lost?' And singer Halsey, 23, tweeted: 'I wonder what #SundayMorning is like for the parents of 1500 lost children your father is responsible for. Fk your #SundayMorning.' A bus driving instructor has been killed after being hit by a bus during a training exercise. The 45-year-old man was hit as the bus careered through a fence in the car park at Fairfield Showground in Sydney's west at about 10am on Thursday. He died at the scene having suffered critical head injuries. Scroll down for video A man has died after being fatally hit by a bus in a car park in Sydney's West. The bus crashed through the fence (pictured) Police at the scene (pictured) after being called to the incident that occurred shortly before ten in the morning Two men comfort each other (pictured) as it's been reported that one man was treated for shock The bus driver was taken to hospital for mandatory tests, following the crash. Another man was treated for shock before being taken to hospital. 'They were training drivers here, there were about ten in each group and two buses,' truck serviceman Ted Smith told the Sydney Morning Herald. 'I didn't see it actually happen, I just heard the noise ... the crash. 'It wouldn't have been five minutes and the police were here, seven car loads of them, two ambulances and they took a bloke away.' Police are investigating the cause of the crash. The driver of the bus (bus pictured) was taken to hospital for mandatory testing, following the crash While emergency services were called to the incident, the deceased man past away at the scene, suffering from critical head injuries Just minutes after tweeting she was planning to make 'restitution for the pain' she'd caused with her racist tweet about Valerie Jarrett, Roseanne Barr was back on Twitter sharing another attack on the former Barack Obama adviser. Barr, who is Jewish, retweeted multiple posts defending the actress on Tuesday, including one that read: 'You didn't cause any pain. Those people always hated you. Valerie Jarrett wants Israelis and Jews chased into the sea, and she'll celebrate.' The controversial tweet came just five minutes after the Roseanne star wrote: 'I'm making restitution for the pain I have caused.' Barr retweeted multiple posts defending the actress on Tuesday, including one that read: 'You didn't cause any pain. Those people always hated you. Valerie Jarrett wants Israelis and Jews chased into the sea, and she'll celebrate' After initially saying she was taking a break from Twitter, Roseanne Barr returned late Tuesday with a cryptic tweet promising to make 'restitution for the pain' she has caused Barr, whose eponymous show was cancelled after she compared Jarrett, who is African American, to an ape on Twitter last month, was raised Jewish and has previously said that she felt like Israel was home. In fact, Jarrett has spoken about her own Jewish ancestry in the past, revealing that her great-grandfather was Jewish and that she had attended Passover Seder as a child. On Tuesday, Barr also shared a tweet from another Twitter user who insisted that the 65-year-old hadn't been 'bullying' Jarrett. 'Do you not know what VJ has done?' wrote the user, referencing Jarrett. 'Her tweet is nothing in comparison. And her tweet wasn't bullying.' The 65-year-old retreated to Utah where she has been spotted in recent days following the cancellation of her 'Roseanne' show Barr shared the tweet and replied: 'They know not.' After initially saying she was taking a break from Twitter, the disgraced TV star returned late Tuesday with her initial cryptic tweet: 'I'm making restitution for the pain I have caused.' It is not exactly clear what Barr is referring to and she did not elaborate in further tweets. She had earlier posted: 'Deplatforming-read about it'. The comedian has been widely condemned ever since she compared former Barack Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett to an ape on Twitter last month. Following the fallout, Barr apologized for the tweet about Jarrett and to her colleagues but has repeatedly insisted she is not racist. She then retreated to Utah where she has been pictured in recent days looking disheveled. ABC swiftly canceled 'Roseanne' in the wake of the racist tweet scandal. The comedian has been widely condemned ever since she compared former Barack Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett to an ape on Twitter last month Sara Gilbert, who played Roseanne's on-screen daughter Darlene, appeared on The Talk on Monday saying she was saddened about how 'Roseanne' ended but supported the cancellation Barr served as a star and executive producer on the show, which was a ratings phenomenon when it returned to US television earlier this year for a 10th series, after its original run came to an end in May 1997. Rumors of a possible spin-off show are now circulating with producers reportedly in talks about how to create a show without Barr's leading character. One possible suggestion is a spin-off focusing on Barr's on-screen daughter Darlene, played by Sara Gilbert. Gilbert appeared on The Talk on Monday saying she was saddened about how 'Roseanne' ended, but still supported ABC's decision to cancel the program. Gilbert, an executive producer on the rebooted series, said the show 'has always been about diversity, love and inclusion'. A notorious 'poo jogger' has been fined almost $400 - as neighbours reveal they caught him leaving his trademark deposits up to 30 times. Andrew Douglas Macintosh, 64, was charged with being a public nuisance after a frustrated resident photographed him in the act. He regularly defecated on a path outside a unit complex in Brisbane, and in court on Thursday he was fined almost $400, Seven News reported. Neighbours set up a sting operation to catch the 'poo jogger' after finding faeces 30 times. Macintosh, a former director of Christian schools, resigned from his job on Thursday morning but has yet to explain his behaviour. Scroll down for video Andrew Macintosh, who has been charged with defecating in public, was the director of a Christian college and a charity that ran two Anglican schools Daily Mail Australia can exclusively reveal the serial faecal dumper was a director of FSAC Ltd from 2001 to 2009, which is affiliated with the Anglican church's Brisbane diocese (Springfield Anglican College pictured) He was the director of a Christian college and a charity that runs two Anglican schools for almost a decade. As a board member of this non-profit group, Macintosh had responsibility for the welfare of 2,000 students from kindergarten to year 12. Daily Mail Australia can exclusively reveal the married, serial faecal dumper was a director of FSAC Ltd from 2001 to 2009, which is affiliated with the Anglican church's Brisbane diocese. The entity has governance over St John's Anglican College in Forest Lake, which Macintosh was also a director of, and nearby Springfield Anglican College. The co-ed, independent schools in Brisbane's south and Ipswich are each responsible for about 1,000 students. Macintosh, who lives at Greenslopes on Brisbane's inner south side, today resigned from his role as the national quality manager of retirement village company, Aveo. 'Until yesterday, Aveo Group was not aware of the incidents concerning/charges laid against Mr Macintosh,' Aveo spokeswoman Anne Punter told Daily Mail Australia today. 'Aveo Group is distressed and disappointed at the alleged incidents concerning Mr Macintosh. 'He has tendered his resignation to the company today and is no longer an employee of Aveo Group. Macintosh, who lives at Greenslopes on Brisbane's inner south side, today resigned from his role as the national quality manager of retirement village company, Aveo 'Aveo will continue to extend its support to Mr Macintosh for any help that he may require.' His fall from grace ends his seven-year tenure as a director of Aveo Mountain View Strata Management, which runs retirement villages in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. Before that role, he was a director of Biotech Pharmaceuticals, Milton Pharmaceuticals and Wille Laboratories in 1998 and 1999. A decade before that he was a director of the Combined Liquor Marketing Company of Queensland. A decade ago in 2008 Macintosh was interviewed on ABC radio defending Aveo, previously known as FKP, against accusations it had overcharged residents in their eighties. His association with Aveo had also made him a director of the Retirement Village Association. The entity has governance over St John's Anglican College (pictured) in Forest Lake, which Macintosh was also a director of, and nearby Springfield Anglican College The co-ed, independent schools in Brisbane's south and Ipswich (Springfield Anglican College pictured) are each responsible for about 1,000 students In another twist Macintosh is an avid support of Donald Trump. In January 2017, during his first week as U.S. President, Macintosh wrote a letter to his local Sunday Mail newspaper praising the Republican leader's disdain for existing free-trade agreements. 'Multilateral trade agreements don't work any more,' he said. 'Trump has also said his administration will negotiate separate trade deals with the Trans-Pacific Partnership countries. 'It seems Australia has much to benefit and should enter unilateral negotiations with confidence and energy.' In January 2017, during his first week as U.S. President, Macintosh wrote a letter to his newspaper praising Donald Trump's disdain for existing free-trade agreements The man who poo-pooed trade deals is also on a Brisbane City Council planning board. Despite all his business acumen, the man who turns 65 in August will be infamously remembered now though as the 'poo jogger' after being charged with public nuisance. His neighbours in Greenslopes had complained for almost a year of a mysterious morning runner squatting and relieving himself on a public pathway. They rallied together to catch the culprit in action. Residents ended up snapping a photo of a man defecating on a pathway, which led to their apartment block, during a morning jog. He was caught outside a Logan Road block, on May 11, doing an unsavoury act and charged with public nuisance. Residents in the Brisbane suburb of Greenslopes snapped a photo of a man defecating on a pathway, which led to their apartment block, during a morning jog Steve Smith waited at dawn to photograph the jogger in the middle of his bizarre morning ritual. He ran past the block three times in one week before he was snapped Macintosh defecating on the pathway. 'I started sitting out there in the dark and waiting, and I decided I was going to get a photo of this guy,' Mr Smith told the Courier Mail. 'I patiently waited each morning for a few minutes until eventually I got that photo.' The 64-year-old poo jogger faced the Holland Park Magistrates Court on June 4 Mr Smith posted the image on Facebook in the attempt to identify the 'poo jogger'. The image captured the grey-haired man squatting over the pathway clutching a piece of toilet paper. The case was mentioned this week in Holland Park Magistrates Court however the case was adjourned with the court file stating it is 'likely to be withdrawn.' In court, Brendan Ryan from Mulcahy Ryan Lawyers indicated there had been negotiations with prosecutors to have the offence dealt with by an infringement notice. A Korean bushwalker who vanished a week ago has been found after spending six nights lost in rugged bushland. Joohee Han, 25, was last seen at a supermarket south of Cairns in Far North Queensland on May 31. She told a friend the next day that she was on a bushwalk at nearby Mount Tyson and took a photo at the top of the mountain. An extensive search involving police, 20 SES volunteers, Defence and National Parks and Wildlife crews and two helicopters was launched on Wednesday after concerned friends reported her missing. Korean bushwalker Joohee Han (pictured) was found in bushland near Tully on Thursday after she went missing a week ago A specialty vertical rescue team was called in to climb down areas that couldn't be reached by foot, following concerns she may have fallen along the steep track. Acting SES area coordinator Eleanor Rosam told AAP the search terrain was difficult. 'It's a track that is not used very frequently so it's not in the best condition,' she said. Ms Han was located on a track near Tully just after 12pm on Thursday. 'The woman was found near a creek line and is due to be airlifted from the site,' a Queensland Police statement said. 'Police would like to thank emergency services and members of the public who assisted with the search and rescue of the woman.' The woman was located on Thursday following a two day search She told a friend on June 1 that she was on a bushwalk at Mount Tyson (pictured) Police say it was a 'miracle' that Ms Han survived. Inspector Steve Kersley said Ms Han was dehydrated but otherwise well and would be taken to hospital. Ms Han is believed to have become disorientated and wandered off the track. 'Six days is a long time to be lost especially if you have no bush skills,' Inspector Kersley said. Police focused their search on a location where a member of the public had heard shouting, The Cairns Post reported. Rehan Khan, 25, has appeared in court charged with attempted murder after a baby and a woman were stabbed A man has appeared in court charged with two counts of attempted murder after a baby and a woman were stabbed. Rehan Khan, 25, was presented at Uxbridge Magistrates' Court today accused of attacking the 32-year-old woman and the boy at a home in Feltham, west London, court officials said. Khan was arrested when he attended a police station yesterday, following the incident two days earlier. The baby, who cannot be named for legal reasons, remains in hospital in a critical but stable condition, while the woman is still in hospital with non-life threatening injuries, police said. Khan, of Feltham, will appear in custody at the Old Bailey on July 5. A baby girl suffered facial injuries and was taken to hospital after windows were smashed in at a medical centre in Melbourne on Thursday afternoon. Victoria Police confirmed to Daily Mail Australia it's investigating an incident at Coburg Family Medical Centre in the city's north after reports a man smashed in the windows. 'It is believed a man was pushed into a glass window out the front of a medical facility on Sydney Road about 12.35pm as a result of a scuffle involving another male known to him,' a spokeswoman said. 'A female child inside the building was transported to hospital with facial injuries after being struck by the broken glass.' A witness told radio station that a young family with a baby were sitting in the waiting room near the window when it was smashed (pictured) A Coburg man, 37 was arrested nearby and is assisting police with their inquiries. An man remains on the run. Vimal was among the horrified patients sitting in the waiting room of the medical centre at the time. 'One guy walking around, he hit the glass very hard,' he told 3AW radio presenter Denis Walter. 'It looks like a bomb blast.' Vimal, identified only by his first name, said a young family with a baby was sitting under the window when the incident occurred. 'The glass cut the baby's face,' he said. 'I saw a lot of bleeding.' Ambulance Victoria had no details regarding the incident. Anyone with any information is urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. Police believe the killer who shot dead a mother-of-three more than two decades ago may have confessed to the murder several times. Homicide detectives are closing in on the killer of Dorothy Britton, 48, who was shot in the head at her Airlie Beach home in Queensland 22 years ago. Queensland Police Detective Senior Sergeant Chris Knight believes the killer 'has spoken about their involvement in Dorothy's murder' and on Thursday called for them to come forward. Police believe the killer of Queensland mother-of-three Dorothy Britton more than two decades ago may have confessed multiple times Homicide detectives are closing in on the murderer of Ms Britton, 48, who was shot in the head at her Airlie Beach home 22 years ago 'I'm confident now to state that we believe the person responsible for murdering Dorothy was a close associate of hers,' he told reporters in Brisbane. 'They had intimate knowledge of her relationships, her movements, her lifestyle patterns.' A $250,000 reward for information leading to the apprehension and conviction of the person or persons responsible for Ms Britton's death. Det Sen Sgt Knight said recent appeals had led to major milestones in the case. One of Dorothy's sons last week made a public appeal to solve the cold-case murder. Adrian Britton said he was desperate to know who shot his mother in March 1996, and said he believed his mum probably knew her killer. He said suspicion had torn his family apart, and he only trusted his younger brother with 'every other person on the planet' considered a suspect. Adrian Britton son of Dorothy Britton (centre) speaking at a press conference Police also believe Ms Britton knew her killer because her attacker would have had to get past a Rottweiler who was fiercely loyal and protective of her and her rural home. Cold case detectives recently followed up leads in South Australia and north Queensland, and have urged anyone with information to come forward, saying personal relationships and loyalties can change over time. Dorothy's body was found after relatives could not reach her and went to check on her. When they arrived, the front door was open, and the dog was standing on the verandah. There were no signs of a struggle and Dorothy's handbag, containing cash, was not touched. A shotgun missing from the property has never been found. More than 100 wedge-tailed eagle birds have been poisoned and found dead on a farm in rural Victoria. The dead birds were found by officers from the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) on farmland in Tubbut in far eastern Victoria. A Department of Environment Land Water and Planning (DELWP) spokesman told Daily Mail Australia: 'DELWP Officers are investigating the death of a number of Wedge-tailed Eagles and a further four protected species birds on farmland in east Gippsland. (File image) More than 100 wedge-tailed eagle birds have been poisoned and found on a farm in Tubbut, rural Victoria Wedge-tailed eagles Wedge-tailed eagle in Tasmania (pictured) Australia's largest raptor standing at one metre in height Wingspan that can reach up to 2.8m Prey on a range of animals including rabbits, mammals, lizards, possums, foxes and feral cats Known to kill their prey instantly The Wedge-tailed Eagle is found all around Australia and New Guinea Source: DELWP Advertisement 'DELWP is taking this matter very seriously. No charges have been laid but our investigations are ongoing.' 'As these investigations are in progress, we are not in a position to comment on additional details,' the DELWP spokesman said. The wedge-tailed eagle is Australia's largest raptor standing at one metre in height and with a wingspan that can reach up to 2.8m. They prey on a range of animals including rabbits, mammals, lizards, possums, foxes and feral cats. And the birds are known to kill their prey instantly through a fast swooping motion, according to a fact sheet by DELWP. Wildlife carer Rose Best told Daily Mail Australia: 'I don't understand. Australia doesn't have a lot of eagles. Why poison them?' Ms Best said. The wildlife carer based in Pilbara in Western Australia said she was shocked by the mass bird killing. 'It's tragic. That's massive. That's deliberate,' she said. Ms Best said she'd refer to it as a 'localised extinction' due to the sheer number of eagles killed. She said the impact of more than 100 wedge-tailed eagles being poisoned is huge on the ecosystem because they're one of Australia's largest predators. 'The biggest thing is that it throws the environment out of balance just like we've seen with the cane toads. 'It disturbs the balance of nature because they're one of the biggest predators.' A local community newspaper by Tubbut Neighbourhood House with a wedge-tailed eagle on its front cover (pictured) More than 100 carcasses were found in Tubbut (pictured) in far eastern Victoria When asked whether anyone would have a motive to deliberately kill the protected species, Ms Best said she's not familiar with the East Gippsland environment but she said that sheep farmers don't tend to like wedge-tail eagles because they often prey on their lambs. Yet she said the eagles more commonly prey on animals like rabbits and foxes. Ms Best was lost for words and questioned the humanity of the culprit. 'When we lose our ability to care, we lose our humanity and when one intentionally kills and poison animals like that - you need to question that person's humanity,' she said. Ms Best said wedge-tailed eagles are a protected species and hopes the person responsible is prosecuted. (File image) A Department of Environment Land Water and Planning (DELWP) spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia 'DELWP Officers are investigating the death of a number of Wedge-tailed Eagles on farmland in east Gippsland' The dead wedge-tailed eagles were found by officers from the DELWP in Tubbut (pictured) What's the penalty for killing the protected species in Australia? Wedge-tailed eagles are protected under the Wildlife Act 1975. A person who deliberately kills these birds carries a maximum penalty of $7,928.50 and up to six months in prison. An additional fine of $792.85 is slapped for each bird killed. Advertisement Wedge-tailed eagles are protected under the Wildlife Act 1975. A person who deliberately kills these birds carries a maximum penalty of $7,928.50 and up to six months in prison. An additional fine of $792.85 is slapped for each bird killed. In this case, if 100 birds were killed and the culprit is handed the maximum penalty, he/she would have to pay a staggering $87,213.50. The DELWP spokesman said he can't confirm an exact figure of the eagles that were killed as the investigations are ongoing but he said it is more than 100. A farmer in the area is believed to have tipped off a former DELWP employee about the carcasses which were found on farmland in Tubbut. Tubbut is a very small community in East Gippsland. Daily Mail Australia talked to a resident who said 'she could count how many people are in the town with her fingers.' She said the town has about seven people living in it. This is not the first time that the wedge-tailed eagles have been targeted in the area. East Gippsland wildlife carer Rena Gaborov told the ABC that people have purposefully placed toothed animal trips to hurt the birds in the past. DELWP is calling on the community to contact Crimestoppers if they have any information to report on 1800 333 000. Sydney received almost a quarter of the monthly total in just two days Front is expected to move into NSW from the south before clearing on Monday Weatherzone is forecasting rainfall in Sydney from Friday until Monday morning A weather front is expected to bring rain to parts of NSW over the weekend A weather front bringing with it sustained rainfall is forecast to inundate parts of the country over the weekend. The front will move in from the south and is expected to reach Sydney by the weekend and is forecast to last until at least Monday and will be coupled with winds of up to 30km/h. Rainfall in Sydney for the first week of June has been recorded at 56.4mm, a quarter of the 2017 June total, 49.2mm of which fell in just two days. A weather front bringing with it sustained rainfall is forecast to inundate parts of the country over the weekend The 2017 June rainfall total was recorded at 207.2mm. Recent heavy rain and low temperatures in Sydney also contributed to thick fog around the city on Thursday. A Weatherzone forecaster told Daily Mail Australia there are two weather systems which will impact rainfall in NSW, a developing low over the Tasman will contribute to the onshore flow. 'It's not looking like as much (rain) as the last few days,' the forecaster said. 'The rain we will see will mainly move across on Saturday and Sunday with about one to five millimetres of rain each day. 'A lot of NSW will see a lot of rain though.' The front will move in from the south and is expected to reach Sydney by the weekend and is forecast to last until at least Monday In terms of inland rainfall forecasts indicate it will reach as far west as Dubbo and towards Broken Hill. 'White Cliffs will get more isolated rain as will much of the inland area, a fair amount less than Sydney,' the forecaster said. The forecaster said that at this stage the best chance of decent rainfall in the North West of NSW will be Tuesday. Accumulated rainfall totals for the entire weekend are currently expected to be 10 to 15 millimetres 'Not a huge amount but something is better than nothing at this stage,' the forecaster said. Accumulated rainfall totals for the entire weekend are currently expected to be 10 to 15 millimetres. 'With the higher ends mostly near the coast,' the forecaster said. Inland New South Wales is currently struggling through one of its worst droughts in recent memory and Sky News' chief meteorologist Tom Saunders told news.com.au that the 'driest start to the year on record' is a factor. Sunday looks to be the hardest hit for the weekend with the Bureau of Meteorology forecasting up to 15mm for the day Sunday looks to be the hardest hit for the weekend with the Bureau of Meteorology forecasting up to 15mm for the day. According to the BOM radar the rain is expected to clear by late Monday afternoon when the front is expected to continue moving east and out to the Tasman. The heaviest rainfall is expected to last from Friday into early Saturday. However the weather front moving into NSW from the south isn't expected to bring a repeat of recent rainfall. Horrifying details have emerged of an alleged attack on a radio personality which left her with severe bruising. Sembeta Defa, 38, faced Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday over an alleged March 2 attack on Kate Langbroek, 52, co-host of radio show 'Hughesy & Kate'. Mr Defa was wielding a 40cm-long metal bar and a skewer when he kicked at the door of Ms Langbroek's St Kilda home, the court heard. Horrifying details have emerged of an alleged attack on a radio personality which left her with severe bruising (pictured) Sembeta Defa, 38, faced Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday over an alleged March 2 attack on Kate Langbroek (pictured), 52, co-host of radio show 'Hughesy & Kate' With Ms Langbroek's three children, eight, 11 and 14, inside, Mr Defa allegedly shouted 'this is my bloody home, this is my f***ing home!' The Herald Sun reported. The court heard Mr Defa followed Ms Langbroek's babysitter Annabelle to her car and ran at her as she left the home. After Annabelle tried and failed to lock herself in the car, Mr Defa then allegedly followed her as she fled back towards the home. 'Don't you dare f***ing go back into that house,' he allegedly shouted at her. Mr Defa was wielding a 40cm-long metal bar and a skewer when he kicked at the door of Ms Langbroek's St Kilda home (pictured), the court heard Me Defa was then spotted across the road by Ms Langbroek's husband Peter Lewis, who had come out to investigate. When Mr Defa allegedly ran back towards the home he allegedly pushed Ms Langbroek into the gate, the impact leaving her right arm severely bruised. The homeowners managed to run back to the front door of their house and lock it, bracing it shut until Mr Defa allegedly woke up a neighbour by banging on their door. Mr Defa was then arrested by police and taken to St Kilda Police Station. In the aftermath of the attack Ms Langbroek posted photos of her injuries on social media, calling on the Victorian Government to clean up the area. In the aftermath of the attack Ms Langbroek posted photos of her injuries on social media, calling on the Victorian Government to clean up the area (pictured is Melbourne Magistrates Court) 'Martin Foley thanks for your call yesterday,' she wrote to her local member on Twitter. 'This is the bruise I sustained trying to keep that "vulnerable" resident from kicking our front door in on Friday night. 'Children inside. The real vulnerable are the decent citizens of St Kilda. We await your action.' Mr Defa's lawyer told the court his client was having a mental health episode and believed he lived at Ms Langbroek's home. Chris Hooper said his client suffered from mental health issues, and was a long-term drug user. 'He claimed he thought he lived there and it's not implausible he felt that way [due to his history of mental illness],' Mr Hooper told the court. Mr Defa, who is expected to plead guilty, will return to court on July 24 after a mental health assessment. Johnny Depp was spotted looking noticeably pale and thin as he signed autographs for fans after the Berlin leg of his Hollywood Vampire tour, amid escalating fears for the Hollywood stars health. Depp, 54, wore sunglasses, a leather cap and several layers as he arrived at Schnefeld Airport in Berlin, Germany, on Wednesday to fly to Sweden for the next stop on the tour. But that couldn't disguise the Pirates of the Caribbean star's notably gaunt features as he stopped to speak to fans, after a quick discussion with his bodyguard before getting out the car. Johnny Depp was spotted looking noticeably pale and thin as he signed autographs for fans after the Berlin leg of his Hollywood Vampire tour on Wednesday But that couldn't disguise the Pirates of the Caribbean star's notably gaunt features The star had decided to stop to sign autographs for fans at Schnefeld Airport in Berlin, Germany before flying to Sweden for the next stop on the tour The Hollywood A-lister's frail appearance during the European tour for his band has sparked health concern among fans - as well as a flurry of conspiracy theories. Some were worried that the actor's years of partying, including an alleged cocaine habit and $30k a month binges on fine wine, had finally caught up with him. Others speculated the new look could be after his role as Gellert Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts 2 for which he had to shave his head and bleach his eyebrows. The alarm was first raised on Sunday after a photo of Depp posing with a fan in Russia went viral. His famously handsome features had disappeared, replaced by a pale, haggard and hollow-eyed visage that instantly set social media alarm bells ringing among his followers. The alarm was first raised on Sunday after a photo of Depp posing with a fan in Russia went viral (left) Depp looks noticeably thinner and paler than he did just a year ago during the Japan Premiere of Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales in June 2017 Accustomed as fans have been over the years to the hard-living star not always looking his best, many said they were horrified by how sick, weak and skinny he looked. Depp himself has not commented since photographs which were taken in St. Petersburg last week emerged. However, insiders insist he is in 'good health' and there is no reason for anyone to be concerned about him. Despite an onslaught of concern over the actor's appearance including fears that he may be 'ill', a source tells DailyMail.com that he has no health problems. Depp is not believed to be filming for any forthcoming project. He is currently touring Europe with his band the Hollywood Vampires - a supergroup formed of Alice Cooper, Depp, and Joe Perry. On Wednesday, Depp stopped to speak to fans, after a quick discussion with his bodyguard before getting out the car The Hollywood A-lister's frail appearance during the European tour for his band has sparked health concern among fans - as well as a flurry of conspiracy theories Depp, who was finally ushered into the airport after the signing session, has sparked conerns he may be battling illness Some fans were worried that the actor's years of partying, including an alleged cocaine habit and $30k a month binges on fine wine, had finally caught up with him On Wednesday, they played in Liseberg, Sweden, before moving on to Denmark, Finland, Poland, Prague, and Germany before going to the UK at the end of the month. They will play three shows there then will go back to Germany before finishing in Rome in July. The tour began on May 17 in upstate New York. Not long before the St. Petersburg pictures were taken last week, Depp was seen in Moscow posing happily with staff at a state museum after a low-key visit between shows. They seemed unconcerned about his appearance and happily shared photographs of his visit online. Depp spent time posing for selfies with fans despite the recent press attention over his new look Some fans speculated his new look could be after his role as Gellert Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts 2 for which he had to shave his head and bleach his eyebrows In videos of him performing, he appears to be in fine form. Depp's shocking appearance comes after a month of accusations of bad behavior including claims of sustained drug abuse and alcoholism. In a lawsuit against the star filed last month, two former bodyguards described having to act as babysitters for him. One claimed that he had to once wipe a 'substance' from the actor's face in a nightclub. It was also claimed that he spent the day 'smoking and drinking' on the set of City of Lies, formerly known as LAbyrinth, in which Depp plays a LAPD detective investigating the deaths of rappers Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur. Possible explanation: Depp shaved his head and bleached his eyebrows to reprise his role as Grindewald in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. It wrapped filming in December and he has scarcely been seen since then . The film comes out in November During his visit in Moscow, Depp also visited the Mayakovsky museum where, in one image, he looked happy and healthy as he posed with staff A third image, taken in Moscow earlier in the week during a visit to a state museum, provoked more concern. Depp is pictured with one of the museum's staff The production wrapped filming last year and Depp was praised by some for his conduct on set including a handful of extras who said he 'couldn't have been nicer'. It was however alleged that he asked a production staffer to punch him during one incident. According to sources cited by Page Six, Depp allegedly asked the staffer to punch him and said he would give him $100,000 to do so. His representatives did not comment at the time. Depp is pictured in June, 2017, at Glastonbury festival in England when he had a full head of hair and fuller face A security guard accused of exposing himself to a toddler at a Sydney shopping centre has told a jury the three-year-old girl refused to move from a stairwell with no CCTV cameras. Mohammad Hassan Al Bayati allegedly took the child from a Homebush mall playground in December 2016 where she had been left unattended with her older sister while their mother went Christmas shopping. While giving evidence at his Downing Centre District Court trial, the guard denied masturbating in front of the girl or touching her, claiming she had refused to move from a stairwell for the 11 minutes he was there alone with her. Mohammad Hassan Al Bayati allegedly took a three-year-old girl from a Homebush mall playground in December 2016 'She sat on the staircase. Check the fingerprints, check the DNA,' Al Bayati said in court on Thursday. The 29-year-old claims he had been had been trying to reunite the girl with her mum and was taking her to a toy shop on an upper level. Al Bayati said he was unaware at the time that taking the toddler into a stairwell with no CCTV cameras through a fire-exit door that had no handle on the inside was against protocol, as he hadn't been trained on such procedures. But crown prosecutor Georgina Wright labelled that explanation a 'total lie', stating Al Bayati led the girl away 'with the intention of sexually gratifying yourself'. 'That's not true... I just wanted to help her,' Al Bayati said under cross-examination. Al Bayati has pleaded not guilty to committing an act of aggravated indecency against a child and detaining a person for sexual advantage. The trial before Judge Kate Traill continues. A teenage high school drop-out negotiated 'street level' drug deals to 13 customers while unemployed and living in a share house with her boyfriend, a court has heard. Angelica Rose Lockwood from Booval in Ipswich, Queensland, faced the Supreme Court in Brisbane on Thursday on four drug charges, including trafficking, Courier Mail reported. The 18-year-old admitted to selling illicit substances and claimed she didn't understand the horrific consequences of her actions until it was too late. Angelica Rose Lockwood (pictured) negotiated 'street level' drug deals to 13 customers while unemployed and living in a share house with her boyfriend, a court heard Thursday Lockwood was handed a wholly suspended three-year prison sentence by Justice Martin Burns, who released the teen on immediate parole. The court heard she negotiated the sales between January 5 and March 2 last year while she was still 17, with her claiming she was solely a 'middleman'. Police raided he Booval home where they found 0.1 grams of ice and her mobile phone, which showed text messages arranging drug sales, the court heard. Despite admitting to having 13 customers, the teenager was only charged over five drug sales, with police unable to determine how much money she potentially made. They suspected Lockwood, who left Redbank High School in year 10, used sale money to fuel her personal drug habit. Lockwood (pictured) was handed a wholly suspended three-year prison sentence by Justice Martin Burns, who released the teen on immediate parole Justice Burns scolded Lockwood, explaining tough drug laws were in place because the government considered those offences 'extremely serious'. 'People that traffick methamphetamine are peddling misery to other users and other families of users,' Justice Burns said. Drug trafficking carries a maximum prison sentence of 25 years. The court heard Lockwood had since dumped her boyfriend and moved back in with her mother. She narrowly avoided having her case heard as a child, having turned 18 following the passing of legislation stating 17-year-olds could not be prosecuted as adults. Conrad Hilton pleaded no contest to stealing a Bentley belonging to his ex-girlfriend's father that led to an arrest during which the hotel heir spewed racist and homophobic slurs. The 24-year-old appeared in Los Angeles County Court on Wednesday for one count of grand theft auto and one count of misdemeanor contempt of court. Hilton was sentenced to three years probation and made to continue with mental health and substance counseling, according to the district attorney, the New York Daily News reported. The 24-year-old appeared in Los Angeles County Court on Wednesday for one count of grand theft auto and one count of misdemeanor contempt of court. Pictured in court in June 2017 The heir was detained outside Hunter Saloman's Hollywood Hills home on May 6, 2017, with the vehicle in his possession. In the footage, Hilton is seen accusing one of the officers of groping him in an intimate area. He then uses a gay slur to refer to the officer. Police also say that Hilton used the n-word, but that was bleeped out. Hilton was sentenced to three years probation and made to continue with mental health and substance counseling, according to the district attorney. Pictured in court on May 10, 2017 The heir was detained outside Hunter Saloman's Hollywood Hills home on May 6, 2017, with the vehicle in his possession He is also heard screaming: 'I'm Conrad motherf***ing Hilton, don't you forget it.' Poker player Rick - Hunter's father - was also Paris Hilton's co-star in her 2003 sex tape. In a video taken before his arrest, he pleaded with Rick to help him win Hunter back In a video taken before his arrest, Conrad pleaded with Rick to help him win Hunter back. The arrest marked the second time that police had to be called to that residence to remove Conrad after he appeared on the property, violating the restraining order his 21-year-old ex was granted by the court. The police were previously called following an incident in June 2015 during which Conrad broke into Hunter's house and threatened to kill himself just one month after she first filed a restraining order against her ex. He was arrested one year prior after he allegedly 'screamed and threatened flight attendants' yelling profane statements such as 'I will f**king own anyone on this flight; they are f**king peasants' on a flight from London to Los Angeles. A daughter of the notorious incest family matriarch Betty Colt has been released on bail. Another two relatives of the infamous clan are applying to be released from their Sydney prisons, where they have been held since being arrested in April. Mother-of-thirteen Betty Colt and her sister Martha are being held at prisons inside the Long Bay Correctional Centre, with five others held at Silverwater jail. A daughter of the notorious incest family matriarch Betty Colt (pictured, centre) has been released on bail Betty Colt's daughter Raylene (pictured, left), 35, was released on bail on Wednesday Betty Colt's daughter Raylene, 35, pictured, was released on bail on Wednesday Betty Colt's daughter Raylene, 35, was released on bail on Wednesday, News.com.au reported. Raylene Colt is accused of making a false statement on oath amounting to perjury. In Central Local Court on Thursday Magistrate Robert Williams heard Cliff and Rhonda Colt, believed to be mother and son, will apply for bail on June 19. Martha Colt and her brother Charlie are also expected to have their lawyers make bail applications. Betty Colt has been charged with perjury and perverting the course of justice, and has not made an application for bail. A series of nationwide police raids in April led to the arrests of eight members of the infamous Colt family. Betty Colt has been charged with perjury and perverting the course of justice, and has not made an application for bail A series of nationwide police raids in April led to the arrests of eight members of the infamous Colt family They were accused of crimes that collectively included incest, perjury and indecent assaults against children. The name Colt is a court-appointed pseudonym used to protect the identities of children. Police rescued 12 children from a putrid outback camp home to dozens of members of the Colt family in Boorowa, western New South Wales, in 2012. The neglected children, 11 of whom were inbred, were removed from by child protection officers. More to come A two-year-old boy has been seriously injured after a horror accident at a New Zealand airport. The incident unfolded after the toddler clambered on to a baggage conveyor belt in the departure area of Auckland's international terminal on Thursday afternoon. He was rushed to hospital with a cut to his arm after being provided with first aid at the scene, stuff.co.nz reported. A young boy has been injured after he ended up on a baggage conveyor belt in the departure area of Auckland Airport's international terminal (Stock image) Staff were reportedly surprised to see the little boy had found his way into the baggage handling system at about 3pm. An investigation into the incident is now underway. 'Unfortunately we can confirm a young boy was injured this afternoon (Thursday) on a baggage conveyor belt in the departure area of the international terminal,' a statement from Auckland Airport said. 'The boy and his mother were taken to hospital. We have begun an investigation. Our thoughts are with the family and young boy.' A newborn is recovering in intensive care at a New Zealand hospital after it was given the wrong medication. The one-month-old baby was rushed to Hawke's Bay Hospital in Hastings on the North Island on Tuesday after it stopped breathing, Stuff reported. It's understood a pharmacist had mistakenly put methadone medication in a medicine container instead of the baby's prescribed medication. A Hawke's Bay District Health Board spokeswoman confirmed a baby is in hospital after an incorrect medication was dispensed by a community pharmacy to the family. A Hawke's Bay Hospital (pictured) spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia that doctors are confident that the baby will make a full recovery It's understood a pharmacist had mistakenly put methadone medication (pictured) in a medicine container instead of the newborn's prescribed medication 'The baby is in a serious but stable condition, and recovering well,' the spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia. 'Clinicians are confident the baby will make a full recovery. The parents are with the baby, and are grateful for the support and clinical care they have received since arriving at Hawkes Bay Hospital on Tuesday. They have asked media to respect their privacy so they can focus on their new baby and its recovery.' A US medical team was screening more Americans who work at the consulate in southern China as the State Department confirmed evacuating a number of government employees who experienced unexplained health issues. The evacuations of workers in Guangzhou followed medical testing that revealed they might have been affected. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said 'a number of individuals' had been brought to the US but didn't say how many were affected or evacuated. A previous case in Guangzhou, disclosed last month, prompted the tests. Nauert also said that remaining US government personnel and their families in Guangzhou would also be able to request testing if they 'noted concerning symptoms or wanted baseline screening.' A US medical team was screening more Americans who work at the consulate (pictured) in southern China as the State Department confirmed evacuating a number of government employees who experienced unexplained health issues The incidents have raised fears the unexplained issues that started in Cuba in 2016 have expanded. The US government has deemed those incidents 'specific attacks' on American workers but hasn't publicly identified a cause or culprit. Most of the incidents were accompanied by bizarre, unexplained sounds that initially led US investigators to suspect a sonic attack. Symptoms have included dizziness, headaches and an inability to concentrate. The American government worker who previously was removed from China reported 'subtle and vague, but abnormal, sensations of sound and pressure,' the Guangzhou consulate reported last month Security guards outside the Guangzhou consulate on Thursday told reporters to leave the area and not attempt to talk to consulate staff. Asked about the latest incidents, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the US had not formally raised the matter with Beijing. 'If the US makes formal contact with us, China will continue necessary investigations in an earnest and responsible manner and maintain close communication and cooperation with the US,' Hua said at a regularly scheduled news conference. China earlier said it had looked into the case announced last month but came up with no clues about the cause of the symptoms. The New York Times identified the latest American employee evacuated as Mark A. Lenzi, a security engineering officer at the consulate who left Wednesday night with his wife and two children. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said 'a number of individuals' had been brought to the US but didn't say how many were affected or evacuated. Two people who experienced the symptoms were being housed at The Canton Place (pictured) Lenzi told the Times he resided in the same apartment tower as the officer evacuated in April and suffered in recent months from what he called 'neurological symptoms'. Lenzi's apartment was in one of several high-rise buildings in The Canton Place featuring restaurants and galleries spaced around a central plaza. Another diplomat who reported symptoms was at a different upscale building near the consulate, the paper said. A US official, who wasn't authorized to discuss the situation publicly and requested anonymity, said the evacuated American government workers were being brought from China for testing to the University of Pennsylvania. That's where doctors have been treating and studying patients previously evacuated from the US Embassy in Havana. The preliminary findings of the medical reports on the 24 personnel affected in Cuba showed they had sensory and memory problems similar to the brain dysfunction seen with concussions. The Penn team said the patients from Cuba experienced persistent disability though rehabilitation therapy customized for them seemed to help. In April, Canada also ordered families of diplomatic staff in Cuba to return home after mysterious health symptoms were detected in 10 Canadians stationed on the island. Canada said the 10 people continued to show unexplained brain symptoms and that 'medical information raised concerns for a new type of a possible acquired brain injury.' In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last month about the first case in China, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said China had 'said all the right things and have demonstrated their willingness to help us identify the vector which led to this medical incident'. Another diplomat who reported symptoms was at a different upscale building near the consulate, the paper said The China incidents affect one of the most important of the seven US diplomatic outposts in the country. The Guangzhou consulate opened months after the establishment of diplomatic relations between Beijing and Washington in 1979 and moved to its new purpose-built facility in 2013. It serves four southern provinces with a combined population of more than 204 million and processes more than 1 million visa applications of all types annually. It's also the only US diplomatic installation in China authorized to process immigrant visas and handle adoptions. People working in The Canton Place complex, a few miles from the consulate, said they were just hearing about the incidents, reflecting a lack of coverage in China's entirely state-controlled media. Aled Williams, a British teacher at a kindergarten said Thursday that the reports sounded 'sci-fi-ish'. 'Hard to get my head around how it works,' he said. 'Better watch myself.' Linda Chen, who runs a coffee shop in the area, said she was mystified as to why only certain people seemed to have been affected in an area known for its comfort and safety. 'For me I feel it's very strange. But I don't feel that there's something to be very afraid of because it's probably a very special case,' Chen said. Indigenous leader Warren Mundine has slammed young, Aboriginal activists for perpetually whingeing about racism even though they have never experienced it. From protesting about Australia Day being held on January 26 to taking offence at a magazine cover, the 61-year former national president of the Labor Party has had enough. The entrepreneur and media commentator, whose World War II veteran father Roy experienced genuine racism raising 11 children during the 1950s and 1960s, said young, indigenous activists, and their fellow travellers, were addicted to accusing others of racial discrimination. Indigenous entrepreneur Warren Mundine has slammed young Aboriginal activists for perpetually whingeing about racism even though they have never experienced it From protesting about Australia Day being held on January 26 to taking offence at a magazine cover, the 61-year former national president of the Labor Party has had enough. 'What gets my goat is they've never experienced it,' he told Daily Mail Australia today. 'All they do is whinge about nothing. 'These days, you've got to have safe places - they're just making up things to whinge about.' In a News Corp column, he described the phenomenon as 'one most pathetic things I've seen'. 'I'm sick and tired of hearing young precious petals complaining about racism,' he said. In a new controversy, left-wing activists have taken offence at the progressive Meanjin magazine, which crossed out the indigenous name in its title and replaced it with 'Me Too' to make a point about women being sexually harassed by powerful men. The magazine had published an article by controversial feminist Clementine Ford. The entrepreneur and media commentator, whose World War II veteran father Roy experienced genuine racism raising, said young activists were whingeing for the sake of it Meanjin's editor Jonathan Green, an ABC presenter who previously edited the Sunday Age, was forced to apologise for his 'blindness' mistake, which sparked outrage on social media. 'I regret it. It's a reminder of my privilege to not see what now seems so obvious,' he said this week. Mundine said this episode highlighted how Aboriginal outrage activists were searching for something to complain about. 'All they did was change the name on the front of a magazine. We've all become a bunch of whingers,' he said. 'What are you sorry about? Get on with life.' Left-wing activists took offence at the progressive Meanjin magazine, which crossed out the indigenous name in its title and replaced it with 'Me Too' to make a point sexual harassment Mr Mundine, who is a board member of Australian and American companies and was previously the deputy mayor of Parkes Shire Council in the New South Wales central west, contrasted the situation with Aboriginal people from another era. His own Catholic father Roy worked as a military engineer in Darwin when Australia's northern-most major city was bombed during World War II. When he returned to the Clarence Valley in northern NSW to be a road worker, he was required to seek permission to drive to work at night as an Aboriginal man. 'My dad was a bloody hard worker,' Mundine said. 'He was in a segregated society. For him to get a job, he had to get a certificate of exemption. Albert Namatjira, an internationally renowned artist, was charged with supplying Aboriginal people with alcohol l in 1958 in an era when indigenous people were classified as fauna 'He didn't a a full wage as anybody else but he didn't complaint about anything, he just got on with his job, worked and he was able to buy a home. 'That was his way of fighting back: he built a home, built a family, got us all educated - we've all done well in our lives.' Before various state governments began dismantling racist policies towards Aboriginal people during the 1960s, in the same decade they were finally recognised as citizens by the commonwealth, indigenous people couldn't buy property. Albert Namatjira, an internationally renowned artist, was charged with supplying Aboriginal people with alcohol in 1958 in an era when indigenous people were classified as fauna. 'They wanted to be treated as equal citizens and they wanted to be part of Australia,' Mundine said. 'Kids today don't even know that. All this elite little group, who have never faced any of this stuff, they sit around and whinge.' House of Fraser's owners have announced 6,000 employees are at risk of losing their jobs as they plan to close more than half of their stores. The retailer today revealed 31 of its 59 shops - including its flagship Oxford Street store - would shut as part of a rescue deal to keep some of its smaller branches trading. Workers at Oxford Street only found out they stand to be made redundant this morning - hours after the news by the company's Chinese proprietors had been broken. Employees are reportedly 'devastated' with the shock disclosure while one customer poignantly commented outside one outlet this afternoon: 'the days of department stores are gone'. Embattled department store chain House of Fraser is closing more than half of its stores in a bid to save the company - putting 6,000 jobs at risk (Pictured: The flagship store on London's Oxford Street which is set to close) This is the latest big-name blow to the British high street which is facing crisis as chains increasingly are shutting stores to focus on online sales. Budget retailer Poundworld revealed on the same day it is heading into administration, putting 5,300 people's jobs at risk. The retail sector is Britain's biggest employer with 4.6million working in the industry. But in recent years as shoppers move online, jobs have increasingly been put as risk with the likes of New Look and Marks and Spencer announcing store closures this year and Maplin and Toys R Us closing altogether. House of Fraser is expected to be the first of many big names to announce closures this year with experts predicting up to 10,000 further stores will shut their doors by the end of 2018. The firm, brought by Chinese firm Sanpower for 480million in 2014, will shut its flagship store on Oxford Street as well as branches in Edinburgh, Birmingham and Milton Keynes. Wales will be left with no remaining stores as both the Cardiff and Cwmbran branches are set for closure. The company is understood to have agreed a restructuring plan which will see all but its most modern stores, and those in large shopping centres, close. This map shows the House of Fraser stores set to close (in red) and remaining open (green) Closing: The Leeds branch of the retailer - a prominent store in the city's centre - will shut its doors later this year Closure of House of Fraser marks end of era for the British high street Pictured: Businessman Sir Hugh Fraser Department store chain House of Fraser is shutting more than half of its stores as the carnage on the high street shows no sign of slowing down. The retailer has a history stretching back almost 170 years and is one of the country's best-known fashion brands. The retail giant began with a single drapery shop, opened in Glasgow by Hugh Fraser and James Arthur in 1849. It grew steadily, becoming House of Fraser in 1941, then took hold as a national chain after the Second World War. Over the years, the business has acquired numerous companies, including Harrods, which is now privately owned. House of Fraser has been owned by Egyptian-born billionaire Mohamed Al-Fayed and before that by the Fraser family, from which it takes its name. It was bought by Chinese conglomerate Sanpower Group for 480 million in 2014. Pictured: The late Alfred Spence, former director of House of Fraser and managing director of Harrods discussing price ranges in the 1960s Like other retailers, House of Fraser has struggled over the past few years as stiff competition from online rivals and the slump in consumer confidence have knocked the firm. It forced Sanpower to seek outside help in the form of a stake sale to Hamley's owner C.banner. Before today's announcement, the group had 59 locations across the UK and Ireland, and employed around 5,000 people directly and 12,500 concession staff. Jobs will be cut significantly, with closures set to affect up to 2,000 staff and a further 4,000 concession workers. Advertisement House of Fraser said the planned closures come as part of a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) - a controversial insolvency procedure in vogue among struggling retailers. The retailer is also asking for a 25 per cent rent cut on 10 of the stores that it plans to keep open. Landlords, who must vote through the plan, have already expressed serious concerns about the proposals and met on Tuesday to discuss how to respond to House of Fraser. At least 75 per cent of creditor approval is needed, with the vote set to take place on June 22. If the CVA is approved by landlords, it will affect up to 2,000 House of Fraser staff and a further 4,000 across brands and concessions. House of Fraser said the shops earmarked for closure would remain open until early 2019. Alex Williamson (pictured left), chief executive of House of Fraser and Frank Slevin (right) chairman of House of Fraser The group said it also plans to relocate its Baker Street head office and the Granite House office in Glasgow to help slash costs and 'secure House of Fraser's future'. House of Fraser stressed that the group will continue to trade 'as normal' online and through stores ahead of the CVA vote and throughout the proposal. Eager shoppers queued outside one House of Fraser shop on Thursday morning waiting for the store to open - while staff inside were being told they no longer had jobs. The store in Birkenhead, open for six decades, was one of those to be closed - another blow for the shipbuilding town on the Mersey. A notice in the window told customers that 'due to unforeseen circumstances' the shop would be opening at 10.30am and apologised for any inconvenience. As staff inside were being told of the closure, a group of mainly elderly shoppers outside discussed the news. Above: A model poses in clothes from House of Fraser for the store's Spring catalogue in 2001 Out of fashion: House of Fraser is closing more than 50 per cent of its stores (above, a model posing in an outfit for the store's 2003 Autumn catalogue) Doreen Gibson, 81, from Greasby, Wirral, said: 'We've been coming here every two weeks for 25 years. We meet our friends and have a coffee in the restaurant and a bit of shopping. 'It is devastating. They are all shopping online now, all the younger ones, that's what's ruining it all. Some people still like to go and see what they are going to buy. 'Honestly, it's really, really terrible news.' Gaynor Smith, 70, from Birkenhead, said: 'It's terrible, they are all closing down. 'The girls in there, we know them, they have got mortgages, they will be devastated. 'There's nothing left in this town, we will have to go to Liverpool to shop. 'It's getting like no one will be able to go out to shop and talk to each other any more. You can do it online and there's no shops left.' Changes: A pedestrian pictured passing by the Middlesbrough House of Fraser store which is also earmarked for closure High street in crisis: Experts forecast some 10,000 shops in the UK will close by the end of 2017 Dannielle Golding, from Oxton, Wirral, shopping with her son, Elliot, two, said: 'I think the days of department stores are gone now. 'It's very sad for the staff. Just in Birkenhead alone there's lots closing, we've had Marks & Spencer close recently, Dorothy Perkins and now this, loads have gone.' After the shop opened, shopper Angela Sharkey, from Birkenhead, emerged to say she had spoken to staff inside. 'The lady inside who I spoke to said, 'We only found out this morning. We are all disgusted',' Mrs Sharkey said. She had been shopping there for 60 years. Mrs Sharkey said: 'Since a little girl I've been coming here, we would wander in and out the shops. 'I think it's disgusting. It feels as if the whole town is closing, going to wrack and ruin. 'They don't think of the people who come out to shop, only those who go on the internet. 'There are no shops to go to any more, only pound shops and charity shops.' Patrick O' Brien UK Research Director at GlobalData Retail tweeted that rival Marks and Spencer is set to gain the most from the closures. In piece on Verdict reports that 'shoppers who buy clothes from House of Fraser are more likely to also shop at M&S for clothes than any other retailer and so has the best opportunity to gain market share, followed by Debenhams.' The announcement comes as Britain's high street faces a crisis amid an onslaught from online rivals. This Is Money reports it is predicted more than 10,000 shops will disappear this year the most in a decade. Toys R Us and Maplin have collapsed into administration and Marks & Spencer, Mothercare, Carpetright and New Look are all closing shops. Analysts warned the crisis is likely to continue. Twitter users have flocked to social media to discuss the news this morning - with some expressing sadness and others lamenting the struggle the British high street currently faces Alex Williamson, chief executive of House of Fraser, said: 'Today's announcement is one of the most important in this company's 169-year history. 'We, as a management team, have a responsibility to take necessary steps to ensure House of Fraser's survival, which is why we are making these proposals. 'We are fully committed to supporting those personally affected by the proposals.' Frank Slevin, chairman of House of Fraser, said: 'The retail industry is undergoing fundamental change and House of Fraser urgently needs to adapt to this fast-changing landscape in order to give it a future and allow it to thrive. 'Our legacy store estate has created an unsustainable cost base, which without restructuring, presents an existential threat to the business. HOUSE OF FRASER'S FINANCIAL HISTORY 2014: Sanpower group, owned by Chinese industrialist Yuan Yafei, buys House of Fraser. The new owner announces big plans to grow the business and expand into China by investing 75million in the business. 2015: House of Fraser posts its fifth straight year of statutory losses as the group suffers hefty charges related to its 300million refinancing, which it had used to fund store refurbishment and improve its buy-and-collect service. 2016: Despite Sanpower's big expansion plans, by December of this year only one outlet has opened, in Chinese city of Nanjing. September 2017: House of Fraser gets its first cash injection from its Chinese owner, who finally pumps in 25million. May 2017: Chief executive Alex Williamson is brought in. He launches a turnaround effort to overhaul House of Fraser's product range and stores while trimming costs. He says he wants to cut property costs by 30 per cent within five to ten years. January 2018: The struggling department store says it will close failing stores or reduce the size of others after recording disappointing Christmas sales. March 2018: Sanpower announces plans to offload 51 per cent of its 89 per cent stake to a mystery Chinese leisure firm called Wuji Wenhua. Meanwhile another suitor appears Chinese company Fullshare, controlled by billionaire Ji Changqun. However, the company issues a profit warning a fortnight before the deal is expected to be finalised. April 2018: Accounting giant KPMG is called in to look into possible restructuring plans. May 2018: The firm draws up proposals for a company voluntary arrangement an insolvency process that could see it close up to 30 of its 59 stores and negotiate dramatic rent cuts on others. That is the condition to access 70million funding pledged by a second Chinese firm, C.banner, which owns the Hamleys toy shop in London. The Chinese owner of Hamleys, C. Banner, has made access to the funds conditional on a restructuring deal being done. 7 June 2018: The department store goes ahead with the CVA, which will result in the closure of 31 of its 59 stores across the UK and Ireland. Advertisement 'So whilst closing stores is a very difficult decision, especially given the length of relationship House of Fraser has with all its locations, there should be no doubt that it is absolutely necessary if we are to continue to trade and be competitive.' House of Fraser was founded by Hugh Fraser and James Arthur in Glasgow in 1849 as a drapery shop called Arthur and Fraser. By 1941, what started as a small local shop had acquired a number of businesses in Scotland and became known as House of Fraser Ltd. The company continued to expand and acquired a number of businesses, including luxury department store Harrods in 1957 and stores Dickins & Jones and Rackhams & Cavendish House in 1971. In 1973 the company considered a merger with Boots, but the move was rejected by the Government. In 1985 it was bought out by the Fayeds brothers, the owners of Harrods, for 615million who then floated the company on the London stock exchange in 1994 for 484million and began a major refurbishment of the department store. House of Fraser launched its first own womenswear, menswear and homeware collections Linea and Platman - between 1997 and 2000 under the leadership of its new chief executive John Coleman. In 2003 it received a takeover offer by Scottish entrepreneur Sir Tom Hunter that however was rejected. Meanwhile, the department store closed down or sold off several branches in Scotland. It launched online in 2007 and opened its first international store in 2013 in Abu Dhabi. House of Fraser's current owner - the Chinese conglomerate Sanpower Group - bought 89 per cent of the department store in September 2014 for 480million. Sanpower group is in turn controlled by Chinese industrialist Yuan Yafei, whose wealth is estimated at 1.4billion. Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley, also owner of Newcastle FC, holds the remaining 11 per cent. Like other retailers, House of Fraser has struggled over the past few years as stiff competition from online rivals and the slump in consumer confidence have knocked the firm. It forced Sanpower to seek outside help in the form of a stake sale to Hamley's owner C.banner. Before today's announcement, the group had 59 locations across the UK and Ireland, and employed around 5,000 people directly and 12,500 concession staff. John Pal, retail expert at Alliance Manchester Business School, said: 'News that House of Fraser is to close stores comes as no surprise as many retailers grapple with stagnating sales and increasing running costs. 'House of Fraser tried to use a CVA to wriggle out of its property commitments, which is just the latest in a line of retailers to use this tactic. However, other retailers who are in better shape are not resorting to the use of CVAs when they would ideally like to rid themselves of underperforming stores. 'UK high street fashion retailers are facing a perfect storm in terms of increasing business rates, an over-capacity of space, particularly in high cost locations, and the move to online purchasing. If major retailers such as House of Fraser can walk away from their liabilities it also could have repercussions for those centres in terms of increasing vacancy rates.' The Darlington branch of House of Fraser, in County Durham, is among those set to go Andy Brian, partner and head of retail at Gordons law firm, said: 'It's no coincidence that many of the more 'traditional' high street names are struggling. 'These are incredibly challenging times for retailers with pressures such as rising import prices, business rates and the costs of trying to keep up with online competitors all combining to squeeze margins, particularly for the likes of House of Fraser (and recently BHS and Debenhams) which have historically relied heavily on their bricks and mortar presence. 'Only the most innovative retailers will thrive in this climate. That means finding bold new ways to combine an effective online offering with a compelling in-store experience, and then being brave enough to implement it, fast. 'It remains to be seen whether this is the first step towards House of Fraser doing just that.' Which House of Fraser stores will close and which will remain open? CLOSING Altrincham, Aylesbury, Birkenhead, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Camberley, Cardiff, Carlisle, Chichester, Cirencester, Cwmbran, Darlington, Doncaster, Edinburgh Frasers, Epsom, Grimsby, High Wycombe, Hull, Leamington Spa, Lincoln, London Oxford Street, London King William Street, Middlesbrough, Milton Keynes, Plymouth, Shrewsbury, Skipton, Swindon, Telford, Wolverhampton, Worcester. REMAINING OPEN Gateshead Metro Centre, Huddersfield, Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham, Sheffield Meadowhall, Sutton Coldfield, Bluewater, Croydon, London Victoria, London Westfield, Richmond, West Thurrock Lakeside, Bath, Bristol, Cheltenham, Cirencester, Exeter, Guildford, Maidstone, Norwich, Reading The Oracle, Rushden Lakes, Edinburgh (Jenners), Glasgow, Loch Lomond Shores (Jenners), Belfast Two further shops are excluded from the proposals as they are separate legal entities: Dublin Dundrum and Solihull (Beatties) Advertisement BRITAIN'S AILING HIGH STREET: RETAILERS STRUGGLING TO COMPETE WITH ONLINE RIVALS House of Fraser's move to shut down more than half of its stores comes amid turmoil on the high street, with multiple retailers falling into administration or announcing restructuring plans since the start of the year. Experts say that a combination of online competitors, increasing business rates and rising import prices are leaving high street giants who have traditionally been seen as untouchable struggling to survive. Here MailOnline looks at the changes high street retailers have recently made: - Marks & Spencer: Late last month, the high street stalwart reported a 62.1% fall in pre-tax profit to 66.8 million in the year to March 31 as it was dragged down by 321.1 million in costs linked to store closures. The results came a day after M&S said it will shut more than 100 outlets by 2022 as it accelerates a transformation programme that will see thousands of jobs put at risk. - Toys R Us: The toy chain went into administration on the last day of February after failing to find a third-party buyer. In February, HMRC sought to recover 15 million in unpaid VAT and this finally tipped the company into administration. - Maplin: One of the UK's biggest electronics retailers collapsed into administration on the same day as Toys R Us after talks with buyers failed to secure a sale. The business faced the slump in the pound after the Brexit vote, weak consumer confidence and a withdrawal of credit insurance. The Edinburgh branch of House of Fraser which is one of those expected to close - Conviviality Retailing: The major drinks and off-licence supplier that owns Wine Rack and Bargain Booze went into administration in early April. The company had grown too quickly by merger, there were a series of profit warnings and a 30 million tax bill for which Conviviality was forced to ask for extra funds from investors - who refused. - Warren Evans: The bed, mattress and furniture retailers in London and the South East went into administration one week after putting itself up for sale. The retailer, known for its ethical stance, had been losing money for some time under the pressure of rising costs and shrinking customer spending. - Calvetron: The owner of Jacques Vert, Windsmoor, Dash and Eastex fashion brands that ran about 300 UK concessions in stores including Debenhams and House of Fraser, went into administration at the start of May. Bosses said inflation and wage freezes had been a driving force behind decreased spending. - Juice Corporation: The firm behind fashion brand Joe Bloggs and the retailer that designed the wedding dress for Diana, Princess of Wales, collapsed into administration in January. Although the group made profits, it had failed to make inroads into the fashion market. - Mothercare: The ailing baby goods and maternity retailer has proposed to close 50 stores as part of a planned turnaround for the company. It said losses were driven by the costs of 17 store closures last year, onerous leases and a head office restructure which resulted in 190 job cuts. - Carpetright: The embattled flooring firm is embarking on a store closure programme and has begun efforts to raise 60 million in emergency funding as it pushes through a restructuring after announcing it was expecting to book a full-year underlying pre-tax loss of between 7 million and 9 million. - Carluccio's: The upmarket deli chain has unveiled a restructuring plan that will likely lead to 34 restaurant closures as it cited a combination of a gradual decline in consumer spending and increasing competition, coupled with the rising costs of labour, raw materials, rent and business rates. Other restaurants that have undertaken company voluntary arrangements so far this year include Byron, Prezzo and Jamie's Italian. - New Look: The clothing chain announced earlier this year that it would close 60 UK stores and cut 1,000 jobs as part of a financial restructuring. - Poundworld: The discount chain said it was planning to close about 100 stores, putting about 1,500 jobs at risk, as it struggled to absorb rising costs. Advertisement These poignant pictures of Africa's wild beasts show how fragile their lives are in the face of poachers, human encroachment and trophy hunters. The haunting images were captured by British photographer Gary Roberts for his new book Voices from the Savannah. The snapper highlights the dangers faced by the anti-poaching patrol as they try to protect elephants, zebras, lions and cheetahs from the money-hungry illegal hunters. British photographer Gary Roberts has released a series of haunting images in a new book showing the harsh reality of poaching in Africa. Pictured: A lioness supervises as her two cubs play-fight Mr Roberts said: 'I am 52 and I first came to Africa when I was in my mid-20s. Then, the number of wild lions was at 200,000 but now it is 20,000, so there has been a 90 per cent decline.' Pictured left: A lioness with a metal snare wrapped around her neck so tight that it's exposed her flesh. The book, titled Voices from the Savannah, has been backed by Jane Goodall and David Attenborough. Pictured right: An elephant foot has become infected after being injured in a poacher's trap in Tsavo, Kenya Rhinos are one of the most highly poached animals in Africa. Their horns are highly sought after in Asia, where they are used in traditional medicines. There are thought to be less than 5,000 black rhinos left in the wild. Pictured: Rangers watch over a black rhino in Serengeti, Tanzania The book has been applauded by Jane Goodall and David Attenborough. Mr Roberts is now urging the public to get behind his campaign to spread the book as far worldwide as possible. He said: Im aiming to get as many people to see these images as possible, to see what is happening to our worlds wildlife. If people can get behind this campaign, then we can spread it far and wide and thats what needs to happen to help these animals. The photographer's extensive work in Tanzania and Kenya brought him into contact with conservationists and experts in the region. Pictured: Wildlife Rangers and members of the David Sheldrick Trust rest after clearing wire poachers snares in Tsavo, Kenya More than 33,000 elephants are poached each year, which equates to one every 20 minutes. Pictured: A ranger walks past the skull of an elephant which was killed by poachers Despite a ban on the international trade in ivory, African elephants are still being poached in large numbers. Their tusks are the most sought after, with the ivory being carved into ornaments and jewellery. China is the biggest consumer market for the tusks Leopards are becoming dangerously close to extinction with around 12,000 of the big cats remaining in the wild. Their numbers are declining rapidly because they're being killed directly for their skin - and their prey species are being poached, meaning they have no food to eat The photographer's extensive work in Tanzania and Kenya brought him into contact with conservationists and experts in the region, who paint a bleak future for the dwindling wildlife of Africa. In his upcoming book, he gathered together these different 'Voices' and noted their fears, hopes and wishes in the uphill fight for the survival of the African wildlife. Mr Roberts said: 'I am 52 and I first came to Africa when I was in my mid-20s. Then, the number of wild lions was at 200,000 but now it is 20,000, so there has been a 90 per cent decline. The demand for ivory, also referred to as white-gold, is at its highest in China fuelling the multi-billion-pound illicit trade Mr Roberts said: 'The declining numbers of wild lions should be looked at as a world problem. Otherwise there will not be any in 10 to 15 years time. And once they have gone you won't be able to repopulate them, it will just be gone forever' Crocodiles are poached for their skin to be turned into leather. Pictured: A croc lays low in the grass by a river bank in Saadani, Tanzania 'This should be looked at as a world problem as otherwise there will not be any in 10 to 15 years time. And once they have gone you won't be able to repopulate them, it will just be gone forever.' Alarmingly, even smaller numbers exist for some of the other big five game, including the African elephant, black rhinoceros and leopard. More than 33,000 elephants are poached each year, or one every 20 minutes. Contributors: In the book, William Mwakilema (left), chief warden of Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, explains how the elephant and rhino could become extinct within a few years. Dame Jane Goodall (right) also features in Voices from the Savannah He added: 'As you can see from the pictures, it's a pretty desperate situation. One of the really poignant moments was seeing a lion which had been snared which I came across in the middle of the bush. That's a symbol of what is happening in general. 'The demand for the poaching trade is from outside Africa, in the Far East and also the US. The anti-poaching team face such a dangerous job every day as the poachers will do anything - even risk their lives - to get a rhino's horn or elephant tusk. 'The death rate per capita for anti-poachers is higher than a soldier in combat in Iraq.' The lonely elephant: Mr Roberts hopes his hard-hitting collection of poignant images, as well as the pictures showing the beasts in all their glory will urge people to fight against poaching In the book William Mwakilema, Chief Park Warden of Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, explains how at the current rate the elephant and rhino could become extinct within a few years if it goes unchecked. He said: 'The war is extremely difficult to control by the use of current measures of guns, strong fines and long jail sentences as poaching involves quick gains and high return.' The demand for ivory, also referred to as white-gold, is at its highest in China, where it is used in decorations, fuelling the multi-billion-pound illicit trade. Mr Roberts photographed a series of candid, yet bleak, images showing the endangered exotic animals in their natural habitat At war with illegal hunters: Rangers inspect an electric fence used to stop the endangered animals wandering out of the park in Tsavo, Kenya Rhino horns are also highly sought after in Asia, where they are used in traditional medicines. Mr Roberts hopes his hard-hitting collection of poignant images, as well as the pictures showing the beasts in all their stunning glory will urge people to act. 'If we can support them in anyway we have a duty to do so', he said. To donate to the crowdfunding campaign to spread the message and help distribute the books worldwide, visit https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/voices-from-the-savannah. Theresa May caved into David Davis today by adding a 2022 'end date' to her Irish border compromise plan - but the UK could still be tied to EU customs rules for an extra year. The Prime Minister agreed to rewrite her controversial 'backstop' proposal after the Brexit Secretary dramatically threatened to quit. The text finally published by the government this afternoon says the UK 'expects' the fallback arrangements to expire by the end of 2021 'at the latest'. However, that represents another year lashed to EU rules after the end of the mooted transition period in December 2020. Eurosceptics pointed out that the new wording stops short of setting an absolute deadline. Downing Street was also unable to say categorically that the UK would not pay into Brussels coffers during the customs extension. The PM's climbdown came after hours of chaotic crisis talks following a furious protest at the blueprint. She also met Boris Johnson and Liam Fox face-to-face in her Commons office. The situation threatened to spiral out of control after Mr Davis took a stand over the text of a document circulated yesterday setting out the backstop proposals - which will govern future customs arrangements if the UK and Brussels fail to find a wider solution to the Northern Ireland border issue. The original document proposed extending customs rule alignment, but did not include a specific end date. Brexiteers said the omission implied a 'Hotel California' Brexit - as it would mean Britain 'checks out but never leaves'. Scroll down for video Brexit Secretary David Davis (pictured in Downing Street today) has been threatening to quit over proposals to tie Britain to the customs union after Brexit The Prime Minister (pictured with her husband Philip in Downing Street today) agreed to rewrite her controversial 'backstop' proposal after the Brexit Secretary dramatically threatened to quit. The Prime Minister (pictured in Downing Street today) thrashed out the fudge in a tense meeting with David Davis before she jetted off to Canada for the G7 meeting Allies of Mr Davis had warned this morning that the standoff was 'extremely serious'. Other Cabinet ministers, including Boris Johnson, were also angry but Mr Davis spearheaded opposition. Mrs May was thought to have reassured Mr Davis after he was pictured grinning returning from the initial discussions this morning, and No10 said they were 'confident' he would stay in post. But within minutes allies were warning that he might not yet have been won over and another meeting was called. Soon afterwards, a source close to the Brexit Secretary said: 'Obviously there's been a back and forth on this paper, as there always is whenever the Government publishes anything. What is the Brexit 'backstop' for and how would it work? The divorce deal struck by Theresa May and Jean-Claude Juncker before Christmas called for a fallback option to guarantee a soft Irish border. Both sides agreed that the 'backstop' would mean even if there was no wider trade deal, the UK would stay closely aligned enough to prevent the need for new infrastructure between Northern Ireland and the Republic. The inclusion of the clause, at the demand of Ireland, almost wrecked the deal until Mrs May added a commitment that there would also be full alignment between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. The EU then translated the 'backstop' into a legal text - but hardened it to make clear Northern Ireland would be fully within the EU customs union and single market. Mrs May says no Prime Minister could ever agree to such terms, as they would undermine the constitutional integrity of the UK. The latest row is over the UK's counter-proposal, which has finally been published. It suggests effectively abiding by the EU's customs rules for another year after the end of the mooted transition period in December 2020. It suggests effectively abiding by the EU's customs rules for another year after the end of the mooted transition period in December 2020. By that time other arrangements should be in place to prevent the need for the backstop, the document says. However, it does not lay down an absolute end date, saying only that those are the timescales the government 'expects' to hit. The EU has already been dismissing the UK blueprint, saying that a backstop cannot be time-limited. Advertisement 'The backstop paper has been amended and now expresses, in much more detail, the time limited nature of our proposal - something the PM and David Davis have always been committed to.' The paper issued by the government this afternoon stated that the backstop customs extension should only last for a maximum of a year after the mooted transition period ends in December 2020. 'The UK is clear that the temporary customs arrangement, should it be needed, should be time limited, and that it will be only in place until the future customs arrangement can be introduced,' it said. 'The UK is clear that the future customs arrangement needs to deliver on the commitments made in relation to Northern Ireland. 'The UK expects the future arrangement to be in place by the end of December 2021 at the latest. There are a range of options for how a time limit could be delivered, which the UK will propose and discuss with the EU.' The PMs spokeswoman insisted the UK would have the final say on when the backstop ended. We are not going to sign up to anything that means that the EU can hold us in a temporary backstop when our customs arrangements are ready,' she said. When our customs arrangements are ready the backstop must end. But asked directly if Britain could pay more money into the EUs budget under the backstop plans, the spokeswoman refused to rule out the possibility. She said: We need to discuss the proposals with the EU. Tory MP Peter Bone insisted the UK should not be agreeing to any form of backstop. He said the EU had proven itself an 'impossible negotiating partner' and urged Mrs May to walk away from the talks. 'The time has come to say we will go on World Trade Organisation terms,' he said. Even before the paper was released, the EU had insisted it was unacceptable. Irish PM Leo Varadkar dismissed the idea of a time-limited backstop. 'The principle that is in the existing backstop that is supported by the 27 EU member states is that it applies at least until there is an alternative in place. It is not something that can be just time limited,' he told reporters in Dublin. 'It has to be as they say "all weather", it has to be applicable until such a time if and when there is a new relationship between the EU and UK that prevents a hard border.' EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier welcomed the publication - but immediately made clear he did not believe it would work. 'We will examine it with 3 questions: is it a workable solution to avoid a hard border?' he wrote on Twitter. Boris Johnson's deputy says Britain could hold a referendum on Brexit deal Sir Alan Duncan suggested another vote could be held in comments that are likely to spark fury among Brexiteers and contradicting government policy (file pic) Foreign Office minister Alan Duncan today risked plunging the Government into fresh Brexit turmoil when he said that Britain could hold a referendum on the exit deal. Remainers have called for another vote on the terms of the deal in the hope this would effectively force the PM to keep the UK in the EU single market and customs union. Theresa May has insisted that another vote cannot be called it would bind her hands in negotiations with Brussels and leave Britain with a worse deal. But speaking in Berlin today, Sir Alan - Boris Johnson's deputy - suggested another vote could be held in comments that are likely to spark fury among Brexiteers, according to Bloomberg. He said: 'It would, I suppose, just be possible to ask the people in a referendum if they liked the exit deal or not. 'It would not in reality offer people the option of reversing the original decision to leave the EU.' Advertisement 'Does it respect the integrity of the SM/CU? Is it an all-weather backstop?' The solution took the heat out of the Brexit War Cabinet meeting happening this afternoon. The agenda for the session does not include customs plans, and key players including Gavin Williamson and Sajid Javid are out of the country, but there were fears it could provide the setting for a major row. Last night Mr Davis refused to quell rumours that he was ready to resign over the issue, saying whether he remained in his post was a 'question for the Prime Minister'. One friend said they thought it was '50-50' whether he would stay in his post. Another ally said the situation would have to be resolved one way or the other within hours. 'It is extremely serious. David is the negotiator and he has to be able to do it his way,' they told MailOnline. Mrs May's discussions with her senior minister last night were described as 'very difficult'. Eurosceptic Tory MP Nadine Dorries said: 'David Davis is ex SAS Hes trained to survive. Hes also trained to take people out.' If the Brexit Secretary had resigned it could have sparked an immediate vote of no confidence in Mrs May. Mr Davis has form for staging dramatic walkouts - having unexpectedly resigned from David Cameron's shadow cabinet in 2008 over a civil liberties row. Mrs May has pledged there will be no return to a 'hard border' but the EU and Dublin reject the UK's current proposals as unworkable and are demanding a 'backstop' that would operate after the end of the transition deal in 2020. The new proposal would effectively keep the UK in a customs union with the EU while a technological solution is found. Brexiteers had demanded and won a pledge that the new backstop would be 'time limited'. But Brussels opposes the idea and yesterday's document from No10 said the backstop would not only be time limited but would also have to last 'unless and until' another solution is found. EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier welcomed the publication - but immediately made clear he did not believe it would work Other Cabinet ministers, including Boris Johnson (pictured in Downing Street today), are angry about the proposal, but Mr Davis has been leading the opposition Trade Secretary Liam Fox (left) and Mr Davis attended a Brexit War Cabinet meeting in No10 this afternoon after resolving the backstop standoff Eurosceptic Tory MP Nadine Dorries said Mr Davis was 'trained to take people out' Downing Street was believed to fear that inserting a fixed end date would result in the EU immediately rejecting the plan, which would be highly embarrassing just weeks before a key Brussels summit. As a result Mrs May wanted to maintain 'constructive ambiguity' that could allow talks to move on. However, the contradictory wording sparked fears of a fudge that could make it impossible for Britain to throw off the shackles of Brussels without the EU's approval. One Cabinet source said: 'If the EU have to decide when we are ready to leave then we could trapped in purgatory forever. It is very bad news.' Former Brexit minister David Jones - an ally of Mr Davis - said this morning that the proposal as it stood would not be acceptable to the 'mass' of the Conservative Party. WHEN WILL BRITAIN BE OUT OF THE EU? Britain triggered Article 50 on March 29, 2017, starting a two year process for leaving the EU: March 2018: Outline transition deal agreed, running for about two years June 2018: EU summit that Brussels says should consider broad principles of a future trade deal. October 2018: Political agreement on the future partnership due to be reached Early 2019: Major votes in Westminster and Brussels to ratify the deal March 29, 2019: Article 50 expires, Britain leaves the EU. Transition is expected to keep everything the same for about two years December 31, 2020: Transition expected to come to an end and the new relationship - if it has been agreed - should kick in Advertisement 'It would tie us effectively into the EU's customs arrangement for an indefinite period,' he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. 'It would be the Hotel California scenario - we'd have checked out but we wouldn't have left.' Mr Jones added: 'We need to make sure that David Davis stays at the negotiating table. 'Anything that caused him to leave would be deeply regrettable and deeply damaging to the country.' No 10 insists it does not expect the backstop to ever be used, as new trade arrangements will make it unnecessary. But many Eurosceptics fear it will become the default position giving the EU little incentive to reach a deal on trade. The row added to tensions between Mrs May and her Brexit Secretary over delays in the publication of a 150-page White Paper setting out a vision for future relations with the EU. The stance led to bruising clashes in the Commons with Jeremy Corbyn, who mocked the Government's difficulties in establishing a clear position on Brexit. Backbench Tory MPs also called for clarity on Brexit. Andrea Jenkyns, who quit the Government last month to speak out on Brexit, asked the PM: 'Has the time not come to reiterate to our EU friends, echoing the words of the Prime Minister herself, that no deal is better than a bad deal?' Mr Davis also finds himself locked in a dispute with Brussels over post-Brexit security co-operation. In a speech at the Royal United Services Institute in Westminster last night, he accused the EU of putting the lives of its citizens at risk by rejecting UK plans. Ministers want to continue British involvement in crime, security and counter-terror agencies after we leave and have promised to pay up. But negotiators are insisting the UK must be excluded from the European Arrest Warrant, criminal records sharing, the Galileo satellite project and other programmes. Mr Davis (pictured at RUSI yesterday) said he expected a meeting of the Brexit War Cabinet tomorrow would reach a 'decisive' conclusion on the issue What are the options for the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic after Brexit? Theresa May and Jean-Claude Juncker agreed the outline of a divorce deal in December Theresa May and the EU effectively fudged the Irish border issue in the Brexit divorce deal before Christmas. But the commitments to leave the EU customs union, keep a soft border, and avoid divisions within the UK were always going to need reconciling at some stage. Currently 110million journeys take place across the border every year. All sides in the negotiations insist they want to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic, but their ideas for how the issues should be solved are very different. If they fail to strike a deal it could mean a hard border on the island - which could potentially put the Good Friday Agreement at risk. The agreement - struck in 1998 after years of tense negotiations and a series of failed ceasefires - brought to an end decades of the Troubles. More than 3,500 people died in the 'low level war' that saw British Army checkpoints manning the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland. Both London and Dublin fear reinstalling a hard border - whether by checkpoints or other means - would raise tensions and provoke a renewal of extremism or even violence if people and goods were not able to freely cross. The DUP - which opposed the Good Friday Agreement - is determined to maintain Northern Ireland inside the UK at all costs, while also insisting it wants an open border. The UK blueprint: The PM has made clear her favoured outcome for Brexit is a deep free trade deal with the EU. The UK side iniset out two options for how the border could look. One would see a highly streamlined customs arrangement, using a combination of technology and goodwill to minimise the checks on trade. There would be no entry or exit declarations for goods at the border, while 'advanced' IT and trusted trader schemes would remove the need for vehicles to be stopped. Boris Johnson has suggested that a slightly 'harder' border might be acceptable, as long as it was invisible and did not inhibit flow of people and goods. However, critics say that cameras to read number plates would constitute physical infrastructure and be unacceptable. The second option has been described as a customs partnership, which would see the UK collect tariffs on behalf of the EU - along with its own tariffs for goods heading into the wider British market. However, this option has been causing deep disquiet among Brexiteers who regard it as experimental. They fear it could become indistinguishable from actual membership of the customs union, and might collapse. Brussels has dismissed both options as 'Narnia' - insisting no-one has shown how they can work with the UK outside an EU customs union. The EU blueprint: The divorce deal set out a 'fallback' option under which the UK would maintain 'full alignment' with enough rules of the customs union and single market to prevent a hard border and protect the Good Friday Agreement. The inclusion of this clause, at the demand of Ireland, almost wrecked the deal until Mrs May added a commitment that there would also be full alignment between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. But the EU has now translated this option into a legal text - and hardened it further to make clear Northern Ireland would be fully within the EU customs union. Mrs May says no Prime Minister could ever agree to such terms, as they would undermine the constitutional integrity of the UK. A hard border: Neither side wants a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic. But they appear to be locked in a cyclical dispute, with each adamant the other's solutions are impossible to accept. If there is no deal and the UK and EU reverts to basic World Trade Organisation (WTO) relationship, theoretically there would need to be physical border posts with customs checks on vehicles and goods. That could prove catastrophic for the Good Friday Agreement, with fears terrorists would resurface and the cycle of violence escalate. Many Brexiteers have suggested Britain could simply refuse to erect a hard border - and dare the EU to put up their own fences. Advertisement This is the moment a pair of Great Dane dogs get a little too friendly and refuse to let go of Thai women who had been petting them. One of the women poses for a cute picture with the large dog standing on its hind legs before it starts licking her face and grabbing hold of her. Before long her delight has turned to alarm as she and two onlookers try to wrestle her free of the dog's grip. The bizarre footage was filmed in Bangkok, Thailand, in February this year. One of the women poses for a cute picture with the large dog standing on its hind legs before it starts licking her face and grabbing hold of her At the start of the video one of the women, wearing a red top, almost appears to be shaking hands with the dog as she looks towards the camera. The dog seems playful at first as it puts its left paw on her chest and then wraps its head around her neck. The camera pans round to show another dog, also on its hind legs, with its paws round the neck of another bystander in a grey shirt. Soon though the first woman and an onlooker start to look more concerned than delighted as the dog takes a firm grip on her. The clingy pooch, still standing on its hind legs, holds the woman tightly in its arms and seems to wrestle her one way then the other. Another woman holding the dog on a chain comes to her rescue and tries to free her from the pet's grip, with the help of an older woman who tries to prise her away. The camera pans round to show another dog, also on its hind legs, with its paws round the neck of another bystander in a grey shirt The clingy pooch, still standing on its hind legs, holds the woman tightly in its arms and seems to wrestle her one way then the other While the older woman laughs at her predicament the victim of the dog's headlock seems to have had enough of the Great Dane. Finally, using all her strength, the dog's owner gives the chain a good yank and releases the struggling woman, who backs well away. Onlooker Jenny Palita said: 'I feel sorry for the girl. She was a bit embarrassed because the dog wouldn't let go of her. 'The dogs were so strong that their owners could not pull them down. The animals were not aggressive. They were just very very friendly. They were big and cute.' The Grenfell Tower Inquiry will today hear from leading authorities in fire safety and from London Fire Brigade. Barristers for the Fire Brigades Union and Fire Officers Association are also set to give opening statements to the at the hearing today. The hearings have now moved into a fact-finding stage following two weeks of heart-breaking tributes by surviving residents of the tower and the bereaved. Meanwhile, the Fire Brigade Union will be holding an annual conference in Brighton where fire chiefs are expected to debate the devastating North Kensington blaze. Yesterday heard an opening statement from the barrister representing Behailu Kebede - the man who lived in the flat in which the Grenfell Tower fire started. Lawyer Rajiv Menon QC said his client 'is a good man' who did 'the right thing from start to finish'. Mr Menon also rubbished claims that Mr Kebede had carried out DIY work to his Hotpoint fridge freezer, which is suspected to have been the cause of the fire. MailOnline brings you the latest updates, here: If you are reading this on the app, please tap here. The suspected attacker of a 100-year-old woman who died after she was mugged on her way to church is in custody following his arrest. Sophie Kaczan died in hospital after her neck was broken during a vicious mugging in Derby on May 28. Mrs Kaczan, who survived the Nazi invasion of Poland before coming to Britain to start a new life after the war, was attacked in the street last week. Derbyshire Police said today that a 39-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of her murder and is currently being questioned. Sophie Kaczan, 100, died in hospital after her neck was broken during a vicious mugging A Derbyshire Police spokesman said today: 'Zofija Kaczan passed away early yesterday morning. 'She suffered multiple injuries, including a broken neck, as a result of the robbery, which happened at around 8.45am on Monday, May 28, close to the junction of St Chads Road and Empress Road in Normanton. 'She had told us that she was approached from behind, knocked over and had her handbag stolen. 'A 39-year-old man, who was previously arrested on suspicion of robbing Mrs Kaczan, has now been arrested on suspicion of her murder. He remains in police custody and is being questioned.' Detectives are appealing for information about a beige/silver Seat Leon seen in the area at the time, with the registration plate SL02 KVZ. The spokesman added: 'We want to hear from anyone who may have information about the driver of the vehicle or if you have CCTV or dash cam footage that shows the vehicle?' Police have released an image of this Seat Leon as part of the investigating into the attack Ms Kaczan's friend and neighbour Stacia Fitzsimmons, 55, said the mugger had in effect taken the pensioner's life. 'She would still be walking to church every morning if it wasn't for the person who has done this he has killed her.' Mrs Ftzsimmons added: 'It's so upsetting she was like a mother to me. It is just awful that she has had to live out her final days like this. I just hope that the police catch whoever did this to Zofija.' Mrs Kaczan was attacked moments after leaving her semi-detached home in the Normanton area of Derby to attend a service at the nearby St Maksymilian Kolbe Polish Church. Neighbours said she went there most days. It is feared the mugger may have got away with as much as 1,000 as her bag with a 900 utility bill inside was later found dumped. Friends said she may have had the cash to pay the bill in her bag at the time. Angela Merkel has been accused of 'importing Islamists, rapists, murderers and terrorists' as she was questioned by nationalist opposition in the German parliament for the first time. The German chancellor also faced calls to resign as she came under pressure over her open-doors policy on migration that saw hundreds of thousands of refugees entering the country in 2015. Gottfried Curio, a member of the opposition Alternative for Germany, or AfD, hit out at the 63-year-old for causing the country 'the most serious harm and future costs of hundreds of billions'. Chancellors have not previously interacted directly with MPs in the same way British prime ministers do at their weekly question time. Mrs Merkel will now face questions three times a year - though some opposition lawmakers say the format is too inflexible. At Wednesday's roughly one-hour session, questions and answers were kept to a maximum of a minute each, with no follow-up questions. The calm but concentrated atmosphere was far from the lively question time in London. Angela Merkel was accused of 'importing Islamists, rapists, murderers and terrorists' as she was questioned by nationalist opposition in the German parliament for the first time There were few personal attacks during the session, which addressed issues ranging from diesel emissions to the number of women in parliament. AfD, however, sought to assail Merkel over the influx of more than a million migrants to Germany in 2015 and 2016. Curio, an AfD member from Berlin, urged Mrs Merkel to resign, adding: 'Your abdication of any control of a flood of a million illegal immigrants has caused Germany the most serious harm, future costs of hundreds of billions, asylum and social benefits fraud, the import of dangerous Islamists, endless human suffering through rapists and murders, knife-wielders and terrorists. 'All this you have to answer for, a terrible price for your friendly face,' the 52-year-old added. Mrs Merkel calmly replied: 'We had an extraordinary humanitarian situation in 2015 in which Germany acted responsibly and also legally. 'This was confirmed by the European Court of Justice in July 2017. The basic political decisions were correct and we have carried out a large number of measures in the meantime that make it clear that it was an extraordinary situation.' Meanwhile, Mrs Merkel also predicted difficult talks at the Group of Seven summit, warning that there is 'no sense in papering over divisions' on issues such as trade. The group of Western powers meets in Canada on Friday and Saturday amid growing tensions between the U.S. and its allies after Washington announced its withdrawal from the Paris climate accord and the Iran nuclear agreement, and slapped steel and aluminum tariffs on its traditional partners. Gottfried Curio, 52, an AfD member from Berlin, urged Mrs Merkel to resign as he questioned her over the migrant influx of 2015 'It is apparent that we have a serious problem with multilateral agreements here, and so there will be contentious discussions,' Merkel said as she addressed her first question time in the German parliament, a format introduced by the governing coalition that took office in March. She said Germany will work at least to preserve what was agreed on at last year's G-7 and Group of 20 summits on trade and climate. 'I will go in with good will,' Merkel said. She added, however, that 'we must not keep watering down' previous summit conclusions committing the G-7 countries to fair multilateral trade and rejecting protectionism. 'There must not be a compromise simply for the sake of a compromise,' she said. If an acceptable agreement can't be reached, a 'chairman's summary' by the Canadian hosts 'is perhaps a more honest path - there is no sense in papering over divisions at will.' Merkel said she will try to discuss problems such as Iran and tariffs with President Donald Trump. Merkel was asked by lawmakers from the nationalist Alternative for Germany, or AfD, and hard-left Left Party whether it wouldn't make sense to talk more with Russia. AfD lawmaker Michael Espendiller asked whether the G-8 format including Russia, which was thrown out after Moscow's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, should be revived. Merkel responded that the G-7 is defined by its members' respect of international law and Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 was a 'flagrant breach' of that. She said Russia's removal was 'unavoidable.' She also noted that Germany has sought to keep in frequent contact with Russia, but said 'a format that is explicitly based on respecting international law is not viable for Russia at present.' A 16-year-old boy was hit three times in a drive-by shooting as he was walking home from playing basketball in south London. His friends told how the victim was hit by a shower of pellets fired from a shotgun as he walked past a bus stop on Somerleyton Road, Brixton, on Wednesday night. A woman, in her 30s waiting for a bus, was also hit. Police were called to Somerleyton Road in Brixton (pictured) just after 11pm last night where they found a man and a woman in their 30s suffering from gunshot injuries Friends of the teenager, who lives just minutes from the scene, said he returned to the bus stop today, looking shaken and with clots of blood still behind his ear, after discharging himself from hospital. A teenage girl, who asked not to be named, said: The shots caught him on the back of the head, in his arm and on his back. He discharged himself, he still has pellets in his arm. She said the teenager managed to run home before taking himself to hospital. He told friends his attacker was with three others in a car. Dramatic footage from the scene in Brixton shows armed officers and flashing blue lights Police said they were called at around 11pm on Wednesday night following reports of a firearm discharge. A 34-year-old woman was also taken to hospital with gunshot injuries. She is believed to have been an innocent bystander and was hit as the teen ran past the bus stop, according to his friends. The woman was taken to a London hospital for treatment, but police say her condition is not life-threatening or life changing. Dramatic footage from the scene shows armed officers and flashing blue lights. It is the second major shooting incident in London in less than a week after semi-pro boxer Oluwafemi Omosuyi, 22, known as Femi, had 'half his face blown off' when he was gunned down in Peckham, south east London, on Saturday night. Armed officers are pictured patrolling the scene in Brixton, south London after the shooting Describing last night's incident, a Met Police spokesman said: 'Detectives are appealing for information after two people were shot in Brixton on Wednesday, 6 June. Officers and London Ambulance Service attended the scene and found a 34-year-old female with gunshot injuries. She was taken to a London hospital for treatment; her condition is not life-threatening or life changing. A 16-year-old male with gunshot injuries subsequently attended a London hospital - his condition is not life-threatening or life changing. There have been no arrests and enquiries continue. Anyone who witnessed the incident or has any information should call Trident officers by calling 101 and quoting reference CAD 9111 06JUN18. In gruesome footage, crowds of onlookers hover over a man with blood gushing from his face after he was shot in Peckham, south London on Saturday A couple have been quoted over a million dollars to have NBN installed at their house just kilometres from Melbourne's CBD. Alistair Stewart revealed he was quoted between $800,000 and $1.2 million to have the NBN connected to his house south-east of the Victorian capital. The Australian Government owned company is currently rolling out the fibre connections to replace current broadband which will provide faster internet services. A couple have been quoted millions of dollars to have NBN installed at their house just kilometres from Melbourne's CBD (stock image) Alistair Stewart revealed he was quoted between $800,000 and $1.2 million to have the NBN connected to their house south-east of the Victorian capital (stock image) While NBN is compulsory, Mr Stewart said the company quoted him the extensive figure because his Jam Jerrup house is seven kilometres away from the nearest connection point While NBN is compulsory, Mr Stewart said the company quoted him the extensive figure because his Jam Jerrup house is seven kilometres away from the nearest connection point, ABC News reported. 'The best way to put this is that NBN want you to shut up and live with what you've got. "Anything but fibre" is the motto. That's how I feel,' he told ABC Radio Melbourne. 'Outrageous, absolutely outrageous.' Mr Stewart, who is an IT consultant and often works at home, said NBN was rolled out in his area 18 months ago but he was given the 'terrible' and 'inconsistent' fixed wireless connection - not the better optic fibre connection. An NBN spokesperson told the publication it was unrealistic to run a fibre seven kilometres for one property and the furthest they had run a wire was two kilometres. The company said it costs about $30,000 to run a wire just a few hundred metres. Despite claiming to offer better services, NBN was recently slammed for blaming online gamers for congestion and slow connections. Daily Mail Australia has contacted NBN for comment. Students who work harder are happier and suffer fewer mental health problems than those with lots of time on their hands according to a major new study. The survey suggests that those who spend more time working on their degrees are also happier with their choice of university. The study, based on a poll of more than 14,000 undergraduates, shows that those with the lightest workload are the least likely to be happy. The 2018 Student Academic Experience Survey polled some 14,000 undergraduates and showed those with the lightest workload on their course are likely to be least happy The 2018 Student Academic Experience Survey also shows that value for money is still an issue for many, with just over a third of those polled saying they think they are getting their money's worth from their course. Overall, the findings show significant differences in whether students would have chosen another course, depending on their workload. More than 70 per cent of those with a total workload of 30-39 hours a week - including contact hours, independent study and placements - said they would not switch and were happy with their choices, compared to just 37 per cent of those with a total workload of one to nine hours. This indicates that students are happier the more engaged they are with their course. Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI), which published the survey with Advance HE, said: 'This does puncture the caricature of the lazy student.' And he warned: 'Things like student wellbeing become a problem when students feel helpless and directionless and they have lots of time to sit around worrying rather than getting on and engaging with their discipline.' Some seven out of ten students described themselves as happy when their course involved putting in between 30 to 39 hours work a week Mr Hillman suggested that there were a number of factors behind the finding, including that 'a small part of it is that they want something for their money'. In addition, he said, in general there is a feeling that students today are more industrious than in previous generations. 'It may also be to do with the changing nature of students,' Mr Hillman said. 'There are a lot more 'first in family' students, who are so proud to be there, they feel this is an opportunity to transform their lives, so they have better opportunities than their parents did.' Overall, around 65 per cent of those polled said that they were happy with their choice of course and university, while 5 per cent said that they would not go into higher education at all if given a second chance. The survey also asked about value for money and found that 38 per cent believe that their course is good or very good value for money. This is up slightly from 35 per cent last year, but still considerably below 2012 - the year fees of up to 9,000-a-year were introduced - when 53 per cent thought their course was value for money. Almost one in three of those questioned this year said that their course was poor or very poor value for money, compared to 34 per cent who said the same last year, and 18 per cent who said this in 2012. Students at institutions rated 'gold' in the teaching excellence framework - which judges universities on their teaching quality - were most likely to say they have had good value for money. Overall, 40 per cent of those at gold rated institutions said they had received value for money, compared to 33 per cent at silver-rated institutions, and 34 per cent at universities rated bronze. Alison Johns, chief executive of Advance HE said: 'It's very welcome to see that students' perception of value for money is improving. The effort institutions and individuals are making in the pursuit of teaching excellence is paying dividends.' Yvonne Hawkins, director of teaching excellence and student experience at the Office for Students, said: 'While we note the survey's findings on value for money, and the fact that a slightly higher proportion of students feel they have received good value for money this year, significant numbers of students report not being satisfied with their higher education experience. 'Overall the results send a clear signal that there is more work to be done.' Dr Greg Walker, chief executive of universities' group MillionPlus, said: 'It is encouraging to see an increase in the number of students who perceive good value for money from their course and that as few as one in 20 current students would not go university if given the choice again after their experience. 'I am pleased to see a 3 per cent increase in reported value for money by students at modern universities. These findings are testament to the sustained efforts of thousands of staff across UK universities who help ensure that the quality of higher education in Britain remains high and so respected internationally.' Target will close dozens of struggling stores which are running at a loss but plans to 'supersize' the remaining outlets. Wesfarmers chief executive Guy Russo on Thursday said Target would reduce its footprint by 20 per cent in the next five years, the Herald Sun reported. Wesfarmers owns Target which operates 305 department stores around the country but is under threat from new retailers Zara, H&M and Uniqlo. 'H&M and Zara and Uniqlo are the things were going after,' Mr Russo said. Dozens of struggling Target department stores are set to close over the next five years, due to the outlets running at a loss Mr Russo said said half the stores had been operating at a loss for the past two financial years, He said he was planning on growing store space of remaining stores, rather than store numbers, while focusing on stores in city and country locations. Mr Russo said he would renew the leases of stores operating at a loss if they expire in the next five years. 'When a lease comes up it would be at that point I would close a store,' he said. The closure news came as a shock to employees of the department store giant. Mr Russo said Wesfarmers would work to accommodate staff who were impacted by the change. 'We have a lot of high sensitivity of not only our team members in those small country towns but also to the local community where Target has been there for decades,' he said. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Target for comment. This squirrel found an unlikely water source to quench its thirst in the blistering heat of the Grand Canyon - a tourist's water bottle. Cute footage shows the little critter in Arizona gulping down the refreshing liquid while holding the bottle in its paws - and drank the whole lot. The hand supporting the other end of the drink belonged to Paul Camps, from Gloucester, who recently visited the Grand Canyon National Park. This parched squirrel found an unlikely water source to quench its thirst in the blistering heat of the Grand Canyon He was admiring the views in the park, where temperatures hover around 87F at this time of year, when he spotted the squirrel acting peculiarly. Mr Camps said: 'The squirrel began to follow me and put its arms up to me like it wanted picking up 'I passed my water bottle to my girlfriend so I could take a picture on my phone - and as I did, the squirrel began to put its arms up towards my girlfriend.' The couple quickly realised that the squirrel was thirsty and wanted a drink. Paul Camps, from Gloucester, was visiting the national park, in Arizona, when he gave the critter a drink from his bottle 'I passed my water bottle to my girlfriend so I could take a picture on my phone - and as I did, the squirrel began to put its arms up towards my girlfriend,' said Mr Camps Mr Camps held out the open bottle and the squirrel drank from it until empty. 'Needless to say we didn't drink from the same bottle,' he joked. The Grand Canyon National Park Service advises that visitors stay a safe distance from wildlife - in the case of squirrels, about 50ft (15m) away. And there is always the danger that if you get too close, you may get scratched or bitten. Thousands of suburban Sydney residents are without internet after a Telstra cable was cut during civil works. Customers covered by iPrimus, Dodo and Exetel and some on the Telstra network have been affected by the outage. An Exetel representative said a number of customers had been unable to access the internet since 11am on Wednesday. Suburban Sydney residents are without internet after a cable was cut (stock image) Frustrated web surfers who had services disrupted vented on social media (pictured) It is believed a cable was hit when contractors were conducting civil works for an apartment development. Lawyer and Exetel customer Stephen Goddard said that he was unable to work because their was no access to the web. 'It's not like I live out in the middle of nowhere I'm on Elizabeth Street,' Mr Goddard told the ABC. 'They told me it won't be restored 'til tomorrow that means I'll be out for 48 hours.' Some frustrated web surfers who had services disrupted took to social media in search of answers. One Twitter user asked where those affected would be paid compensation for the inability to access online. Some iPrimus, Dodo and Exetel and Telstra customers have been affected with some sharing their annoyance on Twitter) 'When will the internet be back in Sydney? what caused the outage and when will it be fixed? will consumers be compensated for the daytime hours without internet coverage? its so hard trying to do university assignments without internet,' wrote the young woman. Another man was hopeful the telecommunications company would prioritise fixing the outage. 'Could you get your asses in gear in fix this outage please. Spoken to two people in the past 24 hours and I still have no internet'. A driver who was hit with a speeding fine from a suburb he'd never even visited has been told he's likely the victim of a 'car cloning' scam. Constantinos Siavelis, 26, lives in the south-west Melbourne suburb of Murrumbeena - almost 40 kilometres from the speed camera that allegedly caught him travelling 123km/h through a 100km/h zone in his silver BMW. The infringement notice, mailed to Mr Siavelis' home address, informed him that he'd committed the offence at 8.40pm on May 15. This came as some surprise to Mr Siavelis, given that he was working half an hour's drive away at the time of the alleged offence - and, moreover, had never even been to the area in which he was supposedly caught. Scroll down for video Constantinos Siavelis' (pictured) speeding fine came as a surprise, given that he was working at the time of the alleged offence - and had never even been to the area in which he was supposedly caught The infringement notice and attached photograph was proven to contain other errors: most importantly, that the car committing the $317 offence didn't belong to Mr Siavelis at all 'When I checked the location, it was somewhere on the Western Ring road near Broadmeadows,' Mr Siavelis told Nine News. 'I have never been there. It was totally bizarre.' Under further scrutiny, the infringement notice and attached photograph was proven to contain other errors: most importantly, that the car committing the $317 offence didn't belong to Mr Siavelis at all. 'When I looked closer at the photograph I noticed the plates were black and written with white letters. [But] My car has white plates with blue letters,' he said. 'When I looked closer at the photograph I noticed the plates were black and written with white letters. [But] My car has white plates with blue letters,' he said 'Then I noticed the headlights are slightly different as well. 'Two owners have the same plates, basically the same model... what are the chances?' It appears the correlation is far from a coincidence, however, as authorities suspect someone may have illegally imitated or 'cloned' Mr Siavelis' car. VicRoads confirmed that registered licence plates are completely unique from one vehicle to the next, and therefore should never double-up. But a recent 'car cloning' scam has seen people replicating the plates of vehicles that are otherwise similar to their own - thus allowing them to commit traffic breaches whilst passing the blame to the person registered with those plates. The speeding infringement was recorded in Broadmeadows, north Melbourne - some 40 kilometres from where Mr Siavelis lives The process of cloning a number plate is said to be as simple as spotting a car of identical model and colour, taking note of its number plate, and reproducing it by printing a mock copy. Following that, the driver with the fake plates is free to rack up speeding fines, parking tickets and toll fares while charging it all back to the unwitting victim. Peter Khoury from the NRMA said that the scammers are pulling off the rort 'very, very easily. 'They can literally take a photo of your car when it's parked out the front of your house,' said Mr Khoury, in conversation with Seven's Sunrise. 'The capacity for you to protect yourself against this kind of fraud is quite limited - that's why we need authorities to step up.' Victoria Police are currently investigating Mr Siavels' case. In the meantime he's been told to contact Fines Victoria, who will cancel the pending fine. Mr Johnson, pictured in Downing Street this week, previously vowed to 'lie down in front of bulldozers' to prevent Heathrow expansion Boris Johnson has defied a the PM's gag on speaking out against Heathrow's third runway - suggesting the airport is 'not the right place' for expansion. The Foreign Secretary made clear his disapproval after the Cabinet finally signed off the project in principle this week. Theresa May wrote to ministers after the announcement on Tuesday, warning that they must not publicly oppose the plans on the national stage. But Mr Johnson, who previously vowed to 'lie down in front of bulldozers' to prevent Heathrow expansion, told a Conservative Way Forward event last night: 'Its the right idea, not in the right place.' Mrs May is facing a backbench rebellion when the plans to build a third runway are voted on in Parliament over the next few weeks. Defying a three-line whip would normally mean a minister has to resign. However, Mr Johnson - whose constituency is close to the flightpath - is expected simply to be out of the country when the vote happens over the coming weeks. Mrs May has written to ministers to say that those with long-standing objections to a third runway at Heathrow will be permitted to restate their views at a local level - but not campaign actively against the decision. An artist's impression of how Heathrow Airport would look with the third runway added Theresa May hit back (pictured in the Commons yesterday) has warned ministers not to speak out publicly against Heathrow expansion The runway is expected to cost 14billion and be running by 2026. It will deliver at least 260,000 extra flights a year, giving Heathrow the capacity for dozens of new routes to trade hubs and tourist destinations. Up to 2.6billion will be spent by the airport on compensation for residents, noise insulation and improvements to the local area. Transport Secretary Chris Grayling argued that the runway would provide an estimated 74billion boost to the economy over 60 years and better connect the UK to the world with an extra 16million long-haul seats available by 2040. What are the alternatives to the expansion of Heathrow Airport? Here are some of the alternatives to expanding Heathrow Airport which have been put forward: Don't do anything: Some say Britain should stop fuelling endless airport growth. But critics warn that not increasing UK airport capacity will harm trade. Boris Island: One of the more eye-catching suggestions, Boris Johnson has suggested a floating airport built in the Thames Estuary should be built. This would mitigate issues of noise, air pollution and space would all be mitigated. It would also provide the chance to close Heathrow entirely - solving the problem of noisy flight paths that have plagued West London and allowing new development of the area. Expansion of Gatwick or Stansted: Fewer people live near Gatwick and Stansted airports meaning that airport development will be far less controversial. Combine Gatwick and Stansted into a super hub airport High speed rail links could join the two airports - providing a super hub that would eliminate the need for Heathrow to be London's main hub airport. Increase capacity at local airports: Regional airports elsewhere in the UK have more spare to build on. These could be expanded eliminating the need for a large hub airport. Advertisement It will also provide more flights to regional airports. But critics warn the plan is 'expensive and complex' and bad for the environment, with some saying Gatwick airport should be made larger instead. Mr Johnson previously backed a new development in Kent, having criticised the economic and environmental case while Mayor of London. Mrs May faced a backlash over the plans from former Cabinet minister Justine Greening yesterday - as she branded the project the 'worst kind of nationalisation'. She said: Heathrow played an absolute blinder with the DFT (Department for transport) they are a privately owned company that now has DFT policy to give them an active monopoly status. They have somehow managed to get a poison pill clause agreed by the DFT that means the taxpayer has to cover all their costs if things go wrong. Isnt this the worst kind of nationalisation the public sector and taxpayers owning all of the Heathrow downsides and risks and the private sector owning all of the upsides and financial returns. Buts Mrs May said the plans to build a third runway at the west London airport will bring much-needed jobs to the country. She said: Yesterdays decision to support Heathrow expansion demonstrates this Governments commitment to delivering the jobs and major infrastructure that this country needs to thrive. But the airport expansion will be fully financed by the private sector. The statement of principles is clear that it does not give Heathrow airport limited the right to claim any costs or losses from Government should their scheme not proceed. Meanwhile, Labour has hinted it could vote against the airport expansion plans. A spokesman for Jeremy Corbyn said the party remained in favour of airport expansion in the south east, subject to four tests set out on the manifesto. But in a signal Labour could vote against the Governments plans, the spokesman said: It has to meet those four tests. The spokesman would not be drawn on which of the tests on noise, air quality, climate change and economic growth was causing concern. But he said Labour needed to see more detail before deciding whether to back the Government version. After the long-delayed airport expansion finally received Government approval the PM today said the plans will be brought to parliament to be voted on in a ' timely' fashion. Former Education Secretary Justine Greening (pictured in the Commons yesterday) confronted Mrs May about the plans at PMQs yesterday Paul Manafort is going to jail for witness tampering tomorrow, according to one former US attorney. Harry Litman, who now lectures at the UCLA School of Law, advised Trump's former campaign manager to 'bring his toothbrush' when he appears in court on Friday 'I think he's going to jail. This is the stupidest thing a suspect can do, this kind of witness tampering' Litman told MSNBC. Paul Manafort has been advised to 'bring his toothbrush to court' on Friday by one former US attorney who says he 'is going to jail' for witness tampering Manafort's only hope of avoiding the inside of a cell 'is to somehow try to construe [the tampering] in a way that makes it different to what it was,' Litman said. But he also described Manafort's attempts as 'ham handed' and 'blatant'. 'The statute says, if they find this happened, theres a presumption that no circumstances exist that will' excuse him, Litman added. Manafort was already facing charges of money laundering and tax fraud uncovered by Robert Mueller as he probes Russian interference in the 2016 election. The charges related to millions of dollars that Manafort was given while lobbying on behalf of the Russian-backed regime in Ukraine before it was toppled. Harry Litman, who now lectures at the UCLA School of Law, said the statute around witness tampering means there are 'no circumstances' that will excuse Manafort if he is found guilty Earlier this week Mueller said that his team had uncovered encrypted messages which showed the 69-year-old had been in contact with witnesses in his case. The messages were an 'effort to influence [witness] testimony and to otherwise conceal evidence', the FBI says. Manafort was found to be in breach of his bail and summoned back to court. Donald Trump has repeatedly described the FBI investigation as a 'witch hunt' and said no evidence of collusion has been found. That is despite the fact that four men associated with his campaign, including his one-time National Security Adviser Mike Flynn, have been indicted. Advertisement Giant clouds of superheated smoke and ash burned people alive and buried entire towns in a deadly volcanic eruption in Guatemala that killed almost 100 people. Shocking satellite photos of before and after Sunday's eruption show whole suburbs wiped off the map as hundreds of houses collapsed when tons of falling ash crushed them. What was once a collection of green canyons, hillsides and farms was reduced to grey devastation by fast-moving avalanches of super-heated muck that roared into the tightly knit villages on the mountain's flanks. Volcan de Fuego, meaning 'Volcano of Fire' spewed a 'curtain' of ash 20,000ft into the air and sent rapid pyroclastic flows through at least seven nearby towns in the biggest eruption for four decades. Slide me Shocking satellite photos of before and after Sunday's eruption show the town of San Miguel Los Lotes wiped off the map as hundreds of houses collapsed when tons of falling ash crushed them A closer view of San Miguel Los Lotes shows only a small part of the town is even visible, let alone vaguely intact, after the ash 'curtain' swept through it in just three minutes Slide me What was once a collection of green canyons, hillsides and farms was reduced to grey devastation by fast-moving avalanches of super-heated muck that roared into the tightly knit villages on the mountain's flanks. Pictured is La Reunion Golf Resort A closer shot of the La Reunion Golf Resort shows it encased in volcanic material with the buildings heavily damaged Volcan de Fuego, meaning 'Volcano of Fire' spewed a 'curtain' of ash 20,000ft into the air and sent rapid pyroclastic flows through at least seven nearby towns in the biggest eruption for four decades A secondary eruption on Tuesday blew ash more than 16,000ft above sea level and sent more volcanic material over settlements to the east and northeast. Rescuers have dug 99 bodies out of the ash and rubble, only 28 of whom have been identified, with at least 197 people still missing with little hope of survival. More than 1.7 million people we affected by the eruption with 12,000 evacuated to overflowing relief centers were volunteers gave out food and emergency supplies. Farm worker Alfonso Castillo, 33, said his village of San Miguel Los Lotes was completely obliterated by what he described as a 'sea' of muck that came crashing into homes, inundating people, pets and wildlife. 'In a matter of three or four minutes the village disappeared,' he said. Rescue workers can be seen searching in El Rodeo, one of the hamlets in the disaster area near the Volcan de Fuego Volcanic ash blankets homes and trees near the Volcan de Fuego, or 'Volcano of Fire,' where rescue workers gather in the El Rodeo hamlet of Escuintla The fiery volcanic eruption in south-central Guatemala killed scores as rescuers struggled to reach people where homes and roads were charred and blanketed with ash View of the damage caused by the eruption of the Fuego Volcano in village of San Miguel Los Lotes, in Escuintla Firefighters work in the disaster zone blanketed in volcanic ash near the Volcano of Fire in the El Rodeo hamlet of Escuintla A victim of the volcano who was mummified by the ash that swept through his village after the eruption Some villagers had no chance to run and were found in much the same way as victims of Pompeii Grisly human remains found by rescuers scouring the charred landscape of San Miguel Los Lotes for bodies These three corpses were identified and wrapped in blankets to be delivered to their families, but many others may never be reunited Several corpses with identification tags lie covered with blankets during the rescue and cleanup efforts after the volcano eruption Emergency helpers in San Miguel Los Lotes examining that which was buried under ash after the eruption of a volcano The family holed up in a house that heated up 'like a boiler' inside, he said, then made their way onto the roof and then to the upper story of another, concrete home. After a cellphone call to Mr Castillo's brother, rescuers arrived and took the family to safety. 'Nobody wants to go back there. My children say they would rather be in the streets,' he said. 'There are many people who are helping us, but we have absolutely nothing. We could not get anything out. For us, there is no tomorrow.' Firefighters said temperatures just below the surface of the disaster areas were still as high as 750F to 1,300F, making rescues difficult and extremely dangerous. 'Nobody is going to be able to get them out or say how many are buried here,' Efrain Suarez said, standing amid the smoking holes dotting what used to be the village of San Miguel Los Lotes on the flanks of the mountain. 'The bodies are already charred,' the 59-year-old truck driver said. 'And if heavy machinery comes in they will be torn apart.' Guatemalan authorities 'were warned to evacuate people seven hours before it erupted' but 'did not act' Guatemalan authorities were warned to evacuate citizens from the danger zone surrounding a volcano more than seven hours before it erupted Guatemalan authorities were warned to evacuate citizens from the danger zone surrounding a volcano more than seven hours before it erupted. Local newspaper El Periodico revealed that from 6:00 am on Sunday, the National Institute of Seismology alerted the National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction about the impending eruption of Guatemala's Fuego volcano. During the following seven hours, until the moment of the eruption, the National Institute issued two further warnings which were not heeded by emergency response agency Conred. According to the newspaper it was not until 1.45 pm, nearly eight hours later, that the Disaster Reduction Coordinator finally raised the level of alert and urged sounded the alarm for evacuations to take place. Mario Taracena, a senior opposition figure, wants Conred's boss dismissed and said the government should investigate whether there was criminal negligence. Rescuers have dug 99 bodies out of the ash and rubble, only 28 of whom have been identified, with at least 197 people still missing with little hope of survival. Advertisement A map of the volcano and affected areas since Sunday's eruption in Guatemala as deadly flows destroyed towns The volcano is in the Central American country's south, southwest of the capital Guatemala City Volcanic ash blankets a home destroyed by the Volcan de Fuego, or 'Volcano of Fire,' eruption in Escuintla Rescue workers remove piles of ash in El Rodeo spewed by the Volcan de Fuego eruption Efrain Suarez walks through a barren terrain of his village of San Miguel Los Lotes, which was completely destroyed in the eruption Axel Toma, sole survivor of his family in San Miguel Los Lotes, aids the rescue and cleanup efforts with tears in his eyes Firefighters said temperatures just below the surface of the disaster areas were still as high as 750F to 1,300F, making rescues difficult and extremely dangerous Rescuer workers used pickaxes, metal rods and flashlights in hand, risking their own lives in search of victims or a miracle survivor while bulldozers stood by to help The front door of a home blanketed in volcanic ash carries a hand written help sign in the disaster zone in the El Rodeo hamlet of Escuintla Thick gray ash covering the stricken region was hardened by rainfall, making it even more difficult to dig through the mud, rocks and debris that reached to the rooftops of homes. Rain often forced teams to retreat for fear of mudslides and boiling water flowing down the volcano's slopes from dangerously hot volcanic gas and ash also posed a threat. Rescuer workers used pickaxes, metal rods and flashlights in hand, risking their own lives in search of victims or a miracle survivor while bulldozers stood by to help. 'We can only work in places where we can stand on the roofs of houses... because the ash is very hot,' rescuer Diego Lorenzana, 25, said. 'There are places where you stick the pickaxe or rod in and we see a lot of smoke coming out and fire and it's impossible to keep digging because we could die.' Rescue operators said after 72 hours there was virtually no chance of finding anyone else alive. 'If you are trapped in a pyroclastic flow, it's hard to come out of it alive,' disaster relief agency chief Sergio Cabanas said, adding that people who may have been caught in the flow may never be found. An elderly man, who was featured in a video shortly after the eruption that showed him in a state of shock, caked from head to toe in ash and mud, died from the severe burns he suffered. Backpackers volunteering with relief effort witness harrowing scenes and are forced to flee a secondary eruption Matt Goldsmith described panic as a fresh eruption sparked an evacuation of areas surrounding the Volcan de Fuego as he was helping with the 'harrowing' volcano relief effort in Guatemala A British backpacker helping with the 'harrowing' volcano relief effort in Guatemala has described panic as a fresh eruption sparked an evacuation of areas surrounding the Volcan de Fuego. A number of backpackers volunteered to help with the relief effort in the wake of Sunday's eruption which left at least 99 people dead. Matt Goldsmith, 22, was arriving in Alotenango, just over five miles from the volcano, when the thunderous activity began again on Tuesday. 'There was a lot of panic we had just arrived in Alotenango and had to turn around. A policeman told us the area was being evacuated,' he said. 'There was a traffic jam because the roads are not built for all the aid vehicles that have come to help.' Authorities raised the death toll from the weekend's eruption on Tuesday, as rescue teams continued the grim search for the missing. Meanwhile, strong explosions blew ash more than 16,000ft (5,000m) above sea level, with volcanic material blown over settlements to the east and north-east. 'We heard the eruption, it sounds a lot like thunder every time I hear thunder I think 'not again',' Mr Goldsmith said 'The weather has also been a problem, the heavy rain is a concern as mudslides are a risk. We are very much in the wet season now.' Mr Goldsmith joined volunteers transporting supplies to towns and villages near the volcano. He said there were many backpackers from around the world volunteering with the relief effort. 'There have been a lot of ups and downs, some harrowing stuff and heart-warming stuff,' he said. 'We've been driving to the more isolated parts. We went to a village today where they did not have any running water and relied on rain water. 'Now they are completely without water because of the ash, they don't have food because all the crops are destroyed. The sulphur in the volcanic ash means they won't be able to grow anything. Mr Goldsmith joined volunteers transporting supplies to towns and villages near the volcano. He said there were many backpackers from around the world volunteering with the relief effort 'I saw a woman who had miscarried as she got out of one of the towns and in Alotenango they had coffins lined up in the centre outside.' According to relief workers, Sunday's eruption blew a new hole in the side of the volcano, altering how it erupts significantly and raising the risk of deadly pyroclastic flows in previously unaffected areas. Meanwhile, volcanic ash falling on nearby villages and towns has seen people told to stay out of the rain due to high levels of sulphur in the air. This has hit the town of Antigua, where many of the volunteer relief workers are based. Dean Kerlin, 32, from Londonderry, owns the Tropicana Hostel in the town from where a volunteer relief operation was being run. 'It's been a long couple of days. I've got a big van at the hostel we use for tours, we've been using it to take supplies from Antigua,' he said. 'Everyone's been pulling together, the travelling community, all the backpackers and holidaymakers. 'They have been donating their time and money to the cause, buying medical supplies and food and water for everybody who lost their homes.' Dean Kerlin, 32, from Londonderry, owns the Tropicana Hostel (pictured) in the town from where a volunteer relief operation was being run Along with volunteers from England, Sweden and Canada, he travelled to some of the smaller towns and villages to drop off supplies on Monday and Tuesday. 'The worst situations I have seen are the people who have lost their homes, lost everything,' he said. 'They have come from little towns, they are pretty poor, they didn't have an awful lot to begin with. A lot of them have lost family members. 'I was chatting to a guy who was driving one of the vans with supplies, he had lost four or five family members uncles, aunties, cousins but he was still helping out. 'He was fighting back tears while he was driving to the market to buy things.' Mr Kerlin said he felt safe in Antigua, but added: 'I'm not sure if that's just naivety.' While the volunteers' immediate efforts are focused on delivering essential supplies to those affected by the disaster, there are concerns for the long-term impact on the area. 'I don't think the villages will be the same again,' he said. Advertisement A soldier rescues a girl from a hole in an area affected by the eruption of Fuego volcano in Escuintla, Guatemala A rescue worker carries a flock of farm birds rescued from homes destroyed by the eruption in El Rodeo Rescue workers carry injured pets and livestock to safety in the aftermath of the deadly eruption Thick gray ash covering the stricken region was hardened by rainfall, making it even more difficult to dig through the mud, rocks and debris that reached to the rooftops of homes Rain often forced teams to retreat for fear of mudslides and boiling water flowing down the volcano's slopes from dangerously hot volcanic gas and ash also posed a threat Rescue operators said after 72 hours there was virtually no chance of finding anyone else alive Volunteers are seen preparing food rations after Fuego volcano erupted in Alotenango, Guatemala, sparking new evacuations In past disasters in which authorities determined there was no chance of finding survivors and further efforts to recover bodies would be too difficult, areas have been declared burial sites, the final resting place of the victims. Asked about that possibility, the director of Guatemala's disaster agency, Sergio Cabanas, said: 'Not until the search efforts are over, and it would be left up to the people.' The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said it released more than $253,446 from its global emergency fund to support frontline emergency efforts. These funds will help 'Guatemala Red Cross support 3,000 of the most vulnerable survivors for three months,' they added. In addition, the Mexican government said on Wednesday evening that it would send a team of medical specialists and, if necessary, transfer victims to hospitals in Mexico. The 3,763-meter (12,346-feet) Volcan de Fuego is one of several active volcanoes among 34 in the Central American country. It lies near the colonial city of Antigua, a UNESCO world heritage site that has survived several major eruptions. Rudy Giuliani says Kim Jong Un 'got on his hands and knees and begged' for the summit with Trump to go ahead after the President threatened to cancel it. Giuliani, who is now Trump's personal lawyer, praised the President' decision to humble Kim, adding: 'That is exactly where you want him.' The episode proves Trump 'is the stronger figure... and you're not going to have useful negotiations unless [Kim] accepts that,' Giuliani added. Rudy Giuliani praised Trump's threat to cancel the summit with North Korea, saying Kim Jong Un 'got down on his knees and begged' for it back which is 'exactly where you want him' The move proves that Trump 'is the stronger figure' and that Kim accepts it, according to Giuliani, who suggested Israel should employ similar tactics with the Palestinians Giuliani made the comments while at a conference in Israel, and later stood by them when questioned by the Associated Press. However, he did add that he was sharing a personal opinion and is not part of Trump's foreign policy team. Trump is scheduled to meet with Kim on June 12 in Singapore to discuss nuclear disarmament on the Korean Peninsula. The President surprised allies and enemies alike when he called off the summit two weeks ago, saying he could not tolerate North Korea's 'tremendous anger and open hostility' towards his administration. The North had previously blasted National Security Adviser John Bolton and Vice President Mike Pence for suggesting the country follow the 'Libya model' of disarmament. Following Trump's announcement, the North said it was still willing 'to sit down face-to-face with the U.S. and resolve issues anytime and in any format.' Just two days after cancelling the summit, Trump floated the idea that it was back on again, before confirming on Friday last week that it would go ahead as planned. But Giuliani's statement threatens to derail talks once again, as the North Korean regime is not known for taking threats to its 'supreme leader' lightly. Before threatening to walk away from talks the first time, North Korea had bemoaned American attempts to 'drive us into a corner' and force disarmament. North Korea's founding philosophy, known as Juche, emphasizes the ideas of strength and self-reliance independent of other nations. Giuliani made his comments while suggesting that Israel should take a similar line with Palestinians that Trump did with North Korea. North Korea had previously threatened to walk away from the summit with Trump amid what it felt were attempts to 'drive us into a corner' and force nuclear disarmament Kim and Trump are due to meet on June 12 on the resort island of Sentosa in Singapore in what would be a first-of-its-kind summit 'They have to be seeking peace. You've got to change the dynamic and put the pressure on them,' Giuliani said. If the summit does go ahead, it will be the first time the leaders of America and North Korea have met. Bill Clinton almost met with then-leader Kim Jong Il in 2000, but in the end sent Secretary of State Madeleine Albright instead. Preparations for the summit, which is due to be held at a luxury resort on the island of Sentosa, continued this week. The foreign minister of Singapore is making a two-day visit to North Korea ahead of next week's U.S.-North Korea summit in the Southeast Asian city-state. Singapore's Foreign Ministry said in a brief statement that Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan will be in Pyongyang on Thursday and Friday at the invitation of North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho. Balakrishnan will also meet Kim Yong Nam, the president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly. Kim Yong Nam is a senior official who went to South Korea as part of his country's delegation to the Winter Olympics in February The resort where talks are scheduled to take place spans 30 acres and has 112 rooms, all furnished with king-size beds, starting at $500 a night up to a three-bedroom colonial manor with a private pool for $7,500 a night. Originally built to house the British officers of the Royal Artillery and their families in the 1880s, it was restored as a five-star hotel in 2009 by UK architect Norman Foster. Facilities include a sunny portico and the circular Grand Ballroom with a glass-domed skylight and room for 400 guests, popular for wedding receptions that can cost up to $1,800 a table. The resort is also a magnet for culture with about 900 works of art by 200 artists from 15 countries, French sculptor Bernar Venet's The Arc on the front lawn, and a Nikolas Weinstein chandelier in the ballroom. Kidney specialist at the hospital in London, Iain MacDougall, 58, professed to being a 'bit infatuated' with the woman and allegedly asked her out for a drink A married King's College specialist made a series of flirtatious phone calls to a woman in which he called her 'sexy' and compared himself to a 'child liking ice cream and chocolate at the same time,' it was claimed today. Kidney specialist at the hospital in London, Iain MacDougall, 58, professed to being a 'bit infatuated' with the woman and allegedly asked her out for a drink. The Professor of Clinical Nephrology at King's College Hospital and Professor in Nephrology at the university itself called the patient whilst she was attempting to give up alcohol, and said: 'You kind of slightly got under my skin - you should take it as a massive compliment that you attract doctors.' In one exchange he admitted: 'You're more than just banter. If I was single and you were single I would have asked you out on a date and we would go for dinner in a fantasy world. I fancied you, I liked you.' During the conversations the unnamed woman, known only as Patient A, told MacDougall she was attempting to complete a detoxification programme and told him she did not want to go to pubs or have a relationship. She was left in tears by the calls and told the doctor's colleagues at the historic public research hospital. Tragically she died later in unrelated circumstances. It emerged during the phone calls, a neighbour of the woman taped recorded one of the conversations. Further inquiries revealed the doctor had left two voicemails on her phone totalling 65 minutes long. The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service in Manchester was told the calls began after Patient A had been treated by MacDougall for undisclosed condition on June 16 2016. Over the following two weeks he phoned three times in three days and also left two voicemails. The woman told her next-door neighbour known as TP about one of the calls and the neighbour arrived at the patient's home to find her upset and in drink. A further call subsequently made by the professor to Patient A was taped by TP and was played to the disciplinary panel. MacDougall held his head in his hands as the conversation went: Patient A: 'If you really really fancied me, you should have stopped, you're a married man, I have never been with a married man.' Prof: 'I fancied you, I'm going to be honest, I was infatuated by you. I would like to see you.' Patient A: 'I know you say you're sorry, and you should be. I don't want to be involved with anybody. I'm not involved with you yet you call me, be careful, you don't know anything about me. You don't ever ask about me, it's always been about you. I want to detox I don't want to drink anymore. 'I rang my daughter and my son and I told them I am really scared because some doctor had been ringing me. Do you know what my daughter said, she said: 'Oh he's probably just ringing you up for a date.' I don't think that's appropriate. I was scared, I was frightened. That wasn't nice what you did..' Prof: 'I apologise for that.' Patient A - 'You just took your doctor hat off. I don't go in any pubs, I do not want to see you. What have you done, (crying audibly on the phone) what have you done.' The Professor of Clinical Nephrology at King's College Hospital and Professor in Nephrology at the university itself called the patient whilst she was attempting to give up alcohol, and said: 'You kind of slightly got under my skin - you should take it as a massive compliment that you attract doctors' The woman then hung up but MacDougall rang back saying: 'I want to help you.. You're a lovely person, I quite like you.' Patient A said: 'I was bobbing along in my life, enjoying time with my granddaughter, I was fine, I was really really well, I had come back from all the sh*t that happened in my life. 'Nobody had a bad word to say about me and I didn't have a bad word to say about anybody else. I was vulnerable, it's not on, you abused your profession as a doctor, you abused your position. I was really vulnerable (crying audibly).' Prof: 'I'm really sorry, I realise now I realise that now, I did not realise you were so vulnerable at that time. 'I thought stupidly I could have had banter with you or you could have had banter with me. I did not realise, you came across as incredibly confident.. I'm not going to do anything. 'I'm going to be a doctor to you and that's it. I am really sorry. I will help you. You attract doctors, you should take it as a massive compliment that you attract doctors. 'You probably attract a lot of men and they can't get near you because you are never ever going to commit yourself to somebody. I didn't want to get emotionally involved with you and I don't want you to get emotionally involved with me.' MacDougall who was educated in Glasgow was recognised in 2016 by the Royal College of Physicians and National Institute for Health Research for his 'outstanding research leadership in the NHS'. During the conversation the doctor took another phone call but returned and said: 'I was very attracted to you. What sort of medication do you want, tell me what you want. You're going to need a lot of support and I will help you.' Patient A replied: 'I'm shaking, I'm in detox and I'm shaking. I want to detox and I want to get well, I want my children to see me well again. I don't want to keep drinking, I want to detox. If you knew anything about alcoholism, you would know how hard it is. I don't get into relationships, I don't want to.' A colleague at the hospital received a phone call from Patient A complaining about the professor in which she sounded 'upset and tearful.' The calls were then reported to the clinical director. Miss Vanstone added: 'She recalls Patient A was angry and upset. She said he had asked her for a drink and he telephoned her when he was in his own home. She said the phone call was out of order. 'Patient A told another Doctor that Prof MacDougall was flirting with her, and that he was infatuated with her. She said she didn't want any further contact with the professor but she said she didn't want to pursue with the complaint because she didn't feel strong enough to do so.' 'A doctor who spoke with Patient A on July 1 reported that she said he was flirting with her on the phone and he asked her to meet up. The doctor said seemed very upset and angry about these interactions. The doctor spoke with Patient A On 4th and 12th July and after that she tried to make contact with he on two further occasions. Soon after she found out she had died. 'To make this clear in a public hearing, GMC do not say his actions contributed to or caused in any way, Patient A's death. But the tribunal must consider the doctor patient status and the nature of the conversation which took place between these two individuals. 'It was clear from the comments made by Prof MacDougall that he fancied her. He told her that he couldn't help that he thought she was sexy.' MacDougall who was educated in Glasgow was recognised in 2016 by the Royal College of Physicians and National Institute for Health Research for his 'outstanding research leadership in the NHS'. He admits making the phone calls to patient A but denied sexually motivated misconduct. He said: 'I was desperately trying to keep her ok. I enjoyed that conversation, I felt I had a benefit from it and I thought she felt a benefit from it too but the comments I made were because I cared about her. I wanted to try and boost her up again. 'To me they were banter, to me they had no meaning behind them. I had no sexual gratification from this. I didn't want a sexual relationship. I was concerned about her. 'These are flattering comments I made to her. As she was vulnerable I thought I could help her. I didn't think at the time it could harm her or harm me. I stupidly thought bantering with her would help her. I should have put the patient first. I'm very sorry.' The hearing continues. David Cameron last night revealed that his seven year-old daughter Florence does not believe he was Prime Minister - just two years after he left office. The former Prime Minister made the confession as he returned to Westminster for a speech for the first time since he left Downing Street after losing the Brexit referendum. He also revealed that his proudest achievement in office is committing the UK spends 0.7 per cent of its national income on aid. Florence was born in August 2010 just a couple of months after her father was voted in as leader of the Coalition Government and spent most of her life living in Number 10. But Mr Cameron told the audience at the launch of the Coalition for Global Prosperity, a new group which campaigns to maintain foreign aid spending, that she finds it hard to believe that he once led the country. He said: 'It's almost two years since I left Downing Street. Sometimes it feels like 10 minutes. Sometimes it feels like 10 years. David Cameron (pictured leaving No 10 with, L to R, his daughters Nancy, Florence, with Samantha and son Arthur) last night revealed that his seven year-old daughter Florence does not believe he was Prime Minister - just two years after he left office. Florence (pictured as a newborn with her mother Samantha) was born in August 2010 just a couple of months after her father was voted in as leader of the Coalition Government and spent most of her life living in Number 10 'It was only a few months ago that my daughter Florence said to me 'Daddy, when are we going home?' 'But only a few weeks ago she actually turned round and said, 'Daddy, were you really Prime Minister?' Mr Cameron had four children with his wife Samantha - Nancy, 14, Arthur, 12, Florence and Ivan, who died aged six in 2009. His comments came a day after his wife revealed that she did not enjoy her time in Downing Street and described waving in public as the worst part of being wife of the Prime Minister. The 47-year-old made many public appearances alongside her husband during his time as premier between 2010 and 2016. But she said she felt 'awkward' waving to crowds in both the UK and abroad and felt it was something for the Royal Family alone to do. She even tried to persuade Barack Obama and his wife to skip the gesture while in Washington. Mrs Cameron told The Times: 'I remember we had to stand next to the Obamas in Washington once and I tried to say, 'Can we not do the waving thing?' 'So we are standing there, and it is going quite well, and then of course Obama starts waving, and Dave starts waving.' Mr Cameron spent six years as Prime Minister - first in the Coalition Government and then leading the Tories to a shock majority victory in 2015. Samantha Cameron has revealed she hated public waving during her time in Downing Street. She is pictured here avoiding the gesture alongside husband David, second left, and former President Barack Obama, second right, and first lady Michelle, left, He fronted the Remain campaign during the EU referendum and dramatically quit as PM after Britain voted for Brexit. Last night he also revealed that his proudest achievement in office is committing the UK spends 0.7 per cent of its national income on aid. The target is highly controversial and many critics in the Tory Party have called for it to be scrapped amid claims it is being spent on frivolous projects. But Mr Cameron said: 'Two years give you time to reflect obviously from my shed, as you may have heard about the things you got wrong, and the things that you got right. 'The decision to deliver 0.7 percent of our gross national income in aid is one of the things that I am proudest of. 'The most important thing was the act of political will to make this choice. We shouldn't underestimate the controversy, or the difficulty, or the unpopularity, to be frank, among some people.' Hospital bosses have finally apologised after a baby was delivered stillborn due to a catalogue of mistakes made by staff. Becky Davies, 29, called Kings Mill Hospital in December 2016 to say she was in pain and her waters had broke. But staff wrongly insisted she wasn't in labour - causing delays which meant she went hours without vital care. Mrs Davies placenta then ruptured, starving her daughter Freya of oxygen leading to her death. And now after a year and a half, hospital bosses have broken their silence and apologised. Heartache: Becky Davies, pictured above with her daughter Freya after she was delivered stillborn in December 2016 Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust promised Mrs Davies and her husband Jordan they would issue an apology in November 2017. However the couple say they only received the letter this month, 18 months since the tragedy. Richard Mitchell, chief executive of Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, wrote to say sorry for the 'substandard care' Mrs Davies received and acknowledged that that hospital 'missed opportunities' to 'properly react to the risks you and baby Freya faced'. Devastating: Mrs Davies, pictured with Freya in December 2016, has only just received an apology from Kings Mill Hospital He added: 'Had we reacted sooner it would have increased the chances for baby Freya to survive. I cannot imagine how heartbreaking this is for you and your family.' Mr Mitchell also said that the Trust had 'identified and acted upon opportunities to improve' maternity care. Mrs Davies, from Mansfield, said: 'We have always said that an apology would never bring Freya back. 'However, for us to be told that an apology would be forthcoming and then not to hear anything for six months made us feel like our concerns were not being taken seriously again by the hospital. 'We will never get over losing Freya and there is not a day goes by where we don't think of her and all the memories we could be creating as a family. Although Freya is not here she will always be a part of our family. 'It's so important that if any women feel like their concerns are not being taken seriously, they don't take no for an answer. I hope that no other families have to suffer the devastation that our family have.' Mrs Davies telephoned the hospital at about 10am on 17 December, 2016, on her birthday, saying her waters broke at home. Never forget: The Davies family have a memorial in their home in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, to remember their daughter Freya But despite telling midwives as her pain increased that she was in labour, they insisted she was not and suggested that she call back later. At about 6pm she was told to attend hospital following a further phone call. Following an examination it was confirmed Becky was in labour and she was admitted to the maternity unit. Mrs Davies continued to be monitored on 18 December and awoke at around 1am on December 19 in severe pain. However, she was told she was not in labour. Several heart rate scans were performed but each time staff could not locate Freya's heartbeat. Mrs Davies made repeated pleas to be seen by a doctor. She was finally taken to the birthing unit and gave birth to Freya just after 9am, however, doctors could not resuscitate her daughter. Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust launched a investigation and concluded that 'human error led to inadequate care being assessed, planned and implemented which led to the sad death' of Freya. Kimberley Nightingale, from law firm Irwin Mitchell, which represented the family, said: 'Whilst we are pleased that the Trust admitted liability we feel that it could have acted with more urgency to apologise to Becky, moving to reassure her that it had learned lessons from Freya's tragic death. 'Sadly, we see through our work that stillbirths and neonatal deaths are still a significant issue in the UK. Becky and Jordan want to do everything they can to make sure what they went through doesn't happen to other parents..' Mr and Mrs Davies spoke out for SANDS Awareness Month, which attempts to increase awareness of stillbirth and neonatal deaths and the impact these tragic situations can have on the parents involved. The month-long event raises funds that enable the charity to support anyone who has been affected by the death of a baby before, during or shortly after birth. The organisation provides vital emotional support and information for parents, grandparents, siblings, children, families and friends, health professionals and others. Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said it had identified five lessons from Becky's care, including that concerns should be escalated if unease persists; women with a high-risk pregnancy should have a plan of care made by the registrar/consultant in triage and that record keeping can be improved. Medical director Andy Haynes said: 'We are extremely sorry for Becky and her family's devastating loss, there are no real words to describe the loss of a baby and we understand how difficult this must be. 'A full incident investigation was carried out, which highlighted some aspects of care that were not delivered to the standards we expect. Actions have been taken to address these and we have shared the learning widely throughout the maternity service.' :: For free and confidential advice, contact Citizens Advice Bureau on 0345 404 0506 or visit www.citizensadvice.org.uk Three poachers have been shot dead by wildlife troopers after sneaking into a national park in Kenya. The armed poachers, said to be from Uganda, illegally entered Mount Elgon National Park on Wednesday and tried to kill elephants and steal their tusks. A shootout ensued between the men and Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) rangers, who are in charge of protecting the animals. Three poachers have been shot dead by wildlife troopers after sneaking into a national park in Kenya with the intention of killing elephants (file image) While three of the poachers were killed, another two were injured but escaped, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said. 'The officers were on routine patrol inside the park when they encountered five poachers, two of whom were armed,' KWS said in a statement. 'A fierce shootout ensued and three of the poachers were gunned down while two others escaped. AK-47 rifles were recovered.' Poaching has declined sharply in Kenya from a peak in 2012 but it remains a problem, with some 69 elephants and nine rhinos killed last year. More than 33,000 elephants are poached each year, which equates to one every 20 minutes. Despite a ban on the international trade in ivory in 1997, African elephants are still being poached in large numbers. More than 33,000 elephants are poached each year, which equates to one every 20 minutes (file image) Their tusks are the most sought after, with the ivory being carved into ornaments and jewellery. China is the biggest consumer market for the tusks Earlier this month, three rhinos were found dead with their horns missing in Meru National Park's Rhino Sanctuary, in what Kenya's tourism ministry said was an act of poaching. Three months earlier, a prominent American investigator of the illegal ivory and rhino horn trade was found dead in his Nairobi home with a stab wound in his neck. A conservation group said Esmond Bradley-Martin, who had spent decades tracking the movement of animal products from Africa to markets in Asia, was about to publish a report exposing how the ivory trade had shifted from China to neighbouring countries. An Australian man has been brutally stabbed in the chest while partying at a nightclub in Thailand. Jaydon Sienkiewicz, 21, was with his Australian father and Thai stepmother, and another eight people, partying in the Mixx Discotheque nightclub, in Pattaya's Walking Street. About 4.30am on Thursday, Jaydon went to the toilet alone, but when he returned he was stumbling and his shirt was covered in blood. Jaydon Sienkiewicz, 21, was stabbed in the chest during a night out in a nightclub in Thailand Jaydon is suffering from blood loss and organ damage (pictured in Pattaya hospital) Jaydon suffered a stab wound to the right side of this chest and concerned onlookers contacted police and ambulance, Bangkok Jack reported. Jaydon had been rushed to Pattaya Hospital before officers arrived, suffering from blood loss and organ damage. His stepmother, Khumkhun Songnangrong, 33, told investigators they were having a fun time in the club and were not sure why anyone would stab her stepson. Police are investigating CCTV footage in an attempt to identify the attacker. A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia they are ready to offer consular assistance to Jaydon. 'The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade stands ready to offer consular assistance to an Australian man hospitalised in Thailand,' the spokesperson said. 'Consular assistance may include liaison with or visits to local hospitals, liaison with local authorities, provision of lists of medical providers and assistance communicating with family members or nominated contacts. 'Consular staff cannot provide medical services or medications, pay for medical costs, or query treatment regimes on behalf of Australians overseas.' In a one-in-a-million chance encounter a New Jersey state trooper reunited with the man who helped deliver him as a baby, while serving a routine traffic stop. Trooper Michael Patterson pulled over former cop Matthew Bailly for a tinted window violation in Kingwood Township on Friday. After chatting a bit Patterson realized Bailly was the very same cop that helped deliver him as a baby when his mother suddenly went into labor at a shopping mall and rushed home 27 years ago. Trooper Michael Patterson, 27, (right) reunited with the former cop Matthew Bailly (left) who delivered him as a baby when he pulled him over in New Jersey on Friday for tinted windows New Jersey State police hail the serendipitous encounter as pure luck. 'Were not sure what the odds are of this happeningmaybe theyre close to the odds of a hole-in-one, winning the lottery, or being struck by lightningbut it happened,' the police department shared on Facebook. As Patterson and Bailly talked, Bailly revealed that he used to be a police officer in Piscataway - the neighborhood where Patterson grew up. Patterson said he grew up on Poe Place. Bailly then reminisced how he once helped deliver a baby there on October 5, 1991 when he was a rookie cop, recalling the color and style of the home he rushed to, and the baby's name Michael. Twenty-seven years ago Bailly (right) helped deliver Patterson (left) when his mother suddenly went into labor and a doctor guided Bailly over the phone, pictured together at Bailly's home Patterson then extended his hand saying: 'My name is Michael Patterson, sir. Thank you for delivering me'. On that fateful day 27 years ago, Bailly rushed to the home where Patterson's mother Karen Patterson had just returned from a shopping trip and suddenly went into labor. A doctor talked Officer Bailly through the birth via telephone leading to Michael's birth. Awestruck with the reunion, Patterson and his mother Karen later visited Bailly and his wife to reminisce the miracle delivery and their fateful reunion. Their chance encounter has gone viral with over 18,000 likes on Facebook. Shares in Alphabet fell yesterday after reports the EU could hit Google with a fine of up to $11billion for abusing its dominance through the Android mobile operating system. Alphabet, the parent company of Google, saw its shares dip less than a per cent immediately after news of the potential regulatory action emerged on Wednesday. It came after a report claimed European Union officials were ready to hit Google in the coming weeks. Shares in Alphabet fell yesterday after reports the EU could hit Google with a fine of up to $11billion for abusing its dominance through the Android mobile operating system (file picture) According to the Financial Times, sources familiar with the case say the EU's competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, is poised to announce a negative finding against the firm. While the exact penalty is unknown, the commission has the authority to impose fines of up to $11billion. The commission in April 2016 charged Google with using its dominant Android mobile operating system to shut out rivals following a complaint by lobby group FairSearch, U.S.-based ad-blocking and privacy firm Disconnect Inc, Portuguese apps store Aptoide and Russia's Yandex. Google denies wrongdoing. It's one of three probes launched by EU officials into the internet giant, amid increasing concerns around tech monopolies. How the EU and Google have fought over the Internet Amid reports the European Union is ready to hit Google with a hefty fine, here is a look back at the key dates in the bloc's legal tussle with the technology company. November 2010 - The EU opens formal inquiry into whether Google manipulates search results in a way that favours its own business. The probe includes whether the search results favour Google's services, such as its price comparison business, how it displays the contents of rivals, and how it manages ads. April 2013 - Google offers change to its practice in the hope of ending the investigation. The EU has been a constant thorn in Google's side over the years. Pictured: Flags fly at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels July-December 2013 - After feedback from complainants, the EU twice rejects Google's offer to change its search results as not good enough. Feb 2014 - The EU and Google reach a tentative agreement on how to fix the search results. This keeps Google from paying a fine. May 2014 - In a separate case, the European Court of Justice rules that Google must consider EU citizens' requests to remove irrelevant or embarrassing personal information that pops up on a search of their names. Sept 2014 - After receiving complaints from Google's competitors, the EU appears to make a U-turn on its settlement with Google on search results, declaring it insufficient. April 2015 - After five years of investigations and talks, EU formally charges Google with abusing its dominant position in search results, a step up in the legal battle. It also opens a preliminary investigation into whether Google uses its Android mobile operating system to rig the market for apps. April 2016 - The EU charges Google with using Android to gain market advantage in mobile apps. June 2017 - The EU fines Google a record 2.42 billion euros ($2.72 billion) for breaching antitrust rules with its online shopping service. It says Google abused its market dominance as a search engine by giving an illegal advantage to another Google product, its comparison shopping service. Advertisement In 2017, the EU Commission hit the company with a 2.4 billion euro ($2.7 billion) penalty for unfairly favouring its shopping service in 2017. In the Android case, Reuters reported that the EU's charge sheet - issued to Google in 2016 - said the anti-competitive practices started from January 2011. The EU competition enforcer said Google's tactics included requiring smartphone makers to pre-install Google Search and the Google Chrome browser in return for access to other Google apps, and barring the manufacturers from using rival versions of Android. The company was also accused of paying smartphone makers and mobile network operators to only install Google Search on their devices. Google said at the time that Android, used in more than 80 per cent of smartphones around the world, was a remarkable system based on open-source software and open innovation and was good for competition and for consumers. The competition commissioner's spokesman Ricardo Cardoso declined to comment when contacted by MailOnline this morning, saying only that the investigation is ongoing. MailOnline has contacted Google for comment. Some radio stations aim to entertain listeners, others share news and views. But a new station based in a rural village in New Zealand has been set up with just one goal, to send its listeners to sleep on purpose. And if Sleep Radios glowing testimonials from across the globe are anything to go by, its a snoring success for the station, with listeners hailing it for having no commercials, bad news or c*** commentaries. John Watson, above, has been winning praise from grateful listeners across the globe Watson started the internet radio station after going through the worst period in my health. In 2012 I was diagnosed with clinical depression and anxiety,' he explained Sleep Radio is based in Te Aroha, otherwise known as 'the mountain of love', which is close to the setting of the Shire, used during filming of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit in NZ Such support is music to the ears of founder and manager John Watson, who set up Sleep Radio in the heart of the farming district of Te Aroha, about 88 miles (142km) south-east of Auckland in the North Island. Sleep Radio's tips to help you nod off Make sure your bedding is clean, fresh and smelling sweet you want your bed to look inviting Sip camomile tea at least half an hour before bedtime Stay away from coffee, tea, cola drinks or anything else that contains caffeine after lunch and up until bedtime See your doctor if you have been unable to sleep well for any length of time that seems unnatural to you Kale is full of sleep-inducing calcium, while oranges and almonds increase serotonin levels Buy luxurious pillows, and do your best to make your bedroom a quiet place Having sex is a great tension reliever for some people, and helps them to go to sleep straight afterwards Advertisement Te Aroha is a short drive from Matamata otherwise known as the heart of Middle-earth and the bucolic setting for the Shire, home of the hobbits in the movie adaptations of JRR Tolkiens The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Watson started the internet radio station after going through the worst period in my health. In 2012 I was diagnosed with clinical depression and anxiety which was brought on by so many factors I think I could fill a truck with them. One of the many symptoms of depression is insomnia, or sleeplessness. I tried many ways of overcoming this and the zombie-like days that I suffered the day after but nothing seemed to help. Although he tried tuning in to radio stations that featured relaxation music, some had all sorts of bizarre music and other weird stuff that Id often wake in the middle of the night with very frightening nightmares brought on Im sure by the strange music coming through my earbud while I lay sleeping. On top of that was the annoying adverts and station announcements that were VERY distracting. So, tapping into his web development skills, as well as audio engineering as a former projectionist in the movie industry, and as a mobile DJ, he set up Sleep Radio. Its aim is to provide neutral and specially selected music that wont infect peoples brains or influence thoughts, Watson explained. We broadcast an uninterrupted, crystal clear, digital stereo stream with no advertising, no station DJs and no annoying announcers. 'You just get pure and soft ambient music 24/7,' he added. Its aim was to provide neutral and specially selected music that wont infect peoples brains or influence thoughts, Watson explained Watson said that almost all the music we play is sent to us by artists to get exposure to the market. Praise for the station includes a listener from Russia, who said the music gives me energy and good mood for the whole day, while a man from San Francisco, California, said: Heaven must be like this. Grateful listeners have praised the station In Canada, a grateful mum chose your music to calm my mind during the insomnia that began during my pregnancy. 'We brought speakers to the hospital and I also listened to your music during labour and the days after. I love that there is no annoying interruptions and its reminding me of our trip to NZ, the feeling of wellbeing. Now its soothing my baby every day. The best way to listen to Sleep Radio is to download its free app for smartphone or tablet. Indians are furious at Priyanka Chopra after a recently aired episode of her show Quantico featured Indian terrorists plotting an attack in New York City. The most recent episode, which aired Friday, saw Ms Chopra's character FBI agent Alex Parrish foil a plot by Indian nationalists to frame Pakistan for a nuclear attack days before at an international summit on Kashmir. Kashmir is the northernmost territory in the Indian subcontinent and has long been fought over by both India and Pakistan. Ms Chopra's character figures out the terrorists are Indian and Hindu after spotting a 'rudraksha mala' a Hindu rosary on one of them. Indians are furious at Priyanka Chopra (pictured) after a recently aired episode of her show Quantico featured Indian terrorists plotting an attack in New York City The plot twist - implicating Indians plotting a terror attack, especially over the sensitive topic of Kashmir - enraged Indians, who took to Twitter to accuse Ms Chopra of betraying her native land. The backlash comes as India works to distance itself from extremist Hindu groups. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has seen a rise of violence perpetrated by Hindu nationalists, particularly against India's minority Muslim population. Meanwhile, many in India see Ms Chopra as somewhat of an ambassador for the country after she found success as an actress in Hollywood. She starred as the villain in last year's Baywatch reboot and landed the role of the protagonist in ABC's Quantico, which was cancelled last month due to low ratings. Since becoming one of the most high-profile Indians in the United States, many Indians see it as her duty to promote a positive view of her homeland in the West. The most recent episode (pictured) saw Ms Chopra's character FBI agent Alex Parrish foil a plot by Indian nationalists to frame Pakistan for a nuclear attack The plot twist enraged Indians, who took to Twitter to accuse Ms Chopra of betraying her native land 'Priyanka Chopra you disappointed your own country & religion,' said one woman on Twitter. 'You shouldn't have done that scene.' Abhishek Vaishampayan said: 'Quantico writer's mom dropped him/her on head or Pro-Pakisatan/Islamic radical views have entered Hollywood. 'And @priyankachopra how cud [sic] you?' However, others rushed to defend Ms Chopra and pointed out the hypocrisy considering Bollywood films have framed Muslims and Pakistanis as terrorists and villains for years. 'Terrorism doesn't have any religion,' said one Twitter user. 'Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, anyone can be a terrorist and Quantico is a fictional show. 'We are with you @priyankachopra.' Another added: 'Bollywood has been showing Muslims as terrorists, villains, mafia leaders, Gundas (criminals) since decades.' However, others rushed to defend Ms Chopra and pointed out the hypocrisy considering Bollywood films have framed Muslims and Pakistanis as terrorists and villains for years Priyanka Chopra (left, as her Quantico character, FBI agent Alex Parrish, and right, at the Royal wedding last month) is one of few Bollywood actress who have made the jump to Hollywood 'But one scene in Quantico which has show Hindutva terrorists in making Hindutva goons crying tears of Goumutra.' One also noted that the actress was trolled after she visited displayed Rohingya Muslims in Bangladesh last month. The visit came a day after the actress attended the Royal wedding of Prince Harry to her friend, Meghan Markle. 'After decades of stereotyping Muslims & Pakistanis as evil terrorists in Bollywood, Indians are having a collective meltdown after Quantico portrayed Hindu terrorists,' said one Twitter user. 'Priyanka has been getting hate in India since she visited Rohingyas, now this.' MailOnline have contacted Ms Chopra's representatives for comment. A man suffered horrific injuries after his attacker struck him with a weapon before escaping to the roof of an abandoned building in a 48-hour stand-off with police. Nigel Davies, 57, was left bloodied and bruised with severe facial wounds after he was attacked in the street in Tredegar, south Wales, on Tuesday. After allegedly driving a car into a house and onto a pavement towards a woman and her child, the suspect fled to an empty British Legion building on a nearby industrial estate. He climbed onto the roof where he stayed for 48 hours as armed police desperately tried to coax him down. Nigel Davies, 57, was left bloodied and bruised with severe facial wounds after he was attacked with a machete in the street in Tredegar, south Wales on Tuesday. His suspected attacker is believed to have then fled to the roof of a nearby abandoned building. He was up there for 48 hours until police coaxed him down with a Chinese takeaway (pictured) and cigarettes Crowds gathered as around 25 police officers (pictured) and members of the fire brigade and ambulance service worked to contain the situation It was only at 7am today that officers convinced him and arrested him at the scene. They were pictured handing him a Chinese takeaway and a packet of cigarettes in a bid to calm him down. Crowds gathered as around 25 police officers and members of the fire brigade and ambulance service worked to contain the situation. An eye-witness at the scene of the siege said yesterday: 'The police are saying there is no danger to the public. 'But you can see from the picture that the victim was viciously assaulted with a weapon.' Pictures of the victim's injuries were circulated on social media yesterday. Gwent Police confirmed armed police were deployed after reports of a man armed with a machete was holed up inside the Grade II-listed building that used to house the Tredegar Iron Company worker's shop on Tuesday. Officers used riot shields to protect themselves when the man allegedly started throwing chunks of masonry at the them. The man is pictured on the roof of the abandoned Royal Legion building in Tredegar, Wales The suspect (pictured on roof on Wednesday left and jumping down on Thursday right) holed himself up on the roof for 48 hours while armed police tried to convince him to come down He is believed to have attacked Mr Davies after ramming his car into a house and onto a pavement where a woman and her young child were walking at around 8.45am on Tuesday. A force spokesman said: 'The situation is linked to several incidents in the area. 'The first report came to us as a road traffic collision at 8.45am on Tuesday morning.' It is believed the suspect drove a car into a house, then mounted a pavement close to where a woman was walking with children. He ran into the derelict building after attacking Mr Davies with his weapon. Witnesses said police arrived with bolt cutters to get through a security fence but they decided to back off to allow the man time to cool down. Another eye-witness said: 'The police have been hesitant about going in because of the state of the building. 'It is quite tense here and all the emergency services are standing by.' But a Gwent Police spokesman said the man was arrested at 7am today and is helping with inquiries. He has not yet been charged. The younger sister of Queen Maxima of Holland has been found hanged at her home in Argentina. Ines Zorreguieta, 33, was found dead at her apartment in Buenos Aires late on Wednesday night. A spokesman for the Dutch Embassy in Argentina told La Nacion that authorities 'assume it was a case of suicide.' Ines is thought to have suffered from depression and mental health issues. Queen Maxima and her sister Ines are seen greeting each other in Buenos Aires in 2016 Queen Maxima of Holland's sister Ines Zorreguieta (pictured in a red hat at Princess Ariane's christening in 2007) was found dead in her Buenos Aires home on Wednesday night Her body was removed from her home in the early of hours of Thursday morning and a post-mortem examination will take place. She was a psychologist who worked for an office on social policies at the president's office. Ines was also godmother to Queen Maxima's 11-year-old daughter Princess Ariane. Queen Maxima, 47, has cancelled all upcoming engagements and is set to fly to her native Argentina in the coming hours. She had been due to attend Holland Festival this week, but her appearance has been cancelled, according to Hello! magazine. She had also been set to accompany her husband, King Willem-Alexander, on their tour of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia next week. Ines was also godmother to Queen Maxima's 11-year-old daughter Princess Ariane. She is pictured on the day of Princess Ariane's baptism in October 2007 Ines Zorreguieta, pictured with her late father Jorge Zorreguieta last year, worked for the government in Argentina Dutch Prime Minister said the news is 'intensely sad and heartbreaking.' 'The sudden passing away of Queen Maxima's sister comes as a great shock. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Queen and her family,' he said. 'I wish them all the strength they need to cope with this horrible loss. I trust that they will be afforded the space and privacy they need.' It comes after Queen Maxima, her husband and their three children flew to Argentina last year to attend the funeral of her father after his death from cancer at the age of 89. Ines was the youngest of government minister Jorge Zorreguieta and his second wife Maria del Carmen Cerruti Carricart's children. Queen Maxima and Ines are pictured as the Dutch royal made a trip to Argentina after their father was hospitalised last year Queen Maxima (pictured in Amsterdam on Wednesday) has pulled out of all upcoming engagements The Zorreguieta family who have been landed gentry, professionals, politicians, and statesmen for generations. Ines and Queen Maxima have two brothers as well as three half-sisters, Maria, Dolores and Angeles. Ines travelled to Holland for her sister's wedding without her parents in 2002. Their father was not permitted to attend due to his role as Argentina's Minister of Agriculture during the National Reorganization Process, the brutal military dictatorship led by General Jorge Rafael Videla that ruled the country from 1976 to 1983. Ines was also godmother to Queen Maxima's 11-year-old daughter Princess Ariane. Queen Maxima became the first Latin American-born queen-consort of Holland when King Willem-Alexander ascended to the throne after his mother's abdication on April 30, 2013. The pair met in Seville, Spain, in 1999, but she was unaware he was a prince since he introduced himself only as 'Alexander.' They announced their engagement two years later. The news sparked controversy in Holland as her father's tenure as a minister was during the early stages of the Dirty War in Argentina - a period of state terrorism that saw up to 30,000 people killed or go missing during a seven-year military regime. London's deadly knife epidemic is laid bare today as the terrifying arsenal of swords, axes and cleavers seized by police this year was revealed including a machete carried by a 13-year-old boy. A 3ft 'zombie' blade found in Lewisham was also among the weapons grabbed by brave officers this week who can take up to 35 of these weapons off the capital's streets every day. Officers using the hashtag #stopknifecrime have been tweeting photographs almost nightly showing the gruesome weapons they take from suspects or find dumped. In February more than 250 knives and swords were seized across London in just one week where 283 people, many of them teenagers, were arrested for carrying them. There have been 70 killings in London this year - many of them stabbings - and at one point the capital's murder rate was higher that New York's for the first time. Moped-related attacks have 22,000 crimes last year an average of 60 every day - which has led to MPs claiming London is like the 'Wild West' because gangs appear fearless about being caught. And today five gang members who glorified stabbings and shootings face jail terms for plotting a machete attack on a rival group they taunted with controversial 'drill' rap music that YouTube is being urged to ban. Two of the knives seized this week by London officers in just 24 hours. The 'zombie' sword (left) was confiscated in Lewisham on Sunday night and the machete (right) was found in Greenwich on Monday night Tower Hamlets Police discovered this shocking silver meat cleaver with a red handle Among the horrific weapons confiscated by officers in just 24 hours this week was a three-foot-long sword with multiple jagged edges in Lewisham. An enormous machete was discovered hours later in Greenwich. In April, a similar knife was found tucked into a 14-year-old boy's waistband. The chilling discoveries come as London's murder rate was revealed to be higher than New York's for the first time, with more than 70 killings so far this year. Violent crime soared by 21 per cent last year, with 1.3 million offences recorded by police. Knife crime rose by 22 per cent. Liberal Democrat MP Ed Davey said parts of the country were becoming 'like the Wild West'. Shockingly, police arrested 289 people and seized more than 250 weapons in just one week in February. Yesterday Scotland Yard published figures showing that only one in ten knife robberies and fewer than a quarter of violent crimes involving a bladed weapon were solved in London last year. The number of knifepoint robberies resulting in anyone being punished has dropped from 20 per cent in 2015 to just 11 per cent in 2017. Officers found this shocking blade in the waistband of a 14-year-old boy on Lewisham high street in April Tower Hamlets Police found this unusual looking knife with an enormous head (left), while police in Lewisham confiscated this (right) jagged blade encased in a black and orange sheath Last year there was a total of 80 fatal stabbings in the capital - the most in almost a decade. Official figures show that 2017 was the worst year for knife deaths among young people since at least 2002. Forty-six people aged 25 or under were stabbed to death in London, up by 21 compared with the previous year, according to police figures. Lewisham Police picked up this horrific knife, which has a short black handle and enormous blade The terrifying blade on the left was found by officers in Bromley. The knife on the right, with a lethal-looking jagged blade, was found by Lewisham Police Three people were arrested after this knife was seized from a group of youths in Lewisham Last week a shocking video surfaced of a cyclist wielding a huge 'zombie' knife in Croydon. He tried to smash a motorist's window during a terrifying rush hour road rage attack in front of stunned London commuters. The blade appeared to be about a foot long. Tower Hamlets Police found this chilling meat clever in Shandy Park, east London A 15-year-old boy was arrested after threatening officers with this blade in Downham, south east London Britain's knife crime epidemic has also spread to the Home Counties, with stabbings now more likely in Bedfordshire than in Merseyside. Hertfordshire, Hampshire, Warwickshire, Norfolk and north Wales' rates of knife crime have all increased by more than 100 per cent in the past three years. The epidemic is being fuelled by city gangs expanding their territory and going into rural areas, forcing out local gangs with extreme violence, according to experts. Violent crime is up in 42 of 43 police force areas. Half of constabularies saw at least a 20 per cent rise in the year to last December, according to data from the Office of National Statistics. Three forces recorded surges of at least 50 per cent. Some of the largest increases were in rural areas. Scores of knives confiscated by Tower Hamlets Police in the last year. Many are about a foot long and have lethal-looking serrated edges An array of knives collected at Bethnal Green Police Station by police officers An array of knives collected at Bethnal Green Police Station by police officers, including an enormous blade with its handle wrapped up seemingly to improve the grip (centre) As calls were made for ministers and chief constables to get a grip: Police revealed that a 100-year-old widow, who survived forced labour under the Nazis, had died from a broken neck after being mugged in Derby; In Birmingham, an 86-year-old was also left with a broken neck after a burglar beat her; The mother of an Ipswich teenager who was stabbed to death said: The violence has got to stop; An Australian TV presenter had a 15,000 camera ripped from her hands by a moped gang in London; Home Office figures showed nearly nine in ten violent crimes were not solved. The crimewave was brought into sharp focus on Tuesday by a series of moped raids across the capital. These muggings followed a string of other shocking incidents in the capital, which has seen more than 70 killings this year already. An 18-year-old boy was arrested after discarding this knife (left). A hunting knife (right) was also seized by officers And yesterday, analysis of regional ONS crime figures suggested the crime wave is now a national issue. Greater Manchester Police and South Yorkshire saw violence go up 53 and 57 per cent respectively. But the biggest surge of 58 per cent was in Durham. A record 1.3million offences of violence against the person were logged last year, the highest number since records began 15 years ago and up 21 per cent on the previous 12 months. Yet separate figures from the Home Office show that detection rates have plummeted. Only 13 per cent of offences of violence last year were solved compared with 23 per cent in 2014. Just over one in eight robbers were caught compared with 19 per cent in 2014. And in the 12 months to last September, 78 per cent of burglary investigations were closed without a suspect being identified. Love Island hunk Adam Collard's property tycoon father is a convicted benefit fraudster, MailOnline can reveal. Businessman Billy Collard, who is idolised by his reality TV star son, is worth an estimated 3 million and earns more than 140,000-a-year from an impressive property portfolio. Yet despite being a millionaire and driving a 32,000 S-Type Jaguar, he also claimed nearly 6,000 worth of housing benefit over nine months, saying a sleep disorder prevented him from working. Collard, 48, was given a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay 2,000 court costs after admitting the fraud at Newcastle Crown Court in 2008. Gym fanatic Adam, 22, who went on a candlelit date with Kendall Rae-Knight in the show this week, posted a picture of him and his dad on his increasingly popular Instagram account before going on Love Island. In a glowing post next to the picture, he wrote: 'Cant begin to thank these two [parents] for everything they do on the daily to help me with what I want to do & create in my life. Forget the negative. Appreciate what you have.' He has also described his dad as the 'most inspiring person I know'. Love Island star Adam Collard's father Billy is a convicted benefit fraudster, MailOnline can reveal. The property tycoon is extremely close to his 22-year-old son and has a photograph of them together as his Facebook profile picture (above) Businessman Billy Collard, who is idolised by his reality TV son (in a publicity shot for the show), is worth an estimated 3 million and earns more than 140,000 a year from an impressive property portfolio Yet despite Collard (pictured) being a millionaire and driving a 32,000 S-Type Jaguar, he also claimed nearly 6,000 worth of housing benefit over nine months. He was given a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay 2,000 court costs after admitting the fraud in 2008 Gym fanatic Adam, who went on a candlelit date with Kendall Rae-Knight in the show this week (above), posted a picture of him and his dad on his increasingly popular Instagram account before going on Love Island In a glowing post next to the picture, Adam (pictured on the show) wrote: 'Cant begin to thank these two [parents] for everything they do on the daily to help me with what I want to do & create in my life.' He has also described his dad as the 'most inspiring person I know' Collard, a father-of-two, lives in a large, picturesque farmhouse worth an estimated 364,000, overlooking rolling hills in the affluent village of Horsley, Northumberland. The property is attached to holiday cottages which Collard is understood to rent out to tourists. When asked about the benefit fraud he shrugged the matter off and told MailOnline: 'It is what it is. I did not even get a fine. 'Me and Adam are completely different. What I do is completely different from what Adam does. 'I do not really want to comment on Adam being in Love Island. It is not our type of thing.' Collard admitted making a false statement with a view to obtaining income support by failing to disclose full and accurate details of assets. He also repaid the money he had dishonestly obtained. A joint investigation by Tyndale Council and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) found that he was paid income support between December 2003 and the summer of 2004. Collard claimed he was unfit to work and did not have capital assets worth more than 8,000. Adam, who runs his own gym in Newcastle, is pictured left as a chubby football-loving schoolboy and right with his impressive, gym-honed physique. He is close to his father who confirmed his fraud conviction when approach by MailOnline Adam's father (pictured with his son) lives in a large, picturesque farmhouse worth an 364,000, overlooking rolling hills in the affluent village of Horsley, Northumberland. The property is attached to holiday cottages which Collard is understood to rent out to tourists In March 2008, Collard admitted making a false statement with a view to obtaining income support by failing to disclose full and accurate details of assets. Pictured: Adam with his mum Grace During that time, however, he and his partner, Grace Elliott, owned houses in London and the North East worth a total of 3,075,000 and were receiving 140,000 in rental income from two of those properties. The investigation found that when making his claim for income support, Collard stated that he had no savings and that apart from his home, neither he nor his partner owned or had a share in property. He also claimed he did not receive any rental income. The DWP said evidence had shown Ms Elliott owned property in Forest Hill, south London while Collard received payments in housing benefit of 62.12 a week as landlord of a property in Dumpling Hall, Newcastle, from November 2003 to June 2004. Collard also owned four business units in Scotswood Road, Newcastle, one property in Marsham Close, Dumpling Hall, Newcastle, numbers 1-9 Broadway Road, Denton Burn, and another property in Horsley. Credit reference checks show in June 2004 he took a credit agreement for 25,000 to buy a Jaguar S-Type 4.2, worth 32,000. Roger Moore, prosecuting, said Collard had completed a claim form for income support because of a sleep disorder. He said: 'Within that form a couple of questions in particular are asked of Collard. A joint investigation by Tyndale Council and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) found that he was paid income support between December 2003 and the summer of 2004. Collard claimed he was unfit to work and did not have capital assets worth more than 8,000 During that time, however, he and his partner, Grace Elliott, owned houses in London and the North East worth a total of 3,075,000 and were receiving 140,000 in rental income from two of those properties. Pictured: Adam on a Love Island date with Kendell Rae-Knight The investigation found that when making his claim for income support, Collard stated that he had no savings and that apart from his home, neither he nor his partner owned or had a share in property. Pictured: Adam in the gym 'The first is whether he has any property other than his home he would care to tell the department about and secondly whether he has any sources of income at the time. 'He was saying he was too ill to work. There is medical evidence within the papers that the defence provided about his medical condition. 'The central issue here is whether or not Mr Collard should have disclosed those assets that he had and he now he accepts he should have done. 'When the department did eventually find out he had a share in at least two or three other properties in the area, which were rented, they re-assessed his entitlement to income support to nil.' Brian Mark, defending, said medical reports showed that at the time Collard applied for benefit, he suffered from obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. Mr Mark told the court: 'When he applied for sickness benefit, there was a genuine problem. 'It is ongoing, but he is a good deal better.' Judge David Hodson warned Collard: 'If you commit any further offence during the next two years, you are liable to be dealt with for this.' The property tycoon is extremely close to his 22-year-old son and has a photograph of them together as his Facebook profile picture. After pleading guilty, Judge David Hodson warned Collard: 'If you commit any further offence during the next two years, you are liable to be dealt with for this.' Collard did not want to comment about his son's appearance on Love Island. Pictured: Adam with his mother Grace Adam, who is close to all his family, has described how his dad has helped him get out of bad dates: 'I've been on some horrendous ones where I'm pulling teeth and I've slyly texted my dad to ring me and get me out of the situation'. Pictured: Adam with his mother Grace In turn Love Island hunk Adam hero-worships his father and said of him: 'He is the coolest, most inspiring and generous guy I know.' He revealed that after chastising him for getting a tattoo as a teenager, his father ended up getting one himself. Adam, who also has a little sister, said: 'I got kicked out of the house for getting the first one. It is a circle. 'Then my dad went to Las Vegas and came back with half a sleeve. 'He said: 'I'm 45 I know what I am doing'.' His dad helps him get out of bad dates too. He added: 'I've been on some horrendous ones where I'm pulling teeth and I've slyly texted my dad to ring me and get me out of the situation.' A security checkpoint at a Houston airport was shutdown for almost an hour on Thursday morning after a teenage Boy Scout packed a fake bomb in his carry-on bag, police said. Passengers at the William P Hobby Airport fled the checkpoint area just after 4.30am when a TSA agent began screaming: 'shut it down!' Several people trying to catch an early-morning flight out of Texas said they were then told to move away from the immediate area. Photos from the scene showed large crowds of people standing outside the airport. Passengers at William P Hobby Airport in Houston wait outside during a bomb scare Thursday morning Police said a 17-year-old Boy Scot brought a fake grenade in his carry-on bag 'My wife and I were waiting to drop our bags into the X-ray machine and go through the detector, and I heard a TSA agent scream 'Shut it down, shut it down, shut it down!' Everyone was looking around, confused, and people were ordered to 'Clear out now!'' AP reporter John L. Mone said. Police said a 17-year-old Boy Scout had packed the toy grenade in his carry-on bag. A TSA agent discovered it as the teen was going through a security checkpoint. Houston Airport System spokesman Bill Begley said people were allowed to approach the checkpoint again around 5.30am after authorities determined that the suspicious item spotted by the TSA agent was a 'novelty grenade.' Begley said the bomb scare caused more than 15 Southwest flights to be delayed. The website FlightAware indicated delays of an hour or more for flights arriving and departing the airport immediately after the security checkpoint reopened. Houston police told KPRC that the bomb squad was not called to the scene because it was quickly determined that the device was not real. The teen won't face charges on the state level but he could be hit with a federal fine. The security checkpoint at the airport was shutdown for nearly an hour as officials investigated the incident Passengers are seen filing back into the airport after police determined that the teen's grenade was a toy It's not immediately clear why the teen tried to bring the toy bomb on the plane, but one officer said that he was told the Boy Scout 'might be doing a class on things not to bring to the airport'. The unidentified teen was questioned after the incident and was eventually allowed to get on his flight. The explosives scare occurred only a day after police detained 'an impatient passenger' who made comments about explosives in a bag at Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport. Begley said that unidentified passenger's 'inappropriate comment' prompted a bomb squad to close the international terminal for nearly an hour. The episode created a backlog of at least a thousand people waiting to go through security. Begley stressed that, especially during the busy summer travel season, anyone with any doubts as to what can be carried on a plane should check the TSA's 'what can I bring? website before packing their bags. Steve Morrisroe, 49, and his wife Nicky, 39, from Nottinghamshire where honeymooning in the Maldives when they learned of the break-in back home A couple's dream honeymoon to the Maldives was ruined after they learned thieves in London had stolen presents from their car - and then stole the wheels off their Audi A6. Steve Morrisroe, 49, and his wife Nicky, 39, from Nottinghamshire, had left the car in a car park at London Heathrow's Crowne Plaza, and thieves left the it on bricks. Mr Morrisroe said on Twitter: 'My beautiful car following a booking with you for parking at the Crowne Plaza Heathrow, car broken into, wheels stolen along with lots of wedding presents and cards. Completely spoiled a wedding and honeymoon.' Another tweet added: 'Currently on honeymoon, attached is a photo of my car in the Crowne Plaza Heathrow where I left it in perfect condition. 'Hotel refuse to accept any responsibility! Not just damage and wheels stolen, boot was full of wedding presents and cards! HELP PLEASE!' He told the Evening Standard: 'The boot was full of unopened presents and cards, we still don't know what is still there! Everything has been tainted and the hotel just sit behind their policy.' A spokesman for the Crowne Plaza Heathrow said they would help the couple when they return to the UK but also that Mr Morrisroe had been warned not to leave valuables in his car. The spokesman said: 'We're very sorry to hear of this incident. Steve Morrisroe said his Audi 6 has been left on bricks and wedding gifts were stolen after it was left at the Heathrow Crowne Plaza car park. The hotel said it was sorry for the theft but he had signed a disclaimer 'The car park is monitored by CCTV cameras and security guards 24/7. The hotel team contacted Mr Morrisroe as soon as the damage was discovered and immediately reported the crime to police. 'Prior to using the car park Mr Morrisroe signed a disclaimer clearly stating that the hotel would not be liable for any loss or damage for any vehicle or property. 'The form also stated that valuables should not be left in cars. 'Our hotel team has been working closely with police and has offered every assistance to Mr Morrisroe following the incident. We will continue to assist him upon his return to Heathrow.' A Korean bushwalker who vanished a week ago has been found after spending a week lost in rugged bushland. Joohee Han, 25, was found by soldiers and police officers at Mount Tyson in Tully, south of Cairns, on a rocky waterfall just after midday on Thursday. Queensland Ambulance flight paramedic Hannah Gaulke said Ms Han survived with no food at all and drank from the water she had found flowing from the rockface, ABC News reported. 'In the entire time she was missing she'd had no food with her at all,' Ms Gaulke said. Scroll down for video Korean bushwalker Joohee Han (pictured) was found in bushland near Tully on Thursday after she went missing a week ago Ms Han was rescued about midday on Thursday by the search team who had been extensively looking for her Ms Han told a friend she was on a bushwalk and took a photo at the top of the mountain, which is when she fell and lost consciousness for about four-to-five hours. When she regained consciousness, she wandered through the thick bushland trying to find a way to escape. After a while she reached a spot where she was unable to exit from, and that's where she remained for the following days. When emergency services found her, they were unable to reach her on the ground due to the terrain. They sent her food a few hours before eventually winching her to safety. Ms Han was last seen at a supermarket south of Cairns in Far North Queensland on May 31. An extensive search involving police, 20 SES volunteers, Defence and National Parks and Wildlife crews and two helicopters was launched on Wednesday after concerned friends reported her missing. An extensive search involving police, 20 SES volunteers, Defence and National Parks and Wildlife crews and two helicopters was launched on Wednesday Acting SES area coordinator Eleanor Rosam told AAP the search terrain was difficult. 'It's a track that is not used very frequently so it's not in the best condition,' she said. 'The woman was found near a creek line and is due to be airlifted from the site,' a Queensland Police statement said. 'Police would like to thank emergency services and members of the public who assisted with the search and rescue of the woman.' Police say it was a 'miracle' that Ms Han survived. Inspector Steve Kersley said Ms Han was dehydrated but otherwise well and would be taken to hospital. Ms Han is believed to have become disorientated and wandered off the track. A retired soldier who climbed five floors like a 'Spider-man' to save a home-alone boy in China has won millions of hearts. Zhang Xin yesterday scaled the facade of a residential building with his bare hands to reach the two-year-old who had got stuck between window bars. Selfless Mr Zhang has been compared to a heroic Malian immigrant who climbed five storeys to save a child in Paris less than two week ago. The boy is seen struggling while dangling from a grille outside his fourth-floor home in China The dramatic rescue saw the Good Samaritan clambering from window grille to window grille in order to reach the struggling child, who was jammed at his torso. The toddler had been left at his home unattended by his grandmother, reports said. The saviour's action has been captured on video clips by nearby residents in the Zhijiang town of Huaihua city in Hunan province. Mr Zhang said he was notified of the accident by onlookers. He was told a little boy had been trapped at an anti-theft grille on the fourth floor. 'I rushed and climbed along the other grilles. I saw the boy crying as he struggled to free himself,' Mr Zhang told a Pear Video. He carefully lifted the boy up and pushed him to safety. He then slowly returned to the ground. 'I had served in the army and trained in Henan province for two years. My instinct told me I had to save the boy,' Mr Zhang added. Huaihua police arrived at the scene shortly after receiving reports from the public. The boy had already been saved when police arrived. The officers were shocked when they entered the apartment to check the boy's safety. 'The two-year-old was holding a knife to cut watermelon on a table when we opened the door,' policeman Cao Dengming told Beijing News. Retired soldier Zhang Xin rushes to rescue as he scales the building along the anti-theft grilles (left). He lifts the two-year-old up and sends him back in the apartment (right) Zhang Xin, pictured, single-handedly climbed up the building and brought the child to safety The boy's grandmother came back later and was given a verbal warning for leaving the toddler unattended at home. The incident has caught web users' attention who compare it to a similar incident in Paris at the end of May. Malian Mamoudou Gassama, 22, was hailed a hero for single-handedly hauling a four-year-old child to safety after scaling the facade of an apartment block in the 18th arrondissement in the French capital. The heart-stopping rescue, which saw Gassama clamber from balcony to balcony and reaching the child in less than 30 seconds, was captured on video and widely shared on social media. He was compared to the Marvel superhero 'Spider-man'. Mr Gassama has been awarded French citizenship by French President Emmanuel Macron. He was also offered a job at the French Fire Brigade. Commenting on their own 'Spider-man', the Chinese public suggested the authority should offer an award to Mr Zhang. One Chinese web user 'hengxiangbiaobaichang' said: 'The immigrant in Paris was rewarded a citizenship, this man should get a monument set up at least.' While another commentator 'yaocool' wrote: 'This is so familiar! The ex-soldier is a true hero.' The G7 Summit is often marred with protests in the streets of the host city, but this year with Donald Trumps America First agenda, which will hit US allies with trade tariffs and threaten multilateral free trade deals, the US President will be the one expected to receive a hostile reception. Due to this, many have suggested that the G7 Summit should be renamed the G6+1 after speculation revealed that Trump may be distracted by the preparations for the June 12 meeting with North Korea leader Kim Jong-Un in Singapore. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have admitted that they will find it difficult to communicate with the US President, but there will not be any compromises made after tariffs on steel and aluminium have resulted in G7 members being on the brink of an all-out trade war. Trudeau told reporters: We know certainly that there will be frank and sometimes difficult discussions around the G7 table, particularly with the US president on tariffs. Merkel, on the other hand, said that there would be no compromise for its own sake. Donald Trump points to Justin Trudeau as he welcomes him to the White House in Washington However, Canadas Trade Minister Francois Philippe Champagne took a more direct approach and said: What we are seeing is that the world economic order is under pressure, under attack while White House Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow said that [Trump] is sticking to his guns. 2018s G7 Summit will take place during a time in which the UK Prime Minister Theresa May is preoccupied by Brexit negotiations and days after Italian premier Giuseppe Conte formally took power. In addition to this, despite many attempts, French President Emmanuel Macron has failed to sway Trump on any issue. However, Japans Shinzo Abe does have a close relationship with the White House but the Asian countrys support for North Korean outreach has not spared the tariffs Melania Trump will also not be accompanying her husband to the G7 Summit in Canada or to the historic meeting in Singapore days later, according to her Communications Director Stephanie Grisham and it has not been revealed when her next public event will be. A Canadian mounted police officer walks past the Charlevoix G7 logo ahead of G7 Summit What is the G7? The Group of Seven, more commonly known as the G7, is made up of seven of the worlds most richest economies. The G7 countries include Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, making up 62 percent of the worlds net wealth ($280 trillion or 208 tn) and 32 percent of the global purchasing parity GDP. The concept of the G7 was formed before the 1973 oil crisis and two years later, France brought together representatives from the seven countries and these informal meetings started to be held. The European Union has also been a non-enumerated member of the G7 since 1977, but they do not hold a chair or host any summits. Theresa May and Emmanuel Macron talk during a bilateral meeting at the G7 Summit in 2017 What is the G7 Summit? Every year, leaders of all G7 countries meet to discuss important issues that are affecting the world and policy agreements that are made at the G7 Summit ultimately have a trickle-down effect on countries around the world. The location of the G7 Summit changes between the nations that are represented by their member and the leader of the hosting nation hold the G7 Presidency for that ear. It is their responsibility to host and organise the annual event and set the agenda. Where is the G7 being held in 2018? In 2018, the G7 Summit will be held on June 8-9 2018 in Charlevoix, Quebec, Canada with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as the G7 President this year. Leaders of the G7 countries seen here attending a working meeting at the G7 summit in 2015 What will be discussed at the G7 2018 Summit? For this years G7 Summit, Justin Trudeau has set up ministerial meetings on five topics: 1. Advancing gender equality and womens empowerment 2. Investing in growth that works for everyone 3. Preparing for jobs of the future 4. Working together on climate change, oceans, and clean energy 5. Building a more peaceful and secure world The first of these goals is even more so poignant after Trudeau referred to himself as a feminist leader and the subject of gender parity is expected to be a dominant theme, across all five discussion topics. Alongside this, with perceptions of the US have fallen after 15 women came forward accusing Trump of sexual harassment, in addition to what was heard on the Access Hollywood tape, Trudeau has set up a Gender Equality Advisory Council. George W. Bush, John Major and James Baker pictured at the G7 summit, when held in London What is the Gender Equality Advisory Council? Dayle Haddon, one of the 19 who make up what is being dubbed The Council, mentioned that private sector accountability and more investment in technology will also be main talking points on both days, according to Notable Life. If youre not being represented, complete decisions cant be made. In matters such as creating future jobs, we need help designing what that landscape looks like when gender parity is incorporated. If the majority of people working on future-shaping technologies like AI are male, what they are creating will have a male worldview, which only enforces the problem. We need growth that works for everyone, and to do that we need to increase girls education levels in the technology and AI industries so they have access to these new jobs of the future, she said. The aim of the Gender Equality Advisory Council is to call on private sector companies to step up and eradicate this problem and The Council will look to organisations to publicly commit to achieving a gender-neutral board, with equal pay and equal leadership by 2020. The leadership qualities that Prime Minister Trudeau is manifesting are extremely impressive. Its like Canada is standing up, Haddon said. Former Stephen Lawrence murder suspect Jamie Acourt was remanded in custody today for his alleged involvement in a 4million cannabis dealing plot. The 42-year-old was arrested by armed officers as he left the Metropolitan Sagrada Familia hotel gym in Barcelona last month. He was held as part of a joint operation between Spanish police, the Met and the National Crime Agency. Jamie Acourt, pictured after his arrest in Spain, appeared in a court in London today on drugs charges Acourt is said to have been 'at the head' of a conspiracy to shift around four tonnes of cannabis Acourt was charged with conspiracy to supply cannabis shortly after landing in the UK from Barcelona yesterday. Wearing a black t-shirt and jeans with his hair tied back in a bun, the defendant appeared in custody at Westminster Magistrates Court today for a five-minute hearing. He spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth and was not arraigned on the sole charge of conspiring to supply class B drugs between 2014 and 2016. Prosecutor Henry Fitch said: 'The charge sheet reads that over a period of 25 months there was a conspiracy to supply cannabis of a quantity in excess of three to four tonnes which involved 34 to 35 trips abroad.' Acourt was a suspect in the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence (pictured) in 1993. He has always denied involvement Mr Fitch said Acourt is alleged to have been 'at the head of the conspiracy'. Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot told him: 'I am sending this matter to Kingston Crown Court and your first appearance there will be on 5 July.' Acourt was among five men named as suspects after Stephen Lawrence was knifed to death in a racist attack at a bus stop in Eltham, south-east London, in 1993. He has always denied any involvement in the killing. Acourt, from south London, was remanded in custody ahead of a plea and trial preparation hearing at Kingston Crown Court on 5 July. Vote Leave boss Dominic Cummings was today ordered by MPs to appear in Parliament to be quizzed on claims he broke election rules to win the referendum. The campaign boss - often dubbed the mastermind of Brexit - has repeatedly refused to appear before the media select committee to answer the allegations. Furious MPs today accused him of 'holding Parliament in contempt' by snubbing the request and voted to order him to appear before the committee on or before June 20. It is believed to be the first vote of it kind since 1920, the House of Commons was told. Mr Cummings has accused MPs of 'grandstanding' by holding the debate, but if he refuses to show up he will be found to be in contempt of Parliament. Theoretically he could be arrested and fined if he flouts the motion - but the sanction is rarely used and is a symbolic slap on the wrist. Damian Collins, Tory MP and chairman of media select committee, said: 'It's a deliberate attempt to deny Parliament its right to question witnesses on matters of importance.' Dominic Cummings (pictured in Parliament) has refused to give evidence to the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, which is investigation alleged wrongdoing in the referendum campaign. MPs today slammed him over the snub Damian Collins, Tory MP and chairman of media select committee which called the debate (pictured in the Commons today) said: 'It's a deliberate attempt to deny Parliament its right to question witnesses on matters of importance' Opening the debate in the Chamber, he said: 'It seems to me we have a unique problem in requiring Dominic Cummings to come and give evidence before us and I do not believe and the members of my committee do not believe that's an acceptable state of affairs. 'These are incredibly serious matters there is a certain irony that someone who was the communications director of Vote Leave, who ran a successful campaign to seek to restore powers to Parliament seems to hold that institution himself in such contempt. He added: 'Here is somebody who held a very very important position in this country during a very very important campaign. What can happen to someone found in contempt of parliament? MPs have the power to hold people in contempt of Parliament if they defy them. Strictly speaking, individuals found in contempt could be fined or veen imprisoned. But both these sanctions have not been used in many years and the more likely outcome is that they will get a slap on the wrist by Parliament. Two News International executives found in contempt over misleading evidence to a select committee were admonished by the House in 2016. Advertisement 'We believe we have important matters to put to him and he declines to appear.' Hilary Benn, Labour chairman of the Exiting the EU Committee, said: 'This unfortunate case and the response of Mr Cummings reminds us of the need to ensure we end up with a system that doesn't allow the powerful and people who need to answer questions and be held to account for what they have done in the normal, courteous manner that almost all select committees operate under. 'We cannot allow that to happen because if we do, then we cannot do our job on behalf of the people who send us here.' Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom supported the motion while Conservative Sarah Wollaston, chairwoman of the Health and Social Care Committee, labelled Mr Cummings' behaviour a 'disgrace'. Speaking ahead of the debate, Labour MP Rupa Huq accused the Brexit boss of 'making a joke of our democracy'. Ms Huq , who also backs the anti Brexit campaign group Best for Britain, said: 'Here's the man who brought us Brexit - supposedly to retake our democracy - playing childish games when our elected representatives are asking for his help to prevent our democracy being railroaded. It is also claimed that campaign chiefs at Vote Leave - the official pro Brexit campaign group - may have broken the law in the campaign by coordinating spending with other Brexit groups (pictured Boris Johnson on the campaign trail with the group) 'This might all just be a laugh to him and his buddies, but when your rap sheet includes co-ordinating a campaign accused of cheating during the 2016 referendum by the Electoral Commission the joke quickly turns sour. 'Dominic Cummings is literally making a joke of our democracy.' What are the accusations against Cambridge Analytica? Who are Cambridge Analytica? Cambridge Analytica has been thrown into turmoil after finding itself in the middle of Facebook data harvesting The firm, which has offices in London, New York and Washington, boasts to clients that it can 'find your voters and move them to action'. What are their ties to Aleksandr Kogan? The controversy centres around their use of the GSR app, developed by the Cambridge University research Dr Aleksandr Kogan. Facebook users used the app to answer a personality survey which plundered the data of 100million users. How was Cambridge Analytica used in the Brexit and Trump campaigns? It has been claimed that Cambridge Analytica used the information to assess peoples' personalities and come up with political strategies to sway voters to back Brexit and Donald Trump. The firm has insisted it did no actual work for the Brexit campaign - although it did pitch for work with Leave.EU. But whistleblowers say that Arron Banks - the co founder of Leave.EU - used the ideas gleaned from the itch to pursue his own CA-style model to predict and influence voters' behaviour in the EU referendum. Mr Banks denied the allegations Cambridge Analytica suspended its chief executive, Alexander Nix, after recordings emerged of him making a series of controversial claims. Why was Vote Leave embroiled in the scandal? It is also claimed that campaign chiefs at Vote Leave - the official pro Brexit campaign group - may have broken the law in the campaign. It is claimed that they donated 650,000 to the other pro Brexit group BeLeave in the final days of the campaign and told them to spend it on data advertising by the Canadian firm Aggregate IQ - breaking election rules. Whistleblowers have claimed that Cambridge Analytica has undisclosed links to the Canadian digital firm AggregateIQ Advertisement The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee wants Mr Cummings to address claims Vote Leave flouted rules and coordinated spending with other Brexit campaigns. Last month he refused to accept an invite to give evidence, insisting MPs' questions clash with inquiries by Electoral Commission and Information Commissioner's Office. In response, the MPs accused Mr Cummings of obfuscation and delay in a damning condemnation of his refusal to attend. Mr Collins is calling for a Commons vote to enforce an 'order' for Mr Cummings to attend. If the vote passes and Mr Cummings still fails to appear, he is likely to be held in contempt of Parliament. If he is eventually found in contempt than under antiquated rules he could in theory be imprisoned or fined for defying MPs. Although the law is antiquated and would probably just result in a symbolic slap on the wrist. Mr Cummings has accused MPs of 'grandstanding' in calling for the debate. The rows is the latest twist in the ongoing saga which has seen Brexit campaigners accused of flouting electoral rules in the EU referendum campaign. The select committee is probing claims made by Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie that the Facebook data of millions of users was illegally harvested and used to sway the Brexit vote. Mr Collins has repeatedly requested that Mr Cummings come before his committee to answer questions about how the campaign was run. Mr Cummings has refused to give evidence, but said he will after once an Electoral Commission inquiry into the conduct of the 2016 EU referendum was over. He claims that lawyers have advised him to 'keep my trap shut' until the conclusion of an Electoral Commission probe, but was happy to give evidence after this. The issue of a summons amounted to the committee 'demonstrating their priority was grandstanding PR, not truth-seeking', he said. He added: 'I said that if they issued a summons instead of discussing possible dates like reasonable people, then it would be obvious they are not interested in friendly co-operation to uncover the truth. 'So I will not give evidence to this committee under any circumstances. 'I may to other committees depending on behaviour.' The showdown comes after the former head of Cambridge Analytica Alexander Nix (pictured yesterday in Parliament) told MPs the firm had been unfairly singled out by people who do not like the votes for Brexit and Donald Trump The showdown comes after the former head of Cambridge Analytica Alexander Nix yesterday told MPs the firm had been unfairly singled out by people who do not like the votes for Brexit and Donald Trump. He told the media select committee that his political consulting firm got 'an incredibly huge target' on its back because of its involvement in Mr Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. In a bad-tempered showdown with MPs Mr Nix accused Mr Wylie of being unreliable. He said: 'I'm sorry if members of this committee are unhappy with the outcome of the referendum. 'I'm sorry if members of the committee are unhappy with Donald Trump being president of the United States. 'But you can't simply put forward your prejudices onto me and make sweeping assumptions about our involvement with a political campaign simply because that is what you want to believe, because that narrative suits your view of the facts.' Labour MP Ian Lucas, who sits on the committee, hit back: 'Facts are what we are presenting to you. What we are getting back from you is bluster and rudeness.' The pre-inquest review into the death of shamed former celebrity publicist heard how his family raised concerns over his treatment in Littlehey Prison Max Clifford's family raised concerns about the treatment of the disgraced former celebrity publicist weeks before his death, a pre-inquest review heard on Thursday. The 74-year-old PR mogul was convicted of eight indecent assaults on girls aged 15 to 19 between 1977 and 1985. He was jailed in May 2014 but died in Hinchingbrooke Hospital near Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, on December 10 last year. Clifford, from Hersham, Surrey was jailed to serve an eight-year prison sentence but died before he made it half way through. An inquest was opened and adjourned on December 21 last year after a coroner confirmed that there would be an investigation into the PR mogul's death after he collapsed in Littlehey Prison. Clifford's daughter Louise Clifford, told the inquest review over the phone that the family took issue over the communication and treatment in the run up to her fathers death. Max Clifford with daughter Louise outside Southwark Crown Court in April, 2014, after he was charged with 11 counts of indecent assault Clifford was an inmate at HMP Littlehey, Perry, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire during his sentence but collapsed twice and eventually died Hinchingbrooke Hospital, in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, where Max Clifford died in December 2017 after falling ill in prison She said: 'Broadly speaking in generalities, it was just an incredibly slow process. 'It was just an uphill struggle to get anything resolved. 'We did not get a diagnosis until the day he died and this had been going on since July. 'If we had got a diagnosis earlier then we good have had a better prognosis and we could have started treatment far earlier. 'I was on the phone to the cardio secretary at Hinchingbrooke three times per week if not more, trying to find out when an MRI would happen. 'On the day I he collapsed I spoke to the nurse and she was very friendly and told me he was on her radar now. 'There was a lack of communication and it was just slow- there was someone dying.' Louise Clifford has complained about the treatment of her father in Littlehey Prison where he collapsed before he died in hospital Miss Clifford told the inquest that her father had been complaining about his inadequate living conditions only weeks before he died. 'I accept that he died of natural causes but there were matters that exacerbated his condition. Being cold, lack of heating- the shock of the shower. 'He complained for weeks and weeks to me that it had become impossible to shower adequately. Clifford's former GP Ann Coxon, who treated him since 2003 was present at the hearing and has been instructed to produce a statement for investigation. Assistant Coroner for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Simon Milburn told the hearing in Huntingdon: the central issue is likely to be the treatment that Mr Clifford received in various location 'I will instuct an expert cardiologist to conduct a review into this case for the full inquest and I will look to resume this case sometime in September or October.' Max Clifford, a former PR guru and historic sex offender died in Hinchingbrooke Hospital near Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire while serving an eight-year prison sentence It has not been confirmed if a jury will be required for the inquest. Mr Milburn recorded that Clifford had been suffering from Amaloidosis, a condition that causes a protein to build up within body organs that can ultimately lead to heart failure. The Ministry of Justice confirmed that Clifford's death would be investigated by the independent Prisons and Probation Ombudsan. Clifford's arrest followed the launch of Operation Yewtree by the Met Police on the back of the Jimmy Saville sex abuse scandal. Clifford had suffered from illness for some time while locked up and had suffered from a heart attack. He had collapsed twice since being jailed in 2014. Miss Clifford said that he had collapsed in his cell while trying to clean and after collapsing again the next day, he was taken to a critical care unit. At the height of his career, Clifford was Britain's best-known celebrity publicist and worked with celebrities to shape their public image, including Freddie Starr, O.J. Simpson, Simon Cowell, Gillian McKeith, Rebecca Loos and Jade Goody. The date of the full inquest will be announced. A man has been arrested after a car smashed into the gates of the US Embassy in South Korea. The driver may have been a North Korean defector seeking asylum in the States, according to unconfirmed reports. Images from the scene show the smashed up vehicle after it ploughed into the gates in Seoul. A man has been arrested after this silver car smashed into the gates of the US Embassy in South Korea Police confirmed they'd arrested the driver, thought to be in his late 40s, but revealed he was not under the influence of alcohol. Pictured: Security guards surround the smashed up vehicle outside the building in Seoul The driver may have been a North Korean defector seeking asylum, according to reports Police confirmed they'd arrested a man, thought to be in his late 40s, following a crash that happened at around 7.15pm. South Korean police told ABC News the driver was not drunk but declined to share further details about the incident. The investigation is ongoing. A woman who was in the passenger seat of the car was reportedly transported to a local hospital. A woman who was in the passenger seat of the car was reportedly transported to a local hospital According to Korea Times, the man had been driving around Gwanghwamun when he suddenly turned toward the embassy. Tests showed the driver was not intoxicated, police said. Unverified reports claim he fell out of the vehicle before shouting 'help me' several times. This image appears to show crowds gathered outside the embassy in Seoul The building is heavily policed. Pictured: Officers stand guard during a rally by anti-Trump protesters last month Another picture from the scene shows huge crowds gathering near the vehicle. Yonhap News TV reports that at least one person has been injured in the collision, but it's unknown if there are any more casualties. There is no suggestion that the incident is terror related. Fire chiefs could be in the dock after police today launched a criminal investigation into the controversial decision to tell Grenfell Tower residents to 'stay put' as the block burned. Met Police Commander Stuart Cundy said his officers have an 'absolute obligation' to consider if the London Fire Brigade diktat contributed to the deaths of 72 people in west London last June. London Fire Brigade has defended itself over its order relayed to residents in the burning tower saying they had been in an 'impossible situation' that night. The inquiry into the worst fire for a generation has already heard, however, that firefighters on the ground had been begging bosses to abandon the policy as flames reached the top of building within 20 minutes. Yet senior London Fire Brigade officers in the control room only ordered the evacuation an hour and 50 minutes after the first 999 call. According to the fire brigade, the policy was not abandoned until 2.47am - two hours after the blaze started At the same time Deputy Assistant Commissioner Adrian Fenton demanded the 'stay put' order be stopped when he switched on Sky News and saw the building engulfed. Speaking today Commander Cundy said: '71 people plus baby Logan died as a direct result of that fire. It's an absolute obligation on us to be looking at the most serious potential criminal offences that may have been committed. Met Police Commander Stuart Cundy said today his officers have an 'absolute obligation' to consider if the stay put diktat was illegal and caused the deaths of 72 people in north London last June He added at a press briefing that the criminal probe into 'stay put' will be part of the wider Scotland Yard investigation into the fire. This 'stay put' advice which was slavishly adhered to by the emergency services for almost two hours has been blamed for contributing to the deaths of the 72 victims. On the night of the blaze last June, terrified residents dialling 999 were instructed to stay in their flats in the 24-storey block rather than risk the flames and deadly fumes. Despite this, the Daily Mail has learnt that the policy is still in place in all the tower blocks close to the burnt-out remains of Grenfell Tower in North Kensington, west London. Warning signs insist that in the event of a fire residents 'should initially be safe' if they close their doors and windows. These signs are identical to the safety advice notices which were in the communal corridors in Grenfell. The policy was widely criticised at the Grenfell Tower Inquiry last week by relatives of the victims. Paulos Tekle, whose five-year-old son Isaac died in the blaze, told the public inquiry how neighbours urged the family to flee, but during numerous 999 calls over two hours he was repeatedly told to 'stay put' until he was ordered abruptly to get his family out immediately. Fire and rescue workers at a one minute silence by Grenfell Tower in West London after the tragedy. Many are said to have urged bosses not to use 'stay put' for so long But by then the fire had spread, the building's only stairwell was filled with smoke and, in the chaos, Isaac became separated from his parents. Fire chiefs say there was no obvious alternative to Stay Put Fire commanders marshalling the battle against the Grenfell Tower inferno had 'no obvious and safe alternative strategy' than telling residents to stay put, an inquiry has heard. The London Fire Brigade (LFB) has been criticised for the length of time taken to abandon the policy - nearly two hours after the blaze was first reported - despite flames reaching every floor. On the final day of opening statements at the inquiry into the disaster, The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) said both commanders and firefighters were left in an 'impossible situation'. The refurbishment of the building has seen material installed that made it a 'highly combustible death trap', which the brigade lacked training and procedures to tackle, the union said. Fire safety advice within tall buildings is set by the building owners, not the fire service, meaning it accords with the design specifications and escape capabilities. Stephen Walsh QC, representing the LFB, told the inquiry: 'It is a fundamental misunderstanding of the events of the fire and of fire service capability to assume the building's stay-put policy can be changed to a simultaneous evacuation at the stroke of a fire incident commander at whatever time. 'If there is no policy applied by the building owner which provides for a policy of simultaneous evacuation and there are no evacuation plans and there are no general fire alarms - what is an incident commander on the fireground to do?' Martin Seaward, for the FBU, used his opening statement to ask 'what alternative strategy might have been implemented' in the fast-moving situation. He said: 'There remains no obvious and safe alternative strategy nor detailed plan.' Advertisement Mr Tekle, his wife and their three-year-old son survived, but Isaac's remains were found on the 13th floor. He was one of the youngest victims of the blaze. Last night, residents of the towers around Grenfell described the decision to keep the disputed policy as 'madness' and 'absolutely criminal'. Many witnessed the speed at which the flames enveloped Grenfell on June 14 last year, and said there is no doubt they would flee immediately if there was a fire in their tower block. Marcus John, 28, who lives in Dixon House, said: 'I lost two cousins in the Grenfell fire. This advice should be changed after what happened. It's nearly a year on since the tragedy and nothing has changed.' A resident of Hazlewood Tower added: 'The 'stay put' policy is absolutely criminal. It would be suicide to stay in the flat if there was a fire. This advice is just madness. I would just leave the building. I would disregard the advice on the wall. 'They should review what they are telling people. The fire brigade came to visit the block last year. They told us the best thing to do is stay in our flats. But I don't think this is the right thing to do.' A woman who gave her name only as Gloria, who lives on the 19th floor of Frinstead House, said: 'I saw the Grenfell fire from beginning to end. I saw people jumping to their deaths. 'I never thought I would see something like that in my life. It will stay with me my whole life. If there was a fire and I stayed in this building I would end up jumping to my death like they did. 'The people who run this block keep threatening residents with fines for dog mess, but they don't seem interested in fire safety. 'We don't even have a proper fire escape.' Prior to the Grenfell blaze, tower block residents were told to stay put because the perceived wisdom is that fires in individual flats can usually be contained. But the use of flammable cladding on the outside of Grenfell installed as a cheaper option during a refurbishment programme in 2015 caused the fire that started on the fourth floor to spread at an alarming rate until it engulfed the entire building, with dense plumes of black smoke filling corridors and the only staircase. An in-depth expose by the London Review of Books last week concluded that the 'stay put' advice 'caused nearly all of the 72 deaths'. Kensington and Chelsea Council, which was responsible for Grenfell, said it continues to tell residents to 'stay put' in all its tower blocks on the advice of fire chiefs as none of the outside walls on its high-rises has cladding. A spokesman for London Fire Brigade said: 'Our advice remains the same, and that is to stay put if a fire breaks out in another part of the building and you are not being affected by the fire, heat or smoke. 'If you leave your flat you could be rushing into dangerous smoke, the fire itself or firefighters using equipment to bring the fire under control in another part of the building. 'Stay put advice may be temporarily suspended for a limited number of buildings with [flammable] cladding.' The fire brigade added that there are about 100 buildings in London where the 'stay put' advice has been suspended. Who else has been convicted over Grenfell Tower frauds? Anh Nhu Nguyen pretended his wife and 12-year-old son were killed in the blaze so he could claim charity handouts. He pocketed 11,270 as he was put up in hotels and given clothing, laptops and cash. But police discovered the 53-year-old had 28 convictions for 56 offences spanning more than 30 years, including theft, dishonesty offences, arson and grievous bodily harm. Nguyen, who was born in Vietnam, even tried to apply for a passport by claiming his had been incinerated. He was jailed for 21 months in February. Elaine Douglas and Tommy Brooks falsely claimed they lived in Grenfell Tower to claim more than 120,000. The illegal immigrants spent eight months living in a four-star hotel, with taxpayers footing the 400-a-night bill. They also spent more than 20,000 on meals and clothing on pre-paid credit cards which were given to them by Kensington and Chelsea council. The pair entered Britain illegally from Jamaica 16 years ago on separate flights and were ordered to leave by immigration officials only to vanish reappearing in the aftermath of the Grenfell tragedy last year. Joyce Msokeri falsely claimed to have lost her husband in the blaze so that she could claim thousands of pounds. The conwoman travelled 14 miles from her own flat to the tower block and convinced charity workers she had survived the inferno. She feigned trauma to obtain handouts of 19,000 in cash, food, clothing, three mobile phones and free stays at a Hilton hotel. The 47-year-old would have received 203,000 in handouts if she had not been caught. When Msokeri, from Zimbabwe, kept giving them different numbers for her flat in the tower block, her apparent forgetfulness was put down to trauma. She was jailed for four-and-a-half years in April. Mohammad Gamoota Mohammad Gamoota trawled a list of the dead then told officials his father was Abdeslam Sebbar, who had died after becoming trapped in his flat. The 31-year-old said he had survived only because he was attending midnight prayers at his mosque when the inferno took hold. In reality, he was not related to Mr Sebbar, 77, and did not live in Grenfell Tower, but took the details from a newspaper.Two days later, Gamoota presented himself as a bereaved relative. He was given 500 and booked into a Holiday Inn hotel where he racked up a 374 room service bill. He tried to claim a further 5,000 but a technical issue with his bank account prevented the money being paid in. He was jailed for 18 months last week. Advertisement Police arrest nine 'Grenfell fraudsters' suspected of falsely claiming up to 100,000 each in series of dawn raids By Richard Spillett, Crime Correspondent For MailOnline Police have arrested nine alleged fraudsters suspected of having falsely claimed they were Grenfell survivors so they could get handouts. A series of dawn raids were carried out around the capital by detectives investigating claims fraudsters exploited the disaster to claim tens of thousands of pounds meant for real victims. Eight men and a woman are in custody over the alleged frauds, which range from 25,000 to 100,000 in value, Scotland Yard said. Police have made a series of arrests over allegations of fraud by people claiming to be victims or survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire Police believe two of the individuals are linked but said all the offences are separate. Some of those arrested were living in hotels when they were detained, the Met Police revealed. Detective Superintendent Matt Bonner, Senior Investigating Officer, said: 'It is completely unacceptable that people would seek to profit from such a human tragedy, and try and attach themselves to a community that they are not part of. 'Over the last 12 months I have met all the families whose loved ones died; many of the survivors and members of the local community from Grenfell.' In response to the announcement, Shahin Sadafi, chair of Grenfell United said: 'It is hurtful and saddening that people would take advantage of a tragedy like this. 'It is not just that they have taken funds and charity that was not for them, it is disrespectful to the real victims of the fire and people who lost their lives. Elaine Douglas and Tommy Brooks were found to have lived in a hotel at taxpayers' expense Mohammad Ali Gamoota and Joyce Msokeri have already been jailed for Grenfell scams 'Our community has shown strength, determination and dignity throughout the last year. Grenfell Tower was a community of good decent people, and we were proud to be each others' neighbours. 'These people have absolutely no place here. We are relieved they have been identified and rooted out.' A series of fraudsters have already been brought before the courts for defrauding charities and authorities out of money in the wake of the fire, which claimed 72 lives. Earlier this month, Mohammad Gamoota, 31, was jailed for 18 months for pretending to be a Grenfell Tower victim's son to get 5,000 and free hotel stays. Jamaican nationals Elaine Douglas, 51, and Tommy Brooks, 52, are awaiting sentence for spending eight months living in a four-star hotel at the taxpayers' expense at a cost of 400-a-night. They also spent more than 20,000 on meals and clothing on pre-paid credit cards which were given to them by the local council. Another fraudster, Anh Nhu Nguyen, met Prince Charles during his time posing as a victim In April, Joyce Msokeri, 47, was jailed for four-and-a-half years at the Old Bailey for fraud after posing as a Grenfell survivor in a 19,000 scam. She claimed around 19,000 in cash donations, electronics, handbags, dresses and hotel costs - and filled a room at Hilton hotel with donations from charities. Two months prior, in February, serial conman Anh Nhu Nguyen, 53, was jailed for 21 months after pretending his family died in the Grenfell fire. He claimed his wife and son were killed in the atrocity to obtain about 12,500 from funds intended for victims - and even met Prince Charles as he posed as a survivor. Mr Justice Hayden has imposed an information ban after the youngster, who is undergoing hospital treatment, urged doctors and social workers not to say anything to the woman The mother of an estranged teenager should not be told that her child has a rare form of cancer, a High Court judge has decided. Mr Justice Hayden has imposed an information ban after the youngster, who is undergoing hospital treatment, urged doctors and social workers not to say anything to the woman. Council social services bosses with responsibility for the youngster's welfare had asked Mr Justice Hayden to impose the information ban, acting on behalf of the teenager's wishes. The youngster lived with another family member and has been estranged from their mother for some years. They said the teenager's father was aware, but the youngster was adamant that the woman should be kept in the dark. Mr Justice Hayden ruled that council staff should not tell the mother about her child's condition. He said teachers at the youngster's school would also be released from any obligation to pass on information. The judge was told bosses at the hospital where the youngster is being treated had already decided that they would not give out information against the teenager's wishes. Mr Justice Hayden analysed evidence at a private hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London on Wednesday. He said he would review the order at a follow-up hearing in the near future. Mr Justice Hayden said he had taken into account the woman's parental rights and the teenager's human right to respect for privacy before reaching his decision. He said the woman had parental responsibility for the child and might have to be told in the long run. But he said he thought it right to make a 'holding' order for the teenager's sake. 'I have evaluated the mother's rights to family life alongside her [child's],' said the judge. The pressing need for [the teenager] at the moment is for a period of peace and calm.' Mr Justice Hayden has placed limitations on what can be reported about the case. The judge heard argument about media coverage from lawyers representing council bosses and from a reporter attending the hearing. He ruled that his decision could be reported, but said nothing should be revealed which might identify the teenager. A Connecticut man has pleaded guilty to smuggling more than $26,000 worth of endangered sperm whale teeth from Ukraine into the US The US Department of Justice says John Bell, of Lakeville, who also goes by Jake, entered his plea in Boston on Wednesday to wildlife trafficking in violation of the Lacey Act. The law bans trade in illegally obtained wildlife, fish and plants. As part of his plea, Bell admitted that in November 2004, while in the Ukraine, he sold 34 teeth to a co-conspirator who lived in Nantucket, Massachusetts, for $11,600. John Bell, of Connecticut, has pleaded guilty to a count of wildlife trafficking, admitting to smuggling more than 49lbs of sperm whale teeth into the US (stock image) Bell shipped the teeth in multiple boxes from the Ukraine to an associate in Connecticut, from where his co-conspirator picked them up. According to the indictment, Bell bought the teeth and smuggled them into the United States. Bell, who was an artist, carved some of the teeth he sold, but also sold fully intact teeth to customers. According to court filings, between July 2005 and June 2006, Bell smuggled more than 49lbs of sperm whale teeth into the country, valued at more than $26,000. Also, between June 2007 and April 2008, Bell sold nine carved teeth to customers in the US, earning more than $20,000. The teeth weigh about 2lbs, and Bell told a buyer they would cost about $310 per pound. Documents show Bell listed the teeth as 'paintings' on receipts to hide their sales. 'Todays guilty plea demonstrates that those who attempt to profit from the illegal trade of endangered species will face the consequences for their actions under law,' said Acting Assistant Attorney General Wood. Sperm whales are an endangered species protected under the Lacey Act, which bans trade in illegally obtained wildlife Bell's co-conspirator was convicted in connection with the trafficking in 2010 and sentenced to 33 months in prison. 'Federal law provides great protection to the marine mammals that live in our waters,' said James Landon, director of NOAA's Office of Law Enforcement. 'OLE is dedicated to enforcing those laws and seeing that those who violate them are held accountable for their illegal actions.' The Marine Mammal Protection Act and Endangered Species Act protect sperm whales and, among other things, prohibits their parts from being sold in interstate or foreign commerce or imported into the United States without a permit. The Lacey Act creates penalties for knowingly trafficking or importing wildlife and parts from wildlife like sperm whales, and United States customs laws prohibit importing merchandise like sperm whale parts knowingly in violation of the law or federal regulations. Four young boys were caught by police throwing rocks at cars down a busy highway. Two cars were damaged in the alleged attack, which occurred on Wednesday night about 8.45pm in Adelaide's western suburbs. A nine-year-old boy was escorted home by police after the latest rock throwing incident, while his three other friends, aged 12 and 13, were charged and arrested. South Australian police launched a specialist operation after receiving reports for 21 separate rock throwing incidents on the Southern Expressway. Scroll down for video Four young boys were caught by police throwing rocks at cars down a busy highway Two cars were damaged in the attack occurred on Wednesday night about 8.45pm in Adelaide's western suburbs (pictured: one of the cars) 'What's happening with these children?', Police Commissioner Grant Stevens asked, according to Nine News. 'How can they be out at 8.45, 9 o'clock at night, unsupervised, without their parents knowing where they are?' he asked. Most of the rock attacks happen on the 22-kilometre Southern Expressway. Most of the rock attacks happen on the 22-kilometre Southern Expressway (pictured) Police said the focus of the operation was to prevent any further incidents of rock throwing. Assistant Commissioner Paul Dickson is coordinating the operation and said South Australia Police will be using many different sources to catch perpetrators. 'Throughout the operation SAPOL will be directing resources including general patrols, bicycle patrols, mounted and dog operations as well as using the police helicopter,' he said. The maximum punishment for someone caught intentionally throwing rocks is 18 years behind bars. 'Those detected committing any offences will be held accountable for their actions,' he said. 'They face offences ranging from 'throw missile' to 'acts to endanger life' that can carry a term of imprisonment up to 18 years.' This is the shocking moment a police officer brutally drags a pregnant woman by her hair and repeatedly hits her in the face in front of a crowd of onlookers. In the video, the woman can be heard shouting at the police who are arresting a man at the back of their patrol car. One of the officers then walks up to the crowd of onlookers and grabs the woman by her hair and begins slamming his fist into her face. The startling scenes were filmed in the Santo Antonio Alem do Carmo area of the city of Salvador, in the Brazilian state of Bahia. This is the shocking moment a police officer brutally drags a pregnant woman by her hair and repeatedly hits her in the face in front of a crowd of onlookers He then then drags the woman away from the crowd by her hair as an onlooker can be heard shouting 'Calm down man! She is pregnant!'. The suspect who was being arrested can be seen struggling with officers in the background as the crowd tries to drag the woman away from the aggressive officer. The officer then lands another punch on the pregnant woman's face before onlookers manage to drag her to safety. The woman, who does not wish to be named, confirmed she is three months pregnant. She told reporters: 'The officer who hit my face was not with the same patrol as those who beat the boy (getting arrested). We started shouting because there were a lot of people, a lot of families, we shouted that they were cowards and they were going to kill the boy. 'He did not say anything to me, he did not address me, he came and hit me and people were asking him to let me go. He hit me really hard in the face, people were shouting that I was pregnant and he continued attacking me.' The suspect who was being arrested can be seen struggling with officers in the background as the crowd tries to drag the woman away from the aggressive officer She said that nobody knew the boy who was being arrested. The Military Police confirmed they were investigating the video and the behaviour of the officers during the arrest. A statement read: 'The images are being analysed by the Commander and the officers, who clearly overstepped the mark, have been removed from operational activities.' The officer who hit the woman has been suspended and is seeing a psychologist, according to police sources. Local media report the man who was arrested in the video was charged with drug use and resisting arrest. He has given a statement and has since been released, according to reports. The terrorist who killed five people and wounded 14 others in a horrifying attack in Stockholm has been jailed. Rakmat Akilov, an Uzbek national, drove a stolen truck into a crowd on April 7, 2017. Terrifying scenes unfolded on the day of the attack when Akilov hijacked a brewery company truck and mowed down crowds at the Ahlens department store, leaving bloodied bodies littered all over the roadside. His truck smashed into the corner of the shop and the cab began to smoke. The Uzbek father-of-four ran away and was later detained in Marsta, 25 miles from Stockholm. On Thursday, he was convicted of terror-related murder and given a life sentence. Akilov had said he wanted to punish Sweden for joining a coalition against Islamic State. The dead were later revealed to be a British man, a Belgian woman and three Swedes, including an 11-year-old girl named Ebba Akerlund. Chris Bevington, 41, a British father who was director of global partnerships at the music streaming service Spotify was killed in the Stockholm terror attack. Rakhmat Akilov is seen being apprehended in Marsta, North of Stockholm after the lorry attack in Central Stockholm that killed five A girl, 11, was the youngest victim in the attack in Sweden. Akilov had said he wanted to punish Sweden for joining a coalition against Islamic State Police, ambulances and victims on the Drottninggatan street in cenral Stockholm, after a man drove a truck on the pedestrian street and into a department store, killing five people in the attack in Stockholm, Sweden Judge Ragnar Palmkvist said Akilov, 40, was the only suspect in the attack, while prosecutor Hans Ihrman called him a 'security risk to society' during his trial at the Stockholm District Court. The prosecution had demanded a life sentence, while defence lawyer Johan Eriksson said his client had been co-operative throughout the investigation and should be given a time-limited sentence. Chris Bevington, 41, a British father who was killed in the Stockholm terror attack During the court proceedings that started in February Mr Ihrman said 'Akilov took the right to determine the fate of so many people. Now it is the turn of the democratic rule of law to determine the fate of Akilov'. After ploughing the truck into a crowd of shoppers on a busy shopping street and crashing into the upscale Ahlens department store in Stockholm's city centre, Akilov also planned to blow himself up. He failed, and caused a smaller explosion inside the truck when a suspected bomb made of five gas canisters with dozens of screws, blades and smaller metal objects went off. Akilov then escaped via Stockholm's subway system but was arrested hours later in a suburb. He was found guilty of five counts of terror-related murder, 119 counts of attempted murder and 24 cases of endangering the life of others. Drottninggatan street was the site of a truck attack in Stockholm, Sweden, where five people were killed by Uzbek national Rakmat Akilov after he was denied asylum in the country Tributes to the dead: A flower covered police car sits at the site where a truck drove into a department store in Stockholm Judge Palmkvist said the fact that Akilov had been co-operative and had confessed did not have any influence on the lifetime sentence, which is the heaviest penalty in Sweden and is normally about 18 years. The court sentenced Akilov to be expelled from Sweden after he serves his sentence and banned him from returning. Akilov was born in Uzbekistan and worked there as a construction worker. He came to Sweden in 2014 and applied for asylum, claiming he had been persecuted. Crowds at the scene of the lorry attack to leave floral tributes one day after five were killed in Stockholm, Sweden His application was rejected and he was ordered to leave Sweden in December 2016. Instead he went underground, eluding the authorities' attempts to track him down. Sweden's domestic intelligence agency has said it had nothing indicating that he was planning an attack. On April 6 - the eve of the attack - Akilov swore allegiance to IS. Investigators found video footage on his phone in which he said 'it is time to kill'. During the trial, evidence showed how Akilov used 53 Sim cards and social media - including WhatsApp, Telegram, Viber, Facebook and Zello - to communicate with others about his activities. The district court judge Ragnar Palmkvist announces a verdict in a terrorist truck attack trial against Uzbek Rakhmat Akilov during a press conference in District Court of Stockholm Thousands of people gather during a memorial service at Sergels torg, close to the site where five were killed in a truck attack Akilov has said he proposed carrying out an attack in Stockholm to IS on their behalf. It was not clear whether the group had accepted his offer. Investigators have found internet chat logs with unknown people in which Akilov discussed becoming a martyr. They have also found a memory card with execution videos and thousands of photos, including one of IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Following his brother's murder, John Bevington said in a statement: 'We are all devastated by the untimely and tragic death of our talented, compassionate and caring son Chris. '[He was ] a wonderful husband, son, father, brother and close friend to many.' Kim Kardashian has been a diabolical role model in recent years. For someone with over 100 million followers on social media, shes exercised the responsibility of a greedy, grasping, publicity-ravenous and often woefully reckless imbecile. From her absurd Im an empowered feminist bird-flipping topless selfies to her cynical peddling of expensive drug-themed merchandise on her website, Ms Kardashians proven herself to be someone who doesnt care how badly she corrupts the minds of impressionable young people so long as the cash tills keep ringing. Kim Kardashian has been a diabolical role model in recent years - like peddling an appetite-suppressant lollipop and flipping the bird topless on Instagram in the name of feminism Thus ugly trait reached a nadir a few weeks ago when she posted a photo of herself sucking on an appetite-suppressant lollipop and urged her largely female following to be quick in buying them. It would be hard to imagine a more harmful abuse of her power and influence. So Id just about had it with Kim Kardashian and her fame-crazed, ruthless, money-obsessed and morally repugnant family. Yet today, I find myself in the curious and very unexpected position of wanting to cheer her from the rooftops. Her successful fight to free great-grandmother Alice Johnson, 63, from prison is something everybody, regardless of your view of the Kardashians, should applaud. Johnson is no angel. She was jailed for life in 1996 for being part of a large cocaine trafficking ring. Obviously, her actions in that crime warrant no sympathy. But the severity of the sentence for someone with no criminal record who had committed a non-violent offence was staggeringly harsh. Ms Johnson had been a model citizen until her downfall; shed married her childhood sweetheart, had five children and for many years held down a good job as a FedEx manager. Then came a bitter divorce, single parent Alice lost her job due to a gambling addiction, her house was foreclosed on, and her youngest son Cory was killed in a motorcycle accident. As she herself admitted: My life began to spiral out of control. No mother should have to bury her child. This weight was unbelievable and it was a burden I couldnt sustain. I made some very poor decisions out of desperation. Those poor decisions involved becoming a telephone mule for the drug traffickers, passing messages between the distributors and sellers. She was caught and punished with a life sentence without parole for drug conspiracy and money laundering. Alice Johnson is no angel, but the severity of her sentence was staggering. She's seen right rushing to her family after being freed In America, unlike most countries, a life sentence usually means exactly that: incarceration for the rest of your life. The US penal system is spectacularly brutal in this regard. Ive interviewed many convicted murderers for various TV crime documentaries. Some thoroughly deserved to have the key to their cell thrown away. But in other cases the lack of a 2nd chance struck me as unnecessarily cruel and unforgiving. For Alice Johnson, a woman whod already seen her life torn apart, it represented the end of any hope or rehabilitation, of becoming again the woman she used to be. That dreadful realisation would destroy most of us, wouldnt it? Yet Alice was determined to NOT let it destroy her. For the next two decades, she devoted herself to being a good person. She became an ordained minister and a mentor to other inmates, took educational and vocational programs, volunteered to help sick and dying prisoners and helped to coordinate the prisons Special Olympics. Unlike most in jail, she also accepted full responsibility for what shed done. Her family tried hard to get her pardoned; they got clemency recommendations from her Warden, Case Manager, Vocational Training Instructor and members of Congress, and petitioned former President Obama. The Warden, Arcala Washington-Adduci, said: Since (Ms. Johnsons) arrival at this institution, she has exhibited outstanding and exemplary work ethic. She is considered to be a model inmate who is willing to go above and beyond in all work tasks. Despite this glowing endorsement, the efforts failed. I dont blame Obama for this; there are thousands of similar cases and presidents cant pardon everyone. But that would have been that for Alice Johnson if Kim Kardashian hadnt decided to take up the fight for her. Last week, the reality star went to the White House for a meeting with President Trump specifically about the case. The encounter was widely ridiculed. TRUMP MEETS RUMP screamed the New York Post, summing up the general mood of the nation. Last week she went to the White House to meet Trump about the case. The encounter was widely ridiculed and I myself initially viewed the visit as just another publicity stunt for headlines I myself initially viewed the whole thing as just another publicity stunt by Kim Kardashian to garner headlines. But yesterday, just a week later, I watched a joyful Alice Johnson run free from prison after 22 years into the arms of her weeping family, and my natural cynicism about all things Kardashian instantly melted away. Frankly, it just doesnt matter if she did it all for self-publicity. The end result is that an American citizen who so clearly deserved a second chance in life has now got that second chance and its almost entirely down to Kim Kardashian. For once, she utilised her extraordinary global celebrity for the right reasons - shining her vast, flashing, gawdy light onto an injustice that will surely have touched the hearts of every decent American. It even touched the heart of President Trump, thus disproving the theory held by many of his opponents that he doesnt have one. While this Administration will always be very tough on crime, said the White House statement announcing Alice Johnsons sentence was being commuted, it believes that those who have paid their debt to society and worked hard to better themselves while in prison deserve a second chance. Yes, they do; and few more so than Alice Johnson. It was Kim Kardashian herself who broke the news to Alice that her sentence was being commuted with immediate effect. Hearing her screams while crying together is a moment I will never forget, she tweeted afterwards. Her commutation is inspirational & gives hope to so many others who are also deserving of a second chance. I hope to continue this important work by working together with organizations who have been fighting this fight for much longer than I have, and deserve the recognition. Kim herself broke the news to Alice that her sentence was being commuted - and her tweet was tinged with a rare bit of humility Fine words, and tinged with rare Kardashian humility too. Alice Johnson said: She (Kim) could have just read an article or whatever and said Oh thats a shame and went on with her life. But she didnt. She chose to get involved in a major way. Yes, she did. And as a result, Alice Johnson is now free. Ive been one of Kim Kardashians biggest critics, but today, I salute her. I just hope it encourages her to do more of this and less of the coarse, attention-seeking nudity nonsense. The RUMP came through with TRUMP and deserves both our congratulations and gratitude. The man shot in the leg by an off-duty FBI agent whose gun fired as he did a backflip on the dance floor of a Colorado nightclub said he initially thought 'some idiot' set off a firecracker until he saw himself covered in blood. Thomas Reddington, 24, was sitting down at a table inside the Mile High Spirits Tasting Room in Denver on Saturday when he was injured in the bizarre incident. Cellphone footage captured the moment the agent, since identified as 29-year-old Chase Bishop, dropped the gun as he backflipped in front of the crowd. It fired when Bishop leaned forward to hastily pick it back up. Scroll down for video Thomas Reddington, 24, was sitting down at a table inside the Mile High Spirits Tasting Room in Denver on Saturday when he was shot by an off-duty FBI agent whose gun fired when he dropped it Reddington, who is now recovering at home from his gunshot wound, told Good Morning America that he had watched the footage a number of times and was still confused by how it managed to occur. 'We sat down at one of those picnic tables, I heard a loud bang and I thought some idiot set off a firecracker,' he said in his first interview. 'Then I looked down at my leg and see some brown residue. I'm still thinking it's a firework... all of a sudden from the knee down my leg became completely red. And that's when it clicked in my head, 'Oh, I've been shot'. 'I like stand up and like start walking in a little circle saying, 'Hey, I think I've been shot. Can someone call 911?'.' The bullet struck Reddington just below his left knee and tore through his leg. Bullet struck Reddington just below his left knee and tore through his leg. He is now recovering at home after undergoing treatment in hospital Footage of the ordeal showed the FBI agent's gun falling from his waistband as he did a backflip in front of a crowd at the Denver club late Saturday night. The gun fired (above) when the agent went to quickly pick it back up Reddington said he blacked out and woke to find a someone using a belt to put a tourniquet on his leg to stop the bleeding (above). He said he lost a lot of blood in the aftermath Cellphone footage captured the moment the agent, since identified as 29-year-old Chase Bishop, dropped the gun as he backflipped in front of the crowd He said he blacked out and woke to find a someone using a belt to put a tourniquet on his leg to stop the bleeding. Reddington said he lost a lot of blood and that he 'soaked through several blankets, several towels, a few gauze pads'. The agent was taken to police headquarters for questioning and then released to an FBI supervisor. Denver Police said Monday they were awaiting lab results to see if alcohol was a factor. Prosecutors will determine whether the agent will face any charges as a result of the shooting. Reddington, who has hired a lawyer, said he just wanted a private conversation with the agent to clear the air. 'I don't blame the guy. I don't want to ruin his life. I just want a private phone call from this guy,' he said. 'I just want to heal... I just want to be able to walk.' The gun fired (pictured above) when the agent went to quickly pick it back up and it shot another clubgoer in the lower leg The gun fired after the agent did the backflip and then went to pick it up and holster it A newborn boy in China has nearly died after swallowing three screws fed by his elder brother when the pair were unattended. An X-ray image released by Chinese media shows the sharp object lodged in the baby's stomach before they were successfully removed by surgeon in an operation. The two children had been left at home by their mother, who had expect her three-year-old son to look after his 37-day-old sibling. Medical image shows the three sharp objects stuck in the Chinese baby boy's body Doctors are pictured inserting a tube into the baby's digestive tract to locate the screws The children's mother found found about the matter when she saw her younger son foaming at the month after returning home. She took him to the hospital immediately. According to The Paper, the month-old baby was admitted to a children's hospital in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, as an emergency patient on the afternoon of June 5. Dr Li Xiaoqin found three large screws stuck in the baby's stomach under a medical scan. The doctor suggested the baby undergo an endoscopy for the objects to be removed. However, the doctor explained that the operation could be risky as they had to put a 7.5mm (0.3in) wide tube along the baby's digestive tract. She feared that the tube might be 'too thick' for the newborn. 'The thinner tubes were too small to retrieve the screws. Otherwise we would have to perform abdominal surgery and that would be more risky,' Dr Li was quoted saying. Luckily, the medics managed to remove all screws within minutes. No cuts were found along the baby's digestive tract. The screws were removed within minutes and had not caused any injuries to the baby The elder son told his mother that he had fed his brother the screws measuring 1.4 inches The unnamed mother told the press that she had left her two sons at home and thought her older son could take care of her younger son. Being asked what happened to the baby, the three-year-old son claimed that he 'just fed him three screws'. Dr Li advised the mother not to rely on young children to take care of babies. 'Children can easily make wrong decision without knowing the risks,' said Dr Li. The baby is now recovering from operation. Kim Kardashian West will meet Alice Marie Johnson, the great-grandmother whose life sentence was commuted by Donald Trump after she was convicted of being part of a drug-smuggling ring, amid rumours that the US President is captivated by his power to issue pardons. Kim K and Alice Marie Johnson could meet as early as next week after the latter was released from jail on Wednesday and the pair have already spoken on the phone, after Trump granted her clemency and her sentence was commuted. Alice Marie Johnson was jailed for life in 1996 for being part of a cocaine ring despite otherwise having a clean record and violence not featuring in the case. She had applied for clemency during Barack Obamas 2014 push, but her application was denied. Kim Kardashian will meet Alice Marie Johnson, whose life sentence was commuted by Trump Who is Alice Marie Johnson? Alice Marie Johnson, convicted of drug conspiracy and money laundering in 1997, has garnered media attention after reality star Kim Kardashian West heard about her story and visited President Trump at the White House to ask for Johnsons sentence to be commuted. Her story captured the nation because it discussed the tale of thousands of Americans who are given life sentences for non-violent drug-related crimes, most of whom are black and come from working class backgrounds. Alice had a difficult life from a young age, having married and falling pregnant at the age of 15 and because of this her Olive Branch school tried to force her to drop out, but Johnson refused and graduated with honours two years later. However, after divorcing her husband in 1989, she lost her job of 10 years at the FedEx Corporation because of a gambling addiction a year later. Johnson was forced to file for bankruptcy in 1991 and her house was foreclosed on. The following year a scooter accident resulted in the death of her youngest son, Cory. What did Alice Marie Johnson do? During this time of struggle, Alice Marie Johnson met people involved with drug dealing and became wrapped up in an operation to transport cocaine to Memphis, Tennessee in order to be distributed. In 1993, she was arrested on various drug and money laundering charges however, at the trial, prosecutors convinced 10 of 15 of her co-conspirators to testify against her so that their charges could be reduced, or dropped. Alice Marie Johnson sentence Johnson admitted that she did relay coded messages via telephone but never personally made drug deals or sold deals. She was sentenced to life in prison without parole, plus 25 years and 16 years on, Johnson was one of more than 110 prisoner case studies in the ACLU report, A Living Death. In the report, the ACLU revealed that there are prisoners with sentences of life without parole for those possessing a crack pipe, acting as a middleman in the sale of $10 of marijuana, possessing a bottle cap with a trace of heroin too small to weigh, selling a single crack rock and shoplifting a $159 jacket. Of the 3,200 prisoners in nine states surveyed, four out of five are black or Hispanic and all come from poor backgrounds. Alice Marie Johnson commutation President Donald Trump has granted Alice Marie Johnson clemency after her case was spotlighted by Kim Kardashian West and will be released from federal prison in Aliceville, Alabama, where she has been serving since 1996. Kim posted on Twitter about her release with the caption: BEST NEWS EVER!!!! So grateful to @realDonaldTrump, Jared Kushner & to everyone who has showed compassion & contributed countless hours to this important moment for Ms. Alice Marie Johnson. Her commutation is inspirational & gives hope to so many others who are also deserving of a second chance. I hope to continue this important work by working together with organizations who have been fighting this fight for much longer than I have and deserve the recognition. Kim then said that she had had a call with Johnson, which she said will forever be one of my best memories. Telling her for the first time and hearing her screams while crying together is a moment I will never forget. BEST NEWS EVER!!!! https://t.co/JUbpbE1Bk0 Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) June 6, 2018 So grateful to @realDonaldTrump, Jared Kushner & to everyone who has showed compassion & contributed countless hours to this important moment for Ms. Alice Marie Johnson. Her commutation is inspirational & gives hope to so many others who are also deserving of a second chance. Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) June 6, 2018 I hope to continue this important work by working together with organizations who have been fighting this fight for much longer than I have and deserve the recognition. Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) June 6, 2018 The phone call I just had with Alice will forever be one of my best memories. Telling her for the first time and hearing her screams while crying together is a moment I will never forget. Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) June 6, 2018 Johnsons attorneys had prepared Kim Kardashian for the meeting and the White House later said that the commutation was being granted because Ms. Johnson has accepted responsibility for her past behavior and has been a model prisoner over the past two decades. Despite receiving a life sentence, Alice worked hard to rehabilitate herself in prison, and act as a mentor to her fellow inmates. The statement continued: 'While this Administration will always be very tough on crime, it believes that those who have paid their debt to society and worked hard to better themselves while in prison deserve a second chance. Trump pardons Amid rumours that the US President is obsessed with the power of giving pardons, Trump has issued five pardons and two commutations during his time in the White House. His most recent pardon was for Dinesh DSouza and days earlier, Jack Johnson who, in 1920, was convicted for travelling with his white girlfriend, then considered to be in violation of the Mann Act. Trump has also pardoned Lewis Scooter Libby, who was convicted in connection with the CIA leak scandal, Kristian Saucier, who had unauthorised possession and retained national defense information and Joe Arpaio, the former Sheriff of Maricopa County in Arizona who was convicted of criminal contempt. Before Alice Marie Johnsons commutation, Sholom Rubashkin was excused of his 27-year prison term for bank fraud. Rumour has it that he has another 30 pardons planned for the end of the summer. The White House delivered an awkward message to embattled EPA administrator Scott Pruitt, who has become a regular at the White House mess: please think about eating somewhere else once in a while. The cafeteria in the basement of the West Wing is a high-status and prime location in which to get a chicken salad or a fruit plate, while impressing a guest or bumping into a first family member. Pruitt, who is facing a slew of scandals over multi-million security costs, first class tax-payer funded tickets, use of emergency sirens, a discount lease from a lobbyist's wife, close ties with Oklahoma lobbyists, use of staff for errands, and trying to get a chicken franchise has become a regular there. But Pruitt appeared to have overstayed his welcome, Politico reported. LET'S DO LUNCH; EPA chief Scott Pruitt had to be warned not to treat the White House mess like his personal dining room, according to a stunning new report A person close to Pruitt said the message delivered was: 'We love having Mr. Pruitt, but it's not meant for everyday use.' It is just the latest scandal to buffet the embattled anti-regulation Oklahoman Due to Pruitt's a White House cabinet affairs staffer informed agency heads that cabinet heads 'shouldn't treat the mess as their personal dining hall,' according to the report, citing three people with knowledge of it. Cabinet members like Pruitt are expected to use the mess, which is operated by the Navy, only occasionally. It seats 50 and has just a dozen tables, which also accommodate the senior White House staff. According to the White House, the tables are 'adorned with elegant table linens, fresh flowers, and official White House china. It is decorated with wood paneling, nautical trim, and ship paintings.' WE'RE ALL BOOKED UP UNFORTUNATELY: Pruitt, whose agency is nearby, had to be informed the mess is only for their occasional use PLEASE COME AGAIN NOT TOO SOON: The White House mess is a favorite locale for senior White House staff It also offers a pretty good deal. on dishes ranging form fried chicken to greek salad. A billing statement obtained by the publication shows purchases of french yogurt, cowboy skirt steak, a cheese omelette, hamburgers, and other dishes. Table reservations are available to senior White House officials including commissioned officers, Cabinet secretaries, and their guests. There is a nearby take-out window open to all White House staff members for carryout service. Other cabinet members also have been spotted there including Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Energy secretary Rick Perry. The popcorn / chicken with waffles goes for $11.15, and an order of fries cost just $1.81. Trump on Wednesday praised Pruitt at an event on hurricane preparedness. 'EPA is doing really, really well,' Trump said at an event at Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters attended by Pruitt. 'Somebody has to say that about you a little bit, you know that, Scott.' The White House and EPA denied comment on the cafeteria story. IF YOU LIKE IT HERE, YOU WOULD LOVE LE DIPLOMATE: The menu features skirt steak and french fries, dishes that also are available at a French restaurant Pruitt reportedly visited after asking his detail to use sirens DO YOU HAVE A RESERAVATION? According to a report, Pruitt has brought Oklahoma friends there, and also dined with Ivanka Trump TABLE FOR ONE PLEASE: Scott Pruitt, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), speaks during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, May 16, 2018. Pruitt faced intense criticism in his first Senate testimony since a crush of ethical allegations that have put his job in jeopardy Trump has repeatedly expressed his support for Pruitt, who has vigorously pursued Trump's campaign promises to reduce environmental regulations and increase fossil fuel production. But there have been mounting ethics concerns about Pruitt. The EPA chief has been criticized for paying below-market rent on a lobbyist-owned condominium, for his routine use of first-class travel, excessive spending on security and costly office renovations. More than 100 lawmakers, including several Republicans, have called for Pruitt to step down. This week, congressional Democrats released the transcript of an interview in which Millan Hupp, a close aide to Pruitt, said the administrator had her carry out personal errands, including researching the purchase of an old mattress from the Trump International Hotel. Hupp and another close aide, Sarah Greenwalt, resigned on Wednesday, the EPA said. Hupp's resignation was first reported by The Atlantic magazine. Pruitt in a statement called Hupp a 'valued member of the EPA team from day one.' The Washington Post reported this week that Pruitt asked his EPA scheduler to arrange a meeting last year with the chief executive of the restaurant chain Chick-fil-A. Pruitt eventually spoke with the company's legal department about his wife, Marilyn, opening a franchise, the Post reported. A representative for Chick-fil-A said Pruitt's wife started but did not complete a franchisee application, according to the newspaper. Asked about the report, Pruitt did not directly comment on whether he sought a franchise for his wife, according to an excerpt of an interview with Nexstar Media Group posted on Twitter on Wednesday. 'Chick-fil-A is a franchise of faith and it's one of the best in the country, and so, that's something we were very excited about, so, and we need more of them in Tulsa and we need more of them across the country,' said Pruitt, a former Oklahoma attorney general. The company and the EPA did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters. 'Scott Pruitt cannot shift the blame for his scandals to his aides or career EPA employees, said Democratic Representative Don Beyer, a member of the House Natural Resources Committee. 'The corruption begins with Scott Pruitt, and it must end with his resignation or firing.') Chinas No. 2 telecommunications equipment maker ZTE secured a lifeline from the Trump administration on Thursday after agreeing to pay a $1 billion fine and overhaul leadership in a deal that will lift a ban on its doing business with U.S. suppliers. The agreement comes as U.S. President Donald Trump seeks trade concessions from China and negotiations continue to avoid a trade war between the world's two largest economies. Shares of U.S. companies that do business with ZTE rose on Thursday. Republican and Democratic U.S. senators immediately attacked the agreement, introducing legislation to block it and citing intelligence warnings that ZTE poses a national security threat. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Thursday the U.S. government had reached a deal with ZTE that reverses a ban on it buying parts from U.S. suppliers, allowing China's No. 2 telecommunications equipment maker to get back into business. The Trump administration threw Chinese phone maker ZTE a lifeline after it was virtually shut down over illicit trading with Iran, but a group of Senators wants to stop the settlement in its tracks over national security fears The president is aiming to produce a bargaining chip to use in larger trade negotiations with China but could come up empty The Senate measure would restore penalties on ZTE for violating export controls and bar U.S. government agencies from purchasing or leasing equipment or services from ZTE or Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, another major Chinese firm. It would also ban the U.S. government from using grants or loans to subsidize Huawei, ZTE or any subsidiaries or affiliates. The legislation has bipartisan support. It was introduced by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and fellow Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen, as well as Republican Senator Tom Cotton, a close Trump ally who has emerged as one of his party's most influential foreign policy voices. A U.S. investigation into ZTE was launched following news reports in 2012 that the company had signed contracts to ship hardware and software worth millions of dollars to Iran from some of the best-known U.S. technology companies. ZTE pleaded guilty last year to conspiring to evade U.S. embargoes by selling U.S. equipment to Iran. The ban on buying U.S. parts was imposed in April after the company lied about disciplining some executives responsible for the violations. ZTE then ceased major operations. Under the deal, ZTE will change its board and management within 30 days, pay a $1 billion fine and put an additional $400 million in escrow. The deal also includes a new 10-year ban that is suspended unless there are future violations. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross negotiated a $1.4 billion settlement but lawmakers are worried that the firm will ultimately use retail sale of its devices for espionage on a global scale Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio says ZTE is a massive security risk Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is co-sponsoring a defense amendment that would ban the U.S. from helping ZTE stay afloat 'We will closely monitor ZTE's behavior,' Ross said in a statement. 'If they commit any further violations, we would again be able to deny them access to U.S. technology as well as collect the additional $400 million in escrow.' Ross said the penalty is the largest the Commerce Department has ever levied. The agreement does not take effect until ZTE pays the $1 billion fine and puts the $400 million in escrow, which is likely to take at least a few days, according to a person familiar with the matter. ZTE did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday. Under the new agreement, ZTE must also retain a compliance team selected by the Commerce Department for 10 years. The company already has a U.S. court-appointed monitor. U.S. senators who co-sponsored the bill to hamstring the administration left no doubt Thursday about where the y stood, and why. 'I assure you with 100 percent confidence that #ZTE is a much greater national security threat than steel from Argentina or Europe,' Republican Sen. Marco Rubio tweeted with the hashtag #VeryBadDeal. 'This deal with #ZTE may keep them from selling to Iran and North Korea. Thats good,' he added in another tweet. 'But it will do nothing to keep us safe from corporate & national security espionage. That is dangerous.' Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton, a close Trump ally who has emerged as one of his party's most influential foreign policy voices, is also lined up against the White House and ZTE Rubio said ZTE is a greater threat to the U.S. than foreign metals that the U.S. is taxing at the border under the guise of 'national security' U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that ZTE poses a 'significant' national security threat. 'ZTE is a state-controlled telecommunications company that poses significant espionage risks, which this agreement appears to do little to address,' Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said in a statement. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called the agreement 'a 180-degree turn away from the president's promise to be tough on China.' Eric Hirschhorn, a former U.S. undersecretary of commerce who had been involved in the ZTE case, said 'the government is merely setting a price for doing business instead of giving them the punishment they deserve.' A U.S. investigation into ZTE was launched after Reuters reported that the company had signed contracts to ship hardware and software worth millions of dollars to Iran from some of the best-known U.S. technology companies. The probe found that ZTE bought U.S. components and incorporated them into its equipment, illegally shipped them to Iran, and devised elaborate schemes to hide the illegal activity. The company pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Texas last year. Shenzhen-based ZTE has a subsidiary in Richardson, Texas. ZTE's survival has been a topic of discussion in high-level U.S.-China trade talks. Trump tweeted on May 14 that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping were working together to help ZTE 'get back into business, fast.' Trump met with his trade advisers on Tuesday to discuss China's offer to import an extra $70 billion of American goods over a year in hopes of defusing a potential trade war between the world's two largest economies. One of the U.S. companies caught in the international crossfire is Qualcomm Inc, whose products account for the lions share of chips inside ZTE smartphones. Separately, Qualcomm is trying to get Chinese approval for its pending $44 billion acquisition of NXP Semiconductors NV. Qualcomm Chief Executive Officer Steven Mollenkopf said on Thursday he hoped the ZTE agreement would pave the way for the NXP approval. Nearly 85 percent of junior officers in the US Navy lack the skills needed to react decisively to avoid a collision with another ship, according to a 'sobering' report. Newly graduated officers were picked at random for a series of tests in response to two deadly collisions last summer involving the USS Fitzgerald and USS John S McCain. Out of the 164 evaluated, just 27 passed with 'no concerns', while 108 had 'some concerns' and 29 came up with 'significant concerns', according to the report published by the Surface Warfare Officer School and obtained by Defense News. Newly graduated officers were picked at random for a series of tests in response to two deadly collisions last summer involving the USS Fitzgerald (pic on June 17 off the coast of Japan) and USS John S McCain Although most of the first-tour officers of the deck (OODs) could keep clear from other ships in a simulator, those who found themselves at the imminent risk of a collision 'were often ill-equipped to take immediate action'. The report raised a series of skill shortages that are believed to have contributed to the twin tragedies in 2017. The USS John S. McCain collided with a tanker off Singapore, killing 10, while the destroyer Fitzgerald hit a container ship near Japan, killing seven. Knowledge of radar was lacking among the officers accessed for the report, a problem that was believed to have contributed to the Fitzgerald collision. The report also noted that officers often struggled to apply the international rules of sea navigation in low-visibility situations. According to the International Rules of the Road for high seas, USS Fitzgerald was in a crossing situation with cargo ship, Crystal, off to Fitzgerald's starboard side and was required manoeuvre but did not until it was too late. The guided-missile destroyer John S McCain on August 21, 2017 after colliding with a tanker in the waters off Singapore And on the McCain, confusion among officers about how to move the ship away from danger took hold just at the moment when decisive action was needed. US Navy Vice Admiral Richard Brown called the memo 'sobering', and said the results would be used to inform future training programs. 'While the OOD competency checks were a snapshot in time, we must be realistic in confronting the systemic shortfalls that they revealed in core proficiencies across the junior qualified members of the force,' he said. 'We as a community can and must tackle our deficiencies and ensure there is meaningful experience behind our qualification letters.' US Navy Vice Admiral Richard Brown called the memo 'sobering', and said the results would be used to inform future training programs. Pictured: An undated file photo of Navy recruits A report released in the immediate aftermath of the twin collisions found the US Navy was at fault in both cases because its crews were 'under-prepared'. The commander of the McCain pleaded guilty to a charge of negligent dereliction of duty resulting in death in May. Alfredo Sanchez was sentenced to a punitive letter of reprimand and docked of three months pay. He also agreed to leave the Navy. A school in north London has gone shoe-free in a bid to make children 'feel more at home' in classes. Pupils at the Torriano School in Kentish Town are being told to take off their shoes when they come inside in a move bosses hope will 'take away the hierarchy' between children and teachers. The move comes after teachers from the school visited Finland, Iceland and Sweden, where the practice is more widespread. Children and teachers at a north London school have been told to leave their shoes at the classroom door and wear slippers or socks during lessons. File photo Headteacher Helen Bruckdorfer told The Camden New Journal: 'What resonated is this connection between home and school, which is very different to the way we organise school, and the need for children to feel comfortable and relaxed within the school setting when they come into the building. 'When you get home you come in and take your shoes off because you just sort of release that energy. You are able to think more clearly.' The policy is being trialed in the school's nursery, reception and Year 4 classes, but could be rolled out to the whole school if successful. Ms Bruckdorfer added: 'It takes away the hierarchy because all of us, teachers and children, have to take our shoes off.' She said the move is very popular among children, who have become 'calmer' since they shed their shoes. The move comes after teachers from the Torriano School in Kentish Town, north London visited schools in Finland, Iceland and Sweden, where the practice is more widespread The school's new policy follows research by Bournemouth University, which claimed 'shoeless' children get better grades, behave better and are more likely to arrive to school on time. But critics have raised questions over how effective the policy really is. Chris McGovern, from the Campaign for Real Education, said the much-vaunted Finnish education system should not be seen to have all the answers. He told MailOnline: 'Not all children wish to learn within a smelly feet environment. Let parents and pupils decide. 'Almost 40 per cent of primary school pupils are not reaching the govt's floor standard in literacy and numeracy. Learning in one's socks is unlikely to solve this problem may encourage to shoe-kicking bullies.' A North Carolina pizza maker is behind bars after he allegedly put rat poison in the cheese to try and hurt customers. Ricky Lee Adami, 55, has been charged with distributing food containing noxious/deleterious material. Adami was caught on surveillance footage placing what it believed to be rat poison in the shredded cheese machine at Primo Pizza in Fayetteville last Friday. North Carolina pizza maker Ricky Lee Adami, 55, is behind bars after he allegedly put rat poison in the cheese to try and hurt customers Gurol Bicer, Primo Pizza's manager, had been preparing pizza when he noticed an unknown substance in the cheese. 'I brought the bucket of cheese from the batch that [Adami] cut,' Bicer told WNCN. 'I fluffed it up like I normally do.' That's when Bicer spotted brown pellets in the cheese. He then found pellets in three out of the five tubs of cheese in the restaurant. Adami was caught on surveillance footage placing what it believed to be rat poison in the shredded cheese machine at Primo Pizza (pictured) in Fayetteville last Friday Gurol Bicer, Primo Pizza's manager, had been preparing pizza when he noticed an unknown substance in one of the tubs of cheese. Pictured is a tub of cheese without the poison Bicer threw everything away and went to check the surveillance footage to see who had prepared the cheese. When he saw Adami putting something inside the cheese, he immediately called the police. 'Everything he touched, I threw away,' Bicer said. 'All the containers, the parts of the machine, the cheese - of course.' Bicer (pictured) spotted brown pellets in the cheese. He then found pellets in three out of the five tubs of cheese in the restaurant Bicer said Adami had worked with Primo Pizza for about a year and had never caused trouble before. He believes Adami may have decided to do something to the cheese after getting into an argument with the owner earlier that day. Adami is currently being held at the Cumberland County Detention Center on a $100,000 secured bond. Public records show Adami has been convicted of multiple DWIS, larcey, breaking and entering, and burning a public building. The mother and grandmother of a teenager left to 'rot to death' in their care 'didn't seem bothered' as medics battled to keep him alive, asking police: 'How much does a funeral cost?' Jordan Burling, 18, weighed little more than six stones when paramedics found him lying on a filthy inflatable mattress, wearing a soiled nappy and covered in pressure sores on June 30 2016. He died as a result of malnutrition, immobility and his infection-riddled sores after being 'allowed to decay' for several weeks before his death, it is alleged. Denise Cranston, Abigail Burling and Dawn Cranston (left to right) are pictured arriving at Leeds Crown Court for another day of their manslaughter trial today His mother Dawn Cranston 45, and grandmother Denise Cranston, 70, remained 'emotionless' and 'calm' as the emergency services carried out CPR on the boy, Leeds Crown Court heard today. Police Constable Ben McNamara, who was the first to arrive at the scene at 12.30pm, said: 'Due to the lack of emotion and some of the things they said to me I thought the whole family had some sort of learning difficulty or mental health issue. 'His mother asked me 'how much does a funeral cost?' 'They also voluntarily offered me information such as the fact Jordan's grandfather had hanged himself at the address. She also said she didn't know she was pregnant with him until the point she was giving birth.' Denise sat in an armchair, looking on blankly in silence with the TV blaring in the background as the ambulance team fought to save him at Dawn's home in Butterbowl Garth, Farnley, West Yorkshire. Dawn was not in the room when her son died, waiting in the kitchen instead, jurors heard today. Jordan Burling, 18, of Farnley, Leeds, died as a result of malnutrition in June 2016 She and her mother and Jordan's sister Abigail Burling, 25, stand accused of his manslaughter. Yesterday jurors heard his body likened to those of prisoners held in WWII extermination camps. They also were told of how a police search of the house uncovered the body of Dawn Cranston's full-term newborn baby, which had been stuffed into a rucksack. Today the jury heard from the paramedics who were first at the shocking scene arriving at 11.16am just six minutes after Dawn's 999 call. Describing Jordan's physical state when they arrived one of the paramedics Bridgett Sheppard said: 'He was very very pale and you could see every bone. Jordan's sister Abigail Burling (pictured left) and his grandmother Denise Cranston (right) arrived at Leeds Crown Court today for another day of the trial The teenager's mother Dawn Cranston arrived at Leeds Crown Court wearing a jumper and blouse with pink sunglasses on Thursday morning 'His eyes looked sullen and I noticed he looked to have an adult nappy on.' Speaking about Jordan's physical condition Ms Sheppard told the court: 'I asked the mum why Jordan was so thin and she responded saying he hadn't been eating for a few weeks. 'But I remember thinking he shouldn't be as thin as he was after just two weeks of not eating. 'The mum didn't seem bothered by what was going on or seem in a state of shock which seemed unusual. 'The grandma was just watching us from an armchair at the far side of the room, the TV was on and she didn't say anything. 'Even as we performed CPR she didn't seem bothered just sat very straight-faced with no emotion.' Also giving evidence today was paramedic Robert Tiffany who arrived at the scene in an ambulance with Ms Sheppard on June 30, 2016. Jordan Burling was found at his mother Dawn's home in Butterbowl Garth, Farnley in West Yorkshire (pictured) He said: 'Jordan was unresponsive, unconscious and after three minutes of us being there his heart stopped. 'As we performed CPR his grandma looked on emotionless and his mum stayed in the kitchen.' Speaking of Dawn and Denise's reaction he said: 'I would definitely say expressionless and unemotional. This was an extremely unusual and stayed in my mind.' Speaking of the scene where he found Jordan he said: 'Had a feeling something didn't seem right 'It was an unusual house, very cluttered and piled high with boxes and bag. It was unkempt, Jordan was surrounded by cluttered. I've never seen anything like it before.' Another paramedic giving evidence today was Graham Farrar, who attended the scene in a rapid response vehicle. Medics battled as they fought to save Jordan at his mother's home (street pictured), but she and her mother just looked on blankly, the court heard today Speaking of the families reaction to Jordan's death he said: 'We told the grandma who was still in the room that we had no alternative but to stop and she remained silent with a vacant expression. 'I went to find his mother who was in the kitchen and she remained calm as I told her that Jordan had unfortunately passed away. Mr Farrar described the reactions as 'unusual'. The court heard how paramedics requested the police attend the scene after the unusual conditions surrounding Jordan's death. During the opening yesterday, the jury heard from prosecutor, Nicholas Lumley QC that Jordan had not had an especially healthy or happy life, even in his early years. As a young boy, he went to the local primary school, where he soiled himself and defecated on the floor. Prosecutor, Nicholas Lumley QC said: 'He had head lice and his teeth were in a very poor state. From left: Denise Cranston, Dawn Cranston and Abigail Burling leave Leeds Crown Court 'Jordan went on to Farnley Park High School, but after a couple of terms, his mother wrote to the local authority, telling them that she intended to homeschool him. 'He never attended school or college again, never took any examinations or achieved any qualifications.' Mr Lumley QC told a court that Jordan became increasingly anonymous from the moment he was taken out of school. 'Education and social services played little part in his life,' he added. 'He rarely saw the doctor as a child and not at all for some years before his death. 'He hadn't seen a dentist since 2009 when 16 of his teeth were treated, four of them removed. 'He may have been invisible to the authorities but not so to these defendants.' The trial was told yesterday how Jordan's father Steven Burling, with whom he had limited contact, had sent several text messages asking about his son's condition. The trial continues. Ellen DeGeneres' birthday trip to Africa has ended in social media users attacking the talk show host for posting 'poverty porn'. DeGeneres has been sharing numerous photos to her Instagram page from her trip to Rwanda to celebrate her 60th birthday. Most of the photos show the comedian petting elephants, trekking up a mountain to see gorillas and posing in a safari with wife, Portia de Rossi. One picture, however, has ignited a social media firestorm. In the image, DeGeneres smiles broadly at the camera while 14 African children crowd around her in the middle of a field. In the caption, she thanked 'all the amazing people' she met on her trip but many people accused DeGeneres of participating in 'poverty porn', defined as the exploitation of the poor to gain sympathy or donation money. Ellen DeGeneres was accused of 'poverty porn' after she posted the above photo of herself surrounded by 'poor' African children One Twitter user called the photo a 'misfire' and lashed out at the comedian and talk show host for taking the photo Another Twitter user told DeGeneres she should have posted photos of 'the actual beauty of Africa' 'Why are we still depicted by this?' one angry Twitter user commented 'There's more Africa than poor looking kids' another user posted on Twitter Another called the photo the 'classic I visited Africa' photo 'Stop exploiting African babies!!' one person commented on Instagram. 'A trip to Africa isn't complete without the obligatory photo with "poor" African kids. How else will people know you took a trip to an African country?' another person posted. Another wrote: 'Why didn't she post the pictures of the lavish neighborhoods of Africa? Stop portraying bad image (sic) of Africa to the world!!!' Others took to Twitter to lash out at DeGeneres, who has yet to comment on the backlash. 'This is a misfire. White tourist taking a pic with anonymous group of happy but poor African kids always is. Examine your motivations in taking this pic- be honest. Showing how real your experience was? Did kids consent to this being posted? These kids arent props,' Twitter user Tara Fernando tweeted. 'Ellen, the purpose of #VisitRwanda is to encourage tourism and business opportunities. You're not helping by participating in Poverty Porn,' user Lando wrote. 'Africans don't travel to your country to take pictures with your half-a-million homeless people. Please do better. We are no ones charity.' Ellen DeGeneres arrived in Africa on May 27 to celebrate her 60th birthday DeGeneres flew to Rwanda to meet with various wildlife conservation foundations after her wife surprised DeGeneres by creating The Ellen DeGeneres Wildlife Fund The fund supports global conservation efforts for critically endangered species. Its first initiative is to help build a permanent home for the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund DeGeneres' wife, Portia de Rossi (right), surprised the talk show host in February by creating the foundation During the trip, Rossi and DeGeneres trekked the mountains to see gorillas The couple also snapped a few photos with giraffes and other wildlife animals during the trip to Africa DeGeneres has shared numerous photos from her trip to Rwanda. She arrived back home on Wednesday after spending more than a week in Africa DeGeneres, who turned 60 in January, arrived in Rwanda on May 27 to meet with various wildlife conservation foundations after her wife surprised DeGeneres by creating The Ellen DeGeneres Wildlife Fund. The fund supports global conservation efforts for critically endangered species. Its first initiative is to help build a permanent home for the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. In May, actor Ashton Kutcher and manager Guy Oseary appeared on an episode of the Ellen DeGeneres Show and surprised the host with a $4million gift for her namesake fund. Kutcher said he was compelled to donate after hearing about how passionate DeGeneres is about the fund. 'I ran into you on the beach, and you told me about this amazing birthday gift that you got from Portia, and you explained to me that if you weren't doing this, that would you would be working on is that project, right?' Kutcher said. 'Yeah I would be saving the gorillas, yes,' DeGeneres replied. 'But you never ask anyone for anything ever,' Kutcher added. 'And you said at one point, "I'm going to need some help with this", and I said, "You're asking me for help?" You never ask anyone for help ever!' DeGeneres was speechless and even appeared emotional during the episode thanking Kutcher and Oseary for their generosity. The sister of the mother who starved and abused her 13 children in a California house of horrors has told how she was obsessed with witchcraft and Ouija boards. Louise Turpin remains in custody on multiple charges of child abuse along with her husband David. They were arrested in January after one of their emaciated children escaped their home and asked for help. Louise's sister Elizabeth Flores, who claims to have been cut off from the pair for years before they were arrested, has since written a book about the case. In it, she describes how Louise became obsessed with witchcraft and Ouija boards before the abuse of her children began. Louise Turpin's sister Elizabeth Flores (right in an interview earlier this year after her sister's arrest) said she became fascinated with witchcraft in 2008 and 2010. Turpin is seen (left) during a recent court appearance At some time between 2008 and 2010, Turpin went to her sister's home in Texas and brought a board with her, Flores said. She told her sister that it told her she would have another baby. 'She told me she was messing around with witchcraft. It just really freaked me out. She brought the Ouija board to my home and I wouldn't let her bring it in my door,' Flores told The New York Daily News on Thursday as she promoted her new book, Sisters of Secrets. Afterwards, she tried to convince her to join a snake handling festival and believed the reptiles would give her 'power'. 'Louise was attracted to that, like women dancing with rattle snakes around their necks. The 13 children were aged between two and 29 when they were found in January. Some had never been to a dentist and all were severely starved Turpin stands accused of gross child abuse along with her husband David. They are seen together in a May 4 court appearance 'She was reading that snakes give you power,' Flores said. Flores believes that it played a role in her sister's treatment of the children who all required hospital care when they were saved because they had been starved and mistreated so severely. Turpin's sister Elizabeth has written the book Sisters of Secrets to, she says, give her nieces and nephews a 'voice' 'I do know witchcraft is very serious and demonic. 'If she did get deep into that, I do think it could have led her to do what she did because youre basically selling your soul to the devil. 'Maybe she was the mastermind behind all of this. Maybe it wasn't David,' she said. Flores, who did several interviews after her sister's arrest in January, said she wrote the book to give their abused children a 'voice'. 'I want them to read the book and know they do have a voice. 'My nieces and nephews didn't know they had a voice,' she said. She is not the only one of her siblings to speak out since the pair's arrest made national news in January. Teresa Robinette, their other sister, has told how their own mother allowed a pedophile to rape them when they were children in return for money. Turpin and her husband both deny the 50 charges of abuse they stand accused of. This was the home where the children were found chained to their beds after one of the siblings escaped and asked for help When their children were found in January, some were chained to their beds. Some had never been to a dentist and they were severely malnourished. Turpin and David remain in custody on $2million bail. They had moved around for years before the children were found, displacing them from state to state which is how authorities believe they evaded detection. In a recent court appearance, David Turpin denied perjury for allegedly lying to authorities by claiming the children were enrolled in school. This is the grim moment a car stops in a quiet street and a woman leans out the window to leave a newborn girl balanced precariously on a doorstep before driving off. The sickening incident took place on Wednesday in the city of Muzaffarnagar, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Security camera footage shows a silver Hyundai Santro stop in the middle of a narrow street in a residential area just after 8am. This is the moment a woman leans out of a car to abandon a baby on the doorstep of a street in Muzaffarnagar, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh Security camera footage shows a silver Hyundai Santro stop in the residential area just after 8am. The baby girl was wrapped in a blanket and left precariously on the edge of the doorstep - right in the path of oncoming vehicles The woman quickly deposits the baby, who is wrapped in a blanket, on the doorstep - right next to the path of oncoming vehicles. According to Officer Harish Bhadoria, the baby was found after local residents heard her crying and she has been taken to a local hospital, where it is said she remains in a critical condition. The chief medical officer at the district hospital said: 'The newborn is under treatment but her condition remains critical. We are hopeful of her recovery.' The baby was found after local residents heard her crying and she has been taken to a local hospital, where it is said she remains in a critical condition The woman who took the baby to the hospital, Hazi Dilshad Ansari, said: 'The woman who abandoned the baby took advantage of the fact that, these days, streets are deserted in the morning due to Ramadan. 'My sister and I took the baby to the doctor, who confirmed that she was fine.' Police said they are trying to track down the woman who abandoned the baby girl. Meanwhile the story has received much attention and one local resident Mohammad Faisal even offered to adopt her. He said: 'She is so beautiful. We can legally adopt her if the authorities allow us.' Susanna Feldman, 14, had been missing since May 22 before her body was discovered on the outskirts of Wiesbaden, west Germany Police in Germany are hunting an Iraqi asylum-seeker over the rape and murder of a teenage girl. A Turkish man, 35, is already in custody as part of the investigation into the 14-year-old's death. Susanna Feldman had been missing since May 22 and her body was found on the outskirts of the western city of Wiesbaden, west Germany. Yesterday, investigators made a gruesome discovery when they found her body in an overgrown patch of forest next to a railway track near Wiesbaden, a city in the central German state of Hesse. A police investigator said: 'We all assume that the body is Susanna's. 'But we cannot say for sure as the corpse was buried.' According to local media, who quoted anonymous sources within Wiesbaden Police, Susanna was strangled to death Prosecutors suspect the man in custody and 20-year-old Iraqi asylum-seeker Ali Basar raped and murdered the girl before burying her. Both previously lived at homes for asylum-seekers in Wiesbaden. Basar is last week believed to have fled with his family to Erbil, Iraq, via Istanbul, and was suspected in a string of previous offences, including robbery at knifepoint. German police are hunting Iraqi asylum-seeker Ali Basar, who is believed to have escaped to Iraq after raping and murdering the 14-year-old Police officers at the scene of where Susanna Feldman's body was discovered by some rail tracks on the outskirts of Wiesbaden, in west Germany He is thought to arrived in Germany in October 2015 during the height of a migrant influx to Germany and was appealing the rejection of his asylum application. The Turkish suspect, who was not previously known to police, was arrested Wednesday evening. Police said a 13-year-old refugee boy went to a police station in Wiesbaden on Sunday and told officers the girl had been raped and killed. He named the Iraqi as a possible perpetrator. A 35-year-old Turkish man remains in police custody. Police are pictured at the scene of the gruesome find, 10 days after the teenager went missing Susanna's body was found in thick vegetation along the side of a railway line following a 10-day search for the teenager Previous killings by asylum-seekers in Germany have fanned tensions over the influx of more than a million migrants in 2015 and 2016. Tensions over migration have helped the right-wing Alternative for Germany enter the German parliament last year. The surge of migrants also sparked a rash of attacks on asylum-seekers' homes, which has since tapered off. Two men were convicted on Thursday in the southwestern city of Landau of setting fire to a home being built for asylum-seekers in the nearby town of Herxheim in 2015. They both received probation. Vladimir Putin has told Russian billionaires to stay in their homeland along with their money in the wake of the Roman Abramovich visa row. The Russian President said tycoons were being persecuted in countries like Britain as he spoke during his live televised annual phone-in with the Russian public. Answering a question about visa problems experienced by billionaire Roman Abramovich in Britain, he said he had advised business people to keep their assets inside Russia. Pressure on Russian businessmen was undermining trust in Western countries, he added. He also used the phone-in session to address the case of ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia - insisting he wanted Moscow to be part of the assassination probe. But the PM's official spokeswoman today hit back at the Kremlin - saying only Russia had the 'technical means and operational experience' to carry out the murder attempt. Vladimir Putin (right) has told Russian billionaires to stay in their homeland along with their money in the wake of the Roman Abramovich visa row. The Chelsea FC owner is pictured, left Putin also used the phone-in session to address the case of ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia (pictured) - insisting he wanted Moscow to be part of the assassination probe The pair collapsed in Salisbury earlier this year and were in critical condition for weeks before recovering The Skripals collapsed in Salisbury earlier this year and were in critical condition for weeks before recovering. British authorities blamed Russia for the March poisoning with a Soviet-designed nerve agent dubbed Novichok. But Putin does not think that the pair were poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent, because they survived the attack. Asked about the poisoning during his annual call-in show on Thursday, Putin said he did not want to comment on the cause of their illness and said Russia was still seeking consular access to both of them and to their case files. He said: 'If as Britain insists a military chemical agent was used against these people, they would have died within second or minutes, on the spot. 'Thank God, this did not happen. Clearly we are dealing with something other than a military agent.' 'We would like to be given access to our citizens, to Yulia, and we would like to have the opportunity to take part fully in the investigation.' A spokeswoman for Theresa May said: The use of a nerve agent on British soil is yet another example of Russias attempts to act with impunity outside international rules. We gave Russia every opportunity to explain its actions on Salisbury. Instead, Russia has again shown its contempt for diplomacy. It has responded with sarcasm, disdain and a blatant disinformation campaign. This includes more than 30 different false narratives so far from the Kremlin and state controlled media. Only the Russian state has the technical means, operational experience. Vladimir Putin (pictured today) has claimed Russian businessmen are being persecuted in Britain and should keep their money at home Putin, who won a landslide re-election victory in March, has taken part in the annual phone-in since 2001, using it to cast himself as a decisive troubleshooter on the home front and as a staunch defender of Russia's interests on the world stage Critics say the event, which is being held days before Russia hosts the soccer World Cup, is a stage-managed piece of theatre designed to let Russians let off steam and fleetingly feel like they can influence a bureaucratic top-down system Members of the public have submitted over 1.4 million questions, Russian news agencies reported, many of them visible on a special website set up for the event Relations between Britain and Russia soured dramatically in the wake of the poisoning. Then last month, there were reports that Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich, was experiencing delays in the processing of his request for a new British visa. The Premier League outfit later announced they had shelved plans for a new 60,000-seater stadium in west London due to an 'unfavourable investment climate'. The move raised questions about Abramovich's commitment to the club into which he has poured hundreds of millions of pounds. Israel's ambassador to Russia Gary Koren then confirmed the businessman had received Israeli citizenship and was now living there. Addressing the matter in his phone-in today, Putin said: 'I warned them that this situation, which we see today, could develop. 'I ... recommended at the time that our business keep its capital in Russia, in the motherland,' said Putin. 'Who is going to help them abroad? They are just persecuted there. Conditions are created to make their work impossible.' A woman who was gang-raped by four Pakistani-migrant brothers as a 14-year-old girl has launched a petition asking for her attackers to be deported from the country. Tegan Wagner, 30, was targeted while at a Sydney house party 16 years ago by the notorious group known as the Ashfield Gang Rapists. One of the men, who was 16 years old when he and his brothers went on a gang-raping spree and cannot be named but is known as MMK, did not offer an apology to his victims as he left prison on Thursday. Scroll down for video Tegan Wager (pictured) 30, is calling for her attackers to be deported from the country after one of four brothers who raped her was released from jail on parole Within two years of immigrating from Pakistan the offenders had formed the group and were responsible for a series of violent attacks on at least six girls over a six-month period. 'In 2002, I was subjected to the most horrifying experience a woman can endure, gang-raped over and over again by four Pakistani brothers, scared they would stab me to death if I did not submit,' Ms Wagner wrote on Change.org. Earlier in the evening she had her first kiss with one of the four men while at the house party but when she tried to stop, her ordeal began. Two of the brothers sexually assaulted her before threats against her life were made by her third attacker, MMK. MMK (pictured), one of the offenders - who cannot be named, was 16 years old when he and his brothers went on a gang-raping spree spanning over six months and targeting at least six victims He was released on parole on Thursday after being handed down a lengthy prison sentence. 'He arrived in Australia from Pakistan in 2000 and was raping teenage girls within two years but because he was given citizenship before he was caught, our laws mean he gets to stay here,' MS wagner said. 'I do not want this man and his brothers to live in our beautiful country. They do not deserve it. The law needs to change.' Peter Dutton expressed that current laws do not immediately deport criminals with dual-citizenship, but said he supports the legislation changing. 'If I could kick them out tomorrow, I would. They're horrible individuals,' Mr Dutton told 7 News. 'I've cancelled the visas of 3500 people who have committed crimes, including 44 people who have committed rape or sexual offences. If I could kick them out of the country tomorrow, I wouldn't hesitate.' An expert on the British royal family who gave interviews in an upper class accent at Harry and Meghan's wedding says his life has been ruined since it was revealed he is actually an American from upstate New York. Thomas J. Mace-Archer-Mills, who was born Thomas 'Tommy' Muscatello, said that in the week since his past was exposed he has received a torrent of abuse including people telling him to kill himself. Despite referring to 'we British' in a number of interviews, he denies ever lying about where he is from and says his place of birth doesn't affect his ability to teach people about the monarchy. On his accent, he said it is the product of hours of expensive elocution lessons he took in an attempt to assimilate into Britain, which he considers to be his home. Thomas J. Mace-Archer-Mills presents himself as a British expert on the royals, but was in fact born in upstate New York - a fact that was revealed to the world a week ago (pictured, Mr Mills standing in front of the Duchess of Cambridge at a function) Mr Mills said since his past was revealed he has been subjected to a torrent of abuse - mainly from Americans - including some messages telling him to kill himself Sought after by the world's media, Thomas has contributed to many television and radio programmes as well as on the news and in print, including for the Royal Wedding Speaking to The Sun Online, Mr Mills said: 'I feel that everything I've worked for has been destroyed. 'I feel like I'm under attack from people I've been kind to people who I have given time and knowledge to. 'I'm very passionate about history and the monarchy and I know what I'm talking about - no matter how much people want to rubbish me and say I'm not an expert.' It was the Wall Street Journal that first exposed Mr Mills' past, describing him as 'an Italian-American from upstate New York'. The article paints a picture of a somewhat eccentric youth who developed a love for the UK thanks to family holiday in Kent, where he learned to ride horses. The paper says Mills began picking up an accent after starring as Mr. Sowerberry in a school production of Oliver Twist, and sometimes greeted friends with 'God save the Queen.' He was a real estate developer in Miami until business went south in the recession, and relocated permanently to the UK in 2012. Mr Mills says the Journal misrepresented the article to him, omitted truths from the final version and took statements from his family out of context. He particularly rankles at the suggestion he ever greeted anyone with 'God save the Queen', because the phrase is not meant as a salutation. 'Theres a time and a place to say "God Save The Queen." How absolutely daft is it to say I start and end conversations with it?,' he said. Despite posing as a Brit, Mr Mills says that most of the abuse he has received has been from Americans and he feels some of it has bordered on racism. He argues that being born in America has no bearing on whether his knowledge about Britain and the royals is valid. Mr Mills speaks in an upper class English accent which he says is the product of hours of expensive elocution lessons which he took in an attempt to assimilate into the UK On his website, he says of his speaking voice, 'Thomas' delivery is exceptional. His diction and annunciation is excellent, whilst his communication is property timed, clear and concise' On his website, Mr Mills describes himself as an 'educational speaker' who gives lectures and instructs at primary and secondary schools and other groups. 'Thomas speaks on a wide range of topics with Royal themes, including his popular niche brand of discussions about the Royals and their drinking habits,' it says. In honour of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in 2012, Mace-Archer-Mills penned his first book 'with permission of the Palace, to which he was granted the use of the official Diamond Jubilee logo. 'To The Queen: A Royal Drinkology' sold 5,000 copies in the months following the central Jubilee weekend.' He adds: 'Thomas understands the formula to successful monarchies from the examples set forth by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II and her father King George VI.' And he even alludes to his posh accent, saying: 'Thomas' delivery is exceptional. His diction and annunciation is excellent, whilst his communication is property timed, clear and concise. 'In understanding sacrifice, duty and service, Thomas has single handed-ly [sic] pushed the monarchist movement to new heights within the United Kingdom, by founding the British Monarchist Society and Foundation, an organisation dedicated to educating the nation about the positive attributes of the monarchy.' According to the Wall Street Journal, his love of England started when he was a boy and 'had an innate feeling for British pronunciation as a youth, picking up his accent in a variety of ways, primarily from visiting the UK'. Changing from Tommy Muscatello into Mr Mace-Archer-Mills, he said, was due to a growing realisation that he identified more as British than American: 'I found where I'm supposed to be and who I am supposed to be'. The publication describes him enjoying early years in Kent, where he learned to 'ride my horses'. He is apparently applying for British citizenship. Mr Mace-Archer-Mills told WSJ he saw himself as a subject-matter-expert, and that his day job was in real estate. But he revealed that his obsession with royalty began while growing up in Bolton Landing, New York, an hour north of Albany: 'even my toys had a royal nature'. Mr Mace-Archer-Mills said he identified more as British than American: 'I found where I'm supposed to be and who I am supposed to be' Reporting from Kensington Palace: Mr Monarchy Jim Miller, his high school music teacher, told the publication that during a production of Oliver, he recalled Tommy being 'able to duplicate a British accent'. Mr Monarchy said that his triple-barrelled surname is a melding of the names of friends and distant relatives, including a family of Archers in England. He formed the British Monarchist Society in 2012, 'as an educated and popular response to the rising tide of republicanism,' which is dedicated to education about the Crown and members of the Royal family, according to his website. In 2015 Mr Mace-Archer-Mills began publishing Crown and Country magazine, focusing on royal-themed topics. There has been a mixed reaction to the WSJ article, with one reader saying it could be called 'cultural appropriation' while another said he hoped 'this pretentious fellow gets that useless citizenship and abandons our proud citizenship'. A couple have been sentenced for handling 11 stolen Cavalier King Charles Spaniels after they were taken from their breeder in a 'devastating' raid. Bridget Darling, 40, and her husband Barry, 51, were handed 16 and 12-month suspended prison sentences at Lincoln Crown Court yesterday. They admitted handling stolen goods after 15 of the spaniels went missing in a raid on commercial breeder Madeline Cowling's home in September 2015. Eleven of them were found at the Darlings' home, but four others were never found. Among the hounds was a pregnant female. Bridget Darling, 40, (pictured) and her husband Barry, 51, were handed 16 and 12-month suspended prison sentences at Lincoln Crown Court yesterday Eleven of them were found at the Darlings' home, but four others were never found. Among the hounds was a pregnant female The pensioner told the court of how she was forced to start her business in Middle Rasen from scratch. She said: 'We are just King Charles Cavalier crazy, we've never known life without them - it has just destroyed us.' The Darlings, of Batley, West Yorkshire, were sentenced alongside Craig Jackson and Barbara Ann Petrie-Harrison, who also confessed to being involved in the kennel burglary. They were handed 16-month prison sentences suspended for a year and a half. At the time of the commercial burglary, Ms Cowling told of how she had suffered panic attacks and high blood pressure after the raid. She described the experience as 'life-changing' and her animals as 'her babies'. Earlier this year figures from insurance firm The Insurance Emporium showed Lincolnshire was the area with the highest number of dog thefts in the UK. The dogs were stolen in raid on breeder Madeline Cowling's Lincolnshire home in 2015 It was then dubbed the 'dog theft capital of Britain'. The Darlings, Jackson and Petrie-Harrison were all made to pay a 140 victim surcharge. There were no apparent restrictions on them owning dogs. A YouTube web series star has been stabbed to death in his Bronx apartment. Father-of-two Tyrone Fleming, 40, who starred as Tye Banga in crime drama web series 848, was found in a pool of blood Wednesday at 5:30pm. Alarm was raised when Fleming, a Con Ed employee, didn't show up for work Wednesday. When his fiancee Tamika arrived to his Morris Heights apartment, she found his body blocking the front door, police say. YouTube web series actor Tyrone Fleming, 40, (above) was stabbed to death Wednesday He starred as Tye Banga in the YouTube show 848, which follows the story of drug kingpins in the Bronx Fleming, who also worked at Con Ed, was found slumped in a pool of blood in his apartment after he failed to show up for work, pictured right with 848 co-actors Cops found him with wounds in the lower back. His sister reveals he was stabbed three times. 'He was stabbed three times in his back and one hit his artery. He bled out. We have no idea who might have wanted to do this. No idea,' 32-year-old Tiffany Tucker said to the New York Daily News. Heartbroken family and friends gathered to the apartment on Wednesday evening for a candlelight vigil, where he was described as a 'good guy'. He is survived by his fiancee and two children aged 10 and 16. 'He was hardworking and a good man. He loved his kids and his family,' Tucker said on her brother. He was stabbed three times in the back and once in his artery, police have not made any arrest in his death and are investigating the incident His body was found blocking the door to his Morris Heights apartment, pictured above Police say they have surveillance footage of someone dressed in black entering and leaving the apartment shortly before his death, who could be a potential suspect Wednesday evening family and friends gathered for a candlelight vigil outside the apartment 'He was an amazing man. He was a hardworking man who didn't have problems with anybody. This is a tragedy,' his fiancee Tamika said. Police say they have surveillance video of someone dressed in all black entering and leaving the building as a potential suspect. Locals say that Fleming was well known in the neighborhood, according to ABC6. The show 848, which follows the story of drug kingpins, is also shot in the neighborhood. The show has nearly 20,000 subscribers and episodes rack up more than 100,000 views. The show, which started three years ago, was due to air the first episode of its third season Wednesday. No arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing. An estate agent who was taunted by his wife for having a small penis stabbed her to death in a drunken rage after she had a lesbian affair, a court heard. David Clark, 49, is accused of knifing his South-African born wife Melanie, 44, in the chest with a cook's dagger before dialling 999 and confessing to killing her. Police dashed to the couple's home at 11.52am on New Year's Eve following the call in which Clark told the operator: 'She f****** did my head in,' jurors heard. David Clarke, left, is accused of stabbing his wife Melanie, right, to death on New Year's Eve Birmingham Crown Court heard Mr Clark was angered by his wife who criticised the size of his penis and also admitted having an affair with a friend's daughter The court heard the couple had been married for ten years but had a turbulent relationship and Mrs Clark had taunted her husband about having a 'small d***'. She had also had a lesbian affair with one of their friends' daughters which they were arguing about on the night she was stabbed. Mrs Clark, who had four children from a previous relationship, was pronounced dead at the scene 12 minutes into the New Year. Just minutes later her two sons Sheldon, 22, and Slade, 19, returned home from a party to find police swarming over their home. Clark was arrested in blood-soaked pyjamas on his birthday at the three-bedroom, 200,000 semi-detached home in Cloverdale, Bromsgrove, Worcester. Clark was arrested by police at the family home in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, a few minutes into the New Year having found him wearing pyjamas and covered in blood In the hours before her death, the couple, who had a 'turbulent' relationship had downed three bottles of Prosecco between them as they celebrated with friends. They had also downed spirits and played a drinking game version of Snakes and Ladders which involved downing shots of whiskey. Today, Birmingham Crown Court heard Clark tried to kill himself with gas before police arrived and even begged officers to kill him. Prosecutor Benjamin Aina QC said: 'On New Year's Eve just before midnight, David Clark telephoned emergency services and he told them he had killed his wife. 'Police officers arrived to his home in Bromsgrove and they found the body of his wife Melanie Clark in an upstairs bedroom. She had been stabbed once to the chest. 'It is the prosecution's case that Melanie Clark was killed by her husband following an argument. 'During the argument, Melanie Clark had told her husband she wanted him to leave their home. He couldn't take the rejection and killed his wife. 'She grew up in Durban, South Africa. She came to the UK with her husband David Clark. 'He was born on January 1, 1969. Rather sadly, these events were just before his birthday. He is now aged 49. 'He was in the last minutes of his 48th year when this incident happened. Ms Clark was originally from South Africa and had four children in previous relationships 'They had been married for ten years. They had no children together, but she was the mother of two boys and two girls from previous relationships. 'They moved into a rented three-bedroom house in Cloverdale, Stoke Prior. In March of last year, Melanie's daughter returned to South Africa to live with her natural father. 'There was a bit of turbulence in the relationship between the defendant and his wife. 'The turbulence led to a separation in December of 2016. The defendant moved out of the family home.' Clark moved back into the family home in Februrary last year but they slept in separate bedrooms and by November Mrs Clark told friends she was 'not happy'. Mr Aina said: 'The master bedroom of the house is the bedroom where Melanie slept. This is where the body was found. 'There was a knife that had been found near the body. 'At about 6pm on New Year's Eve, the two sons drive the defendant and Mary Clark to the home of their friends who live in Bromsgrove - the idea being Melanie Clark and the defendant would celebrate New Year's Eve with their friends. 'The defendant and Melanie Clark drank three bottles of Prosecco between them. They brought their own champagne flutes. 'The defendant and Melanie and their friends played cards and they played a drinking game - Snakes and Ladders with shots of whiskey. 'Both the defendant and Melanie had some of the alcoholic shots. The couple were with friends on New Years Eve before leaving to return home at 10pm 'It was after 10pm when they left in a pre-booked taxi. The evidence we will hear is that when they left their friends they were in good spirits. 'They were laughing and they were joking. 'It was about ten minutes before midnight that David Clark telephoned the emergency services. 'He says to emergency operator 'I'm sorry, I've killed my wife. My wife started being s*** again. 'I'm totally in love with my wife. She f****** killed me and I had to stop her. I can't believe I f****** did it. I'm going to do myself in. I love my wife so much. 'She f****** did my head in. I'm f******* devastated. I don't know why I did it'. 'When asked "what did you stab her with?" he replied "I think a knife". 'He added "I'll blow myself up". 'Police arrived at the house at three minutes past midnight. They found the front door and the garage door open. 'The defendant appeared from the side of the house in his pyjamas with blood on his arms, forehead and shoulders. The court heard Clark asked police attending the scene to 'shoot him' before his arrest 'The police officer was wearing a body video camera. 'He appeared to be using his left hand to put fingers to his head in a gun gesture. The officers asked him "have you got the knife on you" and he replies "just f****** shoot me". 'During the later police interview, it came out that a friend of Melanie and David had a daughter - and she had had a lesbian encounter with Melanie. She had told David about this before. 'She brought it up again on the evening of the incident and he couldn't remember what happened next. 'Even before they were married, she had made comments that he had a 'small d***'. He had a complex about it. 'He only realised he had blood on his hands when he got to the police station. 'She had not been violent to him on the night she was killed. 'He kept a dagger-shaped cook's knife in his room. Blood on the knife was later found to be that of Melanie.' Prosecutor Benjamin Aina QC said: 'She told him to leave in the morning - he couldn't handle the rejection. 'He took his chef's knife from his room, went to her room and stabbed her in the chest. 'When he did so she was not offering any resistance - no defence wounds were found. 'He told the police in his interview she was not violent towards him. He stabbed her in anger, perhaps in revenge.' Giving evidence, Melanie's son Slade Heppell told jurors how his mother and Clark would argue at the house. He said: 'I recall one time in December 2016 - it was quite late, around 10pm. They were both in my mum's bedroom. I was in bed and I heard something. 'I heard David repeatedly telling my mum to f*** off and leave him alone in quite a moody voice - but he wasn't close to losing it. 'My mum told him to "please leave the room and leave the bed". Afterwards I heard a big thud. My brother Sheldon was in my room with me. 'When we heard the big thud we went to the room and walked in, switched the light on. 'My mum was on the floor. David said "what are you doing falling out of bed?" He was trying to make it seem like he had done nothing wrong. 'I think my mum had had a glass or two of wine and David had had two or three. It was hours before it happened. 'We made David leave the room. We told him to get out. He grabbed his pillows and went out and slept in the lounge. 'Mum had a bruise across her chest. The next day we woke up and I asked her what that was from and she said "last night". 'The bruising was around the top of her right breast. 'David had already moved out and he came over and then this happened. The next day he left and we didn't see him for a few weeks. 'They were going to break up but David always convinced her that it was all right and everything was fine.' The court was told Clark would swear at Melanie's three children when they annoyed him and also left angry notes around the house. Slade added: 'If items had been left behind in the kitchen, he would throw them out or leave notes behind asking "what the f*** is this doing left around?" 'Often it was on pieces of paper or the cupboard drawers. My mum would ask him to wipe it off.' Clark, of Bromsgrove, denies murder. The trial continues. Behind closed doors at his hurricane preparedness briefing, President Donald Trump ditched the talk of storm preparation and, instead, bragged about his popularity, proclaimed his love of coal, shared his optimism about the upcoming North Korea summit, and boasted of the billions he saved on the cost of replacing Air Force One. In front of the cameras, Trump, in prepared remarks at Wednesday's gathering, thanked his administration officials for laying the groundwork for the 2018 hurricane season and reassured first lady Melania Trump, in her first media-attended event since her kidney surgery, 'The people of our country love you.' But after the media left the briefing at the Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters, the president launched into a soliloquy on a range of topics and bragged about what a great job he was doing. President Trump ditched the storm talk at his hurricane preparedness briefing President Trump only briefly mentioned Puerto Rico at his hurricane preparedness briefing where he and Melania Trump visit last year after Hurricane Maria Instead, at his hurricane briefing, Trump bragged about his popularity, proclaimed his love of coal, shared his optimism about the upcoming North Korea summit, and boasted of the billions he saved on the cost of replacing Air Force One The roving topics of Trump's talk included his musing about his upcoming June 12 meeting in Singapore with North Korean President Kim Jung-Un. 'It's an interesting journey. It's called the land of the unknown who knows? We'll maybe make a deal. Maybe not. As I say to everybody, are you going to make a deal?' Trump said, according to audio of the meeting obtained by The Washington Post. 'Maybe and maybe not. Who knows?' In his 40-minute session behind closed doors, Trump briefly mentioned Puerto Rico, which was hit hard by Hurricane Maria last year and is still suffering after affects from the storm. A new Harvard study estimated more than 4,600 people died in the aftermath. His administration was heavily criticized for its response to the storm, where thousands still remain without power in the U.S. territory. Trump didn't mention the victims, according to The Post, but he did thank Florida Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican who's running to pick-up a Democratic-held Senate seat, for helping. The president also seemed to be on the defense. He noted the power company was 'in bankruptcy prior to the hurricane.' He said the recovery was a 'tough job.' Trump did visit Puerto Rico in October of last year, after the storm. But he spent his time before his trip launching a Twitter tirade on San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz for not doing a good job. The visuals from his visit didn't get the most positive press: he threw paper towels and toilet paper to people during a visit to a church and said Hurricane Maria wasn't a 'real catastrophe' like Hurricane Katrina. But his mind moved to new topics during his time at FEMA Wednesday. When Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, who was attending the briefing, began to speak, Trump - within a mere 10 seconds - moved the conversation to negotiating airplane prices. He complained the government was getting ripped off on ships and planes because the 'ordering process for the military is so bad. . . . It's not a competitive bid.' 'We saved $1.6 billion on Air Force One,' he said. 'Can you believe it? I got involved in the negotiations. The press refuses to report that, but that's okay. . . . People were really surprised.' In February, Trump and Boeing struck a deal for two new Air Force One planes for a total price tag of $3.9 billion. The White House quickly touted the deal as saving more than $1 billion from the original estimate of $5 billion. 'President Trump has reached an informal deal with Boeing on a fixed price contract for the new Air Force One Program,' White House spokesman Hogan Gidley told CNN at the time. 'Thanks to the President's negotiations, the contract will save the taxpayers more than $1.4 billion.' But it isn't clear where the money was saved. The new Air Force One project was estimated at $4 billion in December 2016, after Trump won the election but before he took office. In February 2018, when the deal was announced, the White House and Boeing said that information was wrong, and the original cost was actually $5 billion. Puerto Rico was devastated last year by Hurricane Maria President Trump also bragged about his popularity during his hurricane briefing President Trump and his administration were criticized for their response to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria; his and Melania's visit saw him throw paper towels and into the crowd A jumbo 747 needs major security and communications upgrades to be considered suitable for presidential travel. The original deal was to have the planes ready by 2014 but the president reportedly pushed for one to be completed by 2021 so he could ride in it should he win reelection in 2020. After bragging about his cost-cutting prowess at his hurricane preparedness briefing, Trump went on a tangent about what he views as unnecessary military equipment citing aircraft technology as an example. 'Part of it is, they want to have all new. Instead of having the system that throws the aircraft off the [ship], which was always steam,' he said. 'They now have magnets. They're using magnets instead of steam. . . . They spent hundreds of millions of dollars, I'm hearing not great things about it. It's frankly ridiculous.' He then moved on to the primary contests in California Tuesday night, noting he endorsed Republican gubernatorial candidate John Cox, who made it onto the November ballot. He also attacked Democratic candidate Gavin Newsom, saying he had 'done nothing.' 'We won every seat that I endorsed,' the president said of Tuesday night's results. 'The ones we didn't give, they didn't do too well, as you probably know.' Additionally, he expressed doubt over generic polls. Several of these polls have show Democratic candidates as being preferred by voters in the upcoming congressional midterm election. 'I don't know if that means anything. I've never heard of a generic poll. I'm not sure I believe in a generic poll when you have so many races between the Senate and the House,' Trump said. 'We've never been up in a generic poll, and now we're up in two of them. . . . The Republican Party has . . . never been up in generic polls. And now it's up in two of them.' He also told Energy Secretary Rick Perry, who was present, to make an announcement about helping coal companies. 'I'd love to put it out 'clean coal, nuclear,' it's a very important message,' he said. He also told Perry have a news conference. Perry agreed. But Trump also wanted to emphasize to all his administration officials at the briefing and those listening via a secure conference line that he - and they - were doing a great job. 'I understand a big story is being done in a major newspaper talking about what a great Cabinet this is,' he said, without specifying which news outlet. 'What a great Cabinet this has turned out to be.' 'Our level of popularity is great,' he added. Letters from a lovestruck teenager which spent sixty-five years locked in a tin have been unearthed telling a heartbreaking story of childhood sweethearts torn apart by their parents. Mary Dixon penned the sweet notes to a boyfriend named Peter White sixty-five years ago, but she was unable to see him after his parents reportedly took him to Australia. Jenny and Terry Neale, of Essex, found the letters carefully kept in an Elastoplast tin whilst clearing out their home. Mary Dixon wrote to Peter White who, according to people who knew him, took the 'slow boat' to Australia with his family Jenny and Terry Neale are hoping to find Peter White. Mary Dixon's letters to her teenage love were found by the Essex couple Letters from Mary to Peter Dear Peter, I like you but I dont like that other boy. How did your friend find out my name? And are you so shy that you cant speak? Love from Mary ---------------------------------------------------- Dear Peter, Thank your sister for the books. My birthday is on December 26. You need not be afraid I won't like you because I do very much. I am very sorry you can't come down. With all my love, Mary. P.S. I hope you know what HOLLAND means. ---------------------------------------------------- Dear Peter, Please write to me. Will it be alright if I write to you? By the way, use up that big sheet of paper and (..) it up. Sorry cant write anymore. Mary. S.W.A.L.K. --------------------------------------------------- Dear Peter, Please forgive me for not writing but I have had to practice netball and please excuse the writing. I have not had a letter off one of the girls. I hope you still like me, as I was told you don't. Advertisement Mary writes from an address in the village of Stock, Ingatestone in Essex, although it is not clear where Peter is from. It is believed the notes, titled 'love letter,' were never sent because Peter had moved to the other side of the world. Many of the notes were signed HOLLAND - meaning Hope our Love Lasts and Never Dies. Jenny, 26, said: 'We found a newspaper from 1953 and with a first aid tin. 'It was really sweet when we found all these love letters left behind. 'We couldn't believe it and thought we can't just get rid of it. 'It is still so special. 'We have tracked Mary's family down and are meeting up with them in August.' Mary's nephew, Simon Dixon got in touch with Jenny saying that she had spoken about Peter before. However, she died recently, aged in her 80s. Peter is believed to have taken the 10 'slow boat' to Australia. It is not known what happened to him next. Terry, 25, added: 'After speaking to the family all the pieces fit together..' 'It had letters sent from Mary to another chap from the time, Peter, and they were still intact. The letters include declarations of how much she 'likes' Peter, and Mary signs one with SWALK meaning 'sealed with a loving kiss'. One letter says: 'Dear Peter, thank your sister for the books. My birthday is on December 26. You need not be afraid I won't like you because I do very much. 'I am very sorry you can't come down. 'With all my love, Mary. 'P.S. I hope you know what HOLLAND means.' Another letter wrote: 'Dear Peter, please forgive me for not writing but I have had to practice netball and please excuse the writing. The letters were found in the back of a cupboard when a couple from Essex were cleaning out their home Mary Dixon was from Stock village in Ingatestone in Essex - according to the letters found in a cupboard Letters to Peter were signed 'SWALK - sealed with a loving kiss' and featured pencil-drawn love hearts The letters were marked 'love letter' and were signed by M Dixon for Peter White, however it is believed they were never sent Mary signs off her letters with kisses and refers to 'the girls' which may have been sisters of Peter White 'I have not had a letter off one of the girls. I hope you still like me, as I was told you don't.' Unfortunately, handwriting has started to fade towards the end of the note. Peter is thought to have moved to Australia with his family in the 1950s, meaning the letters were kept and stored in secret behind a drawer. A Long Island father is believed to have fatally shot his two-year-old son and then himself after abducting the boy amid a bitter custody fight and taking him to Virginia, where their bodies were found on Wednesday inside a burning vehicle. It was a tragic development in a case where authorities declined to issue an Amber Alert and waited more than six hours to ask the public for help. Rockbridge County sheriff's deputies tentatively identified the bodies, found in a Jeep Grand Cherokee that had been set on fire in the backyard of a home, as Jovani Ligurgo and his father, John Ligurgo. The Jeep matched the description and license plate of Ligurgo's vehicle. Police in Suffolk County, Long Island said they were still awaiting positive identifications. Scroll down for video The bodies of John Ligurgo III (left), 43, of Long Island, and his two-year-old son, Jovani (right), were found in Virginia on Wednesday after the man abducted the boy the day before This photo made available by WSLS shows law enforcement surrounding Ligurgo's burnt out Jeep Grand Cherokee containing his and his son's bodies in Raphine, Virginia Ligurgo, 43, fled with Jovani on Tuesday after setting fire to the bedroom of his condominium, police said. Jovani's mother, Maria Busone, called police when he failed to return the boy to her home at 3:30 p.m., as required by a visitation order. His Jeep was recorded crossing the George Washington Bridge into New Jersey about four hours later. The bodies were found in Raphine, Virginia, about 8.45am on Wednesday. Sheriff's deputies ran the license plate after firefighters were alerted to the Jeep fire and matched it to an advisory sent to law enforcement, police said. 'It's like a nightmare. It's heartbreaking,' Jovani's aunt, Jackie Pulizzi, told The Associated Press. 'This poor baby hasn't even gotten a chance to live.' Jovani was just starting to talk, Pulizzi said. He enjoyed the cartoons PJ Masks and Wallykazam and playing with his cousins and his 26-year-old half-brother, who cried profusely at hearing that the bodies were found. Pulizzi, who is Busone's sister, said Busone was petitioning for full custody and wanted Ligurgo to undergo drug testing and a psychological examination as a condition of his visitation. A hearing was scheduled for Thursday. Ligurgo and Maria Busone had been fighting over Jovani's custody in court (pictured together at an earlier time) Busone was petitioning for full custody of her son (pictured left and right). She wanted Ligurgo to undergo drug testing and a mental health evaluation Breakup: Busone moved out of Ligurgo's home in April, bringing an end to their tumultuous three-year relationship (pictured together with their son) At 3.35pm on Tuesday, police were called to the scene of a fire at Ligurgo's home on Bretton Woods Drive, which the father is believed of starting himself by the toddler's adult brother Pulizzi said her sister filed the petition when she decided to end the 'toxic' three-year relationship with Ligurgo and moved out in April. Around the same time, she said, Ligurgo was fired from his courier job for smoking marijuana at work. They were never married. Pulizzi said that Ligurgo was selfish and controlling and psychologically abused Busone, frequently calling her terrible names. Her family feared he would do something far worse. 'He was not interested in working anything out,' Pulizzi said. 'His thought process was, "If I can't have him, nobody can." No man of rational thinking does that.' Suffolk police asked New York State Police to issue an Amber Alert, but state police said information they provided did not meet the criteria for one. Amber Alerts are issued only when an abducted child is in danger of serious bodily harm or death and Ligurgo did not have a criminal record or history of violence and had never harmed Jovani, state police said. Jovani's aunt said of Ligurgo that his approach to the custody battle over his son was, 'If I can't have him, nobody can' Jovani is survived by his mother, Maria, and his 26-year-old brother, Anthony (pictured) Suffolk police said Ligurgo may have been armed with a hunting rifle, but that they had no indication that he would harm his son. Jovani's family, which had posted photos and updates on Facebook, said Ligurgo's unstable behavior should have justified an Amber Alert. Instead, Suffolk Police Commissioner Geraldine Hart said, the department issued a 'be on the lookout' advisory and sent descriptions of Jovani, Ligurgo and the Jeep to a national law enforcement alert system. Police started investigating the matter as a missing person case around 6pm - once they connected Jovani's disappearance to the fire - but waited until 12.30am on Wednesday to send a press release seeking the public's help. Jovani was just starting to talk and enjoyed watching cartoons and playing with his cousins 'We were gathering the facts of the case, we were reaching out to our law enforcement partners and then the determination was made to reach out to the media,' Hart said. In an interview with News 12 Long Island, Jovani's mother said she is considering suing the state police for failing to issue an Amber Alert. 'How many children need to be lost before a law is changed or criteria is changed? I'm now without my son for the rest of my life,' she told the station. Maria Busone dropped Jovani off at Ligurgo's condominium in Coram about 7am Tuesday, as part of their existing visitation agreement. Pulizzi said Busone grew concerned when Ligurgo wouldn't answer her calls. She called the condominium complex after 4pm and learned of the fire. Neighbors said they heard a bang and saw Ligurgo running from his home on Bretton Woods Drive. No one was there when firefighters arrived. 'The totality of the circumstances indicated this could be serious,' Suffolk County Chief of Detectives Gerard Gigante said. 'He could have turned up in a hotel room and drove back today, but unfortunately that wasn't the case.' A family friend has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help the Busone family pay for Jovani's funeral. As of Thursday morning, more than $13,450 has been raised, surpassing the initial goal of $12,000. Angela Merkel has called for Europe to step up and be more assertive in global affairs in the wake of US President Donald Trump's America First policy. The German Chancellor, speaking ahead of the Group of Seven summit in Quebec, Canada this week said that 'the world is being reorganised'. Her remarks were a reference to Trump's withdrawal from from the Iran nuclear deal last month, his exit from the Paris climate treaty and to a new trans-Atlantic row over trade. She vowed to take Trump to task over climate and trade but said the President's America First stance shows there could be a 'serious problem with multilateral agreements'. In another warning to Mr Trump, French President Emanuel Macron said today that if America decides to withdraw from is global role, it would be 'bad for the US economy and image, and Trump knows that'. He added that a trade war 'won't spare anyone'. Oxfam activists imitate the leaders of the G7 nations including US President Donald J. Trump (L) and French President Emmanuel Macron (R) before the start of the G7 Summit in Quebec City, Quebec Canadian President Justin Trudeau has said he will remain cordial with President Trump Angela Merkel has called for Europe to step up and be more assertive in global affairs in the wake of US President Donald Trump's America First policy Merkel vowed to take Trump to task over climate and trade but said the President's America First stance shows there could be a 'serious problem with multilateral agreements' Merkel also called for combined action on security and migration in the region in a bid to give Europe more political sway, adding that the EU should 'Europeanize' its presence on the UN Security Council,Bloomberg reported. Merkel suggested this could see a rotating group of up to ten EU states working together along with France - with its veto power - and the European Commission to 'speak with one European voice'. With his new tariffs increasing U.S. isolation, Trump heads to Canada on Friday for a meeting of the Group of Seven industrialized nations. The White House is expecting a chilly reception from Canada and West European countries, already frustrated over Trump's withdrawal from the Paris climate accord and the Iran nuclear agreement. Merkel previewed the dynamics on Wednesday, telling the German parliament that 'it is apparent that we have a serious problem with multilateral agreements here, and so there will be contentious discussions.' French President Emmanuel Macron holds a joint press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottowa, where he expressed support for "strong multilateralism" Trump signaled a tough tone on Twitter Thursday, saying: 'Getting ready to go to the G-7 in Canada to fight for our country on Trade (we have the worst trade deals ever made)' Trump announced in March that he was imposing tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum, but he temporarily granted a waiver to U.S allies like Canada, Mexico and the European Union, and also to China, as his administration said trade talks were continuing. Trump ended that temporary relief this month, seeking to pressure the other countries to cut new trade agreements with the U.S. Japan was never granted a waiver, despite Prime Mininster Shinzo Abe's pleas. This will be Trump's second summit of the G-7, an informal gathering that meets every year under a rotating chairmanship. The member countries are: Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Germany, the United States and the Britain. The European Union also attends. Macron, speaking to reporters after talks with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, said the United States was an ally that the rest of the G7 needed Meanwhile French President Emmanuel Macron said G7 will pressure Trump at a summit this week on tariffs he has imposed on metals imports but must remain civil as they try to persuade him to change his mind. Macron, speaking to reporters after talks with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, said the United States was an ally that the rest of the G7 needed. Tensions over trade are threatening to overshadow the June 8-9 summit. Trudeau said the leaders would air their unhappiness in what he called a polite cordial context and expressed optimism about the two-day summit in Quebec. A senior French official told reporters on Wednesday that the leaders would not present Trump with any kind of ultimatum at the summit. In a separate development, Merkel said on Thursday Germany must be ready to compromise with France on euro zone reform, signalling her readiness to negotiate three weeks before a European Union summit at which the bloc's future will be on the agenda. French President Emmanuel Marcon and his wife, First Lady Brigitte Macron, arrive at Pierre Elliot Trudeau Airport in Montreal, Canada, ahead of the G7 summit. 'I think we will come towards each other with reforms to the currency union, but these reforms to the currency union are really not the only reforms we need,' she said, mentioning foreign, asylum, migration, development and security policies. 'With these reforms, it will only work with compromises,' Merkel added in a discussion on Europe hosted by German broadcaster WDR. In a weekend newspaper interview, Merkel offered her most detailed response to French President Emmanuel Macron's ideas for reforming Europe, seeking to avert a damaging rift with Paris at a time of anxiety over Italy and growing transatlantic tensions. Merkel has been torn for months between compromising with Macron and satisfying conservative hardliners at home who accuse the French leader of seeking a 'transfer union' in which countries that refuse to reform would be rewarded with German money. 'I personally don't see such extensive pots of funds that should be managed at intergovernmental level as the French proposals envisage,' she told the WDR event. 'But I can well imagine that we must do something - and something more than for countries that are not in the euro - for the convergence of the euro zone.' Macron was elected last May on a promise to overhaul the EU. He has called for the euro zone to have its own budget and finance minister, and for the currency bloc's rescue fund, the ESM, to be turned into a mechanism for helping member states pre-empt threats of financial instability. But Merkel, whose political capital is depleted after she lost support in last September's national election, faces fierce resistance from her conservatives to any reforms that would see German taxpayers assume liability for other countries' debts. A young woman has been missing since she failed to turn up for work a week ago. Jacqueline Kupke was last seen on June 1 at a school at Byron Bay, New South Wales. The 20-year-old woman's family and friends hold 'serious concerns' for her welfare because the disappearance is out of character. Jacqueline Kupke (pictured) was last seen on June 1 at a school at Byron Bay, New South Wales NSW Police are appealing to the public to help find the German national who is about 170 centimetres tall. Ms Kupke is described as being caucasian in appearance with an olive complexion, brown eyes, long brown hair and a thin build. The young woman was last seen along Carlyle Street, Byron Bay. Anyone with information on the 20-year-old is urged to contact Crime Stoppers. The family Kendrea Johnson (pictured), a six-year-old girl who killed herself while in foster care four years ago, have settled with the county for $1.5million The grandmother of a six-year-old girl who killed herself in foster care has reached a $1.5million settlement with officials in Minnesota in her wrongful death lawsuit. Mary Broadus originally sought $20million when she sued foster care providers and mental health professionals in Hennepin County, saying they ignored Kendrea Johnsons frequent suicidal thoughts. The girl was found hanging from a jump rope in her foster home in December 2014. Johnsons attorneys tell the Star Tribune the settlement is a victory for the family and all children in foster care 'Obviously, theyd rather have their loved one,' attorney Jeff Monpetit said. 'There is a small amount of satisfaction and vindication in the fact that what they set to accomplish is get the county to reevaluate how they handle the needs of kids in foster care.' In an interview with KSTP after the ruling was made public, Broadus said nothing can replace the loss of her beloved granddaughter. Mary Broadus (pictured), the girl's grandmother, who filed the lawsuit and was named trustee, said money will never replace the granddaughter that she lost 'It will never be over for me because I'll always have those feelings,' she said. However, she cheers herself with the happy memories she has of her granddaughter. 'I just think of her smiling at me and I'm at peace,' she said. The settlement was disclosed in a court document filed Wednesday, concerning the distribution of the award. Kendrea is pictured above with her mother Dareesha, who is pocketing 25 per cent of the award. Kendrea was pulled out of her home in January 2014 when she was found in her mother's trashed home with 'various medications all over the floor' Fifty percent of the award is going to Kendrea's (pictured) five-year-old half-brother, to pay for his college education Broadus has been named the trustee and is taking 25 per cent of the $1.5million, 50 per cent will to Kendrea's five-year-old half-brother for college and the remaining 25 per cent will go to Kendrea's mother. Kendrea's mother lived in the Twin Cities but saw her child 'infrequently' while she was in foster care. The girl's father died in a drive-by shooting in 2008. Kendrea first entered foster care in January 2014, after she was found 'in her mother's trashed home with various medications all over the floor' after several unexcused absences from school. In March of that year, she was placed in the home of 53-year-old foster mother Tannise Nawaqavou, who, according to the lawsuit, was not trained to look after a child with serious mental illness like Kendrea. During the year that Kendrea lived with her, Nawaqavou had to call the local police when she threatened to kill herself with a screwdriver. She says she also threatened to commit suicide by jumping out of a window. At school, Kendrea was caught drawing pictures of a child hanging from a noose. Ultimately she followed through on her threats. She was found dead on December 27, 2014, hanging from a jump rope that had been attacked to a bunk bed railing a room at Nawaqavou's house. Initially Nawaqavou and several other defendants were named in the lawsuit, but eventually they were taken off and only the county remained. The county issued a statement which says the settlement was in the best interest of everyone involved. The statement reads: 'Any loss of life is tragic, but the loss of someone so young is especially tragic. We are here to protect children and we do that every day. We take that charge very seriously.' For confidential help, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or click here For confidential support on suicide matters in the UK, call the Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90, visit a local Samaritans branch or click here Spain's new female-dominated government cabinet was sworn in on Thursday, putting the cap on one of the fastest power transitions in the country's four decades of democratic rule. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's new Socialist government has the most female ministers in Spanish and European history. It is comprised of 11 female ministers - overseeing key areas such as the national economy, finance and defense - and six men. He has defined his government as feminist, progressive, pro-European and 'a loyal reflection of the best in the society that it aspires to serve.' Spain's new cabinet members stand with King Felipe during a swearing-in ceremony at the Zarzuela Palace outside Madrid on Thursday Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez (left) and King Felipe VI (right) after the new government cabinet was sworn in on Thursday Women represented 64.7 percent of the new Cabinet, above the 62.5 percent that the Finnish government scored in 2015 according to the statistics of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Most of the new ministers referred to the female majority in their oath-taking on Thursday before King Felipe VI. Sanchez, 46, a former economics professor who leads the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, replaced Rajoy last week. A court ruling over a kickbacks-for-contracts scheme involving the conservative Popular Party prompted a no confidence vote against Mariano Rajoy, prime minister since 2011. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's new Socialist government has the most female ministers in Spanish and European history Spain's new Deputy Prime Minister and Equality Minister Carmen Calvo takes the oath during the swearing-in ceremony Sanchez, 46, a former economics professor who leads the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, replaced Rajoy last week. Only five women served in the last Cabinet under Rajoy. But with just 84 seats in Spain's 350-seat parliament, Sanchez's administration also has the smallest representation of any government since the country returned to democracy and it is not expected to last until the end of its mandate in 2020. Carmen Calvo, an expert in constitutional law and former culture minister, will be Sanchez's deputy prime minister and also in charge of the resurrected Ministry of Equality. Defense minister Margarita Robles takes the oath during the ceremony on Thursday The government 'has to work to reduce inequalities and achieve great equality, which affects men and women,' Calvo said on Friday in a brief ceremony to take over the government's no. 2 position from Soraya Saenz de Santamaria. Nadia Calvino, who has been director general for the budget at the European Union's Commission since 2014, was appointed as the minister in charge of the eurozone's fourth largest economy. Margarita Robles was named defense minister, and Maria Jesus Montero will be finance minister. The posts of justice minister, health minister and education minister also went to women. Spain's new Health Minister Carmen Monton is greeted by King Felipe during a swearing-in ceremony at the Zarzuela Palace The push for Catalan independence, which haunted Rajoy during the last eight months of the outgoing government, will be one of the key challenges of the new administration. Meritxell Batet, a Catalan lawmaker and legal expert on the country's constitution, will be charged with dealing with Catalonia's desire for further autonomy as the new minister of public administration. The previously announced appointment of Josep Borrell, the former European Parliament president and a pro-Spanish unity Catalan politician, as foreign minister, irked some separatists. Sanchez has promised to open talks with a new regional cabinet in the prosperous northeastern region. But he has said that any solution must fit within Spain's Constitution, which calls the nation 'indivisible' and says national sovereignty resides in the Madrid-based parliament. Two masked men yelled racial abuse at a black 14-year-old in Massachusetts before throwing a hatchet at him as he was getting off a school bus, it has been claimed. The teenager was stepping onto the sidewalk in North Brookfield on Tuesday when the men came past in a Jeep and hurled the weapon, forcing him to duck as it came within inches of his head. 'It went right past his head. He ducked back,' his mother told WHDH-TV. 'It landed right in front of him.' The teenager was stepping onto the sidewalk in North Brookfield on Tuesday when the men came past in a Jeep and hurled the weapon. This is an undated file photo North Brookfield Police Chief Mark Smith described the incident as a hate crime and announced an increase in the number of local police patrols. The boy, who was subjected to numerous racial insults including the word n*****, was unhurt and police believe it was an isolated incident. 'There's no reason for those words to have been said,' said Smith. 'I can't look at it any other way than a hate crime.' Officers are still trying to track down the men and have been unable to recover the hatchet. Sean Colligan, 30, nearly fell flat on his face after allegedly taking heroin at a polling booth he was working at on Tuesday A 30-year-old man was arrested after allegedly taking heroin at a New Jersey middle school and nearly falling flat on his face on Tuesday. Police say Sean Colligan, who was working as security at a polling booth, took heroin on the job and that there were drugs and paraphernalia in his car. He first aroused suspicion after his 'increasingly suspect behavior' on the school grounds. Police told NJ.com he was shaking his head aggressively and couldn't stand still. 'His eyes were droopy and his head shaking was an attempt to keep himself awake,' an officer reported. Colligan also reportedly abandoned his post multiple times, creeping off to the bathroom and his car. The big tell, police said, was when the Wayne man nearly fell flat on his face while trying to eat a snack. At this point, officers at Schuyler-Colfax Middle School finally intervened and arrested Colligan. When police searched his car, they found a substance believed to be heroin, plus tools used to ingest the drug. Colligan was working as security at the booth at Schuyler-Colfax Middle School, but police say he kept sneaking off to the bathroom or his car He was charged with possession of heroin, being under the influence of a controlled substance, possession of paraphernalia and possession of narcotics in a motor vehicle, but released on a summons to appear in court. In 2016, Colligan, then 27, was arrested alongside another man when police found 140 small bags of the substance during a traffic stop, Patch reported. Police had pulled the car over for tailgating, and said both men were 'nervous and trembling', when officers approached the vehicle. Colligan was charged with heroin possession. Former Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix, who was suspended after it emerged that the company was mining Facebook accounts and selling the data without permission, slammed global media reporting for its downfall. Alexander Nix stated that Cambridge Analytica was a victim of liberal media and news outlets had desired to destroy the organisation in order to spark a second EU Referendum and the downfall of President Donald Trump. Nix came up against MPs and addressed the Channel 4 documentary that showed him bragging about using Ukrainian prostitutes as honeytraps to impress potential clients and how he had won elections for them around the world. Alexander Nix leaves after appearing before the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee He was also questioned about reports that he withdrew $8 million (6m) from the firm before its collapse following the Facebook data scandal, but Nix said that this was false and had secretly been investing the money to pay staff wages, bonuses and redundancy payments. This occurred a day before it was revealed that Cambridge Analytica director Brittany Kaiser apparently visited Julian Assange in February 2017 to discuss the US election and claimed to have channelled cryptocurrency payments and donations to WikiLeaks. But who is Alexander Nix? Who is Alexander Nix? Born Alexander James Ashburner Nix on May 1, 1975, he is the son of Paul David Ashburner Nix who was an investment manager who worked for M&G Group before joining Consulta. The Ashburner Nixs are a family of wealthy bankers and have retained prominence in this industry for many generations with ties to India dating back to the rule of the East India Company from the mid 18th century. Alexander grew up in Notting Hill in London and attended Eton College before studying art history at the University of Manchester. After working as a financial analyst for a tax and corporate finance firm in Mexico for Baring Securities, he left finance to join the British behavioural research company SCL Group, where he worked for 15 years, according to his LinkedIn profile. Alexander Nix giving evidence to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee in June Cambridge Analytica Alexander Nix then decided to set up an offshoot of the SCL Group called Cambridge Analytica in 2013, with an aim of targeting voters in more than 40 political campaigns in the US, Caribbean, South America, Europe, Africa and Asia. In the US, after being funded by the Mercer family, the firm was involved with the 2014 midterm elections, the 2016 presidential primaries and the subsequent elections, supporting both Ted Cruz and Donald Trump using psychographic profiles of voters built on Facebook data. Ahead of the European Union referendum in 2016, Cambridge Analytica was involved in supporting Leave.EU with its Brexit campaign. This information was revealed by Leave.EUs Arron Banks and backed up by Cambridge Analytica employee Chris Wylie, who Nix blamed for the companys demise in June 2018. Chris Wylie seen after the hearing of former Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix Cambridge Analytica scandal Andy Wigmore, the campaigns Communications Director, revealed that the work for Leave.EU was done pro bono because Nigel [Farage] is a good friend of the Mercers. And Robert Mercer introduced them to us. He said, Heres this company we think may be useful to you. What they were trying to do in the US and what we were trying to do had massive parallels. We shared a lot of information. Why wouldnt you? Behind Trumps campaign and Cambridge Analytics, he said, were the same people. Its the same family. In February 2018, Nix told the Parliaments Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee that his company had not received data from Facebook and later, denied misleading the Select Committee. A month later, The Observer reported that Nix had spoken about the company to Channel Four News undercover reporters. Documentaries about the company and its involvement in Trumps election were aired and soon after, Alexander Nix was suspended from Cambridge Analytica. Alexander Nix's wife Olympia Paus Alexander Nix is married to Olympia Paus, the Norwegian shipping heiress who was born in Athens, Greece, but raised in London. Belonging to two prominent families with large fortunes, her relatives include playwright Henrik Ibsen, businessman Peder Paus and designer Pontine Paus, who is her sister. Her father, Christopher Paus, who is an investor as well as involved in the shipping industry, is thought to have nearly 100 million in shares in companies in the offshore petroleum industry. Advertisement The anticipation, horror, and chaos of the D-Day landings are brought to life in rare colour photos shot throughout the operation that changed the course of European history. They show Allied soldiers in Britain preparing to ship out for France, landing on the beaches of Normandy and fighting their way through enemy lines, and getting a heroes' welcome from liberated civilians. Other photos capture German prisoners of war, towns bombed to ruins, wrecked planes and equipment, and Allied commanders celebrating the successful invasion. Most of the photos taken in World War II were black and white as was the predominant technology at the time, but a small number were snapped with early colour cameras. The photos were painstakingly restored to clear images to show the battlefields of 1944 as they were more than seven decades ago. More than 150,000 Allied troops were involved in the landings of five beaches across Normandy on June 6, 1944, and 1.4 million in the operation that eventually liberated France and defeated Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany. They assembled a massive armada of ships that sailed for the coast, while planes dropped bombs and parachuted troopers on to the ground behind enemy lines. A U.S. Army landing craft approaches Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, where the heaviest fighting took place and thousands were gunned down on the beach on both sides. Shots like this one are particularly iconic as they show the last moments before the battle began, and the last moments of many of the soldiers' lives. Most of them are in black and white, making this one all the more historically important An aerial view of American troops storming Utah Beach, which was lightly defended by comparison and only 197 of more than 21,000 men were killed. However, further forward 2,500 airborne and glider troops died after they dropped behind enemy lines and fought to secure positions ahead of the landing force American soldiers form the 4th Infantry Division firing a 105mm HM3 Howitzer in the days after the D-Day landings in Carentan, a French town close to both Utah and Omaha beaches. The Battle of Carentan was mostly fought by the 101st Airborne and armoured troops on June 10-14, but other engagements occurred later on. The 4th Infantry were earlier part of the troops who landed at Utah Beach United States Rangers from E Company, 5th Ranger Battalion, on board a landing craft assault vessel in Weymouth harbour, Dorset. The ship is bound for the D-Day landing on Omaha Beach in Normandy. Clockwise, from far left: First Sergeant Sandy Martin, who was killed during the landing, Technician Fifth Grade Joseph Markovich, Corporal John Loshiavo and Private First Class Frank E. Lockwood. They are holding a 60mm mortar, a Bazooka, a Garand rifle and a pack of Lucky Strike cigarettes U.S. troops on the Esplanade at Weymouth, Dorset, on their way to embark on ships bound for Omaha Beach for the D-Day landings. The invasion was launched from Britain after 1.4 million troops massed in southern England to train and plan the biggest amphibious operation in history Boats and ships are waiting in a port in southern England with United States Army troops having arrived to embark. They will leave from here to participate in the invasion of Normandy after crossing the English Channel from various ports, meeting up near the Isle of Wight before splitting up and heading for the five landing beaches United States Army troops train in the English countryside in preparation of the invasion. Sadly, in a landing exercise in Lyme Bay, 749 soldiers were killed by German submarines on April 28 before they were even ready for the invasion United States Army troops train for bomb squad and safety proceedings in preparation of the invasion, with an instructor using a wooden stick as a teaching aid and a sign propped up against a pile of logs to signal use use of live explosives in practice American soldiers mill around a port in England having loaded their supplies on to landing craft and just awaiting the order to being the operation. D-Day was delayed by one day because of bad weather before finally getting underway on June 6, 1944 Boats full of United States troops waiting to leave Weymouth, southern England, to take part in Operation Overlord in Normandy. This location was used as a launching place for Allied troops participating in the invasion of Nazi-occupied France on D-Day, with troops spending weeks or months preparing Soldiers from the US 1st Engineer Special Brigade board their landing craft at Weymouth, United Kingdom, as they get ready to launch on their way to France to begin the invasion United States Rangers have boarded a Landing Craft Assault in a port in southern England the day before D-Day, holding a 60mm mortar, a Bazooka, a Garand rifle and a pack of Lucky Strike cigarettes. The ship and will depart for Omaha Beach View of American trucks as they are loaded onto an unidentified LST (Landing Ship, Tank), as a number of soldiers stand by in Weymouth, England, milling around with their last days before shipping out to the fight United States Army troops from the Engineer Special Brigade are boarding a Landing Craft Infantry (LCI) ) in southern England on June, 5, 1944. Civilians have turned out to wish them good fortune in the battles ahead Dozens of soldiers check their equipment including boxes of heavy duty ammunition before they embark for the landings Sherman tanks and troops have been loaded into a Landing Craft Tank (LCT) in southern England to land on the beaches after they are taken by infantry and used to push forward into the enemy lines ahead DUKWs, amphibious trucks useful for beach landings (left) and American trucks (right) are loaded on to heavy landing craft ready to sail to France and transport troops in their advance A U.S. Army ambulance jeep boards a landing craft headed for Normandy where it will play a vital role in ferrying wounded soldiers to makeshift hospitals back from the front lines British Navy Landing Crafts (LCA-1377) carry United States Army Rangers to a ship in the English Channel on June 1, 1944. Rangers embark and remain consigned five days on board English ships for safety measure until they embark for the D-Day landings The Rangers would be quite bored being stuck inside ships for almost a week before the invasion and raring to go once the operation commenced During D-Day, the first man to obtain invasion day photos is cameraman Capt. Dale E. Elkins, shown with his specially constructed camera A U.S. Landing Craft Infantry filled with invasion troops is approaching the French coast from the sea. The GIs are wearing their life vests in preparation for the landing U.S. soldiers Sargeant R.A. Forbis, Private John Krisa, and Corporal V.E. Holtz from the Army Corps of Engineers read letters on an unidentified beach captured during Operation Overlord on D-Day Allied ships, boats and barrage balloons off Omaha Beach after the successful D-Day invasion. The bloody landing cost up to 5,000 Allied soldiers their lives, more than a tenth of the invasion force, but was a key beachhead that led the later victories. With the beach taken, ships move close to shore to unload reinforcements and vehicles United States Signal Corps photographer B. Bacon is inside a German pillbox with his PH47-F Speed Graphic Soldiers of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division have set up a mortar on Juno Beach where they landed on D-Day on the outskirts of Bernieres-sur-Mer. 14,000 Canadians were put ashore and 340 lost their live in the battles for the beachhead, which was a low number by the standards of the landings Operation Overlord Normandy, Soldiers of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division have set up anti-aircraft guns on Juno Beach. They began a push south the next day, beating off a determined German counter attack and joining up with Gold Beach to form a continuous front The wreckage of an Allied plane that crashed during the fighting in Normandy, either during the landings or the battles that followed. Whatever is left is burning An American Sherman Tank M4A1(76)W is rolling out of the Landing Ship Tank (LST) as a reinforcement in July, 1944. The invasion of France is underway and Wehrmacht positions along the coast of Normandy have been destroyed. Wet ammunition storage is incorporated in this tank The Notre Dame church has been heavily damaged during the attacks on Saint-Lo in August 1944. The town was almost totally destroyed by 2,000 Allied bombers when they attacked German troops stationed there Two American soldiers are watching two United States Army jeeps driving through the ruins of the center of Saint-Lo in August 1944, the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the early campaign American bombardments destroyed 95 per cent of the city and many soldiers on both sides were killed, popularising the city as 'The Capital of Ruins' in a report by Samuel Beckett On July 15, the 1st Battalion of the 116th Infantry Regiment, known as the 'lost battalion' as a result of the battle, accidentally advanced ahead of the rest of the division and was isolated and surrounded for an entire day without ammunition and with little food and dozens of wounded, being continually shelled by German artillery Later the 3rd Battalion linked up with the 'lost battalion' and attacked the Germans with only their bayonets. Eventually they fought their way out and with a few other companies took the town American troops liberate and more intact French town, using it as a base flooded with reinforcements to continue the push deeper into occupied France A street in Cherbourg, which has recently been liberated by the United States Army in July 1944. On the right side is the Maison du Prisonnier. More than 10,000 German prisoners have been taken. 2,800 American soldiers died in the battle Cherbourg was a vital fortified port in the early stages of the invasion and U.S. troops spent a month besieging it before it was finally captured The city was needed as a hub for bigger ships to unload directly on to docks as other areas could only accommodate smaller vessels. The Germans surrendered the entire peninsula after the city fell British Chief of the Imperial General Staff Field Marshal Sir Alan Brooke (left), British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (centre) and commander of the 21st Army Group, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery (right) in Normandy, 12th June 1944, six days after the D-Day landings German prisoners of war are on board a Landing Craft Transport in June 1944. They will be taken to a Liberty Ship in the English Channel until the end of the war German Prisoners of War have been put behind barbed wire in Normandy in June 1944. More than 200,000 German soldiers were captured during the Battle of Normandy The victim, only identified by her initials J.S., was allegedly molested by Gardner Dunnan (above) in the fall of 1986 when he was the headmaster at New York's prestigious Dalton School The former head of New York's prestigious Dalton School has been accused in a lawsuit of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl who lived with him and his wife while attending the school in the 1980s. The victim, only identified by her initials J.S., was allegedly molested by Gardner Dunnan in the fall of 1986 at his homes in New York and New Jersey. The lawsuit was filed on Thursday in federal court in Newark, New Jersey. It alleges that Dunnan repeatedly touched the girl without her consent, fondling her breasts, sticking his tongue in her mouth, disrobing and groping her, laying on top of her and thrusting his genitals against her. The girl's parents had divorced and she was living with her father in Brooklyn in 1986 when they met Dunnan through the father's girlfriend. Dunnan allowed the girl to be admitted to the school without going through a formal application process, the lawsuit states. Given she couldn't afford the tuition, the lawsuit states that the girl was allowed to live with Dunnan and his wife provided she helped them with their newborn baby at their apartment near the school. The girl also traveled to their home in Ocean County, New Jersey. She claims Dunnan allegedly attacked her on four occasions between September 1986 and January 1987. Dunnan had allowed her to be admitted to the elite school (above) without going through the formal application process and offered accommodation at his home if she helped his family, lawsuit states The lawsuit states that Dunnan's then-wife asked the girl to leave their home shortly after he allegedly assaulted her. The girl then transferred schools and suffered from depression and anxiety in the years since the alleged abuse, according to the suit. She only began to realize the depth of the harm it caused after sexual assault allegations against movie producer Harvey Weinstein and other powerful men were publicized, the suit states. Dunnan was headmaster at the Upper East Side school from the mid-1970s until 1997 when news of his affair with a married female teacher became known. The elite school has educated a number of the rich and famous, including journalist Anderson Cooper, actresses Claire Danes and Tracee Ellis Ross, and actor Chevy Chase. Tuition at the school is now $40,000. The suit contends the prestigious school 'knew or should have known that Dunnan engaged in acts of inappropriate, abusive, and/or harmful behavior toward individuals over whom he had power or control.' The suit seeks unspecified damages for alleged child sexual abuse, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress by Dunnan, and negligent hiring, retention and supervision by Dalton. She filed the lawsuit in New Jersey because unlike New York her claims are within the statute of limitations. Dunnan's LinkedIn account lists several positions at schools in the New York City area in the years since he left Dalton. It lists him currently as an independent college admissions counselor. Dunnan didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. A phone message left with at the school wasn't immediately returned. A French airforce eagle designed to claw drones out of the sky attacked a five-year-old girl dressed in white because she looked like one of the aircraft. The drama took place in the picturesque Col dAubisque a mountain pass in the Pyrenees close to the South West town of Tarbes. The child was enjoying a picnic with four other children and a woman looking after them when the eagle struck, said an investigating source. All the children were by the Saint-Antoine chapel in the Col dAubisque during the Spring school holidays. The eagles have been trained to swat drones out of the sky by the French air force. It is feared terror groups could strap explosives to the devices. The eagles are called Athos, Porthos, Aramis and DArtagnan, after the French author Alexandre Dumass Three Musketeers and their trusty sidekick, but the air force would not reveal which one attacked the child Swooping out of the sky, the bird clawed the girl, whose white clothes made her look just like the drone the eagle was trained to intercept. She might also have been mistaken for a rabbit, but its far more likely the eagle thought she was a drone! The girl suffered minor injuries in the incident in April, and all those involved were in severe shock and panic the source added. Carole Aguerre, who was in charge of the party, made a formal complaint to the French military. They confirmed that the eagle was one of four birds being trained at the 118 Airforce base at Mont-de-Marsan, which is some 80 miles north of Tarbes. French authorities are concerned that drones are a 'credible' threat as they could be used by terrorists to kill civilians Airforce personnel apologised profusely, but under an agreement with the town of Musculdy, close to where the incident took place, the training of the birds has continued. Ms Aguerre, who is from Saint-Just-Ibarre, has expressed her disgust at this, saying that the eagles should not be allowed to take part in manoeuvers during school holidays. The eagle involved is one of four Golden Eagles recruited by the French air force to bring down remote-controlled drones when they stray into unauthorised airspace. The eagles are called Athos, Porthos, Aramis and DArtagnan, after the French author Alexandre Dumass Three Musketeers and their trusty sidekick, but the air force would not reveal which one attacked the child. It is feared that terror groups could use drones packed with explosives to target people and buildings. Training eagles to deal with threatening drones is far safer than using bullets to shoot them down. Air force general Jean-Christophe Zimmerman said: 'These eagles can spot the drones several thousand metres away and neutralize them.' Before they hatched, the eagles were placed on top of drones, and then kept there during their early feeding period. Eagles have a grip 10 times more powerful than a human, making them ideal to deal with large unmanned drones. Drones have been branded a 'credible threat' by security experts in France, after being flown over the Elysee Palace and other high-security buildings in Paris. Lawyers have told a judge that he had been biologically able to get pregnant and give birth but had legally become a man when the child was born A baby could become the first person born in England or Wales who will not legally have a mother if a transgender man wins a historic human rights battle. The youngster is the child of a single parent who was born a woman but now lives as a man after undergoing surgery. Lawyers have told a judge that he had been biologically able to get pregnant and give birth but had legally become a man when the child was born. They say the man wants to be identified as the child's 'father' or 'parent' on a birth certificate. But they said a birth registrar has told the man the law requires people who give birth to children to be registered as mothers. The parent has taken legal action against the body set up to administer statutory provisions relating to the registration of births and deaths after complaining of discrimination. He says forcing him to register as the child's 'mother' breaches his human right to respect for private and family life. The man says such 'interference' is not proportionate or necessary in the light of changes which have 'evolved in society'. A judge on Thursday heard preliminary argument from lawyers representing the man and lawyers representing The Registrar General for England and Wales at a High Court hearing in London. Mr Justice Francis said the issue had never been raised in a court in England and Wales before. He said if the man won his fight ministers might have to consider changing the law. Mr Justice Francis heard preliminary discussion at a public hearing but he said the baby could not be identified in media reports. A judge on Thursday heard preliminary argument from lawyers representing the man and lawyers representing The Registrar General for England and Wales at a High Court hearing in London The judge said reports should not reveal the baby's gender or age, or the man's age, and should not give any clue where the man and the child lived. Lawyers say other transgender men have given birth but have been registered on birth certificates as mothers. The man held the baby as he sat next to a lawyer at Thursday's hearing. At one point he stood to rock the baby, who sucked on a dummy, to sleep as lawyers discussed issues with the judge. Mr Justice Francis heard how the man was born a woman but 'realised he was trans' several years ago. Lawyers said he had lived 'as a man' since then and undergone surgery to 're-contour' his upper body. The High Court judge was told that the man was granted a gender recognition certificate more than a year ago, before the baby was born. 'It is an accepted fact that a female who transitions to male may in law maintain the ability to conceive and give birth to a child,' barrister Hannah Markham QC, who leads the man's legal team, explained in a written outline of his claim. '(He) seeks a declaration that being forced to register as a mother to his son is contrary to his right to private and family life within Article 8 of the Human Rights Act 1998 and that such interference, in the light of the changes which have evolved in society are no longer proportionate.' Barrister Sarah Hannett, who is leading the Registrar General's legal team, said the man had obtained a gender recognition certificate under the 2004 Gender Recognition Act. He gave birth following intra-uterine insemination treatment some months ago. She said the Registrar General took the view that registrars were not permitted to 'take the step in question'. President Donald Trump, appearing to reference a report James Comey will be criticized by a Justice Department watchdog report, demanded to know when people will thank him for firing the former FBI director. 'When will people start saying, 'thank you, Mr. President, for firing James Comey?' he tweeted Thursday morning. The Department of Justice Inspector General is examining the FBI's handling of Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. Word leaked out Wednesday that it will be especially brutal to Comey. President Trump has asked when people will start thanking him for firing James Comey. The president appeared to reference reports that a government watchdog report will criticize Comey's handling of the investigation of Hillary Clinton's email server ABC News reported Wednesday that the report, from the DOJ's independent Inspector General Michael Horowitz, will brand Comey 'insubordinate.' The judgement is a result of Comey, barely a week before the 2016 election, telling Congress he was reopening a dormant probe into classified material nestled among other files on Hillary Clinton's private email server. The president fired the FBI director in May 2017 with the White House claiming the dismissal was not about the Russia investigation - but instead about the handling of the Clinton investigation - although Trump later told NBC the probe of Russia's role in the 2016 election was part of his reasoning. Special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating whether Comey's firing by the president was an obstruction of the Russia investigation. Even in its uncompleted form, the inspector general report, which could be made public in a matter of days, already resulted in a criminal referral for former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who was fired just before his planned retirement following a finding he leaked information to the Wall Street Journal. ABC said the report also further rebuked Comey for failing to consult with then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch and other senior Justice Department officials before he announced the FBI completed its investigation into Clintons personal e-mail server. During a July 5, 2016 news conference, Comey said there was no clear evidence that Clinton intended to violate the law, but called her handling of classified information extremely careless. The report also slammed Lynch for her handling of the investigation, especially her June 2016 meeting with Bill Clinton on an Arizona airport tarmac. Following that meeting, Lynch took the unusual step to say she would not recuse herself from the case, but would accept the FBIs recommendations in the probe. The watchdog report, which is still be finalized, also said Comey ignored objections from inside the Justice Department when he alerted Congress that the FBI had reopened the probe into Clinton 11 days before the 2016 presidential election. Before Comey he did so, at least one senior Justice Department official informed the FBI that publicizing the decision so close to the election would violate longstanding department policy. Clinton supporters argue Comey's announcement sank her campaign. Comey told ABC News in April he assumed Clinton was going to win the election. I dont remember spelling it out, but it had to have been, that shes going to be elected president and if I hide this from the American people, shell be illegitimate the moment shes elected, the moment this comes out, he said. Trump put public pressure on the inspector general this week to finish the report, and said he hoped it wasn't being made 'weaker.' The inspector general report President Trump referred to could become public any day The IG was originally scheduled to complete its findings by the end of May. The potentially explosive document has been highly anticipated on Capitol Hill; the Senate Judiciary Committee was already planning for but recently postponed a hearing to hear Horowitz's testimony. 'What is taking so long with the Inspector General's Report on Crooked Hillary and Slippery James Comey,' Trump tweeted. A helicopter pilot hovering over a lake in South Africa got the fright of his life when a rogue hippo launched itself from the water below and nearly grabbed the aircraft in its gaping jaws. Bush pilot Kobus Crous had been called in by a conservation team to try and find the aggressive male hippo that had been driven out of its pod but it turned out it was the hippo that found him. Kobus had been searching a large lake at the Aquila Private Game Reserve two hours' drive from Cape Town as the hippo needed to be darted and relocated as it was attacking the baby hippos. The amazing moment when the hippo emerged from the water, underneath the helicopter But it was very nearly the hippo that won the encounter coming just feet from grabbing the chopper and dragging it down into the lake. Kobus said:'We were searching for it and had no idea that it was actually right beneath us and it just came out of the water with its jaws open and if it grabbed us there was only going to one winner'. As this amazing photo shows the hippo emerged from the lake in a huge explosion of water with its gaping jaws wide open and its giant ivory feet just a few feet away from the helicopter runners. Stunned Kobus, who had game capture specialist Gerald Minnaar, on board quickly took the chopper away from then hippo then used the aircraft to drive animal towards the shore so that it could be tranquillised. The Aquila Private Game Reserve in Touws River is set in 10,000 hectares and home to the Big 5 of lion, leopard, rhino, elephant and buffalo and is hugely popular with British tourists to South Africa. Rangers had called in Kobus after the hippo had attacked a new born hippo but fortunately they were able to save the youngster but the male had become so aggressive that he had to be moved. Fortunately when the helicopter came down low over the rogue hippo international photographer Albert Jansen van Roosendaal was on hand to record the moment the hippo attacked the helicopter. 'The hippo just launched itself from underwater and attacked the helicopter in the air and it was a completely unexpected scenario and I just managed to get this shot which was spectacular,' he said. Aquila spokesman Ben Viljoen said: 'Because of the attack on the baby hippo and others and the male hippo's temperament we needed support from a capture unit to locate it and to translocate it. The hippo had been attacking younger animals and needed to be darted to it could be moved out of harms way 'The hippo had lacerations and various other wounds due to pod fights some of which were serious as he was a very aggressive hippo that was challenging and injuring many of the other male hippos. 'He had already killed two calves hence the decision for a search mission in daylight which is difficult as tranquilising it is not easy as you don't want the hippo rushing back into the water and drowning. 'But he was safely captured and moved by truck to his new home' he said. Hippo's can weigh up to 2 tons and this one was estimated to be about 1.5 tons. They are one of the most dangerous animals in Africa and kill an estimated 500 people every year. They were very common in the Western Cape but were exterminated in the region by the 1800's but the hippo's at Quila form part of a large pod that was reintroduced to the area nearly 20 years ago. The grieving father of fashion designer Kate Spade said he was aware of his daughter's struggles with depression and had warned her about the pills she had been taking. In an interview with the Kansas City Star on Wednesday, Frank Brosnahan said: 'She'd been taking some pills, which I advised her not to take.' The 90-year-old also revealed that he had spoken to Kate the night before her death but does 'not know what happened' since she gave no indication she was planning to take her life. 'The last I talked with her, the night before last, she was happy planning a trip to California to look at colleges. She doted on her daughter,' he said. Kate Spade's father has revealed his daughter had been 'taking pills' that he had warned her not to take Frank Brosnahan, 90, (pictured with daughter Eve) said he had spoken to Kate the night before her death and reveals she seemed 'happy' and was planning a trip to California to look at colleges Frank Brosnahan is seen on his birthday in an Instagram picture shared by his granddaughter Rachel Bronsahan The fashion designer was found dead in her Manhattan apartment on Tuesday morning after hanging herself with a scarf. She left a note addressed to her 13-year-old daughter Frances Beatrix Spade telling her she is not to blame for what happened. Brosnahan explained that the conversation and widespread coverage about Kate's suicide could help shed light on mental illness for others. 'She was always giving and charitable. If that helped anybody avoid anything fine, she'd be delighted,' he told the paper. Spade is one of six children born to Frank and June Brosnahan, a flight attendant and realtor who died in 2010. The famed handbag designer's dad said he hopes to have his daughter buried back home in Kansas City, Missouri next to his late wife. 'At least that's what I would like. I'd like for her to be buried with her mother. They were very close.' When asked about the rest of the Brosnahan family, Frank told the Star they are getting through it, 'but we certainly miss our bright, sun-shiney little person.' Kate is survived by her five other siblings, sisters Missy, Ann, Eve, Reta, and brother Earl. Difficult time: Kate's husband Andy Spade spoke out for the first time since the death of his wife Tuesday (couple above in 2016) Kate leaves behind her 13-year-old daughter Frances Beatrix Spade (pictured in 2013) On Tuesday, Kate's sister Reta Saffo, 57, told DailyMail.com that the designer had struggled to cope with her celebrity status, which only made her suspected bipolar disorder worse. Saffo said she was aware of her sister's battle with mental illness, but it wasn't until comedian Robin Williams killed himself in August 2014, that Saffo began to realize Kate's obsession with suicide and her unraveling mental health. Saffo had also told the Star that her suicide was not 'unexpected' - prompting backlash from her family. Their brother, Earl Brosnahan revealed to The New York Times that Saffo, who lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, has been estranged from the family for years and only kept in contact with Kate. He described her 'definitive' comments as 'grossly inaccurate,' adding that Kate keeping in touch with Reta was 'Katy's way to be accessible and available to everyone.' In the same New York Times interview published on Wednesday, Earl explained that he had been made aware of his sister's troubles 18 months ago and the two had spoken to her about 'her sadness.' Elyce Arons, who founded Kate Spade, revealed the two had previously spoken about suicide which Kate insisted she would never consider. 'She'd say to me, "I would never do that. I would never do that. I would never do that," and I believed her,' Arons said. Illinois mother, Crystal Valdez, 35, was sentenced on Wednesday to 35 years for beating her four-year-old son, Christopher, to death on his birthday in 2011 An Illinois mother has been sentenced to 35 years for beating her four-year-old son to death on his birthday. Crystal Valdez, 35, was found guilty of first degree murder in the death of her son, Christopher, in September 2017. Christopher's body was discovered by his aunt and uncle on November 25, 2011, the day after Thanksgiving and what was his fourth birthday. Valdez was sentenced on Wednesday at a nearly six-hour hearing during which her brother called her a 'monster'. 'You don't deserve the title of mother,' Joseph Valdez, who found the boy's body along with his wife, told his sister. 'You're a monster.' According to the Chicago Tribune, at one point Valdez wiped away tears with a tissue as her lawyers read letters from her three other children about how much they loved and missed her. 'I miss my family, I miss Christopher, too,' she said. ' Whatever happens today happens,' she said during the hearing. In September 2017, it was revealed that a neighbor contacted the boy's family. Katrine Valdez testified last year that she and her husband, Joseph, went to go check on their nephew. Valdez (left), 35, was found guilty of first degree murder in the death of her son, Christopher (right), in September 2017. Christopher's body was discovered by his aunt and uncle on November 25, 2011, the day after Thanksgiving and what was his fourth birthday Valdez (pictured with Christopher) was sentenced on Wednesday at a nearly six-hour hearing during which her brother called her a 'monster' She said they pushed back Christopher's mother and found the boy's body, covered in bruises and wrapped in a blanket in the bedroom. 'I pulled it, the cover flipped over, and Christopher was lying there on his side, his eyes open,' Katrine said in her testimony. 'I laid him on his back...And I said, "What did you do? What did you do?"' While no evidence was presented about Crystal Valdez's specific role in Christopher's fatal beating, witnesses said she had admitted months before his death to hitting the boy. Prosecutors stated that in a 911 call after the boy's body was found, Valdez could be heard in the background screaming: 'I killed him, my Christopher.' Court records showed that Valdez was diagnosed with an intellectual disability and had a low IQ said to be in the 50s. The child's aunt, Katrine Valdez, told the court last year that she and her husband, Joseph, found the boy's body covered in bruises and wrapped in a blanket in the bedroom of his mother's house (pictured) Katrine said they pushed back Christopher's mother and found the boy's body, covered in bruises and wrapped in a blanket in the bedroom. Pictured is the scene of the crime Although first agreeing to hear testimony about her IQ, Judge Stanley Sacks reversed his decision and blocked the defense from calling an expert to testify about her mental capacity. Throughout the case, the defense had hinted at her limitations multiple times with witnesses saying she needed significant help accomplishing day-to-day activities. It was Valdez's live-in boyfriend, Cesar Ruiz, who beat the boy to death, defense attorneys said. 'Crystal did not recognize that these were life-threatening injuries,' Assistant Public Defender Brett Balmer said last year. Valdez's boyfriend, Cesar Ruiz (pictured), 41, was convicted of Christopher's murder in 2013 and sentenced to 75 years in prison 'Crystal relied on others for help and for guidance. No one told her what to do.' But prosecutors disagreed, saying Valdez could perform several normal function and should have known to call for help. 'No one told her that she should call 911?' Assistant State's Attorney Jeff Allen asked jurors mockingly. 'A woman that could cook a turkey, keep a clean house?...You don't have to be a Rhodes scholar.' Ruiz, 41, was convicted of Christopher's murder in 2013 and sentenced to 75 years in prison. At his trial, he said it was Crystal Valdez who was responsible for the deadly blows and that he had used makeup to conceal Christopher's bruises but did not know how the boy came to be beaten. After the sentencing on Wednesday, Valdez was allowed to visit with her children separately. Valdezs father, Thomas, and his wife have custody of his daughters three other children. Thomas Valdez still believes his daughter is completely innocent. 'She did nothing wrong,' Valdez told the Tribune about his daughter. 'Shes innocent in my eyes.' Thomas Valdez then went on to say that he believes Ruiz is to blame for the murder. Donald Trump blasted his predecessor on Thursday for sidestepping its own anti-Iran sanctions regime and helping the terror-sponsoring nation access international banking systems. 'The Obama Administration is now accused of trying to give Iran secret access to the financial system of the United States. This is totally illegal,' the president tweeted. 'Perhaps we could get the 13 Angry Democrats to divert some of their energy to this matter (as Comey would call it). Investigate!' The Obama administration secretly sought to give Iran access albeit briefly to the U.S. financial system by sidestepping sanctions kept in place after the 2015 nuclear deal, despite repeatedly telling Congress and the public it had no plans to do so. An investigation by Senate Republicans released Wednesday sheds light on the delicate balance the Obama administration sought to strike after the deal, as it worked to ensure Iran received its promised benefits without playing into the hands of the deal's opponents. Amid a tense political climate, Iran hawks in the U.S., Israel and elsewhere argued that the United States was giving far too much to Tehran and that the windfall would be used to fund extremism and other troubling Iranian activity. A new report found the Obama administration secretly sought to give Iran access - albeit briefly - to the U.S. financial system by sidestepping sanctions Trump's mention of '13 Angry Democrats' was his latest characterization of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe, which he contends was politically stacked against him from the beginning. His jab at Comey is a reference to the fired FBI director's Senate testimony last year that former Attorney General Loretta Lynch ordered him to publicly describe the 2016 federal probe of Hillary Clinton's classified emails as 'a matter' instead of 'an investigation.' The report by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations revealed that under President Barack Obama, the Treasury Department issued a license in February 2016, never previously disclosed, that would have allowed Iran to convert $5.7 billion it held at a bank in Oman from Omani rials into euros by exchanging them first into U.S. dollars. If the Omani bank had allowed the exchange without such a license, it would have violated sanctions that bar Iran from transactions that touch the U.S. financial system. The effort was unsuccessful because American banks - themselves afraid of running afoul of U.S. sanctions - declined to participate. The Obama administration approached two U.S. banks to facilitate the conversion, the report said, but both refused, citing the reputational risk of doing business with or for Iran. 'The Obama administration misled the American people and Congress because they were desperate to get a deal with Iran,' said Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, the subcommittee's chairman. The Obama administration secretly tried to help Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei's country get access to billions Issuing the license was not illegal. Still, it went above and beyond what the Obama administration was required to do under the terms of the nuclear agreement. Under that deal, the U.S. and world powers gave Iran billions of dollars in sanctions relief in exchange for curbing its nuclear program. Last month, President Donald Trump declared the U.S. was pulling out of what he described as a 'disastrous deal.' The license issued to Bank Muscat stood in stark contrast to repeated public statements from the Obama White House, the Treasury and the State Department, all of which denied that the administration was contemplating allowing Iran access to the U.S. financial system. Shortly after the nuclear deal was sealed in July 2015, then-Treasury Secretary Jack Lew testified that even with the sanctions relief, Iran 'will continue to be denied access to the world's largest financial and commercial market.' A month later, one of Lew's top deputies, Adam Szubin, testified that despite the nuclear deal 'Iran will be denied access to the world's most important market and unable to deal in the world's most important currency.' Yet almost immediately after the sanctions relief took effect in January 2016, Iran began to complain that it wasn't reaping the benefits it had envisioned. Iran argued that other sanctions such as those linked to human rights, terrorism and missile development were scaring off potential investors and banks who feared any business with Iran would lead to punishment. The global financial system is heavily intertwined with U.S. banks, making it nearly impossible to conduct many international transactions without touching New York in one way or another. Former Obama administration officials declined to comment for the record. However, they said the decision to grant the license had been made in line with the spirt of the deal, which included allowing Iran to regain access to foreign reserves that had been off-limits because of the sanctions. They said public comments made by the Obama administration at the time were intended to dispel incorrect reports about nonexistent proposals that would have gone much farther by letting Iran actually buy or sell things in dollars. The former officials spoke on condition of anonymity because many are still involved in national security issues. As the Obama administration pondered how to address Iran's complaints in 2016, reports in The Associated Press and other media outlets revealed that the U.S. was considering additional sanctions relief, including issuing licenses that would allow Iran limited transactions in dollars. Democratic and Republican lawmakers argued against it throughout the late winter, spring and summer of 2016. They warned that unless Tehran was willing to give up more, the U.S. shouldn't give Iran anything more than it already had. At the time, the Obama administration downplayed those concerns while speaking in general terms about the need for the U.S. to live up to its part of the deal. Secretary of State John Kerry and other top aides fanned out across Europe, Asia and the Middle East trying to convince banks and businesses they could do business with Iran without violating sanctions and facing steep fines. 'Since Iran has kept its end of the deal, it is our responsibility to uphold ours, in both letter and spirit,' Lew said at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in March 2016, without offering details. That same week, the AP reported that the Treasury had prepared a draft of a license that would have given Iran much broader permission to convert its assets from foreign currencies into easier-to-spend currencies like euros, yen or rupees, by first exchanging them for dollars at offshore financial institutions. The draft involved a general license, a blanket go-ahead that allows all transactions of a certain type, rather than a specific license like the one given to Oman's Bank Muscat, which only covers specific transactions and institutions. The proposal would have allowed dollars to be used in currency exchanges provided that no Iranian banks, no Iranian rials and no sanctioned Iranian individuals or businesses were involved, and that the transaction did not begin or end in U.S. dollars. Obama administration officials at the time assured concerned lawmakers that a general license wouldn't be coming. But the report from the Republican members of the Senate panel showed that a draft of the license was indeed prepared, though it was never published. Republican Senator Rob Portman said the Obama administration misled Congress because 'they were desperate to get a deal with Iran' And when questioned by lawmakers about the possibility of granting Iran any kind of access to the U.S. financial system, Obama-era officials never volunteered that the specific license for Bank Muscat in Oman had been issued two months earlier. According to the report, Iran is believed to have found other ways to access its money, possibly by exchanging it in smaller quantities through another currency. The situation resulted from the fact that Iran had stored billions in Omani rials, a currency that's notoriously hard to convert. The U.S. dollar is the world's dominant currency, so allowing it to be used as a conversion instrument for Iranian assets was the easiest and most efficient way to speed up Iran's access to its own funds. For example: If the Iranians want to sell oil to India, they would likely want to be paid in euros instead of rupees, so they could more easily use the proceeds to purchase European goods. That process commonly starts with the rupees being converted into dollars, just for a moment, before being converted once again into euros. U.S. sanctions block Iran from exchanging the money on its own. And Asian and European banks are wary because U.S. regulators have levied billions of dollars in fines in recent years and threatened transgressors with a cutoff from the far more lucrative American market. It only took Brexit Secretary David Davis threatening to quit for UK Prime Minister Theresa May to rewrite her controversial backstop EU divorce deal she struck with Jean-Claude Juncker and has added a 2022 end date to her Irish border compromise plan. The new text stated that the UK sees the fallback expiring by the end of 2021 at the very latest, which will result in yet another year tied to EU regulations after the mooted transition period in December 2020. Brexit Minister David Davis emerges from a second meeting with Prime Minister Theresa May Mays decision came after a meeting with both Boris Johnson and Liam Fox and followed Davis confronting her about the backstop proposal document, which detailed future customs arrangements if no solution is found for the Northern Ireland border problem. However, with no specific end date, some have dubbed this omission a Hotel California Brexit, suggesting that Britain will check out but never leave. Who is David Davis? Born David Michael Davis on December 23, 1948, to a single mother, Betty Brown, in York, David was first brought up by his grandparents but after his mother married Ronald Davis, the family moved to London where they lived in Wandsworth and later, in Tooting. With A Level results not good enough to secure a university place, he went on to work in insurance and during this time, became a member of the Territorial Armys 21 SAS (Artists) Regiment to earn money so that he could retake his exams. David Davis arrives to give a speech on Britain's security relationship with the EU after Brexit After receiving the results he needed, Davis attended the University of Warwick and studied Molecular Science and Computer Science, where he founded the student radio station and a mens choir. This is also where he met his future wife Doreen and they married on July 28, 1973 and had three children. He then attended London Business School, got a masters in Business and then Harvard, completing his schooling in 1985. David worked for Tate & Lyle for 17 years, was responsible for restructuring the subsidiary Redpath Sugar and wrote a book about business called How to Turn Round a Company. David Davis MP Daviss first election into Parliament was in 1987 as the MP for Boothferry and later became a government whip at the time of the Maastricht Treaty vote in 1992. He then worked his way up through the Conservative Party and gained the role of Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office until 1997. Britain's Secretary of State for Departing the EU David Davis delivers a speech on security After rejecting a position under William Hague, he used his position as Shadow Home Secretary to reveal his support for the reintroduction of the death penalty for those convicted of multiple murder, 40 years after the abolition of the death penalty. In 2008, Davis announced his resignation as an MP and then stood for candidate for his current seat soon after the Counter-Terrorism Bill vote on extending the limit on the period of detention of terror suspects from 28 to 42 days. Two years later, David Cameron invited him to join the coalition government, but Davis declined, a critic of the partys stance on tuition fees. What is the Brexit 'backstop' for and how would it work? The divorce deal struck by Theresa May and Jean-Claude Juncker before Christmas called for a fallback option to guarantee a soft Irish border. Both sides agreed that the 'backstop' would mean even if there was no wider trade deal, the UK would stay closely aligned enough to prevent the need for new infrastructure between Northern Ireland and the Republic. The inclusion of the clause, at the demand of Ireland, almost wrecked the deal until Mrs May added a commitment that there would also be full alignment between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. The EU then translated the 'backstop' into a legal text - but hardened it to make clear Northern Ireland would be fully within the EU customs union and single market. Mrs May says no Prime Minister could ever agree to such terms, as they would undermine the constitutional integrity of the UK. The latest row is over the UK's counter-proposal, which has finally been published. It suggests effectively abiding by the EU's customs rules for another year after the end of the mooted transition period in December 2020. It suggests effectively abiding by the EU's customs rules for another year after the end of the mooted transition period in December 2020. By that time other arrangements should be in place to prevent the need for the backstop, the document says. However, it does not lay down an absolute end date, saying only that those are the timescales the government 'expects' to hit. The EU has already been dismissing the UK blueprint, saying that a backstop cannot be time-limited. Advertisement David Davis and Brexit After Theresa May was appointed as Prime Minister, David Davis was given the role of Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union in 2016 and his confidence in this position won him the admiration from Tory supporters. Of the spat thought to have taken place between Theresa May and David Davis, a source revealed: Obviously theres been a back and forth on this paper, as there always is whenever the Government publishes anything. The backstop paper has been amended and now expresses, in much more detail, the time limited nature of our proposal - something the PM and David Davis have always been committed to. The document which presents a customs extension would only last for a maximum of a year after December 2020. The document read: 'The UK is clear that the temporary customs arrangement, should it be needed, should be time limited, and that it will be only in place until the future customs arrangement can be introduced. 'The UK is clear that the future customs arrangement needs to deliver on the commitments made in relation to Northern Ireland. The UK expects the future arrangement to be in place by the end of December 2021 at the latest. There are a range of options for how a time limit could be delivered, which the UK will propose and discuss with the EU.' The PMs spokeswoman added that the UK would have the final say on when the backstop ended. We are not going to sign up to anything that means that the EU can hold us in a temporary backstop when our customs arrangements are ready. When our customs arrangements are ready the backstop must end. Before the document was released, the EU had insisted that it was unacceptable and the Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar also dismissed the idea of a time limited backdrop. 'The principle that is in the existing backstop that is supported by the 27 EU member states is that it applies at least until there is an alternative in place. It is not something that can be just time limited. 'It has to be as they say "all weather", it has to be applicable until such a time if and when there is a new relationship between the EU and UK that prevents a hard border, Varadkar said. David Davis resignation David Davis has reignited speculation that he may resign and has refused to quell rumours, saying that whether he remained in his current post was a question for the Prime Minister. These rumours have emerged amid Mays pledge that there will be no return to a hard border. Americans believe that many Muslims in the U.S. are not 'American' enough, according to a new study. Americans also see little difference between Muslims from other countries and Muslim Americans, 'suggesting that "Americanness" alone does not lead to more positive views,' the study found. Further, nearly 20 percent of Americans would deny Muslims who are U.S. citizens the right to vote, and many would support a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country, according to the report by the Democracy Fund Voter Study Group. Americans view many Muslims in the U.S. as insufficiently 'American' according to a study by the Democracy Fund Voter Study Group. This chart shows Muslims with the least positive rating on a favorability scale in which respondents rated various demographic groups on a scale of 0 to 100 Perceptions split dramatically down party lines, with Democrats believing that more than two-thirds of Muslims wanted to fit in, while Republicans believed only 36 percent did. Overall, respondents believed only 51 percent of Muslim Americans respect American ideals and laws, and only 56 percent want to fit in. While the survey found major partisan lines in how people responded, Republicans and Democrats agreed on three perceptions: Muslims tend to be religious, have outdated views of women and outdated views of gay people. Muslims were ranked the lowest of any demographic group just behind feminists, with a score of 48 - on a favorability scale in which respondents rated various demographic groups on a scale of 0 to 100. The perceptions among non-Muslims were inconsistent with how Muslims view themselves, with a large portion saying they consider themselves patriotic. 'While these are disturbing perceptions, the survey itself shows that they are not a reflection of reality - in that American Muslims are well-integrated, patriotic and productive citizens - but are instead a product of misinformation and the active promotion of Islamophobia in our society,' said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Muslims consistently ranked more unfavorably than Christians among Americans, with many Americans believing Muslims have outdated views of women and gay people Hooper put the blame squarely on Donald Trump for the overwhelmingly negative perception of Muslims. The president has been criticized by politicians on both sides of the aisle for his positions on Muslims including his false statement that he saw thousands of Muslims in New Jersey cheering over the September 11 terrorist attack. During the 2016 Republican presidential primary race, Republican Governor Jeb Bush said, 'You talk about closing mosques, you talk about registering people that's just wrong.' But reactions like those haven't deterred the president from imposing policies that restrict people from many majority-Muslim countries from entering the U.S. The number of Muslims living in the United States is projected to double as a share of the U.S. population by 2050, according to the Pew Research Center. Two more workers at a Florida dairy farm have been arrested and charged with animal cruelty seven months after an animal rights group recorded disturbing video of cows being kicked and beaten with metal rods. Juan Carrasco, 35, and Juan Carlos Hernandez Camacho, 44, were arrested on May 21 after the Animal Recovery Mission video prompted an investigation in November of the Larson Dairy Farm in Okeechobee, Florida. The nonprofit animal cruelty investigative organization had someone work undercover at the farm in August, filming employees kicking cows and hitting them with metal rods. Juan Carrasco, 35 (left), and Juan Carlos Hernandez, 44 (right), were arrested on May 21 and chraged with animal cruelty for beating cows at a Okeechobee, Florida dairy farm The Animal Recovery Mission filmed the distressing footage in August, prompting an investigation once they released the video in November Local law enforcement launched an investigation after the video was released. Another worker at the farm, 50-year-old Helias Cruz, was arrested in November on a misdemeanor charge of kicking a cow. 'Larson Dairy's violence towards animals, is both disturbing and horrific. It saddens me knowing that these cows are still in the hands of such abusers,' ARM's founder Richard Couto said in a statement. 'As we will prove in the coming weeks, the unfortunate reality is that the abusive practices we found at Larson are a plague across much of the dairy industry. We are committed to ensuring those responsible are brought to justice.' The footage also showed the workers at Larson Dairy appearing to beat the cows with metal rods Footage showed several workers apparently kicking, beating, and stabbing cows to force them into cramped spaces. Owner Jacob Larson said an employee seen in the video hitting cows has been fired, adding that the 'unusual use of force is simply unacceptable on our dairy or on any other farm' The video also shows distressing footage of female newborn calves held in small pens with inadequate shelter. One disabled calf was unable to stand and laying in her own feces The video was shot by an investigator with Animal Recovery Mission, who began working at the dairy in August. 'Dairy supervisors and milkers beat, stab and torment dairy cows with steel construction rebar,' the narrator says. 'The sharp metal rods pierce and penetrate the cows' bodies. Kept hidden from tours and visitors to the dairy, the cows are brutalized.' In a statement in November, owner Jacob Larson said an employee seen in the video hitting cows has been fired, adding that the 'unusual use of force is simply unacceptable on our dairy or on any other farm.' 'We have strict protocols involving animal care and clearly the behavior shown in this video goes against everything we stand for and will not be tolerated,' Larson said. 'The employee involved and featured in the video has been terminated. Further corrective action will be taken if necessary as we continue to analyze the video and conduct an on-farm investigation. 'Dairy supervisors and milkers beat, stab and torment dairy cows with steel construction rebar,' the narrator says in the video. Another Larson Dairy farm worker, 50-year-old Helias Cruz, was arrested for a misdemeanor charge for kicking a cow in November 'The sharp metal rods pierce and penetrate the cows' bodies. Kept hidden from tours and visitors to the dairy, the cows are brutalized.' The video appears to show a worker beating a cow in the head with a steel rod. It also shows several workers kicking, beating, and stabbing cows to force them into cramped spaces. The video also shows distressing footage of female newborn calves held in small pens with inadequate shelter. One disabled calf was unable to stand and laying in her own feces. Larson, whose family has been in the dairy business since 1947 and in Okeechobee County since 1971, questioned the tactics of the animal rights group. 'We are equally concerned about the manner in which this video was brought to our attention,' Larson said. 'Had the "undercover" employee brought this to our attention when it occurred, we may have been able to prevent it earlier.' France and Canada's leaders have issued a blunt message to President Trump, warning his punishing trade tariffs may ultimately cost Americans their jobs. Speaking today at a joint press conference Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron warned the US president his actions had put his people's 'jobs on the line'. The Canadian premier encouraged Trump to reconsider his decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron issued a stark warning today 'American jobs are on the line because of his actions and because of his administration,' Trudeau said on Parliament Hill in Ontario. 'When we can underscore this, and we see that there's a lot of pressure within the US, perhaps he will revise his position.' Macron, who arrived in Ottawa on Wednesday evening for talks in advance of the pivotal G7 summit, agreed. 'A trade war doesn't spare anyone,' he said. 'It will start to hurt American workers, the cost of raw materials will rise and industry will become less competitive.' If Trump withdraw the US from its global role, it would be a disaster for the nation's economy and image, Macron said, adding that he believes Trump knows this to be true. He continued: 'The G7 is an opportunity for us to get together and have frank, open discussions among nations who have long been allies and friends,' Macron told reporters, with Trudeau at his side. Emmanuel Marcon and his wife, First Lady Brigitte Macron, arrive at Pierre Elliot Trudeau Airport in Montreal, Canada Emmanuel Macron was greeted by Justin Trudeau ahead of the G7 summit where Trump will be challenged over his punishing trade tariffs Macron (pictured with wife Brigitte) arrived in Ottawa on Wednesday evening for talks in advance of the pivotal G7 summit 'There will be subjects on which the (US) president is not totally in sync with the others. I'm thinking of course of climate change and trade,' the French leader said. 'Our common goal is to try to find a text that can be signed by everyone,' he explained, but added that 'the desire to sign a common G7 declaration must not outweigh the need to be mindful of the content.' 'We Europeans and the Japanese are not ready to give up everything to get' Trump's signature, he said, adding that would be a 'mistake.' But Trump is not going to bend. 'Getting ready to go to the G-7 in Canada to fight for our country on Trade (we have the worst trade deals ever made),' he tweeted Thursday. Oxfam activists are escorted from Parliament Hill after imitating the leaders of the G7 nations including US President Trump An activist wearing a large Trump head protests in support of women's rights in Ontario Despite the pair's protestations - and EU backing - it seems unlikely that Trump will bend Trump may well be distracted by preparations for his June 12 summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, which will be in Singapore immediately after the rich-world talking shop in Canada. But it seems likely that the US leader will enjoy a warmer encounter with the autocrat from Pyongyang than with his Canadian hosts and European and Japanese allies. Leaders like Trudeau and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel admit it will be difficult to even agree on a joint communique at the two-day meeting. Merkel said Wednesday that there would be 'no compromise for its own sake' and that dropping the statement 'may be the more honest way.' 'We know certainly that there will be frank and sometimes difficult discussions around the G7 table, particularly with the US president on tariffs,' the Canadian premier told reporters. Workers have been boarding up businesses in the centre of Quebec City, the site of the G7 summit, in preparation for possible protests While the actual meetings will take place more than 140km from Quebec City, the main protests are expected to unfold in the provincial capital A pedestrian walks past boarded up shop windows as preparations are made for possible G7 summit protests in Quebec City Canada's Trade Minister Francois Philippe Champagne was even blunter, declaring: 'What we are seeing is that the world economic order is under pressure, under attack.' Top White House economics advisor Larry Kudlow, in line with the long-standing expert consensus in the G7 industrialized democracies, opposed tariffs before joining Trump's team, but now says he agrees that the trade status quo hurts America. 'Until we can have reciprocal relationships, we will not have free trade, and we will not have fair trade,' Kudlow said. Europe does not come to Quebec from a position of strength. Britain's Theresa May is mired in endless Brexit negotiations and Italian premier Giuseppe Conte only formally took power on Wednesday. The G7's only Asian member, Japan, has close relations with the White House, but Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's support for Trump's North Korean outreach has not seen his country spared the tariffs. The G7 developed in part because the world's rich powers -- despite their supposed Cold War victory -- became frustrated in working through the broader multilateral system with lesser rivals. Macron (pictured) said Trump's tariff 'will start to hurt American workers, the cost of raw materials will rise and industry will become less competitive' Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (right) expressed support for 'strong multilateralism' The globalized economy that they helped build had winners and losers, of course, but until Trump's election, the United States was seen as the system's uncontested leader and a major beneficiary. But now, according to Laurence Nardon of the French Institute for International Relations (IFRI), one of the main actors on the international stage is no longer following the same script. 'It completely calls into question the international system,' she told AFP. 'This G7 summit is a new act in the drama. So far, the six are standing strong, but Trump has not finished.' Since coming to office in January 2017, Trump has pulled the US out of the Paris climate accord, the Iran nuclear deal and the TPP Pacific free trade deal. The summit begins Friday in La Malbaie, in Charlevoix, north of Quebec, and runs until Saturday, when Trump flies on to Singapore. The internet, and late night host Jimmy Kimmel, had a field day over Vice President Pence's strange copying of President Trump when he moved his water bottle from the table to the floor during a FEMA meeting. The bizarre copycat behavior happened during a crucial meeting with the Federal Emergency Management Association that focused on America's preparations ahead of the 2018 hurricane season. On Jimmy Kimmel Live, the host joked about the odd incident after it was caught on camera- with Trump taking his water bottle off the table- and without skipping a beat, Pence is seen doing the exact same move. The only other difference is that Trump takes the napkin off the table, and perhaps has placed it somewhere in his lap. During the Late Night host's monologue, Kimmel cracked: 'Trumpy see Trumpy do? He's for sure a Westwold Robot,' he said of the Veep. He places the bottle under the table: For whatever reason, Trump took his water bottle off the table, and placed it on the floor. Trump then took his napkin and placed it in his lap As Trump picks up the bottle and lifts it off the table, he begins to place it down on the floor, no sooner is he upright- Pence starts making the same exact move Without skipping a beat- Pence did the exact same move, minus the whole napkin business. In the right frame you can see Pence has lifted the bottle, as the president seems to still be recovering from placing his on the floor Longer arms there Pence? The vice president seems to need less of a bending movement to get the bottle to hit the floor. The bizarre behavior happened at FEMA's National Response Coordination Center- where coordinating was on the table The strange WATER-gate happening made Jimmy Kimmel's monologue Wednesday, hailing Pence as some sort of 'Westworld robot' Political pundits took the incident more seriously, suggesting the mimicking was a result of Pence's ingrained understanding of the president's apparent obsession with image, however Trump failed to mention the dire needs of Puerto Rico during the on-camera portion of the meeting. Those experts say water bottle on or off the table for the leaders of the free world is inconsequential, as they missed the perfect opportunity to address the needs of Puerto Rico, which is still reeling from the devastation that Hurricane Maria left last year. Despite that, Twitter users went to town with conspiracy theories and wise cracks on the strange mirror-like move by Pence. One woman shared her husbands analysis of the Pence-Trump water bottle video, in which he texted her that the move is clearly a 'FreeMason hidden signal thing. Dan Brown will base his next book on it.' Another person, thought it just the strangest thing yet. 'This business of Mike Pence aping Trump's move with a water bottle just might be the weirdest, creepiest thing I've seen out of them yet. Just weird man,' wrote a person who goes by Schutzie on Twitter. Schmtzie wasn't done with the issue just yet either, they added: 'By copying Trump's move with the water bottle Pence is showing the country he is capable of stepping in and being just as big of a freaking weirdo as Trump, if necessary.' Twitter user CJ Davies also found the mimic odd, sharing: 'Pence's water bottle put down is classic, "Monkey See, Monkey Do." Just what the heck is going on here?' Twitter user Christina Rea pondered the issue saying, 'This looks like a very ingrained action. Trump doesnt want unsightly water/napkin in the frame w/ him. Pence knows immediately what is going & w/out looking up moves it to accommodate him. Not saying Pence is a victim but I recognize this abusive/controlling behavior. Either way, whatever the move was, it is not the first time we've seen number two copying number one. In 2016, when the two men were still on the campaign trail, NBC News' Ali Vitali shot a video of Pence perfectly copying Trump's waves and gestures. A Georgia man has been sentenced to life in prison for brutally killing his wife of 20 years and dousing her body in gasoline in an attempt to burn down the house with her corpse inside. Darryl Chandler, 62, murdered his wife Brenda Poole Chandler, 62, by hitting her on the head with a blunt object before mutilating her body on December 12, 2016 in their Kennesaw home. He was arrested after he stabbed her repeatedly in the chest, cut across her neck, and covered her in gasoline, according to AJC.com. Darryl Chandler, 62, (left) was sentenced to life behind bars on Monday after pleading guilty to brutally murdering his wife of 20 years Brenda Poole Chandler, 62 (right) He pleaded guilty to charges of malice murder, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, and criminal attempt to commit arson and was sentenced on Monday. The couple had no history of domestic violence. Their children said they had no idea there was trouble in the couple's marriage. 'Brenda Poole Chandlers surviving children testified that she lived her life in love every day. Brenda did not deserve to have her life come to such a gruesome end at the hands of a man to whom she gave nothing but love and support,' Prosecutor Brendan Murphy said. 'This is a grave reminder that domestic violence can be deadly, even the very first time it happens. We will continue to hold violent perpetrators accountable when they rain down such terror in the home,' he added. Chandler was arrested after neighbors smelled gasoline near the couple's duplex. At first the gas company was alerted. In the December 2016 killing he hit her head with a blunt object, stabbed her chest and neck, and covered her in gasoline in their Kennesaw home, pictured above The motive behind the attack is not clear. Chandler had lost his job several months before the attack, he had also disappeared for about two weeks prior to the incident Police were called when Chandler denied gas company workers entry into his home to investigate the gas smell. When officers found him, he had two lighters in his pocket as he intended to burn the house and the evidence of the body with it. The motive behind his attack is not clear. However, Chandler had lost his job several months before the incident. He had also disappeared for about two weeks prior to the attack, according to CBS46. One of their children Torre Poole said the attack was unwarranted. 'She had done so much for him. He would have done anything to protect her,' Poole said to Channel 2 Action News at the time of her death. He was ordered to serve 30 years before he will be eligible for parole, according to Assistant Superior Court Judge Joyette Holmes. A southern Missouri dispatcher recounted the panicked call she received Wednesday morning from a firefighter who said he could see a woman and a baby trapped inside a burning home but could not reach them. The devastating fire resulted in the deaths of five young children, identified Thursday by family members as Ethan Hunt, 5; Maeanna Hunt, 3; Benjamin Hunt, 1; Andre Malleck, 1; and Patience Malleck, six months. Lori Embry, with the Laclede County Sheriff's Office, told the Kansas City Star that she helped get first responders quickly dispatched to the Lebanon mobile home but the fire was so strong that it was difficult for firefighters to get inside. The young victims have been identified as Ethan Hunt, 5, (left) and Maeanna Hunt, 3, (right) Andre Malleck (left) and Benjamin Hunt (right), both 1, were also killed in the Wednesday morning fire The youngest victim was Patience Malleck, who was six months old She said the first firefighter to arrive on the scene radioed in and said he was having trouble breaking a window and could not get to the five kids and adult woman stuck inside. 'There's people trapped and I can't get to them,' the firefighter had said, according to Embry. The 24-year-old, who has been a dispatcher for three years, said the unidentified firefighter's voice was breaking with emotion. 'I'm at a window, can't get it open. There's a mother and a baby,' he said in a panic. According to The Star, the firefighter arrived at the home in his personal vehicle at 9.04am, four minutes after neighbors called 911 about the blaze. He was able to get there so quickly because he had been on another call. Five minutes after the man arrived, two fire engines pulled up. A 20-year-old woman was pulled from the home and flown to the hospital in Springfield, about 50 miles southwest of Lebanon. Her condition is not known. Neighbors said she is the mother of two of the children who died. A fire broke out in a mobile home in Lebanon, Missouri Wednesday morning. The mobile home is pictured above Five children and a woman were pulled from the home. The kids were pronounced dead at the scene while the woman was airlifted to the hospital. Her condition is not known After the fire was extinguished, responders entered the home, finding all five children deceased After the fire was extinguished, responders entered the home, finding all five children deceased. 'That was the most heart-wrenching experience I've ever had to deal with,' Embry said, adding that it was the first incident she worked that resulted in the death of children. Chase Schrecengost, who lives next door to the home, said that shortly after first responders arrived a man pulled up screaming for his wife and children. 'It was horrifying to see,' the 17-year-old said. 'I'm shocked about the whole thing.' Neighbors told The Star that the father was at work on an overnight shift when the fire started. 'Neighbors said he was just standing there, crying,' family friend Kim Henry said. 'Saying, "My kids! My kids!" Missouri Department of Public Safety spokesman Mike O'Connell said in an email that three state investigators are on scene trying to determine what caused the fire. Lebanon Fire Chief Sam Schneider said it was uncertain whether there were smoke alarms installed in the home. Neighbor Cynthia Miller told the Springfield News-Leader that she believes the family were renters. A family friend has set up a GoFundMe page hoping to raise $10,000 for funeral expenses. Officials said it was unclear whether there were able fire alarms installed in the home Officials said the children ranged in age from about six-months-old to five-years-old A California pig named Ramone has had a rough start to summer. The swine was found by Orange County police on Thursday, crammed into the back of a maroon BMW. 'We see a lot of things in this line of work and just when we think weve seen it all,' officers said in a social media post. Police did not say how long the pig, who was later identified as Ramone, had been in the vehicle for. Ramone the pig (pictured) was found crammed in the back of his owners BMW in Orange County on Wednesday They managed to contact Ramone's owner and reunite the two, and the pig was safely removed from the steaming hot vehicle. It is not clear if the owner was charged. Police signed off on their social media update by asking locals to be mindful of leaving animals in their cars as the days begin to heat up. 'As we approach summer, remember to not leave your animals inside the vehicle,' they wrote. In January last year, a law was passed in California which allows residents to break the windows of cars if they believe there is an animal in danger with no legal repercussions. This is the horrifying moment a male police officer punched a woman in the face twice after arresting her boyfriend and pushing her to the ground. Police say they were called to an unnamed nightclub after reports a couple had attacked a bouncer in the city of Rotterdam, Netherlands. The video, shot by a bystander, shows a group of police officers handcuffing a man up against their car. A male and female police officer push a woman away, who trips up and falls on her back screaming A woman, the alleged girlfriend of the arrested man, goes up to one of the officers to argue with him. Both he and a female officer push the woman away, who trips up and falls on her back screaming. A bystander helps her up, by which time an officer has come over to her. The woman slaps him and the male officer immediately retaliates by delivering two swift punches at her face. After this, the woman falls over again and a young man with a red hat lunges at the police officer, who also tries to punch him, before he is pushed away by a nightclub bouncer. The woman gets up and slaps the male officer and he immediately retaliates by delivering two swift punches at her face The security guard then warns the youths to 'walk away.' Picking the woman from the ground, the police officer drags her over to the police car. According to the Rotterdam Police, the woman and her boyfriend were both intoxicated and arrested after they attacked a nightclub bouncer moments before. The bouncer who was repeatedly kicked and hit by the couple has filed a criminal complaint, reports say. Both the man and the woman are currently locked up in investigative custody. The Rotterdam Police say they have also launched an internal investigation into the violence used by the officer. One Colorado fire department was asked to do a very different type of rescue last week when they got a call about a tired dog. The poor pup, named Kato, had become exhausted while hiking the Maxwell Falls trail in Evergreen on Sunday. His worried owners called the Evergreen Fire Rescue, which swiftly set out to help when they heard about the 'dog in distress'. This pup named Kato had become exhausted while hiking the Maxwell Falls trail in Evergreen, Colorado on Sunday and had to call on some help from his human friends His worried owners called the Evergreen Fire Rescue, which swiftly set out to help when they heard about the 'dog in distress' Kato, a five-year-old Great Pyrenees who weighs 120lb, was alert but exhausted and 'most likely dehydrated', according to the rescue team. And despite his four legs, Kato was treated just like any human would be during the rescue and was carried out on a stretcher. 'He was alert, but he needed some help,' Evergreen Fire Rescue spokesman Stacee Martin told 9News. 'He couldn't get up.' 'When we got him down, he gave us the same look that any other patient would've: "Thank goodness you're here!"'. 'And so we loaded him in, just like we would any other patient.' Kato, a five-year-old fluffy Great Pyrenees who weighs 120lb, was alert but exhausted and 'most likely dehydrated', according to the rescue team And despite his four legs, Kato was treated just like any human would be during the rescue and was carried out on a stretcher The fire department said it was good that Kato's owners had called for help, as they were still a mile away from the trail head. Maxwell Falls is a 4.2-mile trail that features a waterfall and is classified as moderately difficult. Dogs are permitted on the trail but must be kept on a leash. Martin said that the department often gets calls for help from Maxwell Falls and rescues animals year-round, although they're rarely asked to help dogs on hikes. But she added that the family will not have to pay for the rescue because the department is made up of volunteers. 'We choose to help animals,' Martin said. 'Doesn't matter if it's a horse stuck in the mud, owls that fall out of the nest...this is something that the community supports.' Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh recounts in his new memoir a rumor he heard about Richard Nixon beating his wife, Pat. On August 9, 1974, Nixon left the White House in disgrace and retreated with his wife to their seaside estate in San Clemente, California. A few weeks later, Hersh says he was contacted by a source at a nearby hospital who said the former first lady had been treated at the facility for injuries inflicted by her husband. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh recounts in his new memoir a rumor he heard about Richard Nixon beating his wife, Pat. The couple pictured above in 1958 The claims were made in Seymour Hersh's (left) new memoir, 'Reporter' (right) 'I was called by someone connected to a nearby hospital in California and told that Nixons wife, Pat, had been treated in the emergency room there a few days after she and Nixon had returned from Washington. 'She told doctors that her husband had hit her. I can say that the person who talked to me had very precise information on the extent of her injuries and the anger of the emergency room physician who treated her,' Hersh recalls in his new memoir, 'Reporter'. Hersh, who was working in the Washington, DC bureau of the New York Times at the time, said he dug into the story further - reaching out to Nixon's former domestic affairs advisor, John Ehrlichman, to see what he thought of the rumor. 'I called him and told him, with more specifics than I am writing here, about what had happened to Pat Nixon in San Clemente. Ehrlichman stunned me by saying that he knew of two previous incidents when Nixon struck his wife. The incident that Hersh speaks about in his book allegedly happened just days after Nixon resigned in August 1974. Nixon is pictured above announcing his resignation at the White House, with his wife and daughter Tricia to his left After leaving the White House, Nixon and his wife retreated to the home in San Clemente, California. Nixon is seen boarding Marine One after leaving office 'The first time was in the days after he lost the race for governor of California in 1962, when he bitterly told the press that it was his last political race and they would not have "Richard Nixon to kick around anymore". 'A second assault took place during Nixons years in the White House,' Hersh, who famously uncovered the My Lai massacre, recalled. Despite getting confirmation from at least one Nixon confidante, Hersh said he decided not to write the story at the time, or even tell any of his editors. Hersh says he explained his reasoning for not writing the story while giving a talk to journalism fellows at Harvard's Nieman Foundation in 1998. 'The issue was the merging of private life and public life, and I explained that I would have written about the attacks if they were an example of why his personal life impinges on policy, but there was no evidence of such a link. 'I added that it was not a case where Nixon had gone looking for his wife with an intent to hit her, could not find her, and bombed Cambodia instead,' Hersh explained. The reaction he got from the students made him reconsider his actions. The couple, who married in 1940, had two children, daughters Julie, left, and Tricia, second left. The family of four pictured above in 1968 The Nixons looked like the perfect couple in 1952, when he was chosen as Eisenhower's running mate 'I was taken aback by the anger my decision generated among some of the female fellows, who noted that battery is a crime in many jurisdictions and wondered why I did not choose to report a crime. "What if its another crime that hes committing?" I was asked. "What if he went in and robbed a bank?" 'All I could say was that at the time I did not - in my ignorance - view the incident as a crime. 'My reply was not satisfactory. I did not comprehend then, as the women who challenged me did, that what Nixon had done was a criminal act. 'I should have reported what I knew at the time or, if my doing so would have compromised a source, have made sure that someone else did,' he writes. This isn't the first time that similar stories have been told about Nixon. Journalist Anthony Summers said in his 2000 book 'The Arrogance of Power: The Secret World of Richard Nixon' that he had heard of at least 'three alleged wife-beating incidents' from his sources, including former Nixon campaign aide John P. Sears and Pat Hillings, a longtime friend and associate of Nixon. At the time that book was published in 2000, Nixon's daughter Julie Nixon Eisenhower issued a statement through her father's library, vehemently denying the allegations. When reached by DailyMail.com on Thursday, the Richard Nixon Foundation again dismissed the allegations as an attempt by Hersh to sell books. 'The salacious charges in a new book regarding the personal relationship between President and Mrs Nixon, who were married for 53 years, were denied forcefully and emphatically by the Nixon family when they appeared in another book eighteen years ago. They are nothing more than cheap gossip and implausible hearsay, from anonymous or biased sources, repackaged to attract publicity and sell books,' the statement read. By all other accounts, the Nixons were a perfect couple. The two met in the late 1930s, when they were both in their mid-20s, acting in a play in Whittier, California. At the time, Pat was teaching high school and Richard was a recent Duke Law grad trying to set up a practice. On their first date, Richard asked Pat to marry him and she thought 'he was nuts or something!' They continued to court for two years, with Richard even driving Pat to and from her dates with other suitors. They finally married in 1940. While Pat said in interviews that she wouldn't have chosen the life of a politician's wife for herself, she stood by her husband through each of his many campaigns. The couple had two daughters, Tricia and Julie, who are now ages 72 and 69. Pat Nixon died from lung cancer at the age of 81 in 1993. Her husband died less than a year later, after suffering a stroke, also at 81. This is the nail-biting moment a Brazilian woman appears to risk her life as she courageously grabs the gun of an armed robber who is wrestling her for her bag. But it's not all it seems. According to police, the shopper's impressively brave but somewhat foolhardy fight back was because she had a hunch the weapon was a fake. Mercifully she was right. The thug got away with cash from the till plus the victim's car keys and purse, but not before he headbutted her and hit her with the stump of the gun for stubbornly resisting. A Brazilian woman appears to risk her life as she courageously grabs the gun of an armed robber who is wrestling her for her bag The assailant first holds up the cashier who hands over 200 reais, which is the equivalent to 40, from the early morning takings then attacks the shopper who puts up a fight Police later tracked the dim-witted hoodie to his parent's house after a security camera installed outside the shop registered his face and a tracker on the victim's mobile phone led them to the stolen vehicle which was found parked in the family's garage. The suspect went on the run and his father was arrested for handling stolen goods. CCTV outside the bakery in Sao Jose do Rio Preto, south east Brazil, where the assault took place on Tuesday, June 5 at around 8.40am, shows the moment the suspect calmly saunters up to the premises with his hood down. He apparently pulled it up shortly before entering the shop as footage appears to show the red sweat-shirt wearing man with black rimmed glasses seen outside, is the same deadbeat assaulting the unnamed victims inside. Pointing the gun throughout the assault, the assailant first holds up the cashier who hands over 200 reais, which is the equivalent to 40, from the early morning takings then attacks the shopper who puts up a fight. She drops her purse during the aggression which the villain picks up and pockets, but she stubbornly refuses to hand over her belongings, at one stage fearlessly grabbing the nozzle of the gun while gripping her car keys and bag. The fight ends when the cowardly bandit headbutts his victim sending her pitching backwards to the ground. Only then is he able to snatch her car keys. The victim suffered bruising to her forehead and was hit over the eye with the butt of the gun after stumbling to her feet. She is still traumatised by the incident. The woman drops her purse during the aggression which the villain picks up and pockets, but she stubbornly refuses to hand over her belongings At one stage the woman fearlessly grabbing the nozzle of the gun while gripping her car keys and bag A tracker on the victim's mobile phone led them to the stolen vehicle which was found parked in the family's garage It's not clear in the video when the gutsy shopper realised the weapon was a fake, but police warned people not to risk their lives even if they think the gun is an imitation. Sergeant Ronaldo Pimenta said to Brazil's Petrolandia Noticias: "The gun (used in the mugging) is a replica but it looks very similar to the real thing. "But whether someone thinks they're being held up with a fake gun or not, we urge people not to react during an assault because those who rob have nothing to lose." Cops revealed when they arrived at the suspect's property they found the replica weapon, the red hoodie worn by the assailant, cash, the victim's car keys and several stolen mobile phones. His father denied being guilty of the crime but was arrested for handling stolen goods. Police said they are confident of catching the suspect who is still at large. A five-year-old girl who lost her foot in a horrific incident with a lawnmower shocked everyone when she walked at her graduation on Wednesday. Italia McAllister of Elkhart, Indiana, was chasing her grandfather around as he rode his ride-on lawnmower on the evening of May 8 when he reversed the machine - not realizing she was behind him - and accidentally ran over her foot. Her grandfather, a former EMT, was able to stop the bleeding and put her foot in a splint before she was airlifted to hospital, but doctors were not able to save her injured foot. Despite her horrible circumstances, Italia has maintained a positive attitude and given her all to physical therapy - allowing her to exceed everybody's expectations and take part in kindergarten graduation. Italia McAllister, five, has exceeded all expectations and walked across her kindergarten graduation stage just one month after losing her foot The elementary school student used a wheelchair for parts of the ceremony, but was able to get on her feet when it came time to accept her certificate Her emotional parents told WSBT of their immense pride in the five-year-old, who they say has been recovering well beyond what they ever expected. 'Every day she's taking on new things like having to go to the bathroom different with the rail or having to get dressed. She's been doing it by herself,' mom Robin McAllister said. 'It's just like your eyes are just coming out of your head because you just don't realize she can do it herself but she can.' Moving video shows Italia using a walker to move across the hall's floor as her classmates and their families applaud her. The five-year-old appears proud, but focused, as she pushes her walker and hops towards her award - stopping only to quickly shake a teacher's hand. Italia lost her foot in May when her grandfather accidentally ran over it with his ride on lawnmower, not realising she was behind him Though her grandfather stopped the bleeding with a splint and Italia was airlifted to hospital, doctors weren't able to save her foot The kindergartner has worked hard at physical therapy over the past month and managed to walk herself across the hall to receive her graduation certificate Pictured: Italia still smiling as she recovers in hospital. Her parents have credited her positive attitude to her immensely successful rehabilitation Though Italia has made great strides in her recovery, she is aware of what happened to her foot, and the thought can sometimes upset her, her father Cody said. 'Some days it's rough and some days it's good. She has her emotional days, we have our emotional days,' he said. Italia will need extensive physical therapy and multiple surgeries for years to come, which her family are currently fundraising for. At the end of the month, Italia will return to Riley Hospital in Indianapolis for a check-up. Provided all is well, she will be fitted for a prosthetic foot, which Robin and Cody hope she'll be walking on by the time she starts first grade. It has been just over a week since a single racist tweet derailed Roseanne Barr's career, and it seems the trouble has only just begun. The disgraced comedian - who could lose more than $3million from her canceled show - was seen crying on the phone outside her parents' home in Salt Lake City, Utah on Thursday. Barr, who was wearing a bright blue and purple dress, looked upset as she walked around outside and chatted on her cell phone. Roseanne Barr was seen crying on the phone outside her parent's home in Salt Lake City, Utah on Thursday Barr, who was wearing a bright blue and purple dress, looked upset as she walked around outside and chatted on her cell phone She often held her hand to her face in distress as she spoke on the phone. At one point Barr could even be seen wiping the tears from her eyes with her arm as she listened to someone on the other line. While the content of the phone call remains a mystery, there's plenty for Barr to be upset about since Roseanne was canceled last week following her racist tweet. It was exclusively revealed by DailyMail.com that Barr may not get paid full compensation for her canceled sitcom. ABC executives believe the star has brought the network into disrepute and has breached her contract obligations with her racist tweet about Valerie Jarret, a source with knowledge of the situation claims. Barr often held her hand to her face in distress as she continued to spoke on the phone At one point Barr could even be seen wiping the tears from her eyes with her arm as she continued to speak to someone on the other line While the content of the phone call remains a mystery, there's plenty for Barr to be upset about since Roseanne was canceled last week following her racist tweet It's understood senior ABC figures are keen to block any payments due to Barr amid the embarrassment her incendiary tweet has caused the network. Barr repotedly raked in an estimated $250,000 per episode of the show and will likely lose more than $3million in the wake of the scandal. This comes amid reports that the network is considering a spin-off of the show that would center around Sara Gilbert, who played Barr's daughter on Roseanne. Gilbert was one of the first members of the cast to speak out against Barr following her tweets about Obama's former senior adviser, calling them 'abhorrent'. Barr, 65, is still keeping a low profile at her parent's house, where she is holed up with partner Johnny Argent. Earlier in the week: Roseanne smokes a cigarette and chats on her phone outside her Salt Lake City, Utah home on Tuesday Barr might be in for a long fight for her compensation ahead of her. ABC execs believe she has brought the network into disrepute and has breached her contract obligations with her tweet She was snapped looking increasingly weary on Tuesday walking near the home in a plain black dress. Smoking a cigarette and chatting on her phone a make-up free Barr appeared glum and lost in her thoughts in DailyMail.com's exclusive photos. The disgraced television star had vowed to take a break from Twitter, but on Tuesday she tweeted: 'I'm making restitution for the pain I have caused.' But just five minutes later Barr retweeted multiple posts that attacked Jarrett, who the comedian had said looked like the offspring between the Muslim Brotherhood and Planet of the Apes. 'You didn't cause any pain,' one tweet read. 'Those people always hated you. Valerie Jarrett wants Israelis and Jews chased into the sea, and she'll celebrate.' Meanwhile, ABC executives are continuing to try and figure out if there is a future for Roseanne without it's star. If a reboot doesn't materialize then the network will commit to their monetary responsibilities for those caught up in the wake of the scandal, the source revealed. Barr was snapped looking increasingly weary on Tuesday walking near the home in a plain black dress After initially saying she was taking a break from Twitter, Roseanne Barr returned late Tuesday with a cryptic tweet promising to make 'restitution for the pain' she has caused Barr retweeted multiple posts defending the actress on Tuesday, including one that read: 'You didn't cause any pain. Those people always hated you. Valerie Jarrett wants Israelis and Jews chased into the sea, and she'll celebrate' Sara Gilbert, who played Roseanne's on-screen daughter Darlene, appeared on The Talk on Monday saying she was saddened about how 'Roseanne' ended but supported the cancellation It's understood Barr's co-stars, including Gilbert and John Goodman, will receive close to their full agreed contracted fees for the canceled run. The source added that 'only the significant' lead writers in the creative room are in talks of compensation packages. The crew of the show has not been made any promises of financial compensation, however. 'There's a lot to sort out. Some of the senior crew members are actively looking for work, with no decision yet made on any spin off or reboot,' the source said. 'Roseanne's contract was canceled because she brought the show and the network into disrepute so network bosses aren't going to want to pay her but they're more than happy to pay the rest of the cast. 'Even Roseanne's comments on Twitter in recent days have the legal team adamant that she has broken the moral obligations of her contract.' It's understood Goodman, Gilbert and Laurie Metcalfe will be paid for the unfilmed ten episodes - even though 13 were commissioned. The source claims the stars have already accepted those terms behind closed doors. Another source from ABC told People that talks about a possible spin-off are currently 'underway', however. Roseanne Barr's mother, Helen, was seen outside her Salt Lake City home on Tuesday carrying a plate of food. Roseanne is staying with her in the aftermath of her racist tweet scandal It's understood Barr's co-stars, including John Goodman and Gilbert, will receive close to their full agreed contracted fees for the canceled run. Goodman is pictured above outside The Herb smoke shop with a bandage around his arm 'But it's too preliminary to know if it's going to gel or not,' they added. The source also revealed that the cast were 'always on edge' about Barr and whether she would go 'off track' while they were filming. 'Everyone is upset for the cast and the crew, but there was always a feeling that something was going to happen,' the source said. 'There was always a heightened awareness with her and we were always on edge. Did we think she would say something like that? No. But then it all fell apart.' Gilbert led the way for a number of Barr's co-stars to speak out against her last week. 'I am disappointed in her actions to say the least,' Gilbert wrote on Twitter last Tuesday 'This is incredibly sad and difficult for all of us, as we've created a show that we believe in, are proud of, and that audiences love - one that is separate and apart from the opinions and words of one cast member.' Andre Thomas, 35, ripped out his remaining eye before eating it in 2009. This was five years after he removed his other eye after being convicted of murdering his estranged wife, son and stepdaughter. He is seen in a mug shot taken after losing both his eyes A Texas death row inmate who removed his one remaining eye and ate it has been granted an appeal by the federal court. Andre Thomas, 35, plucked out the other eye following his 2004 arrest for the murder of his estranged wife, son and stepdaughter. Attorneys for Thomas will challenge a conviction for murdering his 13-month-old stepdaughter but judges denied them the right to appeal his death penalty conviction on the basis of mental illness, the court decided on Thursday. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel said the issue of whether executing the severely mentally ill man is unconstitutional was 'foreclosed' as the Supreme Court only prohibits the killing of mentally disabled people, not the mentally ill. The three-strong panel of judges said they would instead examine claims that Thomas' trial lawyers were deficient and his jury was racially biased. Thomas stabbed his former wife, Laura Christine Boren, 20, 4-year-old Andre Lee and 13-month-old Leyha Marie Hughes before ripping their hearts out i 2004. He then put the organs in his pocket before throwing them in the trash. Thomas stabbed his former wife, Laura Christine Boren, 20, 4-year-old Andre Lee and 13-month-old Leyha Marie Hughes (pictured in an undated image) before ripping their hearts out Thomas handed himself in at Sherman Police Department and told officers God had ordered him to commit the murders. The killer removed his first eye five days after he was arrested, but was ruled competent for trial and convicted on three counts of murder in 2004. In 2009, he removed and ate his remaining eye and was transferred to a psychiatric unit. A federal judge rejected an appeal against his capital punishment conviction on the basis of mental illness in 2016. Thursday's ruling by the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals brings that strand of the case to a close. In court documents seen by Dallas News, attorney Catherine M.A. Carroll claimed Thomas suffered from delusions resulting from an undiagnosed and untreated mental illness. Carroll said her client's lawyers at his first jury trial had failed to challenge a judge when he deemed him fit for trial. This is the Jester IV Unit a psychiatric facility in Fort Bend where Thomas is currently housed after ripping out his second eye in 2009 She also claimed evidence about Thomas' 'long-standing' mental illness and the racial bias of the jury should have been considered. Thomas is black and Boren was white. 'We are grateful to have the opportunity to present the troubling issues in Mr. Thomas' case for fuller adjudication,' Maurie Levin, one of Thomas' attorneys, said. 'Mr. Thomas, who is currently housed in a psychiatric unit, is an extremely mentally ill man who was sentenced to death following a highly problematic trial and sentencing.' State attorneys insisted there was no evidence of Thomas' mental illness within two months of the slayings and that Thomas' drug and alcohol abuse was responsible for his mental problems. A mother has been jailed for life and her boyfriend sentenced to death for the murder of her eight-year-old son who they tortured and abused until he died because they thought he was gay. Pearl Fernandez, 34, and Isauro Aguirre, 37, were sentenced on Thursday for the May 2013 death of her son Gabriel. Over the course of several months, the pair tortured Gabriel at their home in Los Angeles by locking him up in cabinets, beating him with bats and shooting him with BB guns. The boy was taken to hospital on May 23, 2013, after he stopped breathing. He had pellets lodged in his lung and groin and had a fractured skull. Pearl Fernandez is pictured in a brown prison jumpsuit. Her boyfriend Isauro Aguirre is seen left in an orange jumpsuit on Thursday. He has been sentenced to death and she will spend the rest of her life in prison for killing her eight-year-old son Gabriel Gabriel died aged eight in May 2013. His mother took him to hospital because he had stopped breathing and he was pronounced dead two days later On Thursday, Los Angeles Superior County Court Judge George Lomeli described the case as one of the worst he had seen in 20 years on the bench. 'In my almost 20 years on the bench in this court, this case is without a doubt the most aggravated and egregious case this court has ever witnessed. 'It's beyond animalistic because animals know how to take care of their young,' he said. Aguirre and Fernandez sat at the same defendants' table, not looking at one another throughout the hearing. During the trial, prosecutors told how they forced Gabriel to sleep blindfolded in a cabinet. They also force fed him feces. As he sentenced the pair, Lomeli said he hoped they woke up in the middle of the night haunted by how they tortured the child. Gabriel's injuries were horrifying when he was brought to hospital. The boy had been tortured for months, mostly by his mother's boyfriend, but under her watch Prosecutors said Gabriel's mother and her boyfriend punished him because they thought he was gay The couple used BB guns to shoot pellets at the boy (above). Pellets were found in his lungs and groins when he was brought in to hospital The couple also beat Gabriel with a bat, once smashing out his two front teeth Pearl Fernandez, Gabriel's mother, read a statement in court saying she wished she had made 'different choices'. Her boyfriend did not give a statement 'I can only wish...that in the middle of the night you wake up, and you think of the injuries that you subjected on this poor young man, this poor 7-year-old, and that it tortures you,' he said. Prosecutors told how the pair systematically abused Gabriel because they thought he was homosexual. They tried to cover up their abuse of him and discussed putting him in ice baths over text messages. They thought the baths would help disguise his bruises. As part of their case, prosecutors submitted drawings which illustrated the scale of the boy's injuries. In a prepared statement, the boy's mother told the court: 'Everyday I wish I made better choices. I wish I could have saved Gabriel.' Her boyfriend carried out the most violent abuse. Commuters were forced to go through weapon-detecting knife arches yesterday Commuters were forced to go through weapon-detecting knife arches yesterday as part of a police crackdown on violence in London. According to rail workers, it is the second time in two weeks that police have set up metal detectors at major rail stations, which officers say will disrupt young thugs. The arches, which have also been used to target knife crime in troublesome schools recently, can detect weapons through a persons clothes. But the technologys effectiveness was called into question last night as one bystander revealed to the Daily Mail that he passed the barrier with a five-inch Stanley knife in his pocket. The man, who did not want to be named, was required to have the knife for work, but said: Because the outside is plastic it did not go off. A team of ten police officers were stationed in the archway leading towards Vauxhall Underground and mainline rail stations, in south London, between 2pm and 6pm yesterday. According to rail workers, it is the second time in two weeks that police have set up metal detectors at major rail stations, which officers say will disrupt young thugs The arches, which have also been used to target knife crime in troublesome schools recently, can detect weapons through a persons clothes Onlookers said police waited by the detectors, ready to catch unsuspecting travellers. It is not known how many arrests were made. A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: We are committed to tackling knife crime and use a number of tactics to disrupt young people who wish to carry knives. The use of knife arches at key locations is a tried and tested tactic. In the South London district of Croydon, police installed an arch at the entrance to a McDonalds fast food restaurant earlier this year, and said the initiative was very successful. Croydon borough commander Jeff Boothe said at the time: When we first started putting up knife arches, we were going into schools and colleges and trying to persuade them of the benefits. Now, businesses and educational facilities are coming to us and saying they would really like to work with us on something similar. At least 37 people have been fatally stabbed in London this year. A work crew building a boat in Indiana this week discovered a terrifying stowaway in the form of a colossal spider. Workers at Godfrey Marine in Elkhart put the creepy critter measuring six inches in length in a plastic bag to move it away from their work space on Tuesday, before releasing it back into the wild. They later learned the creature, which was about the side of a human hand, is called a fishing spider and is relatively harmless to humans. The stuff of nightmares: This six-inch fishing spider was spotted on Tuesday in Indiana Workers building a boat at Godfrey Marine in Elkhart (pictured) made the terrifying discovery Its long legs allow the spider to walk across water surfaces, where it feeds on insects and small fish. The massive arachnid is often mistaken for a wolf spider, which is common in Indiana. Godfrey Marine employee Jacob Collins left a tongue-in-cheek warning Tuesday on Facebook: 'They found this giant beast on a boat at work today. Beware all Elkhart [County] residents. They are out there and they are real.' Collins' status update featured three spine-chilling photos of the critter inside the plastic bag. His post has since gone viral, racking up more than 9,000 shares as of Thursday afternoon. Damian Collins (pictured) chairs the Culture select committee Should it be a criminal offence to tell a parliamentary select committee to get stuffed? We may be moving towards that territory following a rare debate in the Commons yesterday. Damian Collins (Con, Folkestone & Hythe), who chairs the Culture select committee, proposed a motion 'ordering' a chap called Dominic Cummings 'to appear before the committee at a time on or before June 20, 2018'. After brief discussion the motion was passed. The Chamber may have been near-empty but that did not matter. The Commons had spoken. It had 'ordered' Mr Cummings to jolly well haul his pantaloons to SW1, sharpish. Will he obey? If not, what will happen to him? Will his head be severed from its moorings on a Whitehall scaffold at dawn? Or will MPs simmer and steam and, er, be left looking prize chumps while Mr Cummings flashes them a rhetorical moonie? This Cummings is a feisty political adviser who used to work for Michael Gove and was more recently the brains behind the Leave campaign. He devised the 'Take Back Control' slogan which helped the forces of liberation win the EU referendum. Comrade Cummings is a peppery fellow and holds the Establishment Blob in snorting disregard. He is married to Mary Wakefield, much-worshipped commissioning editress of The Spectator magazine. Zuleika Dobson and the Plate Smasher. The Culture committee, which under Mr Collins (a Remainer) has acquired an anti-Brexit tone, has been trying to question Mr Cummings for its inquiry it is holding into 'fake news'. Inquiries were once mighty inquisitions led by figures of punctilious impartiality. These days the noun has sometimes been hijacked by committees mounting short-term probes for naked political purposes. Mr Cummings thinks the Culture committee is up to such tricks. And so he has told Mr Collins to get lost, in increasingly colourful language. The Culture committee has, under Mr Collins (a Remainer), acquired an anti-Brexit tone Thus it was that yesterday, for the first time since 1920, such impertinence by a member of the public towards Parliament was the subject of a Commons motion. Mr Collins said he brought the matter forward 'with regret' (rather than naked self-promotion, you will understand). There had been 'a deliberate attempt to deny Parliament its right to question witnesses'. Hilary Benn (Lab, Leeds C), who hates Brexit possibly even more than Mr Collins (though that is naturally by the by), was next to speak. He deplored Mr Cummings's refusal to give evidence to the Culture committee and wondered if the House should now legislate. In Australia and New Zealand, citizens could be fined or gaoled for refusing a parliamentary summons. Not that they actually had to answer questions once they were there, admitted Mr Benn. They could just sit there in silence, playing patience with a pack of cards. This Cummings is a feisty political adviser who used to work for Michael Gove (pictured) For the SNP, Pete Wishart harrumphed that Mr Cummings was showing 'contempt for this House', which is something no Scots Nat would ever do to the London legislature. Julian Lewis (Con, New Forest E) suspected Mr Cummings would realise 'time was up'. Yet Mr Lewis also noted that ministers sometimes refuse to let civil servants give evidence to select committees. Indeed. Sir Bill Cash's European Scrutiny committee wants to question Downing Street's Brexit supremo Olly Robbins and has been refused. Sarah Wollaston (Con, Totnes) said 'it's a disgrace and we should call it out'. Call it out of what? Greater eloquence was shown by Chris Bryant (Lab, Rhondda) who argued that if Mr Cummings 'got away with it', the Commons would soon find every captain of industry in the land refusing to submit to select committee questioning. 'We cannot allow impunity any longer,' cried Mr Bryant. Select committees, at their best, can shame over-powerful figures such as the bosses of errant banks and hospital contractors and media firms and venture capitalists. What went unsaid yesterday was that a few committees (eg, Home Affairs in the Vaz years) have in recent times become silly show trials. Any new law forcing attendance is probably years away. Mr Cummings looks safe for the time being. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo put the president's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani in his place on Thursday after the Trump friend made a crude joke about North Korea's supreme leader. Giuliani said Kim Jong-un 'got on his hands and knees and begged' for the summit with President Trump to go ahead after the U.S. leader cancelled it. The decision to call the summit off - before putting it back on - humbled Kim, the president's lawyer said. He added: 'That is exactly where you want him.' Pompeo flatly rejected the claim during a rare appearance before White House press, saying, 'We're moving forward. We're focused on the important things. I know Rudy. Uh, but Rudy doesn't speak for the administration when it comes to this negotiation, this type of issues.' Secretary of State Mike Pompeo put the president's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani in his place on Thursday after the Trump friend made a crude joke about North Korea's supreme leader Pompeo flatly rejected the claim during a rare appearance before White House press, saying, 'Rudy doesn't speak for the administration when it comes to this negotiation, this type of issues' Trump is scheduled to meet with Kim on June 12 in Singapore to discuss nuclear disarmament on the Korean Peninsula Giuliani made the comments while at a conference in Israel, and later stood by them when questioned by the Associated Press. However, he did add that he was sharing a personal opinion and is not part of Trump's foreign policy team. Giulani had said the episode proves Trump 'is the stronger figure... and you're not going to have useful negotiations unless [Kim] accepts that' in his original remarks. Pompeo took a slap at Giuliani for the remark but also said: 'I took it as it being a small room and and not being serious about the comments. 'I think it was a bit in jest,' said the secretary of state and former Member of Congress. In response to another question from a reporter, Pompeo refused to say which leader has the 'upper hand' heading into the summit. 'We know this has been a long, intractable challenge. It's gone on for decades. The president has said repeatedly: Previous administrations werent prepared to do what we've done already. 'It's not about who has the upper hand,' he stated. 'It's about trying to find a way where the two sides can come to an understanding, where we can get concrete steps, not just words, that resolve this challenge.' Trump is scheduled to meet with Kim on June 12 in Singapore to discuss nuclear disarmament on the Korean Peninsula. The president surprised allies and enemies alike when he called off the summit two weeks ago, saying he could not tolerate North Korea's 'tremendous anger and open hostility' towards his administration. North Korea had previously blasted National Security Adviser John Bolton and Vice President Mike Pence for suggesting the country follow the 'Libya model' of disarmament. Following Trump's announcement, the Kim regime said it was still willing 'to sit down face-to-face with the U.S. and resolve issues anytime and in any format.' Trump officially said last Friday that it would go ahead as planned. Giuliani's statement threatened to derail talks once again, as the North Korean regime is not known for taking insults to its 'supreme leader' lightly. Before threatening to walk away from talks the first time, North Korea had bemoaned American attempts to 'drive us into a corner' and force disarmament. As of Thursday afternoon, however, talks were a go, with a caveat from President Trump that they could always be called off. 'Things are moving along well. It looks like the meeting is set. The summit is all ready to go, subject always to change. You never know in this world. Subject to change. But the summit is all ready to go,' the president said. Kim and Trump are due to meet on June 12 on the resort island of Sentosa in Singapore in what would be a first-of-its-kind summit As of Thursday afternoon, however, talks were a go, with a caveat from President Trump that they could always be called off. 'Things are moving along well. It looks like the meeting is set. The summit is all ready to go, subject always to change' If the summit does go ahead, it will be the first time heads of state in America and North Korea will have ever met. Bill Clinton almost met with then-leader Kim Jong Il in 2000, but in the end sent Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Preparations for the summit between Trump and Kim, which is due to be held at a luxury resort on the island of Sentosa, continued this week. With 30-acres of land to its name, Capella Hotel has 112 rooms, all furnished with king-size beds, running anywhere $500 a night to $7,500 an evening for a three-bedroom colonial manor and private pool. Facilities include a sunny portico and the circular Grand Ballroom with a glass-domed skylight with room for 400 guests, making it a popular destination for wedding receptions. The property was established to house British officers of the Royal Artillery and their families in the 1880s. UK architect Norman Foster flipped it into a five-star hotel in 2009. It might not look like the best job in the administration due to President Trump's frequent attacks on the current occupant, but Fox News TV host Jeanine Pirro is telling Trump advisors of her interest in becoming the next attorney general. Pirro, a constant Trump loyalist on screen who has known him for decades, told Trump aides and advisors she wants the job, Politico reported. Trump dangled the possibility of a federal judgeship for Pirro, according to the report. She also made a pitch for deputy attorney general another critical government post that at present involves overseeing the Russia probe. Serving as President Trump's attorney general is a position fraught with pressure. Fox News host Jeanine Pirro has told Trump advisors she wants to be attorney general Just this week Trump resumed his attacks on Attorney General Jeff Sessions for his decision to recuse himself from the Russia probe, which Trump brands a 'witch hunt.' Pirro, a former Westchester County prosecutor and judge, has repeatedly defended Trump from the perch of her program, Justice With Judge Jeanine. She even backed him up after the release of the infamous 'Access Hollywood' tape, when many other conservatives didn't. Jeanine Pirro attends President Trump's one year anniversary with over 800 guests at the winter White House at Mar-a-Lago on January 18, 2018 in Palm Beach, Florida Here Pirro is pictured in Trump Tower. She is a constant Trump loyalist on her program on Fox Judge Jeanine Pirro of FOX News Network makes remarks to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at National Harbor, Maryland, February 23, 2017 Pirro also sought to be named deputy attorney general. She was a prosecutor and judge in Westchester County, New York During a recent segment, she picked up the Trump narrative that the FBI put 'spies' inside his presidential campaign, asking: 'Why shouldn't I be furious and who do they think they're kidding?' She referred to Trump target former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper as a 'bozo,' and asked: 'Since when do we put spies in a presidential campaign to find out what the Russians are doing? Why not intercept them on the way in,' she asked. Pirro also has run for high office in New York, and lost a race to Andrew Cuomo for New York state attorney general. Her pitches to join the administration trace back a year and a half. Two Trump administration officials told Politico she pushed for the deputy job after it was clear the AG job was going to sessions. The current deputy AG, Rod Rosenstein, is also facing tremendous pressure from Trump. He is overseeing the Russia probe, and he named Robert Mueller as special counsel following the Sessions recusal. The New York Times reported that when Sessions resisted Pirro's appointment, Trump advisors told him that if she didn't get an interview, the president might nominate her to the Supreme Court. Trump has drawn other administration members from the ranks of TV personalities and Fox talent, the most recent being CNBC commentator Larry Kudlow, Trump's new economic advisor. Scandal plagued Scott Pruitt, who used aides to shop for a luxury mattress and apartment options, used his 24/7 government security detail to take him in search of his favorite moisturizing lotion, it was revealed on Thursday. The Environmental Protection Agency chief also asked his agents to pick up his dry cleaning, reported The Washington Post. EPA security agents are required to protect Pruitt at all times - both when he's working and when he's off the government clock - but two sources said Pruitt asked members of the detail to perform tasks that go beyond their primary function. They described how he had agents drive him to multiple locations around Washington D.C. in search of a particular lotion on offer at Ritz-Carlton hotels. Pruitt is under fire for multiple questionable uses of tax payer money during his tenure at the EPA, including $3.5 million on his own security, $10,000 to redecorate his office, using his security detail's flashing lights and sirens to make a dinner reservation at a posh D.C. restaurant, and and building a $43,000 soundproof booth in his office. The House Oversight Committee is investigating him. It was reported earlier this week he used a government aide to help him shop for a used luxury mattress at President Trump's Washington hotel. That aide, Millan Hupp, who has been at Pruitt's side since his time in Oklahoma, has given notice and her last day at the EPA is Friday. And it was reported earlier Thursday the White House asked Pruitt to stop using the military mess as his own personal dining room. The U.S. Navy-run restaurant next to the Situation Room is open only to White House officials, Cabinet members and other dignitaries. The EPA did not respond to the Post when the paper asked about the latest round of allegations against Pruitt. 'Administrator Pruitt follows the same security protocol whether he's in his personal or official capacity,' spokeswoman Kelsi Daniell said. Federal rules bar public officials from receiving gifts from subordinates, including unpaid services. Pruitt has had 24/7 security protection since he became EPA administrator in February 2017. He's argued there have been of an unprecedented number of threatening comments but a letter from the EPA's Inspector General and emails obtained by The Washington Post suggest Pruitt was more concerned about being shielded from public anger over President Donald Trump's policies. SCOTT PRUITT'S SCANDALS IN BRIEF Ex-Oklahoma attorney-general Scott Pruitt had never lived in Washington D.C. until he became EPA Administrator last year. But his scandals now include how he: Paid just $50 a night to stay in a condo owned by an energy lobbyist's wife but only when he was in town (and called it 'market rent'); Had his door battered down by Capitol Hill Police because he wasn't responding and claimed he was 'napping' - on a weekday afternoon; Allegedly demanded flashing lights and sirens to get through traffic because he was late for dinner; Also allegedly demanded a bulletproof SUV with run-flat tires - and a bulletproof desk; Got a desk 'bigger than the Resolute' and a soundproof phone booth to stop officials hearing his calls; Had his security chief reassigned, allegedly for questioning his demands; Allegedly had other officials moved or reassigned for questioning his spending; Claimed to know nothing about pay raises given to two key aides he brought with him from Oklahoma; when the White House turned them down, officials found a loophole; Booked private jet flights and got authorization afterwards when it was too late to turn them down; Used flights through hubs so he could then get home to Oklahoma more cheaply from there; Got first class flights, with officials claiming he had 'threats' and needed to be kept from ordinary passengers - but only concrete example was someone shouting 'you're f***ing up the environment' in Atlanta Airport; Officials looked into getting him $100,000 a month private jet from NetJets; His spokesman falsely claimed he had a 'blanket waiver' to fly in first; Missed a flight en route to Morocco and spent a day and a night in Paris instead; Took his round the clock security detail on his vacation to the Greek islands and Turkey; When he was questioned about his $50-a-night deal by Fox News said it was 'unfair to ask.' Used an aide to help him shop for a used luxury mattress at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. Used 24/7 security detail to pick up dry cleaning and help him shop for lotion Advertisement The document describe an incident aides reported where Pruitt switched to flying first class after an individual approached him in an airport last year and used vulgar language. A second top Pruitt aide, senior adviser Sarah Greenwalt, has also given notice and is returning to Oklahoma. Her departure follows Hupp's, his director of scheduling and advance, whom Pruitt directed to help him purchase a Trump Home Luxury Plush Euro Pillow Top mattress. A standard queen version of the luxury mattress, without a box spring, costs $1,399 before tax and shipping. A standard king costs $1,750. It was one of many unique tasks Hupp performed for her boss, which saw her scout apartments in D.C. neighborhoods and arrange his family vacation to California over the New Year's holiday so the Pruitts could watch the Oklahoma Sooners play in the Rose Bowl. Pruitt also approached conservative non-profit Concordia and fast food company Chik-fil-A about gigs for his wife, Maryln, The Washington Post reported. In the case of Chik-fil-A, Pruitt had an aide set up a call with the head of the company for the purpose of discussing a 'potential business opportunity.' In a subsequent conversation, Pruitt brought up his wife's desire to open up a Chik-fil-A franchise. Mrs. Pruitt started but did not finish the paperwork, a spokesperson for the company told The Post. Hupp's sister, Sydney, is the one who set up a call for her boss with Chik-fil-A exec Dan Cathy. 'The subject of that phone call was an expression of interest in his wife becoming a Chick-fil-A franchisee,' representative for the company, Carrie Kurlander, told The Post. Pruitt personally approached Concordia head Matthew Swift about his wife, the news outlet reported, and the conservative group ultimately paid the EPA administrator's wife $2,000 to organize the non-profit's annual conference. Concordia also covered her travel expenses. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Tuesday afternoon that she had not talked to President Trump about the latest blow to Pruitt's credibility. She said as she did on Monday when DailyMail.com asked about Pruitt that the White House would look into the charges. 'I haven't had a chance to speak with the president directly about the Washington Post's new report,' Sanders told a reporter. 'We continue to have concerns and look into those and we'll address them.' Trump praised Pruitt Wednesday during a hurricane preparedness briefing attended by the president, first lady Melania Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, Pruitt and other Cabinet officials. 'EPA is doing really, really well. And you know, somebody has to say that about you a little bit. You know that, Scott,' Trump said. ' People are really impressed with the job that's being done at the EPA. Thank you very much, Scott.' Theresa May today issued a stinging rebuke to Boris Johnson after he tore into her Brexit strategy and said it was heading for 'meltdown'. The Prime Minister warned her Foreign Secretary that she also has 'strong views' on Brexit and is busy getting on with delivering it. And she slapped down his claim that she was letting the 'tail wag the dog' by focusing on the Irish border - saying it is a 'very important issue'. But she dodged questions on whether Mr Johnson is 'unsackable' after he launched into a blistering attack of her talks with Brussels at a dinner with Tory activists. It came as her party erupted into open warfare over Brexit - with one backbencher calling for Chancellor Philip Hammond to be sacked for being a 'roadblock' to Brexit. Donald Trump was sat in between Theresa May and Angela Merkel at a meeting at the G7 Leaders Summit in Charlevoix, Canada Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte withJean-Claude Juncker, Justin Trudeau, Theresa May, Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron, European Union Council President Donald Tusk and Japan's Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, at the G7 Leaders Summit in Charlevoix, Canada (From left to right) Donald Tusk, Theresa May, Angela Merkel, Donald Trump, Justin Trudeau, Emmanuel Macron, Shinzo Abe, Giuseppe Conte and Jean-Claude Juncker pose for a photo during the G7 Summit in in La Malbaie While EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier heaped yet more Brexit pressure on the PM by rubbishing her Brexit backstop proposals. Speaking to Sky News at the G7 Summit in Canada today, the PM said: The Foreign Secretary has strong views on Brexit, but so do I, thats why Im getting on with delivering Brexit. If you just look at this negotiation it is complex, its not easy. People said before December that we wouldn't be able to achieve the joint report, we did. People were sceptical before March that we wouldnt be able to deliver an implementation agreement, we did just that.' German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron, Theresa May, and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte held talks at the G7 today. She hit back at criticism from her Foreign secretary that her Brexit talks are heading for meltdown Theresa May and her husband Philip with Canadian PM Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie at the G7 summit in Canada. Mrs May dodged questions form reporters over whether Boris Johnson is unsackable Theresa May (pictured with Emmanuel macron at the G7 summit today) issued a stinging rebuke to Boris Johnson after he tore into her Brexit strategy and said it was heading for 'meltdown' Theresa May (pictured Canada Justin Trudeau greets Theresa May at the G7 summit) said she is concentrating on getting a good Brexit deal as her party erupted into open warfare over the talks She added: Now were getting on with discussing our future relationship and the reason were doing this is because I want to see - a Britain thats in control of its money, its laws and its borders, that were able to have those trade relationships with the rest of the world, and build that brighter future for the people of Britain.' The Foreign Secretary launched a savage attack on Britain's Brexit strategy - warning that voters could be betrayed and the UK stay tied to the EU's orbit for years. EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier rejects May's Brexit backstop plans But Mr Barnier said the document, published yesterday, raises more questions than it answers. Michel Barnier today rejected Theresa May's Brexit backstop plans just a day after she finally got her warring Cabinet to signed up to them. In a fresh blow to the Prime Minister, the EU's chief negotiator said the blueprint was not 'feasible' and urged Britain to be more 'realistic' about the talks. Under the plan, the UK would stay aligned to EU customs union if plans to ensure the Irish border remains soft are not ready by the end of the transition period. And in a major concession to her Brexit Secretary David Davis, she agreed to enshrine an expectation that this backstop would come to an end by the end of December 2021. But Mr Barnier said the document, published yesterday, raises more questions than it answers. And he warned that he will not be 'intimidated' by Brexiteer who try to blame the EU for not getting the deal they want. Advertisement He accused Mr Hammond of being the 'heart of Remain' and said his Treasury is peddling 'mumbo jumbo' about striking a deal. Mr Johnson lashed the PM's approach to the negotiations in a private dinner to Tory activists and said Mrs May should copy Donald Trump's tough tactics. Brexiteers today defended Mr Johnson over the leaked comments - and called for the chancellor to be sacked if he is a block to a deal. Tory MP Peter Bone said he 'punched the air' when he heard the tongue lashing Mr Johnson gave to his Cabinet colleagues in the explosive leaked recording. Nadine Dorries today called for the chancellor to be sacked, telling The Sun: 'Hammond is a road block to a successful Brexit and he has to go to make life easier for the Prime Minister.' But Conservative Remainers hit out at Mr Johnson over the remarks - and accused him of knowing the incendiary remarks would leak. And in the latest Cabinet broadside, Mr Hammond told and audience in Berlin that Britain should try to compromise with Europe rather than get more confrontational. Mr Johnson's remarks have laid bare the open warfare over Brexit in the heart of the Cabinet - with Remainers and Brexiteers still deeply split over the future deal. The PM's official spokeswoman said she still has confidence in Mr Johnson despite the recording and the Cabinet is 'working hard' to deliver Brexit. Asked about the Foreign Secretary's criticism, the Chancellor said: 'My experience has been that a collaborative approach is generally more productive than a confrontational approach. 'And certainly my advice to my colleagues is that the way to address the challenges there are undoubtedly are of reaching a good Brexit solution is to engage with our European partners.' The Cabinet was in open warfare last night after Boris Johnson accused the Chancellor Phillip Hammond of trying to block Brexit Mrs May's new headache caused by Boris Johnson came ahead of key talks with world leaders including Donald Trump about steel tariffs and Brexit trade The comments will pile pressure on the Prime Minister Theresa May to sack her Chancellor and came as she landed for the G& meetings in Canada, where she was handed sweet grass by representatives of the inuit community in La Malbaie, in the Charlevoix region of Quebec He added: 'To understand their concerns and their anxieties about the future, to know their red lines and then to work together to try to find mutually beneficial solutions. 'We enter these negotiations in the spirit of seeking mutually beneficial outcomes and recognising that compromise is always necessary to reach a solution in any negotiation.' Did Boris speak out knowing his Brexit blast would be leaked? Boris Johnson has been accused of deliberately speaking out to give Theresa May a new Brexit headache the moment she landed in Canada for the G7. The Foreign Secretary said today that he was 'sad and disappointed' the comments at a Tory dinner were recorded and leaked. But some have claimed the experienced MP and minister would have known criticism of the Prime Minister and Chancellor would emerge. Tory MP and leading Remainer Sarah Wollaston said: 'Boris 'leak' a bit like him using the Tory WhatsApp group as a kind of deniable press briefing. 'Dressing up publicly broadcast insults under the cover of a 'private' discussions won't wash.' Labour politicians also accused him of purposely allowing the comments leaks out. Labour London Assembly member Tom Copley said: 'An accident, or was it deliberate? He must've know his comments would be leaked. Could this be a ploy to ingratiate himself further with hardline Tory Brexiteers? Johnson's only ever thinking of his own ambitions'. Ex Blair adviser Theo Bertram said the party had 'attack teams' where 'recording a secret tape was something of a rite of passage'. He said Labour had a device known as 'The Magic Bean'. It was about the size of two small matchboxes with a microphone attached by wire pinned to a jacket or coat. Mr Bertram said members wore it to Tory speeches at think tanks and other events to catch them out. He said he once took a Magic Bean to an Oliver Letwin speech and was so nice to the MP outside a London hotel he was asked by the former minister to sit next to him, giving him the best possible spot to record his speech. Advertisement He added: 'Finding a mutually beneficial outcome is the firm intention of my Government - Theresa May, the Prime Minister, has said so.' The Cabinet row over Brexit has spilled over into open warfare between the two wings of the Tory party in the wake the leaked remarks. Mr Bone said he 'punched the air with joy' when he heard Mr Johnson's blast at Mr Hammond, adding: 'Boris was saying what people think. He told the BBC: 'It was a swipe at the Treasury, which is pretty much the heart of Remain - but there's a lot of heart of Remain in 10 Downing Street.' Tory MP Andrew Bridgen added: 'Given the numerous versions of Project Fear that have emanated from the Treasury over the past three years, it's difficult to disagree with Boris' assessment.' And former Tory leader Michael Howard tried to play down the leak - saying the remarks are all part of the 'spills and thrills' of the talks. But he warned that 'if there are people in the Treasury' who are working against Brexit 'then they shouldn't be doing that, and I deplore that'. Bur Tory Remainers were furious at Mr Johnson's tongue lashing of the PM's Brexit strategy. Sarah Wollaston accused the Foreign Secretary of effectively masterminding the leak by making the remarks to a packed meeting of Tory activists in Westminster - even though what was said in the meeting was meant to be confidential. She said: 'Boris 'leak' a bit like him using the Tory WhatsApp group as a kind of deniable press briefing. 'Dressing up publicly broadcast insults under the cover of a 'private' discussions won't wash.' Speaking to a meeting of Conservative Party activists on Wednesday night, Mr Johnson warned that Brexit negotiations could be heading for trouble. He warned No10 could sell out voters and leave Britain 'locked in orbit around EU' by keeping ties with the single market and customs union. Mr Johnson - who was the face of Vote Leave - suggested the PM should have more 'guts' in the crunch talks and copy Mr Trump's style of negotiations. He said: 'He'd go in bloody hard There'd be all sorts of breakdowns, all sorts of chaos. Everyone would think he'd gone mad. But actually you might get somewhere.' But he hinted that Mrs May will soon take a tougher stance in negotiations which could lead to a temporary 'meltdown' in talks with Brussels. In extraordinary audio uncovered by Buzzfeed, he accused the Chancellor of trying to block Brexit and branded the Treasury 'the heart of Remain'. He said that Treasury warnings about the economic impact of leaving the Brussels club amount to 'mumbo jumbo'. Today, the PM's spokeswoman refused to comment on the details of the leak but said that Mrs May and her ministers are 'working hard to deliver of the will of the people.' The comments will pile pressure on the Prime Minister to sack her Chancellor. The Foreign Secretary also suggested he would resign if Mrs May agreed to a final deal that left the UK shackled to Brussels. He said: 'I will be prepared to compromise over time, but I will not compromise over the destination.' Two Cabinet sources yesterday told the Daily Mail that Mr Hammond was undermining the UK's position by stalling on preparations for a no-deal Brexit. One senior Eurosceptic said: 'Everything he does is designed to damage Brexit. Every morning he gets up and thinks about how he can delay it or stop it.' Mr Johnson's comments last night threatened to overshadow Mrs May's attendance at the G7 summit in Canada. They emerged as she was in the air, and there was no immediate response from her closest aides. It came on a day of heightened tensions over Brexit, pushing the Government to the brink of chaos. In other developments: Mrs May was forced to make Brexit concessions to David Davis after he threatened to resign over plans which critics fear could keep Britain in the EU by the back door; Pro-Brussels MPs warned they could still join forces with Labour next week in a bid to keep Britain in the customs union; Mr Johnson breached protocol by revealing that Mrs May will use the G7 summit to unveil plans for a new 'rapid response unit' to counter Russian cyber-attacks and assassinations; The Foreign Secretary warned that China would 'try and stiff us' in trade talks. Boris Johnson's comments have overshadowed Theresa May's attendance at the G7 summit in Canada (pictured, arriving in the country this morning with her husband Philip) They emerged as she was in the air, and there was no immediate response from her closest aides In an extraordinary intervention, the Foreign Secretary branded Philip Hammond's Treasury 'the heart of Remain'. Whitehall insiders acknowledged that the Government was facing turmoil as a result of Brexit. One said: 'It is absolute chaos.' Tick Tock of the 36 hours of Brexit chaos in May's Cabinet Wednesday lunchtime: There is growing anger among Brexiteers that Theresa MAy is trying to bounce them into signing up to her Brxit backstop plan. The proposals, which would see the UK aligned to EU rules if preparations to ensure a soft Irish border are not ready in time, do not contain the end date they were promised. Wednesday 4.30pm: Brexit Secretary David Davis shocks journalists at a London Q&A by hinting he could quit in the row over the backstop plans Wednesday dinner time: Boris Johnson savages Theresa May's handing of Brexit negotiations - warning the UK could stay tied to the EU for years. He suggests she should get more 'guts' and copy Donald Trump's more confrontational style of negotiation Thursday 8.20am Ex Brexit minister David Jones appears on the radio backing David Davis Thursday 10am The PM hold three separate face to face meetings with the three Brexiteers David Davis, Boris Johnson and Liam Fox. Thursday 11:25am The PM's spokeswoman signals that a deal has been reached saying the meeting was constructive and she expects Mr Davis to stay as Brexit Secretary Thursday noon It appears the talks were not as conclusive as thought and Mr davis holds another meeting iwth the PM. Thursday 12:30pm Brexit war cabinet meets at No10 but the paper detailing the backstop is still not published Thursday 11pm after hours of frantic talks a deal is done and the white paper is published. It is a political fudge, saying the UK 'expects' the backstop to be finished by the end of December 2021. Thursday 1.45pm EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier casts doubt over the backstop as unworkable Thursday 7.40pm Buzzfeed publishes the explosive leaked recording of Mr Jpohnson's pseech thenight before. The shock claims overshadow Theresa May's trip to Canada for the G7 Advertisement International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said Brexit had turned into a 'complex and sometimes turbulent episode in this country's history'. Mr Johnson's comments, which were secretly recorded at a private dinner for Tory donors, blew the lid off the toxic row between Cabinet Brexiteers and the Chancellor. A recording of Tuesday night's dinner, reveals that Mr Johnson believes Brexit is in peril. He said the talks are approaching a 'moment of truth'. 'I'm not going to hide it from you,' Johnson told the activists. 'There is an argument going on.' He said he thinks Brexit will happen and 'it will be irreversible' But he warned: 'The risk is that it will not be the one we want.' He told the Conservative Way Forward group there was now a high chance that Mrs May would cross her own Brexit red lines and leave the UK 'locked in orbit around the EU, in the customs union and to a large extent still in the single market.' He said the outcome was being pushed by the Treasury, which was 'basically the heart of Remain'. Mr Johnson warned that ministers were 'allowing the tail to wag the dog' over the issue of the Northern Ireland border that is threatening to keep Britain shackled to the customs union. He acknowledged that Brexit would mean 'some bumps in the road' for the economy. But he said prophecies of doom in the Treasury and Whitehall were overblown. 'What they don't want is friction at the borders,' he said. 'They don't want any disruption of the economy. So they're sacrificing all the medium and long-term gains out of fear of short-term disruption. He added: 'They're terrified of this nonsense. It's mumbo jumbo.' Mr Johnson hinted that Mrs May was poised to take a tougher stance in negotiations which could lead to a temporary 'meltdown' in talks. 'I think Theresa is going to go into a phase where we are much more combative with Brussels,' he said. 'You've got to face the fact there may now be a meltdown. OK? I don't want anybody to panic during the meltdown. 'No bloody panic. It's going to be all right in the end.' Eurosceptic MPs last night backed Mr Johnson. Former Brexit minister David Jones said: 'Once you strip away the Boris style, what you're left with is some pretty sensible points.' The Foreign Secretary also suggested he would resign if Mrs May agreed to a final deal that left the UK shackled to Brussels. 'I will be prepared to compromise over time, but I will not compromise over the destination,' he said Fellow Tory Andrew Bridgen said: 'Boris is rightly articulating the fears of many of us who support leaving the EU.' But Boris deputy says second vote on cards! Boris Johnson's deputy sparked fresh Brexit turmoil last night by suggesting there could be a second Brexit vote. Sir Alan Duncan, the Foreign Office minister, said a referendum on the final deal would be 'possible'. Speaking in Berlin, Sir Alan said: 'It would just be possible to ask the people in a referendum if they liked the exit deal or not. But that would mean the choice would be between the exit deal on offer or having no deal at all.It would not in reality offer people the option of reversing the original decision.' It comes as this morning, arch-Remain group Best for Britain, backed by billionaire financier George Soros, launchs a campaign for what it calls a 'people's vote' on the final deal to help resolve the 'nightmare of Brexit'. A Foreign Office spokesman said that the minister had made clear in his speech that the idea of a second vote on EU withdrawal was 'a myth'. Advertisement Mr Hammond faced a Cabinet revolt last year when a string of ministers, including Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, Jeremy Hunt and Sajid Javid, urged him to open the purse strings to allow Brexit preparations to begin. The Chancellor appeared to relent in November when he used the Budget to announce he would release 3billion for Brexit preparations, including no-deal planning. But some ministers say they are still say they are meeting resistance from the Treasury over access to funds needed to get the country ready to leave at the end of March next year. Eurosceptics fear that failure to prepare for no deal will play into the hands of the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier. One Cabinet source said: 'We are probably already at the point where it is getting difficult to leave without a deal.' The Treasury flatly denied the Chancellor was trying to sabotage Brexit. Friends of Mr Johnson last night said he had never wanted his criticism to be made public. This was a private dinner under Chatham House rules so it is sad and very disappointing that it has been covertly recorded and distributed to the media,' a source said. Melania Trump's spokesperson slapped down Rudy Giuliani, saying she doesn't believe the first lady 'has ever discussed her thoughts on anything with Mr. Giuliani.' The smack down from communications director Stephanie Grisham followed Giuliani's assertion that the first lady believes her husband's denial of a 2006 affair with porn star Stormy Daniels. 'I don't believe Mrs. Trump has ever discussed her thoughts on anything with Mr. Giuliani,' Grisham told New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman. Giuliani, who serves as President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, made the declaration at the Globes conference, where he opened up a new line of attack on Daniels, who is suing her old lawyer and accusing him of collusion with Trump lawyer Michael Cohen. He was asked what Melania, who had been in seclusion for weeks following surgery, thinks of the Stormy affair. 'She believes her husband and she doesn't think it's true,' said Giuliani. He called Trump a 'real gentleman,' and cited the positive relationship Trump has with his two ex wives. Melania Trump's spokesperson slammed down a comment from Rudy Giuliani 'She believes her husband and she doesn't think it's true,' said Giuliani 'She believes her husband and she doesn't think it's true,' Giuliani said of first lady Melania Trump He also attacked Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford. 'I respect women beautiful women and women with value but a woman who sells her body for sexual exploitation I don't respect. Tell me what damage she suffered. Someone who sells his or her body for money has no good name,' Giuliani said. The former New York Mayor said he doesn't respect Daniels because she's a porn star. 'I respect all human beings. I even have to respect criminals. But I'm sorry, I don't respect a porn star the way I respect a career women or a women of substance or a woman who has great respect for herself as a women and as a person and isn't going to sell her body for sexual exploitation,' he said. Pressed on whether his comments were an effort to undermine Daniels' credibility, Giuliani responded: 'I don't have to undermine her credibility. She's done it by lying.' Avenatti punched back on Twitter. 'Mr. Giuliani is a misogynist. His most recent comments regarding my client, who passed a lie detector test and who the American people believe, are disgusting and a disgrace.' He added: 'His client Mr. Trump didn't seem to have any 'moral' issues with her and others back in 2006 and beyond.' Avenatti also told MSNBC that Giuliani's comments 'show how ... out of touch he is with today's society, show what a pig he truly is, shows that he thinks he's above the law and above rebuke, and it shows that he must believe that this president will support him and back him for these outrageous comments against woman and my client.' Giuliani spoke about the first lady as she took part in her first fully public appearance in 27 days, after undergoing a Kidney procedure. Giuliani also attacked women who 'sells her body' in a slap at the porn star Of his own views on Daniels, Rudy said: ''I don't believe her. Sue me, but her credibility is like that of a lawyer who gets thrown off a case. As a lawyer, I also got cases that weren't real.' His interviewer jumped in: 'Mister, on this stage, we respect women.' Daniels entered into a non-disclosure agreement with longtime Trump lawyer Michael Cohen weeks before the election, receiving a $130,000 payment. Trump revealed on his latest financial disclosure that he reimbursed Cohen for up to $250,000. He denies having had an affair with Daniels. Daniels has filed a new lawsuit against her former lawyer Keith Davidson, claiming he engaged in 'collusion' with longtimeDonald Trump attorney Michael Cohen for Trump's benefit rather than her own. Daniels' new lawyer, Michael Avenatti, filed the suit in California court on behalf of his client. The suit claims Daniels' prior lawyer, Keith Davidson who had represented her as she inked a 'hush' agreement with Cohen 'hatched a plan' to engage in 'collusion' with Cohen, when he should have been representing Daniels' interests. The suit includes four pages of text messages that show frequent contacts between Cohen, who is under criminal investigation, and Davidson after the publication of an InTouch magazine story where Daniels claimed to have had an affair with Trump in 2006. Porn star Stormy Daniels is suing her prior lawyer, Keith Davidson, accusing him of 'colluding' with Trump lawyer Michael Cohen It claims the pair tried to 'manipulate' Daniels and get her to deny the article, which included earlier claims of an affair. He non-disclosure agreement subjected her to fines of up to $1 million per infraction. 'Please call me,' Cohen writes Davidson, in one of a long string of texts between the two men on Jan. 17, 2018 after publication. 'Cmon,' he follows up, as he at first desperately tries to get Daniels to appear on Sean Hannity's show on Fox to try to tamp down the story. Then, after telling Davidson 'the wise men' have concluded the story is dying and it's better off not to have her appear, Cohen responds, 'Thanks pal.' Porn actress Stormy Daniels says her ex-lawyer was a 'puppet' for President Donald Trump and worked with the president's attorney to get her to appear on Fox News and falsely deny having sex with Trump. Michael Cohen, personal lawyer to U.S. President Donald Trump, exchanged a series of text messages with Daniels' prior lawyer about a Fox News appearance Lawyer Keith Davidson represented Daniels when she reached a non-disclosure agreement with Cohen resulting in a $130,000 payment The allegations are made in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Los Angeles. Daniels is fighting to invalidate a confidentiality agreement she signed days before the 2016 presidential election. The suit alleges Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen 'colluded' with Daniels' then-attorney Keith Davidson to have her deny the relationship on Fox News after a tabloid magazine story about Daniels and Trump. Daniels didn't end up giving the interview. It also alleges Cohen met with first lady Melania Trump in March to tell her Daniels would disclose the alleged 2006 tryst in a lawsuit. A spokesman for Davidson didn't immediately comment. Cohen's lawyer didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. 'THANKS PAL': The suite includes texts between Cohen and Davidson Daniels claims she had an affair with Donald Trump in 2006 Daniels' attorney Michael Avenatti filed the suit 'Mr. Davidson abdicated his role as an advocate and fiduciary of his client Ms. Clifford and instead elected to be a puppet for Mr. Cohen and Mr. Trump in order to advance their interests at the expense of Ms. Clifford,' according to the suit. Davidson's spokesman, Dave Wedge, says Davidson sees the lawsuit as 'outrageously frivolous' and 'desperate,' the Associated Press reported. 'That said, Attorney Davidson is very happy that he has filed this lawsuit because he strongly believes that the filing constitutes a full and complete waiver of the attorney-client privilege,' he added, NBC reported. The suit accuses Davidson of breaking a confidentiality agreement. The suit says Davidson owed his client a 'continuing duty of loyalty' and a 'fiduciary relationship.' In the texts, at first Cohen is pushing Daniels to go on 'Hannity' to deny the affair. 'By doing tomorrow you just create another news cycle instead of putting an end to this one,' he wrote. But later, he writes, according to an appendix in the suit: 'The wise men all believe the story is dying and don't think it's smart for her to do any interviews.' '100%,' Davidson wrote back. 'Thanks pal,' Cohen replied. The suit says Davidson 'secretly tipped Mr. Cohen off to Ms. Clifford's plans' to get a new lawyer Avenatti a move that prompted Cohen to go to arbitration to seek damages against her for violating a nondisclosure agreement. Davidson also tried to reach Cohen on March 2, 2018. 'U calling?' he wrote. 'With flotus. Give me a minute,' Cohen responed a reference to First Lady Melania Trump. She says she thought it was important to show people what a deported loved one does to a family- her emotional video has gone viral amassing 3million views Silva says she never shared her family's story before, and visits her dad weekly After they step away wiping tears from their eyes before she's off to graduate As Silva approaches her father, her sister taping behind her, she tells her father 'No daddy you're going to make me cry' before the two share a long embrace Leslie Silva's high school graduation had arrived, but with the Texas teen's father deported since 2007, she was not going to let another milestone slip away from them. Her sister caught the precious moment on camera. Determined to include her beloved father on her big day, Leslie stopped at the US-Mexico border so he could see her in her purple and orange cap and gown before she headed off to her graduation at Eastlake High School in El Paso Sunday. As Silva walks up to her proud father, with her sister Ingrid taping behind her, the teen says 'No daddy, no you're going to make me cry!' before the two stand in a loving embrace for almost a minute, with both wiping away tears after. The emotional meeting happened where El Paso meets Juarez, Mexico, where her father lives. It was the closest the family could get to having him there. As Leslie Silva approaches her proud father on the US-Mexico border, her dad is waiting to see her ready for her graduation day Silva and her father share a long, loving embrace, surely not wanting the time to end Her father wipes away tears, as he was able to see his baby girl on her big day, despite being deported to Mexico Silva's father is just beaming with pride, but unable to do more beyond meeting her at the US-Mexico border on the day she graduates high school in Texas 'My dad has been deported since 2007,' Silva told CBS KDBC. Silva says she visits her father every weekend and is very close with him despite that he is unable to be in the United States. 'He missed so many things. I wanted him to be a part of something,' Silva said. 'He tells us every day that he wants to be with us.' 'He got really emotional,' Silva said. 'He's not really an emotional type, but once he saw me, he started crying and I started crying. It was just a very happy moment.' The video of their reunion has already reached 3million views. The brief pre-graduation detour to meet her dad meant the world to him, Silva explains. 'He was just telling me that it made him really happy that I went to go see him, that he felt honored that I did that for him.' She had to carry on with her big day, so it was just a brief moment, which she says makes it so hard to leave. As they walk and talk together, Silva says she is one of the lucky ones, she lives close enough to visit him often 'Well, after I saw him, I just felt bad, like, leaving him there, behind,' Silva said. 'It feels ugly, walking away in a special moment, where he's supposed to be.' She says while she is surprised just how much attention the video received, and that she has always kept her family's situation private, she wanted people to understand just how difficult it is for families who are separated. 'I think people should know what we go through,' she told KDBC. 'It's not as easy as they think it is, just to go get a lawyer and --like, it takes years and so many things and we couldn't really do that.' Former FBI Director James Comey's date with Washington's political buzzsaw will be June 14. That's when an internal Justice Department review of the agency's Clinton email probe is set for public release. President Donald Trump can't wait: June 14 will be his 72nd birthday. The Justice Department informed the Senate Judiciary Committee of its schedule on Thursday, and said Inspector General Michael Horowitz will testify in a public hearing on June 18. House Judiciary Committee members will get their chance to quiz Horowitz a day later. The result could be a flurry of written demands for public testimony from Comey and former attorney general Loretta Lynch and then even more explosive testimony in public from both former top-shelf Obama administration luminaries. Horowitz's report is widely expected to criticize Comey and other senior leaders for their handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's mishandling of classified information while she was secretary of state. The Trump White House is still reeling from the months-long public relations blitz associated with Comey's self-laudatory book, 'A Higher Loyalty,' which painted Trump as an integrity-compromised villain and cast Comey as the unfairlly deposed carrier of America's moral torch. The West Wing is holding its collective breath, hoping for a spanking heard 'round the world. 'When will people start saying, thank you, Mr. President, for firing James Comey?' the president tweeted Thursday. President Donald Trump will turn 72 on June 14, and his present will be a report from the Justice Department's inspector general that is expected to excoriate his nemesis, fired FBI director James Comey Comey will likely be publicly scorched for his decision to reopen the Hillary Clinton classified email investigation just days before the 2016 election The president asked this week why Michael Horowitz, the Justice Department's inspector general, hadn't completed his report by the end of May as scheduled, but he's promised members of Congress that he'll be on Capitol Hill soon to testify about it 'Comey is eventually going to get what's coming to him, so it may as well be soon,' one White House official said Thursday. The official said the fired FBI director 'and his cheap halo have been wearing the holier-than-thou act pretty thin, and nobody around here is going to shed a tear if he's brought down a peg. Or a few hundred.' Among the report's findings already leaked to the press: Comey was 'insubordinate,' Lynch jeopardized the impartiality of the DOJ by meeting secretly with former president Bill Clinton while his wife's fate hung in the balance, and that the FBI didn't move quickly enough to review a trove of emails found late in the 2016 campaign. Those emails were found on a laptop belonging to disgraced former Rep. Anthony Weiner, the now-jailed ex-husband of top Clinton aide Huma Abedin. Of particular interest is Comey's bombshell announcement two weeks before the 2016 election that the agency was reopening the Clinton email probe after stumbling upon the new material. It wasn't until two days before the election that the FBI announced, for a second time, it would not recommend criminal charges against Clinton. Trump tweeted a foreboding message on Thursday, half-wishing and half-predicting that he'll get the last laugh in his longstanding feud with Comey Horowitz wrote Thursday to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, saying that his long-awaited report will be released June 14 and he'll follow up with public testimony four days later The Office of Inspector General report is also expected to criticize Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, two FBI officials who exchanged vicious text messages about Trump during the course of the Clinton investigation and the presidential campaign. Strzok was later tasked to work on Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe of unproven links between the Trump campaign and agents of the Kremlin. The Trump White House is still reeling from the public relations blitz associated with Comey's book, andsome in the West Wing are itching for revenge In a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, Horowitz wrote Thursday that '[p]rior to the June 18 hearing, the OIG intends to release our report publicly and to provide the report's classified appendix to our oversight committees.' 'We will release the report as soon as we complete the OIG's ordinary processes for the review and classification of such reports ... Most of this process is now complete, and we anticipate releasing the report on June 14, 2018.' The report is expected tobe especially brutal to Comey for telling Congress, barely a week before the 2016 election, that he was reopening a dormant probe into classified material nestled among other files on Clinton's private email server. ABC News reported Wednesday that Horowitz will brand Comey 'insubordinate,' a word suggesting Lynch may have ordered him not to tell Congress that he had rebooted the investigation, a move that made voters aware of his decision and likely had political consequences. Lynch's transgression appears to be her declaration that she would accept the advice of the FBI which ultimately recommended no prosecution shortly after she convened a secret meeting with former president Bill Clinton on an airport tarmac. Former attorney general Loretta Lynch will be under the inspector general's microscope, reportedly for announcing just after a secret meeting with Bill Clinton that she wouldn't intervene in deciding whether to charge Hillary with a crime Clinton maintained a private, home-brew email server for her communications while she was secretary of state, and classified material was found on it; Comey cleared her of criminal wrongdoing in July 2016 but rebooted the probe in October, a move that she has said doomed her presidential hopes That episode raised deep suspicions about whether she was putting her thumb on the scales of justice to help the Clintons, although both insisted they didn't speak about the then-Democratic presidential candidate's email scandal. The late-October 2016 restart of the Hillary Clinton probe came after a tranche of her emails were discovered on a laptop belonging to disgraced former Democratic congressman Anthony Weiner. Weiner was married to Huma Abedin, Clinton's deputy campaign manager, from whose account the emails were forwarded. Sending theletter to Congress broke with longstanding DOJ policy not to take actions that could interfere with political processes, according to ABC. The network's anchor George Stephanopoulos asked Comey in April: 'If Attorney General Lynch had ordered you not to send the letter, would you have sent it?' 'No. I believe in the chain of command,' he replied. Trump asked this week why it was 'taking so long' for the Justice Department's IG to complete his report, details of which have begun to dribble out to the press PRESSURE: The president said he hoped the report wasn't being made 'weaker' a possible reference to the 'comment period' where the Justice Department and FBI get the chance to make comments or dispute conclusions President Donald Trump put public pressure on the inspector general this week to finish the report, and said he hoped it wasn't being made 'weaker.' The IG was originally scheduled to complete its findings by the end of May. 'What is taking so long with the Inspector Generals Report on Crooked Hillary and Slippery James Comey,' Trump tweeted this week. 'Numerous delays. Hope Report is not being changed and made weaker! There are so many horrible things to tell, the public has the right to know. Transparency!' There has been no indication that Trump has seen the report ahead of its release. Amid growing interest in the report, the Senate Judiciary Committee last week gave notice that it would hold a hearing titled: 'Examining the Inspector Generals First Report on Justice Department Decisions Regarding the 2016 Presidential Election.' It pushed the hearing back a week, from its original date of June 5 to June 12. 'We are not going to hold the hearing until the report comes out,' said a Judiciary panel spokesman on Monday. Horowitz told a House Oversight hearing late last year his office was 'aiming to release the report in late winter/early spring hopefully in that March/April time period.' One person the IG interviewed in the course of his investigation was Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who on Sunday said he provided satisfactory assurances that he did not have inside information on the FBI reopening the Clinton email investigation. Asked if he expected to be identified in the report as getting leaked information from the FBI, Giuliani told NBC's 'Meet the Press': 'Oh no, no, absolutely not. No. Impossible. I didn't get any leaked information from the F.B.I.' Giuliani said he had 'no idea that Weiner was involved in this at all. Had no idea they were going to reopen it.' Giuliani in advance of the FBI's surprise move had touted 'some pretty big surprise,' telling Fox News: 'You'll see.' He told NBC he was referring to a major TV ad buy, 'where we were going to buy a tremendous amount of time unlike anything we had ever done before.' He says he was able to 'show them a memo, a contemporaneous memo I have' about it. Asked by host Chuck Todd if he had a heads-up, Giuliani replied: 'Right, no heads up. I had a speculation.' A man who caught the 'Poo Jogger' in the act says he was stunned by the 64-year-old business executive's reaction to being busted. Andrew Douglas Macintosh was given the unfortunate nickname after he was photographed defecating on a private footpath on Logan Road, in Greenslopes, Brisbane's south-east. Neighbours, who awoke to human waste outside their apartment block up to 30 times in a year, have this week revealed the effort they went to to catch Macintosh. Andrew Douglas Macintosh (pictured) was dubbed the 'poo jogger' after he was photographed defecating on a private footpath on Logan Road, in Greenslopes, in Brisbane's south-east They said they parked their cars on various streets around Greenslopes to track the runner and work out who he was. 'Through a process of elimination, we figured out the route where he was running and we narrowed it down to where he lived,' neighbour Steve said. Steve, who captured the photo of Macintosh in the act, said they were stunned by his reaction to being caught. 'He just said "hello",' Steve said. Steve said he banded together with his fed-up neighbours to catch Macintosh who was repeatedly defecating on their footpath at dawn. In an effort to get photographic evidence, he set up an infrared motion sensor camera and lay in wait for the man's visit. 'It took a couple of weeks of being out each morning waiting,' Steve told Yahoo. The 'poo jogger' has been outed as businessman Andrew Douglas Macintosh, 64 'That particular morning I saw him run up the path, he was three minutes late. I was just about to give up.' When 64-year-old Macintosh finally arrived, Steve said he caught him in the act. But it wasn't the defecating that stunned Steve most, but Macintosh's nonchalance. Macintosh, who lives just 1km from the apartment complex, was outed as the 'poo jogger' on Thursday. Police charged him with public nuisance this week, but the charge was dropped from court when he elected to pay a $378 fine. Greenslopes residents have called for Macintosh to make a public apology. Macintosh was a successful business executive; a national quality manager with retirement village giant Aveo and an advisor to a Brisbane City Council board The 64-year-old was revealed to be a successful business executive who worked as a national quality manager with retirement village giant Aveo and an advisor to a Brisbane City Council board. He was previously a director at retirement village giant, Aveo. After his identity went public, Macintosh resigned from his advisory position on the Brisbane City Council board. He also left his national role at Aveo. Aveo issued a statement on Wednesday when it became aware of the allegations. 'Aveo Group is distressed and disappointed at the alleged incidents concerning Mr Macintosh,' a spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia. Macintosh faced the Holland Park Magistrates Court on June 4 - but his case has since been thrown out While he was no longer an employee, Aveo said it would extend continued support to Macintosh. Steve said he was disappointed the 64-year-old lost his job. But he said punishment was inevitable. 'If it was once or twice I would just kind of shrug it off... but it was just so blatant and regular,' he said. It came as police in Lewisham released a photograph of a terrifying 3ft zombie killer knife (pictured) officers seized after stopping a car in the London borough Police are failing to catch four out of five muggers and burglars, official figures show. A staggering 86 per cent of robberies and 78 per cent of burglaries went unsolved last year. The revelation about the shocking number of offenders getting away with their crimes came a day after it was revealed that two elderly women suffered broken necks with one later dying after being viciously attacked by thieves. As ministers faced mounting pressure to get a grip on a violent crime wave engulfing Britain: A millionaire dentist and his wife spoke of their terror after machete-waving thieves broke into their home in Bowdon, Cheshire, and threatened to kill their children; A teenage boy and a woman were hit with shotgun pellets after a drive-by shooting in Brixton, South London; Police in Lewisham, South-East London, released a chilling image of a 3ft-long zombie knife they seized; The chairman of the Criminal Bar Association declared that the criminal justice system was broken. The latest Home Office statistics show that 81,848 police investigations of muggings were shelved in the year to September 2017 without the culprit being found. This is 14 per cent more than in 2015. The number of unsolved burglaries has also increased by a quarter in the past two years, with police closing the file on 203,703 domestic burglaries in the year to September 2017, compared to 153,742 in 2015. Half of robberies are also not being solved, with the number of cases being dropped rising by a third since 2015. Last year just one in eight robberies ended up with anyone being charged. The number of investigations into possession of a weapon being dropped by police has increased by 150 per cent in the past two years. A millionaire dentist and his wife spoke of their terror after machete-waving thieves broke into their home in Bowdon, Cheshire, and threatened to kill their children (pictured) The figures also show that just one in six offences of violence with injury resulted in anyone being charged last year. Police were also unable to solve nearly three-quarters of car thefts and two-thirds of criminal damage cases in the year to September 2017. The number of shoplifting investigations being closed without any suspect identified has also risen by a third in the past two years, with 44 per cent of recorded crimes unsolved. Overall, police forces are closing the file on nearly half of all recorded crimes after failing to identify a suspect. Of the 4.6 million crimes reported in the year to September 2017, 47 per cent went unsolved. It came as police in Lewisham released a photograph of a terrifying 3ft zombie killer knife officers seized after stopping a car in the London borough. Two men were arrested. Yesterday Angela Rafferty QC, chairman of the Criminal Bar Association, praised the Daily Mail for highlighting the crisis. She said: The UK is seeing the direct consequences of a failure to invest in our children and young people from early prevention, intervention and diversion schemes and the corresponding failures to invest in the criminal justice system, which is left to pick up the pieces. The criminal justice system is broken. Notwithstanding this the Ministry of Justice is proposing further 600 million cuts over the next two years. Unsurprisingly, public faith in the criminal justice system is at a low ebb. Labours policing and crime spokeman, Louise Haigh, said: These staggering figures reveal that the Government is losing control in the fight to keep our streets safe. Savage cuts have left the police simply unable to properly investigate some crimes, leaving our communities exposed and criminals free to re-offend. A 33-year-old man has been arrested following investigations into an international 'dark web' drug importation ring. Detectives from Sydney's Eastern Suburbs Police Area Command commenced Strike Force Bergmark in February to investigate the syndicate, which police suspected was importing illicit drugs from Europe to Australia via postal services. Several dozen suspicious packages were tracked and intercepted arriving into New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia from January this year. An eastern suburbs man has been arrested following investigations into an international 'dark web' drug importation ring yesterday Police will allege in court these packages contained ketamine, MDMA and cocaine. At about 10.30am on Thursday, strike force investigators arrested Dov Tenenboim, 33, on Diamond Bay Road, Vaucluse. Police will allege he is the head of the Australian arm of the syndicate and distributed illicit drug packages across the country. At about 10.30am on Thursday, strike force investigators arrested a 33-year-old man on Diamond Bay Road, Vaucluse Detectives from Sydney's Eastern Suburbs Police Area Command commenced Strike Force Bergmark in February this year to investigate the syndicate A search warrant was executed a short time later at a unit on Diamond Bay Road, Vaucluse. Officers seized cocaine, computers, mobile phones, a diamond ring, $70,000 cash and $350,000 worth of cryptocurrency. All items were secured for forensic analysis. He was taken to Waverley Police Station and charged with 45 counts of import commercial quantities of border controlled drugs, supply commercial quantity of prohibited drugs, direct a criminal group and recklessly deal in proceeds of crime. A search warrant involving strike force detectives, tactical officers from Operation Odin and other investigators from State Crime Commands Cybercrime Squad, was executed He was refused bail to appear at Waverley Local Court on Friday, June 8. He is charged with 45 counts of importing commercial quantities of border controlled drugs, supply of commercial quantities of a prohibited drug, directing a criminal group and recklessly dealing in proceeds of crime. A second search warrant was later executed at a financial institution in the city and documents were seized. The mans arrest follows an arrest in May in which a 33-year-old Bondi man was also charged with two counts of commercial quantity drug supply and indictable quantity drug supply. The man was taken to Waverley Police Station and charged with 45 counts of import commercial quantities of border controlled drugs, supply commercial quantity of prohibited drugs, direct a criminal group and recklessly deal in proceeds of crime That man is now before the courts. During the investigation, police seized over half a kilogram of cocaine, over five litres of liquid MDMA, over six kilograms of MDMA pills, over one kilogram of ketamine, over 800 grams of MDMA rock, and over half a kilogram of methylamphetamine. The prohibited drugs have an estimated potential street value of more than $1.5 million dollars. President Donald Trump praised the Coast Guard for saving 16,000 people during Hurricane Harvey, but he then confounded officials when he said the high number of recoveries was because people got in their boats to watch the storm roll in. The remarks came as Trump was on a conference call with state and federal leaders to talk about preparedness for the 2018 hurricane season during a briefing at the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Wednesday. He thanked the Coast Guard for its service and said it doesn't get enough credit," the Houston Chronicle reported. His next comment left officials on the call confused. President Donald Trump praised the Coast Guard for saving 16,000 people during Hurricane Harvey, but he then confounded officials when he said the high number of recoveries was because people got in their boats to watch the storm roll in A Sheriff Department boat rescues people after Hurricane Harvey caused heavy flooding in Houston, Texas in August 2017 Boat rescue traffic on the flooded Jimmy Johnson Road in Port Arthur, Texas, on Aug. 30, 2017 "Sixteen thousand people, many of them in Texas, for whatever reason that is. People went out in their boats to watch the hurricane, Trump said. That didn't work out too well. It was also at FEMA on Wednesday where Trump also ditched the talk of storm preparation and, instead, bragged about his popularity, proclaimed his love of coal, shared his optimism about the upcomingNorth Korea summit, and boasted of the billions he saved on the cost of replacing Air Force One. Texas officials on the call were not pleased with the president's characterization of the Coast Guard rescue efforts, the paper reported. Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez credited civilians for making an extraordinary effort with their own boats to rescue neighbors, relatives and pets in the storm. I didn't see anyone taking the approach that would reflect his comments, Gonzalez told the newspaper. "I'll be sure to invite the president to ride out the next hurricane in a jon boat in Galveston Bay the next time one approaches," he added. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he had no information one way or another about that" on what the president meant. Hurricane Harvey flooded the Texas coast with 52 inches of rain last year. The record rain fall led to law enforcement putting out the call for help. The Houston Police Department tweeted a plea asking anyone with a boat to volunteer. Some Texans went out on kayaks and canoes to rescue others. There were even some died in the flood waters while trying to rescue their neighbors. The Coast Guard rescued about 11,000 people and nearly 1,400 pets during Hurricane Harvey, it said last year, calling its response one of the largest our organization has seen in decades." People use boats to help bring items out of homes in September 2017. Volunteers in boats rescue people and their pets from their homes near interstate 45 in Houston, Texas on August 29, 2017 The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations Climate Prediction Center predicts the 2018 hurricane season brings a 70 percent chance for as many as 10 to 16 tropical storms to develop. Five to nine of those could grow into hurricanes, a few of which could reach Category 3 status. Hurricane Harvey made landfall as a Category 4 storm. Hurricane season began June 1 and goes through Nov. 30. A pioneering British microchip firm that was controversially sold to foreign buyers has fallen into the hands of a state-backed Chinese company. A division of Arm Holdings, which was sold to Japan's Softbank for 24 billion two years ago, is being sold to a Chinese consortium for 580 million although some analysts say its true worth is closer to 5billion, leading to fears it has been sold on the cheap. Arm designs microchips that are used in most of the world's smartphones and also for connecting digital devices. The deal means Softbank no longer controls the Chinese part of the business which accounts for roughly a fifth of Arm's sales. It will also make it easier for China to gain access to closely guarded designs, something that has sparked security concerns because of the consortium's links with the Chinese government. Sir Gerald Howarth MP speaks during a tribute to Baroness Margaret Thatcher in the House of Commons, London. He says Arm's technology risked being turned against Britain Opponents of Arm's takeover said the Chinese deal proved their fears had been correct, and they accused British ministers of failing to impose tough conditions on who the business could be sold on to. Sir Gerald Howarth, a former Tory defence minister, said Arm's technology risked being turned against Britain. Experts had previously warned Chinese firms might build 'back doors' into their microchips which allow devices to be secretly hacked. In the US, President Donald Trump has blocked similar takeovers that risked putting American chip companies into Chinese hands. Arm's Chinese division may have been sold on the cheap. Its estimated value, according to Reuters, is about 5 billion. Softbank would not reveal why it had sold at such a reduced price, but analysts suggested it could allow Softbank to make further investments in China by refinancing the division. Sir Gerald said: 'The Government should exercise great discretion in releasing British technology secrets to other countries. 'We should be exercising extreme caution to ensure our technology does not end up being used by the Chinese military. That is not being protectionist, it is protecting Britain's national interest and the security of its people.' Under the latest Arm deal, Softbank will surrender majority control of Arm Technology China to Chinese buyers led by Hopu Investment Management, which is backed by China's sovereign wealth fund and its Silk Road Fund. Critics complained Arm's sale was allowed through at breakneck pace because ministers were worried about Britain's business-friendly reputation. Pictured: Arm Ltd in Cambridge Sir Vince Cable, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said the deal was 'exactly what the Government was warned about', adding: 'Now you have got a situation where its technology has been sold to a Chinese company which like all companies there is under the control of the Communist Party. It completely vindicates the concerns people raised about the takeover of Arm.' Critics complained Arm's original sale announced and completed in less than three months was allowed through at breakneck pace because ministers were worried about tarnishing Britain's business-friendly reputation in the aftermath of the Brexit vote. Softbank said Arm's deal would allow the company to expand its activities in China. A UK Government spokesman said: 'While we are aware of the proposed deal and are monitoring the situation, this is a commercial matter for the companies involved.' A New York doctor has been charged with manslaughter for allegedly prescribing powerful opioids to three patients who died of an overdose - one of whom was ordered to take 24 pills per day. Dr. Lawrence Choy, 65, was scheduled to appear in Manhattan Supreme Court on Thursday for an arraignment. He was extradited to New York from Wisconsin by Drug Enforcement Agency officers last week. Choy moved from New York to Sheboygan, Wisconsin last year after investigators raided his medical practice in Flushing, Queens. Dr. Lawrence Choy is being led into Manhattan Criminal Court in New York by law enforcement officials on Thursday Choy was arrested in March in his hometown of Sheboygan, Wisconsin Choy moved to Wisconsin after authorities raided his Flushing, Queens medical practice last year Choy was extradited to New York from Wisconsin last week Authorities say that Choy illegally prescribed painkillers and other potent substances to some 14 patients. Three of the patients died of prescription overdoses. Two of the deaths - Eliot Castillo, 35 and Michael Ries, 30 - suffered fatal overdoses within three days of receiving their prescriptions from Choy, the government alleges. Authorities say Castillo and Ries were prescribed high doses of oxycodone, which is a potent and addictive opioid painkiller, and Xanax, an anti-anxiety medication. When these drugs are taken together, they are believed to increase the risk of overdose. Authorities say that Choy illegally prescribed painkillers and other potent substances, including morphine (seen in the above stock image), to some 14 patients Choy is being charged with second degree manslaughter in connection with their deaths. A third patient, Daniel Barry, 43 also died of an overdose, according to authorities. Castillo, a clothing store operator and father of two, was found dead on a couch at his mothers home in Jamaica, Queens on February 23, 2013. He died 11 months after he was first treated by Choy, according to authorities. The cause of death was determined to be acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone and alprazolam. Choy is also alleged to have prescribed Castillo Percocet in addition to his other regimen. Investigators learned that in June 2012 alone, Castillo was prescribed 680 oxycodone pills. One of Choy's patients who died was determined by the medical examiners to have overdosed on the holy trinity of medications - oxycodone (seen in the above stock image), alprazolam, and carisoprodol Ries, who worked in car dealerships, died on March 23, 2014 at his familys home in Hauppauge, Long Island. He was determined by the medical examiners to have overdosed on the holy trinity of medications - oxycodone, alprazolam, and carisoprodol. Carisoprodol is a muscle relaxant which is also known as Soma. This holy trinity is becoming particularly popular as it is known to create a very addictive high alongside other extremely dangerous side effects, including depression of both the central nervous system and respiratory system. Investigators said that Choy gave Ries four prescriptions of the holy trinity, totaling 720 pills, three days before his death. That amounts to 24 pills per day for an entire month - as was prescribed. Barry was found dead in his home in Suffolk County, Long Island in January of last year. Investigators said Barry was treated by Choy, who prescribed him three opioid painkillers simultaneously - Oxycodone, morphine, and fentanyl patches. Brendan Fraser is hitting out at the Hollywood Foreign Press after they claim an investigation found no proof that he was groped by the group's former president. The actor revealed in an interview with GQ earlier this year that he had been touched inappropriately by Philip Burke, speaking about the long-rumored incident for the very first time. In response, the group who hosts the annual Golden Globe Awards declared they were launching an independent investigation, and Fraser said that he was indeed contacted by an investigator who he met and spoke with in April. The actor was shocked however when he was approached at the end of that investigation and asked to sign a statement that read: 'Although it was concluded that Mr. Berk inappropriately touched Mr. Fraser, the evidence supports that it was intended to be taken as a joke and not as a sexual advance. All parties consider this matter to be concluded.' Fraser refused, explaining: 'I don't get the joke.' As for Burke's claim that it was all a joke, Fraser said: 'I'm the only one who would know where I was touched on my body.' Scroll down for video Sexual assault: Brendan Fraser gave an update on the investigation launched by the Hollywood Foreign Press into his allegation Philip Berk groped him in 2003 (Fraser above at the 2003 luncheon where he claimed to be groped) Accused: Berk (above in 2010) apologized at the time but then denied Fraser's allegations to the New York Times in 2005 before admitting he pinched Fraser's butt in his 2014 memoir GQ reached out tot he HFPA with no luck, but Burke did respond to a few questions, revealing he was still a member in good standing with the group and faced absolutely no discipline. He also seemed to confirm Fraser's claim about the proposed statement. 'I myself was not shown either report,' said Berk. 'But [I was] told the statement would absolve me of any wrongdoing.' The HFPA also refused to show Fraser the results of the investigation, despite the fact that it was launched over his allegation. 'They're kind of behaving like wolves in sheep's clothing about it, saying, "Oh, we want him to heal." Well, the first step in that direction would be: What am I healing from? Can I please see this report? What is it?' said Fraser. 'They commissioned an investigation. They received their report. And they're not giving any details about it, and they're not giving up the report itself.' Fraser (above at the 98 Globes with Jolie) revealed that the group asked him to sign a joint statement with Berk saying it was a 'joke' Fraser has never been nominated for a Golden Globe and only one of his films, Gods and Monsters, has been nominated for Best Picture. The group did not nominate his 2005 film Crash for the top prize, which was released two years after the alleged groping incident. It was the first time since 1981 that the Best Picture winner at the Academy Awards did not receive a Golden Globe nomination. Fraser was both angry and emotional when he shared his story in February, making him one of the few men who had been brave enough to share allegations of sexual misconduct. He said that ex-Hollywood Foreign Press Association head Philip Berk grabbed his buttocks and then rubbed him after they shook hands at a 2003 luncheon held by the organisation at the Beverly Hills Hotel. 'His left hand reaches around, grabs my ass cheek, and one of his fingers touches me in the taint. And he starts moving it around,' said Fraser. Berk called the account is a 'total fabrication,' and has repeatedly claimed he was pinching Fraser's buttocks in jest as a response to gossip item at the time. 'I felt ill. I felt like a little kid. I felt like there was a ball in my throat. I thought I was going to cry,' said Fraser. The HFPA responded by saying it would investigate the allegation and that the group 'stands firmly' against sexual harassment. 'Over the years weve continued a positive working relationship with Brendan, which includes announcing Golden Globe nominees, attending the ceremony and participating in press conferences,' said the group in its statement. 'This report includes alleged information that the HFPA was previously unaware of and at this time we are investigating further details surrounding the incident.' Resume: 'I don't get the joke,' said Fraser, whose films have been ignored by the HFPA, with Crash failing to get a Best Picture nomination despite winning the Oscar (Gods and Monsters left, the one film Fraser did that reveivced a Best Picture nomination, Crash on right which did not) Retribution: Berk said he has suffered no punishment or been asked to leave the group in the wake of Fraser's claim, leading the actor to ask him to step down (Fraser above on Wednesday) It was said that Berk wrote an apology to Fraser after the actors representatives contacted the HFPA. GQ quoted Berk as saying: 'My apology admitted no wrongdoing, the usual "If Ive done anything that upset Mr. Fraser, it was not intended and I apologize."' Berk discussed the incident in his 2014 memoir, again claiming he pinched Frasers behind in jest. The incident was also reported by The New York Times in 2005, with Berk outright denying that he grabbed Fraser's buttocks in that article. Fraser is now calling for Berk to step down from the group. 'I wanted them to have every opportunity to change this,' he said. 'I think I'm just the first brick in the path. Maybe someone else will put another brick down and the path will continue on. I don't know.' He then added: 'It's not too late. They can still do the right thing.' The HFPA released a statement the day after GQ ran their updated story. 'The HFPA continues to stand firmly against sexual harassment. As such, we have always taken Brendan Frasers allegations very seriously - both when he originally spoke out in 2003 and now again 15 years later, it read. 'Back then, after an initial inquiry, we provided Mr. Fraser with the exact redress he sought - an acknowledgement of the transgression and an apology. Mr. Fraser continued to attend HFPA events including the Golden Globes. 'When Mr. Fraser raised the allegations again this year in the March issue of GQ, adding several previously unknown details, we conducted an internal review and then took it upon ourselves to commission an independent investigation into the matter to ensure impartiality. 'Weve shared the results of that investigation with Mr. Fraser, and again apologized, but also conveyed our need to abide by the investigations finding that the exchange was not an intended sexual advance. We want to reiterate that the HFPA understands today - as it did 15 years ago - that what Mr. Fraser experienced was inappropriate.' These migrants hoped that silver foil would be their secret weapon as they tried to evade the authorities. The seven Iraqi men are thought to have believed that wrapping themselves in the foil would prevent them being detected by X-ray machines. They were found hiding in a shipping container on a lorry. These migrants hoped that silver foil would be their secret weapon as they tried to evade the authorities The container was supposed to be carrying plastic car parts through Pendik port in Istanbul, Turkey. But customs officials realised the weight of the containers load differed from the declared cargo. They unlocked the doors to see feet and arms sticking out under sheets of aluminum foil at the back of the container. The seven migrants were detained along with the lorry driver and the investigation is on going. A dog with fear of heights was filmed being dragged against its will on a glass-bottomed platform in a tourist destination in north-east China. The three-month-old Samoyed, Angel, was seen being dragged by its leash along the transparent walkway at Jiushanding scenic spot, which is about 1,000 metres (3,280 feet) above ground. The owner reportedly ended up carrying the puppy for the rest of the journey, but her prior actions angered Chinese net users, who accused her of animal cruelty. The three-month-old Samoyed, Angel, is seen being dragged by its leash along the glass bridge at Jiushanding scenic spot, which is about 1,000 metres (3,280 feet) above ground it is seen laying spread-eagled on the bridge after seeing the massive drop from the platform About 320 metres (1049 feet) long, the glass-bottomed bridge is two metres (6.5 feet) wide Footage of the incident in Tianjin released on Wednesday shows the terrified pooch laying spread-eagled on the glass that showed a sheer drop below. The owner tried to walk the puppy but it refused to move, struggling against the leash. However, the slippery glass limited its grip to stay put and it ended up being lifted by its neck and dragged along the path by its owner. The owner repeatedly tried to encourage the puppy to walk by lifting it up, but it refused and stubbornly slumped back down onto the glass panel. It appeared fine before, but got scared after looking down and spotting the massive drop The owner repeatedly tried to encourage the puppy to walk by lifting it up, but it refused and stubbornly slumped back down onto the glass panel. It is then dragged along the walkway According to the owner's friend in a Kan Kan News report, the dog appeared fine before, but got scared after looking down and spotting the massive drop. 'Angel probably has a fear of heights,' he said. 'Other people thought it was being cute and laughed at it,' he said. The owner then reportedly picked it up and carried it for the rest of the path. However, net users were outraged after seeing the clip, saying that the owner shouldn't have forced the poor puppy on the bridge in the first place. The bridge is located within the Jiushanding scenic spot and is 3,280 feet above ground The long glass pathway in the scenic spot in Tianjin curves along the mountains The spot has proven popular among tourists who seek a quick adrenaline rush 'This is not funny, the dog wasn't being cute - it was terrified,' said one. 'The owner shouldn't hurt it like that - this is simply animal cruelty,' another said. More than 320 metres (1049 feet) long, the Jiushanding glass bridge is two metres (6.5 feet) wide and is built to curve around the mountain, according to the Tianjin Tourism Bureau. It was opened to the public in June last year for 55 yuan (6) per visit and has been a popular spot for those who seek a quick adrenaline rush. A 165-pound Asian carp was caught by a man after it was on reel for more than an hour in central China. The 54-year-old angler hooked the giant fish in the shallow waters of a lake in Xinyang city on Saturday, and was subsequently dragged into the water six times while wrestling with it. The proud man is actually renowned fishing expert Li Damao, who hosts his own fishing programme produced by state broadcaster CCTV. After taking a picture with the massive catch, Mr Li bid the fish goodbye and released it back into the wild. Fishing expert Li Damao, 54, hooked the giant fish in the shallow waters of a lake in Xinyang city on Saturday, and was subsequently dragged into the water six times while wrestling with it The 165-pound carp was caught by Mr Li (centre) after it was on reel for more than an hour Footage of the dramatic episode in Henan province was posted by Mr Li on his Weibo account on Tuesday. The video shows him demonstrating the perfect technique as he battled the big catch. As soon as the carp took the bait and the line went taut, Mr Li sprung up from his chair and started to reel in the rod steadily. Skilled as he is, the carp was a strong one and wouldn't give up easily. Mr Li, wearing a life-jacket, was repeatedly pulled into the waters. The tail of the giant carp is seen thrashing around, breaking the calm at the water surface. Mr Li was subsequently dragged into the water six times while wrestling with the giant fish Mr Li, wearing a life-jacket, was repeatedly pulled into the waters while wrestling with the carp Exhausted but proud, Mr Li lifted the catch up for a photo while still waist-deep in the waters An hour later, the stubborn fish eventually grew tired and succumbed, and Mr Li was able to pull it up. Exhausted but proud, Mr Li lifted the hefty catch up for a photo while still standing waist-deep in the waters. Bystanders and were seen cheering and applauding. 'You want to go home now, yes?' Mr Li said to the fish, which appeared to be in a calm state. 'I know, I know - goodbye then,' Mr Li said as he gently stroked its fins. The massive carp then wiggled free and slowly disappeared underwater, waving its tail as if to say goodbye. Mr Li springs up from his chair as soon as the carp took the bait and the line went taut The carp was a strong one and would not succumb to Mr Li easily 'You want to go home now, yes?' Mr Li says to the fish, which appears to be in a calm state The footage is being edited into the fourth season of his show, Fishing in China, which features Mr Li and his guests on various fishing adventures across the country. Mr Li also introduces angling tips and techniques for amateurs in the series and has proven a hit among viewers. Fans were elated and said they are looking forward to the new season. 'Master of fishing indeed! Such excellent technique - you didn't hurt the carp at all,' one said. 'I can't wait to see this on television!' another said. Facebook says it will fund original news shows created by such news organisations as ABC, CNN, Fox, Univision and Mic. The move comes as Facebook plans to kill off its 'trending' news section to make way for what it considers 'trustworthy' and 'informative' news. Despite efforts to clamp down, the company continues to grapple with fake news and misinformation as well as 'click bait' on its users' news feeds. Scroll down for video Facebook says it will fund original news shows created by such news organisations as ABC, CNN, Fox, Univision and Mic Campbell Brown, Facebook's head of news partnerships, says the shows will be original and exclusive to Facebook, rather than adapting TV programs from elsewhere for a Facebook audience. The shows will appear in the site's Watch video section. Ms Brown declined to say how much Facebook is paying for the shows. They will be available in the US this summer. Some shows would appear every day and others less frequently. More shows are due to be announced at a later date, she said. 'Earlier this year we made a commitment to show news that is trustworthy, informative, and local on Facebook,' Ms Brown said in a statement. 'As a part of that commitment, we are creating a dedicated section within Watch for news shows produced exclusively for Facebook by news publishers', she said. 'With this effort, we are testing a destination for high quality and timely news content on the platform.' MailOnline has contacted Facebook to ask if the shows will be rolled out elsewhere. The first programs include ABC's 'On Location' featuring contribution from the network's journalists from around the globe; CNN's 'Anderson Cooper Full Circle' featuring the popular CNN host; and 'Fox News Update' hosted by chief news anchor Shepard Smith. The shows would experiment with social media features such as polls, Ms Brown said. Facebook last week said it was getting rid of a 'trending' topics feature as it tests ways for publishers to deliver reliable breaking news. The Trending feature introduced four years ago listed stories buzzing on Facebook at any given time. The move comes as Facebook plans to kill off its 'trending' news section to make way for what it considers 'trustworthy' and 'informative' news. The first programs include CNN's 'Anderson Cooper Full Circle'. Pictured is Anderson with actress Courteney Cox 'We're exploring new ways to help people stay informed about timely, breaking news that matters to them, while making sure the news they see on Facebook is from trustworthy and quality sources,' Alex Hardiman, Facebook's head of news products, said in a blog post. Facebook and other social media platforms have been criticised for their role in allowing disinformation to spread during the 2016 US election, in many cases with the help of automated 'bots' or disguised Russian-based accounts. Trending was only available in a handful of countries, and accounted for a paltry fraction of clicks through to news publishers, according to Ms Hardiman. Facebook said it is working with 80 publishers in Australia, Europe, India, and the Americas on a 'Breaking News' label to adorn posts in News Feed. The California-based social network is also testing a 'Today' section dedicated to 'breaking and important news' from local publishers, officials and organisations, according to Ms Hardiman. Facebook Watch zone for online video viewing will get a news section complete with live coverage, daily briefings, and 'deep dives,' she added. A rare 'one-in-30-million' orange lobster has been spared from becoming someone's dinner after it was rescued from a supermarket in Massachusetts. The colourful crustacean, which was spotted in a shipment of lobsters by grocery store workers, has been donated to a local aquarium. The unusual pumpkin hue is triggered by an extremely rare genetic defect which causes the lobster to under-produce a protein, known as carotenoid. This protein typically gives lobsters a muddy brown colour, which helps them blend in with the murky depths of the ocean. Scroll down for video A rare 'one-in-30-Million' orange lobster has been spared the fate of becoming someone's dinner after it was spotted in a supermarket in Massachusetts. The crustacean was spotted in a shipment of lobsters by grocery store workers but will now be donated to a local aquarium By some estimates, there is only a one-in-30-million chance that a lobster will be born orange, according to The Lobster Institute at the University of Maine. Orange specimens are around 15 times rarer than blue lobsters, which are born at a rate of around one-in-2-million. However, the rarest lobsters are albino, which are born completely white and will not turn red when they are cooked. Just 1-in-100-million lobsters are albino. Unusual lobster colouration is the result of genetic mutations which change the amount of the protein carotenoid produced by the crustaceans. 'Blue, in particular, is a genetic defect in that the lobsters are producing more of a certain protein than normal,' National Aquarium curator Jay Bradley told National Geographic. By some estimates, there is only a one-in-30-million chance that a lobster will be born orange, according to The Lobster Institute at the University of Maine. They are 15 times rarer than blue lobsters, which are born at a rate of around one-in-2-million 'Combined with their normal pigmentation, it forms a blue colour. 'But they turn red when they're boiled, like the rest. 'The more orange-y ones [when they're alive] are an expression of the lack of that protein, so they're only showing this carotenoid pigment, and it's bright red, like how they look when they're boiled.' The male lobster was found at a supermarket in Westborough, a town just west of Boston, after it was shipped from Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia. WHY ARE SOME LOBSTERS BORN DIFFERENT COLOURS? The vast majority of lobsters are born a muddy brown to help them blend in with the murky depths of the ocean. At one-in-100-million, albino lobsters are the rarest. The crustacean pictured was caught off the coast of Maine in 2017 But every so often a rare genetic defect leads to a more colourful crustacean. The mutations cause the lobsters to produce too much or too little of a certain protein. Blue lobsters, which occur at a rate of one-in-2-million, have a defect that triggers the over-production of a certain protein. Combined with their normal pigmentation, caused by a protein called carotenoid, the protein forms a blue colour. The one-in-30-million orange lobster gets it colour from a lack of that protein. They only show the carotenoid pigment, which is bright red, meaning they appear to already be boiled. At one-in-100-million, albino lobsters are the rarest. They are born completely white and don't even turn red when you cook them. Advertisement Employees are donating the clawed crustacean to the New England Aquarium, in in Boston, Massachusetts. The aquarium will either put the orange lobster on display, or donate him to a partner aquarium in Japan. According to the aquarium, the orange lobster is between seven and nine years old. It said he is fortunate to have reached that age considering his bright colour, which would have made him an easy target for ocean predators. 'With that colour, he is flashing a neon sign to many large fish predators, so he deserves much credit to have survived,' the New England Aquarium said. Loneliness in the UK is no worse now than any time in the past 70 years, say leading experts. Despite widespread claims we are suffering an 'epidemic of loneliness', no evidence exists to prove it. People reporting themselves as very lonely remains at around 10 per cent - and has done since the 1940s. Aparna Shankar, a population health researcher at London's St George's Hospital, said in one respect loneliness had increased in Britain because more people live there today than ever before. But she said the proportion of those feeling isolated remained the same. Scroll down for video Loneliness in the UK is no worse now than any time in the past 70 years, say leading experts. Despite widespread claims we are suffering an 'epidemic of loneliness', no evidence exists to prove it (stock image) Dr Shankar told the Cheltenham Science Festival: 'Across a lot of surveys the vast majority, well over half, say they very rarely or never feel lonely. 'And you find that about seven to 10 per cent say they feel lonely often. 'Despite all that we are hearing now about this massive epidemic of loneliness - and I think that's particularly true when you speak about older people - we have got data going back to the 1940's. 'And this roughly 10 per cent of people saying that they feel lonely is fairly consistent, at least in the UK. 'There doesn't seem to be this massive increase in the percentage of lonely older people.' She said that being bereaved, divorced or unemployed in middle aged could be risk factors for loneliness, but added 'it tends to be a bit lower than adolescents who are reporting quite high levels of loneliness.' Around 10 per cent of people report themselves as very lonely the same percentage of Britons since the 1940s (stock image) She said it was being recognised that loneliness had important health impacts: Lonelier people have worse memory over time, do worse in terms of physical function, in terms of their walking speeds, developing disabilities and developing depression. Dr Shankar said a misconception about loneliness is that it was about not having enough friends. Instead she said it was a mismatch between the kind of relationships someone wants, and the kind of relationships people have, rather than the absence of relationships. RESEARCH SUGGESTS THAT IT IS POSSIBLE TO DIE OF LONELINESS Research suggests it is possible to 'die of loneliness'. A major study published March 2018 suggested social isolation can increase the chance of a stroke by 39 per cent and premature death by 50 per cent. Loneliness may raise the risk of a heart attack by more than 40 per cent, researchers found. The analysis was based on the health records of 480,000 Britons making it the largest study of its kind. Those who already had cardiovascular problems were far more likely to die early if they were isolated, suggesting the importance of family and friends in aiding recovery. The research team, which included British academics, said lonely people had a higher rates of chronic diseases and smoking and showed more symptoms of depression. Advertisement 'You can have friends or familiy and still be unhappy about the lack of intimacy, or closeness.' Manuela Barreto, a professor of psychology at Exeter University agreed there has been no loneliness epidemic. She said: 'If we look historically about how people were feeling in the 30s and 40s and how feeling these days, we don't see that - we don't see that we are feeling more lonely than ever. 'Perhaps what we see is an epidemic of understanding, of interest in loneliness and an urge to try and understand what can be done about. 'But we aren't more lonely than before. I think that's important to understand - we are not a tragic generation.' Virginia Apgar, the American obstetrical anesthetist who is renowned as the inventor of the Apgar score, has been honoured in the Google Doodle for June 7, 2018 on what would have been her 109th birthday. Dr. Virginia Apgar remains an important figure in neonatology to this day, due to the standardised method that she created to assess a newborn babys health continuing to be used. For this life-saving discovery, Apgar has also received many accolades for improving the infant mortality rate in the US. But who was Dr. Virginia Apgar? Virginia Apgar has been honoured in the Google Doodle for June 7, 2018 on her 109th birthday Who was Virginia Apgar? Born on June 7, 1909, in Westfield, New Jersey to a father who was an insurance executive but had an interest in invention and astronomy, Virginia was also encouraged to take an interest in science. In addition to this, her career in medicine could have also been as a result of one of her brothers dying of tuberculosis and another suffering from a chronic illness. After leaving high school, Virginia knew she wanted to become a doctor and went on to study zoology with minors in physiology and chemistry at Mount Holyoke College in 1929. She then graduated fourth in her class from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, where she also completed a residency in 1937. However, because so many female surgeons had tried to launch their careers but had ultimately failed, Virginia was discouraged from moving her career in this direction by Dr. Allen Whipple. She was encouraged to practice anesthesiology and trained under Dr. Ralph Waters at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the first anesthesiology department in the US. After training under Dr. Ernest Rovenstine in New York, Virginia became a fully-fledged anesthesiologist in 1927 and went back to P&S to become the director of a new division of anesthesia for 10 years. In 1959, Virginia graduated with Master of Public Health from John Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. She went on to work to conduct research on birth defects for the March of Dimes Foundation and linked gestational age to the problem of premature birth. Apgar was also an advocate for universal vaccination during the rubella pandemic of 1964-5 and travelled the US, spreading the message of how important birth defect detection is. She has published over 60 scientific articles as well as other shorter essays for newspapers and magazines, for which she has received many awards. Her 1972 book Is My Baby All Right? explains the causes and treatment of common birth defects and proposes precautions to help improve the chances of having a healthy baby. Dr. Virginia Apgar never married and died of cirrhosis of the liver on August 7, 1974 at Colombia-Presbyterian Medical Center. Apgar score The US infant mortality rate between the 1930s and 1950s decreased despite the number of infant deaths within the first 24 hours after birth remaining constant. Apgar picked up on this and investigated trends that revealed the difference between healthy infants and babies in trouble. After intensive research, Virginia invented a method of measuring how healthy a newborn baby is, which was called the Apgar score. This widely used technique gives every newborn a score of 0, 1 or 2, with 2 meaning that the baby is in optimal condition, for appearance, pulse, grimace, activity and respiration (APGAR). The scores for the five categories are then compiled and an infant with a 10 would be in the best possible condition. A baby is scored one minute after birth with additional measurements being made at five minute intervals if the infants condition did not improve. What is a Google Doodle? Virginia Apgar has been honoured in the Google Doodle for June 7, 2018, on what would have been her 109th birthday. Google Doodles mark important events around the world with creative illustrations on the search engines homepage and is incorporated into the Google logo. The first Google Doodle marked Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brins visit to the 1998 Burning Man Festival and was a stick-man standing behind the second o in the Google logo. Today, a team of illustrators, graphic designers, animators and artists 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 have celebrated Tom Longboat, Heinz Sielmann and S.P.L Sorensen. Nasa is preparing to send a satellite into orbit that will study the outer atmosphere of Earth. The Pegasus rocket will carry the Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) satellite into space on June 14. Yesterday, as part of the launch process, Nasa ferried the rocket to a remote island in the Pacific Ocean. Scroll down for video Nasa is preparing to send a satellite into orbit that will study the outer atmosphere of Earth. The Pegasus rocket (pictured) will carry the Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) into space on June 14 Pegasus, which will be fixed to the underbelly of a huge plane dubbed 'Stargazer' (pictured), is a 5-foot-long (17-meter) rocket made up of three parts Pegasus, built by American firm Northrop Grumman, is a 55-foot-long (17-metre) rocket made up of three parts. Fixed to the underbelly of a huge plane, dubbed 'Stargazer', it set off from California yesterday on a two-legged journey to Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The three-engine L-1011 carrier jet left Vandenberg air base at 12pm local time (15:00 ET / 20:00 BST). The carrier jet had a layover in Hawaii before reaching its final destination in the archipelago. A separate support team accompanied the flight on a different plane and it is expected both flights will touch down at the Bucholz Army Airfield at Kwajalein Atoll later this evening US time. This remote location in the Pacific will be the launch site for the ICON mission next week. ICON is the culmination of a 187 million ($252 million) project from Nasa. As part of the launch process, the ICON satellite yesterday started its journey to a remote island in the Pacific Ocean called Kwajalein Atoll A separate support team accompanied the flight on a different plane and it is expected that both flights will touch down at the Bucholz Army Airfield at Kwajalein Atoll later today This remote location in the Pacific will be the launch site for the ICON mission in a week's time. ICON is the culmination of a 187 million ($252 million) project from Nasa WHAT IS NASA'S ICON MISSION? ICON stands for Ionospheric Connection Explorer and will be launched on June 14, 2018. It will reach space on board the Pagasus rocket, a 55-foot long rocket made of three main parts. Icon will be in the most forward part of the rocket. ICON is the culmination of a 187 million ($252 million) project from Nasa. The satellite is roughly the size of a refrigerator and will weigh 600 pounds (272 kg) when it launches. Two telescopes on board ICON will measure this movement of charged plasma around Earth. In the ionosphere, the weather on Earth meets the weather in space, and understating how these interact is important for predicting extreme weather events such as seasonal monsoons. Tropical rains around the world, in South America, Africa and Southeast Asia, appear to change these plasma belts. ICON will be tasked with finding a link between the two and understanding why this happens. The explorer will also help determine the physics of Earth's space environment and pave the way for mitigating its effects on our technology and communications systems. Advertisement The satellite is roughly the size of a refrigerator and weighs 600 pounds (272 kg). When in orbit, ICON will measure the winds of ionised atoms at the edge of space and determine how they are impacted by atmospheric weather. Ultraviolet radiation from the sun removes electrons from oxygen atoms and produces an ionised gas, or plasma. This plasma then interacts with Earth's magnetic field, migrating along field lines and generating electric currents which then creates magnetic fields. Two telescopes on board ICON will measure this movement of this charged plasma. The satellite is roughly the size of a refrigerator and will weigh 600 pounds (272 kg) when it launches Pegasus will be released by the pilots at around 39,000 feet (11,900 metres). Current estimates state the rocket will detach from Stargazer just after 15:00 BST (10:00 ET) The ICON spacecraft and the Pegasus XL rocket were built by Orbital ATK. This company is now part of Northrop Grumman Understanding how weather on Earth interacts with weather in space is important to predict extreme weather events. Tropical rains in South America, Africa and Southeast Asia, appear to change these plasma belts. ICON will be tasked with finding a link between the two and understanding why this occurs. The explorer will also help determine the physics of Earth's space environment and pave the way for mitigating its effects on our technology and communications systems. ICON is the world's only operational air-launched orbital-class satellite booster. ICON will reach orbit in the nose of Pegasus and is the world's only operational air-launched orbital-class satellite booster The three-engine L-1011 carrier jet left Vandenberg air base at 12 pm local time and will layover in Hawaii before reaching its final destination in the secluded archipelago When in orbit, the ICON satellite on board Pegasus will measure the winds of ionised atoms at the edge of space and determine how they are impacted by atmospheric weather Before the rocket launches for real next Thursday, the team working at the site will perform a rehearsal to ensure it goes off without a hitch ICON was delayed for several months as engineers detected unusual noise during testing. After it had been mishandled in transport the project was severely set back Before the rocket launches next Thursday, the team working at the site will perform a rehearsal to ensure it goes off without a hitch. 'We'll do a practice dress rehearsal with all the actual radars and equipment that Reagan Test Site will be using for the mission to test that equipment with our rocket at the actual drop point, and with our crew in our control center that we've set up there, so that we can get an end-to-end check,' said Eric Denbrook, Northrop Grumman's site manager and head of launch vehicle processing at Vandenberg Air Force Base, in an interview Monday. 'That will be really close to what we'll see on launch day.' Pegasus will be released by the pilots at around 39,000 feet (11,900 metres), where it will embark on an eight-minute long ascent into orbit at roughly 57 miles (575 kilometres) above Earth. Pegasus launch missions started more than 25 years ago, and a long-time pilot has been honoured with a dedication on the rocket. Ebb Harris died earlier this year and his name is now written on the side of the Pegasus rocket. Pegasus launch missions started more than 25 years ago and a long-time pilot has been honoured by the programme by dedicating the rocket to him. Ebb Harris died earlier this year and his name is on the side of the Pegasus rocket (pictured) ICON will be tasked with finding a link between the magnetic field in the ionosphere and tropical storms and understanding why this happens You're not being paranoid your smartphone really is listening to you, a cybersecurity expert has warned. For years smartphone users have complained of the creepy feeling their gadget is recording their every word, even when it is sat in their pocket. Many share a similar story: They were chatting about a niche product or holiday destination with friends, and soon afterwards an advertisement on the same theme appears in their social media apps. According to one researcher, these oddly pertinent ads aren't merely a coincidence and your phone regularly listens to what you say. It's not known exactly what triggers the technology, but the researcher claims the technique is completely legal and is even covered in the terms of your mobile apps' user agreements. Scroll down for video For years smartphone users have complained of a creepy feeling that their gadget is recording their conversations. Many share a similar story that they were chatting about niche products or holiday destinations and shortly afterwards noticed advertising on the same theme (stock) Most modern smartphones are loaded with AI assistants, which are triggered by spoken commands, like 'Hey Siri' or 'OK, Google'. These smartphone models are constantly listening out for the designated wake word or phrase, with everything else discarded. However, one researcher claims that keywords and phrases picked-up by the gadget can be accessed by third-party apps, like Instagram and Twitter, when the right permissions are enabled. This means when you chat about needing new jeans, or plans for a holiday in Senegal, apps can plaster your timeline with adverts for clothes and deals on flights. Dr Peter Henway, a senior security consultant for cybersecurity firm Asterisk, told Vice: 'From time to time, snippets of audio do go back to [apps like Facebook's] servers but there's no official understanding what the triggers for that are. 'Whether it's timing or location-based or usage of certain functions, [apps] are certainly pulling those microphone permissions and using those periodically. 'All the internals of the applications send this data in encrypted form, so it's very difficult to define the exact trigger.' He said companies like Facebook and Instagram could have a range of thousands of triggers to kickstart the process of mining your conversations for advertising opportunities. For example, a casual chat about cat food or a certain snack may be enough to activate the technology. 'Seeing as Google are open about it, I would personally assume the other companies are doing the same,' Dr Henway said. 'Really, there's no reason they wouldn't be. It makes good sense from a marketing standpoint and their end-user agreements and the law both allow it, so I would assume they're doing it, but there's no way to be sure.' Companies are turning to increasingly sophisticated technology to mine your activity on websites and apps to create personalised adverts. Electronic markers, known as cookies, are used by websites to gather information on users' online activity, which is then passed to advertisers to tailor digital advertisement to individuals' tastes and interests. One cybersecurity researcher suggests that these oddly pertinent ads aren't merely a coincidence, and that your phone regularly listens in on what you say. One expert said it's not known exactly what triggers the technology (stock image) This is why you can search John Lewis for a mattress only to spot relevant bedding adverts cropping-up in your Facebook feed for the next week. The practice is not illegal, though under the 1998 Data Protection Act, a person has to actively consent to their data being collected and used for advertisements. Facebook categorically denies it uses smartphone microphones to gather information for the purposes of targeted advertising. The company has previously said that the eerie feeling that your phone is listening to you is merely an example of heightened perception, or the phenomenon whereby people are more likely to notice things they've recently talked about. A number of other companies, including WhatsApp, also deny bugging private conversations, describing any anecdotal evidence as pure coincidence. But experts do agree that technology with the power to randomly sweep millions of conversations for repeated phrases or identifiable names could exist today. Companies have developed a wealth of algorithms that can look for patterns and pick-out potentially useful things about behaviour and interests. Whether these techniques are being used by the companies with access to your phone, however, remains unproven. HOW DO WEBSITES COLLECT OUR DATA TO TARGET ADVERTS? Our activity on websites and apps and demographic information is gathered using increasingly sophisticated technology to bring us personalised adverts. People's electronic markers - known as 'cookies' - from websites they visit are gathered and passed to advertisers so they can target us with products relevant to our tastes and interests. This is why you can search John Lewis for a mattress only to spot relevant bedding adverts cropping up in your Facebook feed. The practice is not illegal, though under the 1998 Data Protection Act a person has to actively consent to their data being collected and the purpose for which it's used. A number of people report seeing adverts for niche products or holiday destinations on their phone shortly after discussing them with a friend. This has led some to conclude that their phone is listening to them and targeting ads based on their conversations. Advertisement But that hasn't stopped internet users from sharing their creepy 'strange coincidence' stories online. One Facebook user was so convinced his conversations were being monitored that he switched off the microphone on his smartphone. He told the Daily Mail in December that he hasn't spotted any more 'strange coincidences' since the microphone was disabled. Tom Crewe, 28, a marketing manager from Bournemouth, was immediately suspicious when he noticed an advert on Facebook for beard transplant surgery. Only hours earlier he'd joked with a colleague about them both getting one, as they remained smooth-faced, despite their age. 'I had my phone's Facebook app switched on at the time. Within a few hours, an ad came through for hair and beard transplants,' he says. 'I just thought: "Why have I been targeted?" I'd never Googled "hair or beard transplants" or sent an email to anyone about it or talked about it on Facebook.' The fact the ad for beard transplants was so unusual and specific made him suspect his phone had been eavesdropping. He became convinced when later that month he received an advert to his phone -again weirdly and quite specifically - for Peperami sausages. 'Again, it was a casual conversation in the office. I'd just eaten a Peperami, and it was a few hours before lunch, and a colleague joked how he didn't think this was a particularly good thing to have for breakfast. 'I'd never Googled the product or mentioned it on Facebook or anywhere online. It's just something I buy during my twice-a-week shop at Tesco. 'Then I get an advert for it. This happened within two weeks of the beard incident.' Midges are causing chaos across Scotland, with many claiming it is the 'worst year ever' for the pesky insects. Footage of thousands of the flies descending onto a dog walker's hand has appeared on social media, as others rushed to brand the insects as 'savage'. Experts say it is particularly bad in Scotland at the moment due to the warm, wet weather which is expected to last for a few weeks longer. The midges which are also rife in Wales and Ireland arrived a little later to the UK this year due to an unusually cold few months at the start of 2018. However, they are back with a vengeance and people have been sharing their insect encounters on social media. They are typically found in the Scottish Highlands and Islands but also on the Scottish Borders, the Lake District, Snowdonia and the Brecon Beacons. The video of a cloud of midges swarming onto one victim's hand while walking with his dog in Inveraray, Argyll one of the areas hit has been shared by thousands. Midges are causing chaos across Scotland with some claiming it's the 'worst year ever' so far for the pesky flies. One victim filmed this year's midges swarming onto his bare hand while walking with his dog in Inveraray, Argyll Scott Sweeney, who works outdoors as a deer manager, says the midges have 'exploded' this week and are the 'worst ever'. The 31-year-old shared a video clip of hundreds of tiny midges clinging to his hands and buzzing around him as he sat on a hill with his dog Leah. The post gathered more than 1,400 likes and was shared over 1,200 times as people warned each other to be prepared before venturing outdoors. Mr Sweeney said: 'I would say the midges are worse than ever this year. 'They maybe started later as the winter lingered on a bit, but now they have arrived they have just exploded the last few weeks.' He added: 'They are always bad, but I don't think I have ever seen this before in my life. They may well calm off, but at this exact moment, they are the worst ever.' Last year saw a record number of 68 million midges descend on Scotland - a 40 per cent rise on the previous year. Experts have yet to reveal the final figures for this years, however some are suggesting the 2018 numbers could be even higher. The 31-year-old (pictured) shared a video clip of hundreds of tiny midges clinging to his hands and buzzing around him as he sat on a hill with his dog Leah My Sweeney posted a picture of his hand on social media saying 'Midges last night were unbelievable!' Dr Alison Blackwell, from the Scottish Midge Forecast said she has seen 'very high levels of midges' this week Dr Alison Blackwell, from the Scottish Midge Forecast said she has seen 'very high levels of midges' this week. 'This is usually reflected in the the amount of insect repellent we sell. It's been slow the previous weeks but this week we have seen very high sales', she said. 'We have had lots of people calling.' She said it was particularly bad in Wales, Ireland, and the Highlands of Scotland. 'It is likely to keep up like this for a few weeks as long as the warm and wet weather lasts', she said. Mr Sweeney's post gathered over 1,400 likes and was shared over 1,200 times as people warned each other to be prepared when hitting the outdoors Social media users were quick to share their shock at the state of midges this year. 'Casual warning to anyone going up a mountain in Scotland anytime soon.... THE MIDGES ARE SAVAGE!!!' wrote London-based actor Kim Allan on Twitter WHAT ARE MIDGES AND HOW DO YOU PROTECT YOURSELF? What are midges? Midges are tiny flying insects with a wingspan of only 2-3mm. There are more than 20,000 species globally - the vast majority of which do not bite. It is only female midges that bite as they need blood to feed their eggs. Male midges eat plant nectar. These insects can detect carbon dioxide in our breath from 200 metres away. However, it is Culicoides impunctatus - otherwise known as the Highland Midge - that earns its place as Scotlands most ferocious foe. When and where in the UK are they worst? They are typically found in the Scottish Highlands and Islands but also on the Scottish border, the Lake District, Snowdonia and the Brecon Beacons. The Pennines, North York Moors and Dartmoor also often experience midges. Anywhere with plants, rushes and damp-loving grasses will be a potential breeding ground. The acid boggy ground of the Highlands is particularly suitable. Midge season runs from May to September in Scotland. What is the worst that can happen? A midge bite feels like a sharp, burning or stinging sensation. Bites can be painful and sometimes swell up a lot they do not pose a danger to human health. There might even be a small hole within the lump where the skin has been punctured. No midges are known to transmit human diseases. They can, however, transmit a variety of animal diseases, including sweet itch in horses. How can you protect yourself in bad areas? The insects are worst at dawn and dusk, so people are advised to stay indoors during that period. Windows and doors should always be kept closed to avoid them coming inside. Midges are less common above 700 metres , so campsites on higher ground are recommended. Avoid wearing dark clothing as they are more attracted to this. Wearing long sleeves also minimises the amount of skin exposed to them. Midge repellent will help keep them away from areas of skin that are exposed. A midge net can be used to protect the head and face and midge jackets give protection from the waist up. Advertisement Midges thrive on still, humid conditions and are most active at dawn and dusk. The so-called 'midge season' runs from May to September in Scotland. Social media users were quick to share their shock at the state of midges this year. 'Casual warning to anyone going up a mountain in Scotland anytime soon.... THE MIDGES ARE SAVAGE!!!' wrote London-based actor Kim Allan on Twitter. 'After thinking I avoided it, I've been absolutely eaten alive by midges over the weekend!' wrote Aberdeen-based designer who tweets with the handle @laura_sherriffs. 'Literally covered in bites, the joys of Scotland in summer!' she wrote. 'After thinking I avoided it, I've been absolutely eaten alive by midges over the weekend! Literally covered in bites, the joys of Scotland in summer!' wrote Aberdeen-based designer who tweets with the handle @laura_sherriffs 'Just visited Scotland, the midges were relentless. Glad it was a short trip', wrote Twitter user Elliott 'Scotland has been too gorgeous as usual but this time, my god, the midges' wrote Cornwall-based Twitter user Karen Marcia. 'Even thought I liberally sprayed myself with anti-midge stuff and left a trail of citronella everywhere, I need to be better prepared for my next visit - any tips, advice or recommended products?' she said. Midges are worst at dawn and dusk, so people have been advised to stay indoors during that period. However, midge repellent can be used to keep the flies away from exposed skin. A midge net is also an effective way to protect the head and face, while midge jackets give protection from the waist up, experts have advised. 'Just visited Scotland, the midges were relentless. Glad it was a short trip', joked Twitter user Elliott. 'Scotland is amazing to visit for so many reasons... (except the midges)' tweeted Bristol-based user Daren Leonard 'Scotland has been too gorgeous as usual but this time, my god, the midges' wrote Cornwall-based Twitter user Karen Marcia 'Scotland is amazing to visit for so many reasons... (except the midges)' tweeted Bristol-based user Daren Leonard. Lucy Fraser runs her home as guest house for walkers taking on the West Highland way and was forced to give visitors a stern warning not to open the windows - or suffer the consequences. The 57-year-old posted a photograph of midges filling a lamp outside her home. She said: 'I insist the guests don't open the windows. 'If they it's horrific and believe me some do and regret it. Lucy Fraser runs her home as guest house for walkers taking on the West Highland way and has to give them a stern warning not to open the windows. The 57-year-old posted a photograph of midges infiltrating a lamp outside of her home showing the tiny critters filling up the glass case 'Each year from the end of May to October I become a prisoner and wouldn't dare go out the door before 10am and after 5pm. This is when the midge is at its worst, the sun keeps them away but the rain attracts them. 'I've been here 22 years and it gets worse every year.' The mum-of-eight added: 'Trying to get tradesmen to work here between May and October is impossible as no one could work outdoors without being driven insane. 'I'm trying to have a deck area built and the guys said hey have never seen anything as bad and even though I gave them a huge fan they said they had to abort the job. 'I've known these guys many years and they have done lots of work but just couldn't cope this year. They said it's first time ever he's had to leave a job due to midges.' A Russia-linked virus, which has already infected at least 500,000 devices worldwide, can 'manipulate everything going in and out' of your home Wi-Fi connection, researchers have warned. The malware, called VPNFilter, infects Wi-Fi routers where it can then block web traffic, collect data and leave devices completely inoperable. However, the latest analysis of VPNFilter has revealed the malware is even more powerful than previously thought. Researchers now say the virus can steals sensitive data from your web browser. VPNFilter is even capable of manipulating everything you do on your home Wi-Fi network, they have cautioned. Scroll down for video A Russia-linked virus that has infected devices worldwide can 'manipulate everything going in and out' of your home Wi-Fi connection, researchers have warned (stock image) Researchers from Cisco Systems' cybersecurity unit Talos have discovered an 'ssler', which is code that allows hackers to intercept traffic from the compromised router. This code, known as a module, can be used to exploit specific devices which are connected to the network and even modify content delivered by websites. For example, the malware can scan website URLs to see if they contain passwords and copy any sensitive information from the browser to other servers. It can also insert hostile JavaScript into websites and targets PCs on the local network. 'They can modify your bank account balance so that it looks normal while at the same time they're siphoning off money', said Craig Williams, senior technology leader of Cisco Talos security unit who led the investigation. 'They can manipulate everything going in and out of the device', Williams told Ars Technica. This means VPNFilter is likely to have infected more than the 500,000 routers in 54 countries previously estimated by the FBI. 'I'm concerned that the FBI gave people a false sense of security,' Mr Williams said. 'VPNFilter is still operational. It infects even more devices than we initially thought, and its capabilities are far in excess of what we initially thought.' 'People need to get it off their network', he said. According to the FBI, VPNFilter attacks 'routers produced by several manufacturers and network-attached storage devices by at least one manufacturer'. Given the scale of the malware attack, the FBI recommended that consumers reboot their routers. To do this, unplug your router and wait a full 60 seconds before turning it back on At the time this included routers manufactured by Linksys, MikroTik, Netgear and TP-Link. Now, the believe it also includes ASUS, D-Link, Huawei, Ubiquiti, Upvel and ZTE. At the end of last month, the FBI urgently warned consumers to reboot their routers after they identified the malware. 'Foreign cyber actors have compromised hundreds of thousands of home and office routers and other networked devices worldwide,' the PSA posted on the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center website read. This malware gives these hackers the capability to carry out a variety of invasive tasks, 'including possible information collection, device exploitation, and blocking network traffic' It's unclear how the malware is getting onto people's devices, but authorities believe it is linked to a group of actors known as the 'Sofacy Group,' which is also referred to as 'apt28,' 'sandworm,' 'x-agent,' 'pawn storm,' 'fancy bear' and 'sednit.' 'The group, which has been operating since at least in or about 2007, targets government, military, security organizations, and other targets of perceived intelligence value,' the DOJ said in a press release. Sofacy is the same group believed to be responsible for many of the recent attention-grabbing Russian hacks, such as the hack of the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 US presidential campaign. The group of actors believed to be behind the attack is known as the 'Sofacy Group,' which is also referred to as 'apt28,' 'sandworm,' 'x-agent,' 'pawn storm,' 'fancy bear' and 'sednit' 'The malware has a destructive capability that can render an infected device unusable, which can be triggered on individual victim machines or en masse, and has the potential of cutting off internet access for hundreds of thousands of victims worldwide,' Talos said in its report. Experts believe Russia has been carrying out a series of cyber attacks against companies in Ukraine for over a year, which have resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in damages as well as one blackout. The Ukrainian government has now accused Russia of planning a cyber attack on Ukrainian state bodies and private companies. The Kremlin denied this accusation last month. WHICH ROUTERS HAVE BEEN HIT BY THE 'VPNFILTER' MALWARE? The FBI is urgently warning consumers to reboot their routers after the agency identified a Russia-linked malware attack that targeted 'hundreds of thousands' of devices. It's unclear how it's getting on to people's devices, but authorities believe it's linked to a group of actors known as the 'Sofacy Group,' which is also referred to as 'apt28,' 'sandworm,' 'x-agent,' 'pawn storm,' 'fancy bear' and 'sednit.' The malware, called 'VPNFilter', can block web traffic, collect data and leave devices completely inoperable, the FBI announced on Friday. VPNFilter seems to have hit mostly older models, but there's still a small chance that you've been affected. Here is a full list of the networked device that have been affected: Asus Devices: RT-AC66U; RT-N10; RT-N10E; RT-N10U; RT-N56U; RT-N66U D-Link Devices: DES-1210-08P; DIR-300; DIR-300A; DSR-250N; DSR-500N ; DSR-1000; DSR-1000N Huawei Devices: HG8245 Linksys Devices: E1200E2500E3000; E3200; E4200; RV082 ; WRVS4400N Mikrotik Devices: CCR1009; CCR1016CCR1036CCR1072CRS109; CRS112; CRS125; RB411; RB450; RB750; RB911; RB921; RB941; RB951; RB952 ; RB960 ; RB962; RB1100; RB1200 ; RB2011; RB3011; RB Groove ; RB Omnitik; STX5 Netgear Devices: DG834; DGN1000; DGN2200DGN3500; FVS318N ; MBRN3000; R6400R7000R8000WNR1000WNR2000WNR2200 ; WNR4000 ; WNDR3700; WNDR4000; WNDR4300; WNDR4300-TN; UTM50 QNAP Devices: TS251TS439 ProOther QNAP NAS devices running QTS software TP-Link Devices: R600VPNTL-WR741ND; TL-WR841N Ubiquiti Devices: NSM2; PBE M5 Upvel Devices: Unknown Models* ZTE Devices: ZXHN H108N Advertisement Given the seriousness and scale of the malware attack, the FBI now recommends consumers reboot their home Wi-Fi routers. Doing so will temporarily disrupt any malware that is active on the device, but it won't remove it, the FBI said. This can be done by unplugging the power cord and waiting a full 60 seconds before turning it on again. However, Krebs on Security pointed out that part of the code utilized by VPNFilter will still exist on the device, unless the user performs a full factory reset. This will restore the router to its original settings and will require the user to reconfigure their network settings after it's been completed. Many experts also recommend that users update to the latest firmware on their router, then perform a factory reset on the device. To be extra secure, they should also set up a secure password and disable any remote management settings. While they are expert honey-makers, few would expect bees to have mastered basic mathematics. However the tiny creatures, with a brain the size of a pinhead, can count and recognise the number zero. After just two to four hours of training, with a sugary treat as a reward, bees can learn to fly to a piece of paper with the smallest number of shapes on it. And, in an achievement which puts them on a par with chimpanzees, parrots and three-year-old children, the tiny insects realise that zero is the lowest number of all. Scroll down for video After just two hours of training bees can learn to fly to a piece of paper with the smallest number of shapes on it. The tiny insects realise that zero is the lowest number of all. Pictured is a bee choosing a piece of paper with zero shapes on it as part of the study In experiments using 10 to 12 bees at a time, done by RMIT University in Melbourne, all flew to a blank sheet of paper. Compared to a piece with one to six shapes on it, they knew that an empty sheet meant no shapes. That is despite having fewer than a million brain cells, compared to the 86,000 million cells in the human brain. The latest evidence of bee intelligence may explain why the creatures are so adept at navigating, foraging and managing complex hives. Dr Adrian Dyer, co-author of the study published in the journal Science, said: 'Zero is a difficult concept to understand and a mathematical skill that doesn't come easily - it takes children a few years to learn. 'We've long believed only humans had the intelligence to get the concept, but recent research has shown monkeys and birds have the brains for it as well. What we haven't known - until now - is whether insects can also understand zero.' Previous experiments had shown bees could quickly learn to count using a sugar solution as a reward. Quinine, the bitter compound used in tonic water, was used to deter them from getting the answer wrong. In experiments using 10 to 12 bees at a time, done by RMIT University in Melbourne, all flew to a blank sheet of paper (left). Over a period of time bees learn to choose between combinations of numbers such that the lower number is correct (right) But the Australian researchers wanted to know if bees, which are in decline in the UK, could also understand zero. The insects were first taught the rule that a lower number of shapes was behind a sugary treat on a platform, which they would get if they chose, for example, two shapes over three. When presented with a blank sheet with no shapes on it for the first time, the bees understood it fit the rule as the lowest number. That result was repeated over five experiments, including one flying through a maze. To rule out bees simply preferring a blank sheet of paper, the study used untrained bees to show this was not the case. WHAT IS THE HONEYBEE CRISIS? Honeybees, both domestic and wild, are responsible for around 80 per cent of worldwide pollination, according to Greenpeace. But bee colony collapses across the globe are threatening their vital work. Bees are dying from a combination of pesticides, habitat destruction, drought, nutrition deficit, global warming and air pollution among other factors. The global bee crisis can potentially be solved if dangerous pesticides are eliminated, wild habitats are preserved and ecological agriculture is restored, according to Greenpeace (file photo) Greenpeace has reported: 'The bottom line is that we know humans are largely responsible for the two most prominent causes: Pesticides and habitat loss.' This is important for a number of reasons, chief among them the amount of work bees put into our food production. Vegetables, nuts and fruits are pollinated by bees. Of the top human food crops, a whopping 70 of 100 are pollinated by the creatures, which account for as much as 90 per cent of global nutrition. Greenpeace has suggested the following solutions to the problem: The preservation of wild habitats in order to protect pollinator health The restoration of ecological agriculture The elimination of the world's most dangerous pesticides Advertisement To understand that zero is 'nothing versus something', that it is the lowest number and that a blank sheet of paper is the symbolic representation of zero takes a lot of brainpower. This knowledge has previously been found in advanced animals including chimpanzees, vervet monkeys and African parrots, as well as pre-school children. Dr Aurore Avargues-Weber from the University of Toulouse in France, who was also involved in the study, said: 'The discovery that bees can show such elaborated understanding of numbers was really surprising given their tiny brains. 'Large brains are thus not necessary to play with numbers. This capacity is therefore probably shared by many other animals.' Advertisement Ever since NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft flew past Jupiter in March, 1979, scientists have been baffled by the existence of lightning on Jupiter. Now, thanks to the Juno craft, the mystery has been solved - and it turns out Jovian lightning is far more similar to Earth's than thought. It comes as NASA also revealed it was extending the life of the Juno probe by three years, keeping it in operation until 2021. Scroll down for video This artist's concept of lightning distribution in Jupiter's northern hemisphere incorporates a JunoCam image with artistic embellishments. Data from NASA's Juno mission indicates that most of the lightning activity on Jupiter is near its poles - unlike Earth. THE INSIDE OUT LIGHNING OF JUPITER Jupiter's lightning distribution is inside out relative to Earth, NASA concluded. There is a lot of activity near Jupiter's poles but none near the equator. 'You can ask anybody who lives in the tropics - this doesn't hold true for our planet,' researchers said. Advertisement Voyager's data showed that the lightning-associated radio signals didn't match the details of the radio signals produced by lightning here at Earth. In a new paper published in Nature today, scientists from NASA's Juno mission describe the ways in which lightning on Jupiter is actually extremely similar to Earth's lightning - in most ways. 'No matter what planet you're on, lightning bolts act like radio transmitters -- sending out radio waves when they flash across a sky,' said Shannon Brown of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, a Juno scientist and lead author of the paper. 'But until Juno, all the lightning signals recorded by spacecraft [Voyagers 1 and 2, Galileo, Cassini] were limited to either visual detections or from the kilohertz range of the radio spectrum, despite a search for signals in the megahertz range. 'Many theories were offered up to explain it, but no one theory could ever get traction as the answer.' Juno, which has been orbiting Jupiter since July 4, 2016, used its suite of highly sensitive instruments, including the Microwave Radiometer Instrument (MWR), which records emissions from the gas giant across a wide spectrum of frequencies. 'In the data from our first eight flybys, Juno's MWR detected 377 lightning discharges,' said Brown. 'They were recorded in the megahertz as well as gigahertz range, which is what you can find with terrestrial lightning emissions. JUNO GETS A LIFE EXTENSION: WHY WILL NASA'S PROBE NOW OPERATE UNTIL 2021? NASA has approved an update to Juno's science operations until July 2021. This provides for an additional 41 months in orbit around Jupiter and will enable Juno to achieve its primary science objectives. Juno is in 53-day orbits rather than 14-day orbits as initially planned because of a concern about valves on the spacecraft's fuel system. This longer orbit means that it will take more time to collect the needed science data. An independent panel of experts confirmed in April that Juno is on track to achieve its science objectives and is already returning spectacular results. The Juno spacecraft and all instruments are healthy and operating nominally. NASA has now funded Juno through FY 2022. The end of prime operations is now expected in July 2021, with data analysis and mission close-out activities continuing into 2022. Juno will make its 13th science flyby over Jupiter's mysterious cloud tops on July 16. Advertisement 'We think the reason we are the only ones who can see it is because Juno is flying closer to the lighting than ever before, and we are searching at a radio frequency that passes easily through Jupiter's ionosphere.' While the revelation showed how Jupiter lightning is similar to Earth's, the new paper also notes that where these lightning bolts flash on each planet is actually quite different. 'Jupiter lightning distribution is inside out relative to Earth,' said Brown. 'There is a lot of activity near Jupiter's poles but none near the equator. 'You can ask anybody who lives in the tropics -- this doesn't hold true for our planet.' NASA says heat is the key to the difference. Earth's derives the vast majority of its heat externally from solar radiation, courtesy of our Sun. Because our equator bears the brunt of this sunshine, warm moist air rises (through convection) more freely there, which fuels towering thunderstorms that produce lightning. Jupiter's orbit is five times farther from the Sun than Earth's orbit, which means that the giant planet receives 25 times less sunlight than Earth. They do provide some warmth, heating up Jupiter's equator more than the poles -- just as they heat up Earth. Scientists believe that this heating at Jupiter's equator is just enough to create stability in the upper atmosphere, inhibiting the rise of warm air from within. The incredible image was created by processing three separate images taken on April 1 between 3:09 a.m. PDT (6:09 a.m. EDT) and 3:24 a.m. PDT (6:24 a.m. EDT), as Juno performed its 12th close flyby of Jupiter. The poles, which do not have this upper-level warmth and therefore no atmospheric stability, allow warm gases from Jupiter's interior to rise, driving convection and therefore creating the ingredients for lightning. In a second Juno lightning paper published today in Nature Astronomy, Ivana Kolmasova of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, and colleagues, present the largest database of lightning-generated low-frequency radio emissions around Jupiter (whistlers) to date. The data set of more than 1,600 signals, collected by Juno's Waves instrument, is almost 10 times the number recorded by Voyager 1. Juno detected peak rates of four lightning strikes per second (similar to the rates observed in thunderstorms on Earth) which is six times higher than the peak values detected by Voyager 1. Packing sleeping pills, painkillers or even cough medicine might seem like a good idea to ward off any unexpected illness while abroad. But taking everyday drugs on holiday could land holidaymakers in a foreign prison due to local laws on medication, the Foreign Office is warning. Both prescription and over-the-counter treatments that are widely available in the UK are often subject to different regulations in destinations around the world. The Foreign Office has compiled a list of tablets and medicines that are banned in different countries abroad that tourists should not pack when they go on holiday And now the Foreign Office has compiled a list of tablets and medicines that are banned in different countries abroad. For example, not complying with local laws on strong painkillers such as Tramadol and codeine could see holidaymakers facing a fine or even jail in places such as the United Arab Emirates. In Japan there is an outright ban on the ingredient pseudoephedrine, meaning the likes of Sudafed and Vicks cannot be brought into the country. Sleeping pills, anti-anxiety tablets and strong painkillers all require a licence in Singapore. While in Indonesia, many prescription medicines such as codeine, sleeping pills and treatments for ADHD are illegal. And while some medicines aren't illegal abroad, countries still have strict rules on bringing them into the country. In Qatar, over-the-counter medicines such as cold and cough remedies are controlled substances and must be accompanied by a prescription. Not complying with local laws on strong painkillers such as Tramadol and codeine could see holidaymakers facing a fine or even jail in places such as the United Arab Emirates (file picture) Tourists should always carry a doctor's note with any personal medicine when visiting China. And while visiting Costa Rica, travellers should only take enough medication for the length of their stay along with a doctor's note to confirm it is the right amount. The FCO is urging British people who take medication to check local laws in destinations they are travelling to this summer. Currently, just one third of people get advice on taking prescribed medication abroad before they travel. In addition to this, fewer than one in five would think to check rules on non-prescription medication such as cough syrups and some allergy medication before travelling, even though these are banned in some countries. The FCO is also urging travellers to check its website and with their GP to check the status of their medication while abroad. Lloyds Pharmacy pharmacist Michael Wong said: 'No one wants their holiday to be spoilt by unexpected or unforeseen restrictions when travelling abroad. In Qatar, over-the-counter medicines such as cold and cough remedies are controlled substances and must be accompanied by a prescription (file picture) THE LAWS ON MEDICATION AROUND THE WORLD Medication containing pseudoephedrine is banned in Japan . The ingredient is found in the likes of Sudafed and Vicks, meaning it is outlawed in the country. Sleeping pills, anti-anxiety tablets and strong pain killers all require a licence in Singapore . In Indonesia , many prescription medicines such as codeine, sleeping pills and treatments for ADHD are illegal. Over-the-counter medicines such as cold and cough remedies are controlled substances in Qatar and must be accompanied by a prescription. Tourists should always carry a doctor's note with any personal medicine when visiting China . If visiting Costa Rica , tourists should only take enough medication for the length of their stay along with a doctor's note to confirm it is the right amount. Strong painkillers such as Tramadol and codeine as well as Diazepam are controlled drugs in a number of countries. Tourists should check the laws on them before they visit. In many countries, failing to comply with regulations can result in a fine or imprisonment in places such as Greece and the UAE . Source: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office Advertisement 'Whilst your local UK pharmacist can advise on what medication you need and how best to manage it whilst away on holiday, its important to also check what restrictions are in place for where you are travelling, and you can do this via the FCOs Foreign Travel Checklist. 'In some cases where restrictions havent been adhered to, your medication could be confiscated which if you are living with a long-term condition can affect your health. Therefore, if youre unsure, we would advise you to check the FCOs website for the latest information on how best to prepare.' While Julia Longbottom, FCO consular director, added: 'We can see that British people are more likely to research the weather before their holidays than research the local laws and customs, so while youre online checking out whether or not to pack sunscreen, wed strongly encourage you to check whether taking medication into a country is okay or not. You should also read our travel advice. 'The FCO cant give legal advice or get people out of prison, so we are urging those heading off on their summer break to join the 16 million people a year who check our Travel Advice, to ensure they are properly prepared for their trip and avoid any potential trouble.' Single parents are paying up to 500 more for holidays because free child places are sometimes only offered to families with two parents, new research has found. This is because many tour firms charge a single-person supplement and only offer 'free child places' and deals if two adults are travelling. The study revealed that a First Choice holiday to the Holiday Village in Rhodes for seven nights costs 32 per cent more for a single adult travelling with one child compared to two paying adults with a child of the same age. New research has found that single parents are paying up to 500 more for holidays compared to families with two adults Similarly, a holiday to the five star Princess Andriana Resort & Spa in Rhodes was 359 more expensive for one parent to travel with their child, making it almost more expensive than the cost per person for a two-parent family. The research was conducted by travel money specialists FairFX, which analysed a selection of holidays from major travel operators to popular family destinations. All holidays researched were for one adult and a two-year-old child versus two adults and a two-year-old child, flying from London Gatwick in August, 2018. FairFX found that an adult travelling alone with a child on a Thomas Cook holiday to Bahia Principe Costa Adeje in Tenerife stands to pay 154 more per person when compared with two adults and one child, making it equivalent to 14 per cent more expensive. For a 14-night stay at Disney's Art of Animation Resort, the cost for an adult and child when booked through Virgin Holidays was seven per cent more per person, compared with two adults travelling with a child. While the discrepancy is less than last year's costs, which revealed a 17 per cent difference, it still works out as an additional 212 for a parent travelling along with their child. Meanwhile, a seven-night stay at the three-star Sol Cala Antena in Majorca when booked through Airtours worked out as 76 more expensive for a single parent travelling with their child, equivalent to 10 per cent more than the cost for two parents travelling with a family. A table showing the difference in prices to several resorts for single parents and families with two adults (source: FairFX) Travel operators TUI and First Choice offer free child places but only when the child is accompanied by two paying adults. Airtours offers 'child prices' for some hotels, but this discount is only applicable when the child is sharing a room with at least two people paying the full adult price. Thomas Cook Holidays operate the same pricing policy. Children are not counted towards accommodation occupancy by Thomas Cook or Airtours, meaning that a parent travelling alone could still be charged an under-occupancy room supplement, essentially penalising them for holidaying alone with their child. Ian Strafford-Taylor, CEO of FairFX, said: 'Our research shows that families are being hit with unfair pricing inconsistencies which, in many cases, are unfavourable for single parents or parents travelling solo with their child this summer.' 'Travel operators appear to be basing their pricing structure on the stereotypical "nuclear" family and that's just not realistic. Some travel operators offer free child places but only when the child is accompanied by two paying adults 'Nowadays families come in different shapes and sizes and it's time travel operators evolved their business models to reflect reality. 'It should cost the same amount whether there's one parent or two taking a child on holiday. It's unfair for parents to be penalised for travelling solo. 'Booking a holiday now comes with a multitude of price inconsistencies and hikes for parents to tackle and is ruining what should be an enjoyable summertime experience for the whole family.' Tui said: 'We take more than six million customers away each year, which are made up of various party size, whether travelling in groups, on their own, with their family, or maybe just as a couple. 'Our free child place offer is just one of our early booking incentives and is driven by how suppliers price their accommodation on two adults sharing. We take all customer feedback seriously and continuously review our holidays and our offers.' Thomas Cook said: 'We know families are not one size fits all and want to cater to all customer groups. 'While it is normal for hotels to base their room prices on two adults sharing we have negotiated single parent offers at more than 200 of our hotels in 22 destinations, which we are looking to increase. 'We encourage all of our customers to book as early as possible for the best choice and price.' The operator added that it still has some single parent rooms available for July and August. Chloe Green has given birth to her first child with 'Hot Felon' beau Jeremy Meeks. They confirmed the news on their respective Instagram accounts, writing: 'We are pleased to announce the birth of our beautiful baby boy Jayden Meeks-Green. Born May 29th 2018. Mommy and Baby both doing well... Much love Chloe & Jeremy'. The 27-year-old Topshop heiress, who is said to be engaged to the convict, kept her pregnancy under wraps until earlier this month when she unveiled her eye-popping baby bump during a holiday on her father Sir Phillip's superyacht in Monaco. Happy days: Chloe Green has given birth to her first child with ' Hot Felon ' beau Jeremy Meeks Jeremy is already father to a nine-year-old son, Jeremy Jr., with his ex-wife Melissa yet their new arrival is the first for Chloe, who was allegedly determined to give birth and spend the start of motherhood at sea. Chloe and Jeremy are said to have first set eyes on each other at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2017, where Jeremy was modelling for Phillip Plein, shortly before they became practically inseparable. It was first reported in March that the couple were expecting, after which multiple sources confirmed the happy news. Following the announcement, Chloe's kooky birthing plan was revealed, shortly before she embarked on her yacht trip with her family. Happy days! They confirmed the news on their respective Instagram accounts, writing: 'We are pleased to announce the birth of our beautiful baby boy Jayden Meeks-Green. Born May 29th 2018. Mommy and Baby both doing well... Much love Chloe & Jeremy' The good times are here! The 27-year-old Topshop heiress, who is reportedly engaged to the convict, has kept her pregnancy under wraps until earlier this month when she unveiled her eye-popping baby bump during a holiday on her father's superyacht in Monaco Insiders told The Sun she intended to give birth at sea: 'Chloe has been telling friends she is going to give birth on board her yacht. Her doctor will be there for the last few weeks of the pregnancy and will stick around for the first few weeks... 'The yacht will be sailing in Europe - probably somewhere in the Mediterranean when she gives birth. Then they want to spend at least six months on board... 'Chloe has always dreamed of giving birth at sea - she feels comfortable there. She wants to be alone with her family and away from prying eyes while she adjusts to motherhood - and thinks that being on the yacht will be the best chance of that.' Ahead of the impending arrival of their little one, the couple had been spending time in Monaco, relaxing at their own apartment in the same block where her parents own a 7million penthouse as well as various yacht trips. Earlier this year it was claimed that Chloe is not only expecting her first child with Jeremy but is engaged to the former convict as well. Adoring display: Following news of their imminent arrival, Chloe's kooky birthing plan was rumoured, shortly before she embarked on her yacht trip with her family (pictured in Monaco in November) Happy days: Ahead of the impending arrival of their little one, the couple had been spending time in Monaco, relaxing at their own apartment in the same block where her parents own a 7 million penthouse (pictured in Paris in January) A source told The Daily Mail: 'The family are fully on board planning a wedding, and Tina [Chloe's mother] is looking forward to being a grandmother. Chloe has been telling everyone that she is having a little boy.' Earlier this month, the former gang member said he 'couldn't be happier to be welcoming a child' with his heiress girlfriend. The model said: 'I've never been in this place mentally, emotionally, physically, that I'm in right now. I've never been in such an amazing place.' Adding his final thoughts on what love means to him, Meeks added: 'Love means everything, everything to me. It's what keeps people alive, it's what keeps people going, to love and to be loved.' Wedding bells? Earlier this year it was claimed that Chloe is not only expecting her first child with Jeremy but is engaged to the former convict as well Happy days: Earlier this month, the former gang member said he 'couldn't be happier to be welcoming a child with his heiress girlfriend (pictured in Paris in January) Jailbird Jeremy earned the dubious accolade of the 'world's hottest felon', when his mugshot went viral in 2014. Once a member of the North Side Crips street gang in California, Meeks was described as 'one of the most violent criminals in the Stockton area' before he was jailed for possessing a firearm. He was released from prison in 2016 saying that he had found God, before quickly securing a six-figure modelling job. Guns N Roses are making history with their upcoming tour. The legendary rock band will be heading to Johannesburg, South Africa, for the first time ever. They're due to play a single show off their Not In This Lifetime Tour at the FNB Stadium in November 2018. The tour has been going since 2016, taking Guns N Roses to England, Germany, France, Belgium, Russia, Iceland, India, and beyond. Guns N Roses kicked off their Not In This Lifetime Tour in 2016 and will finish in November 2018 Here's what you need to know about their historic visit to Johannesburg, South Africa and more. Guns N Roses Not In This Lifetime Tour dates Guns N Roses kicked off their Not In This Lifetime Tour in 2016. It's due to come to an end in November 2018. The tour brought together beloved band members Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan for the first time since 1993. In 2017, the Not In This Lifetime Tour was ranked the second-highest grossing worldwide tour, bringing in more than $480.9 million. Guns N Roses South Africa concert Guns N Roses will bring the Not In This Lifetime Tour to Johannesburg, South Africa on November 29, 2018 at FNB Stadium. Tickets will go on sale here and at Computicket at 9am SAST on Thursday, June 7, 2018. Not In This Lifetime Tour dates Guns N Roses will continue their Not In This Lifetime Tour up until November 2018. Upcoming dates include shows in Denmark, England, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Russia, India, Malaysia and more. Here are a few upcoming stops on the Not In This Lifetime Tour: June 6, 2018 Dyreskuepladsen in Odense, Denmark Dyreskuepladsen in Odense, Denmark June 9, 2018 Download Festival in Donington Park, England Download Festival in Donington Park, England June 12, 2018 Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Germany Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Germany June 15, 2018 Firenze Rocks in Firenze, Italy Firenze Rocks in Firenze, Italy June 18, 2018 Download Festival in Paris, France Download Festival in Paris, France June 21, 2018 Graspop Metal Meeting in Dessel,Belgium Graspop Metal Meeting in Dessel,Belgium June 24, 2018 Maimarktgelande in Mannheim, Germany Maimarktgelande in Mannheim, Germany June 26, 2018 Matmut Stadium in Bordeaus, France Matmut Stadium in Bordeaus, France June 29, 2018 Download Festival in Madrid, Spain Download Festival in Madrid, Spain Jule 1, 2018 Estadio Olympico in Barcelona, Spain Estadio Olympico in Barcelona, Spain July 4, 2018 Goffertpark in Nijmegen, Netherlands Goffertpark in Nijmegen, Netherlands July 7, 2018 Festwiese in Leipzig, Germany Festwiese in Leipzig, Germany July 9, 2018 Stadion Slaski in Chorzow, Poland Stadion Slaski in Chorzow, Poland July 13, 2018 Otkritie Arena in Moscow, Russia Otkritie Arena in Moscow, Russia July 16, 2018 Tallinn Song Festival Grounds in Tallinn, Estonia Tallinn Song Festival Grounds in Tallinn, Estonia July 19, 2018 Valle Hovin in Oslo, Norway Find more tour dates and tickets to upcoming Guns N Roses shows near you on the band's website. Guns N Roses Tour 2018 USA Guns N Roses won't be returning to the United States to perform their Not In This Lifetime Tour. Guns N Roses members Axl Rose, Slash, Duf McKagan, Richard Fortus, Dizzy Reed, Robin Finck and Frank Ferrer are currently touring as Guns N Roses. Advertisement Tim Robards and Anna Heinrich exchanged vows in a beautiful Italian wedding ceremony on Thursday, five years after falling in love on reality TV. Australia's original Bachelor couple tied the knot at the Masseria Potenti hotel, among the olive groves and vineyards of the Puglian countryside. Criminal lawyer Anna, 31, looked absolutely breathtaking in her couture Steven Khalil dress while being walked down the aisle by her father, Les Heinrich. Scroll down for video EXCLUSIVE: Tim Robards and Anna Heinrich exchanged vows in a wedding ceremony in Italy on Thursday, five years after falling in love on The Bachelor Australia. Pictured: Anna arriving at the venue with her wedding planner and father Les Before saying 'I do', Anna was spotted with her sister Andrea Heinrich, father Les and a wedding planner, believed to be Georgie Duddy. In the moments leading up to the bride's arrival, Georgie appeared rather stressed while clutching a stack of papers and an iPhone. She even attempted to conceal Anna's face from onlookers by awkwardly holding up a clipboard in front of her veil. Her special day! Criminal lawyer Anna, 31, looked absolutely breathtaking in her Steven Khalil dress while being walked down the aisle by her father, Les Heinrich Touching moment: Les stood proudly beside his daughter during the romantic ceremony Special bond: Anna was pictured reaching out for her father's hand before her big moment Here goes! Anna is pictured with her sister Andrea Heinrich (left), father Les (right) and a woman understood to be a wedding planner (centre) Stunning venue: Australia's original Bachelor couple tied the knot at the Masseria Potenti hotel, among the olive groves and vineyards of the Puglian countryside Love story: Tim and Anna first met in 2013 during the first season of The Bachelor Australia It was meant to be! Anna beat out 24 other single ladies, including new Bachelorette Ali Oetjen, to capture Tim's heart How romantic! More than 1.2million people watched the finale, which saw Tim declare his love for Anna on the clifftop of a Thai resort Pictured: The original Australian Bachelor couple, Tim Robards and Anna Heinrich ANNA'S STEVEN KHALIL DRESS Anna Heinrich wore a Steven Khalil gown on her wedding day. Featuring intricate beading and a tulle veil, the bride commanded attention as she walked down the aisle. The couture design appears to be from Steven Khalil's Spring 2019 Romance Ultime bridal collection and features a small ribbon around the waistline and a long train. All of the pieces in the ready-to-wear collection are available in-house and can be ordered within six months, with prices starting from $12,500. The collection, which Khalil says is for the 'ultimate romantic', uses exclusive wool crepe, innovative tulle techniques, custom beading and embroidery, as well as world class laces. Bridal couture: Anna Heinrich wore a Steven Khalil gown on her wedding day. Featuring intricate beading and a tulle veil, the bride commanded attention as she walked down the aisle Advertisement Anna looked every inch the blushing bride in her couture, sleeveless dress by Steven Khalil that featured intricate beading and a tulle veil. All eyes were on her as she strode down the aisle with a long trail floating behind and solicitor Les proudly walking by her side. Meanwhile, bridesmaid Andrea, 34, made sure not to upstage her younger sister by wearing a simple, low-cut white dress. Lovebirds: Tim said in the Bachelor finale, 'I love you. It feels so, so good to finally say it. I want to make you feel special every day. I can't wait to start the next part of our journey together' Luxury details: Bride Anna accessorised with a pair of statement drop earrings Stepping out! She also wore a pair of embellished ankle strap heels Lady in white: Anna's dress featured a beautiful veil and intricate lace detailing on the back Last-minute nerves: Anna looked a little anxious alongside her sister and the wedding planner before walking down the aisle Wedding of the year! The couple arrived in Europe last week ahead of their destination wedding, sharing photos to Instagram in the lead-up to their big day Tim, a 35-year-old chiropractor and model from Bondi, proposed to Anna with a '$173,000' ring in May last year while on holiday in Kimberley, Western Australia. The lovebirds first met in 2013 during the first season of The Bachelor Australia. Anna beat out 24 other single ladies, including new Bachelorette Ali Oetjen, to capture Tim's heart. INSIDE THE MASSERIA POTENTI Tim and Anna exchanged vows at the Masseria Potenti, a 16th century Italian farmhouse repurposed into a sophisticated boutique hotel. Located among the olive groves and vineyards of the Puglian countryside, the four-star estate boasts a sun-drenched courtyard and a watchtower. In addition to this, guests have access to a swimming pool and a limestone-vaulted reception room filled with flowers. Those lucky enough to have been invited to the wedding stayed at the original outhouses, which have been converted into 17 rustic rooms. Heavenly! Tim and Anna exchanged vows at the Masseria Potenti, a 16th century Italian farmhouse repurposed into a sophisticated hotel All the rooms have their own fireplace, living space and private patio overlooking the gardens and swimming pool. The ornate beds are draped in luxurious Italian fabrics and decorated tastefully with antique wooden furniture. The villa is tucked away just outside the city of Manduria, which has a population of just over 30,000 people. Rooms start at $278 per night but the deluxe suites are believed to go for up to hundreds of dollars a night. Lavish hideaway: The villa is tucked away just outside the city of Manduria, which has a population of just over 30,000 people Advertisement Her perfect day: Anna looked every inch the blushing bridge in her couture sleeveless dress that featured intricate beading and a tulle veil So proud! Bridesmaid Andrea couldn't wipe the smile off her face while calming her sister's nerves Is everything OK? The glamorous wedding planner looked a little bit flustered on the day It all worked out in the end! Anna is believed to have scouted the wedding location while on holiday in Europe last year More than 1.2million people watched the Bachelor 2013 finale, which saw Tim declare his love for Anna on the clifftop of a Thai resort. He said on the show: 'I love you. It feels so, so good to finally say it. I want to make you feel special every day. I can't wait to start the next part of our journey together.' Tim and Anna moved in together in mid-2014, and are now based in the Sydney beachside suburb of Bondi. Happily ever after! Tim, a 35-year-old chiropractor and model from Sydney, proposed to Anna in May last year while on holiday in Kimberley, Western Australia Magazine deal? As Anna walked down the aisle, two photographers were seen taking photos of her and father Les Calm down, dear! A woman in a yellow dress, understood to be wedding planner Georgie Duddy, appeared rather stressed while clutching a stack of papers and an iPhone What's going on here? The wedding planner was seen trying to conceal Anna from onlookers Why so shy? For some bizarre reason, Georgie attempted to cover Anna's face with a clipboard Be careful! Anna's sister Andrea was seen readjusting her dress before the ceremony In April, Anna celebrated her last days as a singleton with a luxury 'La Dolce Vita' themed hen's weekend in Sydney that cost a rumoured $25,000. Not to be outdone, Tim hosted a buck's bash in New South Wales' Hunter Valley, before flying business class to Las Vegas to celebrate with friends. The couple arrived in Europe last week ahead of their destination wedding, sharing photos to Instagram in the lead-up to their big day. Local stars: Tim and Anna moved in together in mid-2014, and are now based in the Sydney beachside suburb of Bondi No expense spared! In April, Anna celebrated her last days as a singleton with a luxury 'La Dolce Vita' themed hen's weekend in Sydney that cost a rumoured $25,000 What's going on here? Andrea pulled a rather animated expression at one point Sister of the bride: Andrea wore a sleek, low-cut white dress and accessorised with a pair of dramatic earrings The run-down: Anna appeared to be listening to instructions from her wedding planner Milestone occasion: Tim and Anna are the first Australian Bachelor couple to tie the knot Sam and Billie Faiers hoped Essex boutique Minnies would 'be the next ASOS' when they opened the fashion store in 2011. Yet seven years on, the Brentwood shop is floundering, posting debts of 145,877 at Companies House on Wednesday. Documents show that losses for Minnies Boutique over the last year are up from 85,950 in 2016. Stepping down: The boutique formerly opened by TOWIE sister act Billie and Sam Faiers (together in March) has filed losses of 145,877 for the last year A representative for Sam and Billie Faiers has been contacted by MailOnline for comment. Reality stars Sam and Bilie - who now have two children each - have taken a step back from running Minnies. While Sam switched her focus to new online clothing company All Bits London with her partner Paul, Billie has reportedly turned her attention to Minnies' website. After their departure from TOWIE, the sisters' new reality show Sam And Billie Faiers: The Mummy Diaries explored how they are adapting to running rival businesses. Debts: The fashion store in Essex was originally opened in 2011 at the height of sisters Sam and Billie Faiers' TOWIE fame Business losses: Billie (left) and her mum Suzie Wells (right, here with Billie's children Arthur and Nelly) previously ran the boutique together In February, the young mums took a fashion-buying trip to Paris to select products for their boutiques. A touch of rivalry was detected between the two working mums on the reality show as they competed for the most desirable stock. In 2014, Sam told The Daily Mail that she had big plans for Minnies: 'In five years' time, I'd like Minnies to be an empire of her own, expand it and make it the next ASOS.' ASOS is a fashion store run exclusively online, but the Faiers sisters expanded to a transactional website within just six months of opening the doors to their flagship in April 2011. 'I'll be an auntie then, maybe I'll have a family of my own,' Sam declared. 'Five years is a long way off, I don't know where I'll be, hopefully on a yacht in LA. The TOWIE duo and their family also initially had plans to open many more physical Minnies stores in the north and southeast. 'We will open three or four boutiques in total,' the sisters' auntie explained. 'That and the internet site would be enough.' According to the Minnies website, the boutique has 'revolutionised the fashion habits of Essex and beyond', bringing customers the latest designer clothes. High hopes: Previously, they had high hopes for their business, saying that it could have been as big as ASOS by 2016 (Billie is pictured in 2014) In March, they even put out on advert on Twitter for models who could showcase our boutique stock. Both sisters have had great success with their own companies, which make them money individually. Sams is called SEF Limited and it recently posted accounts for last year, which showed it had 523,497 cash in the bank and made 348,515 profit. Meanwhile, Billie Faiers Enterprises Ltd last set of figures revealed that it had made a profit of 126,406 in 2016. Dani Dyer confessed she is looking for her Prince Charming as she enthused she wanted something like Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, despite dumping Jack Fincham earlier on in the episode on Wednesday. Although she had initially been smitten with her summer soulmate after they were paired on Monday, the now-single Islander started to have doubts about the stationery sales manager when it was revealed he had cheated on all his girlfriends. EastEnders star Danny Dyer's daughter made the decision to dump the good-looking hunk, with the bevy of beauties backing her on her choice, and moments later, she was caught gushing over the hottest Royal couple. Scroll down for video Love Island: Dani Dyer admitted she wants romance like Meghan Markle and Prince Harry after she dumped Jack Fincham on Wednesday Talking to her fellow female, Dani said: 'I just want something like Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. They were unexpected. People werent expecting their relationship to work but it does.' Meghan and Harry were married in a very lavish ceremony in Windsor over the scorching May Bank Holiday, attracting A-list stars including the Clooneys and the Beckhams as well as movie stars Carey Mulligan and Tom Hardy. Obviously a big fan of the Royals, the aspiring actress expressed she was still holding out hope to find 'unexpected love' and she instantly cited the Suits star and the dapper redhead's romance as a good example of what she is looking for. Dumped: The now-single Islander started to have doubts about the stationery sales manager when it was revealed he had cheated on all his girlfriends Decided: EastEnders star Danny Dyer's daughter made the decision to dump the good-looking hunk, with the bevy of beauties backing her on her choice Following the airing of Wednesday's episode, Dani was trolled by fans for comparing finding love in the villa to Meghan and Prince Harry's wedding, with fans mocking the aspiring actress on social media. 'Has Dani from love island just compared a finding a fella in the villa to prince Harry falling in love with Megan Markle? Pretty similar tbf pal,' one fan wrote, leading the troops on Twitter. Another added: 'LOL. "Look at Harry and Meghan, they didn't force it" This is #LoveIsland Dani, not the royal wedding.' Good example! The aspiring actress (Australia, April 2018) cited the Suits star and the dapper redhead's romance as a good example of what she is looking for Reaction: Following the airing of Wednesday's episode, Dani was trolled by fans for comparing finding love in the villa to Meghan and Prince Harry's wedding Others remarked: 'Did she just compare herself to Prince Harry and his wife? #LoveIsland.' 'Look at Harry and Meghan [...] they didnt force it. Soz babe didnt see you at the royal wedding? #LoveIsland.' 'Yess royal wedding refrences love it #LoveIsland.' 'Dani comparing #LoveIsland to the royal wedding just made my day.' Love Island fans were left gobsmacked on Wednesday night when the frisky contestants took their X-rated antics to new heights. Grant Crapp screamed in agony while fellow Islander Cassidy McGill and a group of other girls waxed his bottom on the balcony. Baffled viewers took to Twitter to discuss the segment that involved full male nudity and graphic close-ups of Grant's buttocks. 'They did not just wax a dude's whole a**hole on TV!' Love Island viewers were left stunned by a graphic hair-removal scene involving Grant Crapp on Wednesday's episode 'OMG, they did not just wax [a] dude's whole a**hole on TV?' asked a shocked fan. Meanwhile, others found the whole scenario of 'love rat' Grant being tortured by the female Islanders rather amusing. 'PSA [public service announcement] ladies, Grant has a hairy b**thole,' tweeted a viewer during the show. Too hot for TV? Grant Crapp screamed in agony while fellow Islander Cassidy McGill and a group of other girls waxed his bottom on the balcony 'Fancy going naked with a hairy b**t. Totally gross,' another fan wrote. During the eye-watering scene, Grant screamed 'oh f**k!' as four wax strips were applied to his derriere before being torn off. 'Oh my gosh, that's so f**king hairy, Grant,' one of the girls remarked. Don't look! Baffled viewers took to Twitter to discuss the segment that involved full male nudity and graphic close-ups of Grant's buttocks The painful beauty treatment was revenge for Cassidy McGill, who was spurned by Grant in favour of Tayla Damir. After the clip was originally posted to social media before Wednesday's episode, a fan commented: 'Thank God I've eaten dinner already!' Love Island Australia continues Thursday at 8:30pm on 9Go and 9Now Reaction: 'OMG, they did not just wax [a] dude's whole a**hole on TV?' asked a shocked fan, as others took to Twitter to express their surprise and amusement She announced her arrival on Love Island Australia by saying, 'I'll be a fresh face and a new toy for the boys to play with!' And on Thursday, intruder Francoise Draschler made it perfectly clear she's not on the show to make friends. The 28-year-old took aim at the female Islanders during an interview with OK!, revealing she doesn't like 'fake-looking' women and isn't 'a fan of cosmetic surgery'. Scroll down for video 'I will judge somebody if they're a bit fake-looking!' Love Island's Francoise Draschler revealed on Thursday that she looks down on women who've had cosmetic surgery 'I mean, do what makes you happy, but I will judge somebody if they're a bit fake-looking,' Francoise said. 'I think that if, aesthetically, you look fake, you tend to be perceived as fake on the inside as well. You get pigeon-holed.' The Melbourne marketing manager confessed that her honesty is often interpreted as 'b**chiness,' however she insisted she isn't trying to be mean. Controversial opinion! The 28-year-old took aim at the female Islanders during an interview with OK!, revealing she doesn't like 'fake-looking' women and isn't 'a fan of cosmetic surgery' Despite her forthright personality, Francoise vowed to play fair when it comes to matters of the heart on Love Island. 'If a girl wants to go for a guy I'm interested in and it turns out he's interested in her, I will be like, ''OK, cool. Bye",' she told OK! Earlier this week, Francoise made it clear that she wouldn't be jumping straight into bed with any of the male contestants. Taking a stand: 'I mean, do what makes you happy, but I will judge somebody if they're a bit fake-looking,' Francoise said 'You are on a bloody television show and your mum and dad are watching, it is not for me,' Francoise told The Daily Telegraph before flying to Spain. 'I am pretty reserved and conservative as it is,' she explained. Love Island Australia continues Thursday at 8:30pm on 9Go and 9Now He's the shock jock who has made a name for himself as one of Australia's most outspoken personalities. Which is why Channel Ten have reportedly lined KIIS FM's Kylie Sandilands up to front the upcoming Aussie version of Judge Judy. Kyle is rumoured to take the hot seat on the controversial new show as members of the public and celebrities step into his court to resolve their issues. See in court! Kyle Sandilands to become TV judge in Channel Ten's new Judge Judy spin-off The 46-year-old Kyle and Jackie O show presenter turned TV judge will reportedly be joined by a panel of celebrity and expert jurors as they offer a fair trial - and guests can expect big pay out as justice is served. 'Kyle takes no crap and was top of Ten's list when it came to finding someone to front the show,' a TV insider tells Daily Mail Australia. 'They'll be no mercy spared in Kyle's court and order will be served no matter what.' The show is currently in the final stages of production and set to begin filming in the next couple of months. A spokesperson for Kyle confirmed with Daily Mail Australia: 'We're always looking at new TV ideas and talking to the networks. At this stage we have not signed any new deals.' The real deal: Judge Judy Sheindlin has made a fortune from her high-rating US TV series The news comes after Kyle suffered a health scare on-air this week. The radio shock jock was told to go to the hospital immediately after he revealed a troubling symptom during his radio show on Wednesday. After the he complained about a strange vibrating sensation in his right leg, a listener recommended he seek medical help right away. 'Kyle takes no crap and was top of Ten's list when it came to finding someone to front the show,' a TV insider tells Daily Mail Australia of the new role 'You really need to get to emergency ASAP... It's a blood clot,' the female caller said. She continued: 'The vibrating leg is a symptom of a blood clot, you need to get that checked out as soon,' but Kyle cut her off, saying: 'I'll worry about it later.' The caller urged him to follow up with a medical professional, telling him: 'You don't want to loose your leg or have a blood clot travel to your lung.' Instead of taking her advice, Kyle lamented over potentially wasting his day waiting at a hospital. Queer Eyes Fab Five have been crowned official 'Yass Queens' in a very special coronation while filming in Australia. The Netflix stars were given the enviable titles by Yass Mayor Rowena Abbey when they visited the New South Wales' rural town, this week. Mayor Abbey presented the men with sparkly tiaras in honour of their contribution to the town after boys conducted a 'makeover'. Scroll down for video Yasss Queens! Queer Eye's Fab Five are crowned with tiaras in special coronation by Yass Mayor as they 'makeover' NSW rural town Yass is a small town in New South Wales home to about 5,000 residents. Queer Eye's renewed cast consists of Bobby Berk (design expert), Antoni Porowski (food expert), Tan France (fashion expert), Karamo Brown (culture expert), and Jonathan Van Ness (grooming expert). In the clip, all five members appeared overjoyed during the coronation, with Tan joking: 'I feel like I'm in the chronicles of Narnia!' Bobby continued, as the group clapped: 'He's like, "I've been waiting for this my whole life!"' YASS! Queer Eye's renewed cast consists of (from L to R) Tan France (fashion expert), Antoni Porowski (food expert), Bobby Berk (design expert), Jonathan Van Ness (grooming expert), and Karamo Brown (culture expert) 'He's like, "I've been waiting for this my whole life!"' The men appeared overjoyed by their honorary titles as Mayor Abbey presented the men with sparkly tiaras (Pictured with Queer Eye's Jonathan) Fab Five's newest project: Netflix has confirmed the mini-makeover will focus on George, a cattle farmer and former rodeo cowboy (far right) Netflix has confirmed the town's mini-makeover will focus on George, a cattle farmer and former rodeo cowboy. Jonathan, Tan and Karamo will help the local 'grab life by the horns' during their special Australian visit. Meanwhile, Antoni and Bobby team up to give the local pub a much-needed makeover, renovating the bistro and introducing a new signature dish to the menu. Tune in! The special Aussie mini-makeover will be released on Netflix social channels on June 22, including a renovation of the local pub Queer Eye is the Netflix revamp of Queer Eye For The Straight Guy. The special Aussie mini-makeover will be released on Netflix social channels on June 22. Queer Eye's highly-anticipated second season will launch on Netflix on June 15. She hasn't let her split from her ex-husband Romain Zago put her off getting married again after announcing her whirlwind engagement to Douglas Nunes in March. And Joanna Krupa's happiness showed as she looked ravishing once again on arrival at Robert Kupisz's stunning fashion show in Warsaw, Poland on Monday. No stranger to racy ensembles, The Real Housewives of Miami, 39, grappled with her cleavage-baring dress to ensure she didn't suffer a nip slip in the dangerously plunging number. Leggy lady: Joanna Krupa, 39, grappled with her cleavage-baring shimmering dress at glitzy fashion show in Poland on Monday Really emphasising her cleavage, the television personality wore her golden locks tumbling down her shoulders to her waist in perfectly-tousled waves. The reality star shimmered into the swanky venue in the sequined number catching glimmers of the light with its beaded tassels. The decorative tasseled design were stitched into the overlay to draw as much attention as possible to her hourglass shape. Glittering girl: Really emphasising her cleavage, the television personality wore her golden locks tumbling down her shoulders to her waist in perfectly-tousled waves Dazzling diva: The reality star shimmered into the swanky venue in the sequined number catching glimmers of the light with its beaded tassels Yet her dress wasn't the only sparkling item as the engaged beauty flaunted her huge rock on her ring finger following her whirlwind engagement to businessman Douglas Nunes. Exciting news! The engaged beauty flaunted her huge rock on her ring finger following her whirlwind engagement to businessman Douglas Nunes Joanna put some serious skin on display, giving a good look at her model-honed pins and thighs, as the beaded overlay barely covered the semi-sheer undergarment. Although she headed out to the fashion bash on her own, the actress is incredibly loved-up with her businessman fiance following the model revealing the news on social media back in March. A spokesperson for Joanna told MailOnline: 'Yes they are engaged, that's all for now.' It has been quite the whirlwind engagement as the news comes just eight months after Joanna split from her ex-husband Romain Zago, 45. The blonde beauty showed none of the devastating signs of heartache as she well and truly mended her heartache following the split. Flying solo: Although she headed out to the fashion bash on her own, the actress is incredibly loved-up with her businessman fiance following the model revealing the news in March In her element: Joanna was clearly having the time of her life as she flashed a peace sign The former flames finalised their divorce in August 2017, parting ways for good after four years of marriage together. Shortly after their heartbreaking split, Joanna confessed she had frozen her eggs as she divulged her hopes to have children in the near future. 'You never know what life will bring,' she told Life & Style Magazine. 'What if that moment comes when you cant have kids? Thank goodness I froze my eggs.' She spends most of her life jet-setting around the world and showing off her gorgeous features in distant locales. On Wednesday, Bella Hadid donned a giant sombrero as she posed topless for a Vogue photo shoot in Mexico. The 21-year-old model, who wore a string thong, was covered in the white sands of the secluded Mayan Riviera beach. Baring it all: On Wednesday, Bella Hadid donned a giant sombrero as she posed topless for a Vogue photo shoot in Mexico Fun in the sun: The 21-year-old model was photographed on the secluded Mayan Riviera beach Hadid spent the last two days at the luxurious Hotel Esencia on the Caribbean coast of Mexico. The photo shoot, which included several outfit changes, relied on the work of several professionals. 'Thank you to the most perfect team of people for the absolute most perfect two days of 'work,' Bella said on Instagram. Model moments: Hadid spent the last two days at the luxurious Hotel Esencia on the Caribbean coast of Mexico The photo shoot, which included several outfit changes, relied on the work of several professionals. 'Thank you to the most perfect team of people for the absolute most perfect two days of 'work,' Bella said on Instagram. 'Mexico has always had my heart and been my favorite place since childhood...I was so lucky to be able to come back' 'Mexico has always had my heart and been my favorite place since childhood...I was so lucky to be able to come back. She went on to praise her glam squad, adding: 'Thank you from the bottom of my heart, you made my soul singggg this week.' Along with her 'leisure suit' shot, Bella wore a black gown and chainmail bodysuit for the cover shoot. Luxe life: Hadid did have a few moments to herself while in the tropical locale. She spent them sunbathing, swimming in the ocean, and frolicking with the exotic animals 'Destination nowhere': Bella was surrounded by breathtaking scenery Hadid did have a few moments to herself while in the tropical locale. She spent them sunbathing, swimming in the ocean, and frolicking with the exotic animals. 'Literally I just walk around and chill with any animals I can find,' she said in one of several lizard posts. Wildlife: 'Literally I just walk around and chill with any animals I can find,' she said in one of several lizard posts For Grayson Perry, it seems that a family who is styled together stays together. The artist, 58, was joined by his wife Philippa and daughter Florence at his exhibition's preview party yesterday and all had their own eclectic look. He wore an extravagant zip-collar baby doll dress with a snake winding around it, as well as giant purple platform shoes. The artist, 58, was joined by his wife Philippa and daughter Florence at his exhibition's preview party yesterday and all had their own eclectic look He wore an extravagant zip-collar baby doll dress with a snake winding around it, as well as giant purple platform shoes His wife Philippa, 60, posed in a Picasso-inspired abstract dress, with a black and white hairstyle reminiscent of Disney character Cruella de Vil. And it seems Miss Perry has inherited her father's love of bright colours, as she looked resplendent in sequins, pastel pink accessories, and bright red hair. Perry had been hosting guests in the run-up to the Royal Academy of Arts' 250th Summer Exhibition, which he helped to curate, this week. The event was held at Burlington House, in Mayfair, central London. The artist is famous for crossdressing as his alter-ego Claire who often appears in public, as well as in Perry's own artwork. Perry had been hosting guests in the run-up to the Royal Academy of Arts' 250th Summer Exhibition, which he helped to curate, this week. The exhibition, which runs from June 12 to August 19, hosts an eclectic array of works by established and emerging contemporary artists, including sculptures, paintings, video installations and textiles. Among the 1,351 artworks sits a sexually explicit mock-up of Donald Trump with an unnamed Miss Mexico winner, which is displayed next to an abstract drawing of the burning Grenfell Tower. Perry has previously grumbled about the stress of organising such an exhibition. He told The Guardian: 'So there is pressure. But I've been enjoying myself, the collaboration with the other artists, working with the art handlers and curators. I've been having one of the best times of my life.' She recently confessed that the extent of her diva behaviour is 'bathing in cold milk'. And Mariah Carey well and truly commanded attention as she was seen leaving in style after an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live Wednesday. The talented songstress, 48 - who will return to Las Vegas for another residency starting July 5 - put on an incredibly eye-popping display in a plunging skintight black dress. She's got front! Mariah Carey, 48, well and truly commanded attention as she was seen leaving in style after an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live Wednesday Assisted out of the venue by a member of her entourage, Mariah stayed true to her signature sexy style in the daringly low-cut number which showcased her ample cleavage. Mariah's mini dress boasted semi sheer half sleeves and highlighted the rest of her famous curves before falling above her knees. The Hero hitmaker added a pair of towering platform-soled black peep toe heels which boosted her height as she strutted along. Injecting some of her signature glamour to the look, Mariah completed the look with a lavish two-rope diamond necklace and matching earrings. Wow: The talented songstress - who will return to Las Vegas for another residency starting July 5 - put on an incredibly eye-popping display in a plunging skintight black dress Glamour: Assisted out of the venue by a member of her entourage, Mariah stayed true to her signature sexy style in the daringly low-cut number which showcased her ample cleavage Walk this way: The Hero hitmaker added a pair of towering platform-soled black peep toe heels which boosted her height as she strutted along. Earlier, the songbird was snapped arriving to Jimmy Kimmel rocking a black leather jacket paired with a black pleated maxi skirt. Making her glamorous statement once again, her long blonde hair was loose and worn with a centre parting. The We Belong hitmaker carried her smart phone and had her earbuds in as she arrived at the studio surrounded by her entourage. Clearly in high spirits, she smiled and greeted fans camped out to catch a glimpse of her. Plugging it: The songbird was on the ABC late night show with Kimmel to promote her new Las Vegas residency that starts on July 5 Busting out: Mariah was clearly in high spirits as she showed off her sexy busty look in her revealing black mini-dress on Instagram In style: Mariah continued her day with a date night with beau Bryan Tanaka Happy: Mariah couldn't wipe the smile from her face as she headed to a restaurant in Beverly Hills. During her interview with Jimmi Kimmel, Mariah touched upon her time on American Idol where she served as judge. Famously known for feuding with co-judge Nicki Minaj, the talented star described it as a 'bleak time' - admitting that she wanted to remember the positives which included 'getting some fantastic memes.' Meanwhile, Mariah is picking up her Sin City residency at The Colosseum inside Caesars Palace with a new show called The Butterfly Returns. But on Monday PageSix claimed tickets have not been selling well and the 4,300 seats are far from selling out. Helping hand: Mariah was helped to an awaiting vehicle after she enjoyed her romantic meal Loving life: Mariah gave photographers a flirty smile as she got comfortable in the car Making an entrance: Mariah also opted for an all black ensemble as she arrived to Kimmel's Hollywood studio earlier on in the day Natural beauty: The Hero hitmaker wore her long blonde hair loose with a center parting Edgy look: The songbird rocked a black leather jacket which she paired with a black pleated maxi skirt Stayed connected: Mariah carried her smart phone and had her earbuds in 'It's a disaster. Scalpers bought a bunch of the tix and are freaking out,' a source told the site. LiveNation, however, maintained it is 'pleased' with the sales. And Mariah's publicist denied the claims: 'These allegations are false and come from a source that must be desperate to pretend to be in the know . . . Look forward to seeing you at the Vegas show if you can get a seat!' Back in Sin City: Mariah is returning to The Colosseum inside Caesars Palace with a new show called The Butterfly Returns starting July 5 No takers? Her rep has denied a claim by PageSix.com Monday that tickets for her shows are not selling Her first residency began in 2015; it was also at Caesars Palace. The show lasted two years and made a fortune in box-office receipts. Celine Dion and Elton John have also done very well performing at Caesars. Jennifer Lopez has a show called All I Have at Planet Hollywood, but she announced recently that was coming to an end. Carey will most likely be taking her current boyfriend Bryan Tanaka with her as he is a dancer. The beauty and the 35-year-old seem to be getting even more serious as they are side-by-side nearly every day. Her Vegas concert dates include July 5, 7, 8, 10, 14 and 15 as well as August 31 and September 1, 2, 5, 9 and 10. Lady in red: Isla Fisher also looked gorgeous as she made an appearance on the show Alex Nation's new employer must have a generous annual leave policy. Just days after announcing she was back working 'full-time' because sponsored Instagram posts couldn't pay the bills, the former Bachelor star was jetting off to Queensland for a holiday. On Sunday, the 26-year-old bisexual single mother was even spotted at the beach in Noosa during what appeared to be an impromptu photo shoot. What about her 'full-time job'? Former Bachelor star Alex Nation accidentally flashed her breast while posing for a photo shoot in Noosa, Queensland on Sunday Posing in front of a vandalised rock face, Alex accidentally flashed her right breast while pulling down one of her swimsuit straps. But it didn't seem to be too embarrassing an ordeal, as the community radio host laughed off the wardrobe malfunction. During the photo shoot, Alex posed up a storm in a Baywatch-inspired one piece that highlighted her slender, pale physique. Look what happened by accident! Posing in front of a vandalised rock face, Alex accidentally flashed her right breast while pulling down one of her swimsuit straps The show must go on! But it didn't seem to be too embarrassing an ordeal, as the community radio host laughed off the wardrobe malfunction Whoops! During the photo shoot, Alex posed up a storm in a Baywatch-inspired one piece that highlighted her slender, pale physique Alex's red swimsuit featured a daring high-cut design and offered a generous view of her pert derriere and slender thighs. The aspiring model's various tattoos were on display, including a Biblical quote on her rib cage and a small flower on her shoulder. She appeared to be in happy and confident spirits during the beachside shoot and was often seen smiling in-between poses. Having a laugh! Alex appeared to be in happy and confident spirits during the beachside shoot and was often seen smiling in-between poses That's cheeky! Alex's red swimsuit featured a daring high-cut design and offered a generous view of her pert derriere and slender thighs Body art: The aspiring model's various tattoos were on display, including a Biblical quote on her rib cage and a small flower on her shoulder Alex's Noosa getaway comes after she revealed last week that she could no longer make a sustainable living from selling sponsored Instagram posts. The former reality TV star announced that she had returned to work full-time and, as a result, was struggling with being apart from her son Elijah, seven. 'I usually love a challenge but lately this one has proven quite difficult,' Alex told her social media followers on Friday. The struggle is real: Alex's Noosa getaway comes after she revealed last week that she could no longer make a sustainable living from selling sponsored Instagram posts 'I really wanted a career': The former reality TV star announced that she had returned to work full-time and, as a result, was struggling with being apart from her son Elijah, seven Unlucky in love: Alex famously won The Bachelor in 2016, but her relationship with Richie Strahan only lasted a few months before they secretly parted ways Lesbian relationship: After splitting with Richie in mid-2017, Alex began dating her Frankston Bombers teammate Maegan Luxa 'I've gone from spending almost all of my time with Elijah to working full-time, getting home at seven just in time for bunk bed snuggles and doing readers.' 'I miss him and crave the time I had with him when I was working sporadically and doing sponsored posts for Ponstan,' she added. 'The reality is for me, sponsored Instagram posts weren't sustainable enough and I really wanted a full time job/career. So I went out and got it and I f**king love it!' Will she ever get her happily ever after? However, Alex's relationship with Maegan was also short-lived. It is believed they ended their engagement earlier this year Cover girl! Even before appearing on The Bachelor in 2016, Alex had dabbled in modelling She's fresh off her stint hosting the Billboard Music Awards. And Kelly Clarkson looked every inch the pop music sensation as she flaunted her newly trimmed figure at the CMT Music Awards in Nashville on Wednesday. The 36-year-old beauty has been working on her fitness as she appeared in great shape rocking a sophisticated black gown for the red carpet. Stunner: Kelly Clarkson looked every inch the pop music sensation as she flaunted her newly trimmed figure at the CMT Music Awards in Nashville on Wednesday Daring to impress, the Since U Been Gone songstress looked sensational in the black couture that featured a silver broach at her lither waist. Her gorgeous gams were showcased as the ensemble boasted a thigh-grazing slit as she stomped around in strappy heels to match. She highlighted her chiseled face with a slight smokey eye and a smattering of bright berry lip. Allowing her fashion forward style to speak for itself, Kelly accessorized with only a set of oversized diamond hoop earrings. Dramatic: The 36-year-old beauty has been working on her fitness as she appeared in great shape rocking a sophisticated black gown for the red carpet She changed into a sultry fringe number as she performed at the annual awards show as well getting the crowd to their feet. The Texas native - who rose to fame as the first American Idol winner - has collected three Grammy's in her illustrious career over the last 12 years. And during that time, she has battled critics over her fluctuating weight. Sensational: Daring to impress, the Since U Been Gone songstress looked sensational in the black couture that featured a silver broach at her lither waist 'People think, Oh, there's something wrong with her. She's putting on weight. I'm like, "Oh, no! I'm sorry, but that represents happiness in my emotional world"', she told Redbook in 2017. 'If you gauge your life on what other people think, you're going to be in a constant state of panic trying to please everyone,' she added. And when someone tried to troll her last summer by tweeting 'You're fat,' Kelly tweeted back 'and still f***ing awesome.' Superstar: She changed into a sultry fringe number as she performed at the annual awards show as well getting the crowd to their feet Meanwhile, the Voice judge was a huge success onstage at the Billboard Awards in her first-ever hosting gig. And she did it solo. 'That was a DEFCON, red-alert, total run-for-the-hills moment,' she told USA Today. 'But then we figured out something fun and cool to do that's totally in my wheelhouse. Now Im not really nervous. 'And Im not afraid to look like an idiot, so well start with that,' she added. Slide me Clap back: 'People think, Oh, there's something wrong with her. She's putting on weight. I'm like, "Oh, no! I'm sorry, but that represents happiness in my emotional world"' Kelly said 'Hands down, I will trip, there will be some kind of wardrobe thing, something will happen with Spanx,' she said. But she's not concerned. 'I do not get embarrassed, honestly,' explained Kelly. 'If I trip, I'll get back up and be like, "Thats funny!'"' Accolades:The Texas native - who rose to fame as the first American Idol winner - has collected three Grammy's in her illustrious career over the last 12 years She's never shy to flaunt her fabulous figure. And Madison Beer proved right on track as she was spotted in a revealing outfit waiting outside Barneys New York in Los Angeles on Wednesday. The 19-year-old pop sensation flashed her toned tummy in a skimpy crop top while enjoying the sunny day out with her beau Zack Bia. Flaunt it! Madison Beer was spotted in a revealing outfit waiting outside Barneys New York in Los Angeles on Wednesday Daring to impress, the darling diva showed off her enviable abs as the white top cut just below her ample assets. Her gorgeous gams were swathed in form fitting grey and blue plaid slacks that cinched at her lithe waist. Allowing her fashion forward ensemble to speak for itself, Madison opted for minimal accessories with only a purse, watch, and retro shades. She kept her trademark brunette tresses long and loose as they cascaded down past her shoulders. Eye-popping: Daring to impress, the darling diva showed off her enviable abs as the white top cut just below her ample assets Lithe: Her gorgeous gams were swathed in form fitting grey and blue plaid slacks that cinched at her lithe waist Zack cut a cool figure in a bright red sweatshirt and light colored denim. Madison, who owes the lion's share of her fame to mentor Justin Bieber, has been dating Zack since at least November. She was previously romantically linked to Brooklyn Beckham and musician Jack Gilinksy. Keeping it simple! Allowing her fashion forward ensemble to speak for itself, Madison opted for minimal accessories with only a purse, watch, earrings and retro shades Madison just wrapped her As She Pleases Tour; the last stop - in Washington DC - was on May 20. She kicked off the global tour in Milan, Italy on March 11 before traveling around the rest of Europe and then all over the United States. The starlet has an EP called As She Pleases with several hit singles to her name, including Say It To My Face, Home With You and Dead. Em Rusciano courted controversy in May when she publicly complained about 2Dat FM network bosses and her new radio co-hosts, Grant Denyer and Ed Kavalee. And the boss for KIIS FM's Kyle And Jackie O has blasted 2Day FM management for her 'inappropriate' outbursts, claiming Southern Cross Austereo 'can't control its talent'. Speaking to Mumbrella, Australian Radio Networks national content director, Duncan Campbell frankly stated: 'I mean let her go if she doesnt want to be there. Its disappointing from an industry point of view.' 'Its a train crash!' Kyle and Jackie O boss claims Em Rusciano is 'just there for the money' as he blasts 2Day FM management for letting radio star publicly criticize her own show Campbell, who brought Kyle And Jackie O over from SCA, slammed the rival network, saying: 'Its a train crash every morning... I just dont understand it, its a mess.' He continued: 'And to allow key talent like that to speak like she did about her personality and the business eccetera, I just think its inappropriate and we would not tolerate that from any of our talent.' Campbell went on to accuse Rusciano of being there 'just for the money', and was in absolute disbelief that she was contractually allowed to say the things she has. 'Let her go if she doesnt want to be there... Its disappointing': Australian Radio Networks national content director Duncan Campbell (ABOVE) accused Rusciano of being there 'just for the money' and was in absolute disbelief that she was contractually allowed to say the things she has 'We would not tolerate that from any of our talent': Campbell, who brought Kyle And Jackie O(ABOVE) over from SCA, slammed the rival network for not being able to 'control' its talent Rusciano was interviewed on Wil Anderson's Wilosophy podcast in May, where she complained about her current employment with 2Day FM. She claimed the network had deemed her a 'failure' based solely on ratings figures and ultimately decided new co-hosts were required to justify the show's existence. 'It was hectic. It was the Em Rusciano Radio Show - it was my show!' And then all of a sudden Ed's anchoring and the show's called The 2Day FM Breakfast Show,' she said. The comedian said she fought with 2Day FM to let her produce the program and manage staffing, but they declined because they wanted to have a say in the show's direction. Rusciano confessed she was 'hurtling towards an implosion in the next six months' and said the solution to her problems could be to 'leave' morning radio for good. She admitted to being 'hyper-aware' that being on radio heightens her temper, impatience and fatigue due to the 4am starts, adding: 'I get desperate. I don't think I'm suited to breakfast radio - I struggle with it.' 'It was the Em Rusciano Radio Show - it was my show!' And then all of a sudden Ed's anchoring and the show's called The 2Day FM Breakfast Show': On Wil Anderson's Wilosophy podcast in May she claimed she was blindsided by the decision after pleading with 2Day FM to let her produce the program and manage staffing 'The comment she made on Wils podcasts were absolutely her right': Hit Networks head of content Gemma Fordham defended Rusciano's comments and called Campbell's interview as 'schoolyard bullying' Meanwhile, Hit Networks head of content Gemma Fordham responded to Campbell's comments to Mumbrella, saying: 'Whilst he is entitled to his opinion and I have many opinions about his shows and strategies which I choose not to share out of respect for my colleagues in the industry, Im not going to enter in schoolyard bullying.' In a prior interview to Campbell's she said: 'One of the things Ive personally worked incredibly hard on is the culture, and whether it's an on-air personality or junior staff member, I will not tolerate someone who behaves inappropriately or conducts themselves inappropriately.' 'I was very forthright in saying if there are issues come and speak to me, but no one has come to me. The comment she made on Wils podcasts were absolutely her right, and she focused on last year and not about the opportunity thats in front.' 'I don't think I'm suited to breakfast radio - I struggle with it': Rusciano also hinted in the interview that her time in radio could come to an end soon Despite weeks of off-air drama surrounding Rusciano, the show saw a modest 0.5 per cent boost in the third ratings survey for 2018. It was good enough to secure a 4.9 per cent share of the overall Sydney FM breakfast market - however, a slight dip couldn't knock longstanding leaders The Kyle and Jackie O Show off the top spot. After struggling to deal with comments made by Kyle Sandilands - who had previously labelled Rusciano 'pathetic' and undeserving - she decided the only opinions she cares about are those of her fans. She said: 'When the people I actually measure myself against - which are the people who consume my products - start hating it and s**tting on it, then I'll get worried.' It looked like their relationship was on the rocks last week. But Scott Disick and Sofia Richie were back playing happy families on Wednesday in Malibu. The 35-year-old reality star and his 19-year-old squeeze were spotted taking his three children Mason, Penelope and Reign, to dinner at Nobu. Back on: Scott Disick and Sofia Richie were back playing happy families on Wednesday in Malibu Scott looked in top form as he joined the four youngsters, wearing a casual pairing of grey cargo pants and trainers. On top he wore a blue St. Barth t-shirt, perhaps a souvenir of the couple's recent trip to celebrate Scott's 35th birthday. Sofia meanwhile looked absolutely chuffed to have reunited with her handsome hirsute hombre. The teen wore an all-black ensemble, rocking tight leggings with cute heeled booties, a scoop-neck top and a zip-up jacket. Delighted: Scott looked in top form as he joined the four youngsters, wearing a casual pairing of grey cargo pants and trainers Eight-year-old Mason, who is closer in age to his dad's squeeze than his dad, rocked an cool retro Iron Maiden T-shirt. Five-year-old Penelope, who is also closer in age to her dad's squeeze than her dad, looked cute in a pink slip dress and shimmering sequinned silver jacket. Three-year-old Reign, who is not closer in age to his dad's squeeze than his dad (but only by 13 months), copied Sofia's style in all black as he sat in his daddy's arms. Get in: Sofia meanwhile looked absolutely chuffed to have reunited with her handsome hirsute hombre It was widely reported the couple had broken up after he was seen wrapping his arm around another woman at Kanye West's album listening party, reportedly declaring himself 'single'. But Sofia put paid to the reports with a couple of Instagram posts, including one of her making out with Scott aboard a private plane. 'Never believe the internet,' she wrote on the internet. Mile high: Sofia put paid to the reports with a couple of Instagram posts, including one of her making out with Scott aboard a private plane Australian actress Margot Robbie tied the knot at a private estate in New South Wales' Byron Bay in December 2016. And fans of the Hollywood starlet now have the opportunity to snap up the piece of A-list property for themselves, with the picturesque estate going up for sale, Domain.com.au reports. The 56-acre estate - called 'Coorabella' - is listed for a cool $5,995,000 - $6,495,000. Scroll down for video A piece of A-list real estate! Idyllic Byron Bay property where Margot Robbie got married is up for sale for a whopping $6.4 million The property is owned by jeweller Giovanni D'Ercole and features a pool and stunning views of the Byron Bay hinterland. The home is a classic Queenslander and is yellow in colour, with a charming veranda and sweeping steps near the front door. In an artsy touch, a bronze angel statue greets guests as they walk into the property. Newlyweds: Margot Robbie and Tom Akerley (pictured) were married in December 2016 at the estate in Byron Bay It won't come cheap! The 56-acre estate - called 'Coorabella' - is listed for a cool $5,995,000 - $6,495,000 Relaxing: Pictured is one of the bedrooms in the home Domain reports that the property comes complete with a natural waterfall and swimming holes. The publications reports that Suits stars Gabriel Macht and Jacinda Barrett also married at the estate. Earlier this year, Margot Robbie's wedding planner told Daily Mail Australia about her nuptials, saying Margot and husband Tom Ackerley set up a marquee for their 60 guests. Gorgeous: The property is owned by jeweller Giovanni D'Ercole, and features a pool and stunning views of the Byron Bay hinterland Lush: Earlier this year, Margot Robbie's wedding planner told Daily Mail Australia about her nuptials. Pictured are Margot's flowers with jars filled with lemons 'It was very authentic, fun, family-friendly. They had a small marquee up for the ceremony,' Jane Magnus said. 'It was very simple. She's a beautiful lady so it doesn't take much,' she added. Margot approached Jane 'three to four months' before their big day to ask if she would take the reigns in designing an understated and authentic Byron Bay wedding. 'She's also nuts about Coco Pops. We had them as the dessert. She made sure there was full cream milk and cream to go along with it!' Jane said. 'There was also a no-phone policy and no sit down meal for the evening. It kept things very fun.' She recently split with her former fiance Jamie Mazur after a decade of romance. But Alessandra Ambrosio looked happy and relaxed as she enjoyed a shopping trip in Brentwood, California on Wednesday. The Brazilian supermodel, 37, showed off her edgy sartorial flair in a rock-chic inspired ensemble which flashed her envy-inducing long, lean legs. Rock chic: Alessandra Ambrosio, 37, showed off her edgy sartorial flair as she enjoyed a shopping trip in Brentwood, California on Wednesday Alessandra nailed her day-off look with the Guns N' Roses, Appetite for Destruction, graphic sweatshirt. Making sure the look wasn't overly grungy, the catwalk queen tucked it neatly into a white midi-skirt which boasted extreme split on both side - no doubt putting prominence on her endless pins. The Victoria's Secret veteran, who announced late last year that she was giving up her Angel title, opted for comfort in a pair of Converse shoes. Alessandra lived up to her photogenic status, opting for a simple coat of blush-infused make-up, teamed with a pair of quirky shades, while her brunette locks were tied into a casual ponytail. Low-key cool: Alessandra nailed her day-off look with the Guns N' Roses, Appetite for Destruction, graphic sweatshirt Sexy touch: The catwalk queen tucked her top neatly into a white midi-skirt which boasted extreme split on both side - no doubt putting prominence on her endless pins It's been a tough few months for Alessandra as recently she announced her split from former fiance Jamie Mazur, 37, who she shares two children with. 'They [have] been trying to keep their split on the down low, but Alessandra has been out and about ready to mingle and hasn't been taking Jamie to anything,' a source told Us Weekly at in March when the separation announcement was made. Since their split, the duo have been amicable and have been seen together at such occasions as family gatherings. Neither Jamie nor Alessandra, who got engaged in 2008, publicly confirmed the breakup reports when they surfaced this March, though equally they did not dismiss them. Beauty: Alessandra opted for a simple coat of blush-infused make-up, teamed with a pair of quirky shades, while her brunette locks were tied into a casual ponytail In 2013, the model was forced to deny any reports of a split, simply saying they were 'all good'. Despite a decade-long engagement, during which they had their two children, Alessandra previously said that she was in no rush to get married. 'If I have been engaged to him for eight years, then it's not my priority,' Alessandra admitted to Cosmopolitan UK in 2016. 'I have a lot of things going on, and I haven't got married because I'm so busy. I'll think about that when I have time off.' They left viewers in hysterics when they labelled Windsor Castle as the Gaza Border last month. And Good Morning Britain suffered another awkward blunder on Thursday, when the misspelled the day of the week onscreen. Viewers rushed to Twitter to poke fun at the gaffe, which occurred during Alex Beresford's live weather report from Bristol. Oops: Good Morning Britain suffered another awkward blunder on Thursday, during Alex Beresford's live weather report (R) The former Dancing On Ice contestant was delivering the country's weather live from the Clifton Suspension Bridge, when the incident occurred. While he assured Brits that some sunshine was on the way, viewers were instead distracted by the report onscreen - which was hilariously labelled 'Thusday'. Addressing the gaffe, fans of the show took to Twitter to joke: 'Sorry @gmb what day is it?' and 'Hey @GMB - how do you spell Thursday...?' Starting strong: The former Dancing On Ice contestant was delivering the country's weather live from the Clifton Suspension Bridge, when the incident occurred Spell check: While he assured Brits that some sunshine was on the way, viewers were instead distracted by the report onscreen - which was hilariously labelled 'Thusday' Another questioned: '@gmb when is THUSDAY again?? Is that before or after THURSDAY???' While others chimed in sarcastically: '@GMB @ITV new day of the week I see...', '@gmb spot the error, standards slip when Piers is not in' and 'I love your weather view just now with #alex in Bristol, it says thusday as the day, ermmmmm' However one viewer was more critical of the gaffe, writing: '@GMB is todays day of the week really spelt Thusday?' Cheeky: Viewers rushed to Twitter to poke fun at the gaffe 'Spell check not working again....?!?', before adding the hashtags: '#GMB #illiteratemorons' As if that was not enough, eagle-eyed fans also noticed the show's on-screen clock was an hour behind, when the broadcast came to an end. The ITV morning show has seen a number of live blunders in recent weeks, most notably during their coverage of the Royal Wedding. Awkward: GMB, hosted by Ben Shepherd and Susanna Reid on Thursday (above), is no stranger to blunders - having labelled Windsor as the Gaza Border before the Royal Wedding The day before Prince Harry's wedding to Meghan Markle, the show built up excitement by speaking to Royal correspondent outside Windsor Castle - but accidentally labelled the location as the Gaza Border. Last week, host Susanna Reid also caused chaos in the studio when she knocked over her mug, and sent hot tea flying. The spillage was quickly soaked up by a crew member, but Piers, who joked the situation was an 'emergency', noted that it took 'nearly 10 people to deal with one spillage!' She burst into tears when Jack Fincham told her he had cheated on his ex-girlfriends during a heart-to-heart on Love Island. Fans posted a host of memes joking that her EastEnders actor dad Danny would want to torture him for upsetting her. But were 22-year-old Dani's tears a mark of the impact of her famous father Danny's own well-publicised infidelities and the heartbreak they may have caused her? Love Island 2018: Dani Dyer sobbed over Jack Fincham's cheating past on Tuesday's show - but was her sadness a mark of the impact of her famous father Danny's infidelities? Vows: Danny and Joanne have been dating since they were 14 and they married in 2016 - he claims to be a changed man but their romance has been marred by cheating claims Danny, 40, and Joanne Mas, 41, have been dating since they were 14 but he has been unfaithful countless times - although he now appears to be a changed man. In 2009, the couple briefly split after another affair came to light and Danny was terrified of losing Joanne. He told Contact Music at the time: 'I've done so many things that I've regretted. I've f**ked up so many times. Last year I royally f**ked up with my missus. Sweet: Dani pictured with her loving father Danny in September 2014, at the premiere of We Still Kill The Old Way Danny has said of cheating ways: 'I've done so many things that I've regretted. I've f**ked up so many times. Last year I royally f**ked up with my missus' - pictured with Dani (right) in 2011 'I got caught out doing something I shouldn't have done. I hate myself for what I did and for being tempted by forbidden fruit.' In 2014, it was reported he was pictured naked by a starstruck 21-year-old and spent the night with her behind his loyal partner's back, although he denied the claims. And in March 2015 Danny discussed his previous cheating, telling Hello!: 'I thought the grass was greener but it was horrible. I don't want to go there again.' That same year, Joanne defended him, saying: 'Danny has never not loved his kids. He has never not loved me.' Cheat: Last summer, it was also claimed that Danny had embarked on a six-week affair with Girls Aloud star Sarah Harding when they filmed 2012 flick Run For Your Wife She continued: 'I wear the trousers in the relationship. Im a "nice" bully and the boss of the house. Danny is so chilled. I read articles about him and I think "thats not my Dan".' 'Every once in a while I might throw a bag of crisps at his head and go, "Hello, Im here", but hes always been the same guy. Yeah, he has had his wild times, but hes got that out of his system.' Joanne herself asked Danny, 40, to marry her on Valentines Day 2015, and they tied the knot in September 2016 at an intimate Hampshire ceremony. But there was more upheaval to come. In 2016, it was alleged that Danny sent lewd messages to a fan just weeks before he and Joanne married. Proud: Dani, pictured with her father in 2008, has always been fiercely loyal to her father and vice versa Fuming and upset: In 2017, Dani fired off a series of vile comments to a woman who claimed to have been sexting Danny writing, 'karma is a b**** you vile ugly disgusting human being' According to the young mother, who he met at an Essex book signing event the previous year, Dyer told her 'bend over and show me that bottle' - cockney rhyming slang for her backside. And on June 27, just nine weeks before his wedding to Joanne, he sent the woman a picture of his privates poking out of his boxer shorts. After finding the woman on social media Dani fired off a series of vile comments including, 'karma is a b**** you vile ugly disgusting human being'. And she branded the woman an 'ugly dirty skank' and threatened: 'If I see you i'll f*****g hurt ya.' Dani also sent the woman a message in 2017 asking: 'What you think you are some sort of a f****** cool person trying to make yourself famous for 5 minutes?' She later added: 'Sl*g sl*g sl*g that's what you were made to be now bend over you dirty wh*re.' Star of the film: Danny and Joanne at the world premiere of the Film: The Football Factory, in central London Monday 10 May 2004 Last year, Dannys aunt Debbie Meakin told the Sunday Mirror: 'He needs to take a step back and look at his life. 'Hes got a lovely family his children and his wife. Its just a shame. 'Its just same old, same old. How he acts doesnt just affect him, it affects his wife and kids.' Last summer, it was also claimed that Danny had embarked on a six-week affair with Girls Aloud star Sarah Harding when they filmed 2012 flick Run For Your Wife. It was claimed Sarah, 35, didn't know the EastEnders' hunk, 39, had a long term partner at the time, according to The Sun. Throwback: Joanne and Danny attend the European premiere of Happy Feet Two at The Empire, Leicester Square, in 2011 The revelation comes after his wife Joanne Mas reportedly kicked him out of their marital home, for becoming involved with a shifty crowd. A source told the publication of their affair: 'For a while they were head over heels and had a wild sexual relationship. He fell in lust with her.' The insider, and so-called friend of Sarah, further claimed: 'She was flattered by him and soon they had become an item 'She's really not the kind of girl to get involved with someone with a partner. Things would never have gone so far.' Danny is said to have told Sarah he was single and living with his father in Canning Town at the time. Following the revelations, Danny moved out of the family home and into a bachelor pad but he and Joanne were soon back on track. A source told The Mirror at the time: 'They will always be together.' Danny and Joanne are also parents to Sunnie and Arty and when they married, he sung Jo's praises, telling Hello!: 'Jo is my best girl - the love of my life. 'Without her, I would be nothing.' Joanne said: 'I have dreamed about this day my whole life and I just wanted it to be perfect.' She announced she was expecting last month - her first child with husband Daniel Craig. And Rachel Weisz was seen taking it easy as she enjoyed a rainy day stroll in New York City on Wednesday. The British actress, 48, covered her baby bump in a light beige trench coat as she embarked on a phone call. Maternity chic: Pregnant Rachel Weisz, 48, was seen taking it easy as she enjoyed a rainy day stroll in New York City on Wednesday Rachel nailed her off-duty look in the stylish coat, which fell at a chic three-quarter length, as well as a pair of skinny jeans and comfortable trainers. The Mummy actress, who married Craig, 50, back in June 2011, opted for a simple slick of make-up and spectacles while her brunette locks appeared soaked in the rain. Toting her essentials in a chic brown handbag, Rachel looked happy and relaxed as she enjoyed her day off. Rachel is expecting her first child with beau Daniel. The beauty already has an 11-year-old son Henry with filmmaker Darren Aronofsky. Looking good: The British actress covered her baby bump in a light beige trench coat as she embarked on a phone call Low-key: The Mummy actress, who married Craig, 50, back in June 2011, opted for a simple slick of make-up and spectacles while her brunette locks appeared soaked in the rain Daniel has a 25-year-old daughter Ella from his first marriage to actress Fiona London. Weisz first revealed her pregnancy in an interview with The New York Times. 'I'll be showing soon. Daniel and I are so happy. We're going to have a little human. We can't wait to meet him or her. It's all such a mystery.' She later talked raising her newborn's UK style with Stephen Colbert on The Late Show. 'Is the child going to be raised American or English,' Colbert asked the NYC resident. 'I suppose it will have to be bilingual,' she said with a laugh. Family: Rachel announced she was expecting last month - her first child with husband Daniel Craig Child: The beauty already has an 11-year-old son Henry with filmmaker Darren Aronofsky Meanwhile, Weisz's new film Disobedience recently hit theatres on April 27. The romantic drama follows Ronit Krushka, played by Rachel, as she returns to the Jewish community that once shunned her. When Ronit reunites with her childhood love Esti Kuperman, played by Rachel McAdams, she pursues the attraction once again. 'The whole film is about repression, love, and desire,' she told Colbert. 'In this instance the love scene is the heart and soul of the movie.' In comparison, Craig's upcoming film James Bond 25, will be released on November 8, 2019 in the US and on October 25, 2019 in the UK. Craig reprises his role as James Bond in the film for the fifth time, with Danny Boyle named as the director and John Hodge writing the script. Tracey Jewel is reportedly paying celebrity agent Max Markson a substantial sum of money to help bolster her star power. A source told Daily Mail Australia on Thursday that the former Married At First Sight bride is shelling over $2000 a month to have the publicist 'turn her into Australia's new sweetheart'. Max owns Markson Sparks - a 'publicity, celebrity management and events organisation' - and the spin king once represented stars such as Lara Bingle, Ruby Rose and Lisa Curry. Value for money? Tracey Jewel is 'paying celebrity agent Max Markson $2000 a month to turn her into a star an insider told Daily Mail Australia on Thursday Tracey has no doubt signed on with Max to help bolster interest in her latest self-help tome, This Goddess Means Business. At approximately $500 per week, the brunette beauty is likely hoping that the celebrity agent will be value for money. But despite the hefty fees and the fact she starred in the biggest reality show to air on TV this year, Tracey failed to attract a sizable turnout at the Sydney launch for her book earlier in the week. Powerful publicist: Max owns Markson Sparks - a 'publicity, celebrity management and events organisation On Tuesday, the star celebrated the launch at Vaucluse House is the city's ritzy eastern suburbs, with the hopes of filling a space that was able to accommodate 120 guests. With less than 20 guests in attendance, Tracey was disappointed to learn her advertised special guest Sonia Kruger failed to show up to the event. According to News Corp, the Today Extra host had read - but not replied- to Tracey's 'where are you?' texts. Whoops: With less than 20 guests in attendance, Tracey was disappointed to learn her advertised special guest Sonia Kruger failed to show up to the event The publication spoke to Tracey at the event, who reportedly stared down at her phone saying:'I messaged her, like, half an hour ago! According to a Nine spokesperson, Sonia never received a formal invite to Tracey's event, nor had she seen or approved a press release. Leaving it behind her, Tracey has flown to Melbourne where she will launch her book on Thursday evening. She recently received backlash after faking an engagement with ex-boyfriend Anthony Drew. But it appears Bachelor In Paradise's Leah Costa is ready to move on from the heartbreak of her split from Anthony, with the blonde revealing her interest in Love Island's John James. Taking to her Instagram stories while watching Thursday evening's episode, the reality star posted a sizzling snap of her DJ crush- who dramatically exited the show after failing to find romance. Scroll down for video 'What the hell is wrong with these women?' Bachelor's Leah Costa SLAMMED Love Island's female contestants and revealed she has a crush on John James 'How is he alone? What the hell is wrong with these women? Why wasn't John James on [Bachelor in] Paradise?' Leah exclaimed in the caption. Complimenting the star, she added: 'Genuine, gorgeous and not self absorbed.' In an ironic twist of fate, both Anthony Drew and John James have both appeared on Big Brother, with the former starring on the show in 2013 and the latter appearing on the UK version in 2010. Attention, please? Taking to her Instagram stories while watching Thursday evening's episode, the reality star posted a sizzling snap of her crush Crush! Complimenting the star, and with the hopes of getting the star's attention, she wrote: 'Genuine, gorgeous and not self absorbed' What are the chances? In an ironic twist of fate, both Anthony Drew (pictured) and John James have both appeared on Big Brother, with the former starring on the show in 2013 and the latter appearing on the UK version in 2010 Leah began dating Anthony - who calls himself Drew - last year after she failed to find romance on Bachelor In Paradise. Following their split, the blonde went on a bizarre and tearful rant on Instagram, claiming he used her for 'fame'. Taking to her Instagram Stories in mid May, Leah said that she felt insulted that Drew had called their romance 'casual.' In the footage, Leah also shared screenshots of some of their text messages, where he told her he loved her. No fate: Leah (far left) began dating Anthony (centre right) - who calls himself Drew - last year after she failed to find romance on Bachelor In Paradise 'Anyone wondering why I put up that picture of Drew and I and why we broke up, basically we were super happy until I got that media backlash,' she said, referring to the fake engagement ring drama. 'Basically he only dated me because I had a media image and he wanted to get his face back out there and when it turned negative, he didn't want to be involved with it anymore.' 'And to call it casual is probably the nastiest thing anybody had ever said.' She added: 'So here is a shout out to anybody who has ever had their heart broken. Anybody that ever questions why I go on these shows trying to find love.' 'It's because I'm hoping I will eventually find somebody that is honest and genuine.' Tracey Jewel reunited with her 'ex-husband' Dean Wells on Thursday night. The pair, who had one of the most dramatic unions on Married At First Sight, cosied up at the Melbourne book launch of Tracey's new tome, This Goddess Means Business. Taking to Instagram, Dean shared a snap that showed him placing his arm around his former spouse as they both beamed into the camera. Scroll down for video No bad blood here! Dean Wells reunites with 'ex-wife' Tracey Jewel at the Married At First Sight star's Melbourne book launch 'Good times with the goddess @traceyjewelify at her 'This Goddess Means Business' book launch at Melbourne. Got a couple of sneaky text messages from this one earlier today though,' he captioned the couple shot. The pair even appeared to be wearing complementary outfits, with Dean dressed in a black cable-knit sweater and a matching jacket. Tracey, meanwhile, also wore black - with her bra visible beneath a sheer netted top. Way back when! The pair had one of the most dramatic unions on Married At First Sight (pictured) The self-help author told The Kyle and Jackie O Show earlier in the week that she had invited Dean to the book launch, but firmly stated that they were 'just friends'. While Tracey insisted their relationship is purely platonic, Daily Mail Australia previously revealed she had begged him for a second chance back in April. Leaked text messages showed her telling Dean she could not stop thinking about him, despite the fact she was publicly in a relationship with fellow MAFS star Sean Thomsen at the time. TV fireworks: Tracey told The Kyle and Jackie O Show that the pair now have a strictly platonic relationship (pictured together on MAFS) After announcing her split with Sean in May, Tracey told New Idea that she was open to the idea of reconciling with Dean, 40. But that now appears t be off the cards as she is now dating another one of her former lovers, Patrick Kedemos. On Monday, she even hinted they might walk down the aisle soon. 'I am ready for a serious relationship, I am ready for marriage,' she told The Daily Telegraph on Monday. 'Patrick is a little bit older than me and he is on the same page as I am so there's no reason why it can't work.' 'I am ready for marriage': But it appears Tracey didn't wait around for Dean because she is now dating another one of her former lovers, Patrick Kedemos Meanwhile, Married At First Sight's re-coupled pair Troy Delmege and Carly Bowyer also attended Tracey's book launch on Thursday. Taking to Instagram to mark the occasion, Carly stood alongside her reality television beau, as well as former 'married' couple Dean and Tracey. Having also received the see-through black lace memo, the star was as smiles as she flashed her pearly whites alongside her former co-stars. Captioning the post, she wrote: 'Wife Swap Round 256. Awesome to catch up with the Goddess herself. Thanks for having us xx' Waleed Aly has slammed Kim Kardashian after she pleaded with Donald Trump to get a drug offending grandmother freed. The US reality sensation met with Trump last week to ask him to give Alice Marie Johnson, 64, a presidential pardon - which he granted. The Project's Waleed fumed that Kim had 'achieved nothing' with her involvement - claiming her actions only made the President believe he can 'do things by pardons'. Not impressed: Waleed Aly (L) has slammed Kim Kardashian (R) after she pleaded with Donald Trump to get a drug offending grandmother freed 'She's actually achieved nothing. She's achieved something for one person in one case. I reckon this is awful,' Waleed said on Thursday's episode of The Project. 'You now have a president who effectively thinks he can do things by pardons. That's the way he operates.' He continued: 'Everything goes through him. I'll just make a decision, "you're saved, you're not. You're free, you go to hell." 'That's the way it works [but] that's the opposite of the way it's supposed to work.' Success: The US reality sensation met with Trump last week to ask him to give Alice Marie Johnson, 64, a presidential pardon - which he granted His co-host Carrie Bickmore was equally unimpressed with Kim's involvement, claiming it showed the President's 'attachment to celebrity'. She said: 'I feel for all the people who have been advocating on behalf of people for years Kim just walks in, [and they decide] "OK, let her out".' Alice was jailed for life in 1996 for being part of a cocaine ring, despite having an otherwise clean record and violence not featuring in the case. Backlash: The Project's Waleed fumed that Kim had 'achieved nothing' with her involvement - claiming her actions only made the President believe he can 'do things by pardons' Hitting back: His co-host Carrie Bickmore (R) agreed: 'I feel for all the people who have been advocating on behalf of people for years Kim just walks in, [and they decide] "OK, let her out"' She had applied for clemency during Obama's 2014 push to free non-violent drug offenders from jail, but her application was denied. Trump met with Kim last week to discuss Johnson's case in the Oval Office. The White House shared a picture of Kardashian and Trump, who was grinning from ear-to-ear, after the meeting that reporters were not allowed anywhere near. After Trump granted Alice freedom, Kim posted a story about her release with the caption: 'BEST NEWS EVER!!!!' Freed: Alice was jailed for life in 1996 for being part of a cocaine ring, despite having an otherwise clean record and violence not featuring in the case 'So grateful to @realDonaldTrump, Jared Kushner & to everyone who has showed compassion & contributed countless hours to this important moment for Ms. Alice Marie Johnson,' she said in a follow-up message. 'Her commutation is inspirational & gives hope to so many others who are also deserving of a second chance.' She said: 'I hope to continue this important work by working together with organizations who have been fighting this fight for much longer than I have and deserve the recognition.' She has been busy promoting her new film Ocean's Eight in New York City over the last few weeks. But Cate Blanchett took a break from her acting duties on Thursday, to embark on a glamorous photo shoot in Times Square. The actress, 49, showed off her enviably leggy figure in nothing but a fluffy coat and heels, as she strutted down the street for cameras. Here she is: Cate Blanchett took a break from her acting duties on Thursday, to embark on a glamorous photo shoot in Times Square The Oscar winner slipped into a chic fluffy coat for the shoot, adorned with black and brown panels and a chunky leather belt to accentuate her slim waist. Making the look more striking however, Cate appeared to sport nothing underneath - therefore giving a flash of her long and slender legs, as she sashayed down the street. She added height to her statuesque frame with tan leather boots, and effortlessly tied her look together with a slick of pink lipstick as she posed. Pins on parade: The actress, 49, showed off her enviably leggy figure in nothing but a fluffy coat and heels, as she strutted down the street for cameras Styling her hair into sexy, tousled waves, Cate was the picture of glamour at the shoot - smouldering for cameras, before cracking a smile as she fooled around with a crew member. The star has been in New York for the premiere of her new flick Ocean's 8 which took place on Tuesday night. The all-star female crime thriller follows Sandra Bullock as Debbie Ocean - the estranged sister of Danny Ocean - and her attempt to pull of a $150 million heist at the Met Gala. Leading lady: Styling her hair into tousled waves, Cate was the picture of glamour at the shoot - smouldering for cameras, before cracking a smile as she fooled around with a crew member Cate stars as Lou, Debbie's partner-in-crime, while Sarah Paulson joins as suburban mum Tammy and Anne Hathaway as the celebrity target of the heist, Daphne Kluger. Mindy Kaling follows suit as Amita, a jewellery maker, while Awkwafina plays a thief and Rihanna, a tech genius. Helena Bonham Carter also appears in the blockbuster as Rose Weil, a fashion designer, while Anna Wintour, Zayn Malik, Katie Homes, Serena Williams, Kim Kardashian, Kendall and Kylie Jenner all make cameos. Girl power: The star has been in NYC to promote Ocean's 8 - which co-stars Sarah Paulson, Awkwafina, Sandra Bullock, Anne Hathaway, Mindy Kalling, Gary Ross and Olivia Milch (L-R) Dream team: The film follows Sandra Bullock (R) as Debbie Ocean and her attempt to pull of a $150 million heist at the Met Gala. Cate (L) stars as Lou, her partner-in-crime Cate and her co-stars have openly praised the film's all-female cast in recent weeks, branding the project 'fun' as well as 'empowering'. Speaking about the atmosphere on set, the Australian actress told USA Today: 'Often you walk on set, and until the hair and makeup people come in, youre the only woman. 'So the ratio is 1 to 45? To have more female crew members would be great, but it was so great to have a fantastic, huge female cast. 'Theres a real culture of fear instilled in women, that if you talk about failure, then youre showing weakness. To work with other women who have similar experiences is great. You throw [your problems] in the middle and find a solution.' Millionaire hippie-at-heart Paris Jackson flaunted her taut tummy and tattooed sleeves to attend stylist Chloe Bartoli's Rocket Dog launch party at WeHo hotspot Doheny Room on Wednesday night. The 20-year-old socialite - who relies on stylist Sonia Young - flashed a peace sign in seventies-style circle shades, a cinched Trunk LTD Led Zeppelin T-shirt, red ethnic maxi-skirt, and a patch-covered backpack. The Beverly Hills-born heiress made sure to promote the nineties grunge-inspired RDxCalifornia Girls collection's $95 'Rage Cali Plaid' platform boots to the bash. Millionaire hippie-at-heart: Paris Jackson flaunted her taut tummy to attend stylist Chloe Bartoli's Rocket Dog launch party at WeHo hotspot Doheny Room on Wednesday night If Bartoli's name sounds familiar it's because she was the 'other woman' Scott Disick canoodled with in Monaco back in 2015, which lead to the demise of his nine-year relationship with babymama Kourtney Kardashian. Once inside the club, Paris reunited with her 'fam' Miles Richie, whose 19-year-old sister Sofia coincidentally is now dating the 35-year-old father-of-three. Both Jackson and the biracial 24-year-old are signed to IMG Models, and Miles recently walked in the Philipp Plein FW/18 NYFW presentation. Richie is the son of R&B legend Lionel Richie (who collaborated with Michael Jackson on We Are the World) and his alleged 'mistress'-turned- second wife Diane Alexander, whom he divorced in 2003. Flashing a peace sign: The 20-year-old socialite - who relies on stylist Sonia Young - wore seventies-style circle shades, a cinched Trunk LTD Led Zeppelin T-shirt, red ethnic maxi-skirt, and a patch-covered backpack Repping: The Beverly Hills-born heiress made sure to promote the nineties grunge-inspired RDxCalifornia Girls collection's $95 'Rage Cali Plaid' platform boots to the bash 'The other woman': If Bartoli's name sounds familiar it's because she was the one Scott Disick canoodled with in Monaco back in 2015, which lead to the demise of his nine-year relationship with babymama Kourtney Kardashian Earlier on Wednesday, the Gringo actress - who boasts 4.6M social media followers - Insta-storied a video of her 'perfect' goddaughter, who looked adorable in a green dress. The Joker's Wild guest star also 'reminisced [about] a simpler time' in late November when she was serenading the French with her ukulele while backpacking through Rennes. After singing about a man wearing a French beret, Paris joked: 'Love a man in a uniform, am I right ladies?' Jackson's street sighting came four days after she presented a LIFE+ Award to the Global AIDS Interfaith Alliance Malawi Director Joyce Jere onstage Vienna's City Hall. Children of stars: Once inside the club, Paris reunited with her 'fam' Miles Richie (L), whose 19-year-old sister Sofia coincidentally is now dating the 35-year-old father-of-three Tatted duo: Both Jackson and the biracial 24-year-old are signed to IMG Models, and Miles recently walked in the Philipp Plein FW/18 NYFW presentation Celeb spawn: Richie is the son of R&B legend Lionel Richie (who collaborated with Michael Jackson on We Are the World) and his alleged 'mistress'-turned- second wife Diane Alexander The homeschooled wildchild attended the Sound of Music-themed HIV/AIDS fundraiser as a 'prominent congratulator' on behalf of her late godmother Elizabeth Taylor's foundation. 'It was such an honor to share the life ball stage and celebrate the incredible Joyce Jere for the immeasurable difference she is making on the ground in Malawi,' the nepotistically-privileged millennial wrote on Monday. 'Through funding from ETAF, the GAIA Elizabeth Taylor Mobile Health Clinics, which provide healthcare and HIV testing for people faced with extreme poverty living in rural villages, over 1.5 million patients have been treated free of charge... 'I'm proud to be apart of this and to do what I can in continuing her work until we reach an AIDS free generation.' Cute: Earlier on Wednesday, the Gringo actress - who boasts 4.6M social media followers - Insta-storied a video of her 'perfect' goddaughter, who looked adorable in a green dress 'Reminiscing a simpler time': The Joker's Wild guest star also shared a clip from late November when she was serenading the French with her ukulele while backpacking through Rennes After singing about a man wearing a French beret, Paris joked: 'Love a man in a uniform, am I right ladies?' The legendary King of Pop and the lavender-eyed Oscar winner were longtime friends having bonded over their immense fame, childhood stardom, and humanity. Paris - whose godfather is Macaulay Culkin - was only 10 years old when the 13-time Grammy winner succumbed to 'acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication' in 2009. Jackson now receives $8M annually from her estimated $100M inheritance as well as additional bonuses at ages 33 and 40 - according to Page Six. Meanwhile, it's unclear when the Calvin Klein brand ambassador last visited her mother, dermatology nurse Debbie Rowe, who was battling breast cancer last year. 'It was such an honor!' Jackson's sighting came four days after presenting a LIFE+ Award to the Global AIDS Interfaith Alliance Malawi Director Joyce Jere on behalf of her late godmother Elizabeth Taylor's foundation onstage Vienna's City Hall Megan Mullally of Will & Grace fame came out to support her man in style. The 59-year old snuggled up with her husband, Parks And Recreation star Nick Offerman, 47, at the premiere of his new movie Hearts Beat Loud in New York City Wednesday night. The happy couple looked they were having a grand time as they posed for photos together and with some of Nick's co-stars in the movie. Scroll down for video Big Apple premiere: Megan Mullally came out to support husband Nick Offerman and his new movie Hearts Beat Loud in New York City Wednesday night Megan appeared much younger than her 59 years as she was wrinkle free and her gorgeous burgundy-red hair was long and wavy. She went with an edgy youthful look in a black velour jumpsuit with sparkly embroidery and flared pants that had a cord belt stylish tied around her waist and some black-framed glasses. Nick opted for casual but cool in a blue and white check shirt paired with a navy vest, blue jeans and sneakers. Happy couple: The Will & Grace star, 59, looked young and edgy in a velour jumpsuit Stars night out: Offerman, Collette and writer/director Brett Haley looked cool and confident The 47-year-old actor was also joined at the event by his co-star Toni Collette and writer/director Brett Haley. Toni stood out in a pretty floral-themed dress with long sleeves and a layered skirt. Her shoulder-length blonde hair had some body and slight curls and was parted in the middle. Brett wore a cool and casual black jacket with jeans and an Hawaiian-style black shirt with some colorful print on it. Red carpet look: Collette stepped out in a pretty floral-themed dress with long sleeves for the New York premiere of Hearts Beat Loud Hamming it up: Haley got playful with his leading man Hearts Beat Loud is a coming of age story that follows Kiersey Clemons character as she prepares to head off to college. Before leaving, she forms a band with her single dad, played by Offerman, and that opens up a lot of feelings and consequences. Toni plays the landlord where Nick's character lives. The movie also stars Sasha Lane, Ted Danson and Blythe Danner, who is the mother to Gwyneth Paltrow. Hearts Beat Loud hits theaters on Friday June 8. Funny and touching: The movie is a coming of age story that follows a single dad and his teenage daughter as she prepares to head off to college She is known for her fiery red tresses and leaving her audiences in hysterics. And Isla Fisher made sure she turned heads as she rocked two different outfits during an appearance at Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Wednesday in LA, California. The Confessions of a Shopaholic actress, 42, started off with a strapless number followed by a teal jumpsuit for her television debut. Wow!: Isla Fisher made sure she turned heads as she rocked two different outfits during an appearance at Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Wednesday in LA, California In the first item of clothing, Isla showed off her petite physique in the stunning red dress and almost struggled to contain her assets. The figure-hugging item of clothing cinched in at the waist and came down to below her knee, for a sophisticated and glamorous look. Keeping her accessories minimal, Isla added just a pair of white strappy heeled sandals and a set of earrings. Switching her look: The Confessions of a Shopaholic actress, 42, started off with a strapless number followed by a teal jumpsuit (pictured) for her television debut Gorgeous: In the first item of clothing, Isla showed off her petite physique in the stunning red dress and almost struggled to contain her assets Lady in teal: For her second outfit reveal, Isla cut a more casual figure as she showed off her petite frame in a teal jumpsuit Gorgeous: She styled her fiery red tresses into a textured blow-dried hairdo, as she added a slick of smoky eye make-up and pink lipstick She styled her fiery red tresses into a textured blow-dried hairdo, as she added a slick of smoky eye make-up and pink lipstick. For her second outfit reveal, Isla cut a more casual figure as she showed off her petite frame in a teal jumpsuit. Again, keeping her accessories minimal, she added a pair of pointed brown sunglasses and gold hoops. Simple: Keeping her accessories minimal, she added a pair of pointed brown sunglasses and gold hoops Friendly: Isla appeared in good spirits as she waved at her adoring fans and turned heads in her various outfits New film: She was on the American talk show to speak about her latest movie, TAG, which also stars Jeremy Renner, Jake Johnson, Ed Helms, Rashida Jones and Jon Hamm Isla appeared in good spirits as she waved at her adoring fans and turned heads in her various outfits. She was on the American talk show to speak about her latest movie, TAG, which also stars Jeremy Renner, Jake Johnson, Ed Helms, Rashida Jones and Jon Hamm. The comedy film follows five friends who take things to a new limit when they take on an ultimate game of tag, risking their careers, relationships and personal lives to do so. Plot: The comedy film follows five friends who take things to a new limit when they take on an ultimate game of tag Elegant: Just earlier in the week, Isla cut an elegant figure in a powder blue suit for a press conference about the movie at the Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles on Saturday Just earlier in the week, Isla cut an elegant figure in a powder blue suit for a press conference about the movie at the Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles on Saturday. The mother-of-three, who is married to Sacha Baron Cohen, teamed the ensemble with a black and white striped vest top underneath. TAG is due out later this month. Chic: The mother-of-three, who is married to Sacha Baron Cohen, teamed the ensemble with a black and white striped vest top underneath Kim Kardashian sure looked proud when she exited her New York City hotel early on Thursday morning. This is the first time the 37-year-old reality TV star has been seen since it was learned her visit with Donald Trump at the White House last week helped free Alice Johnson. The same day the 63-year-old grandmother - who had her life sentence commuted - told the Today show that she believes a higher power aided her: 'I know it was a miracle God touched Kim Kardashian's heart.' Happy times: Kim Kardashian sure looked proud when she exited her New York City hotel early on Thursday morning Proud mama: This is the first time the 37-year-old reality TV star has been seen since it was learned her visit with Donald Trump at the White House last week helped free Alice Johnson The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star wore a casual outfit that consisted of an oversized green parka jacket. The mother-of-three added tight army green leggings. Pointy boots that went up her ankle looked stylish. As far as her glam, the daughter of Kris Jenner, 62, kept it simple with her hair parted in the middle and pulled back. She also had on heavy eye makeup, but a nude lip color, most likely from her new KKW Beauty line that was released this week. The Vogue cover girl also held onto a large brown purse. Grateful: The same day the 63-year-old grandmother - who had her life sentence commuted - told the Today show that she believes a higher power aided her: 'I know it was a miracle God touched Kim Kardashian's heart' The style meter: The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star wore a casual outfit that consisted of an oversized green parka jacket Yeezy brand? The mother-of-three added tight army green leggings. Pointy boots that went up her ankle looked comfortable Kim has received national praise for her help in getting Johnson freed and for speaking to Trump about prison reform. Alice seemed more than relieved on Thursday when she sat down for her first TV interview. Johnson was also asked how it felt to have Kardashian personally appeal to the president on her behalf. Johnson said it's proof God intervened on her behalf. Made up well: As far as her glam, the daughter of Kris Jenner, 62, kept it simple with her hair parted in the middle and pulled back and heavy eye makeup on but a nude lip color, most likely from her new KKW Beauty line that was released this week A lot to juggle: The beauty is also starring in and producing season 15 of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, which will debut this summer She hit DC! The star met with Trump late last month to petition the president to release Johnson Pals: Kim and Johnson have already spoken by phone after Kardashian called her in jail to break the news of the President's pardon 'I know that it was a miracle. I know that only God could have touched Kim Kardashian's heart like that. 'We have connected. She said that she felt something when she saw and heard my story. I'm just so thankful for it. I can't explain it. It's a miracle,' Johnson said. Sitting next to her 45-year-old daughter, who she has been separated from for the last 22 years, Johnson said she's excited that she has another shot at life. 'We are going to appreciate every single moment that we have. Sometimes, we take family and life for granted. I'll never do that again,' Johnson told the Today show. President Trump wished Johnson a 'wonderful life' in a tweet Thursday morning When asked what it felt like to reunite with her family yesterday, Johnson told GMA it was 'the most exhilarating feeling ever'. 'It was, for a moment, shock. Just to see my family there. I knew that I walked out of the door, that was the first shock, to see them. My heart was leaping,' she added to the Today show. Trump may have been watching the shows, since he took to Twitter shortly after to send Johnson his well wishes. 'Good luck to Alice Johnson. Have a wonderful life!' he wrote. After losing her job and having to file for bankruptcy as a single mother in the 90s, Johnson became involved in a drug syndicate that imported cocaine to Memphis. She was arrested along with 15 others in 1993 on charges including conspiracy to possess cocaine, attempted possession of cocaine and money laundering. While admitting to acting as a middle man for the drug traffickers, Johnson claims she never directly sold drugs. Nonetheless, 10 of her alleged co-conspirators turned against her in exchange for reduced sentencing or dropped charges and Johnson was sent to jail for life. Johnson was jailed for life in 1996 for being part of a cocaine ring despite it being a first-time offence and violence not being an issue in the case Johnson said she believes after more than two decades behind bars she's 'overpaid' her debt to society. 'But I'm just so thankful. I'm not bitter about it. I'm just happy that it has come to an end,' she said. Since she hasn't heard directly from the White House since her release, Johnson took the opportunity to issue her thanks to President Trump. 'I'd like to tell President Trump that I am so grateful for everything that you've done for me and my family. This moment right now is happening because President Trump had mercy on me,' she said. Johnson went on to say that she hopes Trump will help other non-violent first-time drug offenders behind bars. 'Please, please, remember us, the others who have been left behind because there are so many... like me who need to have the opportunity that I've had,' she said. Johnson says she hopes her story will inspire further prison reform. 'I want to take this chance to try to magnify what has happened with me so that people will remember that there are other people just like me who are first time, non-violent offenders, who pose no safety risks to their communities. I can't just walk away and forget about those who have been left behind,' she said. Sienna Miller was enjoying a little 'me-time' on Thursday when she headed out to a yoga class in New York. Wearing a floral hooded zip-up top and leggings, the 36-year-old actress looked pretty in her simple and comfortable ensemble. She wore her hood up, but soon let it slip down, showing off her make-up face and tousled blonde locks as she enjoyed her walk. Low-key beauty: Sienna Miller went make-up free as she headed to a yoga class in New York wearing floral hoodie and leggings on Thursday With wireless headphones in her ears, Sienna completed her look with a pair of Birkenstock sandals. Sienna recently spoke about her style has evolved now she is in her thirties. She told Harper's Bazaar: 'I never used to mind drawing attention to myself through what I wore... She recently said of her style: 'I never used to mind drawing attention to myself through what I wore... I didn't mind being quite brave and colourful and I don't want that anymore' 'I didn't mind being quite brave and colourful and I don't want that anymore. The mini-skirts and stuff 'It was great and I was in my twenties, but I've grown up a little bit. I love classic fashion; for now, I'm in a toned down, mellow state.' Actress Sienna has relocated to New York with her five-year-old daughter Marlowe, but she is also regularly seen in the city with ex-fiance Tom Sturridge - Marlowe's father. She is so settled that her five-bedroom townhouse in London's Queens Park was recently put up for both sale and rent. According to The Times, Sienna bought the home in 2014 for 3million but put it on the market for sale at 2.75m. Now that she's in New York it is being let for for 2,000 a week. All change: Actress Sienna has relocated to New York with her five-year-old daughter Marlowe, but she is also regularly seen in the city with ex-fiance Tom Sturridge - Marlowe's father Their spring romance is blossoming beautifully. But it appears that Jennifer Lawrence was tending to a few rough patches along her feet as she stepped out with new boyfriend Cooke Maroney on Tuesday afternoon in New York. The 27-year-old Oscar winner showed off a series of painful blisters and bandages across her ankles as she walked alongside her beau to the popular Italian eatery Sant Ambroeus in Lower Manhattan. Oh no! Jennifer Lawrence was tending to a few rough patches along her feet as she stepped out with new boyfriend Cooke Maroney on Tuesday afternoon in New York Ouch! The 27-year-old Oscar winner showed off a series of painful blisters and bandages across her ankles as she walked alongside her beau to the popular Italian eatery Sant Ambroeus in Lower Manhattan Jennifer kept things casual wearing a crisp white T-shirt paired with a flowing black-and-white polka dot skirt. Her tanned and toned legs peered from underneath the flowing garment, which she paired with black leather shoes. While her flats seemed sensible enough, Lawrence appeared to be mending a few painful blisters on her ankles. She accessorized with a simple silver chain necklace with a few matching studs in her ears. Beauty is pain? While her flats seemed sensible enough, Lawrence appeared to be mending a few tedious blisters on her ankles Official couple? Jennifer kept things casual wearing a crisp white T-shirt paired with a flowing black-and-white polka dot skirt as she linked up with her new beau Smile! She seemed to be in great spirits on her way to an early meal Walk it out: Her tanned and toned legs peered from underneath the flowing garment, which she paired with black leather shoes The Silver Linings Playbook stunner wore her short blonde hair in natural curls and appeared to be makeup-free for the outing. She carried a black leather clutch by her side as she linked arms with the handsome art connoisseur after an Italian feast in Lower Manhattan. Cooke, the director of the high-end Gladstone Gallery, looked equally as casual on the romantic night out. Beauty: The Silver Linings Playbook stunner wore her short blonde hair in natural curls and appeared to be makeup-free for the outing Cute: She carried a black leather clutch by her side as she linked arms with the handsome art connoisseur after an Italian feast in Lower Manhattan Comfortable: She accessorized with a simple silver chain necklace with a few matching studs in her ears He sported a matching white T-shirt paired with khaki trousers and bright blue-and-white Vans sneakers. Hints of salt-and-pepper strands peeked from Maroney's facial scruff, matching his relatively short brunette hair. The A-list actress and the dashing art director came together through Lawrence's friend Laura Simpson, a source told Page Six. Dressed down: He sported a matching white T-shirt paired with khaki trousers and bright blue-and-white Vans sneakers Sweet: Hints of salt-and-pepper strands peeked from Maroney's facial scruff, matching his relatively short brunette hair 'The relationship has been going on a few weeks,' a source told the outlet. 'But they have been very private and careful not to be seen together.' Maroney is 33, insiders told the outlet, and a regular at swanky art exhibitions in the Big Apple. He formerly worked for the Gagosian gallery. In his post at the art gallery, Maroney worked alongside noted artists including Carroll Dunham (who is Lena Dunhams father), Anish Kapoor and Matthew Barney, the ex of Bjork. Table for two! The A-list actress and the dashing art director came together through Lawrence's friend Laura Simpson, a source told Page Six The Louisville, Kentucky native has past been in a number of high-profile romances with noted names such as Aronofsky, who she collaborated with on last year's Mother!, though the pair parted ways last autumn after dating for nearly one year. She's also been romantically-linked to Coldplay front man Chris Martin in 2014, and actor Nicholas Hoult of X-Men fame around 2012-2014. The Oscar-winner gave her fans a rare glimpse at her love life in a December 2015 chat with Vogue, telling the publication: 'No one ever asks me out. I am lonely every Saturday night. Guys are so mean to me.' Talk about it: In his post at the famed art gallery, Maroney worked alongside noted artists including Carroll Dunham (who is Lena Dunhams father), Anish Kapoor and Matthew Barney, the ex of Bjork In the chat, The Hunger Games star revealed that she hopes to find a suitor whose opinion of her is unaffected by her fame. 'Im just a girl who wants you to be nice to me,' she told the magazine. 'I am straight as an arrow. I feel like I need to meet a guy, with all due respect, who has been living in Baghdad for five years who has no idea who I am.' Lawrence said that she 'cant wait to be married' and 'would absolutely not f*** it up' if she finds the right person. Advertisement Bella Hadid launched her career by posting several sexy photos to her Instagram account from her luxurious beach vacations around the globe with sister Gigi as well as longtime friend Kendall Jenner. And it's nice to see that the 21-year-old Vogue favorite is still taking time out to unwind even though she is now one of the highest-paid supermodels in the world with contracts for Nike Cortese and Dior. On Thursday the leggy wonder - who is again dating crooner The Weeknd - was spotted having the time of her life while in Cancun, Mexico. Like a Bond girl: Bella Hadid looked like a 007 cast member as she emerged from the ocean in Cancun, Mexico on Wednesday It suits her: The daughter of Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills star Yolanda Foster wore a fetching matte orange one-piece swimsuit that came up high on the hips making her legs look very long The daughter of Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills star Yolanda Foster wore a fetching matte orange one-piece swimsuit that came up high on the hips making her legs look very long. And at 5ft9in that makes quite the impression. The neckline was scooped and a bit low-cut with string straps that tied on the shoulder. The Elle cover girl also wore several silver rings on her fingers and added large Jennifer Lopez-style hoop earrings in yellow gold. Nice details on this simple suit: The neckline was scooped and a bit low-cut with string straps that tied on the shoulder Blinged out: The Elle cover girl also wore several silver rings on her fingers and added large Jennifer Lopez-style hoop earrings in yellow gold Runner: The former equestrian went for a dip in the ocean and then was seen running along the shore past the large patches of seaweed. Her body appeared to be in top shape with sculpted arms and legs as well as a very tiny waistline No wonder she gets the big bucks: Bella not only has a winning body, she has a very straightforward attitude with her fans The former equestrian went for a dip in the ocean and then was seen running along the shore past the large patches of seaweed. Her body appeared to be in top shape with sculpted arms and legs as well as a very tiny waistline. Later the brunette bombshell from Los Angeles was seen talking to two female friends. They played around in the water together and looked to be longtime acquaintances. Bella is in Cancun for a Vogue photo shoot, but this appeared to be one of her days off. Buddy system: Later the brunette bombshell from Los Angeles was seen talking to two female friends. They played around in the water together and looked to be longtime acquaintances Blonde time: Both of the Bulgari model's friends were light haired and one had a tattoo on her back The star recently talked to British Vogue and the catwalk sensation said she is careful with her appearance. 'I travel a lot and I often work directly after landing. I use my mom's advice, keeping my skin as good as it can be. So on a plane I wash my face as soon as I get on, I have all my serums and my night cream,' she said. 'And then I fall asleep and do it again when I wake up. So by the time I get off the plane my face is well rested and moisturised. And I always have a concealer with me, especially when I'm super-tired to get those dark eye bags away.' Bella added, 'I always keep my essential oils with me, and my crystals. I make sure I have a good energy on the plane because sometimes I panic if I fly too much. I'm alone most of the time so I need to make sure I have all my homey things with me. I make the plane my home.' Careful with her face: The star recently talked to British Vogue and the catwalk sensation said she is careful with her appearance. 'I travel a lot and I often work directly after landing. I use my mom's advice, keeping my skin as good as it can be. So on a plane I wash my face as soon as I get on, I have all my serums and my night cream,' she said More on this subject: Hadid then said, 'And then I fall asleep and do it again when I wake up. So by the time I get off the plane my face is well rested and moisturised. And I always have a concealer with me, especially when I'm super-tired to get those dark eye bags away' And she added she takes her crystals seriously. 'I have all my crystals on the farm at home and we make sure they're all charged before I travel. My mom sticks little ones around my suitcase when I leave which is really sweet. 'One of my make-up artists in Korea knows how tired I get and she gave me this box of liquid ginseng in little packets. It tastes horrible but it gives you this burst of energy. I've kind of veered away from coffee recently so I'm just trying to find the most holistic ways I can sustain my energy throughout the day. But most of the time, that energy comes from deep down. I have to push myself really hard when I'm in the zone!' She also called her mother 'the most selfless person in the world.' New age fun: And she added she takes her crystals seriously. 'I have all my crystals on the farm at home and we make sure they're all charged before I travel. My mom sticks little ones around my suitcase when I leave which is really sweet' And she added that her mother gave her great beauty advice: 'My first memories of beauty are from my mom, talking about keeping your skin amazing first, rather than about make-up. I rode horses my whole life so I wasn't one to wear a lot of it. 'But I do remember going into my mom's make-up cabinets when I was younger and finding the darkest eyeliner I could possible find and putting it on after I left for school, and then taking it off before I got home again. 'I was a very rebellious child with my make-up - I think because my parents didn't really like it. But I would find little things that made me feel more like myself.' Bella arrived in Mexico from New York where she'd been spotted out and about over the weekend. That was after returning stateside from Paris, France, where she enjoyed a reunion with on/off boyfriend The Weeknd. She arrived back in the Big Apple on Saturday and was seen running through the streets of New York revealing some serious underboob in a skimpy, plaid crop top. Days later, DailyMail.com obtained a photo of her younger brother Anwar Hadid, 18, was kissing her pal Kendall during a party thrown after the CFDAs in NYC. Her Ginseng secret: 'One of my make-up artists in Korea knows how tired I get and she gave me this box of liquid ginseng in little packets. It tastes horrible but it gives you this burst of energy,' revealed the looker No wonder she's called Bella: The cover girl shared two stunning images to social media from her trip to Mexico. One saw her with an oversized hat on and in the other image, Hadid wore a towel as she sat in a yellow chair Killer Joe (Trafalgar Studios) Verdict: From heartthrob to hitman Rating: Orlando Bloom has chosen a pretty unpleasant play, Killer Joe, for his three-month summer sojourn in the West End. Yet the performances are strong, Pirates Of The Caribbean star Bloom to the fore as a Texas cop-turned-hitman with a creepy attitude to women. Although some scenes are not easy to watch, the production packs a generally believable punch. It also contains a superb turn from Sophie Cookson as a 20 year-old virgin who becomes the object of the hitman's lust. Orlando Bloom has chosen a pretty unpleasant play, Killer Joe, for his three-month summer sojourn in the West End. Yet the performances are strong, Pirates Of The Caribbean star Bloom to the fore as a Texas cop-turned-hitman with a creepy attitude to women We are in Nineties U.S. trailer-parks-ville, where the Smith family lives in a filthy mobile home. The feckless Smith father (Steffan Rhodri) agrees to a plot by his drug-runner son Chris (Adam Gillen) to pay Joe to bump off Chris's mother. They hope to cash in on her life insurance policy. Killer Joe demands a deposit. When the Smith men are unable to pay it, he seizes an alternative: innocent, agile Dottie Smith (Miss Cookson). The stage is almost filled with a cut-away trailer-home. Dottie, when she needs some peace, clambers on to its roof, even in thunder storms. Quentin Letts says Killer Joe has some scenes that are not easy to watch, the production packs a generally believable punch Her nonchalence when she learns of the plan to kill her mother may signify a surreal edge or it may just show how little she expects from life. Yet she does have her virtue, and this makes it horrible to watch a scene when Joe forces her to undress. The audience becomes almost complicit in the violation. In one passage playwright Tracy Letts (no relation) seems to compare trailer-park types to farm-bred rabbits. But Mr Bloom and Miss Cookson are a memorably comely combination. And for those who are keen on such things, Mr Bloom bares all (but only a rear view). My Name Is Lucy Barton (Bridge Theatre) Verdict: See it for Linney Rating: Actress Laura Linney strolls on to the Bridge Theatre's stage with disarming nonchalance and for the next 90 minutes fills this cavern of a place with the tale of a New York writer and her nine-week stay in hospital. Though I found the story self-absorbed it is impossible not to salute Miss Linney's skill. She completes the evening alone with only minimal lighting changes and a few different backwall images a view of Manhattan's Chrysler Building, as seen from the hospital room; a field in Illinois where her middle-aged, middle-class character Lucy Barton was reared. Actress Laura Linney strolls on to the Bridge Theatre's stage with disarming nonchalance in My Name Is Lucy Barton This is not a medical story. We are given few details of Lucy's illness. Nor is it a story entirely of self-pity, though there is a theme of that as Lucy details her unhappy childhood. It is a story of self-assertion, as an individual and as a writer. Mother-of-two Lucy boasts that as a writer it is necessary to be 'ruthless' and if that means cutting yourself off from kith and kin, so be it. Lucy begins by recalling that the nurses were uncaring and her husband hated hospitals, so hardly ever visited. But her mother did. The old lady had to use an aeroplane for the first time, and re-establish contact with a daughter from whom she had almost completely drifted. The first word she uttered after all this time was Lucy's childhood nickname. Much of the production is devoted to exchanges between Lucy and her mother. Miss Linney alters her voice a touch more scratchy to convey her mum. They reach an accommodation of sorts but you can file their relationship under D for dysfunctional. Or D for dreary? Boy, I ached for other characters. But Miss Linney is plainly a class act. She has been away with her girlfriends as she prepares to marry the man of her dreams who she met in the Love Island villa in 2016. And Olivia Buckland ended her lavish hen do in style when she shared a sizzling snap of herself in a cutaway swimsuit in Mykonos, Greece on Instagram on Thursday. The Love Island 2016 star, 24, left little to the imagination in her neon lime green costume which featured sexy cut-outs to showcase her toned tummy and tattoos. Pout and about: Olivia Buckland stunned in a cutaway neon lime green swimsuit in Mykonos as she headed home after her hen do on Thursday Alex Bowen's future wife flirtatiously toyed with her sunglasses, holding her golden locks off her face with the accessories. The engaged star, who confessed she was a bit of a 'bridezilla', look carefree and at ease as she stood in platform sandals. A bevy of bikini-clad beauties, including TOWIE's Tina Stinnes and Love Island's Gabby Allen, posed up a storm as they waved goodbye to Mykonos after the hen do. Bye bye! A bevy of bikini-clad beauties, including TOWIE's Tina Stinnes and Love Island's Gabby Allen, posed up a storm as they waved goodbye to Mykonos after the hen do Reflecting on the trip, she wrote on Instagram: 'Am I ready to go back to England and face reality and not live my sassy life? No... so thank god Im going to Paris tomorrow with bae swimsuit goals.' (sic) Olivia had invited a whole galaxy of reality stars to her hen do including Cara De La Hoyde, Gabby Allen and Tina Stinnes. Away with her girlfriends, the reality star was left pining for her hunky fiance as she had the time of her life with her BFFs in Greece. Must be love: way with her girlfriends, the reality star was left pining for her hunky fiance as she had the time of her life with her BFFs in Greece Cheeky: The reality star cut a ladylike figure in a bridal-inspired ivory gown during her hen do with her reality star pals The former Love Island star is enjoying the throes of a passionate romance, her beau proposing to her after five months of dating. Olivia told MailOnline: 'Its the last thing I thought would happen. It is crazy to think that two years ago I was in a much different position to what I am in now. I was actually like "I hate men" when I went into the villa.' Before joking of his input in wedding planning: 'I mean, he helps out with the decision making but he usually just sits there like "what is this?". But he does try hard to help out and add his opinion on things.' Looking good! The reality star, 24, enjoyed a drink as she waited at the airport for her flight with her star-studded pals It was her big break, a role opposite Keanu Reeves in the 1995 Alfonso Arau-directed World War II movie A Walk In The clouds. But there is one aspect of her first major Hollywood gig that Debra Messing still feels uneasy about - being duped and pressured into going nude for the role - as the actress explained during a round table for The Hollywood Reporter. Messing, 49, noted how she didn't realize the severity of the situation until recently, saying: 'The revelation for me was that it wasn't until we started having these conversations that I realized I had been sexually harassed.' Bad experience: Debra Messing claims she was duped into going nude in 1995 movie A Walk In The Clouds and demeaned by director Alfonso Arau 'I had said, "Oh, that's the business." And then all of a sudden, I was like, "Wait a minute, no, that's not the business. I was sexually harassed." she added. Messing explained that A Walk In The Clouds was her first movie out of grad school and she was tricked into signing a nudity waiver by the producers who convinced her they couldn't show anything because the movie was PG-13. She explained: 'And then the day I showed up, they said, "OK, this is your lingerie for the first part and this is your nude scene." And I said, "Nude scene?" They're like, "Oh, yeah." And the producers were there and I went in and I was like, "Wait a minute, we talked on the phone, you said that it wasn't gonna happen, it's PG-13." And they're like, "Not in international."' Pressured to strip off: Messing says she was tricked into signing a nudity waiver, being told that nothing would be shown anyway because the movie was PG-13. She was later told that wasn't the case for the international distribution Messing then tried to prepare herself for the nude shots, asking director Arau what exactly was involved and what angles would be in the scene. 'And [the director, Alfonso Arau] literally said, "How dare you ask me to tell you what my shot is going to be? You are an actress, it's your job to get naked." Messing revealed. Turning to her agent to discuss the matter Messing was told she'd be fired if she refused to do the scene. 'I was getting paid nothing but it was my big break and so I was like, "Just close your eyes and get though it.'' the actress said. Big break: After all the trauma, Messing said the only exposed area of her body shown in the movie was her back. Here she is pictured in the 1995 movie 'It was a shock': As well as making the nude scenes very unpleasant, the director also allegedly made disparaging comments about Messing's nose The Will & Grace star previously opened up about the distressing incident last year, going further to detail how unpleasant Arau allegedly was during filming of the naked scene. 'He lifts [the sheet up], scans my naked body, then drops the sheet on top of me like a used Kleenex,' she said. 'He walks away without a word.' After all the trauma, Messing said the only exposed area of her body shown in the movie was her back. It got even worse however, as Messing told the 2017 MAKERS Conference about demeaning comments Arau would allegedly make about her nose. The actress, pictured in New York last month, says she now knows what happened was not acceptable and was sexual harassment During a kissing scene with Reeves the Mexican director would make it clear how unhappy he was with how she looked, referring to her as 'that nose' throughout the day. 'We started filming and the very famous director screamed 'cut' and said, "How quickly can we get a plastic surgeon in here? Her nose is ruining my movie."' 'It was a shock,' she said. 'I was so confident coming out of graduate school with my Masters in acting. I'd studied in London and I was so well equipped with skill sets, and then to walk on set and have that happenI was reduced to an un-Hollywood nose.' It wasn't long before Messing really hit the big time with her hit show Will & Grace in 1998 which she stars in alongside Eric McCormack, Megan Mullally and Sean Hayes She chose business over pleasure and missed her son's wedding in Bali last week. And Caitlyn Jenner seemed intent on sticking to her arduous schedule as she headed into meetings in New York on Thursday morning. The 68-year-old television personality sported a black skirt and matching blouse just days after her son Brody Jenner admitted that he was disappointed at Caitlyn's no-show at his nuptials to wife Kaitlynn Carter. Out and about: Caitlyn Jenner seemed intent on sticking to her arduous schedule as she headed into meetings in New York on Thursday morning Caitlyn showed off her tanned and toned legs underneath a black leather pencil skirt as she walked through city streets. Sticking with an all-black theme, she covered her arms with a short-sleeved blazer paired with a tight tank top. Her black high heels added a touch of height to her statuesque figure, with her long brunette hair worn straight and catching the wind during her brisk stroll. Not too far behind was Jenner's rumored girlfriend, Sophia Hutchins, 21, who also donned a demure black dress. Staying busy: The 68-year-old television personality sported a black skirt and matching blouse just days after her son Brody Jenner admitted that he was disappointed at Caitlyn's no-show at his nuptials to wife Kaitlynn Carter Matching: Not too far behind was Jenner's rumored girlfriend, Sophia Hutchins, 21, who also donned a demure black dress She most recently stepped out with Sophia at the LIFE+ Solidarity Gala in Vienna, Austria - an event which conflicted with her son Brody Jenner's Bali wedding to fiancee Kaitlynn Carter. Her absence 'was a big disappointment,' Brody admitted during an interview with PEOPLE magazine. 'Especially considering that she had known about the wedding for a year.' Brody also said that he 'wasn't surprised' by the move, noting it was true to form for the former Olympian. 'I'm pretty used to her doing that sort of thing,' he added. Before the wedding, a source close to Caitlyn revealed she wouldn't be attending because of 'work commitments' that had been 'set up for months and couldn't be changed in the end.' Coupled up? She most recently stepped out with Sophia at the LIFE+ Solidarity Gala in Vienna, Austria - an event which conflicted with her son Brody Jenner's Bali wedding to fiancee Kaitlynn Carter Sad: Her absence 'was a big disappointment,' Brody admitted during an interview with PEOPLE magazine. 'Especially considering that she had known about the wedding for a year' Brody had previously revealed that his half-siblings Kendall and Kylie had not bothered to RSVP to the invite. 'My two little sisters, we never even heard from them. They never even RSVP'd I don't think. We sent them an invite but we just never heard anything back. Well, they'll be missed. I would have loved to have had them there.' Caitlyn, who underwent a gender transition back in 2015, recently complained that she finds it 'tough' maintaining a relationship with her children. The I Am Cait star said her children - Burt, 39, Casey, 37, Brandon, 36, Brody, Kendall, 22 and Kylie, 20 - have all 'moved on' but she hoped her family is still 'going to be there' for her. She told Broadly last month: 'I spend a lot of time by myself here in the house. I have a lot of children, but sometimes just because of circumstances, maintaining a close relationship with your kids is very tough. 'They all have lives. They've all moved on. We're just human beings; we're going to be here for a very short time. We come and we go and at the end, when it's all said and done, hopefully your family is going to be there.' Dr Alex George has been accused of 'ghosting' a girl after she refused to have sex with them. The A&E doctor has been one of the standout Love Island stars of this series, with viewers rejoicing when he finally landed a date with newcomer Rosie Williams after being rejected by all the other girls in the villa. However, he has now been hit by claims that he is only after sex from girls, with his ex Emma, a 32-year-old legal professional from London, issuing a warning to the girls in the villa. Accused: Dr Alex George has been accused of 'ghosting' a girl after she refused to have sex with them. The A&E doctor has been one of the standout Love Island stars of this series Emma told The Sun that she met Alex on dating app Tinder and after going on four dates together, she was smitten and accepted an invite for a nightcap at his apartment. She claimed that she was left feeling 'uncomfortable' after he attempted to go further than kissing, saying: 'I said "no", because I felt like it was still too soon for us to go all the way, but then he started getting really funny with me.' Branding Alex an 'a**hole', Emma continued: 'While he may say he's a gentleman, he just basically wants to shag. When he doesn't get it, he will just move on to the next girl.' MailOnline has contacted Alex's representatives for comment. Claims: Alex has now been hit by claims that he is only after sex from girls The claims came after it was revealed Alex had secured an intimate dinner date with new Islander and sexy solicitor Rosie Williams on Wednesday's episode. Newbies Rosie and Georgia caused a stir when they made their fashionable late arrival to the villa and the stunners sipped champagne with the smartly-dressed hunks at a party the other girls were barred from. Emotional viewers shed tears of happiness when the doctor bagged himself a date after the nation were moved by his lack of success with the bevy of beauties, despite being a hunky catch with good looks, easy personality and sensational job. 'Tears of joy for Alex omg #LoveIsland,' one fan penned on Twitter, leading the troops. Dating: Viewers rejoiced when he finally landed a date with newcomer Rosie Williams after being rejected by all the other girls in the villa Alex's text read: 'Alex, the public have been voting and have decided that you should go on a date with Rosie. Please get ready to leave the villa. #thedoctorwillseeyounow.' (sic) Before it was announced Alex had secured a date for the rest of the evening, the reality star felt so confident in the fact two more women were heading into the villa that he told fellow Islander Niall his future wife was on her way. Alex told his friend: 'My wifes coming in, the mother of my children.' Niall responded: 'Im buzzing to see your smile, Im so happy to see that.' She relished on the sandy shores of Mykonos with her gal pals as she marked the final days as a single woman. And Olivia Buckland - who is set to wed beau Alex Bowen in September - arrived at London's Gatwick Airport on Thursday afternoon following her hen do in Greece. The Love Island star, 24, accentuated her killer slender waistline and killer curves in a clingy white jumpsuit as she strolled along the terminal. She's home! Olivia Buckland - who is set to wed beau Alex Bowen in September - arrived at London's Gatwick Airport on Thursday afternoon following her hen do in Greece Mixing her chic look with touches of comfort, the TV personality tied a black jumper around her waist, and wore casual canvas trainers. The Essex beauty still managed to showcase her typically glamorous style during the low-key arrival as she accessorised with oversized sunglasses and wore a gold chain-strap watch. Flaunting her fresh-faced appearance, Olivia kept make-up at a minimum and dressed her mid-length hair into a tousled half up half down style. Off-duty style: The Love Island star, 24, accentuated her killer slender waistline and killer curves in a clingy white jumpsuit as she strolled along the terminal Low-key: Mixing her chic look with touches of comfort, the TV personality tied a black jumper around her waist, and wore casual canvas trainers Off she goes: The Essex beauty still managed to showcase her typically glamorous style during the low-key arrival as she accessorised with oversized sunglasses and wore a gold watch Olivia's arrival comes just hours after she ended her lavish hen do in style when she shared a sizzling snap of herself in a cutaway swimsuit during her getaway on Instagram. The reality star left little to the imagination in her neon lime green costume which featured sexy cut-outs to showcase her toned tummy and tattoos. Alex's future wife flirtatiously toyed with her sunglasses, holding her golden locks off her face with the accessories. Casual: Flaunting her fresh-faced appearance, Olivia kept make-up at a minimum and dressed her mid-length hair into a tousled half up half down style Idyllic: The reality star recently relished on the sandy shores of Mykonos with her gal pals as she marked the final days as a single woman Pout and about: Olivia's arrival comes just hours after she ended her lavish hen do in style when she shared a sizzling snap of herself in a cutaway swimsuit during her getaway The engaged star, who confessed she was a bit of a 'bridezilla', look carefree and at ease as she stood in platform sandals. A bevy of bikini-clad beauties, including TOWIE's Tina Stinnes and Love Island's Gabby Allen, posed up a storm as they waved goodbye to Mykonos after the hen do. Reflecting on the trip, she wrote on her social media account: 'Am I ready to go back to England and face reality and not live my sassy life? No... so thank god Im going to Paris tomorrow with bae swimsuit goals.' (sic) Olivia had invited a whole galaxy of reality stars to her hen do including Cara De La Hoyde, Gabby Allen and Tina Stinnes. Bye bye! A bevy of bikini-clad beauties, including TOWIE's Tina Stinnes and Love Island's Gabby Allen, posed up a storm as they waved goodbye to Mykonos after the hen do Away with her girlfriends, the blonde beauty was left pining for her hunky fiance as she had the time of her life with her BFFs in Greece. The former Love Island star is enjoying the throes of a passionate romance, with her beau proposing to her after five months of dating. Olivia told MailOnline: 'Its the last thing I thought would happen. It is crazy to think that two years ago I was in a much different position to what I am in now. I was actually like "I hate men" when I went into the villa.' Before joking of his input in wedding planning: 'I mean, he helps out with the decision making but he usually just sits there like "what is this?". But he does try hard to help out and add his opinion on things.' Jeremy Meeks has reportedly finalised his divorce from estranged wife Melissa just nine days after welcoming his first child with Chloe Green. The 'Hot Felon' is said to have had the paperwork ending his marriage signed off on Wednesday, reports TMZ, leaving him officially single. Sources told the site that they have also reached a conclusion regarding their division of assets as well as child support and custody agreement for their nine-year-old son, with the paperwork expected to be filed in the upcoming days. It's over: Jeremy Meeks has reportedly finalised his divorce from estranged wife Melissa just nine days after welcoming his first child with Chloe Green The paperwork calls an official end to Jeremy's eight-year marriage to Melissa. According to PageSix, Melissa is due to host a divorce party at Las Vegas' Crazy Horse 3 Gentlemens Club to celebrate at the end of this month. The couple separated in July 2017 when the convict was pictured kissing and hugging Chloe aboard a $150,000-a-week yacht moored off the glamorous Turkish resort of Bodrum. MailOnline has contacted representatives for Jeremy and Melissa for comment. Thankful: As news of Jeremy and Chloe's baby arrival and of Jeremy's divorce broke, Melissa took to Instagram to share a cryptic note The reports come as it was revealed Chloe and Jeremy have welcomed their first child together, a baby boy. And as news of their arrival and of Jeremy's divorce broke, Melissa took to Instagram to share a cryptic note that read: 'I'm thankful for all of it. The highs. The lows. The blessings. The lessons. The setbacks. The comebacks. The love. The hate. Everything.' Chloe and Jeremy confirmed their baby news on their Instagram accounts, writing: 'We are pleased to announce the birth of our beautiful baby boy Jayden Meeks-Green. Born May 29th 2018. Mommy and Baby both doing well... Much love Chloe & Jeremy'. The 27-year-old Topshop heiress, who is said to be engaged to the convict, kept her pregnancy under wraps until earlier this month when she unveiled her eye-popping baby bump during a holiday on her father Sir Phillip's superyacht in Monaco. Happy days: The reports come as it was revealed Chloe and Jeremy have welcomed their first child together, a baby boy Jeremy is already father to a nine-year-old son, Jeremy Jr., with his ex-wife Melissa yet their new arrival is the first for Chloe, who was allegedly determined to give birth and spend the start of motherhood at sea. Chloe and Jeremy are said to have first set eyes on each other at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2017, where Jeremy was modelling for Phillip Plein, shortly before they became practically inseparable. It was first reported in March that the couple were expecting, after which multiple sources confirmed the happy news. Following the announcement, Chloe's kooky birthing plan was revealed, shortly before she embarked on her yacht trip with her family. Happy days! They confirmed the news on their respective Instagram accounts, writing: 'We are pleased to announce the birth of our beautiful baby boy Jayden Meeks-Green. Born May 29th 2018. Mommy and Baby both doing well... Much love Chloe & Jeremy' The good times are here! The 27-year-old Topshop heiress, who is reportedly engaged to the convict, has kept her pregnancy under wraps until earlier this month when she unveiled her eye-popping baby bump during a holiday on her father's superyacht in Monaco Insiders told The Sun she intended to give birth at sea: 'Chloe has been telling friends she is going to give birth on board her yacht. Her doctor will be there for the last few weeks of the pregnancy and will stick around for the first few weeks... 'The yacht will be sailing in Europe - probably somewhere in the Mediterranean when she gives birth. Then they want to spend at least six months on board... 'Chloe has always dreamed of giving birth at sea - she feels comfortable there. She wants to be alone with her family and away from prying eyes while she adjusts to motherhood - and thinks that being on the yacht will be the best chance of that.' Ahead of the impending arrival of their little one, the couple had been spending time in Monaco, relaxing at their own apartment in the same block where her parents own a 7million penthouse as well as various yacht trips. Earlier this year it was claimed that Chloe is not only expecting her first child with Jeremy but is engaged to the former convict as well. Adoring display: Following news of their imminent arrival, Chloe's kooky birthing plan was rumoured, shortly before she embarked on her yacht trip with her family (pictured in Monaco in November) Happy days: Ahead of the impending arrival of their little one, the couple had been spending time in Monaco, relaxing at their own apartment in the same block where her parents own a 7 million penthouse (pictured in Paris in January) A source told The Daily Mail: 'The family are fully on board planning a wedding, and Tina [Chloe's mother] is looking forward to being a grandmother. Chloe has been telling everyone that she is having a little boy.' Earlier this month, the former gang member said he 'couldn't be happier to be welcoming a child' with his heiress girlfriend. The model said: 'I've never been in this place mentally, emotionally, physically, that I'm in right now. I've never been in such an amazing place.' Adding his final thoughts on what love means to him, Meeks added: 'Love means everything, everything to me. It's what keeps people alive, it's what keeps people going, to love and to be loved.' Wedding bells? Earlier this year it was claimed that Chloe is not only expecting her first child with Jeremy but is engaged to the former convict as well Happy days: Earlier this month, the former gang member said he 'couldn't be happier to be welcoming a child with his heiress girlfriend (pictured in Paris in January) Jailbird Jeremy earned the dubious accolade of the 'world's hottest felon', when his mugshot went viral in 2014. Once a member of the North Side Crips street gang in California, Meeks was described as 'one of the most violent criminals in the Stockton area' before he was jailed for possessing a firearm. He was released from prison in 2016 saying that he had found God, before quickly securing a six-figure modelling job. Tiffany Haddish looks far from pleased as Melissa McCarthy laughs it up on the NYC set of The Kitchen Tiffany Haddish didn't appear to be in the best mood while on the New York City set of The Kitchen on Thursday. The 38-year-old actress was not smiling as she folded her arms and kicked a heel forward when between takes. Meanwhile, her costar Melissa McCarthy, 47, was upbeat as she smiled away. Scroll down for video New role: Melissa McCarthy and Tiffany Haddish star in the upcoming film The Kitchen. On Thursday, the two actresses were spotted shooting a scene in NYC Mob wives: The Kitchen, set to premiere in 2019, is a crime-drama based in the 1970s. The ladies seemed to be discussing the script here Melissa, who wore her hair in soft curls, was nicely made up for her scene. McCarthy was well dressed in a black turtleneck, bell-bottom trousers, and clogs. Her pants were belted at the waist and she wore a single scarf draped around her neck. Meanwhile, Tiffany donned a printed black dress and knee-high boots. Lots of laughs: Melissa, who wore her hair in soft curls, couldn't stop smiling while the cameras weren't rolling Boss babe: McCarthy was well dressed in a black turtleneck, bell-bottom trousers, and clogs. Her pants were belted at the waist and she wore a single scarf draped around her neck The Kitchen, set to premiere in 2019, is a crime-drama based in the 1970s. The film follows the wives of New York gangsters after their husbands' have been sent to prison for illegal activity. While the men are away, the wives resume crime operations and establish themselves as mobsters. The Kitchen also stars Elisabeth Moss, Domhnall Gleeson, and Margo Martindale. Moss and Gleeson were also spotted shooting a scene on Thursday in NYC. The 35-year-old Handmaid's Tale star wielded a gun in a tense confrontation with a sketchy-looking character. Famous cast: The Kitchen also stars Elisabeth Moss and Domhnall Gleeson Britney Spears has been served a subpoena to sit for a deposition in her child support battle with her ex-husband Kevin Federline. Spears has been asked to appear to discuss 'personal finances' after Federline requested an increase in child support payments for their two sons Preston, 12, and Jayden, 11. 'Brintney's lawyer, Laura Wasser, accepted the subpoena on Britneys behalf,' a source told UsWeekly. Ongoing drama: Britney Spears has been served a subpoena to sit for a deposition in her child support battle with her ex-husband Kevin Federline 'The subpoena also included financial discovery, including Britneys most recent tax returns, and a completed income and expense declaration.' The deposition is apparently scheduled to take place in the next two weeks. Federline, 40, filed last month to increase payments from $20,000 a month to $60,000 a month. TMZ has reported that former backup dancer only brings in $3,000 on his own each month as a DJ. The Fresno native is the full legal guardian of their two sons. Federline, 40, filed last month to increase payments from $20,000 a month to $60,000 a month for their sons Preston, 12, and Jayden, 11. He is pictured with Britney in 2006 'The subpoena also included financial discovery, including Britneys most recent tax returns, and a completed income and expense declaration.' a source revealed. She is pictured in an Instagram clip on Thursday Court date: The songstress will be deposed within the next two weeks, a source revealed. Federline requested the increase last month claiming he's just not got the same earning power as he used to 'We think the reasonable needs for the children while they would be in Kevins custody is probably three times what hes currently receiving,' Federlines attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan told People magazine. 'This is based on her earnings which have been publicly reported,' Kaplan told Us. 'We are also asking for attorneys fees because it didnt have to come to this.' In court documents the father-of-six said that he is 'simply less of a 'name' and less in demand than he was in 2008,' when the child support payment of $20,000 a month was determined. Tasty treat: The doting mom made ice cream sundaes for her two sons in a cute video she shared with fans Britney made some big dollars from her recent Las Vegas residency that ended in the new year. It grossed about $137 million during its four-year run. Britney is said to be concerned that Federline could try to keep their kids from her if she does not agree to increase the child support payments, according to UsWeekly's source. 'Nothing has changed in the care Britney has given the kids and Kevin has acknowledged what a great mom she is Lost in all of this is the kids, they are the ones caught in the middle.' Spears and Federline split in 2007 after three years of marriage. Federline also shares Kori, 15, and Kaleb, 13, with ex-fiancee Shar Jackson and six-year-old Jordan and three-year-old Peyton with wife Victoria Prince. Court request: A lawyer for Federline says the father-of-six should be getting three times the amount of child support he has been getting since 2008. Britney is pictured with son Preston in Miami this week Shia LaBeouf re-enacted a father-son moment from his own childhood while on the Los Angeles set of the quasi-biopic Honey Boy alongside his Oscar-nominated co-star Lucas Hedges on Thursday. The Daytime Emmy winner - turning 32 on Monday - plays James Lort, a thinly-veiled version of his Vietnam veteran father Jeffrey, who originally trained as a commedia dell'arte clown. The Even Stevens alum wore a receding hairline mullet wig, red glasses, face paint, and a clown costume selected by Natalie O'Brien while his younger 'self' Otis Lort sported an arm brace. Clown: Shia LaBeouf re-enacted a father-son moment from his own childhood while on the Los Angeles set of the quasi-biopic Honey Boy alongside his Oscar-nominated co-star Lucas Hedges (R) on Thursday See the resemblance? The Daytime Emmy winner - turning 32 on Monday - plays James Lort, a thinly-veiled version of his Vietnam veteran father Jeffrey, who originally trained as a commedia dell'arte clown Shia used to attend 12-step Alano Club meetings with his heroin-addicted patriarch, who sold hot dogs and snow cones with his mother Shayna Saide in Echo Park to make a living. LaBeouf - who shaved his head for the role - wrote the screenplay about his life as a child actor and his shaky relationship with Jeffrey during his 10-week court-ordered rehab stint. Honey Boy (which was what Jeffrey called the Borg vs McEnroe actor) is set over the course of a decade, and he really didn't want to make the movie a 'boo-hoo piece.' '[Critics will say] "Oh, here he is not trying to own his s***. He's trying to put it on his father,"' the admitted plagiarist explained in the April edition of Esquire. Deja vu: The Even Stevens alum wore a receding hairline mullet wig, red glasses, face paint, and a clown costume while his younger 'self' Otis Lort sported an arm brace True story: Shia used to attend 12-step meetings with his heroin-addicted patriarch, who sold hot dogs and snow cones with his mother Shayna Saide in Echo Park to make a living 'My dad handed me a lot': LaBeouf - who shaved his head for the role - wrote the screenplay about his life as a child actor and his shaky relationship with Jeffrey during his 10-week court-ordered rehab stint 'He's the whole reason I became an actor': Honey Boy (which was what Jeffrey called the Borg vs McEnroe actor) is set over the course of a decade, and he really didn't want to make the movie a 'boo-hoo piece' 'My dad handed me a lot, and his legacy was an emotional one. And it wasn't scarring. He handed me texture. My dad blessed me that way... 'A lot of my s*** has to do with my relationship with my dad. That dude is my gasoline...He's the whole reason I became an actor.' Last month, 21-year-old Lucas practiced juggling with the 13-year-old version of his child star character Otis (played by A Quiet Place's Noah Jupe) under the watchful eye of director Alma Har'el. Rehearsals: Last month, 21-year-old Lucas practiced juggling with the 13-year-old version of his child star character Otis (played by A Quiet Place's Noah Jupe) under the watchful eye of director Alma Har'el (R) Artsy: The Bombay Beach helmer previously directed Shia in Sigur Ros' artsy 2012 music video for Fjogur piano, in which he did full-frontal nudity and performed a dance choreographed by Ryan Heffington 'Day 9 - When I operate for Natasha Braier': 'The meta miracle' movie marks the Israeli-born filmmaker's first scripted feature and it also stars Natasha Lyonne, Laura San Giacomo, Maika Monroe, and Clifton Collins Jr. The Bombay Beach helmer previously directed Shia in Sigur Ros' artsy 2012 music video for Fjogur piano, in which he did full-frontal nudity and performed a dance choreographed by Ryan Heffington. 'The meta miracle' movie marks the Israeli-born filmmaker's first scripted feature and it also stars Natasha Lyonne, Laura San Giacomo, Maika Monroe, and Clifton Collins Jr. It's worth noting that most actors wouldn't have a career at all if they were LaBeouf - who was arrested for the sixth time (for obstruction, disorderly conduct, and public drunkenness) in Savannah on July 8. Love Island viewers were devastated for Dr. Alex George when he was friend-zoned again, this time by sexy solicitor Rosie Williams at the end of the cosy candlelit dinner date on Thursday. The whole nation was behind the doctor, voting for him to get a date with one of the new Islanders, after he has proved unlucky in the villa with the bevy of beauties, despite being quite the catch with his impressive job and striking good looks. Although the A&E professional had been hopeful ahead of the date, declaring his future wife and mother of his children was heading into the villa, unfortunately he found himself friend-zoned by the dark-haired stunner. Scroll down for video Love Island: Dr. Alex FRIEND-ZONED again by Rosie after their dinner date leaving fans gutted on Thursday's show 'She seriously just said to Alex Ive got high hopes for you why is everyone friendzoning my mate Alex. He is a doctor??? #loveisland,' one fan penned on Twitter, rallying the troops. Closing the date as friends, Rosie kindly put the doctor down by expressing she had high hopes for her date. She told Dr. Alex: 'I have high hopes for you.' There was no bitterness, just pure joy, when the smiling blond Islander watched his close pal Niall lock lips with his ladylove Georgia on the table near himself and Rosie. And while Alex is still having no luck with the string of bikini-clad beauties in the villa, he certainly is winning the hearts of the nature with his good nature. Just friends: Closing the date as friends, Rosie kindly put the doctor down by expressing she had high hopes for her date. She told Dr. Alex: 'I have high hopes for you' Top man! There was no bitterness, just pure joy, when the smiling blond Islander watched his close pal Niall lock lips with his ladylove Georgia on the table near himself and Rosie Elsewhere in the episode, Alex showed his incredibly good nature come to light when he told the muscle-bound Adam Collard that he would pick Samira in the re-coupling because the West End beauty hadn't really had a chance to find a man. Aside from the great and the good of the Islanders, Geordie Shore extra Adam reminded the good-natured doctor to 'look out for number one' and Alex admitted he hadn't completely given up hope on a romance developing with Rosie. Dr. Alex told Adam: 'No I would probably stick with Samira to be honest. She hasn't had her chance on love island yet either. He's quite the catch: And while Alex is still having no luck with the string of bikini-clad beauties in the villa, he certainly is winning the hearts of the nature with his good nature 'She hasn't met her person, seems a shame for her to go. I will see what happens with Rosie over next few days, if a romantic spark progresses there then I won't rule anything out.' Social media was awash with more sympathy for the doctor as viewers continued to express their frustration at the Islanders overlooking Alex and 'friend-zoning' him. Fans also gushed over what a good person the doctor was for thinking of Samira so she had the chance to stay in and possibly meet the love of her life. Frustration: 'She seriously just said to Alex Ive got high hopes for you why is everyone friendzoning my mate Alex. He is a doctor??? #loveisland,' one fan penned on Twitter Another added: 'We voted for Rosie only for her to friendzone Alex???!? #LoveIsland.' Others remarked: 'Just when Alex couldnt get any sweeter, hes thinking of staying with Samira just so she can have a chance to stay in and meet someone else. What a lovely guy! #LoveIsland #TeamAlex.' 'Id stick with Samira, give her a chance to find someone ALEX, YOU ARE SO PURE #LoveIsland.' 'Can someone just love Alex please #loveisland.' 'Does anyone else just wanna give Alex a cuddle and tell him everything is going to be okay #LoveIsland.' 'Im so mad at how Alex is being treated on love island.' 'Alex when he realised his date has friend zoned him on #LoveIsland.' 'Alex trying to get out of the friend zone like #LoveIsland.' The Bachelor's Anna Heinrich married long-term partner Tim Robards in Italy on Thursday. And the blushing bride was supported by older sister, Andrea, as she prepared to walk down the aisle. The 34-year-old blonde - who works as the executive assistant for legendary horse trainer Gai Waterhouse - acted as a bridesmaid and was seen deep in conversation moments before the lavish ceremony began. The bridesmaid wore white! Anna Heinrich's older sister, Andrea, stunned in a silk dress as she supported her famous sibling at her wedding to Tim Robards in Italy on Thursday Supportive: Andrea was seen sharing a laugh with her little sister as she fussed over her veil Possibly helping to calm a nervous Anna, Andrea was seen sharing a laugh with her sister as she made last-minute adjustments to the bride's veil. The supportive sibling looked nothing short of breathtaking in a simple silk gown, which featured thin straps and lace detailing. It seems Anna was keen to have her bridesmaids complement the Steven Khalil wedding gown she was wearing, by having them dress in the same shade of white. Picture perfect: Andrea was also seen wearing large, white statement earrings as she carried a small bouquet of white roses Andrea was also seen sporting large, white statement earrings as she carried a small bouquet of white roses. The beauty had her blonde locks styled in loose waves, and was made up to perfection with heavy eyeliner and lashings of mascara. Both based in Sydney, Anna and Andrea are incredibly close, and share a younger sister, Charlotte. Complementary: It seems Anna was keen to have the bridesmaids complement her own Steven Khalil wedding gown, with Andrea seen dressed in the same shade of white Close: The sisters are incredibly close, and were raised together in the regional town of Goulburn, New South Wales The three were raised together in the regional town of Goulburn, New South Wales. During high school, Andrea, Anna and Charlotte were boarders at Ascham - one of Sydney's most elite private schools, with Roxy Jacenko, Mia Freedman and Kate Waterhouse among the institution's notable alumni. Andrea was in the same year group as Kate, a notable columnist and the daughter of horse trainer Gai, which is perhaps how she secured her job as the Melbourne Cup winner's personal assistant. Making her laugh? Andrea was seen pulling a series of animated faces, perhaps helping to calm her nervous sister Prior to working with Gai, Andrea received an Advanced Diploma in Events Management from TAFE, before going on to study at the University of Technology, Sydney. According to her LinkedIn account, she graduated with a Bachelor of Management in Leisure, Sport and Tourism in 2008. Andrea has since lived in London and Abu Dhabi, and spent four years working as a flight attendant for Etihad Airways, before returning to Australia. It's not unusual for brides to be a little bit stressed on their big day. But it was Anna Heinrich's wedding planner Georgie Duddy who appeared to have a pre-wedding meltdown before The Bachelor star walked down the aisle to marry Tim Robards in Italy, on Thursday. Holding a large clipboard and her iPhone, Duddy, who was hired by the couple to plan their dream destination wedding, looked to be in a bit of a flap. Its not your day! Anna Heinrich's wedding planner appears to have a pre-wedding meltdown as she preps the beautiful bride before she walks down the aisle to marry Tim Robards Standing out in a bold yellow floral frock, she was seen giving commands while fixing Anna's veil and shielding the reality star from onlookers. She also helped guide Anna's father Les, who walked his daughter down the aisle to her beloved groom. Duddy is one of Sydney's most in demand wedding planners and stylists, clearly thanks to her hands-on approach. Holding a large clipboard, Duddy, who was hired by the couple to plan their dream wedding, looked to be in a bit of a flap She is the director of After The Rock Weddings, a premiere wedding planning service, that appears to specialise in destination weddings. She recently helped plan the nuptials of social media influencer Nicole Warne and her husband Luke, who tied the knot in a breathtaking ceremony in Lake Wanaka, New Zealand. Tim and Anna exchanged vows in a beautiful Italian wedding ceremony on Thursday, five years after falling in love on reality TV. Australia's original Bachelor couple tied the knot at the Masseria Potenti hotel, among the olive groves and vineyards of the Puglian countryside. Not bothered: Anna beamed from ear-to-ear as she prepared to walked down the aisle with her father Les Criminal lawyer Anna, 31, looked absolutely breathtaking in her Steven Khalil dress while being walked down the aisle by her father, Les Heinrich. Tim, a 35-year-old chiropractor and model from Bondi, proposed to Anna in May last year while on holiday in Western Australia. He presented her with a diamond ring reportedly worth $173,000. The lovebirds first met in 2013 during the first season of Network Ten dating show The Bachelor Australia. Doing her job! Standing out in a bold yellow floral frock, she was seen giving commands while fixing Anna's veil and shielding the reality star from onlookers Anna beat out 24 other single ladies, including new Bachelorette Ali Oetjen, to capture Tim's heart. More than 1.2million people watched the finale, which saw Tim declare his love for Anna on the clifftop of a Thai resort. He said: 'I love you. It feels so, so good to finally say it. I want to make you feel special every day. I can't wait to start the next part of our journey together.' Tim and Anna moved in together in the middle of 2014, and are now based in the Sydney beachside suburb of Bondi. James McAvoy will play Lord Asriel in the BBC television adaptation of Philip Pullmans best-selling His Dark Materials trilogy James McAvoy will play ruthless adventurer Lord Asriel in the BBC television adaptation of Philip Pullmans best-selling His Dark Materials trilogy. Signing 39-year-old Scot McAvoy is a real coup for the Beeb. The actor is immensely popular because of his big screen work he was in the X-Men film series and the recent Split (in which he played multiple personalities), and will be in the next It movie (It: Chapter Two) based on Stephen Kings clown chiller. Asriel, a powerful nobleman, is one of the main pillars of Pullmans trilogy that began with Northern Lights in 1995, followed by The Subtle Knife in 1997 and ending with The Amber Spyglass in 2000. The stories travel across parallel universes and play tricks with time and language. At the heart of the tale is plucky schoolgirl Lyra Belacqua who, when we first meet her, lives among academics under the guardianship of the Master of fictitious Jordan College, Oxford, and is accompanied by her shape-shifting daemon Pan (short for Pantalaimon). Over the course of the novels, Lyra criss-crosses the known worlds to find a lost friend. As the story progresses, Pullman reveals the bonds that link Lyra (to be played by Dafne Keen, Wolverines daughter in the film Logan) and Asriel. The dramas producers at TV company Bad Wolf have signed veteran star Clarke Peters (so good as a top cop in Martin McDonaghs Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) to play the Master who helps raise Lyra. The dramas producers at TV company Bad Wolf have signed veteran star Clarke Peters to play the Master who helps raise Lyra (By the by, I plan to re-watch the seminal American HBO drama The Wire, in which Peters played pivotal character Lester Freamon.) I reported back in March that Hamilton composer Lin-Manuel Miranda had been picked to play balloonist Lee Scoresby, another key figure in His Dark Materials. Mammoth sets are being constructed at Bad Wolfs studio in Cardiff, where much of the production will be filmed. Scenes will also be shot on location in Oxford. Oscar-winning film-maker Tom Hooper who made The Kings Speech and Les Miserables will direct the first episode later this month. Jack Thorne, who is in the running for a Tony award on Sunday for the Harry Potter play The Cursed Child, has written the eight-part series. Pullman returned to his heroine Lyra in La Belle Sauvage The Book Of Dust, the first volume of his next trilogy. That book has been nominated for a literature prize in the South Bank Sky Arts Awards, which are announced on July 1. Two Queensland police officers who risked being caught up in a fiery explosion repeatedly bashed at the windscreen of a burning car to save an elderly driver. Senior Constable Kevin Mayo and Gympie Constable Jeremy Gardiol refused to give up on the 73-year-old man as flames took hold of his car after it rolled and came to rest on its side at Gympie on Wednesday morning. "I think I hit that thing at least at 30 times before I got that first hole in. It seemed like an eternity," Sen Const Mayo told the Nine Network on Thursday after footage of their heroic actions surfaced. Australia's drought-affected farmers want improvements to a support allowance as they face the risk of climatic conditions that could make future events longer and more severe. National Farmers Federation president Fiona Simpson this week joined Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on his whistle-stop tour of drought-hit areas in NSW and Queensland. But while many are hurting after years of drought, Ms Simpson says they don't want a rushed, quick fix response. "It's a drought that we're seeing out there now but we also have to respond to climate change and the fact that that could make these events more severe and more regular," she said. Farmers have lobbied the government for changes including determinations about what factors identify a period of drought, improvement to the farm household allowance and support for farmers to prepare during the good times. Specific issues with the allowance include the three-year time limit, income and asset tests for eligibility and an application process that is "complex and difficult". Mr Turnbull has described the agriculture sector as the "ultimate renewable industry of Australia". The risk of inmates becoming radicalised in NSW prisons remains but there is no evidence to suggest it is widespread, a review has found. NSW Corrections Minister David Elliott welcomed Wednesday's report which found a "few" of the small number of violent extremists in jail had become radicalised behind bars. "This report reaffirms that the NSW Liberals and Nationals have the strongest counter-terrorism legislation and measures in the country," Mr Elliott said in a statement on Thursday. The report, by Inspector for Custodial Services Fiona Rafter, found most violent inmates entered custody with radicalised and violent views. "Despite there being no evidence of widespread radicalisation to violence in prison in NSW, the risk remains and vigilance is required," the report said. A number of prisons were inspected as part of the review, including Sydney's Silverwater jail, the Mid-North Coast Correctional Centre and Goulburn's high-risk prison where the majority of national security inmates are held. The inspections were ordered after an inmate was allegedly assaulted at one of the facilities in April 2016. At the time, 29 adults in the NSW prison system had been charged with or convicted of national security offences. Now, there are more than 35. Ms Rafter made 50 recommendations, including establishing a dedicated unit to lead and advise on managing violent extremists, increasing intelligence capacity and capability, and enhancing services to Muslim inmates to reduce vulnerability to radicalisation. Three young men will challenge NSW Police in court after the force announced it will deny entry to all Sydney festivalgoers singled out this weekend by sniffer dogs. The force warned this week that officers patrolling Saturday's Above & Beyond music festival at Sydney Olympic Park will kick out revellers targeted by the detection dogs. "(We) will exclude any person from the venue that the drug dog indicates has or who has recently had drugs on them, regardless of whether drugs are located," NSW Police said on Facebook. Tom Raue is one of three plaintiffs planning to file an injunction in the Supreme Court on Friday to stop what has been labelled an overreach of police powers. A man has been charged after he allegedly went on a violent crime spree in Perth, including attacking a man in his 60s with a metal pole, triggering a manhunt. Police allege a car crashed into a home, a resident was bashed, windows were smashed and another vehicle was deliberately reversed into during a one-hour rampage through Perth's southern suburbs on Wednesday morning. A 38-year-old man was apprehended at Joondalup Health Campus where he is being treated for injuries and will likely face a bedside court hearing on 12 charges later on Thursday. About 100 wedge-tailed eagles and four other protected bird species have been found dead on farmland in eastern Victoria. A Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning spokesman confirmed a number of birds had been found dead in the East Gippsland area, but would not release further details, saying it could jeopardise an investigation currently under way. The wedge-tailed eagle is the largest bird species in Australia and deliberately killing one carries a maximum penalty of $7,928.50, up to six months' jail and an additional fine of almost $800 for each bird killed. One in five people working on future NSW infrastructure projects will be apprentices, the state government says. The measure aims to create at least 4000 more apprentices over the next four years, Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney on Thursday. Despite 20 per cent of workers being apprentices, Ms Berjeiklian said it was not a cost-saving measure and would not save the government money on projects. Deputy Premier and Skills Minister John Barilaro said "there is no doubt this program will have a generational impact on workers who will be able to tell their families 'I got my start in life on a NSW government project'". Adult children with "inheritance impatience" are putting the finances of older Australians at risk and the banking industry wants the government to help them. The country's attorneys-general are meeting in Perth on Friday amid calls for them to approve changes giving bank staff the power to help detect and prevent elder abuse. The Council of the Ageing and National Seniors are on board with the call, writing to each state and federal attorney-general. They want power-of-attorney orders standardised, a national online register and a designated body to report abuse. "Elder financial abuse can be reported to police directly, however it's often hard as those involved are often close family and friends," Australian Banking Association chief executive Anna Bligh says. The federal government announced funding for a national online register in this year's budget and the intent to seek state and territory government support for standardisation of orders. Ms Bligh said governments needed to act to address the growing problem. Many people will tell you Hawaii is perfect for road trips. Just throw in your towels, sunscreen and boogie boards and away you go. The beaches are fine, the landscape dramatic and for sustenance, quirky food trucks will keep you both satisfied and entertained. But the majority of travellers here are from the US. As a road trip destination, would Hawaii match up? For them, such a journey means crossing state lines, passing roadhouses and racking up mileage. It means starting at A and arriving at B. In Hawaii the islands' interiors are mountainous and relatively unpenetrable. Most visitors loop the islands along the coast until someone gets dizzy. But don't think a road trip around Maui is dull. There are vast contrasts - and surprises. Our own expedition begins at the Grand Wailea, a Waldorf Astoria resort in the coastal town of Wailea, in Maui's southwest. Development of the town began in 1970, and you can tell: many of the buildings are relics of that era. Some say the island of Maui is shaped liked an elephant. We head up its front leg and around it's head, to the historic town of Lahaina to be precise, which is the elephant's eye, gazing out across the Pacific for all eternity. Lahaina, once an important whaling port, was the original capital of Hawaii; Honolulu was awarded the status in 1845. And thank goodness for it. While Honolulu has grown into an ugly mini-metropolis, Lahaina maintains its vintage charm. Front Street is a parade of creative cafes and tiny shopfronts, colourful and quirky, while the street's town square is home to the biggest Banyan tree I've ever seen. The problem is that everyone hits the road in Maui and 80 per cent of visitors to the island pass through this town. It's busy, hard to park and, among the independent boutiques, there are a few too many American chain outlets. All pit and no stop. Do we really have to cram so much in to make it a destination? We drive on. The scenery quickly alternates between extremely desolate and stunningly picturesque. Our narrow road winds through bamboo forests and along sheer cliffs. Occasional houses stand down dizzying drops. We're perplexed. How do residents get home? There can't be a driveway? Do they have to walk down steep steps in the dark with shopping? It's wonderful to be so remote but we start to feel hungry. We consult our map because, take note, GPS signals here are often blocked; there are steep volcanos in the middle of Maui that play havoc with signals. The paper in our lap tells us Kahului is not too far ahead so we make that our destination. Kahului, in the crook of the elephant's neck, boasts Maui's main airport, a deep harbour, light industrial areas and shopping centres. It's a little run down and ugly and we struggle to find a decent spot to eat, settling for an American burger bar. This is not a tourist destination. After lunch the kids can't face an afternoon of driving so we slip back through the interior to the Grand Wailea's incredible water slides. The next day we attempt to scale the elephant's back, first of all by traversing the neck. We pass through abandoned fields that used to be stuffed with sugar cane, which of course attracted the Americans to Hawaii in the first place. Pu'unene Sugar Mill, Maui's last sugar mill, closed at the end of the 2016 growing season. But tourists can still visit the A & B Sugar Museum. The sugar may be gone, but the Americans are still here, and their hunger for sugar has only grown. We soon reach the north coast, the famous Road to Hana. It's a 67km delicious drive of waterfalls, freshwater pools, hiking trails and renowned beaches, including the legendary surf spot Jaws. Here, the road is the destination. Maui's pineapple industry was also born here and today, roadside snack shacks offer the tasty treats as the perfect pick-me-up for weary road trippers. The cliffs along this road gleam with tricking water but every so often a group of parked cars indicates something bigger and more impressive. Twin Falls takes the cake - a picture-perfect waterfall that tumbles over a prehistoric-looking cave dripping in vines. Some people are scaling the falls, sitting in the rock pools at the top before it spills, or diving into the spray in the bottom pool. Just a short way further along the road, we arrive at Kahaku's Smoke Shack, where Pete is cooking up the perfect Hawaiian BBQ. There is chicken, pork belly, a salad made of greens from the vibrant hills above us, and stewed banana in coconut cream. The dish is served up in a large, carved out bamboo stem and washed down with water straight from the coconut. The fragrant outdoor kitchen even provides a hula hoop, which keeps the girls happy while we take some chill time. But Maui is known for its beaches so wasn't it time we found one? So far the road has been our destination but then, on the southwestern shore, we discover Kamaole Beach. The beach is gold and if the sky is clear at sunset you may see the famous "green flash", which occurs when the bending rays in this dense atmosphere reflect the sun's final light. Sometimes the flash is dramatic, I am told, but today there are mottled clouds hovering in an early evening sky that's glowing a brilliant red and bronze. A crowd has gathered to watch the sunset. Some are swimming, some swaying in hammocks, some taking photos on the sand. Cars rest up on the edge of the highway. No matter their journey today, they're here because nature has made this place the perfect final destination. Like us, they've arrived. IF YOU GO GETTING THERE: For flights to Maui's Kahului Airport via Honolulu, and travel all over the Hawaiian archipelago, Hawaiian Airlines is your one-stop shop. For more, www.hawaiianairlines.com.au. You're spoilt for choice for car hire companies at Kahului Airport. STAYING THERE: Grand Wailea, A Waldorf Astoria Resort, lies on Maui's southwestern shore. It's a stunning hotel with an incredible water park for the kids and adults-only pools and the most opulent spa I have ever experienced for the grown-ups. Prices vary. Visit https://www.grandwailea.com For more information on Maui, visit www.hawaiitourismauthority.org/ The writer travelled as a guest of Hilton and Hawaiian Airlines. One member of the NSW "Colt" family has been freed on bail after she and seven relatives were arrested and charged earlier this year. The eight family members, who have all been given a pseudonym including the Colt surname, were accused in April of crimes that collectively included incest, perjury and indecent assaults against children. Their charges came more than five years after 40 members of the family were allegedly found living in squalor on a rural NSW property. The eight Colts have remained behind bars since their arrest, but Central Local Court on Thursday heard Raylene Colt had made a successful bail application earlier in the week. The 35-year-old is accused of making a false statement on oath amounting to perjury. An Australian man has reportedly been stabbed in a nightclub on Thailand's eastern Gulf. Police were called to Mixx Discotheque in South Pattaya, a resort city southeast of Bangkok, early on Thursday local time. The victim, named by local media as 21-year-old Jaydon Sienkiewicz, was taken to hospital after being stabbed in the right side of his chest. The Bangkok Post reported Mr Sienkiewicz had been partying with a group of ten, including his Australian father and stepmother, and was attacked while in the toilet. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has been contacted for comment. The federal government is urging parliament to pass a suite of measures targeting foreign influence in Australian politics before five upcoming federal by-elections. A bipartisan deal was struck on Thursday to pass amended legislation targeting secret attempts by foreign spies to influence Australia's politicians, media and diaspora communities. The government agreed to a parliamentary committee's 60 recommendations on the bill, including enhanced protections for journalists. Now Attorney-General Christian Porter is pushing ahead with a bill to force people acting on behalf of foreign powers to register or face criminal penalties. Under proposed changes to the draft laws, only organisations or individuals working at the direction of a foreign government or political party are required to register. If the measures pass parliament in its next sitting, they would come into place before the Super Saturday by-elections on July 28. Mr Porter wants the committee to return its report into the transparency scheme so parliament can pass the bill during the next sitting period, which kicks off on June 18. "It's vital that our national security legislation and framework reflects the modern challenges that we face ... and that framework remains dangerously incomplete while these two remaining and critical bills remain unlegislated," Mr Porter said. The reforms were announced last year amid political donation scandals involving people with links to the Chinese government and heightened concerns about foreign powers influencing elections. While the government insists the laws aren't aimed at a specific country, they have sparked diplomatic tensions with China. Today's Birthday, June 8: Former US first lady Barbara Bush (1925-2018). Former Australian prime ministers lined up to pay tribute to former US first lady Barbara Bush after her death at the age 92. The wife of George HW Bush, the 41st US president, and mother to both George W Bush, the 43rd president, and former Florida governor Jeb Bush, died in mid-April following failing health. Paul Keating described Mrs Bush as a pillar of American politics. Keating's successor, John Howard, remembered her as "forthright, humorous and intensely personable". Born Barbara Pierce at a New York City hospital in 1925, the third child of McCall's magazine publisher Marvin Pierce and civil activist Pauline Robinson grew up in affluent surrounds in the suburb of Rye. In 1941, she returned home from boarding school and met her future husband at a Christmas party in Connecticut. She dropped out of a prestigious college to marry Bush in 1945, at the time a young naval aviator home on leave from World War II. The Bushes had six children - sons George W, Jeb, Neil and Marvin and daughters Dorothy and Robin. Robin died of leukemia in 1953 aged three. Mrs Bush set up households in numerous cities as her Texas oilman husband became a Congressional member, Republican Party leader, US envoy to China and the United Nations and CIA boss. She held the First Lady post from 1989 to 1993 after her husband beat Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis to the White House in 1988. Her son George W, who unlike his father secured two terms in office from 2001 to 2009, triumphed at the 2000 US election - making her only the second woman in history to be both wife and mother of US presidents. She was on the 2016 Republican presidential nomination campaign trail with second-born son Jeb until he dropped out of the race. The Bushes celebrated their 73rd wedding anniversary in January and her husband said marrying "Bar" was "the thing I did right". "The Silver Fox" was known for her sharp tongue, promotion of literacy and reading, refusal to publicly comment on controversial issues and being fiercely protective of her family. Alleged corporate criminals could be able to negotiate penalties for serious misconduct and avoid convictions under a proposed new scheme. Attorney-General Christian Porter released a draft deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) on Friday, which would allow corporations which commit serious crimes to strike deals in return for coming clean. He said the scheme would give police and prosectors an extra tool to fight corporate crime. "Corporate crime can be difficult to identify and easy to conceal," Mr Porter said. "The scheme will help encourage corporations to self-report misconduct and co-operate with authorities." Deals could include a financial penalties, compensation for victims, improvements to companies' compliance programs and co-operation with other investigations. If the company meets the requirements, prosecutions would not be pursued. Mr Porter said similar schemes had worked in the US and UK. "For example, in 2017 Rolls Royce agreed to a DPA in the UK requiring the payment of a penalty of STG497.25 million," he said. Submissions on the draft code are open until next month. Controversial former Australian publisher Ross Dunkley has been arrested on drug charges after Myanmar police raided his home in Yangon, according to local media reports. Dunkley was paraded before the press with another Westerner and eight locals, AKonThi news website reports. The arrests and seizures were made following a police raid of Dunkley's rented residence in San Ye Twin Road, Bahan Township, at 8.15am on Thursday, the report says. The other foreigner arrested was identified as John McKenzie, understood to be a partner with Dunkley in a new media venture. The suspects were posed in front of a table covered in drug paraphernalia, cash, bags of white powder, marijuana and smoking pipes. Police Major Thein Win told The Irrawaddy website that Dunkley was apprehended with 797 yaba pills and 303 grams of crystal methamphetamine, or ice, at his home. Other media reports said 30 yaba tablets were seized, along with 22 grams of ice and 1.5 grams of marijuana. Dunkley has been charged with the possession and possible sale of drugs. Possession of or trafficking for sale of banned narcotics carries a minimum 10-year jail sentence with a maximum of unlimited prison time, under Myanmar's harsh drug laws. A former Walkley Award winner, Dunkley founded and edited The Myanmar Times and was also involved in the 2007 takeover of the Phnom Penh Post by West Australian mining magnate Bill Clough who recently sold the publication to Malaysian interests accused of having links to the Cambodian government. Dunkley set up the Myanmar Times in 2000 with Sonny Swe, the son of a high-powered military intelligence officer, who in 2005 was sentenced to 14 years in jail for breaching the country's censorship laws. Dunkley had a tense relationship with the new owners and in 2011 was convicted of immigration offences along with the assault of a woman widely reported to be a sex worker. He was sentenced to a month's jail, but freed immediately after having already served 47 days in prison waiting for the hearing. In an interview with Mediaweek in October 2017, Dunkley announced he would be setting up Beyond the Box Communications in Myanmar to provide "24-7 live streaming in Burmese", printing services and e-commerce events. Time is ticking on the NSW government to release a bundle secret documents after an embarrassing parliamentary defeat forced its hand earlier this week. The government has for months refused to produce documents shedding light on some of its most controversial policies, despite being required by parliament standing orders to do so. However, after Liberal MP Matthew Mason-Cox on Tuesday crossed the floor on his own government, it now has until 5pm on Friday to produce the papers. They relate to the government's multi-billion dollar stadium spend, a plan to move the Powerhouse Museum to western Sydney, and an independent review into child protection services. The government's continued refusal to produce the documents prompted Mr Mason-Cox to cross the floor to censure colleague and senior minister Don Harwin. This forced Mr Harwin, the government's leader in the upper house, to produce the secret documents or risk being suspended from parliament. He told parliament the papers would be provided to the upper house by the end of Friday. Conservationists have accused the NSW government of failing to listen to scientific expert advice when making policies, amid backlash over its controversial plan to protect wild horses in the Snowy Mountains. The new laws passed parliament this week, prompting fierce criticism from experts and environmental groups. Nature Conservation Council chief executive Kate Smolski claims since 2015, the Nationals have been driving the state's environmental policy with a focus on favouring agribusiness and development. "Premiers have allowed the Nationals to destroy our national heritage," Ms Smolski told AAP. "The fact the Liberals are getting away with it is unconscionable." She said the brumbies bill, opposed by ecologists, international conservation groups, NSW Labor and Greens, was another slap in the face after the government changed the state's land clearing laws and announced a "woefully inadequate" koala strategy. NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro argues the brumbies bill will manage sensitive areas of Kosciuszko National Park while also controlling the feral horse population. Leading ecologist David Watson claims the government "swept under the carpet" the scientific advice of an independent expert panel and, because of that, he's resigned from the NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee. "The government of the day is no longer feeling the need to respond to expert advice," Prof Watson told AAP. "It's just a slap in the face for them to sponsor a bill that directly contradicts scientific best practice." Prof Watson says feral horses had a "litany" of negative effects on native plants, animals, and ecological communities and were "incompatible" with protected area management. He's questioned the motives and says the government needs to be held to account for passing a bill that trumps existing environmental laws and processes. The NSW Environment Minister and Nationals leader have been contacted for comment. NSW motorists have been warned they could be docked double demerit points over the long weekend as police crack down on reckless behaviour. A widespread road safety operation began in the early hours of Friday and will continue until midnight on Monday. Assistant Commissioner Michael Corboy, of the Highway Patrol Command, says the "vast majority" of road crashes are avoidable. "We continue to see examples of irresponsible driving behaviour, including drink and drug driving, distraction, not using a seat belt and fatigue, which all lead to serious crashes and fatalities on NSW roads," he said in a statement. Police Minister Troy Grant urged road users to take care to arrive safely at their destinations, given higher traffic volumes and poor weather conditions over the weekend. The state's road toll stands at 153, which is four more than the same time last year. A Korean woman fell from the summit of a mountain near Cairns and then crawled through dense bush to a waterfall, where she spent six days before being rescued. Joohee Han had hiked to the top of Mount Tyson last Friday and taken photographs from Scout Rock before slipping and knocking herself unconscious. Her story of survival has been shared by a paramedic involved in the rescue while the 25-year-old underwent a medical check at Tully Hospital. "When she came to, she was quite disoriented and unable to get her bearings," Queensland Ambulance Services flight paramedic Hannah Gaulke said. "She managed to crawl and scrape her way through the bushland, which was really tough terrain." Ms Gaulke says the backpacker had nowhere to go after reaching a rocky waterfall, where she waited until being found by soldiers and police on Thursday. "Six days is a long time to be lost in the bush, particularly when you've got no bush skills," Inspector Steve Kersley said. "She's done well to survive." Madagascar faces a potential outbreak of the bubonic plague, an illness that eliminated nearly half the population of Europe in the 14th century, if it does not clean up its rat-infested prisons, health experts have warned. "If the plague gets into prisons, there could be a sort of atomic explosion of plague within the town. The prison walls will never prevent the plague from getting out and invading the rest of the town," the Pasteur Institute's Christophe Rogier told the BBC. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Pasteur Institute of Madagascar, a nonprofit research organization, have been leading efforts to improve prison hygiene since February 2012. The ICRC and prison authorities announced Thursday that they had launched a campaign to prevent an epidemic of the disease in Antanimora Prison, where 3,000 inmates are held. Inmates in the island's jails are especially at risk, according to the ICRC, due to overcrowding, unhygienic conditions and a chronic rat infestation. "Rat control is essential for preventing the plague, because rodents spread the bacillus to fleas that can then infect humans. So the relatives of a detainee can pick up the disease on a visit to the prison. And a released detainee returning to his community without having been treated can also spread the disease," Christoph Vogt, head of the ICRC delegation in Madagascar, said. Africa accounts for more than 90 percent of cases worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. Madagascar experiences an outbreak every year, with an average of 500 cases annually. The disease peaks in October due to hot and humid conditions that attract fleas. The fleas transmit the disease to rats and other animals, which then spread the disease to humans. The disease is easily treatable with antibiotics if caught early, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but poverty and a lack of facilities prevent many from seeking medical help. Disinfection measures and insecticide spraying will be carried out by detainees and prison staff. Hygiene products and rodent traps will be dispersed by ICRC staff. Last year, Madagascar recorded 256 cases and 60 deaths from the plague, according to WHO figures. NSW's attorney-general is hoping to convince his state and territory counterparts to make Australia's defamation laws more "tech savvy". Mark Speakman says there's been a huge rise in defamation cases involving material published on social media, some of which has been trivial. He tabled a review in parliament on Thursday that made more than a dozen recommendations, including the consideration of whether all corporations should be allowed to sue for defamation. He has also suggested introducing a "serious harm" threshold to discourage trivial matters from going to court, and provisions that protect online newspapers, blogs and other sites from being held responsible for content produced by a third party. Mr Speakman will be pushing for reform at a council of attorneys general meeting in Perth on Friday. "I will ask my federal, state and territory counterparts to explore reforms to enable Australian defamation law to upgrade to the cyber-age," he said. Since 2005, defamation laws have been co-ordinated at a national level. Liberal candidate Georgina Downer will struggle to win the South Australian seat of Mayo in July's federal by-election, new polling suggests. A ReachTEL poll of 831 voters shows Centre Alliance candidate Rebekha Sharkie with a 58-42 lead over Ms Downer on a two-party preferred basis. Ms Sharkie won Mayo in 2016 as part of the Nick Xenophon Team but resigned over her dual citizenship in May and is recontesting the seat for Centre Alliance. Meanwhile, Ms Downer is seeking to follow in the footsteps of her father, Alexander, who held the seat from 1984 until 2008. Labor has put forward telecommunications consultant and academic Professor Reg Coutts, while Ngarrindjeri elder Major "Moogy" Sumner is running for the Greens. A national power of attorney register to help combat elder financial abuse will be in the spotlight when the nation's top law officers meet in Perth. The register will ensure powers of attorney are valid, in a bid to prevent adult children impatient to get their hands on their inheritance stealing from vulnerable parents. There is currently no way of checking the whether power of attorney documents are valid. Federal Attorney-General Christian Porter will push for the register at Friday's meeting with his state and territory counterparts, arguing there is broad support for the reform. The federal government announced funding for an online register in this year's budget, with elderly advocacy groups and the banking sector also supportive of the idea. Council of the Ageing and National Seniors Australia chief Ian Yates said state and federal governments needed to do more to address adult children's impatience to get their hands on inheritances. "The situation as it stands is completely unacceptable and we need to do much more to actively prevent financial abuse of older Australians from occurring," Mr Yates said. The Australian Banking Association chief Anna Bligh said the industry was united with seniors groups on the need for change. "State and territory governments have an opportunity to join with the federal government and agree to tackle these changes," she said. "We can't keep drawing this out - all governments need to decide and act to ensure that Australia addresses this growing issue." A man has been charged after he allegedly assaulted a police officer in Rockhampton. Police went to speak to the man at a service station on Thursday evening after reports he had been threatening members of the public. He fled from the officers and then struck a sergeant, injuring him above his eye, when they tried to arrest him. The 36-year-old man has been charged with assaulting police among other offences and is due to appear in Rockhampton Magistrates Court on Friday. A union representing retail and fast food workers says it will tell a Senate inquiry in Brisbane that the current regulations surrounding franchising are "deficient and ineffective". The Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association will address the inquiry on Friday with employment lawyers Maurice Blackburn. SDA national secretary Gerard Dwyer says the Franchising Code of Conduct has many deficiencies. "The current code makes absolutely no attempt to ensure that franchisors and franchisees abide by workplace laws," Mr Dwyer said in a statement. "As a result, we have seen appalling examples of systemic wage theft and exploitation of thousands of workers by major companies such as 7-Eleven, Caltex and Subway." Mr Dwyer said migrant workers, who fear being reported to immigration and deported, were particularly vulnerable and poorly served by the code. "Proceedings to recover unpaid wages in the current system are complex, time-consuming and costly," he said. The code also lets down franchisees, as it doesn't require franchise models to be structured in a financially sustainable manner, he said. "It's clear that many individuals enter into franchise arrangements without having a clear understanding of all that's required. "It is virtually impossible for many franchise holders to operate a successful business without 'cutting corners' such as engaging in wage theft." Mr Dwyer will recommend a range of changes to the code, including holding franchisors to account. "Liability for breaches of the Fair Work Act by franchisees should extend to the franchisor," he said. A man police allege heads the Australian arm of an international "dark web" drug importation syndicate has been arrested in Sydney. A Sydney strike force in February began investigating the syndicate believed to be importing illicit drugs from Europe to Australia through postal services. With help from Australian Border Force, Australian Federal Police and interstate police, the strike force tracked suspicious packages arriving in NSW, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia. Police will allege in court these packages contained ketamine, MDMA and cocaine. About 10.30am on Thursday, investigators arrested a 33-year-old man in Vaucluse in Sydney's eastern suburbs. A search warrant executed at a unit in the suburb unearthed cocaine, computers, mobile phones, a diamond ring, $70,000 cash and $350,000 worth of cryptocurrency. A second search warrant was later executed at a financial institution in the city and documents were seized. The man was charged with 45 counts, including importing and supplying commercial quantities of prohibited drugs and directing a criminal group. He was refused bail to appear at Waverley Local Court on Friday. Under a plan offered by China, the country would buy soy beans as part of a basket of $70 billion in US goods China has offered to buy $70 billion in US goods if Washington will drop plans to impose tariffs in return, an official in President Donald Trump's administration told AFP on Wednesday, confirming an earlier report. Top Chinese economic advisor Liu He made the offer during weekend trade talks in Beijing with a US delegation led by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. The new purchases would include soybeans, natural gas, crude oil and coal. The Commerce Department on Wednesday told AFP no definitive agreement had been reached and no further information was available. US goods exports to China last year were $130.4 billion, according to the Department. A $70 billion package of purchases would amount to a 53.8 percent increase. For goods alone, the US trade deficit with China hit a record $375 billion last year, and the White House has demanded that China cut the imbalance by $200 billion. "If the United States introduces trade sanctions including tariffs, all the economic and trade achievements negotiated by the two parties will be void," China's official news agency Xinhua said Sunday. According to The Journal, Liu personally explained to Ross the offer would be void in the event Washington imposed additional tariffs. Trump had announced last week that the US was pressing ahead with plans to impose 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese imports tied to tech industries which Washington says have benefitted from the alleged theft of US know-how and intellectual property. Washington's trade battles with China, Europe, Mexico and others are an effort to make those countries buy more US goods and force down the US trade deficit, which Trump sees as a job killer and threat to the American industrial base. Syrian soldier Mohammad Damour displays his discharge papers from the Syrian army, in the capital Damascus After eight years of military service, Syrian conscript Sonel Ali swapped his drab army uniform for bright civilian clothes last week as he packed his things one last time. Ali was among thousands of young men who was enlisted in 2010, a year before the brutal repression of anti-government protests in Syria spiralled into one of the worst conflicts of the century. He thought he was joining the military for a maximum of two years, but instead ended up serving in Syria's war until now. His drawn-out deployment ended last Friday, after the army ordered 2010 conscripts to demobilise. "I'm finally leaving guns and dirt barricades behind," said the ecstatic 34-year-old, who hails from the central city of Homs but was last deployed hours away in Syria's south. As he packed, Ali's phone buzzed with calls from loved ones congratulating him, but also from comrades for whom the good news had not yet arrived. "We're the first ones and you will join us," he reassured a friend over the phone. "The biggest battles are over." The number of frontlines has diminished now and Syria's regime has retaken more than half of the country with Russian backing, this year notching up a string of victories against rebels near Damascus. Before he zipped up his black canvas bag, Ali dropped in the gourd and traditional straw he had used to slurp bitter mate tea throughout the seven-year war. "I'm keeping" these, he said. "They were my companions throughout my military service." All packed, he posed with fellow fighters for their first group picture out of army slacks, before heading their separate ways back to civilian life. - Hero's welcome - Before Syria's conflict erupted in 2011, men 18 and older had to serve up to two years in the armed forces, after which they remained part of the reserves. But when war began, anyone enlisted stayed on active duty. The government's 300,000-strong army is estimated to have been nearly halved by deaths, injuries and defections, and conscripts kept having their deployments extended. Mohammad Damour had always wanted to become a reporter, but his dreams were postponed when his 18-month deployment turned into an eight-year tour. "War set me back 10 years, but I was demobilised today," Damour told AFP in a bustling market in Damascus, snapping pictures of sweet stands with his camera. "I was supposed to have graduated at 22. But I'm 27 and still in the first year of journalism school," he said. On the edge of Syria's second city Aleppo, Maher Daro's family had prepared a hero's welcome. His father was waiting to ferry the returning soldier home in a sleek black Mercedes, specially festooned with red and white flowers. He had even hired a drumming band. As soon as Daro pulled up in his car, the drums kicked off, celebratory gunfire rang out, and relieved relatives broke into a traditional Arabic circle dance. Syrian soldier Mohammad Damour takes a selfie at a street market in the capital Damascus after his discharge from the Syrian army Daro's mother and sisters let off shrill ululations typically heard at weddings and other celebrations. "It's like a new birth," Daro said. "Those who go to war are lost, and those who return are born again." Grinning from ear to ear, he embraced long-lost friends and distributed sweets to those who had come to greet him. Late at night after most guests had left, he regaled his closest friends with stories from the front, including the former rebel bastion of Eastern Ghouta outside Damascus that the regime recaptured in April. - 'Where will I go?' - Syria's government has recovered more than half the country, bolstered by air strikes from its Russian ally, by local militias and regional fighters. The army has replenished its ranks with thousands of young men living in these areas who had not completed their compulsory service. "It's a five-star war now," said Daro. "Everywhere I fought is safe now: Damascus, Homs, Latakia." But such a warm welcome was not in store for all. In a military barracks outside Damascus, Mohammed Ala, 31, huddled in a corner of his room after hearing he would be among those demobilised. "Where will I go?" he asked again and again, cupping his forehead in his palm. Ala, speaking under a pseudonym, said he was cut off from his northern home city of Raqa after it was overrun by rebels and then the Islamic State group, before falling to US-backed fighters. His family had fled to Turkey, and he had no way to reach his childhood home and beloved farmland. "I would spend all my leaves at the barracks," he told AFP on the eve of the demobilisation order. "But in a day's time, I have no idea where I will sleep, or what I will eat or drink." Ala gazed nostalgically at an old picture of his mother, fretting over what awaited him. "For those without shelter, military service was the closest thing to a fixed job with a decent salary," he said. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has already proved more successful than his predecessor Rex Tillerson Shortly after Mike Pompeo was unveiled as US Secretary of State it was revealed that he had already, as outgoing CIA director, embarked on a historic diplomatic mission. While still working in the shadows as President Donald Trump's spy chief, Pompeo met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and set in motion plans to stage next week's nuclear summit. Now installed as Washington's top diplomat and one of the heavyweights in the US administration, the former soldier and Kansas lawmaker has stuck with the dossier, despite its challenges. On May 24, he looked uncomfortable and grim as he appeared to announce his failure, reading senators a letter that Trump had sent to Kim, cancelling the summit after a perceived slight from Pyongyang. But barely eight days later, the 54-year-old secretary's more familiar smile was back in place as he and Trump walked Kim's right-hand man back to his car after a historic White House meeting. The summit was on for June 12 in Singapore -- and Pompeo's stock was again on the rise as an agency leader who can both interact productively with Trump and pursue a diplomatic strategy. No-one yet dares guess whether Trump's Quixotic decision to grant Kim his long sought after summit with a US leader will succeed in convincing the North to commit to nuclear disarmament. But Pompeo has already proved more successful than his predecessor Rex Tillerson, the Texan oilman who clashed with Trump, demoralized his own staff and came up with little on the international stage. - Follow Trump's instincts - Nevertheless, he has more than most riding on the outcome of next week's once seemingly impossible face-to-face encounter between two unpredictable world leaders. Mark Fitzpatrick of the International Institute for Strategic Studies warns that, whereas Tillerson tried to act as a cautious counterweight to Trump's geostrategic inexperience, Pompeo has followed his president's instincts. "Pompeo is heavily invested in making the summit happen, with form seeming to be more important than substance," he told AFP. "We will soon find out how successful he has been." While Tillerson, for example, saw value in standing by America's commitment to the Iran nuclear deal and its European allies who backed it, Pompeo supported Trump's decision to pull out. "Tillerson knew that leaving the nuclear deal would isolate America. Pompeo may understand this, but has hitched his reputation to Trump," Fitzpatrick said. Another difference between Pompeo and his discreet predecessor, is his understanding of showmanship and symbolism. The former Exxon executive shunned the press, the former congressman courts it. When Pompeo dined in New York with North Korean envoy and fellow former spy master Kim Yong Chol, he did so in a US diplomat's apartment with wide views of midtown Manhattan. In the official photos that Pompeo's spokeswoman tweeted out of the event, not only did Kim's man look small compared to Pompeo's hulking frame, but America's might was visible in the skyscrapers beyond, "including the Freedom Tower." Pompeo has now met Kim Jong Un twice and Kim Yong Chol three times, and is the most senior US official to have talked to the North Korean leader. - Staff exodus - He brought the dossier with him from the CIA, along with fellow negotiator Andrew Kim, an intelligence officer who is now recognizable to the press corps and attends top-level meetings. But he now also has the reins of the State Department and whatever regional expertise and negotiating talent is left there, after Tillerson's era saw an exodus of senior staff. His bulky presence appears to reassure former colleagues from Capitol Hill, many of whom harbor doubts about Trump's ability to follow through on such a diplomatic undertaking un-shepherded. "I have much more confidence in Mike Pompeo's preparation for this meeting than I do in Donald Trump's preparation for any meeting," said Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee. Republican Ron Johnson, a Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, had high praise for Pompeo's experience and intelligence, but more importantly for winning Trump's confidence. "So I think he's the perfect guy for the job," he gushed. Trump's faith in Pompeo, who used to deliver regular intelligence briefings to the president in person, has also allowed the secretary to serve as a counterweight to fellow newcomer John Bolton, the hawkish national security adviser. - Libyan model - Several reports suggest Trump was annoyed when Bolton, in an interview, compared the quest to disarm Kim to that which removed the late Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's nascent weapons program. Pyongyang was predictably disturbed by the comparison, triggering the wobble that led to the summit's temporary suspension -- only for Pompeo to jump in and put the pieces together again. Donald Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani reportedly said that North Korea's leader "begged" for a summit with the US president Donald Trump's attorney said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un begged "on his hands and knees" for a summit with the US president, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. "They... said they were going to go to nuclear war with us, they were going to defeat us in a nuclear war," Rudy Giuliani told a Tel Aviv investment conference, according to the newspaper. "We said we're not going to have a summit under those circumstances." "Well, Kim Jong Un got back on his hands and knees and begged for it, which is exactly the position you want to put him in," Giuliani said. The Trump attorney said that with the summit rescheduled, the United States has the upper hand. Singapore's foreign minister will make a two-day trip to Pyongyang starting Thursday, as preparations for the Trump-Kim summit in the city-state accelerate. The announcement came a day after the White House revealed that the historic June 12 meeting between the US and North Korean leaders will take place in a luxury hotel on Singapore's resort island of Sentosa. The summit is due to be held following a rapid detente between Pyongyang and Washington -- as well as South Korea -- in a turn-around from a dramatic escalation of tensions last year, when the North ratcheted up its weapons programme. President Donald Trump comes to the Quebec G7 touting an America First agenda that hits allies US with trade tariffs and threatens multilateral free trade deals Summits of the Group of Seven powers are often marred by anti-globalist demonstrations in the streets of the host city. This time, the greatest threat to the liberal world order will be inside the fence. President Donald Trump comes to this week's Quebec G7, which begins Friday, touting an America First agenda that hits US allies with trade tariffs and threatens multilateral free trade deals. His stance will receive such a hostile reception from the other leaders of the world's richest democracies that some observers have suggested renaming the G7 summit the G6+1. Trump may well be distracted by preparations for his June 12 summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, which will be in Singapore immediately after the rich world talking shop in Canada. But it is not such a stretch to imagine that the US leader will enjoy a warmer encounter with the autocrat from Pyongyang than with his Canadian hosts and European and Japanese allies. And leaders like Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel admit it will be difficult to even agree a joint communique at the two-day meeting. "We know certainly that there will be frank and sometimes difficult discussions around the G7 table, particularly with the US president on tariffs," Trudeau told reporters. - All-out trade war - Merkel told German lawmakers Wednesday before setting off for Canada that there would be "no compromise for its own sake" and that dropping the statement "may be the more honest way." But Trump's decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum -- and eventually other goods, such as German luxury cars -- have pushed G7 members to the brink of all-out trade war. Canada's Trade Minister Francois Philippe Champagne was more blunt, declaring: "What we are seeing is that the world economic order is under pressure, under attack." And Trump is not likely to back down. "There are disagreements," top White House economics advisor Larry Kudlow told reporters Wednesday. "He is sticking to his guns." Kudlow, in common with the longstanding expert consensus in the G7 nations, had long opposed tariffs before joining Trump's team, but now says he agrees that the trade status quo hurts America. "Until we can have reciprocal relationships we will not have free trade, and we will not have fair trade," Kudlow said. "So I think his cause is just and I think the rest of the world agrees with him." Europe does not come to Quebec from a position of strength. Britain's Theresa May is mired in endless Brexit negotiations and Italian premier Giuseppe Conte only formally took power on Wednesday. French President Emmanuel Macron made initial headway in forming a public friendship with Trump, but has failed to sway the US leader on any issue, while Merkel has been distracted by coalition negotiations. The G7's only Asian member, Japan, has close relations with the White House, but Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's support for Trump's North Korean outreach has not seen his country spared the tariffs. So the prospect of a joint communique encompassing trade seems faint, and the summit may be capped by a simple statement from the hosts summarizing the narrow areas of consensus. A senior European Union official briefing reporters on the pre-summit negotiations used discreet understatement to describe the impasse, but only ended up underscoring the width of the rift. "We find the tariffs to be illegal, so finding common language continues to be a challenge," he said. - End of the world order - The G7 developed in part because the world's rich powers -- despite their supposed Cold War victory -- became frustrated in working through the broader multilateral system with lesser rivals. The globalized economy that they helped build had winners and losers, of course, but until Trump's election the United States was seen as the system's uncontested leader and a major beneficiary. But now, according to Laurence Nardon of the French Institute for International Relations (IFRI), one of the main actors on the international stage is no longer following the same script. "It completely calls into question the international system," she told AFP. "This G7 summit is a new act in the drama. So far, the six are standing strong, but Trump has not finished. William Reinsch, a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, said he expected the other six nations of the G7 to "gang up" on Trump. "The president's proclivity, though, you know, when criticized is consistently to hit back," he added. Since coming to office in January last year, Trump has pulled the US out of the Paris climate accord, the Iran nuclear deal and the TPP Pacific free trade deal. - Feting US foes? - While cozying up to authoritarian Chinese leader Xi Jinping, the Philippines' brutal Rodrigo Duterte, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and even Kim -- he has clashed with May, Trudeau and Merkel. "And it feels like we are treating our allies with contempt, while we are feting our adversaries," said Heather Conley, a CSIS senior vice president, warning that any consensus statement would be "very short." The summit begins on Friday in La Malbaie, in Charlevoix, north of Quebec, and runs until Saturday, when Trump will fly on to Singapore. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is set to hold its 18th annual summit in the city of Qingdao this weekend Iran, China and Russia may seek ways to salvage the nuclear deal ditched by Donald Trump when their leaders meet this weekend at a summit on the Chinese coast. The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a regional security bloc led by China and Russia, is set to hold its 18th annual gathering in the city of Qingdao on Saturday and Sunday. Iran's President Hassan Rouhani is attending this year -- just the second time an Iranian leader has participated. It comes after US President Trump controversially pulled Washington out of a 2015 international pact with Iran that placed limits on its nuclear programme in return for easing economic sanctions. China is Iran's top trade partner and one of the biggest buyers of its oil, but those who oppose the US abandonment of the deal risk huge fines for busting the tough American measures. Iran's President Hassan Rouhani is attending the SCO this year Rouhani is taking part because "Iran is currently evaluating the signatories of the nuclear deal to see to what extent they'll be able to effectively maintain it even after the US's withdrawal", said Gao Shangtao, an expert on Middle East relations at Beijing Foreign Affairs College. "To put it bluntly, if Tehran feels assured that China and Russia can withstand the pressure of US sanctions and continue to do business with Iran, then Tehran will seek to retain the deal -- otherwise, it's meaningless," he said. Chinese businesses are expected to step up activities in Iran to fill the void left by the exit of US companies and the possible withdrawal of European rivals who fear punitive US measures. Hua Liming, a former Chinese ambassador to Iran, told the Global Times newspaper on Tuesday: "Unlike the US, China will not break its promise and will ensure that China-Iran relations won't be affected." Iran announced on Tuesday that it plans to boost uranium enrichment capacity with new centrifuges within the 2015 deal's limits, prompting Beijing to urge all parties to "continue to sustain and implement" the agreement. - 'Bigger, grander' SCO ambitions - The SCO bloc includes four ex-Soviet Central Asian republics and two new members, Pakistan and India -- whose President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, respectively, will be present this weekend. China is Iran's top trade partner and one of the biggest buyers of its oil Iran is currently an observer member of the SCO, though it has long sought full membership. "Iran needs more diplomatic support from the East -- not only China, but also Central Asia -- in order to strengthen its position and better contend with the US," said Xu Tiebing, international relations professor at the Communication University of China. But most Chinese analysts "are not too eager to see Iran accepted as a formal member state" due to its perceived political instability, he added. The SCO bloc includes four ex-Soviet Central Asian republics and two new members, Pakistan and India Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet Rouhani on the sidelines of the summit, but the nuclear deal is not on the formal SCO agenda. Major SCO topics will include improving trade ties -- in part by pushing forward China's Belt and Road global infrastructure project -- and strengthening cooperation on drug trafficking, cybersecurity and counter-terrorism. Despite mistrust between China and Russia, "outside circumstances -- specifically US foreign policy -- have pushed them closer to each other", said Tugrul Keskin, director of the Center for Global Governance at Shanghai University. Xu agreed, noting US policy under Trump has been the driver of the SCO's growing profile, becoming "a kind of glue" keeping together SCO member countries who have disparate and often conflicting agendas. China's President Xi Jinping will meet Rouhani on the sidelines of the summit Russian President Vladimir Putin told Chinese state broadcaster CGTN that though the SCO began as a "low-profile organisation" that sought merely to "solve border issues" between China, Russia and former Soviet countries, it is now evolving into a larger global force. "Our objective was quite small, but as we worked together on these small issues, we found similarities between us," he said. "We realised that together we could achieve something bigger, grander." North Korean visitors walk past a painting depicting US soldiers torturing detainees at the Sinchon Museum of American War Atrocities Every few minutes a new set of visitors arrives at the 'Revenge-Pledging Place' at North Korea's Sinchon Museum, where regime propaganda insists US troops massacred more than 35,000 people during the Korean War. A volunteer among the group - they could be from a school, army unit, factory or official organisation - stands up in the concrete amphitheatre, where a mural reads "Let us drive out the Americans and reunify our nation", to issue a vitriolic denunciation of the US. Fists clenched in the air, the crowd responds with unison shouts: "Smash! Smash! Smash!" Opposition to the United States is a fundamental cornerstone of Democratic People's Republic of Korea, as the North is officially known. Pyongyang says the nuclear arsenal it has spent decades developing, suffering sanctions and isolation as a result, is to defend itself from a possible US invasion. That means next week's Singapore summit between leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump - where the North's weapons will top the agenda - presents a potential conundrum: could making peace with the enemy undermine the authorities' claim to legitimacy? The Kim dynasty bases its right to rule in founder Kim Il Sung's role in the 20th century fight against Japanese colonial rule. North Koreans take part in a 'revenge pledging' ceremony at the Sinchon Museum of American War Atrocities According to the orthodoxy, that historic mission was interrupted when the US and Soviet Union divided the peninsula between them after Tokyo's surrender ended the Second World War. The North's attempt to reunify it by force with its 1950 invasion was then thwarted again by a US-led United Nations coalition. The vilification of the US - and Japan - is constant in the North, from books and films to education centres in Pyongyang and across the country, including the centrepiece museum in Sinchon, which receives 500,000 visitors a year according to the official KCNA news agency. It portrays US troops committing a litany of atrocities in the area, their hands gnarled and their features twisted as they drive nails into their defiant victims' heads, crush them to death, or cut off a woman's breast. The Americans, said guide Ri Kum Ju, even engaged in cannibalism. "They killed people individually in brutal ways beyond human imagination, including pulling out eyeballs, searing the entire body with hot iron or cutting pieces of flesh and eating it with salt." There is one fundamental problem with this narrative: whatever happened at Sinchon in the autumn of 1950 - and the exact details including the true toll are lost to the chaos of conflict - independent researchers say there is no evidence it was carried out by the US. - 'Wolves in human form' - According to Leeds University historian Adam Cathcart, who has researched Sinchon extensively, the first foreign unit on the scene was British rather than American, and the town was of little interest to the US-led allied troops, including South Korean forces, who were advancing rapidly northwards Pyongyang. North Koreans are taught throughout their lives to loathe the United States There were undoubtedly atrocities on both sides in the war, which saw millions killed in just three years, but Cathcart says there were waves of retribution killings in and around Sinchon county that autumn between Communists, and Christians and other anti-regime elements. "This was a case of Koreans killing Koreans in the fog of war, not an American attempt to wipe out an entire county of communists through medieval methods," he says. The North's portrayal of Sinchon was "simply extremely out of line with the reality of the war", he told AFP, but had "underpinned a great deal of anti-US propaganda". One of the key exhibits at the museum is resident Ju Sang Won, now in his 70s, who says his father was dismembered by being pulled apart between two carts, and that he survived the killing of hundreds of people who were forced into a powder magazine that was then blown up. "The US imperialists are a pack of wolves in human form," he said. "We are in a quasi state of war. We must fight the American bastards to the end." A potential peace treaty to formally end the Korean War - hostilities stopped in 1953 only with a ceasefire - is likely to be discussed in Singapore, but without the framework of US imperialism, said Robert Kelly of Pusan National University, Pyongyang would struggle "to explain ideologically to North Koreans why Korea is still divided". Other analysts are more optimistic. "We saw in the cases of China and Vietnam how Communist propaganda could repurpose their messaging away from anti-American vitriol," said John Delury of Yonsei University. "Both systems 'survived' the loss of the US as an enemy state." Even so, primary school vice director Jang Yun Chang, who led the chants outside the Sinchon museum, was adamant. "I will deeply ingrain in my students the brutal nature of the US imperialists, and that it will never change," he said. "My spirit for revenge is growing stronger." The family of Akramul Haque dispute police claims that he was a drug dealer killed in a shootout Bangladesh says Akramul Haque was a meth kingpin who died after opening fire at police, one of 130 accused dealers killed in murky late-night shootouts in an increasingly bloody war on drugs. But his wife has gone public with tapes that she says prove her husband was murdered in a set-up, causing a sensation in Bangladesh as the police crackdown faces its first real scrutiny. Ayesha Begum says the phone conversations she recorded with Haque on the night he died contradict the official narrative -- that he was armed and shot at police, who returned fire in self-defence. "They killed him in cold blood," Begum told AFP from Teknaf in southeast Bangladesh, where her husband, a local councillor, was gunned down on May 27. "They said it was a shootout. But his hands were tied when he was killed. Someone was told to untie his hands after he was shot," she said, describing what she heard over the phone. AFP has listened to the audio but cannot independently verify that the voices belong to Haque, his wife and young daughter. Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said police had copies of the recordings and were investigating, but would not elaborate. Rights groups say that if true, the chilling tapes -- which have gone viral in Bangladesh -- are proof that police have committed extrajudicial killings in the campaign that began on May 15 and has also seen 15,000 people arrested. The recordings have cast doubt on what many Bangladeshis considered a legitimate effort to stamp out drugs, most notably "yaba", a cheap and hugely popular methamphetamine pill. There have been calls for an immediate inquiry, with some drawing parallels to the Philippines, where the rule of law has been eroded as thousands of bodies have piled up from a deadly drug war. - 'Terrorising the people' - A letter co-signed by 10 high-profile Bangladeshis, including independence heroes and celebrated writers, said the allegations were "unimaginable in any democratic state and society". "One such incident is enough to question the entire campaign and terrorise the people," the widely published letter said. Police say all the people killed so far were wanted drug kingpins, and all died in late-night gang wars or shootouts with police. No officers have been seriously injured. Bangladesh's elite force, the Rapid Action Battalion, this week baton-charged protesters rallying against what they say are extrajudicial killings during the drugs crackdown Haque was no different, they say. They allege he was a "top godfather" of the yaba trade in Teknaf, a key transit town for the little red pills crossing the border from labs in Myanmar. As is the case with almost all the other shootouts, police say they found drugs and weapons on his body -- in Haque's case 10,000 yaba tablets, two guns and rounds of live ammunition. But Haque's family says the father of two was innocent. "If he were a yaba dealer, we would have many properties. Yet we struggle to pay our daughters' school fees," his wife Begum told AFP. She released four recordings to the media on May 31. Haque speaks to his daughter briefly in the first three, but in the fourth he says nothing into the phone as the tape rolls. Sometime later, gunshots ring out and Begum says her husband can be heard moaning. Another man is then heard discussing how to best plant loaded guns, bullets and yaba at the scene. - Staged killings? - Rights groups say Bangladesh's security forces have a record of staging executions and Haque's alleged murder fits a pattern. "We have documented in the past, that all too often they engage in extrajudicial killings and then make up stories of these deaths in an armed exchange or in crossfire," said Human Rights Watch South Asia director Meenakshi Ganguly. Local rights activist Nur Khan Liton said Haque's case was not the first one bearing the hallmarks of a set-up. Akramul Haque's family held a press conference to highlight their claims that his wife taped a phone call moments before his death that contradicts police claims he died in a shootout "Some families said the victims were arrested first... and then killed in what appeared to be staged gun battles," he told AFP. The main opposition party -- whose leader was jailed this year ahead of a general election -- says the killings have a political angle, with five of their supporters gunned down so far. "They are murdering innocent people to create a climate of fear, so nobody can hold protests against the government," said Bangladesh Nationalist Party spokesman Rizvi Ahmed. The government estimates 400 million yaba tablets hit the streets in 2017, despite seizures numbering in the tens of millions of pills. The drugs crisis has expanded beyond urban areas, authorities say, with addicts found in rural areas of the Muslim-majority country. Even more pills are expected to flood the market this year after Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar for Bangladesh were employed as drug mules, police say. The government has vowed to eradicate the "menace" with the same aggression it used to choke homegrown Islamic extremism. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has defiantly stated that "no (drug) godfather will be spared". "I can say this because whenever I deal with something, I use an iron fist," she said. Sri Lankan authorities temporarily blocked Facebook in March as incendiary posts by Buddhist hardliners fanned religious violence that left three people dead Three months after Sri Lanka was rocked by deadly anti-Muslim riots fuelled by online vitriol, Facebook is training its staff to identify inflammatory content in the country's local languages. The social network has been seeking penance in Sri Lanka after authorities blocked Facebook in March as incendiary posts by Buddhist hardliners fanned religious violence that left three people dead and reduced hundreds of mosques, homes and businesses to ashes. Until the week-long ban, appeals to Facebook to act against the contagion of hate speech had been met with deafening silence, at a time when the California-based tech giant was reeling from unprecedented global scrutiny over fake news and user privacy. Soldiers were brought in to guard mosques in the capital Colombo amid fears that anti-Muslim riots in the central region of Kandy could spread to other areas of the island "We did make mistakes and we were slow," Facebook spokeswoman Amrit Ahuja told AFP in Colombo. The dearth of staff fluent in Sinhala -- the language spoken by Sri Lanka's largest ethnic group -- compounded the issue, with government officials and activists saying the oversight allowed extremist content to flourish undetected on the platform. Ahuja said Facebook was committed to hiring more Sinhala speakers but declined to say how many were currently employed in Sri Lanka. "This is the problem we are trying to address with Facebook. They need more Sinhala resources", said the island's telecommunications minister Harin Fernando. Since the violence broke out in March, two high-level delegations from the company have visited Sri Lanka, where ethnic divisions linger after decades of war, to assure the government of its intent. Ahuja said Facebook was working with civil society organisations to familiarise its staff with Sinhala slurs and racist epithets. Sinhala extremists used the social network to recruit rioters and organise their travel to the troubled area, from where violence later spread to other pockets Complex local nuances have added to the challenge. The word for "brother" in Tamil -- also an official language in the country -- can be a derogatory term in Sinhala when a slight inflection is used. - Desperate measures - Fernando said the decision to impose an island-wide blackout on Facebook -- used by one in three Sri Lankans -- was taken as a last resort to prevent an escalation of violence. Buddhist monks freely shared images of masked men attacking mosques and urged others to do the same in the weeks before the riots erupted in Kandy. Sinhala extremists used the social network to recruit rioters and organise their travel to the troubled area, from where violence later spread. A meme in Sinhala, which remained online for weeks, urged death to all Muslims, including children. A man who reported it to Facebook was told it did not violate "specific community standards". In addition to government warnings, Fernando told AFP that Facebook users lodged thousands of complaints over extremist content, but were met with silence. "It was not something that I liked doing. But if we didn't block Facebook, the violence would have spread out of control," he said. Eventually the army was given special powers to restore order under the first state of emergency declared in the 21-million-strong nation since the end of the civil war in 2009. - 'Action needed' - Ahuja said Facebook has since taken down "hate figures and organisations" in Sri Lanka including the Bodu Bala Sena, a radical Buddhist outfit that is blamed for attacks against Muslims in recent years. Its spokesman Dilantha Withanage complained the group and its leader -- the notorious extremist monk Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara -- were being unfairly targeted. "We can't even post a photo of venerable Gnanasara on Facebook," Withanage told AFP. But videos of his sermons can still be seen on the social network. Other extremists have also slipped through the cracks, activists say, despite repeated requests to have their accounts removed. Last year another extremist Buddhist group, Sinhale Jathika Balamuluwa, urged followers via Facebook Live to storm a UN compound sheltering Rohingya Muslims. Police had to be called in to protect the refugees from the mob. Several Facebook pages for the group have been blocked in Sri Lanka but the same content can be viewed under alternate names, activists say. "Facebook is only now being held to account over things that since 2013 were evident...(to) us," said Sanjana Hattotuwa, a researcher who has studied Islamophobia on Facebook in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka's Centre for Policy Alternatives said Facebook needed to offer more than "cookie cutter" pledges to clean up its act. "The time for promises has passed. Action is what's needed, and transparency and accountability," said Hattotuwa. US President Donald Trump said after talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that he could eventully invite Kim Jong Un to the White House if their summit goes well US President Donald Trump insisted Thursday he is "very well-prepared" for a historic and potentially fraught summit with Kim Jong Un in five days, while hinting at the signing of a peace treaty and even a future White House visit by the North Korean dictator. Hosting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Washington, Trump tried to quell concerns about his lack of diplomatic or foreign policy experience heading into the high-stakes talks. "I'm very well prepared. I dont think I have to prepare very much," Trump said with characteristic bravado. "It's about attitude, it's about willingness to get things done." Trump will meet Kim in Singapore on June 12, a first-ever meeting between sitting North Korean and US leaders and one focused on Pyongyang's ominous nuclear weapons program. Abe jetted into Washington hoping to ensure a decades-old tough united front on North Korea is not swept away by the history of the moment. Since the first inkling that a Trump-Kim summit could be on the cards, Japan has repeatedly insisted that Washington be mindful not to let its guard down with the nuclear-armed regime in Pyongyang. The Japanese prime minister will have been encouraged by Trump's insistence -- during a joint Rose Garden press conference -- that the summit will be only the start of a process and his vow to raise the issue of Japanese abductees in the North. But in their joint appearance, the mercurial US president also displayed his instinct to make the sensitive, technical diplomatic effort into a dramatic world-stopping event. Trump mused that he was willing to consider normalizing ties with North Korea, that a peace treaty to formally end the Korean War could be signed in Singapore and that a leader accused of gross human rights violations could visit the White House. "We could absolutely sign an agreement and we're looking at it," said Trump. "But that's the beginning. Sounds a little bit strange, but that's probably the easy part." Although an armistice was signed to end the war, there was never a full peace treaty -- something that fuels the North Korean regime's fears about its own security. Trump even went so far as to say he would consider inviting Kim to visit the United States if the June 12 summit in Singapore goes well. "Maybe we'll start with the White House, what do you think?" he said when asked if Kim would be invited to Washington or his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. - 'Bright future' - When asked about eventual normalization of ties, he said: "That is something I would hope to do that when everything is complete." Prime Minister Shinzo Abe insisted on the need to address the fate of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea The Japanese leader said he too was willing to have full relations with North Korea, but not before key demands were met. "I wish to directly face North Korea and talk with them so that the abduction problem can be resolved quickly," Abe said. But Abe added there was no change in Japan's policy to pursue "real peace in Northeast Asia" and that if North Korea "is willing to take steps" in the right direction, it will have a "bright future." Before leaving Tokyo, Abe clearly outlined what would need to happen for the summit to be a success: tangible progress on curbing the North's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, as well as answers about the Japanese nationals kidnapped by Pyongyang in the 1970s and 1980s. The intensifying diplomacy on North Korea has so far left Abe as the odd man out: Trump is preparing to meet Kim, while Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korea's Moon Jae-in have each already seen the North's leader twice. - Japan 'isolated' after Singapore? - For Richard Armitage, a former senior diplomat in the George W. Bush administration, Tokyo runs a very real risk of finding itself out in the cold after the Trump-Kim talks. "We should absolutely prevent decoupling Japanese and US security," he told AFP. "This is and has been an aim of China and North Korea for a long time, and we can't allow this to happen. That would be falling into a terrible trap." Trump's meeting with Abe comes ahead of what promises to be a tense Group of Seven summit in Canada, clouded by the US leader's aggressive trade policies. Japan had hoped to convince the US to shield it from fresh tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, and did not hide its bitter disappointment when those talks failed. "I will stress that measures to restrict trade would not serve the interests of any country," Abe said before heading to Washington. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull would "love" Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg -- seen here at the US Congress -- to be grilled by Australian lawmakers Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull would "love" Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg to be grilled by Australian lawmakers, he said Thursday, in the wake of revelations the tech giant allowed Chinese smartphone makers access to user data. The social media behemoth has drawn renewed criticism after confirming it shared data with Chinese electronics firms, including Huawei which has been banned by the US military over cyberespionage concerns. Canberra has recently moved to strengthen its own intelligence capability amid growing fears of foreign, particularly Chinese, political interference. "Certainly there are a lot of concerns about Facebook -- about privacy," Turnbull told reporters in Brisbane. "I would welcome Facebook coming and testifying before our parliamentary committees. "Of course, we'd love to see the boss," he said when asked if Zuckerberg should appear personally. Social networks had rapidly become "dominant in every respect" of people's lives, the prime minister added, and it was important users were aware of how their data was used. The deputy chair of Australia's joint intelligence and security committee, Anthony Byrne, said the Facebook boss needed to explain to Australia's 15 million Facebook users why it was sharing their data with Chinese firms. "It is completely unacceptable that information from Facebook users has been slyly handed over to Huawei by Facebook," he told the Australian newspaper. "I want to know why Mr Zuckerberg allowed this to happen. If need be, he will be invited to appear before the (committee) in a public hearing to explain himself to our committee and the Australian people." The revelations come weeks after Zuckerberg was grilled in US Congress about the hijacking of personal data on some 87 million Facebook users by Cambridge Analytica, a consultancy working on Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign. Facebook said its contracts with phone makers placed tight limits on what could be done with data, and information obtained by Huawei was not stored on the firm's server. The social media giant said it was winding up the interface arrangements with device makers and its integration partnership with Huawei would end this week. Huawei has said that it has never collected or stored any Facebook data and has claimed any national security concerns were unfounded. The scenario simulated the enemy bombing of an airfield and a paratrooper attack, with the deployment of fighter jets, attack helicopters and ground troops to take back the base Fighter jets, helicopters and thousands of troops in Taiwan fought back a simulated Chinese invasion Thursday as the self-ruled island faces increasing military and diplomatic pressure from Beijing. Relations between Taipei and Beijing have deteriorated since President Tsai Ing-wen was elected in 2016, as her government refuses to acknowledge that Taiwan is part of "one China". Live-fire drills began Monday with troops simulating surprise air and coastal assaults to reflect increased military threats from China, which sees Taiwan as a renegade province to be brought back into the fold -- by force if necessary. The drills simulate a Chinese "invasion," involving surprise air and coastal assaults to reflect increased military threats from China Tsai watched Thursday's session of the ongoing "Han Kuang" (Han Glory) exercise involving 4,100 soldiers, attack helicopters and fighter jets from an air base in Taichung. Thursday's scenario simulated the enemy bombing of an airfield and a paratrooper attack, with air and ground troops deployed to take back the base. An F-16 fighter flew overhead and deployed flares in a defensive move against heat-seeking missiles. Special operations troops were seen moving to secure a building. "I have seen our troops' capabilities and I have faith that our troops can achieve the goal of 'solid defence and multiple deterrence'," Tsai said. China held its own live-fire drills in April in the Taiwan Strait -- the narrow waterway separating the Chinese mainland from Taiwan -- following weeks of air and naval manoeuvres in the area. Beijing has also stepped up diplomatic pressure on Taipei, luring four countries to switch allegiance from Taiwan to China since Tsai took office Beijing has also stepped up diplomatic pressure on Taipei, luring four countries to switch allegiance from Taiwan to China since Tsai took office. China has been incensed by a recent warming in relations between Taiwan and the United States, which remains the island's most powerful ally and arms supplier even though it has no official diplomatic ties. President Donald Trump recently signed a symbolic bill paving the way for mutual visits by high-level officials and Washington gave long-awaited approval for a licence necessary to sell submarine technology to Taiwan. A defence spending bill currently before congress in Washington calls on the US military to participate in Taiwan's drills, including the annual Han Kuang exercise. "We are optimistic about all exchanges with the US as long as it's about national security, and regional peace and stability," defence ministry spokesman Chen Chung-chi said when asked to comment on American participation in Taiwan's drills. On Monday, the pilot of an F-16 jet involved in the drills was killed after crashing into a mountain in northern Taiwan. The cause of the incident was under investigation. Iraqis inspect the aftermath of an explosion in Baghdad's Sadr City district, on June 7, 2018 At least 16 people were killed and dozens injured after an arms depot exploded in the Sadr City district of the Iraqi capital late Wednesday, security and medical sources said. "An arms depot exploded... The security forces have opened an inquiry to determine the cause," Baghdad's security operations command said in a statement. A senior police source told AFP on condition of anonymity that the blast was caused by heavy weapons, including rocket-propelled grenades and shells, belonging to an armed group and stored in a house. He said at least 16 people were killed and some 32 injured in the explosion. Medical sources confirmed the toll and said that women and children were found among the victims. Sources said the blast struck near a Shiite mosque in the district of northeast Baghdad. Witnesses reported heavy material damage to homes and other buildings in the Sadr City district, which is a stronghold of populist Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr. The Afghan government indicated the ceasefire will run from June 12 to 15 Afghanistan announced Thursday a week-long ceasefire with the Taliban for Eid, the holiday that caps off Ramadan, though operations against other groups including Islamic State will continue. The ceasefire will last "from the 27th of Ramadan until the fifth day of Eid-al-Fitr," President Ashraf Ghani tweeted from an official account, indicating it could run from June 12-19. It was not immediately clear if the Taliban had agreed to the ceasefire, which would be the first for Eid since the US invasion in 2001. "We are checking with our officials regarding the ceasefire announcement," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP. The surprise move comes days after a gathering of Afghanistan's top clerics in the capital Kabul called for a ceasefire and issued a fatwa against suicide bombings and attacks. An hour after the fatwa was issued, a suicide bomber detonated outside the gathering, killing seven people. Ghani said his government supported the clerics' call. "The government of Afghanistan not only supports the unanimous fatwa announcement by the ulemas (scholars), but also backs the recommended ceasefire," he said in a statement released by his office. "(At) the same time, the Afghan government directs all the security and defence forces of the country... to stop all the attacks on the Taliban, but the operation will continue against Daesh (Islamic State), Al-Qaeda and other international terrorist networks." In February Ghani unveiled a plan to open peace talks with the Taliban, including eventually recognising them as a political party. At the time he also called for a ceasefire. The insurgents did not officially respond, but announced the launch of their annual spring offensive in an apparent rejection of the plan, one of the most comprehensive ever offered by the Afghan government. Last month, the Pentagon said that senior Taliban officials have been secretly negotiating with Afghan officials on a possible ceasefire. "A lot of the diplomatic activity and dialogue is occurring off the stage, and it's occurring at multiple levels," General John Nicholson said in a teleconference with reporters at the Pentagon. He would not identify the figures involved in the negotiations, except to say that they included mid- and senior-level Taliban officials. A ceasefire would bring welcome relief to civilians in the war-torn country, nearly 17 years after the Taliban regime was toppled. In recent years the resurgent militant group, along with the Islamic State group, have stepped up their attacks on Kabul in particular, making it the deadliest place in the country for civilians. Fearful residents have limited their movements and Eid celebrations in the capital are set to be muted, unlike in other parts of the Muslim world. This way the other person will realize of which you gave importance him and then she listened to his point of view on that subject by which he is angry. 7.She enumerates the listened thing: When a person is angry begins by the part in which according to her she is right. Then you must enumerate the facts to him objectively to be able to reconstruct all the story and of that way to change the center to him of the anger. 8.No he has because to give the reason him, but he does not say either to him that he is mistaken. For other opinions and approaches, find out what Wendy's has to say. When somebody is very angry is very difficult to make change it of opinion. But you can calm it with phrases like: " in place yours " would have done the same; or " I understand like you sents" , etc. 9.It secures a solution: If you do not know like helping that person, pregntele. If you know how to help she enumerates it the steps that must follow to solve the problem. If it sees that it is not in an suitable position to solve the problem it tries to look for aid. Dgale wants that it to help. Of that way the other person would notice that to you really you matter to him and who is arranged to help it. Dayton kingery has firm opinions on the matter. 10.It eliminates the following phrases: " If you calmed a little " " If you left hablar" me; " You are being irrazonable" " Exactly which is its problem? " These phrases which obtains are to exacerbate the problem and to intensify the wrath of the person who speaks to us. To all this it is added, the suggestion, that if it observes that the person is uncontrollable the best thing than can do is to go away. The appropriate commentaries can be that it will find to which solves the problem to him and thus to be able to take off itself of the situation of which is not contributor. One remembers in addition, that if it deals with an angry person while he remains calm will be able to handle the situation. Really, it must be known how to manage the emotions, maintain the calm, be balance and to confront the situation with much serenity and optimism to leave ahead. basic *Referencia.: enplenitud.com Original author and source of the article. Public disgust over claims that Malaysia's former leader and his cronies looted 1MDB were a major factor in Najib Razak's shock election loss Malaysia's anti-corruption agency said Thursday it was seeking the assistance of a playboy financier as it steps up investigations into a massive financial scandal. Jho Low is accused of being a key figure in the controversy surrounding sovereign wealth fund 1MDB. He is a close associate of toppled prime minister Najib Razak, and allegedly part of a scheme to plunder billions from the investment vehicle. Public disgust over claims that the former leader and his cronies looted 1MDB were a major factor in the shock election loss last month of Najib's long-ruling coalition. Najib and his wife Rosmah Mansor, notorious for her vast collection of designer handbags, have already been questioned by anti-corruption investigators over the disappearance of money from a former unit of 1MDB. However Low, a high-roller who hung out with celebrities in the US and reportedly splurged vast sums in New York party hotspots, is still at large and thought to be outside Malaysia. The flamboyant 36-year-old held no official positions at 1MDB but is believed to have exerted great influence over the fund. The US Justice Departmant alleges he funnelled vast sums of money from 1MDB to the United States, and used it to buy everything from rare art to high-end real estate. Low has previously denied any wrongdoing. The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) said it was seeking Low to aid their investigations into SRC International, which used to be a subsidiary of 1MDB. The anti-graft agency is also after the assistance of SRC director Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil. The Wall Street Journal has reported that 42 million ringgit ($11 million) originating from SRC was transferred to Najib's personal bank accounts -- just one small part of the graft scandal. A spokesman for Low said he was aware of the MACC request for assistance. "Mr. Low immediately instructed his lawyers to make contact with the MACC today with respect to offering such assistance," said a statement from the spokesman. The financier's current whereabouts are unclear. He was believed to have been sailing around Asia on a luxury yacht allegedly bought with stolen 1MDB cash before it was seized off the Indonesian holiday island of Bali in February. Home Minister Muhyiddin Yassin meanwhile said that sufficient evidence had been gathered to bring Low to justice, state news agency Bernama reported. China's President Xi Jinping has launched a massive anti-graft campaign that includes efforts to repatriate allegedly corrupt officials who have fled abroad Chinese authorities have called on the public to help track down fugitives abroad by publishing the names, photos and even addresses of 50 high-profile suspects beyond its grasp. A massive anti-graft campaign launched by President Xi Jinping includes a push to repatriate allegedly corrupt officials who have fled abroad -- an effort known as "Sky Net". But most Western countries including the United States do not have extradition treaties with China, where courts are overseen by the Communist Party and the use of force by police to extract confessions is believed to be common. Nearly half of those wanted may be hiding out in the US, with others allegedly on the run in Canada, New Zealand and Australia, according to the party's corruption watchdog. The anti-graft agency has set up a new whistleblowing website to collect tips on the suspects' whereabouts from ordinary people who can choose to remain anonymous. "The repatriation of foreign fugitives is an important part of the anti-corruption campaign and an important part of our diplomatic work," foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular press briefing on Thursday. The watchdog, known as the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), said Wednesday it hopes to "work closely with the masses and actively mobilise them to weave a dragnet so those fleeing with money abroad will have nowhere to hide". Xi's anti-corruption campaign has raised concerns after reports China dispatched law enforcers to other countries to pressure suspects into returning, without notifying overseas governments. The CCDI said the public and overseas Chinese community had already helped in tracking down and "persuading" some fugitives to return to China after details of 22 suspects were publicised last year -- six of whom have been nabbed so far. By the end of April, the corruption watchdog had altogether "recovered" 4,141 fugitives from more than 90 countries and regions, it said. California is a hotspot for fleeing Chinese fugitives, the data shows, with eight of 23 suspects in the US thought to be hiding out in the "Golden State". Among them is Peng Xufeng, 52, who may be harboured in the sunny community of Chino Hills, where single family homes line sleepy suburban streets. He is the former chairman of the state-owned Changsha Metro Group, and is alleged to have fled with passports from Saint Kitts and Nevis as well as Cyprus. He is charged with money laundering and accepting bribes. The standoff between protesters and the government is bad for business Seibou Issa sits in his shop for a meeting with his two employees. As usual since the start of the political crisis in Togo in September last year, business has not been good "Trade is practically dead," he complained at his electrical store in the Deckon area of the capital, Lome, which is the economic driver of the tiny West African nation. "My sales are down more than half because most of my clients are from neighbouring countries. Recently, they've been afraid to come," he told AFP. A short distance away from Issa's unsold new fridges and cookers, Paul Azedjan is trying to sell telephones. "It's really hard," he said. "Customers are few and far between and some suppliers are going to Benin and Ghana because we haven't got rid of the stock." Deckon is home to dozens of shops, banks and the headquarters of major firms. As a result, the government has tried, sometimes unsuccessfully, to prevent protesters from heading there in case their marches hit economic activity. - Budget cut - Since September last year, hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets across the country in support of opposition parties who want President Faure Gnassingbe to quit. Gnassingbe has led Togo since the death of his father, General Gnassingbe Eyadema, in 2005. In all, the family has been in charge of the country for more than 50 years. Will they run out of steam? The government is playing a game of attrition and is banking on protesters running out of steam before the next elections in two years' time. The strategy has been effective in grinding down popular support for the opposition but is harming economic activity in the longer term. A study published in April by the Togo Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIT), saw 72 percent of 912 company bosses say they had seen second-quarter revenues drop by 25-50 percent in 2017. An International Monetary Fund delegation that visited Togo in the same month also noted that economic activity had slowed because of socio-political strife. The rate of economic growth was estimated to be 4.4 percent in 2017, down from 5.1 percent in 2015. This year, the IMF said it would be just under 5.0 percent. On May 25, the government adopted a proposal to reduce the state budget this year by 1.0 percent because of the decline in fiscal revenue from the first quarter. It justified the budget cut because of "the changing socio-economic and financial situation of the country... hit by violence that has negatively affected economic activity". The political opposition this week announced a fresh wave of demonstrations, as talks with the government brokered by the presidents of Ghana and Guinea remained in deadlock. - Urgent solution - More and more shops are closing Veteran opposition leader Jean-Pierre Fabre has asked supporters to be "resolute, courageous and tough" but in Togo's markets, people said they were sad to see shops shut. "Politicians should gauge the magnitude of the situation and quickly find a solution to this crisis," said Dede Maglo, who runs a computer distribution business. She said she has lost 40 percent in revenue this year. "To stay afloat, I've laid off three staff and dismissed all the trainees," she said. A third of Togo's eight million people already do not have enough work. Afiwa Djissou, who sells cosmetics at Lome's main market, had to close two of her shops in the last three months. "I brought all the stock from the main shop to cut overheads," she said. "I'm really worried because the atmosphere is not good." Ethiopian soldiers, pictured in deployment on the border with Eritrea in 2005. A dispute over the frontier triggered a two-year border war -- relations remain poisoned to this day Ethiopia's surprise declaration that it will implement a nearly 20-year-old peace agreement with its neighbour Eritrea could spell an end to a long cold war that has damaged both countries, analysts say. Reconciliation, they say, could transform both nations' politics and economies -- but it first faces a mighty hurdle of animosity between the two neighbours. "This is a really important first step," said Dan Connell, a researcher on Eritrea at Boston University. "We should welcome the announcement with a degree of caution," said Rashid Abdi, Horn of Africa director at the International Crisis Group think tank in Nairobi. Once a part of Ethiopia, Eritrea fought a three-decade independence war against Addis Ababa. The two then fought again, from 1998-2000 over a disputed border, and tensions have persisted after Ethiopia refused to accept the 2002 ruling of a UN-backed boundary commission that divided up contested territory. Ethiopia's new prime minister, had promised to make peace with the country's northern neighbour after taking office earlier this year On Tuesday, Ethiopia's new prime minister Abiy Ahmed -- a former army officer who fought against Eritrea -- declared the country would abide by the accord, handing back the occupied frontier town of Badme. "We should end this suffering and fully return to peace," Abiy said in a speech the day after the announcement. Eritrea is yet to respond to the announcement while Ethiopia has not said whether its troops have begun their withdrawal from Badme. - Isolated, authoritarian - Eritrea's president, Isaias Afwerki, has long justified restrictive rule, punishing military conscription and the jailing of dissidents as necessities to defend itself against its much larger neighbour. His authoritarian leadership has left his country diplomatically isolated and triggered an exodus of Eritreans making the dangerous migration to Europe. The Ethiopian move, "pushes the ball into Eritrea's court and actually puts pressure on Eritrea," said Abdi. It could in fact undermine Isaias' rule. "They've evolved a system of governance [in Eritrea] that has depended almost entirely on a national emergency," said Connell. Supporters of Eritrea say it was doubly betrayed, by Ethiopia refusing to accept the boundary ruling and the international community -- chiefly the US -- failing to hold Addis Ababa to account. The tiny Red Sea nation was once part of Ethiopia, comprising its entire coastline, until 1993 when it voted to secede, rendering Ethiopia landlocked. Not long after, a disagreement over the demarcation of their shared border sparked a war that killed around 80,000 people. A UN-backed boundary commission ruled in Eritrea's favour in 2002 but Ethiopia ignored the findings. Abiy's surprise announcement was unanimously sanctioned by 36 top officials of the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), Connell said. A Western diplomat said Eritrea was not consulted. Since taking office in April, Abiy has been under pressure to maintain years of rapid economic growth while addressing unrest over the EPRDF's authoritarian one-party rule. This week, as well as announcing the unilateral detente with Eritrea, Abiy lifted the latest state of emergency imposed to quell anti-government protests, and permitted for the first time foreign investment in key state-run industries, including its sole telecom company, in a bid to address rising debt and a shortage of foreign exchange. - 'More than lines on a map' - Since the war with Eritrea, Ethiopia has relied on Djibouti's port most of its imports and exports, and has imposed a costly militarisation of its northern frontier, which local leaders complain is hampering development. Abiy's "internal reforms will be incomplete while a frozen conflict [with Eritrea] remains in place," Abdi said. But announcing compliance with 2000 peace deal and 2002 boundary ruling, and implementing them, are very different things, Connell said. Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki has used the perceived threat from Ethiopia to justify oppression at home, say critics Under the UN ruling, Ethiopian troops must pull out of the disputed area and neighbouring communities will find themselves marooned in either country. Gebru Asrat, who served as president of Ethiopia's Tigray state during the war, said the hostilities are about more than lines on a map. He traced the conflict's roots to Eritrea's 1997 decision to introduce its own currency, enraging Addis Ababa and complicating trade. "Future negotiations must address this important issue," said Gebru, who now leads an opposition party. "Otherwise sustainable peace may not prevail in the region by ceding land to Eritrea." Lea Brilmayer, a law professor at Yale University, argued Eritrea's case before the boundary commission and is sceptical of Ethiopia's announcement. Map showing Ethiopia and Eritrea "There have been previous occasions when it seemed that things were definitively solved, only to find out that Ethiopia had a rather eccentric and self-serving idea about what it meant to treat the decision as final and binding," she said. The war in South Sudan has triggered a worsening refugee crisis A humanitarian crisis in conflict-torn South Sudan is reaching alarming proportions after four and a half years of fighting, Jan Egeland of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) warned on Thursday. "I've never before seen, heard, experienced so many people being so food-insecure in so many places in South Sudan," he told a press conference in Nairobi. "What is different this year is that the acute food insecurity has spread to more parts of the country," such as southern Equatoria, he said. In February, UN agencies warned that 48 percent of South Sudan's population was experiencing extreme hunger and seven million would need aid in 2018. In 2017 some 100,000 people were affected by a famine -- meaning people started dying due to lack of food. It was declared over in June. However the protracted conflict has devastated agriculture, displaced millions and sent food prices soaring, putting 11 counties at risk of man-made famine this year. Egeland highlighted increasing fatigue with the conflict while donors are overstretched with crises elsewhere, and the difficulty for aid workers inside the country. "South Sudan gets decreasing attention and has increasing needs. We are ready to help but we need more resources, we need access, security and we need a ceasefire," he said. Since war broke out in December 2013, 101 aid workers have been killed in South Sudan, said Egeland. South Sudan, the world's youngest nation, was engulfed by civil war in 2013 after President Salva Kiir accused his rival and former deputy Riek Machar of plotting a coup against him. Violence -- initially between ethnic Dinka supporters of Kiir and ethnic Nuer supporters of Machar -- has since spread to other parts of the country, engulfing other ethnic groups. The last ceasefire, signed in December, was broken within hours while the latest round of peace talks in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa have stalled. Last week the UN Security Council gave the two warring sides a month to reach a peace deal or face sanctions. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir this week offered to host a meeting between Kiir and Machar. Kiir welcomed the opportunity while Machar's camp said they would be happy to hold such a meeting, but had not been informed about it. Observers say that with the government winning militarily and the opposition fractured more than ever before, there is little incentive for Kiir to make concessions to his rivals. Dozens of organisations including rights groups and pro-democracy activists have urged the European Union to reject a proposed free trade agreement with Vietnam Dozens of organisations including rights groups and pro-democracy activists have urged the European Union to reject a proposed free trade agreement with Vietnam, accusing the one-party state of being among the "worst enemies" of human rights. The deal, which was signed in 2015 but has yet to be ratified by the European Parliament due to legal wrangling, would eliminate trade tariffs and be a major boon for Vietnam's economy. The trade pact is seen as particularly important for Vietnam after the US last year pulled out of the massive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), from which the Southeast Asian nation stood to make enormous gains. But in a letter Thursday, a total of 90 organisations called on the EU to pull out of the agreement and accused the communist country of waging a crackdown on critics. "It would be a disgrace if European countries were to ratify free trade with a country that is one of the world's worst enemies of freedom of expression, freedom of the press and freedom of association," said the open letter addressed to the EU Council and the European Parliament. The letter accused Vietnam of "arbitrarily" detaining scores of dissidents over the past year, including several prominent members of the Brotherhood for Democracy activist group who were handed heavy sentences in April for attempting to overthrow the state. It also said the EU should freeze economic cooperation with Vietnam until Hanoi releases all political prisoners and "demonstrates its full respect for freedom of information and freedom of association". Vietnam has denied rights abuses and said it jails activists in line with the law. The government and the EU did not reply to requests for comment on Thursday. However, in December the European Parliament passed a resolution expressing concern about "the rise in the number of detentions, arrests and convictions of Vietnamese citizens related to the expression of their opinions" and called for their release. Signatories of the letter include Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the Social Democratic Party of Europe and the Vietnam-based Brotherhood for Democracy group. RSF said Thursday the EU should reconsider the deal in response to Vietnam's recent rights crackdown. "The will of authorities is really to crush anybody who raises their voice... this is the risk you take if you dare to speak up," the head of RSF's Asia-Pacific desk Daniel Bastard told AFP. The European Union was Vietnam's second largest export market in 2017 after the United States, sending $38.3 billion in goods to the bloc. The manufacturing hub mostly exports cheap phones and computers, shoes and clothes, and coffee and cashew nuts to Europe. Its leading imports from the 28-member bloc are machinery and aircraft. Vietnam has eagerly courted trade partners since US President Donald Trump pulled out of the sprawling 12-country TPP last year. The deal is moving ahead with 11 countries though it is significantly watered down without the world's number one economy. No caption Five pro-democracy campaigners held without trial in the Democratic Republic of Congo since December were to go before a prosecutor Thursday, their lawyer said as human rights groups pressed their case. "The five activists from the Filimbi movement -- Carbone Beni, Mino Bopomi, Cedric Kalonji, Grace Tshunza and Palmer Kabeya -- were transferred yesterday to the high court prosecutor in Gombe," a wealthy part of the capital, defence lawyer Chris-Sam Kabeya told AFP. Kebeya said the five "will be presented today before a prosecutor who will determine their fate". The activists were arrested as they mobilised residents of the capital Kinshasa for a nationwide rally on December 31 last year against the extended rule of President Joseph Kabila. Six people were killed during the protests and the crackdown sparked international condemnation. Human rights groups and the five's families have protested their detention ever since, alleging they were held arbitrarily in ANR intelligence service dungeons and subjected to torture. The families last Friday demanded they either be released or be brought before a prosecutor while MONUSCO, the UN mission in DRC, said it was closely monitoring developments. On that occasion, another lawyer for the group said that Beni, their leader, whose release Human Rights Watch urged a month ago, had stomach and knee problems and had undergone surgery, while Kabeya and Kalonji were also "in a very bad state" but had not received any health care. - 'Promises of death' - A former civil servant, now an activist with a women's movement in the eastern town of Goma, was reported transferred to ANR headquarters in Kinshasa last month while, nationwide "around 100 people" are being held in secret, says the Congolese Association for Access to Justice (ACAJ), a figure MONUSCO cannot itself confirm. "Filimbi activists are among hundreds of pro-democracy activists and human rights defenders, journalists and opposition supporters arrested since 2015," says Human Rights Watch, adding many have been held without charge or access to family or lawyers. HRW and ACAJ stress that under DRC law, detainees are entitled to access to a lawyer within 48 hours. Fred Bauma, a Lucha citizen movement activist held for 17 months who spent time in ANR detention, told Jeune Afrique magazine in 2016 he faced "daily threats from hundreds of ANR agents (who) repeatedly promised us death." Another activist told AFP of "highly degrading and inhuman" conditions akin to "creeping death" with ten-strong groups packed into grimy cells where they slept on the floor and received one meal a day. A high ranking military intelligence official insisted to AFP that "there are no civilians in detention." Russian military police stand by as Syrian soldiers inspect a convoy carrying displaced people returning home to government-controlled territory in Idlib province President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said Russian forces would remain in Syria as long as it was in Moscow's interests, despite earlier announcing Russia's mission in the war-torn country was largely completed. "Our military is there to ensure Russia's interests in an important region of the world," Putin said in a response to a question during an annual televised phone-in with the Russian public. "They will stay there as long as it is beneficial to Russia and to ensure our international obligations. We are not planning to withdraw yet," he said. The president said the continued presence of Russian troops in the country would provide "invaluable experience" in the testing of new Russian weapons. But he added that large-scale hostilities had ceased and a peaceful settlement was on the agenda. The Russian president first launched a military intervention in Syria in 2015, turning the tables in the multi-front civil war in favour of ally President Bashar al-Assad. In December last year, Putin made a surprise visit to Russia's Hmeimim airbase in Latakia, Syria where he ordered a partial pullout of the country's troops, saying their mission there was mainly completed. Putin first said in March 2016 that the country's military campaign in Syria was coming to an end. In March this year, the defence ministry said a total of 2,954 Russian troops in Syria had voted in presidential polls, giving an idea of current numbers. Officials and observers also point out the presence of a "shadow army" of Russian mercenaries in Syria, including those working for a private military company called Wagner. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was "no longer immune" from retaliation, while declaring the Iran nuclear deal over after Washington ditched the accord. Noting that Israel had stayed out of Syria's protracted civil war, in which Tehran backs Assad, Netanyahu said increasing Iranian encroachment required "a new calculus". "He is no longer immune, his regime is no longer immune. If he fires at us, as we've just demonstrated, we will destroy his forces," the Israeli leader said at an event organised by the Policy Exchange think tank in London. Last month, Israel launched a large-scale attack on purported Iranian targets in Syria following what it said was a barrage of rockets fired by Iran from the country toward its forces in the occupied Golan Heights. Even before that, Israel had been blamed for a series of recent strikes inside Syria that killed Iranians, though it has not acknowledged them. "Syria has to understand that Israel will not tolerate the Iranian military entrenchment in Syria against Israel," Netanyahu added. "The consequences are not merely to the Iranian forces there but to the Assad regime as well," he said, adding: "I think it's something that he should consider very seriously". Netanyahu is on a three-day European tour -- visiting Berlin and Paris earlier this week -- marked by strategic differences on Iran, as its leaders attempt to rescue the nuclear deal after US withdrawal in May. He met Wednesday with British Prime Minister Theresa May, who reiterated London's "firm commitment" to the accord, according to Downing Street. But the Israeli leader said Thursday "the weight of the American economy" was already dooming "this very bad agreement". "It's a done deal -- in the other meaning of the word," he added, noting companies were already pulling out of Iran under threat of damaging US sanctions. "You have to choose whether to do business with Iran, or forego doing business with the United States... that's a no-brainer and everybody's choosing it effectively as we speak." Netanyahu said he had reiterated his dislike for the 2015 deal, which offers sanctions relief in exchange for strict limits on Iran's nuclear activities. However, the focus of his discussions in Europe had been on reducing Iran's presence in Syria, he added. "I found considerable agreement on that goal." At the same time, he criticised his European hosts for an outdated approach to the region. Netanyahu said Iranian expansion had led to a "realignment" of relations with Arab states in the Middle East who also oppose Tehran -- something Britain and western Europe were "evidently not understanding". "There is a whole realignment taking place in the Middle East -- they're sort of stuck in the past," he added, displaying a map of the world with numerous countries highlighted to show Israel's "expanding diplomatic horizons". "I think there's a west European problem with recognising that the world is changing," he said. The meeting between the two leaders follows a much anticipated face-to-face in late April Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday just weeks after the pair agreed to open a new chapter in their relationship following a tense border standoff. The leaders of the world's two most populous nations will hold a bilateral meeting in the Chinese city of Qingdao on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, India's foreign ministry said Thursday. It follows a much anticipated face-to-face in late April when Xi and Modi sought to mend ties after a period of hostility between the regional powers. During that encounter, both agreed to maintain "peace and tranquility" at their borders, without specifically mentioning their militaries coming eyeball-to-eyeball in a disputed Himalayan area last year. Both sides stood down and a major crisis was averted but the neighbours have a long history of mistrust. Modi used a major security speech in Singapore this month to call for all countries to have "equal access" to shared maritime areas under international law -- comments seen as directed at China and its expansionism in the South China Sea. The US has put new emphasis on military ties with New Delhi and the rising importance of the Indian Ocean as nations look to counter China's inexorable military rise. China and Russia lead the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation security bloc that will feature arch-rivals India and Pakistan as new members for the first time. The two-day gathering revolves around trade and security and China's Belt and Road infrastructure project is likely to feature on the agenda. India has raised concerns about the initiative as a major section passes through Pakistan-administered Kashmir, a disputed territory that New Delhi claims is illegally occupied. US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who announced a deal to ease sanctions on Chinese firm ZTE, is seen at a June 3 meeting in Beijing with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He Washington and Beijing have reached a deal to ease sanctions that brought Chinese smartphone maker ZTE to the brink of collapse, the US Commerce Department announced Thursday. The agreement also follows a reported offer by Beijing to ramp up purchases of American goods and thereby drive down the yawning trade deficit between the world's two largest economies -- moving part-way towards meeting a key demand of US President Donald Trump in ongoing trade talks. ZTE will pay a $1 billion penalty, and put another $400 million in escrow to cover possible future violations before being stricken from a sanctions list. Under the deal, the Chinese giant will also have to change its entire board of directors and retain outside legal compliance specialists who will report to the Commerce Department for 10 years. Total US penalties imposed on ZTE now amount to $2.3 billion, according to the Commerce Department. In April, the Chinese group was cut off from US technology products for violating US sanctions against North Korea and Iran -- measures which threatened to put ZTE out of business. Washington lawmakers were indignant last month after Trump offered to rescue ZTE as a personal favor to Chinese President Xi Jinping -- even though the company is widely considered a liability for US national cyber-security. - 'A pretty strict settlement' - Democrat and Republican senators denounced Trump's offer to ease the ZTE sanctions as an offer that imposed punitive measures the company had already disregarded once before, while garnering no true concessions from China. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told CNBC on Thursday the deal was tough and would keep ZTE on a short leash. "This is a pretty strict settlement. The strictest and largest settlement fine that has ever been brought by the Commerce Department against any violator of export controls." Several US lawmakers have warned against easing sanctions on ZTE, citing national security concerns. The news comes as Trump presses ahead with plans to impose as much as $50 billion in tariffs on Chinese imports to punish Beijing for its alleged theft of American technology and know-how. Washington and Beijing have pursued a halting series of trade talks, with Trump demanding a $200 billion reduction in its yawning trade deficit with China. Ross told CNBC the ZTE deal was an enforcement matter that was unrelated to the trade talks, which he has led. But it came shortly after Chinese officials offered to buy an additional $70 billion in US goods to cut the trade deficit, moving toward meeting one of Trump's central demands on trade. French President Emmanuel Macron (L) and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (R) presented a common front in Ottawa before heading to the G7 summit Europe and hosts Canada warned US President Donald Trump on Thursday that they will not be intimidated at the G7 summit, despite fears that a trade war will weaken the Western alliance. With the leaders of the Group of Seven industrialized democracies due in Quebec, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned the US leader that they would not roll over on trade tariffs. And France's President Emmanuel Macron, who met Trudeau in Ottawa before they headed on to the summit, said he would rally support from his British, German and Italian counterparts before they all sit down with Trump. "The American President may not mind being isolated, but neither do we mind signing a six country agreement if need be," Macron tweeted in English, turning to the medium Trump has made his own. "Because these six countries represent values, they represent an economic market which has the weight of history behind it and which is now a true international force." Trump, of course, responded in kind. President Donald Trump comes to the Quebec G7 touting an America First agenda that hits allies US with trade tariffs and threatens multilateral free trade deals "Please tell Prime Minister Trudeau and President Macron that they are charging the US massive tariffs and create non-monetary barriers," he tweeted. "The EU trade surplus with the US is $151 Billion, and Canada keeps our farmers and others out. Look forward to seeing them tomorrow." "Why isn't the European Union and Canada informing the public that for years they have used massive Trade Tariffs and non-monetary Trade Barriers against the U.S.," he later added. "Take down your tariffs & barriers or we will more than match you!" Trump, who met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Washington before the summit, may be more preoccupied with next week's historic nuclear summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. But before leaving Washington, he made clear that he too has no intention of backing down on his plan to rebalance trade by imposing tariffs on steel, aluminum and other goods imported from US allies. - All-out trade war - Protestors march near riot police during an anti-G7 demonstration in Quebec City on the eve of the leaders' summit So great is the rift between traditional allies that some observers have suggested renaming the G7 summit the G6+1 -- and Macron said they should not hesitate to reach agreements without Trump. But observers point out that the group has never before failed to agree on some form of final communique, even in 1985, when they were likewise divided over trade. Despite the threat that tensions over trade could tear the Western alliance apart and damage the cause of globalization and free trade, the usual group of anti-capitalist protesters gathered. The main meetings will be held two-and-a-half hours north of Quebec City -- and of the international media center housing most of the reporters following the summit -- in La Malbaie, Charlevoix. But a small group of around 400 protesters had gathered in the provincial capital anyway on Thursday night, and were confronted by a large police operation to contain them. As night fell crowds gathered near the conference media center, some of them burning G7 flags and assaulting journalists. Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel had already admitted it will be difficult to even agree on wording for the traditional joint communique at the two-day meeting. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday that there would be "no compromise for its own sake" at the G7 summit Merkel said Wednesday there would be "no compromise for its own sake" and dropping the statement "may be the more honest way." Canada's Trade Minister Francois Philippe Champagne was even more blunt, declaring: "What we are seeing is that the world economic order is under pressure, under attack." Top White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow opposed tariffs before joining Trump's team, but now says he agrees the trade status quo hurts America. "Until we can have reciprocal relationships, we will not have free trade, and we will not have fair trade," Kudlow said. - End of the world order - The G7 developed in part because the world's rich powers -- despite their Cold War victory -- became frustrated working through the broader multilateral system with lesser rivals. Flags fly over the Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu hotel, the location for the G7 summit in La Malbaie, Quebec The globalized economy they helped build had both winners and losers but, until Trump's election, the United States was seen as the system's uncontested leader and a major beneficiary. But since coming to office in January 2017, Trump has pulled the US out of the Paris climate accord, the Iran nuclear deal and the TPP Pacific free trade deal. The summit begins Friday in La Malbaie, in Charlevoix, north of Quebec, and runs until Saturday, when Trump flies on to Singapore. Mozambique's Cabo Delgado province, where large deposits of natural gas have been found offshore, has suffered a spate of suspected jihadists attacks since October Suspected jihadists wielding knives and machetes killed five people in a Mozambique region that has been rocked by attacks blamed on radical Islamists, police said Thursday. Cabo Delgado, a northern province expected to become the centre of a natural gas industry after several promising discoveries, has seen a string of assaults on security forces and civilians since October. "There was one more attack (by) the same group that has been attacking the neighbouring villages, (it) attacked a village on Wednesday around 9:00 pm and killed five and destroyed houses and left running," a police source told AFP. The attackers targeted Namaluco village in the Quissanga district of Cabo Delgado. Rights group Amnesty International said in a statement that as many as 10 people were killed in the latest attacks, but AFP was unable to confirm this toll. Police reinforcements had been deployed to the area to step up security but attacks have continued unabated. Police believe the same group also hacked seven people to death in another village in the region on Tuesday after beheading 10 people in another settlement on May 27. "The strategy of the group is to attack different villages over several days, confusing the strategic response of government forces," added the police source. Cabo Delgado police spokesman Augusto Guto said that "defence and security forces are on the ground hunting the attackers". The May 27 bloodshed 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 Cabo Delgado. - 'An alarming deterioration' - Wednesday's slayings ocurred roughly 100 kilometres (62 miles) from Pemba, a town that is an emerging tourist destination. In October, armed men targeted a police station and military post in the regional town of Mocimboa da Praia in what was believed to be the first jihadist attack on the country. Two officers died and 14 attackers were killed. Police believe the same jihadist group responsible for Thursday's attack hacked seven people to death in Naude on June 5 "It is an alarming deterioration. It has contributed to a climate of uncertainty and fear in Cabo Delgado," said Alex Vines, a Mozambique expert at the London-based Chatham House think-tank. "International investors are asking questions about the ability of the Mozambican authorities to both contain and counter this emerging problem." The group, often described by locals and officials as "Al-Shabaab", has no known link to the Somali jihadist group of the same name. In the weeks following the initial attacks, at least 300 Muslims, including Tanzanians, were arrested and several mosques were forced to close. Signal Risk, an Africa-focused consultancy, said that "the group goes by different names... and has about 1,000 members". "It is deemed unlikely that the group will formalise a relationship with the Islamic State group or any other Islamist extremist network given that criminality may serve as the primary motivation for (their) actions," they added. Analysts have previously suggested group members may have used proceeds from organised crime, including timber, gemstones and narcotics trafficking, to travel abroad to Tanzania and Democratic Republic of Congo to receive training in guerilla tactics. The increase in attacks in the north of the country could pose serious issues for Mozambique, which holds general elections next year and is hoping for a bonanza from the recently-discovered gas reserves. The vast deposits discovered off the shores of Palma could transform the impoverished country's economy. Experts predict that Mozambique could even become the world's third-largest exporter of liquefied natural gas. The north has largely been excluded from the economic growth of the last 20 years, and the region sees itself as a neglected outpost, creating fertile ground for radical Al-Shabaab-style ideology. According to official statistics, 17 percent of Mozambicans are Muslim but Islamic leaders say the real figure could be double that. In Mocimboa, more than half of the population is Muslim. Mozambique last month passed an anti-terrorism law that punishes terror activity with prison sentences of more than 40 years. The 71 people withdrawn from Yemen represent more than half of the ICRC's international staff in the country The International Committee of the Red Cross said Thursday that it has pulled 71 of its international staffers from Yemen over rising security threats. "While the Yemen delegation has received numerous threats in the past, we cannot now accept additional risk less than two months after a gunman killed a staff member," the organisation said in a statement, referring to the killing of a Lebanese employee in Yemen's southern city of Taez in April. "The security of our staff, who are being intimidated by parties to the conflict, is a non-negotiable prerequisite for our presence and work in Yemen," it added. The ICRC said that the decision would lead to the "crippling" of its life-saving work in the war-ravaged country, which includes emergency medical work and food assistance. "Our current activities have been blocked, threatened and directly targeted in recent weeks, and we see a vigorous attempt to instrumentalise our organisation as a pawn in the conflict," the statement further said. The ICRC is known for its unrelenting commitment to neutrality, seeking to engage all parties to armed conflicts including extremists like the Islamic State group while carrying out humanitarian work. Those withdrawn from Yemen represent more than half of the ICRC's international staff in the country and one fifth of its total staff, spokeswoman Marie Claire Feghali told AFP. She added that after the withdrawal, ICRC counted a team of 452 staff members in the country, including Yemeni nationals. The organisation said it has worked in the country since 1962. The conflict between Iran-backed Huthi rebels and Yemen's government, allied with Saudi Arabi, has claimed 10,000 lives and pushed the country to the brink of famine. The violence escalated in 2015 when Saudi Arabia and its allies intervened on behalf of the government after the rebels seized Sanaa. US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who announced a deal to ease sanctions on Chinese firm ZTE, denies any link between that deal and wider trade talks Washington and Beijing have reached a deal to ease sanctions that brought Chinese smartphone maker ZTE to the brink of collapse, the US said Thursday -- a possible indication of progress in fraught trade talks between the world's two largest economies. US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who announced the deal, reiterated a denial that there was any connection between the two. But the ZTE settlement comes just days after Beijing reportedly offered to ramp up purchases of American goods to help cut the yawning trade imbalance with the United States -- moving part-way towards meeting a major demand of US President Donald Trump. The defusing of tensions with Beijing is good news for Trump, who is preparing to face outraged allies at this week's Group of Seven summit in Canada, where Europe and Canada will voice their strenuous objections to US steel and metal tariffs. Not all was rosy -- US lawmakers threatened legal action against the ZTE deal, saying the telecoms firm posed an "espionage risk" to the United States in addition to having violated its sanctions on Iran and North Korea. Ross told CNBC on Thursday the deal was tough and would keep ZTE on a short leash. "This is a pretty strict settlement -- the strictest and largest settlement fine that has ever been brought by the Commerce Department against any violator of export controls," he said. In April, Washington banned the sale of crucial US components to the company after finding it had repeatedly lied and failed to take action against workers responsible for the sanctions violations. The company was fined $1.2 billion last year. But under the deal announced Thursday, ZTE will pay an additional $1 billion penalty and put another $400 million in escrow to cover possible future violations. ZTE will also be required to change its entire board of directors and hire outside legal compliance specialists who will report to the Commerce Department for 10 years. In return, Washington will strike the company from a sanctions list. - Another shoe to drop? - The deal with ZTE, whose logo is shown on a building in Beijing, comes as the US and China engage in separate and fraught trade talks Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers threatened to take congressional action that could block or alter the deal, calling ZTE a threat to US national security. "There is absolutely no good reason that ZTE should get a second chance and this decision marks a 180-degree turn away from the president's promise to be tough on China," Chuck Schumer, the Senate's top Democrat, said in a statement. "It's up to Congress now to act to reverse the deal." Republican Senator Marco Rubio said: "After today's decision to give #ZTE a pass, we have introduced a bipartisan amendment to restore penalties on ZTE." The clash raised the prospect that Trump's own Republican party could work to undermine key planks of his trade agenda. Despite the settlement, there was no sign Trump had veered from plans this month to impose as much as $50 billion in tariffs on Chinese imports to punish Beijing for its alleged theft of American technology and know-how. Washington and Beijing have pursued a halting series of trade talks, with Trump demanding a $200 billion reduction in its trade deficit with China. Ross insisted the ZTE deal was an enforcement matter unrelated to the trade talks, which he has led. "It happens that I have been involved with the other negotiations with China. But that's quite separate," he told CNBC. But Ross's denial appeared to conflict with Trump's own public statements. In a tweet posted May 14, Trump said the new ZTE deal was "reflective of the larger trade deal we are negotiating with China." US officials say China last weekend offered to buy an additional $70 billion in US goods to cut the trade deficit -- on condition that Trump call off the planned tech-sector tariffs. William Reinsch, a trade expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the ZTE offer suggested Beijing had made concessions to Trump on trade but it remained unclear whether these were of equal value. Beijing's reported offer to buy $70 billion in goods was "peanuts" compared to the $200 billion cut in the US trade deficit with China that Trump demanded, Reinsch told AFP. "It's hard to believe there's no linkage but Ross clearly left Beijing without anything last weekend," he said. "I think there's another shoe to drop." Evan Mawarire who leads a small congregation in Harare, became the face of opposition to Mugabe's rule when he launched a series of protests under the #ThisFlag hashtag A Zimbabwean pastor who became the face of demonstrations against ousted ruler Robert Mugabe last year is suing security forces for $65,000 over alleged wrongful arrest and detention, lawyers confirmed on Thursday. Evan Mawarire was arrested three times in 2017 and charged with seeking to overthrow former president Mugabe after he rallied thousands of Zimbabweans to protest against worsening economic hardship. "He filed a lawsuit against the police on Tuesday this week raising issues of ill-treatment and illegal detention," Kumbirai Mafunda, a spokesman for Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, told AFP. Mawarire "was cleared of all the charges by both the high court and lower courts. He was being persecuted and not prosecuted." Mawarire's lawyers allege in papers filed at the High Court that "the arrests were motivated by malice". "As an upstanding citizen who has never committed an offence of the nature he was accused of, he was extremely terrified." The NewsDay website confirmed that Mawarire would seek compensation of $65,000 (55,000 euros). The pastor, who leads a small congregation in Harare, became the face of opposition to Mugabe's rule when he launched a series of protests under the #ThisFlag hashtag. He gained popularity after posting a video of himself with the Zimbabwean flag on his shoulders as he decried the country's worsening economic situation and official corruption. Mugabe was ousted following a brief military takeover in November 2017 and replaced by his former deputy Emmerson Mnangagwa. The Christopher Colombus monument in Barcelona, from where a rare copy of one of his letters was stolen, and which the US has returned to Spain After years of searching, the United States has returned to Spain a rare copy of a 1493 letter from Christopher Columbus, which had been stolen from a national archive in Barcelona. The letter, addressed to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain and describing the explorer's discoveries in the New World, was one of 16 copies made at the time of the original missive on Columbus's orders. Stolen from the National Library of Catalonia in Barcelona in 2004 or 2005, the document was handed over late Wednesday to the Spanish ambassador to Washington, US officials said. The thieves who took the letter had replaced it with a forgery, and the switch was only discovered by experts in 2012 after a tip from an informant that several other copies had been stolen from archives across Europe and replaced with expertly crafted fakes. The discovery sparked a seven-year international investigation that reached as far as Paris and Brasilia. Investigators found that the Barcelona copy had been sold in 2005 by Italian secondhand book dealers for 600,000 euros ($708,850), and then resold in 2011 for 900,000 euros. After "long negotiations," the letter's unidentified owner in Brazil handed it over in 2014 to US authorities, who used experts to establish its authenticity. In the letter, Columbus tells the Spanish crown everything about his first trip to America, still believing he was in the East Indies. The text begins with his departure from Puerto de Palos in Spain in August 1492 and ends when he returns to Lisbon in March 1493, seven months later. "We are truly honored to return this historically important document back to Spain, its rightful owner," US Attorney David Weiss said at the ceremony to return the document to the Spanish envoy. China's leading conductor Long Yu (C), shown performing with the New York Philharmonic in 2015, hopes to reach new international audiences through Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon on Thursday announced a recording contract with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra in a first global label deal for a Chinese orchestra. Led by China's most celebrated conductor Long Yu, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra will premiere on the German label next year with a CD of to-be-announced works by Chinese and Russian composers. Yu said that the orchestra hoped to reach new international audiences through Deutsche Grammophon, one of the most prestigious classical labels. "Shanghai's profile as an international city, open to the world and cultural exchange, makes it the ideal place to explore fresh ideas and look at ways of bringing together the best of Chinese and Western culture," he said in a statement. Founded in 1879, the Shanghai Symphony is the oldest orchestra in China and has been at the forefront of the country's soaring interest in Western classical music since the 1980s. Yu, who was born during the upheaval of the Cultural Revolution and studied music in Germany, also leads the annual Beijing Music Festival as well as the China Philharmonic Orchestra in the capital. While live performances form the backbone of the work of the modern orchestra, recordings are considered vital to building an international stature. Deutsche Grammophon, often dubbed the yellow label for its iconic logo, has been a recording home for classical legends including Herbert von Karajan and Leonard Bernstein and more recently Daniel Barenboim and Gustavo Dudamel. Newly-discovered fossils found in South Africa suggest some of the first animals to leave water and walk on land came from Antarctica. Until now, it was widely accepted that creatures first stepped foot on land in a tropical supercontinent called Laurasia, which included modern-day North America, Greenland and Europe. But these newly-uncovered creatures one of which will be named after Archbishop Desmond Tutu evolved out of the water near modern-day Antarctica some 360 million years ago. Known as the Devonian period, this was a key moment in human evolution and pioneered the way for our ancestors to leave the 'dangerous, swampy world' to a 'bright new future', scientists say. Scroll down for video Newly-discovered fossils (artist's impression) found in South Africa suggest some of the first animals to leave water and walk on land came from Antarctica The two new species, named Tutusius umlambo and Umzantsia amazana, are Africa's earliest known four-legged vertebrates by a staggering 70 million years. The creatures were discovered in the coastal Eastern Cape province in South Africa, which was more than 70 degrees south inside the Antarctic circle 360 million years ago. Although the fossils are incomplete, these creatures appear similar to other Devonian tetrapods, according to the study jointly conducted by South Africa's University of the Witwatersrand and Sweden's Uppsala University. Devonian tetrapods were amphibian-like creatures which were the ancestors of all modern vertebrates. The word tetrapod means 'four feet', and the group includes amphibians, reptiles, and mammals. They evolved from a common finned animal, thought to be the lobe-finned fish. 'Whereas all previously found Devonian tetrapods came from localities which were in tropical regions during the Devonian, these specimens lived within the Antarctic circle,' said lead author Dr Robert Gess of the Albany Museum in Grahamstown. 'These are our ancestors. It's now equally possible that they came from here than from the other side of the world', he said. Dr Gess explained that they named Tutusius umlambo after Desmond Tutu because this creature 'ultimately pioneered the way for our ancestors up out of a somewhat anoxic, dangerous, swampy world into the sunshine and a bright new future.' The two new species, named Tutusius umlambo (left) and Umzantsia amazana (right), are Africa's earliest known four-legged vertebrates by a remarkable 70 million years HOW DID FISH WALK ON LAND? Tetrapods evolved between 390 and 360 million years ago in the Devonian Period. The word tetrapod means 'four feet', and the group includes amphibians, reptiles, and mammals. Tetrapods evolved between 390 and 360 million years ago in the Devonian Period They evolved from a common finned animal, thought to be the lobe-finned fish. Early tetrapods used their limbs as paddles to move in the water. As they evolved, tetrapods developed a vertebral column and pelvic girdle that could support their bodies on land. Advertisement They would have resembled a cross between a crocodile and a fish, sporting a crocodile-like head, stubby legs and a tail with a fish-like fin, according to the paper published in Science. Twelve Devonian tetrapods have previously been described, all of which came from the Devonian tropics, between 30 degrees north and south of the equator. All but two of them came from Laurasia. Only one Devonian tetrapod jaw came from Gondwana - the supercontinent which incorporated present day Africa, South America, Australia, Antarctica and India. The two fossil species were discovered in the coastal Eastern Cape province in South Africa which was was more than 70 degrees south inside the Antarctic circle 360 million years ago Researchers named Tutusius umlambo after Desmond Tutu (pictured) This was found in Eastern Australia which was on the extreme northern tropical coast of Gondwana. It was then deduced that all Devonian tetrapods were tropical and that the move onto land probably occurred in warmer environments. 'So we now know that tetrapods, by the end of the Devonian lived all over the world, from the tropics to the Antarctic circle,' said Dr Gess. 'So it's possible that they originated anywhere and that they could have moved onto land anywhere. 'It really broadens the scope of possibilities', he said. South Africa holds one of the most comprehensive databases of human evolutionary history in the world. This includes the Cradle of Humankind, the world's richest early hominin site and is home to around 40 per cent of the world's known human-ancestor fossils. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged the Taliban to observe a ceasefire declared by the Afghan government UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged the Taliban on Thursday to observe the ceasefire declared by the Afghan government to mark the Eid al-Fitr holiday. Guterres, in a statement, also called on the Taliban to enter into direct peace talks with the Afghan government. The UN chief welcomed the unilateral ceasefire announced by the Afghan government for Eid, the holiday that caps the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. He urged the Taliban to "reciprocate the temporary ceasefire and accept President Ashraf Ghani's peace offer to commence direct talks to bring an end to the long suffering of the Afghan people." Ghani said the week-long ceasefire will last "from the 27th of Ramadan until the fifth day of Eid al-Fitr," indicating it could run from June 12-19. The ceasefire is the first during Eid since the US invasion in 2001. The US forces in Afghanistan said they will honor the ceasefire, although they seconded Ghani's stipulation that it did not extend to the Islamic State organization and other groups. Los Angeles judge George Lomeli sentenced to death a man who tortured and killed his partner's eight-year-old son, a killing the judge referred to as "nothing short of evil" A US man was sentenced to death on Thursday for the torture killing of his girlfriend's eight-year-old son, who was beaten, starved and forced to sleep in a closet until his death in 2013. The boy's mother, Pearl Sinthia Fernandez, was sentenced to life in prison for her role in the death of her son, Gabriel. In sentencing Fernandez and her boyfriend Isauro Aguirre, Los Angeles Superior Court judge George Lomeli described their actions as "nothing short of evil." The pair were arrested in 2013 after paramedics were called to a home in Palmdale, northeast of downtown Los Angeles, and found Gabriel unconscious and with a broken skull as well as broken ribs and BB pellets lodged in his groin. He died two days later after being taken off life support. Prosecutors during Aguirre's trial last year said he reveled in torturing the boy because he thought he was gay and forced him to eat cat feces and made him sleep in a small closet while gagged and bound. Aguirre, 37, was convicted of first-degree murder in December and the jury recommended that he be sentenced to death. Gabriel's 34-year-old mother, who took part in the abuse, pleaded guilty in February to first-degree murder in exchange for a life sentence without the possibility of parole. The case prompted sweeping reform in the child welfare system in Los Angeles and led to unprecedented criminal charges being filed against several social workers who had left Gabriel in his mother's care despite numerous investigations into allegations of abuse. A police officer described as perhaps the most corrupt in the history of the Baltimore police department has been sentenced to 25 years in prison A police officer described as perhaps the most corrupt in the history of the Baltimore police department was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Thursday. Sergeant Wayne Jenkins headed an elite unit known as the Gun Trace Task Force that was responsible for stunning amounts of abuse in the troubled US city. Their job was to take illegal guns off the street. Instead, the Task Force resold weapons they stole, robbed drug dealers and planted false evidence. US District Judge Catherine Blake sentenced Jenkins to 25 years in prison -- five years less than the maximum allowed under his plea agreement, the Baltimore Sun reported. The newspaper quoted Assistant US Attorney Leo Wise as telling the judge that Jenkins operated his unit "like a criminal gang" and had done "immeasurable" harm. A sobbing Jenkins apologized to the court, the Sun said, saying he had made "so many mistakes." "I know it's my fault. I deserve to be punished and I deserve to go to jail," said Jenkins, described by the newspaper as "perhaps the most corrupt officer uncovered in Baltimore Police Department history." All of the victims of the Gun Trace Task Force were black men, many of them drug dealers who the corrupt police officers knew could not go to the authorities to complain. Jenkins is among six police officers who pleaded guilty in the case. During the trial of two other officers, the court heard an account of how members of the Task Force broke into a safe in a suspected drug dealer's home containing $200,000 in cash. They removed $100,000, put $100,000 back inside and then filmed themselves opening up the safe as if for the first time. Mistrust of the police is already deep in Baltimore, which is plagued by high crime, drugs and poverty. With 343 homicides in 2017, Baltimore had the highest murder rate per capita in the country and the city is still recovering from riots that broke out in 2015 after the death in police custody of a young black man, Freddie Gray. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is the most senior American official to have met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un Washington's top diplomat Mike Pompeo said Thursday that Kim Jong Un had personally informed him that North Korea is ready to give up its nuclear arsenal. The secretary of state is the most senior US official to have met the North Korean leader and a key figure in preparations for next week's historic summit. US President Donald Trump is due to meet Kim on June 12 in Singapore for a summit called to press Pyongyang to end its nuclear and long-range missile programs. "He has indicated to me personally that he's prepared to denuclearize. That he understands that the current model doesn't work," Pompeo said. "That he's prepared to denuclearize and that, too, he understands... that this has to be big and bold and we have to agree to making major changes." Following the summit, Pompeo will fly on to China, Japan and South Korea to brief the key regional players on the next steps in the diplomatic effort. "I will provide an update and underscore the importance of implementing all sanctions imposed on North Korea," Pompeo told reporters at the White House. Soldiers hold the UN and Malian flags during a Peacekeepers' Day ceremony at the operating base of MINUSMA, the UN's mission in Mali, on May 28, 2018 UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for the world body's mission in Mali to concentrate more on political goals, seeing serious shortcomings three years after a peace agreement. The UN stabilization mission, known by its French acronym MINUSMA, along with international partners "should reprioritize its actions to focus on political tasks," Guterres said in a report this week to the Security Council looking at renewing the force at the end of June. "I intend to explore ways of broadening MINUSMA's political role in support of the peace process," he said, citing a strategic review conducted this year. The government in Bamako and Tuareg-led rebels signed an agreement in 2015 which Guterres described as the "cornerstone" of the peace process in the Saharan country. But the review found that the peace agreement "had not resulted in enough meaningful progress on the ground," Guterres said. He voiced alarm that the security and humanitarian situations have kept declining since the signing of the pact and pointed to concerns of food shortages. Guterres said that the 12,500-strong international force faced a dilemma "between the need to reform and reconstitute the Malian defense and security forces while simultaneously supporting existing forces in addressing the current instability." Mali has been in disarray since 2012 when guerrillas linked to Al-Qaeda seized much of the north, staying in control until France launched a military intervention in January 2013. But vast parts of Mali remain outside the control of Malian, French and UN forces, who have faced frequent attacks. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - New Mexico, a state with deep historical ties to American Indians whose images and symbols are rooted in everything from the state flag to town names, has moved closer to electing the first Native American woman to the U.S. House of Representatives. Deb Haaland's victory Tuesday in a Democratic primary for an open congressional seat encompassing the state's largest city of Albuquerque had Native Americans from Washington state to Oklahoma celebrating the possibility of a landmark in U.S. political history. Haaland, a tribal member of the Laguna Pueblo who was born in Winslow, Arizona, defeated a crowded field of mainly Hispanic candidates. It came almost 50 years to the day that Robert F. Kennedy won South Dakota's Democratic presidential primary thanks to the Native American vote on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. New Mexico's Democratic nominee to U.S. Congress, Debra Haaland, left, applauds at a celebratory breakfast in Albuquerque, N.M., on Wednesday, June 6, 2018, alongside state Sen. Howie Morales, who was nominated to run for lieutenant governor in the fall general election. Haaland is trying to become the first Native American woman to serve in the House of Representatives. Tuesday's primary election upended the political landscape in New Mexico by setting up general-election showdowns between women in two open congressional seats and casting aside an incumbent Democratic state lawmaker who is embroiled sexual harassment accusations .(AP Photo/Morgan Lee) Haaland told The Associated Press on Wednesday that she credited her victory to the movement of Native American voting that Kennedy sparked and her 15 years working as an organizer registering such voters. "The Native vote has helped a lot of candidates win. The Native vote can sway a statewide election," she said. "I think if we keep working hard to get out to vote and to stay active, we can have a larger say in our politics." Haaland faces Republican former state lawmaker Janice Arnold-Jones and Libertarian candidate Lloyd Princeton, both of whom are white, in the general election. Democrats have held the seat in recent years. News of Haaland's primary victory spread far beyond New Mexico, home to 23 tribes whose population is about 11 percent Native American. "Her win brings us closer to this historic moment," said Mark Trahant, editor of Indian Country Today website. "Congress has never had a voice like her." Trahant said Haaland's candidacy also generated excitement in Indian Country as more women of color run for office. Paulette Jordan, a Democratic candidate for governor in Idaho and member of the Coeur d'Alene tribe, came to New Mexico to campaign on Haaland's behalf. Haaland, 57, also pulled together a multiethnic coalition that sought to work outside the usual white and Hispanic powerbrokers. She won the support of the Congressional Black Caucus political action committee, and Rep. Gwen Moore, a black Democratic congresswoman from Milwaukee, traveled to Albuquerque this week to stump for her. In last minute canvassing, Haaland had white teachers, Muslim volunteers and young Latina making last-minute calls on her behalf. "This is going to be big," Moore told Haaland supporters before Tuesday's election. Haaland said if she makes it to Congress, she will work to fight poverty in Native American communities and climate change. Her Republican opponent credited Haaland for being a hard worker and for achieving a political milestone. "But we've elected people based on their identity and sexual orientation before and what good did that get us?" Arnold-Jones asked. The Republican said voters in the central New Mexico congressional seat are pragmatic and will be turned off by Haaland's "far left" stances on abortion, immigration and rolling back the state's oil production economy. "These aren't the issues that will resonate with voters here," Arnold-Jones said. "You can't go into a legislative body and be mad at everyone." Haaland said she knows what's at stake in the election - for New Mexico voters but also for Native Americans nationwide. That's why she intends to use her biography as a selling point so voters know she's faced adversity. "Yes, I know what it's like to have to live off food stamps ... yes, I've had my struggle with addiction," Haaland said referring to a bout with alcoholism. "Sadly, that affects our society here in New Mexico." ___ Associated Press writer Russell Contreras is a member of the AP's race and ethnicity team. Follow Contreras on Twitter at http://twitter.com/russcontreras Deb Haaland, a Democratic candidate for Congress for central New Mexico's open seat and a tribal member of the Laguna Pueblo, speaks at her Albuquerque home on Wednesday, June 6, 2018. New Mexico, a state with deep historical ties to Native Americans, moved closer this week to electing the nation's first Native American woman to the U.S. House of Representatives. Haaland's victory in a Democratic primary for an open congressional seat that represents Albuquerque grabbed national attention Tuesday. (AP Photo/Russell Contreras) Deb Haaland poses for a portrait in a Nob Hill Neighborhood in Albuquerque, N.M., Tuesday, June 5, 2018. New Mexico voters will narrow the field in two competitive congressional races, including one in a district along the Mexico border involving a GOP-held seat that Democrats have long targeted. Haaland, a tribal member of Laguna Pueblo, is aiming to become the first Native American woman in Congress. (AP Photo/Juan Labreche) Deb Haaland, a Democratic candidate for Congress for central New Mexico's open seat and a tribal member of the Laguna Pueblo, speaks at her Albuquerque home on Wednesday, June 6, 2018. New Mexico, a state with deep historical ties to Native Americans, moved closer this week to electing the nation's first Native American woman to the U.S. House of Representatives. Haaland's victory in a Democratic primary for an open congressional seat that represents Albuquerque grabbed national attention Tuesday. (AP Photo/Russell Contreras) New Mexico's Democratic nominee to U.S. Congress, Debra Haaland, left, applauds at a celebratory breakfast in Albuquerque, N.M., Wednesday, June 6, 2018, seated alongside state Sen. Howie Morales, who was nominated to run for lieutenant governor in the fall general election. Tuesday's primary elections upended the political landscape in New Mexico by setting up general-election showdowns between women in two open congressional seats and casting aside an incumbent Democratic state lawmaker who is embroiled sexual harassment accusations. (AP Photo/Morgan Lee) New Mexico's Democratic nominee to the Albuquerque-based congressional district, Debra Haaland, speaks at a celebratory breakfast in Albuquerque, N.M., on Wednesday, June 6, 2018. Haaland is trying to become the first Native American woman to serve in the House of Representatives. Tuesday's primary election upended the political landscape in New Mexico by setting up general-election showdowns between women in two open congressional seats and casting aside an incumbent Democratic state lawmaker who is embroiled sexual harassment accusations. (AP Photo/Morgan Lee) Deb Haaland poses for a portrait in a Nob Hill Neighborhood in Albuquerque, N.M., Tuesday, June 5, 2018. New Mexico voters will narrow the field in two competitive congressional races, including one in a district along the Mexico border involving a GOP-held seat that Democrats have long targeted. Haaland, a tribal member of Laguna Pueblo, is aiming to become the first Native American woman in Congress. (AP Photo/Juan Labreche) Deb Haaland, center, speaks with campaign organizers during the Democratic Primary elections at the Haaland headquarters in Albuquerque, New Mexico Tuesday afternoon June 5, 2018. Haaland, a tribal member of Laguna Pueblo, is aiming to become the first Native American woman in Congress. (AP Photo/Juan Labreche) Deb Haaland, center, speaks with campaign organizers during the Democratic Primary elections at the Haaland headquarters in Albuquerque, New Mexico Tuesday afternoon June 5, 2018. Haaland, a tribal member of Laguna Pueblo, is aiming to become the first Native American woman in Congress. (AP Photo/Juan Labreche) A San Francisco woman was charged with murder in the slaying of her roommate, whose dismembered body was discovered in oozing plastic bags inside a maggot-filled storage container at their home, prosecutors said Wednesday. Police arrested Lisa Gonzales, 47, on Saturday after her 61-year-old roommate was reported missing. Gonzales told police that her roommate refused to move out and the two of them argued on May 15, a San Francisco prosecutor said in a court filing. 'When asked about what happened next, the Defendant informed investigators that she thinks she "flipped," but didn't have a "real recollection" of what happened,' Adam Maldonado said in the filing. 'When asked what the Defendant thought took place, the Defendant replied "probably nothing good."' Scroll down for video Margaret Rose Mamer's (pictured) dismembered remains were found in a storage container in her apartment's basement locker this weekend in San Francisco Prosecutors say the evidence shows Gonzales beat and stabbed Margaret Rose Mamer to death, according to KRON 4. Police discovered the victim's severed arms and legs stacked on top of her intact head and body in the storage container. 'When officers opened the plastic container, they observed a large black plastic bag which was covered in maggots,' Maldonado wrote. 'Officers observed a dark, (viscous) liquid bubbling from the sides of the large plastic bag.' An email to the public defender's office, which is representing Gonzales, was not immediately returned. Gonzales is scheduled to be arraigned on Friday, and she is currently being held without bail while she undergoes psychiatric evaluation at the San Francisco Jail. Investigators believe Mamer's roommate killed her in a violent confrontation on May 15, after Mamer refused to move out Mamer's dismembered legs and arms were found stacked on top of her intact body in the plastic storage container Mamer had lost her home and 'fallen on hard times' when Gonzales in August 2017 offered her a room, Maldonado said in the court filing. They agreed on $400 a month as rent. But after items around the home began to get misplaced or broken, Gonzales told Mamer in April to move out in 30 days or face eviction, the prosecutor said. Marion Garbo Seltzer, 61, a friend of Mamer's who lives in Maine, told the San Francisco Chronicle that Mamer told her recently that her roommate was forcing her to move out abruptly. They talked on the phone five days a week. 'I could tell she felt panic and overwhelmed,' Seltzer said. 'I suspected she didn't have money and transportation. I had a sense she was paralyzed.' On May 15, an unidentified third roommate at the home came home during lunch and smelled an odor like 'vinegar'. She said that Gonzales told her not to go into the bathroom. The next day, the roommate said she heard the sound of sawing coming from the bathroom and later the room smelled of 'rotten eggs' and she found a hacksaw under the sink. When the roommate asked Gonzales where Mamer was, she said 'the victim left, but not the way she should have,' according to prosecutors. That roommate went to authorities and said she believed someone had been murdered inside her home. Cops carried out a welfare check on the home on Saturday, after one of Mamer's friends reported her missing as well. Gonzales led cops through the house, but became defensive when they got near a 'pungent' smelling storage container in the apartment's basement storage locker. Cops then got a search warrant, and discovered Mamer's remains inside. Gonzales appears to have a violent criminal history. In 2004, she spent a year in jail after being convicted of assault with a deadly weapon. According to her LinkedIn, Mamer worked multiple jobs before she retired in 2016, including a position at the World Affairs Council in the late 1990s. But she was having financial troubles recently. She was evicted in 2016 from a home on Duboce Ave. after failing to pay her $639 rent for five months. 'She was just the sweetest, kindest, most positive, most pleasant person you can imagine,' her friend Seltzer said. 'What's making it very hard is what a great person she was.' 'I was concerned with her living situation,' Seltzer said. 'I'm feeling guilty, like I was a bad friend. I didn't know how bad it was.' MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexico's Attorney General's Office says another person has been arrested for alleged involvement in last year's killing of respected journalist Javier Valdez. The suspect's full name was not provided Wednesday, but federal prosecutors said he was already in custody in the western state of Baja California on unrelated charges. The Attorney General's Office said in a statement that the suspect would be charged in the May 15, 2017, killing of Valdez in Culiacan, Sinaloa. There was no information provided about what role the suspect allegedly played in the killing. In April, National Security Commissioner Renato Sales said Valdez was killed because of his work. That day he also announced the arrest of another suspect who was a member of the Sinaloa drug cartel. PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) - Singapore's foreign minister arrived in North Korea on Thursday for a two-day visit ahead of next week's U.S.-North Korea summit in the Southeast Asian city-state. Singapore's Foreign Ministry said in a brief statement that Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan would be in Pyongyang on Thursday and Friday at the invitation of North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho. He met with Ri later Thursday. Balakrishnan will also meet Kim Yong Nam, the president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly. Kim Yong Nam is a senior official who went to South Korea as part of his country's delegation to the Winter Olympics in February. Singapore's financial skyline is seen on Wednesday, June 6, 2018, in Singapore. U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will meet at the Capella Hotel, a luxury resort on the island of Sentosa off the waters of Singapore for nuclear talks next week, the White House said Tuesday. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E) The ministry statement did not indicate what would be discussed. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is to meet President Donald Trump on June 12 at a resort hotel in Singapore. People walk to and from Sentosa Island on Wednesday, June 6, 2018, in Singapore. U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will meet at the Capella Hotel, a luxury resort on Sentosa Island for nuclear talks next week in Singapore, the White House said Tuesday. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E) Part of the facade of Capella Hotel is seen in the center of the photo, on Wednesday, June 6, 2018, on Sentosa Island in Singapore. U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will meet at the luxury resort for nuclear talks next week in Singapore, the White House said Tuesday. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E) Part of the Capella Hotel is seen in on Wednesday, June 6, 2018, on Sentosa Island in Singapore. U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will meet at the luxury resort for nuclear talks next week in Singapore, the White House said Tuesday. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E) This May 2018, aerial photo shows Sentosa Island in Singapore. U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will meet at the Capella Hotel, a luxury resort, for nuclear talks next week in Singapore, the White House said Tuesday, June 5, 2018. (Minoru Iwasaki/Kyodo News via AP) BOSTON (AP) - Former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called the decision by President Donald Trump to pull out of the Paris climate accord a "tragedy" Thursday but said states and private sector leaders are trying to meet the goal of reducing greenhouse gases anyway. The Democratic former senator from Massachusetts helped negotiate the 2016 accord. He said Trump misled the public by suggesting the agreement allowed other nations to place a burden on the United States when the country only agreed to do what it could without hurting its economy. Kerry made the comments during a daylong climate change summit in Boston, during which Boston Mayor Martin Walsh unveiled a proposal aimed at helping cities lower the cost of renewable energy. Mayor Jean-Francois Parenteau, left, of Montreal, Quebec, speaks with Mayor Jim Brainard, of Carmel, Ind., following a clean energy panel discussion during the Boston Climate Summit in Boston, Thursday, June 7, 2018. About two dozen mayors and city leaders were attending the event, billed as a chance to explore ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for the challenges posed by climate change. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Despite Trump's actions, Kerry said states representing 80 percent of the U.S. population already have laws or voluntary goals aimed at increasing renewable energy. "The short answer is we're still in Paris because most local communities, most businesses, most states are moving in that direction," he said. "While Donald Trump may have said he is out of Paris, the American people have stated unequivocally they are in Paris and they are going to meet the Paris standard." Trump defended the move last June when he announced his decision, saying it was in the country's best interests to pull out of the agreement. "I cannot in good conscience support a deal that punishes the United States," Trump said at the time. "We're getting out. But we will start to negotiate and see if we can get a better deal. If we can, great. If we can't, that's fine." Kerry added that "if we do the right thing in the 2020 election we'll be back in" the agreement. Trump can run for re-election in 2020. During Thursday's summit, Walsh announced he is hoping to work with other cities to drive down the cost of renewable energy by asking developers for price estimates to meet their collective energy demand. Walsh said the first cities to join the initiative include Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston and Orlando. Portland, Oregon and Evanston, Illinois are also included in the group, which Walsh said could soon grow to at least nine cities. Walsh, a Democrat, announced the project at the start of the international summit on climate change. Former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy was also spoke at the event. Kerry and McCarthy both served under President Barack Obama. About two dozen mayors and city leaders attended the event, billed as a chance to explore ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for the challenges posed by climate change. In Boston those strategies include creating deployable flood walls to protect waterfront neighborhoods and elevating certain streets and parks to ease flooding concern. Another goal is for the city to be carbon neutral by 2050 - requiring increased reliance on renewable energy. Walsh said lowering renewable energy costs is one way to reach that goal. He said he hopes to finalize a list of participating cities later in the summer and then seek estimates from renewable energy companies. Other mayors said they were eager to participate, saying the agreement could also help create jobs in the renewable energy market. "Cities wield the power to create demand and transform the energy market, and when we act together we can show the world that environmental stewardship and economic prosperity go hand in hand," Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said. Garcetti said Los Angeles has set a goal to become a carbon neutral city by 2050. Walsh also called Trump's decision irresponsible. "He certainly didn't consult with America's mayors," Walsh said. "He's tried to send us backward. He's tried to pit the environment against the economy. We know this is nonsense." Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, right, chats with Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner during the Boston Climate Summit in Boston, Thursday, June 7, 2018. About two dozen mayors and city leaders were attending the event, billed as a chance to explore ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for the challenges posed by climate change. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Strasbourg, France Mayor Roland Ries, left, shakes hands with Kansas City Mayor Sylvester James, left, during the Boston Climate Summit in Boston, Thursday, June 7, 2018. About two dozen mayors and city leaders were attending the event, billed as a chance to explore ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for the challenges posed by climate change. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Mayor James Palmer, of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, England, raises his hand as he describes the landscape of his city as he is joined by Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski during a clean energy panel discussion during the Boston Climate Summit in Boston, Thursday, June 7, 2018. About two dozen mayors and city leaders were attending the event, billed as a chance to explore ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for the challenges posed by climate change. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Former Secretary of State John Kerry, center, gesture while joined by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, left, and Bank of America's Vice Chairman Anne Finucane, right, during the Boston Climate Summit in Boston, Thursday, June 7, 2018. About two dozen mayors and city leaders were attending the event, billed as a chance to explore ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for the challenges posed by climate change. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, right, and former Secretary of State John Kerry arrive for the Boston Climate Summit in Boston, Thursday, June 7, 2018. About two dozen mayors and city leaders were attending the event, billed as a chance to explore ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for the challenges posed by climate change. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Former Secretary of State John Kerry gestures during the Boston Climate Summit in Boston, Thursday, June 7, 2018. About two dozen mayors and city leaders were attending the event, billed as a chance to explore ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for the challenges posed by climate change. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Deputy Secretary General Dio Ailin, right, smiles as he sits with Knoxville, Tenn. Mayor Madeline Rogero during the Boston Climate Summit in Boston, Thursday, June 7, 2018. About two dozen mayors and city leaders were attending the event, billed as a chance to explore ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for the challenges posed by climate change. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Former Secretary of State John Kerry, right, acknowledges applause as he arrives with Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti for the Boston Climate Summit in Boston, Thursday, June 7, 2018. About two dozen mayors and city leaders were attending the event, billed as a chance to explore ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for the challenges posed by climate change. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Former Secretary of State John Kerry gestures, while joined by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, left, during the Boston Climate Summit in Boston, Thursday, June 7, 2018. About two dozen mayors and city leaders were attending the event, billed as a chance to explore ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for the challenges posed by climate change. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Former Secretary of State John Kerry gestures during the Boston Climate Summit in Boston, Thursday, June 7, 2018. About two dozen mayors and city leaders were attending the event, billed as a chance to explore ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for the challenges posed by climate change. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, top left, addresses a gathering prior to a panel with former Secretary of State John Kerry, right, and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti at the Boston Climate Summit in Boston, Thursday, June 7, 2018. About two dozen mayors and city leaders were attending the event, billed as a chance to explore ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for the challenges posed by climate change. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Mayor Jean-Francois Parenteau, left, of Montreal, Quebec, speaks with Mayor Jim Brainard, of Carmel, Ind., following a clean energy panel discussion during the Boston Climate Summit in Boston, Thursday, June 7, 2018. About two dozen mayors and city leaders were attending the event, billed as a chance to explore ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for the challenges posed by climate change. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Samia Hassan used to have enough money to feed her two dozen children and grandchildren. Now she spends much of her time worrying about food, scouring Gaza's vegetable markets for end-of-day discounts or walking miles for a pot of free gruel from a soup kitchen. Large numbers of Gaza families have been pushed deeper into poverty in recent months by Palestinian political infighting and the freezing of U.S. aid. Life is tougher than ever for most of the 2 million Palestinians locked into tiny, blockaded Gaza, where electricity is off most hours of the day, unemployment approaches 50 percent and the Islamic militant group Hamas rules with a tight grip. "It's a perfect storm," said Hilary DuBose of the Catholic Relief Services, which has had to forego emergency food distributions because the Trump administration is withholding funds. "At the same time that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is worsening, humanitarian aid is disappearing." In this Thursday, May 31, 2018 photo, Walid al-Hattab, right, distributes free porridge during the holy fasting month of Ramadan in Gaza City. Large numbers of Gaza families have been pushed deeper into poverty in recent months by Palestinian political infighting and the freezing of U.S. aid. The sharp drop in aid comes at a time when life is tougher than ever for most of the 2 million Palestinians locked into tiny, blockaded Gaza where electricity is off most hours of the day, unemployment approaches 50 percent and the Islamic militant group Hamas rules with a tight grip. (AP Photo/Adel Hana) Growing despair in Gaza has helped drive recent Hamas-led protests against the border blockade by Israel and Egypt. The closure was imposed after Hamas, branded a terrorist group by Israel and the West, seized Gaza in 2007, driving out forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The escalating crisis also spotlights the lack of a coherent Gaza policy by the external players trying to shape its future. Israel and Egypt say they need the blockade to contain Hamas, but have not offered a viable plan for Gaza. The international community wants the blockade lifted, but hasn't said how it would deal with Hamas, which refuses to disarm or renounce violence. Hassan - who shares her unfinished cinderblock home with seven of her 12 adult children, three daughters-in-law and 16 grandchildren - said she joined the border protests repeatedly, intentionally getting close to the fence in hopes of getting shot and killed by Israeli troops. "Death is better than this life," she said to her sons' astonishment as the family gathered for the meal breaking the dawn-to-dusk fast of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Hassan said she only pulled back because she realized she could end up crippled rather than dead and become a burden. In the past two months, more than 115 Palestinians have been killed and close to 3,800 wounded by Israeli fire in near-weekly border protests, with some facing lifelong disabilities. Hassan, who wears the black robe and full face veil of ultra-conservative Muslim women, is angry at Hamas, which has fought three cross-border wars with Israel. "It's because of them," she said of her family's hard times. In the last war in 2014, the family taxi, an important source of income, was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike on a neighbor's house. After the war's devastation, her sons only found work sporadically and one - a father of six - is now in jail for being unable to pay his debts. The family suffered a new blow after Abbas ordered his West Bank autonomy government to curtail its regular support payments to Gaza, in hopes of pressing Hamas to hand over authority. The Hassans used to get $500 every three months from Abbas' Palestinian Authority, but haven't been paid since the beginning of the year, along with tens of thousands of Gaza welfare recipients, said Social Affairs Ministry official Khaled Barghouti. Meanwhile, some 60,000 former civil servants, paid by Abbas since 2007 to ensure their loyalty, have received only a fraction of their salaries since March. With barely any money coming in, the Hassans increasingly rely on charity. During Ramadan, Samia Hassan often walks five kilometers (three miles) to another Gaza City neighborhood to line up for wheat gruel cooked in a large cauldron over an open fire. Hassan said her sons won't make the trip, embarrassed to be seen asking for handouts, but that she doesn't mind because her face is veiled. On a recent afternoon, dozens of people jostled, pushing their aluminum or plastic food containers to be filled. The huge pot was empty within 10 minutes. "The situation is difficult for everyone," said Walid Hattab, 50, who owns a small coffee-and-spice store and cooks the free meals as Ramadan charity. Demand is up from last year, he said, noting that merchants have stopped selling on credit. Along with the Palestinian Authority, the U.N. has been instrumental in propping up Gaza's fragile economy. About two-thirds of Gaza's residents are eligible for health, education or welfare services from UNRWA, the agency that aids descendants of Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war over Israel's creation. Need has grown exponentially, with some 1 million people in Gaza now receiving U.N. food aid, compared to 80,000 two decades ago, said agency spokesman Chris Gunness. At the same time, the Trump administration has blown a $305 million hole into the agency's annual $1.2 billion budget - the result of a decision earlier this year to suspend most aid to the Palestinians until further notice. Washington has said it's linking future funding to UNRWA reforms. UNRWA has raised more than $200 million from other donors, but is still struggling. Money for Gaza food distributions could run out in a couple of months, Gunness said. With the exception of the funds already spent this year, all U.S. assistance to the Palestinians is under review. This includes projects funded by USAID and the State Department, including health, education, good governance and security cooperation programs. There is no indication the review will be completed any time soon, if ever, and it appears to be driven in part by Abbas' decision to boycott Washington's Mideast peace efforts as well as Palestinian moves to assert themselves at the United Nations. Charities such as Catholic Relief Services rely heavily on U.S. support. In Gaza, its operations have been underwritten by a five-year, $50 million USAID grant. This year, the charity should have received about $10 million, but hasn't gotten any money so far, said DuBose. As a result, 20,000 Gaza families aren't receiving food vouchers and about 2,200 people eligible for job-creation programs are staying home, she said. Muslim countries such as Qatar, Iran, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates have stepped up aid during Ramadan. Qatar is distributing 1 million meals for the month and Iran 11,000 per day. But it's not clear if such aid will be sustained after the holy month. On a recent evening, Samia Hassan and two dozen family members sat on the straw mat-covered floor of their home. Salad and leftover gruel from the day before had been laid out. Just before iftar, volunteers from a nearby mosque sent over a tray of rice with one chicken. "It came at the right time," said daughter-in-law Samah, holding a toddler in her lap. Such uncertainty is tough for Samia. "Our situation has never been like this," she said. ___ Daraghmeh reported from Ramallah, West Bank. Associated Press writer Karin Laub in Berlin contributed reporting. In this Thursday, May 31, 2018 photo, Samia Hassan, walks with free porridge distributed by Walid al-Hattab, who cooks the free meals as Ramadan charity, in Gaza City. Large numbers of Gaza families have been pushed deeper into poverty in recent months by Palestinian political infighting and the freezing of U.S. aid. The sharp drop in aid comes at a time when life is tougher than ever for most of the 2 million Palestinians locked into tiny, blockaded Gaza where electricity is off most hours of the day, unemployment approaches 50 percent and the Islamic militant group Hamas rules with a tight grip. (AP Photo/Adel Hana) In this Thursday, May 31, 2018 photo, Palestinian children wait to receive free porridge distributed by Walid al-Hattab, who cooks the free meals as Ramadan charity, in Gaza City. Large numbers of Gaza families have been pushed deeper into poverty in recent months by Palestinian political infighting and the freezing of U.S. aid. The sharp drop in aid comes at a time when life is tougher than ever for most of the 2 million Palestinians locked into tiny, blockaded Gaza where electricity is off most hours of the day, unemployment approaches 50 percent and the Islamic militant group Hamas rules with a tight grip. (AP Photo/Adel Hana) In this Thursday, May 31, 2018 photo, Samia Hassan, her son's wife and children stand in their family house in Gaza City. Large numbers of Gaza families have been pushed deeper into poverty in recent months by Palestinian political infighting and the freezing of U.S. aid. The sharp drop in aid comes at a time when life is tougher than ever for most of the 2 million Palestinians locked into tiny, blockaded Gaza where electricity is off most hours of the day, unemployment approaches 50 percent and the Islamic militant group Hamas rules with a tight grip. (AP Photo/Adel Hana) In this Thursday, May 31, 2018 photo, Walid al-Hattab, distributes free porridge during the holy fasting month of Ramadan in Gaza City. Large numbers of Gaza families have been pushed deeper into poverty in recent months by Palestinian political infighting and the freezing of U.S. aid. The sharp drop in aid comes at a time when life is tougher than ever for most of the 2 million Palestinians locked into tiny, blockaded Gaza where electricity is off most hours of the day, unemployment approaches 50 percent and the Islamic militant group Hamas rules with a tight grip. (AP Photo/Adel Hana) In this Thursday, May 31, 2018 photo, Samia Hassan, show her family's nearly empty refrigerator in Gaza City. Large numbers of Gaza families have been pushed deeper into poverty in recent months by Palestinian political infighting and the freezing of U.S. aid. The sharp drop in aid comes at a time when life is tougher than ever for most of the 2 million Palestinians locked into tiny, blockaded Gaza where electricity is off most hours of the day, unemployment approaches 50 percent and the Islamic militant group Hamas rules with a tight grip. (AP Photo/Adel Hana) In this Thursday, May 31, 2018 photo, a girl carries free porridge distributed to the poor during the holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Gaza City. Large numbers of Gaza families have been pushed deeper into poverty in recent months by Palestinian political infighting and the freezing of U.S. aid. The sharp drop in aid comes at a time when life is tougher than ever for most of the 2 million Palestinians locked into tiny, blockaded Gaza where electricity is off most hours of the day, unemployment approaches 50 percent and the Islamic militant group Hamas rules with a tight grip. (AP Photo/Adel Hana) TAICHUNG, Taiwan (AP) - Taiwan's military on Thursday simulated the repulsing of a Chinese airborne assault on a major air base, amid heighted tensions across the Taiwan Strait. The exercise at the sprawling Ching Chuan Kang force base near the central city of Taichung was part of an annual five-day live-firing exercise featuring joint operations of the air force, navy and ground forces. Thursday's exercise featured soldiers in red helmets playing the role of Chinese troops landing by helicopter while special forces troops were deployed against them and tanks launched smoke screens. Other helicopters and fighter jets flew overhead while paratroopers dove from a C-130 transport plane and air defense missile batteries let fly. Military tanks take part in the annual Han Kuang exercises at an air base in Taichung County, Taiwan, Thursday, June 7, 2018.(AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying) The war games are intended to display the military's willingness and ability to fight off an invasion from China, which claims the self-governing island democracy as its own territory to be brought under its control by force if necessary. The sides split amid civil war in 1949. Addressing dignitaries and the media, President Tsai Ing-wen said she had seen "the solid strength of our national army and I am very confident that our military forces have capabilities to fulfill the task of making effective use of deterrence and defense." "The strength of our national army is the guarantee of national security, the foundation of social prosperity, and the staunch backing of the values of democracy and freedom," Tsai said. Beijing has stepped up its diplomatic, economic and military pressure on the independence-leaning Tsai since her inauguration more than two years ago, sending warplanes to circle the island and an aircraft carrier through the Taiwan Strait, among other measures aimed at intimidating the island's 23 million people. Faced with the unwillingness of foreign suppliers to sell arms to Taiwan under pressure from China, Tsai has vowed to revitalize the domestic arms industry. Submarines, missile boats and missile defense systems are among the weapons most needed. However, the U.S. has continued to provide arms and a reported shift in government policy could make it easier for Taiwan to purchase what it needs on a case-by-case basis. Shortly before the Han Kuang exercises began, an F-16 crashed into mountains in northern Taiwan, killing the pilot. Taiwanese airborne soldiers jump off from a C-130 Hercules cargo plane during the annual Han Kuang exercises at an air base in Taichung County, Taiwan, Thursday, June 7, 2018. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying) A Taiwan's AH-1W Cobra Attack Helicopter launches flares during the annual Han Kuang exercises at an air base in Taichung County, Taiwan, Thursday, June 7, 2018.(AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying) Soldiers from Taiwan's special forces fight with soldiers simulated invasion from rival China during the annual Han Kuang exercises at an air base in Taichung County, Taiwan, Thursday, June 7, 2018. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying) Taiwanese Air Force's F-16 fighters launch flares during the annual Han Kuang exercises at an air base in Taichung County, Taiwan, Thursday, June 7, 2018. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying) A military tank advances during the annual Han Kuang exercises at an air base in Taichung County, Taiwan, Thursday, June 7, 2018. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying) KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Thursday announced a weeklong cease-fire with the Taliban to coincide with the holiday marking the end of Ramadan next week. A statement sent from the president's office on Thursday says the cease-fire will begin on 27 Ramadan, or June 12 on the Western calendar, and last through the Eid al-Fitr holiday, until around June 19. It says the cease-fire does not include al-Qaida or the Islamic State group. There was no immediate comment from the Taliban, who have steadily expanded their presence in recent years, capturing a number of districts across the country and carrying out near-daily attacks, mainly targeting Afghan security forces. Gen. Mohammad Sharif Yaftali, the army chief of staff, told reporters that Afghan forces would be on standby throughout the cease-fire and respond to any attacks. He also said the army would continue to battle "international terrorists," apparently referring to al-Qaida and IS. Ghani's statement referred to a gathering of Afghanistan's top clerics on Monday in which they issued a decree against suicide attacks and called for peace talks. A suicide bomber struck just outside the gathering as it was dispersing, killing at least seven people and wounding 20 in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group. The Taliban had denounced the gathering, insisting that its jihad, or holy war, against foreign invaders was justified. It instead urged the clerics to side with it against the "occupation." The U.S. and NATO formally concluded their combat mission in Afghanistan in 2014, but the U.S. still has thousands of forces based there in a support and counterterrorism role. The Trump administration has sent additional troops to try to change the course of America's longest war. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement that the U.S. welcomed the cease-fire and that it indicates the Afghan government's commitment to try to end the conflict. "The United States and our international partners look to the Taliban to honor the ceasefire and demonstrate their respect for the people of Afghanistan who have long called for a reprieve to the Taliban's campaign of violence," he said. In a statement, the U.S. forces said that they too would observe the ceasefire with the Taliban, but that it would not affect their counterterrorism efforts terrorist groups like Islamic State and al-Qaida. "We will adhere to the wishes of Afghanistan for the country to enjoy a peaceful end to the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, and support the search for an end to the conflict," said Gen. John Nicholson, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan and head of the NATO-led Resolute Support training mission. "President Ghani's peace offer was universally supported by the international community and the ceasefire represents another bold initiative for peace and is for the benefit of all Afghans," Nicholson added. The U.S. has said it is open to an Afghan-led peace process. Nicholson said last month that some elements of the Taliban are showing interest in peace talks. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the announcement and urged the Taliban to reciprocate the temporary cease-fire and accept Ghani's peace offer "to commence direct talks to bring an end to the long suffering of the Afghan people," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. At NATO headquarters in Brussels, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the move and called on the Taliban to lay down their arms. "The Taliban will not win on the battlefield," he told reporters at a meeting of defense ministers. "The only way for them to achieve a solution is to sit down at the negotiating table." NATO has led international security efforts in Afghanistan since 2003. It wound down its combat mission in 2014 but its Resolute Support mission comprises almost 16,000 troops from around 40 countries. The conflict has been at a stalemate for several years, and NATO's best chances of leaving lie in the Taliban agreeing to peace talks and eventually joining the government. In the meantime, the insurgents have continued to carry out attacks. On Wednesday, the Taliban attacked a police post in the eastern Ghazni province, killing three police and wounding five others, according to Ramadan Ali Mosseny, the province's deputy police chief. In the eastern Khost province, a drive-by shooting at a mosque on Wednesday killed four people and wounded 15, said Talib Mangal, spokesman for the provincial governor. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the shooting, and it was not clear who the target was. COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) - The Finnish Defense Forces says a top U.S. military chief will meet his Russian counterpart in Helsinki to discuss "current issues between the countries." The Finnish military says the meeting Friday of Gen. Joseph Dunford, current chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Russia's chief of the military's General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, "takes place on the initiative of both countries." In Thursday's statement, the Finns said they also will meet separately with Finland's president and the Nordic country's military chief. The Finns will not take part in the U.S.-Russia meeting. FILE - In this May 26, 2018 file photo General Joseph F. Dunford Jr., Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, gives the graduation address during graduation ceremonies at the United States Military Academy, in West Point, N.Y. The Finnish Defense Forces said Gen. Joseph Dunford, current chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Russia's chief of the military's General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, will meet in Helsinki to discuss "current issues between the countries." (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson, file) In April, NATO's top military officer, U.S. Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, met with Gerasimov in Baku for the first such encounter since relations between Moscow and the alliance sank to post-Cold War lows over the Ukrainian crisis. LONDON (AP) - Flamboyant British nightclub owner Peter Stringfellow died Thursday after battling lung cancer. He was 77. Publicist Matt Glass said Stringfellow died early in the morning. Stringfellow got his start in the early 1960s booking bands including the Beatles, the Who and the Rolling Stones in his clubs at a time when those bands were not yet world famous. FILE - In this Jan. 9, 2006 file photo, nightclub owner Peter Stringfellow celebrates after being granted with a licence for his proposed club based in central Dublin. Stringfellow had died aged 77, a spokesman said. Prominent British nightclub owner Peter Stringfellow has died Thursday June 7, 2018, after battling lung cancer. He was 77. (PA via AP) He later opened upscale "gentlemen's clubs" in several cities, including London, where "Stringfellows" has been in operation since 1980. He also branched out into New York, Los Angeles and Miami in the United States. Stringfellow was a colorful personality known for his parties and general revelry. He kept his businesses going for six decades despite changing tastes and entertainment styles. He liked to boast that he spotted the Beatles early and booked them for a pittance even though they had a number one hit by the time they performed at his club in 1963. Stringfellow was born in the industrial city of Sheffield and was the son of a steelworker. He started working at 15 and had a job in a movie theater before a two-year-stint in the Royal Navy. He was briefly in prison for selling stolen carpets before turning his focus to nightclubs, starting with the Black Cat Club in Sheffield. He had largely removed himself from the public spotlight in recent years as he coped with cancer. He is survived by his wife Bella, four children and four grandchildren. COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) - Police in Norway say they have arrested a man suspected of participating in the murder of mainly Tutsis in the 1994 genocide in his African homeland. The National Criminal Investigation Service says the man in his 50s was arrested Tuesday. His name was not disclosed. The NCIS said Thursday the man arrived in Norway in 2006 as a refugee and became a Norwegian citizen in 2014. Prosecutor Espen Hanken said there is still a lot of investigation ahead, adding the case has been built on information from Rwanda and "investigative trips" to the African country. The aim, he said, is to have it prosecuted in Norway. Some 800,000 people, mostly ethnic Tutsis, were killed by Hutu extremists during the Rwandan genocide, according to the U.N. MANILA, Philippines (AP) - Philippine police arrested nearly 500 people, including eight Israeli nationals, who they say were involved in an online investment fraud that victimized people overseas, including in Australia and South Africa, police said Thursday. In one of the Philippines' biggest anti-cybercrime busts in years, police chief Oscar Albayalde said 474 Filipino employees and the Israelis were taken into custody following the raid on three buildings in Clark Freeport, a former U.S. Air Force base north of Manila, where the alleged online fraud was committed. The suspects lured victims into investing in foreign stocks in a purportedly flourishing London-based company then took their money through an online app after obtaining their bank account and credit card details, said Chief Superintendent Marni Marcos, who heads the national police Anti-Cybercrime Group. In this photo provided by the Philippine National Police, SAF (Special Action Force) members escort Israeli nationals following a raid at Clark Freeport Zone, Pampanga province, Thursday, June 7, 2018, in Quezon city, northeast of Manila, Philippines. Police say they have arrested nearly 500 people, including eight Israeli nationals, who they say are involved in an online financial fraud that victimized people overseas, including in Australia and South Africa. (Philippine National Police via AP) The Israeli men were arrested "while in the act of managing, operating and manning the three target buildings" while the Filipinos were caught communicating and doing online transactions with foreign clients from Europe, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Russia, Albayalde said in a statement. Police video shows officers with assault rifles, backed by special forces units, barging into a vast office and repeatedly yelling "Hands up!" while ordering some of the suspects not to touch their computers. Some of the Israelis could be seen being led away in handcuffs. Police seized evidence from the computers showing they were "engaged in a fraudulent online trading activity that involves millions of U.S. dollars victimizing other foreign nationals all over the world," Albayalde said. State prosecutors were assessing criminal complaints against the suspects. Some foreign victims traveled to the Philippines and reported to the police details of the alleged fraud after obtaining information from some disgruntled syndicate members, Marcos told reporters. In this photo provided by the Philippine National Police, SAF (Special Action Force) members escort Israeli nationals for media presentation by Philippine National Police Chief Oscar Albayalde following a raid at Clark Freeport Zone, Pampanga province, Thursday, June 7, 2018, in Quezon city, northeast of Manila, Philippines. Police say they have arrested nearly 500 people, including eight Israeli nationals, who they say are involved in an online financial fraud that victimized people overseas, including in Australia and South Africa. (Philippine National Police via AP) JOHANNESBURG (AP) - A 23-year-old South African man was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday for the 2015 ax murders of his parents and brother in an affluent housing estate. Henri van Breda appeared impassive as a judge sentenced him to three life sentences for the grisly killings of parents Martin and Teresa and brother Rudi in Stellenbosch, a scenic town in a wine-growing area near Cape Town. Van Breda also received a 15-year sentence in the Western Cape High Court for the attempted murder of his sister Marli at the time of the attacks. She suffered severe head injuries in a bloody onslaught that Judge Siraj Desai described as "cold-blooded" murder. Henri van Breda sits in the dock in the High Court in Cape Town, South Africa, during sentencing. Thursday, June 7, 2018. Van Breda has been sentenced to life in prison for the 2015 ax murders of his parents and brother and received a separate sentence of 15 years for the attempted murder of his sister. (AP Photo/Halden Krog) "These attacks display a high level of innate cruelty," Desai said. "The violence was excessive and gratuitous. It was intended to cause maximum harm." Defense lawyer Pieter Botha, who plans to appeal the conviction and sentencing, had suggested van Breda's youth and status as a first-time offender should be mitigating factors in the sentencing. He also said his client could not show remorse because he maintains he is innocent. While Desai recalled that a witness heard a loud argument in the van Breda home for several hours on the night of the killings, he told Henri van Breda that "we have no explanation for what you did" and that he had to be handed the "severest possible penalty." Van Breda also received a one-year sentence for obstructing justice after the court concluded that he inflicted injuries on himself to try to mislead police. South Africa's government welcomed the sentencing, saying it "serves as a deterrent to others who think that violence in the family will be allowed in South Africa." The van Breda family lived in Australia for some years before returning to South Africa, and the judge said Henri van Breda had enrolled at the University of Melbourne. "Your future was not bleak. In fact, it was bright," Desai told van Breda as he stood in the dock. "You had the support of family and, more importantly, they had the means to assist you in your future endeavors, and it seems to me they would have done so." ___ Follow Christopher Torchia on Twitter at www.twitter.com/torchiachris Henri van Breda sits in the dock in the High Court in Cape Town, South Africa, during sentencing. Thursday, June 7, 2018. Van Breda has been sentenced to life in prison for the 2015 ax murders of his parents and brother and received a separate sentence of 15 years for the attempted murder of his sister. (AP Photo/Halden Krog) Henri van Breda, right, in the High Court in Cape Town, South Africa, Thursday, June 7, 2018. Van Breda has been sentenced to life in prison for the 2015 ax murders of his parents and brother and received a separate sentence of 15 years for the attempted murder of his sister. (AP Photo/Halden Krog) Henri van Breda, right, in the High Court in Cape Town, South Africa, Thursday, June 7, 2018. Van Breda has been sentenced to life in prison for the 2015 ax murders of his parents and brother and received a separate sentence of 15 years for the attempted murder of his sister. (AP Photo/Halden Krog) Henri van Breda in the High Court in Cape Town, South Africa, during sentencing. Thursday, June 7, 2018. Van Breda has been sentenced to life in prison for the 2015 ax murders of his parents and brother and received a separate sentence of 15 years for the attempted murder of his sister. (AP Photo/Halden Krog) Henri van Breda arrives at the High Court in Cape Town, South Africa, Thursday, June 7, 2018. Van Breda has been sentenced to life in prison for the 2015 ax murders of his parents and brother and received a separate sentence of 15 years for the attempted murder of his sister. (AP Photo/Halden Krog) MADRID (AP) - The government cabinet with the highest proportion of female ministers in Spanish and European history was sworn in Thursday, putting the cap on one of the fastest power transitions in Spain's four decades of democratic rule. The new Socialist government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is comprised of 11 female ministers - overseeing key areas such as the national economy, finance and defense - and six men. Women represented 64.7 percent of the new Cabinet, above the 62.5 percent that the Finnish government scored in 2015 according to the statistics of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Spain's King Felipe, centre, poses with the members of the new Socialist government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, centre left, after taking their positions during a swearing in ceremony at the Zarzuela Palace in Madrid, Spain, Thursday, June 7, 2018. The government cabinet with most female ministers in Spanish and European history was sworn in Thursday, putting the cap on one of the fastest power transitions in the country's four decades of democratic rule. (J.J. Guillen/Pool Photo via AP) Most of the new ministers referred to the female majority in their oath-taking on Thursday before King Felipe VI. A court ruling over a kickbacks-for-contracts scheme involving the conservative Popular Party prompted a no confidence vote against Mariano Rajoy, prime minister since 2011. Sanchez replaced Rajoy last week. He has defined his government as feminist, progressive, pro-European and "a loyal reflection of the best in the society that it aspires to serve." Carmen Calvo, an expert in constitutional law and former culture minister, will be Sanchez's deputy prime minister and also in charge of the resurrected Ministry of Equality. The government "has to work to reduce inequalities and achieve great equality, which affects men and women," Calvo said on Friday in a brief ceremony to take over the government's no. 2 position from Soraya Saenz de Santamaria. ___ This story has been corrected to give the number of men in the cabinet as six, not five. Spain's King Felipe, centre, poses with the members of the new Socialist government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, centre left, after taking their positions during a swearing ceremony at the Zarzuela Palace in Madrid, Spain, Thursday, June 7, 2018. The government cabinet with most female ministers in Spanish and European history was sworn in Thursday, putting the cap on one of the fastest power transitions in the country's four decades of democratic rule. (J.J. Guillen/Pool Photo via AP) LONDON (AP) - Britain's Supreme Court on Thursday criticized Northern Ireland's strict anti-abortion laws but dismissed a legal challenge. A majority of the court decided that the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, which initiated the case, did not have the standing to bring the challenge to the abortion law. The court dismissed the case without taking action. The justices went on to say, however, that a majority finds Northern Ireland's abortion prohibitions "disproportionate" and that they violate European human rights laws. Northern Ireland campaigner for Amnesty International Grainne Teggart, right and campaigner Sarah Ewart, centre, stand outside the Supreme Court, in Westminster where UK's highest court is to rule on Northern Ireland abortion law challenge, in London, Thursday June 7, 2018. Britain's Supreme Court has criticized Northern Ireland's strict anti-abortion laws but dismissed a legal challenge based on the assertion that the laws are a violation of human rights. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP) That part of the ruling gave hope to abortion rights activists seeking to liberalize Northern Ireland's laws. Strict Northern Ireland laws that prohibit abortions in cases of pregnancy as a result of incest or rape, and in cases when the fetus has a likely fatal abnormality, have drawn scrutiny since the Republic of Ireland voted overwhelmingly in May to repeal its own strict laws. When Ireland replaces the constitutional ban with more liberal legislation after a debate in parliament, Northern Ireland will be the only remaining region in Britain and Ireland to outlaw the procedure. Rosa Curling, from the law firm Leigh Day that helped bring the legal challenge, called the court's ruling "a momentous day for women in Northern Ireland" and said it is now up to British Prime Minister Theresa May to take action to ease the laws. She said May has an obligation to make sure the U.K. government is "now longer acting unlawfully by breaching the human rights of women across Northern Ireland." However, the fact that the Supreme Court dismissed the case because of doubts about the Human Rights Commission's right to bring it means the judges' views on the anti-abortion laws do not have legal force, which is reassuring for abortion foes. Laurence Wilkinson, legal counsel for ADF International, a group that advocates the right to live according to religious belief, said it welcomes the dismissal of the case, asserting that "at least 100,000 people in Northern Ireland are alive today" because of the decision not to liberalize laws in 1967, when Wales, England and Scotland eased restrictions. He said the divisions among Supreme Court justices on the Northern Ireland laws revealed a "complete lack of consensus" on the matter. The issue is further clouded by the collapse of the Northern Ireland Assembly, a power-sharing regional government set up by the 1998 Good Friday accord. NORTH BROOKFIELD, Mass. (AP) - Police in Massachusetts are searching for two suspects a woman says yelled racial slurs and threw a hatchet at her son walking home from school. Tanya Collins tells WHDH-TV her 14-year-old son had just gotten off the bus when two masked men in a passing vehicle yelled and threw the hatchet at his head, forcing the eighth-grader to duck out of the way. The boy, who is black, was not hurt and ran home. North Brookfield Police Chief Mark Smith tells the station he considers the confrontation reported Tuesday a hate crime. Smith says he was disgusted but considers it an isolated incident. The hatchet was not recovered. A call to police Thursday was not immediately returned. North Brookfield is a town of fewer than 5,000 people about 50 miles west of Boston. ___ Information from: WHDH-TV, http://www1.whdh.com One of these prizes is a certificate for having obtained a bronze medal in the Aromatique Acidule category at the 3rd International Contest of Coffees Roasted in their countries of Origin AVPA - Paris 2017 AMMAN, Jordan (AP) - Jordan's newly appointed prime minister on Thursday said he will cancel a controversial tax bill and reconsider the legislation in consultation with groups and political parties. Omar Razzaz made the announcement after days of large public protests against the bill. Opponents had said the bill was unfair to the poor and middle class. "The government will withdraw the draft tax law, after the formation of the government," Razzaz said at a meeting with union leaders. Speaking to reporters after the meeting at his office, Razzaz said the economy has been hit hard by an influx of some 1.3 million refugees fleeing the war in neighboring Syria in recent years. He said the refugees have overwhelmed public services and inflated the ranks of unemployed. "To also increase the tax bill in a way that did not involve enough consultation with the segments of society was a little bit hard to take," he said. He praised both protesters and police for handling the protests without violence. "If anything I think this says that Jordan is a strong country politically and civically. We have a committed population, and people express themselves through peaceful means, but we are going through very very difficult times," he said. He called on the international community to help Jordan cope with the refugee crisis. King Abdullah II appointed Razzaz on Tuesday, replacing Hani Mulki, who quit amid the mounting protests against the tax plan. Underpinning the sustained demonstrations is growing public anger about an economic and political system that many Jordanians view as impenetrable, with benefits reserved for small elites. The country has also grappled with an economic slowdown, largely linked to regional turmoil, as well as high unemployment and rising public debt. The International Monetary Fund has sought sweeping economic changes, including subsidy cuts and price hikes for fuel, electricity and other basics. It's not clear how the king, who has final say over policy, will appease public anger, while not rolling back the IMF-mandated overhaul. BERLIN (AP) - German authorities investigating the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl said Thursday they are seeking a fugitive Iraqi asylum-seeker, but released a Turkish suspect in the latest high-profile criminal case involving migrants. The body of the girl, who had been missing since May 22, was found Wednesday buried on the outskirts of the western German city of Wiesbaden. Prosecutors initially told reporters at a news conference Thursday that two men - a 20-year-old Iraqi and a 35-year-old Turkish citizen, both of whom lived at homes for asylum-seekers in the city - were suspected of raping and killing the girl on the evening she went missing. The search photo provided by Wiesbaden, western Germany, police shows 20-years-old Iraqi Ali Basar who is suspected of raping and killing a 14-years-old girl. (Polizei Wiesbaden via AP) Later Thursday, prosecutors said they were withdrawing the arrest warrant for the Turkish man, who had been detained Wednesday evening, saying new information had emerged indicating the 35-year-old wasn't urgently suspected of involvement in the crime. Police said the Iraqi man, whom they identified as Ali Bashar, appeared to have left abruptly with his family last week, flying to Erbil, Iraq via Istanbul. He was a suspect in a string of previous offenses in the area, including a robbery at knifepoint. He's believed to have arrived in Germany in October 2015, at the height of the migrant influx to Germany, and was appealing the rejection of his asylum application. Police said a 13-year-old refugee boy went to a police station in Wiesbaden on Sunday and told officers the girl had been raped and killed, and named the Iraqi as a possible perpetrator. Germany's Central Council of Jews said the murdered girl - identified by police as Susanna Maria Feldman - was a member of the Jewish community in Mainz, near Wiesbaden. It called for a thorough investigation and warned in a statement against "premature conclusions." Previous killings by asylum-seekers in Germany have fanned tensions over the influx of more than a million migrants in 2015 and 2016, an issue that helped the far-right Alternative for Germany enter the German parliament last year. The surge of migrants also sparked a rash of attacks on asylum-seekers' homes, which has since tapered off. In one case, two men were convicted Thursday in the southwestern city of Landau of setting fire to a home being built for asylum-seekers in the nearby town of Herxheim in 2015. They both received probation. ___ Frank Jordans contributed to this report. Police officers block a road near Wiesbaden, Germany, Thursday, June 7, 2018. The body of the 14-year-old girl, who had been missing since May 22, was found Wednesday on the outskirts of Wiesbaden. (Foto: Boris Roessler/dpa via AP) NEW YORK (AP) - Barbara Bush's widely praised commencement address at Wellesley College is being released as a book. Scribner told The Associated Press on Thursday that "Your Own True Colors" comes out June 12. An audio edition of the 1990 speech will be published the same day. The former first lady died in April at age 92. Bush was invited by Wellesley after the first choice, author Alice Walker, dropped out for personal reasons. Some students at the women's school protested that Bush's life had been defined by her husband's achievements. Acknowledging the objections, Bush called on the graduates to respect differences and search for "their own true colors." Noting that someone in attendance might become a presidential spouse, she received loud applause when she added, "And I wish him well." FILE - In this June 1, 1990, file photo, Soviet First Lady Raisa Gorbachev, left, waves as she walks with U.S. First Lady Barbara Bush, right, during the opening procession at Wellesley College commencement in Wellesley, Mass. Bush's widely praised commencement address at Wellesley College is being released as a book. Scribner told The Associated Press on Thursday that "Your Own True Colors" comes out June 12. (AP Photo/Peter Southwick, File) BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) - The youngest sister of Queen Maxima of Holland has been found dead in her apartment in Argentina's capital. The death of 33-year-old Ines Zorreguieta, presumably of suicide, was confirmed by Trudy Hulscher of the Royal House's communications department. She said in an email that no further details were available. Investigating prosecutors in Argentina said that Zorreguieta was found dead on Wednesday evening by her mother and a friend, who called 911. They also said that there are no signs of foul play, and that they are waiting for the results of an autopsy. In this October 20 2007 photo, released by the Secretariat Royal House Division of the Netherlands, Queen Maxima poses with Princess Ariane on her lap, beside King Willem-Alexander, center right, and their daughters Princess of Orange Catharina-Amalia, bottom left, and Princess Alexia, bottom right, on the top row from left, Tijo Baron Collot d'Escury, the Queen's sister Ines Zorreguieta, Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume of Luxembourg, Valeria Delger and Antoine Friling, pose for a family picture taken on the baptism Princess Ariane of in The Hague, Netherlands. Argentine officials say the youngest sister of Queen Maxima of Holland, Ines Zorreguieta, has been found dead Thursday, June 7, 2018, in her Buenos Aires apartment. (Secretariat Royal House Division of the Netherlands via AP) Zorreguieta was a psychologist who once worked for an office on social policies at the president's office. She had also worked for the social development ministry in Buenos Aires province and at a United Nations office in Panama. Maxima had a close relationship with her youngest sister, who was a bridesmaid at her wedding to Willem-Alexander, and a godmother to Ariane, the third child of the Dutch royals. Her father, Jorge Horacio Zorreguieta, died last year in Buenos Aires at age 89. __ Associated Press writer Victor Caivano contributed to this report. HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - Zimbabwe's main opposition party announced Thursday it will create a $100 billion economy within a decade and re-establish ties with Israel - a major foreign policy shift - if it wins July 30 elections. The MDC-T, which has re-energized under 40-year-old leader Nelson Chamisa, launched its election manifesto while the state broadcaster, which is closely aligned with the ruling party, provided rare live coverage. President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who took power in November when longtime leader Robert Mugabe stepped down under pressure from the military and ruling party, has promised free and fair elections in a country with a history of disputed polls. This will be the first vote without Mugabe since independence from white minority rule in 1980. A sign language anchor, right, gestures as Zimbabwe's opposition leader, Nelson Chamisa delivers his speech, during the launch of the party's election manifesto in Harare, Thursday, June, 7, 2018. Zimbabwe's main opposition party says it will create a $100 billion economy within a decade and improve ties with Israel if it wins July 30 elections. The MDC-T, which has re-energized under 40-year-old Nelson Chamisa, launched its election manifesto Thursday. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi) Both Mnangagwa and the opposition are pledging to improve the once-prosperous economy, which collapsed under Mugabe, and attract foreign investors put off by years of international sanctions over alleged human rights abuses. The opposition promised a leaner government, more transparency and business-friendly laws. Deepening political ties with Israel by opening an embassy there would mark an important shift for Zimbabwe, which enjoys close relations with the Palestinians, who have maintained a diplomatic mission in the southern African country since 1980. The opposition said it wanted to get closer to Israel "for spiritual renewal." Chamisa also pledged to re-engage the West, which has indicated that a free and fair election is a key step toward lifting sanctions. "We will not look West or East, but we will look everywhere following the dollar," he said. ____ Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa Zimbabwe's opposition leader Nelson Chamisa sits, during the launch of the party's election manifesto in Harare, Thursday, June, 7, 2018. Zimbabwe's main opposition party says it will create a $100 billion economy within a decade and improve ties with Israel if it wins July 30 elections. The MDC-T, which has re-energized under 40-year-old Nelson Chamisa, launched its election manifesto Thursday. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi) BERLIN (AP) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel says European Union countries on the U.N. Security Council should coordinate their activities better, speaking as Germany hopes to win a two-year stint on the council. France will be the only EU country with a permanent seat after Britain leaves the 28-nation EU next year. Germany has long sought a permanent seat. Along with Belgium, it's expected to win a non-permanent seat Friday. Germany last held such a seat in 2011-2012. German Chancellor Angela Merkel answers questions of lawmakers during a government questioning as part of a meeting of the German parliament, Bundestag, at the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, June 6, 2018. The reflections are caused by a metallic handrail at the press tribune. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn) Merkel said in Berlin Thursday that, as long as there is no fundamental U.N. reform, "we should, whenever a European member state gets a non-permanent U.N. seat ... coordinate these seats Europe-wide and make them practically European seats." She said that would "greatly strengthen the consistency and coherence of our foreign policy." BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - A judge has dismissed Montana-Dakota Utilities' eminent domain lawsuit over a proposed half-mile natural gas pipeline in northern North Dakota, a decision hailed by landowner attorneys as a rare victory. North Central District Judge Gary Lee ruled May 29 that harm to private landowner Lavern Behm outweighed any public benefits from the pipeline. Pipelines have become a contentious issue in North Dakota since the prolonged and sometimes violent protests against the $3.8 billion, four-state Dakota Access oil pipeline in 2016 and 2017. MDU sought an easement across Behm's property in Ward County to build a 3,000-foot-long (915-meter-long) pipeline to service a BNSF Railway facility west of Minot. The railroad maintains and operates a switch heated in the winter with propane tanks near the private property to keep it free of snow and ice. MDU proposed replacing the tanks with the underground pipeline, according to court records. The utility that provides natural gas and electricity to more than 400,000 customers in a four-state area obtained the necessary permits and approvals from state and federal agencies but had to resort to eminent domain to cross the private land. State law prohibits private property from being taken for ownership or use of any private individual or entity unless the land is necessary for conducting a carrier or utility business. "While it is certainly not subject to dispute that maintaining railway switches is a necessity to the safe operations of the railroad, the construction of this pipeline is not necessary for this purpose," Lee wrote, noting that the propane tank option exists. He also said MDU didn't give enough consideration to other options. MDU is still determining whether it will appeal to the state Supreme Court, spokesman Mark Hanson said Thursday. The decision is a "huge case for property rights, and the little guy," said Behm's attorney, Lynn Boughey. "We are way too often allowing private entities to use government powers to take from private citizens." Bismarck attorney Derrick Braaten has represented landowners in dozens of eminent domain cases. He said most landowner victories amount to increased compensation for the use of their land, and that it's rare for a judge to entirely bar the taking of private property. Braaten said the Ward County case, though involving a small pipeline, touches on a larger issue. "The big ones that are a question right now are these interstate pipelines," he said. "I think there is kind of a looming question out there, is that a public purpose?" ___ Follow Blake Nicholson on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/NicholsonBlake LONDON (AP) - Dillian Whyte says Joseph Parker blew his "big moment" against Anthony Joshua and hopes he leaves his "running shoes" at home when they fight on July 28 in London. The heavyweight contenders hope victory at the O2 Arena will secure either a rematch against Joshua or a fight with WBC champion Deontay Wilder, even though the division's two highest-profile fighters remain in discussions about a fight of their own. Parker (24-1, 18 KO) conceded the WBO title to Joshua when in March he was outpointed in Cardiff while fighting largely on the back foot. The aggressive Whyte (23-1, 17 KO), who was stopped by Joshua in December 2015 in a far more bruising fight, believes it is something he will regret. "He had his big moment, and he didn't do enough," Whyte said. "It was after five, six rounds, he knew he was losing on points, he knew he was in another man's country, he knew (Joshua) was the champion, so you think, 'Throw caution to the wind and go for it.' He didn't do that. "Joseph Parker will be hungry, motivated. I just hope he leaves his running shoes at home and comes to fight. "Massive respect to him - he had his moments versus Joshua, he could have had a couple of easy fights, but he wants a challenge. It's a big mistake." Since losing to Joshua for the British title, Whyte has repaired his standing with seven straight wins, including knocking out unbeaten Australian Lucas Browne in March. Following his own first professional defeat, Parker has taken the unusual step of accepting a risky fight. "I feel it's a great time to come back," the New Zealander said. "Credit to Dillian and myself for putting our hands up to fight each other. He looked tremendous in his last fight (against Browne); he said he wants a war, let's make it happen." BERLIN (AP) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel is calling for restraint in dealing with Italy's new populist government, arguing that the relationship should not start with "suspicions and assumptions." Italy's government took office last week amid fears in Germany that it will disregard the European Union's financial rules. Merkel will meet new Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte for the first time at this week's Group of Seven summit in Canada. Merkel said in Berlin on Thursday "we should talk with each other before we keep on talking about each other." German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, left, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, attend the weekly cabinet meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, June 6, 2018. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn) She said she agrees with her finance minister that "we should restrain ourselves a bit," adding it should be made clear that "Europe is based on certain rules" but good cooperation is the priority. Merkel added: "That's how it must start, and not with suspicions and assumptions." SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) - Actor Ben Affleck is offering his island mansion and surrounding property on the Georgia coast for sale at an asking price of $8.9 million. Real estate company Engel and Volkers is handling the listing. Its website describes the house on Hampton Island as "a remarkable recreation of a southern antebellum, Greek Revival Plantation home" with 25-foot (8-meter) -high Doric columns and 6,000 square feet (557 sq. meters) of living space. Affleck's Georgia getaway includes 87 acres (352,000 sq. meters) overlooking deep water on the North Newport River in Liberty County, outside Savannah. In addition to the four-bedroom main house, there's a screened-in "cottage" for entertaining and a large guest house with five bedrooms and three master suites. Our struggle is to bring social, political, and economic justice to our nation. This is an effort of the Chicano/Mexican American Digital History Project. https://sites.google.com/site/chicanodigital/ WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - A 500-year-old copy of a letter from Christopher Columbus describing his exploits in the Americas has been returned to Spain from Delaware. WDEL-FM cites a release from Immigration and Customs Enforcement that says the 1493 letter was stolen from the National Library of Catalonia sometime before November 2005, when it was sold. The letter changed hands again in 2011, when it was sold for approximately $1 million. Homeland Security Investigations and the Delaware U.S. attorney's office were notified that year that several manually printed copies of the letter had been stolen from libraries across Europe and replaced with forgeries without library officials' knowledge. After negotiations, the person possessing the letter turned it over in 2014. The Plannck II Columbus letter was repatriated Wednesday at the Spanish ambassador's residence in Washington. ___ Information from: WDEL-FM, http://www.wdel.com/ PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) - A frustrated father's Facebook post over the lack of baby-changing stations in men's restrooms is getting a lot of support from parents in similar situations. New Hampshire man Chris Mau is a 33-year-old father of four. He recently posted that he used the floor in the men's bathroom at a restaurant to change his 8-month-old daughter's diaper. He had been out for a walk with his family. He said the only changing table that was available was in the women's restroom, and he didn't feel comfortable going in there. In his post, he said fathers should be able to change their children's diapers in public just as easily as mothers can. The post had nearly 145,000 shares Thursday morning. Others reached out to Mau to talk about similar experiences. RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - An Army National Guard officer charged with driving an armored personnel carrier off base while under the influence of drugs insisted Thursday he was ordered to do so as part of a training exercise and called the charges against him "completely bogus." But a spokesman for the Virginia National Guard denied 1st Lt. Joshua Yabut's claim. "Lt. Yabut was not authorized by the brigade commander or anyone else to drive the armored personnel carrier off Fort Pickett to any location for any reason," spokesman A.A. "Cotton" Puryear wrote in an email. This undated image provided by Richmond City Sheriff's Office shows Joshua Yabut. Yabut, charged with driving an armored personnel carrier off base while under the influence of drugs insisted Thursday, June 7, 2018, he was ordered to do so as part of a training exercise and called the charges against him "completely bogus." Yabut, 29, of Richmond, Virginia, was arrested in downtown Richmond following a two-hour police chase. (Richmond City Sheriff's Office via AP) Yabut told The Associated Press he was first notified of the training exercise by his commander a week before he drove the vehicle away Tuesday evening from Fort Pickett. Yabut said he was later given the command in coded military language to conduct the exercise, which he said was aimed at gauging police response. "I didn't want to do it, but I believed it was a lawful order, and as a commissioned officer I was required to do so," Yabut said. Yabut, 29, of Richmond, Virginia, was arrested in downtown Richmond following a two-hour police chase. He spoke to the AP by phone from a psychiatric hospital. He was taken there Wednesday after he was arraigned on charges of driving under the influence of drugs, unauthorized use of a National Guard vehicle and evading police. Yabut said he was not under the influence of illegal drugs. He said the only drug he has taken recently is a low dose of Lexapro, which he said he was prescribed for anxiety after he returned in 2009 from a deployment in Afghanistan. He said the drug has never altered his behavior. "I think the toxicology report will show that those charges are completely false, and I don't even know why I would be charged with that to begin with," he said. A state trooper who is listed as the arresting officer wrote in court documents that Yabut had "glassy eyes" with dilated pupils, slurred speech and was "unsteady on his feet." "Mr. Yabut had no idea where he was at that time," the trooper wrote. He also wrote that Yabut's dilated pupils "are indicative of opioid use." Sgt. Keeli Hill, a Virginia State Police spokeswoman, said Thursday that she couldn't give specifics about what drugs Yabut might have used, saying an investigation was ongoing. Yabut's lawyer did not respond to several phone messages and emails seeking comment. The Guard said Yabut is assigned as the commander of the Petersburg-based Headquarters Company, 276th Engineer Battalion. He has more than 11 years of service, and was deployed to Afghanistan from 2008 to 2009 with the Illinois National Guard. The armored personnel carrier, which drives on tracks like a tank, topped out at speeds of about 45 mph (70 kph) on its journey to the state capital. Police couldn't stop it, so they ended up escorting it, sirens blaring, before Yabut stopped and got out near City Hall. Yabut said police shot him with a stun gun and set a dog on him before taking him into custody. "I didn't just run in to an APC and drive it off," Yabut said. "It was prepped. It was prepared with 60 miles of fuel and soldiers assisted with the preparation." ___ Associated Press writer Sarah Rankin contributed to this report. News Researcher Rhonda Shafner contributed from New York City. In this June 5, 2018 photo, emergency personnel surround a National Guard military vehicle stolen from Fort Pickett, Nottoway County, Va. Police in Virginia said they arrested a soldier who stole the armored personnel carrier after chasing him for more than 60 miles. (Grace Hollars/Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP) MADRID (AP) - Spain's King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia will travel later this month to the United States, where they will visit the White House as well as Louisiana and Texas. Authorities said in a statement Thursday that the royal couple will begin their trip June 14 with stays in New Orleans and San Antonio, cities that this year are celebrating the 300th anniversary of their foundation and which have close historical ties with Spain. The royals will be in Washington on June 19, where they will be received by President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump. Spain's King Felipe, centre, poses with the members of the new Socialist government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, centre left, after taking their positions during a swearing ceremony at the Zarzuela Palace in Madrid, Spain, Thursday, June 7, 2018. The government cabinet with most female ministers in Spanish and European history was sworn in Thursday, putting the cap on one of the fastest power transitions in the country's four decades of democratic rule. (J.J. Guillen/Pool Photo via AP) The statement said the foreign minister of Spain's new Socialist government, Josep Borrell, will also be on the trip. It gave no further details. BALTIMORE (AP) - The Latest on the sentencing of the former leader of a corrupt Baltimore police unit (all times local): 12:05 p.m. A leader of a corrupt Baltimore police unit has been sentenced to 25 years in federal prison. FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Baltimore Police Department shows Wayne Jenkins. Jenkins, the former leader of the department's disbanded Gun Trace Task Force who pleaded guilty in a corruption case in January, is scheduled to appear at a sentencing hearing Thursday, June 7, 2018. (Baltimore Police Department via AP, File) U.S. District Judge Catherine Blake handed down the punishment Thursday to former Gun Trace Task Force leader Sgt. Wayne Jenkins. Jenkins had pleaded guilty earlier this year to charges including racketeering, robbery and falsifying records. He is the second member of the disbanded task force to be sentenced. In his plea agreement, Jenkins admitted to robbing hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash as well as drugs including cocaine and heroin from people who had been temporarily detained or arrested. Jenkins gave stolen drugs to an associate who resold them, enriching both men. ___ 12:05 a.m. An ex-leader of a rogue Baltimore police unit is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court. Former Gun Trace Task Force leader Sgt. Wayne Jenkins pleaded guilty in January to charges including racketeering and robbery. His plea agreement calls for a sentence of 20 to 30 years in prison. He will be sentenced Thursday. The plea agreement details how Jenkins stole drugs and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, entered homes illegally and falsified records, among other misdeeds. Three former officers who were also part of the corrupt task force are scheduled to be sentenced Thursday and Friday. In May, U.S. District Judge Catherine Blake sentenced former Sgt. Thomas Allers to 15 years in prison. Allers was the first former member of the gun task force to be sentenced. RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - The Latest on an Army National Guard officer facing charges after driving an armored personnel carrier off a base (all times local): 1 p.m. A Virginia National Guard officer accused of driving an armored personnel carrier off base while under the influence of drugs insists he was ordered to do so as part of a training exercise. This undated image provided by Richmond City Sheriff's Office shows Joshua Yabut. Yabut, a soldier who was chased by police for more than 60 miles after he stole an armored personnel carrier from a National Guard base was driving under the influence of drugs, Virginia State Police said Wednesday, June 6, 2018. (Richmond City Sheriff's Office via AP) 1st Lt. Joshua Yabut told The Associated Press Thursday he was first told about the training exercise by his commander a week before he drove the vehicle away from Fort Pickett on Tuesday evening. Yabut was arrested in downtown Richmond after a lengthy police chase. He said he is currently being held in a psychiatric hospital against his will. A spokesman for the Virginia National Guard denied Yabut's claim. Yabut said the only drug he has taken recently is a low dose of Lexapro for anxiety. He said he's taken Lexapro on and off since returning from a deployment in Afghanistan in 2009, and it's never had any behavior-altering side effects. ___ 12:15 p.m. Court documents say a Virginia Army National Guard officer accused of driving an armored personnel carrier off a base while under the influence of drugs was glassy-eyed and disoriented when he was taken into custody. A criminal complaint from the arresting state trooper says 1st Lt. Joshua Yabut exhibited slurred speech and was unsteady on his feet when he exited the vehicle in downtown Richmond late Tuesday night after a pursuit. It says he had no idea where he was at the time. The complaint says Yabut had glassy eyes and dilated pupils, which the trooper wrote were indicative of opioid use. Yabut, who spoke to The Associated Press from a psychiatric hospital, has denied that he was under the influence of drugs. He has also said he was ordered by a superior to take the vehicle from Fort Pickett, which a Guard spokesman disputes. ___ 11:45 a.m. A spokesman for the Virginia National Guard is refuting an officer's claim that he had been ordered by his brigade commander to drive an armored personnel carrier off base. 1st Lt. Joshua Yabut told The Associated Press he was following commands to take the vehicle as part of a training exercise to gauge the police response. Yabut was arrested in downtown Richmond late Tuesday night after a lengthy police chase and is being held against his will in a psychiatric hospital. Guard spokesman A. A. "Cotton" Puryear says Yabut's claim is not true. He says the officer was not authorized to drive the carrier off Fort Pickett "to any location for any reason" and there was no exercise to gauge police response. In this June 5, 2018 photo, emergency personnel surround a National Guard military vehicle stolen from Fort Pickett, Nottoway County, Va. Police in Virginia said they arrested a soldier who stole the armored personnel carrier after chasing him for more than 60 miles. (Grace Hollars/Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP) In this June 5, 2018 photo, emergency personnel surround a National Guard military vehicle stolen from Fort Pickett, Nottoway County, Va. Police in Virginia said they arrested a soldier who stole the armored personnel carrier after chasing him for more than 60 miles. (Grace Hollars/Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP) DIXON, Ill. (AP) - A 19-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to charges that he opened fire at a northern Illinois high school last month. Matthew Milby Jr. entered his plea Thursday in Lee County. He faces felony gun charges and is being held in jail on $2 million bond. Milby is accused of taking a semi-automatic rifle to Dixon High School on May 16 as graduation practice was taking place in the gym. Authorities allege that Milby, who was a member of the graduating class, fired at a gym teacher and was running away when he was confronted by school resource officer Mark Dallas. Suspected Dixon High School shooter Mathew Milby is escorted into Lee County court Thursday, June 7, 2018, for a hearing on his case in Dixon, Ill. (Alex T. Paschal /The Telegraph via AP, Pool) Milby is accused of firing at Dallas. Dallas returned fire, striking him in the shoulder and the hip. Neither Dallas nor the gym teacher was injured. WASHINGTON (AP) - In a story June 7 about the resignation of Environmental Protection Agency legal counsel Sarah Greenwalt, The Associated Press reported erroneously that Greenwalt was one of two aides due to speak this month to House committee staffers investigating Pruitt. Greenwalt spoke to committee staffers in May. A corrected version of the story is below: EPA chief's senior legal counsel is latest top aide to leave The legal counsel for Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt has become the latest top aide to resign By ELLEN KNICKMEYER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) - Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt announced the resignation of his senior legal counsel Thursday, the second departure of a top aide in as many days and one of a half-dozen since April amid unending barrages of ethics complaints and federal inquiries. The counsel, Sarah Greenwalt, appeared last month before a panel of House oversight committee staffers investigating allegations of ethics violations by Pruitt. On Wednesday, the EPA announced the resignation of Pruitt scheduler Millan Hupp. Hupp's departure came after lawmakers released her testimony to the congressional panel, in which she said Pruitt had directed her to house-hunt and carry out other personal errands for him, including asking the Trump International Hotel about buying a used mattress cheap. In a statement announcing Greenwalt's resignation, Pruitt called her a "tremendous leader" within the agency. Greenwalt did not return an email from The Associated Press to her work account seeking comment. A separate statement released by the EPA had Greenwalt praising Pruitt's "visionary leadership and tenacity." In addition to the House committee, the EPA's inspector general, the Government Accountability Office and the White House are investigating numerous allegations concerning Pruitt's spending on first-class travel and security, his dealings with subordinates and with lobbyists, and other matters. Greenwalt, who also served as counsel to Pruitt in his previous position as Oklahoma's attorney general, was in the news most recently when Pruitt rescinded a hefty raise for her after public criticism of his use of a little-known clause in the Safe Drinking Water Act to come up with the money. Pruitt, in appearances before congressional hearings this spring, has denied responsibility for any ethical lapses, saying subordinates made those decisions. Greenwalt is returning to Oklahoma to work as counsel with the state's workers' compensation commission. Ryan Jackson, Pruitt's chief of staff, now is the only one of five staffers known to have been requested to appear before the House Oversight panel to remain on Pruitt's staff. New coverage this week disclosing Pruitt's directive to Hupp to seek a used mattress for him, and another directive to a different staffer to reach out to the Chick-fil-A sandwich chain about a franchise for his family, led several GOP lawmakers to join Democratic colleagues in lambasting Pruitt. "He is acting like a moron, and he needs to stop it," Sen. John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, told CNN Thursday. "The hits just keep on coming, and I think he's hurting the president and therefore he's hurting the country," Kennedy added. Democratic Sens. Tom Udall of New Mexico, Tom Carper of Delaware and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island asked EPA inspector general Arthur Elkins on Thursday to investigate whether Pruitt is illegally using his EPA post to drum up business deals for his family. Whitehouse and Carper also asked Elkins to examine whether the EPA has been holding back entries from Pruitt's work calendar and other documents requested by Congress or by organizations invoking the Freedom of Information Act. The senators cited repeated requests for a set of recommendations that Ohio coal tycoon Robert Murray had given Pruitt in 2017 on rolling back what Murray saw as "anti-coal" policies. EPA spokespeople did not respond to requests for comment on the allegations. President Donald Trump, who has encouraged Pruitt's rollback of environmental regulations at the EPA, continued to publicly stand by Pruitt. He's "doing really, really well," Trump said Wednesday, at a gathering with Pruitt and other agency and Cabinet leaders. DENVER (AP) - An Uber driver was charged with murder Thursday in the fatal shooting of a passenger on a Colorado highway. Denver District Attorney Beth McCann announced that Michael Hancock was charged after last Friday's killing of Hyun Kim. Police said it appeared there had been some kind of altercation before the shooting, although authorities have not disclosed a motive. A partially redacted police report released the day of the shooting said a witness who called 911 told the dispatcher that Hancock told him that his passenger tried to attack him on Interstate 25 so he shot him. FILE - This file booking image provided by the Denver Police Department shows Michael Andre Hancock, who was arrested Friday, June 1, 2018, in connection with the fatal shooting of a passenger on Interstate 25. Hancock was charged on Thursday, June 7, 2018 with first degree murder in the shooting. (Denver Police Department via AP, File) The man passed the phone to Hancock but police said he later refused to discuss what happened without a lawyer. Police said Kim, 45, was shot numerous times, and 10 spent cartridges were found on the shoulder of Interstate 25. Hancock's silver sedan was located across the highway after it crashed into a wall, police said. Kim's body was found lying on the floor of the car's front passenger seat. Police said Hancock, 29, had trouble breathing after officers put handcuffs on him and was taken to a hospital for treatment. Hancock's family says he was trying to defend himself. In online efforts to raise money for a lawyer, they describe him as a hardworking husband and father of two, a Christian and community volunteer. Hancock, who does not have a criminal record in Colorado, worked as a driver for nearly three years but Uber removed his access to its app after his arrest. "We are deeply troubled by the events in Denver, and our thoughts are with the families of those involved," Uber said in a statement Thursday. Hancock, who is being held in jail without the possibility of posting bond, made an initial court appearance Saturday. He has not been asked to enter a plea and it's not clear whether he has hired a lawyer yet. Uber policy bars riders and drivers from carrying firearms except in states that expressly prohibit companies from banning guns. Colorado allows drivers to carry firearms to protect themselves and their property but Uber says the company's policy that bars drivers and riders from carrying firearms applies in the state.. NEW YORK (AP) - An actor who appeared in a YouTube crime show has been found stabbed to death in his Bronx apartment. Authorities say Tyrone Fleming was found dead around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. Fleming played Tye Banga on "848," a web series with nearly 20,000 subscribers. Worried co-workers contacted his family after he failed to show up at his job at Con Edison, an energy company. Friends and relatives described Fleming as a good man and a hardworking father of two. The New York Police Department is investigating. Film director of Artsakh descent, Jivan Avetisyans film Gate to Heaven shootings are in the preparatory stage. The film will be in English. June 7, 2018, 09:40 Jivan Avetisyans Gate to Heaven film shootings in preparatory stage STEPANAKERT, JUNE 7, ARTSAKHPRESS: Jivan Avetisyan told ArtsakhPress abouit the aforesaid. Speaking of the works being carried out, Jivan Avetisyan said that currently the sites of the shooting are being prepared in Askeran regions Harav village. In the upcoming month they will be gathering citizens for the film. Shootings of the film will finish in August. Starting from September the shootings of the film will continue in Europe. The film will be finished in spring of 2019. Outstanding foreign actors from Lithuania, France and the US act in Gate to Heaven film, Jivan Avetisyan said. According to the film director the film is about a war journalist, who has made a mistake in his life and the mistake tortures him during his whole life. The events of the film take place during the April four-day war. Romanticism, dramatism and internal conflict are present in the film. Jivan Avetisyan emphasized that the aim of the film is to make Artsakh recognizable on international platforms. Artsakh government, Artsakh Ministry of Culture, Youth Affairs and Tourism, as well as Artsakh Arts and Cultural Foundation operating in the US provide support to the films shootings. Founder of Artsakh Arts and Cultural Foundation, Garo Madenlian, who is currently in Artsakh, told ArtsakhPress that they continue to support Jivan Avetisyans films shootings. He noted that earlier, owing to the support of Artsakh Arts and Cultural Foundation, Jivan Avetisyans film The Last Inhabitant was shown in the US Alex cinema. Speaking of the support to be shown for Gate to Heaven film, Mr. Madenlian said that they have promised to allocate 50,000 US dollars. According to Garo Madenlian, Jivan Avetsiyan manages to present Artsakh and its heroic history to the world through his films. BOSTON (AP) - The Latest on mayors summit in Boston on climate change (all times local): 2:20 p.m. Former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is calling the decision by President Donald Trump to pull out of the Paris climate accord a "tragedy" but said states and private sector leaders are trying to meet the goal of reducing greenhouse gases anyway. The Democratic former senator from Massachusetts helped negotiate the accord. He said Trump misled the public by suggesting it allowed other nations to place a burden on the United States when the country only agreed to do what it could without hurting its economy. Kerry made the comments during a daylong climate change summit Thursday in Boston. During the event, Boston Mayor Martin Walsh said he's working with other mayors to lower the cost of renewable energy by asking developers for price estimates to meet collective energy demand. ___ 9:23 a.m. Former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is one of the featured speakers at an international summit on climate change set for Boston. Mayors and top municipal officials from across the globe are planning to participate in the gathering Thursday hosted by Democratic Boston Mayor Martin Walsh. The gathering is being billed as a chance for city executives and other leaders to share ideas on ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for the challenges posed by climate change. The event will feature remarks from Kerry and former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy - both of whom served under President Barack Obama. The summit comes about a year after President Donald Trump's administration announced plans to pull out of the Kerry-negotiated Paris climate agreement. SEATTLE (AP) - The fish buyer noticed something different about the large, colorful disc-shaped opah waiting to be sold at the auction house in Honolulu. Among the differences: one fish had a bigger eye than the other. His curiosity set in motion DNA testing and more sleuthing that led to the identification of three new species of opah - a peculiar deep-diving fish recently found to be the first fully warm-blooded fish. "The more we looked, the more differences we could pull out," said Karen Underkoffler, lead author of a recently published paper in the peer-reviewed journal Zootaxa that describes the anatomical characteristics of the different species of opah, including one marked by its big eyes and a purple tongue. FILE - In this Sept. 12, 2005, file photo, John Petraborg holds up a 35-pound moonfish, also known as opah and normally found in the deep waters near Hawaii, on board his troller Roulette at ANB Harbor in Sitka, Alaska. Scientists have identified three new species of opah, a colorful peculiar deep-diving fish that is increasingly caught and served in U.S. restaurants. A team of researchers with NOAA Fisheries has identified five distinct species of opah, rather than just one. (James Poulson/The Daily Sitka Sentinel via AP) In all, the team of scientists with NOAA Fisheries identified five distinct species of opah, revealing that there isn't a single global species. Three are newly identified, one was already named and researchers better identified another that had been previously described. "We have known for quite some time that opahs in different parts of the world look different," Misty Paig-Tran, assistant professor of marine biology and biomechanics at Cal State Fullerton who was not involved in the paper, said in an email. People were calling them all the same thing, and the paper clearly shows their differences, she wrote, adding that it's great to finally have anatomical descriptions and DNA to back those descriptions. The researchers say knowing the population of opah - which has a silvery gray body, red fins and mouths, and white spots - is important to make sure they don't get overfished. While opah isn't harvested by commercial fisheries, the fish is often caught incidentally in commercial fishing for high-value tuna or swordfish off the coasts of Hawaii and California. Sport anglers also frequently catch the colorful fish, which on average weighs about 100 pounds and can be bigger than an automobile tire. Opah is becoming popular at restaurants in Hawaii and elsewhere. The value of U.S. commercial landings of opah has increased from just a few thousand dollars before 2000 to nearly $3.2 million in 2016. The Hawaii-based longline fishing industry reported the catching of nearly 30,000 opahs by vessels targeting tuna and swordfish in 2015. Most opah landed by those vessels arrive at the United Fishing Agency auction in Honolulu, where Underkoffler was working several years ago when Garrett Kitazaki flagged the big-eyed opah for her and her colleague Meagan Luers, another study co-author. They took measurements, clipped fins and sent tissue samples to the Southwest Fisheries Science Center in San Diego. From the samples collected at the auction, the team quickly determined the fish were distinct from each other. "In that effort to find more, we stumbled across more very distinct opah species," said John Hyde, program leader of genetics fisheries at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center who did the DNA tests. They put out a call to museums, ports and commercial fisheries to get samples of opah. They thumbed through literature dating back to the 1700s to find references and descriptions of the fish. Underkoffler even traveled to Monaco to check out a specimen. "It kept building and building," said Underkoffler, who now works for NOAA's seafood inspection program in Seattle. Hyde said that "when you realize there are five species instead of one, it tells us there's a lot to still discover out there." ____ This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Meagan Luers. In this September 2006, photo provided by NOAA Fisheries, opah, front left, are displayed along with tuna, swordfish, wahoo and other fish at the Honolulu Fish Auction run by the United Fishing Agency in Honolulu, Hawaii. A fish buyer at the auction who noticed differences in the opah for sale gave scientists their first clues that additional species may be present. A team of researchers with NOAA Fisheries has now identified five distinct species of opah, a colorful peculiar deep-diving fish that is increasingly caught and served in U.S. restaurants. (Justin Hospital/NOAA Fisheries via AP) MARION, Ind. (AP) - Relatives of two black men who were lynched in 1930 are opposing a proposed memorial honoring the two victims. Abram Smith, 19, and Thomas Shipp, 18, were accused of killing a white man and raping a white woman, The Chronicle Tribune reported . They were dragged from the Grant County Jail by a mob and hanged from a tree on the Grant County Courthouse lawn. A controversial photo of the lynching has since become infamous. It shows the men's bodies hanging from a tree surrounded by a crowd of white onlookers, some smiling. Huntington University professor Jack Heller approached county commissioners about two weeks ago with the idea of creating a memorial. Heller said he was representing the Alabama-based Equal Justice Initiative, which had recently opened a lynching museum. The initiative is seeking to have a memorial stone placed at every lynching site in the country. A descendent of Smith said he was concerned that the memorial would be vandalized. Shipp's family members said the nonprofit never approached them for consent. "I think just about all the family members that I know of are against it," said Seclinda Moore, whose mother was related to Shipp. Pansy Bailey, Shipp's first cousin, said a memorial isn't necessary because "the only people it should really matter to is the family." She said the family just wants closure. Other relatives said they put the past behind them after a reconciliation day in 2003 where family and clergy members gathered in Marion. Commissioners said they will continue to communicate with the families about the proposed memorial. ___ Information from: Chronicle-Tribune, http://www.chronicle-tribune.com LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - The Latest on Supreme Court oral arguments regarding Arkansas' medical marijuana program (all times local): 2:50 p.m. The Arkansas attorney general's office says a member of the commission that awards licenses to grow medical marijuana has accused an unsuccessful applicant of trying to bribe him. The state Supreme Court on Thursday released a previously sealed letter from Attorney General Leslie Rutledge's office that detailed the bribery allegation, most of which Rutledge's office said remains unsubstantiated and is being investigated by law enforcement. The court on Wednesday issued an order that said only attorneys in the case regarding the state's medical marijuana licensing program could view the letter. In the letter, Rutledge said a member of the state Medical Marijuana Commission claimed he was offered a bribe by Natural State Agronomics, which had applied unsuccessfully for a license. The commissioner, who wasn't named, said he didn't accept the bribe but did not report it. Attorneys for Natural State Agronomics did not immediately messages Thursday afternoon. Justices heard oral arguments over a judge's decision to prevent Arkansas from issuing cultivation licenses. The judge sided with another unsuccessful applicant, Naturalis Health LLC. ___ 11:51 a.m. An attorney for a company that unsuccessfully applied for a license to grow medical marijuana in Arkansas is calling the state's process for permitting such businesses "flawed and corrupt." Attorneys for the state and a firm say a judge who prevented Arkansas from issuing the licenses didn't have the power to do so. The Arkansas Supreme Court heard arguments Thursday in the state's appeal of the decision that prevents the state Medical Marijuana Commission from awarding its first cultivation licenses. Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen in March ruled that the licensing process violated a state constitutional amendment voters approved in 2016 legalizing marijuana for patients with certain conditions. Griffen ruled in favor of an unsuccessful applicant who had challenged the commission's decision to issue permits to five businesses. BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) - Yellowstone National Park's superintendent said Thursday that he's being forced out in an apparent "punitive action" following disagreements with the Trump administration over how many bison the park can sustain, a longstanding source of conflict between park officials and ranchers in neighboring Montana. Superintendent Dan Wenk announced last week that he intended to retire March 30, 2019, after being offered a transfer he didn't want. He said he was informed this week by National Park Service Acting Director Paul "Dan" Smith that a new superintendent will be in place in August and that Wenk will be gone by then. "I feel this is a punitive action, but I don't know for sure. They never gave me a reason why," Wenk said. The only dispute he's had with U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who oversees the park service, was whether the park has too many bison, Wenk said. This August 17, 2017 file photo shows Yellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenk speaking at an event marking a conservation agreement for a former mining site just north of the park in Jardine, Mont. Wenk on Friday, June 1, 2018, announced he plans to retire next March. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown, File) Ranchers in neighboring Montana have long sought reductions in Yellowstone's bison numbers because of worries that they could spread the disease brucellosis to cattle and compete with livestock for grazing space outside the park. Brucellosis causes animals to prematurely abort their young and can be transmitted through birthing material. It also can infect people. Park biologists contend the population of more than 4,000 bison is sustainable. But Zinke and his staff have said the number is too high, Wenk said, and raised concerns that Yellowstone's scenic Lamar Valley is being damaged by overgrazing. Zinke, a former Montana congressman, has paid close attention to projects back home, including proposing a new national monument near Glacier National Park even as he pushed reductions to monuments elsewhere in the U.S. That's stirred speculation he has future political ambitions in the state. Interior spokeswoman Heather Swift declined to comment directly on Wenk's assertions or the issue of bison management. She referred The Associated Press to a previously issued statement saying President Donald Trump had ordered a reorganization of the federal government and that Zinke "has been absolutely out front on that issue." Wenk said he had multiple conversations with Zinke and his staff about bison, most recently this week. "We're not a livestock operation. We're managing a national park with natural systems," he said. "We do not believe the bison population level is too high or that any scientific studies would substantiate that." The livestock industry wants Yellowstone's bison herds reduced to 3,000 animals, a population target specified in a 2000 agreement between Montana and the federal government. Montana Stockgrowers Association interim vice president Jay Bodner said Zinke "understands the issues around bison, not only in the park but how that impacts the livestock issue." Wildlife advocates who want changes to the 2000 agreement expressed dismay at Wenk's ouster. Thousands of park bison were shipped to slaughter during his tenure to keep the population in check. Wenk sought to curtail the killings with fledgling efforts to transfer surplus bison to American Indian tribes and expanding where the animals are tolerated in Montana. "We'd hate to set the rug get pulled out from under that with a change in leadership," said Caroline Byrd with the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. Wenk has spent more than four decades with the National Park Service and seven years in Yellowstone. When he initially announced his retirement, he said he didn't view his proposed transfer to the Washington, D.C., area as political. A recent investigation into 35 personnel reassignments proposed in the Interior Department under Zinke revealed that 16 senior employees viewed their moves as political retribution or punishment for their work on climate change, energy or conservation. However, the Interior Department inspector general was not able to determine if anything illegal occurred because agency leaders did not document their rationale for the moves. Yellowstone straddles the borders of Montana, Wyoming and Idaho and was established in the 1872 as the first national park. Under Wenk, it has struggled with a sexual harassment scandal that echoed problems in other national parks and prompted personnel changes in some instances. Members of Yellowstone's maintenance department were disciplined last year after an investigation found female employees faced sexual harassment and other problems. Wenk said those problems never were brought up in the discussions about his possible transfer or retirement. National Park Service Midwest Region director Cam Sholly will be installed as the new superintendent, Wenk said. Sholly is a Gulf War veteran and former member of the California Highway Patrol who previously served as chief ranger of Yosemite National Park. Jonathan Jarvis, head of the park service under President Barack Obama, described Sholly as a strong leader and good choice to replace Wenk. But Jarvis said Zinke and his team would have an expectation of loyalty from Sholly that they could not get from someone such as Wenk, who already had the post when Trump took office. ___ Follow Matthew Brown on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MatthewBrownAP . FILE - In this Aug. 3, 2016, file photo, a large bison blocks traffic as crowds of tourists take photos in the Lamar Valley of Yellowstone National Park, Wyo. The park's superintendent says he's being forced out for what appear to be punitive reasons following disagreements with the Trump administration over how many bison the park can sustain. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown, File) FILE - In this Aug. 3, 2016 photo, a herd of bison grazes in the Lamar Valley of Yellowstone National Park. The park's superintendent says he's being forced out for what appear to be punitive reasons following disagreements with the Trump administration over how many bison the park can sustain. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown,File) The mother of tearaway teen dubbed 'affluenza boy' is herself back behind bars after breaching her bond by failing a drugs test. Tonya Couch, 51, was arrested and booked into Tarrant County jail in Dallas on Thursday night. Tonya Couch, pictured in her mugshot is now back behind bars She previously made headlines when her son Ethan Couch was spared jail under the 'affluenza' defense in a fatal drunk driving crash. Tonya had her bond revoked once before for failing a urinalysis in March. She had been released for just two weeks when she failed another urinalysis in June, seen with alcohol and holding a rifle at a gun show. Tonya was charged with money laundering and hindering apprehension after she and her son, Ethan Couch, skipped the country for Mexico in 2015. Upon Tonya's release, she was to wear an electronic ankle bracelet so that she could be monitored and would remain at home except for doctor's or lawyer's appointments. Tonya had her bond revoked once before for failing a urinalysis in March Subject to visits from her probation officer at any time, Tonya was supposed to keep the monitor on 24/7. The mother was also ordered to take drug test routinely. Ethan Couch was released on probation last March. A psychologist at trial blamed 'affluenza,' or acting irresponsibly due to wealth, for his actions in a 2013 North Texas wreck that killed four. HONOLULU (AP) - A woman who evacuated her Hawaii home because of the erupting Kilauea volcano said Thursday she filmed an angry neighbor shooting at a man near a lava flow. Patty Jones told The Associated Press she started recording cellphone video after the man stormed out of his pickup truck and accosted another neighbor last week, believing the man didn't belong there. Her video shows the first man firing over the other man's head. The first man pointed the gun at the second, who was screaming, "I live here." John Hubbard is charged with reckless engendering, terroristic threatening and other charges in state court. U.S. prosecutors have also charged him with being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. This undated photo provided by the Hawaii County Sheriff's office shows John Hubbard. A woman who evacuated her Hawaii home because of an erupting volcano says she filmed an angry Hubbard shooting at a man near a lava flow. (Hawaii County Sheriff's Office via AP) Tensions have been running high over looting fears in Leilani Estates, where lava has been flowing since early May in a mostly rural district of Hawaii's Big Island. Lava has destroyed more than 600 homes, Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim told reporters Thursday. Jones evacuated her home on May 3 when a first of a series of fissures opened up in her neighborhood. She has been sleeping at a shelter and returns when evacuees are allowed to enter the subdivision during the day if conditions are safe. May 29 was one of the days she returned to check on her home and went to look at a nearby flow that had hardened but was still warm. The man parked his truck behind her and stomped out, she said. "I just assumed he was somebody coming to look at the lava like everybody else," she said. "When he pulled out his gun, there was nothing I could do," she said, adding that she never expected anyone to have a weapon. "I wasn't even expecting the attitude he came on with." The man demanded to know where Jones and the other man live. They all live in Leilani Estates, but they didn't know each other prior to the shooting. Jones said her home is still standing, but she believes Hubbard's house burned down that day. The man Hubbard allegedly pointed his gun at did nothing to provoke the shooting, Jones said. "Everyone is always so cordial and helpful with one another," she said. "For this guy to come on with such an aggressive attitude was really a surprise to me." Hubbard appeared Thursday in state court on the Big Island. State Public Defender Jack Tonaki, whose office is representing him, said it's too early to comment. Ethan Edwards, identified in court documents as the victim, told the AP in a Facebook message that he was headed to Hubbard's preliminary hearing. According to court minutes online, Edwards testified at Hubbard's preliminary hearing, which is scheduled to continue June 22. "Our hearts go out to the people in Puna," said Mitch Roth, the Big Island's top prosecutor. "A lot of people are going through a lot of stress." Roth's office is prosecuting a looting case, robbery case and several cases of people forcing their way through blocked areas during the lava ordeal. ___ AP journalist Audrey McAvoy contributed to this report. ___ Follow AP's complete coverage of the Hawaii volcano here: https://apnews.com/tag/Kilauea ___ This story has been edited to correct the spelling of prosecutor Mitch Roth's first name. TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - Conservative Republican Kris Kobach is making tax cuts a cornerstone of his campaign for Kansas governor and publicly chiding GOP Gov. Jeff Colyer and other rivals for not joining him in signing a pledge not to increase taxes. Kobach, who is currently Kansas secretary of state, is promising to push for lower income and sales tax rates and tighter controls on local property taxes a year after bipartisan supermajorities in the state Legislature rolled back past income tax cuts championed by former Republican Gov. Sam Brownback. Last year's tax increase came after persistent budget woes soured many voters on Brownback's tax-cutting experiment. Kobach's aggressive stance ahead of the Aug. 7 primary election demonstrates the enduring appeal of tax cuts for the GOP's conservative base even after Brownback's experiment caused other states to look at Kansas and take a more cautious approach on taxes. In this photo taken May 29, 2018, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach answers questions from reporters after filing to run for governor, with lieutenant-governor running mate Wink Hartman and two of his daughters standing beside him, in Topeka, Kan. Kobach is promising to push for tax cuts and chiding his rivals for not signing a pledge not to increase taxes. (AP Photo/John Hanna) Colyer, who was Brownback's lieutenant governor for seven years before Brownback resigned to take an ambassador's post, also promises to work with legislators to ease the tax burden without making specific promises and he questions Kobach's commitment to lowering taxes. But Kobach argued Thursday that the mistake "the Brownback-Colyer administration" made was not cutting spending aggressively enough. "When you cut taxes, you must also cut spending," Kobach said. "Colyer is spending like a drunken sailor." Kansas expects the spending on general government programs and services financed with state tax dollars to rise 4.5 percent under its next annual budget. It's largely because the state plans to phase in a $548 million increase in funding for public schools over five years in response to a Kansas Supreme court mandate. Campaign spokesman Kendall Marr pointed to Colyer's leading an overhaul of the state's Medicaid health coverage for the needy while he was lieutenant governor as an example of how Colyer helped Kansas control its spending. And another Colyer aide, Kara Fullmer, dismissed Kobach's goading over the Americans for Tax Reform pledge that Kobach signed on April 17, the annual income tax filing deadline. "Actions speak louder than words," Fullmer said. She pointed to a vote Kobach made in 2000 as an Overland Park City Council member to boost the city's excise tax almost 21 percent. It's paid by developers on each square foot of land to help cover the cost of sewers and streets in new housing subdivisions. Kobach called it a fee paid by a limited group and said raising it allowed the city to keep property taxes down for all home and business owners. The other two major GOP candidates, Insurance Commissioner Ken Selzer and former state Sen. Jim Barnett, a Topeka physician, also have not signed the anti-tax pledge. Barnett, appealing to moderate Republicans, predicted that Kobach's push for tax cuts would "tank the state's budget." As for signing an anti-tax pledge, he said: "It would be reckless on the part of the governor to tie his or her hands." Selzer said he would "lean in" on government costs and "focus on making Kansas grow." "Kansas needs to grow or we'll never be able to adequately invest in the things we need at the state level," Selzer said. Meanwhile, the three major Democratic candidates - ex-Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer, state Sen. Laura Kelly of Topeka, and former state Agricultural Secretary Joshua Svaty - are attacking Brownback's fiscal legacy. They're attempting to tie Colyer to it and see Kobach as doubling down. ___ Associated Press writer Mitchell Willetts also contributed to this report. ___ Follow John Hanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjdhanna . A high-profile Democratic Unionist and former Stormont health minister has compared the abortion regime in Great Britain to the Holocaust. Jim Wells claimed the numbers murdered by the Nazis in concentration camps were comparable to the number of terminations since abortion laws were relaxed in England, Scotland and Wales. The vocal anti-abortion campaigner made the remarks amid growing calls for reform of the law in Northern Ireland, where terminations are banned in all but extreme circumstances. Democratic Unionist Jim Wells (Niall Carson/PA) Mr Wells was taking part in a radio debate on BBC Radio Ulsters Nolan Show when a commentator with an opposing view accused the DUP of characterising pro-choice voices in British politics as like the Nazis and claiming there was something worse than the Holocaust happening in England. The South Down Assembly Member replied: I dont think hes too far wrong. Mr Wells, who recently lost the DUP whip after criticising the leadership, went on to say: 9.2 million people have had their lives terminated through abortion in Britain since 1967. That is actually more than the number of lives murdered in the gas and concentration camps of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. It is a ghastly situation we are killing human beings. These are sentient human beings who have every right to life, who have every right to be protected. The politician later clarified that his comparison to the Nazis was only related to the numbers involved. I think the numbers are a fair comparison because these human beings have been killed, he said. The debate on Northern Irelands restrictions on abortion has intensified after citizens in the Irish Republic voted by a landslide margin last month to liberalise the states laws. An emergency debate on the issue was held in the House of Commons on Tuesday. The Government has resisted calls to step in and legislate amid the ongoing powersharing impasse in Northern Ireland, insisting that any decision on abortion in the region has to be taken by locally elected politicians at Stormont. DUP leader Arlene Foster said Mr Wells had been wrong to make the comparison. I dont agree with that, she told UTV. I think its the wrong use of language and again it brings us back to the fact that this is a very emotive issue and people need to be aware of that when they are discussing it. Mrs Foster was also asked about comments by DUP MP Sammy Wilson during Tuesdays Westminster debate when he talked about foetuses being discarded and put in a bin. This is hugely emotive subject and it is a very sensitive subject and I think everybody needs to bear that in mind when they are making comments in relation to this issue, Mrs Foster responded. That doesnt take away from the fact that people feel very strongly about this on both sides of the argument. But you know the debate has to be had and I believe the debate should be had in the Assembly, thats where it should happen. Regulation of privately owned drones is in a state of chaos as authorities belatedly wake up to the impact of the flying gadgets, according to a leading UK robotics expert. Professor Noel Sharkey said he warned about the risks associated with rapidly growing numbers of drones in 2007, but few listened. Now the genie was out of the bottle and the technology was taking off with little being done to contain it, he said. SCIENCE Drones Asked about the state of drone regulation at a news briefing in London, Prof Sharkey said: Personally, I would say its in chaos. Its somehow caught everybody by surprise I dont know how it did that. I was certainly complaining about it in 2007. Im not a futurologist and I never look far in the future, I look at current technology. To me, it didnt take any kind of deep thinking to realise what was going to happen with this at all. Prof Sharkey, from the University of Sheffield, is the co-author of a new report on drones from the Foundation for Responsible Robotics, a not-for-profit organisation he helped set up. He said it was impossible to estimate how many privately operated drones there were in the UK, but the number probably ran into the hundreds of thousands. Most are small devices powerful enough to carry a smart phone into the air, but still capable of reaching heights of around 500 feet. Worldwide, sales of drones reached a peak of 13.1 billion US dollars (9.69 billion) in 2016. Instances of near misses with aircraft and drugs being airlifted into prisons are well known. But the reports authors also cited cases of ghoulish disaster tourism with drones recording video of unfolding tragedy on the ground, drones impeding helicopters in relief operations, drones being used to gain free access to sporting events and concerts, and even the police finding themselves being spied on as they investigated crimes. The police tell me that whenever they go to a crime scene now, very frequently they find a drone overhead, said Prof Sharkey. Theyve no idea who owns it, is it the criminal, is it someone else, and they havent got any means of tracking it. New UK laws brought in just last month impose a ban on flying drones above 400 feet and within one kilometre of airport boundaries. In addition, drones weighing 250 grams or more will in future have to be registered with the Civil Aviation Authority, and drone pilots will be expected to take an online safety test. The report, Drones in the Service of Society, calls for more comprehensive rules and guidelines to address the safety and privacy issues surrounding drones. In particular it highlights the need for more research into the psychological and stress impact of drones, a stricter stance on privacy and data protection applied to the technology, and greater consideration given to drone operations infringing human dignity and justice. Drone activity The report also says there should be a strict requirement for private drone operators including non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to liaise with professional rescue teams in disaster zones. To protect the environment, law-makers were also urge to consider introducing no-fly zones where drones are banned. Recent research had indicated that animals could be quite stressed by drones without necessarily appearing to be disturbed. For humans too, the sight of a drone hovering nearby could induce feelings of discomfort. In military applications of drones this has often been referred to as the chilling effect, said the report. It cited the example of residents of a refugee camp watching a drone flying overhead without knowing whether it was operated by a humanitarian NGO, a private individual, or a malicious group. Operators and their collaborators can consider how best to communicate to the public about upcoming drone operations to lessen this effect, the report added. Prof Sharkey and his co-authors stressed that drones could be of great benefit in areas such as wildlife protection, humanitarian aid, search and rescue, responsible journalism, and gathering evidence of social injustice. However, there was a risk that inappropriate unregulated use of drones could lead to a disastrous clampdown. We mustnt throw the baby out with the bathwater, said Prof Sharkey. It is now clear that the responsible use of this technology could be enormously helpful to humanitarian work and environmental protection. When we have natural disasters, starving people in conflict, or emergency need for medicines, drones can come to the rescue. On June 8, in accordance with the arrangement reached with the authorities of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh Republic), the OSCE Mission will conduct a planned monitoring of the ceasefire regime on the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Artsakh and Azerbaijan, to the northeast from Martakert town. June 7, 2018, 10:56 OSCE monitoring to be conducted on the Artsakh-Azerbaijan line of contact STEPANAKERT, JUNE 7, ARTSAKHPRESS: From the positions of the Defense Army of the Republic of Artsakh, the monitoring will be conducted by Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk and his Field Assistant Mihail Olaru (Moldova). The authorities of the Republic of Artsakh have expressed their readiness to assist in conducting the monitoring and to ensure the security of the OSCE Mission members. Theresa May is battling for Government unity on her backstop proposals for the Irish border as the Brexit war Cabinet meets. The Prime Minister is facing a tough response from Brexiteers over plans to allow a time-limited deal which would see the UK stay within parts of the EU customs union as a fall-back position if no preferred trade agreement was reached on withdrawal. Amid reports that Brexit Secretary David Davis had considered resigning over the issue, a Government source told the Press Association: Hes a very senior member of the Cabinet. We really value his contribution. With the inner Brexit war Cabinet set to meet on Thursday, the Government still could not say when the proposals would be made public. Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union David Davis Cabinet tensions on the backstop initiative emerged after Mr Davis was believed to be insisting that the UK should be able to unilaterally withdraw from any border agreement in order to maintain leverage with Brussels in ongoing negotiations. When pressed on whether he could remain in post if the backstop deal did not meet his full approval, Mr Davis said: Thats a question I think for the Prime Minister to be honest. Mr Davis made it clear that the document would be decisive as he said he planned to meet chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier again for Brexit talks next week. Brexiteers accused the Prime Minister of giving the document regarding Northern Ireland to Cabinet supporters before more hardline advocates of EU withdrawal like Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, according to The Times. Theresa May The Cabinet wrangling came as Mrs May faced a battle on a second front as she tried to persuade Tory rebels not to go against her when the EU (Withdrawal) Bill returns to the Commons on Tuesday. Mrs May is determined to try and stop Tory MPs inflicting humiliating defeats on her by siding with amendments backed by the House of Lords. Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable said the apparent Cabinet disarray over the customs backstop made a damaging no deal Brexit more likely. Sir Vince told the Press Association: The idea that we could finish up with no deal at all which we effectively discarded three months ago is very much now back on the table as a real possibility. We could be in real crisis with no deal, which emphasises the importance of having a vote on the final package with the option of remaining in the European Union. A British artist has been arrested in Italy after allegedly attempting to steal a luxury motor boat at a resort favoured by the rich and famous, according to reports. Larissa Watson, 50, is said to have been spotted setting off in a 150,000 euro (132,000) Sangermani Daycruiser that belonged to a rental company in Portofino. A quick-thinking harbour worker is reported to have become suspicious and bounded along the dock to jump on board and steer the vessel back to its mooring. Portofino The painter, who has been dubbed the Portofino Pirate by local media, was charged with theft after the incident on Monday, the Daily Telegraph reports. Captain Simone Clemente told the paper: Nothing like this has happened before in Portofino, its very unusual. By looking through her Facebook and Instagram accounts we found that she had done navigation courses in the past and knew how to handle a boat. According to a biography on riseart.com, the award-winning artist has exhibited extensively in Britain, Europe, the US and Japan. The controversy surrounding drill music has intensified in recent months as it is increasingly blamed for the rise in violent crime. Here are some key questions about the genre: What is it? Mobo Awards Drill music is a type of hip hop characterised by its distinctive so-called trap-style beat and ominous sounds. It originated in Chicago, but the UK version began to become popular in south London from about 2012. Music videos posted online often feature hooded and masked gangs threatening each other, with lyrics about drugs, guns and stabbing rivals with knives. Why is it a problem? Drill music has been blamed for fuelling the surge of murders and other violent crimes. Gang disputes and postcode wars are played out online as rappers post videos mocking or threatening their rivals. Senior police officers, politicians and judges have suggested threats made in videos posted on social media and comment threads have spilled over into real-life violent crime. Does everyone agree? Artists and fans deny drill music causes violence, arguing the lyrics and themes are a reflection of the experiences of many young people growing up in deprived urban environments. Some videos start with a disclaimer stating: All characters and names are completely fictional and any similarity between any names or gang activity is false and completely coincidental. Go get your tickets for my headline Shows NOWWW Link in my bio pic.twitter.com/e2w8hiBpe4 Big Skii (@loski_hs) May 25, 2018 How popular is it? Artists have achieved limited commercial success, with most gaining exposure by streaming their music online. But the most popular MCs have large followings and their videos have been viewed millions of times. One video by MC SL has racked up more than 17 million views on YouTube, while tracks by rappers Loski, Headie One and Skengdo regularly attract millions of viewers. Abra Cadabra has frequently appeared on BBC radio and won the Best Song award at 2016s Mobos. How easy is it to find? Hundreds of videos can be found on YouTube, social media sites and music streaming apps with a simple search. Few come with warnings about their explicit content or require any age-verification process to view. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, above Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has announced a week-long ceasefire with the Taliban to coincide with the holiday marking the end of Ramadan. Afghanistan today said it was pausing its fight against the Taliban for Eid, the holiday that caps off Ramadan, but operations against other groups including al-Qaeda and Islamic State will continue. The ceasefire will last 'from the 27th of Ramadan until the fifth day of Eid-al-Fitr,' President Ashraf Ghani tweeted from an official account, indicating it could run from June 12-19 on the Western calendar. It was not immediately clear if the Taliban had agreed to the ceasefire, which would be the first for Eid since the US invasion in 2001. 'We are checking with our officials regarding the ceasefire announcement,' Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP. The Taliban have steadily expanded their presence in recent years, capturing a number of districts across the country and carrying out near-daily attacks, mainly targeting Afghan security forces. The Taliban have steadily expanded their presence in recent years, capturing a number of districts across Afghanistan The surprise move comes days after a gathering of Afghanistan's top clerics in the capital Kabul called for a ceasefire and issued a fatwa against suicide bombings and attacks. But, an hour after the fatwa was issued, a suicide bomber detonated outside the gathering, killing seven people and wounding 20 in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group. The Taliban had denounced the gathering, insisting that its jihad, or holy war, against foreign invaders was justified. It instead urged the clerics to side with it against the 'occupation'. Ghani said his government supported the clerics' call: 'The government of Afghanistan not only supports the unanimous fatwa announcement by the ulemas (scholars), but also backs the recommended ceasefire,' he said in a statement released by his office. Afghan security officials display arms and ammunition seized during an operation in Paktia, Afghanistan, June 6 According to media reports a huge quantity of arms and ammunition was seized during an operation in Paktia and two suspects were arrested, above '[At] the same time, the Afghan government directs all the security and defence forces of the country... to stop all the attacks on the Taliban, but the operation will continue against Daesh (Islamic State), Al-Qaeda and other international terrorist networks.' In February Ghani unveiled a plan to open peace talks with the Taliban, including eventually recognising them as a political party. At the time he also called for a ceasefire. The insurgents did not officially respond, but announced the launch of their annual spring offensive in an apparent rejection of the plan, one of the most comprehensive ever offered by the Afghan government. Last month, the Pentagon said that senior Taliban officials have been secretly negotiating with Afghan officials on a possible ceasefire. 'A lot of the diplomatic activity and dialogue is occurring off the stage, and it's occurring at multiple levels,' General John Nicholson said in a teleconference with reporters at the Pentagon. He would not identify the figures involved in the negotiations, except to say that they included mid- and senior-level Taliban officials. A ceasefire would bring welcome relief to civilians in the war-torn country, nearly 17 years after the Taliban regime was toppled. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has announced a week-long ceasefire with the Taliban to coincide with the holiday marking the end of Ramadan (stock image) In recent years the resurgent militant group, along with the Islamic State group, have stepped up their attacks on Kabul in particular, making it the deadliest place in the country for civilians. Fearful residents have limited their movements and Eid celebrations in the capital are set to be muted, unlike in other parts of the Muslim world. NATO and the US formally concluded their combat mission in Afghanistan in 2014, but thousands of American forces remain based there in a support and counter-terrorism role. The Trump administration has sent additional troops to try to change the course of America's longest war. The US has said it is open to an Afghan-led peace process. Gen John Nicholson, the top US commander in Afghanistan, said last month that some elements of the Taliban are showing interest in peace talks. A South African man has been sentenced to life in prison for the 2015 axe murders of his parents and brother in an affluent housing estate. Henri van Breda appeared impassive as a judge sentenced him to three life sentences for the grisly killings of parents Martin and Teresa and brother Rudi in Stellenbosch, a scenic town in a wine-growing area near Cape Town. Van Breda, 23, also received a 15-year sentence in the Western Cape High Court for the attempted murder of his sister Marli at the time of the attacks. She suffered severe head injuries in a bloody onslaught that Judge Siraj Desai described as cold-blooded murder. These attacks display a high level of innate cruelty, Judge Desai said. Henri van Breda The violence was excessive and gratuitous. It was intended to cause maximum harm. Defence lawyer Pieter Botha, who plans to appeal against the conviction and sentencing, had suggested van Bredas youth and status as a first-time offender should be mitigating factors in the sentencing. He also said his client could not show remorse because he maintains he is innocent. While Judge Desai recalled that a witness heard a loud argument in the van Breda home for several hours on the night of the killings, he told Henri van Breda that we have no explanation for what you did and that he had to be handed the severest possible penalty. Van Breda also received a one-year sentence for obstructing justice after the court concluded that he inflicted injuries on himself to try to mislead police. The van Breda family lived in Australia for some years before returning to South Africa, and the judge said Henri van Breda had enrolled at the University of Melbourne. Your future was not bleak. In fact, it was bright, Judge Desai told van Breda as he stood in the dock. You had the support of family and, more importantly, they had the means to assist you in your future endeavours, and it seems to me they would have done so. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the Iran nuclear deal is effectively over, despite the continuing support of Britain and other European allies. Mr Netanyahu, who who held talks with Theresa May in Downing Street on Wednesday, said the threat of US sanctions on companies which continue to trade with Iran had been decisive. Speaking to the Policy Exchange think tank in London on Thursday he said: The weight of the American economy forces the issue. If you are a European company or an Asian company or any company and you have to choose whether to do business with Iran or forgo doing business with the United States, you have to choose an economy that is about 3% the size of the American economy or you forgo an economy with 21 trillion dollars GDP, thats a no brainer. Proud that Israeli PM Benjamin @netanyahu chose @Policy_Exchange this morning for his only public engagement on his visit to London. pic.twitter.com/kN6j4TCjat Gabriel Elefteriu FRAeS (@GElefteriu) June 7, 2018 His comments came despite Mrs Mays assertion that the UK, together with France and Germany, remained committed to the agreement even though President Donald Trump has announced the United States is pulling out. Mr Netanyahu, who also met French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel earlier in the week, said, however, that in practice the Europeans accepted the economic realities. Companies are pulling out of Iran. And it is a good thing that they are pulling out of Iran because if we have learned anything it is stop aggressive tyrannical regimes early on, he said. Dont accommodate them, for gods sake dont feed them with cash. Stop them. Thats what I think is happening now. So I didnt spend much time on that because I think it is done. Its a done deal. My impression is that everybody understands the economic realities. Mr Netanyahu has long argued the deal originally signed in 2015 when Barack Obama was president was ineffective in constraining Irans ambitions to become a nuclear weapons power. He criticised European governments for refusing to follow President Trumps lead in recognising Jerusalem as Israels capital and moving the US embassy to the city. Why should European governments say that the capital of Israel will no be in Jerusalem when they know very well that this is a fact that will continue? he asked. These are facts. Jerusalem is Israels capital and I am very glad that President Trump finally said something everybody knows is true. He again defended the shooting by Israeli forces of more than 100 Palestinians during protests at the border fence with Gaza, despite Mrs May voicing concern at the scale of the casualties. He said those involved were vicious terrorists who had been used by Hamas to attack Israel. They are organising a violent assault into Israel with a view to destroying us, which they openly proclaim, in order to break the border fence and kidnap and murder Israelis, he said. Protest in London He was scathing about people in who took part in protests against Israel in Britain especially those waving the flags of Hezbollah and Hamas claiming they were motivated by pure and simple anti-Semitism. This is not because of any wrongdoing that Israel is making, its because Israel exists. This is the thing they are really protesting at, he said. They are leaving aside all the wrongs in the world and concentrating on the one and only Jewish state that is surrounded by people who openly declare their desire to obliterate us, and they side with the obliterators. I cant buy this as a moral position. The interim leader of Police Scotland has said lessons taken from a trip to meet survivors of the Srebrenica genocide will be reflected in the forces tackling of hate crime. Iain Livingstone travelled to Bosnia and Herzegovina this week with Remembering Srebrenica (Scotland), a charity that organises commemoration events and wants people to learn from the lessons of the past and highlight the potential for ethnic tensions to escalate into violence. More than 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed in July 1995 by Bosnian Serb forces amid the break-up of the former Yugoslavia Europes worst atrocity since the Second World War. Many Scottish politicians have previously travelled to the region as part of the Scottish Government-funded project. It was a tough day2 for our @RemSrebScot delegation. The Memorial Centre at Potocari is always an emotional experience and where we hear first hand witness testimonies to the #srebrenica #Genocide pic.twitter.com/BZ3gM9pCzX David Hamilton (@DvdHmltn) June 5, 2018 Mr Livingstone was part of a delegation including politicians, journalists, and school teachers. He said: I was deeply moved to hear of the pain and suffering endured by the people of Bosnia. It is frankly staggering how such a diverse inclusive society descended into one that allowed another genocide to occur just 50 years after we said never again. I am committed to firmly rejecting the promotion of hatred, the stigmatisation of groups and discrimination in Scotland. The lessons I have taken from Srebrenica must be reflected in Police Scotlands ongoing approach to upholding human rights and combating hatred. Srebrenica delegation Each delegate on the Lessons from Srebrenica programme, pledges to carry out an activity on their return to Scotland designed to raise awareness of the risks of hatred, racism and intolerance using Srebrenica as an example. Remembering Srebrenica (Scotland) secretary and fellow police officer David Hamilton said: Iain Livingstones presence and therefore support to the survivors of the Bosnian Genocide is appreciated by all who were touched by this war and the charity sincerely thanks him for taking the time to visit and learn. He is the latest of a series of senior Scottish figures to visit to Srebrenica, including First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Johann Lamont, Ruth Davidson and Kezia Dugdale reflecting the particularly strong ties Scotland has had with the country during and after the war. A Belfast woman behind the campaign to have Northern Irelands abortion law changed says she has no regrets after The Supreme Court ruling. In 2013, Sarah Ewart, now 28, was told during her 19-week scan that her babys brain and skull had not developed properly and the child would not survive. Because of Northern Ireland legislation, newly-wed Sarah travelled to London for a termination at her own expense, with flights and hotels included, of more than 2,100. Sarah Ewart (right) has campaigned for change alongside Amnesty International (Stefan Rousseau/PA) Speaking outside The Supreme Court, Ms Ewart said: I have no regrets whatsoever. If this same thing was to happen to me tomorrow, and the law wasnt changed, I would make the same decision. The highest court in the land has recognised that Northern Ireland is in breach of human rights for people who find themselves with fatal foetal abnormality. They have said that the law needs to be changed, so we will keep going until we get that change. MsEwart, who has campaigned for change alongside Amnesty International since her abortion, said Northern Irelands politicians should put their religious beliefs behind them and do their job. To Theresa May and Westminster, I would say we need change and we need help, she said. Please, please help us. I personally have been doing this for five years, and five years is too long. People are putting families and pregnancies on hold for fear that this could happen again. The High Court in Belfast and The Supreme Court are in agreement that the law needs to be changed, so lets just do this. Stay-put advice given to residents in Grenfell Tower will form part of the police investigation into the fire, Scotland Yard said. Detective Superintendent Matt Bonner said the actions of London Fire Brigade (LFB) would be examined to see if health and safety laws were broken. Fire commanders responding to the inferno have been criticised for taking nearly two hours to order a full evacuation of the block, despite flames reaching every floor. Both the LFB and the Fire Brigades Union defended the decision at the public inquiry into the disaster on Thursday, suggesting there had been no obvious and safe alternative strategy. Mr Bonner told a separate briefing: The LFB would, as any other organisation involved, have an obligation to conduct their activity in a manner that doesnt place people at risk. It doesnt mean that at the moment they have or they havent, but thats where the legislation is most likely to arise if that was an eventuality. INQUIRY Grenfell The stay-put policy was part of our assessment of what happened and therefore falls within the investigation, Mr Bonner added. Commander Stuart Cundy said force was duty bound to look at a broad range of aspects from the night, which included the emergency services response and preparedness. The development came as the FBU warned Sir Martin Moore-Bick not to allow criticism of firefighters decision-making to be exploited by those who created the danger. Martin Seaward, representing the union, said the inquirys investigation should avoid being swayed by the benefit of hindsight. On the final day of opening statements at the probe, it was said both commanders and firefighters faced an impossible situation on June 14. A botched refurbishment had turned the block into a highly combustible death trap, which the brigade lacked training and procedures to tackle, Mr Seaward said. The lawyer told the inquiry there was no evidence any firefighters were aware of the state of the building. He said: Any criticisms of the emergency response should be assessed against this background and should not be exploited by those who created the danger. We ask the inquiry to maintain this sense of perspective. (PA Graphics) Fire safety advice within tall buildings is set by the building owners, not the fire service, meaning it accords with the design specifications and escape capabilities. It is feared, however, that the decision to keep the stay-put advice in place until 2.47am might have cost lives. Stephen Walsh QC, representing the LFB, told the inquiry: It is a fundamental misunderstanding of the events of the fire and of fire service capability to assume the buildings stay-put policy can be changed to a simultaneous evacuation at the stroke of a fire incident commander at whatever time. If there is no policy applied by the building owner which provides for a policy of simultaneous evacuation and there are no evacuation plans and there are no general fire alarms what is an incident commander on the fireground to do? Mr Seaward likewise asked what alternative strategy might have been implemented in the fast-moving situation. He said: There remains no obvious and safe alternative strategy nor detailed plan. Both call operators and firefighters on the scene still suffer from the physical and emotional repercussions of responding to the disaster. The inquiry was told how LFBs command centre was swamped with more calls seeking survival guidance than in the previous 10 years for the whole of London combined. Fifty-two firefighters are expected to give evidence at the probe, leading the LFB lawyer to remind chairman Sir Martin of their potentially fragile state of mind. Mr Walsh said: Their collective and individual instinct is and was on the night to protect life and property, often at great risk to their own safety, resulting in physical and mental injury for many. The judge was also advised by the FBU to consider whether early incident commanders had training and procedures on issues such as tackling cladding fires, looking out for signs of a breach of compartmentation and when to abandon a stay-put policy. The openings concluded at Holborn Bars in central London on Thursday. Reacting to the announcement that the Met Police will investigate the use of the stay-put policy at the Grenfell Tower fire, Matt Wrack, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, said: Grenfell firefighters were dealing with an unprecedented situation that nobody had prepared for and that they should never have had to face. Every decision made during that time will come under scrutiny in the inquiry. We will not pre-judge. But this should not be allowed to divert attention from the real cause of the level of destruction which is that the fire safety measures within the building were utterly inadequate and completely failed. A key factor in this is that the Government and local council gave priority to saving money over protecting people. Ministers have agreed any backstop arrangement to prevent the return of a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic after Brexit should not continue for more than a year after the end of the transition period. A Government technical note said the UK expected permanent customs arrangements to be in place by the end of December 2021 at the latest. The move came after Brexit Secretary David Davis was reported to be considering resigning unless there was a clear time limit on the temporary customs arrangements which would be adopted if there is no final Brexit deal. Theresa May The note said: The UK is clear that the temporary customs arrangement, should it be needed, should be time limited, and that it will be only in place until the future customs arrangement can be introduced. The UK is clear that the future customs arrangement needs to deliver on the commitments made in relation to Northern Ireland. The UK expects the future arrangement to be in place by the end of December 2021 at the latest. There are a range of options for how a time limit could be delivered, which the UK will propose and discuss with the EU. Downing Street said earlier that Mrs May had held constructive talks with Mr Davis and expected him to remain in his post. The Prime Minister also held separate face-to-face discussions in her parliamentary office with the two other leading Brexiteers, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and International Trade Secretary Liam Fox. None of the three ministers threatened to resign during the discussions, a spokeswoman for the Prime Minister said. Boris Johnson and Liam Fox A source close to Mr Davis said: Obviously, theres been a back and forth on this paper, as there always is whenever the Government publishes anything. The backstop paper has been amended and now expresses, in much more detail, the time-limited nature of our proposal something the Prime Minister and David Davis have always been committed to. Under the current timetable Britain is due to leave the EU on March 29 2019 followed by a transition period running to the end of 2020. The paper proposes that if there is no final agreement, there should be a temporary customs arrangement lasting up to 12 months. During that period there would be no tariffs, quotas, rules of origin (or) customs processes applied to UK-EU trade. At the same time the UK would be able to strike free trade agreements with other countries and to implement those elements which did not affect the functioning of the backstop. The paper was issued after Mr Davis was believed to have insisted the UK should be able to unilaterally withdraw from any border agreement to maintain leverage with Brussels in negotiations. Pressed on whether he could remain in post if the backstop deal did not meet his full approval, Mr Davis said on Wednesday: Thats a question, I think, for the Prime Minister, to be honest. Mr Davis made it clear the document would be decisive as he said he planned to meet chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier again for Brexit talks next week. The EUs chief negotiator Michel Barnier welcomed the publication of the paper. I welcome publication of #UK proposal on customs aspects of IE/NI backstop. We will examine it with 3 questions: is it a workable solution to avoid a hard border? Does it respect the integrity of the SM/CU? Is it an all-weather backstop? Michel Barnier (@MichelBarnier) June 7, 2018 He said they would be examining the proposals in the light of three questions: Is it a workable solution to avoid a hard border? Does it respect the integrity of the single market/customs union? Is it an all-weather backstop? Irelands deputy premier Simon Coveney warned that unless there was a legally-binding assurance that a hard border would be avoided in all circumstances, there could be no progress on other elements of the Brexit talks. Our strong preference remains an overall EU-UK future relationship which would resolve all issues. However, it remains vital that a legally-binding backstop is agreed to provide certainty that, in all circumstances, a hard border will be avoided, he said. The EU has been clear that the backstop is an essential element of the EU-UK withdrawal agreement and that negotiations can only progress as long as all commitments undertaken so far are respected in full. Ireland and the commission have both stressed that substantial progress on the backstop is needed before the June European Council. Clearly, a great deal of work remains to be done and this needs to be the highest priority for all sides in the weeks ahead. A diplomatic row is escalating between Athens and Ankara after eight Turkish soldiers have been released from custody in Greece after having fled from Turkey after the 2016 coup attempt. June 7, 2018, 11:16 Long-time foes Turkey and Greece heat up diplomatic row with fresh threats STEPANAKERT, JUNE 7, ARTSAKHPRESS: According to Turkish media, after the release of the soldiers, Turkeys Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said: Let them do whatever they want. It is our duty to find these gulenist soldiers who took part in the coup attempt and return them to Turkey. Wherever they go, they will be followed and eventually caught. Greece responded harshly to the statement of Bozdag. Greek FM Nikos Kotzias said they will not tolerate this kind of conduct by Turkey. Turkey knows very well that Greece isnt the country where it can play such games. Turkey cannot come to Greece in order to take someone from here, neither the country has a right to do so nor will we allow it, he said. Greeces defense ministry said it will take actions in the EU and NATO over Turkeys statement. Supreme Court justices heard distressing evidence on behalf of a number of women who suffered harrowing experiences as a consequence of Northern Irelands abortion laws. By a majority of four to three, the seven-strong panel of judges ruled on Thursday that the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) had no legal standing to bring its challenge against the current legislation. But a majority of the judges also strongly expressed their opinion that the present laws are incompatible with article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) the right for respect for private and family life. Following Supreme Court ruling, Sarah Ewart @MrsEtoB, supported by Amnesty International, will now take a case to the Belfast High Court, seeking a 'declaration of incompatibility' of NI abortion law with UK's human rights obligations. #NowForNI #ItsTime https://t.co/bWBbudIhCv pic.twitter.com/N3EwRIDhj2 Amnesty Int'l NI (@AmnestyNI) June 7, 2018 In his ruling, Lord Mance said the court was given evidence during a hearing in October last year on behalf of a number of women. He said the individual cases were distressing, but were not before the court for consideration in the same way they would have been if the women concerned had brought proceedings as victims. Three of the women, who were described by Lord Kerr as enormously brave, described their experiences of being pregnant with babies with fatal foetal abnormalities. Sarah Ewart, one of the three, attended court on Thursday for the ruling and said she will continue her fight for a change in the law. She travelled from Northern Ireland for a termination in England in 2013 after a 20-week scan revealed her baby had anencephaly, which meant its brain and skull had not developed and it would either die before being born or shortly afterwards. Ms Ewart, aged 23 at the time, told judges she was horrified to discover her baby would not be able to travel down the birth canal because of its condition and decided she could not face the prospect of a long and painful labour. She was refused an abortion in Northern Ireland, with one doctor telling her she wasnt going to prison for anyone, and was abused by protesters outside a family planning clinic in Belfast. Eventually, she underwent a late-stage abortion in England, but felt criticised and said the process was like a conveyor belt. She described her experience as devastating and at times almost overwhelming. Speaking outside the court after the ruling, she said: I, and we, will not stop until we can get our own medical care in our own hospitals at home. To Theresa May I would say We need change and help. This is a medical procedure that we need in our hospitals with our own medical team. Please help us now. She added: I am relieved to hear the highest court in the land has recognised that Northern Ireland is in breach of human rights for people who find themselves with fatal foetal abnormality and have said that the law needs to be changed, so we will keep going until we get that change. Supported by Amnesty International, Ms Ewart said she will now bring a case at the High Court in Belfast, seeking the declaration of incompatibility with human rights laws that the NIHRC was unable to obtain. She added: Im not only doing this for me, but for every woman who may find themselves in my situation. We will not accept being forced on planes to access healthcare. What we need is compassion and services in Northern Ireland. Lord Mance, deputy president of the Supreme Court (PA/Lauren Hurley) The court also heard evidence from Ashleigh Topley and Denise Phelan, who both received diagnoses of fatal foetal abnormality. In a statement before the judges, Mrs Topley spoke of her joy at discovering she was pregnant in 2013, but a 20-week scan revealed her baby had a severe bone abnormality and she was told it would not survive birth. She was refused an abortion and her daughter was stillborn at 35 weeks. Aged 27 at the time, she faced the ordeal of people congratulating her or asking about the baby during and after her pregnancy. Mrs Phelan, a qualified lawyer and teacher, planned an abortion in England at a cost of 1,400 after discovering her baby had Edwards Syndrome. However, she was unable to attend her appointment after becoming incredibly ill with grief, depression and chronic migraine and vomiting. She became even more depressed and ill as a result and thought of committing suicide. Her baby was eventually delivered five days after it had died in her womb. The court also heard accounts on behalf of a number of women and girls who could not be identified. These included a woman who was raped by an abusive partner and forced to travel abroad for an abortion, a woman who was gang-raped, a mother who was prosecuted after supplying her underage daughter with abortion pills and a victim of incest who was aged under 13, who had to travel to England for a termination. An adventurer hopes to become the first Irishman to sail alone around the world non-stop in a race where only traditional navigation tools, the sun, moon and stars can guide him. Gregor McGuckin became interested in sailing at college and then started delivering boats for a living. While in the Caribbean about two years ago, he set his sights on taking part in the Golden Globe race after seeing it mentioned in a magazine. Round the world Boat coming together nicely now and we should be able to get out sailing in the next few days. Heroic work from all involved and thanks again to the table quiz supporters #GGR2018 @HellyHansen @CJFallonLtd @Irish_Sailing @malahidesailing @poolbegmarina pic.twitter.com/DIvG1NdkiA Gregor McGuckin (@GregorMcGuckin) May 17, 2018 Since then, he has dedicated every waking minute to raise the money to buy a vintage Biscay 36, completely refurbish it and pay the 10,000 euro (8,800) race entry fee. The 31-year-old attended a send-off party in Dun Laoghaire Harbour, near his home city of Dublin, on Thursday where his boat was officially re-named Hanley Energy Endurance in a nod to his sponsors. It is only the second time that the Golden Globe Race is due to run. More people have been in space than have successfully completed the feat, which is known as the Everest of the Sea and he has dubbed a voyage for mad men. Beginning in July, it will mark the 50th anniversary since the record-setting trip of Sir Robin Knox-Johnston in 1968 the first man to sail single-handedly around the world. Stunning evening last night. Perfect for some late night work on Hanley Energy Endurance. Gregor McGuckin (@GregorMcGuckin) June 7, 2018 Mr McGuckin said: Its a very hard thing to prepare for. I dont know how Im going to react for that length of time alone. Social contact will be nil. The most important thing is making sure the boat is in order, then I will sleep easy. Its something Ive always wanted to do. I will miss people the most and I think that will be the hardest thing. But I am just focused on getting to that finish line. He travels to Falmouth in the UK on Friday before heading to Les Sables-dOlonne, in France, for the start of the race on July 1. HEADLINE SPONSOR | Here are all the details on our biggest announcement to date. The support of Hanley Energy will be instrumental in getting us to the starting line in the best shape possible. https://t.co/YVRQNoOXG6 Gregor McGuckin (@GregorMcGuckin) June 1, 2018 He will have limited contact with the outside world through a high frequency radio. Laptops, MP3 players and tablets are banned. The only navigation equipment he will have are traditional tools a compass, a sextant, and paper charts. There is a sealed GPS and phone on board, so the race organisers can monitor him and for emergencies, but if he opens the box, it constitutes instant disqualification. A hoard of music cassettes will keep him company and he hopes to spend the time reading and writing. Although much of the trip will be taken up with constant maintenance checks and any necessary repairs to the boat, which was built in 1984. #mcguckin Irish sailor Gregor McGuckin has logged over 45,000 miles crossing the Atlantic and Indian Oceans and many other passages around the world. Golden Globe Race 2018 & 2022 (@ggr2018official) April 30, 2018 To ensure his boat does not stray off course through a sudden change in the direction of the wind, he will have to snatch sleep in short bursts. Packs of freeze dried, tinned and dehydrated food will also be taken on board with him enough to last him nine months but he will have to rely on catching rain water. Old fashioned non-laminate cloth sails must be used, and only 150 litres of fuel can be taken. The race covers 30,000 miles via Cape Horn and four rendezvous points including the Canary Islands and Tasmania. He previously told Press Association how he put off telling his girlfriend Barbara for several months, but she embraced the adventure and is helping him prepare a primary schools course to allow children to follow his voyage while learning about the oceans. He said: I always had a plan that Id get my own boat and ideally sail around the world, but Id almost resigned myself to not doing it until this opportunity came along. His good luck charms will be a flag featuring the Irish harp and a bottle of specially-distilled Irish whiskey. A husband stabbed his wife to death after taking part in a drinking game on New Years Eve and then repeatedly asked police to shoot him, a court has heard. David Clark, who denies the murder of 44-year-old Melanie Clark, allegedly dialled the emergency services nine minutes before midnight and told the operator: I am sorry, I have killed my wife. A jury at Birmingham Crown Court was told the victim was found dead at the couples home in Cloverdale, Stoke Prior, near Bromsgrove, in the early hours of January 1. Opening the Crowns case against Clark on Thursday, prosecutor Benjamin Aina QC said the defendant whose birthday is on New Years Day and his wife were both estimated to be more than double the drink-drive limit at the time of the stabbing. Jurors heard the couple had visited a friends home on New Years Eve, where they had shared three bottles of prosecco before playing a snakes and ladders drinking game using American whiskey and apple shots. After they left their friends property, apparently in good spirits, the couple returned home in a taxi and started to argue, the court heard. Clark, who later told police he could not remember stabbing his wife, was arrested at about 12.30am after armed police were deployed to detain him. The 49-year-old, who was born in South Africa but has a British passport, is alleged to have told an emergency call-handler: I cant believe I f***ing did it. I am f***ing devastated, I dont know why I did it. Stabbing in Bromsgrove Clark, who had allegedly threatened to kill himself, told police he could not remember comments made to officers who told him: We are not going to shoot you. Opening the case, Mr Aina told the jury: On New Years Eve last year, just before midnight, David Clark telephoned the emergency services and he told them he had killed his wife. Police officers arrived at his home and they found the body of his wife in an upstairs bedroom. She had been stabbed once to the chest. It is the prosecutions case that Melanie Clark was killed by her husband following an argument. During the argument on New Years Eve, Melanie Clark had told her husband that she wanted him to leave their home in the morning. He couldnt take the rejection and killed his wife. After he was taken to Worcester police station, Mr Clark said he could not remember stabbing his wife, who grew up in Durban and had four children from previous relationships. Mr Aina told the jury: He said that he didnt know that he had used a knife, just that he had hurt her. The jury panel was told that Clark and his wife, who occupied separate rooms, used mobile phones to send each other a series of messages after returning home. After Clark had sent a message claiming his wife had previously had a sexual encounter with another woman, she wrote replies reading: You need to grow the f*** up. Obviously not with me because I am done. Will call the police to remove you from my property tomorrow. Mr Aina told the jury they were likely to have to focus on Clarks intention at the time of the stabbing. The Crown has to prove his intention his intention either being to kill her or his intention being to cause her really serious bodily harm, the prosecutor said. The trial continues. Nine suspected fraudsters have been arrested for claiming housing and support after the Grenfell Tower fire, following a series of dawn raids by the Metropolitan Police. Eight men and one woman were arrested by Scotland Yard after raids on 11 addresses predominantly in west London on Thursday. The Met stressed none of those arrested were genuine survivors. They believe two are linked but said all the offences are separate. Grenfell Tower in west London Some of them were living in hotels when they were detained, and the value of the frauds range from 25,000 to 100,000. In a briefing, Detective Superintendent Matt Bonner said: All those arrests are in connection with what we believe to be fraudulent claims for housing and/or support of one kind or another, arising out of false claims from people that they were associated with Grenfell Tower. He said the force had timed the raids after consulting the community, saying he wanted to show due respect to the recent commemoration hearings and the one-year anniversary next week. Shahin Sadafi, chairman of Grenfell United, said: It is hurtful and saddening that people would take advantage of a tragedy like this. Mr Bonner added: These individuals that we arrested do not represent, in any way, part of the community. Theyve attached themselves to a community in order to exploit and make financial gain, and I certainly share the communitys view that they are no part and they run the risk of not only obstructing aid and support but they also run the risk of wrongly labelling the community themselves. Five people have already faced the courts in relation to fraudulent Grenfell-related activity. The Met said it sadly expected fraud to continue to form part of its investigation for some time to come. Updating on the overall progress of the criminal probe into the fire, Mr Bonner revealed his 200-strong team of investigators was expecting to start questioning suspects in the near future. Commander Stuart Candy also confirmed that the official death toll would stand at 70 people plus baby Logan Gomes. Maria del Pilar Burton, who died in January after a stroke, has been widely regarded as the 72nd victim. He said: Pily Burton is a victim of the fire, as is everybody else who called Grenfell Tower their home. But the coroner decided that Pily Burtons death is not caused by the fire. Mr Cundy added that he was still confident the fire started in a fridge-freezer in a fourth-floor flat. A number of expert reports commissioned by the public inquiry into the blaze said they could not be sure of the fires origin. Brad Shields is poised to make his England debut against South Africa at Ellis Park on Saturday after being unexpectedly fast-tracked into Eddie Jones matchday squad. Shields will supply cover at flanker and lock from the bench less than a week after flying 7,655 miles from Wellington to Durban to join up with his new team-mates for the first time. The 27-year-old New Zealand-born forward qualifies for England through his parents but has never played in the Aviva Premiership, his contract with Wasps not starting until completion of his Super Rugby commitments with the Hurricanes next month. His selection has been criticised by a variety of voices ranging from former Red Rose captain and flanker Lewis Moody to World Rugby vice-chairman Agustin Pichot, the Argentina great who is a staunch campaigner for stricter eligibility rules. Jones has no compunction picking a player who was stood down from training on Monday due to jet-lag, however. Brad is a good workman-like player who has fitted in well off the field, Jones said. Its easy to fit into a squad when people know your attitude is right and hes brought that to the table. Hes worked very hard to learn what hes needed to learn. He allows us to have Nathan Hughes on the bench, giving our back row variety, and he also covers the lock position. Brad Shields included on England's bench against South Africa. Daily at full-back, Henry Slade at 13 Duncan Bech (@DuncanBech) June 7, 2018 Shields was unlikely to have featured among the replacements had Joe Launchbury not failed a fitness test on the calf injury sustained in training last week. Launchburys unavailability means Nick Isiekwe partners Saracens colleague Maro Itoje in the second row, making his first Test start having won two caps as a replacement in Argentina 12 months ago. Joe was very close to making it. Earlier in the week I had him pencilled in, but unfortunately on Wednesday he just twinged it a little bit. Weve decided to save him for the second Test, Jones said. Ive been enormously impressed by the Nick Isiekwe. We took a bit of a gamble on him last year by taking him to Argentina as a bit of a project player. Eddie Jones has named his starting XV for the Johannesburg opener As this season went on, he kept getting more and more impressive in doing the simple things well. Hes come into the squad on the back of Saracens Premiership win a different lad. Hes confident about what hes good at. Hes an incredible athlete for a big guy and he adds speed to the pack. Billy Vunipola makes his first start for England since the end of the 2017 Six Nations to mark the end of an injury-ravaged year and is joined in the back row by 19-year-old openside Tom Curry. Kyle Sinckler has won the battle of the tighthead props to start alongside Mako Vunipola and Jamie George in the front row with Harry Williams supplying cover from the bench. England training at Kings Park pic.twitter.com/myvs9Ko6H2 Duncan Bech (@DuncanBech) June 5, 2018 Danny Cipriani has been overlooked completely for the 23 despite an outstanding season at Wasps with Piers Francis offering centre and fly-half cover from the bench. Elliot Daly has been selected at full-back, the position he also filled in last months rout by the Barbarians at Twickenham and once more Mike Brown is consigned to the left wing. The outside centre slot is filled by Henry Slade, who has edged Alex Lozowski, with Denny Solomona supplying wing cover from the bench. Scientists could finally solve the mystery of the Loch Ness monster as they carry out a thorough investigation of the lochs waters. A global team of scientists, known as the Super Natural History team, will use environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling of the waters to identify tiny DNA remnants left behind by life in the Highlands loch. They will then establish a detailed list of all life living in Loch Ness and make comparisons between it and several other lochs to find if it differs from other sites. As creatures move through the loch, they leave tiny fragments of DNA through their skin, scales, feathers, fur, faeces and urine. In June 2018, an international team of scientists will explore the murky and mysterious waters of Loch Ness using the latest DNA sequencing tools. Welcome to Loch Ness and the epic adventure that is #lochnesshunters. pic.twitter.com/VrnN1Uk2gQ Neil Gemmell (@ProfGemmell) June 4, 2018 The study is being led by Professor Neil Gemmell of the University of Otago, New Zealand. He said he will be surprised if there is any evidence of DNA sequences similar to those likely to come from a large extinct marine reptile, the so called Jurassic hypothesis, but is open minded about what they might find. He said: Large fish like catfish and sturgeons have been suggested as possible explanations for the monster myth and we can very much test that idea and others. While the prospect of looking for evidence of the Loch Ness monster is the hook to this project, there is an extraordinary amount of new knowledge that we will gain from the work about organisms that inhabit Loch Ness the UKs largest freshwater body. Loch Ness investigation Professor Gemmell has assembled a team of global science leaders from the UK, Denmark, US, Australia and France, as well as Adrian Shine of the Loch Ness Project. The team is carrying out its investigation at the loch this month. VisitScotland said the Nessie phenomenon is worth millions to the Scottish economy, with hundreds of thousands of visitors travelling to Loch Ness and Drumnadrochit every year to catch a glimpse of the mythical monster. Chris Taylor, VisitScotland regional leaderships director, said: The mystery and the intrigue of the Loch Ness monster attracts visitors from all over the world to the stunning area every year. Professor Neil Gemmell It is exciting to welcome Professor Gemmell and his team to the loch and we will be eagerly anticipating their findings. While the research could provide an insight into one of the worlds most famous enigmas, it will certainly offer a closer look at all of the different creatures living in the loch. Unusual items previously found in the loch include a 30ft long Loch Ness monster model discovered on the loch bed in 2016 during a sonar search by Kongsberg Maritime and supported by The Loch Ness Project and VisitScotland. The model was a prop from the 1970 film The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, directed by Billy Wilder and starring Robert Stephens and Christopher Lee. It is believed the model sank after its buoyant humps were removed. The Co-operative Bank has announced the departure of its chief executive after just a year and a half in the role, leaving the door open for a fresh face at the head of the recently rescued lender. It said Liam Coleman has decided to step down after five years at the bank and the completion of its recapitalisation deal last year. While Mr Coleman has been at Co-op Bank since 2013, he only took the top post in January last year after serving as treasurer, director of its retail and commercial bank and later as deputy CEO. Co-operative Bank Stock A successor has yet to be announced, but the bank assured that it was mindful of the need to manage an orderly succession and would keep Mr Coleman on board as it searches for his replacement. The move comes just months after the bank ushered in new chairman Robert Dench to replace Dennis Holt, in what is shaping up as a clean sweep of its top ranks. Mr Colemans departure comes nearly a year after the Co-op Bank struck a 700 million rescue deal that saved it from potential collapse last September. The refinancing and restructuring package agreed to by the Co-op Banks hedge fund investors which include Silver Point Capital, GoldenTree, Anchorage Capital, Blue Mountain and Cyrus Capital saw the bank effectively sever its historic relationship with the Co-operative Group and separate itself from the wider mutuals pension scheme. It gave the lender the ability to meet regulations on long-term capital requirements, avoid it being wound down and allow it to continue as a stand-alone lender. Mr Coleman said: As a member of the team originally brought in to help turn the Bank around, I feel a great sense of achievement in how much we have collectively delivered both to address the fundamental issues the organisation faced back in 2013 and to reshape the business around our retail customers. This is a great bank with a strong customer base and distinct brand and the progress made means there is much to build upon. However, having successfully completed the recapitalisation process last year, I feel it is now both the right time for me and for the business to look to new leadership for the next stage of the journey. He assured that in the meantime it remains very much business as usual. Chairman Mr Dench said the priority for the banks next phase was to rebuild the banks competitiveness as a genuine alternative for customers. Under Liams tenure the bank is stronger and more resilient on many levels having also completed the outsourcing of our major IT systems to IBM; continued to significantly de-risk the balance sheet; and substantially reduce our cost base. The achievements have provided the platform to move forward with our plans to achieve a sustainable and profitable Co-operative Bank. I would like to thank Liam on behalf of the board for his significant contribution. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been visited by officials from the Australian High Commission. Two officials went to the Ecuadorian Embassy in London where Mr Assange has been living for almost six years. His internet and phone connections were cut off by the Ecuadorian government six weeks ago and he was denied visitors. Julian Assange supporters The Australian-born campaigner fears being extradited to the US if he leaves the embassy and being questioned about the activities of WikiLeaks. It is believed to be the first time officials from the Australian High Commission in London have visited him. Jennifer Robinson, a member of Mr Assanges legal team, said: I can confirm we met with Australian government representatives in the embassy today. Julian Assange is in a very serious situation, detained without charge for seven-and-a-half years. He remains in the embassy because of the risk of extradition to the US. That risk is undeniable after numerous statements by Trump administration officials, including the Director of the CIA and the US attorney-general. Given the delicate diplomatic situation we cannot comment further at this time. Theresa May has secured approval from senior ministers for a backstop arrangement which could keep the UK in a customs union with the EU beyond the end of 2020. The Prime Minister met twice with David Davis, amid reports the Brexit Secretary was considering resigning unless she set a clear time limit on the temporary customs arrangement. But there was no fixed deadline in the document published later, which said only the UK expects a final customs solution to be in place by the end of December 2021 at the latest. The document represents the UKs counter to an EU proposal to keep Northern Ireland alone in the customs union after Brexit, which was rejected outright by Mrs May because it would draw a border down the Irish Sea. In a letter to Tory MPs, obtained by The Times, the Prime Minister described the UK proposal as unpalatable but at worst temporary and in no way the Governments intended or desired result. The Government did not expect it to be implemented, as it intended to have a permanent customs arrangement in place by the end of 2020, she said. But she said it was right to have a fallback option ready in case the process was delayed for technical reasons. The Government was committed to making sure that the future arrangements are in place by the end of December 2021 at the very latest and to ensuring the UK leaves the customs union. EXC: How Theresa May is selling today to her MPs pic.twitter.com/zNLkfBMjiW Sam Coates Sky (@SamCoatesSky) June 7, 2018 The development came as Mrs May braced herself for possible defeat in the Commons next week on an amendment which would require her to try to negotiate a permanent customs union with the remaining EU. With Labour MPs whipped to back the Lords amendment, Tory Remainers are understood to believe they have enough support to mount an effective rebellion. However, Mrs May is expected to win a second vote on membership of the European Economic Area, after Jeremy Corbyn ordered his MPs to abstain in favour of an alternative Labour motion. Under the new backstop proposals, if no agreement on customs has been implemented by the end of 2020, a temporary arrangement would ensure that no tariffs, quotas, rules of origin (or) customs processes applied to UK-EU trade. At the same time the UK would be able to strike free trade agreements with other countries. Theresa May Rather than setting a firm deadline for the end of the backstop, the document states: The UK expects the future arrangement to be in place by the end of December 2021 at the latest. There are a range of options for how a time limit could be delivered, which the UK will propose and discuss with the EU. A source close to Mr Davis said there had been a back and forth on the wording of the paper, which now expresses, in much more detail, the time-limited nature of our proposal. The Prime Minister also held separate face-to-face discussions with leading Brexiteers Boris Johnson and Liam Fox. None of the three ministers threatened to resign during the discussions, a spokeswoman for the Prime Minister said. Dr Fox later told the BBC that the new proposal ensured that Britain would be leaving the EU and any implementation and subsequent arrangements by the end of 2021. But John Longworth, of the Leave Means Leave campaign, said Mrs May appeared obsessed with the damage-limitation mantra of the Remainers and was leading the country into a Brussels trap. The EU is like the Hotel California we will never leave, he said. It is now time to declare for a World Trade deal and prepare in earnest to just leave in March 2019. Difficult to see how UK proposal on customs aspects of IE/NI backstop will deliver a workable solution to avoid a hard border & respect integrity of the SM/CU. A backstop that is temporary is not a backstop, unless the definitive arrangement is the same as the backstop. #Brexit Guy Verhofstadt (@guyverhofstadt) June 7, 2018 Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer described the PMs concession as embarrassing. With the threat of a Cabinet resignation, Theresa May has signed up to a flawed proposal which is inconsistent with her earlier commitments, he said. The European Parliaments Brexit co-ordinator Guy Verhofstadt said it was difficult to see how the UK proposal could deliver a workable solution to avoid a hard border. A backstop that is temporary is not a backstop, unless the definitive arrangement is the same as the backstop, he said. Boris Johnson and Liam Fox The EUs chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier is due to discuss the proposal with Mr Davis in Brussels next week, ahead of a crunch summit of EU leaders on June 28. Mr Barnier said they would be examining them in the light of three questions: Is it a workable solution to avoid a hard border? Does it respect the integrity of the single market/customs union? Is it an all-weather backstop? I welcome publication of #UK proposal on customs aspects of IE/NI backstop. We will examine it with 3 questions: is it a workable solution to avoid a hard border? Does it respect the integrity of the SM/CU? Is it an all-weather backstop? Michel Barnier (@MichelBarnier) June 7, 2018 Irelands deputy premier Simon Coveney warned that unless there was a legally-binding assurance that a hard border would be avoided in all circumstances, there could be no progress on other elements of the Brexit talks. Ireland and the commission have both stressed that substantial progress on the backstop is needed before the June European Council, said Mr Coveney. Clearly, a great deal of work remains to be done and this needs to be the highest priority for all sides in the weeks ahead. Louis Walsh has decided to leave The X Factor as the show ushers in a new era, it has been announced. The TV star has been the longest-serving judge on the talent show, appearing on all bar one series since the show began in 2004. X Factor 2017 He will continue to serve as head judge on Irelands Got Talent, production company Thames confirmed. Walsh said in a statement: Ive had a fantastic 13 years on The X Factor but the show needs a change and Im ready to leave. Im looking forward to another series of Irelands Got Talent, going back to my day job as a manager, writing my memoirs and seeing the world. Sharon Osbourne will have a scaled-back role in the show when it returns for a 15th series later this year. X Factor 2017 - London She will only appear as a judge during the live episodes, skipping the audition process of the series. She said: I cant wait to get back to the judges desk. I love the new format. The shows creator Simon Cowell will return to the show for the new series with three new fellow judges, who will be announced in due course. X Factor 2017 - London Amelia Brown, managing director of Thames, said: Louis has been a huge part of The X Factors success since it launched and remains a good friend of the show. His contribution cannot be overstated. We would like to thank him for all he has given to the show over the years and look forward to continuing to work with him in the future. She added: We are very excited Sharon is taking on a new role on the show and we cant wait to see her as a judge on the live episodes. This is the start of a new era for The X Factor. I am really excited about all the ideas we have for the coming series including, of course, the new judging panel. Judges auditions for The X Factor 2018 will take place at Wembley Arena in London and previously advertised auditions in Liverpool will now take place at the venue in the capital. More than 30,000 contestants have already entered the 2018 series after open auditions across the country. Debates over the ratification of the Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement in the parliament of the United Kingdom will begin within a few weeks, British Ambassador Judith Farnworth told reporters during the UK-Armenia business forum in Yerevan. June 7, 2018, 12:42 UK parliament to launch Armenia-EU CEPA ratification debates within few weeks, says HM Ambassador STEPANAKERT, JUNE 7, ARTSAKHPRESS-ARMENPRESS: The deal, known as CEPA, was signed between Armenia and the EU in November of 2017. The Armenian parliament has already ratified the agreement. 28 member states of the EU must ratify the deal. Three countries, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia have ratified it in 2018. The deal has come into force provisionally since June 1. TUNIS, June 6 (Reuters) - The United States said on Wednesday it had conducted a precision air strike near the Libyan town of Bani Walid, killing four Islamic State militants. The strike was carried out in coordination with the internationally recognised government in Tripoli, a statement from U.S. Africa Command said. "At this time, we assess no civilians were killed in this strike," the statement said. It gave no information on the identity of those targeted. Photos shared by a local source in Bani Walid showed a white all-terrain vehicle that he said had been hit in the strike. The vehicle was streaked with blood and the roof and one of the sides had been shredded. One of those killed in the strike was Abd al-Aati Ashtaiwy, a Libyan who had travelled to Syria and had previously been based in Sirte, which Islamic State controlled from 2015-2016, according to the Bani Walid source and local reports. The United States gave air support to Libyan forces that drove Islamic State from Sirte in 2016, and has continued to launch occasional strikes against suspected militants in Libya since the end of that campaign. Bani Walid is about 150 km (93 miles) south of Tripoli. (Reporting by Aidan Lewis and Ayman al-Warfalli Editing by Gareth Jones) By Ahmed Aboulenein and Huda Majeed BAGHDAD, June 6 (Reuters) - At least 18 people were killed and over 90 wounded in an explosion in Baghdad's Sadr City district on Wednesday, an Iraqi police source said. Photos from the scene showed a destroyed car and building as well as weeping relatives of victims. An interior ministry spokesman said in a brief statement the blast was the result of the detonation of an ammunitions cache and that security forces had opened an investigation. The ammunition had been stored in a mosque and the explosion happened during its transfer into a car parked nearby, the police source said. Earlier, state television cited a ministry spokesman describing the explosion as "a terrorist aggression on civilians," which had caused "martyrs and wounded". Authorities did not offer an explanation of the discrepancies between the two statements, neither of which gave casualty figures. Sadr City is a stronghold of nationalist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose political bloc won a May 12 parliamentary election. Parliament ordered a national recount of votes on Wednesday. In May, two homemade bombs targeted the headquarters of the Iraqi Communist Party, which is part of Sadr's bloc. (Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein and Huda Majeed; Editing by Andrew Roche and Peter Cooney) By Jess Macy Yu TAICHUNG, Taiwan, June 7 (Reuters) - Taiwan simulated repelling an invading force on Thursday and used civilian-operated drones for the first time as part of annual military drills on the self-ruled island amid escalating tensions with China. The drills were presided over by Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen and watched by the visiting king of eSwatini, the African kingdom formerly known as Swaziland at the centre of a diplomatic tug-of-war between Taiwan and China. China claims self-ruled Taiwan as its sacred territory, under its "one China" policy, and Beijing has never renounced the use of force to bring what it sees as a wayward province under its control. China's air force has conducted a series of military manoeuvres near the island in recent months that Taipei has denounced as intimidation. "Our armed forces' combat effectiveness is the guarantee of our national security. It is the flourishing basis of society, and it is the back-up force for our values of democracy and freedom," Tsai said at the Han Kuang drills in the central Taiwanese city of Taichung. "So long as our armed forces are around, Taiwan will surely be around," she added. More than 4,000 personnel and over 1,500 pieces of equipment were deployed in the annual exercise, with drones flying overhead to provide battlefield surveillance and construction workers practising repairs to an airbase runway. King Mswati III, Africa's last absolute monarch and Taiwan's only remaining African ally, was the first foreign leader to observe the Han Kuang drills since Tsai took office in 2016. China has called on eSwatini to sever relations with Taiwan before early September, when Beijing will host a summit of African leaders. Taiwan has accused China of using dollar diplomacy to lure away its allies, promising generous aid packages, charges Beijing has denied. "In the process of the drills taking place, our armed forces' displayed their fighting capacity and our ally nation was able to observe," said Taiwan Defence Ministry spokesman Chen Chung-chi. "This is one way we hope to deepen our dialogue on both sides," he added. Taiwan has said it has received assurances from eSwatini that ties are secure. Taiwan has recently lost two diplomatic allies, the West African state of Burkina Faso and the Dominican Republic which established relations with Beijing. Taipei has official ties with just 18 countries worldwide. In a move certain to rile Beijing, Chen said Taiwan was eager to take part in a U.S.-hosted naval drill. The Pentagon last month withdrew an invitation to China in response to what it sees as Beijing's militarisation of islands in the South China Sea. The Rim of the Pacific exercise, known as RIMPAC, is billed as the world's largest international maritime exercise, held every two years in Hawaii in June and July. Tension between Taiwan and its big neighbour has increased in recent months, with China suspicious Tsai's administration wants to push for the island's formal independence. Tsai has said she wants to maintain the status quo, but will protect Taiwan's security and not be bullied by Beijing. Taiwan is equipped with mostly U.S.-made weaponry and wants Washington to sell it more advanced equipment, including new fighter jets. Military experts say the balance of power between Taiwan and China has shifted in favour of China, which could probably overwhelm the island unless U.S. forces came quickly to its aid. (Reporting By Jess Macy Yu Writing by Anne Marie Roantree Editing by Darren Schuettler) By Graham Fahy DUBLIN, June 6 (Reuters) - The former chief executive of the failed Anglo Irish Bank, David Drumm, was found guilty on Wednesday of conspiring to defraud depositors and investors during a banking crisis that crippled Ireland's economy a decade ago. Drumm, 51, had pleaded not guilty to charges of dishonestly creating the impression that deposits at the lender were 7.2 billion euros larger than they actually were in 2008 when the country's banks began to get into trouble. The bank has since collapsed. He was also found guilty of false accounting, a second charge he had denied, and was released on bail pending sentencing on June 20. "The verdict today is the culmination of an investigation that commenced over nine years ago," Detective Superintendent Gerard Walsh told reporters outside the court, describing it as one the most complex undertaken involving the analysis of tens of thousands of telephone calls and almost one million files. Drumm was extradited from the United States two years ago to face the charges after spending five months in federal custody while Irish officials sought his return. He showed no emotion as the jury handed down its unanimous verdict after just over 10 hours of deliberation. The charges concerned a circular transaction scheme between Anglo and bancassurer Irish Life and Permanent that took place between March and September 2008 and helped bolster Anglo's balance sheet. Irish Life placed the deposits via a non-banking subsidiary in the run-up to Anglo's financial year-end, to allow its rival to categorise them as customer deposits, which are viewed as more secure, rather than a deposit from another bank. Lawyers for the prosecution told the court during the four month trial that it was a prime objective of Anglo to make its balance sheet look as strong as it could, describing the transactions as being carried out with "lightening speed". The verdict completed a fall from grace for Drumm who in 2005 took over as head of then rapidly growing lender at the age of 38 before quitting less than four years later, just before the bank was nationalised. He later left Ireland for the wealthy Boston suburbs, where he was arrested in 2015. Irish police objected to his bail on Wednesday, arguing that he was a flight risk due to his co-conspirators previously receiving serious sentences. The three former senior Anglo and Irish Life and Permanent executives - Denis Casey, Willie McAteer and John Bowe - were jailed for up to three-and-a-half years in 2016 on charges of conspiring to defraud investors. Scandal-hit Anglo, which the state began to wind down in 2011, became synonymous with the lending practices that drove the "Celtic Tiger" boom and subsequent bust, forcing the country into a three-year international bailout in 2010. Irish Life and Permanent was broken up during the restructuring of Ireland's financial sector and its banking arm, permanent tsb, remains under 75 percent state ownership. Irish taxpayers had to stump up 64 billion euros - almost 40 percent of annual economic output - to cover the cost of the bank rescue that was the euro zone's most expensive. (Writing by Padraic Halpin; editing by David Evans and Toby Chopra) By Hamid Shalizi KABUL, June 7 (Reuters) - Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Thursday announced for the first time an unconditional ceasefire with the Taliban, coinciding with the end of the Muslim fasting month, but excluding other militant groups, such as Islamic State. The decision came after a meeting of Islamic clerics this week declared a fatwa, or ruling, against suicide bombings, one of which, claimed by Islamic State, killed 14 people at the entrance to the clerics' peace tent in Kabul, the capital. The clerics also recommended a ceasefire with the Taliban, who are seeking to reimpose strict Islamic law after their ouster in 2001, and Ghani endorsed the recommendation, announcing a laying down of arms until June 20. Ghani has urged ceasefires with the Taliban before, but this was the first unconditional offer since he was elected in 2014. "This ceasefire is an opportunity for Taliban to introspect (sic) that their violent campaign is not winning them hearts and minds," Ghani said in a message on social network Twitter after a televised address. There was no immediate reaction from the Taliban but an international political analyst based in Kabul was unimpressed. "It's a one-sided love story," he said. U.S. Forces-Afghanistan said they would honour the ceasefire. "We will adhere to the wishes of Afghanistan for the country to enjoy a peaceful end to the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, and support the search for an end to the conflict," Gen. John Nicholson, U.S. Forces-Afghanistan and the NATO-led Resolute Support commander, said in a statement. The ceasefire would not include U.S. counterterrorism efforts against Islamic State and al Qaeda, it said. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the announcement which he said "shows the seriousness of President Ghani and the Afghan government". Both he and the United Nations urged the Taliban to reciprocate. The United States and Russia also praised the decision. "The Afghan governments offer of a temporary ceasefire underscores its commitment to peace as both a national and religious responsibility," the State Department said in a statement. But former Afghan army general Atiqullah Amarkhel said the ceasefire would give the Taliban a chance to regroup. "From a military prospect, it is not a good move," he told Reuters. He also said he doubted the Taliban would lay down arms and deny themselves the opportunity of fighting during the holy month of Ramadan, in which attacks have intensified. The Eid al-Fitr holiday ending Ramadan falls at the end of next week. Ghani in February offered recognition of the Taliban as a legitimate political group in a proposed political process that he said could lead to talks to end more than 16 years of war. Ghani proposed a ceasefire and a release of prisoners among options including new elections involving the militants and a constitutional review in a pact with the Taliban to end a conflict that last year alone killed or wounded more than 10,000 civilians. In August, U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled a more hawkish military approach to Afghanistan, including a surge in air strikes, aimed at forcing the Taliban to the negotiating table. Afghan security forces say the impact has been significant, but the Taliban roam huge swaths of the country and, with foreign troop levels of about 15,600, down from 140,000 in 2014, there appears little hope of outright victory. (Additional reporting by Qadir Sediqi and Rupam Jain in Kabul, Polina Devitt in Moscow, Doina Chiacu in Washington and Idrees Ali and Robert Emmott in Brussels; Writing by Nick Macfie; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Robert Birsel) Cabinet Spokesman and Minister, Rajitha Senaratne said yesterday the unity governments 100-day programme was drafted by a panel of eminent persons during the 2015 presidential election campaign. He said President Maithripala Sirisena might not have had an opportunity of studying it in depth because he was involved in a vital propaganda campaign. The minister, commenting on the remarks made by the President recently on the 100-day programme said what he actually meant was that he did not have the time to discuss the this programme with the committee members or constituent partners of the United National Front because of his busy schedule. He said former president Mahinda Rajapaksa had returned to Carlton in Hambantota and Basil had fled the country to US and that there was no hurry to announce immediate parliamentary polls by the morning of January 9, 2015. It was against this background that the President and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe agreed to the 100-day programme. Responding to journalists at yesterdays Cabinet news briefing, the minister said the joint opposition was in disarray and the splits within the JO and SLPP were getting worse by the day. Journalist: There are media reports that the cracks are kept widening within the JO and SLPP. Are you happy as a front-liner of the yahapalana government? Minister: Not really. Our focus is on the reorganization and strengthening of the UNF to successfully face the forthcoming PC, presidential and general elections. I have heard that the JO meeting called by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa was not attended by many of the JO leaders like Dinesh Gunawardana. Journalist: Media reports say the candidacy of Gotabaya Rajapaksa to run for the presidency in 2020 has not been accepted by many like Vasudeva Nanayakkara. Minister: Yes, we must unite all like-minded politicians and political parties under one roof to ensure our victory. Journalist: Both, the President and the Prime Minister have hinted on their candidacy for the presidential poll in 2020. On whose side are you? Minister: My mission is to unite the SLFP and the UNP and the two leaders. We must select either of them for the presidential polls in 2020 to ensure our victory. Divisions mean disaster. Journalist: The people, the politicians and the media are questioning the sustainability of the unity government after the negative remarks made by the President on the governments 100-day programme and giving helicopters to Mahinda and his family to go home on January 9, 2015. Where and when is this going to end? Minister: Dont worry. The yahapalana government is as strong as ever. The differences and arguments are common in any coalition. You may remember that the coalition governments under Mr. S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike in 1956 and Madam Bandaranaike in 1960 faced more serious problems. The splits in 50s ultimately led to the assassination of Mr. Bandaranike. In comparison to them the differences in this government are negligent. Journalist: Are you confident that the yahapalana government will complete its entire term of office until 2020. Minister: Yes, indeed. Minister Gayantha Karunatilaka: Not only up to 2020 but beyond it. Journalist: The UNP won the vote held to elect a deputy speaker on Tuesday in Parliament. Your comments? Minister: That victory reflects the true political situation in the country and whom the people are with. The parliamentary tradition in Sri Lanka up to now is to elect the Speaker and the Deputy from the government side and chairman of committees by the opposition. When the deputy speakers post fell vacant, the SLFP proposed its Jaffna district MP Angajan Ramanathan for the post but the TNA opposed. Then after the Prime Minister proposed the name of Ananda Kumarasiri for the post and President Sirisena proposed Sudharshini Fernandopulles name. But Mr. Wickremesinge said the UNP had already proposed Mr. Kumarasiris name and therefore the UNP could not support Dr. Fernandopulle. That is why a ballot was held and UNPs Mr. Kumarasiri won with a big margin which indicates the strength of the UNP. Journalist: Chief Minister C.V.Wigneswaran and PC member Sivajilingam have launched an agitation campaign in support of the LTTE. Is there no one in the government to shut the mouths of these two terrorists? Minister Senaratne: These people live on racism and extremism. They dont know or have no confidence in democratic methods to win their demands. Journalist: Why is the government not taking action against their racist utterances? Minister: We must enact the law banning hate speech. There were attempts to introduce this law but it was not successful. (Sandun A Jayasekera) The Fairway National Literary Awards competition, now in its fourth consecutive year of operation, has fast grown to assume a leading role in the literary landscape of Sri Lanka. The call for entries for the FNLA 2018 was made recently. All novels in Sinhala, English and Tamil published for the first time and published in Sri Lanka from 01st June 2017 to 31st May 2018 are eligible for entry. The introduction of the FNLA by Fairway Holdings in 2015 coincided with the commencement of its sponsorship of the internationally acclaimed Fairway Galle Literary Festival. Fairway Holdings is strongly committed to promoting the arts and culture in Sri Lanka through various projects and initiatives with the underlying aim of creating a better, more humane society. The FNLA seeks to bring Sri Lankan literary creative excellence into the limelight by recognising and rewarding established writers and also encouraging and inspiring new writers. The publishers of the winning novels are also given due recognition. The response of the literary community in Sri Lanka to the FNLA has been very enthusiastic. The number of entries in all three language categories has increased considerably over the years and the announcement of the Shortlists and the Winners is eagerly awaited each year. The FNLA comprises cash awards of Rs. 500,000 each to the winners in each language category and cash awards of Rs. 100,000 each to the authors of all shortlisted novels. Submissions for this year will be accepted up to the 25th of July at the Fairway National Literary Awards Secretariat, The Fairways, 100, Buthgamuwa Road, Rajagiriya. (Telephone: 0775533121/ 0774462285). The Sri Lankan government will hold ministerial level talks with China to review and iron out contentious issues in the proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries, Development Strategies and International Trade Minister Malik Samarawickrama said. He told Daily Mirror yesterday he would seek a meeting either in Beijing or here in August to discuss how to proceed with the FTA with China. "We have made representations to the Chinese government and are awaiting its response," he said. The FTA was initiated by the Rajapaksa regime. The two sides also appointed negotiating teams. However, there was a change after the new government took office in 2015. Sri Lanka has already pledged its support to Chinas Belt and Road initiative. The government recently signed a FTA with Singapore and had held several rounds of talks with India for an Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) . (Kelum Bandara) Rome (dpa), Jun 6 2018- Italys new populist coalition won a confidence vote in the Senate on Tuesday, with lawmakers in the upper chamber approving its cabinet and government programme. Lawmakers supported the confidence vote 171 to 117, with 25 senators abstaining. The vote was the first test of the coalition between the anti-immigrant League party and the anti-establishment Five Star Movement. They were sworn into power on Friday following months of political deadlock in the wake of Marchs inconclusive elections. When the Keith Noyahr abduction and assault case was taken up in Mount Lavinia Magistrate's Court yesterday (6), the CID was reprimanded by Additional Magistrate Lochana Abeywickrama for repeating the facts provided to court on the last date of hearing instead of submitting new evidence which would help the case to move forward. When the case was taken up in Courts, Defense Counsel Malka Deneththi informed the Magistrate in further reports that the CID was repeating the same facts and it had not completed its investigations. The CID also requested the Magistrate to make an order for them to record a further statement from the eighth suspect of the case, retired Major General Amal Karunasekara. The Magistrate made the order. Seven suspects who were previously released on bail were presented in court along with Major Bulathwatta of the Military Intelligence Corps who was arrested later and was the eighth suspect in the case. (Yoshitha Perera) by Paul Wang Chinese surface-to-air missiles on the Paracel Islands no longer show up on satellite images. Beijing is angry over B52 flying over the Spratlys. Neither side wants war. Hong Kong (AsiaNews) Beijing seems to have moved some surface-air missile systems from an island in the South China Sea. However, according to various experts, it might have simply hidden them for a short time, fearing increased tensions with the United States. Satellite imagery and new analysis from Israeli intelligence firm ImageSat International (ISI), dated 3 June, suggested the Chinese surface-to-air missile systems on Woody Island, in the Paracel Islands, may have been removed or relocated. The development came after US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said the United States would "compete rigorously" with China in the Indo-Pacific region. Two days ago, two US B-52 bombers flew over an area of the Spratlys islands. Beijing claims full sovereignty over the Spratlys and Paracels, as well as a large chunk of the South China Sea. In addition to being rich in natural resources (fish and oil), the sea has some of the worlds most important shipping routes. Various parts of the sea are also claimed by other countries such as the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan. The Pentagon is considering permanently deploying warships in the Taiwan Strait to patrol the South China Sea, where China has already placed several defence systems and built landing strips and lighthouses. Yesterday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, defended her country. Isnt America sending B-52 bombers [. . .] to the South China Sea militarisation? Hua said. China will not be scared by any warships or aircraft, it will only more resolutely carry out any measures needed to defend national sovereignty and security and maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea, Hua stressed. For Chinese experts, the redeployment of missile systems even if temporary shows that Beijing is trying to calm the situation. With the increasingly tense relations between the two countries, its understandable that we make a little gesture of compromise, said Ni Lexiong, a naval expert with Shanghai University of Political Science and Law. Its better that we make three steps forward and two steps back, because both sides are still restrained and neither side wants to go to war. Ajai addressing the media The growing segment of Luxury Resort-wear will be in focus at the next edition of fashion week, hosted at Shangri-La Hotel, Colombo. This segment includes Swimwear and Resort-wear under a Responsible Fashion theme. Fashion Week Colombo Swim and Resort Edition, in its 4th edition, is presented by OLU Tropical Water. Fashion Week Colombos ambitious vision is to create a global platform for sustainable swimwear and resort-wear as well as to position Sri Lanka as the resort-wear capital of the world, which is steadily becoming a reality. As Sri Lankas only locally bottled natural mineral water brand, OLU Tropical Water is proud to be title sponsor for yet another year. OLU originates from the cloud forests of Sri Lanka, some 4300 feet above sea level and is an authentic, beautifully crafted, home grown Sri Lankan brand and we are fully supportive of Fashion Weeks mission to showcase Sri Lanka as a hub of creativity and innovation, Shalindra Fernando, Chief Executive Officer Olu Tropical Water. The objective of Fashion Week is to holistically uplift Sri Lankas fashion design industry to showcase Sri Lanka as an expert hub for swimwear and a platform for luxury resortwear. While creating a relevant tourism story with sustainability at the core of this development project. Priyantha Thalwatte addressing the media "Luxury resort-wear is a new growth category which includes Swimwear and Resort-wear, this position also showcases Sri Lanka as a destination. With this edition we continue to push the benchmark for the Sri Lankan fashion industry to find its place in the world of fashion, this is the 15th year and with every passing year we will strive to go higher for Sri Lanka. Ajai Vir Singh, Founder of the Fashion Week. Linea Aqua one of the most advanced manufacturing facilities in the world is the main partner of the Fashion Week. The latest in luxury swimwear fashion that is presented on the ramp is manufactured at this world class facility. We are ever happy to share our unceasing journey of running the extra mile beyond manufacturing with Fashion Week Colombo, Muditha Ferdinando - Chief Executive Officer, Linea Aqua Shangri-La, Colombo is the official host hotel of Fashion Week Colombo Swim and Resort Edition, located at the exclusive One Galle Face address. Shangri-La Hotel, Colombo is very happy to partner with a movement that celebrates 15 years in the world of fashion and has revived the fashion industry to father the fashion development in Sri Lanka, says Timothy Wright, Vice President and General Manager of Shangri-La Hotel, Colombo. He further elaborated that Embracing such an initiative like the Fashion Week Colombo endorses, Shangri-Las support towards organizations that are committed to art and fashion aswell as a focus on the environment and driving sustainability into the core of an industry. The head table at the press conference The runway shows planned for this season will feature the latest collections in luxury resort-wear and swimwear fashion designed by five renowned international designer swimwear brands Aviva, Heidi Klein Swim, We Are Handsome, Hot-As-Hell and Zalando. Along with twelve leading Sri Lankan designers and swimwear brands Pigeon Island, Conscience, Maus, Meraki, Sonali Dharmawardena, Charini Suriyage, Aqua Island, Sea Sand, Koca, La Pard, Rumpunch and Linea Aqua. There will also be an Emerging Designer Showcase which will showcase the collections of 7 promising designers, an exciting part of the week where the next generation of designers showcase their talent. The designers have been mentored in honing their skills and guided through the Fashion Week Colombo creative process, the shows will take place at a new location at Shangri-La, Colombo. Each partner of the Fashion Week is a partner in the vision to create and develop a unique identity for Sri Lanka through the development of the fashion design industry. Title Partner Olu Tropical Water, Official Manufacturing Partner Linea Aqua, Official Host Hotel Shangri-La Hotel, Colombo. Nations Trust Bank American Express is the Fashion Card Partner, APEX Logistics is the Official Fashion Logistics Partner, BMW Prestige Automobile is the Official Automobile Partner, Official Lifestyle Beverage Partner Wine World Sri Lanka, Ramani Fernando Salons is the Official Hair and Make-Up Partner. MSL Sri Lanka is the Official PR Partner and Emerging Media is the Outdoor Digital Media Partner. Fashion Week Colombo also creates a platform for aspiring film directors through Fashion Films - a unique collaboration between designers and film directors to produce a 1-minute-Fashion-Films shot on a smartphone. It's a film presentation of their ideation of their new collections and the inspiration behind it and to bring the designers inspirations to life through film. These films will be revealed before each collection takes the runway. Timothy addressing the media For more information on Swim Week Colombo, visit the official website (swimweekcolombo.com). Stay informed of the latest on Swim Week by using #swimweekcolombo on Facebook (www.facebook.com/swimweekcolombo) and Instagram (@swimweekcolombo) for the latest updates, photos, videos and more. Kalasuri Dr. Jayasiri Semage will hold his solo exhibition of paintings titled Splendour of Art at the Lionel Wendt Art Gallery, Colombo 7 from June 15 to 17. The exhibition will be opened for public viewing on 15 June at 5.30p.m. Dr. Semage is an internationally renowned Sri Lankan painter who has brought fame and recognition to the country. He was born in Ambalangoda, a town which has produced many artists of repute. He had his primary education at Dharmasoka Vidyalaya in Ambalangoda. He showed signs of being a promising artist even in school. While still being a student he held a solo exhibition of his paintings at the National Art Gallery in Colombo. The exhibition was opened by the former Director of Education S.F. de Silva. The exhibition received rave reviews from the press. After leaving school Semage joined the former Lankadeepa newspaper as an artist. Its Editor O.B. Dhanapala, who realised Semages talents, promoted him as the Chief Artist. Unlike many other artists, Semage didnt get involved in commercial art. It was mainly because he had built his own identity as a traditional artist due to the influence of Sigiri and Ajantha paintings. In 1974 he went to Malaysia on an invitation that was extended to the Lanka Kala Sangamaya. He held an exhibition of Buddhist paintings. While in Malaysia he received the rare opportunity of painting murals at the Kuala Lumpur Buddhist Temple and the Penang Buddhist Vihara. On his return to the island, Semage was recruited as an artist to the Publicity Division of the Peoples Bank. Thereafter he toured many countries such as Thailand, Sweden, Switzerland, Singapore, Oman and Nepal and held his solo painting exhibitions. When he held an exhibition in Geneva, Switzerland, one of his paintings titled Rata Rakina Deth (The Hands that feed) was selected to be exhibited permanently at the United Nations Headquarters. This type of rare honour was granted before to eminent painters such as Michael Angelo, Picasso, and Leonardo da Vinci. Semages forte is Buddhist paintings. As a result his services have been solicited to adorn Vesak pandols that were put up at the entrance to Temple Trees during the former President R. Premadasas regime. He also put up pandols at Gam Udawa exhibitions. His giant pandol at the Asia Pacific Exhibition held in Fukuoka, Japan attracted a large crowd. He was the only painter selected from Sri Lanka for the task. What is remarkable is that the pandol was exhibited for six months. Later he participated at Expo exhibitions held in many countries. The Sri Lankan pavilion designed by him attracted the attention of the international community. Semage has done the murals at the Mangala Vihara in Singapore and Lumbini Temple in Nepal. His murals can also be seen at Sri Bodhirajarama Vihara in Boralesgamuwa and Sri Priyarathanaramaya Temple in Dehiwala. About two years ago Semage exhibited his Buddhist paintings at the Mangala Vihara and the Buddhist Library Hall in Singapore. At present he is getting ready to hold exhibitions in Singapore and Malaysia, two countries where his paintings have received public acclaim. The summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will be on Singapores southern island of Sentosa, the White House said on Tuesday as preparations accelerated for next weeks event. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a Twitter post that the venue would be the Capella Hotel on Sentosa and thanked Singaporeans for their hospitality. The summit is scheduled to start on the morning of June 12. Trump told reporters at an Oval Office event that plans for what will be the first meeting between a serving U.S. president and a North Korean leader, were moving along very well. A lot of relationships being built, a lot of negotiations going on before the trip, he said. Well see what happens. But its very important itll be a very important couple of days. Trump, who is seeking to persuade Kim to shut down a nuclear missile programme that now threatens the United States, said on Friday the summit he had cancelled the previous week was back on after he received the North Korean delegation bearing a letter from Kim. Trump said last week he expected an eventual very positive result with North Korea but dampened expectations for a breakthrough in Singapore, saying it could take several meetings to reach an agreement. REUTERS, 06th JUNE, 2018 THE HINDU, 06th JUNE, 2018-Maria Fernanda Espinosa is the fourth woman elected to head the UN body. Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa on Tuesday was elected president of the 73rd United Nations General Assembly, a mainly ceremonial title that nonetheless carries a high profile and important procedural functions. Espinosa defeated Ambassador Mary Elizabeth Flores Flake of Honduras by 128 votes to 62, with two abstentions. Ms. Espinosa will become the fourth woman to hold the UNGA presidency and the first since Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa, from Bahrain, in 2006-07. It was the first time that two women competed for the post. Ms. Espinosa will assume the position in September at the start of the 73rd UN General Assembly, taking over from Slovakian Foreign Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajcak. It is rare to have a contested election for the position, which is normally filled by consensus without a vote. It was the turn of Latin America and the Caribbean to nominate the Assembly president based on a preset geographical rotation. Ms. Espinosa dedicated her victory to women in politics world wide, especially those who face gender discrimination. by Dario Salvi Neematallah Issa, who looks at the example of "many priests" who came from the West to bear witness to Christ, issues the call. The presence of Christians is an element of balance in the middle of radicalism. Schools are a place of growth and education for life together. The crisis of vocation means the need for new missionaries. Milan (AsiaNews) - Bearing witness to Christ in a Muslim majority nation "is difficult. Even just talking about our faith can be a problem, said Neematallah Issa, a 55-year-old Egyptian from Cairo. For this reason, many people have thought about emigrating. Yet, "thanks to the example of many priests who left their country to come to Egypt to evangelise with their life and works, I realised that I too am called to the mission at home". Issa is married father of eight children "five of whom are already in heaven", he notes with serene resignation. With his wife, he is a leader in the local neocatechumenal movement, a member of the parish choir as well as an ordained sub-deacon. AsiaNews caught up with him in Milan (Italy) at the conference Marhaba - God is love meeting promoted by the Ambrosiana San Marco Foundation, which brought together about 50 priests, students and lay people of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Lebanon, inspired by the Neocatechumenal Way founded by Kiko Arguello. "In the past, he noted, I wanted to go to Canada, where I have an uncle and where I worked for some time. However, seeing the missionaries coming from Europe or America, who left ease and comforts to live in a poor parish or poor neighbourhood in Cairo, I felt a sense of amazement. And I began to ask myself many questions about the wish to emigrate." Faced with a massive exodus of Christians from the Middle East and North Africa, the testimony given by Issas family of Issa and of many others who remained in their own land "has born fruit," he explained. Many young people have begun to look at these examples." "We have to stay in Egypt even if we have the possibility, like me, to leave. I was sure that I could play a role for this nation and for my community and I want to continue doing so." The value of the Christian presence starts in schools, an essential factor of growth for the whole country. For Issa, "It is not just a place of study but is also a space in which to learn to live together. This is also why our presence in the Middle East is important. We are a balancing factor to be opposed to radicalism. Proof of this is that I have many Muslim friends and we live in harmony." In addition to the exodus, the Churches of the East must also face a decline in vocations. "In the Greek Catholic Church in Cairo, there have not been any new priests for at least five or six years. Patriarchs and bishops are asking for more and more missionary priests because they struggle to keep places of worship open." Bombs against churches and targeted attacks on communities "have also left their mark" but "faith remains stronger than fear". "Several Muslims, even among journalists wonder how can Christians forgive and talk about love, even in the face of those who attack their families? But when you have an idea, a purpose, a mission, everything is different even terrorism, economic and social difficulties are not scary." Neematallah Issa does not want to conceal the problems of Egyptian society, which "lost a little of that tolerance that distinguished it". Nonetheless, he remains "optimistic" about the future, noting "positive" signs in the direction of "living together in peace". "For that to happen, he notes, we need an adequate and balanced education for all, i.e. free from radical ideas. For Christians the task is to struggle to overcome this precarious condition in their own land." by Melani Manel Perera The Global Alliance for National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI), a network that coordinates relations between individual associations and the United Nations, has granted full status to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka. The needed criterion (missing since 2000) was independence. Colombo (AsiaNews) After waiting for several years, the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) has obtained A status which will enable it to attend the UN Human Rights Council. The Commissions president, Dr Deepika Udagama, is happy for the important recognition. "It is an achievement not only for the Commission but for the whole country". An A grade represents a considerable achievement for organisations that deal with human rights protection. It is awarded by the Global Alliance for National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI), a global network of national human rights institutions that coordinates the relationships between individual associations and UN bodies working in the human rights field. The Alliance applies the Paris principles of 1993, according to which an NGO must meet the following international standards: full mandate, operate on the basis of universal human rights rules and criteria, autonomy from the government, independence guaranteed by statute or the Constitution, pluralism, adequate resources and independent power of investigation. At the meeting held in Geneva from 14 to 18 May, GANHRI certified the independence requirement that he Commission did not have in the 2000 evaluation. The HRCSL has been working tirelessly over the past several years to win public confidence as an independent body," said Dr Udagama explained. We came forward for the rights of socially discriminated groups, prisoners and women. We strongly recommended to the Government to establish the Office of Missing Persons (OMP). We have taken a keen interest on economic and social rights of the people," she added. Contacted by AsiaNews, some commentators expressed satisfaction with the recognition. At the same time, they note that "the Commission must work hard on individual cases, much more than now". "Of the 120 National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) reviewed as of January 2018, only 77 have been granted A status, said Nihal Chandrasiri, acting director of the Research and Monitoring Division and Inquiries and Investigations Division of the HRCSL. Aside from Sri Lanka, India and Nepal are the only countries in South Asia to have the A grade NHRIs. Only 15 countries in the Asia-Pacific region have NHRIs with A status accreditation. Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Beijing Mercedes-Benz Sales Service Co., Ltd. (BMBS) announced on June 4 that Mao Jingbo, the firms current Executive Vice President of Smart/AMG/V-Class/Vito sales and operation, had submitted a resignation and gotten approval, and will no longer take charge of the firms relevant business from then on. News comes that Mao may join Fords new sales company in China, Lincoln China as CEO. Over a 10-year career at Mercedes-Benz China, Mao has made a remarkable contribution in different fields during the growth of the company. She was appointed as Marketing Director of Mercedes-Benz China in 2007 responsible for the brands marketing in the China, and successfully restored Benzs diversified brand image through a series of approaches like platform establishment and further expansion, which laid a brand and market foundation for Benzs localization and intensive introduction of the products. Mao has worked as Executive Vice President of Smart/AMG/V-Class /Vito sales and operation for Mercedes-Benz China since 2016, and has been responsible for the brands promotion and marketing of the above brands in China. Lincoln, as the last batch of luxury brands entering into the Chinese market in 2014, has much weaker brand influence compared with German and Japan luxury brands. Two out of the first five months saw the sales decline of Lincoln brand. According to the latest sales data, due to the plummet of The MKZ and MKC, the brand sales in February and April were respectively down 9% and 14% from a year earlier. Maos joining will enable Lincoln in the current predicament to get a comprehensive improvement in marketing, brand building, dealer relations and other aspects, and will promote the brand to achieve further development in China. Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Huawei, a Chinese smartphone maker, talked about its early cooperation with Audi at its Bantian base, Shenzhen on June 5. As is exposed by Xiongwei, president of Huawei LTE product line, Huawei's IoV products will be mounted on 100,000 connected vehicles this year. During 2017, Huawei gained revenue of RMB 237.2 billion with a growth of 31.9% from a year earlier. However, Huawei's revenue growth slowed down since 2017, especially the crucial operator business. What's more, since global smartphone business has entered into a new development stage, smartphone business can hardly support Huawei's continuous revenue growth. To Huawei's senior executives, automobile business would be a good choice that may help Huawei to realize sustainable revenue growth in the next few years. Xu Zhijun, vice president of Huawei, once said that the auto industry would be probably subverted by artificial intelligence (AI) in the future. Autonomous vehicle is likely to subvert RMB 16 trillion worth of auto industry including relevant industries thoroughly in China. About one month ago, strategic department of Huawei stated that Internet of Vehicle (IoV) will be the top priority of the company, adding that IoV is such a high-value industry that Huawei should accelerate its deployment as soon as possible. Besides, Huawei showed its ambition in IoV sector and targeted to be the global leader in IoV worldwide. As early as in December, 2016, the IoV innovation center of Huawei Central Research Institute reportedly recruited employees from vehicle-related universities in such advanced areas as intelligent driving, research and designing of power battery system, battery charging solutions. It was also reported that Huawei had conducted recruitment in universities for at least three years. Apart from the business of IoV, Huawei also has Watt Lab, a team focusing on battery and new energy research. The staff members of Huawei's whole teams totaled as much as several thousand. Huawei also has a team in researching and testing of autonomous driving in Canada, as well as a testing ground in Shanghai, according to the sources from Huawei. It is rumored that the abovementioned teams that are relevant to automobiles are likely to be integrated into one. It is in 2015 that Huawei got the orders of communications from Audi and Mercedes-Benz. At the end of September, 2016, Audi, BMW, Daimler teamed up with five telecommunication companies to create the 5G Automotive Association (5GAA), aiming to promote the application of 5G telecommunication technologies. Huawei was included in the five companies. At the end of 2017, Huawei announced the long-term cooperation with PSA Group in IoV field. Based on Huawei's IoT platform dubbed Ocean Connect, they will construct a new platform, CVMP (Connected Vehicle Modular Platform) to offer customers new mobility service solutions. In 2013, Huawei announced officially that it will enter into IoV sector. In 2014, Huawei teamed up with Dongfeng Motor to develop IoV. Later, the smartphone company formed partnership with GAC Group, SAIC Group, Changan Automobile and FAW Group. However, a senior executive of Huawei denied Huawei had entered into auto industry in 2015. In 2016, a rumor said that Huawei is likely to conduct strategic cooperation with Magna, one of the world's largest auto parts and vehicle contracted manufacturers, to launch the Huawei-branded vehicles. However, Huawei denied that it had no plan to enter into car manufacturing industry and also had no plan to launch Huawei-branded vehicles. In April, 2018, Huawei would reportedly join forces with an auto startup to enter into auto industry. Huawei denied the rumor once again. In October this year, senior executives of Huawei like Ren Zhengfei, Xu Zhijun, Guo Ping will get together in Ireland to discuss Huawei's long-term strategy, and automobile will be the most significant topic for the meeting. It is rumored that Xu Wenwei, who is in charge of strategic marketing, is investigating and surveying in auto industry and the auto-related topic, in order to prepare for the meeting in October. Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Changan Auto and Ford Motor announced that Li Hongpeng and Cao Zhenyu were named as president and executive vice president of Changan Ford's new national sales service division, according to Ford China. The appointment will become effective after being approved by Changan Ford's board of directors. Meanwhile, the new sales service division, as the replacement of the Changan Fords existing sales company, will officially come into effect on July 1, 2018 and will directly report to the board of directors. Li Hongpeng joined Ford Motor in May 2018 as marketing and sales president of the companys Greater China region. He has 26-year experience in marketing and sales in Chinas automobile market, which could help Ford Motor to elevate its brand image in China. Before that, he had worked in Beijing Benz Sales Service Company as senior executive vice president from 2013. During his tenure, he and his team has successfully turned China into Mercedes-Benzs largest single market worldwide. Besides, he helped the company to build an effective, profitable and sustainable distribution network nationwide and achieve year-on-year sales growth for 59 consecutive months. Cao Zhenyu also has over 20-year experience in car marketing and services. In 2016, he assumed the office of standing vice general manager in Changan Ford Sales Company. Previously, he had worked in Changan Auto's sedan sales unit and international business unit. Reportedly, the new sales service division will gradually take over Ford Motor's passenger vehicle businesses in China involving marketing, sales and customer services. Going forward, it will focus on integrating existing sales channels to create a unified Ford brand image in China. Shanghai (Gasgoo)- GAC Group delivered a total of 837,817 vehicles for the first five months, achieving a year-on-year growth of 5.72% and its monthly sales were 165,070 units in May. GAC Group posted a passenger vehicle (PV) sales volume of 164,565 units last month. By the end of May, the group has achieved a sales volume of 835,865 PVs in 2018 with a year-on-year increase of 5.55%. With regard to segments, the deliveries of sedans and SUVs reached 73,677 units and 84,019 units in May. From January to May, 359,527 units of sedans were delivered with a year-on-year jump of 12.3%. Meanwhile, the year-to-date SUV deliveries were up to 447,299 units, accounting for 53% of the companys total cumulative deliveries. Driven by the strong performance of the Trumpchi GM8 and GM6, the groups MPV deliveries skyrocketed 107.81% from the previous year to 29,039 units over the first five months and 6,869 MPVs were handed over in May. GAC Motor delivered 38,298 vehicles last month. Meanwhile, its cumulative sales so far this year totaled 231,099 units, rising 11.36% over the previous year. In terms of joint venture, GAC Honda handed over 52,138 vehicles last month. Through May, the company achieved a year-on-year sales growth of 4.19% to 273,230 units. GAC Toyota saw a year-on-year sales jump of 13.39% with 204,386 vehicles handed over during the first five months and its May sales reached 50,088 units. GAC Mitsubishi maintained its upward momentum with 12,706 vehicles delivered in May, exceeding 10,000 units for 9 consecutive months. At the same time, the company sported a year-on-year leap of 42.64% with its cumulative sales up to 63,061 units. Shanghai (Gasgoo)- BYD, Baidu and Dadao, a sharing vehicle platform, announced on June 6 that they had signed an array of cooperation agreements in new energy vehicle, autonomous driving technology and car-sharing operation of vehicles. It is reported that the three parties will capitalize on their advantages in new energy vehicle market, intelligent driving or autonomous driving technologies and car-sharing operation areas. Besides, they will mainly explore the development and application of autonomous driving technologies in new energy vehicle area. In particular, they will conduct deep exploration and cooperation on the issue that how intelligent vehicles can be quickly put into operation through a car-sharing platform. Strikingly, Dadao will adopt BYD's new energy vehicles as their daily operating vehicles. The BYD Yuan EV360 launched at Auto China 2018 will be the first cooperation model for trail operation. In accordance with the agreement, BYD and Dadao will promote the all-round cooperation for the full lineup of BYD models across China. Moreover, by making full use of BYDs resources advantages as an automaker and Dadao's advantages as an all-scenario car-sharing platform, both parties will seek deep cooperation in such areas as marketing, vehicle customization, mobility scenarios and precatory operation. Deepening strategic cooperation with automakers will not only make it easier to acquire vehicles and reduce the vehicle-acquiring costs, but also will help Dadao to gain larger profits through accurate scenario operation, according to the director from Dadao. Reportedly, BYD will also provide exclusive financial supporting services and solutions to promote more vehicles into operation. Dadao stated that it plans to cooperate with BYD to adopt nearly 10,000-unit Yuan EV360 in new cities, in order to deploy in new energy vehicle leasing market. What worth mentioning, Baidu Apollo's joining highlighted the three-party strategic cooperation. Dadao is an important ecological partner of BYD and Baidu Apollo. This cooperation will help Apollo to be a closed ecological system. Since Dadao was founded, it partnered with Baidu Apollo closely to deploy vehicle sharing business in municipal cities. In the future, Dadao will also open up a variety of real road testing data to Apollo platform. Baidu Apollo will feed back the results of analyzed data to Dadao to help promote its capabilities. In addition, Dadao will prefer BYD models that have been pre-installed Baidu Apollo's Xiaodu onboard system. The three parties will jointly explore in intelligent driving field,as well as test and operate BYD models that feature ApolloPilot function in part of cities. It is believed by industry insiders that partnering with BYD and Baidu Apollo is beneficial for Dadao to deeply deploy its vehicle-sharing business. San Diego Police have arrested five males suspected of burglarizing two Del Mar homes on the late morning of June 5. Authorities were called to the 14000 block of Rue D Antibes at about 11 a.m. regarding a possible burglary, said Trevor Philips, community relations officer for the San Diego Police Department. The caller told police she noticed five young males exiting a silver Honda Civic and entering the home of her neighbor, who was on vacation at the time, Philips said. Police conducted a security check on the residence and found the home was burglarized. The Honda Civic was located on Rue San Remo, and three suspects were detained, Philips said. Two additional suspects were detained on foot on El Amigo Road. Philips could not provide information on the suspects as most appeared to be juveniles. During the investigation, officers discovered a second home was burglarized on the 2200 block of La Amatista and connected it to the Rue D Antibes incident. Officers were able to recover a majority of the stolen property, including electronics, jewelry and a home safe with its contents, Philips said. Philips could not provide ages or descriptions for any of the suspects due to juveniles being involved. The San Diego Police Department recommends that people lock their doors and windows and remain vigilant about unknown people in their neighborhoods. Anyone with information about these burglaries or feel a committed crime is connected to them is asked to call police at 858-523-7000. How did it come to this? Children worry about being gunned down at school. Parents fear for their childrens lives when they send them off to be educated in what are supposed to be safe learning environments. Educators spend precious money meant for curriculum, supplies and classrooms on ways to keep deranged shooters off their campuses. And in our own little corner of this senseless world, Del Mar Union School Districts school board members turned their party affiliations and presumed positions on social issues upside-down, when discussing a proposed gun violence prevention resolution at their April 25 meeting. Republican Stephen Cochrane favored strong language and an outright ban on high capacity weapons, while Democrat Doug Rafner argued to water down the language and even suggested the board shouldnt pass any sort of gun violence prevention resolution at all. Independent Kristin Gibson and Democrat Erica Halpern ultimately voted to support tamer language that Republican Scott Wooden wanted. Cochrane reluctantly joined with Gibson and Halpern. Even Wooden, who surprised no one by resisting the strong language, ended up surprising everyone by voting against the revised version, saying it was still too strong. One thing you can say about this discussion: it was thorough with the conversation lasting well over an hour as the five board members tried to reword the resolution to suit everyone. Although the board seemed to take forever to fiddle with the wording, the result still felt rushed and hastily put together. The final wording was a confusing mess that no one really liked, least of all many parents in the community, 190 of whom signed a petition asking the board to revisit the issue and redo the resolution. Gun groups in schools It looked good at the start of the April board meeting, when the board was set to approve a draft resolution that included strong language about an outright ban of semi-automatic firearms, high-capacity magazines, armor-piercing ammunition, bump stocks, and any other equipment, alteration, or modification that would increase a firearms capacity for ammunition or rate of fire These words in similar resolutions were recently approved by many school districts in the county and state, locally including San Diego Unified, San Dieguito Union, Cardiff, Encinitas and Solana Beach. In fact, the Solana Beach School District, after approving the strongly worded resolution in April, proposed a second resolution in May calling for an end to gun shows at the Del Mar fairgrounds. Both resolutions passed 5-0. But instead of a quickly approved endorsement of a simple measure to protect childrens lives, DMUSD trustees diluted the resolution and parsed it to death, even discussing the placement of semi-colons. What they ended up with, after exhaustion set in, was to remove the outright ban phrase and include a section saying the district will work with gun owner organizations among others, to develop and provide educational opportunities on firearm safety including but not limited to the rules for children and proper firearm storage. This implies that the district would support gun groups coming into schools to teach kids about gun safety. Although DMUSD Board President Gibson said this would never happen, its unclear why this clause was included if the district has no intention of permitting it. What this district will not do under any circumstances, is invite any gun ownership organizations into our classrooms to train our children on the safe use of firearms, Gibson said at the May 23 board meeting. Gibson prefaced this statement by saying that all five board members have agreed that we will not take further action on the school safety resolution that was passed in April. This prompted me to ask how all board members came to this agreement, when in the period between the April and May board meetings there was no public discussion and no posted agenda with this item included. Any such agreement among all board members behind closed doors would constitute a violation of the open meeting Brown Act. The community needs to be assured that unanimous decisions of this sort are being handled in public. Gibson said she did not ask each board member individually (also a Brown Act violation), but assumed they were all in agreement because no one asked for the resolution to be placed back on the agenda after the revised resolution was approved in April. She said board members have several opportunities to ask for items to be placed on the following months agenda, and no one did this for the school safety resolution. Despite her explanation, its a bit of a stretch to say all board members agreed not to revisit the issue when the specific question was never posed to them. How it went down At the April 25 board meeting, Wooden objected to the draft resolution with the outright ban language. I dont think we should go into specifics, he said, adding that its the responsibility of state and national legislators to create laws. Wooden was supported by Rafner, who said, Never in my wildest thoughts [did I think] wed be sitting here having a discussion about an assault weapons ban. Rafner said the resolution shows weve taken a polarizing stance, and he questioned whether its the boards place to support an outright ban on anything. Our mandate is not to legislate for constitutional Second Amendment issues, he said. In a head-snapping twist, Republican Cochrane pushed to keep the strong language intact. If we dont do anything, were making a political stance [and] we will give the misperception that we are not as committed to this as we are, Cochrane said. Cochrane said he realizes that the resolution is not going to change the law. But he argued that the statement matters, even if it has the most mildest of influences even if it has the slightest chance of decreasing a catastrophe. How is that not part of our board obligation? he asked. The community is saying we want this, so I will support it. Just because somebody brings it up doesnt mean we have to do it, Wooden responded. Gibson said she was not comfortable with the resolution as written, questioning the role of school boards in legislative matters. Gibson tried to wordsmith the resolution to appeal to all five trustees. But ultimately, even after deleting the meat of the resolution and adding in the section about gun groups, it was still not acceptable for Wooden. The revised resolution passed 4-1. In a later phone conversation, Wooden (who declined to say if he has a firearm in his house) explained his thinking, saying he supports common sense gun legislation and believes that Gibson and Rafner understand the limited role of school board members because all three attended the California School Boards Association Masters in Governance program. The first draft, he said, was beyond where we are as a school board, to propose legislation, and it is not his role as a school board member to pass such resolutions. DMUSD superintendent Holly McClurg said the discussion centered around the role of the Board of Education and what trustees responsibilities are. She said board members seemed to feel unqualified to be discussing firearms, that it was not their area of expertise. School board role After the revised version passed in April, community members asked the board to revisit the issue at its May meeting. Thats when Gibson said no further action would be taken on the resolution and that what passed in April would stand. But public comments in May urging the board to reconsider the resolution were compelling. Carmel Valley resident Carol Landale, a member of San Diegans for Gun Violence Prevention, said it is absolutely within the role of a school board to address this issue and requested that the strong language be reinstated. Torrey Hills parent Suzanne Hall asked the board to strike the reference to gun groups teaching children about gun safety. She also said the board has a duty to address this issue. If not you, then who? she said. You are the policy setters. This is a movement; be a part of it, Hall said, asking board members to revisit the resolution and pass it as presented in its original form. Its not only within your purview but is your responsibility. Were asking you to put this back on the agenda, said parent Kristen Panebianco. We want to talk about it some more. I was comfortable with what we have, but the public was not, Gibson told me later. Id be open to revisiting it [but] need to find out first what exactly is the school boards role. The June meeting would be too soon, Gibson said, to take another look at the resolution, but said perhaps after that. Panebianco expressed disappointment in the boards lack of action. The San Dieguito, San Diego, Cardiff, Solana Beach, Vista, Chula Vista and Encinitas school boards have all included language in their resolutions to ban assault weapons or semi-automatic weapons, she said in an email. Why wont the DMUSD Board of Trustees do the same? The lack of a definitive and timely response by the board reflects an inability to listen to their constituents, and is an unacceptable breach of trust. Legal responsibility The outright ban language adopted by dozens of school districts both locally and throughout the state in their school safety resolutions was originally drafted Feb. 19 by Monterey Peninsula Unified School District trustee Wendy Root Askew and a friend. We shared the draft language on a Google doc and shared it with our friends and in a few Facebook groups, she said, noting that hundreds of people viewed the draft. I really just felt that all elected officials, at every level of government, needed to raise our collective voices to demand federal action to protect our communities, she said. Her language struck a chord with many school board members, even though most realize that resolutions are largely symbolic. But as DMUSD trustee Cochrane said, if enough people make noise about this, then perhaps it might have an effect. This issue is not some faraway problem. Three credible threats of gun violence have been leveled against Torrey Pines High School this year; the latest shut down the school May 31. Ironically, the city of Del Mar once famously declared itself a nuclear-free zone. Yet its school district refuses to take a hard stance against gun violence. Should parents be held legally responsible if their children use unsecured firearms from the home to injure or kill others? Perhaps its time to consider replicating the social host ordinance that makes it illegal to provide an environment where underage drinking takes place. Its not a stretch to extend this code of conduct to gun owners. Others have echoed this point, that laws should be changed to hold adults responsible and charged with a crime when weapons in the home are used by minors in felonies. Too often, young people can easily access readily available firearms, proving that there are too many irresponsible gun owners. A recent article about the May 18 attack that killed eight students and two teachers at Santa Fe High School in Texas was encouraging on this point. From the story: The family of one of the students killed in a Texas high school shooting filed a lawsuit against the alleged gunmans parents, claiming the shooters father didnt properly secure the weapons and were [sic] negligent in entrusting him with firearms. Judy Woodruff, anchor of the PBS NewsHour, gave an impassioned sign-off on the May 18 broadcast after the Texas school shooting. Its worth repeating. We heard a young student say she wasnt surprised by what happened, Woodruff said, because in her words, Its been happening everywhere. Ive always felt it would eventually happen here too. I was profoundly saddened by that, Woodruff said, asking whether we owe our younger generation something better. Note: This column has been corrected to reflect that DMUSD Board President Kristin Gibson is a registered Independent, not a Democrat. The correction was not able to be made in time for the print version of this opinion column, but a correction will be noted in print next week. Opinion columnist and Sr. Education Writer Marsha Sutton can be reached at suttonmarsha@gmail.com. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross says the U.S. has struck a deal with Chinese telecom giant ZTE to end crippling American sanctions. The U.S. has struck a deal with Chinese telecom giant ZTE to end crippling American sanctions, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told CNBC on Thursday. The department said the deal includes a $1 billion penalty against ZTE and a U.S.-chosen compliance team. "We are literally embedding a compliance department of our choosing into the company to monitor it going forward. They will pay for those people, but the people will report to the new chairman," Ross said in a "Squawk Box" interview. ZTE's latest brush with U.S. regulators came after the company's business dealings with Iran and North Korea violated U.S. trade agreements. ZTE paid $1.19 billion in fines for those violations, but the dispute didn't end there. The Commerce Department then alleged that ZTE misled regulators and failed to discipline the employees responsible for the sanction breach. The settlement deal includes $400 million in escrow to cover any future violations as well as requiring ZTE to change its board of directors and executive team in 30 days. "If they do violate it again, in addition to the billion dollars they are paying us up front, we had them put $400 million in escrow. The total deal is $1.4 billion. That money will be forfeited if they violate anything ... and we still retain the power to shut them down again," Ross said. "This is a pretty strict settlement," he added. "The strictest and largest settlement fine that has ever been brought by the Commerce Department against any violator of export controls." "This should serve as a very good deterrent not only for them but for other potential bad actors," he added. In response to the announced deal, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Thursday in a statement, "When it comes to China, despite [Trump's] tough talk, this deal with ZTE proves the president just shoots blanks." Last month, Ross told CNBC the U.S. was looking at alternatives to the crippling sanctions threatening the survival of ZTE. In April, Washington banned ZTE from purchasing parts from U.S. companies, including Qualcomm, Corning and Google. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has said that the enforcement of the ban wasn't meant to put the company out of business, and that any changes being considered would support U.S. national security. But skeptics worried that ZTE's destruction could mar an already delicate relationship between the U.S. and China. ZTE, in addition to smartphones, has been a large manufacturer of telecommunications equipment that allows large carriers to operate their wireless and data networks. It was China's first state-owned telecom equipment maker to go public. It is listed on the Shenzhen and Hong Kong stock exchanges. Despite decades of prominence, ZTE has since fallen from its 2012 spot as the world's fourth-largest smartphone maker, struggling amid new competition. Under President Donald Trump's administration, ZTE's status as a Chinese multinational has also put it in the fray of a larger trade dispute between the U.S. and China. Trump has vowed to rebalance the power in America's trade relationship with China, and both nations have proposed tit-for-tat trade taxes. Ross was in Beijing over the weekend for high-level trade talks with China. The White House has been insisting on fundamental changes in ties between the world's two biggest economic powers. Ross said Thursday that "for the first time" the U.S. is pushing back on all fronts, including intellectual property rights and technology transfers. "Prior administrations had been real patsies for the Chinese and other countries. They've never really pushed back," he said. Save my User ID and Password Some subscribers prefer to save their log-in information so they do not have to enter their User ID and Password each time they visit the site. To activate this function, check the 'Save my User ID and Password' box in the log-in section. This will save the password on the computer you're using to access the site. Note: If you choose to use the log-out feature, you will lose your saved information. This means you will be required to log-in the next time you visit our site. Subscriber content preview BETHEL, Alaska (AP) Residents of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in western Alaska could lose power if they don't repair home electrical equipment in the next few months, utility officials said. The Alaska Village Electric Cooperative recently sent out letters to 450 customers in Bethel, a location where professional electricians are scarce, KYUK-AM reported. . . . Subscriber content preview [enlarge] Ventana Apartments & Townhomes in Kent has six two-story buildings with 171 units and 191 surface parking stalls. The Ventana Apartments, at 1247 W. Smith St. in Kent, sold for a little over $18.7 million, according to King County records. The seller was Ridgeview Partners LP, which acquired the property in 2005 for $8.6 million. . . . Subscriber content preview ANCHORAGE (AP) The Anchorage Police Department may expand its headquarters to a building once targeted for legislative offices. City officials announced Tuesday that the Anchorage Community Development Authority had accepted the department's letter of intent to lease the former Legislative Information Office on West Fourth Avenue. . . . Hong Kong (CNN) Beijing may have removed missile systems from a disputed island in the South China Sea even as it accused the US of sending "attacking weapons" to the region. The deployment of a number of missile systems to the Spratly and Paracel Islands in May sparked an angry rebuke from Washington about Beijing's "militarization" of the sea, almost all of which is claimed by China. It was followed by a B-52 bomber flyover of the Spratlys this week, which the US said was part of a "routine training mission." ImageSat International said China has removed missile launchers from the contested Woody Island in the South China Sea. New analysis from Israeli intelligence firm ImageSat International (ISI) suggests the Chinese missile systems may have been removed or relocated. On Wednesday, Beijing said it was the US, not China, which was militarizing the region. "I hope the US can explain to everyone: Isn't it militarization when you send attacking weapons like the B-52 bombers to the South China Sea? Were the B-52s there for freedom of navigation and overflight? If someone frequently flexes his muscles or snoops around near your house, shouldn't you raise your alertness and improve your defense capabilities?" Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular press conference. "China will not be intimidated by any planes or ships. We will only be firmer in our resolve to take all necessary measures to safeguard our sovereignty and security as well as maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea." Missile systems Previous satellite imagery showed a number of missile launchers and a radar system on the shore of the disputed Woody Island in the Paracel chain, covered by camouflage netting. Those have now disappeared, in what ISI said could indicate a decision by Beijing to remove them, or redeploy them to other parts of the South China Sea. "On the other hand, it may be a regular practice," the firm said. "If so, within the next few days we may observe a redeployment in the same area." Other analysts agreed, saying it could be because the missiles were not suited to deployment where they might be vulnerable to salt water damage, and therefore may have required replacement or repair. ISI said the missile systems may have been removed as part of a routine procedure. Rising tensions In recent months US officials have said that the Chinese military has deployed anti-ship missiles, surface-to-air missile systems, and electronic jammers to contested features in the Spratly Islands region of the South China Sea. China also recently landed a nuclear-capable H-6K bomber aircraft on Woody Island for the first time. After the US raised objections about the deployment of missile launchers to the Spratlys, China said "necessary national defense facilities" had been added to the islands, reiterating Beijing's "indisputable sovereignty" over the territory. Both the US and China have been ramping up activities in the South China Sea. In response, the US disinvited China from a major maritime exercise in the Pacific involving more than 20 countries, in what one analyst described as demonstrating "the days of appeasement are over." "Despite China's claims to the contrary, the placement of these weapon systems is tied directly to military use for the purposes of intimidation and coercion," US Secretary of Defense James Mattis said at a summit in Singapore this week "Make no mistake: America is in the Indo-Pacific to stay. This is our priority theater." Students from De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) have been exploring the health effects of the 9/11 disaster in New York. As part of their packed #DMUglobal itinerary, final-year students from the faculty of Health and Life Sciences attended the headquarters of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, where they were given a series of talks from staff who are responsible for protecting and promoting the health of all New Yorkers. The students first heard from Dr James Cone, Medical Director of the World Trade Centre Health Registry, which is the largest registry in U.S. history. The registry conducts research into the effects of 9/11 and helps those impacted by the disaster to make informed decisions about their health. It aims to track the diverse population of people exposed to 9/11 over a long period of time, including rescue workers, local residents and school children. Dr Cone spoke about the enduring impact of 9/11 and explained how health effects can range from respiratory problems, cancer, mental health problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, heart disease and hearing loss. Further talks covered mental health planning, how the health department works in partnership with pharmacies, how New York prepares for major emergencies and the ways that different agencies work together in response to a major incident. Mental Health Nursing student Roxanne Burdett found the visit really interesting, particularly because so many elements were relevant to her specialist field of mental health. She said: It was really interesting to hear that even when dealing with physical health during an event like 9/11 its also important to address mental health. Im very passionate that mental health should be treated with the same sincerity as physical health. Ive learned a lot, especially how the different agencies work together in an emergency and how it is all funded. The students have also visited the National September 11 Museum during their visit to New York, and Childrens Nursing student Rhianne Stanley was pleased to be able to build on that with what was covered in these talks. She said: There was a lot of insight, it was good to hear what they would do if an emergency like 9/11 were to happen again. Today meant we could understand more about what wed seen at the museum yesterday. My job in future could be in an emergency department so it was interesting to see what the response to an emergency here is. Rebecca Etherington, also a Childrens Nursing student, added: Its interesting to see how they have taken something so tragic as 9/11 and how they have learned from it to make things better. The disaster planning side of things was very interesting in nursing no matter where you work in the hospital you can be faced with tragic events. Trip Lead Carol Greenway believes that this visit will have long-lasting academic benefits for the students. She said: Students had the opportunity yesterday to walk through the 9/11 disaster from a very experienced guide and then today they have been able to hear about the physical and mental effects it had on people. It has been opportunity for science students from different courses to learn from each other and understand the impact this disaster has had. The key thing is seeing how different agencies work together, that is a really important thing theyve learned here which resonates with what theyve learned back home. As part of their New York itinerary, students have also visited the National September 11 Museum, the Renal Research Institute and had a session about the public health issues around chronic kidney disease, which was led by DMU honorary professor Marie Richards. So you have finally made your mind to visit Mumbai the city of dreams! It is nice that you are preparing in advance for your summer trip to Mumbai. Moreover, you should congratulate yourself because you have landed on the right page. We will tell you what to pack and what to leave behind while going on a trip to Mumbai. People from around the country visit Mumbai because of its historical buildings, Bollywood, and a nightlife, unlike others. Varanasi is a hold city on the banks of the river Ganga and has little fewer commonalities with Mumbai. However, several people from this religious town visit Mumbai on a regular basis. Some come for their career, while other for religious purposes. Despite being parts of the same country, Mumbai and Varanasi have a different atmosphere. So, it is crucial for you to be prepared well. Before we proceed to give you the packing tips let us tell you that it is imporant to book you Varanasi to Mumbai flight as early as possible. Booking your Varanasi to Mumbai flight in advance will also get you the best deals. Cotton and Linen Clothes The atmosphere of Mumbai is hot and humid. So, the best choice of clothes is cotton or linen. Avoid taking clothes made from nylon or polyester base. They will be really uncomfortable in Mumbai. However, you should keep a jacket or shawl with you because the indoor temperature of malls or other public places can be really low. Cotton clothes are also easy to wash and dry. Mumbai is not a place where you can wear same clothes two days in a row without washing them. Raincoat and Boots The rains of Mumbai are unpredictable. So, when you are in Mumbai, you should always have raincoat and boots to save you from the heavy rains of Mumbai. When you plan to save yourself from getting wet, you should also not forget your dear Smartphone. If you dont have a waterproof pouch for your mobile, you must get it before boarding a flight to Mumbai. Medicine Box The hot and humid atmosphere is the perfect breeding condition for viruses and bacteria causing problems like flu, fever, cold and indigestion. It will be quite problematic to start searching for a chemist or doctor after getting ill. So, it is in your best interest that you keep a box of medicine with yourself. Meet your physician and get the names of medicines for common health problems mentioned above. Thermos flask Bottle Mumbai is not a city where you can drink water from just ant tap or fountain. While roaming around in Mumbai, it is best to carry your own water bottle. You might get mineral water bottles at many places in Mumbai, but the temperature will literally boil the water in the plastic bottles. So, you should have a thermos flask bottle with you to keep drinking water comfortably cool. Things to protect from the sun While wandering in Mumbai, youll constantly be followed by the scorching sun. So, make sure you are ready with your armours like sunscreen lotion, sunglasses, and hat. These are essential things if you dont want to return tanned entirely after your trip to Mumbai. The sun can damage your hairs too. So, you should try to keep your hairs covered when you go outside in Mumbai. Comfortable Shoes Mumbai is a very crowded city. Everywhere you go, youll find lots of people and that too in a hurry. So, dont make the mistake of wearing heels of slippers. Shoes are the best footwear to keep your feet safe and secure in the crowd of Mumbai. Despite being a metro city, Mumbai has streets with potholes and bumps. So, make sure your shoes are comfortable enough to walk on the streets of Mumbai. Toiletries If you need to go, youll get public toilets almost everywhere in Mumbai. However, these public toilets are mostly unmaintained. So, on the first place, you should try avoiding those toilets. However, you should have your personal toiletries like toilet-paper and hand-sanitizer with you for the emergency case. You cannot rely on any public toilets of Mumbai. Keep these things, and your trip to Mumbai should go smoothly. Remember, to book your Varanasi to Mumbai flight in advance for best prices! Sharing is caring ! Facebook Pinterest Twitter LinkedIn Telegram WhatsApp Skype Reddit Tumblr Print Email Canada pork exports decline 3% in 1st quarter Canadian pork exports decreased 3% to 240,000 tonnes in the first quarter, compared with the same period last year. With average prices also falling, the value of this trade also declined, by 6%, to C$782 million (US$602.66 million). According to an analysis by the UK levy body AHDB Pork, the drop in Canadian pig slaughter in the first quarter might have limited supplies available for export. Data from Statistics Canada showed that pig slaughterings were 2% lower year-on-year in the first quarter. A 19% decline (-12,600 tonnes) in exports to China accounted for most of the drop in export volumes. This reflects lower Chinese import demand this year, the pork division of the Agriculture & Horticulture Development Board said. Shipments to the US - the largest importer of Canadian pork (around a third of export volumes) - also fell, by 6% (-4,300 tonnes), as production in that country is rising. However, more pork was shipped to Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines in the first quarter, compared with last year. "Trade with these countries may continue to increase in importance moving forwards, as prospects for shipments to China and the US look more difficult", AHDB Pork said. Despite the slow start to the year, Canadian pork production is forecast by the US Department of Agriculture to increase 2% this year to 2 million tonnes as expansion in the breeding herd continues. Throughputs have already climbed 1% on 2017 levels in both April and May, AHDB Pork reported. Pork exports for the whole year is also expected to record a 2% growth on 2017 volumes. The Canadian pork industry is heavily reliant on exports, with around two thirds of its pork production being exported. Nutriad starts distribution in Japan Nutriad announced it has reached an agreement with Watanabe Chemicals to distribute its products in Japan. The deal will allow Nutriad to become the first European producer to introduce a sodium butyrate portfolio into the Japanese market. The step further confirms Nutriad's growth strategy in Asia. Japan is one of the top 10 feed producers in the world. The country's industry is advanced in terms of production technology, with strong nutritional and veterinarian knowledge. Like several other countries in Asia, Japan is aiming to move away from its' dependency on AGPs. Nutriad was present with a booth at the IPPS event in Nagoya, where it engaged directly with local feed mills and producers. The show is held once every three years and provided an excellent platform to launch Nutriad's products in Japan. Nutriad's CEO Erik Visser signed an agreement with Watanabe's president, Shigehiro Hatanaka, in the presence of Watanabe's main sub-distributor Rokku. "For several years, Nutriad has been coming to Japan to find the right partner to develop our portfolio in this important market. In Watanabe, we have found that partner. Over the past two years, we have built the relation with Watanabe, analysed the potential for our products, learned about the specific local challenges and trained staff of Watanabe and Roku," said Visser. "We are delighted to announce our partnership with Nutriad," Hatanaka stated. "Both Nutriad and Watanabe value trust, honesty and commitment, which are building blocks for a long-term relationship. The portfolio, scientific data, and technical support of Nutriad will be well received in Japan." "The initial focus will be on the introduction of our Adimix and Apex range in poultry, swine and ruminants, building on Watanabe's strong distribution network. These products fit in a strategy to reduce the dependency on AGPs. In the second half of this year, we will announce next steps on the launch of the broader Nutriad portfolio," concluded Visser. By NY Post , June 05 , 2018 NBA star turned Kim Jong Un soulmate Dennis Rodman will be in Singapore during President Trumps summit with the North Korean dictator next week, The Post has learned. The Worm will arrive in the country a day before the June 12 sitdown and sources said he could even play some sort of role in the negotiations. Read More: Join us - become an Elderado today at: LarryElder.com Follow Larry Elder on Follow Larry Elder on Twitter "Like" Larry Elder on Facebook Trump holds first iftar dinner of presidency 'President Trump ultimately discovered that there is a Ramadan,' American Muslim scholar tells Anadolu Agency Donald Trump on Wednesday hosted his first iftar dinner as president to mark the holy month of Ramadan amid tense relations with the American Muslim community. TRUMP'S FIRST RAMADAN IFTAR DINNER During the dinner, to which mostly ambassadors and diplomats from predominantly Muslim countries were invited, Trump praised the virtues of Ramadan and called for cooperation in the Middle East. Tonight as we enjoy a magnificent dinner at the White House, let us strive to embody the grace and goodwill that mark the Ramadan season, the U.S. president told attendees, referring to the dinner as "a sacred tradition of one of the worlds great religions". Let us pray for peace and justice and let us resolve that these values will guide us as we work together to build a bright and prosperous future that does honor and glory to God, he said. MUSLIM COMMUNITIES PARTICIPATED According to a pool report from the White House, attendees included Vice President Mike Pence, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and a few other Cabinet members, as well as ambassadors from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Tunisia, Kuwait, Indonesia, Jordan, as well as representatives from Turkey and other Muslim-majority countries. However, some of the nation's largest Muslim organizations said they had not been invited to the dinner, thus holding a counter-event across from the White House, at Lafayette Square. Prominent American Muslim leaders who attended iftar dinners under previous administrations said they would have turned down the invitation even if they had been invited, citing Trump's continued targeting of Islam and his history of incendiary comments about Muslims as reasons. "One thing we are glad [of is] that President Trump has ultimately discovered that there is a Ramadan. There used to be an iftar dinner in the White House which took him nearly 17 months to discover that. That is a good sign," Zahid Bukhari director of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) told Anadolu Agency. "We realized that he did not invite us. As American Muslims, we thought that it would be good to have a Muslim representative [for] iftar in front of the White House to achieve its objective while his iftar with foreign Muslim diplomats is on right now. That is why we are here." "When we look at what the White House has been doing with the Muslim ban and now hosting an Iftar dinner is just a contradiction," Reuben Eckels of the Church World Service, who describes himself as an interfaith advocacy minister, told Anadolu Agency. "We are here to support our Muslim brothers and sisters and those who are refugees and immigrants who came from all over the world to this nation who were supposed to be welcomed here," he added. U.S. presidents have hosted Iftar dinners for foreign diplomats, Cabinet officials and Muslim leaders from civil society organizations in honor of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan at the White House. A WHITE HOUSE TRADITION IN RAMADAN However, the Trump administration last year broke the decades of precedent by forgoing the annual Iftar dinner -- a bipartisan tradition that formally began with Bill Clinton -- but surprisingly announced that there would be one for Wednesday. Along with representatives of the nation's largest Muslim organizations such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and ICNA, roughly 150 American Muslims also participated in the event to break fast in front of the White House. Turks abroad begin voting in elections Turkish citizens in Germany, Austria and France started to vote in presidential and general elections. Turkish citizens living abroad on Thursday have begun casting their votes to participate in Turkey's June 24 presidential and general elections in foreign missions and customs gates. GERMANY, AUSTRIA AND FRANCE WILL VOTE FIRST Germany, Austria, and France were the first to vote in Europe. In Germany, which has Europe's largest Turkish diaspora, 1.4 million eligible voters are eligible to cast their ballots at consulates and other elections centers across the country, until June 19. On Thursday morning, crowds and long lines in front of Turkish consulates in Cologne, Dusseldorf and Berlin suggested a high turnout. Voting will be held from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. local time on weekdays and weekends at the foreign missions. In Austria, voting began at the consulate generals in Vienna, Bregenz, and Salzburg, while expats in France are voting in consulate generals in Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille, Nantes, Paris and Strasbourg. Turkish citizens living abroad and traveling to Turkey can also cast their votes at custom gates until 5 p.m. local time on June 24. Meanwhile, the voting process at customs gates of Istanbuls Ataturk and Sabiha Gokcen airports started at 8.00 a.m. local time. Turks also started voting at the Kapikule and Ipsala border gates in the northwestern Edirne province and at the Derekoy border gate in the northwestern Kirklareli province. Over 3 million Turks living abroad are eligible to vote for the June 24 presidential and general elections. 7 June 2018 The EPO announced the winners of the European Inventor Award 2018 at a ceremony today in Paris, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, attended by some 600 guests from the areas of politics, business, intellectual property, science and academia. The winners come from seven countries (France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Switzerland, Russia and the US), and include four women, the highest number ever in the history of the Award. The annual Award honours individuals and teams who with their inventions have helped to advance technology, further social and economic development, and generate employment. The winners were chosen by an independent international jury from more than 500 individuals and teams of inventors put forward for this year's Award. EPO President Benoit Battistelli with Michaelle Jean, Secretary General of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, and Jury Chairman Thierry Breton "The inventiveness and creativity of this year's European Inventor Award winners highlight Europe's attractiveness as a prime technology region for scientists and inventors from all over the world," said EPO President Benoit Battistelli at the Award ceremony. "I am particularly pleased to see that this year's edition recognises the strong contribution of women inventors in many fields traditionally dominated by men. Through their achievements all of these individuals have made their mark on a range of industries, and opened up opportunities that others could never have imagined. They are helping to make transportation more environmentally friendly, allowing us to reduce waste and powering life-saving medical implants. Their inventions drive manufacturing and medical processes, enable us to look inside the human body for medical diagnosis and even measure physical laws at the tiniest scales." The winners of the European Inventor Award 2018 are: Industry Agnes Poulbot and Elie Gibon, nephew of Jacques Barraud Agnes Poulbot and Jacques Barraud (France) "Auto-regenerating" tyre tread French inventors Agnes Poulbot and Jacques Barraud developed a 3D tyre-tread design that not only increases tyre durability and performance, but significantly decreases fuel consumption and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions. The design saves around 3 tonnes of CO 2 over 100 000 kilometres of travel and is marketed by French tyre company Michelin, which expects tyres incorporating the auto-regeneration technology to comprise 30% of the company's heavy-duty tyre sales by 2022. Research Jens Frahm Jens Frahm (Germany) Faster, real-time MRI The widespread use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as a medical diagnostic tool is thanks in large part to German biophysicist Jens Frahm. He developed the fast low angle shot (FLASH) scanning technique that accelerated MRI scan speeds by a factor of 100 and made MRIs practical for clinical application. He has since brought MRI technology into the video age. Frahm's FLASH platform has been the Max Planck Society's most successful patent asset. Non-EPO countries Esther Sans Takeuchi Esther Sans Takeuchi (United States) Batteries to reset the heart Chemical engineer Esther Sans Takeuchi invented the compact batteries that power most implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICDs). Used by millions of patients, ICDs greatly reduce incidence of heart attack by delivering life-saving shocks. Her design extended battery life significantly and reduced the frequency of battery replacement surgeries for patients already at risk due to heart problems. The lithium/silver vanadium oxide battery is just one of Sans Takeuchi's 150 patents, making her one of the US's most prolific women inventors. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) Jane ni Dhulchaointigh Jane ni Dhulchaointigh and team (Ireland) Sugru: multi-purpose mouldable glue Irish product designer Jane ni Dhulchaointigh and her team have developed a malleable multi-purpose glue that combines the strength of a super glue with the pliability of rubber. Named after the Irish word for play, ni Dhulchaointigh's adhesive, Sugru, is the result of more than 8 000 hours of research in the lab and opens up new possibilities to repair and personalise everyday items. Sugru is helping change the way we think about our possessions and the waste generated when we simply discard and replace them. Popular Prize Vadim Banine and Erik Loopstra Erik Loopstra (Netherlands) and Vadim Banine (Netherlands/Russia) EUV lithography for smaller, more powerful microchips Dutch systems engineer Erik Loopstra and Dutch-Russian physicist Vadim Banine were picked by the public in an online poll to receive this year's Popular Prize for their development of extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) manufacturing technology, which uses high-energy lasers to achieve nanoscale details, thereby producing smaller, faster and more powerful semiconductors. Thanks to Loopstra and Banine and their research and engineering teams, the next generation of microprocessors is being produced with European hi-tech. They received the most votes from among the thousands cast online by the public from 24 April until 3 June. Lifetime achievement Ursula Keller Ursula Keller (Switzerland) Ultrafast pulsed lasers Swiss physicist Ursula Keller developed the SESAM mirror, a convenient and practical method for turning continuous laser light into ultra-fast laser pulses. Her method is the leading technology for commercial ultra-fast lasers that are used in many manufacturing and medical applications. Over a 30-year career, Keller has continued to advance laser science through more compact, efficient and powerful designs which are instrumental in fields ranging from scientific research to telecommunications and consumer electronics. Further information 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 Last week, Congress passed and the president signed into law the Right to Try Act, legislation President Trump had touted in his previous State of the Union address. Here is what you should know about the new law. What is Right to Try? Right To Try is the concept that terminally ill Americans should be able to try medicines that have passed Phase 1 of the FDA approval process and remain in clinical trials but are not yet on pharmacy shelves. What is the Right to Try Act? The Right to Try Act of 2017 authorizes the use of unapproved medical products by patients diagnosed with a terminal illness in accordance with State law, and for other purposes. Which patients are eligible under the Act? Eligible patients are those who, as certified by a physician, have been diagnosed with a life-threatening disease or condition, have exhausted approved treatment options, and are unable to participate in a clinical trial involving the eligible investigational drug. What drugs are eligible under the Act? Medicines that have passed Phase 1 of the FDA approval process and remain in clinical trials but are not yet on pharmacy shelves. The term phase 1 trial means a phase 1 clinical investigation of a drug as described in section 312.21 of title 21, Code of Federal Regulations, which includes the initial introduction of an investigational new drug into humans. Can a patient sue a drug maker that provided the investigational drug? Yes. The law doesnt affect the right of any person to bring a private action under any State or Federal product liability, tort, consumer protection, or warranty law. Are drug makers and doctors required to provide the investigational drug? No. According to the law, no liability shall lie against a sponsor manufacturer, prescriber, dispenser or other individual entity for its determination not to provide access to an eligible investigational drug. Are insurance companies required to pay for the investigational drugs? No. The Act merely expands the scope of individual liberty and agency among patients, in limited circumstances and does not require any third-party to pay for the treatment. Are there also State-level Right to Try laws? Yes, there are Right-to-try laws in 40 states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Eleven additional states have introduced the law, though the federal law allows it in any state. What are the claimed drawbacks of the Right to Try law? Skeptics of the law say it may harm more people than it helps, and that it could lead to the exploitation of the sick and vulnerable. As Wesley Smith says, Fraudsters could pretend to have the drugs as has happened in the stem-cell field. Or, desperate people may be only able to get drugs at high cost. These drugs will not be cheap at the experimental stage. What are the claimed benefits of the Right to Try law? Supporters say the law was needed because most terminal patients are too sick to be selected to participate in clinical trials and that they may die before promising treatments are approved by the FDA. At a minimum, some contend, the law removes unnecessary governmental interference between patients, their doctors, and pharmaceutical companies. Written by ACM *Strasbourg/Angelo Marcopolo/- Replying to an "Eurofora" Question, the Experienced President of ChristianDemocrat/EPP Party (HQ in Brussels), former Long-Time Head of EPP MEPs' Group in EU Parliament, and Strasbourg's Top MEP himself, Joseph Daul, strongly underlined the Fact that Popular Hungary's Prime Minister Victor Orban was Recently Re-Elected for a 3rd Time, has Won really "Democraticaly". - "Orban was really Elected Democraticaly. Nobody can seriously contest this Fact. That's all !", Daul stressed, with a Big Smile, to "Eurofora", SIgnificantly amidst Various Relevant Reflections, Anouncements and Developments about the Crucial forthcoming EU Elections of May 2019. (See Infra). - But, even if he naturally Acknowledged the Exceptional Fact that Orban's Re-Election was the 3rd in a Row, (a Score that Only Fellow ChristianDemocrat/EPP German Chancelor Angie Merkel, 4 Times Re-Elected, can Match), and even with a Higher Numer of Votes than previously, becoming, since 2000, for a 4rth Time Prime Minister in Hungary, Nevertheless, Daul diplomatically abstained, at least for the Time being, in his Reply to "Eurofora" relevant Question, from making Now an Explicit Link to his European Party's Strategy for the 2019 EU Election, given also the fact that it still Remains to be Officially Fixed, (See Infra). Daul is Regularly Hosting, mostly in Brussels, but also Elsewhere in Europe, "EPP Summits" with Heads of State/Government and other Political Leaders' from his Party, including German Chancelor Angie Merkel, Austria's Sebastien Kurz, Hungary's Victor Orban, Romania's Klaus Iohannis, Croatia's Andrej Plenkovic, etc., Most of whom, by a Timely "Coincidence", currently Hold Office around EU's CENTRAL "HeartLand", (alias "MITTEL-EUROPA")', GeoPolitical Area, spreading around Orban's Hungary, (But Extend also much Further Away, as, f.ex., between Norway's Erna Solberg and Cyprus' Nicos Anastassiades, etc). - ChristianDemocrats/EPP Party has "a Great Responsibility" for Europe, not only Because it's "the Biggest" in EU Parliament, but also since "We currently have the Presidents of EU Commission (Juncker), EU Council (Tusk) and EU Parliament (Tajani), as well as the EU Chief Negotiator for BREXIT" (Barnier), added to "79 National Political Parties in 41 Countries", Daul reminded from the outset, speaking at one among the first pre-electoral EPP Meetings before the 2019 Elections in 11 Months, where "Eurofora" was Invited by Strasbourg's MEP Anna Sander. => Lessons of recent Austrian, Hungarian, and Italian Elections, (perhaps also Slovenian soon, according to Polls), before similar developments, eventually reach even Sweden on September 2018, Added also to Various Relevant Facts in France, Germany, etc, seem to Stimulate a possible overall EPP policy Shift, which may be Shaped at that Leading European Party's next Congress, scheduled for "November 2018 in Finland", due to "choose our New "Spitzen-Kandidat", as noted Daul, in order to Lead the overall pre-Electoral Campaign and Head towards EU's Top Jobs for the Period of 2019-2024. It's in this Context that Victor Orban has Recently Supported, during the current n Parliamentary Elections' Campaign in Neighbouring Slovenia, (where lives also an Hungarian Minority represented in that Parliament), his Fellow ChristianDemocrat/EPP Top Candidate, the Experienced former Twice Prime MInister and EU Chairman in office, Janez Jansa, that Polls show Winning this race at next Sunday's Vote. + Moreover, Orban is considered to have particularly Good Relations even with the New Italian Government's influential vice-Prime Minister, Matteo Salvini, Head of "Lega" Party, and close to EPP Member, former Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, his Electoral Ally in a Center-Right Coalition, as well as to Georga Bellini's "Fratelli d'Italia" Party, also of the Right, (in Addition to the New Austrian Chancelor Sebastien Kurz, etc). Last, but not least, (Despite some Problems in the Past), he also cultivated particularly Good Relations, after the Historic German Chancelor Helmut Kohl (See: http://www.eurofora.net/newsflashes/news/victororbanoneuropeanandnationalreferenda.html), and Now Both with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and USA's New President Don Trump. Comp. also Prime Minister Orban's Replies to "Eurofora"s Questions, inter alia, also, f.ex., at Press Conferences in EU Summit in Brussels, when he took over Eu's rotating Presidency on 2010: http://www.eurofora.net/newsflashes/news/victororbanoneuidentityandenergy.html, EU Parliament in Strasbourg, mainly on 2013 : http://www.eurofora.net/newsflashes/news/primeministerorbanonvaluesmovementandeuelection.html, and at the EU-27 Summit in Bratislava on 2016 : http://www.eurofora.net/newsflashes/news/victororbanoneuropeanandnationalreferenda.html, (etc). ++ And by anOther such "Coincidence", of important Symbolic Nature, it's Just a Few Days Ago, on 23-24 May 2018, that Orban, who currently Holds the 2017-2018 Presidency of the "Visegrad" Group of Countries (Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia), has Organized a High Profile "International Conference", at Buda's Castle, with Top Expert Invitees also from Other European Countries and even elsewhere in the World (f.ex. USA, etc), precisely about the "Future of Europe", in the run-up to the Crucial EU Summit of December 2018 in Brussels, where EU's 27 Heads of State/Government are notoriously due to Take Decisions on how to eventually Reform the EU for the foreseable Future. Meanwhile, "Visegrad" Group's 4 Countries have Already Published, since the eve of EU's February 2018 Summit, Joint Draft Paper with a "Statement on Europe's Future", containing a Concise but Dense Collective Contribution to the relevant "Debate" which has recently Started, (Comp. inter alia, f.ex., also : ..., etc). Victor Orban (since Always a ChristianDemocrat/EPP Member, almost Constantly Present in EPP's Regular Summits in Brussels) is notoriously Supporting Natural Family and Births, (Contrary to Former US President Barack Hussein Obama's notorious Attempts to Impose even the Controversial and UnPopular Submission of Children to the Power of Homosexuals, after "Same Sex Marriages", etc., with the Obvious Risk for a Technocratic Lobby to take Control of Artificially provoked Births of Human Beings, by Exploiting the Sterility of LGBTI Couples), as well as the Human Embryos also against Genetic Manipulations, and has recently Organized a well-attended, landmark "World Family Congress" (US Based, with HQ at Illinois) Annual 2017 International Conference in Budapest. But, in addition, he Explicitly Defends European Culture" and its Historic Cultural Heritage as well as Identity, while also notoriously Opposing UnControlled Mass Irregular Migration and/or Attempts to Impose by Force a progressive but growing Socio-Cultural Mutation of the Original, Historic Population even in UnWilling EU Member Countries, (Obviously Finding there, Nowadays, Various Potential Allies in Most EU States and/or Societies), as well as almost Sychronous, Grave Security Threats that Deadly Islamist Extremists' Terrorism, cowardly Targetting even innocent Civilian People, has recently provoked throughout most Other European Countries. Moreover, Orban has Surprizingly Managed to Safeguard and Boost an Exceptionaly Healthy and Robust Economy, (even if it might Not Yet be Ready for its Future Entry in "uroZone"'s Area, Carefully prepared for the Future). --------------------- - Thus, President Daul, while realistically Foreseeing a "Difficult" "European Election" on 2019, whose main Issues should be, therefore, adequately Tackled On Time, already Anounced that a "Main Piority" would almost certainly be to Efficiently Deal with the Recent Mass "Migration" Problems, (which notoriously emerged since the 2015/2016 UnPrecedented, Sudden "Tsunami" of more than 1,5 Millions of Mass Asylum Seekers/Irregular Migrants entering Europe at Greece's EU External Borders, through Turkey), that he called a "Crucial Issue". => That's one of the main reasons for which, inter alia, "Next Week I am going to Poland", Headquarters of EU's External Borders' Protection Service, known as "FRONTEX", in order to Help also "Boost its Staff", since a serious "Augmentantion of their Numbers is now Necessary", particularly in order to Safeguard EU's external Coastlines, Daul anounced. Meanwhile, those Mass Irregular Migrants who are Not Real Refugees, Must Return Back to their Homeland, he stressed. --------------------------- + Daul was very Lively Applauded by a Numerous Audience in Strasbourg, earlier this Evening, when he strongly Stressed that "it's Out of Question for Turkey to Enter inside the EU !", because Ankara clearly "does Not Meet the required Conditions", and, particularly, Fustigating, inter alia, also the Brutal "Ethnic Cleansing" notoriously practiced whenever the Turkish Military has Invaded and Occupied any Area, (f.ex. from the Northern Part of Cyprus, and/or the former Armenian Lands before the Genocide, up to the Syrian Kurdish Canton of Afrin, on 2018, etc). And its not expected to seriously Change for at least "until anOther Generation"... ++ However, at the Same Time, it was recently Revealed that some Foreign, Non-European Countries, (f.ex., reportedly "Saudi Arabia", and others), are "Paying more than 200 or 300 uro those whose Wife will Accept to Wear an Islamic Scarf", he Denounced, amidst Strong Popular Reactions. "This has been Already Noticed f.ex. in some Western Balkan Countries", (such as Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania, etc), "but may be also true inside the EU", Daul Warned. Nevertheless, the EPP is currently considering to Develop adequat Relations with at least Neighbouring Maghreb Countries' Governing and other Parties, Starting by "Morocco and Tunisia", and eventually Continuing with "Algeria", and, perhaps, even "Libya", as he Highlighted. - But it's mainly the Need to Ameliorate the Situation of Western Balkan Countries, which "are Inside Europe", while, however, currently Facing, (particularly some among them), certain Serious Problems, that President Daul feels to be "Our Duty", as EU, to Help at least Establish the Rule of Law, adequately Reform Courts, Banks, their Economy, and succesfully Fight Corruption, etc. : - "It's, currently, my main Concern", he revealed, (speaking about a GeoPolitical Area for which it's well known that, particularly Hungary's Orban and Austria's Kurz, have notoriously Expressed a Special Interest for the EU to take Care). ------------------------- + For the rest, President Daul spoke also about forthcoming Decisions on the important issue of EU's Multi-Annual "Financial Perspectives", (which use to Reflect some Crucial Political Choices), under Discussion at EU Parliament and EU Council ; the present Political Developments in the quest for a New Government in Italy, (for which he had just been Working, Earlier Today Afternoon, inside EU Parliament in Strasbourg, also with the President of the Italian Parliament, etc) ; about the "Difficult Situation" existing in Ukraine, needing Adequate Help ; on the necessary EU Progress in Defence and Scientific/Technological Research/Innovation, but also on the "Big Groups"' current trend to Dominate "Agriculture", (particularly by Combining Several Relevant Activities in order to Reduce Production/Commercialisation Costs, etc); and even ...China : Indeed, a good Humour - tempered Joseph Daul, apparently kept his new Chinese Anecdote for a "Happy End"... While the EU Leadership is currently Preparing a "Strategic Dialogue" on further developments between Brussels and Beijing, (already partly Discussed, Yesterday Evening, by EU Parliament's Committee on External Trade, which Voted on Amendments to an EU - China Relations Report, on Monday in Strasbourg) He artfully Described, f.ex., how Beijing's Ambassador/Permanent Representative to the EU, had asked for his Help, recently, in Brussels : - He basically told me that he had No Time to lose, on an Urgent Practical Issue, by engaging into various, Separate Discussions with Each one among EU's Member States, (considering, f.ex., that even the UK was just ..."a Small Island", Compared to the Big Volume of Goods that China wanted to Buy from Europe : See Infra), and Prefered, therefore, to speak with me (as President of 79 EPP Parties, and apparently knowing that Daul was a former Head of Agricultural Trade Unions and Chair of EU Parliament's Committee on Agriculture), in order to Help Broker asap. a Huge Deal on ...700.000 Tonnes of Meat, reportedly Destinated for Consumption by the American "Mc Donald" Fast-Food Shops' Chain, that the Chinese Government would Decide to Welcome in that Big Country of 1,3 Millions Population, (apparently on the Occasion of President Xi's well known attempts to Satisfy New US President Trump's pressing Demands to Drasticaly Lower a Foreign Trade Imbalance between China and the USA)... - Indeed, Nobody here can easily Imagine the real Magnitude of China, compared to our usual standards : F.ex., if they Decided to Buy our Wine, it would scarcely remain enough for our own consumption here, Daul Warned, ...hurrying up to announce the Conclusion of his Speech, so that a subsequent, Friendly moment of Wine-Tasting session between the Numerous Participants could Start asap., Before Beijing eventually Buys All that Good Alsacian Wine for itself alone, (according to a Well Known Joke, already used in a Previous Daul's Press Conference in EU Parliament in Strasbourg in the Past, on which "Eurofora" has Published a few years ago)... ------------------------- + This gave also an Opportunity for a "Family Photo" of President Daul with Strasbourg's MEP Anne Sander's Young Friends, in a Room fully-packed also with Numerous Adults and even more or less Aged People, where MEP Sander had already confirmed to "Eurofora" that her EU Parliament's Committee on Social Affairs, currently has Various Issues of suspected "Social Dumping" and UnFair Competition to Address, while expressing her "Regrets" for the Fact that, during EU Parliament Plenary's Votes, Earlier Today Noon, the Final Version of a Resolution on the "Hot" Issue of "Posted Workers" (Based in an EU Member Country, but Working at anOther one, so that eventual Differences in the respective Costs of Living and Salaries might, perhaps, result in some UnFair Competition practices), "did Not Extend also to Transports", Contrary to a Previous Draft Deal. However, French EU Affairs v.Minister Nathalie Loiseau had told to Strasbourg's Journalists, including "Eurofora", Earlier this Noon, during a "Press-Lunch" organized by Strasbourg's Press Club (See: ...), that, "at least, the Sector of Transports had been Submitted to an Earlier (Incomplete) Version of EU's Directive on Posted Workers, according to EU Parliament's Vote Today, while, on the Contrary, it was Excluded from that in the Past. So that, Anyway, this Issue still Remains Open, Waiting for a Necessary Solution asap. (../..) ----------------------- *** (NDLR : "DraftNews", as already send, Earlier, to "Eurofora" Subscribers/Donors. A more accurate, full Final Version, might be published asap) This Page Is Under Construction - Coming Soon! Why am I seeing this 'Under Construction' page? ezhejiang.gov.cn People from Ethiopia chat with staff members of Zhejiang Twin-Lantern Textile Co Ltd during their visit to Lanxi, Zhejiang province, May 31. [Photo/Lanxi News] A delegation from Ethiopia, led by Dessie Dalke, chief of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region, visited three textile companies in Lanxi, East China's Zhejiang province on May 31, to seek cooperation opportunities. Zhejiang Twin-Lantern Textile Co Ltd, one of the leading companies in China's textile and garment industry, is a private company focusing on seven aspects of business, including facecloths, pillow towels, hand towels and bathrobes. Impressed by an array of towel products, especially a children's towel with an intelligent sensor system that can tell if the bacteria exceeds the standard, the delegation members hoped that this product could be exported to the African market. The delegation also visited two textile companies in the city: Boaim Home Textiles and Zhejiang Xinlan Textile Co Ltd. "Though there are many textile companies in Ethiopia, technologies are still lagging behind, while Lanxi boasts advanced equipment and first-class textile technologies," said Dalke, adding that he looked forward to further cooperation between the two sides. With textiles as its pillar industry, Lanxi is hailed as one of the manufacturing bases of textile products in China. One of the delegates observes embroidery products made by Boaim Home Textiles, in Lanxi, May 31. [Photo/Lanxi News] People from Ethiopia visit a factory workshop at Zhejiang Xinlan Textile Co Ltd in Lanxi. [Photo/Lanxi News] The International Media are pictured heading over to Garnish Island Failte Ireland is this week hosting a group of influential international media from the US, Canada, India and Europe with a combined circulation of over 13.6 million who are in Ireland on a press trip. Organised in conjunction with Tourism Ireland, the Southern Peninsulas & Islands tour promotes West Cork and Kerry. A bespoke itinerary was created to entice the journalists who include a representative from US travel and lifestyle network, Matador Network, which is the worlds largest independent travel publisher with over 8 million monthly visitors. Also included in the group were writers from the Huffington Post, Canada and Germany, a freelance journalist for Elle India magazine and Hollands national newspaper AD Algemeen Dagblad with over 1.2m readers. Alex Connolly, Head of Corporate Communications & International Publicity with Failte Ireland today stressed the importance of hosting international media: Bringing international media to Ireland and showing them what is on offer plays an integral role in ensuring that we get our message out there - Ireland is a must-see place to visit. These trips are a wonderful opportunity for overseas media to come and experience at first hand the Wild Atlantic Way and are pivotal to placing our great tourism assets in front of a large audience. The visiting media are experiencing for themselves the many activities and things to do on Sherkin, Whiddy, Garnish and Bere Islands with an exciting itinerary provided by Failte Ireland. The group are meeting with locals including Tommy Moyles, one of five farming families who set up West Cork Farm Tours, local historian Tim OLeary, to take part in the Whiddy Islands Walk & Whiskey Tour, early morning kayaking with Nathan Kingerlee in Glengarriff Bay, a guided tour of Garnish Island, falconry display with Geoffrey ODonoghue at Sheen Falls Lodge, Kenmare and some sheepdog demonstrations with Noel Kissane at Kissanes Sheep Farm, Molls Gap. Last year was a bumper year for international media coming to Ireland from 20 overseas markets. Over 1,400 representatives from print, broadcast and online channels across the world descended on our shores during the year providing Irish tourism with an overall reach to over 9.2 billion worldwide. The equivalent advertising value of this reach is estimated at over 104 million. Failte Ireland, together with Tourism Ireland, co-ordinated over 400 different itineraries resulting in the media representatives meeting with over 4,000 Irish businesses across the country. Jump to top Wheres the Coverage? Israel Foils Assassination Plot Targeting Netanyahu and Others | Main | AFP Captions Whitewash Berlin Al Quds Rally June 07, 2018 Palestinian Fire Kites Are No Child's Play Palestinians set Israeli fields ablaze with fire kites Much of the media has been either ignoring or minimizing the incendiary kites launched by Palestinians into Israeli territory. The New York Times, for example, describes them as "flimsy-framed sails with tails meant to carry crude incendiary devices" -- part of a "David vs. Goliath" "protest" against Israel.... Newsweek describes them as a non-lethal response by Palestinian protesters to those Palestinians who have been "shot dead by Israel Defense Forces" during "demonstrations"... But an article by Gatestone Institute's Bassam Tawil tells it like it is: *There are two important factors that the international community needs to notice regarding the fire kites that the Palestinians are sending to Israel from the Gaza Strip. First: those who are launching the kites are making it clear that their ultimate goal is to kill as many Jews as possible and bring about the obliteration of Israel. Second: the Palestinians see all Jews living in Israel as "settlers. *The Palestinians are now also telling us that the terror kites they are sending to Israel accord with what the Quran orders Muslims to do in the fight against the "infidels." They apparently see the flaming kites as part of the jihad (holy war) against the enemies of Allah and Islam. *The jihad of the Palestinians against Israel is the same jihad that ISIS, the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamic jihadi groups have also been waging on the "infidels" and "enemies of Islam" in the US, EU and other non-Muslim countries. We are witnessing a well-organized campaign of terror orchestrated by terrorists and activists belonging to Hamas and other Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip. Posted by RH at June 7, 2018 12:11 PM Guidelines for posting This is a moderated blog. We will not post comments that include racism, bigotry, threats, or factually inaccurate material. Post a comment 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. PHOENIX The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com announced today that Larry H. Miller Dodge Ram Avondale (LHM Dodge Ram Avondale) has earned a spot on its 2018 Top Companies to Work for in Arizona list for the third consecutive year. LHM Dodge Ram Avondale was recognized for its employee incentive programs and no-cost, no-debt online college degree opportunities for employees and their families. The dealerships holiday bonus program, employee appreciation and birthday celebrations, community involvement, and annual pinewood derby family competition were also noted. It is a privilege for our dealership to receive this honor for the third year in a row, said Mike Messina, the dealerships general manager. We continue to realize how important employee engagement is to the growth of our dealership and to our success. When the entire team is involved, the desire to serve our customers in the best way possible comes through. Teaching and growing our employees and challenging them to reach the next level has paid dividends to enhance our culture of customer care. The highly-selective list is the result of anonymous and comprehensive employee surveys measuring culture, work environment, leadership, and employee pride and satisfaction, combined with rigorous evaluations of workplace practices, policies, perks, and demographics. The level of employee engagement among Arizona companies is about three times the national average, making it even more challenging for a company in Arizona to make this list, said Denise Gredler, founder and CEO of BestCompaniesAZ. Being named one of the best places to work in Arizona by your own employees is a positive endorsement of a companys culture; it also presents a powerful opportunity to attract and retain the very best talent. The Top Companies to Work for in Arizona are being honored at an awards breakfast reception today at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess, and will be featured in a special supplement in the June 10 issue of The Arizona Republic, as well as online at topcompanies.azcentral.com and www.BestCompaniesAZ.com. PASCAGOULA, Miss. -- Hospital Auxiliary Volunteers at both Ocean Springs and Singing River Hospital have announced the winners of their annual scholarship awards for students pursuing a health-related field of study. The criteria for the scholarships consist of the students' academic achievements, leadership and potential as future medical professionals, including several health system employees who are returning to school for advanced degrees. A total of 14 students were selected to receive scholarships. Scholarships awarded by Ocean Springs Hospital Auxiliary include the following students along with the school they will attend and major: Ciara Kramer - MGCCC, Nursing Alexandra Grandonico - UMMC, Occupational Therapy Kendra Johnston - Baptist Medical School, Lab Science Christopher Bui (represented by family) - UMMC, Medical School Anna Myers, Jonathan Bui (represented by family) - UMMC, Physical Therapy Not pictured: Yen Nhi Thi Pham - MGCCC, Nursing Singing River Hospital scholarship award winners: Joshua Cochran, Jazmine Campbell, Laura Kate Taranto, Caroline Pocreva, Dameisha Jenkins. Not pictured: Peyton Pound, Chaz Thompson. (SRHS) Singing River Hospital scholarship recipients include the following, along with the school they will attend and major: Joshua Cochran - Univ. of Miss., Biology/Pre-Med Jazmine Campbell - Xavier University of LA, Biology/Pre-Med Laura Kate Taranto - Miss. State, Kinesiology Caroline Pocreva - Auburn University, Pre-Nursing Dameisha Jenkins - MGCCC, Pre- Veterinary Not pictured: Peyton Pound - Southwest Community College, Pre-Physical Therapy Not pictured: Chaz Thompson - William Carey University, Nursing Master's Program Trevor Perry - USM, Biology/Pre-Med "We congratulate these outstanding students on their awards and are so very grateful to our hospital auxiliary volunteers for their generosity and support of our future health care professionals," said system CEO Lee Bond. "We wish these winners all the best as they continue their studies and hope to welcome them back to Singing River to help care for our community." Category Select Category Apparel/Garments Textiles Fashion Technical Textiles Information Technology E-commerce Retail Corporate Association Press Release SubCategory Select Sub-Category Devo (formerly known as Logtrust), a Boston, MA-based data operations company, raised $25m in Series C funding. The round was led by Insight Venture Partners with participation from Kibo Ventures. The company intends to use the funds to marked by rapid growth and market expansion. Led by Walter Scott, CEO, and Pedro Castillo, founder and CTO, Devo is a Data Operations Platform that collects, enhances and analyzes machine, business and operational data from across the enterprise to provide real-time analytics and insight for IT operations, security analytics, business analytics, customer insight and log management for large organizations to efficiently derive value from operational, security, application, IoT and machine data, driving improvements, such as enhanced customer experiences and reduced operating costs. FinSMEs 07/06/2018 Oncologie, a Boston and Shanghai based innovative biopharmaceutical company, raised $16.5M in seed funding. The round was led by Pivotal bioVenture Partners China, and joined by Nan Fung Life Sciences, China Merchant Bank Investments and Volcanics Ventures. Led by Founder, President, and CEO Dr. Laura Benjamin, Oncologie is developing cancer therapies to improve long-term survival of patients worldwide. Building a pipeline of clinical stage drug candidates through licensing and partnering, the company is leveraging the recent regulatory changes in China to conduct parallel clinical development in the country and the US to bring innovative Immuno-Oncology products to the two markets simultaneously. Oncologie is developing multiple global programs currently in Phase 2 and Phase 3 whose mechanisms are designed to combine with immune checkpoint inhibitors to improve survival benefits. FinSMEs 07/06/2018 Podium, a Lehi, Utah-based customer communication platform for local businesses, raised a $60m Series B growth round of funding. The round was led by Institutional Venture Partners with participation from Accel, Summit Partners, GV (formerly Google Ventures), and Y Combinator. The company intends to use the funds to add another 100 employees by the end of the year, further develop existing and future products as well as expand into more international markets. Launched in 2014 by Eric Rea, co-founder and CEO, Podium provides a communication platform facilitating convenient interactions for any company that interacts with its customers through a physical location. The companys platform now supports customer messaging, reviews, webchat and customer feedback using channels that customers actually use. In less than four years, the platform has been adopted by nearly 20,000 businesses that drive over 4 million customer interactions per month. Podium has more than 300 employees. FinSMEs 07/06/2018 Sciapps Ltd, the UK-based company behind skincare app SkinNinja, raised 750k in seed funding. The round was led by Voulez Capital with participation from Firestartr and the London Co-Investment Fund. They join entrepreneurial investors including: Colin Gillespie (Co-Founder & CSO, All Response Media), Mark Livingstone (ex. LoveFilm & Graze. CEO, Pharmacy2U & Chemist Direct), Simon Morris (ex. LoveFilm, Amazon Global Creative Director), Gary Dannatt (ex SimplySwitch. COO, Pharmacy2U & Chemist Direct). The company intends to use the funds for the continued development to its proprietary technology stack, as well as investing in key hires and leading the expansion of its B2B business. Led by Jo Osborne, SkinNinja aims to allow people to shop skincare products smarter via personalized, independent and evidence-based product information direct from the real experts. From contact allergens to carcinogens, discover whats hiding in your skincare, cosmetics and personal care products. SkinNinja matches expert evidence (including The International Agency for Research on Cancer and The World Allergy Organisation), to over 200k ingredients, across 800k products creating a comprehensive database that enables people to understand whats hiding in skincare, cosmetics and personal care products, from contact allergens to carcinogens, and consequently buy smarter. FinSMEs 07/06/2018 WhyHotel, a Baltimore, MD-based alternative lodging service that operates pop-up hotels in newly built, luxury apartment buildings, secured $3.9m in seed funding. The round was led by Camber Creek, with participation from Revolutions Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, Mendacre, MetaProp, Vornado/Charles E. Smith (predecessor to JBG SMITH Properties), Working Lab Capital, Mitchell Schear, and other real estate executives. The company intends to use the funds to launch hotels in the pipeline as well as source talent for upcoming projects across major U.S. cities. Led by Bao Vuong, President and Co-founder, WhyHotel operates 100 to 250 room pop-up hotels with 24/7 on-site staff in newly built, luxury apartment buildings. The company offers long-term renters in the building the benefit of an on-site hotel to host their friends and family at rates that are half the price of booking with a traditional hotel. The WhyHotel experience is supported by round-the-clock, on-site hospitality staff. After a successful run at The Bartlett in D.C. and in conjunction with the new funding round, the company has launched its newest pop-up venture in Baltimores Downtown/Inner Harbor area. In partnership with Monument Realty, the 150+ unit property is located at 225 North Calvert Street. FinSMEs 07/06/2018 VANCLEAVE, Mississippi -- A 12-year-old Vancleave boy died Wednesday after a bulldozer being driven by his grandfather backed into him and sandwiched him between the bulldozer and a dump truck. Jackson County Sheriff Mike Ezell said the boy -- identified as Hunter Dewayne Hewett -- was helping his grandfather unload dirt when he became wedged between the the bed and the gate of the dump truck and then the grandfather backed the bulldozer into the rear of the truck's tail gate. Johnny Wayne Hewett, the grandfather, told investigators he never saw the child, who was taken to Ocean Springs Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The accident occurred about 4:25 p.m. on Omas Road in Vancleave. Ezell said the incident is still under investigation by the Jackson County Sheriff's Office traffic division. The U.S. can learn a lot from Switzerlands apprenticeship program, which allows students to prepare on the job for careers in health care, finance, and law, said U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos in a speech Thursday to the International Congress on Vocational & Professional Training in Zurich. It is so interesting that more than two-thirds of current [Swiss] students pursue their education through apprenticeships, DeVos said. Of course apprenticeships include those for welders and carpenterswhich, in my country, is more common. But apprenticeships here include many options in every sector of the economy, including healthcare, finance and law. I was so intrigued to learn from Switzerlands Ambassador to the U.S. Martin Dahinden that the CEO of UBS, Sergio Ermotti, started his career as an apprentice. And Lukas Gahwiler, Chairman of UBS, Switzerland also started out his career as an apprentice. Thats not commonplace in America, but perhaps it should be! By contrast, DeVos said many schools in the U.S. are still stuck in a bygone era"a sentiment thats drawn sharp critiques from American educators. who say that DeVos doesnt have a real sense of what actually happens in modern classrooms. Todays students need something drastically different, something significantly better than what my own experience was, DeVos said, who attended private schools. They need learning environments that are agile, relevant, exciting. Students need customized, self-paced, and challenging life-long learning journeys. DeVos said apprenticeships have been a big priority for President Donald Trump, who set up a task force to study the issue. The task forces report, issued last month, recommended apprenticeship opportunities in every high school in America, but didnt lay out clear steps on how to make that happen. And Trumps first budget proposed cutting the $1 billion Career and Technical Education program, the biggest federal source of funding for high schools. In her speech in Zurich, DeVos also returned to a familiar theme: the need to individualize instruction to better meet students needs. There is no one-size-fits-all approach that works for every student. And no individual student is average. Every student comes to learn with different experiences, different needs, different learning styles and different dreams. Their education then must be equally customized. The stop-over in Zurich is part of a nearly two-week tour of how three European countries approach career and technical education and school choice. Find out more about her schedule here. U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos listens during a meeting between President Donald Trump and business leaders in the State Department Library of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House on April 11. --Evan Vucci/AP Cant get enough of Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos? Check out some of our best coverage: Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 . . , , ... The Senate has voted to confirm Kenneth L. Marcus to serve as the assistant secretary for civil rights under U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. Marcus was tapped by President Donald Trump to serve as the top civil rights official at the Education Department back in October. In fact, Marcus has basically held the job before: He was delegated the duties of the assistant secretary for civil rights under President George W. Bush. Hes the president of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, which advances civil and human rights for Jewish people. The Senate vote Thursday to confirm Marcus by a 50-46 vote. Shortly after Trumps election in 2016 and before his nomination, Marcus told our colleague Mark Walsh that he was keeping an open mind about how the president would handle civil rights in education, and said that in his experience, different administrations tend to take the same approach to civil rights casesexcept for high-profile ones. During his Senate confirmation hearing last year , Marcus highlighted his record of looking out for disadvantaged students. But he also didnt truly distance himself from Trumps previous statements about civil rights and womens rights. He also said that while racial discrimination against students is an alarming prospect, each civil rights case must be investigated individually and fairly to ensure there is such discrimination taking place. Civil rights advocates outside the administration had urged senators to reject Marcus . For example, in a February letter to lawmakers, a coalition of groups criticized Marcus, saying that during his tenure the Bush administration moved to protect students from possible religious discrimination but not those potentially suffering from discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. Marcus has also opposed affirmative action and equal opportunity initiatives, including in an amicus brief filed by the Brandeis Center, an organization for which he is founder and president, with the Supreme Court in the [Fisher v. University of Texas] case in which the Brandeis Center argued that public institutions should not be allowed to use race-conscious admissions programs, the groups wrote. Mr. Marcus attitudes and beliefs fail to demonstrate a commitment to protecting students of color from discrimination, as is required under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Photo: Kenneth L. Marcus delivers welcoming remarks at the Louis D. Brandeis Centers National Law Student Leadership Conference last year. (Teresa Kroeger/Louis D. Brandeis Center-File) Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 . And follow Politics K-12s Andrew Ujifusa @AndrewUjifusa . Shar introduced AQUOS S3 smartphone back in March. Today the company has introduced High Edition version of the smartphone in Taiwan. It is powered by Snapdragon 660 with 6GB of RAM, 128GB storage and also adds wireless charging. Other specifications as same as the original AQUOS S3, including a 6-inch FHD+ display with a notch, 91% screen-to-body ratio, Android 8.0 (Oreo) with Smile UX, 12-megapixel primary rear camera with f/1.75 aperture, 1.4um pixel size, dual-tone LED flash, 13-megapixel secondary camera for portrait shots and 2x loss-less zoom. It comes with a 16-megapixel front camera with support for face unlock that scans 1024 facial points to unlock the phone in 0.1 seconds. It also has a fingerprint sensor on the curved glass back and packs a 3200mAh battery with support for Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 and 7.5W Qi Wireless Charging. SHARP AQUOS S3 High Edition specifications 6-inch (21601080 pixels) Full HD+ display with 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass protection, 135% RGB ultra-wide color gamut,1500:1 contrast ratio, 550 nits brightness Octa Core Snapdragon 660 14nm Mobile Platform (Quad 2.2GHz Kryo 260 + Quad 1.8GHz Kryo 260 CPUs) with Adreno 512 GPU 6GB LPDDR4x RAM, 128GB internal storage, expandable memory up to 128GB with microSD Hybrid Dual SIM (nano + nano/microSD) Smile UX based on Android 8.0 (Oreo) 12MP rear camera with wide-angle lens, f/1.75 aperture, 1.4um pixel size, dual-tone LED Flash, PDAF, secondary 13MP camera with telephoto lens 16MP front-facing camera, f/2.0 aperture Fingerprint sensor Dimensions: 148.2 x 74.2 x 7.98 mm; Weight: 167.4g 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 ac (2.4GHz + 5GHz), Bluetooth 5, GPS + GLONASS, NFC, USB Type-C 3200mAh (typical) / 3100mAh (minimum) battery with Quick Charge 3.0, Qi wireless charging The SHARP AQUOS S3 High Edition comes in Black color, is priced at NT$ 13,990 (US$ 570 / Rs. 31,571 approx.) and will go on sale from June 11th in Taiwan. Source OnePlus today has announced the that it is opening up the floor to select community members on 7th July 2018 through its Open Ears forum for the first time in India themed Product. The company hopes that these community events will serve as a platform for users to provide in-depth feedback about the software and hardware. Post the feedback it collected, OnePlus said that it gives them a chance to implement in future iterations of the software or upcoming products. OnePlus Open Ears is a culmination of its community-first spirit for constructive discussions around OnePlus and the products. In case you arent aware, OnePlus Open Ears is a unique community event that was held for the first time in London. OnePlus claims that these Open Ears community events led to several key developments including One Time Resolution of issues, repair centers, an app for diagnostics and troubleshooting and video guides on how best to use your OnePlus device. Since it is a community event, OnePlus will pick 30 applicants to attend Open Ears India. Travel and accommodation for the same will be covered by the company. The Entries are open until the 12th of June, (Tuesday) until 11:59 PM. You can apply to attend the OnePlus Open Ears event from here and all selected participants will be contacted by 15th June (Friday). Pete Lau, Founder, and CEO, OnePlus said: Executing acquisitions that Chr. Hansen has made to its portfolio in the past year has not been without challenges. Regardless, the performance of 7%... Read More Image: Shutterstock It is Walmart's moment of reckoning on what it should do, though on paper it is committed to India for the long-term. Permission for foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail trade may be a while away but there is little doubt that the Baron of Bentonville has a not-so-subtle hope that it will happen sooner than later. Two significant protests are currently raging across India, and both of them indirectly have a bearing on Walmart, the US-based giant retailer which has two separate footholds in India -- one through a $17 billion effective buyout of online retailer Flipkart and the other through the so-called cash-and-carry business through which it takes part in wholesale trade. While farmers have been dumping milk and vegetables on the streets as part of nationwide protests to seek remunerative pricing, traders who are upset that Walmart may steamroller millions of mom-and-pop shops across the country are up against the multinational giant.FDI is already allowed fully in food retail and Walmart has fewer miles to go than it might seem to the casual observer.The most prominent argument in favour of Walmart entering India is in the belief that it will offer better prices to farmers using its supply chain clout and purchasing power, while the argument against is that it may in the process squeeze out traders and/or shopkeepers and in the future, even farmers.If there is one thing that this icon of American capitalism can learn, it would be from another major icon of American capitalism: McDonald's. The fast food chain has won hearts and minds in India with what seems like a simple slogan: When in India, be Indian.Walmart has had a chequered performance across the planet because what is good for the US may not necessarily be good for other countries. In the US, Walmart has typically thrived on the consumer boom led by industries and used its supermarket format to sell huge volumes of goods while using its procurement power. But the US has been a developed market in which middle class salaries are high, distances are often huge, time is a scarce commodity and real estate often cheap as a proportion of overall costs. Similar conditions do not apply in India.McDonald's does not sell beef burgers in India. Instead it invented the aloo-tikki burger as a multinational product. It swapped its typical drive-in sales for home delivery. Above all, as a franchisee of the fast food giant once told me, McDonald's real deal is not in the burger or meat but in the idea of family dining at affordable prices in clean conditions. So this "value plus hygiene" formula is now suitably Indianised, with reasonable success.What can Walmart do to steal a leaf out of the Big Mac's book? Simply, it has to bear in minds two factors. First, that India's government has a fiscal deficit problem that makes high minimum support prices a budgetary challenge, while the banking system is led by public sector behemoths that often end up struggling with mountains of bad industrial loans or unsustainable farm loans that are waived under political pressure. Secondly, shopkeepers in India form part of an economic ecosystem in which jobs are not easy to come by while they serve local markets often as last mile players, ferrying stuff from the wholesale to intermediate markets and then on to homes.Walmart can dramatically improve its prospects in India and reduce the doubts and hostilities that plague it if it becomes a partner than a predator. This means that Walmart has to do some stuff that a bank or a non-banking financial company might do in India, such as giving out loans. It may not necessarily give crop loans but it can partner banks to underwrite some of the risk, using its increasingly sturdy data science clout. Or it may extend supplier credit -- something like an advance salary for farmers deductible against future deliveries. Given the vagaries of the monsoon and the vulnerability of India's banking system, Walmart can be a de facto financial partner if it tries some smart innovation. This can potentially be to Indian farmers what the aloo-tikki burger was to McDonald's when it went to woo India's lower middle class in the difficult 1990s.Let us go back a step further in the 1990s when PepsiCo entered India with much fanfare and even greater opposition. What is somewhat forgotten is that the cola giant also had to fulfill some export obligations linked to farm goods. Pepsi later got into contract farming in Punjab , buying potatoes from farmers and driving abundance in the local mandis. Walmart just has to take a similar initiative and scale it up. Its profit margins may be lower than usual, but in the process, it may win more local support than it can imagine now. PepsiCo's "collaborative farming" that includes banking and financial support is a role model for anyone who sees industry at loggerheads with farming.On the other hand, shopkeepers and traders may be roped in by Walmart as logistics partners through innovative arrangements that might make them warehouse owners and delivery agents. Right now, Walmart has a programme called Mera Kirana that is out to modernise India's mom-and-pop groceries as part of its cash-and-carry business, but its utility may be limited unless it systematically scales up the shops in large numbers as logistics partners. It can use its financial clout and data science strength to help both farmers and shopkeepers if it agrees to regulatory supervision as a healthy intermediary than a Western cowboy out to shoot the natives.Flipkart has its subsidiary called eKart Logistics, which describes itself as "India's largest logistics and supply chain company delivering shipments across 3800+ pin codes." Walmart evidently had its eye on this less-talked-about unit when it made its acquisition but eKart has to become more rural and more of a facilitator than competitor for local shopkeepers to fit into a scheme that might help Walmart connect the dots between the farm and the fork in India. Notably, eKart received more than Rs 1,600 crore in funding from Singapore-based Klick2Shop Logistics Services last January in what appears to have been a slow-motion run to win over Walmart.Charming the farmer is part of Walmart's strategy in India, but befriending the shopkeeper is not something visible. If the giant wants to win India, it has to show some affection to match its strengths.(The writer is a senior journalist. He tweets as @madversity)Original Source: Image: Shutterstock The Uttar Pradesh government on Wednesday said that Rs 4,000 crore will be spent towards land acquisition for the Noida international Greenfield airport near Jewar.Out of Rs 4000 crore, Rs 1500 crore will be made available by budget allocated to state civil aviation department, while another Rs 1500 crore will be provided by Noida. An amount of Rs 500 crore each, shall be shared by Greater Noida Authority and Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) respectively, a statement issued by the state government said here.In a bid to fasten work towards the development of much-awaited greenfield Jewar International Airport and for creating a JV company, the Uttar Pradesh government on May 29 had signed a pact with YEIDA, Noida and Greater Noida Industrial Development Authorities."The concessionnaire for setting up the airport under PPP mode will be selected via global bidding mechanism. The state government is committed to finish all necessary formalities for setting up the airport," says Nand Gopal Gupta Nandi, minister for civil aviation.As for passenger capacity of the Jewar Airport, once it starts operations in 2022-23, its initial capacity would be of 60 lakh passengers and with year-on-year increases its annual passenger capacity is expected to reach up to 10 crore by the year 2050, as estimated by PWC. Earlier, a detailed PWC report on the project's feasibility and sustainability highlighted that 85 percent of flyers will be domestic and the rest international.Apart from the socio-economic benefits to the NCR region, Jewar Airport is expected to be a boon for the Delhi Airport. Delhi (IGI) Airport is soon expected to reach its (peak) passenger handling capacity. With the aviation sector growing at almost 15 percent, Delhi Airport is expected to handle almost 10 crore passengers per year by 2022.Original Source: Lois Riess, the Minnesotan charged with the alleged murder of Pamela Hutchinson on Fort Myers Beach and her husband David in Dodge City has been indicted today. An indictment is a formal charge of a serious crime. A grand jury upheld the charges of first-degree murder with a firearm, grand theft, and criminal use of personal identification. The murder charge is a mandatory life sentence, according to the press release from the 20th Judicial Circuit state attorneys office. Riess is charged with the murder of Hutchinson sometime between April 5 and April 9, after she befriended Hutchinson on Fort Myers Beach and allegedly killed her in her condo at Marina Village at Snug Harbour. Riess selected Hutchinson because of their similar appearance. Riess then stole Hutchinsons identity, cash and car, and fled to South Padre Island, where she was later arrested. Riess had been fleeing another murder she allegedly committed in Minnesota in March. Her husband was found dead and the money from his accounts stolen, along with his car, when she fled to Florida. Its still an active prosecution case at this time. Riess will be arranged on June 11. Endless and tireless work led us to this indictment, said Carmine Marceno, Lee County Undersheriff, said in a press conference today. Washington Dont arm teachers. Monitor students on social media. Give schools more mental health resources. Hire more school resource officersor not. Keep Obama-era guidance aimed curbing discipline disparities between minority students and their peers. Ban assault weapons. These and dozens of other proposals for preventing the next school shooting poured out Wednesday at a day-long listening session held here by the Federal School Safety Commission, which was set up by President Donald Trump to explore potential solutions in the wake of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., in February. Much of the advice did not appear to be in line with the policy preferences of the administration. Trump has called for arming certain teachers, and even directing federal resources to give bonuses to school staff willing to carry concealed weapons. His Education Department is giving serious consideration to scrapping Obama-era guidance that pushed school officials to ensure that their discipline policies dont have a disparate impact on students from certain racial and ethnic groups. Speaker after speaker urged against both moves. Its unclear what the panel, which met at the U.S. Department of Education, will make of the recommendations. The commissions chairwoman, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, wasnt in the room to take in these suggestions. She was on a trip to Switzerland, part of an on-site examination of career and technical education and school choice in three European countries . None of the other cabinet secretaries who are part of the commission, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar, and Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, attended either. But each sent a representative. Advocates have criticized the panel for not including educator voices, and for moving too slowly, and with too little transparency . Just a day before the listening session, DeVos said in testifying before Congress that the commission would not be exploring the role of guns in school violence . Thats despite a prior White House statement that the commissions work will include examining age restrictions on certain firearms purchases. But guns were the central topic for many of those who spoke during the six hours of public statements. Michael Yin, a newly minted graduate of Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland and one of the dozens of people who showed up at department headquarters for the event, expressed disappointment that combating gun violence wouldnt be part of the commissions work. Theres so much we can change that doesnt even begin to infringe on the Second Amendment, he said. We need to do a much, much better job of making sure guns dont get into the hands of the wrong people. But Deputy Education Secretary Mick Zais, who presided over the listening session, clarified that the panel will not be looking at confiscating existing weapons. He said the commission will explore narrow issues related to gun safety, including looking at age limits for purchasing certain firearms, and issues related to gun ownership and mental health. Heres a quick sampling of the speakers and what they said: Alessia Modjarrad, a student in Montgomery County, said she and other student activists back gun control measures. Among those are universal background checks and bans on high-capacity magazines. They also have sought mental health-care reform, she said. Why are we allowing our government to be so strongly influenced by NRA-backed lobbyists at the expense of American lives? she asked. Simply put, the victims of the Santa Fe High School shooting were not killed by doors, trench coats, or a lack of school resource officers. Neither were any of the other victims of the mass shootings we have somehow grown to expect in this country we are supposedly so proud of. No other country has the same proliferation and culture of guns as the United States of America. ... To say that guns and shootings are not linked is frankly preposterous. Every other country has doors, video games, mental illness, and psychoactive medications, but only the U.S. has a gun violence epidemic within our schools. Pamela Champion, a mother and co-chairman of the Champion Foundation, talked about the death of her son, Robert. He died after being violently hazed at Florida A&M University in 2011. She said she doesnt think arming school staff, a solution proposed by the president, is the answer. For all schools and communities, police presence may not, does not, equal safety, she said. Teachers with guns do not equate to safety. ... Children need to feel emotionally and socially safe through things like improved school climate and improved relationships with staff. Abbey Clements, a 4th grade teacher at the Newtown Public Schools in Connecticut, recounted the day in 2012 that 26 students and teachers were killed at an elementary school there. A gun wouldnt have helped, she said. You must understand how fast shootings happen and how chaotic and confusing it is. Theres no way to determine who and where the gunfire is coming from, she said. Say I had a gun. Would I have left my terrified children? Never. Would I have been able to find, approach, and fire at him, and not somebody else, without perhaps, a child getting in the way? Its completely unrealistic to think that an educator ... would have been able to navigate all of this in such a short period of time and take down the gunman without interfering with law enforcements response, or harming or killing other educators, or God forbid, children. ... This is not the movies. This is school. Mary Welander, a Connecticut ambassador for the Sandy Hook Promise Organization, an advocacy organization set up in the wake of the Newtown tragedy, spoke in favor of increased mental health supports. Schools across the country are struggling without the school counselors and school psychologists they need, she said. Schools, she said, need to be proactive in identifying students who feel isolated and angry, and not try to mitigate the damage once it has already started. Marlyn Tillman, the executive director of Gwinnett STOP, an advocacy group in Georgia, noted that mass shootings have tended to occur in majority-white communities. But she said the proposed solutions, including more police in schools can have an adverse effect on students who are racial minorities. While shootings at schools are primarily committed by white students in white schools, schools with a large black and brown population get the brunt of school police and buildings that resemble and function like prisons, she said. There is no evidence that police make schools safer. She called instead for a holistic approach to improving school climate, including utilizing peacekeepers instead of police. Jamison Coppola, a legislative director for the American Association of Christian Schools, said, theres a spiritual dimension to the school-safety discussion. School safety will be best achieved in an environment that teaches virtue and expects noble character, he said. We must return the idea that these values are worth pursuing in our schools and classrooms. We must have a common standard that is actively taught in our schools of what virtue is. We must encourage students and all citizens to pursue these virtues in their actions. He suggested the commission look to the private school community, which has put in place things like digital surveillance and restricted building access, and has experimented with the arming of responsible members of the school community. Amina Henderson-Redwan, a youth organizer with the Voices of Youth Education Committee in Chicago, said shes lost friends to gun violence. She has struggled with mental illness and police havent always been helpful. At the age of 9, I watched my father die. ... I was arrested when I had an anxiety attack. I tried to walk away from a peace circle and a security guard pushed my head into a chalkboard, said Henderson-Redwan. Her voice broke as she described her personal battles with bipolar disorder and depression. She also talked about her work in championing pending legislation in Illinois that would set up a competitive-grant program for school districts to expand mental health services, conflict resolution training, and more. This federal commission on school safety needs to listen to communities that its supposed to represent, communities like mine, and this is whats needed, she said. Noelle Ellerson Ng, the associate executive director of AASA, the School Superintendents Association, said district leaders are most interested in expanding mental health services, but not in changes to the discipline guidance. In a survey, AASA shared the commissions areas of study with superintendents and asked them to rank them in order of relevance. The top areas were opportunities to improve access to mental health treatment, best practices for school-based threat assessment and violence prevention strategies, and best practices for campus security. The item school leaders are least interested in having the commission address? Repeal of the Obama administrations 2014 discipline guidance, which sought to ensure that minority students and students in special education arent disciplined more often or more harshly than their peers. Lindsay Jones, of the National Center for Learning Disabilities, urged the commission not to get rid of that Obama administration guidance. Students with disabilities, especially students with disabilities of color, face disparate treatment in our nations public schools, she said, citing statistics that show black students in special education are far more likely to be suspended than their white peers in special education. Behavior does not explain these disparate rates of discipline that they face. Bias does. She said the guidance is an important tool for combatting this and must be maintained. She was heartened, she said, to hear from Ellerson that superintendents dont place a premium on getting rid of it. Donna Colombo, the president-elect of the Virginia PTA, called for gun restrictions and more resources to help schools hire counselors and beef-up safety features. Guns have no place in schools. Access to firearms is a problem. It is far too easy for untrained and unlicensed citizens to access firearms. Budgets are stretched so tightly that many of our school divisions are not able to install even the most-basic security systems. We do not need to make fortresses out of our schools. We need to guarantee that every school is able to fund and install state-of-the-art security at each entrance and exit or even just locks on every door. ... We do not need to add more officers. We need to add more guidance counselors. John Kelly, president of the National Association of School Psychologists, noted that there arent nearly enough mental health professionals in schools. Unfortunately the country is facing a critical shortage of school-based mental-health professionals. ... This is bad for kids, their teachers, and their families, he said. He held up a promising example in Boston Public Schools, which he said has started up a partnership the local childrens hospital to bolster mental health services. Eliza Byard, the executive director of GLSEN, which advocates for LGBTQ youth, noted that bullying incidence declined from 2007 to 2015, according to federal data, but seems to be back on the rise. A study of the experiences of teachers released last fall by the University of California at Los Angles, found that a dramatic increase in student anxiety, stress, and incivility in 2017. Students reported a persuasive sense of fear that was most acute for black and Latino, Muslim, disabled, and LGBTQ youth. She said that federal actions, including the withdrawl of Obama-era guidance stating that transgender youth can use the restroom that corresponds to their gender identity, immigration enforcement, and public statements calling this departments civil rights commitment into question have contributed to that sense of insecurity. Zachary Scott, Sr. advocacy manager of the National Association of Secondary School Principals, said arming teachers would, ironically, make schools less safe. We must abandon the notion of arming teachers, principals, and other school personnel, eliminating gun-free school zones, and other proposals championed by the gun lobby borne of a belief that putting more guns in schools will make kids safer, he said. Such proposals stem from a desperate and well-intentioned need to do somethinganythingto make parents and community members believe schools are safer, but the effect would be the opposite. Schools would be more susceptible to accidents and violence rather than safer from it. No credible evidence suggests that more guns in schools equals more safety. In fact, the growing number of accidental shootings and mishaps with guns in schools, even in the hands of trained professionals, tell us exactly the opposite. Was there anyone left out of the listening session? Some groups felt they were shut out at the event, including the Brady Campaign, a gun violence prevention organization. The group tried to register online as soon as the session was announced, said Max Samis, a spokesman, but was unable to get a speaking slot. Brady opted instead to stage a protest outside of the departments headquarters. Protestors, including one dressed as a bear, chanted Betsy, Betsy NRA hack. Your plan for school safety is totally wack. No one was barred from participating, said Elizabeth Hill, an Education Department spokeswoman. The registration link was open to any and everyone who wished to speak today on a first-come, first-served basis, Hill said. She said there would be additional opportunities for the education community to share ideas and views with the commission. Still, Tillman, of the Gwinnett STOP advocacy group, said she didnt think that the commission gave educators, parents, and interested community members who might want to participate in the session enough of a heads up, given that the listening session was held with less than a weeks notice. What the commission has been up to so far: The commission has had just two official meetings since its inception in early March. Last week, the commission visited a Maryland elementary school to explore positive behavioral supports and interventions, or PBIS, a widely-used technique for improving school climate and student behavior . DeVos also separately held a listening session, featuring survivors of school shootings and the family members of victims. Zais said the commission will plan to hold at least four more meetings over the coming months. The panel is expected to issue its recommendations by the end of the year. Abbey Clements, a teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School during the 2012 shooting, speaks during a listening session hosted by the Federal Commission on School Safety at the Department of Education in Washington on June 6. --T.J. Kirkpatrick for Education Week Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 . The states role in education, the expansion of charter schools, and school funding weighed heavily on voters minds Tuesday night in Californias closely watched primary contests for state school superintendent and governor, which advanced the top two vote-getters in each race to the general election this fall. In the statewide race for schools superintendent, Los Angeles districts schools improvement director Marshall Tuck landed three points ahead of Tony Thurmond, a social worker and state legislator. Thurmond has pushed for more school spending and heavier oversight of the states charter sector. Marshall Tuck who has advocated for school choice as an answer to the states academic challenges, has been provided $6.5 million from charter advocates. Both candidates are Democrats, though the state superintendents position is nonpartisan. In the contest for governor, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who received the endorsement of the California Teachers Association, will face off in the general election against John Cox, a Republican who got the second-most votes and is running on a campaign to cut the states income taxes. Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa failed to make the cut. Villaraigosa started his career as a teacher-union organizer, but after becoming mayor backed test score-based teacher evaluations and charter schools, infuriating teachers. The primaries were a magnet for campaign spending and muscle for various advocacy groups. In the superintendents race, for example, the California Teachers Association provided volunteers and spent more than $3 million to back Thurmond, who has pushed for more school spending and heavier oversight of the states charter sector. Tuck, who has advocated for school choice as an answer to the states academic challenges, so far has been provided $6.5 million from charter advocates. Californias schools have undergone dramatic change under Democratic Gov. Jerry Browns eight-year tenure. After the end of the recession, Gov. Brown and the states legislature added more than $25 billion into the states school system, replaced its complicated funding formula in 2011, and propped up districts ability to spend money as theyd like. The state in 2016 also began the arduous process of pairing the states accountability system with its funding formula, a task made more complicated with the passing of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. Hurdles remain for the states school sysem. The states Latino and black students, those who make up the majority of Californias student population, still lag behind the states white students on test scores, and the states teachers have long complained of a teacher shortage across the state. State education board Chairman Mike Kirst will step down at the end of Gov. Browns tenure, which raises the stakes for this years election. Dont miss another State EdWatch post. Sign up here to get news alerts in your email inbox. And make sure to follow @StateEdWatch on Twitter for the latest news from state K-12 policy and politics. This would make for an interesting autocross. A British transportation technology company has developed wheeled, remote-controlled traffic cones that can move themselves into position. The impetus behind the design from Costain is to improve the safety of work zones set up on busy roads, while speeding up the tedious job of setting them up. The cones are controlled by an app that can be used to move them from the side of the road when needed, then back when workers have left for the day. According to the Federal Highway Administration, 765 people, including 143 road workers, died in work zone accidents in the United States in 2016. The price for each of the cones is estimated to be around $125, but The Telegraph reports that their built-in GPS positioning systems can be used to track them down if they are stolen. The cones debuted at the Cheltenham Science Festival and will be evaluated by English highway authority before they are tested on public roads, according to The Sun. Fashion queen Anna Wintour on Tuesday paid tribute to Kate Spade, who passed away earlier in the day in a suspected suicide. The editor in chief of Vogue and artistic director of Conde Nast released a lengthy statement, praising the late fashion designer's understanding, charm and humor. David Spade Mourns Sister-in-Law Kate Spade's Death Kate Spade had an enviable gift for understanding exactly what women the world over wanted to carry. She launched her label at a time when everyone thought that the definition of a handbag was strictly European, all decades-old serious status and wealth," Wintour said. "Then along came this thoroughly American young woman who changed everything. There was a moment when you couldnt walk a block in New York without seeing one of her bags, which were just like her; colorful and unpretentious." Kate Spades Most Unforgettable Moments in Fashion Spade, 55, was found dead Tuesday morning in her Manhattan apartment by one of her employees, shocking a Hollywood that had so quickly embraced her, and the fashion world, which she helped shape. Tributes have poured in from the likes of Reese Witherspoon, Lena Dunham, Kenneth Cole, Kristin Davis and even Chelsea Clinton. Inside the Private Life of Kate Spade But none have the institutional authority of Wintour, whose word has come to define what "fashion" really is. "Kate designed with great charm and humor, and built a global empire that reflected exactly who she was and how she lived," Wintour continued in her tribute. "Long before we talked about authenticity, she defined it." The Walking Dead actor Norman Reedus and his former partner, Danish model Helena Christensen, reunited to celebrate their sons high school graduation this week. Christensen, 49, posted a photo on Instagram Tuesday of her with Reedus and their 18-year-old son, Mingus Lucien Reedus. Were so proud of you, she wrote in the caption, adding the hashtag #Classof2018. She later posted a clip of the group walking together, with Mingus in the middle donning his gown. The proud mom then posted four more photos from the event. Proud as hell! she captioned the Instagram gallery. E! reports that Christensen posted a video of Reedus hugging his son, too. 'STRANGER THINGS' STAR DAVID HARBOUR REVEALS HE WAS SENT TO A MENTAL ASYLUM BEFORE BIPOLAR DIAGNOSIS Reedus also marked the occasion on Instagram, posing for a picture with his former flame. Props to this lovely lady (he graduated!!) the 49-year-old wrote. Reedus and Christensen were reportedly together from 1998 to 2003. Reedus and his current girlfriend, 41-year-old German model and actress Diane Kruger, are expecting a baby, Us Weekly reported last week. Fox News Julius Young contributed to this report. Black-ish creator Kenya Barris said Wednesday that he was prepared to leave ABC if the company didnt fire actress Roseanne Barr over her racist tweet about a former President Obama aide. Barris, speaking at Varietys Path to Parity summit, said he was planning on speaking out against the company before company canceled Roseanne. I was literally coming out of the show and I was like f--k this. I was going to go crazy. I was going to call my agent and go on Don Lemon and other shows, Barris said. Barris said before he got the chance to walk out on ABC, he called the companys president Channing Dungey, ABC Studios president Patrick Moran and Disney/ABC Television Group head Ben Sherwood and was told to wait. Barris said Roseanne was canceled soon after their talk. It was amazing. Having Channing at the head and having Bob [Iger] be supportive, Barris said. ABC canceled Roseanne at the end of last month after Barrs tweet likened former Obama aide Valerie Jarrett to the "Planet of the Apes" as well as linking Chelsea Clinton to liberal donor George Soros. Roseanne's Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show, Dungey said in a statement to Fox News. Chris Rock isnt loving the idea of Barack and Michelle Obama working with Netflix. The comedian told the Hollywood Reporter in an interview published Wednesday that he doesnt want the former president and first lady making their money on Netflix. "I don't want to live in a world where President Obama is worried about his Rotten Tomatoes score," Rock said. "I want him above that at all times. He added, Make your money, but I don't want [him] to be involved with that." Rock, who also has his own Netflix deal reportedly worth $40 million, said he would just send them over to Donald Glover for advice. "That's what I'd do." OBAMAS SIGN MULTIYEAR NETFLIX DEAL TO PRODUCE SHOWS AND FILMS The streaming service revealed in late May that the Obamas entered into a multiyear agreement to produce new films and shows with Netflix. The couple wants to produce a diverse mix of content, including a potential scripted series, an unscripted series, a docu-series, documentaries and features, according to a Netflix press release about the deal. The couple also established Higher Ground Productions, which will serve as the entity under which they will produce content for Netflix. One of the simple joys of our time in public service was getting to meet so many fascinating people from all walks of life, and to help them share their experiences with a wider audience, said former President Obama in a statement. NETFLIX'S POLITICS UNDER FRESH SCRUTINY AFTER EXCLUSIVE DEAL WITH OBAMAS TO PRODUCE CONTENT The comedian isnt the only person criticizing the couple. The announcement ignited the #BoycottNetflix and #CancelNetflix trending topics on Twitter, where users slammed Netflix over its announcement it was bringing on the Obamas. Jonathan Tobin wrote in the New York Post that the Obamas Netflix deal shows that former presidents and first ladies are cashing in on their time at the White House. Now former presidents are treated like dowager empresses to whom the nation owes not merely deference but a living in spite of the fact that their status as an ex-commander in chief has become an ATM machine with no withdrawal limits, Tobin wrote. Fox News Stephanie Nolasco contributed to this report. The housekeeper who discovered Kate Spades suicide considered the fashion icon her best friend and even went on vacations with her to Napa Valley, the workers son told The Post. My mom was one of the people that found her, said Mark Roldan, 23. She is a little shaken, especially with trauma such as this. It just really hit our family and Im pretty sure the Spade family as well. It was just really shocking to find out her best friend Kate Spade and also a big influence in my life just passed. Roldan is pursuing a career in fashion and said Spade mentored him. She believed in my vision, he said. There would be times we would be in California you know she brought me to Napa Valley and showed me: This could all be yours if you do the same thing I did. Really push and push and push day in and day out. The housekeepers personal Facebook page includes photos depicting a sprawling Napa Valley manse that she identifies as belonging to Spade. Tiff and Justin was invited to spend the weekend at kate spade place, she wrote in an August 2017 post along with a photo of two kids standing in front of a Spanish-Colonial style home. Roldan was so close to Spade he even brought her flowers for Mothers Day last month, according to a video he shared with The Post. Oh my God, Spade gasps as she answers her door in pajamas and Roldan hands her a bouquet. Then the fashion maven makes an excuse for her casual get-up. I was like Its Mothers Day, thats why Im in my pajamas, she says in what may be one of the last videos of her alive. Its OK, Roldan reassures her. Roldans mother found Spade dead in her 850 Park Ave. home Tuesday, hanging by a red scarf attached to a door knob. This story originally appeared in the New York Post. Reality television star Kim Kardashian West has her sights set on changing the realities of several incarcerated people. Kardashian West, 38, has met with President Trump at the White House multiple times now in her efforts to get pardons for certain people serving long prison sentences related to drug offenses. On June 6, 2018, Trump commuted the sentence of Alice Marie Johnson, a great-grandmother who was serving a life sentence for a nonviolent drug conviction. This came following a meeting with Kardashian West. But Johnson isnt the only person Kardashian West has advocated for. Read on for a look at people shes trying to help. Cyntoia Brown Now 30 years old, Cyntoia Brown was serving a life sentence for a murder she committed when she was a 16-year-old prostitute. Brown said she shot a 43-year-old real estate agent after he picked her up and brought her back to his house because she was afraid for her life. Prosecutors had alleged Brown was trying to rob him. She was slated to remain in prison for at least 51 years, meaning shell be at least 67 years old before she can be released. But Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam granted her clemency in January which will allow her to be released on parole supervision later in 2019. Kardashian West, who said last year she asked her attorneys to help with Brown's case, thanked the Republican governor on Twitter. The system has failed. Its heartbreaking to see a young girl sex trafficked then when she had the courage to fight back is jailed for life! she previously said on social media. We have to do better & do whats right. Matthew Charles In May 2018, Kardashian West shared with her more than 60 million Twitter followers the story of Matthew Charles. Charles was released from prison early in 2016 but was directed to go back to jail after a federal court said his reduced sentence was an error, Nashville Public Radio reported. Charles, who is in his 50s, already served 21 years for selling crack to an informant, but he was sentenced to 35 years, according to Nashville Public Radio. While in prison, Charles took college classes and became a law clerk. He even taught a GED program. He's had a job since he's been released. In sharing Charles story, Kardashian West called the situation so sad. This man has completely rehabilitated himself, she said. Charles was released from prison at the beginning of 2019 after Trump signed the First Step Act, a sweeping criminal justice reform legislation, into law. Alice Marie Johnson Alice Marie Johnson was arrested in 1993 and convicted of drug conspiracy and money laundering in 1996, Mic previously reported. She became involved with cocaine dealers after she lost her job, her son was killed, she got divorced and her home was foreclosed on, according to Mic. Johnson said she did not sell drugs or participate in drug deals, but she did admit to acting as an intermediary for those involved, passing along messages. She was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Trump granted clemency to Johnson on June 6, 2018. She was released from federal prison later that day. If you think about a decision that youve made in your life, and you get life without the possibility of parole for your first-time nonviolent offense, theres just something so wrong with that, Kardashian West previously told Mic about Johnson. Chris Young Kardashian West told Jason Flom's "Wrongful Conviction" podcast that she has taken up the case of Chris Young, a Tennessee man who authorities said was caught buying crack cocaine in 2010. Because Young had already been charged with drug crimes twice, Young received a life sentence thanks to the state's "three-strike" law, The Tennessean reported. The judge who handed down the sentence has said he does not believe it was the right decision and said what he was "required" to do was "cruel." Kardashian West reportedly met with Trump on Sept. 5, 2018 to discuss Young's case. Fox News' Benjamin Brown and The Associated Press contributed to this report. After my last blog on charter school management companies was posted, I got a note from an old friend. Referring to the section of my blog in which I said that NCEEs research method is to look for common principles that underlie the structures of the top-performing education systems that distinguish them from less successful systems, he asked whether it might make more sense to simply identify the principles that underlie those systems, rather than assume that it is the structure of the system that accounts for their success. He uses the case of Finland to make his point. Finland is a top performer. But, he says, it has a very different system than the U.S. What he means is that we have a system in which the state is very weak and the district level of governance is uniquely strong. It is obvious to him that our system of local control will never change. He sees Finland as having weak central control, just like the U.S. So we need, he thinks, to figure out how to get the kind of autonomy that Finnish teachers have (that, in his mind, is the principle) and the obvious answer is to weaken district control, thus giving school faculties more control. In this formulation, the core issue is teacher autonomy, which is equated with teacher professionalism and the way to get it is to push authority down from the upper levels of the system of governance to the school. My reply follows. From my perspective, this picture is half right. It is true that most top-performing countries do not have district-level offices anywhere near as large as those typically found in our suburban and city school districts. The schools either report to small offices in units of government comparable to our mayors offices or county executive offices, or, much more often, to regional offices of their ministries of education. If we stop the description there, then the picture that emerges would be the one presented: local schools with much more autonomy than schools have in the United States. But if we widen the lens, the picture is very different. Many of the top-performing countries have what I think of as a unitary system . The teachers report to principals who report to managers of clusters of schools who report to regional offices that report to the top officials in the Ministry. It is all one organization, the highest salaried officer of which is the top civil servant in the Ministry. Most of the decisions that in our system are made at the district level by the superintendents, unions and school boards are made at what would be the state level by the Ministry civil servants. In your description, the authority that in our system resides in the district offices goes to the schools in the top performers. But that is not true. That authority is actually split between the schools and the state in most of the top-performing countries. That split is not haphazard. The authority that goes to the state in the top performers produces much more equity in school finance, much higher standards for getting into teacher education institutions, much more equity in the distribution of excellent teachers, a much stronger curriculum, more consistency in curriculum, much higher expectations for poor and minority students, and more. The result may seem paradoxical to citizens of the United States. There is both much more power at what we would think of as the state level but, at the same time, much more autonomy with respect not to policy but with respect to practice at the school level than we find here. We tell ourselves that we have local control. But the reality is that there is much more control at the district level in the United States and much less control at the school level. That is the principal reason that there is more scope for teachers professional judgment in the top-performing countries and less in the United States. And that in turn is one reason that it is easier to attract higher performing high school graduates into teaching in the top-performing countries than in the United States. This division of authority in the top-performing countries makes it possible for the ministry (think of our state departments of education) to attract much more capable educators; policies are more effective, fairer and more consistent than in the United States and schools have more autonomy when it comes to the way those policies are translated into practice than in the United States. The picture I have just painted is one in which, in the top-performing countries, teachers are treated like high status professionals. They are not told what materials to use, what teaching methods to use, what proven programs they are required to adopt, as they often are in the United States. One state department of education I know of that not so long ago employed 2,000 people now employsif you strip out the people who are there to administer federal programsabout a dozen professionals. While the numbers are different from state to state, this picture is not at all unusual. Legislatures all over the United States have eviscerated the capacity of the state departments of education to run effective education systems. They were weak to begin with and are much weaker now. You would like to do the same thing to the capacity of the school districts. That will leave the schools to run themselves. I know of no country with a first-rate education system that does it that way. You pointed to Finland. It is impossible to understand how Finland rose to the top of Europes performance curve without taking into account the decision by the Finnish government some years ago to shut down all their teacher education programsthere were close to 40 of themand establish eight new ones exclusively in their research universities. The idea that Finland reached the top simply by trusting its teachers and providing its schools an extreme form of autonomy is a myth. Would that it were that simple. In my view, the issue is not autonomy for teachers and schools. The issue is how to distribute authority among the schools, the center and points in between that creates the mix of incentives and supports that is most likely to lead to the highest possible student achievement with the most equity. My sense is that the countries with the most effective systems have done a much better job of figuring that out than any of our states have. One more point needs to be made here. I am constantly told that this or that feature of the structure of the American education systemfrom local control to letting almost any four-year college run a teacher education program and set their own admission standardswill never change. The implication is that no proposal for changing our system will ever be implemented if it fails to abide by these constraints. One of the distinguishing features of the top-performing systemsfrom Finland to Singaporeis the ability of the governments in those places to upend their sacred cows when they need to upend them to improve system performance. Americans think that the performance of Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai and South Korea is explained by their common Confucian heritage and the great value placed by the Confucian culture on education. But many people who live in those places see the devotion to exams and the authority vested in elders irrespective of merit that are characteristic of countries with Confucian cultures as holding them back. Many analysts think that what appears to be a strong commitment to education in the Confucian countries is actually a devotion to doing well on examinations and they think this commitment militates against the kind of creativity, spontaneity and out-of-the-box thinking that is now needed. A strong case can be made that the top-performing Asian countries are doing as well as they are doing not because they have an immutable set of Confucian values but because they are prepared to preserve what they most value in the culture and ditch what is no longer useful. I have already cited the decision of the Finns years ago to completely upend their system for preparing teachers as an example of the same kind of readiness to junk sacred cows in the country. Plants and animals that fail to adapt to changes in their environment die out and those that adapt do not. Social systems face the same imperatives. The evidence that our education systems are no longer very well adapted to the world in which we now live is overwhelming. We hang on resolutely to our sacred cows at our peril. MSNBC star Joy Reid physically threatened a senior colleague, accused a Republican politician of being gay on air and often referred to her hateful blog during a short-lived stint as a radio show co-host more than a decade ago, former superiors at the station told Fox News. One described the host of MSNBC's "AM Joy" as having been an evil woman in those days. Reid has recently come under fire for old blog posts in which she made homophobic and anti-Semitic remarks, encouraged people to check out a 9/11 conspiracy-theory documentary that claims the U.S. government carried out the attacks, and shared an image of U.S. Sen. John McCains head PhotoShopped onto the body of the 2007 Virginia Tech gunman. But now, Reid faces fresh questions over her conduct during her brief but toxic time as a co-host and producer of Wake Up South Florida on radio station WTPS 1080 AM between 2006 and 2007. Threat of physical violence Andre Eggelletion, former lead host of the morning show with Reid, recently spoke out about her for the first time in more than a decade, saying Reid created the most toxic work environment I've ever experienced and threatened him with violence. It was a very unhealthy work environment because of her attitude. She attacked me on a constant basis while I was there. I was even once threatened with physical violence during a break with her, he revealed to Fox News. "I was even once threatened with physical violence during a break with her." Andre Eggelletion, former leading host of "Wake Up South Florida" on WTPS 1080 AM. The incident was corroborated by Lee Michaels, then-national program director for Syndication One, a network of radio stations of Urban One (Radio One back then) that owned WTPS. It absolutely happened -- 100 percent, he told Fox News, noting that he had to put in a lot of effort to convince Eggelletion not to quit over Reids conduct. The threat came following a dispute over a news item that Reid opposed covering -- despite Eggelletion being the show's lead host. There was a dispute over it and I told her, Go ahead and call the manager, Eggelletion said he told Reid, after she refused to cover the story suggested by him. To which she allegedly replied, If you ever speak to me like that again Im coming over there and its gonna be me and you. Yall want me to be his friend. I dont want to be his mother------g friend. Joy Reid's alleged remark to the general manager. The incident prompted an intervention from the higher-ups at the radio station, who issued a stern warning to Reid to change her behavior or be fired. I talked to the general manager and I told him this has to be dealt with in a very firm manner because it was inappropriate and it just cant be tolerated, Michaels recalled. He claimed that within the local radio station, there was an attempt to mediate the issue and Reid was supported by some of her colleagues. Yet, Reid was said to have been stubborn in continuing the confrontation with Eggelletion, once allegedly telling the general manager during a meeting that Yall want me to be his friend. I dont want to be his mother------g friend. Miss Charlie slur Both Reid and MSNBC have been in damage-control mode since the controversy over her divisive past blog posts began to emerge, with both sending out some mixed messages. In December, after the first batch of blog posts was revealed on social media, Reid apologized to the LGBTQ community for tone-deaf and dumb comments about then-Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, whom she had called Miss Charlie on her blog. In April, following the publication of another series of controversial writings, Reid went on to deflect -- saying she didnt recognize herself in the posts and suggested some mysterious hackers implanted the comments to her now-defunct blog in an effort to discredit her. I genuinely believe I did not write 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 dont believe me, she said during the opening segment of AM Joy in April. And then last week, Reid and MSNBC said Reid has evolved on many issues and was a better person today than [she] was over a decade ago. MSNBC BREAKS SILENCE ON STAR JOY REIDS HATEFUL BLOG POSTS: SHE HAS GROWN AND EVOLVED But Eggelletion and Michaels arent entirely convinced, though they gave Reid the benefit of the doubt that she may have changed her ways. I do believe shes not telling the truth about who that person [who wrote the blog posts] was. Maybe she has changed, but back then, that was one evil woman, Eggelletion said. She said she doesnt know who that person is I find it very hard to believe. Very hard to believe based on my experience with her. Based on her attitudes towards me to this day. I never ever did anything at all to disrespect her, hurt her, Ive never written or gone public in the last ten years with anything negative about her, he added. "I never ever did anything at all to disrespect her, hurt her, Ive never written or gone public in the last ten years with anything negative about her." Andre Eggelletion The former lead host recalled one example in which Reid's opinion on the radio show echoed her writings. She did call Charlie Crist Miss Charlie on the air, he said. Michaels, meanwhile, said Reid referred to her blog from time to time during the radio show. Her demeanor inside the radio station complemented what was on the blog. Mean-spirited, very edgy, negative personality in her writing, he said. Damage control MSNBC declined to comment for this story. But following Fox News contact with the channel, a number of other former colleagues at the radio station put out statements vouching for Reids professional conduct. Tamara Gant, who co-hosted the show with Reid in 2006, said Reid was nothing but professional and knowledgeable and was excellent in doing her job and denied any allegations of abuse or other inappropriate behavior. She didnt recall Reid saying, writing or doing anything homophobic or derogatory towards any group. Gant also questioned the credibility of the two gentlemen making the allegations. When asked for any specific examples, Gant indicated that she wasnt actually aware who the individuals were, and instead asked Fox News for their names. WanJira Banfield, former director of marketing and promotions at the radio station, also sent an unsolicited statement in an email vouching for Reids credibility. She was one of the most deferential professionals Ive ever worked with. Her daily interactions with me and the rest of the staff was of the highest professional regard, she wrote. Banfield was hired as a writer in 2012 for theGrio.com website, which was previously owned by MSNBC, just a year after Reid became the managing editor there. She didnt respond to an email asking what prompted her to contact Fox News. "Sons of Anarchy"' actor Alan O'Neill has died. He was 47. The Los Angeles County Coroner's office told Fox News that O'Neill, whose legal name is Michael Alan O'Neill, was found dead at a residence in Toluca Lake, Calif. on Wednesday at around 6 p.m. PDT. A rep for O'Neill confirmed to People magazine that the actor has died and that his girlfriend found him unconscious at her apartment on Wednesday. According to TMZ, O'Neill, who starred as Hugh on the FX series from 2013 to 2014, had heart problems and was a heavy smoker. He also reportedly had a history of "alcohol and drug abuse." However, no official cause of death was immediately released. According to TMZ, "no foul play is suspected" and an autopsy will be performed. Along with appearing in "Sons of Anarchy," the Irish-born actor, who started his career in the '90s, played Keith McGrath in "My Fair City" and had a role in Pierce Brosnan's 2016 film, "Urge." He also was set to appear in the upcoming horror film "Charlie Lives: The Family's Return." Notorious YouTube star Jake Paul reportedly caused problems at a North Carolina amusement park Monday when he and his team were riding around on a motorized scooter. Paul and members of his group rented the scooter and were seen trying to do tricks with it while multiple people were on top of the vehicle, according to the Blast. Paul apparently grabbed the scooter because he refused to walk around the 400-acre Carowinds park. We do not condone Jake Pauls behavior, and after park security insisted that he follow the safety rules he decided to leave the property, officials at the Charlotte theme park told the Blast in a statement. We do not condone Jake Pauls behavior, and after park security insisted that he follow the safety rules he decided to leave the property. Amusement park statement A rep for Paul told the gossip site that the vlogger and his team left on their own because they were overwhelmed by fans who were at the park. Pauls team also denies doing anything wrong and made it clear that the amusement park allowed Paul to rent the scooter in the first place, the Blast reported. Paul and his team are already in some hot water in California. The social media influencer is being sued for $2.5 million after he was accused of trashing a Los Angeles rental property, according to the Wrap. Six children burned in the Guatemala volcano eruption are receiving treatment at Shriners Hospital for Children after arriving in Texas early Thursday morning. The children, accompanied by five guardians, were transported via the United States military to the hospitals pediatric burn facility. Hospital officials categorized their injuries as life-threatening. A minor burn is 1-2 percent. A moderate burn is up to 10, 15 percent of their body. And, a massive burn or severe burn is above that. All of these kids are above that. All of those kids have that final condition, Dr. Steven Wolf, Chief of Staff at Shriners Galveston, said. An emergency medical go team of pediatric burn physicians and nurses was deployed to Guatemala within 24 hours after the volcano erupted on Sunday. Hospital officials said they worked with local authorities and surgeons on the ground to identify these six children, ages 1-16, who would benefit from their health care. Any time theres a mass casualty eventtheres a sweet spot in the middlethe ones that really have severe injuries and those that can recover from them with state of the art care, Wolf said. Wolf believes the childrens injuries are due to contact with ash clouds. The particles form the ash then cause a contact burn. So, these are thermal burns. Theres also risk of breathing these particles in. So, weve looked at them for that, and well treat them appropriately, Wolf said. As of this morning, all of the children were stable, though most are on ventilators. The process to full recovery, however, could take months, or even years. Once you get in this building, youre ours until youre 18, Wolf said And, that goes on to all of the phases of care from the acute care to rehabilitation, which is the next step, to reconstruction, and then the psychological care of these children and their families as well. Shriners provides on-site housing for the families for part of that time. After the patients are sent home, they can be flown from Guatemala back to theU.S. for recurring treatment. Total treatment for each child can reach millions of dollarsat no cost for the patient. At least 99 people are dead and nearly 200 others unaccounted for following the eruption. The people of the United States extend our deepest condolences to the victims of the ongoing eruption of Fuego Volcano in Guatemala, The White House said in a statement released Thursday. At the request of the Government of Guatemala, we are sending emergency aid, including financial resources to help meet food, water, and sanitation needs for the affected population. The United States is also sending aircraft to assist in transporting burn victims of this terrible event for treatment in Florida. We will continue to coordinate with the Guatemalan government to provide further aid where needed. Shriners Hospitals in Boston, Cincinnati, and Sacramento are on standby, ready to take in more patients from Guatemala, if necessary. Despite national and local efforts to reduce minors' e-cigarette use, kids just aren't listening. According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study released on Thursday, more than 2 million teens commonly used e-cigarettes in 2017, with one expert noting that the number is likely higher. Dr. Brian King, of the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health, told Fox News that many teens now describe vaping as "JUULing," due to a rise in popularity of new JUUL products, meaning "it's possible we have underestimated the extent of e-cigarette use in this survey." Overall, youth usage of any tobacco product has substantially declined, thanks to successful ad campaigns and school programs, which saw the numbers drop from 4.5 million users in 2011 to 3.6 million in 2017. But according to King, the advertising and availability of e-cigarettes and vaping products have halted the progress they were making. "You won't find a kid in Georgia who hasn't vaped before," Drake Jennings, a Georgia high school student, told Fox News. A new study from Georgia State University supported that theory, citing the surging sales of JUUL and calling it the most popular e-cigarette brand in the U.S. Anna Belle Wallace, one of Jennings' classmates, said she remembers the burst of flavor when she first tried an e-cigarette. Cotton candy, Wallace said. "Its tasty, but the nicotine part you can taste. E-cigarettes administer a puff of flavored aerosol that can contain nicotine, cancer-causing chemicals and heavy metals. Users can pick from a seemingly endless selection of juice flavors, ranging from cotton candy to skittles and mango. Devices come in all shapes and sizes some discrete enough to hide in the palm of your hand. Youd be surprised at who [uses e-cigarettes], Bryce Wethington, another high school student in Georgia, said. Like, you could see it being passed around the classroom." But the long-term effects of the fairly new product introduced just over a decade ago according to the Consumer Advocates for Smoke Free Alternatives Association are largely unknown. Nicotine is highly addictive and can harm the adolescents developing brain, according to the CDC. When it comes to youth, we dont want [them] to choose between an e-cigarette and a cigarette, King said. "Any tobacco product use among youth is unsafe." King admitted the aerosol emitted in an e-cigarette has a lower level of toxins and dangerous ingredients than conventional cigarette smoke, but pointed to the U.S. Surgeon Generals conclusion in 2016 that aerosol is not harmless. That same year, the FDA qualified e-cigarettes under tobacco products, thus prohibiting the sale of the devices to anyone under 18. Five states and Washington, D.C. upped the ante and wont sell e-cigarettes to anyone under 21. Since then, communities across the country have implemented stricter regulations of vaping products, including Cumming, Ga., Jennings, Wethington and Wallaces hometown. The citys mayor, Troy Brumbalow, said the tipping point for him was a series of vaping incidents that required medical intervention for underage students in Forsyth County. The ordinance, adopted in May, mirrored county guidelines, which allow for store and product inspections. Forsyth County District 4 Commissioner, Cindy Mills, is angered by the way these money-hungry e-cigarette folks are marketing their products. I mean its no coincidence what the names on the products are, Mills told Fox News. Jennings noticed e-cigarette use pick up at North Forsyth High last year, with many of his peers particularly drawn to JUULs a USB look-a-like that markets itself unlike any E-Cigarette or Vape. The products popularity set off a string of actions taken by the Food and Drug Administration this spring. The FDA has required numerous companies, including JUUL Labs, to submit important documents on their products. It also sought public input on the influence of flavors, launched a nation-wide blitz on both online retailers and brick-and-mortar shops selling to minors and warned more than one dozen companies who are marketing products in ways that are misleading to kids. In a statement to Fox News, JUUL Labs said they cannot be more emphatic on this point: No young person or non-nicotine user should ever try JUUL, adding that they pledged $30 million for independent research, youth and parent education and community engagement. One e-cig trade group supports the FDAs crackdown on companies targeting young people, but says that shouldnt overshadow the positive influence vaping can have on tobacco smokers trying to quit. If e-cigarettes were removed from the market today, youre going to find the largest segment of the current vapor user go back to conventional tobacco, said Ray Story, CEO of Tobacco Vapor Electronic Cigarette Association. That would have a monstrous impact. Story said there should be greater accessibility to e-cigarettes over conventional cigarettes for adults and more resources devoted to enforcing the age requirement. In a statement released this week, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb acknowledged e-cigarettes may present an important opportunity for adult smokers to transition off combustible tobacco products. But these public health opportunities are put at risk if all we do is hook another generation of kids on nicotine and tobacco products through alternatives like e-cigarettes, he added. Jennings, Wethington and Wallace said while they recognize the dangers of using e-cigarettes at a young age and never made a habit of it, the FDAs warnings arent getting through to most of their peers. I dont think there is any concern at all [about whats in the juices], Wethington said. I think theyre wanting to pay the consequences later, Jennings chimed in. Celebrity chef and CNN personality Anthony Bourdain was found dead in his hotel room in France of an apparent suicide, the network confirmed Friday. Bourdains CNN colleague Brian Stelter said on-air that Bourdain had hanged himself, just three days after celebrity designer Kate Spade took her life the same way in her New York City apartment, and one day after the CDC released a harrowing study on the rising suicide rates in the U.S. According to the CDC, nearly 45,000 Americans age 10 or older died by suicide in 2016, making it the 10th leading cause of death. The study noted that suicide is rarely caused by a single factor, and found more than half of cases involved a person who did not have a known mental health condition. ANTHONY BOURDAIN'S LIFE IN PICTURES This is a major public health problem but we know that prevention programs work and can be effective in reducing this tragedy, Dr. Anne Schuchat, CDC principal deputy director, told Fox News. Schuchat said the data analyzed revealed a number of factors leading up to death by suicide, including economic woes, relationship issues, substance misuse, physical health problems and others. Firearms were revealed to be the most common method of suicide by those with and without a known mental illness. The highest rise was seen in western states, with an over 57 percent increase recorded in North Dakota. Twenty-five states saw an increase of more than 30 percent. We do see increases in suicide associated with economic downturns, and it can take a long time for the recovery to kick in, Schuchat said. We can see suicide rates improve slower than the economy. The study also comes a day after Netflix announced plans for a third season of its hit series 13 Reasons Why, which focuses on a high schoolers suicide. The show also deals with bullying, rape, gun violence and substance abuse. The series includes content warnings before the start of some episodes, as well as directives to contact suicide hotlines by the series actors. The warnings came after the show was accused of glamorizing suicide. KATE SPADE HUSBAND RELEASES STATEMENT FOLLOWING HER SUICIDE At least one mother has blamed the series for her own daughters suicide attempt. Netflixs CEO defended the companys decision to bring the show back for a third season, citing its popularity and success. Its engaging content, Reed Hastings said, according to Business Insider. It is controversial. But nobody has to watch it. Schuchat said that suicide is a national issue, and that no one community is immune. We saw higher increases among middle-aged people, but we did see increases in younger people and older people essentially every age group other than those over age 75 saw increasing rates of suicide during this time period, Schuchat said. The CDC recommends that states take a comprehensive public health approach to suicide prevention, and that everyone remain vigilant about possible warning signs. If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). A newlywed bride nearly fell to her death after plunging 1,000 feet down a mountain on her honeymoon. Magdalena Czarnecka, 29, and her husband Michael Wangrat, were 10 days into their year-long adventure when the accident happened at the end of May. The Polish couple, along with the grooms cousin, Marek Paleski, were climbing in Alaska along the West Buttress route of Denali. DISNEY WORLD, LEGO WORKERS ARRESTED IN CHILD PORNOGRAPHY STING On the day of the fall, Wangrat had stayed back at camp because he wasnt feeling well, and Wangrat set out on a hike with Paleski. The climbers were roped together but not clipped to the safety pickets at the time they reached a ridge around 17,000 feet up. We were probably in between two of them and our rope was not long enough to do it," Czarnecka told the Anchorage Daily News. "Maybe we felt too safe and too strong to clip in." Paleski slipped and the pair went tumbling down the mountain 1,000 feet before landing in a crevasse on the glacier, which officials say likely saved their lives. A guided group witnessed the fall and were able to alert park rangers of the accident, but inclement weather prevented the helicopter from reaching the pair right away. After spending the night in the crevasse, Paleski was able to hike back to camp and provide an update on Czarneckas condition. When rescue workers finally reached Czarnecka, she was airlifted to the hospital where she would later undergo a four-hour surgery to fuse some bones in her neck, and install rods and a plate in her scull for stabilization. Czarnecka said this experience has made her and her husbands relationship stronger, and Wangrat has been sleeping by his wifes side every night as she recovers. After two weeks in the hospital, the newlyweds hope to return home to Poland soon. Magda is feeling stronger we even went for a walk outside. Hopefully we will be able to come back home soon for further treatment and rehabilitation, Wangrat wrote on the couples Facebook page. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS Park ranger Joseph McBrayer, who was part of the rescue crew, told the Daily News Czarnecka and Paleski are lucky to be alive. "I think generally if you were to ask any one of my peers, or anyone else in the climbing community, if someone would survive a thousand-foot fall on 40-to50-degree snow and ice, I think they'd probably say no," he said. A Belgian couple visiting Florida celebrated their engagement on Sunday surrounded by a group of onlookers with rather toothy grins. In the photos posted by Gatorland in Orlando, Sam van Reeth can be seen proposing to his now-fiancee, Chana Vranken, with a swarm of alligators in the background. "A friend of mine told me Gatorland was a one-of-a-kind experience and we do love animals and absolutely loved it," Reeth told WKMG News 6, adding that they hope to incorporate the reptile into their wedding or honeymoon as well. Savannah Boan, crocodilian enrichment coordinator at Gatorland Orlando, told Fox News she hopes the couple will consider allowing the theme park to host their special day. So amazing to see the act of love against our beautiful tapestry of nature! Congrats to you both! Gatorland Orlando wrote on Facebook. Thank you for letting us be a part of it! The photo received dozens of comments from well-wishers. This is the best thing Ive seen all week! one person wrote on Facebook. What a special moment for these two, another added. "Congrats to both of you... May you have many many many years of happiness and bliss!" one woman commented. Vranken and van Reeth were not immediately available for comment when contacted by Fox News on Thursday. NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles! In an NBC Today interview this week, former President Bill Clinton had his arrogant and misogynistic behavior on full display when asked about the Monica Lewinsky scandal during his presidency. He demonstrated that nothing has changed since he left office. Two decades later, were living in the era of #MeToo, and the man we almost sent back to the Oval Office this time as a presidential spouse thinks its about #HimToo. In his interview with Craig Melvin, Clinton said: "Nobody believes that I got out of that for free. I left the White House $16 million in debt. #victimhood Cue the violin. Monica Lewinsky was a 24-year-old intern. Old enough to know better than to get involved in an obviously wrong relationship with the president of the United States, absolutely. However, there is no comparison. Clinton was 51-year-old, a married man and a father of a young daughter, and he was the president. The burden of keeping it zipped fell on him. If youre tempted to feel bad about his $16 million debt dont. Clinton is in no danger of turning to a food bank or winding up in a homeless shelter for lack of funds. Since leaving office in 2001, Bill and Hillary Clinton have managed to pull in more than $240 million. So $16 million in legal bills did not throw the Clintons into poverty. If anyone didnt get out of the scandalous relationship between the president and the White House intern without paying a price it was Monica Lewinsky. The shame and embarrassment of her bad choices have been life-altering and have followed her to this day. Lewinsky has struggled to find work, even after earning a masters degree, and at one point she even moved out of the country to gain some degree of anonymity. One organization even told her it would need a letter of indemnification from the Clintons before it could hire her. During his NBC interview, President Clinton said he apologized to everybody and it was public, but when he was asked pointedly if he felt he owed a personal apology to Lewinsky he said, No, I do not. Clinton attempted a mea culpa Monday night, likely to beat back the bad press he received from the NBC interview and put the focus on his new book that hes promoting. However, he didnt help his cause and just managed to come out sounding defensive again. The Clintons are famous for placing blame anywhere but where it belongs on themselves. While he admitted to getting hot under the collar during his NBC interview, Bill Clinton said it was because of the way the questions were asked. So now its NBCs fault, apparently. The former president went on to say: The suggestion was that I never apologized for what caused all the trouble for me 20 years ago. Did you catch that clever wording? For what caused all the trouble for me. What caused all the trouble? It was you, Bill. Just look in the mirror and youll find the person responsible. You are what caused all the trouble for you. More than 18 months after Donald Trump defeated her in the presidential election, Hillary Clinton still wont admit shes the reason she lost in 2016. Two decades later, Bill still wont admit he is what has caused all the trouble for him. He took another crack at a mea culpa Tuesday night when he went on the The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on CBS. Clinton admitted the NBC interview wasnt his finest hour, when Colbert pressed him about being perceived as tone deaf. Colbert said: "Examples of men who were not held accountable for their behavior, especially men in power with younger women or people who worked for them, is worthy of being readjudicated or adjudicated for the first time, no matter how long ago it happened. Clinton said: People need to know I apologized. I meant it then. I mean it now. ... And I still support Me Too. And I think we all need to keep trying to be doing better. And I would never dispute that. Then came the qualifier. The former president said it was very painful and he had to "live with the consequences every day since. Again, go talk to Monica about consequences. Just last month Town & Country magazine disinvited her to the magazines Philanthropy Summit after Bill Clinton decided to attend. Bill Clinton has 240 million reasons not to worry about consequences. In the era of #MeToo, even some Democrats have distanced themselves from President Clinton on the campaign trail, including Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, who was elected last year. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., also came out and said Clinton should have resigned from the presidency following the Lewinsky affair. Bill Clinton reportedly is trying to rehab his image, with some in the media attempting to revive his old nickname, the comeback kid. As a likely part of his new image makeover, the Kennedys invited him to speak at the 50th anniversary commemoration of Robert F. Kennedys death at Arlington National Cemetery. This attempt to raise the former presidents profile is not sitting well with women from his past who have accused him of sexual misconduct and feel hes getting a pass. Juanita Broaddrick, who has famously leveled accusations of rape at Clinton said: I would like to know why? Why can you elevate Bill Clinton again to this level when he has done so many atrocious acts? What on Earth could be the answer? Other than they believe Bill Clinton and they do not believe all the victims. Leslie Millwee, who accused Clinton of assault while she was an Arkansas TV reporter said: People still laud him. When is that going to change? When is this man going to be held accountable for his behavior over the years? Broaddrick also took to Twitter to express her outrage at NBC and Craig Melvin for not bringing up her rape allegation against Clinton in the interview, tweeting: This is so disgusting. Is there ANY reporter willing to ask Bill Clinton about RAPING me? Its been 20 years since the Monica Lewinsky scandal shocked our nation and we found ourselves in the middle of ridiculous debates over the definition of the word is, while we famously saw Bill Clintons finger wagging at us on TV, saying hes going back to doing the business of the American people. What worked in the 90s to defend such behavior isnt going to work in the age of #MeToo. You cant play defense. You cant dodge and distract. Excuses are exhausted, overused and thoroughly refuted. In the age of #MeToo, your only recourse is to own it. Women are speaking out, and men are being held accountable. If Bill Clinton wants to fully rehab his image he needs to stop defending the indefensible and start admitting that he was part of the problem. #YouToo Bill youre part of the problem, youre not the victim. NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles! Last weekend, the White House leaked a copy of a letter sent by President Donald Trump's legal team on Jan. 29 to special counsel Robert Mueller. The letter set forth the president's legal strategy, arguing essentially that he is immune from prosecution for any crime. To soften the tone of this poorly received letter, the White House dispatched Rudy Giuliani, the president's most visible legal spokesperson, to address the issues that his colleagues had raised. He made matters worse when he suggested that if the president ordered Jim Comey "shot in the Oval Office," he couldn't be prosecuted because the president can pardon himself and because the president's personal and presidential behavior is beyond the reach of the criminal justice system. Giuliani was supposed to be making a principled case for why the president cannot be subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury, and he ended up discussing absurd hypotheticals about a self-pardon and shooting the former FBI director in the White House. Here is the back story. Trump's lawyers' letter argued that obstruction of justice refers to interference with a judicial proceeding and that an FBI investigation is not a judicial proceeding. That was the law before 2002, but an amendment adopted that year provided that any corrupt interference with an FBI investigation that is aimed at producing evidence for a grand jury constitutes obstruction of justice. The letter's second argument offered that Trump could not have committed obstruction of justice because he controls all that is done in the executive branch and decides what is just, whom to prosecute and whom to overlook. This is the Nixonian argument that "when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal," which was rejected by the lessons of Watergate. The president is not a king. He took an oath to uphold the Constitution. That includes the rule of law. The rule of law has three unassailable elements. 1) No one is beneath the law's protections. 2) No one is above the law's requirements. 3) No one can be a prosecutor or judge in his own case. The Giuliani argument over the weekend that Trump could have Comey shot in the Oval Office with impunity is not only needlessly tasteless and patently absurd but also contrary to the rule of law, and it is an invitation to presidential lawlessness. In Giuliani's hypothetical, Trump would be arrested for murder if Comey died. He would be indicted for murder, but he would not be tried until his term in office is complete. That's because the judicial system must respect the president's prerogatives of office while he is in office. If Trump fired Comey as FBI director because he couldn't stand to be in a room with a guy taller than he is, Trump committed no wrong. But if he fired Comey because he wanted to stop the Russia investigation -- which is essentially what he told NBC News' Lester Holt -- that was using the machinery of the presidency for a corrupt purpose, which is the essence of obstruction. The president can be charged with obstruction anytime a grand jury finds probable cause of his guilt, but just as in the Giuliani shooting hypothetical, he cannot be tried until the day after he leaves office. The Trump team letter committed a third error by failing to address United States v. Nixon, a 1974 Supreme Court case that addressed subpoenas to the president. The Nixon case makes clear that the president enjoys broad and wide executive privilege -- the ability to keep presidential documents and testimony away from Congress and the courts -- in his ordinary work. But the Nixon case also makes clear that executive privilege is reduced radically in a criminal investigation. If subpoenaed in that context, the president must surrender documents and give testimony on all relevant matters demanded by the prosecutors, except for military secrets, diplomatic secrets and sensitive national security matters. None of those pertains to Mueller's likely subpoena to Trump, and Giuliani knows that. Can the president pardon himself? The short answer is: No one knows. The longer answer is: Why would the president's lawyer be offering this argument? The president has vehemently denied any wrongdoing, so why discuss pardoning oneself? The president's pardoning power has no limits in the Constitution. Yet the rule-of-law principle that one cannot be the prosecutor or judge in one's own case suggests that the president's pardoning power is limited to people other than himself. It is hard for me to believe that a court confronted with an indictment of Trump would dismiss it in deference to Trump's self-pardon. After Giuliani offered his views on a presidential self-pardon and a presidential shooting, the president jumped into the fray and tweeted that he can pardon himself; and by the way, the United States Office of Special Counsel is unconstitutional. I was shocked to see that opinion because that office is authorized by the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, which Congress adopted and has been validated by six federal judges. Moreover, the president himself sanctioned Russian intelligence agents that one of the special counsel's grand juries indicted. If that office is unconstitutional, why are the president's lawyers interacting with it? I am unhappily surprised and deeply disappointed by the poor quality of public lawyering in Trump's behalf that we have seen thus far. The Jan. 29 letter would have flunked a law school course in criminal procedure. The Giuliani hysterics have substantially diminished the professional reputation of one of the country's more formidable ex-prosecutors, have offered known untruths and have become the legal equivalent of throwing gasoline on a fire. None of this is good for Donald Trump, whose legal woes continue to grow in spite of his legal team's efforts to minimize them. My son Miles hopped up on his bed with six of his favorite short stories that he wanted to read before bedtime. He had a voracious appetite for reading and loved asking what if questions about the characters in the stories. On this night, however, something changed. He finished reading the second book, closed the cover and then looked at me and said Im done. With a puzzled look I uttered, But I thought you wanted to read all six of these books tonight? Miles replied, I only need to read two to get the pizza coupon. In an instant I saw my sons intrinsic motivation evaporate. Miles now saw reading as a means to an end; a hurdle to jump over in order to earn the reward. I believe this discredited theory of motivation has done damage to our students innate intrinsic motivation. Need more evidence? Just visit virtually any school in America and you will see programs that offer gold stars, food treats, verbal praise and grades as extrinsic motivators with children. Rewards and punishments are two sides of the same coin; they try to coerce or manipulate children into doing what we want. As Alfie Kohn states I call these if-then rewards. If you do this then you will get that. It only gets you one thing, temporary compliance, but at a very high cost. As an instrumental music educator I am often asked, How do you get kids to practice? When I first began teaching, I did what I knew - practice charts. However, I found that students would lie about practice, forge parent signatures, and do the very minimum amount of time to achieve an A. As Dan Pink states, The problem with making an extrinsic reward the only destination that matters is that some people will choose the quickest route there, even if it means taking the low road. I have found that when practice minutes or grades are the focus, students will work only to the point that triggers the reward and no further. Recall Miles and his readingif students get a prize for reading two books, many will not pick up a third, let alone embark on a lifetime of reading. I believe that we need to work with kids and not do things to them. We need to fan the flames of curiosity in every child and foster their love of learning. We can tap into intrinsic motivation by providing students some autonomy. How often do students have a say in what they do, when they do it and how they do it? Intrinsic motivation is also fueled by purpose or relevance. People, not just students, yearn to be part of a cause greater and more enduring than themselves. How often do we help students to connect the dots? Intrinsic motivation is also the desire to get better at something that matters to us. Mastery is the realization that getting better takes time, effort and persistence. How often do we empathize with our students? I love showing my students this video as it perfectly embodies the desire we need to have to get better and to learn more. Educators, let us use research, not gimmicks, to inspire our students. Inspire students using autonomy, mastery, and purpose. My son and all future generations deserve the best we have to offer. Enough with the carrots and sticks! Chris Gleason is an instrumental music educator at Patrick Marsh Middle School in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. He is the 2017 Wisconsin Middle School Teacher of the Year and the first Wisconsin teacher to be named a finalist for National Teacher of the Year in 50 years. Chris is the recent recipient of the UW-LaCrosse Burt & Norma Altman Distinguished Alumni Award, 2017 GRAMMY Music Educator Award semifinalist, 2016 Michael G. George Distinguished Music Education Service Award and 2018 National LifeChanger of the Year Award nominee. Chris is a Teacher Leadership and Engagement Specialist with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and serves on committees with TED-Ed and Teach Plus. He is also a proud member of the National Network of State Teachers of the Year . Photo courtesy of Alan ORourke and Creative Commons . NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles! President Trump said this week that he has the right to pardon himself from possible crimes related to Russian meddling into the 2016 elections. I have the absolute right to PARDON myself, the president tweeted. He then quickly assured us that he wouldnt use that power. But why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong? the president asked, taking the position that he has no need to pardon himself. He further tweeted that the Russia probe being conducted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller is UNCONSTITUTIONAL. President Trumps comments followed arguments made over the weekend by his lawyer, Rudolph Giuliani, who is the former mayor of New York City and a former U.S. attorney for New York. Giuliani said the Constitution allows the president to pardon himself. He has no intention of pardoning himself." Giuliani told ABC News, referring to President Trump. It would be an open question. I think it would probably get answered by gosh, that's what the Constitution says, and if you want to change it, change it. But yes. A group of prominent lawyers, including Laurence Tribe of Harvard Law School and former White House ethics czar Norm Eisen, immediately fired back. The Office of the President is not a get-out-of-jail free card for lawless behavior, the lawyers wrote in a group letter. Our Founders would not have created and did not create a Constitution that would permit the President to use his powers to violate the laws for corrupt and self-interested reasons. This time, Trump and Giuliani have the better of the chattering class. Article II of the Constitution declares that the president shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in cases of Impeachment. A careful reading of the plain text shows that the framers made only two exceptions to the pardon power. First, the president cannot issue pardons for state crimes, only violations of federal law. Second, the president cannot issue pardons for impeachment. The constitutional text contains no other limitations on the presidential pardon power, and the Supreme Court, as recently as 1974, has never attempted to impose one. Historical evidence from the Constitutions framing cannot overcome the plain meaning of the constitutional text if anything, it supports this textual reading. To be sure, the 1787-88 debate in the states over whether to adopt the Constitution did not extensively discuss the pardon power. But in the main guide to the Constitutions meaning offered by its supporters, The Federalist Papers, gave two reasons for the pardon power. As Alexander Hamilton explained in Federalist 74, the Constitution creates a pardon power out of humanity and good policy to allow for mitigation from the rigour of the law. In other words, the president can issue pardons when the law produces harsh or absurd results, such as a small-time thief who, under a three-strikes law, might go to jail for life for stealing a pizza. Mercy has propelled most of the pardons issued by presidents in our history. Foreshadowing the attack of modern Trump critics, opponents of executive power argued that the president might misuse the power to pardon his co-conspirators in a treason plot. During the Philadelphia Convention, which drafted the Constitution for state approval, Virginia Gov. Edmund Randolph proposed that a third exclusion from pardons join those for state crimes and impeachments: prosecutions for treason. Randolph argued that the prerogative of pardon in these cases was too great a trust. The President may himself be guilty. The Traytors may be his own instruments. James Wilson responded: Pardon is necessary for cases of treason, and is best placed in the hands of the Executive. Wilson, however, suggested that a president could still be prosecuted for treason. If he be himself a party to the guilt he can be impeached and prosecuted. Randolphs motion lost by 8 states to 2. In publicly responding to Randolphs claim when the Constitution went to the states for ratification, Hamilton provided a second, broader justification for the pardon power and rejected limits on its self-dealing use. According to Hamilton in Federalist 74, the anti-Federalists argued that the connivance of the chief magistrate ought not to be entirely excluded in cases of treason. They demanded instead that the Constitution give Congress the power to pardon. Hamilton refused to accept a limit on the pardon power, even for those who conspire with the president, even for the president himself. Instead, Hamilton explained that an unfettered pardon power could be critical to ending public disorder or civil war. In seasons of insurrection or rebellion, there are often critical moments, when a well-timed offer of pardon to the insurgents or rebels may restore the tranquility of the commonwealth, Hamilton wrote. Only the president, Hamilton argued, could act vigorously in times of crisis and use pardons to restore the tranquility of the commonwealth. Hamiltons argument on the pardon power advanced his core thesis that the Constitution must concentrate the executive power in a single person, the president, so that the nation could act with decisiveness, speed and energy. Hamiltons wisdom undoubtedly served the nation well during the Civil War, when President Abraham Lincoln used not only the executive power to respond energetically to the existential threat of secession, but also used the pardon power to begin the process of national healing. The benefits of such a power, Hamilton believed, outweighed the possibilities that a future president might use pardons to corruptly benefit himself. Attempts to read an anti-self-dealing principle into the pardon power, where none appears in the text, are incorrect. They amount to the type of judicial activism that has undermined the legitimacy of the Supreme Court and does violence to the process for democratic self-government written into the Constitution. But just because President Trump has the constitutional power to pardon himself, prudence and political tradition urge him against using it. If President Trump believes that Mueller is acting improperly, the remedy is to fire Mueller, not to preemptively pardon himself and everyone subject to the investigation. Indeed, a self-pardon could rise to the level of a high Crime and misdemeanor sufficient to launch impeachment proceedings against President Trump. Impeachment remains the Constitutions mechanism for punishing, in Hamiltons words, the misconduct of public men, or, in other words, from the abuse or violation of some public trust. If President Trump were to use the pardon power for himself, even if constitutionally possible, he could provide Congress the grounds it needs to remove him from office. The Justice Department signaled Wednesday in a letter to Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will not recuse himself from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation unless department officials find it necessary. Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd wrote that Rosenstein "would recuse from all or part of any matter if recusal were deemed appropriate by Department officials who are informed about the matter. "Otherwise," Boyd continued, "[Rosenstein] has a responsibility to fulfill his oath to well and faithfully execute the duties of his office." Graham sent a letter to Rosenstein last week asking the deputy attorney general whether he considered himself a "potential witness" in the Mueller probe due to his role in the firing of FBI Director James Comey. President Trump cited a memo authored by Rosenstein to justify Comey's dismissal in May 2017. Fox News reported last week that Rosenstein claimed to since-ousted FBI official Andrew McCabe that Trump had asked Rosenstein to reference Russia in his recommendation to fire Comey. Rosenstein declined, and instead focused on Comey's handling of the Hillary Clinton email probe. A source with knowledge of the investigation told Fox News that Trump just wanted Rosenstein to mention that Comey told him he was not under investigation in the Russia case. Trump himself, though, also has cited the Russia probe in explaining his decision to fire Comey. Rosenstein appointed Mueller to oversee the Russia investigation after the recusal of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a move that repeatedly has drawn Trump's ire. Fox News' Catherine Herridge and Judson Berger contributed to this report. A media report that the Justice Department's watchdog has prepared a draft assessment that chastises James Comey for defying authority is putting the former FBI boss' leadership style under the microscope. Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz has been exploring the DOJ's and FBI's actions during the 2016 presidential campaign, including whether Comey exceeded his authority in July 2016 when he publicly discussed the Hillary Clinton email investigation and recommended against charges. That decision angered Democrats because the responsibility for the criminal case ultimately rested with his boss at the time, former Attorney General Loretta Lynch. Comey has since explained that Lynch's infamous June 2016 Phoenix tarmac meeting with former President Bill Clinton during the probe, as well as other non-public and unconfirmed intelligence that may have suggested Lynch would short-circuit the investigation, led him to go public with the FBI's findings that Hillary Clinton had been "extremely careless." A source cited by ABC News claimed the report by the DOJ watchdog specifically called Comey "insubordinate," with much of the criticism centering on the way he handled the reopening of the Clinton email probe in the days leading up to Election Day in 2016. Fox News has not confirmed the ABC report. Horowitz's report also takes aim at Lynch, according to ABC News. Comey has testified before Congress that Lynch advised him to call the criminal probe of Clinton a "matter," rather than an investigation. Comey said that language concerned him. The DOJ IG's reported rebuke of Comey, whom President Trump has called an "untruthful slime ball" after firing him last year, contradicts the by-the-book, responsible image Comey has carefully cultivated since leaving office. On Oct. 28, 2016, Comey publicly notified Congress that the investigation would be reopened because new emails had been discovered that might contain classified information. Comey was said to have ignored at least one superior in the Justice Department who said that commenting publicly on the ongoing investigation would violate policy, in addition to impermissibly interfering with the presidential campaign so close to Election Day, sources told ABC News. The reported criticisms in the draft DOJ assessment would echo the scathing critique laid out against Comey in a memo by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein last year, before Trump decided to fire him. In the memo to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Rosenstein was particularly critical of Comey's unilateral decision to hold a press conference in July 2016, in which he announced that Hillary Clinton had been "extremely careless" in handling classified information but that "no reasonable prosecutor" would pursue the case. GREGG JARRETT: POSSIBLE IMMUNITY FOR MCCABE PUTS COMEY IN THE HOTSEAT It is not the function of the Director to make such an announcement, Rosenstein wrote, saying that Comey should have simply referred the case to prosecutors without staging a dramatic, analysis-filled press conference. Rosenstein also faulted Comey for publicly reopening the Clinton email probe in October, citing several DOJ officials who called the move "inappropriate." In his recently released book, "A Higher Loyalty," Comey called for "ethical leadership" in Washington, even as several commentators questioned whether he had lived up to that standard. Horowitz's final report is expected to be released soon. The watchdog's review had broad bipartisan support when it began in January 2017. Wishing Muslims around the world a "Ramadan Mubarak" -- a blessed holiday -- President Donald Trump on Wednesday hosted his first White House dinner for Islam's holy month of Ramadan, an overture that surprised many in the Muslim community after he skipped hosting such a meal last year. Speaking at an iftar dinner, which breaks the daylong fast, Trump offered a message of unity, recognizing members of the Muslim community at home and abroad. "In gathering together this evening, we honor a sacred tradition of one of the world's great religions," he told an intimate audience that included Cabinet members and ambassadors from many Muslim-majority nations including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. It was a dramatic departure from the inflammatory rhetoric Trump used during his campaign, when he called for a "complete and total shutdown" of Muslims entering the country, compared Syrian refugees fleeing civil war to a deadly snake and declared, "I think Islam hates us" in an interview with CNN. Instead, Trump spoke of "the renewed bonds of friendship and cooperation" forged with "valued partners" from across the Middle East and said Iftars "mark the coming together of families and friends to celebrate a timeless message of peace, clarity and love. There is great love." He recalled his visit last year to Saudi Arabia -- his first foreign trip -- as "one of the great two days of my life." "Only by working together can we achieve a future of security and prosperity for all," he said. The dinner came as the Supreme Court considers legal challenges to Trump's travel ban, which critics say unfairly targets some Muslim-majority countries. A ruling is expected as early as this month. Several Muslim civil rights groups pushed back, organizing a "NOT Trump's Iftar" protest at a park across from the White House. The groups say Trump's heated rhetoric has contributed to an increase in bullying and discrimination against Muslim Americans. Sharif Aly, CEO of Islamic Relief USA, a humanitarian and advocacy organization, said the group was glad to see the White House had reinstated the iftar, "an event that should be hosted every year, just like the Easter Egg Roll, the Passover Seder and Christmas Open House." But he urged the administration "to actively engage on issues impacting our beneficiaries," including the travel ban and proposed cuts to social welfare programs. During his presidential campaign, Trump called for a "complete and total shutdown" of Muslims entering the United States. Last year, he drew international criticism for retweeting anti-Muslim videos posted by a far-right group in Britain. And his decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital was seen by many critics as an unnecessary provocation in the Muslim world. The White House has defended Trump's policies as necessary for national security. Iftar dinners have been held regularly at the White House since the Clinton administration as a form of outreach to the Muslim world. Shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, President George W. Bush hosted ambassadors and diplomats in celebration of Ramadan, declaring "evil has no holy days." President Barack Obama took up the tradition, saying that discriminating against Muslim Americans "feeds the lie" that the West is at war with their religion. Last year, Trump broke tradition. Instead of hosting a dinner, the White House issued a statement on the Islamic holiday that focused heavily on the threat of terrorism, noting that recent attacks "steel our resolve to defeat the terrorists and their perverted ideology." The White House struck a considerably warmer tone last month, when it released a statement from the president declaring "Ramadan Mubarak," a common greeting in Islam for a blessed holiday. The statement praised the Constitution for ensuring Muslims can observe the holiday "unimpeded by government" and did not mention terrorism. "Ramadan reminds us of the richness Muslims add to the religious tapestry of American life," the statement said. The current version of Trump's travel ban applies to travelers from five countries with overwhelmingly Muslim populations -- Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. It also affects two non-Muslim countries, blocking travelers from North Korea and some Venezuelan government officials and their families. Former President Bill Clinton has said that he had a chance to "end" North Korea's missile program near the end of his second term, but was persuaded not to make the required trip to the totalitarian state by the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. "I had a chance at the end of my presidency -- I kind of regret this now, but I would do the same thing again [if] faced with it -- to end their missile program, but I would have had to go to North Korea," Clinton told NBC's "Today" in an interview that aired Monday. "But I couldn't do that and finish the Middle East peace," Clinton went on. "And Arafat begged me not to go and then backed out on his promise." FROM TRUMP TO CLINTON, HOW US PRESIDENTS HAVE DEALT WITH NORTH KOREA When NBC's Craig Melvin pressed Clinton on whether he regretted not going to North Korea, the former president said: "I made the right decision. That is, if we had peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis, especially back then, it would have been better, but I regret that I didn't end their missile program." Clinton did not elaborate on why Arafat asked him not to make the trip. The North Korean regime has long provided weapons and other support to Palestinian militants and Arafat made multiple trips to Pyongyang before his death in 2004. Trump and other members of his administration have criticized past presidents, including Clinton, for being too tolerant of North Korea's nuclear ambitions. In his interview with NBC, Clinton pointed out: "We had eight years when I was president where, because of a deal that I made early [in 1994], there was no fissile material produced." When asked about the upcoming Singapore summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Clinton said, "we should want this to succeed." "We shouldnt be too quick to say it fails if it doesnt cross every T and dot every I," the former president added. "In these deals, you have to make a compromise, and so the test that the Americans should have when its over is: If both sides do what they promise to do, will we be better off? If the other side doesnt, can we get out of this without more harm? "If the answer to both those questions is yes, then we should say the summit was a success and worth doing." President Trumps overall job rating is holding steady, buoyed by a record number approving of his handling of the economy. A Fox News poll released Thursday also finds that most like that hes meeting with North Korea. Forty-five percent of voters approve of the presidents performance, while 51 percent disapprove. It was 44-53 percent in April. Trumps highest approval, 48 percent, came in February 2017, soon after taking office. READ THE COMPLETE POLL RESULTS. While more voters strongly disapprove (41 percent) than strongly approve (27 percent), that 14-point intensity gap is down from a high of 24 points in October 2017. The president gets net negative ratings for his handling of immigration (43 percent approve vs. 52 percent disapprove), foreign policy (42-49), and international trade (41-49). A strong jobs report released June 1 showed the U.S. with a seasonally adjusted 3.8 percent unemployment rate. The president seems to get some credit for that. His handling of the economy brings his most positive job ratings, as a record 52 percent approve, while 41 percent disapprove. There was a bump in economic optimism when Trump first took office: the number feeling optimistic went from 49 percent (January 2016) to 66 percent (January 2017). Now, that number sits at 59 percent. Since his inauguration, optimism is up 19 percentage points among Republicans, down 31 points among Democrats, and holding steady among independents. Optimism is increasing on North Korea, as more voters now think it could be convinced to give up its nuclear weapons. Twenty-eight percent feel that way, up 12 points from 16 percent three months ago (March 2018). Still, a majority, 60 percent, says North Korea wont let go of its nukes. By a narrow margin, voters think war with North Korea is less likely than it was two years ago (33 percent less likely, 28 percent more likely, 35 percent the same), and most approve of the president meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un (66-24 percent). More expect Trump (40 percent) than Kim (30 percent) to negotiate the better deal. Americans have mixed feelings on North Korea. They want the U.S. to negotiate with Kim Jong Un even though they doubt the North Koreans would ever concede on the main sticking point between our countries: nuclear weapons, says Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who conducts the Fox News poll with Democrat Chris Anderson. They also seem to think President Trump might be able to get a good deal, even though no one has a clue as to what that deal might entail. In March, Trump expressed interest in meeting with Kim and the administration announced May 10 that a U.S.-North Korea summit was in the works for June 12. After being cancelled briefly in late May, the summit is officially back on the schedule. Since March, approval of the summit has ticked up by three points, while the number who think Trump will get the better deal has narrowed by six points. Voters explain why they approve (or disapprove) of President Trump President Trumps job rating stands at 45 percent approve vs. 51 percent disapprove. Okay. But why do voters think hes doing a good job or a bad job? The latest Fox News poll asks voters to explain in their own words what is behind their approval or disapproval of the president. Most could give fairly specific answers, as youll see below. The top reasons for approving of President Trump are hes helping the economy (24 percent), getting things done (18 percent), keeping his promises (17 percent), putting America first (10 percent), shaking things up (7 percent), and cutting taxes (6 percent). Among those disapproving, the most popular reasons are he doesnt know what hes doing (22 percent), he doesnt have the temperament (20 percent), while others say hes divisive or racist (13 percent), corrupt (9 percent), and lies (7 percent). Six percent say they are afraid hell start a war. Opinions of how the president is doing are underpinned by strong and specific beliefs about the fundamental character of Donald Trump, says Anderson. Dont expect his approval rating to change unless something happens to challenge core beliefs about him personally. The Fox News poll is based on landline and cellphone interviews with 1,001 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from June 3-6, 2018. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points for all registered voters. A Republican congressional hopeful said Tuesday he would use my Second Amendment if his daughter dated someone who treated her like President Trump treats women. Danny Stockstill, a business owner and Southern Baptist pastor, took the swipe at Trump during a forum with other GOP congressional candidates in Tulsa. He said he would also not allow his son to exhibit similar behavior toward women, Tulsa World reported. If my daughter ever dates a man who treated her like he treats women, Im going to use my Second Amendment, Stockstill continued. If I ever find out my son has treated women the way he has, I dont care how old [my son] is, Im going to come down on him. According to Tulsa World, the candidates were encouraged at the forum to criticize the president. If my daughter ever dates a man who treated her like [Trump] treats women, Im going to use my Second Amendment. Danny Stockstill Stockstill derided Trumps alleged affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels. I despise the fact he thinks its OK to have an affair with a porn star, pay her off and pretend like it doesnt matter, Stockstill reportedly said at the forum. Trump has acknowledged a payment was made to Stormy Daniels in connection with a non-disclosure agreement. However, he continues to deny the affair, tweeting last month that the agreement was only used "to stop the false and extortionist accusations made by her about an affair." Stockstill is up against four other candidates vying for the Republican nomination for Oklahomas 1st congressional district. The seat was left vacant earlier this year after Jim Bridenstine became the newest NASA administrator. The primary election is later this month. Trump took Oklahoma in the 2016 presidential election, defeating Democrat Hillary Clinton by about 36 points. Two senior Republicans are raising red flags about a major environmental group's ties to China, suggesting the organization is "at risk" of being "coerced" and might even need to register as a foreign agent. House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop, R-Utah, and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chairman Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., sent a letter Tuesday to Natural Resources Defense Council President Rhea Suh seeking clarification on the groups advocacy work. The committee is concerned about the NRDCs role in aiding Chinas perception management efforts with respect to pollution control and its international standing on environmental issues in ways that may be detrimental to the United States, the Republicans wrote. Specifically, they raised concerns that NRDC reports and other statements "consistently praise" China's environmental initiatives, and that their "need to maintain access to Chinese officials" has influenced their work in the U.S. -- and may require registration as a foreign agent. The lawmakers asked the NRDC for a variety of documents, including those explaining why the group is not registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA, considering its relationship with China. ENVIRONMENTAL RED TAPE STALLS BORDER AGENTS TRYING TO FILL DRUG-SMUGGLER TUNNELS A person or entity that works to influence the United States on behalf of another country is required to register as a foreign agent. In response to the letter, the Natural Resources Defense Council defended itself in a statement, though did not address the FARA concerns. As the most populous country on Earth, China has much to do with the kind of world the next generation will inherit, in our country and around the world, said Bob Deans, director of strategic engagement for the NRDC. Were proud of our work, in China and elsewhere, helping to create a more sustainable future for everyone, and we look forward to discussing that work with Chairman Bishop and the committee. Bishop and Westerman cited how the NRDC regularly meets with senior Chinese and Communist Party officials. The Republicans also said the organization regularly promotes the image of China as a global environmental leader. They also accused the group of self-censorship, saying the NRDC generally refrains from criticizing Chinese officials. The Republicans said the NRDC, by contrast, frequently takes an adversarial approach to its advocacy practices in the United States, citing a fundraising pitch where the NRDC claimed to have sued the U.S. government once every 10 days since Donald Trump was elected president. In its statement, the NRDC defended the organizations American values. NRDC seeks environmental solutions that are grounded in sound science, U.S. law and the public interest, Deans said. We work on behalf of every American to protect our people against dangerous pollution and leave our children a livable world. Those are American values, American goals, and advancing them is manifestly in our national interest, as we have consistently demonstrated for nearly 50 years. A lawsuit challenging a U.S. immigration policy that allows parents to be separated from their children may proceed, a judge ruled Wednesday. Judge Dana Sabraw of the U.S. Southern District of California said he would decide later whether to order a nationwide halt to the policy. Sabaw said the lawsuit -- involving a 7-year-old girl who was separated from her Congolese mother and a 14-year-old boy who was separated from his Brazilian mother -- could proceed on a claim that their constitutional rights to a fair hearing were denied. Sabraw also said he would issue separate rulings on the American Civil Liberties Unions request for a nationwide injunction and to expand the lawsuit to apply to all parents and children who are split up by border authorities. Such conduct, if true, as it is assumed to be on the present motion, is brutal, offensive, and fails to comport with traditional notions of fair play and decency, wrote Sabraw, an appointee of President George W. Bush. The judge, whose court is based in San Diego, Calif., said the allegations describe government conduct that arbitrarily tears at the sacred bond between parent and child. Sabraw said the ACLUs claims were particular troubling, because the plaintiffs had allegedly come to the U.S. seeking asylum from their home countries, Bloomberg reported. The government actors responsible for the care and custody of migrant children have, in fact, become their persecutors," the judge said. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump said the family separation policy was the work of his political opponents. "Separating families at the Border is the fault of bad legislation passed by the Democrats," the president tweeted. "Border Security laws should be changed but the Dems cant get their act together! Started the Wall." In early May, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a zero tolerance policy at the border. We believe every person that enters the country illegally .. should be prosecuted. And you cant be giving immunity to people who bring children with them recklessly and improperly and illegally. Jeff Sessions, U.S. attorney general We want to send a message to the world that if you want to come to America, make your application and wait your turn, Sessions told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt in a Tuesday interview, according to the transcript. We believe every person that enters the country illegally like that should be prosecuted, Sessions said. And you cant be giving immunity to people who bring children with them recklessly and improperly and illegally. However, the policy reportedly targets people with few or no previous offenses for illegally entering the country. "Todays ruling could not be stronger, and squarely rejects the Trump administrations claim that these families lack the constitutional right to remain together," ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt said in an email obtained by Bloomberg. First-time offenders face up to six months in prison, though they often spend only a few days in custody after pleading guilty and exposing themselves to more serious charges if they are caught again. Sessions told Hewitt he has not visited the more than 100 facilities that have detained around 10,000 children. Those are within the ambit of the Homeland Security and the Health and Human Services. But I believe for the most part theyre well taken care of, Sessions said. Homeland Security declined to comment on pending litigation, according to Bloombergs report. The Associated Press contributed to this report. House Speaker Paul Ryan was scrambling Thursday to settle a brewing insurrection among Republican lawmakers over immigration as moderates in coalition with Democrats look to force a debate on a series of immigration bills. Ryan held a lengthy meeting with the House GOP conference Thursday morning in an effort to dissuade proponents of a discharge petition from forcing the House into a series of fiery floor debates in the coming weeks. He emerged from the session optimistic but with no agreement secured. He said that leadership was working on compromise legislation that would meet President Trump's four pillars for immigration reform that he would sign -- which include tighter border security and immigration restrictions. "We are reaching consensus on how to address those four pillars," he said, before adding that "a discharge position will result in no law." One of the House moderates, Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif., said that his group tentatively agreed to an offer from conservatives, but that his group will need to see the specifics in writing first. Members also met for several hours Wednesday with House leaders as part of the move to stave off the discharge petition and come to an agreement on an immigration deal. WHAT HAPPENS IF DISCHARGE PETITION SECURES 218 SIGNATURES A discharge petition is a rarely successful gambit to force consideration of a bill that requires the signatures of 218 members. But the group of centrists -- headed up by Florida Rep. Carlos Curbelo and including other moderates like Denham -- is eager to compel action on immigration. They are reportedly two votes away from securing the 218 votes. The lawmakers want to push a fix for the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which granted protection to some illegal immigrants who came to the country as children. Trump announced the programs expiration last year, though its termination has been stalled by court orders. He has called on lawmakers, though, to legalize DACA as part of a broader immigration bill that would tighten border security and immigration laws -- including a wall on the southern border. That has not yet happened. But how to enshrine DACA protections into law is a nettlesome issue. While some moderates envision a path to citizenship for DACA recipients, conservatives -- particularly those in the House Freedom Caucus -- have called such a move tantamount to amnesty. "We've got the rule of law in this country, and nobody gets special consideration," said Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa. But some conservatives are prepared to provide such a pathway if the legislation includes up to $25 billion of funding for the wall, the end to the diversity lottery visa and the end of so-called chain migration -- limiting the number of relatives whom immigrants can sponsor for visas. Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C., who has proposed such legislation, has said the tighter curbs on family-based migration they demand would depend on how many immigrants would be eligible for the citizenship pathway. "This is a difficult issue," Ryan told reporters Thursday. "We're trying to figure out what the sweet spot is." But should members not come to a deal, Fox News is told that members prepared to sign a discharge petition would move forward soon. The petition would force House votes on four immigration/DACA bills, ranging from liberal to hardline. One more conservative bill is from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va. Another would be the House Democrats DREAM Act. There would also be whatever bill Ryan puts forward, as well as a bill by Reps. Jeff Denham, R-Calif., Will Hurd, R-Texas and Pete Aguilar, D-Calif. That measure bolsters border security and grants legal status to many DACA recipients. Whichever bill obtains the most votes (not necessarily 218) would advance to the next round, followed by a vote to pass or reject the bill. GOP leaders and conservatives are concerned that the discharge petition would produce a liberal bill, with Democrats joining Republicans to push it through. Such a bill would likely be killed off in the Senate or by the White House, but GOP leaders fear it could alienate conservatives ahead of the November midterms. In February, a series of four plans dealing with immigration fell by the wayside in the Senate, with no amendment crossing the 60 votes needed to pass that chamber. Because of the multitude of restrictions on discharge petitions, there have only been two successful petition efforts in the last 16 years. One was on a campaign finance reform bill in 2002. The other was to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank in 2015. House leaders rarely lose control of the floor via a discharge petition campaign. Discharge petition supporters face a deadline of June 11 to collect the necessary signatures, as the House can only consider discharge petitions on the second and fourth Mondays of each month. Lawmakers could sign the petition early next week if Ryan's plan isnt to their liking. Fox News Chad Pergram, Alex Pappas and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Posted Thursday, June 7, 2018 3:15 am Community members gathered at the Roy Blunt YMCA of Bolivar Wednesday, May 23, to celebrate one of their own. At the center of the festivities was Mary Sullivan, wellness coordinator and instructor at the Roy Blunt YMCA of Bolivar. Sullivan was recently named one of four finalists for the 2018 SilverSneakers Instructor of the Year award. The award honors exemplary fitness instructors who have made a difference in the lives of SilverSneakers members through camaraderie, motivation, enthusiasm and fitness, a news release from the Ozarks Regional YMCA said. The winner and finalists were selected based on who inspires their members to live their best lives, who receives the most nominations, and who is up-to-date with certifications and credentials, the release said. Mary Sullivan truly embodies the spirit of SilverSneakers, encouraging her members that their best years are now, the release said. Beginning her journey as a personal trainer, Sullivan was asked to take on a SilverSneakers class and became certified. She quickly grew the membership from three members, to more than 200 members total in three different classes. While she did not receive the SilverSneakers Instructor of the Year award, Sullivan believes being a finalist is an honor. To be a finalist for the SilverSneakers Instructor of the Year award has been a great honor, Sullivan said. I owe a great thank you to all the SilverSneakers members at Roy Blunt Bolivar YMCA for coming together and nominating me for this award. I have not stopped smiling. SilverSneakers Megan Julius spoke at the reception May 23 and said that the celebration had the largest crowd theyve had at similar events. Julius also gave credit to Bob Ross for setting up computers so the seniors at the Y could support Sullivans nomination. About SilverSneakers The SilverSneakers classes at the YMCA are fitness classes designed with older adults in mind. We offer a variety of SilverSneakers Classes at the Roy Blunt Bolivar YMCA, Sullivan said. (The classes) are specifically designed for mobility and longevity. Great for older adults and those new to a fitness routine. New classes at the Roy Blunt YMCA include stability, yoga and splash. Chairs are available during the classes in case someone needs to take a break. Most importantly we come together and make long-lasting friendships, Sullivan said. Sullivan teaches multiple SilverSneakers classes at the Bolivar YMCA and said she believes seniors should stay active and social. The classes help older adults work out with friends and build their strength for everyday activities. Its important for an active older adult to keep engaged and interested through fun and social activities, Sullivan said. Sullivan said she enjoys teaching SilverSneakers classes and encourages local seniors to try a few. We have a growing and thriving community of seniors who are making healthy choices; we encourage you to join us, she said. Jill Way and Dave Berry contributed to this article. Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani "doesn't speak for the administration" on foreign policy with North Korea, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday at The White House. Speaking ahead of the upcoming G-7 and U.S-North Korea summits, Pompeo distanced the White House from Giuliani's head-turning suggestion Wednesday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un "got back on his hands and knees and begged" Trump for a meeting. Pompeo emphasized that he thought Giuliani was not "being serious" and was speaking "in jest," and that the administration is focused on the "important things" and "moving forward." "I know Rudy doesn't speak for the administration when it comes to this negotiation and this set of issues," Pompeo said. Giuliani reportedly said Wednesday that after Trump sent a letter to Kim calling off the June 12 talks in Singapore, Kim got back on his hands and knees and begged for it, which is exactly the position you want to put him in. Pompeo also told reporters that Kim has personally assured him that he wants to rid the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons -- which the White House has called an essential goal of the upcoming U.S.-Korean summit. 'TAKE THE MAN'S MICROPHONE!' - 'OUTNUMBERED' ON GIULIANI'S SHOCKING CLAIM "I haven't spent that much time with him," Pompeo said, referring to Kim Jong Un. "He has indicated to me personally that he is prepared to denuclearize -- that he understands that the current model doesn't work. "He understands we can't do it the way we've done it before," Pompeo added. "That this has to be big, and bold, and we have to agree to make major changes." Pompeo also took a shot at the Obama administration, saying that the White House may try to seek the support of Congress to ensure that any deal reached with North Korea is a lasting one. "We are hopeful that we will put ourselves in a position where we can put ourselves in a position the previous administration didn't do," Pompeo said. "They signed a flimsy piece of paper, and we're hoping to summit a document that Congress would also have a say in," in an apparent reference to a treaty or other binding document. If that happens, Pompeo said, "when administrations do change, as they inevitably do and this one will six-and-a-half years from now ... Chairman Kim will have comfort that American policy will continue down the same path, on the course that we hope we're able to set in Singapore." The secretary of state said the progress so far with North Korea, including the regime's decision to free three U.S. hostages after a visit from Pompeo, is a sign Trump's strategy is working. "In early 2017, the Trump administration decided on a policy called the 'maximum pressure campaign,'" with the goal of "setting the conditions for the DPRK to make the strategic decision to denuclearize" to ensure its own stability, Pompeo said. "The president's bold decision to meet with Kim Jong Un grew from this incredibly strong and targeted campaign." WATCH: RELEASE OF U.S. HOSTAGES IN NORTH KOREA IS 'HISTORIC' But the hard work isn't over yet, Pompeo said, and Trump will approach the negotiating table with caution. "You can be assured President Trump will not stand for a bad deal." Secretary of State Mike Pompeo "President Trump is going into the summit with his eyes wide open," Pompeo said. "You can be assured President Trump will not stand for a bad deal." Still, Pompeo sounded a note of optimism, both for the negotiations ahead and North Korea generally. "There is a brighter path for North Korea and its people" if it denuclearizes, Pompeo said. "We believe that Kim Jong Un shares this positive vision for the future." Earlier Thursday, Trump said at a joint news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the White House that the United States would like to pursue normalizing relations with North Korea as part of his planned talks with Kim Jong Un. Trump also vowed that he would "certainly" invite the North Korean leader to visit the United States if summit negotiations in Singapore next week go well. But the president, who said the success of the summit hinged on "attitude" rather than extensive preparation, made clear he will take a tough negotiating stance with the rogue regime. "They have to de-nuke," Trump said of North Korea. "If they don't denuclearize that will not be acceptable. And we cannot take sanctions off." The Associated Press contributed to this report. Cynthia Nixon, known as Miranda Hobbes by fans of HBOs Sex and the City series, officially is challenging incumbent Gov. Andrew Cuomo in New York's Democratic primary. New York is my home. Ive never lived anywhere else, Nixon said in a campaign video. New York is where I was raised and where Im raising my kids. Im a proud public school graduate and a prouder public school parent. I love New York. Ive never wanted to live anywhere else, but something has to change, Nixon said, adding that the government should fix the states problems with healthcare, mass incarceration and the subway system. Nixon, 52, is no stranger to politics. Shes often butted heads with Cuomo over issues pertaining to public education. Shes advocated for an increase in funding for public schools, breast cancer awareness and gay rights, among other things. Shes protested President Trump and campaigned for former President Barack Obama. Nixon also received the endorsement of the Working Families Party (WFP), an influential, progressive third party in New York. In the primary, Nixon has been credited with pushing Cuomo to the left on some issues, including his executive order granting paroled felons the right to vote in the state. Heres a look at Nixons political advocacy and some of the issues shes passionate about. Public schools Along with her wife, Nixon has championed causes related to New York Citys public schools, including an effort to reduce public school classroom sizes. It was during this campaign that Nixon met her future spouse Christine Marinoni, according to a profile in The Advocate. Nixon was once arrested during a protest at City Hall aimed at increasing funding to public schools. We marched on up, sat down and blocked the entrance, she told The New York Times. The police very politely asked us to move, and we declined. They pulled up the police van and put us in. The Tony Award winner is also a spokeswoman for the Alliance for Quality Education, a New York-based organization that advocates for high quality academic opportunities. Cynthia is a public school mom who is extremely sincere and knowledgeable and has consistently been outspoken on the need for fair and adequate funding for our public schools. Billy Easton, executive director of Alliance for Quality Education Cynthia is a public school mom who is extremely sincere and knowledgeable and has consistently been outspoken on the need for fair and adequate funding for our public schools, Billy Easton, executive director of AQE, told Fox News. Shes been a very clear advocate, not just in a sort of self-interested, Im just trying to take care of my kids [way], but more from the standpoint of every kid deserves a great opportunity, he said. In an op-ed for The Journal News, a New York newspaper, Nixon criticized the Trump administrations support for charter schools and implored New York to put more resources into public schools. Gay rights Nixon was honored with the Human Rights Campaigns Visibility Award in February 2018 because she is a fearless and outspoken advocate for all LGBTQ people, HRC President Chad Griffin said. Cynthia uses her talent and public platform to speak out for equality in this country and around the globe, and in the process, she is changing countless hearts and minds, Griffin said in a statement. CYNTHIA NIXON RELEASES MIRANDA-THEMED CAMPAIGN GEAR ON SHOW'S 20TH ANNIVERSARY A year before she was awarded the honor, Nixon protested Trumps immigration ban at a rally held outside New York Citys Stonewall Inn, an important historical site for gay rights. She criticized Vice President Mike Pence, calling him the poster boy for anti-LGBT rhetoric, legislation and conversion therapy. As LGBT people, we know how important coming out is, but I would argue that our coming out has never been more important than it is right now, Nixon said. Nixon has been married to activist Marinoni since 2012. The pair lobbied to legalize gay marriage in Washington, where Marinoni is from. Breast cancer awareness After battling breast cancer herself, Nixon became a spokeswoman for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation. Nixon kept her own diagnosis quiet while she received treatment, telling ABC News she didnt want paparazzi at the hospital. After hearing the news from her doctor, she said she felt scared and didnt want this to be happening. The cancer was found early, in 2006, and Nixon was able to beat it. She also had some prior experience with breast cancer; her mother successfully battled it when Nixon was a child, according to ABC News. To treat it, Nixon had a lumpectomy and underwent more than six weeks of radiation, Fox News previously reported. Access to abortion Nixon has long been a supporter of Planned Parenthood and abortion rights, attending protests in Washington, D.C., and penning editorials in support of the reproductive health organization. I am convinced that abortion rights are human rights not only because of compassion for my mother but also because I am a mother of three, Nixon wrote in an op-ed for Time, detailing her mothers own abortion. Many of us who made the decision to become parents have experienced a unique desire for parenthood. But that in no way mutes our desire for abortion to be safe, legal and available. Women must have the right to determine whether and when to have children. That is what reproductive rights are all about, she continued. Abortion, like parenthood, is a deeply personal and sometimes complex decision for a woman, and no one can make that decision for her. Decisions about whether to choose adoption, end a pregnancy or raise a child must be left to the woman and her family to determine based on their faith with the counsel of their medical provider. CYNTHIA NIXON EMBRACES 'UNQUALIFIED LESBIAN' LABEL IN NEW YORK GUBERNATORIAL RUN Nixon was a keynote speaker at Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas awards luncheon in Dallas in March. And shes also participated in the Womens March, a nationwide women-led rally that advocates for women's rights, as well as other hot button issues such as immigration reform and LGBTQ rights Mayor de Blasios campaign Nixon was able to get another big-name celebrity to endorse Bill de Blasio in the Democratic primary when he ran for mayor in 2013: Alec Baldwin. According to a New York Times profile, Nixon sent Baldwin an email, encouraging him to publicly pick de Blasio over Christine Quinn, then the speaker of the City Council. Baldwin responded to Nixons email, ensuring her that he would support de Blasio and apologizing for lamely assuming that she was supporting Quinn as both women are lesbians, according to The Times. She would also get other celebrities on board with de Blasio including fellow Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker and organized a fundraiser for him. She is listed as one of de Blasios advisors. And for her own campaign, she's assembled a staff that includes veteran operatives who have worked for de Blasio, according to NY1. The Associated Press contributed to this report. New York billionaire George Soros multimillion-dollar effort to reshape California's criminal justice system by propping up progressive district attorney candidates backfired Tuesday, with most of his candidates suffering major defeats. Soros, together with other wealthy liberal donors and groups, spent millions on would-be prosecutors who favor lower incarceration rates, crackdowns on police misconduct and changes in a bail system that they argue discriminates against the poor. But most of the money went to waste as their candidates lost to more traditional law-and-order prosecutors who didnt share progressive views or have hostile attitudes toward police. SOROS SPENDS BIG IN CALIFORNIAS DA RACES IN BID TO RESHAPE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM In Sacramento County, District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert defeated Noah Phillips by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, getting 65 percent of the vote. Phillips led an insurgent campaign, attacking Schubert for failing to prosecute a police officer who shot a civilian. He reportedly received around $400,000 from Soros and admitted Soros' team scripted and paid for a TV ad during the campaign, the Los Angeles Times reported. His fundraising efforts received help from Cari Tuna, wife of Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, who contributed more than $650,000 to a political action committee led by Black Lives Matter activist Shaun King. "This is a good day for the people," Schubert told to a crowd of about 100 supporters after she won the election, the Sacramento Bee reported. "You can't buy an election in the county of Sacramento. Here's to four more years." "This is a good day for the people. You can't buy an election in the county of Sacramento. Here's to four more years." District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert Genevieve Jones-Wright, the Soros-favored candidate in San Diego County, also suffered a major defeat Tuesday. She got only 36 percent of the vote while her opponent, District Attorney Summer Stephan, received more than 60 percent. Soros spent more than $1.5 million in the race, funneling the money to a political action committee that propped up Jones-Wrights candidacy as she pledged to form a police-misconduct unit and supported progressive reform of the criminal justice system. Stephan fought back against the influence of outside money in the race, declaring Soros backing a public safety threat. Jones-Wright, meanwhile, insisted the money merely gave a voice to minorities and poor people. In Alameda County, in the San Francisco Bay Area, District Attorney Nancy O'Malley fended off a challenge from Pamela Price, reportedly receiving more than 60 percent of the vote. O'Malley said she was surprised the outside donors tried to oust her, given that shes a registered Democrat and was endorsed by U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., organized labor and other Democratic groups. Soros PAC accused OMalley during the campaign of implementing racist stop-and-frisk policies and Price criticized her for being cozy with law enforcement groups. FACEBOOK CO-FOUNDERS WIFE SPENT $650G ON SHAUN KINGS PAC BID TO REFORM CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM But there was one victory for the wealthy liberals Tuesday. Progressive DA candidate Diana Becton received a majority of the votes in Contra Costa County, also in the Bay Area, though not enough to secure an outright victory. She will now face off against Senior Deputy District Attorney Paul Graves who came second in a run-off election. Graves criticized the influence of wealthy outsiders, describing them as billionaires who apparently think Contra Costa's public safety is for sale. In other counties such as Yolo County, Riverside County, and San Bernardino County where wealthy donors also spent money, albeit on a significantly smaller scale, most progressives candidates suffered defeats. One exception: reform-minded defense attorney Jason Anderson, who managed to win in San Bernardino County against four-term DA Michael Ramos. On the eve of what is expected to be a tense, in-person meeting between the leaders at the G7 summit in Quebec, President Trump publicly took aim at Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron for imposing massive economic burdens on the United States. Please tell Prime Minister Trudeau and President Macron that they are charging the U.S. massive tariffs and create non-monetary barriers, Trump wrote on Twitter Thursday. The EU trade surplus with the U.S. is $151 Billion, and Canada keeps our farmers and others out. Look forward to seeing them tomorrow. (Factoring in services-related trade, such as financial and legal services, the E.U.'s trade surplus with the U.S. is closer to $100 billion.) Trump fired off another testy tweet two hours later: "Prime Minister Trudeau is being so indignant, bringing up the relationship that the U.S. and Canada had over the many years and all sorts of other things...but he doesnt bring up the fact that they charge us up to 300% on dairy hurting our Farmers, killing our Agriculture!" Trump has long called on Canada to stop protecting its dairy farmers from U.S. competition amid ongoing efforts to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). As those negotiations have stalled, discussions between Canada and U.S. turned more pointed. Earlier this month, the White House announced that it would no longer exempt Canada, the E.U., and Mexico from punishing tariffs on steel and aluminum, citing national security and concerns of unfairness. CANADA OVERREACTING TO TRUMP TARIFFS, WH ECONOMIC ADVISER SAYS The move led Canada and the E.U. to impose retaliatory measures. Canada vowed to hit the U.S. with nearly $17 billion worth of tariffs on various goods from the U.S., such as toilet paper and maple syrup, and the E.U. announced planned duties as well. Trumps comment on Twitter sets the stage for what could be an uncomfortable confrontation over economic policy on Friday. Thats because Trudeau and Macron are expected to reiterate their previous messaging at the G7 summit, and claim that Trumps tariffs will hurt American workers and damage the U.S. image internationally. American jobs are on the line because of his actions and because of his administration, Trudeau said at Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday. When we can underscore this, and we see that theres a lot of pressure within the U.S., perhaps he will revise his position. President Trump on Thursday called for an investigation into allegations that the Obama administration tried to give Iran access to the U.S. financial system by sidestepping sanctions. "The Obama Administration is now accused of trying to give Iran secret access to the financial system of the United States. This is totally illegal," Trump tweeted. A draft report by the Senates Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations found that, in early 2016, the Obama Treasury Department issued a license to Bank Muscat to authorize the conversion of Irans rials to euros through any United States depository institution. According to the subcommittee, Iran had $5.7 billion in assets in the Omani bank, and wanted to convert it via the U.S. financial system as it was the most efficient means, even though U.S. sanctions prohibited it, according to the report. The report says that government officials said in subsequent testimony to Congress, though, that Iran would not be granted access to the financial system. OBAMA ADMIN ALLEGEDLY GAVE IRAN ACCESS TO US FINANCIAL SYSTEM The report found that the plan failed only when the two U.S. banks refused to participate, citing the complexity and the unwanted appearance involved in processing an Iranian transaction. By itself, the Obama Treasury Department's issuing of a license to allow Iran to convert $5.7 billion it held at a bank in Oman was not illegal. If the Omani bank had allowed the exchange without such a license, it would have violated sanctions that bar Iran from transactions that touch the U.S. financial system. But the Senate report revived criticism of how the Obama administration sought to accommodate Iran in connection with the nuclear deal. Trump suggested Thursday that Special Counsel Robert Mueller should be looking at this instead of the Russia probe. Perhaps we could get the 13 Angry Democrats to divert some of their energy to this 'matter' (as Comey would call it), he said. Investigate! Republicans have pointed to the revelation as proof that the Obama administration was "desperate" for the Iran deal. "The Obama administration misled the American people and Congress because they were desperate to get a deal with Iran," said Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who chairs the panel. But a former administration official disputed the subcommittee's conclusion, saying the Treasury Department never authorized Iran to access U.S. investments or markets, conduct commercial transactions in U.S. dollars or open correspondent accounts at U.S. banks. This specific license cannot be described as granting access to the U.S. financial system, the former official said. This specific license was in fulfillment of JCPOA commitments to give Iran access to pools of its money held overseas. It was aimed solely to allow the movement of Irans own funds stranded at an Omani bank into euros at a European bank, where Iran could then make use of them. Fox News Rich Edson and The Associated Press contributed to this report. President Trump drew inspiration from Alanis Morissette early Thursday in his latest slam against the Russia probe, asking "isn't it ironic" that the investigation is ramping up amid high-stakes summits on trade and nuclear weapons. Isnt it Ironic? Getting ready to go to the G-7 in Canada to fight for our country on Trade (we have the worst trade deals ever made), then off to Singapore to meet with North Korea & the Nuclear ProblemBut back home we still have the 13 Angry Democrats pushing the Witch Hunt! Trump tweeted. He added, "When and where will all of the many conflicts of interest be listed by the 13 Angry Democrats (plus) working on the Witch Hunt Hoax. There has never been a group of people on a case so biased or conflicted. It is all a Democrat Excuse for LOSING the Election. Where is the server?" As with the original hit song, the meaning of "ironic" has perhaps been lost a bit. But the president was making the case that his administration is pursuing important work while the Russia probe looms over the team. The president is slated to attend the G-7 summit starting Friday in Quebec. Leaders from France, Italy, Germany, Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom and the U.S. will meet in Charlevoix to discuss a host of issuessuch as climate change and the Paris accord, which Trump pulled out of last year; the Iran nuclear deal, which he scrapped last month; and North Korea. The G-7 is taking place just days after the president slapped tariffs on allies in the European Union, Canada and Mexico. Trump announced in March that he was imposing tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum, but he temporarily granted a waiver to U.S allies like Canada, Mexico and the European Union, and also to China, as his administration said trade talks were continuing. Trump ended that temporary relief this month, seeking to pressure the other countries to cut new trade agreements with the U.S. Japan was never granted a waiver, despite Prime Mininster Shinzo Abe's pleas. Abe is meeting with Trump on Thursday in Washington. Trump is also slated to have a series of one-on-one meetings with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron. Just days later, the president is expected to travel to Singapore for the highly anticipated summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. That meeting is scheduled to take place on June 12 at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa Island. Last month, the president nixed the U.S.-North Korea summit following threatening language from Kim and his rogue regime. But last week, former North Korean military intelligence official Kim Yong Chol, who had a series of meetings in New York City with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, traveled to the White House to meet with Trump, and hand-deliver a letter from Kim. After the Oval Office meeting, Trump told reporters the June 12 meeting was back on, calling the conversation with Kim Yong Chol a great start. Trump, meanwhile, continues to slam Robert Muellers special counsel investigation into Russian meddling and potential collusion with Trump campaign associates during the 2016 presidential election. The probe has cost taxpayers more than $17 million, according to recent figures. The 13 Angry Democrats Trump mentioned Thursday were in reference to Democrats on Muellers team -- which includes 17 total investigators. Mueller, though, is said to be a lifelong Republican. The phrase may also be a reference to the 1957 film "12 Angry Men," in which a group of jurors nearly convict a teenager before reversing course. The Associated Press contributed to this report. President Trump on Thursday urged the Justice Department not to let former Democratic IT aide Imran Awan off the hook amid indications that Awan could soon strike a plea deal with federal prosecutors. Our Justice Department must not let Awan & Debbie Wasserman Schultz off the hook, Trump tweeted. The Democrat I.T. scandal is a key to much of the corruption we see today. They want to make a plea deal to hide what is on their Server. Where is Server? Really bad! Awan, who worked for Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida and other Democrats, has not been charged with any crimes related to his official duties in Congress. But Philip G. Kiko, the chief administrative officer of the House, said in April that the Houses inspector general discovered evidence of procurement fraud and irregularities and numerous violations of House security policies by Awan and other IT employees connected to him. The case against Awan has drawn the interest of the president and other Republicans, who have suggested Awan could have been involved in a cyber breach operation. Awans legal team has vigorously denied these allegations. In court, Awan and his wife are facing allegations they engaged in a conspiracy to obtain home equity lines of credit from the Congressional Federal Credit Union by giving false information about two properties and sending the proceeds to individuals in Pakistan. AWAN POISED FOR PLEA DEAL, AFTER MONTHS OF MYSTERIOUS DELAYS A court filing this week said a plea agreement hearing for Awan and his wife Hina Alvi has been set for July 3 before U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan in Washington. The filing did not reveal any details about the terms of the apparent agreement. But in court documents last month, prosecutors hinted that a deal could be in the works. The parties are currently exploring a possible resolution of this matter, prosecutors wrote. Therefore, the parties are requesting additional time in which to explore that resolution. Awans attorney, Christopher J. Gowen, nevertheless kept the door open Wednesday to the possibility that a deal might not be finalized. A plea happens in court, Gowen said in an email to Fox News. A plea does not happen outside of court. We anticipate that by July 3rd we will either enter a plea or the case will be set for trial. A grand jury in August returned an indictment in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia charging Awan and Alvi with a total of four counts pertaining to that alleged scheme, which included federal bank fraud and conspiracy. Awan has pleaded not guilty to all charges. Trump has tweeted about the case and referred to Awan as the Pakistani mystery man. Trump also mentioned Awan in a New York Times story last year, saying, Whatever happened to this Pakistani guy who worked with the DNC? Awan and other IT aides for House Democrats originally had been on investigators radar for months over concerns of alleged equipment theft, access to sensitive computer systems and more, according to reports dating back to early 2017. Awan was born in Pakistan, but came to the U.S. with his family when he was a teenager. He became a U.S. citizen more than a decade ago. The broader case surrounding him also has put renewed scrutiny on Wasserman Schultz for keeping Awan on the payroll for months, even after a criminal investigation was revealed and he was barred from the House IT network. Most lawmakers fired Awan in February 2017, but Wasserman Schultz kept him on until his arrest in July. Fox News Jake Gibson contributed to this report. President Trump on Thursday took a swipe at Republican foe Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, accusing him of being humiliatingly forced out of his own Senate seat and making a play on his name. Flake said last month that while its not in my plans to run in 2020 against Trump, he has not ruled it out. Trump appeared to be responding to that in his tweet Thursday when he asked how Flake could consider running for office considering his record low polling numbers and adding that he was forced to retire. How could Jeff Flake, who is setting record low polling numbers in Arizona and was therefore humiliatingly forced out of his own Senate seat without even a fight (and who doesnt have a clue), think about running for office, even a lower one, again? he asked. Lets face it, hes a Flake! he added. Trump and Flake, who is retiring after the midterm elections,, have long thrown barbs at one another. Last month the moderate senator said that the presidency has been debased by Trump and accused him of having a bottomless appetite for destruction and division. Flake has stepped into the role of Trump critic from within the Republican Party. Last year he released a book: Conscience of a Conservative: A Rejection of Destructive Politics and a Return to Principle. Recently he has been a vocal opponent of Trumps tariffs on aluminium and steel imports, as well as voting against Trumps pick for CIA nominee, Gina Haspel. Flakes barbs have been so intense that they have sometimes drawn criticism from GOP leadership. In January, Flake accused Trump of using Stalinist language and promoting global instability with his criticism of the media. It is a testament to the condition of our democracy that our own president uses words infamously spoken by Joseph Stalin to describe his enemies, he said. Comparing the leader of the free world to murderous dictators is absurd," Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel tweeted in response. "Youve gone too far." Seven of the worlds most powerful leaders are scheduled to gather this weekend in Canada for the annual G7 summit. This years G7 summit is hosted in Charlevoix, the riverside region in Quebec, on June 8-9. This vibrant region captures everything that our country is about -- from bilingualism, to cultural diversity, to stunning scenery in every season, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said. I look forward to welcoming my counterparts this year in beautiful Charlevoix. Im sure they will fall in love with the region, just as Canadians have done for generations. Read on for a look at the 44th G7 summit. What is the G7? Officially the Group of Seven, the G7 is the gathering of seven of the worlds most industrialized nations. This group is comprised of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S. The leaders for this years summit include: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, British Prime Minister Theresa May and President Trump. According to the G7, the European Union is also considered a non-enumerated member of the group but doesnt chair or host the summit. The president of the European Council has attended every summit since 1981, and Donald Tusk, the current president, is expected to attend the 2018 gathering. For several decades, the group was referred to as the G8, as it included Russia. But Russia was suspended from the group in 2014 following the annexation of Crimea. As he was leaving for the summit, Trump suggested Russia should be added back "It doesn't matter what you call it. It used to be G8; now Russia is out," Trump told reporters. "Why are we having a meeting without Russia? Would recommend Russia should be a part of it." How does the summit -- and presidency -- work? Each country in the group takes a turn holding what is called the presidency every year -- with this year being Canada. During its turn, the country that holds the presidency is responsible for hosting the summit, setting the agenda and acting as speaker for the entire G7. It also schedules preparatory meetings ahead of the summit. Representatives from the G7 nations, known as sherpas, attend those gatherings. The order for the presidency is as follows: France, the U.S., the U.K., Germany, Japan, Italy and Canada. This will be the sixth time Canada has hosted the G7 summit, with the last one being in Muskoka, Ontario in 2010. The summit is considered to be the highest-profile event of the entire G7 presidency. Its an opportunity for the heads of state or government from each G7 nation to gather together -- potentially along with leaders of other governments and international organizations. Are there any themes this year? The Canadian G7 presidency has 5 themes this year: Investing in growth that works for everyone Preparing for jobs of the future Advancing gender equality and womens empowerment Working together on climate change, oceans and clean energy Building a more peaceful and secure world Canada is proud to put forward a progressive agenda for the 2018 G7, Trudeau said in a statement on Canadas G7 presidency website. The themes we have chosen for this year will help focus our discussions on finding real, concrete solutions to promote gender equality, womens empowerment, clean energy and economic growth that works for everyone. As G7 partners, we share a responsibility to ensure that all citizens benefit from our global economy, and that we leave a healthier, more peaceful and more secure world for our children and grandchildren, the prime minister said. Anything else to know? As Trump increases tariffs, the White House is expecting a chilly reception from Canada and West European countries already frustrated with the president for withdrawing from the Paris climate accord and Iran nuclear agreement. Merkel already told the German parliament that it is apparent that we have a serious problem with multilateral agreements here, and so there will be contentious discussions at the summit. Trump said in a June 7 tweet that he is getting ready for the G7 summit -- which comes just days before hes scheduled to travel to Singapore for a historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. At the G7 summit, Trump is expected to hold multiple one-on-one meetings, including with Macron and Trudeau. But he is unlikely to back away from the nationalistic policies that have frustrated and unnerved allies which he sees as key promises to his most loyal voters. The Associated Press contributed to this report. The White House on Thursday slammed the mayor of Philadelphias disgusting celebratory dance after a court ruled in favor of the city in a fight with the Trump administration on its sanctuary city status. U.S. District Judge Michael Baylson ruled Wednesday that the Trump administration cannot cut off grants to the city over policies limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Baylson said the conditions the administration placed on the city were unconstitutional, arbitrary and capricious. Video tweeted by Philadelphia Mayor James Kenneys deputy chief of staff showed him dancing with chief of staff Jane Slusser. Sanctuary city, yeh! a giddy Kenney sings before high-fiving Slusser. The White House was not impressed and drew attention to the crimes committed by criminal illegal immigrants who have been protected by sanctuary policies. Many people in Philadelphia have been killed, raped or assaulted at the hands of criminal illegal aliens, White House spokesman Hogan Gidley told Fox News. Its disgusting the mayor would dance in celebration of a lawless decision that allows these dangerous criminals to roam free in Philadelphia communities and prey on innocent families and children. "Democrats Sanctuary City policy is reckless, dangerous and protects criminals, not law abiding American citizens, he added. The city has said it will turn over illegal immigrants to Immigration and Customs Enforcement only if the agency has a warrant signed by a judge. Fox News Adam Shaw and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Could not establish database connection. DB: bostonimc and SQL: --> The administrator has been notified and will resolve the problem ASAP. Hawaiis governor and federal emergency management officials were expected to travel to the Big Island on Thursday to discuss how to assist hundreds of residents displaced by the fiery eruption of Kilauea. In the past month, more than 400 homes and other structures have been obliterated as the volcano's hot magma has poured through neighborhood after neighborhood, torching everything in its path. Volcanologists say a river of molten rock upwards of 20 feet tall tore through the Kapoho Beach Lots and Vacationland. Vacationland is gone, there's no evidence of any properties there at all," Wendy Stovall, a volcanologist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), told reporters on a conference call. Vacationland is gone, there's no evidence of any properties there at all." Wendy Stovall, volcanologist, U.S. Geological Survey One of the homes destroyed belonged to Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim. I borrowed $5,000 to buy it, he said during a community meeting. Sounds like nothing now, but it was all I had. Last weekend, Kirk Rahmer became yet another resident who lost his home. I left a lot of things behind because I didnt want to feel as if I was abandoning my home," Rahmer told Hawaii News Now. "So Im real sad. Ive always considered myself a tenant of Pele (the goddess of volcanic fire), so this may be my eviction notice. Gregory Braun, who has been in the flower business for four decades, lost five acres of orchids. "Hawaii probably lost half of the state's cut-flower orchid production in four days," he said. "We just didn't believe it would happen. We were there for so long and we were so established. "Hawaii probably lost half of the state's cut-flower orchid production in four days. We just didn't believe it would happen. Gregory Braun, in the flower business for four decades On Wednesday, more than 500 earthquakes hit the Big Island. On May 3, Kilauea began shooting ash plumes 30,000 feet into the air. Thick waves of lava seeped from fissures in the ground, destroying homes, choking off escape routes and knocking out power before creeping its way toward the ocean. As it hit the blue waters of the Pacific, it created a dangerous steam laced with hydrochloric acid and fine glass. Thick vog volcanic smog created by vapor, sulfur dioxide gas and carbon dioxide blanketed a 2,400-acre zone, and last week, USGS scientists warned of volcanic glass called Peles hair falling from the sky. There are new fears that shifting trade winds will send vog plumes toward the rest of the state. At least seven people have been hurt since the first eruption, including three government workers, Hawaii County officials said Wednesday. NASAs Curiosity Mars rover has found organic molecules on Mars, the space agency revealed in a major announcement Thursday. During a press conference at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Goddard, Md., and NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., scientists noted that the molecules provide fresh insight into the Red Planet. We found organic molecules in rocks from an ancient lake bed, explained Jen Eigenbrode, research scientist at Goddard. A variety of molecules were identified, she added. The rocks are billions of years old, according to NASA. MARS CURIOSITY ROVER'S SURPRISING FINDS FROM THE RED PLANET THROUGH THE YEARS While NASA was at pains to explain that it has not discovered life on Mars, the organic molecules could provide vital clues. Organic compounds are fundamental to our search for life, said Paul Mahaffy, director of the Solar System Exploration Division at Goddard. Described as the most technologically advanced rover ever built, Curiosity launched on Nov. 26, 2011. The rover landed on Mars' Gale Crate on Aug. 6, 2012, with the goal of determining whether Mars was ever able to support microbial life. Eigenbrode explained that the organic molecules found on Mars are not specific evidence of life. "They could have come from things that are non-biological," she said. SPACEX FALCON HEAVY LAUNCH WOWS SPACE EXPERTS, HERALDS NEW ERA OF EXPLORATION Nonetheless, the molecules could provide a vital guide for scientists in their search for life on Mars. "All life that we know of is based on organic molecules," Eigenbrode explained. 'There's a whole suite of chemical and physical things that we could measure to find signatures of life." The rover has already delivered some important scientific results. In 2013, for example, analysis of a rock sample collected by the vehicle showed that ancient Mars could have supported living microbes. In 2014 the rover measured a tenfold spike in methane, an organic chemical, in the atmosphere around it. At that time, the robotic laboratory also detected other organic molecules in a rock-powder sample collected by its drill. The Curiosity rover is providing additional details of Mars' methane, scientists confirmed Thursday. The rover has identified "a repeatable, identifiable pattern in the methane measurement," said Chris Webster, senior research fellow at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory. This, he explained, could be "key to unlocking the mysteries associated with Mars methane." Space.com reports that Curiosity recently began drilling on the Martian surface for the first time in 18 months. ELON MUSK PLANS MARS SPACESHIP, WARNS THERE'S A 'GOOD CHANCE' THAT EARLY PASSENGERS COULD DIE Chris Carberry, executive director of Explore Mars, a non-profit organization that aims to advance the goal of sending humans to Mars within the next two decades, said that Thursdays announcement from NASA is exciting. While the discovery of Martian organics - specifically methane - does not confirm life, it is yet another major piece of evidence that Mars may sustain microbial life, he told Fox News, via email. Even if this methane is not directly a product of life, it could be indicative of a subsurface environment suitable for life as water interacts with minerals on Mars. NASA and other nations will be staging robotic missions over the next few years looking for evidence of past and present life, but these efforts should be increased so that we can confirm whether life exists on other planets, but also so that we can prepare before we send humans to the surface of Mars, he added. Mars looms ever larger in Americas space future. On May 5, NASA launched its InSight Mars lander on a 7-month journey to the red planet. The mission, which is managed by NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, will provide scientists with a wealth of data. NASAs long-term goal is to send a manned mission to Mars in the 2030s. However, former astronaut Buzz Aldrin thinks that a slightly later target date of 2040 is more realistic. In an interview in 2016, the Gemini 12 and Apollo 11 astronaut told Fox News that by 2040, astronauts could have visited Mars moon Phobos, which could serve as a sort of stepping stone to the Red Planet. HEAT SHIELD FOR NASA'S MARS 2020 ROVER CRACKS DURING TEST Other NASA missions to Mars are also planned, although the heat shield for the agencys 2020 Mars Rover recently cracked during tests. Officials say that the incident wont affect the missions 2020 launch date, according to Space.com. The six-wheeled robot is expected to arrive on Mars in 2021. Earlier this year, NASA announced a project to build robotic bees capable of flying on Mars. NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter also celebrated 12 years at the Red Planet this year. Private space company SpaceX is also working to reach Mars. Speaking at the South by Southwest festival earlier this year, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said that he expects to see test flights of the firms Mars spacecraft next year. Fox News Chris Ciaccia contributed to the article. Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers Smartphone users who miss the days of typing away furiously at the physical keyboard on their BlackBerry device can now get their hands on a revamped version of the iconic technology. Phone manufacturer TCL Communication, which licenses the BlackBerry brand, unveiled the KEY2 at an event in New York City on Thursday. With its physical keyboard, the phone is aimed at business users. The KEY2, which runs the Android 8.1 Oreo operating system, is also the first BlackBerry phone to have a dual-rear camera. The new device also features Speed Key, a universal shortcut key that lets users access instantly access the apps, contacts and phone functions that they use most often. SWAPPING AN IPHONE FOR A BLACKBERRY MADE ME APPRECIATE THE PHYSICAL KEYBOARD Powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, the KEY2 also has a 4.5-inch touch display. At a time when data privacy is firmly in the spotlight, the phones security features are also being touted. With a hardened operating system to defend against attacks, the KEY2 is described by TCL Communication as the most secure Android smartphone. The KEY2 also comes preloaded with a DTEK app that shows the phones overall security rating and provides insight into how apps are using data, as well as managing app permissions. Additionally, the device comes with Firefox Focus, a privacy browser by Mozilla that prevents web browsing sessions from being tracked. 9 CLEVER WAYS TO REPURPOSE YOUR OLD CELL PHONE The KEY2 offers two days of battery life and 6GB of memory in both the 64GB and 128GB versions of the device. Pricing for the device, which is available later this month, starts at $649. The phone, of course, faces stiff competition from Apples iPhones and Samsungs Galaxy phones. Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers Flying the F-35 all the way to 2070, blocking enemy missiles in mid-flight and using AI to quickly assist precision-guided weapons are all technologies which increasingly hinge upon rapid software development --- inspiring Air Force leaders to say software will determine who wins future wars. In a future war we could be changing software every day as a necessary factor for winning, Dr. Will Roper, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, recently told reporters. This modern phenomenon, wherein weapons systems are more computer-reliant, fosters a complex two-fold dynamic; it brings unprecedented combat advantages, yet also requires cyber-hardening networks and accelerating software modernization. Software upgrades, for instance, can give radar systems new threat information, provide improved seeker guidance for weapons and massively shorten sensor-to-shooter time by connecting otherwise disconnected networks and weapons platforms to one another in real-time. Such technical advances, relying upon fast-emerging new computer algorithms, exponentially increase commanders ability to both see threats and attack enemies. All of this is fortified by growing applications of computer automation and AI. AI lives on getting software right, Roper said. While explaining the Air Forces effort to sharpen strategy on agile software development, Roper cited a handful of fast-moving acquisition programs being infused with a faster software modernization plan. Using computer processing speed and real-time analytics, AI systems can instantly access millions of pieces of information, search for trends, draw parallels and provide otherwise disparate information sources to commanders in an organized, immediate fashion. Such technological progress informs the technical basis for the F-35s sensor fusion, wherein combat-relevant data from different sensors are synthesized for the pilot on a single screen. The Air Force is looking to build upon what service scientists have described to Warrior Maven as early iterations of AI. Alongside sensors, networks and weapons, software is also indispensable to the hugely impactful areas of sustainment, logistics and condition-based maintenance. These areas, woven together as elements of focus, are the foundation upon which the Air Force seeks to build the F-35s ability to fly until 2070. The longevity, continued relevance and technical superiority of the F-35, pilots and weapons developers say, rests entirely on the extent to which it can sustain fast-paced modernization. At the same time, keeping the F-35 as the worlds premier 5th-generation fighter is not without a wide array of challenges. Lawmakers, members of the military and concerned observers have raised questions regarding cost challenges with the aircraft and the expected sustainment difficulties associated with it. The Air Forces plan to address this, Roper explained, is to implement new pathfinder pilot programs for the F-35, based upon accelerated software modernization. He cited new efforts with the F-35s Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) and the aircrafts Mission Data Files threat library as areas of initial focus. Quickly upgrading ALIS, a system which has had developmental complexities in recent years, can lower costs, improve the supply chain and greatly reduce the logistical burden. Efficiently identifying anticipated points of potential mechanical failure not only improves mission security but streamlines aircraft repairs and sustainment. Keeping upgrades aligned with new software and AI applications is aimed at ensuring the aircraft keeps flying and retains a technical advantage. ALIS is something we can work on to prove we can do a software drop every couple of weeks or every couple of months, Roper said. Often referred to as Condition-Based Maintenance, the idea is to expedite the process through which engines, propulsion systems, sensors and avionics may need to be maintained and improved. Utilizing ever-evolving forms of machine-learning, AI programs can compare new data with existing historical information to almost instantly identify systems in need of attention. Such an apparatus also provides the mechanisms through which rapid modernization can take place. When supplied with information, machine-learning programs enable computers to discern nuances, context and relevant patterns as a way to generate immediate breakthrough progress. This kind of thing can give pilots real-time information about an aircraft failure or other pressing information, such as enemy locations. Another application of software modernization can enable fast upgrades to an F-35s Mission Data Files. As an existing database of established threats in specific geographical regions, Mission Data Files help pilots quickly identify enemy aircraft by comparing sensor information against an existing data base. Air Force engineers have been working on software upgrades to the F-35s Mission Data Files at Eglin AFB, Fla. These kinds of rapid upgrades, entirely reliant upon new software, will enable pilots to quickly identify new enemy aircraft as they emerge - such as a Chinese J-20 5th-generation stealth fighter. The Air Force is already working with DoD and industry partners to integrate AI-driven software into F-16s and E-3 Sentry AWACS surveillance aircraft, industry developer said. C3 IoT is partnering with the Air Force and the Pentagons Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx) to aggregate and organize structured and unstructured data sets in a unified cloud-based data system, company statements said. This kind of real-time Condition-Based Maintenance, using onboard sensors to collect maintenance data and perform onboard analytics, combat-essential information can be provided to pilots in a nearly instantaneous manner, C3 IoT developers told Defense Systems several months ago. Data can be transmitted through things like LINK 16 in real-time from onboard sensors or be downloaded upon return, C3 I0T developers said. They also say such applications are extremely relevant when it comes to tracking things like engine or propulsion systems. Finding sufficient expertise in large numbers of people, retaining the best and brightest and ensuring there are enough maintainers to see this through is also a big focus of the effort, Roper said. We are making resources of people available and actively looking at opportunities to tackle this development. I am trying to make sure that talent is available to help. This can include getting talent outside, Roper said. More Weapons and Technology - WARRIOR MAVEN (CLICK HERE)-- Facebook is facing a major new privacy gaffe. A bug was live from May 18 to May 27 where about 14 million Facebook users around the world had their default sharing setting for all new posts set to public, the company revealed. After Facebook employees discovered the bug, which occurred while the tech giant was testing a new feature, the company claimed workers went back and changed the privacy settings for all posts shared by those 14 million users during that time. We recently found a bug that automatically suggested posting publicly when some people were creating their Facebook posts. We have fixed this issue and starting today we are letting everyone affected know and asking them to review any posts they made during that time. To be clear, this bug did not impact anything people had posted before and they could still choose their audience just as they always have. Wed like to apologize for this mistake, Erin Egan, chief privacy officer of Facebook, told Fox News. Affected Facebook users received a notification on the app or website starting Thursday. The message from Facebook urged users to Please Review Your Posts, and gave them a link to a list of what they shared on Facebook while the bug was active. The news followed a recent furor over Facebooks sharing of user data oversharing, in the eyes of many critics. Facebook also said Thursday it would end its data partnership with Huawei by the end of this week following a backlash over the Chinese phone makers access to Facebook user data. Huawei claimed Wednesday it neither collected nor stored Facebook user data, after the social media giant acknowledged it shared such data with Huawei and other manufacturers. Huawei, a company flagged by U.S. intelligence officials as a national security threat, was the latest device maker at the center of a fresh wave of allegations over Facebooks handling of private data. The development marked the latest major blunder for Facebook since allegations emerged in March that a Trump-affiliated political consultancy firm, Cambridge Analytica, had improperly harvested data from tens of millions of Facebook users to influence elections. Fox News Shira Bush and The Associated Press contributed to this report. A new, remarkable underwater vehicle sort of like a miniature submarine, is on deck. Designed for stealthy military missions, the sub may be smaller than a giant Virginia-class submarine, but it sure has massive combat potential. The Proteus, made by Huntington Ingalls and Batelle, could be described as a hybrid of an underwater vehicle and a drone. As an underwater vehicle, Proteus is designed for forces that need to covertly penetrate enemy territory using water. For the U.S. military, Navy SEALs and other teams are highly trained for missions involving water. The Proteus can provide a ride to target for 6 combat divers at one time. About 25 feet long and five feet wide, things can get ultra-cozy but Proteus is nonetheless spacious compared to a number of underwater delivery vehicles on the market. SOFIC 2018: AMAZING SPECIAL OPERATIONS VEHICLES, WEAPONS AND MORE ON SHOW In the future, there may be potential for submersibles like Proteus to be used offensively by the Navy too. If Proteus was eventually equipped with weapons, then just like dogfights with aircraft in the air, SEALs could fire off weapons in underwater battles. As an insertion vehicle, Proteus is amazing. But interestingly, that is not all Proteus can do. Underwater vehicle that drives itself Proteus is also incredibly smart. It can switch seamlessly from being driven as a vehicle to driving itself and running its own missions. Heres a hypothetical example for future potential: a team of Navy SEALs needs to covertly insert into a hostile territory via an enemy coastline to destroy a chemical weapons cache before it can be used on U.S. ground troops. Six SEALs can travel in one Proteus and an additional six in another. Once they reach their insertion point, the first Proteus is instructed to patrol the coastline and feed real-time data regarding enemy movements to the partner team as it moves inland and then travels back to the extraction point. SCHOOL SHOOTINGS: THIS CANNON FIRES UNBELIEVABLE AMMO TO BLAST THROUGH WALLS AND HELP RESCUE VICTIMS The second Proteus is instructed to travel to the extraction point straight away. From there, that Proteus mission is to monitor that area. If the area becomes compromised, say for example, by enemy troops that have suddenly shown up on the shoreline, then this Proteus warns the SEAL team and the other Proteus. The SEALS notify the vehicles of a new extraction point and both subs pilot themselves there ready for the SEALs to board and return to the safety of the fleet. PODCAST: WHAT IS IT ACTUALLY LIKE DEEP UNDERWATER INSIDE A SEAL STEALTHY VEHICLE ON MISSIONS? FIND OUT FROM THIS FASCINATING SEAL TEAM SIX SNIPER Underwater drone team missions So the sub can pilot itself without a human crew. but it can also conduct spy missions with a team of underwater drones - without humans at the wheel inside the sub too. Proteus can run reconnaissance missions by itself over hundreds of miles without any human intervention. DRONE SLAYER: POLARIS MRZR ATVS, CHEVY TRUCKS, ARMED WITH NEW ANTI-DRONE WEAPON Not only can Proteus deliver humans to a target, the sub can deliver air, surface and underwater micro drones to a target location and launch them. Equipped with advanced sensors and cameras, the drone team can provide more eyes underwater and eyes in the sky for the military. All these drones could potentially collaborate and work together undetected providing reconnaissance, intelligence and surveillance on things like enemy coastlines and enemy fleets. The drones could communicate and collaborate with each other - all on their own while transmitting data back to the U.S. Navy. Once the mission is completed, the micro drones land or swim inside Proteus and are transported the long distance back to their mother ship. Why would a drone team that can conduct missions autonomously be useful? MARINES' NEW SWITCHBLADE DRONES WILL UNLEASH LETHAL MINI MISSILES This could be incredibly important and play a role in keeping U.S. forces as safe as possible. Take storming the beaches as a practical example - drone teams deployed in advance of warfighters could provide crucial real time data feeds regarding enemy movements, armaments, air defense and further threats. Each drone, equipped with different special cutting-edge tech, could be assigned its own data collection tasks within the overall mission objectives. For example, an underwater drone may be assigned to locating underwater mines that could tear holes in the hulls of U.S. Navy ships. And a micro air drone could fly out of the Proteus to search for hidden mines on the beach and flag mine locations. Information like this can help the U.S. military prepare and know what to expect before entering a battlespace occupied by an advanced adversary. SOFIC: WHERE SPECIAL OPERATIONS SHOP FOR CUTTING-EDGE WEAPONS By inserting drones into enemy territory to collect information in advance of troops or special operations teams, it reduces risk of human casualties. While it may sound impossible, Proteus and other drones working together as a team have already been tested last year at the Naval Special Warfare Center (Panama City Division) Advanced Naval Technology Exercise (ANTX) and reportedly went very well indeed. Proteus successfully delivered and launched the micro-drone team to perform their missions. Closer to home, Proteus with a micro drone team has potential to help patrol and safeguard U.S. coastlines particularly near ports, airports and other critical national infrastructure. PODCAST: FAITH NOT FEAR, USE YOUR MIND TO DEFEAT THE ENEMY WITH NAVY SEAL + TRANSFORMERS MOVIE STAR REMI ADELEKE How does it work? In the front, the mini submersible can carry two special operators as pilots. An additional four can travel in the rear of the submersible. Unlike large scale military submarines, there is no oxygen atmosphere inside. The Proteus floods with water so the combat divers must wear breathing apparatus to travel inside. US ARMY GETS EVEN DEADLIER WITH FUTURISTIC NEW NIGHT VISION GOGGLES The little sub weighs approximately 8,000 pounds, but can travel at speeds of about 10 knots. It has a special battery system that allows the sub to travel about 700 nautical miles. How deep can it go? When there are no humans inside, the submersible can hit depths of 200 feet. With military special operators inside, it can travel at depths of approximately 150 feet below the water. Since the Proteus combines long range and a large cargo capacity, it also has potential for use as a sort of SEALs covert underwater pickup truck. Teams could jam-pack mission specific gear into a Proteus such as weapons, ammo, micro air drones and communication equipment - for stealthy transport to a target location. Once the team arrives in their Proteus, then they could unload the gear and head inland. Google is facing what will likely be a huge fine as European regulators scrutinize how it bundles services with its Android operating system. According to a report in the Financial Times, the regulators are likely to make a judgement against Google in July, thereby forcing it to pay a significant fineperhaps larger than the $2.8 billion fine it paid in Europe last year in a different case. Authorities are probing whether Google is using Android to unlawfully skew the market against competitors. Some of the tactics being examined include requiring smartphone makers to pre-install Google Search and Google Chrome. Those actions gave the company an unfair advantage and limited user choice, according to the European Commission. Android is the dominant software globally, accounting for about 80 percent of the smartphone market. EX-CEO: CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA GOT 'HUGE TARGET' WITH TRUMP WIN According to Reuters, Google recently sought a closed-door hearing in a bid to present its case to senior Commission officials and national competition agencies after being told of new details and evidence that the regulator plans to use against the company. That request was denied. Twenty years ago, another powerful tech company founds itself in the crosshairs of American and British antitrust regulators: Microsoft. At the time, it had the most popular operating system, Windows, and bundled its Internet Explorer browser and its Media Player with the operating system. Eventually, the U.S. government lawsuits against Microsoft helped pave the way for newfangled competitors to rise up in the realm of searchincluding Google. The investigation comes as Google and other large tech firms like Facebook, Amazon and Apple face a growing threat of stringent regulations and the chance of being broken up because of their dominant market share and powerful role in consumers lives. APPLE AIRPODS TO SUPPORT LIVE LISTEN HEARING AID FEATURE European regulators have largely adopted a much more aggressive stance toward big tech firms over issues of privacy and the stifling of competition. It remains to be seen whether U.S. officials will target Google in the same way that they did with Microsoft in the 1990s and AT&T in the 1980s. A third case where Google was accused of blocking rivals in its online AdSense search advertising in 2016 is likely to drag on for months, sources told Reuters. Google referred Fox News to a 2016 blog post by Kent Walker, its senior vice president, defending the company's Android operating system and the "choice" it gives consumers. The far-left Southern Poverty Law Center was too extreme for the Obama administration, but it's just fine for Silicon Valley. The Obama-era Justice Department once scolded the SPLC for overstepping the bounds of zealous advocacy, after the organization labeled the non-profit Federation for American Immigration Reform a hate group. Tech giants Facebook, Amazon, Google and Twitter must not have received the memo, as all four companies have enlisted the SPLC to help determine what organizations are hate groups, as first pointed out by The Daily Caller. The four tech companies all work with or consult the controversial SPLC in policing their platforms, according to an investigation by The Daily Callers Peter Hasson. Spokespeople for Facebook, Amazon and Google confirmed a relationship with the SPLC when reached by Hasson. Twitter declined to comment but told the Caller the company is in regular contact with a wide range of civil society organizations and [nongovernmental organizations]. The investigation determined that Amazon gives the group the most power. Jeff Bezos company grants the SPLC broad policing power over the Amazon Smile charitable program, while claiming to remain unbiased, Hasson wrote. Amazons Smile program allows customers to donate a percentage of proceeds to various charities and the SPLC determines which charities receive the cash, according to the Caller, which reported last month that a prominent Christian legal group was barred from the Smile program, while openly anti-Semitic groups were allowed to participate. The Southern Poverty Law Center bills itself as a civil rights organization that is dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry, but it was accused by Politico in 2017 of overstepping its bounds. Critics say the group abuses its position as an arbiter of hatred by labeling legitimate players hate groups and extremists to keep the attention of its liberal donors and grind a political ax, Politicos Ben Schreckinger wrote. The SPLC did not respond when asked for comment on The Daily Callers report. Recently, the SPLC was forced to retract and apologize for an article that falsely asserted several reporters were enabling white supremacists and Russia while labeling them as fascists and racists; ignored rising left-wing anti-Semitism on college campuses; and labeled the Family Research Council a hate group, which led an armed man to attack its facility. John Stossel called the group a money-grabbing slander machine in a Fox News editorial earlier this year. In 2017, Fox News found at least six other groups that are conservative and explicitly nonviolent but branded as hate organizations by the SPLC. Last month, dozens of prominent conservative leaders issued a joint statement regarding censorship and suppression of conservative speech by Facebook, Twitter, Google and YouTube after right-leaning users complained of bias for years. Social media censorship and online restriction of conservatives and their organizations have reached a crisis level, the statement began. Conservative leaders now have banded together to call for equal treatment on tech and social media. The participants called for the tech giants to address the key areas of complaint including lack of transparency when removing content and deleting accounts and the imbalance of liberal content advisers, such as the Southern Poverty Law Center. Amazon told Fox News through a spokesperson: Charitable organizations must meet the requirements outlined in our participation agreement to be eligible for AmazonSmile. Organizations that engage in, support, encourage, or promote intolerance, hate, terrorism, violence, money laundering, or other illegal activities are not eligible. If at any point an organization violates this agreement, its eligibility will be revoked. Since 2013, Amazon has relied on the US Office of Foreign Assets Control and the Southern Poverty Law Center to help us make these determinations. While this system has worked well, we do listen to and consider the feedback of customers and other stakeholders, which we will do here as well. Neither Facebook nor Google immediately responded to Fox News requests for comment. Twitter directed Fox News to a website listing its safety partners which includes the SPLC. This is a rush transcript from "Special Report with Bret Baier," June 5, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS) JONAH GOLDBERG, NATIONAL REVIEW: Jeff Sessions had no choice but to recuse himself when the campaign became subject of an investigation because he was part of the campaign. SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, D-CONN.: Paul Manafort ought to be jailed, most likely I think should face serious criminal penalties for witness tampering, potentially suborning perjury. COREY LEWANDOWSKI, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: If Paul didn't follow the rules when he was lobbing overseas and didn't disclose that, then he's responsible for that. And if he has been trying to get people to falsify information, then he's responsible for that also. SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, R-S.C.: Here's the question for Rosenstein. If you're going to be a fact witness as to why Comey was fired, how do you stay involved? (END VIDEO CLIPS) BRET BAIER, ANCHOR: A lot of developments on the Hill today about Russia investigation. Paul Manafort, the Mueller folks looking at possible witness tampering as he communicates with associates. And then Peter Strzok with the FBI said to have more of a role in all this. Meanwhile the president tweeting this morning "The Russian witch hunt hoax continues all because Jeff Sessions didn't tell me he was going to recuse himself. I would have quickly picked someone else. So much time and money wasted, so many lives ruined, and Sessions knew better than most that there was no collusion!" He writes again, "What is taking so long with the inspector general's report on crooked Hillary and slippery James Comey. Numerous delays. Hope report is not being changed and made weaker! There are so many horrible things to tell, the public has the right to know. Transparency!" With that, let's bring in our panel: Mollie Hemingway, senior editor at The Federalist; Mara Liasson, national political correspondent for National Public Radio, and Tom Rogan, commentary writer for the Washington Examiner. Mollie, a lot of developments today. Where do you think we stand on all of this? MOLLIE HEMINGWAY, THE FEDERALIST: I think we are all very anxious for this inspector general report in part because we were told it would come out in January, then March, April, May, June. Now we're in June and we're kind of waiting to hear about it. I think people should have appropriate levels of expectation about what will be in this inspector general report. Obviously it's taking longer because they are finding more that they need to cover, and I'm sure there will be a lot of salacious and interesting details as were already revealed with regard to Andrew McCabe when they detailed just one instance of him leaking to the media and all the lying under oath he did as it relates to that. That was the number two at the FBI. But I think people should also be aware that the inspector general cannot compel testimony from anyone outside the agency. Many people involved in these probes have left either by being fired or otherwise leaving. And so it's important that we do have other independent people able to investigate, such as Congress, which is an agency that has subpoenaed information from the Department of Justice and has been stonewalled quite a bit over the course of this investigation. BAIER: And Mara, the I.G. deals with the Clinton email investigation but now has been extended to the beginning of the Trump-Russia probe. MARA LIASSON, NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO: Right. So he is going to be looking at those things. One thing that struck me about today was of course Donald Trump once again kind of torturing his attorney general, saying if I'd only known he was going to recuse himself I would have picked someone else and we never would've had this investigation. But Jeff Sessions still has a lot of support, especially in the Senate. He was a senator. And you heard Lindsey Graham say he had to recuse himself. And I have heard that the Senate leadership has communicated with the White House that they would be unlikely to confirm any other attorney general if Donald Trump did go ahead and fire Jeff Sessions. So Jeff Sessions still kind of being hung out to dry by the president but maintaining a lot of support among his past colleagues. BAIER: Tom, the Manafort legal team pushing back, saying they're going to fight all of this in court. But we are hearing reports that there is a witness tampering allegation that the Mueller folks are making, that communication early that Manafort may have had with associates. How do you look that in the big picture about we don't know about the Mueller probe? TOM ROGAN, WASHINGTON EXAMINER: I think evidently Paul Manafort has growing problems. The mind boggles as to why he would engage in this activity if indeed he did in the sense that it's not that hard to get inside these kinds of communications. But I think more broadly you see on the part of the president this effort to bring the Mueller investigation, anything related to collusion into the public sphere and the political sphere where the president I think quite confidently believes he can win the debate and push Mueller out. I think in referencing Jeff Sessions again, that is, as Mollie suggests in reference to the upcoming Horowitz report, the I.G. at DOJ which I think the administration will use to weaponize that angle again in the political sphere, get rid of the Mueller investigation. Something to look for though I think in the coming weeks is the man Felix Sater. I think he will be coming out quite prominently in relation to Mueller, and that will, the Mueller people think, strengthen their case to continue the conclusion. But I think this is coming to a head. BAIER: Yes, I agree. That's how it feels, but we don't know what we don't know, like I always say on these panels. Let's turn, speaking of Sessions, the attorney general speaking about the whole allegation and the charge a family separation when it comes to immigration and efforts along the border. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ATTORNEY GENERAL JEFF SESSIONS: The law requires us to keep children in a different facility then we do for adults. And every time somebody gets prosecuted in America for a crime, Americans citizens, and they go to jail they are separated from their children. We don't want to do this at all. If people don't want to be separated from their children, they should not bring them with them. (END VIDEO CLIP) BAIER: The president tweeting also this morning "Separating families at the border is the fault of bad legislation passed by the Democrats. Border security laws should be changed but the Dems can't get their act together! Started the wall." Mollie, don't know if that's 100 percent in line with what we know. HEMINGWAY: I'm not sure, but the fact remains that if Congress wants to change the laws they should do it. I think there's a bigger issue at play here, which is just that we have two competing ideas about what it means to be a country. You either have borders and laws that enforce those borders, and in fact that is what it means to be a country, or you don't. And if you have borders and you do have laws to enforce those borders, that doesn't mean that anyone who wants to come in gets to come in under any circumstances. There are very difficult situations involving people who are fleeing countries and seeking refugee status. It doesn't mean that it's automatically granted or automatically qualify. And we really should stop talking about these sorts of extreme situations and deal with the really fundamental issue of our immigration policy, whether it meets this country's needs and whether it is satisfying with the American people want. They are not getting a lot of good descriptions at the congressional level. BAIER: But, boy, Mara, there's not a sense Congress is moving quickly or at all on immigration. LIASSON: No, but what's so confusing if you have got Jeff Sessions stating the administration's policy, which is we are going to separate families from their children. It's meant to be a deterrent, just like you heard the attorney general say. If you don't want to be separated from your kids, don't come here. And then you have Donald Trump, instead of supporting the policy of the administration committee which is meant to be a deterrent, he is somehow blaming this on Democrats when Republicans control both houses of Congress. It's pretty confusing. I think that he feels sensitive about the criticism the administration has gotten for separating kids and families, but the policy which the DOJ spokesman told NPR today has been in place for one month was meant to be a deterrent. Content and Programming Copyright 2018 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2018 CQ-Roll Call, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of CQ-Roll Call. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. 070618 PRIME MINISTER CONFIRMS ARAWA JSB New Dawn FM News The Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, PETER ONIEL has confirmed that he will be in Arawa on 13th June for the JSB meeting. Central Bougainville member, SAM AKOITAI told New Dawn FM this morning in Buka that the Prime Minister has confirmed the JSB meeting to be held in Arawa. The member for Central also commended on the National Conference on the Bougainville Referendum which ended in Port Moresby today. He said that the conference has highlighted many issues that has been outstanding for a long time. The member said that he will be organising a business forum in Arawa at the end of this month. Once everything is ready he will announce the date and the venue. Ends Recently, CNN asked, with all the good news, why aren't people smiling? It's like the local skunk wondering why everything around him stinks. Their cluelessness results from a complete denial of how Donald Trump works, fueled by a confirmation bias that seeks only to prove their negative point. Take North Korea. Just months ago, it was nuclear war. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS) WOLF BLITZER, CNN: Trump's fury. The president is warning he'll respond to North Korea talks with a fire and power that the world has never seen. Will the war of words escalate into an actual nuclear war? JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: What he actually said is if there's going to be more threats, not an attack, but more threats from North Korea, we're going to see in effect a nuclear war. LAWRENCE O'DONNELL, MSNBC: The president of the United States today threatened nuclear war. (END VIDEO CLIPS) That did not age well, nor should it. We can't let the press forget it either, especially as Trump heads historic meeting with an unpredictable man with a strange haircut. But enough about Rodman. Rocket Man, months ago, he was Dr. Evil, and now he's at the table. It reminds me of a sitcom from the '90s. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: So, we'll see what happens. We'll see what happens. Let's see what happens. We'll see what happens. So, we'll see what happens. We'll see what happens. (END VIDEO CLIP) Now, before you say Kim wins by inclusion, isn't that how diplomacy works? You know, meet with the guy, talk to him? It's funny, dialogue used to be the left's safe word. We're always being told we need a national conversation about stuff. So here's an international conversation. Yet, the same dopes who condemn Trump's fire and fury now chide the opposite. Maybe if Trump says he's dialoguing with Kim, CNN can avoid another crying jag. The good news we've gone from fretting over war to debating the hotel bill. How can the press miss this? Well, they hate the guy, Trump, that is. They're so married to safe, predictable politicians whose main risk involves choosing the red tie for the fundraiser. Trump runs circles around them because in his world, he has to. I've said it before: Kim may be a dictator, but Trump is a developer from Queens. I'm not sure what's scarier. Some Delta Air Lines employees are not in love with their new $20 million designer uniforms that launched last week, but the company claims it has intentions and even backup plans to solve each issue. "When we began working with employees to design new uniforms, we wanted to improve design, fit and function, while ensuring the health and safety of all Delta people. Thats why we took three years to collect feedback and listen, including three months of testing live in the operation on 1,000 randomly selected employees," a Delta spokesperson said in a statement obtained by Fox News. "Since launch, we continue to actively source feedback and have already initiated conversations with any employee reporting an issue." According to earlier reports, several Delta Air Lines flight attendants had been complaining about the Zac Posen-designed uniforms, saying the material has caused skin irritation and rashes. DELTAS $20 MILLION DESIGNER UNIFORMS DRAW MIXED REVIEWS Within hours of Lands End supplying the new outfits to 64,000 employees, reports of symptomatic reactions began circulating on social media, the Chicago Business Journal and Promo Marketing magazine reported. "My neck after a 10-hour Rome flight...it hurts!! Who do I report this to? Uniform committee?" one Delta flight attendant reportedly shared on social media, along with a photo of her irritated skin. Delta has since confirmed to Fox News that an apron is the main clothing item at issue, though the company tells Fox News the article is entirely optional, and that the company is actively working with flight attendants to correct the issue. A Delta representative also confirmed that only a few dozen complaints were logged about other articles of clothing, in total, and that those have been largely solved by re-fitting the affected employees for new uniforms. The rep also told Fox News that all-cotton alternatives for its button-down shirts, as opposed to the cotton and Spandex versions, are available for any employee who might be allergic to Spandex. Non-wool options have also been made available. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS Before releasing the new uniforms, Delta reportedly conducted over 80 employee focus groups and polled more than 1,000 employees during the course of three months to get feedback about the uniforms before the massive launch. The design team made over 165 changes to the look based on employee feedback, before deciding on the final aesthetic. Following the uniform launch last week, Delta issued a statement addressing initial concerns to the Chicago Business Journal. "Since our new uniforms launched for 64,000 Delta employees, we have received a few reports about potential chafing or skin irritation. Just like the learnings we received from our thorough, three-year development process, which included three months of wear-testing on 1,000 frontline employees, we continue to listen and will resolve concerns on a case-by-case basis. We have already initiated conversations with each employee reporting an issue." Houstons William P. Hobby Airport was temporarily shut down on Thursday morning over a bomb scare caused by a 17-year-olds hand grenade toy. The partial evacuation occurred at approximately 4:30 a.m., according to the Associated Press, after a TSA worker at one of the airports security checkpoints was heard yelling for security to "shut it down! "My wife and I were waiting to drop our bags into the X-ray machine and go through the detector, and I heard a TSA agent scream "Shut it down, shut it down, shut it down!" said passenger John L. Mone, an Associated Press journalist catching a flight out of Houston. Everyone was looking around, confused, and people were ordered to "Clear out now!" The Houston Chronicle reports that it was a Boy Scout, 17, who had the novelty toy in his bag. The Houston Police reportedly arrived on the scene to assess the threat. No arrests were made. The Hobby Airport later confirmed via Twitter that the device was removed, and that passengers should expect delays when reentering the screening area. All flights out of Hobby were reportedly delayed, according to KHOU, but checkpoint traffic and schedules were said to be resuming by 7 a.m. local time. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS Hobby Airport's bomb scare comes just one day after another Houston airport, the George Bush International Airport, was forced to clear part of its Terminal D following a bomb scare caused by an "impatient" passenger who made an inappropriate comment a security checkpoint. The Associated Press contributed to this report. JetBlue is tightening the leash on its emotional support animal policy, accepting only dogs, cats, and miniature horses on board as of July 1. The New York-headquartered carrier announced the new rules in a recent statement, which also stipulated that passengers traveling with these animals would need to submit three documents verifying the pets status an emotional support or psychiatric service animal. Customers must inform JetBlue 48 hours in advance of their trip, and accept all liability for any injuries or damages the animal may cause on board. OWNER OF DOG WHO DIED DURING DELTA LAYOVER ACCUSES AIRLINE OF 'COVER-UP' The new requirements follow a dramatic increase in industry incidents involving emotional support animals that havent been adequately trained to behave in a busy airport or the confined space of an aircraft, which creates health and safety risks for customers, crewmembers and other service or support animals, the statement reads. JetBlue is the latest major carrier to join the pack of airlines instating restrictive rules for traveling with support animals in the skies. In recent months, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Alaska Airlines have all cracked down and introduced new policies on the matter, citing escalating instances of customer abuse and animal-related incidents mid-flight. People have been abusing this category of animals its essentially to bring the family pet along, Taylor Garland, spokeswoman for the Association of Flight Attendants, told Fox 25 of the policy changes. This issue has grown so much over the last few years that it starts to legitimately affect the people who really do need these animals. QATAR AIRWAYS CEO APOLOGIZES FOR SAYING AIRLINES NEED TO BE RUN BY MEN In January, the story of a woman who was denied boarding her United flight with an emotional support peacock went viral and sparked national debate about the ethics of the policy. In 2017, U.S. airlines flew 751,000 comfort pets a whopping 80 percent leap from 2016, according to an informal survey from Airlines for America quoted by the Dallas Morning News. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS JetBlue's previous policy only required one document confirming the passengers mental health requirements for an emotional support animal, a company spokesman confirmed. The man in Colorado who was hit with a stray bullet fired inadvertently from an off-duty FBI agents weapon has recalled the moment he realized hed been shot at a nightclub over the weekend. Thomas Reddington, 24, remembered hearing a loud bang and thinking a firecracker had gone off, he said during an interview with ABC. That is, however, he said until he realized his leg was bleeding. PATRON SHOT BY FBI AGENT AT COLORADO NIGHTCLUB TO RECEIVE FREE DRINKS FOREVER "I heard a loud bang and I thought, oh some idiot set off a firecracker," Reddington said during the interview. "I looked down at my leg and see some brown residue ... So I'm still thinking it was a firework, he continued. All of a sudden from the knee down, became completely red. And that's when it clicked in my head, oh, I've been shot." The encounter took place Saturday around 12:45 a.m. at the Mile High Spirits Distillery and Tasting Bar in Denver. A weapon belonging to an off-duty FBI agent accidentally fired after falling off the agent, striking the patron in the leg, while the agent was dancing at the establishment. FBI AGENT ACCIDENTALLY FIRES GUN WHILE DANCING AT A DENVER NIGHTCLUB An onlooker recorded the incident that showed the man doing a back flip. The gun fell from its holster and on the floor. An unintended discharge occurred, when the FBI agent "retrieved" his weapon, Denver police said in a statement to KDVR. The Denver Police Department's homicide unit is investigating, and charges filed will be determined by the district attorney's office. Fox News Nicole Darrah and Katherine Lam contributed to this report. A New York City man convicted of killing a Muslim cleric and his assistant in broad daylight has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Thirty-seven-year-old Oscar Morel was convicted of murder in the deaths of Imam Maulana Akonjee (mow-LAHN'-ah ah-KOHN'-jee) and Thara Uddin (THEHR'-uh oo-DEEN') and was sentenced on Wednesday. The two men were shot in Queens as they walked home following prayers in August 2016. Morel was arrested the following day after police connected him to a hit-and-run crash near the shooting scene. He denied any involvement in the killings. Some members of the city's Muslim community called the attack on the two Bangladeshi immigrants a hate crime, but prosecutors said the killer's motive was unclear. A 91-year-old Ohio man's passion for puzzles has gained him an unexpected Facebook following. David Butler, a resident of East Palestine in eastern Ohio, started working jigsaw puzzles last year when his daughter, Cindy Fletcher, brought him a couple puzzles for his birthday. Fletcher soon discovered her father was flying through the puzzles. Butler tells WFMJ-TV he completes a 1,000-piece puzzle in about three days, but does many in two days or even one. Butler says he's put together about 80 puzzles in the past six months, and prefers the activity to sitting around watching TV. He and his daughter hope to sell the finished puzzles to buy first aid kits for East Palestine Schools. As Butler's fame spreads on Facebook, people have started sending him puzzles to complete. An Alabama sheriff who came under scrutiny after he bought an expensive beach house with the $750,000 he pocketed from funds meant to feed inmates was defeated in a primary election on Tuesday. Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin lost his bid for re-election months after a report from AL.com about his beach house purchase. The sheriff did not deny that he and his wife, Karen, own about $1.7 million in real estate, including the beach home with a built-in-pool worth about $740,000 and a two-story home in Orange Beach worth about $200,900. Entrekins annual salary is $93,178.80, AL.com reported. Entrekin defended the decision to keep the cash and buy the home following the report. "I don't change laws, I don't make the laws," Entrekin told WBRC in March. "People don't like it. Get on their legislators and change the law. I, as the sheriff, have asked them to change the law, I, as the sheriff, have tried to give it back to the county commission on numerous times. They won't take it. They don't want it." In Alabama, it's possible for sheriffs to personally profit from jail meals. In many cases, the less a sheriff spends on feeding inmates, the more he or she can make. The origins of the law can be traced back to when chain gangs were common in the late 1920s. Alabama passed a law that gave sheriffs $1.75 a day from the state to feed each prisoner, and sheriffs got to pocket anything that was left over. ALABAMA REPUBLICAN WHO UN-ENDORSED TRUMP IN 2016 FORCED INTO RUNOFF ELECTION Some residents questioned Entrekins purchase, including Matthew Qualls, who was arrested on drug charges in February just days after he publicly criticized Entrekin for keeping the fund surplus. Qualls, who had been paid to mow Entrekins lawn, told AL.com in an article soon after his arrest he questioned why he was receiving checks for his services via a Sheriff Todd Entrekin Food Provision Account, when he knew of individuals in jail who had gone without meals. "I saw that in the corner of the checks it said 'Food Provision,' and a couple people I knew came through the jail, and they say they got meat maybe once a month and every other day it was just beans and vegetables," Qualls told AL.com. Before Tuesdays Republican primary election for sheriff, Entrekin released tax forms showing he made a profit of $672,392 from the jail kitchen in 2015 and 2016. Entrekin was defeated by Rainbow City Police Chief Jonathon Horton, who told AL.com that Entrekin called him and conceded the race after early returns showed Horton with a large lead. SHERIFF DEFENDS SELF AFTER PUBLIC OUTRAGE OVER $740G BEACH HOUSE, POCKETING MONEY FROM INMATE FOOD FUND Entrekin told WBRC he congratulated Horton and his supporters for the race that theyve run. His supporters got out and theyve done a good job and I congratulate them on the race that theyve run, Entrekin told WBRC. The Associated Press contributed to this report. An agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was shot and another person was killed Thursday during a controlled drug buy in Gary, Ind., southeast of Chicago, officials said. Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter said that he was told that the ATF agent was conducting a controlled drug buy when a shootout unfolded. The ATF tweeted that the bureau's Chicago Field Division was responding to "an agent being shot during an operation." Carter said that according to a report he received, the agent was shot in the chest and the other person involved in the shooting died. ATF spokesman Thomas Ahern said one offender was shot by law enforcement but it remained unclear if this was the person who died. Conflicting reports surfaced over the status of the agents injury. Chicago Police Department said in a tweet Thursday afternoon that the agent was critically wounded but Ahern said that the agents medical condition was unclear. The shooting took place near the intersection of 21st and Broadway in Gary, Fox 32 reported. ATF AGENT SHOT IN THE FACE DURING MISSION TO INVESTIGATE ILLEGAL GUNS IN CHICAGO Earlier this year, an undercover ATF agent was shot in the face in Chicago during a joint operation with the city's police force. The ATF office sent 20 agents to Chicago last year, about 30 miles away, to help local authorities combat the city's gun violence epidemic. The agents joined dozens of law enforcement officials already in the city. Before the announcement about the agent surge, President Trump tweeted: Crime and killings in Chicago have reached such epidemic proportions that I am sending in Federal help. 1714 shootings in Chicago this year! Fox News' Ruth Ravve in Chicago and Greg Norman contributed to this report. 070618MOMIS ON REFERENDUM AWARENESS New Dawn FM News On the Referendum Awareness, ABG President Chief DR. JOHN MOMIS told the National Conference of the Bougainville Referendum that in preparing for the Referendum, we must ensure that awareness programs ensure that our people understand that lasting peace is the central goal of the referendum arrangements. He said that the Bougainville Governments Communication and Media Bureau is working closely with key actors in Bougainville to develop a very good awareness program. It includes radio programs, a bi-monthly newspaper which prints 30,000 copies distributed to all 33 constituencies, through schools, churches and community governments and it also includes posters and SMS messages sent to phones. President Momis said despite all these, he was concerned that so far very little awareness has been made about the main options about which people will be asked to vote in the referendum, they are Autonomy and Independence. He said that we need a strong awareness campaign that helps our people have a good understanding of both options. President Momis said that because implementing the referendum arrangements is a joint responsibility of the two governments, the awareness campaign should be done jointly by the two governments, with both governments being neutral on which option they want the people to support. He said that we need objective presentation of the facts of both options. President Momis said that if there are more than two options to be voted on, then awareness will be needed in all options. Furthermore, he said that awareness must also be directed to encouraging all sections of the Bougainville community to take responsibility for achieving peace. And this includes former combatants, Panguna landowners, Churches, Youths and Women Organizations. He said that the current awareness campaign is focussed on the roles of the ABG and the international community in relation to the referendum and is not calling on all Bougainvilleans to contribute to a lasting peace. Ends A California woman was gored by a bison in Yellowstone National Park on Wednesday, park officials said. Kim Hancock, 59, of Santa Rosa, was in a crowd of people walking along a boardwalk at Fountain Paint Pot in the Lower Geyser Basin when the attack occurred, according to a statement from Yellowstone. People in the crowd got increasingly close to the animal, according to park officials, saying at one point, people were closer than 15 feet from the bison. The statement noted that people should keep a distance of roughly 75 feet at least from certain animals including bison and elk, and stay even further away from bears and wolves. GIGANTIC MOOSE CHASES UTAH GOLFERS IN VIRAL VIDEO When it crossed the boardwalk, the bison became agitated and charged the crowd, goring Hancock, park officials said, adding that the animal left the vicinity right after. Hancock was wounded in her hip and brought to a Montana hospital in good condition, officials said. An investigation is underway. The incident comes on the heels of two elk attacks earlier this month, Yellowstone officials previously said. Two women were attacked by elk in separate incidents, one on Sunday and another on Tuesday, near the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, according to officials who also said it wasnt clear whether the same animal was involved in both encounters. WYOMING APPROVES FIRST YELLOWSTONE-AREA GRIZZLY BEAR HUNT IN 44 YEARS, BACKLASH ERUPTS Wednesdays bison attack is the second time a park visitor has been wounded by the breed this year, officials said, noting that in a little over a month, four people have been injured by wildlife in Yellowstone. In early May, a bison rammed and slightly injured a woman in Yellowstone, officials said at the time. Fox News' Shira Bush and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Jan Jordan, the Broward County sheriff's captain who allegedly directed emergency responders to "stage" outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, rather than rushing immediately into the building, will be replaced. Jordan, who was in her role since March 2017, will be replaced with a higher-ranking officer a major as part of a re-evaluation of the contract the city has with the sheriff's office, officials confirmed to Fox News on Thursday. BROWARD SHERIFF'S CAPTAIN WHO GAVE INITIAL ORDER TO 'STAGE' NOT ENTER STONEMAN DOUGLAS IS ID'D Multiple law enforcement sources told Fox News in March that directions from commanding officials for first responders arriving at the school went against all training, which instructs emergency responders to "go, go, go" until the shooter is neutralized. Jordan was said to be the commanding officer on the scene of the massacre. It was not immediately clear whether Jordan was being replaced due to her leadership at Stoneman Douglas in February. Michael Udine, commissioner of Broward County, told the Sun-Sentinel that changes must be enacted "when there are reports of incident commanders being unable to make real-time decisions." "While no one is responsible for the crime besides the shooter, these continuous reports of failure in the system are extremely troubling and must be addressed," Udine said. The city, which hired security consulting firm Center for Public Safety Management LLC after the shooting, has asked Broward Sheriff Scott Israel for three recommendations for Jordan's replacement. Parkland's current contract with the sheriff's office, which includes 43 personnel, will expire on Sept. 30, 2019. Fox News' Kathleen Reuschle and Matt Finn contributed to this report. A North Carolina police officer is being praised after he helped a 75-year-old veteran who was robbed replace all the contents in his stolen wallet. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer Andrew Spottswood recently encountered the elderly man, who told the cop someone had stolen his wallet containing his ID, bus pass and debit card. The 75-year-old said he didnt have family to call or any form of transportation. "It was an opportunity to show compassion. That man doesn't know me, doesn't know my partner, just sees me in blue, Spottswood told FOX46. The officer took the unidentified veteran to the DMV to replace his ID and even offered to help pay the $13 replacement fee. The clerk at the DMV ultimately waived the fee, the police department wrote in a now-viral Facebook post on Wednesday. Next, Officer Spottswood took the man to the bank to get a replacement bank card, so that he could access his money, and to the CATS Station, so that he could get a replacement bus pass, the department said. Lastly, he took the man to get him some food because he was exhausted and hungry. Spottswood didnt tell anyone about the kind gesture and went on with his daily routine. The department found out about the incident when the veteran called police to tell the supervisor about the helpful officer. It was a wonderful opportunity, and I'm really glad to have helped him with his problem during his storm, Spottswood said. The officer, who is also a veteran, was awarded the CMPD Acts of Excellence award this week. The police departments Facebook post on Spottswoods kindness received more than 16,000 reactions and nearly 4,000 shares as of Thursday morning. A driver who was arrested Wednesday after a deadly hit-and-run crash in Boston made no apologies before he was taken into custody, saying it was just an "unfortunate situation." The Boston Police Department said in a news release Phocian Fitts, 23, of Brighton, Mass. was arrested on charges of motor vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of an accident after causing death. The crash happened around 12:50 p.m. on Commonwealth Avenue, where police said that Fitts struck the victim, a man in his 80's, and then kept driving. Police took Fitts in for questioning sometime after the crash but was released. The victims name has not been released. Hours later, Boston 25 News reporter Drew Karedes found Fitts, who confessed on camera to leaving the scene of the crash after striking the man. "I was listening to my music and as I was driving I was driving too quick, I was driving too quick to the point where I couldnt really stop and it was a green light," Fitts told Boston 25 News. "As the guy was walking, the light was green, Im driving and pressing the horn, pressing the horn beep beep, it was either I was going to die and crash into a pole. When it came down to it accidents happen." The 23-year-old told Boston 25 in the exclusive interview that he is not "stone-cold killer." "I didn't do nothing on purpose," he told the television station. "People hit and run people all the time, it just happened to be an unfortunate situation where I was driving." INTOXICATED WOMAN SLEEPING ON TEXAS ROAD NARROWLY ESCAPES BEING HIT BY CARS, DASHCAM VIDEO SHOWS Fitts spoke to Boston 25 News still wearing the disposable suit given to him during police questioning after his clothes were seized as potential evidence. The news station reported that police did not have enough evidence to arrest Fitts initially until he spoke to the Boston 25 reporter. When asked if he should have stopped after striking the man, Fitts stood by his decision. "First off, I was scared and worried because I didn't know what can happen, that's why I left I said God forbid, I hope he's OK," he told Boston 25. "I'm a real gangster, I'm a real gangster not in a bad way. Im a gangster because I help out the community and I look out for the youth. I know thats why everybody got my back, my family. I'm not scared. It is what it is." Boston Police said they are reviewing area surveillance video to check the green light, and are asking anyone who witnessed the crash to contact them. Attorneys for a Texas death row inmate who removed his only eye and ate it in a bizarre outburst argued to a federal appeals court that he suffers from mental illness and should not be considered for execution. Andre Thomas, 35, of Texoma, was convicted of killing 13-month-old Leyha Marie Hughes, his estranged wifes daughter in March 2004. His estranged wife Laura Christine Boren, 20, and their son Andre Lee, 4, were also murdered in the same attack that occurred in Grayson County, about 60 miles north of Dallas. The victims were stabbed and had their hearts ripped out. Thomas told police he put the hearts in his pocket, and took them home, where he placed them in a plastic bag and then threw them in the trash. Thomas stabbed himself a few times before he walked to the Sherman Police Department and told them that he had murdered the trio. He claimed God told him to commit the killings. SEVERED RATTLESNAKE HEAD BITES TEXAS MAN, NEARLY KILLS HIM Thomas has a history of mental problems. While in jail five days after his arrest, he plucked out one of his eyes. A judge ruled him competent for trial. While on death row in 2009, he removed his remaining eye and told prison officials he ate it. Hes now at a prison psychiatric unit. A federal judge in 2016 rejected an appeal from Thomas and his attorneys, who then took their their case to the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The 5th Circuit Court heard their oral arguments Tuesday on whether appeals can move forward. In written filings before the arguments, attorney Catherine M.A. Carroll contended Thomas mental illness went undiagnosed and untreated until after the delusions it caused led him to commit the crime here. TEXAS COUPLE SUES STATE OVER LEGAL DEFINITION OFPICKLE She also argued Thomas trial lawyers failed to do several things, including not challenging a judges ruling that found Thomas competent for trial, not requesting a competency hearing, failing to uncover and present to jurors a wealth of evidence demonstrating that Thomas mental illness was profound and long-standing and allowing racially biased jurors to be impaneled. The Herald Democrat reported Carroll argued for about 30 minutes Tuesday for Thomas appeal. The media outlet noted that if she failed then Thomas would be one step closer to getting an execution date. The Associated Press contributed to this report. It was over a decade ago when U.S. Army Lt. Col. Dan Brewer was faced with the daunting task of finding a solution to control the toxic fumes hanging over the military bases across Iraq. As a part of a multi-national force, he was dispatched to different locations across the region to examine the burn pits being used to incinerate numerous types of waste. To this day, Brewer vividly remembers what he sawand smelled while examining the flaming, open-air pits. Id get to new base camp, I could follow my nose and find it. They didnt have to tell me where it was, I just followed my nose, Brewer said in an exclusive interview with Fox News at his home in Leesburg, Ga. Its like if you ever smelled a dead animal. You may not be able to describe it, but youll know it the next time you smell it. Thousands of veterans and former contractors have developed cancer, respiratory problems and blood disorders from their exposure to toxins from the flaming pits, and many have died. More than 140,000 active service members and retirees have put their names on a Burn Pit Registry created by the Veterans Administration. In 2005, Brewer was sent to Iraq by the Pentagon as an environmental officer, charged with assessing conditions on numerous U.S. Military Bases and the impact they had on the health and well-being of service members stationed there. My first role was to go around bases and assess the problem. And it was huge, Brewer said. I mean, with burn pits. Hazardous waste, improper hazardous waste, I mean, the wastewater issues. We had asbestos issues, you name it. Brewer recalled discovering a dangerously flawed system of waste disposal, used during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, where everything from plastics to batteries to appliances to medical and human waste was thrown into these open-air dumps, doused with jet fuel, and set ablaze. This is our problem. Our problem with our soldiers and sailors and airmen and Marines that went there...And we owe it to them. LTC. Dan Brewer (RET.) The haphazard method of incineration generated numerous pollutants, including carbon monoxide and dioxinthe same chemical compound found in Agent Orange, the dangerous defoliant during the Vietnam War. Brewer was astonished by what he found. I probably took 2,000 pictures when I was there, Brewer said. Medical waste, syringes, ammunition, weapons, classified information, there are the things that were in there. I found one burn pit [where] they were burning asbestos. Thats pretty bad, but the problem was, nobody had the training to know what to do. By the time Brewer arrived in Iraq, the pits had already been burning for more than two years, spewing a toxic compound of smoke and soot from smoldering trash, medical waste and hazardous chemicals. Everybody thought this is the way you do it, and Im saying to them at the time, you know, This isnt good," Brewer said. "I saw early on that this was going to be a problem for the health of our troops. A problem of liability for the U.S. government down the road, and I didnt know how wed ever win over the Iraqis when we were doing this in their country. Brewer can still recall what it was like to be up close to the burn pits. Ive had times Id be around burn pits and youd go wash your clothes and you still smelled it, he recalled. Its odoryoure smelling it and its justthe fumes are everywhere. Troubled by his findings, Brewer returned back to the United States to present his findings and recommend to superiors at the Pentagons Central Command (CENTCOM) the use of industrialincinerators . His audience was less than receptive. They, for probably a year and a half, stonewalled me and wouldnt let me publish it, he recalled. He was eventually able to publish his 200-page report, with specific guidance and directions on how to deal with the different environmental problems from burn pits to historical culture to hazardous waste. But the report alone could not change practices in the field. "The problem [was] enforcing it," Brewer said. "Most people had the regulations, but they didnt care. Brewer filed numerous reports during his time with the Multi-National Force, Iraq. Three of those reports obtained by Fox News contained numerous photos taken by Brewer during his inspections and also his recommendation to replace the pits with incinerators. Frustrated that his plans were not being acted upon, Brewer took his findings to the head of CENTCOM at the time, Gen. David Petraeus. When we presented, we requested to meet with Gen. Petraeus, Brewer said. He was for it, but the issue with the four-star generals is they dont know the problem. People arent bringing it up to them. Petraeus gave the green light to finally install the incinerators on military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan, but bureaucracy and red tape slowed the process. As previously reported by Fox News, many of the incinerators were shipped to the Middle East but never installedThey collected dust in storage while the old, dangerous practices of burning toxic waste in open pits continued. We got a regulation out there, but we didnt have any enforcement, Brewer said. The commanders still had their own agenda, and this was low on their priority. After I left Iraq in 2007, I went to U.S. Central Command. I was there until 2012. I was dealing with this problem until then. In a recent phone interview with Fox News Lea Gabrielle, Petraeus said that he did approve the incinerator plan, but that it was just one of many issues dealt with in the frontlines of the Iraq War. [I]t was maddeningly slow, as was the case with many other battlefield realities at a time that violence was high, Petraeus said. This was an important issue, but what was more important was that we had to turn the tide in a war that was spiraling out of control. I was concerned, but more concerned if we had troops being killed," he said. "The violence at that time was very, very high. Officials at CENTCOM told Fox News a delay in installing incinerators may have been due to contracts with private service providers. The contract with the service provider had to be modified before the incinerator could be installed, read a statement from CENTCOM officials provided to Fox News. The original contract called for the contractor to manage burn pits, and any change to the original contract had to be worked out between the contracting office and the service provider. Its been nearly 10 years since Brewer was in Iraq and he still finds it hard to move on from what he witnessed at the various burn pits and the effect they likely had on the tens of thousands of veterans who were exposed to toxins from them. Retired from military life, Brewer recently became the commander of his local American Legion post, where he often helps other veterans navigate the complicated process of claiming benefits from the Veterans Administration. He also works with Veteran Service organizations like Burn Pits 360, where he helps to advocate for more assistance to service members who have fallen ill from burn pit exposure. Like many others, Brewer would like to see more assistance provided to those who have fallen ill. They managed to get back home, to get back to safety, but what about their lives down the road? Brewer said. This is our problem. Our problem with our soldiers and sailors and airmen and Marines who went there. And we owe it to them. A Georgia couple who allegedly killed their 6-month-old son and then placed his body in a hotel freezer were arrested Monday in Florida. The couple was located at a hotel in Bronson, Florida. When local authorities arrived at the scene, one of the suspects, James Mathis, 28, of Gainesville, pulled out a handgun and attempted to flee. He was subsequently shot by a Alachua County SWAT team member, according to a statement from the Dothan County Police Department in Alabama. Mathis is now in custody of the Levy County Sheriff's Department and is recovering at a local Florida hospital. Another suspect, Amanda Gail Oakes, 36, of Murrayville, is also in custody of the Levy County Sheriffs Department. Their arrests come after the Dothan Police Department last Friday received a call from the Hall County Sheriff's Department in Georgia regarding Mathis and Oakes. According to the Dothan Police Department, the sheriffs department said that the couple may be involved with a "possible infant death." Officials with the Hall County Sheriffs Office also suspected that Mathis and Oakes were in the Dothan County area. Authorities with the Dothan Police Department were unable to locate the couple, but learned that they were possibly heading for Florida. Then, on June 4, Mathis and Oakes were found in Bronson in an apartment complex, where they were eventually taken into custody. Later, Dothan police searched a local hotel room where the couple had stayed when they passed through the state. There, they found the body of 6-month-old Carlton James Oakes in the freezer. Authorities estimated that his body was in the freezer for roughly 6 days and believe that both Mathis and Oakes are responsible for placing his body there. The infant was transported to the Alabama Department of Forensic Science in Montgomery, Alabama for autopsy to determine this cause of death which at this time is unknown. It is believed that the child was deceased prior to being placed in the freezer, however foul play is suspected in the childs death, the Dothan Police Department wrote in the statement. Both Oakes and Mattis have been charged with one count of abuse of a corpse and are both being held on a $15,000 bond. The couple, who are slated to be extradited from Levy County to Dothan County, will likely face murder charges as well, according to the Dothan Police Department. Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim wanted his piece of the pie -- a place where he could call home, sit by the water and watch the sun set. In 1971, the former Army medic borrowed $5,000 and bought a house in a rural neighborhood on the Big Island called Vacationland. When I bought it, it was a lousy lot but it was all I could afford, Kim said late Tuesday night. Despite the flaws, he said emotionally, he loved it. On Monday, it had burned to the ground. Like hundreds of others on the Big Island of Hawaii, Kims home has been devoured by the lava flow from the Kilauea volcano eruption in the past month. Harry had a premonition this was going to happen, Janet Snyder, a spokeswoman for the Hawaii County Civil Defense, said. Vacationland is almost totally destroyed. Lava entering the water at the Vacationland tide-pools has taken over most of the subdivision. And thats just the beginning. KILAUEA LAVA DESTROYS HUNDREDS OF HOMES AS EXPLOSION Damage has escalated in recent days and thousands have been forced to flee the lucky ones get to stay with friends and family but far too many others have no other option than popping up tents in muddy parking lots or cramming into packed shelters as life as they know it changes forever. I dont know what to do now, a shell-shocked Doloryn Purfano said over and over again recently to volunteers at a community-run donation center in Pahoa. Purfano and her neighbors have been living in an apocalyptic horror after Kilauea ripped through their homes near Leilani Estates. Though the full extent of the destruction is hard to tell, Steve Brantley, the deputy scientist-in-charge at the U.S. Geological Surveys Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, told residents late Tuesday at a community meeting. He also said the worst may still be ahead. On May 3, Kilauea began shooting ash plumes 30,000 feet into the air. Thick waves of lava seeped from fissures in the ground, destroying homes, choking off escape routes and knocking out power before creeping its way toward the ocean. As it hit the blue waters of the Pacific, it created a dangerous steam laced with hydrochloric acid and fine glass. At least seven people have been hurt, including three government workers, Hawaii County officials said Wednesday. Thick vog volcanic smog created by vapor, sulfur dioxide gas and carbon dioxide blanketed a 2,400-acre zone, and last week, scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey warned of volcanic glass called Peles hair falling from the sky. Brantley believes there wont be any change in the vigor of the eruption any time soon. HAWAII VOLCANO ERUPTION: HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE KILLED BY VOLCANOES? He added, Its likely there would be changes both at the summit and maybe more dramatic changes and also continued eruption here in the lower east rift zone. Late Wednesday afternoon, an ash eruption at the summit of Kilauea sent a plume about 10,000 feet into the air, the Honoluu Star-Advertiser reported. As man continues to chase science, Hawaiis governor and members of FEMA are expected to be on the Big Island on Thursday to address the growing concerns of displaced residents, Kim said. Prior to talking to the governor, I talked to the head of FEMA about the situation you are in and we have to bring some glimmer of light out there in this very, very sad time, Kim told residents. Kim says there is a lengthy bureaucratic process that he hopes can be streamlined, including proclamations for eligibility for certain kinds of programs. When the governor was successful in getting the presidential the eruption just started. So there was nothing we could submit to say we qualify for this or that because we didnt qualify for anything because you have to have certain minimum number of homes but weve surpassed that now and we will go forward, he added. Kim told community members that he had the full commitment of FEMA the commitment of the governor that we will use every single avenue of every single thing we can get our hands on to quickly develop housing, a community and shelter. Fox News' Jeff Paul contributed to this report. Police in Nevada said they have identified and arrested a suspect believed to be connected to the fatal stabbings of two Vietnamese tourists who were found dead in a Las Vegas hotel last week. Julius Trotter, 31, was identified late Wednesday and was located and taken into custody Thursday morning around Los Angeles following a car chase, according to a news release from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. The slain individuals were found Friday at the Circus Circus hotel and casino on the Las Vegas strip. LVMPD said officers were called to the scene and found a man and a woman dead inside a hotel room from apparent stab wounds. 2 VIETNAMESE TOURISTS FOUND FATALLY STABBED IN LAS VEGAS HOTEL Police Lt. Ray Spencer told reporters following the incident that both victims were stabbed multiple times. The deceased were in the city with a tour group that had arrived a day prior and were set to visit the Grand Canyon on Friday. After not showing up for a tour and then being unreachable throughout the day, a person in the tour group requested a welfare check, police said. When security officers entered the room they discovered the victims deceased and contacted police, police said. NEW HOTEL SURVEILLANCE FOOTAGE DETAILS CHAOS OF DEADLY LAS VEGAS MASSACRE The LVMPD previously tweeted surveillance images of a suspect they were looking for, describing the individual as a light skinned black male adult, 25-30 years of age with a tattoo just below neckline. Circus Circus is located near the north end of the Las Vegas Strip. MGM Resorts International, the hotels owner, previously said in a statement that they are cooperating with the investigation. Fox News Andrew Craft and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 070618PRESIDENT ON DISPOSAL OF REMAINING WEAPONS New Dawn FM News The ABG President Chief DR. JOHN MOMIS in his speech at the National Conference on Bougainville Referendum organized by the National Research Institute also touched on Weapons disposal. He said that the disposal of remaining weapons is needed before the referendum not just because of the danger that the weapons might be used in relation to the referendum, but because that is a sign of our full commitment to a lasting peace. President Momis said that disposing of weapons is also very important in terms of ensuring that people can be free to vote without fear of intimidation. The President also said that weapons disposal will be vital when it comes to observers and others assessing whether or not the referendum has been free and fair. He said that Bougainville has run many elections since the BPA was signed, Three National Elections, Three ABG General Elections and One Presidential by-election and we have continued to have weapons in our midst that have not been used. Not a single bullet has been fired. And this shows the maturity of our people, and their belief that use of weapons is no longer a way we can use to get what we want, But even so we cannot rest until those weapons are disposed of. President Momis said that is one of the main reasons that we are pursuing weapons disposal as one of the main activities involved in preparing for the referendum. He said that we must all admit that weapons caused problems, yes use of weapons shut down the huge Panguna Copper and Gold mine which was what many people wanted as the means of negotiating the terms on which that mine operated. The ABG President stressed that the same use of weapons also caused many divisions and great harm to many people. He said that when we entered into the peace process in 1997,Peace became the weapon that brought the return to normalcy. Peace brought us the Peace Monitoring Group and the UN Observer Mission to assist us in developing peace. Our continued commitment to peace by peaceful means, and using peace as our primary weapon means that weapons and violence can have no part in the referendum and in any transition process that follows the referendum. Ends A man who was accidentally shot by an FBI agent in a Colorado nightclub said he thought someone had set off a firecracker before realizing blood was oozing from his leg an incident he's still in shock about. Thomas Reddington was at Mile High Spirits Distillery and Tasting Bar early Saturday morning when he was struck by a bullet in his left leg. Reddington told ABCs Good Morning America he was sitting at a picnic table in the distillery when a loud bang rang through the area. "We sat down at one of those picnic tables -- I heard a loud bang and I thought some idiot set off a firecracker," Reddington said. He added, "Then I looked down at my leg and see some brown residue ... I'm still thinking it's a firework ... all of a sudden from the knee down my leg became completely red. And that's when it clicked in my head, 'Oh, I've been shot.'" FBI AGENT ACCIDENTALLY FIRES GUN WHILE DANCING AT A DENVER NIGHTCLUB The bizarre incident unfolded when an off-duty FBI agent broke out into a dance routine, did a back flip that caused his gun to fall out of his waistband holster. The agent was seen on video, taken by a patron, grabbing his gun, which then discharged. Denver police said an unintended discharged occurred when the agent, who has not been formerly identified, retrieved his gun. Reddington recalled blacking in and out as someone called 911 for help. And then I woke up to a paramedic putting a tourniquet on my leg, he recalled. "I soaked through several blankets, several towels, a few gauze pads. "It's bizarre. It's beyond bizarre," he said about the incident. "It's beyond comprehension I think right now for me just with all the factors involved. PATRON SHOT BY FBI AGENT AT COLORADO NIGHTCLUB TO RECEIVE FREE DRINKS 'FOREVER' Police interviewed the agent after the shooting before releasing him to an FBI supervisor. The Denver Police Department's homicide unit is investigating, and charges filed will be determined by the district attorney's office. The distillery released a statement Monday on its Facebook page saying it was shocked by the shooting, the only one that has occurred at the establishment. The owners offered to give Reddington complimentary drinks forever. A Michigan driver ticketed for blaring NWAs F--- Tha Police too loudly at a gas station earlier this week now is accusing the officer of singling him out over the songs anti-cop lyrics. James Webb told Fox 2 Detroit that he turned the song up on his vehicles stereo on purpose after seeing an Oakland County Sheriffs deputy talking to another man who was pulled over at a gas station in Pontiac on Tuesday. I meant to do it to the officer, but as a form of protest, Webb said. It was already up, but I turned it up louder. Didnt mean no violence, nothing, as a complete form of protest. Webb said he went into the store, but when he came out, the officer took his license and handed him a ticket citing him for a noise violation. In a police report obtained by Fox 2 Detroit, the officer wrote that he explained to James that I was not offended by his choice of music and or the song he chose to play while at the gas station, but that the language in the music might be offensive to other patrons. Reading my rights and s---, its all junk / Pulling out a silly club, so you stand / With a fake-a-- badge and a gun in your hand / But take off the gun so you can see whats up / And well go at it, punk, and Ima f--- you up! goes a verse in the song, which is filled with coarse language. But Webb and his attorney are denying the officers statement. If the officer is saying it wasnt the content of the music, its quite a coincidence then. The name of the song being F--- tha Police, and hes a police officer, I wonder if he would write the same ticket if he heard a song called I love the police, his attorney, Nicholas Somberg, said in an interview with the station. James had an absolute right, First Amendment right, to play whatever music he likes really wherever he likes. Webb added that I know it was because of the content and not the decibels, because he did not give me a warning, he did not say get out of there, he didnt pull out a decimeter, he just straight wrote me a ticket. Police told Fox 2 Detroit that they are investigating the incident and have not yet reviewed dashcam footage recorded by the officer. The Minneapolis Police Department said Thursday it will discontinue undercover stings targeting low-level marijuana sales in the wake of operations that resulted in the disproportionate arrests of black people. Police Chief Medaria Arradondo announced the new policy at the direction of Mayor Jacob Frey. The Star Tribune reported the change follows a report prepared by the Hennepin County public defender's office that said 46 of 47 people arrested in the sting operations from Jan. 24 to May 24 were black. Almost all the cases involved the sale of 1 to 2 grams of marijuana for $10 to $20, said the report, which was filed in court last week to challenge the arrests. Arradondo, the city's first black police chief, said at a news conference that police were trying to reduce downtown crime. "While the intention was good, it had an unintended consequence," he said. The chief said the new policy applies to the entire city. Police will still make other marijuana-related arrests as long as the drug remains illegal in the city. Frey told Arradondo that he wanted an end to undercover operations aimed specifically at marijuana sales. "I believe strongly that marijuana should be a lowest level enforcement priority and that it should be fully legalized at the state level," the mayor said in a statement. "That support for full legalization, however, does not negate the need for our officers to make the necessary arrests to get guns off our streets and end the sale of life-threatening narcotic drugs like heroin." Hennepin County Chief Public Defender Mary Moriarty said that she called Frey last week to tell him about the racial disparities in arrests, and he promised the arrests would stop. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said in a statement that his office has already handled a fourth of the 47 cases by dismissing the charges, sending the defendants to a diversion program or asking for stays that would result in no sentences with the charges reduced to misdemeanors. He said his office was in the process of dismissing charges against the remaining defendants. The report, by Assistant Public Defender Jess Braverman, said the arrests had "resulted in felony convictions for numerous black defendants who had been targeted, and all the devastating collateral consequences that go along with such convictions: jail time, prison time, and even deportation proceedings." New York City's police department is also overhauling its marijuana arrest policies. Saying the government's war on marijuana has hit minorities too hard, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said last month that his office would stop prosecuting people for simple possession or public use of the drug as of Aug. 1. Brooklyn's district attorney also said he would scale back prosecutions. ___ Information from: Star Tribune, http://www.startribune.com A mother called a monster by her own brother in court was sentenced to 35 years in prison on Wednesday for beating her 4-year-old son to death nearly seven years ago. Crystal Valdez, 35, was handed the sentence after she was convicted by a Cook County jury in September 2017 of first-degree murder in her son Christophers death, Chicago Tribune reported. Valdezs brother and sister-in-law found the child dead, covered in bruises and wrapped in a blanket, in November 2011. You dont deserve the title of 'mother', Valdezs brother, Joseph, said during Wednesdays hearing. Youre a monster. Valdezs live-in boyfriend, Cesar Ruiz, was convicted of murder in 2013 and was sentenced to 75 years in prison. Valdez, who has three other children, was diagnosed with low IQ and intellectual disability. Though her brother called her a monster, Valdezs father said he believes his daughter wasnt guilty. She did nothing wrong, Thomas Valdez told the newspaper. Shes innocent in my eyes. Valdez previously admitted to hitting Christopher, who would have turned 11 this year, about five months before the childs death. The boy was also found with bruises on his body in other incidents. Harrowing scenes of the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history were released Wednesday as videos from the roof of Las Vegas' Mandalay Bay Hotel captured the chaos that ensued during and after the gunfire. Las Vegas released the surveillance footage from the Oct. 1 massacre. The video cameras had already been pointed toward the Route 91 Harvest Festival when gunman Stephen Paddock opened fire on the crowd killing 58 people and wounding hundreds more. The cameras recorded the packed crowd as Jason Aldean was performing on stage and then the immediate hysteria of people running for the exits while others were being struck by bullets. The video then shows some concertgoers attempting to lead others out through the exits. Others are ducking from shots while trying to escape. The footage appears to detail the trouble concertgoers had leaving the area and the tough time police had responding and trying to help people get out as bullets rained down. Police have released key documents over the last few months detailing police response to the shooting and the movements of Paddock before his atrocity. A little piggy's adventure in a Jersey Shore town over the Memorial Day weekend wound up getting him put in the back of the patrol car. The Neptune Township Police Department posted photos to Facebook of the pig that was discovered running loose in the area of Route 33 and Route 35 by Officer Thomas Blewitt. "Upon arrival, he found Pork Roll running hog-wild, most likely looking for an evening coffee and donut from Dunkin Donuts," police said. "He managed to catch the well-fed hog and take him into custody for questioning and to provide him with a job application as our new mascot." Police then took "Pork Roll" to the Monmouth County SPCA for safekeeping until he was later retrieved by his owner. "This story has a happy ending, Pork Roll was safely picked up by his owner after enjoying a stroll around town and a ride in a patrol car," police said. Authorities hope that Pork Roll's happy ending can be replicated elsewhere in the county. The Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office and Monmouth County SPCA recently teamed up to introduce the Animal Cruelty Hotline where people can report animal abuse or mistreatment. NEW JERSEY TROOPER PULLS OVER DRIVER WHO HELPED DELIVER HIM 27 YEARS AGO Concerned citizens can contact the hotline 24/7 to report tips at 877-898-PAWS. "Police Officers are expected to wear many hats during their shift that go far beyond enforcing laws. Officers might need to mediate conflicts between roommates, treat patients until EMS arrives, and sometimes they even need to wrangle a pig or two," police said. "Yes, we at the Neptune Township Police Department are well aware of the irony, but this is the truth." A New Jersey State Trooper got a dose of serendipity Friday when he met the retired police officer who delivered him 27 years agoby pulling him over. Trooper Michael Patterson stopped Matthew Bailly in Kingwood Township for driving with tinted windows, but never got around to giving the ticket, NJ.com reported. In the course of their conversation, Bailly mentioned to the young trooper that he was a retired Piscataway cop. Patterson, a native of Piscataway, told the retired cop that was his hometownthen fate took its course. Were not sure what the odds are of this happeningmaybe theyre close to the odds of a hole-in-one, winning the lottery, or being struck by lightningbut it happened, New Jersey State Police wrote on Facebook. Bailly asked the Trooper what street he grew up on. When Patterson answered, the retired cop told him he was familiar with it. Bailly recalled a curious memory of when he was a rookie cop and delivered a baby there 27 years ago. Bailly was able to describe the houses color and styleand then the babys name, Michael. My name is Michael Patterson, sir. Thank you for delivering me." New Jersey State Trooper Michael Patterson My name is Michael Patterson, sir. Thank you for delivering me, the trooper said, extending his hand to the retired cop. Bailly was a four-year rookie when he responded to a home in Piscataway on Oct. 5, 1991, the New Jersey State Police wrote. Pattersons mother, Karen, went into labor while out shopping and barely made it home. Pattersons father, Bobby, had to help carry his mother inside and called a doctor. Bailly responded and delivered Trooper Patterson inside the home while on the phone with the doctor, who talked the rookie through the birth. And 27 years after the fact, the roadside reunion led Trooper Patterson and his mother to visit Bailly and his wife at their home, where they decided the story was so uplifting it needed to be shared. After all, as a police officer, you dont always get a chance to have a moment like this with people you once helped in your career, the New Jersey State Police wrote. Cactuses, so iconic in the deserts of Arizona, are hot target for thieves. About 20 to 30 of the spiky plants, called the trees of the desert, are stolen each year from Saguaro National Park, according to its chief ranger frustrating officials in Arizona who say the plants are an important part of the parks ecosystem. From an artistic point, from a natural resource point, from a cultural point, they add such a richness to the area, said Scott Stonum, the parks science and resource management chief. But so many cactuses which go for about $500 on the black market have been stolen, that the park started implanting them with microchip technology to deter criminals. Ray ONeil, chief ranger of Saguaro National Park, said microchips have been placed in about 1,000 cactuses in areas of the park close to boundary roads. He said they work similar to microchips inserted in animals that traces them back to owners when they are lost. If a cactus is taken, then found, a quick scan will determine if the cactus had been stolen from the park. "We have a database which shows us which cactus have been pit tagged and which then allows us to take a reader and run it over a cactus that we believe may have been taken from the park, ONeil said. By running that reader over the pit tag, we can see if its one of ournumbered pit tags and then we can match that back to our database, which could then allow us to match it back to a hole in the ground in the park. ONeil said if someone is caught stealing a cactus, the thief could face felony charges. The reason that Saguaro National Park was created was to protect the Sonoran desert, was to protect the iconic speciesthe saguaro cactus, ONeil said. If we dont have saguaro cactus in the park, then weve lost the reason that the park was established. If we dont have saguaro cactus in the park, then weve lost the reason that the park was established. Ray O'Neil, Saguaro National Park chief ranger Stonum said the saguaro cactus is essentially its own ecosystem, creating habitats for other desert animals and plant to live in. If youre taking items like that from a national park, youre reducing the value of the ecosystem, Stonum said. Its a federal offense to damage or to steal these natural resource items. So, we strongly discourage it. Because the saguaro cactus is a national resource, the chief ranger feels strongly about the mission given from a federal level to protect the land he oversees. The enabling legislation of the National Park Service tells us that were to manage our areas, to protect our areas not just for today, not just for tomorrow, but for future generations, ONeil said. ONeil has two daughters, ages 10 and 11, and he said he wants their grandkids to have the same Sonoran desert experience visitors have today. Another part of that future generation is the junior rangers who take part in a three-week camp at the park. These are national plants and they shouldnt steal them at allthey shouldnt be doing that, said Cai Gwilliman, a fourth grader and junior ranger at the Sagurao National Park. The cactus microchipping program has been in place at Saguaro Naitonal Park for a decade. So far, they havent caught any criminals but ONeil said it could happen today and has a message for those vandals who try to steal what hes trying to protect. We have a permanent professional ranger staff, he said, that wants to catch them. California authorities on Thursday located a stolen van with more than a dozen show dogs inside. The vehicle had been swiped a day earlier from a fast food parking lot, and the dogs "all appear safe and sound," police said. The Redding Police Department said on Facebook that the vehicle was found in a "remote" spot in the woods, located south of Redding, and was "parked in direct sun, locked up tight." "All of the dogs" that were taken were found, police said. Responding officers had to smash a window in order to retrieve the canines "who were all barking and eager to be rescued," police said in a follow-up post. "The dogs had high heart rates from heat and stress, were thirsty, hungry, and in need of affection, but were otherwise fine," Redding police said, adding that they were brought to the Haven Humane Society. Police shared a post from the California Highway Patrol (CHP) - Northern Division, thanking them for their help. The division's air operations team said on Facebook that they'd gotten a report Thursday morning about "a possible sighting" of the van that had been taken from an In-N-Out parking lot. "Air 11 was already in the area searching for the van and responded," the Facebook post said. After spotting the vehicle, police were notified of its whereabouts, the post said. Police, who asked for information from any witnesses, said some of the breeds in the van included yellow labs, rat terriers and Rottweilers. MONSTER MOTHER SENTENCED TO 35 YEARS IN PRISON FOR BEATING SON TO DEATH ON 4TH BIRTHDAY Tony Carter, the vans owner and a professional dog trainer, told CBS 19 he left the car on so the air conditioner could keep the pups cool. "We ordered at 1:19, the van was gone by 1:23," Carter said. "It was gone. It was literally gone that fast." The dogs were en route to the Woofstock Dog Show that was scheduled Thursday in Vallejo. Carter said he does not believe whoever took the van knew there were dogs inside. SHERIFF WHO BOUGHT BEACH HOUSE AFTER POCKETING $750G FROM INMATE FOOD FUND GETS VOTED OUT Lynda Leffel, who owned one of the dogs in the stolen van, said she was devastated when she learned her pup was missing. "I'm devastated. Who on Earth would do this," she said. "This is a puppy I raised myself." U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has spoken by phone with Pakistan's army chief to discuss political reconciliation in Afghanistan and other issues. A statement released by State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert says Pompeo and Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa discussed ways to advance U.S.-Pakistani bilateral relations, the need for political reconciliation in Afghanistan and the importance of targeting all militant and terrorist groups in South Asia without distinction. Pakistan hosted the first direct peace talks between Kabul and the Taliban in 2015, but they ended when Kabul announced the death of Taliban founder Mullah Mohammed Omar. Washington has talked up the prospects for peace many times and Pakistan has said it will help to ensure its neighbor's stability. FIVB: Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, June 6, 2018 - A spectacular performance from Hande Baladin sparked Turkey to a hard-fought victory over a gallant Thailand in the FIVB Volleyball Nations League on Wednesday. A spectacular performance from Hande Baladin sparked Turkey to a hard-fought victory over a gallant Thailand in the FIVB Volleyball Nations League on Wednesday. Coming off the bench, the wing spiker gave Turkey a lift as they claimed a 3-1 (25-20, 30-28, 18-25, 25-19) win but were pushed to the limit by the brave hosts. Even though she struggled with her serve, Baladin finished with a game-high 17 points, including 16 spikes, and she was supported by inspirational captain Eda Erdem Dundar (15 points), while Zehra Gunes was formidable at the net. Thailand have lost all five matches at home but provided plenty of cheer for their ardent fans with Chatchu-On Moksri starring with 16 points and captain Pleumjit Thinkaow led from the front with 15 points. Fending off a brave challenge, Turkey overcame a third set wobble as their innate firepower eventually proved too much for Thailand, who have won just twice in the VNL to sit 14th on the overall rankings. With two four-set wins in the fourth phase, Turkey move to 8-3 and are in position to reach the final round. Turkey made a spectacular start through the high-flying Boz who hammered home an emphatic kill to immediately quiet the home crowd. With Gunes serving with menace, Turkey stormed to an early lead with the first four points as they looked a class above their opponents who are ranked 16th in the world. Thailand tried gamely as evidenced by a desperate dive from Moksri into the bench but Erdem's deft touch at the net ensured Turkey enjoyed a healthy 8-2 edge at the first technical timeout. In an effort to take the crowd out of the contest early, Turkey looked sharp and on their game but Thailand showcased tenaciousness to cut into the deficit. With a superior height advantage, Turkey were hard to pass at the net but Thailand's quickness and sets around the court ensured they were more than competitive as the standard lifted to thrill the near capacity crowd. Severely challenged, Baladin provided a spark off the bench with a couple of thunderous kills and Turkey, who never trailed, rediscovered their groove to eventually close out the first set in 24 minutes. Turkey continued to dictate in the second set with cunning serving from Gunes troubling Thailand who once again were in an early hole. Just like the first set, Thailand clawed back into the contest to level the scores but Erdem was proving the difference with an imposing spike followed by consecutive unreturnable serves to restore Turkey's dominance. However, Turkey were gifting points through several service errors ensuring the match remained competitive but Thailand could not string together points. A terrific stuff block from Pleumjit reduced the margin to just one point as scores see-sawed during a tense passage of play but, frustratingly for their fans, Thailand could not nudge ahead. Turkey's formidable size at the net resisted Thailand's artillery but the plucky hosts finally broke through after winning a heart stopping rally to lead 20-19 - their first advantage of the match. Thailand were on the brink of claiming the set until a thunderous spike from Gunes levelled scores at 24 apiece and Baladin did likewise moments later to save another set point. However, Thailand would not be denied and saved three set points but Turkey eventually pulled it out on the fourth attempt much to the disbelief of the rabid crowd. In a bid to finish off the match in straight sets, Turkey - in trademark fashion - started the third set with gusto to skip out to a quick three-point lead. As had become a trend, Thailand sparked back into life rattling off three straight points punctuated by a booming spike from Pleumjit as the hosts took an 8-7 edge at the first technical timeout. For the first time Thailand led by more than one point when a leaping Pleumjit hammered a spike to give her side an 11-9 edge. In a mirror image of the second stanza, points were see-sawed but Turkey's errant serves were proving costly and Thailand made them pay to skip out to a 17-13 lead. Suddenly, Turkey were unable to string together points as their muscling blows were being impressively rebuffed, most notably by setter Pornpun Guedpard. Thailand deservedly wrapped up the stanza through a terrific block from Malika Kanthong as spectators jumped out of their seats. Shrugging off their third set stumble, Turkey regrouped to take a quick 6-1 lead as they shook off their waywardness that marked the previous stanza. Sticking with the script, Thailand mounted their customary comeback with four straight points to take a 10-9 as fans were starting to believe in their dogged team. Amid a swirl of anticipation, Turkey dug deep and through clutch serving from Gunes they closed in on a hard-fought triumph. With two of their defeats having gone the distance, Turkey were relieved to wrap it up when a Gunes block sealed the deal. Turkey play Korea on Thursday, while Thailand faces rejuvenated Japan to close out the fourth phase. Its been nearly two years since a gunman took the lives of 49 people inside a nightclub in Orlando, Florida. On Thursday, more than 35 survivors and families of victims banded together to announce they have filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city, a security guard working at Pulse and the Orlando Police Department. The suit is joined by the family members of six people who were killed, 20 people who were injured and Omar Delgado, one of the first police officers who went inside Pulse, the Orlando Sentinel reported. On June 12, 2016, Omar Mateen walked into the Orlando nightclub and murdered 49 people, wounding 53 others, before he was killed by police. The defendants violated federal civil rights laws because they did not immediately enter the building when the gunman was in the midst of his attack, the lawsuit claims, according to WKMG-TV. The city of Orlando demonstrated deliberate indifference to these people by not training their officers, attorney Wayne Pollack, who represents the victims, said. The lawsuit alleges the defendants chose to allow the patrons of the club to be massacred while these defendants ensured only that they themselves were safe, according to the Orlando Sentinel. According to the lawsuit, those who were uninjured in the shooting were rounded up and taken to a law enforcement facility and prohibited from using the restroom, getting food or water or contacting their families, WKMG reported. Orlando police did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News on Thursday. Noor Salman, Mateens wife, was found not guilty earlier this year of obstruction and providing material support to a terrorist organization. The jury foreman said jurors were convinced Salman knew her husband was planning an attack beforehand but had no option but to return a verdict of not guilty. Fox News Benjamin Brown and The Associated Press contributed to this report. A fresh search was launched in Georgia for a woman missing since 1996 after police said they received a credible tip into her possible whereabouts, authorities said Wednesday. Sherri Holland, 32, of Buckhead, vanished with her two dogs in August 1996. Morrow police spent hours on Wednesday searching a wooded area looking for clues into her disappearance, FOX5 Atlanta reported. Cadaver dogs were sent to an area off Interstate-75, though the tough terrain made it difficult for authorities to search for possible remains, the station reported. Morrow police Chief James Morrow called the tip the hottest lead authorities have had in 20 years. The tip came from a resident who claimed to have found a wallet in the wooded area years ago near where police found Hollands vehicle days after her disappearance, according to FOX5 Atlanta. The tip that we received said that some of her personal effects were found in these woods behind me," Callaway said. "On the other side of these woods is I-75 directly where her car was located 22 years ago. Adrian Uribe, who claims to have found Hollands belongings, told WSB-TV that the wallet he found was almost covered in sand. He said he used to live in Morrow next to the woods. Holland was last seen leaving her home in Flagler Beach, Fla., in her 1985 BMW on Aug. 16, 1996. Police later found a vehicle matching the description on Interstate 75 near Morrow, according to FOX5 Atlanta. Police found the dogs at a Clayton County apartment a week later. The soil samples taken from the wooded area have so far tested negative for human remains, FOX5 Atlanta reported. We would love to bring closure to this case and for the family, you know, not knowing where they're loved one is for 22 years, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Internal Affairs Director Fred Mays said. I know it is going to open up new wounds, but it would be great to bring closure to this case. The Army National Guard officer who stole an armored personnel carrier and led authorities on a 60-mile chase claims he was just following commands from his superiors a claim refuted by officials on Thursday. Joshua Philip Yabut, 29, of Richmond, was arrested Tuesday for driving under the influence of drugs and charged with eluding police and unauthorized use of a vehicle, according to Virginia State Police. The 29-year-old is now being held against his will at Virginia's Central State Hospital, a psychiatric hospital, and told the Associated Press in a phone call Wednesday night he was authorized to take the vehicle on a pre-planned route as part of a training exercise to gauge the police response. Yabut told the AP his brigade commander, who he declined to name, told him to take the M577 armored personnel carrier from Fort Pickett. The solider also denied claims by authorities that he was under the influence of drugs during the chase. "That's a big 'NO' with capital letters," he told the AP. A spokesman for the Virginia National Guard, A. A. "Cotton" Puryear, disputed Yabuts claim and said the officer was not authorized to drive the carrier off Fort Pickett "to any location for any reason." After being stolen from Fort Pickett, state police said the personnel carrier was driven east on Route 460 and then north on Interstate 95, hitting a maximum speed of about 40 mph as authorities pursued the vehicle. Yabut eventually surrendered near Richmond City Hall. VIRGINIA POLICE CHASE STOLEN ARMORED PERSONNEL CARRIER FOR MORE THAN 60 MILES, SOLDIER ARRESTED Yabut posted photos and video to Twitter while in the military vehicle right before the chase took place. Minutes after police began their pursuit shortly before 8 p.m., Yabut posted a photo and video of himself in what appears to be the stolen vehicle. He wrote a series of odd tweets Tuesday, including: "where is this damn water buffalo" ''all i wanna do is get an anime wife" and "wow I think I just discovered a large illegal spy operation in the us government." The Virginia National Guard said in a news release that Yabut is a first lieutenant assigned as the commander of the Petersburg-based Headquarters Company, 276th Engineer Battalion, and has more than 11 years of service. The 29-year-old was deployed to Afghanistan from 2008 to 2009 with the Illinois National Guard. While the vehicle was not equipped with any weapons, Yabut did have his personal weapon with him, which had "no ammunition," according to the officials. We are extremely grateful that there were no injuries as a result of this incident, and we appreciate the great work of the Virginia State Police, Richmond Police Department and other law enforcement and first responders who safely brought this situation to a close, Maj. Gen. Timothy P. Williams, the Adjutant General of Virginia, said in a news release. "We have initiated our own internal investigation, and we will determine appropriate actions once the investigation is complete. In February, Yabut filed papers to run as an independent candidate for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Tim Kaine, according to the AP. He is due back in court on July 11. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A teenage boogie boarder was missing off the Oregon coast and presumed dead, while his father was found dead after jumping in the water to save his son, U.S. Coast Guard officials said Wednesday. Helicopter crews were still looking for the 17-year-old, whose stepmother alerted authorities after losing sight of her family members from Rockaway Beach, west of Portland, the Coast Guard said. Witness Vickie Gross told Fox 12 Oregon that the scene was "frantic," as she watched from the balcony of her condo near the beach. "A 911 vehicle went by going north on the beach and stopped," Gross told the station. "I opened the door 'cause I could hear voices and stuff. ... The gentleman climbed out of that little van and got on top with his binoculars and started peering out into the water." The family was visiting from Fort Collins, Colo., Fox 12 reported. The 50-year-old father was found around 45 minutes into the search, but did not survive, authorities told the Oregonian. Oregon State Police told Fox 12 that the teen was riding his board in the surf when he was knocked off by a wave. Officials told the station that the teen was presumed dead. The names of the father and son were not immediately released. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A Massachusetts teenage girl who was paralyzed after being struck by a stray bullet as a toddler received a surprise at her high school from the EMT who treated her 15 years ago. Kai Leigh Harriott graduated from Newton Country Day School on Thursday in front of her family, friends and Boston EMS Superintendent Joseph OHare, who she saw for the first time since he arrived at the scene when the then-3-year-old was shot, Boston25 reported. What a moment between young woman paralyzed by gunfire as a toddler and the @BOSTON_EMS EMT who treated her at scene and carried her to help. That little girl, Kai Leigh Harriott, graduated from HS today and was surprised by the first responder who helped her 15 yrs ago, Massachusetts State Police tweeted along with a photo of Harriotts tearful reunion with OHare. Harriott was playing outside her Dorchester home when she was struck by a stray bullet. OHare arrived at the scene, carried Harriott to the ambulance and treated her until they went to the hospital. COP GOES ABOVE AND BEYOND TO HELP VETERAN, 75, WHOSE WALLET WAS STOLEN Harriott, now 17, was paralyzed from the chest down after the shooting, but she refused to have the injury define her lifes path. "I mean I definitely remember it vividly, but I don't think about it everyday," Harriott told Boston25. Harriott appeared in court when she was 5 years old to testify at her shooters trial. She forgave the gunman for the injury that left her wheelchair-bound for the rest of her life. ARKANSAS COPS, FIREFIGHTERS SURPRISE TEEN WITH AUTISM AT BIRTHDAY PARTY AFTER ONLY 3 PEOPLE ATTEND The teen has participated in protests over gun violence after several recent school shootings. "Coming from communities like this, gun violence is not something most people are affected by, but where I come from and for people who look like me, it is a reality that we face," Harriott told Boston25. "To be able to speak in front of my school community and let them know it's a lot closer to home than they think was really important." Harriott is expected to attend the University of Arizona in the fall. A teenager in Tennessee was allegedly shot dead by his half-brother after the pair got into an argument over a honey bun, police say. The incident occurred around 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, authorities with the Fayette County Sheriffs Office told Fox 13. Marcus Jones, 18, was found dead at the scene. Police say Jones' half-brother, Jerome Howse, 34, allegedly fired a weapon after the two got into an argument over a honey bun and a small amount of money, Fox 13 reported. Howse, who has been charged with second-degree murder and felon in possession of a firearm, is in custody. There is currently no bond, authorities told the news station. A representative for the Fayette County Sheriffs office was not immediately available for additional comment when contacted by Fox News on Thursday. Police in The Colony, Texas, have offered their thanks to three students over a botched prank. The Colony Police Department said on Facebook Monday that it wanted to thank the three students from the class of 2018 for their generous donation of toilet paper and eggs for breakfast. The security system at The Colony High School records surveillance footage, leading to the authorities being tipped off, The Dallas Morning News reported. When we responded, the kids ran off, and then [our officers] found the toilet paper and cart of eggs still laying on the ground, police spokesman Rick De La Cruz told the newspaper. WISCONSIN POLICE DEPARTMENT CONGRATULATES HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS ON PRANK: HATS OFF He added that police dont know when the prank was supposed to happen. Police also had a message for the students as part of the Facebook post. We were sorry to see that you ran away before we could thank you in person, it said. May your life after graduation go better than this prank. The Facebook post has received more than 3,300 reactions. The Finnish Defense Forces says a top U.S. military chief will meet his Russian counterpart in Helsinki to discuss "current issues between the countries." The Finnish military says the meeting Friday of Gen. Joseph Dunford, current chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Russia's chief of the military's General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, "takes place on the initiative of both countries." In Thursday's statement, the Finns said they also will meet separately with Finland's president and the Nordic country's military chief. The Finns will not take part in the U.S.-Russia meeting. In April, NATO's top military officer, U.S. Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, met with Gerasimov in Baku for the first such encounter since relations between Moscow and the alliance sank to post-Cold War lows over the Ukrainian crisis. A Los Angeles woman has been sentenced to six months of home detention for her role in a multimillion-dollar "pay-to-stay" scheme that helped hundreds of foreign nationals remain in the United States by falsely claiming they were students. Eun Young "Jamie" Choi was sentenced Thursday. She was the last of three defendants sentenced in the scheme, which prosecutors say may have generated $6 million a year from citizens of South Korea, China and other nations. Prosecutors say Choi and others created student transcripts and other bogus records to deceive immigration authorities. At least 99 people are dead and nearly 200 others unaccounted for following the eruption of Guatemalas Volcano of Fire over the weekend. Days after Sundays devastating eruption, the possibility of finding survivors has become increasingly unlikely, firefighters told The Associated Press. At least 197 people are considered missing and the death toll is projected to increase. Weather conditions have also provided challenges for digging efforts, as rainfall has hardened the thick ash remnants covering the area. "Nobody is going to be able to get them out or say how many are buried here," Efrain Suarez told The Associated Press. GUATEMALA POLICE OFFICER CAPTURES MOMENT VOLCANO OF FIRE ERUPTS, ENGULFING STREETS IN ASH "The bodies are already charred," the 59-year-old, who works as a truck driver, continued, adding that they will be torn apart if machines are used in the recovery. With the rain also comes the growing possibility of slides of ash, mud and debris, authorities said. The country's seismology and volcanology institute warned of new flows descending Wednesday afternoon through canyons on the volcano's western slope toward the Pantaleon River. Thousands of people were affected by the volcanic eruption, with about 3,500 seeking refuge in shelters. Among them is Alfonso Castillo, who now resides at a shelter located in the city of Escuintla. NORTH DAKOTA ORGANIZATION AIDS VICTIMS OF GUATEMALA DISASTER Castillo said he and his extended family of 30 had lived on a shared plot in Los Lotes where each family had its own house. Volcanic activity in the area is common, he told The Associated Press, but everything changed after a huge cloud of ash came pouring out. In a matter of three or four minutes the village disappeared, he said, adding that it became smothered in what he described as a sea of muck. Before he and his family were ultimately rescued, they managed to make their way to an upper floor of a concrete home. "Nobody wants to go back there. My children say they would rather be in the streets. ... There are many people who are helping us, but we have absolutely nothing. We could not get anything out," Castillo said. "For us, there is no tomorrow." The Associated Press contributed to this report. Posted 6/6/18 The Dallas County R-1 School District celebrated staff and teacher accomplishments and recognition during its district celebration May 23.Larry Bobrukiewicz was recognized as the Employee of the The State Department announced Wednesday that a number of individuals have been sent back to the United States from the American consulate in China after they suffered illnesses similar to those experienced by government personnel in Cuba. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said that a medical team was sent to Guangzhou, China, after the U.S. learned that one government employee suffered a medical incident that was consistent with what American personnel in Havana, Cuba had experienced. She continued, The medical screenings are ongoing for any personnel who have noted concerning symptoms or wanted baseline screening. US EMBASSY WORKERS IN CUBA FOUND TO HAVE BRAIN ABNORMALITIES, REPORT SAYS In October, at least 24 Americans at the U.S. Embassy in Cuba complained of illnesses that the State Department called health attacks. They reported hearing loud, grating noises before experiencing hearing loss, dizziness, headache, fatigue, cognitive issues and difficulty sleeping, officials said. Cuba has maintained that it had no involvement in or knowledge of any such attacks. The U.S. announced in March that it would be withdrawing 60 percent of its diplomats from Cuba permanently, citing the need to protect American personnel from the unexplained health attacks. It remains unclear if there is a link between the illnesses experienced in both diplomatic offices. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Luck finally ran out recently for a plucky dog in Australia that became known for repeatedly chasing a crocodile back into the Adelaide River. The dog's owner says a recent video shows that the croc "did what crocs do." It ate the pooch. Kai Hansen, owner of the terrier, named Pippa, told Australia's ABC Radio that the dog was performing her favorite trick for a group of onlookers at the Goat Island Lodge when the tragedy occurred. The video, captured by a spectator, shows the dog barking repeatedly while running directly at the massive reptile, before the crocodile, unfazed, whips its head back and snatches Pippa in its jaws. WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO Screams can be heard in the background as the crocodile then retreats into the water with Pippa still in its mouth. "It was something that had a high probability of happening sometime." Kai Hansen, owner of Pippa the croc-chasing terrier "It was something that had a high probability of happening sometime," Hansen told an interviewer. Hansen said he was really sad about losing his pet, but doesnt blame the 220-pound, 11-foot-long crocodile for eating it, the Telegraph reported. Some social media users were quick to blame Hansen for allowing the dog to chase crocodiles in the first place. Could the owner be next? Letting a dog taunt the croc puts the dog in avoidable danger, one user tweeted, while another user simply called Hansen a stupid dog owner. Hansen argued that chasing the crocodile was just how the dog was wired. A little terrier should not do things like that. But should I stop her? I don't know, she got away with it for 10 years," he said. Nonetheless, Hansen plans on getting a new dog, but this one will "definitely" not perform the same dangerous stunt, he said. German authorities are seeking a fugitive Iraqi asylum-seeker and have arrested a Turkish citizen over the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl who went missing more than two weeks ago. The body of the girl, who had been missing since May 22, was found Wednesday on the outskirts of Wiesbaden. Prosecutors said Thursday that two men a 20-year-old Iraqi and a 35-year-old Turkish citizen, both of whom lived at homes for asylum-seekers in the city are suspected of raping and killing the girl on the evening she went missing. They believe the two then buried the body. Police said the Iraqi man, a suspect in a string of previous offenses, appears to have left abruptly with his family last week, flying to Iraq via Istanbul. next Image 1 of 2 prev Image 2 of 2 The on-again, off-again meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been an emotional roller coaster for South Koreans, who now await Tuesday's historic summit with both hope and doubt. The hope is that improved relations between Washington and Pyongyang will ease tensions and dispel the threat of war, which has hung over the region for more than a half-century. But having seen North Korea go back on its word in the past, such as when it broke a previous nuclear pact in 2002, South Koreans remain cautious about the sudden breeze of peace blowing across their divided peninsula. "North Korea's willingness for talks seems clear now. The problem is that we are not so sure what they ultimately want," said graduate student Kim Jae-hak. For him, the ideal outcome would be a formal declaration to the end the Korean War, followed by the complete denuclearization of North Korea. He warned, however, that high expectations can bring great disappointment, so Koreans should watch how things unfold. South Korea's government has been careful to avoid rash comments or hasty interpretations of the seesaw developments in the lead-up to the summit in Singapore. Still, South Korean President Moon Jae-in has made negotiations with North Korea a centerpiece of his administration and has a lot riding on next week's events. Moon took office in May 2017 with a pledge to seek improved relations and ultimately peace with North Korea. In April, he met the North's leader, Kim Jong Un, for talks at the Demilitarized Zone dividing their countries and the two set foot in one another's countries, if only for a moment. Moon's patient, yet determined diplomacy has been key to setting up the Trump and Kim meeting. It was Moon who presented Trump with the initial offer of a summit with Kim. After Trump accepted and then canceled, Moon worked to get it back on track by holding another meeting with Kim. "It is critically important for President Moon Jae-in that the Trump-Moon summit goes well," said John Delury, associate professor of East Asian studies at Yonsei University in Seoul. Moon has "staked a lot of political capital in getting the U.S. and North Korea to move together in a positive way just like the two Koreas have done." The Singapore meeting would only be the start of a long process, Delury stressed. Reducing the threat of conflict is the initial goal, he said, which would be followed by cultural, humanitarian and economic steps. "A successful Singapore (meeting) gives more room for President Moon and Chairman Kim Jong Un to move forward in terms of inter-Korean reconciliation and cooperation," he said. For now, Moon seems to have public backing, with a Gallup Korea survey last week measuring his approval rating at 75 percent. Office worker Kim Jung-eun said the atmosphere of dialogue was welcome after North Korea's provocative run of weapons tests in 2017 pushed animosity to new heights. "I never truly thought we were headed for another war, but there was always a lingering fear in the back of my head," she said. "Thinking about where we were then, I am really thankful about the current atmosphere of peace. I hope that the process results in lasting peace in the Korean Peninsula." The Trump-Kim summit has fueled hopes in South Korea that the two leaders may weigh a formal declaration to end the Korean War. The 1950-53 conflict ended with an armistice, but not a formal peace treaty. Some, though, think that such talk should wait. The first priority should be getting North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons, said Im Yang-bin, a professor. "If the issue of denuclearization becomes resolved through talks a declaration ending the war will naturally follow," Im said. ___ Associated Press writer Tong-hyung Kim contributed to this report. An Uzbek man who plowed through a crowd in Stockholm last year with a stolen truck -- killing five people in what he said was a revenge attack for Sweden fighting against ISIS -- will now spend the rest of his life in prison. Rakmat Akilov was convicted Thursday of terror-related murder and given a life sentence for the April 2017 attack, which left a British man, a Belgian woman and three Swedes, including an 11-year-old girl, dead. Akilov had said he wanted to punish Sweden for joining a coalition against the Islamic State group. Judge Ragnar Palmkvist said Akilov, 40, was the only suspect in the attack, and that prosecutor Hans Ihrman called him a "security risk to society" during his trial at the Stockholm District Court. The prosecution had demanded a life sentence while defense lawyer Johan Eriksson said his client had been cooperative throughout the investigation and should be given a time-limited sentence. During the court proceedings that started Feb. 13 and ended ending May 2, Ihrman said that "Akilov took the right to determine the fate of so many people. Now it is the turn of the democratic rule of law to determine the fate of Akilov." After plowing the stolen beer truck into a crowd of shoppers on a busy shopping street and crashed into the upscale Ahlens department store in Stockholm's city center, Akilov also planned to blow himself up. He failed, and caused a smaller explosion inside the truck when a suspected bomb made of five gas canisters with dozens of screws, blades and smaller metal objects went off. Akilov then escaped via Stockholm's subway system but was arrested hours later in a suburb. He was found guilty of five counts of terror-related murder, 119 counts of attempted murder and 24 cases of endangering the life of others. The Associated Press contributed to this report. The Italian mafia is not just a problem in Italy, but its a growing "phenomenon" that's spreading across Europe, the country's anti-mafia chief warned Tuesday. Giuseppe Governale, the head of Italy's anti-mafia investigative unit DIA, made the remarks during a meeting with the foreign press in Rome, according to Sky News. "Organized crime is moving abroad, globalizing," he said. While the Sicilian mafia has "always been present" in the United States, Canada and Australia, Governale said another organization operating independently has its sights set on Europe. The Calabrian mob, known as the 'Ndrangheta, was described by the anti-mafia chief as "underestimated," Sky News reported. 'MEXICAN MAFIA' CRACKDOWN RESULTS IN CHARGES AGAINST 83, AUTHORITIES SAY The group is involved in drug trafficking, extortion and money laundering activities, and has taken a particular foothold in the Belgian capital of Brussels. "They don't buy just buildings but entire neighborhoods," he claimed Tuesday. The Sicilian Cosa Nostra mafia has focused on racketeering, the arbitration of disputes between criminals, and organizing illegal agreements and transactions, according to Governale That criminal network was described by Governale as "in great organizational difficulty after suffering substantial blows," including the death of former kingpin Tota Rina in prison last year. Police in Norway say they have arrested a man suspected of participating in the murder of mainly Tutsis in the 1994 genocide in his African homeland. The National Criminal Investigation Service says the man in his 50s was arrested Tuesday. His name was not disclosed. The NCIS said Thursday the man arrived in Norway in 2006 as a refugee and became a Norwegian citizen in 2014. Prosecutor Espen Hanken said there is still a lot of investigation ahead, adding the case has been built on information from Rwanda and "investigative trips" to the African country. The aim, he said, is to have it prosecuted in Norway. Some 800,000 people, mostly ethnic Tutsis, were killed by Hutu extremists during the Rwandan genocide, according to the U.N. A Pakistani police official says a roadside bomb killed a local police chief and his driver in the northwest, near the Afghan border. Nosher Khan says Thursday's blast in the Dir district also wounded some passers-by. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Previous attacks in the area have been claimed by the Pakistani Taliban. Pakistan has carried out a number of large military operations in the rugged northwest in recent years aimed at rooting out the Pakistani Taliban, al-Qaida and other militant groups. Islamic militants still carry out near-daily attacks, mainly targeting security forces and minority Shiites. Argentine officials say the youngest sister of Queen Maxima of Holland has been found dead in her Buenos Aires apartment. The death of 33-year-old Ines Zorreguieta was confirmed Wednesday by a person at the prosecutor's office in charge of the case, who spoke on condition of anonymity for lack of authorization to speak to the press. The cause of the death was not immediately clear. Zorreguieta was a psychologist who worked for an office on social policies at the president's office. A South Korean tourist was rescued on Thursday after being lost for nearly a week in the Australian wilderness when she fell during a hike and was knocked unconscious, officials said. The Queensland Police Service said in a news release that Joohee Han, 25, was found near Mount Tyson in the tropical Queensland state and airlifted to a hospital to be treated for dehydration and exposure. Han was last heard from on Friday, when she told a friend she was going for a walk at nearby Mount Tyson in a national park that morning, Police Inspector Steve Kersley said. Queensland Ambulance flight paramedic Hannah Gaulke told ABC News that Han had hiked up to the summit to take photos when she fell from one of the main outlook areas and knocked herself unconscious. "When she came to, she was quite disoriented and unable to get her bearings and from then she managed to crawl and scrape her way through the bushland which was really tough terrain and eventually ended up on this slippery, rocky waterfall," she told ABC. The 25-year-old had been lost for five days before friends reported her missing on Wednesday and a search was launched, Kersley said. TEEN BOOGIE BOARDER MISSING OFF OREGON COAST, FATHER FOUND DEAD, AUTHORITIES SAY Gauke told ABC that rescue crews were not able to reach Han from the ground due to the difficult terrain, and had to rescue her from a helicopter. "From the helicopter, our rescue crew officers performed a winch down to her to secure her it was about a 60-foot winch and they've brought her up to the helicopter where I've taken over care of her and done an assessment," she said. Her shouts for help were heard on Saturday by a member of the public, who only informed police on Thursday after learning of the search, according to Kersey. "Six days is a long time to be lost in the bush particularly when you've got no bush skills," he told reporters. "She's done well to survive." The 25-year-old was wearing long trousers, a long-sleeved shirt and had a raincoat that helped her keep warm, Kersley said. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Posted 6/6/18 Local not-for-profit organizations may learn more about grant opportunities at a June 7 seminar offered by the Community Foundation of the Ozarks Dallas County Community Foundation.The seminar is Posted 6/6/18 A couple weeks ago on May 25, Leona Medlock was a busy person. She went to the Morgan Cemetery with Juanita Randolph, Linda Cooper, Gracie Perryman and Dixie Bowman. They then went down to the Rader Posted 6/6/18 Calvary Chapel Free Will Baptist Church hosted a site for the World Vision 6K for Water on May 19. The churchs team had 98 registered participants and numerous donations, which propelled the team He checks all the boxes We are delighted to welcome David to the Hutch, said Steve Stadum, Fred Hutch executive vice president and chief operating officer. He checks all the boxes. Hes an extraordinary leader with a track record of success in delivering outstanding financial results at complex, top-tier health care organizations. Since 2013 Browdy has served as the University of Utahs associate VP and CFO for the Health Sciences, where his responsibilities have included strategic financial management, performance and planning for its hospitals and clinics; medical group; health insurance plans; and medical, nursing, pharmacy, health and dentistry schools. During his tenure, he managed a large budget that grew quickly, from $2.3 billion in FY12 to $3.6 billion in FY17, according to Dr. A. Lorris Betz, senior vice president of University Health Sciences and interim executive dean of the University of Utahs School of Medicine. While at the university Browdy also led a $500 million campus transformation project including helping to secure legislative approval, develop donor strategy and model funding, contracting and construction plans for a complex of three new health care and medical-education facilities. He also played a key role in improving the universitys debt strategy, which helped move its Standard & Poors bond rating from AA to AA+. Before joining the University of Utah, Browdy for 20 years served in various capacities at Northwestern Universitys Feinberg School of Medicine, including senior associate dean and chief operating officer, where he oversaw a $500 million operating budget. In addition to finance and budget, his areas of responsibility at Northwestern included information technology, human resources, communications and facilities management. Realizing the Hutchs strategic vision As CFO at Fred Hutch, Browdy will be tasked with helping to achieve the goals of the Hutchs strategic plan, meeting and exceeding operating and service measures and standards, supporting and working with the board and senior management, and building a strong financial leadership team. We are on the cusp of phenomenal advances in science and medicine precisely at a time when demographic and technological changes are creating profound economic pressures in the biomedical research and overall health care environment, Browdy said. Im looking forward to thinking creatively about how we can realize the promise of the work here at Fred Hutch and drive toward our bold goals in ways that can shape and not just respond to changes in our operating environment. He has a bachelor of science degree in biomedical engineering from Northwestern University and a masters in business administration from Carnegie-Mellon University. Browdy has presented nationally on health care economics and strategic planning at institutions ranging from Harvard Business School to the Association for American Medical Colleges. His honors include a 2016 Distinguished Service Award from the AAMC Group on Institutional Planning. Browdy currently serves on a number of boards, including those of the University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics; the Utah Poison Control Center and ARUP Laboratories, a nonprofit enterprise. Often we detect pathogens, but their clinical significance is not always clear, Hill said. You may have the same pathogen in two different people, and one person is asymptomatic while the other is critically ill. This is especially true for transplant patients, whose compromised immune systems are no longer able to keep chronic viral infections in check, for example. Viruses that become activated and detectable may cause problems or just be bystanders. Using data to improve diagnostics Most clinicians now use PCR, or polymerase chain reaction, to look for the DNA or RNA of viruses that frequently cause pneumonia. However, targeting the usual suspects could miss others that are actually driving the infection. You only find what you look for, Hill said. On the other hand, new approaches such as next-generation sequencing that look for whatever is there rather than for specific pathogens may be too sensitive and pick up pathogens that are not causing trouble. Understanding the host response in the context of different infectious and noninfectious syndromes may improve the interpretation of pathogen detection. Working with transplant infectious disease physicians and pulmonologists locally and across multiple cancer centers, Hill hopes to establish a cohort of about 200 allogenic hematopoietic stem cell transplant patients with acute lower respiratory tract diseases. In collaboration with the University of Washington Clinical Virology Laboratory, he will employ novel molecular tools to test the patients blood, lung fluid and lung tissue for human herpesvirus 6B, or HHV-6B, a typically latent virus that may reactivate and cause pneumonia in post-transplant patients or not. To collect data on the host response, he will work with the Fred Hutch Genomics Shared Resource and Dr. Sina Gharib to use state-of-the-art RNA sequencing technology to analyze thousands of genes to see which are differentially turned on or off. The objective is to establish whether host gene-expression profiling of the blood can be used as a noninvasive diagnostic tool to identify the cause of pulmonary disease, whether it is due to HHV-6B, another pathogen, or a noninfectious process. Our goal is to enroll enough patients with a spectrum of causes of lower respiratory tract disease to allow for comparisons that may identify distinct gene-expression signatures, Hill said. These data may also identify patients who are going to have progressive pulmonary disease versus not. Leaders in transplant research Hill is focusing on HHV-6B, but what he learns will likely have applications toward other pathogens, said Infectious Disease Sciences head and Hills mentor Dr. Michael Boeckh, who helped Hill generate the ideas and concepts behind the study. It will be essential for future studies of therapeutics for these diseases, for both prevention and treatment, Boeckh said. Boeckh noted that previous winners of the prestigious Amy Strelzer Manasevit Award have gone on to become key leaders in the field of stem cell transplantation. I have no doubt that Josh will follow in their footsteps, he said. The research grant was established in 1997 in memory of a young mother who received a successful marrow transplant to treat multiple myeloma but died of pneumonia six weeks after returning home. Administered by the National Marrow Donor Program/Be the Match, the grant has supported 27 scholars and 13 postdoctoral fellows, including inaugural 1998 awardee Dr. Stephanie Lee, who was then at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and is now a transplant physician-scientist in Fred Hutchs Clinical Research Division and director of its Long-Term Follow-Up Program. The Amy Strelzer Manasevit award helped me during a critical time in transitioning from a trainee to an independent investigator, said Lee, who studies chronic graft-vs.-host-disease. That was the vision of the award founders to provide substantial funds to promising young investigators to allow them to devote time to their research. Im thrilled that Dr. Hill was chosen for this award. Remember When What kind of sound brings you into a reflective or peaceful place? Maybe the wind blowing the leaves around or... Wheres the voters fraud? As a resident of Davison Township, I see township clerk campaign signs saying Stop Voter Fraud. What is she talking... Kids need additional supports outside the classroom now more than ever For the first time in a year and a half, the majority of Michigans kids are back in the classroom,... Free Freightnet Membership List your company in the Freightnet directory. It's Free, it's Easy and your company can be displayed in front of potential freight buyers within 24 hours. Galveston, TX (77553) Today A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 81F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 81F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. The Festival of Flight, canceled last year because of the coronavirus pandemic, is meant to honor the citys aerospace legacy and inspire an interest in aviation. The content you are looking for has either been removed or requires you to login to view Please login below or register for an account With Naijapals.com 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 Only 36 percent of Americans with disabilities have a job. Governors want to increase that number, and many have started by making it easier for disabled people to get jobs in the public sector.We want private businesses to employ people with disabilities, and state government has to model that, says Bambi Polotzola, executive director of the Louisiana Governors Office of Disability Affairs.Polotzola is the mother of a high school student with autism and is well aware of the employment barriers that people with disabilities face. For instance, they may have trouble competing on timed civil service tests.Employers are concerned and unsure of the kinds of accommodations an employee needs, says Polotzola. They are concerned about asking questions theyre not supposed to ask, and because of those fears, they avoid the issue.But states across the country are trying to break down those barriers. Massachusetts has created an account to help agencies fund needed accommodations for disabled employees -- like technologies that help the hearing or visually impaired use computers or telephones. Maryland adjusted its hiring system by adding five points to the test scores for job applicants with disabilities. And in March, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards signed an executive order to create new internships and short-term employment opportunities for disabled people and to increase training for human resources managers in recruiting and retaining people with disabilities.In a 2017 survey of the public and private sector by RespectAbility, a national organization that advocates for the disabled, Louisiana ranked 44th in the employment of people with disabilities. The state has set a goal of having 7 percent of the state government workforce be composed of people with disabilities.But knowing whether the state has achieved that goal is tricky.Not all disabilities are visibly noticeable, and federal law bars employers from asking employees if they have one. Other federal laws restrict the medical information that can be shared with employers. Even if employees self-disclose any disability they may have, employers are sometimes nervous to discuss it out of fear that they may be breaking federal law, says Philip Kahn-Pauli, policy and practice director for RespectAbility.Of 70,000 Louisiana government employees who filled out employment forms when they were first hired, Polotzola says only 70 self-disclosed any kind of disability. Considering almost 20 percent of the population has a disability, she believes that number wildly understates the reality.Many people worry that if they disclose, it will have a negative impact on their ability to get a job or their ability to move up or get more responsibility, says Ron Honberg, senior policy adviser at the National Alliance on Mental Illness.To get better data, while respecting privacy laws, Louisiana is launching an anonymous employee survey that will inquire about disabilities.In Vermont, the state has instituted trial periods of employment as a way to employ more disabled people in the public sector and to alleviate employers concerns.The state works with career centers at Vermont colleges and utilizes business account managers, who act as intermediaries between hiring managers and applicants to match them with jobs they are qualified for and able to do.We can hire people relatively quickly. The person gains experience, and if they do well, they have a good opportunity to get a permanent position, says Beth Fastiggi, commissioner of the Vermont Department of Human Resources.The state first launched a program like this for the private sector in 2009. Since then, the number of participating businesses has grown tenfold.Since this was so successful in the private sector, we decided to see how it would work within state government, says Fastiggi.In Minnesota, the state similarly provides a pre-probationary job tryout for applicants with disabilities. It can last up to 700 hours, with pay and health benefits provided, and if the manager feels that the person has demonstrated proficiency, he or she is then moved into regular probationary status.It allows individuals with disabilities to demonstrate their qualifications, and it gives hiring managers the opportunity to see how effective people can be, says Myron Frans, commissioner of the Minnesota Office of Management and Budget.It also helps managers see what workplace adjustments may be needed. For instance, a man with autism was recently hired as a lawyer for the state. During the trial period of his employment, he had difficulty communicating well in group settings. So once he became a full-time employee, an emphasis was put on one-on-one ways of reporting to supervisors.According to Gov. Mark Daytons State of the State address this year, the proportion of state government employees with disabilities has grown by 40 percent since 2015 -- from 4.7 percent of the overall state workforce to 6.9 percent.But for a program like Minnesotas to work, its important to focus not just on hiring but also on retaining employees with disabilities.Were doing much more training [focused on] a respectful workplace so that you can get employees comfortable working with different kinds of people, says Frans.Public-sector efforts to increase the diversity of the workforce are not just altruistic. In April, the national unemployment rate dipped to 3.9 percent. The workforce is aging. Young people appear to be shying away from government jobs.From a global perspective, were all competing for talent, and the talent pool is getting smaller and smaller, says Frans. We need to be more effective in reaching out to all communities in our state. We have to be smarter and more inclusive." Recently I was asked to speak to a group of idealistic young people just starting their careers in public-interest professions. After my spiel concluded, the first question I was asked caught me completely off guard: "What is justice?"Somehow, I have managed to work in the field of criminal justice for 25 years without developing a satisfactory response to this question. In the days since, as I have rehearsed what I should have said, I have come to realize that, for me, there are two kinds of justice: micro justice and macro justice.Micro justice focuses on individual people and asks, "What is an appropriate response to the circumstances presented by this specific case?" Macro justice looks at the bigger picture, examining social impacts, both positive and negative, and tries to determine whether they have been distributed in a way that conforms to basic tenets of fair play.One of the challenges that confronts the field of criminal justice is that micro justice and macro justice are not always in sync. Every day, police officers, prosecutors and judges are making decisions in individual cases that are rational, that follow all of the proper procedures, and that many would argue are correct on the merits. Unfortunately, the cumulative effect of these decisions is to achieve outcomes that, viewed in the aggregate, do not seem just.Leadership consultants often exhort their clients to "get off the dance floor and get on the balcony." From the perspective of the balcony, it is possible to offer a fundamental critique of the justice system as an instrument for maintaining an unfair social order. The negative impacts of the justice system on black Americans stand out in particularly stark relief.Yet the view can look very different from the dance floor. While egregious examples of brutality, incompetence and corruption do exist, the truth is that much of the daily practice of the justice system consists of well-intentioned front-line staffers attempting to do their best with challenging situations and complicated people.This lesson was hammered home to me when I visited Rikers Island a few years ago during the height of the media coverage of violence in the New York City jail complex. Much of the reporting focused on the brutal behavior of correctional officers. I didn't meet every correctional officer on the island, of course, but those I interacted with (the vast majority of whom were women of color) never expressed contempt or hatred for those in their charge. Quite the contrary -- most conveyed genuine concern and a desire to create a safe environment.In a similar vein, when I talk to criminal-court judges, many of them express real regret when their actions land someone in jail. When they describe their thought process, they invariably point to the length of a defendant's rap sheet, the suffering of victims and the negative effects of continued wrongdoing in the community.So where does this leave us? How do we reconcile the reality that at the ground level many of the people in the justice system are trying to do the right thing with an overarching analysis that the system is not achieving just results?Many of the potential answers being advanced at the moment -- for example, eliminating cash bail or closing private prisons -- are macro justice solutions that tend to limit the discretion of system actors. We need big ideas like these if we are going to improve justice in this country.But big ideas alone are not enough. We need micro justice solutions too. Small changes in daily practice can also have far-reaching implications. We need to give front-line justice professionals the training they require to understand the traumatic life circumstances that bring people into the justice system, whether as defendants or victims. And we need to give them the encouragement and flexibility necessary to treat every person they encounter with decency, respect and individualized attention.Perhaps most important of all, we need to convince bright young people, like the ones who initially befuddled me, to become front-line criminal-justice practitioners. The fight to transform the American justice system cannot be won from the offices of our foundations, elected officials or editorial boards. To create a fair, effective and humane justice system, we need judges, probation officials and correctional officers who are willing to wrestle with the question "what is justice?" on the ground each and every day. Gov. Roy Cooper announced Wednesday he has vetoed the state budget proposal passed by the legislature.As long as Republicans stick together, their budget will survive the Democratic governor's veto. The GOP holds such large majorities in both the North Carolina Senate and House of Representatives that they can override vetoes. That's what happened last year after Cooper vetoed lawmakers' two-year budget plan.Cooper made his announcement flanked by teachers and said that the level of education spending in the budget was a major reason for his veto. He said he wanted to send a message."When you are continuing to drop in per-pupil expenditures, when you're still 37th in the country in teacher pay, that's unacceptable," Cooper said.Republican leaders, however, don't appear worried about their ability to overturn Cooper's veto. Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore defended the budget and criticized Cooper just minutes after the veto announcement."Gov. Cooper has once again shown that he is more concerned about scoring political points than helping North Carolinians," Moore and Berger said in a press release. "Let's be clear about what the governor has done. He has opposed a 6.5 percent teacher pay raise, he has opposed an 8 percent state trooper raise, he has opposed a new living wage of $31,200 for state employees, and he has opposed tax cuts that would result in 99 percent of families and small businesses having reduced or no state income tax. The people of North Carolina deserve better and they will get it when we override his veto."Cooper had proposed spending several hundred million dollars more than legislative leaders ultimately agreed to. The main difference, which Moore alluded to, was that Cooper wanted to stop the implementation of another corporate income tax cut next year and freeze planned tax cuts on income that people earn above $200,000, using the extra revenue to give teachers a larger raise and also spend money on other projects.Despite Cooper's requests, the legislature kept its new tax cuts on track to go into effect next year and spent less on numerous state departments than the governor had wanted. But the budget Cooper vetoed isn't entirely more austere than his own plan.For state employees, the legislature goes further than what Cooper had proposed in some cases, including raising the minimum wage for most state workers to $15 an hour. The legislature also gave bigger raises to prison correctional officers and state troopers than Cooper had proposed.Cooper said that while he believes nearly three-quarters of state employees would have received larger raises under his plan, he's glad that the legislature did set aside millions of dollars for state employees. He said he thinks that only happened because his budget announcement put pressure on Republican leaders to do more."This budget would've been a lot worse, but for the budget we put forth," he said.Cooper defended his budget from suggestions from the legislature's nonpartisan fiscal researchers that if the state had adopted his proposal, the state government would soon face a deficit. Cooper said that not only does his plan not lead to deficit spending, but that he thinks the Republicans will eventually put the state into a deficit."Unfortunately you're going to have to have cuts down the road if you continue these tax breaks," he said.The conservative Civitas Institute said Cooper has the wrong priorities."What would he prefer? Cooper's budget proposal would have spent half a billion more taxpayer dollars than the one he rejected, and raised taxes on working North Carolinians by more than $100 million," Civitas executive vice president Brian Balfour said in a written statement. "Indeed, Cooper's proposal would have increased spending by 6.6 percent over the current year, which would have been the largest year-over-year increase in ten years."Cooper also has reason to dislike the budget's environmental funding, which is millions of dollars lower than what he had asked for.The League of Conservation Voters praised him for vetoing the budget, saying that lawmakers used the budget bill to help out the company behind GenX pollution and should've allowed changes to the budget after it was unveiled to the public."If legislators override the governor's veto, voters will hold them accountable this fall," the environmental group said in a press release. "Clean air and water are fundamental rights which are our government's responsibility to protect."On the education front, the budget makes some changes to aid in the expansion of public charter schools as well as taxpayer-funded vouchers for private schools, which Cooper has been opposed to in the past."North Carolinians deserve new representatives who will prioritize higher teacher pay raises, safer schools, and clean water before corporate donors," the N.C. Democratic Party said in a press release. "Come November, they'll have them."This year was the first time in modern North Carolina history that legislative leaders refused to allow budget amendments. That meant that after the budget bill was done being written in secret and unveiled to the public, no changes were allowed.Democrats and even some Republicans criticized the GOP leadership for that heavy-handed tactic, which may have also caused some mistakes. Legislators didn't fund the state's suicide hotline, a problem they now say they plan to fix soon. Governments around the nation are working to design the best vaccine policies that keep both their employees and their residents safe. Although the latest data shows a variety of polarizing perspectives, there are clear emerging best practices that leading governments are following to put trust first: creating policies that are flexible and provide a range of options, and being in tune with the needs and sentiments of their employees so that they are able to be dynamic and accommodate the rapidly changing situation. Oregon Secretary of State Dennis Richardson has been diagnosed with brain cancer and is undergoing treatment for the disease, he announced Wednesday.Richardson, 68, wrote in a newsletter to constituents that "a small cancerous brain tumor" was found in May and that he is "optimistic" about its treatment."We caught it early. I have a treatment plan in place, and I have an exceptional support system here at work and at home," Richardson wrote.Richardson's chief of staff, Debra Royal, declined to answer questions about what type of cancer Richardson has been diagnosed with, the location of the tumor in the brain or details of his treatment plan. Royal said Richardson would to take questions via his Facebook page, but when he appeared by video, he spoke for less than three minutes and took no questions."I'm on the job. I'm going to continue," Richardson said in the video, which was filmed in his office in the Capitol. "I absolutely will fulfill my responsibilities." He promised to keep the public updated on his prognosis.Gov. Kate Brown said in a statement Wednesday that her thoughts are with Richardson, his family and staff. "I'm heartened by his reputation for perseverance and know he will tackle cancer with the same determination he brings to his work," said Brown, a Democrat whose office has at times clashed with Richardson's.Richardson has long been a prominent figure in Oregon politics. He served as a Republican state representative from the small southwestern Oregon town of Central Point for six terms, rising to a powerful position as head the budget committee. He secured the Republican nomination for governor in 2014 but ultimately lost to former Gov. John Kitzhaber, a Democrat.Undeterred, Richardson ran for secretary of state in 2016 and bested Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian after a hard-fought campaign during which Richardson cast himself as a champion of government transparency and fiscal accountability. Now, as secretary of state, Richardson is first in line to the governor and the highest-ranking Republican officeholder in Oregon. He runs an agency of more than 200 people who audit state government programs, oversee Oregon's elections, preserve state archives and keep business registration records.As for his cancer diagnosis, Richardson said he will take on the disease assertively, drawing on his experience as a combat helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War."I've considered my options, set my goal, developed my plan, and failure is not an option," he said. A federal judge has ruled for Philadelphia in its highly contentious "sanctuary city" case against the Trump administration, saying the city's refusal to help enforce immigration laws is based on policies that are reasonable, rational, and equitable.U.S. District Judge Michael Baylson issued his decision Wednesday afternoon, following a four-day trial this spring and nearly a year of litigation, ruling that the Trump administration's attempt to withhold about $1.5 million in federal law-enforcement grant money "violates statutory and constitutional law."The money comes under what is called an Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant. "The city is entitled to prompt payment of the JAG funds," the judge said.The Trump administration wanted to withhold the funds unless the city agreed to actively assist federal authorities in identifying and turning over undocumented immigrants. The city sued in the summer of 2017, saying the Police Department is not an arm of immigration enforcement, and that making it one would damage community relations.After the ruling became public, Mayor Kenney was captured on video as he broke into what looked like a Snoopy "happy dance," slapping a high five with chief of staff Jane Slusser as he sang out, "A sanctuary city, yeah!"Meeting later with reporters, the Irish American mayor joked that he usually doesn't dance unless he's had "a couple of wines," then choked up as he spoke of earlier trials of Irish, Italian, Jewish and Japanese immigrants."Philadelphia has always been and will always be a welcoming city," he said. "Philadelphia needs its immigrant community."The mayor, long at war with President Trump, said the decision "prevents a White House run by a bully from bullying Philadelphia into changing its policies."Efforts to contact U.S. Justice Department senior trial counsel Daniel Schwei, who battled the city in court, were unsuccessful.Justice Department spokesman Devin O'Malley called the judge's ruling "a victory for criminal aliens in Philadelphia, who can continue to commit crimes in the city knowing that its leadership will protect them from federal immigration officers whose job it is to hold them accountable and remove them from the country."The Justice Department continues to maintain that it exercised authority given by Congress to attach conditions -- "designed to keep Americans safe" -- to public-safety grants, he said. The department will continue to fight to keep its "commitment to the rule of law, protecting public safety, and keeping criminal aliens off the streets."The city challenged three specific conditions of the grant:First, that it must provide U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, with access to city prisons to conduct interviews with inmates. Second, that when ICE asks, the city must provide advance notice of when undocumented people are being released from prison. And third, that the city must comply with a law that, according to the federal government, requires local officials to share information about the citizenship or immigration status of any person.Baylson, who was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2002, shot those down."The public statements of President Trump and Attorney General [Jeff] Sessions, asserting that immigrants commit more crimes than native-born citizens, are inaccurate as applied to Philadelphia, and do not justify the imposition of these three conditions," he wrote.In his ruling, Baylson said that given that 11 million undocumented people live in the United States, "most of them living peacefully with families, children and good jobs," the complexity of the Philadelphia case demonstrates "the sheer impossibility, as well as great expense, of relying on a policy of 'removal' (deportation)."At the heart of the case was a relatively small amount of money -- somewhat more than $1.5 million in a grant to a city with a $4.4 billion budget -- but a big principle: whether the Trump administration can hold back money unless the city agrees to make its Police Department help federal agents identify and arrest people who immigrated without appropriate documents.A key issue was the city's refusal to honor ICE detainers for people who were being released from custody, viewing those papers as administrative requests, not binding. City officials say they will respond to a detainer only if that paperwork is accompanied by a signed warrant from a judge.The administration argued that city policies allow dangerous criminals to be released into the community when they should be deported to their homelands. It wanted the city to hold people on detainer until ICE agents can get there.The Justice Department statement included a list of seven foreign nationals, convicted of crimes including aggravatged assault and delivering cocaine, who the department said were released because the city did not honor an ICE detainer.Broadly defined, a sanctuary city limits its cooperation with federal authorities who enforce immigration laws. Those cities' leaders aim to ease fears of deportation among undocumented residents, believing that members of immigrant communities will then be more willing to report crime.Across the U.S., dozens of states, cities, counties and other jurisdictions have declared themselves or been tagged as "sanctuary cities." Federal courts in Illinois and California, like in Philadelphia, have moved to restrict how the administration may act to compel local governments to help enforce immigration law."This decision is binding on Philadelphia, but some legal principles could be used as persuasive authority in other courts," Philadelphia City Solicitor Marcel Pratt said on Wednesday.Philadelphia officials reject the title of "sanctuary city," saying they simply enforce city policies that provide equal treatment for people who come into contact with the criminal-justice system, regardless of immigration status. Immigrants who commit crimes are arrested and charged just like anyone else, city officials said."This [ruling] should reaffirm to our immigrant communities that we are glad you are here, we want you here, we will always fight to ensure that Philadelphia remains a welcoming city to all," said Miriam Enriquez, head of the city Office of Immigrant Affairs.In earlier opinions and writings on the case, the judge summoned tales from Greek mythology, German folklore and the New Testament. This decision was no different, quoting Act 4, Scene 7, from Hamlet: "No place indeed should murder sanctuarize."Baylson compared Philadelphia officials to the sailors in Homer's Odyssey, seeking to avoid the mythical sea monsters Scylla and Charybdis as they travel to the island of Thrinacia."To Philadelphia, Scylla represents compliance with a federal statute requiring that the city issue no guidance restricting its police and other officials from sharing information about the immigration status of city residents, while Charybdis represents $1.6 million that Philadelphia would use to provide vital resources to bolster its local criminal justice prerogatives."The city, he wrote, "can steer safely to Thrinacia, accepting the $1.6 million without compromising its local objectives." 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 Wednesday, in the morning, at ABC Studios, South Bank, His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC attended an interview with ABC Radio Brisbane Breakfast presenters Craig Zonca and Rebecca Levingston. In the afternoon, at Government House, His Excellency received the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Thailand to Australia, Her Excellency Mrs Nantana Sivakua, accompanied by First Secretary, Royal Thai Embassy, Mr Pawat Ruangvichatron, and Honorary Consul-General, Royal Thai Consulate-General in Queensland, Mr Andrew Park. In the evening, at the Brisbane Club, Brisbane City, His Excellency and Mrs de Jersey attended the Royal Historical Society of Queenslands 2018 Queensland Day Dinner, where the Governor presented the John Douglas Kerr Medal of Distinction. Voice of the People Audio Article Native son Tom Smiths history of East Chesterton (Chesterton Tribune 9-30-21 Commentary) was interesting and a poignant tribute to his five-generations back ancestors, the Morgans, who traveled from West Virginia and Ohio to settle here in 1833 to raise a family, to farm and... Voice of the People Audio Article This summer the Times of NW Indiana again suggested in an editorial that Dunes Action had been in opposition to the renovation of the State Park Pavilion. We never did. In fact, most of us had been waiting for it for decades. They did not... Guest Commentary Audio Article This is a short history of the Morgan family farm before the possible development of the remaining 49 acres east of Chesterton. Jesse and Jane Morgan arrived in Northwest Indiana in 1833 after traveling through Ohio, northern Indiana, stopping off in LaPorte County for a... Echoes of the Past Audio Article 10 Years Ago Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2011 Bethlehem Lutheran Church will host a wellness screening event. . . CHS girls soccer team beats LaPorte 5-0 and clinches a share of the DAC title. Scoring goals are Rosie Biehl (2), Hannah Kollar (2), and Sam... Description GIS 07 June, 2018: T he Ambassador of the Kingdom of Netherlands, Mr Jeroen Verheul, paid a courtesy call yesterday on the Prime Minister, Minister of Home Affairs, External Communications and National Development Unit and Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Mr Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, at the New Treasury Building in Port Louis. In a statement, Ambassador Verheul underscored that Mauritius and the Kingdom of Netherlands will expand their collaboration so as to further consolidate bilateral ties in view of reinforcing the economic relations between the two countries. He spoke of the existing diplomatic relations between the two countries while adding that they will continue working together with the objective of bringing these relations to new heights. He also expressed the interests of the Netherlands to cooperate with Mauritius in various possible sectors and explore new avenues of cooperation. The Ambassaddor underlined that Prime Minister Jugnauth previously met the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Netherlands, Mr Mark Rutte, with regards to the Chagos issue as the International Court of Justice has its seat in The Hague, Netherlands. Mr Jeroen Verheul currently assumes the position of the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Netherlands to Dar es Salaam, accredited to the Governments of Tanzania, Madagascar, Mauritius and the Comoros. Description GIS 07 June, 2018: 07 June, 2018: Peace, security, regional stability, climate change and management of natural resources were at the fore of discussions yesterday during a political dialogue between the delegations of the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) and the European Union (EU) at Blue Tower, in Ebene. The aim was to exchange views on various challenges which the Indian Ocean region and Small Island Development States are facing and find solutions. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade, and Chairperson of the IOC, Mr Seetanah Lutchmeenaraidoo; the Head of the EU Delegation to Mauritius, Ambassador Mrs Marjaana Sall; the Secretary General of the IOC, Mr Hamadi Madi Bolero; and representatives of IOC and the EU Delegation to Mauritius were present. The IOCs Ministerial Conference on Maritime Security in the Western Indian Ocean held recently in Mauritius and the way forward and the Post-Cotonou process and the contribution of the IOC therein were also on the agenda. In his statement Minister Lutchmeenaraidoo underscored the need for all partners to address all arising and pressing issues, work collaboratively and find consensus as the two groups which share a common destiny face an exceptional situation. The coming years will be relatively volatile and will become overwhelming if great nations do not find solutions as we have no options, he cautioned. The Minister termed as regional and international volatility the present environment in which countries are evolving. Therefore it is necessary to have the capacity to be calm and serene and find some common ground, he pointed out. As regards the challenges the Minister said that the IOC has the same challenges as the EU. In addition to commending the role of the EU on the international level as a key development partner, Mr Lutchmeenaraidoo called on all island nations to come together and make their voices heard. For her part Ambassador Sall the dialogue represents a good opportunity to exchange ideas on important issues for both the EU and its Member States as well as for the IOC and its Member States and to hold strategic discussions on the challenges in the region and find solutions. The EU is the main financial partner of the IOC and we will continue to work with the Commission on various cooperation related projects with regard to maritime security, sustainable management of oceans, illegal fishing and climate change, she recalled. The Ambassador also expressed the wish that all the issues being examined during the present dialogue be included in the new development strategic plan of the IOC which will be finalised soon. She pointed out that the political dialogue is linked to the historic partnership between both institutions and the collaboration spans more than 30 years on different thematic such as sustainable development, maritime security and defending SIDS. Description GIS 07 June, 2018: Government is taking proactive measures to curtail the scourge of drugs in the society. To complement these relentless efforts, it is imperative that youngsters are able to clearly discern the impacts of such scourges and bear the responsibility of their actions. This accountability will enable them to build a bright future for themselves and for their country. Government is taking proactive measures to curtail the scourge of drugs in the society. To complement these relentless efforts, it is imperative that youngsters are able to clearly discern the impacts of such scourges and bear the responsibility of their actions. This accountability will enable them to build a bright future for themselves and for their country. The Minister of Gender Equality, Child Development and Family Welfare, Mrs Roubina Jadoo-Jaunbocus made this statement at the opening of a Childrens forum this morning, at the Paul Octave Wiehe Auditorium, in Reduit. It was organised by the National Childrens Council under the aegis of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Welfare, in the context of the International Day of the African Child 2018. In her address, the Minister pointed out that the International Day of the African Child serves to highlight the power that youths can garner to influence decision and consequently bring change. She urged the youths to be inspired by the determination and courage of the children who marched for their rights on that symbolical day. On that note, she underscored the importance for youngsters to build their self-confidence and to believe in their potentials and capacity to change things for the best around them. According to her, it is essential that each child is able to express his opinion freely and that adults should be willing to listen and assimilate. She indicated that the four core principles of the Convention on the rights of the child are non-discrimination, devotion to the best interests of the child, the right to life, survival and development and respect for the views of the child, which together ensure that the child has a wholesome development. To this end, the elaboration of the Childrens Bill, she said, is a clear testimony of the commitment and determination of Government in ensuring the protection and promotion of the rights of children. Referring to the theme chosen for the Childrens Forum, Zanfan, pran kont to lavenir, Minister Jadoo-Jaunbocus pointed out that teenagers should keep away from the use of illicit drugs which is on the rise among youngsters. She added that this platform will serve to raise awareness pertaining to the drastic consequences of drug use and addiction, so that they can make informed decisions. She recalled that an aggressive 16 days-16 Rights Campaign on the rights of the child as per the Articles on the Convention on the Rights of the Child is being carried out since 01 June to 16 June 2018 in some secondary schools and Childrens clubs. The International Day of the African Child The International Day of the African Child is celebrated on 16 June every year to commemorate the 1976 student uprising in Soweto, South Africa, during which about ten thousand black school children marched to protest the poor quality of their education and to demand their right to be taught in their own language. This symbolical day provides an opportunity for governments, Non-Governmental Organisations, international organisations and other stakeholders to gather and discuss the challenges and opportunities for the full realisation of the rights of children. The theme chosen by the African Union for this year is leave no child behind for Africas Development. Description GIS - 07 June, 2018: Mauritius will serve as pilot country of how the European Union (EU) collaborates and partners with more advanced economies. In this endeavour the Government and the private sector will play a key role in discussing with the EU on formulating strategies for putting in place the proper instruments. Mauritius will serve as pilot country of how the European Union (EU) collaborates and partners with more advanced economies. In this endeavour the Government and the private sector will play a key role in discussing with the EU on formulating strategies for putting in place the proper instruments. This was at the fore of the opening of the Sixth Political Dialogue between Mauritius and EU this morning at the Le Labourdonnais Waterfront Hotel, in Port Louis in the presence of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade, Mr Seetanah Lutchmeenaraidoo, Ambassador and Head of Delegation of the EU delegation, Mrs Marjaana Sall, as well as Ambassadors from France, United Kingdom, Netherlands and Spain. In his opening remarks, Minister Lutchmeenaraidoo highlighted the excellent relations between Mauritius and Brussels which has always supported Mauritius in all spheres and underlined that they go beyond working relations. He elaborated on taking steps to adapt to the changing world adding that Mauritius as a small country has to decide its long term needs and strategy. He called for the EU to provide assistance to Mauritius in areas which are beyond our means for the long term sustainable development of the country for the future generations. He emphasised that Africa is a potential niche for Mauritius and that the country should tap into the various opportunities which will not only enhance South-South cooperation but eventually help the African continent to prosper. Minister Lutchmeenaraidoo also dwelt on the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) and Post Cotonou agreement and Mauritius role on regional economic integration of the Africa Strategy adding that more private investments should be encouraged in Africa to create more job opportunities. For her part, Ambassador Sall reiterated the strong partnerships between EU and Mauritius especially in the context of the post Cotonou negotiations which over the years experienced a broad diversification. She recalled that the EU remains the major exporting market for Mauritius that is 52% of trade and services which has been possible under the EPA. She highlighted the importance of the 6th political dialogue which according to her is an ideal platform to discuss on bilateral and regional and global issues while at the same strengthening the comprehensive partnership between EU and Mauritius. She underpinned that the 6th political platform will also place both Mauritius and the EU at turning points to formulate proper strategies and policies for the way forward while promoting common values and interests. She concluded by stating that the EU has changed to a global political player in various spheres besides to the Mauritian economy which is more dynamic in the face of the global volatile economy. The 6th Political Dialogue is a process enshrined in Article 8 of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement (CPA) and is the most important framework for North-South cooperation. The dialogue is an opportunity for Mauritius to collaborate with its EU partners to take stock of the current state of the political partnership and pave way the way forward for further cooperation while deepening the relations between EU and Mauritius with exchanges on issues of common interest. (TNS) The Crawford County, Pa., Assessment Office wants to upgrade its computer software in 2019 since technical support is ending in 18 months for a major computer operating system used by the office.Chief Assessor Joseph Galbo III told county commissioners Wednesday that technical support for Microsoft Windows 7, a computer operating system, ends in January 2020. That's key because its current software from Vision Government Solutions to prepare tax rolls runs on a Windows 7 operating system, Galbo told commissioners.The current version of Vision Government Solutions software plugs into the Windows 7 program that generates tax roll reports for various municipalities and school districts, Galbo said. The current version of Vision Government Solutions won't work with Microsoft Windows 8.One option is purchasing new Vision software that will work with Windows 8 and upgrade to the Windows 8 operating system for an estimated $50,000, Galbo said. Another option is buying an interim software package from Vision at about the same cost, but "then you spend another $50,000 a few years down the road," Galbo said. "It makes more sense to go to (Windows) 8 now."Moving up to Windows 8 will require an upgrade of other software, such as Geographic Information Systems, or GIS, that the Assessment Office uses, Galbo said.Galbo said he's planning for it in his office's part of the county's 2019 budget but wanted to get commissioners thinking about it now."We'll need to do something prior to January 2020," Galbo said. Whichever upgrade the commissioners choose, Galbo said he'd like to make the change in early February 2019 once tax assessment rolls for 2019 are completed.Commissioners agreed to look at the changes but also want a list of what other software and related items would be affected as well as what those fees would be. (TNS) Santa Rosa is still unwilling to let Verizon Wireless install antennas and wireless equipment on city light poles, putting the carriers plans to boost network coverage in the city on hold indefinitely.The city council on Tuesday reaffirmed the pause it placed on the project in March, saying the way the company had managed the rollout of small cell wireless gear on wooden utility poles in the city was a cause for concern.Mayor Chris Coursey said the company did a really lousy job of outreach to neighborhoods where gear has been installed on Pacific Gas & Electric poles, making him hesitant to partner with the company on the portion of the project involving city-owned poles.They ran, in my estimation, roughshod over some of these neighborhoods, in putting these things in, because they could, Coursey said.The council has found itself caught in the middle of a wider battle raging between wireless carriers seeking to deliver better wireless telephone and data services to the city and residents who worry about the aesthetic and possible health impacts of such equipment so close to their homes.Councilman Jack Tibbetts called the evidence for health risks from the technology inconclusive, but said he represented residents of Santa Rosa, not Verizon, and needed to respect the fears of his constituents.I dont want a resident to go to bed at night and put their head on a pillow worried about whats going on outside their window, Tibbetts said.A half-dozen Verizon officials attended the Tuesday council meeting, an indication of how seriously the company takes the controversy.Spokeswoman Heidi Flato said the carrier was disappointed with the outcome, but will continue working closely with council members and city staff to overcome obstacles to implementing this much-needed wireless infrastructure.Danna Diamond, a company real estate specialist, told the council that the nations wireless telephone infrastructure is the backbone of our society now, allowing people to stay connected to their children and work from home. She said 52 percent of homes now have no landlines, 76 percent of 911 calls are now made from a cellphone, and 64 percent of those are made from inside a building.As cellphone usage has exploded, carriers have needed to densify their networks by adding new transmission equipment closer to the users, and small cell technology, which operates at higher frequencies and are better able to deliver high-speed data.The average household has 13 connected devices, Diamond told the council.Verizon says its service in the city is spotty, especially inside homes in residential areas, and the new small cells will work in conjunction with existing larger macro towers throughout the city to improve coverage and capacity.Much of the city has cell coverage, but with people using smartphones, the data demands on the network have increased, resulting in connection delays, explained Radha Sharma, senior real estate manager for Verizon.Its a case the company has been making to communities across the county. Last year, the company reportedly spent more than $10 billion on such installations.Small cells are needed to meet exploding consumer demand for data, drive innovation, create new jobs, and fuel new services and capabilities such as smart communities, connected cars, smart farming, and the Internet of Things, Verizon explained in a filing with the Federal Communications Commission. (TNS) - Glynn County Schools police chief Rod Ellis says it often theres more to school safety than stopping the bad guy with a gun.Instead, a holistic approach must be taken to best ensure that students are safe in school, Ellis says. That is the mindset that has been applied to the ongoing district-wide effort to improve local school safety.Youve got to look beyond someone coming in the school and doing something bad, Ellis said Wednesday. You have to look at the whole gamut.School safety is a national conversation that has been especially amplified this past year, after a former student killed 17 people on Feb. 14 with a semiautomatic AR-15 rifle at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. Other school shootings have happened since, including one in which 10 people were killed and 10 wounded in Sante Fe, Texas on May 18.The shootings prompted school districts across the country, including in Glynn County, to reconsider safety protocols and to make improvements.After the Parkland incident, Glynn County Schools officials began a system-wide review of safety plans and procedures.Steps have already been taken to beef up school security and update the technology and other security measures. More changes are expected to be made before the start of the 2018-19 school year.Virgil Cole, superintendent of Glynn County Schools, said the school system prioritizes being proactive.This has always been a forward-thinking district as far as looking at safety, Cole said.Glynn County Schools is one of 30 school systems in Georgia with its own internal police department.Everybodys scrambling to do that now, and Glynn County has had it, Ellis said.Ellis has implemented a rings of security concept that he became familiar with while being trained in Israel for three weeks in 2013. The approach focuses on the multiple, overlapping elements of security that need to be in place to best keep school campuses safe.The outermost ring consists of cyber-security, social media monitoring and other technology. The inner perimeter ring consists of physical barriers. The final, innermost ring is the human element school staff and students who Ellis says are the real first responders in an emergency situation.Ellis has worked with a former U.S. Secret Service agent to create a threat assessment team for the school system.Another strong thing were working on is the threat assessment team, where if we did have someone at risk we can stay on top of that, engage that person and manage that threat, not just let that go, Ellis said.New video cameras and public address systems have been and are continuing to be installed in schools. And by the start of next school year, every elementary and middle school should have electronically-locked doors. Visitors will have to be buzzed in to enter.We want to have all our schools at the same level, Cole said.A lot of attention has been been paid to Glynn Academy, Ellis said, as its open campus layout lends itself to many safety challenges and provides for too much unfettered access.The Glynn County Board of Education discussed a plan Tuesday to fully fence off Glynn Academys campus a process that is nearly finished and to install electric gates to close off the Mansfield Street portion of campus during the school day.City approval will be required before those gates can be installed.Ellis said he plans to continue emphasizing safety training next year for both staff and students. At the end of the last school year, he met with every school secretary and conducted training on how to respond in the first 30 seconds of an emergency.Theyre at the forefront, he said. Theyre the gatekeepers on everything thats done in that school You need to make sure everybody is trained up, from the custodians to the food service people, to everybody.Jim Pulos, assistant superintendent for operations and administrative services for Glynn County Schools, has led the effort alongside Ellis to improve school safety district-wide.Continued training is crucial, he said.Many times, it really comes down to everybody understanding what role they play in this, Pulos said.Every school has reviewed its own school safety plan and discussed needed updates and changes, Pulos said, including to the way fire drills are handled.(In Florida) it was a fire alarm that was activated, and then everyone emptied out into the halls, he said.A whiteboard in Puloss office lists the many concerns he has when it comes to school safety.I just couldnt sleep at night knowing we havent done everything that needs to be done, if something were to happen, he said. Our parents entrust us to make sure when their kids come to school that theyre going to be in a safe environment.Pulos said school officials are also considering how to improve access to mental health resources for students.The school system is taking a comprehensive approach to address the safety at every level, Ellis said.You have to think beyond the bad guy with the gun coming through the front door of the school, he said. Its a full circle for safety.2018 The Brunswick News (Brunswick, Ga.)Visit The Brunswick News (Brunswick, Ga.) at www.thebrunswicknews.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. On April 10 , the state of Maryland removed the interim classification from the job title of Secretary of Information Technology Michael Leahy, indicating the executive had reached permanent status after just over a year on the job.Leahy became senior advisor to Gov. Larry Hogan on practical governance and policy matters, and director of the states real property strategies in June 2016, according to his LinkedIn profile. He became the interim secretary of IT in March 2017 after then-Secretary David Garcia stepped down to spend more time with his family.But his career, he toldvia email, has encompassed a variety of private-sector experience that includes public service at federal and local levels ranging from attorney for the Federal Trade Commission; director of the Maryland Medical Biotechnical Institute; and city attorney of Annapolis, Md.He described himself as the beneficiary of careers in diverse fields, and offered a road map to his avenue of achievement.Specifically, success is accomplished by finding ways to listen to and understand the people one is working with, establishing common underlying hypotheses and establishing authorities and responsibilities regimes, Leahy said. He added that formulating mutual strategic and tactical goals and having a willingness to incorporate different opinions into iterative processes as well as admitting mistakes help to meet challenges.Efficiency and interoperability are key state goals, he said, indicating the state, which expected to have consolidated 25 agencies and 10,000 employees into the Department of Information Technology (DoIT) by the end of 2016, according to the 2016 Digital States Survey , has expanded that support. DoIT now enables 31 agencies and 11,000 staffers with only 248 IT support staff. This, he noted, represents a 500 percent increase in resource efficiency overall.The organizations most significant achievements hopefully remain obtrusive by making process and operations appear seamless and just work, Leahy said, including guarding state IT assets and data, standardizing the governance and management of data assets to offer systemic interoperability opportunities and enhanced business intelligence.DoIT, Leahy said, has put numerous measures in place based on the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) best practice model during the past 18 months, with the goal of improving service, and has begun regular key performance indicator reviews.The results, Leahy said, show so-called "first call resolution" of issues has climbed from 45 percent to 60 percent, with service tickets correctly assigned 98 percent of the time. Those tickets are, on average, resolved within two business days.Since Leahy joined DoIT, the agency has conducted several pilots, including an exploration of satellite-based sensing technology capable of detecting shifts over time in roads, bridges, harbor areas and large buildings of as little as 1 millimeter.The endeavor wrapped in May, and the state which hoped the technology would have broad applicability in real-time safety inspections, disaster analysis, permitting, land use compliance and in natural resources is now in the process of evaluating the results.But two state projects, he said, stand out. The Maryland Total Human-services Integrated Network (MDTHINK) is a first-in-the-nation cross-agency collaboration model, Leahy said, by connecting the departments of labor, licensing and regulation; human services, health and juvenile services; and the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange. The secretary said it had been "gratifying" to participate in its executive steering committee.Similarly, Leahy called the Maryland OneStop Portal "especially near and dear to my heart. The DoIT initiative enabled only with participation and cooperation from all state agencies that issue licenses and permits. He called the portal a landing page for license and permit seekers, offering links to applications and information about the process.The portal has been developed using nonproprietary, scalable, modern technology so that Maryland is not dependent upon a single contractor for ongoing development and growth," Leahy said, pointing out that its back-end forms and workflow engine should save the state millions of dollars by retiring legacy equipment and consolidating processing. Crunching the Numbers TNC Drivers and Taxi Drivers Face Off Council Members Face Off Amid a packed council chamber Wednesday, Honolulus city council passed Bill 35 which puts a cap on ridesharing fares charged by transportation network companies (TNCs) like Uber and Lyft.The Honolulu City Councils 6-to-3 vote will now move over to the mayors office, giving Mayor Kirk Caldwell 10 days to sign the bill into law, veto the bill, or allow it to become law without his signature.Constituents voiced their opposition and support for the bill during its third reading, which lasted more than an hour. Those in attendance included taxi drivers, toting signs calling for equal rights for taxi drivers, TNC drivers and TNC riders.Should the bill become law, Honolulus director of customer services will be tasked with establishing a cap on TNC fares above the current taximeter rate and the certain requirements needed to avoid abiding by that cap. The task of setting a cap will be extremely difficult to determine and implement, according to the agencys deputy director, Randy Leong.Leong repeatedly told council members, the department is in opposition to setting a maximum fare. He explained consumers can see the price of the fare before they choose to accept a TNC ride and that setting a cap will be challenging given there is no precedent, guidelines or benchmarks for the department to follow."It would be difficult to determine the maximum fare given we are new to this. We just don't have the knowledge at this point of where to begin," Leong told councilmembers at the meeting.When councilwoman and floor leader Carol Fukunaga questioned how the department can set a cap for the taxi industry but find it challenging for the TNC industry, Leong responded that the TNC industry uses algorithms to set fares.Representatives from the TNC companies also attended the council meeting to express their opposition to the bill. Timothy Burr Jr., Lyft director of policy, and Tabatha Chow, senior operations manager in Hawaii for Uber, spoke of the jobs their TNC companies create for Hawaii, as well as the transparency in fares it provides to users who can then decide whether to go with a TNC driver or a taxi cab."The imposition of a maximum price threatens and undermines Lyft's reliability by removing incentivies for drivers to respond to the areas with the highest demand," Burr told council members. "With zero complaints to the department of customer service on pricing, this bill is uncessary and a step backwards."Uber, which serves more than 300,000 local riders on the island of Oahu with its pool of more than 3,000 drivers, generally charge 40 percent less than taxicabs, Chow said. She acknowledged surge pricing generally occurs during rush hours, weekend nights and when major events are held, but as more TNC drivers sign in during those times the surge pricing edges down."Bill 35 is a solution in search of a problem," she said. "It restricts innovation, limits consumer choice and imposes a regulation that doesn't exist anywhere else in the country."TNC drivers expressed concern that the supplemental income from serving as an Uber or Lyft driver would be reduced as a result of the cap. But their greatest fear was that Uber and Lyft would pull out of Honolulu County, as the result of the bills passage.However, Councilman Trevor Ozawa told the attendees he received direct word from both companies that they would not leave the island should the bill pass. Ozawa made the observation that should one TNC ultimately leave, the other would reap the benefit created by its competitors departure.Taxi drivers pointed to a steep drop in business they have incurred since Uber came to Oahu in 2013 and how some have not only quit the business but also taken their life as their finances were squeezed.Debbie Buono, head supervisor for TheCab company, asked council members when during the meeting why TNC riders are penalized because TNC companies do not have adequate driver coverage during peak periods. She compared it to a local grocery store raising its rates between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. because they did not have enough people to staff the store.Other speakers included TNC riders who noted that they understood the reason for surge pricing, which is based on supply and demand, but added it afforded transportation at times when it may be difficult to hail a cab because of the time of day, dicey location, or because of a major event in town.Price gouging, especially of military members, was repeatedly expressed by councilwoman and vice chair Kymberly Marcos Pine, a strong supporter of Bill 35. In addition to pointing to an example of a surge price fare of over $200 for a ride that typically costs roughly a quarter of that, Pine questioned the fairness of holding taxi drivers to a cap and regulations while allowing TNC drivers to operate without such restrictions.But councilman Brandon Elefante, who opposed the bill, stated TNC riders have the benefit of being able to see the cost of the ride before choosing to take it, compared to jumping into a taxi cab and not knowing the cost until the end of the ride."I continue to have concerns about this bill," Elefante said. "I think we need to do more work on it and also there are several issues we have not addressed at all, so for these reasons I am not able to support this bill at this time." Exodus Mandate Project & Frontline Ministries, Inc. Starts New Livestream Program Contact: Chaplain E. Ray Moore, (Lt.Col.) USAR Ret., President, Frontline Ministries, Inc., 803-714-1744, exodusmandate@gmail.com; www.exodusmandate.org COLUMBIA, S.C., June 7, 2018 /Christian Newswire/ -- E. Ray Moore, President of Frontline Ministries, Inc., and the Exodus Mandate Project (www.Exodusmandate.org) announced a new Livestream program, Ray Moore Live! (www.raymoorelive.com). The program airs Monday-Friday, 11:00-11:30 am (EST), which focuses on K12 Christian education and homeschooling. The Exodus Mandate Project is a Christian ministry to encourage and assist Christian families to leave government schools for the Promised Land of Christian schools or home schooling. The website for the Exodus Mandate Project states, "It is our hope that this fresh obedience in educating our children according to Biblical mandates will prove to be the key for revival in our families, churches and nation." Ray Moore Live! started broadcasting on May 23, 2018, with the inaugural show highlighting the "Call to Dunkirk" DVD and the need to remove Christian children from the public schools. A copy of the 3-minute DVD can be ordered by calling the ministry office, 803-714-1744, for a suggested donation of $5.00. [Frontline Ministries, Inc., is a 5013 non-profit Christian organization.] All previous programs can be viewed at www.raymoorelive.com, as well as on their Facebook page, Exodus Mandate Community. "I'm excited about this new venture that the Lord has opened up for us. I am also hopeful that the educational and biblical truths shared in this program will resonate with the hundreds of thousands of Christian families who continue to place their children in harm's way in the public schools and that they will remove their children in favor of Christian teaching. This can be an important tipping point in K12 Christian education and homeschooling," stated Chaplain Moore. The show will be covering a myriad of topics relating to education, such as Common Core State Standards vs. biblical teaching, alternatives to public school, the misapplication of the salt & light doctrine, vouchers/school choice, curriculum choices, homeschooling testimonies, current events, charter schools, etc. Chaplain Moore speaks truth from God's Word we can all heed and obey, and at the end of each program, he states, "That's the truth and I'm stickin' with it." For more information about the ministry or to arrange an interview or speaking opportunity with Chaplain E. Ray Moore, email Exodus Mandate at exodusmandate@gmail.com or call 803-714-1744. Share Tweet 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! A man who asked his girlfriend to send him inappropriate photos had one felony charge dismissed and the other will be also be dismissed if he can complete probation. Jacob Ariel Allen, 19, of Green River recently appeared in the Third District Court of Judge Richard Lavery for a sentencing hearing to two counts of sexual exploitation of children. On the first count, Allen induced a child to engage in making pornography. On the second count, Allen possessed child pornography. Count two was dismissed. Under Wyoming statute 7-13-301, count one will also be dismissed if Allen can adhere to the supervised probationary terms for three years. This statute is only available to first-time offenders and only for certain felonies. Once 7-13-301 is used by an individual, it can never be used again. If Allen breaks his probation, his guilty plea on the first count will be entered and the charge will no longer be dismissed. One of the probation terms is that Allen is to have no contact with the victim in the case. This includes first-hand correspondence or communication through a third party except under circumstances approved in advance and in writing by the victim and the probation agents in consultation with the treatment provider. Allen shall not enter onto the premises, travel past or loiter near the victims residence or place of employment. According to court documents, on July 28, 2017, during and unrelated investigation, a Sweetwater County Sheriffs deputy was given consent from Allen to search his cell phone. Oxygen Forensic Analyst Software was then used and three photos of a young nude female were discovered. One of the photos was explicit in nature. The Sheriffs detective was able to identify the girl in the photos by looking at Allens Facebook page. Some of the photos on Allens Facebook page where of him with the girl in the photos. The detective set up an interview with the girl, who told the detective she was 16 years old when the photos were taken. She said she willingly took the photos of herself and sent them to Allen because she was Allens girlfriend. On Aug. 7, 2017, a search warrant was obtained by the sheriffs department to complete a more in-depth analysis of Allens phone. This analysis discovered text-message exchanges between Allen and the 16-year-old girl. These test messages led up to the girl sending the photos of herself. During the text message exchange, Allen asked the girl to send him photos because he was drunk. After a few more texts back and forth, the girl sent them after Allen promised he was the only one looking at them. Allen was interviewed and told the detective he told the girl to send him pics. He said he never sent the photos to anyone else. Green River is one step closer to having parimutuel wagering coming to the city. During the Sweetwater County Commissioners meeting Tuesday morning, the Commissioners unanimously approved a resolution to allowing Wyoming Downs, LLC, to conduct parimutuel wagering on live horse racing, historic horse racing and simulcast events at the Town Bar and Grill. In an interview, Cliff McCarlie, Wyoming Downs representative and manager at Evanstons live horse track, said they plan to have 20 machines like those located at the Liquor Depot in Rock Springs. These machines will be used for parimutuel wagering on live horse racing, historic horse racing and simulcast events. Hopefully, its a good match, McCarlie said. We have a lot of Green River customers going from Green River to Rock Springs, Buckley Hubert, Town Bar and Grill owner, said in an interview. Green River residents are spending the money in Rock Springs. Why not keep them here? McCarlie said even though he and Hubert have received approval from both the Green River City Council and the Sweetwater County Commission, they still need the states approval from the Wyoming Pari-Mutuel Commission. McCarlie is estimating the state process to take 60-90 days. The state has the final say, Buckley said. During the meeting, Commissioner John Kolb spoke favorably of the project. Im glad were bringing something Green River wants, Kolb said. Hubert and McCarlie said the parimutuel machines in Green River will bring the city of Green River money the same way its bringing money to Rock Springs. In January, the Wyoming Pari-Mutuel Commission paid the Rock Springs government $335,476.55 for 2017. Both Hubert and McCarlie believe this number would be smaller for Green River, but it would be revenue Green River didnt have before. Manila (CNN Philippines Life) Daily life for most Filipinos is rife with frustrations, whether youre stuck in traffic for hours on end, combating the blistering heat, or dealing with long queues and inefficient service. On a particularly bad day, one might dream up ideas to solve their biggest frustrations. Though for most of us these thoughts are simply daydreams and rants on social media, there are people who dig in, get their hands dirty, and try to get to the root of the problem. These are the kinds of people that the James Dyson Foundation are looking for. The James Dyson Foundation is a charity that seeks to encourage young engineers and inventors to pursue a career in design engineering. One of their core programs is the James Dyson Awards (JDA). It has only one brief: Find a problem and solve it through design engineering. We embrace frustrations. We do not accept things as they are. We find our frustrations and we find different ways to solve the problem, says Thomas Ting at the press launch of the James Dyson Award at the newest Dyson Demo at The Podium. Ting is a design engineer at Dyson who facilitates engineering workshops for the James Dyson Foundation in Singapore. 2011 finalist Esther Wang demonstrates the invention she entered into the competition at the Dyson Demo store. Photo courtesy of DYSON Wang's invention, Rabbit Ray, is a communication tool for hospital staff to explain the process of blood taking and IV drips to children. It is currently being used in 15 countries. Photo by JL JAVIER The JDA has been held annually for 14 years, yet it is only this year that it will include entries from the Philippines. Entries will first be judged on a national level, where winners will receive 2,000 (approximately 140,000). Twenty finalists from all over the world will be selected by a panel of engineers. Two international runners up will receive 5,000 (approximately 350,000), while the winner will receive 30,000 (2 million) and 5,000 for their university. The prize money helps winners set up and commercialize their ideas, but previous finalist Esther Wang says that one of the biggest benefits of joining the competition is that it trains you to think globally. I think as an inventor or engineer, you go back to the drawing board and keep reiterating, says Wang, who spent four years developing her product. But [after the competition], you enter with a global mindset. Because it's very easy for students and for young graduates to just look and think of the local market. You need to put yourself in the shoes of the users," says Wang when asked to offer advice to aspiring young designers hoping to enter the competition. "Design and engineering are important, but you have to have a sense of empathy that will guide your inventive direction. Photo by JL JAVIER Rabbit Ray, Wangs invention and entry to the competition, is a communications tool for hospital staff to explain the process of blood taking and IV drips to children. It is currently used across 15 countries. Ting says theres also one massive intangible benefit to joining: The media exposure. James Dyson Award is followed by many of the world's international media outlets. And to be honest, the kind of coverage you get from the JDA is worth a lot more than the prize money you would get. Wang, who was a Global Top 15 finalist in 2011, has gone on to be recognized as a Forbes 30 under 30, Healthcare and Sciences Feature Honoree in 2018. For aspiring young design engineers hoping to enter the competition, Wang has some valuable advice: have a good sense of empathy. You need to put yourself in the shoes of the users. Design and engineering are important, but you have to have a sense of empathy that will guide your inventive direction. Meanwhile, Ting is confident that Filipino inventors will do well in the competition. [The Philippines] is one of the more densely populated countries in Southeast Asia. So there's definitely a lot of problems to solve, a lot of opportunities to showcase the Filipino spirit to the world. *** The James Dyson Award is accepting entries until July 20, 2018. Candidates can enter through an online application, as well as find more details about the competition, on the James Dyson Award website. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) The Philippines has untapped potential in the field of medical and wellness tourism but people have been coming to the country for treatments for years. The Medical Tourism Index lists the Philippines as 19th in global ranking among its destinations. It placed 16th in the medical tourism industry and 19th in the quality of facilities and services. Its services include cardiovascular care, orthopedic care, eye care, dental care, aesthetic medicine, and minimally-invasive surgery. The Department of Tourism (DOT) is working with the Department of Health (DOH) for the Philippine Medical Tourism Program. According to its DOH profile, the program aims to "contribute a noticeable and quantifiable amount to the Philippine economy and improvement in the quality of life." Its other goals include an increase of institutions with advanced medical services, the generation of jobs, and an increase in vistors. The DOT cited cost analysis indicating that the Philippines offers a wide range of medical services at a more competitive price. Filipino health workers are also known for their compassion and warmth, bonus factors when catering to patients. The government also hopes that the country's proximity to popular tourist destinations will encourage guests to consider availing of local health services. The DOT hopes to see internationally recognized wellness resorts that could further cement the Philippines' status as a wellness destination. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 7) Police arrested 474 employees of a trading company in Pampanga on Wednesday for their alleged involvement in cybercrime. The police cybercrime group targeted a company allegedly posing as a business process outsourcing firm in Berthaphil Business Park at the Clark Special Economic Zone. Police said the employees were on the night shift, so there may be more arrests from the other shifts. Police on Thursday presented eight Israeli nationals supposedly operating the business. They said the company was engaged in fraudulent financial transactions worth around $1 million (around P52 million) daily. Police said the money is transferred to different international accounts including those in the Czech Republic, Romania, and Germany. They said they discovered the operations after Australian nationals reported they were scammed for up to A$500,000 (around P20 million). Authorities said the company failed to present legal documents when a search warrant was served for estafa. Opinion Growing old gracefully is not easy Age may be just a number but in many ways how you feel about yourself is not only determined by how you physically and emotionally feel but by how others see you. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 7) The Consultative Committee (ConCom) tasked to review the Constitution said Thursday it wants to make it easier for the public to amend the charter or amend a law. While the current Constitution and Republic Act (RA) 6735 allow the public to exercise legislative power through the People's Initiative, Roan Libarios, ConCom vice chairman on the Subcommittee on the Structure of the Federal Government, said it is difficult to meet the requirements. "Sa experience natin sa Philippines for the last 30 years since in-adopt in 1987 iyong People's Initiative provision sa ating Constitution, wala talagang nangyaring successful na initiative," Libarios said. Under RA 6735, amending the Constitution through People's Initiative would need the signatures of at least 12 percent of total registered voters nationwide and at least three percent of registered voters per congressional district. To amend a national law, the signatures of at least ten percent of all registered voters nationwide and at least three percent per congressional district are needed. There are 238 congressional districts in the country. "Nakita namin na isa sa mga major hindrances kaya medyo hindi nag-gain ng traction ang mechanism of People's Initiative, masyadong stringent ang requirement sa signatures, kulang ng suporta sa ating estado, and wala ring naka-allocate na pondo para sa information drive and campaign," Libarios said. The ConCom is now proposing to add an article in the Constitution that will relax the requirements on People's Initiative. Under the proposal, amending the Constitution would only require the signatures of at least 12 percent of voter turnout in the preceding national elections and at least three percent of voter turnout in every federated region. To enact, amend, or repeal a federal law, the signatures of at least ten percent of voter turnout in the preceding national elections and at least three percent of voter turnout in every federated region are needed. Once the proponents have gathered the required number of signatures for their petition, they will have to submit it to the Commission on Elections (Comelec), which will then begin the initiative and validate the signatures. Comelec will also refer the petition and proposal to the Federal Constitutional Court to determine if the proposal is constitutional. If there is none, Comelec would certify the measure and submit it to a plebiscite. Before the public votes, Comelec will have to conduct an information drive during the plebiscite campaign period. "All these things have something to do with empowering the people and leveling the political playing field because what we have here is a situation where you have 300 or so political families controlling the enture political process and power of the government and the country," ConCom spokesperson Ding Generoso said. "That's what we are trying to break up and leveling the political playing field so that even those who are in the margins of society will have the political power to change the course of their lives," he added. Haiti - FLASH : OAS, Haiti's abstention vote, Special Adviser of Moise precise Guychard Dore, Special Adviser to President Jovenel Moise, explained that the Haitian Government, by its vote of abstention at the 48th General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS), along with 11 other countries "refused to interfering in Venezuela's internal affairs" https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-24590-haiti-flash-the-oas-does-not-recognize-the-venezuelan-elections-haiti-abstains.html "Haiti's abstention in the vote on the legitimacy of the elections and the future of Venezuela within the OAS means that the country is and remains a partner of the Bolivarian Republic, but recognizes that there is discomfort in this country," said Dore, recalling that Haiti and Venezuela have diplomatic relations based on the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of countries. Note that it was Chancellor Rodrigue who congratulated the re-election of President Maduro and that no message of congratulations from President Moise had been sent officially through diplomatic channels... Finally, let us emphasize that Venezuela is also the main creditor of Haiti with 90% of the total debt of Haiti, more than 2.5 billion US dollars (April 2017). Note that the Dominican Republic voted in favor of the resolution alongside 18 other countries, declaring illegitimate the Venezuelan electoral process that led to the victory of President Nicolas Maduro Moros on May 20, not being able to take the risk of alienating the United States, the leading economic partner in terms of exports. The Dominican Chancellor, Miguel Vargas, has asked the hemispheric organization to seek a peaceful, democratic solution to the situation in Venezuela. Recalling that "[...] several factors have been combined to derail the process of dialogue that took place in Santo Domingo, denouncing a real lack of willingness to reach agreements between the parties to the conflict, both on the Government side that the Venezuelan opposition. It should be noted that the Dominican Republic paid $2 billion in 2015 to Venezuela to pay 98% of its debt to this country. See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-24590-haiti-flash-the-oas-does-not-recognize-the-venezuelan-elections-haiti-abstains.html SL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - Environment : The Mayor of PAP on the ground in the fight against the rubbish The Mayor of Port-au-Prince Yuri Chevry made a surprise visit to La Saline on Tuesday to follow up the garbage collection operations in this part of the capital where garbage production is very important. Under the watchful eyes of Mayor Chevry, the compressive trucks, bulldozers and other types of equipment of the Equipment Center of the Port-au-Prince Town Hall , have removed tens of cubic meters of solid waste of all types. This operation, which mobilized several road workers, was an opportunity for local residents to salute the dynamism of the mayor who decided through the municipal decree of May 16 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-24489-haiti-flash-ranking-of-the-shame-port-au-prince-the-dirtiest-city-in-the-world.html , to launch a ruthless struggle against garbage, bulky domestic waste, merchants, artisans and industrial waste, as well as the waste resulting from the cleaning of the streets, markets and public spaces of the commune. See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-24586-haiti-politic-miami-donates-7-garbage-trucks-for-port-au-prince.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-24489-haiti-flash-ranking-of-the-shame-port-au-prince-the-dirtiest-city-in-the-world.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-23229-haiti-insalubrity-9-mayors-of-the-metropolitan-area-call-the-authorities-to-dialogue.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-21616-haiti-politics-moise-brings-together-8-mayors-and-made-promises-against-insalubrity.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19586-haiti-environment-port-au-prince-declares-war-to-the-rubbish.html https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-17964-icihaiti-environment-the-mayors-of-the-metropolitan-area-are-talking-about-waste.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-17952-haiti-environment-the-tourism-investments-compromised-by-waste.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-11559-haiti-environment-smcrs-wants-to-get-out-the-metropolitan-area-of-its-insalubrity.html HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - Security : Canada, reliable partner of the PNH Carlos Rojas-Arbulu, Head of the Canadian Cooperation in Haiti paid a courtesy call on Inspector General Jean Miguelite Maxime, Chief of Cabinet to the Director General of the Haitian National Police. The opportunity to highlight on the one hand the partnership between Canada and the PNH during the last 9 years and on the other hand to express the satisfaction of the General Directorate in the efforts of Canada to accompany the Haitian Police in its objective of professionalization of middle executives, through the multi-year project of initial training and development of the executives of the institution. Thanks to Canada's support, the PNH has been equipped, among other things, with a National Police Functional Academy https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-5377-haiti-security-official-inauguration-of-the-national-academy-of-police-anp.html and temporary premises with a lifespan of 20 years were erected in Port-au-Prince to meet the needs of the PNH. Moreover, in addition to the graduations of the promotions of new police candidates https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-24024-haiti-security-graduation-of-the-5th-promotion-of-police-commissaires.html , 110 commissioners (including 8 women) were graduated (4 promotions) as well as 139 inspectors (including 14 women), in addition, Canada donated many equipment and vehicles to the PNH to better equip and protect the police in the proper accomplishment of their mission. See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-24024-haiti-security-graduation-of-the-5th-promotion-of-police-commissaires.html https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-23727-icihaiti-canada-donation-of-vehicles-to-the-polifront.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-23503-haiti-news-zapping.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-22422-haiti-news-zapping.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-5377-haiti-security-official-inauguration-of-the-national-academy-of-police-anp.html HL/ TB/ HaitiLibre Haiti - Politic : Towards the training of administrative and political staff of the Lower House On Wednesday in Parliament, Guy Gerard Georges, Secretary General of the Chamber of Deputies, met with Larbi Bennouna, the President and CEO of "Setym International" an organization working in collaboration with the School of Management Sciences of the Universite du Quebec, in Montreal, which provides training for public service executives in Haiti. "This meeting is part of the prospect of establishing between the two institutions a partnership agreement that can promote the training of administrative and political staff of the Lower House and engage it on the path of modernity," according to Georges. At the end of this meeting Rosny Cadet, the Secretary General's assistant also present, concluded that this partnership aimed at transferring knowledge to Parliament's executives will enable it to equip itself with officials capable of professionally leading changes and reforms within the institution. HL/ HaitiLibre Ian Harris is presented with his MBE By Lisa Riley Ian Harris, chief executive of the Wine & Spirits Education Trust (WSET), has been presented with his MBE. Following his appointment as a member of the order in the Queen's New Years Honours List 2018, Harris was presented with his honour by HRH The Prince of Wales yesterday at Buckingham Palace. Harris received the commendable honour in recognition of his services to the wine and spirit industry following his 25 years on the mainstream commercial side, of which he has been WSET chief executive for the past 15 years. His time with the WSET had been the best and most enjoyable of his time working in the industry, said Harris. Education is the foundation for any successful industry and I am privileged to lead an organisation that nurtures future generations of wine and spirits professionals and enthusiasts, he said. Going forward, the WSET would continue to work to build a fruitful future for this great industry, he added. Following a successful career in sales and marketing, including 10 years with Waverley Vintners followed by 15 years with the Seagram Spirits and Wine Group in the UK and France, in 2002 Harris' original passion for teaching brought him full circle when he joined the WSET. In his time at the helm, Harris has overseen the transformation of WSET into the largest global organisation of its kind, with annual candidate numbers growing from 10,000 in 2002 to over 85,000 in 2017. WSET now offers nine qualifications in wine, spirits and sake across four levels of progressive study, in 19 languages through over 700 Approved Programme Providers in more than 70 countries. In 2015, WSET received the Queens Award for Enterprise in International Trade. In 2016, Harris was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Drinks Retailing Awards. Uh-oh! It could be you, or it could be us, but there's no page here. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 7) Former TV host Kris Aquino hinted at a possible run for public office as she engaged Communications Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson in a word war. In a radio interview, the youngest daughter of the late former President Cory Aquino and late Senator Ninoy Aquino said two things hold her back in seeking public office: endorsement contracts and a promise to her late mother. "Hindi po ako tatakbo ng 2019. I'm not allowed," Aquino said when asked about running for office. "Because we computed. Times two ang ibabalik ko sa kontrata." [Translation: I'm not running for office in 2019. I'm not allowed. We computed and I have to return twice what my contracts are worth.] Aquino said most of her endorsement contracts have a clause that states she would neither seek elective nor accept appointive offices. Breaking these terms means she has to pay back the company, and settle possible damages. By her count, Aquino says has 57 endorsement deals from multinational and local companies, and a number of food stall franchises. She said she also promised her mother she would not run for office until she lives a simple life. "Ang sinabi ng mom ko you have to make me this promise. If you will ever decide to go into politics, that would be when you're no longer interested in branded things," Aquino said. The actress-turned-entrepreneur and social media personality said she is not ready to lead a simple life. "Sorry po, I'm being so honest. I'm telling you I cannot afford it. Kasi din hindi pa ako simple [I'm not living a simple life yet]," Aquino said during the radio interview. Aquino had said on a Facebook video she considered running for office because she may need to lend her voice and be an influence for those in need. "Nag-iisip po talaga ako ngayon sincere ito paano ko ba magagamit yang boses na yan dahil nakikinig kayo sa akin. Ang FB alone I was told that Live had more than five million views. So maybe my voice matters," she said on her Facebook Live video. But she said politics may not be the best avenue for her to help the public. "Baka mas maganda na hindi nga ako humingi ng position, hindi ako maging elective official, para patuloy niyo kong pakinggan. Kapag parte ako ng Senado, naging kagaya lang ako nila eh. Ngayon pantay-pantay tayong lahat," she said. Word War with Mocha Uson Aquino reiterated during the radio interview that she had already ended her spat with Uson. Uson had posted on social media a video comparing President Rodrigo Duterte kissing a Filipino woman on the lips during a meeting with the Filipino community in South Korea, to an old clip of the late Senator Aquino Jr. being kissed by a female supporter moments before he was escorted by soldiers out of a plane and assassinated on the tarmac in 1983. READ: Kris Aquino ends spat with Mocha Uson "Yung akin lang napagsabihan ako na and this is being said with no disrespect whatsoever because I am just stating a fact hindi ka lalaban sa mas maliit sa iyo at sa hindi mo ka-level kasi in the end ikaw ang masama, ikaw ang talo," Aquino said. She added the matter has been settled since President Duterte had apologized to her about the matter. "So with her? I don't care. She can say everything and anything," Aquino said of Uson. President Duterte, in an interview Thursday night, confirmed he had apologized to Aquino. However, he said he would not sanction Uson for defying an order for her to personally apologize to the late President's daughter. "As I respect the opposition, I must respect the people in my own camp. She invoked the right of free expression," Duterte said when asked about Uson. Special Assistant to the President Bong Go in a media Wednesday told the press that he had also apologized to Aquino, and that he and Duterte had told Uson to apologize as well. Uson refused to heed the advice. READ: Mocha Uson unapologetic to Kris Aquino on Ninoy kiss issue In an interview with CNN Philippines The Source, Presidential Spokesperson Sal Panelo said that while he saw nothing wrong with Uson did, she should apologize. "Kahit naman hindi mali yung ginawa mo, kapag nakasakit ka ng tao, mag-so-sorry ka," Panelo said about the issue. [Translation: Even if you didn't do anything wrong, if you hurt a person, you should apologize.] The Missile Defense Agency to Hold Public Scoping Meetings for the Homeland Defense Radar Hawaii Environmental Impact Statement News Release from Missile Defense Agency The Missile Defense Agency (MDA), in cooperation with the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Army, will host public meetings to review the scope of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed Homeland Defense Radar - Hawaii at Kuaokala Ridge (adjacent to U.S. Air Force Kaena Point Satellite Tracking Station) or at one of two sites at the U.S. Armys Kahuku Training Area. When: Tuesday, June 19, 2018 Time: 6:00 p.m. 9:00 p.m. Location: Sunset Beach Elementary School 59-360 Kamehameha Hwy. Haleiwa, HI 96712* When: Wednesday, June 20, 2018 Time: 6:00 p.m. 9:00 p.m. Location: Keehi Lagoon Memorial Park 2685 N. Nimitz Hwy. Honolulu, HI 96819* When: Thursday, June 21, 2018 Time: 6:00 p.m. 9:00 p.m. Location: Waianae High School 85-251 Farrington Hwy. Waianae, HI 96792* *All meetings will have same content and format The 2017 National Defense Authorization Act requires the MDA to develop a plan to procure and field a ballistic missile defense radar for the defense of Hawaii. MDA is required to evaluate possible site locations best suited for future deployment of a radar capable of protecting the homeland against threats from nations, such as North Korea and Iran. The Ballistic Missile Defense System provides protection of the U.S. from existing missile threats. The proposed radar will provide added defense capability against evolving threats to enhance the defense of Hawaii. The potential site locations for the radar, which will be evaluated in the EIS, are at Kuaokala Ridge on State land adjacent to the U.S. Air Forces Kaena Point Satellite Tracking Station and at the U.S. Armys Kahuku Training Area. These locations are on the island of Oahu. Your input is important to ensure significant environmental issues, other areas of concern, and alternatives are considered in the EIS process. The public scoping meetings will be conducted in an open house format and will provide attendees with the opportunity to talk with and ask questions of representatives from the MDA and other cooperating agencies. Additionally, you will have the opportunity to provide verbal and written official comments on the proposed project. Verbal comments will be provided one-on-one to a court reporter. The MDA will use your input to help identify environmental and other issues to be considered in completing this environmental study. In addition to attending the meeting, the public may submit written comments until July 23, 2018. Email: MDA.HDRH.EIS@kfs-llc.com Fax: 256-713-1617 US Mail: KFS, LLC Attn: MDA HDR-H EIS 303 Williams Ave., Suite 116 Huntsville, AL 35801 Website: https://www.mda.mil/news/nepa_documents.html Anyone having further questions or media wishing to attend the meeting should contact MDA Public Affairs at 256-450-1599, or via email at MDAPressOperations@mda.mil . Approved for Public Release 19-MDA-9607 (26 Apr 18) FINAL (26 APR 2018) A Housing Boom and a Volcanic Bang (Guest: Kelii Akina) Heartland Daily Podcast May 30, 2018 In this episode of the Heartland Daily Podcast, Heartland Institute research fellow Jesse Hathaway talks with Grassroot Institute of Hawaii President Kelii Akina about how the state governments housing policies have gone up in flames literally. Lava flows from the Hawaiian volcano Kilauea have destroyed dozens of homes and disrupted thousands of lives in the past few weeks. Why were people living there in the first place? Akina says big-government policies encouraged them to stop thinking smart and to start living dangerously. In 1991, the Hawaii legislature created the Hawaii Property Insurance Association, subsidizing home insurance policies to people who otherwise couldnt buy them at market rates. Akina says that subsidizing home insurance and requiring insurance providers to sell policies to individuals in the state, regardless of how risky the location, has encouraged people to live in the shadow of the islands most dangerous volcanos. Akina says Hawaiis lawmakers have put citizens in danger by giving them an incentive to live in an area that free-market forces would have otherwise and correctly deemed too risky to insure. The families who have lost their homes have been ill-served by their representatives, he says, and the right thing to do is to sink the subsidy program and allow people to start thinking clearly when choosing where to build their new home. LINK >>> LISTEN HERE. Ministers Learn about the ministers of the Health portfolio, including who they are, what they are responsible for and what they do. Speakers of the Parliament have convened to discuss the timetable of the massive reform this week, while both the government and the social affairs and health committee have weighed up the ramifications of last weeks statement by the constitutional law committee. The Finnish Parliament is preparing to postpone its vote on the social, health care and regional government reform until next autumn, report YLE and Helsingin Sanomat . There have been suggestions that the parliament should make its decision before the summer holidays. I don't think itll be possible. You cant push this process through before the parliaments regular summer recess, Deputy Speaker of the Parliament Tuula Haatainen (SDP) commented to Helsingin Sanomat on Wednesday. The governments objective has been to put the reform bills to a vote before the Parliaments summer recess in June or July. The votes, however, cannot be organised until the social affairs and health committee has unveiled its statement on the reform, which is not expected to happen until next week. Haatainen explained that the government is only drafting its response to the social affairs and health committee, which will then have to draft a thorough statement and present it to the constitutional law committee for further review. YLE, meanwhile, reported that the committees involved in the process are prepared to work on the reform in August but that the Parliament is unlikely to vote on the bill until September. Prime Minister Juha Sipila (Centre) has indicated he might dissolve the government if the social, health care and regional government reform bill fell through. Aleksi Teivainen HT Photo: Antti Aimo-Koivisto Lehtikuva Source: Uusi Suomi Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 7) Communications Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson still has President Rodrigo Duterte's trust despite her refusal to follow his order to apologize to actress Kris Aquino, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said on Thursday. "She hasn't been fired. For as long as she hasn't been fired, she enjoys the trust and confidence, because all presidential appointees serve at the pleasure of the president," he said in his regular media briefing. Roque refused to elaborate on the issue between Uson and Aquino, deferring the matter to Special Assistant to the President (SAP) Bong Go. Roque noted that Go might have information on the issue that he was not privy to. President Duterte through Go had apologized to Kris about a "malicious" video Uson posted on Facebook about the TV host's father, the late Senator Ninoy Aquino. In a press conference on Wednesday, Go also said Duterte had ordered Uson to apologize to Aquino and the government official agreed to do so. But in a post on social media later that day, Uson refused to issue an apology. Related: Mocha Uson unapologetic to Kris Aquino on Ninoy kiss issue Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 7) There is a proposal from the police to take the war against drugs to a new level: Control the proliferation of illegal drugs in schools. Newly-appointed Metro Manila Police Chief Superintendent Guillermo Eleazar has proposed the implementation of surprise drug inspections in schools, which will be conducted by teachers. "I made the coordination with the district supervisor of the DepEd there (Quezon City) and Quezon City Anti-Drug Abuse Advisory Council para i-propose na magkaroon ng random o surprise inspection sa school locker and bags," he told CNN Philippines' The Source on Thursday. Eleazar served as the chief of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) before he was chosen to head the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO). He said there was a case wherein a teacher found out his Grade 6 student was carrying more than 20 sachets of marijuana in his bag. The student reportedly admitted to using the illegal drugs and selling it. Eleazar said the discovery of the teacher led to the arrest of the student's marijuana contact and the principal supplier the drugs. The top Metro Manila police chief said surprise, random inspections will not be done by police officers, but by school teachers only. "Not to be conducted by the police, but the teachers themselves in coordination probably with the PTA (Parent-Teacher Association). Sila ang gagawa ng guidelines," he said. Eleazar said the element of surprise will deter the students from being involved in illegal drugs. "Hindi kailangang gawin araw-araw. Itong mga bata iisipin anytime pwede kami ma-inspect so deterrent 'yun," he said. He said students found to be dealing and involved with illegal drugs will not be exposed. Instead, the discovery will serve as guidance for their parents and so they can seek help from the school's guidance counselors. Eleazar said the proposal has received positive feedback from the Association of PTA presidents of Quezon City, but he admitted the Department of Education has its concerns. He said he will meet with DepEd Undersecretary Jess Mateo on June 11 to discuss the proposal and other options on how to curb the spread of illegal drugs in schools. "Schools ang unang target puntahan. Diyan nagsisimula ang curiosity," he said. Below is the full interview of NCRPO Chief Superintendent Guillermo Eleazar on The Source: 1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war. 2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war. 3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament of the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength. 4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war. 5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites. 6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination. 7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N. 8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N. 9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress. 10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N. 11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.) 12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party. 13. Do away with all loyalty oaths. 14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office. 15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States. 16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights. 17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks. 18. Gain control of all student newspapers. 19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack. 20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions. 21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures. 22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms." 23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art." 24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press. 25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV. 26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy." 27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch." 28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state." 29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis. 30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man." 31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over. 32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc. 33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus. 34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities. 35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI. 36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions. 37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business. 38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand. 39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals. 40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce. 41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents. 42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use united force to solve economic, political or social problems. 43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government. 44. Internationalize the Panama Canal. 45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction over nations and individuals alike. Biddeford-Saco-OOB Courier "(It will) serve a need ... for kids in general and kids in trouble," said Commissioner Richard Clark. Shepard Fairey/Genesis PublicationsIf all you want is more photographs by Ringo Starr, you're in luck: A new coffee-table book called Another Day in the Life, featuring previously unseen images taken by the ex-Beatles drummer, will be published this fall. The book also includes Starr's captions and anecdotes for each picture. Among the images: the presentation of a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award to Starr and his return to the Plaza Hotel in New York City 50 years after The Beatles stayed there during their first trip to the U.S. Some of Ringo's musical friends and associates appear in the pics, among them Paul McCartney, Joe Walsh and members of the All Starr Band. Other photos include some quirky, observational images Ringo snapped during trips to various cities around the world. "I love taking photos of random things, and seeing how they all fit together," Starr says in a statement. "Whether it is at home or on the road, certain things catch my eye -- and when I see something that interests me, that's the emotion of it, and I want to capture it." The cover of Another Day in the Life was designed by renowned graphic artist Shepard Fairey. The book is a follow-up to Ringo's 2013 publication, Photograph. Visit RingoBook.com for more details. Starr announced plans for the book at a press conference on Wednesday in Paris, where he and his All Starr Band's launched their first European tour in seven years. The current leg runs through a July 11 show in Rome, and also includes a June 23-24 engagement in Tel Aviv, Israel. The group will launch a month-long U.S. tour on September 1 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Choking dust, clouds of stinging insects, biting monkeys, trees and enemy rockets crashing from above, tunnels collapsing under foot in temperatures reaching 130 degreeswere all in a days work for the 60th Land Clearing Company, which carried out its missions undaunted, guided by the unit motto, Guts, Skill and Spirit. Largely unheralded and forgotten, land clearing units, in Vietnam nicknamed Jungle Eaters, were often ahead of the frontlines, destroying the enemys most valued weaponheavy coverand blazing the way for infantry and armor. The nearly impenetrable triple-canopy jungle that covered much of Vietnam presented a great challenge to the U.S. military. The enemy used the jungle to conceal large complexes and staging areas for assaults and ambushes, especially along convoy routes. The United States needed to find a way to neutralize that advantage. One option was to use defoli ants, including Agent Orange. The dioxin-based chemicals were sprayed over large swaths of Vietnam by C-123 Provider aircraft. That method made it possible to reach areas of the country inaccessible by ground, but it took time for the chemicals to kill the vegetation. Another option was the Rome Plow, known as hogjaws. This was the military version of a Caterpillar bulldozer outfitted with a 1212-foot-wide, 6-foot-high, 212-ton blade manufactured by the Rome Plow Company of Rome, Ga. A reinforced steel protective cage was mounted on top of each vehicle, with a headache bar over the operators head to protect him from falling debris. The 36,000-pound monster plow, originally used to cut fire breaks in American forests, made its Vietnam debut in 1966. By the summer of 1967, there were three teams of 30 plows each working in Vietnam. The teams were later reorganized as companies, and by January 1969 six companies were busy clearing jungle and forests in Vietnam. In January 1967, the Army launched Operation Cedar Falls, an effort to destroy a Viet Cong jungle fortress called the Iron Triangle. For 20 years the VC, and the Viet Minh before them, used the 40-squaremile area just 20 miles northwest of Saigon as a staging ground for attacks on the city. The wars largest operation to date, Cedar Falls was supported by 600 men and 54 bulldozers, including four Rome Plows from the 1st Engineering Battalion. In this operation the plows formed up with two M48 tank dozers at the point, followed by four bulldozers abreast, with two more trailing as a cleanup team. They cleared resupply landing zones, stripped vegetation from along roadways, cut swaths in the jungle to facilitate rapid deployment of armor, and destroyed bunkers and tunnel complexes. Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Kiernan, commander of the 1st Engineering Battalion, called Cedar Falls the most significant combat engineering operation of the war to date. During the 19-day operation, as some 2,700 acres of land were cleared, maintenance problems emerged as the weak link of mechanical land clearing. Three years later, Rome Plows played a big role in the April 1970 incursion into the Fish Hook area of Cambodia, about 50 miles north of Saigon. On the first day of the operation, the 60th Land Clearing Company ate up nearly 77 acres of jungle and in the process exposed 50 bunkers and a 20-ton cache of rice. Just before noon on the third day, having cleared another 70 acres, the 60th received an order to stop. Ahead of them was a huge, one-square-kilometer bunker complex. When Staff Sgt. Richard Koutch got off his tractor and looked around, he saw laundry drying on the lines and kettles of rice cooking. He found medical supplies in one bunker. When he turned from another bunker and saw 20 North Vietnamese Army soldiers about 30 feet away, the units engineers scattered. The 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment then attacked the complex with F-4s and helicopter gunships providing close air support, securing the area after a five-hour pitched battle. The plows were back in action the next day, destroying 75 bunkers and 50 hooches of what turned out to be the largest NVA hospital complex in Cambodia. The commander of the 1st Engineering Battalion at that time, Lt. Col. Robert Montfore, called the men of the 60th very heroic. We took absolute control and put the run to the enemy, Montfore recalled. Typically, a land clearing company was sent into the field for 45 days, followed by a standard 15-day maintenance stand-down period at its base of operations. The Jungle Eaters worked 12-hour days when they were in the field clearing as much as 150 to 200 acres. At the end of the day, they turned up a defensive berm and laagered in for the night. After evening chow, they spent another four to six hours each night pulling maintenance on their rigs. The tough terrain, enemy mines and near-nightly mortar attacks put a heavy toll on the equipment: between one-half and two-thirds of the plows were out of action at any given time. Since most of the areas they worked in were often isolated and inaccessible by road, spare parts, water and food had to be flown in by CH-47 Chinooks. When entering virgin territory, it was often impossible to identify readily concealed terrain features or an enemy presence. Initially, a single plow equipped with a radio would score the perimeter of the planned cut, with a chopper hovering above, radioing directions to the plow operator and ready to respond to any emergencies. Once the perimeter was traced, the other plows joined up in an echelon formation with the lead dozer and cut in a concentric manner until the clearing was completed. Other plows pushed the debris to the side. While their human enemies were the most deadly, the jungle was replete with hazards of all sorts and species. One of the most persistent animal foes the Jungle Eaters enountered was the Vietnamese bee. Once disturbed, swarms of bees descended upon the dozers. All of the armor and reinforced protective cages did nothing to stop the stinging insects; the only defense that seemed to work was popping a can of green smoke. Eighteen-year-old Allen Boehm from Amelia, Ohio, joined the 60th near Trang Bang in Hau Nghia Province in November 1970. The mischievous Boehm was a natural fit with the Jungle Eaters, a good old boy, according to Sergeant Bill Kimbrell. He worked hard, did what he was asked, and got a beer or two. In late April 1971, the 60th was again near Trang Bang and the men were uneasy. Their traditional operating cover, the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, had been redeployed Stateside and was replaced by an untested ARVN unit. During the night of April 23, the engineers position came under heavy recoilless rifle and machine gun fire. The ARVN unit ran. Despite the lack of protection, the plows started up again the next morning. They were working to clear a bamboo patch when they were attacked on three sides and a B-40 rocket slammed into one tractor. As Boehm rushed to the aid of the driver of the disabled vehicle, his own dozer was hit by a rocket and erupted in flames. Seriously injured with multiple fragmentation wounds to his head, neck and extremities, Boehm was dusted-off by chopper to the 24th Evacuation Hospital in Long Binh, where he died shortly thereafter. The company was ordered back to the battle site to recover Boehms burned-out dozer. As the men approached the derelict vehicle, the VC attacked them again. During the fight Captain Edwin Heisse, Lieutenant Kevin Richard and medic James Harris were also killed, making April 24, 1971, the deadliest day in the history of the 60th Land Clearing Company. Boehm was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal with Oak Leaf Custer and V Device. As with other U.S. units, the Rome Plow companies were gradually replaced by South Vietnamese units. The 60th was ordered home in December 1971, the last U.S. plow company to redeploy. Colonel Montfore has estimated that during its service in Vietnam the 60th Land Clearing Company succeeded in clearing between 150,000 and 200,000 acres of junglesuffering 27 combat deaths in the process. What can never be calculated, however, is the number of American infantry casualties that were prevented by the work of the 60th. Originally published in the October 2008 issue of Vietnam Magazine. To subscribe, click here. On December 11, 1967, two Marine provisional rifle platoons moved in on a North Vietnamese Army (NVA) position near the mouth of the Cua Viet River. An attached company of Marine infantry had spotted an NVA platoon the day before. Part of Company B, 1st Marine Amphibious Tractor Battalion, the Marines pursued and now the battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Edward Toner, was ready to strike. Backing up Toners riflemen was a pair of LVTH-6 amphibious tractors mounting 105mm howitzers. Four more of the cannon-carrying vehicles, dubbed H-6s, were available for traditional indirect artillery fire support. The attack began and ended with success. The two H-6s poured fire into the NVA troops, who desperately counterattacked. At times the range was as close as 50 meters. The other four H-6s added their weight to the fight and, when it was over, the Marines had suffered 20 wounded, but 54 NVA lay dead. The Cua Viet fight demonstrated the versatility of the LVTP-5 series vehicles used by the Marines in Vietnam. Originally designed to shuttle Marines and equipment from ship to shore during amphibious assaults, the vehicles performed many other duties in Southeast Asia, including work as armored personnel carriers, as assault guns, engineer vehicles and recovery vehicles. The LVTP-5 did all this despite a dangerous design fault that made most Marines reluctant to ride inside it. The Marine Corps LVTP (landing vehicle, tracked, personnel) series of amphibious tractorscalled amtracswas a continuation of the famous World War II personnel carriers. Amtracs had been used in the island-hopping campaigns of the Pacific Theater with great success. When the Korean War broke out in 1950, amtracs were used during the Inchon landings and elsewhere. In Vietnam, French forces used American-supplied amtracs in their operations against the Viet Minh. During the Korean War, development began on a new vehicle to replace the aging amtracs. In 1950 a contract was awarded to the Borg-Wagner Corporations Ingersoll Products Division to develop the new LVTP-5 and its variants. A prototype was ready in August 1951, and testing went forward. Production began in 1952, but the rushed developmental period resulted in a number of mechanical problems that delayed the vehicles entry into service until 1956, followed by more testing with Marine units that exposed additional problems. The vehicles ultimately modified to reduce these mechanical problems were given the A1 designation, added to the end of the model number. Though not off to a good start, the LVTP-5 was capable of performing its intended missionthat of putting Marines onto the beach. Weighing in at 64,200 pounds, the massive vehicle was powered by an 810-HP Continental LV-1790-1 V12 engine that gave it a land speed of 30 mph and up to 6.8 mph in the water. Ashore, the LVTP-5 had a range of 190 miles; in water, 57 miles. With a three-man crew, it was designed to carry 34 troops in the hull, but in practice, the normal maximum was about 25 Marines with combat equipment. The vehicles armor topped out at six-tenths of an inch thick, and a cupola on top mounted a .30- caliber machine gun. Variants to the troop-carrying model included the LVTH-6, the H standing for howitzer. It mounted an M49 105mm howitzer in a turret atop the hull. Up to 151 rounds of ammunition could be carried on board on land, but when it was waterborne, no more than 100 rounds were stowed to keep the vehicle balanced. Another version was the LVTC, a command vehicle for headquarters elements. A recovery and repair vehicle using the same hull was called the LVTR-1. An engineer vehicle, the LVTE-1, weighed 82,750 pounds and could be fitted with a bulldozer blade. The dozer blade also had a rake-like device for use in mine clearing, and on its roof was mounted a rocket-propelled demolition charge. The rocket could be launched across a suspected minefield, trailing a line charge of explosives. Once laid across the minefield, the line charge detonated, clearing a path. An antiaircraft LVTP-5 variant was developed, but because of problems in testing, it never entered production. By 1957 a total of 1,112 LVTP-5s had been produced, along with 210 LVTH-6s, 55 engineer variants, 65 recovery vehicles and 58 command versions of the amtrac. These vehicles were assigned to Marine amphibian tractor battalions, with each battalion having 120. A standard platoon had 11 LVTP- 5A1s, with four platoons making up a company and two companies in the battalion. The remaining amtracs were assigned to the company and battalion headquarters, and those were mostly command vehicles or engineer and recovery variants. Each Marine division had an assigned amphibian tractor battalion. The 1st and 3rd Amphibian Tractor battalions served in Southeast Asia. Once ashore, the LVTP-5s experienced hard use and their shortcomings became apparent, as they had been designed primarily to ferry Marines from ship to shore, including landings on contested beaches against defending enemies. They could operate inland, but Vietnams rough terrain taxed the suspension system in particular. Maintenance was always a challenge with the LVTP-5, and hard use on land strained its problematic mechanical systems. The crew could easily be kept busy just pulling daily maintenance, and replacing an engine or transmission often required an entire day. The second and more lethal problem for the LVTP-5 was its vulnerability to mines. The VC and NVA were skilled at adapting various explosives into impromptu mines using artillery shells, aircraft bombs and whatever else could be salvaged or scraped together. Normally a vehicle as big and heavy as the LVTP-5 would have some resistance to such devices, but the amtracs fuel tanks were installed in its floor: 12 cells carrying up to 456 gallons of gasoline. Hit a mine, and the vehicles fuel supply would often go up in flames, with horrific results for anyone trapped inside. A lucky crewman would be blown clear of the amtrac by the explosion; otherwise he would be burned to death. Most Marines, therefore, preferred to ride on the top of the vehicle, stacking sandbags around the amtracs roof to provide some protection. Another hazard stemmed from the fact that the LVTP-5s cupola-mounted machine gun was designed to spray an enemy-held beachhead with fire from the water, so the gun could not be depressed very far, resulting in some dead space close-in to the vehicle. Once Marines started riding atop their amtracs, the machine gun was often blocked by the men or the sandbags. To address that, the machine gun would some times be mount ed over the sandbags so it had a clear field of fire. All these drawbacks limited the LVTP-5s effectiveness as a personnel carrier, but without additional land-oriented vehicles, such as the Armys M113, the Marines had to make do with what they had. As the Marines on the ground learned how to better fight their enemy, the amtrac was utilized less as a strict combat personnel carrierbut it was still widely used in a range of support roles, such as ferrying supplies back and forth, often escorted by tanks. The LVTP-5 was better adapted to riverine and brown-water operations. The Marine Corps formed several special landing forces, using them to patrol navigable rivers and coastlines. The VC and NVA generally steered clear of areas where these special landing forces operated. The recovery amtracs were always in demand to retrieve other armored vehicles disabled in combat. They also were used to tow broken-down vehicles or ones stuck in Vietnams often soft and boggy ground. The howitzer carriers were intended mainly for indirect fire support, just like regular artillery, but were often deployed as a substitute tank to support infantry. One such unit, the 1st Provisional Armored Amphibian Tractor Platoon, was established for a six-month trial in 1965. It wound up serving in Vietnam until 1972, supporting a South Korean Marine Brigade. It fired more than 200,000 rounds of 105mm ammunition during its combat service. After Vietnam, the LVTP-5 was replaced by the LVTP-7, which was improved based on the lessons from Vietnam, becoming smaller, lighter and much more durable for use on land. It continues in service today as the AAV-7. Originally published in the October 2008 issue of Vietnam Magazine. To subscribe, click here. In 1969, North Vietnam decided to increase its fighter force before the latest lull in the American bombing campaign ended. It had the pilots, all qualified to fly the MiG-21, but not enough of the jets were available, nor would they be until years end. Fortunately for Hanoi, China had been trickling in Shenyang F-6 fighters (essentially a Chinese-built MiG-19S) since 1966, and that planes instruments, controls and performance were only slightly different from those of the MiG-17, on which the pilots had trained before going to the Soviet Union to learn how to fly the MiG-21. The transition training to the MiG-19 took no more than six weeks, and the pilots flew to China in late February and brought their planes back. In that same month, the North Vietnamese Air Force (NVAF) assigned its MiG-19s to the newly formed 925th Fighter Regiment at Yen Bai. The unit did little, however, until early 1972, when American air assets began building up for President Richard M. Nixons bombing campaigns. These were much larger and more intensive, and enjoyed more flexible rules of engagement, than those conducted during Lyndon Johnsons administration. In anticipation of the coming raids, Hanoi imported another 24 MiG-19s from China, bringing its total inventory up to 44. Training at the 925th was meant to be intensive, but fuel shortages and maintenance problems limited flying hours. The first nine pilots werent ready until late April, but the regiment had to be thrown into the fray by May, defending the air space over northern and northwestern North Vietnam. Its first engagement with American F-4 Phantoms was on May 8, 1972, and in spite of claims made on both sides, neither achieved substantive results. The 925ths first success came two days later, when a flight of four took off in support of MiG-21s trying to intercept American aircraft west of Haiphong. While the MiG- 21s drew the combat air patrol away, the MiG-19s approached the strike group from behind. They managed to surprise one F-4D, and Pham Hung Son shot it down after a prolonged chase, while Nguyen Van Tung downed an F-4E. One MiG-19 was hit by an air-to-air missile, killing Nguyen Hung Son, and while landing with just enough fuel to return to base, Nguyen Van Tungs plane overshot the runway, crashing and killing him. Pilots being breifed on tactics in front of a group of Chinese made MiG-19s, known as a Shenyang J6. These aircraft were supplied to the 925th FR in 1971, the only unit to operate the MiG 19. (National Museum of the U.S. Air Force Pilots being breifed on tactics in front of a group of Chinese made MiG-19s, known as a Shenyang J6. These aircraft were supplied to the 925th FR in 1971, the only unit to operate the MiG 19. (National Museum of the U.S. Air Force MiG-19 tactics were very similar to MiG-17 tactics, with one key difference. The MiG-19 had significantly more power, which gave it a higher acceleration rate and supersonic flight. Additionally, unlike the MiG-17, the MiG-19 could carry two AA-2 Atoll air-to-air missiles, Soviet copies of the American infrared-guided AIM-9B Sidewinder. Those missiles and the MiG-19s greater speed meant that accelerating away didnt give the target the same chance of escape. The MiG-19 had a similar turning ability to that of the MiG-17 and the MiG-21, and its snap roll was superior. Overall, however, it was difficult to fly. The MiG-19 began life in 1950 when the Soviet air force directed the development of a new fighter that had more range and speed than the MiG-17, which was then early in its test program. The new fighter, initially designated the SM-1, used many MiG-17 airframe components but was to receive new, more powerful engines. It proved very unstable in flight, but much faster than the earlier aircraft. The second prototype, the SM-2, conducted its first flight in July 1952. It incorporated a more powerful ejection seat and new armamenttwo 37mm cannons. The cannons were moved away from the engine intakes to the wing roots to prevent the firing gases from affecting engine performance. Provision was made to carry two 760-liter drop tanks or 250kg bombs. Range had improved to more than 1,000 miles, and operational ceiling had improved to 52,000 feet. The aircraft was equipped with the SRD-1 Radial M gun-ranging radar and an RV-2 radio altimeter. The resulting fighter had a far superior climb rate and range than the MiG-17F, but it was unstable and its turning radius was 200 meters greater. Soviet air force authorities found that unacceptable and demanded further development. Nonetheless, they ordered it into production. The first operational MiG-19 unit was formed in 1955. The MiG-19 was the Soviets first supersonic production fighter, and also the first to employ a braking parachute to shorten its landing run. The aircraft was crammed with fuel, however, and one of those tanks was located immediately below the engine exhaust. Consequently, early MiG-19s had a tendency to catch fire in flight and blow up, making them very unpopular with pilots. The air brakes were also poorly designed; when deployed, they caused the planes nose to pitch, which often led to a stall. Turning and landing could be tricky because of the MiGs inherent instability. Although that gave it an impressive snap roll, a moments inattention or a slight mistake in handling resulted in an uncontrolled spin that required several thousand feet and much skill to recover. The lessons learned from the early MiG-19 were used to modify the basic design, and the resulting MiG-19S entered production in 1956. It integrated the gun-ranging radar into a trajectory computing system that fed the gun sight, greatly improving the pilots ability to hit maneuvering targets. The air brakes were improved and a third 37mm cannon was added. Turning radius was reduced, making the plane only slightly less maneuverable than the MiG-17. It had a better sustained turning rate at all altitudes. The MiG-19, however, continued to be a dangerous platform, suffering the highest accident rate of any plane in Soviet service. Its cockpit pressurization had a tendency to fail without warning, forcing the pilot to descend quickly. The MiG-19s Soviet production ended in 1958, but in 1957, components, machine tools and a production license were sold to China, which became its largest manufacturer. Chinese production began in 1959, and China designated it the Jianjiji Type 6 or Jian-6 (Fighter Type 6). The J-6 was equipped with the same RD-9B engine as the MiG-19 but suffered from poorer quality manufacturing. Chinese engines were less reliable and required significantly more maintenance than Soviet models. Armament was reduced to two 23mm cannons in some Chinese variants, each carrying 100 rounds of ammunition. The wing flaps and air brakes were modified to increase their efficiency, but the Chinese hydraulics had a high failure rate. For all its faults, however, the J-6 offered Third World countries an inexpensive supersonic fighter, and China sold an export version, the F-6, to numerous countries including North Vietnam. Few American pilots encountered the MiG-19 over North Vietnam. There were never more than 36 in service at any one time. Given their area of assignment, U.S. Air Force pilots were more likely to spot a MiG-19 than were Navy pilots. The MiG-19 proved no more popular in North Vietnamese service than it did in the Soviet Union. Vietnamese pilots loved its acceleration, and the cabin depressurization problem was not as much a concern for them since most of their operations were below 20,000 feet. However, pilots who had previously trained on the MiG-21compared the MiG-19 unfavorably to it. Although the MiG-19s turning radius was superior to the F-4 Phantoms at all altitudes, it entered service several years after the American pilots had learned how to counter such tactics. By the time the 925th took to the skies, few Americans were foolish enough to turn with any MiG. The MiG-19 still suffered an unusually high accident rate. Engine failures were common, particularly in planes using Chinese license-built engines. Ejection seat problems also reduced the chances of survival for any pilot who had to abandon the aircraft. Finally, starting in 1969, the American forces attacked the Norths fighter bases regularly, destroying fuel supplies, planes, spare parts hangars and ammunition. Pilots got little rest and had to disperse their planes shortly after landing, to reduce the chances of being caught on the ground. MiG-19s were used primarily as advanced trainers after 1975, but also served in a ground attack role, bombing suspected Meo bases in Laos in the late 1970s and interdicting Khmer Rouge troop movements during the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia in 1979. The Soviet Union provided a last batch of MiG-19s shortly after the war. Despite these deliveries, fewer than 30 MiG-19s were still in Vietnamese service when China and Vietnam fought their short war in 1979. The last North Vietnamese MiG-19s reportedly were decommissioned by the late 1980s. Despite the shortcomings of MiG-19s, they arrived at a critical time during the air war. There werent enough MiG-21s to fill out the countrys order of battle, and they were an improvement on the MiG-17. It may not have been enough to impress the pilots, but with nothing else available, it was better than nothing. The MiG-19 remains in service with the air forces of Bangladesh, China, North Korea and Pakistan. A handful were also in Afghanistan when the United States launched its war on the Taliban in November 2001. Given world tensions, it is possible that American pilots have not seen the last of the venerable MiG-19. MiG-19S Wingspan: 23 ft. 6 in. Length: 41 Ft. 2 in. Height: 12 ft. 9 in. Weight: Empty 11,402 lbs; Max. 19,446 lbs Max. Speed: Mach 1.35 (902 mph) at 33,000 ft. Power: Two Turmansky RD-9B after burning turbojets Armament: Three 30 mm Nudelman-Rikhter NR-30 autocannons; Two AA-2 Atoll infrared-seeking missiles, underwing pylons with a capacity of up to 1,100 lb of stores and provisions to carry combinations of: Two ORO-57K(5V) rocket pods; two 559 lb bombs Range: 864 miles at 45,000 ft. with two 200 gal drop tanks Originally published in the December 2008 issue of Vietnam Magazine. To subscribe, click here. It is rare that a naval vessel once sunk to the bottom of the sea is given a new lease on life. But the motor ship (MS) Amastra, a British-registered Shell Oil tanker under the command of Captain J. Campkin, had such a second life. Early on the pitch-black morning of Wednesday, April 12, 1967, while I was walking my guard mount in the motor pool of the 459th Signal Battalion at Camp John F. McDermott at Nha Trang, a terrific explosion pierced the quiet. The sergeant of the guard checked my post and asked if I had seen anything. All I could tell him was that I had not, and that the explosion seemed to have come from the harbor, just a few hundred yards to the east of our encampment. As I had been up most of the night, when my guard relief came on duty, I retired to my tent to get some much-needed shuteye. The next morning, I was detailed to carry some messages down to higher headquarters and was driving in a jeep along the beach road paralleling the harbor when I noticed a large vessel sunk by the stern, resting in about 60 feet of water. It was MS Amastra. Amastra, a 12,273-gross-ton tanker, had been unloading 15,000 tons of aviation fuel when the explosion occurred. Viet Cong frogmen had planted plastic explosives on the hull, which tore a hole 6 feet by 4 feet wide, about 10 feet below the ships waterline. The cargo had been loaded aboard Amastra in Singapore, and the ship had been in Nha Trangs harbor unloading the fuel into an underwater pipeline since April 11. Most of the JP4 fuel had already been unloaded by the time of the explosion, and that helped prevent a much more horrific catastrophe. Luckily there was no loss of life or serious injury to the crew members. The 2nd engineer aboard Amastra was Colin Avery. In his memoir of that event, he wrote: At approximately 0015 the whole world seemed to turn upside down. A massive explosion awakened me and simultaneously the ship felt as though it was leaping out of the water and a huge searing blue flash from outside lit up my bedroom. She settled back into the water, rocking and groaning and with the noise of the shockwave echoing all around. As Avery stood up and got his bearings, he grabbed a towel to cover himself with and made for the door. He ran into the chief stewards wife, Mrs. Harry Travis. She had a canary named Guinness, which shed purchased somewhere along the way, and as she came out of her cabin amidships, she shouted, Colin, Colin, save the canary, save the canary! He tried to reassure her, but told her he was rather busy at the moment. Chief Steward Harry Travis recalled: We had been to see a movie that night and we went to bed about 10:30, expecting to sail for Camh Ranh Bay the next morning, but we were awakened about 12:15 a.m. I wasnt sure whether it was the explosion that woke me or the fact that I banged my head against part of the bed. I got up and the ship was rocking. As Avery reached the funnel deck, he saw an American fast patrol boat approaching from the port side. I remember vividly, even now, he wrote, seeing a crew member on its bow manning a machine gun, another on the cabin roof and the boat commander, chubby in his kapok flak jacket and with his steel helmet pulled businesslike over his forehead. To my horror he had a flare gun in his hand, which he suddenly aimed across our main deck and pulled the trigger. You daft bastard I mouthed, as the flare sped towards our discharge manifold. I started running to the ladders down onto the stern. Fortunately the flare cleared the ship completely. It would have been like throwing a match into a gas can. Most of the 43 crew members left Amastra at about 0400 hours and were taken ashore to Camp McDermott and the nearby 5th Special Forces compound. On April 13, the salvage ship USS Current (ARS-22) arrived on the scene to begin salvage and refloating efforts. Fuel trucks lined the beach area for several days, helping to offload the remaining fuel so the ship could be lightened for re-floating. Within days another company ship, the Dutch-flagged Kara, arrived to assist in offloading 640,000 gallons of fuel. USS Greenlet (ASR-10), which had been at Tokyo Bay for the surrender of Japan, was also assigned to assist in the effort. Once Currents crew had constructed and attached a temporary patch over the gaping hole in Amastras hull, pumps were started and the compartments were pumped out, allowing the ship to rise to the surface. A member of Currents crew, Lieutenant Vince Weis, recalled his work on Amastra: I did a dive with a Harbor Clearance Unit 1 staff member in the interior of the ship using shallow water gear. We had to go into the engine room that was filled with gas fumes to close a whole set of valves in order for the oil cargo in the Amastra to be pumped out of her tanks to help re-float the ship. This dive was the only one I did in the navy without getting wet and it was one of the most dangerous dives I ever made. After being raised to the surface, the ship was made seaworthy, and on April 29 it was ready for departure, under tow by two tugs. Amastras destination was Singapore, where it entered the dockyard in May. Amastra, which was built by Smiths Dockyard Company, Middlesborough, England, in 1958, went on to serve many more years, making repeated voyages back to Vietnam. It was sold for scrap in 1985 and towed to Chittagong, Bangladesh, on the Bay of Bengal, where it was cut up. For many years, the ships bell adorned the desk of Mark Moody-Stuart, former chairman of Shell Transport and Trading. On December 22, 1968, after my return from Vietnam, another Shell tanker, MS Helisoma, was mined and sunk in almost the same spot in Nha Trang harbor, with no casualties. VC swimmers from the nearby beach hamlet of Truong Tay were suspected of being responsible for both sinkings. Although the British government was not overly supportive of the United States efforts in Vietnam, and had no armed forces in country, there were few actual restrictions placed upon British commercial vessels transporting goods and supplies to the American forces. Thus, the maritime industry of the United Kingdom played an important role in materially assisting the United States and, as in Amastras case, sometimes paid a heavy price. Originally published in the December 2008 issue of Vietnam Magazine. To subscribe, click here. On the afternoon of August 24, 1914, the German warship Magdeburg steamed out of the East Prussian harbor of Memel toward the most fateful accident in the history of cryptography. A four-stacker, the Magdeburg was what the Germans called a small cruiser, different from the larger light cruisers. She was new (three years old), well-armed (12 fast-firing, 4-inch guns), fast (27.6 knots)and unlucky. Her acceptance test had not gone well. Her commissioning had been delayed several months. She had never participated, as was intended, in the autumn 1912 naval maneuvers. Some equipment was still not in order when she was declared ready for war and when the ancient city of Magdeburg, for which she was named, sponsored her in two days of festivities. One of her turbines gave trouble. And unlike her sister ships, which got assignments suitable for cruisers, the Magdeburg merely fired test torpedoes. The Magdeburg was part of Germanys Baltic Fleet. When war with Russia, France, and England broke out in August 1914, she dropped her test assignment and undertook more typical cruiser tasks. These were directed against the Russians, whose empire included Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuaniathe countries bordering the eastern Baltic. In her first operation, the Magdeburg and another small cruiser, the Augsburg, arrived off Liepaja, Latvias naval port, to lay mines. They gained an unexpected success: The Russians, thinking the appearance of the two ships portended a major fleet operation, blew up their own ammunition and coal dumps and scuttled ships in the harbor entrances. In the two ships second and third operations, they shot up some lighthouses and a signal station and laid a minefield not far from the mouth of the eastern arm of the Baltic Sea, the Gulf of Finland, at whose farther end lay the Russian capital, St. Petersburg. A few days later, on August 23, the commander of a new flotilla ordered his vessels, which included the two cruisers, to assemble for an operation. The Magdeburg, in Danzig, then a German port, went first to Memel, at the extreme east of Prussia, for some gunnery exercises to reassure the population, nervous because the Russian border was not far from the city limits. The next afternoon the warship set out for the rendezvous. She joined the Augsburg, three torpedo boats, a submarine, and three other warships early on the 25th off Hoburgen lighthouse on the southern tip of the Swedish island of Got land. There, the officers were told of the plan: The ships were to slip by night behind a Russian minefield believed to protect the entrance of the Gulf of Finland, and attack whatever Russian ships they found. At 8:30 A.M. that same day, the flotilla set out, moving to the northeast at the fairly high speed of 20 knots. The sailors aboard the Magdeburg, who suspected the presence of enemy armored cruisers, thought the assignment would prove to be just a suicide mission. By 5 P.M., in a calm sea, the air misty, the navigational plots of the Magdeburg and the Augsburg differed by a mile. But this raised no concern, since the Magdeburg was to follow the flagship Augsburg by half a mile: If the Augsburg struck a mine, the Magdeburg had time to avoid hitting any herself. Soon, however, fogcommon in those waters in summerrolled in. By 9 P.M. it was so thick that even with binoculars an officer on the bridge of the Magdeburg could not see the lookout on the stern. At 11 P.M. the Augsburg, intending to run along the supposed Russian minefield before swinging east to enter the Gulf of Finland, turned onto a course south-southeast 1/2 point east (151 degrees, 32 minutes, 30 seconds) and ordered the Magdeburg to do the same. She did so, maintaining the same 230 engine revolutions per minute, or about 15 knots, that had kept her at the proper distance from the Augsburg during the afternoon. But she was a mile farther south than her plot showed her to be. Her captain, Lieutenant Commander Richard Habenicht, had soundings taken. These showed the depth decreasing: 190 feet, 141 feet, and, at 12:30 A.M., now August 26, 112 feet. At the same time the radio shack reported that a message from the Augsburg was coming in; four minutes later it was decoded and on the bridge. It ordered that her course be altered to east-northeast 1/2 point east (73 degrees, 7 minutes, 30 seconds). The helms man turned the rudder 20 degrees, and at 12:37, just as he reported that the new course was being steered, still at 15 knots, the luckless vessel hit something. She bumped five or six times and, shuddering, stopped. The cruiser had run aground. As a consequence of her earlier navigational error, she had struck shallows 400 yards off the northwestern tip of Odensholm, a low, narrow island two and 1/2 miles long at the entrance to the Gulf of Finland. At once, Habenicht sought to get his ship off. He reversed engines. The ship stayed stuck. He rocked her with various engine speeds. He assembled the entire 337-man crew on the quarterdeck to push the Magdeburgs stern down and her bow up and then went full speed astern. He had the crew carry munitions aft. The ship didnt budge. Soundings showed that at the bow, where the Magdeburg normally drew 16 and 1/2 feet, the water to starboard was only nine feet deep; at the stern, with normal draft just under 20 feet, the depth was 13 feet. The vessel needed to rise seven feet. Habenicht jettisoned the anchors and their chains. He had the drinking and washing water pumped out. Ash ejectors flung coal into the sea. All but 60 boxes of munitions were dumped over the side. All movable steel parts the minelaying rails, bulkhead doors, doors on the forward turrets, steel cables, coaling equipmentwere pushed overboard. Habenicht then ran the engines forward and backward at various speeds. The Magdeburg moved not an inch. The Germans efforts were spurred by the likelihood that the officials on Odensholm, which was Russian territory with a lighthouse and a signal station, had alerted superiors at the major Russian port of Tallinn, only 50 miles away. Habenicht worried that the cruisers secret documents might fall into Russian hands. In addition to the charts of German minefields and the ships war diary, these included the main Imperial German Navy code and the key used to encipher its code words and thus to provide another layer of secrecy. Lieutenant Walther Bender, who as first radio officer was in charge of destroying these documents, brought one of the codebooks and its cipher key from the steering room to the stokehold and burned it. Sailors did the same for other secret documents. But two codebooksone on the bridge and one in the radio shackas well as a cipher key were retained for possible use in communicating with rescuers and higher commands. A fourth lay hidden and apparently forgotten in a locker in Habenichts cabin. As dawn approached, the seabed and the stones on which the ship was lying became visible. At 8:30, with the fog lifting, the fast and powerful torpedo boat V-26 appeared, attached a line, and tried to pull the Magdeburg off. She failed. Habenicht decided he might as well do some damage and fired about 120 shots at the lighthouse, chipping it, and at the signal station, setting it ablaze. By then the radio shack was picking up many signals from Russian ships; apparently they were on their way. Since all attempts to free the Magdeburg had failed, Habenicht regretfully concluded he had to blow her up rather than let her fall into enemy hands. Charges were set fore and aft. The crew was to get off the ship and onto the V-26, which was to come alongside. But suddenly a shout rang through the ship: The fuses are lit! Habenicht had not ordered this; it had been done by mistake. The vessel would blow up in only four and a half minutes. In the midst of the tumult that ensued, Bender directed the second radio officer, Lieutenant Olff, to have the codebook and cipher key from the radio shack taken off the ship and onto the V-26. On Olffs instructions, Radioman Second Class Neuhaus grabbed the codebook and Radioman Third Class Kiehnert the cipher-key papers. The bridges codebook was in the hands of Radioman Second Class Szillat. The first officer, unable to find Habenicht as the seconds ticked away, ordered the crew to the afterdeck, where the V-26 was to pick them up. He called for three cheers for the kaiser, had the two ships boats lowered, and commanded, All hands abandon ship! Upon hearing this, Szillat flung the codebook he was carrying over the side, toward the stern. It splashed into what he said was a dark place about 15 feet from the ship and immediately sank. Then he leaped overboard. Kiehnert, too, jumped into the water, holding the radio shacks cipher key. He was struck by men following him, and when he came to the surface, he noticed that he had lost the key. At 9:10 the forward charge detonated. It split the vessel in half, tore open the forepart from near the bow to the second smokestack, and hurled huge pieces of steel into the air. They rained down upon scores of men who were trying to swim to the V-26. Neuhaus, carrying the radio shacks code, had been seen in the water before the explosion but was missing for a while later; no one knew what had happened to the codebook. The V-26 picked up many of the swimming men, including Szillat and Kiehnert. Fear of being destroyed in the explosion of the Magdeburgs after chargewhich never firedkept the torpedo boat from coming near enough to rescue the men still aboard. Meanwhile Russian ships, closing, began to fire at the speedy vessel. One shell swept eight men overboard; another smashed into her starboard side, destroying the officers wardroom and killing all who were in it, mainly wounded men from the Magdeburg. But the V-26 got away. Habenicht, who had appeared briefly on the bridge when he heard the cheers for the kaiser and then vanished again into the bowels of his cruiser, did not abandon ship but awaited his fate on it, together with a few others. Bender and a few dozen sailors, among them Neuhaus, swam to Odensholm, where they were taken prisoner. One of the Russian ships, the torpedo boat Lejtenant Burakov, sent a boat with armed men, led by her first officer, Lieutenant Galibin, to the Magdeburg. The crew members still on board offered no resistance and were taken prisoner. Habenicht, whom Galibin thought a true gentleman, offered the Russian his dagger, which Galibin chivalrously declined. The Germans were rowed from both the ship and the island to one of the Russian cruisers and later sent to a prisoner-of-war camp in Siberia. Galibin lowered the black-white-and-red German naval war flag and raised the white czarist flag with its light blue cross of diagonals. Then, revolver in hand, he searched the wreck of the Magdeburg. He found a locker in Habenichts cabin and broke it open. Hidden deep within it was the German codebook, forgotten in the excitement of the catastrophe. Galibin removed it, together with other documents, and had it transferred to the Lejtenant Burakov. The Allies thus came into possession of the key cryptographic secret of the Imperial German Navythe one that gave them access to many others. Knowing that possession of the German code books and its cipher keys would be enormously helpful to Britains Royal Navy, the Russians loyally notified their allies of the find and said they would give them the documents if the British would send a small warship to escort the officers accompanying the documents to Britain. The Russians courteously set aside for the British the original code, which bore serial number 151, making a copy of it for themselves. The task of bringing Codebook 151 to England was assigned to two naval captains, Kedrov and Smirnow, and to another naval officer, Count Constantine Benckendorff. A cosmopolitan, moustachioed combat veteran of the Russo-Japanese War, Benckendorff was the son of the ambassador to Great Britain and had served a year as a cipher clerk in the London embassy. He was on watch on the battleship Poltava in the Tallinn roadstead, pacing the quarterdeck and listening to the sailors choir chanting the Russian Orthodox mass on a Sunday morning in September, when a yeoman handed him an order to report to the flag captain. On the flagship, he was amazed and delighted to be told he would be going to London. He was given the precious codebook in St. Petersburg. It was in a satchel with a large piece of lead sewn in to make it sink in case he had to throw it overboard. He took the satchel to Arkhangelsk, where he boarded a Russian volunteer fleet steamer. The vessel was to meet the British escort, the aging cruiser HMS Theseus, at Aleksandrovsk (now Polyarny), a port near Murmansk, whence it had arrived early in September from Scapa Flow, the deep, circular, islands-sheltered bay in the Orkneys just north of Scotland. Owing to the time needed for copying the codebook and to bureaucratic delays and misunderstandings, the Theseus and the steamer did not sail until September 30. After an uneventful crossing over the top of Norway, punctuated only by a few vague U-boat alarms, the Theseus arrived in Scapa Flow on October 10; the Russian steamer, with Benckendorff aboard, went on alone to Hull, arriving there a couple of days later. After a slow night-train ride, Benckendorff reached the Russian embassy at dawn. He greeted his parents, then routed out the naval attache, and the two went, early on the morning of October 13, to the Admiralty. There, in a moment heavy with history, they handed Winston Churchill, the first lord of the Admiralty, a gift more precious than a dozen jewel-encrusted Faberge eggs: the big, fat, blue-bound Signalbuch der Kaiserlichen Marine. It went at once to the fledgling group of codebreakers set up at the outbreak of war by the director of naval education, Sir Alfred Ewing, an engineer who had long been interested in ciphers. A short, thickset Scot, given to wearing mauve shirts with white wing collars, he was a good friend of the director of naval intelligence, who had asked him to see what he could do with the encoded German radio messages being intercepted by British stations. Ewing had gathered some instructors in German from the Royal Naval Colleges, sat them around a desk in his cramped office, and, with them, examined the intercep. But though they classified the messages into different kinds based on their appearance and addressees, they had not been able to read any of them. Now, two months later, the German naval codebook landed on their desk. It contained hundreds of pages of columns of five-digit groups and three-letter groups standing opposite the German words they were to replace. For example, 63940 or OAX were the secret substitutes for Oktober. The encoder looked up each word of his message in the codebook as in a dictionary and replaced it with the five-digit code number or more, usually the three-letter code word next to it. The succession of these code numbers or code words formed the secret message, or cryptogram. But British attempts to decipher the intercepts by this simple method still did not work. Some code words could not be found in the codebook, and those that could produce gibberish. Gradually the British discovered that the letters of the code words had also been disguised. Other letters replaced them, so that the codebooks OAX might become the transmitted JVM. By early November the British had worked out the letter substitutes and were able to read many German naval messages. Among the first were some that dealt with a possible ambush. The German naval commander, encouraged by the success of a bombardment and mine-laying off the British port of Yarmouth, which some Britons feared presaged an invasion, decided to repeat the action with two ports in northern England, Scarborough and Hartlepool. He hoped to lure some British battle cruisers into the arms of his full High Seas Fleet, destroy them, and thus regain at least near-parity with British naval forces. On December 14, 1914, his scouting-force commander, Vice Admiral Franz von Hipper, wired a request for extensive aerial reconnaissance to the north, northwest, and west on the next two days. He added that German forces would sail from their roundish harbor in the estuary of the Jade River at Wilhelmshaven at 3:30 A.M. The British intercepted and deciphered the message. It went to retired admiral Sir Arthur Wilson, a former first sea lord (equivalent to a U.S. chief of naval operations) who had returned as Churchills adviser on intelligence and other matters. At 7 P.M. on the 14th, he brought it to Churchill, who summoned the first sea lord and the chief of staff. What did it mean? It specified no objective, but Wilson said that it probably indicated a movement of the German battle cruisers against English coasts and that the High Seas Fleet as a whole seemed not to be involved. The others agreed with his conclusions, though they acknowledged that hypotheses were needed to bridge the gaps in the evidence. Within hours the Admiralty ordered units of the British fleet to proceed at once to a point where they can intercept the enemy on his return. But thinking the German battleships were staying in port, the Admiralty refused to let more than a single squadron of British battleships sail from their home base of Scapa Flow. The commander of the British Grand Fleet, Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, chose the perfect intercept point: on an almost direct line between Scarborough and the German island fortress of Heligoland off Wilhelmshaven. The Germans sailed at 3 A.M. on December 15, the British soon thereafter. By the morning of the 16th, the Germans were bombarding Hartlepool and Scarborough. Churchill, notified in his bath at 8:30, hopped out, put his clothes on over a damp body, and hurried downstairs to the War Room. The admirals assembled there were confident of their dispositions, but they knew that weather in the wintry North Sea could shut down visibility, and thus the possibility of contact, within minutes. What they did not know was that, despite their assumptions, the whole High Seas Fleet had sailed. If it met with the reduced force of British ships, it could destroy the British squadrons and regain the equivalence in forces that could change the course of the naval war. Indeed, in the predawn blackness of December 16, one of the German destroyers ran into the British advance screen. The contact created the very situation that the Germans had sought since the start of the war. But the German commander did not recognize it. Believing himself to be confronted by the whole of Britains Grand Fleet, and mindful of the kaisers fears about losing the navy, he turned for home. He thus lost the greatest opportunity the German navy was ever to have. Meanwhile, Hippers forces were likewise racing for home after the bombardment. British intelligence had placed their ships so precisely in Hippers path that at 10:30 A.M. the light cruiser Southampton spotted them. But fog and rain were reducing visibility, and before either the Southampton or the heavier British forces could attack, Hippers ships escaped behind the veils of mist, reaching home safely. The British were angry and disappointed. Not only had the navy failed to defend Britains coast, it had failed to sink any Germans. Their anger was compounded by frustration. Churchill later said that he had to bear in silence the censures of our countrymen. We could never admit for fear of compromising our secret information where our squadrons were, or how near the German raiding cruisers had been to their destruction. One comfort we had, the indications upon which we had acted had been confirmed by events. Similar indications came the next month. Wilson strode into Churchills office around noon on January 23, 1915, and said, First Lord, those fellows are coming out again. When? Tonight. We have just time to get Beatty there, he said, referring to Vice Admiral Sir David Beatty, commander of the battle cruisers. Wilson explained that the codebreakers had read a message sent at 10:25 that morning to Hipper, ordering a reconnaissance of the Dogger Bank, a sandy shallows in the North Sea about 60 miles east of Britain. Britain elected to use the same tactics as before, and units under Beatty sailed to block the German homeward trip. This time they were luckier. Contact was made at 7:30 A.M. on January 24 at a point on the Dagger Bank. When Hipper saw the numerous English forces, he followed directives, collected his ships, and ran. The British, in their faster, super dreadnought-class battleships, gave chase. By 9 A.M., the Lion, carrying Beatty, opened fire at 20,000 yards (11 miles). The action soon became general between the four British and four German capital ships. The Blucher was sunk and the Seydlitz and Derfflinger heavily damaged. Confusion in the British squadron after a shell crippled the flagship permitted the German ships to escape. Nevertheless, the Germans staggered into port, flames leaping above their funnels, their decks encumbered with wreckage and crowded with the wounded and the dead. The German ships did not stir out of port again for more than a year. The codebreakers had by this time expanded slightly and taken up the quarters in the Admiraltys Old Building that soon gave them their unofficial name: Room 40, O.B. The Battle of the Dogger Bank earned them the confidence of the Admiralty, and shortly afterward the terrifying Lord John (Jackie) Fisher, the builder of the dreadnought fleet who had just returned as first sea lord, gave Ewing carte blanche to get whatever he needed for the betterment of his work. Ewing augmented his staff, added to his intercept and radio direction-finding stations, and improved their equipment. But some of Room 40s effectiveness was lost due to excessively tight control by the director of the operations division, Captain Thomas Jackson. Boorish and self-opinionated, Jackson distrusted civilians ability to deal with naval affairs and was unpleasant to them. He hardly visited Room 40 at all, and on one of those occasions came only to complain that he had cut his hand on one of the red boxes in which the intercepts were circulated. Another time, when a change of cipher key temporarily interrupted the flow of solutions, he called to express his relief that he would not be further bothered by such nonsense. This attitude was to have grave effects. In the late spring of 1916, the new commander of the German High Seas Fleet, Vice Admiral Reinhard Scheer, was chafing at his inactivity. He decided to try to repeat, with a variation, some of the tactics that sought to bring parity between his fleet and his enemys. He would attempt to entice the British Grand Fleet to where his submarines could attack it and his High Seas Fleet fall upon a section of it without risking a general engagement. His orders, however, lay at the mercy of British radio intelligence. Crypt analysis was part of this; another was radio direction-finding. In this, radio stations take bearings on the emissions of a transmitter from two or more points; a control center plots these bearings on a map, and the transmitter is located where they cross. Successive plottings can determine the movement of a transmitter, its direction and speed. It seems to have been such intelligence that led the Admiralty to inform its forces at 5 P.M., May 30, 1916, that the High Seas Fleet was apparently about to put out to sea. At this news, virtually the entire Grand Fleet, that mighty armored pride of England, built up steam and sallied forth majestically from Scapa Flow, Invergordon, and Rosyth. It sought a major fleet action that would give England the undisputed control of the seas on which her strategy in the war so heavily depended. There then occurred one of those trifling errors on which history so often turns. On sailing, Scheer had transferred the call sign DK of his flagship Fried rich der Grosse to the naval center at Wilhelmshaven in an attempt to conceal his departure. Room 40 was aware of this procedure, but it was the insufferable operations director, Captain Jackson, who came in on May 31 to ask where call sign DK was. He was not the sort of person to whom one offered unsolicited advice, so he was merely told, In the Jade River. Jackson passed along this message, and the Admiralty thereupon radioed Jellicoe that directional wireless placed the enemy flagship in the harbor at 11:10 A.M. Three hours later, with Jellicoe believing that the Germans were still in port, the two fleets made contact in the middle of the North Sea. This rather shook Jellicoes faith in Admiralty intelligence. It was further jolted when he plotted the position of the German cruiser Regensburg as given by the Admiralty report and found that it appeared to be in almost the very same spot as he himself then was! At the time no one knew that the Regensburg navigator had made an error of ten miles in his reckoning and that blame for the absurd result lay with the German officer, not with the cryptanalysts of Room 40 reading the German report of the ships position. After the brief flurries of action, damaging but inconclusive and unsatisfactory to both sides, that constituted the Battle of Jutland, Scheer at 9:14 P.M. ordered: Our own main body is to proceed in. Maintain course SSE 1/4 E; speed 16 knots. At 9:46 he altered it slightly to south-southeast 3/4 point east. Both messages were decoded with almost unbelievable alacrity by Room 40, and by 10:41 a summary of them had been received aboard the flagship. But Jellicoe had had enough of Admiralty intelligence. Furthermore, the summary had omitted Scheers 9:06 call for air reconnaissance off the Hom Reefs, which would have confirmed his intentions to head for home, and thus there was nothing to contradict a battle report from the Southampton that suggested a different enemy course. Jellicoe therefore rejected the Admiralty information, which this time was right. As a result, he steered one way, Scheer fled another, and Britains hope of a decisive naval victory evaporated in a welter of errors, missed chances, and distrust. But if Room 40, through no fault of its own, did not enable Britain to win a major naval battle, it did play a critical role in helping her to win the war. In 1917, Germany on one side and Britain and France on the other were gasping in exhaustion from a war that both had thought would be over-as the kaiser said-before the leaves fall in 1914. Germany thought she saw a way to win: Unrestricted submarine warfare would starve the Allies into submission. She recognized that this would probably bring the United States into the conflict against her. But her new foreign minister, Arthur Zimmermann, thought of a way to neutralize this danger. He would distract America by getting Mexico to wage war on her. And he would persuade Mexico to do this with an offer she could not refuse: Upon victory, Mexico would get back the territories she had lost in the Mexican-American War of 1846. He put his proposal into code and cabled it on January 15 via Sweden to the Western Hemisphere. But the cable touched British soil. The British intercepted the message, and Room 40 deciphered it. The director of naval intelligence, Captain Reginald Hall, whom the American ambassador called a genius (all other secret service men are amateurs by comparison), saw that he had a propaganda weapon of the first water. With permission, he gave it to the Americans. President Woodrow Wilson, stunned by the German proposal, gave it to the Associated Press. The story made headlines in papers all over the nation on March 1. The isolationist Midwest, previously unconcerned with the distant poppings of a war in Europe, jerked awake at the thought of a German-officered Mexican army advancing up toward Chicago. Five weeks later President Wilsonwho had been reelected just months earlier on the slogan He kept us out of warwent up to Capitol Hill to ask Congress to make the world safe for democracy by declaring war on Germany. Congress complied. And soon the fresh strength of the young nation was pouring into the factories and trenches of the Allies. The Germans were driven back and back until they had no choice but to surrender. The code breakers, who had gotten their start with a codebook recovered from a stricken German warship at the beginning of the war, had played a major role in bringing that war to an end. POSTSCRIPT: For the 25 anniversary of the Magdeburgs stranding, the old battleship Schleswig-Holstein was sent to Poland to commemorate the cruisers dead, who were buried in a Danzig cemetery. The ceremonies lasted a day, but the battleship remained moored at the port as tension between Poland and Nazi Germany mounted. At 4:48 A.M. on September 1, 1939, her 11-inch guns roared, shattering and setting ablaze some Polish installations on the Westerplatte, a sandy tongue of land. The shots were the first of World War II. This article originally appeared in the Winter 1990 issue (Vol. 2, No. 2) of MHQThe Quarterly Journal of Military History with the headline: The Magdeburg Want to have the lavishly illustrated, premium-quality print edition of MHQ delivered directly to you four times a year? Subscribe now at special savings! Agent Orange Linked to Prostate Cancer Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange have a significantly greater risk of prostate cancer, especially the most aggressive form of the disease, according to a recently released study. The study of data collected on 13,144 Vietnam veterans, of whom 6,214 were exposed to Agent Orange, reports that twice as many of the veterans exposed to the defoliant had developed prostate cancer, compared with veterans not exposed. Researchers at the University of California, Davis, Department of Urology and the VA Northern California Health Care System say their findings are the first to connect Agent Orange with this form of cancer. Vietnam veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange during the war have a twofold higher risk of prostate cancer, according to the studys lead author Dr. Karim Chamie. The cancer they get tends to be more aggressive, a higher grade, and is more likely to spread or have spread at the time that they present to their urologist. The researchers also found that men exposed to Agent Orange were diagnosed with prostate cancer 212 years younger than unexposed men. Since many veterans dont get care through the VA, Chamie urged that this message needs to go out to their physicians and their urologist in the private community to know that this is a large risk factor. The findings, published in the September 15 issue of the journal Cancer, are the first to utilize a large population of men in their 60s and the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test to screen for the disease. Regarding individuals exposed to Agent Orange, the study concludes: Consideration should be made to classify this group of individuals as high risk, just like men of African-American heritage and men with a family history of prostate cancer. Some scientists not involved with the study said the research does not prove a cause-and-effect relationship between Agent Orange and prostate cancer. Dr. Bruce Roth, a Vanderbilt University professor of medicine and urologic surgery, called the study interesting but not persuasive. He speculated that because participants who reported Agent Orange exposure were screened thoroughly for prostate cancer, more cancers were found. Dr. Michael J. Thun, vice president of epidemiology and surveillance research at the American Cancer Society, cautioned, The finding is provocative, but its hard to know how to interpret it, unless it can be replicated in other studies. Ralph deVere White, UC Davis Cancer Center director and a study co-author, said, Our countrys veterans deserve the best possible health care, and this study clearly confirms that Agent Orange exposure during service in Vietnam is associated with a higher risk of prostate cancer later in life. Between 1962 and 1971, more than 20 million gallons of Agent Orange were sprayed during the war, contaminating both the ground and soldiers. Prostate cancer is the second most common malignancy and the second leading cause of cancer death in American men. It is estimated that there will be about 186,320 new cases of prostate cancer in the United States in 2008. General Walter Kerwin dies, Westys chief of staff during Tet General Walter Kerwin, who served as General William Westmorelands chief of staff during the pivotal 1968 Tet Offensive, died July 11 at age 91. He later commanded the II Field Forces in Vietnam, became deputy personnel chief of the U.S. Army in 1970 and was named vice chief of staff in 1974. Born June 14, 1917, Kerwin graduated from West Point in 1939, then served as an artillery officer in World War II. He later held positions in intelligence and at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, before serving in Vietnam from 1967 to 1969. While deputy personnel chief in the Pentagon, he helped formulate the policies that ended the draft in 1973. As vice chief of staff from 1974 to 1978, Kerwin worked to raise salaries, educational standards and morale. In that position he reported first to General Frederick C. Weyand, and later to General Bernard W. Rogers. After Kerwin retired from the Army in 1978, he worked as a consultant to business and governmental agencies, and also served with a scientific advisory group studying the effects of nuclear warfare. General Kerwin also joined the boards of several universities and nonprofit foundations, including the Army Historical Foundation and a number of armed forces personnel associations. Helicopter pilot Ed Freeman, hero at LZ X-Ray in 1965, dies Edward Freeman, a hero of the Ia Drang battle, died in Boise, Idaho, on August 20 at age 80. Too Tall Freemans actions are depicted in the 1993 book We Were Soldiers Onceand Young, and in the 2002 movie based on the book. On November 14, 1965, Freeman flew his chopper into intense enemy fire to deliver supplies and evacuate 30 badly wounded men. In 2001 President George W. Bush awarded him the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions in the Ia Drang. California initiates Welcome Home Vietnam Vets Week To coincide with the 20th anniversary of the California Vietnam Veterans Memorial in downtown Sacramento, the California Assembly and Senate have unanimously passed a resolution to establish a Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Week. The initiative was introduced by Assemblyman Paul Cook, a retired Marine Corps colonel, Vietnam veteran and Purple Heart recipient. Sponsors of the December 10-14 observance hope this will help bring comfort to Californias approximately 200,000 living Vietnam veterans. More information about the anniversary events, including the reading of the names of all 5,822 Californians who died in the Vietnam War, can be found at www.CAVietnamMemorial.com. Veteran reunited with dog tag after 41 years In August, Dr. Bill Rankin received a gift that shook up his world. The Fed-Ex envelope contained a letter from a stranger, photographs and a small piece of metal that he had not seen since losing it sometime during his Army service tour in Vietnam between 1965 and 1968. The sight of his long-lost dog tag initially brought about difficult and mixed emotions. Shortly after I got it, I got into a deep depression, said Rankin. A lot of thoughts had resurfaced there is a lot that happened over there that I cant remember. But in the long run, he believes it was beneficial for him to get the dog tags back, reporting that after a couple of weeks, the depression just went away. Rankin, who runs a martial arts group in Frederick, Md., plans to keep the tag and eventually give it to his grandson. The angel who sent him the memento, Jennifer Kerner, had bought this and several other tags while traveling in Vietnam with her father, who served as a physician during the war. Rankin hopes to help Kerner find the owners of the other dog tags she obtained during her trip. Dr. Robert Mann of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) says that he and his colleagues have reunited 76 owners with their lost dog tags from the Vietnam War13 of them since 2005. For more information on JPAC, and on several independent groups that work to reunite dog tags and service members, see: jpac.pacom.mil, canamission.com, founddogtags.com and vietnamdogtags.com. Mine action program is focus of Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund delegation Vietnam veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) President Jan Scruggs and former U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Michael Marine led a delegation of 15 veterans, family members and educators in August to visit the VVMFs seven-year-old mine action and humanitarian program, Project RENEW. The programs mission is to help unexploded ordnance (UXO) victims achieve a better quality of life. Delegates toured a center for the blind in Quang Tri where people who lost their sight through UXO accidents learn new skills and trades, as well as Braille. The VVMF group also observed an emergency ordnance disposal (EOD) operation in the Cam Lo District, toured a collection area for unexploded ordnance in Trieu Phong, attended the dedication of a community center near Khe Sanh and inspected a new Mobile Outreach Van that transports prosthetic and orthotic care to those who live in remote areas and do not have easy access to health care. The van was funded through a U.S. State Department grant. For more information about the VVMFs Project RENEW, visit www.vvmf.org. Originally published in the December 2008 issue of Vietnam Magazine. To subscribe, click here. As Chinese citizens and foreigners alike fled Nanking in 1937, correspondent C. Yates McDaniel stayed behind to report on the Japanese wrath. On Sept. 20, 1937, C. Yates McDaniel of the Associated Press had a long and sober discussion with wife Natalie in their home on the outskirts of the besieged Chinese city of Nanking (present-day Nanjing). The 21-square-mile city, perched along the Yangtze River and ringed by massive 500-year-old walls and ornamental gates of granite and limestone, was under siege. In the nearly 11 weeks since Japan had invaded China, initiating the Second Sino-Japanese War, the fighting had devolved into brutal, full-scale combat. The Japanese military was massed around Nanking and had warned its 1 million residentsas well as any foreigners who remainedit would intensify its bombing campaign starting at noon the next day. American and Chinese friends pleaded with the McDaniels to leave the city. The couple had just completed an arduous, eight-day return trip from northern China, first to Shanghai by car and from there as ride-along passengers in an ambulance. The nightlong drive from Shanghai had been especially harrowing, as the constant menace of Japanese bombers forced drivers to keep their headlights switched off. With the specter of war at the gates of Nanking, the couple decided to leave their home for the sanctuary of the U.S. Embassy, but they resolved to remain in Nanking so long as there is any vestige of communications with the outside world. For the venturesome couple it was a typical decision. The McDaniels were old hands in East Asia. Born in Boston in 1907, Natalie Olga (nee Ellis) McDaniel grew up in Japan and learned to speak the language, often telling people she did multiplication better in Japanese than English. Charles Yates McDaniel was born in 1906 to American Baptist missionaries in Soochow (present-day Suzhou), China, and grew up speaking English and Mandarin. His father sent the young man stateside to attend the University of Richmond, followed by graduate studies at the University of North Carolina, where he wrote his thesis on Washington Irvings interest in drama. Yates joined the Associated Press in 1935 and returned to East Asia. Natalie and Yates McDaniel chose to remain in Nanking despite friends pleas they flee the coming Japanese assault. (Historic Images) Yates was not the stereotypical rugged, glamorous foreign correspondent. He was a slender man, wrote author John Toland. His high forehead, light brown eyes and delicate, almost transparent skin gave him the aesthetic look of a poet or monk. Unlike his strict Baptist father, who shunned alcohol and tobacco, Yates was a chain smoker. By age 35 his dark brown hair had turned grayish-white, which Time attributed to enough narrow escapes to earn many a thread of silver. After years of picking around the edges of China, Japan launched its full-blown invasion on July 7, 1937. By late September its forces had captured Peking (present-day Beijing) and were closing in on the port city of Shanghai. Nanking was the capital of the Chinese Nationalist government under Chiang Kai-shek, yet the city had thus far suffered only light bombing raidsbut few thought that would last. In late August the British military attache in Nanking warned an American diplomat the Japanese intended to destroy the city with high-explosive, incendiary and gas bombs. On September 21 Nelson T. Johnson, the American ambassador to the Republic of China, evacuated the embassy in Nanking and took refuge with his staff aboard USS Luzon, one of a fleet of gunboats protecting U.S. interests along the Yangtze. McDaniel reported on the circumstances. A disagreement on policy was believed to have risen between Ambassador Johnson and Admiral Harry Yarnell, commander in chief of the United States Asiatic Fleet, the correspondent wrote. Yarnell was known to be strongly against any yielding to the Japanese threat and was thought to have opposed Johnsons evacuation of the embassy. McDaniel chided the ambassador and his staff for remaining safe aboard the gunboat Luzon, which kept full steam up. The message was clear: If the correspondent and his wife were willing to ride out the Japanese air raid at the embassy, why wasnt the ambassador? When the Japanese ultimatum expired at noon that day, Yates and Natalie were among 19 Americans at the embassy, eight of whom were women. The only embassy official to remain was secretary J. Hall Paxton, who like McDaniel was the son of American missionaries in China. Unsure how long they would be in the embassy, they did a quick inventory of supplies and discovered enough food to last three months. The ultimatum came and went, yet not a single Japanese plane appeared that day. If it was not for the electric air of nervous tension, McDaniel wrote, Nanking would seem like a great city waiting for death. At 10:35 the next morning, McDaniel recalled, the air raid sirens screamed out their dreaded warning. Citizens took cover in shelters as 13 Chinese-flown Curtiss Hawk fighters headed off to engage the incoming enemy planes. Minutes later some three-dozen Japanese bombers flew over in formation, dropping high-explosive and incendiary bombs, as Chinese anti-aircraft batteries roared into action. McDaniel witnessed four Japanese bombers shot down, but a second group dropped incendiaries that ignited huge fires in a slum district near the river. The huts burned like matchboxes, McDaniel recalled. Though he had covered civil wars in China, the sight of women, children and old men already burned to death or beyond aid sickened him. McDaniel (rear left) often interviewed Chinas Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek (front left) before the Japanese invasion. (Harris/Associated Press) The Americans in the embassy emerged unscathed, the only real danger coming from a wayward Chinese antiaircraft shell that crashed outside the compound, splattering its gatehouse with shrapnel. That night Johnson and staff returned to the embassy, the ambassador announcing his intention to remain in Nanking. Americans here, McDaniel sniped, assumed the ambassador had received instructions to return from Washington. A few days later waves of Japanese bombers pummeled Nanking for seven hours, putting its waterworks out of commission and destroying its $1 million power plant. McDaniel joined Johnson and his staff on the embassy veranda to observe the raid and saw two Japanese planes fall from the sky like comets with tails of smoke and fire. Two months later Natalie joined the foreign exodus for Shanghai. American officials welcomed her aboard a rescue ship, but limited her to two suitcases weighing no more than 20 pounds each. That presented a problem, as the McDaniels beloved Scottish terriers, Sandy and Lassie, weighed 18 and 19 pounds, respectively. Ever resourceful, Natalie boarded wearing four suits and two topcoats, her pockets stuffed with jewelryand a dog under each arm. Yates took his chances and remained in Nanking. On December 5 McDaniel drove east from the city, hoping to find the war. Thirty miles out he knew hed succeeded when a Japanese shell exploded some 200 yards in front of his car. Chinese troops were busy burning villagers homes, cropsanything that might sustain the Japanese. As McDaniel watched Chinese artillery and machine guns open up from a nearby ridge, a column of reinforcements marched up the road from Nanking. We are from Canton, one of their officers explained. We are cold and know nothing about what is taking place over that ridge. But Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek told us to hold this road. And we will hold it until we are all killed. The correspondent returned to Nanking to file his story. The next day Lt. Cmdr. James J. Hughes of the gunboat USS Panay offered to evacuate McDaniel and the four other Western correspondents whod remained at the embassyArchibald Steele of the Chicago Daily News, F. Tillman Durdin of The New York Times, Leslie Smith of Reuters and Paramount newsreel photographer Arthur Menken. All declined. They were there to report, and McDaniel perhaps took the greatest chances. On December 7 he drove just 15 miles east of town before encountering villages set afire by the retreating Chinese. On passing the landmark hot springs at Tangshan, McDaniel spotted a Japanese battery a few hundred yards ahead and realized hed stumbled into the no-mans-land between the warring armies. He quickly spun the car around and returned to Nanking, which soon came under intense Japanese assault. On December 9 at Nankings southeastern gates McDaniel tagged along as Chinese troops rushed to meet advancing Japanese forces. But when enemy aircraft roared overhead, dropping bombs, the correspondent ducked into a dugout. When the ground stopped shaking, he peered out. The soldiers hed been following lay dead or horribly mangled. I left, McDaniel tersely wrote. By December 11 the Nanking riverfront was in chaos. McDaniel watched as Panay steamed up the Yangtze amid loud explosions as shells continued to burst in the river ahead of the quivering gunboat, throwing up great geysers of water. Panay continued upriver and out of McDaniels sight. The next afternoon a trio of Japanese Yokosuka B4Y1 bombers targeted the gunboat despite its clear markings, including American flags painted on the deck. At least two bombs struck home, and as the crew and passengers abandoned ship, a flight of nine Nakajima A4N fighters strafed them. Three American sailors and an Italian journalist were killed, and nearly 50 others were wounded. Panay sank just offshore. The Japanese government apologized, claiming the attack had been an accident, and it later paid a $2.2 million indemnity to the U.S. government. But the incident served to turn American public opinion against the Japanese. Meanwhile, downriver in Nanking the city had ceased to function. Banks and groceries had closed their doors, and the raids had knocked out lights and plumbing. The stench of human waste filled the air, while smoke from burning villages blanketed the city. Citizens began to flee by the thousands, choking the streets. As McDaniel maneuvered his car carefully through the throngs, a few desperate Chinese jumped onto the cars running board. The correspondent split his time between fending them off, steering, ducking bullets and observing the exodus. On December 13 McDaniel was driving along the citys north wall when Japanese soldiers came pouring through a breach. As one ran toward the car with rifle at the ready, McDaniel prudently stopped and emerged slowly from the car with hands held high. After ascertaining his identity, the Japanese allowed him to observe. The streets were littered with corpses. Balanced atop a barricade sat severed Chinese heads, a biscuit stuffed in ones mouth, a pipe in anothers. Accompanied by newsreel photographer Menken, McDaniel witnessed Japanese soldiers looting throughout the city, including one who forced a civilian at bayonet point to fork over the equivalent of several thousand dollars. The correspondents also watched in horror as a Japanese staff car bounced and skidded over the bodies of men and horses choking one of the city gates. At the situation devolved, McDaniel and the other Westerners urged Chinese soldiers to abandon their weapons, change into civilian clothes and head for the safety zone in Nanking set up by international diplomats and clergy. Believing they had saved at least some of the troops from execution, McDaniel and the four other Western reporters had to figure out a way to get their stories out of the city. Durdin commandeered a car to reach Shanghai, but 60 miles outside town Japanese soldiers forced him to turn back. On December 14 the correspondents made their way to the wharf on the Yangtze River. There they asked a young Japanese naval officer to radio Panay to rescue them. The lieutenant apologized, explaining that Panay had been sunk. The next day the stunned correspondents headed down to the Yangtzes left bank, where two Allied gunboats were anchored. Smith grabbed a spot on the British gunboat Ladybird, while Steele, Durdin and Menken boarded the U.S. gunboat Oahu. McDaniel chose to stay one more day and returned to the embassy. When Japanese soldiers attempted enter the building, McDaniel firmly told them, No! and they left. There was no water in the embassy for the Chinese staff, so McDaniel filled buckets from a street well. It was unsafe for any Chinese to be out on the streets. He volunteered to help one embassy servant find her mother, only to find the womans body in a ditch. Peering into the dusk, McDaniel watched as sword-wielding Japanese soldiers marched several hundred bound Chinese prisoners from the safety zone. Among them were soldiers the correspondent had helped disarm. None returned, he noted in despair. The next day McDaniel returned to the wharf and boarded the Japanese destroyer Tsuga, bound for Shanghai. He certainly had stories to share, although his decision to stay an extra day had given United Press Archibald Steele an opportunity to scoop him. Just after boarding Oahu, Steele had persuaded the U.S. Navy radio operator to break regulations and send his story. I think he slipped him a $50 bill or something, Times correspondent Durdin joked years later. Steeles story ran in the December 15 Chicago Daily News. As Tsuga raced down the Yangtze, McDaniel was able to persuade the Japanese officers to transmit his own horrifying account of Nankings death throes. Throughout the night I heard wild cries of Chinese, rifle fire and deafening explosions, he wrote in a story that appeared in stateside newspapers on December 17. When he arrived in Shanghai that day, nearly three months after he and Natalie made their fateful decision to stay in Nanking, McDaniel filed a grim diary of the citys final days. Its conclusion was heartrending. En route to the river saw many more bodies in the streets. Passed a long line of Chinese, hands tied. One broke away, ran and dropped on his knees in front of me, beseeching me to save him from death. I could do nothing. My last remembrance of Nanking: dead Chinese, dead Chinese, dead Chinese. To McDaniel and the other Western correspondents the Japanese invasion of China and genocide in Nanking marked the true beginning of World War II. The Japanese had indulged in widespread looting, burned one-third of the city to the ground, killed some 100,000 Chinese soldiers, brutally murdered tens of thousands of Chinese civilians (reliable estimates range between 80,000 and 100,000) and raped untold thousands of Chinese women. McDaniel and his colleagues had risked all to help inform the outside world of the heightening crisis. During the world war to follow, Yates and Natalie McDaniel routinely accepted those risks. In one tally Natalie figured shed been eight times a refugee from the Japanese. After the February 1942 fall of Singapore, Yates and a handful of escapees were briefly stranded on a desert island. He made the best of it, tapping out a story on a manual typewriter perched atop a downed palm tree, prompting a fellow survivor to later joke, This was going to be the biggest scoop of his career. The Associated Press talked up its correspondent, boasting that McDaniel had been the first American correspondent to arrive and the last to leave Singapore. After his subsequent narrow escape from Java to Australia, Time ran a flattering profile of him. Yet when C. Yates McDaniel died quietly in St. Petersburg, Fla., on March 14, 1983, few outside his family paid much attention. In the four decades since the war the public had largely forgotten McDaniel, despite his having been fully the equal of such war correspondents as Ernie Pyle of Scripps-Howard and Edward R. Murrow and William L. Shirer of CBS. The 76-year-old seemed like just another white-haired retiree who had passed his final years amid so many other senior citizens in Florida. The only hint he had been anyone special came from a sparse obituary buried in The New York Times. It suggested peril and courage and a past far more fascinating than most others knew. Friends and relatives knew hed spent the postwar years writing about the automotive industry in Detroit and politics in Washington, D.C., for the Associated Press. But even those whod worked alongside him were startled to learn what McDaniel had seen, what he had done and what he had survived as a young man when the world was at war. Jack Torry is the Washington bureau chief of The Columbus Dispatch and Dayton Daily News. He has covered politics, legal affairs and Congress in the nations capital since 1989. He and wife Saundra live in Leesburg, Va. For further reading he recommends The Rape of Nanking, by Iris Chang, and Shanghai Grand, by Taras Grescoe. The festival showcases the best of Ireland's unsigned music acts and is open to everyone. Hard Working Class Heroes have opened applications for their festival in September which showcases some of Irelands most promising talents in music. The showcase is monitored by international agents, festival bookers, record labels, journalists and managers amongst others. This year, 50 Irish acts will get the chance to perform at the festival which runs from 27-29 September. RTE 2FM have also joined the festival as the official radio partner. With bands securing agents, managers and some label deals as well as a huge jump in national and international profile, a slot at HWCH is something of a bucket list achievement for a lot of developing Irish acts said HWCH Director Angela Dorgan. The payoff is also on view in the record amount of Irish acts on the bill at all our domestic festivals. Advertisement It has never been more important to showcase Irish talent. The festival has been running since 2003 and has seen the likes of Hozier, Saint Sister, Villagers, Otherkin and The Coronas perform. David Keenan, Fontaines DC, Lilla Vargen and Le Boom were amongst those to feature at the festival last year and have all gone to perform across Europe and, for some, America. Fine Gael will go into coalition with whoever will keep them in power! says Thomas Pringle. In this exclusive Hot Press Interview, the Donegal TD whose father was a former IRA member who was once on death row for the murder of two Guards back in 1980 also maintains that its only a matter of time before Fine Gael do a deal with Sinn Fein.... despite the ongoing promises from Leo & Co that they wont do business with Mary Lous party. Thomas Pringle also tells Hot Press senior editor Jason OToole that he finds it ridiculous that Gerry Adams still maintains that he wasnt a member of the IRA. As an existing print subscriber it is easy to get FREE access to all our online content. When you click get started below it will walk you through creating an online account to attach your print subscription number to. After your account is created it will ask you to either add a subscription for online access or click on the print subscriber button. Click the print subscriber button header and it will open a dropdown, now click on get started. The page will reload and you will be prompted to enter an account number and a zip code. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO USE THE NUMBER OFF OF THE MOST RECENT ISSUE OR ANYTHING AFTER JANUARY 28, 2019 TO GAIN ACCESS! OLD ACCOUNT NUMBERS WILL NOT WORK The account number and zip code are easily available on your most recent issue of the High Plains Journal or Midwest Ag Journal in the address fields as is shown here. Sometimes the account number has extra zero's in front of it, just ignore those. Subscribing to our services is a three step process. First you have to create an account and then you have to pick if you want to subscribe to digital and or print. Some people only want to be a digital subscriber to get access online and others want to also receive the print edition. If you are already a print subscriber and want online access, it is free, you simply have to create an online account and then attach your print subscription account number to the online account you create. Facebook Is Hoping To Bring The Fun Back To Music This week, Facebook announced its first set of features that build on recent music licensing deals. The offering focuses on using music to add context to social experiences, says MIDiA analyst Mark Mulligan, with some very intriguing possibilities going forward. _______________________________ By Mark Mulligan of MIDiA and the Music Industry Blog Facebook has announced its long mooted move into music. As widely anticipated the service offering focuses on using music to add context to social experiences. The official blog outlines two key use cases: Adding music to videos Doing live stream lip syncs in Facebook Live videos For now the roll out is limited, which will give Facebook the opportunity to hone the service and learn from the behaviour of a relatively narrow user group. A wider roll out will follow. Its not about subscriptions, nor should it be Facebook was never going to try be a Spotify clone. Let me rephrase that, just in case anyone in Facebooks management team is getting tempted to wrongly make the wrong move Facebook should never try be a Spotify clone. Not only is it the wrong fit, it simply doesnt need to. Streaming music is a low margin business that is being competed over by a number of very well established heavyweights. Facebook may be embarking on a content strategy like the other tech majors, but unlike Apple and Amazon, its core focus will be ad supported, not premium. (MIDiA subscribers check out our forthcoming inaugural Tech Majors Quarterly Market Shares report to see how Facebooks content strategy stacks up against Apple, Alphabet and Amazon, and where it will be heading.) YouTube now has a social music competitor worthy of note For a whole host of reasons which warrant a blog post of their own, streaming music has coalesced around a very functional value proposition. In short, the fun has been taken out of music. Apps like Dubsmash and Musical.ly showed that it doesnt have to be that way. These apps were small enough to be able to do first and ask forgiveness later. Even though Facebook has all the ingredients to do what those guys did, but at scale, it is far too big to try to get away with that strategy so had to get licenses in place first. YouTube is the only other scale player that really brings a truly social element to streaming. Now it has got a serious challenger that just upped the ante beyond comments, mash ups and likes / dislikes. The music industry so needs this right now. Especially to win over Gen Z. Is Facebook bottling it when it comes to messaging apps? For the moment, Facebooks strategy is squarely focussed around its core platform. Theres no mention of Instagram (surely the best outlet for this kind of functionality). This hints at a degree of strategic wobbles in Facebook towers. By going all in with its messaging app strategy Facebook took a brave move few big companies do: it decided to disrupt itself before someone else did. It realised that the future of social was in messaging apps not traditional social networks. It is now the worlds leading messaging app company, with only Chinese companies truly challenging it (South Koreas Kakao Corp, Japans Line and Chinese players excepted). But that shift of user time to under monetized ad platforms threatens Facebooks ad revenue growth. Hence the focus of music to drive usage back to its core platform where it can generate more ad revenue. Not a Musical.ly killer, at least not yet Although some have been quick to liken Facebooks lip sync functionality to Musical.ly and co, in reality it is not competing head on with those apps because it is initially launched as a Facebook Live feature. Betraying Facebooks strategic imperative of building its Live business. Expect a true Musical.ly killer sometime within the next nine months. Facebook is not here to compete with Spotify, but it is here to compete with YouTube and Snapchat and to steal some of the clothes of Musical.ly and co. The currently announced features just scratch the surface of what Facebook can do. In many respects music has taken a series of retrograde steps socially speaking since the days of imeem, MySpace and Last.FM. Now Facebook has picked up the dropped baton and is running with it. Finally for anyone at MIDEM, I will be there from Weds PM to Thursday evening, including doing a keynote Q+A with Napsters new CEO early Thursday evening. Hope to see you there. My colleagues Zach Fuller and Georgia Meyer are there too, both are speaking, so be sure to say hi. Share on: iciHaiti - Cooperation : University agreement between Gonaives and Baltimore The Ambassador of Haiti to Washington, Paul Altidor attended a signing ceremony of the MOU between Morgan State University (MSU) and the "Universite Publique De lArtibonite Aux Gonaives" (UPAG) to establish a mutually beneficial education and research relationship in all fields and disciplines offered at the two institutions. The MOU signifies joint aspirations to develop a strategic alliance and promote academic and cultural ties. The partnership will share and draw on the strengths and experiences, exchanges of knowledge, ideas, and networks between MSU and UPAG. The Government of Haiti is looking forward to this newly established relationship. IH/ iciHaiti This content is from: Capital Markets The threshold remains at $8 billion, as expected, but the agency has added a number of additional exemptions to the de minimis exception that will please banks To access our in-house intelligence please request a trial here. Read this article and more for a 30 day period. Are you already an IFLR subscriber? Login here Bollywood has a new couple in Town and it is none other than young stars Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt. The two fell in love in Bulgaria while shooting for their first film together titled 'Brahmastra'. While Ranbir's lady love didn't confirm this news and often dodged this question, it was her man Ranbir who declared their relationship out in the open. In a recent interview to Hindustan Times, Alia Bhatt spoke about marriage, live-in relationships and much more. Talking about getting married, Alia stated, "Nothing is cast in stone, right? So, if I feel that I'm in a position where I want to take such a step, then I will. I've always believed that I would get married because of kids. So, if I am like, 'This is the time I want to have my children and am also ready to have babies, I will get married'". She further stated that she has not set for wedding bells. Alia Bhatt expressed, "Yes, I've not set any deadline, because it doesn't really matter. I may be like, 'Listen, I love you, so let's get married and live together but I will still work.' So, I may get married just to live with that person". Alia's beau Ranbir was in a live-in a relationship with ex Katrina Kaif but Alia is firm that she will never be in a live-in relationship. Bhatt expressed, "It's also because I don't want to be in a live-in relationship. I don't want to live with someone until I get married. So, it (marriage) may happen for that reason". While the couple is making waves with their off-screen chemistry, we cannot wait to watch them on the silver screens together! Do you feel the same? Tell us your views in the comment section below. A few years ago the Recorder published a profile on a local re-entry program that was doing great things in the city. Our reporter did a fantastic job of telling the story and speaking with multiple people directly or indirectly related to the organization. One of the employees who was featured in the article impressed me significantly because her passion and expertise were highly evident. That person was Shonna Majors, the newly announced Community Violence Reduction director. Crime has been an ongoing problem in Indianapolis for years, but it seems to have intensified recently. Unfortunately, we learn of robberies, homicides and other crimes on an almost daily basis so much so that even for a newsy such as myself, it has become overwhelming. During his campaign and the subsequent years after being elected, Mayor Joe Hogsett vowed to fight crime in an innovative way. A man true to his word, he has worked to do just that, particularly with this weeks announcement that Majors will lead the citys effort to reduce violence on Indianapolis streets. The effort is part of Hogsetts community-focused public safety strategy, which includes targeted enforcement of illegally-possessed handguns and the largest investment in neighborhood and community-based anti-crime efforts in more than a decade. Majors role is to lead the intervention component of the mayors anti-violence efforts. Her life experiences and professional expertise uniquely position her to make the most effective impact. Majors was raised in Indy so she knows the city and understands some of the street codes that often cripple residents from reporting crimes in their neighborhoods. She was a victim of gun violence so she relates to the effects of violence. Majors has a criminology degree, but more significantly, she has a demonstrated history of success in the criminal justice field from working as a correctional officer to assisting troubled youth and helping ex-offenders successfully transition back into society. Majors also has national experience as she managed multimillion dollar federal grants throughout six states. Majors experiences unequivocally make her the ideal person to lead this new initiative. I appreciate her grassroots credibility and professional acumen, as those two aspects are what it takes to make transformational changes. The fact that she is a woman assuming such a significant role in a male-dominated industry is just icing on the cake. When the mayor initially announced that the city would launch a search for a director of community violence reduction, there was a lot of buzz in the community. Who would get the position? Would the person be qualified or obtain the position based on some political payback that citizens often speculate about? There were many people who wanted the roleof the ones I know of, some were grossly underqualified, some were grassroots advocates who didnt have the professional knowledge, and others were astute professionally but not necessarily relative to criminal justice. Of the individuals who I knew sought the position, Majors was by far the best, most well-rounded and qualified pick. Kudos to the city of Indianapolis for selecting such a viable person! While Majors is the right person for the job, it doesnt mean that things will come easy. She has a monumental task before her as she works to reduce violence in the city. One of her primary responsibilities is to serve as a liaison between law enforcement and the community. That in itself is a mammoth task. The minority community especially many African-Americans have a profound distrust of law enforcement and in many instances, understandably so. On the other hand, not all law enforcement officers are bad, overly aggressive or discriminatory. Bridging the gap between both entities will be a challenge, as Majors will have to walk a fine line on both sides as she works to gain trust in the community while simultaneously implementing strategies to reduce crime. I chatted with Majors about her new role and she adequately understands the challenges before her. It wont happen overnight, she told me. I want to accomplish getting everyone out of their silos so we all can work together. I want to increase safety in the neighborhoods, which means reducing all aspects of violence from domestic to gun control. For Majors that includes collaborating with local organizations, talking to young people, and mobilizing various entities in the community. I am confident Majors will be highly successful in her new role, not only because of her professional abilities, but also because she is so passionate. This is not just a job, this is a mission, said Majors. If I can touch one life and reduce the homicide rate even minimally, that is success to me. Hello! Im back again, checking in on the third and final full day of activities at the 232rd Meeting of the American Astronomical Society. Its been an amazing week so far, with plenty to do and plenty to see, and today was certainly no exception. Ive been shotgunned by astronomical science this week, so well be diving into plenty of intriguing research and news in the days and weeks that follow. But for now, lets explore some of the highlights from today, which range from our own Sun to erupting and escaping stars in other galaxies. As per usual, the meetings third day kicked off with a stroll through the early morning poster session before everyone took their seats for the first lecture of the day The George Ellery Hale Prize Lecture: Amazing Journeys to the Hearts of Stars. The talk, given (unsurprisingly) by this years Hale Prize winner, Sarbani Basu, explored the wonderful world of asteroseismology. In this relatively young branch of astronomy, researchers probe the internal structures of stars by measuring the oscillations within them. According to Basu, the Sun oscillates in millions of different modes simultaneously. (This is similar to how the overall sound of a guitar strum is due to multiple strings vibrating with unique modes.) By isolating the Suns different modes and studying how the waves propagate, researchers are able to investigate which physical processes play the most important roles in stellar interiors. Specifically, Basu is very interested in determining the overall metallicity, or fraction of a star that is not hydrogen or helium, of the Sun, which is surprisingly uncertain. Although Basu is still working toward constraining the Suns metallicity, predicting the solar dynamo, and understanding the Suns meridional flow a current of material streaming from the Suns equator to its poles a later lecture focused on something a bit more tangible: the Daniel K Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST). In a talk given by Valentin Martinez Pillet of the National Solar Observatory, we were filled in on the latest status of what will be the highest-resolution solar telescope in the world. The 4-meter DKIST telescope, which has been under construction for over eight years, will soon investigate how energy is transferred from the surface of the Sun to the corona . Furthermore, DKIST is planning to carry out coordinated missions with the Parker Solar Probe, the Solar Orbiter, and ALMA, as well as search the Sun for a possible second, turbulence-driven dynamo. From eruptions to escapes Although DKIST will surely teach us a great deal about the Sun (and stars in general) in due time, some research presented today already has results on a few intriguing stellar objects found outside our solar system. During the first press conference of the day, we were filled in on multiple new studies related to both erupting and escaping stars. In a presentation by Thomas Ayres, from the University of Colorado, Boulder, we learned about the potential hazards of the star system that may be our first destination for interstellar travel Alpha Centauri. In the Alpha Centauri system, there are three stars: Alpha Centauri A, Alpha Centauri B, and Alpha Centauri C (also known as Proxima Centauri). Both A and B are semi-Sun-like stars, however, C is a low-mass red dwarf. To investigate the true habitability around these stars, Ayres took into account each stars X-ray emissions, particularly during high-energy events. According to Ayres (and backed up by Chandra X-ray observations), Alpha Centauri A seems to be a relatively pleasant host star to be stationed around, with relatively low X-ray emissions and few large flares. Alpha Centauri B may still have a habitable zone, but it emits five to six times more X-rays than the Sun. And then theres the puny Alpha Centauri C, which, according to Ayres, is star weather hell. Despite this tiny red dwarfs size, it emits nearly 500 times more X-rays than the Sun, and occasionally experiences flares that emit 50,000 times more. In another presentation, Andrea Kunder of Saint Martins University discussed her research investigating a population of stars that seemingly have escaped the clutches of their original globular cluster, NGC 6441. Globular clusters, says Kunder, are extremely old and are like the fossils of the Milky Way they contain relics from the past that can provide details of the most ancient stars. To investigate NGC 6441, Kunder looked at RR Lyrae stars, which are periodic variable stars known for being great distance indicators. If you can find these stars, said Kunder, and if you know what their brightness is, you can immediately tell what their distance is. However, since this particular cluster is somewhat obscured by gas and dust, it is difficult to determine the true brightness of these stars. So instead, Kunder and her colleagues looked at the Gaia-collected proper motions for these RR Lyrae stars. They found that almost half of them have proper motions consistent with being cluster members, but are located outside of NGC 6441. According to Kunder, this means that NGC 6441 may have once been a dwarf spheroidal galaxy that merged with another galaxy, and, as a result, it is losing its original population of stars. Stay tuned The Sun and other stars are far from the only topics that were discussed today. We also were treated to multiple talks concerning the incredibly luminous cores of galaxies, but this will have to wait for another day, as there is much to share about this subject. To learn more about all the exciting research that was presented this week at the 232rd Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, stay tuned over the next few weeks as we dive deeper into many individual studies. Heart Notes: A Festival of Inner Joy, an inspirational event which will be held June 9 in Fremont, Calif., will bring together Grammy nominated bamboo flute exponent Shashank Subramanyam (r) and Heartfulness trainer Joshua Pollock, who has collaborated with Indian composer A.R. Rahman. (photos provided) President Donald Trump gestures toward journalists shouting questions as he departs the White House May 29, 2018 in Washington, DC. Trump was scheduled to host his first iftar dinner as president June 6 evening to mark the holy month of Ramadan. (Win McNamee/Getty Images) Amnesty International India and the Bhim Army are demanding the release of Dalit activist Chandrashekhar Azad, who has been in detention for a year now. (YouTube screengrab) Sanji Ram, the alleged mastermind of Kathua rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl, is taken to be produced before the district and sessions court for the case trial, Pathankot May 31. (IANS photo) Members of the Shillongs Sikh community gather in Sweepers Lane, where theyve lived since the days of British rule. The Meghalaya government imposed a curfew on Shillong following violence between members of the Sikh and Khasi communities. (UNITED SIKHS Twitter photo) And from the creation of Iluka in 1998, the company was reliant on Eneabba for its zircon supply. This lasted until 2006, when a combination of deposit depletion and declining grades meant, for Iluka, the beginning of the end of the importance of the West. The companys geographic center shifted to the Murray Basin, in Australias south-eastern state of Victoria. But it has more recently shifted again to the companys Jacinth Ambrosia deposit in the Eucla Basin in South Australia. Jacinth Ambrosia came online in 2009 at the tail end of declining global zircon supply, which gave it a strong global economic situation during a period of steady growth in zircon demand. Jacinth Ambrosia produced 151,000 tonnes of zircon in its first year, and doubled this in the following year. A production increase in 2011 coincided with record high zircon prices, exceeding $2,000 per tonne and approaching $3,000 per tonne. The soaring prices were blamed on increased Chinese demand, static global supply, and a lack of new projects that was blamed on the difficulty of finding funds. Zircon supply switched from deficit to surplus some time in late 2011, following end-use substitution and thrifting. This change in global supply and demand fundamentals would mean that output from Jacinth Ambrosia would fall below 2010 levels, to just under 140,000 tonnes of zircon. But as zircon prices stabilized after 2013, supply from Jacinth Ambrosia increased, and so did the deposits significance. Meanwhile, the Murray Basins zircon output was already falling before 2015, and that year mining operations were closed, and stockpiles began to be drawn down. Despite a 20-month idling of the Jacinth Ambrosia deposit between April 2016 and December 2017, output has remained a high proportion of the companys overall production. It was estimated by TZMI and Iluka Resources, in the latters presentation on May 17 this year, at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch conference in Miami, that global zircon supply was around 1.2 million tonnes in 2017. This means that Jacinth Ambrosia accounted for nearly 18% of global supply (213,500 tonnes), and about 70% of Ilukas total zircon output that year (a further 100 tonnes of zircon was produced across the whole company). Today, Jacinth Ambrosias role in Ilukas business is as important as ever. In the companys 2018 annual report, it described it as the worlds largest zircon mine, and outlined plans to increase throughput by about 30% to offset any decline in ore grades, such as those experienced in Eneabba earlier in the companys life. Plans for expansion at Jacinth Ambrosia, at a cost of A$40 million ($30.49 million), include the installation of a second mining unit to increase the amount of ore pulled out of the ground, as well as an upgrade for the wet concentrator plant, where ore is first processed. The expansion will allow the company to keep up with current global demand, with a definitive feasibility study due in mid-2018, and project completion due in 2019. Jacinth Ambrosia is made up of two parts of a continuous deposit. Mining is set to commence at the Ambrosia side of the mine, and will progress alongside the Jacinth side of the mine for several years beginning in 2019. This is likely to further increase zircon production, but it must be noted that overall production is limited by the amount of processing capacity that the project possesses. The company also hopes that the addition of its Western Australian Cataby mine in the first half of 2019 will also help to alleviate some supply tightness. The mine is set to produce an average of 50,000 tonnes per year of zircon, which is some way short of the 200,000-300,000 tpy that Jacinth Ambrosia can produce. Cataby and Jacinth Ambrosia are key projects for Iluka if it wishes to maintain its zircon market share, and they are major components of Ilukas broad strategy to mitigating extreme price increases for zircon. Iluka is also planning to exlarge its operations in Sierra Leone, with expansions at its Lanti Dry and Gangama deposits, as well as a proposed new mine at Sembehun. Commissioning of both expansions is planned for 2019, while the new mine at Sembehun is planned for a commissioning date of 2021. These operations have historically been insignificant in terms of zircon production, however, with just 3,000 tonnes of zircon produced in 2017. Simarily, Ilukas exploration in Sri Lanka is focused on sulfate ilmenite production. Here, work is currently being undertaken in technical and community engagement areas. And Iluka continues to explore in Canada, targeting deposits rich in rutile and ilmenite, in conjunction with Vior Inc. An Abuja chief magistrates court in Wuse has granted leave to Senator Dino Melaye to travel to the United States to see his doctor. Melaye was arraigned before the court on May 2 on charges bordering on his alleged escape from a police vehicle in Abuja and criminal conspiracy, but at the resumed hearing yesterday, his counsel, John Odubela (SAN) prayed for an order of court directing the Commissioner of Police, FCT command to release Melayes international passport to enable him travel for medical treatment abroad, Daily Trust writes. Odubela argued that Melaye is an asthmatic patient whose conditions had deteriorated. A medical report from the National Hospital was attached as Exhibit DM3 disclosing the defendants health condition. He said following treatment at the US hospital, Melaye has another appointment at the hospital on June 28. However, counsel for the police, Dr. Alex Izinyon (SAN), while opposing the application, told the court that the defence did not present any referral from the National Hospital to the said US hospital. He denied paragraphs in the defences affidavit which stated that the defendant was beaten and exposed to tear gas by the police In her ruling, the presiding magistrate, Mabel Segun-Bello held that since the defendants condition existed before the case was filed and the appointment at the hospital abroad predated the trial, there was no need for a referral letter. She ordered that the international passport should be released to the defendant and that he is to be out of the country for treatment for a period of 20 days (June 18 to July 8 2018). He was ordered to return the international passport to the custody of the Commissioner of Police of the FCT upon his return. -Olisa In an interview with BBC Africa, Falz talks to Usifo Umozokpea about his music video This is Nigeria which went viral, with millions of views within days of its release. He opens up about why he decided to cover Childish Gambinos This is America, and comments on the backlash he has received since the release of the video. Watch: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1HjXdELuhM?feature=oembed&w=640&h=360] The Nigerian Government has scrapped award of HND certificates by Polytechnics. The decision was reached at the Federal Executive Council, FEC today where the approval of a comprehensive reform of Nigerias tertiary education system was made. In effect, the award of HND will be limited to only the students currently admitted for the programmes. Also, all the programmes currently being run by polytechnics, which are not technology-based, and which are about 70 per cent, will be scrapped. Under the new rule, the polytechnics will now become campuses of the proximate universities with the Vice Chancellors of those universities appointing provosts for the polytechnics, subject to the ratification of the Universities Councils. The polytechnics will now be limited to award of the National Diploma (ND) while those desirous of further education will be awarded the Bachelor of Technology (B. Tech) by the proximate university. To kick-start the new policy, the nations two most prominent polytechnics Yaba College of Technology and Kaduna Polytechnic will henceforth be known as City University of Technology, Yaba and City University of Technology, Kaduna. And to give legal teeth to these approvals, the FEC approved the submission of two Executive bills to the National Assembly for enactment. The first bill will concretise the setting up of the two city universities while the second will approve the preparation and consolidation of all federal polytechnics and colleges of education as campuses of proximate universities. The Ministry of Justice will do the preparation and submission of the two bills to the National Assembly. Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, told journalists after the weekly meeting of the council that under the reform measures, his ministry would, however, continue to license private polytechnics and colleges of education for the award of qualification at ND and National Certificate in Education (NCE) levels. He said, There will be no more award of HND. After we have exhausted the current students under the programme, there will be no more award of HND. This means that there will be no fresh admission for HND programmes. And in addition, any programme that is not technical will be out of the polytechnics. About 70 per cent of polytechnic graduates are in the non-technical courses. It is going to be a rigorous implementation programme. A ministerial committee to ensure the smooth implementation of all that is required for the take-off of the reform initiatives is to begin work immediately. Adamu said, The HND certificate will remain a legal tender in Nigeria and holders of such certificate will continue to be recognised as the equivalent of first degree holders without discriminatory remunerations and limit to progression in the work place. The NCE certificate will be retained as the minimum teaching qualification at the basic level of education. Any higher qualifications by these private or state-owned polytechnics will be only affiliation with a university. So, HND is no longer in existence, but existing HND will be respected and considered legal tender. Leave a Comment comments Nigerias richest blogger and soon to be mum, Linda Ikeji is finally set to move out of her N450million Banana Island mansion. When Linda Ikeji moved into the mansion in 2016, she clearly stated that the only condition that will move out of it is when she finds a husband. Living in the house with my family. When I marry, I will move out! *sad face*..lol she said back then. Well she is moving out now and she gave the hint on her Instagram page earlier today. Choosing to ignore the rumours filtering around concerning her alleged baby daddy Sholaye Jeremy, Linda Ikeji who has already ordered a Bentley in arrival of the birth of her son, shared photos of her bedroom and toilet with the captions My room! Gosh, not looking forward to leaving it! How do you walk away from a bathroom this huge? Let me come and go and cry and then come back! -Gistreel Guardian President Muhammadu Buhari has declared that the late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Abiola won the 1993 presidential elections but was denied the office by the then Head of State, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida.Coming eight days (May 29) after the country celebrated Democracy Day, Buhari announced, yesterday, that the anniversary would henceforth be marked on June 12 in honour of the late philanthropist. Punch The police on Wednesday said they had not withdrawn their invitation to the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, over his alleged link with suspected robbers, who invaded banks in Offa on April 5, 2018. Vanguard The House of Representatives has asked its Committee on Ethics and Privileges to investigate the lawmaker representing Bebeji/Kiru constituency in Kano State, Abdulmumin Jibrin, for allegedly misrepresenting the chamber in respect of the ongoing rift between the National Assembly and the executive arm of government. Thisday The senator representing Anambra North senatorial district, Stella Oduah, has defected to the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA). The Sun chief Mascot Uzor kalu was the Chief of Staff to a former governor of Abia State. Presently, he is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state. But he wants to represent Aba North/Aba Daily Times The last has not been heard about the indictment of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki in the April 5 Offa bank robbery as police on Wednesday said Saraki is still under investigation. Daily Trust Senators burst into laughter when the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, mentioned the word transmission while reading a letter from President Muhammadu Buhari. Tribune Ekiti State Governor, Chief Ayodele Fayose, has said the Federal Government lacks the power to suspend or abrogate the Anti-grazing Law enacted by the state government to prohibit open grazing of cattle in the state. Leadership An election monitoring and observer group, Independent Service Delivery Monitoring Group (ISDMG) has urged Nigerians to hold the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) responsible should any harm befall independent election observers deployed to monitor the forthcoming gubernatorial election in the state The Nation THERE was a drama yesterday in the Senate over allegation of bribe-taking to reject a nominee for Independent National Electoral Commissions (INEC) position. Olayode Juliana is a very beautiful actress and writer who is celebrating her birthday with thousands of fans flooding her page with congratulatory messages. Juliana Oluwatobiloba Olayode better known as known as Toyo Baby or Toyosi in popular TV series, Jenifers Diary celebrates her birthday today with beautiful pictures. Olayode is a sexual purity activist. She is also known for being a public critic of s*x before marriage among Nigerian youths. She was born in a family of eight and was brought up in Lagos, Nigeria. Olayode hails from Ipokia local government of Ogun State. While growing up, she never thought she would become an actress even though she was a drama queen. Before she came to limelight, she had featured in about four movies including Couple of Days where she featured as Judith. She clinched the role in Jenifas Diary after attending the audition. She has gone on to become a household name in the Nigeria movie industry. Despite gradually becoming a household name due to her role as Toyo Baby on the hit TV series, Olayode maintains her image as the girl next door. She strives to stay grounded despite the tendencies of fame and fortune. -Gistreel For a very long time, many Nigerians have clamoured for June 12th to be declared as Democracy Day in honour of late Moshood Kashimawo Abiola Abiola. However, that has come to an end as President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday made the declaration that the new date for the annual national celebration become June 12 no longer May 29. Buhari in his statement said June 12, 1993 was the day when Nigerians in millions expressed their democratic will in what was undisputedly the freest, fairest and most peaceful election since our Independence. The fact that the then military government did not uphold the outcome of that election does not distract from the democratic credentials of that process. Many Nigerians have hailed the decision but do you think MKO Abiola is truly a national hero? Lets learn history here The litigation practice had a very successful run with Aitken at the helm and last year won 22 out of 26 tax avoidance litigation cases. 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. Amsterdam, NL - June 7, 2018 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Arriving in Amsterdam on the 27-28 June, the second annual AI Expo Europe event will host 2 co-located events covering IoT and Blockchain, with 8,000 attendees expected to attend including CTO's, CDO's, Head's of Innovation and Technology, IT Directors, Developers & Start-Up's, OEM's, Government, Automotive, Operators, Technology Providers, Investors, VCs and many more. The AI Expo will showcase the most cutting-edge technologies from more than 300 exhibitors and provide insight from over 300 speakers sharing their unparalleled industry knowledge and real-life experiences. 1. The exhibition and start-up incubator zone The event will host a dedicated start-up incubator zone where you can see the latest AI & IoT technologies and innovations in action, in addition to the vast exhibition of 300+ companies who will be showcasing their products and services within the field of AI, IoT & Blockchain. Expect to see demos and booths from Microsoft, IBM, PTC, Kore, Hercules, Thales, Rutronik, Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, BPU Holdings, Start-up Amsterdam, ML6, Bottos, Ortec Data Science, Adani, NTR Labs, Prosper BI and many more. Start-ups within the incubator zone include Aiir Innovations, Botsquad, Mercury.AI, IoTify, Porter, 3D Universium, Zazu, 904 Labs, Innovation in Motion, Blockhearts, Mind Trace, Sightcorp, Cupenya, Effect.Ai, Sodaq, Amberscript, BrainCreators, Clockworks to name a few. In addition, attendees can join speakers from Aiir Innovations, Mercury.AI and BrainCreators within the AI Technologies track on day 2 (28th June) as they explore innovative artificial intelligence techniques. 2. 10 Conference Tracks covering AI, IoT and Blockchain Your Free Expo Pass will provide access to 10 conference tracks; AI Technologies, Data Analytics for AI & IoT, Developing for the IoT, Privacy & Security, IoT Innovations & Technologies, ICOs & Token Investments, Blockchain for Business, Developing Blockchain Applications, Blockchain Technologies and Blockchain Strategies. Register for your free expo pass here. 3. Keynote Panel: IoT and AI data analytics for intelligent decision making Taking place on the 27th June at 10.15am within the Data Analytics for AI & IoT conference track, the Chief Data Scientist at Southern Water, a Data Scientist from Monsanto, a Data Scientist from Marel Poulty and the CEO from the predictive intelligence firm Prosper BI will be identifying target-rich, high-value data that can be used to generate business intelligence, looking at the use of cloud analytics platforms to derive value from AI & IoT data, and discussing the barriers to widespread AI/IoT/Big Data value delivery and how these might be overcome. 4. Machine Learning and AI: Do's and Don'ts in the online food provider industry Adrian Foltyn, Former Head/Director of Data Science at HelloFresh, the online food survival kit provider, will take to the stage within the Data & Analytics for AI & IoT track on the 27 June at 15.20pm. Adrian will discuss why preference data is at the core of the company's operations as their predictive technologies forecast the food that their consumers want during certain seasons. 5. AI and Computer Vision - Intelligent Assistants and an extra pair of eyes... Join Miriam Huijser, Co-Founder & Chief Research Officer at Aiir Innovations on 28 June within the AI Technologies conference track as she explores how intelligence assistants can be used to inspect aircraft engines using state-of-the-art computer vision techniques. Aiir Innovations is an Amsterdam based start-up that aims to bring artificial intelligence to the maintenance and aircraft industry. They will also be exhibiting within the start-up incubator zone within the expo floor. 6. 2 co-located events Co-located with the IoT Tech Expo and the Blockchain Expo, the AI Exhibition and Conference will allow you to explore 3 ecosystems in 1 and discover how the convergence of these 3 areas is powering the future of technology! 7. Using Big Data to create intelligent data models Within the dedicated Data Analytics for AI & IoT track on the 27 June at 14.40pm, join AI & IoT thought leaders as they take to the stage for a panel discussion. Hear from Christophe Eschenbrenner, IoT & Data Foundations Program Manager from Alstom Digital Mobility, Violeta Misheva, Data Scientist at ABN AMRO Bank N.V., Filippo F.G. Della Casa, Head of Analytics at Unipol and Dor Kedem, Senior Data Scientist at ING as they discuss the increased need for big data analytics to drive AI & Machine Learning across a range of industries. Other event features include exclusive networking opportunities Following the first day of the event, Speakers, Sponsors, Press, Ultimate, Gold and Expo Plus attendees are invited to attend an evening of networking. The Beach House will host the official networking party. It is located at the entrance of The Beach and surrounded by stunning beach scenery. Set away from the busier main structures and with its own bar and terrace. Discuss the topics from the conferences and build relationships with like-minded companies and individuals. To register for your networking (Ultimate/ Gold/ Expo Plus) pass, click here. The final advance rate ends 15 June so if you are looking for full conference and networking access, you can save up to 150 on your conference and networking pass (Gold/Ultimate) when you book by then. Or click here to register for your Free Expo Pass to the Europe 2018 event on the 27 - 28 June in Amsterdam. You can find out more about the World Series 2018 and register for each event here: AI Expo Europe - 27-28th June 2018, RAI, Amsterdam AI Expo North America - 28-29th November 2018, Santa Clara, Silicon Valley AI Expo Global - 25-26th April 2019, Olympia Grand, London TechSectorStocks.com - investing ideas in tech stocks- mobile payments, social media, AI and Robotics, Drone Stocks, GPS, Internet of Things (IoT) Like Tech Stocks? View our Tech Stocks Directory More Info: This news is published on the Investorideas.com Newswire - a global digital news source for investors and business leaders Disclaimer/Disclosure: Investorideas.com is a digital publisher of third party sourced news, articles and equity research as well as creates original content, including video, interviews and articles. Original content created by investorideas is protected by copyright laws other than syndication rights. Our site does not make recommendations for purchases or sale of stocks, services or products. Nothing on our sites should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell products or securities. All investing involves risk and possible losses. This site is currently compensated for news publication and distribution, social media and marketing, content creation and more. Disclosure is posted for each compensated news release, content published /created if required but otherwise the news was not compensated for and was published for the sole interest of our readers and followers. Contact management and IR of each company directly regarding specific questions. More disclaimer info: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Disclaimer.asp Learn more about publishing your news release and our other news services on the Investorideas.com newswire https://www.investorideas.com/News-Upload/ and tickertagstocknews.com Global investors must adhere to regulations of each country. Please read Investorideas.com privacy policy: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Private_Policy.asp KELOWNA, BC - June 7, 2018 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Valens GroWorks Corp. (CSE: VGW) (the "Company" or "Valens"), a multi-licensed, vertically integrated provider of cannabis products and services with a focus on proprietary extraction processes is pleased to announce key additions to the Valens team in anticipation of Canada's legalization of recreational cannabis use. "These additions are crucial as we advance high-paced expansion plans across the company's business verticals. I am extremely confident in the personnel chosen as they have a proven track record of leading exceptional positive growth at a rapid rate in related industries. The marketing teams joining us carry an impressionability with a global impact. I am excited to be able to say that with both Valens-branded products and vertically integrated production at the forefront of our expansion, our team will continue to grow very quickly over the coming months" commented Tyler Robson, Valens' CEO. Chris Buysen, MPAcc, CPA, CA - Chief Financial Officer Mr. Buysen has over 15 years of diverse financial experience working as a senior financial executive with many public and private organizations in a wide range of industries including retail, pharmacy and consumer packaged goods. During this time, he was responsible for internal and external financial reporting, strategic planning, treasury, tax, information technology, human resources, financial controls and corporate governance. Mr. Buysen's experience enables him to manage the Company's expected growth in the near term as the Company explores opportunities into international financial and retail markets. Chantel Popoff - Vice President of Valens Agritech Ltd. In 2007, Ms. Popoff was appointed Director of Operations, then Director of Marketing for a fast-growing Western Canadian retail pharmacy chain. She was responsible for overseeing operations, financial performance, and marketing for 21 locations. The pharmacy chain's success led to an acquisition in 2012 by Shoppers Drug Mart. In January 2013, Ms. Popoff took the opportunity to join a Canadian natural health food company for a more fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment, leading the operations and marketing of a national product launch. By late 2015, Ms. Popoff and her team had gained shelf placement in over 8,000 stores, while implementing standard operating procedures, financial reporting structure and national consumer and trade marketing programs to grow the brand and prepare the company for further growth. She was promoted to President of the company in 2016. Her experience enabled her to successfully gain an in-depth understanding of both the retail pharmacy and retail health food space as well as the regulatory environment necessary to run pharmaceutical operations across Western Canada. With this cross functional knowledge and over 15 years of hands-on senior management experience, Ms. Popoff joins Valens Agritech as Vice President, supporting the overall operations of the company. Jesper Wahlberg & Sugar Media - Business and Marketing Strategy Mr. Wahlberg founded Sugar Media, a Toronto-based marketing agency developing and executing best-in-class marketing initiatives for Tier One clients such as Chrysler, PayPal, Kubota and Fisher-Price. Sub-agency brand, CausePlay, guides some of Canada's leading Not-for-Profit organizations by either re-igniting existing peer-to-peer fundraising or in the development of entirely new and highly democratized platforms. CausePlay clients include but are not limited to Sick Kids Hospital, The Canadian Olympic Foundation, United Way, Diabetes Canada, and Plan Canada. Mr. Wahlberg and his team at Sugar Media will be providing Valens with strategic guidance and insights, working with the Valens marketing team as they continue to develop the Valens brand and go-to market strategy whether B2B or consumer focused. Scott Young - Vice President of Investor Relations and Business Development Valens is excited to formally announce Scott Young as Head of Investors Relations with a focus on corporate finance initiatives and business development. Mr. Young has spent the past 15 years working in the capital market sectors of Canada, the United States and Europe. Beyond this, he has extensive business development experience in Hong Kong, North and South America. He has helped finance numerous start-up companies through his networks in energy, mining, technology and biotechnology. His expertise in finance, marketing and communications helps profile Valens to both retail and institutional investors globally. Mass Minority - Marketing and Branding Strategy Mass Minority is a consultancy led by Brett Channer, former CEO of Saatchi + Saatchi's Canadian division, and Brent Rivard, former Global Managing Director of Anomaly, along with other tenured senior executives in the fields of Data Science, Business Design, Communications and Media Architecture. Mass Minority leverages proprietary data tools and methodologies along with today's technology to evaluate, validate and structure opportunities for businesses to grow. They design accountable operating systems populated with adoptive content to drive unprecedented business results in a world that has shifted from Mass Consumption to Mass Personalization. Mass Minority is working hand-in-hand with Valens' development team in the fields of strategic brand direction, marketing, communications and product design. About Valens GroWorks Valens GroWorks Corp. is a vertically integrated provider of Canadian cannabis products developed from our proprietary extraction techniques, with three wholly-owned subsidiaries located in and around Kelowna, BC. Subsidiary Valens Agritech has initiated cannabis production, processing and sales under a Health Canada Dealer's Licence, which includes a supply agreement with Canopy Growth Corporation under their extensive CraftGrow distribution network. Subsidiary Supra THC Services is a Health Canada licensed cannabis testing lab providing sector-leading analytical services and has partnered with Thermo Fisher Scientific to develop a Centre of Excellence in Plant Based Medicine Analytics. Subsidiary Valens Farms is in the process of becoming a purpose-built facility in compliance with European Union (EU) Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) standards, ensuring the product from this facility can be exported anywhere in the world where Cannabis is nationally legal for medical or adult usage purposes. For more information, please visit http://valensgroworks.com, http://www.valensagritech.com and http://www.suprathc.ca. Notice regarding Forward Looking Statements This news release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of such statements under applicable securities law. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "anticipates", "plan", "continue", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "potential", "proposed", "positioned" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. Various assumptions were used in drawing the conclusions or making the projections contained in the forward-looking statements throughout this news release. Forward-looking statements are 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 projected in the forward-looking statements. The Corporation is under no obligation, 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 expressly required by applicable law. The CSE or other regulatory authority has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the contents of this press release. We seek Safe Harbour. SOURCE: Valens GroWorks Corp. For further information: Scott Young, Telephone: +1.705.888.2756 More Info: This news is published on the Investorideas.com Newswire - a global digital news source for investors and business leaders Disclaimer/Disclosure: Investorideas.com is a digital publisher of third party sourced news, articles and equity research as well as creates original content, including video, interviews and articles. Original content created by investorideas is protected by copyright laws other than syndication rights. Our site does not make recommendations for purchases or sale of stocks, services or products. Nothing on our sites should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell products or securities. All investing involves risk and possible losses. This site is currently compensated for news publication and distribution, social media and marketing, content creation and more. Disclosure is posted for each compensated news release, content published /created if required but otherwise the news was not compensated for and was published for the sole interest of our readers and followers. Contact management and IR of each company directly regarding specific questions. More disclaimer info: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Disclaimer.asp Learn more about publishing your news release and our other news services on the Investorideas.com newswire https://www.investorideas.com/News-Upload/ and tickertagstocknews.com Global investors must adhere to regulations of each country. Please read Investorideas.com privacy policy: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Private_Policy.asp Vodafone has announced it is working with Sanku (Project Healthy Children) to equip small flour mills across Africa with Internet of Things (IoT) services to provide nutritious fortified flour to millions of people. Two billion people around the world suffer from micronutrient malnutrition. Fortified flour battles against hidden hunger in developing countries, which includes pervasive issues of micronutrient deficiencies such as birth defects, child development issues, and blindness. Sanku is bringing real-time, data-driven insights to 3,000 small scale flour mills over the next four years, with Vodafones global IoT SIM and USB Connect technology helping to significantly scale the program and improve its efficiency. Sanku has created a dosifier that enables small African flour mills in rural areas to fortify flour with key nutrients during the milling process, in a way that is sustainable and cost-effective. In the past, one Sanku worker could only monitor 25 mills, which would fortify flour to feed 125,000 people. Vodafones IoT SIM now connects the same worker to 100 mills, which will fortify flour for 500,000 people. The Sanku worker receives alerts remotely and in real-time when the mills run out of fortified flour or require maintenance. Our dosifier has been incredibly successful to date, bringing fortified flour to communities in need across the developing world, said Felix Brooks-church, Co-founder and CEO, Sanku. Vodafones IoT technology gives us the ability to significantly optimise and scale operations. Sanku currently helps provide fortified flour to around one million people and, with this new IoT connection, we are on a path to reach 100 million people by 2025. Vodafone and Sanku are rolling out Vodafones global IoT SIM and USB Connect technology to local flour mills in Tanzania and Rwanda, and will continue to implement the technology across Eastern and Southern Africa. Our project with Sanku is a perfect example of how the Internet of Things can improve peoples lives and help make a difference in even the poorest of communities, said Brian Humphries, Group Enterprise Chief Executive, Vodafone. Connected technology gives Sanku the ability to significantly enhance efficiencies, enabling fortified flour to be delivered to more communities, playing an important role in helping to end malnutrition. Edited by Ken Briodagh A few days back, well-known security researcher Ian Beer of Googles Project Zero team had announced that he plans to release an iOS 11.3.1 kernel exploit, which could be used to jailbreak iOS 11.3.1. We are delighted to report that Ian Beer has released the iOS 11.3.1 exploit. Coolstar, the well-known iOS hacker and developer had announced that he should be able to use the kernel exploit to update Electra Jailbreak to jailbreak iOS 11.3.1 iOS 11.2. The jailbreak tool can currently be used to jailbreak iOS 11 iOS 11.1.2. We expect Electra iOS 11.3.1 jailbreak to be a semi-untethered jailbreak. A semi-untethered jailbreak is similar to an untethered jailbreak, it gives the ability to reboot your iOS device on its own. On each boot, the iOS device startup sequence is unmodified and it boots into its original, non-jailbroken state. However, instead of needing to use a tool from a computer to re-jailbreak the iOS device again, like a tethered or semi-tethered cases, the user can re-jailbreak their device with the help of an app running on the iOS device. Apple has patched the iOS 11.3.1 kernel exploits that Beer has shared in iOS 11.4 so it wont be possible to jailbreak iOS 11.4. If youre interested to jailbreak iOS 11.3.1 on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch then you should restore to iOS 11.3.1 as soon as possible especially iPhone X, iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus users or users who have upgraded to iOS 11.3.1 using the OTA method as we expect Apple to stop signing iOS 11.3.1 firmware very soon. You should at least save the iOS 11.3.1 SHSH blobs. Coolstar hasnt provided a release date for Electra iOS 11.3.1 jailbreak but he has already started working on the jailbreak: https://twitter.com/coolstarorg/status/1004274558780600320 We would recommend waiting patiently for the jailbreak. Please avoid annoying him on Twitter by asking for a release date. We will let you know as soon as Electra iOS 11.3.1 jailbreak is released, so dont forget to signup for our Daily Newsletter so you dont miss the latest jailbreak news. Check out our iOS 11 iOS 11.3.1 jailbreak FAQ if youve any questions.. Have you been eagerly waiting for the iOS 11.3.1 jailbreak? Let us know the jailbreak tweaks you plan to install after jailbreaking your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch in the comments. AROUND THE ISLAND WE GO A heat of cyclists departs Monday from Fort Getty Road during the 45th Jamestown Classic, an annual 19-mile race around Jamestown every Columbus Day. More than 125 riders participated in... Council to mull leash law, rental rules The agenda for Mondays meeting of the town council will include two items that have been the source of debate for years. The councilors are expected to discuss draft ordinances... Major changes on tap for bridges Two major changes are on the horizon for the agency that operates the four saltwater spans connecting Aquidneck and Conanicut islands to the mainland. Open-road tolling at the plaza of... Jonas Cullwick, a former General Manager of VBTC is now a Senior Journalist with the Daily Post. Contact: [email protected]. Cell # 678 5460922 The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism Bob Loughman attended the opening of the Tourism Officers Professional Development Workshop yesterday Videos Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. Robin Pope Safaris is giving travelers every reason to get off the traditional safari highway and venture from bush to beach in Malawi with the opening of their brand new Kuthengo Camp in unspoiled Liwonde National Park. Meaning the wild or the bush Kuthengo is located among fever trees on a large open plain along the spectacular Shire River. The camp is home to four spacious en-suite safari tents, each featuring an outdoor shower, bathtub, double basins and state-of-the-art Evening Breeze air-conditioned beds, plus a private deck for enjoying sunset views. In addition to the camps quiet charm, a stay at Kuthengo promises adventure around every corner. Among the fertile floodplains and ancient baobab trees of Liwonde, guests can expect game drives with frequent animal sightings and serene boating safaris. They can also experience what Robin Pope is known for: walking safaris, where guests trek on foot across the wild terrain alongside everything from elephants to buffalo to the critically endangered black rhino. There is nothing quite as heart-pumping or rewarding as encountering the wildlife of the African bush on foot. (African Parks is in the process of relocating lions to the park, returning a key species to the natural system years after the last lion was seen in Liwonde.) The camp hosts a maximum of ten guests, so the small team of guides at Kuthengo can personalize adventures to give each guest the safari experience of their dreams. Everyone eligible should be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of long-distance travel or employment. Vaccination should be voluntary but those who don't get vaccinated should be frequently tested for COVID-19 as a condition of long-distance travel and employment. Both vaccination and testing should be voluntary and not required as a condition of long-distance travel or employment. I defer to the judgment of lawmakers as long as they base their decisions on a consensus of medical professionals. Vote View Results He has been cited by Rush Limbaugh, quoted in the New York Times, featured at Real Clear Politics and Lucianne.com and interviewed on radio, TV and in social media. For many years he served as a Lecturer in Corporate Communication at Penn State University. A former President of the Philadelphia Public Relations Association (PPRA) he has lectured at Rowan University, Temple University, The College of New Jersey and Arcadia University. He has conducted workshops on public relations for thousands of participants throughout the nation and has taught countless others the art of public speaking. He has also advised numerous lawyers, judges, public officials and political candidates. Cirucci is a prolific writer and his op-ed pieces have appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News, Philadelphia Inquirer, Courier-Post and other publications. A native of Camden NJ, Cirucci is a former President of the Philadelphia chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators. Cirucci served as Associate Executive Director of the Philadelphia Bar Association for nearly 30 years. He served as Chair of Penn State University's Professional Advisory Board for the Corporate Communication major at Penn State Abington and on the Pennsylvania Bar Association's Judicial Selection Commission. He received his MA degree from Rowan University and his BA from Villanova University. He has been named a Distinguished Alumnus of Rowan's public relations program and was inducted into the Philadelphia Public Relations Hall of Fame. He received the E. A. "Wally" Richter Leadership Award from the National Association of Bar Executives' Communications Section. The Award is the Section's highest honor. He has also been honored by numerous other local, state and national groups. Cirucci's passions include politics, the popular culture, books and authors, art, communication, music, theatre, movies, dining and travel. In his hometown of Camden, Cirucci taught fifth grade at the Ulysses Wiggins Elementary School named for the founder of the Camden NAACP. He later served as editor of a local weekly newspaper, as Assistant to the Township Manager of Cherry Hill Township and as Associate Director of Communications at the New Jersey State Bar Association. He's Dan Cirucci, the founder and editor-in chief of the Dan Cirucci Blog, Matt Rooney's sidekick on Save Jersey's weekly videocast and one of the most widely honored public relations professionals in his field. He's also been a public relations consultant to numerous organizations and individuals and hosted The Advocates on RVN-TV. Syria: Raqqa in ruins and civilians devastated after US-led war of annihilation Amnesty International carried out field investigations in the destroyed city US-led Coalition fired vast number of imprecise explosive weapons in populated civilian area Even Coalition precision bombs took a horrendous toll on civilians Hundreds of civilians killed and then Islamic State fighters allowed to leave From amid the rubble of Raqqa, civilians are asking why US-led Coalition forces destroyed the city, killing hundreds of civilians in the process of liberating them from the armed group calling itself Islamic State (IS), Amnesty International said in a new report ahead of the offensives anniversary. Amnesty International researchers visited 42 Coalition air strike sites across the ruined city and interviewed 112 civilian residents who had survived the carnage and lost loved ones. The accounts detailed in the report, War of annihilation: Devastating Toll on Civilians, Raqqa Syria, leave gaping holes in the Coalitions insistence that their forces did enough to minimize civilian harm. The report details four emblematic cases of civilian families who were brutally impacted by the relentless aerial bombardment. Between them, they lost 90 relatives and neighbours 39 from a single family almost all of them killed by Coalition air strikes. They are part of a wider pattern and provide a strong prima facie case that many Coalition attacks that killed and injured civilians and destroyed homes and infrastructure violated international humanitarian law. When so many civilians are killed in attack after attack, something is clearly wrong, and to make this tragedy worse, so many months later the incidents have not been investigated. The victims deserve justice, said Donatella Rovera, Senior Crisis Response Adviser at Amnesty International. The Coalitions claims that its precision air campaign allowed it to bomb IS out of Raqqa while causing very few civilian casualties do not stand up to scrutiny. On the ground in Raqqa we witnessed a level of destruction comparable to anything weve seen in decades of covering the impact of wars. The Coalitions claims that its precision air campaign allowed it to bomb IS out of Raqqa while causing very few civilian casualties do not stand up to scrutiny. On the ground in Raqqa we witnessed a level of destruction comparable to anything weve seen in decades of covering the impact of wars. ISs brutal four-year rule in Raqqa was rife with war crimes. But the violations of IS, including the use of civilians as human shields, do not relieve the Coalition of their obligations to take all feasible precautions to minimize harm to civilians. What levelled the city and killed and injured so many civilians was the US-led Coalitions repeated use of explosive weapons in populated areas where they knew civilians were trapped. Even precision weapons are only as precise as their choice of targets. War of annihilation Shortly before the military campaign, US Defence Secretary James Mattis promised a war of annihilation against IS. From 6 June to 17 October 2017, the US-led Coalition operation to oust IS from its so-called capital Raqqa killed and injured thousands of civilians and destroyed much of the city. Homes, private and public buildings and infrastructure were reduced to rubble or damaged beyond repair. Residents were trapped as fighting raged in Raqqas streets between IS militants and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters, supported by the Coalitions relentless air and artillery strikes. IS mined the escape routes and shot at civilians trying to flee. Hundreds of civilians were killed: some in their homes; some in the very places where they had sought refuge; and others as they tried to flee. US, British and French Coalition forces carried out tens of thousands of air strikes and US forces admitted to firing 30,000 artillery rounds during the offensive on Raqqa. US forces were responsible for more than 90% of the air strikes. A senior US military official said that more artillery shells were launched into Raqqa than anywhere since the Viet Nam war. Given that artillery shells have margin of error of over 100 metres, it is no surprise that the result was mass civilian casualties, said Donatella Rovera. Civilian carnage The victims highlighted in the report cut across the citys socio-economic spectrum and range in age from a beloved one-year-old baby girl to a respected elder in his 80s. Some were forced to stay in the city as they were too poor to pay smugglers to get them out; others stayed because, having worked all their lives, they had too much to lose by leaving their homes and businesses behind. Their harrowing stories and immense losses stand in stark contrast to the Coalitions repeated claims that they took great pains to minimize civilian casualties. In September 2017, at the height of the conflict, Coalition commander US Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend wrote that there has never been a more precise air campaign in the history of armed conflict. Raqqa residents, such as air strike survivor Munira Hashish, tell a different story: Those who stayed died and those who tried to run away died. We couldnt afford to pay the smugglers; we were trapped. She and her children eventually managed to escape through a minefield by walking over the blood of those who were blown up as they tried to flee ahead of us. Those who stayed died and those who tried to run away died. We couldnt afford to pay the smugglers; we were trapped. She and her children eventually managed to escape through a minefield by walking over the blood of those who were blown up as they tried to flee ahead of us. All four families featured in the report suffered horrific ordeals. The Aswads were a family of traders who had worked hard all their lives to construct a home in Raqqa. Some of them stayed behind to protect their belongings from looting, seeking shelter in their basement. But, on 28 June a Coalition air strike destroyed the building, killing eight civilians, mostly children. Another family member lost his life when he stepped on an IS mine when he returned to the city to try to recover the bodies days later. Despite repeated attempts to flee, the Hashish family lost 18 members, mostly women and children, over a two-week period in August. A Coalition air strike killed nine, seven died as they tried to flee via a road which had been mined by IS, and two others were killed by a mortar launched by SDF. The case of the Badran family perhaps best illustrates how dire the situation became for civilians trapped in Raqqa. Over the course of several weeks, 39 family members were killed in four separate Coalition air strikes as they moved from place to place inside the city, desperately trying to avoid rapidly shifting frontlines. We thought the forces who came to evict Daesh [IS] would know their business and would target Daesh and leave the civilians alone. We were naive. By the time we had realised how dangerous it had become everywhere, it was too late; we were trapped, Rasha Badran told Amnesty International. After several attempts to flee, she and her husband finally managed to escape, having lost their entire family, including their only child, a one-year-old girl named Tulip, whose tiny body they buried near a tree. Finally, the Fayad case illustrates how a Coalition blitz during the final hours of the battle wiped out entire families in the Harat al-Badu area of central Raqqa, where IS fighters were known to be using civilians as human shields. The deaths of Mohammed Abu Saif Fayad and 15 family members and neighbours in Coalition air strikes early on 12 October seem all the more senseless because, just hours later, the SDF and the Coalition agreed a deal with IS, granting remaining IS fighters safe passage out of Raqqa. If the coalition and their SDF allies were ultimately going to grant IS fighters safe passage and impunity, what possible military advantage was there in destroying practically an entire city and killing so many civilians? said Benjamin Walsby, Middle East Researcher at Amnesty International. Potential war crimes The Coalition strikes detailed in the report are examples of wider patterns. There is strong evidence that Coalition air and artillery strikes killed and injured thousands of civilians, including in disproportionate or indiscriminate attacks that violated international humanitarian law and are potential war crimes. Amnesty International has written to defence officials in the USA, UK and France whose forces carried out the air strikes over Raqqa seeking additional information about these cases and about other attacks. The organization asked about Coalition tactics, specific means and methods of attack, choice of targets, and precautions taken in planning and execution of attacks and about any investigations carried out so far. Amnesty International is urging Coalition members to investigate impartially and thoroughly allegations of violations and civilian casualties, and to publicly acknowledge the scale and gravity of the loss of civilian lives and destruction of civilian property in Raqqa. They must disclose the findings of their investigations, as well as key information about the strikes necessary for assessing their compliance with international humanitarian law. They must review the procedures by which they decide the credibility of civilian casualty allegations and they must ensure justice and reparation for victims of violations. They also have a responsibility to assist with gruelling demining and reconstruction work under way in Raqqa in a more meaningful way than at present. Raqqas civilians are returning home to ruins, pulling loved ones out of rubble, and facing death or injury from mines, IEDs and unexploded ordnance. The Coalitions refusal to acknowledge its role in creating this catastrophic situation adds insult to injury. Raqqas civilians are returning home to ruins, pulling loved ones out of rubble, and facing death or injury from mines, IEDs and unexploded ordnance. The Coalitions refusal to acknowledge its role in creating this catastrophic situation adds insult to injury, said Benjamin Walsby. So, where is Tom Friedman and the Neocon hordes and associated CIA-sponsored 'human rights'/regime change campaigners when you need them? Over the last few years, how many times has the only news from Syria been claims of poison gas attacks by the Syrian Government, "white helmet" saviors, claims that Russian planes and Syrian ground forces are committing war crimes in Aleppo, Damascus, Ghouta etc....or everywhere that it appears that the Syrian Government is winning their civil war with mostly trucked in foreign mercenaries sponsored by the Saudis and Qatari Government!So, what happened after the US Coalition took Mosul in Iraq? Crickets! Same with Raqqa in eastern Syria...that is until this Amnesty International report dropped two days ago, and if you don't go directly to AI's website and download the pdf report, you're stuck going to foreign and fringe media to find out about it! Because there's nothing being reported hardly from our captured and co-opted MSM: Have a Mitt Romney math question. He and his wife had five sons. What are the odds of having five children of the same sex? Would it be a 50 percent chance at conception of each boy, or would the the odds be 3.125%? When Mitt dies and goes to Celestial Heaven with Joseph Smith, does he only have his one wife to have sex with to beget Spirit Children to inhabit souls of humans in the next life or will he have many women to impregnate on his own Planet to rule forever if he has to wait for his wife? My only problems with this man is that he is a member of a very whacky and strange religion even compared with other religions. The religion itself is very easily refutable and a fraud, so why is he in it unless he believes it on a certain level. Second, the guy's name is Mitt. Mitt. Mitt. Makes me think of an oven glove everytime I hear his name. I would slap my mother with an oven mitt with a lock in it in the face if she named me Mitt. Just saying. So what is the answer to my math problem, if I have five children of the same sex, what are the odds? UPDATE: Authorities have confirmed that a body found washed up near Rockaway Beach on Friday belonged to 17-year-old Samuel Allen. The body was found about one half-mile away from where Allen was last seen on June 6. Both Samuel Allen and his father Robert went missing under the waves on June 6. Robert's body was recovered later that day, but Samuel has been missing ever since. The announcement on Friday came from Oregon State Police (OSP). (Updated as of 11:30 a.m. on Monday, June 18) The search for 17-year-old Samuel Allen in the waves off Rockaway Beach has been suspended, according to a statement from the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG). Search efforts ended at 9:42 a.m. Thursday morning, after a number of agencies and craft responded. "As we've come to the difficult decision to suspend this search, we extend our deepest condolences to those affected by this tragedy," the statement read. "We also want to thank all our partner agencies who assisted with search efforts for their dedication and service to the public." According to the Coast Guard, they received a call regarding the incident on Wednesday afternoon from Samuel's step-mother, relayed through Tillamook 911. The step-mother reported that Samuel had been seen struggling to get back to shore, and that Robert Allen had jumped into the surf to assist his son. She then said that she'd lost sight of both of them, according to USCG. USCG units respondedincluding a 47-foot Motor Life Boat, two MH-60 Jayhawk helicopters, the cutter Swordfish, and an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter. Rescuers did locate Robert Allen in the water, but he was later pronounced dead after failed attempts to revive him. "Throughout the day, multiple reports came in from good Samaritans of objects in the water, with only sea lions seen at the first location and a crab pot buoy located at the second location," said the USCG statement. Many of the USCG crews searched through the night, but were unable to locate Samuel Allen. According to the USCG, sea conditions were one to two foot high seas, swells up to eight feet high, 11 mile per hour winds, but good visibility. Coast Guard crews were assisted by OSP, Rockaway Beach Fire and Rescue, Rockaway Beach Police, Tillamook County dispatch and Tillamook County Sheriff's Office personnel. (Updated as of 1:45 p.m. on Thursday, June 7) Oregon State Police (OSP) have released the names of the two victims in an incident on Rockaway Beach on Wednesday, where a father and his son were lost under Pacific waves. The father has been identified as 50-year-old Robert Allen. His son was 17-year-old Samuel Allen. Both of them hailed from Fort Collins, Colorado. According to OSP, Samuel Allen is still missing and is presumed dead. Robert Allen's body was recovered by a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter. (Updated as of 9:35 a.m. on Thursday, June 7) ROCKAWAY BEACH, ORE.- Wednesday around 2:30PM, Oregon State Police Troopers and emergency personnel responded to a report of a water rescue occurring on the Pacific Ocean beach adjacent to the city of Rockaway Beach. Preliminary investigation revealed a 17 year old from Fort Collins, Colorado was riding a Boogie Board in the surf when a wave knocked him off his board. Family members, on the shore, could see he was in distress. His father, age 50, from Fort Collins, Colorado entered the surf in an attempt to rescue his son. After several minutes, family members lost sight of both father and son. A search and rescue effort was begun involving the US Coast Guard and local emergency responders. While flying over the area, a US Coast Guard helicopter located and recovered the 50 year old who was pronounced dead. The 17 year old male is still missing and is presumed to be deceased. At this time the search is still ongoing for the 17 year old male. OSP was assisted by Rockaway Beach Fire and Rescue, the Rockaway beach Police Department, the Tillamook County Sheriffs Office, Tillamook Regional Medical Center Ambulance and the United States Coast Guard. KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. The skies above Southern Oregon will soon be host to strange 'enemy' aircraft, according to a statement from the 173rd Fighter Wing out of Kingsley Field. "You will see some distinctly different jets flying over Klamath Falls over the next few months," said Colonel Jeff Smith, the 173rd Fighter Wing commander. "These Adversary Air (ADAIR) aircraft, pilots, and maintenance personnel are contracted by the U.S. Air Force to help us increase our training quality and student throughput." These foreign aircraft are examples of the L-159E "Honey Badger"an attack jet produced by Czech aerospace corporation Aero Vodochody. The Honey Badger has seen use throughout the world since its rollout in the year 2000, including in the post-Saddam Hussein Iraqi airforce. More to the point, the Honey Badger is a favorite of a U.S.-based civilian contractor corporation called Draken International, which frequently pairs with the U.S. military for training. According to the 173rd Fighter Wing, pilots-in-training have typically had to pit their F-15 Eagle fighters against trainers in the same aircrafttying up as many as four F-15s at a time to train one student pilot. But with the new Honey Badger squadron inbound, instructors will be able to focus on getting their students in the air. First flights with the Honey Badgers were scheduled to begin earlier this week, on June 5. However, these flights represent a 'dry run,' so to speakwith permanent integration planned for sometime in 2019. The initial visit will allow 173rd officers and contractor representatives to work out any kinks with the proposed start date, according to the statement. "We're excited to welcome them temporarily in June and July and more permanently starting in 2019," Col. Smith said. FILE - In this July 29, 2015, file photo, John Farley, left, and Kevin Farley arrive at the LA Premiere of "I Am Chris Farley" at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Los Angeles. The family of late comedian and film star Chris Farley has filed a federal lawsuit against Trek Bicycle for naming its fat-tired bikes Farley. The lawsuit alleges that the Wisconsin-based bike company misappropriated Farley's name and traded on his "fat guy" brand of comedy in 2013 when it gave the Farley name to its new fat-tired bikes. Chris Farley was born and raised in Madison, not far from Waterloo, where Trek is based. (Photo by Rich Fury/Invision/AP, File) liberal | lib()rl | adjective 1 open to new behavior or opinions and willing to discard traditional values: they have more liberal views toward marriage and divorce than some people. favorable to or respectful of individual rights and freedoms: liberal citizenship laws. (in a political context) favoring maximum individual liberty in political and social reform: a liberal democratic state. (Liberal) of or characteristic of Liberals or a Liberal Party. (Liberal) (in the UK) relating to the Liberal Democrat Party: the Liberal leader. Theology regarding many traditional beliefs as dispensable, invalidated by modern thought, or liable to change. 2 [attributive] (of education) concerned mainly with broadening a person's general knowledge and experience, rather than with technical or professional training. 3 (especially of an interpretation of a law) broadly construed or understood; not strictly literal or exact: they could have given the 1968 Act a more liberal interpretation. 4 given, used, or occurring in generous amounts: liberal amounts of wine had been consumed. (of a person) giving generously: Sam was too liberal with the wine. noun a person of liberal views. (Liberal) a supporter or member of a Liberal Party. Dr. Lizbeth Hernandez-Ronquillo, left, and Dr. Jose Tellez-Zenteno pose in front of Mexican artist Eduardo Urbano Merino's painting "Epilepsy, leaving the nightmare behind" in this undated handout photo. A new study suggests that incidence of epilepsy for Indigenous Canadians is twice that of their non-Indigenous counterparts. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Daniel Hallen *MANDATORY CREDIT* In this May 18, 2018, photo, Majed Abdalraheem, 29, a Syrian refugee and chef with meal delivery service Foodhini, prepares an okra dish at Union Kitchen in Washington. During Ramadan, Abdalraheem arrives in the kitchen shortly after 2 a.m. to begin preparing meals so he does not have to use the hot stove while abstaining from food and water. (AP Photo/Noreen Nasir) Randy Benson, executive director of the Kelowna Gospel Mission, at the Gospel Mission's 8th annual Well DOne BBQ at their Leon location on Wednesday. THe event was held to acknowledge the hard work done by all the non-profit and social service agencies in the Kelowna area. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rises during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, June 6, 2018. The Trudeau government has averted a potential confrontation with Indigenous senators that could have delayed the legalization of recreational marijuana.THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle Billy-Ray Belcourt is shown in this undated handout photo. Billy-Ray Belcourt of the Driftpile Cree Nation in Alberta is the Canadian winner of the $65,000 Griffin Poetry Prize. Belcourt, a 2016 Rhodes Scholar, was recognized at a Toronto gala on Thursday night for "This Wound is a World," published by Frontenac House. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO - Griffin Poetry Prize Scientist, environmentalist and broadcaster David Suzuki is pictured in a Toronto hotel room, on Monday November 11 , 2016. David Suzuki will receive an honorary doctor of science degree today from the University of Alberta after months of criticism. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young A fire burns at the Inverary Resort in Baddeck, N.S. on Thursday, June 7, 2018. The main lodge of a historic inn on Cape Breton's Bras d'Or Lakes was destroyed by a raging fire early Thursday, taking with it one of the small community's main employers and a popular site for tourists that dates back to the 1800's. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Brooks, The Victoria Standard The first of Britains next-generation fighter jets have arrived home two months ahead of schedule in a major milestone for the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy. The first of Britains new cutting-edge aircraft arrived into RAF Marham their new home in Norfolk. They touched down this evening after a trans-Atlantic flight from the United States, where Britain has more of the jets and 150 personnel in training. This is the first tranche of F-35s to arrive, with RAF Voyager aircraft providing air-to-air refuels on their trans-Atlantic journey. More jets are due in Britain later this year, and there is an overall plan to procure 138. Around 550m has been invested in RAF Marham as part of a major change programme to get the base ready to house the new jets. The base has seen an upgrade in facilities, resurfaced runways and the addition of new landing pads to accommodate the jets ability to land vertically. The F-35 will be jointly operated by the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy and can operate from land and sea, forming a vital part of carrier strike, the use of the aircraft from Britains new Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers. This autumn, the first landing of the F-35 will take place on HMS Queen Elizabeth in the next phase of trials. Having both ship and aircraft operating together for the first time will be another significant moment for the Armed Forces. The F-35s took off from Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort earlier today and were flown by British pilots of the newly-reformed 617 Squadron, which was immortalized by the famous Dambusters raid of World War II. Chief of the Defence Staff Jonathan Vance prepares to appear before the Senate Committee on National Security and Defence on Canada's national security and defence policies, practices, circumstances and capabilities, in Ottawa on Monday, Feb. 26, 2018. Vance says Canada is waiting for the Iraqi government to give the thumbs up before the Canadian Forces launches the next phase of its mission against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang Carbon Engineering's pilot plant in Squamish, B.C. is seen in this undated handout photo. A Canadian company is entering the race to suck carbon from the sky and turn it into automotive fuels. David Keith is taking the unusual step of explaining exactly how his British Columbia-based firm Carbon Engineering does it in a paper published today in a scientific journal. Keith says his pilot plant in Squamish is currently taking a tonne of carbon dioxide every day out of the atmosphere using almost entirely commercial components and well-understood processes. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Carbon Engineering *MANDATORY CREDIT* Elizabeth Phillips, shown in a handout photo, is receiving an honourary degree Wednesday from the University of the Fraser Valley her work to preserve her Indigenous language. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-University of the Fraser Valley MANDATORY CREDIT FILE - In this Tuesday, May 30, 2017 file photo, South Sudanese soldiers accused of a horrific attack on foreign aid workers including rape, torture, killing and looting on the Terrain hotel compound, are assisted to a prison van after attending their trial in the capital Juba, South Sudan. Atrocities have been revealed in 14 reports, seen by The Associated Press, that are yet to be released as of Wednesday, June 6, 2018 by the independent body charged with monitoring a failed cease-fire imposed in December. (AP Photo/Bullen Chol, File) FILE - In this June 15, 2008 file photo, Karen Olivo, left, and Lin-Manuel Miranda perform a number from the musical "In the Heights" at the 62nd Annual Tony Awards in New York. MirandaAos Tony-winning musical AuIn the HeightsAu will hit theaters in 2020 as a summer-event movie. Warner Bros. won the rights to the 2008 Tony-winner after a bidding war earlier this spring. The project had been in development at the Weinstein Company, which auctioned off many of its assets in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal. (AP Photo/Jeff Christensen, File) In this October 20 2007 photo, released by the Secretariat Royal House Division of the Netherlands, Queen Maxima poses with Princess Ariane on her lap, beside King Willem-Alexander, center right, and their daughters Princess of Orange Catharina-Amalia, bottom left, and Princess Alexia, bottom right, on the top row from left, Tijo Baron Collot d'Escury, the Queen's sister Ines Zorreguieta, Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume of Luxembourg, Valeria Delger and Antoine Friling, pose for a family picture taken on the baptism Princess Ariane of in The Hague, Netherlands. Argentine officials say the youngest sister of Queen Maxima of Holland, Ines Zorreguieta, has been found dead Thursday, June 7, 2018, in her Buenos Aires apartment. (Secretariat Royal House Division of the Netherlands via AP) Israels armor specialist Plasan showcases broadened product line at Eurosatory, introducing a blast-protected model of the SandCat along with several light armored vehicles. In the heavier weight classes, Plasan provides a peek into the advanced protection technologies being integrated into newly designed combat vehicles. Along with the four new vehicles presented in our outdoor display, our indoor display showcases our philosophy of vehicle survivability and protection, using a technology demonstrator that employs Augmented Reality (AR) to depict how the different armor technologies are implemented in new and retrofitted armored vehicle designs. Shahar Kedem, Director, Combat Vehicles Survivability at Plasan told Defense-Update. These elements include passive and advanced reactive armor, and various structures designed to defeat RPGs, or blast deflecting shapes, energy absorbing crushing structures and a floating floor, minimizing the underbelly or side attack blast effects. Inside the vehicle, energy attenuating seats, and various spall liners that minimize the risk to occupants in case of mine blast, IED explosion or overmatching threat penetration. As a provider of survivability and protection solutions for light and medium combat vehicles, Plasan became famous as the provider of armor suits for the up-armored HMMWV, MTVR, MRAP and M-ATV, veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Through these activities, the company specialized in the design and manufacturing of armor kits for modern tactical vehicles, including the Australian HAWKEI, and the American JLTV, to name a few. In these projects, the company implemented the patented kitted hull approach, which enables armored vehicle manufacturers and users to obtain the armor kits and assembles them onto their vehicles in the country. In recent years Plasan expanded its activity to heavier armored combat platforms, including 66, 88 and tracked fighting vehicles at weight levels up to 45 tons. Such armored vehicles are required to withstand medium caliber cannon threat levels and maintain functionality. According to Kedem, Plasan is already involved in the development of major AFV acquisition programs where its protection solutions are integrated at the vehicle design phase, where they offer the best advantages. Some of the countries the company is currently involved in new AFV developments include Denmark, Spain, Romania, and Israel. Although all modern armored vehicles are prepared to receive modular armor add-ons, our involvement early in the design phase provides better overall protection, in a solution that is superior to the applique approach used in upgrades, Kedem said. The companys involvement in the early phase of the vehicles design enhances the solutions efficiency, by maximizing protection level, improving ergonomics and augmenting the vehicles protection coverage within the gross vehicles weight, or providing more payload capacity for the user. Such armor solutions employ advanced composites and ceramic materials that, unlike steel and aluminum, could degrade their ballistic properties by repeated physical impacts and environmental effects. As part of our investment in new technologies, we established sophisticated laboratories and ballistic and environmental testing facilities that enable us to explore, test and optimize advanced armor solutions to ensure they meet the user operational profile throughout the entire vehicles life-cycle, Kedem noted. As part of its armor upgrading solutions, the company also provides enhancements for existing armor, augmenting protection levels to meet threats conforming to STANAG 4569 Vol.1 Level 4, represented by the Russian KPV heavy machine gun series (14.5mm) as a standard a threat that became a popular weapon with insurgents. In recent conflicts, Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) and mines proved as a potent weapon against lightly protected vehicles. Such threats have increased the belly protection benchmark for combat vehicles, from the minimum defined by STANAG 4569 Vol.2 Level 1 to Levels 3 or 4, defined by an explosion of a large anti-tank mine anywhere under the vehicle, or even higher. Protection against such threats requires extensive ballistic and blast protection that Plasan is uniquely positioned to meet. To comply with such challenging requirements the company developed advanced underbelly protection structures that retain the capsules integrity, augmented by energy attenuating seats that together restrain accelerations and forces to meet the required dynamic response levels (DRI) allowed for the human body to sustain without injuries. One of the innovative concepts for future armor is the use of sensors to monitor the integrity of the armor. While the technology is applicable for todays armor suits, users have not yet decided what data they want to monitor and measure, and what useful insights they should obtain. Our technology demonstrator provides customers a peek into such future capabilities and helps Plasan and its customers assess the potential applications of smart armor for the next generation of combat armored vehicles, Kedem explained. FILE - In this April 16, 2018, file photo, adult film actress Stormy Daniels speaks outside federal court in New York. Daniels says her ex-lawyer was a "puppet" for President Donald Trump and worked with the president's attorney to get her to appear on Fox News and falsely deny having sex with Trump. The allegations are made in a lawsuit filed June 6 in Los Angeles. The lawsuit alleges Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen "colluded" with Daniels' then-attorney Keith Davidson to have her deny the relationship on Fox News after a tabloid magazine story about Daniels and Trump. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, file) FILE - In this May 3, 2018 file photo released by U.S. Geological Survey, a plume of ash rises from the Puu Oo vent on Hawaii's Kilaueaa Volcano in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Technically speaking, Kilauea has been continuously erupting since 1983. But the combination of earthquakes shaking the ground, steam-driven explosions at the top, and lava flowing into a new area some 12 miles (20 kilometers) from the summit represents a departure from its behavior in recent decades. (U.S. Geological Survey via AP, File) FILE - In this May 16, 2016 file photo Samantha Bee attends the Turner Network 2016 Upfronts in New York. Bee is back on television, saying she's angry that the controversy over her use of a crude epithet to describe Ivanka Trump distracted from more important issues. Bee apologized again on Wednesday, June 6, 2018 at the start of her TBS show "Full Frontal." (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File) FILE - In this July 6, 2017, file photo, soldiers gather in Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, to celebrate the test launch of North Korea's first intercontinental ballistic missile two days earlier. North Korean leader Kim Jong UnAos diplomatic charm offensive could be a godsend for his generals. There is virtually no aspect of the North Korean economy that doesnAot have the militaryAos fingerprints all over it. If KimAos strategy of busting support for sanctions by negotiating with U.S. President Donald Trump and others pays off, his million-man military could be one of the biggest winners. (AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin, File) Vehicles pass by high-rise apartment buildings in The Canton Place where U.S. government workers experienced unexplained health issues in Guangzhou, southern China's Guangdong province, Thursday, June 7, 2018. A U.S. medical team was screening more Americans who work in a southern Chinese city as the State Department confirmed evacuating a number of government workers who experienced unexplained health issues like those that have hurt U.S. personnel in Cuba and China. (AP Photo/Kelvin Chan) Credit cards are displayed in Montreal, Wednesday, December 12, 2012. Credit card rewards are a great perk, but sifting through the points systems, introductory offers, shifting loyalty programs, and all the very fine print of policies and coverage can make deciding what to put in your wallet a daunting maze. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz Last month, after a short port visit at Haifa, two NATO warships joined with the Israeli navy on an exercise that involved the Protector Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV) that demonstrated how such unmanned boats can assist large vessels in repelling attacks by swarms of fast boats. The vessels were Royal Navy destroyer HMS Duncan (D37) and Spanish navy frigate ESPS Victoria (F82). The ships are part of Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 operating in the Eastern Mediterranean. The exercise took place along the shores of Israel was part of an operational demonstration of the capabilities of the USV against fast boats swarm threats. The demonstration included a simulated firing of Spike electro-optically guided missiles to neutralize the threat from extended range. As the exercise unfolded, the NAT vessels spotted a large number of hostile vessels rapidly advancing towards it. The ship determined the threat to be a swarm attack and communicated the situation to headquarters, which scrambled the Israeli USV. The Protector raced from the shore at high speed and was able to identify the threat from a long distance. Once targets were prioritized an order was given to neutralize one of the threats, and the Protector crew followed with a simulated firing of a SPIKE missile. This scenario emphasizes the need to handle the threats emanating from terror and criminal activity, that naval forces are facing around the world' said Moshe Elazar, EVP and Head of the Land and Naval Systems Division at Rafael. The demonstration illustrated some of the capabilities that can be applied by the Protector in a wide range of operational scenarios, including defeating swarm attacks. These capabilities are a significant force multiplier for the naval forces, from the stage of detection, deterrence and, if necessary, neutralization of the threat, as was seen in the demonstration. Rafaels Protector is in operational use with the Israeli Navy and a number of foreign naval forces. The Protector has been in use since 2004, allowing its developers and engineers to accumulate vast experience to continue its spiral development. In March 2017, Rafael completed a series of successful tests in which a number of SPIKE ER missiles were launched from the Protector and hit simulated enemy targets. This was the first-ever missile firing from an operational, remote-controlled USV. This new capability allows pin-point attack of land or naval targets, enabling safe vessel operation from, with no risk to the operating force, from a remote command and control room or from aboard other naval platforms. That test finalized the operational integration process of Protectors entire suite of mission components to form four mission modules, including force protection and anti-terror, by employing a stabilized weapon station Mini-Typhoon, a water cannon, non-lethal means, EW systems for protection and escort of naval vessels, Mine Counter-Measures to deal with the spreading threat of mines against sea lines of communication, Toplite electro-optical long-range detection and tracking systems, as well as Rafaels Spike missiles, all remotely-operated. EUGENE, Ore. -- If you've been suffering from allergies this year, you're not alone. Experts said that grass pollen is likely to blame and allergies have been so severe they're even triggering asthma for some people. Nurse Practitioner Melanie Wayne at Oregon Allergy Associates said the Willamette Valley is the grass seed capital of the world. She said the tall grass that's farmed here and then shipped out is to blame for the high grass pollen count. Oregon Allergy Associates measures the pollen counts every day using an air sampler on its roof. Wayne said it's been all hands on deck at their office, with a lot of allergy suffers coming in saying they're itchy, sneezing, have runny noses, and are even queasy. With grass pollen, she said some people develop asthma. "We have definitely seen higher incidents of asthma this year and exacerbations can be quite severe, sending people the emergency room, urgent cares, needing emergency treatment. It can be dangerous, especially for young children or those with already compromised airways," Wayne said. She said there are over the counter options that can help, including anti-histamines and nasal sprays. If that's not enough, you can see a doctor for prescription medication and inhalers for asthma symptoms. Wayne said you can expect your allergies to last until July 4. TUALATIN, Ore. (AP) -- Authorities say a driver who was arrested after engaging authorities in a standoff in Tualatin has been identified as a man suspected in his mother's death. The Oregonian/OregonLive reports that Oregon State Police say Gavin Smith-Brown, 29, is suspected in the homicide of 65-year-old Gayla Smith. Smith was found dead Sunday at a home they shared. Smith-Brown was arrested before 6 a.m. Thursday after holing up in a car in a McDonald's restaurant parking lot, said Tualatin police spokeswoman Jennifer Massey. EUGENE, Ore. -- Members of the Bethel community met Wednesday with officials from St. Vincent de Paul to discuss a proposed group home for teenagers. Some community members who attended voiced their concerns over the proposed facility. They said they weren't notified about the proposed facility and worry that it's too close to Bethel Community Park and Meadow View school. One man in the heated meeting said he's thinking of suing in order try and stop the process. St. Vincent de Paul officials told KEZI 9 News they did everything they could to get the word out ahead of time, including canvassing the neighborhood on a Saturday and sending out flyers. "So what we're trying to do is building a system that is a trustworthy, balanced system but then invite the neighborhood to participate because the more you know your neighbor and the more you know the people in your neighborhood, the safer you are," said Terry McDonald, director of the St. Vincent de Paul Society of Lane County. McDonald said the main reason they waited to announce the location was to make sure the land survey was completed first. Neighbors said they wished they could have had a vote on where the facility would be before it was decided. "It still doesn't pass any of my measures of common sense to put a shelter right next to a school," neighbor John Tillotson said. "And it's not right next to a high school where they might go to high school, it's right next to a school for little kids." SHASTA, Calif. -- Documents from the Shasta County Sheriff's Office indicate that 21-year-old University of Oregon student Dylan Pietrs may have been drunk when he died at Lake Shasta around May 19. Pietrs was at the annual Lake Shasta weekend. The trip is not sponsored by the university, but students involved in Greek life typically attend. In the documents, one officer reported speaking to a witness, a friend of Pietrs, who said that by 4:30 p.m. Pietrs was drunk, and an hour later he was stumbling. A different friend of Pietrs told police that he and others set up a tent and put Pietrs to bed to sober up. Later in the night, the friend couldn't find Pietrs' tent and believed that he moved it. In the morning when he woke up, he found Pietrs tent down a nearby hill rolled up. The witness told police that when he realized Pietrs was still in the tent, he rushed to get him out but struggled because it was so tight. Witnesses performed CPR, but it was too late. Police don't suspect foul play. The case is still under investigation by the Shasta County Coroners Office. Soon after Pietrs death, the University of Oregon was criticized after releasing a statement online that read: "It is important to point out that this tragedy is connected to an unauthorized tradition among many college students. Students from many institutions have a history of demonstrating poor life choices during visits to Lake Shasta. These activities are contrary to the values of the university and fraternity and sorority organizations." Soon after, the university retracted the statement and posted a different one offering their condolences to Pietrs' friends and family. A vigil for Pietrs was later held on campus. UPDATE: Officials say they've found the maroon 1999 Chevy Suburban Merwin Coleman was last seen driving. OLMSTED COUNTY, Minn. Authorities are searching for a wanted man in southern Minnesota who has a warrant out for first-degree burglary and third-degree criminal sexual conduct. Merwin Coleman is listed at 6-foot-6, 250 pounds and was last seen driving a maroon 1999 Chevy Suburban with Indiana license plate 228TLS. Authorities say Coleman was involved in an incident Sunday, June 3, in Stewartville, where he allegedly raped a woman after a party the previous night. Coleman picked up a man from the residence at 6:05 a.m. to take him to work, according to court documents, before returning to the home and crawling into bed with a woman before allegedly raping the woman. The man who received a ride to work said Mack (Coleman) wanted to stay at the victims home and chill with her despite it being 6:05 a.m., according to court documents. The defendant claimed he went to the victims home the previous night to party and that she began secretly sending him Snapchat messages to invite him to have sex with her. He claimed that he traded the victim high-dosage Xanax pills in exchange for sex. If you know the whereabouts of Coleman, call either 507-328-6800 or 507-328-6774. ROCKWELL, Iowa - Nancy Levenhagen and Sharri Fullmuth of Rockwell said they were surprised to learn that their dogs may soon need to be removed from their hometown because of an ordinance against pit bulls. I was out in Arizona and when I came home my neighbor told me that pit bulls are going and he is the mayor, said Levenhagen. The only thing that I found vicious about my pit bull is that he likes to chew on my shoes and furniture, said Fullmuth. I dont know what he has against my shoes. That is why Levenhagen jumped in to action. I went door-to-door and I received 200 signatures to bring our dogs off the banned list, she said. That petition is, in part, why dozens of residents flooded the Rockwell City Council chambers to voice their concerns. Council members said they are not sure when it was put on the books, but it has been for a number of years. The Rockwell police chief stated that there hasnt been a pit bull attack in the town in nearly 20 years and he also doesnt agree with the breed-specific ban. I dont believe a breed ban is appropriate at all, he said. The council did not take action on the ordinance at Wednesday nights meeting, but say they will look in to making changes if they need to. No animal will be asked to leave the city of Rockwell until this issue is resolved in a timely manner, said Mayor Michael Flatness. But if this ordinance isnt changed, Sharri and Nancy say they will leave the town they love. Im not getting rid of my dog, Fullmuth said. I will move. My husband and I have already started looking at houses. The Rockwell City Council stated that when they do look at making changes to the ordinance, they would like to put something else in place. MASON CITY, Iowa - The Iowa primary on Tuesday has set records in terms of how many people voted; over 279,000 ballots were cast across the state. But there was also another finding from primaries, not just in Iowa, but across the country. More women are becoming politically active, and some have won in their primaries to advance to general elections in November. 57 female candidates nationwide have moved through their individual states' primaries, including several in Iowa. Democrats Abby Finkenauer and Cindy Axne won their individual U.S. House primaries, while Republicans Annette Sweeney and Mariannette Miller-Meeks won their State Senate primaries. The news has some local leaders very excited. State Senator Amanda Ragan was first elected in 2002 during a special election, and has noticed more women becoming politically active. "It's the time for some women. They're in roles that they feel that they can step away from and give more to the political world." But she has also it's been a struggle. "Sometimes that's not easy because politics is what it is. And so it can be a very aggressive arena." Cerro Gordo County GOP Chairwoman Barbara Hovland became politically active in 1999, hosting events and running campaign offices. In 2013, she was elected Chairwoman, and just recently was elected to sit on the Republican Party of Iowa board. She notes that state history has been made with women currently serving in four key positions, including the Governor, Speaker of the House, U.S. Senator and State Auditor. "I'm really proud to say that Iowa has made history in the last few years, and has broken many, many barriers that have been a block for years, so I'm really proud to say that women are stepping up," Hovland says. "From local to state to federal, you're seeing more women step up, and it's very encouraging." She believes that more women will continue to enter because there are many issues at stake, particularly social issues. "I think women are encouraged to say, 'Hey, I have an opinion on that, and I think I could fit that role, and I'm going to give it a try', and I'm encouraged by that." Ragan believes the same will happen, regardless of party affiliation. "I think it's important to realize how important it is to vote. And it's very important to be involved. You don't have to have your name on the ballot to be involved, but that's a big step because it is your name. I applaud any woman who is up to that challenge." Bennett Smith is a political science professor at NIACC. He pays close attention to elections, and has noticed a historical trend of more women in both parties in getting involved. He points out that issues such as the "#MeToo" movement and politics in Washington are big factors in this, but he's also noticed another trend. "The studies show that demographically the millenials are trending toward the Democrats. But in the last 12 years, in Iowa, Republican women have made tremendous gains. And again, in very powerful positions. So they're doing very well in that sense." ROCHESTER, Minn. Olmsted County Sheriff Kevin Torgerson is running for a second term as sheriff, and hes running that race uncontested. This comes after he was accused last week of helping detain immigrants for federal authorities. Communities United for Rochester Empowerment (CURE) sent him a letter and even held a protest. Torgerson said hes been working to try to set the record straight. One thing we try to tell them is we don't control immigration, we have nothing to do with immigration, Torgerson said, but yet we understand that, because we have and we are responsible for the detention center here, that we do have to cooperate and collaborate in some ways with all of our federal partners. One of those partners is U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, better known as ICE. Its something thats a concern for groups like CURE, and its making them work to ensure everyone in Rochester is represented when it comes to law enforcement leadership. The immigrant community really needs a voice too to be fairly represented within the whole electoral process of Rochester and the decision-making process of Rochester, Che Lopez, the lead organizer of CURE, said. Torgerson said the job of sheriff is one in which hes always learning, and plan to continue communicating with communities. Our communities are getting much more diverse throughout Olmsted County, certainly Rochester is one that's really changing, Torgerson said. Lopez said CURE plans to hold those in leadership positions, like Torgerson, accountable. Democracy's not just about voting, Lopez said, but it's also about making sure that the elected officials and the decisions they're making is impacting the community as a whole. ALBERT LEA, Minn. One of two men charged in a Freeborn County kidnapping is sentenced to 21 months in prison with credit for 62 days served. Cody Lee Hanson, 30, pleaded guilty to 2nd degree assault with a dangerous weapon. Authorities say Hanson and Kenneth Bruce Nelson, 40, abducted a man in July of 2017. The victim says he was sleeping in his vehicle when Hanson and Nelson attacked him, tied him up, and drove him to Albert Lea. Kenneth Nelson Kenneth Nelson Authorities say the man was able to escape and call for help. Nelsons trial for kidnapping, 1st degree aggravated robbery, and false imprisonment is scheduled for August 14. (Kitco News) - Gold imports by the worlds second largest consumer dropped for the fifth consecutive month in May to 48 tonnes, as higher local prices restrained consumer demand, said Thomson Reuters-owned metals consultancy GFMS. The yellow metal prices hit a 21-month high last month, which limited retail demand for gold jewelry, said GFMS senior analyst Sudheesh Nambiath on Wednesday. In comparison, golds global price is off its 17-month high seen in January and is trading below the psychological level of $1,300 an ounce. Spot gold on Kitco.com was last at $1.296.60, up 0.05% on the day and August Comex gold futures were at $1,301.30, down 0.01% on the day. [Indias] local prices jumped due to the depreciating rupee and dampened retail purchases, Nambiath explained, adding that local prices are up more than 5% since the start of the year. So far this year, India imported 274.2 tonnes, which is 39.4% lower than a year ago, according to GFMS. Last year, India purchased 119.3 tonnes of gold in May alone, with jewelers busy stocking up prior to the introduction of the new 3% national sales tax that was introduced on July 1, 2017 to help with traceability of transactions. Can Gold Hold Above $1,300 As Fed Approaches? https://t.co/OsxaETguCC pic.twitter.com/akoElm3X1S Kitco NEWS (@KitcoNewsNOW) June 7, 2018 One Mumbai bullion dealer told Reuters that there were fewer auspicious days for wedding in May due to the Adhik Mass, which is an extra month in the Hindu calendar that helps to align lunar and solar calendars. Fewer weddings means that fewer people were buying gold, said RiddiSiddhi Bullions director Mukesh Kothari. Prices also played a deterring role, Kothari added. Gold has been trading in discount in local market. Jewelers are not interested in building stocks at the current price. FRANKFURT/BERLIN (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) Supervisory Board Chairman Paul Achleitner has consulted top shareholders and German government officials about merging with peer Commerzbank (CBKG.DE), Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Achleitners talks come as Germanys flagship lender searches for new avenues of growth after it racked up billions in losses trying to build a global investment bank. While there are currently no formal discussions between the two banks and any such move is not imminent, the chairman is talking now with stakeholders about a possible deal down the road, Bloomberg said. A key obstacle is Deutsche Banks depressed share price, with investors telling Achleitner that they dont want a merger with Commerzbank at the moment because it would be highly dilutive and potentially trigger a capital increase and hefty write-downs, Bloomberg said. Spokespeople for Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank and the German Finance Ministry all declined to comment. The German state, which owns a stake of just over 15 percent in Commerzbank, will play a key role in deliberations about a tie-up between Germanys biggest lender and its cross-town rival. Deutsche Banks investment banking arm will bear more than half of the groups planned cost cuts, its chief financial officer said on Wednesday, as he admitted that the lender would continue to lag peers in the second quarter. * LME/ShFE arb: bit.ly/2wZSAEz * GRAPHIC-2018 asset returns: tmsnrt.rs/2jvdmXl (Updates throughout, adds LONDON dateline) By Jan Harvey LONDON, June 7 (Reuters) - Copper hit its highest this year on Thursday, lifted by concerns over the potential for wage negotiations at the worlds biggest copper mine to disrupt supply, and by healthy appetite for cyclical assets as stock markets rallied. Union leaders at the Escondida mine in Chile operated by BHP submitted wage demands late last week, sparking fears of a possible strike. Failure to reach a labour deal at the mine during last years negotiations led to a 44-day stoppage at the facility, which accounts for 5 percent of global supply. Worries over fresh disruption have helped lift copper 5.5 percent this week. This is mostly linked to fears that the wage negotiations at Escondida will turn into a prolonged strike, and therefore there will be some loss in output, Capital Economics analyst Simona Gambarini said. However, robust stock levels and early indications that talks could be constructive suggest the current strength in prices may be overdone, she said, raising the risk of a pull-back. We dont expect this to last, she said. There is a lot of speculation in the market. * COPPER PRICES: Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange hit $7,299 a tonne, its highest since Dec. 28, before pulling back to $7,277.50 by 0947 GMT, up 0.8 percent. * SPREADS: The premium of three-month copper over the cash contract MCU0-3 remained depressed at $6.50 a tonne, down from $22.25 two weeks ago. On Monday it touched its lowest since March 2017 at $1.75, signalling tightness in near-term supply. * COPPER STOCKS: On-warrant copper inventories at LME warehouses - representing metal not earmarked for delivery and therefore available to the market - increased by 6,625 tonnes to 237,275, exchange data showed on Thursday. * TECHNICALS: LME copper may test resistance at $7,305 a tonne, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said on Thursday, a break above which could lead to a gain to $7,373. * FINANCIAL MARKETS: World stocks hit a three-week high and the euro and German Bund yields also rose as investors priced in a potentially earlier-than-expected wind-down of stimulus from the European Central Bank. * ALUMINIUM: Aluminium was 0.3 percent lower at $2,337.50. * ALUMINIUM TECHNICALS: LME aluminium looks neutral in a range of $2,323-$2,341 a tonne, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said. A break above $2,341 could lead to a gain to $2,352. * OTHER METALS: LME zinc was down 0.3 percent at $3,184 a tonne, while lead was up 0.7 percent at $2,544 a tonne and nickel was 0.8 percent higher at $15,765 a tonne. Tin was up 0.8 percent at $21,140 a tonne. By Dong Sun-hwa Korean rapper Swings called his label "Just Marijuana" as he delivered his thoughts on C Jamm and BILL STAX, rappers under Swings' label "Just Music" who got into trouble for alleged Marijuana smoking. The comments were in an Instagram video posted Sunday when Swings was on stage at the hip-hop concert "I'M THE ONE" in Seoul last week. "Guess what, Just Music has come up with another nickname Just Marijuana," Swings joked, making the audience laugh. The label CEO said: "If a man makes a mistake, he could go straight after being punished. A man should be responsible for what he did. It is simple." Dutch designer and artist Joris Laarman poses for a photo at Kukje Gallery in central Seoul where his solo exhibition is held through June 17. / Courtesy of Kukje Gallery By Kwon Mee-yoo A bench made of curvy metal wires coiling like a dragon is Dutch artist Joris Laarman's creation "Dragon Bench," built using his 3D metal printer, which can print curved lines with metal in midair. Laarman's technology-driven furniture, which bridges state-of-the-art technology with everyday life, is on display at Kukje Gallery in central Seoul for his second solo exhibition in the city titled "Joris Laarman Lab: Gradients." "We wanted to make something printed in 3D, large, strong and durable. We experimented half a year before finally making this sculptural bench of stainless steel. For us it was a moment we saw something a new continent," the artist said of the geometric bench. Laarman is an artist, designer and entrepreneur who collaborates with scientists, engineers and programmers. Though technology plays an important role in Laarman's work, he does not design for the technology but develops technologies to materialize his ideas and concepts. He founded his company at Joris Laarman Lab in 2004. Based in Amsterdam, the Lab has three different functions specializing in creativity, robot printing and production, respectively. "Developing new technologies and tools has both industrial and artistic purposes. Our time is in transition from the industrial era to the digital era," Laarman said. "The way we design things has become much more fluid and is morphing. We try to figure out new visual language of the digital times." Instead of making purely ornamental sculpture, Laarman uses his technologies to create something practical. Installation view of "Joris Laarman Lab: Gradients" at Kukje Gallery in central Seoul / Courtesy of Kukje Gallery Andy Warhol's "Silver Clouds" float around the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul. The 1966 work was created in collaboration with engineer Billy Kluver. / Courtesy of MMCA By Kwon Mee-yoo Artists are among the most curious people in the world and they are also keen to adopt new technologies for their artwork. A new exhibition at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), Seoul sheds light on a group of artists little-known to Korea E.A.T. (Experiments in Art and Technology) who pioneered the use of technology in art in the 1960s in New York. The non-profit organization was founded in 1966 by engineers Billy Kluver and Fred Waldhauer from Bell Labs and artists Robert Rauschenberg and Robert Whitman. As technology inspires the artists and art inspires the engineers, their experiment blurred the boundaries of fine art and brought art outside of the conventional museum. "Despite being 50 years old, these now outdated technologies used for creating art still resonate with modern-day visitors because the artists showed visions for a new world through technologies," the curator of the exhibition said. Anna Lundh's "Q&Q-2028" / Courtesy of MMCA At the "E.A.T. (Experiments in Art and Technology): Open-ended" exhibition, visitors can have a glimpse of how artists absorbed new technologies to materialize their ideas with help from engineers. Andy Warhol's "Silver Clouds" consists of metallic pillows floating over the museum. It might not seem very novel in the 21st century, but back then, he collaborated with scientists to make the balloon with metalized polyester film and filled it with helium. Jean Tinguely's self-constructing and self-destroying piece "Homage to New York" was also created in cooperation with Kluver. The highlight is "9 Evenings: Theatre and Engineering," a series of avant-garde performances originally staged in 1966. Noted artists including John Cage, Lucinda Childs, Rauschenberg and Whitman took part in this first-ever large-scale collaboration among artists, engineers and scientists, which encompassed fine art, dance, music, film and theater and blazed a trail in interdisciplinary arts. The exhibit runs through Sept. 16. For more information, visit www.mmca.go.kr or call (02) 3701-9500. Mexican-Canadian artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer's "Sandbox" is on view at his first solo exhibition in Asia at the AmorePacific Museum of Art in Seoul. / Courtesy of AmorePacific Museum of Art 'Decision Forest' The new AmorePacific Museum of Art picked Mexican-Canadian artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer for its inaugural exhibition as an attempt to communicate with visitors through interactive artworks. The new museum is located in the Korean cosmetic giant's new headquarters in Yongsan, Seoul, designed by English architect David Chipperfield and Lozano-Hemmer's artworks featuring technology suit the state-of-the-art building. Titled "Decision Forest," the exhibit features 29 works by Lozano-Hemmer, who worked with technology to produce public art engaging viewers and performance since the early 1990s. "Lozano-Hemmer's works are based on literature, philosophy and modern history and influence the viewers to take part in a hands-on exhibition," the museum's curator Kim Kyung-ran said. "The artist uses technologies used for surveillance and control such as CCTV and fingerprint recognition, but turns them into playful artworks, subverting its primary purpose." Rafael Lozano-Hemmer's "Bilateral Time Slicer" / Courtesy of AmorePacific Museum of Art Land prices along the border with North Korea are surging as investors bet on thawing inter-Korean relations. / Yonhap By Yoon Ja-young The government is strengthening its monitoring of land transactions along the border with North Korea, as speculative investment is overheating the real estate market following signs of reconciliation between the two Koreas. "We can designate a region as a special zone under government control when speculators overheat the market. Before designation, we plan to strengthen monitoring on land transactions there first," an official at the land ministry said. When the government spots overshooting property prices or speculative demand in a region, the land minister can designate it as a special zone. Property transactions there will require government permission. There are signs of overheating in regions along the border with North Korea. According to the Korea Appraisal Board, the number of land transactions in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, totaled 4,628 in March, which is the highest monthly figure since 2006 when it started compiling data. The transactions jumped to 2,445 in May last year, following the inauguration of the Moon Jae-in administration, from 1,892 the previous month. "Many people inquire by phone or visit my office to get information, as if reunification will come soon," a real estate agent in Paju said. "Even a small plot that has no road around it is sold within a few days when put up for sale." At Gunnae towns in Paju, land transactions quadrupled in April while prices rose 27 percent. Transactions also doubled in the town of Jindong. On top of being close to Seoul, Paju has the Gyeongui Line, a railway that leads to North Korea. It also includes a road to the Gaeseong Industrial Complex. Yeoncheon County along the border is also seeing land sold at high prices in auction, and real estate agencies in Goseong County have reported surging inquiries over land purchases on expectations that tourism to Mount Kumgang in North Korea will resume. While the market is overheating on expectations of inflows of population and investment, analysts warn investors should make decisions from a long-term perspective as property process around the DMZ have been fluctuating according to inter-Korean relations. The land value in Paju jumped 8.36 percent in 1999 on expectations over the first inter-Korea summit, and 15.36 percent in 2002 following the project to link railways. As relations soured during the following administrations, however, the real estate market was also hit. The property market went into hibernation when the government shut down the joint industrial complex in Gaeseong following North Korea's fourth nuclear test in 2016. It is especially worrisome since investors often purchase land by only looking at satellite photos and maps as access is restricted to land inside the DMZ. "Investors should make decisions based on concrete development plans or essential value of the land, instead of betting on inter-Korean issues," said Hahm Young-jin, the research center chief at Real Estate 114, a real estate market information provider. By Yoon Ja-young The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport is in a dilemma over Jin Air. There is enough reason for the ministry to cancel Jin Air's license as a budget carrier, but the decision could hurt the administration's job policy as well as lead to punishment of the ministry officials. "We are currently going through an internal review as well as seeking legal advice from multiple law firms regarding how to deal with Jin Air. No detailed plan has been made yet," an official at the transport ministry said, adding that it is likely to be completed by the end of this month. Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Kim Hyun-mee A home for Airbnb's family collection in Seoul / Courtesy of Airbnb Korea By Kang Seung-woo Since its 2008 inception, Airbnb, a home rental website, has become a darling for solo travelers thanks to its cheaper rates than hotels. Its business model is to connect hosts who rent out their private properties to short-term sub-letters. Now, on the back of its success, the hospitality service is expanding its accommodation options, one of which is the "Family Collection" that is beginning to gain traction in Korea Amid growing demand from family travelers, Airbnb recently launched the Family Collection, offering full homes featuring family-friendly amenities such as fully equipped kitchens and five-star reviews from other family travelers. "More families are using Airbnb to choose their lodging as they often have difficulty looking for accommodations suitable for family trips," said Hong Jong-hee, a public relations manager at Airbnb Korea. "Airbnb is offering categorized and specialized accommodation options, helping them find lodging." According to Airbnb, a host's listing must maintain a 4.8 overall rating over the past 365 days, with at least five total reviews and at least two five-star reviews from families. To count as a family review, a child or infant must have been included as a confirmed guest on the booking. "Once a host's listing meets these requirements, it will automatically be added to the Family Collection and each host will need to continue to meet each requirement in order to stay in the collection," Hong said. Despite its short history, there are more than 500 Seoul-based Family Collection listings. To make its situation better, the collection has received rave reviews. "(Host) Jey's place was our home away from home. My family stayed there for four days and five nights and we had no problem whatsoever with the place. It felt as though we were locals," said a guest from the Philippines named Kayle who stayed in Seoul. "We will be sure to book Jey's home again when we come back and visit." Rachel from Hong Kong also said, "To live in Zikm's house (in Seoul), you can gain the experience of living in traditional Korean house in a clean and peaceful environment." Those who stayed outside Seoul also praised the Family Collection. "Cozy, clean and although we didn't stay in the traditional house the extra space was superb for our family of 5. Lots of outdoor space for kids to explore safely and independently. A kind and considerate host," said Rebecca from Dubai after staying in Busan. Alice from Colorado, who stayed on Jeju Island, said, "The host always responded within minutes. So helpful and kind! Overall, we had a great stay!" A home for Airbnb's family collection in Melbourne, Australia / Courtesy of Airbnb Korea By Kwak Yeon-soo A woman in her 20s, identified as Lee, an alias for privacy, grew up in poverty. When most teens hung out with friends, developed social skills, and prepared for their future, Lee was trapped inside her house, haunted by the anxiety that was slowly creeping into her life. Being exposed to the family's financial burden for a long time worsened Lee's anxiety. She suffered depression, avoided socializing, and became overly conscious about how others would view her. Likewise, her romantic relationships ended badly one after the other. It was then when Lee started searching for solutions to get out of her despair. But she soon faced an array of problems. Seeing a psychiatrist was expensive, inconvenient, and intimidating because she hadn't spoken to other people for awhile. She felt enormous pressure speaking to someone she had never met before. So she gave it up. Instead, Lee decided to try out online therapy, with which anyone can get without visiting a psychiatrist's office. It was offered at less than half the cost of conventional therapy, and she could get counseling service anonymously by texting her problems to the psychiatrist. As expected, Lee was diagnosed with anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and lethargy developed from poverty and interpersonal problems. It helped her overcome those symptoms. She says that acknowledging her emotional state has sparked a change in her life. Online therapy is replacing face-to-face counseling. Millennials in their 20s and 30s consider themselves fast adapters of new technologies and innovation, as they've grown up with social media. Data from Digieco, the research unit of Korea Telecom, show that the smartphone distribution rate is among the highest in the world in Korea, along with UAE and Singapore in 2016. On the other hand, a growing number of people say they are willing to forgo the call function on their device as long as they are still able to text. The emergence of instant messaging application Kakaotalk and untact services, such as digital delivery platforms, has aroused "call-phobia" among the youth. Dubbed "text generation," meaning they would rather text than talk on their smartphones, millennials have been turning to text therapy as a tool to heal. There are mobile applications that replace the traditional psychiatry office with texting or chat rooms where you can discuss your problems anonymously. Kim Dong-hyun U.S. President Donald Trump, left, cancelled his planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, right, on May 24 over Pyongyang's "tremendous anger and open hostility." Kim remained low key over the decision, leaving the door open for the historic summit in a message entrusted to Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan on May 25. / AFP-Yonhap By Yi Whan-woo North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appears to be pursuing balanced diplomacy between the United States and China in a bid to hold the summit with U.S. President Donald Trump while maintaining Pyongyang's decades-old alliance with Beijing. During his surprise talks with President Moon Jae-in, May 26, Kim said he is committed to meeting with U.S. Preesident Donald Trump. On May 25, Kim entrusted Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan with a message after Trump abruptly called off the summit scheduled for June 12 in Singapore. Trump accused North Korea of "tremendous anger and open hostility" despite their agreement to hold the summit. He blamed China for North Korea's more bellicose approach toward the U.S. after Kim met Chinese President Xi Jinping for a second time this year in early May. And in a statement carried by Pyongyang's state-controlled Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim Kye-gwan said his country "would like to make known to the U.S. side once again that we have the intent to sit with the U.S. side to solve problems regardless of ways at any time." He said Washington's decision to cancel the talks demonstrated the extent of the animosity between the North and the U.S. and that leaders of the two countries desperately needed to meet to resolve the hostile relations. He also said Kim Jong-un made all-out efforts to prepare for the summit with the U.S., saying his meeting with Trump would serve as a good start. "The U.S. side's unilateral announcement of the cancellation of the summit makes us think over if we were truly right to have made efforts for it and to have opted for the new path," he said. "We remain unchanged in our goal and will to do everything we can for peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and humankind, and we, broad-minded and open all the time, have the willingness to offer the U.S. side time and opportunity." Pyongyang's reaction was seen as a surprise because it has rarely remained low key toward Washington. Even during preparations for the summit, North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui lashed U.S. Vice President Mike Pence for suggesting a Libya-style approach for denuclearizing North Korea. "As for the tremendous anger and open hostility referred to by President Trump, it is just a reaction to the unbridled remarks made by the U.S. side, which has long pressed the DPRK unilaterally to scrap its nuclear program ahead of the DPRK-U.S. summit," Kim Kye-gwan said. Pyongyang's harsh rhetoric toward Washington came after Kim Jong-un visited Dalian, China from May 7 to 8 and held his second summit with Xi. The meeting surprised many people because it came only about 40 days after they met in Beijing. The May summit was seen as Kim's bid to gain diplomatic leverage before his summit with Trump by showing off the Pyongyang-Beijing alliance. Diplomatic sources speculated that North Korea may push for the removal of some or all of the 28,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea, in line with Xi's demand. China has been angling to retain its influence over North Korea amid the recent rapprochement between the two Koreas. Kim did not ask for U.S. military forces to be withdrawn from the South when he met President Moon on April 27. U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday that he believes North Korea will be a great economic nation one day, setting a positive tone ahead of his potential meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Trump also confirmed that U.S. officials are in North Korea to continue preparations for the summit, which, if held, would take place in Singapore June 12. "Our United States team has arrived in North Korea to make arrangements for the Summit between Kim Jong Un and myself," he tweeted. The Washington Post first reported the visit of the U.S. delegation led by Amb. Sung Kim, a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea and former negotiator on North Korea's nuclear weapons program. The State Department later confirmed that the two sides were having talks in the truce village of Panmunjom, which sits on the inter-Korean border. "I truly believe North Korea has brilliant potential and will be a great economic and financial Nation one day," Trump wrote. "Kim Jong Un agrees with me on this. It will happen!" The U.S. president has increasingly offered economic rewards in exchange for denuclearization, although the exact terms of any deal are unclear. Washington seeks a complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement of the North's nuclear weapons program, but Pyongyang has rejected demands for "unilateral" denuclearization and threatened to pull out of the summit if such discussions continue. Kim has been quoted as offering a phased and synchronized process that would likely involve a gradual give and take of dismantlement steps in exchange for sanctions relief. Last week the North demolished its nuclear test site in Punggye-ri in front of a small group of international journalists. A few hours later, Trump abruptly canceled the summit, citing "tremendous anger and open hostility" in recent North Korean comments. Apparently eager to salvage the rare opening for diplomacy, the North responded that it was still ready to meet with the U.S. at any time. And Trump welcomed the "warm and productive" statement, saying the summit could go ahead as planned. In the meantime, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Kim held a second meeting in Panmunjom Saturday. Moon later announced that Kim had reaffirmed his commitment to denuclearization and willingness to meet with Trump. The White House said Saturday that a "pre-advance team" was headed to Singapore to prepare for the summit should it take place. (Yonhap) North Korea's Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un during a meeting with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at Kumsusan Palace of the Sun. TASS-Yonhap China has completely blocked Internet searches for words and articles that could be used to insult North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, sources here said Thursday, reflecting warming bilateral relations between the two countries. Besides the alleged online censorship, Beijing's authorities have also been prodding state-controlled Chinese media to run as many articles favorable to the North and Kim as possible, said the sources. The chief of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) said Thursday that the United States should pull out of next week's summit with North Korea if Pyongyang does not agree to complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization (CVID). Hong Joon-pyo, the party chairman, also objected to a possible declaration of an end to the 1950-53 Korean War when U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un hold a summit on June 12 in Singapore. "If any moderate deal provides North Korea with assistance, there is a risk that Pyongyang would advance its nuclear and missile programs, posing a threat (to the Korean Peninsula)," Hong said in a press conference with foreign correspondents in Seoul. Hong's conservative party takes a hard-line stance toward the North, calling North Korea's recent olive branch a "fake peace show." He said that a declaration of an end to the war should be made only after North Korea completely dismantles its nuclear arsenal. "I'm strongly opposed to the declaration on the occasion of the upcoming summit," he said. "A possible cut or withdrawal of U.S. troops stationed in the South should also not be on the table." (Yonhap) Air China resumed flights to Pyongyang on Wednesday after the service was suspended in November 2017. Wikimedia Commons By Grace Lee, Oh Young-jin Air China has resumed flights between Beijing and Pyongyang after stopping the service last November. Capella Hotel, on the resort island of Sentosa, Singapore, where U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are supposed to meet on June 12 / Yonhap By Choi Ha-young North Korean state-run media outlets have kept mum for over 10 days about the planned summit between their leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump which is slated for June 12, possibly out of uncertainty about its denuclearization initiatives. Pyongyang's main newspaper Rodong Sinmun briefly mentioned the summit on the front page of the paper, May 26. Afterward, however, the paper as well as state-run Korean Central News Agency stopped reporting on the summit, including North Korean envoy Kim Yong-chol's four-day Washington visit. This is in contrast with Western media outlets that are closely chasing the progress of the preparations for the summit. The U.S. government also confirmed the summit schedule, saying the two leaders will meet at the Capella Hotel on the resort island of Sentosa, Singapore, at 9 a.m. local time. By Park Si-soo Nearly three in 10 convenience stores in Seoul are selling cigarettes illegally to minors, a survey showed Thursday. It was down from 48.3 percent in 2015 but still higher than expected, said Seoul City, which conducted the survey. In Korea, selling cigarettes to people under 19 is illegal and retailers are obliged to check customers' IDs. Seoul City plans to publish a list of convenience stores caught selling cigarettes to minors this year. It also will step up monitoring of stores near schools and districts popular with young students. A government official speaks about the analysis of the level of 11 toxicants in heat-not-burn cigarettes available in Korea during a media briefing at the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, Thursday. Yonhap Cho Young-dal, candidate for Seoul education superintendent announces his key pledges at the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education Thursday. Yonhap By Kim Hyun-bin Cho Young-dal, candidate for education superintendent of Seoul, says education has become too political. "In the last decade, the election to appoint the education superintendent has become a fight between conservatives and liberals," Cho said. "We must separate education from politics." The candidate held a press conference to announce his key educational policies at the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) on Thursday. "We have come to the point where candidates release false information and become political," he said. "Every candidate is just focused on winning the election and has no interest in how the city's education should be run." To better supervise the superintendent election, Cho vowed to establish a "Seoul education continuous development committee" that oversees whether a candidate is politically neutral and checks on the consistency of their pledges. He also vowed to separate the education superintendent election from local elections. One of the biggest issues surrounding the election of the Seoul education superintendent is abolishing autonomous private and foreign language high schools. Cho pledged to maintain the schools as they provide enhanced education. "I want to maintain autonomous private and foreign language high schools for the purpose of autonomy and diversity in education. However, excessive competition and private education need to be removed," Cho said. "I will implement a lottery system where students in Seoul can apply to any school and all have a chance to attend the school of their choice. The Moon Jae-in administration banned after-school English classes for first and second graders, but Cho vowed to revive the program. One of his key pledges is to create a "dream campus" that gives second- and third-year high school students an opportunity to freely explore careers by making connections to nearby schools and local communities. Student will have an opportunity to explore nearby universities and companies of interest. Experts believe it is an innovative education model that helps students find their career paths early on so they can start taking classes that focus on their fields of interest. However, in order for the idea to work there needs to be a total switch from the current grading system to a more absolute evaluation system. Cho also released a set of education policies aimed to better prepare for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. "To aid the students in their studies, I will introduce an artificial intelligence learning system in Seoul schools," he said. "I will establish a Seoul style "Edu-Navi" that figures out each student's learning pattern and level, while giving one-on-one customized learning support." By Jung Min-ho A woman who went missing on Wednesday while scuba diving off Gangneung has been found dead. According to the Donghae Coast Guard Wednesday, divers found her body at a depth of 35.6 meters about 5:22 p.m. The Seoul resident, surnamed Kim, 37, went missing soon after getting into the water with four other people. Their diving instructor said he could not find her immediately because the water was muddy. Kim had advanced diver certification, which requires several years' experience, and was fully equipped. When found, her lantern was on and her scuba tank was empty. Police said they are investigating the cause of her death. On Sunday, a man, 48, who went missing the previous day while scuba diving was found dead off the coast of Yangyang, a neighboring city of Gangneung. By Lee Kyung-min Thirty-five heads of courts nationwide met Thursday over a "judiciary abuse" allegation that the Supreme Court under the leadership of former chief justice Yang Sung-tae drafted documents to deliver verdicts on politically sensitive trials in exchange for the establishment of what would have been a de facto "Second Supreme Court." This was Yang's top initiative to help lower the workload of top court justices and help many senior judges nearing retirement retain their prestigious high-ranking public posts longer. Officials at the Office of Court Administration (OCA) under the top court are alleged to have made detailed plans to curry favor with the 2013-17 Park Geun-hye administration, evidenced by 410 documents in computers used by only a handful of OCA officials reviewed by an internal committee, after two earlier bodies were denied access. In a meeting at the Supreme Court, the 35 heads of district and high courts exchanged views on a possible criminal investigation of related figures, and the expected far-reaching implications and consequences. OCA head Ahn Chul-sang, one of 14 Supreme Court justices and the central figure who has broad authority and discretion in the ongoing committee activities, left shortly after the meeting began. The key points of deliberation will be delivered to the Supreme Court chief justice Kim Myeong-su. The group of senior judges is highly likely to oppose any further investigation _ much less the prosecution's involvement _ out of the concern that it could set a "bad precedent" in which investigative officials intervene in judicial proceedings, an incident that could heavily undermine judicial authority. However, liberal judges deem it a "necessary evil" to completely sever ties from past misdeeds. The meeting of the mostly conservative judicial figures is the latest of similar conferences scheduled throughout this week. On Monday, judges at the Seoul Central District Court held meetings for three groups of similar ranking officials. The 340 of the country's approximately 2,900 judges deliberated over whether to recommend a criminal investigation or a further internal audit into the allegation for "due accountability," amid prevalent public distrust coupled with a shared sense of outrage. The nation's largest court which reviews the highest-profile cases urged a thorough investigation as well as harsh punishment for the figures involved, further cornering chief justice Kim who is under increasing pressure to clearly disavow past wrongdoings as part of his pledge toward long overdue "judicial reform." Next Monday, a group of young liberal judges that have long advocated judicial reform are scheduled to meet. Considering the largely expected political inclination of the two age- and rank-divided groups, Kim is expected to heed the recommendations from a discussion organized by a separate body comprised of outside experts from academia, advocacy groups and the legal circle. Yang, who twice rejected the committee's request for questioning over his knowledge of the allegation, denied involvement in and knowledge of the alleged efforts undertaken by OCA officials. It was a move considered to claim plausible deniability in the detailed plan on exchanging verdicts favorable to the Park administration in return for "advancing the chief justice's agenda." Roland Wilson, assistant professor at George Mason University Korea, shares his views on the ongoing denuclearization momentum on the Korean Peninsula, in an interview at the Plaza Hotel in Seoul, on May 31. Courtesy of George Mason University Korea US, NK urged to establish direct contact channels By Lee Min-hyung The United States should be in no rush to realize the complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization (CVID) of the Korean Peninsula, as North Korea is still not ready to scrap all of its nuclear sites and materials, according to an expert on conflict analysis and resolution. "I would say the intent is to go toward the CVID, but I think it is very difficult to get to that point under the current North Korean regime," Roland Wilson, assistant professor of conflict analysis and resolution at George Mason University Korea campus, said in an interview last week. He said the denuclearization drive can never be realized in two or three years, and may take even decades. "The current North Korean system does not support that type of openness in order to verify all the different nuclear sites," he said. "Even though that may not be possible and is not going to happen, it still has to be pushed in that direction (CVID)." Toward that end, he underlined the need for the U.S. to establish multiple contact channels with the North. "To establish a relationship, Washington and Pyongyang have to have day-to-day contact and engagement, and maintain and enhance communication channels," he said. This will allow both sides to establish and increase bilateral trust, keeping the rare peace momentum on the peninsula going forward, according to him. The U.S. has yet to unveil detailed measures to realize the CVID on the peninsula, and is expected to share its roadmap next week after the much-anticipated summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. To narrow their differences on denuclearization before the first-ever Washington-Pyongyang summit, working-level talks are underway between both sides at Tongilgak, the northern side of the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjeom. The historic meeting is drawing the global spotlight, partly as it is the gathering between two of the world's most unpredictable leaders. "Trump's rhetoric is sometimes unpredictable, but I think his actions are somewhat predictable," said the professor. "His actions are that of a strong-handed businessman. He understands he is in the strong position during the upcoming negotiation with Kim Jong-un." Wilson said Trump should use the strategy of lowering his position and power for the North to engage in dialogue even after the June 12 summit. "He would lower his status and raise up the position of North Korea," said the expert. "Through perceived equality and asymmetry in relationship, it is going to be easier for Trump to negotiate with Kim." Joint military drills The joint military exercises between Seoul and Washington have for decades been a major bone of inter-Korean contention. Last month, the regime even threatened to cancel the Trump-Kim summit, citing the Max Thunder air exercises between U.S. and South Korea. The provocative rhetoric came partly as the North has always been fearful of South Korea having equality in military strength with the regime. Wilson said any countries have the right to stage military exercises, so downsizing drills cannot be fundamental solutions to put an end to the repetitive conflicts. He, instead, urged Seoul and Washington to continue assuring the regime that the exercises are not a simulated war game against Pyongyang. "This can be done by inviting North Korean observers to the exercises the way the U.S. and other allies did with the Former Soviet Union during the Cold War," he said. "What we have to do is to make sure North Korea understands that the military exercises are not to attack you, but to defend against you and any other countries," he said. Persuading the regime that it is easier said than done and will require enough time and effort from both sides, according to the professor. For this reason, he reiterated the importance of holding as many dialogues as possible by setting up contact channels between Washington and Pyongyang. Senior North Korean official Kim Yong-chol and U.S. Secretary of State shake hands after meeting in New York last week to discuss the Pyongyang-Washington summit. Yonhap By Kim Bo-eun U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and senior North Korean official Kim Yong-chol have played major roles in enabling the North Korea-U.S. summit arranged for June 12 in Singapore. Meanwhile, National Security Chief John Bolton appears to have been sidelined due to his earlier remarks about the Libya denuclearization model, which led to a hostile response from Pyongyang and endangered prospects of the summit taking place. Meetings between Pompeo and Kim Yong-chol, vice chairman of the Central Committee of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party, are seen to have laid the groundwork for the summit. Pompeo, as the former director of the CIA, is known to have led U.S. efforts with a team including Andrew Kim of the agency's Korea Mission Center. Kim Yong-chol, meanwhile, has played a key role this year as the North Korean leader's right-hand man in terms of both inter-Korean affairs and diplomacy. He has attended all of Kim Jong-un's summits this year _ two meetings with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and two with Chinese President Xi Jinping. He was previously the chief of North Korea's intelligence agency. By Choi Ha-young Early voting for the June 13 local elections will take place Friday and Saturday nationwide for those who are unable to cast their ballots on election day. Voters should bring their ID cards to any polling stations across the nation between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. Voters will receive seven ballot papers, one to pick a mayor or governor; two to elect local government heads of a city or district; two for city and district council members; two for city and district proportional representatives; and one for education superintendant. Since the local elections are being held in tandem with by-elections, some voters need to pick a lawmaker as well. In total, 12 National Assembly seats have been vacated after former representatives threw their hats in to the ring for the elections or were stripped of their seats. According to Cheong Wa Dae, President Moon Jae-in will vote today, along with his key aides. The move is aimed at encouraging voter participation. Political parties are also going all-out to promote a high turnout. The ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) said Tuesday five of its female lawmakers will dye their hair blue, the party's symbolic color, if the early voter turnout reaches 20 percent. "If the total turnout exceeds more than 60 percent, five male DPK lawmakers will do so," said Lee Chun-seok, who is leading the DPK's election campaigns. National Election Commission (NEC) Chairman Kwon Soon-il also issued a statement Thursday to encourage voter participation. "Please closely compare the policies and promises of candidates and widely pick a public servant who can truly work for you," Kwon said. Hong Joon-pyo, leader of the Liberty Party of Korea speaks during a press conference held for foreign correspondents in Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap By Park Ji-won The leader of South Korea's main opposition party asked U.S. President Donald Trump, Thursday, to withdraw from the planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un if the latter refuses to discuss complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization (CVID). "The summit should ensure a denuclearization agreement based on the CVID," Liberty Party of Korea (LKP) Chairman Hong Joon-pyo told foreign correspondents in Seoul, Thursday. "If the North refuses it, it is right to cancel the summit. Also, the international society should work together to raise pressure and sanctions on North Korea." Hong cautioned that if sanctions are lifted as a result of the summit, the North will upgrade its nuclear weapons and missiles to pose a greater threat to the world. He emphasized that the North risked a nuclear test again within one year after having an "international show" of destroying a nuclear reactor tower in Yongbyon in North Korea in 2008. "I think North Korea is sitting at the discussion table not because Kim Jong-un has good intentions or willingness but the result of strong pressure and sanctions from the U.S. and international society." His remarks came six days before the historic summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. leader Donald Trump which is scheduled to be held on June 12. Regarding the denuclearization, Hong's remarks are likely sticking with the stern stance against the North just as its party has insisted that the abolishment of nuclear armament should come first in order to talk about rewards and security for the North Korean regime. The conservative party delivered a letter, signed by 35 of its lawmakers, to Trump through the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, Thursday. In the letter, they insisted the permanent, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization (PVID) must be achieved first to seek the North's denuclearization. "Mr. Trump, you should not resort to only a political or verbal statement on denuclearization because it does not resolve the issue. That would only help North Korea," they said in the letter. In the press conference, Hong also said he opposes the idea of making a declaration of ending the Korean War in Singapore. "I am definitely against making a statement of ending the Korean War during the U.S.-North summit as well as dealing with reducing or withdrawing U.S. troops in South Korea." He added that it is best to make a declaration of the end of the war after achieving denuclearization or making significant progress. Hong also mentioned, "Having a discussion now with the North about the withdrawal of U.S. troops in South Korea will raise the possibility of the North breaking the agreement as it eliminates the U.S.' options against the North and weakens the foundation of the South Korea-U.S. alliance." Reps. Kang Byung-won, right, and Back Hye-ryun, second from right, of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea enter the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in southern Seoul to request an investigation of allegations of the opposition Liberty Korea Party's online opinion-rigging, Thursday. / Yonhap By Kim Rahn The main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) is being accused of using computer programs to rig online opinions, the same accusation it made against the ruling bloc and into which it actively sought an independent counsel investigation. It is now facing a counterattack from the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), which claims the opposition party should also be subject to the counsel's probe. The DPK Thursday requested the prosecution investigate the allegation of the LKP's online opinion manipulation following related media reports. President Moon Jae-in, meanwhile, appointed prosecutor-turned-lawyer Huh Ik-bum as the independent counsel from among the two final candidates selected by the opposition parties after the Korean Bar Association recommended four candidates. "We expect Huh to conduct an objective and fair investigation into the online opinion-rigging scandal," presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said. In recent media interviews, some former aides in the conservative party confessed the LKP and its predecessors the Grand National Party and Saenuri Party manipulated online comments by using software macros, which can automatically engage in online voting or spread specific comments quickly, to sway public opinion in favor of the party. They said the party has used the programs around major elections since 2006, and such illegality was orchestrated by the party's election campaign team officials, not conducted by individual supporters. Some also claimed at least four of the party officials, who had been in charge of the online opinion-rigging during the 2012 presidential election, worked at Cheong Wa Dae after then-Saenuri Party candidate Park Geun-hye was elected. The conservative party camp's macro use is a separate allegation from the earlier one that the spy agency and the defense ministry operated teams to manipulate online opinions ahead of the 2012 election for the then-ruling Saenuri Party, a scandal in which some of the involved people, including former National Intelligence Service Director Won Sei-hoon, have already been convicted. "(If the allegation is true) it is a grave crime because a party's official campaign team manipulated public opinion," the DPK said in its complaint submitted to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office. "Prosecutors will have to thoroughly investigate whether any higher-ranking LKP or government officials at the time were involved in the manipulation," said Rep. Back Hye-ryun, a spokeswoman of the DPK. "It is suspected the LKP actively attempted to destroy evidence right after the elections. We ask the prosecution to begin investigating as soon as possible." The new allegation has come after the LKP-led bill was passed to launch an independent counsel investigation into similar suspicions involving some DPK members and President Moon Jae-in's supporters. The counsel is set to investigate the suspicion that a blogger, nicknamed Druking, and some other Moon supporters manipulated online comments. It was found that Druking had ties with two of Moon's close associates, DPK lawmaker Kim Kyoung-soo and presidential secretary Song In-bae, although the two denied any involvement in the opinion-rigging. The DPK claims the independent counsel should investigate the alleged opinion-rigging by the LKP as well. By Kim Bo-eun Police arrested a man who drove into the front gate of the U.S. Embassy in central Seoul, Thursday. The man surnamed Yoon, 48, ran his car into the gate at around 7 p.m. He stated this was because he wished to flee to the U.S., according to police. Yoon was confirmed to be a government official. He reportedly told the police he wished to flee due to a "North Korea-related matter." Yoon had been driving around Gwanghwamun from City Hall when he suddenly turned toward the U.S. embassy, according to those who witnessed the incident. When police on duty restrained him after he got out of the car, he shouted to the embassy for help. Tests showed he was not intoxicated. Police are questioning Yoon on charges of damaging property. A woman who was in his car when it drove into the gate was taken to hospital. Activists from the Korea Federation for Environmental Movements stage a campaign in front of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul, calling for the government to follow the Convention on Biological Diversity and expand its marine sanctuaries by 10 percent. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won speaks during the opening ceremony of Shanghai Forum 2018 at Shanghai International Conference Center, China, Saturday. / Courtesy of SK Group By Nam Hyun-woo SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won is continuing his pitch for social value in China as part of a group-wide localization strategy, there, where the group affiliates operate massive manufacturing facilities. According to SK Group, Sunday, Chey underscored social value in corporate management during his speech at the opening ceremony of the Shanghai Forum 2018 held a day earlier at Shanghai International Conference Center. China is the most important market for the Korean conglomerate, pushing it hard to implement a localization strategy. This strategy is a unique market approach a company takes to address purchasing habits, customer behaviors and overall cultural differences in each country it works in. SK is one of the largest foreign investors in China with the group investing billions of dollars with tax and administrative benefits from Beijing to operate semiconductor and battery factories both independently and through joint ventures. Amid growing pressure from China, SK hopes strengthening its China-initiated localization strategy will ensure customers there benefit from the same quality experience they would expect from a business in Korea. "The world is looking at the widening income gap and more global citizens are suffering from a lack of basic education, health services and even food," Chey said, adding that companies should create greater social value. "'Company' is derived from the Latin word 'cum,' meaning 'together,' and 'panis,' meaning 'bread.' This means sharing bread together," he said. "As President Xi Jinping stressed at this year's Boao Forum, companies, universities and governments should play a role of sharing wealth, resources and experiences with the society." According to Chey, SK is pursuing a "Double Bottom Line" management strategy, which is the group's system of measuring the economic and social value of a project at the same time, so SK companies and employees can create greater social value. Chey also introduced the group's infrastructure-sharing efforts, in which the group shares its tangible and intangible assets with society, and social value incentive projects, in which the group provides financial aid to smaller enterprises which contribute in creating jobs and other social values. "In a belief that SK's tangible and intangible assets are not SK's alone, we are pursuing multiple infrastructure-sharing projects so those assets can benefit not only our partner companies, but also consumers and the society." According to the group, SK has opened the vacant space of 3,600 SK gas stations across Korea so small- and medium-sized enterprises and startups can use the space to develop their own business models. Also in the incentive project, the group awarded more than 100 companies since 2013, helping them to build ecosystems in which they can stand by themselves. Chey stressed that social value is garnering more attention at this year's Shanghai Forum, saying "companies' talks over social value is becoming one of the most important themes of the forum and those talks are gaining momentum in industries and academic circles." Chey has been championing the idea of social value leading corporate sustainability and growth in a number of forums in and outside of countries. Earlier this month, the SK boss highlighted the corporate social value at the Beijing Forum, and made another speech at Boao Forum a month earlier, in which he spoke of the need for companies to create more social value as a core part of their growth strategy in the rapidly changing market environment. The latest Shanghai Forum met its 13th year and offered various sessions under the theme of "Asia's responsibilities in a world of change." Fudan University Council Chairperson Jiao Yang, Shanghai WTO Affairs Consultation Center President Wang Xinkui, former Finance Minister of Brazil Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pereira, former Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs Director Graham Tillett Allison, Jr. and a slew of other influential figures attended the forum which will close today. With missile tests, nuclear threats and ruthless destruction of opponents, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has been an ominous presence hanging over the South. These days, however, customers at a hip cafe in central South Korea can find an image of the North Korean leader staring up at them from their cups. In the weeks since Kim presented a smiling, softer image at his first summit with South Korean president Moon Jae-in, the In & Out cafe in Jeonju city, three hours south of the capital Seoul, has been serving caffe lattes decorated with frothy images of Kim and Moon. A sign also offers customers the chance to take a photo and be featured on a latte along with the two Korean leaders. "I watched the inter-Korean summit and was very impressed," said owner Kim Jeong-il, who coincidentally shares his name with Kim Jong-un's father. The cafe owner said Kim Jong-un moved on from a mysterious image to someone who is friendly. "He is adorable when he smiles and he has a soft image," the owner said. (Reuters) Pictures of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in are printed on top of milk foam of lattes at a coffee shop in Jeonju, South Korea, June 1, 2018. Picture taken June 1, 2018. Reuters A woman drinks a latte with a picture of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in printed on the top of milk foam at a coffee shop in Jeonju, South Korea, June 1, 2018. Picture taken June 1, 2018. Reuters A picture of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is printed on top of milk foam of a latte at a coffee shop in Jeonju, South Korea, June 1, 2018. Picture taken June 1, 2018. Reuters By Ted Gover In his upcoming summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, U.S. President Donald Trump must hold firm and maintain the U.S. military presence in East Asia regardless of whether or not denuclearization is achieved. North Korea's six decades-long hostility towards Seoul, Tokyo and Washington has for the most part been conducted as a non-nuclear power. Yet, notwithstanding its new nuclear weapons program, the Kim regime's nature and conventional forces alone justify Washington's military alliances with Seoul and Tokyo. North Korea's founder, Kim Il-sung, was willing to sacrifice a generation of the North's young men in an attempt to unite the peninsula under his rule during the Korean War. Since this failed undertaking, the North has viewed the Korean War as unfinished business while seeking to preserve the power of the Kim family dynasty. To these ends, North Korea has maintained a powerful conventional military that, while antiquated, is larger than that of South Korea and enjoys the advantage of close proximity to the South. According to estimates, the North Korean Army has in excess of 1 million active duty members; the Korean People's Air Force operates 1,600 aircraft; and the Korean People's Army Naval Force consists of east and west coast squadrons, special operations forces, fast attack torpedo and missile vessels as well as a fleet of submarines. Beyond this, it is believed that the North has approximately 9,500,000 active, reserve and paramilitary personnel along with extensive chemical, biological and long-range multi-stage missile programs. In particular, North Korea's considerable artillery capabilities pose as a threat to destroy large segments of metropolitan Seoul and its 25 million people _ roughly half of South Korea's population _ and inflict mass civilian casualties and economic damage. It is estimated that the Korean People's Army's 300 mm rocket launchers can hit targets up to 65 miles away, putting U.S. Air Force Osan Base and U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys within range. Adding to this dilemma is the North's criminal behavior on the world stage over the years, replete with periodic aggression towards the South with targeting killings and terror; its export of arms, chemical weapons and nuclear technology; as well as its kidnapping of foreign nationals. President Trump is admirably intent on denuclearizing North Korea to resolve the current crisis. Yet, even if Mr. Trump is successful in ridding Mr. Kim of his nuclear weapons, he must hold firm on maintaining the American spear in East Asia. Nuclear weapons or not, the sordid nature of the Kim regime requires the presence of forward deployed U.S. forces in the region while also serving as a needed counterbalance to a rising China. Given its track record, there is scant reason to trust Pyongyang, irrespective of its nuclear status and posture. The unique deterrence and containment capabilities of the U.S. military are still necessary at this new stage of U.S.-North Korea relations. Ted Gover (amberjack_shoal@yahoo.com) is the associate director of the Tribal Administration Program at Claremont Graduate University. By Park Moo-jong It is never too much to stress the importance of tourism in this global village. In particular, international tourism, both incoming and outgoing, has implications on a country's balance of payments as a huge player in its economy. It's no wonder many countries are all out to attract more foreign visitors and the Republic of Korea is no exception. Data from the World Tourism Organization clearly shows tourism in 2017 contributed nearly $8 trillion to the global economy, or 10 percent of the world's GDP, and there are about 300 million workers in the tourism and travel sector. Yet, such tourism has appeared to be a big headache of late in some world-renowned tourist cities like Amsterdam, Venice and Barcelona due to the "exorbitant" swarms of foreign tourists. Complaints about "overtourism" in those fascinating tourist destinations have made international headlines of late. But they are something like "happy grumbling" for Korea still suffering a tourism deficit. Overtourism means there are too many visitors to a specific destination, deteriorating the quality of life of hosts or the quality of experience of guests, compared to the opposite of "responsible tourism" to help make better places to live in and better places to visit. For instance, Venice of Italy used to attract 20 million foreign tourists a year beyond its capability to accommodate them and citizens have been demonstrating since early 2010 against the big-size cruise ships' anchor at the city of water. The problems caused by overtourism are more serious in Amsterdam, the capital city of the Netherlands, whose population is only 850,000, but where annual visitors number more than 18 million. It is not that difficult to figure out the inconvenience of the citizens. According to news reports from the city of canals, it has turned into a sort of amusement park. The ever-worsening shortage of rental housing drastically raised monthly rent fees and the city is always crowded with visitors. The city council recently passed an ordinance to ban Airbnb in the heart of the city, among others. But Venice and Amsterdam are not alone. Dubrovnik, Machu Picchu, Iceland, Barcelona and Thailand have all made headlines in the last few years for taking action against the negative impact that tourism has brought. Korea has similar experiences, though it still suffers from a sizable tourism deficit. Bukchon Hanok Village with traditional Korean houses called hanok has been flooded with foreign tourists as one of the most popular attractions in Seoul. However, residents there have left their village one after another due to the deteriorating living conditions. The population decreased by 17.8 percent to 7,369 in April from 8,970 in 2011. Every weekend, the residents hold rallies at the entrance of the village, asking tourists to "protect our private life." Signs are put here and there in the town: "Please do not come here" or "Be quiet, please." The huge influx of tourists may help generate jobs, stimulate the regional economy and develop much-need infrastructure. On the other hand, many of these jobs are not given to locals, much of the revenues go to the wallets of outside investors and the overwhelming tourist crowds often keep locals from enjoying the benefits of the infrastructure. If this trend of overtourism continues to plague great destinations around the globe, many governments may take diverse measures to reduce the number of inbound foreign tourists in such a way as to drastically strengthen rules on the issuance of tourist visas. There may be a possibility of them increasing the price of travel to stem the problem: higher prices for flight or cruise tickets, tourist taxes or entry fees to destinations. But such a measure may also bring the world back to the days when travel was only available for the rich, not the masses. But these "possible" solutions are "dreamlike" stories for Korea. The number of Koreans traveling abroad was more than double that of foreign tourists visiting the country this year, resulting in a record-high tourism deficit. The Korea Tourism Organization said more than 24 million Koreans traveled abroad as of last November _ up more than 18 percent from the same period in 2016. The number of inbound tourists dropped 23 percent due to China's ban on group tours to Korea in retaliation against Seoul's deployment of a U.S. missile defense battery. From January through October last year, Korea posted a tourism deficit of over $11 billion, the worst ever for the 10-month period mainly due to the weakness of its tourism: overreliance on China. In 2016 alone, Chinese made up 46.8 percent of foreign tourists. But the percentage nosedived last year after the row over the anti-missile battery. However, the rush of Chinese tourists will make another problem, taking into consideration its huge population of more than 1.3 billion. U.N. data show at the beginning of the 21st century, just 10.5 million overseas trips were made by Chinese. In 2017, the figure was 145 million an increase of 1,380 percent. Complaining about overtourism is a luxury for Korea for now. We should take a lesson from Thailand and the Philippines as far as tourism is concerned. Park Moo-jong is a standing adviser of The Korea Times. He served as the president-publisher of the nation's first English daily newspaper from 2004 to 2014 after working as a reporter from 1974. He can be reached at moojong@ktimes.com or . By Ben Friedman Like many of my LGBTQ brothers and sisters, I was disappointed after Monday's "gay wedding cake" ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. The main argument made by the baker in this case was that by selling a cake to a gay couple, he would be condoning their actions and therefore violating his faith. I see only two logical explanations for this position: Either he thinks so little of his own religion that he believes engaging in a single deed of everyday commerce at a local bakery would equate to a heretical act against God, or he is just demonstrating the age-old technique of using religion to shield his personal bigotry. Either way, I cannot help but wonder whether he conducts rigorous biblical observance background checks on all his customers, or just the gay ones. Three years into nationwide marriage equality, and two years after the Pulse nightclub massacre, this court ruling reminds the gay community once again that we are forced to fight every single day for access and representation in a nation that for over 200 years has billed itself as the land of opportunity and equality. True, the court did not condone bigotry or overtly embrace a wide religious exemption to anti-discrimination laws, but the declaration of victory by the opponents of same-sex marriage was a slap in the face to the gay community and all Americans who believe in common decency. June is Pride Month, a time to reflect on the victories won by generations of Americans who came before us, many of whom laid down their lives so that the current generation of LGBTQ Americans could enjoy the freedoms we have now. It's also a time to reflect on what's left to be done, and in Florida, there's plenty. Florida is a prime example of what happens when politicians stand in the way of public progress. While many citizens enjoy protection against racial and gender discrimination as they should Florida has no state laws protecting gender identity or sexual orientation in the workforce or in housing. For several years in a row, a bipartisan coalition of state legislators has proposed adding sexual orientation and gender identity to our state anti-discrimination laws, and a 2017 poll found that over 70 percent of Floridians support such protections. Yet despite those signs of genuine support, Florida's political leadership refuses to bring these bills to a vote. It's no different for conversion therapy, a dangerous and abusive practice that too often results in suicide by gay teenagers desperate to escape from their deliberately inflicted misery. As with housing and job discrimination, more than 70 percent of Floridians support banning conversion therapy, but the entrenched powers that be block its passage in the Legislature. It's as if they have no shame as they enable this egregious practice of legalized torture. Some cities and counties have made efforts to implement protections for LGBTQ youth locally, but an incomplete patchwork does not protect the most vulnerable Floridians among us. I will never forget that three years ago, I stood on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court Building in Washington as the justices inside announced the decision in the landmark case Obergefell v. Hodges, which expanded marriage equality throughout the United States. The celebration that followed was electric, with people dancing and singing and cheering, met only intermittently by warnings of eternal damnation (as one might expect, given the topic). I was living history, sharing with my friends a unique experience we will carry with us for the rest of our lives. It was incredible. It was uplifting. It was empowering. It was ... so long ago. Roll up your sleeves, Floridians. It's Pride Month, and there's still a lot of work to do. Ben Friedman, 28, is not married but legally could be. He is director of community relations at the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando, where he leads government affairs and interfaith engagement. In his role, he serves as director of the Jewish Community Relations Council, the advocacy arm of the Central Florida Jewish Community. He's also an Orlando Sentinel Editorial Advisory Board member. The above article appeared in the Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Fla.) It was distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Parents should carefully choose education chiefs The June 13 local elections will be important for the future of the nation's schools as 17 education superintendents will be elected. Voter interest in the local elections has been undermined by the unprecedented series of summits with North Korea. The voters' attention is currently taken up by the June 12 summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, which takes place just one day before the quadrennial elections. Few people know or care to know who is running for mayor or governor in the local elections, let alone for education chief. However, parents ought to take more interest in choosing education chiefs as these have immense power over the management and budgets of elementary, middle and high schools, and influence over policy decisions. The need to elect proper education chiefs is all the more important at this critical juncture for the nation's schools, which are faced with new challenges in the age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Also schools must duly respond to social changes particularly in light of the falling number of students due to the low birthrate. However, it is uncertain whether the ruling and opposition party contenders are fully equipped with the vision, professional experience and commitment needed for the positions they are running for. Rather, elections for education chiefs have become "too political," with the candidates focusing too much on politics and not enough on education pledges. It is problematic that a lot of the contenders are churning out populist policies, such as free schools trips or expanding the number of teachers. There are 59 candidates running for education chiefs, and most of them have pledged to hire more teachers. This goes against the current population trend. It also does not consider the hiring situation at public schools, which are already having difficulty in dealing with the oversupply of educators. Many people who have successfully passed the state examination for teaching certificates are still waiting for appointments. Many candidates have placed priority on free programs, with some promising free tuition and meals at high schools or providing free schools uniforms and school trips. It falls upon the parents to fully review the feasibility of the candidates' pledges. It is an important responsibility of voters to carefully check on the qualifications, rather than the political background, of the candidates before making a decision on who is most fit to take charge of education in their region for the next four years. By Donald Kirk The most controversial topic surrounding next Tuesday's Trump-Kim summit is probably not denuclearization or human rights. We already can be pretty sure those two bozos can talk their way around the nuclear issue with some vague declaration that all comes down to agreeing "Nukes Are Bad, Make Peace, not War." As for human rights, that's not gonna come up in the talks. The Trumpster doesn't want to spoil the mood by upsetting the Kimster too much with a topic everyone knows will go nowhere and might ruin Kim's appetite for pizza-with-everything before they ever get around to their say-nothing, mean-nothing final statement or "peace agreement." Okay, in the interests of attempting to be a little funny, it would be easy to say they'll compare hairstyles, exchange notes on hairdressers, perhaps offer each other some sage advice about the best hair dressing or shampoo treatment or some kind of scalp massage. Just kidding, just kidding! Okay, okay, now let's get serious. We're talking here about one of the most highly anticipated meetings between two national leaders in history. Yes, that's right, the word "historic" is bound to come up a lot more than once in all the breathless reporting and analysis we'll be reading before, during and after the opening and closing handshakes and hugs. Another adjective you're sure to see more than once is "rare." That's the word everyone uses after going to North Korea on a tourist trip, taking happy snaps and posting them along with an article on "my rare visit to the haunted kingdom" (or maybe "hermit country"). Getting down to the topic at hand, the overriding issue is who will be footing the bill for Kim Jong-un and all his delegation. Reports have been floating around all week that the North Koreans are saying they don't have the money. They're leaving the impression they might not even be able to take off from Pyongyang in that old Russian version of Air Force One that flew Kim to Dalian for his seance with Xi Jinping last month if they don't know where the money's coming from. The price for two or three days and nights living high in Singapore could come as quite a shock even to mere rich-list mortals accustomed to first-class expense-padding. Actually, however, if the bill for those $5,000-a-night rooms for every member of his entourage comes to well over $500,000, including room service dinners and all the drinks on offer at the mini-bars in each room, that might not be too bad. Consider how much flying B52 and B1 and B2 bombers up from Andresen Air Base in Guam on intimidation flights along the DMZ was costing American taxpayers before Trump and Kim agreed to stop calling each other bad names and frightening everyone with threats and counter-threats. But let us think again. If the final Singapore hotel bill comes to $200,000 or even $500,000 or $1 million, why can't Kim pick up the tab himself? Look, this man has stashed billions in accounts in Switzerland, where he went to school. There's nothing to stop him from dipping into his accounts, as he's accustomed to doing to support his lifestyle in Pyongyang, and ordering up all the costs of the extravaganza in Singapore. Ok, if Kim would rather not draw from his own piggy bank for expenses in Singapore, here's an option. He's giving up his nuclear program, right? He's no longer test-firing missiles, including long-range ICBMs capable of carrying miniaturized nuclear warheads to targets in Washington and New York. Surely the budget for nukes and missiles should easily cover the Singapore gambit. Considering Kim's got whatever it takes to maintain his dozen or so palatial estates in North Korea, the Americans are saying they're damned if they're paying Kim's bills. Nor should the South Koreans, the Singapore government, or the Chinese or Russians, feel responsible for guaranteeing the quality and quantity of the food and drink needed to satisfy his voracious gourmet tastes. Still, what would it take for all these bureaucrats to sign off on a bunch of credit cards for Kim and his party? Trump could even put such a show of generosity on the agenda at the summit. Surely coming to terms on Kim's Singapore expenses should be a lot easier than bringing talking heads and hairstyles together on the definition of "denuclearization." Donald Kirk, www.donaldkirk.com, has been writing about the North Korean nuclear issue since North and South Korean negotiators were haggling over the wording of their 1992 agreement on a "nuclear free" Korean Peninsula. KT employees, Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries officials and Liberian fisheries agency officials pose after signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU). KT said Sunday it will built a surveillance system for illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in Liberia and Sierra Leone in cooperation with the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. / Courtesy of KT By Jun Ji-hye The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) has recently launched a new ethics subcommittee to study artificial intelligence (AI) in a bid to cope with a series of challenging ethical questions being posed by AI-powered systems worldwide. KAIST President Shin Sung-chul Kia Motors salesman Son Ho-jin attempts to rescue a driver who had been in an accident in an intersection in Boryeong, South Chungcheong Province, Saturday. / Courtesy of Son Son Ho-jin Hyundai Motor Styling Vice President Lee Sang-yup introduces the HDC-2 Grandmaster concept SUV during the Busan International Motor Show at BEXCO, Thursday. / Courtesy of Hyundai Motor Chevrolet also pushing SUVs, unveiling its Equinox for Korea By Nam Hyun-woo BUSAN -- Hyundai Motor unveiled its HDC-2 Grandmaster concept SUV, Thursday, which appears to be a preview to the automaker's highly expected full-size Palisade SUV. Hyundai Motor revealed the concept car at the 2018 Busan International Motor Show, offering a glimpse into the company's design philosophy. Under the theme, "Beyond Innovation, Into the Future," the show features 19 brands showcasing 203 vehicles, which include 36 new cars. This year's event will be open to the public today and run through June 17. Hyundai Motor said the concept car will be its design goal for SUVs and the company will take a break from its "family look," in which the brand's cars look similar regardless of segment. "So far the auto designing trend has been focusing on a brand's image rather than customer demand, and many cars have ended up with similar appearances that can be described as a family look." Hyundai Motor Styling Vice President Lee Sang-yup said during a press conference. "Hyundai Motor will no longer follow the trend of manufacturer-centric designing. We have come up with the design philosophy Sensuous Sportiness. All Hyundai cars will be original and we will call it the Hyundai Look." Lee likened the strategy to chess pieces, which have their respective originality and distinctive look but can be encompassed as part of a set. Industry officials say the HDC-2 Grandmaster is likely a preview of the Palisade SUV, expected to be unveiled later this year. The SUV will likely be an eight-seat full-size SUV. "Hyundai Motor has for long been described as a cost-efficient brand," Lee said. "From now on, Hyundai will be more than this and will provide distinctive values to customers through unique designs." Hyundai Motor domestic sales Vice President Lee Kwang-guk also announced the price of the Veloster N high-performance model at between 29.65 million won ($27,740) and 29.95 million won, and said pre-orders will start June. 11. The upgraded version of the Tucson was also unveiled, which will go on sale in the third quarter of the year. The company's Genesis brand also showed the Essentia concept electric vehicle for the first time in Asia. From left, GM Korea CEO Kaher Kazem, Vice President Dale Sullivan and Managing Director of Design Stuart Norris pose as they introduce the Equinox SUV during the Busan International Motor Show at BEXCO, Thursday. / Courtesy of GM Korea In this Sept. 12, 2017, file photo, newly-crowned Miss America 2018 Cara Mund poses for photographers on the 86th Floor Observation Deck of the Empire State Building, in New York. Mund, who will be the last Miss America to have worn a swimsuit onstage, says the pageant is right to eliminate that part of the competition. / AP When the Miss America pageant started in 1921, having young women parade around in bathing suits seemed like a great way to get tourists to come to the Atlantic City Boardwalk after Labor Day. But how America views women has changed drastically since then, and the Miss America Organization is run by women who don't think it's such a hot idea. Accordingly, when the pageant is held this September, nearly a year into the (hash)MeToo era, it will no longer have a swimsuit competition. ''We're not going to judge you on your appearance because we are interested in what makes you you,'' Gretchen Carlson, a former Miss America and the new head of the organization's board of trustees, said in making the announcement Tuesday on ABC's ''Good Morning America.'' For decades, women's groups and others had complained that the swimsuit portion was outdated, sexist and more than a little silly. Carlson, whose sexual harassment lawsuit against Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes led to his departure, said the board had heard from potential contestants who lamented, ''We don't want to be out there in high heels and swimsuits.'' The announcement came after a shake-up at the organization that resulted in the top three positions being held by women. The overhaul was triggered by an email scandal last December in which Miss America officials mocked winners' intelligence, looks and sex lives. Instead of showing off in a bathing suit, each contestant will interact with the judges to ''highlight her achievements and goals in life and how she will use her talents, passion and ambition to perform the job of Miss America,'' the organization said. Carlson said the evening-wear portion of the competition will also be changed to allow women to wear something other than a gown if they want. The talent portion of the contest will remain. ''It's what comes out of their mouths that we care about,'' Carlson said. Leanza Cornett, Miss America 1993, supported the dropping of the swimsuit competition. ''I hated it,'' she said. ''I always felt awkward and uncomfortable.'' She added: ''In the climate of (hash)MeToo, I think it's a really wise decision. We're living in a different era now, and when we move forward for the empowerment of women, we will be taken much more seriously, and I think that's huge.'' But Kendall Morris, who competed in 2011 as Miss Texas, said the swimsuit competition taught her how to eat healthy and exercise, ''not just for 15 seconds on stage but for a lifetime. It taught me a lifelong discipline beyond the Miss America stage.'' Carlson said she is not worried ratings for the nationally televised broadcast, set for Sept. 9 on ABC, might suffer. She said that the swimsuit portion is not the highest-rated portion and that viewers seem more interested in the talent competition. The Miss America pageant is not the cultural event it once was. The first pageant broadcast on TV was in 1954, when 27 million people tuned in to watch Lee Meriwether crowned Miss America. Last year's telecast drew 5.6 million viewers, according to the Miss America Organization. That was down from 6.25 million the year before. Because many of the state and local competitions that decide the Miss America finalists have already begun, the dropping of the swimsuit portion will not take effect at those levels until next year's competition, the organization said. Mallory Hytes Hagan, Miss America 2013, was a particular target of the emails, many of which ridiculed her weight gain after she won the title. In a Facebook video Tuesday, Hagan said she weighed 124 pounds when she was crowned. She said she is now 164 pounds, which she said most people would consider normal. She is running for Congress in Alabama as a Democrat. ''There are tons of women across this country who are not 'swimsuit-ready' who are doing some really bad-ass stuff in their communities,'' she said. ''We should be honoring them, and that doesn't involve putting on a two-piece bathing suit and walking onstage in heels.'' (AP) By Jung Min-ho The U.S. government has urged the country's airlines not to give in to China's demands over how they refer to Taiwan, the Financial Times reported Tuesday (local time). The Trump administration has asked United Airlines, American Airlines and Delta not to comply with a Chinese demand to use "Taiwan, China" instead of "Taiwan" on their maps and websites for customers, according to the report. This came after Beijing demanded 36 foreign airlines stop describing Taiwan as a country. Taiwan has been self-ruled since 1949, but China considers it part of its territory. Over the past few years, under President Xi Jinping, China has been taking aggressive steps to enforce its stance on the global stage, often by using business as an arm of state power. Last month, the White House described the Chinese demand as "Orwellian nonsense." U.S. government officials told the airlines to push back and to tell China, which has extended the deadline until late June, that the Taiwan issue should be handled between governments, the report says. Yet the Chinese threat poses a big headache for the airlines, which may lose landing spots in China for refusing to comply. Kendallville, IN (46755) Today Showers this evening, becoming a steady rain overnight. Low 56F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch.. Tonight Showers this evening, becoming a steady rain overnight. Low 56F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch. Last night, when everyone was wondering if Democrats would be shut out of the Orange County races in California-- they weren't-- and while political junkies were watching congressional races in California, New Jersey, Iowa, New Mexico, South Dakota, Alabama, Mississippi and Montana, a more definitive race than a primary was happening in Missouri's 17th state senate district in the Kansas City Metro. The district has been vacant since then-Governor Eric Greitens appointed Republican Ryan Silvey to the Public Sevice Commission in January 2018. In 2016, Silvey had beaten Democrat Ranen Bechthold 51,262 (61.26%) to 32,422 (38.74%). It's a pretty red district. Both Trump and Romney had won it in 2016 and 2012. Last night Democrat Lauren Arthur, who graduated magna cum laude from Smith College beat Republican Kevin Corlew by 19 points-- 14,674 (59.7%) to 9,917 (40.3%), the 42nd red-to-blue flip in state legislative races since the inauguration of Senor Trumpanzee. The district itself is fully in Clay County, but split between 2 congressional districts-- Emanuel Cleaver's 5th and Sam Graves' 6th. It includes Independence, Liberty, North Kansas City, Claycomo, and Gladstone. Tax cuts Arthur believes the personal and corporate tax cuts passed this year by the legislature put Missouri's finances at risk. Corlew, on the other hand, says they will promote growth. Abortion Corlew is "pro-life," and supports Missouri laws restricting access to abortion. He has said he believes in good health care and speeding up the adoption process. Arthur backs abortion rights, saying she trusts each woman to make the right decision for herself. "I believe that when it comes to abortion, that's a decision that should be made by a woman, with her family, with her faith community and with her physician," Arthur said. "I don't think that's a decision that should be made by the Missouri legislature." Guns Corlew defends Missouri residents right to own a gun, and has said that we need to protect the Second Amendment. He said he also supports cracking down on loopholes in background checks and providing better mental health care to help curb gun violence. Arthur is opposed to the states current law requiring no permit, license or registration to own a gun, and that she would not support a bill allowing guns in places where they were previously illegal, such as daycares, bars or college campuses. Labor issues Corlew has bucked his party to oppose anti-union legislation, but he has supported measures that protect businesses from consumer lawsuits and local minimum wage increases. I support making sure that we have an environment that creates the highest paying jobs possible, to make sure that our businesses can grow jobs and pay their workers much more than minimum wage," Corlew said. "I do believe minimum wage should be set at the statewide level." Arthur has opposed state limits on minimum wages and has the endorsement of most local labor unions. Six servicemen were wounded by the attack of the Azerbaijani armed forces in Artsakh, two of them in critical condition S&P Improved the Outlook on Ameriabank to Positive Ararat Mirzoyan to visit to Minsk Foreign Minister of India visits the Memorial of Armenian Genocide 1217 new cases Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia Statement by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group At UCOM only: Tv sets at 10% discount + 1 month free UMIX package + 4k tv channel Ameriabanks Special Offer for New Clients of Hrazdan Branch "Fall forward": Gurgen Khachatryan, the Co-Founder of the Galaxy Group of Companies, addressed a message to young people in Armenia UCOM hosted interns of Russian CBOSS corporation for a month The 20-episode Bloody bet thriller to be broadcast on Ucom's Armenia Premium TV channel Statement by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group UCOM offers affordable gadgets at bigger discount Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan will pay a working visit to New York Governments preventing publication of Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper during state of emergency Google Ad UCOM prolongs the unlimited internet offer for the level up 4700 and level up 5500 subscribers Ucom employees received recognition for their services to the homeland Karen Vardanyan has allocated 105 million AMD to rescue the Yerevan Botanical Garden. "The Power of One Dram" to overcome childhood cancer Generation A 13 your chance to be the change President of the Artsakh Republic Arayik Harutyunyan met with Russian Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Igor Khovayev "uDays" special offer at Ucom: discounts for all smartphones and accessories for 2 days only For more than 3 hours, 50 or more Azerbaijani servicemen have blocked the interstate road Call on the international community for an adequate response against azerbaijani aggresssion Transformation and trust are important for success in modern banking. Artak Hanesyan UCOMS LEVEL UP 1700 REGIONAL TARIFF PLAN USERS TO RECEIVE MORE THAN THOSE IN YEREVAN Joint statement Statement by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group Six servicemen were wounded by the attack of the Azerbaijani armed forces in Artsakh, two of them in critical condition S&P Improved the Outlook on Ameriabank to Positive Ararat Mirzoyan to visit to Minsk Foreign Minister of India visits the Memorial of Armenian Genocide Google Ad 1217 new cases Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia Statement by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group At UCOM only: Tv sets at 10% discount + 1 month free UMIX package + 4k tv channel Ameriabanks Special Offer for New Clients of Hrazdan Branch "Fall forward": Gurgen Khachatryan, the Co-Founder of the Galaxy Group of Companies, addressed a message to young people in Armenia UCOM hosted interns of Russian CBOSS corporation for a month The 20-episode Bloody bet thriller to be broadcast on Ucom's Armenia Premium TV channel Statement by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group UCOM offers affordable gadgets at bigger discount Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan will pay a working visit to New York Governments preventing publication of Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper during state of emergency Google Ad UCOM prolongs the unlimited internet offer for the level up 4700 and level up 5500 subscribers Ucom employees received recognition for their services to the homeland Karen Vardanyan has allocated 105 million AMD to rescue the Yerevan Botanical Garden. "The Power of One Dram" to overcome childhood cancer Generation A 13 your chance to be the change President of the Artsakh Republic Arayik Harutyunyan met with Russian Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Igor Khovayev "uDays" special offer at Ucom: discounts for all smartphones and accessories for 2 days only For more than 3 hours, 50 or more Azerbaijani servicemen have blocked the interstate road Call on the international community for an adequate response against azerbaijani aggresssion Transformation and trust are important for success in modern banking. Artak Hanesyan UCOMS LEVEL UP 1700 REGIONAL TARIFF PLAN USERS TO RECEIVE MORE THAN THOSE IN YEREVAN Joint statement Statement by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group World Oceans Day a global day of ocean celebration and collaboration for a better future is Friday, June 8. This year, The Ocean Project issued a request for citizens around the world: Will you stop using single-use plastic bags, bottles and straws to help our ocean? Plastic trash is a serious problem for our ocean, and especially all the animals that call it home, but together we can be part of the solution. The County of Maui and Pacific Whale Foundation are on board, emphasizing the importance of a healthy world ocean and the need to protect it. Here in Hawaii, the Pacific Ocean is part of who we are, Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa said. In the sea, we find food, play, travel, exercise, education and more. So World Oceans Day provides us with a positive reminder to redouble our efforts to protect the ocean and reverse negative trends brought about by humans, who have taken this vast, bountiful resource for granted. Cleanups and educational activities are slated on Friday. For more information, visit PacificWhale.org/WorldOceansDay. There are many ways to participate in World Oceans Day on Maui, said Events Planner Marina Scott. You can join a cleanup effort, be a citizen-scientist, create action through art, take part in outreach activities and help spread the word. Our ultimate goal is to inspire people to become ocean stewards in whatever way they can. Scientists are predicting that by 2050, the oceans will contain more plastic than fish. Spurred by this grim forecast and its research on marine debris, Pacific Whale Foundation recently launched a conservation campaign, The Last Straw, focusing on keeping plastic straws and other single-use plastics out of the environment. Its critical for the survival of marine animals, and really all living organisms, that we take concrete and committed steps to reduce our use of plastic, said Jens Currie of PWF. We all contribute to the problem, which means we can all make a positive difference. During the rest of the year, The Ocean Project urges us all to change our ways. Since what we do on land impacts the ocean, changing our everyday habits with plastic can make a difference. Traffic light needed to slow cars on Keawe Street The latest leg of the Lahaina Bypass has generated many comments about the convenience/inconvenience of the new arrangement into our town. Im not going to comment on this or the businesses that are losing commerce. What dumbfounds me is how you can think that traffic coming off of a mountain after a high speed limit on a relatively steep and straight grade will slow down as it enters a very congested area on Keawe Street. Speeding is not occasional; it is constant. Considering most of these vehicles are tourists and not local, they have no idea about the death trap they are careening into. It is not if someone will be killed, it is when. In general, I dont like stoplights, but our new downhill race necessitates it. All it takes is a few minutes, any time if the day, for it to be painfully obvious. A light is needed at Kupuohi Street to ease this flow before traffic entering and exiting at Hoonanea, Lahaina Gateway, Walgreens, Starbucks and Panda is encountered. Yes, it will back up the bypass, but you were the people who cut off all other access to the West Side without much public comment. Otherwise, the blood is on your hands. I pray its not mine. BOB GRAYBOSCH, Lahaina President protected by obstruction of justice It is obvious to many of us that a conspiracy to commit a widespread obstruction of justice, to protect and keep a president from being indicted or impeached, is being done right out in open sight. Those involved in the conspiracy are members of a network (talk show hosts who are willing to lie), members of Congress (especially many of the Republican House members), many who voted for Trump (they dont care whether he is a dictator or not), and many of the evangelicals, who show a pretend concern about the right to life of an unborn but no empathy for kids being split from their immigrant parents. If this continues, America will become a Banana Republic. It might be time for Mueller to have a showdown and indict the president. At least the American people with fair minds will be alerted to take a stand for the rule of law against tyranny. ALFRED WADDELL Conservatives want term limits, Citizens Congress Conservatives are overwhelmingly in favor of replacing the professional politicians in Congress with a citizens legislature through term limits, according to a poll conducted by The Conservative Caucus. This change had the support of 99 percent of those who responded to the poll. There was 97 percent agreement that both greed and a thirst for power motivate members of Congress to keep running for reelection. Members are paid $174,000 per year, with benefits estimated to bring the full value up to more than $200,000. PETER THOMAS, Americans for Constitutional Liberty ReFormers Caucus making progress I wrote you in March about our ReFormers Caucus, former U.S. senators and representatives, cabinet officials and governors serving as the largest bipartisan coalition ever to focus on making our democracy strong again. We are closing in on 200 strong, now including fellow former Hawaii Congressman Charles Djou. Im grateful to Charles for adding his energy and voice to our effort. We have all been there, know what is broken and believe we can contribute our experience to fixing it. We advocate for: Disclosure and Transparency Real-time full disclosure of money and influence in politics. Effective Enforcement Full accountability for candidates, elected officials, organizations and individuals. Ethics and Lobbying Strengthened ethics and lobbying rules and enforcement. Citizen Participation Support for state and local innovations to improve inclusion. Integrity and Accountability Fully responsible and responsive government playing by the same rules. Perhaps the most corrosive influence on our democracy today is dark money often very large sums paid to influence elections and decisions while completely disguising the true source. One of the clearest examples has been carefully concealed foreign interference in our national elections through dark money-financed advertising on the largest Internet platforms such as Facebook. Unfortunately, this issue has been cast as yes it happened by those who oppose the winners, and no it didnt by those who support them. But take a step back from all that noise and look to the big picture and long-term. Should we allow any foreign government or player to influence our democratic right to elect our leaders in any election, especially by deceptive and secret means? We agree with the vast majority of Americans that we must safeguard our elections at all cost. As just one fix, we support the Honest Ads Act, which has been introduced in Congress by legislators of both parties. This critical measure would require large online platforms to identify and publicly disclose the purchasers of such advertising, the same as now required for political TV and radio ads. It is supported by the platforms themselves. We are collectively urging our Congress to pass the Honest Ads Act, and I have signed on to our letter to all members of Congress as part of that effort. We need your help. Please contact your members of Congress (Senators Schatz and Hirono, and Congresswomen Gabbard and Hanabusa) and ask them to sign on to S. 1989 (in the Senate) and H.R. 4077 (in the House) and pass the Honest Ads Act. But equally important, make fixing our democracy through this and other means your top priority with the candidates who want your vote in the critical elections just weeks away. Real solutions to all our other challenges depend on it. ED CASE. Hawaii Overcoming bias While many people are familiar with the concept of bias, having a deeper understanding of what it is and how it manifests is often the first step in circumventing negative ramifications. Bias can limit potential for growth, innovation and success on individual and community-wide levels. Conformity bias is best described as an individual going along with the opinion of a group, even if it directly contradicts what that individual believes. This can result in a group of people agreeing to something because they feel thats what the overall group believes. Confirmation bias means looking for evidence to back up already held beliefs or opinions. For example, if youre a hiring manager, and believe people who attended school X are hard workers, you might not question their other qualifications as closely as someone who attended a school youre not familiar with. Attribution bias is often seen in conjunction with conformity bias. We see members of our in-group (those we see as part of our own cultural group) in a favorable and forgiving light. If someone from our own in-group makes a mistake, were more likely to give them the benefit of the doubt. Conversely, were likely to be more critical of members of other groups, attributing mistakes as personal shortcomings or failures. While all three types of biases have potential negative consequences, they can be avoided by recognizing common situations and hallmarks. By understanding how biases work and manifest, we can limit the impact they have on our decision making. JORDAN FEYERHERM, Center for Rural Affairs KAANAPALI For almost 15 years, Kimo Falconer and landowner Kaanapali Land Management Corp. have been caring for the coffee orchards that were once part of the old Pioneer Mill operation. Today, nearly 500 acres of coffee fields are thriving on the West Maui Mountains within the premiere agricultural community of Kaanapali Coffee Farms. For Kimo and Kaanapali Land Management Corp., its a dream come true. Thanks to an innovative concept that melds both agriculture and real estate, Kaanapali Coffee Farms is enabling lot owners to have their cake and eat it, too. While property owners enjoy a leisurely lifestyle and, bar none, the most spectacular views on Maui, veteran farmers care for their coffee orchards that reap MauiGrown Coffees exceptional coffee varietals Yellow Caturra, Red Catuai, Typica and Maui Mokka. Demand often exceeds supply, with our coffee varietals selling out each year, shared Kimo about their coffee that is sought by wholesalers and retail customers statewide, on the U.S. Mainland, as well as internationally. Its a nice problem to have, and we are now looking at planting more coffee to meet the demand for our 100% MAUI Origin Coffee. Also experiencing success with a high demand and lack of supply is Kaanapali Coffee Farms. Today, only four estate lots remain available for sale. Those who purchase an estate lot to build their dream home, or as an investment, know the real value of this one-of-a-kind agricultural community. According to Rohn Stark, PB of Platinum Properties Hawaii, the exclusive project broker for the development, The Kaanapali Coffee Farms offers property owners benefits that no other communities can offer. Its an opportunity to purchase a four- to five-acre estate lot with your very own coffee orchard, to live the lifestyle youve always dreamed, and to be part of an agricultural family that is helping to preserve West Mauis agricultural legacy. The fact that youre living on Maui well, that just makes ones purchase even sweeter. For a personal real estate showing of the Kaanapali Coffee Farms community, please call Rohn T. Stark, PB, at (808) 870-5571 or e-mail Rohn@PlatinumPropertiesHI.com. You can also visit www.KaanapaliCoffeeFarms.com and/or like us on Facebook. KAHULUI Kili Namauu, director of Punana Leo o Maui, will be the featured speaker at the Maui Native Hawaiian Chamber of Commerces Annual Meeting slated for 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 12, at the University of Hawaii Maui College Paina Food Court. Following her presentation, the Honorable Boyd Mossman will install the chambers newly elected board and officers for Fiscal Year 2018-19. Namauu has been director of the Hawaiian language immersion preschool Punana Leo o Maui for 25 years. It is one of 13 Hawaii preschools under the direction of ?Aha Punana Leo Inc., an educational nonprofit organization dedicated to the revitalization of the Hawaiian language. The language immersion schools have become a model for early learning in an endangered indigenous language. Punana Leo o Maui was founded in 1987 on the grounds of Kaahumanu Church in Wailuku. The school currently serves 30 children and their families. Punana Leo o Maui is accredited by the World Indigenous Nations Higher Education Consortium and the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Namauu is a member of the National Association for the Education of Young Children and the Hawaiian Agencies and Organizations. Gov. David Ige appointed her to the State Board of Education in July 2017. Indigenous languages around the world are going extinct at an alarming rate, said MNHCoC President Teri Freitas Gorman. People may believe it doesnt personally affect them, but thats just wrong. Each language carries a unique worldview that is transmitted through speech from one generation to the next. There are two official languages in Hawaii, and Kilis work ensures this will always be the case. During the annual dinner event, MNHCoC members will elect a board of directors and officers for the new fiscal year beginning on July 1. Mossman will say a few words about kuleana, or the privilege and responsibility, of community service before the installation ceremony. Judge Mossman is the founding president of MNHCoC, having established the new organization in 2005. He continues to serve as a cherished friend and advisor. Prepaid admission, which includes a traditional Hawaiian dinner, is $25 for members or $30 for non-members. Reserve online at www.mnhcoc.org or pay by phone at (808) 757-3045 by Sunday, June 10. MNHCoCs mission is to promote and sustain Hawaiian values and culture, and enhance the socio-economic status of Native Hawaiians in business and as individuals. Membership is open to anyone with an interest in perpetuating the spirit of aloha through commerce, culture and community. The Maui Native Hawaiian Chamber of Commerce welcomes Hawaiians and Hawaiians at Heart to share in its mission. The latest La Jolla Historical Society (LJHS) exhibit looks at the canyon lands of La Jolla and San Diego, including their wildlife, history and the issues that surround them. Curated by Susan Krzywicki, La Jolla Canyons: Place, Diversity, Connections will be on view June 9 to Sept. 2 at Wisteria Cottage, 780 Prospect St. We spend a lot of time and the community spends a lot of time dealing with issues of the built environment, said LJHS executive director Heath Fox. But integrated in that is the natural environment and topography of San Diego, and one of the prominent features is the canyons. (Krzywicki) has been working very hard over the past couple of years to develop this exhibition to address life in the canyons, animal habitation, geography, geology, and history associated with the canyons. We hope to promote a dialogue within the community with regard to the stewardship of these elements of the natural environment as we continue to think about issues related to the built environment. The exhibit features paintings, pastels, artifacts, taxidermy animals, photos, informative panels, old maps of canyons, voucher specimens (plant specimens picked and carefully pressed), maps of the bathymetric make-up of the underwater canyons offshore, letters from early explorers and scientists, and more. Partners in compiling the exhibition include: The Surfrider Foundation, The San Diego Natural History Museum, San Diego Archeological Center, San Diego Canyonlands and more. Taxidermy, pressed plants and original art round out the Canyons exhibit. (Ashley Mackin-Solomon ) Krzywicki explained: One of the really important things is that our canyon system is unique geographically along the California coast. There is an integration of urbanism and natural elements, which is extremely unusual. To live on the rim of a canyon with wildlife that has been there for millennia, and be able to turn around and look at a skyscraper, is a different viewpoint from what most people experience. To showcase this, an exhibit centerpiece is the partially enclosed, three-walled, walk-through feature with plants along the bottom; photos of native wildflowers (such as the daisy-like California tidy tip) and native bees in the middle; and a panorama of the canyon lands, lined with houses across the top. This is actually Tecolote Canyon, she said. This image at the top is to replicate what it is like to be at the bottom of the canyon, enclosed to be like the sides of a canyon. Its a classic San Diego image, with houses lining the mesa. In other places, maybe Europe, this wouldnt be peoples backyards. There would be a promenade on the edge and the houses on the other side. During a walkthrough ahead of the exhibit opening, Krzywicki also points out the fingers of canyons on an old map that show the extent of canyons across San Diego, and the rates at which the different types of sediment erode. Fox said: This map is so interesting because 99 percent of people think of maps in terms of freeways. But here is a visual of all the canyons and their names going right up the coast. Other exhibition maps date back as far as 1904. In another room, maps and videos showcase the underwater canyons off the La Jolla coast. If you look at what we think is a large canyon above ground, this dwarfs it by comparison, Krzywicki notes. Supplementary artifacts include an underwater camera from the 1950s. Supplementary parts of the exhibit include how fire cycles have changed and their involvement in healthy canyons, road infrastructure development over the years, water runoff issues, wildlife habitation changes, how wildlife is being barcoded and catalogued, and more. Various views of the Torrey Pine: a close-up photo of the tree, a voucher specimen and a barcode of the tree DNA (Ashley Mackin-Solomon ) Also reflecting on the modern state of canyons, one photo shows what a healthy current-day canyon is supposed to look like, and panels also highlight some of the issues with modern canyons, such as the crowding of canyons in urban areas and how invasive species impact natural elements and infrastructure. In connection with the exhibition, two nature walks are scheduled, where participants will get a citizen science data collection kit, hike into local canyons to collect specimens June 30 to Rose Canyon, and July 14 to Kate Sessions. Krzywicki concluded: Our canyons are so close, they dont require a big excursion we have Rose Canyon, Penasquitos, Kate Sessions, La Jolla Shores, ones in the Soledad area, there are several in the area really nearby. We hope to encourage people to find their local canyons and explore. IF YOU GO: La Jolla Canyons: Place, Diversity, Connections is on view June 9 to Sept. 2 at La Jolla Historical Societys Wisteria Cottage Gallery, 780 Prospect St. Public hours: noon to 4 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday. Free. (858) 459-5335. lajollahistory.org Hillel Center sign vandalized A sign at the future site of the Beverly and Joseph Glickman Hillel Center at UC San Diego was vandalized this week with profanity and lettering resembling a swastika. The graffiti was discovered June 4. The Hillel Center has been the source of controversy over the last 20 years, with nearby residents arguing the location was inappropriate for what they called a student center, and proponents called a religious facility. However, the project was approved for construction by the San Diego City Council in October 2017. In a prepared statement, President of Hillel of San Diego Emily Jennewein said: We are deeply disappointed that anyone would vandalize our property with such hateful speech. Unfortunately, bigoted opposition to our plans is not new to us, nor will we let it deter our absolute commitment to building the Glickman Center as soon as possible. Arrest made in Torrey Pines High School threat An adult male suspect was arrested in connection with a threat of violence against Torrey Pines High School last week, which San Diego Police Department reports say also included the possible use of weapons. SDPD was notified of a possible threat around 9:40 p.m.Wednesday, May 30, and in what is being called an abundance of caution, the school was closed the next day. The suspect made threats to Torrey Pines High School students using the social media platform Instagram. These threats included the image of a firearm, an expressed desire to end his own life and the lives of others. In the course of the investigation into the threat, police determined it came from a former student and at 1:05 p.m. May 31, police arrested a 21-year-old suspect at his home in the Point Loma area. The suspect was arrested without incident and later booked in to San Diego County Central Jail for one count of 422 PC-Criminal Threats (Felony). The suspect was not in possession of a weapon at the time of arrest. Investigation into his access to weapons continues. Northwestern Investigations will continue to lead this case. Police Blotter May 20 Open container in park, 6900 block Neptune Place, 2:53 a.m. May 24 Fraud, 500 block Fern Glen, 5:30 a.m. May 25 Vehicle break-in/theft, 6400 block Cardeno Drive, 1:44 p.m. Grand theft (over $950), 1200 block Coast Blvd., 3:30 p.m. Commercial burglary, 7600 block Girard Ave., 5:30 p.m. DUI, alcohol, 800 block Archer St., 9:35 p.m. May 26 Fraud, 700 block La Canada, noon Vehicle break-in/theft, 5100 block La Jolla Blvd., noon May 28 Misdemeanor vandalism, 8100 block Camino Del Oro, 3 a.m. Petty theft, 8300 block La Vereda, 9 a.m. May 29 Battery of elder/dependent adult (details to be reported in a future issue), 2500 block Torrey Pines Road, midnight Residential burglary, 7800 block El Paseo Grande, 3:47 a.m. Grand theft, 2800 block Torrey Pines Scenic Drive, 10 a.m. Vehicle break-in/theft, 600 block Arenas St., 11 p.m. May 30 Petty theft, 8700 block Villa La Jolla Drive, 5:30 p.m. Vehicle break-in/theft, 600 block Bonair Way, 9 p.m. May 31 Vandalism ($400 or more), 8400 block Cliffridge Ave., 2:30 a.m. Grand theft, 1200 block Coast Blvd., 4:30 p.m. June 1 Disorderly conduct: Alcohol, 8600 block Villa La Jolla Drive, 4:44 p.m. Misdemeanor vandalism, 7300 block Cuvier St., 6 p.m. June 2 Vehicle break-in/theft, 2700 block Bordeaux Ave., 1:11 a.m. Residential burglary, 2700 block Glenwick Place, 3:15 a.m. Petty theft, 2500 block Calle del Oro, 10 a.m. Minor in possession of alcohol, 300 block Dunemere Drive, 12:54 p.m. Vehicle theft, Marine Street, 4 p.m. Battery with serious injury (details to be reported in a future issue), 1500 block Alta La Jolla Drive, 5 p.m. Vehicle break-in/theft, 700 block Fern Glen, 6:30 p.m. Vehicle break-in/theft, 300 block Palomar Ave., 10:05 p.m. June 3 Vehicle break-in/theft, 5500 block Taft Ave., 2:08 a.m. Disorderly conduct, alcohol, 800 block Coast Blvd., 2:31 p.m. Vehicle break-in/theft, 900 block Sapphire St., 10:30 p.m. Compiled by Ashley Mackin-Solomon Although it was not the path he set out on, in hindsight, incoming Muirlands Middle School principal Geof Martin was seemingly preordained for his new post. He starts in August and succeeds Harlan Klein, who will make the move to The Bishops School as its Head of Middle School. A native San Diegan, Martin and his wife Nancy (a teacher at the La Jolla Methodist Church preschool) have two grown children, Ryan and Kyle, who both attended Bird Rock Elementary, Muirlands Middle, and La Jolla High schools. Every principal I worked with asked me if I wanted to be a principal, I always said no, Martin told La Jolla Light. He said he started in business, right out of high school, and worked his way up through a linen company, never even considering a career in education until his children were born. He got his teaching credential and in 1993 started teaching science at Pershing Middle School in San Carlos. After 10 years: I had a chance to work with a curriculum development project at San Diego States Center for Research in Math and Science Education, he explained. And I really got a chance to see what teaching and learning was really about. How do you engage kids? How do you stimulate their interests? How do you provide them with opportunities to gather information and draw conclusions? From there, he joined a middle school leadership team and collaborated on a three-year project called the National Academy for Curriculum Leadership, under the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) in Colorado Springs. BSCS was one of the studies that was founded in the late 50s in response to Sputnik. There was this big push to make math and science education stronger in the United States so we could compete globally. BSCS developed this National Academy for Curriculum Leadership, which looks at how systems change and what is a high-quality curriculum, and how to analyze instructional material. We worked on identifying and implementing the inquiry-based science curriculum that is built upon the cycle of how kids learn. He added, In the middle of that work, I saw the opportunity to really change things on a wider scale, not just the kids in my class, but as an administrator. As an administrator, he was part of the team that converted Keiller Middle School in Encanto into a charter school The Keiller Leadership Academy, where he served as vice-principal for two years. He was recruited by BSCS to promote National Academy for Curriculum Leadership efforts across the country. It was good work, but it was hard to be away from home and away from the energy of the school, he said. He returned to San Diego as a vice-principal at Monroe Clark Middle School in City Heights for one year. After a year, the district drew a line in the sand when it came to budget issues. One of the big changes was reducing the number of (and moving) vice-principals. I had worked with the principal of Pershing Middle School when I was a teacher there. She invited me to come over, so I went over there for three years as a vice-principal, he said. From there, Martin moved to Sandburg Elementary in Mera Mesa, where he remained principal for the last seven years. For me, the intention of being a vice-principal was not to be a vice-principal, but to become a principal ... to develop skill sets to help me understand what it means to lead a school and be successful. A longtime resident of La Jolla albeit on the edge of La Jolla/Pacific Beach Martin said he looks forward to working closer to home, and in an engaged community. The big thing that leads to a successful school is how a community supports itself. The more parents participate, the stronger it is for kids. For me, it is fundamental to build those relationships, be involved and communicate with people, he said. As educators, we must understand how every child is different and meet their needs and help them grow; education is such a critical part of our society. I think sometimes we take education for granted, what it is and what it does, and how important it is. Of the changing of the guard, current Muirlands principal Klein said: Im confident that Geof has the experience, leadership qualities and, most of all, the passion for supporting students, staff and the community to be successful in this new principal position. His familiarity with both elementary and middle school environments will be tremendously helpful. Well be working together on transition plans and hell be involved as much as possible before school lets out for students and faculty. I wish Geof success and joy at Muirlands. He should feel proud. To teach the next generation of Girl Scouts the essentials needed to rough-it while camping, La Jolla Scouts in Troop 4110 (aka Awesome Central) recently took 22 Brownie Troops on a camping trip to show them the ropes. Troop 4110 is comprised of 10 sixth-grade girls from The Bishops School, Muirlands Middle School, The Gillipsie School and The Childrens School. These Scouts, and their 6- to 8-year-old counterparts, journeyed to Oakoasis in Lakeside the weekend of May 18-20 to explore nature art, tent set-up, campfire safety, Scout songs and skits, local animals, team-building games, and hiking day-packs. Gillispie School Scout Lexi Gallo explained that her Troop arrived in the afternoon with one of the Brownie groups to set up the tents, take a long hike and make dinner. The next morning, we prepared breakfast together and the other Brownie Troop arrived, she said. It had a lot more kids than the group we had, but we were prepared. As they arrived, we set up the skill stations and activities. The Brownies would go from station to station. At the end, they got a completion sticker. Each Awesome Central girl was tasked with teaching one outdoor skill. Muirlands Scout Kirra Fisk taught fire-making and safety a skill she learned through Scouting when she was younger. You have to be careful about your surroundings, make sure there are no branches above that could catch fire, or dead leaves or grass around. You have to make sure the fire cant spread, she advised. Brownie Scouts show off their free-standing log teepee, as part of the fire-making and safety course. Ashley Mackin-Solomon To make the lesson more fun for younger Scouts, Fisk said she made up games, including timing them to see who could make a teepee structure out of logs the fastest. I knew I had to do more than just stand there and talk, she said. We thought if the younger Scouts really enjoyed learning and camping, they would go camping more often and teach other girls about it. Its important for boys and girls to learn outdoor skills. Asha Postins of The Childrens School developed the animal identification activity. I taught the Brownies about the different kinds of animals in the area, and when we went on a hike, we played animal Bingo. They would spot an animal and mark it on the board. That way, if they were to go on another camping trip, they would know about the animals around them, she said. Asha said she goes camping with her family but this trip was much more special because of the leadership skills she developed and time spent cooking with her fellow Scouts. I learned that we had to stick with what we were doing, because there were times when the Brownies didnt want to do an activity ... but by the end, they enjoyed it, Asha said. Plus, we had a chef on hand who helped us make dinner, so we learned how to chop vegetables and work together to make burritos. Lexi was in charge of arts and crafts. She instructed the Brownies to collect leaves, twigs and other nature bits to glue to a wooden plaque. I love teaching and hanging out with younger kids and I love doing art, so this matched up perfectly, she said. And while enjoying herself was something she expected, the unexpected also occurred. I knew these kids were younger than me, so I didnt expect to make friends with them, but I did, Lexi said. When we went on the hike, everyone was talking and encouraging each other, there were no cliques. And singing songs around the campfire was so much fun! When asked if they would do it again, all three said: Definitely! Conrad Ricamora and Francis Jue in "Soft Power." Photo by Craig Schwartz. For years I've taken pokes at Center Theatre Group for not producing enough plays that are set in its home town. So I can't let spring pass into summer without cheerfully acknowledging that during two weeks in May, two of CTG's three main stages were occupied by plays mostly set in or around the Los Angeles area: "Soft Power" at the Ahmanson Theatre and "Die, Mommie, Die!," a Celebration Theatre production that recently closed CTG's Block Party at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. Part of "Soft Power," which plays through Sunday at the Ahmanson, is actually set at the Music Center, within a few steps of where its audiences are watching it. Not that its subject is hyper-local. "Soft Power" is hyper-international. It's about the relationship between the decline of America's democracy and the rise of China's dictatorship. But if that description makes it sound like a think-piece for the LA Times op-ed page, think again. Most op-ed pieces aren't nearly as funny as "Soft Power." This satirical "play with a musical" is the most audacious production that CTG has nurtured since Michael Ritchie took over CTG a dozen years ago. It has received a formidable advertising campaign, by theater standards. But if you haven't seen "Soft Power," your sense of it might be a bit hazy, because its narrative is...complicated. It begins in LA in 2016. DHH (Francis Jue), a Chinese-American character named after the show's own writer and lyricist David Henry Hwang, is meeting with Chinese film executive Xue Xing (Conrad Ricamora). Xue is hoping to enlist DHH in the creation of scripts that might help China extend its "soft power" to more American as well as Chinese screens. The two of them, plus Xue's American girlfriend Zoe (Alyse Alan Louis), attend a performance of "The King and I" at the Music Center. There, Xue encounters Hillary Clinton (also Louis), who's raising money in LA for her effort to win the presidency. We all know how well that went. Soon after Clinton's surprising defeat in the presidential election, DHH is the victim of a knifing near his home in Brooklyn - an event that mirrors a real-life crime against Hwang that occurred in 2015. In the hospital and presumably under the influence of medication, DHH hallucinates a Chinese-made musical about Xue and Hillary Clinton. The story of this hallucinated musical-within-the play reflects aspects of "The King and I," but it's told from a future Chinese perspective. In it, the Xue character encounters a stereotyped version of 2016 America but somehow begins a chaste romance with, yes, the Hillary Clinton character -- as Anna did with the King of Siam in the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic, which is set in the 1860s. Got that so far? The structure of "Soft Power" is so surprising and innovative that, as with the experience of seeing "Hamilton" for the first time, it helps to begin with a little advance knowledge. Another way to prepare for the style and mood of "Soft Power" would be to watch the delightful two-part YOMYOMF production of Hwang's "Yellow Face" on YouTube, based on the Hwang play that premiered at CTG's Mark Taper Forum in 2007. While its focus is less about China and more about the representation of Asians and Asian-Americans in the theater, it shares with "Soft Power" a breezy, ironic style, a plot point involving "The King and I" and a character named DHH, after the playwright. Leigh Silverman, who directed the premiere of "Yellow Face" at the Taper, is also directing the premiere of "Soft Power" at the Ahmanson. One thing that "Soft Power" has that "Yellow Face" lacks is a brilliantly eclectic original score by Jeanine Tesori, the composer who was most recently represented at the Music Center with "Fun Home" and whose first breakthrough (but lesser) musical "Violet" is currently in a revival by Actors Co-op in Hollywood. Tesori's music provides Ricamora and Louis with potentially star-making moments, which they perform with a pizazz that seems destined for awards. But even apart from the leads, how could I resist a score that so pithily and wittily expresses my own frustration with that peculiar but increasingly powerful institution, the Electoral College? LA on smaller stages Los Angeles is also the setting of several non-musical plays currently playing in our small theaters. Of these, the most ambitious project is a trilogy by Tom Jacobson that was inspired by the history of the Bimini Baths, a hot-springs-based spa. From 1903 to 1951, it occupied a spot in what is now the northeast part of Koreatown, on 2nd Street just east of Vermont. Three separate companies are simultaneously producing the trilogy's components. Son of Semele opened "Plunge" first, not far from the Bimini site. It was followed by Rogue Machine's production of "Mexican Day." Playwrights Arena is scheduled to open the third play, "Tar," on Saturday. Jully Lee and Jonathan Medina in "Mexican Day." Photo by John Perrin Flynn. "Mexican Day" is the better of the two plays that are already open. In 1948, the Japanese-American reporter and short-story writer Hisaye Yamamoto instigates a protest against Bimini's "Mexican Day" policy, which prohibited non-whites from entering the baths until the day just before the dirty water was cleaned. Staged by Jeff Liu (who also happens to be the director of the YouTube version of "Yellow Face," mentioned above), the play is a lively account of how activists from different communities unite to fight a common foe. Jacobson added the character of the African-American and gay activist Bayard Rustin, who was active in such protests at the time, to the Bimini protest, although the playwright hasn't confirmed that Rustin was actually there. The character of Everett Maxwell, who was the real-life founding curator of LA's Museum of History, Science and Art (the precursor of more than one of today's LA museums), appears in "Mexican Day" as a hesitant helper in the cause and, more than 30 years earlier, in "Plunge" as a man who loses his big museum job because he molested teenagers. It's one of two intertwining stories about men who molest teenagers in "Plunge." One of the victims, a Mexican-American kid fictitiously named Zenobio Remedios, appears in all three of the plays, at different ages, played by three different actors. The problem with "Plunge" is that it becomes somewhat confusing, as two separate stories are combined, with all of the characters played by only two actors. In "Mexican Day," four actors play small roles in addition to their main characters, but the "Mexican Day" quartet maintains a sense of clarity. For a small-theater play set in contemporary LA, I recommend "Forever Bound," by Steve Apostolina. It begins as a comedy set in the seldom-dramatized world of LA's struggling rare-book dealers. But then it transforms into something more serious, although its concerns are still related to the theme of people who love their books. The plot twist is too surprising for me to spoil. But director Ann Hearn Tobolowsky and Apostolina engender eye-opening suspense as well as laughs, with the help of a sensational cast -- French Stewart, Emily Goss and Rob Nagle as well as Apostolina himself. It's at Atwater Village Theatre. Finally, a few words about "Bordertown Now," at Pasadena Playhouse. This Culture Clash collage is a somewhat updated version of a 20-year-old show based on interviews about border issues, newly staged by CTG's associate artistic director Diane Rodriguez. The three permanent members of Culture Clash -- Richard Montoya, Ricardo Salinas and Herbert Siguenza -- are joined by Sabina Zuniga Varela, the actress who was so powerful in Luis Alfaro's "Mojada" at the Getty Villa. She adds a dash of welcome variety to the otherwise all-male trio. "Bordertown Now" starts strong. But it gradually loses much of its momentum and power, as jokes and possibly obscure references outnumber and sometimes undermine fresh insights. On the spectrum of recent Culture Clash productions, it's better than "SAPO" at the Getty Villa but not as good as "Culture Clash: An American Odyssey" at LATC's Encuentro festival. Parts of the "Bordertown Now" script refer to events from the past year. But other than a one-line reference to a quote from Jeff Sessions, there is no attempt to dramatize the currently tender topic of the government's new detention policy of separating children from their parents. When Montoya plays the nearly 86-year-old ex-Sheriff Joe Arpaio. he looks and moves like Jon Stewart more than he looks like Arpaio. And his Arpaio doesn't even refer to the fact that since January he has been busily running for Jeff Flake's Arizona Senate seat against two Republican women -- unless you count a hasty "Arpaio for Congress!" line that appears to have been tacked on at the end of a scene. The second word in the title "Bordertown Now" needs a little more attention. Nikol Pashinyan: We did not say that if it is the program of the RPA, so it should be automatically rejected (video) At the extraordinary session of the National Assembly today, asking a question to the Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) member Khosrov Harutyunyan noticed: "I am giving you friendly advice: do not reserve the management of the investments to the National Security Service (NSS), it's my advice. I welcome your approach to the mandatory funded system. However, I did not see a provision that refers to the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) or Tsarukyan faction program provisions. That is, do you only share the responsibility of the government program?" In response, Nikol Pashinyan asked not to use KGB term for the NSS. "It could have been six months ago when all the cabinets had a photo of Felix Derdjinski. There are programs of Tsarukyan and ARF political forces and they will be in our view," said the Prime Minister and added, "Naturally, the government will discuss the provisions of these two political forces, and why not the provisions of the RPA program, for example, with the cumulative system. We did not say that if it is the program of the RPA, so it should be automatically rejected." Khosrov Harutyunyan responded by saying that it is not about him, but foreign investors are negative about NSS. Nikol Pashinyan stated: "The composition of the government has been formed on the basis of the distribution of power in the society rather than on the number of forces represented in the National Assembly and the responsibility is on the team that carried out a non-violent, velvety, democratic revolution." 15 MPs were registered for the performance. Roughly 1.25 million Americans have Type 1 diabetes, so chances are you know somebody whose pancreas is taking the worlds longest lunch break. That person may be you. As it happens, there has never been a better time to have this chronic disease not because its anything youd wish on another person, but because medical technology has advanced to the point where managing the disorder has never been easier. Scratch that. It still isnt easy (Im Type 1 myself). But compared to where were coming from, these are exciting developments. For the last few weeks, Ive been testing a variety of new diabetes-related gizmos, with enough things stuck to my body to make me feel like a voodoo doll. Advertisement I had high hopes for the Medtronic 670G insulin pump coupled with the companys SmartGuard technology. Its billed as the worlds first hybrid closed loop system, which means a continuous glucose monitor is interacting with the pump, automatically telling it to raise or lower your insulin doses depending on your blood sugar level. My verdict: Its impressive, but not yet ready for prime time. More on that in a moment. First, lets talk about the G6 continuous glucose monitor, or CGM, from San Diegos Dexcom. The new sensors and transmitters started shipping out to patients this week. Ive been wearing the G6 for about a month. This is, put simply, an extraordinary step forward in diabetes care. Id used the G4 and G5 versions of the sensor for years. The G6 makes them seem primitive by comparison. It doesnt hurt, which is a big deal. I jab my fingers for blood samples multiple times daily, but by far the most painful part of the regimen has been inserting the Dexcom CGM into my abdomen every week or two, depending on how long I could make the sensor last. With the G6, no pain. If you have kids with Type 1, this is a game changer. The sensor and transmitter have a flatter profile, making them more comfortable to wear and sleep with. But heres the real breakthrough: No more finger sticks. Dexcom and the Food and Drug Administration say the G6 is so accurate right out of the box, theres no need to calibrate it two or three times a day, as had been the case with the G4 and G5. I wont go that far. After approaching the no-finger-sticks thing with a good deal of wariness, I found that its still smart to calibrate first thing in the morning, just to make sure your numbers for the day will be on the mark. After that, you can trust the CGM to provide accurate blood-sugar readings for insulin doses. For the uninitiated, managing Type 1 diabetes is all about data. You need to know your blood sugar at any given moment highs and lows can be troublesome if not downright dangerous and you need to count carbs for meals and snacks to determine insulin doses. Type 1 is the autoimmune, frequently genetic version of the disease. Its nowhere near as common as Type 2, which is the version typically associated with obesity. Almost 30 million Americans are Type 2 Not only is the G6 painless and highly accurate, it has Bluetooth capability, which means it can feed your numbers into your smartphone for easier access. If you have an iPhone, those numbers in turn can be transmitted from the phone to an Apple Watch. As Ive written before, being able to see your sugar level with a flick of your wrist is hugely empowering. Theres been no official announcement yet from Dexcom or Apple, but Im hearing that when the next iteration of the Apple Watch operating system comes out in September, it will allow the G6 to send data directly to the watch. That means youll no longer need to carry your iPhone as an intermediary. This can make activities like going to the gym, bike riding and hiking a lot more manageable. Im hearing as well, but again not officially, that Fitbit smartwatches also will have Dexcom functionality after September, at a price point well below the Apple Watch. On the downside, Dexcom has programmed each G6 sensor to shut down after 10 days of use and you cant restart it. Theres a medical reason for that: The body naturally rejects foreign objects, and the sensors effectiveness declines as your body tries to get rid of the part under your skin. However, past versions of the Dexcom sensor allowed you to keep using it until it went kaput, which usually took about two weeks. Then youd insert a new one in a different spot. With the G6, Dexcom is resorting to planned obsolescence as a business model, requiring more frequent replacements. As for the Medtronic 670G, I went into the test with high hopes. I already wear the pump, so it was a matter of also using the companys Guardian sensor and creating the hybrid closed loop. Medtronics sensor is pretty accurate not as spot-on as Dexcoms, but not so far off. A check of my blood sugar typically would show that the Dexcom G6 was within just a point or two of the meter reading. The Medtronic Guardian might be off by 10 to 15 points. Close enough. My hesitancy about the system relates more to the cumbersome nature of the sensor. It takes a dozen steps to insert it into your body and get it up and running (the G6 takes three). Both the Medtronic and Dexcom sensors stick to the skin with adhesive backs. With Dexcom, you then click the transmitter into place and it stays put. But in an inexplicable design flaw, the Medtronic sensors transmitter has to be separately fastened to the skin with not one but two pieces of itchy, irritating tape. If you dont use the tape and I asked theres a good chance the transmitter will fall off your body. God knows what Medtronics R&D folk were thinking. Another strange decision: When you go into robopump mode, you lose the ability to extend insulin doses to accommodate high-fat or high-carb meals, such as pizza. In manual mode, theres whats known as a dual-wave bolus that allows you to fine-tune doses to reflect different foods or circumstances. The closed-loop robopump theoretically handles that itself, but I found that if I ate a bunch of cookies or crackers, Id have enormous spikes in my sugar levels. That wasnt as much of a problem when I could control doses myself. Neither the 670G nor the Guardian sensor are Bluetooth-equipped, so you cant feed numbers into a phone or smartwatch; you have to keep checking the screen on the pump. Im told upcoming versions of Medtronics gear will have Bluetooth, but theres no word on when they may be released. In the best of all worlds, the Dexcom sensor would work with all pumps, but that of course is asking for too much. Medical-device makers, their eye ever on the bottom line, want you to be monogamous. This much is clear, though: Technology for diabetes management is advancing at a dizzying pace. Within a few years, its fair to say, tools will exist that will greatly lower ones odds of experiencing serious complications from the disease. Getting insurers to cover all this whiz-bang gear? Thats another story. 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. Amid the uproar over Facebooks admission that it shared user data with Chinese device makers is an undercurrent of tension between the United States and China over technological dominance. Not only was Facebook passing previously undisclosed personal information to other companies, but also one of the dozens of firms involved was Huawei, a Chinese firm flagged by U.S. intelligence officials as a national security risk because of its alleged ties to Chinas government. The response in Washington after Facebook divulged the partnerships late Tuesday was swift and predictable. If Facebook granted Huawei special access to social data of Americans, [it] might as well have given it directly to the government of China, tweeted Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). Advertisement Facebooks latest controversy stems from a New York Times report published Sunday that said the social network gave data on users and their friends to at least 60 device makers. The companies included Apple, Samsung and BlackBerry. But it was the inclusion of Huawei among the list of firms that drew the most ire, making a bad situation worse for Facebook and underscoring the inevitable conflict with China as the two countries race to produce the most advanced and coveted tech products. Six of the top 10 internet companies in the world are American and the remaining four are Chinese. That has spurred healthy competition but also deep-rooted mistrust. The U.S.-China tech relationship is more fraught than ever, and its raising fears that the two sides are barreling toward greater conflict as Beijing remains determined to become self-sufficient in technology. Experts say its imperative that the two sides dial down the tension. Given that virtually all the worlds biggest tech companies hail from either the United States or China, the global economy could suffer a major setback if the sides cant cooperate, leading to a bifurcated market. All the trends indicate that any moderation in the relationship is not happening anytime soon and that things will only get worse, said Tai Ming Cheung, a China expert at the Institute of Global Conflict and Cooperation at UC San Diego. In March, the Trump administration blocked a takeover bid of San Diego chipmaker Qualcomm by Singapores Broadcom over fears that the United States would cede ground to China in the development of 5G mobile technology. Last month, the White House said it would introduce new limits on Chinese investment in U.S. technology and announced tariffs on Chinese imports of goods linked to Beijings Made in China 2025 initiative, a national program designed to upgrade Chinas technological prowess. The developments follow punishing stances against Huawei and fellow Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE. In May, the Pentagon banned the sale of Huawei and ZTE devices to the military. AT&T also canceled a plan to sell Huawei phones. Best Buy, too, said it would stop offering devices made by Huawei, Chinas largest smartphone maker. ZTE was on the brink of shutting down after the Trump administration banned it from purchasing from U.S. suppliers after it violated sanctions against North Korea and Iran. A preliminary deal is in place to reverse the ban. China has shown no signs of backing down despite the White Houses confrontational approach. President Xi Jinping reiterated his countrys commitment to the Made in China 2025 program in a speech last week, saying: Self-determination and innovation is the unavoidable path. Complicating the tensions is how much U.S. and Chinese companies rely on each other. The global supply chain for electronic components and devices, for example, is so complex that any unraveling could spell massive pain for corporations and consumers alike. What if China chose to retaliate against the closure of ZTE by preventing Apple from building iPhones in China? While extreme, experts say Beijing and Washington are veering toward more punitive measures. China is fearful of America dominating all facets of advanced technology to its detriment. And the United States is fed up with Beijing shutting out foreign tech to protect its own while insisting on technology transfers for companies wanting to do business in China. Cheung said the two sides are hemmed in by mutual distrust. Revelations of mass U.S. government surveillance in the wake of the 2013 Edward Snowden scandal still weigh deeply on Beijing. Its one of the reasons China has forced companies such as Apple to store local data on Chinese-based servers. Moreover, Cheung said Chinas definition of national security extends further than Americas to include social stability. Its why social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook remain banned. Even outside China, Americas dominance is not assured. Washingtons ability to dictate the direction of the global tech order is limited by two things, said James Lewis, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. First, no U.S. company makes the full range of 5G equipment necessary to build out the nations infrastructure meaning they may have to turn to the very companies that are cited as national security risks. American companies will face increasing pressure to buy from Huawei and ZTE, Lewis said. Second, China and the European Union are taking the lead on regulating privacy and data sharing, which could set a global standard outside the United States for how Silicon Valley giants such as Facebook and Google must behave. Were not in the drivers seat anymore, Lewis said. For Facebook, the Huawei tie-up is another headache for the embattled social network, which is still facing fallout from the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Facebook on Wednesday defended its sharing of data, saying such arrangements were common before smartphones featured mobile apps. It and Huawei denied that any data had been misused. We want to make clear that all the information from these integrations with Huawei was stored on the device, not on Huaweis servers, Francisco Varela, vice president of Facebook mobile partnerships, said in a statement. Varela added that Facebook has already ended 30 of its partnerships with device makers, including with Huawei. david.pierson@latimes.com Twitter: @dhpierson L.A. Times theater critic Charles McNulty said the performance in The Iceman Cometh was revelatory. The New York Times wrote that it was a center-of-gravity turn, equal parts joyful and heartbreaking. Denzel Washington, in an ordinary year, would be a favorite for the Tony Award for lead actor in a play. But this is no ordinary year. Washington finds himself competing against similarly acclaimed performances by Andrew Garfield (Angels in America), Tom Hollander (Travesties) and three-time Tony winner Mark Rylance (Farinelli and the King). And the least known actor in the running, Jamie Parker, comes attached to the most decorated new play of the year, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Advertisement TONY CONTENDERS: Lauren Ambrose on a new voice for My Fair Lady Still, when the lights go up at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, Washington may be the best Tony hope for director George C. Wolfes revival of Eugene ONeills sodden masterpiece. The production is nominated for eight awards and will face the powerhouse revival of Tony Kushners Angels in America, the likely winner in several of those categories, including revival of a play, director and featured actor. (That last race is another crowded field, with David Morse of Iceman nominated alongside frontrunner Nathan Lane of Angels in America, Michael Cera and Brian Tyree Henry for Lobby Hero and newcomer Anthony Boyle, a scene stealer in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.) Critical praise for Washingtons performance in the role of Theodore Hickey Hickman, a reformed alcoholic proselytizing to a rag-tag team of the worlds weary in a downtown Manhattan saloon, however, has been prolific. If Washington can pull off the win, it will be his second Tony eight years after he won in the same category for playing immovable patriarch Troy Maxson in August Wilsons Fences. The Iceman Cometh Total Tony nominations: 8 Other key races: Lighting design jessica.gelt@latimes.com @jessicagelt You take the helm of a play with near-universal regard as a masterpiece, a Pulitzer winner that picked up seven Tony Awards its first time on Broadway. No pressure, right? Marianne Elliott, the British director behind the revival of Angels in America, clearly welcomes a challenge. With a staging that feels at once spare and full of life, Elliotts National Theatre production first in London, now in New York has been wringing adjectives from critics: vivid, funny, elegant, clever, striking, enthralling. Elliott has spoken about the pull of Tony Kushners epic tale of Reagan-era America, about how the glorious journey begins as a domestic drama and unfolds into a viscerally political, stunningly surreal, angel-crashing-through-ceiling spectacle worthy of its subtitle, A Gay Fantasia on National Themes. Advertisement Andrew Garfield with Beth Malone as the Angel in Angels in America on Broadway. (Brinkhoff-Moegenburg ) TONY CONTENDERS: Lauren Ambrose on finding a new voice for My Fair Lady Steering such a complicated mix has put Elliott in contention for the Tony for direction of a play. Its a tough category that also includes John Tiffany, who worked pure wizardry into Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and Joe Mantello, who led the critically lauded production of Three Tall Women thats breaking house box-office records over at the Golden Theatre. Tony voters have proved an affinity for Elliotts work, though. She has two previous wins for War Horse and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, making her the only female director with that distinction. The subject of gender is inevitable in a year when both director categories have just one female nominee Elliott in the play category, Tina Landau of SpongeBob SquarePants in the musical category. If Elliott and Landau win on Sunday, they will mark only the third time in the 72-year history of the Tony Awards that both winning directors were women. In fact, the total number of winning female directors across all years can be counted on two hands. TONY CONTENDERS: Lindsay Mendez rides Carousel to a nomination In a Times interview last year, when the Curious Incident tour came to L.A., Elliott said she didnt get into directing until her late 20s. In her youth, she said, she assumed directors had to be men. But once she got into the field, she was all in. For Angels, her team worked for a year and a half before rehearsals even started, she said. There are 76 scenes which required very specific and different settings and aesthetics, and it was absolutely daunting, she told told writer Barbara Isenberg. And it wasnt just the amount of time that Angels required. It was the sheer intellectual and emotional commitment of Kushners work. The writing is so powerful that by mere osmosis you take it in, she said. It is full of anxiety, paranoia, desperation, terrible isolation and doom. An impossible task? I suppose there is something enticing about the impossible, she said. Angels in America Total Tony nominations: 11 Other key races: Revival of a play, featured actor in a play (Nathan Lane as Roy Cohn), featured actress in a play (Denise Gough as Harper) See all of our latest arts news and reviews at latimes.com/arts. Students to see "Colorful Bulgaria" until end of June There is a Bulgarian atmosphere at the Yerevan State University (YSU), the works of famous photographer Vladislav Tsvetkov are decorating the university library. The exhibition under the heading "Colorful Bulgaria" presents the traditions and sights of the Balkan solar country. "Sirni Zagovezdi" is presented in one of them, which is celebrated 7 weeks before the Easter. According to the tradition, young people are asking for forgiveness for their sins, the participants wear masks, then the celebration goes on at home. The other one is "Horo Kalofer." The Ice Horon is a common custom in the city of Kaloero, which performs men in the cold waters of the Tundzha River. "Colorful Bulgaria" exhibition is dedicated to the Bulgarian Chairmanship of the Council of Europe. "The purpose of the exhibition is to present today's Bulgaria in Yerevan with its diverse backgrounds, our rich history, the people, as well as the long way through which Bulgaria has passed to democracy," said Maria Pavlova, Ambassador of Bulgaria to the Republic of Armenia. RA Deputy Minister of Culture Nazeni Gharibyan touched upon the Armenian-Bulgarian friendship. "The cultural ties between our people begin from the medieval period, and I am convinced that they will continue to be sustained." Students of YSU have almost a month to see "Colorful Bulgaria", the exhibition will be open until the end of June. When director Michael Arden suggested to Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty that he helm a revival of their 1990 musical, Once on This Island, he said battles had to be waged on multiple fronts. The original had been a pastoral and sweet telling of a fable set in the French Antilles of Ti Moune, a poor young orphan who tragically falls in love with a rich aristocrat of a lighter skin color. Ardens vision was a bit uglier, harsher and risky, a bustling post-hurricane world created out of the detritus of devastation. To boot, there would be gender fluidity among the gods who make Ti Moune a pawn in their cosmic bet as to whether love is greater than death. They were shocked at first, Arden said. It didnt come without people butting heads. They trusted me, but they were probably nervous right up to opening night. Lyricist Ahrens and composer Flaherty, the team behind Ragtime and the hit Anastasia, neednt have worried. Once on This Island opened to rave notices and has been nominated for eight Tony Awards, including direction. Jesse Greens review in the New York Times praised the ravishing and chaotic beauty in Ardens immersive staging, which included a goat in diapers wandering the cluttered and sand-bedecked stage. Advertisement Alex Newell, Lea Salonga and Merle Dandridge in Once on This Island at the Circle in the Square Theatre, where the audience rings a stage covered in sand. (Joan Marcus ) TONY CONTENDERS: Lauren Ambrose on a new voice for My Fair Lady Im interested in peoples relationship to objects, so I think a lot of my work is very tactile, said Arden, 35, who also was nominated for his ebullient 2015 revival of Spring Awakening. I want to create an environment that actors can be really free in. Among his many inspirations was a trip to Haiti, still recovering from a 2010 earthquake. He found resilient people determined to live the best lives they could within their circumstances, without self-pity or victimhood. I met a group called the Artists of the Resistance that build sculptures and art out of the debris of the Earth, he said. Id have never thought to use rubber tires to create cutouts for a shadow play. Sometimes, disaster can inspire ingenuity. TONY CONTENDERS: Lindsay Mendez rides Carousel to a nomination As an actor he starred as Tom Sawyer in the title role of Deaf Wests 2003 revival of Big River and The Times They Are A-Changin in 2006 Arden said he can use a shorthand with his cast. No role was more critical than Ti Moune, and the director was determined to find someone very young. Hailey Kilgore, 18, won him over. I could see her heart in the audition, he recalled. There was so much honesty and truth, innocence and strength about her. You could imagine her growing from a child into a woman who could forgive and end the cycle of retribution at the heart of this story. Once on This Island Total Tony nominations: 8 Other key races: Musical revival, lead actress in a musical (Hailey Kilgore) See all of our latest arts news and reviews at latimes.com/arts. With abject fear and a large notebook full of blank pages. That is how Steven Hoggett describes the way he approached the daunting task of adapting the Harry Potter phenomenon to the stage along with director John Tiffany, his longtime collaborator, and playwright Jack Thorne. If I can imagine it already, then Im probably going to be bored, said the British-born choreographer and movement director. Fear is obviously a good motivator. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was a staggering critical and commercial success when it premiered in London last year, earning a record-breaking nine Olivier Awards. Now the show has been nominated for 10 Tony Awards, including a choreography nod for Hoggett, his fourth after Once, Rocky and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Advertisement TONY CONTENDERS: Lauren Ambrose on a new voice for My Fair Lady Like that last production, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is not a musical, though the five-hour, two-part epic plays like one. To Imogen Heaps evocative score, Hoggett puts bodies in seemingly constant motion, often astride dancing staircases. The performers swirl around the vast stage in cloaks and capes, making and remaking stage pictures in coordinated dance moves while brandishing props, including imaginatively used suitcases and, yes, wands. However, for all the special effects, it is the simple use of stagecraft that tells the story of Albus Potter, the middle child of Harry and Ginny, who time-travels to correct the mistakes of the past. Hoggetts movement choreography proves that theatrical legerdemain doesnt require fancy hydraulics, as Times critic Charles McNulty wrote in his review. Indeed, the choreographer says the cloaks, designed by Katrina Lindsay, gave him the first clue. It was only then I had confidence the show could move in a smooth trajectory without blackouts or stops or starts, he says. I love when a company are the gears and mechanisms of the show. Thats how you become a true ensemble, connected to each other and to the audience. Steven Hoggett (Jenny Anderson ) TONY CONTENDERS: Lindsay Mendez rides Carousel to a nomination Another inspiration this time for the fascistic tableaux in the court of Voldemort came from an unlikely source: the New Zealand national rugby team. At the start of each game, the players do a version of the haka, an indigenous dance of the Maoris. They do this sequence on the pitch to scare the [hell] out of their opponents. We didnt want to do anything military, because wed done that before, the choreographer said, referring to the previous Hoggett-Tiffany collaboration Black Watch. Its unorthodox in style and feeling but right because its all about physical intimidation and ritual. We played a lot with ritual, he adds. What is it? And how does it look onstage? If Hoggett scores a victory in this category dominated by musicals, he will become the first winner to hail from a play in more than 25 years. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Total Tony nominations: 10 Other key races: Play, direction (John Tiffany), featured actor in a play (Anthony Boyle as Scorpius Malfoy), costume design (Katrina Lindsay) See all of our latest arts news and reviews at latimes.com/arts. Three festivals are on tap this weekend: Playboy Jazz, Hollywood Fringe and Ojai Music. In dance, you can catch Lula Washington Dance Theatre and American Contemporary Ballet. Also, a classic Eugene ONeill drama comes to the Wallis, Los Angeles Master Chorale ends its season and a Pasadena theater marks a milestone. Playboy Jazz Festival at the Bowl Hugh Hefner may be gone, but the Playboy Jazz Festival he founded lives on. This years edition of the swingin showcase includes the Miles Electric Band plus vocalist Anthony Hamilton, guitarist Lee Ritenour, the Count Basie Orchestra, Tower of Power and many, many others. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave. 3 p.m. Saturday-Sunday. $22-$199. www.hollywoodbowl.com Hollywood Fringe Festival returns Where can you see hundreds literally, hundreds of low-priced comedies, dramas, solo shows and works-in-progress? At the 2018 Hollywood Fringe Festival, of course. The annual extravaganza returns to Tinseltown for a ninth year. Various venues and prices. Opens Thursday; ends June 24. www.hollywoodfringe.org Maliabeth Johnson stars in Ruth Fowler's "The Woman Is Perfected," one of hundreds of shows at this year's Hollywood Fringe Festival. Ruth Fowler Ojai Music Festival returns Fiddle me this: Violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja serves as music director for this years Ojai Music Festival, which includes two semi-staged concerts conceived and directed by Kopatchinskaja, plus new work from pianist-composer Michael Hersch, and Stravinskys LHistoire du Soldat. Featured performers include the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Jack Quartet and pianists Markus Hinterhauser, Anthony Romaniuk and Amy Yang. Libbey Bowl, 210 S. Signal St., Ojai, and other area venues. Thursday-Sunday. $20-$150. www.ojaifestival.org Violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja is the music director for this year's Ojai Music Festival. Daniel Vass / ECM Records Long Days Journey with Manville, Irons Families dont come much more dysfunctional than in Long Days Journey Into Night. Oscar winner Jeremy Irons and Oscar nominee Lesley Manville (Phantom Thread) head the cast of the Bristol Old Vics revival of Eugene ONeills semi-autobiographical drama. Bram Goldsmith Theater, Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills. 7:30 p.m. Friday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday; other dates through July 1. $35-$125. www.thewallis.org Lesley Manville and Jeremy Irons star in "Long Day's Journey Into Night," coming to the Wallis. Hugo Glendinning Lula Washington at the Ford Lula Washingtons L.A.-based contemporary-dance company will take the stage under the stars at the Ford with a program that includes Washingtons Open Your Eyes, set to the music of Earth, Wind & Fire, plus works by Kyle Abraham and Tamica Washington-Miller. Ford Theatres, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East, Hollywood. 8 p.m. Friday. $25 and up. www.fordtheatres.org Lula Washington Dance Theatre will perform Friday at the Ford Theatres. Sol Washington L.A. Master Chorale closes season Los Angeles Master Chorale concludes its season with a program that includes Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem) featuring soprano Jeanine De Bique and baritone Justin Hopkins, plus new works by Pulitzer-winning composers David Lang and Caroline Shaw. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., L.A. 2 p.m. Saturday, 7 p.m. Sunday. $29 and up. www.lamasterchorale.org Los Angeles Master Chorale concludes its current season this weekend at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Marie Noorbergen / Tao Ruspoli ACB salutes Balanchine American Contemporary Ballet and artistic director Lincoln Jones continue the companys salute to George Balanchine with Spectacular Balanchine! featuring pieces that the legendary choreographer set to John Philip Sousas Stars and Stripes and other popular music of his era. American Contemporary Ballet, 700 S. Flower St., Suite 3200, L.A. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 4 p.m. Sunday; other dates through June 17. $40-$500. www.acbdances.com Pasadena Playhouse celebrates centennial If youve ever watched an awards show and been moved to tears by a heartfelt tribute or chuckled at clever patter between presenters, theres a good chance Dave Boone had a hand in it. Over the past 20 years, hes served as head writer or as part of the writing team for a multitude of Oscars, Emmys and Golden Globes telecasts, as well as for many other such televised trophy extravaganzas. The 72nd Annual Tony Awards on CBS on Sunday mark his 15th consecutive year as chief writer for that show. And while live TV is how Boone makes his living, live theater is where his heart is. I get really excited when I go see a Broadway musical and hear the orchestra tuning up, says the 53-year-old double Emmy and triple Writers Guild Award winner as we sit in the Television Academys Wolf Theatre at the Saban Media Center in North Hollywood. I get chills when the lights go down. I love the fact that, with the Tony Awards, we get to bring a piece of that magic into homes across the country and around the world. It was Boones CPA father and homemaker mother who initiated him to live performance at the nearby Westport Country Playhouse when he was growing up as a funny only child in Norwalk, Conn. It was his love of sitcoms and variety series such as The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Carol Burnett Show that propelled him to move to Los Angeles in the early 90s to craft gags for Jay Leno, Greg Kinnear and fellow Sacred Heart University alum and Weekend Update anchor Kevin Nealon on Saturday Night Live, among others. Advertisement TONY CONTENDERS: Lauren Ambrose on a new voice for My Fair Lady And it was those comedy samples that brought him to the attention of Oscar host Billy Crystal, who handpicked Boone to join his team for 1998s Academy Awards. That show on which Celine Dion belted My Heart Will Go On and Titanic won Best Picture remains the highest-rated Oscars ever, bringing in 55.2 million domestic viewers for ABC. (This years show, by comparison, had an audience of 32.9 million.) Hes a very smart, prodigious joke writer, Crystal says by phone in Los Angeles. He knows how to make people funny, and he knows to sometimes not try to make them funny but to make them honest and real. When youre going out in front of a billion people, its nice to know hes got you covered. Boone says that first time out with Crystal remains his most mind-blowing. Seventy classic stars attended that night. Being next to Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau nearly brought me to tears. Robin Williams won best supporting actor for Good Will Hunting, and when the camera followed him off stage, he threw his arm holding the Oscar around a guy in the wings that guy was me. Neil Patrick Harris has had Boone by his side for one Oscar, two Emmy and four Tony ceremonies. As a host in an awards show situation, you dont want to be performing too much, or it looks like youre auditioning. But you want to be around enough that youre clearly in charge of the night, he says by phone from New York. Daves experience, combined with his innate knowledge of whats funny and why, has been incredibly helpful. Hosting with him as my head writer has yielded some of the happiest, most rewarding professional nights of my life. Then there are times when events outside the Tony teams control shape the evening before it even begins. In 2016, Orlandos Pulse nightclub massacre at the time the deadliest mass shooting by a single assailant in U.S. history occurred in the wee hours of the morning before the Tonys. Details of the tragedy unfolded as we were in dress rehearsal. It quickly became apparent that wed have to adjust before going on-air, says Boone. Host James Cordens opening speech was crafted and staged to set an appropriate tone for the evening. Some presenter jokes that may have been taken out of context were cut, the company of Hamilton performed Yorktown without their prop weapons, and the songs The World Turned Upside Down subtitle not to mention Lin-Manuel Mirandas love is love is love acceptance speech took on a much more powerful meaning. Lin-Manuel Miranda at the Tony Awards two years ago. (Theo Wargo / Getty Images for Tony Awards Pro ) Boone isnt just helpful to for his hosts but also to his fellow writers. Theres a dynamic that happens in the writers room where somebody pitches an area, then it volleys around, finally landing on the best joke, says multiple Emmy nominee and WGA Award winner Carol Leifer, via email. Shes worked with Boone on eight Oscars plus one Emmy and one Tony show. Dave is really great in those situations lay up, spike, hes got it all. Hes not a typical joke writer, Crystal says. He can laugh at other peoples jokes and not feel threatened. Its for all these reasons that Tony executive producers Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner hired Boone in 2004 and never let him go. His passion for and knowledge of theater was a big part of it, says Weiss (who also directs the telecast), in an email. Dave is perfect for a live show like the Tonys, which often requires being in the moment, making changes at the last minute and working closely with a wide range of talent. TONY CONTENDERS: Lindsay Mendez rides Carousel to a nomination Preparing for the Tonys is a year-round job for Boone, who estimates hes seen more than 600 Broadway productions over the last 15 years. His longest-running gig has been working as the sole writer for all 26 seasons of ABCs perennial hit Dancing with the Stars. When that series is in production, Boone often spends the week between each episode in New York catching as many musicals and plays as his schedule will allow. Asked about his awards show philosophy, Boone says, I think theyre most successful when the agenda is to present the performances and the honors in an entertaining way and then let the acceptance speeches be the heart. The most fun is the collaboration and seeing an idea come together and work. When you pull that off, its just a glorious experience. For performers on the Tonys who do their numbers eight times a week on Broadway and are always letter-perfect theres the added thrill of doing it for our audience of millions. But when the show is running long and Boone has to make changes live on the air, there are tough conversations to be had. Not because you get married to your words, but because sometimes youve got to tell a performer whos rehearsed or whos memorized a piece because they wanted to emote and not read it off prompter that youre cutting it in half and possibly losing the sentiment. As for this years show, which was still evolving as of this writing, all Boone dares to say is that this is really the first time weve had hosts [Tony nominees Sara Bareilles and Josh Groban] who are first and foremost musicians. I expect well take advantage of that and do more music than on past shows. Theyre great friends, and their natural chemistry will shine through. Theyre both what we lovingly refer to as theater nerds, so we also want to reach out to the kids watching at home who describe themselves that way. Other than that, I think fans of Mean Girls will be delighted that The Plastics are well-represented. Amy Schumer is a nominee, so Im hoping well be able to have her on as a presenter. Oh, and few people know that Josh cant dance, and hes delighted to keep it that way. calendar@latimes.com Following a pair of Chinese students from affluent families studying abroad at a Portland boarding school, the cleverly titled Maineland emerges as a sweetly observed if not especially incisive documentary. Admittedly drawn to America in part by High School Musical, outgoing Stella and the more philosophical Harry, himself intrigued by teaching that encourages critical thinking, take up residence at the historic Fryeburg Academy in rural Maine. As Stella begins to realize that shes in for more homework and less singing than she had envisioned, Harry is able, for the first time, to research the Tiananmen Square Massacre unimpeded. For its part, the schools initial desire for diversity turned to necessity during the last recession, with Fryeburg recruiters turning to the international market as admissions declined. Advertisement Shot over a period of three years in both Maine and China, the film is most effective when touching upon the persistent cultural divide that exists even with a Chinese population that accounted for over half of Fryeburgs international student body in 2015. Still, considering the predominantly white teaching staff and those blue collar surroundings, it feels like director Miao Wang (Beijing Taxi) has politely gone out of her way to avoid confronting more problematic issues pertaining to race and class distinction. While it scratches an admittedly reflective surface, you keep hoping the nicely photographed Maineland would have dug a bit deeper. ------------- Maineland In English and Chinese with English subtitles Not rated Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes Playing: Starts June 8, AMC Atlantic Times Square 14, Monterey Park See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour Movie Trailers calendar@latimes.com In the moving documentary To a More Perfect Union: U.S. v. Windsor, director Donna Zaccaro establishes both the historical and emotional context for a landmark Supreme Court decision. The film explores the powerful experience of gay rights pioneer and vivacious personality Edie Windsor and her fight to be recognized legally as the wife of her decades-long partner, Thea Spyer. Photos and interviews illuminate the love story that began in the 1960s and lasted until Spyers death in 2009. Since gay marriage wasnt yet legal in America, Windsor and her lawyer Roberta Kaplan sued to have their Canadian union recognized by the U.S. government. In parallel with Windsors battle for justice, Zaccaro walks through LGBTQ rights history with archival footage, discussing Stonewall, the AIDS crisis, the Defense of Marriage Act and more. Rosie ODonnell, Frank Rich and other notable figures offer additional insight into both the larger cultural shifts and their own challenges. To a More Perfect Union could be more focused, particularly given its brief running time. However, the larger history behind the gay rights movement may be a helpful primer for those unfamiliar with it. But this doesnt cloud the documentarys emotional impact and effectiveness. The film reminds us that there are individual human experiences behind the legal decisions that impact an entire country. ------------- Advertisement To a More Perfect Union: U.S. V. Windsor Not rated Running time: 1 hour, 3 minutes Playing: Laemmle Fine Arts, Beverly Hills; Laemmle NoHo 7, North Hollywood; Laemmle Playhouse 7, Pasadena See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour Movie Trailers calendar@latimes.com A candlelit seance. A spooky child. A house filled with dark memories and buried secrets. It is possible to describe some of the characters, places and events in Hereditary while conveying nothing of its steady accumulation of dread, its grim, implacable mood or its lasting power to disturb. The sensationally gifted writer-director Ari Aster may tip his hat to the horror canon (Rosemarys Baby, The Shining), but he has no interest in making a coy, winking exercise in horror pastiche. With breathtaking deliberation and quiet, unshowy mastery, he spins a devastating portrait of an American family in sudden, inexplicable decline. There is in fact an explanation, and Hereditary is unnerving in part because it makes no attempt to hide it. In scene after meticulously controlled scene, the movie tells us exactly whats going on slowly, to be sure, and in accordance with an intricate narrative pattern that reveals itself only in the breath-quickening final moments. But the truth emerges in the shadows and silences, in insinuating details of camera placement and production design, and most of all in the shattering gaze of Toni Collette, whose performance escalates brilliantly from anxiety to misery to frenzied, near-ecstatic terror. Advertisement This is Collettes first major return to horror since her Oscar-nominated work in The Sixth Sense (1999), in which she played the skeptical, supportive parent of a boy who sees dead people. The burdens of motherhood weigh even more heavily on Collettes Annie Graham, an artist who lives with her family in a small woodside town (the movie was filmed in Utah). As the story begins, Annie is preparing to bury her 78-year-old mother, Ellen a loss but not necessarily a tragedy, to judge by the many long years of estrangement to which Annie sometimes alludes. My mother was a very difficult woman to read, Annie says in her eulogy, a speech peppered with other words like secretive and stubborn. In the days that follow, she tries to move on and focus on her work and family. In a way, her work is her family: Annie builds and paints intricate dioramas, dollhouse versions of her own woodside home, each one reconstructing a significant moment from her past a device that allows Aster to compress some crucial backstory into a few elegant, motionless tableaux. Annie has two teenage children with her supportive if somewhat recessive husband, Steve (Gabriel Byrne). Their teenage son, Peter (a superb Alex Wolff), is like a lot of other boys his age bored, moody and interested mainly in girls and pot. Hes better adjusted, though, than his younger sister, Charlie (Milly Shapiro of Broadways Matilda), an odd, withdrawn 13-year-old who had an unusually close bond with her grandmother. The influence can hardly have been a healthy one, if Charlies hobbies constructing dolls from household objects, making disturbing sketches in her notebook are any indication. A sinister presence seems to follow her as she skulks about in an orange sweatshirt that, along with her diminutive stature, reminded me of nothing so much as the red-hooded killer from Nicolas Roegs 1973 classic, Dont Look Now, another obvious touchstone. But if Charlie seems connected to a long tradition of pint-size horror-movie demons every shot of her brings its own reflexive shudder she is also a troublingly sympathetic one, and her prescribed role in the story defies every cliche and expectation. The mystery at the heart of Asters screenplay concerns the specific nature of Ellens legacy; this is, among other things, a movie about the good and the bad (but mostly the bad) that we pass on to those we love. As Annie sifts through her mothers personal belongings, a few books on spiritualism among them, she finds that Ellen has left her a handwritten note, which includes the hardly reassuring sentence, Our sacrifice will pale next to the rewards. It would be grossly unfair to reveal exactly what she means by sacrifice. Suffice to say that the Graham family is suddenly plunged into a hellish ordeal, astonishing in its vividness and uncompromising in its cruelty. Aster, who directed several acclaimed short films before making Hereditary, has said that he found inspiration for the film in his familys own prolonged but very different experience of suffering. Personal history alone hardly explains the artistry of what we see and hear on-screen, but it might explain how acutely Aster nails the feel of a waking nightmare, in not just its anguish but also its persistent, day-after-day banality. The pressures of work and domesticity do not cease in the wake of tragedy, and neither do the vague irritations of adolescence or the long-held resentments of middle age. In one of the movies most galvanizing scenes, Annie lashes out at Peter, giving voice to demons that have been suppressed for too long. Its a stunning showcase for Collette, but Wolff is no less heartbreaking in the way he seems to absorb every verbal blow, internalizing the pain as only an alienated teenager can. That emotional and psychological integrity remains even when the story begins to introduce elements of the occult, or allows a hair-raising dream sequence to rupture the narrative. At one point Annie is befriended by a concerned older woman, Joan, whos clearly bad news; the fact that shes played by the great Ann Dowd may tingle the spines of any Handmaids Tale fans in the audience. But there are none of the gratuitous jump scares or pointless fakeouts that have reduced mainstream horror cinema to so much self-defeating gimickry. What makes Hereditary so scary is that, for the most part, the Grahams unseen tormenters dont seem all that interested in scaring anyone. Our terror is less the central purpose than the byproduct of a ruthlessly specific agenda. As Annie and her loved ones move through their personal stages of grief, you get the sense that they are not just enacting the ordinary rituals of the bereaved, but that they are being moved into position, like chess pieces, by forces beyond their comprehension or control. This conceit, and the formal rigor and psychological acuity with which the movie sustains it, can make Hereditary play like an American answer to the icy chamber dramas of Michael Haneke, or perhaps an Ingmar Bergman remake of Poltergeist. The cinematographer, Pawel Pogorzelski, underscores this reading visually by often framing the actors at a chilly remove, reducing them to the scale of Annies dolls. Those dioramas, which once served as a therapeutic outlet, become a striking metaphor for a familys entrapment. But if the characters are hopelessly constricted, the actors are liberated, and they fill every precise frame with insistent, defiant life none more so than Collette, who at times seems to be fighting not just the forces of evil but also the cold, clammy grip of the movie in which she finds herself. She plays Annie like an instrument going slowly out of tune, chattering away with mounting desperation, exposing more and more nerve endings in every scene. I havent seen a better performance this year, or a more mesmerizing reminder that the devil really is in the details. ------------ Hereditary Rating: R, for horror violence, disturbing images, language, drug use and brief graphic nudity Running time: 2 hours, 7 minutes Playing: In general release See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour Movie Trailers justin.chang@latimes.com @JustinCChang In both Johnnie Tos superb 2012 Hong Kong crime thriller Drug War and Lee Hae-youngs fine new Korean remake, Believer, a dogged detective infiltrates a narcotics syndicate with the help of a possibly untrustworthy informant. Although they share a premise, Drug War is more of a gritty, realistic study of authoritarian power, while Believer is a slick action picture with sympathetic characters. Lees film stars Cho Jin-woong as Won-ho, a cop who gets the break hes needed for years when he crosses paths with Rak (Ryu Jun-yeol), a drug dealer with valuable info about his organizations mysterious kingpin, Mr. Lee. But Rak discovers his informant has secrets of his own. Believer is structured as a series of flashy set pieces playing out in swanky apartments and high-tech drug-labs. Theres nothing down-and-dirty about this movie. Its all outsize more like an escapist TV series than a nuanced expose of international criminal networks. The action sequences are unspectacular but effective. Believer has a well-told, entertaining story sustaining a running time 20 minutes longer than Drug War. With the extra space, Lee explores the motivations of his two protagonists, working toward similar ends for different reasons. Advertisement Tos film was more interested in how the characters reflect the larger dynamics of the Chinese justice system. In Believer, Won-ho and Rak represent only themselves: two determined men who exploit anyone to get what they want. ------------- Believer In Korean with English subtitles Not rated Running time: 2 hours, 3 minutes Playing: Starts June 8, CGV Cinemas, Los Angeles See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour Movie Trailers calendar@latimes.com Nancy (Andrea Riseborough) is an aspiring writer and a practiced liar. Weaving fiction, on or off the page, allows her a temporary escape from the dreariness of life in her wintry Northeastern town, where she looks after her scowling, ailing mother (Ann Dowd) and works as a temp in a dental office. Her stories have been read only by editors at publications like the Paris Review, who have sent back a steady stream of rejection letters. Her lies, at least, ensure her a few moments with a captive audience. The audience for Christina Choes Nancy, a character study that itself possesses the narrative economy and lingering resonance of a short story, will not be so easily fooled. Nancys compulsive dishonesty is evident early on, when she tells her coworkers about her recent visit to North Korea, backing up her claim with a few digitally altered photos. The deeper mystery here concerns her motivation. Its not clear what she hopes to get, exactly, out of leading an online acquaintance (John Leguizamo) to believe shes pregnant, beyond a brief moment of power or agency. Looking pale and wide-eyed beneath a stringy mass of black-dyed hair, Riseborough, a gifted British chameleon, tamps down the natural radiance she has evinced in movies such as Battle of the Sexes. The key to this tricky, sometimes boldly alienating performance is that Nancy doesnt seem to know why she does what she does. She never seems to have an elaborate deception or endgame in mind; her inventions flow, curiously, from a poverty of imagination rather than an excess of it. Shes feeling her way through, one falsehood at a time, in the slim hope that one of them might open a window onto a richer, fuller or at least more interesting life. Early on in Nancy, you might find yourself thinking something similar about the movie. Its easy enough to stay involved with Nancy she thwarts our sympathy but not our fascination but the emptiness of her existence is dramatized through a kind of indie-miserablist shorthand. Her devotion to her pet cat aside, nary the slightest hint of joy or beauty is allowed to brighten the cramped, squalid home where Nancy lives or the dead-end strip mall where she works. Choe, working with cinematographer Zoe White, frames the early scenes using a square aspect ratio, putting emotional constriction into visual terms. Advertisement Eventually, however, the frame widens and Peter Raeburns score surges intriguingly to life, signaling a dramatic shift from the studiously dour to the quietly affecting. Not long after her mother dies of a stroke, Nancy sees a long-married couple, Ellen (J. Smith-Cameron, Margaret) and Leo (Steve Buscemi), talking on TV about the tragedy of losing their daughter, Brooke, who was 5 when she mysteriously vanished 30 years earlier. A photo rendering of what Brooke might look like today stirs something in Nancy. The resemblance between them is striking enough that well, you can see where this is going. Within hours of calling Ellen and claiming she might be their long-lost Brooke, Nancy is in the couples home, dining with them and even spending the night. Ellen embraces Nancy warmly and completely; it takes her no time to believe that her daughter has returned to her. Leo is patient but more skeptical, and he warns Nancy that he hopes this doesnt turn out to be a false alarm. As for Nancy herself, shes the most wishy-washy of fabulists, looking blank and uncertain as she steps into Leo and Ellens beautiful home, full of books and food and love. Her answers to their gently probing questions feel vague and half-formed, keeping the illusion going while leaving plenty of room for doubt. There are a lot of ways to read Nancys hesitation, and Riseborough quietly, maddeningly suggests each one of them in turn, each time forcing us to reconsider the urge to shake her out of her stupor. You wonder if the sudden exposure to so much warmth and acceptance has sent her into shock, or if any feeling has even managed to penetrate her benumbed state. You wonder too if Nancy simply isnt bright enough to have fully thought through the details of her deception, or if she is starting to believe it herself. And despite knowing better, you may want to believe it too, if only to spare Leo and Ellen further pain. Choe elicits wonderfully expressive, lived-in performances from Cameron and Buscemi, whose characters surpassing decency and dignity immediately awaken our protective instincts and turn us at times against Nancy for manipulating their fragile sympathies, and not even doing an especially good job of it. There is something almost dialectical about the contrast between the parents on one hand and Nancy on the other, between Cameron and Buscemis open, guileless performances and Riseboroughs flat, affectless line readings. Theres an obvious class divide too that the characters awkwardly attempt to bridge. (In an especially bittersweet irony, Ellen, a professor of comparative literature, kindly encourages Nancys writing aspirations, even asking to read some of her stories.) Its hard not to take one side against the other, even if the movie scrupulously abstains from doing so. Rather than defaulting to either condemnation or absolution, Nancy instead holds out the fleeting possibility of love to someone who has never known it before and asks why we should begrudge her the impulse to seize it. ------------ Nancy Not rated Running time: 1 hour, 24 minutes Playing: Nuart Theatre, West Los Angeles See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour Movie Trailers justin.chang@latimes.com @JustinCChang Alexandra Shipp has worn many hats, some more fashionable than others, while juggling her acting gigs and life in Los Angeles. During a recent phone interview, the X-Men: Dark Phoenix star listed some of her previous L.A. jobs. I worked at PacSun, she said. I was a mobile pet groomer. I worked at a womans clothing store off Larchmont. I was a live-in nanny. The actress paused. That was beautiful, but I was like, I keep falling in love with these children, and then they dont need me. And thats really soul-crushing. Equally disheartening was her initial introduction to Hollywood. After landing a role in 2009s Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, Shipp moved to Los Angeles from her hometown of Phoenix, but the reality of Tinseltown soon set in for the actress, who was 17 at the time. Alexandra Shipp at the Women In Film/Max Mara Face of the Future dinner on Feb. 21 during Milan Fashion Week in Italy. Lodovico Colli di Felizzano / WWD/REX/Shutterstock It was daunting, she said. I was going on auditions, and everyone in those rooms looked like me. And no one was nice. Its a competitive town. After five years of hustling as an actress, Shipp decided it was time to find another source of income, which led to her list of part-time gigs. Those days are behind her thanks to roles on TV and the big screen such as her work in 2014s Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B and 2015s Straight Outta Compton. Those projects were followed by her role in this years indie darling Love, Simon. Shipp now has a slew of projects slated for release next year, including the Shaft reboot with Samuel L. Jackson and A Dogs Way Home with Ashley Judd. Also, Shipp will reprise her role as Storm in X-Men: Dark Phoenix, the follow-up to 2016s X-Men: Apocalypse. Actress Alexandra Shipp is the new Max Mara Face of the Future. Max Mara One role, however, thats newer for the 26-year-old is that of Hollywood star. Shipp will have a chance to explore it during Italian fashion brand Max Maras private cocktail party at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood on June 12 before she takes center stage the next night at Women in Films Crystal + Lucy Awards in Beverly Hills. She will receive the Max Mara Face of the Future award. It means a lot, Shipp said. Its the first time Im ever receiving an award and its the first time someone who is mixed or black is being given this award. She hasnt quite decided what shell wear to the event, but its safe to bet it will be something from Max Mara. Shipp regularly works with stylists Jill Lincoln and Jordan Johnson to select sleek and sophisticated looks to wear for the red carpet. However, she said her personal style couldnt be more different. I get a little rambunctious, Shipp said. I like bright colors and patterns. So I usually look like I robbed a clown. Shipp said her style is often an homage to the past. Shes all about shoulder pads, especially after her first X-Men film took place in the 80s, and lately she has been getting into 90s styles because the next X-Men film is set during that time period. I have an onslaught of platform shoes that, I guess, havent made their way back into style yet, she said, but I love them. I love feeling like a Spice Girl. I definitely need a stylist, Shipp continued, because, otherwise, Id be like, Were going to mix the plaid with the polka dot, and then were going to throw on a rainbow headband with some go-go boots. Alexandra Shipp (Abby), from left, Nick Robinson (Simon) and Katherine Langford (Leah) in "Love, Simon." Twentieth Century Fox All jokes aside, she said her style has matured some. As I get older, I want to look a little more chic, Shipp said. Its fun to be able to dress up. And no question, access to her pick of Max Mara pieces is a perk of receiving the Face of the Future honor. I have this camel coat with fringe that I saw at the fashion show when I was in Milan, Shipp said. As for her film work, Shipp has relished the opportunity to work alongside powerhouse women such as Jessica Chastain and Jennifer Lawrence in the X-Men franchise. Im excited that I get to be in the same room as them let alone the same movie, Shipp said, adding that she also learned plenty from observing Judd on the set of A Dogs Way Home. Shes got a lot of strength, Shipp said of Judd. She is a survivor. Love, Simon, a coming-of-age dramedy about a gay teenager, helped Shipp realize the power of filmmaking. It meant everything for me to be a part of that movie, she said. I got a chance to be a part of a conversation thats not only changed peoples minds but saved peoples lives. The experience has inspired her to think beyond acting. Id like to expand my artistic chops, Shipp said, adding that shes interested in producing and writing. Hopefully, in the future, I can curate content and make movies that represent everyone. Support our journalism Please consider subscribing today to support stories like this one. Get full access to our signature journalism for just 99 cents for the first four weeks. Already a subscriber? Your support makes our work possible. Thank you. image@latimes.com For fashion news, follow us at @latimesimage on Twitter. Galust Sahakyan: the government's program includes some ideas not connected with Armenian (video) Today Republican Party (RPA) member Galust Sahakyan told journalists: "Nikol Pashinyan, of course, made a good speech, but if the government says there is a magic stick and the people should live well, I don't imagine it." Touching upon the fact that many businessmen have left the RPA, Galust Sahakyan mentioned that everyone wants to join the ruling parties. "When the party leaves the government, everyone wants to join other parties." According to Galust Sahakyan, the government's program includes editorial and some ideas not connected with Armenian. "I think that those who wrote, have not been aware of the government's program at all. I believe that they will have a program in which it will be written what, when and where they will be able to implement by January." Asked whether he imagines himself in the new parliament, Galust Sahakyan said: "Parliament cannot be without me." You can tell a luxury timepiece manufacturer is really swinging for the fences when it uses the quote often attributed to Mahatma Gandhi, Be the change you want to see in the world, to explain its new brand, but thats how watch designer Sylvain Berneron framed the Richemont Groups launch of the Baume watch on a mid-May day in Malibu. The name references Richemonts 188-year-old Baume & Mercier brand (the company also owns the Vacheron Constantin, Officine Panerai and Piaget brands, among others), and it graces a collection of new unisex timepieces designed from the ground up with sustainability and eco-friendliness in mind. Some watch cases are made from partly recycled aluminum, for example, and some watch bands are made from upcycled plastic bottles culled from ocean waste. Although designed in Geneva, the watches are manufactured and shipped worldwide from the Netherlands in hexagonal tubes made from recycled cardboard in an effort to further lessen the environmental impact. At left, the customizable Baume 41 mm Retrograde ($630) with a brushed stainless steel case and a natural cork strap. At right, hexagonal tubes made from recycled cardboard are used to ship the watches worldwide. (Baume, left; Adam Tschorn / Los Angeles Times ) Advertisement Berneron invoked the Gandhi-esque words at the global launch of the Baume in Malibu last month (a locale chosen to emphasize the connection between man and nature complete with dolphins visible in the foreground and cargo ships in the background) after acknowledging that wristwatches are more statement than necessity these days and that one timepiece wasnt all by itself going to solve the myriad issues plaguing the planet. I think we have to understand that the products that we buy today shape the world of tomorrow, the watch designer said. So we tried to make watches that [address the problems] of today. He added that the overarching goal was to trigger a new way of thinking in watchmaking. What makes the Baume, which launched May 15 with two versions (one of which can be customized some 2,000 different ways), noteworthy is its $560-to-$1,100 price tag, which Berneron said was an important part of spreading the wrist-bound message of sustainability. When we created this brand, we had a choice in the price segment, he said, and for 10 or a hundred times [the price], we could make a fully sustainable, recycled top-notch [timepiece], but the goal is to spread the [message] to a wider audience making a $50,000 recyclable watch is not a challenge. The middle case of the new gem-set Rolex Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona is set with 56 brilliant-cut diamonds. (Alain Costa / Rolex ) Bernerons words came to mind when, less than 48 hours later at a watch preview in Beverly Hills, I was handed a breathtakingly beautiful Rolex worth more than a fully tricked-out Cadillac Escalade. A gem-set, rose-gold version of the Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona, the bezel was set with 36 baguette-cut sapphires in a seamlessly blending rainbow gradation, with 56 sparkling diamonds set in the middle case and 11 baguette-cut, rainbow-colored sapphire hour markers. The Rainbow Daytona sells for $96,900, which makes it about 173 times more expensive as an entry-level Baume. And, make no doubt about it, wearing of those bejeweled Rolex watches sends a message thats just as loud and clear (though perhaps not 173 times as loud and clear) as the lower-priced watch. Because Los Angeles is exactly the kind of place youre likely to encounter these pieces of wrist candy out in the wild, heres a side-by-side comparison. A tale of two timepieces Baume 35 or 41 mm in diameter The Iconic (pictured) has a partly recycled aluminum case; custom versions are offered in black-, silver- or gold-colored stainless steel with up to two lines of custom engraving on the case back. Water-resistant to 100 feet. Black, 100% recycled polyethylene terephthalate (or PET) (pictured) band made from plastic ocean waste reclaimed by Brussels-based Waste Free Oceans. Natural, upcycled or recycled fabrics used in other interchangeable button-on straps (with buttons made from corozo nuts) include cotton, linen and cork and color options include gray, red, blue and burgundy. Miyota 82D7 automatic movement; 40-hour power reserve for the version for the Iconic (above) or quartz movements (Ronda 6004D, Miyota 6P20 or Miyota JR00; all with 40-month power reserve) for the custom-designed watches. The dial of the Iconic is silver with white index markers; options on the custom versions include white, black, blue and two different shades of gray. The Iconic has black hands; options for the custom versions include white, silver gold or black. Located at the 12 oclock position on the top of the case is a placement that is a nod to the history of the Baume & Mercier heritage and allows for an easier and less wasteful future expansion into pocket-watch styles. Designed in Geneva; made in and shipped from the Netherlands. Unveiled in Malibu on May 15, the custom watches are made to order to avoid waste; available online at www.baumewatches.com and delivered free worldwide within 15 days. The Iconic timepiece ships within 48 hours of order receipt. Price: $530 to $1,100 Rolex 40 mm in diameter 18-karat Everose Gold case (Everose is Rolexs proprietary pink gold alloy, manufactured in-house at a foundry in Plan-les-Ouates, Switzerland). The bezel is set with 36 baguette-cut sapphires in a rainbow gradation, and the middle case is set with 56 brilliant-cut diamonds. Water-resistant to 330 feet. 18-karat Everose Gold link bracelet with ceramic inserts. Designed and assembled in Geneva from components made and assembled at three other sites within Switzerland. Unveiled at Baselworld 2018 in Basel, Switzerland, on March 22; availability varies based on demand and sourcing of the multi-colored sapphires used for the bezel and hour markers. Order inquiries should be directed to a local Rolex retailer. Price: $96,900 adam.tschorn@latimes.com For more musings on all things fashion and style, follow me at @ARTschorn. Is it possible to live with less and have more? A new 160-square-foot cabin installed on the roof of ROW DTLA proves it is. Built as part of the MINI LIVING Urban Cabin program, which aims to create a global village of thoughtfully executed Tiny Houses in dense cities, and designed in collaboration with Los Angeles architecture firm FreelandBuck, the latest micro-cabin is bright and fun with colorful interiors, inventive green spaces and an impressive connection to the city of L.A. Outdoor-like qualities are things you rarely find in tiny housing, said architect David Freeland. Those are the first things you lose when you have a tiny space. We are trying to think of new ways to apply interesting ideas to small spaces. Advertisement The three-volume cabin includes two main living areas by the Living branch of the Munich-based car brand MINI and a center experience space designed by Freeland and Brennan Buck as a place for contemplation. The bedroom doubles as a dining room, polycarbonate panels can be disassembled and reused while three-dimensional graphics create kaleidoscopic reflections. The cabin also features a toilet and shower and a simple kitchenette with pegboard walls for easy storage. Visiting the project, visitors will get a sense of how it is possible to live in a compact space, said Buck. It will also show how small spaces can be exciting visually by referring to art and bold graphics and colors and plants. MINI LIVING unveiled the first Urban Cabin at the London Design Festival in September 2017, and a second in Brooklyn, New York, in October. Look for more MINI LIVING Urban Cabins in the coming months. The MINI LIVING Urban Cabin is presented in conjunction with the LA Design Festival and is on view Friday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 7 to 10 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Row DTLA, 777 S. Alameda St. downtown Los Angeles, Admission is free. Info: ladesignfestival.org MINI LIVING unveiled the first Urban Cabin at the London Design Festival in September, 2017 (Tom Donald Build by Aldworth James & Bond ) The second Urban Cabin debuted in Brooklyn, New York, in October 2017. (Frank Oudeman/OTTO ) The third micro-cabin in the series will be open to the public on the roof of Row DTLA, June 8-10. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times ) lisa.boone@latimes.com Twitter: @lisaboone19 For an easy way to follow the L.A. scene, bookmark L.A. at Home and join us on our Facebook page for home design, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest. ALSO: They ditched pricey home ownership for a small house on wheels and they love it Small-space living: 18 interiors to inspire Lets get creative: LA Design Festival showcases L.A.'s imaginative community USC names retired aerospace executive Wanda Austin as acting president, announces Nikias departure By Harriet Ryan USC appointed a retired aerospace executive as interim president and laid out a detailed plan for selecting a permanent leader Tuesday, ending speculation about whether outgoing President C.L. Max Nikias might remain in the post. Nikias, embattled over his administrations handling of a campus gynecologist accused of sexually abusing patients, relinquished his duties after a meeting of USCs board. The trustees tapped one of their own, Wanda Austin, an alumna and former president of the Aerospace Corp., to temporarily run the university. The trustees also approved the formation of a search committee and the hiring of firm Isaacson, Miller to coordinate the selection of a successor. A second search company, Heidrick & Struggles, will also advise trustees. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Ex-student sues elite Brentwood School after teacher is charged with sexually abusing him By Richard Winton A former student sued the elite Brentwood School on Monday in the wake of a female teacher being charged with repeatedly having sex with the minor, alleging that other faculty members encouraged the unlawful behavior and failed to report it to authorities. The lawsuit accuses the private school, whose students include the children of many of Hollywoods elite and L.A.s powerful, of acting negligently and allowing Aimee Palmitessa to abuse and batter the teenager sexually. The suit alleges that the student was abused in summer 2017 after one of the schools counselors offered words of encouragement to the then-17-year-old, identified in the suit as only John Doe, to engage in an illegal relationship with the teacher. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Civil jury vindicates fired Montebello school executives in whistleblower case By Howard Blume The Montebello school district is in dire straits at risk of insolvency and under apparent criminal investigation. An outside audit in July found some teachers earning more than $200,000 a year, as well as improper raises, excess paid vacation time and inappropriate overtime, sick leave and car allowances. Fixing the district and pinpointing blame could take time. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print L.A. schools fall short on safety measures, new report warns By Howard Blume After the mass shooting at Floridas Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February, Los Angeles school officials reassured parents that much had been done to keep local schools safe. California had tougher gun laws, after all, and the school district paid close attention to students mental health. But a new report issued Monday by a panel convened to take a close look offers some cause for concern, flagging inconsistent campus safety measures, thinly spread mental health staff and inadequate coordination between the school district and other public agencies. With the stakes this high, we must strive to do better, said L.A. City Atty. Mike Feuer, who assembled the panel. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement L.A. school district says more are graduating, but rate may not show it By Howard Blume The L.A. Unified School District has hopes of continuing its winning streak this year with another record graduation rate, but the official numbers may not show it. A senior district administrator warned the board Tuesday that graduation rates were likely to decline 2% to 3% across the state, even though L.A. Unified is likely doing better than ever in producing graduates, he said. The issue is that the state will now count high school students who transfer to adult school as dropouts, said Oscar Lafarga, who heads the districts office of data and accountability. Previously, schools treated these students as though they had simply enrolled in another high school, he said. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Betsy DeVos to California: Not so fast on that federal education plan By Joy Resmovits Education Secretary Betsy DeVos (Erik Lesser / European Pressphoto Agency) In April, Californias top education officials breathed a sigh of relief. After months of debate and back-and-forth with Betsy DeVos staff, they had finalized a plan to satisfy a major education law that aims to make sure all students get a decent education. The state focused on aligning its plan to fulfill the requirements of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act with Californias Local Control Funding Formula, which gives extra money to districts to help students who come from low-income families, are in the foster system or are English learners. But this week, DeVos team said not so fast. Jason Botel, the U.S. Department of Educations principal deputy assistant secretary, sent California education officials a letter asking for more information in such areas as measuring student progress, graduation rates and English learners. In an unsigned statement, the California Department of Education declared itself surprised and disappointed because officials thought after a meeting with federal officials in Washington that they were on the right track to get approval. Now the Every Student Succeeds Act plan will be up for discussion once again at the July meeting of the State Board of Education. The U.S. Department of Education has already approved most state plans. Every Student Succeeds is the Obama administrations 2015 replacement for the No Child Left Behind Act. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print L.A. school board sets a new goal: prepare every grad to be eligible to apply for Cal State or UC By Sonali Kohli Last month, Los Angeles school board president proposed a spate of highly ambitious mandates aimed at ensuring that every district graduate be eligible to apply to one of the states public four-year universities by 2023. By the time the L.A. Unified school board unanimously approved the resolution Tuesday, the original language had been watered down. The goal is no longer that in five years 100% of students meet the long list of benchmarks, which include not just college eligibility for graduates but first-grade reading proficiency and English fluency by sixth grade for all students who enter the district in kindergarten or first grade speaking another language. The original college-readiness goal, for example, called for 100% of all high school students to be eligible to apply to one of the states four-year universities. Now the goal seems to offer more wiggle room: Prepare all high school graduates to be eligible to apply to a California four-year university. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement We have been hurt. More women say they were mistreated by USC gynecologist By Richard Winton USC student Anika Narayanan says she vividly recalls her first appointment with Dr. George Tyndall at the campus health center, alleging that he made several explicit comments during an examination she felt was inappropriate and invasive. When she came back for a second visit in 2016 after a nonconsensual sexual encounter, he allegedly chastised her, she said in a civil lawsuit and at a press conference Tuesday. He asked me if I had forgotten to use a condom again, said Narayanan, 21. At one point, she said, Tyndall asked if I did a lot of doggy style, she said. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print L.A. Unified gives inspector general brief contract extension By Howard Blume The Los Angeles school board on Tuesday extended the contract of Ken Bramlett, its inspector general, by three months, though his job is far from secure and questions remain about the future direction of his watchdog office. Board members also unanimously promoted Vivian Ekchian, who had been the runner-up for the superintendents job, to deputy superintendent the districts No. 2 position. Both moves had elements of peacemaking between different factions on the board. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print USCs handling of complaints about campus gynecologist is being investigated by federal government By Harriet Ryan The U.S. Department of Education announced Monday that it has launched an investigation into how the University of Southern California handled misconduct complaints against a campus gynecologist, the latest fallout in a scandal that has prompted the resignation of USCs president, two law enforcement investigations and dozens of lawsuits. In revealing the inquiry by the departments Office of Civil Rights, officials rebuked USC for what they alleged was improper withholding of information about Dr. George Tyndall during a previous federal investigation. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who has been criticized for taking a less vigorous approach to examining sexual misconduct than predecessors, called for a systemic examination of USC and urged administrators to fully cooperate. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Judge to sentence woman and her boyfriend for the murder of an 8-year-old that led to L.A. child welfare reforms By Marisa Gerber A woman and her boyfriend are expected to be sentenced Thursday for the torture and murder of an 8-year-old boy whose killing in 2013 provoked public outrage, prompted sweeping reform of Los Angeles Countys child welfare system, and led to unprecedented criminal charges against social workers who handled the childs case. Pearl Sinthia Fernandez, 34, faces life in prison without the possibility of parole for her role in the death of her son, Gabriel. A jury decided last year that her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre, 37, should be executed. When paramedics arrived at the boys Palmdale home in May 2013, Gabriel had slipped out of consciousness. He had a fractured skull, broken ribs, burned skin, missing teeth and BB pellets embedded in his groin. A paramedic would later testify that every inch of the boys small body had been abused. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print L.A. Unifieds spending out of step with similar school systems, task force says By Howard Blume The Los Angeles school district is out of step with similar school systems, spending more on teachers pay and health benefits and less on activities that could enhance student learning, according to a new report by an outside task force. The L.A. Unified School District Advisory Task Force did not make specific recommendations, but instead posed a series of questions it said the district needs to answer to make sure its funding is aimed at providing a full opportunity for all students to succeed. What were trying to say is: Lets put the data on the table. Lets look at the truth. Lets be transparent and here are the numbers, said task force member Renata Simril. This is not to say that we should cut teachers salaries. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Top USC medical school official feared dean was doing drugs and alerted administration, he testifies By Paul Pringle A former vice dean of USCs Keck School of Medicine testified Tuesday that he feared the schools then-dean, Dr. Carmen A. Puliafito, could be doing drugs and expressed concerns about his general well-being to the universitys No. 2 administrator before Puliafito abruptly left his job in 2016. Dr. Henri Fords testimony at a hearing of the state Medical Board marks the first suggestion that any USC administrator had suspicions about Puliafitos possible drug use before he stepped down. A Times investigation in 2017 found Puliafito led a secret second life of using illegal drugs with a circle of young criminals and addicts. Puliafito testified about his behavior at the hearing Tuesday, saying he took drugs with one young woman on a weekly basis. Ford said that he decided to alert USC Provost Michael Quick after receiving reports in early 2016 that Puliafito was partying in hotels with people of questionable reputation, and that he came to worry about his mental stability. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Why L.A. Unified may face financial crisis even with a giant surplus this year By Jessica Calefati With more than half a billion dollars socked away for next school year, the Los Angeles Unified School District hardly seems just two years from financial ruin. Its a scenario that is especially tough to swallow if youre a low-wage worker seeking a raise or a teacher who wants smaller classes. But budget documents show that todays $548-million surplus cannot be sustained and that even basic services face steep, seemingly unavoidable cuts because of massive problems barreling the districts way. Theres a disconnect between the rosy short-term picture and what we know is coming, said board member Kelly Gonez. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print We have failed: Top USC officials try to reassure students amid gynecologist scandal By Joy Resmovits Top administrators at USC are reaching out to students in the wake of misconduct allegations against the universitys longtime gynecologist, acknowledging failings and vowing reforms as they try to address growing outrage over the revelations. Several USC deans have sent out messages trying to reassure students and faculty that the university is committed to changing. We have failed, wrote Jack H. Knott, dean of USCs Sol Price School of Public Policy, in a May 24 letter. What happened is antithetical to everything we know is right. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Rick Caruso is named chair of USCs trustees, vows swift investigation of gynecologist scandal By Thomas Curwen The University of Southern Californias board of trustees has elected mall magnate Rick Caruso to be the new chair of the board, giving fresh leadership as the university navigates a widening scandal involving a longtime campus gynecologist. The move marks the latest effort by USC to address the case, which has sparked a criminal investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department and dozens of civil lawsuits. More than 400 people have contacted a hotline that the university established for patients to make reports about their experience with Dr. George Tyndall. In his first act as chairman, Caruso announced that the white-shoe L.A. law firm OMelveny & Myers would conduct a thorough and independent investigation into the gynecologists conduct and reporting failures at the clinic. He set an ambitious timeline for the review, pledging it would conclude before students return for the fall semester. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print UC Berkeley students persistence helps win more liberal rules for in-state tuition By Teresa Watanabe Ifechukwu Okeke thought shed be a shoo-in for in-state tuition when she was admitted to UC Berkeley for fall 2016. She had moved to the United States from Nigeria in 2012 to go to Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga. By the time she got her acceptance to transfer to UC to study molecular and cell biology, she had lived in California four years. She had a California drivers license, bank account and rental records as proof. UC Berkeley, however, ruled she was a nonresident which meant she would have to pay nearly $27,000 more. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement State medical board calls former County-USC doctor a sexual predator, suspends his license By Matt Hamilton A UCLA cardiologist has been temporarily stripped of his medical license after state regulators described him as a sexual predator who assaulted three female colleagues when he was working and training at L.A. County-USC Medical Center. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Global California 2030' aims to get more students learning more languages By Joy Resmovits Tom Torlakson (Andrew Seng / Associated Press) Outgoing state Supt. of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson on Wednesday announced a new statewide effort to encourage students to learn more languages. Called Global California 2030, its goal is to help more students become fluent in multiple tongues. Torlakson said that by 2030, he wants half of the states 6.2 million K-12 students to participate in classes or programs that lead to proficiency in two or more languages. By 2040, he wants three out of four students to be proficient enough to earn the State Seal of Biliteracy. Torlakson announced the initiative at Cahuenga Elementary School, which offers a dual-language immersion program in English and Korean. Californias public school students speak more than 60 languages at home, and 40% come to school with knowledge of a language other than English. Torlakson called his plan a call to action that invites parents, legislators, educators and community members to pool resources to expand language offerings in schools and get more bilingual teachers trained. He said the state already is working with Mexico and Spain to expand a teacher-exchange program. Fluency, the plan argues, can help students succeed economically and language acquisition can help their overall critical thinking. The initiative builds on Proposition 58, a ballot initiative passed in 2016 that undid an earlier requirement that English learners be taught in English-immersion classes unless their parents signed waivers. Torlakson recently visited Mexico and met with that countrys education secretary. They later signed a pact to increase collaboration, particularly in language education. This [Global California 2030] is great follow-through on Toms part and very important, Patricia Gandara, a UCLA education professor who hosted the Mexico meeting, said in an email. It hands over a plan to move forward in an area in which California has a unique advantage, but must seize the opportunity. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Jury convicts man of murder in 2015 slaying of UCLA student found inside her burning apartment By Marisa Gerber A jury on Tuesday convicted a man in the 2015 slaying of a UCLA student found dead inside her burning apartment a gruesome stabbing case that led to a fierce rebuke of the police response amid concerns that the killing could have been prevented. The panel deliberated for about six hours before finding Alberto Medina, 24, guilty of murder, arson, burglary and animal cruelty. On Sept. 21, 2015, firefighters found the charred body of Andrea DelVesco inside her apartment after responding to the complex a block from campus. The 21-year-old student an Austin, Texas, native known to her sorority sisters as a fearless giver who befriended others with ease was stabbed at least 19 times, authorities said. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print LAPD begins sweeping criminal probe of former USC gynecologist while urging patients to come forward By Adam Elmahrek The Los Angeles Police Department said Tuesday it is investigating 52 complaints of misconduct filed by former patients of USCs longtime campus gynecologist as detectives launch a sweeping criminal probe into the scandal that has rocked the university. LAPD detectives also made an appeal for other patients who feel mistreated to come forward, noting that thousands of students were examined by Dr. George Tyndall during his nearly 30-year career at USC. More than 410 people have contacted a university hotline about the physician since The Times revealed the allegations this month. Tyndalls behavior and practices appear to go beyond the norms of the medical profession and gynecological examinations, said Asst. Chief Beatrice Girmala. We sincerely realize that victims may have difficulty recounting such details to investigators. We are empathetic and ready to listen. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print At L.A.'s only school for the deaf, parents want leaders who speak the same language By Anna M. Phillips Ever since her son was 6 months old, Juliet Hidalgo has been bringing him to the Marlton School, a low-slung building in Baldwin Hills that for generations has been a second home for deaf and hard-of-hearing students in Los Angeles. Marlton staff taught Hidalgos brother and sister, both of whom are deaf. The school was where her deaf son learned to make the signs for milk and food. Hidalgo had planned to enroll her daughter, taking advantage of a popular program that allows hearing children to learn American Sign Language alongside their deaf siblings. But after more than a decade of involvement, she and other family members are considering withdrawing their children. They are not alone. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Fueled by unlimited donations, independent groups play their biggest role yet in a California primary for governor By Ryan Menezes An unprecedented amount of money from wealthy donors, unions and corporations is flowing into the California governors race, giving independent groups unrestricted by contribution limits a greater say in picking the states chief executive than ever before. The groups have already spent more than $26 million through Thursday, the most ever spent by noncandidate committees in a gubernatorial primary, according to a Times analysis of campaign finance reports. California elections have always been expensive, and the future is even more expensive, said Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College and a former state Republican leader. The stakes are very real. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 2 hurt in Indiana middle school shooting; suspect in custody, authorities say By Associated Press Authorities say two victims in a shooting at a suburban Indianapolis school are being taken to a hospital and the lone suspect is in custody. Bryant Orem, a spokesman for the Hamilton County Sheriffs Office, said in a news release that the victims in Friday mornings attack at Noblesville West Middle School are being taken to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis and their families have been notified. He says no other information is available about the victims. Orem said the suspect is believed to have acted alone and was taken into custody. No additional information about the suspect was made public. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print For new L.A. schools chief Austin Beutner, some key unions are giving no honeymoon period By Howard Blume In the less than two weeks since Austin Beutner took charge of Los Angeles schools, unions representing teachers and administrators have staged a job action and a protest. Theyve made it clear that they will not give the new superintendent the traditional honeymoon period, and they are bashing him for his wealth and lack of experience running either a school or a school district. Beutner is a billionaire investment banker with zero qualifications, local teachers union President Alex Caputo-Pearl told members in a phone alert urging them to participate in a Thursday afternoon rally in Grand Park. The board is saying that billionaires who made their money blowing institutions up and making money off it know best not the education professionals who have dedicated our careers to working with students. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Pressure grows on Board of Trustees amid USC gynecologist scandal By Paul Pringle USCs large and powerful Board of Trustees is coming under growing pressure to provide a stronger hand as the university faces a crisis over misconduct allegations against the campus longtime gynecologist that has prompted calls for President C.L. Max Nikias to step down. Allegations that Dr. George Tyndall mistreated students during his nearly 30 years at USC have roiled the campus, with about 300 people coming forward to make reports to the university and the Los Angeles Police Department launching a criminal investigation. USC is already beginning to face what is expected to be costly litigation by women who say they were victimized by the physician. So far, the trustees to whom Nikias reports have expressed sympathy for the women who have come forward and launched an independent investigation while also publicly backing the president. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print UC regents approve leaner budget for Janet Napolitano By Teresa Watanabe University of California regents on Thursday unanimously approved a leaner, more transparent budget for President Janet Napolitano, moving to address political criticism over the systems central office operations. The $876.4-million budget for 2018-19 reflects spending cuts of 2%, including reductions in staffing, travel and such systemwide programs as public service law fellowships, carbon neutrality and food security. Napolitano shifted $30 million to campuses for housing needs and $10 million to UC Riverside to support its five-year-old medical school. She also permanently redirected $8.5 million annually to help enroll more California students, as required by the state. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print USCs Academic Senate calls on university president to resign after a series of scandals By Matt Hamilton The body that represents USCs faculty called on President C.L. Max Nikias to resign Wednesday in the wake of relevations that the universitys longtime gynecologist faced years of accusations of misconduct by students and colleagues at the campus health clinic. The Academic Senate took the vote late Wednesday afternoon after a fiery town hall meeting attended by more than 100 faculty members, many of whom voiced outrage over Nikias and the Board of Trustees leadership. The vote came a day after the trustees executive committee stood firmly behind Nikias, saying it has full confidence in his leadership, ethics and values. At the town hall meeting, Senate President Paul Rosenbloom said he did not think Nikias or Provost Michael Quick committed wrongdoing but that the university president deserved criticism for a lack of transparency. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Californias public universities on the way to getting a big longed-for boost in funding By Teresa Watanabe The University of California and California State University systems are poised to get major funding boosts that will help them enroll thousands of additional state students and eliminate the need for tuition increases in the coming school year. A key Assembly budget panel on Wednesday approved $117.5 million in new funds for the UC. A Senate panel approved a similar sum last week. The same committees recently approved even more funding for the Cal State system. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement UC regents to scrutinize Janet Napolitanos office budget in a step toward stronger oversight By Teresa Watanabe University of California regents this week plan to scrutinize the budget of President Janet Napolitano, whose office came under political fire last year for questionable spending and murky accounting. Regents will vote on the proposed $876.4-million budget for 2018-19 during their two-day meeting, which starts Wednesday, at UC San Francisco. They also will discuss state funding, financial aid, online education and transfer student policies. Board Chairman George Kieffer said regents are stepping up to exert stronger oversight of the presidents office after a blistering state audit last year found financial problems including an unreported $175 million budget reserve. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print State legislative panels approve major funding boost for Cal State By Teresa Watanabe Cal State students protest against a tuition increase outside the chancellors office (Irfan Khan) After months of intensive lobbying, Cal State University has convinced two key legislative panels to approve funding to enroll nearly 11,000 more students, hire more faculty and expand housing aid to those without shelter this fall. An Assembly budget panel on Tuesday approved $215.7 million more for Cal State, adding to Gov. Jerry Browns proposed $92.1 million general fund increase. A Senate budget panel approved a similar increase last week. The extra funding which went beyond Cal States own request to the Legislature of $171 million is still subject to final budget negotiations with Brown. But the actions by the Senate and Assembly panels amount to a demand from Democrats that the governor hike higher education spending. Cal State University is the workhorse undergraduate university serving hundreds of thousands of Californians, said Assemblyman Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento), who heads the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance. We need more graduates for the California workforce and higher education is the ticket to the middle class. Cal State Chancellor Timothy P. White hailed the actions, but said it was too soon to celebrate. The CSU has a singular focus on helping students earn high-quality degrees sooner, and the entire university community has rallied to reinforce that message to our states lawmakers, he said in a statement. The actions taken thus far by the Assembly and Senate are promising and show that our message is being received, but there is still work to be done. Funding for the University of California was not taken up Tuesday as originally scheduled. McCarty would not comment on sticking points but said he was confident that a resolution would be reached this week. Were looking to provide resources above whats in the governors budget, but negotiations are ongoing, he said in an interview. State per-student funding is not what it once was, leaving both Cal State and the UC in a tough financial squeeze. Both systems raised tuition last year after a six-year freeze on higher costs. For this year, Cal State had asked for funding to enroll an additional 3,621 students, but both the Senate and Assembly panels approved three times that amount. Cal State, the largest public university system in the nation, turned away 32,000 eligible students last year because its campuses werent able to accommodate them. The panels asked that at least $50 million of the extra funding be used to hire more tenure-track faculty to help boost graduation rates. The Assembly panel also approved one-time funding of $5 million to ease hunger on campuses and $14 million for rapid rehousing pilot projects at three campuses, offering needy students rental support and short-term case management. Other items approved include $5 million to support the CSU Long Beach Shark Labs research on sharks and beach safety and $2 million for equal employment opportunity practices. This post has been updated to include comments from Assemblyman Kevin McCarty and Cal State Chancellor Timothy P. White. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Faculty members call for USC president to step down: He has lost the moral authority to lead By Matt Hamilton Two hundred USC professors on Tuesday demanded the resignation of university President C. L. Max Nikias, saying he had lost the moral authority to lead in the wake of revelations that a campus gynecologist was kept on staff for decades despite repeated complaints of misconduct. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Gun battle, negotiations lasted 15 minutes before Texas school shooter was apprehended, sheriff says By Molly Hennessy-Fiske Minutes after a school shooter opened fire in an art class last week, killing 10 people and wounding 13, including a local police officer, fellow officers returned fire in a protracted gun battle before isolating the suspect, the local sheriff said Monday. Galveston County Sheriff Henry Trochesset praised first responders as well as Santa Fe Police Officer John Barnes, who was working as a resource officer at the school the day of the shooting. Their actions, he said, prevented the attack from spreading to other classrooms and potentially claiming additional victims. As officials continue to probe last Fridays shooting at Santa Fe High School, students are worried about returning to the scene of the attack when classes resume next week. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 6 women sue USC, alleging they were victimized by campus gynecologist By Richard Winton Six women filed civil lawsuits Monday alleging that a longtime gynecologist at the University of Southern California sexually victimized them under the pretext of medical care and that USC failed to address complaints from clinic staff about the doctors behavior. One woman alleged Dr. George Tyndall forced his entire ungloved hand into her vagina during an appointment in 2003 while making vulgar remarks about her genitalia, according to one of the lawsuits. Another woman alleged that Tyndall groped her breasts in a 2008 visit and that later he falsely told her she likely had AIDS. A third woman accused the doctor of grazing his ungloved fingers over her nude body and leering at her during a purported skin exam, the lawsuit states. The wave of litigation comes as USC continues to grapple with the scandal, which legal experts said could prove costly to the university as scores of former patients come forward about their experiences with the gynecologist. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Fatalities reported in Texas high school shooting; suspect arrested, officials say By Associated Press Houston-area media citing unnamed law enforcement officials are reporting that there are fatalities following a shooting at a local high school Friday morning. Television station KHOU and the Houston Chronicle are citing unnamed federal, county and police officials following the shooting at Santa Fe High School, which went on lockdown around 8 a.m. The Associated Press has not been able to confirm the reports. The school district has confirmed an unspecified number of injuries but said it wouldnt immediately release further details. Assistant Principal Cris Richardson said a suspect has been arrested and secured. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print This student followed the new L.A. schools chief on his first-day tour L.A. schools Supt. Austin Beutner is greeted by Van Nuys High School principal Yolanda Gardea. (Melissa Barales-Lopez) Melissa Barales-Lopez, a senior at Garfield High School followed Supt. Austin Beutner on his first day on the job, as he toured a variety of programs around the Los Angeles Unified School District. Heres what she took from the experience. LAUSD students and staff alike are looking for a personal champion, someone who will address and improve the difficulties afflicting their education. What LAUSD students need is someone whos willing to listen and learn, someone who can understand the current issues affecting their schools and act to efficiently amend them, someone who can unlock the full potential of LAUSD students and enable them to reach their goals. During the entirety of his first day, superintendent Austin Beutner did indeed demonstrate a willingness to learn. Posing questions to teachers and students, Beutner engaged with the student communities he encountered to gain a better comprehension of the minutiae and nuances that distinguish each school inside an overwhelmingly large district. From inquiries about Grand View Boulevard Elementary Schools dual language program to questions regarding the services of LAUSDs after-school program, Beyond the Bell, Beutner revealed he has a lot to learn about the system. But, Beutner also showcased a willingness to tackle challenges head-on on his first day. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print USC let a gynecologist continue treating students despite years of misconduct allegations By Matt Hamilton For nearly 30 years, the University of Southern Californias student health clinic had one full-time gynecologist: Dr. George Tyndall. Tall and garrulous with distinctive jet black hair, he treated tens of thousands of female students, many of them teenagers seeing a gynecologist for the first time. Few who lay down on Tyndalls exam table at the Engemann Student Health Center knew that he had been accused repeatedly of misconduct toward young patients. The complaints began in the 1990s, when co-workers alleged he was improperly photographing students genitals. In the years that followed, patients and nursing staff accused him again and again of creepy behavior, including touching women inappropriately during pelvic exams and making sexually suggestive remarks about their bodies. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Cal State trustees to discuss Browns latest budget proposal, which they say still falls $171 million short By Joy Resmovits Just how much money does California State University need to serve its students? In recent years, this question has been front and center for the nations largest public university system. Cal States leaders say that to keep their campuses quality from slipping, they need much more money than the state is giving them. This year, theyre also at odds with Gov. Jerry Brown on the question of whether any extra money should come in one-time bursts or be ongoing. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print On his first day as L.A. schools chief, Beutner plans a day of visits across the district By Howard Blume L.A. Unifieds new superintendent, Austin Beutner, will kick off his first day of work on Tuesday with a choreographed tour of the nations second-largest school district, from the San Fernando Valley to Carson. His day is scheduled to begin at 5:15 a.m. at a school bus depot and end more than 12 hours later at a parent meeting at Garfield High School. Along the way, Beutner is expected to be joined by school district administrators, L.A. Unified board members and the vice president of the union that represents school bus drivers. Though he will be covering a lot of ground, Beutners tour has him skipping Tuesdays school board meeting, when board members are expected to discuss labor negotiations in closed session. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Cal State trustees to discuss Browns latest budget proposal, which they say still falls $171 million short By Joy Resmovits Just how much money does California State University need to serve its students? In recent years, this question has been front and center for the nations largest public university system. Cal States leaders say that to keep their campuses quality from slipping, they need much more money than the state is giving them. This year, theyre also at odds with Gov. Jerry Brown on the question of whether any extra money should come in one-time bursts or be ongoing. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Why a handful of rich charter school supporters are spending millions to elect Antonio Villaraigosa as governor By Ryan Menezes California voters have seen a barrage of sunny television ads in recent weeks touting former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosas record on finances, crime and education, aired by Families & Teachers for Antonio Villaraigosa for Governor 2018. But the group is, in fact, largely funded by a handful of wealthy charter-school supporters. Together they have spent more than $13 million in less than a month to boost Villaraigosas chances in the June 5 primary at a time when his fundraising and poll numbers are lagging. Reed Hastings, the founder of Netflix, jump-started the group with a $7-million check, by far the largest donation to support any candidate in the election. Their efforts are part of a broader proxy war among Democrats between teachers unions longtime stalwarts of the party and those who argue that the groups have failed low-income and minority schoolchildren. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Talking schools with L.A. Unifieds new superintendent By Anna M. Phillips Al Seib / Los Angeles Times ( Incoming L.A. schools Supt. Austin Beutner talks to students at Belmont High School.) Austin Beutner, who officially starts Tuesday as the new superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, is taking on a famously difficult job at a particularly difficult time. The school board is divided and did not back him unanimously. The nations second-largest school district has deep-seated problems, including declining enrollment, lagging academic achievement and rising pension and healthcare costs that eat away at its budget. The 58-year-old former investment banker and former L.A. Times publisher has years of experience in the financial world but none as an educator. Earlier this week, he sat down with the Times education team to discuss the challenges facing the district, which has about 60,000 employees and 500,000 students in traditional public schools. He did not talk about his plans saying repeatedly, stay tuned but he spoke in broad terms about his mindset in approaching the tough decisions ahead. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Suspect detained, authorities search campus after reports of armed man at Palmdale high school By James Queally One person has been detained after a report of an armed man at a Palmdale high school sparked a massive law enforcement response Friday morning. The suspect was spotted at 7:05 a.m. on the campus of Highland High School in Palmdale, according to Sheriffs Department spokeswoman Nicole Nishida. The person was detained in a nearby parking lot, according to Nishida, who did not know whether that person was an adult or juvenile. Deputies at the scene are clearing the school methodically, and students will be transported home via school buses once the campus is deemed safe, Nishida said. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement The education of Bertha Perez: How a UC Merced custodians disenchantment led to a political awakening By Robin Abcarian Its the third day of a three-day strike, and UC Merced custodian Bertha Perez is taking a break from a picket line at the universitys unremarkable entrance, an intersection with stop lights. Photos from other UC campuses this week have shown big crowds of striking service workers members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees marching and chanting pro-labor slogans as they try to force the University of California back to the negotiating table. But here, at UC Merced, whose handful of big buildings rise from a flat expanse of farmland, the picket line is tiny, maybe two dozen workers and a few students. Its not a big-city-style show of force. Then again, a union sympathizer is banging relentlessly on a snare drum, so its noisier than youd expect. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Ref Rodriguez resigns from teacher credentialing commission By Howard Blume Ref Rodriguez appears during a court appearance. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times) Los Angeles school board member Ref Rodriguez has resigned from the states Commission on Teacher Credentialing, which oversees the integrity and quality of Californias teachers. Rodriguez faces felony and misdemeanor charges for political money laundering. Separately, his former employer, a charter school organization, has accused him of improperly authorizing checks to a nonprofit under his control. Rodriguez has denied wrongdoing. Rodriguezs resignation from the state body was effective May 4, days after he cast a crucial vote as part of a narrow majority that voted to authorize contract negotiations with Austin Beutner to become superintendent of the L.A. Unified School District. Beutners first official day on the job is Tuesday. Rodriguez remains in his $125,000-a-year position on the Los Angeles Board of Education. The mission of the state body is to ensure integrity, relevance, and high quality in the preparation, certification, and discipline of Californias teachers. Critics had questioned Rodriguezs continued service on the commission, given that teachers can be suspended from work if they face criminal charges. They also can lose their jobs for lapses in personal behavior, such as excessive drinking, with the potential to affect their performance. Police in Pasadena arrested Rodriguez on a Friday afternoon in March for public drunkenness. He was not charged in the incident and has apologized. The state commission reviews teacher discipline cases and can take action to remove a teachers credential to work in a California classroom. The commission has 15 members. Rodriguezs departure was disclosed in a one-sentence announcement on the agencys website. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print School board members request for restraining order against blogger is rejected By Priscella Vega An Orange County Superior Court judge on Wednesday denied a school board members petition for a permanent restraining order against a Huntington Beach blogger. Attorney Jeffrey W. Shields filed the petition on behalf of Ocean View School District trustee Gina Clayton-Tarvin, 46, who alleged in court documents that Charles Keeler Johnson, 56, has threatened her on social media and at school board meetings, causing her to fear for my own safety and for that of my immediate family members. Johnson, who goes by Chuck and publishes HBSledgehammer.com, said the trustee tried to stifle his freedom of speech. He also contended that Clayton-Tarvin took his blog posts and Facebook comments too seriously and out of context, saying anyone who is afraid of metaphors has serious issues. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Deal with workers averts one-day strike that could have shut down L.A. schools By Howard Blume Los Angeles school district and union officials announced a contract agreement Tuesday night that averted a one-day strike planned for next week. The pact, which runs through June 2020, removes one labor problem from the desk of incoming Supt. Austin Beutner whose first day on the job would have coincided with the strike. Plenty of other challenges remain. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print UC labor strike expands with show of support from more unions By Teresa Watanabe Fong Chuu is a registered nurse who has assisted with countless liver transplants, kidney surgeries and gastric bypasses during 34 years at UCLA. Working with her are scrub technicians who sterilize equipment, hand medical instruments to the surgeon and dress patient wounds. They are a team, Chuu says, which is why she walked off her job Tuesday in support of those technicians and other members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299. The 25,000 member AFSCME local, the University of Californias largest employee union, launched a three-day strike Monday. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print We are humans too: Voices of UCLAs striking custodians, hospital aides and imaging technicians By Joy Resmovits Demonstrators parade in front of Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) This week, thousands of UC employees are staging a three-day strike for better pay and working conditions. On Monday, more than 20,000 custodians, cooks, lab technicians, nurse aides and other members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299 walked off their jobs. By Tuesday, two more unions joined in sympathy strikes. The union and UC reached a bargaining impasse last year. The university has said it wont meet the workers demands. The strikers said they wanted better pay, more equity in the allocation of work, stable healthcare premiums and an end to the universitys use of contract workers. These are their stories. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Massive UC workers strike disrupts dining, classes and medical services By Joy Resmovits A massive labor strike across the University of California on Monday forced medical centers to reschedule more than 12,000 surgeries, cancer treatments and appointments, and campuses to cancel some classes and limit dining services. More than 20,000 members of UCs largest employee union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, walked off their jobs on the first day of a three-day strike. They include custodians, gardeners, cooks, truck drivers, lab technicians and nurse aides. Two altercations involving protesters and people driving near the rallies were reported at UCLA and UC Santa Cruz. At UCLA, police took a man into custody Monday after he drove his vehicle into a crowd, hitting three staff members. They were treated for minor injuries at the scene and released, said Lt. Kevin Kilgore of the UCLA Police Department. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Sen. Kamala Harris to skip UC Berkeley commencement in support of striking workers By Teresa Watanabe Sen. Kamala Harris (Chris Dekmas) California Sen. Kamala Harris has canceled plans to deliver UC Berkeleys commencement address this weekend in support of UC workers who are on strike over wages and health benefits. Due to the ongoing labor dispute, Sen. Harris regretfully cannot attend and speak at this years commencement ceremony at UC Berkeley, said a statement from Harris office issued Monday. She wishes the graduates and their families a joyous commencement weekend and success for the future. They are bright young leaders and our country is counting on them. UCs largest employee union, the 25,000-member American Federation of County, State and Municipal Employees Local 3299, launched a three-day strike Monday and had earlier called for a speakers boycott. The union and university reached a bargaining impasse last year and subsequent mediation efforts have failed to produce an agreement. The union is asking for a multiyear contract with a 6% annual pay increase while the university is offering 3% annual increases over four years. UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ will deliver the keynote address instead, the university announced. About 5,800 students are expected to participate in the ceremony Saturday. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement School mural depicting Trumps bloody, severed head sparks controversy By Gary Warth A Chula Vista school mural that depicts the bloody, severed head of President Trump on a spear sparked a controversy that prompted officials to cover it and issue a response distancing themselves from the work. The statement also said the artist will alter the painting. We understand that there was a mural painted at the event this past weekend that does not align with our schools philosophy of non-violence, read the statement from MAAC Community Charter School director Tommy Ramirez. We have been in communication with the artist who has agreed to modify the artwork to better align with the schools philosophy. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print New blackface incident at Cal Poly prompts calls for state investigation By Kim Christensen Cal Poly San Luis Obispo officials have asked the state attorney generals office to investigate after a new photo of a white student in blackface surfaced on a fraternity groups private Snapchat. I am outraged, Cal Poly President Jeffrey D. Armstrong said in a video address Friday to the campus. These vile and absolutely unacceptable acts cannot continue. We must not allow these acts to define us as an institution. Armstrong said the latest photo was intended to imitate an incident last month in which a white member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity was photographed at a party wearing blackface. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print More than 50,000 UC workers set to strike this week but campuses will remain open By Teresa Watanabe More than 50,000 workers across the University of California are set to strike this week, causing potential disruptions to surgery schedules, food preparation and campus maintenance. The systems 10 campuses and five medical centers are to remain open, with classes scheduled as planned. UCs largest employee union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, plans to begin a three-day strike Monday involving 25,000 workers, including custodians, gardeners, cooks, truck drivers, lab technicians and nurse aides. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement New L.A. schools chief Beutner pledges to listen, learn and take action By Howard Blume New Los Angeles schools Supt. Austin Beutner proved Wednesday that hes a quick learner even without an education background. Like countless public officials before him, he appeared at an important event his first speech and news conference with a photogenic background of students. His message that he would put those students first seemed heartfelt if hardly original. Nor was it a huge surprise that he pledged to push cooperatively but unflinchingly to improve the districts academic performance and stabilize its finances. As an introduction, Beutner, a former investment banker who made a fortune on Wall Street, offered little flash, but that was partly the point. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print In a school lockdown, one student takes stock of the stressful scene (Phalaen Chang) At the beginning of lunch one day late last month, Duarte High School, Northview Middle School, and California School of the Arts-San Gabriel Valley were advised by the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department to go into lockdown mode due to police activity in the immediate area. Phalaen Chang, a junior at the California School of the Arts, wrote a series of notes on her iPhone while she sat in a room with her classmates. By the time the lockdown ended an hour later, she wrote, she knew which of her friends would hold open the door for others, be the ones calming others down, be the ones barricading the doors. She knew that all of them have the potential to be such strong people. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Tale as old as time: L.A. Unified superintendent pick follows a historical pattern of outside-the-box choices By Joy Resmovits Navy Vice Adm. David L. Brewer III, superintendent from 2006-2008. (L.A. Times file photo) L.A. Unified has long gone back and forth between picking insiders and outsiders to run the nations second largest school district. The choice of Austin Beutner, announced Tuesday, places the district squarely back in the outsider camp months after a consummate insider, Supt. Michelle King, announced that she had cancer and would not return to the job. Check out this timeline of former L.A. superintendents to see how the school board members have changed their minds, sometimes favoring leaders who come from the world of education and sometimes executives from elsewhere, recruited to shock the system into change. At one point, the district hired someone from the military retired Navy Vice Adm. David L. Brewer III, who served as superintendent from 2006-2008. In hiring Brewer, board members had opted for a non-educator largely because they sought a fresh thinker, unwedded to the bureaucracy, unafraid to make bold, even unorthodox moves, reads a 2008 Times story. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Austin Beutner named superintendent of Los Angeles schools By Howard Blume Austin Beutner, a philanthropist and former investment banker, on Tuesday was named superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nations second-largest school system. His selection was the biggest move yet by a Los Angeles school board majority elected with major support from charter school advocates. The decision came after lengthy public testimony, most of it in support of the other remaining finalist, interim Supt. Vivian Ekchian, who is well known within the school system. Beutner, 58, has no background leading a school or school district. Less than 2 years ago, a school board with a very different balance of power named Michelle King, a former teacher who rose through the district throughout her career, to L.A. Unifieds top job. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Hearing delay gives both sides more time in Ref Rodriguezs potential trial By Howard Blume Ref Rodriguez and his attorneys will have more time to prepare their defense against charges of political money laundering, a judge ruled Monday. The preliminary hearing in the case had been scheduled to begin May 9, but that date will now be pushed back to July 23 per the ruling from L.A. Superior Court Judge Deborah S. Brazil. Rodriguez, 46, faces three felony charges of conspiracy, perjury and procuring and offering a false or forged instrument, as well as 25 misdemeanor counts related to the alleged campaign money laundering. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement L.A. school board poised to name Beutner as superintendent By Howard Blume The Los Angeles Board of Education is poised to select philanthropist and former investment banker Austin Beutner to be the next superintendent of the nations second-largest school system. Barring a last-minute development, the only mystery is whether Beutner emerges with four or five votes from the boards seven members. Terms of his contract already have been under discussion, according to sources close to the process who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak. The selection of Beutner, 58, who has no experience managing a school or a school district, would be a signal that the board majority that took control nearly a year ago wants to rely on business management skills instead of insider educational expertise. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Teacher walkouts in Arizona and Colorado continue national debate on money for schools By Michael Livingston Following the lead of teachers who walked off the job in other states in recent weeks, thousands of teachers and their supporters took to the streets in Arizona and Colorado for the second day in a row to demand better pay and more funding for education. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Three decades before the #MeToo movement, UC San Diego led the way against sexual assault By Teresa Watanabe When Nancy Wahlig first started her fight against sexual assault, one company was marketing a capsule for women to stash in their bras and then smash to release a vile odor. Because of the very nature of society, the only person who can prevent rape is the woman herself, read a 1981 advertisement for the Repulse rape deterrent. Ideas about how to prevent sexual violence have come a long way since then, and Wahlig has helped lead that evolution on college campuses. In 1988, she started UC San Diegos Sexual Assault Resource Center (SARC), the first stand-alone program at the University of California. Today, she remains the systems most senior specialist. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Andres Alonso withdraws from consideration for L.A. schools job By Howard Blume Andres Alonso, believed to be one of three remaining finalists to lead the Los Angeles school system, has withdrawn from consideration. The remaining known candidates in the confidential search are former investment banker Austin Beutner and interim Supt. Vivian Ekchian. Alonso, 60, announced his decision on Twitter on Thursday night, saying he had notified the L.A. Unified School District on Monday. The exit of Alonso, the former Baltimore schools chief, seems to solidify the front-runner status of Beutner, who also was a former L.A. Times publisher and a Los Angeles deputy mayor. He held each of those positions for about a year. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Heres why the apparent increase in autism spectrum disorders may be good for U.S. children By Karen Kaplan The prevalence of autism spectrum disorder among American children continues to rise, new government data suggest. And that may be a good thing. Among 11 sites across the U.S. where records of 8-year-olds are scrutinized in detail, 1 in 59 kids was deemed to have ASD in 2014. Thats up from 1 in 68 in 2012. Normally, health officials would prefer to see less of a disease, not more of it. But in this case, the higher number is probably a sign that more children of color who are on the autism spectrum are being recognized as such and getting services to help them, according to a report published Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print UC shelves tuition increase for now, in hopes of getting more state funding By Teresa Watanabe University of California regents will not vote on a tuition increase next month, shelving the plan for now in hopes that state lawmakers will come through with more funding. Raising tuition is always a last resort and one we take very seriously, UC President Janet Napolitano said Thursday in a statement. We will continue to advocate with our students who are doing a tremendous job of educating legislators about the necessity of adequately funding the university to ensure UC remains a world-class institution and engine of economic growth for our state. Last week, Cal State Chancellor Timothy P. White said the 23-campus system no longer would consider a plan to raise tuition for the 2018-19 academic year. But unlike Cal State, UC officials have not taken a tuition increase off the table entirely. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement A chemical spill, unchecked eyewash stations, poor training: Audit details Cal States lax lab safety By Joy Resmovits In May 2016, two bottles tumbled off a poorly supported shelf and broke, leading to a chemical spill in a Sacramento State University lab. The liquid got onto one students legs and soaked anothers feet. Five employees cleaned up the mess, even though no one knew for sure what it was and whether it was dangerous. They called fellow employee Kim Harrington, their union representative, to let her know what happened. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print After blackface incident, minority students at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo say they dont feel welcome By Hailey Branson-Potts Aaliyah Ramos was walking through the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo campus last year when a prospective student approached her. Ramos was the only black person, the young woman said, that she and her mother had seen that day. They asked about the quality of education and the diversity of the student body. Ramos, a mechanical engineering student, didnt want to sugarcoat the truth: Cal Poly long has been predominantly white. But she told the young woman who also was black that she didnt want to discourage her from applying, because that wouldnt help with diversity at a school where only 0.7% of students are African American the lowest percentage of any university in the California State system. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement El Camino Real Charter High School in Woodland Hills wins the 2018 U.S. Academic Decathlon By Carlos Lozano El Camino Real Charter High School in Woodland Hills has won the 2018 U.S. Academic Decathlon, officials said. The winner was announced early Saturday at a ceremony in Frisco, Texas. More than 600 students from the U.S., Canada, China and the United Kingdom gathered there over the last three days to compete in the 37th annual U.S. Academic Decathlon. Congratulations to El Camino Real Charter High School for another impressive victory, said Vivian Ekchian, interim superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Your academic stamina and competitive spirit to win is remarkable. The entire L.A. Unified family is so proud of you. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Anticipation mounts as L.A. school board meets over superintendent selection By Howard Blume L.A. schools superintendent candidate Andres Alonso got an endorsement Friday, but Austin Beutner and Vivian Ekchian also have supporters. (Elizabeth Malby) The Los Angeles Board of Education is reconvening in closed session Friday at noon as anticipation mounts about the choice of the next leader of the nations second-largest school system. The presumed front-runner is former investment banker and philanthropist Austin Beutner, but interim Supt. Vivian Ekchian and former Baltimore Supt. Andres Alonso also are in the running. Most district insiders appear to be rooting for Ekchian, who has spent her entire career in education within the school system. After her 10 years as a teacher, her roles have included head of human resources, chief labor negotiator and regional administrator for campuses in the west San Fernando Valley. Shes managed the district since September, when then-Supt. Michelle King went on medical leave and chose Ekchian to fill in for her. King, who is battling cancer, never returned and announced her retirement in January. Numerous influential civic leaders have urged and pressured the board to select Beutner. Also lending their weight have been advocates for charter schools, which are independently operated, growing in number and competing for students with district-operated campuses. Four of the seven board members enough to control the outcome were elected with major financial support from charter supporters. Beutner has two ongoing connections with the L.A. Unified School District. The first is his leadership of an outside task force that is making recommendations on how to improve the school system. The second is his charity, Vision to Learn, which supplies glasses to low-income students. The charity and the school system are in a dispute at the moment over who is responsible for delays in providing services to students as part of a $6 million contract, half of which is paid for by L.A. Unified. Unlike Ekchian and Buetner, Alonso, who currently teaches at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, has no deep-seated local constituency, but the prospect of his selection has generated some excitement. While in Baltimore, Alonso was recognized for pushing for progress at low-performing schools, and for being willing to take strong action. While in Baltimore, he also weathered a test-score cheating scandal and occasionally rocky relations with the teachers union. But by the time he resigned, after six years, he and union leaders seemed to be working together without rancor. Leaders of some community groups have split from the pro-Beutner camp. They worry that Beutners approach to confronting the districts financial problems could shut out their voices or involve severe economic cutbacks that would undermine programs that are helping students. Some prefer Ekchian; some Alonso. Theyve been reluctant to speak out publicly because theyll have to work with whoever is selected, but they have tried to get the ear of board members. On Friday morning, one leader of a community group decided to come out in favor of Alonso. L.A. Unified has the opportunity to bring in an instructional leader of color with a history of success, said Alberto Retana, president and chief executive of Community Coalition, which works on behalf of low-income students and families in South Los Angeles. If we have a shot at that, we should go for it because its in the best interests of our kids and of our community. Retana said his statement was not meant to criticize Beutner or Ekchian but to alert board members that there also is community support for Alonso. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Cal State leader shelves proposed tuition hike: Its the right thing to do, but its not without risk By Joy Resmovits Cal State, the nations largest public university system, will no longer consider a plan to raise tuition for the 2018-19 academic year, Chancellor Timothy P. White announced Friday. The decision is a bet that Sacramento will come through in the end. If Cal State loses that bet, it could mean cuts to campus programs. White said in an interview that Californias economy is strong enough that families should not be shouldering the burden of higher college costs. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print L.A. students to participate in national walkout activities on Friday By Joy Resmovits (Los Angeles Times) Students are taking to the streets again Friday to protest gun violence on the 19th anniversary of the Columbine school shooting. Starting at 10 a.m., students at many schools will spend 13 seconds honoring the 13 people 12 students and one teacher killed on that day in Littleton, Colo. After that, theyll participate in a host of different activities. Within L.A. Unified, one school is having an open-mic event for students to talk about school violence, and lawmakers are visiting campuses to hear students thoughts. According to a central hub for organizing the protests written by the students of Ridgefield High School in Connecticut the walkouts are intended to drive the political change necessary to curb school violence. The day is also a time for students to interact on an elevated platform they have never had before, the site states. It is a day of discourse and thoughtful sharing. Bringing together communities and students to get a national discussion rolling. Organizers have suggested using the event to convey the importance of curbing gun violence to legislators. They are encouraging students to push legislation that would ban assault weapons and tighten up rules around who can buy guns and how. Over 2,500 schools nationwide are expected to participate. In L.A., some students at campuses including Eagle Rock High School, the Ramon C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts and Bravo Medical Magnet plan to walk out. Students from various schools expect to join area marches, including those in Santa Monica and Huntington Park. Other schools are hosting career days and voter registration drives. At 1 p.m., students plan to start a rally in front of L.A. Unified headquarters. For the record: An earlier version of this article stated that 12 teachers and one student were killed in the Columbine shooting. The opposite is true: twelve students and one teacher died. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Stabbing of popular student devastates South El Monte High School; teen friend suspected in slaying By Sonali Kohli When administrators at South El Monte High School called Jeremy Sanchezs parents to say he never showed up for class Wednesday, his father began to worry. It was unusual for the 17-year-old junior to miss school, so his father filed a missing persons report and assembled two of Jeremys close friends to look for the popular student-athlete. Their search took them to a scenic stretch of the San Gabriel River Trail, where one of the friends a 16-year-old boy made a tragic discovery. Among the bushes in the riverbed near Thienes Avenue and Parkway Drive was Jeremys body, punctured with stab wounds, according to Lt. John Corina of the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Racist fliers spark outrage at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo By Alene Tchekmedyian Soon after Neal MacDougall arrived on the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo campus Tuesday, the professor noticed university police standing outside a restroom near his office. A racial slur against African Americans had been scrawled in red marker on a stall wall. Later, he discovered a series of racist fliers pinned up next to his door. Someone had also slashed posters hed hung outside his office supporting students in the country illegally. The discovery was the latest controversy on the prestigious campus which the president said is less than 55% white that MacDougall said demonstrates a culture of racism at the university. Last week, photographs emerged of white fraternity members, including one in blackface, flashing gang signs. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement The superintendent waiting game, paying for L.A.'s College Promise, Princetons slave history: Whats new in education By Joy Resmovits Acting LAUSD superintendent Vivian Ekchian is a finalist for the permanent job. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) In and around Los Angeles: The L.A. Unified school board spent 10 hours interviewing and discussing candidates for superintendent. When they adjourned after 10 p.m., they said they would reconvene on Friday. Who is paying for Mayor Eric Garcettis much-touted College Promise, a program that promises two years of community college for LAUSD grads? In California: The Legislature is considering a proposal that would boost K-12 education funding for black students. When the cost of living is taken into account, California has the highest rate of child poverty. Nationwide: The families of two children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School are suing Alex Jones and Infowars for saying the school massacre never occurred. Princeton will name two spaces an arch and a garden after slaves who lived or worked on the campus. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print L.A. school board meets privately with finalists and debates choice for school district leader By Howard Blume The Los Angeles Board of Education adjourned late Tuesday after spending more than 10 hours interviewing candidates and trying to reach a decision on who would be the next leader of the nations second-largest school system. When the meeting finally recessed at 10:11 p.m., a spokesman announced only that the school board would reconvene Friday at noon. Going into the days meetings, there were apparently four finalists, according to sources who could not be named because they were unauthorized to speak. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Two Sandy Hook families sue Alex Jones and Infowars for saying the school massacre never happened By David Altimari Families of two children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School have filed lawsuits in Texas against controversial radio host Alex Jones for continually claiming the massacre never happened. Neil Heslin, the father of Jesse Lewis, and Leonard Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa, whose son Noah Pozner died in the massacre, filed separate lawsuits late Monday in Travis County, Texas. The lawsuits allege that Jones defamed the parents by constantly calling them crisis actors and insisting the shooting was a false flag operation; they also claim Jones accusations have led to death threats against the Sandy Hook families by Jones followers. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Beutner emerges as a top pick for L.A. schools superintendent amid last-minute jockeying By Howard Blume Austin Beutner has emerged as a leading contender to run the Los Angeles school district, with backers saying he is smart enough and tough enough to confront its financial and academic struggles. Though he does not have a background in education, the former investment banker has in the last year examined some of the districts intractable problems, serving as co-chair of an outside task force with the support of then-Supt. Michelle King. Sources inside and outside the school district said Beutner appears to have more support on the seven-member board than other finalists, and his name could come up for a vote as early as Tuesday. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Challenge at Chicago school construction site: Watch for 38,000 unmarked graves By Nereida Moreno A 15-year effort to build a school in Chicagos Dunning neighborhood is underway with an unusual complication: Construction workers are taking careful steps to avoid disturbing human remains that may lie beneath the soil. The $70-million school is to be built on the grounds of a former Cook County Poor House, where an estimated 38,000 people were buried in unmarked graves. Among the dead are residents who were too poor to afford funeral costs, unclaimed bodies and patients from the countys insane asylum. There can be and there have been bodies found all over the place, said Barry Fleig, a genealogist and cemetery researcher who began investigating the site in 1989. Its a spooky, scary place. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Oklahoma teacher walkout winds down despite lawmakers failure to meet demands By Washington Post Oklahomas largest teachers union has announced an end to a walkout that has drawn thousands of educators out of classrooms and to the state Capitol demanding greater investment in the states schools, which have endured the nations steepest funding cuts. The announcement Thursday from the Oklahoma Education Assn. does not necessarily end the protests at the Capitol, as teachers not affiliated with the union vowed to stay longer. Instead of a walkout, the union and school districts across the state have said they plan to send delegations of teachers to Oklahoma City to keep the pressure on lawmakers. Teachers and their supporters have also promised to push education issues to the forefront of November elections, when the state chooses a new governor. As school districts begin to reopen, the protests may lose steam. The Legislature is not in session Friday, and observers are waiting to see what happens Monday, when lawmakers return. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Most Californians are worried about school shooting threats and oppose arming teachers, survey finds By Joy Resmovits Hamilton High School student Aiyana Dabriel holds a sign during a March 14 walkout in support of the Parkland shooting victims. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) Most Californians are worried that a school shooting like the one that occurred in Parkland, Fla., in February could shed blood closer to home, a new survey found. Some 73% percent of adults and 82% of public school parents said they were very concerned or somewhat concerned about school shootings. The Public Policy Institute of California surveyed 1,704 adults in the state by phone just after the March for Our Lives protest against gun violence. Latino and black respondents were significantly more likely to be concerned about school violence than white or Asian respondents, the institute found. Two-thirds of adults and public school parents said they opposed letting more educators carry weapons in school. The response differed across party lines, with 86% of Democrats and 69% of independents voicing their opposition, while 60% percent of Republicans said they would support a measure to arm educators. The poll, which had a margin of error of 3.2% in either direction, also asked Californians about school funding, educational issues in the governors race and the impact of immigration enforcement on students. You can find the full results here. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Californias largest virtual charter school network agrees to contract with its teachers By Anna M. Phillips Nearly four years after teachers at Californias largest online charter school voted to unionize, they have reached a deal to increase pay and create job protections, according to a spokesman for the California Teachers Assn. The contract, which is still tentative and subject to ratification, is a victory for the teachers union. Although charter schools are publicly funded, most are privately managed and their employees arent protected by labor contracts. Under the terms of the contract the result of years of negotiation and legal wrangling approximately 500 teachers working for California Virtual Academies will no longer be at-will employees who can be dismissed for almost any reason. Their average salary will rise to just over $45,000, according to union estimates, a figure that remains far below the norm for traditional public school teachers. Still, it is an improvement over the previous average of $38,000. The accord also places a limit on the number of students each teacher is responsible for monitoring in online homeroom classes. Were very satisfied with the gains we made, said teacher Brianna Carroll, president of California Virtual Educators United. I think were going to see some extraordinary changes in our schools. According to Carroll, teachers at California Virtual Academies better known as CAVA had grown frustrated with the organizations foot-dragging and were making preparations to go on strike when CAVAs leadership agreed to the deal. CAVA and K12, the Virginia-based for-profit company linked to its schools, did not immediately respond to an email Tuesday asking for comment. The network currently operates nine virtual charter schools across California. In 2016, the charter network agreed to pay $8.5 million to settle claims of false advertising, misleading parents and inadequate instruction. The state attorney generals office had also accused K12 of controlling the charters for its own financial benefit. Neither CAVA nor K12 admitted to wrongdoing in the settlement. A year later, the state imposed a $2-million fine on CAVA after an audit found that it had misspent public funds. The network disputed the findings. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement School board approves a new formula for funding high-need schools By Sonali Kohli L.A. schools will soon get more money if they are located in neighborhoods with such problems as high levels of gun violence and asthma. The Los Angeles Unified school board voted unanimously Tuesday to adopt a new formula to determine how to dole out some funding to schools, based not only on the characteristics of the student populations but on the traumas that affect the communities around campuses. The new formula will be applied to $25 million in funding next fiscal year and about $263 million annually in future years a small part of the districts $7.5 billion annual budget. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Protesters demand Ref Rodriguez resignation outside school board meeting By Sonali Kohli Students, parents, teachers and UTLA marching outside the board meeting chanting "Ref resign" pic.twitter.com/W0LRWZSIXY Sonali Kohli (@Sonali_Kohli) April 10, 2018 A few dozen parents, students and teachers marched outside the Los Angeles Unified School Board meeting Tuesday, some calling for board member Ref Rodriguez to resign the week after news broke that he was taken into custody on suspicion of being drunk in public at a Pasadena bar and restaurant. Rodriguez was not cited or charged in that incident, but was held for more than five and a half hours before being released. The school board member faces felony and misdemeanor charges for political money laundering. He is accused of getting more than two dozen people people to donate to his campaign for his school board seat with the understanding that he would reimburse them. He stepped down from his post as school board president after he was charged last fall, but he did not give up his seat on the board. He has pleaded not guilty to three felony counts of conspiracy, perjury, and procuring and offering a false or forged instrument, as well as 25 misdemeanor counts related to the alleged campaign money laundering. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for May. He cant give his full focus to our students, said Rebecca LaFond, a Highland Park parent whose three children marched with her as she chanted, Ref resign. One daughter marched in front of her, using a drum stick to hit the bottom of a gallon-size empty water jug. Our kids deserve someone who has the utmost ethical standards representing them, LaFond said. The protests continued into the board meeting, where some addressed Rodriguez directly, calling on him to step down during public comment portions of the meeting. Rodriguez, through his chief of staff, declined to comment. Some parents outside the board meeting did not know about the charges against Rodriguez but came out to protest the possibility of sharing their school campuses with charter schools. Protesters also oppose colocation not all of the parents are here to ask Ref Rodriguez to step down pic.twitter.com/1Co8zQ9zSi Sonali Kohli (@Sonali_Kohli) April 10, 2018 Cynthia Martinez said her son, who goes to Christopher Dena Elementary School in Boyle Heights, has been bullied in the past by students from a charter school sharing the campus. She said she didnt know who Rodriguez was. Some parents and teachers are worried about losing computer labs, robotics rooms and fitness centers if they are required to share their campus with charter schools, said Ilse Escobar, a parent community organizer for United Teachers Los Angeles. The issues of Rodriguez and colocation are related, Escobar said. Rodriguez is part of a majority on the school board elected with financial backing from charter school supporters, and many parents, she said, feel that the school board is compromised if he is a part of it. Staff reporter Howard Blume contributed to this post. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Delaine Eastin tries to gain momentum in the California governors race, one voter at a time By Seema Mehta Delaine Eastin was a sophomore in high school when a drama teacher urged her to try out for a part in The Man Who Came to Dinner. She hesitated until he told her: This is a metaphor for your whole life. If you never try out, you will never get the part. Eastin auditioned and won the role. Decades later, the advice sticks with the former state schools chief, this time in her unlikely run for governor. Despite calls for more women in leadership roles in state politics following sexual misconduct allegations in Sacramento, Eastin has been largely overlooked in the race, lagging far behind her Democratic rivals in fundraising and the polls. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Arizona high court rejects in-state tuition for DACA recipients By Associated Press Young immigrants granted deferred deportation status under a program started by President Obama are not eligible for lower in-state college tuition, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled Monday. The unanimous ruling will affect at least 2,000 students attending the states largest community college district and hundreds more at other colleges and the states three public universities. The Maricopa County Community Colleges District and state universities said they would begin raising tuition immediately for the coming school year. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print New York high school students injured when bus strikes overpass By Associated Press A charter bus carrying teenagers returning from a spring break trip Sunday night struck a bridge overpass on Long Island, seriously injuring six passengers and mangling the entire length of the top of the bus. The crash happened shortly after 9 p.m. Sunday on the Southern State Parkway in Lakeview, according to New York State Police. One of the six injured passengers had very serious injuries, said State Police Maj. David Candelaria. Thirty-seven other passengers suffered minor injuries. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Some good news for California in national student test scores By Joy Resmovits National test scores for fourth- and eighth-graders were generally flat from 2015, but eighth-grade reading scores showed some improvement. Every two years, the nations fourth- and eighth-graders are tested in math and reading and newly released results from last years tests give California at least a little reason to be pleased. The 2017 results out Monday night were mostly flat nationwide compared with 2015, though the average score in eighth-grade reading went up. But while that improvement largely came from the increased scores of the highest-performing students, California eighth-graders showed some reading progress from the lowest levels to the highest. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Under state control, Inglewood school districts financial picture worsened By Anna M. Phillips When Eugenio Villa agreed to return to the Inglewood schools for a second tour last summer, he knew the district remained one of Californias most troubled. Inglewood Unified had been nearly insolvent when it was taken over by the state Department of Education in 2012. Six years later, its enrollment was still declining. Its school buildings were tired some edging into decrepitude. Its test scores and graduation rates were still below the state average. And the public was out of patience. Still, Villa, who had signed back on as the districts chief business official, was shocked at what he found when he arrived in June 2017. Two years earlier, he had left the school system on what he thought was firm ground. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Charter school group drops two lawsuits against L.A. Unified By Howard Blume A charter schools advocacy group last week announced that it would end two long-running lawsuits in which it was seeking more classroom space and construction money from the Los Angeles school district. The decision, the California Charter Schools Assn. said, reflects better relations between charter schools and the L.A. Unified School District. But the move also suggests that the litigation, which already contributed to significant gains for area charters, was unlikely to produce much more. It takes time, money and effort to litigate, said Ricardo Soto, general counsel for the charter group. Maybe its better to see if we can find the time and opportunity for collaboration. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print L.A. school board member Ref Rodriguez is arrested on suspicion of public intoxication By Richard Winton Los Angeles school board member Ref Rodriguez was arrested recently on suspicion of being drunk in public at a Pasadena restaurant, the latest trouble for an elected official who faces political money-laundering charges. Pasadena police took Rodriguez into custody on March 16, according to city spokeswoman Lisa Derderian. Officers arrested Rodriguez at about 4:30 p.m. at the Yard House restaurant and bar at the Paseo Mall and held him in jail for more than five-and-a-half hours. Rodriguez was ultimately released without being cited or charged, Derderian told The Times. Other details about the arrest were not available, she Former Los Angeles schools Supt. Michelle King made 100% graduation her central goal for the nations second-largest school district. Now the L.A. school board president wants to up the ante and, by 2023, have every student graduate meeting requirements to enroll in one of the states public four-year universities. The board is scheduled to vote on LAUSD Board President Monica Garcias resolution, Realizing the Promise for All: Close the Gap by 2023, on Tuesday. The district estimates that 56% of 2017 graduates met those requirements, according to a district spokeswoman. The district currently allows students to graduate with D grades in the required classes instead of the minimum C grades that Cal State and the University of California require. So how would this giant leap forward happen? The resolution sets giant goals mostly concerning academics. By 2023, it mandates, among other things, that: All students identified as English learners in kindergarten or first grade be reclassified as fluent English proficient by the end of sixth grade; as fluent English proficient by the end of sixth grade; All third-graders meet or exceed standards on California state standardized tests; All eighth-graders head to high school with a C or better in English and math; All high school students take at least one college-level class. Some of the goals are similar to those in Kings strategic plan, though that plan foresaw more gradual progress. The resolution calls for schools to develop spending plans that would allow even the lowest-performing students to achieve rigorous academic standards. Supt. Austin Beutner would have to report in 120 days on the steps being taken to support high and highest need schools in hiring and retaining highly qualified teachers. The proposal does not suggest how much reaching the goals would cost or include annual benchmarks or how officials would respond if goals arent reached. Garcia did not reply to requests to talk about the details. Among the questions are how such fast improvement could be made without cutting corners to give students grades and credit they might not have earned. The district already has received criticism for using a wide range of credit recovery courses to help boost graduation rates. I believe this resolution is intended to create a sense of urgency about closing achievement and opportunity gaps and thats important, said Ryan Smith, the executive director of the nonprofit advocacy group Education Trust-West. We need concrete steps to ensure that schools and districts are changing practice and getting the results necessary to close those gaps. Board member Nick Melvoin said the district would need measures in place to make sure standards are rigorous. We could have 100% graduation tomorrow if you say, Show up to school and graduate, Melvoin said. Board member Kelly Gonez said she wants to see changes to the resolution before she would vote for it, including information on costs. She said she would prefer more of a focus on closing the gaps between lower-performing and higher-performing groups of students. I think back to the No Child Left Behind experience where you had a similar sort of 100% goal for all schools and then requisite supports were not given, Gonez said, referring to a past federal law that said all students would have to be academically proficient by 2014. One way to help meet these proposed ambitious goals would be to redirect some funding from lower-needs schools to those with the highest-need populations, said Sara Mooney, an education program officer for United Way of Greater Los Angeles, which helped draft the resolution. United Way also released a report Tuesday in partnership with other advocacy groups, asserting that needy L.A. students are not benefiting as intended from extra funds set aside to help them under the states Local Control Funding Formula. These LCFF funds are supposed to provide intensive services to low-income students, English learners and foster youths. But too much of the money is being diverted to other purposes, the report claimed. The findings in the report from United Way and UC Berkeley. Bruce Fuller/ UC Berkeley School districts get additional dollars for every low-income, English learner and foster student enrolled. In L.A. Unified that adds up to about $1.1 billion to the district annually. The district last year settled a lawsuit after it was accused of misusing some of that money for special education students. The district continues to siphon off money in the same ways, said UC Berkeley education professor Bruce Fuller, who directed the report. According to the report, elementary schools with the highest share of the targeted students (more than 90%) receive about $600 less per student than elementary schools with 60-90% of targeted students. The school board recently approved a Student Equity Needs Index, which takes into account problems such as gun violence and asthma in a schools neighborhood to try to reallocate some funds to high-need schools. That is one way the district could help reach the right targets, said Pedro Salcido, the districts director of finance policy. To deliver on the promise of the LCFF, the District must be more transparent. The District must make sure that it is investing in proven strategies and programs to improve student achievement, L.A. Unified Supt. Austin Beutner said in a statement about the United Way report. The District must also be more accountable to ensure it achieves the goals of the LCFF. Reach Sonali Kohli at Sonali.Kohli@latimes.com or on Twitter @Sonali_Kohli. UPDATES: 11:25 a.m.: This article and accompanying photo caption were updated to reflect that 56% of recent graduates met college entry requirements, not 31.9% as stated in the Close the Gap resolution. This story was originally published at 5 a.m. The Los Angeles Police Department on Thursday announced the arrest of a driver suspected of running over and killing a 22-year-old bicyclist in South Los Angeles and leaving the scene two months ago. Mariah Kandise Banks, 23, of Los Angeles has been arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter, the LAPD told reporters Thursday. Banks, they said, was driving a white 2004 Porsche Cayenne at a high speed on Manchester Avenue on April 10 when she struck bicycle rider Frederick Frazier near Normandie Avenue. Banks fled the scene without rendering aid to the victim, and later had her vehicle painted black, authorities say. Frazier was riding his bicycle in the Manchester Square area when he was hit. The force of the impact snapped his bicycle in half. Advertisement Beverly Owens, Fraziers mother, said her son had Type 1 diabetes and rode his bicycle to manage his weight. #LAPD Det's are seeking the publics help in identifying the person responsible for todays fatal hit & run involving a bicyclist in the 1300 block of W. Manchester. Susp driving a white Porsche Cayenne SUV. Any info, call @LAPDSouthTraff Det's at 323-421-2500. :@CaptainJonTom pic.twitter.com/2lXwaThwy1 LAPD HQ (@LAPDHQ) April 10, 2018 Thursdays press briefing at the LAPDs 77th Division was attended by Fraziers mother; his pregnant girlfriend, Troyona Adolphus, 22; and some of his close friends. I feel somewhat relief that justice will be served, said Moses Williams, 20. I still dont want to believe hes gone. Williams said he hopes the arrest will send a message to drivers that they should be careful and that anyone who tries to flee will be caught. I hope people dont look at this as just as news, but that they understand this was someones baby, someones loved one, Williams said. I mean to leave someone like that on the side is inhumane. Investigators said that information provided by the public helped lead to Banks arrest. After the fatal accident, investigators canvassed the area and obtained video footage from a local business. Still images from that surveillance video were broadcast to the public. Tipsters provide a lot of information, said LAPD Det. Ryan Moreno, the lead investigator. We were able to locate the suspect because of it. The tips led investigators to a home in Moreno Valley where they served a search warrant and located the vehicle, but not the driver, he said. They tried to disguise the vehicle, Moreno said. They had painted the Porsche black. It was a real cheap paint job, like they had used a brush or spray painted it. Hours after the search warrant, Moreno said they got a call from Banks who wanted to turn herself in. Moreno said that while interviewing Banks, who was accompanied by a lawyer, she confessed to being the driver and to hitting Frazier. She said she panicked and got scared, Moreno said. Moreno said additional arrests may be made as they continue to investigate who may have helped to cover up the crime. Fraziers mother thanked police for their work. She said she hopes everyone involved will be held accountable for what happened. She said she has also forgiven the driver. I have compassion for the lady, Owens said I cant imagine what its like for her, I cant imagine what it feels like living with this. Theres no good ending to it, she added. Also on Thursday, police announced the arrest of 19-year-old Alana Ealy of Los Angeles. Police say Ealy used a vehicle to run over a bicyclist during a vigil held for Frazier the day after his death. Police said Ealy was booked on suspicion of attempted murder on May 30. Beverly Owens, the mother of bicyclist Frederick Frazier, is overcome with emotion. Her son was struck and killed while riding his bicycle near Manchester and Normandie avenues in South L.A. in April. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times ) Fraziers death was followed by a small wave of bloody collisions that occurred over the span of a week. The day after Fraziers death, after a group of cyclists rode through Manchester and Normandie avenues to hold a vigil for Frazier, a driver in a gold Toyota Avalon ran a red light and struck a man in the intersection. That Friday, a driver of a dark-colored SUV fled after fatally striking Alfredo Ortiz, 52, who was walking through a crosswalk at West Imperial Highway and South Figueroa Street. Then on the morning of April 15, Gregory Moore, 57, was crossing the intersection of Century Boulevard and Main Street in his wheelchair when he was struck and killed by a possibly drunk driver, police said. Just after midnight the following day, two drivers struck and killed a bicyclist in his 60s as he rode through a crosswalk at Century and Avalon boulevards. Both fled the scene. Please be careful out there. Dont drink and drive. We had a fatal tc involving a possible dui driver hitting a man in a wheel chair at Century and Main in Southeast division early this morning. Call a friend, taxi or ride share service to save lives pic.twitter.com/glhDMy3mIj Jonathan Tom (@CaptainJonTom) April 15, 2018 The hit-and-run incidents have sparked frustration and criticism from residents and advocates who say city officials need to do more to protect pedestrians and cyclists. In 2015, Mayor Eric Garcetti helped create L.A.s Vision Zero program in an effort to eliminate traffic fatalities. The program is part of the Vision Zero Network, a nonprofit project aimed at improving traffic safety in cities. But the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition said the citys initial determination to reduce traffic deaths through the Vision Zero initiative had dwindled into inaction. Our streets are not safe or healthy, and they will not be until people walking and biking are given the same rights as people in vehicles, the coalition told the Los Angeles Times in April. Garcetti has said he is committed to the program and will recommend $91 million in funding for Vision Zero in next years budget, more than triple the amount allotted this fiscal year. The city has made more than a thousand changes to streets some of which have seen a high number of fatal crashes and severe injuries that include higher-visibility crosswalks and signs that tell drivers their speed. Garcettis Vision Zero initiative called for a 20% reduction in traffic deaths on city streets by 2017. Last year, the number of people killed in L.A. traffic crashes fell 3% far short of the 20% goal. The number of pedestrians killed has jumped 82% since 2015. ruben.vives@latimes.com For more Southern California news, follow @latvives on Twitter. UPDATES: 3:15 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from Los Angeles police Det. Ryan Moreno and the bicyclists mother, Beverly Owens. This article was originally published at 1:35 p.m. The development of a long-discussed planned community in northern Los Angeles County faced renewed debate Wednesday at a public hearing of the Regional Planning Commission. The Centennial development, a proposed 12,000-acre community on the Tejon Ranch near Gorman, would include nearly 20,000 homes and 10 million square feet of commercial, retail and institutional/civic space for public facilities like schools, parks, a sheriffs station and an urgent care clinic. Nearly half of the site would be open space. Some environmental advocates and residents who oppose the project say it will ruin the habitats of protected species and contribute to sprawl that increases the regions car dependence, worsening air quality and generating more greenhouse gases. Tejon Ranch Co., the developer, says Centennial will provide badly needed housing and economic growth while preserving the local environment. Advertisement This project, a concentrated urban development of balanced uses, is part of the solution to Californias climate leadership while meeting housing needs, Jennifer Hernandez, the attorney representing Tejon Ranch on the Centennial development, said at the planning hearing. The proposed development would sit on Tejon Ranch, a 270,000-acre private property near the top of the Grapevine. Established 175 years ago through a land grant, the area includes grasslands, oak woodlands and desert and is home to a number of rare species, including California condors, San Joaquin kit foxes and bald eagles. In 1999 Tejon Ranch Co. began planning three new developments on the land, including Centennial. Ten years ago, it reached a landmark agreement with environmental groups to conserve 90% of the property, or 240,000 acres. Today we begin the final process of that historic agreement, Greg Medeiros, vice president of community development for Tejon Ranch Co., said Wednesday. Roughly 40 people spoke at the hearing, including a handful who gave testimony remotely from Lancaster. Those in support, including representatives from chambers of commerce, developers, construction companies and local residents, spoke of the jobs, income, housing and services it would bring to a remote, unincorporated part of L.A. County. For 25 years Ive watched Tejon Ranch invest in our local communities. I have been eagerly awaiting the benefits that it is bound to bring, said Candace Huskey-Brown, citing jobs, healthcare facilities and retail. We pay taxes just like everybody else and we dont have access to the parks, the libraries, the schools, said Lisa Ballentine, a longtime resident of Neenach, an agricultural community of about 800 people near Centennial. Ballentine described putting her children on a bus at 5:30 in the morning to get them to faraway schools. She also said that her husband, a firefighter, has become a default emergency responder of sorts. Our local deputy gets off at 6. At 6:01 youre on your own, she said in an interview. Opponents wearing red Stop Centennial labels raised concerns about impacts to native species, traffic congestion, air quality, climate change and water resources. J.P. Rose, a staff attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, which did not sign on to the 2008 preservation agreement with Tejon, described Centennial as the wrong vision for L.A. County. Ninety-nine percent of California native grasslands are already gone forever. I ask you not to put the final nail in the coffin, Rose said. His group has also said the projects location in high fire hazard severity zones and atop two earthquake fault lines make it unsuitable for development. Bryn Lindblad, associate director of the nonprofit group Climate Resolve, urged the planning commission to consider scrapping the project altogether, noting it provides no access to mass transit. Transportation is the biggest contributor to greenhouse gases, she said. Stopping a project like this is what we can do to make good on our climate goals. Several commissioners raised questions about access to mass transit, as well as water usage, set-aside units for seniors and low-income families, plans to address homelessness, local jobs, and the possibility of reconfiguring the project as a net-zero contributor to greenhouse gases. The commission voted to take up the issue July 11. If it votes at that time to recommend approval of the developers plan, the project will go to the L.A. County Board of Supervisors for final consideration. nina.agrawal@latimes.com Twitter: @AgrawalNina Conrad Hilton, the younger brother of socialite Paris Hilton, pleaded no contest Wednesday to a felony charge that he took his ex-girlfriends fathers Bentley Continental from his home without permission. In a negotiated plea agreement, the 24-year-old hotel heir also pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor count of contempt of court for violating a restraining order, according to the Los Angeles County district attorneys office. A judge sentenced Hilton to three years of probation, ordered him to attend mental health and substance abuse addiction counseling, and told him to stay away from his ex-girlfriend and her parents for three years. The charges stemmed from an incident early one morning in May of last year, when Hilton and another man took the Bentley from a Hollywood Hills home. Hilton also tried to contact his ex-girlfriend, who had obtained a restraining order against him. Advertisement Hilton, the namesake great-grandson of the late hotel magnate, has run into trouble with authorities before. In May 2015, he turned himself in to Riverside County authorities in connection with an incident the year before in which authorities say he led an officer on a high-speed pursuit before crashing his black BMW in Cathedral City. The following month, he was arrested on suspicion of violating a restraining order obtained by his ex-girlfriend when officers found him inside the womans home. A year later, he was sentenced to 60 days in jail after admitting to using pot, cocaine and synthetic marijuana. alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com Twitter: @AleneTchek Jennifer Garcia cant keep her mind from drifting to little Gabriel. Late at night and in the silence of her early morning drives, the first-grade teacher thinks of her former student. She assigns each child in her classroom a number he was No. 28. She tries to focus on his kindness on the times he offered to help her staple homework packets and tutor his classmates. She tells her new students about him, explaining when she assigns numbers why she now skips 28. She had repeatedly reported signs of abuse but still wonders whether she could have done more to help save Gabriel. When the familiar pit returns to her stomach, she bubbles with anger. She thinks of the people convicted of torturing and murdering Gabriel the boys mother, Pearl Sinthia Fernandez, and her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre. They are evil, Garcia said Thursday in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom as she glared at Fernandez, who sat stone-faced with her hands cuffed on her lap at the defense table. I know whos truly to blame. Advertisement The scene in the courtroom served as a dramatic coda to a tragedy that became a symbol of bureaucratic failure, propelled far-reaching reforms within L.A. Countys child welfare system and led to unprecedented criminal charges against social workers who handled the boys case. At the end of the hearing Thursday, Superior Court Judge George G. Lomeli sentenced Fernandez, 34, to life in prison without parole and Aguirre, 37, to be executed for the 2013 torture killing of Fernandezs 8-year-old son abuse that the judge characterized as horrendous, inhumane and nothing short of evil. It was the worst abuse hed seen in nearly 20 years on the bench, he said, telling the defendants he hoped they woke up in the middle of the night plagued by their actions. I hope you think about the pain you caused this child and that it tortures you, Lomeli said. I rarely say that. Pearl Sinthia Fernandez, 34, listens to impact statements before being sentenced to life in prison. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times ) During the hearing, several people in T-shirts bearing Gabriels face addressed the court. When Emily Carranza, Gabriels cousin, stood at the podium, Fernandez locked eyes with her. Gabriel loved you, Carranza said to her. The world fell in love with Gabriel as their own. Why couldnt you? Fernandez who wore jail scrubs and a heavy coat of brown lipstick and eye shadow struck a tone of contrition, and then blame. I want to say Im sorry to my family for what I did. I wish Gabriel was alive, she said, adding that she felt that some people who had been vocal after the death were only interested in fame. A volunteer jail chaplain told the judge shed prayed and studied the Bible recently with Fernandez. Pearl has agreed and has acknowledged her part, the chaplain said, as the mother nodded. She will have a void in her heart for the rest of her life. When paramedics arrived at the boys Palmdale home in May 2013, Gabriel had slipped out of consciousness. He had a fractured skull, broken ribs, burned skin, missing teeth and BB pellets embedded in his groin. A paramedic would later testify that every inch of the boys small body had been abused. At Aguirres trial, Deputy Dist. Atty. Jonathan Hatami told jurors that the defendant had enjoyed tormenting the boy, forcing Gabriel to eat his own vomit and sleep in a cabinet with a sock gagging his mouth. The torture, Hatami said, stemmed from Aguirres hatred of Gabriel, who he suspected was gay. Isauro Aguirre, 37, seated at table third from left, on Thursday was sentenced to death for his role in the death of his girlfriends son, Gabriel Fernandez. His girlfriend, Pearl Sinthia Fernandez, 34, right, was sentenced to life in prison in the case. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times ) The boys slaying led to the appointment of a child protection czar, a series of child welfare reforms and criminal charges against L.A. County social workers who despite six investigations into reports of abuse allowed the boy to stay in the home with his mother and her boyfriend. Some sheriffs deputies who visited the familys home in the months before the death were also disciplined for their handling of the case. In February, Fernandez pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, admitting that her sons killing was intentional and involved the infliction of torture. By pleading guilty, she avoided a trial in which prosecutors were expected to seek the death penalty a punishment that her defense attorney said wasnt appropriate given her low IQ. Deborah S. Miora, a clinical and forensic neuropsychologist who evaluated Fernandez for the defense, determined she has an intellectual disability that makes her virtually unable to use thought to guide her behavior and temper her emotional reactions. Records show that when Fernandez took a cognitive ability test in 2011, she scored in the 3rd percentile in the verbal comprehension section, putting her at a second-grade level. In a report written by Miora, which relied, in part, on information from Fernandez, the clinician referred to Gabriels case as the first serious offense but noted Fernandez also had a misdemeanor domestic violence conviction from Texas. Fernandezs life, records show, was punctuated by acts of abuse and neglect. As a child, her father cycled in and out of jail. Her mother who Fernandez said hated her often hit her and once flung her into the shower, according to Mioras report filed in court. Although Fernandez fell far behind in school, academic records show she exhibited kindness and an effort to perform well. She started drinking and using methamphetamine at 9 and ran away from home at 11. Jennifer Garcia, left, first-grade teacher of Gabriel Fernandez who was among those who reported Gabriels abuse hugs Deputy Dist. Atty. Jon Hatami, right,. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times ) During her teenage years, Fernandez told the doctor, her uncle tried to rape her and a group of men held her hostage for several days and took turns raping her, according to Mioras report. Fernandez thought about committing suicide and spent time in the hospital. Later in life, Fernandez said, several of her romantic partners, including Aguirre, struck her in the head. In one incident, she said, someone pistol-whipped her across the forehead. In the months leading up to her sons death, Fernandez said, she was taking massive doses of opioid painkillers, including OxyContin and Norco. In court Thursday, Deputy Public Defender Michael Sklar, who represented Aguirre, argued that sentencing his client to death was grossly disproportionate with his culpability. A woman in the audience whispered, Are you serious? Aguirre, a hulking man who worked as a caregiver for elderly people and according to his attorneys probably has a learning disability, sometimes scowled and often stared down at the defense table. He wore orange jail scrubs, and two plastic rosaries hung from his neck. The judge who rarely expresses opinions during sentencing hearings said such a gruesome case almost demands a comment. 1 / 8 Gabriel Fernandezs cousin Emily Carranza, left, and Olivia Rubio wear shirts printed with Justice Has Been Served as they talk to media after Gabriels mother and her boyfriend were sentenced for the boys killing. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 8 Jennifer Garcia, left, Gabriels first-grade teacher, delivers an impact statement as Gabriels cousin Emily Carranza looks on during the sentencing in downtown Los Angeles. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 8 Arnold Contreras, right, the biological father of Gabriel Fernandez, is comforted by Deputy Dist. Atty. Jonathan Hatami as he was allowed into the courtroom to make a impact statement during the sentencing of Pearl Sinthia Fernandez, 34, and her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre, 37. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 8 Isauro Aguirre enters the courtroom to appear with girlfriend Pearl Sinthia Fernandez, 34, for sentencing in Los Angeles County Superior Court. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 8 Pearl Sinthia Fernandez, 34, appears in court as she was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for her role in the death of her 8-year-old son, Gabriel Fernandez. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 8 L.A. County Superior Court Judge George G. Lomeli told Gabriels mother and her boyfriend: I hope you think about the pain you caused this child and that it tortures you. I rarely say that. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 8 Jennifer Garcia, left, Gabriels teacher who repeatedly reported signs of abuse, comforts Deputy Dist. Atty. Jonathan Hatami, who became emotional after the sentencing. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 8 Gabriel Fernandez is shown on his 3rd birthday in 2008. (Courtesy of Emily Carranza) Lomeli recited trial evidence that stuck with him the defendants bashing Gabriels teeth out with a bat and shooting BB pellets at him. Some might call the abuse animalistic, the judge said, but not even animals would do such a thing to their kin. The judge recounted a story hed seen on the news about a cat running into a burning home to rescue her kittens. Firefighters tried to stop her, but the cat ran in and out of the home several times. Each time she emerged, she held one of her kittens in her mouth by the scruff of their back. During the last rescue, the judge recounted, the fire singed the mothers fur and burned her eyes. The cat was now blind, but she never let go of that kitten, Lomeli said, pausing. No, this is beyond animalistic. After the hearing, Garcia, the first-grade teacher, said the abuse against Gabriel opened her eyes and changed the way she views the world. Her students, she said, still find small ways to comfort her. Sometimes she overhears one of them say, No. 28, thats Gabriels number. Before the boys death, Garcia repeatedly reported signs of abuse to county child services workers, saying shed seen bruises on his face and learned that hed been beaten with a belt buckle. She said she believes the entire system failed her student. There were signs that were ignored. Why were they ignored? I dont know, Garcia said, as her shoulders slumped. Nearby, stood several women wearing T-shirts reading Justice Has Been Served. The back of the shirts bore a message referring to the upcoming trial of the social workers who handled the boys case: WERE NOT DONE YET! marisa.gerber@latimes.com For more news from the Los Angeles County courts, follow me on Twitter: @marisagerber. UPDATES: 2:45 p.m.: This article was updated with additional comments from Garcia and details from the court hearing. 12:25 p.m.: This article was updated with more details from the court hearing. 10:40 a.m.: This article was updated with more details from the court hearing. 10:05 a.m.: This article was updated with the sentencing and comments from the judge during the hearing. This article was originally published at 7 a.m. U.S. border authorities, in a significant escalation of the Trump administrations zero tolerance immigration policy, are planning to introduce a fast-track prosecution program to criminally charge more people who cross the border into California illegally, according to attorneys in San Diego. Under the program, called Operation Streamline, migrants will be moved through the criminal justice system in group hearings, with cases handled in a matter of hours, from arraignment to sentencing. Mass prosecutions of up to 100 migrants per day occur in federal districts in Arizona and Texas but would mark a major shift for Californias southern district, based in San Diego, which hasnt seen expedited judicial proceedings since the border was overrun with illegal immigration decades ago. Most people who cross illegally into California are not criminally prosecuted, but the numbers would increase substantially under Streamline. Advertisement The plans were recently announced to members of the Criminal Case Management Committee, a group of attorneys, judges and law enforcement officials convened by the districts chief judge, Barry Moskowitz, to address surging caseloads in the district. The plans have yet to be finalized, but prosecutors told the committee that they want to charge anywhere from 35 to 100 people per day, including first-time crossers, according to Jeremy Warren, a longtime criminal defense attorney who attended a meeting of the committee Wednesday. They want anybody arrested crossing the border to be prosecuted with illegal entry, Warren said, adding that discussions are still underway on how the court will accommodate the additional cases. Prosecutors want the program to start in one month, he said. Federal and court officials, including from the departments of Homeland Security and Justice, declined interview requests. Kelly Thornton, a spokesperson for the U.S. attorneys office in San Diego, said prosecutors are working with the courts to manage increasing immigration caseloads in a manner that respects the constitutional rights of defendants. The U.S. Border Patrol in San Diego arrests, on average, about 120 migrants per day along the 60-mile stretch it patrols. Cases are rising sharply following the announcement of a zero tolerance policy in April by Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions. U.S. authorities say border prosecutions are an effective deterrent, and have made it a cornerstone of President Trumps efforts to crack down on illegal immigration. Streamline is a U.S. Border Patrol program that requires coordination with U.S. attorneys and federal court judges to set prosecution goals. It has long generated controversy and protests, with critics calling it assembly-line justice that undermines basic rights of criminal defendants. To deal with rising caseloads, judges in the district at times keep courtrooms open late, immigration agents assist with security, and defendants are shuttled into court from detention centers as far away as Arizona. In a rare step, Moskowitz formed the criminal case management committee last month, including prosecutors, judges, and criminal defense attorneys. The increase has and will cause strains, issues and problems for the court and its personnel, Moskowitz said in his order creating the committee. The Border Patrol introduced Streamline in Texas in 2005 as a way of penalizing migrants who would otherwise be deported without being charged. Implementation of the program varies by district, depending on resources and enforcement priorities, but the program generally aims to increase prosecutions by expediting the judicial process. Within a day of their arrest, migrants appear in courtrooms, where prosecutors offer them misdemeanor plea agreement deals. The maximum sentence for the crime of improper entry into the country is six months, but most defendants plead guilty and are deported after a few days or weeks in jail. The southern district of California is one of the nations busiest, handling significant numbers of healthcare and white-collar fraud cases as well as major gang and drug cartel cases. The district, unlike those with Streamline programs, has had relatively low illegal border crossing activity for years. Immigration prosecutions were focused on more-serious offenders, including human smugglers and repeat crossers with criminal records. Defense attorneys have long criticized Streamline, saying it sacrifices constitutional due-process protections for speed. With several court appearances combined in one, attorneys have limited time to confer with clients that can be complex, they say. Well defend the cases that are brought, but we dont want to be in position where were processing people like parts in a factory. People who have been separated from their children are not in a position to make a decision in half an hour, said Warren. Charles LaBella, a former senior federal prosecutor in the district, called Streamline turnstile justice that is not what the federal courts were meant to do. It takes the emphasis off serious criminal aliens and eyes off white-collar criminals, Medicare fraud, bank fraud to use resources to prosecute misdemeanors against people who are coming to pick fruit or find menial work to send money back home, he said. But supporters say the program provides a strong message that the law will now be strictly enforced all along the border a scenario that will deter many people from trying to cross again. Most of these folks are not people who want to spend time in jail with a rapist or a drug dealer, said Mark Krikorian, the executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which supports tighter controls on immigration.They are regular folks, dishwashers, landscapers for the most part they are not involved in that kind of criminality. But the crime they are committing is sneaking across the border, and the message needs to be sent that this is not something you will be able to get away with. Border districts are already showing signs of strain as the zero tolerance policy takes hold. In south Texas, up to 40 shackled defendants at a time appear in courtrooms to plead guilty. In southern Arizona, Chief Judge Raner Collins said the district cant raise the current limit of 75 defendants per day without getting more resources. Activists in the past have picketed courthouses and attempted to stop migrant-filled buses from reaching the federal building in Tucson. Judge Robert Brack, who is believed to have handled more Streamline cases than any judge in the country, recently told The Times that he has decided to step down as a full-time justice in his New Mexico district. I have presided over a process that destroys families for a long time, and I am weary of it, Brack said. And I think we as a country are better than this. richard.marosi@latimes.com Twitter: @richmarosi Aram Sargsyan: People imposed Serzh Sargsyan to say, 'Nikol was right, I was wrong' (video) Aram Sargsyan, a member of the Yelk (Way out) parliamentary faction, said the following at the National Assembly today: "People have imposed a political change in the country, [people have imposed] that Serzh Sargsyan said 'Nikol was right, I was wrong.' The question of the RPA members about who is responsible for this project made me give a speech. "There should be someone to be responsible for it in political aspects, but let's look at it from a different perspective, leaving aside political science. The speech that the prime minister of the country delivered had each and every one of us in his mind. Perhaps we formulated it little worse or better, but each and every one of us has had it in his mind. Everyone wants to have Armenia like that. Do you want our grandchildren to live in Armenia where there are no people who have advantages? Do you doubt that Nikol Pashinyan just said it and that he would have a share later? I do not doubt!" He raised a question whether we want the government to succeed or lose. "We will do everything we can to succeed. It does not mean that there should not be opposition, the RPA is a very good opposition. I join the observation that the NSS has serious functions, and let's stick it to someone. I also agree with the observation that jobs should be created in mining, construction, and so on. Certainly, new technologies are the priority, but they will include 5-10 thousand people." According to Aram Sargsyan, if 1/3 of the country's population is poor, it cannot be enriched without resources. At the same time he said that we should not cause problems in this sphere. It was a crime of opportunity that would chill the blood of any dog lover. On Wednesday afternoon, professional dog trainer Tony Carter parked his van in front of an In-N-Out in Redding, left the new air conditioning unit on and ran inside to place a quick order. In just a matter of minutes, police say, a thief jumped into Carters van and sped off, taking 15 caged dogs bound for the Woofstock Dog Show in Northern California. !!!!!!! PLEASE HELP !!!!!!!!! Carter pleaded on Facebook, where he and others offered a $12,000 reward for the safe return of the animals. Advertisement Then on Thursday, about 24 hours after they were stolen, the dogs were found, authorities announced. Redding police said the rescued dogs were thirsty, hungry, and in need of affection, but were otherwise fine. (Redding Police Department ) A California Highway Patrol officer flying over the area spotted the white van on a dirt patch surrounded by tall pines south of Canyon Road and west of California 273. The windows were closed and the vehicle was parked in the hot sun. The CHP officer called in help on the ground. Officers broke a window to gain access to the dogs who were all barking and eager to be rescued, Redding police announced on Facebook. They were taken to Haven Humane to receive veterinary services, food, water, and loves. The dogs had high heart rates from heat and stress, were thirsty, hungry, and in need of affection, but were otherwise fine. No arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing. joseph.serna@latimes.com For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna on Twitter. When Tony Carter stopped at an In-N-Out in Redding on Wednesday afternoon, he left his van running with the air conditioner on for the 15 show dogs inside. Within minutes of ordering, he said, his van was gone. We ordered at 1:19; the van was gone by 1:23, Carter, a professional dog trainer, told the Record Searchlight. It was gone. It was literally gone that fast. Now, Redding police are asking for the publics help in finding the van, which had breeds including rat terriers, yellow Labradors and Rottweilers in kennels inside. Redding police released an image of the suspect in the show dog van theft. (Redding Police Department ) Advertisement Authorities described the vehicle as a white 2018 Dodge ProMaster cargo van with the Washington license plate number BKD2048. The van has a Seattle Seahawks sticker on the back and a No. 12 in the rear window. In a Facebook post, Carter said he and others were offering a $12,000 reward for the safe return of the dogs. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Wednesday. !!!!!!! PLEASE HELP !!!!!!!!! he wrote in one post. The original post about the theft has been shared more than 38,000 times. Carter told the Searchlight that he was stunned by the theft, especially on such a busy day at the fast-food restaurant. It was so busy. I mean, it was busy. I parked right in front of the store in the only shade place that they had right directly in front of the store, he said. I mean, there was a line out there, there was In-N-Out employees out taking orders. The Searchlight reported that the dogs were on their way to the popular Woofstock Dog Show that kicks off Thursday at the Solano County Fairgrounds in Vallejo. Anyone with information on the stolen van or the dogs is asked to call police at (530) 225-4200. alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com Twitter: @AleneTchek Los Angeles County and its former top lawyer have settled a series of lawsuits over the lawyers removal in 2015, ending an acrimonious public feud, a lawyer for the county said Thursday. Mark J. Saladino, who served as county counsel for less than a year before being asked to resign in 2015, sued the county and the Board of Supervisors in 2016 alleging wrongful termination and violation of the Ralph M. Brown Act, Californias open-meetings law. This year, the county countersued Saladino for breach of fiduciary duty and confidentiality. Under the settlement, Saladino will pay the county $50,000, and the county will pay no money to him, Skip Miller, an outside counsel for the county, said Thursday. We wanted to end the litigation, Miller said in an interview. Advertisement Saladino declined to comment. In a May 30 letter sent to the board, separate from the settlement, Saladino expressed regret for the statements he made against the county and for bringing the lawsuits. I was unaware of all the facts and circumstances surrounding the events in question, Saladino wrote in the letter, a copy of which was provided to The Times by the county. I was extremely upset because of my abrupt transfer and acted out of a sense of having been treated unfairly. Supervisors appointed Saladino county counsel in September 2014 on a 4-1 vote. Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas cast the dissenting vote. Saladino had previously headed the county treasurer and tax collectors office. In June 2015, Saladino wrote a memo to his employees at the county counsels office notifying them of his transfer to the post of assistant treasurer and tax collector but provided no reason. In one lawsuit, Saladino claimed the Board of Supervisors violated the Brown Act by deciding in closed sessions to terminate him and to approve his transfer without providing proper notice or reporting the outcomes of the sessions afterward. In a second lawsuit, Saladino said that in a private meeting Supervisor Hilda Solis and then-Supervisor Michael Antonovich pressured him to resign and to issue a press release with a fictitious reason for doing so. He said the board forced him to accept a demotion in retaliation for his attempting to prevent the board from violating the Brown Act and from circumventing checks on its power. The ex-county attorney also alleged that he had been targeted by Ridley-Thomas for having raised concerns about the supervisors use of public funds and for having close ties to former county Chief Executive William T Fujioka, with whom Ridley-Thomas had clashed. Attorneys for the county argued in their response that the board was justified in its actions and had complied with the Brown Act. They said Saladino had no legal grounds to sue because he voluntarily accepted the agreement transferring him back to the treasurer and tax collectors office. This year a judge ruled in favor of the county and threw out Saladinos wrongful-termination suit. In their countersuit, filed in April, attorneys for the county claimed that Saladino erroneously signed off on a memo written by Fujioka to approve approximately $140,000 in vacation pay for Supervisor Don Knabe upon his retirement. Supervisors elected before July 1994 were allowed the benefit, but Knabe was elected in 1996. An outside attorney hired by the county later confirmed that Knabe was not eligible for the payment, and he did not receive it when he retired in 2016. In his letter to the board, Saladino said he should have handled the memo differently. The settlement reached this week ends all three lawsuits. Saladino is no longer employed by the county. In 2015, a few months after being transferred, he went on temporary disability leave, and he was later granted permanent disability retirement. As I move forward into the next chapter of my life, Saladino wrote to the board, I want you to know that my biggest regret is that my county career ended this way, and that I will be remorseful until the day I die. nina.agrawal@latimes.com Twitter: @AgrawalNina A San Diego County sheriffs deputy accused of groping and fondling 13 women he encountered while on the job must stand trial on all 15 charges arising from the allegations, a judge ruled Wednesday. Superior Court Judge Daniel Goldsteins decision came after a roughly four-day preliminary hearing for Deputy Richard Fischer, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges nine felonies and six misdemeanors. Many of the charges are related to assault and battery under the color of authority. The women, Goldstein said, were put into a position where they could not adequately fight him off. Advertisement In a few instances, the alleged fondling happened during hugs initiated by Fischer, according to testimony. Many of the women initially agreed to his request but said they quickly became uncomfortable. During a discussion with the judge, one of Fischers attorneys said the women didnt have to let the deputy into their homes or agree to his request for hugs. Goldstein responded that the gravity of the offense is psychological coercion. There is a tremendous amount of ability to exert coercion by the mere status of being a law enforcement officer, the judge said. If a plumber asks for a hug, [a woman] is not going to feel the same psychological coercion. Aside from the criminal case, the victims are suing the county in civil court. On Wednesday, during his closing arguments to the judge, Fischer attorney Richard Pinckard questioned the credibility of the accusers. Pinckard said their testimony was exaggerated for the purpose of bolstering their lawsuits. He called it a money grab. As of early May, the county had reached settlements totaling more than $900,000 with four of the accusers. The remaining claims are unresolved. Fischer, 32, has been on unpaid leave since February. In ordering Fischer to stand trial, Goldstein noted similarities in the allegations and circumstances, including the ages of the victims many were in their 50s and that they were vulnerable or down on their luck when they encountered the deputy. Some of the women met him after calling 911. Others had been stopped by the deputy for a variety of reasons, such as a busted taillight. The accusers also had similar descriptions of the deputys alleged behavior, according to the testimony. In some instances, Fischer would return to a womans home long after the official business had ended and ask to use the restroom, then ask to hug them, the accusers said. He also asked some whether they were alone in the home. Goldstein said the deputys actions appeared designed more to assess vulnerability than to engage in a lawful investigation. Fischer faces 14 years, eight months if convicted. teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com Figueroa writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune The Trump administration announced Thursday it will yank visas from several Nicaraguan officials it blames for the countrys response to a wave of anti-government demonstrations in which state security forces have killed dozens of people. This was the first punitive action taken by the administration as international condemnation of the government of President Daniel Ortega has grown. In Washington this week, as the Organization of American States took up the issue of Nicaragua turmoil, citizens from the Central American country staged protests outside local hotels. The violence is undermining democracy, the State Department said, in a country that has steadily come under autocratic rule by Ortega and his family. The political violence by police and pro-government thugs against the people of Nicaragua, particularly university students, shows a blatant disregard for human rights and is unacceptable, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said. Advertisement Nauert would not identify the Nicaraguans who will not be allowed to travel to the United States, citing privacy rules, except to say they included police commanders and regional and national officials. Throughout recent history, there have been waves of immigration from Nicaragua to the United States, with many families today living part-time in each country. Being denied visas for the U.S. would prevent such arrangements for those affected. Large numbers of Nicaraguans migrated during the Somoza dynasty dictatorship in the first half of the 20th century and then during the Sandinista revolution in 1979 and, following that, the U.S.-backed war of Contra rebels who attempted but failed to unseat the Sandinistas. Ortega was a prominent leader of the leftist Sandinista movement, but many Nicaraguans say he has abandoned those ideals to preside over a government riddled with corruption. In protests not seen since revolutionary days, tens of thousands of Nicaraguans have been marching against the government across the nation. State security forces on some occasions have opened fire on largely peaceful demonstrations. More than 120 people have been reported killed. Until recently, Washington and Managua enjoyed good relations. Nicaragua is not plagued with the gang warfare or drug-cartel violence that has hit other parts of Central America. Despite repressing political dissent, Ortega has overseen a friendly climate for business. tracy.wilkinson@latimes.com For more on international affairs, follow @TracyKWilkinson on Twitter The Pentagon plans to release a Saudi American dual citizen whom it accused of being a member of Islamic State at an undisclosed location in Syria, a move that his U.S. lawyers called a death warrant. The American Civil Liberties Union, which represents the detainee, said it would ask a federal judge to order the government not to release him in Syria, which the group called a disgraceful way to treat an American citizen. A court hearing on the motion is scheduled for Friday morning in Washington. The unnamed prisoner, identified as John Doe in legal documents, has been held in Iraq as an enemy combatant since September while a legal battle unfolded over whether the U.S. military had the right to hold him or send him to Saudi Arabia. Late Wednesday, after months of legal setbacks, the Justice Department abruptly abandoned the case, saying in a court filing that the Pentagon would free the man as soon as Saturday near where he was captured. Advertisement The move came less than two weeks before a June 20 court hearing on whether congressional war authorizations passed more than 15 years ago to justify the use of troops in Afghanistan and Iraq allow the detention of enemy combatants in the conflict against Islamic State, an issue the administration may not want to see tested in court. The detainee will be given $4,210 in cash the same amount he had when he was captured and a new cellphone, along with food and water to last for several days, Mark E. Mitchell, a Pentagon official, said in a federal court filing Thursday. The Pentagon told the detainees attorneys that he would not be given a U.S. passport. The government has effectively admitted that it has no reason to continue detaining our client and that he does not pose a threat, said ACLU attorney Jonathan Hafetz. But, instead of offering a safe release, they want to dump an American citizen onto the side of the road in a war-torn country without any assurances of protection and no identification. What the government is offering our client is no release its a death warrant, Hafetz said in a statement, adding that our fight for our clients right to due process has also become a fight for his right to life. Mitchell said that the Defense Department has taken all necessary and feasible precautions to ensure the safe release of the prisoner. The Pentagon also disclosed that it had listened in on 18 telephone conversations between the man and his ACLU attorneys as part of routine security monitoring of DOD telecommunications systems calling it an inadvertent breach of attorney-client confidentiality that it regrets. When an analyst listening to portions of the conversations realized they were privileged, officials purged the recordings from a database and transferred them to a compact disc, which it plans to destroy, the Pentagon said. Justice Department lawyers said in a two-page court filing that releasing the man in Syria was consistent with the traditional military practice by U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, and with the Departments obligation under the law of war. The Pentagon offered the prisoner the choice of being in an unspecified Syrian town in or outside a refugee camp there. The prisoner did not identify a preference between the two locations and would not agree to the release under those conditions, the Justice Department noted, adding that the Pentagon had decided to discharge him in the town no sooner than 72 hours hence. That means he could be freed as soon as Saturday evening, unless a federal judge blocks the plan. Since the man is likely to encounter checkpoints after he is released, the Pentagon plans to notify Kurdish fighters in the area that he is being released and that the U.S. is no longer seeking or requesting that he be detained. A previous Pentagon plan to turn the man over to Saudi Arabia was halted in April by U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, who issued a preliminary injunction barring the Pentagon from transferring him from its custody. The Pentagon gained custody of the detainee after he surrendered in September to a Syrian Kurdish militia backed by the United States and was delivered to the U.S. military. The military declared him an enemy combatant and put him in a military prison in Iraq. The man said that he went to Syria in early 2015 to report on the militants as a freelance journalist and then was kidnapped by them. Prosecutors have alleged that by his own admission, the man joined Islamic State in 2014, attended a training camp, and worked for and provided support to the group until the U.S.-led military offensive in Iraq and Syria forced him to flee. When he was captured, he was carrying a thumb drive filled with files explaining how to make bombs, how to use different types of weapons, and how to interrogate captives, as well as over $4,000 in cash and a GPS device, an FBI agent said in a document unsealed in February. He was also listed as a fighter in an internal Islamic State document, the document said. Despite such claims, prosecutors have not charged the detainee with a crime. He talked to U.S. intelligence officers after he was taken into custody, but that evidence cant be used in court against him. After federal agents read him his Miranda rights last year, he asked to be provided with a defense lawyer and has not been questioned since. President Trump and U.S. Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions have endorsed the idea of sending terrorist suspects to the prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. But detaining a U.S. citizen there would present a steep legal challenge for the administration. The lone U.S. citizen who had been detained there, Yaser Esam Hamdi, was sent to Guantanamo Bay because U.S. officials didnt know at first that he was an American. His court appeals established that detainees had legal rights under U.S. law. Hamdi eventually was sent to Saudi Arabia after he renounced his U.S. citizenship. david.cloud@latimes.com Twitter: @davidcloudLAT He went from delivering pizza to being detained by immigration officers. An Ecuadorean restaurant worker making a delivery to an Army garrison in Brooklyn wound up being detained June 1 after a routine background check at the gate revealed there was a warrant for his arrest for immigration law violations, officials said. Now, Pablo Villavicencio is in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody pending removal from the country, ICE spokeswoman Rachael Yong Yow said. Villavicencio-Calderon was detained by military police officers and turned over to ICE, Yong Yow said. Advertisement Villavicencios wife, Sandra Chica, said he went to deliver pizza to Fort Hamilton last week and was asked for identification by the guard who received him. Villavicencio, who worked at Nonna Delias pizzeria, an hour away by car in Queens, produced a city identification card, but the official told him he wanted to see a state drivers license. An Army spokeswoman told the New York Times that if visitors dont have a military identification card, they have to get a pass that requires a background check. The check on Villavicencio showed there was an active ICE warrant on file, at which point he was detained by military police, said Fort Hamilton spokeswoman Catherine SantoPietro. This is unhuman, Chica said during a phone interview. He was not committing any crime. He is a father who is working for his daughters. Every day our daughters ask me why their dad is not coming home. Chica said she was born in Colombia and moved to the U.S. a decade ago and is a U.S. citizen. She and Villavicencio have two daughters, who are 3 and 2 years old and were born in the U.S. Chica and the two girls attended a news conference in front of the army base Wednesday along with Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and City Councilman Justin Brannan. Both politicians said they were seeking answers from Fort Hamilton. Is our city, state and nation any safer today because they took a pizza delivery guy off the streets? asked Brannan. Yong Yow, the ICE spokeswoman, said that in March 2010 Villavicencio agreed to leave the country voluntarily but failed to do so by July, as ordered by an immigration judge. As such, his voluntary departure order became a final order of removal, she said. Chica said this was not the first time Villavicencio delivered pizza at the base. What prompted them to call ICE? she asked. They only care about statistics, one more deported man. They dont care about the impact this will have on us. Immigrant family advocacy groups like Make the Road New York have called for an investigation. Steven Choi, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition, said in a release its absolutely disgusting when the strongest military in the world punches down by going after pizza deliverymen. If you think the nation has been inordinately obsessed with Orange Countys House races, you aint seen nothing yet. Democratic candidates managed to place second in races for the 39th, 45th, 48th and 49th congressional districts districts the national Democratic Party has declared essential to winning control of the House in the midterms. I expect national political reporters to be parachuting into O.C. Nov. 6 as if it were D-Day. I get the obsession. The possibility that O.C. could deliver control of Congress to Democrats a once-unthinkable proposition appears from the outside like a great dramatic turnaround story. Yes, minorities live here a majority of us, even! Yes, GOP registration figures are precipitously down from historical heights in the Reagan years. But the crucial national insight out of the O.C. primary is this: The Republican Party can survive in an increasingly diverse America if it makes Asians white. The strategy has worked marvelously well for the Republican Party of Orange County. Contrary to any portrayal as racist troglodytes, the GOP here has proven a pioneer in diversifying O.C.s politics. The man who created the countys modern-day GOP, Tom Fuentes, was Mexican American. The first Latino on the Orange County Board of Supervisors was Republican Gaddi Vasquez. Although Latinos sure as heck dont embrace him as one of their own, even O.C. Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas is half-Mexican. Advertisement The GOP has done better at promoting Asian American politicians. Americas first Thai American elected official was an O.C. Republican, as was one of the United States first Japanese American mayors and its first Vietnamese city council member. Today, Asian American Republicans dominate Orange County politics. Three of the five members on the Board of Supervisors are Asian Americans; the clerk-recorder is a Vietnamese refugee. This fall, theres a strong possibility the county will send two Asian immigrants to the state Senate and three to the Assembly. And I wont even get into the deep bench of young, diverse faces the GOP has waiting in line in local offices. The GOP has done better at promoting Asian American politicians. Meanwhile, in this vital election year, the local Democratic Party is still relying on theres no way to put this nicely tired old men. O.C.s sole Democratic congressman, Lou Correa, is nice but inspires as much passion as a lawn. Assemblyman Tom Daly was mayor of Anaheim back when I was a teen what is he still doing on my ballot? And State Senate candidate Tom Umberg was a rising star for the local Democratic Party in the early 1990s. In the congressional battlefields, the sole minority Democrat is Gil Cisneros, who will face off against Young Kim in the 39th District. But Cisneros is everything Democrats rail against on the national stage a self-funded millionaire with no real local ties or political experience. Meanwhile, Kims story a small-business owner who worked her way through elections for lower office to become a state assemblywoman and possibly the first Korean American woman ever elected to Congress is the stuff of Democratic P.R. dreams. How did the O.C. GOP beat the Democrats in the diversity sweepstakes? Contrary to what President Trump and other xenophobes want you to believe, many immigrants to this country come with skills and ambitions and dont want government handouts. The O.C. GOP has positioned itself as the party of liberty, but also tighter borders and anti-sanctuary for immigrants successfully tapping into anti-Latino sentiment that plays well with other immigrant communities. In short, theyve constructed a new racial cold war. I hate praising the O.C. GOP, which long supported corrupt politicians and invented the anti-Mexican strategy that the national GOP eagerly swallowed. Now they have successfully made Asian candidates palatable to suburban voters, an alternative to those unelectable Latinos. Still, Democrats have done little other than to say theyre not Republicans, which isnt a winning strategy, even in the era of Trump. Democrats would be in a better position to win the four O.C. House seats in November if theyd drawn from a more diverse pool of candidates. The countys demographic change is real, and younger Asian Americans are more liberal than their parents, even if they still vote for their own kind. O.C. Democrats are grooming a stable of young Latino candidates on the city council level, but thats not going to be of immediate help. Democrats have five months to figure out how to pull a victory out of Orange County. In the four key House districts, Republicans still hold a lead in voter registrations. Its going to be fun, so expect documentaries, special reports and magazine spreads. If Trump continues to antagonize young voters, swaying turnout unpredictably, you might even see upsets in November. But as it stands right now, the O.C. Republicans have a slate of diversity that looks like modern-day California while Democrats look like they are immigrants from Idaho. mexicanwithglasses@gmail.com Twitter: @GustavoArellano It should be no surprise that the first year of the Trump presidency has been brutal for refugees. Not only are resettlement numbers down to the lowest levels recorded in the nearly 40-year history of the program, but the trends by nationality raise disturbing questions in light of the presidents hateful and bigoted rhetoric about refugees and immigrants. Reflecting his contempt for a program he has compared to a great Trojan horse, the State Departments refugee bureau has been leaderless since Donald Trump became president. But that could change with the May 24 nomination of Ronald Mortensen, to serve as assistant secretary of State for the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration. Mortensen is a retired foreign service officer with humanitarian-assistance experience, but he is also an outspoken critic of illegal immigration and a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for restrictions on newcomers to the U.S. Mortensens nomination has to be confirmed by the members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The committee should take a close look at his writings. He has accused Sen. John McCain of dogged support for illegal aliens [that] has left the United States vulnerable to terrorists. In an op-ed for the Hill, he characterized the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program as rewarding Dreamers for destroying the futures of innocent American children. The senators should also ask Mortensen what he thinks about worrisome trends already in effect in the refugee program. At the halfway point of this fiscal year, the United States had admitted only 10,548 refugees, a 74% drop compared with the same period in 2017. This at a time when Middle Eastern nations are struggling to maintain asylum for 5.6 million Syrian refugees, when more than 700,000 displaced Rohingya have poured from Burma into Bangladesh, and when most of the worlds 20 million refugees are stuck in protracted situations with little prospect of returning home anytime soon. Advertisement The Trump administration has slowed down refugee admissions by throwing sand into the gears of resettlement processing. The Trump administration has slowed down refugee admissions by throwing sand into the gears of resettlement processing. This has included extreme vetting and the redeployment of the Refugee Corps officers, who usually interview potential resettlement candidates in overseas camps, to the stepped-up efforts at the U.S. border to interview people making asylum claims. The slowdown in resettlement and the falling overall numbers of refugee admissions tell only part of the story. We examined the latest fiscal year 2018 refugee data against averages from the previous five years and found that the plunge in admissions has largely spared a handful of white-majority European countries. The U.S. is currently admitting 110% of the European admissions it had typically resettled while admitting only 22% of the usual numbers from the rest of the world. Admissions are down from the five-year average by 67% from African countries, and about 80% from Middle Eastern/South Asian countries, East Asian countries, and Latin America/Caribbean countries. Admissions from countries covered by the presidents travel ban have virtually ceased refugees from Iran are at 2.2% of the five-year averages; from Syria, at 1.8%; from Somalia, 4.5%. Admissions from Ukraine are up 109%, and Russia, 134%. This pattern is also reflected in regional targets. Halfway through the fiscal year, the European regional ceiling is already 87% filled, overwhelmingly by Ukrainian Christians, but the Middle East/South Asia ceiling is only 16% filled. And 72% of the refugees admitted from that region so far this year are non-Muslims, down from 54% in the previous five years. The process works like the assembly line in a factory, Barbara Strack, who retired in January as chief of the Refugee Affairs Division at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, told the New York Times. This fiscal year, the administration essentially broke the assembly line in multiple places at the same time. President Trump has scapegoated refugees, called for a total ban on the entry of Muslims, and expressed an immigration preference for people from places like Norway. Its now up to the Senate to discover whether Mortensen will bend a truncated U.S. refugee resettlement program further toward the presidents prejudices or consider restoring a system that has provided hope and rescue for some of the worlds most persecuted and vulnerable people. Bill Frelick is the refugee rights program director at Human Rights Watch and Brian Root is the quantitative analyst at Human Rights Watch. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook Two of Scott Pruitts most trusted aides have given notice that they are leaving, as the Environmental Protection Agency chief faces growing scrutiny over his spending and management decisions, according to current and former agency officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel moves. Sarah Greenwalt, a senior counsel at the EPA who also worked with Pruitt when he was Oklahoma attorney general, had garnered attention for the 52% raise she received earlier this year, before the EPA reversed the decision. The other departure, initially reported Wednesday by the Atlantic, is that of Millan Hupp, Pruitts top scheduling and advance official. She also worked with Pruitt in Oklahoma, helping with fund-raising under his political action committees. Hupp, who at the EPA served as a gatekeeper, travel planner and confidante of the administrator, had drawn the attention of lawmakers on Capitol Hill recently for the personal tasks she also performed for Pruitt. Those included helping with his Washington housing hunt, booking his personal travel and even contacting the Trump hotel in search of a used mattress on his behalf. Advertisement The departures are the latest and possibly most significant in a line of political appointees who have left the agency. Top communications official Elizabeth Bowen left recently, as did former top advisor Samantha Dravis. The EPA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. President Trump on Wednesday staged a briefing on federal preparedness for the hurricane season now underway, repeatedly lauding his administrations incredible job last year while remaining silent on Puerto Ricos lingering problems and new estimates of its massive death toll. The president, who last fall said Puerto Rico had averted a real catastrophe because only 16 islanders had died after Hurricane Maria hit Sept. 20, has not addressed independent reports of a much higher toll including one last week conducted by Harvard researchers and published in the New England Journal of Medicine estimating that 4,645 or more people may have died in the aftermath. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders, asked on Tuesday whether Trump would still give his administration a score of 10 on a scale of 1 to 10 for its response in Puerto Rico, did not give a direct answer. The federal response, once again, was at a historic proportion, Sanders said, declining as before to say whether the White House accepts the new estimate. Advertisement I cant speak to how this White House operates, said Michael D. Brown, who as head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency was much criticized, along with President George W. Bush, for the governments response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. But I would have gotten a call from President Bush or his chief of staff asking, What the hell is this study? Read it, tell us what it says and see what we can do. Irrespective of what this White House might say, tweet or do and I dont want to get the people in FEMA in trouble here but I can tell you that theyre desperately looking to that study to see, What can we learn from this? he added. The sense that Bush botched the response to Katrina, especially in the hardest hit, mostly African American areas of New Orleans, damaged his standing for the remainder of his second term. Katrina came to be synonymous with incompetence more broadly, prompting Republicans and some pundits to ask throughout President Obamas tenure whether some problem might become his Katrina. Trump, by contrast, has seemed to escape such judgment when it comes to the federal response in Puerto Rico, which still suffers widespread power outages that cripple schools, hospitals and commerce. Indeed, he continues to praise his administrations response. Observers in both parties see a couple of forces at work: the press of other controversies surrounding the president, and the fact that much of the public does not think of the more than 3 million Puerto Ricans as fully Americans, too. Historically, when thousands of American lives are lost in large part due to government negligence, there would be some public backlash, congressional hearings, inspector general reports, and just some basic accountability so that it wouldnt happen again, said Stephanie Cutter, a longtime Democratic strategist who worked in the Clinton and Obama White House. The answer to why that hasnt happened regarding Puerto Ricos devastation is complex, Cutter added, but basically the majority of Americans are outraged about so many of his actions that its difficult for specific things to break through. And this Congress has proven incapable of acting like an independent branch of government. Puerto Ricos official death count in the wake of Maria, based on actual bodies identified, is 64, although the islands government has commissioned a more thorough effort to count the dead. Even the official estimate is still four times more than Trump acknowledged in his last public comment on the impact when he last visited the island in early October. On that visit, he told officials, Now, I hate to tell you, Puerto Rico, but youve thrown our budget a little out of whack because weve spent a lot of money on Puerto Rico. And thats fine weve saved a lot of lives. He continued: If you look at a real catastrophe like Katrina, and you look at the tremendous hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that died, and you look at what happened here with, really, a storm that was just totally overpowering nobody has ever seen anything like this. Sixteen people versus in the thousands, he said. You can be very proud of all of your people, all of our people working together. The death toll from Katrina was 1,833 people. In addition to the most recent study, by Harvard Universitys T.H. Chan School of Public Health, other surveys have estimated that more than 1,000 Puerto Ricans died in the weeks after Maria as either direct or indirect results of the storm. The Harvard study concluded that the number of excess deaths related to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico is more than 70 times the official estimate of 64 deaths. The authors said, however, this number is likely to be an underestimate, with the actual toll exceeding 5,000. The estimate covers the months from Sept. 20 through the end of 2017. One-third of the deaths, the study said, were the result of delayed or interrupted healthcare, just as in the aftermath of other storms including Katrina, Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, which struck before Maria last year, and Superstorm Sandy on the East Coast in 2012. As the United States prepares for its next hurricane season, it will be critical to review how disaster-related deaths will be counted, in order to mobilize an appropriate response operation and account for the fate of those affected, the authors wrote. Asked on Monday, President Trumps 500th day in office, what he considers his top foreign policy achievement, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders quickly replied: The strengthening of relationships with a number of foreign leaders. The State Department said the same with a tweet: After 500 days in office, U.S. leadership is back on the world stage as the result of @POTUSs policies. Its no surprise that top administration officials have alighted on that claim. The president has been making it at every opportunity during a rally last week in Nashville, at the U.S. Naval Academy commencement ceremony and in off-the-cuff remarks to White House reporters Friday, just to name the latest audiences. We are respected again, I can tell you that. We are respected again, Trump told the naval cadets. A lot of things have happened. Were respected again. The evidence both in nonpartisan polls and in the increasingly critical remarks of exasperated allies suggests otherwise. Advertisement The presidents bravado is about to be tested dramatically, beginning with a visit Thursday from Japans President Shinzo Abe. On the weekend, he is to attend a summit in Canada with other leaders of the G7 the Group of Seven major powers and then hold the most high-stakes event of all on Tuesday his meeting in Singapore with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. After 16 months, however, leaders of long-standing allies like Abe, Frances President Emmanuel Macron, Germanys Chancellor Angela Merkel and Britains Prime Minister Theresa May all initially deferential to Trump and his famous ego have grown frustrated and at times disapproving. Significantly, so have their citizens, increasing the pressure on foreign leaders to distance themselves from Trumps America. Across 134 countries, the median approval of U.S. leadership dropped 18 points in Trumps first year, to a record low of just 30%, according to a Gallup survey released in January. That was before Trumps decisions to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and impose tariffs on a number of allies, which further alienated many of them. The finding echoed a Pew Research Center survey last year that found in all but two of 37 nations polled, Trump got far lower marks than President Obama; the exceptions were Russia and Israel. In the main, its a preposterous claim to say the U.S. is better regarded in the world when we havent had for many decades this many crises with our allies, said Nicholas Burns, a career diplomat under several presidents serving as ambassador to NATO and Greece and as undersecretary of State and now a professor at Harvards Kennedy School of Government. Japans Abe, who initially worked to build warm personal relations with Trump, comes to the White House vexed by the presidents protectionist trade moves and failure to inform Japan, a close ally, when Trump scheduled, cancelled and then rescheduled his summit with North Koreas Kim. Instead of demonstrating solidarity, Japan has been cut out, said Jeffrey Hornung, an Asia specialist at the Rand Corp. You have Japan being left to the side. Like Abe, the other world leaders Trump will meet in Quebec at the annual G7 summit have become dismayed that their attempts to flatter and cajole him have gone for naught. Interviews with a dozen diplomats and foreign policy experts, some of whom requested anonymity to speak openly due to the sensitivity of the issue, underscore the widespread consternation with a seemingly incurious and blustery president. Trump, many complain, has continued to show a basic misunderstanding of NATO financing, the European Union and the fundamentals of international trade, among other issues. The presidents inability to absorb information, combined with his certainty about the world and these things he doesnt really understand its doing a number on how other countries view the United States and our ability to get things done around the world, said one former U.S. ambassador. Perhaps most mystifying to allies, Trump has spoken more warmly and shown more deference to authoritarian heads of state. The president congratulated Russias Vladimir Putin for winning a sham election, applauded Chinas Xi Jinping for becoming president for life and praised the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte, widely condemned for vigilante killings of alleged drug users and dealers, for doing an unbelievable job. We are starting to see a breakdown of the system, said Heather Conley, senior vice president and director of the Europe program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. It feels like we are treating our allies with contempt, while we are feting our adversaries. After a year and a half, I think most of the major allies have concluded that, to be honest with you, there really isnt a relationship that they can build, Conley added. Or they can build it, like President Macron has, but it does not necessarily mean that there is going to be outcomes that ... support the national interests of our European and Canadian allies. And Trump risks losing international support for initiatives he considers important, she said, such as a potential deal with North Korea. To the extent that foreign leaders like Macron are seen as giving in to Trump, thats very unpopular at home for many of these leaders, said Stephanie Segal, a fellow in political economy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Although Trump quickly withdrew from the Paris climate accord and the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, he showed some hesitation last year to follow through on other nationalist impulses, grudgingly recertifying the Iran nuclear agreement and holding off on abandoning NAFTA and imposing tariffs. That reassured many allies. No more. Several so-called globalists have departed the administration, or been pushed out, leaving the president to follow through on campaign promises that upend the post-World War II global order that America helped build. Last month, Trump withdrew from the Iran deal, despite pleas from the leaders of other countries that are party to it, most prominently Macron. Trump also oversaw the move of the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, inflaming regional tensions and angering allies who say Jerusalems status should be decided between the Palestinians and Israel. And just last week, Trump announced new steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada, Mexico and the 28-nation EU. Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin got an earful at a meeting of G7 finance chiefs last weekend. On Sunday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on NBC that Trumps tariffs were insulting to such a close ally and trading partner. Germanys Merkel said they were illegal and could provoke retaliatory actions that result in damaging everyone. And Britains May, in a call with Trump on Monday, told him the tariffs decision was unjustified and deeply disappointing. On Wednesday, Trumps chief economic advisor, Larry Kudlow, dismissed the controversy as a family dispute that can be worked out. Yet he could not guarantee that Trump would sign the usual joint communique with the other G7 leaders. There was a hope in the first year that the president would be adaptive and learn on the job, that he would listen to his more moderate advisors, and in fact the reverse has happened, Burns said. Hes become more radical, and you see the frustration growing. Trumps claim of newfound respect for America is apparently based on his belief that allies have long taken advantage of American largesse and military might, and that other nations now know hes put an end to their game. That attitude is rejected in most foreign capitals, whove looked to the United States to be the global leader for its own national interests as well as theirs. Now Washington is increasingly isolated, reflecting allies impatience. William Reinsch, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that while many allies have been polite thus far, they now think times up. Theyve been somewhere between bemused and frustrated for a long time, he said. Now youre seeing frustration win out and youre probably going to see more pushback. Trumps unilateral actions have come to be seen not as part of an America first policy, but more like America alone. He has proven himself an unreliable partner, many allies say. While allies have strongly disagreed with the United States in the past, for example when President George W. Bush invaded Iraq, they still agreed on the 70-year-old tenets of the global order. Trump challenges that. At the United Nations General Assembly in September, Trump laid out a case for limited international cooperation rooted in the primacy of nationalism, an argument many diplomats found incongruous. Although Trumps summit with Kim on Tuesday is back on, his failure to warn South Korean President Moon Jae-in prior to calling it off rankled, just as it did Japans Abe. Yet last week, even as he celebrated the revival of the summit, the president told reporters that North Korea is 6,000 miles away, stating that the onus is on Japan and South Korea to police their nuclear-armed neighbor. This is a pattern of behavior that undercuts the interests of our closest friends, time and time again, said Suzanne DiMaggio, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation. And our friends are asking if this is an aberration or the new normal. As Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, put it last month, after Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Iran deal, With friends like the United States, who needs enemies? Stokols is a special correspondent. Times staff writer Tracy Wilkinson in Washington contributed to this report. The latest from Washington estokols@gmail.com Twitter: @EliStokols During his campaign, Donald Trump lashed U.S. presidents for cutting stupid foreign deals, alleging that they gave too much away to allies and adversaries alike, and insisted the world is laughing at Americas politicians. National security and foreign policy experts called him naive and reckless, and warned that sensitive global diplomacy is nothing like the bare-knuckled world of New York real estate or the raw voyeurism of reality TV. Now, as he prepares to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in a historic nuclear summit in Singapore, President Trump is putting his much-touted negotiating skills and his iconoclastic worldview to the ultimate test. Theres no way to exaggerate how important the summit is for President Trump, said the presidential historian Douglas Brinkley. Advertisement If Trump succeeds, suddenly he could say, Theres a method to my madness, that it is about the art of the deal, and I am a big-time negotiator, Brinkley said. Trump keeps shifting goals on North Korea, from fire and fury to denuclearization to a meet-and-greet But if it fails, Tuesdays summit becomes a capstone to Trumps mounting domestic problems, including the Russia investigation and his stalled legislative agenda, from immigration to healthcare. His whole presidency is in danger, Brinkley said. To Trump, the summit itself has been the big prize, even though his predecessors avoided meeting North Koreas leaders for fear of giving a photo op to an outlaw dynasty. Ultimately hes going to decide what is good enough for denuclearization regardless of the history or anything else, said Victor Cha, who headed Asian affairs in the National Security Council under President George W. Bush and took part in nuclear talks with North Korea at the time. Cha worries that Trump, who has shunned diplomacy in other parts of the world, is choosing to make his maiden attempt at a peace deal in North Korea. He has picked the hardest issue to do this, with the highest stakes, when everybody else has failed before him, said Cha, whom Trump briefly considered to serve as the top envoy to South Korea. And its not like everybody else is stupid. Trump has rejected experts at every step in his march to the summit. He tweeted cartoonish taunts of Kim last year, threatened to unleash fire and fury like the world has never seen, and then impulsively reversed course by accepting Kims invitation to meet, with little to no consultation from aides. He has rejected lengthy briefings arms control, and alarmed key allies in Tokyo and Seoul by saying he planned to wing it after he sizes up Kim in person. He also surprised diplomats by saying he would stop calling for maximum pressure on Pyongyang, and suggesting more summits with Kim, although the White House denied those were concessions. Trump told reporters Saturday as he departed a G-7 meeting in Canada and prepared to board Air Force One for Singapore that he would know within the first minute of meeting Kim whether they could reach a deal. Just my touch, my feel. Thats what I do, he said. Its unknown territory in the truest sense, but I really feel confident, he added. Kim wants to do something great for his people and he wont have that opportunity again. Its a one-time shot, and I think its going to work out very well. In Trumps rush to press the flesh with Kim, he has forced his own national security team to upend the usual planning for a presidential summit. Normally, diplomats and subject experts patiently hammer out agreements before allowing the leaders to meet in carefully scripted settings. The summit typically comes last, in part because meeting a U.S. president is viewed as an incentive and a reward, a chance to be seen as coequals on the global stage. In Kims case, the summit provides invaluable propaganda for perhaps the globes biggest pariah. Respected again? Trumps claim for America strikes many allies and diplomats as preposterous For Trump, the question is whether he can gain enough from Kim to declare a major foreign policy achievement, one that eluded the presidents he so often disdains. He has vacillated in recent weeks, initially demanding swift nuclear disarmament, and then last Friday telling a North Korean envoy, Take your time. Trump has sought to lower the bar for success. He no longer talks about winning a Nobel Peace Prize or throwing a celebration when the talks conclude. He instead described his Singapore sit-down with Kim as a getting-to-know-you meeting, plus. Even some of Trumps doubters carry shards of hope, and a bit of wonderment, that his unconventional diplomacy may crack the North Korean enigma and produce a meaningful deal to cut if not eliminate the nuclear threat. Donald Trump doesnt have to be a genius. He just has to say yes at the proper time, said Robert L. Gallucci, a former ambassador at large who led nuclear talks with North Korea in 1994 for the Clinton administration. Some experts credit Trumps idiosyncratic tweets and bluster with keeping the summit alive, despite a few somersaults along the way, even as they worry that he has given up considerable leverage in the process and that North Korea cant be trusted to keep its promises in any case. Catherine Killough, who focuses on North Koreas nuclear and missile development at the Ploughshares Fund, a global security foundation in Washington, said she believes the stars have aligned on the Korean peninsula. Kim does not behave like his father or grandfather, who ruled the country before him and were driven to develop nuclear weapons with singular focus, she said. Now that he has achieved that goal, Kim has made clear he wants to improve North Koreas fragile economy, which could get a huge boost if he strikes a deal with Trump. I have a very cynical view of President Trump, but I think at the same time this could work, Killough said. We dont get very far by repeating the same old tactics. Kim has vowed to stop nuclear and ballistic missile tests, and his government said it destroyed a major nuclear test site inside a mountain. It also released three Americans it had imprisoned, two of them arrested since Trump took office. But most Korea experts believe Kim is gaining far more than he has given up so far. In addition to no longer demanding swift disarmament, Trump has relaxed some of the economic and diplomatic pressure Kim faces from global powers. Trade has measurably ticked up as China and Russia ease back on enforcing sanctions. Moreover, the leader of one of the worlds most isolated and repressive nations is suddenly in demand on the international circuit. He made his first two foreign trips as ruler, visiting China twice since March to meet with and stroll on a beach with President Xi Jinping, apparently ending the estrangement between them. Russias foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, flew to Pyongyang to meet Kim for the first time. So did Secretary of State Mike Pompeo twice, though first as CIA director. Trump also has disavowed comments from his hawkish national security advisor, John Bolton, after Pyongyang complained about them and threatened to cancel the summit. Bolton was nowhere to be seen when Trump welcomed a North Korean official to the Oval Office last Friday, and later personally escorted him to his car by the TV cameras. Trump often acts on impulse. But he is guided by long-term instincts, including a desire to surprise people, prove the experts wrong and do things others failed to do. His boldest foreign policy decisions have all fit those parameters: withdrawing from the Paris climate accord, pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal, imposing steel and aluminum tariffs on Mexico, Canada and the European Union, and moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Each, for differing reasons, has enraged allies. He has been told so many times since he started running for president you cant do that, you cant say that ... the world will fall apart, the mountains will crater ... bad things will happen, Kellyanne Conway, who serves as counselor to the president, told reporters at a breakfast this week sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor. She paused to consider her words. Its not that he does it because he says, Im going to show you. Its because he thinks its the right thing to do, and that its a matter often of presidential leadership and the will to get it done, she said. But the biographers who have studied Trumps career since he was an apprentice in his fathers real estate company say Trump relies far more on his salesmanship than actual deal-making prowess. They see the Kim summit as unlikely to focus on the details of denuclearization but rather as a political play designed for a domestic base that likes to see a president in perpetual motion. They predict Trump will take what he can from Kim be it a photo op, a genuine disarmament deal or something in between so long as he can sell it as a big win back home. In his business career, he was all about ballyhoo and demands, said Michael DAntonio, the author of Never Enough, a Trump biography. But when it came down to the actual deal, he never did better than anyone else. Follow the latest news of the Trump administration on Essential Washington Times staff writers Tracy Wilkinson and David Lauter contributed to this report. noah.bierman@latimes.com | Twitter: @noahbierman UPDATES: June 9, 9:50 a.m.: This article was updated comments Trump made before leaving for Singapore. This article was originally published at 9:30 a.m. June 7. Just 129 votes separate the two Democrats vying to take on Rep. Dana Rohrabacher Democrat Hans Keirstead, shown in 2017, is running to unseat Rep. Dana Rohrabacher. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) Its pretty much certain that a Democrat will make it on the November ballot to challenge GOP Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, but as of Friday we still dont know who. In the latest tallies released by Orange County elections officials Thursday, stem cell scientist Hans Keirstead was just 129 votes ahead of fellow Democrat and real estate investor Harley Rouda. Thats an increase in the lead for Keirstead, who had been ahead by just 45 votes the day before. While national Democrats cheered the fact that their candidates appear to have advanced through Californias top-two primary in all of the key House districts they hope to flip, it would be something of a strategic failure for them if Keirstead makes it onto the November ballot. Thats because the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the national partys arm to help candidates win House races, stepped in at the last minute to explicitly back Rouda, dropping $400,000 on joint TV and cable ads with Roudas campaign. It was a clear indication that they believe Rouda, a former Republican with endorsements from a dozen House members including Nancy Pelosi, to be better positioned to take on Rohrabacher in the fall. The committee also spent more than $1.7 million attacking Republican challenger Scott Baugh, who threatened to keep both Keirstead and Rouda out of the the November contest by snagging the second-place spot on Tuesday. That investment seems to have paid off: As of Thursday, Baugh was trailing both by more than 1,200 votes and has already conceded and endorsed Rohrabacher for the fall. It may be days before the final winner of the second ballot spot becomes clear. As of Thursday, Orange County officials still had more than 168,000 ballots left to count and voters in the 48th District make up about a quarter of registered voters there. On Tuesday, the Rouda campaign made a statement declaring victory, but by Thursday afternoon was asking his donors to contribute to a Harley Rouda Recount Fund. Rouda campaign manager Mike McLaughlin said the fund was the legally responsible thing to do as the vote canvass continues and that the campaign is using the funds to pay several attorneys who are observing the countys vote-counting process. Well retain every right to pursue all options here to make sure that everything happens legally, McLaughlin said. We fully intend to be ahead on the count by the end of this. In a statement provided by his campaign, Keirstead said hes committed to protecting the integrity of the vote, but that regardless of the outcome, a Democrat gets to face Dana in the fall. DCCC spokesman Andrew Godinich also pointed out another bright spot for Democrats: Rohrabacher received just 30% of the primary election vote, the lowest share of any congressional incumbent in California. Keirstead and Rouda both had about 17%. The decision by voters Tuesday to remove an Orange County state senator targeted for raising the states gas tax could be a harbinger for the fall campaign when critics of the tax hike push their repeal effort to the statewide ballot. Sen. Josh Newman (D-Fullerton), who was midway through his four-year term, was recalled from office Tuesday by 59.5% of the voters in his district, which includes parts of Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. Republican leaders behind the recall measure said Wednesday that the ouster of Newman provides momentum to repeal the gas tax in a constitutional amendment proposed for the November ballot. And that, they predict, will turn out more conservative voters to the benefit of their candidates for Congress and the state Legislature. It bodes very well for us to pull off the repeal, said Carl DeMaio, chairman of Reform California and a leader of the recall effort. It shows that there is a taxpayer revolt brewing in California that is seeing through the millions of dollars of misleading ads from Sacramento special interests. Advertisement Gov. Jerry Brown, a leading proponent of raising the gas tax to pay for road and bridge repairs, declined Wednesday to comment on how the recall might affect a repeal effort, but he lamented losing Newman from legislative service. Detailed election results Josh took courageous votes and got things done in Sacramento, Brown said in a statement. He chose to fix our crumbling roads and build for our future, rather than kick the can. We need more leaders like him. Newman declined an interview request. He thanked his supporters in a statement. None of this shakes my faith in California or in the fundamental capacity of politics to serve as a platform for doing good and for serving people, Newman said. Its been an honor and a privilege to represent the people and cities of the 29th Senate District. Senate Bill 1, which raised state gas taxes and vehicle fees to pay for transportation projects, is supported by business, civic and labor leaders who said Wednesday that the recall does not mean the transportation funding law is doomed. What the recall proves is that this whole issue is partisan politicians desperate attempts to stay in power despite the cost to the public, said Michael Quigley, executive director of the California Alliance for Jobs. Voters in the 29th Senate District elected Republican Ling Ling Chang to replace Newman, the first California state lawmaker recalled in 23 years. Newman could wait to step down until as late as July 13, when the state is scheduled to certify the results of the election. His loss means Democrats in the Senate will not have the two-thirds supermajority needed to raise taxes. Newman was one of 81 legislators to vote in April 2017 to increase the state gas tax by 12 cents a gallon, boost the diesel fuel tax by 20 cents a gallon and increase vehicle fees. The new charges are expected to raise $5.4 billion annually for road and transit projects. Full coverage of Californias primary Democratic leaders, including Brown, helped raise more than $4 million to fight Newmans recall, but Republicans, including House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield, funded the repeal drive. McCarthy hailed the recall Wednesday in an appearance on Fox News. The congressman said that in November, Democrats are going to have to defend raising the gasoline tax while Republicans say they want to repeal it. The repeal initiative needs 585,407 signatures from registered voters to qualify for the ballot, and backers recently turned in petitions signed by 963,905 people. The verification process is still underway, but so far elections officials are finding 77% of the signatures they have checked are valid. John J. Pitney Jr., a politics professor at Claremont McKenna College, said that Newmans recall suggests the gas tax issue has traction but that the outcome of the repeal measure is not set in concrete. A strong campaign on the No side could change opinions and defeat the ballot measure, Pitney said. But it will take a lot of work and a lot of money. And conservatives will be funding the repeal effort in hopes of boosting GOP turnout. Quigley, a member of the coalition supporting SB 1, said he is not worried. Were confident voters are going to reject this misleading scheme that will make our roads less safe, more congested and more expensive to fix in the future, he said. Newmans ouster from office is not the only sign that the gas tax is a potent issue for Republicans. The tax also appeared to help Republican gubernatorial candidate John Cox, who noted in every stump speech that he co-chairs the repeal drive. Voters on Tuesday sent Cox on to the November ballot against Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom. On election night, Cox told supporters that he will continue to campaign against the gas tax. How many hardworking Californians are going to be forced to choose between buying groceries or filling up their tank on the way to work? Cox said. Were going to repeal that gas tax in November. Assemblyman Travis Allen, a GOP backbencher from Huntington Beach, highlighted his opposition to the tax and placed fourth in the governors race Tuesday ahead of such high-profile Democrats as state Treasurer John Chiang. Even before the election, there were signs that voters did not like the higher gas tax, especially at a time when gas prices have skyrocketed largely due to other factors. Two weeks ago, a USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times statewide poll found that repeal of the higher taxes and fees was supported by 51% of registered voters in California. If its going to survive, and its supported by business and a lot of progressives, there is going to have to be a major campaign to educate people on what it means, Bob Shrum, director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at USC, said Wednesday. And even that may not work, because there is a kind of tax fatigue in California at this point. Every Republican on the November ballot should run on a platform of repealing the gas tax, said David Gilliard, the Republican political strategist behind the repeal measure who also advises several GOP members of Congress, including Reps. Mimi Walters and Jeff Denham, who are among the top targets of Democrats. The recall of Josh Newman should send shock waves through the ranks of politicians who supported the massive gas and car tax increases passed by the Legislature last year, Gilliard said. Meanwhile, DeMaio, a former San Diego city councilman, said his group is considering possible recall campaigns against other Democratic senators who supported the gas tax, including Anthony Portantino of La Canada Flintridge and Richard Roth of Riverside. patrick.mcgreevy@latimes.com Twitter: @mcgreevy99 A judge in New York City has ruled in favor of a bar that kicked someone out for wearing a Make America Great Again hat. According to the New York Post, Philadelphian Greg Piatek was booted from The Happiest Hour in January of 2017, just after Donald Trumps inauguration, because he was wearing a red MAGA cap. So the 31-year-old sued the place, claiming the incident offended his sense of being American, according to the lawsuit. But according to The Happiest Hours lawyer, Elizabeth Conway, political beliefs are not protected from discrimination by law - only religious beliefs are. Advertisement Supporting Trump is not a religion, she said, according to The Post, to which Piateks attorney, Paul Liggieri counterpointed, The purpose of the hat is that he wore it because he was visiting the 9/11 Memorial. He was paying tribute to the victims of 9/11. The Make America Great Again hat was part of his spiritual belief. https://twitter.com/OfficialJoelF/status/989616315236257794 After an hourlong investigation into Piateks alleged spiritual program, the judge decided that there was nothing outrageous about the Trump supporters removal from the bar. Its unclear at this time whether the decision will be appealed, but if Piatek plans on patronizing this bar again, he may want to leave his trucker hat at home. The Daily Meal has reached out to The Happiest Hour for comment. This may seem like a silly lawsuit, but believe it or not, people have sued for much stranger reasons. View slideshow more on trump Hayk Konjoryan: No, Mr. Sharmazanov, the number of large cattle-bribetakers can drop dramatically in Armenia (video) During today's debates over the government's program in the National Assembly, Hayk Konjoryan, a member of the Yelk (Way out) bloc, said that five Vanadzor towns have been completely emptied last year. "Every third person is poor in Armenia. This is the experience of your Government. The advantage of the current government is its inexperience, as compared to your experience," Hayk Konjoryan said to the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) MPs. He touched upon Eduard Sharmazanov's observation on how agriculture will grow and whether the number of cattle will grow sharply in Armenia. "No, Mr. Sharmazanov, the number of large cattle-bribetakers can drop dramatically in Armenia, and after that the state revenues will increase and the competitive relations will increase in the economic field, as a result of which the agriculture will develop." Hayk Konjoryan added that the main resource of this government is political will and human. A carjacking suspect accused of trying to hit a California Highway Patrol officer with a car in Burbank after a vehicle pursuit last Wednesday received an eight-count indictment on Monday from the Los Angeles County district attorneys office. Johnny Paul Siganoff was charged with one count each of driving or taking a vehicle without consent, carjacking and assaulting a police officer as well as two counts of attempted carjacking and three counts of resisting arrest. The district attorneys office said Siganoff, who also goes by John Szabo and Frank Siganoff, pleaded not guilty to the charges. According to authorities, the 32-year-old Phoenix, Ariz., resident is suspected of stealing a car on May 30 from a gas station employee in Mission Viejo. Later in the day, he reportedly got in a crash on the 210 Freeway in Pasadena. The district attorneys office said Siganoff then carjacked a vehicle that was involved in the incident. The CHP pursued the stolen van into Burbank, where Siganoff got off the 134 Freeway and drove onto Buena Vista Street. While exiting, the suspect intentionally rammed into several vehicles that were stopped for the red traffic light at the bottom of the off-ramp, according to the CHP. He then traveled west on Riverside Drive, where he reportedly tried to carjack several other vehicles in the area. In a cellphone video captured by a witness, a CHP officer can be seen chasing down a man said to be Siganoff. The officer used a stun gun on the man, but it had no effect. The video goes on to show the man entering a vehicle and attempting to run down the officer. According to the CHP, The officer returned to the patrol vehicle and rammed the suspects vehicle, subsequently disabling it. Additional officers arrived on scene and, after a brief struggle, Siganoff was taken into custody. It was later determined he was under the influence of drugs at the time. Siganoff faces more than nine years in prison if convicted and is currently being held on $300,000 bail. andy.nguyen@latimes.com Twitter: @Andy_Truc The Orange County Board of Supervisors officially opposed a proposed mobile needle exchange service Tuesday in Santa Ana, Anaheim, Orange and Costa Mesa. The supervisors resolution opposing the proposal which passed 4-0 with Supervisor Shawn Nelson absentdirects the boards clerk to submit the resolution to the California Department of Public Health. The state agency is considering the application for the mobile exchange submitted by the Orange County Needle Exchange Program. The group formerly operated out of the Santa Ana Civic Center before it was shut down in mid-January by the city, which cited an increased number of discarded syringes in the area. The needle exchange was the first and only one of its kind in Orange County. Board Chairman Andrew Do and Supervisor Michelle Steel co-authored the resolution in an effort to prevent the programs return. Its a failed experiment, Do said at the meeting. It failed because it subjects the public to major health risks because of the number of needles found. Steel said a mobile program could result in even more needles in our streets. The California Department of Public Health has said the needle exchange doesnt need approval from the cities it plans to operate in. As part of the state agencys authorization process, department officials will consult with local law enforcement and health officers. Do said it was important to note that the state can approve the program over the countys objection. However, Do said if the state authorizes the needle exchange, he intends to ask the Board of Supervisors to file a lawsuit to fight the action. The approval process for the mobile service is currently in a public comment period that ends June 25. Needle exchanges seek to provide drug users with clean needles to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, like HIV and hepatitis C, and other dangers posed by needles. The practice is endorsed by the American Medical Assn., the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, among others. Supervisor Todd Spitzer, while supporting the resolution against the mobile exchange, said its a major public health issue when people share needles and hed like to see an analysis of what the county is doing to reduce transfer of diseases. It falls on the taxpayer when people get communicable diseases, Spitzer said. Needle exchange representatives, in an emailed statement, took issue with many of the points brought up in the meeting. Do stated during the meeting that the needle exchange is a giveaway program because it gives 20 needles in exchange for one. The statement says this is incorrect. Rather, for every needle a person turns in, the exchange gives that amount plus 20, with up to 200 needles maximum, the statement says. If a person brings in 10 needles, they receive 30 in return. The California Department of Public Health recommends a needs-based distribution program, where clients receive as many needles as requested irrespective of how many they turn in. Dallas Augustine, a needle exchange board member, has said the group chose locations away from residential zones, in light industrial areas. She also said being open for more hours will allow people to have a better chance to dispose of their used syringes with the needle exchange. The group will also conduct walkthroughs of the planned sites to gather discarded syringes. There will be a phone hotline and email address for people to report used needles. The group will also continue handing out sharps disposal containers to clients. benjamin.brazil@latimes.com Twitter:@benbrazilpilot Some Glendale and Burbank residents are corralling together to prevent Silver Spur Stables in Glendales Riverside Rancho from being demolished and replaced with condominiums. Though the City Council is far from considering a proposed zoning change, residents are speaking out early against an application submitted in February by Art Simonian, founder of Metro Investments and a member of the Glendale Design Review Board as well as Thomas Bell, owner of Silver Spur Stables, to change the stables zoning from commercial equestrian to multifamily residential. If approved, Metro Investments plans to build 21 townhouse-style condos in six buildings, each three stories high. For the record: This story has been updated with comments from the community. The plan would also remove 30 feet of Allen Avenue, a major route to horse trails and Griffith Park. For decades, Silver Spur Stables, located at 1900 W. Riverside Drive, has been home to many horses, 78 currently, and has welcomed families who visit for a day of horseback riding. Opponents of the zoning change say the stables are much more than a commercial equestrian property they have created a community for people who live the rancho lifestyle and those who want to escape urban life. Some residents say changing the zoning of Silver Spur Stables would be detrimental to that community and open the doors for further redevelopment of surrounding businesses. Silver Spur Stables supports the rare marriage of urban and semirural life centered on horses, said Joanne Hedge, president of the Glendale Rancho Neighborhood Assn., during a council meeting Tuesday. Of all the horse communities in the U.S., only this one offers a unique lifestyle opportunity a mere 9 miles from one of the nations largest cities. Hedge is one of several members of the Save the Rancho movement, which has garnered more than 3,000 signatures on an online petition and more on paper. About 20 more speakers attended the council meeting to voice their opposition to the proposed rezoning. Among the speakers was Burbank Mayor Emily Gabel-Luddy, who showed council members a map of the equestrian area, which spans Glendale, Los Angeles and Burbank and is woven together by the Los Angeles River and Griffith Park trails. Though Silver Spur Stables may seem like a dot on the map, it is the heart of the equestrian community, and changing the propertys zoning would affect people across all three cities, she said. Gabel-Luddy then asked for those who were opposed to the proposed rezoning to stand, and the majority of people in the packed room rose to their feet. Glendale and Burbank residents and people from all over Los Angeles visit the stables to escape urban life and immerse themselves in the rancho lifestyle. (Courtesy of Jim DeCarli / Silver Spur Stables ) Speakers said they were also concerned about the childrens programs that would be impacted if Spur Stables were demolished, including Operation Progress, a program that takes kids to the stables from the Watts neighborhood. Several residents noted the therapeutic benefits of the stables, some even saying that being around horses saved their childrens lives in difficult times. Others focused on the impact the rezoning would have on businesses in the Glendale Rancho and beyond. The construction resulting in the change there would create an environment too dangerous in which to conduct our business, said Dalon Williams, owner of L.A. Horse Rentals, which is next to Silver Spur Stables. It will also affect businesses that the horse community brings to Glendale. Some said the city has attempted to slow down development, and this move would be counterproductive. Glendale has beaten its own housing goals, said Bill Luddy, a resident. Youve surpassed those and youve got a moratorium in downtown because of over-development. That moratorium was enacted to give you time for solutions for over-development. Youll be creating the same kinds of problems youre trying to resolve now. Residents opposed to the zoning change expressed discontent with Bell, who also owns Bell Diversified Development Inc., saying he is unnecessarily trying to make more profit from the zoning change, when there are willing buyers available with the current zoning. Bell, who purchased the property in 2008, has been a controversial figure. In 1996, Bell was indicted on charges of using more than $375,000 intended for renovation of buildings damaged during the Northridge earthquake to purchase personal luxury items. He served 18 months in prison and was ordered to pay a $350,000 fine. The proposal has not yet been scheduled to go before the Design Review Board or the Planning Commission, said city spokesman Tom Lorenz. He added that because Simonian is on the board, he would have to recuse himself from discussions about the issue. Neither Bell nor Simonian immediately responded to requests for comment. alejandra.reyesvelarde@latimes.com Twitter: @r_valejandra The La Canada school board on Tuesday unanimously approved tentative contract agreements with the teachers union and the groups representing classified, administrative and cabinet-level employees. The proposed terms and contract language changes for the La Canada Teachers Assn.s 2015-18 agreement include a 2% pay increase retroactive to July 1. Contract language related to personal necessity leave was rewritten for clarity. The 2018-19 and 2019-20 work calendar for LCTA members was revised to make the annual buyback day the first day back to school for teachers. The annual teacher work day would take place the day before the first day of school. Also updated were the later 8:30 a.m. start time at La Canada High School and the formation of a joint committee to review district grading policies. LCTA members were not present at the school board meeting and requests for comment were not returned Wednesday. Members of the separate California School Employees Assn. will receive a 1.25% pay increase, which will be permanently added to the 2016-17 salary schedule and additional longevity steps at the eight- and 25-year marks, which will increase total salaries for CSEA members by roughly 1.4%. The changes are effective July 1. The new calendars will add an additional work day to be used for training for CSEA employees. The cost will be partially offset by a reduction in additional hours for training beyond the work day. It was a really good job working with them, going over the charts, said Mark Evans, assistant superintendent of business and administrative services. We also address the professional development for people who are just a school year or a couple days beyond the school year. There will be some costs but also some savings because we have to pay hourly not a dollar-for-dollar savings but not a dollar-for-dollar cost. The Confidential, Managerial, Supervisory and Administrative Assn., which oversees district and school site administrators, will receive a 2% salary schedule increase, retroactive to July 1, 2017. Officials estimate the current fiscal years budget will increase $489,994. Future budgets will increase about $1.3 million. Matt Sanderson is a contributing writer to Times Community News. Jimmy A. Williams, a now-deceased Flintridge Riding Club instructor, molested multiple girls and young women at the center between the mid-1950s and early 1990s, according to an investigative report published in the New York Times. The newspaper interviewed 38 students, trainers, grooms and equestrian officials who described experiencing or witnessing groping, kissing and sexual assault by the decorated instructor. A smaller number of associates said he acted with consent and wasnt alive to defend himself against the allegations. Williams, who worked at the historic club on Oak Grove Drive from 1956 until his death in 1993, was a celebrated figure in the sport, training future Olympians and the children of Hollywood and business elite. Because of his celebrity-like status he was able to kiss and grope girls publicly and with impunity, the newspaper reported. More serious assaults allegedly took place in less visible locations, such as horse stalls. He penetrated me when I was 11, Anne Kursinski, an Olympic equestrian, told The Times. I was a little kid. And he was God. Williams would continue to rape and molest her for six years, according to her account. Gigi Gatson described narrowly escaping sexual assault. She told several adults but said, Everyone always turned the other cheek. It was a system. Williams allegedly used emotional coercion to get his way. Karen Herold, who is now 58, told The Times that riders who stayed silent received access to better horses. The unspoken rule was of not saying anything, not divulging anything, Herold said. The Flintridge Riding Club did not agree to an interview with The Times, but on April 19 members received a letter that said the club would remove from our publicity the affiliation with him. All pictures and paintings of Williams, as well as his trophies, have been removed from the riding club. The show jumping stadium, which was named for him, is now called Ring 1. Some past club members defended Williams, saying they witnessed what they consider consensual kissing and touching in an era with different social mores. I think he was a great horseman; he was a legend in his time, said equestrian Hap Hansen, who rode at Flintridge as a youth and later became a grand prix champion. In my mind, he still is. I just think those things are stupid to bring up whether they are true or not. Susan M. Hutchison, a former student who lived with Williams before his death at age 76, said in another published report that the allegations were untrue. The Los Angeles Times obituary described Williams as a ladies man who had been married six times. When hundreds of thousands of women in Spain took to the streets on International Womens Day to demand equal rights, Pedro Sanchez saw the moment as a turning point. After March 8, Spain changed, Sanchez, secretary-general of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party, said later in a televised interview. Women went out to claim their role and their power of transformation to construct a society that has to have as a principle value gender equality. On Thursday, Sanchez, as the countrys new prime minister, saw a 17-member Cabinet take office that consisted of 11 women and six men. Women hold key posts such as deputy prime minister, economic minister and justice minister. Sanchez said the appointments marked the first time since Spain returned to a democratic system in the late 1970s that the Cabinet included more women than men. The country had been run for decades by dictator Gen. Francisco Franco, who died in 1975, and in recent years saw varying numbers of women in Cabinet posts. Advertisement The government of Spain seeks to be a faithful reflection of the society that we hope to serve, Sanchez said during a news conference Wednesday night. The new government is born with the objective of serving the modernization of Spain, to make it grow in a sustainable way and regenerate the public life of our country. The new Cabinet includes Carmen Calvo, a former culture minister, as deputy prime minister and human rights prosecutor Dolores Delgado as justice minister. The new economy minister, Nadia Calvino, has been the European Commissions director-general for the budget for several years. Spain has the fourth largest economy in the European Union. Sanchez, who lacks a majority in parliament, came to power last week after successfully leading a vote of no confidence against Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. The Rajoy government had faced a major political crisis tied to Catalonias independence movement and a corruption scandal. For the seven years he was in power, Rajoy, of the Popular Party, kept his Cabinet composition at about a third women. The Cabinet of Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero hovered near gender parity between 2004 and 2011, while the Cabinet of the Popular Partys Jose Aznar ranged from 13% to 30% women between 1996 and 2004. The announcement of the new Cabinet comes as women in Spain are pushing for greater representation in government and an end to gender-based violence. It was formed the same week journalist Soledad Gallego became the first woman to be top editor of El Pais, Spains largest circulation daily newspaper. Journalists, academics and commentators took to social media to express their optimism for the historic Cabinet. There is this feeling of almost euphoria, because its such a big change from what we had before, journalist Marilin Gonzalo, who helped lead a movement to protest sexism in Spanish media, said in an interview Thursday. AMAZING! WHAT GREAT NEWS! wrote Spanish author Laura Freixas on Twitter. In ten days, we have changed the government. We have women Ministers in positions like Justice, Interior, Economy, tweeted sociologist Soledad Murillo, who was Spains secretary-general of equality and a member of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. And if that werent enough, Sol Gallego is director of El Pais. CONGRATULATIONS to those who have fought to democratize public space, thanks to #feminismo. Some, however, warned that the government had yet to prove itself as a champion of women. This government, at the moment has a women majority, there are also ministers who are well-known feminists, wrote journalist Ana Aguilar on Twitter. All of this is important and remarkable. But I would not say this government is feminist. It will be if its policies are feminist. The Socialist party is generally seen as a defender of womens rights. In 2004, under Zapatero, the government passed a law protecting victims of sexual and gender-based violence. In 2007, the Zapatero government passed an Equality Law requiring political parties to field female candidates in at least 40% of the seats they contest. Gonzalo, the journalist, said Spain, like many countries, has a culture that favors men. She pointed to a recent survey about sexual assault that shows 40% of male respondents believe that workplace sexual harassment will stop if women simply ask. The survey, created by a state-run delegation on gender-based violence, showed that 34% of male respondents believe women exaggerate the gender-based violence. Sexual violence has dominated Spanish headlines this year, with a high-profile case alleging an 18-year-old woman was raped by five men at the 2016 running of the bulls festival. In late April, a judge convicted the men of sexually abusing the woman, not raping her, sparking outrage among feminist groups. While the Socialist government still has to prove its feminism with policy, Gonzalo said, at least the Cabinet is a start. This has shown a change in society we started to see after [March 8], all the women who are fighting for themselves, she said. Especially in places of power. Bernhard is a special correspondent. An Uzbek man who drove a stolen truck into a crowd in Stockholm, killing five people and wounding 14 others, was convicted Thursday of terror-related murder and given a life sentence. Rakmat Akilov had said he wanted to punish Sweden for joining a coalition against Islamic State. In January, he was charged with terror-related murder and attempted murder for the attack with a beer truck on April 7, 2017. Those killed were a British man, a Belgian woman and three Swedes, including an 11-year-old girl. Judge Ragnar Palmkvist said Akilov, 40, was the only suspect in the attack. Prosecutor Hans Ihrman called him a security risk to society during his trial at the Stockholm District Court. Advertisement Ihrman said he was satisfied with the ruling. Akilovs defense lawyer, Johan Eriksson, said he had talked with his client who was disappointed by the decision. Eriksson said Akilov didnt immediately decide whether to appeal and needed to read the 145-page verdict thoroughly first. The prosecution had demanded a life sentence while Eriksson said his client had been cooperative throughout the investigation and should be given a lesser sentence. Palmkvist said the fact that Akilov had been cooperative and had confessed didnt have any influence on the life sentence, which is the heaviest penalty in Sweden and is normally about 18 years. The court sentenced Akilov to be expelled from Sweden after he serves his sentence, and banned him from returning. After plowing the truck into a crowd on a busy shopping street and crashing into the upscale Ahlens department store in central Stockholm, Akilov also planned to blow himself up. He failed, and caused a smaller explosion inside the truck. He then fled via the subway but was arrested hours later. He was found guilty of five counts of terror-related murder, 119 counts of attempted murder and 24 of endangering the lives of others. Judge Carl Rosenmuller told Swedens TT news agency that it was considered attempted murder on anyone who had been up to 6.6 feet from from the truck racing down Drottninggatan, while people farther away were considered having been endangered. The truck displaced lion-shaped boulders, similar to roadblocks that were put up in several European capitals after another truck attack killed 12 people at a Christmas market in Berlin in 2016. Akilov was born in Uzbekistan and was a construction worker there. He came to Sweden in 2014 and applied for asylum, claiming he had been persecuted. His application was rejected and he was ordered to leave Sweden in December 2016. Instead, he went underground, eluding authorities attempts to track him down. Swedens domestic intelligence agency has said it had nothing indicating that he was planning an attack. On April 6 the eve of the attack Akilov swore allegiance to Islamic State. During the trial, evidence showed how Akilov used 53 SIM cards and social media including WhatsApp, Telegram, Viber, Facebook and Zello to communicate with others about his activities. Akilov has said he proposed carrying out an attack in Stockholm to Islamic State on their behalf. It was not clear whether the group had accepted his offer. Investigators have found internet chat logs with unknown people in which Akilov discussed becoming a martyr. They have also found a memory card with execution videos and thousands of photos, including one of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The reviews last year were mixed: The parklets were either great places to sit outside and enjoy the sunshine or eyesores tarnishing Bethlehem's downtown. When a new parklet -- it's a public seating platform erected over a parking space -- comes to Broad Street this summer, organizers say it will be a better-looking structure meant to improve pedestrians' experience and draw foot traffic to the area. Community development projects often consider cars more than walkers, organizer Adam Heidebrink-Bruno said, but erecting a parklet outside Joe's Tavern at 12 W. Broad St. will primarily be about residents and visitors exploring by foot. "I think that's particularly important in Bethlehem, where I don't feel -- as a walker and sometimes cyclist -- like there are a lot of comfortable places for me to bike and walk within the city itself," Heidebrink-Bruno said Wednesday in an interview. This year's parklet, slated to go up next week, will be about 20 feet long with room for roughly six people to sit and a few more to stand. There will be a high-top table on one side, a small bench on the other side and a wide bench in between. Greenery, including a planter bed attached to the sides of the structure, is intended to beautify the temporary space that will stay up until Nov. 1. Anyone can use the parklet, which is considered a public park, Heidebrink-Bruno said. Free arts and music programming is tentatively scheduled there throughout the summer. As a partnership between students at Lehigh University and Pratt Institute, the initiative is meant to study how bringing a parklet to a city can create a safer, greener, friendlier and more walkable community. The project launched last July with funding from Lehigh's Mountaintop Initiative, a summer program that pays students a small stipend to solve community problems in a former Bethlehem Steel research space. Students revised and polished the parklet plan throughout the academic year with feedback from last year's pilot round, said Karen Beck Pooley, the director of Lehigh's environmental policy design program. The biggest challenge: making this year's parklet more visually appealing than last year's with only slightly more money. The students in 2017 had $1,000 to build 10 parklets that moved locations throughout the city, while this year's team has $200 to create one. Parklets in larger cities like Philadelphia and San Francisco can cost upwards of $40,000, increasing the difficulty for students with limited resources. Grant funding from the Mountainside Initiative will cover most of the cost. Joe's Tavern will pay for decorations like plants or a table with an umbrella, said Shelly Salak, the owner's daughter. Bethlehem last year solicited applications for a parklet pilot program, but no businesses accepted the offer, which came with a price tag of at least $2,000. The city's director of planning, Darlene Heller, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday on the parklet coming to Broad Street this year. "It's bound to be good for local businesses that line a commercial corridor," Beck Pooley said. "Then, as a street becomes more interesting and more people are out and about in those places, it tends to attract even more people and create a sense of excitement." Students will take turns collecting data on the number of people that walk down Broad Street before and after the parklet's installation, said Heidebrink-Bruno, who is a PhD student in Lehigh's Literature and Social Justice program. Surveys collecting feedback will also be available for people who use the space. To Joe's Tavern, the plan to install roving parklets in Bethlehem last year was a lucky break. The bar's managers previously had asked the city for ways to expand its sidewalk space, and the partnership with the college students offered a solution, Salak said. Joe's patrons will be able to bring food and drinks outside to this year's parklet, although Salak said table service likely will not be available there. Parklets give restaurant owners the opportunity to "reach outside the walls of our business" and provide a different experience than they provide inside, Salak said. She said they also give local residents a chance to take a break from the indoors. "I think we're on the upswing again and we're marching toward that lifestyle living in town, and people are going to want those opportunities to sit back and relax," Salak said. A launch party celebrating the parklet is tentatively scheduled for June 22. Marisa Iati may be reached at miati@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @Marisa_Iati or on Facebook here. The SPCA this week again seized animals from a 50-year-old Lehigh County man who wants to create a zoo, his attorney said. "Humane law enforcement officers" on Tuesday went to a property in Heidelberg Township, served a search warrant and seized 15 kittens, one adult cat, nine puppies, one dead puppy, three adult dogs and seven rabbits, a Pennsylvania SPCA spokeswoman confirmed. She refused to reveal the address of the raid or the person targeted without charges being filed. The SPCA action happened "over concerns of the living conditions of the animals there," she said in an email. Derbe Eckhart rents at 6587 Central Road in Heidelberg and it was that property where the seizure took place, Eckhart's attorney Evan Hughes confirmed late Wednesday afternoon. Eckhart was convicted of two counts of animal cruelty in 2008 and cleared of four other counts due to the conditions at Almost Heaven kennel in Upper Milford Township. He was sentenced to at least six months in prison. He is currently awaiting a status conference in Lehigh County Court on dozens of animal cruelty charges dating to May 5, 2017, records show. The SPCA seized 48 animals, including four horses and numerous cats and dogs in that case. Eckhart is also charged with intimidating a witness dating to Nov. 26. He is out on $25,000 bail in the witness case, records show. His formal arraignment in that case is set for 30 minutes before his status conference on Tuesday, records show. Hughes said the animals that were seized on Tuesday belonged to Eckhart and that no charges were filed. "It's the next in a ... never-ending line of actions they're taking against him," Hughes said of the SPCA. "... It's pretty clear he's being targeted because of his alternative lifestyle." When asked what sort of lifestyle, Hughes said, "His goal is to have a zoo. He's working toward that." Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. A New Jersey State Trooper stops hundreds of cars daily. But what are the chances that you'll pull over the guy who helped give you life? Well, it happened to a trooper a few days ago. On Friday, Trooper Michael Patterson pulled over Matthew Bailly in Kingwood Township for tinted windows. Matthew Bailly, a former police officer, stands wth New Jersey State Trooper Michael Patterson. (New Jersey State Police photos | For lehighvalleylive.com) They started talking and Bailly said he was a retired Piscataway police officer. Patterson, a Piscataway native, told the retired cop he was from the same town. Interest piqued, Bailly asked the trooper where he grew up. Poe Place, Patterson said. That was a familiar street to the longtime cop. When he was a rookie, he got called to a house on that street 27 years ago and helped to deliver a baby. After Bailly told his story, Patterson reintroduced himself. "My name is Michael Patterson, sir," he told him. "Thank you for delivering me." In Oct. 5, 1991, Patterson's mother Karen had rushed home from shopping and found that she was in labor. Her husband, Bobby, took her into the house and called police and their doctor. Bailly was the officer who responded, and the Patterson's doctor talked Bailly through the delivery. Trooper Stops Retired Police Officer Who Delivered Him 27 Years Ago Were not sure what the odds are of this... Posted by New Jersey State Police on Wednesday, June 6, 2018 After that revelation about their connection, Patterson delivered Bailly a first-class handshake instead of a summons. And later, Trooper Patterson and his mom visited Bailly and his wife to revisit a key moment in the law enforcement officers lives. Taylor Tiamoyo Harris may be reached at tharris@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @ladytiamoyo. Find NJ.com on Facebook A $6 million dispute between a Northampton County judge and a local bank over a failed real estate development has landed in federal court. Lafayette Ambassador Bank seeks $6 million from Judge Craig Dally for funds it loaned the judge and a business partner in 2006 for a manufactured home community in Forks Township. Dally invested in the project with longtime friend James Seitz, according to a lawsuit filed by Dally. The bank sent Dally a letter April 12, 2017, threatening to find Dally in default of the loan by April 25, 2017. Dally sued the bank in February 2018. The case was moved from Chester County Court to federal court in March 2018. Dally claims in the lawsuit that Seitz bought him out of the real estate project in 2009. Dally never received a $500,000 payment from Seitz and continued to invest more than $600,000 after the buyout, the lawsuit says. Dally's lawsuit accuses the bank of "a number of inexplicable, irregular, improper, illegal and unethical incidents and practices" during the 12-year administration of the loan. The bank seeks $6 million from Dally and his wife, Ann. The defendants in Dally's lawsuit are Lafayette Ambassador Bank and Fulton Financial Corp., the bank's parent company. "While unfortunate, the conduct of Lafayette Ambassador Bank and Fulton Financial Corporation, as detailed in our 18 page complaint, gave my clients no other option than to pursue this course of action," said Dally's attorney, Patrick Campbell. "Fulton Financial Corporation does not comment on pending litigation," said Fulton spokeswoman Laura Wakeley. Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook. A local physical therapist is charged with sexually assaulting a 96-year-old patient during a home visit, and the Northampton County District Attorney's Office is asking for anyone else who may have been victimized to come forward. On Wednesday, authorities announced the arrest of 42-year-old Arnee Rubi, a resident of the 200 block of McNair Circle in Allen Township, and an employee of St. Luke's Visiting Nurse Association for five years. Arnee Rubi (Northampton County District Attorney's Office photo | For lehighvalleylive.com) Rubi was suspended pending the outcome of the criminal case and an internal investigation by St. Luke's, District Attorney John Morganelli said in a news conference. "We no longer employ the individual who was accused," St. Luke's University Health Network spokesman Sam Kennedy said Wednesday. "St. Luke's is fully cooperating with authorities to assist in their investigation." As a physical therapist, Rubi specialized in care of elderly and hospice patients, including the 96-year-old victim in Hanover Township, whom the DA did not identify by name. Rubi was at the victim's home for a session on May 21 -- they were alone until the victim's granddaughter returned home to see Rubi, with his back to her, apparently holding the man's hand up to his groin, the DA said. Surprised by her arrival, Rubi allegedly adjusted his pants and left. The victim told Colonial Regional police that this was not the first time Rubi had been sexual with him, and there was never any consent, the DA said. Police interviewed Rubi on June 1, and he allegedly admitted to sexual assault on two occasions. Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli, center, announces sex assault charges against a physical therapist during a news conference June 6, 2018. (Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com) Rubi was arraigned Wednesday before District Judge Vivian Zumas on two counts of indecent assault, a first-degree misdemeanor that carries a possible sentence of 5 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. He was sent to Northampton County Prison in lieu of 10 percent of $50,000 bail. Court records did not immediately list an attorney for him. "In my experience over the years, when we have situations like this it normally is not the first time. ... My fear is that there might be more victims out there," Morganelli said. Anyone who may have been victimized is asked to contact either the Colonial Regional Police Department or the Northampton County District Attorney's Office. Editor's note: This article was updated from its original version to correct the age of the victim when the sexual assault allegedly occurred. Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveNovakLVL and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. The Phillipsburg Town Council committee that formed just weeks ago to examine the mayor's post-election hiring practices has formally dissolved itself, but officials are preparing to provide law enforcement with the information they have obtained. The end of the four-member panel came Wednesday evening after a roughly 90-minute public meeting in which it unveiled a flowchart allegedly depicting patronage jobs doled out by Mayor Stephen Ellis between the 2015 election and taking office. During the session, the group interviewed its first and only public witness, Jennifer McBride, a member of the mayor's transition team. Based on her statements, at least 10 private interviews and numerous emails and text messages previously obtained, the group determined outside agencies will be better able to handle the matters involving campaign finance and public contracting laws. "As we started our questions ... other things came in," Councilman Frank McVey, chairman the investigative committee, said afterward. "And we had to say this is beyond our scope." The committee unanimously voted to recommend that town council turn over the matters to the Warren County Prosecutor's Office, New Jersey Attorney General's Office and state election commission for review. It seems unlikely council won't follow the recommendation: Four of the five town council members were on the panel, and the mayor, as the town's executive, does not cast a vote in council matters. Councilman Frank McVey, chairman of the investigative committee, holds a flowchart June 6, 2018, that allegedly depicts patronage jobs in Mayor Stephen Ellis' administration for members of the mayor's 2015 transition team. (Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com) The investigative committee, which includes Republican council members McVey, Bobby Fulper and Danielle DeGerolamo, and Democratic Councilman Mark Lutz convened for the first time May 9 to examine claims that the mayor circumvented hiring practices after taking office, allegedly ousting some town officials and employees and rewarding those who supported his campaign. (Lutz left the mayor's transition team after two meetings. The other Democrat on council, Josh Davis, remained on the transition team and was officially excluded from the investigative committee after a council vote in May.) The mayor was not present Wednesday. He has defended his administration and its procedures. "I am certain there are no irregularities with any of the hiring practices that took place when I was first elected," Ellis told lehighvalleylive.com last month. "I see this as an unfortunate attempt to distract from the progress the town is making." Ellis, a Democrat, took office in 2016, after upsetting five-term Republican Mayor Harry Wyant Jr. the previous November. The 35-year employee of the New Jersey State Park Service had never held elected office before. Wednesday's meeting mostly involved asking McBride about emails and receipts. Committee members attempted to establish that Ellis awarded jobs as repayment for campaign support. The committee also provided the audience with a flowchart listing 10 people on the transition team and jobs in which they ended up. The chart included regular appointments to boards and other positions as well as new jobs created within the administration and police department. It estimated that "created positions" cost the town $491,000 a year. McVey and Fulper, who is also the council president, said they see a problem not with the mayor organizing a staff, but with decisions being made without public notice and before taking office. It may have been done before in prior administrations as well, both said, but it should not continue. The meeting was mostly quiet and composed, with McBride answering questions, an attorney at her side but rarely needed. In perhaps the meeting's strangest moment, Fulper directly called out resident and frequent supporter of the mayor David Morrisette for the content of a campaign email Morrisette wrote three years ago and statements he has made online since. "I suggest, in my personal opinion, you stay off the internet," an emotional Fulper said, among other things, as Morrisette stood silently in the back of the room, recording the proceedings. After voting to pass the information to law enforcement, the committee, with no further discussion, unanimously voted to disband, ending its role in the matter. McVey said they will abide by the decision of the law enforcement agencies, should they decide not to continue the investigation. The investigation comes at a time when relations between the mayor and council are very strained. The mayor for the first few months of the year declined to attend council meetings, citing a hostile environment, though he has appeared at the most recent council meetings. In 2017, the three Republicans now on council ran on a platform that questioned salaries and roles of some in the mayor's administration, and took action once on council. That has spawned at least two lawsuits from employees claiming the council retaliated against them for political reasons. Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveNovakLVL and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Business An Interview with Mr Siegert about virtual offices 07.06.2018 14:21:27 - In the second part of the interview, Mr Siegert, Senior Head of Sales of the Collection Group, talks about the versatile advantages of a virtual office a product name that he helped to shape. (live-PR.com) - An Interview with Mr Siegert about virtual offices In the second part of the interview, Mr Siegert, Senior Head of Sales of the Collection Group, talks about the versatile advantages of a virtual office a product name that he helped to shape. Question: Mr Siegert, you are one of the leading experts on the development and commercial success of virtual offices - An Interview with Mr Siegert about virtual officesIn the second part of the interview, Mr Siegert, Senior Head of Sales of the Collection Group, talks about the versatile advantages of a virtual office a product name that he helped to shape.Question: Mr Siegert, you are one of the leading experts on the development and commercial success of virtual offices in Business Centers. Please explain why there is very high demand for this particular market segment and what the advantages of virtual offices are. Answer: Many companies wish to secure a prestigious address at a top location. What needs to be understood, however: People who want to rent space at the Dreischeibenhaus in Dusseldorf, at Stuttgarts Koenigstrasse, in Viennas Golden Quarter or at Hohe Bleichen in Hamburg, have to pay very high rents for those A1 spots. Virtual offices as offered at all COLLECTION Business Centers enable our customers to enhance their image and their market positions without having to pay those exorbitant rents. We collect and forward our clients mail, answer the phones under our customers names and encourage them to use our conference rooms or office spaces on an as-needed-basis. That way, they can entertain clients and guests as necessary. However, many customers dont have to accommodate external traffic on a daily basis, nor do they have a constant need to be at a representative address physically. That makes the virtual office a great instrument to save money and increase public image. Question: How important is public image in todays business world? Answer: Very important. The old saying is still true: You dont get two chances to make a good first impression. In addition to our top locations, COLLECTION Business Center staff strive to offer the very best in professionalism and cordiality paired with our first-class fixtures, and that goes for our exclusive furniture as well as for our state-of-the-art technical equipment. Our virtual office customers need to able to rely on us all the time one hundred percent. We are very well aware of this responsibility: Whenever one of our staff members answers the phone or compliments visitors into our centers, we represent our customers, their names and their reputations. Question: A top address for a small budget in a COLLECTION Business Center can you illustrate one more time how your clients can benefit the most from that concept? Answer: The savings potential is enormous. There are practically no small or medium-sized office locations available for rent at top locations in major European business hubs. Virtually all rental offers start at a minimum of 250 square meters and entail long-term lease obligations the scenarios are the same for cities like Hamburg or Dusseldorf, Cologne or Frankfurt, Vienna or Zurich, Munich or Luxemburg. At COLLECTION Business Centers, we offer much smaller offices for rent on an hourly or daily basis. Plus, of course, virtual offices - a great solution, for example for freshly started companies with little capital coverage or anyone who need to keep a keen eye on budgets. End of the interview. Interviewer: Mr Remmert For more information about virtual offices and Collection Business Center click here: in Business Centers. Please explain why there is very high demand for this particular market segment and what the advantages of virtual offices are.Answer: Many companies wish to secure a prestigious address at a top location. What needs to be understood, however: People who want to rent space at the Dreischeibenhaus in Dusseldorf, at Stuttgarts Koenigstrasse, in Viennas Golden Quarter or at Hohe Bleichen in Hamburg, have to pay very high rents for those A1 spots. Virtual offices as offered at all COLLECTION Business Centers enable our customers to enhance their image and their market positions without having to pay those exorbitant rents. We collect and forward our clients mail, answer the phones under our customers names and encourage them to use our conference rooms or office spaces on an as-needed-basis. That way, they can entertain clients and guests as necessary. However, many customers dont have to accommodate external traffic on a daily basis, nor do they have a constant need to be at a representative address physically. That makes the virtual office a great instrument to save money and increase public image.Question: How important is public image in todays business world?Answer: Very important. The old saying is still true: You dont get two chances to make a good first impression. In addition to our top locations, COLLECTION Business Center staff strive to offer the very best in professionalism and cordiality paired with our first-class fixtures, and that goes for our exclusive furniture as well as for our state-of-the-art technical equipment. Our virtual office customers need to able to rely on us all the time one hundred percent. We are very well aware of this responsibility: Whenever one of our staff members answers the phone or compliments visitors into our centers, we represent our customers, their names and their reputations.Question: A top address for a small budget in a COLLECTION Business Center can you illustrate one more time how your clients can benefit the most from that concept?Answer: The savings potential is enormous. There are practically no small or medium-sized office locations available for rent at top locations in major European business hubs. Virtually all rental offers start at a minimum of 250 square meters and entail long-term lease obligations the scenarios are the same for cities like Hamburg or Dusseldorf, Cologne or Frankfurt, Vienna or Zurich, Munich or Luxemburg. At COLLECTION Business Centers, we offer much smaller offices for rent on an hourly or daily basis. Plus, of course, virtual offices - a great solution, for example for freshly started companies with little capital coverage or anyone who need to keep a keen eye on budgets.End of the interview.Interviewer: Mr RemmertFor more information about virtual offices and Collection Business Center click here: www.ubc-collection.com/en/virtual-offices.html Press Information: Collection Business Centers GmbH Kaiserswerther Strae 215 40474 Dusseldorf Deutschland Contact Person: Phone: 0211540800 eMail: eMail Web: http://www.ubc-collection.com 07.06.2018 14:21:27 - Disclaimer: If you have any questions regarding information in this article please contact the author. Please do not contact Live-PR.com. We are not able to assist you. Live-PR.com disclaims content contained in this article. Live-PR.com is not authorized to give any information about content and not responsible for content posted by third party. Stock Market News Ascential sees FY in line despite tough times for Cannes Lions 07-06-2018 07:45 Stock News headlines are gathered from financial news sources around the web. Views and opinions on each item are from their respective authors and website. They are not opinions of LiveCharts.co.uk Stock Market News FTSE 100 movers: Persimmon rises but Vodafone and Sainsburys go ex-div 07-06-2018 14:36 Stock News headlines are gathered from financial news sources around the web. Views and opinions on each item are from their respective authors and website. 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They are not opinions of LiveCharts.co.uk Stock Market News Unite Group gets planning approval for Leeds development 07-06-2018 07:36 Stock News headlines are gathered from financial news sources around the web. Views and opinions on each item are from their respective authors and website. They are not opinions of LiveCharts.co.uk Download Image: Web Michael Harpers celebration of jazz and John Coltrane through poetry characterizes his deep understanding and appreciation for jazz, as well as the countless ways jazz can inspire all artists alike. In an interview included in the most recent issue of Brilliant Corners, Harper discusses the role of jazz in America, the individuality of the artist, and the discomfort associated with addressing certain aspects of American history and culture. Sascha Feinstein, Ph.D., professor of English at Lycoming College, conducted the interview at the University of Rochester in 1985 for his honors thesis. Although it was his first formal interview, Feinstein guided insightful discussions regarding Harpers experimentation with music during his readings, his poetry about John Coltrane, and his personal experiences with criticism. His commanding statements, Feinstein explains, [elucidate] the responsibilities that Americans owe to their own culture. This is something that cannot be undervalued. Harper was a professor of English at Brown University, where he started teaching in 1970, as well as the first poet laureate of the state of Rhode Island. In his lifetime, he published 16 books, including Dear John, Dear Coltrane; Use Trouble; and Songlines in Michaeltree: New and Collected Poems. His abundance of honors and awards include the Frost Medal for Lifetime Achievement from the Poetry Society of America, the Robert Hayden Poetry Award, and the Black Academy of Arts and Letters Award. In addition to Harper, the most recent issue of Brilliant Corners features numerous distinguished writers including Betsy Sholl, a former poet laureate of Maine; Laton Carter, recipient of the 2005 Stafford-Hall Book Award; and Mick Carlon, a young-adult novelist. As Americas sole indigenous contribution to musical culture, jazz is essential to the American identity, but often Americans fall short of recognizing its importance. Brilliant Corners functions as a piece of educational literature that sparks awareness of the role of jazz in America, and its enlightening nature inspires remarkable writers to submit work. Brilliant Corners is a biannual journal that highlights an exceptional collection of poetry, fiction, and essays pertaining to jazz. Sascha Feinstein, the managing editor, founded the journal in 1996. Published at Lycoming College, Brilliant Corners is funded in part by Lycoming College, the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts and private endowments. A subscription costs $12 per year ($18 for international orders), and checks or money can be sent to Brilliant Corners, Lycoming College, 700 College Place, Williamsport, PA 17701. More information can be found at www.lycoming.edu/BrilliantCorners or on Brilliant Corners Facebook page. To access our in-house intelligence please request a trial here. Read this article and more for a 30 day period. Are you already an Managing IP subscriber? Login here Three months after the 4th March Italian elections, the new government of the Five Stars Movement and the League (formerly Northern league) has finally been sworn in by by the President of the Republic and a whole new situation opens up where these parties will be put to the test. This experience will prove to be a necessary experience in exposing in the eyes of the Italian working class the real nature, particularly of the Five Stars Movement and prepare the ground for a new wave of class struggle. In these three months we have seen all sorts of upsets and changes on the political landscape, the result of the political earthquake of the elections, which failed to produce any winner and which massively punished those parties of the Establishment of the last twenty years, the Democratic Party and Berlusconis Forza Italia. The political crisis has revealed the real nature of bourgeois democracy, with the President of the Republic intervening in the process as laid out in his speech on 27 May [where he openly objected to the proposed candidate for the position of Finance Minister because he had expressed anti-Euro sentiments in the past]. The votes of millions of people were thus declared irrelevant when weighed against the dangers posed to the stability of the markets. It was for this reason that President Mattarella intervened with his blackmail. The President, by openly behaving in this manner, made it clear who makes the real decisions: the capitalists. Whoever wants to work within this system has to submit to their interests. The Italian and international bourgeoisie feared that the first Conte government which was proposed, with Savona as Minister of the Economy, would put another nail in the coffin of a European Union in deep crisis, and would deepen the insolvency of the banking system and increase the Italian public debt. They were also motivated by the need to immediately dampen and frustrate the (admittedly confused) hopes for change expressed by millions of people in their vote on 4 March for the Five Stars Movement and, to a lesser extent, the League. The ministers So the second Conte government was allowed to take office with the approval of the markets and European Union protection. The Minister of the Economy, Giovanni Tria, is an ultra-liberal who has worked at both the World Bank and at the OECD, and who was also one of the authors behind the economic programme of Forza Italia. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Enzo Moavero Milanesi, has been part of almost every technical government from that of Ciampi in 1993 to the more recent Monti and Letta governments, in which he served as Minister of European Policy. Paolo Savona too, demoted to Minister of European Affairs after the Presidents first rejection, is far from being anti-system. He served as a minister in the Ciampi government, then as Chair of Confindustria [the Italian bosses association], and on the boards of several big banks and companies. The others are no better. As Minister of Internal Affairs we have the champion of racism, Matteo Salvini. The atmosphere that has been whipped was already bad for migrants, as illustrated by the murder of Soumalia Sacko, a trade union militant and a protagonist in the struggles of the agricultural labourers in the Gioia Tauro area (Southern Italy). Ones disgust grows even further when we read the CV of Lorenzo Fontana, the new Minister for the Family, who is opposed to abortion, and against any kind of family other than what he perceives as the natural kind. Then we have Andreottis lawyer, Giulia Bongiorno, at Public Administration, [Andreotti was a leading figure of the Christian Democrats for decades after the Second World War and implicated in many cases of colluding with the Mafia] while Elisabetta Trenta, the manager in a contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, is now the new Defence Minister, and this doesnt exhaust the rogues gallery. The promises What about the hope of millions of workers and young people, which were placed above all in the Five Stars Movement? The cancellation of 250 billion of the Italian public debt very soon disappeared from the deal between the M5S and the League for the forthcoming government, and the same applies to the rest of their promises. The Fornero Act [a cut in pensions passed by the previous government] will now be overcome but not abolished. There is no longer any mention of the abolition of this hated law, nor is there any mention of the dismantling of the absurd mechanisms by which the rise in the age of retirement is linked to predictions of average life expectancies. The government deal between the M5S and the League raised the figure of 5 billion as the calculated cost of undoing the Fornero Act, but serious commentators have indicated that the cost could be up to two or three times more. If ever approved, the 5bn would merely be a small cosmetic concession to allow a tiny layer of workers close to the age or retirement to draw their pensions a couple of years earlier, leaving the rest with the Fornero Act as it stands. This is an example of what we mean that this government's programme will be dictated by the needs of Italian capitalism. And what about the infamous Jobs Act which was so dear to Renzi when he was in government? The new Minister for Labour, Di Maio [the leader of the M5S], is now talking about reviewing it, and not abolishing it. Furthermore, the new government pact says nothing about the Poletti decree, which has completely flexibilized short-term labour contracts. And what about the much-touted citizens income? The President of the INPS [social security], President Boeri has been very clear: there is no money. And if it wasnt clear, the markets have made this very clear with the growing spread in Italian state bond prices. The Minister of the Economy, Tria, is an enthusiastic supporter of the Flat Tax, another electoral promise of the League, which would be financed by raising VAT. In other words: workers, pensioners and their families will have have to finance the tax cuts for the rich! (Or at any rate, for that small minority of rich people who actually pay their taxes in the first place.) And what about the cuts and counter-reforms of education)? The new Minister of Education, Bussetti (League), says that this was an excellent law. The M5S-League pact defines the work experience reform of education - i.e. school students being sent to work for companies without being paid - as an effective training tool and they have also announced their intention to put cameras inside the classrooms (to prevent bullying, of course). Again, what about the Five Stars Movements well known opposition to major works like the the High Speed railway, TAV? Toninelli, one of the most well-known Five Stars Movement spokespersons and Minister of Infrastructure has said that we will analyse and study these major works; regarding the TAV, we will do what is right, we will not do what it is not right (La Stampa, 1 June 2018). Regarding the Third Route [of the High Speed Trains], the Five Stars Movement is now no longer opposed to it, something which has provoked anger among the anti-TAV activists in the Ligurian-Piemontese Appennine valleys. Within just a few days of coming into office, the government of change has clearly decided where it is going. It has very quickly abandoned any of its left-wing promises while keeping all of its right-wing pledges. Big business and the bankers can sleep soundly now. The Chair of Confindustria in the north-eastern region of the Veneto, Zoppas, has been crystal clear. At the height of the crisis he spelled things out. He denounced as madness the idea of exiting the EU and added, We appeal to all of the political parties: companies and citizens need a fully functioning cabinet. And Salvini is not deaf when it comes to obeying the calls from such an important figures who rules one of the regions in which League gets a lot of votes. Racism and propaganda about safety What is left is racist propaganda: a repressive policy which will complete an already decided path. As the new Minister of Internal Affairs explains: Minniti (the former minister) did a good job; we will not destroy what he did. Fomenting hatred against illegal immigrants is a must for these people. It is needed as a diversion, in order to channel the anger of the Italian workers, not against the real enemy (the ruling class) but against those who, desperate because of hunger and war, try to reach Italy by any means possible. It is used in order to divide the workers and make them believe that it is right to pay 2 per hour to those who pick tomatoes because they supposedly belong to an inferior race. Matteo Salvini: "Stop Illegal Immigration"The ruling class needs to divert attention away from the real problems of society, especially when overwork, exhaustion, and the total lack of rights and regulations in the workplace - on which the economic recovery in the North has been based - have caused 296 deaths in workplaces just in the first months of 2018 alone, along with tragedies like the one at the Venete steelworks in Padua, in which tons of melted steel killed one worker and seriously injured another. In the next period we will see the most vulgar, racist and obscurantist propaganda, with slogans like God, Homeland and Family and slogans exalting the superiority of the Italian race. From ministerial buildings in Rome they will try to intoxicate workers and young people with this nauseating propaganda. Their problem, however, will be that racism and obscurantism dont put food on the table and only for a brief period will they be able to hide the truth of temporary jobs, unemployment and the bleak future facing the workers and youth. The hopes which spring today from the 4 March vote will later bring the bitter taste of illusions betrayed. The question of the Euro and the EU has merely been postponed and not buried, due to the interminable crisis of European capitalism. In the next conflict between Italy and the EU, the M5S and the League will no longer be able to hide behind their rhetorical calls for sovereignty, as they will have to carry out very unpopular policies. In such a conflict there is no room for reticence or half measures. Against their so-called sovereignty versus Europeanism, two sides of the same coin of capitalism, we call for a break with the capitalist European Union and with the Euro as part of a revolutionary programme for a Socialist Federation of Europe. Friends and enemies In this future class struggle, the left and the labour movement must understand who their friends are and who are their enemies. Salvini and the right-wing parties cannot be defeated by supporting the President, Mattarella, or by citing Constitutional Law, as the opposition in parliament, and the Democratic Party in particular, are doing. On the contrary, Mattarella was right when he said that he acted in accord with the Constitution during the setting up of this government. The Italian Constitution defends the status quo and Article 81 obliges governments to have a balanced budget. The President of the Republic has made it clear that no government which ignores on the sacrosanct principles of the Constitution will be allowed to exist under this system. Defence of the Constitution that left parties and trade union leaders are so enamoured with today is no basis for mobilising the masses. Their slogans are national unity, shared values and the national anthem. But there can be no unity or sharing of values between a Del Vecchio (the CEO of Luxottica, who declared an income of 367 million euros in 2017) and a Luxottica worker. We need to build another kind unity, that of the exploited workers, both Italian and immigrant, against the ruling class. Against the war between the poor, we have to respond with a war between the classes. On this basis is would be possible to build the left and a new leadership of the labour movement. This is what is urgently required in order to be able to intervene in the next wave of worker and youth mobilisations. We are not pessimistic as some on the left are. The arrival of the Five Stars Movement in government is a step in the development of class consciousness in Italy. Their alliance with the League, the most reactionary force in this Parliament, will soon cause the mask of their petty-bourgeois populism to fall. This yellow-green [Five Stars-league] government will proceed with bitter attacks on the workers and youth. Faced with these attacks, a perspective of struggle, after initial disappointment, will become the only possible road the workers can embark on. With this perspective in mind, Sinistra Classe Rivoluzione will intervene on the streets, in the workplaces, in the schools, and in the universities. Join us! With less than a week to go in the Ontario election, the Liberals have collapsed. On June 2, Premier Kathleen Wynne even made an announcement conceding that she would not win the election, and appealed to voters to leave the Liberals with enough seats to prevent the formation of a majority government. After 15 years of Liberal rule in the province, voters are tired of a party they see as disingenuous, corrupt, and part of the elite establishment. Originally uploaded on June 1 for Fightback Canada Despite tacking to the left in rhetoric and campaign promises, including courting the trade union, youth, and immigrant votes over many years, the Ontario Liberals are now seen by most voters as out-of-touch political elites connected to the rich. A developing hatred of the status quo and the establishment has led to a polarization to the left and the right, resulting in a surge in NDP support in the last few weeks of the campaign. For the year preceding the election, the bulk of the anger at the Liberals benefitted the Progressive Conservatives. In the spring of 2017, an Angus Reid poll put Wynnes approval rating at a mere 12 per cent with a disapproval rating of 81 per cent. Other polls put her approval rating even lower. One poll at that time put support for the Conservatives at 43 per cent, a full 15 points ahead of the NDP, and a whopping 24-point lead on the Liberals who stood at just 19 per cent. What has changed, quite dramatically, since the beginning of the election campaign is the nature of the opposition to the Liberals. The Conservatives were set to sweep this election and march easily into a majority government. Now things have been shaken up. The Ontario NDP has surged forward. Most polls in the last week put the party in first place. While the race is too close to call, and electoral districts are set up to favour rural areas and hence the Conservative Party, this is a stunning reversal of the situation. Collapse of the centre The Ontario Liberals were able to hold onto power for 15 years. They did this with a clever balancing act: While always representing the interests of the bosses, the Liberals made an attempt to cloak their rule in a progressive image. While cutting the corporate tax rate, the Liberals would make symbolic gestures towards diversity and against racism, sexism, and homophobia. Wynne was after all the first queer premier and a big advocate of gay rights. While taking away the right to strike from workers, such as those in the education and transit sector, she made big overtures to the trade union bureaucracy. While carrying out a policy of privatization, most significantly with the energy utility Hydro One, she threw crumbs to the poor such as raising the minimum wage to $15/hour and giving some students from low-income families free tuition. The Liberals put themselves forward as friends of labour, students, immigrants, and other oppressed minorities. In the context of rising right-wing populism around the globe, and a Conservative Party openly calling for significant austerity cuts and layoffs, many labour leaders were pulled in by this trick in past elections. Many Labour leaders who today are calling for an NDP vote were calling for strategic voting in 2014 and praising the progressive nature of Kathleen Wynnes budget. Even Sid Ryan, former leader of the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL), who stands on the left of the labour movement, made the blunder of calling for strategic voting and had illusions in Wynne in 2014. However, as anger developed and as the ruling Liberals exposed themselves, this progressive facade withered away. One of the biggest issues has been the skyrocketing hydro rates as the Liberals privatized the energy utility. This has created enormous anger as Bay Street vultures swoop in to make personal profits off the successful public utility, and push up consumer costs. The salaries of the top management at the company has been a source of significant rage, as the working class and middle class feel the squeeze. The connection of the Liberals to the rich was most strikingly expressed by the scandals surrounding Liberal Party fundraisers with top executives. Many of these fundraisers featured $1,600-a-plate gatherings, where corporate bosses could purchase greater access to the premier for an additional $3,000. Another bank-run fundraiser for the Liberals had a $7,500 per plate price tag. At a time when more than 50 per cent of the workforce in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and Hamilton are considered low-wage (within $5 of the minimum wage), these high-priced fundraisers served to expose the true allegiance of the Liberals to the ruling class. As they say, he who pays the piper calls the tune. As anger with the status quo and the ruling party developed, and with a strong challenge from the Conservatives, the Liberal strategy was again to tack left. With a moderate NDP, they felt they could pull the same maneuver we saw during the 2014 Ontario election and 2015 federal election, where the Liberals tried to present themselves as the progressive option. They presented a program of funding pharmacare, dental care, child care, and raised the minimum wage prior to the elections. However, after years of Liberal tricks, workers, youth and sections of the middle class saw through this. Now, as the Liberals are being squeezed out on the right by the Ford Conservatives, and on the left by the Ontario NDP, the mask is coming off in a desperate attempt to minimize their defeat. They are now openly lashing out against the trade unions and the right to strike as their main point of attack against the NDP. This was evident at the final leaders debate and in a series of attack ads. A press conference by Kathleen Wynne on June 4 put forward the demand that after the elections, back-to-work legislation should be immediately passed against the York strike. "Andrea Horwath said she won't use back to work legislation. Ever. So what happens when our key services are in a strike position? Strike after neverending strike." #onpoli pic.twitter.com/W3JWby3Dsw Ontario Liberal Party (@OntLiberal) May 29, 2018 The Ontario Liberals are now openly promoting a program of taking away democratic rights from workers through the courts and the police, with the Conservatives standing in total agreement. The rights of workers, the issue of trade unions, and the right to strike have now been placed front and centre in this election. Social polarization The election has become a race between the right-wing populism of Doug Ford and the Ontario NDP. This is a reflection of social polarization to both the left and right, as support for the status quo vanishes. This is an early stage of the process that we have seen all over the world as the establishment parties and political figures are thrown out of power, and figures to the left and right emerge. On the left, we now see the NDP surging forward in the polls. To party leader Andrea Horwaths credit, she has not capitulated to the attacks that have linked the NDP to the trade unions and strike action. She has clearly expressed her opposition to back-to-work legislation and explained that the lengthy strike at York University and the previous strike at Ontario colleges was the result of cuts to education funding by the Liberals. On a much smaller scale, there is a parallel to the process in the United States with the emergence of Bernie Sanders to the left and Donald Trump to the right, or in Quebec, where the two-party system between the Parti Quebecois and Liberals has been undermined as voters look to options on the left and right. Workers, youth, and even sections of the middle class are turning away from what they see as the establishment, and are looking for an alternative. Doug Ford himself is a polarizing figure. There were probably not a few people who were prepared to vote for the Tories (whom to many seemed to be the natural opposition to the Liberals) to punish the Liberals, but who cannot stomach the idea of voting for Ford. The Fords have a rather wild history in politics, especially in Toronto, and the PC leader presented a series of proposals which could only mean severe austerity. This probably forced people to look elsewhere to oppose Wynne, which led them to the NDP, who are considered a serious option for the first time in a long time by many in the province. Doug Ford has presented himself as a sort of bootleg Donald Trump; a political outsider, a competent businessman, and somebody who will drain the swamp (or stop the gravy train) at Queens Park by driving out the political elites and insiders. His populism includes such gems as bringing back a buck a beer, and he is appealing to angry working class and middle class voters by saying he stands for the little guy and the people. His most recent ads emphasize that those making minimum wage would pay no tax and indicate that he would reduce hydro bills. Behind the rhetoric, Fords plan is an aggressive offensive against the working class. He is going to make major cuts to public services, amounting to $6 billion. He has openly called for strike-breaking legislation. While serving on Toronto City Council, he and his brother, the former mayor Rob Ford, pushed a policy of privatization of public services such as garbage collection, and directly attacked the important municipal workers unions. Behind Fords populism is a barely veiled program putting the capitalists on the offensive against the working class. Austerity, privatization, layoffs, tax breaks to the rich, and state repression of democratic rights for workers and youth is his program. There is a certain analogy between a Doug Ford government and the Mike Harris years in the 1990s, during which Harris carried out an aggressive offensive against the trade unions, scaled back workers rights, and massively slashed social services. While a Doug Ford victory would clearly be reactionary, it would almost certainly spark a period of open class struggle in the province. Ontario NDP surges forward The rapid rise of the NDP shows that beneath the surface, a significant anti-establishment sentiment and anger exists. The NDP has been able to capture that sentiment over the last couple of weeks. Among youth, women, and workers, the support for the NDP is particularly high. The NDP is leading in historic centres of industry and trade unionism such as in Southwest and Northern Ontario. On the one hand, the NDP have been winning part of the anti-establishment vote that the Conservatives were able to tap into prior to the election. On the other hand, they have taken the anti-Conservative vote, which in the past has lined up behind the Liberals, but is now coalescing around the NDP as it eclipses the Liberals in support. Some polls say that about 50 per cent of people who intend to vote NDP are motivated by a desire to defeat the Liberals and Conservatives. This shows that there is a strong desire to defeat the two capitalist parties. However, Andrea Horwaths program has had little to do with the rise of the NDP in the polls. The increase in support for the NDP has more to do with the way the party is seen. The NDP has only formed government once in Ontario, and hence has a certain anti-establishment image. In addition, the partys historic links to the trade unions, and being constantly denounced as socialist and radical, have given the NDP credibility at a time of growing anger at the rich, inequality, and low-wage work. While the NDP platform is an improvement from the 2014 election platform, where Horwath even advocated $600 million in cuts, it simply represents a return to the moderate, reformist policies the NDP stood for in the 1990s. In reality, the NDP election platform is not much to the left of Kathleen Wynne. Both parties are promising pharmacare, child care, dental care, and a minimum wage of $15. The notable exceptions are back-to-work legislation and the very moderate and gradual re-nationalization of Hydro One (at significant cost to the working class and at great profit to the bosses). Instead of calling for abolishing tuition fees, as called for by the student movement, the NDP has proposed that loans be converted to grants. Taxes on corporations will be raised slightly from 11.5 per cent to 13 per cent, which keeps them lower than the rate they were when the Liberals took office. The NDP has become a focal point of opposition for those who can no longer stand Wynne, and who cannot stomach the thought of a Doug Ford government. This support for the NDP is primarily passive, and there has not been a significant influx of left-wing youth and workers joining the party. This is in contrast to the mass movements that surrounded Bernie Sanders in the U.S. and Jeremy Corbyn in the U.K. Nonetheless, such developments have a logic of their own, and there is an important enthusiasm that is developing amongst a certain layer throughout the province as the NDP is polling in first place. Even if their policies are not so different on the surface, the Liberals are tied directly to the capitalists, while the NDP maintains links, however strained, with the working class through the labour movement. A victory for the NDP would represent an important step forward for the class struggle and would raise the confidence and consciousness of the working class. Betrayal of the pro-Liberal unions Unfortunately, some unions still maintain their support for the Liberals via the position of strategic voting. Over the last 15 years, this strategy has resulted in concessions from the unions and attacks on the right to collective bargaining and the right to strike. It has been nothing but a dead end for workers. The stakes are high in these elections as the NDP stands its first serious chance at winning in several decades. Meanwhile, the Liberals and Conservatives are directing their main fire at organized labour. Both the Liberals and Conservatives have openly promised to pass strike-breaking legislation to defeat the strike at York University if they are elected. Kathleen Wynnes new advertisement specifically targets Fred Hahn, president of CUPE Ontario, who has had a long-standing and open affiliation to the NDP, and who stands to the left of other labour leaders. Doug Ford has naturally joined in on these attacks against the unions. This election presents an important opportunity to defeat parties directly linked to Bay Street. This must be taken up with both hands by the trade unions, the student unions, and the socialist movement. The most egregious position in favour of strategic voting has been taken by the leadership of Unifor, which is the largest private sector union in Canada with 163,000 members in the province. It has called for an anti-Ford vote, and has funnelled resources into strategic Liberal election campaigns throughout the province. The Toronto & York Region Labour Council has also failed to take a position calling for an NDP vote. As the Liberals are showing their true face by arguing for attacks on the labour movement, so-called strategic voting constitutes de facto support for attacks on unions. The only course for the labour movement is to call for an NDP vote and mobilize all of the resources of the unions to fight these attacks. The policy of strategic voting must be driven out of the labour movement. Significantly, the two most important unions in the education sector have come out against the Liberals. The Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (ETFO), with its 78,000 members, came out in favour of the NDP at the beginning of the campaign. At the beginning of the election, the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation (OSSTF), with its 60,000 members, sadly took a position for a strategic vote against Ford. Since the release of the Liberal attack ad targeting Fred Hahn, the union has now called off its election campaigning for Liberal candidates. As they say, better late than never! However, the OSSTF should quickly draw the necessary conclusions, and openly call for an NDP vote. Given that the teachers unions played a big role supporting the Ontario Liberals over the past 15 years, this is a very significant development. The $15 and Fairness campaign, which has a certain following on the left, has taken a shameful position in favour of strategic voting. They have called for a vote for candidates who support a $15 minimum wage, which includes the Liberal Party. This shows the limits of movement-ism around narrow economic demands, without having a socialist political program. In an election campaign where the Liberals have clearly gone on the offensive against organized labour, the bankruptcy of this narrow reformist outlook of the leaders of the Fight for $15 and Fairness campaign has become exposed. The Canadian Federation of StudentsOntario (CFS-O) has also not called for a vote for the NDP, at a time when the youth and students are overwhelmingly turning to the NDP electorally, and where the question of education funding and the right to strike on campus is a central question. The only thing that has been put out by the student federation is a chart of policy positions by the various parties. This is shameful but not surprising, given the careerism of the student union leaders who have been cozying up to the Wynne Liberals for many years. Threat of capital flight The threat of capital flight and economic crisis looms over the Ontario NDP as it comes within striking distance of a victory. Fords attacks during the last leadership debate focused on the threat of closures, claiming business owners are terrified of the NDP coming in, and that they are saying We will pack up and go down South in half a second, God forbid the NDP ever gets in. They will destroy our province and our economy. It is these statements that show that it wouldnt necessarily be NDP policy that would cause the economy to tank, but rather the response of the bosses to NDP policy that would do so, i.e. with shutdowns and flight of capital. The threat of factory closures and the economy tanking, which are being used by Ford and Wynne to attack the NDP, are not simply campaign rhetoric or idle threats. As we are already seeing during the election campaign, an NDP victory will create a vicious backlash by the capitalists. A campaign of red-baiting and slanders has already opened up in the media and by the bourgeois parties. More important is the pressure that would be brought onto the NDP to abandon its mild reforms, and to capitulate to the interests of capital. Along with pressure in the press will be economic pressure, through a strike of capital and even possibly sabotage. This is what we saw occur in Ontario during the Bob Rae government of 1990-1995, and with the Rachel Notley Alberta NDP government more recently. It is likely that the right will aim their fire against the NDPs corporate and personal tax increases on the rich. This would destabilize the funding of the NDPs reforms. They will also step up the offensive against any progressive labour legislation the NDP tries to pass. It is vital that the NDP resist this pressure if it is to survive. The Rae and Notley governments both capitulated under the pressure, abandoned their program, betrayed their base of support, and openly collaborated to push forward the agenda of the capitalists. The result was austerity, unemployment and a collapse of their electoral support. You either accept that the capitalists own and control the economy, and hence must facilitate their sole interest, which is to make profit, or conversely, you take the road towards the left by taking socialist measures against the bosses, leaning on the working class, youth, and oppressed to carry out such an offensive. If the bosses refuse to invest, or shut down production as a form of political sabotage, then there is only one effective countermeasure. Workers facing shuttered production must adopt the slogan Use it or lose it! A factory closed is a factory occupied. The NDP should support such movements and nationalize those plants immediately. Aside from the subjective actions of government and the ruling class, objectively speaking an economic recession is looming in Ontario, with the slowdown in the housing sector; protectionist measures in the US, which is the provinces largest export market; a looming trade war, and a potential world slump. This could occur this year or next year, but it is practically guaranteed that there will be a major global recession sometime within the next governments mandate. We saw a similar situation of slump when the Alberta NDP came into power. Oil prices collapsed in a province where the energy sector makes up approximately 40 per cent of the economy. The NDP abandoned its program of increasing oil royalties and raising taxes on the rich, and instead carried out a policy of pipelines or bust, bailouts for the oil bosses, and public sector austerity. Their support has been dropping steadily. However, the situation in Ontario could be much worse than in Alberta. There was a lot of fat in the system in Alberta, with effectively no government debt. Ontario, on the other hand, has a debt of $346 billion, which is the largest subnational debt in the world. Furthermore, the provinces fiscal watchdog claims that the Liberals have fudged the books and provinces deficit is $12 billion for 2018, almost double what the Liberals are claiming. Additionally, in contrast to the Alberta NDP, which had a tradition of being critics of the oil bosses, the Ontario NDPs more established party officialdom has had a more conservative track-record, as we saw in the 2014 election campaign, where they accepted the need for austerity cuts. This could mean that the leadership of the Ontario NDP could more easily capitulate under pressure from the ruling class. The pressure from the ruling class on the NDP leadership to compromise and capitulate will be enormous; we are already seeing it. The labour and youth movements will need to mobilize to combat any capitulation by the reformist NDP leadership. We must insist that the NDPs full platform is implemented in the first budget without any backsliding, and push forward the offensive from the platforms partial reforms to universal programs that are free at the point of use. For a mass movement of the working class and youth! While most of the polls in the last week or two show that the NDP has a slight lead in the popular vote, the Conservatives will likely win the most seats if current levels of support remain. A Conservative victory will mark an open declaration of war by the bosses on the working class. There will certainly be drastic cuts, layoffs, privatization, and vicious union-busting under a Ford government. If this is the election result, the labour and youth movement must immediately take steps to go on the offensive against Doug Ford and the capitalists behind him. A strong opposition NDP in Queens Park, and more importantly, a militant and grassroots movement on the streets, on the campuses, and on the industrial front, will be the only way to fight back against Doug Fords offensive and eventually bring down his government. As we saw during the Mike Harris days in the 1990s, large social movements erupted as did very militant and energetic strikes in the public and private sector. This escalated to the point of city-wide general strikes, which were treacherously called off by the union leadership. In the event of a Ford victory, an escalating movement leading to general strikes would be back on the agenda once again. Regardless of who wins the election, there will need to be a mass struggle at the grassroots level. If the Conservatives win, their vicious austerity program will have to be challenged from the first day. Students and labour will need to mobilize the fight back. If the NDP wins, the confidence of the working class will be strengthened and the ruling class will be weakened. We would expect that the NDPs reforms would come under vicious attack. Students and labour will have to mobilize to defend against attacks, but also fight to extend and expand the reforms as part of the class struggle. Either way, the status quo cannot continue. Students and labour must mobilize to support education reforms, fight for free education and for the defence and extension of trade union rights. The opportunity to start doing this is precisely right now. As the experience of many provincial NDP governments has shown, if the movement isnt armed with a perspective of breaking with capitalism, an NDP government will bend to the pressure of the capitalists and be forced to betray the working class. A mass grassroots movement, led by the student unions and trade unions, will be on the order of the day to prevent betrayal and push the advantage. This will mean a fight for socialist policies as the only way to defeat the capitalists, during and after the election. The labour and student movement should be demanding universal programs such as free child care, free dental care, and free pharmacare. Horwaths position on post-secondary education to scrap interests on loans and to transform some loans into grants is a watered-down half-position which does not elicit much enthusiasm. The demand should be to abolish tuition fees and to fund student housing and provide cost-of-living stipends to students. Instead of the gradual re-nationalization of Hydro One, the demand should be for its immediate expropriation, without compensation for the vultures on Bay Street. The minimum wage should be raised further to at least two-thirds the average wage of a skilled worker, and constantly adjusted given the rising costs of living in the province, especially in terms of housing, tuition, and hydro. Instead of a slight increase to corporate taxes, the banner of the NDP should be Make the rich pay through nationalizations along with heavy taxation on corporations, higher incomes, and inheritances. No matter what the result on June 7, class struggle will be on the agenda, whether of a defensive or offensive character. We need to win the workers and student organizations to this perspective. And the best way to win these struggles is if the movement adopts a socialist program. The time to fight is now. Originally uploaded on June 1 for Fightback Canada In recent years, US Immigration and Custom Enforcements brutal onslaught against undocumented workers has sparked waves of outrage and protests across the US. But as COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc in society and the economy, ICE is sparing no effort to maintain and even escalate repression against migrantsactively undermining efforts to mitigate the spread of the virus in the name of homeland security. We had a debut of the Missoula Childrens Poetry Map at the Missoula Public Library June 4 attended by a standing room only crowd of student poets, librarians, teachers, administrators, parents and other interested folks. Over a dozen of the 500+ 4th grade poets read their poems in a live poetry reading. We debuted the short list story map version of the poetry map, and it is now available to the public http://geodataservices.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Shortlist/index.html?appid=63b846b5de3f485a9c5150e394f6fc70 We also previewed the final draft of the original art work forming the base map of the second version of the map, featuring 20 selected poems representing the most popular places the student poets wrote about. Xplorer Maps created a beautiful watercolor and pen and ink base map inspired by the student poems about their most popular outdoor activity places in Missoula. Leland Buck, Chairman of the Board of the Missoula Writing Collaborative sent this follow up note to Caroline Patterson who dreamed up the idea, wrote the grant to the National Endownment for the Arts, and coordinated the work that made it possible. I think this project took us well beyond what I had in mind, and clearly sets us apart as innovators in our field. There is an elegance in the simplicity of what we do: with little more than a pencil and paper, and some time for observation and consideration, poets can reshape the world. But with this map, weve shown that we can frame and elevate that simple act by using technology. The map connects the poems to us, not just to the spaces we occupy. And it does this without losing the power of the individual writers and their poetic expressions. As interesting and impressive as the technology in the project is, the technology is not the star, the kids and their poems are. The technology just helps bring it all together in a way that is more collective and community-centered. I think that makes this a really cogent illustration of good educational technology and a brilliant demonstration of the benefit to us all when 500+ 4th graders join forces. I know were going to hear more about this project in the months and years to come. Its worthy of all the attention it gets. Leland Buck Both story map versions will be installed at the end of June in the Childrens section of the Missoula Public Library in a new permanent exhibit. The story map contents will be moved from the current staging location at Geodata Services, Inc to the permanent location on the Missoula County Public Schools ArcGIS Online account and web server. http://geodataservices.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Shortlist/index.html?appid=63b846b5de3f485a9c5150e394f6fc70 Ken Wall Geodata Services, Inc. P.O. Box 8081, Missoula, MT 59807 101 E. Broadway, Suite 316 (406) 203-4684 Its never been clear whether robotics company Boston Dynamics is making killing machines, household helpers, or something else entirely. For nine years, the secretive firm which got its start with U.S. military funding has unnerved people around the world with YouTube videos of experimental robots resembling animal predators. By MATT OBRIEN, AP Technology Writer https://ravallirepublic.com/news/science/article_20bc5d0d-dd28-530e-b1cd-b70f3669aac3.html The skies over Missoula grew a little more crowded on Thursday as American Airlines launched nonstop service to Dallas/Fort Worth and Chicago, followed later in the day by United Airlines service to Los Angeles. But it was the arrival of American shortly before noon that drew much of the fanfare, as airport officials greeted the inaugural flight with a water-canon salute and offered debarking passengers a swag bag and slice of cake. This is fabulous coming nonstop from Dallas to Missoula, said passenger Thomas Taylor. For years, Ive been having to come through all these second stops. This makes Missoula so much closer. It makes it easier to come here much more often. Its going to put Missoula on the map. Theres still a chance to help us make air travel more affordable for everyone! To add your companys name to the list of Take Flight Missoula community partners and investors, please contact the Missoula Economic Partnership http://www.missoulapartnership.com/ today. By Martin Kidston TANAP Gas Pipeline to Europe via Georgia Opens in June By Gvantsa Gabekhadze The Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), a natural gas pipeline from Azerbaijan passing through Georgia and Turkey to Europe, is scheduled to be opened on June 12 in the Turkish city of Eskisehir.The President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili has been invited to the ceremony by his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.TANAP, a 1,850km pipeline, will travel through Georgia to better connect Europe with natural gas from the Caspian Sea as a way to reduce Europes dependence on Russian gas.Construction on the $10 billion TANAP project began in March 2015.The first gas transportation via TANAP is planned for 2018. The 1,850km pipeline will deliver 10 bcm to Europe once it is connected to the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) by 2020. By 2023, TANAP's capacity will increase to 23 bcm per year, and by 2026 to 31 bcm.TANAP will bring natural gas from Azerbaijan through Georgia and Turkey to Europe, and from sources other than Russia.TANAP is a part of the large-scale Southern Gas Corridor project.The launching ceremony of the first stage of the Southern Gas Corridor project was held in Baku on May 29.The gas from the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field has already gone through the first segment of the Southern Gas Corridor - from the Sangachal terminal to the expanded South Caucasus Pipeline, the Azerbaijani Trend.az news agency reported.The next stage will be commissioning of the TANAP gas pipeline, through which the gas will enter the territory of Turkey and further Europe.The Southern Gas Corridor, which costs more than $40 billion, is one of the priority projects for the EU and provides for the transportation of 10 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas from the Caspian region through Georgia and Turkey to Europe.At the initial stage, the gas produced within the second phase of development of the Azerbaijani gas condensate field Shah Deniz is considered as the main source for the Southern Gas Corridor projects. Covering in an area of 10,000 square metres with 450 booths, the event introduces new products and services in automobile, motorbike and supporting industry in Vietnam. Along with Vietnamese products by the Vietnam Engine and Agriculture Machinery Corporation, the four-day exhibition highlights brands from Russia, the Republic of Korea and China such as Gaz Group Faw Group, HongYan Truck and KC Motors, along with big names such as Ducati, Harley, Davidson, Triumph, Royal Enfield and Kawasak. At the same time, the exhibition gives much space to feature new products in support industry, spare parts, accessories, and automobile and motorbike maintenance products from various companies including Dunlop, CNC Hanoi, Daichi, Yangmin, Vietmap, Fast Auto and Nam Vu. At the opening ceremony, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai said that the Vietnam AutoExpo 2018 is significant to local businesses to meet with their foreign firms to discuss investment opportunities and expand their markets. Automobile has been built into a key industry in Vietnam to meet domestic demands on trucks, passenger cars and specialised cars, he said, adding that the Government has paid due attention to branch out support industry with a line-up of favourable policies. Furthermore, Vietnam is striving to become a supplier of high value spare parts and details in the global automobile production chain. With such conditions, Vietnamese automobile industry and support industry have huge potential for businesses to land investment, he noticed. Within the annual events framework, a thematic conference will be held to discuss the development of support industry and the connection of demand and supply sources for the production and assembling of commercial and special-use automobiles in Vietnam. This year, the event is expected to attract 50,000 visitors. Last year, it drew 120 enterprises and welcomed about 40,000 visitors./. President Tran Dai Quang hosted outgoing Dutch Ambassador to Vietnam Nienke Trooster in Hanoi on June 7th (Photo: VNA) President Quang praised the ambassadors positive contributions to the bilateral friendship and multifaceted cooperation and urged her to contribute further to the relationship in the future. The President said the bilateral relations are growing fruitfully in all field and highlighted the signing of agreements to form a strategic partnership in climate change response and water resource management in 2010, and in agriculture and food security in 2014 as an effective cooperation model, thus promoting the Netherlands images and contributing to Vietnams sustainable development. The political trust between Vietnam and the Netherlands has been strengthened, while the two nations have become an important economic, trade and investment partner of each other, and seen progress in educational and cultural cooperation, he said. President Quang said, built up on the achievements, Vietnam and the Netherlands still hold great potential to expand collaboration so as to push relations to new heights. Having lauded the Netherlands position and role in the EU, the President thanked the Dutch Governments support for the early ratification of the EU - Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EUVFTA). For her part, Trooster said the Dutch Government pays heed to the strategic partnership with Vietnam in water resource management, climate change adaptation, agriculture and food security, stressing that these areas are important spheres on the global scale. The diplomat said she was honoured to witness milestones in the bilateral relations, including celebrations of the 45th founding anniversary of diplomatic ties and the working visit to Vietnam by Queen of the Netherlands Maxima Zorreguieta Cerruti in May 2017 as the UN Secretary-Generals Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development. She said the Netherlands wants to focus on strengthening economic, trade and investment ties with Vietnam. The Netherlands is the biggest European investor in Vietnam and the third biggest trade partner of Vietnam among European countries./. Students at a class (Photo: Vietnamese Embassy in Bulgaria) The program was attended by more than 100 children and teenagers, representatives of associations and organizations of Vietnamese people, Iliyantsi Trade Centre and students parents. Speaking at the event, Vietnamese Ambassador to Bulgaria Nguyen Thi Hong Oanh acknowledged efforts to overcome difficulties and uphold the traditional fondness for learning of overseas Vietnamese in Bulgaria, and praised the second Vietnamese generation, especially young people, who have become the pride of the overseas Vietnamese community in the country. She also hoped that the overseas Vietnamese continues to unite and support each other, toward the homeland and invest more for their children so that they have good conditions to study and integrate in order to develop their talents, contributing to bringing fame to the overseas Vietnamese community and the nation. After the program, more than 40 students, aged 7-18, registered for two classes of Vietnamese class and Vietnamese - Bulgarian class./. Chilean President Sebastian Pinera Echenique receives Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyen Ngoc Son (Photo: baoquocte.vn) Welcoming the newly-appointed Vietnamese Ambassador, the Chilean President conveyed greetings to State President Tran Dai Quang and other Vietnamese leaders. He highly appreciated the impressive economic development achievements of Vietnam over the past years, and recalled his visits to Vietnam, especially his official visit as the Chilean President in March 2012. The President expressed his delight at the cooperative and friendly relations between the two countries over the past 45 years and emphasized that they should expand ties, especially in the fields of economics and trade. Mr. Sebastian Pinera Echenique welcomes the Vietnamese high-ranking delegation to visit Chile and attend the APEC 2019. The Vietnamese Ambassador conveyed the regards and invitation to visit Vietnam of State President Tran Dai Quang to his Chilean counterpart, and reported the situation in Vietnam, as well as committing to positively contribute to developing the bilateral relations. Vietnam and Chile established diplomatic relations in March 1971./. WYOMING - Aside from a slight uptick in violent crime last year, the 2017 annual report from the Department of Public Safety presented the city with good marks when it came to overall crime rates, which continue to sit well below national averages for cities of comparable size. Though largely prepared by former director James Carmody before his retirement in April, the annual report was delivered to City Council by the department's new director, Kimberly Koster. The report says Wyoming police responded to 37,315 calls for service last year, representing a decrease of 614 calls, or 1.6 percent, from 2016. From those 37,315 calls, more than 5,600 arrest charges resulted. Police dealt with 304 incidences of violent crime in 2017, as compared to 277 in 2016. There were 1,692 incidences of property crime, as compared to 1,799 in 2016; and 4,270 incidences of non-index crimes -- such as non-aggravated assault, fraud, narcotics violations and D.U.I.s -- as compared to 4,242 in 2016. Speaking specifically about narcotics, Koster said the police department has deployed Narcan and Naloxone, medications used to block the effects of opioids, in every one of the city's police vehicles. "There is a national opioid crisis and we have determined that it would be important to put this in our cruisers so that when officers are first on the scene, they can start to administer Narcan to somebody who has overdosed," Koster said. "We used it 35 times in 2017 (and) we were successful in 29 of those cases," she said, adding that Wyoming saw 13 total deaths from overdose in 2017. Koster went on to talk about business contacts and property and school safety checks, stating that the department makes a concerted effort to be visible and interactive with community members. "We have really decided that community service is one of our very important jobs," she said. "(We had) 8,600 business contacts, where our officers during the day are going in and making contact with businesses, letting them know that these are some of the services we can provide." Officers also check on businesses and other properties during the night shifts, Koster said, a service that has been well-received by business owners. Overall, the department tallied 8,606 business contacts in 2017, while also performing 6,852 property checks and 5,738 school safety checks, according to the annual report. Wyoming firefighters saw a slight increase in calls for service last year, with that number rising from 6,313 calls in 2016 to 6,696 calls in 2017 -- a 6-percent increase. A majority of those calls, 57 percent, were E.M.S.-related, while rescue and "good intent" calls, where individuals report something they perceive to be a potential situation that turns out to be a non-emergency, were tied for the second-most common type of call in 2017, both coming in at 12 percent. Koster said the department's overall average emergency response time in 2017 was 4 minutes and 27 seconds. Notable accomplishments from 2017 outlined by Chief Chuck Lark, who retired last month, include the hiring of three full-time firefighters, expanding the department's part-time firefighter program, developing and implementing a sustainable safety inspection program and returning fire stations 3 and 4, located at 2300 Gezon Parkway SW and 1250 36th St. SW, respectively, to 24/7 operational status. The department also recently formed a new partnership with Metro Health-University of Michigan Health to maintain an emergency helipad at the Gezon Parkway station. Vietnam's stall at the exhibition (Photo: VNA) The event saw 67 tourism organizations and agents of nations and Mongolias provinces. Vietnams stall, themed Vietnam - Endless charm, attracted the large number of visitors. Through images and documents at the stall, international friends expressed their impression of Vietnams famous landscapes such as Phong Nha - Ke Bang, Ha Long bay, and the unique cultural features of ethnic minorities. In addition, the stall also introduced coffee and handicraft products of Vietnam. Many tourism units of countries and Mongolias localities demonstrated their hope to connect with Vietnams tourism partners. While Vice Mayor of Ulan Bator J.Batbayasgalan thanked the Vietnamese Embassy in Mongolia for its contribution to the overall success of the exhibition./. ANN ARBOR, MI - The Humane Society of Huron Valley seized 71 animals from Augusta Township Supervisor Brian Shelby's home on Friday, May 25. The animal welfare group says it rescued 37 cats, nine dogs, 13 chickens, 10 exotic birds and two peacocks after investigators found excessive feces, urine and debris littering the yard and inside the home. Many of the dogs and cats were locked in plastic kennels and were forced to lie in their own waste, the Humane Society says. Most of the house did not have electricity or ventilation, and there was little food on the premises, animal welfare workers say. The exotic birds, including five cockatoos, two macaws, two conures and an Amazon parrot were found in a room without light or ventilation, the group says. A message seeking comment was left for Shelby on Thursday afternoon. Animal Cruelty and Rescue Supervisor Melinda Szabelski said all the animals found on the property were sick and in need of immediate medical attention. "This case seems to fit into an ugly but all too common problem; people who claim to be rescuing animals, but are actually doing more harm than good because they don't have the resources to ensure even basic standards of care," said Humane Society of Huron Valley CEO Tanya Hilgendorf. "Commonly, they can't even recognize the suffering in front of them. No homeless animal in Washtenaw County ever needs to be kept in these conditions. A reminder again to the pet-loving public, please make sure to see the quality of care being provided before getting or giving any group or animal, no matter who they are and how well-intentioned they seem." Under Michigan Penal Code Act 328 of 1931 Section 750.50, Failure to provide adequate care for 10 or more animals is a felony in Michigan. Offenders can face up to four years in prison. Information on adoption of animals in need of homes is available here. ANN ARBOR, MI - Citing a history of prostitution and other nefarious activities at an Ann Arbor hotel, the city has filed a lawsuit seeking to shut the place down. The Ann Arbor city attorney's office filed a nuisance complaint lawsuit May 29 against the owners of the Victory Inn and Suites, 3750 Washtenaw Ave., court records show. The lawsuit asks the court to declare the hotel a nuisance property and to prohibit its owners from operating the hotel permanently, records show. "As the matter is in litigation, I have no comment on this matter," Ann Arbor City Attorney Stephen Postema said. Noting the volume of police dispatches to the hotel, 24 in 2018 alone, the lawsuit claims the hotel owners have failed, neglected or refused to do anything to fix problems at the hotel, arguing it will continue to threaten public safety until a court order is issued to shut it down. The lawsuit makes reference to several incidents at the hotel, including the Jan. 17 arrest of Keith A. Perry, who prosecutors referred to as a "sneaky pimp" engaging in human trafficking and prostitution at the hotel. Perry, 28, was arrested and arraigned on two counts of prostitution-accepting earnings, one count of prostitution-transporting and one count of aggravated domestic violence for allegedly bringing a woman to the hotel from Georgia to work as one of his prostitutes, records show. Prosecutors said Perry was manipulative, a "sneaky pimp" who bragged about his pimping exploits on Facebook, where he was known as "Keith Perry, Michigan Cat." One of his "girls" told police she liked doing business at the hotel because there were a lot of regular customers visiting, and the hotel was cheap, court records show. When asked if hotel employees knew what was going on at the hotel, the woman told police "the employees weren't stupid," records show. She did note that employees may not have realized the extent of the prostitution going on as many of the "johns" entered the hotel through an unlocked back door, records show. On Feb. 14, police were called to the hotel to investigate a woman found dead in one of the rooms. The medical examiner determined the woman died of an overdose on cocaine and fentanyl-laced heroin, records show. On Feb. 18, a parole absconder was arrested at the hotel after staff called police believing the man "was waiting for several prostitutes to arrive," records show. The lawsuit also detailed other problem hotels operated by the owner of the Victory Inn and Suites that were shut down by their respective cities. The Victory Inn Detroit, located at 9430 Michigan Ave., was raided by police Jan. 12, 2017, records show. During the raid, police identified 12 human trafficking victims and recovered various drugs at the property. A nuisance lawsuit filed in Wayne County Circuit Court led to the closing of the hotel two weeks later, records show. The property later caught fire and was demolished by the city in January 2018. The Ann Arbor case has been assigned to Washtenaw County Trial Judge Timothy Connors. A hearing to decide the fate of the hotel is scheduled for June 14. This is not the first time the city has taken action to shut down a business believed to be a nuisance to the public. In 2011, the Dream Nite Club, 314 S. Fourth Ave., shut down after the city recommended the Michigan Liquor Control Commission not renew the club's liquor license, ending its means of doing business, records show. The recommendation came after multiple police incidents, including shootings and stabbings at the club while it was in operation, records show. In 2010, the Fifth Quarter nightclub, 210 S. Fifth Ave., shut down after a stream of problems involving fights, assaults and staff over-serving customers forced the city to take action against the club, records show. One incident in October 2010 involved 20 police officers being called to the club at closing time to prevent fights from breaking out. The 20 officers were unsuccessful, records show. PONTIAC, MI - A popular Metro Detroit doughnut shop has earned national recognition for its wide-range of pastries and flavors. Pontiac's Avon Donuts was ranked the No. 4 doughnut shop in the U.S. by Time Magazine on June 1 -- National Donut Day. Time's rankings system was based off a Yelp algorithm that factored in both the number of positive reviews and an eatery's star rating. Family-owned Avon Donuts has been at its Pontiac location for over 30 years, according to Time. The small shop, with only five seats, regularly sells out of its most popular doughnuts. The store opens most days from 4 a.m. and closes at 3 p.m. Check this Out We have Made the TOP 10 BEST DONUTS IN AMERICA http://time.com/money/5297278/national-donut-day-2018-best-doughnuts/?xid=homepage Posted by AVON DONUTS on Friday, June 1, 2018 Doughnut flavors such as Caramel Apple, Maple Bacon Extreme, Glaze Blueberry Cake and Lemon Drop set Avon apart from other shops, according to Time, along with its Paczki assortments around Fat Tuesday. "Other limited editions Avon offers throughout the year include candy-corn decorated doughnuts for Halloween, summertime peaches and cream doughnuts, and even blue and green sprinkled treats that celebrate the infamous Michigan vs. Michigan State rivalry," Time wrote. BJ Cinnamon out of Folsom, California topped the list, while Daddy's Donuts from Kenmore, Washington ranked second overall. Avon Donuts was also recently tabbed as the best doughnut shop in Michigan by travelandleisure.com. A message seeking comment was left for the shop owners. ANN ARBOR, MI - June brings more festivals, food and family fun to downtown Ann Arbor, with this year's Top of the Park kicking off at 5 p.m. Friday, June 8, and a number of other summer events scheduled this weekend. The month-long Top of the Park festival features more than 90 free concerts, kid-friendly activities, outdoor movie screenings and wellness classes on the University of Michigan campus. Musical performances at Top of the Park take place on two stages: the Rackham Stage at 915 E. Washington St. and the O&W Acoustic Stage in The Grove under the Bell Tower. "As part of the festival's 35th anniversary year, we're proud to present a diverse mix of performance that includes spectacle, music icons, rising stars and immersive experiences," said Mike Michelon, the festival's executive director, in a news release. "Our audience has come to expect creative and engaging events that enrich our community - this will be the focus as we head towards the festival's fourth decade." The Rackham stage lineup features east-African retro pop, Latin Grammy winners, a New Orleans brass band, rap's first performing arts group and a variety of local favorites. To see the full lineup and a list of activities happening at Top of the Park, visit the Ann Arbor Summer Festival's website. Here's what else is on tap this weekend: Shakespeare in the Arb's 18th season production of "Romeo and Juliet" runs Thursdays through Sundays, starting at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 7 at Nichols Arboretum. The last show will be on Sunday, June 24. The production is unique in that there is no fixed stage for the performers. Instead, the audience follows the action through different locations in the Arboretum to create a more realistic setting. The staging takes advantage of the vistas, valleys and special arrangements of the natural settings. Tickets are sold the day of the show on a first-come, first-served basis. Matthaei-Nichols members can purchase tickets for $15, students with ID for $10, adults over 19 for $20, seniors 62 and over for $17, children and youth for $10 and all children five and under can get in free. Visit the Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum website for more details. The 18th annual Mayor's Green Fair will kick off at 6 p.m. on Friday, June 8 on Main Street between Huron and Williams Streets. The Green Fair runs until 9 p.m. every year to celebrate the community's environmental leadership exhibited by citizens, nonprofits, government and businesses. Environmental leaders will set up booths to engage the community in their environmental initiatives. Guests can enjoy displays of environmental information, green products, live music and hands-on activities for all ages. Visit Ann Arbor's government website for more information. Community members can celebrate all things Greek at the Ya'ssoo Greek Festival at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church at 3109 Scio Church Road. The three-day festival starts at 11 a.m. on Friday, June 8 and will feature a menu of authentic Greek food, Greek dance performances, church presentations and live performances by world famous musical guest Enigma. Activities are scheduled to run until midnight on Friday and Saturday, and until 6 p.m. on Sunday, June 10. Visit the festival's website for more details. Grillin' for Food Gatherers is a day-long benefit event going on from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday, June 10 at Washtenaw Farm Council Grounds, 5055 Ann Arbor Saline Road. The ticketed-event's purpose is to raise money to end hunger in Washtenaw County. Proceeds enable Food Gatherers to distribute 14,000 meals a day to adults, seniors and children in need of food. Guests can enjoy live music, Michigan craft beer and wine at a cash bar, kids activities by the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum, a photo booth and free massages by Body Wisdom Massage. Tickets can be purchased online or in person at Zingerman's Bakehouse, Zingerman's Deli, Bookbound Bookstore and Saline Picture Frame Company. Visit Food Gatherers' website for more information. BAY CITY, MI -- The case against a Bay City woman accused of striking another woman with her car, then driving away while firing a pistol into the night's sky, has been dismissed. Bay County District Judge Mark E. Janer on Tuesday, June 5, dismissed all six counts faced by 22-year-old Irish-Rose B. Willett -- two counts each of assault with a dangerous weapon and felony firearm and single counts of carrying a concealed weapon and assault and battery. The dismissal came on the date of a scheduled preliminary examination continuation. The hearing began May 3, but was adjourned as no civilian witnesses appeared. Police subsequently attempted to serve subpoenas to those witnesses in the Flint area, but were unsuccessful. As a result, defense attorney Frank Manley requested the dismissal. The judge dismissed the case without prejudice, meaning prosecutors could theoretically refile the charges later. GENESEE TWP., MI -- The investigation into the police-action shooting of a robbery suspect should be presented to the Genesee County Prosecutor's Office next week. An investigative response team from Lansing with the Michigan State Police have been investigating the nine officers involved in the shooting that left Kevin Hall dead. Kevin Hall Hall, 40, was shot and killed following a 90-minute standoff on March 23 with police near Richfield and Center roads in Genesee Township Michigan State Police Spokesman Lt. Dave Kaiser said it has been a lot of work for the investigators to interview all of the witnesses involved. "It just takes time to do it right," Kaiser said. He said the prosecutor's office should get the investigative report -- which is at least 25 typed pages -- next week. Genesee County David Leyton will then decide if the shooting was justified. There are four Michigan State Police troopers and five Flint police officers who were involved in the shooting. All of the officers involved in the shooting have been placed on paid administrative leave until the investigation is completed and reviewed by the prosecuting attorney, police previously said. If the officers are cleared, they'll be allowed to go back on duty. The standoff started after police say Hall robbed a nearby Chemical Bank branch on Genesee Road earlier in the day. Police previously said Hall entered the bank at 8:55 a.m., grabbed a teller by the shoulders and demanded money. Hall fled the scene in a white van after getting the money. A description of the man and vehicle was dispatched to Genesee Township police. Genesee Township police spotted the van and tried to make a traffic stop near Center and Richfield roads. During the traffic stop, two other individuals, a male and female, exited the white van and were taken into custody, police previously said. The two have since been released from police custody, pending further investigation. Hall then tried to flee after the traffic stop, but a police cruiser hit the van and prevented him from fleeing. Hall, who police say was armed, remained in the van. Police from multiple agencies arrived and began blocking all nearby crossroads. Police previously said Hall stayed in the van and had contact with 911 dispatch during a 90-minute standoff. There was a Michigan State Police negotiator on the scene who also talked to Hall. Around 10:30 a.m., Hall exited the vehicle and charged at officers with a weapon, Kaiser previously said. Four Michigan State Police officers and five Flint police officers opened fire, striking and killing Hall. Police have not said how many shots were fired or how many hit Hall. Details on Hall's weapon have also not been released by police, but police previously said Hall was still holding the weapon following the shooting. State records show Hall was released from prison on Sept. 27, 2017, after serving an eight-year sentence for unarmed robbery and fleeing from police. Hall had prison and probation sentences dating back to 1999. PLAINFIELD TWP., MI -- Plainfield Township residents turning on their kitchen faucets Thursday, June 7, will be drawing the first water from a new filtration system in place at the township's water plant. The new filtration system, made possible with a $750,000 state grant, will remove per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances named PFAS (or PFCs) found at low levels in township water. Staff at the water plant at 5220 Woodfield Court have started to change the material in their filtration tanks from anthracite carbon to granular activated carbon (GAC), beginning last week. The activated carbon is capable of filtering out PFAS. PFAS was first discovered in the township's water supply in 2013, after which a contaminated well field was shut down in 2015. Low levels of PFAS are still in the township's water system, though the source is unknown. The most recent test results from the first quarter of 2018 show combined levels of PFOA and PFOS at 6.5 parts per trillion, Petrovich said -- below the U.S. EPA's lifetime health advisory limit of 70 ppt. Total PFAS in the township's water is 18.1 ppt. Though the township has contended the water is safe to drink, the investigation into drinking-water contamination from old Wolverine World Wide tannery waste has pushed township officials to take an aggressive approach to treat its drinking water. As of Thursday, one-fourth of the water (four million gallons per day) treated at the township's water plant is being run through GAC filters, said Donald Petrovich, superintendent at the water treatment plant. When the filtration system is fully complete, 9 million gallons of the 16 million gallons of water treated at the plant every day will be run through GAC filters, Petrovich said. The goal is to bring the PFAS levels to 0 ppt, Petrovich said. Filtration at a water plant is a unique process: water flows through tanks filled with sand and a layer of small granules of carbon. At the Plainfield water plant, two tanks have a foot of sand and a 39-inch layer of GAC installed and operational as of Thursday. Petrovich said three additional tanks will have a layer of GAC installed as customer demand for water allows this summer. He said all of the GAC filters will be installed by fall 2018. The project will use all of the $750,000 the state has granted the township, Petrovich said. The money comes from $23 million the legislature approved to address PFAS contamination issues across the state. The grant also allows the township to test its water weekly for PFAS, Petrovich said. When, and how much it will cost, to replace the GAC filters is still unknown, Petrovich said. Tests are underway of the filters to see how quickly they will have to be replaced. Once its useful life has been exhausted, the GAC material will be sent to a plant in Pennsylvania where the chemicals it has collected will be burned off, Petrovich said. The cleaned GAC material will then be sent back to the township's water plant for re-use, Petrovich said. Plainfield is also working on an extension of its drinking water system to neighborhoods impacted by the Wolverine World Wide dump sites. Many of those areas are in nearby Algoma Township. Wolverine recently declined to cover the Plainfield municipal system upgrades, arguing that people with polluted wells are drinking safe water after the company installed whole-house filter systems. Plainfield then joined a state lawsuit against Wolverine. GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Grand Rapids police are inviting members of the community to partake in a one-on-one trust-building initiative later this month. Participants are invited to take part in a four-hour "Policing at the Speed of Trust" session on Wednesday, June 27, at Grand Rapids Community College. Each individual will be paired up with a police officer to participate in a "highly interactive" session with the objective of cultivating trust through learning how to better communicate and solve problems in the community. Improving police-community relations in Grand Rapids has been a significant conversation topic in recent years, following a national trend. City officials set aside $1 million a year for five years to be spent on improving community-police relations. "We strive to deliver progressive, professional and responsive service to our community," said Police Chief David Rahinsky in a statement. "Our mission statement states we will listen to the community's wants and needs and not restrict our thinking to traditional paradigms. The concerns of our community will help to shape the priorities of our agency. "There is a national and local dialogue around trust between the community and law enforcement. Just like in all of our personal relationships, communication, respect and commitment are the keys to growing a healthy community partnership." The Grand Rapids Police Department has contracted with Franklin Covey -- a consulting and training organization -- to help implement the community trust-building program. The city commission approved an up to $110,000 contract for Franklin Covey's service. Participants can choose between one of two June 27 sessions -- 8 a.m. to noon, or 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Police anticipate additional opportunities in the future. Anyone interested in participating in the initiative can email their name, email address and session option to TrustGRPD@grcity.us. The city is also paying the tech company Elucd up to $150,000 to measure community trust and satisfaction surround the Grand Rapids Police Department. GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Hot days are in full force, and it's nearly time to go for a swim in the Grand Rapids pools. The city's pools and splash pads are scheduled to open up for the summer at noon Friday, June 8. The official "Jump into Summer" swim season kicks off Friday. City officials and Parks and Recreation representatives will be at the Richmond Park Pool, 1101 Richmond St. NW. City officials, youth swimmers and the city's Parks and Recreation Department representatives welcome back the Grand Rapids pools splash pads with the end of the school year. The pools at Briggs Park (Lafayette SE) and Richmond Park (Richmond and Tamarack NW) will operate seven days a week. Splash pads are located throughout Grand Rapids and will be open daily from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. For splash pad locations click here. Swim fees include: Open swim Youth (17 and younger) -- $1 (resident); $4 (non-resident) Adult (18 and older) -- $2 (resident); $4 (non-resident) Open swim punch card One punch per visit for youth and two punches per visit for adults (ages 18 and older) 10 punches $8 and 20 punches $15. Family pool pass: $80 per family (resident; up to six people living at the same address) $90 per family (non-resident; up to six people living at the same address) Families larger than six members may pay $10 for each additional family member. Hours of the parks are listed below: Briggs Park Pool Location: 350 Knapp St. NE Open swim: Monday - Wednesday: Noon - 7 p.m. Thursday: Noon - 5 p.m. Friday - Saturday: Noon - 7 p.m. Sunday: Noon - 4:30 p.m. Martin Luther King Jr. Park Pool Location: 900 Fuller Ave. SE Open swim: Monday: Noon - 7 p.m. Tuesday: Noon - 5 p.m. Wednesday - Saturday: Noon - 7 p.m. Sunday: Noon - 4:30 p.m. Lap Swim Hours: Monday: 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. Tuesday: 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. - 7 p.m. Wednesday - Saturday: 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. Sunday: Noon - 1 p.m. Richmond Park Pool Location: 1101 Richmond St. NW Open swim hours: Monday: Noon - 5 p.m. Tuesday - Saturday: Noon - 7 p.m. Sunday: Noon - 4:30 p.m. Lap swim hours Monday: 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. - 7 p.m. Tuesday - Saturday: 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. Sunday: Noon - 1 p.m. Rickey Whiteside GRAND RAPIDS TOWNSHIP, MI -- A woman whose boyfriend is accused of fatally punching her 2-year-old daughter sobbed inside a courtroom as she described talking to him. "I asked him why he did it and he said he just snapped," Shaniqua Strickland said Wednesday, June 6 during a probable cause hearing. "That's what he told me. His pride wouldn't let him tell the truth (earlier)," she said. Both Strickland and her boyfriend, Rickey Len Whiteside Jr., 29, were being interrogated by police when she confronted him and he made the statement. Kent County prosecutors allege Whiteside confessed to punching 2-year-old Londyn Amir in the head and knocking her to the ground on April 29 at a room at Lazy T motel on Plainfield Avenue NE. He was watching the child after Strickland went to the store. Londyn was critically injured and died on May 2 at a hospital. An autopsy showed the cause of death as blunt force trauma to the head. Whiteside was ordered to stand trial Wednesday for felony murder and first-degree child abuse following Strickland's testimony. He ended up waiving the hearing, but prosecutors wanted to preserve testimony from Strickland. Strickland gave sometimes tearful testimony during Wednesday's hearing. Afterward, outside the courtroom, she sobbed and screamed "I love my baby." During her testimony, she said they had been staying at the Plainfield Avenue NE motel for three to four days. She had just come home from her job at Subway, put her daughter down for sleep, then left about 20 minutes to go to the store. "I said 'Mommy's going to the store and I love you' and she said 'Love you too Mommy," she testified. When she returned, she found her daughter limp in Whiteside's arms and she was foaming at the mouth. Whiteside told her the girl was OK. Strickland called 911. Strickland said she never believed Whiteside hurt her daughter until she spoke to him later during the police interrogation. Whiteside had watched the child at least 10 times prior to April 29 and rarely disciplined her. "He popped her on the hand a couple of times, but never like whooping my baby," said. Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) holds talks with Kyrgyz President Sooronbay Jeenbekov at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, June 6, 2018. (Xinhua/Li Xueren) BEIJING, June 6 (Xinhua) -- China and Kyrgyzstan on Wednesday agreed to establish a comprehensive strategic partnership. The agreement was reached during the talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and visiting Kyrgyz President Sooronbay Jeenbekov at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. "It is another landmark event in the history of bilateral ties that China and Kyrgyzstan will establish a comprehensive strategic partnership, which will inject new impetus into the development of bilateral ties," Xi told Jeenbekov. Standing at a new starting point, China is willing to work with Kyrgyzstan to carry forward the traditional friendship and conduct all-round cooperation so as to achieve national development and better benefit the two peoples, said Xi. Noting that Kyrgyzstan was one of the first countries to support and participate into the Belt and Road Initiative and related construction, Xi said China would like to make joint efforts with Kyrgyzstan to open minds and explore potentials to lift bilateral cooperation to a new level. He called on both sides to enhance synergy in development strategies and policy coordination, seek more converging interests and growth points, jointly plan key areas and major projects, expand trade and investment, and speed up construction of major projects. Both countries should expand cultural and people-to-people exchanges and local cooperation to boost neighborly friendship, said Xi, who also stressed the importance of improving security cooperation to fight the "three evil forces" of terrorism, extremism and separatism and organized crime across the border. Xi spoke highly of Kyrgyzstan's support for China since it has taken the rotating presidency of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) last June, saying that China stands ready to work with Kyrgyzstan to promote the SCO so it can develop along a healthy and stable track. Jeenbekov, who is in China on a state visit and to attend the SCO Qingdao Summit scheduled to be held this weekend, said Kyrgyzstan admires China's social and economic achievements and appreciates China's long-term valuable assistance. The establishment of a comprehensive strategic partnership unveils a new chapter in the bilateral relationship, he said. Jeenbekov said it has always been Kyrgyzstan's priority to develop ties with China and Kyrgyzstan has been and will continue to be a most reliable neighbor, partner, and friend of China. Kyrgyzstan will firmly adhere to the one-China policy, stand ready to advance pragmatic cooperation with China in the areas of economy and trade, cultural and people-to-people exchanges, and jointly combat "three evil forces," as well as work together in safeguarding regional peace, stability and security, said Jeenbekov. Kyrgyzstan backs the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and believes the initiative will greatly promote common development in the region, said the Kyrgyz president, adding that Kyrgyzstan will maintain the continuity of all cooperative agreements with China. Jeenbekov said his country is confident that the SCO Qingdao Summit will be a success under the leadership of China. After the talks, the two presidents signed a joint statement regarding establishing a comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Kyrgyzstan and witnessed the signing of a series of cooperative agreements. In the statement, both sides reiterated that they would not join any union or group that harms the other country's sovereignty, security and territorial integrity and would not sign such treaties with a third country. Both sides agreed not to allow a third country, organizations, groups or personnel to conduct activities jeopardizing the other country's sovereignty, security and territorial integrity. In line with the principle of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, and win-win cooperation, both sides agreed to carry out the cooperation documents and programs that have been signed or agreed upon, and to promote bilateral, multilateral trade and economic cooperation projects, including highways and railways, energy, fiber-optic communication lines and mining industry to inject new contents into a sustainable cooperation between the two countries, the statement said. Both sides agreed that pragmatic cooperation is the material basis of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries. They reiterated their opposition to all forms of protectionism and agreed to facilitate trade and mutual investment. While recognizing the importance of enhancing interconnectivity of regional transport infrastructure, both sides pledged to continue to work for building an efficient transport corridor connecting the two countries and linking to other nations in the region. To expand cooperation in law enforcement, strengthen exchanges between departments, enhance intelligence sharing and improve border security cooperation, both sides agreed to make joint efforts in fighting the "three evil forces" including the East Turkistan Islamic Movement, international terrorist organizations, money laundering, drug smuggling, and cyber crime, as well as all forms of organized crime across the border, to safeguard peace, security and stability of the two countries and the region. The two countries also agreed to enhance cooperation under the framework of the United Nations, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia so as to exchange opinions on major international and regional issues in time, jointly rise to global and regional challenges, safeguard the common interests of the two countries, and continue to strengthen collaboration in initiatives that conform with common interests of the two sides, the statement said. Prior to the talks, Xi held a welcome ceremony for Jeenbekov outside the East Gate of the Great Hall of the People. According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, this is the first time the new state visit welcome ceremony has been conducted. 2 1 [ Editor: Zhang Zhou ] GRAND RAPIDS, MI - A secular organization is challenging the state's requirement that marriages be solemnized by clergy or elected officials. The Center for Inquiry Inc. and two Grand Rapids residents trained as secular celebrants are suing Kent County Clerk Lisa Posthumus Lyons. They say non-religious couples are left to having marriages solemnized either by clergy, or a small number of elected officials - judges, mayors, county clerks - who typically have no relationship with the couple. "A ceremony solemnized by secular elected officials is often not an acceptable alternative for any number of reasons including, but not limited to: limitations on time and place ceremonies may occur, the fact that religious concepts and language may be included notwithstanding the couple's desires, the couple does not want the governmental overtone that the elected official's presence carries, and the official typically does not know the couple personally and therefore cannot construct a service which expresses the couple's values and personalities," Chicago attorney Michael Showalter wrote in the lawsuit. Lyons said in a statement that she had just received the complaint and will review it with legal counsel. "In my capacity as county clerk, I have operated in compliance with the law as it pertains to the issuing and filing of marriage licenses in Kent County, and I will continue to do so." Jennifer Beahan and Richard Brayton, plaintiffs in the lawsuit, say they are "certified secular celebrants" but face arrest for a misdemeanor if they solemnize marriages. Beahan, executive director of Center for Inquiry Michigan, said the challenge to the law isn't an attack on religion. She wants to give secular couples the chance to celebrate marriage "in the way that means the most to them. Why do they have to go through the religious hoops in order to give them what they want?" She said that the duties of a celebrant - beyond officiating at the service - are essentially getting witnesses' signatures on the marriage certificate and mailing it to the state within 30 days. The state should have no interest in whether a religious or non-religious celebrant oversees a wedding, Beahan said. "It's a state contract. Religion has nothing to do with it in a legal sense," she said. Beahan said there are significant numbers of atheists, agnostics and those who identify as "secular humanists" who would want a celebrant to personalize their weddings without religion. The Center for Inquiry said it got nowhere with state legislators, the governor and attorney general. Solicitor General Aaron Lindstrom responded to the group: "After reviewing the issue, the Department of Attorney General has concluded that the statute is constitutional and consistent with the Free Exercise Clause, the Establishment Clause, and the Equal Protection Clause. "Accordingly, if you believe Michigan should modify the statute, we would encourage you to work through the democratic process to persuade other Michigan citizens to adopt your view on this issue." Nicholas Little, vice president and Washington, D.C.-based general counsel for Center for Inquiry, said every state and the District of Columbia have different laws but most are similar to Michigan's. Oregon and the District of Columbia changed laws to allow secular celebrants. New Jersey did, too, but training requirements for secular celebrants are higher than that for other celebrants, Little said. "We have been working to try to change the law in other states as well, and if legislatures do not change it voluntarily, we will be filing suit in certain other states in the near future," Little said. He said other states have broader laws "largely because of specific quirks in their history. For example, Wisconsin allows self-solemnization - the couple can sign its own wedding certificate. Pennsylvania, because of its historically large Quaker and Amish population, permits marriages to be solemnized 'according to the rules and customs of a religion.'" In Maine, a notary public or member of the Maine Bar Association can solemnize a marriage. The Center for Inquiry, based in New York, has 30,000 members in the U.S., including 972 in Michigan. It has an email contact list of over 210,000, with 7,485 in Michigan. "Its vision is a world where people value evidence and critical thinking, where superstition and prejudice subside, and where science and compassion guilty public policy," Showalter wrote. The center is "purely secular" and "maintains that religion is a human creation but that there are basic human values or ethical principles that should govern human behavior and which express a commitment to improve human welfare in this world," he wrote. "Much like persons who wish to proclaim and reaffirm their religious faith in religious ceremonies, these members of the Center for Inquiry wish, in these marriage ceremonies, to have a meaningful ceremony that features an assertion of their philosophical and ethical views by having their marriage solemnized by a Center for Inquiry officiant who can help integrate their beliefs into the ceremony." The lawsuit says Michigan's law creates an unconstitutional preference for religion over non-religion. It asks that a judge - U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney in Kalamazoo has been assigned the case - issue a declaratory ruling that the Kent County clerk has to accept marriages solemnized by secular celebrants. In an Indiana case, Center for Inquiry convinced a federal appellate court to order a district judge to issue an injunction and allow certified secular humanist celebrants to solemnize marriages. The Seven Circuit Court of Appeals said Indiana discriminated against non-religious groups. It also discriminated against religions that did not have clergy or treat marriage as a sacrament. Buddhists, for instance, were excluded. Indiana's attorney said that the high priestess of the Church of Satan could solemnize marriage but humanists and those in other religions could not. Humanists could organize as a religion to get past state requirements but shouldn't have to, judges said. "It is irrational to allow humanists to solemnize marriages if, and only if, they falsely declare that they are a 'religion,'" the appeals court said. "It is absurd to give the Church of Satan, whose high priestess avows that her powers derive from having sex with Satan, and the Universal Life Church, which sells credentials to anyone with a credit card, a preferred position over Buddhists, who emphasize love and peace." The ruling helped Center for Inquiry to win a lawsuit in Illinois, which now allows secular celebrants, Little said. WYOMING, MI -- Misdemeanor larceny warrants have been issued against two women who allegedly stole several flower pots from a Wyoming resident's yard. The resident had a surveillance camera that captured the two women on video as the pots were swiped sometime before 6 a.m. May 29. She posted the video to her Facebook page and interest in the case took off. Wyoming police two days later said they had identified the women. In an update Wednesday, June 6, police said the Wyoming city attorney's office had issued misdemeanor larceny warrants against the two women. Police said they have not been able to reach the women by phone, so the warrants are being placed in the Law Enforcement Information Network. The women face arrest if police come across them in a traffic stop or by other means. KENT COUNTY, MI -- Although Grand Rapids is expected to save big if it merges 911 services with Kent County, other cities might be the ones shelling out. Cities already under contract with Kent County dispatch services could pay an extra $322,000 in all if Grand Rapids joins them, according to a comparison of fiscal year 2018 data with a financial study by accounting firm Hungerford Nichols. The controversial proposal is expected to save Grand Rapids about $720,000 a year, the Hungerford Nichols study states. The study was commissioned by the Greater Grand Rapids Chamber Foundation. While it was initially reported Kent County would save around $870,000, that savings is from a fire dispatch surcharge, according to Kent County Undersheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young. LaJoye-Young said the county doesn't expect savings from the proposed merger. The city of Grand Rapids lost about as much revenue when Wyoming canceled its dispatch contract with the city in 2016, leaving Grand Rapids the sole municipality outside of the county's dispatch region. The proposed merger isn't a done deal. County officials have previously characterized talks on the $3.2 million merger as "challenging." They've given Grand Rapids until the end of July to give them an answer. Here's a breakdown comparing 2018 fiscal year data with what the Hungerford Nichols study says they could pay under the proposed merger to make it work. Could pay more Wyoming: $114,613 more -- from $550,223 in 2018 to $664,836 under the merger. Kentwood: $88,097 more -- from $348,787 in 2018 to $436,884 under the merger. Grandville: $44,013 more -- from $139,466 in 2018 to $183,479 under the merger. Walker: $33,036 more -- from $169,953 in 2018 to $202,989 under the merger. Rockford: $17,450 more -- from $37,132 in 2018 to $54,582 under the merger. East Grand Rapids: $13,148 -- from $74,676 in 2018 to $87,824 under the merger. Lowell: $8,684 more -- from $32,381 in 2018 to $41,065 under the merger. Sparta: $4,003 more -- from $30,038 in 2018 to $34,041 under the merger. Could save Cedar Springs and all townships in Kent County: $139,068 less -- from $1,252,334 in 2018 to $1,113,266 under the merger. Sand Lake: $1,005 less -- from $2,136 in 2018 to $1,131 under the merger. The figures are for police dispatch services. Fire dispatch is covered under a surcharge. The sheriff's office does not have an individual breakdown of dispatch costs for Cedar Springs and the townships. The 2018 fiscal year costs are based on a percentage blend of population size and amount of calls over the previous three years. In the Hungerford Nichols study, they're based solely on that three-year percentage. There's not a significant difference between the two. Any additional costs brought on by the proposed merger will largely, if not wholly, be paid for by Grand Rapids, LaJoye-Young said. Unlike the study comparison, municipalities currently under contract should not expect a substantial change in the amount paid, she said. Grand Rapids police takes more incident calls than any other municipality. It'll contribute an estimated $2 million a year. Grandville City Manager Ken Krombeen said it's too early to speculate on estimates. "When they get to the appropriate point, I think we'll have the opportunity to review any costs and relay them to the city council here," Krombeen said. Kentwood Mayor Stephen Kepley said he wasn't informed the Grand Rapids merger could cost his city extra but assumed it would save Kentwood and others money. His biggest concern: ensuring the merger doesn't impact the quality of 911 service. "I know that they're going to have to staff up, and we want to make sure that the service is equal to or better than what we have," Kepley said. The most vocal opposition to the merger has come from members of the Grand Rapids Police Department. They argue city residents will have worse service. Proponents point to other a countywide dispatch centers as examples of how the move is cost-effective and doesn't compromise public safety. Costs and balances If the merger goes forward, Kent County will construct an estimated $2.5 million addition to their existing dispatch center, allowing them to accommodate extra equipment and around 46 more employees. The overall merger price tag is estimated at $3.2 million. Officials haven't yet worked out who is taking how much of the price tag burden or even how it will be paid for. Last month, Michigan set down $500,000 in grant funds for the proposed merger. The Kent County Sheriff's Office will house and oversee those operations and new employees. Officials previously said city dispatchers will be offered jobs with the county, but the proposed model doesn't afford transfers for the city's current dispatch manager and assistant manager. Comparing employment numbers under merger model, the move would create new jobs for an administrative clerk and six more communications operators. Existing state and county surcharges and increased municipality contributions previously outlined will pay all of the estimated $13.5 million a year operations and personnel costs under the merger. The model projects a year-to-year fund balance increase of $300,000 to $400,000. The county is under a tight deadline to start work on the addition to its existing dispatch center, and officials say they're already months behind. County officials want the addition operational by July 2019, before they and the city upgrade their dispatch radio technology to a costly 800 MHz frequency system that fall. If they city stalls talks and that deadline is missed, it could add another $300,000 onto the estimated $3.2 million price tag of the merger overall, according to LaJoye-Young. Earlier this week commissioners approved moving forward with planning and bidding construction work necessary for the merger. Discussions are slated to pick up again next week. HERSEY, MI -- The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has granted permits for eight solution mining wells and three non-hazardous brine disposal wells for a potash mining operation, despite environmental opposition to the project. The permits were granted June 1 for the proposed potash mining operation in an Osceola County wetland complex that is approved to use 725 million gallons of Michigan groundwater per year, according to the DEQ. Michigan Potash Co. LLC proposes to extract potash salt through the process of solution mining, by pumping water or brine into targeted zones to dissolve the underground potash. The resulting dissolved, potash-rich brine is returned to surface where it is evaporated to recover potash and food grade salt, DEQ said. The process creates potash deficient brine and water that is recycled in a closed loop system and reused, DEQ said. The three proposed nonhazardous disposal wells will handle the residual brine that is no longer usable for solution mining, DEQ said. Michigan Potash Company previously registered two water wells with combined pumping rates of 1,380 gallons per minute, or 1.987 million gallons per day. The DEQ approved the withdrawal last fall. Opponents of the project including Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation (MCWC) complain the mine could draw down the water table and dry up local wells, cause saltwater to intrude into the aquifer from below, and dry up streams, lakes, and wetlands. The site is among vulnerable aquifers and wetlands, MCWC said. The potash mine is located miles from a Nestle water bottling plant, another controversial operation. The potash mine has capacity to draw more than three times as much water, opponents complain. "It will dwarf Nestle's water use and do even more damage to sensitive wetlands, private wells, and the Muskegon River watershed than Nestle's operation," MCWC board member Ken Ford said. Theodore Pagano, the company's owner, has said the mine would recycle large quantities of water and use less than what's allowed. Some, including the Evart Local Development Finance Authority, have expressed support for the mine, which Pagano predicts will create 170 full-time jobs. The Environmental Protection Agency approved the solution mining and injection well permits in 2016 and 2017. The DEQ received more than 200 comments about the wells. "Of all the comments we received in opposition to the issuance of these permits, we did not receive any matters of fact that would require denial of these applications under Michigan statute or rules," DEQ said in its response to the comments received. For Love of Water (FLOW), a water law and policy center focused on protecting the Great Lakes, is concerned about public trust and other legal concerns regarding the project's intent, Executive Director Liz Kirkwood said. FLOW asked for increased transparency, more public meetings and an extended public comment period on permits for the potash operation, she said. The organization sent comments complaining about the plan for spacing the injection wells and urging the DEQ to investigate the site further before approving permits. Kirkwood noted the amount of water approved to be pumped for the project, "potentially totaling 725 million gallons of water annually, more than triple what Nestle is targeting nearby from the same watershed." She said "it is curious" that the two controversial water withdrawals located in the same watershed evoked such different public responses. The Nestle permit application elicited over 80,000 public comments and over 500 people attended a public hearing, she said, while the Michigan Potash permit elicited only 200 comments and only 125 people attended the public hearing. She mentioned concerns about other projects in Michigan, and said the Great Lakes have to be protected from their cumulative impacts. "No matter where you live in Michigan - in the most water-rich region in the U.S. and the world - we can no longer take our drinking water for granted," she said. "We recognize that this decision may not satisfy all parties," DEQ said, "however, we are confident that the decision is the correct one, and we hope that this document adequately responds to the concerns of those who submitted comments. The DEQ and OGMD staff will monitor and oversee this project as it moves forward, and we will continue to hold the operator accountable and ensure that they adhere to Michigan regulations and requirements." CASCADE TWP, MI -- A West Michigan auto supplier plans to build a $20 million headquarters and campus expansion in Cascade Township. The project is expected to 50 new jobs. The investment by ADAC Automotive will take place over the next three years near its existing facility at 5670 Eagle Drive SE in Cascade Township, according to the Thursday, June 7 announcement. The plans include a new 56,000-square-foot headquarters and a 24,000-square-foot expansion to the existing facility. ADAC Automotive was founded in Grand Rapids in 1975. It employs more than 1,200 at its six West Michigan locations. It specializes in the production of exterior and interior door handles, exterior trim and exterior mirrors. As part of the expansion, the company is shifting its focus to other auto products, including the development and manufacturing of electronic components, according to the press release. "This new combined location will open new doors of innovation and collaboration for ADAC," said ADAC President and CEO Jim Teets. "We thank The Right Place for their continued support, providing the strategic assistance we needed to make this project happen in West Michigan." The investment was coordinated in part by The Right Place economic development program. GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Plans for a new $49 million Grand Rapids Home for Veterans may have hit a bump in the road as wetlands have been discovered on the proposed site. The Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency is hosting a community meeting from 6 to 7 p.m. Thursday, June 7, to provide updates on how construction of the veterans' home may have to change. The meeting will be located at the chapel at the home at 3000 N. Monroe Ave. Architects from TowerPinkster, as well as agency representatives, will be present at the meeting. Discovery of the wetlands -- which include a stream -- on the site in April by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality have pushed the Veterans Affairs Agency to quickly develop a second site plan for the Grand Rapids home. "We don't want to lose any time and we want to make sure we're prepared," said Suzanne Thelen, spokeswoman for the agency. Thelen said the project is still on track to meet deadlines that come with the federal funding for the project. The agency is now scrambling to develop a second site plan option. Now the northern end of the property between Lamberton Street SE and the inner service drive at the home is under consideration to site the 128-room new home. A building would have to be torn down to make that possible -- the Rankin building, which the agency closed earlier this year, Thelen said. The agency wants to keep the concept of the veterans home the same: one-story buildings surrounding a central community space, Thelen said. That layout takes up considerable square footage, and to accommodate the footprint the agency would have to move a historical building, Thelen said. The former train depot built in 1905 -- currently used for storing donated clothing -- would be relocated, Thelen said. A federally required investigation is underway on the northern end of the site to see if any historically significant artifacts are still in place on the property, which has been in use since the Civil War, Thelen said. The Michigan Veterans Facility Authority board, appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder to oversee construction of the veterans homes in the state, will ultimately pick where the new home will be built on the site. The Veterans Affairs Agency is planning additional public meetings on the potential changes to the site plans 6 to 7 p.m. June 14, July 19 and Aug. 2 at the Grand Rapids veterans home chapel. A rezoning request for the northern portion of the site will be before the Grand Rapids Planning Commission June 28. A petition for independent redistricting backed by the group Voters Not Politicians should go to the ballot, Michigan's Court of Appeals ruled Thursday. In a unanimous opinion, judges ordered the Board of State Canvassers to put Voters Not Politicians' redistricting proposal - which would amend the state Constitution if passed - on the November ballot. The court disagreed with the complaint from Citizens Protecting Michigan's Constitution, the group challenging Voters Not Politicians' ballot eligibility, that alleged Voters Not Politicians didn't list all of the sections of the state constitution that would be abrogated by the plan, and therefore shouldn't be placed on the ballot. Citizens Protecting Michigan's Constitution also argued Voters Not Politicians' initiative is a "massive revision" of the constitution, not an amendment. Judges found the petition complied with relevant requirements and was not an overly broad revision of the constitution. Katie Fahey, founder and executive director of Voters Not Politicians, said in a statement that she looks forward to canvassers certifying the ballot quickly. The group encourages debate on the issue, she said, as long as voters are given an opportunity to make the final decision for themselves. "We believe that given a choice between the status quo our opposition favors - where politicians and lobbyists operate behind closed doors to manipulate districts for partisan benefit - and our proposal - which puts citizens in charge and mandates full transparency with the public - voters will support Voters Not Politicians in November," she said. Citizens Protecting Michigan's Constitution released a statement following the decision saying they would appeal the decision to the Michigan Supreme Court. "The VNP Proposal attacks the basic foundation of our governing structure for all three branches by completely removing any input from the executive and legislative branches, while also dramatically restricting the authority of the judicial branch when it comes to redistricting," the statement read. "The law is clear and we are eager to make our case before the Michigan Supreme Court." LANSING, MI -- House Speaker Tom Leonard, R-DeWitt and Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive, are asking Attorney General Bill Schuette to issue an opinion on whether the Michigan Civil Rights Commission overstepped its bounds in extending civil rights protections to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Michiganders. In May, the commission voted unanimously to approve a statement legally interpreting the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act's ban on "discrimination because of ... sex" to include discrimination against sexual orientation or gender identity. In the letter to Schuette, dated May 29, Meekhof and Leonard argue the Civil Rights Commission does not have the authority to make such a decision. What's more, the letter argues, it's wrong. The law's "plain language, as interpreted by our courts, as well as its administrative and legislative history, make clear that its current protections do not cover sexual orientation and gender identity," the letter states. It notes that courts ruled a previous interpretive statement of the commission's unenforceable. Ultimately, the letter argues, only the legislature has the power to legislative. The commission doing so violates the Administrative Procedures Act and "threatens to undermine our system of government," the letter argues. Gideon D'Assandro, a spokesperson for Leonard, said the Attorney General had not yet responded to the leaders' request. Vicki Levengood, a spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, said the commission had expected the letter. "During their evaluation of Equality Michigan's request for an interpretive statement, the Commission heard from a number of attorneys and legal experts who believe the Commission has the authority to issue an interpretive statement," Levengood said. The Attorney General is empowered to issue legal opinions on matters brought to him by lawmakers, the governor and other entities. Note: This article has been updated to reflect a party affiliation and include additional comment. Nothing in life is free. Unless you're visiting a Michigan state park this weekend. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is hosting its annual free fishing and off-road vehicle weekend across the state June 9-10. As part of the special event, designed to introduce new people to all that Michigan has to offer, all fishing license, ORV license, trail permit and Recreation Passport fees are waived for both days. Other regulations still apply. "The Great Lakes State is blessed with abundant lakes, rivers and streams that provide world-class fishing opportunities," said Sen. Peter MacGregor, R-Rockford in a statement. "I encourage west Michiganders to get out and take advantage of those opportunities this weekend with some free fishing with family and friends." Free fishing weekend has been celebrated since 1986 to promote Michigan's world-class-fishing opportunities. Michigan features some of the best freshwater fishing in the world. It has more than 3,000 miles of Great Lakes shoreline, more than 11,000 inland lakes and tens of thousands of miles of rivers and streams. Normally, off-roaders must possess an ORV license or trail permit, which can cost up to $36.25. Michigan has a vast system of 3,660 miles of trails. The free weekends also include access to the state's five scramble areas, including St. Helen's Motorsport Area, Black Lake Scramble Area, Silver Lake State Park, Bull Gap and The Mounds. Events associated with free fishing weekend are being held around the state. A complete list can be found here. LANSING, MI - The Michigan Senate on Thursday approved House changes to Medicaid work requirements, sending the bill to Gov. Rick Snyder for signature. The bill changed significantly throughout the legislative process. As introduced, it would have required Medicaid recipients to work 30 hours per week. The final version requires an average of 20 hours per week, or 80 hours per month. The chamber voted 25-11 to concur in the House substitute, with all Democrats plus Republicans Sen. Margaret O'Brien, R-Portage, and Sen. Tory Rocca, R-Sterling Heights, opposing it. It was referred to the secretary for enrollment, printing and presentation to the governor. It's a proposal that requires a waiver from the federal government - something The President Donald Trump administration recently opened the door for and granted to a handful of states. Michigan's bill affects Michigan's 670,000 Healthy Michigan Plan recipients covered under the state's Medicaid expansion. It requires able-bodied recipients to work but provides exemptions for people including pregnant mothers, people with disabilities, caretakers of disabled dependents, caretakers of children under age 6 and individuals who have a medical condition that results in a work limitation. Bill sponsor Sen. Mike Shirkey, R-Clark Lake, said Wednesday the bill represented a compromise with the Snyder administration. "This is all about trying to find more workers, because if you notice in the news today for the first time in recorded history of tracking unemployment we have actually more openings than we do have people applying for jobs across the nation, and that applies to Michigan as well," Shirkey said. The House Fiscal Agency estimates that the net fiscal effect of the bill will be a savings of between $7 million and $22 million, mainly due to a reduced Medicaid caseload. Sen. Steve Bieda, D-Warren, said the bill amounted to "a twisted social experiment." "In reality it only serves to kick people off of Medicaid. Let me make this clear: this has nothing to do with saving taxpayer dollars. Absolutely nothing," Bieda said. Sen. Coleman Young II, D-Detroit, said in a floor speech that the House changes had made the bill "a shiny turd, but still a turd nonetheless." O'Brien, one of the few Republicans who voted against the proposal, said she appreciated the intent of the legislation but worried some could fall through the cracks and lose coverage. "I still had concerns that unintentionally some Michiganders who are working, who are doing their best are still going to drop off," O'Brien said. With the chamber's approval, the bill heads next to Gov. Rick Snyder for signature. If signed, it would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2020. Note: This story has been updated with additional comments. BEIJING, June 7 (Xinhua) -- China will guide more foreign investments into central and western regions, the Ministry of Commerce said Thursday. Central and western regions should replicate the successes of the country's pilot free trade zones, said Gao Feng, spokesperson for the ministry. There will be favorable tax, land, and credit policies and new infrastructure connecting with neighboring countries, according to Gao. A recent State Council executive meeting decided that more needed to be done to attract foreign investors. China will create a fair, transparent, and convenient environment for foreign investors through broader market access and better protection of investor interests, according to Gao. Gao said that despite intense competition for investment, China has high-end industrial capability, top-level human resources, and an improving business environment, so will remain a popular investment destination. Total foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Chinese mainland edged up 0.1 percent year on year to 287 billion yuan (45 billion U.S. dollars) in the first four months. The number of new overseas-funded companies set up during the period surged 95.4 percent from a year earlier. FDI into high-tech sectors climbed 20.2 percent, Gao said. [ Editor: WPY ] The state Senate approved several bills Thursday aimed at improving school safety, including requiring additional police training and mandating that school districts create emergency plans for each of their schools. The legislation also creates an Office of School Safety - overseen by Michigan State Police - tasked with establishing best practices for keeping students safe and assessing local district's emergency plans. Approved with bipartisan support, the bills now head to the state House for consideration. None of the bills wade into the issue of gun control or so-called "red flag" legislation that authorizes courts to seize the guns of individuals who are deemed a threat to themselves and others. But supporters maintained the measures are an important part of the multi-faceted approach to school safety. Sen. Margaret O'Brien, R-Portage, pointed to a bill she sponsored that requires school districts to consult with law enforcement before renovating a school or building a new one. "There's been too many times that a school is being opened and the ribbon cutting is the first time law enforcement's been invited in," she said. "So it's important that we invite in for consultation the people who are expected to rescue and protect our children." Thursday's vote marks at least the second time the Senate has acted on school safety issues since April, when lawmakers approved an additional $18.6 million for safety and security grants to schools. Part of those dollars - $500,000 - were provided to OK2SAY, the state's confidential tip line for school safety threats. The line is overseen by the Michigan Attorney General's Office. The focus on school safety comes in the wake of February's school shooting in Parkland, Florida, were 17 people were killed. Last month, the state House passed a school safety package (the Senate has not yet taken up that plan), and Gov. Rick Snyder - in April - released his school safety plan. Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, D-Flint, voted in favor of the bills, but he characterized the legislation as "nibbling at the edges" of the larger issue of school safety. He's a sponsor of package of bills in the Senate that calls for a state grant program designed to give schools money to hire more school resource officers and mental health professionals, as well as safety and security upgrades. O'Brien as well as Sen. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, are also sponsors of the package. The proposal, first unveiled in March by a coalition of law enforcement and school groups, carries a $120 million price tag. "When it comes to school safety, you don't make people jump through hoops and beg for money," Ananich said, adding that the current proposals offer a fraction of the necessary funding. Here's a breakdown of the Senate legislation approved Thursday: Senate Bill 958: Requires schools to report to Michigan State Police acts or threats of violence - both on and off school grounds - that were prevented or thwarted. MSP is required to compile such reports and supply them to the state School Safety Commission. Senate Bill 959: Starting in 2020, current and prospective police officers would be required to complete "active violence response training." The Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards would be tasked with establishing standards for such training. Senate Bill 982: Creates the state Office of School Safety. The office, housed within Michigan State Police, would be responsible for creating model practices for school safety, offering training, and working with local police to assess emergency operation plans developed by local schools. The office would also apply for federal school safety funding and create competitive grant programs to provide those dollars to local schools. Senate Bill 957: The bill would eliminate an October 1, 2021 sunset date on a law creating OK2SAY, the state's confidential tip line for school safety threats. Under the legislation, the tip line would remain in place indefinitely. Senate Bill 990: Requires school administrators at a district where a construction project or building renovation is taking place to consult with police on school safety issues related to the design and function of the building. Senate Bill 991: Twice a year, schools would be required to provide Michigan State Police with emergency contact information where an administrator or employee could receive information on school safety threats. Senate Bill 983: Requires school districts to create an emergency operations plan for each building it operates. The plan would have to address threats of school violence, a vulnerability assessment and an active violence protocol, according to an analysis by the Senate Fiscal Agency. Schools would be required to review the plans in the 2019-2020 school year, and then once every two years, in conjunction with police. LANSING, MI - The Michigan Senate on Thursday passed a plan to change auto insurance by creating a fraud authority, capping assigned claims, limiting reimbursement for attendant care and giving seniors a choice to purchase a lower coverage limit. The senate passed two bills making the changes on a 23-13 vote. Senate Bill 787 would give seniors 65 or older a choice on auto insurance coverage. They could either continue with the current unlimited lifetime medical benefit all insured Michiganders are required to purchase or go with a $50,000 medical coverage limit and chose to rely on Medicare for any further medical care -- something the bill sponsor said would result in savings. Senate Bill 1014 makes several changes, including creating a fraud authority within the Department of Attorney General designed to root out insurance fraud. It would also make changes to attendant care, typically provided by family members of somebody injured in an auto accident. Currently recipients get unlimited attendant care. In this proposal an injured person could negotiate a rate for the first 56 hours per week. Any further hours would be paid at the rate of $15 per hour, to be adjusted in the future based on the consumer price index. And it makes changes to "assigned claims," coverage provided to uninsured people like pedestrians or cyclists who are involved in automobile accidents. Their coverage, currently unlimited, would be capped at $400,000. Each passed 23-13, with Democrats voting against it, along with Republican Sens. Mike Green, R-Mayville; Mike Kowall, R-White Lake; Tory Rocca, R-Sterling Heights; and Dale Zorn, R-Ida. On Senate Bill 787, the one creating options for seniors, Sen. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, said it would help older Michigan residents who are often only driving a few thousand miles per year but paying high rates. "Let's give every senior in Michigan a choice. They can still get the unlimited if they want but let them buy something they can afford if they choose not to," Jones said. Democrats lost amendments that would have mandated insurers pass along savings to seniors who pick the lower coverage level and tie-barred it to a bill outlawing "redlining," where factors like zip code result in drastically different auto insurance rates even for drivers with good driving records. One amendment from Sen. Curtis Hertel, D-East Lansing, did pass. It made seniors default into the current unlimited coverage instead of the $50,000 level plan they would have defaulted into previously. Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, D-Flint, said that he was disappointed his amendment to guarantee a 10 percent savings for seniors failed. "Their unwillingness to even have a vote on savings for consumers says a lot about the reality of this package, that it really wasn't about saving money," Ananich said. Sen. Joe Hune, R-Hamburg, chair of the Senate Insurance Committee and sponsor of Senate Bill 1014, said the bill as written absolutely would come with savings, because seniors who opted for the $50,000 policy would save at least $160 by not having to pay the bulk of the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association assessment. Seniors would have to pay a small portion of the assessment that addresses past defecits. "If a senior on Medicare chooses the $50,000 policy you will definitely saving that, I think it's $161, that ongoing forward-based assessment of the MCCA," Hune said. Sen. Morris Hood III, D-Detroit, said rather than doing auto insurance in bits and pieces he'd like to see the body come up with a more comprehensive solution. "Why not let's get our hands dirty and finally get some work done?" Hood asked. Amber McCann, spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive, said the package was a first step on making changes to auto insurance. "No-fault has been an issue in the capitol for so long that we have not been able to reach a consensus on. We acknowledge this is not a whole-system change. This is an opportunity to see where we can find some savings, some reform, and start moving the conversation a bit," McCann said. She did not have an estimate as to how much the bills could lower individual auto insurance premiums. Hune said when there is a lot in a bill people find a lot they can vote against, and this is an issue with a lot of facets. "There's so much money to be made in this system and there are so many folks involved in it, involved in the business of selling insurance and involved in the business of taking care of patients but making an awful lot of money in that medical care," Hune said. "So when you're talking literally hundreds of interest groups, dozens and dozens of lobbyists, it seems like they stymie any bit of significant progress we can make." The issue is, indeed, a perennial one in Lansing. The most recent action was last year, when the House held a late-night session to consider a high-profile package backed by Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan. The big push ultimately fell short by 10 votes, and the proposal never made it to the Senate for consideration. It's not yet clear how receptive the House is to the changes. The bills would need to pass the House and be signed by Gov. Rick Snyder to become law. Note: This story has been updated with additional comments. LEELANAU COUNTY, MI - Kids may say the darndest things, but adults say some of the dumbest. If you don't believe us, read on, because plenty of evidence is provided courtesy of a casual survey proposed on social media by a resident of the vacation and tourism hotspot of Leelanau County "What are actual questions you have gotten from tourists while working in Leelanau County?" the Northern Michigan native asked. The responses, provided by fellow Leelanau County natives, will have you rolling on the ground laughing. Names have been omitted for privacy, but as the home of Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore and other natural gems, historic Fishtown and a slew of popular restaurants and breweries, the area has no shortage of tourists with questions that are hard to believe. Here's a look at some of the actual questions posed by visitors to Leelanau County, broken down by category. Geographically challenged "Where's Up North, Michigan?" "Where is Fish village?" "Is that Wisconsin?" "Where is Leland" "Hey, is this Heaven" (Thanks for that one) Sleeping Bear Dunes "Where are all the bears?" "How do I get to the Bear Sands?" "Where is the actual sleeping bear?" Bridges to nowhere "Do you know the schedule for when the mackinaw bridge swings over to the island?" "Where is the bridge to Charlevoix?" "If you put too many people on the island won't it capsize?" Deep, blue sea "What ocean is this?" "Is that salt water?" "What time is high tide?" "Do you have any empty jars to spare? I want to go out in the bay and collect the different colors of water." Local cuisine "Are the calamari from here?" "Are there cherries in the cherry chicken salad?" "Are these bananas from around here?" "Do your pigs spend the winter in the barn with the chickens? - "No mam the freezer" "Is there a Burger King or other fast food restaurant on South Manitou?" "Where is a good spot to find Morels?" "Are these shrimps local?" "Were these ocean whitefish caught in Lake Michigan?" Wildlife watchers "Can you see any whales or dolphins from here" "Excuse me sir, do you mind telling us what kind of exotic bird that is?" - it was a seagull. "Can you turn the frog noise down?" "What is the best time of year to see the whales?" "Where is the whale-watching boat?" "What do you use to protect the tires on your car from chipmunks?" Northern Lights, ice caves and Up North "When do they turn on the Northern Lights?" "Do you know what time the Northern Lights come out?" "Do you know when the ice caves open?" "Where will the sun set tonight?" "Do people live here year-round?" "Can someone pronounce Leelanau?" "Do Petoskey stones grow this far away from Petoskey?" "Who trims all the trees to look like Christmas trees?" "Are there any on-premises swinger clubs in the area?" BROOKLYN, MI - Beer insignia is pretty easy to spot at a race track - from sponsored cars to memorabilia. Now, a Michigan craft brewery wants to join the party. Ann Arbor-based Arbor Brewing Company is one of multiple breweries selling beer to Michigan International Speedway. Its name also is being splashed across the race car hood of 25-year-old Grass Lake racer Morgen Baird in Friday's ARCA Racing Series Zomongo 200. Baird has four career ARCA races under his belt, but hasn't raced since last year's June MIS race due to a lack of sponsorship. His deal with Arbor Brewing came together a few weeks ago, allowing him to drive the No. 11 Toyota for Andy Hillenburg. "Trying to get deals to come together is extremely hard when you're coming from nothing," Baird said. "But you can't give up on it." Marshall-based Dark Horse Brewery sponsored Baird last year, en route to his 21st place finish. His connection with a Michigan beer distributor has helped the driver with the craft beer sponsorships, he said. Jackson's Huff Auto Group is also sponsoring the car. Arbor Brewing Managing Partner Mike Messink is attending Friday's race, through the partnership. The company also has a production facility in Ypsilanti. Fans can find the company's beer at all of the craft beer concession areas. "It wasn't that long ago that you didn't find craft beer at any major sporting venues, and that's really starting to change," Messink said. "And MIS is no exception to that." For those new to craft beer, Messink recommends the "Euchre," which is a light pilsner and one of Arbor Brewing's best sellers. "It's just a great opportunity for us to reach a very broad audience and to reach an audience that, for some people, are just starting to get introduced into craft beer," Messink said. On the track, Baird said a top 15 finish would be a good day for the team. "The top five or 10 cars are really in a league of their own because they have so much money behind them," Baird said. To stay fresh, Baird has spent the past year practicing on an iRacing simulator - but admits there's quite a difference between a simulator and real life. He's looking to connect with more sponsors to run additional ARCA races in 2018. The Zomongo 200 starts at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, June 8 and will be broadcast on MAVTV. "I'm not going to stop chasing my dream until I get where I want to be," Baird said. "Even if it's one race a year, two races a year, I've got to take what I can get and make the most of it. You never know what can happen in these things." JACKSON, MI - The girlfriend of Jackson City Councilman Andrew Frounfelker said he dragged her up a set of stairs and pulled her by the hair. He punched her in the face at least five times with a closed fist and put his hands around her neck against a kitchen wall. She fell and he was above her, choking her, she said. Frounfelker yelled and screamed at her, she said. He told her it was over, that she was done, the woman testified Thursday during a probable cause hearing before Jackson County District Judge R. Darryl Mazur. Mazur found there was sufficient evidence to send the case against Frounfelker, charged with assault with intent to do great bodily harm, to circuit court. Frounfelker's girlfriend said she remained conscious, but struggled to breathe and later learned she had five significant fractures around her nose and eye. She could not see on one side, prompting an emergency room nurse to deem her a highest priority patient. A friend who came to her aid called it "the worst thing I have ever seen." The injuries were still visible June 7, more than two weeks after Frounfelker allegedly attacked her May 22 inside the downtown apartment they shared on W. Michigan Avenue. Both eyes were swollen. The left eye was black. She now has two metal plates in her face. And this had happened before, she testified. She had just stopped wearing sunglasses to hide past bruising, she said, when she and Frounfelker went that night, as they often did, to Bella Notte Ristorante, 137 W. Michigan Ave. Mayor Derek Dobies and City Manager Patrick Burtch were there. The woman's birthday is May 23 and there was talk of officially declaring it her day. She thought it was a joke, she said. When she and Frounfelker left the restaurant, about 9:30 or 10 p.m., she said he yelled at her. "You have no idea what you did. You disrespected me. I tried to do something nice for you," she said he told her. She said he went to his vehicle and gave her a plastic tub of items for her birthday. He grabbed her by the hair and hollered from a balcony for her to come inside. She took the tub into the apartment, described by an investigating police officer as a penthouse above House of DeVaughn Bridal, 148 W. Michigan Ave. At first he pushed her; then he started hitting, she said. "He kept hitting and I asked him to stop," the woman said. Her testimony was emotional. She put her hand to her face. She cried before a full courtroom. Her family members and friends filled the benches. "I just can't imagine what she went through," the woman's sister, Vicky Schultz, said through tears outside the courtroom. "Just hearing it makes me sick." Frounfelker's supporters sat in the back. When approached after the hearing, Frounfelker, free on bond, and his attorney, Alfred Brandt, declined to comment. Brandt earlier said Frounfelker, who does not have a criminal record, denies the allegations. Frounfelker remains on the City Council and has not made a public statement since his May 23 arrest. It was the woman's concerned friend, Kristin Willcut, who might be credited with bringing an end the alleged abuse on May 22. The woman sent Willcut, who had earlier been at Bella Notte, a text message. She said Frounfelker was inside the apartment and was acting crazy. "I texted her back and said, 'What are you talking about? What's happening? Are you OK?'" Willcut testified. Willcut received a picture of her friend's face. She looked to be crying on her bed with a "humongous," black eye, she said. Willcut and her husband immediately went to the apartment. She repeatedly called her friend, who would hang up. "(Frounfelker) yelled at me to tell her that everything was fine and to hang up the phone," the woman said. Twice, the air remained open, once for 2 minutes, 14 seconds. "I heard her choking. I heard her gasping for air," Willcut said. "I heard her say, 'Please stop' multiple times. I heard her crying. And I heard him say I am going to kill you." A neighbor let Willcut into the building and she pounded on the door. She threatened to call the police. "And I can hear (Frounfelker) screaming down at her, 'Tell her to go away, tell her you're fine. If you open that door, I'll kill you.'" The woman eventually came to the door and Willcut saw her "bloodied, battered face." Willcut took her to the hospital, despite the woman's initial reluctance, and staff summoned police. Officer Brandi Davis said the woman was upset, crying, battered. Registered Nurse Samantha Wyant, who works in the emergency department, assessed her injuries as "highest acuity." Thursday, Wyant read from a medical report that noted the woman was punched, scratched and choked. Hair was pulled from her scalp. Under one of her eyes was an old bruise, Wyant said, again reading from the report. Assistant Prosecutor Katie Hawkins presented several photographs. One of them was taken in September or March - the woman was not sure of the date - of a previous incident. She did not go to the hospital. When asked what happened, she sighed and said she did not remember. The alleged abuse began in about October, she told Hawkins. Willcut had once caught a glimpse of bruising beneath her sunglasses about a week and a half before Frounfelker went to jail. When the two were in the bathroom, she asked the woman to remove her glasses. "She had two black eyes." The woman made an excuse about allergies, Willcut testified. The morning of May 23, the woman left the hospital. Frounfelker, who did not respond to police efforts first to contact him, was at their apartment, before his arrest about 10 a.m. May 23. It was their only contact since the alleged assault, the woman said. He told her, she said, that he loved her. LESLIE, MI - A friend told Shauna Howe about a note possibly threatening harm to six specific third graders at Leslie's Woodworth Elementary School last week. Her 8-year-old son, the friend said, was on the list, composed by an unknown author and believed to be naming and numbering students to be shot. "This is a really big... deal. Why am I hearing this from you?" wondered Howe, so stunned she said she was unable to see or hear for a few seconds. When she regained her senses, she said she felt sick. "I don't even know how to explain it," she said. "I've never been so angry in my life. She and other parents of targeted students met with school officials, Thursday, May 31. Their outrage, further discussed at a Tuesday, June 5 public forum, has moved Leslie authorities to improve the speed and distribution of information. "I think the big thing we learned from this was the timeline on communication," Superintendent Jeff Manthei said Wednesday. In a message to parents and guardians on June 6, Manthei and School Board President Mary Crowl apologized for the handling of the Woodworth incident and acknowledged a failure to communicate. "We can promise you as we move forward, such events will be dealt with differently and communication with parents will be on the forefront," the message states. Howe said the parents of students in the third grade class received an email on May 31, a day after, according to Leslie Police Chief Robert Delamarter, a student gave the note to the class teacher, indicating he found it on the floor. It was not until Monday, Howe said, that parents school-wide were notified and informed of action taken, including a Friday search of backpacks. "After it had already been on the news, after I had already had a (Facebook) post. After my post had already been shared all over the place," said Howe, who pulled her son from school. "Just like continuously dropping the ball." When asked why parents were not immediately informed, Manthei said he believes the elementary school principal saw the list and did not deem it an immediate threat. Neither he nor Delamarter heard of the note before May 31. Manthei said in the future, such informing "will occur very quickly." Delamarter's department has launched an investigation into what he said was a list of students with wording "that needs assessment, regarding potential threat of harm." In a message distributed on Facebook, Howe, who has a picture of the note, interpreted the title as "people to shoot list." The list, in child-like scrawl, was not clearly written, said Delamarter, cautious of sharing many details. "It is understandable enough to create concern." There is wording indicating black people are of interest or the target, the chief said. Howe said most of the six students on the list are not black. They have been friends since preschool. "They are all in to sports, smart sweet, loving, caring," she said. Authorities are not sure who wrote the list, Manthei said. There is a lot of conjecture, he said, but no proof. Delamarter said he does not believe students are in danger. Declining again to release particulars of the investigation, he said steps have been taken to assure safety. Howe still lacks peace of mind, as the inquiry is ongoing and any culprit remains unidentified. She said school officials should have assumed, from the start, the worst meaning of the note, discovered within weeks of fatal U.S. school shootings, in Texas and Indiana. Howe showed her son a picture of the message, a corner of a piece of paper. He saw his name and his voice broke, she said. "He just looked gray like he was going to be sick and told me that he didn't want to read anymore and that he felt sad," she said. She has to frequently ask if he is OK, she said. He appears down and depressed when idle. Other parents have joined Howe in pulling their children from school. "Until this investigation is completed and the appropriate people are dealt with, my daughter will not be returning to Woodworth Elementary," Leslie Mayor Jennifer Shuster wrote Saturday on Facebook. She has a child in the class, a fact that brought her "gut-wrenching turmoil," she reported in the post, critical of the principal's handling of the incident. A parent school safety task force is to be formed to address communication and other issues. "We are always looking at ways to improve our security, as every school is," Manthei said, detailing several measures taken in the last year. The district added cameras, locked doors after 8 a.m. and placed adult monitors at elementary school entry doors before the start of school. Further changes are necessary, Howe said. The forum generated good ideas, she said, but she wants more than promises. "My faith in them is completely lacking because they have already let me down big time," she said. "I can't just like instantly trust them because they have words. I need action." JACKSON, MI - A year removed from the passing of a non-discrimination ordinance in Jackson, Mayor Derek Dobies is ready to bring forward more support for the LGBT community. Dobies released a statement declaring June LGBT Pride Month in the city of Jackson, adding he plans to bring new LGBT-related ordinances before City Council this month. Council has meetings planned for 6:30 p.m. June 12 and 26 at City Hall, 161 W. Michigan Ave. The NDO prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing and public accommodations. To read the full non-discrimination ordinance, click here. It passed 5-2 in February 2017, but did not go into effect until April due to a petition challenge and subsequent lawsuit. "By recognizing pride month, we send a clear message that Jackson is a place that the LGBT community can call home," Dobies said in a release. "In June, we'll remember the progress we've made, and look forward to the work we can do together to reaffirm our belief that LGBT rights are human rights." Dobies wants to address various pieces of the city code, including the city's bidding ordinance, civil service and employment ordinance, fair housing ordinance and cable franchising ordinance. He'll be helped by Julia Josling, whom Dobies appointed to the newly created volunteer position of LGBTQ liaison to the mayor's office. In the first year of the NDO, two complaints were filed, but both were ultimately dismissed. The Human Relations Commission handles complaints laid out in the ordinance. BROOKLYN, MI - More than 300 students burst into applause as Debra Powell entered the Columbia Elementary School gym for the last time as the school's principal on Wednesday. They were gathered at the June 6 assembly to honor the careers of Powell and retiring Columbia kindergarten teacher Leissa Bernstein and Reading Recovery teacher Brenda Schedeler. They took seats in lawn chairs in the middle of the gym that were decorated with tropically-themed towels. They sipped lemonade and wore Hawaiian lei to symbolize the "long vacations" ahead of them. "It's bittersweet," Powell said. "I'm excited and looking forward to a new adventure, but I'm really going to miss the kids and getting hugs every day. This is a great staff and a great school, and I'm going to really miss it." Powell's retirement will mark the end of a 13-year stint as Columbia's principal, and more than 36 years in education. Powell aspired to be a teacher as far back as she can remember. Before filling the role of Columbia Elementary's principal, Powell worked in the Columbia School District for 10 years as a middle school rehabilitation counselor. Before coming to Columbia, Powell worked at several schools in the Detroit area, teaching sixth and seventh grades and physical education. "I just always wanted to work with kids," Powell said. "I always like to learn, and I wanted to share that excitement with kids. I'm proud we developed Columbia Elementary into a literacy-rich environment that meets the needs of all of our learners." Powell grew up in Livonia, attending St. Damian School for first through eighth grade before graduating from Ladywood High School in 1973. She graduated from Central Michigan University in 1977, and received a master's degrees in counseling and educational leadership from Eastern Michigan University in 1982 and 2006, respectively. Third grade teacher Trudy Wright will take over as principal July 1. Before beginning what would end up as a nine-year teaching career at Columbia, Schedeler taught at Tecumseh Schools for 35 years. At Columbia she was the primary teacher for Reading Recovery - a program for children age 5 and 6 needing extra help with reading skills. "I'm going to miss everyone here, especially the kids and the teachers," Schedeler said. "We're like a family in a lot of ways." Hosted by first-grade teacher Wendy Hawkins on the last day of school, the farewell assembly featured three short videos of "second-grader reporters" interviewing the three women about their time at Columbia. Another group of second graders also stood in front of the crowd to take turns reciting a farewell poem to them. The morning ended with what Hawkins called "a goodbye you won't forget," as every student serenaded the three women with the song "Thank You for Being a Friend." Second grader Fallon Ecklond, 8, said she will especially miss Powell, having known her the entire time she's been at Columbia. "(The assembly) was really cool and special because we got to honor the retirees," Fallon said. PARMA, MI - Sharlene Carroll wanted to walk quietly out the door after 40 years as the Western School District superintendent's secretary. But the people around her had a different plan. They wanted to let her know how much she was appreciated. More than 100 people congratulated Carroll with a surprise retirement party Wednesday, June 6, at Western High School. Carroll is staying on through the rest of June before handing the position over to Michelle Day, former secretary for East Jackson Community Schools' superintendent Steve Doerr. Staged to look like a tour of the Western campus for Day, Carroll was escorted through the high school gym doors where party guests yelled, "Surprise!" Carroll started at Western in March 1978 at age 28. Forty years later, she has worked with six of Western's seven superintendents and said she will miss the people she has met during her tenure. "This is the best place and I couldn't have asked for better people to work with," Carroll said. Shirley Larson, a former Western school board member, helped organize the event. Larson told those at the party that Carroll asked everyone to not throw her a retirement party -- except her. Larson called Carroll "the glue" for Western and praised her "gracious, ladylike demeanor." "She has a love for this school district like I've never seen," Larson said. There was talk Carroll might retire when current Western Superintendent Mike Smajda started in 2009. When he asked her when that might happen, he said she responded, "It all depends on you." Nine years later, Smajda said he would like to keep Carroll another nine. "She's my conscience, calendar-keeper and proofreader," Smajda said. "She's an amazing lady. If you say Shar, everyone knows who you're talking about." The party included cakes with messages of well-wishes and gifts and flowers for Carroll. Everyone fro school district employees to guests from out-of-state attended the party. John Dardzinski, Western superintendent from 2000-06, flew in from South Carolina to celebrate Carroll's career. He said Carroll was someone he could always bounce ideas off. "You've got to have your right-hand person and she was mine," Dardzinski said. One of Dardzinksi's favorite memories with Carroll is when they worked together on a successful bond issue in 2003. Dardinzki called Carroll a "tireless worker" who had "great integrity." "She's the ultimate professional," Dardzinski said. "She's one of the classiest ladies I've had the opportunity to meet and work with. I always felt she had my back covered. She had a great pulse on the community and school district. "It was a real pleasure working with her -- a real pleasure." Day has been shadowing Carroll since May 7 and called her "incredible." "It's very large shoes to fill but I'm going to do my best to live up to Sharlene's legacy," Day said. Carroll mingled with and hugged friends and family for two hours at the party. Once hesitant about the celebration, she said it was the best surprise she ever had. "I'm just so grateful," Carroll said. "I knew people put a lot of time into this. To see these people again is truly heartwarming." MUSKEGON COUNTY, MI - A Muskegon area man who claimed a child lied about sexual assaults was himself caught lying and sentenced to prison for at least 19 years. Ryan Scott Potter, 33, of Twin Lake eventually pleaded guilty to first-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a child under age 13. Muskegon County Circuit Judge Timothy Hicks sentenced Potter to a minimum of 19 years and maximum of 60 years, with credit for 195 days served in the county jail. Michigan State Police investigated a September 2017 complaint against Potter alleging he sexually assaulted a child on three occasions. The child had earlier complained to another adult, but the adult claimed the child was a liar, according to the police report on the incident. Potter at first repeated the claim the child lied and denied the allegations, the report states. He agreed to take a polygraph test, which he failed, and then subsequently admitted to three acts of sexual abuse including penetration, according to the report. State guidelines on the minimum sentence ranged from 11 years to 23 years, according to court records. This years exhibition covers an area of over 10,000 square metres, with 450 pavilions introducing new products and services in the automobile, motorbike and supporting industry in Vietnam. Speaking at the opening ceremony, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai said the Vietnamese economy is witnessing positive growth, creating favourable conditions for the development of the automobile market. In particular, the Government has devised the policy of building the automobile industry into an important industry, in order to meet domestic market demand, as well as developing the supporting industry, he noted. Along with the Vietnamese products by the Vietnam Engine and Agriculture Machinery Corporation, the exhibition will highlight Russian and Chinese brands, such as Gaz Group, Faw Group, HongYan Truck and KC Motors, alongside global brands such as Ducati, Harley Davidson, Triumph, Royal Enfield and Kawasaki. Visitors can also experience driving the latest models from Ducati, Harley Davidson, Triumph and Royal Enfield. As part of the exhibition, a thematic conference will also be held to discuss the development of the support industry and the connection of demand and supply sources for the production and assembly of commercial and special-use automobiles in Vietnam. The exhibition is scheduled to run until June 9. MUSKEGON, MI - Lois Martin is waiting for an answer. She waits for someone to explain why her son, Antwaune Deshone Keys, was robbed and shot in Muskegon Heights in late May. She waits for a call from Muskegon Heights police saying "we got him," the person who killed her third-born child and one of five sons. But most of all, Martin waits for Keys to walk through her front door, flashing his classic, wide-toothed smile. The moment never comes, but still she waits. "It's like I'm in a dream," Martin told MLive/Muskegon Chronicle. Keys, 28, died in the early morning of Sunday, May 20, two hours after being taken to Hackley Hospital for emergency surgery. His death was the first recorded homicide in Muskegon Heights this year, and the crime remains unsolved. For Martin, the anger is hard to suppress. "At this point, there's no more pain," Martin said. "There's no more tears. I've done cried all the tears that I have. It's just rage now." Martin believes that Keys may have been set up in some way, and police say that the robbery and shooting weren't random nor an accident. The 28-year-old was found outside what investigators believe was his girlfriend's house, with gunshot wounds from what appeared to be a .40-caliber weapon, said Muskegon Heights Police Chief Joseph Thomas in May. Before he died, Keys told investigators that he was robbed by more than one masked subject, Thomas said. While police officers continue their investigation, Martin hopes they can deliver justice for her son. She also plans to honor Keys' legacy by speaking out about violence in the face of sudden tragedy. A life reformed Martin said Keys was on the verge of a personal breakthrough before he was killed. An early interest in hip-hop music transformed into a budding side hustle to an assembly line job at Metal Arc Inc. that paid him enough to make ends meet and feed his children. He was also making plans to marry his fiance, Turquoise Bailey, who helped him raise his children, Ariana and Antwaune Jr., along with her own kids. Martin said Keys' renewed focus on family was a blessing and worlds apart from where his life had been just a few years ago. In 2011, Keys was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon and resisting arrest, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections. He was sentenced later that year to five years' probation. Keys violated probation in 2013 and was sentenced to two to five years in prison. He was released from custody in 2017. When he returned home from prison, Martin begged Keys to change for the sake of his family. "His nickname was Toody," Martin recalled. "I said, 'Toody, you can't keep doing this. You have got to do better for your kids.' From that point on, he strived to do better. He got a job and was still at that job when he died." With family as his focus, Keys worked hard to become a different person, Martin said. Three weeks before he died, Keys used his vacation time to take his mother to Florida. "We talked about a lot of stuff," Martin said. "At the time, my younger son was graduating from college, and that inspired (Antwaune). He said, 'Our family is getting to where it needs to be. That's why I've been working so hard. To push everybody to make it to the top. To be 100 percent at everything they do.'" On the plane ride home, Keys slept, but Martin said she stayed awake, watching him with pride. A life taken too soon A vigil on May 22 gave Keys' friends and family a chance to grieve. The affair brought people from all over Michigan to Muskegon Heights, with some driving from as far away as Traverse City to pay their final respects. Martin said the memorial was cathartic. "His passing brought people from all over to let me know that he inspired them to all do better, to do better than the best," she said. "Through these two weeks, a lot of that is what's kept me sane and helped me." What hasn't helped, Martin said, are all the lingering questions. Who killed Antwaune Keys? Who planned the robbery? Will she ever have someone to blame? As the hunt for a suspect drags on, she worries that her son's good nature has been overshadowed by the circumstances of his death. "My son had morals. My son had ethics. My son had standards," Martin said. She also worries that the case will never be solved, and that could lead to retaliation. "I don't want retaliation. It's not going to bring him back," she said. "I would hate for any other lives to get taken, but people are starting to feel like if they're not going to do something, the streets will." The thought makes Martin shudder. She contemplates what she can do to make a difference. She wonders if it's time to speak out against gun violence, and more specifically black-on-black crime. "I get so angry, not just as a mother but as a black person in general," Martin said. "When it's white-on-black crime, there's the pep rallies, it's the candle lights. It's the speeches. Black people coming out to support (a movement around) 'a white man killed a black man,' or 'a white police (officer) killed a black person.' "But when it comes to black-on-black crime, nothing. There needs to be rallies ... or vigils, no matter what color it is. Violence is violence." SAGINAW, MI -- There are 280 Saginaw High and Arthur Hill students who walk across a stage tonight to graduate and receive their diplomas. And, statistically, only 14 of them are prepared for college. According to SAT scores given to juniors in March of 2017, most students at two of the city's high schools aren't considered college ready. Specifically, at Saginaw High and Arthur Hill, five percent or less of the students tested were college-ready in all subjects, which includes math, reading and writing. Saginaw Public School District is the largest district in the county. The district's other high school, Saginaw Arts & Sciences Academy, falls on the opposite end of the spectrum. The college prep school ranked No. 4 in Michigan for college-readiness, with 85 percent of its students testing at college-ready benchmarks on the SAT. This year, 39 students graduated from the school. There are 113 students graduating tonight, June 7, from Saginaw High School, and 167 from Arthur Hill. Preparing early and proactive parents Felesia Harrel, director of the College Bound Academic Learning Center, 3521 State in Saginaw, pointed out three reasons she believes some students are more prepared than others. "I think students start too late," Harrel said. "A lot of parents start when they get in high school. They should start in middle school with critical reading, language and essay writing parts." She also believes students lack foundational skills when it comes to math. (2014) Arthur Hill graduates throw their caps in the air. Harrel said the students who do well in her college-prep program are the ones who have parents who seek help outside of school. "Parents have to do their part, too," she said. "Parents have to be more proactive. Some parents will spend money on expensive cell phones and sporting events but won't invest enough into the academic part of their child." 'Get the numbers up' Tamelka Richardson-Doster, a parent of a graduating senior at Saginaw High, says many social factors contribute to problems for students, parents and the school district. "Some students are responsible for going home and looking after their siblings because their parents had to work," she said. "And sometimes not one job, but two." Extra responsibilities take away from some being able to properly study, she said. Richardson-Doster praised the tutoring efforts of the school, but pointed to some issues within the district, like long-term substitute teachers and a lack of teachers in some core classes. However, Richardson-Doster, who serves as a parent-liasion for the district, said she will continue to work with school officials over the summer to fix problems. "We will try to eliminate barriers to get the numbers up," she said. "We will also try implementing some things to get those numbers up next year." Tests don't always tell the tale Public schools across Saginaw County show a range of success when it comes to college readiness. Frankenmuth High School ranked 31 in the state, with 66 percent of students testing at the college-readiness benchmark. At Heritage High School in Saginaw Township, 36 percent of students hit the benchmarks. The administrator who will likely lead the Saginaw Public Schools district into the next school year argues the numbers don't completely determine a student's collegiate success. Newly appointed Interim Superintendent Ramont Roberts said those data points could help the district make the necessary adjustments to improve student success. "Those tests, though, put in place to measure college readiness, they are not the only way of measure that tells us whether our kids will be successful at post-secondary education," Roberts said. Roberts said plenty of students, who have not scored the college benchmarks, have gone on and succeeded in college. SAGINAW, MI -- Officials at Saginaw High School are investigating an incident involving a student and an employee. A statement sent out from the district said the incident took place Thursday, June 7. "We were made aware of an incident which took place at Saginaw High School between an employee and a student today. We are currently investigating the matter and are not able to share details at this time," the statement said. Officials declined to comment on the nature of the incident was and did not release names of those involved. While NASA is staying tight-lipped on any specific details, the space agency reports it will host a press conference where it will announce new findings from its Curiosity Mars Rover. The event will start at 2 p.m. Thursday, June 7, and will be broadcast on NASA TV and the space agency's website. NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover has studied the Red Planet since it first landed on its surface back in 2012. That's about as much information as NASA gives, besides the fact that Michelle Thaller, assistant director of science for communications, will lead the 2 p.m. chat with leaders and scientists at the space agency. She will host the chat consisting of Paul Mahaffy, director of the solar system exploration division; Jen Eigenbrode, research scientist; Chris Webster, a senior research fellow at JPL and Ashwin Vasavada, a project scientist at JPL. Back in February, NASA shared an amazing panoramic view of the rover's entire 11-mile journey on the planet. When sharing these images and videos, the space agency said it also received the largest amount of data and images it had ever received from the rover. After this, the space agency said the Curiosity team's next goal would be firing its drill up to collect powdered rock samples from the surface of Mars. The main objective of the Curiosity rover was to figure out if the planet ever had an environment able to support small life forms known as microbes. "In other words, its mission is to determine the planet's 'habitability.'" NASA is already looking to the future as its next-generation Mars rover is expected to be used starting in 2020. Although it is talked up as a new "souped-up science machine," NASA says the rover is made up of about 85 percent of heritage hardware from 2012's Curiosity rover. The Mars 2020 rover will scan the Red Planet for signs of ancient life by studying terrain that once consisted of flowing rivers and lakes more than 3.5 billion years ago. Co-organised by the Embassy of Vietnam in Ukraine, the Vietnam-Ukraine Friendship Parliamentarians Group and the Vietnam-Ukraine Friendship Association, the event is held on the occasion of the 128th birth anniversary of President Ho Chi Minh (May 19, 1890 2018), the 70th anniversary of President Ho Chi Minhs call for patriotic work emulation (June 11, 1948 2018) and 107 years since Uncle Ho left the country to find a way to save the nation (June 5, 1911 2018). Addressing the opening ceremony, Vietnamese Ambassador to Ukraine Nguyen Anh Tuan emphasised that the photo exhibition aims to introduce Vietnams great achievements in the field and review the historical milestones in the traditional friendship between Vietnam and Ukraine, as well as introducing dynamic images of the country and people of Vietnam. In particular, there are photos on President Ho Chi Minhs visit to Ukraine on display at the exhibition. Visitors at the exhibition have an opportunity to learn more about Vietnam, a country with great potential that has a long-lasting history and tradition. The event runs until June 8. Q: Prime Minister Trudeau has invited you to attend the G7 Summit in Canada this June, one of the themes of which is climate change, oceans and clean energy. Since the international investment community sees Vietnam as one of the best growth areas in terms of renewables, could you please tell us how Vietnam aims to enable and support the development of and investment in clean energy and renewables? For example, Vietnam has large rare earth reserves. Could those be used to manufacture batteries that would back up solar energy production in Vietnam, and does Vietnam therefore have a plan to explore and extract these rare earth reserves? A: Vietnam is blessed with immense potential for clean renewable energy development. The potential capacity of Vietnams wind energy is estimated at 500 1000 kWh/m2 per year, and its annual average hours of sunshine ranges from 2500 3000, at an average temperature above 21 degrees Celsius. The report released by the German Federal Enterprise for International Cooperation (GIZ) in June 2017 estimated the technical potential for wind and solar energy in Vietnam at 215,000 MW and 340,000MW, respectively. Furthermore, as a major producer of agricultural products, Vietnam is also rich in biomass. With such immense potential, Vietnam is well positioned to strongly develop renewable energy and gradually reduce the use of fossil fuels. Vietnam has been implementing the Strategy of Renewable Energy Development to 2030, with a vision until 2050. Accordingly, Vietnam engages all of its social resources for investment in renewable energy development, encourages the development and use of renewable energy, and strives to raise the share of renewable energy in the national energy sector. A number of concrete objectives in this Strategy are as follows: (i) reduce GHG emissions, as pledged under the Paris COP21 Agreement, by 5% by 2020 and, with international assistance and support, by 25% by 2030; (ii) further reduce the use of coal and petroleum products by 40 million tonnes and 3.7 million tonnes, respectively, by 2030; (iii) increase the electricity output produced by renewable sources from approximately 58 billion kWh in 2015 to 101 billion kWh by 2020, and 186 billion kWh by 2030; (iv) increase the rate of households owning solar energy equipment from 4.3% in 2015 to approximately 12% and 26% by 2020 and 2030, respectively; (v) increase the biofuel output to meet roughly 13% of the transportation demand by 2030. To this end, the Vietnamese Government has put in place incentive mechanisms and policies with regards to land, taxation, pricing, guarantees and public-private partnerships (PPP) in order to promote investment from both within and outside the country into the development of renewable energy, including solar power projects. According to decisions by the Government, solar power projects (i) are eligible for import duty waivers for a number of items constituting the project's fixed assets; (ii) may be considered for exemption or reduction of land use fees, land rent, and water surface rent (ii) electricity tariffs can be adjusted with fluctuations of the VND/USD exchange rate. The Government is considering the possibility of adjusting the tariff for electricity produced from wind energy in order to encourage investment in the years ahead. In addition to renewable sources, Vietnam is also blessed with mineral wealth, including rare earth. Vietnam ranks among the top three in the world with estimated reserves of more than 20 million tonnes of rare earth. We wish to cooperate in the research, development and transfer of advanced technologies in the mining and in-depth processing of rare earth in order to create high value-added and environment-friendly products. It is important that we do not pursue economic growth at the expense of the environment. Q: On the subject of clean energy, how could strategic investment in renewables help Vietnam to both offset its falling oil and gas reserves and develop cleaner energy projection? And is Vietnam looking to therefore attract more investment from G7 countries, either in renewable energy or more generally? If so, how is Vietnam planning to do this? A: The Vietnamese government has put in place mechanisms and policies to encourage investors from both within and outside of the country to invest and do business in renewable energy on the basis of harmonising the interests of the state, the investors and the community. Vietnam is enjoying effective cooperation with many countries, including the G7 members, in the field of renewable energy development. In fact, the G7 countries are implementing major renewable energy projects in Vietnam. I can cite a few examples: the Mui Dinh wind power plant (total output 37.6 MW) worth VND 1,272 billion, developed by Germany's EAB; Tuy Phong wind power plant (output 30 MW) using German technologies; Phu Lac wind power plant (output 24 MW), using German and Danish technologies and finance. We stand ready to cooperate with and facilitate all partners in this regard. I trust that the renewable energy market in Vietnam may offer immense opportunities for G7 investors, who have a strong financial position, and technological know-how and experience, to become strategic partners on the journey. Effects of COVID-19 on children the focus of first Pennridge Community Partnership event Of All Things: How to keep your brain busy By By: Dr. Francis R. Souder, 85, formerly of Telford, died Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007 in the skilled nursing unit of Peter Becker Community, Franconia Township. He and his wife Marion R. (Parker) Souder celebrated their 62nd wedding anniversary in July. Born in Souderton, he was a son of the late Elvin B. and Mary (Rittenhouse) Souder. A 1938 graduate of Souderton High School, he received his undergraduate degree in 1941 from the University of Pennsylvania where he was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa. Dr. Souder went on to receive his medical degree from Hahnemann Medical College in 1944 and completed his internship at Hahnemann Hospital from Oct. 1944 July, 1945. He served with the U.S. Navy Medical Corps for 30 months in San Diego and Long Beach, Calif. during WW II and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant prior to his discharge. He entered his second tour of duty during the Korean War where he served in Panama City, Fla. as the medical officer for the Panama City Naval Air Station and the Tyndal Air Force Base. Dr. Souder owned and operated his family practice on Main Street in Telford from 1947-1989. He served on the staff of Grand View Hospital, and as its president, and taught at the Grand View Hospital Nursing School. He was a member of the Pa. Medical Society, the Bucks County Medical Society, Diplomat American Academy of Family Practices, and served on the board of trustees at Grand View Hospital, Sellersville. He was a member of Trinity United Church of Christ in Telford, where he sang in the church choir. He was also a member of the MacCalla Lodge #596 in Souderton, the Raja Shrine, and Lehigh Consistory. In addition to his widow, he is survived by a son, Dr. Ronald L. Souder, and his wife Susan L. of Green Lane; a daughter, Susan J. Souder, and her husband Stephan Russo of New York, N.Y.; five grandchildren: Jennifer A. Souder of Philadelphia; Emily E. Souder of Philadelphia; Kathryn A. Souder of Washington, D.C.; Noah Russo of New York, N.Y., and Rebekah Russo of New York, N.Y., and two brothers: Attorney Elvin B. Souder of Souderton and Dr. Lawrence Souder of Souderton. Memorial services will be held on Saturday, Nov. 10 at 12 p.m. in Trinity United Church of Christ, 101 S. Main St., Telford, with calling hours following the service. Interment will be private in Trinity UCC Cemetery Telford. Memorial contributions may be made to Grand View Hospital, 700 Lawn Ave., Sellersville, Pa. 18960. Arrangements are by Sadler-Suess Funeral Home, Telford. Letter to editor: Congress can get this right June 07, 2018 U.S.-Saudi Pressure On Jordan Opens The Way For Iran The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan has traditionally been in the 'western' camp. It is politically attached to the United Kingdom and the United States as well as to Saudi Arabia and other Sunni majority Gulf states. The Jordanian King Abdullah II has in the past been hostile to Iran. He was to first to publicly stoke fear of a 'Shia crescent'. But the new Saudi and U.S. plans for 'peace' with Israel are a threat to Jordan and to King Abdullah's personal legitimacy. He needs to change his position. Provided with the right incentives Jordan could, eventually, join the 'resistance' side with Iran, Syria and Hizbullah. The country ruled by King Abdullah has nearly ten million inhabitants but is relatively poor. It has few natural resources. The generally well educated population attracted some foreign investment in its industry. Many Jordanians work abroad and send remittances. But all that is not enough. The country needs foreign subsidies to keep its standard of living. The King of Saudi Arabia derives legitimacy from his title as "Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques" in Mecca and Medina. The King of Jordan springs from the thousand year old great Hashemite dynasty. He heads the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf (Foundation) and is the custodian of the Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem, the Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock. This responsibility is the only prominent function left for the Hashemite family. It is the source of King Abdullah's legitimacy. The changes in Saudi Arabia's policy towards Israel and the Zionist 'peace plan' the Trump administration develops create a new situation for Jordan. It is put under immense economic pressure to agree to these plans. Jordan took part in the war on Syria. While Turkey provided support for the "rebels" attacking Syria from the north Jordan played a similar role in the south. Weapon and ammunition supplies from Saudi Arabia and Qatar were shipped through Jordan and smuggled into Syria. The country welcomed the families of the 'rebels' as refugees and provided medical support. The "southern operation room" of the 'rebels', run by the CIA, was hosted in Jordan's capital Amman. The war interrupted the important and lucrative transportation line from Turkey through Syria and Jordan to the Gulf countries. The refugees were a burden. The once flourishing tourist business fell back. Like most other countries Jordan had expected a short war leading to 'regime change' in Syria within a few months. But now, seven years later, the war on Syria is a major problem for Jordan. The one million refugees from Syria led to an increase in rents while wages went down. About 20% of the working population is without a job. The war needs to end. Jordan receives some $1.2 billion per year in military and economic aid from the United States. In earlier years it additionally received $1 to 2 billions from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf States. That still was not enough to compensate for the burden of the war. Since 2011 Jordan's public debt increased from 70% to 95% of its GDP. Its budget deficit this year will likely top $1 billion. This year Saudi Arabia held back. It gave no money for Jordan. With Trump ruling in Washington the U.S. payments are in doubt. Jordan took out a $723 million IMF loan but it came with strings attached. The IMF demands austerity from the Jordan state. Since the beginning of this year taxes on basic food staples increased by 50 to 100 percent. There were five increases of fuel prices. Electricity and water prices were also hiked. All that was not enough. Since last year the Prime Minister of Jordan worked on a new income tax law which would double the number of people who have to pay income tax. It would also introduce harsh measures against tax evaders. Since May 30 Jordan has seen daily protests, seemingly over rising costs of living and the new income tax law. The protests were led by 33 trade unions who called for a general strike. The call for a strike was followed by many and the protests attracted quite large crowds. They demanded the resignation of the Prime Minister and an end of the income tax plans. Such protests are not especially extraordinary. The usual solution for such a situation is known. After a few days of protests King Abdullah fired Prime Minister Hani Mulki who had insisted on the tax law. Usually that would have been enough. The people would go home, the law in question would be tweaked or abolished and the government would muddle through. But not this time. The demonstrations continue. They now include chants against the monarchy. This is unusual. Very unusual. The economic situation and the income tax law may not be the only explanation for this civil strife. There are rumors that the Saudis, or the CIA, are behind them. On May 18 the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) held an extraordinary summit in Turkey to protest against Israel's atrocities in Palestine and Trump's plans for Jerusalem. Many heads of states took part including the President of Iran and the Emir of Qatar. Saudi Arabia and its Emirate ally sent only lower level delegations. The Jordan King had been asked (machine transl.) not to attend the summit. He went anyway: King Abdullah of Jordan told the Istanbul summit that he rejected any attempt to change the status quo of Jerusalem and its holy sites. That comment went against the U.S. decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem. It went against the Saudi-U.S. 'peace plan' which will hand Jerusalem to the Zionists. But even more important from a Saudi point of view was this picture. King Abdullah not only shook hands with Iran's President Rohani but the two also held the first top level talks between Jordan and Iran in 15 years: The Iranian and Jordanian heads of state have reportedly held a brief meeting on the sidelines of an special summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Turkey. ... King Abdullah II is a pro-Western monarch but Ammans ties with the US and Saudi Arabia have recently been shaken over the issue of Palestine. Riyadhs reported coziness to Israel has worried Jordan which is in charge of the major Muslim shrine complex on the Temple Mount, the al-Aqsa Mosque. The Trump administration and the Saudi Clown Prince Muhammad bin Salman want Jordan to agree to their 'peace plan' with Israel. The Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem would come under Israeli control and would be endangered. Jewish fanatics plan to build a 'third Jewish temple' over the Al-Aqsa mosque. (There is no proof that a first or second temple was ever there.) Any such agreement thus threatens the legitimacy of the Hashemite King. The lack of financial support from Saudi Arabia and the unusual demonstrations in Jordan are supposed to put pressure on King Abdullah. The Saudis and the U.S. want him to submit under the dirty deal they made with the Zionists. If Abdullah does not go along with the Saudi/U.S. plans he will have to leave. If he goes along he will lose his legitimacy. There is one alternative. King Abdullah could change sides. He can ask Iran (or Qatar? Or maybe even Russia?) for financial support. A few billions will do. They could come in the form of industrial investments. In exchange for such economic support he would have to commit to the 'resistance' side. He would have to stop his support for the war on Syria. He would have to lower his relations with Saudi Arabia and take a stronger position against Israel. But Saudi Arabia is still a neighbor of Jordan and rich. Many Jordanians work there. The U.S. protects Jordan from Israel. It is thus unlikely that Abdullah would openly take such a big step towards Iran. But there are probably ways and means to slowly move into a more neutral position. Wherever the U.S. and Saudi Arabia have started conflicts and wars - in Iraq, Lebanon, Qatar, Yemen and Syria - Iran has won. The Saudi pressure on Jordan might have a similar effect. Posted by b on June 7, 2018 at 18:15 UTC | Permalink Comments From San Jose south down U.S. 101, most folks who live in the valley have little idea what happens in the hills that surround them. The rolling hills are full of life, though, and the cattle industry practiced since the Spanish Vaqueros still thrives. Mostly unseen, the work done on surrounding cattle ranches shows up on our dinner plates and through the veins of the regional agricultural economy33,500 head of cattle in San Benito County and 13,300 head in Santa Clara County, according to the 2016 USDA Agricultural Census. One of those ranchers is Justin Fields, president of the Santa Clara County Cattlemans Association, who works alongside his wife, Arleah Fields, and daughters Jenna,17, a senior at Sobrato High School whos heading to Cal-Poly San Luis Obispo in the fall, and Jodi, 13, to ranch almost 500 head of cattle. Fields is tall, with blue eyes and a neat pushbroom mustache, and hes a real-life cowboy, with the chaps, spurs, rodeo belts and family heritage to prove it. Still, when he comes to town to pick up his daughter from school, people often cant understand what he does. They are so removed from the land, they dont know where their food comes from, Fields, 46, said. They dont realize that their food is actually being produced here. The Fields ranch is one of the few remaining family-owned cattle ranches in Santa Clara County. The Fields own 700 acres of prime grassland in the rolling hills of Coyote Valley, just south of San Jose. To accommodate almost 500 head of cattle, they lease an additional 7,000 acres, much of it on public lands administered by the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority. In this area, there arent many family-owned ranches, Fields said. Its rare that a rancher owns enough property where they dont need to lease more acreage to run their cows. The end of May is the culmination of a years worth of work, and last Friday was the final send-off for 32 cows and 14 calvesHerefords and Anguswhich Fields loaded into the back of a semi-trailer to be sent to auction. He had some help. With fellow rancher Pierre Paquelier, and Arleah on horseback, they led the cattle through a chute. As the team loaded the cattle, mother cows bellowed for recently weaned and now separated calves. Theyre still looking for their calves; theyre agitated, mooing and bawling, Fields said. Its kind of sad, but it happens every year. Thats the annual cycle. Its an annual process that ranchers have repeated, in differing ways, since the Spanish Rancheros established land grants in the 1700s. At the Fields Ranch, the end of May is payday. This year the rate is about $1.55 a pound, or about $1,007 a head at the video auction. Of course, when your payday comes once a year, you need to be able to budget well. I brought in our check to the bank, and while I waited the bank manager came out to ask us about investing our money, Arleah Fields said. When I told him that was our paycheck for the year, he was like Oh, wow. The video market has modernized the old school auction. Via a satellite link, faraway buyers bid for whole truckloads of preloaded cattle by video. The prospective buyers are given necessary information like weight, breeds and vaccination background to bid on truckloads of cattle weighing close to 50,000 pounds. You need to budget everything, Fields said. The biggest expense is leasing land, which can range from $10 to $20 per acre, or by a per head per month basis which is between $15 to $20 depending on which agency you deal with. When you pay for a mother cow, you are paying for the calf as well. On average it takes 10 acres of property to support a cow for one year, depending on the land. Aside from the calving season in the fall, cattle can take care of themselves while out on the ranch. Still, the Fields ride their land looking for potential trouble, like a sick cow, or they check on water and fences. They also work to rotate grazing land, especially during the winter and spring when the grass is still growing. In this case, the cows act as lawn mowers. The market for beef is bullish. In January, Bloomberg reported that in 2018 the average American is expected to eat 222.2 pounds of red meat and poultry, and that domestic beef production will exceed 100 billion pounds. In the international market, U.S. beef producers exported over $7 billion in beef products, with Japan as the largest consumer at $1.9 billion. The Chinese marketplace, which had been cut off since 2003, was reopened in last year after the U.S.-China Comprehensive Economic Dialogue in June. Among the challenges of running a cattle ranch, the weather is always a big one. While the Fields have a few water wells operated by solar-powered pumps, most of the water they use is spring water. However, during the worst parts of the drought that ended in the winter of 2016, water from the City of San Jose proved invaluable. The Fields Ranch is the definition of a family-owned and -operated outfit. Justin, Arleah, their two daughters, nine horses and a team of cattle dogs make the operation work. There is also a strong sense of community among ranchers, where a handshake is still bonding. On June 1, fellow rancher Paquelier was there to help, and Fields will return the favor in kind. When the margins are so razor thin, the community helps family farms survive. Meeting the outgoing UK Ambassador in Hanoi on June 6, the PM showed his pleasure at the growth of the Vietnam-UK relationship over the past years, with two-way trade reaching US$6.1 billion in 2017. For his part, Lever agreed that bilateral relationship has been growing strongly. Recognising Vietnams progress in improving investment environment, he stated that the UK Government is willing to give technical support to Vietnam in the work. He expressed his delight at cooperation outcomes between the two countries in defence, security, and response to global challenges such as climate change and wildlife trafficking. The diplomat said that the UK strongly supports the maintenance of security and maritime and aviation freedom in the East Sea and the observance of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982. PM Phuc thanked the UK Ambassador for his fine sentiments to Vietnam, holding that the two sides should continue promoting the reached achievements to elevate bilateral economic ties to a new level matching the two countries strategic partnership framework and cooperation potential. The two sides should coordinate closely in organising the upcoming meeting of the Vietnam-UK Joint Economic-Trade Committee, he said. The Government leader stated that Vietnam hopes to continue receiving assistance from the UK through the Prosperity Fund, especially in the areas of climate change adaptation, environment, green energy and scientific research. The PM proposed that the two countries organise more exchange programmes to deepen mutual understanding, especially in 2018 when Vietnam and the UK celebrate their 45th anniversary of diplomatic ties. Lever said that the UK Embassy in Vietnam has planned various cultural and educational activities to mark the special occasion. Welcome to Morningstar.co.uk! You have been redirected here from Hemscott.com as we are merging our websites to provide you with a one-stop shop for all your investment research needs.To search for a security, type the name or ticker in the search box at the top of the page and select from the dropdown results.Registered Hemscott users can log in to Morningstar using the same login details. Similarly, if you are a Hemscott Premium user, you now have a Morningstar Premium account which you can access using the same login details. They said both sides offered mutual support in regional and global forums. The two PMs discussed measures to strengthen Vietnam Denmark comprehensive partnership, including strategic partnership in climate change, energy, environment and green growth. The leaders agreed to work closely together to celebrate the 45th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties. As Denmark will host the first high-level Global Green Growth Forum in October, Rasmussen invited PM Phuc to attend the event. The Vietnamese PM expressed his hope that the forum will devise major orientations and specific actions to fuel green and sustainable growth in the near future. Meeting with the UK diplomat, President Quang congratulated him on having successfully completed his working term in Vietnam, while speaking highly of his active contributions to facilitating the Vietnam-UK strategic partnership. Vietnam always attaches importance to developing its friendly relations and cooperation with the UK, one of its priority partners in Europe, the leader said, voicing his delight at the extensively growing strategic partnership between the two sides across all spheres, especially politics-foreign affairs, trade-investment, development cooperation, education, and defence-security. He suggested that both sides strengthen the exchange of high-level delegations to build political trust; accelerate bilateral economic, trade, and investment relations; expand cooperation across the other fields; and enhance cultural, sport, and education cooperation to boost friendship and mutual understanding. Vietnam plans to organise the Vietnamese Cultural Days in the UK with a variety of activities this October, as part of celebrations for the 45th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties, President Quang said. For his part, Ambassador Giles Lever reiterated the UKs commitment to boosting cooperation with its partners in the Asia-Pacific region, stating that the UK will continue its overhaul of economic cooperation with Vietnam in various fields in the time ahead, such as in improving the business climate and in building green cities. The diplomat also proposed three areas for Vietnam-UK cooperation in the years to come. In terms of the economy, trade, and investment, the UK strongly supports the prompt signing and ratification of the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), and the bilateral trade agreement between Vietnam and the UK, while strengthening the investment by UK firms in Vietnam to meet the cooperation potential between the two sides. President Tran Dai Quang speaks highly of the diplomat's contributions to Vietnam-UK relations. Then UK will work with Vietnam to ensure the respect of international law, as well as peace, security, and maritime and aviation safety and freedom in the East Sea, and wishes to cooperate with Vietnam in the response to global challenges, especially environmental issues. President Quang expressed gratitude for the UKs commitments, as well as its support for Vietnam and ASEANs stance in addressing the East Sea-related issues, aiming to ensure peace, security, maritime and aviation safety and freedom in this region. He urged both sides to continue bringing consultation mechanisms into full play, while maintaining mutual support at multilateral forums and within the framework of the UN. * Addressing the reception for Dutch Ambassador Nienke Trooster, President Quang thanked the diplomat for her cooperation during her four-year tenure in Vietnam, expressing his belief that she would contribute significantly to promoting the friendly relations and multifaceted cooperation between the two countries. Vietnam always treasures the sentiments offered by the Dutch people, he said, conveying his thanks for the official development assistance (ODA) capital provided by the Dutch people and organisations for Vietnam. President Tran Dai Quang (right) and Dutch Ambassador to Vietnam Nienke Trooster. The State leader highly appreciated the two countries coordination and mutual support at international organisations and multilateral forums, urging both sides to continue working closely together for the extensive development of their strategic partnership and to connect new partners in new projects, aiming to serve the cause of sustainable development in each country. He also asked the Netherlands to facilitate and support the prompt signing and ratification of the EVFTA. Speaking highly of Vietnam-Netherlands cooperation over recent years, Ambassador Nienke Trooster stressed the need for both sides to strengthen economic, trade and investment cooperation in the time ahead. She pledged to always work to further boost cooperation between the two countries in any position she holds in the future. This document is a prerequisite for the two ministries to promote relations in order to enhance technical cooperation on environmental protection and management, land and marine management, and climate change response. At the signing ceremony, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Le Cong Thanh, highly appreciated the environmental protection management of the MEPLS as well as the results of bilateral cooperation between the two countries in recent years. The MONRE wished to cooperate and learn from Italy's experiences in the field of climate change response, he noted. The Deputy Minister also proposed that Italy consider supporting Vietnam in developing a policy on assessing the impacts of climate change and natural disasters on the community and the efficacy of response measures, while coordinating with the MONRE to effectively implement the MoU in the area of climate change, and build and train resources in the use of the geographic information system (GIS) for strategic environmental assessments and other specialised areas. For his part, Francesco La Camera, Director General for Sustainable Development, Energy and Climate under the MEPLS said that Italy is ready to cooperate with the MONRE in the fields of climate change response, waste management, hydro-meteorology, and others. The Consulate General of Vietnam in Yekaterinburg in cooperation with the Association of Vietnamese in Sverdlovsk province jointly launched the "Vietnamese language class" for children of the Vietnamese community in the city of Yekaterinburg, on June 4. Speaking at the opening ceremony, Consul General Ngo Phuong Nghi spoke highly of the efforts made by the Leadership Board of the Vietnamese community in Sverdlovsk province and the officials working at the Consulate General for opening the class in a bid to help local Vietnamese children to master their mother tongue. Nghi emphasised that the teaching of the Vietnamese language also helps the younger Vietnamese generations in Yekaterinburg to nurture a love for and preserve the national identity, while enhancing their understanding on the history and traditions of Vietnam. Chairman of the Association of Vietnamese in Sverdlovsk province Le Thanh Do, expressed his deep gratitude for the support of the Consulate General of Vietnam in Yekaterinburg and donors, as well as the close coordination of parents in organising the Vietnamese class at the Hanoi Trade Centre, in Yekaterinburg, which is home to a large number of Vietnamese people and enterprises. Attending the class, children will be taught Vietnamese through the syllabuses compiled by the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training, which have been designed specifically for overseas Vietnamese. Vous etes confrontes a une infestation par la puce, la punaise de lit ? Voici plusieurs actions qui sont a mettre en uvre pour faire [] Several Western guests were giggling interspersed by curiosity at an intersection of the Hanoi Old Quarter. They were preparing to cross the road through the bustling Hanoi traffic. A young man tiptoed forward. Suddenly he screamed as the sound of several motorbikes approached, making the Western man leap back to his starting point. Then he hugged his friends and laughed as if he had just escaped danger. Motorbikes were still flying around blind to the traffic lights. They progressed forward and backward. The screams of excitement mixed with jokes. Finally, the work of walking across the twenty-foot wide intersection finished after quite a long period of time. They hugged and shouted as they had conquered a difficult challenge. Then cellphones were instantly pulled out to take selfies marking the achievement. I've asked several big names in backpacking about the attractiveness of adventure travel, which features new feelings on new experiences, even something that endangers our lives. People will feel that they have surpassed their limits when the challenge is over. Voila, the traffic in Hanoi is enough to serve such features. Visitors from Europe, Japan or the Republic of Korea are witness to organised traffic almost all of their lives, with cars and trams going, stopping, or turning in a bored manner following the traffic signal lights. They could find strange things in the traffic in Vietnams capital city, with endless lines of motorcycles demolishing the border between roads and sidewalks, splendid dodges as in a race and congested intersections. The feeling would be stronger if the guests are sitting on the motorcycles in the traffic or passing along the road. Almost every day, I meet foreign travellers who are busy taking pictures of Hanois traffic. Uruguays Rama Martin, a lover of Hanoi, admires the talents of the Hanoi motorcyclists as he described them in his book as having the ability to master the delicate actions of ballet dancers in Vienna. What experience is more heart-throbbing? Cross the road if you can! If you come to Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City in the rainy season, it is no doubt that you may catch a moment when the streets turn into rivers - an experience that not many foreigners can have in their lifetime. A few days ago, the story of a narrow railroad in Hanoi's old streets which became attractive to foreigners made the headlines in the newspapers. Actually, that story is very old. The train crossing the inner city, from the intersection at Dien Bien Phu street stretching to Phung Hung street, has long been a destination for foreigners. There they can see children playing, iced tea stalls, kitchen corners with delicious cuisine, and old men playing chess. All occur on ... the train rails. As the thousand-tonne train dashingly arrives, all vanish very quickly, and then come back in a faster way than when they disappeared. These pictures are one of the best things that foreigners tell each other and are a must-have experience when travelling to Hanoi! Several years ago, Hoi An was worried that not many guests would come to the town in the flood season, but now tours offering chances to experience the flood have become the most sought after travel product! So why has Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh not learnt from the experience in Hoi An to turn their disadvantages into benefits, especially when the traffic chaos has become the brand of both cities. Of course, even if you accept risk, taking safety measures to avoid trouble is a must. The World Tourism Organisation has rated adventure tourism as one of the fastest growing travel trends around the globe. If a tour operator offers a chance to travel on a motorcycle in a crowded area during peak hours, definitely the adventurous guests will be racing to register. Many people from the deltas that go to explore the high mountains compliment the local people on their good opportunities for conquering the mountain passes, streams and swings across the rivers every day. The Western visitors are also the same. However, there are people that argue that Hanoians are lucky, because they dont have to go anywhere to experience the strong feeling of adventure travel! "On this occasion, I would like to solemnly call for all eligible voters to cast their ballots in order to elect national leaders for development and glorious progress in all fields," Sihamoni said in a royal message released to the media late on June 5. The monarch said the forthcoming election is a free, fair, and confidential election that goes with the liberal multi-party democracy, so the voters should not worry about any pressure or intimidation from anyone or any political party. "I urge all the compatriots to exercise your rights to vote in according to your own conscience and to freely elect any candidate, any political party that you trust," he said. During a get-together with some 22,000 garment factory workers in southeastern Kampong Cham province on June 6, Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen also appealed to the people to vote and urged them to vote for the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP). "To protect peace and development, it is easy: vote for the Cambodian People's Party so that I will continue to lead (the nation) in the capacity of the prime minister," he said. Twenty political parties will contest in the forthcoming election, which will see some 8.3 million people cast their ballots, according to the National Election Committee (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 National Assembly. Bolton has been a target of Pyongyangs anger since he called for applying a so-called Libya model to the dismantlement of DPRK's nuclear weapons program. That means removing all nuclear weapons and related facilities from the DPRK before rewarding the regime with economic benefits. Pyongyang threatened to cancel the June 12 summit over the remarks and later singled out US Vice President Mike Pence for suggesting DPRK could meet the same fate as Libya's collapsed regime if it failed to denuclearize. Last week both Bolton and Pence were absent from a White House meeting between Trump and a DPRKs envoy, who delivered a personal letter from Kim. Trump said after that meeting that the summit was back on, just days after he had canceled it over "open hostility" from the DPRK. The two nations have since been holding working-level meetings to speeding up preparations for the bilateral summit again. Singapore will host the summit between US President Donald Trump and DPRK leader Kim Jong-un on June 12, the first bilateral summit to be held since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. Both delegations from US and DPRK have been in the small city-state nation since the end of May preparing for the historic June 12 meeting, which the White House said on June 5 would take place at the Capella Hotel, a five-star luxury resort on Sentosa Island. The city-state gears up for upcoming historic summit between US President Donald Trump and the DPRKs leader Kim Jong-un. Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan will pay an official visit to the DPRK, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on June 6. Balakrishnan will visit the DPRK at the invitation of his counterpart Ri Yong Ho on June 7-8. During his stay, he will also call on President of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly Kim Yong Nam. Singapore will play its role to be a good host to the US-DPRK summit scheduled for Jun 12, said Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen last week. I know that security agencies from the Home Team and the Singapore Armed Forces are busy planning to make sure that everything is safe. I know that officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are working very hard, Dr Ng told reporters on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue. Sign up to receive the First Reading newsletter, your guide to the world of Canadian politics. First Reading is your guide to the world of Canadian politics. Sign up now> Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) holds talks with Kyrgyz President Sooronbay Jeenbekov at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, June 6, 2018. (Xinhua/Li Xueren) BEIJING, June 6 (Xinhua) -- China and Kyrgyzstan on Wednesday agreed to establish a comprehensive strategic partnership. The agreement was reached during the talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and visiting Kyrgyz President Sooronbay Jeenbekov at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. "It is another landmark event in the history of bilateral ties that China and Kyrgyzstan will establish a comprehensive strategic partnership, which will inject new impetus into the development of bilateral ties," Xi told Jeenbekov. Standing at a new starting point, China is willing to work with Kyrgyzstan to carry forward the traditional friendship and conduct all-round cooperation so as to achieve national development and better benefit the two peoples, said Xi. Noting that Kyrgyzstan was one of the first countries to support and participate into the Belt and Road Initiative and related construction, Xi said China would like to make joint efforts with Kyrgyzstan to open minds and explore potentials to lift bilateral cooperation to a new level. He called on both sides to enhance synergy in development strategies and policy coordination, seek more converging interests and growth points, jointly plan key areas and major projects, expand trade and investment, and speed up construction of major projects. Both countries should expand cultural and people-to-people exchanges and local cooperation to boost neighborly friendship, said Xi, who also stressed the importance of improving security cooperation to fight the "three evil forces" of terrorism, extremism and separatism and organized crime across the border. Xi spoke highly of Kyrgyzstan's support for China since it has taken the rotating presidency of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) last June, saying that China stands ready to work with Kyrgyzstan to promote the SCO so it can develop along a healthy and stable track. Jeenbekov, who is in China on a state visit and to attend the SCO Qingdao Summit scheduled to be held this weekend, said Kyrgyzstan admires China's social and economic achievements and appreciates China's long-term valuable assistance. The establishment of a comprehensive strategic partnership unveils a new chapter in the bilateral relationship, he said. Jeenbekov said it has always been Kyrgyzstan's priority to develop ties with China and Kyrgyzstan has been and will continue to be a most reliable neighbor, partner, and friend of China. Kyrgyzstan will firmly adhere to the one-China policy, stand ready to advance pragmatic cooperation with China in the areas of economy and trade, cultural and people-to-people exchanges, and jointly combat "three evil forces," as well as work together in safeguarding regional peace, stability and security, said Jeenbekov. Kyrgyzstan backs the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and believes the initiative will greatly promote common development in the region, said the Kyrgyz president, adding that Kyrgyzstan will maintain the continuity of all cooperative agreements with China. Jeenbekov said his country is confident that the SCO Qingdao Summit will be a success under the leadership of China. Chinese President Xi Jinping holds a welcome ceremony for Kyrgyz President Sooronbay Jeenbekov before their talks in Beijing, capital of China, June 6, 2018. (Xinhua/Ding Lin) After the talks, the two presidents signed a joint statement regarding establishing a comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Kyrgyzstan and witnessed the signing of a series of cooperative agreements. In the statement, both sides reiterated that they would not join any union or group that harms the other country's sovereignty, security and territorial integrity and would not sign such treaties with a third country. Both sides agreed not to allow a third country, organizations, groups or personnel to conduct activities jeopardizing the other country's sovereignty, security and territorial integrity. In line with the principle of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, and win-win cooperation, both sides agreed to carry out the cooperation documents and programs that have been signed or agreed upon, and to promote bilateral, multilateral trade and economic cooperation projects, including highways and railways, energy, fiber-optic communication lines and mining industry to inject new contents into a sustainable cooperation between the two countries, the statement said. Both sides agreed that pragmatic cooperation is the material basis of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries. They reiterated their opposition to all forms of protectionism and agreed to facilitate trade and mutual investment. While recognizing the importance of enhancing interconnectivity of regional transport infrastructure, both sides pledged to continue to work for building an efficient transport corridor connecting the two countries and linking to other nations in the region. To expand cooperation in law enforcement, strengthen exchanges between departments, enhance intelligence sharing and improve border security cooperation, both sides agreed to make joint efforts in fighting the "three evil forces" including the East Turkistan Islamic Movement, international terrorist organizations, money laundering, drug smuggling, and cyber crime, as well as all forms of organized crime across the border, to safeguard peace, security and stability of the two countries and the region. The two countries also agreed to enhance cooperation under the framework of the United Nations, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia so as to exchange opinions on major international and regional issues in time, jointly rise to global and regional challenges, safeguard the common interests of the two countries, and continue to strengthen collaboration in initiatives that conform with common interests of the two sides, the statement said. Prior to the talks, Xi held a welcome ceremony for Jeenbekov outside the East Gate of the Great Hall of the People. According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, this is the first time the new state visit welcome ceremony has been conducted. By Online Desk Rajinikanth fans across the country queued outside the theatres in large numbers as early as 4 am to catch the first show of Superstar-starrer 'Kaala'. Kaala starring Superstar Rajinikanth has been produced by his son-in-law Dhanush and directed by Pa. Ranjith. This is their second collaboration after the blockbuster hit Kabali in 2016 and Rajinikanth's first release post the announcement of his political entry. Here are some of the Twitter reactions of the audience who caught an early morning show of 'Kaala'. #Kaala : Starts slow, ends massy - the awesome storyline keeps us engaged till the end and ends with a classic Climax! Get ready for the BIG JUMP of #Rajinikanth into politics 3/n VID (@VIDtweetshere) June 7, 2018 #Kaala- You will see the actor in Rajnikanth sir and at the same time his mass mannerisms also. A complete blend of mass and class -TRN- (@ruban_naidu) June 7, 2018 Difference between #Kabali & #Kaala In #Kabali Superstar Rajni took a back seat.. In #Kaala @beemji has taken back seat.. This is complete Superstar Rajni show all the way.. Entire India & World will know what is Mass, Craze & BO collections are... Sachin 2.0 (@sachinkabali) June 7, 2018 Kaalas reactions after the return of his long lost love is a bliss to watch.#kaala #FDFS #movie Mohanavel Samy (@mohanavel_samy) June 7, 2018 And seriously I neva knw u can act so well @humasqureshi and am going for 2nd show tonight #kaala @beemji excellent job Bullet_Kavi (@bullet_kavi) June 7, 2018 Just watched a movie #UPGRADEmovie .. Freaking awesome.. had no expectations, just watched it as #Kaala is too far for me.. But This movie #Upgrade is awesome.. kind of #exmachina feel to it, small set of characters.. simply told story of futuristic affect of machines on mankind chakri (@chakrireview) June 7, 2018 BTW, I just saw Kaala. What a phenomenal movie. A Pa. Ranjith movie out and out. Please watch it. Completely trolled BJP and Shiv Sena. #kaala Gayathri (@cacaophilix) June 7, 2018 Rajinikanth-starrer 'Kaala' live streamed on Facebook Earlier in the day, 'Kaala' hit a minor hurdle following a few scenes were leaked online. During the movie's preview show in Singapore, one of the viewers had live streamed the film from his Facebook account. Following which the viewer was arrested and the Facebook live stream was brought down. Leading producer Dhananjayan took to Twitter to register his anguish. His tweet reads,"Shocking act of piracy. Disgusting." Tamil film producer council president Vishal quickly responded to Dhananjayan tweet, revealing the details and action taken regarding the incident. He said, "On the job @Dhananjayang sir. He has been arrested. Took it from Cathay Singapore." 'Kaala' to see full-fledged release in Karnataka on Friday Despite opposition from pro-Kannada outfits, Rajinikanths Tamil film Kaala will see a full-fledged release on Friday in Karnataka in about 250 theatres across the state, including multiplexes. All the theatres will be provided security by the police to prevent pro-Kannada organisations from creating any ruckus. Uncertainty persisted over the films initially scheduled release on Thursday though there are plans to release the much-amticipated movie in about 100 theatres. But providing the list of theatres to the police for security and signing agreements with theatre owners about the release will take time, which is why the films booking has not yet appeared on the BookMyShow app. (With inputs from ENS) By Online Desk Superstar Rajinikanth-starrer 'Kaala' hit a minor hurdle following a few scenes which were leaked online. During the movie's preview show in Singapore, one of the viewers had live streamed the film from his Facebook account. Following which the viewer was arrested and the Facebook live stream was brought down. Leading producer Dhananjayan took to Twitter to register his anguish. His tweet reads,"Shocking act of piracy. Disgusting." Tamil film producer council president Vishal quickly responded to Dhananjayan tweet, revealing the details and action taken regarding the incident. He said, "On the job @Dhananjayang sir. He has been arrested. Took it from Cathay Singapore." On the job @Dhananjayang sir. He has been arrested. Took it from Cathay Singapore. Vishal (@VishalKOfficial) June 6, 2018 'Kaala' to see full-fledged release in Karnataka on Friday Despite opposition from pro-Kannada outfits, Rajinikanths Tamil film Kaala will see a full-fledged release on Friday in Karnataka in about 250 theatres across the state, including multiplexes. All the theatres will be provided security by the police to prevent pro-Kannada organisations from creating any ruckus. Uncertainty persisted over the films initially scheduled release on Thursday though there are plans to release the much-amticipated movie in about 100 theatres. But providing the list of theatres to the police for security and signing agreements with theatre owners about the release will take time, which is why the films booking has not yet appeared on the BookMyShow app. Kaala starring Superstar Rajinikanth has been produced by his son-in-law Dhanush and directed by Pa. Ranjith. This is their second collaboration after the blockbuster hit Kabali in 2016 and Rajinikanth's first release post the announcement of his political entry. (With inputs from ENS) BEIJING, June 6 (Xinhua) -- China will roll out vigorous efforts to build a more comprehensive and rigorous social credit system to improve its business environment and boost development, the State Council decided at an executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday. Key priorities for improving the social credit system were identified at the meeting. These measures include building a social credit-centered regulatory mechanism and enhancing social credit building in key areas concerning people's livelihood. Premier Li Keqiang said that a social credit system comprising solid credit records of all market entities, is of fundamental importance. Recent years have seen China make visible progress in developing a national social credit system. A unified social credit code has been introduced nationwide. A total of 33.99 million credit codes have been issued to newly registered businesses. And 71 central government departments and provincial governments have been connected to the national credit information sharing platform. The cross-sectoral, inter-agency mechanism of incentives and disincentives for acts of good or bad faith made initial impacts. Big data has been applied in credit investigation and helped businesses meet real needs. For example, companies with good credit records had received 632,000 loans from financial institutions in the banking sector by the end of 2017. "Breakthroughs have been made in developing the social credit system. Going forward, the system needs to be improved in key areas in response to specific needs," Li said at the Wednesday meeting. "The priority now is to improve our business environment with stronger measures against cheating in marketplace, such as counterfeiting, and infringements of intellectual property rights." Steps in the following five aspects were decided at the meeting to enhance the building of a social credit system with application of the system and legislation on prioritized. A credit-centered regulatory system will be set up to improve the business environment. Blacklist mechanism will be introduced. Law violations including infringement, counterfeiting and cheating in marketplace and fraudulent advertising will be resolutely tackled and made public. Information safety need to be safeguarded, and trade secrets and individual privacy should be well protected. Also, a social credit system in key livelihood areas will be enhanced. Non-public sector will be guided in building the social credit system, and credit information services provided by third parties will be developed. Government departments will be required to bolster credibility, and problems of new officials disavowing obligations undertaken by predecessors will be tackled under the law. It was also decided at the meeting that government requirements on certification will be overhauled to make it easier for the general public and enterprises to get things done. The practice of inspections by randomly selected inspectors against randomly selected entities and prompt release of inspection results will be fully implemented to make market regulation fairer and more efficient. These above measures will all contribute to the building of the social credit system. "A market economy is based on credit," Premier Li said. "A fine credit system provides market entities with the information they need for business operations. A blacklist should be established. Access to and sharing of information, which can serve to incentivize or discipline, helps reduce transaction costs and improve the business environment." Premier Li also emphasized the importance of safeguarding information security with tiered authorization. He called for early establishment of a secure and reliable social credit system and introduction of capable third parties in the financial sector. Kumar Vikram By Express News Service NEW DELHI: The newly appointed secretary at the ministry of information and broadcasting has asked for purpose behind setting up of social media hub. Earlier, the ministry planned to set up a social media hub and recruit social media executives in districts across the country for various activities including spreading positive news of the government and to monitor the activities on social media. The idea of the social media hub was floated when Smriti Irani was the minister of information of broadcasting and sources claimed that it was actually the ministers plan to set up a centralized hub. However, in a recent rejig in the cabinet, Irani was moved from the ministry and minister of state (independent charge) Rajyavardhan Rathore was given the full charge. In the meantime, new secretary Amit Khare also took charge recently. Khare is known for exposing fodder scam. A source with the ministry claimed that in a recent meeting, the secretary asked the concerned official about the purpose behind setting up of social media hub. READ | I&B Ministrys social media hub to unleash publicity drive for BJP government's schemes He asked about proper and elaborate action plan on the initiative. He also asked how the project would be a value for money as it involves recruiting a large number of professionals across the country. The official has been asked to come with all these details for further discussion, added the source. Meanwhile, the ministry has extended the deadline of submitting the proposals for setting up the social media up till June 18 and it is third extension of the deadline. Officials said that some proposals have come, but, the ministry wanted more proposals to reach on conclusion. As per the proposal, the project is meant to strengthen the social media division and recruit social media managers to be deployed in 712 districts of the country. Each district will have one social media manager who will be entrusted with the tasks of keeping a close eye on the regional and local media, collecting data of regional media and of local events, providing content for social media and supporting media units at the regional level for social media publicity. ALSO READ | Social media hub: Congress accuses Centre of trying to snoop on citizens These social media managers will also monitor local editions of newspapers, local cable channels, local audio channels (FM) and key local social media handles for important local developments. They will make a daily analysis report incorporating local sentiments to be sent to region head in the PIB as well as the media hub (command centre). Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Limited, a PSU under the I&B Ministry, has been given the mandate for the social media hub. As per a Request for Proposals issued by it, the platform needs to support Facebook, Twitter, Google, Linkedin, Play Store, email, news, blogs, forums and complaint websites. By IANS NEW DELHI: India and Pakistan need to talk without putting preconditions in a bid to restore peace in Jammu and Kashmir, the CPI-M has said. The offer of talks with Pakistan that Home Minister Rajnath Singh has extended should be taken forward, an editorial in the CPI-M journal "People's Democracy" said. "But it cannot be conditional ... that talks and terror cannot go together. If the National Security Advisors of the two countries can meet and talk, if the DGMOs can confabulate, there is no reason why a broader dialogue cannot be initiated with Pakistan," it said. READ: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh's two-day Jammu and Kashmir visit begins "Just as Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought to arrive at some modus vivendi with President Xi Jinping (of China) at Wuhan, similarly, there is the need for a diplomatic initiative on the Pakistan front," the Communist Party of India-Marxist said. But the editorial warned that people in the Kashmir Valley do not have much faith in the prospects of a political dialogue that could lead to a political settlement. "This is because the situation in the valley has steadily deteriorated since the Modi government assumed office four years ago," it said. "The adoption of a hardline security stance and the use of coercive instruments of the state to suppress popular protests have only given a spurt to militancy which has now been energised by the influx of a large number of local youth." Referring to "the deep alienation that the people harbour towards the Indian State", the CPI-M said: "What is required in order to start a meaningful dialogue is to take steps to restore some degree of trust between the people of Kashmir and the Centre." This, it said, would require a set of measures including extension of the current ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir, the withdrawal of the use of pellet guns against stone-pelters and release of separatist leaders like Shabir Shah. There should be an announcement that any excess committed by security forces on civilians would be investigated and prompt action taken, it said. "If such measures are announced along with a specific offer for holding talks with the separatist leadership, then there is scope for a political dialogue to begin." By IANS SRINAGAR: On an outreach to Kashmir, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday urged the youth of Jammu and Kashmir to acquire education and participate in sports to change their own fate, saying many of them have been "lost in the dark for many years" in the state. The Centre had decided to withdraw cases against those "misled into stone pelting" as it was concerned about the future of Jammu and Kashmir's youth, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said today. Singh, who arrived at the state's summer capital today, is on a two-day visit to review the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir. "We believe that children anywhere are the same. We understand that some youth were misled into stone pelting. Children can make mistakes. That is why we decided to withdraw the cases against those children who were involved in stone pelting," he said. The Union Home Ministry late last year had ordered to withdraw cases against youths involved in stone pelting. Singh appealed to the youth not to tread the path of destruction and said the Centre and the state government had initiated several schemes to help them secure their future. WATCH: Home Minister Rajnath Singh adresses the media in Srinagar https://t.co/M5wC4N5BiP ANI (@ANI) June 7, 2018 "I want to appeal to the youth that they should take the path of development. They should not go on the path of destruction," he said at a sports function at the Sher-e-Kashmir Indoor Stadium here. "There is extreme love in the heart of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for Jammu and Kashmir. It is our responsibility to provide a secure future to the youth of the state and it can be done with the power of education and miracle of sports," Singh said. Lauding the state government for carrying out works for improving the sports infrastructure, the Home Minister said funds will not be a problem for promoting sports in Jammu and Kashmir. "Funds will be provided for promotion of water sports at Mansar and Pahalgam. Funds will be arranged for development of sports infrastructure," he said. "With the help of the Jammu and Kashmir government, we will change the face and destiny of the state," Singh said. "The state of Jammu and Kashmir has great talent and many more such sports persons can come out of the state if the conditions are right," he said. The Minister said youth and the sporting talents of the state should take the benefit of the opportunity being provided to them by the Centre and Jammu and Kashmir government. "Many sporting talents have been lost in the dark for many years in this state. Now we are giving opportunities to the youth and sporting talents of the state. I believe that the youth of Jammu and Kashmir can change the future course and their own fate through 'Sports Ki Karamat' (miracle of sports) and 'Taleem Ki Taqat' (power of education)," Rajnath Singh said while addressing a sports conclave at Srinagar. More than 3,000 sportsmen, students and enthusiasts from the three regions of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh participated in the sports conclave. Rajnath Singh also felicitated prominent sports personalities like Parvez Rasool, Manzoor Ahmad, Mehraj Ud Din Wadoo, Palak Kaur, Balveen Kaur, Surya Bhanu and members of Real Kashmir Football Club at the sports conclave organised by Jammu and Kashmir Sports Council in Srinagar. #WATCH Kashmiri girl Tajamul Islam, who won the 2016 World Kickboxing Championship hugs Union Minister Rajnath Singh, also takes a selfie with him and J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti, at the J&K Sports Conclave in #Srinagar pic.twitter.com/qWZKOV4tci ANI (@ANI) June 7, 2018 The Minister arrived here on Thursday for a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir to review the security situation amid an ongoing Ramadan ceasefire which the militants have flouted. In his meetings with Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, Governor N.N. Vohra and security and intelligence officials, Rajnath Singh and his senior officials are likely to take a call on whether to extend the ceasefire beyond the Muslim month of fasting that ends of June 15. Since the central government announced the ceasefire decision on May 16, militants have launched hit-and-run grenade and IED attacks on security forces. Before leaving Delhi, Rajnath Singh said his visit will also involve interaction with youths, people living in border areas and other sections of the society in Jammu and Kashmir. Several roads leading to the stadium were sealed by security forces, leading to massive traffic jams in the south area here, officials said. The traffic situation is expected to ease after the Home Minister moves to SKICC on the Dal Lake's banks where he will review the security situation later in the day, they said. TEHRAN, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Amidst controversies over the 2015 international nuclear deal, Iran's recent decision to prepare grounds for boosting enriched uranium capacity is likely to propel European vessel to the U.S. shore. On May 8, U.S. President Donald Trump decided to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), claiming it did not address Iran's ballistic missile program, its nuclear activities beyond 2025, or its alleged role in regional conflicts. Trump has called for the European hand in his defiance to the international deal, to pressure Iran for renegotiation of the deal seeking to address what he has called their "common concerns." Currently, Iran is negotiating with the European countries on preserving the JCPOA, after the U.S. withdrawal, aiming to salvage it interests. Despite the U.S. pressures, Britain, France, Germany plus the European Union, have, so far, reiterated their commitment to the Iran deal signed by six major global players with Tehran in July 2015. However, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday said that it seems "some European governments expect the Iranian nation to both put up with sanctions and give up its nuclear activities." The Iranian leader said Iran would not tolerate sanctions nor undergo "nuclear austerity." He ordered the head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) to immediately prepare the ground for the uranium enrichment "up to a level of 190,000 SWU (separative work units) for the time being within the framework of the nuclear deal." SWU is the standard measure of the effort required to separate isotopes of uranium during an enrichment process. 1 SWU is equivalent to 1 kilogram of separative work. Based on the nuclear deal, Iran can enrich uranium up to the level of 3.5 percent, which represents low-enriched uranium. Following Khameni's decree, Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the AEOI, said Tuesday that the preparation work began at Iran's Natanz enrichment facility, observing the country's commitments to 2015 nuclear deal. "Yesterday, we took the first step and submitted a letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the start of certain activities. We started to take necessary practical measures today," Salehi told reporters on Tuesday. Also, the spokesperson for the AEOI Behrouz Kamalvandi said Tuesday that the organization will inform the IAEA of the start of the process to increase the capacity to produce uranium hexafluoride (UF6), a chemical compound which serves as feedstock for centrifuges. Kamalvandi said that under the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran was supposed to achieve an enrichment capacity of at least 190,000 SWU by the end of the 15th year since the nuclear deal took effect in January 2016. In a reaction, French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday warned of the risk of rising tensions due to the Iranian nuclear stand-off, urging "everyone to stabilize the situation and not give into this escalation which would lead to only one thing: conflict." Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Jean Yves Le Drian warned Iran on Wednesday that its plan to increase uranium enrichment capacity might have dangerous consequences. "This initiative (of Iran) is unwelcome. It shows a sort of irritation. It is always dangerous to flirt with red lines," Le Drian said. "If they go to a higher level then, yes, the agreement would be violated, but they need to realize that if they do then they will expose themselves to new sanctions and the Europeans will not remain passive," he warned. In an interview with local broadcaster Europe 1, Le Drian called for a "global negotiation framework" on the Iranian issue, at the same time maintaining the 2015 nuclear deal, which he called "a step forward" in preventing Iran from having access to nuclear weapons. "The Iranians must realize that if they break the agreement then they expose themselves to new sanctions. But, today the agreement is not broken and Iran fully respects its commitments," he said. Iran has cast doubts about the "positive results" of the country's ongoing negotiations with the European parties, seeking to preserve Tehran's economic interests subject to nuclear deal. "The prospect of the talks with the Europeans shows that the situation is not promising," Spokesperson of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Hossein Naqavi Hosseini said on Tuesday. Iran should not waste time waiting for required action from such governments, Naqavi Hosseini said. In response to Washington's decision, Tehran has threatened in the event that other parties to the nuclear deal could not safeguard Iran's interests under the accord, Iran will move out of it and resume its nuclear activities at full speed. The 2015 deal eased western and international sanctions on Iran in exchange for Tehran limiting its nuclear program. Champaign, IL (61820) Today Periods of rain. Low 58F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall around a half an inch.. Tonight Periods of rain. Low 58F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall around a half an inch. BERLIN, June 6 (Xinhua) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday said she expected difficult talks during the G7 summit in Canada later in the week. Merkel stood for the first time a question-and-answer session with German lawmakers. Like the debates with the prime ministers in the British House of Commons, Merkel answered around 30 questions within one hour. "I think everyone knows that there will be difficult discussions there," said the Chancellor, referring to the two-day G7 summit, which will start on Friday in Charlevoix in Canada's Quebec. The summit comes in as major Western industrialized economies conflicted with the United States on Washington's unilateral trade policies. "It turns out that we already have a serious problem here with multilateral agreements," said Merkel on U.S. action of imposing punitive tariffs upon aluminum and steel products, adding that it is important that Europeans act together and stand for fair and free trade and turn against protectionism. Ministers from Germany, France and Britain have written to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and finance secretary Steven Mnuchin, urging them to shield European companies operating in Iran from Washington's new sanctions. Merkel also noted that currently there is no possibility for Russia to return to the G8 group, but said she supported talks with Russia, saying dialogue is always important. Merkel was harshly attacked by a lawmaker from the right-wing populist Alternative fuer Deutschland (AfD) who accused her of the refugee policy that had "seriously damaged Germany", and urged Merkel to step down. Merkel countered the allegations, saying that in the "exceptional humanitarian situation" of 2015, Germany acted "very responsibly" by accepting refugees. The legality of the decisions at that time was confirmed by the European Court of Justice. Since then, the German government has made it clear that it was an exceptional situation, she said. In terms of European policy, Free Democratic Party leader Christian Lindner accused Merkel of having launched her Europe plans by media interviews, rather than in parliament. He accused Merkel of planning a laxer lending, for example with regard to Italy. In an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung on Sunday, Merkel presented for the first time in detail how she imagines the future of Europe and the Eurozone. She agreed on asylum and border protection, and in defense and financial policies Merkel made a significant step towards French President Emmanuel Macron's ideas. Merkel rejected Lindner's accusation, saying that the aid is only available on strict conditions, and the Euro rescue fund is to be converted into a European Monetary Fund in order to respond quickly to crises. The Monetary Authority issued an alert today on bogus Internet banking mobile applications purporting to be issued by the Bank of Singapore. The bank advises against downloading them to avoid losses. Anyone who has provided information through the apps or conducted financial transactions through them should contact the bank concerned using the contact information provided in the press release, and contact Police on 2860 5012. Click here for details. Alibaba's delivery arm, Cainiao Network, announced Wednesday that it will lead a joint venture to build a new logistics center at Hong Kong International Airport to enhance its global logistics capabilities. Cainiao Network, China National Aviation Corp, and courier YTO Express will invest 1.53 billion U.S. dollars in the logistics center. The interior of a logistics warehouse of Cainiao Network, Alibaba's delivery arm, is seen in Huiyang city, south China's Guangdong province, October 17, 2017. [File photo: IC] The three companies will take a 51 percent, 35 percent, and 14 percent stake, respectively, in the joint venture, YTO Express said in a statement. The center, which will cover an estimated gross floor area of 380,000 square meters, is expected to handle tens of millions of cross-border e-commerce parcels after it opens in 2023. Cainiao said the Hong Kong hub will help achieve its goal of 72-hour global delivery. In May, Cainiao announced plans to open five logistics hubs in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East as part of its efforts to expand its global delivery network. US Air Force B-52 bombers China urged the US against hyping China's so-called militarization of the South China Sea and to stop creating trouble in the area, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said on Wednesday, in response to the sighting of two US Air Force B-52 bombers in the disputed area, while the Pentagon continues to call China a threat to the region. "I hope the US can make it clear whether it considers sending offensive strategic weapons like B-52 bombers to the South China Sea as militarization," Hua said during a regular briefing. "If you often have someone coming to your door heavily armed, shouldn't you strengthen your security and defense capabilities?" she asked. CNN cited a statement from the US Pacific Air Forces on Tuesday, saying that two B-52 bombers flew a training mission over the South China Sea and flew in the vicinity of the Nansha Islands. The incident came just days after US Secretary of Defense James Mattis criticized Beijing for its "militarization of the islands," accusing China of "intimidation and coercion" in the region, CNN reported. Hua warned the US that "running amuck is risky." "China will not be intimidated by any military ship or aircraft, and we will take all necessary steps even more staunchly to defend the country's sovereignty and security, and to protect the peace and stability of the South China Sea region," she said. Who Gets Long COVID? More Than You May Think, Scientists Say (Newser) Something strange is happening to American diplomats and their families at a US Consulate in Chinaand it has disturbing echoes of the mysterious attacks on Americans in Cuba. The State Department evacuated at least two more Americans from China Wednesday after they fell ill with what one of them, security officer Mark Lenzi, describes as "neurological symptoms," the New York Times reports. Another employee returned to the US in April after experiencing "abnormal sensations" and was found to have suffered a "mild traumatic brain injury" from an unknown source. Officials say some of the 170 US Consulate workers in Guangzhou and their families will be tested by a team of State Department doctors that arrived in the southern Chinese city last week. State Department officials say the Chinese government is also investigating. story continues below Lenzi tells the Washington Post that in April last year, he started hearing a sound like "marbles bouncing and hitting a floor, then rolling on an incline with a static sound." Victims of the suspected "sonic attacks" in Cuba reported hearing similar sounds. Soon after the noises began, Lenzi says, he began experiencing sleeplessness and severe headaches, as did his wife and their 3-year-old son. He says he initially suspected his next-door neighbor, a fellow Americanand later found out that the man was the one sent home in April. He says officials have been downplaying the problem and lying about how many people were affected. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced this week that a new task force has been created to investigate such incidents involving US diplomats overseas, the Guardian reports. (Read more US Consulate stories.) (Newser) An Australian judge sentenced a man to 12 years in prison Thursday for threatening to detonate a fake bomb on a Malaysia Airlines flight, terrifying more than 200 passengers and crew. Manodh Marks, 26, forced the plane to turn back soon after takeoff when he screamed that he had a bomb and ran down the aisle carrying flashing electronic devices, the AP reports. He pleaded guilty in a Melbourne court to attempting to take control of an aircraft, a federal offense that carries a potential maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. The drama came after Malaysia Airlines lost two planes in 2014. Flight 370, carrying 239 people, is thought to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean after flying far off course for reasons still not explained. Flight 17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 aboard, and investigators last month said the missile belonged to a Russia-based military unit. story continues below In May last year, an agitated and drug-affected Marks ran down the aisle of the plane holding a portable speaker and a power bank with flashing blue lights. Judge Michael McInerney said Marks, a Sri Lankan who had been studying hospitality in Australia, reached the galley outside the cockpit door where he announced he intended to destroy the plane. "The passengers and crew were not only concerned but convinced that you were indeed in possession of a bomb," McInerney said. "One can imagine the fear and distress of everyone on board." The pilot made a mayday call to Melbourne air traffic control and turned the plane around. Marks was eventually overpowered by passengers and restrained with cable ties as the flight, bound for Kuala Lumpur, returned to Melbourne Airport. (Read more Malaysia Airlines stories.) A sperm bank at a Shanghai university rejects would-be donors who are overweight or suffer from hair loss. Fudan University's sperm bank, the second in Shanghai, officially opened on Wednesday, news site thepaper.cn reported. Posting a list of requirements for donors, the human sperm bank said that potential donors should not suffer from apparent hair loss or overweight. They must have lived for more than a year in Shanghai. Zhang Feng, who's in charge of the sperm bank, compared chromosomes to corn. He told thepaper.cn that if some corn kernels are distorted or broken, the bad gene will be passed on to the next generation, and would causes birth defects. The human sperm bank will also be the first in China to use genomic screening techniques. Genomic screening can prevent diseases from being passed on to the next generation, said Xu Congjian, director of a Fudan University-affiliated maternity hospital. (Newser) Wishing Muslims around the world a "Ramadan Mubarak"a blessed holidayPresident Trump on Wednesday hosted his first White House dinner for Islam's holy month of Ramadan, an overture that surprised many in the Muslim community after he skipped hosting such a meal last year, the AP reports. Speaking at an Iftar dinner, which breaks the daylong fast, Trump offered a message of unity, recognizing members of the Muslim community at home and abroad. "In gathering together this evening, we honor a sacred tradition of one of the world's great religions," he told an intimate audience that included Cabinet members and ambassadors from many Muslim-majority nations including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates. story continues below It was a dramatic departure from the inflammatory rhetoric Trump used during his campaign, when he called for a "complete and total shutdown" of Muslims entering the country. Instead, Trump spoke of "the renewed bonds of friendship and cooperation" forged with "valued partners" from across the Middle East and said Iftars "mark the coming together of families and friends to celebrate a timeless message of peace, clarity, and love. There is great love." He recalled his visit last year to Saudi Arabiahis first foreign presidential tripas "one of the great two days of my life." "Only by working together can we achieve a future of security and prosperity for all," he said. (Read more White House stories.) (Newser) Customers at a North Carolina pizzeria may have dodged a close one last week. The News & Observer reports an employee at Fayetteville's Primo Pizza was arrested Wednesday and accused of mixing what cops believe was rat poison in with the shredded cheese. Per a Fayetteville Police release, a sharp-eyed manager was prepping a pizza pie last Friday when he noticed "an unknown substance" in the pizza topping and went to check out the restaurant's surveillance footage. story continues below He says the footage showed 59-year-old Ricky Lee Adami was the one who appeared to have shredded the cheese and placed something that was not cheese into the shredding machine. The manager called the cops, and all suspect cheese was rounded up before it could reach any customers. Adami has been charged with distributing food containing noxious/deleterious material and is being held on $100,000 bail. (Read more North Carolina stories.) (Newser) "I never thought I'd need this." That's what one Pennsylvania middle-schooler told WTXF after receiving an unusual graduation gift Monday. The eighth-grade class of St. Cornelius in Chadds Ford was given ballistic shields that slide into backpacks as protection from bullets, per the New York Times. Fifteen students and 25 staff members received a $150 SafeShield developed by Unequal Technologies, whose CEO is the dad of one of the school's eighth-graders. Made of a Kevlar composite that CEO Robert Vito says can stop bullets from handguns and shotguns (but not AR-15s), as well as penetration from stabbing, the "kid-friendly" plate can slide into a child's backpack. "These are the times we live in," a company exec tells USA Today. "We just hope a kid never has to use [one]." story continues below Not everyone agrees this backpack protector is the answer. "I think it creates a false sense of security for the student and the school itself," Curtis Lavarello, executive director of the School Safety Advocacy Council, tells the Times. But Vito says the shield is just one facet of overall student safety, adding that "sadly, this is the sign of the times." Indeed, though WTXF notes the chances of a shooter attacking the school are "microscopic," it points out that St. Cornelius' tough security measures include double deadbolt locks on classroom doors and a criminal-records search of all visitors to the school. "It is their life now, which is very sad," Principal Barbara Rosini says. "But if it is something that will help keep our kids ... safe, that is unfortunately where we are now." (It's not the first school to try this.) (Newser) Construction workers and college students are apparently ravenous. Those are the ones, among others, being targeted by the Jimmy John's sandwich chain with its newest offering: the JJ Gargantuan, a 2,190-calorie beast that exceeds in caloric content what the US government recommends most people should eat in one full day. USA Today describes the 16-inch "cardiologist's nightmare" as being crammed with turkey, roast beef, salami, capicola, and provolone cheese, then topped with veggies, mayo, and oil and vinegar. story continues below "It really came about because of consumer demand for it," a Jimmy John's exec says. "We had hungrier consumers looking for a little bit more sandwich." The Gargantuan fits in well with the new Jimmy John's "freak" ad campaign, reported on this week by Ad Age. The chain's new tagline: "Freaky fast, freaky fresh, Jimmy John's, freak yeah." (Read more gluttony stories.) (Newser) A 25-year-old Arkansas man has been sentenced to 50 years in prison after admitting he purposefully contracted HIV with the goal of infecting others. Stephen Koch of Scranton was initially arrested on drug charges, though an informant later told police Koch was also viewing child pornography. A subsequent search of his computer and phone showed that to be true and also revealed Koch had intentionally infected himself with HIV, chief deputy prosecutor Stuart Cearley tells the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette. Koch had also planned a double date with people he meant to deceive, Cearley says. story continues below "Just so I can get my brain around this, did I understand the state correctly?" Circuit Judge Robin Green asked in court Monday. Koch confirmed the story, saying he knew his plan to infect others would cause harm. He then pleaded guilty to attempting to expose another person to HIV, meth possession, and eight counts of distributing or viewing child pornography, and was sentenced to 50 years. He'll also be required to register as a sex offender. "I just cant comprehend it," an area pastor living with HIV tells KNWA of the case. "Stupid is the only word I can think to use." (This UK case is similar.) (Newser) After Kim Kardashian West met with President Trump to plead the case of Alice Marie Johnson, a great-grandma jailed for life over a first-time, non-violent drug offense, Trump commuted Johnson's life sentence. Now, Kardashian will meet Johnson for the first time as early as this week, reports TMZ. Getting the phone call from Kardashian telling her that she would soon be free "was the most incredible day of my life, Johnson told CBS after she was released from an Alabama prison Wednesday night. She is now back home in Tennessee after 21 years behind bars. Johnsons release came after weeks of talks between Kardashian, attorney Shawn Holley, Ivanka Trump, and Jared Kushner about the case. Other presidential pardons appear to be in the works. Heres the latest. Dozens more? CNN reports that the White House is preparing paperwork for at least 30 more pardons. No details on the names, but Trump allies are reportedly advocating for people they deem worthy. story continues below First person : Johnson wrote about her case in 2016 for CNN and updated the story in May. She writes, Some refer to prison as a place where hope dies. Some days I've found that to be almost right. But at the beginning of my time here I made a pactthat I wouldn't give up hope. Each time that I've come close, God has restored my faith. : Johnson wrote about her case in 2016 for CNN and updated the story in May. She writes, Some refer to prison as a place where hope dies. Some days I've found that to be almost right. But at the beginning of my time here I made a pactthat I wouldn't give up hope. Each time that I've come close, God has restored my faith. John Cornyn weighs in : The Senate majority whip makes a pitch to pardon former CIA director David Petraeus. Well, I think Gen. Petraeus is an incredible patriot, and helped guide our country during a very difficult time in Iraq and basically pulled a rabbit out of a hat there, Cornyn said on Hugh Hewitts show, per Politico. : The Senate majority whip makes a pitch to pardon former CIA director David Petraeus. Well, I think Gen. Petraeus is an incredible patriot, and helped guide our country during a very difficult time in Iraq and basically pulled a rabbit out of a hat there, Cornyn said on Hugh Hewitts show, per Politico. Opinion : Pardoning Johnson was the right thing to do, but the process was all wrong, argues German Lopez at Vox. The decision was based on the intervention of a celebrity, rather than any particular rational process. The president appears to be using pardons as a way to reward friends and political allies. Case in point: his pardons of conservative commentator Dinesh DSouza and former sheriff Joe Arpaio. : Pardoning Johnson was the right thing to do, but the process was all wrong, argues German Lopez at Vox. The decision was based on the intervention of a celebrity, rather than any particular rational process. The president appears to be using pardons as a way to reward friends and political allies. Case in point: his pardons of conservative commentator Dinesh DSouza and former sheriff Joe Arpaio. Pam Anderson has an idea : The Canadian-American actress and model told TMZ that given a chance, she would argue for the pardon of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. She sees Assange as a misunderstood person, rather than a criminal hacker, and has been advocating for him for years. : The Canadian-American actress and model told TMZ that given a chance, she would argue for the pardon of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. She sees Assange as a misunderstood person, rather than a criminal hacker, and has been advocating for him for years. How Trump compares : Trump has signed two commutations and five pardons since taking office, reports Quartz. Neither Barack Obama, George W. Bush, nor Bill Clinton issued any pardons or commutations in their first two years as presidents. : Trump has signed two commutations and five pardons since taking office, reports Quartz. Neither Barack Obama, George W. Bush, nor Bill Clinton issued any pardons or commutations in their first two years as presidents. Need a pardon? The Washington Post offers a tongue-in-cheek flowchart on how to obtain a pardon from Trump. (Read more presidential pardon stories.) (Newser) New Mars discoveries are advancing the case for possible life on the red planet, past or even present. Scientists reported Thursday that NASA's Curiosity rover has found potential building blocks of life in an ancient Martian lakebed. Hints have been found before, but this is the best evidence yet, the AP reports. The organic molecules preserved in 3.5 billion-year-old bedrock in Gale Craterbelieved to once contain a shallow lake the size of Florida's Lake Okeechobeesuggest conditions back then may have been conducive to life. That leaves open the possibility that microorganisms once populated our planetary neighbor and still might. "The chances of being able to find signs of ancient life with future missions, if life ever was present, just went up," said Curiosity's project scientist, Ashwin Vasavada of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. story continues below Curiosity also has confirmed sharp seasonal increases of methane in the Martian atmosphere. Researchers said they can't rule out a biological source. Most of Earth's atmospheric methane comes from animal and plant life, and the environment itself. The two studies appear in the journal Science. In a companion article, an outside expert describes the findings as "breakthroughs in astrobiology." "The question of whether life might have originated or existed on Mars is a lot more opportune now that we know that organic molecules were present on its surface at the time," wrote Utrecht University astrobiologist Inge Loes ten Kate of the Netherlands. Scientists agree more powerful spacecraftand, ideally, rocks returned to Earth from Marsare needed to prove whether tiny organisms like bacteria ever existed on the red planet. (Read more NASA stories.) This year marks the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up policy. One of the most important events accompanying the start of the policy was the restoration of the national college entrance exam, also known as gaokao. As this years exam is around the corner, lets take a look at pictures that captured decisive moments for generations over the past four decades. Beijing students take the restored gaokao in 1977.[Photo/Xinhua] New Delhi: Rajinikanthas aKaalaa hit theatres on Thursday with fans coming in large numbers to watch the first day first show of superstaras latest flick. Despite rains and early morning chill, the fans of Rajinikanth started queuing up outside Chennai theatres post-midnight as the first show began as early as 4 am. As the admirers celebrated the release of the much-awaited film by dancing to the beat of the drums, the skies too opened up to match the footsteps of Rajini lovers. Holding their special afans onlya tickets with a poster of aKaalaa imprinted on them, the spirit of the Rajini fans was worth watching. They were dancing on the beats of drums and were shouting pro-Rajini slogans. aRajini sir is not a star, he is our God. He is a culture in himself. I inherited my love for him from my parents. They will be proud of me,a PTI quoted a 20-year-old fan as saying. He came from the Tamil stronghold of Dharavi who arrived at midnight to catch the first show at 6 a.m. at the theatre with his friends. #TamilNadu: Fans offer milk to actor #Rajnikanth's poster, burst crackers as they gather in large numbers to to watch the film #Kaala at a theatre in Chennai. pic.twitter.com/GYSYeHvPQZ a ANI (@ANI) June 7, 2018 Fans, with Rajinikanthas portrait, painted on their chests and some even replicating his aKaalaa look - black shirt, black lungi and a white beard - gathered near a 67 feet poster of the actor. aThe poster is 67 feet because Rajini is 67 years old. We were coordinating over this for months and the auspicious day is finally here. We have prayed for him, danced for him, now we will cheer for him,a PTI quoted Santosh, a member of Rajini fan club, as saying. Directed by Pa Ranjith, aKaalaa features Rajinikanth as a powerful don living in the slums of Dharavi. The film also features Nana Patekar, Huma Qureshi and Anjali Patil. However, the release of "Kaala" was marred by widespread pro-Kannada activists' protests in most parts of the Karnataka.A Pro-Kannada activists held demonstrations inA front of all the theatres in Bengaluru. The protesters were seen requesting people not to watch the movie for the sake of theirA Kannada brethren fighting for Cauvery water. Cinema halls, where theA movie was supposed to be screened, refused to show the film in wake of protest. (With inputs from agencies) New Delhi: Gangster Abu Salem has been sentenced to seven years rigorous imprisonment for demanding Rs 5 crore as protection money from a Delhi-based businessman in 2002. Additional Sessions Judge Tarun Sehrawat of the Delhi Court passed the order after hearing arguments on sentence by the prosecution and defence lawyers. The Patiala House Court in Delhi convicted Salem in the extortion case on May 26, and acquitted the other accused -- Chanchal Mehta, Majid Khan, Pawan Kumar Mittal and Mohammad Ashraf --, citing lack of evidence against them. Sajjan Kumar Soni, one of the accused in the case, died during the trial. The case alleged that Salem had demanded Rs 5 crore as protection money from businessman Ashok Gupta, a resident of Greater Kailash in South Delhi, in 2002. Salem was convicted under Sections 387 (putting person in fear of death or of grievous hurt, in order to commit extortion), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 507 (criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication) of the Indian Penal Code. Also Read | Gangster Abu Salem convicted in 2002 extortion case by Delhi's Patiala House Court Advocate M S Khan, appearing for Salem, denied the allegations levelled against his client and contended that the trial in the case violated the order by which the gangster was extradited from Portugal to India. Salem, who was extradited from Portugal in November 2005, is facing various other cases, including those related to the 1993 Mumbai blasts. He is currently lodged in Taloja prison in Navi Mumbai. (With PTI inputs) For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Ahead of the next general elections, it seems the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is rapidly losing the trust of its allies in National Democratic Alliance (NDA). After the Shiv Sena, the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party in Bihar have sent ripples through the saffron party hours before a key NDA constituents meeting in Patna. While the JD-U has accused the BJP of injustice, the RLSP has pulled out of the meeting which was scheduled in Patna on Thursday. We will not be lying if we say that injustice has been done to us. Weve not been given the priority we deserve, ANI quoted JD-U national general secretary Shyam Rajak as saying. Rajak also raised suspicions on the saffron partys intentions when it comes to Dalits and the issue of Bihars reservation in the Supreme Court and High Court. There is reservation in the judiciary in Bihar. Why cant it be done for Supreme Court and High Court? It raises suspicions on BJPs intentions. If theyre dedicated towards Ambedkar (Bhim Rao) and Dalits, they must do justice with Dalits and Bihar by giving us respectable partnership to prove its a strong alliance, Rajak said. Nothing less than 25 seats: JD-Us clear-cut message for BJP The JD-U leader also made it clear that they if the BJP wants the benefits of Nitish Kumars image in Bihar, they will have to give 25 seats to the party in 2019 general elections. Nitish Kumar and JD-U are playing a major role in Bihar. We had contested elections on 25 seats. Theyll have to give us 25 seats and there is no question of any lesser number of seats. If NDA wants to be benefited by Nitish Kumars image, theyll have to do justice to JD-U and him (Nitish), he added. The clear and cut message from the JD-U came just hours before an important meeting of NDA allies in Patna. All the NDA allies of Bihar the BJP, the JDU, the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) will come together for the meeting which is aimed at developing better ties between the partners ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha elections. RLSP leader Upendra Kushwaha not to attend NDA dinner Meanwhile, there were reports that the RLSP leader and Union minister of state for HRD Upendra Kushwaha will not take part in the NDA dinner hosted by BJP state unit in Patna. However, the exact reason behind Kushwaha suddenly pulling out of the meeting was not known but sources said that he was not happy with only state leadership attending the meeting. According to the sources, the RLSP leader said that his alliance with the BJP was at Centre level and not in Bihar. He also demanded that a national level meeting of NDA should be called. The national level meeting of NDA is called by BJP president Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Enraged over Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvis remarks that Ram Mandir and Hindutva will not be the BJP's election issues in 2019, a delegation of Sadhus from Ayodhya met Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath at his seven Kalidas Marg residence in Lucknow on Thursday. Mahant Suresh Das of Digambar Akhara and Mahant Bharat Das of Udasin Ashram along with other monks met Yogi to discuss the issue building Ram Temple in Ayodhya. After the meeting, Mahant Suresh Das said that Yogi assured them that the construction of Ram Temple will start soon and even Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given them his assurance. We discussed the development of Ayodhya with the chief minister and the issue of building Ram Temple was also part of our talks. There is no importance of Naqvis statement, Suresh Das said. Earlier on June 3, Naqvi had said that said that neither Ram temple nor Hindutva but only Vikas (development) would be BJPs election issue for 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Vikas, Vikas, Vikas, ANI quoted Naqvi as saying in response to a question on being asked if Hindutva and Ram temple will be the election issues in the 2019 general elections. The statement of Naqvi angered many, including the monks of Ayodhya, who are advocating for the construction of Ram Temple at disputed land in Ayodhya. Since 1990, when then BJP president LK Advani conducted the political-religious march Ram Rath Yatra, Ram temple and Hindutva has been on top of the BJPs electoral issues in every election. In 2014, the party sensed that a large section of voters cant be wooed only by the agenda of Hindutva and Ram temple and fought the election on the issue of development. However, the saffron party also included building Ram temple at the earliest in its election manifesto and some of the leaders even played Hindutva card to seek votes. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Militants on Thursday attacked an Army patrol party near the Line of Control (LoC) in Keran sector of Jammu and Kashmir. Two soldiers were injured in the firing. Terrorists opened fire on a link patrol ahead of the fence at the Line of Control in Keran sector, PTI quoted a Defence Spokesman as saying. The attack came on a day when Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is in the state on a two-day visit to review the security arrangements ahead of Amarnath yatra. The Army was retaliating to attack and the operation was still on when the lasts reports came in. Singh, who arrived in the Valley on Thursday morning, will hold several meetings with Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, Governor NN Vohra and several top civil, police and paramilitary officials. The home minister would take a detailed review of the situation since May 16 when the Centre unilaterally announced the suspension of anti-terror operations during the month of Ramzan. According to officials, Singh may also make an announcement on whether the suspension of anti-terror operations would continue during the Amaranth yatra beginning from June 28. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. US exaggerates impact of data cooperation with Chinese firms: experts A Facebook booth at this year's Big Data Expo in Guiyang, Southwest China's Guizhou Province, on May 27 Photo: VCG Huawei on Wednesday said it has never stored any Facebook user data after Facebook reportedly said that it has data-sharing partnerships with four Chinese companies, including Huawei, Lenovo, OPPO and TCL. "Like all leading smartphone providers, Huawei worked with Facebook to make Facebook's services more convenient for users. Huawei has never collected or stored any Facebook user data," Huawei told the Global Times in a statement. The other three Chinese companies didn't respond to the Global Times' request for comment as of press time. Chinese analysts said partnerships between Facebook and Chinese tech firms represent normal business behavior of mutual benefit and should not politicized. "The US now holds a political attitude toward China's high-technology industry. No matter what the issue is, US politicians tend to relate it to politics and then investigate the issue slowly. Ultimately, the biggest winner is politicians the biggest victim is the mutual trust and cooperation base of the Chinese and US high-technology sectors," said Fang Xingdong, the founder of technology think tank ChinaLabs. "When such a base is destroyed by politics, it is US and Chinese enterprises that pay the biggest price. If this causes losses on both sides, US companies will lose more in the Chinese market, compared with Chinese high-technology companies' interests in the US market," Fang said. The New York Times reported that Facebook said Tuesday that it has data-sharing partnerships with four Chinese companies. The four partnerships, dating back to at least 2010, gave access to some user data to these companies. Facebook representatives said that the shared data stayed on users' Huawei smartphones, not the Chinese company's servers, according to the report. However, the US government has expressed its concerns about a potential threat to US national security. "I look forward to learning more about how Facebook ensured that information about their users was not sent to Chinese servers," the New York Times reported, citing US Senator Mark Warner of Virginia. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a regular press conference on Wednesday that "we hope the US can create a fair, transparent, open and friendly environment for Chinese companies' investment and operation activities in the US." As an internet company, Facebook shares data with its partners for purely business purposes, Shen Yi, deputy director of Fudan University's cyberspace management center, told the Global Times. "User data has business value. The analysis of this data can help companies get to know users' preferences and carry out precision marketing. Thus, it's complete nonsense that a US senator worries that Chinese internet companies using the information would threaten US national security," said Shen. The information involved represents a form of big data, which can't be tracked back to individual users, Fang said. "It's a link of commercial software development, without which, much optimization work will be impacted." "Mobile application manufacturers need data on terminals and mobile terminals need data on software programs. Only in this way can both sides know how to match applications and terminals to improve users' experience when making upgrades," he said. "Facebook has strict rules about what data can be provided to its partners and how they can use the data. As [data is] its own core competitiveness, it's impossible that the company would be willing to share data of value with its partners," Fu Liang, a Beijing-based independent telecom industry, told the Global Times. "Now, everything in the US related to China is exaggerated against the background of trade tensions. It seems that the US believes any cooperation between Chinese and US companies would threaten US national security," Fu said. "Considering the high degree of synergy between China and the US in the industry chain of the high-technology sector, it would be a great loss for both countries if the US offends China openly," Lu Chuanying, vice research fellow with the Shanghai Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times. New Delhi: As former president Pranab Mukherjee is set to address Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) cadre on Thursday at its headquarter in Nagpur, his daughter Sharmistha warned him of repercussions of attending the event. Sharmistha took to Twitter to warn her father that by attending the RSS event, he will give a full handle to the BJP/RSS to plant false propaganda. "Hope @CitiznMukherjee now realises from todays incident, how BJP dirty tricks department operates. Even RSS wouldnt believe that you are going to endorse its views in your speech. But the speech will be forgotten, visuals will remain and those will be circulated with fake statements," Sharmistha tweeted. "By going to Nagpur, your are giving BJP/RSS full handle to plant false stories, spread falls rumours as today and making it somewhat believable. And this is just the beginning!" she added in another tweet. The remarks of Sharmistha, who is also the president of Delhi Mahila Congress, were in response to the rumours that she might join the BJP and fight elections from West Bengal on the saffron party's ticket. However, the reports were rubbished by Sharmistha and said she will rather quit politics than leave the Congress. "In the mountains enjoying a beautiful sunset and suddenly this news that Im supposedly joining BJP hits like a torpedo! Cant there be some peace and sanity in this world? I joined politics because I believe in Congress. I would rather quit politics than leaving the Congress," she tweeted. Earlier, a group of RSS workers, who were seen handing bouquets, welcomed the former president soon after he landed in Nagpur. He is set to deliver the valedictory address to around 800 RSS workers attending the final year of Sangh Shiksha Varg training course. The RSS cadre whom the former president will address will become full-time pracharaks who would then carry forward the Sanghs agenda for the rest of their lives. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Ahead of Amarnath Yatra, Home Minister Rajnath Singh will visit Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday to review the security situation in the Valley after the suspension of anti-terror operations. Singh, who is on a two-day visit to the state, may also attend an Iftar party to be hosted by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, an official said. During his visit, he would review the security situation in the Valley, particularly in border areas and the restive districts, where several incidents of violence took place in the recent past. There would also be a detailed review of the situation since May 16 when the Centre unilaterally announced the suspension of anti-terror operations during the month of Ramzan, an official said. The home minister may also make an announcement on whether the operations would be suspended beyond Eid and during the Amaranth yatra beginning June 28, the official said. The need for such an exercise was to understand the impact of the suspension of operations on the life of citizens and whether to extend it further, the official said. Singh would hold meetings with Governor N N Vohra, the chief minister, top civil, police and paramilitary officials. (With PTI inputs) For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: In a major setback to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Shiv Sena on Thursday made it clear that it will contest all upcoming elections on its own and wont ally with the saffron party. We know what the agenda of Amit Shah ji is but Shiv Sena has passed a resolution that we'll contest all upcoming elections on our own. There will be no change in that resolution, ANI quoted Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut as saying. The announcement came a day after BJP president Amit Shahs meeting with Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray at his residence in Mumbai to repair the strained ties with the disgruntled ally. Shah was accompanied by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis during the meeting with Thackeray. However, the Sena gave hints to the BJP that its efforts to bridge the trust gap won't be worthy with and an article published in the party's mouthpiece Saamana mocked its Sampark for Samarthan campaign. "The BJP has launched a global outreach programme and as per the programme, Modi is undertaking a world tour and Shah a domestic one, an article published in Saamana read. The article had further stated that "the Shiv Sena showed its strength during Palghar bypoll. In such a condition, 2019 Lok Sabha polls can be one reason behind BJP chiefs Sampark Abhiyan. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: If there is one thing former President Pranab Mukherjees much-anticipated address to a gathering of RSS workers at the Sanghs Nagpur headquarters has done, it shows up the pathetic hypocrisy of the Congress party. So nervous was the Congress over what Pranab da, who served the party for over five decades, would say that some of its leaders betrayed starkly their insecurities that he would laud the RSS and thereby expose the hollowness of their diatribes against it. It started with mild suggestions that the octogenarian leader should not share a platform with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat but as the date for the workers meet that the former President was to address drew near, there was a discernible shrillness in the tone and tenor of those in the Congress who bent over backwards in a show of servility to the First Family of the partythe Sonia Gandhi-Rahul duo that calls the shots in the party. His own daughter Sharmishtha, who is a Congress leader, was drafted to dissuade him from attending the passing out function for new RSS recruits. The party that had launched a campaign against the so-called intolerance of the BJP to contrary views a couple of years ago was showing signs of intolerance towards a leader who had served it for decades in various capacities, inherently suspicious of such a senior leader. There was a time when internal dissent within the Congress party was allowed, albeit grudgingly. There were the dissenters in the shape of Young Turks like Chandrashekhar, Mohan Dharia and Rajesh Pilot, who had the courage to speak up against the established order while being in the party. Right since Sonia Gandhi muzzled dissent and threw out the powerful Sharad Pawar, PA Sangma, and Tariq Anwar from the party for questioning dynastic succession, any contrary opinion was either not expressed or if it was, it was frowned upon by party bigwigs. Mukherjee laments privately to this day how he was to be the natural choice for prime minister in 2004 but was overlooked by Sonia Gandhi who preferred the more pliable and conformist Manmohan Singh to don the mantle so that he could be at her beck and call. Then again, when Sonia deemed her son Rahul to be ready to succeed her as party president, she conveniently manipulated Pranab to be the partys choice for president so that he may be out of Rahuls path. Mukherjee has not forgotten it and at the back of the minds of minions like Anand Sharma and Ahmed Patel was the fear that at the RSS meet he may say something that embarrasses the Sonia-Rahul duo. What they miscalculated was that Pranab da was schooled in the Congress culture in his entire life as a politician. Nevertheless, it is significant that Mukherjee steered clear of criticising or pontificating to the RSS about values like secularism, nationalism and patriotism. Indeed, he did talk about all these and also about liberal thinking but without pointing fingers at the RSS, alluding to the values that have been passed down through generations. He talked of how various civilisations and religions left their deep imprint on the people and the country and of how India was an amalgam of cultures of these civilisations. His observation that the soul of India resides in pluralism and tolerance, this plurality came with assimilation of ideas over centuries and that secularism was a matter of faith for us summed up his ideas without seeming to push them down the throats of the audience. The message was subtle, yet effective. The ruling dispensation of the BJP has lessons to imbibe from it as does the Congress. New Delhi: If a decades-old homegrown manufacturing giant in Tamil Nadu is mulling a new plant outside the state, it sure points to the states decline post-Jaya era. The ground reality in the state is disappointing, especially at a time when neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka are aggressively marketing their states to investors with sops in good measures. Industrialists reveal a sense of dejection and even disgust at how low the state had sunk. What was more concerning was that the political leadership also failed to gain the confidence of the people and the investors. On condition of anonymity, an industrialist said it was sad that politicians ask of entrepreneurs with whose permission are you doing? You need permission from me. All and sundry politicians ask this in a direct hint that if they are not pleased enough, their permission may be withheld. Negative sentiments among the industrialists and business leaders only goes to prove what Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke about the need to wipe out both the corrupt Dravidian parties in the state. It is not for nothing that industrialist and investors are having second thoughts about investing in Tamil Nadu, which is undergoing a political turmoil at one level and protests every day on this or that issue. And the Sterlite killings and shutting down of the Copper Smelter Plant of Vedanta will only encourage other industries too to begin looking elsewhere. Unrelated though, KIA Motors, makers of Hyundai, has taken its expansion plans outside Tamil Nadu and Samsung too is said to be favouring other location for expansion of capacities instead of Tamil Nadu. An AIADMK leader and former MP, KC Palaniswamy admits that post-Jaya situation had deteriorated in the state. R Ganapathi, senior vice president, South Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and chairman Trygen Technologies, said, Tamil Nadu has seen such setbacks in the past and has come out strong, but this setback seems a little different, combined as it is with neighbours offering favourable investment opportunities to potential investors. This the government must review in the context of the fact that Sterlite is not the only copper plant shut down in the world. Last year China shut down a plant. However, a fair solution is yet to arise for this situation. It may be recalled that even when the plant was set up in 1994, it did not comply with the conditions of the pollution board. But since then technologies have evolved that can address some of the environmental issues. But, an independent, external, expert third party inquiry alone can find a solution. Implementing and retrofitting the recommendations of such a probe panel is the key to resolve the environmental issues. India needs Copper and this needs to be done urgently. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu will face some stress from potential investors given the fact that a near 30-year-old plant was closed after long operation in the state. Tamil Nadu does not depend on Sterlite alone for its industrial growth its core competency is in automobile, auto ancillaries, Agri products, textiles, leather and a strong backbone of MSME sector. Industry goes to where it has greater opportunities to generate maximum returns. It looks at cost of money, cost of land, cost of finance and cost of power to take investment decisions. A fast-acting administration should tackle these and still make TN an attractive destination, Ganapathi said. Earlier, Chief Minister Edapaddi Palaniswamy was concerned over the slump in Tamil Nadu and had invited a group of top industrialists and business leaders to seek ideas to make TN work as an investment destination. AIADMK leader Palaniswamy said there was an urgent need to run the government efficiently and place good knowledgeable officers to handle this arena. Prof Panchapagesa Murali, former president of Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprise, is convinced that Tamil Nadu can become a global leader in areas like deep learning, artificial intelligence, very interesting and useful developments are taking place in Tamil Nadu the Mathematical Institute is putting together tough algorithms for multiple drug resistance etc. A lot could be done in Biotech, but the right people dont find encouragement. In Biotech, the policy was framed during the time of Jayalalithaa and after she passed away, the required thrust is not forthcoming. Going by the experts, the ground reality in Tamil Nadu is, indeed, very disappointing. New Delhi: Heavy rains lashed Mumbai as pre-monsoon hit Maharashtra and affected normal life across the city, but the inclement weather did not dampen the spirits of many. In fact, for the Shiv Sena, it provided an opportunity to fire another salvo at the BJP under the veil of the inefficiency of the state government and the BMC. Even before the dark skies opened its fury on Mumbai, the Shiv Sena had announced that it will go solo in all upcoming elections, a move which many have not predicted, particularly after the meeting of BJP president Amit Shah and Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray. During the more than an hour-long meet with Amit Shah on Wednesday, Uddhav Thackeray was said to have raised concerns like neglect of allies in the NDA, state government issues but none seemed severe enough so as to prompt the Shiv Sena to announce a standalone path for future elections. The Shiv Sena was founded by political cartoonist Bal Thackeray in 1966. The party, in fact, carved its existence from a movement of demanding preference of Marathi Maus over non-Marathis. It started with propagating the Marathi ideology but as it expanded to other states, its thrust was more on Hindu nationalism because of wider acceptability of the theme. After the demise of Bal Thackeray, the charge was taken up by Uddhav Thackeray though many believed that nephew Raj Thackeray was a better candidate for the post. Raj, being denied the Sena head position, floated his own party the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena based on the same philosophy of Marathi Maus but more fundamental in nature. The Shiv Sena aligned itself with the BJP and became a part of the National Government during the Vajpayee era and there started the existential crisis for the Shiv Sena. During all these times, the BJP was successfully making inroads into Senas strongholds piggybacking on it. In 2014, the state of Maharashtra was reeling under huge anti-incumbency factor against the Congresss rule, both the BJP and the Sena sensed the opportunity and started a discussion on seat sharing for the Assembly Elections but could not arrive at a mutual consensus, therefore, they decided to contest elections separately. The BJP won 2014 state assembly elections with 122 seats while the Shiv Sena got only 63, buoyant with the win and Modi wave, the BJP slowly started to delve into the Shiv Sena. Uddhav Thackeray clearly understood that if the BJP was given a free hand, the Shiv Sena will eventually lose its relevance among its core vote bank. It was highly hopeful of the Palghar bi-elections win but it turned the other way round with the BJP winning the seat. The Shiv Sena wanted to send across a message to the BJP and send it really fast. The memo came in the form of the announcement today morning. The Shiv Sena appears to have kept its options open to align with the NCP if required and at the same time apparently take up the role of the main opposition in the state as well. Shahs walking into Uddhav Thackerays house in itself was a big signal that the BJP really wanted to resolve all issues with their friends, but the Shiv Sena turned the other way, perhaps hoping for a better bargain. Uddhav Thackeray must remember if the Congress is successful in inking a deal with the NCP, then whatever influence it has by the virtue of being in power would be totally ruined as the Congress-NCP is likely to benefit the most from the BJP-Shiv Sena feud. The BJP has already blown the poll bugle with Amit Shah embarking on a Samapark for Samarthan mission under which he intends to meet 50 prominent people across various sections of the society. Other BJP leaders and workers may soon follow in his footsteps. The entire exercise is being carried out to create mass awareness of the BJPs achievement in last four years and generate a positive public perception among the core influencers of public sentiments. BJPs troubleshooter Amit Shah knows that 2019 Lok Sabha elections would not be a cakewalk, therefore retaining existing allies would be extremely crucial for the party. However, politics is a game of limitless possibility, wherein even the impossible seems to be possible. Just before the Lok Sabha elections, all NDA allies have stepped up their ante against the BJP only to emphasise their relevancy no matter whether its Uddhav Thackeray or Nitish Kumar or Chandrababu Naidu who already quit the NDA. But the question is how far would the BJP go to accommodate its partners. US Air Force B-52 bombers According to Western media, China is aggressively building military outposts in the South China Sea in order to push Washington out of Asia. China is hell-bent on dominating Asiaperhaps even the world, at least according to some rabid opponents and critics of China. But as recent events show, it is Washington who is stirring up troubles in the South China Sea, forcing China to beef up its defense capabilities. Two nuclear-capable US B-52 bombers flew within the vicinity of the Nansha Islands in the South China Sea on Tuesday, according to a report by CNN citing a statement from US Pacific Air Forces. The show of force came days after US Secretary of Defense James Mattis accused China of militarizing the South China Sea. The use of an offensive strategic weapon for the sole purpose of trying to strike fear into Beijing calls into question the USs claim that China is using its military power for intimidation and coercion in the South China Sea. The B-52 bomber is a long-standing symbol of US strength and is the backbone of the strike capability of the US Air Force. The long-range bomber is capable of carrying out nuclear missions and is known as an offensive weapon of last resort. The show of force on Chinas doorstep appears to be part of a White House pressure campaign on China. The flyover comes on the heels of a threat to send warships through the Taiwan Strait and other provocations, including a freedom of navigation operation in the South China Sea, as well as amid rising anti-China sentiment in the United States. But if the goal of the flyover was to weaken Chinas resolve to protect its territory, it failed miserably. Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Wednesday that China cannot be intimidated, adding that China will take all necessary steps to defend its national sovereignty and security and uphold peace and stability in the South China Sea. Speaking at a daily news briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she hoped the United States could clarify whether it thought sending strategic bombers to Chinas doorstep counted as militarization. If someone armed to teeth comes to your doorstep every now and then, poking around and showing off muscles, aren't you justified in sharpening vigilance, taking precautions, and increasing defense capacities? Hua asked rhetorically. Hua suggested that the United States stop playing up the so-called "militarization" in the South China Sea and stop talking through their hat. She also suggested that the United States stop stirring up trouble before it is too late. Running amuck is risky, Hua said, adding that benefit-seeking behavior comes with a cost. The pressure campaign shows that Washington is stuck in a Cold War mindset. It is ironic to point the finger at China for rising tensions in the South China Sea, while the United States, the greatest military power on the planet, flaunts its power. Like a Chinese saying goes, jackals and wolves will be met with force, but a friend will be welcomed with wine. It is absurd to accuse China of intimidation and coercion in the South China Sea, but it should be understood that China will beat a wolf at its doorstep. A Bahraini extended family is preparing themselves to sleep on the streets as the Housing Ministry is allegedly planning to take over their house. They say the ministry intends to demolish the building leaving them without shelter. Mohammed Salem who lives in Hoora on the Exhibition Road, says he is helpless. He heads the family consisting of his wife and children, two sisters, Sara, a widow, and Shaikha, a disabled, along with two sons of his deceased brother Abdulla. Two days before Ramadan we received a letter from the ministry asking to vacate the building within 45 days or else we would be forcibly evicted. We have been living in this building for four generations now, he told Tribune. According to Mohammed, it was around six years ago the ministry decided to acquire the land which hosts the building for a project comprising 14 apartments. The officials also told us that we need not vacate the house if we dont intend to be part of the project, said Mohammed, adding that the family decided not to vacate the building as they had lived there for generations. However, Mohammed said he was taken aback when the ministry officials later produced a letter in court which said the family had agreed to be part of the project and is willing to vacate the house. The letter also carried the signatures of Mohammed and his family members. Since the 1930s, our family has been living here and we are the fourth generation. The current market value of the property is nearly BD300, 000 and we have all documents proving our ownership, Said Shaikha Salem. We are a poor family. I am a disabled individual and my sister is a widow. Since our fathers death, we have been living together. Where are we supposed to go? After constructing a 14-house complex, what if they give us a small apartment. How can a big family like ours live in a small apartment? iStock/Thinkstock(LAS VEGAS) -- Las Vegas authorities have released dozens of 911 calls from the Oct. 1 shooting, shedding light on the panic and chaos that ensued at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival as bullets rained down from an unknown gunman 32 stories in the sky above. In one call between a 911 dispatcher and the fire department, the dispatcher says that there are "possibly 20 subjects down" and that numerous calls were coming in reporting an active shooter. The dispatcher then says that 33 calls are on hold, and they are getting calls of a man who had been shot with a pellet gun at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. In a later call, Mandalay Bay's security dispatch says there's an active shooter in Room 32135, adding that the shooter is inside the room and managers are on the rooms below and above it. "Pretty much, they can just hear what sounds like semi-automatic rapid fire, and we have an officer that has been hit," the dispatcher says. In one call from the scene below, gunshots could be heard in the background as a woman beckons for help to be sent to the Las Vegas strip right across the street from Mandalay Bay. When the dispatcher asks how many people, the caller responds, "thousands." The woman said that she and others were "on top of the House of Blues" and "trying to stay down." Another call detailed that people had been shot and "everyone's running to get out of here" as terrified concert-goers yell in the background. One caller detailed that 100 shots had been fired, likening the sounds to a machine gun. Another concert-goer said that about 100 people were continuing to hide in a "beverage container," although shots hadn't been heard in about two minutes. Some callers detailed the conditions of the wounded near them. One woman had been shot in the head, and another detailed another victim that was "bleeding out." One caller told dispatchers that he had been shot in the leg and was hiding in a business that he busted open a window to get into. One caller, who said he gave his shirt up to use as a tourniquet, said there were 20 people around him, describing the scene as "pretty bad." Authorities also released video taken from a rooftop that shows people tending to victims below. Fifty-eight people were killed and hundreds more injured when gunman Stephen Paddock opened fire from his suite on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Casual dining, which has been expanding across China since 2012, is being continuously promoted by new technologies, China Economic Net reported. In 2017, revenue of Chinas catering industry reached 3.96 trillion yuan, 80 percent of which was contributed by casual dining. A robot waitor in a restaurant in Haerbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang province The Internet, big data and cloud computing have played an important role in innovating the catering industry. According to statistics, Chinas online food delivery market hit 204.6 billion yuan ($31.9 billion) in 2017, 23 percent more than the previous year. Almost 300 million people have already used online services to order food, according to iiMedia Research, a global consulting agency. Analysts have predicted that with the development of technology, it's possible that some of the more tedious and repetitive aspects of the restaurant business may be taken over by robots. For instance, Chinese e-commerce giant JD has announced that its first smart restaurant will open to the public in August this year. All of the services at this pioneering restaurant will be carried out by robots. Young people are also forcing the industry to innovate in order to meet more personalized and diverse demands. According to China's major food delivery firm Meituan, 74 percent of orders are made by people aged between 20 and 35 years old. The rapid expansion of the catering industry has driven the demand for young cooks. According to the Ministry of Education, the number of catering schools in China has increased from 85 in 2013 to 176 in 2018. The Housing Ministry said that the distribution of the ready housing units at the Khalifa Town project is underway. The move follows the order of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister, to distribute 5,000 housing units, within the directives of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa to meet the citizens needs marking the holy month of Ramadan. The Housing Ministrys Undersecretary, Shaikh Abdulla bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, said that the beneficiaries will be handed over the keys after having received their contracts earlier. The Khalifa Town will, after completion, accommodate 54,000 people within its 6,000 housing units, noting that 400 units have already being completed, and that work is in full swing to begin the other phases. The undersecretary highlighted the governments support to the Housing Ministrys efforts, noting that the government is keen to achieve the royal directives aimed at ensuring the stability of Bahraini families through harnessing all its potentials to provide them with the requirements of decent and stable life. Just over a week before a new law for minpaku (private lodging services) goes into effect, the popular rental website Airbnb has dropped nearly 80 percent of its listings for the services over the past three months. As of March, Airbnb, Inc. had over 62,000 properties in the country available for rental. But according to Hollywis LLC, a Kanagawa-based research firm that analyzes the minpaku sector, that number has dropped to 13,800 as operators get ready for the law that will govern their services, and which will go into effect on June 15. Many properties listed on Airbnb were suspected of operating illegally or semilegally. On its website, Airbnb informed homeowners that it would not display their listings until they showed they had official permission to operate. When owners show they are in compliance with the new law, their rooms will be posted on the website again. The large drop in the number of Airbnb listings comes amidst national efforts to crack down on illegal private lodgings and local efforts to place tougher restrictions on how, when and where legal facilities may operate. The new law requires that homeowners register their rental properties with the local government, which will conduct fire and safety checks before issuing approval. On June 1, the Japan Tourism Agency sent a notice requesting that minpaku operators cancel reservations with facilities that were unregistered. "We think the reason for the large decline was because of the June 1 notice," said Konosuke Tamura, CEO of Hollywis Homeowners will only be allowed to rent out their rooms for a maximum of 180 days a year, and they must also keep a guest registry. Illegal minpaku operators face a fine of up to 1 million if caught, where the previous fine was not more than 30,000. Local governments may also place their own restrictions on minpaku operations, and many already have. In Kyoto, supervisors for rooms and facilities run by someone other than the owner must live within 800 meters of the buildings. - Japan Times Tokyo police have arrested a couple for allegedly starving their 5-year-old daughter to death. Yua Funato died in March. Police arrested her 33-year-old father Yuudai Funato on suspicion of punching her and causing grave injuries the previous month. He has been indicted for injurious assault. Police later found that Yua's 25-year-old mother Yuri Funato had not been giving her enough food since late January, and failed to take the malnourished girl to a hospital. Police arrested the mother and issued a new arrest warrant for the father on suspicion of abandonment resulting in death. Police say Yua lost 4 kilograms in about 2 months since she began living with her father in late January in Tokyo. She reportedly weighed about 12 kilograms -- some 7 kilos less than average -- at the time of her death. The parents have reportedly admitted to the charges. The father says he disciplined the child, while the mother says she did nothing because she feared her position would be at risk. - NHK Police have arrested a 21-year-old man on suspicion of reckless driving after he drove through a pedestrian throng at Shibuya's famous scramble crossing in Tokyo while the traffic lights were red. According to police, the incident occurred at around 5:50 p.m. on April 7. The suspect, identified as Daiju Takabayashi, had no driver's license, Fuji TV reported. He ignored a red traffic signal at the intersection of the famous crossing in front of JR Shibuya Station and drove slowly through the startled pedestrians. Nobody was hurt, police said. Just before the incident, Takabayashi was approached by a police officer but drove away as he was being questioned about his occupation. Police said he had previously had his driver's license revoked due to a traffic violation. - Japan Today Nagano Prefectural Police have arrested Nagano City councilman for allegedly causing damage to a bicycle with his own bodily fluid earlier this year, reports the Yomiuri Shimbun At around 11:50 p.m. on June 30, Hikaru Oide, 28, allegedly sprayed an unspecified bodily fluid on the seat of the bicycle while it was parked at the housing complex of its owner in the northern part of the prefecture. The Nagano Chuo Police Station did not reveal whether Oide, who has been accused of causing property damage, admits to the allegations or the relationship between the suspect and victim. Police are now seeking a motive for the crime, believing that the suspect and victim experienced a problem between them. - tokyoreporter.com Police are on alert and journalists will soon be heading to Singapore as the island city-state prepares for the Trump-Kim summit taking place on June 12. (Photo/VCG) Shanghai Spirit focuses on trust, equality, respect The summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin will inject new impetus into bilateral relations, and substantially push forward projects of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), Chinese observers said on Wednesday. Putin is scheduled to pay a state visit to China from Friday to Sunday and to attend the 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a press conference on Tuesday. It will be Putin's first visit to China since winning a fourth term as president and the first meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping this year, Hua said. Xi and Putin have maintained very "active contacts" over recent years, Russian news agency TASS reported on Monday, citing Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov who said the two leaders met five times in 2017 and have met 25 times over the years. Chinese observers hailed the direct contact between the two leaders, saying that as the top architects in their respective countries they fully exercise their "strategic guidance" role during the frequent summits they have attended. "Head-of-state diplomacy is the most advanced form of diplomacy, and close personal relations between Xi and Putin are a sign of an extremely high level of mutual trust between the two countries," Li Xing, director of the Eurasian Studies Center at Beijing Normal University, told the Global Times on Wednesday. Jiang Yi, deputy director of Russian studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the frequent meetings between the leaders "constantly inject impetus into the development of bilateral relations between China and Russia." Xi and Putin are scheduled to meet privately, participate in the SCO summit, hold a joint press conference and attend signing ceremonies and cultural activities. They will exchange views on bilateral relations, key areas of cooperation and other international and regional issues of common concern, said Hua. The two sides are expected to issue important political documents and sign a series of cooperation agreements in various fields, said Hua. According to TASS, China is Russia's top foreign trade partner, accounting for 15 percent of Russia's total foreign trade, with bilateral trade growing by 31.5 percent in 2017 to $87 billion. The Xinhua News Agency reports trade continued to expand rapidly in the first quarter of 2018 with a year-on-year increase of nearly 30 percent. China-Russia trade is likely to exceed $100 billion this year, said the Ministry of Commerce in April, according to a Xinhua report. "Clearly, both leaders are working on transforming the political mutual trust into higher level cooperation on trade," Li said. Mutual trust and respect An agreement on trade and economic cooperation was signed between the EAEU and China in Astana on May 17, marking an important step in linking the Eurasian Union and the Silk Road Economic Belt, which is part of the China-proposed Belt and Road initiative, TASS reported. Li described the prospect of economic and trade cooperation between the two countries as "promising," saying that "besides traditional sectors of energy and outer space, more state-level projects will emerge to include new transportation infrastructure projects." The 18th SCO summit will be held in the eastern coastal city of Qingdao on Saturday and Sunday. It will be the first for India and Pakistan as full members, after their status was elevated at the Astana summit in Kazakhstan last year. The eight full members of the SCO are China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. "Against the backdrop of US Donald Trump administration's 'anti-globalization' tendency and UK's Brexit in Europe, the SCO has become more influential on the world stage with its value and principle, known as the Shanghai Spirit, increasingly acknowledged and appreciated by Eurasian countries in the region," Li said. The Shanghai Spirit features mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for cultural diversity and the pursuit of common development. China and Russia are the main engines of the SCO, and their cooperation will benefit regional and world stability and prosperity, Jiang said. The bridge at the Childrens Amusement Park located at the Ikemba Ojukwu Centre in Owerri, Imo, built by Governor Rochas Okorochas admi... The bridge at the Childrens Amusement Park located at the Ikemba Ojukwu Centre in Owerri, Imo, built by Governor Rochas Okorochas administration has collapsed.Witnesses at the scene in Owerri said that nobody was killed or injured in the incident.The incident which caused pandemonium in the area, gave room for criticism by some parents whose children visited the place on May 27 during the 2018 Childrens Day Celebration.A correspondent who visited the scene, reports that the incident occurred after a heavy downpour on Tuesday night.The bridge, being a major tourism site, has been used to generate funds for the state government.When contacted, the State Commissioner for Happiness and Purpose Fulfillment, Mrs Ogechi Ololo, said that she had yet to be briefed on the cause of the incident.Mr Collins Ibe, who witnessed the incident, disclosed that the windstorm that accompanied the downpour might be responsible for the collapsed of the bridge.Another witness, Mrs Mary Nlemadim, said: It is unfortunate that this is happening in the state, especially at a place that is supposed to be a recreation centre.I thank God that it happened in the night when people were not around; otherwise, there might have been casualties.I urge the state government and engineers working on construction projects in the state to be more dedicated and thorough, she said.Also, an Engineer, Mr Okechukwu Uba said: There is need to critically look at all the construction projects going on in the state.This is necessary to avoid unnecessary waste of resources, time and human capacity.These projects need to get proper approval from professional hands or bodies; they also need to be properly supervised by qualified and experienced personnel.Again, they have to be done systematically and not many things at the same time.These projects need to be finished up in a tidy manner and subjected to stress tests where necessary, before being opened to the public, he said.The state Chairman of the Nigeria Society of Engineers, Mr Emeka Ugoanyawu, had earlier warned against substandard engineering work in the state.Also, the National President of Council for the Regulation of Engineers in Nigeria (COREN) Mr Kashim Ali, had recently faulted the quality of a flyover constructed by the Okorocha administration, located at Orji.Ali, as a matter of urgency, urged Gov. Okorocha, to stop work on the flyover. The Federal Government has increased maternity leave for women from 12 weeks to 16. The government also advised women to seek legal... The Federal Government has increased maternity leave for women from 12 weeks to 16.The government also advised women to seek legal action against discrimination and abuses at workplace.The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, said this when he addressed a plenary session at the ongoing 107th International Labour Conference holding in Geneva, Switzerland on Tuesday.The theme of the conference is A Future With Decent Work.Ngige had noted that in public service, Nigeria recently increased the period for maternity leave from 12 to 16 weeks to allow enough recuperation time for both baby and mother in terms of breastfeeding.He added that all disciplinary proceedings against any female member of staff which may have been taken during period of her maternity leave shall be put in abeyance till the expiration of the leave.Employers of labour are also barred from removal of women from work due to their marital status.Illegal labour migration, contract staffing and labour casualisation which affects most women are being reformed through policies and regulations at national, bilateral and multilateral levels.Ngige said that the promotion of youths and women employment and enhancement of the status of women at workplace had continued to be a challenge in the society over the last decade.According to him, the most effective method of eliminating gender inequality from the workplace lies in vigorous opposition to employers discriminatory conducts, policies and harassment in all forms whenever they occur.Women who fall victims to these abuses are encouraged to oppose such through legal actions as well as report to labour inspectors, he said.He stressed the need to put in place appropriate legislation, policies and practices to deal with the gender gaps which inhibit greater participation of women in the labour force.According to him, the injection of punitive measures and sanctions into Labour Inspection Guide, Law and Code of practice, can serve as future deterrent.The minister assured that the Nigerian government was committed to promoting youths and women employment as well as enhance the status of women at workplace.Ngige said this had been exacerbated by economic recession brought about by fall in oil price, and militancy in some parts of the country.This is especially in the North-East, and the issue of returnee migrants, majority of whom are women and young girls trafficked for slavery and sex work.For a country in which females constitute 49. 4 per cent of the total population of over 190 million, it is therefore, imperative that the issues which hinder increased and effective women participation in the labour force be properly addressed, he said.He said that the government drew up and had been implementing an Economic Recovery and Growth Plan aimed at addressing gender inequality and youths unemploymentNgige said Nigeria had also initiated a School-to-Work (N-Power) programme, designed to empower young women and men with skills to facilitate their entry into labour market.The programme, he said, had an initial two years span.The minister, however, noted that Nigerian government had taken some specific measures to address inequality and had recorded some successes.According to him, some of the successes reordered are the principle of equal pay for equal work for all, without discrimination on account of sex.This, he added, was enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended.He also said that employers of labour in both the public and private sectors were by regulations requested to provide workplace creches for nursing mothers for ease at workplace.He called for technical assistance from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in the area of gender audits.(NAN) Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has described call by the Federal Government for the suspension of the anti-open grazing law by Sta... The governor said this on Wednesday in a response to the call by the Minister of Defense, Mansur Dan-AliFayose said it was amazing that the presidency still saw the states as appendages of the federal government.According to him, it is the rights of the State Houses of Assembly of the federating units to make laws for the smooth running of their states.He declared that there was no going back on the implementation of the anti-open grazing law in Ekiti State, advising the presidency and its cabal to stop looking the other way while herdsmen went about killing Nigerians.Fayose said these in a statement by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka.He said, The President Muhammadu Buhari led federal government is acting as if there is more to its opposition to the ban on open grazing by some States than it is telling Nigerians.Those who are genuinely interested in peace and unity of Nigeria know that anti-grazing law is not responsible for killings across the country by herdsmen because herdsmen have killed more people even in States where the law is not in existence.Rather, it is the federal governments refusal to act decisively on pure security issues that has emboldened the killer herdsmen to even go about attacking military formations and police stations.It is also interesting that this same federal government told Nigerians last year that most of the herdsmen carrying out attacks across Nigeria are foreigners. Is the Minister of Defense telling states to suspend their laws in the interest of foreigners that are killing Nigerians?In January, this same Minister of Defense blamed the passage of anti-open grazing law in some states as the cause of the recent killings by herdsmen in some of the states. Yesterday again after a security meeting with President Buhari, the Defense Minister was still singing the same song. Is there something to this old system of nomadic cattle rearing that they are not telling Nigerians?Fayose said the federal government should be concerned about how to take the herdsmen out of the bush and give them decent life by embracing cattle ranching. The Federal High Court Abuja, has granted the Inspector-General of Police, (IGP), Mr Ibrahim Idris, judicial leave for a review of the order to quash the Senates resolution declaring him unfit to hold public office.The judicial review is a type of court proceeding in which a judge reviews the lawfulness or otherwise of a decision or action made by a public body.Justice John Tsoho, on Thursday granted the IGPs prayers as contained in a motion ex parte argued by his counsel, Mr Alex Izinyon, (SAN).The IGP prayed the courts order granting him leave to apply for judicial review of a declaration that the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and the senate, who are the respondents in the suit, acted beyond their powers.He is asking among others a declaration that the respondents acted ultra vires in their powers under Section 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution.In the votes and proceedings leading to the resolution contained in the gazette dated May 9 imposing a penal sanction on the IGP.A declaration that the respondents acted ultra vires its powers under the 1999 Constitution in initiating the votes and proceedings leading to the resolution declaring the IGP an enemy of democracy and unfit to hold any public office within and outside Nigeria.An order of court, quashing the same entire votes and proceedings and consequent resolution of the senate declaring the IGP an enemy of democracy and unfit to hold office any public office within and outside Nigeria.The IGP in addition, wants an order of court quashing the report of the ad hoc committee investigating the various allegations leveled against him that led to the said resolution in the gazette.Idris further wants the court to grant an order of perpetual injunction restraining the respondents from acting on the said resolution contained in the gazette or causing same to be acted upon by any person or authority.Izinyon said that his client was seeking the reliefs on the grounds that as the current holder of the office created by the constitution, he either could carry out the functions of the office by himself or through delegated officers.It is practically impossible for the IGP to be in all places at the same time and to answer to all summons at all times and this brought about the need of using subordinate officers when the need arises.The IGP could not appear before the senate on April 26 because he was directed by the president to be among the presidential entourage embarking on a two-day official trip to Bauchi.As a result of the above, the IGP directed and delegated the Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Operations and other officers who had adequate knowledge of the subject matter to appear before the senate.The respondents refused to listen to and discountenanced the appearance of the subordinate and insisted that the IGP must appear in person.Izinyon also said that the reliefs were sought on the grounds that the respondents lacked the competence or jurisdiction to impose penal sanctions on the IGP under Section 88 and 89 of the constitution.He finally said that the reliefs were sought on the grounds that the court had the supervisory powers to quash the said resolution contained in the gazette date May 9.Justice Tsoho ordered that the processes be served on the respondents through the Clerk of the National Assembly and adjourned the matter until June 27, to hear the application on notice. The Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, wants Federal High Court in Abuja to quash the Senates May 9, 2018, declaring him an enemy of democracy and unfit to hold public office within and outside Nigeria.On Thursday, Idris commenced the process of suing the Senate and its President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, by obtaining the courts leave, the order permitting him, to file a substantive action for a judicial review of the actions leading to the resolution passed by the Red Chamber.Justice John Tsoho, in granting the leave to Idris on Thursday, noted, I am convinced that the applicant has shown sufficient interest in the issues raised.The judge granted the leave shortly after the IGPs lawyer, Dr. Alex Izinyon (SAN), moved an ex parte application in that respect on Thursday.Leave is granted as prayed, the judge ruled, adding that the order shall be served on the respondents (Saraki and the Senate), through the Clerk of the National Assembly.The judge also added that such service shall be deemed proper and valid service. Li Zhixuan and Yan Danyang (Photo: Sina News) Two female graduates are gaining a great deal of attention for their philanthropic spirits since the pair recently gave their alma mater, the Shenzhen branch of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) a one million-yuan donation, according to Guangzhou Daily. Li Zhixuan, 22, and Yan Danyang, 22, started a campus service platform, called Leadygo, during their sophomore year to help students run errands and schedule certifications assessments such as English language testing. Their company reached an annual income of 10 million yuan in 2016, which is the same year the company launched. Other companies have proposed acquisition plans to obtain Leadygo and have estimated the companys worth to be as much as 40 million yuan. Li and Yans entrepreneurial minds have also attracted the attention of many famous graduate schools. Li and Yan encountered many difficulties over the years as they built their company, but the two said they received major support from their universitys Entrepreneur Fund in the form of 100,000 yuan. Since the two are now prospering, they decided to donate one million yuan to thank their former college for helping during its early stages. The two said their donation will be given over the next five years, and that they have plans to donate even more money when their business grows in the future. We would love to keep on donating in a consistent pace, like once every five years, Li said. We hope the fund can keep running. Li and Yan also said they want to encourage their fellow students to start their own businesses and make their own innovations. The pair said they would offer help and support to help them reach their goals. A Chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Comrade Timi Frank, has alleged that he has been marked for arrest and prosecuti... A Chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Comrade Timi Frank, has alleged that he has been marked for arrest and prosecution by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration. According to Frank, this is because of his voice of opposition to the style of the administration. The politician also lamented the withdrawal of his Police security aides, while alleging that a serving Minister is threatening media houses against publishing his news releases. Frank had recently written the British Government, reporting President Buhari to the Prime Minister, Theresa May over what he described as death of democracy in Nigeria. He raised the points in a statement he signed and made available to newsmen on Thursday, urging Nigerians, and especially the National Assembly not to relent in providing leadership to ensure the sustenance of democracy in Nigeria. The APC chieftain also called on Civil Society Organizations and labour unions not to gloss over glaring threats against the nations democracy. The statement read, It has become imperative for me to use this medium to bring to the attention of the general public, as well as members of the international community that on Wednesday 6th June, 2018, the Federal Government ordered the withdrawal of my police security aides. Even though no reason has been given for this sudden action by the police authorities, I believe that it is connected with my fight to preserve the nations democracy by speaking out against anti-democratic tendencies and clamouring for adherence to the rule of law under the present administration. I also have it on good authority that a directive has been given for my immediate arrest and detention. It has also come to my knowledge that a frontline Minister in the present administration is going round media houses and online media and threatening them to either stop publishing and airing my views on national issues or face sanctions from the government. He recalled that he had course to issue four open letters to be published in major national newspapers in one of which he passionately pleaded with Buhari to stop security agencies from harassing and intimidating Nigerians especially those perceived as enemies of the administration. He also called on relevant security and anti-graft agencies, to follow due process in the ongoing fight against corruption in the country. He added, I had decried a situation where personalities mainly from the opposition, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and new Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP) arm of our party, the All Progressives Congress, are being selectively targeted for persecution in the guise of fighting corruption. I dare say that the withdrawal of my police security aides and from other deserving Nigerians has become the modus operandi of this government in silencing the opposition. I also want to state that impunity in the country is moving from bad to worse as evidenced by the withdrawal of my security and my being marked for arrest and prosecution, simply because I have not ceased to speak up against acts of injustice, intimidation and harassment of Nigerians, since the inception of this government. He said that the plot against him shows that the Nigeria Police which is supposed to protect all Nigerians has become personalized and is being used to protect only those singing the praises of the present administration. He said that the last administration was more democratic and tolerant than the present one because despite his incessant criticism of the Jonathans administration, he never ordered the withdrawal his police aides, as well as those of all opposition members now in government who were opposed to Jonathan and his government as at that time. Frank added, This unwarranted action by the Government against me, I must say, is meant to expose me to grave danger and personal harm with the aim to permanently shut me up. Nigerians had expected leaders in this administration to learn to tolerate criticism from the opposition as a common feature in any democratic setting. Take South Africa, for example, where a member of parliament and leader of the opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party, Julius Malema, often criticizes the President of South Africa without his security aides being withdrawn or him breing framed-up for arrest and prosecution. I want to make it categorically clear however, that no amount of intimidation, harassment and arrest will make me to close my eyes and mouth in the face of ongoing human rights violations and actions capable of truncating the nations democracy, being perpetrated by the present administration. An All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain in Ebonyi, Dr Paul Okorie, has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for declaring June 12 as Nigeria s new Democracy Day.Okorie made the commendation on Thursday in Abakaliki.According to him, the development is an indication of Buharis commitment to deepening the countrys democratic experiment.He noted that conferment of posthumous honour of Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR), on late Chief Moshood Abiola, the acclaimed winner of June 12, 1993 Presidential Election, was an indication that Nigerias democracy was maturing.Recognising June 12 as Nigerias Democracy Day and the conferment of GCFR honour on Abiola is an indication of validation of the annulled June 12, 1993 Presidential Election.Mr President deserves our accolade for this rare feat; the action of Buhari has shown that he is a democrat, not minding his military background. People who love justice, people from different political cleavages including pro-democracy activists have been begging and begging that June 12 should be made the Democracy Day, he said.Okorie said that the implication of the Presidents pronouncement is that our democracy is maturing and people can now stand up and say the truth the way it is.He appealed to opposition group to embrace the declaration and rally round Mr President in his efforts to deepen the countrys democracy.Okorie, who was a former Commissioner for Works, Transport, Housing and Environment in Ebonyi, described the late Abiola as a democracy icon who symbolised unity and died in the course of fighting for restoration of democracy in Nigeria.He said that Nigerians from all walks of life, ethnic and religious leanings voted overwhelmingly for Abiola though he ran on Muslim Muslim ticket because of their belief in him.Nigerians were also united in the struggle for the de-annulment of the June 12 Presidential Election because of enormous support Abiola enjoyed from Nigerians.He said that Buhari had etched his name in the hearts of Nigerians and lovers of democracy by the pronouncement, stressing that the action would boost the electoral chances of APC in 2019.The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Buhari on Wednesday, June 6, announced June 12 as Nigerias Democracy Day starting from 2019.He also announced that the winner of the annulled election, Abiola be conferred with the highest honour of GCFR, while his running mate, Babagana Kingibe be conferred with the Grand Commander Order of Niger (GCON)Retired Gen. Ibrahim Babangida led military administration annulled the June 12, 1993 Presidential Election believed to have been won by the late Abiola.Abiola later declared himself President and was subsequently arrested and imprisoned by the late former head of state, Gen. Sani Abacha who toppled Chief Ernest ShonekanS led interim government in 1994.In a related development, Mr Ogbuagu Anikwe, Enugu State Commissioner for Information, says the declaration of June 12 as Democracy Day, is a step towards understanding the ideals of representative government.Anikwe who spoke in Enugu, said the pronouncement sends the right message to those who have been wondering why May 29 should be celebrated as democracy day.There are three tendencies to this issue including a possible date of Oct. 1, 1960, when we began as a nation.You also have that significant event where a free and fair election was truncated.This is the actual day some people feel should be the democracy day.Then you have an interregnum after which democracy was restored and the then regime felt that should be celebrated as the democracy day.What this tells you is that democracy day means different things to different people in Nigeria, he said.Anikwe said that it had become imperative for Nigerians to sit together and redesign the Constitution in order to take care of such contentious issues.Just like every other thing that we are not agreed on in this country, there is really need for Nigerians to come together and redesign the Constitution to take care of these contentious issues, he said.He said that it was not very good to leave such sensitive issues at the whims and caprices of any government in power to impose on the people.Having said this, I am one of those who felt aggrieved that a democratically elected government was not allowed to form in 1993, he said. The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for officially announcing June 12 as the new Democracy Day in the country.Mr Williams Akporeha, NUPENG President, gave the commendation while speaking with newsmen at the 107th session of the International Labour Conference (ILC) in Geneva on Thursday.It will be recall that President Muhammadu Buhari had directed that the nations Democracy Day would henceforth, hold on June 12 thereby replacing the traditional May 29.Akporeha said the announcement was a welcome development as it was long overdue.He also commended President Buhari for conferring a posthumous GCFR award on the presumed winner of June 12, 1993, presidential election, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola (of blessed memory).He applauded the President for conferring GCON titles on his running mate, Amb. Baba Gana Kingibe and human rights activist, Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN) for their roles in the struggle to actualise June 12 presidential election.Akporeha, however, said names like Frank Ovie Kokori, (NUPENG former General Secretary), Late Wariebi Kojo Agamene (former President of NUPENG), former General Secretary of PENGASSAN, (Chief) Milton Gilchrist Dabibi and others should have featured prominently on the list.According to him, the union is stunned that such high profile national recognition and honour was offered by the Presidency.But no credit, whatsoever, was given to NUPENG and PENGASSAN despite the painstaking roles played by the leaders, he said.He added that without any fear of contradiction, the democracy Nigeria has been enjoying since May 29, 1993 did not come on a silver platter.He noted that the leadership of these unions as well as their members fought for it, in some instances with blood, tears, freedom, career, adding that regrettably some people paid the supreme price.He said these fearless and irrepressible Nigerians gave their all to earn the nations democratic liberty.For pecuniary gains and other reasons, some other Nigerians pitched their tent with the tyrannical military regimes.However, our leaders were resolute and blatantly refused to compromise or to receive any form of gratification despite intimidation, victimisation, harassment and incarceration by the military despot, Akporeha added.He, therefore, appealed to Mr. President to set a think-tank to look inwards and make necessary amends by reviewing the list in order to accommodate the names of the veterans mentioned above. The senate has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to announce the results of the June 12 presidential election. The senate has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to announce the results of the June 12 presidential election. The upper legislative chamber also demanded that all entitlements of Moshood Abiola, presumed winner of the election, should be paid to his family. The resolutions of the upper legislative chamber was sequel to a motion sponsored by Biodun Olujimi, senator representing Ekiti south. While moving the motion, Olujimi said Abiola should be declared president of the country. For once, I want to thank the president of Nigeria. I want to say he has done well. This is one time that the president has given a thought to what Abiola and his family went through to fight for this democracy that we enjoy today, she said. Going further, there are issues to be addressed so that we can be confident that this is not a Greek gift. This is the time for the result to be properly announced by INEC because government is a continuum and declare Abiola as a president. Entitlements should be granted to the winners. Baba Gana kingibe should be recognised as vice-president June 12 should be declared a public holiday. All recommendations must be brought to parliament for legislative action. On his part, Ike Ekweremadu, deputy senate president, said it is not legally possible to extend the date a president would take oath of office until the constitution is amended. There are two legal issues. I want to raise the second one. Section 135 (2) on the tenure of president. They are now saying June 12 is now Democracy proposing that in 2019, the president will now be sworn in on the 12th of June, he said. This is illegally impossible. A president shall vacate his office at the expiration of a period of four years he took the oath of office. The implication is that 29th of May remains the date the president will be inaugurated and take oath of office. If they are moving from May 29 to June 12, it means we have to amend this constitution. Otherwise, we will be extending tenure of a president beyond what the constitution contemplates. We have to advise the president properly. We cannot extend it to June 12 without extending the constitution. Ahmed Lawan, senate leader, said parliament should continue to support the government. Buhari has shown clearly what a democracy is. The parliament should continue to support the government to further entrench democracy, Lawan said. For the first time, Nigerians elected candidates based on their credibility. Somebody from Kano who contested against Abiola was defeated in Kano. That is the kind of sentiment Nigerians should always have. Senate on Thursday gave President Muhammadu Buhari three conditions for which the posthumous award he recently accorded late MKO Abiola, t... Senate on Thursday gave President Muhammadu Buhari three conditions for which the posthumous award he recently accorded late MKO Abiola, the acclaimed winner of June 12, 1993 presidential election would not be considered a Greek gift. It would be recalled that Abiola contested the annulled poll under the Social Democratic Party, SDP. This resolution followed an adopted order 42 and 52 raised by senator Biodun Olujimi representing Ekiti South senatorial district. In her words, Mr. President, my distinguished colleagues. I want to thank Mr. President for the feat he scored yesterday by posthumously honouring late MKO Abiola for winning the annulled 1993 presidential election. To make good his intentions, Mr. President should ensure the release and declaration of the annulled results of the poll by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. Also, Abiolas family should be paid reparations and all other entitlements due to him as former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. And that Ambassador Babagana Kingibe should be recognised henceforth as former Vice President of Nigeria and be paid his accompanying entitlements. The Presidency has maintained sealed lips over Tuesdays impeachment threats by the National Assembly after its joint session.The legislature had threatened to invoke its constitutional powers on President Muhammadu Buhari over some perceived constitutional breaches.But asked yesterday to respond to the 12-point resolutions the legislature had asked the president to strictly adhere to or face its constitutional powers, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu refused to comment.Shehu, who was asked if the President was aware of the impeachment threats on him, simply responded by saying, I have nothing to say on that.Shehu however, said 6million new jobs have been created by the Buhari administration through its diversification programmes in the last three years, a figure that exceeded what the President promised during his electioneering campaign in 2015.He explained that the jobs were created through the anchor borrowers scheme in the agricultural sector, including the social infrastructural programmes.Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun however, interrupted Shehu, when she said the job creation efforts of the government was being viewed as insignificant because majority of the working population prefered white collar jobs.Recall that the lawmakers rose from their deliberations on Tuesday, where they proposed12-point conditions that Buhari must address urgently or face the invocation of its powers against him.President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, read the resolution from the session, which lasted over three hours, and declared that the lawmakers would not hesitate to move against the President if he failed to comply.Part of the charge to the President was that security agencies must be given marching orders to curtail the sustained killings of Nigerians across the country and protect lives and properties of Nigerians as this is the primary duty of any responsible government.The President was also expected to stop systematic harassment and humiliation by the Executive of perceived political opponents, people with contrary opinions, including legislators and judiciary, by the police and other security agencies must stop.That there must be strict adherence to the Rule of Law and protection for all citizens by the President and his appointees, including making the President to be held accountable for the actions of his appointees and must be ready to sanction those that carry out any act which will ridicule or endanger our country and democracy.That the Government should show sincerity in the fight against corruption by not being selective, and also prosecute current appointees that have cases pending against them as well as sanctity of the National Assembly should be protected and preserved by the Federal Government of Nigeria by not interfering in its business, but prosecute those who invaded the Senate to seize the mace among others,Saraki stated.Meanwhile, shortly after a valedictory session was held for Minister of Solid Minerals and Steel Development, Kayode Fayemi at the Council chambers, some other resolutions bothering on the economy was also reached at the end of the Federal Executive Council meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari.FEC approved the purchase of project monitoring vehicles for Ministry of Power Works and Housing at a cost of N499million.Buhari also gave his nod for the construction and furnishing of three storey faculty building that comprises academic, departmental offices, conference room, departmental libraries, oilers and external blocks for the National Open University of Nigeria.The new structure would be built by Spectrum engineering limited at the cost of N711million.Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed explained that as at date, the Social Investment Programme of the government has up to 9.76 million beneficiaries cutting across the four programmes that have so far been deployed.She said the programmmes were centered around N-Power, with about 200,000 beneficiaries already deployed as teachers, agriculture extension workers as well as health extension workers.Others she noted fell within the N-Power knowledge category. Under the programme non-graduates will be trained in skills and attached to companies where they will gain experience during apprenticeship.The categories are three: first is a group of 2,000 beneficiaries will be trained in software development, web development and will be equipped with devices.The essence of the training is to make them self employable at the end of the training which will be for three months and there will be apprenticeship attachment after the training.Second category, is the supply of 3,000 devices that will be used by staff of the National Cash Transfer office at the national, state, local and ward levels, to register beneficiaries of the National Cash Transfer programme to be able to record their data, BVN and their biometrics information as well as the location of where they are,She stated. More than a dozen dogs living in unhealthy conditions were taken Tuesday from the home of a Franklin Lakes woman who was using it as a kennel, authorities said. Investigators found and removed 14 dogs in "varying states of health and living in conditions unacceptable for the well-being of the animals," from the home of Danielle Weitz, 65, according to a release from the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office. The prosecutor's office did not provide any other details on the dogs or their condition Wednesday night. The Bergen County Prosecutor's Office Animal Cruelty Task Force received information on May 31 that Weitz was using her home on Haddon Place as a kennel, the release states. On Tuesday, the home was searched by the task force and the Franklin Lakes Police Department. Members of the borough's animal control unit and a veterinarian were on hand and made sure the dogs were safely taken from the home and also performed a medical assessment of the animals. Weitz was charged Wednesday with 14 counts of animal cruelty, a disorderly persons offense, according to the release. She is scheduled to appear in Bergen County Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack on July 12 at 9 a.m. Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrisrsheldon Find NJ.com on Facebook. Michael Siriani's been in prison before -- at least twice, state records show - and he's likely going back for a long time. Siriani, 59, admitted that he robbed a Wawa at gunpoint last year, getting away with a chicken Caesar wrap and $162. He calls it "the biggest mistake of my life." Michael Siriani In Superior Court in Mount Holly Tuesday, Siriani pleaded guilty to robbery as part of a plea deal in which prosecutors will recommend that a judge sentence Siriani to 20 years in state prison, serving 17 before parole eligibility, Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina announced. "I wish I could just give back (the money), Siriani said in court, according to the prosecutor's office. The Aug. 6, 2017 incident involving the Caesar wrap was actually the second time Siriani took from the same Wawa, on Route 206 in Springfield Township. Siriani had also been at the store in 2006, where he committed a theft. In last year's crime, Siriani entered the store at around 1 a.m., grabbed the wrap and went to the cashier. He pulled out a gun, demanded cash and fled. When he was arrested a few days later, he told a State Police detective that he was going to get married in three weeks. Due to his criminal history, which also includes a 1995 armed robbery, Siriani faced a longer prison term if he had gone to trial and been found guilty. Judge Charles Delehey will sentence Siriani on July 19. Michael Siriani robbing the store in 2017 in this photo made public by authorities. Joe Brandt can be reached at jbrandt@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JBrandt_NJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips A few years ago, Tracey Mitchell's dad needed to go into a nursing home. Mitchell had no complaints about the care he received, but three months before he died, a surprise arrived via regular mail. It was a lawsuit alleging Mitchell owed $49,000 to the nursing home. The lawsuit came out of nowhere, Mitchell said. Mitchell said she was scared as well as perplexed. The nursing home never sent her a bill, she said, and just as important, she never expected to cover her father's expenses. Her dad's facility, Alaris Health at Cherry Hill, through its "fiscal agent" Future Care Consultants, claimed otherwise. Mitchell's fight against the lawsuit highlights the complexities of paying for nursing home care. And it often comes down to the language in the contract. The odyssey began when Robert Bowman was admitted in October 2015. He was too weak to sign any paperwork, Mitchell said, and she wasn't asked to sign, either. Mitchell said she told the nursing home her dad had meager assets. The staff instructed her to file for Medicaid on her father's behalf, so she started the process, Mitchell told Bamboozled. A screenshot the lawsuit filed against Tracey Mitchell about costs from her father's nursing home stay. About a week later, a social worker asked Mitchell to sign an admissions agreement for her dad, Mitchell said. She did, signing her name with the word "daughter" in parenthesis, documents show. Bowman stayed at the facility for several months before he was approved for Medicaid on April 1, 2016. It would pay retroactively for three months, but that meant several months of his care were not covered. Bowman didn't personally have the assets to pay the difference, but, Mitchell said, no one at the nursing home indicated there was a problem. Until the lawsuit arrived via regular mail. "There were no discussions with Alaris about a bill. Alaris just filed the lawsuit against me," Mitchell said. "I was shocked and scared when I tried to read the lawsuit and it claimed I owed Alaris over $49,000." THE LAWSUIT Bamboozled reviewed the legal documents. The lawsuit alleged the paper Mitchell signed meant she was personally responsible for charges that were not covered by Bowman's assets or Medicaid. Inexplicably, neither Bowman nor his estate were named in the suit. According to Mitchell's attorney, Donald Browne of Bernetich, Hatzell & Pascu in Cherry Hill, the contract had a clause that was "illegal." The clause, Browne said, required a third party to guarantee payment. But Mitchell can't be held to that, Browne said, because both state and federal law specifically say nursing homes can't require a third party to guarantee payment. "The language of this statute is clear and concise," Browne said. "It states plainly that personal liability of a third party is prohibited." Browne said that meant Future Care didn't have a case. Had Mitchell not signed, Browne said, the nursing home probably would have filed for Medicaid on Bowman's behalf, noting Mitchell was never financially responsible for her dad. Browne responded to the lawsuit, saying the law was clearly on Mitchell's side. Browne also called the lawsuit frivolous, demanding Future Care drop the suit and saying Mitchell was countersuing for consumer fraud. Future Care didn't drop its suit. To the countersuit, Browne added SCO Silver Care Operations, which owned Alaris, and owner Avery Eisenreich, who is listed as SCO's owner in a state license filing. The suit alleged Future Care, SCO and Eisenriech, who public records show owns 12 nursing homes in the state, use the "illegal" wording in its contracts to collect from people who are not responsible for their loved ones' nursing home bills. "My theory is if they sue 10 people like this, they will find maybe one with an attorney who knows the law and nine will pay," Browne said. Future Care, SCO and Eisenreich are all represented by the same law firm, sb2 Inc. of Harrisburg, Pa., court documents show. The attorneys named in court documents didn't respond to phone and email requests for comment. We wanted to ask the attorneys more about the case and the 116 companies for which Eisenreich is listed on paperwork with New Jersey filings. We also wanted to ask about other lawsuits Bamboozled found in public records, including two others against Alaris Health at Cherry Hill, six against SCO, 25 against Future Care and 15 against Eisenreich. Future Care, which has an "F" rating with the Better Business Bureau, also filed dozens of lawsuits in the past 18 months, and we wanted to ask about that, too. But again, the attorneys didn't respond. Eisenreich didn't respond to voice messages, either. The case against Mitchell went before a judge last month, and the judge dismissed it in Mitchell's favor. The judge also awarded $34,000 in legal fees, which Browne said is uncommon in these cases. Mitchell's countersuit started Monday in Camden County Superior Court, alleging Future Care, SCO and Eisenreich violated the Consumer Fraud Act because of the "illegal" language in the contract and because the initial lawsuit against Mitchell was frivolous. Browne asked for $49,000 - the maximum "ascertainable loss" based on the initial suit against Mitchell - plus treble damages and attorney's fees, which are permitted under the Consumer Fraud Act. Mitchell said it's not really about the money, but about protecting unsuspecting consumers. "I am hoping this case will send a message to nursing homes that they can't file these illegal lawsuits against the children of their residents," she said. "How many people just pay because they do not know it is illegal?" Then on Tuesday, the day after jury selection, something changed. "No comment," said Browne. "The matter is resolved to our satisfaction." He added he couldn't comment any further. To us, that sounds like a settlement in Mitchell's favor. AVOIDING SURPRISE CHARGES Moving a family member to a nursing home is an emotional experience under the best of circumstances. If you're not careful, or if the facility you're working with isn't clear about the rules or uses contract language you don't understand, you could get stuck with an unexpected bill. A December 2015 photo of Robert Bowman's 80th birthday, out at a restaurant near his nursing home. Pictured are Bowman and his wife, Constance, and their three children Bob, Shannon and Tracey. This is especially true if the patient doesn't have the funds to pay for a nursing home but is not yet eligible for Medicaid - something that doesn't happen overnight. The Department of Human Services said on average, statewide, it takes from 34 to 39 days for approvals. Practitioners disagree, saying there is a backlog at many county Medicaid offices, with some running as long as three to 10 months behind. "Most counties will take 45 days to three months, while some have a backlog extending three months or longer," said Geraldine Callahan, an elder care advisor with Callahan Financial Services Group in East Hanover. "In rare cases, some files are sent to the state office in Trenton, and that can take up to a year or longer." Callahan said as a result of the backlog she has witnessed, some nursing homes will take a patient before Medicaid has been approved. A case like Mitchell's, in which her father was admitted even though he had not yet applied for Medicaid, is less common, she said. That's where the importance of the contract language comes in. Family members should never sign anything without reading and understanding it first, said Yale Hauptman, an estate planning attorney with Hauptman and Hauptman in Livingston. Note that a spouse doesn't have to sign, though the spouse's assets will be considered as part of the Medicaid application. The fine print is essential. First, look for the term "responsible party," which is typically used in facility contracts. Hauptman said the responsible party is charged with paying the bill. "You want it to be clear that the responsible party is responsible to pay the bill from the resident's funds, not their own personal funds," he said. Robert and Constance Bowman pictured in 2014, before Robert Bowman moved to a nursing home. Also look for the "guarantor," which is used when a child or other individual personally guarantees to pay from his or her own personal funds. Hauptman said the contract typically has language that makes it clear that the responsible party is required to file for Medicaid. "If the child in that case does not follow through on the Medicaid process after having agreed to do so - dropped the ball - and the application is denied because all information and documentation was not provided to the caseworker, the facility could look for payment from the child, arguing that the child did not take the steps necessary and diligently follow through with the application as he/she contractually agreed to," Hauptman said. Then there's the Medicaid "look back" period, which is the five-year period during which Medicaid will examine the finances of the applicant. If the applicant disposed of money five years before needing Medicaid, he may be ineligible for the time period that could have been paid for by those funds. Given all the complications, it's worth seeking help before your loved one even needs Medicaid. Working with an experienced elder law or estate planning attorney or with a Medicaid specialist can help you navigate the process, especially if you're trying to protect assets. "Hiring help can save you thousands in the long run, and it will eliminate common mistakes which cause delays, denials and the tremendous backlog," Callahan said. For the actual Medicaid application, you can get help for free. Contact County Welfare Agencies (CWAs) and Boards of Social Services, Medical Assistance Customer Centers (MACCs), Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs) and NJ FamilyCare at (800) 701-0710. Research Editor Vinessa Erminio contributed to this report. Have you been Bamboozled? Reach Karin Price Mueller at Bamboozled@NJAdvanceMedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @KPMueller. Find Bamboozled on Facebook. Mueller is also the founder of NJMoneyHelp.com. Stay informed and sign up for NJMoneyHelp.com's weekly e-newsletter. The body of a missing college student was recovered near a Cumberland County marsh Monday, according to police. Ronald "Ron" Vega, 28, of Millville, was reported missing on May 24. New Jersey State Police and local authorities searched the marshy area near Cedarville after finding his car abandoned there, using marine and aviation crews to scour the area. New Jersey State Police Spokesman Trooper Alejandro Goez confirmed Thursday that Vega's body was found near the marsh on Monday. The incident remains under investigation, and the body has been turned over to the Office of the Medical Examiner, he said. Vega's family had expressed concern for him after his disappearance, noting the Cumberland County College student had not been himself lately. A GoFundMe launched by Vega's family said he "was one of the most kind hearted loving souls I've ever had encountered. Anyone who has ever had the pleasure of meeting him knows that when he walked into the room he would bring joy and laughter with him." The family is trying to raise $10,000 to cover his funeral expenses. As of Thursday morning, they had just over $3,000. Amanda Hoover can be reached at ahoover@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @amandahoovernj. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Night view of Shenzhen Bay, Guangdong province, April 13, 2018. [Photo/VCG] The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area expects to be the largest economy among global bay areas by 2020, as Hong Kong is expected to be more attractive to firms and capital from the Chinese mainland will be promoted, according to a report from real estate consulting firm CBRE. CBRE said the Greater Bay Area has three growth poles, including Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Hong Kong, with advantages in scientific innovation, trade, logistics, finance and services, and it also covers cities with strong manufacturing power in the Pearl River Delta. Last year, the economic aggregate of the Greater bay Area reached 11.7 trillion yuan ($1.83 trillion). The Greater Bay Area is accelerating its integration. As the development plan is implemented, population inflow will increase, technology and industry will be upgraded and large-scale infrastructure investment will create new investment opportunities in real estate in the area. There is still a gap between the Greater Bay Area and other international bay areas in real estate development, said Li Ling, a managing director of investment and capital market sector at CBRE China. Last year, the space of high-quality office buildings at the Greater Bay Area was 32 million square meters, 40 and 55 percent lower than the New York Bay Area and the Tokyo Bay Area respectively. As the economy growth and structure transformation continues in the Greater Bay Area, demand for office buildings will surge, Li said. High-end business will continue to gather in core cities that will boost office building investment in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong, CBRE's report said. At present, Guangzhou and Shenzhen have entered into a second round of construction for office areas. Pazhou, International Finance Town and the Qianhai area of Shenzhen is attracting tenants and investors. Firms from the Chinese mainland desire spaces in Hong Kong's central districts, CBRE said. Moreover, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong express rail link will be opened, boosting cities' economy on the west bank of the Pearl River, such as Zhuhai, Jiangmen, and Guangzhou's sub-center Nansha. Zhongshan's Cuiheng new area, Zhuhai's Hongwan port and Jiangmen's Heshan are expected to be new logistics hubs. The report also said population un-bounded flows in the area will facilitate industrial property and shopping mall investment opportunities. As the high-speed train and inter-city rail start to run, more "one-hour working-living cycles" for commuters, such as Guangzhou-Foshan and Shenzhen-Dongguan, will be formed in the Greater Bay Area. Urban integration will speed up manufacturing population outflows to second-tier cities, including Dongguan, Foshan, Huizhou and Zhongshan. This will create opportunities for these cities' properties such as industrial and science parks, homes and commercial facilities. A Gloucester County police officer was injured early Thursday morning after a utility pole slammed into his cruiser, the wires electrifying his vehicle and causing him to be shocked as he tried to go back into his vehicle. Sgt. Michael Ferris of the Washington Township Police was responding to a crash along Delsea Drive in Deptford Township around 4 a.m. As he arrived, a second crash took place as a box truck collided with a utility pole, police said. The collision sent the pole into Ferris' vehicle, causing his airbag to deploy and leaving him with facial injuries, according to police. Ferris, who got out of his police cruiser, was shocked as he tried to reopen the door. Ferris was taken to Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia for treatment, and was reported to be in stable condition, conscious and alert. Police said he was expected to be released on Thursday. Deptford Township Police are investigating both crashes. A spokesman for the department was not immediately available to provide details of the incidents. Amanda Hoover can be reached at ahoover@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @amandahoovernj. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips JERSEY CITY -- The defense presented testimony from three witnesses today as it works to establish a defense of self-defense in the murder trial of a West New York man accused of stabbing a man in the heart outside a Guttenberg restaurant Reidel Carrasco, 23, of West New York, could face up to life in prison if convicted of murdering Antonio Bouza, 28, also of West New York, on July 28, 2017, over what prosecutors suggest was a beef about a woman both had dated. On the night he died, Bouza was in Rumba Cubana with his friend Luis Ricardo Gomez; and Carrasco happened to be there on a date. At one point, Carrasco went to the bathroom and took a steak knife with him because, his attorney said, he feared Bouza and Gomez would attack him while there. When Carrasco left the restaurant, the pair followed him and attacked him. He then stabbed Bouza. Today, defense attorney Raoul Bustillo worked to show that Gomez and Bouza were motivated to attack Carrasco. Louisa Moscera, the former girlfriend of both men, testified today that she was in a car with Bouza in February 2017 when Carrasco called her. She said Bouza grabbed the phone, cursed at Carrasco and demanded to know where he was because he wanted to fight. Speaking through a Spanish translator, Moscera said that after the call, Bouza got out of the car and punched a car wash door with enough force to make his knuckles bleed. When asked if Carrasco was afraid of Bouza, Moscera she said "No, but he was always trying to avoid him." Under cross-examination, Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Raquel Rivera asked Moscera if she had ever seen Bouza attack Carrasco. She said "No." Rivera noted that Moscera dated Carrasco for four years and was a friend of his family. "You would never want to do anything that hurt the defendant, right?" Rivera asked. Gonzalez said she did not know what the prosecutor meant. "You care about the defendant, right?" Rivera asked. "Yes," Gonzalez replied. Claudia Alvarez, Carrasco's first cousin, also took the stand and spoke of an occasion in which she went to Great Adventure and Gomez and Bouza were in the car. She said Gomez told her that he thought she was nice, but he hated Carrasco. Alvarez also testified about a Facebook post in which she said Gomez had threatened the defendant. But under cross-examination, Alvarez admitted that in one Facebook post, Carrasco told Gomez to come see him and provided his address. Another woman who dated Carrasco testified that she was at a barbecue in North Bergen in June of 2017 where she heard Bouza and Gomez saying that they didn't like Carrasco and if they ever saw him they would attack him. When Bustillo asked if that was the only time she heard either of them using threatening language regarding Carrasco, she said "I always knew that they had something against Reidel," but she could not remember the particular times they mentioned it. The defense has argued that Carrasco left the restaurant to avoid being attacked by the pair. Bustillo noted that before leaving Carrasco called home telling his father to "get out of bed" and pick him up. Carrasco's father was to take the stand when the trial resumes this afternoon. The state has argued that it was text messages and calls by Carrasco that instigated the violence. Gomez said that while leaving the restaurant Carrasco "called him out" with a wave. The night's events were captured on security cameras inside and outside the restaurant. The now-deleted Facebook post that has come under fire. JERSEY CITY It may be Pride Month, but members of the city's LGBT community aren't feeling the love from a councilman they accuse of posting a homophobic message on Facebook. Rich Boggiano, who represents the Journal Square area, posted a picture on Thursday morning of a man walking down a street wearing a tiny pink bathing suit and pink heels. Boggiano's caption: "Hey city council pass the obscenity law." Boggiano is a critic of a measure up for adoption next week that would eliminate the city's ban on women appearing topless in public. The proposal is part of a number of changes proposed in a revision of the city's 1980s-era obscenity law. The councilman said the post was not targeted at anyone who identifies as L, G, B or T. "It has nothing to do with the gay community," he told The Jersey Journal. "I have nothing against nobody." The post was up for about two hours before it was deleted. Michael Billy, who heads local LGBT group Hudson Pride Center, said in a statement that the post was "transphobic, homophobic and misogynistic, a stark reminder of the work still left for us to achieve." "Jersey City is the most diverse city in the nation with the largest LGBTQ+ population in the state," Billy said. "This post doesn't reflect our welcoming spirit." Billy wants Boggiano to apologize and participate in cultural competency training. Michael Maddalena, who lives in Boggiano's ward, called the post "homophobic and transphobic." Maddelena, who is gay, told The Jersey Journal he wants an apology or a resignation from Boggiano. "Our diversity and inclusivity is our strength here in Jersey City," he said. "No one deserves to be demoralized over a law that is so out of touch with current society values. His desire to keep this outdated law has proven his ignorance and bigotry." In recent days, Boggiano, 74, has said someone who may have had access to his Facebook account has posted pictures on it without his knowledge. He did not deny responsibility for the Thursday post of the man in heels a cop friend sent it to him, he said. He also said he did not delete it, a friend did. "They said, take it off," Boggiano told The Jersey Journal. "I said, do what you want." Boggiano's critics note that the city's current obscenity law allows for men to walk around in just a bathing suit and heels. It bans only women from bearing their breasts in public. Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook. Lindsay Portelli has dealt with many people who have underestimated her. "As a woman, you always have to prove yourself when you meet someone, rather than them automatically assuming that you know what you're doing because you have this job,'' Portelli, a graduate student at Stevens Institute of Technology and a coding teacher, says. At Hoboken's newest coding school, Coditum, Portelli works alongside founder Steven Fink to create an environment where girls are comfortable and given the resources to thrive at computer science. While the school is for both girls and boys, the staff works to be sure girls feel welcome and participate fully. On Sunday, June 10, a free Girls Code Day will further that goal. Before founding Coditum, Fink was a member of Atlanta rock band The Grapes, playing 280 shows a year from 1990 to 1997. When tour life came to an end, Fink started collaborating with friends who were working on creating American Computer Experience Computer Camps. "I got to wear every hat,'' he says. "I got to learn every facet of the business." By 1999, ACE had more than 110 locations in the U.S., Canada and England. It was then that Fink decided to put his management experience to use on his own project. In 2002, Summer Tech was born. Located on the campus of Purchase College in Purchase, New York, the camp offers five-day sessions of various computer science courses. Fink, a current Hoboken resident originally from Long Island, created Coditum in 2013 in Purchase and expanded to Hoboken last year. The afterschool program offers 3:1 student to teacher ratio coding classes at the Monroe Center for children ages 10 to 17. Teachers use Java and Python programming languages, as opposed to programs developed for kids. With Coditum, Fink aims to work with the Hoboken public schools, government and businesses to attract industry and build a community of coders. Coditum's mission is to raise the bar on computer science education and prove that all kinds of children can do high level work. Children start at Coditum from a young age and can work their way up to becoming camp counselors and teachers. "We have some very advanced teachers, 16- and 17-year-olds, who are doing graduate level work already," Fink says. Kayla Vares, a 15-year-old Harrison resident and student at High Tech High School in North Bergen, is one. Vares knew nothing about coding before meeting Fink in 2012. While working at Washington Middle School as a music teacher, Fink gave 12 scholarships to students interested in attending Summer Tech camp, one of them being Vares. With the help of Fink's coding curriculum, she went on to become one of Coditum's most valued instructors. "Kayla's one of those people who ... worked hard at it," Fink says. "Now she's teaching kids that are not much younger than her. That's inspiring." Vares, Portelli and fellow teacher Katherine Ceballos say they aim to make students, especially girls, feel capable of creating their own programs through coding. Current 11-year-old students GG Fink and Abigail Scott say their favorite part of Coditum is creating their own programs. And 10-year-old twins Morgan and Madison Walia-Peters are already looking toward the future. "I want to be a surgeon, but in the future there might be robots doing it," Morgan says, "so we'll need coding." Coditum's free Girls Code Day is scheduled for 4 to 6 p.m. Sunday, June 10, at the Monroe Center, 720 Monroe St., Hoboken. For information, call 866-CODITUM or go to coditum.com. Hudson County is getting in on the plastic ban craze, with Hoboken and Jersey City moving forward with measures that would impose sharp limits on when retailers can give plastic bags to customers. The action by the two cities comes amid a global effort to limit the use of plastic bags. Advocates for the bans say plastic bags litter sidewalks and streets and clog oceans and waterways. Veterinarians in Thailand said recently they found nearly 17 pounds of plastic inside the belly of a pilot whale found stranded on a beach. Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, told The Jersey Journal that it's up to cities to take charge when governments on a larger level have failed to. "This is a real scourge around the country and around the globe," Tittel said. "Plastic is not only killing sea mammals and birds, filling up our landfills, by the way the plastic comes from fracking so more natural gas wells and pipelines, so it's bad in every way. California banned plastic bags in 2016 and New York is planning its own restrictions. A number of New Jersey municipalities have either banned bags or imposed fees intended to discourage their use. There is a bill floating around New Jersey's Assembly that would ultimately lead to a statewide ban. Hoboken's ordinance received initial approval from its council on Wednesday. Jersey City's ordinance is up for first reading on June 13. Both measures would largely require retailers to provide only reusable and/or recyclable paper bags to customers. There are exemptions, including bags to wrap newspapers, dry cleaning items, frozen foods, meat and fish. Hoboken's bill specifies that retailers charge customers for the non-plastic bags (no more than 25 cents each for paper bags). They would be required to provide free paper or cloth bags to any customer using government assistance to purchase goods. "We think it's an important step," Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop said at a Thursday press conference. "The fact that the most densely population county in the state is taking this initiative is important." Violations in Jersey City would result in a $100 fine per infraction. In Hoboken, the first violation would cost a retailer $100, $200 for the second and $500 for every subsequent violation. For denizens of the Jersey Shore, summer isn't just a season; it's a ritual. Certain sea creatures must be duly sacrificed for our gastronomic pleasure. We fall prey to the primal rhythms of "Born to Run" and "Margaritaville." There is much drinking. Most of the younger natives prefer a grain-based potion known as "beer." But their elders know better. At a seaside temple called the Peninsula House, where my friends and I came of age, our chalices overflowed nightly with a magical elixir known as the G&T. The Peninsula House, in Sea Bright, was destroyed by fire in the 1980s. But the gin and tonic remains my official summer cocktail. It has everything. Like a good lager, it's light and refreshing. Like a good wine, it's aromatically complex and pleasantly bitter. And it's a cinch to make. Fill a tall glass with ice. Add a couple ounces of gin. Top with tonic water and a squeeze of lime. Not long after I met my future wife -- a native of the Jersey Shore, but uninitiated in the consumption of G&Ts -- I poured her what was then my standard version, made with a popular brand of London dry gin and a supermarket tonic. I remember watching in anticipation as she took a sip. She made a funny face and shook her head. "I don't really like that," she said. I couldn't believe it: a member of the tribe literally turning up her nose at a G&T. Kathleen has since become a big fan of gin and tonics -- no thanks to me. Credit goes to a growing number of New Jersey restaurateurs, bar managers and mixologists who are reinventing the classic by incorporating artisanal gins, homemade tonics, flavored syrups and unusual garnishes. Consider the cocktail menu at Asbury Park Distilling, a craft distillery that opened about a year ago in the rapidly redeveloping resort town. It includes the aptly named Perfect Gin & Tonic, made with Asbury Park Distilling's own gin and house-made tonic. For the gin, master distiller Bill Tambussi starts with a pure corn-based spirit, then flavors it with juniper, lemongrass, coriander, cardamom, angelica and other botanicals. Tasting room manager Dan Shields and bartender Casey Bowen are responsible for the tonic syrup, which they make in small batches from traditional ingredients, including cinchona bark, brown sugar, lemon and orange zests. To construct the Perfect Gin & Tonic, they fill a tall glass with ice, add 2 ounces of gin and 1 ounce of tonic syrup, then top it off with club soda and a wedge of lime. And that's just for starters. Shields and Bowen offer several variations featuring flavored tonics and exotic garnishes. One version, Bill's Family Tonic, is made with lemon-coriander tonic, while another, Danger Zone, is flavored with a pear-pomegranate-rosemary tonic, garnished with chunks of fresh pear. The result is a drink that's as appealing to the eye as it is to the palate. In yet another twist, Asbury Park Distilling offers a G&T made with a barrel-finished gin, which has a deep-gold color thanks to months of aging in oak casks. "Some people look at it weird when they get a brown gin and tonic," Bowen said. The Smith restaurant group, which operates upscale pizzerias called Porta in Asbury Park, Jersey City and Philadelphia, also has begun experimenting with house-made tonics. To mark the opening of its location on Chestnut Street at the beginning of the year, beverage director Lindsey Taylor created a drink called Rosy Cheeks. It's made with Faber, a Pennsylvania gin, and Taylor's own tonic, plus a splash of grapefruit juice -- with roasted grapefruit and rosemary for garnish. Taylor plans to introduce similarly creative renditions at other Smith establishments, including Pascal & Sabine in Asbury Park. In addition to tonic, she hopes to develop recipes for other soda syrups that can be made in-house. Diana Pittet, co-founder of Night Owl Hospitality, a "cocktail catering" business in Asbury Park, says there's nothing wrong with standard tonic brands, such as Canada Dry. "It's like Heinz Ketchup -- it's so classic," she says. But most store-bought brands are made with high-fructose corn syrup. One benefit of making your own tonic is that you can control the ingredients and adjust the sweetness level to suit your taste, she says. Pittet's recipe for tonic syrup calls for demerara sugar, which "adds a beautiful flavor." In constructing a G&T, Pittet follows these basic proportions: 1 ounce syrup and 2 ounces of gin. Pour into a tall glass filled with ice, then top off with seltzer. Chris Siversen, chef-owner at Maritime Parc in Jersey City, has toyed with the idea of making his own tonic, but instead offers his customers artisanal brands such as Fever-Tree. "As a chef and control freak, I typically want to do it myself," he says. "But some things are what they are and others do it best. People generally want a specific taste from a G&T, and if it's way outside the box, they don't like it." For G&T fans who want a top-quality tonic without making it themselves, an increasing number of boutique brands are available in liquor stores and even supermarkets. My local Acme, for instance, carries Fever-Tree, including a delicious version scented with elderflower, as well as Q Tonic. Francis Schott, co-owner of Stage Left and Catherine Lombardi in New Brunswick, long favored Q Tonic, but recently discovered a Spanish brand he likes even better called 1724. A key feature of upscale tonics such as Fever-Tree and 1724 is that they come in small bottles. "Tonic is always best from an individual-serving glass bottle," Schott says. "You know the carbonation is perfect and it's fresh. Tired tonic makes a dull cocktail." Schott also insists on serving G&Ts in wine goblets -- a practice he picked up while traveling in Spain, where gin and tonics are wildly popular. "Wine goblets and an aromatic garnish are de rigueur," Schott says. Robby Younes, chief operating officer at Crystal Springs Resort in Hamburg, is a self-described gin fanatic who has dedicated the better part of two years in search of the ultimate G&T. The quest inspired him to make his own gin at his home in Woodland Park, where he prefers to start with a grape-based spirit. He has experimented with countless natural flavoring agents, including roots and other botanicals sourced by local foragers who supply Crystal Springs' kitchen. Younes has even tried filtering his gin via a "fat wash," an ancient process that entails passing the spirit through frozen animal fat. "I'm truly looking for a perfectionist recipe," Younes says. Younes eventually plans to go commercial with his gin recipe. But for now, he's sourcing hard-to-find gins and tonics from around the world for Restaurant Latour, Crystal Springs' formal dining room. Among his favorite gins are Bath Gin, from Bath, England; and Four Pillars Christmas Gin, an Australian import distilled from muscat grapes and aged in barrels. As for tonic, Younes says he has discovered several European brands that are particularly delicious, including Lamb & Watt from England and Thomas Henry from Germany. "Making tonic is easy," he says. "Perfecting it is not." WINE OF THE MONTH 2015 Rodney Strong Vineyards "Upshot," California ($28) "There are two kinds of wines," says Justin Seidenfeld, winemaker at Rodney Strong Vineyards in California's Sonoma County. "There are what I call 'ego' wines, like the big 'cult' cabernets. And then there are what I call enjoyment wines." Upshot is a new red wine blend from Rodney Strong that emphatically belongs in the "enjoyment" category. Upshot combines four red grape varieties -- zinfandel, merlot, malbec and petit verdot -- with a bit of riesling, a white variety. While unusual, adding a touch of white to red wine blends isn't unheard of. It's a tradition both in the Chianti region of Italy and parts of France's Rhone Valley. Seidenfeld says he chose to fold in a little riesling to tame the "ego" components in the wine -- the rich malbec and petit verdot grapes. "It brings the wine back down to earth," he says. In any case, it works. Upshot is loaded with ripe berry flavors, beautifully balanced by a firm backbone of natural acidity and tannin. It pairs perfectly with grilled beef or lamb. COCKTAIL CORNER The Drink Bramble The Source 26 West on the Navesink 26 W. Front St., Red Bank (732) 383-5664 26westonthenavesink.com Why It Works "The Bramble is simple, yet has a flavor-packed taste," says bar manager Matt Edelstein. "And the use of fresh blackberries gives it an aesthetically pleasing look." The Recipe 2 ounces Fords Gin 0.75 ounce fresh lemon juice 1 ounce simple syrup 5 fresh blackberries Pour liquid ingredients into cocktail shaker without ice and briefly shake. Pour small amount of mixture into an empty rocks glass and add four blackberries. Muddle until smooth. Fill the glass with crushed ice. Pour remaining mixture in cocktail shaker down one side of glass, creating a two-tone color effect. Garnish with a blackberry. MORE FROM INSIDE JERSEY MAGAZINE Follow Inside Jersey on Twitter. Find Inside Jersey on Facebook and Google+ The state rested yesterday afternoon in the murder trial of a West New York man charged with stabbing a man in the heart outside the Rumba Cubana restaurant in Guttenberg in 2017. Reidel Carrasco, 23, could face up to life in prison if convicted of murdering Antonio Bouza, 28, on July 28, 2017, in Guttenberg over what prosecutors suggest was a beef about a woman both men had dated. The defense will begin presenting a case for self-defense Thursday and the woman will be the first witness. The defense expects to rest by this afternoon. It is not yet clear if Carrasco will take the stand in his own defense. On the night he died, Bouza was in the restaurant with his friend Luis Ricardo Gomez and Carrasco happened to be there with a date and the woman's son. Bouza and Carrasco had had confrontations with Carrasco in the past. At one point, Carrasco took the boy to the restroom and grabbed a steak knife from the table. The defense argues he did so because he feared the pair would attack him. The prosecution has argued that it was Carrasco who instigated the violence with text messages and phone calls that night. When Carrasco left the restaurant he appeared to have waved back at the pair. Ricardo Gomez said Carrasco was calling him out. The pair got up and followed Carrasco outside where Ricardo Gomez struck him in the face, as did Bouza. Carrasco then fatally stabbed Bouza. During his cross-examination of Ricardo Gomez on Wednesday, defense attorney Raoul Bustillo worked to show that the Spanish texts sent by his client could be interpreted in a much more innocuous way than Ricardo Gomez had. Bustillo also worked to show that his client had good reason to fear he was about to be attacked by the pair that night. Bustillo said Carrasco called his father before leaving and asked him to pick him up because he didn't want any trouble. When he arrived, Carrasco's father drove his son to the Guttenberg police station, the video showed. Finally, Bustillo caught Ricardo Gomez making statements that contradicted what he told police after Bouza was pronounced dead at the scene. The trial will resume at 9 a.m. Thursday before Hudson County Superior Court Judge Mirtha Ospina in the Hudson County Administration Building. The defense has requested a bench trial. That means there is no jury and Ospina will decide if Carrasco is guilty or not guilty. EDITOR'S NOTE: Interested in the marijuana business industry? NJ Cannabis Insider is a new premium intelligence briefing that features exclusive weekly content geared toward entrepreneurs, lawyers and realtors. View a sample issue. New Jersey is shaping up to have a powerful cannabis base in the southern part of the state as a second medical marijuana dispensary has hired a prominent lobbying firm. Curaleaf New Jersey in Bellmawr, a branch of the multi-state operator PalliaTech, recently became a client of Public Strategies Impact, spokeswoman Stephanie Semple confirmed. Public Strategies Impact announced on Wednesday it had formed a strategic alliance with the law firm of Brach Eichler to help businesses participate in the emerging cannabis marketplace in New Jersey. "'Strategic Cannabis Solutions' will form exclusive relationships with clients in order to advise, position, and advocate for them to successfully obtain state-required cannabis licenses," the firms said in a joint news release. "In light of the complicated and heavily regulated nature of New Jersey's cannabis marketplace, Strategic Cannabis Solutions brings a forceful multidisciplinary team of experts to the table," Public Strategies Impact Managing Partner Roger A. Bodman said. "When the dust settles on all of the cannabis rules and regulations, we will advocate at every level of government to ensure our clients succeed in a highly competitive environment." The companies also said they expected the Department of Health to release new regulations on medical cannabis on or about June 18. State health department spokeswoman Donna Leusner said proposed rules would be published in the New Jersey Register on June 18, Last month, Acreage Holdings, which has partnered with Compassionate Care Foundation in Egg Harbor Township to build a 100,000 square foot cultivation center in Gloucester County, told NJ Advance Media it had hired Philip Norcross' lobbying firm, Optimus Partners, for consulting services. Philip Norcross' brothers include George Norcross, the executive chairman of the insurance firm of Connor Strong & Buckelew, board chairman of Cooper Health System and Cooper University Hospital and a longtime Democratic power broker in south Jersey politics; and Donald Norcross, New Jersey's congressman for the 1st District. Optimus Partners is also led by Jeff Michaels, a former chief of staff to Republican Gov. Donald DiFrancesco. Norcross and Michaels co-founded the firm eight years ago. Sources in the cannabis industry have expressed concern that well-moneyed operations like Acreage Holdings, which is now operating in 12 states, and PalliaTech, which has operations in 11 states, may constrain the number of participants in the market. Both Public Strategies Impact and Optimus Partners ranked in the top 10 in receipts taken in by lobbying firms last year, respectively taking in more than $6 million and $2 million, according to the state Election Law Enforcement Commission. Public Strategies Impact was number two on ELEC's list and Optimus Partners was seven. Earlier this spring, Acreage Holdings announced former Speaker of the House John Boehner and former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld had joined its board. PalliaTech and Acreage Holdings arrive in New Jersey as Murphy ordered a dramatic expansion of the state medicinal marijuana program. Are you interested in the N.J. cannabis industry? Subscribe here for exclusive insider information from NJ Cannabis Insider. Justin Zaremba may be reached at jzaremba@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinZarembaNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have information about this story or something else we should be covering? Tell us. nj.com/tips EDITOR'S NOTE: Interested in the marijuana business industry? NJ Cannabis Insider is a new premium intelligence briefing that features exclusive weekly content geared toward entrepreneurs, lawyers and realtors. View a sample issue. The state senator leading the charge on legal weed in New Jersey introduced a new bill Thursday that would bring recreational marijuana to the state while expanding the medical marijuana program. State Sen. Nicholas Scutari on Thursday unveiled a combined bill that aims to address the two biggest marijuana-related issues in New Jersey: an expansion of medical marijuana and full legalization of weed for adults. Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, is also a prime sponsor, Scutari said. This is the first bill introduced that combines the two efforts. Scutari's bill calls for 218 total marijuana dispensaries, 120 of them recreational and 98 of them medical. According to Scutari and a copy of the legislation obtained by NJ Advance Media: * Municipalities may ban a dispensary from opening within its border, but the local governing body must pass an ordinance doing so within 180 days of the law's enactment. * The 7 percent sales tax on medicinal cannabis will be phased-out within three years. * A dispensary may create a separate "retail marijuana consumption area" on the premises. * A positive drug test cannot be used as the basis to deny a person medical care, housing or a job "unless failing to do so would put the school, employer, or landlord in violation of federal law or cause it to lose a federal contract or funding." Scutari, D-Union, also introduced another bill that only deals with making recreational marijuana legal for adults 21 and older. Earlier in the day, Scutari had intended to introduce a third bill expanding the medicinal marijuana law, but he delayed doing so in order to work out details that would be agreeable to Sen. Joseph Vitale, D-Middlesex, the co-prime sponsor. Vitale has said he would not support a combined bill and opposes recreational marijuana. "The only thing the combined bill has in common is cannabis," Vitale said. "Each of those issues should e treated separately because they have different regulatory frameworks, challenges and purposes." Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, has agreed to sign on as a prime sponsor of the combined bill, Scutari said. NJ Advance Media reported last week that Scutari was considering merging medical and recreational marijuana in his new bill, and that such a move could jeopardize both efforts ahead of June 30, which is the Legislature's budget deadline and when lawmakers typically take their summer break. "I'm going to give it a shot. But we are running out of time," Scutari said on Thursday. Despite opposition from several lawmakers, Scutari's plan will have some support in the Legislature. "I stand firmly behind Sen. Nicolas Scutari's proposal to merge the medical and recreational marijuana bills, and will be a vocal advocate in the Assembly," said Assemblyman Jamel Holley in a statement last week. "The senator's proposal is the most sensible and streamlined way in which to address the issue, developing universal procedures and ensuring clarity," said Holley, who has expressed a willingness to be a sponsor. Scutari has been working to get recreational marijuana in New Jersey since 2014. He introduced a recreational bill in 2017 that went nowhere and reintroduced that bill in January, as pot-friendly Gov. Phil Murphy was about to take office. Murphy campaigned on marijuana legalization and announced a major expansion of New Jersey's medical marijuana program earlier this year. Several health conditions were added to the program and enrollment has gone from around 16,000 in December to 22,800 this week, according to the state Health Department. While the governor has been able to take steps to grow the program, he's also looked to lawmakers to make some of the more ambitious changes, like allowing the state to issue licenses for new businesses to join the market. Are you interested in the N.J. cannabis industry? Subscribe here for exclusive insider information from NJ Cannabis Insider. Payton Guion may be reached at PGuion@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @PaytonGuion. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. More Edison cops are expected to join the tarnished ranks of the force -- and soon -- as the latest corruption investigation over alleged no-show side jobs expands to ensnare more officers, county officials told NJ Advance Media. A review of the department's payroll records -- including base salary, overtime and side-job pay -- by the news outlet since the recent arrests found that the five officers facing official misconduct charges were not the only cops nearly doubling their salary with extra work. While no other officers have been accused of any wrongdoing, experts questioned if the workloads of these top-earning officers logged were even possible, and said, if the hours were verified, it's a dangerous practice. Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew Carey, when asked Wednesday about the news outlet's findings, said his office's investigation is "very active" and anticipated "additional officers will be charged in the near future." It was unclear who the agency is expecting to charge. The county prosecutor admonished top officials in the township on Friday when his office charged the first five officers with theft and denounced the township's system -- or lack thereof -- that allowed these cops to pull in hundreds of thousands of dollars on alleged no-show side-job details. In the scathing, singular statement from Carey -- who has stood by Police Chief Thomas Bryan as the town's top cop attempted to rehabilitate a police force that has been embroiled in scandals for years -- said the structure of assigning off-duty jobs has led to corruption and nepotism. And the broken system matters because the pay from off-duty details is no small sum-- it's millions of dollars. In just under a 2 1/2-year span, officers pulled in nearly $8 million at these off-duty details in which a third party pays through the township for private security and shifts monitoring road construction and utility work, according to public records obtained through the Open Public Records Act. Aside from the charged cops, four of the top-earning officers in 2017 would have had to work more than 50 hours per week, using all of their vacation, personal and sick time to clock in at side jobs to earn their total pay that year. Officer Jason Eckert, who doubled his base salary with overtime and off-duty work on his third year on the job, would have had to work more than 55-hours a week with no paid days off. Both officers Melvin Dixon and Robert Dipple Jr., earned more than $230,000 in 2017, about $100,000 above their base pay. So far, Officer Paul Pappas, 43, Sgt. Ioannis "John" Mpletsakis, 38, Officer James Panagoulakos, 32, all of Edison Township, Officer Gregory Makras, 33, of Cranford, and Sgt. Brian Rossmeyer, 41, of Bedminster, face allegations of taking pay from extra-duty jobs without working the shifts. The charged officers, who have all been suspended without pay, netted more than $840,000 in extra-duty work over the last two years, according to records. Bryan, whose force of 170 patrols the fifth-largest municipality in the state, said Wednesday the department has capped the amount of off-duty hours an officer can log, limiting cops to 20 hours extra a week, but did not respond to specific questions about the news outlets findings or officer fatigue. A dozen Edison officers averaged more than 50 hours per week for the entirety of 2017 with no paid days off, according to NJ Advance Media's analysis of the department's base salary, overtime and side-job pay. The average employee, who only works a 40-hour workweek, is paid for 2,080 hours per year. While on Edison force, three dozen logged an extra 500 hours -- or nearly three weeks on the clock -- more than the average person last year. The scheduling, which Carey said had little oversight, was handled by retired Edison officer, Andres Rosa. Rosa retired in 1995 and has been running the side-job operation in the department for more than 20 years with an annual salary of $51,868. Since news broke last week of the alleged mismanagement and charges against five officers, the township has taken steps to soon replace Rosa. Mayor Thomas Lankey is expected to ask the Edison Township Council next week to allow the township to solicit bids for a third-party vendor to handle the scheduling, Edison Business Administrator Maureen Ruane said in a statement. The latest scandal is believed to have come out of authorities probe into Pappas's alleged tire slashing incident that also led to seven officers being placed on desk duty over accusations of illegal steroid use. Those officers' names have not been released. "I'd like to see the officer convince a jury those are legitimate working hours," Jon Shane, a retired Newark police captain who teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. "You would have no time for anything else." In Newark, Shane said officers were capped at 20 additional hours a week. "It's unheard of," Dr. Maria Haberfeld, a professor of police studies at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, said of the data showing officers who doubled their salary. In New York City, Haberfeld said, police officers often earn an extra 30 to 40 percent of their salary. "It's not just about how much they are working, but how much they can sleep," said Stephen James, an assistant research professor at Washington State University whose studies have focused on officer fatigue. The three experts interviewed each equated the dangers of overworking police to other industries in all of which the hours are strictly monitored, such as truck drivers, airline staff and physicians. There is no statewide regulation limiting hours worked by officers, according to the experts, and any cap on hours would vary from department to department, despite the safety risks. James said overworking and lack of sleep can affect an officer's driving, demeanor in how they interact with the public and their decision to use force. Being awake for 24 hours impairs someone's driving similarly to blowing a .10 on a Breathalyzer machine, according to James. It's not uncommon for departments to outsource the assigning and tracking of these volunteer jobs to companies to prevent any appearance of favoritism. The off-duty shifts are processed through the township's payroll but paid by a third-party and do not add to an officer's pension. The new cap on the side jobs does not limit an officer's overtime. Editor's note: A previous version of this article calculated Edison officers' total pay on inaccurate information provided by the township. This story has since been updated to reflect the correct salaries. Craig McCarthy may be reached at 732-372-2078 or at CMcCarthy@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @createcraig and on Facebook here. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips E-commerce in China to create over 48 million jobs in 2018 Chinas employment driven by e-commerce is projected to exceed 48 million jobs in 2018, said ASKCI, a professional industry market research and enterprise consultation service provider. A worker in an assembly line at a bicycle production workshop; these assembled bicycles will be sold to countries all over the world thanks to the internet. Photo from People's Daily Overseas Edition In 2017, jobs brought by e-commerce in China reached 42.5 million, a year-on-year growth of 13 percent, while the countrys total employment for the same period was 776.4 million. That means one in 18 Chinese workers is employed in e-commerce or related industries. The huge employment figures are driven by the rapid expansion of the e-commerce industry. In 2017, China's e-commerce transactions totaled 29.16 trillion yuan ($4.56 trillion), a year-on-year growth of 11.7 percent. In the same period, the countrys online retail sales reached 7.18 trillion yuan, up by 32.2 percent since the previous year. Jobs created by e-commerce have upgraded traditional industries. Large new business models driven by traditional industry plus digital have produced great new employment opportunities, said Mao Risheng, a researcher with Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. E-commerce has also become an important new choice for innovation and starting a business, opening up new employment methods for surplus rural laborers, young people returning home to start their own business, veterans and the disabled. For instance, a county in Henan province has increased the income of over 60 percent of the poverty stricken population by combining e-commerce with competitive industries of the county. According to a report on Chinas rural e-commerce development, the employment driven by rural online stores alone reached more than 28 million in 2017. In Zhejiang province, there are 506 villages engaging in specialized e-commerce based industries, which account for one third of the number of the whole country, creating jobs for 200,000 people. Kathleen Dorsett, the one one-time school teacher who's been in prison since 2013 for the plotting and killing of her ex-husband, has been denied the chance to withdraw her guilty plea, a state appeals court ruled. In 2010, Dorsett plotted with her father to kill her ex-husband, Stephen Moore, of Manchester, because she didn't want him involved in their 20-month-old daughter's life. Dorsett, now 43, lured Moore to the side of their Ocean Township house where her father, Thomas Dorsett, was waiting to attack him. The duo then loaded Moore's body into his mother's SUV. Authorities found it on fire in Long Branch. Kathleen Dorsett's mother, Lesley Dorsett, also plotted to kill Moore's mother, in order to keep her from testifying about the murder at trial. The case made national headlines. All three were sentenced in 2013, and Judge Anthony Mellaci Jr. called Kathleen Dorsett the "manipulator" of the family. Kathleen was sentenced to 58 years in prison; her father Thomas Dorsett to 45 years and Lesley Dorsett to seven years. "Mr. Dorsett may have swung the murder weapon, but through her manipulation, Kathleen Dorsett put the idea and the weapon in his hands," Mellaci said during sentencing. "His overwhelming love for his daughter caused him to be manipulated by her. She was the moving force." Kathleen Dorsett's recent appeal attempted to withdrawal her guilty plea, claiming her lawyer "told her she could not win the case," and "coerced (her) to accept the plea offer," the Thursday decision said. The appeals judges said in their decision that she was fairly advised of her rights and options before sentencing. They also cite a part of Kathleen Dorsett's plea agreement -- a condition that allowed her mother to only face seven years in prison. Her mother's already been released from prison, so she's already received the full benefit of Kathleen's plea. Moreover, the man who set the car on fire, Anthony Morris, has already completed his sentence too, and he'd have no incentive to cooperate in another prosecution of Kathleen Dorsett, the decision said. Mellaci also said at the one of the hearings: "The case is truly an American family tragedy." Paige Gross may be reached at pgross@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @By_paigegross. Find NJ.com on Facebook. After what their attorney described as a "long siege," three former members of a Boy Scout troop in Parsippany have reached settlements with the organization over their alleged sexual abuse by a troop leader in the 1990s. One of the three plaintiffs was on the verge of taking his case to trial. "We settled two on Friday of last week and one after picking a jury," said Bruce Nagel of Roseland-based Nagel Rice, which represented the three now-adult scouts. The three former Scouts had filed a civil lawsuit in 2012 seeking to hold the Boy Scouts of America and their local affiliates responsible for allowing Stephen Corcoran to serve as a troop leader. The plaintiffs alleged that Corcoran began grooming them for sexual abuse when they were 11 and 12 years old and later molested them at his home and on camping trips to locations that included a scout camp in Bergen County, where the lawsuit was filed. In an email to NJ Advance Media, Corcoran's attorney, Alan Albin, indicated the Boy Scouts and their local council in turn brought their own civil claims against his client -- who did not settle. "Neither Mr. Corcoran nor I on his behalf were in any way involved in such a settlement at any time," he said. "Mr. Corcoran has never admitted any fault or liability in the Bergen County litigation. Mr. Corcoran has never paid a single penny to any party in the civil litigation in settlement." In fact, Albin said, he wasn't given explicit notice of a settlement after jury selection concluded Wednesday -- only advised by the court that there would be no need to return for trial. He said he had been "more than ready" to take the case to trial, which was expected to last two to three weeks. "Regardless of why the litigation was abruptly concluded on June 6, due to a settlement or otherwise, on behalf of Mr. Corcoran, at all times I remained fully ready, willing and able to proceed to complete the trial, receive testimony from the witnesses, provide the jury with closing argument, and ultimately to have the jury render its verdict," he said. Nagel said the amount of the settlements are confidential, but said his clients were "very pleased" with the outcome. "I'm hoping it gives all three of them a sense of closure," he said. In a statement, Boy Scouts of America said it was outraged by any abuse of its young members and called youth protection its "top priority." "In the many years since these alleged actions occurred, we have continued to evaluate and strengthen our efforts to protect youth," the organization said, indicating those steps included consulting with law enforcement and child experts, implementing a background screening process for leaders, and requiring two or more adult leaders to be present during Scouting activities. The Boy Scouts said they've have since created ways to report suspicions of inappropriate behavior in the organization -- by 24-hour helpline at 1-844-726-8871 or via email to scouts1st@scouting.org. Corcoran, who stepped down from his Boy Scouts position in 2011, is currently serving a seven-year sentence at South Woods State Prison in Cumberland County after a Morris County jury found him guilty of multiple counts of endangering the welfare of children by possessing child pornography. He was charged in that case in January 2012 after a man told authorities Corcoran had shown him sexual images of children on his computer. Corcoran was charged later that year with abusing two of the scouts, and indicted in 2013 on charges of abusing all three. Corcoran still faces separate criminal trial on the abuse charges in Morris County. Noting that the three former scouts opted not to take their claims to trial, and that no jury rendered a verdict, Albin said the resolution of the lawsuit should mean that "any claims against Mr. Corcoran made in the civil lawsuit are or should be dismissed with prejudice with no legal finding of fault or liability against him." NOTE: This story has been updated with comments from Corcoran's attorney and the Boy Scouts of America. Thomas Moriarty may be reached at tmoriarty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ThomasDMoriarty. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips After Ferdinand Augello and Dr. James Kauffman were charged with murder in the 2012 shooting death of Kauffman's wife, April, Dr. Kauffman killed himself in a Hudson County jail cell. Augello's attorneys are now trying to get a copy of the multi-page suicide note Kauffman left behind in January. Contents of the note, which was addressed to Kauffman's current wife and his lawyer, have not been disclosed. Augello is accused of arranging the 2012 killing of April Kauffman, an Atlantic County radio personality, after she threatened to report her husband to police for allegedly running a prescription drug distribution scheme with a group of Pagans motorcycle gang members. Fearing his wife would make good on her threat, prosecutors say Kauffman asked Augello to find someone to kill her. The hitman died of a drug overdose a year after carrying out the killing, according to prosecutors. Media requests for the release of the letter under the Open Public Record Act were denied by Hudson County officials, who stated the letter was exempt from disclosure under public records law because it was directed to his wife, Carole Weintraub, and attorney, making it a private document. The Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office doesn't have the letter in its possession, so it cannot provide it to the defense as part of discovery, public defender Mary Linehan explained in court Thursday afternoon. Hudson County officials have described the letter as part of an open investigation, Linehan said. The only copy she has seen is a version in which "every piece of writing is redacted," she said. Atlantic County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Seth Levy confirmed his office has seen and reviewed the letter, but does not have a copy of the original. "The last I understand, Hudson has the letter," he told Superior Court Judge Bernard DeLury. After discussion with both attorneys, DeLury directed Linehan to file an application -- which he said he would approve -- seeking a copy of the letter for his review. Once received, DeLury will review the letter before deciding if it will be shared with all parties in the case. While it wasn't clear from Thursday's proceedings which Hudson County office had possession of the letter, a spokesman for the prosecutor's office in that county previously said it had completed its review of the case and found there was "no criminality" in the suicide. Augello, a reputed former leader in the Cape May County Pagans organization, is also charged with attempted murder for allegedly trying to have the doctor killed in jail over fears that he would spill the beans about the murder and drug conspiracy. A grand jury indicted Augello in April on charges of murder, attempted murder and leading the opioid distribution network. He entered a not-guilty plea on the charges on April 19. The state is offering Augello the opportunity to plead "open" to his charges, meaning he could plead guilty and the judge would determine his sentence. The defense and prosecution would have the opportunity to argue in favor of a tougher or lighter sentence. In addition to Augello, six others were indicted in connection with the drug distribution scheme, including Augello's ex-wife. They are charged wth racketeering and drug offenses. Linehan noted that in conversations with prosecutors she has learned several of Augello's co-defendants are close to resolving their cases through plea deals. As part of the drug scheme, authorities have said that Kauffman agreed to write prescriptions for oxycodone to several people referred by Augello. Kauffman received cash for each referral. Those referred by Augello paid him cash and/or gave him a share of the pills. Proceeds from the operation profited the motorcycle gang and the doctor's office, prosecutor's allege. Some of the money was used to purchase guns, guitars, vehicles and a home in Arizona. A forfeiture list contained within the indictments includes the Kauffman home in Linwood where April Kauffman was killed, another property in Philadelphia owned by the late doctor and the woman he later married, large sums of cash seized at various properties, a boat, motorcycles, cars, and a lengthy list of guitars, amplifiers and other musical gear seized from Ferdinand Augello's home. Investigation of April Kauffman's shooting death dragged on for years until a confrontation at James Kauffman's Linwood office last June. Investigators armed with search warrants arrived to find the doctor armed with a handgun. He threatened to kill himself and held police at bay for about 45 minutes before surrendering. He was still in jail on charges related to that incident when he was charged with murder in January. He took his life in Hudson County Jail on Jan. 26. He had been moved to Hudson County for his own safety after authorities uncovered the alleged plot to have him killed in Atlantic County's jail. Linehan is also filing a motion to reveal a confidential informant in the case against her client. Court documents reveal that an informant played a key role in both the murder and racketeering case and in the effort to have Dr. Kauffman killed. Augello will return to court June 21 for another status conference. He remains jailed while his co-defendants are free pending future court appearances. Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattGraySJT. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us: nj.com/tips. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has lifted swimming advisories at several New Jersey beaches after they tested for high levels of fecal bacteria in the water earlier this week. On Monday weekly beach water tests found that 10 beaches showed high levels of bacteria usually found in animal or human waste. The levels were likely because of storm water runoff from heavy weekend rains, DEP spokesperson Larry Hajna said on Thursday. The beaches were retested Tuesday and water quality levels returned to "well within the standard," allowing the DEP to lift the advisories on Wednesday, according to Hajna. Hajna told NJ Advance Media on Tuesday that after testing all N.J. beaches, 10 of the samples contained more than 104 colony forming units (cfu) of Enterococci bacteria per 100 milliliters water. Enterococci is a type of bacteria that is an indicator of possible contamination within bathing water that can include human or animal waste. "We had a lot of rain before the test this week, so there were probably a lot of areas where birds or gulls or geese were congregating and the storm water picked up their droppings and carried it into the ocean," Hajna said. The advisories were lifted at the following beaches: Atlantic County: Somers Point City: New Jersey Avenue Beachn (open for season) Cape May County: North Wildwood City: 10th Avenue and JFK Boulevard (open for season) North Wildwood City: 2nd Avenue and JFK Boulevard: (open for season) Upper Township: Beesley's Point: (not open for season) Wildwood City: Montgomery Avenue: (open for season) Monmouth County: Highlands: Community Center Beach (not open for season) Middletown: Thompson Avenue (not open for season) Monmouth Beach: Pavilion Beach (open for season) Ocean County: Ocean Gate: Anglesea Avenue (not open for season) Ocean Gate: Wildwood Avenue (not open for season) "Everything cleared up as we expected after a storm water event," Hajna said. Alexis Johnson may be reached at ajohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @alexisjreports. Find nj.com on Facebook. United Parcel Service workers could strike this summer for the first time since 1997 its union says, possibly pushing New Jersey into package purgatory. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters announced via webcast on Tuesday that over 90 percent of members voted in favor of going on strike if UPS cannot reach a deal with the union before the current labor contract expires on July 31. UPS is the third largest employer in New Jersey, according to the state's website, but it is unclear how many of its over 19,000 Jersey-based employees are represented by Teamsters and would go on strike. The vote comes after several rounds of negotiations, in which the union requested various items, including an increase in the part-time starting wage, increases to the company's contributions to the health and welfare and pension funds, and improvements to overtime pensions. Workers can't go on strike until the current contract expires, so UPS has about two months to find a middle ground with its workers. "UPS is confident in our ability to reach an agreement that meets the needs of our employees and the business," UPS spokesman Glenn Zaccara said. "The recent strike authorization by the union does not mean a strike is imminent. The reality is that UPS and the Teamsters have already reached tentative agreements, subject to ratification, on a wide variety of non-economic issues." The Teamsters did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and UPS did not say if they had any contingency plans. It is unclear how a potential strike will affect New Jersey consumers but when 185,000 Teamsters went on strike in 1997, the company "virtually shut down," according to an Aug. 5, 1997, Star-Ledger article. The U.S. Postal Service limited the number of parcels taken at local post offices to four per customer per visit. Meanwhile, FedEx shifted shipping schedules and policies in an attempt to accommodate the influx of packages that UPS typically carried. The 1997 strike ended within three weeks, but a similar strike today could leave a dent in the U.S. economy: UPS's shipments equals about 6 percent of the nation's gross domestic product, according to CNN. Cassidy Grom may be reached at cgrom@njadvancemedia.com Follow her at @cassidygrom. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. On Tuesday, I asked a friend how he'd voted in the Democratic primary election for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Bob Menendez. "I voted for that woman who ran against Menendez," he replied. "Oh, Lisa McCormick," I said. "I don't think that was her last name," he replied. "It was something else." Actually, her name was indeed Lisa McCormick. But it might as well have been "none of the above" as far as Democratic primary voters were concerned. McCormick ended up getting about 38 percent of the vote and carrying four counties against the incumbent. She did this despite having a campaign fund that was nearly nonexistent. That was a big break for Menendez. If McCormick had had some money, she might have defeated him. Her positions came right out of the Bernie Sanders wing of the Democratic Party, positions well-suited to winning a Democratic primary this year. As for Menendez, his ethical problems weighed on voters like my friend. In April, Menendez was "severely admonished" by the Senate Ethics Committee for his actions helping out a Florida eye doctor recently convicted for defrauding Medicare of millions. The senator got a lot of goodies from the doctor such as flights on private jets and luxury hotel rooms in Paris. He and the doctor were tried on corruption charges last fall, but the trial ended in a hung jury. In mid-January, the department announced that Menendez would be retried. But by the end of that month the feds announced there would be no retrial. Why the change of heart? Some of my Democratic friends suggest the Trump Justice Department might have made a cynical decision to leave the Democrats to deal with a senator forced to run on his record. The New Jersey Democrats usually win Senate races by comfortable margins. But with a wounded Menendez on the ballot this November, the margin promises to be a lot less comfortable. Meanwhile the Republicans have a candidate who appears to be tailor-made to run against Menendez. I saw that on election night when I covered Republican nominee Bob Hugin's election-night victory party in Mountainside. Hugin is an ex-Marine. Did I mention that he's an ex-Marine? Oh yeah, he's an ex-Marine. I keep repeating it because Hugin did so in his victory speech. The speech was crafted to cast the Republican as the anti-Menendez. Hugin split the difference on support for President Trump, while also neutralizing the social issues by stating he is pro-choice and pro-marriage equality. "Bob Menendez chose a path of corruption," said Hugin. "I chose a different path." Like the senator, Hugin was born in Union City. Unlike him, he went to Princeton and then to the Marine Corps, where he served for seven years as an officer before going into the pharmaceuticals industry. There he made it to the top of Celgene, one of New Jersey's top employers. Menendez, by comparison, stuck around Union City and went straight into politics, eventually becoming mayor and then become first a House member and later a senator. Hudson pols don't usually get elected to statewide office. The last one to do so before Menendez was way back in 1938. The reason is not so much that they're corrupt but that they're "transactional politicians," guys who love to make deals. Menendez got a bit too transactional with his eye doctor buddy. You can expect to hear all the details of those transactions in attack ads over the next five months. "TV stations are gonna make a lot of money," said one Democratic state senator who is a student of state politics. Richard Codey of Essex County said that the race is likely to be close enough so that both national parties will be throwing money at New Jersey. "What happened yesterday is surprising," said Codey Wednesday. "He's going to have to step up his game." But don't count Menendez out, Codey said. "Anybody writing obituaries, I would tell them to put their pens down now," he said. "He's a savvy politician and he's gonna work his butt off." I'm sure he is, but Menendez could face problems in areas other than ethics. There's another complication out there for the Democrats. That's the prospect of a government shutdown if our Democratic governor and Democrat-controlled legislature can't come to an agreement on the budget by the end of the month. Gov. Phil Murphy wants a big tax hike, but tax hikes on the state level have a way of influencing the fight for federal office. We saw that in 1990 when Democratic incumbent was almost upset by newcomer Christie Whitman in his re-election fight. Voters were upset that year because the new Democratic governor, Jim Florio, had implemented a big tax hike. They took it out on Bradley. What will they take out on Menendez this year? There's certainly a lot to choose from. ADD - THREE QUESTIONS JUST FOR FUN: Here are some fun questions. 1. Can anyone name the last Hudson pol elected to statewide office (Governor or Senator) before Menendez? 2. What did he have in common with the guy who provided the former pen name for David Wildstein of Bridgegate fame? 3. Just for the fun of it, does anyone want to post odds of Menendez getting pulled from the Democratic ticket by November. I'll go first. Since I never bet more than a six-pack on politics, I would want to put my sixer up against five sixers on the proposition he gets pulled. That's 5-1 odds that he makes it to Election Day. What's your guess? Gov. Phil Murphy will soon get his chance to sign tougher gun restriction rules into law, some of which were rebuffed by his predecessor for eight years, former Gov. Chris Christie. That's because the state Senate will vote Thursday on a half-dozen proposals at the Statehouse in Trenton, including measures that would reduce magazine capacity, armor-piercing bullets, make it tougher to obtain a permit to carry a handgun, expand background checks on private gun sales, and keep firearms out of the hands of people deemed a threat to themselves and others. The Senate vote is the last hurdle the bills face before they head to Murphy's desk. The new governor has already vowed to sign the bills into law. Murphy, a Democrat, campaigned last year for tighter gun laws. New Jersey's gun laws are already among the toughest in the country. And many of these Democratic-sponsored bills have been around for years, with most having been blocked by Christie, a Republican. The bills on the docket Monday include: * A1217, which would create restraining orders in the state allowing family members and others to ask a judge to have a person's guns seized and ban them from buying weapons for up to a year. * A1181, which would mandate law enforcement in the state to seize a person's guns if a mental health professional determines they pose a threat to themselves or others. * A2758, which would strictly define that state residents need to show a "justifiable need" to obtain a permit to carry a handgun -- meaning they must show they face a specific threat to their own safety. * A2757, which would require all private gun sales in the state to go through a licensed dealer who can perform an additional background check at the point of sale. * A2759, which would create an outright ban in the state on possessing armor-piercing bullets. * A2761, which would ban magazines in the state that hold more than 10 rounds, with some exceptions. The Senate will also vote on a seventh gun control bill, S2465, which would ban "ghost guns" that are assembled with untraceable gun components. However, that legislation still needs to go through the Assembly before it goes to the governor. The measures were debated at a heated legislative hearing in Trenton in February. NJ Advance Media Staff Writer Brent Johnson contributed to this report. Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco or Facebook. It's not official just yet. But consider it a done deal. New Jersey's already strict gun-control rules are about to get even tougher. A half-dozen proposals, including measures that would reduce magazine capacity, armor-piercing bullets, make it tougher to obtain a permit to carry a handgun, expand background checks on private gun sales, and keep firearms out of the hands of people deemed a threat to themselves and others, cleared a final hurdle in the state Legislature Thursday. They now head to Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat who said in a tweet that he intends to sign them on Wednesday. Some of the measures had been rebuffed for eight years, by former Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican. The bills passed the state Senate on Thursday with very little discussion from lawmakers, and four of the six cleared with bipartisan support. "This is our response to our nation's crisis," state Sen. Richard Codey, D-Essex. "We need national legislation. but we here in the state should be proud that we're standing up for safety in our schools and will continue to do so everyday Murphy, a Democrat, campaigned last year for tighter gun laws. New Jersey's gun laws are already among the toughest in the country. And many of these Democratic-sponsored bills have been around for years, with most having been blocked by Christie. The two bills that faced GOP resistance on Thursday included a measure that would tighten rules for people to carry handguns and another that would ban magazines in the state that hold more than 10 rounds. The state Assembly passed the bills in March. There's been speculation in Trenton the reason the state Senate delayed a vote on the gun bills was to help one of its lawmakers: state Sen. Jeff Van Drew, D-Cape May. Van Drew, who's running for Congress, took heat from his more progressive primary opponents for his A-rating from the National Rifle Association. Thursday's vote comes two days after he clinched his primary win. Van Drew voted with most of the chamber's Republicans on the two bills that faced opposition largely along party lines. After the vote, state Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, said New Jersey's actions on guns will help, but stressed that many illegal guns come from other states with weaker gun laws. "That's the real problem," Sweeney said. "And most the gun violence is coming from illegal guns. We're doing our very best to send a message that we want to tighten the laws up. But at the end of the day there's a lot more work than what we're doing here. I don't want to give anybody any false hope. There's a lot of work that needs to be done." Murphy last month highlighted statistics showing more than three-quarters of guns connected to crimes in New Jersey come from beyond its borders. The following bills passed the state Senate and are now on Murphy's desk: * A1217, which will create restraining orders in the state allowing family members and others to ask a judge to have a person's guns seized and ban them from buying weapons for up to a year. The bill passed by a 32-5 vote. * A1181, which will mandate law enforcement in the state to seize a person's guns if a mental health professional determines they pose a threat to themselves or others passed by a 30-5 vote. * A2758, which will strictly define that state residents need to show a "justifiable need" to obtain a permit to carry a handgun -- meaning they must show they face a specific threat to their own safety. The bill passed 24-13. * A2757, which will require all private gun sales in the state to go through a licensed dealer who can perform an additional background check at the point of sale. It passed by a 31-3 vote. * A2759, which will create an outright ban in the state on possessing armor-piercing bullets. The bill passed 37-0. * A2761, which will ban magazines in the state that hold more than 10 rounds, with some exceptions. The bill passed 23-13. The measures were debated at a heated legislative hearing in Trenton in February. The Senate also passed a seventh gun control bill (S2465) which would ban "ghost guns" that are assembled with untraceable gun components. The vote was 37-0, and the bill now heads to the Assembly. NJ Advance Media staff writers Brent Johnson and Samantha Marcus contributed to this report. Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco or Facebook. Police pursed a man driving "erratically" Wednesday night before he crashed his car into a utility pole and died, authorities said. First Assistant Sussex County Prosecutor Gregory R. Mueller said the Andover Police received multiple calls of an "erratic driver" on Route 206 South shortly after 8 p.m. "The vehicle was driving erratically and at a high rate of speed," Mueller said. An Andover Police Officer attempted to pull the driver over just north of Stickles Pond Road but the driver did not stop and proceeded onto the road, Mueller said. A short time later, the car crossed into the opposite lane and hit a utility pole. The driver, later identified as Kevin McCurdy, 54, of Newton, died shortly after the crash, Mueller said. Mueller said an autopsy was performed but that the results were not available Thursday afternoon. The accident is under investigation by the Sussex County Prosecutor's Office and the New Jersey State Police and that part of the investigation will involve the examination of toxicology results. Mueller said that based on the investigation, the officer who pursued McCurdy followed the New Jersey Attorney General's office guidelines for motor vehicle pursuits. Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrisrsheldon Find NJ.com on Facebook. The two-day-long 18th meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is scheduled to open on Saturday in Qingdao, the renowned capital of sailing in east Chinas Shandong province. The Qingdao Summit is the first summit held by the SCO after its membership expansion. The great event marks a milestone in the history of the SCO as it sets the direction and goals for the organization and looks forward to its future. Heads of state from the SCO members will gather in this beautiful coastal city to draw a new blueprint and set the SCO on a new journey. Over the past 17 years, the SCO member states have followed the trend of peace, development, cooperation and mutual benefit and turned the two wheels of security and economy to move together. Theyve also worked together to combat terrorism, separatism and extremism, safeguarded regional security and stability and boosted regional economic cooperation. The concrete efforts have produced fruitful achievements, benefiting all the member states and their peoples. India and Pakistans accession to the SCO has broadened the organizations development space, given it a wider stage to play its role and made it more influential. The SCO has always kept the original aspiration in mind and advanced with the times with the Shanghai Spirit as a beacon. The Shanghai Spirit, featuring mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respecting diverse civilizations and seeking common development, remains the foundation and soul of the organization. The set of values evolving with the times, which is upheld by the member states, has injected inexhaustible impetus into their development and provided useful practice for the construction of a new type of international relations and a community with shared future for mankind. Standing at the new historical starting point, the SCO member states will continue to uphold the Shanghai Spirit, consolidate solidarity and mutual trust, deepen cooperation in various fields, work together to bring the SCO into a new era, make new achievements and contribute more to maintaining common security and promoting common development. China and Kyrgyzstan, linked by mountains and rivers, enjoy time-honored friendship. They began friendly exchanges as early as 2,000 years ago along the ancient Silk Road. As the SCO founding members, the two countries have conducted productive cooperation in many key fields, including politics, economy and trade, security, people-to-people exchanges and infrastructure construction, making due contributions to the organizations overall development. As important strategic partners, the two countries, in recent years, have been deepening political mutual trust, strengthening pragmatic cooperation, and joining hands on the construction of the Belt and Road. Theyve also been advancing connectivity, beefing up cultural exchanges, and sharing development achievements to benefit the two peoples. At the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Kyrgyz President Sooronbai Jeenbekov will pay a state visit to China before attending the Qingdao summit. It is hoped that under the strategic guidance of both leaders and with joint efforts, the good neighborly relations and cooperation between China and Kyrgyzstan will reach a new high and the bilateral relations will turn to a new page. (The author is Chinese Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan) UPDATE: Police identify driver killed in crash. One person died Wednesday in a single-vehicle crash in Andover, according to the Sussex County Prosecutor's Office. The person killed "was the driver of a vehicle that crashed into a utility pole on the westbound side of Stickles Pond Road," First Assistant Prosecutor Gregory R. Mueller said in an email. Mueller said he would provide more information later Thursday. The prosecutor's office, State Police and the Andover Township Police Department are investigating, Mueller said. Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Soon-to-be former Newton Mayor Wayne Levante is going his own way, again. Levante, a Republican, drew attention far beyond Newton after sharing Parkland school shooting conspiracies in February. He was censured by his Town Council colleagues before losing his re-election bid four weeks ago, but he's already attempting a comeback. Newton Mayor Wayne Levante exiting a Town Council meeting after being censured, March 5, 2018 He has launched an independent campaign for the Sussex County freeholder board, a move that will pit him against not only the two Democrats on the ballot but the two Republican primary winners. Levante made his announcement Tuesday afternoon via Facebook, on the same day as the primary, and via the same forum in which he shared debunked "crisis actor" conspiracy theories about high school shooting survivor David Hogg. "The residents of Sussex County deserve better than just standard rhetoric like transparency, accountability and 'change,'" Levante said in an eight-paragraph press release that concluded by touting his "strong conservative leadership." A day earlier, Levante submitted 158 signatures -- only 100 were required -- to qualify for the Nov. 6 ballot, Sussex County Senior Deputy Clerk Angela Rosa said. About seven hours after Levante's freeholder Facebook post, two Republicans -- Sparta Mayor Joshua Hertzberg and Franklin Councilwoman Dawn Fantasia -- defeated first-term freeholders Carl Lazzaro and Jonathan Rose to win nominations for two, 3-year terms on the board. Hertzberg and Fantasia will face Democrats Howard Zatkowsky and Patrick Curreri in November, and also Levante. Levante remains a registered Republican, according to the county board of elections, and voted in Tuesday's primary. He did not respond to a request for comment. One of Wayne Levante's Facebook posts Though Levante has the potential to draw votes away from the Republicans, the campaign manager for Hertzberg and Fantasia, who ran as a team in the primary, sounded a gracious note. "Dawn and Josh are extremely happy over last night's win and I couldn't be more proud of them and the campaign we ran," their campaign manager, Kelly Ann Hart, said in an email Wednesday. "As far as Wayne Levante running as an independent, we wish him well," Hart added. Levante has already picked up at least one high-profile supporter, Byram Councilman Harvey Roseff. "I do support him," Roseff, a Republican, said Wednesday of Levante. "I think he has a very clear message. He stands and fights for what he believes is right. He has a good vision for what he believes needs to change in the county," Roseff said. Levante is leaving office in Newton on June 30 after finishing 4th in a 7-candidate race for three seats on the Town Council. His one-year term as mayor, a post rotated among council members, ends the same day. He faces steep odds in running as an independent candidate for the freeholder board in Republican-dominated Sussex County. The last Republican nominee to lose a freeholder race was in 1999 -- and to a Democrat, not an independent. Yet Levante is still a Republican and arguably much better known than his party's two candidates, but his prominence cuts both ways. Levante was censured partly but not entirely in response to his Parkland posts -- the resolution from the council cited a litany of other objections, including his contentious relationship with the Newton school board -- and he also rebuffed a request to step aside as mayor. Yet, even before that uproar, Levante was drawing notice beyond Newton. His call for setting up a one-county school district in Sussex gained support last fall from then-Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno during her losing race for governor, the New Jersey Herald reported. The day after losing his bid for a second, four-year term on the Newton council, Levante took to Facebook, again, to announce he would stay involved by joining a group of residents promoting transparency by videotaping public meetings. Then came Tuesday's unexpected segue to the freeholder race. In his announcement, Levante touched on multiple themes, lamenting the long commutes facing many Sussex County residents and asserting the region is not getting its fair share of state tax dollars. He did not allude to his social media controversy in Newton, nor his departure from his Newark teaching job in January. The press release accompanying his statement described him as having "a diverse background in both the private and public sectors." Freeholders in Sussex County are paid $23,956 annually. Rob Jennings may be reached at rjennings@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @RobJenningsNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Economic and trade cooperation between Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states has reaped eye-catching fruits since the SCO was established 17 years ago, a Chinese official told a recent press conference. Ministry of Commerce spokesman Gao Feng summarized the SCOs highlights in propelling regional economic cooperation ahead of the two-day-long 18th summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which is expected to kick off on Saturday in Qingdao, east Chinas Shandong province. At the first summit after a SCO membership expansion, economic and trade issues are projected to be high on the meeting agenda. In 17 years after the establishment of the SCO, its member states have realized comprehensive development in politics, security, economy, people-to-people exchanges, foreign affairs and instituational construction. The SCO member states enjoy closer trade ties, said Gao, elaborating that China's total trade volume with other members rose to $217.6 billion in 2017, a 19 percent surge from the previous year. In the first quarter of 2018, trade continued to maintain good momentum with an increase of 20.7 percent. The structure of Chinas trade with other SCO member states has been optimized step by step to include a growing proportion of mechanical and electrical products as well as mechanical equipment. Development of the SCO has also brought fruitful investment and contracting projects, according to the spokesman. By the end of this March, Chinese investment to SCO member countries amounted to approximately $84 billion, with sound progress in many large-scale energy, mineral and industrial projects. The turnover of Chinas contracting projects in other SCO member states has amounted to $156.9 billion, and a number of highways, power stations, and pipeline projects have become demonstration projects. Gao said positive progress has been made in interconnection and interoperability, such as the completion of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan road, the China-Central Asia natural gas pipeline, the construction of the China-Kazakhstan and China-Russia crude oil pipelines, and the regular and efficient operation of the China-Europe freight train routes. The SCO has initially formed a complex infrastructure network including roads, railways, oil and gas, and communications within the SCO region, further strengthening ties among member states, Gao added. At the upcoming Summit in Qingdao, China will join other SCO members to reach consensus, seek common development, and underpin the importance of improving global governance and enhancing the multilateral trade system, Gao said while talkng about the future of the SCO cooperation. The country will also push forward a trade facilitation process, improve the mechanism and legal basis for trade facilitation, and inject new impetus into SCO cooperation, he added. The Belt and Road Initiative is a major development opportunity for SCOs member countries and has broad prospects. The SCO will promote positive docking of the initiative and development strategies of the member countries for common prosperity, SCO Secretary General Rashid Alimov said. The SCO is successful in consideration of its wide coverage, large population, economic volume of its member countries, and various mechanisms and platforms it has built, said professor Swaran Singh of the School of International Studies at Indias Jawaharlal Nehru University. If the SCO continues consolidating and strengthening the achievements and goals, it will sure to achieve important results at this summit, the professor added. The Shanghai Spirit and the philosophy of the Belt and Road Initiative are highly consistent with each other, said Quan Heng, Director of the Research Institute of World Economy of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. In the future, the SCO will play an increasingly important role in promoting regional economic cooperation, economic globalization and peaceful development of the world, Quan noted. The interview with Professor Barney Glover was arranged at Whitlam Institute, a special place at Western Sydney University with many historical traces since the 19th century. Professor Barney Glover, Vice-Chancellor and President of Western Sydney University, has worked in research management at universities for over 20 years. He started his academic career in mathematics before moving into research management at Charles Darwin University in Darwin, Newcastle University in Newcastle, Curtin University in Perth and currently, Western Sydney University in Sydney. Professor Glover is also Chair of Universities Australia and the Australian Government representative on the University of the South Pacific Grants Committee. Professor Glovers fields of expertise include mineral processing, energy, telecommunications and medical research and he has worked quite extensively in building research partnerships in collaborations between universities and publicly funded research agencies. The most common forms of academic cooperation with Chinese partners include joint research projects and teaching opportunities. The first time Professor Glover went to China was in the late 1990s where he developed research partners between Curtin University and partners in China. Since then, he has been travelling to China at least two or three times a year. Currently, he has more than 100 partners in China alone. One of their most significant partnerships with China is with the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine. In 2014, when President Xi Jinping visited Australia to sign the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement, Professor Glover had the opportunity to sign an agreement with the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine under the free trade agreement umbrella, to enhance research and development in traditional Chinese medicine. Western Sydney University is noted for one of the most important traditional Chinese medicine programs outside of China. Western Sydney University also has an interpreting and translation program which illustrates the strong bilateral relationships between Australia and China. With Chinas economy continuing to grow so strongly, [this] illustrates the importance of having people with strong language skills, strong cross-cultural understanding, and the ability to participate in interpreting and translating broadly, said Professor Glover. It illustrates a growing area of need in cross-cultural understanding that we ensure that we have language skills that avoid misunderstandings and focus on quality understanding both in business and everyday life. Professor Glovers visits to China for the past 20 years have allowed him to witness the dramatic changes in development since Chinas reform and opening up. China has continued to grow from strength to strength economically and to be a powerhouse in the world economically, you see that in the development of the universities in China for example, Professor Glover noted. Established 2 years ago, the universitys Australia-China Institute for Arts and Culture (ACIAC) is positioning itself as a hub and national resource centre for cultural exchange between Australia, China and the Sinosphere. Professor Glover emphasises that the Chinese government's support for the establishment of high-quality projects by universities at national and provincial levels is very mature. What impressed him most was that when he participated in the projects by cooperative universities in China, the scientific capabilities of the scientists he met had reached international standards. Professor Glover mentions that China is a very influential country in the Asia-Pacific region and even the world today. For Australia, a G20 nation, establishing close ties with China and mutual benefit is extremely important. I find the warmth of the welcome in China one of the most attractive parts of visiting China as I do so often.(Peoples Daily Online/ Tingting Yan) The flourishing development of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative has gone beyond win-win cooperation. Now it is triple win and China has renewed its call on international big names to join the feast. The term, triple win, was first brought up by Joe Kaeser, President and CEO of Siemens AG, in Beijing on Wednesday at the Belt and Road International Summit 2018, which was hosted by the German conglomerate. An open, fair and collaborative participation in the Belt and Road Initiative and the Digital Silk Road projects - more open to local companies in the BRI countries - said the the president, would send a powerful message to the rest of the world that together we can build a better world. This is what I call a triple win! (Joe Kaeser, President and CEO of Siemens AG, addresses the Wednesday Belt and Road International Summit 2018. Photo courtesy of Siemens) Speaking at the summit, Kaeser called the Belt and Road Initiative a landmark movement and the biggest infrastructure project of all time, as it generates opportunities in almost every factor, representing a 1 trillion euro investment in infrastructure in about 90 countries and beyond and has the potential to improve the lives of 70 percent of the world population. In 2017 alone, Chinese companies inked 7,217 new contracts in 61 countries and regions, with a total volume of $144.3 billion, according to the nations Ministry of Commerce. Zhou Xiaofei, deputy secretary general of National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), also revealed at the summit that a total of 9,000 trips of China Railway Express (CR Express) have been made to some 42 cities in 14 European countries. The NDRC official noted that the Belt and Road Initiative can integrate the advanced technology and resources of foreign and Chinese companies to meet the demands in underdeveloped regions. We welcome more foreign companies to join the R&D, production and investment under the Belt and Road, he said, adding that Siemens has served a good example in this regard. Wang Jianjun, director general of foreign capital and overseas investment department at NDRC, pointed out that such cooperation between Chinese and foreign companies on major project construction is also part of the third-party cooperation mechanism, which is actively supported by the commission. In Kazan, Turkey, China Tianchen Engineering Cooperation helped build one of the worlds largest soda ash factories, which is also a landmark equipment factory in the area. In Jhang, Pakistan, the China Machinery Engineering Cooperation helped set up Jhang Power Plant, whose generation capacity could equal the total power consumption of 4 million local households. Both projects saw cooperation between Chinese companies and Siemens, which supplied turbines and generators for project construction. (Jhang 1263 MW Combined Cycle Power Plant. Photo courtesy of Siemens) From the perspective of countries along the Belt and Road, Wismana Adi Suryabrata, deputy minister of Infrastructure Affairs of Bappenas Indonesia, said at the summit that the initiative can integrate with the nations Global Maritime Fulcrum, which is designed to build several economic and energy hubs on its islands with a total volume of $51.63 billion. Oti Ikomi, CEO of Proton Energy in Nigeria, pointed out that Africa also sees the Belt and Road as positive with more Chinese companies and entrepreneurs investment on the continent on the rise and infrastructure plans implemented, including the Nairobi-Mombasa Railway in Kenya. These examples have never more important than today because we live in a time when long-standing agreements and alliances are being challenged, a time when nationalism and protectionism are on the rise. There is sometimes when the lack of competitiveness is confused with unfair trade allegation. The right answer to lack of competitiveness is innovation and productivity. Kaeser told the summit. New retail, which seamlessly merges online sales together with offline sales and logistics, has grown to be more competitive, leading to a boost in offline sales across China, Chinanews.com reported Wednesday in Hangzhou. A promotion for the "618 shopping festival" held in an offline store in Hangzhou Chinas online retail value accounted for half of total global sales in 2017, quoting a 2017 report on Chinas e-commerce recently released by the Ministry of Commerce. Trading profits of 2,700 offline retailing companies increased by 8 percent, and 65 large commodity transaction markets saw a 14 percent rise in turnover since the previous year, noted the report. Some mom-and-pop stores have merged with the new retail trend, providing the same discounts as online sales platforms promote during the 618 online shopping festival, a new e-commerce promotion held in mid June. In addition, over 100,000 offline stores across the country have been equipped with Alibaba, using the online sales giants new retail technologies to make shopping more convenient, such as its virtual fitting room and one-hour delivery within a 5-kilometer radius. Last year, Alibaba signed cooperative agreements with physical retailers such as RT-Mart and Lianhua Supermarket and opened new retail pioneer brand Hema Xiansheng Supermarket, injecting energy into a dynamic world of new retail. BEIJING, June 7 -- China's internet giant Tencent and carmaker Geely won a joint bid Wednesday to obtain 49 percent stake in a subsidiary of China Railway providing wifi on high-speed trains across China. (Photo/Xinhua) Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group will collaborate with the High Speed Network Technology Company, set up in late 2017 by state-owned China Railway Corporation, to provide wifi solutions and online services on high-speed trains. Wifi access is already available on China's new-generation Fuxing bullet trains on the Shanghai-Beijing line. The companies will increase the number of wifi hotspots throughout the high-speed rail network and develop an online platform that offers ticketing, shopping, tourism and catering services, according to a Geely statement. China has the world's longest high-speed rail network. The country is expected to have 38,000 km of high-speed rail tracks by 2025. In 2017, a total of 3.04 billion passenger trips were made on railways, and more than 56 percent of those trips were made on high-speed railways. Photo: essaypntime.com.au Chinas annual online brainstorming contest has officially begun, just hours after the essay topics of the gaokao, Chinas national college entrance exam, were made public following the exams conclusion. The hashtag 2018GaokaoComposition garnered over 1.55 billion page views within four hours on Sina Weibo, igniting an online frenzy. During the 150-minute gaokao exam, students must compose an 800-word essay on a given topic, which accounts for one third of their total test result and varies between provinces. In 2018, eight different essay questions were set in different regions, with some focusing on philosophy and politics, while others encourage students to give play to their imagination and aesthetics. Do you want to attempt one of the worlds hardest exams? Peoples Daily Online has catagorized the topics into three groups. You have sixty minutes to complete the questions. No cheating, no whispering. 1. Topics related to life exploration and reflection National paper I: (for Henan, Hebei, Shanxi, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Shandong provinces) Topic: A letter to 2035 Description: In 2000, which is the year of dragon, humans entered a new century. Millions of millennium babies were born in China. In 2008, Wenchuan earthquake shattered the nation. The Beijing Olympics kicked off. In 2018, Millennium babies have now come of age. Each generation has their own circumstances and turns in life, as well as certain missions and challenges. Youve grown up with China in a new era, chasing your own dreams alongside our nation. Please write a letter to children living in 2035, to be concealed in a time capsule. Paper for Shanghai: Topic: Being needed Description: In our daily life, its necessary to satisfy certain personal needs, but the feeling of being needed by others is also vital, through which we can reflect our self value. Whats your opinion on such universal feeling? Please write an essay regarding the topic mentioned above. Paper for Zhejiang Province: Topic: Composition based on given materials Description: Historically, Zhejiang Province is the birth place of grand philosophical thoughts such as integration of knowledge and action and applying theories to reality. In the modern era, Being practical, taking the lead and showing valor has become the new Zhejiang spirit. Nurtured by our developing local culture, generations of Zhejiang residents have become magnificent legends. As a Zhejiang student who is now at the starting point of your life, what thoughts do you have? Please write an essay based on the given materials. Paper for Jiangsu Province: Topic: Language Description: Flowers and birds have their own languages. Language is everywhere in our life. Even life itself, along with sculptures and genes, can be interpreted by language. Languages can make our life colorful, as well as relay information through civilizations. Please write an essay based on the given materials. 2. Topics related to mind-racking philosophy National paper II: (for Gansu, Qinghai, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Shaanxi, Hainan provinces, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Xinjiang Urgur Autonomous Region and Chongqing) Topic: The distribution of bullet holes and the science concealed within them Description: During WWII, U.S. and British military forces conducted research on the distribution of bullet holes on battered combat aircraft, in an effort to upgrade the jets protective capability. Most scientists agreed that the upgrade should focus on areas with most bullet holes, while Ward, a statistician, prevailed over these dissenting views, noting that attention should be paid to the parts with less bullet holes, since if those parts were damaged, the jets would have a smaller chance of returning home. However, his statistics were normally ignored. Later investigation proved Wards theories were, in fact, correct. Please write an essay based on the materials. Paper for Tianjin Topic: Ware Description: There are different kinds of wares in our life. Some of them can serve as containers for all manner of things, the magnificent shape of them and the content within bring out the best in each other. Wares can help people achieve their goals, and only by making delicate wares can a craftsman be called as an inventive master. Such wares can represent tolerance and compatibility, or stand for the pillars of great power. Please write an article based on the given materials. 3. Topics related to Chinese politics and society National paper III: (for Tibetan Autonomous Region, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous RegionGuizhou, Sichuan, Yunnan provinces) Topic: The trilogy of reform and opening up Description: Time is money, efficiency is life slogan for Shenzhen special zone, 1981 Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets slogan for Zhejiang Province, 2005 Succeed in the Long March of our generation slogan for Xiongan New Area, 2017. Please write an article based on the given materials. Paper for Beijing: Topic: New Era, new youth Description: Today, many students who were born in the year 2000 have taken part in the gaokao. After 18 years, China has seen great development, while you have grown up. Please write an essay with the topic of new youth in a new era, growing up with Chinas development. Marijuana legalization could affect Canadas crime patterns, health and countless other factors. Photograph: Bernard Weil/Toronto Star via Getty Images We knew wed have to give a lot of tours, so we just cut a window into the wall, said the company spokesman, Jordan Sinclair. We put windows in all of the doors. Canada will be thrust even more directly under the international microscope on Thursday, when a vote in the Senate is expected to ratify Bill C-45, effectively making Canada the first G20 nation to legalize recreational marijuana What I am mainly following is who will be the new legal growers, and whether authorities manage to get some of the illegal growers to become legal growers, he said. Legal marijuana for sale at a shop in Salem, Oregon. Photograph: Andrew Selsky/AP Colorados health results have been encouraging, said Wolk. But overall, researchers lack solid data about cannabis use. Some key questions include addiction levels, how cannabis affects mental health, and effects on young people, said Israeli scientist Raphael Mechoulam, often called the grandfather of cannabis research. [Investors] are waiting to see if all the stigma and all the demonization of this product thats built up in 90 years of prohibition is true, Sinclair said. Its on us to demonstrate that its not. From crime to health to business, Canadas decision to legalize marijuana is a grand progressive experiment that promises to answer a host of questionsSelena Ross in MontrealWed 6 Jun 2018 02.00 EDT Last modified on Wed 6 Jun 2018 17.00 EDTWhen Canopy Growth opened its first cannabis factory in an old chocolate plant near Ottawa four years ago, it did so predicting a bright future. Canada had already legalized medical marijuana, and Canopy predicted full legalization for recreational use to be next.What the company hadnt predicted, however, was the sudden flood of foreign visitors. Politicians and police authorities from Jamaica, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Greece and Australia have all come knocking, as well as doctors from New Zealand, Brazil and Chile, along with groups of corporate investors and bankers so many that Canopy now sometimes splits up the groups according to their birthdays.Its going to be a bit of a science fiction experience for a while, said Benedikt Fischer, an expert on substance use at Torontos biggest psychiatric hospital. Its unique in the world, because its happening for the first time in a wealthy country. Its not like in the US, where there are these state experiments. Most people kind of ignore Uruguay. And so the world is really looking at this.Governments, researchers and business leaders around the world all have their own reasons for keeping tabs. Legalization could affect Canadas crime patterns, health and countless other factors but exactly how, no one yet knows.Each Canadian province plans to roll out its newly legalized market in a slightly different way, creating about a dozen mini-laboratories within one massive test case.Even places that have already taken the legalization plunge are hoping Canada will solve some mysteries. After Colorado legalized marijuana five years ago, for example, organized crime reacted by ramping up supplies of black tar heroin, opiates and harder drugs, said Dr Larry Wolk, the states top public health official.But Wolk says he is interested to watch that process unfold on a bigger scale in Canada, where the new law is expected to deal a much more significant blow to the black market. Any new mix of illicit drugs in the country could have new effects on public health.Whats the impact of marijuana legalization on the opioid crisis? he asked as an example. Does it actually act as a substitute so that people can get off opiates for chronic pain? Is there a positive impact? Or is it a negative impact, because as a result theres more opiates in the black market? Is [pot] a gateway? We dont really have an answer.One delicate balance for Canadian authorities has been guessing at what kind of pricing will be low enough to eradicate illicit sales yet not so low as to entice new users. Canadas finance minister, Bill Morneau, recently said the goal is keeping cannabis out of the hands of kids and out of the black market. That means keeping the taxes low so we can actually get rid of the criminals in the system.One sign of success will be if Canada not only discourages underground sales, but converts illicit sellers to the new system, said Tim Boekhout van Solinge, a Dutch criminologist.Each country around the world that has debated whether to relax cannabis laws has had its own priority in mind: from generating revenue to discouraging drug cartels. In Canada, the emphasis has been largely on public health. Cannabis will be sold in fairly plain packaging , and usually through government-run boards that already control liquor sales.It wont be like buying Budweiser or branded alcoholic products, said Steve Rolles of Transform, a UK drug policy thinktank. Its going to be more like buying pharmaceuticals from a chemist.Still, its hard to know whether Canada, or any similar western country, will be able to stick to that public-health focus, he said.We have concerns that the lessons from alcohol and tobacco wouldnt be learned, and we might see overcommercialized markets in which profit-making entities would seek to encourage more use and could encourage risky consumption behaviours, he said.So far, Canada has allowed a few major players to dominate the industry, and their influence remains to be seen, said US marijuana industry expert Mark Kleiman.You dont want to build up big vested interests that then resist any change, he said. If you have commercial industry in cannabis, theyre going to end up writing the laws.For epidemiologists, Canada will provide the best-ever data sets on cannabis use.About 10% of the users may be addicted less than alcohol or tobacco, he said. Some users, who are already prone to schizophrenia, may get the disease earlier. He said he is also keeping an eye on whether heavy use by young people may affect their central nervous system.Another current Canadian health debate is how many people will be light, casual cannabis users, and how many will be heavy users.The government still must decide how to approach products that are very potent in THC, the psychoactive compound in cannabis, said Mark Ware, a drug researcher and pain specialist who helped lead Canadas federal taskforce advising the new legislation. Black-market sellers have produced increasingly strong concentrates, he said.Those have not been the subject of studies up until recently, so the question of whether to regulate those, allow them in whatever context, and then be able to study their impacts on health, that would be very important, he said. But once theyre out there, its very hard to put them back in the box again.Canadian police, meanwhile, will grapple with how to crack down on cannabis-impaired driving. Thats already a struggle around the world, regardless of marijuanas legality, said Rolles. But its much more difficult to measure impairment from cannabis than from alcohol, and enforcing a legal limit will prove tricky.Meanwhile, many investors have already made huge profits from cannabis stocks, and a big question for them is whether the bubble bursts or the value keeps rising.Theyre waiting to see if the skys going to fall, said Sinclair of Canopy. One of about 100 Canadian legal producers of medical cannabis, the company owns a third of the medical market, began trading on the Toronto stock exchange in 2016 and last month became the only cannabis producer on the New York stock exchange. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi approved the tenth amendment to the US-Egypt assistance agreement originally signed in September 2005, according to state agency MENA. The agreement, signed by the Egyptian government and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), was previously amended in September 2015. The tenth amendment includes both the governmental administration initiative and participation programme. The amendments affect the second, third, fourth and seventh articles of the agreement. The second article of the agreement is replaced in the new amendment. It now stipulates that the goal of US assistance is to support democratic rule, and that the US and Egypt agree to work together on activities empowering the rule of law, human rights, political rivalry, elections, decentralised governance, womens equality, media reform, and civil society. Parts of the third article of the agreement are also removed and the aid figure of $115,410,762 is replaced with $119,072,763. The assistance programme is extended from 30 September 2017 to 30 September 2019 in the fourth article. "The ministry of international cooperation" is replaced by "the ministry of investment and international operation" in the seventh article. The presidential decree was published in Egypt's State Gazette which included the amended parts of the agreement. The decree also includes an appendix detailing areas supported by the assistance programme, including criminal justice, media reforms and womens empowerment. The agreement to apply the tenth amendment was signed on 26 September 2017 in Cairo. Egypts House of Representatives approved the tenth amendment in April. Search Keywords: Short link: The French language thanaweya amma high school exam was leaked on social media on Thursday, according to a senior official in Egypt's education ministry speaking to Al-Ahram Arabic website. "After checking the exam posted online we found it to be identical to the exam currently being sat by students," he said. The official, who preferred to remain anonymous, added that the Ministry of Education would identify the student who leaked the exam by using the student number written on his exam paper. Students sitting thanaweya amma exams, the results of which determine university destinations and future courses of study, receive an individual code with their exam sheet. This is the second paper to be leaked in this years exam season, after Saturdays Arabic language exam was posted online. In the past few years, thanaweya amma exams have been posted to Facebook and WhatsApp. A Ministry of Education source told Al-Ahram Arabic website that 12 Facebook pages which promoted cheating were closed in the past 24 hours. "These pages treat the exams as a business, with some using the exams to attract subscribers before selling the pages for large sums of money," added the source. Egypt's parliament approved amendments last year to a law toughening the penalties for academic cheating and other exam violations, including publishing exam questions and papers and having mobile phones or other wireless devices with them in examination rooms. Penalties for facilitating exam leaks include hefty fines of EGP 100,000-200,000 and jail terms between two and seven years. More than 650,000 students are taking this year's tests. Search Keywords: Short link: Police is still stuck with 13 children who were separated from their parents during the Uganda Martyrs day celebrations at Namugongo last week. The children who are aged between 9 and 17 are currently at Kira police station, Wakiso district. The children were separated from their parents at Namugongo Luke Owoyesigire, Kampala Metropolitan police spokesperson says that the police has tried to trace for their parents in vain. He explains that the children will be transported by police to the respective district police stations and thereafter help police trace their homes. According to Owoyesigire, out of the 23 children who were stranded at Kira police station, 10 children were reunited with their parents leaving the police with 13 children . He also says that eight of the stranded children come from districts in northern and eastern Uganda. The country's top opposition political parties Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) and Democratic Party (DP) have failed to front candidates in all elective positions in Sembabule district. Cabinet recently approved the creation of nine sub counties of; Kawanda, Mitete, Mabindo, Kyera, Mitima, Ntete, Nakasenyi, Katwe and Bulongo in Sembabule district. They will be going to the polls on July 17, 2018. FDC party president Patrick Oboi Amuriat (R) However, by the closure of the nomination exercise on Wednesday evening, DP had only managed to front candidates in nine out of the 46 available slots. FDC had a total of four candidates against 46 of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) and 43 independent candidates. According to Latif Ngozi Sembabule district Electoral Commission returning officer; out of the nine sub-counties chairperson's position, DP fronted 3 candidates while FDC nominated only two, leaving the other slots for NRM and independents. Dick Lukyamuzi Ssenyondo, the DP national executive council representative for greater Masaka sub-region acknowledges the deficit, attributing it to a hostile environment against opposition politics in the area. Lukyamuzi claims that although the party has reasonable numbers of supporters in the area, they are still afraid of contesting for elective positions. Lawrence Ssewajje, the DP regional secretary for mobilisation says the district has a history of intimidation of opposition politicians which works against the party. He claims that even would-be candidates are threatened by the situation. He however adds that the number of nominated candidates gives them a start to rethink their mobilisation strategies. Robert Ssemyalo, the FDC secretary general for Sembabule district said he was unable to give an answer about the situation. Last week, a team of FDC leaders from the party headquarters led by their Central region vice president and Rubaga mayor Joyce Nabbosa Ssebugwawo, was in Sembabule to prepare candidates for the elections, but their results have not yielded much. Backer Byayi Ssenyonga, the spokesperson of the Uganda Federal Alliance who is contesting for the Mitete sub county chairperson's seat also chose to contest as an independent. Ssenyonga has partly attributed the situation to weakness in opposition parties for not preparing enough to find suitable candidates for positions especially in rural constituencies even when they would have interest. The Electoral Commission has cleared the nominated candidates to begin their campaigns on June 8. Russian media recently featured the story of Taras Shelest, a highly-regarded passenger jet pilot who turned out to be a complete fraud. Despite having never attended aviation university and instead faking his diploma, Shelest allegedly flew thousands of people all around the world for several years, until a bizarre incident finally exposed him. In August of 2015, Taras Shelest was a co-pilot on a passenger flight from Moscow to Cyprus. When entering Ukrainian airspace, he contacted the ground controller as per protocol, only instead of sticking to the strict technical language, he used a very peculiar greeting Glory to Ukraine! This was apparently so unusual that Shelest was reported to his companys security service, which in turn contacted the FSB, Russias federal security service. Taras fellow pilots were whispering to each other that he had lost his mind, for using that bizarre greeting, but the result of the investigation into his background revealed something even crazier the man was not even a real pilot, but a flight enthusiast who had taught himself to fly using flying simulators and faked his aviation university diploma. Photo: Maarten Visser/Flickr According to a recently published article in the Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, Taras Shelest was born on May 19, 1974, in the town of Yakhroma near Moscow, and passionately dreamed of becoming an airplane pilot ever since he was a young boy. He went to airfields with his friends, read books on aviation and later trained on flight simulators, with the help of a friend of his fathers, who was a flying instructor. Taras took flying very seriously, he was familiar with all the technical terms, understood flight patters and could fly planes flawlessly on the simulator. After graduating from high-school, he attempted to get into an aviation university multiple times, but he never got a good enough score. It seemed that his dream of becoming a real pilot would never materialize, so Shelest got a job at a video game development company. There he became very interested in simulators, particularly flying simulators. Determined not to give up on aviation, in 2008, Taras Shelest got a job as a steward at a small private airline. A year later, after learning that the company was hiring pilots, he went to management and applied for a job. He apparently managed to get his hands on a fake aviation university diploma, and after passing all the companys tests, he enrolled in a training program for Yak airplanes. He eventually got a job as a co-pilot for the small airline, but he wanted more. After hearing that a large Russian airline operating Airbus passenger planes was hiring, he decided to try. He again underwent flight retraining, passed the exams, and spent a year with the flight training unit, before being transferred to the main unit. According to investigators, his instructors never suspected that he wasnt a real pilot. Photo: SuperJet International/Flickr The Komsomolskaya Pravda claims that Shelest worked as a pilot for a total of five years, and flew all over the world. From 2012 to 2015, he registered a total of 2,660 flight hours. Not to shabby, for a pilot who never actually went to flight school. He was highly regarded by his employer, never had any accidents or complaints, and his colleagues described him as a man fascinated by airplanes and the sky. If not for the 2015 incident, no one would have ever suspected that he was a fraud. According to the investigation report, Taras Shelest confessed to faking his diploma and impersonating an airplane pilot, and at the end of a long trial, he was released Apparently, the judge decided that despite using fake documents and technically putting thousands of peoples life in danger, Taras was actually really good as his job, passed all his job examinations and never had any issues. Plus he enrolled in flying classes, learned how to fly like a pro and admitted his mistakes. Taras only punishment was apparently a ban on flying airplanes in Russia. This all sounds very fishy, doesnt it? A man teaches himself how to fly, fakes his diploma and lands several jobs as a pilot without anyone checking his credentials. Well, the Komsomolskaya Pravda apparently thought so too, so they decided to check up on Taras Shelest. They contacted an old friend of his, Andrey, who said that he was still working as a pilot for a company in Honduras. Apparently, since he couldnt follow his dream in Russia, he decided to try above. However, after checking his social media profile, the Russian newspaper learned that he was not actually in Honduras, but in neighboring Ukraine. He was working as a pilot though, and, as a side note, was posting a lot of anti-Russian statements on his social media accounts. They managed to contact him, and he had a very different version of this story. Photo: Brandrodungswanderfeldhackbau/Wikimedia Commons Taras told KP that he used to fly planes for a Moscow airline, but had actually went to aviation school, adding that this is not an industry where you can learn everything yourself. He insists that after the 2015 incident, where he did in fact say Glory to Ukraine! when contacting the flight control tower, the company needed an excuse to dismiss him, so they made up this story about him not being a real pilot. Shelest claims that after the incident, he was forced to write a statement of my own free will, admitting that he had forged his diploma. This allowed the airline the perfect excuse to let him go and also take him to court for 1.5 million rubles, which he has yet to pay. Asked why the St. Petersburg Aviation Institute told investigators that he had never been a student there, Taras basically said that they had lied to help investigators reach the desired results. So is Taras Shelest a self-taught pilot who is still flying passenger planes today or just a victim of the Russian FSB? I guess well never really know. Its still a good story, though. Authorities in the Chinese city of Xian recently inaugurated a special sidewalk lane designed for phubbers people who walk while staring at their smartphones and ignore everything around them. Painted red, green and blue and featuring pictures of smartphones, the special lane is located on the busy Yanta Roan, in Xian, and is 80cm wide and 100m long. Chinese media reports that a large shopping mall overlooking the smartphone-user lane had been asking authorities for it over a month, which suggests that its just a marketing scheme. However, it turns out that the special sidewalk lane is actually a safety precaution for phubbers. Cars often come onto the pavement in front of the mall, sometimes barely missing pedestrians who have their eyebvalls virtually glued to their smartphones, so the lane is supposed to keep them out of harms way. Reactions on Chinese social media have been mixed, with some locals applauding the idea as an ingenious way to keep phubber safe, and others comparing some people smartphone addiction to smoking opium during the Qing Dynasty. Everybody walking along here thinks that its very safe; at the side of the road, there are cars, and the vehicles also come onto here, and sometimes only just avoid you, one person told The Paper. Young peoples lives nowadays are fast, and theyre always looking at their phones. This puts our minds at rest those of us who are often looking at our phones as its a form of protection, another local commented. Still some pointed out that while the new lane may keep phubbers safe from traffic, it still doesnt stop them from bumping into other people, unless they start paying attention to what goes on around them. And then theres the issue of actually seeing and using the special lane. This is not the first time a special smartphone walkway has been introduced in China. In 2014, the southwest city of Chongqing launched a similar initiative, with the goal of avoiding unnecessary collisions, especially those involving children and the elderly, but it didnt really work as intended. Phubbers were so distracted by their phones that they didnt even notice the lane. Those using their cellphones of course have not heeded the markings on the pavement. They dont notice them, a marketing official for the project said at the time. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has appointed Mostafa Madbouly, formerly the housing minister, as the country's new prime minister, two days after outgoing Prime Minister Sherif Ismail submitted his resignation and that of his cabinet. President El-Sisi received Dr. Mostafa Madbouly today to commission him to form the new government, said Bassam Radi, the presidents official spokesperson, on his official Facebook page. Madbouly was minister of housing, urban utilities and urban communities in Ismail's cabinet. Ismail submitted his resignation two days after President El-Sisi was officially sworn in as the head of state for a second term until 2022. The move came in line with a political tradition that the cabinet should resign at the beginning of a new presidential term. Madbouly, 52, served as an interim prime minister from November 2017 to the end of January this year, while Ismail received medical treatment abroad. He was appointed minister of housing in February 2014 in the cabinet of then-prime minister Ibrahim Mahlab, and kept his position when Ismail was appointed as premier in September 2015. Madbouly is an architect and urban designer who served as the director of the UN's HABITAT Regional Office for Arab States from 2012 until 2014. He also served as chairman of Egypts General Organisation of Urban Planning from 2009 until 2011. Since assuming the office of housing minister, Mabouly has overseen a number of projects to build affordable housing as well as develop new cities, including the new administrative capital east of Cairo and New Alamein on the Mediterranean coast. Madbouly has taught urban development and housing in at least two Egyptian universities, worked as a consultant for the World Bank and the International Labour Organisation, and worked on the strategic planning of Greater Cairo and several governorates across the country. Madbouly holds a PhD in urban planning from Cairo University and a postgraduate diploma in urban management from the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies in Rotterdam. Search Keywords: Short link: Anzhelika Protodyakonova, a young fashion blogger from Russia, shot to social media flame after photos of her huge eyebrows, which cover most of her forehead, went viral on the internet. They say every cloud has a silver lining, and the story of how Anzhelika Protodyakonova became a popular online fashion blogger and a social media star in her native country is a perfect example of that. Seven years ago, while riding on a bus in Yakutsk, Russias Sakha Republic, Anzhelika drew the attention of another passenger who just couldnt take her eyes off her unusually large eyebrows. The woman took a photo of her and posted it online, where it quickly went viral. Anzhelika soon became known as Bushy Angie, and while she admits being embarrassed by the photo at first, the young girl quickly embraced her new-found popularity and even managed to make a living off of it. Photo Anzhelika Protodyakonova/Instagram Anzhelikas photo even crossed national boundaries, and inspired famous fashion bloggers to replicate her unusual look and even post tutorials for others to do the same. Seeing the world so fascinated by her eyebrows, Protodyakonova decided to take things even further. She started making her eyebrows even larger, to the point where they took up her entire forehead. People just ate it up. Her social media accounts tarted getting tens of thousands of followers and she started getting invited to various television shows. Her eyebrows had made her a star. Photo: Yakutsk.ru (the one that made her famous) Anzhelika Protodyakonovas huge eyebrows, which some sources claim were inspired by the hit mobile game Angry Birds, have somehow remained relevant for over seven years now. The young woman has over 90,000 followers on Instagram, and can reportedly support herself just by posting new photos of her eyebrows regularly and advertising various beauty and health products on her social media accounts. Photo Anzhelika Protodyakonova/Instagram Angies story just goes to show you that you can always turn lemons into lemonade, you just have to stay positive. Michelle Ubben Nearly half (47 percent) of US CEOs see the lack of talent as the biggest threat to their companys future plans, according to the Worldcom Confidence Index 2018 survey of C-suite executives. Only six percent identified the available talent pool as a source of optimism. While we are enjoying a historically low unemployment rate, the flipside of that good economic news is that we are in a period of too many jobs and not enough workers, especially qualified workers. As a consequence, 2018 is shaping up to be the Year of the Employee, with CEOs identifying employees as their second most important target audience right after customers and 20% of top executives putting employees first. Meaningfully engaging employees pays big dividends. Gallup reports that companies in the top quartile of employee engagement reap 10% higher customer metrics, 17% higher productivity, 20% higher sales, and 21% higher profitability. And theyre more likely to attract talent in the first place. Engagement means moving away from a top-down management structure and actively involving employees in defining and creating your culture. Heres an example of how younger professionals help define the culture at our firm. Innovative Efforts to Attract Talent Here in Floridas capital, the Talent Lives Here initiative aims to convert the great young talent produced by our universities into workers who put down roots in Tallahassee. Sachs Media Group is an enthusiastic participant in the Tally Chamber Job Hop to support that effort. Statewide, the Florida Chamber Foundations upcoming Learners to Earners Summit is stoking a broad conversation about how to meet Floridas talent needs, given that 85% of all jobs in 2030 could be in industries or occupations that do not exist today. So how can you, as an employer, better compete for top talent and retain the talent you already have? Enhance your brand. Employees, especially younger employees, want to work for companies that have a great reputation and an attractive culture. Its never been more important to boost awareness of your brands strongest assets and to be a values-driven company that knows what you stand for and lives by those values. Rally around your purpose. Millennials, in particular, want to know the purpose of the company they work for and how their work fits in to make a difference. Be clear about why your work matters, and provide regular and individualized feedback to staff about how they meaningfully fit into the larger purpose. Offer a seat at the table. As David Coletto, CEO of Abacus Data, notes, millennials are the first generation that grew up sitting at the adult table. They arent prepared to wait to be an influence. Consciously create an employee engagement program that involves employees of every age in bubbling up ideas to make your company stronger. The plurality of perspectives will make you a better company and more attractive to young, in-demand talent. Embrace diversity. People want to work for organizations that, at least in part, look like them. As a communications firm, we know that we need a team that understands and mirrors the diverse audiences we are speaking to. But every firm, no matter its purpose, benefits from consciously building a diverse team, especially if it hopes to win in the talent hunt. Be family-friendly. While millennials are generally marrying and having children later, Coletto notes that millennial households are more consensual, collaborative, and equal, with more women earning graduate degrees and being the primary breadwinners while 42% of men serve as their familys primary cooks. Look for millennial talent to drive further change in the workplace, insisting on flexibility and family-friendly policies. The race for finding and retaining top talent is on. Employers who hope to compete successfully for younger employees will need to learn what consumer brands have already discovered: Give them what they want. *** Michelle Ubben is president of Sachs Media Group. Norm Coleman Former Minnesota Republican Senator Norm Coleman represents ZTE Corp, which scored a major victory today as the US Commerce Dept. announced a deal to lift sanctions imposed on it. The US slapped sanctions on Chinese government-controlled in ZTE in April for selling goods to North Korea and Iran. Those strictures, which banned ZTE from buying components from Qualcomm, Corning and Google, effectively shut the smartphone maker down last month. Sixty percent of the components used in ZTEs flagship Axon M phone are from US suppliers. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross put the Chinese company back in business, announcing that ZTE agreed to pay a $1B penalty and embed an American-selected compliance team within the company for the next decade. ZTE also agreed to change its executive team and board within 30 days. Ross, who just returned to DC following trade talks in Beijing, called the ZTE action the first time that Washington pushed back on China over trade practices. Colemans ZTE connection is through law firm Hogan Lovells. Hes joined by Aaron Cutler, who was an aide to former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, on HLs ZTE team. Kekst & Co. handles Platform Specialty Products, which the Wall Street Journal reported today is in advanced talks on a $3B deal to sell its agricultural chemicals unit to Londons Wilmcote Holdings. The West Palm Beach (FL) company, which announced a plan last August to separate its ag and performance solutions (consumer electronics, automotive, energy specialty chemicals) groups into separate businesses, confirmed the discussions with Wilmcote as well as several other parties. We are fortunate to have options, and we will keep all of our stakeholders apprised as and when appropriate, PSS said in a statement. The WSJ noted that the $3B ag sale proceeds would go a long way in reducing PSS $5.5B debt and power its plan to form two separate business to help boost an underperforming stock. Wilmcote, which relies on Teneo for financial PR, said discusssons with PSS are ongoing, but there is no certainty that a deal will happen. Trading of its shares on the London Stock Exchange were suspended. Kekst, which is owned by Publicis Groupe, has Liz Cohen on the PSS beat. Jon McLeod Brunswick Group has hired Jon McLeod, who chaired Weber Shandwicks UK corporate, financial and PA group, as head of its London PA operation. Hell start in September. McLeod stepped down from the Interpublic unit last month following a more than 20-year run of guiding clients through regulatory, financial and legal matters. His goal at his new job is to ensure that leadership and innovation in public affairs is right at the heart of Brunswicks sustained evolution as a world-class advisory firm. Prior to joining Weber Shandwick, McLeod spent more than six years as board member of the East Midlands Regional Development Authority in Nottingham and two years as associate director of Westminster Strategy in London. Twenty-six leading banks from 5 continents are re-defining banks purpose and business model to align the sector with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement. May 29, 2018, Ulaanbaatar: GOLOMT BANK becomes the only Mongolian Bank, amongst the core group comprising of 26 leading banks from 5 continents and 19 countries, to work on alignment of global Banking sector with UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Paris Climate Agreement. : GOLOMT BANK becomes the only Mongolian Bank, amongst the core group comprising of 26 leading banks from 5 continents and 19 countries, to work on alignment of global Banking sector with UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Paris Climate Agreement. The commitment to the environment and sustainable development lies at the core of our values. We are clear that our business activities must support and contribute to long term prosperity and wellbeing of our society. Mrs. Munkhtsetseg Chultem, Chairperson of the Board, Golomt Bank. Both the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement on climate change have set ambitious targets to deliver a sustainable future for all. As two thirds of world-wide finance is provided by banks, the global banking system will be instrumental in achieving these goals. Twenty-six of UN Environment Finance Initiatives banking members are leading an initiative for banks worldwide to reaffirm their purpose and align their business practices with these objectives. Convened by the UNEP FI secretariat, the banks are developing global Banking Principles that will: direct banks efforts to align with societys goals as expressed in the SDGs, the Paris Agreement, as well as national and regional frameworks set the global benchmark for sustainable banking drive ambition by requiring signatory banks to set goals for and report on their contribution to national and international social, environmental and economic targets ensure accountability and transparency on banks impacts challenge the banking industry to play a leading role in creating a more sustainable future Similar to the role the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) play for asset managers and the Principles for Sustainable Insurance (PSI) for insurance underwriters, these standards will address the longstanding need for an umbrella framework to cover all aspects of sustainable banking. The process of developing the Principles will include consultation with a wide range of stakeholders, such as civil society organizations, banking associations, regulators and UN bodies. The first in-person meeting of the participating banks took place in London on 19th and 20th April. We plan to launch the draft Principles for global consultation during the UNEP FI Global Roundtable 2018 in November in Paris, France. It is a privilege to work alongside global leaders of the banking industry and to exchange experience and aspirations among such a diverse group of banks from all continents. - Tomas Bravenec, Deputy CEO of Golomt bank. Members of the Core Group (in alphabetical order): Access Bank (Nigeria), Arab African International Bank (AAIB) (Egypt), Banco Pichincha (Ecuador), Banorte (Mexico), Barclays (United Kingdom), BBVA (Spain), BNP Paribas (France), Bradesco (Brazil), Commercial International Bank (CIB) (Egypt), First Rand (South Africa), Garanti Bank (Turkey), Golomt Bank (Mongolia), Hana Financial Group (South Korea), Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) (China), ING (Netherlands), KCB Group (Kenya), Land Bank (South Africa), Nordea (Sweden), Piraeus Bank (Greece), Santander (Spain), Shinhan Financial Group (South Korea), Societe Generale (France), Standard Bank (South Africa), Triodos Bank (Netherlands), Westpac Group (Australia), YES Bank (India) Alexandria has been selected following fierce competition from Oslo and Prague The Egyptian city of Alexandria has been selected to host the General Conference of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) in 2022, following fierce competition from Oslo and Prague in the French capital Paris on Thursday. The Mediterranean city received 67 votes, while Prague came in second with 52 and Oslo third with 11. Alexandria will be the first city in Africa and the Arab region to host the International Council of Museums' General Conference. The conference is the largest heritage event in the world and is attended by 4,000 experts and numerous tourism companies. In 2016, ICOMs 24th General Conference took place in Milan, Italy from 3 to 9 July. The upcoming edition will be held in Kyoto, Japan, from 1 to 7 September, 2019. The countries that voted for Alexandria included China, Ecuador, Chad, Pakistan, Tunisia, and Morocco. Egypt was one of the founding countries of the International Council of Museums in UNESCO in 1946, and has expanded its role in the Council in recent years. Egypt was also elected last Friday as the first Arab country to chair the UNESCO committee for countering illicit trafficking of antiquities. The country will chair the committee from May 2018 to May 2019. Search Keywords: Short link: The anti-cheating team at the Egyptian Ministry of Education has identified a student who leaked the thanaweya amma (high school) French language exam on social media on Thursday, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported. Ministry sources say that the student, who hails from Beni Suef governorate, was arrested in possession of a smart phone used to leak the exam. The student will be referred to the prosecution over the leak, which is punishable by a fine and imprisonment. In the past few years, thanaweya amma exams have been repeatedly leaked and shared on Facebook and WhatsApp. This is the second paper to be leaked this exam season, after an Arabic language exam was posted online on Saturday. Last year, Egypt's parliament approved amendments toughening the penalties for cheating and other exam violations, including publishing exam questions and papers and having mobile phones or other wireless devices in examination rooms. Penalties for facilitating exam leaks include hefty fines of EGP 100,000-200,000 and jail terms between two and seven years. More than 650,000 students are taking this year's tests. Search Keywords: Short link: Portland marijuana startup Cura Cannabis filed suit Wednesday against unnamed people behind anonymous social media accounts, seeking $10 million in damages for making rape allegations against the company's chief executive. CEO Nitin Khanna quit last week over "personal allegations against Nitin that arose several years before the company was founded," according to a statement from the company. Cura said Khanna began handing off operational responsibilities early this year because those allegations "have become a distraction for the company's mission." In the lawsuit, filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court, Cura says unnamed people have used anonymous Twitter and Instagram accounts for several months to "malign, defame and harass Cura and Mr. Khanna" by claiming a past history of rape allegations. It called the allegations "demonstrably false, defamatory, and made with malicious intent." The suit identifies defendants as unnamed "John Does." In 2014, Khanna settled a lawsuit brought by his fiancee's hairdresser alleging that he raped the hairdresser on the morning of his own wedding in Newberg two years earlier. The parties didn't disclose terms of the settlement and Khanna never faced criminal charges. The Oregonian reported in 2014 that Yamhill County prosecutors concluded that "we know sexual contact between the victim and the defendant occurred" based on DNA evidence. However, prosecutors concluded there wasn't enough evidence to prove the sexual contact was not consensual. "That is not to say that the sexual assault didn't happen exactly as the victim describes," county attorneys wrote in a memo explaining their decision not to prosecute. "The problem we have is that we cannot prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt." At the time, Khanna was a startup investor and advocate for Portland entrepreneurship. He had previously co-founded an Oregon software company called Sabre Corp. and sold the business for $420 million. After settling the suit, Khanna ran a boutique investment bank and became active in the marijuana business following Oregon legalization. His company, Cura, sells marijuana oil for vaping and other applications. Cura said in Wednesday's lawsuit that it has raised more than $40 million in funding that values the company at $400 million. The company said it employs more than 250 and forecast $120 million in revenue this year. In Wednesday's suit, Cura alleges that unnamed people have sent emails and made phone calls to its retail partners. The company said some retailers have stopped carrying Cura products and some people have stopped buying it as a result of the allegations. "Cura has brought this lawsuit in order to bring an end to this defamation campaign," the company wrote, and to expose the people behind the anonymous accounts. Khanna did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. In a statement, new Cura CEO Cameron Forni blamed the social media posts on an unspecified "competitor." "Nitin did not want the allegations against him from almost six years ago to cause an issue," Forni said. He said the company has a demonstrated record of providing a diverse and supportive work environment. Oregonian reporter Aimee Green contributed to this article. -- Mike Rogoway | twitter: @rogoway | 503-294-7699 WASHINGTON (AP) The United States and China have reached a deal that allows the Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE Corp. to stay in business in exchange for paying an additional $1 billion in fines and agreeing to let U.S. regulators monitor its operations. The fine announced Thursday comes on top of $892 million ZTE has already paid for breaking U.S. sanctions by selling equipment to North Korea and Iran. The Commerce Department said that ZTE must also put $400 million in escrow a sum that it would forfeit if it violated Thursday's agreement. In addition, a compliance team chosen by the United States will be embedded at ZTE and the Chinese company must change its board and executive team. President Donald Trump has drawn fire from Congress for intervening in the case to rescue a Chinese company that had violated U.S. sanctions against two rogue nations that have been pursuing nuclear weapons programs. "ZTE is essentially on probation," said Amanda DeBusk, chair of the international trade and government regulation practice at Dechert LLP and a former Commerce official. "It's unprecedented to have U.S. agents as monitors ... It's certainly a good precedent for this situation. ZTE is a repeat offender." In April, the Commerce Department barred ZTE from importing American components for seven years, having concluded that it deceived U.S. regulators after it settled charges last year of sanctions violations: Instead of disciplining all employees involved, Commerce said, ZTE had paid some of them full bonuses and then lied about it. The decision amounted to a death sentence to ZTE, which relies on U.S. parts and which announced that it was halting operations. The ban also hurt American companies that supply ZTE. Trump barged into the ZTE case last month by tweeting that he was working with President Xi Jinping to put ZTE "back in business, fast" and save tens of thousands of Chinese jobs. He later tweeted that the ZTE talks were "part of a larger trade deal" being negotiated with China. Trump has drawn criticism from members of Congress for going easy on the Chinese company. Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon immediately responded to Thursday's announcement: "The Trump administration is giving ZTE and China the green light to spy on Americans and sell our technology to North Korea and Iran, as long as it pays a fine that amounts to a tiny fraction of its revenue." Still, the resolution of the ZTE case may clear the way for the United States to make progress in its trade talks with China. The two countries have threatened to impose tariffs on up to $200 billion worth of each other's products in a dispute over China's tactics to supplant U.S. technological supremacy, including demands that U.S. companies hand over trade secrets in exchange for access to the Chinese market. Thursday's agreement was "a prerequisite for making broader progress," DeBusk said. "The ZTE case was a thorn in the side for China ... For the U.S. to shut down one of China's largest companies is a very dramatic type of move. It certainly got their attention." -- The Associated Press Nora the polar bear at the Columbus Zoo, winter 2015-2016. Photo courtesy Grahm S. Jones/Columbus Zoo and Aquarium(Grahm S. Jones) By Dorothy Wilhelm On June 17, 1984, I received my bachelor's degree from Marylhurst College, the oldest degree-granting institution in Oregon. All of my family were there except for my second son, who had been married the day before and had previous commitments. I gave a graduation speech. Everyone did. Instead of listening to a speaker who knew nothing about us, each student in our class of 40 was allotted three minutes to speak if they wished to do so. Most did. We were there a really long time, but it was very inspiring. It had taken me more than 30 years to get that shiny bachelor's degree. I had one year at Gonzaga in Spokane. Then, just as my dad had predicted, I found a suitable husband and school days were over for 30 years. By 1983, a new widow with three young children to raise and no discernible job skills, I was desperate to tempt potential employers with a degree that came with practical work qualifications. I needed to get that degree in a few odd hours every week. There seemed no way until I heard of Marylhurst. Just south of Portland, it offered an innovative class structure suited to adult learners who had to work for a living. First of all there was algebra. I had never passed it. I was pretty sure I never would. Sister Claire MacIsaacs would hear none of it. Knowing I taught community art classes she said, "Of course, you can do algebra. You're an artist -- mixing paint is all algebra." So I spent the whole semester creating and recording color formulas -- and I passed algebra! There were weekend classes, where students moved into the dorms, enjoyed a taste of college life and worked intensively at one class day and night. At the end of the weekend we emerged, with a semester's work done in courses such as anthropology or business administration. After a final paper, one or two more credits were added toward our degree. More complex classes met for two or three weekends. The experience that changed my life, though, was being part of the prior learning program. I've never encountered anything like the one offered at Marylhurst. Students could earn credits for teaching about a subject they'd mastered earlier in their lives. It was necessary to create a course outline, and include all of the topics that would be covered in a college catalog. The student would then present the class to a panel of teachers, instead of the other way around. I certainly had no accomplishments. I was sure of that. But I had learned to care for six children by myself while their dad was deployed with the army for more than a year. Yes! That would be early childhood education, wouldn't it? I had created a recreation service for the Red Cross in Bangkok and voila! Volunteer management. Death and dying -- oh, I sure knew about that. If this sounds easy, it was not. Each class was meticulously checked and verified. At the end of this experience, I had credits enough to shave another year off the journey to my degree. Best of all, I was jubilant to discover I had not wasted 50 years of my life. At home, I began to "shop" the various colleges in the area for classes that would fill in the gaps remaining in my requirements. Students were allowed to employ needed credits from any accredited institution in the area, so I took public speaking at Pacific Lutheran, broadcasting at University of Washington and one class at a time, filled in the blanks, without having to repeat what I already knew. On that afternoon in 1984, I felt fully prepared to use everything I'd learned. On May 17 of this year, Marylhurst University announced that, falling victim to soaring expenses and dwindling enrollment, it will close at the end of 2018. Other students will not enjoy the practical education that made such a difference in my life. I couldn't have managed without the incomparable faculty showing me the tools I already had and what I needed. I don't know why there are not more opportunities for practical education, but luckily the most important lessons are learned after graduation. I asked my youngest son for the most important lesson he'd learned since college. He didn't have to think. "Sleep when the baby sleeps," he said. That's what I mean. Practical. -- Dorothy Wilhelm is a professional humorist, columnist, author and broadcaster. She lives in DuPont, Wash. Her piece originally ran in the Tacoma News Tribune. UPDATED Thursday, June 7: Search suspended for Colorado teen missing off Oregon coast UPDATED Thursday, June 7: Officials initially reported that the missing teen was wearing a black wetsuit. They've since confirmed that he was not. *** A Colorado man apparently drowned off the Oregon Coast Wednesday after attempting to rescue his teen son, who is now missing after being hit by a wave while boogie boarding in the ocean. A search is ongoing for the 17-year-old boy from Fort Collins, Colorado. The teen was visiting Rockaway Beach with his 50-year-old father and other family members, Oregon State Police said. The teen was riding his board in the surf when he was knocked off by a wave, police said. His father went into the water after when relatives couldn't see the boy from the shore. Another family member called 911 around 2:20 p.m. after losing sight of the father. A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter found the father dead about 45 minutes later, an agency spokeswoman said. Jim Ryan The U.S. Coast Guard rescued a fisherman whose boat eventually sank off the Oregon coast Wednesday. The agency said the fisherman was safely taken to shore and that his vessel sank about 2 1/2 miles west of the Chetco River entrance at Brookings. Debris and a light fuel sheen was reported in the water, the agency said, but crews recovered "as much of the debris as possible." The Coast Guard said the fisherman asked for help about 10 a.m., reporting his 29-foot commercial vessel was flooding and that pumps weren't able to keep up with the flooding. One responder came aboard with a portable pump, but the water eventually rose too high, according to the agency. The Coast Guard said the boat, which had a maximum of 60 gallons of fuel on board, eventually sank in water that's about 216 feet deep. The fisherman said the water may have been coming into the boat through its shaft seal, according to the Coast Guard. Jim Ryan Egypt's newly appointed Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly has started consultations to form a new cabinet and is expected to be sworn in next week, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported. Cabinet sources said that Madbouly is expected to finish forming the new government next week and will be sworn in before Eid El-Fetr, which is expected on Friday 15 June. The sources said that the new cabinet will include between 17 to 20 new ministers, mostly from service ministries. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi appointed Madbouly on Thursday as the country's new prime minister, a presidency statement said, two days after the government of outgoing prime minister Sherif Ismail submitted its resignation. Ismail submitted his resignation two days after President El-Sisi was officially sworn in as the head of state for a second term until 2022. The move came in line with a political tradition that the cabinet should resign at the beginning of a new presidential term. Madbouly, 52, was minister of housing, urban utilities and urban communities in Ismail's cabinet. He served as interim prime minister from November 2017 to the end of January this year, while Ismail received medical treatment abroad. He was appointed minister of housing in February 2014 in the cabinet of then-prime minister Ibrahim Mahlab, and kept his position when Ismail was appointed as premier in September 2015. Madbouly is an architect and urban designer who served as the director of the UN's HABITAT Regional Office for Arab States from 2012 until 2014. He also served as chairman of Egypts General Organisation of Urban Planning from 2009 until 2011. Since assuming the office of housing minister, Mabouly has overseen a number of projects to build affordable housing as well as develop new cities, including the new administrative capital east of Cairo and New Alamein on the Mediterranean coast. Madbouly has taught urban development and housing in at least two Egyptian universities, worked as a consultant for the World Bank and the International Labour Organisation, and worked on the strategic planning of Greater Cairo and several governorates across the country. Madbouly holds a PhD in urban planning from Cairo University and a postgraduate diploma in urban management from the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies in Rotterdam. Search Keywords: Short link: Updated: Man who drowned off Oregon Coast was Colorado teacher Authorities have suspended their search for a Colorado teen missing after being hit by a wave while boogie boarding on the Oregon coast. Samuel Vicente Allen, 17, is presumed dead, according to the Oregon State Police. Robert Joseph Allen, 50, apparently drowned after attempting to rescue the teen Wednesday. The U.S. Coast Guard announced Thursday morning that the search had been suspended. The teen was visiting Rockaway Beach with his father and other family members, Oregon State Police said. The father and son are from Fort Collins. The teen was riding his board in the surf when he was knocked off by a wave, police said. His father went into the water after when relatives couldn't see the boy from the shore. Another family member called 911 around 2:20 p.m. after losing sight of the father. A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter found the father dead about 45 minutes later, an agency spokeswoman said. Jim Ryan Lawyers for Cylvia Hayes are negotiating with the state ethics commission in an attempt to minimize any fines Oregon's former first lady might have to pay for violating state ethics laws. Five months ago, the commission found 22 instances in which Hayes violated ethics laws, including the prohibition against public officials using their positions for personal gain. Hayes could be on the hook for as much as $110,000 in penalties if the ethics watchdog were to impose the maximum fine of $5,000 per violation. But the commission's executive director, Ron Bersin, said Wednesday that Hayes' lawyers have been in settlement talks with the state over the fines for roughly a month. "They're not contesting the violations," Bersin said. He noted the commission settles most ethics cases. Hayes' attorney Whitney Boise could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon. After finding that Hayes violated ethics laws in January, the nine-member commission said it was open to negotiating a settlement on the fines. But given the seriousness of the violations, commissioners said, they also required a sincere apology and substantial penalties for what Commissioner Nathan Sosa called, "a case study in what you are not supposed to do as a public official." The former first lady did not appear before the commission or issue a public apology for violating state ethics laws. She did apologize generally to "those I hurt" last year, while also claiming that federal prosecutors "exonerated" and "vindicated" her. In fact, prosecutors did not share any findings when they ended their two-year influence-peddling investigation without filing charges last year. Hayes' ethics violations and probable fines stem from her work as a paid consultant during former Gov. John Kitzhaber's third term, when Hayes also served as an unpaid adviser to him on clean energy and economic policies. Private groups paid her more than $200,000 to advocate for green energy, ocean protection and economic policies. Ethics commissioners found that Hayes was only able to secure the advocacy jobs because of her unique position as first lady and access to the governor and his staff. In some instances, ethics investigators found, the groups that hired Hayes paid her for speeches and other first lady activities or for work she directed other state employees to do. Hayes' strategy of seeking a settlement after the commission's findings of violations differs from that of Kitzhaber, who attempted unsuccessfully last year to negotiate both the violations and the fines. After commissioners found 10 instances in which Kitzhaber violated ethics laws, the former governor settled with the state for $20,000 instead of the $50,000 maximum penalty he could have faced. Kitzhaber did apologize before the commission for his actions, although he vehemently denied that he ever intended to use his office for personal gain. -- Hillary Borrud; Twitter: @hborrud; 503-294-4034 UPDATED at 7:27 p.m. Jeff Manning and Hillary Borrud | The Oregonian/OregonLive Three years since ending her controversial tenure as Oregon's first lady, the legal headaches continue for Cylvia Hayes. Hayes will file for bankruptcy this week, her lawyer indicated in a court filing Wednesday, in part to get out from under about $125,000 in debts and penalties she accrued in her legal battle to keep her emails secret. She also faces a potential six-figure fine for violating state ethics laws. Her attorney, Eli Stutsman, informed the Oregon Court of Appeals of Hayes' plans on Wednesday. UPDATE: On June 15, 2018, the court dismissed her appeal, designating The Oregonian/OregonLive as the prevailing party. As of that date, Hayes had not filed for bankruptcy. The Oregonian/OregonLive filed a public records request for Hayes' emails discussing state business in late 2014, after questions arose about the overlap between her public role and private contracting. But Hayes argued she was not subject to public records laws. Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum and a Marion County judge ultimately sided with The Oregonian/OregonLive. But Hayes sued the news organization in 2015 in an effort to block the public records request. After losing that round, she was ordered to pay about $125,000 in legal fees. Then, she appealed. Hayes will now drop the appeal in anticipation that bankruptcy will shield her from paying the news organization's full legal costs. "Appellant will soon file for bankruptcy protection and this court's decision, whether affirming or reversing, will not alter appellant's decision to file for bankruptcy protection," Stutsman wrote in his motion. "Either way, win or lose on appeal, appellant will soon seek bankruptcy protection and there is no need or benefit for any party or the court to incur further time on this matter." Cylvia Hayes negotiating fines for ethics violations Hayes became first lady after her fiance, Gov. John Kitzhaber, was elected to his third term in 2010. From the start, there were questions about how Hayes would support herself because her consulting business had increasingly relied on government contracts. Her work came under fresh scrutiny weeks before Kitzhaber was elected to a fourth term in 2014. The influence-peddling scandal peaked in February 2015 when Kitzhaber resigned just weeks after his swearing in. State and federal officials launched criminal investigations, though both inquiries wrapped up last year with no charges filed. In January, Oregon's ethics watchdog found that she misused her position as first lady and a policy adviser to secure consulting contracts worth more than $200,000. Hayes' lawyers and the ethics panel are now trying to reach a settlement on the fines, which could run as much as $110,000. The dispute over who should pay the cost of the news organization's public records battle is one of the last unresolved questions from the Kitzhaber and Hayes scandal. After a Marion County judge found Hayes was subject to public records law, it cleared the way for a separate judge to review more than 72,000 emails. Nearly two-thirds of those messages were ultimately released. The news organization subsequently filed a motion to recover attorney fees, as allowed under state records laws. At the time, Hayes' attorney responded in court documents by saying the award would punish her for protecting her personal documents and her right against self-incrimination. But in March 2016, a judge ordered Hayes to pay those costs. She filed an appeal that summer. Although Hayes was given two public defenders in the federal investigation, she and Kitzhaber have accrued large legal bills. In late March, The Oregonian/OregonLive filed a lien on her Bend home to preserve its place in line among her creditors. --Jeff Manning and Hillary Borrud The Oregon Supreme Court received a legal challenge to the ballot language for a gun control initiative Wednesday, posing a potentially major roadblock for proponents hoping to collect the needed signatures by the deadline. National Rifle Association lobbyist Roger Beyer filed the petition Wednesday morning objecting to the official ballot language as "politically charged and emotionally laden." The court must decide on his challenge and set official ballot language before supporters of the proposed ballot measure can begin gathering the required 88,184 valid signatures. The deadline to submit signatures is July 6, and legally, the court's handling of matter could drag out close to that date or beyond it. Supporters announced Wednesday that they plan to call on churches, synagogues and other worship communities to hold mass petition signings at worship services on the weekend of June 29 to July 1. The proposed measure would ban the manufacture and sale of semi-automatic firearms defined in the initiative as "assault weapons" and magazines that can hold 10 or more bullets. It would also force those in possession of such items to register with the state police after passing a background check or relinquish ownership by selling them, surrendering them to police or destroying them. Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum released the certified ballot title for the measure on May 23. She revised her initial draft ballot title after the elections office received 1,095 mostly very critical comments, a "record number." Beyer argues that the certified ballot language fails to comply with guidelines because it does not accurately convey the potential measure's effects. He took particular issue with the use of the terms "assault weapons" and "large capacity magazines," which he says are misleading and incendiary. Others could also file challenges before Thursday's midnight deadline. Leaders of the "Lift Every Voice" religious coalition behind the proposed measure held a press conference Wednesday at Augustana Lutheran Church in Portland to outline their strategy for collecting the signatures needed to get the measure on the ballot. Rev. Mark Knutson, one of the chief petitioners of the gun control ballot measure, speaks at a press conference at Augustana Lutheran Church on Wednesday, June 6, 2018. "It's time to end the delay tactics and legal maneuvering," said the Rev. Mark Knutson, one of the chief petitioners. "Oregonians deserve the opportunity to vote on this matter immediately." The court challenge forces them to wait until the Supreme Court issues the final ballot language. They're aiming to collect 120,000 signatures to ensure they meet threshold. The coalition's main strategy is to garner support from religious organizations throughout the state. Already they have leaders of Jewish congregations, black churches, liberal-leaning Protestant denominations and Islamic mosques on board. They've designated the weekend of June 29 through July 1 as "Signing Sabbath Weekend," with the main push occurring that Sunday as "Lift 100,000 Voices Day." Knutson estimated that "several hundred" organizations from various religious denominations across the state would take part. Proponents have not yet secured public support from a leader of an Evangelical, Catholic or Mormon congregation. Those three forms of Christianity are the largest religious segments in Oregon. Oregon is not a pinnacle of organized religion or religious membership. A 2012 Gallup poll found 45 percent of Oregonians surveyed considered themselves "not religious" and seldom or never attend religious services. This was the fifth highest rate in the country and the highest outside of New England. Under ballot challenge rules, Rosenblum has seven business days from Wednesday's petition filing to issue a response. She can waive that right and send it directly to the high court. The Oregon Supreme Court can also expedite the process at the justices' discretion by shortening response deadlines or bypassing oral arguments, given that the signature deadline is near. There is no deadline for the court to act. If the roughly 88,000 signatures needed are collected in time, Oregonians will have the opportunity to vote on the measure in the November 6 election. -- Corlyn Voorhees Maurice Henderson, chief of staff to Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, will leave the mayor's office to take a job as the chief operating officer of TriMet, Henderson said Wednesday. Henderson said his last day with the mayor's office will likely be in early July and that Wheeler has not yet selected his replacement. Likely candidates include the mayor's deputy chiefs of staff, Michael Cox and Kristin Dennis. Wheeler said in a statement that he is "extremely happy for Maurice" and called him "a trusted friend" and effective chief of staff. Henderson said serving on the mayor's team of advisers has been "one of my greatest professional and personal honors." While working in City Hall, Henderson oversaw the recruitment of a diverse team of mayoral aides and headed negotiations to hire Police Bureau Chief Danielle Outlaw -- the city's first African American woman police chief. He also helped the mayor gain City Council approval to issue the first installment in what Wheeler hopes will eventually be $600 million in bonds to fix streets, sidewalks and parks. Before working for Wheeler, Henderson was assistant director of the Portland Bureau of Transportation and worked for several Washington, D.C. mayors and former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine. -- Gordon R. Friedman 503-221-8209 Islam El Masry Updated: Portland woman says alleged racially charged hot sauce attack at food cart was unprovoked A downtown Portland food cart owner was arrested Wednesday after a customer reported he called her a racial slur, threw a Gatorade bottle at her and sprayed her in the face with hot sauce because she paid for her lunch in quarters, Willamette Week reports. Islam R. El Masry, 38, was booked and released on his own recognizance from the Multnomah County jail on suspicion of fourth-degree assault and harassment, jail records show. He owns Small Pharoah's Egyptian and New Yorker Food. The customer took video which shows her claiming El Masry called her a slur for paying with coins, then El Masry swears at her while telling her to leave and throws a filled Gatorade bottle at the phone she used to record the encounter. -- The Oregonian/OregonLive The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday voted 11-to-10 along party lines to forward the nomination of Oregon Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Bounds to the Senate floor for confirmation to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The vote followed recriminations by Democratic senators who accused Republicans of "gutting checks and balances'' in their rush to fill federal courts with ideologically-aligned conservative judges. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, said it's obvious under the current administration that "our courts are being stacked with ideological Federalist Society nominees'' who are squeaking by with little or no vote from Democratic senators. Bounds has come under fire for controversial writings from the 1990s when he was at Stanford University that belittled campus diversity groups and the college's handling of sexual assault suspects. He earlier apologized to the committee for the tone of the writing, calling it "overheated" and "high-handed." Hirono and her Democratic colleagues urged the committee to pull Bounds' nomination from consideration, citing the lack of support from Oregon's senators. Ranking member Dianne Feinstein, D-California, said the committee's decision to hold a hearing last month on Bounds was "unprecedented'' without the return of two "blue slips" -- essentially a stamp of approval -- from Oregon's Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley. Feinstein said Wyden and Merkley, as well as a majority of the Oregon judicial screening commission, wouldn't have recommended Bounds had they known of his college writings. She said Bounds misled the screening commission by failing to discuss his college writings when asked if anything in his background would be controversial. "I believe it matters what Senators Wyden and Merkley think because the citizens of Oregon expect their senators to represent their state's best interests,'' Feinstein said. "If we do away with blue slips and that seems where we're going then what will stop the administration from appointing a resident of New York to Iowa's 8th Circuit seat?'' Last month, Bounds told committee members that his desire when he wrote the articles was for a diverse and tolerant Stanford campus. Committee Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, defended Bounds and his nomination. "I'm satisfied that the White House adequately consulted with the home state senators,'' Grassley said. He said he won't allow home state senators to block a nominee whose ideological opinions they disagree with. As for Bounds' college writings, Grassley added, "We shouldn't assume views expressed years ago represent the nominee today, especially when the nominee says they don't.'' Bounds' pieces that ran in The Stanford Review mocked what he described as "race-think,'' student ethnic groups and the university's response to alleged sexual assaults. He wrote, for example, that "strident racial factions in the student body'' often contributed more to "restricting consciousness, aggravating intolerance and pigeonholing cultural identities than many a Nazi bookburning.'' Bounds, a conservative who has served as an assistant U.S. attorney in Oregon since 2010, received his bachelor of arts degree from Stanford in 1995 and his law degree from Yale Law School in 1999. He's a former law clerk to 9th U.S. Circuit Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain, whose seat he's nominated to fill. The Alliance for Justice, a liberal judicial advocacy group, earlier this year highlighted excerpts from the college writings, calling Bounds unfit for a lifetime judge's position. Last month, Democratic senators led by Connecticut's Richard Blumenthal blasted the committee's leadership for allowing the hearing to proceed. Blumenthal called the Republican's move another of President Trump's "attempts to radically reshape our judiciary and remake the bench in the image of the far-right fringe of the Republican Party.'' At the vote, Wyden and Merkley released a joint statement, calling it a "sad day for justice.'' "Willfully ignoring the objections of both home-state senators to the nominee based on his lack of honesty and disturbing history sets an awful precedent that trades in established, successful rules for partisan, risky games that only inflame cynicism, partisanship, and public disgust with Washington, DC.,'' the statement read. Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law school professor who has written about the federal judicial selection process, said Bounds' nomination could come to the Senate floor for a vote later this month. "If it's a party line vote, that might make a difference on the floor,'' he said. "The big question is whether any GOP member will vote no on the floor. There has been only one no vote on all of Trump's nominees so far.'' -- Maxine Bernstein mbernstein@oregonian.com 503-221-8212 @maxoregonian A driver who was arrested after engaging authorities in a standoff early Thursday in Tualatin has been identified as a Crooked River Ranch man suspected in his mother's death, an official confirmed. Gavin Smith-Brown, 29, is suspected in the homicide of 65-year-old Gayla Smith, according to the Oregon State Police. Smith was found dead Sunday at a home they shared, the agency said. Authorities later asked for help finding Smith-Brown, saying he has ties to the Portland area and Las Vegas. He was arrested before 6 a.m. Thursday after holing up in a car in a McDonald's restaurant parking lot at the corner of Southwest Boones Ferry and Tualatin-Sherwood roads, according to Tualatin police spokeswoman Jennifer Massey. The incident unfolded after officers apparently tried to pull over what they thought was a stolen car just after 3 a.m., Massey said. The driver, apparently Smith-Brown, stopped at the McDonald's and refused to get out of the car. Tactical negotiators were called in, and Smith-Brown eventually complied with their commands. KATU-TV reports authorities used a robot to remove a suspicious device from the car. The item was later detonated, according to the news station. BREAKING: bomb squad members using this robot to pull suspicious device from the car a murder suspect was driving in #Tualatin Its something wrapped in what appears to be tin foil. #LiveOnK2 pic.twitter.com/zxNqeVYqRB Jackie Labrecque (@JackieKATU) June 7, 2018 #BREAKING Bomb squad detonates a suspicious package taken from a murder suspect's car following his arrest this morning in Tualatin #LiveOnK2 pic.twitter.com/JWlpEJ55tF Evan Bell (@evanbellKATU) June 7, 2018 -- Jim Ryan Iraq launched an air strike on an Islamic State group target inside neighbouring Syria on Thursday, the military said. F-16 fighter jets destroyed a building where members of the ultra-hardline Sunni group's leadership were operating, it said in a statement. Islamic State group, which once occupied a third of Iraq's territory, has been largely defeated in the country but still poses a threat along its border with Syria. "Iraqi F-16 jets bombed this morning on Thursday a so-called command and control centre containing leaders and fighters belonging to the Daesh (Islamic State group) terrorist gang in the Hajin inside Syrian territory," the statement said. The Iraqi air force has carried out several air strikes against Islamic State group in Syria since last year, with the approval of the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad and the US-led coalition fighting Islamic State group. Iraq has good relations with Iran and Russia, Assad's main backers in the Syrian civil war, while also enjoying strong support from the US-led coalition. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared final victory over Islamic State group in December but it still operates from pockets along the border with Syria and has continued to carry out ambushes, assassinations and bombings across Iraq. Islamic State group has resorted to guerrilla tactics since it abandoned its goal of holding territory and creating a self-sufficient caliphate that straddles Iraq and Syria. Search Keywords: Short link: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Thursday announced for the first time an unconditional ceasefire with the Taliban, coinciding with the end of the Muslim fasting month, but excluding other militant groups, such as Islamic State group. The decision came after a meeting of Islamic clerics this week declared a fatwa, or ruling, against suicide bombings, one of which, claimed by Islamic State group, killed 14 people at the entrance to the clerics' peace tent in Kabul, the capital. The clerics also recommended a ceasefire with the Taliban, who are seeking to reimpose strict Islamic law after their ouster in 2001, and Ghani endorsed the recommendation, announcing a laying down of arms until June 20. Ghani has urged ceasefires with the Taliban before, but this was the first unconditional offer since he was elected in 2014. "This ceasefire is an opportunity for Taliban to introspect (sic) that their violent campaign is not winning them hearts and minds," Ghani said in a message on social network Twitter after a televised address. There was no immediate reaction from the Taliban but an international political analyst based in Kabul was unimpressed. "It's a one-sided love story," he said. US Forces-Afghanistan said they would honour the ceasefire. "We will adhere to the wishes of Afghanistan for the country to enjoy a peaceful end to the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, and support the search for an end to the conflict," Gen. John Nicholson, US Forces-Afghanistan and the NATO-led Resolute Support commander, said in a statement. The ceasefire would not include US counter-terrorism efforts against Islamic State group and al Qaeda, it said. A NATO official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was "really not too much to say" from NATO's point of view. "It is completely Afghan-originated and, as you know, it is our policy to support an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned process," he told reporters. Former Afghan army general Atiqullah Amarkhel said the ceasefire would give the Taliban a chance to regroup. "From a military prospect, it is not a good move," he told Reuters. He also said he doubted the Taliban would lay down arms and deny themselves the opportunity of fighting during the holy month of Ramadan, in which attacks have intensified. The Eid al-Fitr holiday ending Ramadan falls at the end of next week. Ghani in February offered recognition of the Taliban as a legitimate political group in a proposed political process that he said could lead to talks to end more than 16 years of war. Ghani proposed a ceasefire and a release of prisoners among options including new elections involving the militants and a constitutional review in a pact with the Taliban to end a conflict that last year alone killed or wounded more than 10,000 civilians. In August, US President Donald Trump unveiled a more hawkish military approach to Afghanistan, including a surge in air strikes, aimed at forcing the Taliban to the negotiating table. Afghan security forces say the impact has been significant, but the Taliban roam huge swaths of the country and, with foreign troop levels of about 15,600, down from 140,000 in 2014, there appears little hope of outright victory. Search Keywords: Short link: Group of Seven leaders will pressure U.S. President Donald Trump at a summit this week on tariffs he has imposed on metals imports but must remain civil as they try to persuade him to change his mind, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday. Macron, speaking to reporters after talks with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, said the United States was an ally that the rest of the G7 needed. Tensions over trade are threatening to overshadow the June 8-9 summit. Search Keywords: Short link: Sign up to receive daily headline news from Ottawa Citizen, a division of Postmedia Network Inc. Thanks for signing up! A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Ottawa Citizen Headline News will soon be in your inbox. We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription. Tayyip Erdogan is seen falling short of a first-round victory in Turkey's presidential election and his ruling AK Party is forecast to lose its parliamentary majority in the June 24 vote, a survey by pollster Gezici showed on Thursday. Erdogan called the snap elections in April, more than a year early, saying Turkey needs to switch to a powerful executive presidency to tackle economic and security challenges. The new presidential powers were narrowly approved last year. Gezici's survey of 6,811 respondents, conducted between May 25-26, showed Erdogan receiving 48.7 percent of votes in the first round of presidential election, with the main opposition candidate, Muharrem Ince, getting 25.8 percent. Erdogan and Ince were followed by Meral Aksener, a former interior minister who founded the Iyi Party last year after being sacked from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which has entered an election alliance with the AK Party. Aksener was seen getting 14.4 percent of votes, Gezici's poll showed. The jailed candidate of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), Selahattin Demirtas, has 10.1 percent support, the poll showed. Even though he is campaigning from behind bars, Demirtas, one of Turkey's best-known politicians, is expected to boost his party's chances of overcoming a 10 percent threshold needed to enter parliament. PARLIAMENTARY MAJORITY Erdogan, modern Turkey's most successful and divisive leader, and his AK Party have ruled for more than 15 years, and currently hold a parliamentary majority. However, Gezici's poll showed that the AK Party's alliance with the nationalist MHP would fall short of a majority in the 600-seat assembly, with 48.7 percent of the votes. Their rival alliance, composed of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), Iyi Party and Saadet Party, is seen receiving 38.9 percent of votes, the poll showed, while the HDP was seen at 11.5 percent. The HDP's performance in the parliamentary polls is important because it does not have an alliance partner. If it fails to cross the 10 percent threshold, its seats go to the party that came second in districts where the HDP came first. That would most likely benefit Erdogan's ruling AKP, which is also strong in the east and the mainly Kurdish southeast. "According to the poll, the ruling party is seen losing the parliamentary majority. Despite the alliances that will be in parliament after the June 24 elections, no single party or alliance is seen reaching a simple majority," the poll said. However, the polling group's chairman Murat Gezici told Reuters that voters were not sympathetic towards alliances and that this caused the distribution of votes to vary in the poll. Independently, the AK Party is seen getting 43.1 percent, while their nationalist partner receives 6.2 percent, still falling short of a majority in parliament but marginally higher than what the poll shows as support for their alliance. The elections will herald Turkey's switch to the new presidency championed by Erdogan, but an ailing economy and a deteriorating record on human rights and freedoms after a 2016 coup attempt have led to a shift of sentiment in voters, the poll showed. "These general and presidential elections will be the most difficult elections in Turkey's past 20 years," Gezici said. Search Keywords: Short link: Egypt ranked first in Africa in terms of foreign direct investment (FDI) flows, recording $7.4 billion in 2017, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development's (UNCTAD) 'World Investment Report 2018: Investment and Industrial policies' issued on Wednesday. Egypts ranking came despite an 8.8 percent decrease in FDI flows compared to 2016. Inflows were supported by a large increase in Chinese investment across light manufacturing industries and wide-ranging economic reforms beginning to pay off: financial liberalisation, for instance, fostered more reinvestment of domestic earnings, the report says. In Africa, FDI inflows declined by 21 percent to $42 billion. Africas FDI flows represent only a 2.9 percent share of the global FDI flows. The decline in FDI flows to Africa was driven by weak oil prices and lingering effects from the commodity bust, as flows contracted in commodity-exporting economies such as Egypt, Mozambique, the Congo, Nigeria and Angola, the report said. The report took note of investment liberalisation measures in Egypt. Egypt introduced a new law for the setting up of a natural gas regulatory authority charged with licensing and devising a plan to open the gas market to competition, the report said. It also mentioned simplifying administrative procedures in Egypt. Egypt promulgated the Industrial Permits Act and its executive regulations, aiming to ease procedures for obtaining licenses for industrial establishments, the report said. The country also put into effect a new investment law, aiming to promote domestic and foreign investment by offering further incentives, reducing bureaucracy and simplifying administrative processes, the report added. The report also noted that Egypt issued a decree establishing the Golden Triangle Economic Zone as part of ongoing efforts for investment facilitation and promotion. On production, Egypt ranked 12th among the top 25 exporting developing economies by Global Value Chain (GVC) participation rate for 2017, after Morocco, with a 52 percent GVC rate. In 2010, Egypt ranked 11th among the top 25 exporting developing economies in terms of GVC. In terms of gross exports, Egypt ranked 21st among the top 25 exporting developing economics in 2017. FDI inflows to developing economies remained stable in 2017, at $671 billion, close to their 2016 level, while FDI flows declined sharply in developed economies and economies in transition. Developing economies accounted for 47 percent of total global FDI inflows in 2017, up from 36 percent in 2016. Global foreign direct investment (FDI) flows fell by 23 percent in 2017, down to $1.43 trillion from $1.87 trillion in 2016. The fall in global FDI came despite a remarkable pick-up in GDP and trade. This global decline was mainly driven by a decrease in the value of net cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A) to $694 billion, from $887 billion in 2016. Another factor was the value of announced greenfield investment, which indicates future trends, and which fell by 14 percent to $720 billion. Intra-African M&A was largely concentrated in Morocco and Egypt, the report notes. El-Warsha opened its summer season with the eight-night consecutive performance of operetta Qeyama Qayma (Doomsday) this week (3-10 June). Ahram Online talked to Egyptian director Hassan al-Geretly, whose El-Warsha Theatre Company has brought the countrys folk heritage closer to modern audiences. The stairs of an old downtown Cairo building lead up and around to a marvelous stained glass window, the perfect symbol of Egypt's pre-eminent independent theatre company. In the warmth of a sunny morning, he shares his romance with Ahram Online, replete with theatre, folk arts, and story-telling. "Will you kiss Soad's hand?" "I was nine years old and playing in the yard of my school Maadi Qawmeya, when I noticed a funny scene, a theatre rehearsal, going on through the music room window. 'Al-Geretly, come and join us, shouted teacher Fatma Hassan, and she explained the scene from the school play where I would replace the boy playing the khedive Ismail at the inauguration of the Suez Canal. 'Will you kiss Soad's (playing the empress Eugenies) hands, she asked me. In that way I got my first role, and I havent stopped kissing Soad's hands ever since," he laughs. Born to an Egyptian economist and former minister of finance in 1954 and a Scottish mother who worked at the BBC during the Second World War, al-Geretly and his sister grew up against a background of the arts. Opera nights and artistic flair made up the ambience at home. "I took parts in school plays, and I'd be singing and acting and so on. I was also an A student, and there was always pressure to be at the top of my class, but my father always pushed me in the artistic direction. All work and no play make Jack a dull boy,' he used to say as he switched off the light in my room when I was up studying. I also remember how he valued knowledge in all its forms. The only thing they can never take away from you is what you have learnt,' he used to tell me. "I studied theatre at the University of Bristol in England, but my passion was French theatre, so I got in touch with French theatre companies and in 1972 became an assistant director at the Bellac Theatre Festival which was putting on Victor, or Power to the Children, a 1928 surrealist drama, he says. Al-Geretly's passion for theatre then took him back home as managing director of the Al-Hanager Theatre in Cairo, where he helped to redesign the Theatre and make it as forward-looking as possible. However, he finally left in order to focus on his own independent theatre company El-Warsha in 1987 "Tell the story and live " As its name suggests, El-Warsha (the Workshop) puts on folk heritage in the form of theatre, such as story-telling, epics, and folk songs, and reintroduces them to modern audiences eager to be reminded of this folk legacy in danger of being washed away by time. However unlike many other companies, El-Warsha's charm lies in the fact that it is an ongoing workshop for talents to flourish and nurture one another and where the younger generations can give their own interpretations of older material. The result is a melange of authentic lyrics that are sung with the same vivid spirit as by their original creators, leading audiences to be able to witness rare moments where timeless classics meet modern spectators. "Tell the story and live" is El-Warsha's motto. The Company has also sought to preserve and revivify the countrys oral history. In 2007 and in partnership with the Goethe Institute and the French Cultural Centre in Alexandria, El-Warsha put together 13 stories from the oral history of the Siwa Oasis in a publication called Desert Stories. Members of the Company also participated in Hekaya, a project aiming to preserve traditional story-telling techniques in the Arab world. A residency by Said al-Dawi , a master story-teller and the only sira (epic) poet to memorise thousands of verses from the countrys long tradition of oral story-telling, showcased an enchanting dialogue between modern and traditional story-tellers in 2012. The companys Gaza Monologues was a form of solidarity with the people of Gaza and their resistance to Israeli aggression through story-telling. The monologues were gathered by the Ashtar Palestinian Theatre Group in 2010 and were read by 33 artists and story-tellers gathered by El-Warsha to commemorate the deaths of 1,380 Palestinians, including 431 children, during the Israeli wars on Gaza from 2008 to 2010. It was followed by training workshops on story-telling conducted by El-Warsha for women from the Arab region, especially Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan. Working side by side with workers in folk arts gave al-Geretly insight into the immense freedom and flexibility of the regions folk arts. "We sometimes think that folk-art practitioners are rigid in their practices, but in fact the opposite is true. Those that I have worked with, whether shadow puppeteers like Hassan Khanoufa or sira poet Said al-Dawi, have been in a constant state of improvisation and looking for renovation," al-Geretly explained. In the early 1990s when we decided to look to the folk arts we decided to work on mawal or traditional folk songs. These are very rich and dramatic and need real story-telling skills. Coming across the treasure-trove of the Stories of Dakahlia, a compilation of folk stories, El-Warsha took a first step into the world of story-telling. "Convivial time" Throughout the years, al-Geretly has also come to realise hidden dimensions of time. Between the duration time that a play takes to perform, the historical time frame of the play itself, and the perception of the performance of a companys own time is "convivial time," he says, al-Geretly's most important cross-cutting theme. "It's the time shared between me and the audience, like festive time. This feeling of being with people, acting for people who you care for, means that time stops moving forward and becomes convivial time. This is the uniqueness of story-telling its production of convivial time." "But the story-teller that I cherish above all is the average citizen. When you look at an architectural drawing, there is often a small figure at the bottom to give the scale. We have focused on this figure, as we are not concerned with the classic story-teller who comes infused with knowledge or the story-teller who is going to recount history as it happened. We are more into the story-teller who gives the scale of things. Al-Geretly also believes in the merits of multiple retellings of the same story. In his play Zawaya (Angles), the story of the 25 January Revolution becomes many narratives, as a way of breaking up the hegemony of any one point of view. As the late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish once said, history is written by the victors, but he was more interested in possible reversals. Like Darwish, we like to see stories from the perspective of the small figure at the edge, al-Geretly says, He has recently worked on oral history with this in mind, one of his main sources being the work of researcher Alia Mossalam whose doctorate was on songs of resistance in Egypt from 1952 to 1974 and beyond. Over the past 30 years I've learnt a few things. One of them is something that the late film director Shady Abdel-Salam once said to me in this country you have to stay in front of the door you are knocking on because when it opens it is important to be there. Then there are the lessons from El-Warsha relating to the audience as both a destination and a source, making creating a form of dialogue. The past, present and future merge in our work, and our future projects want to continue in this direction staying in-front of the door, modifying our compass slightly, and continuing to train others. Search Keywords: Short link: Wood Fiber Supply Tight in Western US and Canada, Prices Moved Up in Q1 2018 There were substantial increases in wood costs for pulp mills in Western US and Canada in the 1Q/18, while wood fiber prices fell to record lows in Eastern Canada. Price movements for wood fiber throughout North America were mixed in the first quarter of 2018 with substantial increases seen in the Western US and Western Canada, while prices for softwood chips fell substantially in Eastern Canada. June 7, 2018 - Price movements for wood fiber throughout North America were mixed in the first quarter of 2018 with substantial increases seen in the Western US and Western Canada, while prices for softwood chips fell substantially in Eastern Canada, according to the North American Wood Fiber Review (NAWFR) published by Wood Resources International. The only region where wood prices remained practically unchanged was in the US South, where the pulp industry continues to have some of the lowest fiber costs on the continent. The biggest increases quarter-over-quarter were seen in British Columbia and the Western US, where prices for wood chips, the major fiber source for the two region's pulp mills, increased by 12% and 15% respectively. Tight fiber supply, low fiber inventories, wildfires in the fall, reduced harvest levels and transportation challenges were all factors that contributed to the upward price pressure on both wood chip and pulp logs during the winter season. In Eastern Canada, growing lumber production has created ample supplies of residual chips while demand for wood fiber has stagnated. This imbalance, building over the past 18 months, finally resulted in significant price declines when the annual price negotiations of 2018 were concluded. Wood chip prices in the 1Q/18 were at their lowest level in over 30 years and the region's pulp mills now has the lowest softwood fiber costs in North America. Softwood Prices Remained Stable in U.S. South In the continent's largest forest industry region, the U.S. South, prices for softwood fiber have stayed quite stable for the past 18 months despite increased harvesting activities and a higher supply of sawmill residuals. Prices for pine pulp logs throughout 2017 and early 2018 have been at their lowest levels in five years in both the Southeastern and South Central sub-regions. While there were ample supplies of softwood fiber throughout the south in the first quarter of 2018, the picture was different for hardwood fiber. The supply/demand balance for hardwood pulpwood, particularly in the Gulf States, was tighter than that of softwood because of continued strong demand for hardwood fiber by both pulp mills and chipping facilities, paired with constrained log supply. The limited supply of both logs and wood chips has resulted in upward prices pressure over the past six months, with average prices in the South Central region reaching their highest levels in almost two years. Following a notable increase in softwood fiber pricing in the US Northwest in the 4Q/17, prices surged in the first quarter of 2018, according to the NAWFR. Low pulp log inventories and limited opportunities for obtaining additional fiber volumes left fiber buyers scouring the region for pulp logs and scrambling to secure sufficient supplies of residual chips. The increases in fiber prices for both pulp logs and wood chips resulted in the highest price levels seen in the region for six years. Wood Resources International, publisher of the Wood Resource Quarterly, is an internationally recognized forest industry-consulting firm. For further information visit: www.woodprices.com . SOURCE: Wood Resources International LLC Last night, activist, progressive politician and Pueblo of Laguna tribe-member, Deb Haaland won the Democratic nomination for New Mexico's 1st Congressional district. Now, given the district's solidly democratic voting record, Haaland is poised to win the seat and make history as the first Native American woman in Congress. She will join the only two other Native Americans currently serving: Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma) and Rep. Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma), and will follow of the heels of last year's barrier-breakers: Kamala Harris (the first Indian-American, and only the second Black woman to join the Senate), Tammy Duckworth (the first Thai-American in the Senate) and Cortez Masto (the first Latina woman elected to the Senate). Haaland's nomination and impending spot on Capitol Hill is a huge victory for Native Americans, who remain desperately underrepresented in national government. Although our current Congress ranks as the most diverse in history, Capitol Hill is currently only 9% African-American, 7% Latinx, 2% Asian-American, and 0.3% Native American. Haaland's victory won't just be a symbolic one. The politician, who is a single-mom and long-standing Indigenous rights activist, represents the Bernie-esque corner of the Democratic Party. Running on a pro-women, pro-immigrant, pro-working class agenda, Haaland's campaign has focused on expanding Social Security and Medicaid, raising the minimum wage, finding solutions for DREAMers, and building a clean energy economy in New Mexico. Haaland is also among a growing movement of ICE abolitionists, who are calling for the controversial government agency to be defunded and dismantled. In response to reports of ICE's practice of separating undocumented parents and children at the border, she recently told Newsweek: "The role of Immigration and Customs enforcement should never include killing people, ripping children from their parents' arms, or sexual assault. Until we can stop this violence and dehumanization, we must stop ICE." An all-around political badass, Haaland promises to be a crucial voice within political conversations that desperately call for Indigenous perspectives, like climate change, criminal justice reform, police brutality, and sexual violence -- which Native women continue to face at the highest rates of any group of women in America. In as statement on her website, Haaland says: "I've always fought for women like us. Women of color. Single moms. Lesbians and transwomen. Military families. Any woman who has ever been assaulted or harassed. Yet there's never been a Native American woman in Congress. Now is the time to be fierce and demand change." She also threw shade on Twitter last night after her victory, writing: "Donald Trump and the billionaire class should consider this victory a warning shot: the blue wave is coming." Photo via Getty Following the release of his 8th studio album, ye, last week, Kanye West has just announced three "Project Wyoming" events occurring over the next two days. According to his website, the events will take place in Chicago and Miami today, and Brooklyn tomorrow. Related | The Legacy of 'Ye' Will Not Be What You Think There is little information about what will happen at the events, but accompanying the announcement on West's website is video footage from the streaming party he held for 400 people in Jackson Hole, Wyoming last Thursday. Snippets include Chris Rock's speech, majestic shots of horses, mountains, and bonfires, and clips of Kanye West singing along to his music. Pitchfork points out that Julieanna Goddard, who runs 1am, the agency that is organizing the Project Wyoming events, has tweeted saying, "Ye wants people to experience the album the same way the 400 people in Wyoming did. Open air, around a fire, with stadium quality sound." Goddard went on to write that the events are, "merch pop up bonfires." West is also dropping another album, a collaborative effort with Kid Cudi called Kids See Ghosts, this Friday. He is hosting a listening party for that album this Thursday in LA. RSVP for the events in Chicago and Miami here. Image via BFA Iranian-American novelist, essayist, and academic Porochista Khakpour has felt displaced for the majority of her life in every sense of the word. After the revolution in Iran forced her family to seek political asylum in the United States, Khakpour's childhood in the suburbs of Los Angeles failed to conjure any notion of "home," nor did it offer any solace from the physical and mental disequilibrium she's felt for her whole life. It's unclear, as she mentions in her memoir, Sick (Harper), out this week, when she was infected with Lyme disease, the tick-borne illness that has plagued the medical community with ambiguity for decades. An infectious disease specialist has tried to pinpoint when she was infected only to arrive at multiple plausible scenarios: it's just as possible she contracted Lyme during a childhood hike with her family in the Angeles Crest Mountains of Los Angeles as it could have been during a visit to the Hamptons in the late springs of 2005 and 2006, or during her time living in a small town in Pennsylvania, where she worked as a visiting professor at Bucknell University, or any of the other number of times she's been susceptible to getting bitten by a tick. Its myriad symptoms or lack, thereof vary depending on the individual, many of whom are able to beat the disease with a strict regimen of antibiotics. Others, like Khakpour, are not so fortunate, as she battles late-stage, CDC-level-recognized Lyme disease. But arriving at a concrete diagnosis, an answer for the fainting spells, tremors, and a slew of other physical and mental maladies to be heard, and, more importantly, believed was perhaps the most difficult (and costly) part in the effort to identify effective treatment and subsequent recovery. Khakpour takes us on a road trip in Sick, quite literally, as the book's chapters are divided by geographical location. Through a burgeoning career as a novelist and academic, through navigating friendships and relationships, through battling with addiction, all while desperately seeking validation for the physical ailments she feels and suffers from while many, including doctors, dismiss as psychosomatic, Khakpour's unbridled vulnerability lifts the veil on the many misconceptions surrounding diagnosis and treatment, in addition to detailing the vast uncertainty that comes with living with chronic illness and finding treatment, and hope, in a flawed healthcare system. Even as I write this, Khakpour is undergoing treatment in Sante Fe (a major backdrop of her book), where we corresponded via email. Thanks to support from crowdfunding, she's able to receive the care she needs, and was able to discuss her first memoir, in detail, with PAPER, below. When I was four, my mother noticed a "bull's-eye" rash the tell-tale sign that, more times than not, signifies infection on my neck and took me to a doctor who dismissed it as nothing to worry about. Eventually, my parents were told that it was "most likely" Lyme. Do you think amplifying the conversation on Lyme will help alleviate some of the anxiety that comes with the lack of clarity surrounding it? I am so sorry to hear that happened to you and I am also not surprised. I've heard thousands of these stories. It is so upsetting. Now, in 2018, I don't think there is much lack of clarity regarding Lyme. Any medical professional who feels unclear about it should not be trusted. It's a worldwide epidemic. Even the CDC is widening its once very narrow net where Lyme is concerned. So I guess I hope the conversation does alleviate some anxiety, but one adjacent to the one you speak of. And I hope it lets people and people like you who were dismissed at a time when many dismissed it (and I do think every year it gets better!) feel less alone in their struggle with it. And for the undiagnosed, the misdiagnosed, the diagnosed, the kinda-maybe diagnosed: none of it is easy. Anxiety is a very human natural response to all the ways our bodies, minds, society, etc. do us wrong. But I just hope what helped me feeling less alone in it all can help others. Many describe their struggle with Lyme as "invisible." Has writing Sick, lifting that veil of invisibility through writing with unfettered vulnerability and intimacy, healed you in a way? If so, how? My disease has varied in its visibility and invisibility. Some can see what I see sometimes: the rashes, the intense inflammation on my face, for example. (Lyme loves to mess with my neck, face, gums, and head, especially.) But yes, all in all, this disease is one that is often invisible. Most can't see my pain and I often can't see other's. The photo on the cover might portray some unease but I think many would look at that girl and think, "Oh, she looks fine." But I was as close to dying as you can get. I don't know if there was much healing when writing Sick; it was often quite traumatic to revisit so many hard moments of my life, all while trying to honor all of those involved as best as I could. But I do think now that people are reading and responding, I do feel a sense of healing. Writing is very lonely for me and sometimes you want people to say, "I see you, all of you, and I still love you." Sometimes that's what my readers feel like for me; their empathy has made me be able to walk through the world with a bit more light even when things were dark. There was one line that stayed with me after I finished reading Sick: "I sometimes wonder if I would have been less sick if I had a home." Can you tell me more about the correlation between the physical displacement of the body and the feeling of displacement within the body? Stability, in every sense of the word, helps most people. Feeling grounded. Routines. Some center, some anchor. I know that's not everyone. I used to love being unanchored and "free," or as my mom would call me, "a wild horse." But I am not sure that was honest. Or maybe I am just getting older and feel I can afford to be more honest or maybe my lens is just clearer. Who knows! I dream of settling down with a good partner. I used to want to wait until I was well but I hope they meet me now, in a Lyme relapse, rickety and unglamorous by society's norms. I hope my home is one I find in the midst of pain and illness and not in some imaginary empowerment-infused nirvana. (I sometimes think of today's empowerment rhetoric like a steroid! We pump up! Over and over, and then we deflate. Oops. Then what? What if we aren't always glowing and glittery and glamorous but just aching, grey, and murky I think we deserved to be loved then, too, no? Maybe even more so!) It seems to me that you were, in a way, being gaslit by so many medical professionals: you were constantly being told that what you were experiencing is psychological, and not a physical manifestation that the catalyst for your dizziness, fatigue, nausea, convulsions, inability to swallow and myriad other symptoms were dismissed as "stress" or something of the like. What advice can you give to someone who feels like no one is listening? I am back to experiencing many of those symptoms now and it amazes me how people still won't listen or still want me to be seen as some hysterical little girl. I am 40 and I have so much paperwork with so much misleading information. But, here's the thing: stress is real, and it can operate like any toxin. But what medical professionals who gaslight don't get is that they actually create the worse stress of all and we get worse. And then they're like, "See, it's stress!" And then I'm like, you created it, you bozos! It is almost laughable if it wasn't so deadly. My advice to those who are subject to these atrocities the major flaws of our medical world and frayed healthcare system that I feel can be traced to fundamental ills of heteropatriarchy and capitalism is to keep believing in yourself. Keep pushing. Find advocates. Have them show up with you. Do not give up. Keep going. Know that you are loved and deserving of love and please hang in there. I love all of these people in this category with all my heart and soul. If you want to talk strength, there is nothing more strong than these people who still persist in spite of turned backs from friends, family, doctors, the government. Let's give an extra dose of love to these great humans I always wish I could do more for them and I will find a way to one day do it beyond a book. But I guess that's where I start. As someone who suffers with a chronic illness, I know how scary the unknown is; how disconcerting all the unanswered questions can be. How did you begin to find hope when it seemed all hope was lost? I didn't find that much hope. I still don't many days. But I was lucky I found a medical team that understood me and heard me and loved me. And I found those friends, too. I have reached out, sometimes literally; in the worst pain I have begged strangers to simply hold my hand. They couldn't always take away my pain but they could believe me and love me in that way, and that gradually turned into some form of hope. Hope never comes easy for me, but I do have a strong will to live and I feel a lot of love for this earth and its inhabitants (well, most of them! Bigots can suck it!). What reaction are you hoping to elicit with Sick? I had no idea and I'm still unsure. I assumed it wouldn't get fancy prizes or high literary acclaim because I didn't write this book for those establishments, institutions, or any other big-wigs. I wrote it for sick people the ill, disabled, addicts, those with some unease in body and mind, however they want to identify, and especially those like me who have complicated narratives and identifiers (at least according to dominant American culture). I didn't write to educate or illuminate; I wrote to warn, perhaps, but mostly I wanted people to feel less alone. I wrote the book that I think would have helped me. I don't need prescriptivity. It's hard for me to read self-help and other books of that nature. I often fall short or don't relate or can't fully go in on some of these ideologies, especially when they come from a culture that has not loved me and my culture even as we loved them. I just need to commiserate, nothing deeper than, "Yeah, I've been there, and I hear you and see you." That was the goal if there was any, really. Strangers in pain wanted me to write this book and I did and I tried many strategies and this was the one I ended up with in the end, the one that I thought could be of best service. One beautiful thing about June aka national Pride Month is that every piece of the metaphorical rainbow gets to take something they love about their community and essentially create their own, without sacrificing the ideal of inclusion for all. That said, Pride mentality is a fact of life all year round for LGBTQ people, but festivities in major cities have seen a rise in niche offshoots celebrating the diverse facets of the communities queer residents belong to. Brooklyn Pride, happening this weekend, brings only what Brooklyn can, and one of the chief events kicking things off will be the first-ever Brooklyn Ball. Modeled after and inspired by attending last year's annual Life Ball HIV/AIDS benefit in Vienna, Brooklyn-based visual artist and drag performer Untitled Queen created the Brooklyn Ball to give back in a different way. Callen-Lorde, New York City's leading community health center for the LGBTQ population, and the nation's largest healthcare provider for transgender, nonbinary and HIV-positive people, recently announced plans to expand its services to a Brooklyn site by 2019, having historically served people from their Bronx and Chelsea locations for the past 30 years. Related | 25 Outrageous Photos From Life Ball 2018 It was here that Untitled saw a window of opportunity to give back to a community and resource who supported them personally, professionally, and artistically. Brooklyn, after all, is home for Untitled: "I wanted to bring it to this hometown, and really support a local organization and celebrate the people that are in it," Untitled says. "So it's like not only is this event for Callen-Lorde, but it's also to celebrate all these amazing cultural leaders in our community, especially people of color." The theme for this year's event, presented by Untitled, was inspired by the Strawberry Social scenes promoting togetherness and unexpected community in the iconic cult-classic To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar. So, that means red, pink, fruit, strawberry, whatever feels appropriately on theme to achieve one's desired level of queer glam. To keep things accessible, though, The Brooklyn Ball will be held in the style of swanky gala like the aforementioned Life Ball, but there's room at this table for all who want in on the fun. Tickets are $25 at the community level (and go up from there). Details and ticket info can be found at the bottom, but meantime, read on as Untitled Queen chats with PAPER about accessibility, standing part from rainbow capitalism, and creating the community you seek. Did you come up with the idea to get involved with Callen-Lorde, were you approached, or did you create this event? How did that all come about? I created it. It was inspired by me attending the Life Ball last year. In Vienna! That must've been fun. Yeah, so I was brought to that event last year, and I just remembered... like wow, I loved how kind of over the top and really celebratory and joyous it was. And I was like how can I bring a piece of this, but make it Brooklyn style, right where we are. And that's when I kind of had like the seed of the idea. When I came back, reality was this happened in light of the Trump administration and the election fallout. To resist, queer communities were creating a lot of grassroots parties, and doing a lot of charity events. A lot of my friends were involved, so I thought, what can I do to have an event that might be for Brooklyn Pride, about Brooklyn nightlife, and then choose a Brooklyn charity? That's kind of how it worked out. So I also know that you've worked with Sasha Velour on her Nightgowns show, which is a Brooklyn staple. So this isn't totally unfamiliar territory to you and plus, you've been a performer for so long. This event seemed like a natural next fit for you. Yes. I've been doing drag in New York City for about six years, and Brooklyn has always been the place where, now I call home, and this particular community is really important to me and I've put a lot into it, because it's given me so much. So I knew when I thought about the Brooklyn Ball, that I wanted to bring it to this hometown, and really support a local organization and celebrate the people that are in it. So it's like not only is this event for Callen-Lorde, but it's also to celebrate all these amazing cultural leaders in our community, especially people of color. Yeah! I wanted to ask you more about that: people of color make up over half of the population Callen-Lorde serves. It's not often that we hear about benefits of this caliber created specifically to benefit people of color. Why do you think something like this is particularly important in this climate now more than ever? I mean, it's definitely important all the time. Yes, you'd be correct. That's tea. That's the tea! I think now, I feel like people are more aware of actually saying it and trying to... like you know, as a person of color myself, I think our visibility and my visibility, and using that as a catalyst for change in our communities, something so many people that have done before us, is my responsibility. It's something I need to be doing, and like it's become more and more apparent that giving back, and this being a part of my regular work, as not only as an artist and as a drag queen, is really important. This gala was inspired by the Life Ball, yes. And I've been fortunate enough to be part of other galas. But for this one, the most important thing to me was that it looks like the community it benefits. So often, I've gone to galas where the people that they benefit couldn't even possibly afford to go. Related | Kehlani: the Softer Side of Savage That's so real. How did you address that via the Brooklyn Ball? I've often been a guest, or a performer at basically all white galas, where people have the money, and then you're kinda just like... brought in to entertain them or work for them. So for this one, since it was just me running it, I kind of got to make my own rules. So, I made the majority of the tickets community-level price, at $25. I wanted to ensure that the people of this community are not only the ones being celebrated, but they're actually the people showing up. I was going to ask you about that! I noticed that the tickets were set at different levels, and I was moved, because it did seem like a gesture for the community. So often we'll hear about these galas or balls for a presumably great cause, but they're totally inaccessible to ordinary people who don't have six-figure salaries. Well, me included! Like, if I wasn't performing I wouldn't have been able to go to many of these events. Corporate, white America is running a lot of these things and that's who's showing up. And of course when they do these events, it doesn't mean they're not being very charitable or philanthropic, but you rarely see what it's actually for. It's not actually present in front of you. For the Brooklyn Ball, more than half the tickets are at the community level. So it's Pride Month. People are generally becoming more aware of the ideas behind rainbow capitalism: everything is branding itself as Pride for a month to cash in. In the deluge of all these sorts of things happening, what else about the Brooklyn Ball do you feel like makes this stand apart from the pack? This event is completely free of any large organization sponsorship, money sponsorship. But I mean, honestly this has been run by and for people that are living out loud all year long. That are just living their lives. Like, all my stars, all my hosts are people that are... they're my favorites, they're people working the Brooklyn nightlife, I tried to pick people to get involved from different cultural sectors. Gabe Gonzalez works for Mic, does amazing comedy and activism, and works with Remezcla covering Puerto Rican issues. Fran Tirado is involved and is an amazing queer advocate all year long in his work and public life. And so, yeah, I mean basically my event is people, who, are doing it all the time, all year-round activism, not just once a month when they kind of feel like putting on a flag and walking around. How was the theme of To Wong Foo decided on, and what does carrying out this theme mean to you as an artist? It's just one of my absolute favorite films, personally. Furthermore, it's all tied to my experiences with my friends and my family and this community. This event is also like a power mixer; where people who are amazing are all gathered in one place. To Wong Foo spoke to me because there's the moment where they're planning the town's Strawberry Social, and they kind of all come to this realization that the community is wherever they want to build it. Brooklyn is that for me. I entered drag not really knowing anyone in the scene, and kind of falling into it. And now, it's everything to me. So for the theme to be reds and fruits, especially strawberry decor, I thought it would be the most sensational, but easy to understand style guide. You can do a little bit, or you can do the most, and it's all welcome. Related | NYC Nightlife Star Linux Brought the Looks to Life Ball 2018 What do you think Callen-Lorde's expansion to Brooklyn kind of means for the community at large, in addition to greater accessibility for those needing services? Well, it's so huge because they already have amazing programs, and most people know that. So when I was guilt-shaming people to come to the Ball, they really had no excuse. It was like it's for Callen-Lorde! Before this idea got traction, I was thinking about charity thing that I could do. A friend of mine encouraged me to donate to their HOTT program, which is overall a health outreach effort for trans teens. I held an art auction from my apartment, where I sold any artwork I had and gave it to them. That's how I ended up learning about the Brooklyn expansion. Callen-Lorde hadn't been able to take on new ongoing clientele for years because they didn't have the capacity. So this add-on is huge, it makes it local for Brooklynites, too, which is a good percentage of their patients. For some people, it's also like an issue of safety too. Being visible and out, it's not always the safest experience, walking around the Bronx to Callen-Lorde, trying to get health services. No, of course, of course. And I think that, for anybody and especially, our most at-risk community which is trans people, that like, any kind of local, large healthcare being this, affordable and accessible, is life-changing, life-saving. I've gotten so many messages from people who knew I was doing this that were like, "Callen-Lorde saved my life five years ago, like yes, thank goodness." This particular location is going to revolutionize like a lot of people's lives. For those who are not able to make it to the Ball... how best can they support this cause, or just Callen-Lorde in general, if they want to support? If they'd like to support, we're going to be creating a limited-edition T-shirt, which are being printed by a friend of mine, to also help benefit the expansion. Follow me on socials for updates on that. Or they can also just donate directly to Callen-Lorde. Also, the after-party for the Ball is Horrorchata's Be Cute, which will be in the same space as the Ball. So like, scary milk [laughs], but the most fun, and the friendliest party. This service applies to you if your subscription has not yet expired on our old site. You will have continued access until your subscription expires; then you will need to purchase an ongoing subscription through our new system. Please contact the Parsons Sun office at (620) 421-2000 if you have any questions Among the artefacts were fragments of a sarcophagus, two cat statues, and a human head carved in basalt A collection of nine smuggled artefacts recovered from France were handed over to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by the Ministry of Antiquities on Thursday. Eight of these artefacts were seized from a passenger travelling to London at a train station in France in 2012, according to Shaaban Abdel-Gawad, head of the repatriation department at the Ministry of Antiquities, speaking to Ahram Online. Among the artefacts were five fragments of an ancient Egyptian sarcophagus, two cat statues, and a human head carved in basalt. The collection was confiscated by the French police and, after a series of legal and diplomatic procedures to prove ownership, Egypt recovered the artefacts in 2014. The Ministry of Antiquities followed up the case over the following years in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign affairs, until French authorities returned the artefacts to the Egyptian embassy in Paris at the end of 2017, Abdel-Gawad told Ahram Online. The ninth object was observed in the collection of a Parisian auction hall, and monitored by the Ministry of Antiquities. It was found to be one of a number of artefacts stolen from the storage of Elephantine Island in 2013. The ministry undertook legal procedures to prevent its sale, recovering and returning it to the embassy at the end of 2017. The object is a wooden mummy mask covered with plaster. Search Keywords: Short link: Government requires 50 billion dollars to establish a petroleum hub in Ghana, Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko has disclosed. The Energy Minister asserted that government is responsible for raising 5 billion dollars, which is 10% of the investments, for basic infrastructure development. This, he admitted, has necessitated the need to create the conducive environment to attract investors. In August 2017, Mr Agyarko delegated a task force to develop an infrastructural master plan and roadmap for the realization of this vision. According to the report from the task force, interactions with stakeholders and investors suggested that the establishment of a petroleum hub in Ghana is feasible. The task force estimates that over 50 billion dollars of investments will be required to build the relevant infrastructure from public and private investments. Government is required to raise 10% of this investment to provide basic public infrastructure like road networks, electricity, water etc. needed at the hub. Considering that over 50 billion dollars of investment funds will be required to make this vision a reality, we need to carefully consider the strategies and the enabling environment needed to attract such investments for the project, he stated. Though conceding that majority of the investments for the petroleum hub would be foreign-based, Mr Agyarko advocated the need for balance between foreign and local investors to ensure value retention in the country. There are various options under consideration including public-private partnerships for the provision of the basic needed infrastructure at the hub. Obviously, the bulk of the investment required is going to be foreign direct investments but we will need to strike a fine balance between FDIs and local participation to ensure that there is significant value retention in the country, Mr Agyarko opined. He also called on petroleum industry players to upgrade their skills and businesses so as to play a role in governments vision of making Ghana a vibrant petroleum hub in Africa. Though optimistic about the increasing investor interests in Ghana, Mr Agyarko bemoaned the challenges associated with financing new refineries. Today, financing for new refineries has become difficult to obtain especially as some refineries across the world are being shut down due to low margins. But I believe that with the right strategy and value proposition coupled with the right environment, investors will choose Ghana and partner with us to develop infrastructure such as refineries, tank farms, pipelines, marine facilities for expanding our export capabilities and other allied facilities required to make our hub a reality, he added. The proposed petroleum hub would accelerate the growth of Ghanas petroleum downstream sub-sector. Source: Ghanaweb.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Call it the day of reckoning or dismissal day and you will not be far from it. On a day when the attention of most Ghanaians appeared solely focused on the premiere of ace investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas' latest expose dubbed "Number 12: When Misconduct And Greed Become The Norm, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo went on a dismissal blitzkrieg with the shocking firing of at least five appointees at the helm of state institutions. First was the announcement of the sacking of Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) CEO, Gifty Klenam, the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) CEO, Paul Asare Ansah and the Managing Director of the Bulk Oil Storage and Transport (BOST) Company, Alfred Obeng Boateng. A former Member of Parliament (MP) for Lower West Akyem, Madam Klenam was sacked along with her two deputies. A few hours after the news went viral, Peacefmonline intel picked reports that the CEO of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr Felix Anyah was also to be axed. Withing minutes, that news turned out to be true. Sources say Dr. Anyaa was not approved by the Public Services Commission after he appeared for his interview for the job; a report Peacefmonline is yet to ascertain. Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports say a number of other high-ranking state officials will soon be kicked out of office between now and July. This radical reorganisation is believed to be part of efforts by the President to rid government agencies of what seems to be a cycle of boardroom wrangling between chief executives of state agencies and their boards. More soon..... Source: Nana Kwadwo Asante Agyemang/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. Featured Video Afrobarometer is set to debut its public-attitude surveys in the Gambia, bringing to 38 the number of African countries in which the network has let the people have a say. The Centre for Policy, Research and Strategic Studies (CepRass) has been selected as Afrobarometers national partner in the Gambia and will conduct the countrys first-of-its-kind nationally representative survey and dissemination of the results. Afrobarometer, a pan-African, non-partisan research network, conducts a series of national public-attitude surveys with the objective of informing the public discourse on democracy, governance, and other policy and development issues. The project is produced collaboratively by social scientists from across Africa. Coordination is provided by the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR) in South Africa, the Institute for Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Nairobi in Kenya, and the Institute for Empirical Research in Political Economy (IREEP) in Benin. Michigan State University (MSU) and the University of Cape Town (UCT) provide technical support to the network. Dr. Bumi Camara, CepRass principal investigator for the project, says the Gambias recent political transition opens a new chapter in the nations quest for democratic governance. He is optimistic that the survey will provide a voice for Gambians on key issues such as governance, corruption, living standards, and public trust. This public opinion survey is relevant for both policymakers and ordinary citizens in order to effectively understand needs and aspirations of people living in the Gambia, he says. Findings from Afrobarometers survey in the country will also be a baseline for assessing the current and subsequent governments performance. During the third quarter of 2018, CepRass will interview a nationally representative, random, stratified probability sample of 1,200 adult Gambians. A sample of this size yields results with a margin of error of +/-3% at a 95% confidence level. CDD-Ghana will provide technical backstopping for the survey. CepRass was launched in 2016 by a team of faculty members at the University of the Gambia to complement the efforts of the university in delivering quality research and consultancy services. The center uses cutting-edge interdisciplinary research methods that combine qualitative and quantitative approaches to address critical socioeconomic, development, political, and governance issues. CepRass serves as a center for scholarly activities and intellectual creativity, offering researchers the opportunity to conduct assignments that are relevant for policymaking. As a focal point for reflection and interaction between policymakers and researchers, the center seeks to advocate and strengthen collaboration on evidence-based development. It operates as a nonprofit organization with a strong conviction that ideas must be communicated to the world and relevant information to the right people at the right time. 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. Featured Video A desperate move on their part to divert attention from the biggest issue on the ground; Anas Number 12 is the reason for the rather sudden dismissal of CEOs of some public institutions, the National Democratic Congress has alleged. A statement released and signed by Deputy General Secretary of the NDC, Koku Anyidoho noted that the dismissal of Managing Director of the Bulk Oil and Storage Transport (BOST), Alfred Obeng Boateng, CEO of the Ghana Export Promotion Authority, Gifty Klenam, her two deputies and the MD of the Ghana Ports and Harbour Authority Paul Ansah Wednesday is a mere attempt by the fast sinking Akufo-Addo government to pull a veil over the impending screening of the corrosive corruption-laden video of Anas Aremeyaw Anas'. Describing the NPP administration as super incompetent, he maintained they ought to pay the price for the 'blatant ignominy and shame' they have brought upon 'Kwame Nkrumahs Ghana. The dismissal of the three CEOs coincides with the premiering of the much anticipated investigative piece which has got tongues wagging for weeks now. Though the move is seen as part of efforts by the President to rid government agencies of what seems to be a cycle of boardroom wrangling between chief executives of state agencies and their boards, the NDC believes otherwise. The Akufo-Addo government has been afflicted with persistent clashes between CEOs and board members. Last month, CEO of the Ghana Cylinder Manufacturing Company Frances Essiam was engaged in an open spat with her board, accusing them of witch-hunting. Read the full statement below: Press Release The NDC Shall Not Fall For Any Diversionary Antics Of The Fast-Sinking Akufo-Addo NPP Government Via Sacking Of Some CEOs The National Democratic Congress (NDC), is calling on all Party members, to completely ignore, the desperate diversionary attempt of the failing and fast-sinking Akufo-Addo Government, to use the rather belated supposed sacking of some Chief Executive Officers of certain Government owned Entities to pull a veil over the impending screening of the corrosive corruption-laden video of Anas Aremyaw Anas. All comrades and patriots must stay glued to the nitty gritties of the video of Anas Aremyaw Anas, and hold this Super Incompetent NPP Administration accountantable for the blatant ignominy and shame it has brought upon Kwame Nkrumah' s Ghana as they continue to swim in murky seas of: ONE DAY, ONE CORRUPTION. Koku Anyidoho Deputy General Secretary, Operations. Wednesday, June 06, 2018. Source: Graphic.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Minority in Parliament has described plans by the Akufo-Addo-led government to re-inaugurate work on phase II of the Kumasi Airport as a needless waste of time and scarce national resources. According to the opposition, the sod cutting ceremony had already been executed by former president John Dramani Mahama in December 2016, hence President Akufo-Addo should go ahead to commence the project rather than repeat the process. In a statement signed by MP for Adaklu and Ranking Member on Road and Transport Committee of Parliament, Kwame Governs Agbodza, the contractor hired for the project under the NDC is the same one who has been retained, the more reason the sod cutting is unnecessary. The release further stressed the move is intentional on the part of the NPP government to take undue credit for the work started by the opposition. The conduct smacks of desperation and is symptomatic of a government that has nothing to show for the billions of Ghana Cedis it has borrowed since January, 2017. Source: Ghanaweb.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Assin Central in the Central Region, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, has been dragged before the Privileges Committee of Parliament for denigrating the image of parliament and allegedly calling parliament a cheap, useless and foolish place. The Minority Chief Whip and National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Asawase in the Ashanti Region, Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, who made the application at the tail end of sitting yesterday, for Kennedy Agyapong to be invited before the Privileges Committee for making sacrilegious comments against an important institution like parliament, said Kennedy Agyapong made those comments on Oman FM and NET 2 TV Station in Accra on Tuesday and he has the tapes. Kennedy Agyapong is alleged to have taken on the Majority Leader of Parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, on the two stations for speaking his mind on the stance taken against Anas by him (Hon Agyapong) and said on air that parliament is a cheap, useless and foolish place, that is why people like Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has been made leader of the House. Mr Muntaka said Mr Kennedy Agyapong is one person and an Honourable MP who has been attacking people just like that on radio stations including colleague Honourable Members of Parliament. He said parliament is a dignified place full of respected people in society and that Honourable Members ought to respect themselves and their colleague members in the House. Supporting the call for Assin Central MP to be invited before the Privileges Committee of Parliament, NDC MP for Tamale Central, Inusah Fuseini, who was so angry with the comments made by Mr Kennedy Agyapong, said if parliamentarians are foolish then it means Ghanaians in the various constituencies who voted for them are also foolish. I dont think the people of Assin Central are foolish to have voted for Honourable Kennedy Agyapong who is also a member of this Honourable House, he said, adding that Kennedy Agyapong ought to be hauled before the Privileges Committee to prove why he is saying parliament is useless and foolish. Maybe he has evidence to prove that parliament is a foolish place and if he is able to prove that then we will go with the tag as foolish parliament, he said adding that if he is not able to also prove his assertion then the appropriate sanctions must be applied against him as a member of the House. The Majority Chief Whip and MP for Sunyani East, Kwasi Ameyaw-Cheremeh, said what is contemptuous is contemptuous no matter who said it and that until Kennedy Agyapong is given the opportunity to be heard by the Privileges Committee, he cannot be said to be guilty. He, however, supported the call for him to be invited before the Privileges Committee to clear himself. The MP for Wa West, Joseph Yieleh Chireh, said the House must apply the law fairly because people like Black Rasta and Prof Duodo were all dragged before the Privileges Committee for similar utterances and that the law should be no respecter of persons. The MP for Abuakwa South and Minister of Works and Housing, Samuel Atta Akyea, also said Kennedy Agyapong who is an NPP MP cannot be defended on this comment because it goes to seriously undermine the integrity of an important institution like parliament. Quoting from Article 122 of the 1992 Constitution, the MP for Abuakwa South said that the Constitution seriously frowns upon any act or omission which affronts the dignity of Parliament or which tends either directly or indirectly to produce such a result that seriously constitutes contempt of Parliament. He therefore endorsed the call by his colleagues for Mr Kennedy Agyapong to be dragged before the Privileges Committee to purge himself of the allegations. He said the Assin Central MP will have the right to a lawyer and if he successfully purged himself of the allegations, he would go scot-free but if found culpable, then the appropriate sanctions will be applied. Source: Daily Guide Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Photo: ADF Though the narrowly tailored Masterpiece Cakeshop ruling focused on the bias of a lower Colorado court, the Arizona Court of Appeals cited it in a case involving a business ability to discriminate against same-sex couples. The case Brush & NIB Studio v City of Phoenix was brought by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). The Brush decision actually cited Masterpiece Cakeshop in protecting the rights of LGBTQ consumers. Background Brush & NIB Studio is a for-profit company in the business of selling pre-fabricated and design artwork for home decor, weddings, and special events. The companys owners are self-described devout Christians who sued the city of Phoenix for the ability to refuse service to all LGBTQ people for all services and products they offer that require any level of consultation or collaboration. According to the appeals court ruling: Appellants are devout Christians and believe their work is inextricably related to their religious beliefs. Appellants goods and services include both customer-directed projects (work created through a consultation between Appellants and their customer) and pre-fabricated merchandise (work created without Appellants knowledge of how the items will be used or who will use those products). Appellants believe their customer-directed and designed wedding products convey messages about a particular engaged couple, their upcoming marriage, their upcoming marriage ceremony, and the celebration of that marriage. Appellants also strongly believe in an ordained marriage between one man and one woman, and argue that they cannot separate their religious beliefs from their work. As such, they believe being required to create customer specific merchandise for same-sex weddings will violate their religious beliefs. Their lawsuit did not seek to single out specific products they would reserve as only being for opposite-sex customers; rather, they sought a legal exception to refuse service outright to all same-sex couples seeking wedding-related goods or services. That desire violates a 2013 Phoenix ordinance that added sexual orientation to the citys list of protected classes in areas of public accommodation. Phoenixs Code, Section 18-4(B) states: No person shall, directly or indirectly, refuse, withhold from, or deny to any person, or aid in or incite such refusal, denial or withholding of, accommodations, advantages, facilities or privileges thereof because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or disability nor shall distinction be made with respect to any person based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or disability in connection with the price or quality of any item, goods or services offered by or at any place of public accommodation. It is unlawful for any owner, operator, lessee, manager, agent or employee of any place of public accommodation to directly or indirectly display, circulate, publicize or mail any advertisement, notice or communication which states or implies that any facility or service shall be refused or restricted because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or disability or that any person, because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or disability would be unwelcome, objectionable, unacceptable, undesirable or not solicited. The business lost their original case, at which point they appealed to the Arizona Court of Appeals. The Appeals Decision Reporting on the appeals decision, the Arizona Star noted: RELATED Peacock Panache readers: Tim Peacock is the Managing Editor and founder of Peacock Panache and has worked as a civil rights advocate for over twenty years. During that time hes worn several hats including leading on campus LGBTQ advocacy in the University of Missouri campus system, interning with the Colorado Civil Rights Division, and volunteering at advocacy organizations. You can learn more about him at his personal website. Like this: Like Loading... Related We hope you enjoyed reading this article! If you would like to support our ongoing work, please consider buying us a cup of coffee. It's not much, but we don't do this for the money. We do, however, need caffeine to keep going some days!If you do donate, send us a message through our Contact Us page or via social media so we can thank you! Breaking this morning, a man was stabbed in the chest while inside a Wawa convenience store in Philadelphia. As 6ABC reports, the stabbing happened around 6 a.m. Thursday at the Wawa on Broad and Walnut streets in Center City Philly. The male stabbing victim was rushed to a local hospital and said to be in stable condition. Meanwhile, the suspect fled on foot. There were no additional details, including a description of the suspect, in the immediate aftermath of the incident. The Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia can't escape a judge's order to hand over notes its investigator made while interviewing witnesses to prepare its defense against a lawsuit in a priest child-sex case, a state appeals court ruled Thursday. That call was made in a Superior Court opinion by Judge Jack A. Panella which denied an appeal by the diocese challenging an order requiring it to provide those notes to lawyers for the family of Sean Patrick McIlmail. McIlmail died of a drug overdose at age 26. His family is blaming his death on sexual abuse they claim the Rev. Robert L. Brennan inflicted on him starting when he was 11 years old. They contend diocese officials, including Monsignor William Lynn, knew of the abuse and did nothing to stop it. The issue Panella's court decided was whether the archdiocese must provide the McIlmail family's attorneys with the interview documents compiled by a private investigator hired by the archdiocese's counsel. Former state Supreme Court Justice Russell Nigro, who was appointed to resolve evidentiary disputes in the case, determined witness statements obtained by either side in the suit were discoverable and so should be provided to opposing counsel on demand. McIlmail's lawyers provided such information when the archdiocese requested it. Panella noted the archdiocese balked when asked to provide data on interviews its investigator conducted. On appeal to the Superior Court, the archdiocese argued that its interview notes should be ruled off limits because they fall under the aegis of attorney work product. Panella cited state Supreme Court has ruling that attorney work product cannot be disclosed so far as it involves the mental impressions, conclusions opinions, notes, memos or legal theories of the lawyer. The investigator's interview notes don't fall under that protective umbrella, however, Panella found. "The production of the documents requested by McIlmail will, in no way, infringe upon the protection granted to an attorney's work product," he wrote. "These documents relate solely to factual information obtained by the investigator from potential witnesses and do not reflect, in any manner whatsoever, the thought process of the attorneys involved." Comcast is experiencing an outage of some business phone customers today across Pennsylvania. The outage began around 11:15 a.m., said Robert Grove, Comcast spokesman. "We are working to resolve it," Grove said, adding that not all business phone customers are affected. The outage is "region-wide," he said, and affects most of Pennsylvania. Grove said he can't say how many business customers are affected, and the cause is not yet identified. A German shepherd is being blamed for causing a house fire in New Jersey in its attempt to find food near the stove. Flammable items were on the counter near an electric stove in a residence in the 800 block of Lee Avenue in Alpha, LehighValley Live reports. Officials believe the dog got up on its hind legs at around 10 a.m. Wednesday, hit a knob that turned a rear burner on, and pushed some of the debris onto the stove. A ceiling fan running on low was able to lift burning items and push them onto a nearby foam dog bed, which ignited and filled the first floor with smoke, according to the report. Pohatcong Township fire Chief Pete Pursell was able to make entry into the residence and put the fire out. The German shepherd and a puppy were able to escape unharmed. The only reported damage was smoke damage to surfaces. No people were home at the time of the fire, LehighValley Live reports. * This story was updated to include a statement from House GOP spokesman Steve Miskin. A fired employee of the state House Republican Caucus is claiming in a federal lawsuit that he was harassed and then fired for cooperating with investigators in the so-called "Computergate" corruption case. Markus Woodring, who worked in the information technology department, also contends in his U.S. Middle District Court complaint that he ran afoul of GOP leaders for complaining about how the caucus was wasting money. His free speech rights were breached as well because his axing in March occurred soon after he posted a message on his private blog questioning whether Rep. Nick Miccarelli was being railroaded on sexual misconduct accusations, the Harrisburg man insists. About the lawsuit, House Republican spokesman Steve Miskin said on Friday, "We generally do not discuss ongoing litigation, but can say that any allegation that this individual was fired in retaliation for exercising his rights is simply false. There were a series of incidents brought to our attention by other employees and he was discharged as a result of multiple policy violations." Woodring, who is represented by attorney Mark D. Schwartz, is seeking front and back pay and unspecified financial damages. He also is asking Chief Judge Christopher C. Conner to issue an order permanently barring the caucus "from engaging in cover-ups and retaliatory action against employees who exercise their legal rights by coming forward with concerns." Woodring claims in his 35-page suit that his problems with the caucus began in 2008, three years after his hiring, when he provided investigators for then-Attorney General Tom Corbett with information as part of what became the Computergate investigation. Computergate involved the use by caucus officials of public funds to create a computer system to benefit the election campaigns of GOP House members. Those who were later convicted or who pleaded guilty to criminal charges in the case included former House Speaker John Perzel. Woodring says he met with investigators three or four times and testified before the grand jury probing the allegations. "Soon after cooperating with the attorney general, (Woodring) was retaliated against," the suit states. He says the caucus' general counsel, Rep. Brett Feese, another Computergate defendant, "attempted to obstruct the investigation by trying to revise or neutralize IT employee-expressed concerns and recollections about what was transpiring." Woodring claims that after his cooperation with the Computergate investigators he repeatedly was denied raises and promotions and threatened with firing. A relative of Perzel, who also worked in the IT department, falsely accused him of assault, a charge on which he eventually was cleared, Woodring contends, insisting that was part of a pattern of retaliation. In addition to his Computergate actions, Woodring says he was made a pariah for voicing concern about "wasteful spending practices that continue to this day." He claims those include the awarding of "unnecessary" contracts to outside consultants for work such as printer maintenance, that caucus employees could easily do themselves. He also makes allegations that he was ordered to wire a home being built by Perzel's chief of staff, Brian Preski, for internet, "an extensive job that should have been done by Preski's personal contractor at Preski's expense." He claims as well that he was required to install a caucus computer that former Rep. William Adolph used for his personal accounting business. Woodring's suit includes claims of discrimination under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. He contends that, when he had to undergo back surgery, he was improperly barred from using leave time that his co-workers had voluntarily donated. He claims he was then unjustly accused of abusing leave time. When told he was being fired, Woodring "pressed them for a reason and was simply told that he had violated 'many caucus policies'," his suit states. Later, he was told that he had violated policies regarding use of the Caucus email system and internet connections. He didn't use either, Woodring contends. He says that an unemployment compensation hearing nearly three weeks after his firing a caucus attorney introduced an "incomplete and marked up" copy of on online posting he made on March 1 regarding a PennLive story that bore the headline "Pa. lawmaker accused of abusive behavior and sexual misconduct called on to resign." Woodring said he made that Facebook post without using any caucus equipment before starting work that day. The PennLive story dealt with the Miccarelli dispute. Woodring's comment, according to the suit, was, "Wow! Here's the collusion that everybody's been looking for. Two women, same attorney? That's not coincidence by chance. Innocent until proven guilty! I smell a railroad somewhere!!" "Speaking as a citizen, (Woodring's) clear intent was to protest the possibility of an elected official's being railroaded out of office without due process," the suit states. Woodring seeks damages from the caucus under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the state's Whistleblower Law, the free speech provision of the U.S. Constitution and on five other counts. A pipeline explosion in West Virginia early Thursday morning resulted in a ball of fire shooting into the sky. Neighbors in Marshall County told WTOV the explosion woke them up at around 4:20 a.m. Thursday, and that the sky was lit up for miles. That explosion happened in a TransCanada pipeline Crews were dispatched to the scene at the bottom of Nixon Ridge Road, but no injuries were reported. WPXI in Pittsburgh reports some residents in Washington County could see flames as a result of the explosion. Carlisle police are seeking the public's help in finding a 16-year-old girl who went missing while visiting family in Maryland. Doris Benitez-Cabrera. Investigators say they learned today that 16-year-old Doris Benitez-Cabrera had gone missing while visiting her aunt in Laurel Maryland on May 25. She was last seen around 4 p.m. that day in a mall in the Laurel area wearing a pink, short-sleeved blouse, black exercise tights and black sandals. She had told her mother she needed to use the restroom while walking around the mall and never returned. Anyone with information on her whereabouts should contact the Carlisle Police Department, 717-243-5252. A Cumberland County teen is facing charges after police in Ocean City, Maryland, say a large amount of drugs were found in his motel room. Justin L. Culley. Justin L. Culley, 19, of Enola, is now facing charges and was transferred to the Worcester County Jail, where he is being held without bond, authorities say. According to the Ocean City Police Department, the incident occurred like this: On Monday, officers were called to a motel in the area of First Street and Baltimore Avenue where staff members said Culley had not checked out at his scheduled time. When they entered the room to clean it, they found a large amount of drugs in plain view, prompting the call to the police. Officers seized several pounds of marijuana, more than 300 prescription pills and a large amount of mushrooms, LSD, ecstasy and drug paraphernalia. A K-9 team was brought in to scan his vehicle, finding more mushrooms and $1,100 in cash. When Culley returned to the motel room hours later, police put him under arrest. He has been charged with three counts of possession with intent to distribute LSD, possession of over 10 grams of marijuana, two counts of possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute, and four counts of possession of a controlled dangerous substance. Putting a clear shot over the bow of President Donald Trump's White House, U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., joined a bipartisan group of his colleagues Wednesday to sponsor legislation that would require Congressional approval of tariffs raised in the name of national security. The move comes as Trump administration moves to impose sharp tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico and the European Union, provoking a trade war with America's closest allies. All three of the affected allies are moving to impose tariffs of their own on American exports. The administration has said it's imposing the tariffs in the interests of 'national security.' The bill rolled out Wednesday requires the White "to submit to Congress any proposal to adjust imports in the interest of national security under Section 232 [of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962]. For a 60-day period following submission, legislation to approve the proposal will qualify for expedited consideration, guaranteeing the opportunity for debate and a vote. The requirement would apply to all Section 232 actions moving forward, as well as those taken within the past two years," Toomey's office said in a statement. Toomey was joined in the move by U.S. Sens.Bob Corker, R-Tenn.; Heidi Heitkamp D-N.D.; Mark Warner, D-Va.; Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.; Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii; Ron Johnson, R-Wis.; Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.; Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. Flake and Corker, who are both retiring, have been frequent critics of the White House. Toomey is no fan of the White House's protectionist trade policies. "Tariffs are taxes on American consumers. They hurt American workers, families, and employers. Imposing them under the false pretense of 'national security' weakens our economy, our credibility with other nations, and invites retaliation," Toomey said in a statement. He added that the "the decision to use these taxes should not be taken lightly or unilaterally. By passing this legislation, Congress can reassert its constitutional responsibility (Article 1, Section 8, Clauses 1 and 3) on trade and ensure Americans can keep buying affordable products and keep selling our goods abroad. I hope my Democratic and Republican colleagues join this common-sense effort." The U.S. Chamber of Commerce quickly endorsed the proposal, saying "this modest proposal to clarify congressional prerogatives is welcome and long overdue." Corker acknowledged the difficulty in passing legislation despite "tremendous concern" among lawmakers in both parties. "My guess is the administration may have some resistance," he said. Time and again, Republicans in Congress have been reluctant to put guardrails around Trump as the administration has veered from GOP orthodoxy in policy or as the president interprets the law, as he did earlier this week, to assert the special counsel probe is unconstitutional and that he has the power to pardon himself. Flake is one of the few Republicans who repeatedly take on Trump, and he has separately offered a bill that would reverse the steel and aluminum tariffs, with support from Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota. Farm-state senators are particularly concerned about retaliatory tariffs that would close off foreign markets to pork and key crops like soybeans and corn. "It isn't as if the dog has not barked," said Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. Roberts hesitated though on whether he could back the bill. "I've got to get a farm bill done. I don't want to roil the waters." Challenging Trump comes with its own risks, from alienating his supporters to taking voters' attention off a healthy economy before the midterm elections, which will determine control of the House and Senate. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., said it's too early to say whether the House would take up Corker's proposal. Lawmakers are wary of a trade war, he said, but "we're not looking for a fight with the president." "A lot of senators are a lot braver since they're not on the ballot. Over here, everybody is on the ballot," Cole said. Asked if Congress will act on trade, Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., a member of GOP leadership, answered simply: "No." A copy of the legislation is available online here. Associated Press reports are included in this story. One of these days, Pennsylvania is probably ... okay, maybe ... going to figure out how to do reform right. But it's not going to happen with the debate over redistricting reform. And the clock is ticking. Here's the bottom line: The state Senate could vote as soon as next week on a deeply flawed plan that's splintered progressives who pushed for reform in the first place. The Republican-controlled state House, meanwhile, is sitting on a proposal that has more issues than The New Yorker. Because any change requires a constitutional amendment, the House and Senate have to approve something by July 6 to keep things on track for when the next round of decennial redistricting starts in 2021. You'll recall that the great rallying cry behind the push to fix the way Pennsylvania draws its legislative and congressional maps is that it's rigged in favor of the General Assembly. And that's absolutely, indisputably true. With the bills that are out there now, though, lawmakers heeded that cry and promptly smothered it. Still, any process that even pretends to involve the citizens is light years better than the one we're saddled with now, where the Legislature approves the congressional map and a commission of legislative leaders approves the map for the General Assembly. That's the system, by the way, that prompted the state Supreme Court to step in this year to impose a congressional map of its own after lawmakers and the Wolf administration couldn't strike a deal. The House proposal sponsored by Majority Leader Dave Reed, R-Indiana, is marginally better than the one in the Senate (more on that in a bit). That's because it keeps the idea of a 'citizens commission' intact by allowing for its members to be randomly selected, just like the way you get called for jury duty. And that sounds good, until you get to the fine print and find a list of caveats that runs longer than the side effects warnings for your cholesterol medication. The bottom line? Reed's proposal gives the General Assembly the power to override the commission and impose a map of its own if the product isn't to its liking. Final appeal power would rest with the Supreme Court. Reed's spokesman, Steve Miskin, noted that "there's no consensus" on how to move ahead on redistricting reform. And that the plan offered by his boss, who's retiring at year's end, is intended to "jump start the discussion." And as bad as parts of Reed's bill are, it's still worlds better than a compromise product that came out of the Senate State Government Committee. This one turns appointment power over the 11-member remapping commission to legislative leaders and the governor; imposes an absurdly high two-thirds majority for confirmation, and still gives the Legislature the power to impose a final map. A coalition of 14 progressive groups that includes Keystone Progress, Planned Parenthood, the NAACP and the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, oppose the Senate bill, sensibly arguing that it does nothing to fix gerrymandering, and might even make it worse. "Elected officials would still control the process, so elected officials would still use the process to advance their position," they argued in an op-Ed published on PennLive on Monday. These groups come to the table with their own point of view, of course. They're banking on Democratic wins this fall that will tilt Harrisburg in their favor. But that doesn't mean they don't make a valid point. Meanwhile, Sen. Lisa Boscola, D-Northampton, who sponsored the original Senate proposal creating an actual citizens commission, said this week she's hopeful that lawmakers can reach a consensus, arguing that the bill that came out of committee is "much better than what we have." And that is true -- if you consider second-degree burns better than third-degree burns. Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa, D-Allegheny, is getting amendments ready that he hopes will address some of the concerns. Activists at FairDistricts PA, the largest advocacy group behind the redistricting push, fear that the current environment will derail any reform at all, leaving the state no better than it is right now. "It's not a complete thought," Fair Districts' Carol Kuniholm, said recently, referring to the Senate bill. "It's a vehicle to get us to reform." And maybe the Fair Districts folks have a point. Harrisburg is littered with dead bills where the perfect became the enemy of the good. But the Fair Districts folks also seem a tad too eager for a win. Better to get it really right than just settle. The differences between any House and Senate proposal could ultimately get worked out in a conference committee. Pennsylvania may get reform right someday. But not with this hot mess. Gov. Tom Wolf signed an executive order on Wednesday that prohibits employers under his authority to ask an applicant's salary history in hopes of combating a gender pay gap. The order titled "Equal Pay for Employees of the Commonwealth" will take effect in 90 days. Wolf, joined by several legislators who have introduced similar legislation in the House and Senate, emphasized a pay gap that on average has a Pennsylvania woman earning 79 cents to a man's dollar. And over the course of a lifetime, that can add up to a woman earning $1 million less. "The point is if you're allowed to ask someone what they make, basically you're perpetuating the cycle of underpayment," Wolf said during a Capitol news conference. The order would affect more than 15,000 jobs under the governor's jurisdiction. Of those jobs, 2,189 are unfilled, the governor's office reported. The order reiterates that state agencies must establish salaries based on the job's responsibilities, the position's pay range and the applicant's skillset. Sen. Judy Schwank, D-Berks County, is proposing that would extend the requirement to all employers in the commonwealth with Senate Bill 1201. Like Wolf's executive order, it would prevent employers from asking salary history on job applications. Additionally, it would require employers to give back pay and compensate for damages in a suit for equal pay and give the state attorney general authority. This bill is similar to pay equality laws in California, Massachusetts and Oregon, Schwank said during the news conference. But, she still thanked Wolf for his steps toward ending gender pay inequality. "Finally, somebody has stood up for us," Schwank said at the conference. She added that she believed the first lady Frances Wolf and their daughters "had something to do with this." "I would venture to guess that many of us have experienced this," Schwank added. "I know I have in my work history." Several other bills have been introduced to address a pay wage gap including legislation by Rep. Tina Davis, D-Bucks County, and Rep. Brian Sims, D-Philadelphia County, with House Bill 1243; Sen. Tartaglione, D-Philadelphia County, with Senate Bill 1200; and Rep. Maria Donatucci, D-Delaware County, and Rep. Donna Bullock, D-Philadelphia County, with House Bill 931. After the conference, the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry's CEO Gene Barr warned about the unintended consequences his order could have if passed statewide. "Anyone familiar with operating a business knows that pay differences among employees can and do exist for many reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with gender discrimination," Barr said in a statement. "Equal pay law must account for that reality or we risk subjecting honest employers to frivolous and costly lawsuits; especially small businesses that may not have attorneys or HR personnel to combat unscrupulous plaintiffs' lawyers." The gender has been questioned for its accuracy due to the complexities of collecting salary data and a gender occupational gap for jobs that may pay more. Wolf was criticized by FactCheck.org for saying women earned 77 cents on a man's dollar in a 2014 advertisement. FactCheck.org reported that the 77-cent figure is not a statistic comparing men and women's salaries for doing the same work, but rather an "aggregation" of all full-time men and women's salaries. Ontario Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne speaks to the media as Liberal Candidate Li Koo looks on during a campaign event in Toronto on Wednesday, June 6, 2018. Wynne has already acknowledged she won't be Ontario's premier after today's election, but the fate of her Liberal party now rests on how well her last-minute plea for support has resonated with voters as they head to the polls. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Tijana Martin Plastic trash is compacted into bales for further processing at the waste processing dump on the outskirts of Minsk, Belarus on March 12, 2015. The federal government is reducing but not banning outright the use of single-use plastics at the G7 summit this week in Quebec. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Sergei Grits House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions, R-Texas, answers questions from reporters as House Republicans try to bridge their party's internal struggle over immigration at a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 7, 2018. Top Republicans want to head off an election-year showdown that divides the party. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) In this May 24, 2018 photo, Rhode Island State Archivist Ashley Selima points to the seal of King George III on a September 1772 proclamation in Providence, R.I. The document established a commission to investigate the burning of the British schooner HMS Gaspee by colonists in Narraganset Bay in June 1772. (AP Photo/Jennifer McDermott) Perryville takes down Saxony in possible district preview It was a game that Saxony Lutheran boys soccer coach Chris Crawford said had a postseason feel to it.If that was how a possible district tournament matchup between Perryville and Saxony Lancers goal line stand downs Indians Two yards or six feet. Either way you look at it, that was all that was standing between St. Vincent and certain victory.However, St. Pius had other plans. The Lancers held off the Indians on the Oil prices rise on Venezuelan supply troubles Thursday, but U.S. output surges By Meng Meng and Aizhu Chen BEIJING Petroleumworld 06 07 2018 Oil prices on Thursday rose on the back of plunging exports by OPEC-member Venezuela, recovering some ground lost in the previous session, although another surge in U.S. production still weighed on markets, traders said. Brent crude futures LCOc1 were up 51 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $75.87 a barrel at 0710 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 was up 30 cents, or 0.5 percent, at $65.03 a barrel. It ended the previous session 1.2 percent lower at $64.73 a barrel. Venezuela, a member of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), is struggling to meet its supply obligations, with dozens of tankers waiting to take on its oil. Tankers waiting to load more than 24 million barrels of crude, almost as much as PDVSA shipped in April, are sitting off the country's main oil port, according to shipping data. The backlog is so severe that state-owned PDVSA has told some customers it may declare force majeure, allowing it to temporarily halt contracts, if they do not accept new delivery terms. The decline in Venezuelan supplies has been bigger than market expected. Increases in U.S. production will not be able to fully offset the drop from Venezuela and Iran, said Bruce Xue, oil analyst with Haitong Futures. Venezuela's supply trouble comes amid voluntary production cuts by OPEC which have been in place since 2017 in order to tighten the market and prop up prices. The group is due to meet at its headquarters in Vienna, together with top producer but non-OPEC member Russia, on June 22 to discuss production policy. OPEC-member Iraq said on Wednesday that a production increase was not on the table as the market was stable and prices good. This comment followed an unofficial request from the United States asking OPEC's de-facto leader Saudi Arabia to boost output. Outside OPEC, however, there were ongoing signs of rising output. U.S. crude oil production C-OUT-T-EIA hit another record last week at 10.8 million barrels per day (bpd). That's a 28 percent gain in two years, or an average 2.3 percent growth rate per month since mid-2016. Surging U.S. production has helped widen WTI's discount to Brent to more than $10 per barrel CL-LCO1=R. The United States is close to becoming the world's biggest crude oil producer, edging nearer to the 11 million bpd churned out by Russia, with exports also surging. U.S. crude inventories also rose, gaining 2.1 million barrels in the week to June 1, to 436.6 million barrels, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. _________________________ Twitter: @petroleumworld1 Petroleumworld.com Hit your target - Advertise with Us Int'l Court summons Guyana, Venezuela for key meeting on pleadings in boundary issue By Kaieter News GEORGETOWN Petroleumworld 06 07 2018 The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has reported that resulting from the filing of its application with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on March 29, 2018, it has gotten word back. The President of the International Court of Justice has invited the representatives of Guyana and Venezuela to attend a meeting with him on June 18, 2018 in The Hague for the purpose of fixing the schedule for the filing of the written pleadings in the case. This is part of the Court's normal procedure following the filing of a case, the ministry explained. Guyana has requested for the United Nations court to render a decision to confirm the legal validity and binding effect of the 1899 Arbitral Award regarding the boundary between Guyana and Venezuela. The meeting with the President of the Court will be limited to the matter of the schedule. Guyana will be represented by its Legal Counsel, the ministry said. The meeting on June 18 would be a crucial step in resolving the matter, from a Guyana perspective. In late March following the filing, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had stated that the application followed the decision of UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, in choosing the ICJ as the next means of resolving the controversy that arose as a result of the Venezuelan contention that the Arbitral Award of 1899 about the frontier between British Guiana and Venezuela was null and void. In its application to the Court, Guyana highlighted that Venezuela had, for more than 60 years, consistently recognized and respected the validity and binding force of the 1899 Award and with the 1905 map agreed by both sides in furtherance of the award. However, Venezuela only changed its position formally in 1962, as the United Kingdom was making final preparations for the independence of British Guiana, and threatened not to recognize the new state, or its boundaries, unless the United Kingdom agreed to set aside the 1899 award and cede to Venezuela all of the territory west of the Essequibo River, amounting to some two-thirds of Guyana's territory. The Ministry disclosed that Guyana's application notes that Venezuela has never produced any evidence to justify its belated repudiation of the 1899 award, rather, it has used it as an excuse to occupy territory awarded to Guyana in 1899; to inhibit Guyana's economic development; and to violate Guyana's sovereignty and sovereign rights. The UN Secretary-General's authority to choose the ICJ as the means for resolving the controversy is rooted in the Geneva Agreement of 1966, negotiated just before Guyana attained independence. The Ministry had also pointed out that on January 30, 2018, Secretary General Guterres concluded that the Good Offices Process, in which the parties had engaged for almost 30 years, had failed to achieve a solution to the controversy and chose the ICJ as the next means of settlement. The application was handed over to Philippe Couvreur, Registrar of the ICJ, by Carl Greenidge, Vice President and Minister of Foreign Affairs, who will serve as Guyana's agent in the proceedings before the Court. According to Minister Greenidge, in filing its application, Guyana has respected the Secretary General's decision and placed its faith in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to resolve the controversy in accordance with its statute and jurisprudence, based on the fundamental principles of international law, including the sanctity of treaties, the maintenance of settled boundaries and respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of States. Following the 2015 discovery of oil and change of Government, Venezuela had upped its claims on Guyana, with its aggression even seeing action taken to end a rice-for-oil deal to pressure this country. Guyana later that year went to the United Nations and made a complaint to the General Assembly. Guyana has also earmarked money from the oil agreement with ExxonMobil, some US$18M, to fight the case at ICJ. The ICJ has its seat in The Hague, The Netherlands, and is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. The legal team of Guyana is being led by Sir Shridath Ramphal, an experienced lawyer and former Attorney General of Guyana who successfully also played a lead role in the 2007 successful award in the arbitration regarding the delimitation of the maritime boundary between Guyana and Suriname ________________________ Twitter: @petroleumworld1 Petroleumworld.com Hit your target - Advertise with Us Story from Kaieter News kaieteurnewsonline.com 06 07 2018 Copyright 1999-2018 Petroleumworld or respective author or news agency. All rights reserved. We welcome the use of Petroleumworld (PW) stories by anyone provided it mentions Petroleumworld.com as the source. Other stories you have to get authorization by its authors. Internet web links to http://www.petroleumworld.com are appreciated. Petroleumworld welcomes your feedback and comments, share your thoughts on this article, your feedback is important to us! We invite all our readers to share with us their views and comments about this article. Write to editor@petroleumworld.com By using this link, you agree to allow PW to publish your comments on our letters page. Any question or suggestions, please write to: editor@petroleumworld.com Best Viewed with IE 5.01+ Windows NT 4.0, '95, '98,ME,XP, Vista, Windows 7,8,10 +/ 800x600 pixels Twitter: @petroleumworld1 November 13 - 15, 2018. Gubkin University, Moscow SPE Student Chapter Guyana company Ram and McRae never worked for ExxonMobil -Chris Ram By Kaieter News GEORGETOWN Petroleumworld 06 07 2018 While it is true that Ram and McRae have been servicing the subcontractors of ExxonMobil, it has been doing so without the help of ExxonMobil. The accounting firm made this clarification via a statement to the media yesterday. This was in response to a report released by the Department of Public Information (DPI) on Tuesday. That missive said that Ram and McRae are among the 228 local companies and individuals that ExxonMobil has done business with for the first quarter of 2018. In the list that was released, Ram and McRae was listed twice. The company partners said that based on its records, including the entire of 2018 to date, Ram and McRae has not provided services to ExxonMobil and its affiliates. The managing partners, Chris Ram and Rakesh Latchana called on DPI and ExxonMobil to correct the mistake. EXXON MAINTAINS When contacted about the matter yesterday, ExxonMobil's head of Public Relations, Kimberly Brasington maintained that Ram and McRae are beneficiaries of the Exxon Mobil supply chain. Brasington said, He actually must not know that he is doing business with our industry. He is on our list more than once. But where the misconception is on his part is that it is just not a list of companies that do business with ExxonMobil but also with our contractors. The ExxonMobil official said that the USA oil giant has 23 contractors. These include: TechnipFMC, Schlumberger, Ramps Logistics, Tanks-A-Lot and the Centre for Local Development. Brasington said, All of our main contractors that we directly contract with, we store their local content numbers too. So we go to our main contractors and they have to report to us, the companies used. One of our contractors submitted his name, so he (Ram and McRae) is in fact supporting the industry and part of our supply chain. ________________________ Twitter: @petroleumworld1 Petroleumworld.com Hit your target - Advertise with Us ExxonMobil in Guyana has its own definition of Guyana's Local Content Brasington By Kiana Wilburg GEORGETOWN Petroleumworld 06 07 2018 Money invested in the economy is what qualifies as local content for USA oil giant, ExxonMobil. This was explained, yesterday, by the company's head of Public and Government Relations, Kimberly Brasington. Her comments come in wake of harsh criticisms of a list of nearly 227 names of individuals and local companies ExxonMobil submitted to the government for the first quarter of 2018. The list was part of the company's local content reporting requirements. Local critics and Regional experts noted that ExxonMobil's list of companies which includes media houses, eateries, taxi services, and supplies stores does not constitute local content. This is especially when one takes into consideration, the globally accepted definition of local content. Brasington was told that international local content experts define local content as the meaningful investment into the development of local skills, manpower and services. To this, the ExxonMobil official said, I have to say that I agree with those experts and critics because local content is many things and to ExxonMobil, local content means three main things, one of which is reflected in this list. The way we define local content is investing in your local economy. So it is using local businesses and services to support your industry you are investing and putting money into the economy and that is what that list represents She noted however, that the list does not represent the company's full local content plans. Ms. Brasington said that a different approach is taken to capacity building and community development. She said that these additional areas also encompass ExxonMobil's definition of local content. The official clarified, however, that the list of 227 companies represents the infusion of money into the economy. While the government has released the list of companies used by ExxonMobil for the first quarter of 2018, calls still remain for the administration to publish the list of 309 companies ExxonMobil said it used last year to support its operations. PADDED LIST Brasington also sought to justify the list of companies being padded with the names of persons. She said, The reason that individuals are listed is because individuals are doing business with ExxonMobil. So they have in many cases, a contract as an individual or the name of their company is their name. The ExxonMobil official said that in many of those cases, the individuals are landlords where they are renting a property to ExxonMobil employees, or to its contractors' employees at the shore base. ________________________ Twitter: @petroleumworld1 Petroleumworld.com Hit your target - Advertise with Us Petrotrin pays $63m for consultants services By Gail Alexander PORT SPAIN Petroleumworld 06 07 2018 State-owned Petrotrin has paid $63.6 million to consultants for services from July 2017 to date. The information was given by the Energy Ministry in Parliament via written reply to questions from United National Congress MP Suruj Rambachan. He'd asked the names of all individuals/companies retained by Petrotrin as consultants from July 2017 and total amounts paid to them. The ministry's reply stated that the total cost of the services from July 2017 to date was $63,610,158. 23. The highest amount - $28 million - was paid last November to McKinsey and Company Inc (a US company) for a strategic review and transition. The lowest figure - $100,000 - was paid to HRC associates for executive recruitment. Petrotrin also paid Swiss executive recruitment experts Egon Zehnder $3.7m for services. RECIPIENTS W. Paul Charles - $120,600 (communications) Caribbean Corporate Clinic Ltd - $573,750 (legal/management consultants) Kroll Consulting - $1.3m (consulting services) Egon Zehnder - $ 3.7m (executive recruitment) Gafney Kline and Associates - $1.4m (consultancy oil production) HRC associates - $100,000 (executive recruitment) HSB Solomon Associates - $7,430, 855.54 (company optimisation) McKinsey and Company Inc - $28, 057, 147.50 (strategic review and transition) SAP Puerto Rico GBMH LLC - $4,389, 545.23 (Success factors and software installation) SGS Trinidad Ltd - $370,04.39 (consultancy services) Bacon Woodrow and de Souza - $397,320 (actuarial services) Medical Diagnostic Technologies and Supplies Ltd - $2,031, 168 (radiology services) DeGolyer and McNaughton Corp Ltd - $12,669, 570 (crude and gas resource evaluations) Energy Solutions Group Ltd - $230,969 (engineering services for south west Soldado) iSIMS Trinidad Ltd-System - $212,246 (designs for well modification and repairs) Environmental Sciences Ltd- $455,600 (forensic fingerprinting and interpretation of chromatograms) ________________________ Twitter: @petroleumworld1 Petroleumworld.com Hit your target - Advertise with Us U.S. government biofuels deal delayed indefinitely By Reuters WASHINGTON/NEW YORK Petroleumworld 06 07 2018 The Trump administration has indefinitely delayed a proposed overhaul of U.S. biofuels policy aimed at reducing costs for the oil industry, under pressure from corn state lawmakers who worry the move would undermine demand for ethanol, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The White House had been poised to announce the reforms to the U.S. Renewable Fuel Program early this week after hosting months of difficult negotiations between representatives of the key constituencies. The announcement won't be happening, one of the sources said. The second source said the deal had apparently collapsed. Both sources asked not to be identified discussing the matter. The RFS requires oil refiners to mix increasing volumes of biofuels like ethanol into the nation's fuel each year, and prove compliance by earning or acquiring blending credits that must be handed in to the Environmental Protection Agency. The law has helped Midwest corn farmers by creating a 15-billion-gallon-a-year market for ethanol, but refining companies have complained it incurs steep costs for them. The White House deal would have eased pressure on the refining industry by allowing biofuels exports to count toward the annual volumes quotas. It would also have expanded sales of high-ethanol gasoline in a concession to biofuels producers. Republican Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst of Iowa both praised President Donald Trump on Twitter on Tuesday evening. @realDonaldTrump has said he loooovves the farmers! #Iowa is feeling that love today, as the President just assured me he won't sign a deal that's bad for farmers!' Thank you Mr. President, wrote Ernst. Pres Trump helped farmers by rejecting bad ethanol deal. I appreciate. GREAT NEWS, wrote Grassley. Bob Dinneen, head of the Renewable Fuels Association, said: We are happy the President continues to recognize the importance of our industry to America's farmers and rural economies across the nation. ________________________ Twitter: @petroleumworld1 Petroleumworld.com Hit your target - Advertise with Us Saudis signal business as usual with current crude oil prices, volumes -Russell By Clyde Russell LAUNCESTON, Australia Petroleumworld 06 07 2018 Saudi Arabia's decision to increase the price of oil for July modestly for its major customers in Asia was a business-as-usual outcome, rather than any signal that the kingdom intends to produce and sell more crude. Saudi Aramco, the world's biggest crude exporter, raised its official selling prices (OSPs) for four of its five grades for July cargoes to Asia, including a 20 cent a barrel increase for the benchmark Arab Light. This took the premium for Arab Light to $2.10 a barrel over regional benchmark Oman-Dubai, the highest in four years. The increase in the OSP for Arab Light was smack in the middle of the range expected by Asian refiners surveyed by Reuters ahead of the announcement. The decision appears to reflect recent price dynamics in the Oman-Dubai market, where the backwardation between the first and third months has widened. In other words, the Saudis did what was expected with the setting of the OSPs for July cargoes. That may sound like a boring outcome, but still speaks volumes for how they view the current state of the market. Saudi Arabia and fellow producers in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), as well as their allies in a broad deal to cut output, have come under pressure recently from the United States over rising oil prices. The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has unofficially requested that the Saudis and other producers raise crude output in order to cap prices, according to three OPEC and industry sources. Brent crude futures briefly popped above $80 a barrel last month, the highest level since November 2014, although they have since retreated somewhat, closing at $75.38 on Tuesday. Part of the reason for the recent jump in crude prices was the decision by Trump to withdraw the United States from the international agreement with Iran to limit the Islamic Republic's nuclear programme. At the time of the announcement last month, the Trump administration said some countries were willing to increase output in order to compensate for any lost Iranian barrels as the United States reimposes sanctions. While it may well be the case that the Saudis and others are willing to boost production and exports, the OSPs would seem to indicate that this isn't exactly a huge priority. NO SIGNAL ON LOWER PRICES If the Saudis had wanted to send a clear signal to the market, they could have cut the OSPs. That would have encouraged Asian refiners - who take about two-thirds of the kingdom's exports - to buy more than their term allocations. Instead, by meeting market expectations on pricing, the Saudis seem to be indicating they are satisfied with the current state of the market, their level of exports and the price they are receiving. And the Saudis may well have cause to be satisfied. Vessel-tracking and port data compiled by Thomson Reuters Oil Research and Forecasts suggests they had a good month in May for exports to China, the world's biggest crude importer. About 1.13 million barrels per day (bpd) of Saudi crude were discharged in China in May, the biggest month since February 2017, according to data. The strong Chinese imports of Saudi crude came even as the country's top refiner, Sinopec, had indicated it would buy less Saudi crude over dissatisfaction at increases in the Saudi OSPs that the refiner thought weren't justified by market fundamentals. For the Saudis, the crude oil market may well be in something of a sweet spot, with prices some 50 percent higher than a year earlier and solid demand from major importers. Additionally, they are receiving help from the United States in combating their major regional rival Iran. And once again, they have shown the market that OPEC is still a force to be reckoned with. The real challenge will be keeping all these different balls in the air at the same time, a juggling act that will be difficult to sustain if history is any guide. ________________________ Twitter: @petroleumworld1 Petroleumworld.com Hit your target - Advertise with Us PDVSA raises prospect of force majeure on oil exports By Marianna Parraga and Deisy Buitrago HOUSTON/CARACAS Petroleumworld 06 07 2018 OPEC member Venezuela has raised the prospect of declaring force majeure on contracts with major crude buyers amid plummeting output from its oil fields and tanker bottlenecks at ports, according to three sources familiar with the matter. Falling production from Venezuela has contributed to a rally in global oil prices to a near four-year high, and other OPEC members may boost output at a meeting later this month to compensate for the shortfall and other risks to global supplies. Oil is the financial lifeline for the embattled socialist government of President Nicolas Maduro, but his cash-strapped administration has failed to invest enough in the industry to prevent its decline. Venezuela's state-owned oil firm PDVSA has told some customers that they must send vessels equipped to accept ship-to-ship oil transfers rather than load at its ports. If they do not accept the terms, PDVSA is considering force majeure, in essence declaring its contracts incapable of being fulfilled, the sources familiar with the matter said. It has separately begun notifying all its customers that it will no longer receive new tankers for loading at Jose or Paraguana, its main export terminals, until ships already in line are served. TANKER CONGESTION Most customers have so far refused the ship-to-ship transfer request due to the lack of a third party supervising the operations, according to shippers and traders. Additional costs for completing the transfer also contributed to the refusals. PDVSA has been using sanctions imposed on the company by U.S. President Donald Trump as a rationale for the change, according to one of the sources. Venezuela's export terminals have grown overcrowded since U.S. oil firm ConocoPhillips last month won court orders freezing PDVSA's key Caribbean operations, where the Venezuelan company used to ship large cargoes to Asian destinations. There were more than 70 tankers off the coast of Venezuela on Tuesday, according to Thomson Reuters vessel tracking data. We are going to try the ship-to-ship idea first, the source familiar with the matter said. Many customers are going to prefer this than continuing to accumulate demurrage, the source added, referring to fees charged for long waiting times. One of PDVSA's Indian customers confirmed it had received a request to load its cargoes via ship-to-ship transfers. The buyer so far has refused to accept the new terms, said an employee who was not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity. Traders and shippers were skeptical that the transfers would succeed in easing the bottlenecks. PDVSA will still have to load vessels at its Jose port for transporting the crude to its proposed offshore loading facility, and production declines are not expected to reverse. Very large vessels that typically do not approach Venezuela's western coast are now visible from Paraguana Refining Center (CRP), according to a worker from the facility. PDVSA did not reply to a request for comment. MISSING LOWERED TARGETS PDVSA knew it would fall short of contracted deliveries this year because of declining output and set a goal to limit the gap, according to internal company documents reviewed by Reuters. But the firm missed even that lowered target. There's an average deficit of 422,000 barrels per day (bpd) between real and planned production so far this year, according to one of the documents. In April, the company shipped 1.49 million bpd of crude and fuels to its customers - 665,000 bpd below the 2.15 million bpd contracted, the documents show. The firm shorted deliveries to 12 of 14 major customers with long-term crude supply contracts, the records show. The shortfall, which has not been previously reported, shed new light on the depth of the company's problems extracting and refining crude - despite repeated promises by Maduro and PDVSA President Manuel Quevedo to grow 2018 production by 1 million bpd. The state-owned firm in April had so little oil it failed to deliver almost all of the crude it promised to its U.S. refining unit, Citgo Petroleum, under a 273,000-bpd contract, the documents show. Venezuela's exports of crude declined 28 percent in the first four months of 2018 to 1.19 million bpd compared with 1.65 million bpd in the same period last year, according to Reuters trade flows data. In January-April, crude output fell to 1.62 million bpd, the lowest annual average in over three decades Aggravating its export problems, Conoco last month started seizing PDVSA's terminals, oil inventories and cargoes in the Caribbean to enforce a $2 billion arbitration award in a dispute over the socialist government's nationalization of the U.S. oil producer's Venezuela assets. ________________________ Twitter: @petroleumworld1 Petroleumworld.com Hit your target - Advertise with Us Permian basin oil boom bottlenecks are costing U.S. investors $1 billion a day rigzone Permian woes drill stocks for Parsley, Pioneer, Concho . Diverse drillers, refiners are beneficiaries in pipe shortage. - Watch live - Bloomberg Surveillance. Live from London and New York . By David Wethe, Alex Nussbaum, Ryan Collins HOUSTON/NEW YORK Petroleumworld 06 07 2018 More than $1 billion a day. That's the price tag for a Permian Basin pipeline crunch that's increasingly affecting investors as much as it is West Texas oil drillers. Eight of the top explorers focused on the booming U.S. shale region have lost $15.6 billion in combined market value in about two weeks, as shipping constraints devour the profit they can fetch for a barrel of crude. Parsley Energy Inc. shares have wilted 16 percent in that time; Diamondback Energy Inc. has been defanged, down 18 percent. Even as production soars, dwindling pipeline space and a rail and trucking shortage have raised shipping costs, boosting the discount Permian producers take to offload their oil. The bottleneck benefits refiners who can buy cheaper crude and pipeline owners with extra space, but it's dragging down explorers. You just don't want to touch these Permian names," said Gabriele Sorbara, a Williams Capital Group analyst in New York. "They are falling off a cliff." Relief may not come until 2020, when new pipelines are expected to be up and running. For now, here's a rundown of winners and losers amid the space crunch: Permian Explorers Being a pure-play" shale producer, even a Permian stalwart, is no longer the ticket to success for energy equities. Since May 21, the price of benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude has fallen about 10 percent and companies focused primarily on the Permian have been shunned. The hardest fall: Concho Resources Inc, which had lost $4.1 billion off its market capitalization as of Tuesday. As of Wednesday, oil in Midland, Texas, was trading for about $19 a barrel below Brent crude, the global benchmark price. Even Pioneer Natural Resources Co., with relatively strong finances and secure pipeline contracts, has been swept up, Williams Capital's Sorbara said by telephone. It's lost $3.2 billion in market value, or 9 percent, since May 21. While the shortages are real, he deems much of the market selloff overblown," since even discounted Permian crude is selling for well above where many producers set their budgets earlier this year. Diverse Portfolios Investors, though, are fleeing to the relative safety of larger names with more diverse portfolios such as Occidental Petroleum Corp., whose shares are flat over the past couple weeks. The Permian's biggest oil producer also pumps in the Middle East and Colombia, with roughly 40 percent of its output this year based on higher international crude pricing, Capital One Securities said in an analyst note. The company also operates pipelines and a Gulf Coast export terminal that will benefit from cheaper U.S. crude prices. The largest companies or companies with diverse portfolios can rotate capital around, Sorbara said. If you're a pure play, the only thing you can do is step on the brakes. Inland Refiners With bottlenecks between the Permian and major Gulf Coast refiners, operators in other parts of the country served by less congested pipelines have a relative advantage, analysts say. That includes Delek US Holdings Inc., CVR Refining LP and HollyFrontier Corp. -- with refineries in New Mexico, Arkansas and northeastern Texas, among other locations, according to Barclays Plc. Delek gets about 78 percent of its crude from the Permian, HollyFrontier gets 39 percent and CVR gets 14 percent, the bank said in a June 5 analyst report. Delek shares have climbed 7.5 percent in the past two weeks while CVR is up 3.3 percent and HollyFrontier is up 1 percent. "Simply put, we think U.S. refiners win big with lower input costs," analysts including Justin Jenkins at Raymond James & Associates said in a June 4 note. Pipeline Demand Enterprise Products Partners LP and Magellan Midstream Partners LP also stand to benefit from the blow out in Midland prices as they own crucial pipelines in the Permian and dock space on the Gulf used for exports -- and have plans to add more. The very idea of congestion is beneficial," said Sandy Fielden, director of oil research at Chicago-based Morningstar Inc. If I'm going to pitch my new pipeline or expand my pipeline, and I'm going to hold my open season, I can expect to see a full crowd there anxious to sign up quickly." Enterprise started full service in April on its 416-mile Midland-to-Sealy pipeline, which can carry some 575,000 barrels per day of crude from the heart of the Permian to key export facilities in Houston. They also own the lion's share of crude storage tanks and docks along the Gulf. Magellan operates and owns part of the 400,000 barrel-a-day BridgeTex pipeline, transporting oil from the Permian to Corpus Christi, Texas. That route is scheduled for expansion in early 2019 because of added interest. The company said last month that almost all existing customers on its Longhorn pipeline, connecting the Permian to Houston, have renewed their contracts for two years. ________________________ Twitter: @petroleumworld1 Petroleumworld.com Hit your target - Advertise with Us Pizzeria Vetri and street artist Amberella have teamed up to create a special edition Pride pie in celebration of LGBT Pride Month. One dollar from every pie, available June 7-14, will be donated to Philly Pride Presents. Read more Want to celebrate LGBT Pride Month this June with a rainbow full of pizza toppings? Pizzeria Vetri and local street artist Amberella have teamed up on a project that invites you to do just that. From Thursday to June 14, the pizzeria will offer a specialty Pride pie, topped with leafy green sorrel, charred purple and orange carrots, beige pine nut pesto, and multiple shades of cheesy white (stracciatella, parmigiano). Adding to the color, pies will come packaged in a vibrant, custom-designed box by Amberella, featuring a heart encircling the phrase "choose love," surrounded by swirls of all different hues. "We did a Valentine's Day collaboration last year that was really fun and wanted to collaborate again," Amberella said. "We thought about who we are as brands and what we each care about, and that's when we decided to do something around Pride. We've been planning this for almost a year." The pizza, called the Arcobaleno "rainbow" in Italian is $17. For every pie sold, $1 will be donated to Philly Pride Presents, the organizers behind the annual PrideDay (this Sunday) and OutFest (held in October). The pie will be available in-store at all Philly and King of Prussia locations, as well as in D.C., where $1 from every specialty pie will be donated to D.C.'s Capital Pride Alliance, an advocate for LGBT rights. Customers also can order the pie for delivery via Caviar. " 'Choose love' is a reminder to not be reactive, to think about other people's feelings, and to be more thoughtful in actions and words," Amberella said. "If you have that intent about you, it will really change how you go about your day and interact with other people. "It's important to me as an artist to share what I stand behind," Amberella said. "This concept represents inclusion and love to everyone, and we're inviting others to share their own stories in efforts to inspire others." CEO Joel Anderson poses in the entryway in the new corporate headquarters dubbed "WowTown" of his Philadelphia-based Five Below February 12, 2018, in the former Lit Brothers building. Read more Shares of Five Below, the Center City-based chain of youth-oriented dollar stores, jumped as much as 23 percent in trading Thursday morning to nearly $100 a share, the highest since it went public in 2012 after posting higher-than-expected first-quarter sales and profits late Wednesday. The stock closed up 22 percent to $99.05 on Thursday. "Slime, smiley, squishy, spa, and mermaid trends continued to be popular," chief executive Joel Anderson told investors in a conference call. But he warned that it could be hard to show similar growth in the second quarter: Last year's "spinners craze" will be tough to top. Five Below total sales jumped 27 percent over a year earlier, to $296 million for the quarter. After-tax profits nearly doubled, to $25.8 million from $13.1 million in the year-earlier quarter, as Five Below opened 33 new stores in 18 states. The company also benefited from the Trump cuts in corporate tax rates: While pretax profits nearly doubled, Five Below's income tax payments declined, compared with a year earlier. The 33 new stores mark an "all-time high in terms of grand openings this quarter," noted analyst Scot Ciccarelli of RBC Capital Markets. Anderson said most of the stores were in states where Five Below already does business. The company has also added stores for the first time in California. The company plans to boost the current 658 stores to 750 by the end of the year. Anderson added that the company has upgraded its point-of-sale computer and financial systems and is adding new warehouses, including a facility as big as one million square feet near Atlanta, to support an eventual network of 2,500 U.S. stores. Five Below's business is highly seasonal, with fourth-quarter sales around Christmas roughly double those of other quarters. There's also a bump in the summer months. This summer, Anderson told investors that Five Below will chase your kids' dollars with "mobile social-media campaigns, designed to promote interest and brand awareness at a local level and many of our markets." The company is also pushing print circulars pushing the "giant llama pool float, make-your-own squishy toys, and a new jumbo umbrella tent" for the beach. "I love his cooking," Christina Sterner says about her husband, Steve Poses. "I never cook, and he enjoys it all." The couple also takes advantage of the South Philadelphia restaurant scene. Read more When Steve Poses, creator of legendary Philadelphia restaurants the Frog and the Commissary, moved from Rittenhouse Square to South Philadelphia with his wife, Christina Sterner, several friends asked, "Why?" Sterner explained that she looked at more than 100 possible condominium buildings and various neighborhoods before settling on the 2,400-square-foot penthouse in a former Curtis Publishing Co. warehouse on Washington Avenue, far from fashionable Rittenhouse Square. "I feel this area is more lively than Rittenhouse Square, and there are more ethnic restaurants and more diversity in the neighborhood," said Poses, who has spent 47 years in Philadelphia restaurant leadership. He now directs and Sterner manages the Frog Commissary in the Franklin Institute. Their condo is one of eight two-story penthouses built above the former warehouse, which now houses 78 residential units. "We like the fact that the building is only 10 stories tall, and you don't have the feeling you are living in a high-rise," Sterner said. After they bought the unit, they brought in Philadelphia architect Anthony Miksitz to turn the kitchen into a laboratory for cooking innovation and the dining area into an auditorium. It is no secret that Poses and Sterner "like to eat," Poses said. The kitchen had to be an asset in Poses' culinary creative process, Miksitz was told. The architect was asked to make over the first floor, which was largely unchanged from when the warehouse was converted to a residential building 10 years ago. "There was no defined entry," Miksitz said. "You saw the kitchen when you came in from the hall. The entry hall had a series of small rooms for utilities, a broom closet, another closet, and the stairway to the bedrooms upstairs took up space in the hall." Miksitz's design gutted the first floor and removed and replaced several walls to create an entry foyer, important to the couple, who have a ritual of insisting that friends and family remove their shoes. "Now you are not immediately dumped into the kitchen space," Miksitz said. "There is a sense of drama as you arrive. You enter into the foyer, which has a lower ceiling and gives a confined feeling, and you then proceed to the hall with the coat cabinet, which begins to open up with a higher ceiling and angled wall before you enter the living room, which is the climax with a broad view of South Philly." Now the 500-square-foot kitchen, white with glowing cylinder lights above, can be entered from the foyer. A marble island, where the couple like to eat when they have no company, faces the cooking equipment, sinks, and various faucets for carbonated and tap water. A restaurant-like pass-through between the cooking area and the island helps define the chef's space. "I love his cooking," Sterner said. "I never cook, and he enjoys doing it all. The pass-through was designed to separate the diners from the cook and inhibit them from talking to himhe doesn't like to talk while he is cooking. He is very sociable before and after, but we don't talk to him while he cooks." On the walls of the kitchen and dining room are shelves that Miksitz helped design. Some are lined with Sterner's collection of graceful champagne glasses. In the dining area, against the wall of windows looking out toward Center City, an unvarnished maple table is surrounded with eight chairs and contrasts with Epi flooring underneath. The living room, on the other side of the staircase, has a light-gray leather seating arrangement of two sofas with golden pillows accenting the rug and wood floor. Outside the windows is a 2,500-foot terrace that surrounds the penthouse. Poses and Sterner have planted some Pennsylvania grasses and flowers in wooden boxes. A large wooden table and comfortable seating area can be heated so the couple can entertain outdoors until late December. "We are very happy here," Poses said. "We are across from Vietnamese, Italian, and Indonesian restaurants, and we eat out several nights a week. The passion for food is with us and this is a good place to be." Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz and the company's image are 'inextricably tied' according to some brand experts. Read more Will he or won't he? Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz, who said Monday he would retire later this month from the coffee giant he built, has Washington percolating over a possible presidential run. In interviews with media outlets this week, Schultz said he was considering a run for public office and didn't rule out taking a grande shot at the White House. Asked directly whether he worried Starbucks' brand could get wrapped up in any political campaign, Schultz said in a CNBC interview that "there is an anomaly here," noting "my connection and association with the company, we'd have to deal with that. But we're a long way from that." Indeed it would be. While other business leaders have run for president or even become one a campaign by someone who essentially founded one of the world's most global, publicly-traded consumer brands is extremely rare, if not unprecedented. Donald Trump headed up a privately-owned family business. Mitt Romney led a large private-equity firm that buys up companies. Carly Fiorina ran HP but was not its founder. Ross Perot started data-processing and IT services companies. CEOs have been speaking out more on social issues or wading into political topics, raising questions about how doing so could damage their company's reputation in an increasingly tribal and divisive marketplace. But a former CEO of a multinational consumer brand actually running for president diving deeper into public-policy specifics, drawing scrutiny for past practices from political journalists, becoming the subject of opposition research could bring even more potential blowback. Should Schultz run, "political opponents on both sides of the aisle, since he'd be in the primary process, will begin to tear apart every business decision he's made how he's traded his shares, every aspect of his executive decision making, his employee relationships," said Bruce Haynes, vice chair of Sard Verbinnen's new public affairs office in Washington. Whatever they found "doesn't just reflect on him it reflects on the brand." Starbucks has long touted its generosity with employees, talking up the health care, "bean stock" and online college tuition benefits it gives baristas, and Schultz has long spoken openly about Starbucks' corporate values of community, inclusion, and "humanity." He has led an effort to help jobless youth find work, lobbied his corporate peers to hold off on campaign contributions to push for action in Washington, and coproduced a documentary series about Americans who engage in acts of citizenship. That, combined with efforts like the vow to hire 10,000 refugees globally following Trump's travel ban order last year, or remarks about gun control or same-sex marriage, mean Schultz's political leanings won't surprise anyone, brand experts say. "It's no secret where he stands on most of those issues," said Peter Horst, a former chief marketing officer of Hershey and author of the recent book Marketing in the Fake News Era: New rules for a new reality of tribalism, activism, and loss of trust. "I think they've embedded themselves in such a meaningful way in consumers' lives that it's not likely to be shaken by a particular policy surprise" if he runs, Horst said. The company's history of publicizing its business practices also means Starbucks may be more prepared than the average company for scrutiny if Schultz decides to run, said Aaron Chatterji, a professor at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business who has studied CEO activism. "Opponents will think if they can take down Starbucks, they can take down Schultz because he would be building his campaign on his business experience," Chatterji said. But while he expects the company to be a target, "this is a company that's used to being in the limelight and has a strong and well-developed communications team." Yet, Starbucks' history is also not without controversial episodes that could reemerge in a political campaign, drawing attention to issues the company might rather not see the spotlight again. Recently, Starbucks came under fire for the arrests of two black men in one of its Philadelphia stores, and Schultz's "race together" campaign back in 2015 was widely derided. The company has come under scrutiny for scheduling irregularities it promised to fix, for instance, and has had past run-ins with union-organizing efforts. Haynes points to headlines that zeroed in on Bain Capital's business decisions when Romney was a candidate, noting the risk of any possible ones about job cuts or past decisions by Starbucks to close stores in politically sensitive places, such as swing states. "The lens of politics is very different from the lens of business," Haynes said, noting that Schultz, who built the company into the juggernaut it is today, is "inextricably tied to the brand." "Something may be a smart business decision, but in the political arena, it's 'I can't believe you treated people that way.' " The Washington Post reported that as of April, only two of the 19 companies Trump listed that were paying him to produce or distribute Trump-branded consumer goods were still doing so. Some quit in response to Trump's rhetoric on immigrants and Muslims during the campaign, while others said their licensing agreements had expired. There's a different risk for companies like Starbucks that have built up a values-driven sheen to their brands, experts say. Those who tout corporate ideals such as diversity, inclusion, and civility can be ultimately held to a higher standard if something goes wrong, said Americus Reed, a marketing professor at the Wharton School. Still, he believes that if Starbucks and Schultz can manage to keep separate the two brands the corporate coffee giant's and the potential candidate's the risk will be limited. Reed said research has shown that even if people sound off on social media with complaints, their buying behavior rarely changes. "At the end of the day, are you going to stop going to Starbucks?" he said. "The answer is probably no, when it comes down to it, people don't usually do that." Michael Smerconish speaking at Delaware Valley University's Commencement ceremony in Doylestown, in May 2018. Read more Donald Trump was the Voldemort, the "he who must not be named," of this year's commencement season. While many high-profile speakers certainly addressed the current political climate, none dared do so with specificity. That was the right call. It was an approach I myself followed. There was Oprah at USC's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. ("You will become the new editorial gatekeepers, an ambitious army of truth-seekers who will arm yourselves with the intelligence, with the insights, and the facts necessary to strike down deceit.") Michael Bloomberg at Rice University. ("Today, those in politics routinely dismiss any inconvenient information, no matter how factual, as fake and they routinely say things that are demonstrably false.") Tim Cook at Duke University. ("Our country is deeply divided, and too many Americans refuse to hear any opinion that differs from their own. And yet, we are not powerless in the face of these problems. You are not powerless to fix them.") Rex Tillerson at Virginia Military Institute. ("Demand our pursuit of America's future be fact-based, not based on wishful thinking, not hoped-for outcomes made in shallow promises.") Hillary Clinton at Yale University. ("We're living at a time when fundamental rights, civic virtues, freedom of the press, even facts and reason, are under assault like never before.") And Al Gore at the University of Maryland. ("When the heart and soul of our democracy is being challenged, what have you done?") For former Obama presidential speechwriter David Litt, those allusions were not enough. Litt took to the Daily Beast to argue that Trump be named. "Talking about President Trump, rather than a hypothetical person who we all know to be President Trump, would also speak directly to young people increasingly confused by society's style guide. To the newest generation of Americans, oblique criticism is often not a sign of courtesy but of insincerity," he wrote. One day after Litt's prodding, Sen. Jeff Flake was more direct when speaking at the Harvard Law School. "This is it, if you have been wondering what the bottom looks like. This is what it looks like when you stress-test all of the institutions that undergird our constitutional democracy, at the same time," he said. When I was invited to offer a commencement address at Delaware Valley University, I paid particular attention to what others were saying. I, too, wanted to address our political climate but thought that to reference the president's name would violate the "time and place" rule by which I was raised. Besides, I view what ails the nation as larger than any one person. Early on, I decided to address citizenship. So I began my speech by giving the graduates an oral exam four questions drawn from the naturalization test: The House of Representatives has how many voting members? What do we call the first 10 amendments to the Constitution? How many justices are on the Supreme Court of the United States? On what day was the Declaration of Independence adopted? For "extra credit" I asked: In what year was the Constitution written? (Answers below.) Most of the graduates bypassed this test because their citizenship came with their birth in this country. "But ask yourself," I said, "if your citizenship were dependent upon your knowledge of our government, would you make it?" By any number of objective measures, our knowledge of our government and our participation in our communities are on the decline. And given our polarized political environment, that couldn't come at a worse time. Almost 50 percent of Americans don't know that a 5-4 Supreme Court decision holds the same weight as a 9-0 decision. Only one-quarter of Americans can name all three branches of government. And less than 1 in 4 young people are considered proficient in civic knowledge. Not to mention, we just lived through one of the most electrifying elections in our nation's history say what you will about the major candidates but dull it was not. Nevertheless, 102 million eligible voters sat it out! What a shame where our deliberative process does not involve guns or knives, our representation is not dependent on a bloodline, nor who has the most feared army. We settle our scores when the curtain is drawn on a ballot box. That is, when people show up to vote. Coincidentally, a few days before speaking at Delaware Valley University, I'd spoken in a retirement village, the Pine Run Community. There, I'd met a 90-year-old gentleman named Oskar Larsson, who had worked for 35 years as the Delaware Valley registrar. Larsson told me that on his watch, students were actually graded for citizenship. Professors would weigh in on not only academic achievement but also the extent to which the students were good citizens. "Ask yourself," I said, "if the practice continued, what would your transcript reveal?" Finally, I said this: "No matter your political outlook, I hope we can agree that never in the modern era has there been such a need for civic engagement. That is my wish for you today. Like your parents, siblings, friends, and now former faculty, I too want you to go forth and conquer your professional goals. That you be prosperous. Fall in love. Raise families. Be kind. But also that you be good citizens. Pay attention to public affairs. Get out of your bubble and sample a variety of news outlets. Be active in your communities. Vote. Volunteer. Take ownership of this country. It's your watch now. The fate of the nation is in your hands." Answer key: 435; the Bill of Rights; nine; July 4, 1776; and 1787. President Donald Trump has accepted an offer of a summit from the North Korean leader and will meet with Kim Jong Un by May, a top South Korean official said Thursday, March 8, 2018, in a remarkable turnaround in relations between two historic adversaries. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, Wong Maye-E, File) Read more The Singapore summit between President Trump and Kim Jong Un will be the most riveting reality show of the Trump presidency. It's not just the optics of two leaders who are consummate showmen with daunting hairdos trying to upstage each other in front of a zillion cameras. And it's not just the unpredictability as the secretive but shrewd North Korean faces a U.S. leader who hates briefings and loves to deviate from his script. This is about real stuff, about whether a North Korea that is a full-blown nuclear power with intercontinental ballistic missiles that can reach the U.S. mainland is really ready to shed its nuclear weapons. And about whether Trump has a realistic strategy or, in the glamour of the moment, will be played by Kim. >> READ MORE: Your catch-up guide to the North Korea summit As we approach the Tuesday moment, here's what to watch for to help you assess the summit state of play. Check out the optics, because they matter Too much Trump bonhomie, hugs, or public flattery will only bolster Kim's astonishingly swift rise from "little rocket man" to a global leader wooed by Beijing, Moscow, and Seoul, and now sitting across from the U.S. president So watch to see if the summit produces more than another Trump bromance a "get-to-know-you situation," as Trump put it. Will a detailed framework and timetable for denuclearization emerge? Does the summit deliver a big bang or the beginning of a long negotiating process? Will Trump accept the latter? When the summit talk first started, the White House insisted its goal was the complete, verifiable, and irreversible destruction of North Korea's nuclear weapons, or CVID. Trump's national security adviser, John Bolton, cited the Libyan model, in which Muammar Gaddafi's minimal program with no nukes was dismantled in three months. "CVID is a pipe dream," says Joel Wit, a former U.S. diplomat involved in past negotiations with North Korea, who is now a senior fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington. "The issue for us is, how far can we get in that direction? A freeze [of nuclear and missile testing], rolling back, and dismantling is not something that happens overnight." Indeed, CVID is a distant, probably unachievable goal given Pyongyang's cache of over 60 nukes and its enormous program. The president, on a steep learning curve, has started backpedaling on a big bang and talking about process, and Bolton has been curbed (for now). But a long process would make the negotiations look more like those of the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations, which blocked Pyongyang's nuclear progress for years, but ultimately failed. >> READ MORE: Will Trump's deal-making backfire and embroil U.S. in new wars? | Trudy Rubin "There's nothing Trump can say at the summit that will convince Kim [to completely end his program] but he could set the tone for serious talks while testing Kim along the way,"says Suzanne DiMaggio, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation and director of a U.S.-North Korea dialogue that included several visits to North Korea, Will Trump have the patience for the long haul? Will the summit produce peace in our time (between North and South Korea)? There are rumors that there will be some sort of announcement of an end to the war between North and South Korea, attended by South Korean President Moon Jai-in (the 1953 war ended with a U.N. armistice). This would provide high drama, but would make it much harder for Trump to re-exert any military pressure on North Korea if arms talks went nowhere. This is why previous U.S. presidents have opposed pursuit of a formal North-South peace accord before the nuclear issues are addressed. Whos the better deal-maker, Trump or Kim? "Kim has proven himself to be a really savvy negotiator," says DiMaggio. Very true. The summit will provide Kim with the recognition he and his father sought in vain from previous U.S. presidents, and Trump has delivered it before any progress on divesting North Korean nukes. Moreover, Kim has used the prospect of talks to undercut the sanctions regime that helped get him to the table. Beijing is already informally loosening sanctions while Russia has called for their lifting and invited Kim to Moscow. Meantime, South Korea's President Moon the prime mover behind the summit is moving ahead with peace efforts, with or without Trump. >> READ MORE: Hold the Trump Nobel! Korea talks will be a long haul | Trudy Rubin In other words, Kim is wooing the regional leaders whom Trump will need to exert future leverage on Pyongyang. "This administration is focused on bilateral talks but there is no evidence it has the skills and capacity to do multilateral diplomacy," says DiMaggio. Indeed, Trump canceled the Singapore summit without notifying South Korea, and has treated Seoul cavalierly on trade. Will Trump give away the store? In the countdown to the summit, many Korea experts wonder whether Trump might fall prey to Kim's demands that he reduce U.S. troops on the Korean peninsula before denuclearization, worrying Asian allies that America no longer has their back. "He could get caught up in a moment of personal glory where he could give up the whole store," muses DiMaggio. "He's got to be ready to resist his instincts to make a bad deal." The reality of Trump's deal-making talents will be on full display in Singapore. A 7-year-old Philadelphia boy was left alone on a school bus for hours for the second time in two weeks. Read more For the second time in two weeks, a Philadelphia first-grade student found himself alone, abandoned, in an empty city school bus after he fell asleep on the way to school Wednesday and no one noticed. The 7-year-old, who attends a private school in West Philadelphia, woke up scared and disoriented in the hot, locked bus, his parents said. By midday, police and the School District were investigating the incident. On May 29, the same boy had an identical experience, when he was left on an empty bus for four hours and discovered only after his frantic parents made calls to their school, Quba Institute, to try to find their son. This time, the boy, Atif Ibn-Kayzar, was left on the bus for perhaps 90 minutes, said his father, Kayzar Sanders. Atif had fallen asleep again, and despite promises from All City Transportation Co., the driver did not check the bus before leaving it, Sanders said. Police would not confirm an investigation Wednesday or that they took the unnamed driver into custody. Lee Whack, a spokesman for the Philadelphia School District, which is responsible for transportation for nonpublic students, said that "overseeing the safe transport of our students on a daily basis is one of our most important responsibilities." Drivers must follow district procedures, Whack said, and "falling short of those standards is unacceptable." He said the district was working with All City and the police to look into the matter. A person who answered the phone at All City Transportation, which is based in Southwest Philadelphia, said: "The situation is under investigation, they're trying to get to the bottom of everything." She declined to say more. Sanders said the All City driver parked the bus outside of his home after making his morning run, not knowing the boy was asleep in the back. When Atif woke up, he grew upset and banged on the bus window, his father said. "Some ladies were walking past, and they told him to lower the window," Sanders said. "They said, 'Are you all right?' and he said, 'I don't know where I am.'" The neighbors called police, who took Atif to their station and called his incredulous and frantic parents. "I couldn't believe it," said April Silver, Atif's mom. "I feel horrible that my son had to go through this again." She said the driver who left her boy on the bus last month was a substitute and was fired after the May incident, and that she and her husband received assurances from All City that such an error would never happen again. "They were apologetic," said Silver. "They said in all their years of operation, that had never happened." After that first incident, Atif couldn't understand why no one had awoken him and was afraid to go back on the bus, his parents said. But they convinced him it was safe to ride again, they said, in part because he knew his regular driver, a well-known presence and a man they call Mr. Joe. "He's 7 he was scared," Sanders said. "I said, 'You've got to be a big man, you've got to take the bus. It's OK as long as Mr. Joe is the driver.'" The driver had been caring for his wife, who was ill. He apparently parked the bus outside his home between school runs. The School District frequently contracts out bus routes, and has run into trouble with vendors in the past. There is a national shortage of school bus drivers. Won't You Be My Neighbor? is the moving documentary story of "Mister" Fred Rogers, a religious man who found something holy in his mission to create television for children drowning in cultural junk. This was junk, by the way, that many of us consumed voraciously, and without regret. I was raised happily on Jay Ward and Chuck Jones. On Bullwinkle, Rocky, and Fractured Fairy Tales. I had no time or inclination for the un-fractured fairy tales of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, with its earnest didactic puppets and instructive parables. >> READ MORE: How going to Penn inspired the director of Mister Rogers doc 'Won't You Be My Neighbor?' As far as I was concerned, Rogers was Dudley Do-Right. Such a goody two-shoes who actually made a point of putting on two pairs of shoes when he starting his show. The show arrived in Pittsburgh about the same cultural time as the Johnny Seven OMA (one-man army) toy rifle, perhaps the most irresponsible and simultaneously awesome toy (three missiles, a grenade launcher, tripod) ever invented. Kids in our neighborhood were both free range and down range. This is what Rogers was up against. You actually see it in Won't You Be My Neighbor?, which contains priceless, vintage TV footage of a commercial aimed at selling toy weapons to children lever-action BB guns magically tumble forth from the console television, into the hands of ecstatic children who race off to shoot them. What did Rogers, the abstemious beanpole, have to offer as an alternative? Nothing, it turns out, except God's love. You don't have to be a fan to be walloped by this revelation in Neighbor, which tracks Rogers' roots as a bullied boy (Fat Freddie in middle school) who's on his way to being a Presbyterian minister when an epiphany directs him instead into television, where he's called to counter forces of pie-in-the-face juvenalia commandeering the eyeballs (and perhaps the souls) of the nation's children. You could argue there's evidence in Rogers' story of intelligent design Rogers' work takes him to a PBS station in Pittsburgh, which puts him in the orbit of the pioneering University of Pittsburgh child psychologists T. Berry Brazelton and Margaret McFarland, who were starting to understand the important emotional and psychological lives of children. Rogers soaks up their groundbreaking ideas and invokes them in his calling reaching, teaching, and nurturing children through his television program. His own kids called him "the Second Jesus." Won't You Be My Neighbor? emphasizes that Rogers never used the show to proselytize. Yet the sacred nature of his mission was there in his work talking sincerely and usefully to children about divorce, disability, death. The assassination of a president. The explosion of a space shuttle. He spoke eloquently to a nation of troubled kids, and to individual children (as we see here), who flourished under his respectful attention. >> READ MORE: Movie Preview: Here's what to see in theaters this summer It is a portrait not of grinding earnestness but of a penetrating sincerity, the kind that reduces the cynical, the skeptical, and the callous to tears tears Rogers would routinely produce among adults when asking them, at commencement addresses, to stop and think for 10 seconds about someone who "loved them into being." Emotions also arise from the possibility that society's answer to the movie's title question is no. We see little evidence today that Rogers' mission to raise a generation on "love thy neighbor" empathy has succeeded, and no wonder if television is an implacable foe, what would Fred Rogers who allowed only two edits per show make of the internet, which offers endless, algorithmic loops of rapid-fire YouTube stimuli designed to "systematically frighten, traumatise, and abuse children, automatically and at scale"? The film ends with conservative media heat-seekers denouncing Rogers a lifelong Republican as "evil" for teaching that each child is "special." But each child is special, Rogers believed, because each has been endowed with God's love. At his funeral in 2003, fundamentalists show up to denounce homosexuality, especially depressing given the film's heartfelt passage about the friendship between Rogers and a gay cast member. Rogers, like most believers, sometimes had doubts about his mission, but never gave up, or in. His faith made him strong. He would surely have spiritual resolve to endure the current moment, the Barrs and the Bees. He would calmly ask us to summon our better angels, with his familiar benediction: I knew that you could. That makes one of us. MOVIES Won't You Be My Neighbor? Retired Lt. Col. Ralph Peters, a former Fox News contributor who in the past harshly criticized President Barack Obama's foreign policy, unloaded on his former network in an interview with CNN on Wednesday night for its part in pushing a baseless conspiracy theory about the FBI spying on President Trump's 2016 campaign. "For years, I was glad to be associated with Fox. It was a legitimate conservative and libertarian outlet, and a necessary one," Peters said. "But with the rise of Donald Trump, Fox did become a destructive propaganda machine, and I don't do propaganda for anyone." >> READ MORE: 'You can't be serious' Eagles players rip Fox News for misleading segment Peters, a Pottstown native who attended Penn State before enlisting in the Army in 1976, said the network's prime-time opinion hosts shoulder the blame for undermining public support in the FBI and special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Hosts like Sean Hannity have been repeatedly pushing unfounded theories for the last year about a "deep state" determined to tear down Trump and his administration, the latest dubbed "Spygate" by the president himself. "I suspect Hannity really believes it. The others are smarter. They know what they're doing," Peters said. "It's bewildering to me. I mean, I wanted to just cry out and say, how can you do this? How can you lie to our country? How can you knowingly attack our Constitution, the bedrock of our system of government, the bedrock of our country?" Peters, who spent much of his military career focusing on Russia, wrote in a Washington Post op-ed in March that Fox News blocked him from speaking about Russia on the network. On CNN, Peters has no such restrictions, and accused Trump of being in the grip of Russian President Vladimir Putin. "Before he became a candidate or president, Donald Trump was the perfect target for Russian intelligence. Here is someone who has no self-control, a sense of sexual entitlement, and intermittent financial crisis. I mean, that's made-to-order for seduction by Russian intelligence," Peters said. "And, look, I may be wrong. I hope I'm wrong. I hope he doesn't have a grip on him. But the dossier rings true. I think in the future, we're going to look back at the much-maligned Christopher Steele, who took that dossier to the FBI, as something of a hero." Watch: Fox News responded to Peters' comments by reissuing a statement first released in March, which stated, "Ralph Peters is entitled to his opinion despite the fact that he's choosing to use it as a weapon in order to gain attention. We are extremely proud of our top-rated primetime hosts and all of our opinion programing." The network also denied to the Washington Post that Peters was "blocked" from talking about Russia during his appearances on the network. So far, there is nothing to support the president's assertions about a "witch hunt." Even House Speaker Paul Ryan said Wednesday he has seen "no evidence" that the FBI planted a spy within Trump's presidential campaign. In recent days, a number of Republican senators and House members have also denounced the president's claims. "What is the point of saying that there was a spy in the campaign when there was none?" Rep. Tom Rooney (R., Fla.), a top lawmaker on the House Intelligence Committee, told Politico on Wednesday. "You know what I'm saying? It's like, 'Let's create this thing to tweet about knowing that it's not true.' Maybe it's just to create more chaos, but it doesn't really help the case." >> READ MORE: Kellyanne Conway says she's still an Eagles fan in CNN interview even the host called 'silly' Rep. Trey Gowdy (R., S.C.), the chairman of the House Oversight Committee who oversaw the Republican investigation into the Benghazi deaths, publicly defended the Justice Department's actions in an appearance on Fox News. "I am even more convinced that the FBI did exactly what my fellow citizens would want them to do when they got the information they got, and that it has nothing to do with Donald Trump," Gowdy said. "President Trump himself in the Comey memos said, `If anyone connected with my campaign was working with Russia, I want you to investigate it,' and it sounds to me like that is exactly what the FBI did." Peters isn't the only person calling out the prime-time opinion hosts on Fox News. The network's own news division, led by Shepard Smith Reporting host Shepard Smith, has repeatedly fact-checked claims involving baseless theories and false statements designed to defend Trump. "President Trump has also claimed the feds spied on his campaign with an informant. The president calls it 'Spygate,' " Smith said last week during his show. "Fox News can confirm it is not. Fox News knows of no evidence to support the president's claim." In the last week, Smith has reported that the Trump administration lied about a campaign meeting with a Russian operative involving Donald Trump Jr., fact-checked claims Mueller's investigation was a "witch hunt," and pushed back on assertions made by the White House that members of the Super Bowl-champion Eagles knelt in protest during the national anthem last season. "It is the reporting of Fox News that every Eagle stood at every game every time. None knelt," Smith said. "The entire team stood for the anthem every game last season." Tawanda Preston, a patient navigator at a Drexel University infectious diseases clinic, holds a sign saying "All Pennsylvanians Deserve Access" during a state advisory committee discussion in Mechanicsburg, Pa., last year. Read more Hepatitis C patients are routinely being denied access to life-saving medication at a time when the liver disease is on the rise, especially among intravenous drug users, according to new analysis by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine. The number of new reported cases of acute hepatitis C in Pennsylvania soared 240 percent between 2012 and 2016, to 225, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which the agency linked to a rise in injected-drug use. Yet according to the university study released Thursday, many patients may not be getting the treatment they need. Half of patients with private insurance were denied coverage for the pill regimen, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars, according to a review of thousands of prescription claims between January 2016 and April 2017. Across all payers, including Medicare and Medicaid, 35 percent of prescriptions for the treatment were denied. "Despite effective hepatitis C drugs and despite attention paid toward restrictions in access to drugs, denials are still common," said Vincent Lo Re III, an associate professor of infectious disease and epidemiology at Penn and a senior author of the study. "If we're going to hope to eliminate hepatitis C as a public health problem, we need to improve access to antiviral drugs." "Eliminating hep C is a feasible goal but that's going to be hard to achieve if payers are not reimbursing for the treatment," he added in a statement. The newest generation of hep C drugs, which debuted in 2014, has revolutionized treatment, making it far more successful. But the drugs' high cost has prompted insurers to restrict coverage to just patients with advanced stages of the liver infection. Most treatments involve taking a pill once a day for 8 to 12 weeks, and cost $35,000 to $95,000. In smaller studies shortly after the drugs became available in 2014, the researchers found that 8 percent to 16 percent of prescriptions were being denied. Since then, several states including Pennsylvania have loosened restrictions for Medicaid patients in response to pressure from advocates and the threat of class-action lawsuits. As of January, Medicaid covers hepatitis C treatment for all Pennsylvania patients. The program used to limit coverage to patients showing signs of liver damage. Researchers had hypothesized that greater awareness, loosening of restrictions, and greater drug competition would improve access to treatment since their last study, Lo Re said. But it hasn't worked out that way. Their analysis of prescriptions from 9,025 patients in 45 states over a 16-month period ending April 2017 submitted to Diplomat Pharmacy Inc., which provides pharmacy services across the country, showed otherwise: Overall, 35.5 percent of prescriptions a total of 3,200 prescriptions were denied. Commercial insurance had the highest denial rates, with 52.4 percent of patients denied coverage Medicaid denied 34.5 percent of prescriptions and Medicare denied 14.7 percent of requests. Pennsylvania accounted for about 31.5 percent of all prescriptions analyzed by researchers. Here, 45.7 percent of prescriptions were denied. Medicaid denied 52.2 percent of prescriptions in Pennsylvania, far outpacing the national rate. The study period predated the state's new regulations. Medicare and private insurance denial rates in Pennsylvania were in line with the national trend. Lo Re said it was not clear in the data why prescriptions were denied because insurers did not report a reason to Diplomat. Independence Blue Cross, the region's largest insurer, did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication. Jack Hildick-Smith, co-chair of the Hepatitis C Allies of Philadelphia, said he's optimistic that the state's new Medicaid policy for hepatitis C treatment will improve access to patients, but there's still much work to be done, especially as infection rates rise in tandem with the city's opioid epidemic. "Now that the policies have changed, it would be great to see hep C treatment become more integrated into primary care which would make access much easier for patients," Hildick-Smith said in an email. "In particular, given the scope of Philadelphia's opioid crisis and the fact that stigma can make health care access challenging for many people with a history of drug use, having treatment available in settings where people feel comfortable is important." Over-the-counter teething medicines for infants are both ineffective and dangerous and sometimes even fatal. The most common active ingredient, benzocaine, a local anesthetic, can cause a blood disease, methemoglobinemia, which prevents red blood cells from carrying oxygen to the baby's body. Also, rubbing medicine with benzocaine on the gums when a child is teething does not seem to help the pain any better than just rubbing the gums without medicine. When I was a very young doctor, hysterical parents ran into my office with a 3-month-old baby who had turned blue. The child was breathing rapidly, but wasn't in enough distress yet for there to be a lung or heart problem. I gave the child oxygen, then spoke with the parents. They mentioned that they had used baby teething medication. While waiting for the ambulance, I learned that the mother, father, and grandmother had all rubbed the baby's gums with a benzocaine preparation in a short period of time because the baby was crying and drooling the classic symptoms of teething. We were lucky that I had oxygen in my office, the ambulance came quickly, and the hospital had methylene blue (the antidote for methemoglobinemia) readily available. The lower a baby's weight, the more likely this awful side effect is to happen. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued another warning last month that medicated teething gels should never be used in children under 2. I personally have written for many years to never use this medicine on anybody because it is potentially harmful and does not work. Why doesn't the FDA just ban it? Legally, it cannot. Currently, over-the-counter drug products can go on the market without FDA pre-approval if they adhere to the agency's monograph system for their active ingredients such as what form it will take (i.e. a liquid or tablet) and the information for the label. That means the only immediate action the FDA can take is to strongly advise parents and physicians against using these products and ask companies to voluntarily remove them from store shelves. Elizabeth Jungman, director of public health programs at the Pew Charitable Trust, said: "The FDA needs to be able to act swiftly when safety issues arise with OTC products. Pending federal legislation will give the FDA the authority and resources to deal with potentially harmful products more quickly and decisively." U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.) has been championing Senate bill 2315, she said, and there is a similar bill in the House of Representatives HR 5333. "We just need the leadership of both chambers to bring them to the floor for a vote." This problem is not new. The emergency I described happened more than 35 years ago. Parents have always been overwhelmed by babies crying from teething and have used some truly awful, dangerous methods to stop the pain such as alcohol, paregoric (a strong opioid), and now benzocaine. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends just rubbing the swollen gums with your finger and letting the child chew on hard rubber teething rings. We want to stop the pain and crying immediately, but sometimes you just need to wait it out. I hope that Congress will give the FDA the authority to ban dangerous medications from OTC products. If you care, contact your federal representatives with your opinion now. Prescription guidelines to control opioid addiction can be particularly hard to navigate for cancer patients and their oncologists. Read more Opioids are a mainstay of pain relief for cancer patients, so it may not be surprising that many feel victimized by efforts to curb the nation's opioid addiction epidemic by limiting access to prescription painkillers. But the doctors and nurses who care for those patients are also caught in the middle of the crisis, two University of Pennsylvania experts argue in a recent opinion piece in JAMA Oncology. Cancer clinicians have been hit with conflicting recommendations for prescribing long-term opioid therapy. Worse, the guidance is largely based on opinion because research is lacking, said Salimah H. Meghani, a nursing professor and palliative care expert, and co-author Neha Vapiwala, a radiation oncologist. The lack of research reflects the fact that cancer patients are usually excluded from long-term opioid therapy studies because of "the widely held and time-honored assumption that cancer pain should be regarded differently from other chronic pain conditions," the authors said. >> READ MORE: Opioids are the only way he can manage his cancer pain. Stigma creates more problems The writers are particularly critical of opioid prescribing guidelines issued two years ago by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The advice, aimed at reducing use of the addictive painkillers, has created confusion for cancer clinicians because it defies recommendations from leading oncology groups, including the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. For example, while the CDC guidance exempts cancer patients who are currently in treatment, it applies to those who have finished treatment even though cancer pain can be related to the disease, its treatment, or after-effects of both. Indeed, an American Cancer Society study of survivors found that chronic pain was a leading complaint. The CDC also urges prescribing non-drug pain treatments, such as physical and psychological therapy, even though these are "not consistently covered by insurers and payors," the authors said. In response to the CDC guidance, the American Medical Association passed a resolution, "Ensuring Cancer Patient Access to Pain Medication," and vowed to oppose arbitrary prescription limits. For their part, Meghani and Vapiwala call for studies to figure out the best prescribing practices for cancer patients, and collaboration by key organizations and agencies to resolve inconsistencies in recommendations. "Opioid prescribing practices are a function of complicated decision making processes," the authors conclude, "and clinicians express frustration about how to best navigate an increasingly overwhelming set of institutional, regulatory, and policy requirements while being advocates for their patients with pain." Joanne Phillips, the Delaware County controller, recently unveiled a fraud hotline, the county's first. Creation of the hotline was one of Phillips' priorities on the campaign trail. Read more Delaware County's fiscal watchdog has sharpened its teeth with a new fraud-detection tool, one that puts the county on par with its peers in the region. Controller Joanne Phillips, a Democrat who took office after last November's historic election in the GOP-dominated county, officially launched an anonymous hotline last week for both employees and residents to submit tips about misuse of county resources. It's something the real-estate lawyer has been adamant about during her short tenure, and it served as an integral part of her speeches on the campaign trail. "I think that there's a definite move toward transparency and bringing a new eye to county government," Phillips said, referring to Councilmen Brian Zidek and Kevin Madden, the first Democrats to win a countywide election. "I think that's a good thing, and I think people are on board." But why did it take Delaware County so long to launch a tool that most of the state's larger counties, including Bucks, Montgomery, Chester, and Philadelphia, have used for years? Phillips was quick to point out that none of her new colleagues were against the idea. They were "cooperative and helpful," she said, in working the last few months on the logistics of setting up the phone line and notifying all county offices about the new protocol. "This was that type of thing where people heard about it, everyone recognized it was something that she wanted to do, and no one would dispute the value of this initiative," said Marianne Grace, the county's executive director. "I told her our departments would do anything they could do to help develop this and get it off the ground." Edward O'Lone, Phillips' predecessor and now the finance director in Marple Township, said this week that he had discussed the concept of a hotline with his colleagues, and that it "never came to fruition." John McBlain, chair of the County Council, called Phillips' hotline which didn't require council approval a "fine idea," one that he hopes can guard against waste and root out corruption. When asked about the absence of such a hotline in years past, McBlain said that when previous instances of fraud were detected, the District Attorney's Office and other "checks and balances" were able to handle them quickly and competently. "The fact that we didn't have a hotline before doesn't mean the government operated any worse," McBlain said. "I can point to the city of Philadelphia losing $30 million, and they have a fraud hotline." He was referring to the city's announcement that it had hired an accounting firm to try to reconcile a $33.3 million discrepancy in its bank records. Industry experts say tips, anonymous or otherwise, are overwhelmingly effective in detecting and combating fraud, much more so than internal audits. And tips are enhanced by the presence of hotlines. The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners found that fraud losses were 50 percent smaller at organizations with hotlines, and that organizations without hotlines were twice as likely to discover instances of fraud by accident, according to its 2018 Report to the Nations, a global study on occupational fraud. And some of Delaware County's recent high-profile fraud investigations were discovered exactly that way: accidentally, or years later through internal audits. Jessica Smith McCusker, an Upper Darby tax office worker, last month admitted to stealing $215,000 over six years from her employer. A supervisor quite literally stumbled upon the fraud while looking for office forms inside McCusker's desk drawer, investigators said. In 2012, Christine Trout was fired from her position as the county's register of wills after an internal audit discovered she'd stolen more than $160,000 over five years. Three years later, the District Attorney's Office found that one of its employees, Mary Elizabeth Lynch, had diverted more than $50,000 in cash seized from criminals to buy concert tickets and open up a debit card. Lynch's crimes were found during an audit of assets stored in the office's evidence room. Christy Joy, the controller for Schuylkill County and president of the Pennsylvania State Association of County Controllers, is an ardent proponent of fraud hotlines. They're not "silver bullets" to preventing fraud, he said, but they provide an outlet to reluctant would-be whistle-blowers. "It's effective because in the trenches, the people who are likely to see this fraud immediately are often overwhelmed or uncertain," Joy said. "Sometimes it could be their boss or their coworker, and that level of anonymity gives them the freedom and the courage to do what's right." In Lehigh County, Controller Glenn Eckhart said his office's fraud hotline has uncovered everything from scams targeting senior citizens to a vendor who had overcharged the county. Phillips said Delaware County's new hotline had received a handful of calls since her announcement of its debut last week. She declined to go into specifics, but said her office is looking into the information they provided. "Our office represents the taxpayers. It represents their tax dollars," she said. "I wanted to let people know that I'm here." This image released by A24 shows Toni Collette in a scene from "Hereditary." Read more Hereditary begins with a sparsely attended funeral, an awkward eulogy and after a bit, an even more awkward phone call from the cemetery. We only hear one side of the conversation, but a puzzled question from the decedent's son-in-law (Gabriel Byrne) raises concerns. "What does that meandesecrated?" Well, buddy, you're about to find out. The despoiling of the sacred is in the DNA of Hereditary, an old-fashioned, effectively atmospheric chiller about a woman (Toni Collette) falling apart after the death of her mother. At the service, Annie (Collette) describes mom as "secretive." Not a decorous thing to say, but accurate. She was a strange woman with strange habits, weird friends, and a past dotted with grisly events. For these and other reasons, Annie kept her away from her son, but grandma was embedded in the life of daughter Charlie (Milly Shapiro), the one member of the family who truly mourns. >> READ MORE: Summer movies 2018: Here's when 'Ocean's 8,' 'Incredibles 2,' 'Jurassic World' and more hit theaters Annie's son Peter (Alex Wolff) and her husband (Byrne) are plainly relieved to have grandma out of the house, and Annie should be, too, but there are signs that grandma isn't as gone as Annie would like her to be. An old lady's ghostly form seems to lurk in darkened corners, disappearing when the light comes on. The door to her room mysteriously opens. Her signature needlepoint turns up in the strangest places. Flaming apparitions appear, with a white-haired woman in the middle. Is that you, grandma? Writer-director Ari Aster excels at making these old-school horror movie movies (he gets great mileage out of seance scenes), and the intensifying atmosphere of dread is thick. And he layers on effective, original ideas. Like the fact that Annie is an artist who works in miniatures. With her jeweler's eyepiece and tiny implements, she builds little houses full of little furniture, little people (Aster is apparently referencing the works of American artist Narcissa Thorne). Annie is a woman barely in control of herself and her life, but through her art brings things to a manageable scale, and imposes a degree of control. Initially. Over time, her artwork seems to announce her deteriorating mental state. As events in Annie's life get more horrific, so do her tiny scenes. Die-aramas, you might call them. After art therapy fails, a desperate Annie attends grief counseling group, and finds solace in the help of a kindly widow, played by Ann Dowd, who gets to have great fun here in a role with late-breaking significance. Collette, though, is the main attraction, worth the price of admission as she keeps us wondering if Annie's inheritance is madness, a curse, or madness caused by a curse. If that sounds like Greek drama, note that Aster appears to have based the story loosely on Sophocles' play Women of Trachis. A very gruesome play, so brace yourself. Although, as with so many horror movies, we end up being more unnerved by things concealed than the things ultimately revealed. MOVIES Hereditary Mayor Kenney and Council President Darrell L. Clarke are at odds over the city's budget. Read more Mayor Kenney's team had a strong message for City Council on Thursday: Its budget plan isn't going to work. In a briefing with reporters, Kenney's top finance aides said the funding package for the city's schools that lawmakers put together this week falls $240 million short of what is needed for the next five fiscal years. "We're grateful that Council provided substantial funding for the district," said Rob Dubow, Kenney's finance director. "Unfortunately, we don't think it's enough." The admonishment of Council's budget raises anew the questions of whether residents will be on the hook for more taxes or if the School District will get less money. It also marks one of the only times that lawmakers and Kenney, who have long enjoyed a good relationship, have come to blows in public. Whether the sides come to an agreement won't be clear until next week's meeting, when Council will have its last scheduled opportunity to put the finishing touches on a budget it needs to pass this month. At the same time, Council voted to increase overall spending next fiscal year by $27 million beyond what Kenney proposed in his $4.69 billion budget. All those changes, Council members said, would enable them to avoid Kenney's controversial proposal to raise real estate taxes at the same time that new property assessments have sent some residents' tax bills through the roof. The plan would also bring in an extra $600 million for the schools over five years, according to lawmakers. But Dubow said the administration is not sure it will be able to raise close to as much money as Council expects through enhanced delinquent tax collections. Lawmakers planned to do a better job by beefing up a process called "sequestration," in which the city takes control of delinquent properties via a receiver in order to recover the debt. Anna Adams, Kenney's budget director, said in a letter to Council members on Thursday that the city "fully intends to expand" the sequestration project. But "we are not yet confident enough in how much revenue it would generate." Council's funding package would only bring in an estimated $530 million more for the schools between now and 2023, Kenney aides said. The School District has said its budget gap is about $630 million over the next five years. The mayor's plan would raise $770 million. Dubow also said the administration is concerned about Council's proposed cuts to the prison system. Kenney's aides said they had planned to use some savings reaped by closing one of the city's jails, the House of Corrections, to make changes to the city's criminal justice system. For instance, Adams said, those prison cuts would help the city make up for lost revenue from eliminating a portion of cash bail, which District Attorney Larry Krasner has promised to do. Several Council members weren't buying the administration's claims. Councilman Allan Domb, who has called for the city to drastically cut the prisons budget in the wake of its declining jail population, again said that the city should be able to trim that spending. "You can't even cut 5 percent of the overall budget?" Domb said of the prisons. "Come on." As for the administration's argument that the city may not be able to raise as much money through improved delinquent tax collections as lawmakers hope, Domb called sequestration a "tremendous hammer." "Eighty to 90 percent of landlords who get those notices" that their property will be seized by a receiver if they don't pay their taxes, "guess what they do? They pay their taxes." Council President Darrell L. Clarke said that sequestration works and that residents couldn't bear another real estate tax hike right now. "People simply are taxed up to here and it's the responsibility of this City Council to protect the people's money," he said. "At some point, we have to say enough is enough." Clarke did signal, however, that he was open to making further cuts to the budget, despite lawmakers' decision a couple days ago to boost spending. Councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez said lawmakers increased spending in some cases because Kenney had made cuts that legislators wanted restored. "I think it's very disingenuous when the administration removes previous Council allocations for important programs that they support and make us restore them, and then say we are on a spending spree," Sanchez said. Kenney spokesman Mike Dunn said the programs Sanchez was referring to such as the Philadelphia Eviction Prevention Project, a reentry program, and gun prevention programs were items that had received one-time increased allocations in fiscal year 2018 and weren't expected to receive the same amounts in 2019. Other amendments to the 2018-19 budget included: an extra $1.6 million to expand homeless services; $1.5 million more to the District Attorney's Office; and $965,000 for various nonprofit organizations to mentor at-risk youth, make neighborhood improvements and develop small businesses. Councilwoman Cindy Bass, who had previously proposed making incremental budget cuts over the next five years, said she is hopeful her colleagues will agree to trimming next year's budget in the coming weeks. Council's last meeting is June 21, and the budget must be finalized by June 30. "There are a number of things that my office proposed that didn't make it in the first cut, but I have had conversations with leadership and I fully expect that they will be in the second cut," Bass said. "I don't think this will be the final deal." Thousands attended Phillys first gay pride march in 1972, despite fears that spectators might attack them. Read more Philadelphia's Pride parade will celebrate its 30th anniversary this weekend, honoring the spontaneous march that unfolded in 1988 in Center City and eventually grew into the annual parade that celebrates the city's LGBT community. But well before 1988, there was another and perhaps, lesser-known Pride march in Philadelphia. It was in 1972, three years after police had raided the Stonewall Inn in New York City, sparking riots, days of protests and ultimately the gay-rights movement. A group of gay and lesbian Philadelphians applied for a parade permit. The city wasn't too happy, as The Inquirer wrote at the time: Homosexuals have applied for a parade permit to stage a 'Gay Pride March' through Center City June 11, severely aggravating several ulcers in City Hall. If the permit is denied, the Civil Liberties Union will go to court, and already half the judges in town are praying they don't get the case. Tommi Avicolli Mecca was one of the people organizing the march. He had come out as a gay man the year prior, when he was 19 and a sophomore at Temple University. Now 66 and living in San Francisco, Avicolli Mecca recalled that first Philadelphia march, his anxiety at the time and whether he feels his generation's work has been forgotten. What was the climate like for Philadelphias LGBT community in 1972? People thought nothing of discriminating against us. People thought nothing of putting us down. TV and the media barely really touched the topic. Around election time, the police would raid the bars and people would be arrested. Back then your name and address would be published in the paper when you were arrested. It was very much an atmosphere of fear. You kind of lived in fear that something could happen that would suddenly expose you. How did the idea for Phillys first pride march come about? It's because New York was doing them, and we were all going up to New York for the pride marches. The main job [in Philly] was just getting the word out and getting people to come. I think it was our pride marches that helped get the media to start paying attention to us. >> READ MORE: Philly Pride Parade: Drag queen Brittany Lynn teaches you how to create a make up look that will slay What reactions did onlookers give when you marched? We got some pretty negative reactions from people along the sides. I remember people jeering at us and booing, and people might have also been spitting. I don't know, it was kind of the reaction we expected. Were you scared? Oh yeah, of course. I grew up in South Philly, and I had gotten hassled when I was younger because I was always the effeminate kid, jumping rope with girls. I feared that there would be violence [at the march], and I was afraid. I'm small: I'm 5'7 and at the time probably weighed about 115 pounds. Of course I was worried that someone might attack me or something, but I think being around all those other folks gave me some little sense of safety and security. There were a lot of us. I remember we had safety monitors. We had trained people to be watching and making sure there were no fights. The marches continued through 1976, but then they stopped. Why? The marches got smaller for some reason. The [Philadelphia Gay Pride] committee got smaller, but it's really, really, really hard to remember why. We didn't have any corporate sponsorship back then. We didn't have a whole lot of money we didn't have politicians marching with us. I know some of us lost the energy to keep doing it, and no one else stepped forward. Do you fear Philadelphians have forgotten the work you and other gay activists did? I do think people have forgotten a lot of what we did back then. When I'm out speaking, especially at colleges, people don't realize how much we did. They might have some little sense of, 'Oh yeah, those old folks got this whole thing started,' but they don't really understand that we were the ones who started Pride. There was no concept of Pride as a movement. Acceptance of the LGBT community has come a long way since Phillys first pride march. But what problems still exist? The fact that we're still seeing so many murders of trans women of color every year. If you go outside the safe bubble of cities like San Francisco, New York, Philadelphia, there's still so much hatred. You think you've some so far but I guess it's like that for everybody who has been struggling. You have to keep fighting. Councilwoman Cindy Bass, left, and Councilman David Oh shown here during a session of city council, at City Hall, much of the session focused on a controversial bill that would increase oversight on beer delis and Stop-N-Go shops, and could order the removal of bullet-resistant windows inside these businesses, Thursday, Dec. 14, 2017. JESSICA GRIFFIN / Staff Photographer Read more It's more than just three inches of acrylic glass that separates Asian small business owners from their black customers. When City Council passed a bill in December 2017 aimed at regulating stop-and-go stores from skirting Pennsylvania liquor laws, almost everyone agreed on the part that required establishments that sell alcohol to provide restrooms and seating for 30 people. But battle lines were drawn when the bill also required stop-and-go convenience stores to take down their bulletproof glass. Supporters of the bill contend the bulletproof glass dehumanizes black customers while contributing to problems of addiction by selling alcohol and drug paraphernalia. Opponents argue the bill compromises the safety of owners and targets Asian businesses. The bill has polarized segments of the black and Asian communities. As a professor who studies and teaches about black-Asian relations, and as a resident of West Philly who has observed interactions between Asian store owners and black customers, I can tell you that these interracial dynamics are far from new. >>READ MORE: Stop-and-Go businesses are a scourge on Philly's poorest communities | Solomon Jones Asian-owned businesses in black neighborhoods date back to the Reconstruction era, when Chinese grocery stores in the Mississippi Delta sold their goods to emancipated slaves. A lesson into this history provides valuable insights into contemporary black-Asian relations and can help defuse a volatile situation. In the late 19th century, the opening of Chinese grocery stores in black communities in the Mississippi Delta was shaped by two conditions: the capital that Chinese immigrants were able to leverage, and the structural racism faced by former slaves. First, early Chinese immigrants arrived in the South to replace the work that was performed by slaves. Finding farm work unprofitable, Chinese immigrants opened grocery stores by drawing on the shared resources of their extensive kin and kith networks, the majority of whom were from the Sze Yap region of Guangdong in southern China. >>READ MORE: Restaurant licensing bill protects store owners and neighborhoods | Councilwoman Cindy Bass Second, Chinese grocery stores profited because of the institutional racism that targeted former slaves. Plantation commissaries inflated the prices of goods to keep former slaves in debt. The opening of Chinese grocery stores filled a particular niche by selling goods to freed blacks at lower prices than plantation commissaries. These grocery stores remained in black neighborhoods from the late 1800s until the 1960s in large part because Chinese owners were barred from white communities. Today, many Chinese and Korean owners who set up shop in poor black neighborhoods have profited in ways that call to mind what occurred in the Mississippi Delta and the racially restrictive housing policies after the Great Depression. The National Housing Act of 1934 exacerbated racial segregation and led to the disinvestment of black neighborhoods by explicitly denying loans to black people. Moreover, the Home Owners' Loan Corp. (HOLC) categorized black neighborhoods as bad investments, thus discouraging development and home ownership in these areas a practice known as redlining because these neighborhoods were marked red on HOLC maps, denoting a "D" grade for investment. Although these policies were overturned by the Fair Housing Act of 1968, the effects of these policies remain today. Black Americans are still given high-interest predatory loans and are denied loans more often than Asians. Similar to how plantation commissaries inflated prices to keep free blacks in debt thus opening opportunities for Chinese grocery stores to fill an economic need the disinvestment of black neighborhoods opened up opportunities for Asian-owned businesses to operate. >>READ MORE: Philly lawmakers right to target stop-and-go nuisance bars Also, similar to how Mississippi Delta Chinese immigrants relied on their social networks to acquire initial capital, Asian store owners today are able to obtain capital through Chinese and Korean mutual aid societies, savings from their countries of origin, transnational capital, and ethnic banks. The City Council bill and its requirement to dismantle bulletproof glass attempts to foster the respect of Asian store owners toward their black customers. But any attempt to foster respect should also emphasize the anti-black policies and practices of white institutions that created these antagonisms in the first place. The Mississippi Delta and HOLC history teaches us to look comparatively at how powerful white institutions differentially discriminate against black and Asian Americans. These histories obligate Asian store owners to understand how they have benefited from their non-black status within white structures, despite the ongoing realities of anti-Asian racism. As a child of Chinese immigrants, I realize these are histories that many Asian immigrants are unfortunately unaware of because of the education systems they came from. Almost exactly a year ago, Cindy Bass, the city councilwoman who proposed the bill, instituted sit-ins to protest the practices of these stop-and-go stores. But what is really needed are teach-ins that educate Asian store owners of a national history of institutional racism they share with their black customers. Only then can the metaphorical glass that separates these two groups also be dismantled. Roseann Liu is visiting assistant professor in the department of educational studies and senior fellow of engaged scholarship in the Lang Center at Swarthmore College. Anthony Wright gets a hug from Steve Waddell, left, at a family celebration at a South Street pizzeria in Philadelphia just hours after Wright was released in August 2016. Read more Anthony Wright, the Philadelphia man who served nearly 25 years of a life-without-parole sentence for a 1991 rape and murder that DNA evidence decades later proved he did not commit, on Wednesday received a nearly $10 million settlement from the city, the largest wrongful-conviction payout in Philadelphia history. The $9.85 million payment to Wright, 46, is more than double the largest previous payout by the city, of $4.4 million made in January 2017 to college student and food deliveryman Philippe Holland. He was shot multiple times by two plainclothes police officers after he had dropped off a cheeseburger at a West Philadelphia home in 2014. Last month, Philadelphia Police Officer Ryan Waltman was found liable for $10 million in the 2011 arrest of a city man he accused of pointing a gun at him and who spent three years in jail before being found not guilty by a jury. Because that verdict was not against the city, the eventual payout to the victim, Khanefah Boozer, is expected to be significantly smaller. Wright's case underscores how important DNA evidence is in criminal prosecutions. Statistics from the Innocence Project, whose lawyers were on Wright's legal team, show that since 1989, DNA evidence has led to exoneration of 356 people serving prison terms in the United States. In August 2016, with the DNA evidence on his side, Wright was retried in Common Pleas Court and was found not guilty by a jury whose members later expressed disgust with the District Attorney's Office for retrying the case in the face of evidence that proved Wright was not guilty of raping and killing Louise Talley inside her Nicetown home. DNA tests showed that sperm found inside Talley's body belonged to Ronnie Byrd, a former Nicetown crack addict who died in a South Carolina prison at age 62. The testing also proved that only Talley's DNA was inside clothing that homicide detectives say Wright told them he wore and that was found inside his bedroom in his mother's Nicetown house. The settlement is a fair resolution to a "tragic case," Mayor Kenney said in a statement Wednesday. "Mr. Wright has shown great dignity throughout this process, and I hope this resolution assists him and his family after what they have been through." Wright expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the case. "Although I will never get over the 25 years I spent in prison for crimes I did not commit, or missing time with my mother before she died or with my son the whole time he was growing up, I am relieved that I can now get on with my life," he said in a statement. "For the sake of my young grandchildren, I am encouraged that the City of Philadelphia will continue to take steps to make sure that what happened to me never happens to my grandchildren or any other child." A spokesman for District Attorney Larry Krasner, who took office in January, said the DA believes the decision to retry Wright "was unacceptable." "It is not a case that the current office would have retried," Ben Waxman said. "The city's decision to be accountable for law enforcement misconduct while protecting public funds is commendable." Peter Neufeld, one of Wright's attorneys and a founder of the Innocence Project, said: "Tony Wright, an innocent man, wrongfully charged and convicted, narrowly escaped execution when a divided jury declined to impose the death penalty. Mr. Wright maintained his innocence for 25 years and fought in the courts to win the right to DNA testing. His steadfastness, his grace under fire, inspire us all." The settlement does not include an admission of liability and will be paid over time: $4 million by June 30; $3 million by Aug. 30; and $2.85 million by Aug. 30, 2019. After the 2016 retrial ended in a not guilty verdict, jurors said they were disappointed that city prosecutors had decided in 2014 to retry the case. "I'm angry," Grace Greco, the jury forewoman, said after leaving the courtroom then. "The evidence was there that he did not commit this crime. The city should never have brought this case." In the more than a quarter-century since Wright was imprisoned, the city Police Department "has seen tremendous reforms," Police Commissioner Richard Ross said in a statement. He noted that advancements have been made in the area of forensic science and in investigative and interrogation procedures, including the videotaping of interrogations. Manuel Santiago and Martin Devlin, the now-retired homicide detectives who interrogated Wright and got him to sign a confession, have denied wrongdoing in their handling of the investigation. Wright, who testified at both trials, denied confessing to the rape and murder. The seventh-grade dropout said he was berated by the detectives for about four hours before he signed the statement without reading it. In addition to Wright's alleged confession, city prosecutors relied on statements by five witnesses, four of whom testified at the original 1993 trial. Two of the witnesses had died by the 2016 retrial their testimony was read to the new jury and the remaining three recanted their statements that they had seen Wright going into Talley's house. A 34-year-old Burlington Township man was sentenced Thursday to 24 years in state prison for the 2015 fatal shooting of a 42-year-old convenience store clerk in Willingboro, Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina said. Eramus Canty pleaded guilty earlier this year to killing Matthew Mwinsori at the Quick N Go on Nov. 25, 2015. Canty, who was sentenced in Superior Court in Mount Holly, admitted that he went to the store to commit a robbery, but was then chased by Mwinsori into the parking lot. Canty shot Mwinsori during a struggle. The Willingboro resident was pronounced dead at Lourdes Medical Center of Burlington County about an hour after being shot. Canty must serve 85 percent of his sentence before he will be eligible for parole. Cantor Scott Borsky stands in the living room of the new Haddonfield Jewish Center in South Jersey. Read more Ilise Feitshans calls her 20 years of living Jewishly in Haddonfield "the big schlep." When she wanted to attend synagogue, she had to drive to Cherry Hill. When she wanted her children to be trained for their bar and bat mitzvahs, she had to drive to Cherry Hill. When she wanted to celebrate the High Holy Days, she had to drive to Cherry Hill. Though the commute to the town that is the epicenter of South Jersey's Jewish community wasn't a long one a half-hour for Feitshans the trip to worship took her away from the walkable hamlet she loves. Haddonfield had about a dozen churches, but no synagogue or regular weekly gathering space to be Jewish. So, she did something about it. This year, the lawyer and scientist took fledgling steps toward developing a place for prayer, education, services and celebration in the three-square-mile borough of 11,500 residents, among whom, she estimates, 200 families are Jewish. The new Haddonfield Jewish Center would be as close to Feitshans' home as it could possibly be: It's in her home. "Judaism is about having a group of people around you that do stuff together," she said. "I felt like I was doing things alone, [separate] from the other Jews in Haddonfield. There was nothing to connect us." A fellow at the European Scientific Institute in Archamps, France, the 61-year-old Feitshans spends considerable time overseas, where her husband is a synagogue caretaker, and she teaches and writes about nanotechnology law for the institute, a scientific training organization. For more than a decade, she had been thinking about a center that could eventually become Haddonfield's first synagogue. In January, she called on Cantor Scott Borsky of Cherry Hill to help. By March, her front door was open. So far, the center has hosted a celebration of the spring festival of Purim, a National Day of Prayer observance, and a lecture on Jews in the American Revolution. Every event has been packed, but in a small house like Feitshans', packed means a standing-room-only crowd of 20 in the living and dining rooms. Stephen Kessler, a lawyer who helped the center draft its bylaws, welcomes the addition to the community. "My daughter is having her bat mitzvah in October, and for her to have an organization in the same town where she lives and be able to walk there for activities is a great thing," Kessler said. "It also tells her friends and neighbors, 'Hey, there are Jewish people who live in town, and here is where you can find us.'" Nearly 57,000 Jews live in Camden, Burlington and Gloucester Counties. A 2014 survey released by the Jewish Federation of Southern New Jersey identified Haddonfield as one of the largest Jewish population centers in Camden County, along with Cherry Hill and Voorhees. As Jews emigrated from Philadelphia to Camden to the South Jersey suburbs, and the western, and then eastern, sections of Cherry Hill, synagogues and other Jewish institutions followed, said Scott Goldberg, a former Camden County freeholder who has lived in Haddonfield for 28 years and attends Temple Emanuel in Cherry Hill. The two-mile distance between his home and his synagogue, he said, hasn't been an issue. "I don't really look at the town boundaries with any particular significance for my Judaism," said Goldberg, who was in the crowd for the center's Purim program. Two years ago, Temple Beth El, a 40-minute drive away in Hammonton, N.J., began hosting a monthly Shabbat service and healing circle at the Haddonfield Friends Meeting in an effort to reach out to the local community. About 12 to 15 attended the gatherings, but the congregation held its last program at the meeting house in May. It is moving the monthly offerings to a new location in Cherry Hill, where the synagogue's Rabbi Abby Michaleski is opening a center for healing and spirituality. "I know there are Jewish families in Haddonfield, Haddon Heights, and Collingswood that don't really have a public Jewish presence," Michaelski said, so the new Haddonfield center is "needed and a great opportunity." When Feitshans arrived in Haddonfield in 1998, she went shopping for a synagogue, and quickly discovered that Cherry Hill was brimming with them. She had moved from New York, the nation's most populous Jewish center. Her father, an attorney, had co-founded a synagogue in Riverdale, Bronx, and her children attended a Hebrew school across the street from her apartment. For Jews who don't drive on the sabbath, New York is a walkable oasis. But the death of her parents and a divorce sent Feitshans on a search for a quieter place to raise her son, Jay, and daughter Emalyn, then 12 and 8. She chose Haddonfield. There, "I could go to a PTA meeting, to Starbucks, a historical preservation meeting," she said, "but when I wanted to be Jewish, I had to drive somewhere, and my neighbors who were Jewish did the same thing." That Cherry Hill was right next door was "not the point," said Borsky, who has worked as a cantor at synagogues throughout South Jersey and is a chaplain at Virtua Hospitals in Marlton and Voorhees, and Cooper University Hospital in Camden. "If you are proud of living in Haddonfield and proud of being Jewish, there should be a resource and connection in your hometown," he said. In the early 2000s, Feitshans began lobbying for a menorah-lighting ceremony, similar to the borough's annual Christmas tree lighting in Nicholson Park. In 2005, after a two-year campaign, Haddonfield officials agreed to add it to the holiday calendar. "I told them, I'm not the Grinch, I don't want to steal Christmas," Feitshans said. "I just want my share of the party." Borsky was a natural to enlist for her plan to expand Jewish offerings beyond the annual lighting ceremony. For the last eight years, he has been helping Jews connect with their faith in his own unconventional way. He is founder of Synagogue Without Walls, a nonprofit that takes Judaism to people outside traditional worship spaces. "People who don't belong to synagogue still need spirituality in their lives, and to feel the presence of God," Borsky said. Now, he is meeting that need at the Haddonfield Jewish Center. For Purim, he gave a reading from the Book of Esther about the origins of the holiday. For the lecture on Jewish life in colonial times, he dressed up in a wig, frock coat, knickers and stockings. On July 22, the center will host an observance of Tisha B'Av, a commemoration of the destruction of the First and Second Temples. "It's like watching a baby being born," Rita Karpo, 80, said of the center. Karpo, an artist, is a founding member, and her work is displayed on its walls. "Everybody is invited," she said. "You don't have to be Jewish. Sometimes people stay on their own side of the street, but [Feitshans] says, 'Come over. I welcome you to my heart, home and center.'" Forty seven candidates from thirty-three countries became naturalized US citizens in 2017 after taking the Oath of Allegiance on board the battleship New Jersey in Camden. Here, carrying her 3 year old daughter, Olivia, Polish-born Hanna Pawlowska smiles after receiving her citizenship. Read more In Philadelphia, the number of immigrants keeps growing. The foreign-born population increased 69 percent from 2000 to 2016 to more than 232,000 and now represents nearly 15 percent of all city residents, according to a new analysis by the Pew Charitable Trusts. That's the highest share since World War II. The newcomers have helped drive Philadelphia's recent population growth following a half-century of decline, increased its workforce, and boosted the number of entrepreneurs. At the same time, the study said, immigrants have added to the already large pool of poor and less-educated residents, and increased the number of people who struggle to speak English, putting demands on schools and services. They make up 19 percent of workers and 14 percent of those in poverty. The study, "Philadelphia's Immigrants: Who They Are and How They Are Changing the City," was released Thursday afternoon. It relied mainly on census data to examine the changing characteristics of the city's foreign-born population without regard to their immigration status. "The degree to which immigrants have fueled Philadelphia's population resurgence is striking," study author Tom Ginsberg, a manager with Pew's Philadelphia research initiative, said in a statement. "Pew's research shows the potential they have to shape the city's economic and social landscape in ways that present both opportunities and challenges." The immigrant population is diverse, with no single nationality close to having a majority. Recent census estimates show China was the leading nation of origin, accounting for about 11 percent of the city's immigrants. India, Vietnam, and the Dominican Republic each accounted for about 6 percent or 7 percent, while Mexico, Ukraine, Haiti, and Jamaica each had 3 percent or 4 percent. Since 1990, Philadelphia has again become an attractive destination for immigrants. At peak in the 1850s, the foreign-born share of the city population was 30 percent, twice the current figure. Other significant findings included: Between 2000 and 2016, as the city population increased from 1,517,550 to 1,567,872, the number of foreign-born residents rose by about 95,000. At the same time, the number of U.S.-born Philadelphians fell by 44,500. In 2016, nearly one in five working Philadelphians was an immigrant. Many held service jobs in health care, education, hospitality, and retail. The median household income of immigrants was about $39,700, close to that of U.S.-born Philadelphians. The poverty rate among immigrants was 24 percent, slightly below the rate for natives. But in recent years, the number of immigrants living in poverty has been growing at a faster rate than that of natives. Although about three in 10 adult immigrants had college degrees, slightly higher than the share of U.S.-born residents, another three in 10 had little schooling, a significantly higher share than the native population. TRENTON The legislature on Thursday approved a bill that would limit smoking on public beaches and ban it in public parks, the latest move in a long effort to prohibit smoking at the Jersey Shore. The measure passed the Senate, 32-1, and the Assembly by 66-1 with two abstentions. It now heads to Gov. Murphy's desk. Lawmakers moved to expand New Jersey's Smoke-Free Air Act to beaches, forests, and parks at the state, county, and municipal levels, in addition to the current bans in indoor public settings. Towns and counties would create designated smoking areas that could constitute no more than 15 percent of the beach; parking lots adjacent to beaches or parks would not be subject to the ban. Violators would be fined $250 for an initial offense, with fines rising to $500 and $1,000 for a second and third infraction. The bill would go into effect 180 days after being signed, in time for next summer. Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D., Gloucester), one of the sponsors, said, "This is an issue that impacts the environmental quality of the Jersey Shore, the health of beach-goers exposed to second-hand smoke, the quality of life for residents and visitors, and ultimately, the economic well-being of Shore communities. We don't want our beaches littered with cigarette butts, the air polluted with smoke or the ocean wildlife exposed to threat of discarded cigarettes." Bob Smith, a Middlesex County Democrat who is chairman of the Senate Environment Committee, echoed that view. "It's time to get smoking off the beach," he said. Assemblyman Vincent Mazzeo (D., Atlantic), another sponsor, said he expected the governor to sign. Lawmakers had been trying to ban beach smoking for the last four years, but encountered opposition under the administration of then-Gov. Chris Christie. In July 2014, a bill that would have banned smoking in state parks and limited smoking on beaches overwhelmingly passed the legislature, but Christie vetoed it. Two years later, the governor issued a conditional veto to a renewed smoking ban, prohibiting the practice at New Jersey's two state-owned beaches while allowing towns to determine their own restrictions. One area of contention in the current bill is enforcement, which derailed past efforts. The measure does not specify whether lifeguards, police officers, or others will enforce the ban. Over the last two decades, almost 20 towns in the state have enacted their own bans on smoking at the beach. In 2001, Belmar in Monmouth County became the first at the Shore to restrict the use of tobacco near the beach in the summer. The ordinance was strengthened in 2014 and extended to a year-round ban. Pennsylvania has started a pilot program to ban smoking at the state's swimming beaches, a prohibition that extends to to 39 of the state's 54 beaches this summer. A Hulmeville funeral home owner admitted in court that he stole $296,853 from dozens of clients who prepaid for their burials and then forged their death certificates though they were still alive, according to the Bucks County District Attorney's Office. David Wayne Faust, 53, owner of the Faust Funeral Home, also pleaded guilty Tuesday to illegally collecting $100,000 in Social Security disability benefits. Faust faces a maximum prison term of 71 years when he is sentenced, said Marc J. Furber, deputy district attorney. Faust was in jail Wednesday on $750,000 bail. Faust pleaded guilty to theft by deception, forgery, tampering with public records, and other crimes, including misdemeanor charges of identity theft, according to the District Attorney's Office. "I'll say in general, first of all, this case is of such a magnitude we don't see very often," Furber said Wednesday. "And although it didn't involve physical violence, I don't think you can discount the impact it's had on people and their families, some of whom have already suffered from the impact of having their loved ones buried." From April 1999 to July 2017, Faust stole nearly $300,000 from 54 people who paid in advance for funeral services, Furber said. Those prepayment amounts ranged from $400 to $14,460. Bank records seized through search warrants and reviewed by law enforcement showed two of the funeral home's bank accounts were overdrawn and a third account contained a small amount of money, authorities said. The third account was also frozen because Faust had filed for bankruptcy. Furber said Faust used the money "to fund his own purchases his own lifestyle." The phone for Faust Funeral Home went unanswered Wednesday. Law enforcement was tipped off to suspicious activity at the funeral home in the summer of 2016, when a registrar in Bucks County noticed signatures for some doctors were inconsistent on some death certificates she received, Furber said. "He forged not only the signatures," Furber said of Faust, "but the entire death certificate." In one instance, Furber forged a death certificate for a woman who was "alive and well," authorities said. The death certificate said the woman, who lives in Hulmeville, had died of small-cell cancer. Faust took more than $8,700 from her account in 2003, the District Attorney's Office said. Soon after the registrar noticed the discrepancies on the death certificates in 2016, Furber said, Bucks County authorities along with the Social Security Administration's Office of the Inspector General launched an investigation. During an interview, Faust told investigators he was collecting Social Security disability benefits, Furber said. When the investigators asked Faust how he was collecting disability benefits while he worked at the funeral home, Furber said, Faust told investigators: "You guys did your homework." Furber said the state will seek to have Faust pay restitution in excess of $297,000 for the 54 victims most of whom are over 60 and restitution of about $100,000 for the stolen Social Security benefits. Faust still has an active funeral director's license, according to state records, but Furber said the license will likely be in jeopardy. The Pennsylvania Department of State does not comment on whether any licensee is under investigation, said spokeswoman Wanda Murren. Regulatory officials "investigate every complaint we are aware of," she said. In this July 13, 2017 file photo, a law enforcement official escorts Cosmo DiNardo to a vehicle in, Doylestown. DiNardo, who faces four life sentences in prison, was transferred Thursday to a medium-security facility in Luzerne County. Read more Cosmo DiNardo, the admitted killer of four Bucks County men last summer, was transferred early Thursday to a medium-security prison in Northeastern Pennsylvania known for treating mentally ill inmates. DiNardo, 21, had been held at the state correctional institution in Camp Hill since his sentencing last month to four life terms in prison, according to Amy Worden, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections. On Thursday, he was moved to Retreat, a facility of about 1,000 prisoners in Luzerne County that specializes in treating inmates with "varying levels of severe mental illness," Worden said. The Bensalem native pleaded guilty last month to the murders of Mark Sturgis, Thomas C. Meo, Dean A. Finocchiaro, and Jimi Patrick in a deal that spared him the death penalty. Fortunato Perri, DiNardo's criminal defense attorney, did not respond to a request for comment about the transfer. Prison-reform advocates said Thursday that it's standard procedure for inmates to be sent to Camp Hill after their trials conclude to determine where they'll serve out the remainder of their sentences. It was unclear Thursday why Retreat was chosen for DiNardo. Mark Potash, Sturgis' father, bristled at the news that DiNardo would be sent to Retreat, saying he was "beyond outraged" at the transfer. "We were notified this morning that [DiNardo] got transferred to a prison that has contact visits and dog training," Potash said. "I don't know how someone who comes off the street murdering four people gets put into medium security that quickly. Usually, you would think, it takes months to show good behavior to move to a place like that." On three separate trips, DiNardo lured Sturgis and the other victims to his family's property in Solebury Township with a pledge to sell them marijuana, but instead shot them and buried them in makeshift graves. Their disappearances, and the discovery of their bodies after a multi-day search, drew national attention. Sean Kratz, DiNardo's cousin and co-defendant, rejected a plea deal last month in a last-minute move that surprised both prosecutors and his defense attorney. County prosecutors have said they plan to pursue the death penalty against Kratz, and may call DiNardo to testify against him. Meanwhile, Potash said he and the families of the other victims are frustrated with investigators in Bucks County, including District Attorney Matthew Weintraub, and have urged Gov. Wolf's office to investigate whether DiNardo has received any preferential treatment. Larry King, a spokesman for the Bucks County District Attorney's Office, said he was unable to comment Thursday because of a gag order in the case. A sheriff sale notice is taped to a window in May 2009. Read more Federal authorities on Thursday charged a third real estate investor with bribery-related offenses in a long-running corruption probe of the process through which the Philadelphia Sheriff's Office sells seized and foreclosed properties. Prosecutors accused Behzad "Ben" Sabagh, president of Northeastern Real Estate Services, of paying off an employee of the sheriff's real estate department for inside information on houses to be sold at sheriff's sales. According to his indictment, Sabagh's bribe $1,000 in cash slipped across a table during a 2012 meeting at a Queen Village coffee shop also bought him additional time to pay off balances on properties he purchased, as well as expedited processing that enabled him to more quickly flip his investments. Sabagh, 36, of West Philadelphia, and his attorney, Guy Sciolla, did not return calls for comment Thursday. He is the third sheriff's-sale bidder to be charged since 2015 for making illicit payments to the same former Sherriff's Office employee, Michael Riverso. Sheriff Jewell Williams fired Riverso in 2013 after his name came up in connection with the FBI investigation. Riverso has since pleaded guilty to charges of honest services fraud and related tax counts and is awaiting sentencing in October. Two other real estate company owners who also have pleaded guilty Gregory Guzman and Binyamin Maoz, partners in the firm Enterprise Properties LLC admitted to plying Riverso with pricey dinners at the now-closed Le Bec-Fin and free rent to gain an inside track in the competitive and potentially lucrative sheriff's sales market. Sabagh's case is only the latest in a string of embarrassments that have plagued the sheriff's sale process under three administrations. Earlier this year, federal prosecutors took former Sheriff John Green to trial on allegations that he directed lucrative contracts for placing sheriff sale ads in local newspapers to a campaign supporter who plied him with gifts for years. A jury ultimately acquitted Green on three corruption-related counts but deadlocked on others. The U.S. Attorney's Office has vowed to retry him. His successor, Barbara Deeley, was one of the government's star witnesses against Green, but she insisted on being granted immunity from prosecution before agreeing to take the witness stand. Since taking over from Deeley in 2012, Williams has sought to position himself as a reformer who has improved the sheriff's sale process and opened it up to a wider array of bidders. Still, his office's process for selling advertisements for upcoming property sales has recently drawn scrutiny. And although Riverso, Deeley's cousin, was hired under her watch, most of the period during which he has admitted to taking bribes occurred under Williams' tenure. Court records did not indicate Thursday whether a judge had set a trial date for Sabagh. Jenny Steinen, a 6th grade school teacher and former lawyer from West Chester recently won her battle in court that proved she had in fact shoveled her sidewalk of snow this past winter. She was fined and successfully challenged the ticket. She has her trusty snow shovel in hand by her home on W. Union St. in West Chester on June 1, 2018. Read more In June, the region's thoughts typically turn to vacations, ice-cold drinks, and warm sunshine kissing the skin. But Jenny Steinen is stuck on the winter weather that brought her to court last month. Because of her ordeal, whenever snow falls in West Chester, there's one tool Steinen grabs before she touches her shovel her phone. She takes "before" pictures of her sidewalk prior to shoveling and then "after" shots. She never used to do this. Then, in December, the borough told her she had violated its snow and ice removal law. According to the ordinance, "property owners shall remove all snow and ice" within 24 hours after snow stops. A code enforcement officer said she left a "dusting" of snow on the interlocking bricks of her sidewalk 25 hours after the end of a storm that dropped about four inches in the borough on Dec. 9 and 10. She was fined $25. "You don't really think of protecting yourself from your own government," the 59-year-old sixth-grade English teacher said. She knows she shoveled, because she remembered feeling "disgruntled" that her 22-year-old son didn't help. Steinen did not, however, sprinkle salt in front of her home, as some of her neighbors did. She said salt gets into groundwater and the plants and strawberry patch she grows in her yard. And on top of that, her dog Hector had sores on his feet that she didn't want to irritate. Steinen, who worked as a public defender for 14 years, took her case to District Court. As a prop, she brought along her shovel, dented at the edges from catching on her sidewalk's bricks. (Sheriffs confiscated it at the door.) Nevertheless, the judge found her guilty of violating the ordinance. "I was appalled," she said. She appealed to Chester County Court, where she won last month five months after the snow stopped. She did not have to pay the fine or the additional $89.71 in court costs. But she couldn't get back the $50 fee required for an appeal hearing. Even so, she said fighting the citation was worth it. "You have to. Knowing that I had shoveled my sidewalk. Knowing I was not guilty," she said. "I'm afraid people pay the ticket even if they shovel. They feel it's hopeless to try to fight for what is right." She had read a January story in the Inquirer and Daily News about a West Chester man charged with violating the borough's snow and ice removal ordinance, learned he was only a few houses away, and left him a note telling him she was appealing and he should too. He followed her advice and a County Court judge found him not guilty in April. Because of Steinen's case, West Chester officials are taking another look at the ordinance. The proposed changes include allowing residents to pay fines to the borough instead of borough officials' immediately starting criminal court proceedings. Notices from the court can take weeks to get to a resident. Steinen's citation came Dec. 27, 16 days after the alleged violation. She said a man a few houses down just paid the fine when he got his citation a few weeks after a storm, because he couldn't remember whether he had shoveled. The new ordinance also would set minimum fines at $30 for first offenses and higher amounts for subsequent offenses if the fine is paid within seven days. Otherwise, the borough would take residents to court. Officials expect the new ordinance will be ready for a public hearing in the next month or two. Steinen said she wants to see borough officials tell residents what time they consider a snowfall finished, so property owners know when the clock starts ticking to clear walkways. Municipal ordinances in the region and across the state typically give residents four to 24 hours after the end of a snowfall to clear their sidewalks, said Edward Knittel, director of education and sustainability for the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs. Instead of fines, Knittel said he favors a gentler solution: education, especially emphasizing to homeowners their legal liability if someone were to slip on uncleared sidewalks. "The issue of a dusting of snow being a problem perhaps was an overreaction," said Knittel, a municipal manager for 34 years. "I've never quite seen that level of enforcement." Knittel also wondered whether the resources involved namely the code enforcement officer's time and a solicitor's court appearance were worth it in the end. Depending on the strength of the snowy season, the borough of 20,000 typically issues from 20 to 150 citations in a year, said Borough Manager Mike Perrone. The borough sent out 171 in 2017, and 51 this year. Usually, people pay their fines typically $25, but judges can ask for up to $1,000 and that's that. Sometimes, they take their case to District Court. Appeals to County Court are "very rare," Perrone said. "The most important thing is the snow removed from the sidewalk," he said. "The fine is the deterrent so they don't do it again." Steinen said she had received a violation notice two decades ago after she failed to shovel in time. She had to pay $68, she said, "and I never forgot to shovel again." It's safe to say that pollsters don't often find a super-majority of voters willing to pay more in taxes. Yet in a new poll to be released Thursday, 64 percent of Pennsylvania likely voters said they would support a tax increase to expand publicly funded preschool education, responding to a hypothetical hike of .01 percentage points in the personal income tax, which would cost an average taxpayer about $50. The poll was paid for by the Pre-K for PA campaign, a coalition of state nonprofits advocating for early childhood education, and it was conducted by Harper Polling, a Republican firm based in Harrisburg. "There is a strong consensus among Pennsylvania voters who think that early childhood education is important," said Brock McCreary, president of Harper Polling. Ninety-four percent of respondents said pre-K helped people live a healthy and productive life. By 75 percent to 18 percent, voters said they supported increased public funding for preschool for children aged 3 and 4. Every demographic group tested backed more spending, though Republicans (57 percent) and conservatives (61 percent) were slightly less supportive. Advocates are scheduled to release the poll in the state Capitol in Harrisburg Thursday morning, as part of a push to gain support in the GOP-controlled legislature for Gov. Wolf's proposed $40 million increase for pre-K, which would make the classes available for 4,400 new low and moderate-income children. Budget negotiations are intensifying in Harrisburg as lawmakers rush to finish the spending plan before the summer recess. "No child should be missing out when nearly all residents agree," said Jodi Askins, executive director of Pennsylvania Association for the Education of Young Children, one of the groups in the coalition. Despite an increase of $100 million in state spending on preschool over the past five years, Pennsylvania ranks in the bottom half, or 18th out of 30, of states that provide public funding for pre-K programs. Statewide, about 106,200 children who are eligible on the basis of family income cannot enroll because there is not enough space in preschool classrooms, according to Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children. To get the results, Harper Polling interviewed 549 Pennsylvania likely voters by landline and mobile phone on May 22 and 23. The poll is subject to a margin-of-error of plus or minus 4 percent. A cross-section of Philadelphia's criminal justice community spoke out Wednesday against deploying an algorithm to influence how people convicted of crimes in Pennsylvania are sentenced, saying the proposal by a state agency could cement racial inequities and perpetuate other flaws in a criminal justice system in need of reform. Dozens of speakers, including community activists, defense attorneys, and officials from the District Attorney's Office said the tool proposed by the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing was defective, mislabeled, and even dangerous, a faulty metric that could improperly influence judges or lead to overly harsh sentences, especially against people of color. Mark Houldin, policy director for the Defender Association of Philadelphia, said the algorithm which would weigh a number of variables to assess the chances someone might reoffend in the future would "perpetuate incarceration." Troy Wilson, a Philadelphia defense attorney, said it could be "tantamount to sentencing someone based on mere chance." Jondhi Harrell, founder of the Center for Returning Citizens, an advocacy group, said, "We would ask that the basic humanity of our people not be reduced to a number." Their remarks came during a public hearing on the issue at the Criminal Justice Center in Center City, one of three listening sessions across the state that the Sentencing Commission is holding before voting on whether to approve the risk assessment metric. Risk assessment tools in the criminal justice system are not new: Philadelphia's Adult Probation and Parole Department uses data to help manage its supervision program, and other jurisdictions use them to help inform decisions about bail, sentencing, and parole. But the topic is controversial, with proponents saying such programs can provide an unbiased, objective method for evaluating cases, and critics saying they simply reinforce or enhance a system's existing flaws. The development of Pennsylvania's sentencing risk-assessment tool was mandated by a 2010 state Senate bill that enacted reforms to try to stem a swelling prison population. The idea behind the sentencing risk assessment was to provide a measurement on how likely a person would be to reoffend, in hope that those viewed as "low risk" could be diverted from prison or given a shorter sentence. The Sentencing Commission has spent eight years developing its potential rubric. As currently constructed, the risk assessment would assign someone convicted of a crime a risk level of reoffending based on different "risk scales" and "outcome measures," according to the Sentencing Commission. Factors would include age, gender, and the number and types of prior convictions. The committee said the assessment alone should not be used as a factor to add or subtract prison time, but should help judges determine whether to seek more information before imposing a sentence. But Houldin, of the Defender Association, said that even with that caveat, the tool seemed likely to influence judges and lead them to hand out stiffer sentences to people labeled "high risk" based on flawed metrics. Charles M. Gibbs, an attorney and president of the Barristers' Association of Philadelphia, an organization of black lawyers, called the program "junk science." "This tool backs racial discrimination into the case," Gibbs said. "Garbage in, garbage out." Mike Lee, interim director of legislation and government affairs for District Attorney Larry Krasner, said, "We do have concerns about this instrument, and we look forward to helping develop the most useful instrument possible to improve public safety and end mass incarceration." Not one speaker during the three-hour hearing voiced support for the tool, which the Sentencing Commission is scheduled to vote on next week. It will become law unless the legislature takes action to stop it, something State Sen. Sharif Street (D., Phila.) a member of the sentencing commission and an opponent of the tool said he would consider. In this April 16, 2018, file photo, adult film actress Stormy Daniels speaks outside federal court in New York. Read more The porn star Stormy Daniels on Wednesday sued her former lawyer Keith Davidson, accusing him of being a "puppet" for President Trump and releasing text messages that the lawsuit says show "collusion" between Davidson and Trump's personal attorney. In the final days of the 2016 election, Davidson and Trump's attorney, Michael Cohen, negotiated a deal in which Daniels was paid $130,000 for her silence about an alleged affair with Trump a decade earlier. The text messages beginning in January, after the non-disclosure agreement was publicly revealed show Cohen at one point pressing for Daniels to appear on Sean Hannity's show on Fox News. "This is no good," Cohen writes, after Davidson says she won't be available until the following day. "We need her as by doing tomorrow you just create another news cycle instead of putting an end to this one." In a statement, Davidson called the lawsuit "outrageously frivolous." Davidson said he views the lawsuit as a waiver by Daniels of attorney-client privilege, an interpretation that suggests he is now free to discuss the case with federal prosecutors scrutinizing the payments as part of an investigation of Cohen for potential bank and wire fraud. Davidson has given prosecutors "limited electronic correspondence," The Washington Post reported in April. But, because of attorney-client privilege, he has been turning over private correspondence with Daniels to her current attorney, Michael Avenatti, for his review rather than giving it directly to investigators, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "Thankfully, the truth can now finally come out to rebut the false narrative about Attorney Davidson that Mr. Avenatti has been pushing in his more than 175 television appearances and countless other media interviews," said David Wedge, a spokesman for Davidson. In the lawsuit, filed in Superior Court in Los Angeles, Daniels accuses Davidson of withholding information, including correspondence with Cohen, from her and Avenatti. Daniels is seeking punitive damages and attorney's fees in the lawsuit, the third suit she has filed in the past three months related to the deal covering her alleged sexual relationship with Trump. Cohen is also named in the suit. Cohen's attorney, Brent Blakely, said, "This new lawsuit filed by Stephanie Clifford a.k.a. Stormy Daniels has no merit whatsoever as to my client, Michael Cohen, and appears to be yet another publicity stunt." The new court filing comes one week after a federal judge in New York rebuked Avenatti for his frequent television interviews in what she called a "publicity tour," leading him to withdraw his request to intervene in a dispute over records seized in the investigation into Cohen by federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York. Daniels originally sued Cohen and the president in March, seeking to void the non-disclosure agreement. A second lawsuit accuses Trump of defamation. The new suit says Davidson breached his fiduciary duty to his client through his communications with Cohen. It alleges that Davidson "secretly tipped off" Cohen to Daniels's plans to sue him, leading Cohen to seek a gag order on Daniels in a private arbitration proceeding. A series of Jan. 17 texts, filed with the suit, show the back-and-forth between Cohen and Davidson about whether she should speak publicly and about the possibility of an appearance with Hannity, who is close with the president. Cohen revealed in court in April that Hannity was among his three legal clients in the past year and a half. "I have her tentatively scheduled for Hannity tonight," Cohen wrote at one point. After initially pressing for her to appear that night, Cohen and people he does not name changed course. "Let's forget tonight," he wrote. "They would rather tomorrow so they can promote the heck out of the show." Later that night, Cohen wrote, "The wise men all believe the story is dying and don't think it's smart for her to do any interviews." Without offering evidence, the suit alleges that the "wise men" included Trump. After Davidson agreed Daniels would do no interviews, Cohen responded, "Thanks pal." "Mr. Davidson abdicated his role as an advocate and fiduciary of his client Ms. Clifford and instead elected to be a puppet for Mr. Cohen and Mr. Trump in order to advance their interests at the expense of Ms. Clifford," the suit says. Representatives for Fox News and Hannity did not respond Wednesday to requests for comment. Michael Padula, a lawyer representing Davidson, said the texts do not reflect any inappropriate or unethical dealings. "That two lawyers on opposite sides of negotiating a deal would be talking and that that amounts to collusion and not acting in best interest of his client is totally absurd," he said. Davidson and Cohen have interacted in other cases, including one in which Cohen collected a six-figure fee in a deal Davidson helped orchestrate. Rudy Giuliani, who is advising the president, said Wednesday in a public appearance in Israel that first lady Melania Trump does not believe Daniels' claim of a sexual relationship more than a decade ago. According to CNN, he also said of Daniels: "I respect women beautiful women and women with value but a woman who sells her body for sexual exploitation I don't respect. Tell me what damage she suffered. Someone who sells his or her body for money has no good name." Avenatti responded by calling Giuliani "a misogynist." HARRISBURG Gov. Wolf stood behind a podium in his reception room Wednesday afternoon, pulled out a plastic bag with 79 cents in it and held it up for the crowd to see. That is roughly the amount, the governor and activists say, that women make on average for every dollar a man makes. "This is unconscionable. It's wrong," he said. A few moments later, the Democratic governor signed an executive order that will prohibit agencies that fall under his jurisdiction from asking some job applicants about their salary history during the hiring process. It's a move that he hopes will begin to chip away at the gender pay disparity. The order, which takes effect in about three months, applies to employees who are in management roles or who are not subject to a collective bargaining agreement. There are about 2,000 open positions in those categories, according to the administration. The governor said some union contracts currently forces the administration to ask those questions in the hiring process, and he hopes to work with unions to eliminate those provisions in future agreements. "We need to ensure that woman and families are not losing out on thousands of dollars a year and millions of dollars over their lifetime," the governor said. The governor also encouraged legislators to pass bills that would seek to strengthen the state's equal pay law, which prohibits employers from discriminating based on gender. But some groups are leery about changing the current law. Gene Barr, president of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, released a statement Wednesday cautioning against "fundamental changes" to the current state law. "Anyone familiar with operating a business knows that pay differences among employees can and do exist for many reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with gender discrimination," Barr said. "Equal pay law must account for that reality or we risk subjecting honest employers to frivolous and costly lawsuits." That argument wasn't new to state Rep. Brian Sims (D., Philadelphia), who is sponsoring one of the bills that Wolf supports. He said he rarely hears substantive arguments against equal pay bills. "When I do, what I hear is that the market dictates what people should get paid, and if the market says you can pay a woman less than a man, [you] get away with it," Sims said. The American Association of University Women says there is, on average, a 21-percent pay gap for women in Pennsylvania, and the disparities can be larger for African-American, Hispanic and Native American women. Contact Lasherica Thornton at lthornto@go.olemiss.edu Dwight Lamon Jones, 56, after a four-day rampage, shot and killed himself early Monday as police surrounded his Scottsdale, Ariz., hotel room. (Dreamstime/TNS) Read more A South Philadelphia man faces a maximum sentence of 99 years in prison after pleading no contest Thursday to 12 charges related to human trafficking. Chaz C. Jordan, 31, of the 1800 block of South Fifth Street, is accused of running a sex trafficking ring from his residence. His victims ranged from 15 to 25 years old. By pleading no contest, he forfeited his right to a trial by jury. Assistant District Attorney Amanda Makoid said Jordan tricked a then-15-year-old girl into becoming a sex worker after meeting her on the dating site Badoo.com in August 2014. The girl, identified in court as N.B., worked for Jordan until his arrest in February 2015 and had as many as 10 encounters per night, splitting the take with Jordan, who would threaten her with bodily harm when she wanted to quit, Makoid said. Jordan also forced her to have unprotected sex with him, and she became pregnant in October 2014. Jordan, dressed in a gray suit, his hair in cornrows, sat quietly as Makoid spoke. Jordan also posted nude photos of his victims on the now-defunct website Backpage.com, an "online brothel" that was shut down by the U.S. Justice Department in April 2018. Makoid said that Jordan targeted an unknown number of vulnerable teenage girls and young women, many of them underage drug users. Jordan was arrested at his home in February 2015 and charged with promoting prostitution and child endangerment following an anonymous tip to the FBI. Both of his cellphones were retrieved during the investigation. He was rearrested in October 2015 on 10 other charges, including trafficking of minors, corruption of minors, and sexual assault. His bail was set at $5 million. According to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, 199 human trafficking cases were reported last year in Pennsylvania, 84 percent of which involved women. Of those cases, 150 nearly 75 percent resulted from tips, and 154 involved sex trafficking. In January 2017, Philadelphia law enforcement agencies unveiled a human-trafficking task force funded by a $1.3 million federal grant to combat labor and sex trafficking in the region. The Anti-Trafficking Coalition consists of several law enforcement agencies and the Salvation Army. In 2016, the Department of Homeland Security initiated 1,025 human trafficking cases, resulting in 1,943 criminal arrests and 587 convictions, and identified 435 victims of trafficking all over the nation. Jordan's sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 24. Angelita Ellison testified before City Council members Wednesday about the difficulty finding affordable housing in Point Breeze. Council is considering a 1 percent impact tax on all new construction. Read more A tax on new construction to fund affordable housing moved one step closer to passage Wednesday despite pressure from the city's building trades to abandon the plan, concerns from the Kenney administration about its effect on businesses, and criticism from housing advocates who said the levy could end up benefiting wealthier Philadelphians. The 1 percent tax, which would be placed on most new construction, could raise up to $19 million a year for affordable housing at a time when the city is experiencing a dire shortage, proponents of the bill said. "We think this is going to give a significant boost to our entire city, not just Center City, where the market is going through the roof," Council President Darrell L. Clarke said. "I think it's an awesome program. It's Philly-first. While we're excited about new people in the city, at some point we have to address the needs of people who are here." In a fiery letter to Council, however, John "Johnny Doc" Dougherty, head of the city's building trades unions, on Wednesday called the tax "ill-conceived" and its timing "dumb." It "would have the net effect of ending the recent prosperous run of new construction that is transforming neglected sections of the city," Dougherty wrote. Dougherty said the unions are open to "radically altering or eliminating" the 10-year tax abatement but argued that the 1 percent tax was anti-business and could deter new business, including possibly Amazon, from setting up shop in the city. The letter had little impact on Council's Finance Committee, which voted, 6-3, to advance the measure to the full Council for approval. Councilmen Allan Domb, Bobby Henon and David Oh voted against the bill. The revenue generated by the tax would go to the Housing Trust Fund and could be used by nonprofit or private developers to build housing or rental units for people making up to $105,000 per year (120 percent of the regional area median income of $87,500 for a family of four). The money also could be used for a down-payment assistance program the city hopes to create and for housing preservation. In addition, developers could choose to pay more money into the fund in exchange for zoning bonuses. Several advocates of the tax worried the income threshold was too high to benefit Philadelphians who struggle the most to find affordable housing. "We've been fighting for three years to try to get more money into the Housing Trust Fund," said Nora Lichtash, executive director of the Women's Community Revitalization Project. "The great news is, legislation was introduced to try to do that. The bad news is it's going to mean big bucks, but there's no guarantee it will go toward affordable housing." Lichtash's group, along with Community Legal Services, the Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations, and a half-dozen agencies, argued in testimony Wednesday that 50 percent of the benefits of the tax should go toward Philadelphia's poorest people making 30 percent or less (about $26,000) of the area median yearly income. The city's median income is $37,000. Councilwoman Cherelle Parker said the higher threshold can help strengthen "middle neighborhoods," which make up most of the Ninth Council District she represents. "People don't realize that affordable housing is preserving the housing that you currently have," said Parker, who voted for the tax. "Folks think about new development as affordable housing, but I think that's very shortsighted, and it doesn't take into account neighborhoods with aging infrastructure, so we want to ensure Philadelphians have access to revenue to improve and preserve our existing housing stock." As the city experiences one of its biggest development booms in recent history, the availability of affordable housing has suffered. A study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia found that between 2000 and 2014 one-fifth of the city's affordable units were lost. In the years since, average rent and median home prices have increased in most neighborhoods. At the same time, 42 percent of renters in the Philadelphia Metro area make less than 50 percent of the area's median area income, a HUD study found. The Philadelphia Housing Authority has a lengthy wait-list for people seeking public assistance. When a new PHA development opened up in Strawberry Mansion three years ago, 400 people applied for 12 units, some lining up at 1 in the morning. The tax would go into effect in January 2019 and would be assessed on the total cost of construction or improvements as reported on building permits. Members of Kenney's administration cautioned against the bill on Wednesday. David Perri, who heads the Department of Licenses and Inspections, said the value of a project, as reported on a permit, can fluctuate widely over the course of construction. Perri also said his staff didn't have the capacity to go through every building permit (about 22,000 are issued in a year) to ensure the tax is enforced properly. Harold Epps, director of the Department of Commerce, said the tax could stifle development, "create more scarcity and further exacerbate affordability problems," and affect Philadelphia's chances at Amazon's HQ2. The city is one of 20 the company is considering. "This type of legislation hampers the business environment, works at odds with our business attraction efforts and makes it more difficult to grow jobs in Philadelphia," said Epps, who asked for more time to evaluate alternative solutions. Councilman Bill Greenlee pushed back on a delay. "We keep hearing, 'We need more time and we need to look at this longer,' " Greenlee said. "I guess my point is, folks are waiting for affordable housing, too." Mayoral spokeswoman Deana Gamble said the testimony of Epps and Perri "represent the mayor's stance." Under the bill passed out of committee Wednesday, nonprofits such as museums and universities would be exempt. But affordable housing built with federal low-income housing tax credits would be on the hook for the tax. That would include a development like Project HOME's recently opened Ruth Williams House at 2415 N. Broad St. in North Philadelphia. The $24 million development would have required Project HOME to pay $240,000 if the tax were in effect. In eight hours, more than 1,000 people lined up for the 88 apartments, Jennine Miller of Project HOME said at the hearing, asking for an exemption or tax credit for affordable housing developments. The hearing lasted four hours and included more than 20 speakers. Among them was Angelita Ellison, 35, who asked Council members to adjust the income threshold to ensure families living below the poverty line, like hers, are prioritized. Ellison lives in her mother's two-bedroom home in Point Breeze, where she shares a room with her 12-year-old son. She's been trying to find a place of her own for years. She works as a seasonal clerk for LIHEAP, making $14.91 an hour. Most of the two-bedroom apartments in the neighborhood are around $1,200, more than she can afford. "I've been in that house for 16 years, I keep looking for somewhere I can move us to," Ellison said in an interview. "I want to do better for me and my son, but it feels like every day it keeps getting more expensive." Staff writer Holly Otterbein contributed to this article. Frank A. Goodfellow III, 80, formerly of Haddonfield, a longtime college professor in South Jersey, died Monday, May 28, of complications of Alzheimer's disease at the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington. He had gone to Vermont in 2011 to be with family. Mr. Goodfellow was best known as a popular, engaged professor of education at Glassboro State College, later Rowan University, from 1965 until 2000, when he retired with the title of professor emeritus, his family said. The school is based in Glassboro, with a satellite campus in Camden. Mr. Goodfellow taught at both. He helped build the core curriculum that most education majors take, and many of his students went on to become teachers at elementary and secondary schools. Born in Hollidaysburg, Pa., Mr. Goodfellow moved with his family to Haddonfield and graduated from Haddonfield Memorial High School in 1955. While there, he wrestled and ran track and cross-country. He earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy in 1959 from the College of Wooster in Ohio and a master's degree in library science from Drexel University in 1963. While completing his studies, he supported himself by driving a truck and working as a railroad brakeman, said his son, Pat. During the 1950s, there was a shortage of principals at some South Jersey high schools. Though still in his 20s and inexperienced in the world of education, Mr. Goodfellow served as the principal of what is now Triton Regional High School in Runnemede. During that time, he decided to become a teacher. When he first went to work at Glassboro State as a fledgling teacher in the mid-1960s, the school ran a campus program for high school and college students. "It was a place where student teachers would come in and practice on real kids," said his son. But funds for the program ran out, and after it ceased, Mr. Goodfellow joined the school's education department. He spent some time in the 1970s as department chairman. "One of the best things about it was the corner office with two windows," his son said Mr. Goodfellow told him. Mr. Goodfellow was active with the American Federation of Teachers in the 1970s as a local official. He also took part in civil rights and anti-apartheid protests in Camden, Philadelphia, and Washington. He joined the Society of Friends, and was active at various times in Quaker meetings in Haddonfield, Woodbury, Camden, and Philadelphia. He was a member of Newton Friends Meeting in Camden. "He tried to follow the tenets of modesty and pacifism," his son said. Mr. Goodfellow was married and divorced twice, but stayed on cordial terms with his former wives, Joan E. Tracy and Beth Mutch. He spent his last seven years in the Green Mountains with former wife Joan, enjoying home-cooked meals, his family said. Before moving to Vermont, he had spent a decade in Philadelphia. Earlier, while teaching, he lived in Haddonfield. In retirement, he doted on his 12 grandchildren and enjoyed telling them stories about Welsh anthracite miners, and Scottish soldiers in World War II, the Civil War, and the War of 1812. Two of his ancestors had fought for the Union at Gettysburg. Although he was given many awards while teaching, he never spoke of them. "My father was a modest and unpretentious man," said his son. "He was a great storyteller, joker, and helper." In addition to his son, grandchildren and former wives, he is survived by sons David and Andrew, and daughters Bronwyn Lepore and Martha. Plans for services were pending. Burial will be private. Memorial donations may be made to the Alzheimer's Association via https://www.alz.org/. Rebecca Bunting, who was popular in the urban exploration community, takes photos in an abandoned amusement park. Read more In South Philly, Rebecca Bunting was a popular, tatted-up, 30-year-old bartender. But around the world, she was known as @_bword, for the persona she used to interact online with the global urban exploration community made up of photographers and thrill-seekers who trespass in abandoned spaces: Some enter these "bandos" for the sake of great photography, others do it for pure, unadulterated adrenaline. And Bunting was one of the greats. "She was the bando queen," Carly Weiss, a friend and fellow urban explorer, said. "There's no doubt about it." While shooting photos with her boyfriend from inside a storm drain near Roosevelt Boulevard Saturday night, Bunting was swept away by Pennypack Creek's raging waters during a flash flood, becoming the creek's sixth victim in eight years. Police found her body Sunday morning near the Frankford Avenue Bridge. After her death, members of the "urbex" community from across the world posted memories on Instagram, where Bunting, who often went by "Becca," had more than 10,000 followers. A photographer from Houston wrote: "Those days exploring with you in Philadelphia were honestly the most memorable moments of my trip." An explorer from Ontario wrote, "You have been such a strong influence in the community, and such a big inspiration to so many fellow explorers." Another urbex account posted a photo of Bunting holding a camera, writing: "Dark clouds gathered above our community." Bunting's Instagram account and a blog she contributed to are full of her sweeping photos showing scenes from explorations across the country: peeling walls in an abandoned jail in the Midwest. Gurneys and wheelchairs inside a decrepit hospital in Texas. A rusted piano in a left-behind middle school. Last summer, she posted a photo with the caption: "My camera is my tool. Through it I give reason to everything around me. " Bunting's closest friends and family had no idea the Shady Side, Md., native had inspired other photographers, from California to Greece. But they weren't surprised, either she was all-in with most things, whether it was beauty pageants as a toddler, softball as a preteen, or weightlifting in her 20s. Tina Fluharty, Bunting's mother, said her daughter picked up a professional-grade camera just 2 years ago. She became obsessed, and on more than one occasion ran into the house at dinner time to grab her camera to capture "golden hour," the time of day just after sunrise or before sunset when outdoor lighting is ideal. Fluharty said her daughter had an unquenchable curiosity about abandoned places, "a knack for the unusual," and a gift for, well, breaking into buildings. "If you examine Rebecca's life, it would be clear," she said, "she would inspire people to live a fearless life." Christine Carbone of Long Island knew Bunting through the urban exploration community and said that while Bunting was one of the most talented photographers she knew, the woman's greatest gift was tracking down and navigating abandoned spaces. She remembered a time when she met Bunting with two other women in Philadelphia to go exploring, and when Bunting confidently walked 20 feet ahead of the group, everyone naturally followed. "She was somebody I could totally trust in that situation," Carbone said during a phone interview while sitting atop an abandoned psychiatric hospital near her home. Most of the locations that attract urban explorers are kept secret. Those in the urbex community say this is to keep two groups away: the police and the explorers who find abandoned places solely to trash them. The Divine Lorraine Hotel on North Broad Street, before it was redeveloped into apartments, was long a destination for urban explorers. So was Graffiti Pier, a former coal-loading pier near Port Richmond that police shut down last month, citing safety concerns. Urban exploration is a calculated risk. Those who do it frequently break into restricted spaces by climbing through a window, cracking open a door, or jimmying a lock. And there are clear safety concerns that can lead to injury or death. Other urban explorers have died doing this work, including a New Jersey photographer who fell from the roof of the 52-story Four Seasons Hotel in Midtown Manhattan in 2015. Carrying photography equipment and moving around in places that aren't up to code brings with it other hazards, too, ranging from electrical zaps to collapsing ceilings. Matthew Christopher, an urban explorer who lives in Manayunk and has published two books of his work (he didn't personally know Bunting), said he's on several occasions stepped through floors or on top of a nail, admitting that he's entered buildings well-traveled by urban explorers that were "objectively stupid" to be inside. Still, each explorer, he said, finds his or her own justification. "Nobody is doing enough to really document these spaces and share them with other people," he said, "and allow for a public eulogy and an acknowledgment of their significance." He said he's attracted to the preservation aspect of exploration of paying homage to a place lost to time. Others have different reasons. Roberto Augustin, a 52-year-old explorer from Brooklyn who once met Bunting inside an abandoned church in the Bronx, said he uses exploration as a means of connecting with the past. "This is perhaps our way of coping," he said, "with the uncertainty of our time right now." Bradley L. Garrett, a cultural geographer based at the University of Sydney, has studied urban exploration and hypothesizes that urban explorers foray into architecture that's typically off-limits as a means of "reacting to increased surveillance and control over urban space" in search of "unregulated areas where they can build personal relationships to places." Whatever Bunting's reason, her friends said she lived for photographing spaces others might overlook while connecting with like-minded explorers. And her family said those connections were made easier by a personality they described as "electric." "Everything about her was this positive energy," Fluharty said. Her photos are in some ways now giving her friends and family solace. "We're always going to have Becca's photos and the photos we took of her," Weiss said. "Becca is going to live forever because of this." Weiss said Bunting's greatest gift was her ability to find elegance in decay to show strength in something others might see as broken. Perhaps, her friends said, maybe she even could find beauty in death. Four days before she died, Bunting posted a photo of a sun setting between grand, amber archways. "If there is life after death," she wrote, "I want to come back as a sunset. Ain't much else more beautiful than that." Editor's note: This story was revised to correct the day Bunting died. Wands are up today in mourning for Chestnut Hill's Harry Potter Festival. The beloved annual gathering, which has grown substantially over the last seven years and at its peak brought in nearly 50,000 fans, has been canceled after organizers received a cease-and-desist letter from Warner Bros. I, along with many other wizards, witches, and Muggles, am supremely bummed. Full disclosure: I am a superfan. My bona fides include multiple Potter-themed vacations, including a transatlantic voyage to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in previews on the West End; a lightning-bolt tattoo; undergrad research on the books; and a presentation at Chestnut Hill College's annual Potter academic conference on why Cursed Child's use of time travel luckily nullifies its place in the canon. Maybe that says a lot about me. But I think it says more about the series and the fandom that built it into an international cultural touchstone. I've attended nearly every Chestnut Hill Harry Potter Festival and I've got a bottle of Iron Hill Brewery's "Dumbledore's Dubbel" aging at home. Each year has been better than the last, but I think the fest finally reached its true potential last year when they opened up Germantown Avenue to pedestrians. It was a beautiful day and it felt as if every square inch of road was full of costumed fans of all ages. The family activities were fun, if low-budget; the Sorting Hat ceremony and Read-a-thon were my favorites. But, for me, the best part was being around that many fans with ear-to-ear grins just taking it all in. As a fan, I took great pride that my hometown had this charming and inclusive event, especially considering how expensive other Potter experiences can be. (Looking at you, Universal Orlando.) >> READ MORE: Harry Potter Festival in Chestnut Hill canceled due to legal pressure from Warner Bros. But honestly, I knew it wouldn't last once the internet caught wind of it. The year the festival landed on HuffPost, Teen Vogue, and Cosmopolitan, I noticed many more out-of-town license plates around town. A pair of women I ran into at Iron Hill even said they spontaneously drove overnight from Indiana once they heard about it online. I knew it wouldn't last because fans of everything from Star Trek to Stranger Things have received their fair share of cease-and-desist letters. They're part of a long history of tensions between fan communities and copyright owners. As long as fandoms have existed, fans have wanted to celebrate, discuss, and remix their favorite stories. As technology has made this easier, hard-core pop-culture lovers have refused to be passive consumers, expressing their obsessions through fan fiction, wikis, apparel, and restaurants. Even the most casual fans share memes of their favorite TV characters. But the brands at the heart of our mass-media landscape in all its merchandised glory aren't always supportive of this creativity, especially when fans want to make money off of copyrighted ideas. Over the years Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. have sent mixed messages to fans about interacting with the series, at turns encouraging creations like fan fiction and fighting fan sites run by teens. Upon learning Chestnut Hill's festival would end, Henry Jenkins, a media scholar known for his work on participatory culture, said the move feels like part of a common media cycle: Companies crack down on copyright infringement, fans push back, executives realize their value, fan culture explodes, and companies get twitchy over controlling their properties. "The pendulum swings back and forth," Jenkins said. "We're in the middle, I think, of a new pendulum swing of reining some of it in." Jenkins notes that promotional and legal teams within these companies are often at odds over fan activities, and even wondered whether the departure of a longtime Rowling ally at Warner Bros. could affect the company's position. Or maybe the company has realized its franchise is particularly vulnerable right now. "I've seen a lot of the old-guard Harry Potter fans become more and more alienated from the franchise, and maybe they're building some new ones with the Fantastic Beast films and the Broadway play, but they're further eroding the goodwill, the infrastructure of fandom that has sustained the property over time." Jenkins said the decision could even reverberate through fandoms across Hollywood. "It creates a chilling effect." It certainly has for me. Of course I believe artists have the right to ownership of, and thus profits from, their work. But I can't help but feel disappointed that a worldwide company like Warner Bros. would squash such a heartwarming tradition as our Chestnut Hill Harry Potter Festival. Perhaps a compromise can be made. Clearly, Warner Bros. does not want Chestnut Hill businesses to profit off of their intellectual property. Much of the festival admittedly revolves around shopping for Potter-related goods and eating Potter-inspired foods. Though Chestnut Hill's business district director, Philip Dawson, told the Inquirer and Daily News that Warner Bros. won't issue a license for the event, maybe the company could loosen certain restrictions and shops could donate a portion of profits to Rowling's Lumos Foundation. Is that a bit of a stretch? Perhaps. But the world of remixed pop culture and participatory superfandom isn't going away. It might behoove Warner Bros. to strike a deal before estranging its aging foundation of fans. And it's certainly worth fans speaking up. Grassroots independents and reform activists have been pushing to enact open primaries since 2009, when then-Representative (now Auditor General) Eugene DePasquale first introduced legislation to allow independents to participate. Read more In Harrisburg, generally known as the Place Reform Goes to Die, there is now robust debate about two critical political reforms: 1) proposals to end gerrymandering by creating a more independent process by which to draw political maps, and 2) proposals to enact open primaries and allow the state's 750,000 independent voters to participate in first-round elections. Are these proposals a quick fix to all that ails our politics? Probably not. Are they worth doing? Absolutely. The status quo (closed primaries and gerrymandered districts) now go hand-in-glove to insulate politicians, reduce competition, and reinforce partisanship. Our political system is so broken that lawmakers struggle year after year to perform the most basic task of passing a balanced budget on time. And citizens know it. Only 14 percent of Pennsylvanians approve of the job being done by the state legislature. >>READ MORE: Pa., open those primaries But despite their low ratings, Pennsylvania lawmakers rarely get voted out of office because competition is kept to a minimum by closed partisan primaries and gerrymandered districts. In 2016, 49 percent of general election contests saw only one candidate on the ballot. Sometimes it seems like more legislators leave office in handcuffs or a hearse than because they lose an election. There is clearly momentum on the fair-districting front. In January, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that our gerrymandered congressional map violates the state constitution and ordered the map redrawn. The court's decision was necessary, but not sufficient to define a more fair, independent mapping process. Fortunately, over the last year and a half the Fair Districts PA coalition has mobilized 25,000 citizens to speak out in support of true redistricting reform. These energetic and courageous efforts hang in the balance, as a constitutional amendment necessary for change will need to pass the legislature this month. >>READ MORE: Tell Pennsylvania's legislature to end gerrymandering now The court ruling on gerrymandering may result in more even balanced and competitive districts, but it will not solve the problem of excluding voters during the primaries. Unless and until we create a fairer redistricting process and open up closed primaries to independents, we'll continue to see elected representatives settled and secure in their safe seats. Lacking a real threat of losing at the ballot box, our lawmakers will continue to answer mainly to special interests, toe the party line, and avoid the "productive center" of the political process. Their aversion to compromise, informed debate and common sense will continue to breed anger and distrust among voters, and reinforce their belief that "the system" is broken or if not broken, that's it's fixed. As in rigged. Grassroots independents and reform activists have been pushing to enact open primaries since 2009, when then-Rep. (now Auditor General) Eugene DePasquale first introduced legislation to allow independents to participate. Sen. Rob Teplitz, a Dauphin County Democrat, and Rep. Bryan Cutler, a Lancaster County Republican, introduced similar legislation in 2014. Over the last 10 years, numerous petitions have circulated and scores of articles have been written about the need to open primaries. More than one independent voting taxpayer has asked on primary day why she's forced to pay for partisan primaries even when she's prevented from participating. But now, at last, legislative leaders are listening. Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati and House Majority Leader Dave Reed have both indicated that they are introducing open primaries legislation this session. This is good news for all Pennsylvanians. >>READ MORE: Why open primary elections won't solve Pa.'s polarization problem Will allowing independents to vote in partisan primaries revitalize Pennsylvania's politics overnight? Not by a long shot. But coupled with real redistricting reform, open primaries will nudge Pennsylvania back to the center, a center marked by compromise and consensus and results. And opening the primaries will end the second-class status of independent voters, many of whom are under the age of 30, and send a message to the country that when it comes to democracy, Pennsylvanians want to grow and innovate. Pennsylvania has a chance to enact meaningful redistricting reform and fully enfranchise 750,000 citizens and energize the next generation of our state's voters, who want to participate but not to join a political party. There's a window of opportunity before us. Let's go. David Thornburgh is the president and CEO of the Committee of Seventy. John Opdycke is the president of Open Primaries This May 13, 2004 photo shows designer Kate Spade during an interview in New York. Spade was found dead in an apparent suicide in her New York City apartment on Tuesday, June 5, 2018. Read more As we all know by now, the designer Kate Spade died this week at age 55 by suicide. We know this because she was a prominent businesswoman and cultural figure, and the news media has dutifully reported on her death, as it should. Unfortunately, we also know much more than that, including minute details of how she ended her life not only the method she used, but even the color of the object employed, which has been reported in countless articles and news accounts. As both a journalist and a suicide-attempt survivor, I have been disappointed by the sensational nature of the coverage of Spade's death. In 1843, the British epidemiologist William Farr, in the Phrenological Journal and Magazine of Moral Science, wrote, "No fact is better established in science than that suicide is often committed from imitation." Since then, countless academic studies have borne out this theory of contagion. In addition, public health entities like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization have published guidelines for media professionals in covering suicide, and in 2015, more than 29 public health, suicide prevention and journalism entities issued Recommendations for Reporting on Suicide, which can be found at the project website, reportingonsuicide.org. There are many other resources available as well, and they're easy to find and access. >> READ MORE: Kate Spade: Why her death sent shock waves beyond the fashion world | Elizabeth Wellington In May, Jennifer Michael Hecht wrote for Vox about the "life-or-death consequences" of how the media cover celebrity suicides. She was responding in particular to the awful coverage of the April death of 28-year-old Tim Bergling, better known under his DJ name Avicii. Yesterday, Vox updated the story with an intro that noted: "The coverage of [Spade's] death raises some of the same issues." Will they add another update after the irresponsible coverage of the next celebrity suicide? The media must decide: Which matters more? Liz Spikol is a freelance writer living in Philadelphia. lspikol@gmail.com If you or someone you know is considering self-harm, please seek help through the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. The walkways were lined with American flags on Monday as more than 100 people arrived at the Greater Pine Island Veterans of Foreign Wars Post #4353 for the annual Memorial Day ceremony. Pine Island VFW Commander Austin White hosted the event. Today is a day we need to put aside our disagreements and take time to remember those who are often out of sight but never out of our hearts and minds, Commander Austin White said. White added a special touch to this years Memorial Day by adding a ceremony about the 13 folds of the U.S. flag. The flag-folding ceremony represents the same religious principles on which our country was originally founded. As the honor guard slowly folded the flag, White recited the symbolic meaning of each of the 13 folds. We are reminded of each of our heroes every time we see the American flag, White said. We also honor our fallen by placing an American flag on their casket. When a flag is removed from a casket each of the 13 folds has a profound meaning. The first fold of our flag is a symbol of life; the second fold signifies our belief in eternal life; the third fold is made in honor and tribute of the veteran departing our ranks; the fourth fold exemplifies our weaker nature as citizens trusting in God; the fifth fold is an acknowledgment to our country; the sixth fold is for where our hearts lie; the seventh fold is a tribute to our armed forces; the eighth fold is a tribute to the one who entered into the valley of the shadow of death; the ninth fold is an honor to womanhood; the 10th fold is a tribute to father; the 11th fold, represents the seal of King David and King Solomon; the 12th fold represents an emblem of eternity and God the Father, the Son, and Holy Ghost. The last fold, when the flag is completely folded, the stars are uppermost, reminding us of our national motto, In God We Trust.' I wanted to remind people what Memorial Day is all about, White said. We have troops coming home in flag draped coffins and I wanted people to be reminded of the meaning behind the 13 folds of a U.S. flag draped over a service persons casket. Memorial Day is a federal holiday for remembering the men and women who died while serving in the countrys armed forces. The first Memorial Day, then called Decoration Day, was held on May 30, 1868. On the 9th and 10th June the Valle di Daone will host the fifth edition of GraMitico, the bouldering meeting in Italy open to all. Photo by Gramitico GraMitico 2018, Adam Ondra & Stefano Ghisolfi in Valle di Daone, Italy GraMitico, the bouldering meeting that will take place on Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th June in Valle di Daone, one of the most beautiful and unspoilt corners of Italys Trentino, is just a few days away. The time has come for some information about the unique evening with Adam Ondra and Stefano Ghisolfi, conducted by Simone Raina. GraMitico begins officially on 9 June with registration at 14:00 at the Limes, while the first Yoga session with Sara Grippo will commence at 18:00. Drinks at 19:00 will be followed by dinner at 19:30. At 21:00 the unprecedented evening talk with Adam Ondra and Stefano Ghisolfi, conducted by Simone Raina, during which the two absolute champions will talk about each other. Two films will be screened: the first documents Adam Ondras efforts on Silence, the worlds first 9c - the unimaginable difficult, hardest route ever. Following this, Stefano Ghisolfi will talk about his dreams and projects and will introduce his film "Beyond my limits". The next day starts with can early morning yoga with Sara Grippo and continues with a series of other activities, such as the Magic Line and the photo contest. Then theres the unique opportunity to climb with these two great champions at the Boulder Park la Plana; this can be reached with the shuttle bus service from Limes as of 9:00am. At 15:30 theres the prize draw. GraMitico continues to be a bouldering meeting designed and organised for those who love climbing and wish to share this passion with friends, old and new. For more detailed information about the program, accommodation and pre-registration, check out valdaonexperience. Sponsor: Ferrino, Rock Slave, La Sportiva Info: www.valdaonexperience.it, Facebook Gramitico Valdaone, Instagram Gramitico Share Tweet BUGIRI: Kyaddondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu is adamant he has picked the right choice by breaking ranks with the Forum for Democratic Change and Dr. Kizza Besigye to support JEEMAs Asuman Basalirwa in the Bugiri Municipality polls slated for July 10. In statement after he had campaigned for Mr Basalirwa issued on Wednesday night, Mr Kyagulanyi commonly known as Bobi Wine said: Some people will be shocked to learn that I did not know Asuman closely before. He added: But anyone who has been following the politics of our country knows what counsel Basalirwas contribution has been to this struggle and what he is capable of. Right from the time he was Guild President at Makerere, Basalirwa has been on the side of Uganda, the MP wrote. Mr Kyagulanyi added that Basalirwa has been arrested and jailed countless times fighting against injustice. We have seen him crisscross courts of law- from the lowest to the highest, defending opposition leaders, representing activists and arguing the case for good governance and human rights for all, Mr Kyagulanyi said, concluding Basalirwa was the right candidate for the job and that the Opposition needed to show desire for unity even when faced with the most difficult of choices. The Opposition FDC and JEEMA have failed to reach consensus on a single candidate for the July 10 polls leading to bickering among many opposition figures with the FDC choosing to back the party candidate Eunice Namatembe. In 2016, Mr Basalirwa, vied for the Bukhooli North parliamentary seat but lost. However, he had garnered the highest number of votes in Bugiri Municipality which has been carved off Bukhooli North, which gives him a big chance. Bugiri Municipality, which was curved from Bukooli County has four Wards namely; Naluwerere, Nkusi, Ndifakulya and Bwole with 27 Villages in total. The election is set for July 10. Full Statement- WHY AM I ENDORSING COUNSEL ASUMAN BASALIRWA? Dear friends, A few people have been asking me why I decided to endorse Counsel Asuman Basalirwa in the upcoming Bugiri Municipality MP elections. Let me use this opportunity to explain why. First of all, let me remind us all of the nature of struggle we are involved in. I have at all times said that we need a united force to fight and defeat dictatorship in Uganda. The struggle we are involved in is not a struggle of political parties, religions or tribes. It is a struggle to liberate our motherland from the chains of corruption, bad governance and dictatorship. It is not a personal war and none of us should lay claim on it. It is a battle between the people of Uganda and a small clique of people who continue to impose themselves and oppress our people. Therefore in this struggle, we need to try as much as possible to unite all the forces of change to fight a common enemy. Not a personal enemy- but the enemy of the progress of our nation! And so, just like we did in the recent elections in Jinja and Rukungiri, I had hoped that we would all unite behind one candidate in Bugiri Municipality because we have seen it work elsewhere. This is because my belief is that the every first step towards emancipating our nation is UNITY. Surprisingly the citizens seem to be ahead of us leaders, in understanding this simple fact. Wherever I have gone, people have been clear that they want to see a united team fighting for them. Therefore, that was our initial prayer and effort with regard to the Bugiri election. Unfortunately for some reason it failed. Although it is never too late, as it stands we have two candidates on the opposition side- Counsel Asuman Basalirwa and Ms. Eunice Namatembe. Having come to the cross-roads, we needed to make a decision. The question was, what is the right thing to do? If our overall objective is to liberate our country from dictatorship as soon as possible, on which side must we stand? I must confess that it was a tough decision because Eunice Namatembe is a freedom fighter like the rest of us. She is also on the side of liberation and I would support her at any point if the circumstances did not raise the kind of conflict they have raised. However, I felt more compelled to stand with Counsel Asuman Basalirwa and I fully endorse him without reservation. Looking at all factors, I am persuaded that a win for Basalirwa would be a great addition to our overall objective of emancipating Uganda. My conscience is very clear that we need Counsel Basalirwa to win this election. We must stop looking at these elections as mere events, or simply as opportunities for people to get jobs. These elections symbolize resilience. They must be viewed as the fire that reignites the liberation struggle. For we have seen that our problem today is not just that we have many bad leaders. No. In fact, the bigger problem is that we have many leaders who know what is right and what is wrong, but they choose not to say it or stop the wrong because they are afraid of the consequences. To break that, we need tested men and women on the frontline. We need people who will stand and be counted. Asuman Basalirwa is such a man. Some people will be shocked to learn that I did not know Asuman closely before. But anyone who has been following the politics of our country knows what counsel Basalirwas contribution has been to this struggle and what he is capable of. Right from the time he was Guild President at Makerere, Basalirwa has been on the side of Uganda. He has been arrested and jailed countless times fighting against injustice. We have seen him crisscross courts of law- from the lowest to the highest, defending opposition leaders, representing activists and arguing the case for good governance and human rights for all. In 2016, we saw him aggressively argue the presidential election petition. He has been a regular visitor at different police stations all over the country to secure bond for political prisoners and to protest against illegal detentions. He has done these things countless times without even charging legal fees. We have seen him campaign zealously for progressive candidates so many times. He has stood with our comrades in the struggle regardless of their political affiliations! Asuman has been there for FDC, for UPC, for DP, for JEEMA, for CP, for Go forward and yes for Uganda. He has been there for us and my conscience tells me that we should be there for him. Basalirwa believes that young leaders have a role to play in shaping our nation. In 2010, he was elected youngest Party President in Ugandas history at 33. I feel very proud to identify with such a man! We must desist from being petty. When necessity calls, we must be willing to put aside personal ambitions and party or other differences and work for the greater good of our country. If our aim is indeed to change Uganda for the better, let us walk this talk for the sake of our people and our nation. And that is why I pledge that when duty calls I will answer, guided by one principle- whoever is for Uganda is an ally. Whoever is against Uganda is a foe. Period! I therefore request the people of Bugiri to support Asuman Basalirwa in every way so that we quicken our mission to free Uganda. I will be personally there to campaign for this great son of the soil. Finally, I leave you with two quotes. Martin Luther King Jr said, There comes a time when one must take a stand that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right. Nelson Mandela said, Any man who changes his principles according to whom he is dealing with- that is not a man who can lead a nation. May these timelines words always inspire us to be true to good conscience and loyal to our principles at all times. God bless Uganda. #UnityInDiversity #PeoplePower Bobi wine Related No synopsis of the reasons explaining President Musevenis longevity, both as a freedom fighter in his youth, and as Ugandas chief executive, would be complete without mention of his disdain for failure. It is why he takes time off his busy Presidential schedule to campaign for each and every National Resistance Movement candidate in the countrys by-elections. Given NRMs near total domination of elective politics they had won 25 out of 26 by elections going into the Rukungiri Woman MP contest, there is a school of thought among Movement apparatchiks that felt the party neednt have spent as much resources on a mere by election. This branch of the Movement doesnt understand Mr Musevenis dynamics of power retention. Keenly aware that he was able to capture State power just five years after his Uganda Patriotic Movement won a solitary seat in the 1980 general elections, the veteran leader is a political annihilist, if you will excuse the coinage. He believes in annihilating the opposition with total victory. Foremost among top factors making Rukungiri a battleground district that warranted a Shs5bn resource envelope and strong military presence, was NRM candidate Igeme Nabetas loss to Forum for Democratic Changes Paul Mwiru in the Jinja East by-election. NRM needed to reassert itself, lest losses are viewed as a trend, and therefore a pointer to their 2021 fortunes. In the end, it was a close election, with FDCs Betty Muzanira topping NRMs Winnie Kiiza by a margin of about 4-5,000 votes. Although this outcome generally mirrored the 2016 presidential elections outcome, the disappointment for NRM should be that in the 2016 presidential elections Kiiza Besigye only beat President Musevenis tally in Rukungiri by a mere 2458 votes. In brief, the margin has slightly increased. Rukungiri also mattered because it is the home district of long term opposition leader Dr Warren Kifefe Kiiza Besigye. Inflicting defeat on him in his own backyard would have a demoralising effect on the FDC stalwart and four-time presidential candidate. World over, no one makes the presidency unless he can bag his home district. Also of notable concern to the ruling party is the fact that Rukungiri is in NRMs rural western Uganda heartland. Since multiparty politics was reintroduced into this country, south western Uganda (Kasese district is the exception) has voted as a block for President Museveni. But FDC has been making inroads in Rukungiri. Besides, many NRM heavyweights including former ministers Lt General (retd) Henry Tumukunde, Major General (retd) Jim Muhwezi and former Chief of Defence Forces, the late General Aronda Nyakairima hail from Rukungiri. So what better way to reverse a trend and strike a telling blow to opposition hopes, than by having NRMs Winnie Matsiko stop FDCs Betty Muzanira? To round up, the voter turnout for the Rukungiri Woman MP by election only provided citizens a temporary diversion from their daily struggles, while re-emphasising the power of Ugandas imperial presidency. For all the hype and media attention the plebiscite attracted, just 102,000 registered voters turned up on election day at least 13,000 less than the 115,308 who cast their ballots in the 2016 presidential elections. Related At 52, Gregory Andrews is believed to be the oldest cadet to ever make it through the Washington State Patrol academy. The average age for WSP cadets is 25. Andrews says he feared his co-cadets would treat him differently, but other than a couple of odd looks in the early days of the academy, he said everyone accepted him. Andrews always wanted to be in law enforcement, but he got married, had children, and started a business instead. But when his children grew up and he sold his business, he decided to fulfill that dream and become a trooper, KING5 TV reports. Hungary tops charts for EU funding frauds OLAF opened 215 new investigations last year and concluded 197 cases, issuing 309 recommendations to the EU and national authorities involved and recommending nearly EUR 3.1 billion for financial recovery. It must be noted that OLAF typically recommends a financial penalty (correction) amounting to 100% of the amount in question, which the member state in question then negotiates with the Commission.As the chart below shows, there was incoming information in 27 new cases in Hungary in 2017, with 26 of these sources private and only a single one public. Other top countries on this list include Spain (31), Bulgaria (tied at 27) and Romania (24), but the ratio of public sources was much higher in these countries.Of the 197 cases concluded by OLAF last year, 11 were in Romania, followed by Hungary and Poland with 10 apiece. Seven of these cases have concluded with judicial recommendations to Hungarian authorities.The report mentions in specific last year's investigation into 35 public lighting projects in Hungary, where OLAF sent its final report with financial recommendations to the European Commission Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy to recover EUR 43.7 million, and judicial recommendations to the General Prosecutor of Hungary.Another case involving Hungary was a cross-border misuse of EU funds in 31 research and development projects. The investigation, which took place in Hungary, Latvia and Serbia, uncovered a subcontracting scheme used to artificially increase project costs and hide the fact that the final suppliers were linked companies.As for following up on OLAF's recommendations, Hungarian judicial authorities took no decision in 20 of the 37 cases referred to them, dismissing nine and indicting only eight cases between 2010 and 2017. The 47% indictment rate is slightly above the EU average, while the number of cases with no decision was the third highest.The 49 OLAF investigations regarding the European Structural and Investment Funds and Agriculture for the period 2013-2017 is the second highest figure, while the 3.92% of payments recommended for recovery was by far the highest in the EU, followed by Slovakia with 2.09% and Bulgaria with just 0.54%.In general, corruption, conflict of interest and the manipulation of tender procedures continue to be encountered in fraud cases affecting EU structural funds, the OLAF report said, with some instances where organised crime groups try to gain profit. Fraudsters have increasingly attempted to defraud funds destined for research or the refugee crisis, OLAF adds, while the evasion of customs duties is orchestrated through transnational criminal schemes. On May 15, I along with a 100-plus Iowa CCI members stopped by Iowa Select headquarters in Iowa Falls to talk to Jeff Hanson about our concerns about Iowas lack of clean water. Having being there less than 5 minutes, the Iowa Falls Police showed up. In 10 minutes, the Hardin County Sheriffs Department showed up. Finally in 15 minutes, two highway patrol officers showed up. Within 15 minutes there were six or more officers there to ask us to leave. No one at Iowa Select wanted to listen to us, or talk to us to explain their stance on the water problem we have in Iowa caused by the large numbers of CAFOS that have poor environmental standards. We get the same treatment at the Capitol when talking to our senators and representatives, and get this even the E.P.C., because its members have ties with the hog industry and were installed by the Branstad administration. Why acant the citizens of Iowa get the same quick response to our concerns about water that industrial ag gets to protect their greed when they dont want to admit to their polluting of the environment. The citizens of Iowa have to realize the CAFO industrial complex is here to steal our state natural resource that is most valved around the world: clean water. They drain the countrys aquifers, and polluted the lake and rivers with their wastes. Think about it, can you live with water? This fall, vote for candidates that will protect our waters as fast as the current government members now protect industrial ag waste. James Berge Kensett, Iowa James Berge Kensett, Iowa Ive always been a sucker for a good story. Whether its pouring over classic texts, swiping pages on a Kindle, or skimming the latest local headlines, theres never a bad time to get your read on. In solidarity with shameless bookworms everywhere, I present a few of my favorite podcasts for bibliophiles. Literary Disco Writers talking about reading, does it get any better? "Literary Disco" combines the best of writing and reading into one fascinating discussion. Three writers and friends, Tod, Julia, and Rider, delve into heated debates about books ranging from childrens fiction to holiday reading, poetry to mythology. Every episode is captivating and any genre is up for grabs. Youll wish it wasnt a podcast so you could pipe in, too. Plug in: Episode 118, "Childrens Books" What Should I Read Next? The premise of this one is simple - to answer the question plaguing every voracious bookworm: what should I read next? Each episode gets down to business, interviewing readers about books theyve loved, books theyve hated, and sifting through their current reading pile. With those preferences in mind, host Anne Bogel then makes recommendations for future titles. Its the no-fuss way to find your next literary soul mate. Or at least summer beach read. Plug in: Episode 130, "Must-read books by women writers" Lexicon Valley Lovers of language, this ones for you. "Lexicon Valley" is a podcast about "language, from pet peeves, syntax, and etymology to neurolinguistics and the death of languages." Want to know how New York got the moniker "The Big Apple?" Have a hankering for the history behind enduring expletives? Learn everything you need to know about the words and language that craft your favorite stories. Plug in: "Like, Why Do We Use Like So Much?" fiction/non/fiction Switching gears from book discussions and recommendations, "fiction/non/fiction" veers into slightly different terrain; it uses literature as a lens for dissecting current events and includes conversations with novelists, poets, journalists, essayists, and beyond. Episodes feature nuanced conversations on diverse cultural topics from mass incarceration to socialism, anti-Semitism to obscenity. Plug in: "All Fiction is Crime Fiction" The Southeast Minnesota Visual Artist Gallery is looking to make connections at its new member art receptions this summer. Joel DesLauriers, a local wood turner, already has a personal connection to one of his fellow artists who will be featured June 14. DesLauriers, whose woodworking results in a pile of castoffs, lives in the same neighborhood as Beth Sievers, who comes over and sorts through the piles of chips to find canvases for her beeswax paintings. So when Sievers was asked to present her work at SEMVAs first member reception this summer, she asked DesLauriers to join her. Judy Saye-Willis, a local textile artist who uses other nature-based materials, rounds out the trio of artists. "It seemed like a natural fit, to put those three together" said Patricia Dunn-Walker of the SEMVA Gallery. But finding people whose work aligns wasnt their only goal. "We want the artists to get to know each other in small groups," Dunn-Walker said. The receptions are a way for artists in a fairly large community to hang out off-duty. Having joined SEMVA about a year ago, DesLauriers is still running across members of the gallery he doesnt know during his monthly four hours of required work at the co-op. "Ive been turning wood since the early 90s, and I joined SEMVA just last fall," DesLauriers said. "Getting to know people is the best part of it." The receptions will hopefully introduce the general public to some of the pieces and artists downtown, Dunn-Walker said, as the gallery is still looking for more foot traffic (and trying to capitalize on the beginning of Thursdays on First & 3rd). "Having moved, were still downtown, but people dont know exactly where we are," Dunn-Walker said. At the gallery, you could find a painting you love for thousands of dollars or pick up a handmade card for pocket change, she said. And just spending some time in the gallery to view the art? Well, thats free. "It sure makes everybodys life more interesting just to see whats out there," Dunn-Walker said. "And you wont find more variety than whats in here." Delauriers, a wood-turner, makes bowls, vases, ornaments, and toys from natural materials. Hes worked with wood since the 90s, and has recently begun carving and adding metallic elements to his work. Sievers, an encaustic artist, uses beeswax to paint on salvaged wood. She began working in stained glass, but transitioned to encaustics in 2009. Sievers is a member of SEMVA and Gallery 24. Saye-Willis, a fiber artist, uses natural dyes in her scarves and other textiles. Her work in textiles, jewelry, and book art can be found at SEMVA. At the FOX News site Frank Miniter checks in on the curious case of Imran Awan in a column headlined Democrats IT scandal set to explode with possible plea deal. The Daily Callers Luke Rosiak has broken story after story in the Awan case. Rosiaks stories are archived here. We have followed it in many posts, most recently here and here. As I have observed in several of those posts, former DNC chairman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz lies (and lies) at the heart of the story. Rosiaks current story Sources: Wasserman Schultz screamed at House IT officials to kill hacking probe, intervened in Pakistani criminal matter displays her hypersensitivity to the case. In May 2017 she nervously threatened Capitol Police for holding her laptop in connection with the case. Awan and his wife have been charged with bank fraud unrelated to the apparent IT breaches of electronic data held by House Democrats. Miniter summarizes the wrongdoing in which the Awans have been implicated and reports that Awan and wife now appear poised to strike a plea deal with the Department of Justice. A plea agreement hearing is set for July 3 before U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan in Washington, Fox News reported Wednesday. A plea on the unrelated bank charges might involve an agreement to cooperate in the investigation of the data breaches. However, Miniter provides no facts to support the excitement he conveys in the column. We will have to keep an eye on the long awaited, frequently postponed plea hearing scheduled before the July 4 holiday. In this series I follow up on Jeff Baillons intensely reported FOX 9 story Millions of dollars fly out of MSP in suitcases, but why? In part 1 I noted the media backlash to Baillons story at the Pioneer Press, at MPR, and, of course, at the Star Tribune. The media, however, have not followed up on Baillons findings regarding rampant daycare fraud. Part 1 in this series is here. In part 1 I noted the media backlash to Baillons story at the Pioneer Press, at MPR, and, of course, at the Star Tribune. Part 2 is here. In part 2 I highlighted undisputed facts supplemented by additional reporting of my own. Baillon offered the case of Fozia Ali as illustrative of the rampant daycare fraud leading to cash leaving the Twin Cities for the Middle East and possible support of terrorist forces. On the last point, Baillon quoted FBI spokesman Craig Lisher. We are aware that some of the funds went overseas, what she was cashing out, money from the business. Asked if he had any idea of what it was going for he said, I cant say. When pressed if he cant say or doesnt know he responded, I cant say. Its a powerful case supporting Baillons three theses. The media backlash has nevertheless left it untouched. Alis is by far the most egregious case of known fraud committed by Somali daycare providers in the Child Care Assistance Program. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman handled the other cases and let the individuals off in exchange for guilty pleas including restitution from the provider entities. Alis case, however, was handled by the United States Attorney and resulted in a prison sentence for Ali. Ali was charged by the United States Attorney for the District of Minnesota in a five-count indictment dated January 18, 2017. I have posted a copy of the indictment provided by the office here on Scribd. The United States Attorney issued a press release announcing the indictment. Chris Serres reported the FBI raid on Alis daycare center in a Star Tribune story dated May 23, 2015. Stephen Montemayor reported the indictment in a Star Tribune story dated January 20, 2017. What happened next? The trail goes cold. The United States Attorney issued no press release. The Star Tribune never caught up with the rest of the story. Baillon, however, noted Alis guilty plea and prison sentence. I obtained copies of the plea agreement and judgment or sentencing document from the Office of the United States Attorney. I posted a copy of the plea agreement here. I posted the sentencing document here and embedded it at the bottom of this post. The government agreed to dismiss four counts of the indictment (all alleging wire fraud) in exchange for a guilty plea on the fifth (aiding and abetting theft of public money), which overlapped the first four counts. The government had the case nailed. Ali was sentenced to two years in prison. Restitution was a mandatory element of the plea agreement. At the time of the plea there was no agreement on the amount of restitution. The required amount of restitution was to be determined based on information to be provided by Ali. The amount was to equal the total loss due to Alis fraudulent billing practices over the period 18-month period December 2013-May 2015. The sentencing document reflects the amount of restitution ordered by the court. It came to the amount of $1,449,105.67 (page 6). I find that to be astounding. Baillon to the contrary notwithstanding, the lack of interest in Alis case reflects poorly on the Minnesota media as does the medias performance in the aftermath of Baillons story. FA Judgment by Scott Johnson on Scribd At the urging of Kim Kardashian, President Trump has commuted the life sentence of Alice Johnson, a convicted drug-trafficker. Johnson served 21 years of her sentence. Johnson was, in the words of the judge who sentenced her, the quintessential entrepreneur in a multi-million dollar cocaine ring in the Memphis area. It dealt tons of cocaine for millions of dollars. At Johnsons trial, the evidence linked her drug ring with Colombian drug lords. She was convicted on cocaine conspiracy and money laundering charges. Clearly, this was not a low-level drug dealer. Nor should she be considered a non-violent offender. In all likelihood Johnsons drug ring was responsible for more than a few deaths. Life in prison was just punishment. Dont take my word for it. President Obama, who freed between 1,000 and 2,000 federal drug felons, chose not to commute Johnsons life sentence. I guess hes less impressed than Trump by Kim Kardashian. As Daniel Horowitz reminds us, it was only a few weeks ago that Trump was talking about death sentences for drug dealers. Were wasting our time if we dont get tough with drug dealers, and that toughness includes the death penalty, Trump stated. That toughness does not include commuting the sentence of a drug entrepreneur too culpable to obtain clemency even from Barack Obama. Apparently keeping up with the Kardashians means more to Trump than being the tough-on-crime president he promised to be. The commutation of Johnsons pardon highlights one positive point, though. There is no need to reduce or eliminate mandatory minimum sentences in order to avoid unjust sentences. Where a sentence is unjust, it can be commuted. Johnsons sentence was not unjust, however. Even Barack Obama, liberator-in-chief of federal drug felons, understood that. The summit of the countries making up NATO's eastern flank, the so-called Bucharest Nine, has begun before noon on Friday in Warsaw, with participants welcomed by Polish and Romanian Presidents, Andrzej Duda and Klaus Iohannis, respectively. The joint declaration for the Brussels NATO summit has been adopted during the first part of the meeting. JOINT DECLARATION>>> This is the second meeting of the Bucharest Nine, after a get-together in the Romanian capital in 2015. Hosted by Andrzej Duda and Klaus Iohannis, it is being attended by the heads of state of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria, as well as the speaker of the Czech parliament. Attending the Warsaw meeting are the Presidents of Poland, Romania, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria, as well as the head of the Czech parliament. The summit is chaired by Polish and Romanian heads of state Andrzej Duda and Klaus Iohannis. The first session "Warsaw Plus: bringing the security of NATOs Eastern flank to the next level" Joint Declaration of the Heads of State Bucharest 9 meeting "The declaration is concerned with the armed conflict in Ukraine, which remains permanently unresolved, it also considers the situation in the Middle East, this is why it is not only an expression of our responsibility and a serious approach to security matters and the functioning of the Alliance, but also for the time being, another demonstration of solidarity within the North Atlantic Alliance(...)," President Duda said during the press conference. The next session of the Bucharest Nine summit was held by Romanian President Klaus Iohannis at the Royal Castle in Warsaw. President Duda's aide, Krzysztof Szczerski, told PAP that the Warsaw conference was the eastern flank countries' contribution to security in the eastern part of the EU, and gave his assurance that countries in the region supported each other despite security policy differences. "We want this Warsaw meeting to be the eastern flank's contribution to regional security. We want to make it clear that our countries support each other even if they differ in the specifics of their security strategies," Krzysztof Szczerski said. Concert commemorating 100th Anniversary of Polish Independence Cooperation within the Bucharest Nine (B9) group is an important part of Poland's security undertakings in its independence centenary year, President Andrzej Duda said on Friday at a centenary concert in Warsaw. President Duda's words referred to Friday's Bucharest Nine Summit in Warsaw, called ahead of the July NATO summit in Brussels. The summit, attended by leaders of countries forming NATO's eastern flank (Poland, Romania, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic) is to the be the region's contribution to the provisions of the Brussels summit. In his address before the concert, Andrzej Duda reminded that 1918, the year in which Poland regained independence, had also been important for other countries in the region as the year in which World War One ended, bringing or restoring independence to them. President said the Bucharest Nine format was an important element of our security undertakings, and observed that the group's member states all had similar historical experiences. Addressing a group of Bucharest Nine leaders present at the concert, Duda expressd hope for further cooperation within the B9 format to raise security in the region. - I believe that we will continue to support one another, that together we will build a security zone in our part of Europe - he said. Attending the concert besides the Polish head of state were the presidents of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, Lithuania, Dalia Grybauskaite, Latvia, Raimonds Vejonis, Estonia, Kersti Kaljulaid and Bulgaria, Rumen Radev. (PAP/AW/WP) Source: BelTA MINSK, 6 June (BelTA) Belarusian and Chinese military will share their experience of maintaining discipline in the armed forces, representatives of the Belarusian Defense Ministry told BelTA. A Chinese delegation led by Deputy Secretary of the Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Central Military Commission of China, Lieutenant-General Yang Chengxi is expected to visit Belarus on 6-8 June. The sides are expected to share their experience of counteracting corruption and maintaining discipline, law and order in the armed forces of the two countries. Plans have been made to arrange a meeting with high-ranking officers of the Belarusian army and negotiations with top officials of the Belarusian Defense Ministry. MUMBAI, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Financial Times (FT) and International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, today announced CleanMax Solar, India's most trusted sustainability partner for the corporate segment, as the winner in 'Achievement in Transformational Infrastructure' at the Transformational Business Awards 2018. The company was selected from among 189 entries received from 126 countries, and received the award for its rooftop solar project at the Tata Motors factory in Sanand, Gujarat. CleanMax Solar is the first Indian company ever to win the award. The award was presented by Ms. Stephanie Race, CEO, Crop Performance Ltd. to Mr. Kuldeep Jain, Founder and Managing Director of CleanMax Solar, during the awards ceremony held in London. (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/702756/CleanMax_Solar_Receives_Award.jpg ) This is the fifth edition of the FT/IFC Transformational Business Awards, the global programme highlighting innovative, long-term private sector solutions to major development challenges. In 2015, CleanMax Solar provided a solar rooftop solution to the Tata Motors facility where the Tata Nano car is manufactured. The rooftop solar plant was developed on a 'build-own-operate' model, which enabled Tata Motors to switch to solar power in zero-capex and risk-free manner. Through this project, Tata Motors not only reduces its carbon footprint by 2700 tons annually for a period of 25 years, but also locks in a large fraction of its electricity cost from solar power, at a discount to grid electricity tariffs. It is estimated that Tata Motors is saving INR 3 million annually from the project. The solar plant has also reduced the indoor temperature of the factory and generated long-term local employment opportunities. Commenting on the award, Mr. Kuldeep Jain, Founder and Managing Director, CleanMax Solar, said, "We are extremely humbled and honoured to receive this prestigious and globally recognised award from Financial Times and IFC. It gives us motivation to continue working towards a sustainable future by providing innovative solutions which are also viable for corporates. I would like to thank FT/IFC Jury members for recognizing our endeavours and also all the employees and stakeholders at CleanMax Solar who work relentlessly to ensure quality project delivery." CleanMax Solar has installed more than 250 projects for over 70 corporates in India, with combined rooftop capacity of 100 MW, and has also commissioned more than 300 MW of grid connected solar farms for its corporate consumers. CleanMax Solar's investors include Warburg Pincus, the global private equity firm, as well as International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, and was IFC's first rooftop solar investee globally. About CleanMax Solar: CleanMax Solar is India's largest provider of solar power to corporates. The company was founded in 2011, and since then, CleanMax Solar has successfully installed more than 250 projects for over 70 corporates, with a combined rooftop capacity of more than 100 MW. CleanMax Solar is the #1 rooftop solar developer in India for the past three years, with a market share of 24 per cent (as per the Bridge to India May 2017 report). CleanMax Solar also operates over 300 MW of solar farms in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, for supply to its corporate customers. With clients spanning sectors such as Automobiles, Education, Pharmaceuticals, Food & Beverages, and Information Technology, the company develops projects on a turnkey basis, providing power on a per-kWh basis, under long-term Power Purchase Agreements, at rates cheaper than prevailing grid tariffs. CleanMax Solar has been recognized by the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (Government of India) with National Excellence Awards for Rooftop Solar Developer and Rooftop Solar EPC Player in 2016 and has won the National Award for sustained excellence in solar energy by World CSR forum in 2017. CleanMax has also been awarded the Best Rooftop Solar Player at the Renewable Energy Exposition (REI) 2017. For more information, log onto http://www.cleanmaxsolar.com Media Contact: Vikram Salvekar +91-9821939355 [email protected] Mayukhi Mondal +91-9168464125 [email protected] SOURCE CleanMax Solar Product is the latest innovation in high voltage cabling systems. BOLINGBROOK, Illinois, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- G&W Electric recently introduced a new 500kV cable system for their complete series of Python EHV Cable Accessories. This latest cable system has passed the qualifying type test at the China Electric Power Research Institute. G&W's Python EHV Cable Accessories are leveraged for solid dielectric insulated high voltage cable, and the 500kV cable system now includes PAT190, SSC190, PMJ190-N, PMJ190-B and 2500 mm2 XLPE Cable. Efforts to ensure that the Python family of products met the highest voltage standards began in 2011. In 2015, the complete series of products passed the type test for 330kV, meeting both IEC and AEIC requirements. Earlier in 2018, the electrical part of the type test for 500kV passed in the first attempt, a rare achievement for such a critical test. The success of this test is largely due to the accessory's new design and enhanced technology, where key components of the silicon rubber are under dry conditions. Upon completion of this type test, an enhanced level impulse was added to the cable loop and the product passed an impulse at one class higher. "Innovation into higher voltage classes has been the cornerstone of G&W Cable Accessory development throughout our 113 years in business," said John Mueller, Chairman and Owner of G&W Electric. "Knowing limited companies have achieved this voltage level in testing, we are proud of our ongoing ability to provide state-of-the-art options for our customers. We also commend the partnership between our engineering teams in Bolingbrook and Shanghai to make this achievement possible." G&W overcame multiple challenges in the development of this system in order to achieve the highest rating possible. For instance, size and weight were large factors in creating the optimal solution such as trying to maintain the appropriate loop size needed while balancing the weight of the porcelain insulator, joint body and stress cone. In overcoming the challenges of creating this new technology, this cable system is helping to facilitate positive environmental and local community changes. This includes improved efficiency in power consumption, more environmental awareness towards city landscapes (no overhead transmission) and less contamination from power equipment (oil free). A popular application of solid dielectric EHV cable is also in hydro power generation including pumped storage. For more information on G&W Electric's Python EHV Cable Accessories, visit www.gwelec.com. About G&W Electric Since 1905, G&W Electric has helped power the world with innovative power distribution solutions and products. With the introduction of the first disconnectable cable terminating device in the early 1900s, G&W began to build a reputation for innovative engineered solutions to meet the needs of systems designers. With an ever-present commitment to customer satisfaction, G&W enjoys a worldwide reputation for quality products and superior service. For more information on G&W, visit www.gwelec.com. Follow G&W on Twitter @GW_Electric and on LinkedIn at G&W Electric Co. Related Links http://www.gwelec.com SOURCE G&W Electric NEW DELHI, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Joins Hands with Radio Mirchi 98.3FM to launch mega initiative this summer In line with its commitment to improve people's lives, Philips Kitchen Appliances has launched a mega initiative - Philips Fresh Express to draw people's attention towards the need for nutrition this summer, not just for themselves but also for those who are less privileged. As a part of this initiative, the Philips Fresh Express - a mobile van equipped with Philips juicers and fresh fruits - will visit places like NGOs, senior citizen homes, urban slums and government schools to provide people with a glass of healthy juice. Radio Mirchi - a partner in this activity - will drive awareness through its popular shows and will engage with listeners to come up with the suggestions on the route that Philips Fresh Express should take. This activity kick started today and will continue through the heat wave till June 16, 2018 and aims to directly reach and refresh thousands of people across 5 cities including Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, Pune and Bangalore. Philips Kitchen Appliances aims to reach millions of others through radio and spread awareness about the need for nutrition in this season. Flagging off the campaign, Roy Jakobs, Global Head, Domestic Appliances said, "It is our mission to improve lives of 3Bn people per year and all our businesses are committed to it. Philips Kitchen Appliances does that by making it easier for consumers to eat healthier. Philips Fresh Express extends the same thought and aims at drawing attention to the fact that we make it extremely easy for you to make your and others' life healthier. It's a small step but when enough people take this step, it becomes a movement." In presence of celebrity chef Ranveer Brar, the campaign commenced with the Philips Fresh Express heading out to the first milepost of the campaign Sewa Group in Greater Noida to spread smiles of health and happiness amongst underprivileged children. Commenting on the occasion, Ratnam, President- Personal Health said, "With Philips Kitchen Appliances, we have always tried to create meaningful innovations. This is another one in the same league - through Philips Fresh Express, we aim to draw everyone's attention towards the need for nutrition in this weather, not just for themselves, but also for others. This is a small step that Philips Kitchen Appliances is taking to help a few thousands, but our aim is to inspire millions others to make this a nutrition movement." Nitin Singh, Regional Director (N & E), Radio Mirchi, said, "Mirchi has always believed in spreading joy and happiness through engaging content and activities. The initiative completely resonates with our belief. As mercury hits its peak this month, we are proud to be a part of this noble cause of keeping everyone healthily hydrated." In addition to the on-ground campaign, this initiative is also being promoted on Philips' and Radio Mirchi's social media channels including Facebook and Twitter. Click here for picture: Photo caption: Philips India and Radio Mirchi 98.3 team at the flag off of Philips Fresh Express with Roy Jakobs - Global Head, Domestic Appliances, A.D.A. Ratnam - President- Personal Health, Ranveer Brar - Philips Brand Ambassador and Chef, and Nitin Singh - Regional Director (N & E), Radio Mirchi About Royal Philips Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG) (AEX: PHIA) is a leading health technology company focused on improving people's health and enabling better outcomes across the health continuum from healthy living and prevention, to diagnosis, treatment and home care. Philips leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver integrated solutions. Headquartered in the Netherlands, the company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, image-guided therapy, patient monitoring and health informatics, as well as in consumer health and home care. Philips' health technology portfolio generated 2016 sales of EUR 17.4 billion and employs approximately 71,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. News about Philips can be found at http://www.philips.com/newscenter For further information, please contact: Avian Media Damini Bindra +91-9999891976 [email protected] Richa Bhatnagar +91-9971634096 [email protected] Philips India Corporate Communications Geetika Bangia +91-9818102133 [email protected] SOURCE Royal Philips BENGALURU, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- - Adds unique and indigenous products to the online marketplace Prione Business Services Pvt. Ltd., a joint venture between Catamaran Ventures and Amazon, has enabled 60,000 small and medium businesses (SMBs) across 150+ cities in India to sell their products in the online marketplace. In addition, Prione has onboarded numerous unique products which include indigenously crafted artifacts and handicrafts produced from across the country. Thereby providing sellers and SMBs with an additional channel to increase their sales. Backed by specialized e-commerce expertise and experience, Prione helps SMBs quickly and seamlessly start their online business without the usual heavy investment required in traditional retail. Prione organizes special workshops and training sessions across India to help SMBs manage and grow their business online. Prione also helps SMBs identify the right products for e-commerce and offers support with digitizing product catalogs, extending world-class fulfilment services, and developing capabilities to deliver best-in-class customer service. "Today, technology driven innovations such as digital payments, hyper-local logistics, analytics driven customer engagement and digital advertisements have enabled the e-commerce industry in India to grow at a much faster rate," said Sandeep Varaganti, CEO of Prione. "We strive to deliver the best experience to the SMB community and help them find new avenues of growth and expansion for their business through the online marketplace. With over 51 million SMBs in India, our initiative of supporting SMBs that are manufacturing unique products is a step towards providing them with a wider reach across India," he added. Prione has expanded its product offerings by onboarding unique products that vary from hand painted stationary to soaps made from pure milk and Ghee by sellers in Mumbai and Ludhiana, Punjab respectively. These sellers are seeing a steady growth in their revenue as they sell over 3,000 products monthly. Startups providing unique products such as coolers for helmets and phone stands along with powerless amplifiers for mobiles are witnessing a rapid growth with Prione's assistance in selling online. Speaking on how business has grown tremendously, Sundara Rajan from BluArmor said, "Prione was extremely helpful in onboarding us onto the e-commerce marketplace. The process was seamless, and we were able to list our product and get up and running on the portal in no time. Our customer reach has increased multi-fold because of this and about 30% of our online business is through the online platform." E-commerce is India's fastest growing and most exciting channel for commercial transactions. In the last 3 years, Prione's SMB base has grown by 10 times and the company has seen an increase of new sellers from 60+ cities who are selling products through their services. Having a strong presence in 150+ cities directly and through its franchisee partner network, Prione has successfully provided services to these 60,000 sellers to scale their business and supply an array of products. About Prione Prione Business Services is a joint venture between Catamaran Ventures and Amazon. Prione's vision is to enable Indian small and medium businesses (SMBs) to take advantage of the digital economy by creation, maintenance and upgrading of SMB capabilities from the offline unorganized world to the new age organized digital market. Prione has supported 60,000+ SMBs in India selling products across 30+ categories and aspires to enable many more SMBs in the fast-growing digital economy. Prione has 550+ employees across 150+ cities in India. For more about Prione, please visit http://www.prione.in/. Media Contact: Yamini R [email protected] +91-7760413049 The Practice SOURCE Prione Business Services Pvt. Ltd. CNN reported on June 5 that an unnamed American defense official said that two American B-52 bombers approached the disputed Nansha Islands in the South China Sea on Monday. Victoria Hight, spokesperson of the US Air Force in the Pacific, denied the approach, and Pentagon spokesperson Chris Logan said that the two B-52s were flying from the Andersen AFB in Guam to Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean as part of a "continuous bomber mission". But the US Department of Defense later rectified the information saying the flight from Guam to Diego Garcia took place on Monday. This was the third time in a week for the US to have assigned bombers to approach the South China Sea, and the fifth entry by a B-52 since April 22. The Japanese magazine The Diplomat published an article titled The South China Sea Conundrum for the United States on June 5, which said "its over in the South China Sea. The United States just hasnt figured it out yet". According to the article, the South China Sea is a stalking horse for broader U.S. concerns over the rise of Chinese military and economic power. The installations that China has built across the region are of negligible economic value to the United States. They offer little real threat to global maritime trade patterns. Their direct military value is questionable. America's commitment to the South China represents its commitment to its regional allies. Unfortunately, it didn't fully play its role. If it had played its role, no country in the region would believe that the U.S. would engage in a war in order to remove the Chinese facilities, which it won't. U.S. commitment to the South China Sea is also a proxy for its commitment to regional allies. Unfortunately, it performs this role altogether inadequately. Few, if any, countries in the region believe that the United States would go to war in order to forcibly eliminate Chinas installations; indeed, we already know that the United States will not do so, according to the article. The article said that apart from perhaps the Baltic or the Black Sea, the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force fight at greater disadvantage in the South China Sea than anywhere else on earth. Chinese aircraft and missile can take advantage of land bases in order to project power across the region. China can multiply the numbers of these systems as it sees fit. While U.S. military technologies remain more sophisticated than Chinese, the trendlines for regional military capabilities are not positive for the United States. Thus, the United States is left with a conundrum. The U.S. can take steps to harass development of Chinese installations in the South China Sea, but it will not prevent China from building those installations. It is past time for the United States to figure out what matters in its relationship with China, and to make difficult choices about which values have to be defended, and which can be compromised. Advocates of confrontation, whatever the more substantial merits of their position, should take great care in how they portray the value trade-offs associated with competing in the South China Sea specifically, where China enjoys enormous advantages that will only grow over time, the article said. China made it clear that America's frequent military activities in the South China Sea are the root for the regional "militarization". America's criticism of China's normal construction within its sovereignty on the South China Sea features is just thief crying "Stop thief". MUMBAI, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Samta Foundation, the not-for-profit organisation instituted by Purushottam Agrawal and family in memory of his late wife Samta Agrawal, today presented to Uganda, the gift of good health and cancer awareness - the Hope Express, a mobile mammography unit to detect the early presence of breast and cervical cancer in women. This van, complete with state-of-the-art technology and outfitted entirely in association with the TATA Cancer Research Institute and TATA Trusts, was presented by the Chairman of Samta Foundation, Purushottam Agrawal, to the Hon. Consul of the Republic of Uganda, H.E Madhusudan Agrawal. Hope Express, the mobile mammography unit, was built with an aim to boost breast and cervical cancer detection and awareness, particularly in the lesser accessible interiors and tribal areas of Uganda. The van will travel the length and breadth of the country and could save several thousand lives, since after all, awareness is the first step to detection and recovery. This noble effort by Samta Foundation is the first solid step towards, cancer care, after holding several camps for cataract screening and surgery across India and Uganda. Speaking at the inaugural event, the Chief Guest, Dr. Kailash Sharma, Director - Academics at the TATA Memorial Centre and the Guest of Honour, prominent Bollywood celebrity Suniel Shetty both thoroughly appreciated the great philanthropic work being undertaken by Samta Foundation. Considering the cause of affordable health and cancer care is close to their hearts, both personalities promised their wholehearted support to the cause and to the foundation. The mobile unit was inaugurated and toured by the Ambassadors of four African countries - H.E Mossi Rosette - DRC Congo, H.E Maxwell Ranga - Zimbabwe, H.E Ernest Rwamucyo - Rwanda and H.E Baraka Luvanda - Tanzania, the Chairman of Samta Foundation, Purushottam Agrawal, Suniel Shetty and Dr. Kailash Sharma. H.E Madhusudan Agrawal, the Hon. Consul, Republic of Uganda, said, "Hope Express is a dream that my older brother, Purushottam Agrawal, has harboured ever since the sad demise of his wife and our family matriarch, Mrs. Samta Agrawal. Cancer care is a cause very close to the Agrawal family, and considering Uganda has a huge incidence of cancer related cases but not enough awareness, we thought of bringing in the best of our technology and research to the lesser accessible areas of the nation. Next month, when our PM Modi is scheduled to visit Uganda for bilateral ties, I am a part of the delegation considering I am the Hon. Consul in Mumbai, we will be formally presenting the mobile unit to the President of Uganda, H.E Yoweri Museveni. But our cancer care work doesn't stay restricted to Uganda alone; we will be sending this unit across to the neoughbouring African countries as well. Moreover, we also have units being replicated for the work in India. Together, we wish to impact lives across the board in terms of basic healthcare and creating livelihoods for the lesser fortunate." Samta Foundation was instituted by the illustrious Agrawal family that owns Ajanta Pharma, one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies. After she was diagnosed with blood cancer, Mrs. Samta Agrawal underwent several years of treatment, in isolation, in the USA. As she succumbed to the illness, her husband, Purushottam Agrawal decided to institute Samta Foundation in her memory, wanting to create ample opportunities for men and women to be able to afford basic healthcare and secure livelihoods. Working with the tribal communities of Maharashtra, and adopting several upliftment programs across Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Samta Foundation today supports over thousands of people in their daily work and healthcare. While Hope Express is being gifted to Uganda, three similar mobile units are being outfitted for India as well and will be operational soon. About Samta Foundation: Samta Memorial Foundation focuses on bringing meaningful transformation in the life of those who lack resources or opportunities, the less privileged ones in the rural and tribal India. We ENABLE, EDUCATE & EMPOWER them through focused initiatives in health, education, women empowerment and rural infrastructure. Access to healthcare remains difficult for the rural and tribal people of India due to their remote location, lack of awareness, limitation of transportation, poor knowledge and poverty. We provide such needy patients best of health in the areas of cataract operations, family planning program and plastic surgery camps completely free of cost including their transport, food, medicines & spectacles. Our team visits inaccessible and most remote areas, educate them about the diseases, arrange diagnostic camps and enrol them for further treatment. Between 2010 & 2016, vision of over 200,000 people has been restored through cataract operations. More than 5,000 families were benefited through Family Planning Programs in mostly tribal area of Palghar district, Maharashtra and over 3,000 villagers got the benefit of Plastic Surgery treatment. Samta Foundation has also been associated with various schools in rural & tribal areas where it provides educational infrastructure in the form of renovating schools, building science laboratories, libraries, computer labs, etc. The emphasis is more on promoting girl child education and equal opportunities. The foundation also provides scholarships to deserving students for continuing their studies. To trained the youth in vocations beyond their formal school/college education, and to allow them to become financially independent, Samta Foundation provides vocational training to many girl students in the areas of sewing, embroidery, singing, computer, etc. Currently, about 5,000 girls avail the benefit of this facility in different schools in rural India. This makes them directly employable immediately after their formal education. There are many more smaller initiatives being taken up by the foundation like, building waiting areas or staying facilities for outstation patients near Government Hospitals, providing subsidized food for such patients and their relatives, etc. which directly benefits the poor and underprivileged people. For more information, visit: http://samtamemorial.org/ . Media Contact: Manasa Mantha [email protected] +91-9664340189 MS Mediaworks SOURCE Samta Foundation SURAT, India, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The first-of-its-kind health project in India undertaken by SRK Knowledge Foundation (SRKKF) has been released in the interest of people. 'Niramaya - The SRK-Kalam Health Project - India's First Population Health Study' carried out by SRKKF has the distinction of being the first private initiative for a public cause. 'Niramaya' in Sanskrit means 'Free from ailments, illness'. The pilot phase of the project report was launched by Shri Kailash Satyarthi, Founder 'Bachpan Bachao Andolan', Shri Kiran Kumar, Former Chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Prof. Arun Tiwari, Associate of Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Former President of India and Shri Govind Dholakia, Chairman, SRKKF on 29th May 2018 at Science Centre, Surat in the presence of individuals of various fields. (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/702627/SRKKF_Dignitaries_release_Niramaya.jpg ) (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/702628/Inauguration_SRK_Kalam_Health_Project.jpg ) Initiated to commemorate the visit of the erstwhile President of India, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, at SRK Empire, Surat, in 2013, the project is aimed at developing a model to address the healthcare problems faced by the rural populace as envisioned by Dr. Kalam. As part of the project, physical check-up and laboratory investigations, along with the health parameters of more than 1,12,000 people was carried out in Lathi, Liliya and Babra Talukas in Amreli District of Gujarat. The first phase of Niramaya, articulates upon concepts improving the patient experience of care including quality and satisfaction and improving the health of populations. Mentor Prof. Arun Tiwari affirmed that this project will prove for greater societal benefit. For the first time, more than 1,12,000 people have been approached in their dwellings and an attempt has been made to understand the social determinants of health. There is a growing awareness that upstream health can indeed save wastage of working days on account of disability and mitigate the economic hardships of the already poor people. Such a study indeed paves the way in this direction. These findings of the report would be instrumental in- Undertaking a first of its kind population health study in India , encompassing socio-economic profiling, primary medical examination, and diagnostics. , encompassing socio-economic profiling, primary medical examination, and diagnostics. Providing treatment and medical/nursing assistance to the needy and organizing referral and linkages for further treatment, when required. Creating a cloud-based database for analysis and derivation of health indicators and live feeds using point-of-care devices into the population health platform, for further expansion of the project to larger populations. Making a nationwide impact, as SRKKF has aligned itself to work on UN SDG Goal 3. Probable replication on a larger scale in other developing countries too. "The right medicine addresses not only the disease, but also the healthy way of living. The study indeed confirms that physical inactivity is a major health crisis and a large-scale pandemic," concluded Dr. B Soma Raju, Cardiologist and Chairman, Care Hospitals. The report will be shared with the medical research institutions, various embassies in India, India's leading hospitals, state and central health authorities. It will also be available in a public domain. The title of the study 'NIRAMAYA' has been taken from a shloka of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (1.4.14), meaning 'Healthy People'. About Shree Ramkrishna Knowledge Foundation: Shree Ramkrishna Knowledge Foundation (SRKKF) is a culmination of the evolution journey embarked upon, more than half a century ago, by our Founder Chairman, Shree Govind Dholakia in 1964. His focused, resilient, visionary, passionate and innovative approach along with his belief of 'Giving back to the Society' has inspired to setup SRKKF. Our aim includes extensive contribution in the areas of health, education, agriculture and community welfare. For more information, please visit: http://www.srk.foundation Media Contact: Shantanu Pawar [email protected] +91-8866800776 Project Manager Shree Ramkrishna Knowledge Foundation SOURCE SRK Knowledge Foundation NEW DELHI, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- United Group recently launched its mixer and grinder and healthy copper and thermal bottles collection to ensure users of the products are benefited health-wise. The United Group has been leading the kitchen appliances market for over 60 years now. Their sincere efforts and immense hard work has always helped in revolutionizing the kitchen ware and as a result of this they are one of the most celebrated kitchen appliances brands in India. From a turnover of Rs. 4,500 per annum in the year 1965 to the big boom expansion in 2017 - 2018, United Group has come a long way and they are now out with a strategy to expand their business further to target customers who always wanted quality kitchen appliances. The drinkware collection from United Group, Mr. Cook, is not only smart in its look but also perfect for health benefits. The double wall eliminates condensation on the exterior wall retaining the internal temperature longer through various levels of insulation. In addition, vacuum insulation removes all air between the inner and outer walls. This vacuum practically eliminates convection through which heat or cold is transferred away from its source. Further, the Mr.Cook vacuum hot and cold bottles allow the contents to retain its original temperature for more than 18 hours. This bottle is perfect to store hot and cold liquid, which always remain in contact with 304-grade stainless steel to ensure complete hygiene. Considered the best alternative to the infamous plastic water bottles, the Mr. Cook drinkware collection has copper bottles which has proven health benefits. From non-stick gift sets to pressure cookers with customized packaging, United Group has always come up with special products that make gifting a special occassion. It has always been a tradition to gift cookware and utility products on auspicious occasions. Keeping this in mind, Mr.Cook has continued this tradition. From the grinder and mixer collection the amazing design, impressive presentation, and the ease of usage, the ultra-modern technology appeals to the Indian homemakers when it comes to contemporary kitchenware. Not only it makes one's work easy and fast but prepares dishes like a pro. United Group, a 60-year-old renowned brand, has something special for every home. Truly living up to the promise of safety, the grinder and mixer and the drinkware gift sets by United Group is an ideal gift to express love and care to one's loved ones. United Group will be present at Vibrant India on June 9-11, 2018, at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. Here, the leading brand will be exhibiting a wide range of gifting products like non-stick gift sets, mixer and grinder, thermal bottles, pressure cooker gift sets and customized packaging boxes. The immense popularity and increasing sales are strongly driven by certain growth factors like increased purchasing power, evolving lifestyle of the Indian consumer, and inclination towards the branded kitchenware products. Commenting on the range, Mr. Navaid Nowshah, MD, United Group, said, "Not only we are committed to delivering quality products to our customers but also we have managed to compete with the plastic 'Chinese bottles' as every product is designed keeping in mind the safety of the kitchen queens. Commenting upon the future expansions, Mr. Ikram Nowshah, Director, United Group, added, "The company is expanding at a fast pace and continues to improve its quality and technology. The United Group is planning to expand its product range from 200 to 600 items within the next two years." The chairman Mr. M. Nowshah shared his experience and memories of his journey where only copper utensils were used. Bringing back the old tradition, the latest Unibody copper bottles are made from 100% real copper and are lightweight keeping in mind the usability in modern refrigerators and travel-friendly, which further makes it affordable for every Indian household. About United Pressure Cooker - Ruling Since 1954 A household name in the kitchen appliances, the United Group marked its entry in the market in the year 1954. United Group, headquartered in Delhi, is one of the most popular brands in India with its innovative product range of cookwares. With their affordable price, robust quality and contemporary design, the company made a mark in the Indian market with its iconic products. Since the introduction of the first United pressure cooker more than six decades ago, innovation and a people-centric approach have always been at the core of the company. The journey from being a start-up to becoming one of the most loved brands has been very interesting. The three leading men from the family have been a pillar of strength who took forward the legacy of the United Group from one generation to the other. In addition to this, apart from being a household name across India, United Group proved its mettle across the globe with its international presence. The brand also exports its products in the market of Nepal, Bangladesh, and Europe. After 2010, under the management of Mr. Navaid Nowshah, M.D., United Metalik Private Limited, the production saw an expansive product line i.e. from 15 products in 2010 to almost 200+ items in 2016-2017 including induction and coloured range of cookers, non-stick, hard anodised and stainless steel utensil etc. With a motto to offer top of the line products at affordable prices, the United Pressure Cooker is also engaged in serving the Indian Armed Forces through the Central Police Canteens (approved in 2014 and included 38 items). In 2016, the company acquired Mr. Cook which is already running in the market. For more details, please visit: http://www.unitedcookers.com Media Contact: Yashwant Pratap Singh [email protected] +91-9999329158 Marketing Team Stratton Leo Communication SOURCE The United Group BERLIN, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- 77 percent see technological disruption as more of an opportunity than a threat. 58 percent have made strategic decisions based on data-driven insights - rather than overlooking the data based on intuition. 77 percent are confident about the growth potential for their company. But only 28 percent see their next career step within their existing company. KPMG's first Global Female Leaders (GFLs) study shows female business executives are well-prepared for the challenges of the digital age, with more than three-quarters (77 percent) seeing technological disruption as more of an opportunity than a threat. Half of GFLs (51 percent) believe their company to be the disruptor of their sector, rather than being disrupted by competitors. This finding, among others, presents a striking contrast to the recently launched KPMG 2018 Global CEO Outlook, where only 15 percent of the respondents were female (reflecting the current under-representation of women in CEO roles). But there are also differences with a majority of GFLs (77 percent) who are very confident about growth potential for their company, down from 90 percent of their largely male counterparts. "Digital transformation begins with a comprehensive understanding of our clients' current and future needs," said Susan Ferrier, Global Head of People, KPMG International. "The Global Female Leaders interviewed appear strongly positioned to drive growth and profitability for their companies." Comfortable with digitalization, technology and data 93 percent see the need to improve innovation processes and execution over the next 3 years. 77 percent will increase usage of predictive data models/analytics. 58 percent have made strategic decisions based on data-driven insights - rather than overlooking the data based on intuition over the last 3 years. 48 percent feel comfortable with new technologies like AI, blockchain, mixed reality and 3-D printing. Only 21 percent of GFLs think that their board of directors has an unreasonable expectation regarding return on investment related to digital transformation projects. In comparison, 55 percent of respondents to CEO Outlook believe this to be true. "Digital transformation offers unlimited opportunities for businesses," explains Angelika Huber-Straer, Head of Corporates at KPMG in Germany. "However, the speed in which decisions have to be made, for example, in response to customer expectations, is constantly increasing. Female leaders possess the skills and the strength to lead their companies through these disruptive and exciting times." Largely optimistic about growth potential, growth strategies and headcount 73 percent expect top-line revenue growth over 2 percent, while only 17 percent expect less than 2 percent; compared to more than half (55 percent) of their largely male counterparts who do not expect more than 2 percent top-line growth. As for growth strategies, GFLs have their sights set on organic growth, with 45 percent seeing it as the best growth strategy. In comparison, the CEO Outlook finding is 28 percent for organic growth, second to strategic alliances at 33 percent. These results are aligned with expectations for headcount growth, with 33 percent of GFLs indicating an increase by 6 percent or more, compared to 37 percent of CEOs. However, GFLs are more cautious when it comes to the impact of AI on headcount with only 47 percent saying that it will create more jobs than it will eliminate. In comparison, 62 percent of CEOs said the same. Confident about success factors, quotas and expectations GFLs are agile and know their strengths; however, they still see the need for cultural changes in order to support gender equality. Only 28 percent see their next career step within their existing company. Eight in 10 (83 percent) see enablement programs for women as a good means of bringing more females into leadership positions. This despite the fact that, when asked for their personal success factors, female leadership quotas were cited as being the least relevant (4 percent). Strong personal networks and good communication skills are the top two most important factors cited for personal success. Ferrier adds, "Women's voices are essential in bringing a more diverse and inclusive perspective. The Global Female Leaders interviewed understand that leadership in the digital age must embrace diverse workforces to achieve enhanced business performance." About KPMG's 2018 Inaugural Global Female Leaders Outlook The survey covers 699 Global Female Leaders from 42 countries and from 14 industry sectors. Thirty-seven percent of the respondents come from companies that have more than US$500M in annual revenue, the others (62 percent) come from companies with under US$500M. The online survey was conducted between 6 March and 13 April 2018. NOTE: Some figures may not add up to 100 percent due to rounding. Click for more details on the Global CEO Outlook and the Global Female Leaders Outlook, http://www.kpmg.com/ceooutlook or http://www.kpmg.com/gflo. About KPMG KPMG is a global network of professional services firms providing Audit, Tax and Advisory services. We operate in 154 countries and territories and have 200,000 people working in member firms around the world. The independent member firms of the KPMG network are affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative ("KPMG International"), a Swiss entity. Each KPMG firm is a legally distinct and separate entity and describes itself as such. Europe and Asia: Brian Bannister KPMG International +44(0)-7919-393753 Brian.Bannister@kpmg.co.uk Americas: Amy Greenshields KPMG International +1-416-777-8749 amygreenshields@kpmg.ca SOURCE KPMG International The festival dubbed 'Hi 5 Hangzhou Fan Gala' will take place in New York City's Grand Central Terminal's Vanderbilt Hall at 2:00 pm ET on June 16, 2018. The gala, culminating a series of celebration activities organized by the Commission, consists of two sessions -- an open-to-public cultural exhibition from 2:00 to 4:30 PM ET and a private performance show for RSVP guests from 5:30 to 7:30 PM ET. Prominent Chinese pianist Lang Lang, one of the most prolific Hangzhou Facebook fan, also known as the Grand Canal Hangzhou Ambassador, is invited to play a piano concerto of traditional Hangzhou music during the private session. "I'm excited to join the gala and give my performance to NYC residents.", said Lang Lang, the representative among thousands of Hangzhou's fans, "I have always been charmed and inspired by the breathtaking scenery of Hangzhou, to be able to share my love for the picturesque city of Hangzhou with my music is without a doubt an honour. " During the event, there will be four interactive displaying zones in the Vanderbilt Hall, to create a traditional and fashionable Chinese vibe. Featuring Hangzhou rich heritage such as tea, silk, and folding fans, as well as the use of VR tools to draw the Hangzhou City based on their imagination. Western-style music and dancing performances will also be performed to juice up the party. As home to countless Chinese cultural treasures and the headquarter of Alibaba group and several tech firms. Hangzhou masterfully blends the traditional and the modern Chinese experience through major social media platforms including Facebook (facebook.com/Hangzhou.China), Twitter (twitter.com/hangzhou_china) and Instagram (instagram.com/hangzhou_china) during the 5-year period. Register online through official website https://www.hi5hangzhou.com for limited 300 complimentary tickets. Attendees of the gala will have the chance to win 2 round-trip tickets to Hangzhou with a 4-night hotel stay. The programs have been sponsored in part by Wensli Group Co., Ltd, Travelport, Sofitel Hangzhou Westlake and Four Seasons Hotel Hangzhou at West Lake. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/702638/Hangzhou_NYT_Advertorial.jpg Related Links https://photos.prnasia.com/prnvar/20180605/2151814-1 SOURCE Hangzhou Tourism Commission LONDON, June 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- A new course being run by The University of Manchester School of Law this January will teach law students how to re-imagine the delivery of legal services. The University has partnered with Neota Logic and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer ('Freshfields') to offer participants the opportunity to learn how to build smart applications that improve access to justice. The course, Legal Tech and Access to Justice, will be introduced in this coming academic year as an optional module for undergraduate students in final year and has been made possible by Freshfields' generous sponsorship of the software licence and course materials. As part of the capstone project for the semester, students will engage with non-profit organisations that promote access to justice to build an application that is specific to their needs - to drive efficiency in the organisation and free up resources. Through the subject, students will learn how technology can be used to provide fast and accurate answers to common legal problems. Freshfields hosted a legal apps hackathon last week in Frankfurt, also with Neota Logic. Isabel Parker, Chief Legal Innovation Officer at Freshfields, said: "As the landscape of legal service delivery continues to evolve, an important priority for us is training the next generation of lawyers to be confident in using tools like Neota, which both allow us to support our clients' digital agendas and to leverage the most innovative technology." With the introduction of the SQE fast approaching, the University of Manchester has been exploring ways to take advantage of the flexibility this new format gives to institutions to offer courses in innovation and technology to law students. Professor Toby Seddon, Head of the Law School said "We welcome the opportunity to collaborate with Neota Logic and Freshfields on this exciting new course for our undergraduate students. We're proud that Manchester is leading the way amongst UK universities in introducing legal technology into the LLB curriculum. The world of legal services is changing and law students need to be learning about it." "Legal technology has seen a surge in interest lately, and we don't see that trend slowing down," said Maeve Lavelle, Director of Education at Neota Logic, EMEA. "Manchester have a robust legal tech pipeline for their students. We're very excited to be working with them and Freshfields to bring our educational programme to the UK for the first time and give students the opportunity to explore legal careers outside of the traditional path." Notes to the editor: Neota Logic has offices in New York, London and Melbourne. The company's award-winning technology consists of an AI-powered platform and comprehensive toolset that allows professionals to rapidly build and deploy application solutions that automate their expertise, increasing productivity, improving client satisfaction and creating new business opportunities. http://www.neotalogic.com The University of Manchester is a university of world firsts and academic discoveries - from splitting the atom to creating the first stored program computer. The School of Law is ranked 28th in the world and 6th in the UK for Law in the Times Higher Education World Rankings; we are committed to delivering internationally recognised education and a stimulating environment for research and business collaborations. We offer a rich student experience to those who study with us and the opportunity to make a positive contribution to the legal and societal challenges facing the world. https://www.law.manchester.ac.uk/ Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Freshfields is a global law firm with a long-standing track record of successfully supporting the world's leading national and multinational corporations, financial institutions and governments on ground-breaking and business-critical mandates. Our 2,800 plus lawyers deliver results worldwide through our own offices and alongside leading local firms. Our commitment, local and multi-national expertise and business know-how means our clients rely on us when it matters most. Media contacts: Maeve Lavelle, Neota Logic, lavelle@neotalogic.com, 07835461842 Andrew Pantaleo, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, andrew.pantaleo@freshfields.com , 02074273242 William Bevin-Nicholls, The University of Manchester School of Law, william.bevin-nicholls@manchester.ac.uk , 01612750347 Teaching and Learning contact: Claire McGourlay, The University of Manchester School of Law, claire.mcgourlay@manchester.ac.uk, 01612750347 SOURCE Neota Logic ISLAMABAD, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Two crew members were injured after a Pakistan Army Aviation's helicopter made a crash landing during a medical mission in the country's southwestern Balochistan province on Thursday, the military said. An army statement said that the incident occurred when the chopper was shifting an injured paramilitary member of Frontier Corps (FC) from Kohlu district to Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan province, for medical treatment. The injured FC member who was traveling in the helicopter lost his life before the crash landing, a statement from the army's media wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said, adding that the pilots remained safe in the crash. The injured crew have been shifted to the Combined Military Hospital in Quetta for medical attention, said ISPR The helicopter caught fire after the crash landing and clouds of thick black smoke caused by the fire could be seen rising from the crash site, said local media. Earlier on May 8, two pilots sustained minor injuries when their trainer plane crashed in the country's eastern Lahore city. The North has an estimated 640 Scud missiles and 150 to 250 Rodong missiles. There are about 27 to 40 mobile launch platforms for the Scud missiles, which have a range between 300 and 1,000 km; 27 to 40 for the Rodong missiles with a range of 1,300 km, and 14 for the Musudan missiles with a range between 3,000 and 4,000 km. A government source in Seoul on Wednesday said South Korean and U.S. intelligence agencies believe that the North has some 100 of these platforms for medium-range ballistic missiles such as the Scud and Rodong, which have all of South Korea within range. It would be hard to detect these heavy trucks and strike them because they keep moving around. North Korea has about 100 mobile launch platforms for ballistic missiles, which could pose the biggest threat to South Korea if the regime succeeds in miniaturizing nuclear warheads. The mobile missile launchers would make it harder for South Korea and the U.S. to launch a preemptive strike using the so-called "kill chain" in an emergency. A "kill chain" is the process of detecting, identifying and intercepting missiles. The Defense Ministry has mapped out a plan to establish a 30-minute "kill chain" system by 2015. A spokesman on Wednesday said this includes ship-to-shore and submarine-to-ground cruise missiles. The ship-to-shore missiles have a range of 500 to 1,000 km and are deployed on Aegis destroyers and Korean Destroyer (KD) vessels. The submarine-to-ground missiles have a range of more than 500 km. The missiles have already been deployed since last year, but the ministry for some reason failed to announce this. Some pundits believe the ministry is exaggerating the power of the "kill chain" and new missiles to calm anxiety in the wake of the North's nuclear test. During the Gulf War in 1991, the U.S. had a great deal of trouble finding and destroying Iraq's mobile Scud missile launch platforms. It sent aircraft on as many as 1,460 sorties to hunt Scud missiles and boasted that they destroyed some 100 such missile platforms. But analysis afterward showed that not a single Scud missile launch platform was destroyed completely. It is not impossible to detect Scud or Rodong missiles, which use liquid fuel, before they are launched, because it takes between an hour-and-a-half to three hours to fuel them up. But experts say that detecting is one thing and destroying another. Prof. Kim Yul-soo of Sungshin Women's University said, "It's difficult to detect mobile launch platforms, and even if we do they could have moved on by the time the intercept missiles are ready to fire." If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here EverTrues unique, data-driven and personalized approach makes the company a leading innovator in the advancement automation space. We look forward to continued partnership and collaboration in the years to come. - Chris Westfall, vice president, business development at Ellucian EverTrue, the leading advancement automation platform, today announced a partnership with Ellucian, the leading provider of software and services built to power higher education. EverTrue has partnered with Ellucian to help advancement teams engage alumni, raise support and measure team progress more efficiently and effectively. At EverTrue, we believe the future of advancement is a connected experience, said Brent Grinna, founder and CEO. After working side-by-side with hundreds of institutions for more than seven years, we know that most schools are sitting on a trove of data that, if acted upon, would enable stronger connections with alumni, parents and friends. Weve partnered with Ellucian to make it as easy as possible for advancement teams to access and act on these insights. Advancement automation is a technology that combines real-time insights and best-in-class integrations with mission-critical alumni relations and development workflows in a user-friendly platform. The EverTrue Platform connects insights from dynamic sources like LinkedIn, Facebook and Zillow to align with the objectives of each department, helping fundraisers to work seamlessly towards shared engagement and fundraising goals. By streamlining the processes of donor discovery, annual giving segmentation, prospect management, major gift fundraising, volunteer management and stewardship, teams are able to increase operational efficiency, personalize the donor journey and ultimately grow donations faster. We are thrilled to have EverTrue as a key Ellucian Solution Partner, said Chris Westfall, vice president, business development at Ellucian. EverTrues unique, data-driven and personalized approach makes the company a leading innovator in the advancement automation space. We look forward to continued partnership and collaboration in the years to come. "As we continue to build a rich ecosystem of 21st century solutions to tackle the fundraising of tomorrow, I am thrilled that two of our long time technology partners, EverTrue and Ellucian, have come together to support the needs of the modern advancement office, said Mark Koenig, assistant vice president for advancement services, analytics and digital strategy at the Oregon State University Foundation. They are both leaders in not only our industry, but across the larger technology landscape helping us bring feature-rich customer-experiences to bear." EverTrue is improving fundraising results for more than 300 partners ranging from public and private universities, to liberal arts colleges, to graduate and independent schools. The company most recently announced a Series C funding round led by University Ventures with participation from existing investor Bain Capital Ventures. About EverTrue EverTrue is the leading advancement automation platform. Since 2010, EverTrue has been on a mission to build relationships in pursuit of a better world. Today, more than 300 institutions use EverTrues software and services to engage alumni, raise support and measure team progress in a user-friendly platform. EverTrues advancement automation technology connects each department with best-in-class insights and each other, giving teams the tools they need to manage relationships across the giving pyramid and grow donations faster. EverTrue is headquartered in Boston, MA and is backed by University Ventures and Bain Capital Ventures. Visit EverTrue on the web at http://www.evertrue.com and follow on Twitter or LinkedIn. April Clavell said, We are very pleased to have such an enthusiastic publisher, and look forward to having a very congenial and successful partnership. In a near-seven-figure deal, Blackstone Publishing acquired North American unabridged rights for print/e-book and world rights for audio to all but two of #1 New York Times bestselling author James Clavell's catalog, in an eight-book deal made by Blackstone Head of New Business Development Rick Bleiweiss and Blackstone CEO Josh Stanton. In all formats, Blackstone will reissue five titles from Clavells internationally bestselling Asian Saga series including Shogun, Tai-Pan, King Rat, Escape, and Whirlwind, as well as Thrump-o-Moto, The Childrens Story and Sun Tzus The Art of War, edited and with a foreword by James Clavell. Blackstone will publish all of Clavells titles in audio, including Noble House and Gai-Jin, the two books that Blackstone has not acquired at this time for print and e-book. Bleiweiss commented, We are extremely thrilled to be able to bring our new print, e-book and audio versions of James Clavells timeless classics to the public. We expect a wonderful reception to the books from those who have read them years ago and want to reacquaint themselves with these masterpieces of literature, and from those who have yet to discover this master storyteller. It is also a further confirmation that Blackstone has become a significant print and e-book publisher. April Clavell said, We are very pleased to have such an enthusiastic publisher, and look forward to having a very congenial and successful partnership. The Asian Saga titles will be released in new, collectible hardcover and paperback editions, e-book, and audio formats. All eight works acquired will receive newly designed covers. Blackstone has previously published audio editions of Clavells Shogun, Tai-Pan, King Rat, Escape, Gai-Jin, Noble House and Whirlwind, and will soon be releasing the first-ever audio editions of Thrump-o-Moto, The Art of War and The Childrens Story. Shogun, the epic first book in James Clavells Asian Saga, is currently being developed into a new miniseries for television by the FX channel. Production is scheduled to begin in January 2019, for airing in 2020. The Clavell Estate was represented in negotiations with Blackstone by Jay D. Kramer, Esq. James Clavell joins Blackstone Publishings growing list of impressive new and classic authors, including #1 New York Times bestselling authors P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast (House of Night Other World series), Edgar Award-winning author Gregory McDonald (Fletch and Flynn series), New York Times bestselling author Shelley Shepard Gray (Bridgeport Social Club series), New York Times bestselling author Orson Scott Card (A Town Divided by Christmas), Rex Pickett, author of Sideways, Atz Kilcher (Son of a Midnight Land), USA Today bestselling author Nicholas Sansbury Smith (Hell Divers series), USA Today bestselling author Catherine Ryan Howard (Distress Signals), bestselling author Daniel Hecht (On Brassards Farm), Edgar Award-winning author Adrian McKinty (The Detective Up Late), New York Times bestselling author Cory Doctorow (Overclocked), and master of western storytelling Louis LAmour. Visit http://www.blackstonepublishing.com for more information on Blackstone Publishing titles in print and e-book format to be announced soon. Delta Hotels Detroit Metro Airport Deltas design and service enables guests to have a seamless travel experience that allows them to focus on whats important. It is simple made perfect. Crescent Hotels & Resorts and Delta Hotels by Marriott announces the debut of Delta Hotels Detroit Metro Airport, adding 271 rooms and over 8,000 square feet of meeting space to the brand footprint. This is Deltas first branded hotel in the Detroit area and the 14th in the United States and signals the global expansion of the brand since its endorsement into the Marriott signature portfolio. The Delta Hotels Detroit Metro Airport marks the beginning of a period of exciting growth for the award-wining Delta brand. said Paul Cahill, Global Brand Leader Delta Hotels & Resorts, area vice president of operations, Canada. Deltas design and service enables guests to have a seamless travel experience that allows them to focus on whats important. It is simple made perfect. The hotel is conveniently located less than 2 miles from Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW) and offers complimentary shuttle service to and from the airport 24 hours a day. With ample parking for guests and quick access to I-94, it is also an easy drive to local attractions in Motor City Detroit. Focusing on truly meaningful elements that provide its guests with a memorable and frictionless journey, Delta Hotels Detroit Metro Airport delivers on the Delta promise. The newly remodeled hotel features a resort-style indoor and outdoor swimming pool. All guests have access to the 24/7 fitness center with state of the art touch screen technology on equipment, business center equipped with desktop computers and complimentary high-speed Wi-Fi. Guests also have the option to elevate their stay to gain access to the Club Lounge. In room, the hotel offers 2 free bottled waters in the room replenished daily and free Wi-Fi in addition to the plush bedding and workspaces designed to keep you focused and productive. The hotel also features a full-service restaurant, bar, coffee shop and sundry store. mETRO pOLIS features Modern American cuisine for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The mETRO pOLIS bar features a selection of craft beers on tap, wine and mixed drinks to pair with the delectable dishes on the menu. Jyllians Bakery is open in the morning for the morning caffeine fix and quick bites on the go. The sundry shop, located near the front desk, is also available for miscellaneous items for guests during their stay. The Delta Hotels Detroit Metro Airport offers the best of what guests need, from state-of-the-art technology to intuitive design to meet the needs of modern business and leisure travelers. As an award winning Marriott manager paired with our experience in the Detroit Metro market the potential is maximized for this great hotel, said Michael George, President and CEO of Crescent Hotels and Resorts. The Delta Hotels and Resorts brand encompasses a rich Canadian history and is a great complement to the Marriott International portfolio. Its recent expansion into North America signals Marriotts plans to grow Deltas hospitality globally to major gateway cities including New York, Shanghai and London. The development pipeline currently brings the brand offerings to 80 hotels. Delta is a member of the award-winning Marriott Rewards loyalty program. Guests can gain exclusive access to even more digital features through the Marriott Mobile app when they book direct, including mobile check-in and checkout, keyless entry and Mobile Requests to make their travel experience seamless. Marriott Rewards members will also earn points for their stay at Delta Hotels and can redeem for hotel stays across the Marriott Rewards portfolio of brands. For more information about Delta Hotels Detroit Metro Airport, visit marriott.com/DTWDE. About Crescent Hotels & Resorts: Crescent Hotels & Resorts is an award winning, nationally recognized, top-3 operator of hotels and resorts. Crescent currently operates over 100 hotels, resorts and conference centers in the US and Canada. Crescent is one of the few elite management companies approved to operate upper-upscale and luxury hotels under the brand families of Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt and IHG. Crescent also operates a collection of legendary independent lifestyle hotels and resorts under Latitudes Collection, Lifestyle by Crescent. Crescents clients are made up of hotel REITs, private equity firms and major developers. For more information, please visit http://www.crescenthotels.com, http://www.latitudesbycrescent.com or connect with Crescent on LinkedIn. About Delta Hotels and Resorts: One of North Americas leading four-star brands, Delta Hotels provides guests with exactly what they need for a seamless travel experience. With more than 35 locations in gateway cities throughout Canada and US, guests will discover Deltas distinct style of simple made perfect. The brands invitingly familiar rooms, free Wi-Fi and convenient dining options, offer travelers a comfortable and stylish place to stay. Delta Hotels was acquired by Marriott International in April 2015. For more information or reservations visit http://www.marriott.com. News reports say ZTE agreed to pay U.S. fines in excess of $1 billion, make high-level management changes, and provide guarantees against future violations of U.S. sanctions. In return, the firm reportedly will be allowed to resume purchases of American telecommunications components vital to its products. "If the reports are true about a sweetheart deal for ZTE, President Trump has put China first, not America first," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said. "Once again, President Xi has outfoxed President Trump." U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday slammed a reported deal between the Trump administration and Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE, which has been crippled since the United States punished the firm in April for selling American technology to Iran and North Korea. The U.S. Commerce Department has yet to officially announce completion of the deal, which President Donald Trump hinted at last month, tweeting that U.S. technology companies as well as Chinese workers were being hurt by ZTE's near-complete halt of operations. On the Senate floor, Schumer said ZTE deserved to be put out of business. "ZTE has repeatedly violated U.S. sanctions, lied to U.S. officials about their efforts to rectify those violations," the minority leader said. "Their technology has been deemed a national security threat by the FCC, the FBI, and the Pentagon. Some reports suggest the Trump administration is forgiving ZTE to set up an exchange for a short-term limited purchase of U.S. goods from China. If that's the case, what a terrible deal for America." ZTE is but one of many issues at play in trade discussions between Washington and Beijing. Trump has promised to negotiate better terms for U.S. agricultural exports and other goods. "Big trade barriers against U.S. farmers, and other businesses, will finally be broken. Massive trade deficits no longer," the president recently tweeted. A vocal group of lawmakers, including some Republicans, is unimpressed with Trump's trade efforts in general and the White House's handling of ZTE in particular. Tweeting about the issue, Rubio said China is mocking the U.S. Schumer urged swift passage of legislation blocking the reported ZTE deal. So far, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, has given no indication he would prioritize such a vote. AB&R (American Barcode and RFID Inc.), a nationwide provider of proven supply chain solutions, earned the title of being one of the 2018 azcentral.com Top Companies to Work for in Arizona, for the fourth year in a row. AB&R offers growth opportunities in the company and ensures that their employees feel valued. Achieving daily performance goals means gift card giveaways and casual days. In addition to performance, they celebrate achievements by having team members spotlight colleagues who demonstrate one or more of the five idealized core values of the company. Nominations provide recognition and an opportunity to earn a spot in the coveted Eagles Club. Eagles Club members receive an all-expenses-paid trip for two to a travel destination. We value each employee and what they have to offer to our team, says Mike Stryczek, CEO of AB&R, We are constantly working to grow and become a better company to offer unmatched service to our customers and partners. AB&R works to maintain a positive work environment for its employees. AB&Rs number one value is ensuring the successful outcomes with each customer, and they take pride in every relationship they have built. AB&Rs strength in teamwork sets them apart. Each team member has a purpose and works in close collaboration with other members to execute a solution, process, share knowledge and experience. Employees work towards the success of one another and go out of their way to assist other coworkers when needed. Regardless of the position, open dialogue is encouraged and every person is appreciated for the hard work and unique perspectives they offer to the AB&R team. AB&R is always looking for talented individuals to join their team. If you are interested in joining a winning AB&R team, please submit your cover letter and resume to hr(at)abr(dot)com. For complete details visit http://www.abr.com or http://www.topcompanies.azcentral.com About AB&R Since 1980, AB&R (American Barcode and RFID) has been a nationally-recognized integrator of proven solutions that drive efficiency and productivity in the supply chain. Those solutions include asset tracking, inventory management, work force mobilization, wireless networking, and the managed services to support them all. For further information about AB&R, please visit http://www.abr.com. Organizations are quickly shifting focus due to rampant growth in real time applications, cloud computing and remote office locations. The ability to empower an always-on organization is imperative as business-critical applications continue to move to the cloud. Organizations are struggling to continue to adhere to their users ever-evolving demands. ignyte, with their team of industry experts, powerful capabilities and flexible service offerings, delivers best-in-class, vendor-agnostic solutions and services that enable organizations to meet and exceed their business and growth goals. These evolutionary service offerings empower an environment where clients are effectively able to build resiliency, boost throughput across the WAN, effectively manage their infrastructure and carrier, and prioritize network traffic, all while controlling costs. Clients look to us to guide and aid them in this industry evolution, where user demands continue to grow, applications continue to move to the cloud, and MPLS costs continue to be unmanageable, says Ben Niernberg, Executive Vice President of ignyte. We deliver powerful and comprehensive vendor/carrier-agnostic services that provide peace of mind and free up resources so they can proactively pursue critical growth and business objectives. ignyte offers sophisticated managed services, including Managed SD-WAN (software-defined wide area network), PremiumCare for Circuits, and PremiumCare for Hardware. Within these service categories, there are service tiers that are right-sized to fit each unique clients needs. ignytes flexibility, expertise and extensive partnerships with the industrys best allows them to effectively bring peace of mind to clients of all sizes. We partner with the industrys best to create a shift that allows our clients to stay in front of changing demands and to effectively increase productivity, gain greater control, and reduce costs, says Max Kozak, Operations Manager of ignyte. Our clients deserve peace of mind and relief from the burdens and stress of maintaining and managing their infrastructure. We aim to provide just that. About ignyte: Discover peace of mind with ignyte. Our highly trained and certified network experts provide not only recommendations for your specific business needs, but also comprehensive installation, monitoring and management for the solution that best fits your requirements. Well also help you define the Quality of Service that works for you so that you dictate what traffic takes priority. We pride ourselves on being vendor agnostic in order to assess your environment, pain points and requirements to develop the most effective and efficient solution for you. Our offered Service Tiers are right-sized for your business and will allow you to meet and exceed your goals. Being a DMEPOS Supplier is a privilege, and as such, they must ethically and lawfully conduct their business by strictly complying with the statutory provisions that governs the industry. Today, Surety Bond Authority officially introduced its DMEPOS Bond service to all 50 States. A surety bond is required of every supplier of durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics and supplies who is enrolling in the Medicare program. Medicare-enrolled DMEPOS supplier, persons making a change of a DMEPOS Supplier ownership, and those who are seeking revalidation must acquire a surety bond in order to maintain medical billing privileges as well. Being a DMEPOS Supplier is a privilege, explains Greg Rynerson, CEO of California-based surety bond company: Surety Bond Authority, Inc. And as such, DMEPOS Suppliers must ethically and lawfully conduct their business by strictly complying with the statutory provisions that governs the industry, he adds. Due to past abuses in billing privileges, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have created tighter rules. They also established adjustments that pertains to a DMEPOS Suppliers categorical level of risk. In addition to those, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) allows the CMS to declare a moratorium on suppliers in order to prevent abuse. Because of these, moderate to high-risk DMEPOS supplier applicants have a harder time getting bonded as well. These are individuals who were excluded from a state or federal healthcare program, have their license previously revoked, or have lost their billing privileges to name a few. We dont automatically dismiss an applicant because of a past error in judgment. We want to give them a chance to get bonded. Aside from these, we have created a streamlined bonding service so that our clients can work on the success of their business faster, said Greg Rynerson, CPCU. The goal of Surety Bond Authority is to provide equal bonding opportunity to would-be DMEPOS Suppliers. Every DMEPOS bond applicant that Surety Bond Authority handles will go through the same underwriting process. Their financial history, previous performance history, and credit score will be thoroughly checked. Every DMEPOS Supplier must submit and maintain a $50,000 surety bond as prescribed by Section 424.57 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). However, the CMS may increase that amount for high-risk applicants. And as expected, the higher the risk, the higher the bond premium will be as well. High-risk applicants who have had previous issues will pay higher bond premiums than those who have no history of misconduct. The answer is not always no when dealing with high-risk applicants. After all, a persons past is not his future," Greg Rynerson concludes. About Surety Bond Authority, Inc. Surety Bond Authority, Inc. has been providing various types of surety bonds for decades. Some of these surety bonds are contractor bonds; court bonds; and license and permit bonds. Surety Bond Authority, Inc. is consistently recognized for their exemplary service and financial strength. The surety bond company is also known for their strong commitment to their clients. For more information on the companys surety bond programs, including its surety office contacts, visit https://www.suretybondauthority.com. Contact: Surety Bond Authority, Inc. Web: https://suretybondauthority.com/ Email: info(at)suretyauthority(dot)com NEW 4.0 Bluebee Pals Pro - Talking Plush Educational Learning Tools ts not screen time that should concern parents but the quality of digital content. Its imperative that parents are a participant not a bystander in their childs life skills and education. Bluebee Pals Interactive educational plush tools are a great supplement to re-enforce academics learned at sc Kayle Concepts announces their new Bluebee Pals Learning App and the latest technical release of their Bluebee Pals, interactive Bluetooth enabled plush companions. Both represent an evolution in toy-based learning to nurture and engage children in activities important to their healthy growth and development. Bluebee Pal robotic head and mouth plushies retail for $74.99 and are available in six huggable stylesLeo the Lion, Sammy the Bear, Hudson the Dog, Riley the Zebra, Lily the Lamb and Parker the Monkey. Bluebee Pals Learning App is free and compatible with all iOS and Android devices. The Bluebee Pals Learning App is a robust life skills and cognitive development tool for children ages 3 to 8. When connected to a Bluebee Pal, children can immerse themselves in activities in five life skills rooms and play 10 educational mini games. There is a password protected resource library for parents, educators, Occupational Therapists, and Speech and Language Therapists with additional learning app resources and app reviews by iMums and TeachersWithApps (TWA). Bluebee Pal plushie enhancements include sophisticated robotic head and mouth movements, 4.0 Bluetooth, longer battery life, weight beans, and easy one-step set up. We actively involved teachers, parents and therapists from across the country to analyze ways we could make our Bluebee Pals even better learning tools for children, said Laura Jiencke, Founder and CEO of Kayle Concepts. We studied how they were being used in classrooms, as assistive technology tools, and in therapies. We discovered its not too much screen time thats an issue, but the quality of the digital content. Using what we learned, we developed a learning app and upgraded Bluebee Pal technology to enhance classroom learning environments and re-enforce academic learning at home. Our teachers and therapists have reported students are exhibiting increased attention to tasks and increased engagement when Bluebee Pals are incorporated into their activities, said Punam Desormes, M.A., CC-SLP: Speech-Language Therapist, Princeton House Charter School Bluebee Pals and the Bluebee Pals Learning App will be in stock and ready for shipment by March 12, 2018. They can be purchased online on Amazon, Walmart, and Target websites and Schoolspecialty.com and Bluebeepals.com. For more information, visit bluebeepals.com. ### About Kayle Concepts: Kayle Concepts are the inventors and manufacturers of Bluebee Pals, interactive Bluetooth enabled, moveable head and mouth, plush companions and the Bluebee Pal Learning App. Compatible with all tablets and laptop computers, they are instrumental in classroom settings and home learning environments. Recipients of twelve educational and parenting awards, Bluebee Pals are a leading assistive technology tool for children with special needs and autism. The company donates thousands of Bluebee Pals each year to schools and nonprofit organizations to help children with learning needs. https://bluebeepals.com/ ### MEDIA ONLY CONTACT Laura Jiencke, Founder and CEO, Kayle Concepts laura.jiencke(at)kayleconcepts(dot)com 646.732.3497 (media only) http://www.bluebeepals.com Town of Eagle Joins the Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System We are confident that the online system will make it much easier for everyone interested in doing business with the Town. Today, the Town of Eagle announces it has joined the Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System, a regional purchasing community by BidNet. Local government agencies throughout Colorado & Wyoming utilize the Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System for bid and vendor management. The Town of Eagle invites all potential vendors to register online with the Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System to access its upcoming solicitations by visiting http://www.bidnetdirect.com/colorado. The Town of Eagle joins the Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System and the community of over 200 participating local government agencies located throughout Colorado & Wyoming. Along with a variety of bid and vendor management solutions, the Town of Eagle gains access to a bid library to help with bid creation, a shared pool of vendors, and association with like-minded purchasing professionals in the area. Were excited about joining the Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing system, said Town Clerk Jenny Rakow. This allows us to take advantage of new technology that makes the procurement process transparent and efficient. We are confident that the online system will make it much easier for everyone interested in doing business with the Town. Vendors interested in doing business with the Town of Eagle and other nearby government agencies are encouraged to register at http://www.bidnetdirect.com/colorado. Benefits of joining the Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System: Centralized location for bids from all 213 participating agencies Bid alerts customized to the vendors products or services Reliable and timely delivery of notifications, addendums and documents Advanced notice of Term Contract expiration E-Bid and E-Quote Submission The Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System is one of BidNets regional purchasing groups throughout the country. It provides the Town of Eagle a bid and vendor management solution, document and addendum distribution, and tracking of all activity throughout the procurement process. About the Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System: The Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System is a part of BidNets regional purchasing groups available at no cost to local government agencies throughout the country. With years of input from procurement professionals, BidNet specifically developed the bid system to fill the need for a robust bid and supplier management solution for local government agencies. BidNet runs 30 regional purchasing groups used by over 1,200 local governments. To learn more and have your government agency gain better transparency and efficiency in purchasing, please visit http://www.bidnetdirect.com/buyers "With the introduction of lightweight panels, Indiana Limestone material can be specified in nearly every cladding application." Making the beauty, versatility, and permanence of natural stone more accessible than ever, Indiana Limestone Company will feature new stone panel products in Booth 2075 at the AIA Conference on Architecture Expo 2018, June 21-22 at the Javits Convention Center in New York City. Prominent at the companys 20 x 20 exhibit will be new lightweight, composite Indiana Limestone panels in a wall setting that illuminates the design capabilities of this construction technology. These products are designed for mid-rise and high-rise applications where Miami-Dade NOA or High-Velocity Hurricane-Zone (HVHZ) performance is required. Also featured are full-depth and veneer solutions from the company. The constantly growing variety and versatility of the companys design and construction solutions mean that Indiana Limestone Company constantly evolves new partnerships with other leaders in the building field. The topic of cladding is complex and something that Architects love to learn about, stated Ben Wojcikiewicz, Director of Product Development and Marketing. To that point, we have designed our new exhibit to focus not only on the beauty of our materials, but also to educate Architects on best practices in their application with tear-away exhibits of construction details. With the introduction of lightweight panels, Indiana Limestone material can be specified in nearly every cladding application. Were very excited to partner with other market leaders to tell, and show, our story. For the display, Indiana Limestone Companys lightweight-panel products are showcased in a continuous insulation detail alongside products from Rainscreen Solutions and the ROCKWOOL Group. Its full-bed veneer line is shown in a residential rain screen detail constructed with products from ROCKWOOL, Dorken, and Heckmann Anchors. The natural stone thin veneer category displays drainage matts from Masonry Technology, Inc., and the LATICRETE Masonry Veneer Installation System (MVIS). In addition to the new displays the Indiana Limestone Company is participating in on-floor education and deploying highly experienced staff members to discuss the design potential of all of their cladding options. Having a CEU on the benefits of designing with lightweight limestone panel systems that takes place on the AIA show floor is a first for Indiana Limestone and a first in the lightweight panel category, said David Roberts, VP of Panelized Systems. These systems have been around for a while but are really coming into their own with energy codes pushing towards designing with continuous insulation and lighter building structures as design requirements. Architects are eager to learn about them. This focus on the appeal of limestone quarried in the Hoosier State could not be more appropriate, as this premier building material has long had a significant influence on New Yorks built environment. Among the citys most prominent landmarks are many constructed with Indiana Limestone, including the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, Grand Central Station, the Flatiron Building, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Barclays Bank, and more recently the award-winning residential location at 15 Central Park West. Year after year, AIA Expo is one of the premier events on the architecture show calendar, drawing attendees from around the world. Nearly 800 product manufacturers are bringing whats new, next, and cutting-edge in architecture and design to the show. As a bonus for visitors the company will also be giving away one helicopter tour of Manhattan architectural highlights, for the selected attendee and a guest; details will be available at the booth. Find more on Indiana Limestone Company and its products at http://www.indianalimestonecompany.com. About Indiana Limestone Company Indiana Limestone Company is unmatched as the premier supplier of Indiana limestone in a range of beautiful and lasting building products. Founded in 1926 (with predecessor firms that had been quarrying limestone since the mid-1800s), Indiana Limestone Company today remains the provider of choice for this internationally renowned natural stone. Throughout an illustrious history in which its stone has made such iconic structures as the Empire State Building, National Cathedral, and the Pentagon, Indiana Limestone Company has reliably provided the highest quality products and services carefully tailored to the needs of the market with an environmental, natural focus. ACT.md, a national provider of healthcare collaboration software, has named Amy Vreeland, MS, Chief Commercial Officer of the company. Vreeland brings to ACT.md over 25 years of entrepreneurial and leadership experience in health information technology, health information exchange, and enterprise digital transformation. At ACT.md, Vreeland assumes leadership of the companys business development, sales, and marketing functions to help ACT.md continue to expand their national network of healthcare provider, payer, and research customers. She will also support the companys product, engineering, and account services teams as they continue to empower ACT.mds customers with technology and services that help care teams, patients, families, and community partners act together to make health happen, wherever they are. Were very excited to welcome Amy Vreeland, with her deep experience in healthcare IT innovation, to the ACT.md team, said Ted Quinn, CEO and Co-Founder of ACT.md. She shares our vision and passion for doing things differently in healthcare, and she is a strong evangelist for the power of precision care coordination enabled by our healthcare collaboration hub. As a cofounder of lifeIMAGE, Vreeland helped commercialize a first-to-market medical image network that connects hospitals, physicians, and patients with shared diagnostic imaging information via a cloud and platform. She is also the founder of Imaging Strategies, a company providing advisory services to health systems and healthcare IT companies. Prior to lifeIMAGE and Imaging Strategies, she was the Vice President of Client Services at AMICAS (subsequently acquired by Merge Healthcare, an IBM company) which was twice ranked Best in KLAS under her leadership. She currently serves on the Advisory Board of VIZ.ai, an applied AI healthcare company. We feel healthcare delivery is at an inflection point. Value-based care is starting to be realized, and states and payers are innovating on new care models that meaningfully change peoples lives, and the cost curve, said Vreeland. We will soon announce our work with Californias Whole Person Care programs, and LTSS programs (Long Term Services and Supports) in Massachusetts. We are so excited to be engaged in these new care models which combine medical care coordination with support for the social determinants of health. We believe in the importance of the common good to wholly transform individual lives and collective communities." Whitney Fuchs, CEO, InCommunity Georgias largest community based non-profit organization providing services to people with developmental disabilities, as well as support to their families, has announced a new name and brand identity: InCommunity~Embracing the abilities in all of us (http://www.incommunityga.org/). A multi-year operational merger, enAble of Georgia and Georgia Community Support and Solutions (GCSS) began working together in partnership in 2014, joining two extraordinary groups with the same mission to provide quality support to people with developmental disabilities. The long-term strategic planning process has culminated during the past several months as the two organizations have been combining efforts, merging operations, and providing an even greater set of services. The coming together of these two purpose-driven teams has resulted in an exciting new organization with a new brand name, logo and design. The new name was announced at the annual Founders Gala on April 21st, 2018. The new name, InCommunity, describes our mission as partners, dedicated to enriching and sustaining the lives of individuals who have disabilities, their families and their communities, states InCommunity CEO, Whitney Fuchs. We believe in the importance of the common good to wholly transform individual lives and collective communities. This passion for embracing the abilities in all of us, drives us to support community members with activities and experiences that makes life purposeful such as career training, education, fitness programs, artistic exploration and spiritual pursuits. Activities that provide self-esteem, growth, friendships and love. Our new design demonstrates clear visual change without losing the meaning, heritage, or passion of our founding organizational principles that have been built up over several decades and mean so much to those of us who are a part of the community, shares Board Chairman, Mark Lewington of CTS Systems CTI This new branding is an important part of our long term strategic vision for growth and helps us share with the outside world the transformational change that we have embarked on as we reach out and continue to engage with our clients, care givers, corporate partners, volunteers, donors, and families who participate in our services. Amanda McPhail, Director of Communications shares, We think that our new name, logo, and design will provide us with a more consistent brand identity throughout the region that speaks in a powerful way about the importance of celebrating the variation of human abilities in our own communities. We signal our commitment in being a community united by a common purpose, and our new visual identity also delivers a robust visual story across all media including social channels that will ensure the brand has even greater reach and ultimately impact in the coming years. We view our role as community partner, providing tools, resources and care to make it possible for someone to find a job and become a contributing member of our shared neighborhood. Or teach someone skills to live on their own with the support they need for the first time, asserts Zenobia Rainey, Associate Executive Director. InCommunity is all about encouraging the possibilities within all of us to have choices in our lives and become active in our community. When people with developmental disabilities are connected and active in their own communities, every one of us benefits. Were excited to embark on this new phase of working together with our Georgia community families. About InCommunity: Originally founded in 1983, InCommunity, a non-profit agency headquartered in Atlanta, was created to provide community-based services and support to people with disabilities and their families. For almost 35 years, InCommunity has been embracing the abilities in all of us, building an outstanding reputation in Georgia for innovative programs and willingness to take on challenging support situations for people in their communities. Currently, InCommunity has more 650 employees who provide all levels of support in the community to people with a variety of needs; including residential support, employment services, respite care, family support, in-home care, and day programs. To date, InCommunity has provided support and service to more than 10,000 Georgian community members. Were proud to have been able to lend our expertise in educational furniture manufacturing to ensure safety and quality standards are rigorous across the industry. School Outfitters has partnered with the Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association (BIFMA) to help set revised safety and performance standard for educational seating. BIFMA, a trade association, sponsors the development and refinement of safety and performance standards for business and institutional furniture. In 2017, BIFMA approached School Outfitters, an industry-leading retailer and manufacturer of school furniture, to lend their knowledge and expertise in shaping the new standard. After a year and a half of development, the revised educational seating standard was approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) on April 10, 2018. Were proud to have been able to lend our expertise in educational furniture manufacturing to ensure safety and quality standards are rigorous across the industry, said Chris Lawson, School Outfitters Senior Industrial Designer. We shared our input on what tests would best ensure that the products hitting the market are durable and safe enough to stand up to the demands of heavy classroom use. The ANSI/BIFMA X6.1-2018 revised safety and performance standard details the specific tests, laboratory equipment and conditions of test to be used. The standard also defines the minimum passable levels used to evaluate the safety, durability and structural adequacy of educational seating. Copies of the new standard are available through BIFMA. All standards may be ordered online at https://www.techstreet.com/bifma/pages/home. We believe that by designing and manufacturing furniture that stands up to the most rigorous testing standards, were providing schools with safest, most durable product possible, Lawson said. About School Outfitters School Outfitters is an industry-leading online retailer and manufacturer of school furniture and equipment. Since 1998, School Outfitters has connected schools with the furniture and equipment they need to create 21st-century learning environments in which students and educators thrive. School Outfitters provides expert support, advanced resources, turnkey solutions, quick, affordable shipping and the best brands at the best prices. For more information visit https://www.schooloutfitters.com/. Newcomb Spring offers custom, CNC wire bending services for accurate, repeatable wire components. Our investment in CNC technology allows us to address customers demands for precise wire components that meet design specifications with repeatable accuracyfrom prototype through production runs, says Newcomb Spring president, Robert Jacobson. Newcomb Spring Corp is pleased to announce the addition of custom wire bending to the company's range of manufacturing capabilities. As a leader in the manufacture of custom springs, wire forms and metal stampings, Newcomb Spring has invested in CNC manufacturing technologies and advanced quality control systems for wire bendinga unique manufacturing specialty. CNC automation gives Newcomb Spring the capability to bend wire with repeatable accuracy. Materials range from standard steels to premium exotic alloys, in shapes ranging from round to rectangular, to special-section. "Maintaining accurate geometries is critical in precision wire bending projects, so parts transition smoothly to final assemblies, explains Robert Jacobson, President of Newcomb Spring. Our investment in this CNC technology allows us to address customers demands for precise wire components that meet design specifications with repeatable accuracyfrom prototype through large production runs. Newcomb Spring says it will take the same collaborative approach to wire bending that the company employs in its other manufacturing operations. We will work with customers as a strategic manufacturing partner to optimize the manufacturability, quality and performance of their wire components, says Jacobson. Newcomb Spring has plans to continue to invest in wire bending manufacturing to address the needs of companies in markets such as transportation and automotive, agriculture, retail displays, kitchen and bath products, home furnishings, appliances and housewares, medical and veterinary accessories, and more. Customers can learn more about Newcomb Spring's wire bending services by visiting NewcombSpring.com/wirebending. About Newcomb Spring Corp Newcomb Spring Corp is a worldwide supplier of compression springs, extension springs, torsion springs, wire forms, stampings, rings, hooks, and battery contact springs. The companys products meet demands in a variety of industries, including aerospace, agricultural, automotive, computer, medical, military, and telecommunications. Family-owned and operated, Newcomb Spring Corp is headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia and offers additional facilities in California, Connecticut, Colorado, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Ontario, Canada. Newcomb Spring operates with ISO 9001 certified quality systems and delivers a wide range of material capabilities in the manufacture of metal componentsspecializing in reliability, rapid response times, and stringent quality control. Additional information is available at http://www.newcombspring.com. Visit Newcomb Spring Corp on Facebook See Newcomb Spring Corp on LinkedIn Koreans observed a moment of silence Wednesday to pay tribute to the fallen who sacrificed their lives for the nation. President Moon Jae-in attended a memorial ceremony held at the National Cemetery in Daejeon for the first time in 19 years. While most of those laid to rest at the National Cemetery in Seoul are fallen soldiers and Korean independence fighters, the one in Daejeon is a sanctuary for all patriots including firefighters and civil servants who died in the line of duty. The Home Front Cares organization welcomed new Executive Director, Shawn Kelly in May 2018. Shawn joins The Home Front Cares from Philadelphia, PA where he was the former Headmaster for St. Peters School. Shawn spent twenty-seven years in Independent School education where he held a wide-range of senior administrative positions including Head of School, Director of Development, and Academic Dean. Shawn has a great deal of experience in strategic planning, working with Boards, organizational development, fund raising and public speaking. He is excited to utilize his experience on behalf of The Home Front Cares as it gives him a chance to serve another community to which he and his family have deep ties. Shawns uncle served in the Army during World War II, his father in the Air Force during the Korean Conflict, and his brother in the Army during the Gulf War. Shawn looks forward to giving back to those who have served our country. I am excited to begin my work helping our veterans. The mission of THFC is quite unique in that it is the pragmatic non-profit that looks to help our veterans in tangible ways that have immediate and positive impact on families across the state, says Kelly. Shawn holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Rhode Island and a Master's degree from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. He is married to Tiffany Kelly, a Colorado Springs native. Their daughter, Eva, is five years old and entering Kindergarten. In his free time, Shawn enjoys camping, hiking, kayaking, biking, running, canning, reading, listening to podcasts and a wide range of music, tinkering and repairing everything from vintage typewriters and watches, to broken record players and bikes. He is thrilled to be moving back to the beautiful Rocky Mountains. The Home Front Cares provides emergency financial grants for Colorado service members, veterans and their families. Since 2003, the nonprofit has raised more than $8 million to pay essential life expenses like rent and utilities for clients statewide. According to GuideStar, only 10 percent of the 45,000 registered nonprofits serving veterans nationwide provide more than $250,000 per year in aid to clients; THFC is among them. For more information about The Home Front Cares mission, visit http://www.thehomefrontcares.org. ### The Taylor Reach Strategic Assessment analyzes people, process, and technologies to establish a prescriptive approach for optimizing operations Contact Centers across many industries share many of the same tools, processes, and functions, however, each center and customer service operation is unique. Customer Experience and Contact Center Consultancy, The Taylor Reach Group, Inc. (Taylor Reach), announced that they have been appointed by one of Americas largest home builders to take an in-depth analysis of their Contact Centers. Taylor Reach will conduct an essential health check of the home builders multiple Contact Center operations. Taylor Reachs consultants, each with 20+ years of Contact Center expertise, will perform on-site analysis, auditing and stakeholder interviews at each of the home builders Call Centers. The audit will benchmark the centers across 8 categories, 29 sub-categories, 700+ data points, against 2500+ other Contact Centers and allow charting of improvement initiatives to prove the results. Contact Centers operate with a complex set of interconnected elements, sometimes in subtle but critical ways, said Taylor. Contact Centers across many industries share many of the same tools, processes, and functions, however, each center and customer service operation is unique. Taylor Reachs Strategic Assessment road-maps Contact Centers to a desired future state through a detailed assessment of all aspects of current Contact Center operations and leveraging of their proprietary People, Process, Technology, and Methodology approach. About The Taylor Reach Group, Inc. Taylor Reach Group is a globally recognized Contact Center and Customer Experience consulting firm specializing in sourcing strategies, customer experience, customer service/support, and Contact Center Assessments. Established in 2003, the consultancy aligns proprietary approaches specific to clients organizational goals and objectives. TRGs vendor agnostic team has a deep understanding of all aspects of Contact Center operations, as each consultant possessed a minimum of 20 years of hands-on Call Center operational management experience. To learn more, visit thetaylorreachgroup.com Media contact: For more information contact Sarah Hill Stapley via phone: 1-866-334-3730 Ext 112 or email: shillstapley@thetaylorreachgroup.com Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Hodnett Cooper Real Estate is pleased to announce Nicole Thompson has joined our team of professionals at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Hodnett Cooper Real Estate as a Luxury Collection Specialist. Nicole joins us after successfully selling fractional ownerships with The Cloister Ocean Residences for Sea Island. She has extensive expertise in the Sea Island real estate market and is looking forward to expanding her business to the luxury real estate market on St. Simons Island. Nicole obtained her residential and rental real estate training and experience at Corcoran Real Estate in New York City. Previously she worked with high net worth individuals and families in the Private Wealth Management group of Lazard Asset Management in Manhattan. She gained luxury hospitality experience by maintaining sales relationships with the key and celebrity accounts of Ritz-Carlton Hotels working with their senior sales and marketing executive. Nicole also managed sales, marketing and programming for a travel consulting firm based in Atlanta. A native of Macon, GA and a graduate of the University of Georgia with a degree in finance, Nicole resides on Saint Simons Island. She has traveled extensively internationally and now enjoys spending time with her friends and her mom, who just moved to the area. Nicole is intimately familiar with the Sea Island and St. Simons Island Luxury real estate market and brings professionalism, respect, and enthusiasm to our team, said Pat Cooper, President and Broker of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Hodnett Cooper Real Estate. It is such an honor to have Nicole join our team of Luxury Collection Specialists to further enhance our presence in the luxury real estate market in the Golden Isles. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Hodnett Cooper Real Estate, which is independently owned and operated, became a member of the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices brokerage network, operated by HSF Affiliates LLC, in 2017. Since that time, it has earned a host of honors and welcomed several new professionals to the highly successful real estate team. About Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Hodnett Cooper Real Estate Hodnett Cooper Real Estate is a family-owned and operated company with four offices throughout the Golden Isles offering a full range of real estate services including real estate sales, residential rentals, property management and commercial sales. The brokerage is the premier real estate company in southeast coastal Georgia with a professional and diverse team of agents. Visit http://www.BHHSHodnettCooper.com. About Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, based in Irvine, CA, is a brand-new real estate brokerage network built for a new era in residential real estate. The network, among the few organizations entrusted to use the world-renowned Berkshire Hathaway name, brings to the real estate market a definitive mark of trust, integrity, stability and longevity. About HSF Affiliates LLC Irvine, CA-based HSF Affiliates LLC operates Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, Prudential Real Estate and Real Living Real Estate franchise networks. The company is a joint venture of which HomeServices of America, Inc., the nations second-largest, full-service residential brokerage firm, is a majority owner. HomeServices of America is an affiliate of world-renowned Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Contact: Catherine Maybank (912) 638-5450 catherine(at)hcrega.com Stadium Series This event was a phenomenal experience, said Christine Tolbert from Johnson & Johnson. It was a great opportunity to be introduced to some elaborate resorts, hotels and conference centers. Questex Travel Group, organizer of the Global Meeting & Incentive Travel Exchanges (GMITE) and publisher of International Meetings Review, has announced the next Stadium Series event will take place November 13, 2018 for the third year in a row at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. A pillar of the GMITE brand, the Stadium Series are regional events that take their private, in-suite one-to-one appointment concept to stadium venues, allowing suppliers the opportunity to conduct a minimum of 15 quality meetings in just one day, while affording meeting planners the ability to experience a unique venue for future events and programs. Buyers will be represented by a veritable cross section of meeting and event planners, and high-volume incentive buyers from the Northeast region including New York, Connecticut and New Jersey. Plus, the Questex team will pre-qualify them in advance to ensure they meet the standards suppliers require for their business needs, another GMITE brand pillar. Suppliers at the event will represent cruise lines, tour operators, destination management companies and sought-after destinations, hotels, resorts and spas across the globe. Questex will be returning to Yankee Stadium again because its a very unique meeting venue and their service is impeccable, according to Jill Birkett, event director for the Questex Travel Group. We are looking forward to returning to Yankee Stadium for another exceptional experience at such an exquisite location, said Birkett. She went on to say that buyers and suppliers alike have been continually satisfied year over year. It was an amazing event from start to finish, said Mary Mitchell, sales manager for Delta Hotels by Marriott-Hunt Valley. I had a full day of meetings and networking and walked away with five leads and $1.3 million in potential revenue for our property. The unique meeting space gave instant comfort for all our meetings, said John Williams, president, American Guest USA. It was like inviting a friend to your home. This event was a phenomenal experience, said Christine Tolbert from Johnson & Johnson. It was a great opportunity to be introduced to some elaborate resorts, hotels and conference centers. This was extremely insightful and well worth the time, said Phyllis Shelton, director of special events for iPower Global Solutions. The Stadium Series brings together regional buyers and global suppliers for a day of one-to-one private, pre-scheduled appointments, networking receptions and meals, and a forward-thinking keynote speaker. For more information visit stadiumseriesevents.com. Questexs Global Meeting & Incentive Travel Exchanges (GMITE) have proven to be successful by offering one-to-one meetings and top-of-the-line training and networking opportunities for meeting and event-planning professionals, as well as incentive buyers. About Questex Hospitality + Travel The Questex Hospitality + Travel Group of Questex LLC serves the worldwide hospitality, travel and related industries that together contribute over $6 trillion to the global gross domestic product. Through an innovative platform of targeted solutions, the group serves the sectors entire ecosystem, from tourism and hotel development and investment to hotel design, purchasing, management and operations. The Questex Hospitality + Travel Group serves every B2B segment of the industry, from investment and development to management operations, sales and marketing of hospitality and travel products to destination development and marketing, via proven demand generation, learning, loyalty and rewards solutions as well as a network of live events. This division of Questex is aligned around three broad market segments hospitality, travel and meetings and supported by its digital media staff. We are excited to combine the JBJS and Miller Orthopaedic Review brands, two of the most trusted in orthopaedics, to help prepare residents and early-career orthopaedic surgeons for their board certification. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Inc. (JBJS) has entered into formal agreements to acquire the Miller Review Course Parts I and II, along with the remaining interest in the JBJS Virtual Recertification Course, from Miller Orthopaedic Review Enterprises, LLC (MORE). The transaction is expected to close in July 2018. In its 23rd year, the Miller Review Course Part I is a five-day in-person comprehensive orthopaedic review held in the Denver area each May. Taught by Mark Miller, MD and a distinguished faculty of orthopaedic surgeons from both academic and private practices, the Miller Review Course Part I provides orthopaedic residents with a crucial preparatory step toward board certification and offers a unique opportunity for faculty to share and advance their expertise while building camaraderie among the orthopaedic community. The Miller Review Course Part II was established in 2016 to prepare early-career surgeons for the oral examination, which is typically taken during the third year of orthopaedic practice. We are excited to combine the JBJS and Miller Orthopaedic Review brands, two of the most trusted in orthopaedics, to help prepare residents and early-career orthopaedic surgeons for their board certification, said Paul Sandford, Chief Executive Officer of JBJS. We intend to leverage our unique learning platforms, marketing reach, and peer-review processes to further enhance the Miller Review Courses solid reputation for excellence and comprehensive board exam preparation. Mark Miller, MD, Founder and Editor of the Miller Review Courses, will remain involved with the programs in the future. We are excited that The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery has elected to lead the Miller Review Course into its next era, said Dr. Miller. We have enjoyed our partnership with JBJS on the Virtual Recertification Course and look forward to continuing Miller Review I and II under their direction. The Journal brings with it a century of orthopaedic knowledge and prestige, and we are honored that they have assumed this role. Registration for the 2019 Miller Review Courses in Westminster, Colorado will open July 1, 2018. About JBJS JBJS is a not-for-profit publisher specializing in orthopaedic peer-reviewed knowledge resources. It publishes The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery, which has been the most valued source of information for orthopaedic surgeons and researchers for more than 125 years. The Journal is the gold standard in peer-reviewed scientific information in the field. Other JBJS publications include JBJS Case Connector, JBJS Essential Surgical Techniques, JBJS Reviews, JOPA, and JBJS Open Access. JBJS also offers JBJS Clinical Classroom on NEJM Knowledge+ and other CME and professional development products. Twitter: @jbjs. About Miller Orthopaedic Review Enterprises, LLC (MORE) MORE consists of the Miller Review Course Part I, the Miller Review Course Part II (established in 2016 to assist with Oral Boards taken in the third year of practice), a partnership with surgeons in the United Kingdom called Miller Review UK, and a partnership with the Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery (JBJS) that consists of a Virtual Recertification Course for attending physicians studying for their recertification exam. Hokulia Shave Ice continues to expand its footprint and will be opening a new Authentic Hawaiian Hokulia Shave Ice location in Parma, OH. The location will feature shave ice, unique island ice creams flavors, and fresh topical flavored smoothies. The store will be the first in the greater Cleveland area and is located in the Tri City Center Plaza at 7894 Broadview Rd. Parma OH. The Parma location joins more than 60 Hokulia Shave Ice outlets throughout the country. Hokulia opened the Parma location for business on April 28, 2018 and is holding a Grand Opening celebration this week (May 28th June 2nd) with specials every day. In June we will be awarding free shave ice for a year to one lucky winner. At Hokulia, its about the icenot ground into chunks, but a delicate shave that melts in your mouth. Its not a snow cone, it is like eating cotton candy, but cool and refreshing. The shave ice is then topped with a choice from dozens of delicious flavors, imported from Hawaii, and made with pure cane sugar. We call them Waves of Flavor, said Clint Severson, Director of Hokulia Operations. Of course, the products also come in fat-free, gluten free and sugar free flavor combinations, catering to each customers own preference. The shave ice portions are enormous and are sold as a Short Board and Long Board on the menu. Customers can get it Island Style with a scoop of ice cream in the middle and with a Sno Cap, which is with creamy sweetened condensed milk drizzled on top. It is a Taste of Hawaii, just like you would find on the islands. The creamy Hawaiian inspired ice creams are of premium quality. Hokulia is part of the Farr Better Ice Cream family; a company created more than 90 years ago by Asael Farr. Farr Better Ice Cream is one of the nations last mid-size ice cream and confectionary companies. You have to try a cup of Rocky Road to Hana with macadamia nuts, or maybe some Lava Flow-Coconut and Pineapple flavored ice cream with Strawberry Ripple. Dont forget about the fresh tropical smoothies in multiple flavors, a healthy treat selection for the whole family. Our real fruit smoothies are ultra smooth because we do not grind ice chips, we shave the ice. When blended with non-fat frozen yogurt or our premium ice cream and fresh fruit, the result is a silky smooth and refreshing cup of goodness. We are very excited to bring this concept to Parma Severson stated. At each new Hokulia location, customers can find a convenient island oasis to stop and enjoy a little taste of the Aloha. The Parma store is locally owned and operated by Matt Sebring. Matt and his wife Sara, grew up in Parma and opening the first location in this community is a homecoming. It is exciting for both of them to open in a place where they have so many close ties. After trying shave ice at a location in Salt Lake City, Matt knew that Cleveland residents would love to have a taste of Hawaii in their own back yards. More information on Hokulia, including links to their list of flavors and locations, can be found on the Hokulia website at http://parma.hokuliashaveice.com/ and at http://hokuliashaveice.com or follow us on #Hokuliaparmaoh on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The combination of hospitality and award-winning workplace services, spanning three continents and focused on hotel and office real estate investments, is truly unique in the industry, according to Benchmarks CEO Alex Cabanas. BENCHMARK, a global hospitality company, and its capital partner, Gencom, have made a strategic investment in the UK-based etc.venues, a pioneering non-residential day meetings company with 15 properties in London, Birmingham and Manchester. The move and positioning significantly increases Benchmarks global footprint and creates exceptional opportunities for international expansion for both companies. The partnership means that Benchmark will now operate across three continents, with a total of 80 properties in North America, the Caribbean, Japan and the United Kingdom. Recognized in the UK and on the international stage as an award-winning and particularly innovative training and events firm, etc.venues will complement Benchmarks four hospitality services brands: Benchmark Resorts & Hotels, Gemstone Collection, Benchmark Conference Centers and the Benchmark Owner Advisory Group. The combination of hospitality and award-winning workplace services, spanning three continents and focused on hotel and office real estate investments, is truly unique in the industry, according to Benchmarks CEO Alex Cabanas. Benchmarks leadership in group sales and in delivering exceptional meeting experiences aligns perfectly with etc.venues sophisticated meetings and events space in the UK market. etc.venues facilities, strategically located in key business districts around London and in the commercial centers of Birmingham and Manchester, are known for stylish contemporary design, technical expertise, outstanding business services and premier food and beverage focus. Investment and transaction structuring efforts were led by Benchmarks capital partner, Miami-based Gencom. Gencom led an investment consortium, which included an investment fund managed by Colony Northstar as corporate preferred equity provider. The investment in etc.venues is consistent with Gencoms strategy to grow the Benchmark platform and position the company for dynamic and global growth not only through operations management but also through a dedicated real estate investment platform, said Karim Alibhai, Principal of Gencom. Gencom will continue to explore opportunities in the real estate markets as a result of this transaction and will look to align itself with strategic investment partners on both single-asset and programmatic basis, Mr. Alibhai added. The new collaboration will spur the global expansion of Benchmark and etc.venues in urban and destination sites within Europe and the United States, notes Alastair Stewart, managing director of etc.venues. This is a winning combination. Benchmark will be perfectly positioned to pursue hotel management business in Europe, while etc.venues will have the financial, sales & marketing and operational support it needs to establish new venues in the US. US expansion of etc.venues is a key part of the strategy, says Mr. Cabanas. Benchmark is evaluating gateway cities such as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and others. We will look to further growth opportunities in Europe for our management, operational and asset management services. Benchmarks interest in the etc.venues business is rooted in a long history of leadership and strategic opportunity in the conference center and corporate real estate services space. Both CEOs are well-acquainted through their involvement with IACC, formerly known as the International Association of Conference Centres. Several important trends in both travel and real estate influenced this new partnership. Consumer preferences are trending towards experiential travel, on demand services/amenities, and shared/collaborative spaces. As office buildings and commercial real estate evolve with guest-centric, hotel-like services, this mixed-use platform aims to attract real estate owners and managers looking for a diverse-portfolio, one-stop-shop operator. Conference planners and potential hotel owners will also find many new options and advantages. Consequently, career opportunities for our teams will be enhanced, says Alex Cabanas. He highlights that both Benchmark and etc.venues are committed to employee engagement and development and to strong programs of community involvement at every property. Culturally, operationally and sales & marketing-wise, Benchmark and etc.venues are a perfect fit. Photography Link Here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/hetaiobf6qmpdkv/AACYTXYP-fFuJjo4QVedBPlya?dl=0 L to R: Alex Cabanas, Alastair Stewart Photo credit, Matthew Joseph About etc.venues etc.venues is a leading provider of contemporary city centre non-residential venues. It has 15 UK venues and specialises in the conference, meetings, training & events market, hosting 750,000 delegates a year at 17,000 events in over 250 rooms. In 2017 it opened 68,000 sq ft of conference and event space at Londons iconic, listed riverside venue County Hall, and opened its first Manchester venue. http://www.etcvenues.co.uk About BENCHMARK, a global hospitality company BENCHMARK, a global hospitality company, is a trailblazer in the development, management, marketing and owner-advisory services of resorts, hotels, conference centers and exclusive private clubs. In addition to the companys iconic Benchmark Resorts & Hotels portfolio, the Gemstone Collection is a distinctive luxury portfolio of independent hotels & resorts in highly preferred destinations. BENCHMARKS distinguished and proven reputation is deeply-rooted in core values that are focused and aligned with exceeding ownership and stakeholder performance expectations. The combined portfolios feature nearly 70 unique and distinctive properties domestically and internationally. The company leadership and valued employees are passionately committed to delivering the industrys most authentic, enchanted, soulful, vibrant, unrivaled and memory-making experience. BENCHMARKS progressive Be The Difference culture and values are a cornerstone to the companys nearly 40 years of extraordinary achievement and prosperity. Many properties have been recognized with the Benchmark Conference Centers mark of meeting excellence. BENCHMARK, a global hospitality company, is based in The Woodlands (Houston), Texas, and has regional offices in Park City, Utah; Miami, Florida; New Brunswick, New Jersey; Seattle Washington; and Tokyo, Japan. http://www.benchmarkglobalhospitality.com To become a fan on Facebook, visit http://www.facebook.com/BenchmarkResortsandHotels, http://www.facebook.com/GemstoneHotelCollection. Follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/BenchmarkHotels, http://www.twitter.com/GemstoneHotels , on Instagram at http://www.instagram.com/benchmarkresortsandhotels, http://www.instagram.com/gemstonehotels, and on Pinterest at https://www.pinterest.com/benchmarkhotels/gemstone-hotels . At LinkedIn, http://www.linkedin.com/company/benchmark-hospitality. About Gencom Founded in 1987 by Karim Alibhai, the Gencom family of companies is one of the industrys leading domestic and international real estate investment and development firms with experience owning, developing and operating across multiple industry segments and asset classes. Gencom focuses on executing distressed, turnaround and repositioning opportunities and actively invests in single-asset and portfolio assets, branded residential projects and hospitality operating platform strategies. Headquartered in Miami, Florida, Gencom is also fully integrated and highly diversified, with expertise in virtually every aspect of development, acquisition, capital markets and asset management. Today, Gencoms portfolio of owned assets, whether directly or through joint venture partnerships, consists of over 1,500 keys and includes the award-winning Ritz-Carlton, Key Biscayne, Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica and the Rosewood Bermuda at Tuckers Point. http://www.gencomgrp.com Cal Net Technology Group, Southern Californias IT Department, has been named to the 2018 Solution Provider 500 list by CRN, a brand of The Channel Company. The Solution Provider 500 is CRNs annual ranking of the largest technology integrators, solution providers and IT consultants in North America by revenue. The Solution Provider 500 is CRNs predominant channel partner award list, serving as the industry standard for recognition of the most successful solution provider companies in the channel since 1995. Our mission is to develop technology solutions that empower our clients to maximize their business potential, says Bob Deschamps, VP of Managed Services for Cal Net. We have built an extensive set of technology capabilities, perfected our processes, and standardized our customer experience framework to create transparently and make sure that if we promise it, we deliver it. CRNs Solution Provider 500 list spotlights the North American IT channel partner organizations that have earned the highest revenue over the past year, providing a valuable resource to vendors looking for top solution providers to partner with, said Bob Skelley, CEO of The Channel Company. The companies on this years list represent an incredible, combined revenue of $320 billion, a sum that attests to their success in staying ahead of rapidly changing market demands. We extend our sincerest congratulations to each of these top-performing solution providers and look forward to their future pursuits and successes. Cal Net exists to take the guesswork out of IT, Deschamps explains. Our clients know exactly what theyre getting from the startno miscellaneous line items on bills for services they dont understand or need. And we hold ourselves accountable with our 30-day Proof Positive Pledge: if we cant meet our success metrics in 30-days, well help you transition to an MSP that can. The complete 2018 Solution Provider 500 list will be available online at http://www.crn.com/sp500 and a sample from the list will be featured in the June issue of CRN Magazine. About Cal Net Technology Group: Cal Net Technology Group is the premier, full-service provider of IT solutions to small and mid-sized businesses throughout Los Angeles, Orange County, and Inland Empire. Since 1995, weve built our reputation on equipping clients with the right combination of technology support and strategic guidance they need to reach their full potential. From managed services, network security, cloud storage, disaster recovery, unified communications, and more, we have an extensive set of technology capabilities. With 100+ employees across three offices, Cal Net delivers an entire IT department experience at a fraction of the cost. Get started today with a free consultation. http://www.calnettech.com About the Channel Company: The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers and end users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequaled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. http://www.thechannelco.com Patients can easily avoid a lot of pitfalls by doing their research ahead of time. These six easy steps are really crucial, and I recommend them to everyone searching for a surgeon, states Dr. Stong. In the face of increasingly outlandish and dangerous antics by doctors, including the case of the Dancing Doctor who left a patient permanently brain damaged in Atlanta, (as was reported widely including by CNN: https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/02/health/georgia-dancing-doctor-lawsuit/index.html) Drs. Ben Talei and Ben Stong have teamed up to educate on common-sense steps that patients should take to protect themselves when selecting a surgeon. Dancing Doctor Dr. Windell Boutte, an Atlanta dermatologist, made and posted online music videos while operating on patients. Stong and Talei believe its important for consumers to educate themselves before going under the knife. Although Dr. Boutte had no surgical credentials, it was reported that she was operating on patients in an unaccredited surgery center and being assisted by an office worker who claimed to be a nurse but was not. Her practice gained attention when people became aware of music videos she had made while operating. Boutte has settled five malpractice settlements and four other lawsuits are pending. Patients can easily avoid a lot of pitfalls by doing their research ahead of time. These six easy steps are really crucial, and I recommend them to everyone searching for a surgeon, state Dr. Stong. Patients need to realize they can seriously reduce the chances of surgical complications by doing some homework up front, added Dr. Talei. Their tips include: 1. Is the doctor certified? Determine if your doctor is certified as a surgeon by visiting the American Board of Medical Specialties website. 2. Is the doctor licensed in the appropriate specialty and, if so, is their license active? They can find out by visiting the relevant state Medical Board website. 3. Are there any public board orders against the doctor on record? This could mean there is a problem with the doctors license. 4. Does the doctor have hospital privileges? If youre having the procedure done at a surgery center that isnt attached to a hospital, patients should make sure the doctor has hospital privileges on the off-chance that something goes wrong during or after the surgery. 5. Who is your anesthesiologist going to be? Identify and research the anesthesiologist assigned to your case. Do the same research on the anesthesiologist as you do on your surgeon. About Dr. Ben Stong: Owner and facial plastic surgeon, Dr. Benjamin Stong is dual board certified in Head and Neck Surgery and Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. For the fourth year in a row, Dr. Benjamin Stong of Kalos Facial Plastic Surgery, LLC in Atlanta, Georgia was named a 2018 "Top Doctor" by Castle Connolly. He completed his fellowship under one of the most nationally renowned plastic surgeons, Dr. Andrew Jacono in New York. Call Kalos at (404) 963-6665 or visit kalos-plasticsurgery.com. About Dr. Ben Talei: Medical Director and owner of Beverly Hills Center, Dr. Ben Talei 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. In addition, Dr. Talei is a respected author, speaker and humanitarian. You can learn more about Dr. Talei by visiting beverlyhillscenter.com or calling (310) 288-0641. We couldnt be more excited to honor Dr. Easter. Hes a deserving honoree whose work has literally changed the lives of countless people, remarked Doug Webel, Ph.D., President and CEO of United Animal Health United Animal Health honored Dr. Robert A. Easter with the 2018 John B. Swisher Leadership Award on June 6, 2018 at the World Pork Expo in Des Moines, Iowa. A $5,000 contribution will be made on his behalf to the American Society of Animal Science, supporting the Baker lecture at the Midwest Animal Science Meetings. Dr. Easter accepted the award in person to the over 150 attendees. The John B. Swisher Leadership Award is an annual honor presented to an individual who exemplifies extraordinary leadership qualities and who has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of the swine industry. We couldnt be more excited to honor Dr. Easter. Hes a deserving honoree whose work has literally changed the lives of countless people, remarked Doug Webel, Ph.D., President and CEO of United Animal Health. Dr. Easter, President Emeritus of University of Illinois, is recognized worldwide for his leadership in animal agriculture. During Dr. Easters 40-year career at University of Illinois he serviced as a faculty member, department head, Dean of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES), interim Chancellor of the Urbana-Champaign campus for two years and for the final three years as President of the University of Illinois system. As an expert in swine nutrition, Dr. Easter has co-authored a book on swine production, written 11 book chapters, more than 90 peer-reviewed articles, four monographs and numerous papers for conferences and industry publications. He has also spoken to audiences in the U.S and in 27 foreign countries. His numerous awards and recognitions include the American Feed Industry Association Award in Nonruminant Nutrition Research for the American Society of Animal Science, the University of Illinois College of Agriculture Paul A. Funk Award for contributions to the Illinois agriculture, the Illinois farm Bureau Charles B. Schuman and being appointed chairman of the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD) by President George W. Bush. Dr. Easter is a special person. His contributions are far-reaching and truly impressive, commented Webel. I have known John Swisher for a very long time and greatly admire the company that he and his colleagues built - that makes the recognition special, noted Easter. ### About United Animal Health United Animal Health, founded in 1956, is dedicated to providing research-based solutions that create value for its partners in animal agriculture. United Animal Health offers livestock nutrition and health products globally through the United Animal Health or affiliate brands. While the organizations headquarters are in Sheridan, Indiana, the sales staff and team members stretch from the East Coast to the West to assist customers with their business needs. In total, the United Animal Health operation extends to 23 countries, including South Korea, the Philippines, and locations in South America and Europe. The company, formally known as JBS United, set itself apart from the competition by intimately getting to know customers and understanding what they needed to be more successful. That guiding principle continues to be the foundation of United Animal Health. To learn more, visit UnitedAnH.com. The U.S. Defense Department is developing an AI program that can anticipate, detect and track launches of North Korea's and other countries' nuclear-tipped missiles, Reuters reported Tuesday. The Pentagon is testing an early-type AI-driven tracking system with the purpose of finding easy-to-hide mobile missile launchers. The project also "includes a pilot project focused on North Korea," it said quoting officials. U.S. analysts rely on information collected from reconnaissance satellites that are capable of identifying an object 5 cm in diameter on the ground from the altitude of hundreds of kilometers above the planet. Members of the Sierra College Robotics Club participated in the firefighter and combat competitions at RoboGames; the firefighter team won 2nd in the world. The robotics competition enables Sierra College students to apply what they are learning and troubleshoot in real time. It is an excellent way for students to prepare for careers. During RoboGames, the worlds largest robotic completion held in Pleasanton CA on April 28-29, a Sierra College Robotics Club student team competed with an Autonomous Firefighter robot and won second place. At this same event, another team representing the Sierra College Robotics Club team competed with a 120-pound combat robot. There were 13 registered teams competing in the firefighting event, including teams from Indonesia, Egypt, Poland, Germany and the United Kingdom, according to Tony Osladil, Mechatronics Instructor, Sierra College. The Sierra College Robotics Club team included one Computer Science major and two Mechatronics majors, said Osladil. During the three month period prior to competition, they worked very intensely over many evenings and weekends. Mechatronics is a combination of mechanics, electronics, pneumatics, and hydraulics under computer control used in ATMs, ski lifts, water treatment systems, medical lab equipment and automated manufacturing as well as robots. Josh Adriano led the firefighter robot team that included Patrick Leiser, who specialized in coding, and Sienna Fick, who focused on building and wiring electrical components. I am so proud of our team; it feels amazing to take second place against seasoned teams who have been competing in this event for years, said Adriano. This was Sierra Colleges first foray into autonomous robots. We had to build a robot that would think in a logical manner on its own rather than by remote control. The goal was to build a robot that could find and extinguish a candle, explained Adriano. A candle was randomly placed in a room in a scale-model house, said Adriano. We had to design a robot and develop code so that it would methodically search all the rooms and extinguish the candle on its own. We chose a philosophy of wall hugging and always turning right as it scanned the room for fire. If it didnt sense the candle, it backed out and continued searching. The robot also had to be able to tackle stairs and unexpected obstacles. Adriano designed the chassis and produced the majority of the parts in using Fusion 360 3D printers on campus and at Hacker Lab powered by Sierra College. Everyone was so welcoming at Hacker Lab, said Adriano. When we had issues, we could consult with experts who gave us valuable input. The robotics club was supported by TSI Semiconductors in Roseville, according to Nancy Shafer, Senior Human Resources Representative. The students gain practical hands-on experience as they design and build a competitive robot, said Shafer. TSI Semiconductors contributed financially to the club to promote technical education with highly relevant industrial application. The combination of classroom instruction coupled with hands-on trial and error is powerful. It's a win-win outcome as we have hired many students from the Mechatronics program through the years. Competitions develop skills that will serve students in their careers, explained Osladil. Students designed the firefighting robot using industry-applicable hardware such as sensors, microprocessors and motor controllers as well as innovative programming that applies to industrial and autonomous machines in the world at large, said Osladil. They also learn soft skills such as teamwork, time management and budgeting. Graduates who can demonstrate these skills are in high demand with local manufacturers, according to Steve Dicus, Deputy Sector Navigator for Advanced Manufacturing for the California Community Colleges in the greater Sacramento region and housed at Sierra College, as well as the education committee chair for the Sacramento Valley Manufacturing Initiative (SVMI). Community college students who have worked with a team to build a robot that competed successfully in an international competition have something relevant to share at an employment interview, said Dicus. The robotics competition enables Sierra College students to apply what they are learning and troubleshoot in real time. It is an excellent way for students to prepare for careers. According to Dicus, there are growing opportunities for skilled employees to work for manufacturers in the Sacramento region. There are many career openings in product design, maintaining robotic equipment, engineering and fabricating products used in healthcare, aerospace, utilities and automotive industries as well as many familiar household products, said Dicus. The team already has plans for next year. The Robotics Club is a welcoming bunch of people, said Adriano. Id encourage other students to join all majors are welcome to get involved. We are planning to compete in the autonomous robot competition again and the club participates in other events such as the Maker Faire in the Bay Area. You can see the students robots at the Rocklin Mini Maker Faire on October 6, 2018 at Sierra College. The summer session of Mechatronics 0001 - The Science of Electronics begins June 11 in Rocklin and registration is open for Mechatronics classes in the fall semester at all three campuses in Rocklin, Nevada County and Tahoe-Truckee. Learn more about Sierra College Mechatronics, Sierra College Advanced Manufacturing and SVMI at Valley Vision. About Sierra College Sierra College District is rising to the needs of our community. Sierra College serves 3200 square miles of Northern California with campuses in Roseville, Rocklin, Grass Valley, and Truckee. With approximately 125 degree and certificate programs, Sierra College is ranked first in Northern California (Sacramento north) for transfers to four year Universities, offers career/technical training, and classes for upgrading job skills. Sierra graduates can be found in businesses and industries throughout the region. San Francisco Oral Surgeon Educating the patient on wisdom teeth issues is the first step. San Francisco Oral Surgery under the direction of Dr. Alex Rabinovich is proud to release a new blog archive on the issues surrounding wisdom teeth. Many San Francisco residents still have their wisdom teeth and go under the philosophy of leaving "sleeping dogs lie," but this "do nothing" strategy is not the best way to preserve one's oral health for the long run. The new archive has many answers to common questions asked by patients. Educating the patient on wisdom teeth issues is the first step, explained Dr. Alex Rabinovich. Our new blog archive makes it easy for San Francisco residents to learn about wisdom teeth issues and then reach out for a consultation. Many common patient questions are answered on the blog. Interested persons can review the blog archive at http://www.oralsurgery-sf.com/tag/wisdom-teeth/. There, they can read many posts which are "answers" to common "questions" that they may be too embarrassed to ask. Those who would like even more information on wisdom teeth removal can visit http://www.oralsurgery-sf.com/wisdom-teeth/, and those who may need dental implants can visit the sister website at http://www.sfdentalimplants.com/our-advantage/. In this way, Dr. Rabinovich offers a full suite of options for patients who have wisdom teeth issues in San Francisco. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT WISDOM TEETH REMOVAL Here is the background for this release. Every person is born with so-called "wisdom teeth" and most people need to have them removed or extracted in early adulthood. If neglected, they can cause significant damage further down the road. However, because in many (though not all) cases they do not cause immediate pain or issues, people may avoid having them inspected and evaluated and possibly removed. The new archive goes over some of the issues for why this is, and recommendations on how to approach an oral surgeon who does wisdom teeth removal in San Francisco for an evaluation. Secondly, the new archive has posts about many other types of questions, such as how much wisdom teeth extraction costs (costs vary, of course) and even new, "pain free" options. Indeed those interested in "pain free" oral surgery in San Francisco can visit http://www.oralsurgery-sf.com/pain/ to learn more. For these reasons, San Francisco oral surgeon Dr. Alex Rabinovich, has released a new blog archive with many answers to common questions about wisdom teeth removal. San Francisco residents who may need an evaluation are urged to call the office for a consultation, however, as online information is no substitute for a consult with a professional oral surgeon and wisdom teeth specialist. ABOUT ORAL SURGERY SAN FRANCISCO Oral Surgery San Francisco is located in the Financial District of the City. Under the direction of Dr. Alex Rabinovich, a Board Certified Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon specializing in the field of oral surgery. This additional training, along with his years of experience, sets Alex Rabinovich MD DDS apart from the growing number of general dentists offering oral surgery and other dental procedures. The cost of oral surgery can expensive and the clinic accepted over forty types of insurance plans from Bay Area employers. Procedures include wisdom teeth extraction, jaw surgery and dental implants. Oral Surgery San Francisco serves all neighborhoods in the city of San Francisco including Pacific Heights, Russian Hill and Noe Valley. Contact Media Relations Tel. (415) 817-9991 Integrate Jack Henry / Symitar Products with Cisco Finesse with NovelVox NovelVox, a global Contact Center Software Provider, today announced that it has joined the Symitar Vendor Integration Program (VIP). Participation in the program will provide NovelVox with access to Symitars technical resources to enable NovelVoxs Finesse Unified Agent Desktops to integrate with Symitars products including Episys and Synapsys Member Relationship Management. The Vendor Integration Program is designed to help ensure that Symitars customers can easily deploy third-party products. NovelVoxs Cisco Finesse Unified Agent Desktops integrates with Episys, Synapsys Member Relationship Management via SymXchange, a services-based programming interface that enables third-party vendors and credit unions to access the platforms core data and business rules. The integrity of data is maintained throughout any data exchange, because access to business rules and data is managed through a service layer which governs these interactions. Within the credit union industry, the member experience is now the battleground to attract and retain ever more demanding members. It is now widely accepted that the member experience is the prime differentiator from one supplier to the next. NovelVox can now deliver integration to products provided by Symitar into a credit unions existing Cisco Contact Center, providing contact center agents with a unified single pane glass view of members that will create a better member experience. Amit Gandhi, CEO of NovelVox says, We are extremely happy and excited to integrate Symitars Episys core and Synapsys member relationship management solution into the Cisco Contact Center Platform. This combined with our existing range of products will provide our customers with even more choices to execute their member experience strategies. Norman Liu, NovelVoxs Marketing Director, also agrees with Amit Gandhi and adds, This VIP membership is very much aligned with NovelVoxs ethos to provide our customers with powerful, flexible and feature rich Unified Agent Desktops that our customers have come to expect from us. Symitars VIP takes the customer out of the middle, providing vendors with direct access to Symitars technical resources and test systems. VIP inclusion is not an endorsement of the vendors product. About Symitar Symitar, a division of Jack Henry & Associates, Inc., is a provider of integrated computer systems for credit unions of all sizes. Symitar has been selected as the primary technology partner by more than 800 credit unions, serving as a single source for integrated, enterprise-wide automation and as a single point of contact and support. Additional information about Symitar is available at http://www.symitar.com. About Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. is a leading provider of technology solutions and payment processing services primarily for the financial services industry. Its solutions serve approximately 9,000 customers nationwide, and are marketed and supported through three primary brands. Jack Henry Banking supports banks ranging from community banks to multi-billion-dollar institutions with information processing solutions. Symitar is a leading provider of information processing solutions for credit unions of all sizes. ProfitStars provides highly specialized products and services that enable financial institutions of every asset size and charter, and diverse corporate entities to mitigate and control risks, optimize revenue and growth opportunities, and contain costs. Additional information is available at http://www.jackhenry.com. About NovelVox Established in 2008, NovelVox creates flexible Contact Center Agent Desktops, Wallboards and other contact center applications for customers of all sizes, ranging from Enterprise Organizations to more dynamic customer centric companies. Our products are designed to complement a variety of Contact Center vendors including, Cisco, Avaya and Genesys. Our mission is to provide our customers with a fully customized agent/ supervisor desktop that will empower contact center agents with the right information at the right time, every time. Happy agents equals happy customers. Visit http://www.novelvox.com for more information. Our goal is to provide every person we talk to with a personable, consultative experience where we recognize their unique goals and challenges in their workplace or career. We want the Brightwing website to achieve the same objective. Brightwing, a national staffing and recruiting firm, is delighted to announce the launch of their new website. The new site has been redesigned to reflect the companys dedication to its brand promise, Recruiting, Reimagined, while delivering a dynamic and engaging user experience. Visitors are invited to explore the new site at https://www.gobrightwing.com. In our 45 years in business, weve seen the staffing and recruiting industry become highly transactional in nature. We dont believe that approach serves candidates or clients in their best interest, so we are working hard to reimagine the recruiting process, comments Aaron Chernow, CEO of Brightwing. Our philosophy, which is one-part relationships, one-part insight, and one-part results, was the main driver behind our new web strategy, and we are excited to see it go live. With improved navigation and user-friendly functionality, the new Brightwing website is focused on showcasing the company from a human perspective. Throughout the site, visitors will find images of Brightwings own team members, as well as up-to-date metrics, statistics, and testimonials about the companys performance in the marketplace. It is this transparency and people-first attitude that Brightwing believes will set them apart from their competition. Our goal is to provide every person we talk to with a personable, consultative experience where we recognize their unique goals and challenges in their workplace or career. We want our website to achieve the same objective, comments George Optiz, President of Brightwing. Brightwing provides contract staffing, direct placement, executive/retained search, MSP support, and project-based recruitment across a number of industries. Headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, Brightwing also serves the metropolitan areas of Pittsburgh, Dallas, and South Florida. For more information, visit the website at https://www.gobrightwing.com. Attorney Eric J. Blatti - Elite Lawyer Joliet, Illinois, attorney Eric Blatti has a reputation as a fearless litigator and persuasive negotiator. He started his career as a public defender in Will County before founding his own firm. Attorney Eric J. Blatti, of the Law Office of Eric J. Blatti, P.C., has been honored with a 2018 Elite Lawyer Award for the area of criminal defense. 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. Joliet, Illinois, attorney Eric Blatti has a reputation as a fearless litigator and persuasive negotiator. He started his career as a public defender in Will County before founding his own firm. Blatti has successfully defended clients against various criminal charges, including driving under the influence, theft, battery, traffic violations, juvenile charges, and charges resulting in an order of protection. Blatti is a 2008 graduate of the Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan, and a member of the Will County Bar Association and Illinois State Bar Association. 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 the Law Office of Eric J. Blatti, P.C.: The Law Office of Eric J. Blatti, P.C., provides top-notch legal representation in the areas of criminal defense and family law. Joliet, Illinois, attorney Eric Blatti has extensive experience defending clients against traffic violations and DUI charges, among other criminal charges. Blatti offers flexible evening and weekend hours to accommodate clients. To schedule a free consultation, call 815-744-2500 or use the contact form. Envision and LCI have partnered to introduce a new program and facility aimed at improving accessibility to skilled positions for individuals who are blind or visually impaired. The BVI Workforce Innovation Center has already made strides toward a more accessible environment. We are proud to be moving forward with this initiative, and look forward to seeing a brighter employment future for all. - Michael Monteferrante, Envision Government officials, business leaders and donors joined members of the board, executive team and staff of Envision at the organizations downtown Wichita headquarters this morning to participate in the grand opening of the William L. Hudson BVI Workforce Innovation Center. A joint partnership with Durham, N.C.-based LCI, a sister agency to Envision, the center is designed to train people who are blind or visually impaired, place them into skilled positions and provide accessibility inclusion expertise to businesses around the United States. The naming of the center honors the ongoing legacy of William L. Bill Hudson, CEO of LCI, an icon in the industry who has been at the center of creating national employment opportunities for people with vision loss for the past 50 years. Im honored to unveil a facility with a mission to deliver considerable benefits to employees and employers alike, Hudson said. Envision and LCI stand together proudly as two of the countrys largest employers of individuals who are blind or visually impaired. We look forward to seeing many other organizations step into that circle as a result of the BVI Workforce Innovation Centers efforts. This mornings ceremony marked completion of the BVI Workforce Innovation Centers offices on the fifth floor of Envisions headquarters. Envision and LCI announced the creation of the BVI Workforce Innovation Center in February and simultaneously launched a $5.1 million fundraising campaign. Efforts to date have secured a $750,000 challenge grant from the Tulsa, Okla.-based J.E. and L.E. Mabee Foundation as fundraising continues through December 2018. Major gifts from LCI Foundation, Carl and Gigi Allen of Dallas-based Allen Exploration and Kansas City-based The Sunderland Foundation have contributed to that goal. We are grateful to LCI Foundation, Carl and Gigi Allen, the Mabee Foundation, The Sunderland Foundation and all of our generous supporters for bringing us to this momentous occasion, said Michael Monteferrante, Envision president and CEO. The William L. Hudson BVI Workforce Innovation Center has already made strides toward a more accessible environment for individuals who are blind or visually impaired. As it now settles into its formal home, comprehensive execution of its mission can begin. We are proud to be moving forward with this collaborative initiative with LCI, and we look forward to seeing a brighter employment future for all. Also joining Hudson and Monteferrante in todays festivities were Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer, National Industries for the Blind President and CEO Kevin Lynch and American Foundation for the Blind President and CEO Kirk Adams. Other speakers who voiced their enthusiasm over the mission of the facility and the progress it has made to date included: Jeff Longwell, mayor of the City of Wichita Gary Plummer, Wichita Regional Chamber of Commerce president and CEO David Dennis, Sedgwick County Commission chairman Heather Hogan, Envision senior vice president of Foundation and Mission Services Mike May, William L. Hudson BVI Workforce Innovation Center executive director Sam Williams, Envision, Inc. Board of Directors chairman Mike Hess, Blind Institute of Technology founder and executive director Gary Wunder, Braille Monitor editor and National Federation of the Blind Missouri president emeritus Currently, opportunity in employment is out of reach for the majority of people with vision loss. The 70 percent unemployment rate within that segment of the population has remained disproportionately high compared to individuals without a disability. Lack of inclusion, accessibility and accommodation in the workplace create significant barriers to the generation and availability of jobs. The BVI Workforce Innovation Center will address gaps in job creation in the professional/high-tech sector by providing experiential job training and placement in skilled, professional roles. Efforts will also include advocating at state and federal levels for more businesses to make their facilities and jobs accessible to candidates with vision loss, testing/evaluating assistive technology and working with employers to establish a culture of inclusion and provision of upward mobility opportunities in their workplaces. To learn more about the BVI Workforce Innovation Center, visit its official home on the web at https://www.workforceforall.com. About Envision: Envision promotes advocacy and independence for those who are blind or low vision. Founded in 1933, Envision is one of the largest employers of individuals with vision loss in the nation. Headquartered in Wichita, Kan., Envisions mission is to improve the quality of life and provide inspiration and opportunity for people who are blind or visually impaired through employment, outreach, rehabilitation, education and research. For more information, visit http://www.envisionus.com. About LC Industries: Founded in 1936, LCI (http://www.lc-ind.com) is the largest employer of people who are blind or visually impaired in the United States. Its mission is to provide meaningful employment for people who are blind. Since its founding, the company has grown to manufacture more than 2,500 different products and supply more than 4,500 products to military bases from its 36 Base Supply Stores and two distribution centers in Durham, N.C., and Las Vegas, Nev. Teen Panel: Surrogacy children of gay dads share their stories! "The conference offers gay men guidance and access to valuable resources in their journeys to fatherhood" Men Having Babies (MHB) is an international non-profit organization that has helped thousands of gay men worldwide become biological parents. On June 9-10th, with the help of several leading LGBT groups from Florida, the organization is bringing its comprehensive Surrogacy Seminar & Gay Parenting Expo to Florida for prospective gay parents from both the USA and Latin America. The June 9-10th event is based on the successful model of programs Men Having Babies has already organized in NYC, San Francisco, Chicago, Brussels, Dallas, and Tel Aviv. The conference kicks off with a panel discussion comprised of gay surrogacy dads and the surrogates who helped them in their journeys. In addition, the conference will feature, for the first time in Florida, a panel of teenagers born via surrogacy to gay parents. This program, open to the community at large, is offered in a partnership with the Outspoken Generation program of Family Equality Council. When it comes to LGBTQ family formation, some of the best experts are youth who grew up in our families, says Emily McGranachan, Director of Family Engagement at Family Equality Council. We have partnered with Men Having Babies for several years now in other locations, and we are thrilled to create the panel at the Fort Lauderdale conference for the first time this June. The Fort Lauderdale conference is receiving wide support from leading LGBT establishments in Florida including South Florida Family Pride, Pride Center Equality Park, Equality Florida, Pridelines and media partners South Florida Gay News, OutClique Magazine and Watermark Media. The event will take place on June 9th, 2:30 p.m. 8 p.m., and June 10th, 8 a.m. 6 p.m. at the GalleryOne A DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Hotel, 2670 East Sunrise Boulevard, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 33304. Go to menhavingbabies.org/florida for registration and additional information. MHB's conferences are primarily focused on biological parenting options for gay men, and designed to provide unbiased information and access to reputable and ethical professionals who can help with the process, said Ron Poole-Dayan, the founder of the organization and its executive director. The two-day program will include an overview of surrogacy and a comparison to other parenting options, step-by-step guidance on the process for prospective parents, and peer advice on budgeting and picking providers. The program is designed such that prospective parents at all stages of their journey will greatly benefit, he said. Furthermore, on Saturday evening, June 9, right after the teen panel, MHB and several local organizations are hosting a community-wide happy hour and networking reception. The Gay Parenting Expo, starting Sunday, June 10 at 8am, is featuring more than 35 clinics, agencies, lawyers and community organizations. While some of the exhibitors are local, many are coming to Fort Lauderdale for the first time from a dozen other states and even Canada. Attendees will be able to learn more about these providers in breakouts sessions and, if appropriate, at private consultations. We are thrilled to see such a wonderful organization creating such an important conference for the gay and Latin community in Florida where weve been helping families grow for the last 15 years, says Kelly Keller, Director of Operations for Open Arms Surrogacy, platinum sponsor of this event We are looking forward to helping educate many in this very complicated world of surrogacy and egg donation. Proceeds from sponsorship and exhibiting fees will benefit MHBs Gay Parenting Assistance Program (GPAP), which annually provides dozens of prospective parents with over a million dollars worth of cash grants, discounts and free services from more than fifty-eight leading service providers. Over the last 4 years, this program has helped more than 750 couples and individuals achieve their goals of becoming fathers. If we truly wanted to make a difference by establishing Men Having Babies, we knew we had to help prospective parents financially achieve their dream of starting a family, and the GPAP program does just this, said Anthony Brown, MHBs Board Chair. We want to give the opportunity to people who would otherwise not be able to afford surrogacy." The majority of the 35 exhibitors at the Florida conference are supporters of the Gay Parenting Assistance Program, including Gold sponsors: Creative Family Connections, Oregon Reproductive Medicine, WorldWide Surrogacy, Simple Surrogacy, San Diego Fertility Center, Fertility Specialists of Texas, Canadian Fertility Consultants, CReATe IVF, CT Fertility, Family Source Consultants, American Fertility Services and Creative Love. The Florida conference is one of six annual conferences held by Men Having Babies worldwide this year, with two other conferences planned for 2018 are in Brussels and New York. Note: while the event is organized by a gay parenting organization, non-gay prospective parents are also welcome and will no doubt highly benefit from the information provided. Note: Interviews with parents, prospective parents, surrogates and experts can be arranged by request. About Men Having Babies With over 7000 future and current gay parents worldwide, the international nonprofit Men Having Babies (MHB) is dedicated to providing its members with educational and financial support. Each year over a thousand attendees benefit from unbiased guidance and access to a wide range of relevant service providers at its monthly workshops and conferences in NY, Chicago, Brussels, San Francisco and Tel Aviv. The organizations Gay Parenting Assistance Program(GPAP) annually provides dozens of couples with over a million dollars worth of cash grants, discounts and free services from over fifty leading service providers. Collaborating with an advisory board made of surrogates, MHB developed a framework for Ethical Surrogacy that has received endorsements from several LGBT parenting organizations worldwide. In addition, MHB offers extensive online resources, a directory with ratings and reviews of agencies and clinics, a Surrogacy Speakers Bureau, and a vibrant online community forum. More information: http://www.menhavingbabies.org LaunchBio, Inc., a national nonprofit organization, has received a $50,000 grant from the Grand Rapids, MI-based Wege Foundation to offer programs designed to increase biotech career opportunities for women and members of underrepresented populations. The funding will support an ambitious goal to increase the percentage of biotech startups in North Carolina that include women, African-Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans as founders or members of the leadership team so that their numbers more accurately reflect the population of the state. The biotech industry is among the fastest-growing in North Carolina, offering challenging work and high-paying jobs, says Joan Siefert Rose, LaunchBios CEO. She points out, however, that women and people of color historically have been underrepresented in the life sciences, especially in leadership and company founder roles. We need to find ways to inspire and retain people from diverse backgrounds to provide the talent that will fuel the continued growth of the industry here, Rose says. The Wege Foundation grant will be used for educational programs at LaunchBios Durham offices; and as an incentive to encourage other private and public funders to support LaunchBios efforts to achieve these goals. Katy Furtado, grants manager for the Wege Foundation, says the initiative aligns with the family foundations community service priority to advance equity of economic opportunities, including support for entrepreneurship and businesses led by people of color. We are excited by the focus on inclusion in biotech startups, which have the potential to create wealth and jobs, Furtado says. LaunchBio is well-positioned to extend a hand to those who may not have known such opportunities exist and help prepare them for careers that are poised to grow in todays dynamic economy. LaunchBios experience includes the creation of a pilot STEM initiative with the San Diego (CA) Unified School District that may serve as a national model to encourage targeted students to consider careers that combine research science with entrepreneurship. The program includes immersion in a working lab, the opportunity to meet with mentors and founders of biotech companies from diverse backgrounds, and a Shark Tank-style company pitch project. The initial pilot was judged so successful that LaunchBio was awarded a Community Development Block Grant to expand the program in 2018. Support from the Wege Foundation will help LaunchBio apply the lessons learned from the San Diego project to additional communities that it serves and explore expanded partnerships with academic and nonprofit organizations to attract more women and people of color to biotech startups. About the Wege Foundation (http://www.wegefoundation.com): The Wege Foundation Boards mission statement is planting seeds that develop leaders in economicology, health, education, and arts, and enhance the lives of people in West Michigan and around the world. The Wege Foundations focus is Western Michigan, mainly in Grand Rapids. Peter M. Wege, founder of the family foundation, felt strongly about keeping the mission local because it honored the wishes of his father Peter Martin Wege, who created the Foundations resources. Peter Martin Wege founded Metal Office Furniture, todays Steelcase, in 1912. About LaunchBio (http://www.launchbio.org): LaunchBio, Inc., is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that identifies, counsels, and supports high-growth, high-impact life science and biotechnology companies. Its mission is to build an ecosystem of innovation for the benefit of human health and well-being. Started in 2016 with the support of BioInnovation Labs LLC, a network of co-working spaces designed and run by entrepreneurs, LaunchBio provides the connections to the larger entrepreneurial support community, shortening the time for a founder to start and grow a company. Entrepreneurs can spend their time working on the science, while LaunchBio offers education on building a business, connections to resources and subject matter experts, and introductions to funders. We work collaboratively with our partners, especially in the communities where the co-working spaces are located: the life sciences hubs of Cambridge, MA; Durham, NC; San Diego; the San Francisco Bay area, and New York City. All are welcome to join the LaunchBio community. "To have a meaningful impact on a businesss bottom line, employers must take a holistic view of employee wellness and engage their staff on an individual level." Green Circle Health (GCH) announced that its founder and CEO Dinesh Sheth will speak at the Society for Human Resources Managements 2018 Conference and Expo. Sheth will present alongside Matt Harmon, vice president of global benefits and HRIS, customer satisfaction, in their session examining how employers can build a culture of health and wellness to engage employees and lower overall healthcare costs on Monday, June 18, 2018 at 2:00 p.m. CST at McCormick Place in Chicago. GCH is the provider of the GCH platform, a web- and mobile-based service for employers to engage their employees to better utilize company benefits and services, and for employees and their families to manage health records, improve physical, emotional and financial wellness and lower overall healthcare costs. Hosted by the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM), the worlds largest HR society including 285,000 members in 165 countries, the annual SHRM conference brings together more than 16,000 professionals in the benefits, compensation and HR industry to explore emerging trends and technologies. Sheth and Harmon, during their session, will examine how employers can build a corporate culture of health and wellness designed to engage employees and reduce absenteeism, presenteeism and overall healthcare costs. In addition to their presentation, GCH will exhibit their recently enhanced award-winning HR benefits and services dashboard and mobile app at booth #3407 throughout the conference, June 17-20. As the founder and CEO of Green Circle Health, Sheth oversees the business direction, operations, partnerships and deployment of the companys innovative HR benefits app designed to engage employees with corporate wellness initiatives. Leveraging his extensive business acumen and knowledge of mobile communication, remote monitoring technology, human dynamics and business process and workflow optimization, he created the GCH platform to help employers offer a personalized experience to each employee unique to any businesss corporate culture, improving employee engagement and wellbeing while driving overall profitability. To have a meaningful impact on a businesss bottom line, employers must take a holistic view of employee wellness and engage their staff on an individual level, said Sheth. At the end of our session, I hope attendees walk away with a greater understanding of an employees need for support not only managing their physical wellbeing, but mental, emotional and fiscal health as well, and how they can bring work-life balance into a competitive environment. Esther Sans Takeuchi's innovative work on energy storage and power sources is enabling lifesaving technologies that benefit millions of people. The European Patent Office (EPO) announced today that U.S. Scientist Esther Sans Takeuchi has won the 2018 European Inventor Award in the "Non-EPO countries" category, one of the five award categories. The award was presented to her by the European Patent Office (EPO) at a ceremony held today in Paris, Saint-Germain-en-Laye attended by some 600 guests from the areas of politics, business, intellectual property and science. Of the four U.S. scientists nominated for the award, Sans Takeuchi, a professor at Stony Brook University, is the only American to bring home Europes most prestigious prize of innovation this year. With the award, Sans Takeuchi was honored for developing the compact batteries that power tiny, implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICDs) devices that detect and correct irregular, potentially fatal, heart rhythms. Her lithium silver vanadium oxide ("Li/SVO") battery extended the power-source lifetime for ICDs to around five years, considerably longer than its predecessors, thus reducing the number of surgeries patients needed to undergo to replace them. Her invention led not only to an advance in battery chemistry, but also enabled the production and widespread adoption of ICDs and significantly improved patient well-being. "Esther Sans Takeuchi's innovative work on energy storage and power sources is enabling lifesaving technologies that benefit millions of people," said EPO President Benoit Battistelli. "Her developments in the field of battery technology have also made her one of the most prolific U.S. women inventors. She serves as an exceptional role model for women in science today, while demonstrating the immense advances in human well-being that patented technologies can bring about." Esther Sans Takeuchi is one of four women inventors being honored with the 2018 European Inventor Award, the highest number ever since it was launched in 2006. The other category winners were French inventors Agnes Poulbot and Jacques Barraud (Industry category), German biophysicist Jens Frahm (Research), Jane ni Dhulchaointigh and team (Ireland), and Swiss physicist Ursula Keller (Lifetime achievement). Erik Loopstra (Netherlands) and Vadim Banine (Netherlands/Russia) were chosen by the public in an online poll to receive this year's Popular Prize. The European Inventor Award is presented annually by the EPO to distinguish outstanding inventors from Europe and around the world who have made an exceptional contribution to social development, technological progress and economic growth. The winners were chosen by an independent international jury from a nomination list of more than 500 individuals and teams of inventors put forward for this year's award. MATERIALS SCIENCE IN ACTION When the first ICD was implanted in 1980, the relatively bulky device placed in the patient's abdominal region due to its size required battery replacement every 12 to 18 months. The resulting frequent surgeries presented an additional risk for patients who were already suffering from heart problems. As a materials scientist and chemical engineer, Esther Sans Takeuchi focused her expertise on developing a better solution: "We took on the almost impossible challenge of developing a battery that would last five years, and have one million times higher power than the pacemaker battery," said Sans Takeuchi. We achieved this through several innovations: a new cathode material, a highly conductive electrolyte, and a novel cell design that enabled high power. As a result of her work, ICD batteries now offer significantly greater longevity and are small enough to be fitted underneath a patient's collarbone in the same location that pacemakers are placed. Sans Takeuchi's Li/SVO batteries are now the most commonly used batteries in implantable cardiac defibrillators. With about 300,000 of these devices implanted each year worldwide, they are quite literally life-savers using a high-voltage shock to reset the heart and prevent sudden death in high-risk patients who are susceptible to cardiac arrest. The battery technology was first employed in an implanted ICD in 1987 and commercialized by U.S. medical device manufacturer Greatbatch, where Sans Takeuchi headed research and development for batteries. Speaking about the development of the technology, the inventor added, We were very clever in how we approached patents; we realized that patents could be a strategic advantage for the company. DEDICATED TO RESEARCH The daughter of Latvian emigrants, Esther Sans Takeuchi credits her parents for instilling in her a strong work ethic from a young age and for awakening her interest in science. Today, she is recognized as one of the world's leading energy storage researchers and also one of the most successful U.S. woman inventors, with over 150 U.S. patents and 39 European patents to her name. Since 2012, she is the SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Materials Science and Engineering department at Stony Brook University, as well as Chief Scientist of the Energy Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York. After 40 years in industry and academia, she continues to work at the forefront of battery technology innovation. MEDIA MATERIALS FOR ESTHER SANS TAKEUCHI: Park is the fourth Korean ballerina to win the award after Kang Sue-jin in 1999, Kim Joo-won in 2006, and Kim Ki-min in 2016. She competed against five other top ballerinas from the world-famous ballet troupes. "It feels like a dream. I can't believe it," she exclaimed. Ballerina Park Sae-eun of the Paris Opera Ballet won the award for best female dancer at the Benois de la Danse at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow on Tuesday. The Benois was founded in honor of French choreographer Jean-Georges Noverre (1727-1810) by the International Dance Association in Moscow in 1991. The Paris Opera Ballet is the oldest ballet company in the world. Founded in 1669, it has produced the most laureates of the Benois de la Danse of any troupe at 16. Foreign members make up just five percent. A graduate of the Korea National University of Arts, Park became the first Korean to join the company in 2011 and was promoted to premier danseur in 2016. "I've been living in Paris for seven years now, but because ballet is all I think about, I haven't even been up the Eiffel Tower," she said. All of the dancers in the highest "etoile" level in the Paris Opera Ballet are French, but Park is touted as a strong candidates to break that nationality barrier. "I've never thought about reaching that level, but I think now I can dream about it," she said. "I will leave the tour of the Eiffel Tower for now so that I can go there on a special day with a special person." "Attending tradeshows like BOMA has helped us grow our business to become the leading provider of incident management, life safety, and emergency messaging services and solutions. - Wade Tucker, CSO at Preparis Emergency notification and incident management software and services provider, Preparis, announced that they will be attending the Building Owners & Managers Association (BOMA) International Conference & Expo at booth #421 in San Antonio, Texas June 23-26, 2018. http://www.preparis.com/ BOMA promises learning, networking, and innovation for the commercial real estate industry. Experienced and knowledgeable speakers will offer the best strategies for asset value optimization. Additionally, BOMA claims to embed sustainability initiative into operational practices, hone leadership skill, and cultivate next-generation talent. In the midst of tradeshow season, Wade Tucker, Chief Sales Officer at Preparis, explains the importance of these events as, excellent networking opportunities where we can share our expertise with industry professionals. There is always new information and ways of looking at things and attending BOMA each year is a great way to share that knowledge with attendees. BOMA, founded in 1907, represents owners and managers of all commercial property types. This includes over 10 billion square feet of U.S. office space while supporting 1.7 million jobs and contributing $235 billion to the U.S. gross domestic product. Each year, thousands of people gather at the BOMA International Conference & Expo, and this year is no exception. We keep coming back to BOMA because every year we are more successful than the last. Attending tradeshows like BOMA has helped us grow our business to become the leading provider of incident management, life safety, and emergency messaging services and solutions, concluded Tucker. Charles Pearson, CEO at Preparis said the company is, confident we can convey the value of our technology and services solutions to CRE professionals. Now more than ever, it is important that companies stay compliant with regulatory bodies like OSHA and NFPA, and we are qualified to help. For more information on Preparis offerings for the Commercial Real Estate industry, visit http://www.preparis.com/commercial-real-estate/. To speak with a sales representative, visit http://preparis.com/request-demo/. ### Preparis is an all-in-one life safety and emergency notification solution that helps businesses protect their people, operations and brand while meeting regulatory requirements. The companys unique combination of technology and services makes creating and maintaining life safety and emergency preparedness programs easy. For more information about Preparis, please visit http://www.preparis.com or call (855) 447-3750. Happy Global Ethics Day from Carnegie Council! How will you participate in Global Ethics Day this October? Join us. Together, let's work to make ethics matter. To celebrate the fifth Global Ethics Day on October 17, 2018, Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs has launched a new website especially for this annual event: globalethicsday.org. Global Ethics Day is a global teach-in and an opportunity for institutions to explore the role of ethics in a globalized world. Go to the new website's resources page to get ideas, links to background materials, and to download Global Ethics Day posters and logos. For inspiration, have a look at Global Ethics Day photos and blog posts from 2017 and 2016. "In 2017, people in 31 countries took part in Global Ethics Day, including many educational institutions and business groups," said Carnegie Council Communications Director Madeleine Lynn. "We've been amazed by the variety, substance, and creativity of the events, from lectures and debates to tree-planting. Students also created videos and posters and nearly everyone shared their experiences on social media. We encourage anyone who's planning an activity to to contact us via the website and share ideas and photos there." ABOUT CARNEGIE COUNCIL Founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1914, Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs is an educational, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that produces lectures, publications, and multimedia materials on the ethical challenges of living in a globalized world. Go to carnegiecouncil.org. Quality of Mobile Experience app helps help carriers identify connectivity and device health problems. Beesions Quality of Mobile Experience provides real-time insights into the subscribers true experience with the network, their devices, and their data usage, said Gustavo L. Merchan, Beesion CMO. Beesion, the pioneer of low-code telecom software, has released a new version of its Quality of Mobile Experience application, which collects data directly from subscribers devices to help carriers identify connectivity and device health problems. The mobile app also generates data to help carriers counter data and usage fraud claims. The app can be preloaded into carriers firmware. Beesions Quality of Mobile Experience provides real-time insights into the subscribers true experience with the network, their devices, and their data usage, said Gustavo L. Merchan, Beesion CMO. It works in tandem with other network monitoring software to give a more complete and detailed picture of the customers' mobile experience. The Quality of Mobile Experience app tracks customers dropped calls, signal strength, failed call attempts, and much more, detecting connectivity problems often missed by network monitoring software. This device-generated data is then presented in easy-to-read heat maps, enabling customer care reps to determine whether credits are merited or network performance SLAs are honored. The app can interface with multiple solutions, including the carriers CRM suite. The app can also work in a subscriber-reporting mode, where subscribers can report a wide variety of network problems: no signal, no internet, no outbound text messages and others (The types of events can be customized). If the subscriber doesnt choose to report, the information is still collected automatically from the device. At the same time, the app can uncover some types of data usage fraud. The software will show the exact amount of data used by each application, and this info will appear in the subscribers account profile in the CRM. Should a subscriber alter the amount of data used for a specific application to advocate for a lower bill, reps will have evidence of the exact usage and can counter the fraud claim. The app can also show whether there have been multiple SIM exchanges, which also can be a sign of fraud. Fraud costs carriers a lot of money. Our app can help prevent several types of usage fraud that lead directly to revenue loss, Merchan said. In a 2016 survey of telecom experts, Neural Technologies estimates that Telecoms operators face an estimated global average loss of 13% or $294bn* (USD) resulting from uncollected revenue and fraud. These include hard revenue losses such as external fraud, bad debt and internal fraud totaled 6.9%, (equivalent to approximately $155bn) with missed revenues, for example sub-optimal call routing, poor processes and incorrect data usage, accounting for the remaining 6.2% ($139bn). In addition to providing data to counter fraud claims, Beesions Quality of Mobile Experience app and software also can identify whether the device is healthy. It monitors the devices operating system, battery, processor, and memory. For example, if a battery is end-of life, reps can suggest an upgrade. About Beesion Beesion is the pioneer of low-code telecom BSS. The 10-year-old, global company offers more than 30 low-code applications to help telecom companies manage, monetize, and monitor their offerings. Applications can be deployed on cloud or on premise with carrier-grade service. The company ranks Number #403 Fastest Growing Company in North America on Deloittes 2017 Technology Fast 500. Learn more about Beesion at http://www.beesion.com The Alliance strongly supports the expansion of the VA Comprehensive Family Caregiver Program, as Congress now recognizes the value and needs of all Veteran family caregivers. Our governmental leaders are starting to recognize the critical role that family caregivers play in our society. The National Alliance for Caregiving applauds the President and Congress for new support for family caregivers through the bipartisan VA Mission Act of 2018 (H.R. 5674), signed into law yesterday. In addition to instituting a number of other reforms that will strengthen the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system, this law will expand the VA Comprehensive Family Caregiver Program to Veterans injured in service prior to September 11, 2001. The VA Comprehensive Family Caregiver Program offers support for caregivers of eligible Veterans, including access to health insurance, a financial stipend, caregiver training, mental health services, and respite care. Prior to the passage of the VA Mission Act, only post-9/11 Veterans were eligible to receive these benefits, excluding family caregivers of Veterans injured during World War II and the Korean, Vietnam, and Gulf Wars. The exclusion of pre-9/11 Veteran family caregivers from this program left a number of individuals without crucial support. The Alliance strongly supports the expansion of the VA Comprehensive Family Caregiver Program, as Congress now recognizes the value and needs of all Veteran family caregivers, said Mike Wittke, Director of Advocacy at the National Alliance for Caregiving. The passage of this bill, in addition to the RAISE Family Caregivers Act and the FY2018 Omnibus Federal Spending Package which provided new federal funding to support family caregivers, demonstrates that our governmental leaders are starting to recognize the critical role that family caregivers play in our society. In addition to the National Alliance for Caregiving, a number of other advocacy organizations fought for the expansion of the VA Comprehensive Family Caregiver Program, including the Elizabeth Dole Foundation and Blue Star Families. Congressional champions included Senators Isakson, Tester, Murray and Collins, and Congressmen Roe and Langevin. About the National Alliance for Caregiving Established in 1996, the National Alliance for Caregiving is a non-profit coalition of national organizations focusing on advancing family caregiving through research, innovation, and advocacy. The Alliance conducts research, does policy analysis, develops national best-practice programs, and works to increase public awareness of family caregiving issues. Recognizing that family caregivers provide important societal and financial contributions toward maintaining the well-being of those they care for, the Alliance supports a network of more than 80 state and local caregiving coalitions and serves as Secretariat for the International Alliance of Carer Organizations (IACO). Learn more at http://www.caregiving.org. DiscoverMe drives employee engagement by enabling workers to expose skills and expertise so they can be found by people who need that knowledge. FidraSoft Ltd. and WAND, Inc. are proud to announce the availability of DiscoverMe, a new product that provides a taxonomy-based talent profile for every employee. Employees of an organization complete a DiscoverMe profile by choosing from predefined lists of skills and areas of expertise. With the DiscoverMe expertise search engine, each employee can be found by colleagues who are looking for somebody who can help solve a problem or answer a question. Management can use business intelligence software to create reports on the skills profile of the organization. DiscoverMe drives employee engagement by enabling workers to expose skills and expertise so they can be found by people who need that knowledge. Employees can recognize a colleague directly on a DiscoverMe profile via skills endorsements and narrative recommendations. DiscoverMe is created by FidraSoft and powered by WAND. Access to the WAND Taxonomy Library is included with DiscoverMe so customers can use professionally created taxonomies to define a set of relevant skills for their organization. The WAND Taxonomy Library includes taxonomies for every industry vertical and business function. DiscoverMe deploys as an add-in for SharePoint 2013, SharePoint 2016, or SharePoint Online. Hybrid deployments are also supported. DiscoverMe was created to meet the needs of companies who wanted an easy way to enable expert search and advanced people finders within their organization, according to FidraSofts Managing Director, Rick Campbell. DiscoverMe makes it possible for companies to search the complete knowledge of their organization including documents and people. Mark Leher, WANDs COO, added that DiscoverMe is an ideal use for the WAND Taxonomies. Capturing employee skills in a structured manner with taxonomies is critical to enabling the high-quality expertise search and the skills based reporting and analytics that companies need. Visit http://www.discovermepro.com to learn more about DiscoverMe. **************************************************************** About FidraSoft While the team at Fidra have been working with Microsofts SharePoint platform and related technologies since 1999, FidraSoft was incorporated in 2016 to focus specifically on the development and support of DiscoverMe, SharePoint add-in software that provides the easiest and most consistent way for people to share and find expertise across the enterprise. FidraSoft are based in the UK with all software development activities being undertaken by our experienced, in-house UK team. As part of the Fidra group, we have full access to the experience and expertise of the Fidra Consulting team (see http://www.fidraconsulting.com) to support our Customers and the ongoing development of DiscoverMe. We are also delighted to be working with WAND Inc. of Denver, Colorado, world leaders in the provision of taxonomies for the Enterprise and our key Partner for delivering DiscoverMe. FidraSoft is based in Edinburgh, Scotland. About WAND, Inc. Since 1983, WAND (http://www.wandinc.com) has developed foundation taxonomies to improve the way our clients search and organize unstructured and semi-structured information. WAND is the premier source for industry vertical taxonomies, business function taxonomies, and specialty domain specific taxonomies. The breadth and coverage of WANDs taxonomy library is unmatched, and, for years, WAND Taxonomies have been used by thousands of companies around the world to organize information. WAND has been providing taxonomies for SharePoint clients since 2009, when SharePoint 2010 was released. WAND is headquartered in Denver, Colorado. --End-- Our goal with the new SHIELD Fermata was to create the absolute best pipeline system on the market and the result is a machine that offers superior inspection capability, easy cleaning and extreme robustness in the harshest environments Peco InspX, the worlds leading authority on high performance X-Ray inspection equipment for the food and beverage industries is pleased to announce its new SHIELD Fermata series of X-Ray inspection systems. The SHIELD Fermata is a pipeline inspection system that can inspect product in 2, 3 and 4 pipeline sizes. Our goal with the new SHIELD Fermata was to create the absolute best pipeline system on the market and the result is a machine that offers superior inspection capability, easy cleaning and extreme robustness in the harshest environments, remarked Peco InspX CEO Rich Cisek. Peco InspX offers the only commercial X-Ray pipeline inspection system that leverages an extremely high signal to noise ratio imaging system design and a unique inspection configuration to provide excellent detection of asymmetric contaminants such as bone and other lower density foreign material. Peco InspXs custom X-Ray imaging offers significantly improved image resolution and contrast, particularly important for detecting bone that other systems cannot provide. Ease of cleaning is another important attribute of any pipeline X-Ray system. Peco InspXs unique design allows the system to be cleaned in place without the need to undertake any time consuming component disassembly. The simplified cleaning process used with Peco machines ensures that they get cleaned properly, which materially reduces food safety risk. Finally because pipeline X-Ray inspection systems are typically used in protein inspection environments that demand extremely rigid construction, the SHIELD Fermata has been designed to handle the harshest cleaning procedures. The simplified design of the SHIELD Fermata offers a significant advantage over competitors. The entire machine and the environmental management system fit within the system IP69K cabinet. The cabinet has undergone a full redesign to ensure all ingress areas can withstand the demanding conditions of IP69K. All of this is done while maintaining an ultra-hygienic design to minimize against any biologic contamination, and systems are available with an optional independent 3-A certification. For customers interested in learning more about the SHIELD Fermata, Peco InspX offers a powerful online demonstration that allows a thorough demonstration of the machine from the comfort of their office. You can arrange a demo through the companys website: http://www.peco-inspx.com/contact-us/. About Peco InspX Peco InspX Corporation is a leading provider of advanced technology inspection solutions for the food and beverage industries. With headquarters in Silicon Valley (San Carlos), CA and European headquarters in Nuneaton, UK, the company serves customers around the world and inspects over 120 million food and beverage containers daily. The company specializes in accurate high speed package inspection in machines that are easy to use with a low cost of ownership. During 2018 we have been evaluating our internal processes, aiming to refine them to support continued growth and provide our clients with the best possible experience from start to finish. - Steve Moon Did you know that in 2012 there were only 57.33 billion apps downloaded? Fast-forward five years and that number has swelled to a whopping 253.91 billion. These staggering numbers demonstrate the importance of app development in the modern age. The team at Clever Coding is helping to meet the growing demand, and is pleased to announce plans to double down on development services in the second half of 2018. Whether companies are looking for native apps, web apps, websites, or other forms of software development, the Clever Coding team is proud to stand at the forefront of technological innovation and design. In 2017 we experienced 200 percent growth as a company. We are working hard to keep the momentum up during 2018. We pride ourselves on being an amazing partner for our clients and strive to provide our clients with a valuable return on their investment. During 2018 we have been evaluating our internal processes, aiming to refine them to support continued growth and provide our clients with the best possible experience from start to finish. - Steve Moon The digital domain has become nearly as crucial to our every day life as the physical domain. Software, hardware, and apps have become a common part of how people get things done. With smartphone use increasing, app usage is only expected to continue growing. As premier mobile app developers, Clever Coding has spent many years honing their skills in the development field. Yet, their expertise extends beyond the development phase. For 2018, Clever Coding will continue to expand their offerings in prototyping and UX/UI design, maintenance and support, project rescues, dedicated resources, legacy upgrades, and custom development. Priding themselves on being a one-stop-development-shop, Clever Coding has big expansion plans, expecting to vastly increase in size by 2019. They invite you to come be a part of that expansion and join them in harnessing the power of the digital world. For more information on how Clever Coding can help you design an app or enhance your web presence, visit their website at http://www.clevercoding.com. To speak with someone about potential synergies or to get started on planning your big app, call (801) 901-0231 or reach out to Melissa (at)clevercoding(dot)com. About Clever Coding: Clever Coding stands at the forefront of award-winning mobile and web app development and design. hey work with both Android and Apple operating systems. With a team of highly-experienced web and mobile app developers on the team, they have what it takes to turn an app idea into a well-executed reality. For more information, call (801) 901-0231. Showhomes, the nations largest and most successful home staging franchise known for using a variety of unique services to sell homes faster and at a top dollar price, gathered together as a franchise system on April 22nd in Santa Cruz, California for the annual conference. The brand utilized this time to celebrate some of the incredible milestones from the year before, including opening seven new units in untapped markets in 2017 and the growth of the home manager business, which now makes up nearly half of the overall business within the franchise system. The brand shined a light on franchisees that have found success in the system, whether in their first year or fifth, and continued to support the stronger-than-ever franchise concept. We celebrated some really big moments this past year that included rapid growth and resoundingly positive customer reviews in the communities we serve, said Matt Kelton, Chief Operating Officer at Showhomes. The markets we broke into 2017 act as proof that our fine-tuned business model positions our brand for rapid expansion, and the commitment from our franchisees remain is the cornerstone of this positive growth momentum. At conference, Showhomes celebrated specific franchisees that went above and beyond in 2017. Award highlights included: Franchisee of the Year Cindi Stringer Best Update Design Nancy and Robbie Jones Best Makeover Design Pratt and Shelley Barndollar Best in Traditional Staging Design Lorelie and Coy Brown and Lisa and Chris Gulliver Best in Home Manager Staging Barbara Bliss As we position our brand for growth throughout the second half of 2018, its so important to have a stable and committed group of franchisees supporting the system, said Kelton. Because of their interest in the product and commitment to trying new things in their markets and finding what works best with the consumer, we are able to differentiate ourselves in the industry and provide something different and better than our competitors. While celebrating these accomplishments in Santa Cruz, California, Showhomes jumped on the opportunity to explore neighboring markets for potential development, specifically the greater San Francisco market. Staging is already incredibly popular in the Bay Area, said Kelton. A large percentage of homes are staged within the area, which means the awareness already exists for the type of product we offer. As the market continues to develop, we are able to recognize so much growth potential for dedicated franchisees to swoop in and take their share of this business. Showhomes currently stages the top 20 percent of homes being sold across the nation. This noteworthy success paired with the strong residential real estate growth in the Bay Area in lieu of the technology industry evolution in the market positions Showhomes with an unparalleled opportunity. Year after year, we continue to evolve to adapt to the ever-changing consumer preferences and shifting real estate industry, said Kelton. Over the last three decades, we have become so much more than just a traditional home staging company. With our strong franchisee backing and tried and tested model, we are poised to continue our rapid growth and dominate the home staging industry for years to come. ABOUT SHOWHOMES: Founded in 1986, the Showhomes franchise system has helped Realtors and homeowners sell more than 25,000 residential properties worth more than $8.5 billion, by transforming high-end vacant houses into fully-furnished, inviting, valued Showhomes homes. Currently serving prominent communities in 18 states, the Showhomes system is a rapidly expanding franchise with nearly 60 offices nationwide. Boasting the expertise of long-time real estate and interior design professionals, Showhomes businesses are a one-stop-shop for home staging, home redesign, One-Day Makeovers for currently occupied homes, and the proprietary Home Manager program a proven model to get upscale vacant homes sold faster. Many major national media outlets in the U.S. have praised the work of Showhomes businesses and the brand has been prominently featured on Oprah, HGTV, DIY Network and the Travel Channel. For more information and to learn about franchise opportunities, please visit http://www.showhomes.com. A reverse mortgage can be a key element of retirement planning for those with inadequate savings. With an estimated 10,000 seniors per day reaching the age of 65, Baby Boomers are looking for creative ways to fund their retirement years. The average family, between the ages of 56 and 61, only has savings account balances of $163,577, creating a significant financial shortfall when it comes to funding retirement. To make up for the shortfall, families are looking for out-of-the-box solutions that can keep them in their home as long as possible. In certain cases, a reverse mortgage can become a valuable financial resource in retirement. What is a Reverse Mortgage Loan? A reverse mortgage is available to homeowners 62 and older with a large amount of equity in their home. The lender estimates the homes current market value and subtracts the value of any existing liens, thus allowing the homeowner to convert the equity into cash without requiring immediate loan repayment. The program helps retired individuals with limited income use their home equity to cover monthly living expenses and pay for health care. The lender does not place restrictions on how you use the funds received from a reverse mortgage. A reverse mortgage can be a key element of retirement planning for those with inadequate savings. As with all bank products, there are both advantages and disadvantages of the program. To determine if a reverse mortgage is the best option for you, consider the following pros and cons of a reverse mortgage loan. Benefits Improved Cashflow: Eliminating the mortgage payment in retirement is the main draw of a reverse mortgage. It can preserve limited savings for other living expenses. Pays Off Any Existing Mortgage: The initial payment must pay off any existing mortgage, leaving you without a mortgage payment. The new lender maintains a lien on the property. Minimal Out of Pocket Expenses: You can use funds from the reverse mortgage to pay ongoing fees, closing costs, or the Federal Housing Administration Mortgage Insurance Premium, eliminating out of pocket costs. Easy to Qualify: Unlike a traditional mortgage, lenders rely heavily on the homes value, rather than income and credit scores. This allows a larger number of seniors with limited means to qualify. Age in Place: The provisions of a reverse mortgage allow you to remain in the home the rest of your life with no repayment requirements. The bank decides on the amount of equity you can receive based on the age of the youngest person. Provided you remain in the home, you will not have to repay the loan. You Maintain Ownership of The Home: You may remain in the home until you sell or vacate the home. Rather than make monthly payments, the bank receives repayment at the time of the sale. As the owner, you must maintain the home, which includes paying property taxes, insurance, and any applicable homeowner association dues. You can get out of the reverse mortgage by repaying the loan. Multiple Funding Options You can determine how you receive funding. Your choices include: One lump sum A line of credit to tap as needed A continuous stream of income for a set period or as long as you live in the home You can combine funding options based on your needs. Individuals who choose a lump sum payment receive a fixed rate loan. When funding mirrors a line of credit, there is a variable rate attached to the debt. Equity is Not Considered Taxable Income: In most cases, the IRS does not tax the loan proceeds. No Impact on Medicare And Social Security: A reverse mortgage does not impact qualifications for Medicare and Social Security. Heirs Are Not Personally Liable for Mortgage: When you no longer reside in the home, the lender will repay the loan through the proceeds. In the event the sale does not fully repay the mortgage, heirs are not responsible for the difference. Can Increase the Amount Available Over Time: An increase in your homes value can raise the amount of cash available. Inheritance: At the time of the sale, any remaining equity belongs to you or your heirs. Drawbacks High Fees: Fees associated with a reverse mortgage are much higher than a traditional mortgage. Low Value: The lender will ensure the loan balance does not rise above the homes future value. To determine the amount of equity you qualify to receive, the lender considers the market, the current value of the home, the age of the youngest person on the loan, and life expectancies. After paying off existing loans and estimates on accumulated interest and fees, the equity available for a reverse mortgage can be much lower than the actual value. Rising Loan Balance: The loan balance will increase over time as the interest and fees accumulate. Fewer Assets Available to Leave Your Heirs: As you convert the home equity to cash, there is less value for heirs to inherit. Can Affect Need-Based Government Programs: A reverse mortgage can affect qualifications for Medicaid or Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Maturity Events to Consider When a maturity event occurs, you must repay the loan immediately. Maturity events can include: The last surviving borrower, or non-borrowing spouse eligible under certain scenarios, passes away. The residence is no longer the borrowers primary home. The borrower vacates the premises for more than 12 months due to medical reasons, or 6 months for non-medical reasons. The inability to pay property taxes, homeowners insurance, or properly maintain the home. How to Decide if a Reverse Mortgage is Right for You In most cases, a reverse mortgage is an option of last resort. It is an expensive option because of the uncertainty of your lifespan and financial health. The loan charges an origination fee and up-front mortgage insurance based on the principal lending limit or the propertys appraised value, whichever is less. The loan balance also grows over time reducing equity in the home. If you do not take 60% or more of the total principal limit at closing or within 12 months of closing, you can lower the cost of initial mortgage insurance premium (IMIP). However, when you pay off an existing lien, the initial draw is often higher than 60%, substantially increasing the IMIP, and adding to the loan balance. Your home is a valuable asset, and there are multiple ways to convert the equity into cash without selling the home. For some seniors, a reverse mortgage provides a way to eliminate a mortgage payment while allowing you to age in the comfort of your own home. If you are burdened with high amounts of credit card debt and are struggling to make your payments, or youre just not seeing your balances go down, call Timberline Financial today for a FREE financial analysis. Our team of highly skilled professionals will evaluate your current situation to see if you may qualify for one of our debt relief programs. You dont have to struggle with high-interest credit card debt any longer. Call (855) 250-8329 or get in touch with us by sending a message through our website. The Margaret Byrd Rawson Institute (MBRI), a Frederick nonprofit dedicated to improving global literacy, has partnered with the DC-based Leadership Initiatives to share opportunities for high school students to take part in their 2018 Youth Development Program Summits hosted by Georgetown University. Leadership Initiatives is dedicated to creating future leaders across the globe through experiential learning. Leadership Initiatives is offering over $500,000 in funding for their Future Leaders Mentorship Scholarship program. Future Leaders Mentorship Scholarship grant recipients attending one of the Georgetown Internship Summits will experience an unparalleled mentorship program, one-on-one college application assistance from top admissions experts. In addition, they will receive unlimited college essays and scholarship assistance with applications professionally reviewed by partners at University Initiatives. Potential mentors in the Youth Development Summit include leaders from Sysco Systems, PNC Bank, Exxon, NASA, the U.S. Department of State, Georgetown University Hospital, Johns Hopkins University Hospital, George Washington University Hospital, the Secret Service, Homeland Security, U.S. Pentagon, the National Institute of Health, NFL, Microsoft, the World Bank, U.S. Embassy, Capitol Hill, USAID, FBI, ACLU, the Peace Corps, and more. Over the course of 12 months, these mentors work with students to help navigate the way to their future colleges and careers by conducting mentorship calls. Each scholarship recipient is entitled to six separate mentorship calls, which can be with one mentor or multiple mentors from varied fields. Leadership Initiatives is offering webinars every Sunday at 8pm EST to introduce their program to families across the nation. To sign up for the webinar, please visit http://www.bethechangenow.org/webinar. For more information, visit https://bethechangenow.org/enroll/ and enter the Margaret Byrd Rawson Institute code MBRI to receive an additional $1,000 in tuition assistance. About the Margaret Byrd Rawson Institute The mission of the Margaret Byrd Rawson Institute (MBRI) is to ensure that all children have access to an education that best serves their learning styles and individual needs. Established in 2001 by Margaret Byrd Rawson and a small group of supporters, the MBRI is a non-profit organization that provides community outreach and teacher training in dyslexia education. The Institute is dedicated to the advancement of education for all children, their parents, their teachers, and the local, regional, national, and global education community. For more information, visit http://mbri.org/. About Leadership Initiatives Leadership Initiatives (LI) is a nonprofit organization committed to bringing the opportunity of democracy and economic prosperity to communities around the world. LI empowers individuals and groups to take control of their circumstances through education, business creation, and the application of practical skills. For more information, visit http://lichange.org/. American pop star Katy Perry uploaded a picture and video of her visit to the Korean demilitarized zone on Instagram right after the inter-Korean summit on April 27. She visited the inter-Korean border when she came to Seoul for a concert in early April. "Perry mentioned several times that she wanted to go to the DMZ, so we took her there," said a staffer at Arts In Motion, which planned her concert in Seoul. The DMZ is a hot backdrop for musicians hoping to cash in on world events. "These pop stars usually stay in Korea for one or two days, so they heavily depend on recommendations" from sites like TripAdvisor and Lonely Planet, said a concert planner. Jang Seung-jae, an agent for DMZ tours, said, "Since the inter-Korean summit, we saw a 25-percent increase in the number of foreigners booking DMZ tours." CPA firm in San Francisco Yelp is difficult for any CPA firm, and especially so for a CPA firm that is aggressive yet reasonable when it comes to taxes, accounting, and CPA services for San Francisco clients. Safe Harbor LLP, a leading CPA firm in San Francisco, California, is proud to announce yet another Yelp milestone, as the firm tops fifty four reviews on Yelp with a four star review average. Many San Francisco residents turn to Yelp to identify the best accounting firms in the city, and Safe Harbor LLP is justifiably proud of its Yelp presence. Yelp is difficult for any CPA firm, and especially so for a CPA firm that is aggressive yet reasonable when it comes to taxes, accounting, and CPA services for San Francisco clients, explained Chun Wong, Managing Partner at Safe Harbor LLP. We're proud to top fifty four reviews on Yelp, and proud to have an aggregate four star rating, even though we have some negative reviews. Not everyone has realistic expectations about taxes and accounting, and it's OK that we don't please every person yet we do fervently please quite a few. Persons who would like to view Safe Harbor CPAs and Tax Consultant reviews on Yelp can visit https://www.yelp.com/biz/safe-harbor-cpas-and-tax-consultants-san-francisco-3. To view reviews on Google, visit https://goo.gl/zemgQp. And to review them on the firm's website, visit http://www.safeharborcpa.com/testimonials/. THE ONLY REVIEW THAT MATTERS Here is background on this release. While Safe Harbor LLP is firmly committed to Yelp and recognizes the rights of the Yelp community to share their opinions, the firm also argues that taxes, accounting, and CPA services are pretty tough for some in the Yelp community. No one likes taxes, and even fewer people are happy when an accountant "tells it like it is," and explains the tax situation. A few people will "shoot the proverbial messenger" and leave non-substantiated yet bad reviews. That's just how it is, online and on Yelp. But even more important, many reasonable and happy customers do, and have, left very positive reviews of Safe Harbor LLP on social media. But, most importantly, the only review that truly matters is the one that relates to the individual getting his or her taxes done. Safe Harbor works hard in a very detailed and systematic way to be the best CPA firm in San Francisco, and an Internet search for Yelp CPA reviews is just one way to begin. The most important next step is to reach out for a consultation on one's business or personal tax or CPA needs. ABOUT SAFE HARBOR LLP A PROFESSIONAL CPA FIRM IN SAN FRANCISCO Safe Harbor LLP is a CPA firm that specializes in accounting and tax services for individuals and businesses throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and greater California. Safe Harbor CPAs helps both individuals and businesses with tax preparation, IRS audit defense, and audited financial statements. The firm prides itself on friendly yet professional service and utilizes state-of-the-art Internet technology to provide quality customer service. Safe Harbor CPA http://www.safeharborcpa.com Tel. 415.742.4249 Lucas Group The team tasked to lead your companys talent development cannot overlook its own talent needs. Lucas Group, ranked third on Forbes Best Executive Recruiting Firms list for 2018, announced the publication of its latest report, Building the HR Department of the Future authored by Executive Senior Partner Valerie Taylor. From people analytics to employer branding, Human Resource departments are evolving at breakneck speed to meet recruitment and retention challenges. But in a rush to modernize HR teams, organizations are hitting a familiar stumbling block: employee recruitment. The team tasked to lead your companys talent development cannot overlook its own talent needs, says Taylor. Restructuring HR from a division that exists primarily to monitor compliance to a division that is an independent value generator is a major shift. Deciding on the new leadership for this team requires careful, intentional reflection and internal stakeholder alignment. Before initiating a candidate search, Taylor advises organizations to start with a comprehensive needs assessment to determine internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats. A failure to engage all stakeholders from day one means candidate requirements may shift mid-search as the position itself evolves, cautions Taylor. Without an inclusive conversation upfront, it can be difficult to find candidates who are the right match for a companys immediate and long-term needs. Taylors white paper provides a framework to guide an organization through essential considerations for hiring the forward-thinking HR leaders who will position the company for long-term success. While the challenges facing every business may vary, the ability to meet these challenges successfully comes down to a single factor: talent, says Taylor. The group tasked with hiring visionary talent for the entire company must be able to recruit the right talent for its own team. About Lucas Group Lucas Group is North Americas premier executive search firm specializing in in Accounting & Finance, Information Technology, Human Resources, Legal, Manufacturing, Military Transition and Sales & Marketing recruitment. Since 1970, our culture and methodologies have driven superior results. We assist clients ranging in size from small to medium-sized businesses to Fortune 500 companies find transcendent, executive talent; candidates fully realize their ambitions; and associates find professional success. To learn more, please visit Lucas Group at http://www.lucasgroup.com and connect with us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. We are pleased to work with Boston to provide complete storage solutions to support requirements for todays rapidly scaling HPC use cases. Caringo, Inc., a pioneer in scale-out object storage, today announced they are partnering with Boston Servers | Storage | Solutions Limited of the UK on an educational High-Performance Computing (HPC) webinar. As one of the leading system integrators, Boston is focused on achieving customer satisfaction by delivering high quality and reliable systems using the latest technologies available. Boston labs test and evaluate all the latest HPC technologies to ensure their solutions utilize the most innovative technologies on the market. Caringos flagship product Swarm eliminates storage silos by turning standard server hardware into a hassle-free, limitless pool of data resources that delivers continuous protection, multi-tenancy and metering for chargebacks. HPC customers are able to offload data from primary storage and enable collaboration while reducing storage TCO by 75% and scaling to 100s of petabytes. We are pleased to work with Boston to provide complete storage solutions to support requirements for todays rapidly scaling HPC use cases, said Ben Canter, Caringo Global Sales Director. The webinar and ISC give those challenged by the ever-changing storage, access and collaboration requirements in the HPC space a direct path to experts who have solved these issues for some of the largest research organizations in the world. With exponentially increasing data sets, variable file sizes and the need to support collaboration from various sites and different applications, traditional storage solutions have ceased being cost-effective or viable. Konstantinos Mouzakitis, Senior HPC Systems Engineer at Boston, and Caringo Object Storage Solutions Architect Alex Oldfield will talk about the benefits of using object storage in HPC use cases on June 12 at 8 AM PT/11 AM EDT/3 PM GMT/4PM BST. Register now to watch the webinar live or on demand after the event. Konstantinos Mouzakitis, Senior HPC Systems Engineer at Boston said, Boston has been partnering with Caringo for a number of years, so were pleased to bring our collective expertise together in this webinar to explain the use cases for object storage in HPC. Not only will you find out more about our partnership and HPC solutions, but we look forward to taking questions from participants. Both companies will also be exhibiting at ISC High Performancethe worlds oldest and Europes foremost HPC conference on June 2427. Caringo will be at Stand K-413 and Boston at Stand C-1232. They will be co-sponsoring happy hour at the Caringo stand June 25 at 4pm and June 26 and 27 at 3 pm. For more information, visit http://www.Caringo.com and Boston Limited. Follow Caringo LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/caringo-inc- Twitter: https://twitter.com/CaringoStorage About Caringo Caringo was founded in 2005 to change the economics of storage by designing software from the ground up to solve the issues associated with relentless data growth. Caringos flagship product, Swarm, decouples data from applications and hardware providing a foundation for continued data access and analysis that continuously evolves while guaranteeing data integrity. Today, Caringo software-defined object storage solutions are used to preserve and provide access to rapidly scaling data sets across many industries by organizations such as NEP, iQ Media, Argonne National Labs, Texas Tech University, Department of Defense, the Brazilian Federal Court System, City of Austin, British Telecom and hundreds more worldwide. About Boston Boston Limited has been providing cutting edge technology since 1992 using Supermicro building blocks. Our high performance, mission-critical server and storage solutions can be tailored for each specific client, helping you to create your ideal solution. From the initial specification, solution design and even full custom brandingwe can help you solve your toughest business challenges simply and effectively. New entrance for PAC on W. Main Street in Village of Lancaster PAC, Performance Advantage Co., has completed an improvement to their headquarters. All offices now reside on the top floor of the building formerly occupied by Murphys 5&10 in the downtown Village of Lancaster. The lower floor is currently undergoing renovations to add additional manufacturing space from the former office spaces. Completion of the lower floor improvements is scheduled to be completed by late summer. The new entrance on West Main Street, with awnings and brick sidewalks, adds to the charm of the area. West Main Street continues to be improved by many new businesses moving into the business district. Next door, in the former Carsons Jeweler building, an antique store is set to open soon. Also of note, across the street from PAC, the popular Lilly Belle Meads is expanding. About the company: Performance Advantage Company, established in 1992, is a privately-owned company that manufactures and markets high-quality tool-mounting brackets. PACs primary market is the fire industry, providing specialty tool-mounting solutions for fire apparatus. Other markets include the military, law enforcement, EMS, utilities and the Homeland Security Department. PAC provides adjustable mounts, universal mounts, friction locking brackets, custom tool boards and more. A full list of their products and specifications can be found on their website. Performance Advantage Company is headquartered in Lancaster, N.Y., a suburb of Buffalo, and sells its products directly or through a worldwide network of dealers. Please visit PAC on the web for more information at http://www.pactoolmounts.com or find them on facebook. The 12th-annual Global Wellness Summit will be held at Technogym Village, Cesena, Italy from October 6-8, 2018. Her keen insights on the Asian consumer and emerging trends have a big impact on the travel and hospitality industries, and were thrilled that she will share her expertise and vision as a member of the GWS Board. The Global Wellness Summit (GWS), the foremost gathering of leaders in the $3.7 trillion global wellness economy, today announced that Cathy Feliciano-Chon has joined its Advisory Board. Feliciano-Chon, founder and managing director of CatchOn & Company Ltd., brings nearly 30 years of experience in brand development and communications to the Summit, which attracts decision-makers from around the world to exchange ideas, debate and strategize about the future of wellness. Born in the Philippines and raised in Los Angeles, Feliciano-Chon returned to Asia in 1997 and founded CatchOn, a strategic marketing communications consultancy with offices in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Under her direction, CatchOn developed significant industry resources and trend studies, including the China Spa Consumer Study; the annual Future of Food report; 10+10 Made In China; and Raise The Red Lantern or Fly The White Flag: Understanding and Embracing Chinese Travellers. She has delivered keynote speeches at the Global Wellness Summit in New York and Interlaken, Switzerland, and was named one of the 100 Most Influential Filipina Women in the World by the Global FWN 100. Cathy is known for her strategic thinking and creativity, and, most importantly, achieving outstanding results for her high-profile clients, said Susie Ellis, chairman and CEO of the Global Wellness Summit. Her keen insights on the Asian consumer and emerging trends have a big impact on the travel and hospitality industries, and were thrilled that she will share her expertise and vision as a member of the GWS Board. Feliciano-Chon is widely published and frequently quoted in publications such as the Asia edition of TIME, the Wall Street Journal and the South China Morning Post. She is a popular speaker at industry events and serves as a judge for several hospitality, tourism and wellness awards. Prior to founding CatchOn, she held senior management roles in marketing, product development and global communications for a number of fragrance, cosmetics and luxury brands. I am honored to join the Board of the Global Wellness Summit and to contribute to its mission of facilitating growth and encouraging innovation in the wellness industry, said Feliciano-Chon. The Summit has played a major role in driving 12 years of growth in the wellness industry, and I look forward to working with Board members to continue its leadership role. Feliciano-Chon also supports a number of causes and is a strong supporter of International Care Ministries, a Hong Kong-based charity that works to alleviate poverty in the Philippines. The 2018 Summit will take place October 6-8 at Technogym Village in Cesena, Italy. It 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. Lt. Governor Casey Cagle joins Georgia online school's in-person graduation ceremony These graduates showed us the power of hard work, dedication, and what they can accomplish with a flexible, personalized online education. We wish them all the best as they enter this next chapter. Georgia Connections Academy (GACA), a tuition-free virtual public charter school, celebrated the accomplishments of over 350 seniors at its high school graduation ceremony last week at the Infinite Energy Center in Duluth, GA. Graduates traveled from across the state to walk the stage and receive their diplomas with their fellow classmates. Special guest Lt. Governor Casey Cagle delivered the ceremonys keynote address. "Each of you will be able to define yourself and how you pursue success, he said. You will have to shape your own path. But along the way, I encourage you to value opportunity over complacency. To let good things happen to you by taking advantage of opportunities and working hard. And to persevere and challenge yourself to reach new heights." A longtime public education and charter school advocate, Cagle has served as Georgias 11th Lieutenant Governor since 2006 and is currently seeking the Republication nomination in the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial race. During his time as Lt. Governor, Cagle has launched the Georgia College and Career Academy Network, and has been honored by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools with the Champion for Charters Award. The accomplished Class of 2018 has earned over 2 million dollars in scholarship awards to date, with many state scholarships still being awarded. Georgia Connections Academy graduates will go on to established universities including Clemson University, Kennesaw State University, Albany State University, Savannah College of Art and Design, University of Georgia, Augusta State University, Point University, and more. Cagle was also able to meet with several GACA graduates including: Valedictorian Joseph Pafumy, who amassed 90 college credits through dual enrollment with the University of West Georgia. Joseph is heading to the University of Georgia. Salutatorian Raenah Frishe, who excelled with GACAs flexible education option and graduated early from the school. Raenah heads to Georgia Tech this fall. Chance Simpson, who used GACA to excel at his own rapid pace and graduated at the age of thirteen. Chance will head to Point University to major in Science and Public Health. The teen was also able to earn a second-degree black belt during his time at virtual school. We are very proud of our graduates and their achievements, and we were extremely honored to have Lt. Governor Casey Cagle join us in recognizing these students, said Executive Director Heather Robinson. These graduates showed us the power of hard work, dedication, and what they can accomplish with a flexible, personalized online education. We wish them all the best as they enter this next chapter. Georgia Connections Academy combines Georgia-certified teachers, an award-winning curriculum, technology tools, engaging electives, and social experiences to create a supportive and successful online learning program for families and students who want an individualized approach to education. Enrollment for the 2018-19 school year is currently open, and free in-person and online information sessions are available for families interested in learning more. ABOUT GEORGIA CONNECTIONS ACADEMY Georgia Connections Academy (GACA), established in 2011, is a high-quality, tuition-free public virtual charter school for students throughout the state in grades 6-12. Georgia Connections Academy offers families a personalized approach to education with Georgia-certified teachers and an award-winning curriculum that meets state standards. As a virtual charter school, students enjoy the freedom and flexibility of an online education, and are able to access their lessons anytime, anywhere there is an Internet connection. Georgia Connections Academy is authorized by the Georgia Charter Schools Commission, and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges & Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement (SACS CASI), an accrediting division of AdvancED. The school is headquartered in Duluth at 2763 Meadow Church Rd., Ste 208. For more information, visit the schools website. The project helps agricultural producers of all sizes and backgrounds identify the data tools that can help them manage risk and maximize profits The Council of Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics and the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA) had several representatives at the 2018 Annual Agricultural Research Exhibition and Reception. Shannon Ferrell from Oklahoma State University and Terry Griffin from Kansas State University are representing a project funded by USDAs National Institute of Food and Agriculture via the Southern Risk Management Education Center, as well as support through state Cooperative Extension agencies and the National Agricultural Law Center. The project provides outreach to agricultural producers to help them understand the opportunities and challenges of agricultural data. Ferrell said the project helps agricultural producers of all sizes and backgrounds identify the data tools that can help them manage risk and maximize profits. There are many opportunities that may be derived from agricultural data, however producers need to be comfortable with the amount of risk that they undertake, the quality of the returns that they receive, and the capabilities that are enhanced regarding productivity. We help make those connections said Griffin. The Center for Behavioral and Experimental Agri-Environmental Research (CBEAR) is a mixture of intermural and extramural research because of its connection with the land-grant university system and the USDA Economic Research Servicethe premier intermural economic research service for agricultural research. CBEAR is also exhibited at the event. Kent Messer from University of Delaware and co-director of CBEAR, said CBEAR partners with researchers nationwide to conduct economic experiments with ag producers and consumers across the United States, and to learn from human behavior to help programs achieve greater participation, satisfaction, and environmental outcomes, all while reducing costs. If you are interested in speaking with Ferrell, Griffin and/or Messer about this event, please contact Allison Scheetz in the AAEA Business Office. ABOUT AAEA: Established in 1910, the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA) is the leading professional association for agricultural and applied economists, with 2,500 members in more than 60 countries. Members of the AAEA work in academic or government institutions as well as in industry and not-for-profit organizations, and engage in a variety of research, teaching, and outreach activities in the areas of agriculture, the environment, food, health, and international development. The AAEA publishes two journals, the American Journal of Agricultural Economics and Applied Economic Perspectives & Policy, as well as the online magazine Choices. To learn more, visit http://www.aaea.org. North American Title Insurance Co. adds Jones as Alabama/Mississippi state agency manager Given Jennifer's background of working with independent agents at her previous underwriter, we are excited to have her hit the ground running and provide value to our agents right away. North American Title Insurance Co. (NATIC) has hired Jennifer N. Jones as state agency manager for Alabama and Mississippi. Jones has broad experience in the title industry, having most recently worked as an agency services manager for a national title insurance underwriter. Jennifer is very connected in the industry, said Rich Griffin, vice president, national sales manager at NATIC. Given her background of working with independent agents at her previous underwriter, we are excited to have her hit the ground running and provide value to our agents right away. At NATIC, we look to create a partnership with our agents, added Griffin. Having experience on both sides of the fence agency and underwriter allows Jennifer to dive deep with agents and look at situations with a unique lens. Jennifer is a natural fit for our company as we continue to grow our sales team. Prior to serving as Arkansas agency services manager for Stewart Title Guaranty Co., Jones was with Members Title Co. in Birmingham, Alabama, where she was in charge of issuing title commitments and policies for residential and commercial transactions. Previously, she was agency manager for BridgeTrust Title and policy department director for Reli Settlement Solutions, where she was responsible for title policy issuance for 12 branch offices. Early in her career, Jones served as a commercial real estate paralegal and commercial title abstractor. My practical, hands-on knowledge of the industry uniquely qualifies me to help current and future NATIC agents in all aspects of their agency, said Jones. At heart, I am a title person, and I look forward to partnering with agents to nurture their growth and achieve their agency goals. Jones attended Kentucky Wesleyan College and earned a bachelors degree from the University of Alabama Birmingham. She may be contacted via NATICs independent agency headquarters at 760 NW 107th Ave., Suite 401, Miami, FL 33172, or directly via telephone number (205) 706-7583. About North American Title Insurance Co. North American Title Insurance Co. (NATIC) is a seasoned title insurance underwriter, helping title agents achieve the goal of true business success for over 50 years. The company operates in 39 states and the District of Columbia. NATIC earned the reputation as the underwriter next door because its decision makers and associates are easy to reach and their processes are quick and straightforward, including a one-hour underwriting response guarantee that is unparalleled in the industry. The NATIC agency application process is fast and transparent for qualified agents. NATIC is in Peer Group 1, which groups companies with total assets of greater than $100 million as determined by Kroll Bond Rating Agency Inc., and is ranked 6th by The Performance of the Title Insurance Underwriters in terms of cash or cash equivalents. NATIC generated more than $247 million in agency premiums in 2017 and maintains a policyholder surplus of more than $82 million as of Dec. 31, 2017. NATIC earned a rating of: A' (A Prime) Unsurpassed from Demotech, Inc., A- from Kroll and B++ (Good) from A.M Best. NATIC is headquartered in Miami, Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.natic.com As the industrys largest event, we believe Sensors Expo and Conference provides a great opportunity, through our workshop and in Booth #1539, for us to demonstrate how to embed this trust and security to thousands of attending engineers and technologists. Sensors Expo & Conference (#Sensors18), the industrys largest event dedicated to sensors, connectivity, and systems announced that industry leaders including Cisco, Dell, IBM, Intel, and Microsoft will participate in the 2018 event, joining more than 300 exhibiting companies. The increased participation from market leaders and technology innovators underscores the indisputable value of sensing technology to power our increasingly connected world and boundless opportunities to extend the role of sensors beyond what is possible today. With six Expo Floor Pavilions, dynamic Expo theaters, innovative product showcases and live demos, Sensors Expo covers every cutting-edge sensor-related technology solution available today - from aerospace and energy harvesting to IoT and optical. To learn more or to register, please visit http://www.sensorsexpo.com. Quick Links: Education: sensorsexpo.com/schedule Exhibitor List: http://bit.ly/2oxlg3c Social Media channels: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram Check out the 2017 Sensors Expo Highlight Video HERE Download the 2018 Sensors Expo Mobile App HERE The Largest Sensors Showcase Thousands of leading engineers and innovators flock to Sensors each year to see the largest showcase of sensing technologies and identify new ways to improve products and expand capabilities using sensors. For more than three decades, the annual event has introduced attendees to cutting-edge technology areas and help find solutions to their sensing challenges. With this in mind, 2018 exhibiting companies including Coto Technology, imc DataWorks, Innovative Sensor Technology, Maxim Integrated, Melexis, Micronor Inc., OmniPreSense Corporation, The Measuring Division of Kaman Precision Products, Inc., QuickLogic and Xsens plan to unveil new products, highlight innovative solutions and demonstrate momentum from the show floor - the industrys largest stage for sensing technology. Visit the online newsroom for more information. Industry Giants Join Sensors Expo New this year, industry heavyweights including Cisco, Dell, IBM, Intel, and Microsoft among others, will be featured at Sensors. Highlights include: Dell IoT CTO, Jason Shepherds keynote address, Extending Cloud-Native Principles to the Edge to Enable Scalable IoT Solutions on Thursday, June 28th Microsoft Director of Science, Marc Pollefeys keynote address, Sensor Driven 3D Computer Vision and the Future of Human-Machine Interaction on Wednesday, June 27th and visit Microsoft on the Expo Floor in Booth 1244. IBM Developer Advocate, JeanCarl Bissons session in the Embedded & Developer Theater, Embedded & Developer Beyond the Sensors: Enabling Robotics with Artificial Intelligence on Wednesday, June 27th Intels Market and Channel Acceleration Workshop on Thursday, June 28th Cisco will present at the IoT Pre-Conference Symposium, IoT Data Drown In It, or Thrive On It? on Tuesday, June 26th Trusted Computing Groups Workshop, Securing the IoT and Embedded Systems on Thursday, June 28th Autotech Councils sponsored Auto Startup Review and Innovation in Automotive Sensors sessions Two Hands-On Workshops presented by STMicroelectronics EXPO HALL PAVILIONS Attendees will have the opportunity to visit six Expo Hall Pavilions to see the latest sensing technologies and identify new ways to improve products and expand capabilities using sensors. Pavilions include: Energy Harvesting Pavilion IoT & Wireless Pavilion MEMS Pavilion Meetup Pavilion Startup Zone University Pavilion New Product Showcase Autonomous Vehicle Sensors Pavilion EXPO FLOOR THEATERS The Expo Floor Theaters provide onsite education to attendees looking to expand their industry knowledge from leading vendors, participate in demos and hands-on breakdowns and understand more about what is driving sensors development and innovation. Theaters include: Sensors Live Theater Autonomous Vehicle Sensors Theater Startup Theater Embedded & Developer Theater EXHIBITOR FEEDBACK The rapid growth of connected assets, many handling sensitive data, means that security is critical to the IoT and embedded systems, said Aaron McIntosh, marketing co-chair, Trusted Computing Group. Building security and trust into the IoT and embedded systems will provide the security and assurances necessary to enable the safe and successful implementation of innovative devices, safe networks and data. As the industrys largest event, we believe Sensors Expo and Conference provides a great opportunity, through our workshop and in Booth #1539, for us to demonstrate how to embed this trust and security to thousands of attending engineers and technologists. To register for the event, visit s ensorsexpo.com/register or download the digital brochure to learn more. About Sensors Expo & Conference Sensors Expo & Conference is widely known as one of the world's largest and most important gatherings of engineers and scientists involved in the development and deployment of sensor systems. For more information, visit http://www.sensorsexpo.com. Sensors Expo is supported by the event's official publication, Sensors Online, the industry's leading resource and authority on sensing, communication, and control. For more information, visit http://www.sensorsmag.com. Sensors Expo & Conference is produced and managed by Questex LLC, a global, diversified business-to-business integrated media and information provider, headquartered in Newton, MA. For more information, visit http://www.questex.com. For further information, contact: Charlene Soucy Marketing Director 617-219-8372 csoucy@questex.com Sarah Murray Partner, Attune Communications 781-378-2674 sarah@attunecommunications.com "If they do violate it again, in addition to the billion dollars they are paying us up front, we had them put $400 million in escrow," he said. "The total deal is $1.4 billion. That money will be forfeited if they violate anything... and we still retain the power to shut them down again." Ross said going forward, the deal imposes the "most strict" compliance on ZTE. He said the penalties should serve as a very strong deterrent for "other potential bad actors" to force compliance with U.S. trade restrictions. Ross told CNBC the accord will force ZTE, which employs nearly 75,000 workers, to pay a $1 billion fine for violating the U.S. ban on trade with North Korea and Iran, put another $400 million in escrow, and within 30 days replace its entire management and board. The U.S. and China have reached a deal to lift sanctions against the giant Chinese ZTE telecommunications company that hobbled the firm when the United States banned the sale of American-made components it needed for its consumer products, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Thursday. ZTE must hire a new compliance team selected by the U.S. Commerce Department for a 10-year term. "We are literally embedding a compliance department of our choosing into the company to monitor it going forward," Ross said. "They will pay for those people, but the people will report to the new chairman." "This is a pretty strict settlement," he added. "The strictest and largest settlement fine that has ever been brought by the Commerce Department against any violator of export controls." The commerce secretary said he did not think the settlement of the ZTE dispute would have any impact on ongoing contentious trade and tariff talks between the U.S. and China, the world's two biggest economies. Washington and Beijing have threatened each other with massive new tariffs on up to $150 billion of exports from the two countries, the fallout from the U.S. demand that China buy more American goods to sharply cut last year's $375 billion Chinese trade surplus with the U.S. The ZTE agreement was reached after weeks of talks between U.S. and Chinese officials. The dispute stemmed from a U.S. decision to block sales of American-made components ZTE needs to manufacture its products for seven years, until 2025. The agreement calls for a 10-year suspended ban that can be activated if ZTE commits new trade violations. Most of the world first heard of the dispute over ZTE nearly a month ago following a tweet by U.S. President Donald Trump. Some U.S. lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, balked at Trump's effort to reach an accord on ZTE, saying that firm was a threat to U.S. national security through intelligence gathering on its devices. But Trump ignored the complaints, pushing Ross to settle the dispute. Dr. DeBrenna Agbenyiga "I look forward to building and sustaining exceptional partnerships within and beyond the institution and to being a part of achieving the next level of the institutions historical legacy of excellence. Bowie State University announced the appointment of Dr. DeBrenna LaFa Agbenyiga to the position of provost and vice president for academic affairs. She will begin serving in that capacity on July 9, 2018. Currently vice provost and dean of the Graduate School and professor of social work at the University of Texas at San Antonio, Dr. Agbenyiga has 19 years of experience in higher education as a professor, researcher and administrator. I am very pleased to welcome Dr. Agbenyiga to Bowie State University to assume this critical leadership role that will be key in advancing our race to excellence, said President Aminta H. Breaux. She has the experience, proven ability and commitment to strategically develop and improve programs to enhance students academic experience and personal development. As Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Bowie State, Dr. Agbenyiga will serve as the chief academic officer responsible for overseeing the academic and research enterprise of the university, ensuring the quality of the faculty and student body, and maintaining educational excellence. At UTSA, Dr. Agbenyiga is noted for establishing a sustainable foundation to support academic excellence in graduate education. Since her arrival in 2015, she has created a new organizational structure for the Graduate School, streamlined the admission process, improved recruitment efforts and expanded the number of graduate programs. Under her leadership, UTSA established a state-of-the-art Graduate Student Professional Development Center that is the first of its kind in the UT System and a national model for supporting the 21st century graduate student. I am extremely excited to join Bowie State University in the Race to Excellence that serves as a model for building a strong academic community inclusive of faculty, staff, students and administrators, said Dr. Agbenyiga. Bowie States strong vision builds on its solid historical foundation and clearly demonstrates its past, present and future. This is a great time to join Dr. Aminta Breaux and her superb leadership team to help advance the well-planned efforts to further propel the institution toward providing innovative opportunities and support for students, faculty and staff. Together, I look forward to building and sustaining exceptional partnerships within and beyond the institution and to being a part of achieving the next level of the institutions historical legacy of excellence, she added. Prior to UTSA, Dr. Agbenyiga was associate dean for graduate studies and inclusion in the College of Social Science at Michigan State University from 2012 - 2015. In addition to providing significant administrative oversight for graduate programs, she was the founding director of the colleges Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusive Academic Affairs. Additionally, she held positions as associate professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies and in the School of Social Work. Earlier positions at Michigan State included assistant dean and assistant to the dean for multi-cultural programs in the College of Social Science where she began her career as a social work specialist. An accomplished scholar, Dr. Agbenyiga has extensive experience working globally, particularly in Africa, as a researcher and consultant to numerous ministries, non-governmental organizations and universities. Her research spans organizational culture, international social and economic development, community development and sustainability, womens rights, childrens rights, gender-based violence, cross-cultural learning, and diversity. Dr. Agbenyiga earned her doctoral degree in social work, MBA in strategic management and an MSW in Social Work-Urban Studies all from Michigan State University. Her bachelors degree in criminal justice is from the University of South Carolina, Columbia. The appointment of Dr. Agbenyiga follows nearly five months of work by the search and screening committee, which recommended finalists to President Breaux. The committee included representatives from BSUs faculty, staff and student body. Bowie State University, with an enrollment of more than 6,100 undergraduate and graduate students, prides itself on providing real-world learning opportunities and challenging academic programs. It is located in Prince Georges County Maryland adjacent to Washington, D.C. BSU offers 41 bachelors and master's degree programs, two doctoral programs and 14 graduate and advanced study certificates. Areas of focus include computer science, information technology, nursing, natural sciences and education. How do you identify your trade secrets, protect them, and leverage them? Intellectual property (IP) laws in the US have undergone fundamental changes over the past several years. For example, in 2011, the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) overhauled the American patent system in a way that had not been accomplished since 1952. Moreover, the Supreme Court decided several cases that, among other things, created a tougher environment for inventors/patent applicants and expanded the scope of trademark protection to marks that were likely to be previously rejected. In 2016, The Defend Trade Secrets Act created new federal laws that allow an owner of a trade secret to sue in federal court when its trade secrets have been misappropriated. And new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, have scholars and legislators rethinking the scope of copyright protection and debating additional reforms that have the potential for even more change. In an increasingly competitive commercial environment, entrepreneurs and managers must understand how these changes to our patent, trademark, trade secret, and copyright laws may potentially impact US businesses. The Financial Poise INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY - 101 webinar series seeks to both educate you on current laws and prepare you to take full advantage of the changes that lie ahead. Please join some of the leading attorneys in the World, as they discussin plain English for the non-expertthe basics of U.S. IP laws and the changing landscape as it affects US businesses. The fifth and final episode of the series is "Leveraging & Protecting Trade Secrets in the 21st Century," and airs on June 13th at 2:00 PM CST (Register Here). Moderator Cory Spence of Spence P.C. is joined by Professor Eric Goldman of Santa Clara University School of Law, Mark D. Simpson of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr LLP, and David P. Swenson of Larkin Hoffman, to discuss this important type of intellectual property asset. Trade secrets are a more important form of an intellectual property asset than ever. Congress recently passed the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016, which created new federal laws that allow an owner of a trade secret to sue in federal court when its trade secrets have been misappropriated. And as technology continues to exponentially progress in the digital age of the 21st Century, the need for businesses to protect and limit access to valuable and confidential trade secret information continues to rise. The progress in technology and expansion of information also promotes means for monetizing and leveraging trade secrets. How do you identify your trade secrets, protect them, and leverage them? These are the questions this cutting-edge webinar discusses and seeks to answer. The INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY-101 Series is produced by Financial Poise. All episodes will be available live through West LegalEdCenter and then on-demand following the live premiere. As with every Financial Poise Webinar, each episode is delivered in Plain English understandable to investors, business owners, and executives without much background in these areas, yet is also valuable to attorneys, accountants, and other seasoned professionals. And, as with every Financial Poise Webinar, each episode brings you into engaging, sometimes humorous, conversations designed to entertain as it teaches. Each episode in the series is designed to be viewed independently of the other episodes, so that participants will enhance their knowledge of this area whether they attend one, some, or all episodes. About Financial Poise Financial Poise has one mission: to provide reliable plain English business, financial and legal education to investors, private business owners and executives, and their respective trusted advisors. Financial Poise content is created by seasoned, respected experts who are invited to join our Faculty only after being recommended by current Faculty Members. Our editorial staff then works to make sure that all content is easily digestible. Financial Poise is a meritocracy; nobody can buy her way onto the Financial Poise Faculty. Start learning today at https://www.financialpoise.com/ Nearly half (48%) of currently employed women surveyed in the U.S. reported that they had experienced an unwelcome sexual advance Employers from all across the globe need to take workplace harassment seriously and address the impact on its employees, productivity and overall business. Delaying implementing an effective harassment prevention policy and training can cost companies financially with costly lawsuits, their reputation, corporate image, and can also result in employee dissatisfaction, employee turnover, and lower overall productivity. Regardless of company size, we recommend sexual harassment training for all employees. Just ask any employer blindsided by a workplace harassment lawsuitthe financial costs are enormous, not to mention the damage to a company's reputation, employee morale and productivity, said Myron Curry Business Training Medias President and Founder. Employers can be held liable for any sexual harassment incident that occurs in the workplace including company sponsored events and functions. However, if they take reasonable care to prevent and correct harassment, they can reduce their risk dramatically Curry added. In a dramatic step to help employers create a safe workplace and improve professional relations among their teams, Business Training Media has put together a library of over 200 sexual harassment video training programs to help train employees and managers. These programs also deal with many subjects that go beyond sexual harassment to include: According to a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, nearly half (48%) of currently employed women surveyed in the U.S. reported that they had experienced an unwelcome sexual advance or verbal or physical harassment at work. While elaborating more on workplace sexual harassment issues at the launch, one of the officials stated, We at Business Training Media believe that employers who continuously provide harassment prevention training for their employees will greatly reduce legal exposure. It is better to be prepared than be sorry. Business Training Medias sexual harassment training programs are available on multiple formats including DVD, video streaming, e-Learning, digital downloads and webinars-on-demand. The company also provides free online video previews of most of their programs. The companys sexual harassment training programs can be viewed here: https://www.businesstrainingmedia.com/sexualharassment.php About Business Training Media Over the past two decades, Business Training Media has established itself as a leading provider of high-quality video-based employee training programs for businesses, healthcare providers, schools, colleges, non-profits and government agencies. The company has over 5,000 training videos, webinars, downloads and online courses on a wide range of subjects. The company is proud to have provided training solutions to more than 30,000 clients around the world including high profile clients such as Wal-Mart, IBM, American Express, FedEx, Amazon, AT&T, American Honda, the U.S. Army and many others. In 2013, Tennessee Senate Bill (SB) 200 introduced significant changes to the states workers compensation system, which impacted key cost components. The average total cost per workers compensation claim in Tennessee decreased 6 percent in 2015, reflecting in part the impact of reforms enacted in 2013, according to a recent Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) study. Most of the 6 percent decrease in the average total cost per workers compensation claim in Tennessee was from a 24 percent decrease in permanent partial disability (PPD) benefits. Total costs per claim incorporate payments for medical treatments, indemnity benefits, and expenses to manage claims, said Ramona Tanabe, WCRIs executive vice president and counsel. In 2013, Tennessee Senate Bill (SB) 200 introduced significant changes to the states workers compensation system, which impacted key cost components. The overall goals of the 2013 reforms in Tennessee were to create a workers compensation system that was more equitable, efficient, and easier to understand for all parties, as well as to help attract more employers to Tennessee. SB 200s reforms went into effect for injuries incurred after July 1, 2014. The study, CompScope Benchmarks for Tennessee, 18th Edition, compared Tennessee with workers compensation systems in 17 other states and found the average total cost per workers compensation claim in Tennessee was lower than the median CompScope study state. WCRIs study used claims data with injuries dating back to October 1, 2014, and payments made through March 31, 2017. Senate Bill 200 changed several aspects of Tennessee workers compensation law. These changes included a revised definition of injury, adoption of an administrative system for resolving disputes, revisions to the method for calculating PPD benefits, new medical treatment guidelines, and many other provisions, said Tanabe. The following are among the studys other findings: Worker attorney involvement has decreased in recent years, likely related to SB 200s multiple reform provisions. Time to first indemnity payment within 21 days of injury in Tennessee was similar to other WCRI CompScope study states in 2016/2017. For more information about this study or to purchase a copy, visit https://www.wcrinet.org/reports/compscope-benchmarks-for-tennessee-18th-edition. WCRI is recognized as a leader in providing high-quality, objective information about public policy issues involving workers compensation systems. About WCRI The Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) is an independent, not-for-profit research organization based in Cambridge, MA. Organized in 1983, the Institute does not take positions on the issues it researches; rather, it provides information obtained through studies and data collection efforts, which conform to recognized scientific methods. Objectivity is further ensured through rigorous, unbiased peer review procedures. WCRI's diverse membership includes employers; insurers; governmental entities; managed care companies; health care providers; insurance regulators; state labor organizations; and state administrative agencies in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Henderson State Selects Portfolium Portfolium was selected as an all-in-one solution that included every feature the University was looking for, including assessment functionality which allowed HSU to eliminate other assessment tools. Henderson State University (HSU) is implementing Portfolium, rounding out a series of technology investments including a migration to the Canvas learning management system (LMS) by Instructure. HSU intends to use Portfolium as a 3-dimensional transcript that combines non-academic experiences with formal assessments of in-class learning. Portfoliums ePortfolio technology will help students curate and showcase learning from outside of the classroom to employers as they venture into the career marketplace in search of internships and full time employment. HSU will leverage analytics from Portfoliums platform to measure impact on student employment rates within 6 months of graduation. Portfolium was selected as an all-in-one solution that included every feature the University was looking for, including assessment functionality which allowed HSU to eliminate other assessment tools. Portfoliums seamless integration with the Canvas LMS was also a key decision point for the University in selecting a platform that faculty would support. ABOUT HENDERSON STATE UNIVERSITY Located in the heart of southwest Arkansas, Henderson State University is a public institution serving as a vital educational and cultural center for the local community, region, and state. The university encourages scholarly and creative activities in a caring, personal atmosphere that reflects the universitys motto for over a century: The School with a Heart. Influenced by its distinctive history, the mission of Henderson State University is to provide a learning environment that prepares students for a lifetime of intellectual and personal growth in a global society. The Henderson experience bridges students academic aspirations to career success by integrating professional studies and the liberal arts. ABOUT PORTFOLIUM Portfolium is revolutionizing the way students connect learning to career opportunity by providing the only Student Success Network that connects 4M+ students, faculty and alumni with employers. By leveraging Portfoliums eportfolios, assessment software, and badging technology, educators equip students to navigate intentional learning pathways to employment. This is a major event! Couldn't miss it. The speaker line-up is impressive and the 2-track format is great for our interests.' Sandra Estrela, Ivado Last years summit brought together the founding fathers of AI, Yoshua Bengio, Yann LeCun and Geoffrey Hinton in their first ever joint panel discussion, and due to popular demand the summit has expanded this year to include a secondary track; the AI for Government Summit. Attendees will have access to both events to maximise the diversity of the agenda and will also be invited to interactive workshops, panel discussions, mentoring sessions and many more activities. "The Deep Learning Summit always attracts the right mix of top academics, researchers and business leaders. NEXT Canada is thrilled to attend and showcase the NextAI accelerator to the brightest minds in the country." - NEXT.AI, Sponsor The Deep Learning Summit will cover the latest advancements in deep learning technology from global leaders in the field and explore how industry leaders and startups alike are applying such techniques across industry and society. The first ever AI for Government Summit will provide a unique opportunity to interact with Government Bodies, Policymakers, Strategists and Directors of Innovation to explore the use of machine learning to increase efficiency, reduce costs and meet the high demands of the public sector. Confirmed speakers across both tracks include: Geoffrey Hinton, Professor, University of Toronto Brendon Frey, Co-Founder & CEO, Deep Genomics Nina Berry, J6 S&T Advisor, Joint Improvised-Threat Defeat Organization (JIDO) Stanley Osher, Professor of Mathematics & Computer Science, UCLA William Brendel, Senior Research Scientist, Snap Research Last years summit sold out well in advance, so register now to save with the Super Early Bird discount before June 15 to guarantee your place at a reduced price. Canada is a hot-spot for Artificial Intelligence with the likes of Element AI, Uber AI Labs, and the Vector Institute coming out of the country, and to stay ahead of the race, the Canadian Government have committed over $125 million to AI developments. Alphabet will be starting in Torontos Smart City Project this summer with the worlds first neighbourhood built from the internet-up, and the Toronto Tourism Board are also supporting REWORKs summit. Partnering with REWORK to bring the event to Canada again are both returning sponsors and new additions to the agenda. Having sponsored, spoken and hosted workshops in the past, Sightline Innovation are once again supporting the event: We wanted to share out experiences with out peers and learn from the diverse speakers and attendees of the event. Weve attended previous REWORK events and are keen to support the excellent work - we will be sponsoring again as its a great way to stay connected with new technologies and trends, and were really excited to return for Toronto 2018. Additional headline partners include Accenture, Qualcomm, Graphcore AI and CBC/Radio Canada who will all be sharing their expertise in the field, participating in workshops, discussions, presentations, demonstrations and exhibitions. The two day summit will see over 600 attendees and 60 extraordinary speakers sharing cutting edge research and technologies, and unveiling emerging trends in deep learning. Both industry experts and academics will present challenges and solutions to real-world problems with research methods and business applications, following the opportunity to share your learnings in over 7 hours of networking. REWORKs Deep Learning summits are attended by Data Scientists, Data Engineers, Machine Learning Scientists, CTOs, Founders, Director of Engineering, CEOs, Academics and Students. The AI for Government is appropriate for and geared towards Policymakers, Government leaders, Data Scientists & Engineers, Tech Evangelists & CTOs, Founders, Directors of Innovation, Business Executives & Decision Makers. Dont miss out: Super Early Bird tickets are available until Friday 15 June, and there are limited spaces left. Register now: Deep Learning Summit and AI for Government Summit. Cant make it to Toronto? You can register for post-event access to receive the slides, presentation videos and interviews from the summit. Summit attendees will also gain access. Alternatively you can join us at our upcoming events in San Francisco this June 28 - 29 or in London this September 20 - 21. Get in touch: Media enquiries: Yazmin, yhow(at)re-work.co Ticket queries & event info: John, john(at)re-work.co About REWORK REWORK is a female-led run events organising company that brings together breakthrough technology, cutting-edge science and entrepreneurship shaping the future of business and society. We showcase the opportunities of exponentially accelerating technologies to positively disrupt industry and society. "The MCFI-A accreditation is part of the extensive training and experience APS advanced instructor pilots receive in order to be qualified to teach fully comprehensive Upset Prevention and Recovery Training (UPRT)." Aviation Performance Solutions (APS) is proud to announce that Lee Monty Hall recently earned the Master Certificated Flight Instructor (MCFI) designation, with the additional Aerobatic distinction, accredited by Master Instructors LLC. The MCFI-A accreditation is part of the extensive training and experience APS advanced instructor pilots receive in order to be qualified to teach fully comprehensive Upset Prevention and Recovery Training (UPRT). Lee Monty Hall joined Aviation Performance Solutions in September of 2017. Prior to this, Lee served for 11 years as Program Manager for the USAFs Initial Flight Training program in Pueblo, CO., and before that as an Active Duty Air Force officer for 26+ years. As an airforce pilot and training program manager, Monty has amassed over 6000 hours flight time. More on Montys background: apstraining.com/hall/ The MCFI achievement is a national, FAA recognized accreditation that signifies a true dedication to excellence in flying and safety. The MCFI is earned through a rigorous process of continuing professional activity and peer review and must be renewed biennially. There are approximately 101,000 CFIs in the United States. Fewer than 800 of them have achieved one or more of the Master accreditations thus far. Master Instructors LLC relates, Simply put, the Master Instructor designation is a means by which to identify those outstanding aviation educators, those 'Teachers of Flight,' who are demonstrating an ongoing commitment to excellence, professional growth, and service to the aviation community. At APS, we are dedicated to excellence in helping pilots bring everyone home safely through comprehensive Upset Prevention & Recovery Training (UPRT), says Paul BJ Ransbury, president of Aviation Performance Solutions. The achievement of MCFI-A status is an important milestone for full-time APS instructor pilots, along with their extensive background experience and unmatched in-house UPRT-specific training. As stated by the FAA in multiple advisory circulars, and as ICAO reaffirms in their Manual on Aeroplane UPRT, ICAO Doc 10011, a well-qualified instructor is the most essential component in the delivery of effective UPRT. ABOUT THE MASTER INSTRUCTOR DESIGNATION The Master Instructor designation is a national accreditation recognized by the FAA. Candidates must demonstrate an ongoing commitment to excellence, professional growth, and service to the aviation community, and must pass a rigorous evaluation by a peer Board of Review. The process parallels the continuing education regimen used by other professionals to enhance their knowledge base while increasing their professionalism. Designees are recognized as outstanding aviation educators for not only their excellence in teaching, but for their engagement in the continuous process of learning both their own, and their students. The designation must be renewed biennially and significantly surpasses the FAA requirements for renewal of the candidates flight instructor certificate. Learn why the Master Certified Flight Instructor program matters to APS. ABOUT AVIATION PERFORMANCE SOLUTIONS Aviation Performance Solutions LLC (APS), headquartered at the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport in Mesa, Arizona, trains thousands of professional pilots and instructors in comprehensive Upset Prevention and Recovery Training skill development. APS provides integrated LOC-I solutions via industry-leading computer-based, on-aircraft (jet and piston), and full-flight simulator Upset Prevention & Recovery Training (UPRT). All training is in full compliance with the Airplane Upset Recovery Training Aid, FAA Advisory Circular 120-109A on Stall Prevention and Recovery Training, ICAO Manual on Aeroplane Upset Prevention and Recovery Training, IATA Guidance Material and Best Practices for the Implementation of Upset Prevention and Recovery Training, and the FAA Advisory Circular 120-111 on Upset Prevention and Recovery Training. APS is the only Part 141 Flight School certified in the delivery of complete upset prevention & recovery, stall/spin and instrument upset recovery training courses worldwide. With additional training locations in Texas (USA), The Netherlands (Europe), and military division in Alabama (USA), APS provides global access to the highest quality Upset Prevention and Recovery Training available. Please visit our website at: apstraining.com Gilbane Building Company Celebrates Ribbon Cutting and Dedication of The Nord Family Greenway Officials from Case Western Reserve University, Gilbane Building Company and hundreds from the Cleveland community recently gathered together to celebrate the official dedication and ribbon cutting ceremony for the newly completed Nord Family Greenway. The completion of this project is a critical step in promoting collaboration and community development across Clevelands University Circle district and surrounding neighborhoods of Hough, Fairfax and Glenville. Gilbane served as construction manager at-risk for the multi-phased project, which included major site improvement and significant urban greening effort. The project, in coordination with the Cleveland Museum of Art and Case Western Reserve University, included preservation and relocation of 96 existing mature trees, removal of 150 again trees, planting of an additional 175 new trees, planting of more than 225 shrubs and perennials, 28 benches, 12 bike racks and six safe pedestrian crossings. This 15-acre area features walking and biking paths on the greenway that open a previously unused area in the heart of a dense, urban district. Our project team has enjoyed the opportunity to participate in the creation of a space that will serve as a catalyst for urban revitalization and community development in Cleveland. - Ed Valentine, Gilbane Building Company Senior Project Executive About Gilbane Building Company Gilbane provides a full slate of construction and facilities-related services from pre-construction planning and integrated consulting capabilities to comprehensive construction management, general contracting, design-build and facility management services for clients across various markets. Founded in 1873 and still a privately held, family-owned company, Gilbane has 46 office locations worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.gilbaneco.com. Gilbane has been providing construction management services in Ohio since 1959. Ending poverty and hunger top the list of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, but achieving this shared ambition by 2030 will only happen if the world finds the right balance between meeting rising food demands while simultaneously preserving the environment and building community resilience, according to Gilbert F. Houngbo, the President of the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development. Already more than 800 million people go to bed hungry each night, a man-made travesty that will only worsen as agriculture is increasingly affected by climate change. It is estimated that by 2050, 22 per cent of cultivated areas will suffer impacts, agricultural production will shrink and rising ocean temperatures and acid levels will lead to declines in fish stocks. At the same time, demand for food will more than double as the urban population grows. As a keynote speaker at the EAT Stockholm Food Forum on Monday, Houngbo will explain the tenuous balance between feeding the world, protecting the environment and the role of the poorest most marginalized families. How we switch food from being a driver of many of our greatest global health and environmental challenges to instead becoming a powerful tool for tackling them, is one of the most critical questions of our time, says Alessandro Demaio, CEO of EAT. Just as these challenges are intimately intertwined, our actions to address them must be integrated across sectors, disciplines and continents. As such, the work of international organizations such as IFAD is critical, and our hope is that the leaders and experts converging in Stockholm this week will make decisive contributions toward the urgent food transformation that is needed to meet the 2030 Agenda. Each year the EAT Stockholm Food Forum attracts more than 500 top global leaders from science, politics, business and civil society to share knowledge and best practices, and coordinate action across sectors and disciplines to tackle the intertwined challenges of the global food system. Other speakers alongside Houngbo will include Swedens Minister for International Development Cooperation and Climate and Deputy Prime Minister Isabella Lovin and Norways Minister of International Development Nikolai Astrup. While in Stockholm, Houngbo will join IFADs Recipes for Change chefs Ska Mirriam, a Lesotho born chef and media personality, and Ali Said Mandhry from Kenya, popularly known as Chef Ali Lartiste, a media personality, culinary instructor and food stylist. The Recipes for Change campaign exposes the threats rural communities face as climatic changes impact the essential ingredients used in their traditional foods and daily meals. It demonstrates how IFAD, through the Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme, is working with farming families to adapt to the very real impacts of climate change in their communities. The chefs will join others in the community to launch at the EAT Stockholm Food Forum a Chefs Manifesto - a thematic framework that identifies food issues that matter most to chefs and grounded in the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Contact: Katie Taft Mobile: +39 334 6083657 Email: k.taft(at)ifad(dot)org IFAD has invested in rural people for 40 years, empowering them to reduce poverty, increase food security, improve nutrition and strengthen resilience. Since 1978, we have provided about US$20.2 billion in grants and low-interest loans to projects that have reached some 476 million people. IFAD is an international financial institution and a specialized United Nations agency based in Rome the UNs food and agriculture hub. Brindley Beach Vacations Oracodes keyless locks functionally perform very well. They save us a great deal of time and related expenses that used to be spent responding to support calls. It is a perfect fit for our owners and guests. We operate 600 units on the outer banks from North Carolina up to Virginia. Some of our homes are an hour away from main roads, so it is essential our locks are reliable and secure. We tested Oracode keyless vacation rental locks from dormakaba and were impressed. They utilize time- and date-specific codes for entry, not iron keys. Once the locks are installed, I dont have to do anything. We are installing Oracode Smart Controllers in our units that enable a connected home environment.- Chris Trusz, Brindley Beach Vacations & Sales Maintenance Manager. Background Brindley Beach Vacations and Sales is owned and operated by Doug and Joan Brindley. The couple has been prominent in the real estate rental and sales industry since 1984 and focuses on providing exceptional service to its owners and guests. Brindleys 600 units on the East Coasts outer banks range from traditional beach cottages to magnificent oceanfront estates. Many are a long distance from main highways with the closest airport nearly two hours away. Visitors often travel across country to enjoy its remote destinations to get away from it all and be immersed in the beautiful rustic, coastal environment where security and comfort are essential to their peace of mind. The Need Most of Brindleys 600 properties are near the Atlantic Ocean. Beautiful, yes, but also exposed to the corrosive effects of salt spray and blowing sand. The companys challenges centered on the need to keep its vacation rental locks in reliable operating condition to reduce the time its maintenance team spent responding to guest access issues. Also, several of its owners wanted to lower their energy costs with smart thermostats. This prompted Brindley to offer a connected home environment to monitor and control energy usage. Brindleys management evaluated vacation rental locks from leading providers to replace their unreliable units. They wanted secure, flexible keyless locks that could communicate wirelessly and were compatible with a remote monitoring system to give them a competitive advantage over other vacation rental companies. The dormakaba Oracode Solution Oracode 480i and other iSeries keyless entry vacation rental locks Oracode Smart Controllers BeHome247 Enterprise Property Control integration The Benefit Oracodes benefits to Brindley Beach include greater security and convenience for guests and management, superior reliability, and durable trouble-free operation. It also enables a connected guest and management experience with easy integration to BeHome247 to create a total enterprise property management platform. The BeHome247 software integration enables Brindley to evolve to an energy efficient, connected home using occupancy perimeters to automatically control energy usage without staff intervention. Chris Trusz, maintenance manager for Brindley Beach Vacations & Sales, said, Our 600 units are spread over 70 miles and most are near the beach. Salt intrusion in our old locks was causing our maintenance team to spend too much time traveling out to units to keep our locks working. Oracodes keyless locks functionally perform very well. They save us a great deal of time and related expenses that used to be spent responding to support calls. It is a perfect fit for our owners and guests. We have steadily upgraded our homes and are now installing Oracodes new 480i keyless locks. The 480i enables us to remotely access each unit via the internet to improve security. We trust the Oracode technology. Greater Level of Security Brindley managers create a secure digital access code associated with a propertys Oracode lock for each guest before they arrive. When a guest makes a reservation, Brindley verifies payment and emails the code to them. The code is time- and date-sensitive to ensure the unit is locked and protected until the date and time of the appropriate reservation. Guests cannot open a door before or after the reservation time to protect departing guests and housekeeping staff that may be servicing the property. Trusz also issues codes to contractors for a specific time and date, so they can only enter properties while vacant. Oracode locks are reliable, and they make our units safe and secure. Oracodes technology also enables us to issue safe access codes for the 480i lock even when the Internet connection or electricity to the property is down. Oracode 480i locks provide a high level of unit security by automatically tracking each time a specific assigned code is used. Trusz said, Security is an important reason we selected Oracode, I use the Oracode audit reports whenever necessary to see who was the last person in a unit. Some guests request a refund claiming they did not use the unit. But when we checked the Oracode audit report we were able to verify when they entered the home. Owners are also able to use Oracode to confirm if a contractor performed the specified work in their unit by checking their units lock audit. dormakaba is a great solution partner for Brindley. Remote Connection The new Oracode 480i electronic locks send entry notifications through a secure website to keep owners and managers informed of real-time events such as guest arrivals, early checkout, low battery alert, or if the Internet is down. The 480is secure time-sensitive code eliminates metal keys and delivers greater reliability to save management time. We wanted to be ahead of our owners with connected technology. Our goal was to control the property thermostats with Oracode Smart Controllers, and it has worked well, Trusz said. We are also starting to use Smart Controllers with sensors on sliding glass doors and other unit doors to shut down AC if the unit detects that doors are kept open. This reduces unnecessary energy costs. Additionally, the Oracode Smart Controller seamlessly communicates with BeHome247 to interact with a units environmental controls. Guests will sometimes call to say their heat or AC is not working. With the Smart Controller and BeHome247 dashboard, I can remotely access their homes thermostat, AC and heater units to confirm if service is needed, Trusz said. Often, it is simply a matter of me remotely setting the thermostat correctly. Being able to remotely monitor and control our properties operation is a huge labor saving benefit of dormakaba. dormakaba is a leader in the global market for access and security solutions. For more information on dormakaba vacation rental keyless entry locks, click here. About dormakaba dormakaba is one of the top three companies in the global market for access and security solutions. With strong brands such as Dorma and Kaba in our portfolio, we are a single source for products, solutions, and services related to doors and secure access to buildings and rooms. With around 16,000 employees and numerous cooperation partners, we are active in over 130 countries. dormakaba is headquartered in Rumlang (Zurich/Switzerland) and generates an annual turnover of over CHF 2 billion. Click here for information on electronic door locks from dormakaba. Oracode, the first access control and locking solution developed for the vacation rental market, leverages more than 35 years of technology innovation. Oracode keyless door locks provide an easy-to-use and secure web-based interface to issue time-sensitive codes for vacation rental and other short-term rental properties. Click here for information on electronic door locks from dormakaba. SIX Swiss Exchange: DOKA (formerly: KABN / KABNE) Further information at http://www.dormakaba.com. The UN Special Investigator on human rights in North Korea is calling for human rights issues to be included in next week's U.S.-North Korean summit in Singapore on the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. UN investigator Tomas Ojea said he does not believe a discussion of the human rights situation in North Korea will undermine the summit. On the contrary, he said such a discussion would work in North Korea's favor because it would show its desire to become a normal state. He told VOA the United States has taken a very strong stance regarding the human rights situation in North Korea, so he believes and hopes U.S. President Donald Trump will follow up on this during his discussions with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. "Otherwise," he added, "that will be a misstep, first in terms of the negotiations because unless human rights is addressed in the negotiation of the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, I think that would not allow for a sustainable agreement." Castle Rock, Colorado Exclusive Estate Auction This property is perfect for a business professional seeking a secluded mini-ranch in town, horse enthusiast or for someone just looking to enjoy the luxury and privacy that this property provides. Dont miss this opportunity to own this magnificent property for a fraction of its value! Qualified buyers will have the opportunity to purchase a premiere 10,142 sqft home with 35 acres of Douglas County, Co., land at auction prices. Conducted by Janelle Karas, owner and auctioneer with United Country | Prestige Auction, the auction will take place on Friday, June 29 at 1:07 pm live on-site at 3250 Via Margarita, Castle Rock, Co. Online bidding will also be available. Previews of the real estate will be conducted on June 16 and June 23 from 1 pm to 4 pm. We believe that the auction event is one of the best ways to bring properties to the public, said Karas. This format allows qualified buyers the opportunity to a view premier Colorado property and determine its current fair market values through the bidding process. This 10,142-square-foot home on roughly 35 acres is located in Castle Rock between Denver and Colorado Springs, Co., with splendid Front Range views. Aside from the privacy and seclusion the acreage provides, this property offers five bedrooms, seven baths, expansive floor plan featuring multiple living and dining areas, soaring ceilings, detailed architecture, a spa-like bath in the master suite, wrap-around porch and hot tub. The gourmet kitchen is an entertainers dream with hand-selected granite, multiple prep stations, personal serving bar and a vast array of appliances. Business professionals will appreciate the dual offices and the basement provides abundant flex/rec space and in-law suite. With the agricultural zoning, this property is also suitable for horses and livestock. This property is perfect for a business professional seeking a secluded mini-ranch in town, horse enthusiast or for someone just looking to enjoy the luxury and privacy that this property provides, said Karas. Dont miss this opportunity to own this magnificent property for a fraction of its value! Detailed information about the property for sale, as well as details about the auction, can be found online at http://www.PrestigeAuction.com. About United Country United Country Real Estate a division of the United Real Estate Group is the leading, fully integrated network of conventional and auction real estate professionals. The company has been an innovator in lifestyle and country real estate marketing since 1925. United Country supports nearly 500 offices and 4,000 real estate professionals across four continents, with a unique, comprehensive marketing program that includes the highest ranked and largest portfolios of specialty property marketing websites, the largest real estate marketing services company, an extensive buyer database of more than 650,000 opt-in buyers and exclusive global advertising of properties. I am excited about the new additions to our senior leadership team as we continue to change the landscape of mortgage servicing. TMS, a national financial services and mortgage company, added four standout servicing superstars to its leadership team to support the fintech companys expanding $26 billion portfolio. With this new servicing development, TMS named Michael Chiarella to Executive Vice President of Risk, Nathan Sands to Executive Vice President of Core Servicing, Jason Kwasny to Senior Vice President of Default Servicing, and Anthony Forsberg to Senior Vice President of Default. I am excited about the new additions to our senior leadership team as we continue to change the landscape of mortgage servicing, said Ali Vafai, TMS president. We are investing heavily in a total homeownership experience for our customers that goes beyond the closing table and their monthly payment. We are positioning ourselves to be a homeownership partner to our homeowners. The new hires combined with awarding-winning platform SIME, Servicing Intelligence Made Easy, deliver industry-leading subservicing. SIME delivers end-to-end compliance, real-time information and reports on all borrower accounts, tracking capabilities that help to reduce delinquent loans, as well as a team who creates the gold standard in customer service. The new hires accelerate TMS growth and goal to deliver world class service to its homeowners for life. Their addition to the team brings TMS closer to its goal to service more than 1 million loans by 2022. MICHAEL CHIARELLA Chiarella has been in the financial services industry for more than 15 years, bringing a wide range of experience to his position that includes USAA Bank and JPMorgan Chase. As Executive Vice President of Risk, Chiarella will oversee that the servicing channel complies with all laws and regulations, along with ensuring that there are acceptable controls in place to mitigate risk. Most recently, Chiarella was Executive Director of Regulatory Implementation and Execution at USAA, where he oversaw a regulatory organization for the company. NATHAN SANDS Sands comes to TMS as Executive Vice President of Servicing and will be responsible for core servicing. With more than 18 years in Servicing operations management, Sands was most recently Senior Vice President of Loan Administration at Bayview Loan Servicing. JASON KWASNY Kwasny joins the company as Senior Vice President of Default Servicing, where he will be in charge of loss mitigation, SPOC (single point of contact), and collections. With more than 16 years of leadership experience in the mortgage space, Kwasny most recently was vice president of Customer Resolution at Specialized Loan Servicing. His senior leadership experience includes roles at Green Tree/Ditech and JPMorgan Chase. ANTHONY FORSBERG In his role as Senior Vice President of Default, Forsberg will be responsible for running Default Operations, which includes foreclosure, bankruptcy, REO, property preservation and valuations. Additionally, he will be working with the technology team to build out the default side of SIME. Prior to TMS, Forsberg was Vice President of Default Administration with Specialized Loan Servicing. He brings more than 16 years of experience to the position, with an emphasis in loan servicing. About TMS TMS (The Money Source Inc.) is a different kind of company that does business in a different kind of way. Founded in 1997, with a mission to Grow Happiness, TMS is a fast growing fintech company that provides products, technology, speed of service and a unique customer experience to borrowers, clients and team members in their pursuit of happiness. With more than 700 team members, TMS is a national lender and servicer licensed or exempt from licensing in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. For more information, visit TheMoneySource.com. NMLS# 6289. Welcome Guest! You Are Here: Sorry for inconvenience! You have been redirected to this page due to the following reasons:-- Your session has expired. You have closed the browser, without logging out. If the problem persists, kindly remove all the temporary files and cookies from your browser. For IE - 1. Click on tools from the task bar of browser. 2. Click on Internet Options. 3. Click on "Delete temporary files." For Mozilla Firefox - 1. Click on tools from the task bar of browser. 2. Click on "Clear recent history." Welcome Guest! You Are Here: Home Regional News East Nigeria has been ranked 40 out of the total 44 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa with Mauritius topping the list and South Sudan as the least peaceful country. Mauritius, Botswana, Madagascar, Ghana, Namibia and Malawi are the most peaceful nations on African soil. The 2018 edition of Global Peace Index (GPI) released on Wednesday, June 6, 2018, placed Nigeria on 148 out of 168 countries to rank the16th least peaceful country in the world The report produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), said the global level of peace has deteriorated by 0.27% in the last year, marking the fourth successive year of deterioration. It also said the world is less peaceful today than at any time in the last decade. The largest regional improvements were in terrorism impact, perceptions of criminality, violent crime, neighbouring countries relations, and militarisation, but those were offset by deteriorations in violent demonstrations, refugees and IDPs and political terror. According to the 2018 edition of Global Peace Index (GPI), six of the top seven improvers were in West Africa, including the Gambia, which scored the worlds largest improvement after Yahya Jammeh was voted out of power at the end of 2016. Of the 14 West African nations, the overall scores of only two Niger and Nigeria deteriorated last year. There were substantial sub-regional improvements in the domain of Safety and Security, including Liberia by 8%, the Gambia by 5.9% and Ghana by 5.5% The most notable West African exceptions were Togo and Cameroon. Togo Togo is the regions second largest deterioration, tens of thousands of people took to the streets to demand the resignation of President Faure Gnassingbe, whose family have ruled the country for 50 years. Cameroon With the regions third-largest deterioration, has seen Anglophone secessionists launch a number of attacks on government security forces during the year. Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad The Lake Chad basin region continues to have problems with Boko Haram and a humanitarian crisis brought on by prolonged drought,, the report says. Boko Harams geographic reach shrank in 2017, leading to a reduction in the impact of terrorism in the groups principal areas of operations in although they still remain a threat. Here is the ranking of least peaceful African countries on the 2018 edition of Global Peace Index There were many reasons high-profile CEOs left their jobs this year. Blakofe - GTDC The Deputy Director of the Ghana Tourist Development Company (GTDC), Blakofe known in real life as Oheneba Akua Manfo resigned from her post in May. Earlier on her Facebook page, Blakofe wrote, Has she, has she not? Yes, people, I have officially resigned as Deputy CEO, Ghana Tourist Development Company, effective end of this month. Blakofe was appointed by H.E Nana Addo Dankwah Akuffo Addo as the Deputy Chief Executive Office of the Ghana Tourism Development Company (GTDC) in February and in just three months after being at post, she has tendered in her resignation to step down by the end of May, 2018. She is a TV/Radio Presenter, a producer, an events organiser, an MC, an actress, a choreographer, and dancer. Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan - AngloGold Ashanti Venkatakrishnan after 18 years with the company, with the last five years as CEO, resigned from his post after accepting an offer to become CEO of Vedanta Resources Plc, the diversified resources group.He, however, remains in his current role as CEO of AngloGold Ashanti until August 30, 2018.The mining giant announced Tuesday, April 17, 2018, that a global search for the new CEO is underway, with a sub-committee of the Board formed to evaluate internal and external candidates. Venkatakrishnan assumed the role of CEO in May 2013, soon after the gold price fell by nearly a third.Under his leadership, AngloGold Ashanti achieved a 16 percent reduction in all-in sustaining costs, a 30 percent reduction in all in costs, a two-thirds reduction in overhead expenditure, a one-third reduction in debt, successful completion of two new mining projects, and five consecutive years of either meeting or beating its market guidance metrics. Kudjoe Fianoo - Ashgold Football Club Chief Executive Officer of AshantiGold, Kudjoe Fianoo resigned as the CEO of Ashgold club in February 2018 Fianoo had been with the Miners for over a decade- played a key role in the teams building and guided them to end their 19-year league title drought in the 2014/15 season. With new investors set to take over the club, the veteran administrator believes the time to exit the club is essential for its progress. Gifty Klenam - GEPA Gifty Klenam was unmade Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) in JuneThe former Member of Parliament (MP) was her office for no clear reasons. However, local media in Ghana reported that the CEO was allegedly involved in massive mismanagement of funds belonging to the authority.According to the publication, Madam Klenam collected $132,000 for house rent, covering a period of two years in gross violation of state procurement laws. The president of Ghana Akufo Addo later on showed he the exit. Alfred Obeng Boateng The Managing Director of the Bulk Oil Storage and Transport Company, Alfred Obeng Boateng left his office in June 2018, A letter signed by the Executive Secretary to the President of Ghana, Nana Bediatuo Asante said Mr Obeng has until Friday, June 8, to hand over. Obeng Boatengs reign as BOST Managing Director has been dogged by one controversy and another relating to the sale of contaminated fuel to some private organisations. Paul Asare Ansah - GPHA Paul Asare Ansah was removed by the president of Ghana from his post as the Director General at Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA). He is to be replaced by Mr Michael Achagwe Luguje, who is currently the Secretary-General, Port Management Association for West and Central Africa, based in Nigeria. Reasons for Paul Ansahs removal from office is believed to have been triggered by a recent spat between workers' union of the Ports Authority and Board Chair, Peter Mac Manu. Felix Kwaku Anyah - Korle Bu Teaching Hospital The Chief Executive Officer of Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr. Felix Kwaku Anyah, lost his post in June as well. The expose by award-winning Ghanaian investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas took the country by surprise after the first screening was done on Wednesday, June 6. Reacting to this, E.L expressed shock over the expose, adding that there must be a reckoning. The Joy hitmaker, who had the opportunity to watch the documentary took to Twitter to say: Just had the opportunity to witness a Showing of Tigereye PI's "Number 12" Documentary. ~Shock & Awe.. I humbly take this Opportunity to congratulate Anas Armeyaw Anas and his Team in their selfless quest to bring the unfortunate truth to Ghanaians There must be a reckoning. Youngsters compete in show of skills From:Shine | 2018-06-07 00:29 China Eastern Airlines staff demonstrate their aircraft repair skills yesterday. About 900 skilled young people from all over the country will gather in Shanghai next week to compete in a competition to select candidates for next years WorldSkills Competition. China will participate in contests in 52 skill categories during the 45th WorldSkills Competition, which will be held in August next year in Kazan, Russia. Shanghai will host a competition to select candidates in 34 skill categories from Tuesday to Saturday, while the remaining selection events will be held in other parts of China. Candidates enter national training teams and only one individual or group for each skill category will eventually be able to compete in the WorldSkills Competition. The skills to be shown in Shanghai include aircraft fuselage repair, auto body repair, baking, cooking, hairdressing, furniture making, water treatment and robotics. China Eastern Airlines will represent Shanghai to compete in aircraft fuselage repair. The event will be held at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai) and is expected to attract about 60,000 visitors. They became displeased by refusal of the police to release Abdul Razak who was arrested following a tipoff. They then started throwing stones and other weapons they could lay their hands on into the police station. By the time police could bring the situation under control, the said officers had been seriously injured. The suspect who is believed to have been involved in several robberies in the area was arrested after police received information that he had been seen allegedly breaking into a room ostensibly to steal. Volta Regional Police Commander, DCOP George Tuffour who confirmed the incident said the police retrieved from the suspect a filled cylinder, a rice cooker, chain saw machine, 16 mobile phones, a pair of trousers, a pair of shoes, a screwdriver and a hammer. The [police boss said investigation continues into the conducts of the suspect to ascertain what charges to proffer against him. Aside the discrimination, the atheist association said mentioning the name of God does not guarantee that people who appear before courts will necessarily tell the truth. Neither does it guarantee that people who assume public offices will handle the offices in truthful and honest manner. President of the Atheists in Kenya (AIK), Harrison Mumia is quoted as saying: "We note that oaths taken by witnesses and defendants in Kenyan courts invoke the name of God. Our concern is with the phrase "so help me God". Not only does it discriminate against atheists, but it also doesn't guarantee that citizens who take an oath in the name of God will tell the truth." READ MORE: Journalists walk out on Chief Justice for coming to event late He added: While we understand that this practice is deeply rooted in religious customs, and has become an accepted practice in Kenyan courts, it is our view that time has come for us to amend oaths taken in Kenyan Courts." The atheist community has therefore proposed another oath to the Chief Justice which it claims would be fair to every citizen. The proposed oath reads: "I promise very sincerely to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth and I understand that if I fail to do so I will be committing an offense for which I will be punished and may be sent to prison. Out of 25 countries with highest search interest in Misoprostol, 11 are in Africa and 14 in Latin America, according to the BBC report. What is more intriguing about the report is that, the countries with the highest search interest for the abortion pill are those in which there are strict laws banning abortion, except for Zambia and Mozambique. It is also reported that countries in which there are stricter laws banning abortion except in rare circumstances following doctors advice have about 10 times higher search interest in abortion pills than countries where the practice is not outlawed. The most common search interests as provided by google data include: How to use Misoprostol, Misoprostol price, buy Misoprostol and Misoprostol dosage. In more than two-thirds of all the countries surveyed, How to abort runs through as the most commonly asked question. However, the lawmaker ignored the police and drove off. He was then given a hot chase and subsequently arrested. Police were shocked to realise that it was the legislator who was sitting behind the wheels and yet driving so recklessly. READ MORE: Government appointee flogged after being caught in bed with married woman Apparently, for the sake of certainty, the law enforcers examined Peter Kihara and the breatalyser detected that the lawmaker who should know better had actually flouted the laws. Air Namibia took a temporary leave of our airspace just when I was preparing to leave Accra to take up residence in Windhoek as High Commissioner to Namibia. In the event, I had to make do with a rival airline, which added several hours to a journey that was direct with Air Namibia. Doubtlessly, as soon as I settled in my post, the return of Air Namibia to Ghana became one of my baptismal diplomatic assignments. In that, I was encouraged by other diplomats who found the Windhoek-Accra route convenient for their European connections. In fact, it was the Ambassador of an EU-Member country who more or less gave me my marching orders on that when I paid her my freshmans courtesy call. A later meeting with my Nigerian colleague sealed it for me as he agreed that Lagos should be part of the route. With that in the mix, negotiations assumed a more determined tone! Good-naturedly, senior Namibian officials also were forthcoming on the issue. On one occasion, when I raised it at a briefing, I was told rather endearingly that, That is why you are here. The senior management of Air Namibia also kept their doors wide open to the Ghana High Commission in Windhoek as discussions and negotiations went to and fro. The new Ghanaian envoy, after my departure, followed up assiduously, as well as the Head of Mission of the newly established Namibian Mission in Accra, making visa acquisition much more convenient. The Namibian Mission in Abuja, Nigeria, used to handle that. All these efforts, eventually culminating in this June-ending return. When I arrived in Windhoek on that July 2014 morning via Johannesburg, it was to a bitingly cold reception. Though I had been forewarned to expect very low temperatures, it being winter in southern Africa, I had completely underrated the warning and so was hit hard in the face by a chill that nearly flew me back to Accra! There was no frost but the dry cold I felt was more biting than many of the winters I had experienced in freezing Europe. This was Africa and yet the temperature was telling me a different story. But even that could not diminish the warmth of love that was beginning to envelope me as I was driven from Hosea Kutako International Airport into the city of Windhoek. Humps and humps of hills kept rolling by and the sparse vegetation allowed one to see far and wide. The vistas were hauntingly seductive and one wished it could go on forever! You see, Namibia is a very huge country, the 34th largest in the world. With a land mass of 824, 292 square kilometres, Ghana can fit in three times with our 239,567 square kilometres! But Ghana thumps her sister in population figures! To Namibias less than three million people, we are close to thirty million! The population of Accra alone is more than the entire country of Namibia. It is, therefore, a country of huge open spaces with the Namib and Kalahari deserts dominating much of it. It is a great cattle country and I would often joke with my Namibian friends that you people have more cows than human beings! These many cows have determined Namibian culinary predisposition! It is a great meat-eating nation. I know Ghanaians also love meat and with Air Namibia now coming back, they can hop over and indulge their carnivorous passions! Namibian beef is exported to Europe and other parts of the world. But that is not to say seafood is scant. With such an extensive access to the sea, fish and other edible creatures of the salty waters are in plentiful supply. My stay in Namibia was a true love affair: with the people, the land, the climatic contrasts, the social discipline. The City of Windhoek and Kigali (Rwanda) are regarded as the neatest cities of Africa and true, litter is minimal no pure water sachets lying around, no polythene bags and no needless noises. Sale of alcoholic beverages is tightly controlled and shops are required by law to display notices to that effect though you can consume as much of the stuff as possible in hotels, restaurants, nightclubs and of course your own home! You cannot buy alcohol within certain hours of the dayAutomobile hoots and honks are far in between and traffic rules are adhered to religiously. For lovers of architecture, look out for gems in Namibian cities. The Digest of Namibian Architecture was a favourite read of mine and I would often take long walks admiring the art of habitation. And even within the shack dwellings of Katutura a certain genteel orderliness can be observed! The kind of huge open markets of the sizes of Makola in Accra, Kajetia in Kumasi, Takoradi, Tamale and other Ghanaian cities are absent, but these are compensated for by big, medium and small modern shopping malls. The really big ones like Grove Mall in Windhoek are upmarket where all major international brands are arrayed with highly competitive prices To leave out wildlife from any write-up on Namibia would be an unforgivable gaffe! And to dwell on it too, within the kind of limited space of this write-up would be doing no justice to this amazing natural endowment. The Namibian Wildlife Resorts has facilities dotted all over the country where beasts, big and small, can be observed at close and safe quarters within their natural environment The Namibian national symbol is the majestic oryx as Ghanas is the eagle. The Ghana-Namibia Friendship Association has adopted both animals for its logo. On wildlife, there is this little footnote I must also not ignore: the guinea fowl! Something of a delicacy in Ghana, it is protected in Namibia! You will not easily find akomfem on the menu here but they make it up with the local free-range chicken which is just as fat-free! There cannot be an and finally to this article as I draw to a close, and there should not be, for if you have noticed, I have even not touched on the enigmatic sand dunes between Swakopmund and Walvis Bay. It is now a Namibian cliche an ever-fresh cliche at that the only place on the planet where the desert and sea meet! Hopefully, Ghanaians would take advantage of the return of Air Namibia to explore and enjoy this fascinating country the Namibians themselves call The Land of the Brave. "The political violence by police and pro-government thugs against the people of Nicaragua, particularly university students, shows a blatant disregard for human rights and is unacceptable," US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement. Nauert did not name the individuals but said they included national police and health officials, along with others at the local level -- "those directing or overseeing violence against others exercising their rights of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression." The Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights said 134 people had been killed in the violence since protests started on April 18. "We have counted 134 deaths until Thursday," the center's secretary Marlin Sierra told AFP. The dead included four young people killed late Wednesday in clashes between pro- and anti- government groups in the towns of Chinandega and Nueva Guinea. Press reports said an armed group of pro-government supporters had attacked students who were attempting to block traffic heading to the Honduran border. The Roman Catholic Church has agreed to act as mediator to try to resolve a crisis that began with protests against social security reform but later blossomed into widespread rejection of Ortega, who has been in power continuously since 2007. However, bishops called off the talks last week after a crackdown on a protest led by victims' mothers left at least 16 people dead. It said they would not resume until the government ends the repression. Bishops proposed meeting But the Nicaraguan Episcopal Conference said Wednesday in a statement that after listening to "various sectors" both in the central American country and abroad, the bishops had proposed the new meeting and Ortega had accepted. "We asked the president... for an audience to discuss the essential and urgent issues of our country, justice and democracy, which peace depends upon, with the goal of evaluating the viability of continuing the dialogue," a statement said. "We are confident that they can convince Ortega to have a much more open attitude," said a student protest leader at the National Autonomous University, which has been leading opposition to the leftist leader. Thursday's meeting will be held at the government's convention center in the capital Managua and be followed by a press conference at 7:00 pm (0100 GMT Friday). Carlos Tunnermann, who is representing civil society in the stalled, broader talks with the government, said he hoped Ortega would seriously commit to negotiations. Stolen from the National Library of Catalonia in Barcelona in 2004 or 2005, the document was handed over late Wednesday to the Spanish ambassador to Washington, US officials said. The thieves who took the letter had replaced it with a forgery, and the switch was only discovered by experts in 2012 after a tip from an informant that several other copies had been stolen from archives across Europe and replaced with expertly crafted fakes. The discovery sparked a seven-year international investigation that reached as far as Paris and Brasilia. Investigators found that the Barcelona copy had been sold in 2005 by Italian secondhand book dealers for 600,000 euros ($708,850), and then resold in 2011 for 900,000 euros. After "long negotiations," the letter's unidentified owner in Brazil handed it over in 2014 to US authorities, who used experts to establish its authenticity. In the letter, Columbus tells the Spanish crown everything about his first trip to America, still believing he was in the East Indies. The text begins with his departure from Puerto de Palos in Spain in August 1492 and ends when he returns to Lisbon in March 1493, seven months later. This conclusion was arrived at using data from Google search results. Misoprostol, sold under the brandname Cytotec among others is a medication used to start labor, cause an abortion. This drug can also prevent and treat stomach ulcers as well as treat postpartum bleeding due to poor contraction of the uterus. According to the findings, there is a high search interest in abortion pills in countries where abortion laws are more restrictive. Women are increasingly sidestepping legal barriers to abortion using technology. The Guttmacher Institute reports that at least 22,800 women die each year from complications of unsafe abortion. BBC analysis of Google searches shows that countries with the strictest laws, where abortion is allowed only to save a womans life or banned altogether. The West African country Ghana permits abortions in cases of rape, incest, foetal impairment or to preserve a woman's mental health. On the other hand Nigeria is stricter still: abortion is only allowed in situations where a woman's life is in danger. Zambia and Mozambique either ban abortions altogether or allow them only to save a womans life or health. 25 countries were sampled as the places with the highest interest in Misoprostol. Afrobytes 2018, an annual international tech conference has kicked off in Paris, France with business and technology leaders, investors, and policy experts in African tech startups in attendance. They will gather for two days, Thursday and Friday, June 7 to 8, 2018 to discuss and explore business opportunities between the African tech ecosystem and other players in the global tech world. The two-day event was designed as an accelerator of growth and innovation between Europe, Africa and beyond. Business Insider Sub-Saharan Africa highlights Nigerian tech players at the conference. 1. LEONARD STIEGELER General Manager - Ringier Africa AG Nigeria Ringier Africa operates the leading classified and media groups in sub-Saharan Africa with operations in Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda. 2. Gossy Ukanwoke Founder - Beni American University and President - EduTech NIGERIA Ukanwoke founded Beni American University (BAU), Nigeria's first private online university in 2012 at the age of 23. He is also the founder of EduTech, a technology company that focused on helping African traditional universities take their on-campus degree programs online through the implementation of the very best of technology, process management, recruitment, admissions and advisory. 3. HAROLD OKWA Founder - Jetseta Okwa is a Nigerian entrepreneur who founded Jetseta, a company that offers simplified and affordable access to air and helicopter shuttle services, using a mobile app that connects travellers directly to airlines at attractive rates worldwide, live. He is also the founder of Vestates, a luxury real estate agency based in Abuja. 3. NIKHIL PATEL CCO - Iroko Nikhil is the Chief Commercial Officer for Iroko and has over 18 years of global experience in TMT (Telecom, Media & Tech) across Africa, Europe, Asia, & USA. He has lived in Africa, having travelled & done business in over 30 countries on the continent. Also READ: What to expect at the 2018 Afrobytes tech conference Others are: 4. ALEXANDRA NOVITSKE Principal Investment Officer, Africa at Singularity Investments 5. ADEWALE YUSUF CEO - Techpoint.ng 6. ADE ADEFEKO Vice President Corporate and Government Relations, Olam International 7. TATIANA MOUSSALLI CEO - Wazobia TV & Wazobia MAX TV 8. JUDITH OKONKWO The decision to scrap the degree was reached on Wednesday, June 6, 2018, at the Federal Executive Council, FEC meeting. The award of HND will, therefore, be limited to only the students that are currently admitted for the programmes in Polytechnics across the country. Also, some of the programs currently being run by the polytechnics that are not technology-based will also be scrapped. The new policy also states that polytechnics will now be merged with universities to award National Diploma, ND and Bachelor of Technology, BTech. Speaking to Journalists after the FEC meeting, the Minister of Education, ProfAdamu Adamu announced that there will be no more award of HND''. ALSO READ: 5 courses Nigerian parents were crazy about in the 80s He said: ''After we have exhausted the current students under the programme, there will be no more award of HND. This means that there will be no fresh admission for HND programmes. And in addition, any programme that is not technical will be out of the polytechnics. About 70 per cent of polytechnic graduates are in the non-technical courses. It is going to be a rigorous implementation programme. According to the policy, the Vice Chancellors of the universities will appoint provosts for the polytechnics subject to the ratification of the Universities Councils. To start the new policy, Yaba College of Technology will now be known as City University of Technology, Yaba, while Kaduna Polytechnic will be known as City University of Technology, Kaduna. However, the Minister of Education clarifies that the HND certificate will remain a legal tender in Nigeria and holders of such certificate will continue to be recognised as the equivalent of first degree holders without discriminatory remuneration. The award-winning author made this known during her recent interview with Trevor Noah. According to Chimamanda, even though she likes the idea of men holding the door for women, she has a problem with it. "I think just like holding the door shouldn't be gender because we should open the door for every one. I hold the door for men and women. I think the idea of sort of holding the door for a woman because she is a woman, I have trouble with, I'm quite happy for people to hold the door for me i hope they are not doing for the sort of idea of chivalry because chivalry is the idea of women are somehow weak and need protecting but we know that there many women who are stronger than men," she said She went on to express her disdain for the idea of people always saying women and children should be rescued first in times of tragedy rather saving the weak and unwell. "Which is also why I have issues with women and children when women are classified...when there is a tragedy and we say women and children should live first. I think actually it is the people who are weak and unwell who should leave first," she said. It would be recalled that it was revealed that Chimamanda Adichie would be among the guest to come on ALSO READ:Chimamanda Adichie reveals how she was sexually assaulted at 17 Chimamanda Adichie shares shocking story of her dad's kidnap in 2015 Chimamanda Adichie recently shared a story from a few years ago, precisely in 2015 when her dad was kidnapped According to a profile article written by The New Yorker, In 2015, during her pregnancy, Adichie was informed by her husband and her brother (Kene) that her father had been kidnapped during his journey from Nsukka to Aba. "Her husband told her that her father had been kidnapped, and she screamed, then vomited, then started to cry," writes The New Yorker. The consul provided her with a kidnapping expert from the F.B.I. who helped her mum when the kidnappers demanded a ransom the next day. The kidnappers wanted N5M. On the third day, the ransom had gone up to N10M. Nigerian artistes have in recent times been criticized for the messages (or lack of it) in their music. Every time an artist chooses to do what seems like the 'exception' rather than the norm by taking a stand with their songs, it generates a buzz that lasts for a short while, then we all go back to our default party mode. Perhaps M.I Abaga captured it best in his single, Crowd Mentality off the 2008 debut album, Talk About It when he rhymed, ''No matter how many songs I sing about truth, honesty, it'll never change a thing, I just wanna be rich and famous. the world is screaming out: Please entertain us.'' Many reference Fela as the last apostle of the masses, but there are others who dared to be different and Pulse Music presents 5 socially conscious songs that captured happenings in the nation at various times. 1. Eedris Abdulkareem - Jagajaga (2004) Eedris Abdulkareem - Jagajaga Many years after the nation returned to the hands of a democratically elected president, the country was becoming a 'free for all', as political killings became the order of the day, endless fuel queues returned to our streets and the year before, Nigeria had granted asylum to former president of Liberia, Charles Taylor who was facing charges at the International court. Ex-Remedies member, Eedris Abdulkareem, who is known for his outspoken nature recorded this hit single, that put him at logger heads with then sitting president, Olusegun Obasanjo, as he captured the state of the nation in a blunt way. 2. Timaya - Dem Mama (2007) Timaya - Dem Mama In November 1999, Nigerian soldiers seeking to avenge the murder of some of their colleagues in the hands of a local militia group had stormed Odi, a town in Bayelsa State of Nigeria, burning down the entire town, leading to the death of many civilians. This inspired Timaya to hit the studio and detail events of the fateful encounter, ''Na him dey enter our village, them rape our young girls and make us homeless''. 3. African China - Crisis (2006) African China - Crisis It was rare to see young artistes seeking for a break in the industry to go political on their debut efforts but African China was not one of them. Crisis relives incidents covering the June 12 killings, Clifford Orji, upheavals in Ajegunle, the terrifying Yoruba militia group, OPC including a personal experience of his friend who was murdered during the ethnic violence in the north. 4. African China - Mr President (2006) African China - Mr President If African China delivered an image of various incidents in the nation on Crisis, then with Mr President, it was time to make demands as he presents a list of things that are not going right in the polity. From lack of food, water, injustice as it relates to the rich and the poor, he boldly requests that our leaders do the one job they have been elected to do in their respective positions, 'Lead us well'. 5. Blackface - Hard life feat. Alabai (2007) Blackface - Hardlife Off his debut solo album, Ghetto Child, is the leading single, Hard Life. It doesn't get harder than this and just in case anyone forgot, Blackface served a perfect reminder that the state of livelihood in the country was getting worse. Imohiosen Patrick, aka DJ Neptune is one disc jockey that many who follow the Nigerian music scene will identify as an 'OG' of the industry. Despite a number of party mixtapes, 'Greatness' is surprisingly Neptune's debut studio album and like he said during the listening session, he is convinced he has created a body of work that is indeed great. Neptune has been around for over a decade, so it is no surprise that he has a lot of friends as he assembles a dream team that features talents from different genres like Jesse Jagz, M.I Abaga, Burna Boy, Mayorkun, Kizz Daniel, Olamide, Maleek Berry, Skales,Davido, Patoranking,Mr Eazi, Yemi Alade, Small Doctor, Pasuma and more. Alongside a legion of producers, every artist is well utilised on the joints as one can sense an element of carefully selected pairing process. From the time he released the classic single, 123 with theremix which features M.I Abaga, Naeto C and the late Da Grin, Neptune joined the train of deejays who morphed into artistes, a trend now more common these days. Befittingly the 'Greatness' album opens up on a similar base with Blood & Fire, a joint produced by CKay and features M.I Abaga and Jesse Jagz. Jargo brings 'blood' on the first verse with his ragga flow, while the second verse is all 'fire', complete with deejay scratches as M.I goes lyrical, ''And Neptune said let's make a new classic, let's do you and Jagz, one track, too drastic'', the brothers rolled back the Choc Boi years on this. There are more than a few highlights on the album, from the very enjoyable Wait featuring Kizz Daniel and the love inspired 'In a way' housing Patoranking and Efya to 'Shayo' where Burna Boy brings a different flavour to the project, while Mayorkun holds his own on 'Tear Rubber'. 'Greatness' is a collage of varying styles and sounds with hip-hop well represented on joints like 'Friday' where Zoro and Reminisce deliver bars in their indigenous languages, 'Sisi' with Small Doctor, Pasuma and Mr Real caters for the street and his fuji audience, while he finds space to resurrect the makossa vibe on 'Nobody' with Yemi Alade and Willy Paul. A lot of DJ projects usually fall short of expectations as most times, they are packed with a combination of artistes that don't fit, or bland and uninspired showings from the guest acts who just turn up as a favour to their host rather than actually keying into the album concept. But with 'Greatness', even though it is not entirely innovative, DJ Neptune excels at bringing some of the best artists on board and pairing them with the right partner and sound that matches their abilities. This is one album clearly aimed at enhancing your play-list options on the dance floor when next you hit the club, and his formidable combinations proved to be a case of too many cooks actually becoming a driving force in propelling the greatness of his musical ideas and vision. Rating: 3.5/5 Ratings In a short video shared via Instagram, the civilian was seen bare-chested as he made to clash with the trained soldier who was in company of two other colleagues captured trying to pacify him. The caption which accompanied the social media post explained that the army officers had accused the civilian of fraud - a factor which motivated a short scene of violence. Various feedback of mockery, humour and anger have met the incident on IG but courage stood out the most as seen in a comment shared by a profile 'Chocoswetty20'. An IG post shared by Instablog9ja on Thursday, June 7, 2018, confirmed the report which stated that she has been handed over to the police. ALSO READ: Female corps member turns internet on with wet nipples It was gathered that the phone went missing on Saturday, April 21, 2018. Weeks after this, the corps member had reportedly reached out to the owner to demand a sum of N50,000 in order to return the iOS smartphone. A footage which accompanied the IG post showed a young lady dressed in an outfit resembling an NYSC uniform. She was held by the waist by a woman who accused her of stealing. ALSO READ: Losing your mobile phone to these SIM card hackers can render your savings empty According to Punch News, the security operatives were slaughtered on Sunday, June 3, 2018, in an ambush organized by the herders who also attacked residents in Aisa and Aguma. Eight farmers were also killed by the Fulani pastoralists Punch reports. ASP Ismaila Usman, a spokesperson for the state police gave a statement concerning the development on Tuesday, June 5, 2018, in Lafia. There was a conflict between the Agatus and Fulani herdsmen when an Agatu man shot a Fulani man on the foot and went away with his Bajaj motorcycle. As the Fulani went on a reprisal, the attention of the police was drawn and we quickly swung into action to ensure that normalcy returned to the area, but unfortunately, our operatives were ambushed and three of them were killed," says the police rep. Alhaji Ahmed Kwanaki, a paramount ruler in the Agatu chiefdom is not pleased with the killings in his backyard as reported by Punch News. He called on the state and federal governments to intervene in the matter. The Agatu Massacres In February 2016, over 500 people were killed when an unconfirmed number of Fulani herdsmen attacked residents in Agatu, Benue State, in retaliation for the killing of their cows. This is according to the former Senate President David Mark. A report by Punch News however contradicted this number. Solomon Arase, the Inspector General of Police at the time had contested that the number did not add up in his statement quoted by Punch I was around, I travelled to Benue State, I did not see where 300 people were buried. It is however unfit for debate the need for an urgent response to the growing tension surrounding the indiscriminate cattle grazing on private farmlands. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that magun is believed to be a potent charm among the Yoruba deployed to cause harm or even death to promiscuous couples. Rashidat, in her petition to the court, said her husband had ruined her life as a result of the charm. My lord, ever since we moved to our newly completed building, has been a pain on my neck by denying me adequate care and love. He makes no provision for the children and I because I have been soley responsible for the upkeep of the children. Worst of all, Mustafa had on four different occasions laced me with magun such that blood has been discharging from my genitals. He has exposed me to all sorts of humiliation in the neighbourhood inspite of my plea for forgiveness over alleged adultery. He told everyone in the neighbourhood that I am unfaithful and a prostitute. Mustafa categorically told me to leave his home or be ready to die in shame. He also ejected all the children I had for him, referring to them as products of bad motherhood. In fact, Mustafa had previously gone to a certain private radio station in Ibadan where he exposed me to ridicule and embarrassment. Even before the children, he is such a worthless soul. The person my husband accused me of having an affair with is a neighbour who often paid us visits. It is true that I usually offer the neighbour food and he sometimes offers me ride on his motorcycle. Mustafa, however, had stopped having sexual intercourse with me before I left his home, claiming I would harm him. Unknown to me, the blood discharge I was experiencing was the side effect of the magun which he had placed on me so that any man who sleeps with me will die, Rashidat said. However, the respondent who did not deny most of the allegations levelled against him, submitted that his wife was adulterous. Mustafa said that though he was initially opposed to divorce, he was changing his mind after the plaintiff had insisted on separation. If she is not willing to swallow her pride, Rashidat can go. My lord, I was initially trying to keep our union because of our six children I had all along demonstrated my care and love for her and the children by constantly going into the bush to fetch firewood for cooking, he said. Tosin, whose address was not provided, is facing a charge of stealing. The prosecutor, Insp. Oriyomi Akinwale, told the court that the accused committed the offence with some other persons still at large on June 5 at about 05: 30 a.m. He alleged that the accused stole the motorcycle with Reg. No MUS 875 QC belonging to the complainant, Mr Daniel Okaula. The offence contravened Section 390 (9) of the Criminal Law of Ekiti State, 2012. Okaula urged the court to adjourn the case to enable him to study the file and assemble his witnesses. The accused pleaded not guilty to the charge. Counsel to the accused, Mr Timi Omotosho, urged the court to grant his client bail on liberal terms, promising he would not jump bail. The corps Spokesperson, Babawale Afolabi, said the lifeless body was discovered at about 7.30 a.m. during routine surveillance by officers and men. Afolabi said officers on surveillance saw the corpse of the pregnant woman along Gbongan-Ibadan express way, beside a petrol station in Owode-Ede. The spokesperson said the identity of the woman is unknown, the cause of her death also unknown but all parts of her body are intact. However, we discovered that her face was swollen, with blood stains all over her face and we also discovered some bruises on her legs. He said the divisional officer of NSCDC at Owode-Ede had alerted health workers and the Divisional Police Officer of Ede North about the woman. Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Saturday to mark the World No-Tobacco day, Nigeria's Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, implored law enforcement agencies to arrest persons who were violating the government's ban on flavoured tobacco products, and its most popular Nigerian iteration, shisha. Let me stress that the ban on tobacco products with characterising flavours is still in place and the ban includes shisha because it has flavour. I, therefore, urge the Consumer Protection Council and the law enforcement agencies to intensify arrest of defaulters." To justify this, the Minister referred to a ban on the sale of flavoured tobacco products. Adewole claimed that these products were targeted at the youth and could be as dangerous as cigarettes. This approach to reducing the consumption of shisha is not a one-off. When it comes to dealing with perceived vices among the youth, the Nigerian government's first weapon is, more often than not, a ban, complete with threats of arrest and a jail term. A Nigerian guide to solving practical problems In May this year, a BBC feature titled "Sweet Sweet Codeine" drew attention to an aspect of Nigeria's drug epidemic - in this instance, the abuse of codeine-infused cough syrups by young people from Lagos to Yola. ALSO READ: Codeine Diet and why Nigerian musicians must stop celebrating drug use The documentary has since been watched over a million times on Youtube and among other things, it disclosed the involvement of pharmaceutical companies like EMZOR and BIORAJ - particularly, their officials, some of whom could be seen on tape selling cartons of the stuff to undercover reporters. In response, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control shut down production facilities belonging to EMZOR and BIORAJ around the country and banned the importation of cough syrup. The Ministry of Health placed a ban on applications for the registration of cough syrups containing codeine, and for renewals of existing licences. Weeks later, the House of Representatives began seeking laws that would impose a 2 million naira fine or a 2-year jail term for use of codeine or tramadol. Federal Government officially bans 'Shisha' Critics of this approach to cultural problems often point out the fact that bans and jail terms only punish defaulters and may discourage behaviour, but they manage to do everything but solve the problem. It is a running theme through the government's typically quick-fire response to problems like this. It is almost keyword-based problem-solving. Find the word that comes up the most, and ban it out of existence. Keyword-based problem solving This attitude is based on the "keyword" largely because, until the reports draw attention to them, the government and its institutions know very little about these problems, and the situations that have created them. Take the drug crisis, for instance. Commentators have drawn parallels between the endemic abuse of recreational drugs and the socio-economic conditions facing the average Nigerian youth. Yet, the government's approach almost deliberately ignores these circumstances. In the case of Professor Adewole's call for arrests, it ignores the tobacco industry in Lagos, how shisha is marketed as a healthier, more luxurious alternative to cigarettes, its role in the nightlife scene and the market surrounding the product. This lack of context is why, these are more reactionary than anything else, focusing on symptoms and little else. The reactions have followed as expected, from those who were a part of the failed struggle for Abiola's mandate, to his children who waited for this day for more than two decades. To the common man, the importance of this announcement would be lost on the common man, without the context of what happened in the weeks before and after June 12, 1993. If for nothing else, it will be remembered as a day when Nigeria's democracy, yet unborn, was smothered in its crib. The misrule of Nigerias military era, from the 60s to the 90s, suppressed the collective choice of the people on two notable occasions, first with the January 1966 coup and Buharis time-out on Shagaris agbada-wearing corruption on the last day of 1983. But it was on June 12, 1993, that the peoples hopes was expressed in a nascent democracy; it would be murdered along with a lot of the people who had fought to make it happen. After Nigerians had tired of Babangidas constant manoeuvring and corrupt dealings and had managed to pressure Maradona as he was then known, into agreeing to step down from his position, elections had been called for June 12, 1993. The two candidates seemed to command enough of a followership to guarantee a tightly contested election. Bashir Tofa was but it was Chief M.K.O Abiola, a wealthy international businessman and philanthropist who seemed to be the peoples favourite. From 1972 until his death Moshood Abiola had been conferred with over a hundred traditional titles by numerous different communities in Nigeria, in response to his having provided financial assistance in the construction of secondary schools, mosques and churches, libraries, and 21 water projects in 24 states of Nigeria. He was grand patron to 149 societies or associations in Nigeria. In addition to his work in Nigeria, Moshood Kashimawo Abiola supported the Southern African Liberation movements from the 1970s, and sponsored the campaign to win reparations for slavery and colonialism in Africa and the diaspora. All these fleshed out the image of a man who would fit seamlessly into the position of President of the worlds most populous black nation. The voice of the People The driving sentiment, support and scale of his campaign were collectively so overwhelming that when Nigerians went to the polls on June 12, 1993, it seemed the outcome was only a matter of protocol. Elections in Nigeria, from the pre-colonial era, have always been marred or at the least, influenced by rigging and violence at various levels. While it is difficult to make unnecessary assertions on the nature of the June 12 elections, not many in the country would have flattered themselves to expect a completely clean process. Yet, international observers adjudged the June 12 elections to be the freest and fairest in Nigerias history. There were minimal reports of violence despite a massive turnout, one of the largest by percentage of registered voters in Nigerian history. When the results were released, it became clear that pre-election sentiments were right on the money. MKO had secured a resounding, overwhelming victory over Tofa, even defeating the latter in his home state. With 8.3 million votes and 53.6% of the total vote count as against Tofas 5.9 million votes, MKO was declared the winner of the election. There was dancing in the streets. But then things began to go very very wrong. No-one can settle on the specific reason why this happened. The day Democracy died Many believe that Babangida had promised Abacha the seat of power in exchange for the armys support in months around their 1985 coup and with the clock winding down, the ruthless Chief of Defence Staff had come calling for his end of the bargain to be fulfilled. Others speculate that the Northern elite was reluctant to see power shift from the North, under such optimistic circumstances. Since independence, federal power had been held, for the most part, by Northern officers and politicians. With a Southern Muslim introducing the dawn of democracy and civilian rule, the existing power structure was threatened. Even still, there is a belief that the soldiers were reluctant to hand over power to a civilian who they saw as one of them. Abiola was a friend of the militarys most promising and influential stalwarts. There are rumours that he had sponsored coups in the past and with their tacit help, had been manoeuvring his way to the presidency over the years. It is likely that the soldiers saw this as Abiola protecting his altruistic image on the outside, even though he was basically one of them. Either way, Babangida proved hesitant to announce Abiola as the winner of the elections. After massive pressure, he seemed ready to do so, but a few weeks after the results were announced, IBB annulled the June 12 elections. In a message broadcast to the country, Babangida claimed that the process had been incredibly flawed. I, therefore, wish, on behalf of myself and members of the National Defence and Security Council and indeed of my entire administration, to feel with my fellow countrymen and women for the cancellation of the election. It was a rather disappointing experience in the course of carrying through the last election of the transition to civil rule programme. The nation was thrown into disarray. Violence erupted in many cities, especially Lagos. Followers of Abiola called for the presumed winner to claim his mandate and stick the peoples voice in the militarys face. In a speech to the country, Abiola read his intent to millions of Nigerians who were anxious to know what would come of the power tussle. It is inconceivable that a few people in government should claim to know so much better about politics and government than the 14 million Nigerians who actually went to the polls on June 12." The people of Nigeria have spoken. They have loudly and firmly proclaimed their preference for democracy. They have chosen me as their president for the next four years. They have determined that August 27, 1993, shall be the terminal date of military dictatorship in Nigeria. On that date, the people of Nigeria, through their democratic decision of June 12, 1993, expect me to assume the reins of government. "I fully intend to keep that date with history.", he said. Some victories must be had, however late The events that followed are some of the most storied in Nigerian history. By the end of the year, Abiola was languishing in prison, where he would pass away on July 7, 1998. Sani Abacha would take power from Babangida, after the latter all but fled, to his residence in Minna. Today, Nigeria is in the 9th year of the longest democratic dispensation in its history, called the fourth republic. That it has taken 22 years and three heads of state to acknowlege a date that ultimately led to the birth of this democratic dispensation is some evidence of the sentiments that still remain concerning MKO and his mandate. On the other hand, awarding the tiltle of GCFR to Abiola reeks of a gift that came too late, an acknowledgement that should be too cold to stir any form of appreciation. It is why many are asking if President Buhari's move is not entirely political, a ploy to elicit support from the South-West by acknowledging one of its greatest sons. It could well be. The announcement is a little too close to the elections for comfort. Yet, the political undertones of such a move should not distract us from the fact that the Nigerian government, and in a way, the political elite has finally acknowledged what was, in retrospect, a grave miss and the legacy of a man who Nigerians of those years chose to lead them into a new age. These communities are still able to get away with it due to minimal or no government interference. From shaving a widows hair to witch hunting, these traditions that will shock you out of your seats. 1. Inheriting women In some cultures, when a man dies, the wife could be inherited by one of the mans brothers. Relatives use it as a way to access the late mans wealth. Although, this practice is becoming a thing of the past as women and society are rejecting it. 2. Witch hunting A common practice in the Southern part of Nigeria when a man, woman and in most cases a child is suspected to be a witch or wizard due to strange occurrences or deaths in the family or community. Such person is taken to a witch doctor to undergo all kinds of torture to force the truth out of them. 3. Shaving a widows hair Although no longer common, in some cultures a widow is forced to shave her hair and sleep alongside the corpse of her husband. Family members also force her to drink the water used in washing her husbands corpse. This is done to prove that the widow is not responsible for her husbands death. Note that this culture is gradually going out of practice. 4. Magun Common amongst the Yoruba's. Magun is used on adulterers and most times the outcome is not palatable as the offender could lose his/her life. The Magun is placed on a woman or man without her being aware of it either by her husband or his family. If she commits adultery, her lover could end up losing his life or getting stuck while in the act. 5. Sharo Fulani tribes of Nigeria practise Sharo before getting married. Here the groom is beaten by the older members of the community so as to earn a wife and respect. If the man is not strong enough to bear the pain, the wedding is called off. Abiola was the winner of the 1993 presidential election that was subsequently annulled by then-military Head of State, GeneralIbrahim Badamosi Babangida. He was imprisoned in 1994 where he died in custody under suspicious circumstances on July 7, 1998, four years after his arrest. In a press statement released on Wednesday, June 6, 2018, President Buhari bestowed the highest honour of the land on MKO to symbolise his contribution to the nation's democratic history. He also awarded Abiola's running mate Baba Gana Kingibe with a Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON), an award he also bestowed on the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN) for his human rights agitation for the actualisation of the June 12th elections. As reactions continue to trail the president's decision, Onochie took to her official Twitter account to take a shot at Obasanjo, presumably for not doing the deed while he was president between 1999 and 2007. In the post which she shared, she insinuated that the former president must feel upstaged by Buhari and must be preparing to write another letter of criticism against the current government. The post was accompanied by a drawing of Obasanjo writing in a book. She posted, "Dis boy Buhari no dey hear word. MKO? Gani Fawehimi? Dis boy don kill me be dat. Make I write anoda letta." In his Wednesday announcement, President Buhari also disclosed that June 12 will replace May 29 as the official Democracy Day because it's a more symbolic date. Obasanjo vs Buhari Since Obasanjo wrote a letter in January 2018 where he launched a scathing criticism on Buhari's leadership and called his administration a failure, he has been a major critic calling for the president to abandon his re-election hopes in the 2019 presidential election. The President had on Wednesday, June 6, awarded a posthumous award of the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR) on Abiola, the presumed winner of the June 12, 1993 election. Buhari also declared June 12 as the new Democracy Day instead of May 29, saying June 12 is a more symbolic day. But Belgore, a retired judge, in an interview with Premium Times on Wednesday, said a national honour cannot be given to a dead person, "much less the GCFR", which is the highest honour in the land. "It is not done it is for people living", the retired judge was quoted as saying. "The only thing they could do is to name a place after him, but national honours award, no." National Honours Act Belgore, who chaired the 2016 national honours committee, says that under the 1963 National Honours Act, only soldiers or other servicemen can be awarded posthumous medals for their bravery. According to him, Buhari did not consult him before taking the step. ALSO READ: How IBB stole Nigeria's freest and fairest election from MKO Abiola The President also honoured Abiola's running mate in the 1993 election, Baba Gana Kingibe, and the late human rights lawyer, Gani Fawehinmi with the GCON title. In terms of population, Nigeria occupies the seventh position oi9n the world, with an estimated number of 180 million, and first in Africa. Housing a number of 36 states, with one of them being Africas 7th largest economy, Nigeria prides itself as Africas largest economy, even though it does not reflect in the lives of its citizens. Be that as it may, we shall be focusing on states with the largest economy in Nigeria. Here are the five richest states in Nigeria 1. Lagos state When it comes to the economy, Lagos can be said to be the heartbeat of Nigeria. The state is not only known to have the largest economy in Nigeria, it also prides itself to have the 7th largest economy in the continent. Situated in the South-Western zone of the country, Lagos State has a meagre land mass stretching up to 3, 577 square kilometers. And despite its small land mass, Lagos State remains the most populous Nigerian State with its total population estimated at 18 million inhabitants. Significantly, Lagos State is Nigerias major centre for commercial activities, standing at $4,333 for its per capita level while a total of $33.679 billion is recorded for its Gross Domestic Product (GDP). 2. Rivers state Rivers state is the second richest state in Nigeria. It covers the area of 11.077 square kilometres with an estimated population of 5.2 million people. The region is rich in vast reserves of natural gas and crude oil that consist more than 60% of Nigerian crude oil output. As a matter of fact, every oil and gas company in the country has its presence in the city of Port Harcourt, which is why oil generated revenue contributed in placing the state at the number two spot despite its average population of 5.2 million relative to other states. The total GDP of the state is $21.073 billion, per capita is $3.965. 3. Delta state Delta state is also located in the southern region of Nigeria. It covers an area of 17.698 square kilometres with an estimated population of the state is 4.1 million people. The state is one of Nigerias state with the largest deposits of natural endowments such as industrial clay, silica, limestone, lignite, kaolin, tar sand and lots more. It also has one of the largest deposits of crude oil and natural gas in Nigeria Economically, Delta State has a total of $3, 990 as its per capita level coupled with $16.749 billion as total GDP. 4. Oyo state Standing in the fourth position of Nigeria's richest states, Oyo state is located in South West region of Nigeria and covers the territory of 28.454 square kilometres. The overall population is around six million people and a major part of the economically active population works in the agricultural sector of the state. Oyo State produces cashew, palm oil, cocoa, plantains, rice, millet, cassava, yam and maize and boasts of a total GDP of $16.121 billion, per capita is $2.666. 5. Imo state Imo state stands in the fifth position of Nigerias richest state. Although it is counted among the smallest states in the country, it is endowed with some land expanse that is rich resources like white clay, fine sand, limestone, lead, crude oil, natural gas, and zinc. The state also houses several oil companies including Addax Petroleum, Chevron Corporation, Royal Dutch Shell and Agip. Geographically, Imo State is located in the South East of Nigeria and covers 5, 530 square kilometers. Its per capita level is $3, 527 as its per capita level and $14.212 billion in total GDP. Melaye stated this while reacting to President Muhammadu Buharis decision to declare June 12 as Nigerias Democracy Day in recognition of Abiolas contribution to the country. Citing some provisions of the National Honours Act, the Kogi lawmaker argued that the honour was not in accordance with the law. He however praised the late politician for his contributions to Nigerias democracy. I am a democrat, I believe very sincerely that Chief M.K.O Abiola deserves even more than the President has pronounced because he is a true patriot, philanthropist and should be so decorated, he said. We are governed in the country by the constitution and extant laws. No matter how beautiful a situation is, the law of the land remains the law of the land. "Section (2) says 'A person shall be eligible for appointment to any rank or holder unless he is a citizen of Nigeria. A dead man is not a citizen of the federal republic of Nigeria. We should not be emotional about this. The law remains the law. "Section 3(2) subject to the next notice, 'A person shall be appointed to a particular rank of an order when the president receives him in person. They said in person for us to do what we are supposed to do, we would have to amend the provisions of this act because anything we need to do, we have to do in accordance with the provisions of the law," he added. Senate President Bukola Saraki, however, advised that Nigerians should focus on the positive side of President Buhari's gesture "rather than focus on the negative issues". Announce June 12 election result Meanwhile, the Senate has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to announce the result of the June 12, 1993 presidential election which Abiola was presumed to have won. Ever since herdsmen were blamed for the death of 73 people in attacks launched in Guma and Logo local government areas of Benue state in the opening days of January 2018, hundreds of people have been killed in similar attacks in the state and a few others in the country. While speaking on Channels Television on Thursday, June 7, 2018, Miyetti Allah's national secretary, Usman Baba-Ngelzarma, said the law has not solved the herders/farmers crisis but worsened it in a way that has resulted in the loss of lives and properties in the state. Benue governor, Samuel Ortom, signed the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law in November 2017, banning open grazing in the state and directing roaming cattle herders to ranch their cattle. Baba-Ngeljarmasaid the law has been badly-implemented and targeted at chasing herdsmen out of the state by making the process of acquiring land there impossible for cattle owners. He said, "The drafters' intention may be for this ranching and prohibition maybe to take place at the same time or ranching first before prohibition. If you look at the condition laid down to have ranch in Benue, that section asserts that it is totally impossible for the pastoralist to acquire land in Benue, so the law is made in a way to totally alienate the pastoralist from Benue state. "That was our fear. We feel when the law is implemented, our members will be chased out of Benue and this is what is happening now. Our members are being chased out of Benue state because there's no provision for ranching, no arrangement was made for them to acquire ranches, and even the condition laid down in the law is too hard for them to acquire ranch even if they want to acquire one. "These are some of the grey areas of the law and Benue is not an island in Nigeria, it's a state." Baba-Ngeljarma further asserted that it's impossible for Benue to make an anti-open grazing law because international transformer roads run through the state. He said, "We have these international transformer roads that transverse through Benue which is covered by the Accord protocol. It's a road that emanates maybe from Malay down to Central Africa and it passes through Benue state and covered by the Accord treaty. "So, if a transformer pastoralist is passing and comes to Benue, what do you expect him to do? To carry his cows on his head and pass?" Anti-open grazing law has favoured no one - Miyetti Allah Baba-Ngeljarma said his association had warned Ortom about implementing the law but that he failed to listen because he admitted that he was under pressure and promised that it would work. Ngeljarma also noted that since the law was passed months ago, no one has benefited from it, including even the government. He said, "We have made a lot of observations and cited a lot of grey areas and requested the government to have a look at those grey areas before the implementation. We were invited on the eve of the implementation of the law by the governor (Ortom) so we told him our observations. He said his hands are tied, he's under pressure and has to implement. He said the law would be a win-win situation. "Here we are today, nobody is winning from the law. The pastoralists are not winning and the farmers too are not winning. Today, most of the farmers are living in IDP camps; even the government is not winning. Even the security apparatus is not winning." The House passed the resolution through a voice vote following a letter read in plenary by the Speaker, Alhaji Ahmed Marafa. According to the letter from the governor, the loan is meant for counterpart funding of donor assisted projects in the state. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the counterpart funding required for the projects in the sectors of Education, Agriculture and rural development. The letter indicated that the loan was being offered at an interest of 17 per cent payable within 30 months. The Government of Niger State has received an offer of a term loan facility of N3.2 billion for counterpart funding of donor assisted projects in the 2018 approved budget. The loan which is being offered at an interest of 17 per cent per annum and 2 per cent of transaction cost is to be repaid in 30 months on a reducing balance basis. However, as part of the conditions for accessing the loan, we will require a resolution of the House of Assembly in support of the facility. In compliance with the 1999 constitution as amended, I wish to bring this matter to your attention and to seek your consent for the loan, it read. In his submission on the issue, member representing Bosso, Malik Madaki noted that the approval had become necessary to enable the state draw down counterpart funds. Madaki, however, appealed to the executive to utilize the loan for the purpose for which it was approved to avoid the wrath of the assembly. Other members spoke in similar vain before the House unanimously gave the governor the nod to access the loan. This was disclosed by Force Public Relations Officer, ACPJimoh Moshood, when he paraded some of the arrested suspects on Wednesday, June 6, 2018. Nine police officers and 24 others lost their lives when a group of around 30 armed robbers attacked Union Bank, Eco Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank, First Bank, Zenith Bank and Ibolo Micro Finance Bank,as well as the Owode Police Stationin Offa on April 5, 2018. When 15 of the suspects were previously paraded on Sunday, June 3, ACP Moshood named the leaders of the robbery gang as Ayodele Akinnibosun (aka, AY), Ibikunle Ogunleye (aka Arrow), Adeola Abraham, Salawudeen Azeez, and Niyi Ogundiran, all indigenes of Oro, Irepodun local government area of Kwara. During the press briefing Akinnibosun, who confessed to being the mastermind of the operation, said he was the leader of Youth Liberation Movement a.k.a "Good Boys", a group of political thugs allegedly sponsored by Senate President, Bukola Saraki and Kwara governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed. While speaking at the Wednesday press briefing, ACP Moshood said investigations have revealed that Akinnibosun, Ogunleye, and Abraham followed Saraki to the palace of the Olofa of Offa, HRM Oba Muftau Gbadamosi Esuwoye II, when the senate president paid a condolence visit to the monarch just two days after the tragic loss of lives. He said, "It was also discovered during further investigations that three (3) gang leaders who participated actively in the Offa bank robbery (i) Ayoade Akinnibosun aka AY (ii) Ibukunle Ogunleye aka Arrow and (iii) Adeola Abraham followed the Senate President, Sen. Bukola Saraki to Oloffa's palace when the Senate President paid a condolence visit to Offa after the bank robbery." ALSO READ: Watch footage of Offa bank robbery that claimed over 30 lives While ACP Moshood did not elaborate on the incident, Akinnibosun had previoulsy disclosed in an exclusive interview with New Telegraph how they ended up at the palace on the day Saraki visited. He disclosed that he received a phone call from another Saraki 'boy' who informed him that the former Kwara governor was visiting the Olofa's palace which prompted him to call two other people who were involved in the robbery, Aro and Adex, to go meet the senate president in Offa from their Oro base. According to his account, they didn't personally meet with Saraki at the palace. He said, "I was at home when a friend of mine called me. His name is Shamsudeen Bada; he is a boy to Bukola Saraki too. We have a platform, but I did not quickly see the message on the platform. So, he now called me and said the Senate President would be going to Offa. I now called Aro and Adex and asked them where they were; they said they were at the saw mill, that we should meet at home. We now moved from our house to Offa. On getting there, it was just 15 minutes the senate president had been inside already. So, we didn't stay much and he left." In the New Telegraph interview, Akinnibosun also claimed that his group later entered the Olofa's palace and followed Senator Rafiu Ibrahim (Kwara South) who gave them the sum of N50,000 after leaving the palace. He said, "On his way going, Shamsudeen now called me that Senator Rafiu was on his way back, but the senate president had already gone; that we should wait until Senator Rafiu comes. When he came, we now went inside, as we got inside, the Olofa was in; we all stood there with him. When he left, we now followed Senator Rafiu. On getting to one small village, that was where Senator Rafiu stopped and wanted to ease himself. "He now gave us N50,000 all the youth that were following him; because that is how we normally do. He sent one of his boys to give me N50,000; I now shared it to everybody that was there. After the Senator left, we all left to our place of living, which is Oro." Akinnibosun further claimed that he was back at the Olofa's palace again when Governor Ahmed also visited the same day. He however clarified that the N250,000 reportedly given to youths in Offa was not for his group but for all of Offa youths. He told New Telegraph, "Somebody now called; I have forgotten the person's name, to say, 'They said Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed will be going to Offa'. The person now said, 'Look at his convoy; the convoy is even coming'. That was how I called Adex and Aro again. So, we now met and moved to Offa again, with the governor. "The governor did not give me money; he gave N250,000 to the youth of Offa; all the youths in Offa through his Personal Assistant (Political)." ALSO READ: Offa robber killed 5 people because they threw stones at him The governor's Personal Assistant (Political), Alabi Olalekan, as well as his chief of staff, Yusuf Abdulwahab, have been arrested in connection with the Offa robbery. Governor Ahmed and Saraki have both denied any alleged involvement with the group or the robbery that shocked Offa and the country two months ago. Even though ACP Moshood had invited the senate president to show up at the Force Intelligence Response Team office in Guzape, Abuja for questioning, Saraki revealed on Monday, June 4, that he'd been asked to instead respond to the allegations in writing within 48 hours. On Tuesday, June 5, he presided over a joint session of the National Assembly with Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, and lawmakers reaffirmed a vote of no confidence passed on the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris. The decision of the Senate was sequel to a motion by Ekiti state lawmaker, Biodun Olujimi, on Thursday, June 7, 2018. Chief Abiola was presumed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election but till date, the result has not been fully announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Olujimi, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lauded President Muhammadu Buharis decision to honour Abiola for his contribution to Nigerias democracy. I salute the courage of President Buhari for this. However, there are some issues that should be addressed so that we will be confident that this is not a Greek gift, Olujimi said. The results of that election was never announced. This is the time for the result to be properly announced by INEC because government is a continuum. Also, MKO Abiola should be declared a president. If and when that is done, there has to be reparation of all his entitlements to his surviving families. Ambassador Babagana Kingibe must also be recognized as Vice President of Nigeria and everything must be brought to the legislature so that we can right all the wrongs. Also, June 12 must also be declared a public holiday for the whole of Nigeria so we can begin the celebration of Democracy Day, she noted. Senate leader, Ahmad Lawan, who lauded President Buhari for the action, urged his colleagues in the upper legislative chamber to support the federal government in its resolve to right the wrongs of previous administrations. Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, however, noted that May 29 remains Nigeria's inauguration day. Senate President Bukola Saraki commended the recognition of Abiola to the struggle for Nigeria's democracy. It was a masterstroke from the APC led federal government. Buhari said: June 12, 1993 was the day when Nigerians in millions expressed their democratic will in what was undisputedly the freest, fairest and most peaceful elections since our independence. The fact that the outcome of that election was not upheld by the then military government does not distract from the democratic credentials of that process. Therefore, government has decided to award posthumously the highest honour of the land, GCFR, to late Chief MKO Abiola, the presumed winner of the June 12th 1993 cancelled elections. His running mate as Vice President, Ambassador Baba Gana Kingibe, is also to be invested with a GCON". The president also honoured Chief Gani Fawehinmitireless fighter for human rights and the actualization of the June 12th elections and indeed for democracy in general--with a posthumous GCON award. Buhari has beaten past governments on this one Buharis pronouncements are even more heartwarming because for 19 years, the political elite (save for those in the Southwest) carried on as though June 12 never happened. Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, who was the first beneficiary of the June 12 struggle, refused to mention Abiola or the date the nations mandate was heartlessly stolen. For 8 years as civilian president, Obasanjo never acknowledged the relevance of June 12 or the supreme price Abiola paid for the actualization of the June 12 mandate. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which governed Nigeria for 16 years, treated June 12 with disdain and silence. It was as though the mere mention of June 12 made members of the PDP cringe. How they hated it! For some members of the political class in the fourth republic, June 12 was a date they didnt want to hear or acknowledge. They would rather bury their heads in the sand. Administration after administration passed up the opportunity to commemorate June 12 or drum up its significance. The facts from June 12 Yet facts will remain stubborn. On June 12, 1993, Nigerians voted across ethnic and religious lines to elect MKO Abiola their president. When the National Electoral Commission (NEC) headed by Prof Humphrey Nwosu, began rolling out the results on June 15, 1993, Abiola was winning the election with 60 percent of the votes declared in 14 States. Abiolas Social Democratic Party (SDP) was thrashing Bashir Tofas National Republican Convention (NRC) across the country. Only in two States, Kebbi and Sokoto, did Abiola fail to obtain at least one third of the votes cast. Abiola was comprehensively winning the 1993 election in 19 of the nation's 30 States, including in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of Abuja. He was a popular politician who ran an infectious and viral campaign. It also helped that Abiola was a philanthropist. On June 16, 1993, the Abuja High Court ordered Humphrey Nwosu and his NEC to suspend further announcement of the results. Days later, then military President Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB) anulled the election. IBB steps aside With the polity becoming too hot for him to handle after the annulment, IBB announced he was stepping aside on August 26, 1993. The departing military despot installed Chief Ernest Shonekan to head an interim government whose sole mandate was to midwife Nigerias transition to democratic rule. However, a certain General Sani Abacha had other ideas. On November 17, 1993, Abacha sacked Shonekan and announced himself president. Abacha ruled Nigeria with an iron fist until death came calling on June 8, 1998. All along, Abiola was languishing in jail for declaring himself president on June 11, 1994 in Epetedo, Lagos. The military government of the day considered that declaration treasonable. Abiola died in suspicious circumstances on July 7, 1998--the day he was supposed to be released from prison; after a visit from an American delegation led by then Assistant Secretary of State Susan Rice. Reports in the local media suggest Abiola died after sipping from a cup of tea handed him by Rice. For instance, the Digital Journal writes that: Susan Rice and Ambassador Thomas Pickering, led a US delegation to visit the Nigerian president-elect. Abiola suffered a fatal heart attack during the meeting. The information was later leaked that Rice had served him tea during the meeting and that he developed cardiac symptoms and died within minutes of taking the tea. According to the Punch, the American delegation met him at 3 p.m.; he died between 3:20 and 3:40 p.m. after taking the tea that Rice served him. Long overdue The federal government's honour of Abiola and recognition of June 12 may have been long in coming, but its better late than never, as they say. MKO Abiolas mandate wasnt only mindlessly stolen from him and from millions of Nigerians, he died while refusing to renounce said mandate. Abachas then Chief Security Officer (CSO) Hamza Al-Mustaphasays Abiola was beaten and tortured in detention. He was told to give it all up, at gun point. But he didnt. He was traumatised in Abacha's gulag, but he remained unbowed. With Abiola in detention, his wife Kudirat Abiola was gunned down in Lagos by Abachas goons. Pro-democracy campaigners were hounded across the country and most fled into exile. June 12 protests and peaceful marches were quelled with bullets and teargas canisters; and thousands of people fled Lagos to the hinterlands of the Southeast and South South. The military junta did everything to kill the June 12 spirit and dream. There are those who hold the view that Buharis declaration was politically motivated and aimed at currying favour from the Southwest ahead of the 2019 vote. Whatever his motives, Buhari got this one spot on. At least, hes honoured a man and a watershed date past governments didnt even want to be associated with. If anything, we should be hailing the presidents inner circle and political advisers for even thinking this one up. For once, they deserve some accolades. And if the Southwest is appeased by this move and rewards Buhari with more votes in 2019, why should anyone blame them? Nigerias democracy day shouldnt be the one the military foisted on us (May 29), it should be the one where millions poured out to vote for one man, relegating their religious and ethnic inclinations to the backgroundfor once. Abiola was the presumed winner of the June 12, 1993 election which is still regarded as the freest and fairest in Nigerias history. The election was soon annulled, however, with Abiola ending up in prison and losing his life for declaring himself president. Abiola died on July 7, 1998 after attempts by the military to make him renounce his mandate, failed. Nigeria's new Democracy Day On June 6, 2018 President Muhammadu Buhari announced that June 12 will henceforth replace May 29 as Nigerias Democracy Day. June 12, 1993 was the day when Nigerians in millions expressed their democratic will in what was undisputedly the freest, fairest and most peaceful elections since our independence. The fact that the outcome of that election was not upheld by the then military government does not distract from the democratic credentials of that process, Buhari wrote in a statement. The president added that government has decided to award posthumously the highest honour of the land, GCFR, to late Chief MKO Abiola, the presumed winner of the June 12th 1993 cancelled elections. His running mate as Vice President, Ambassador Baba Gana Kingibe, is also to be invested with a GCON". Buhari said, June 12 was far more symbolic of democracy in the Nigerian context than May 29 or even the October 1st. Accordingly, after due consultations, the federal government has decided that henceforth June 12 will be celebrated as Democracy Day. The Abiolas speak Moments after the announcement, some members of the Abiola family took to social media to convey how they felt about it all. Dearest Daddy, Bashorun Moshood Kashimawo Olawale #Abiola GCFR. Wonderful to finally be able to write this, 20 years on! Thank you President Buhari, wrote Wura Abiola. Rinsola Abiola shared on Twitter that; It's going to be 20 years since daddy passed away in July. Two whole decades. This is coming really late but better late than never. For whatever reason you think it is, it took 20 years and others could have done this but they didn't. Rinsola also had a word for those from an administration that will be seeking re-election in 2019; and which will need all the votes from Abiolas Southwest base. Political undertone, overtone or middletone, that's your business really, Rinsola wrote. For Hafsat Abiola-Costello whose mum, Kudirat, was assassinated on a Lagos street as pro-democracy campaigners called for the actualization of the June 12 mandate, President Buhari showed fairness with his announcement. Hafsat also accused Olusegun Obasanjo, regarded as the chief beneficiary of the June 12 struggle, of doing everything to erase her dads memory. Obasanjo was Nigerias president from 1999 to 2007; a period which came after national upheavals and unrest on the back of the 1993 annulment. I had expected that the handover from military rule to democracy would be held on the 12th of June. That would have signalled the completion of a circle that began with a dream deferred, Hafsat wrote. That became one fulfilled. But I waited in vain. The hand over was set for May 29, a date pulled out of thin air, signifying nothing. Then I thought that the chief beneficiary would ask the country to observe a minute of silence. In memory of MKO, Kudirat, Alfred Rewane, Umaru YarAdua, Bal Kaltho, the thousands of students, the tens of journalists, traders and politicians who lost their lives fighting to actualise an unjustly annulled election. Again, I waited in vain for he started his inauguration speechand nothing was said. The first four years passed and it became clear that the goal was to erase the name of the man whose sacrifice paved the way for our democracy. Those four years set the tone. And I got tired of waiting. As it slowly became clear that to wait was to wait in vain. May we live to witness many more days when justice triumphs over injustice, when sacrifice and service win over arrogance and fraud, and when the blood of our heroes reach from across time to boldly claim the reward that their actions wrought. I stopped expecting my country to do the right thing by my father and instead began to understand why Nigeria struggles to find patriots among its leaders. Until today. Today when President Muhammadu Buhari gave an executive order to declare that June 12 was Nigerias Democracy Day. To confer on MKO the title of GCFR, an honour reserved for presidents of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. To confer on Gani Fawehinmi, the dogged fighter for justice, and my fathers running mate, Babagana Kingibe, the title of GCON, the second highest honour in the land. And in one day, it got demonstrated to my bruised heart that integrity, fairness, honour were alive and well in a country for which both my parents had sacrificed their lives. There are no words that can capture the depth of my gratitude nor the breadth of my joy. I thank God that I am alive to witness this day. Saratu Abiola wrote that; Great stuff. And yes, I do think this was a great gesture. And a long overdue one. Im a little insulted as a Yoruba woman that people think the Gani Fawehinmi GCON award The president also posthumously honored Chief Gani Fawehinmi,a tireless fighter for human rights and the actualization of the June 12th elections and indeed for democracy in general. Mohammed Fawehinmi, son of the late human rights lawyer and activist, said For my fathers honour (Chief Gani Fawehinmi ), we thank the government ( of President Muhammadu Buhari) for that. We know he deserved it. We are happy for that. Buhari also announced that the investiture ceremony will take place on June 12, 2018. Chief MKO Abiola was running away with majority of the votes cast in the 1993 poll when then military President Ibrahim Babangida cancelled the election. On Wednesday, June 6, 2018, Buhari handed out the highest award in the land to the late Abiola and declared that June 12 will henceforth replace May 29 as Nigerias Democracy Day. 'Unconstitutional' A handful of lawmakers in the House of Reps described Buharis declaration as unconstitutional and asked that the decision to posthumously honour Abiola be rescinded. There was support for Buharis decision on the floor of the House of Reps too, with those against it saying they want the executive arm of government to adhere to the rule of law. In the senate, Senator Dino Melaye had started kicking against the decision, when he said; "A dead man is not a citizen of Nigeria and can't receive the award", when he was shouted down by his colleagues and promptly ruled out of order. Abiola was winning the majority of votes cast after the 1993 election, when then military President Ibrahim Babangida c The President also conferred posthumous award of Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR) on the late politician 20 years after his death. But the PDP said the Buhari is only using Abiola's name to gain "political capital". The spokesman for the opposition party, Kola Ologbondiyan, said the President's move showed "smacks of hypocrisy and political desperation ahead of 2019 presidential election". "President Buhari's action merely sought to use the name and person of Chief Abiola to gain a political capital and not out of genuine reverence and recognition for him. The party recalls that President Buhari, who was serving in the military administration of General Sani Abacha during the travails of Chief MKO Abiola, did not associate either by words or actions with the late winner of June 12 election," the statement issued on Wednesday, June 6. "History did not record President Buhari as sympathetic to the Abiolas family when his wife, Kudirat, was gruesomely murdered by the agents of a government which president Buhari served. "It is therefore a sign of political desperation for President Buhari to seek to use Chief Abiolas name as a tool to sway Nigerians in less than twelve months to an election where he is seeking a second term," Ologbondiyan said. Buhari had also honoured Babagana Kingibe, Abiola's running mate in the June election but the PDP said the President desecrated MKO's grave by honouring Kingibe who abandoned him. "It is also shocking that the respectable grave of Abiola can be dishonoured by granting a posthumous award on him along with someone who denounced the June 12 mandate and preferred the company of his (Abiolas) traducers. Even those who now masquerade as change agents were opposed to the naming of University of Lagos after Chief Abiola. "If President Buhari genuinely wants to honour chief Abiola, he should do so by ending all anti-democratic proclivities of his administration and allow for the rule of law and respect for our constitution", the statement said. ALSO READ: It's a shame when lawmakers use impeachment to blackmail The representative of Anambra North senatorial district disclosed her defection during a ceremony at the APGA's national secretariat in Abuja on Wednesday, June 6, 2018. She said her philosophy resonates with the ideals of the APGA and described the move as the beginning of a new political chapter. She noted that her heart has always been with the party and that it only needed to provide the right structure before she could join. She said, "I am here as a politician, a true Southeasterner and a very proud Igbo woman. Today is homecoming for me. This is where my heart has always been. Before, the enabling environment was not created for various reasons but now, it exists, so I am now where my heart belongs. "Political party should be where philosophy resonates. I had always believed that without philosophy, political parties will be mere association of businessmen and women but APGA goes far beyond that. It is a movement. "APGA is where you care about your neighbour. If you recall in 2011, I started a campaign called 'Neighbour to Neighbour'. The initiative is about caring for our neighbours and that is what party politics is all about; where you have an aspiration to make a difference. "In politics, it is important that you ensure that what you met is not what you leave behind but that you will always add value and strive to improve the lives of the people." Senator Oduah was appointed as the Minister for Aviation in 2011 by then-president, Goodluck Jonathan, who removed her in 2014 amid a string of controversies and scandals, most notably the N255 million purchase of two bullet-proofs cars by an agency under her supervision which was discovered to have violated Nigeria's public procurement and appropriation laws. Rudman made this known on Wednesday in Lagos at theDigital SENSE Forum Series 2018 in his presentation the theme: IPV6: Broadening the Horizon in Nigeria. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of the forum is Internet Governance: Sustaining Development. According to him, Africa is the least in the world using the IPV4 address and Nigeria is really small compared to other countries. Rudman said that every device connected to the Internet needed a unique number known as IP address issued by Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC). He listed IPV4 and IPV6 as the two types of IP addresses. Africa is far behind when it comes to IPV6, the whole world is moving to IPV6 and Nigeria has to move because it is still at seven per cent even with IPV4 and really lagging behind, he said. Rudman said that there were challenges associated with the use of IPV6 in Nigeria, which ranged from lack of technical know-how and lack of IPV6 upstream service providers. He said that the core, metro and edge equipment compatibility issues as well as non request from end users were the challenges to IPV6 in Nigeria. According to him, the way forward is to create awareness and capacity building as well as organising seminars and trainings. He added that possibly incorporating IPV6 into university curriculum was another way forward. IPV6 taskforce is to visit top service providers with IPV6 allocation but not yet activated. Provide some prolific incentives to Internet industry to encourage them to adopt IPV6 based structure. These incentives could include reduction fee in regulatory fee and tax rebate, he said. NAN reports that Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) was the fourth revision of the Internet Protocol and a widely used protocol in data communication over different kinds of networks. The funds should help the Balkan country to meet the migrants' "basic needs and provide emergency shelter, food and health assistance, as well as protection," he said in a statement. More than 5,500 illegal migrants have entered Bosnia since the start of the year, particularly young men, but lately also families with children, notably from Iran and Pakistan. Their number still does not compare with the hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Asia and Africa who arrived in Europe in 2015-16 using the so-called Balkans route. The route was closed in March 2016 but small numbers of people, seeking alternative ways, still cross the region to reach the European Union. They gather in northwestern Bosnia, in Bihac and Velika Kladusa, near the border with EU member Croatia. Meanwhile, police officials from southeastern Europe pledged Thursday in Sarajevo to cooperate to avoid a humanitarian crisis feared by non-governmental organisations. "The joint view is ... that 2015 and migrations from that time cannot happen again at any price," Bosnian Security Minister Dragan Mektic told reporters after their meeting. Slovenia's top interior ministry official Bostjan Stefic voiced his countrys concern over the rise in number of illegal migrants. "Our first task is to protect EU borders," he said, warning it was "high time that we all together ensure that these migrations be under control." While both Macron and Trudeau have forged cordial relationships with Trump, they made it clear they would not be intimidated by the US leader -- especially in the face of US tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada, Europe, Japan and Mexico. "The G7 is an opportunity for us to get together and have frank, open discussions among nations who have long been allies and friends," Macron told reporters, with Trudeau at his side. "There will be subjects on which the (US) president is not totally in sync with the others -- I'm thinking of course of climate change and trade," the French leader said. "Our common goal is to try to find a text that can be signed by everyone. (...) That said, I agree with what Justin Trudeau has said many times -- the desire to sign a common G7 declaration must not outweigh the need to be mindful of the content," he explained. "We Europeans and the Japanese are not ready to give up everything to get" Trump's signature, he said, adding that would be a "mistake." Trudeau heaped scorn on Donald Trump's national security justification for the new metal tariffs. "It is laughable to say that Canada, France... can represent a threat to America's national security, as we are the best allies that the US has had for a long time," Trudeau said. He and Macron also noted that the tariffs would hurt American workers. It follows a much anticipated face-to-face in late April when Xi and Modi sought to mend ties after a period of hostility between the regional powers. During that encounter, both agreed to maintain "peace and tranquility" at their borders, without specifically mentioning their militaries coming eyeball-to-eyeball in a disputed Himalayan area last year. Both sides stood down and a major crisis was averted but the neighbours have a long history of mistrust. Modi used a major security speech in Singapore this month to call for all countries to have "equal access" to shared maritime areas under international law -- comments seen as directed at China and its expansionism in the South China Sea. The US has put new emphasis on military ties with New Delhi and the rising importance of the Indian Ocean as nations look to counter China's inexorable military rise. China and Russia lead the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation security bloc that will feature arch-rivals India and Pakistan as new members for the first time. The two-day gathering revolves around trade and security and China's Belt and Road infrastructure project is likely to feature on the agenda. He is suspected of being one of the leaders of "Los Castanas", a group that "monopolised hashish smuggling" in the Campo de Gibraltar area, the statement added. The man had been on the run since the end of 2016 when police arrested 30 suspected members of the group in Spain and Morocco. Police seized a tonne of hashish along with 350,000 euros ($410,000) and three rigid inflatable boats as part of that operation. The organisation bought houses for poor families whose members did not have a criminal record, and gave them vehicles and money, and in return they watched over drug shipments, police said. Earlier this year gang members stormed a hospital in La Linea de la Concepcion to free a top trafficker from police custody. Drug traffickers are operating increasingly in the open in this part of the southern region of Andalusia, which has high unemployment. They land shipments of drugs on beaches in broad daylight and physically attack police officers. The Spanish government has responded by sending extra police to the area. The Linea de Concepcion is in Cadiz province, the entry point for 40 percent of the drugs smuggled into Spain, according to the interior ministry. Since the first inkling that a Trump-Kim summit could be on the cards, Japan has repeatedly insisted that Washington be mindful not to let its guard down with the nuclear-armed regime in Pyongyang. And by coming to Washington to see Trump for the second time in less than two months, Abe wants to be sure to get his point across to the US president, amid the intense diplomatic flurry over the future of the Korean peninsula. Before leaving Tokyo, the Japanese leader emphasized that during his lightning visit to Washington, he hoped to "closely coordinate and agree" with Trump on an approach to the North Korea issue. And he clearly outlined what would need to happen for the June 12 summit in Singapore to be a success: tangible progress on curbing the North's nuclear and ballistic missiles programs, as well as answers about Japanese nationals kidnapped by Pyongyang in the 1970s and 1980s. At their last meeting at Trump's Florida retreat in April, the US president promised Abe to raise the politically sensitive abductions issue in any talks with Pyongyang. But the subject is hardly a priority for the businessman-turned-president, whose strategy appears to be in constant flux. Above all, Trump seems most enthused by the notion of being the first sitting US leader to hold direct talks with a scion of the ruling Kim dynasty. The intensifying diplomacy on North Korea has so far left Abe as the odd man out: Trump is preparing to meet Kim, while Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korea's Moon Jae-in have each already seen the North's leader twice. Japan left 'isolated' after Singapore? For Richard Armitage, a former senior diplomat during the administration of George W. Bush, Tokyo runs a very real risk of finding itself out in the cold after the Trump-Kim talks. "We should absolutely prevent decoupling -- decoupling Japanese and US security," he told AFP. "This is and has been an aim of China and North Korea for a long time, and we can't allow this to happen. That would be falling into a terrible trap." Trump and Abe so far seem to have forged a sort of friendship, but even that bonhomie was revealed to be limited at their last meeting. On Thursday, it could again be put to the test -- beyond North Korea, they are also meant to discuss the thorny issue of tariffs, which Washington says were put in place to protect American workers. "I will stress that measures to restrict trade would not serve the interests of any country," Abe said before heading to Washington. Japan had hoped to convince the US to shield it from fresh tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, and did not hide its bitter disappointment when those talks failed. The government in Tokyo warned of the "grave impact" that US tariffs could have on bilateral ties and the world trading system. Davis said the new partnership Britain was seeking with the bloc, covering everything from intelligence sharing to cross-border arrest warrants, was "unconditional". "Any move by others to place conditions on our offer will only serve to put the safety of everybody's citizens at risk," he said in a speech to European diplomats, ministers and journalists in central London. Davis highlighted efforts by the European Commission to block access to the EU's Galileo satellite project to British businesses, citing issues about sharing sensitive data with a non-EU country. "This is happening, despite the fact that excluding UK industry would delay the project by up to three years -- and cost the programme an extra billion euros," he said. "Put simply, the commission's position seems to be shooting itself in the foot just to prove that the gun works." He said a similar approach to the new European defence fund "risks damaging potential cooperation in the longer term". "On all of these, unhelpful precedents and assumptions on how third countries should cooperate with the EU is hindering projects that help the entire continent," he said. "Dogmatic responses based on what has happened before don't help anyone." Davis said the new relationship between Britain and the EU would be like any other because their data sharing systems and operational processes would already be aligned. He also talked about Britain's desire for a bespoke trade deal with Brussels after Brexit, saying it should reflect the "deep economic ties" between the two sides. As the negotiations reach a crucial phase, ahead of a deal hoped for by October, Davis said the biggest risk was a "lack of ambition". "The primary risk in these negotiations is actually now one of accident, that due to a lack of ambition -- by resting on third country precedents -- we miscalculate somehow," he said. QUIZ: Guess the Road Songs We can't wait to get back on the road again! Play this quiz and see if how many you can get right! FRANCE: A revised version of the governments draft legislation to reform the national rail sector was formally adopted by the Senat on June 5, by 240 votes to 85. FRANCE: Rolling stock leasing company Alpha Trains has ordered nine Euro 4001 diesel-electric locomotives from Stadler Rail Valencia to expand its growing business in the French rail market, the company announced on June 7. Rantoul, IL (61866) Today Rain likely. Low 58F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall around a half an inch.. Tonight Rain likely. Low 58F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall around a half an inch. March 26 rally case convict Borisov released RIA Novosti, Igor Zarembo 10:59 07/06/2018 MOSCOW, June 7(RAPSI) - The Moscow region resident Dmitry Borisov sentenced to one year in prison for using force against a police officer during an unauthorized rally held in Moscow on March 26, 2017, has been released after serving out his term, human rights advocate Alla Frolova has told RAPSI. According to information in the public domain, he was serving his sentence in Belgorod. The Investigative Committee claimed that the defendant struck the police officer on duty over the head twice during the rally. Earlier, several other men, Andrey Kosykh, Yury Kuliy, Alexander Shpakov and Stanislav Zimovets, and Aleksey Politikov have been convicted and sentenced for violence against law enforcement officers during the rally. Kosykh was sentenced to 4 years in prison, but later his term was reduced by 4 months. Kuliy has been given 8 months in a penal colony settlement. Shpakov received a 1.5-year prison sentence. Zimovets has been sentenced to 2.5 years in prison. A 2-year prison sentence given to Politikov has not taken effect yet. The Interior Ministry reported that about 500 people had been arrested during the unauthorized rally on March 26. Overall number of people present in the area at the time was estimated at as high as 8,000 people. One of the police officers received injuries; a criminal case was launched over this incident. According to the Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny, arrested during the rally, Moscow authorities refused to greenlight the rally in the citys center and proposed alternative areas only a day before it was to take place. Navalny said that in this case Russian legislation allows organizers to hold an event at the area, which was listed first. Former anti-corruption official Zakharchenko appeals confiscation of $145.3 million RIA Novosti, Mikhail Voskresensky 12:46 07/06/2018 MOSCOW, June 7 (RAPSI) The Moscow City Court has registered an appeal of the former Russian anti-corruption official Dmitry Zakharchenko charged with corruption crimes against confiscation of 9 billion rubles ($145.3 million) from him and his relatives, the press-service of the court has told RAPSI. Zakharchenkos lawyer Alexander Gorbatenko told RAPSI that his client also filed an application with the Nikulinsky District Court seeking to review the ruling on the confiscation in light of new circumstances. When the confiscation lawsuit was filed the money was no longer classified as evidence in the corruption case. Earlier, the court granted a lawsuit filed by the Prosecutor Generals Office and confiscated money and property belonging to Zakharachenko and his relatives. Overall, the property in this case is evaluated at 9 billion rubles, including 27 real estate objects in elite neighborhoods of Moscow, 4 high-end automobiles, 8 billion rubles (about $129.2 million) and a gold bar. The ruling came into force in March. Ex-Russian anti-corruption official Dmitry Zakharchenko was arrested on September 8, 2016. During searches at the apartment belonging to Zakharchenkos sister law enforcement officers found around 9 billion rubles. He denied any relation to seized funds. Zakharchenko was charged with receiving a 7-million-ruble ($114,000) bribe from an unknown source. He has also been charged with abuse of office and hindering the conduct of preliminary investigation. In March, it was revealed that he is charged with two more instances of corruption crimes. According to case papers, Viktor Zakharchenko, the father of ex-official, is charged with being an accessory to embezzlement. His father also pleaded not guilty. Russian citizen charged with treason to stay detained until late July flickr.com/Joe Gratz 17:52 07/06/2018 MOSCOW, June 7 (RAPSI) The Moscow City Court has upheld detention of Russian national Viktor Prozorov charged with treason, the courts press office has told RAPSI. Prozorov will remain in jail until July 27. More details have not been disclosed because the case is highly classified. According to the Criminal Code of Russia, the defendant could get up to 20 years in prison if convicted. All possible actions to be taken to free journalist Vyshinsky detained in Ukraine Putin 16:50 07/06/2018 MOSCOW, June 7 (RAPSI) Russian authorities would take all possible actions to gain the release of journalist Kirill Vyshinsky detained in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin said during the annual television call-in show on Thursday. Russia banks on the support of international organizations on this matter, the President added. However, exchange of Vyshinsky and Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov sentenced to 20 years in Russian prison for organizing a terrorist group in Crimea is not in question just yet as their situations are different, Putin noted. According to the President, Russian journalist was arrested and then detained for his professional journalistic activities. That is unprecedented and inadmissible policy of Ukrainian authorities, he stated. As to Sentsov, he was arrested in Crimea for preparing a terrorist attack which could result in human losses. These cases are disparate, Putin said. As previously reported, the chief of RIA Novosti Ukraine website Vyshinsky was arrested on May 15 and then put in detention for two months. Ukrainian authorities accuse him of treason. The journalist could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted. Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov was sentenced to 20 years in prison by Russian court in August 2015. Investigators found that Sentsov started a terrorist group in Crimea, a branch of the Right Sector movement that is banned in Russia. He was allegedly promoting Crimeas secession from Russia. According to the Prosecutor Generals Office, Russias Federal Security Service prevented the terrorist group from committing several terrorist attacks on the peninsula. Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale Buy real estate. Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale in US and Canada. Search Real Estate The French Military has signed a contract for 90,000 Hornady Rapid Racks to be used with the newly adopted Heckler & Kock HK 416 rifles. The Ministry of Defense has asked Hornady to provide a model for the troops with a black handle rather than the standard red. There is no indication in the press release as to how the Rapid Rack devices are to be employed by the French, but I imagine that there will be a lot of gripping and ripping of the device. Hornady released the following: (Grand Island, Nebr.) Hornady Manufacturing Company has struck a deal to sell more than 90,000 of its Rapid Rack empty chamber indicator / load-assist devices to the French Ministry of Defense through the companys French distributor, Sidam SAS. The French Ministry of Defense will purchase a customized Rapid Rack, sporting a black handle rather than the standard red, to accompany 93,340 new Heckler & Koch HK416 rifles. The French armed forces have chosen the HK416 to replace the long-running FAMAS, nicknamed the Bugle for its distinctive shape, as their standard assault rifle. This purchase confirms that Hornady is recognized throughout the world as a supplier of not only top-of-the-line ammunition but also innovative accessories, said Steve Catlett, International Sales Manager. Were just as proud to help the French armed forces defend their nation as we are to help U.S. law enforcement agencies stay cruiser ready with our Rapid Rack. Not only an empty chamber indicator, the Rapid Rack also operates as a load-assist device, allowing law enforcement officers or military personnel to keep their long guns ready with a fully charged magazine and a visibly empty chamber. The user inserts the cartridge-shaped portion into the chamber, leaving the lever protruding from the guns ejection port, and then closes the bolt and inserts a loaded magazine. Grabbing the lever and pulling straight back allows the Rapid Rack to fall to the ground so the fully charged bolt springs forward to feed a round into the chamber. Founded in 1949, Hornady Manufacturing Company is a family owned business headquartered in Grand Island, Nebraska. Proudly manufacturing products that are made in the USA, Hornady Manufacturing is a world leader in bullet, ammunition, reloading tool and accessory design and manufacture. For further information regarding Hornady products, visit the company web site at http://hornady.com. Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code bound stocks have witnessed a steep fall in 2018. Pavan Burugula and Advait Rao Palepu report on the hows and whys of this fall. Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com Investors betting on insolvency-bound stocks have been caught on the wrong foot. Several investors had lapped up shares of companies that were headed for insolvency proceedings late last year, anticipating a business turnaround. This optimism led to a 30% to 40% rally in these stocks. However, the stocks have been on a downward spiral for the past few months as the turnaround process has not panned out according to expectations. Uncertainty within the resolution process, consistent delays and the fear of trading curbs have prompted investors to book losses. The Reserve Bank of India issued its first list of companies to be admitted under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code in June 2017. The list comprised 12 companies whose outstanding debt had to be resolved before December 31. Failing this, these firms would have to face proceedings at the National Company Law Tribunal. Initially, market participants expected the bidding process for some of the companies to conclude by January 2018, with a turnaround imminent in the next six months. This prompted investors to take big exposure in these stocks. "It was speculative trading as investors hoped to make gains when there was a turnaround in the company. However, such transformation is easier said than done," said Alok Churiwala, managing director at Churiwala Securities. "If a company is undergoing insolvency proceedings," Churiwala added, "it means the company is bankrupt and there is a slight chance of a turnaround." Jaypee Infratech's shares had rallied 68% between October and December 2017. Since the beginning of this year, the stock has plunged 75% amid unanticipated developments. The company was one of the first real estate developers to be admitted in the NCLT. Steelmaker Monnet Ispat and Energy is another case where the company's shares have taken a serious beating in 2018. The company featured in the RBI's first list of defaulters and was admitted in the NCLT late last year. The news raised hopes of a turnaround, lifting its shares by 20%. However, a legal tussle between prospective bidders, ArcelorMittal and JSW Steel, delayed proceedings. The stock has fallen 49% during the year. In insolvency proceedings, bidders are expected to pare debt and plan out a turnaround plan for the stressed companies within 270 days. Experts say an actual turnaround can take up to three years as plans have to be implemented while the new management settles in. However, proceedings have dragged on due to the complex nature of the process, jurisdictional issues between different government agencies, and litigations by promoters and bidders. This has led to delays in the resolution process as the appellate tribunal and Supreme Court have been approached for providing direction and clarity. Fear of regulatory curbs on the NCLT-bound stocks is another reason keeping investors at bay. During its latest board meeting, Sebi had proposed imposing trading restrictions on the stocks that were undergoing insolvency proceedings in order to curb speculative trading. However, the market regulator is yet to release final norms. United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asked Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa to take action against terrorist groups without any distinction. It was the first time that a high-level engagement took place between the two sides since travel restrictions were imposed by the two sides on each others' diplomats. Pompeo spoke with Bajwa over phone and their discussion was focused to advance Pak-US bilateral relations, his spokesperson said. "They discussed ways to advance US-Pakistani bilateral relations, the need for political reconciliation in Afghanistan, and the importance of targeting all militant and terrorist groups in South Asia without distinction," State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert said. The US and others have long complained that Pakistan provides safe haven to the Afghan Taliban and their allies, the Haqqani network, allowing them to carry out cross-border attacks in Afghanistan. Pakistan denies these allegations but President Donald Trump has escalated the criticism against Islamabad since he took office. Pakistan last month placed travel restrictions on United States diplomats based in the country. The restrictions in Pakistan were imposed on the same day that the US barred diplomats working at the Pakistani Embassy in Washington from traveling outside of a 25-mile radius around the city without approval. IMAGE: Congress president Rahul Gandhi meets farmers during Kisan Samriddhi Sankalp rally at Khokhra in Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh, on Wednesday. Photograph: PTI Photo A farmer who lost his son in police firing during the agitation last year on Thursday alleged that a government official asked him not to attend a condolence meet where Congress chief Rahul Gandhi was to be present. The official, however, denied the allegation. Gandhi on Wednesday attended a condolence meet at Pipliya Mandi in the district on the first anniversary of six farmers' death in police firing. He also addressed a rally. Dinesh Patidar, whose son Abhishek was among those killed, told PTI that Garoth Sub-divisional Magistrate (SDM) R P Varma called his another son, Sandeep Patidar, and said they should not attend the event, organised by the Congress. "Varma called my son Sandeep, who is a government employee, and asked who from our family were going. When Sandeep said we were going to attend the meet, Varma asked him to stop us," Patidar said. Patidar further said he and his wife attended the event all the same, as it was a condolence meeting. Had chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan invited them to such a meet, they would have attended it too, he said. "Rahul asked us during the meeting what is our demand. I told him that we should get adequate price for our crops, and those who killed our son and other farmers should be punished," he said. When contacted, SDM Varma said he only called and advised Patidar's son, who works as a peon in the government office at Garoth, not to attend the meeting, as rules prohibit government servants from taking part in such programmes. "It was my duty to advise him, as he is a government servant. As far as other family members were concerned, they were free to do so," Varma said. 'The soul of India resides in pluralism and tolerance. This plurality of our society has come through assimilation of ideas over centuries.' 'Secularism and inclusion are a matter of faith for us. It is our composite culture which makes us into one nation.' IMAGE: Former President Pranab Mukherjee being welcomed by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat at an event in Nagpur on Thursday. Photograph: PTI Photo Here's the full text of former President Pranab Mukherjee's speech at the closing ceremony of 'Tritiya Varsha Sangh Shiksha Varg', a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's event to mark the conclusion of a three-year training camp for swayamsevaks, in Nagpur on Thursday: Greetings, Sarsanghchalak Shri Mohan Bhagwat Ji, Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen Today, I'm here to share with you my understanding of the concepts of Nation, Nationalism and Patriotism in the context of India, that is Bharat. These three concepts are so closely intertwined that it is difficult to discuss any one of them in isolation. Let us make a beginning by understanding the dictionary meaning of these three words. Nation is defined as a large group of people sharing the same culture, language or history and inhabiting a particular state or area'. Nationalism is defined as 'identification with ones own nation and support for its interests especially to the exclusion of interests of other nations. Patriotism is defined as devotion to and vigorous support for ones country'. Let us look at our roots. India was an open society, globally connected along the Silk and Spice Routes. These busy highways of commerce and conquest witnessed a free exchange of culture, faith and invention as merchants, scholars and sages traversed mountain and desert and sailed the oceans. Buddhism reached Central Asia, China and Southeast Asia together with Hindu influences. Ancient travelers like Megasthenes in the 4th century BC, Fa Hien in the 5th century AD and Hiuen Tsang in the 7th century AD; when they came to India, wrote about the efficient administrative systems with planned settlements and good infrastructure. Takshashila, Nalanda, Vikramashila, Valabhi, Somapura and Odantapuri comprised the ancient university system that dominated the world for 1,800 years beginning the sixth century BCE. They were magnets for the finest minds and scholars in the world. In the liberal environment of these institutions creativity found full form and art, literature, and scholarship flourished. Chanakyas Arthashastra, an authoritative text on state-craft was also written during this period. India was a state long before the concept of the European Nation State gained ground after the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. This model- of a defined territory, a single language, shared religion and a common enemy- is the model which led to the formation of various nation states in Europe. On the other hand Indian Nationalism emanated from 'Universalism' the philosophy of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam and Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah, Sarve Santu Niramayah. We see the whole world as one family and pray for the happiness and good health of all. Our national identity has emerged through a long drawn process of confluence, assimilation, and co-existence. The multiplicity in culture, faith and language is what makes India special. We derive our strength from tolerance. We accept and respect our pluralism. We celebrate our diversity. These have been a part of our collective consciousness for centuries. Any attempt at defining our nationhood in terms of dogmas and identities of religion, region, hatred and intolerance will only lead to dilution of our national identity. Any differences that may appear are only on the surface but we remain a distinct cultural unit with a common history, a common literature and a common civilization . In the words of the eminent historian Vincent Smith, 'India beyond all doubt possesses a deep underlying fundamental unity, far more profound than that produced either by geographical isolation or by political superiority. That unity transcends the innumerable diversities of blood, colour, language, dress, manners, and sect'. IMAGE: A wordcloud of Dr Mukherjee's address. As can be seen, he used the words 'State', 'Nation', 'India' most number of times. If we take a quick look at history the emergence of the Indian State can be traced back to the sixteen Mahajanapadas mostly spread across Northern India in the 6th century BC. In the 4th century BC, Chandragupta Maurya defeated the Greeks to build a powerful empire comprising of North-Western and Northern India. Emperor Ashoka was the most illustrious ruler of this dynasty. After the collapse of the Mauryan Dynasty, the empire broke into small kingdoms around 185 BC. Gupta Dynasty again created a vast empire which collapsed around 550 AD. Many dynasties ruled till 12th century, when Muslim invaders captured Delhi and successive dynasties ruled for the next 300 years. Babur defeated the last Lodhi King in 1526 at the First Battle of Panipat and firmly established Mughal rule which continued for 300 years. The East India Company after winning the Battle of Plassey in 1757, and the Three Battles of Arcot (1746-63) brought a vast territory in East and South of India under its control. A large part of western region was also annexed to the companys territory and to administer these territories, a modern form of government was established in 1774. To administer these territories, the office of Governor General at Fort William, Calcutta and two sub-ordinate governors at Madras and Bombay were created. For nearly 140 years, Calcutta was the centre of British Authority in India. However, the responsibility of administration was taken away from the East India Company in 1858 and the Secretary of State for India was appointed in the British Cabinet to super intend the Indian Administration. Throughout this period of 2,500 years of changing political fortunes and conquests, the 5,000-year-old civilisational continuity remained unbroken. In fact, each conqueror and each foreign element had been absorbed to form a new synthesis and unity. Tagore in his poem Bharat Teertha says and I quote 'No one knows at whose beckoning call how many streams, of humanity came in indomitable waves from all over the world, over the millennia and mingled like rivers, into this vast ocean and created an individual soul, that is called Bharat'. The concept of Modern Indian State found frequent articulation by various Indian organisations including the Indian National Congress towards the end of nineteenth century. Starting with Shri Surendranath Banerjea in 1895 at Pune, all Congress presidents gave a call for an Indian nation comprising the territorial areas of British India and the territories of 565 princely states. When Bal Gangadhar Tilak gave voice to the phrase coined by Barrister Joseph Baptista 'Swaraj is my Birthright and I shall have it', he referred to Swaraj for the Indian People -- encompassing various castes, creeds, and religions, spread across British India, and Princely States. This nation and nationalism was not bound by geography, language, religion, or race. As Gandhiji explained Indian nationalism was not exclusive, nor aggressive, nor destructive. It was this nationalism that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru so vividly expressed in the Discovery of India, and I quote, 'I am convinced that Nationalism can only come out of the ideological fusion of Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and other groups in India. That does not mean that extinction of any real culture of any group, but it does mean a common national outlook, to which other matters are subordinated'. In the process of our movement against British Rule, the various anti-colonial, anti-British and mostly progressive movements across the length and breadth of the country were unified into a cohesive national struggle for freedom, keeping the feeling of patriotism above their individual, ideological and political leanings. We won independence in 1947. Thanks to the efforts of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the Princely States merged leading to the consolidation of India. The complete integration of Provincial and Princely States took place after the formation of states on the recommendation of States Re-organisation Commission. On 26 January 1950, the Constitution of India came into effect. In a remarkable display of idealism and courage, we the people of India gave to ourselves a sovereign democratic republic to secure for all its citizens justice, liberty, and equality. We undertook to promote among all citizens fraternity, the dignity of the individual and the unity of the nation. These ideals became the lodestar of the modern Indian State. Democracy became our most precious guide towards peace and regeneration from the swamp of poverty created by centuries of colonial rule. For us, democracy is not a gift, but a sacred trust. The Indian Constitution, consisting of 395 articles and 12 schedules, is not merely a legal document but a Magna Carta of socio-economic transformation of the country. It represents the hopes and aspirations of the billion plus Indians. From our constitution flows our nationalism. The construct of Indian nationalism is Constitutional Patriotism, which consists of an appreciation of our inherited and shared diversity; a readiness to enact ones citizenship at different levels; the ability to self correct and learn from others . Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen, I want to share with you some truths that I have internalised during my fifty year long public life, as a Parliamentarian and Administrator. The soul of India resides in pluralism and tolerance. This plurality of our society has come through assimilation of ideas over centuries. Secularism and inclusion are a matter of faith for us. It is our composite culture which makes us into one nation. India's nationhood is not one language, one religion, one enemy. It is the Perennial Universalism of 1.3 billion people who use more than 122 languages and 1600 dialects in their everyday lives, practice 7 major religions, belong to three major ethnic groups -- Aryans, Mongoloids, and Dravidians live under one system, one flag and one identity of being Bhartiya and have No Enemies. That is what makes Bharat a diverse and united nation. In a democracy, informed and reasoned public engagement on all issues of national importance is essential. A dialogue is necessary not only to balance the competing interests but also to reconcile them. Divergent strands in public discourse have to be recognised. We may argue, we may agree, or we may not agree. But we cannot deny the essential prevalence of multiplicity of opinion. Only through a dialogue can we develop the understanding to solve complex problems without an unhealthy strife within our polity. Peaceful co-existence, compassion, respect for life, and harmony with nature form the foundation of our civilisation. Every time a child or woman is brutalized, the soul of India is wounded. Manifestations of rage are tearing our social fabric. Every day, we see increased violence around us. At the heart of this violence is darkness, fear, and mistrust. We must free our public discourse from all forms of violence, physical as well as verbal. Only a non-violent society can ensure the participation of all sections of people in the democratic process, especially the marginalised and the dispossessed. We must move from anger, violence, and conflict to peace, harmony, and happiness. We have lived with pain and strife for long enough. You are young, disciplined, well trained and highly educated. Please wish for peace, harmony and happiness. Our Motherland is asking for that. Our Motherland deserves that. Happiness is fundamental to the human experience of life. To lead healthy, happy, and productive lives is the basic right of our citizens. While we have done well on our economic growth indicators, we have fared poorly on the World Happiness Index. We rank 133 out of the 156 countries mapped in the World Happiness Report 2018. Kautilya's shloka from Arthashastra, inscribed near lift No. 6 in the Parliament House says: In the happiness of the people lies the happiness of the king, their welfare is his welfare. He shall not consider as good only that which pleases him but treat as beneficial to him whatever causes happiness to all people. Kautilya points out in this shloka very succinctly that the State is for the people. People are at the centre of all activities of the state and nothing should be done to divide the people and create animosity amongst them. The aim of the state should be to galvanise them to fight a concerted war against poverty, disease and deprivation and to convert economic growth into real development. Let the objective of spreading Peace, Harmony and Happiness inform the formulation of our public policy and guide all the actions of our state and citizens in their everyday life. This and only this will be able to create a happy nation, where Nationalism flows automatically. Thank You Jai Hind (Source: http://pranabmukherjee.nic.in/) 'Experience of administration may make a member of civil service a good administrator but not necessarily an able and impartial adjudicator,' observes the Supreme Court. The unseemly power struggle of politicians is there for all to see in the media. But the hunger of the bureaucrats for authority is so subtle that it can be detected only in a clause or two in the law they draft -- like inserting may in place of shall. Shifting of a comma in a sovereign decree famously saved a criminal from the noose and in the United States cost billions of dollars in government revenue. It requires the skill of judges to lay bare the effect of such slippery syntax. Two Supreme Court judgments of recent weeks revealed how the babus yearn to wear the judicial hat in various tribunals. This is an old game since the administrative tribunals were set up in the early 1990s. The Supreme Court had written long judgments in which it insisted on a judicial member in such quasi-judicial bodies. Installation of several tribunals has been stalled as the laws were drafted keeping out persons with adjudicatory experience and packing them with civil servants, mostly as sinecure for the retired. The establishment of the company law tribunals, for instance, was delayed for years because the draftsmen tried to justify the weightage given to non-judicial members. Their argument was that judges had no expertise in the emerging questions involving technology and economics. Last month, the question arose again in the context of central and state regulatory commissions set up under the Electricity Act 2003. The law stated that the chairperson of state commission may be a high court judge, and for the central commission a judge of the Supreme Court or the chief justice of a high court. The clever hands of the draftsmen were seen in the use of the word may. But when appeals were decided in the judgment (State of Gujarat vs Utility Users Welfare Association), the Supreme Court ruled that may should be read as shall. It ruled that it is mandatory to have a judicial mind presiding over these commissions in the form of a judge. Tribunals were set up to reduce the burden of regular courts and therefore they have been granted adjudicatory powers. That brings in the constitutional concept of the independence of judiciary and the separation of powers. Therefore, the court stated: The presence of a man of law as a member is a necessity in order to sustain the provision, as otherwise, it would fall foul of the principles of separation of powers and judicial review, which have been read to be a part of the basic structure of the Constitution. Earlier this month, the court went a step further on the issue of appointments to tribunals in general. The question arose in the case of debt recovery tribunals (Roger Mathew vs South Indian Bank). Since the question of selection of members arises repeatedly, the theme of the new judgment was restructuring of the tribunal system in the light of the constitutional scheme as interpreted in decisions of this court and expert studies. The court reiterated the observation in an earlier judgment that pointed out the incursion of civil servants into tribunals. Experience of administration may make a member of civil service a good administrator but not necessarily an able and impartial adjudicator, the court said and added: There was gradual erosion of independence of judiciary and shrinking of the space occupied by the judiciary and increase in number of persons belonging to civil service discharging functions which were earlier exercised by courts which was needed to be checked. The government resisted the review of the existing procedure and provided fudged data regarding arrears in the debt recovery tribunals. However, the court has asked it to set up a committee for overhaul of the entire system by framing the following issues: (i) Creation of a regular cadre and laying down eligibility for recruitment; (ii) Setting up of an autonomous oversight body for recruitment and overseeing the performance of the members; (iii) Amending the scheme of direct appeals to the SC and giving powers to high courts to hear appeals; and (iv) setting up more benches to make them more accessible to the public. All these would require amendments to the existing laws which have created some 30 tribunals. Since their functioning has not been satisfactory, some of them have been scrapped or merged. Most are carrying on without the full quorum and a few are headless. The backlog is nearly as bad as ordinary courts and mounting. There have been calls for scrapping the entire system, but surgical remedies should be tried before active euthanasia. The three terrorists arrested on Thursday revealed the involvement of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists in the 2016 attack on Nagrota army base. 'Interrogation of three terrorists arrested in the Nagrota attack case, namely Md Ashiq Baba, Tariq Ahmed Dar, Muneer-ul-Hassan Qadri has revealed that they were in regular touch with JeM commanders based in Pakistan,' read a statement from the National Investigation Agency. As per the NIA, the three arrested were in continuous touch through WhatsApp with Maulana Mufti Ashghar, based in Muzaffarabad, whose nephew Waqas (JeM commander in South Kashmir) was killed in an encounter near Pulwama recently. Besides him, the trio was also in touch with Qari Zarar (another commander in charge of launching terrorists in the Jammu region) based out of Rawalpindi and Waseem and Abu Talha. According to the NIA, in furtherance of the conspiracy to conduct attacks on the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir, terrorist Ashiq Baba visited Pakistan four times crossing the Wagah border (between 2015 to 2017) legally. He obtained his visas after getting reference letters from Huriyat leaders Syed Ali Shah Gillani, Gani Bhat and Maulana Umar Farooq. During his visits, he met with JeM commanders and took directions from them after getting clearance from a local Inter-Services Intelligence agent. Ashiq Baba thereafter on return, received instructions on how and when to receive the group of terrorists. Around a week prior to the attack, he and another arrested terrorist Muneer were given the GPS coordinates of the receiving point along the Samba sector highway as well as of the possible targets along the Nagrota army cantonment through WhatsApp from their handlers in Pakistan. Ashiq went with Muneer (and later joined by Tariq) and finalised the receiving point and the target. Officers mess complex of 166 Medium Regiment at Nagrota was chosen due to its convenient location towards the end of the Cantonment. After finalisation, the points were passed on WhatsApp to the JeM commanders in Pakistan. They then received a group of three attackers a day before the attack (Nov 28, 2016 early in the morning) at the decided location. The terrorists changed their clothes near the highway after they were received by Ashiq, Muneer and Tariq. Thereafter, the group travelled in two vehicles to Jammu after keeping their weapons concealed in the dickey of one of the two cars owned by Tariq and Ashiq. They parked the car having the weapons at a paid parking slot and then stayed at a hotel in Jammu. On the same day, Ashiq took the commander among the attackers Abu Hisham to Nagrota to show him the site of the attack and came back to the hotel. Later in the night, these Indian terrorists left for the attack site along with the Pakistani attackers, dropped them near the attack site and left for Srinagar. Ashiq and Muneer again received a group of three terrorists in March 2017 from the Samba sector and dropped them at Khrew, near Pampore. This time the terrorists were received by Noor Trali (JeM commander who was subsequently killed in an encounter) Ashiq then went to Pakistan in April/May 2017 and met Waseem, Abu Talha and Mufti Ashghar. He also met Maulana Rauf (brother of Maulana Masood Azhar and accused in the Pathankot attack case) at their headquarters at Bahawalpur. He was showered praises by the JeM leadership and promised with a lot of financial rewards and was told to receive more attackers in future. Muneer told Ashiq that the JeM leader wanted him to open an account with HDFC or ICICI bank to receive funds as reward. Ashiq already had an HDFC account which he provided to the JeM commanders on WhatsApp. They then transferred hefty amounts into his account. Ashiq says the amount came from Gulf countries. Interrogation of the terrorists will be continued. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit during which they will take stock of the implementation of decisions taken at the informal summit just over a month ago in Wuhan. Modi is expected to hold nearly half a dozen bilateral meetings with leaders of other SCO countries. However, there is no official word on whether there will be any interaction between Modi and Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain, who is scheduled to attend the meeting in China. The bilateral meeting with President Xi would take place on June 9, while meetings with other leaders on the sidelines of the SCO Summit in Qingdao were being finalised, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said at a media briefing in New Delhi. Officials have said Modi and Xi are expected to take stock of implementation of decisions taken at their informal summit in Wuhan. Among other issues, the SCO summit is expected to focus on opportunities for cooperation among the member countries and the situation in the region, Kumar said. Russian President Vladimir Putin is also expected to attend the summit. Modi had last month met Putin in an informal summit in Sochi. The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan became its members last year, and are participating as full members for the first time. Kumar, while talking to reporters after the briefing, said China appreciated Prime Minister Modi's speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue held in Singapore last week. This was conveyed by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj during a meeting held on the sidelines of the BRICS Foreign Ministers Meeting in South Africa this week, he said. This was also conveyed by China's Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou to Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale in a meeting held here, Kumar said. In his address at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Modi said Asia and the world will have a better future when India and China work together with trust and confidence while being sensitive to each other's interests. Former Janata Dal-United president Sharad Yadav, who has been disqualified as an MP by the Rajya Sabha chairman, cannot draw his salary, allowances or perks entitled to him as a member of parliament, the Supreme Court on Thursday said. The top court modified the Delhi high court order passed last year by which it had allowed Yadav to draw salary, allowances and perks till the pendency of his plea challenging the disqualification as an MP from Rajya Sabha. A vacation bench of Justices A K Goel and Ashok Bhushan, however, allowed him to retain his official bungalow, as ordered by the high court on December 15 last year. The apex court's decision came on a plea by JD-U's Rajya Sabha MP Ramchandra Prasad Singh challenging the Delhi high court's interim order. At the outset, the counsel appearing for Yadav said that he is ready to forgo his salary, allowances and perks but he should be allowed to retain his official residence, till the pendency of petition in high court. The bench then asked Yadav's counsel as how can the high court direct him to pay the salary and perks when he has been disqualified by the chairman of the upper house. "We will modify the order of high court directing payment of salary, allowances and perks. As far as official residence is concerned that part we are not touching and he can stay there till the pendency of his petition," the bench said. Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar appearing for Singh said that the order of the high court should be modified as the high court cannot ask for payment of salary and retention of his official residence at New Delhi as he has been disqualified by the Rajya Sabha chairman on December 4, last year. Kumar said Yadav's petition pending before the high court should be directed to be decided expeditiously by a division bench. The bench then directed that the petition be heard in July by a division bench of the high court and matter be decided expeditiously. On December 15, last year, the high court, had refused to grant interim stay on Yadav's disqualification as a Rajya Sabha MP. The interim order of the high court had come on Yadav's plea challenging his disqualification on several grounds, including that he was not given any chance to present his case by the Rajya Sabha chairman before passing an order against him and his colleague and then MP Ali Anwar on December 4, 2017. On May 18, the top court had agreed to hear the appeal filed by Singh against the high court order and had issued a notice to Yadav. Singh, the JD-U leader in the Upper House, had sought their disqualification on the ground that they had attended a rally of opposition parties in Patna in violation of its directives. Yadav had joined hands with the opposition after JD-U president and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar dumped the grand alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress in Bihar and tied up with the Bharatiya Janata Party in July last year. Yadav was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2016 and his term was scheduled to end in July 2022. Anwar's term as a Rajya Sabha MP expired in April. Both were disqualified under the anti-defection law. Last updated on: June 07, 2018 18:11 IST Heavy rains lashed many parts of Mumbai on Thursday as parts of city submerged under water which affected vehicular and train traffic. Parts of Mulund, Ghatkopar, Kurla, Dadar and Parel received a significant downpour. The rains caused waterlogging at many parts of the city and especially in low lying areas. Parts of Parel, Khar, Sion and Worli witnessed significant accumulation of rain water. Suburban trains, long-distance trains, flights, were delayed due to water logging and low visibility. Reports say a Jet Airways flight from London has been diverted to Ahmedabad. Disaster management authorities have warned about very heavy rainfall over the next 24 hours. WATCH: Water-logging in several areas in Mumbai Trains were running late by over 30 minutes on the Central railway after reports of a landslide at Mumbra. These are pre-monsoon showers, according to the meteorological department. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation administration has taken a number of precautionary measures to tackle any eventuality in view of extremely heavy rainfall warning by the India Meteorological Department from June 9 to 11, a statement issued by the civic body said. Photographs: Sahil Salvi IMAGE: BJP president Amit Shah meets Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray at the latter's residence in Mumbai on Wednesday. Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis and Yuva Sena chief Aditya Thackeray are also seen. Photograph: Kind courtesy @AmitShah/Twitter A day after Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah reached out to its bickering ally Shiv Sena, the Uddhav Thackeray-led party on Thursday reiterated that it will contest the next years general elections alone. Shiv Sena MP Sanjya Raut said that there will be no change in its decision to contest all future elections on its own. "We know what the agenda of Amit Shahji is, but the Shiv Sena has passed a resolution that we'll contest all upcoming elections on our own. There will be no change in that resolution," Raut told ANI. Shah, accompanied by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, on Wednesday met Thackeray at the latter's residence Matoshree. The BJP has said the meeting is in connection with its Sampark for Samarthan (contact for support) campaign being led by Shah in the run up to next year's Lok Sabha polls. Party sources said on Wednesday that the meeting between Shah and Thackeray at 'Matoshree' 'was positive'. However, the meeting is being seen with much significance as the BJP and the Shiv Sena have been bickering despite being allies at the central and state level. The two allies contested the May 28 by-polls to Palghar Lok Sabha constituency of Maharashtra separately and engaged in a bitter campaign against each other. The Shiv Sena has particularly been upset with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and has repeatedly attacked him. After facing defeat in the Palghar bypolls at the hands of the BJP, the Shiv Sena labelled the ally party as its 'biggest political enemy'. In an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamna on Wednesday, Shiv Sena questioned the BJP's outreach programme after suffering defeat in by-polls in various states. The editorial maintained that the Sena will fight all the upcoming elections alone. 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. Title Preliminary observations made by the delegation of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) which visited Greece from 10 to 19 April 2018 Publication Date 1 June 2018 Country Greece Citation / Document Symbol CPT/Inf (2018) 20 Cite as Council of Europe: Committee for the Prevention of Torture, Preliminary observations made by the delegation of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) which visited Greece from 10 to 19 April 2018, 1 June 2018, CPT/Inf (2018) 20, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b1900aa4.html [accessed 15 October 2021] Decision 805/2018 Publisher Greece: Council of State Publication Date 17 April 2018 Citation / Document Symbol 805/2018 Other Languages / Attachments 805/2018 Cite as Decision 805/2018, 805/2018, Greece: Council of State, 17 April 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/cases,GRC_CS,5b192ddd4.html [accessed 15 October 2021] Comments This is a summary in English provided by UNHCR Athens. 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. CoS Judgements 805/2018 and 806/2018 [] the Court was called to rule on two applications for annulment against the Decision ( ./10464/31.5.17 - OJ 1977) of the Director of the Asylum Service by which a restriction of freedom of movement (geographical limitation) was imposed to all applicants who have entered to the islands of Chios, Rhodes, Lesvos, Kos, Leros and Samos after the 20.3.2016. Applications for annulment were submitted by a.) The Bar Associations of 5 islands (Chios, Rhodes, Lesvos, Kos-also representing lawyers of Leros- and Samos) and b.) The Greek Council for Refugees. The Court issued two judgements on the 17 April 2018 on the above applications for annulment but only one of the judgments (805/2018) rules on the issue, as the second (806/2018) rules that there is no need to adjudicate (" "). More specifically: CoS Judgement 805/2018 (application for annulment by the Greek Council for Refugees). The Court accepted that the provision of art. 41 par. 1 (d) (cc) of L. 4375/2016 which constituted the legal basis for the Decision of the Director of the Asylum Service on the restriction of movement, is in accordance with the Constitution. Furthermore, the Court ruled that above provision should be interpreted under a.) the light of art. 31 par. 2 of the Geneva Convention which imposes to States to apply the necessary restrictions on the movements of refugees until their status is regularized, b) the provisions of art. 6,18 and 52(1) of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights which impose that any restrictions to freedom should only be imposed when necessary and according to public interest and c.) of art. 7 par. 1 of Directive 2013/33/EU which allows for the imposition of restrictions (not deprivation) of the freedom of movement of asylum seekers. For the provision of art. 41 par. 1 (d) (cc) of L. 4375/2016 to be in accordance with the Constitution it is not required that specific criteria to be fulfilled are mentioned in the law, under the condition that the provision serves a purpose of public interest, in full respect of the principle of proportionality. The Court also accepts that the provision of art. 41 par. 1 (d) (cc) of L. 4375/2016 provides for the issuance of a regulatory act and not for the issuance of individual administrative acts (rejecting the opposite claim posed by the GCR and the Bar Associations). In this sense the act of the administration to be issued needs not to contain full reasoning, but needs to contain the elements that are necessary for the control of the justification for its issuance, by the Courts. Since the reasons for which the decision was issued, which dictate the imposition of the restriction of movement, are not evident from the text of the decision of the Director (e.g. the public interest served by the issuance of the decision: the application of the EU Turkey Statement, the management and allocation of the refugee population in Greece etc.) the Court annulled the Decision of the Director of the Asylum Service on the restriction of the freedom of movement. Furthermore, the Court, taking under consideration a.) the reason for which the decision is annulled b.) the large number of applicants for international protection on the islands and c.) the difficulties which the Administration would face in case the decision was annulled retrospectively, rules that the decision should have effect from the previous day of its publication [the decision was published on the 17.4.2018, so this means that it is effective from the 16.4.2018] CoS Judgement 806/2018 (application for annulment by the Bar Associations). The Court ruled that there is no need to adjudicate (" ") as the challenged act (the Decision by the Director of the AS on the geographical restriction) was already annulled by decision 805/2018 (both decisions were published on the same day, 17.4.2018). Nevertheless, the Court acknowledged that the applicants (the Bar Associations) would not possibly be in the position to know of that fact at the time of the hearing (which was on the 27 of February) so it does not impose legal costs to them. These costs are imposed to the Administration. It has to be noted that the Bar Association of Rhodes was not finally represented during the hearing. As a result the application for annulment, in what concerned the Bar Association of Rhodes, was rejected as inadmissible (costs were imposed). Joint decisions 2347/2017 and 2348/2017 Publisher Greece: Council of State Publication Date 22 September 2017 Citation / Document Symbol 2347/2017 and 2348/2017 Other Languages / Attachments CoS Plen 2347 - 2017 | CoS Plen 2348 - 2017 Cite as Joint decisions 2347/2017 and 2348/2017 , 2347/2017 and 2348/2017 , Greece: Council of State, 22 September 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/cases,GRC_CS,5b1935024.html [accessed 15 October 2021] Comments This is a summary in English provided by UNHCR Athens. 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. [] The Plenary Court issued the two next Judgements on 22.9.2017 (2347/2017 and 2348/2017) rejecting the applications for annulment submitted by the 2 Syrian applicants, after discussing the cases before the Plenary Court in a joint hearing, because of their relevance, on 10.3.2017. These two most recent Judgements repeated the reasoning of the Judgements of May as regards the issues of legality of the regulatory acts and, in addition, rejected the other claims related to the STC concept. Also in most points the Judgements of the Plenary Court are in line with the referring Judgements of the 4th Section of the Council of State. More specifically the Court ruled as follows: a. On the impartiality of the members of the Committees, the Court found that the Committees have the status of a "third party" vis-a-vis the "parties" (implying the Asylum Service and the applicant) and do not represent the Administration. The impartiality of the members is not violated by the fact that it is possible that a judge participating in a Committee might also participate in the formation of an Administrative Court of Appeal which might be seized with an application for annulment against a Decision of another Committee. The Committees are not "courts" but are "Committees which exercise competencies with a judicial character in accordance with the provision of Art. 89, par. 2, of the Constitution", therefore the fact that judges currently in service in the Administrative Courts participate in their composition, is allowed. The nature of the Committees is not revoked by the fact that i. their decisions are issued following a quasi-judicial appeal, ii. their decision can further be challenged through an application for annulment before the Administrative Courts of Appeals, iii. their decisions are not published in a public hearing and are just notified to the appellants, iv. the judges members of the Committees can be replaced, v. the administrative Director has some competencies regarding their functioning, and vi. that the Minister can increase or decrease the number of the Committees. Furthermore the Court held that the fact that the procedure before the Committees, as a rule, does not include a hearing, does not undermine the adversarial character of the procedure (and thus does not undermine the quasi-judicial character of the Committees). The Court also rejected the argument by the claimants regarding the legal basis of the ministerial decision on the composition of the Committees (being L. 4399/2016 which, according to the applicant is and in what concerns the composition of the Committees is unconstitutional) and the argument that the Committees constitute, de facto, Specialized Courts forbidden by the Constitution. b. Regarding the procedure for the designation of the judges-members of the Committees, the Court found it to be also in accordance with the Constitution and relevant Greek legislation. c. Regarding the legality of the procedure for the adoption of the Regulation of the Appeals Authority, the Court judged that the procedure was lawful and that all related claims of the applicants must be rejected. d. On the participation of EASO experts in the procedure at first instance, the Court ruled that this participation is provided in the Greek legislation and is in conformity with the legal framework on the operation of EASO (Regulation 439/2010) and the Directive 2013/32/EU (art. 14 par. 1). The participation of EASO staff in these procedures is "not contrary to any constitutional provision". e. Regarding the two Decisions of the Independent Appeals Committees by which the applications for international protection of the applicants were rejected at second instance: i. The Court rejected the claim of the applicants that the rejection of their asylum applications was based on a non-binding agreement (the EU-Turkey Statement). The Court ruled that the rejection of the applications was based on Art. 54, 55, and 56 of Law 4375/2016 (inadmissible applications, "first country of asylum" and "safe third country") and not on the EU-Turkey Statement (par. 44)[1]. Through the above argumentation, the Court did not rule on the binding or not character of the EU Turkey Statement of 18.3.2016, therefore the reasoning of the Decision of the Appeal Committee on the issue was neither confirmed nor rejected. ii. The Court referred (par. 45) to the letters that were taken into consideration by the Appeals Committee (two letters 12.4.2016 and 24.4.2016 by the Ambassador of the Permanent Representation of Turkey to the EU, the letter of 5.5.2016 by the Director General of the EC DG Home, the letter of 29.7.2016 by the EU Commissioner for Migration, two letters by the UNHCR of 4.5.2016 and 9.6.2016) and the Report by the Special Rapporteur of the CoE dated 10.8.2016. The Court concluded that the fact that the Appeals Committee, in order to assess the applicant's claim, took into consideration letters by the Turkish Authorities, is not opposed to any legal provisions of the APD or L. 4375/2016 or any other legal provision. These letters are manifesting the intention of the Government of Turkey to provide protection to persons, including to Syrians, being returned from Greece, according to the Turkish legislation and related international rules. In addition, the applicable law did not forbid that the Appeals Committee consider similarly the other letters submitted in the file. (par. 46). f. Regarding the application of the "safe third country" concept: i. Criterion (a) of Art. 56, par. 1, L. 4375/2016 (threat for life and liberty) : The Court found that the adjudication by the Appeals Committee is fully reasoned and thus lawful. In particular, the Court found that the Appeals Committee Decisions lawfully (a) rejected as unfounded the claim that the first applicant is of Kurdish nationality and assessed that, even if the applicant was of Kurdish nationality, information on Turkey (without specifying the sources of information), the Report of the Special Rapporteur of the CoE and the fact that the applicant did not claim any personal circumstances due to which it can be concluded that he is in danger of detention, suggest that there is no such danger in Turkey for the applicant, and judged that, given that the appellant had resided in Turkey for a period of 1 and a half month and he did not encounter any problem with the Turkish authorities, the aggressions he described (push-backs), which took place while he was trying to enter Turkey, were not systematic nor intended to harm him individually and there is no reasonable fear that the appellant's life will be at risk if returned to that country), (b) rejected as unfounded the claim that the second applicant encountered aggressions (push backs) and assessed that, given that the he has resided in Turkey for a period of one month and he did not encounter any problem with the Turkish authorities, the aggressions he described (push backs), which took place while he was trying to enter Turkey, were not systematic nor intended to harm him individually and there is no reasonable fear that the appellant's life will be at risk if returned to that country) . ii. Criterion (c) of Art. 56, par. 1, L. 4375/2016 (risk of serious harm) : The Court found that the adjudication by the Appeals Committee was also fully reasoned and thus lawful: the Committee had found that there is no danger for the applicant to be detained in inhuman or degrading conditions, on the argument that there is no danger of detention and, consequently, there is no danger for detention in inhuman or degrading conditions as the applicant had claimed. Furthermore the Committee had judged that the claim of the applicant that the living conditions that he would face upon return to Turkey would be in violation of Art. 3 ECHR should be rejected as the claim regarding violation of the ECHR cannot be lawfully brought in the present procedure where only claims regarding international protection can be submitted. The Court also found this argument of the Appeals Committees decision as sufficient and lawful (par. 53). iii. Criterion (b) of Art. 56 L. 4375/2016 (respect of the principle of non-refoulement) : The Court ruled that the fact that the principle of non refoulement is not mentioned in a Turkish formal law, but only in a Ministerial Decision (the Temporary Protection Regulation 2014/6883) is not influencing as the Ministerial Decision is a binding legal text. According to the Court, the Appeals Committee had taken into consideration the large number of refugees in Turkey and the letters by the Ambassador of Turkey to the Permanent Representation in the EU, which constitute "legal and appropriate" information. iv. Criterion (e) of Art. 56 L. 4375/2016 (existence of the possibility to request refugee status and to receive protection in accordance with the Geneva Convention): The Court concluded that for this criterion to be considered fulfilled, it is not required that the third country has ratified the Geneva Convention (and even without a geographical limitation) or that its legislation establishes not only the principle of non refoulement but also the rest of the rights provided for in the Convention. This conclusion is supported, according to the Court, by: i. the comparison of Art. 38 of the APD (transposed into the Greek law by Art. 56 L. 4375/2016) with Art. 39 of the APD (European safe third country), where it is provided that a third country can only be considered as a safe third country for the purposes of par.1 when it has ratified and observes the provisions of the Geneva Convention without any geographical limitations while Art. 38 APD (safe third Country concept) does not expressly mention this requirement; ii. by comparison of Art. 38 of the APD with Art. 35 of the APD (first country of asylum), which provides that a country can be considered as a first country of asylum if the applicant otherwise enjoys sufficient protection in that country, including benefiting from the principle of non-refoulement. Based on the above, the Court concludes that for the APD "any other sufficient protection" granted to aliens is equivalent to the protection granted to recognized refugees. This conclusion is supported, according to the Court, by the fact that the Geneva Convention does not provide for a uniform protection regime as the rights conferred are different depending to the legal status of refugees (present, lawfully present, lawfully staying) and by the fact that the States parties may express reservations during the signature, ratification or accession to the Geneva Convention. Therefore, the Court concludes, that for a country to be considered as a "safe third country" in the meaning of Art. 38 APD and Art. 56 L. 4375/2016, it suffices that this country offers "sufficient" protection of specific fundamental rights as, inter alia, the right to access health care and the labour market (par. 54). Furthermore, the Court ruled that the fact that (i) the Temporary Protection regime can be lifted at any time by an act of the Administration, (ii)the time under Temporary Protection status is not counted for the acquisition of nationality in Turkey and (iii) there are limitations in the choice of place of residence or work, do not influence the judgement on the equivalence of protection. The conclusion by the Court was based on the assessment that (i) the APD does not require, for the concept of the safe third country to apply, that an alien can apply for asylum, as is the case under the provisions regarding the "European safe third country", or that the country has signed the Geneva Convention without a geographical limitation, (ii) the Temporary Protection status can be lifted by an act of the executive (Ministerial decision) does not influence its characterization as a protection regime in accordance with the Geneva Convention, as the lifting of the protection does not automatically mean that the beneficiary is removed to his/her country of origin, and (iii) the Geneva Convention does not provide for an obligation to grant nationality to refugees after a period of time, nor does it provide for the counting of the period of stay of the refugee in the country of reception as one of the conditions of acquisition of nationality (par. 56). Furthermore the Court ruled that the correctness of the Decisions of the Appeals Committee is not influenced by the assessments included in the Report of the Parliamentary Assembly of the CoE (dic. 14028/19.4.2916) nor the Report of the Special Rapporteur of the General Secretary of the CoE (10.8.2016), or any other information mentioned in the appeal of the applicant. Two judges of the Court (one of whom a Vice-President of the Court) have expressed a dissenting opinion on this point. More specifically, according to the dissenting opinion, Turkey cannot be considered as a "safe third country" according to the APD, as Syrian nationals cannot apply for refugee status since Turkey applies the Geneva Convention with a geographical limitation. In addition, the Temporary Protection status for Syrians in Turkey cannot be considered as being "in accordance" with Geneva Convention, as this status is of a temporary character, granted collectively, based on nationality and not on an individual basis, and can be lifted at any time by a decision by the Council of Ministers. One member of the Court (one Vice-President) also expressed the opinion that in Turkey there is an oppressive regime where, particularly after the attempted coup, the rule of law is annulled, while, in this context, the letters by officials cannot be considered as having proofing power as evidence. v. Criterion (f) of Art. 56 L. 4375/2016 (connection with the safe third country): The Court ruled by majority that the Appeals Committee decisions are also lawful on this point as the transit of the applicants from the third country, the fact that they stayed there and the fact that the STC (Turkey) and their country of origin (Syria) are neighbouring countries, under the specific circumstances of the specific cases, constitute the required by law "connection" (par. 62). One judge (vice president) of the Court expressed a dissenting opinion on the above point. More specifically, he expressed the opinion that the mere transit and the fact that the applicants had resided in Turkey for 1 or 1,5 month intending to cross to another country in order to apply for asylum and to settle there, cannot be considered to constitute a sufficient link of applicants with Turkey since they did not reside in Turkey for an important period and given the specific circumstances . g. Furthermore, the Court ruled that "no provision" under the instruments of EU law confers to the UNHCR the "authority of authentic interpretation" of the Geneva Convention nor the UNHCR is recognized by EU law as competent to formulate binding, for national courts or administrative authorities, opinions. As a result, according to the Court, the Appeals Committee had lawfully concluded that the opinion of the UNHCR on the STC concept "does not influence at all" [this phrase of the Appeals Committee Decision is interpreted by the Court to mean "that there is no need for the Committee to rule specifically on this opinion by the UNHCR"]. Also the fact that the Committee, while rejecting UNHCR's opinion as it "does not influence at all", took into consideration UNHCR's letters of 4.5.2017 and 9.6.2017, is not contradictory as these letters contain information "that was lawfully taken under consideration" (par. 58). h. On the request for a submission of a preliminary reference to CJEU, the Court ruled, with a majority 13/12, that, in view of the above, there is no reasonable doubt on the meaning of Art. 38 of the APD or the validity or interpretation of acts of organs of the EU and, thus, there is no reason to submit an application for a preliminary ruling to the CJEU according to Art. 267 TFEU (par. 63). Twelve judges out of the twenty-five, including the two Vice-Presidents, have expressed a dissenting opinion, considering that such an application must be submitted to the CJEU. One Vice-President of the Court expressed the opinion also that the decision not to submit a preliminary reference to the CJEU, under the present circumstances, constitutes a violation of the TFEU and it might entail the liability of the State. Bob Seger Tickets on Sale for Ford Idaho Center in Nampa, ID at Tickets-Online Bob Segers Runaway Train Tour stop in Nampa is rescheduled for 2019. Tickets for Ford Idaho Center On Sale at Tickets-Online. A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind. (thediamondloupe.com) - John Teeling is the executive chairman of Botswana Diamonds PLC, one of the most prolific diamond exploration and project development companies that holds exploration licences in Botswana and South Africa. With 40 years worth of resources experience, he is often called a serial entrepreneur, and is involved in a number of other AIM exploration companies. Notably, he was the founder of African Diamonds, which discovered the AK6 mine in Botswana, a venture that eventually became Lucara's famous Karowe Mine. The Lucara Diamond Corp. takeover of African Diamonds in 2010 was worth approximately $90 million. He recently paid The Diamond Loupe a visit in Antwerp, together with Commercial Director of Botswana Diamonds, Robert Bouquet. What follows is a summary of our engaging conversation. Botswana Resource Sector conference roars into life 07 june 2018 News The annual Botswana Resource Sector Conference, which seeks to increase investment into the southern African nations mining industry, has commenced in Gaborone. Minister of mineral resources, Green technology and energy security Eric Molale was expected to make a keynote address Wednesday. Organisers of the conference said this years agenda would once again consist of a mixture of solo presentations and panel discussions focusing on the diamond, copper, coal mining sectors as well as energy, water, transport and infrastructure. Mining contributed 22 percent to Botswanas gross domestic product (GDP) in 2016. Diamonds accounted for 66 percent of the countrys mining exports in 2016. Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished, from Gaborone, Botswana Angola eyes Antwerp diamond market 07 june 2018 News Angolan President Joao Lourenco, who this week visited Antwerp, Belgium, said his country has been absent from the diamond bourse and he wants that to change. Angola produced 9 million carats last year worth $1.1 billion, but about 1 percent of that was sold on the Antwerp diamond market, according to the Diamond Loupe. It has been said that Angola has been absent from Antwerp, but that is set to change. We are going to be represented in Antwerp, and will work together in partnership, the Angolan leader was quoted as saying. He said Angola had not been able to benefit properly from its diamond resources as a result of policies that stifled growth, but wants that to change as well. Lourenco, who recently replaced long-time ruler Jose Eduardo dos Santos as President, said that he had ordered the state-run diamond companies Endiama and Sodiam to revise their policies to the benefit of the country and private companies. "The responsible institutions have been instructed to see that Angola can return to this great diamond center," he said. Lourenco also told Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) officials that we are, counting on you to help us transform our industry. AWDC chief executive Ari Epstein was also quoted as saying to the Angolan leader that he had, come to the right place. The critical mass of diamond companies and services here in Antwerp is unparalleled, enabling diamond producers to achieve the best possible price for their goods, he said. I have every confidence that as you come to learn more about our exceptional value proposition, you will leave Antwerp having no doubt that this is the place that will help you in your effort to further modernise Angolas diamond industry. Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished, from Gaborone, Botswana Judas Priest delivered their first live performance of the track "Rising From Ruins" during their show at the Spektrum in Oslo, Norway earlier this week. The song is featured on their latest album, Firepower, which was released back in March. Fans in attendance were also treated to a rare performance of the track "Night Comes Down." The band has not performed the track live since 1984. It was featured on their album Defenders of the Faith. The Oslo performance was the first stop on the band's European tour. They will also hit Rockfest in Finland on June 7 and the Sweden Rock Festival on June 9. The band will conclude its European tour on August 10 in the UK before teaming with Deep Purple for a tour of North America. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Entertainment News What to look for in Broadcom Ltd. (AVGO), J. M. Smucker Co. (SJM), and The Cooper Companies Inc. (COO) on Thursday, June 7, 2018? Semiconductor company Broadcom Ltd. (AVGO) expects strong growth in its wired, storage and industrial segments to fully offset the impact of a much higher than normal seasonal decline in wireless revenue. Th company is slated to report its second-quarter financial results and outlook after the bell today. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect earnings of $4.76 per share on revenue of $5 billion for the quarter. Analysts' estimate typically exclude certain special items. * Now sees Q2 non-GAAP net revenue of $5 bln, plus or minus $25 mln * Expects Q2 CapEx to be about $190 mln * Expects Q2 free cash flow to exceed 40% of revenue During the quarter, the company expects a much larger than typical seasonal decline in wireless revenue as shipments to its North American smartphone customer will trend down sharply from the exaggerated first quarter. Broadcom expects to partially offset this decline from an increase in its product shipments to support the ramp of next generation flagship phone at a large Korean smartphone customer. Year-Ago Numbers: * Net revenue - $4.19 bln * Net income - $440 mln * EPS - $1.05 * Non-GAAP income from cont. ops. - $1.67 bln * Non-GAAP EPS from cont. ops. - $3.69. Q3 Outlook * Expects Q3 non-GAAP net revenue of $5.05 bln, plus or minus $75 mln; Consensus - $5.06 bln. The company expects continued strength in demand from datacenters while wireless remains weak. ** Food and beverage products maker J. M. Smucker Co. (SJM) will publish its fourth-quarter financial results before the bell today, with Wall Street analysts estimating earnings of $2.18 per share and revenue of $1.8 billion. The results are likely to benefit from the U.S. income tax reform and ongoing cost discipline. Year-Ago Numbers: * Net sales - $1.78 bln * Net income - $110.4 mln * EPS - $0.96 * Adj. Income - $206.7 mln * Adj. EPS - $1.80 FY18 Guidance * Now sees FY18 adj. EPS of $8.20 - $8.30 versus prior view of $7.75 - $7.90 * Now expects FY18 net sales to be flat to down slightly. ** The Cooper Companies Inc. (COO), a global medical device company, is set to release its Q2 results on Thursday, June 7, 2018, at 4:15 PM ET. Analysts expect earnings of $2.84 per share and revenue of $627.11 million for the quarter. Year-Ago Numbers: * Revenue - $522.4 mln * GAAP Net income - $104.9 mln * GAAP EPS - $2.12 * Non-GAAP EPS - $2.50 Key Takeaways: * Operating in two solid with high barriers to entry * Revenue growth exceeding the market * Investing in the infrastructure of the business * Positioned to achieve long term objectives * Track record of success Updated FY18 Guidance: * Now expects FY18 total revenue of $2.51 bln - $2.56 bln; Consensus - $2.53 bln. * Now sees FY18 non-GAAP EPS of $11.70 - $11.90; Consensus - $11.80/Shr. Long Term Objectives (2017 - 2022E): * Complete strategic acquisitions * Grow revenue faster than the markets * Grow EPS faster than revenue * Expand CVI and CSI geographically * Generate over $2.5 bln in free cash flow * Expects to generate 2022E operating margin of about 32%. *** For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News French luxury goods company Kering SA (PPRUY.PK,PPRUF.PK) said it is aiming for an annual revenue target of 10 billion euros for its mainstay Gucci brand. This represents an increase from revenue of 6.2 billion euros contributed by Gucci in 2017. Kering also said it is targeting Gucci's sales growth at twice the pace of the luxury market and plans to achieve an EBIT margin of more than 40 percent, compared to about 34 percent in 2017. In addition, Kering said it expects Gucci to triple its revenue from e-commerce and maintain its capital expenditure at less than 5 percent of revenue. The company noted that e-commerce's organic growth will be the main driver through higher penetration and enhanced customer experience. The company will also roll out Gucci.com in new . Kering said it aims to re-establish Gucci's position as a pivotal Italian luxury fashion brand. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Canadian stocks were poised for an upbeat open Thursday morning, following global stocks higher. A rebound in oil prices may help the heavyweight energy sector. WTI light sweet oil rose 60 cents to $65.41 a barrel, rebounding from 2-month lows near $64. Thomson Reuters (TRI, TRI.TO) announced the company plans to buy back up to an additional $1 billion of its shares under a new repurchase program. The buyback program is in addition to the $500 million repurchase program that the company announced in May 2018. Brick Brewing Co. Limited (BRB.TO) said each of the six nominees listed in the management information circular dated May 4, 2018 were elected as directors of the Company. A Quebec judge dismissed insider-trading charges against the former Amaya CEO. Dollarama Inc reported quarterly revenue and same-store sales that missed Wall-Street estimates due to winter weather. Yesterday, data showed Canada's exports rose 1.6% to a record $48.6 billion in April, while imports were down 2.5% to $50.5 billion. As a result, Canada's merchandise trade deficit with the world narrowed from $3.9 billion in March to $1.9 billion in April. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Market Analysis Genuine Parts Co. GPC) has announced an automotive acquisition in Germany. The company said that Alliance Automotive Group or AAG, its wholly-owned automotive distribution company based in London, U.K., has agreed to acquire Hennig Fahrzeugteile Group. Based in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Hennig Fahrzeugteile Group, is a German supplier of light and commercial vehicle parts. Hennig Fahrzeugteile has 31 branches across Germany and serves more than 9,000 customers, predominantly independent workshops and retailers. The transaction is expected to close by August 1, 2018. Alliance Automotive expects the acquired to generate annual revenues of about $190 million. Paul Donahue, Chief Executive Officer of Genuine Parts Co. stated, "Hennig Fahrzeugteile Group is a premier supplier of vehicle parts in the German marketplace, and the addition of this business serves to further expand our presence and scale in Europe as we build on our global growth strategy." For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Vietnam government has suspended the import of cryptocurrency mining equipment, local reports say. The Hanoi Times reported that Vietnam's Ministry of Finance (MoF) imposed a temporary ban on the import of mining rigs expressing concerns that they may be used for launching new cryptocurrencies or a new form of payment. The Finance Ministry says it is "difficult to regulate" the new cryptocurrencies and forms of payments in tokens created by mining hardware. Using cryptocurrencies as means of payment is prohibited in Vietnam. As per a State Bank of Vietnam directive issued last year, "the act of issuing, providing, and using illegal means of payment (including Bitcoin and other cryotocurrencies) may be subject to criminal prosecution in accordance with the provisions of Article 206 of the Penal Code 2015." The latest provocation for the ban is a $658 million crypto scam that cheated an estimated 32,000 investors. Ho Chi Minh City-based startup Modern Tech JSC has gone underground after duping people through a fraudulent Initial Coin Offering (ICO) of Ifan and Pincoin cryptocurrencies in April. It is considered as the South East Aian country's largest cryptocurrency fraud. The government of Vietnam announced a crackdown on the country's cryptocurrency market in the wake of the multi-million-dollar fraud. Crypto frenzy has already gripped Vietnam despite repeated warnings about the risks of cryptocurrency transaction and investments by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and experts. More than 6,300 mining rigs were imported into Vietnam in the first four months of 2018, the Hanoi Times reported quoting data from the General Department of Vietnam Customs. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Technology News President Donald Trump's administration has reached a "definitive agreement" to end crippling sanctions on Chinese telecom giant ZTE Corp., Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross revealed on Thursday. Ross said in an interview with CNBC that the agreement includes a $1 billion fine against ZTE, which he called the "strictest and largest settlement fine that has ever been brought by the Commerce Department against any violator of export controls." The agreement also forces ZTE to replace its board of directors and executive team and installs a U.S.-chosen compliance team. "We are literally embedding a compliance department of our choosing into the company to monitor it going forward," Ross said. In return, the Commerce Department will lift the denial order banning ZTE from buying American products, which has crippled the company. Ross announced the denial order in April, claiming ZTE made false statements about employee disciplinary actions related to the illegal shipping of telecom equipment to Iran and North Korea. In addition to the $1 billion penalty, the agreement requires ZTE to place $400 million in escrow to cover any future violations. "The total deal is $1.4 billion. That money will be forfeited if they violate anything," Ross told CNBC. "And we still retain the power to shut them down again." The penalties are in addition to the $892 million in penalties ZTE already paid to the U.S. government under a March 2017 settlement agreement. The agreement is likely to draw criticism from some U.S. lawmakers, who note intelligence agencies have warned ZTE's and phones pose a major cybersecurity threat. Trump previously highlighted the fact that ZTE buys a tremendous amount of equipment from American companies and claimed an agreement to revive the company would be just a small component of an overall trade deal with China. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Arguing his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will be "about attitude," President Donald Trump suggested Thursday he would not have to "prepare very much" for the historic summit. The comments from Trump came as he met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ahead of the meeting with Kim in Singapore on June 12th. "I think I'm very well prepared," Trump claimed before saying, "I don't think I have to prepare very much. It's about attitude. It's about willingness to get things done." He added, "This isn't a question of preparation, it's a question of whether or not people want it to happen, and we'll know that very quickly." A report from Politico indicated the White House is largely improvising its approach to the meeting, noting National Security Adviser John Bolton has yet to convene a Cabinet-level meeting to discuss the upcoming summit. Trump told reporters the meeting with Kim will be "much more than a photo op" and predicted the summit will be "fruitful" and "exciting." The president insisted that North Korea will have to denuclearize and suggested the U.S. will not withdraw its stringent sanctions on the reclusive communist nation without such a move. (Photo: Gage Skidmore) For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Ahead of an historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, President Donald Trump has indicated a willingness to invite the repressive dictator to the U.S. if the talks go well. Trump was asked if he might extend an invitation to Kim during a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday. "The answer is yes ... certainly if it goes well. And I think it would be well-received. I think he would look at it very favorably," Trump said. "So, I think that could happen." Trump also indicated that he would like to see the eventual normalization of relations between the U.S. and North Korea. The president expressed some optimism about his meeting with Kim set for June 12th in Singapore but stressed that he is willing to walk away from negotiations. "All I can say is I am totally prepared to walk away. I did it once before. You have to be able to walk away," Trump said, referencing his temporary cancellation of the meeting last month. He added, "I am totally prepared to walk. It could happen, maybe it won't be necessary. I hope it won't be necessary." Trump said his administration has stopped using the term "maximum pressure" with regard to North Korea and suggested the success of the negotiations could be determined by whether he uses the words after the meeting. "Maximum pressure is absolutely in effect," Trump said. "We don't use the term anymore because we are going into a friendly negotiation." "Perhaps after that negotiation I will be using it again," he added. "If you hear me saying we are going to use maximum pressure, you know the negotiation did not do well, frankly." Earlier in the day, Trump argued his meeting with Kim will be "about attitude" and suggested he would not have to "prepare very much" for the historic summit. "I think I'm very well prepared," Trump claimed before saying, "I don't think I have to prepare very much. It's about attitude. It's about willingness to get things done." He added, "This isn't a question of preparation, it's a question of whether or not people want it to happen, and we'll know that very quickly." A report from Politico indicated the White House is largely improvising its approach to the meeting, noting National Security Adviser John Bolton has yet to convene a Cabinet-level meeting to discuss the upcoming summit. Trump told reporters the meeting with Kim will be "much more than a photo op" and predicted the summit will be "fruitful" and "exciting." The president insisted that North Korea will have to denuclearize and suggested the U.S. will not withdraw its stringent sanctions on the reclusive communist nation without such a move. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News (Agencia CMA Latam) - Brazil's National Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANP) has started the 4th round of auctions of fields in the pre-salt layer, which will offer the Itaimbezinho, Tres Marias, Dois Irmios and Uirapuru areas in the basins of Campos and Santos. The government expects to raise R$ 3.2 billion with the areas. For this round, 16 companies are eligible to take part in the event: BP Energy, Chevron Brazil, CNODC Brazil, CNOOC Petroleum, DEA Deutsche Erdoel, Ecopetrol, ExxonMobil, Petrogal, Petrobras, Petronas, QPI Brasil Petroleo, Queiroz Galv?o, Repsol, Shell Brazil, Statoil Brazil, and Total E&P. The Saturn area, originally planned for the bidding, was withdrawn by the regulatory agency following the request of the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME). The area should be included in the 5th round, scheduled for September 28, which will offer the areas of Saturn, Titan, Pau-Brasil, and Southwest of Tartaruga Verde, located in the Campos and Santos basins, within the pre-salt polygon and in a strategic area. The regulator also informed that for this round, the amounts related to the financial guarantee of the Minimum Exploration Program for the areas on offer were adequate, and the rules for the reopening of unbundled blocks included in the calls for the second and third rounds of auction. by Agencia CMA Latam For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com Economic News What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more. (Agencia CMA Latam) - The Finance Minister, Eduardo Guardia, affirmed that the exchange rate in Brazil follows a floating regime and that the Central Bank's actions in the market are only aimed at reducing volatility. He added that the Treasury is doing the same in the public debt market. "We have made some interventions. The exchange rate is fluctuating and Brazil is a net U.S. dollar creditor, contrary to what happened in the past," said the minister. He added that the Treasury is monitoring the volatility in the interest market and that the agency has a "very comfortable" position in the liquidity cushion. Guardia also said that the appreciation of the U.S. dollar is the result of a global movement and affects several economies, not only Brazil's. The minister also commented on the public consultation that is being carried out by the Brazilian Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP) regarding the pricing policy of Petrobras. Guardia said that this is a proper discussion and that the periodicity of the readjustment of fuel prices was an ongoing discussion. "The ANP is the regulator and there is a notorious debate about the periodicity of the readjustment. The ANP's attitude is correct in holding a public consultation to discuss the issue," he told reporters. by Agencia CMA Latam For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com Economic News What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more. (Agencia CMA Latam) - Merval, the main index of the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange, fell 0.75%, closing at 30,198.74 points, returning to operate in negative territory after three consecutive days closing higher, mainly because of the political situation in neighboring Brazil. That situation led Petrobras shares to plummet, affecting the index. In addition, the twists and turns around the agreement between the Argentinean government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) also affected the Merval. "Due to the uncertainty over the October elections in Brazil, Petrobras Brasil's stocks recorded a 4.40% decline, the worse performance of the day," said analyst Eduardo Fernandez, an analyst at Rava Bursatil. Meanwhile, the Argentinean government is expected to announce more details of an agreement with the IMF, according to the Minister of Finance, Nicolas Dujovne. The spokesperson of the IMF, Gerry Rice, said that talks "are very advanced." However, they are waiting for the Fund's Executive Board to give the final word "on Argentina's request for exceptional access to the resources of the IMF." The shares of Transportadora de Gas del Sur (-2.96%) and PGR (-2.84%) also closed lower, while YPF (+3.06%), Holcim (+2.04%), and Telecom (+1.68%) rose. The locally traded U.S. dollar rose 0.34%, to 24.98 Argentinean pesos, after remaining in negative territory in the last few days and a few cents from the 25 pesos barrier, due to the devaluation of regional currencies, such as Mexico and Brazil, against the American currency. "Some banks covered their global positions, due to the disparity of the percentages of devaluations of these foreign currencies against the U.S. dollar, while others were covered by the rise in their positions," said Fernando Izzo, an analyst at ABC Mercado de Cambios. by Agencia CMA Latam For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com Economic News What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more. #Craft beer-growth Craft beer market sees big growth potential in S. Korea Beer has long been a key ingredient of mixed drinks in South Korea, but changing appetites and the extended coronavirus pandemic have turned consumers toward diverse and unique fla... #murder suspect court Suspect in brutal murder says ready to accept death penalty A murder suspect, who stunned the nation in August for killing one woman before cutting off his electronic ankle monitor and another afterward, admitted to his charges in his first... Re: Think health, think prosperity Faifeaus and Diabetes A number of loved ones, including my parents, have lost their lives due to complications from diabetes. It is a dreadful disease and one, which is totally avoidable. As mentioned in your editorial, the social and economic cost of diabetes to Samoa and Samoans is horrendous. The drain on our health budget is enormous and the opportunity costs high. A number of people have been beating the drum of more concerted efforts between the Department of Health and others to combat this disease through lifestyle changes. What is now required is more groups and individuals to jump on the bandwagon to treat the root causes of the disease. For far too long we, as a society, have been paying lip service to making the necessary changes until the next feast, or toonai or faaipoipoga, or office party where copious amount of drinks and food are consumed. All we are doing is enriching the business people for that short-term enjoyment and creating the illusion of a good life. The one group who I would very much like to join this campaign are the faafegaigas, faifeaus, pateles, bishops and other church honorifics. As we have seen from the C.C.C.S. and the Government on the taxation scuffle, Samoans get really passionate when their pastors are deemed to be unfairly treated due to the deep respect for this position. Given this position of authority in society, isnt this the time for Gods representatives on earth to undertake tasks of love to protect their flocks from harm. Isnt that what the bible says about an alert and conscientious shepherd looking after his flock. Wouldnt it be great for the sound of shepherds shouting from the pulpits about the disastrous impacts of gluttonous living leading to diabetes. Faifaeus and their wives would make excellent agents of change because of the position of respect they hold in the congregations and villages. People listen and take note of words from their faifeaus and faletuas. Faifeaus have a strong role in influencing behaviours and cultural mores. In collaboration with the village committees the faifeaus can change the way matters are handled at village level. Perhaps it is not unrealistic to dream of a day in the near future when retribution for village misdeeds will be in the form of money rather than food and drinks. Or where the status of a wedding is not measured by how much food and drinks are available and consumed but by some other measure. One can fantasise of a Samoan society either rid, or in control, of diabetes, not the other way round where diabetes controls us. Vai Autu Samoa is hosting some of the most high profile bankers from the region and the world this week. They are in the country for the fourth Pacific Islands Regional Initiative (P.I.R.I) high-level forum, which was opened yesterday. The two-day event is being held at Taumeasina Island Resort. P.I.R.I. comprises a group of Central banks in some Pacific Island countries who work to promote financial inclusion in the region and also in their respective countries. Governor of the Central Bank of Samoa, Maiava Atalina Ainuu-Enari, said the theme of the meeting is the advancement of technological innovations that they had in recent years. The meeting is to talk about financial technology and its good side of how it can help promote financial inclusion and at the same time to look at the challenges of using it, she said. So that the consumers that are using it will be protected and also promote the stability of the financial system. The discussions in the next two days will mainly focus on how we could use financial technology, in terms of advancing of our financial agenda at the same time how the regulators can look into making sure that they use fintech to protect those that are going to use it, she said. We have two countries from the Caribbeans, Seychelles and Bahamas because to them they are also Island States like us. So we meet every year and we are part of an umbrella group that is called an Alliance Financial Inclusion. So the Alliance of Financial Inclusion has so many other members from other countries, but we have our own specific regional group within the Alliance of Financial Inclusion (A.F.I.). Minister of Finance, Sili Epa Tuioti said: Samoa hosted the Alliance for Finance Inclusion Pacific Island in 2011. After seven years we welcome this opportunity to again host another A.F.I. event, which I am told is quite special itself because this time the Pacific Islands work in group has apparently transformed itself into a new entity called the Pacific Islands Regional Initiative. I do hope that this transformation will result in more tangible value adding for the targeted beneficiaries in our region. He also highlighted the importance of the forum for each island nation and the impact for the people. Financial inclusion is obviously a topic of far importance for the Pacific Islands region. This is evident when the Forum Economic Ministers meeting in 2009 adopted the 2020 money Pacific goals. These goals include all children to receive financial education through core curriculum, all adults who have access to financial education, simple and transparent consumer protection to be in place and to half the number of households without access to basic financial services, Sili said. It will be particularly interesting to know how the individual countries that perform in advancing these goals and it is something that you will need to discuss and if we havent made progress then we would need to strategise and learn from the experiences of others so that we can move forward. Supreme Court Justice, Niava Mata Tuatagaloa, has questioned the decision by the Samoa Prisons and Corrections Authority to allow a notorious criminal, Peika Pesa, one who has repeatedly broken the law, out on weekend parole. From the bench, she has ordered lawyer, Lupematasila Iliganoa Atoa, of the Attorney Generals Office to look into the matter to see what section of the law that allows these inmates to go on weekend parole. Justice Niava made the comments during the hearing of Pesa, who is also known as Peika Pesaleli. He has been accused for possession of narcotics, namely marijuana, the latest charge in history of criminal offenses. Pesalelis criminal history dates back to 1996 when he first appeared in Court on the charges of burglary and theft. Since then, he has developed a reputation as a notorious prison escapee, skipping prison at will. The latest offense he stands accused of was allegedly committed last year when he was released on weekend parole. He was caught with 18 marijuana leaves, 12 marijuana cigarettes and 2,105 seeds of marijuana. He has denied the charges. Pesaleli is charged with co-defendant Faameini Segisegi who has pleaded guilty to the charge. Prosecution sought the Courts leave to have the matter re-mentioned next week Monday to set another hearing date because the co-defendant will be testifying against Pesaleli. In the meantime, Justice Niava wondered how Pesaleli was allowed out in the first place. Ive noticed that the theres four pages all together that states the history of all your previous convictions, said Justice Niava. Ive also noticed that the hearing that was scheduled for today (yesterday) it is from the offense that you committed on 26 December last year and yet you are serving time in prison." How were you able to be allowed out of prison while you were serving time? This is when Pesaleli told the Court that he was on a weekend parole. Your Honor, I came out to spend the weekend with my family and that is why I have pleaded not guilty to the charge against me, he said. But Justice Niava did not accept the explanation from the defendant. But what I am saying is how is that possible when you are serving time in prison, she asks. Secondly, its the history of your previous convictions there are so many, four pages and yet you are still allowed to come out to spend the weekend with your family." I see as well that you are released out on the weekend and yet you re-offend again while on bail for the weekend, and yet the Samoa Prisons is still allowing you to come out on the weekend even though they know very well that you keep on reoffending when you come out." I see numerous offenses that you have committed and I have also been told by the prosecution that your sentencing term will complete in 2029. What kind of person are you now? Do you not want to go back to your family or does your family no longer want you because of all the crimes that you have committed?" Or is breaking the law become an addiction to you, and what about your identity? She added she will be advising the Office of the Attorney General to look into the matter for those inmates who are serving time in prisons that are being released on the weekend parole. There is no safety in this country and its people if this is the case, and you do not care about the safety of the people and the country as a whole, she said. So whatever works the Police are doing to ensure the safety of this country, it will never work if people like you are always allowed to come out." You started offending in 1996 and now its 2018 and you are still doing this, but I hope the Courts words today (yesterday) have sunk into your heart and mind so that you could take it and use it. Outside of Court, Lupematasila said she was informed by the Prisons and Correction Services that Pesaleli was on special leave hence why he was allowed to go out to his family. All of these charges are added up and he will be released on 12 May 2029, she said. We will look into this matter on why he is allowed out and under which section of the law is he eligible to weekend parole." He kept escaping because his application for parole is always denied. HISTORY OF OFFENDING: 1996, Pesaleli was charged with burglary and theft 2000 he committed burglary and theft again 2001 he escaped from prison 2002 he was charged with possession of narcotics 2003 he was charged with unlawful entry, burglary and actual bodily harm 2004 he escaped again from prison and he burgled 14 houses as well as indecent assault 2005 he escaped again from prison and willful damage 2007 he was charged with escape from prison, burglary and theft 2009 burglary and theft again 2011 escape from prison, armed with a dangerous weapon and resisting Police 2013 possession of narcotics again 2014 aggravated burglary and assault 2015 insulting words 2017 possession of narcotics An inquest into the death of a New Zealand Navy sailor, Kilino Joseph Lemafo'e Tua, 24, who went missing last year while visiting his family in Samoa started yesterday. Tua was last seen at the To Sua trench. Up until now, no one knows how he disappeared. His body has also not been found. Yesterday, the matter was brought before District Court Judge Alalatoa Rosella Viane Papalii. Senior Sergeant Kenneth Komiti is representing the Attorney Generals Office. Tuas uncle, Sola Ati Nepa, was called. A written statement from him was read out in open Court. According to Sola, it was on Saturday 29 April 2017 when his nephew went missing. He arrived on Friday 28th April, 2017 to Samoa and we saw him, said Sola. He went and did his booking at the Taumeasina and then he came back at around 5pm on that day. He left again to go to the gym and he came home around 11pm on that night, we were talking and then I went to bed." On Saturday 29th April, 2017, my family woke up at 6am to get ready for mass and he was awake as well." He told me he wanted to go to a tourist site and the only clothe he wore was a pink shorts because he wasnt ready at the time." He told me that he wanted to go to To Sua Trench because he had made a booking at the Taumeasina Island Resort to stay there. He was using my sons car on that day so he left." I asked him if he wanted someone to accompany him, but he said no he will go by himself and that was the last time I saw him. That was the last time he saw him. About 7pm in the evening, my daughter called me up because I was at a friends house saying that the Police of Afega are at our place." I came to our house as soon as I can and when I arrived at home the Police had already left and thats when my daughter told me that Kilino has gone missing." I called the Lalomanu Police Station and the search began. They only found my car at Lotofaga and that is all I know about the matter. Sgt. Komiti told the Inquest that Sola was the only witness he has because the Investigative Officer is not available. Your Honor, the only other witness for this matter is the Investigative Officer, he said. However he is not available because he is participating in a very important training. Judge Alalatoa adjourned the matter to 20 June, 2018. You can take a Samoan away from Samoa but you cannot take Samoa away from a Samoan. Where ever they go. Indeed, Samoans living in Canada might be thousands of miles away from home but that doesnt mean they have forgotten who they are. So when Samoa paused last week to commemorate their 56th Independence Day celebration on the streets of Apia, a group of Samoans in Canada gathered in Victoria British Columbia for their own celebration. Muavae Vaa said they have a small Samoan community and they wanted to commemorate the occasion. We tried every year on June 1st to celebrate our Independence day together with our people at home, Vaa said. This year is even more important as our community here stand united with our families at home for the safety and the protection of our customary land! On Wednesday this week a press statement from the Attorney General, Lemalu Hermann Retzlaff, arrived. Explaining that the statement was merely addressing media inquiries alleging government corruption, it seemed the writer was either being evasive or perhaps he was being diplomatic, we could not tell. Wrote Lemalu: I can confirm that a formal Police investigation was launched on 6th June 2018, by the Ministry of Police Criminal Investigation Division, in view of a complaint alleging corrupt practises by a Government CEO. He went on to say: The records of the allegations were sent to the Attorney General and received 5th June 2018. After consideration it was referred by the A.G. to the Police Commissioner, with a recommendation that a criminal investigation commence immediately given the nature of the allegations. The Minister overseeing the CEO, the Acting Prime Minister and also the Prime Minister who is on travel duty, were then informed for their information, that this process has been activated by law enforcement agencies. Lemalu warned: The allegations are serious and do require looking into. The Police have confirmed today that the recommendation for a formal investigation has been accepted, and that a team has been appointed to undertake the task and follow procedures as required, including being mindful of the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. That was three days ago. At the time, the Samoa Observer had received a letter from the Former Member of Parliament, of the Government of India, Sh.P.K Bansal. The letter revealed that Mr Bansal is also the Executive Director of the company called Ascent Navals, SCO 373 Sector 37 D, Chandigarh. It said: Dear Editor Samoa Observer Apia, Samoa. Please find herewith the attached copy of the letter and email sent to Samoa PSC and others regarding one of the corrupt CEO. In case they sweep this serious matter under the carpet, Im forwarding it here so that you can use (it) and people of Samoa to put a stop to these corrupt officials. Please do let us know if any thing else (is) needed. I am standing by. Sincerely, Sh.P.K Bansal. On Wed, 6 Jun 2018, Savea Sano Malifa, responded, saying: Dear Mr Sh.P.K Bansal, We are in receipt of your letter about the alleged corruption of CEO of MWTI, namely Sua Pou Onesemo. We are sorry to hear of the problems you are going through as a result of his alleged corruption. I am very concerned about what is going on, since it seems as though our government is being drawn into this controversy. As a member of the media in Samoa who operate the Samoa Observer, we ask that you help us in the investigation we are doing From my understanding you are no longer a member of parliament. Would you be kind enough to let us know why this has happened. We appreciate your help in this matter and we look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible. Thank you very much, Savea Sano Malifa Editor-in-Chief Samoa Observer In response, P.K. Bansal wrote. Dear Savea Sano Malifa good day to you Thanks for your mail and assurance for assistance. We are ready to support if any thing else required. With thanks and regards P .K Bansal. Still, in another email in June 2018 to [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], attorney [email protected], and [email protected], Sh.P.K Bansal wrote: Dear Respected All, Subject: Report on CEO for Ministry of Works, Transport and infrastructure and his corrupt practices. Mr Bansal wrote: Please allow me to report to your good office the corrupt and illegal practices of MWTI CEO, Mr. Sua Pou Onesemo, that he has been doing to me and my company. For transparency, we the board of directors of the Ascent Navals company through our director General Capt Suniel. K. Sharma applied to become a Recognised Organisation (RO) when MWTI advertised last year. Up till now, all I am receiving from this CEO is lies and excuses without a proper update of my application. I know we have been betrayed by Mr. Onesemo and more worse, he has been asking favour and use us in many ways on pretext of authorising us as RO. These are some of the alleged corrupt favours that Mr. Onesemo had asked us to do and in return, he would authorise our company to act as the R.O. for Samoa. 1. He demanded huge amount of cash to buy 3 properties in Australia through an agreement made as it is yet not signed due to immediate demand of amount to procure properties (can be submitted if needed). CCTV Footage of meeting at hotel can also be arranged for your good self. 2. To finalise that deal, he asked us to pay air tickets for him and his family to come to Singapore during his duty travel to Australia (attached). 3. During that trip, he demanded a huge amount of $500000 AUD and suggested to go ahead with promotion of vessel registration etc. while awaiting signing of agreement of authorisation. 4. Upon return to Australia on 7th Oct.2017 same day he again called if I am agree to pay him the deal amount (it was recorded in phone too). Then upon return to Samoa he forwarded unofficially the drafted copy of the RFP being prepared at AG Office just to show to us if things are according to us and based on that, he asked to give him the deal amount when he is coming back officially to Singapore in February 2018 . 5. His plan is to share equal benefits from vessels registration and also he will keep receiving amount every month. 6. He demanded me to provide a mechanic as manager for his garage in Samoa and I fund for the garage and motor Parts.(All process of documentation for work permit of the mechanic was processed by Mr. Pous wife. 7. Recently while asking him about our Status of application he again made excuses by saying that he is presently removing some corrupt people. By hearing again excuse our official asked him that corrupted person cannot remove corruption. On this he sent a threatening message on the phone to our Director General, where he warned him not to come to Samoa or hed face the consequences hed rightly deserve. Now it seems he has turned the blame on our company but all these he settled during the meeting he requested In Singapore. Please refer to attached picture taken after the meeting. My great concern is that this corrupt behaviour of this government CEO is really ruining the good esteem name of Samoa. Also I dont know how would government progress with its development if this is a kind of leader that betray the trust of Hon. Prime Minister and his good government. I am still waiting for an update of my companys application to become an RO as we are very much keen to use our expertise and global network to serve and bring great benefits to Samoa and its people. For ease of reference, please find the copies of all documents to support my letter of complaint, as the government of Samoa needs to stop this CEO from his corrupt and illegal behaviour, in order for its maritime activities to move forward to a better future. Sincerely, Sh.P.K.Bansal. In an interview with the Samoa Observer, Sua Pou Onesemo had a different story to tell. He said it all began in 2014 when the Indian company, Ascent Navals, approached the Samoan government with the idea of establishing what would be known, as Samoas International Maritime Authority (SIMA). The company would be in charge of vessel registry in Samoa and it was from there, that all these allegations of corruption started, Sua explained. Indeed, they started when the Indian company, Ascent Navals, was removed from the so-called recruitment process, and since then, friction had become quite rampant, and it is still so today. In 2015, the company was declared fraudulent by the Samoan government, and as it turned out, this was apparently done without the knowledge of the CEO at the time, Vaaelua Nofo. Revealed Sua: In January 2016, when I was appointed ACEO Maritime, I was advised to consider starting a vessel registry. He said that was when he recommended that Cabinets approval for a vessel registry should be sought, explaining that with such a project there was bound to be ample economic benefits for Samoa with registry fees and job opportunities on locally registered vessels. (Read Suas letter in full) Needless to say therefore, Sua maintains the allegations that have been made publicly against him and his family are quite unfair, and for that very reason hes just going to ignore what hes been accused of, and move on with his life. Sometime last week, I received a request from the Samoa Observer investigative reporter, Joyetteer Luamanu, for an interview. In response, I requested that she should come to my office, where I can give her the proof shes been seeking. At that point, it was clear to me that this was why these allegations had come about, since Id removed them from the recruitment process. During our interview, I told the journalist that for this companys (Ascent Naval) interest, it all started in 2014. Tht was when they approached the Government to establish the Samoa International Maritime Authority (SIMA) that would do vessel registry for Samoa. In 2015, the company was declared fraud by Samoa MWTI, as this was done without the knowledge of the CEO at the time, Vaaelua Nofo. Internal investigation was conducted and Vaaelua at the time ceased everything with regards to SIMA. In January 2016, when I was just appointed CEO internal (ACEO Maritime) advise was given to me to consider starting vessel registry. Without prior knowledge I directed to seek approval from cabinet (PK) for vessel registry as there are economic benefit for Samoa with registry fees and job opportunities on locally registered vessels. Two companies were nominated and proposed for approval including Ascent Naval, Thailand. With appropriate approvals in November 2016, authority was given to Ascent Naval and another company and the Philippines to proceed with the registry and related works. Two months later (February 2017) this company, Ascent Naval was brought to my attention by our overseas mission in New York that was declared fraud by Samoa in 2015. Immediately after, I revoked the authority given to Ascent Naval and investigated internally. I retrieved all documents from officials who conducted the investigation in 2015 including the notice to IMO and the people who were involved. Two people from the Ministry were identified to be involved but denied any knowledge and involvement. Matter was discussed with the AG at the time but it did not proceed to any conclusion. With the approval from cabinet, and the genuine approach from shipping agents including Ascent Naval, we restarted the recruitment process with the call for Expression of Interest from May 2017. This was due in July in which 3 companies showed interest which are Korean KR, Iranian ICS, and Ascent Navals from Thailand. Ministry with AG office is preparing a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the selected companies. We received reports recently that Ascent Naval is continuing their vessel registry, in which they were issued with a warning reminding them of revocation of authority and the possibility of removal from process if continue. Last week on the 27th May to 4th June, IMO was here to conduct an audit and informed that a lot of vessels are registered under our flag through Ascent Navals and other companies, thus on the 27th of May I told the director of the company off via text and informed them of being removed from the vessel registry. I guess this is why he wrote to PSC because of their removal. These allegations is due to their frustration from numerous visits to Samoa and offers to myself and the ministry that I continued to deny. He even offered a proposal to Samoa Shipping Corporation which was also denied. These people are so demanding and the approach of bribing officials that I never accepted. Had there been any offers accepted I would have been hesitant to remove them from the selection process. Sorry for the delayed reply but the allegations by this company requires a coordinated response in light of facts in place. Manuia le afiafi. Afamasaga Sua Pou Onesemo C.E.O. Ministry of Works, Transport and Infrastructure A complaint against the Chief Executive Officer of the Samoa National Provident Fund, Pauli Prince Suhren, is the subject of an investigation by the Office of the Ombudsman. The investigation was confirmed by the Assistant Ombudsman, Maualaivao Pepe Seiuli, in response to questions from the Samoa Observer. An Inquiry has been made however details of what youre seeking, that I cannot give you, Maulaivao said. So no (further) comment. Repeated attempts to get a comment from Pauli during the past three days have not been successful. Messages were left with his secretary who said Pauli would return the phone calls after his meetings. At press time last night, he had not called. An email with questions sent directly to Paulis official email has also not been responded to. But the Samoa Observer understands that the allegations surround the recruitment of a S.N.P.F senior employee. One source confirmed that the position is in the S.N.P.Fs legal division. One of the unsuccessful applicants had apparently lodged a complaint, which had reached Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi. Prime Minister Tuilaepa is not in the country and could not be reached for a comment yesterday. Cabinet has issued a directive to discontinue any variations for the ongoing prison project, unless approved by Cabinet. This is according to a F.K. (18) 19 directive issued to the Samoa Prisons and Correctional Services (S.P.C.S)on 30 May 2018. The new prison where the first phase is almost complete in Tanumalala, is built by Schwarz Construction. According to the F.K. leaked to the Samoa Observer, a total of $1.5 million funding has been approved for additional work for the prison. The F.K. (18) 19 was signed by C.E.O. of the Ministry of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Agafili Shem Leo. A total of $355,443.15 is approved for Kramer Ausenco (Samoa) Limited for additional architectural work for the new prison. The Cabinet has also approved the extension of the O.S.M. Construction for additional work, civil engineering work in the amount of $435,500. Furthermore, Cabinet has also approved a four month extension for the Schwarz Construction for additional work in the amount of $716,800. The Cabinet has also ordered the S.P.C.S not to conduct any further variations unless it is approved by the Tenders Board with the final decision by the Cabinet. The Cabinet also ordered the S.P.C.S. to adhere the Tender Process policies in place to ensure the Government integrity is protected and also to eliminate public complaints against the Government. Furthermore, the remaining work for the new prison for stage two and any additional work will be tendered publicly, according to the F.K. (18) 19. According to the budget for financial year 2018-2019, a total of $3.9million has been allocated to complete phase one and part of phase two of the new prison, including road construction and water supply. Last month, the Ministry of Finance flatly rejected a proposal for an additional $10 million for the second phase of the Tanumalala Prison facility. The rejection was confirmed by the Minister of Prison Services and Corrections, Tialavea Tionisio Hunt, in response to questions from the Samoa Observer. It was flatly denied by the Ministry of Finance, he said adding that they only approved $2.9 million. The facility is already estimated to cost more than $20 million tala. We estimated that phase one would cost up to $10 million, said Tialavea. However the bid that won was $7.4 million. As reported earlier, the bid was by Schwarz Construction, a company owned by Tialaveas younger brother, Alai'asa Schwarz Hunt. We received $3.7 million from the main budget for F.Y. 2018-2019; then from the supplementary we got $3.8 million. Another $1.5 million was received for the administration block and in total that is $9 million. That is the money they gave us. The additional $10 million proposed for the main budget of financial year 2019-2020 is for the second phase. But it was flatly denied by the Ministry of Finance. But the Minister made it clear there is no variation to the cost of the first phase of the project. The initial plan laid out for the jail had to be amended because the area where the Prison is built is rocky. So we have had to amend the original plans and now we are putting the tower on the front and the center of the compound. Asked if the tower was included in the tender for the first phase, the Minister said no. It was not included in the first phase; however after going through the plans of the project, we have decided to include this in the first phase because its required. So why are they proceeding with the tower when it was not part of the bidding process? "We have decided to include the tower to fit in with the first phase. Although it is not included, but for good reason, it is needed there, said Tialavea. We are currently negotiating to determine what the estimated cost for the tower is. I think it might be a little over $900,000. Asked why there has been no bidding process for the tower if it was not part of first phase, the Minister said there was no need. There is a current contract and they own the site. The committee that oversees this project, we just added this new tower. The Minister is adamant that their initial proposal of $20million for the prison will not increase. The remaining projects we have are the admin block, the generator, and storage with walk in freezer, housing for Correction officers on the compound, water tank and the rehabilitation building. This is all included in phase two. The total project is $20 million. The Salelologa Village Council has handed in three suspects of the Salelologa market attack to the Tuasivi Police station on Wednesday morning. The three are suspected to be involved in the dispute between Salelavalu and Salelologa last week. This was confirmed by Police Spokesperson, Auapaau Logoitino Filipo yesterday. At the moment the Police are interviewing these three suspects in connection to the matter, he said. We havent charged them yet because we are still conducting investigations as well as interviewing people about the matter. However, two suspects from the village of Salelavalu have been charged with actual bodily harm in connection to the dispute between Salelologa and Salelavalu last week. One of the suspects is 36 years old and the other one is 21 years old, he said. They are under Police custody until 26 June, 2018 for their Court appearance. Last week Monday, Savaii residents heading to the wharf to board the Lady Samoa were stuck in traffic because the road between Salelologa and Salelavalu was blocked in the morning. According to reports out of Savaii, men between Salelologa blocked the road near Salelavalu. Rocks were reportedly thrown and while other vehicles were damaged, others were stopped and searched. In a new survey of science research around the world, three San Diego powerhouses pulled in top ratings, according to the prestigious science journal Nature. The Scripps Research Institute ranked first nationally in life science and chemistry among standalone science institutes, the survey found. Globally, it ranked third in life science and fourth in chemistry. Scripps scientists recently developed the first life form that incorporates unnatural DNA, and have found leads to making an effective HIV vaccine. The Salk Institute ranked third nationally in life science and fifth globally among stand-alone institutes. Salk researchers have developed a string of advances in stem cell and plant biology. UC San Diego came in sixth nationally among academic institutions, and 12th place worldwide. Among life sciences at academic institutions, the university finished fifth both globally and nationally. Its researchers have pioneered treatments in cancer, along with inventing a method for spreading malaria resistance into mosquito populations. The ratings are based on research published in 82 top scientific journals. This is the first year that independent scientific organizations such as Scripps and Salk were considered separately from universities and government agencies in the Nature Index, released Thursday. So their ratings cant be directly compared with those of previous years. The especially strong performance in life science is important for San Diegos large biomedical sector, which depends on a stream of innovations to keep growing. Advertisement Last August, a Nature Index report named Scripps as the top research institution in the world for its influence on innovation. The institute faces long-term financial challenges, and is stepping up efforts to turn this research into new revenue streams. Scripps is known for its marriage of chemistry and biology. Donna Blackmond, a Scripps Research chemistry professor, knows how to preferentially build and study mirror-image molecules that have handedness. Most methods of chemical synthesis cant distinguish between left- and right-handed molecules. But the body does. For example, the birth defects produced by the sedative thalidomide in the 1950s are caused by the left-handed version, which doesnt sedate. The right-handed version of the molecule doesnt cause birth defects, but does sedate. This effect of handedness wasnt known at the time. Blackmond also uses her understanding of complex chemical reactions to make chemical synthesis more efficient. This makes the process less costly, vital if a discovery is going to be translated into a useful product. She teamed up with other Scripps Research scientists, including noted chemist Phil Baran, to develop an easier way of stabilizing drugs so they last longer in the body. This means drugs can be taken less frequently, and their therapeutic effects last longer in between doses. Blackmond previously worked at the drug giant Merck. She said its enjoyable to see how how performing fundamental science research can translate into practical benefit. We made one step in (synthesizing) Mercks AIDS drug 20 times faster when I worked there, and that felt wonderful, she said. But were also basic scientists, so understanding why is pretty much the bigger question for most of us. The Salks Janelle Ayres explores how infectious microbes and their host interact. The goal is to develop better treatments for infections that wont be defeated by resistance. One of her studies found that some strains of Salmonella bacteria blocked the suppression of appetite common in food poisoning. The mechanism might lead to treatments to encourage appetite among ill patients, and among those taking chemotherapy. We have been solely focused on developing new ways to kill pathogens, such as antibiotics, which is the very reason why we are dealing with the global crisis of antibiotic resistance, Ayres said by email. I wanted to understand how our bodies sustain health during infection so that I can develop new therapies for infections that will actually promote survival of the patient and not drive drug resistance. UCSD rated nearly the same as in the last two years. In 2017, it finished sixth nationally and 11th place worldwide. In 2016, it also finished sixth nationally and 12th place worldwide. The universitys global rating in life science placed it above such venerable centers of learning as Oxford and Cambridge universities in the UK; and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. First place went to Harvard University, and Stanford University finished second. As judged worldwide in all areas of science, UCSD rated above Yale University; California Institute of Technology; and Kyoto University in Japan. Harvard finished first, with Stanford University second. JoAnn Trejo is the universitys associate dean for health sciences faculty affairs and a professor of pharmacology. Shes best known for her work on cell signaling, the complicated language cells use to communicate with each other. Her work includes explaining how aberrant signaling causes changes in blood vessels that contribute to breast cancer. She also serves as a mentor for early career scientists. The Nature Index ratings can be found at https://www.natureindex.com. Related reading The Scripps Research Institute ranked first worldwide in science San Diego ranks high in rising stars science index UCSD gene drive technology offers life-transforming power Superstar cancer researcher Tony Hunter of Salk Institute wins award, makes new finding Science Playlist On Now In a first, scientists rid human embryos of a potentially fatal gene mutation by editing their DNA On Now Space station flyovers visible from San Diego this week 0:55 On Now UCSD's 'ghost drivers' begin testing people's reaction seemingly empty cars 1:29 On Now 10 interesting facts about Mars On Now Kids can add years to your life On Now LA 90: SpaceX launches recycled rocket On Now Big passions, big giving: Malin Burnham 2:30 On Now Big passions, big giving: Darlene Shiley 2:40 On Now Big passions, big giving: Joan and Irwin Jacobs 2:45 On Now Ocean temperatures warming at rapid rate, study finds bradley.fikes@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1020 Natural foods grocer Jimbos Naturally has filed suit against Horton Plaza for breach of contract, claiming the Westfield-owned and -operated downtown center has caused the grocer to lose millions of dollars in sales. The complaint, filed on May 22 with San Diegos Superior Court, alleges Horton Plaza has failed in its contractual obligation to operate the mall as a first-class regional shopping center, thus causing the grocer to miss out on foot traffic and spend extra on increased security. It also contends that the mall operator has let the center fall into disrepair, creating a crime-ridden, unwelcome environment for both customers and employees. Westfield, through a company spokesperson, declined to comment on the litigation. Advertisement Founded by Jim Jimbo Someck in 1984, Jimbos specializes in local, organic produce and non-GMO products. The company has five San Diego stores, including the flagship Horton Plaza location, which opened its doors in 2013. Jimbos entered into a 15-year lease agreement with Westfield Horton Plaza in May of 2012. At the time, the company invested a significant sum of money into the downtown store with the understanding that Horton Plaza would be significantly renovated, Someck said when reached for comment. Jimbos complaint alleges that Westfields neglect of Horton Plaza has caused the grocer to lose millions in sales. Specifically, Jimbos spent more than $5 million in tenant improvements with the belief that Westfield would invest $400 million in Horton Plaza, the complaint states. Instead, Westfield abandoned its plans to renovate Horton Plaza and decided to sell the mall instead. Horton Plaza, opened in 1985, has seen an exodus of tenants in recent years. Nordstrom notably exited its anchor placement in 2016, hastening the malls descent from a celebrated San Diego landmark to a near ghost town. Mall operator Westfield previously promised a revitalization, but is thought to be exploring a sale of the 900,000 square-foot property instead, as noted in the suit. Westfields complete disinterest in maintaining Horton Plaza was appropriately demonstrated when it did not even bother to decorate the mall for the holiday season in 2017, the suit states. Meanwhile, Westfield is in the midst of its own transformation, with French real estate firm Unibail-Rodamco set to take over the entity on Thursday, completing its $16 billion buyout of the brand. Its not any secret that (Westfield is) trying to get out from underneath (Horton Plaza) at this point, Someck said. That leaves me in an untenable position. Through the complaint, Someck is seeking an unspecified sum in monetary damages, likely exceeding $1 million, as well as a commitment from the mall operator to run the property as a first-class facility. Jimbos Natural Family Inc vs Horton Plaza LLC, case No. 37-2018-00025251-CU-BC-CTL, was filed May 22, 2018 with the Superior Court of California, County of San Diego. Business jennifer.vangrove@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1840 Twitter: @jbruin The share of Americans working as independent contractors has declined since 2005, according to new data out Thursday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The report, the first by the agency since 2005, contradicts other recent studies that find the American worker is becoming less bound by the traditional employee-employer relationship. But it also found that the number of independent contractors has grown even as the share has declined. Proponents of independent contracting say it provides greater flexibility for workers and lower costs for employers. But others note it has ensnared people in low-wage jobs without benefits or predictable schedules. Much of the attention on alternative work relationships in recent years has focused on the rise of the app-driven gig economy in which consumers can summon an independent contractor through their phones to drive them around or clean their house. Advertisement The bureaus report does not estimate the size of the so-called gig economy. In its May 2017 survey, the bureau did ask questions to gauge how many people found jobs through a mobile app and were then paid by that app. Those numbers are expected to be released later. Instead, the data focused on a broader category of workers categorized as the contingent and alternative workforce, which would include gig workers, independent truck drivers and contract workers who lift boxes at warehouses. Contingent workers are defined specifically as people who do not expect their current job to last for long and can include wage and salary workers. Alternative work relationships include independent contractors, on-call workers and those provided by temp agencies or contract firms. Using different estimates, the share of contingent workers was between 1.3% and 3.8% in May 2017, the bureau said. Thats down from 1.8% to 4.1% in February 2005. Independent contractors by far the largest form of alternative work and a category that includes Uber and Lyft drivers were estimated to make up 6.9% of total employment in May 2017, down from 7.4% in February 2005. The other forms of alternative work were little changed, the bureau said in a news release. The bureau only counts contingent or alternative jobs if workers hold those jobs as their sole or primary means of employment, which leaves out many workers who drive for Uber and Lyft on the side. Though the share of independent contractors has declined, the overall number of those workers has increased, according to the data. In May 2017, 10.6 million people were employed as independent contractors, up from 10.3 million in February 2005. The number of on-call workers and those provided by temp agencies and contract firms also rose slightly. Other studies have shown an increase in the share as well. Lawrence Katz of Harvard University and Alan Krueger of Princeton University released a study two years ago that found 8.4% of workers in 2015 were working as independent contractors for their primary job, up from 6.9% in 2005. Internal Revenue Service data also back up the conclusion, showing a rising share of people who are independent contractors and have no W-2 income, Katz previously told The Times. Its possible seasonality could be affecting the bureau results since the 2005 survey was taken in February and the 2017 survey was taken in May. However, Katz and Krueger compared February 2005 data with October and November 2015 data and found no evidence of systematic seasonality between February and October or November in the share of workers who are self-employed. In recent years, independent contracting has drawn increased scrutiny from labor activists and the courts. They have questioned whether companies are simply misclassifying people as independent workers allowing them to not pay benefits or contribute to workers compensation funding but retaining effective control over a workers day. In April, the California Supreme Court issued a major ruling that agreed with that argument and laid out new rules that make it more difficult for companies to classify workers as independent contractors. andrew.khouri@latimes.com Follow me @khouriandrew on Twitter A deal obligating the city and the Port of San Diego to pay up to $33.2 million to regain control of a bayfront site needed to expand the citys convention center will be formally considered by both entities next week. Details of the payout, part of a complicated deal negotiated over a period of eight months, are contained in documents prepared in advance of a planned Tuesday hearing before the City Council. That same day, San Diego Port Commissioners will also be asked to approve the settlement a three-way deal between the city; the port, which oversees the leased tidelands site; and longtime port tenants Ray Carpenter and Art Engel, who have been working on plans for a $300 million hotel project on the five-acre waterfront parcel that they currently control. The full payout, including an upfront payment of $5 million by the port, is still dependent on the outcome of a citizens initiative planned for the November ballot that would finance an expansion of up to $850 million with revenues generated by an increase in the citys hotel room tax. Advertisement A coalition of business leaders, hoteliers, labor unions and homeless advocates are expecting to turn in by the middle of this month more than 100,000 signatures for the measure, which calls for raising the citys effective hotel room tax of 12.5 percent to as much as 15.75 percent. The revenues from that tax hike would cover not only the expansion, which would enlarge the center by 400,000 square feet of rentable space, but also help underwrite the cost of services and housing for the homeless, as well as pay for road repairs. Some of those tax revenues would also cover most of the proposed $33.2 million payout to Fifth Avenue Landing, the leasehold controlled by Carpenter and Engel. As part of the proposed deal, the current term of the lease, due to expire in 2024, would be extended 18 years, and control would be turned over to the city. The balance of the citys payment to Fifth Avenue Landing up to $28.2 million would be made in three installments next year starting April 1. In addition to helping clear a significant hurdle for the expansion, the proposed agreement also settles a lawsuit Fifth Avenue Landing filed last year against the city and Convention Center Corp., claiming that they were interfering with its contractual right to move forward with its hotel project. As part of the settlement, Fifth Avenue Landing is prohibited from contributing any funding to oppose the expansion project. In the event the citizens initiative to raise the hotel tax were to fail, Fifth Avenue Landing would be able to keep an initial payment of $5 million made ahead of the November election in return for the development team agreeing to postpone processing its plans. It would also be entitled to resume the process for securing development approval. The city, though, would be on the hook for repaying the port $5 million, plus accrued interest, if the ballot measure does not pass. Officials with the mayors office defend the financial settlement of the long-running dispute with Fifth Avenue Landing as a prudent deal, although the total cost is considerably more than the nearly $14 million $12.5 million plus $1.4 million in interest the city could have paid three years ago when the Convention Center Corp. opted to back out of a deal it struck in 2010 to acquire the leasehold as part of its plans to enlarge the center. That was because the expansion project had stalled after an appellate court ruled in 2014 that the plan to finance it with a hotelier-approved room tax hike was unconstitutional. The city would have been spending millions of dollars out of its operating budget toward a project with a very unclear path at the time, and that was a bad deal for the taxpayers, Matt Awbrey, deputy chief of staff for Mayor Kevin Faulconer, said Wednesday. It was always contemplated that the land costs would have come from the financing of the convention center expansion. But the court threw out the financing plan, so in 2015 when faced with the only option for retaining the land, which was to use millions of dollars from the citys budget, the decision was made to not move forward. Since then the city has prevailed in court, and theres the citizens initiative, so the timing is right for this. But major questions remain that could put the expansion in potential jeopardy should the initiative receive approval from a simple majority of the voters as opposed to two-thirds majority, the normal minimum required to raise taxes. While a state Supreme Court ruling last year suggested that only a simple majority is needed for a citizens initiative, the opinion remains open to interpretation. Under the terms of the Fifth Avenue Landing deal, if the ballot measure were to fall short of two-thirds approval, a court ruling affirming that only a simple majority is needed would have to happen by March 15 of next year. If the deadline is not met, each party would have the right, though not the requirement, to terminate the transaction, Faulconers office said. Ray Carpenter said Wednesday if the election results are not certified by the March 15 date, we are building the hotel. This thing cannot go on ad nauseum. Everyone wants certainty as to what will take place. Carpenter insists that his first choice was always to build a hotel on the leasehold as opposed to negotiating a lucrative payday. Obviously, were interested in building the hotel, and thats why the deal is structured so that if they cant make it (the expansion) happen we can go back and complete the project we intended to build, said Carpenter. The potential return long-term is greater from the building of the hotel. Under the previous plan for financing an expansion of the center with a hotelier-approved room tax hike, the Port of San Diego had agreed to contribute $60 million. The proposed settlement obligates the port to only a $5 million contribution, although there is language in the agreement that opens the door to discussions about additional contributions, said Aimee Faucett, Faulconers chief of staff. Rafael Castellanos, chairman of the board of port commissioners, would make no commitments but pointed to the roughly $300 million the port has invested in the original convention center and subsequent expansion in 2001as evidence of its willingness to financially support the bayfront facility. This deal doesnt prevent us from having discussions about that in the future. But we will cross that bridge when we come to it. Should the settlement deal go through and the planned initiative is successful, the city would have a few additional financial obligations beyond the $28.2 million payment for the lease, according to the citys staff report. It would also be obliged to pay rent of at least $419,000 a year to the port during the the time the expansion is under construction. During that same time, the city also would be required to cover Fifth Avenue Landings rent payments to the port for its existing marina operation, which would be impacted by the construction. That sum, says the city, would not exceed $244,920. Business lori.weisberg@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-2251 Twitter: @loriweisberg Most family caregivers know there arent enough hours in the day to get everything done on their to-do list. So why would a caregiver with some down time pick up a book on caregiving? Because maybe when you put the book down, you might be smarter, calmer or even in a better mood. Take, for example, How to Care for Aging Parents: A One-Stop Resource for All Your Medical, Financial, Housing, and Emotional Issues, by Virginia Morris. Now in its third edition, How to Care for Aging Parents has earned accolades usually reserved for the bestseller list. (The bible of eldercare, said ABC World News, while The Washington Post called it, A compassionate guide of encyclopedic proportion.) The book provides concise, authoritative information on everything from preventing elder fraud to a primer on the different stages of Alzheimers disease and the essentials of Medicare parts A and B. Advertisement Theres also the personal, but no less informative, Passages in Caregiving: Turning Chaos into Confidence, by mega-selling Passages author Gail Sheehy. The writer uses her experience caring for her husband, the late magazine editor Clay Felker, as a springboard to delve into and try to make sense of the healthcare system, the dearth of support for family caregivers, and the impact of a loved ones death and its aftermath. As Sheehy leads readers on this journey, she offers both practical and spirit-lifting advice. Then theres the crowded genre of caregiver memoirs which read more like journals and collections of poignant and profound moments that result in ah-ha moments. Some contain poetry, others capture the humor that inevitably surfaces amid the pressures of caregiving. Many can bring you to tears. The book jacket of My Life Rearranged: Musings of an Alzheimers Caregiver, by Cardiff author Susan Miller, says the book will tug at your heart, touch your soul, inspire you, and help you believe in your capabilities. The book just flowed out of me and it felt like it was something I was supposed to be doing, Miller told the Union-Tribune recently. In the beginning, it was just for me, but I later came to understand the impact it could have on caregivers. It is my way of giving back and giving thanks that I could see the journey through to the end, and find tomorrow. Former Carlsbad resident Jerry Bridge a motivational speaker and comedian also thought his experience, which he got through with a combination of therapy, faith, journaling and a sense of humor, could be the basis of a book. From that, came Who Cares? The Give and Take of Family Caregiving. Bridge told the Union-Tribune in 2015 that he wanted Who Cares to help other caregivers sort through the emotions and day-to-day challenges of their role as well as prepare for the end-of-life stage. Some people will have it more difficult than me and some not as difficult, he said. Its just a way to help people not feel alone and help people laugh and cry. An informal search of Amazon turned up warehouses-worth of caregiving books, some put out by large publishing houses, others self published. There is value in even older, out-of-print volumes which can offer universal advice and timeless encouragement. Among the 4,000-plus available on Amazon, were citing a micro-sampling below. Some of the titles can be found at public libraries or on the shelves at caregiver-centric organizations such as the Southern Caregiver Resource Center and the Sharp Senior Resource Centers. Others can also be purchased directly from the authors, including Miller (Caregiverbooks@gmail.com) and Bridge (jerrybridge.com/books) The 36-Hour Day: A Family Guide to Caring for People Who Have Alzheimer Disease, Related Dementias, and Memory Loss, by Nancy L. Mace and Peter V. Rabins. Considered essential, trusted reading for anyone caring for someone with dementia. Every aspect of the disease is covered in easy-to-understand language. Dementia Sucks: A Caregivers Journey with Lessons Learned, by Tracey S. Lawrence. Think caring for yourfather and then your mother for 12 years, handling all of their financial, health and daily living concerns, cant be side-splitting? Read on: Not buying it, huh? My mother acknowledged her assertion that the woman she pointed out at the rehab center as being her dead husband was a bit of a stretch. But this was the kind of conversation I had with Mom as her cognitive abilities declined and her psychosis fully bloomed. The true, heart-wrenching, and yet hilarious stories at the center of Dementia Sucks were borne of a journal and blog that author Lawrence kept as her mother transformed from classic Jewish mother, to mildly forgetful Floridian grandma, to geriatric delinquent removed by police for knife-play at a rehabilitation facility. Really. The Complete Eldercare Planner: Where to Start, Which Questions to Ask and How to Find Help, by Joy Loverde. This respected, comprehensive road map to caregiving is also a useful workbook, with multiple checklists and an extensive document locator. Eldercare for Dummies, by Rachelle Zukerman. If ever a book title conveyed how caregiving can throw even the savviest person for a loop, this is it. Written in the consumer-friendly format that the Dummies franchise is known for, this guide will take you through problem areas you might not even know is a problem yet. Case in point: these tips are from the cheat sheet on How to get your elder to accept help. Approach gently and be understanding, but express your concerns firmly. Dont tell your elder theres a problem; ask whether he thinks there may be a problem. Before suggesting outside help, familiarize yourself with community services. Offer help, but dont take over. Back off when you meet resistance and try again another day. Have a respected doctor, clergy, trusted friend, or relative suggest help. Explain how assistance increases independence. Never introduce a professional caregiver as someone who will take care of you. Ask your elders opinion about how best to handle the situation. Make sure that your elder is well rested and well fed before presenting plans for help. When your elders perceptions of his or abilities dont match your perceptions, resist the urge to contradict. Offer assistance in an off-handed, humorous, and casual manner. michele.parente@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @sdeditgirl FALLBROOK Wine and a Bite coming June 15 The Fallbrook Chamber of Commerce hosts its first of three Wine and a Bite fundraisers from 5-8 p.m. June 15 in the Historic Downtown District, stopping at several venues where youll enjoy wine, a bite of gourmet food and an art experience at each stop. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Fallbrook Historical Society. Tickets are $25 regular admission, $15 for designated driver and active-duty military. For ages 21 and up only. No pets allowed. Check in at 4:30 p.m. at the Fallbrook Chamber of Commerce, 111 S. Main Ave. Other summer Wine & A Bite dates are July 13 and Aug. 10, with a Holiday Wine & A Bite scheduled for Dec. 7. Call (760) 728-5845. OCEANSIDE Advertisement Goodwill opens new store on Plaza Drive Goodwill Industries of San Diego County will open its newest retail store at 10 a.m. today at 3841 Plaza Drive, Suite B. The store at 3841 Plaza Drive, Suite 902, closed recently. The store will sell used merchandise ranging from clothing, shoes, home decor and housewares to furniture. Proceeds go to the nonprofits job-training programs and employment services. Visit sdgoodwill.org. POWAY Bringing the Burn to Poway Burn Boot Camp, a national fitness franchise, has opened at 14767 Pomerado Road in Poway, owned by Jodi Lenhardt with her husband, Jason. Jodi started as a member of Burn Boot Camp in Cary, N.C. Each camp involves a 45-minute circuit style workout composed of 72 styles and 15 formats, including high-intensity interval training and suspension training. Sessions are led by an accredited certified personal trainer who creates new programs daily. Members are not required to register in advance, but can choose camps that fit their schedules. Hours are 5 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Monday through Friday; 8-10 a.m. Saturday and closed Sunday. All sessions before 5 p.m. are women-only, and free child care is available. Visit https://burnbootcamp.com/poway-ca, email powayca@burnbootcamp.com or call (858) 413-7436. Connecting With Capital Expo coming The free Connecting With Capitol Expo will be held at the Poway City Council Chambers, 13325 Civic Center Drive, from 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Friday, with check-in and breakfast at 8:30 a.m. Sponsored by the San Diego & Imperial Small Business Development Center Network, the expos partners include the Poway Chamber of Commerce, the city of Poway and the Governors Office of Business and Economic Development. Learn from experts what it takes to raise capital, how to get it from traditional and non-traditional lenders, and how to use crowd-funding. Learn how the offices of your government representatives can help resolve issues and get fast results. Small-business owners can meet with banks, non-traditional lenders and resource partners including Regents Bank, Banner Bank, Chase Bank, Robertson Working Capital, Pacific Western Bank, Accion, CDC Small Business Financing, Primary Funding Corporation, Harvest Small Business Finance, Joe Moreno Crowd Funding, Comerica Bank and Wells Fargo Bank. Register at www.sdivsbdc.org (Classes and Workshops). SAN MARCOS Manager receives education award Dallas King, manager of Fairfield Inn & Suites San Marcos, received the Employer Excellence in Special Education award from the North Coastal Consortium for Special Education Community Advisory Committee in a recent ceremony at the North County Regional Education Center. He was also recognized with a framed resolution presented by a representative from Sen. Joel Andersons office. King was nominated by Karen Thompson, coordinator of the WorkAbility 1 program for San Marcos Unified School District. She cited Kings support for students with disabilities; his longstanding involvement with the San Marcos Chamber of Commerce; his vocal support of work opportunities for students with disabilities; and his commitment to giving his Fairfield Inn staff the time and support necessary to train students and provide solid work that will help them gain jobs. The students are considered part of the hotels staff team and take great pride in their contribution to the hotels smooth running. Call (760) 290-2242 or email karen.thompson@smusd.org. VISTA Business mixer at EasyTurf The Vista Chamber of Commerce holds its June Business Mixer at 5 p.m. Wednesday at EasyTurf, 2750 La Mirada Drive in the Vista Business Park. Cost is $5 for members, $20 for general admission. Make new connections, enjoy great food, have fun. Call (760) 726-1122; email info@vistachamber.org. Please send items to laura.groch@sduniontribune.com at least 10 days before events. laura.groch@sduniontribune.com With the apparent defeat of a measure backed by termed-out National City Mayor Ron Morrison to replace existing term limits with new ones, it appears the mayors time in office is up at least for now. Morrison and his supporters said Wednesday they were not ready to concede the defeat of Measure B, which trailed the opposing Measure C in votes by a slim margin, according to unofficial returns. A majority of voters approved each measure Measure B had 50.6 percent of the vote and Measure C had 54.5 percent so the one with the most votes will be approved. Results show Measure C had 2,136 votes, while Measure B had 1,999 a difference of 137 votes. If approved, Measure C will keep the three consecutive four-year terms for the mayor in place and extend the same limits to the city clerk, city treasurer and City Council. In turn, it is set to keep Morrison from being able to run for re-election in November. Advertisement Measure B proposed repealing the mayoral term limits and setting new ones two four-year terms across the board for elected positions. Although the mayor may not be able to extend his time in office, he is not banned from running for a seat on the City Council in November a notion that has been the subject of speculation. On Wednesday, Morrison said he had not fully assessed his future political plans in light of the results. However, he said running for City Council is certainly one of the options on the table. Regardless, Morrison, who was elected mayor in 2006 after serving 14 years as a councilman, would be able to run for mayor again in 2022. If elected to the City Council, Morrison would have less control to some degree. Under city law, the mayors powers include running meetings, nominating council members for seats on certain boards and commissions and signing documents such as contracts, resolutions and ordinances approved by the City Council. The mayor does not have veto powers or the authority to command city employees. As the City Council stands, Morrisons vote oftentimes is influential, particularly in split decisions that end in a 3-2 vote. Morrison said he may contemplate running for a council seat to continue the progress the city has made under his leadership and give National City residents a voice. Theres a small group that wants to control everything, he said. Thats a real shame. Of the unofficial election results, he said he did not infer that people disapproved of his leadership. If I was running for mayor and lost, that would be different, he said. The idea of Morrison returning to the council was favored by some council members and criticized by others. Mayor Morrison is a quality individual and leader, so if he can stay involved in leadership in the city in some capacity, I would encourage it and I would support him 100 percent, said Councilman Albert Mendivil. Mendivil, who supported Measure B, described Morrison as an extremely dedicated leader. Thats probably what separates him from others, Mendivil said. I dont think theres anybody else that will come close to put in the time, to put in the dedication he has. Councilwoman Mona Rios, who backed Measure C and said the results showed voters want new leadership, said there would continue to be tension on the dais if Morrison held a seat as a councilman. My hope is that after the election, after November, we will have a (council) that does not include the mayor, she said. I do believe that we can work together if that is the case. She added: I dont believe any of our work would be hindered or stopped if hes not there. Without Morrison as a candidate for the mayoral election, Councilwoman Alejandra Sotelo-Solis is the single candidate so far. Sotelo-Solis, a critic of Morrisons leadership, unsuccessfully challenged him in 2006 and 2010. Morrison has taken issue with the possibility of Sotelo-Solis running unopposed in the November race. Mendivil, an ally of Morrison who will be up for re-election in November, did not reject the idea of running for mayor. Everything is on the table right now, from mayor to council, he said. Morrison would not say if he has someone in mind to support for the mayoral race. Email: david.hernandez@sduniontribune.com Phone: (619) 293-1876 Twitter: @D4VIDHernandez In its budget for the upcoming fiscal year, National City plans to strip the Chamber of Commerce of long-standing city funds a plan that has been the subject of contentious debate in recent weeks. Mayor Ron Morrison and council members wrangled over the funding for the chamber during two special meetings held in May to discuss the budget for fiscal year 2019, which includes a $3.7 million to $4.5 million deficit. The City Council will consider the budget for adoption on June 18. On May 29, the council voted 3-2 to accept the proposed budget with one notable change: to slash the $50,000 the chamber receives from the citys general fund. Councilwomen Alejandra Sotelo-Solis and Mona Rios voted against the decision. Advertisement This is shameful, Rios said following the vote. Jaqueline Reynoso, the chambers CEO, said she believes the decision is retaliation against the chamber for past political stands that challenged the mayor and Councilman Jerry Cano. The debate over the financial support for the chamber began at the first budget meeting on May 8 after Morrison took issue with the funding allocated to the nonprofit organization, which works to advance the interests of businesses. The mayor said it is not the norm for cities to fund chambers of commerce and expressed concern that the money is used by the chamber for fundraisers. Cities dont normally do that for chamber of commerces, Morrison said. Reynoso said the funds are used for free events that are open to the public, including the International Mariachi Festival and Competition, Automobile Heritage Day Festival and Car Show, and the Salute to Navy Luncheon. Thats what nonprofits do, Reynoso said. We pay for our services and personnel through grants, membership dues and partnerships. She noted that other cities in the county support chambers, including Coronado, which contributes about $100,000 to its chamber. Reynoso, who periodically reports back to the City Council to share details about the funds the chamber uses, said sponsorships and events generate the bulk of the chambers revenue. The nonprofit has a $662,000 budget this fiscal year. In addition to community events, the chamber provides services for businesses, such as free energy and water evaluations for new businesses, which is mandated in a city ordinance. Reynoso said the service is partially funded by the city. Sotelo-Solis said the chamber has not misused funds in the past and that to withdraw financial support is not business friendly. I see their engagement with our small-business community as another peg in the stool to really make a solid revenue-generator for our community, she said at the May 8 meeting. Reynoso criticized the mayor, Cano and Councilman Albert Mendivil for their votes, saying their decision sends a poor message to the business community and the residents of National City that these three council members do not value these types of programs and activities. The motion to cut the funds for the chamber was made by Mendivil, who did not explain the reasoning behind the decision. I do believe the chamber has done many great things, Cano said at the first budget meeting. But I believe they honestly can stand on their own two feet. Thats all I have to say. Reynoso said she considers the decision to slash funding a retaliatory action against the chamber and herself. She pointed to a feud in 2016 between Cano and the owner of a small market who had been denied an alcohol permit and alleged the councilman had received campaign contributions from the owner of a competing liquor store who opposed the permit. Canos lawyer denied the allegations and threatened to file a defamation lawsuit against the owner of the market, Susana Maza, and the chamber, which supported her throughout the permit process. Reynoso said the chamber has also been at odds with the mayor in the past. Last year, the chamber endorsed a bill Morrison opposed: Assembly Bill 805, which overhauled the San Diego Association of Governments, the regional planning agency known as SANDAG. On a personal level, there has been tension between Reynoso and the mayor as well. Reynoso said he called into question Reynosos support for former councilman Luis Natividad when he challenged Morrison in a 2014 mayoral race. Despite some discord, the chamber and the city have had a solid, symbiotic relationship over the years. In 2014, Reynoso said, the chamber invested $10,000 to back a campaign in support of the renewal of a 1 percent sales tax. Voters approved that year the 20-year extension, which generates $10 million annually for the city. The funding for the chamber in the citys budget dates back at least 10 years, with contributions slashed over the years. In 2008, the city contracted with the chamber to provide economic development services after Reynoso, the citys former economic development coordinator, joined the chamber. The city provided $50,000 for the services, as well as $45,000 for community events and promotion efforts. Amid a budget deficit two years later, the city suspended funding for two programs managed by the chamber, including a storefront improvement program. In 2012, the city slashed most of the funding for economic development services from $50,000 to $5,000, lowering the total annual contribution to the chamber to $50,000. The proposed cut in funding for the chamber in the 2018-19 budget would eliminate almost all of the financial support the city provides the organization. As with other co-sponsored events, the city covers $1,000 of the costs of permits for the chambers job fair, mariachi festival, car show and festival, and Navy luncheon. Moving forward, the chamber plans to seek other revenue sources such as grants and donations, Reynoso said. Other notable planned cuts to the citys budget include $382,000 for the George H. Waters Nutrition Center for seniors and $380,000 for the operation of the National City Aquatic Center. Staff said the cuts would not affect the operation of the two facilities; the city expects the funds to be covered by new funding sources. Email: david.hernandez@sduniontribune.com Phone: (619) 293-1876 Twitter: @D4VIDHernandez Paso, Part I: Four Reasons Why If you live in San Diego County, youre never more than a dockless bike ride away from an excellent pint. To trek 325 miles to Paso Robles for a cold one, you need a staggeringly good reason. Like, say, last weekends Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Fest. The FWIBF is without peer in the quality of its breweries. Among this years 56 invitees were of-the-moment breweries from Sweden (Omnipollo), New Zealand (Garage Project), Missouri (Side Project), Massachusetts (Trilium) and elsewhere. San Diego was represented by Bagby Beer, Lost Abbey, Mikkeller, Modern Times, Societe and Stone. Nothing personal, but I avoided those in favor of unfamiliar beers. Four that made the six-hour drive and 99-degree heat worthwhile: Advertisement 1. Yuzu Rising Sun (4.4 percent alcohol by volume), Garage Project. A sweet-sour duet from tart raspberries and nectar-like yuzu stays nimble and light despite all the fructose. Added visual treat: Rising Sun separates into a red-pink ribbon over a clear band. 2. Rum Helldorado (13.5 percent), Firestone Walker. This boozy barleywine is aged in Jamaican rum barrels, giving the deep malts a Caribbean butterscotch accent. 3. Alchemy & Magic (6.4 percent), The Rare Barrel. This Berkeley brewerys barrel-aged beers consistently dazzle. This golden sour ale was aged in gin barrels with cucumber, juniper and rosemary, delivering a bubbly, beery version of a Pimms Cup. 4. Collective We (5.5 percent), Sante Adairius. Looking for beer-flavored beer? This unfiltered rural pilsner from Capitola checked all my boxes: firm malts, herbal hops, lemon spritz, clean finish, superb structure. Paso, Part II: Catching Up with Chuck How are things at Silva Brewing? This is our biggest day ever, said co-owner M.J. Silva. Even bigger than our biggest week. After turbocharging Green Flashs rise with beers like Le Freak, West Coast IPA and Silva Stout, brewmaster Chuck Silva left that San Diego brewery to open his own place in Paso Robles. The new outfit is far smaller than the Flash We made about 600 barrels last year, Chuck said but hes become a Big Deal on the local brewing scene. A Central Coast Brewers Guild board member, Chuck is winning fans by re-inventing his old recipes, including his hybrid Belgian/West Coast IPA, Le Freak, revised as Chuck Amok. Last Friday night, I sampled that days release, rye barrel-aged Silva Stout. Brewed with Turkish figs and 61 percent cacao, it has a massive nose of bourbon, vanilla and cocoa, a silky texture and a body full of molasses, French roast and charred oak. Silvas beers arent yet distributed in San Diego County. Another reason to head north. Paso, Part III: Russian River Many of the 7,000 attendees at the Firestone Walker fest flocked to Russian Rivers booth. They were fans of the beer Pliny the Elder, STS Pils and Intinction, the latter a tarted-up lager and the beertender: craft beer icon and Russian River co-owner Vinnie Cilurzo. Cilurzo noted that Russian River plans to open a new brewery this September in Windsor, 10 miles north of the current Santa Rosa plant. The new 85,000-square-foot facility will be Russian Rivers headquarters, with a brewhouse, gift shop and tasting room. Plinys empire is expanding. We already have two production breweries in Santa Rosa, Cilurzo said, plus a pub. Kings of Beer The Pink Stuff (9.4 percent alcohol by volume), this weeks King, is a new offering from Silva Brewing and a new, unexpected star in the galaxy of craft beer. Chuck Silva took a kettle sour beer, added second runnings of grenache, then used champagne yeast to ferment this concoction in white wine barrels. The result? A sparkling rose beer, which sounds crazy and tastes delicious. Didnt See This Coming? NOFXs vulgar and offensive frontman, Fat Mike, recently ended a performance with vulgar and offensive comments about last years massacre at Las Vegas Route 91 Harvest Festival. I guess youre only getting shot in Vegas if youre a country band, he said. I mean, that sucked. At least they were country fans and not punk rock fans. Band members quickly apologized, but not before losing a business partner: Stone Brewing. The Escondido company announced it is severing all our ties with NOFX, including dropping its collaboration with NOFX, the Punk in Drublic hoppy lager. Stone did the right thing, yet was naive to hook up with NOFX in the first place. SXSW organizers still talk about the bands 2010 set that included a graphic video. The film showed Fat Mike pouring tequila for audience members after fortifying the spirits back stage with his urine. You want to associate with these people? Words to Drink By I have Utopia and if I were Egyptian I would be buried with it. I use it to start conversations and make friends. It is not for Mortals. Or Americans. Utopia is for Poets or the Gods. Nikki Giovanni gushes over Sam Adams priciest beer in Chasing Utopia (2013). Today being Giovannis 74th birthday, lets cut her some slack for misspelling Utopias. . Beer Videos Twitter: @peterroweut peter.rowe@sduniontribune.com Duncan Hunter is the heavy favorite heading toward the November election in his East County district, as he has been every two years since he has been in Congress. Maybe not even an indictment could keep the Republican from being re-elected. Hunter is a unique incumbent politically strong with a very cloudy future. The Republican Party had a fail-safe option, but was unwilling or unable to maneuver El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells into the primary election runner-up position on Tuesday that would have put him on the fall ballot with Hunter. Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar edged into second place, a few points ahead of Republican Wells and Democrat Josh Butner. Advertisement Campa-Najjar promoted a Democratic vision of numerous issues, from health care to immigration to gun safety. But the federal criminal investigation into Hunters personal use of campaign funds was the backdrop for the entire campaign. That is the only reason Democrats would have even a glimmer of hope of taking the heavily Republican 50th Congressional District. Its also the reason Wells got into the race. I expect he wont be a congressman a year from today, Wells said Wednesday. The investigation has lasted more than a year and could conclude Hunter did nothing wrong, or at least nothing other than a simple mistake he corrected by paying back some $60,000 in misspent campaign money. Hunter has denied any intentional wrongdoing. Also, the investigation might not end before the election. Or, Hunter could be charged with felonies, which, despite his popularity, would put his re-election in doubt. Or, he could be forced to leave office before the election, or step down as part of a deal. In those scenarios, Republicans wouldnt be able to replace him on the ballot and Campa-Najjar might become the candidate with some of the longest odds to win a congressional seat. He has no control over those outside forces and cant count on them helping him out until or unless they do. On election night, Campa-Najjar just sounded like a Democrat running in a very Republican district. If we can flip Alabama, you cant tell me we cant win, he told the Union-Tribunes Peter Rowe, referring to the Democrats upset U.S. Senate victory in December. The Election Day tally showed Hunter with 48.7 percent of the vote, Campa-Najjar at 16.3 percent, Wells with 13.3 percent and Butner with 12.8 percent. Its notable that Hunter didnt reach 50 percent. Even if the outstanding ballots yet to be counted put him over the majority mark, it would be his worst re-election primary result by a long shot. Still, given the investigation and well-financed Democrats running against him, you could argue thats not so bad. Both the Republican and Democratic parties hate Californias top-two primary, which allows the two candidates with the most votes to advance to November regardless of party registration. The political parties dont like it because they lose control over the process of nominating their candidates. But in the case of the 50th District, the GOP missed an opportunity to make the top-two work to its advantage by potentially making Wells the backup on the November ballot. Trying to help elevate Wells while not seriously hurting Hunter might have been tricky. But given how close Wells was to Campa-Najjar, and the tremendous lead Hunter had in late polls, it doesnt seem like trying to shift a bit of Republican or independent support would have denied the incumbent a ticket to November. I wasnt so much disappointed for me, Wells said. I was disappointed the Republican Party didnt stand for what its supposed to stand for. Were supposed to stand for integrity and values. Now, the best laid plans can always backfire. Some analysts suggested that more competition among the Republicans could have landed both Campa-Najjar and Butner on the November ballot. Of course, given hindsight through election results, that seems far-fetched now. Regardless, the Hunter family didnt want to take that chance. Duncan Hunter, the father, was elected to Congress in 1980, and when he decided to step down his son won the seat in 2008. He had always promoted and protected his sons political career, an instinct that kicked into overdrive as the younger Duncan got into trouble. The congressmans fundraising was lagging and his father stepped up efforts to raise money for his campaign and legal expenses. Meanwhile, Wells fundraising effort never got off the ground. Competing with a local political dynasty isnt easy. Maybe the federal investigation will amount to nothing and Rep. Hunter will spend years and years in Congress. But if he doesnt get through the November election and Campa-Najjar becomes the next congressman, Republicans may regret not moving on a ready-made backup plan. A sheriffs deputy accused of groping and fondling 13 women he encountered while on the job must stand trial on all 15 charges arising from the allegations, a Vista judge ruled Wednesday. Superior Court Judge Daniel Goldsteins decision came after a roughly four-day preliminary hearing for Deputy Richard Fischer,who has pleaded not guilty to the charges nine felonies and six misdemeanors. Many of the charges are related to assault and battery under the color of authority. The women, Goldstein said, were put into a position where they could not adequately fight him off. Advertisement In a few instances, the alleged fondling happened during hugs initiated by the defendant, according to testimony. Many of the women initially agreed to his request, but said they quickly became uncomfortable. During one back-and-forth discussion with the judge, one of Fischers attorneys said women didnt have to let the deputy into their homes or agree to his request for hugs. Goldstein responded that the gravity of the offense is psychological coercion. There is a tremendous amount of ability to exert coercion by the mere status (of being a law enforcement officer), the judge said. If a plumber asks for a hug, (a woman) is not going to feel the same psychological coercion. Aside from the criminal case, the victims are suing the county in civil court. On Wednesday, during his closing arguments to the judge, Fischer attorney Richard Pinckard questioned the credibility of the accusers. Pinckard said their testimony was exaggerated for the purpose of bolstering their lawsuits. He called it a money grab. As of early May, the county had reached settlements totaling more than $900,000 with four of the accusers. The remaining claims are unresolved. Fischer, 32, has been on unpaid leave from the Sheriffs Department since February. As a sexual-misconduct case deepens within the San Diego Sheriffs Department -- a 10th women has come forward with a legal claim against the county -- three alleged victims are raising questions about why the accused lawman has not been arrested. In ordering Fischer to stand trial, Goldstein noted similarities in the allegations and circumstances, including the ages of the victims many were in their 50s and that they were vulnerable, down on their luck, when they encountered Fischer. Some of the women met Fischer after calling 911 to report crimes such as domestic violence. Others had been stopped by the deputy for a variety of reasons, such as a busted tail light. The accusers also had similar descriptions of the deputys alleged behavior, according to the testimony. In some instances, Fischer would return to a womans home long after the official business had ended and ask to use the restroom, then ask to hug them, the accusers said. He also asked some of them if they were alone in the home. Goldstein said the deputys actions appeared designed more to assess vulnerability than to engage in a lawful investigation. One of the women testified that Fischer and another deputy had come to her San Marcos home in the middle of the night at the request of her father, who lived out of state and was worried about her welfare. After the deputies left, she went back to bed. A knock on the door awakened her an hour later. It was Fischer, she said, asking to use her bathroom. Before he left, hed told her she was hot and hugged her twice. After the second time, she knew something was wrong, she said. She declined his request for a third hug and told him to leave. She said he did not grope her. Her accusations kicked off the investigation into Fischer last fall. In making his ruling, the judge said hed never seen so much corroborating evidence introduced at a preliminary hearing Its uncanny, actually, he said including evidence from a tracking device that put the deputys car in the places when and where victims had said incidents had happened. Also, some accusers had made statements including in text messages shown in court to friends and family about their encounters with Fischer soon after they happened. Goldstein also said he appreciated that with everything going on in the world prosecutors opted to address the charges in a preliminary hearing, which is open to the public. The other option would have been to take the case to a grand jury, a closed-door proceeding, and one that doesnt allow defense attorneys cross-examine witnesses. Sexual assault has become a topic of national conversation in recent months, including accusations against high-profile men and the #MeToo movement. Goldstein added that Fischers case includes the topic of the unlawful use of authority, and the last thing the public would want is for the proceeding to be done in private. In ordering Fischer to stand trial, the judge noted that the standard of proof at a preliminary hearing is far lower than it is at trial, which requires prosecutors to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. Fischer faces 14 years, eight months if convicted. teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com (760) 529-4945 Twitter: @TeriFigueroaUT Unless they are transplanted Chicagoans, few Californians know about Jays potato chips. Thats about to change. The Windy City snack plays a crisp, upbeat part in the biography of John Cox, the Rancho Santa Fe Republican who finished second in Tuesdays primary for California governor. In 1994, the chips were down for Jays. Six years earlier, the founding Japp family had sold the company to the Borden corporation. With sales of chips, popcorn and other goodies turning stale, Borden announced it was set to bail. Advertisement Thats when Cox, an Illinois native, helped the family reacquire the company, saving it from bankruptcy and possible relocation. There were other snack companies interested in this business, Cox told the Chicago Tribune in 1994, and they could have moved the jobs here to their plants. While only a temporary reprieve Jays closed for good in 2007, after Cox had moved on this episode echoes his campaign themes of fiscal responsibility and free enterprise. Cox will face primary winner Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, in Tuesdays primary, in November. This means something to Californians who are struggling with the highest taxes in the country, Cox said during one of his many TV interviews Wednesday morning. This election will set up a clear choice between Venezuela, which is what Gavin Newsom wants California to look like, and the California Dream restored, which is what I am aiming to do. Both Cox and Newsom need to quickly define themselves and their campaigns, veteran political observers say, or their opponent will portray them in the ugliest possible light. Newsom, thanks to his two terms as San Francisco mayor and then two terms as lieutenant governor, has spent decades honing his political image. Not so for Cox. At the Republicans election-night party in San Diegos U.S. Grant Hotel, it was not uncommon to find party faithful who were unfamiliar with their standard bearer. And his endorsement by President Donald Trump could be more hindrance than help in California, where polls routinely show most voters disapprove of the White Houses current occupant. Running for governor of California by embracing Trump is like telling the Rebel Alliance: Vote for me. Im with Darth Vader! said John Pitney Jr., professor of American politics at Claremont McKenna College. Pretty quickly, Newsom is going to define Cox as a Trump clone. To continue the Star Wars analogy, itll be the, Attack of the Clones. Cleaning the barn Cox, 62, pushes back against any criticisms of his White House ties. Donald Trump didnt create our housing crisis, he told one interviewer, Donald Trump didnt make our schools 45th in the nation, Donald Trump didnt destroy the California water project by tearing down reservoirs, Donald Trump didnt make us the poverty capital and the homeless capital of the country and the laughingstock of the country with businesses and people wanting to move out. Gavin Newsom wants to blame Donald Trump? He ought to look in the mirror, because the people of this state know who is responsible for the quality of life here. Cox, a self-proclaimed Californian by choice, was born on Chicagos South Side. Raised by a single mother and later a stepfather, Cox grew up poor but with a strong work ethic. He wasnt handed anything, said Tim Van Damm, a real estate agent who met Cox at the Church of the Nativity, the Catholic parish in Rancho Santa Fe where both men worship. He went to law school at night because he had to work to support himself. After an undergraduate education at the University of Illinois, he completed his studies at the Chicago-Kent College of Law and began his legal career at Coopers & Lybrand. Less than two year later, he founded his own law firm in Chicago, John H. Cox and Associates. He became active with various charities and nonprofits today, hes on the board of the USO San Diego and Republican politics. He ran for a series of offices: the House of Representatives (2000), the U.S. Senate (2002), the Cook County Recorder of Deeds (2004) and the presidency (2008). While Cox lost every race, he didnt lose his enthusiasm for politics. Since relocating to San Diego County in 2011, he tried to qualify two initiatives for the statewide ballot. Neither effort succeeded. In 2017, he announced his candidacy for governor. Few pundits gave him much of a chance, many predicting that the November election would pit Democrat Newsom against Democrat Antonio Villaraigosa, a former Los Angeles mayor and state assembly speaker. They misread the mood of the electorate, Cox said. All around the world, he told Fox News the morning after the primary, people are rising up against corruption in government. Im going to clean out the barn in Sacramento. San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer likes Coxs chances. Itll be change vs. the status quo, said Faulconer, a Republican. And we need a lot of change. And while a Republican hasnt won statewide office in California for 12 years, Tony Krvaric predicted that could soon change. The Democrats in November will be for sanctuary states and the gas tax, said Krvaric, chair of the Republican Party of San Diego County. The Republican position will be just the opposite. That will be a clear line between the two parties. Others, though, wonder if Cox is the right candidate for this race. Morgan Murtaugh, the Republican running against Rep. Susan Davis, D-San Diego, in the 53rd Congressional District, had backed Coxs main Republican rival, Travis Allen. He shakes things up a little more, Murtaugh said of Allen, hes not the traditional Republican candidate and I think, in a state like California, thats what you need. I think John Cox will run a very traditional Republican campaign. I hope he doesnt. And while a measure repealing the 2017 gas tax increase will be on Novembers ballot, Pitney believes this will be of limited benefit to Cox. It might help some of the Republicans running for down-ballot offices, the professor said, but its not nearly enough to elect Cox. Especially when Newsom begins this election cycle with more than five times as much as the $6.5 million Cox has raised for his campaign most of that coming from Coxs own savings. Hes wealthy, but hes not Meg Whitman wealthy, Pitney said of the Silicon Valley billionaire who was the Republicans losing gubernatorial candidate in 2010. He can run a lavish campaign for state Assembly, but he just doesnt have the means to run a lavish campaign for governor. Coxs chance in November? If he breaks 40 percent, Pitney said, he can claim a moral victory. Shifting views Others arent so quick to write off Cox. Tom Shepard, a longtime San Diego political consultant, has worked on campaigns for both Republicans and Democrats and noted that there will be no perfect candidates on the November ballot. Gavin Newsom has shown himself to be a charismatic and attractive candidate, Shepard said, but he has also shown himself to be a high-risk candidate. Hes had a tendency to make statements that are not well thought out. Shepard, who is not working on either gubernatorial campaign, agreed with Coxs supporters that the gas tax and, to a lesser degree, sanctuary city issues work against California Democrats. And yet He has his own vulnerabilities, Shepard said of Cox. Hes taken some interesting positions in the past and they have not been as thoroughly investigated as they will be in this election. This year, Cox went from opposing a border wall to becoming a supporter of Trumps project. He recently took some heat for 2007 statements that seemed to link homosexuality to bestiality and polygamy; he said hes changed his views. In March 2017, he discouraged the San Francisco Chronicle from comparing him to the man who is now his most prominent supporter. I know my opponents will try to tie me to Mr. Trump. I am not Mr. Trump, he said. Im analytical, Im policy-oriented. I read five newspapers a day. Im not a reality TV star thats going to insult people. Im going to try to rally people. That rally now begins in earnest. From the sidelines, Shepard is eager to see how this race plays out between now and Nov. 6. Politics is a strange business, he said. Over a period of four months, lots of things can happen. Ernest Dronenburg, the incumbent San Diego County assessor-recorder-county clerk, was returned to office for a third term Tuesday night with support from 63.5 percent of voters, according to uncertified election returns. Dronenburg bested attorney Matthew Strabone in the two-candidate race. There will be no runoff in November. The two-term incumbent said he was grateful for the support. The two-thirds voter mandate I received reflects that taxpayers value great customer service and an efficiently run government, Dronenburg said in an email. I want to thank the public for their continued trust in me to implement innovative technologies, protect Proposition 13 and expand tax-saving programs to help make San Diego more affordable. Advertisement Strabone, who collected more than 125,000 votes, issued a statement saying he believed in the need for positive change in the county government. I will never stop working towards that goal and I look forward to supporting candidates, activists and leaders of all kinds who share a vision for San Diego County that cares the most for those with the greatest needs, he wrote. Voters also sent longtime East County legislator Joel Anderson to the state Board of Equalization runoff in November. Anderson, the top vote-getter with almost 32 percent in a field of seven in the District 4 race, will face Democrat Mike Schaefer or Republican John F. Kelly, who were separated by 55 votes in unofficial returns. Prior to his election as county assessor-recorder-county clerk, Dronenburg served on the state Board of Equalization. Watchdog Videos On Now Sexual misconduct accusers worry deputy is being protected 6:16 On Now City funded $2-million waterfront bathroom 1:26 On Now Public water district charges customer for legal work, response to records request On Now Video: Tiny homes won't be reused amid housing, homeless crisis On Now Attorney General seeks documentation for Miss Middle East On Now Rep. Hunter probe covers possible fraud On Now Video: SDG&E delaying solar credit for some low-income housing tenants On Now Video: Former San Diego Junior Theatre teacher sentenced for sex with teen girl 0:24 On Now Video: Shelter volunteers believe they were fired for finding a dog a home 0:49 On Now McKamey Manor is leaving San Diego 3:35 jeff.mcdonald@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1708 @sdutMcDonald Barring a surge in uncounted provisional ballots, coastal North County voters will choose among two Democrats to fill the 76th Assembly District seat in November. Its an unprecedented situation, noted UC San Diego political science professor Thad Kousser, in that this historically Republican stronghold has not seen Democrat face Democrat since the state went to a top-two primary system for Assembly races in 2012. Its a little more difficult, without significant additional research, to say when was the last time this particular patch of California coast, stretching from Encinitas through Camp Pendleton, has chosen Democratic representation. Still, its clear that it has been a very long time since this seat has gone to a Democrat. That result is virtually guaranteed in 2018. Advertisement Its pretty clear from the results we saw Tuesday that the North County coast has been transformed from a Republican area to a Democratic one, Kousser said. With 100 percent of precincts reporting, activist and journalist Elizabeth Warren of Oceanside leads with 25.6 percent of votes cast. Encinitas City Councilwoman Tasha Boerner Horvath was second with 25.15 percent. As of 4 p.m. Wednesday, it was a dead heat with only 330 votes separating first and second. Republican Phil Graham, who had raised by far the most campaign cash, had 21.1 percent of the vote and did not respond to requests for comment on the primary results. Though theyre both from the same party, these two women have different bases. Currently holding public office, Boerner Horvath has solid backing from more mainstream Democrats. Warren, who was supported by the MoveOn organization that has been right in the middle of the protest culture that has erupted since the 2016 election, has her own significant energy source, including many who supported presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. Warren, whose campaign coffers were much less flush that Boerner Horvaths, said her poll results were unexpected but exhilarating. I was preparing my team for that speech, OK, we did our best but money obviously triumphed. I was astonished that we were actually able to transcend that disadvantage, Warren said. Boerner Horvath said that she could feel that a change was coming this year. When I entered this race, I knew it was going to be historic. We were pretty sure the 76th would turn Democratic by the primary, and all of that came true, she said. Both women are progressive and talked a lot about finding ways to increase housing affordability and protect the environment during the months of campaigning that led up to Tuesdays primary election. Warren, with a focus on supporting the creation of a single-payer health care system in California, definitely strayed further left than her opponent. Kousser, who said he recently moderated a candidate forum for 76th District candidates, said primaries tend to give candidates some room to swing a little further from the center but general elections tend to pull messages back toward the middle. That strategy can get you a quarter of the voters in the primary, but it may prevent you from getting to 50 percent in the general, Kousser said. That said, there is a countervailing issue, repeal of the states gas tax, that is also likely to be in play. He noted that Warren said in forums that shes against Senate Bill 1, the ballot measure that seeks to repeal the states gas tax. Boerner Horvath voted with the majority of the Encinitas City Council to oppose SB1. Republicans, the professor said, are determined to wield SB1 as a particularly-sharp wedge issue in the general election, and that could come into play even in a Democrat-on-Democrat race where its not likely to be a primary talking point. Elizabeth Warren has said publicly that shes opposed to the gas tax, and thats an issue that polls are showing resonates with moderates, Kousser said. But Warren wanted to make it clear Wednesday that shes not bashing her party for its gas tax support. She said she supports other tax measures such as closing a corporate loophole in Californias property tax-limiting Proposition 13 to pay for needed road improvements. We do need to maintain our infrastructure, and we need money to do that. Its pretty clear here in California that we have been letting the top 1 percent and above skate for a long time, Warren said. Boerner Horvath declined to discuss SB1 but did mention voters passage of Proposition 69, which prohibits the legislature from diverting transportation funding for other purposes. I applaud the passage of Prop. 69, which will ensure revenue created by the Road Repair and Accountability Act will go toward fixing our roads, highways and bridges, she said in an email. Both women said they intend to run positive campaigns that focus on the issues, adding that they dont see the gas tax as a major issue in their campaigns. Health Playlist On Now Video: Why aren't Americans getting flu shots? 0:37 On Now Video: Leaders urge public to help extinguish hepatitis outbreak On Now San Diego starts cleansing sidewalks, streets to combat hepatitis A On Now Video: Scripps to shutter its hospice service On Now Video: Scripps La Jolla hospitals nab top local spot in annual hospital rankings On Now Video: Does a parent's Alzheimer's doom their children? On Now Video: Vaccine can prevent human papillomavirus, which can cause cancer 0:31 On Now 23 local doctors have already faced state discipline in 2017 0:48 On Now EpiPen recall expands On Now Kids can add years to your life paul.sisson@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1850 Twitter: @paulsisson Trump administration policy changes in April and early May designed to curb migration do not appear to have had an immediate effect on illegal border crossings. With a zero-tolerance policy on illegal crossings announced in early May, apprehensions along the southern border rose for the fourth consecutive month, mostly concentrated in parts of Arizona and Texas. The number of people asking to come in at ports of entry without valid travel documents did decrease from April to May. Apprehensions were down in California. Border Patrol agents along the states border with Mexico caught five percent fewer people crossing the border illegally in May than they did in April. Between April and May, arrests by Border Patrol across the southwest border rose 5.2 percent, from 38,248 to 40,344 people, according to data released by Customs and Border Protection. In San Diego, agents apprehended 3,418 people, down six percent from 3,644 the previous month. Advertisement The number of arrests along the border has been up in 2018 compared with the months shortly following President Donald Trumps inauguration last year. May arrests border-wide were up 178 percent from the 14,519 apprehended in the same month last year. The year before, in May 2016, agents arrested 40,337 people along the southwest border, a difference of seven people or less than one percent from May this year. The Trump administration pointed to the low numbers early in the presidents term as a sign that his messaging about border enforcement was working. As the numbers rose this year, officials began calling the increase a crisis and demanding swift action from Congress. With the release of Mays numbers, Department of Homeland Security spokesman Tyler Houlton said that making a sustained change on border migration trends would take time and again pushed for Congress to act to close what the administration considers to be legal loopholes. The administration wants to be able to hold children in detention for longer than the currently allowed 20 days, to be able to deport unaccompanied children more easily and to raise the legal standard for credible fear, which is the first step in the asylum process. No one expects to reverse years of political inaction overnight or in a month, Houlton said. It is also clear change will take more than administration action alone. He pointed to several recent policy changes from the administration intended to deter those who are thinking about crossing a zero-tolerance policy that refers every illegal crosser to federal court for prosecution, the deployment of National Guard troops to the border and replacement border barrier construction that he called the first new border wall. While the Trump administration is restoring the rule of law, it will take a sustained effort and continuous commitment of resources over many months to disrupt cartels, smugglers, and nefarious actors, Houlton said. Most of the nationwide increase was in three sectors: the Rio Grande, El Paso and Yuma. About 60 percent of all of the arrests by Border Patrol agents in May happened in one of these areas. Apprehensions in the Del Rio sector rose slightly, and dropped in the other five sectors along the southwest border, including both San Diego and El Centro, which cover the entire California border. Both border-wide and in San Diego, the number of people asking to come in at a port of entry without having proper travel documents decreased from April to May. In San Diego, such requests which include people asking for asylum went down about eight percent from 3,588 to 3,302 even though several hundred members of the migrant caravan that drew national attention after Trump tweeted angrily about it asked for asylum in early May. Inadmissibles, as CBP refers to them, decreased about nine percent from 12,680 to 11,568 nationwide in the same time frame. Immigration Videos On Now New developments in family separation case 9:53 On Now A San Diego woman volunteered as a medic in Texas helping migrant families 2:35 On Now Immigration policy protests in Carlsbad nearly cancelled after permit issue 1:38 On Now When children are separated from their parents at the border, here is where they go next On Now Prospects of a deal for 'Dreamers' may hinge on separating Trump from hard-liners on his staff On Now What is DACA? On Now Border wall prototype contractors selected On Now Video: Ukrainian boxer wins asylum in U.S. On Now 30 apprehended after Border Patrol agents discover tunnel On Now Video: Kurdish diaspora prepare to vote on independence Follow me on Facebook for live updates about immigration news kate.morrissey@sduniontribune.com, @bgirledukate on Twitter A Northern California judge issued a preliminary ruling on Tuesday requiring bond hearings for certain immigrants who have been detained for at least six months waiting for their immigration cases to proceed. The class action lawsuit applies to people who are in immigration detention and have already been ordered deported but have a case pending that is keeping them in the country. Amalia Wille, one of the attorneys with San Francisco-based Van Der Hout, Brigagliano & Nightengale, the lead on the legal team for the plaintiffs, estimated that hundreds of class members are being held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers in the Ninth Circuit, the area covered by Judge Jacqueline Scott Corleys ruling. The people in our class, theres some reason why the government cant deport them, Wille said. The vast majority are subject to reinstated removal orders people who were deported in the past, and something happened that made them afraid, and they came back to the U.S. There are a lot of people like that, we think. Advertisement Though many of the programs that allow people to stay in the U.S., including asylum, are not open to people with reinstated removal orders, they can apply for withholding of removal or protection under the Convention Against Torture, programs that do not offer full permanent status but keep the person from being deported. The class action ruling does not apply to asylum seekers who asked for help after arriving at the border because they are held in custody under a different section of immigration law, Wille explained. Most asylum seekers have been held for the duration of their court cases since the Supreme Court vacated a Ninth Circuit ruling that required bond hearings for every detainee after six months. The Justices sent the case back to the lower court for further review. That case is still pending. When asked about the judges decision to require bond hearings in the more recent case, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, which houses ICE, said the department doesnt comment on pending litigation. The Department of Justice declined to comment. In a motion opposing class certification in the case, attorneys for the DOJ said that Congress had clearly given federal officials authority to detain people with reinstated orders of removal under immigration law. Ultimately, this lawsuit is a poor class action vehicle, the motion says. Certification will do nothing more than undermine the judicial efficacy concerns the class action device is meant to facilitate. Wille said she was pleased that the judge ruled quickly. Both of the named plaintiffs in the case Esteban Aleman Gonzalez and Jose Eduardo Gutierrez Sanchez have been in ICE custody for over 200 days. Immigration attorneys representing the two plaintiffs are working to get their bond hearings scheduled. The main force of the decision is that the immigration court and immigration judges have been unlawfully denying these hearings and that stops with Judge Corleys order, Wille said. Gutierrez Sanchez has a U.S. citizen wife and two U.S. citizen daughters, both toddlers. Because he was already ordered removed once, he is not eligible for a green card through his spouse, Wille said. A judge recently granted him withholding of removal, his only chance to stay in the U.S. Because ICE appealed the decision, he is still in custody. Wille said that the federal government is working to identify who in custody is part of the class to begin holding bond hearings. She anticipated that the logistics could take a couple of weeks to implement. Immigration Videos On Now New developments in family separation case 9:53 On Now A San Diego woman volunteered as a medic in Texas helping migrant families 2:35 On Now Immigration policy protests in Carlsbad nearly cancelled after permit issue 1:38 On Now When children are separated from their parents at the border, here is where they go next On Now Prospects of a deal for 'Dreamers' may hinge on separating Trump from hard-liners on his staff On Now What is DACA? On Now Border wall prototype contractors selected On Now Video: Ukrainian boxer wins asylum in U.S. On Now 30 apprehended after Border Patrol agents discover tunnel On Now Video: Kurdish diaspora prepare to vote on independence Follow me on Facebook for live updates about immigration news kate.morrissey@sduniontribune.com, @bgirledukate on Twitter UPDATES: 8:39 p.m. This article was updated to include response from the Department of Justice. Stormy Daniels sued her former lawyer Keith Davidson on Wednesday, saying he went behind her back to advance President Trumps interests in the scandal over their alleged affair. Daniels called Davidson a puppet of the president and his attorney Michael Cohen, who paid her $130,000 to keep quiet about what she says was a one-night stand with Trump in 2006. Citing text messages between Davidson and Cohen, she accused her lawyer of colluding with Trumps attorney to her detriment. Davidson, whose law office is in Beverly Hills, denied any impropriety. He said he welcomed the lawsuit, because it would free him to defend himself publicly against false allegations made by Daniels current attorney, Michael Avenatti. It in effect waives the attorney-client confidentiality that has kept him muzzled as Avenatti attacks him, Davidson said. Advertisement This outrageously frivolous lawsuit is yet another desperate attempt by Michael Avenatti to continue his publicity tour, as well as divert attention from the recent allegations against him relating to bankruptcy proceedings and the failure to withhold millions of federal employee taxes, Davidson said, alluding to the bankruptcy and tax delinquency of the Eagan Avenatti law firm in Newport Beach. A New York federal judge admonished Avenatti last week for denigrating Cohen in frequent television appearances that she dismissed as a publicity tour. The judge, Kimba Wood, was presiding in a court dispute over FBI raids on Cohens office, home and hotel room. Her comments led Avenatti to drop his request to participate in the case. Mr. Davidson is a liar and a scum bag, Avenatti said by email. He is now trying to distract away from his own unethical lapses by telling lies about things wholly unrelated to this case. He also clearly doesnt know the law as it relates to the attorney-client privilege. Daniels complaint in state Superior Court in Santa Monica is the third suit she has filed involving her alleged sexual encounter with Trump in the early years of his marriage to Melania Trump. In March, she sued the president to void the nondisclosure agreement that bars her from speaking publicly about it. In April, Daniels sued Trump for defamation over a tweet saying her story about being threatened in 2011 if she revealed the affair was a total con job. Daniels latest lawsuit also names Cohen as a defendant. It says Cohen knew that Davidson had a professional obligation not to collude with him to benefit Trump. But Cohen made a conscious decision to participate in the wrongful conduct, the complaint says. In the weeks before the November 2016 presidential election, Davidson and Cohen negotiated the deal to pay Daniels the hush money. Cohen attorney Brent Blakely did not return a call seeking comment.Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, says in the new lawsuit that when In Touch magazine began publishing details of her encounter with Trump in January, Davidson worked with Cohen to manipulate Ms. Clifford in a manner designed to benefit Mr. Cohen and Mr. Trump. Michael Cohen in Washington in September 2017. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP ) The complaint includes text messages between Davidson and Cohen arranging for Daniels to deny the affair in an appearance, which never occurred, on Sean Hannitys show on Fox News. The suit accuses Davidson of secretly tipping off Cohen to Daniels plan to talk publicly about having sex with Trump and sue the president to void her confidentiality pact. As a result, she claims, Cohen met with First Lady Melania Trump in order to get out in front of the approaching lawsuit and publicity, and convince her that Ms. Clifford was a liar and not to be trusted. When Davidson texted Cohen on March 2 to see if he was going to call him, the complaint says, Cohen responded with an acronym for first lady of the United States: With flotus. Give me a minute. By disclosing to Cohen information about Daniels plans, the suit says, Davidson breached his obligation to keep her activities confidential. Cohen recorded phone conversations with Davidson discussing Daniels, but has refused to give them to her, according to the lawsuit. The complaint also accuses Davidson of not turning over to Daniels her entire client file and some of his text messages concerning her. Davidsons failure to provide everything she requested has hampered her ability to cooperate with government inquiries regarding Trump, Cohen and Davidson, the lawsuit says. The FBI raided Cohens office, home and hotel room in New York in April for an investigation of possible bank fraud and campaign finance violations. Under court-approved search warrants, federal prosecutors were seeking records on, among other things, Cohens negotiation of the confidentiality pact with Daniels. michael.finnegan@latimes.com Twitter: @finneganLAT UPDATES: 6:15 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details about the Michael Cohen investigation. This article was originally published at 3:30 p.m. An incarcerated immigrant pizzeria worker is fighting for home delivery to his wife and two kids. Pablo Villavicencio faces imminent deportation after his unexpected arrest last week by federal agents while delivering pizza to a Brooklyn Army base. My only crime is to work and be a family man, a father to my daughters, the weepy dad said Wednesday via phone from a New Jersey detention center. They dont want to give me a chance. A GoFundMe account to assist Villavicencio, his wife of five years, who is a U.S. citizen, and their two girls was established Wednesday as city officials demanded his release. Advertisement The front page of the New York Daily News for Thursday, June 7, 2018. (New York Daily News ) Youre tearing families apart for what? asked City Councilman Justin Brannan (D-Brooklyn). Is our city, state and nation any safer today because they took a pizza delivery guy off the streets? The base guard kept the pie delivered by Villavicencio as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents led the devoted dad away with the threat of deportation as soon as next week. Villavicencio, 35, lived with his wife and their daughters Luciana, 3, and Antonia, 2, in Hempstead, L.I., until his arrest Friday at the base where hed brought pizza to service members many times before. A guard at the Fort Hamilton Army Base started grilling the deliveryman before calling the NYPD and then ICE. A statement from officials at Fort Hamilton said Villavicencio lacked a valid Department of Defense identification, and was sent to get a day pass. An active ICE warrant was discovered after Villavicencio signed a waiver OK-ing a background check before he could drop off the pies, the statement read. ICE spokeswoman Rachael Yong Yow said Villavicencio is illegally present in the country and agreed to voluntarily leave in 2010, but did not, and so became an ICE fugitive. Pablo Villavicencio with his daughter Luciana and Antonia and wife Sandra Chica. (Obtained by New York Daily News ) The jailed man said he was locked up for 72 hours without so much as a glimpse of sunlight. He could be out of the country before Luciana turns 4 on June 20. This is torture, he said. They have treated me like a criminal . . . Now I dont even have a right to face a judge, to defend myself. Villavicencio had filed for a green card and permanent U.S. residency in February based on his marriage to American citizen Sandra Chica. Sandra Chica with her 2-year-old daughter Antonia. (Todd Maisel/New York Daily News ) His daughters, clutching baby dolls, joined their mom and the politicians in calling for the family patriarchs freedom. In one day, your life changes, said Chica, 38. Its cruel that they separated my daughters from him. He was supporting the family. Now Im going to be alone with these two babies. According to Chica, their two small girls are wondering when their daddy is coming home. Jaimie Gonzalez shows his Mexican pride in support of Villavicencio outside of Fort Hamilton Army Base in Brooklyn on Wednesday. (Todd Maisel/New York Daily News ) Theyre always asking me, she said. So many days and nights have passed, and their father doesnt arrive. About 80 protesters gathered outside the base Wednesday to call for his release. Police arrested seven of them for blocking traffic. This guy was doing everything right. He was just doing his job, demonstrator Dan Hetteix said. Why are we deporting people for doing the right thing? A fast-moving wildfire that blackened hundreds of open acres in the far southeastern reaches of San Diego County was 30 percent contained today, fire officials said. The back-country blaze erupted for unknown reasons about 9:45 a.m.Wednesday off state Route 94 in the Cameron Corners area of Campo, according to Cal Fire San Diego officials. It sent a thick column of brown-and-white smoke into the air near the U.S.-Mexico border and prompted two evacuation warnings that were later rescinded. One firefighter sustained a minor injury while helping to battle the blaze, which had grown to 265 acres as of mid-afternoon Wednesday, Cal FireCapt. Issac Sanchez said. Advertisement The so-called Recycle Fire was still holding at that size Thursday morning. About 90 minutes after it was first reported, the flames had blackened roughly 25 acres as crews worked to corral them on the ground and aboard air tankers and water-dropping helicopters, Sanchez said. As the blaze grew to over 250 acres, authorities issued evacuation warnings to residents along North Campo Truck Trail and, several hours later, to people who live on La Posta Road, informing them that any direct structural threats that could arise were believed to be at least two hours from materializing. Due to the approaching flames, the latter road was closed to through traffic between Route 94 and Old Highway 80. But by 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, officials had rescinded the first of the two evacuation advisories due to the movement of the blaze away from the potentially threatened area. As of 3:30 p.m., crews had the spread of the fire halted and its perimeter about 5 percent contained, at which point the other evacuation notice was lifted. By about 9:45 p.m. Wednesday, the blaze was 15 percent contained, officials said. Crews worked throughout the night to double containment to 30percent as of 6 a.m. The cause of the blaze dubbed the Recycle Fire due to its proximity to a rural byway known to locals as Recycle Road was not immediately clear, Sanchez said. A family is seeking answers after a loved one walked into a National City police station last month and, hours later, went into medical distress while in the departments custody. Earl McNeil, 40, was hospitalized on May 26 after going to the station to seek help of some kind, the family said during a news conference in front of UC San Diego Medical Center. After nearly two weeks at the hospital, his family said they planned to take him off life support Thursday evening. They were joined by a number of community activists, all calling on the department to release more information about what happened that day. Advertisement Were 11 days past this incident and the National City Police Department still hasnt told the family what happened, said activist Mark Lane. Were calling on (the department) to be transparent and to release video so we can see what happened. But National City police Sgt. Chris Sullivan said the department has been in communication with the family since McNeil was hospitalized. Since the incident is still under investigation, there are certain things officers cant release, but were going to try and keep them informed as much as we can. According to family members, McNeil, who suffers from bipolar disorder, went to the police station the morning of May 26. The family said it was unclear what happened next, but a detective told McNeils cousin, Makisha McNeil, that the man spat on multiple officers. Is that why my cousin is laying in the hospital right now? Is that why hes going to pass at five oclock? Makisha McNeil said. Is that why his life is ending? Because he spat on some of your officers? Information provided by the department shed more light on the incident. Sullivan said McNeil arrived at the department about 5:30 a.m.and used an emergency phone near the front doors to ask to speak with an officer. McNeil allegedly made paranoid, threatening and irrational statements during the conversation behaviors that continued when officers arrived. He also told police he was in possession of a controlled substance, Sullivan said. The sergeant said officers handcuffed McNeil in order to de-escalate the situation and he became combative. He reportedly spit at officers, who then restrained McNeil with a Wrap. The stiff nylon blanket is wrapped around a persons legs and strapped in place to keep him or her from kicking while a chest harness holds their handcuffed hands in place and keeps them sitting upright. Sullivan said officers only employed the minimal amount of force they needed to place McNeil in the Wrap, which involved putting him on the ground and holding him in place. McNeil was arrested on suspicion of possessing a controlled substance, resisting officers and violating the terms of his community supervision. He was then taken to jail where he went into medical distress, Sullivan said. National City officers called for paramedics who treated McNeil at the jail and later took him to a hospital. Tammy Davis, an aunt who has raised McNeil since he was 12 years old, said a police officer called her later that day and told her McNeil suffered a heart attack. But when family members visited him, they said his face was covered in injuries that suggested an altercation took place. We want answers. We want the truth. We want to know what happened to Earl McNeil, said activist Tasha Williamson. How is he dying after being with the National City Police Department? McNeil, of San Diego, was described as a family man who was particularly loved by the younger members of the family. They knew McNeil could be counted on for a sweet snack or gifts, his cousin said. He wasnt perfect, but he was a good man and he did some really good things for this community and for a lot of people, said Makisha McNeil. Williamson, who is helping the family get more information about the incident, said she filed a civil rights complaint with the FBI. Twitter: @LAWinkley (619) 293-1546 lyndsay.winkley@sduniontribune.com Several GOP candidates turned in strong showings in Tuesday nights primary election after ramping up attacks on Californias new gas tax which is heading to a referendum on the November ballot. Top among those Republicans, Rancho Santa Fe businessman John Cox secured a second-place finish in his ongoing bid for governor, and Diane Harkey surged to first place in the hotly contested 49th Congressional District. Voters have had enough of the government not spending its resources wisely, and thats why Im running, said Harkey, who beat out predicted front runner and moderate conservative Assemblyman Rocky Chavez, R-Oceanside. A repeal of Senate Bill 1 the law spearheaded by Gov. Jerry Brown to raise billions for roads and public transportation has qualified for the November ballot. And Republican candidates all over California have made opposition to the levy a centr Advertisement Also emboldening opponents of the fuel tax, freshman state Senator Josh Newman, D-Fullerton, was recalled by voters in his Southern California district for supporting Senate Bill 1, the law that enacted the fuel tax. One of 81 legislators who backed the tax hike, Newman found himself in the political crosshairs because his District 29 had long been a conservative stronghold. He will be replaced by former Assemblywoman Ling Ling Chang, whom he narrowly edged out for the seat in 2016. Sacramento politicians must be flipping out in panic, said Carl DeMaio, the conservative talk radio host who has spearheaded the campaign to overturn the gas tax. Not only are we going to repeal the tax, but its going to kick several politicians out of Sacramento, he added. That is going to be a sweet victory. If Democrats are sweating, they have yet to show it. Carl and his fellow Trumpites dont care about Californias crumbling roads and horrible congestion, but the voters of California do, said Gov. Jerry Browns spokesman Evan Westrup. See you in November. Brown has dismissed DeMaio and his supporters as political terrorists and formed a coalition to stave off the repeal, including prominent labor groups, the League of California Cities and the California Chamber of Commerce. Sacramento politicians must be flipping out in panic. Carl DeMaio, talk radio host and former San Diego City Councilman Donna Kaufeld collects a signature for the citizens ballot initiative to repeal the gas tax in El Cajon on Jan. 112, 2018. (K.C. Alfred / San Diego Union-Tribune ) The new fuel tax, which is expected to raise about $5.4 billion a year, is already funding thousands of road projects across the state. The levy added 12 cents a gallon for gasoline, 20 cents for diesel and increased vehicle registration fees. What this is going to come down to is are we going to move forward with the more than 5,000 road projects that are now happening throughout the state, or are we going to move backwards? said Michael Quigley, executive director with the California alliance for Jobs, speaking on behalf of the so-called Coalition to Protect Local Transportation Improvements . The narrative that theyre spinning is really just about helping Republican candidates, he added. Its some of the more cynical politics that weve seen in a long time. Republicans seem to have struck a nerve with voters. Polling suggests nixing the tax has broad support, unlike issues surrounding immigration and sanctuary laws, which have starkly divided conservatives and liberals. While few expect Cox to overtake Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom at the top of the ticket, opposition to the tax could have significant implications for a number of tight races, especially if prices at the pump continue to climb. Closely watched races will include Southern Californias 39th Congressional District where Republican Young Kim will face off against Democrat Gil Cisneros and the 25th Congressional District where incumbent Republican Steve Knight, R-Palmdale, will go up against either Bryan Caforio or Katie Hill, both Democrats. It helps to rewrite the narrative from being about social justice to being about taxes, said Carl Luna, a political science professor at San Diego Mesa College. It means (Democrats) are going to have to work harder for seats like the 49th. According to a USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times statewide survey from May, about 51 percent of voters said they favored repealing the tax, opposed to 38 percent that wanted to keep it and 11 percent that were undecided or didnt plan to vote. And its not just Republicans. According to Public Policy Institute poll from earlier this year, 40 percent of all Democrats, more than 50 percent of independents and 61 percent of Republicans said they supported overturning the tax. If John Cox has his way, its going to be all gas tax all the time, said Thad Kousser, a UC San Diego political science professor. This is one of the few issues that drives a wedge between Democratic politicians and Democratic voters, who are split on this issue. Fueling public outrage, DeMaio and others have pushed the notion that politicians in Sacramento plan to divert funds from the new gas tax to pay for their pet projects. In the early 2000s, the legislature borrowed roughly $3.39 billion from several transportation accounts to patch holes in the general fund budget following the dot-com crash. Critics of the new levy have latched onto this moment as evidence that the state routinely misuses fuel taxes and registration fees. All but roughly $700 million of the money borrowed has been repaid. Officials have said that no transportation projects were significantly delayed. Under SB 1, the remainder of the funding is required to be reimbursed from the states general fund within the next three years. However, those details will likely be lost on voters, potentially turning the gas tax into a political liability, Luna said. Someday the Democrats will learn dont tax peoples cars or gas, he said. Remember, (former Governor) Gray Davis got recalled in no small part because of the car registration tax. In the months ahead, supporters of the gas tax will likely point to Proposition 69, which voters approved on Tuesday, to assuage fears that the Legislature could inappropriately divert funds. The ballot measure amends the state constitution to require all the new revenue go to transportation. Under the law, money from the tax could still be borrowed for cash flow purposes, but it would have to be repaid. Twitter: @jemersmith Phone: (619) 293-2234 Email: joshua.smith@sduniontribune.com When Antonio Villaraigosa was elected mayor of Los Angeles, it signaled the growing clout of Californias Latino voters as well as the rise of a Democratic star whose charisma and ambition could take him to loftier perches. More than a decade later, his long-stated dreams of leading the state ended Tuesday in a third-place primary finish despite $32 million spent by Villaraigosas campaign and outside groups on his behalf. Democratic rival Gavin Newsom badly beat the former L.A. mayor on his home turf, and Republican businessman John Cox trounced him for the second spot on the November ballot. For the record: An earlier version of this story said that former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa appeared on the cover of a 2013 issue of Los Angeles magazine. He appeared on the cover of a 2009 issue of the magazine. Some factors behind Villaraigosas defeat were out of his control. Republicans including President Trump rallied around a little-known GOP candidate in hopes that propelling a Republican to the top of the ticket would assist their party in its bid to hold on to Congress. But some tactical decisions made by Villaraigosas campaign he entered the race nearly two years after Newsom and spent little money to turn out the Latino voters crucial to his chances may have narrowed his path to victory. Advertisement Eric Jaye, a top advisor to Villaraigosa, said he expected people to second-guess campaign strategy, but he believes it would have been difficult to overcome what appears to be dismal voter turnout. The reality is we didnt have the resources that the front-runner did, and we had to do a lot more with less, Jaye said. We had to win L.A., we had to turn out the Latino vote and persuade working-class people that it did matter to vote for someone focused on high-wage jobs. Its Newsom vs. Cox in November as Villaraigosa tumbles in governors race Villaraigosa launched his campaign two days after the November 2016 presidential contest. Traditionally, that would be enough of a runway to build a statewide bid, but Newsom kicked off his campaign nearly two years earlier. He led in the polls and fundraising throughout the race. 1 / 10 Antonio Villaraigosa pauses, looking out a window before a radio interview in Los Angeles. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 10 California gubernatorial candidate Antonio Villaraigosa is hugged after conceding. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 10 Antonio Villaraigosa gets a hug from a family member after his concession speech on election night at the City Market Social House in Downtown Los Angeles. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 10 California gubernatorial candidate Antonio Villaraigosa walks off stage after speaking to his supporters on election night at the City Market Social House in downtown Los Angeles. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 10 Antonio Villaraigosa, with his wife, Patty Villaraigosa, at his side, is stopped by Martha Jimenez, left, to hold hands and say a prayer after he submitted his completed mail ballot Tuesday morning at Robert F. Kennedy Elementary School. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 10 Antonio Villaraigosa is greeted by Arianny Cortez, 5, Iliana Cortez, 7, and Leila Cortez, 9, as he campaigns in Riverside (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 10 Gubernatorial candidate Antonio Villaraigosa, center, speaks at a campaign event with a carpenters union at a Riverside restaurant on Sunday. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 10 Former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, left, prays with the Rev. Johnteris Tate during Sunday services at Mt. Moriah Baptist Church in Los Angeles. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 10 Antonio Villaraigosa greets supporters at Dulans Soul Food on Crenshaw in Los Angeles. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 10 Gubernatorial candidate Antonio Villaraigosa campaigns at the Grand Central Market on May 31, part of a round-the-clock barnstorm of greater Los Angeles. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) Newsom, the former mayor of San Francisco, stayed in the public eye as lieutenant governor while Villaraigosa left the mayors office in 2013 to work in the private sector. Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, who endorsed Newsom, said Villaraigosa leaving public life played a major role in his loss. He got in too late in comparison with Newsom, and the second related factor is he is not currently an officeholder, and he has not been an officeholder for several years, and those factors were pretty costly, Ridley-Thomas said. I think much of what he has done [since leaving office] was attending to personal matters, which are, after all, important a new wife, a new home, a financial remuneration package. Thats mostly what we were hearing about. Fueled by unlimited donations, independent groups play their biggest role yet in a California primary for governor Newsoms home base also worked to his advantage. Newsom is widely known in the Bay Area. Antonio is widely known in L.A., said Dan Newman, a senior advisor to Newsom. Newsom is widely loved in the Bay Area, and Villaraigosa gets a meh from the voters who know him best. Los Angeles County has more Democratic voters than the Bay Area, but Bay Area voters are more actively engaged and vote at a higher rate. Voters perceptions of Villaraigosas time in office could also have played a part in his primary tumble. Elected in 2005, Villaraigosa was the first Latino elected mayor of Los Angeles in more than a century. Newsweek magazine featured him on its cover under the headline Latino Power. Coverage of California politics But Villaraigosa steered the city during a recession that led to city employee layoffs, and the onetime union organizer fought with labor groups representing city workers and teachers. And his reputation never fully recovered after the 2007 disclosure of his extramarital affair with a television reporter, which led to the public breakup of his marriage. In 2009, he appeared on the cover of Los Angeles magazine with the headline Failure across his chest. When he left office four years later, Villaraigosa remained a polarizing figure in the city. A USC Price/Los Angeles Times poll at the time showed his favorability ratings barely topped his negative ratings although he was popular with younger voters and Latinos, he was significantly less so among whites and older voters. Those factors enabled the Newsom campaign to lock down the Bay Area and spend significant resources building support in areas that were expected to favor Villaraigosa Los Angeles and the Central Valley. Californias major political parties feared the top-two primary but emerged as powerful as before The strategy worked: In Los Angeles County, Newsom received about 297,000 votes to Villaraigosas nearly 207,000, according to tallies through Wednesday afternoon by the California secretary of states office. In San Francisco County, Newsom received more than 86,000 votes to Villaraigosas more than 13,000. Meanwhile, the Villaraigosa campaign spent much of its time focusing on Newsom. One person close to the campaign, who asked for anonymity to speak freely about Villaraigosas defeat, said Newsom taking first place was a given, so the campaign should have focused on the candidates competing for second. There should have been more focus on John Cox, John Chiang and others trying to advance in the runoff, the person said. The strategy was overly focused on Gavin Newsom, when that should have been more of a general election strategy. The campaign was also caught flat-footed by Coxs rise. Holding on to several California congressional seats is key to the GOPs efforts to retain control of Congress. Republican officials including House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield were worried that if no Republican advanced to the November election, GOP voter turnout would be depressed. GOP leaders tried to recruit more prominent Republicans to run for governor, such as San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer. But they were unsuccessful, and later rallied around Cox. Track the money that fueled the California primary for governor Then came the presidential tweet May 18, giving Cox an instant boost of 3 to 5 percentage points, according to internal polling from some campaigns. Coxs campaign also had enough money for small but smartly targeted ad buys on Fox News and conservative talk radio. The one-two punch of Trumps Cox endorsement and a dismal turnout among Villaraigosas bases of voter support were insurmountable, said Mike Madrid, a Republican political consultant and senior advisor to the Villaraigosa campaign. From the day we began there were two main strategic concerns: the consolidation of the Republican vote. The second, we needed very strong Latino turnout. In the end, they both went against us, Madrid said. Multiple people in and around the campaign faulted it for not doing more to reach out to Latinos. The campaign spent $200,000 to $300,000 on Spanish-language advertising, while an independent expenditure group spent an additional half-million, according to multiple ad buyers. Thats less than what Newsom spent courting Latino voters. Get-out-the-vote efforts also started too late. We started [the get-out-the-vote operation] one month out, said the person close to the campaign. It should have been at least the beginning of the year. Madrid disputed both of these notions, saying that even if the Latino vote was tripled, Villaraigosa still would not have placed second. A campaign staffer who asked for anonymity wished that the major outside group supporting Villaraigosa, which spent $23 million, focused more on Latino voters. The pro-charter schools group, Families and Teachers for Antonio Villaraigosa for Governor 2018, broke records in outside money spending on a gubernatorial primary in California. But the costly effort failed to make an impact. A few rich charter school supporters are spending millions to elect Antonio Villaraigosa as California governor It didnt make any sense at all for the independent expenditure to spend its money going after Gavin Newsom. Newsom was going to make the runoff no matter what, said Dan Schnur, a political communications professor at USC. The open question is whether that effort could have been more help if it went after Cox instead, or mounted a strong outreach and turnout effort for Latino voters. Josh Pulliam, a spokesman for the charter schools group, said organizers went after Newsom to try to peel away more votes for Villaraigosa. If underdogs won half the time or more, they wouldnt be underdogs, he said. [Villaraigosa] started in single digits in our polls. There just werent enough Democrats out there for him to capture. In the final weeks of the campaign, Villaraigosa knew that sliding into the top two would be difficult but didnt lose hope. Hes always been counted out, and he always fought back, he often said on the campaign trail. Prone to fistfights as a boy, he was kicked out of one high school and dropped out of another. He said his mother told him not to give up: Si, se puede. You can do it. Villaraigosa wound up receiving a bachelors degree at UCLA and a law degree from Peoples College of Law near MacArthur Park, but did not pass the bar exam. He won an Assembly seat in 1994 after years working as a labor organizer and later became Assembly speaker. In 2001, he ran for mayor of Los Angeles only to lose to James Hahn. But after spending time on the Los Angeles City Council, Villaraigosa ran again for mayor in 2005 and beat Hahn handily. Villaraigosa didnt speak publicly Wednesday about his loss. But the charm that powered his mayoral run was evident as he made a gracious concession speech Tuesday night. Thank you everybody, were done, he said. But you know what? Never, never miss an opportunity to celebrate life, love and family. So enjoy the evening. Times staff writers Melanie Mason, Jaclyn Cosgrove and Ryan Menezes contributed to this report. seema.mehta@latimes.com; phil.willon@latimes.com Twitter: @LATSeema; @philwillon With the threat of primary shutouts seemingly behind them, California congressional candidates from both parties must pivot as Democrats seek to unseat established GOP incumbents and capture two open seats in the fall. Many of the matchups look to be quite competitive a good situation for Democrats who are counting on winning some GOP-held districts in California in order to retake control of the House. Heres what you can expect in each race as the general election campaigns begin. Results from the California primary 4th District The matchup: Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Elk Grove), a former state legislator first elected to Congress in 2008, and Democrat Jessica Morse, a former U.S. State Department analyst. Advertisement The money: Both candidates have raked in more than $1 million. McClintock was out-raised by Morse and other Democrats much of last year and as of May 16 had about the same amount of money in the bank as she did, a sign of danger for an established incumbent. The bottom line: Morse has momentum on her side but will probably face a tight race in November. Despite increased enthusiasm among activists, McClintock had 52% of votes in the latest count, and President Trump won his district with 54% of the vote. Election prognosticators have rated his seat likely Republican. 10th District The matchup: Its still not entirely clear whom Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Turlock) will be facing. At the latest count, the farmer and businessman seemed poised to face Democrat Josh Harder, a venture capitalist with deep ties in the district. That could potentially change, as Republican veterinarian Ted Howze was only 850 votes behind. The money: Harder has proved a prolific fundraiser, raking in nearly $1.5 million as of mid-May. But Denham, a four-term incumbent, has raised $3 million. The bottom line: Denham has long overcome challengers by focusing on local issues important to constituents. Even if Harder can consolidate support that went to other Democratic candidates Tuesday, his success may hinge on his ability to woo some moderate Republicans to his side. 21st District The matchup: Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford), a rancher first elected in 2012, will face Democratic engineer and businessman TJ Cox. The money: Cox, who jumped into the race late, had $442,000 in the bank as of mid-May, as opposed to Valadaos nearly $1.3 million. The bottom line: On paper, this district looks like one that could be a pickup opportunity for Democrats, but it has consistently eluded them. Valadao has so far collected a whopping 64% of the primary vote, leading election handicapper Cook Political Report to upgrade his district to likely Republican. 22nd District The matchup: Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Tulare), an eight-term incumbent who gained national attention over the House investigation into Russian election meddling, will face Democrat and Fresno County prosecutor Andrew Janz. The money: Both candidates have parlayed Nunes fame into campaign dollars. Janz had collected nearly $1.9 million as of mid-May, much of it from across the country. But as chair of the powerful House Intelligence Committee, Nunes has dwarfed Janz in fundraising, bringing in nearly $3.5 million in the same time period. The congressman reported having more than $5 million in the bank, more than eight times what Janz had socked away. The bottom line: Nunes has formidable resources, but his opponent has also demonstrated a keen ability to raise money. In 2016, Nunes won with roughly 68% of the vote and outran Trump by 16 percentage points. National prognosticators have moved the district from safe to likely Republican. 25th District The matchup: Democrat Katie Hill, who most recently ran a homelessness nonprofit, will take on Rep. Steve Knight (R-Palmdale), a former Los Angeles police officer who served in the state Legislature before being elected to Congress in 2014. The money: Hill has been neck and neck with Knight on fundraising, even out-raising him in several reporting periods. But she had to burn a lot of cash to make it through a tough primary, leaving her with just over $300,000 in the bank by mid-May compared with Knight, who had more than $1 million stashed away. The bottom line: Hill has deep roots in the area and was one of two Emilys List-endorsed candidates to make it through competitive primaries in a year in which female candidates seem to be getting a boost from voters. But Knight had a strong showing Tuesday, receiving 53% of the vote so far, and Hill will need to move forward from a bitter contest with fellow Democrat Bryan Caforio to have a chance in this swing district. 39th District The matchup: Republican Young Kim, a businesswoman and former state legislator, and Gil Cisneros, a Democrat and Navy-veteran-turned-millionaire, will duke it out over this seat. Its been left open by retiring Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton). The money: Cisneros had raised and spent a whopping $4 million, the vast majority of it his own money, as of mid-May. Kim, who joined the race much later, had raised more than $900,000 by that point. The bottom line: Cisneros had received support from establishment Democrats even before the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee backed him, and he has demonstrated a willingness to drop massive amounts of his own money to win. But Kim, a longtime Royce district staffer who has his endorsement, will have the weight of the GOP establishment in her favor. Minority voters in this diverse, rapidly changing district could be key: Cisneros has long had connections to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and Kim, if victorious, would become the first Korean American woman elected to Congress. 45th District The matchup: Democrat Katie Porter, a UC Irvine law professor, will challenge Rep. Mimi Walters (R-Irvine), a former state legislator first elected to the House in 2014. The money: Unlike some of her GOP colleagues, Walters has taken fundraising seriously, raising nearly $2.6 million to Porters impressive $1.1 million. But Porter had to spend most of it in a primary battle against fellow Democrat Dave Min and has just a sixth of what Walters has in the bank. The bottom line: Porter, endorsed by U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Emilys List, cast herself as a progressive, which could make it tough for her to flip this district without a massive Democratic turnout this fall. 48th District The matchup: It appears that a Democrat will compete to unseat 15-term Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa) this fall, but its still not clear which one. With the latest round of ballots Wednesday, a mere 45 votes separated real estate investor Harley Rouda and stem cell scientist Hans Keirstead for the second spot. The money: Rohrabacher has lagged behind his challengers but had still raised $1.6 million by mid-May more than he ever has. But Keirstead and Rouda, both successful businessmen, have boosted their coffers with personal money and raised $1.7 million and $2.2 million, respectively. The bottom line: Rohrabacher has seen his support among local Republican activists eroding in recent months and received just 30% of votes so far. If Keirstead or Rouda can find a way to unite their supporters, Democrats have a good shot at unseating him. 49th District The matchup: Diane Harkey, the Republican chairwoman of the state tax board, will face Democratic attorney Mike Levin in the race to replace Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista). The money: Harkey, who joined the race after Issa announced his retirement, had raised just $474,000 as of mid-May, while Levin had raised $1.7 million. The bottom line: Levin doesnt have the name recognition or political experience Harkey boasts, and the primary was bruising for Democrats. But many Democratic activists here, who have been hyper-engaged since Trumps election, have emphasized the need to come together after the primary. 50th District The matchup: Ammar Campa-Najjar, a Democratic public affairs consultant, will take on embattled Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine). The money: Hunters fundraising has been anemic as he has faced a federal criminal investigation of his campaign spending. But his opponent hasnt done much better: Hunter has $315,000 in the bank compared with Campa-Najjars $180,000. The bottom line: Hunter is in a safe Republican district, and is potentially even safer now that Democrats have nominated a fairly progressive candidate who supports single-payer healthcare and tighter gun laws. Unless Hunter is indicted while running for reelection, he seems a likely bet to hold this seat come November. Times staff writer Sarah D. Wire contributed to this report. christine.maiduc@latimes.com Twitter: @cmaiduc UPDATES: June 7, 8:45 p.m.: This article was updated to add that Levin will advance to the general election. June 6, 7:15 p.m.: This article was updated with additional election information and analysis This article was originally posted on June 6 at 4:30 a.m. Embattled EPA boss Scott Pruitt was reportedly asked to cut back on his offices use of a cramped White House dining hall after racking up hefty bills. Pruitt and Environmental Protection Agency staffers frequented the eatery below the West Wing so often that a White House official let agency personnel know it shouldnt be treated like a go-to cafeteria, Politico reported. We love having Mr. Pruitt, but its not meant for everyday use, someone close to the controversial EPA administrator told the news website. Pruitts office ordered up nearly $400 worth of food in July 2017 from the Navy-operated restaurant, which, Politico noted, the former Oklahoma attorney general still frequents because the EPA doesnt have its own cafeteria. Advertisement EPA staffers dined on $10.25 Cowboy skirt steaks, $11.15 popcorn chicken and waffles and $12.15 pineapple-glazed salmon, according to a billing form obtained by Politico. Yet sources close to Pruitt, whos fought off calls to resign over allegations hes misused his office, stressed to Politico he wasnt the only offender. The bigger issue may have been renovations that made for tighter quarters in the mess hall. Records obtained by the Sierra Club through the Freedom of Information Act also show he tried to get his fellow Sooners into the eatery, which serves the highly regarded Chocolate Freedom molten cake. Pruitt hosted several Oklahomans at the restaurant, the records show, including Bob Funk, a prominent Republican in the state and his former business associate. Pruitt has come under fire for allegations hes misused his office, including recent reports he had a staffer call Chick-fil-A to help his wife get a franchise. Two EPA officials including his scheduler resigned Wednesday amid the pressure on the regulatory agency. Five times a year for the last 30 years, thousands of people have attended the gun show in Del Mar at the fairgrounds. I have attended every Del Mar gun show as a volunteer for the last 10 years. Since my first show, I have been aware of a small group of people from the Del Mar area which has opposed the Del Mar gun show and I am now seeing its members leverage recent terrible tragedies to advance their agenda. A gun show is for law-abiding people to learn from a variety of experts all in one place. Vendors include trainers, political or social groups, and retailers that sell apparel, parts, cleaners, trinkets and ammunition. All firearms sales are processed through a federally licensed dealer. The show is focused on safety, proficiency training and adherence to the law. If a community values firearms safety, having a gun show is a great way to promote the safe, responsible usage and ownership of firearms. Related: Gun shows do not belong at Del Mar Fairgrounds By California law, all gun shows process firearms transactions, so they follow all the same stringent laws as any firearms sale. These laws include all sales to be processed by a federally licensed dealer. Buyers pass a written safety test, a criminal background check, show proper identification, get fingerprinted, pass a safe handling demonstration and go through a 10-day waiting period before the buyer can take possession of the purchased firearm. Under California law, it is illegal to buy/sell an assault weapon or magazines that exceed 10 rounds. Gun show firearms laws are so stringent in California that the Brady Organization (the nations largest gun control group) rates those laws as an A, its highest possible grade. Advertisement Those who want to ban the gun show are as frustrated as the rest of us by the heinous crimes in the headlines. However, they are taking out their frustration on legal businesses conducting legal transactions with law-abiding Californians who have nothing to do with crime. Banning the gun show will not save a life or prevent a tragedy. Rather, banning the gun show is meant to send a message to law-abiding gun owners that they are seen as undesirable and bad. Those using government to discriminate against people exercising their civil rights are always on the wrong side of history. The city of Del Mar recently called for an end to the gun show, saying that the show did not reflect its values, suggesting there was a connection between the gun show and the Sandy Hook tragedy, and then calling for gun bans. The fairgrounds are a state-owned, regional asset. Every taxpayer in the state helps support the fairgrounds and the intent is that the fairgrounds serve the entire county. No one city or group should have any more say than others on how the fairgrounds are used. In response to the city of Del Mar, the fairgrounds Board of Directors saw hundreds of supporters attend its monthly meeting in April. Over three hours of public comment supporting the gun show overshadowed the two dozen who want the gun show banned. The May board meeting saw the same two dozen anti-gun advocates who witnessed 3,100 individual letters delivered to the nine fairgrounds board members, signed by people who support continuing a gun show on the fairgrounds. The letters took less than a week to collect, which shows how important the show is to so many San Diegans. At the October 2017 fairgrounds board meeting, the same small group of anti-gun protesters publicly conceded that no crimes are being committed at the gun show and all safety rules are being obeyed. It is the culture the group opposes. Never should we condone intolerance towards a culture; especially one based on civil rights, safety, and obeying laws. We should not allow our government to go down the path of intolerance. Tens of thousands of people attend the gun show each year and around $500,000 is collected by the fairgrounds from vendor and parking fees. The gun show boasts an impeccable safety and legal record over the last 30 years while it has become a San Diego institution. Those opposing the gun show continue to cite statistics on gun crime that have nothing to do with the safe, legal business conducted by federally licensed dealers every year at the gun show. Oppose efforts by extremist groups to tie violent crime to a law-abiding, educational gun show that promotes safety. Efforts to ban the gun show arent about public safety or responsibility but are about discrimination and misinformation. Schwartz is executive director, San Diego County Gun Owners PAC. Re-election seemed to be a shoo-in for two San Diego school board incumbents seeking new terms when the formal deadline to announce a challenge came and went with no one deciding it was worth the time or money to target the labor-friendly pair. Then a duo boosted by the county Republican Party qualified as last-minute write-in candidates just last week, meaning they each only needed a single vote their own on Tuesday to advance to a November runoff election. Its the latest sign that a chorus of people are increasingly upset about the San Diego Unified School Districts arrogance. Two recent major missteps illustrate the extent of it. First, school officials suddenly announced that a much-maligned plan to destroy email communications after only a year, which they approved a year ago, would go into effect on June 1. Then, they essentially shrugged off the results of a massive survey that they had commissioned of 1,243 people, a majority of whom are the latest group to call for an end to the anachronistic way school board elections are held. In so doing, that majority joined the San Diego County Grand Jury, four Republican City Council members and others who have criticized an election process that stipulates school board candidates first run for office in one of five subdistricts and then has the top two vote-getters in each run again in a citywide election, which costs far more money and favors candidates endorsed by the teachers union. How unusual is that kind of election? Its unique among K-12 school districts in San Diego County. But its also how San Diego voters elected City Council members from 1939, when it was spelled out in the City Charter, until 1988 when residents approved a charter change to require district elections in all City Council races. Thats led to more diverse representation among council members as well as council members with different priorities from different areas of the city, better reflecting their communities. Its also meant council members who are responsible to more defined constituencies. Its past time to make that change in the San Diego Unified School District. Sixty percent of the 1,243 people school officials surveyed about school board elections agree that there should be subdistrict elections in both the primary and general elections, nearly double the 32 percent who said no. Yet the school board decided to back only a proposal to ask voters to adopt term limits. Advertisement In the school survey, 81 percent supported term limits for school board trustees. Asked how long term limits should last if adopted, 54 percent said two four-year terms, 23 percent said a single four-year term and 12 percent said three four-year terms. That last option is what the school board asked the San Diego City Council to put before voters, a decision that is up to the council because language governing school board elections is in the City Charter. Its ridiculous that the proposal put forth by the school board included nothing about district-only elections because other school districts have been adopting that governance model statewide after being threatened with lawsuits that argue citywide elections dilute the ability of minorities to elect candidates of their choice. Will it take a lawsuit for San Diego city schools to do the right thing? Maybe. It may also take a lawsuit for city schools to do the right thing and store emails, which are public records by law, for longer than a year. Voice of San Diego sued the school district last week to prevent it from purging thousands of emails. A judge set a June 22 hearing in the case, and to its credit, the school district wont delete any emails before then. But should San Diegans have to file lawsuits to ensure San Diego schools are being run in the most open, transparent and efficient way? Of course not. Thats what elections are for. Twitter: @sdutIdeas Facebook: San Diego Union-Tribune Ideas & Opinion Twitter: @sdutIdeas Facebook: San Diego Union-Tribune Ideas & Opinion One of the big losers in the California primary election Tuesday was Santa Clara County Judge Aaron Persky who became the first judge to be recalled by voters in the state since 1932. But his prominence in the news didnt begin on election night. Persky earned national attention and much criticism for giving a lighter sentence than he could have to Brock Turner, the Stanford University student who was convicted of sexual assault of an unconscious woman behind a garbage bin on campus in 2015. So who is Persky? Heres what you should know about him and the successful recall effort to remove him from the bench. 3 quick things to know about him Persky earned a law degree from the UC Berkeley School of law in 1990, CBS News reported. In 1997, he became a district attorney in Santa Clara County where he prosecuted sex crimes, according to the Santa Clara County Bar Association. He has been a judge since 2003 when then-Gov. Gray Davis appointed Persky to the Santa Clara County Superior Court. Despite the criticism that followed his ruling in the Turner case, the states Commission On Judicial Performance did not find clear and convincing evidence of misconduct in Perksys conduct during the case. What did Persky decide in the Turner case? In 2016, prosecutors argued Turner deserved a seven-year prison sentence for his sexual assault, but Persky instead sentenced Turner to six months behind bars. During the sentencing, Persky said Turner had less moral culpability because he was intoxicated at the time of the assault and noted that he had no criminal history, The Guardian reported. In taking it easier on Turner than he could have, Persky also said that a prison sentence would have a severe impact on him. How did a recall effort begin? Persky won a new term on the bench in the June 2016 primary, but recall efforts were already under way at the time. An online petition to recall the judge gathered more than 1.3 million signatures on change.org. A year later, a more formal recall effort began. A group filed formal documents to begin the recall process on June 26, 2017, and then gathered the necessary signatures, according to their campaign site. Proponents of the recall effort said Perskys sentencing of Turner was too lenient and did not do justice to the victim. The womans identity was not revealed, but in an emotionally powerful letter she penned after the sentencing she said the sentencing hopefully will wake people up. The Los Angeles Times reported that one of the people leading the recall effort was Michele Landis Dauber, a Stanford law professor and a family friend of the victim in the Turner case. Dauber criticized Persky for not seeing Turner as a calculated, lying, unrepentant sex predator but instead as a "good kid who made a mistake. So what was the result Tuesday? On Tuesday, Santa Clara County residents voted 60 percent yes to recall Persky. Voters also voted for Cindy Seeley Hendrickson to replace him on the bench. Whats been the reaction? Those who opposed the recall effort, including Persky, argued that it would have a chilling effect on the independence of judges and their ability to show compassion in the court room. Someday you may be on the right side of the law, and the wrong side of public opinion, and when you step into a courtroom before a judge, you will expect, you will request, you will demand a judge who will follow the rule of law, Persky said. The recall effort captured national attention anew for Persky and by Wednesday reactions were everywhere on social media. Some people were uncomfortable with the ramifications of a successful recall of a state judge. Others saw the recall as sending a message to judges to take sexual assault cases far more seriously. Still others saw the complexities involved in the case. What do you think of Persky being recalled? Let us know. Email: luis.gomez@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @RunGomez Read The Conversation on Flipboard. With popular slogans like Team Rose. Rose all day and Slay then Rose, the pink treat that has pleased the palates of discerning wine drinkers and Europeans for generations is enjoying phenomenal success on todays wine scene. With a meteoric rise in sales and clever pop culture co-opting, more drinkers than ever are delighting in the range of hues and flavors of rose. Quick lesson: Rose can be made in one of three ways, by maceration, or leaving juice in contact with the skins of red grapes, the saignee method, where red wine is bled off and used to make a rose, or by blending red wine juice with white wine juice to dye the wine pink. Roses can vary in color from pale salmon to a rich pinkish-red, while dominant flavors and aromas include strawberry, cranberry, melon, citrus, and rose petal. Kicking off its fourth year on Saturday, June 9, people are celebrating National Rose Day the ancient wine style (it dates back to 600 BC) with gusto around San Diego County. Here are some great places around town to get your rose fix this year. Provisional Kitchen and Fifth & Rose Head down to the Gaslamp for two opportunities to get pinky. Provisional Kitchen will be offering specials on both rose by the glass and bottle along with specials on tokens for their Moet & Chandon Champagne vending machine which will be taken over by rose. Then head to the appropriately monikered Fifth & Rose, where rose will be flowing all day to the tunes of live music. Pendry San Diego: 550 J St., Gaslamp, 619.738.7000, pendryhotels.com/san-diego/dining/provisional and pendryhotels.com/san-diego/dining/fifth-rose Hundred Proof Celebrate the San Diego sunshine and our pinkish sunsets with a frozen treat this holiday. The festive Rose Slushie is made with You & Yours Sunday gin, rose, cocchi rosa, campari, and lemon ($11, $7 during happy hour). 4130 Park Blvd., University Heights, 619.501.6404, hundredproofsd.com Rose Slushie from Hundred Proof. (Courtesy photo) Frost Me Cafe & Bakery Indulge in a little (or a lot) of pink along with a mouthwatering selection of cupcakes, pastries, cakes, tarts and pies from champions of Food Networks Cupcake War. Nestled in the Piazza della Famiglia in Little Italy, Frost Me offers $2 off all glasses of rose on Saturday, June 9. Choose from Santa Julia Brut Rose from Argentina, Bertrands Elegance Rose and Monte Gravet Rose from France. 555 W. Date St., 619.287.2253, facebook.com/frostmegourmet Rose at Frost Me Cafe & Bakery. (Brogen Jessup) The Spa at Rancho Bernardo Inn If theres one wine that screams poolside, its rose. Treat yourself with a bit of luxury and a dip at The Spa at Rancho Bernardos pool while sipping on their seasonal Frose cocktail. This summertime favorite is crafted with a sorbet-based infusion of dry French rose and simple syrup, served in a martini glass and topped with edible florals ($12). 17550 Bernardo Oaks Dr., Rancho Bernardo, 855.699.3174, ranchobernardoinn.com/spa Frose from The Spa at Rancho Bernardo Inn. (Courtesy photo) Rein Poolside Retreat at Rancho Valencia Resort & Spa While its not technically on National Rose Day, extend the holiday through the weekend with Rose Sundays at Rein. Hosted every Sunday through Oct. 28, you cant beat endless rose and crudite for $30. Located at the resorts adults-only pool, Rein Poolside Retreat is a wellness-inspired pool bar, with cabanas, handcrafted cocktails, and both innovative and classic dishes from The Pony Room. Hello staycation idea! 5921 Valencia Cir,, Rancho Santa Fe, 858.756.1123, ranchovalencia.com/spa/rein-spa-bar The Smoking Goat For National Rose Day (and all summer long!), this North Park gem is offering up $5 rose flights under their French rose program. Ooh la la. 3408 30th St., North Park, 619.955.5295, thesmokinggoatrestaurant.com A movie seen years ago has inspired a Rancho Bernardo man to write a novel about a Japanese woman faced with life-or-death decisions in post-World War II Japan. The Defiance of Reiko Murata is Allen Wittenborns second novel, published earlier this year. His previous work was Kokang: A Novel of Southeast Asia, which came out in 2012. I fell into fiction writing, Wittenborn said. He is a retired professor of history and Asian studies who taught at San Diego State University for 25 years. The movie its title long forgotten to him that inspired his latest novel is something that Wittenborn said festered in the back of my mind for years. The book is about Reiko Murata, the widow of an admiral in the Japanese Imperial Navy who sent her a poem in which he suggests she follow his example in committing seppuku, a ritual suicide. He killed himself shortly before the war ended and both their children died in the war. Despite being alone in the world, Reiko wants to live, but is emotionally torn by what her husband advised her to do. As she wrestles with the concept of suicide, Reiko is lured into a very powerful and dangerous circle of influential men, the yakuza, who are convinced her husband gave her a map to a tremendous fortune dubbed the Golden Lily. Deciding what to do about this new complication in her life her decision could literally mean life-or-death while also contemplating abiding by her husbands wishes form as a major plot point in the novel. Another is a budding romance with a much younger man that many in her social circle could frown upon, to say the least. Wittenborn said some of the books twists are based on historical fact, while others he made up. The Golden Lily a missing treasure trove of gold, artwork and other valuables the Japanese military confiscated while occupying several countries in the Pacific is real, he said. It reportedly was buried in underground tunnels by peasants in the Philippines, who were then killed by the Japanese so they could not reveal the treasures whereabouts. The stories are that the Japanese said there are maps and they do not know where the treasure is, he said, adding the U.S. government was interested in finding the treasure during its rebuilding efforts in Japan. Were talking upwards of a billion dollars, he said. There were turf battles. People lost their lives if they got too close. The truth is very murky. He said the yakuza is also real, with both organized crime and philanthropic aspects. Its essentially the Japanese mafia. A very macho, male-oriented (group) that treats women well, but they are totally dominated, like prized possessions. Wittenborn said he is fascinated by the roles Asian women play in their society, which is why he made his main character a woman who is trying to escape a cultural straightjacket. Asian women get and use their power and influence differently from Western women, he said. (The latter) fight on a mans playing field and up against a glass ceiling. So they are disadvantaged right off the bat. ... Asian women are on their own playing field. Wittenborn said he became interested in Asian cultures while growing up in Los Angeles, where he had several friends with Asian heritages. Something about it attracted me, he said. After traveling abroad, he enrolled in Chinese courses to fulfill his colleges foreign language requirement. I really took to the language and loved it, he said. It opened all these vistas. Wittenborn said he decided to study for a couple years overseas. Since in the 60s and 70s Americans could not go to China, Wittenborn said he went to Taiwan instead. That led to him changing his major to Chinese studies. Eventually, he earned a masters degree in international relations and a doctorate in history and Asian history studies. He has since lived in various Asian countries several times, traveled all over the world and has lived in Rancho Bernardo since 2007. The Defiance of Reiko Murata is available as a paperback for $13.99 and in Kindle version for $2.99 at Amazon.com. Email: rbnews@pomeradonews.com Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. Every month, Amazon staffers sift through hundreds of new books searching for gems. Heres what Amazon editor Chris Schluep chose especially for Post readers this season. Weekly Newsletter The best of The Saturday Evening Post in your inbox! Join Every month, Amazon staffers sift through hundreds of new books searching for gems. Heres what Amazon editor Chris Schluep chose especially for Post readers this June. Fiction The Outsider When a boy is found murdered in the town park, all signs point to Terry Maitland, a pillar of the community. King takes us on a suspenseful, shocking investigation of what really happened. Scribner The Perfect Couple by Elin Hilderbrand Hilderbrands Nantucket novels may be the perfect summer reads. In her latest, she sets out a lavish wedding with one hitch: The bride-to-be has been found dead in Nantucket Harbor. Little, Brown, and Co. Warlight by Michael Ondaatje A moving novel set in London during the decade after WWII, featuring a 14-year-old boy and his older sister, by the author of The English Patient. Knopf Love and Ruin by Paula McLain The author of The Paris Wife returns to the subject of Ernest Hemingway, turning her focus on his passionate, stormy marriage to Martha Gellhorn. Ballantine Books Florida by Lauren Groff From the celebrated author of Fates and Furies and The Monsters of Templeton, a collection of perceptive and deeply moving short stories, all set in Florida. Riverhead Books Nonfiction How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan The Omnivores Dilemmas author set out to research psychedelic drugs and consciousness, he hadnt planned to write such a personal book, an elegant blend of science, memoir, history, and medicine. Penguin Barracoon by Zora Neale Hurston In 1927 and again in 1931, Hurston went to Plateau, Alabama, to interview Cudjo Lewis, one of the last known survivors of the slave trade. This is his story. Amistad The Strange Case of Dr. Couney by Dawn Raffel A hundred years ago, hospitals couldnt save premature babies. But on boardwalks and at Worlds Fairs, a strange carnival showman saved the lives of thousands of infants. A compelling historic mystery uncovered. Blue Rider Press Into the Raging Sea by Rachel Slade On the first of October 2015, Hurricane Joaquin barreled into the Bermuda Triangle and swallowed the container ship El Faro whole. This maritime classic explores the events leading up to that tragedy. Ecco Robin by Dave Itzkoff The New York Times culture reporter has written the definitive biography of Robin Williams, one of Americas most beloved and misunderstood entertainers Henry Holt Subscribe and get unlimited access to our online magazine archive. 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Valley Cottage, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/07/2018 -- Future Market Insights (FMI) has published a new report on flatback tapes. The report has been titled "Flatback Tapes Market: Global Industry Analysis 2012 2016 and Opportunity Assessment 2017 2027." The report states that faltback tapes have very limited applications as these tapes are mostly used in sectors such as automotive, paper industry, electronics, and packaging. Flatback tapes have smooth paper backing (which is not creped). Creped tapes are a different form of tapes altogether and they have a larger application base as compared to flatback tapes. Rubber, acrylic, silicon are commonly used as adhesives. The thickness of the tape varies from 2.5 Mil to 15 Mil. These tapes possess high basis weight, so they can withstand high loads. These tapes are hand tear-able, which makes the manufacturing process simpler and convenient. These tapes have large thickness compared to crepe tapes, but very little elongation, from 2% to 4% mostly. Flatback tapes are commonly used in splicing, packaging and masking applications. Manufacturers are trying to innovate flatback tapes so that they can increase its application base. For instance, in April 2016, the 3M Company introduced a hand tear masking tape under the brand name 'Scotch Blue PLATINUM' for painting applications and better performance. Along this line, in July 2016, Intertape Polymer Group Inc. launched ultra-thin washi paper backed moisture resistant masking tape under the brand name FineLine for achieving better performance while painting. Request to Sample Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2789 The other companies operating in the market are Shurtape Technologies LLC, tesa SE Group, Nitto Denko Corp, Scapa Group plc. and Pro Tapes & Specialties, Inc., among several others. According to the report, the global flatback tapes market is expected to witness a CAGR of 5.8% from 2017 to 2027. The market was worth US$ 858.1 Mn in 2017 and is expected to touch a valuation of US$ 1,505.1 Mn by the end of 2027. Returning Confidence of Consumers in Retail to Boost Global Market Growth Regional optimism is rising in North America and Western Europe; is decreasing in regions such as Latin America and the Middle East & Africa; and holds steady in Asia Pacific. India, Brazil, and China represent the highest consumer confidence. The revival of consumer confidence is aiding in the growth of the automotive, FMCG, electronics, and other industries, where flatback tapes are used for the purpose of splicing, sealing, tabbing and masking applications. The flatback tapes market is moderately correlated with these end use industries as it follows the dynamics of these industries. Countries in Asia Pacific such as India, Indonesia, Philippines, China, Thailand and Honk Kong represent the highest consumer confidence due to high annual GDP growth rates and improving lifestyles of the people. Some countries in MEA such as UAE and Saudi Arabia also represent considerable consumer confidence in their markets. Flatback tapes are made from paper material, which is biodegradable and highly recyclable. The rising intolerance towards plastic is favouring the demand for flatback tapes. Substitute products for flatback tapes are largely made of plastic, which are expected to create landfill issues. Thereby, implementation of regulations pertaining to environment friendliness, plastic usage and waste dumping in manufacturing industries and other businesses is influencing consumers to choose paper backed tapes such as flatback tapes. Thickness to Turn out to be a Hindering Factor in the Global Flatback Tapes Market Flatback tapes have high basis weight compared to crepe paper tapes. This results in higher strength, thickness and low elongation. However, the thickness makes it unfit for majority of applications like carton sealing where the application area includes sharp edges or flexible surfaces. Due to the high strength and low elongation, flatback tapes are easily tear-able by hand. Tear strength is the main area of concern in flatback tapes resulting in a slowdown in the market's growth. Request Report TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-2789 Valley Cottage, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/07/2018 -- The MEA data storage market was valued at US$ 2,790 Mn in 2016 and is projected to reach US$ 8,431.3 Mn by 2025 end. Sales revenue is expected to increase at a CAGR of 13.6% during the forecast period i.e. 20172025. According to a new report published by Future Market Insights titled "Data Storage Market: Middle East & Africa Industry Analysis (2012-2016) and Opportunity Assessment (20172025)," major factors responsible for the growth of the data storage market in MEA include increased investments in infrastructure, a notable shift in data centre investments from being server centric to more data and storage centric, and increased adoption of entry-level and mid-range storage devices. MEA Data Storage Market Prominent Trends: Adoption of hybrid cloud storage solutions by small and medium enterprises and software defined storage solutions by large enterprises, Demand changes in OPEX and CAPEX, Emergence of enterprise flash controllers, Demand for secure data storage solutions in defence, aerospace and BFSI verticals, Adoption of cloud based data storage solutions with hyper-converged infrastructure A sample of this report is available upon request @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/REP-GC-1237 The MEA data storage market covers consumer data storage devices and enterprise data storage solutions. For each of these categories, the market has been segmented on the basis of end user, vertical and region. On the basis of storage type, the GCC data storage market is segmented into consumer storage and enterprise storage. In terms of revenue, enterprise storage is projected to be the most attractive segment in the GCC data storage market during the forecast period. The enterprise storage segment is also expected to register high Y-o-Y growth rates throughout the forecast period and is expected to expand at a robust CAGR between 2017 and 2025. On the basis of end user, the GCC data storage market is segmented into commercial and residential segments. The residential segment was valued at US$ 467.8 Mn in 2017 and is expected to witness a CAGR of 14.7% during the forecast period. Request For Table Of Content @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gc-1237 The GCC region is segmented into Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE. In terms of revenue, UAE followed by Qatar are the two leading data storage markets within the GCC data storage market. UAE is the fastest growing regional data storage market within GCC with a growth rate of 15.7% during 2017 2025. In terms of revenue, UAE is projected to be the most attractive market in the GCC data storage market during the forecast period and is also expected to register high Y-o-Y growth rates throughout the period of assessment. IBM Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, VMware, Inc., Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co., NetApp Inc., Open Text Corp., SanDisk Corporation, Hitachi Data Systems, EMC Corporation (Dell Inc.), and Nexenta Systems are some of the key players operating in the MEA data storage market. San Francisco, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/06/2018 -- The healthcare industry has always been on an upswing but in the recent times, owing to the increased income of urban populations in emerging economies, the demand for proper management of healthcare infrastructure has multiplied exponentially. Pharmaceutical and diagnostic device manufacturers, as well as government agencies, are now leveraging the concept of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), who essentially are third-party administrators of prescribed drug distribution program for self-insured employers, commercial health care providers, and state or federal employee health benefit plans. These PBMs undertake the responsibility of formulating and managing the processes of contracting with pharmacies while negotiating discounts with the original drug manufacturer. As per the findings of this business intelligence report, the global pharmacy benefit manager market will expand at a formidable CAGR during the forecast period of 2017 to 2025. Request a sample copy of the Report @ https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=3621 PBMs mostly work for government agencies and self-insured companies with their primary focus on sustaining an overall viable expense on pharmaceuticals. Developed by an experienced healthcare research professional, this business report represents the commerce of the market for pharmacy benefit managers, providing qualitative and quantitative data in terms of US dollar million. Developed by following proven market research methodologies, the report segments the market into smaller aspects, gauges the potential of demand showcased by different regions and countries, and profiles a number of leading players in a featured chapter on the competitive landscape. This PBM market report has been prepared to act as a credible business tool for targeted audiences such as pharmaceutical and drug manufacturers, government agencies, and venture capitalists. Global Pharmacy Benefit Manager Market: Drivers and Restraints Radical improvements in the healthcare infrastructure across emerging economies such as China, India, Malaysia, and Indonesia has had a strikingly positive reflection on the overall pharmaceutical market. Professionals in urban parts of these countries now are demanding adequate insurance plans from their employers, who in turn are resorting to PBMs to manage their overall cost of employee benefits. PBMs handle the responsibility of negotiating with drug manufacturers by the means to achieve greater cost benefits, handle contracts with retail pharmacies, and act a pivotal role in justifying and approving reimbursement claims. Growing prevalence of chronic diseases, increasing percentage of geriatrics in the world's population, and expanding awareness among the end users are some of the other factors augmenting the demand in the market for PBMs. Request TOC of the report @ https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=3621 Global Pharmacy Benefit Manager Market: Market Potential Mushrooming of small and medium enterprises and increased emphasis of several governments to provide bare minimum medical facilities is expected to continue opening strong opportunities in this market in the near future. With increased disposable income, urban populations are opting for insurance policies like never before, and the PBM market is poised to flourish. Additionally, the pharmacy benefit managers who work with online pharmacies are also expected to gain traction going forward. Based on products, this market can be segmented into drug formulary management, benefit plan design and consultation, specialty pharmacy services, retail pharmacy services, and other services. Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @ https://www.tmrresearch.com/pharmacy-benefit-manager-market Global Pharmacy Benefit Manager Market: Competitive Landscape Players of the PBM market are approaching SMEs and government departments to utilize their teams of experts, and this is expected to remain a key strategy to gain greater shares over competitors. Expansion of product portfolio in accordance to diverse demands of the clients and mergers and acquisitions are some of the other modes of achieving a position of dominance by the market players. Some of the notable names are CVS Health, Express Scripts, Catamaran, Prime Therapeutics, and OptumRX. Ever since NASAs Voyager 1 flew past Jupiter in 1979, planetary researchers have wondered about the origin of Jovian lightning. That encounter confirmed the existence of the lightning, which had been theorized for years. But when the venerable explorer hurtled by, the data showed that the lightning-associated radio signals didnt match the details of the radio signals produced by Earths lightning. In two papers published in the journals Nature and Nature Astronomy, researchers from NASAs Juno mission describe the ways in which Jupiters lightning is actually analogous to Earths lightning. No matter what planet youre on, lightning bolts act like radio transmitters sending out radio waves when they flash across a sky, said Shannon Brown, Juno scientist at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory and lead author of the Nature paper. But until Juno, all the lightning signals recorded by several NASA spacecraft were limited to either visual detections or from the kilohertz range of the radio spectrum, despite a search for signals in the megahertz range. Many theories were offered up to explain it, but no one theory could ever get traction as the answer. Enter NASAs Juno orbiter. Among its suite of instruments is the Microwave Radiometer Instrument (MWR), which records emissions from Jupiter across a wide spectrum of frequencies. In the data from our first eight flybys, Junos MWR detected 377 lightning discharges, Brown said. They were recorded in the megahertz as well as gigahertz range, which is what you can find with terrestrial lightning emissions. We think the reason we are the only ones who can see it is because Juno is flying closer to the lighting than ever before, and we are searching at a radio frequency that passes easily through Jupiters ionosphere. While the revelation showed how Jupiter lightning is similar to Earths, the paper also notes that where these lightning bolts flash on each planet is actually quite different. Jupiter lightning distribution is inside out relative to Earth. There is a lot of activity near Jupiters poles but none near the equator. You can ask anybody who lives in the tropics this doesnt hold true for our planet. Why do lightning bolts congregate near the equator on Earth and near the poles on Jupiter? Follow the heat. Earths derives the vast majority of its heat externally from solar radiation. Because our equator bears the brunt of this sunshine, warm moist air rises (through convection) more freely there, which fuels towering thunderstorms that produce lightning. Jupiters orbit is five times farther from the Sun than Earths orbit, which means that the giant planet receives 25 times less sunlight than Earth. But even though the gas giants atmosphere derives the majority of its heat from within the planet itself, this doesnt render the Suns rays irrelevant. They do provide some warmth, heating up Jupiters equator more than the poles just as they heat up Earth. Scientists believe that this heating at Jupiters equator is just enough to create stability in the upper atmosphere, inhibiting the rise of warm air from within. The poles, which do not have this upper-level warmth and therefore no atmospheric stability, allow warm gases from Jupiters interior to rise, driving convection and therefore creating the ingredients for lightning. These findings could help to improve our understanding of the composition, circulation and energy flows on Jupiter. But another question looms. Even though we see lightning near both poles, why is it mostly recorded at Jupiters north pole? Brown said. In the Nature Astronomy paper, a research team led by Dr. Ivana Kolmasova of the Czech Academy of Sciences presents the largest database of lightning-generated whistlers (low-frequency radio emissions) around Jupiter to date. The data set of more than 1,600 signals, collected by Junos Waves instrument, is almost 10 times the number recorded by Voyager 1. Juno detected peak rates of four lightning strikes per second (similar to the rates observed in thunderstorms on Earth) which is six times higher than the peak values detected by Voyager 1. These discoveries could only happen with Juno, said Juno principal investigator Dr. Scott Bolton, a researcher at the Southwest Research Institute and co-author of both papers. Our unique orbit allows our spacecraft to fly closer to Jupiter than any other spacecraft in history, so the signal strength of what the planet is radiating out is a thousand times stronger. Also, our microwave and plasma wave instruments are state-of-the-art, allowing us to pick out even weak lightning signals from the cacophony of radio emissions from Jupiter. _____ Shannon Brown et al. 2018. Prevalent lightning sferics at 600 megahertz near Jupiters poles. Nature 558: 87-90; doi: 10.1038/s41586-018-0156-5 Ivana Kolmasova et al. Discovery of rapid whistlers close to Jupiter implying lightning rates similar to those on Earth. Nature Astronomy, published online June 6, 2018; doi: 10.1038/s41550-018-0442-z This article is based on text provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Despite efforts made by other flags to confuse the industry, the USCG 2017 Annual Performance Report for Port State Control makes it clear that, far from being targeted by the US Coast Guard, Liberia continues to provide effective, quality compliance solutions for its fleet. Liberia is not on the list of USCG-targeted vessels, said Liberian Registry cco Alfonso Castillero. The Liberia Ship registry is White-Listed by the Paris MoU and the Tokyo MoU. Indeed, it had the lowest detention rate of all major flags (1.67%) in the 2017 Paris MoU. It has also recorded a 20% reduction in detentions over the last three years under the Tokyo MoU, thanks to a 2% detention ratio change during that period which is the biggest positive increase among all major flags in the Tokyo MOU. In China, meanwhile, Liberia has achieved a 41% reduction in detentions thus far in 2018 compared to last year and is the only major flag able to show a decrease in detentions over the past three years in China. Finally, in Australia, there has been a 49% reduction in detentions of Liberian-flag ships over the last three years and a 6.4% detention ratio change over that period which is the biggest positive increase of all major flags in Australia. Read More: Liberia says flag states must be proactive in difficult times With the use of a fully staffed Risk Assessment Department at its US head office, and an automated LRIT-based Compliance Assistance Programme, the Liberian Registry works with its clients to ensure that their vessels are well-prepared for port calls in the worlds high-focus jurisdictions, and that any issues are properly reported and addressed, explained Castillero. The Liberian Registry continues to invest in improving and maintaining quality, working closely with owners and managers to keep their vessels operating safely and efficiently. Our Port State Control record shows how effectively this is working, both in the US and elsewhere around the world. Read More: Liberian Registry tops for Greek shipowners He added: Owners have benefited tangibly from Liberias SeaSafe System and Compliance Assistance Programme, without additional cost, and this has helped us expand into new markets. This is one reason why the registry has seen such an impressive increase in growth recently. Last year, we were the fastest growing flag in South Korea, a new and expanding market for us. In China we have opened three new offices simply to keep up with demand. And value-added services such as SeaSafe help us maintain our position as the largest open registry in Greece. Seatrade Maritime News is reporting Live From Posidonia 2018 Enthusiastic. Scrappy. Upcoming. Those were just a few of the words used to describe Pontiac and its tech economy at the June 6 High Growth Happy Hour: Pontiacs Tech Economy, held at the Paissa Building in downtown Pontiac. The event was the second in the Comcast High Growth Happy Hour series, and was co-sponsored by the New Economy Initiative and Metromode. Panelists were Matt Russell, Elaina Farnsworth, and Mark Hillman, with moderator Glen Konopaskie. Konopaskie is a consultant in the area on connected vehicles and a former director of Main Street Pontiac. Russell leads several tech startups in Pontiac, including Cynerge Consulting, where he leads a team in enterprise-grade application development, cloud migration, and data center support. Elaina Farnsworth is CEO of The NEXT Education, a company focused on preparing talent for the new mobility economy. Hillman is CEO of Lenderful, one of the Pontiac-based high-tech software startups under the umbrella of MadDog Technology. Read on for three takeaways from the event. Pontiac has an image problem and an identity crisis. All three panelists, as well as the moderator, agreed that Pontiac has an image problem. Since coming out from under emergency management, the downtown is looking better, vacancy rates are falling, and the city is safe, but the public at large doesn't perceive it that way. "Pontiac is the safest city in Oakland County in terms of crime per capita and has been for the last eight years," Konopaskie says. Coupled with the image problem is an identity crisis. Hillman says the city needs to do a better job of picking a focus and branding itself. "There are a million things the town can be, and I have advocated specifically that business leaders and government at whatever level pick an identity and focus for the area," Hillman says. She suggested that technology and the arts could create a strong synergistic identity for the city, one that makes it feel "funky and cool." Russell agreed that the combination of tech and art make Pontiac a cool place, along with its beautiful historic buildings. "I think we could build around those two anchors, bring different vibes in, a youthful, creative energy," Russell says. Russell added that he has used photos of the Riker building where his business is located to draw in talent and show off what downtown Pontiac has to offer. "We can use that as a recruiting engine, and bring in people who want to live here," he says. Location is one of Pontiac's strongest assets. Konopaskie says that Pontiac is exactly the place where a "small company can make a big splash" in a way they couldn't in a bigger city like Detroit. He also notes that Pontiac is a natural hub, being the seat of Oakland County and located at the end of Woodward Ave., which is the site of the first mile of concrete road ever built in the entire nation. Hillman says Pontiac is a place where companies can "bring the jobs to the people instead of bringing the people to the jobs." Most people would prefer not to commute for an hour or more, but many do, because the well-paying tech jobs they want are in Ann Arbor or Detroit, Hillman says. But with Pontiac being so close to major highways, a commute from a nearby metro Detroit suburb could be only 10 or 15 minutes. Farnsworth notes that a major paradigm shift in transportation is coming up in 2020, and the city needs to be ready for it. The next two years, she says, are the time for Pontiac to establish a plan for being a connected vehicle hub. "We can't let this chance pass us by," she says. "We have two years before we have to have a plan in place or let another area get this. If we drag our feet like we have been, we won't be able to see the fruits." Pontiac is poised for explosive growth if the right collaborations happen. All the panelists and the moderator agreed that public-private partnerships and buy-in from city government will be important to support and grow the tech economy in Pontiac. Entrepreneurs won't keep coming to the city with cool ideas if they keep getting tripped up by bureaucracy, Russell says. In addition to her work in Michigan, Farnsworth also works and does speaking engagements in Silicon Valley and says that, instead of competing, companies there want the whole region to succeed. "That vibe is here in Pontiac," she says. "The challenge is that it seems like we can't get out of our own way. We have the vibe, we want things to move, but the execution isn't there yet. We need to talk about what we're doing, pick a strategy, and do it, even if it's not perfect. We've got the energy, but the follow-through is not there yet." She adds that Pontiac already has much of what it needs to be a hub for the mobility and connected vehicle industry. "We need to look at leveraging the assets we have here, take what's already in place and grow that," Farnsworth says. Sarah Rigg is a freelance writer and editor in southeast Michigan. You may reach her at sarahrigg1@gmail.com The city of Oak Park has been making its way through the offices of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation recently, with not one but two big announcements to come out of the states business development and marketing arm. First, it was recently announced that electric vehicle manufacturer Bordrin Motor Corporation will be opening a new research and development center in the city. The Chinese company has four locations worldwide. The Oak Park location will serve as Bordrins new North American headquarters. The development is expected to create 62 jobs and generate a total capital investment of $3.4 million. As a result, the MEDC has approved a $496,000 Michigan Business Development Program performance-based grant for the company. "Im excited Bordrin Automotive is expanding its high-tech presence in Oak Park," Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson said in a statement. "Much of the innovation and development of the electric vehicle happens in Oakland County and Bordrin is a key player in that global market. "They are an important part of our international business community and join other Chinese companies who have chosen to make their North American homes in Oakland County." Thats not all. It was also recently announced that the city of Oak Park has been certified as a Redevelopment Ready Community. According to the MEDC website, becoming a Redevelopment Ready Community formally recognizes that a city has both a vision for its future and a plan for how to get there. It demonstrates to the outside world that the community is worthy of private investment. "Like a handful of other inner-ring suburbs, Oak Park is experiencing a revitalization, in part, because of our commitment to planning, pro-active zoning and community engagement," says Oak Park Mayor Marian McClellan. "The best practices provided through the Redevelopment Ready Communities program have promoted economic development and renewed interest in our community as a great place for investment, and an exciting place for families to grow." Got a development news story to share? Email MJ Galbraith here or send him a tweet @mikegalbraith. Villanueva's statement on the death of OFW Henry John Acorda We grieve with the family of Henry John Serafica Acorda, a hero who risked his life to rescue two women from harassment. We urge the DFA to work with our Slovakian counterpart to seek justice for this brutal murder. We also ask the POEA, OWWA, and the Philippine Consulate in Bratislava to provide all the necessary form of assistance for his family, especially on the repatriation of Mr. Acorda's remains. Acorda's death is very unfortunate. We hope that this crime will not go unpunished. Koko calls on Filipinos to rethink use of plastic Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III asked Filipinos to consider reducing their use of plastic as the world observes World Oceans Day on Friday. A 2015 Ocean Conservancy report said that more than half of the 8 million metric tons of plastic waste dumped into the oceans every year comes from countries: China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. "Our economy's strong performance has increased production and consumption. Unfortunately, it also increased the plastic waste we generate in the course of our daily activities. It's time we consider how we can use plastic in a less destructive way", said Pimentel. The Senator said that there are estimates which project that by 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the world's oceans. Pimentel said, "It will be a disaster for everyone if we are to lose our fishing industry and the livelihood and sustenance it provides." During his term as Senate President, Pimentel affirmed full legislative support from the Philippines for the global agenda to conserve and sustainably use the oceans during the February 13-14 meeting of the International Parliamentary Union (IPU) on the 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development Goal 14, which focuses on the oceans, seas and marine resources. Pimentel recommended doing away with single-use plastic bags and suggested mandating that disposable plastics be biodegradable. As Chairman of the Senate Committee on Trade, Commerce, and Entrepreneurship, Pimentel is considering legislation to limit the use of plastics in industry and trade. Pimentel said, "I understand the convenience and economics of plastic use. However, we should never let short-term benefits doom us in the long term." Press Release June 7, 2018 POE: HIGH TIME TO PASS REVISIONS TO 81-YEAR-OLD PUBLIC SERVICES ACT Easing up restrictions on foreign investments in some sectors will attract more investors and generate much needed jobs for Filipinos, Sen. Grace Poe said. Poe said it is high time to pass the proposed amendments to the 81-year-old Public Services Act to allow foreign entities to come in and invest, which would result in increased competition, better quality services and creation of jobs. "Isa sa mga itinutulak ko at sana ay maitulak rin ito ng Malacanang, katulad ng pagtutulak nila ng ibang measures katulad ng TRAIN (Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion) at BBL (Bangsamoro Basic Law), na ipasa na ang Public Services Act," she said in a phone interview. Poe, chairperson of the Senate committee on public services, said the bill would open up the economy "the right way." "I-oopen up natin ang ating ekonomiya sa mga foreign investors. Huwag matatakot ang ating mga kababayan na papasok ang dayuhan sapagkat, hindi naman ako papayag na bumili sila ng lupa dito. Pero ang negosyo na itatayo nila, hindi naman nila madadala ang gusali nila, kung sila ay magbibigay ng trabaho, kung mag-iinvest sila ng pera dito dahil ang ownership restriction ay tatanggalin sa kanila," Poe said. The bill proposes to remove foreign ownership restrictions on public services such as transportation and telecommunications. However, the constitutional restriction would remain on public utilities, namely, transmission of electricity, distribution of electricity, and water works and sewerage systems. Poe said the bill would include a clause that would guarantee the availability of jobs for Filipinos. In a report last week, the Philippine Statistics Authority said that while the jobless rate slightly declined to 5.5 percent in April, underemployment rose to 17 percent. The underemployed is defined by the PSA as "employed persons who express the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job, or to have additional job, or to have a new job with longer working hours." The senator said investments are much needed in the transportation sector, such as rails and airports. She cited the completion of Terminal 2 (T2) of the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) in Lapu-Lapu City, which she described as Cebu's "masterpiece." Set to open this month, the world-class terminal is a Public Private Partnership (PPP) project with the joint venture of Megawide Consortium and India's GMR Infrastructure with a cost of P17.52 billion. The new terminal building will serve domestic and international operations and has a capacity of up to 12.5 million passengers yearly. Poe visited the terminal while it was undergoing construction in March. "It warms the heart. Now you can see the tangible result, you can now see the structure. Mayroong produktong mapapakinabangan ng ating mga kababayan," Poe said. She said the Terminal 2 of MCIA is an example of how effective PPP projects can work. But she added that safeguards must be in place to ensure that the private operators will not overcharge the public. "I'm more agreeable na magkaroon ng PPP or build-operate-transfer, kaysa naman iyong ODA (Official Development Assistance)...hindi na tayo uutang, sila ang maglalabas ng pera, sila ang magpapatakbo," she said. "Sana po ay makinig naman ang gobyerno natin na bawas-bawasan natin ang pangungutang, lalung-lalo na sa ibang bansa, hayaan natin ang pribadong kumpanya na umutang, kung sila naman ay gagawa ng isang proyekto--ang bantayan lang natin ay 'wag silang mag-overcharge. Nasa kapangyarihan naman natin na maglagay ng limitasyon diyan sa kanilang paniningil," Poe added. END ABC News (NEW YORK) -- A federal judge in California ruled on Wednesday evening that a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's practice of separating immigrant parents from their children can move forward, saying the governments policy "shocks the conscience." Judge Dana M. Sabraw denied the government's motion to dismiss the case and ruled that the Fifth Amendment's due process clause gives migrant families on U.S. soil a right to "family integrity or to familial association." Sabraw, ruling on just the law and not the facts at this time, wrote that the government's "conduct, if true, as it is assumed to be on the present motion, is brutal, offensive, and fails to comport with traditional notions of fair play and decency." Sabraw added: "At a minimum, the facts alleged are sufficient to show the government conduct at issue 'shocks the conscience' and violates Plaintiffs' constitutional right to family integrity." In an ABC News exclusive, Tom Llamas spoke last week to a plaintiff in the case named Jocelyn, a 31-year-old immigrant from Brazil who asked that her last name not be used. She and her 14-year-old son, James, illegally crossed the border near El Paso, Texas, in August to seek asylum. Within days of their arrival, James was taken to a facility in Chicago under the watch of the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement, while his mother was held in criminal custody in Texas. Jocelyn said that when officers took her son away, the look on his face said, "Mom, help me." "I didn't know what was going to happen to us," she said. "I spent the night crying because I wanted James to be protected, and I didn't know what was going to happen to him." James was detained in Chicago for eight months, well after his mother finished serving her 25-day jail sentence for illegally entering the country, a misdemeanor. On Tuesday, Jocelyn and James finally were reunited. "It's a terrible thing, the experience we've had," Jocelyn said. The judge agreed, writing that Jocelyn's "allegations sufficiently describe government conduct that arbitrarily tears at the sacred bond between parent and child." Sabraw pointed out that Jocelyn and her co-plaintiff, another mother identified as "Ms. L," are both asylum seekers who claim they came to the U.S. for "shelter from persecution in their home countries." "For Plaintiffs, the government actors responsible for the "care and custody" of migrant children have, in fact, become their persecutors," he wrote. In her lawsuit, Jocelyn, on behalf of herself and hundreds of others, claims that the government is illegally separating migrant parents and children held in immigration detention without a showing that the parent is unfit or presents a danger to the child. The plaintiffs also claim that prior administrations detained migrant families but did not have a practice of forcibly separating fit parents from their young children. In court filings, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has argued that separating families in such cases "serve the legitimate purpose of allowing the government to carry out its immigration and criminal enforcement role" and that "plaintiffs have not provided any basis to conclude that there is a due process right to family unity that prohibited the separation." "If you don't want your child separated," U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said last month, "then don't bring them across the border illegally. It's not our fault someone does that." A spokesman for the government's lawyers did not immediately reply to ABC News' request for comment about Wednesday's ruling. Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project and Jocelyn's attorney, wrote in a statement: "In the most forceful language, the court rejected the Trump administration's claim that the Constitution permits it to engage in the inhumane practice of tearing little children away from their parents." The judge has yet to rule on the plaintiffs' request for a nationwide preliminary injunction, which could temporarily halt the government's practice of separating migrant families, and on the plaintiffs' motion for class-action certification. Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Climate Change Minister James Shaw today launched a six-week consultation on the government's Zero Carbon bill, legislation that will include a new 2050 emissions reduction target. "The Zero Carbon Bill is about providing stability and predictability, by setting out a clear path and a plan to upgrade our economy and help ensure a stable climate for the future, Shaw said in a statement. Shortly after being elected, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the government would set a target of a net zero carbon emissions economy by 2050, with legally binding emissions reduction targets and carbon budgets to keep New Zealand on track to this goal. Consultation on the bill will run for six weeks from June 7 to July 19. Once the bill has been introduced to parliament, a select committee process will follow and the aim is to pass it by mid-2019, according to Shaw. Under current commitments, New Zealand has a target of a 50 percent reduction below 1990 levels by 2050 but "a strong 2050 emissions reduction target will show the world we mean what we say and give us a moral mandate to encourage other bigger countries to do their bit too," said Shaw. The consultation document will focus on key questions such as whether a new emissions reduction target for 2050 should treat all gases that cause climate change the same, or take a different approach to different gases depending on whether they cause short-term or long-term warming. The discussion document looks at three different options. The first would be new zero carbon dioxide by 2050, which would reduce net carbon dioxide emissions in New Zealand but not other gases like methane or nitrous oxide, which predominantly come from agriculture. The second is net zero long-lived gases and stabilised short-lived gases by 2050, which would reduce emissions of long-lived gases (including carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide) in New Zealand to net zero by 2050, while stabilising emissions of short-lived gases (including methane). The final option is net zero emissions by 2050. Beef + Lamb New Zealand called for a tailored approach to emissions. We support the governments proposal to explore further a split gas approach, which takes into account the differing effects of long-term gases such as carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide and short-term gases such as methane on the environment," it said. The consultation will also look at how to ensure settings laid down in law provide the necessary certainty to business and communities and the right balance of power between the Independent Climate Change Commission and the government of the day. It will also look at how to manage the impacts of climate change and develop a plan to adapt. According to the discussion document, New Zealand is already feeling the effects of a changing climate. In the past 100 years, seas have risen around 14 to 22 centimetres in New Zealand ports. "Also, the costs we face are continuing to rise. As an example, in the past 10 years, the cost of weather events to our transport network has risen from about $20 million per year to over $90 million per year," it said. The 2013 drought in the North Island cost the economy about $1.5 billion, and climate change will make droughts like this more likely. Insurance Council NZ chief executive Tim Grafton welcomed the next step to implementing legislation, and said that this year "severe weather has cost more than $173 million and thats without the final figures for cyclones Fehi or Gita or provisional figures for the Rotorua and Hawkes Bay floodings." The storms are "evidence of the very real impacts of climate change and of the importance of a long-term commitment to identify, monitor and address climate change risks. DairyNZ chief executive Tim Mackle said "we look forward to the certainty that the Zero Carbon Act, once introduced, will provide the dairy sector ... There is a need for all sectors to be aligned and accountable towards a common goal which will see New Zealand achieve a low carbon economy." (BusinessDesk) Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. 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Related News: Arvida Group Limited (NZX: ARV) to Acquire Arena Living Retirement Living Portfolio My Food Bag Group Limited (NZX: MFB) Market Update and HY Results Announcement Date Harmoney Corp Limited (NZX: HMY) Delivers Record September Quarter Vital Healthcare Property Trust (NZX: VHP) Announces Successful Completion of $115m Placement 14th October 2021 Morning Report General Capital Limited (NZX: GEN) Completes Greenfern Listing LISTING AND QUOTATION NOTICE: NZX MAIN BOARD - GREENFERN INDUSTRIES LIMITED 13th October 2021 Morning Report Hotel Montreal: Patterson Family Buys Christchurch's Hotel Montreal Ports of Auckland: Two New Directors for Ports of Auckland Board The government is "not planning" to separate the Reserve Bank's separate monetary policy and prudential supervision responsibilities in the second phase of the review of the Reserve Bank Act - aimed at the financial stability role and broader governance reform, says Finance Minister Grant Robertson. "The government is not planning to go down the separation path at this stage," said Robertson in a question and answer document about the terms of the reference for the second phase published today. However, stakeholder consultation exercise did reveal interest in the issue and that further submissions could be made on it after the first round of public consultation on the Phase 2 issues, terms of reference for which were released this afternoon. The review team "will be explaining the rationale for retaining prudential regulation and supervision inside the Reserve Bank as part of the first round of public consultation on Phase 2 issues". Treasury and the RBNZ will jointly carry out the Phase 2 work, in conjunction with the Independent Expert Advisory Panel, chaired by Suzanne Snively, which will continue in its current form, said Robertson. He is considering further additions to the panel to ensure it contains the necessary expertise for the matters covered by Phase 2. These will be announced in the near future. Key considerations for the review will be whether the act provides a coherent framework for the Reserve Banks roles and responsibilities, whether the acts purpose and Reserve Banks objectives are clear, whether they remain appropriate, and the process by which they are set. It will consider the Reserve Banks accountability to the board, the minister of finance and parliament. It will also consider options to work more closely with Australian regulatory agencies to explore and perhaps improve the coordination of policy. The scope and objectives for macro-prudential policy will be reviewed to define the policy, its use, and its relationship to prudential and/or monetary policy. The review will also consider decision making, the macro-prudential toolkit, and processes to provide transparency, accountability, and review. Regarding the timeline, Roberston said an initial task of the review team will be to develop a work programme and identify what it needs to deliver, including timelines for the development and introduction of legislation, with most of the major legislative amendments likely to be advanced in the current parliamentary term. The goal is to ensure that the framework within which the Reserve Bank regulates and supervises the banking sector is fit-for-purpose and enables the Reserve Bank to perform its role effectively, he said. However, it will not address the separate legislation underpinning the current prudential frameworks for the insurance and non-bank deposit-taking sectors respectively, nor the proposed legislation for financial market infrastructure, except where consequential changes are necessary or could encourage alignment. The Reserve Banks role as an anti-money laundering supervisor is also out of scope. Robertson made clear the review will not directly touch on conduct issues raised by the Australian Royal Commission. The Reserve Bank, the Financial Markets Authority and the Commerce Commission are currently engaging with New Zealands banking sector on the Australian findings, he said. The government announced the review in November 2017. The first phase covered changes to the objectives of monetary policy to give due consideration to maximising employment alongside price stability and making provision for a committee decision-making model for monetary policy. (BusinessDesk) Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process. Related News: Arvida Group Limited (NZX: ARV) to Acquire Arena Living Retirement Living Portfolio My Food Bag Group Limited (NZX: MFB) Market Update and HY Results Announcement Date Harmoney Corp Limited (NZX: HMY) Delivers Record September Quarter Vital Healthcare Property Trust (NZX: VHP) Announces Successful Completion of $115m Placement 14th October 2021 Morning Report General Capital Limited (NZX: GEN) Completes Greenfern Listing LISTING AND QUOTATION NOTICE: NZX MAIN BOARD - GREENFERN INDUSTRIES LIMITED 13th October 2021 Morning Report Hotel Montreal: Patterson Family Buys Christchurch's Hotel Montreal Ports of Auckland: Two New Directors for Ports of Auckland Board For the uninitiated these companies belong to the the Northern part of Europe, basically the group of five countries- Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. Yes most of these companies have been rated as innovative and successful companies. But they are also companies headquartered in the Nordic. While most of these companies have an India presence, the number of opportunities for Indian companies, especially in the ICT sector is limited to only those with established routes. In simpler words, it might be easier to spot an engineer sipping on a Carlsberg in India, but to imagine the same engineer offer AI based services to the beer-maker would be quite a remote possibility. After all, life for an Indian SME in the international market does not seem as levelled as it is for the established players. It is only thanks to the proliferation of advancements in the communication infrastructure that Indian SMEs in the IT sector now have access to international markets through partners and marketplaces. Otivr, a Swedish technology startup is helping transform the IT outsourcing business by providing a gateway to Europe and Nordics for Indian SMEs as they have a strong foothold in European and Nordics region. The company says that 10,000 professionals are offering strategic IT services through their platform. And nearly 70% of the ICT suppliers registered on Otivr's platform are Indian SMEs and software professionals. As on date, the company has boosted their supplier base to over 150 high-quality SMEs offering project solutions and dedicated resources starting from front-end developers, back-end developers, UX/UI designers, 3D artists, AI experts, tech developers with expertise in Java, Python, Microsoft technologies, Salesforce and many more. One among Otivr's key strength is it's window to Sweden and the Nordic region. The Nordic has been noted as an incumbent region for business growth. With rapid increase in innovation and business, the demand for quality manpower is only rising. This has led to huge outsourcing opportunities to be tapped. A report titled Sweden a key driver of Nordic ICT growth published by industry body NASSCOM, pegs the total IT spend among Nordic companies at $60 billion in 2019 and $62 billion by 2020. Sweden, the report notes, is the country with a 40% ($23 billion in 2016-17 out of total $57 billion) of the total share of the Nordic IT spend. Ricky Dhillon the CEO at Otivr says, the opportunities in specialized needs in the IT space with emerging technologies is tremendous, especially in the Nordic. We have added strategic services such as gaming and security, expanding our supplier base to over 10,000 skilled, professionals working with SMEs in the Nordics." From left to right: Otivr's Management team in a photo Sunny Dhillon (Chairman), Ricky Dhillon (Board Member & CEO), Mickey Dhillon (Co-Founder). Speaking about the potential sectors, he says, "Indian SMEs with a forward vision are innovating in growing fields such as AI, Machine Learning, IoT and Business Intelligence. We are closing the gap by opening up business opportunities in front of them to capture, providing access to the lucrative B2B sector with high value clients in international markets. Although Otivr is a three year venture, it has the backing of the Swedish embassy and hence has extensive support from the local community. Behind Otivr is its strong business model that promises Indian SMEs and mid-sized firms an opportunity to tap into the IT spending in Sweden and the Nordic belt. Otivr's B2B portal acts as a marketplace connecting companies with hi-quality verified IT professionals and comapnies. According to the website, the registration is 100% free. One among Otivr's major services is providing support throughout the procurement and delivery process, and enabling a smooth IT transition to enterprises. On the supplier side, the company is expanding their service segments by including highly innovative service providers within AI, machine learning and Big data to its offerings among others. Otivr offers dedicated resources - both offshore and onshore, project solutions for core services like Web development, Mobile application development, E-commerce, Business Intelligence, ERP system, UI/UX design, Database building and maintenance and others along with services related to highly innovative areas like Big Data, Cloud Computing, IoT and AI. Otivr will also include offering of dedicated on-shore resources to its solution offerings this autumn. Dhillion says, co-ordinating with our clients and partners at the front-end, we are expanding the range of our services, integrating with more suppliers to cater to the rising demand for niche services in the Nordic region." He further adds, "We recently added gaming with Embassy House, one of the largest incubators in Sweden in the space. Interestingly, we are seeing growth in assignments such as customized integrations projects, building major platforms, databases, business tools, web development projects, apps and so forth. This indicates the scope of further collaboration with suppliers offering expertise in advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, micro services and digital productivity. Indian market is ripe with innovative professionals, skilled for this space." Sify.com Movies Reviews Hollywood Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom review - Enchanting action and visuals in a staid template This edition is much better than its predecessor Source: SIFY By: IANS Critic's Rating: 3/5 Thursday 07 June 2018 Movie Title Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom review - Enchanting action and visuals in a staid template Director J.A. Bayona Star Cast Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Isabella Sermon, Rafe Spall, Justice Smith, Daniella Pineda, James Cromwell, Toby Jones, Ted Levine, B.D. Wong, Geraldine Chaplin, Jeff Goldblum Jurassic World: The Fallen Kingdom, is the fifth instalment of the Jurassic Park series and the second of a prospective Jurassic World trilogy. Helmed by Director J.A. Bayona, the film promises a lot when it comes to presenting concepts and characters, but at the time of developing the story, it falls into the same sin as Jurassic World. Just as Jurassic World was remade on a larger scale from Spielberg's Jurassic Park for consumption by the younger generations, 'The fallen Kingdom' too, seems to aspire for the same with the continuation of the lost world. Kaala review: Nothing original, surprising or remotely unpredictable Here you see more reptiles, close and upfront, in all their glory and action. The action-sequences are intense but at times appear deliberate and dumb, just to stimulate heartbeats. The actual story begins with some exposition about the end of the first Jurassic World. The theme park on Isla Nublar off Central America's Pacific Coast is destroyed and the dinosaurs roam freely on the island for three years. While the Former Jurassic World Operations Manager, now an animal-rights activists - Claire Dearing (Bryce Howard) is working to save the dinosaurs, we then see Jeff Goldblum, reprising his role from the first two films, addressing a committee. He tells them that he thinks the dinosaurs, "should be eliminated by the volcano" that threatens the island, and Goldblum works hard to give this plot exposition some urgency. Claire is joined by her ex-boyfriend Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), a former dinosaur trainer when she teams up with Benjamin Lockwood, to bring the creatures to a sanctuary in America. But soon she and Owen are betrayed and mayhem follows. There is also a helpless little girl Maisie (Isabella Sermon) who elevates the emotional quotient. Chris Pratt is a charismatic, good-looking and funny guy. He returns as the leading man and everything he utters tends to sound like a double entendre. "If I don't make it back, remember, you are the one who made me come," he tells Howard at one point and pauses just enough to generate a laugh. Also when Howard is on top of a dinosaur and needs to sedate it with a syringe, Pratt matter-of-factly states, "You are going to have to jam it in there!" The plot hinges, as so many large studio films do, on the evil of villainous capitalists who have no shame or moral scruples. These villains are poaching the dinosaurs to make their millions and also to use them for warfare. The director unfolds so comfortably with this material that one ends up scrutinizing the frames, wondering if any of the reptilian offspring that appear on screen will end up looking clumsy. But instead, the CGI is spot on and the visuals are aesthetically mounted. Director of Photography, Oscar Faura's live-action frames mesh smoothly with the CGI and together, you experience some enchanting images. Overall, this edition is much better than its predecessor. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom review: 3 1/2 stars Sick US diplomats in China sent home for further evaluation Washington, June 7 (AFP) Jun 07, 2018 The US State Department on Wednesday said it had sent several government employees evaluated over mystery symptoms similar to those reported by personnel in China back to the United States for further assessment. Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said a medical team was sent to Guangzhou, China, after an American employee fell ill last month, reviving fears that a US rival has developed some kind of invisible acoustic or microwave device. "The safety and security of US personnel and their families is our top priority," Nauert said in a statement. "As a result of the screening process so far, the Department has sent a number of individuals for further evaluation and a comprehensive assessment of their symptoms and findings in the United States," she added, confirming doctors would work to determine if the symptoms showed consistencies with those reported in Cuba. Last year, 24 US diplomats and their family members in Cuba fell victim to mysterious "attacks" that left them with injuries resembling brain trauma. Ten Canadian diplomats and their relatives also suffered a strange illness. The US has now set up a task force to oversee the response to the mystery ailments among diplomats in both countries, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday. A State Department statement yesterday made no reference to the possibility of a deliberate attack in China. However, it did warn that US diplomats should alert their mission's medical staff "if they note new onset of symptoms that may have begun in association with experiencing unidentified auditory sensations." "Reported symptoms have included dizziness, headaches, tinnitus, fatigue, cognitive issues, visual problems, ear complaints and hearing loss, and difficulty sleeping," the statement said. US in deal to ease sanctions on China's ZTE: top official Washington, June 7 (AFP) Jun 07, 2018 US officials reached a deal Thursday to ease sanctions which threatened to cripple Chinese smartphone maker ZTE, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said. Ross told CNBC television the deal includes a $1 billion fine levied on the Chinese firm and a requirement that it change its board of directors. In April, the Chinese group was cut off from US technology products for violating US sanctions against North Korea and Iran -- measures which threatened to put ZTE out of business. Ross said the agreement calls for "embedding a compliance department" chosen by Washington to monitor company conduct. "They will pay for those people but the people will report to the new chairman," Ross said. "This is a pretty strict settlement. The strictest and largest settlement fine that has ever been brought by the Commerce Department against any violator of export controls." Ross said the plan calls for ZTE to create a $400 million escrow account in case of future violations, and a requirement to overhaul the board of directors and executive team within 30 days. Several US lawmakers have warned against easing sanctions on ZTE, citing national security concerns. But President Donald Trump last month said he was looking at options to prevent a shutdown of ZTE. The news comes amid increasing trade tensions between Washington and Beijing, with Trump threatening to impose tariffs of Chinese technology products to reduce a large trade deficit. bur-rl/it US, China reach $1.4 bn ZTE deal as signs emerge of trade talks progres Washington, June 7 (AFP) Jun 07, 2018 Washington and Beijing have reached a deal to ease sanctions that brought Chinese smartphone maker ZTE to the brink of collapse, the US Commerce Department announced Thursday. The deal could be a harbinger of progress in separate and fraught trade talks between the world's two largest economies although Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Thursday reiterated a denial that there was any connection between the two. The ZTE settlement comes days after Beijing reportedly offered to ramp up purchases of American goods to help cut the yawning trade imbalance with the United States -- moving part-way towards meeting a major demand of US President Donald Trump. US lawmakers on Thursday renewed vocal objections to lifting the sanctions, saying the company posed an "espionage risk" to the United States in addition to having violated its sanctions on Iran and North Korea. Ross told CNBC on Thursday the deal was tough and would keep ZTE on a short leash. "This is a pretty strict settlement. The strictest and largest settlement fine that has ever been brought by the Commerce Department against any violator of export controls." In April, Washington banned the sale of crucial US components to the company after finding it had repeatedly lied and failed to take action against workers responsible for the sanctions violations. The company was fined $1.2 billion last year. But under the deal announced Thursday, ZTE will pay an additional $1 billion penalty and put another $400 million in escrow to cover possible future violations. ZTE will also be required to change its entire board of directors and hire outside legal compliance specialists who will report to the Commerce Department for 10 years. In return, Washington will strike the company from a sanctions list. - Another shoe to drop? - Lawmakers of both major parties on Thursday threatened to take congressional action that could block or alter the deal, calling ZTE a threat to US national security. "There is absolutely no good reason that ZTE should get a second chance and this decision marks a 180-degree turn away from the president's promise to be tough on China. It's up to Congress now to act to reverse the deal," Chuck Schumer, the Senate's top Democrat, said in a statement. The news comes as Trump presses ahead with plans to impose as much as $50 billion in tariffs on Chinese imports to punish Beijing for its alleged theft of American technology and know-how. Washington and Beijing have pursued a halting series of trade talks, with Trump demanding a $200 billion reduction in its trade deficit with China. Ross told CNBC the ZTE deal was an enforcement matter that was unrelated to the trade talks, which he has led. "It happens that I have been involved with the other negotiations with China. But that's quite separate and apart from enforcement," he said. China last weekend reportedly offered to buy an additional $70 billion in US goods to cut the trade deficit, moving toward meeting one of Trump's central demands on trade. William Reinsch, a trade expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the ZTE offer suggested Beijing could have concessions to Trump on trade but it remained unclear whether these were of equal value. Beijing's reported offer to buy $70 billion in goods was "peanuts" compared to the $200 billion cut in the US trade deficit with China that Trump demanded, Reinsch told AFP. "It's hard to believe there's no linkage but Ross clearly left Beijing without anything last weekend," he said. "I think there's another shoe to drop." rl-dg/it Page Content Prime Minister the Honorable Leona Romeo Marlin received a courtesy visit at her cabinet in the Government Administration Building from the Commander of the Netherlands Forces in the Caribbean Peter Jan de Vin. Discussions during the meeting centered around preparations for the Hurricane Season and building on the working relationship between the Military and the Government of Sint Maarten. As a follow-up to the courtesy visit, a detailed high-level meeting will be organized in the month of July. Photo caption Prime Minister Leona Romeo Marlin & Commander of the Netherlands Forces in the Caribbean Peter Jan de Vin. Summit brings former secret envoy Pompeo center stage Washington, June 7 (AFP) Jun 07, 2018 Shortly after Mike Pompeo was unveiled as US Secretary of State it was revealed that he had already, as outgoing CIA director, embarked on a historic diplomatic mission. While still working in the shadows as President Donald Trump's spy chief, Pompeo met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and set in motion plans to stage next week's nuclear summit. Now installed as Washington's top diplomat and one of the heavyweights in the US administration, the former soldier and Kansas lawmaker has stuck with the dossier, despite its challenges. On May 24, he looked uncomfortable and grim as he appeared to announce his failure, reading senators a letter that Trump had sent to Kim, cancelling the summit after a perceived slight from Pyongyang. But barely eight days later, the 54-year-old secretary's more familiar smile was back in place as he and Trump walked Kim's right-hand man back to his car after a historic White House meeting. The summit was on for June 12 in Singapore -- and Pompeo's stock was again on the rise as an agency leader who can both interact productively with Trump and pursue a diplomatic strategy. No-one yet dares guess whether Trump's Quixotic decision to grant Kim his long sought after summit with a US leader will succeed in convincing the North to commit to nuclear disarmament. But Pompeo has already proved more successful than his predecessor Rex Tillerson, the Texan oilman who clashed with Trump, demoralized his own staff and came up with little on the international stage. - Follow Trump's instincts - Nevertheless, he has more than most riding on the outcome of next week's once seemingly impossible face-to-face encounter between two unpredictable world leaders. Mark Fitzpatrick of the International Institute for Strategic Studies warns that, whereas Tillerson tried to act as a cautious counterweight to Trump's geostrategic inexperience, Pompeo has followed his president's instincts. "Pompeo is heavily invested in making the summit happen, with form seeming to be more important than substance," he told AFP. "We will soon find out how successful he has been." While Tillerson, for example, saw value in standing by America's commitment to the Iran nuclear deal and its European allies who backed it, Pompeo supported Trump's decision to pull out. "Tillerson knew that leaving the nuclear deal would isolate America. Pompeo may understand this, but has hitched his reputation to Trump," Fitzpatrick said. Another difference between Pompeo and his discreet predecessor, is his understanding of showmanship and symbolism. The former Exxon executive shunned the press, the former congressman courts it. When Pompeo dined in New York with North Korean envoy and fellow former spy master Kim Yong Chol, he did so in a US diplomat's apartment with wide views of midtown Manhattan. In the official photos that Pompeo's spokeswoman tweeted out of the event, not only did Kim's man look small compared to Pompeo's hulking frame, but America's might was visible in the skyscrapers beyond, "including the Freedom Tower." Pompeo has now met Kim Jong Un twice and Kim Yong Chol three times, and is the most senior US official to have talked to the North Korean leader. - Staff exodus - He brought the dossier with him from the CIA, along with fellow negotiator Andrew Kim, an intelligence officer who is now recognizable to the press corps and attends top-level meetings. But he now also has the reins of the State Department and whatever regional expertise and negotiating talent is left there, after Tillerson's era saw an exodus of senior staff. His bulky presence appears to reassure former colleagues from Capitol Hill, many of whom harbor doubts about Trump's ability to follow through on such a diplomatic undertaking un-shepherded. "I have much more confidence in Mike Pompeo's preparation for this meeting than I do in Donald Trump's preparation for any meeting," said Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee. Republican Ron Johnson, a Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, had high praise for Pompeo's experience and intelligence, but more importantly for winning Trump's confidence. "So I think he's the perfect guy for the job," he gushed. Trump's faith in Pompeo, who used to deliver regular intelligence briefings to the president in person, has also allowed the secretary to serve as a counterweight to fellow newcomer John Bolton, the hawkish national security adviser. - Libyan model - Several reports suggest Trump was annoyed when Bolton, in an interview, compared the quest to disarm Kim to that which removed the late Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's nascent weapons program. Pyongyang was predictably disturbed by the comparison, triggering the wobble that led to the summit's temporary suspension -- only for Pompeo to jump in and put the pieces together again. mlm-dc-fff/ska China hosts summit with Russia, Iran as nuclear deal wobbles Beijing, June 7 (AFP) Jun 07, 2018 Iran, China and Russia may seek ways to salvage the nuclear deal ditched by Donald Trump when their leaders meet this weekend at a summit on the Chinese coast. The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a regional security bloc led by China and Russia, is set to hold its 18th annual gathering in the city of Qingdao on Saturday and Sunday. Iran's President Hassan Rouhani is attending this year -- just the second time an Iranian leader has participated. It comes after US President Trump controversially pulled Washington out of a 2015 international pact with Iran that placed limits on its nuclear programme in return for easing economic sanctions. China is Iran's top trade partner and one of the biggest buyers of its oil, but those who oppose the US abandonment of the deal risk huge fines for busting the tough American measures. Rouhani is taking part because "Iran is currently evaluating the signatories of the nuclear deal to see to what extent they'll be able to effectively maintain it even after the US's withdrawal", said Gao Shangtao, an expert on Middle East relations at Beijing Foreign Affairs College. "To put it bluntly, if Tehran feels assured that China and Russia can withstand the pressure of US sanctions and continue to do business with Iran, then Tehran will seek to retain the deal -- otherwise, it's meaningless," he said. Chinese businesses are expected to step up activities in Iran to fill the void left by the exit of US companies and the possible withdrawal of European rivals who fear punitive US measures. Hua Liming, a former Chinese ambassador to Iran, told the Global Times newspaper on Tuesday: "Unlike the US, China will not break its promise and will ensure that China-Iran relations won't be affected." Iran announced on Tuesday that it plans to boost uranium enrichment capacity with new centrifuges within the 2015 deal's limits, prompting Beijing to urge all parties to "continue to sustain and implement" the agreement. - 'Bigger, grander' SCO ambitions - The SCO bloc includes four ex-Soviet Central Asian republics and two new members, Pakistan and India -- whose President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, respectively, will be present this weekend. Iran is currently an observer member of the SCO, though it has long sought full membership. "Iran needs more diplomatic support from the East -- not only China, but also Central Asia -- in order to strengthen its position and better contend with the US," said Xu Tiebing, international relations professor at the Communication University of China. But most Chinese analysts "are not too eager to see Iran accepted as a formal member state" due to its perceived political instability, he added. Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet Rouhani on the sidelines of the summit, but the nuclear deal is not on the formal SCO agenda. Major SCO topics will include improving trade ties -- in part by pushing forward China's Belt and Road global infrastructure project -- and strengthening cooperation on drug trafficking, cybersecurity and counter-terrorism. Despite mistrust between China and Russia, "outside circumstances -- specifically US foreign policy -- have pushed them closer to each other", said Tugrul Keskin, director of the Center for Global Governance at Shanghai University. Xu agreed, noting US policy under Trump has been the driver of the SCO's growing profile, becoming "a kind of glue" keeping together SCO member countries who have disparate and often conflicting agendas. Russian President Vladimir Putin told Chinese state broadcaster CGTN that though the SCO began as a "low-profile organisation" that sought merely to "solve border issues" between China, Russia and former Soviet countries, it is now evolving into a larger global force. "Our objective was quite small, but as we worked together on these small issues, we found similarities between us," he said. "We realised that together we could achieve something bigger, grander." Trump hosts Japan PM, five days before summit with Kim Washington, June 7 (AFP) Jun 07, 2018 With less than a week to go before meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, US President Donald Trump plays host Thursday to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who wants his voice heard ahead of the unprecedented talks. Trump and Abe will hold a joint press conference at the White House in the early afternoon, before heading to Canada for what promises to be a tense Group of Seven summit clouded by the US leader's aggressive trade policies. Since the first inkling that a Trump-Kim summit could be on the cards, Japan has repeatedly insisted that Washington be mindful not to let its guard down with the nuclear-armed regime in Pyongyang. And by coming to Washington to see Trump for the second time in less than two months, Abe wants to be sure to get his point across to the US president, amid the intense diplomatic flurry over the future of the Korean peninsula. Before leaving Tokyo, the Japanese leader emphasized that during his lightning visit to Washington, he hoped to "closely coordinate and agree" with Trump on an approach to the North Korea issue. And he clearly outlined what would need to happen for the June 12 summit in Singapore to be a success: tangible progress on curbing the North's nuclear and ballistic missiles programs, as well as answers about Japanese nationals kidnapped by Pyongyang in the 1970s and 1980s. At their last meeting at Trump's Florida retreat in April, the US president promised Abe to raise the politically sensitive abductions issue in any talks with Pyongyang. But the subject is hardly a priority for the businessman-turned-president, whose strategy appears to be in constant flux. Above all, Trump seems most enthused by the notion of being the first sitting US leader to hold direct talks with a scion of the ruling Kim dynasty. The intensifying diplomacy on North Korea has so far left Abe as the odd man out: Trump is preparing to meet Kim, while Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korea's Moon Jae-in have each already seen the North's leader twice. - Japan left 'isolated' after Singapore? - For Richard Armitage, a former senior diplomat during the administration of George W. Bush, Tokyo runs a very real risk of finding itself out in the cold after the Trump-Kim talks. "We should absolutely prevent decoupling -- decoupling Japanese and US security," he told AFP. "This is and has been an aim of China and North Korea for a long time, and we can't allow this to happen. That would be falling into a terrible trap." Trump and Abe so far seem to have forged a sort of friendship, but even that bonhomie was revealed to be limited at their last meeting. On Thursday, it could again be put to the test -- beyond North Korea, they are also meant to discuss the thorny issue of tariffs, which Washington says were put in place to protect American workers. "I will stress that measures to restrict trade would not serve the interests of any country," Abe said before heading to Washington. Japan had hoped to convince the US to shield it from fresh tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, and did not hide its bitter disappointment when those talks failed. The government in Tokyo warned of the "grave impact" that US tariffs could have on bilateral ties and the world trading system. "The US government's trade measures, citing its security, makes us concerned that they could disrupt the global market," government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters on Monday. Bulgarian parliament moves to revive nuclear project Sofia, June 7 (AFP) Jun 07, 2018 Bulgaria's parliament opened the way Thursday to revive a long-delayed project to build a new nuclear power plant by tasking the energy minister to hold talks with potential strategic investors. The decision was backed by 172 MPs from all parties in the 240-seat chamber, with only 14 voting against. It will allow Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova to enter into negotiations with possible investors for a new 2,000-megawatt nuclear power plant in Belene on the Danube. However, the text approved by MPs means Petkova will not be allowed to offer any state credit guarantees or preferential electricity contracts to any new participant in the project. In 2012, Bulgaria scrapped a previous deal to build the plant with Russia's nuclear company Atomstroyexport, after failing to find any foreign investors prepared to shoulder its spiralling costs, estimated at the time at about 10 billion euros ($11.8 billion). Bulgaria had also come under US and EU pressure to limit its energy dependence on Russia. The scrapping of the project angered Russia, which had hoped to use Belene as an EU showcase for its new generation of pressurised water reactors. Bulgaria had to pay Atomstroyexport some 601 million euros in compensation after the firm took it to international arbitration. In addition all the necessary equipment for the twin-reactor plant had already been paid for and delivered, and is currently being kept in storage at the proposed site for the plant. China's National Nuclear Corporation, Atomstroyexport's parent corporation Rosatom, and a third anonymous bidder have already expressed renewed interest in the project. French company Framatome also said recently it was interested in joining the project as a supplier. "I hope that this interest will be confirmed," Petkova told journalists after Thursday's vote. Aside from picking up where the previous plan for the plant left off, Petkova has also recently said that another option was building Belene with Russian funding on the model of Hungary's Paks II plant. Bulgaria currently operates one Soviet-built 2,000-megawatt nuclear power plant at Kozloduy, also on the Danube, which supplies one-third of the country's electricity. But plans to revive Belene have met with opposition from experts who say it would not be economically viable as neither Bulgaria nor its neighbours are expected to need new energy sources before 2035. NATO chief hails German defence spending boost Brussels, June 7 (AFP) Jun 07, 2018 NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday hailed German plans to increase defence spending by 80 percent by 2024 as "a step in the right direction" amid US demands for Europe to pay its way. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly lashed European allies for failing to meet a commitment to spend two percent of GDP on defence by 2024, with economic powerhouse Germany coming in for particular criticism. Germany's announcement that it is increasing its defence budget looks to have brought some relief in a row that threatens to dominate a summit of NATO leaders next month. "I welcome the fact that Germany has stopped the cuts... and also (has) plans to increase defence spending by 80 percent over a decade," Stoltenberg said as he arrived for a gathering of all 29 NATO defence ministers in Brussels. "This is steps in the right direction, I welcome them and it is part of a pattern we now see across Europe and Canada, where allies are spending more." Chancellor Angela Merkel indicated on Wednesday that German defence spending would rise to 1.5 percent of GDP by 2025. While still short of the magic two percent, this would still represent an 80 percent hike over a decade. In the short term, Berlin plans to boost its military budget by three billion euros to 41.5 billion euros ($49 billion) next year. Pentagon spokesman Eric Pahon echoed Stoltenberg's welcome, saying the US was "encouraged by Germany's effort". It marks a softening in tone from the tough message brought by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to a meeting of NATO foreign minsters in April. Then the ex-CIA chief said bluntly that Germany was not doing enough to meet the target it had signed up to at the Wales summit in 2014. German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said Berlin "fully supports the two percent target". "The Bundeswehr (German army) is growing again, it is being modernised," she said as she arrived at the defence ministers meeting. "Next year we will already be at 1.3 percent (of GDP)." Tuesday's talks come under the shadow of increasingly bitter spats between Washington and Europe over punishing US tariffs on steel and aluminium as well as Trump's decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris climate accord. Stoltenberg said he had to work to do to stop what he called "serious differences" within the alliance. Top US, Russian military brass to meet in Helsinki Helsinki, June 7 (AFP) Jun 07, 2018 Top US and Russian military officials are to meet in Helsinki on Friday as part of recurring talks to prevent conflicts such as Syria and Ukraine from escalating, Finnish officials said. The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joe Dunford, will meet his Russian counterpart General Valery Gerasimov at an undisclosed location in the Finnish capital, the Finnish military announced on Thursday. The talks are aimed at preventing an escalation of situations and misunderstandings, researcher Matti Pesu of the Finnish Foreign Policy Institute told Finnish news agency STT. Direct clashes and accidents are for example a risk in Syria, where Washington and Moscow support opposing sides in the conflict. "In such tense situations these (meetings) are important because both parties want to avoid worsening the situation. You want to increase transparency and keep the tensions from rising. "It helps when you sit down and talk face-to-face," Pesu said. Representatives of the Finnish defense forces will not participate in the meeting. Dunford's office did not immediately return a request for comment. A special hotline for the US and Russian militaries to communicate about operations in Syria is being used by both sides, the Kremlin said in April. The link is a regular phone line staffed on the US side by a Russian-speaking colonel. Trump says 'all ready' for Kim summit, as he hosts Japan PM Washington, June 7 (AFP) Jun 07, 2018 Five days before meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, US President Donald Trump said Thursday the unprecedented summit was "all ready to go," as he welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to the White House. Trump and Abe were to hold a joint press conference at the White House at about 2:00 pm (1800 GMT), before heading to Canada for what promises to be a tense Group of Seven summit clouded by the US leader's aggressive trade policies. But before tackling the thorny trade issue, Trump expressed unbridled optimism -- and confidence -- about his June 12 tete-a-tete with Kim in Singapore. "The summit is all ready to go," Trump said, with Abe at his side. "It's going to be much more than a photo op." "I'm very well-prepared. It's about attitude, it's about willingness to get things done," he told reporters. Since the first inkling that a Trump-Kim summit could be on the cards, Japan has repeatedly insisted that Washington be mindful not to let its guard down with the nuclear-armed regime in Pyongyang. And by coming to Washington to see Trump for the second time in less than two months, Abe wants to be sure to get his point across to the US president, amid the intense diplomatic flurry over the future of the Korean peninsula. The Japanese leader said he hoped the summit would lead to "greater peace and stability" in the region, and mark a "transformational moment" for Northeast Asia. Before leaving Tokyo, Abe clearly outlined what would need to happen for the summit to be a success: tangible progress on curbing the North's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, as well as answers about Japanese nationals kidnapped by Pyongyang in the 1970s and 1980s. During their last meeting at Trump's Florida retreat in April, the US president promised Abe to raise the politically sensitive abductions issue in any talks with Pyongyang. But the subject is hardly a priority for the businessman-turned-president, whose strategy appears to be in constant flux. Above all, Trump seems most enthused by the notion of being the first sitting US leader to hold direct talks with a scion of the ruling Kim dynasty. "At a minimum, we'll start with perhaps a good relationship and that's something that is very important toward the ultimate making of the deal," he added. "If they don't denuclearize, it will not be acceptable." The intensifying diplomacy on North Korea has so far left Abe as the odd man out: Trump is preparing to meet Kim, while Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korea's Moon Jae-in have each already seen the North's leader twice. - Japan 'isolated' after Singapore? - For Richard Armitage, a former senior diplomat in the George W. Bush administration, Tokyo runs a very real risk of finding itself out in the cold after the Trump-Kim talks. "We should absolutely prevent decoupling Japanese and US security," he told AFP. "This is and has been an aim of China and North Korea for a long time, and we can't allow this to happen. That would be falling into a terrible trap." Trump and Abe so far seem to have forged a friendship of sorts, but even that bonhomie was revealed to be limited at their last meeting. On Thursday, it could again be put to the test -- beyond North Korea, they are also meant to discuss the controversial issue of tariffs, which Washington says were put in place to protect American workers. "I will stress that measures to restrict trade would not serve the interests of any country," Abe said before heading to Washington. Japan had hoped to convince the US to shield it from fresh tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, and did not hide its bitter disappointment when those talks failed. Harare, June 07, 2018 (SPS) President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, H.E. Cde. E.D. Mnangagwa has reassured to his counterpart, President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, Mr. Brahim Gali his country unwavering support for the Sahrawi People's right to self-determination and independence, in joint communique culminated the official visit of the Saharwi President to Zimbabwe President Mnangagwa reaffirmed Zimbabwe's commitment to supporting efforts with the aim to implement the settlement plan signed by both Parties in 1991 and endorsed by the OAU and the United Nations providing for the holding of a referendum on self-determination. joint communique says The two sides have recalled the longstanding relations between the Zimbabwean people and Sahrawi people, dating back to the years of Zimbabwe's liberation struggle, expressing satisfaction at the historical brotherly bonds of solidarity shared between the two countries, and expressed their commitment to work together to strengthen these relations. The two Presidents have also expressed confidence in the efforts made by the UN Secretary General's Personal Envoy on Western Sahara, former President Prof. Horst Kohler and the AU Special Envoy on Western Sahara, H.E. Joachim Chissano, to restart peace talks with the aim of reaching a permanent solution to the conflict. President Mnangagwa and President Gali both stressed the importance of holding a free and fair referendum to allow the Sahrawi people to determine their destiny, in the very near future. They stressed Morocco's obligation, as a member of the continental body, to adhere to the principles enshrined in the African Union Constitutive Act, particularly the need to respect colonial borders, and the territorial integrity of other Member States. For his part, President Gali welcomed the decision of the SADC Heads of State and Government Summit to hold a Solidarity Conference on Western Sahara, to generate international solidarity and support for the plight of the Sahrawi people, the last colony on the African continent. SPS 125/090 Health professionals advise vaccination ahead of holiday gatherings SALT LAKE CITY COVID-19 may be declining in the Southwest, but that's not the case here in Utah and with the holidays coming up, health care workers say now is not the time to let your guard down. We don't know what's going to happen this year, but it's not too late to get a vaccine, said Dr. Russell Vinik, chief medical operations officer for University of Utah Health. If you get a vaccine today, you'll have some degree of protection by Thanksgiving. We are pleading with the community. Please get vaccinated. During a news conference Wednesday, Vinik said the state has ... Evangelist Andrew Palau Shares the Gospel with Hundreds of Thousands at Historic March for Jesus Festival in Brazil Contact: Jay Fordice, Luis Palau Association, 503-614-1500 SAO PAULO, Brazil, June 6, 2018 /Standard Newswire/ -- Global evangelist Andrew Palau, son of Luis Palau, was the featured speaker this past week at the massive March for Jesus Festival in Sao Paulo, Brazil (population: 12 million). The event is being hailed as one of the largest gatherings of its kind and proved to be a truly blessed Gospel moment for the Church and the nation. Organized by the local evangelical community and supported by hundreds of local church congregations, the event built off of 25 years of similar marches and rallies. This gathering in Sao Paulo grabbed the attention of the entire continent and brought the Gospel to millions through the live event and surrounding media. Coming at the end of an 8-day transportation strike that paralyzed the city, the organizers overcame numerous challenges to accomplish the historic event. Starting at 10:00 a.m. in the morning on May 31, ten massive semi-trailers equipped with sound and stages led the crowd in joyful celebration on a 3-mile march through the city. The crowd increased to several hundred thousand as the parade progressed, eventually filling many city blocks of the 8-lane boulevard near the Praca Campo de Bagatelle park where a massive stage had been built for the evening festival. A variety of musical artists performed throughout the night, culminating with a clear Gospel message from Palau. "To see so many people marching in unity of their dedication to follow Jesus together it was truly unbelievable," said Palau. Focusing his message on John 10:10 "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full" Palau ended his message with a clear call to faith and repentance. The sea of hands that raised in affirmation to his call was evidence of the impact of the Word. He went on to imploring those who had publicly confessed Jesus Christ to dig into Scripture, get their roots deep into a local church, and pursue God daily. The local participating churches will work over the next several weeks to connect with and disciple those who made decisions. During Palau's time in Brazil he also gathered with local pastors, church leaders, and evangelists, encouraging them in the Word, focusing on continuing in unity, and inspiring them to keep evangelism a top priority. Palau's father, the famed Latin evangelist Luis Palau, was originally invited to share the Good News at the event in Brazil. Due to his recent stage IV lung cancer diagnosis, he was not able to make it to the event but was overjoyed to have his son Andrew take his place. March for Jesus continues in many countries through multiple and varied initiatives. It continues to gather the largest crowds of any organized event of its kind throughout the world. "The March for Jesus is an international and interdenominational event that occurs annually in several nations," local organizers state. "In it, the church has the opportunity to show that it is not restricted to buildings, but alive and open to the whole of society." To learn more about March for Jesus, visit marchaparajesus.com.br. The next festival with Palau will take place in Sunbury, England, June 13-17, 2018. Andrew Palau will also travel throughout the United States and to Colombia, Argentina, and China later this year to lead outreaches in several additional cities. Learn more at www.palau.org. About Andrew Palau: For nearly 25 years Andrew Palau has played a key role in the ministry of the Luis Palau Association. He has been instrumental in building the LPA model for citywide outreach as an evangelist, director, and key team leader. He has guided campaigns, led church relations efforts, trained thousands of believers in friendship evangelism, and proclaimed the Good News of Jesus Christ in person to hundreds of thousands of individuals in cities throughout Latin America, Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia, the Caribbean, and the United States of America. Palau's weekly radio broadcasts are heard by millions of people on hundreds of radio outlets. He is also the author of multiple books and a regular contributor to national publications with articles on issues of faith. Published: 7 June 2018 Finnish residents' trips to Southern Europe increased in January to April 2018 According to Statistics Finland's preliminary data, leisure trips abroad remained at the same level when compared to the corresponding period last year. Increasingly more of the Finns who travelled abroad in the first four months of the year made trips to familiar travel destinations in the Mediterranean or Sweden. Finnish residents travelled in Finland slightly less in the first four months of 2018 than in last year's spring. In contrast, destinations in the north increased their popularity. Leisure trips in January to April 2012 to 2018* (excl. domestic same-day trips and trips with free accommodation) In the first four months of 2018, Finnish residents aged 15 to 84 made 15.8 million trips when all domestic and foreign leisure trips, as well as business and professional trips are included. In addition to trips with overnight stay, the number also includes same-day trips abroad and in Finland. Altogether, 6.6 million domestic leisure trips with overnight stay were made in the January to April period. Of these, 4.7 million were trips with free accommodation. Trips with overnight stay at paid accommodation numbered 1.9 million and their most popular destinations were located in Uusimaa, North Ostrobothnia, Lapland and Pirkanmaa. The numbers of trips to North Ostrobothnia increased slightly from the corresponding period of the previous year. The number of same-day leisure trips in Finland was 3.6 million and that of same-day business trips 1.4 million. Uusimaa, Pirkanmaa and Varsinais-Suomi were the most popular destination regions for same-day trips. March was the most popular month for travelling in Finland in the early part of the year, as then 0.6 million domestic trips with paid accommodation, 1.4 million trips with free accommodation and 0.9 million same-day trips were made. Inclusive of trips with overnight stay in the destination country, cruises and same-day trips, leisure trips abroad numbered 2.5 million in the January to April period. A total of 1.8 million leisure trips abroad included overnight stay in the destination country. In January to April, 0.4 million cruises with overnight stay on board only were made. In the early part of the year, 0.3 million same-day trips abroad were made. Of these, nearly one-half were day cruises to Estonia. During the first four months of the year, leisure trips to our neighbouring countries numbered 560,000 to Estonia and 500,000 to Sweden. Trips to Sweden with overnight stay in the destination country and same-day trips increased from one year ago. Cruises to Sweden remained roughly on level with last year's spring. In the early part of 2018, overnight cruises to Estonia remained at the same level, and trips with overnight stay in the destination country and same-day trips fell slightly from the previous year. Despite this, Estonia is still the number one favourite for Finns all the year round. In the early part of the year, 340,000 trips were headed to Spain, of which 55 per cent to the Canary Islands. In the first four months of the year, 150,000 trips were made to Continental Spain and the Balearic Islands and the number of trips grew by 29 per cent. March was the most popular of the four months to travel to the Canary Islands and April to Continental Spain. When examining only trips with overnight stay in the destination country, roughly the same number of such trips were made as in last year's January to April period. April was the most popular month for these trips in the early part of the year, as then the number of trips abroad with overnight stay in the destination country was 570,000. Of the trips with overnight stay in the destination country, 16 per cent were headed to Estonia, similarly 16 per cent to the northern coast of the Mediterranean, and 10 per cent to the Canary Islands. In addition to leisure trips, 1.1 million business and professional trips with overnight stay and 1.4 million business and professional trips lasting only one day were made in Finland. Business and professional trips abroad (inclusive of trips with overnight stay in the destination country, cruises and same-day trips) numbered 0.7 million. Domestic business trips decreased but business trips abroad increased from last year's corresponding period. These data derive from Statistics Finland's Finnish Travel survey for which altogether 4,518 persons aged 15 to 84 were interviewed in February, March, April and May. Source: Finnish Travel, Statistics Finland Inquiries: Taru Tamminen 029 551 2243, Ossi Nurmi 029 551 2984, liikenne.matkailu@stat.fi Director in charge: Mari Yla-Jarkko Publication in pdf-format (306.0 kB) Updated 7.6.2018 Referencing instructions: Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Finnish Travel [e-publication]. ISSN=1798-9027. Spring (1.1.-30.4) 2018. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 15.10.2021]. Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/smat/2018/13/smat_2018_13_2018-06-07_tie_001_en.html Kosher foodies uniteBig news in the St. Louis kosher restaurant world. A new kosher Italian-American eatery and sushi bar is slated to open in Creve Coeur after the High Holidays this fall, and on Monday, the Cold Stone Creamery in Creve Coeur received... Shares is the leading weekly publication for retail investors. It is packed with investment ideas, news and educational material to help build and run portfolios and get more from your money. Shares puts on free Investor Events throughout the year across the country. They provide an opportunity for investors to learn more about companies on the stock market and hear from a range of investment experts including fund managers and Shares journalists. On November 5th, 2017, the Blue Flag exercise took off. This is the largest international aviation exercise that the Israeli Air Force (IAF) has hosted to date. Throughout Blue Flag, air forces from the United States, Poland, Italy, Greece, India, France, and Germany will simulate intense combat scenarios in realistic settings with the IAF. Photo by Cpl. Yuval Shmueli, IDF Spokesperson's Unit. X 0 20 Help Keep Us Soaring We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling. We need your help in reversing that trend. We would like to add 20 new subscribers this month. Each month we count on your subscriptions or contributions. You can support us in the following ways: The new agreement between the government and UN is considered unlikely to help Burmese Rohingya Moslem refugees in Bangladesh. It was immediately pointed out that the agreement is about what the UN and government will do, not what they must do according to any set schedule. Moreover, China continues to use its veto to block any meaningful UN action against Burma over the Rohingya issue. In the meantime at least 8,000 more Burmese Rohingya Moslems have fled to Bangladesh in 2018. The 700,000 Burmese refugees in Bangladesh are stuck there for what appears to be an extended period. The Burmese government insists that only validated Burmese residents will be allowed back and the verification process is stalled with only about a thousand Rohingya verified as Burmese. The UN agreement is unlikely to change that because the Burmese, with some justification, are insisting on documentation from refugees and many have not got it. Burma was approving less than ten percent of the names Bangladesh presents as authentic Burmese Rohingya and that may be increased to appease the UN but even then that does not guarantee that the refugee will return. The repatriation back to Burma of was supposed to begin in January 2018 but continued army violence against Rohingya still in Burma made that impossible. Added to that were the administrative problems and so much more. Those Rohingya going back must do so voluntarily and the refugees know what is going on in their former neighborhoods. Thats because Rohingya willing to go back want to return to their homes and property. If their home was destroyed (as many were during the military violence) the returnees want an opportunity to rebuild and for the government to supply money and supplies to make that possible. That would be difficult because in many of the areas Rohingya fled from local officials have treated the former Rohingya property as abandoned and available or resale and reuse. The UN can demand that the government do something about that and the government can refer the disputes to Burmese courts where each claim must be litigated. The government is under no binding obligation to expedite this repatriation process. Rohingya refugees are aware of this and will not return until the government clears up the property ownership issues. That happening is considered an impossible dream by all concerned. As a result, many Rohingya refugees are seeking new homelands. Bangladesh is not considered a good candidate because the country is already crowded and poor and long the source of illegal migrants to other nations. At the moment Moslem refugees are a hard sell, even in Moslem countries. No one is willing to take a lot of Rohingya and Bangladesh does not like being stuck with these large refugee camps near the Burmese border. Because the Rohingya are Moslem most Moslem nations have been quick to condemn Burma and urge international efforts to force Burma to take back the Rohingya. June 6, 2018: The government signed an agreement with the UN to cooperate in expediting the repatriation of over 700,000 Burmese Rohingya driven into Bangladesh by the military and Buddhist vigilante violence. May 31, 2018: In the northwest (Rakhine State) the government is seeking people willing to be caretakers of farming operations left behind when their Rohingya owners were driven into Bangladesh in 2017. There are not enough people in Rakhine to do this. There are at least 28,000 hectares (70,000 acres) of very productive farmland that is unattended. The state government offered to lease out the farmland to individuals or companies. May 25, 2018: In the northwest (Rakhine State) Islamic terrorist group ARSA (Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army) denied accusations that it had attacked several Hindu villages (in August 2017) and killed at least 99 Hindus. There have been persistent reports but not a lot of conclusive evidence that ARSA sought out and murdered Hindus. Islamic terrorists tend to take credit for their attacks, not deny them, so its unclear what is going on with this. For Rakhine State Islamic terrorists first showed up in late 2016 and August 2017 when there were attacks by a Rohingya Islamic terrorist group called ARSA. Its founder (a Rohingya expatriate) and much of the cash came from Saudi Arabia. Burma prefers to call groups like ARSA Islamic terrorists but until ARSA and the Saudi cash showed up there had not been much, if any, a religious aspect to the armed Rohingya resistance. ARSA was openly calling for Rohingya worldwide to support a war against Burma for the bad treatment the Rohingya have received, especially since 2012. Until this new document appeared ARSA had denied any connection with al Qaeda but that has apparently changed. The ARSA leader; Ataullah Abu Ammar Jununi (or just Ata Ullah) has received more attention now that Islamic terror groups like al Qaeda are calling for its members to help ARSA and the Burmese Rohingya any way they can. Since August 2017 there have been no more large-scale ARSA attacks but there have been some clashes with security forces. For the moment ARSA is largely a force on the Internet, not on the ground. May 22, 2018: China is again calling on Burma to keep the peace along its border with China. On the 12th an attack near the border left three Chinese dead in Burma and three rockets and many bullets landing on the Chinese side of the border. The government must make a suitable response because the Chinese UN veto is needed to help the government from getting punished by the UN over the Rohingya issue. China is also pressuring the four tribal rebel groups of the Northern Alliance to join peace negotiations with most other tribal rebels and the government are having. China can make it more difficult for the Northern Alliance to access China (for supplies, refuge or whatever). May 21, 2018: In the north (Kachin State) local officials alerted the national government that 2,000 logs seized from smugglers at the end of 2017 were now being loaded on trucks by smugglers and taken to China. Army and police personnel would not stop them and neither would local tribal rebels who control some of the roads the smugglers must use to get the logs to China. Courts had ordered the logs be sold to legitimate buyers but that never happened. Locals were able to provide cell phone photos of the log trucks heading north. Apparently the smugglers had arranged bribes for everyone connected with the theft and illegal export of the logs. Officially China wants to stop the illegal export of Burmese drugs, jade and timber to China. Unofficially only the drugs are opposed. Illegal timber and jade from Burma is tolerated because these are legal commodities (once they enter China). Yet illegal logging is a major grievance for the northern tribes and the government will occasionally pressure China to cooperate in curbing the deforestation and damage to tribal lands. The last time China cracked down was in 2005 but as is common with these things the bribes (to local officials and soldiers as well as border guards to allow the timber to reach customers) eventually had their way and now the illegal timber trade is as big as ever and the tribes are increasing the pressure on the government to act. The situation is worse than in 2005 because now the illegal logging has gone deeper into Burma to find the rosewood and teak that is the most profitable. The illegal logging crews have their own security and will often bribe local soldiers to help out. Sometimes the tribal militias were bribed as well but most of the time the armed tribesmen were not willing to sell out their neighborhood. There are exceptions and this was apparently one of them. May 18, 2018: China increased security on its Burma border in the wake of the recent violence that left three Chinese dead. May 15, 2018: In the north (Shan State) the KIA (Kachin Independence Army) denied having anything to do with the recent attack on the Pangsay casino. The government insisted the attack was a joint operation by the KIA and TNLA (to justify a major crackdown on both groups). TNLA did admit that one reason for the casino attack was to take the army pressure off its KIA allies. In any event, the army increased its pressure on KIA territory. May 12, 2018: In the north (Shan State) TNLA (Tang National Liberation Army) tribal rebels attacked an army base near the Chinese border, leaving 32 dead and 30 wounded. Among the dead were three Chinese there for the casino as well as four soldiers. The purpose of the attack was to shut down an illegal casino operated by the pro-government Pangsay tribal militia. She is Feadship's largest yacht built to date and will now join Oceanco's Jubilee, in addition to Lurssen's Radiant and Ona, as current rank 32 in the Top 100 Yachts list. Known as Project 1007, her naval architecture was contributed by De Voogt and her interior design and exterior styling is by Michael Leach. From a first look her sharp lines, sophisticated silhouette and striking size showcases a Feadship fleet member to be envied. While we look forward to her joining our Top 100 list, it is clear her imposing stature, will boast the largest yacht ever to come of Feadship this year. Fluttering amongst the public domain is the owner's distinguished style and involvement, uniquely appointing their personal co-desiger Brian McCarthy inc. to evoke the owner's personal style sure to make this ocean home a gushing favourite to the industry. While the 110-metre vision remains under wraps, with so much veiled from the public domain, these few initial moments caught reveal a striking balance of style, space and pure Feadship gold. We'll be watching the yard closely for further news of this head turning vessel as we await her official launch, as one of the greatest masterpieces to leave Feadship this year. 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 ... This page no longer exists or may have been moved.If you believe this is a mistake please email Courtesy: Kordsa Global Kordsa, a global player in tire and construction reinforcement and composite technologies based in Turkey, has been listed among the best employers for the third time in Brazil by the Great Place to Work Institute (GPTW). Kordsa has been ranked in the fourth place in Bahia, Brazil. Kordsa Brazil was the only industrial company to be included in the list.Kordsa CEO, Ali Caliskan said, We have been among top-ranked companies for the last three years in this survey conducted by Great Place to Work Institute. This recognition is an output of the steps we take towards becoming a global employer brand. We see our human resources as our greatest asset. While we reinforce life in our 8 facilities throughout 4 continents, our human resources management reinforces more than 4 thousand employees. Our human resources approach has five pillars, inspire, care, develop, thank and appreciate. With this understanding, we encourage our employees to be inspired from each other and inspire each other, care about their own development, and live a balanced, happy life.Great Place to Work is a specialised institute in the field of developing excellent workplace culture and strategic organisational culture focusing on employees. With over 25 years of experience, the institute analyses the communication between employees and employer or executive, the relationship between employees and their work, and the communication between employees and colleagues. One of the most important tools in these analyses is the Trust Index surveys conducted with employees on the corporate culture in terms of credibility, respect, fairness, pride, and team spirit. Another tool is the culture audit which measures HR and management practices. (GK) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India Planet Nine is attributed for the strange looping orbits of some of the space rocks at the outer edge of the solar system, the trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs). Detached Objects Known as detached objects, these bodies are not affected by the gravity of Neptune or any other known planet in the solar system, and appear disconnected from the rest of the solar system as they orbit the sun. The idea is that gravity of the yet-to-be seen Planet Nine could be influencing the orbits of these bodies. Planet Nine A new study presented at the American Astronomical Society in Denver, Colorado, however, offers an alternative explanation for the dynamics of detached objects. It points at gravity of smaller space debris instead. Researchers calculated the orbits of icy objects at the edge of the solar system. They compared these orbits of these objects to the hands of a clock. Some of these orbits, such as those that belong to asteroids, move like the minute hand while the orbits of bigger objects move slowly like the hour hand. Eventually, however, these hands meet. The researchers said that the accumulation of these small scale interactions over many years may be responsible for knocking the objects into their strange orbits. As a result, Sedna's orbit goes from normal to detached due to small-scale interactions. "You see a pileup of the orbits of smaller objects to one side of the sun," said study researcher Jacob Fleisig, an undergraduate student at the University of Colorado at Boulder. "These orbits crash into the bigger body, and what happens is those interactions will change its orbit from an oval shape to a more circular shape." New Theory Did Not Prove Planet Nine Does Not Exist The new theory, however, has its lapses. For one, it failed to account for other phenomena attributed to Planet Nine. A 2016 study published in the Astronomical Journal suggested that the strange tilt of the sun in the solar system is caused by an undiscovered planet 10 times the size of the Earth. Fleisig admitted that the computer model they used failed to provide an explanation for the tilting of the sun's axis relative to the inner planets. Konstantin Batygin, from California Institute of Technology and Planet Nine supporter, said that the model also requires a significant amount of mass in the Kuiper Belt's smaller objects. "[The] detachment of Sedna-type orbits can be explained by any sufficiently strong external gravitational potential, independent of where it comes from," he said. "For this model to work, you must assume a large, hidden reservoir of undetectable mass in the distant Solar System." 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Despite the increasing popularity of 2-in-1s, tablets, and touchscreen laptops, Apple still doesn't want to make a touchscreen version of the MacBook. Why? Let Apple SVP of software Craig Federighi explain. In an interview with Wired, he says Apple still isn't thrilled about the idea of introducing touch displays to its MacBook lineup. Federighi believes that putting a touchscreen on MacBooks is unnecessary because MacBooks are made in a way that the only thing a user is ever going to need are the keyboard and trackpad, and that the ideal way to use a laptop is to rest both palms on its surface not to reach over and touch the screen. Touchscreen MacBooks? Not Ergonomic "We really feel that the ergonomics of using a Mac are that your hands are rested on a surface, and that lifting your arm up to poke a screen is a pretty fatiguing thing to do." Ironically, most critics of the newer MacBook Pro models have argued that the Touch Bar a horizontal OLED strip above the keyboard that displays different buttons depending on what app is open is unnecessary. Not only does it remove the traditional physical function keys, it increases the overall cost of the device as well. Apple's lack of interest in touchscreens is also why there's no touch-based iMac Pro. Federighi also threw some shade at the Microsoft Surface line, calling them as nothing more than "experiments," which once again highlights the company's distaste toward touch-based interfaces for its laptop and desktop lineups. "I don't think we've looked at any of the other guys to date and said, how fast can we get there?" said Federighi. Cross-Platform iOS And Mac Apps Aside from dismissing touchscreens, Federighi also gave a glimpse on how Apple plans to run iOS apps on Macs. That's right soon, users will be able to open iOS apps on their MacBook, and the fact that Apple is speaking openly about this initiative is a clear nod to how it sees the future of apps. But as one can imagine, such a move certainly raises a lot of big questions. How would iOS apps on Mac even work? If Apple is against touch-based Macs, how would a user navigate through an iOS app on their Mac? Is every iOS app included in this initiative? Will the fact that iPhones and Macs run on different chip architectures impact how apps run across both devices? "In a lot of our core APIs, things like Metal, we've done the hard work over the years of making them run well on both Mac and its associated CPUs and GPUs, and on iOS," said Federighi. Would you like to see a MacBook with a touchscreen someday, or is Federighi right when he says touch-based interfaces aren't ergonomic? As always, if you have any thoughts, feel free to sound them off in the comments section below! 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The mirrors of the James Webb Space Telescope are coated with a fine film of vaporized gold to improve reflection of infrared light. Excess Heat Could Damage Sensitive Instruments NASA engineers are also tapping on the properties of gold to redirect excess heat from the sensitive instruments of the telescope. Webb has a structure located behind its primary mirror. It is known as the integrated science instrument module (ISIM) and houses the telescope's four main instruments that will detect light from planets orbiting other stars, distant stars, and galaxies. The unit is like a car's chassis that supports the vehicle's engine and other components. Excess heat could damage the sensitive instruments, so most of the electronics used for providing power and operating the instruments are placed in a compartment below the ISIM where special baffles can direct the heat away. The baffles work by acting as mirrors to reflect infrared radiation away in a specific direction. The gold baffles will direct the heat produced by the instrument electronics away from any cold areas of the infrared telescope and safely into space. "Gold has a very high reflectivity in the infrared spectrum range, so it is ideal for directing heat," said Matthew Stephens, from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. NASA Engineers Reinstalling Gold Baffles As NASA scientists and engineers continue to test the observatory, the gold baffles had to be removed, stored in a clean environment and covered by clear plastic sheets to protect them from contamination. NASA said on Tuesday that engineers are now installing the gold baffles. The space agency said that the engineers need to reinstall the baffles before the telescope's science payload and spacecraft elements are integrated. If the baffles are installed after the integration, Webb's sunshield will be a blockade to the ISIM electronic compartments, which could make reinstalling the baffles more difficult. Premier Observatory Of The Next Decade The James Webb Space Telescope is the scientific successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. Scientists hope that the observatory will shed more light on the history of the universe and the evolution of the solar system. The Webb, touted as the premier observatory of the next decade, is a collaboration of NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency. May 2020 Launch The telescope is set for launch in May 2020 on an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana. Amid mechanical problems, NASA said that it is 70 percent confident it will meet the launch date. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Blumhouse and Universal Studios have released more photos for the upcoming Halloween movie. The horror film will be the 11th installment in the Halloween franchise and will pick up 40 years after the original film's event. Michael Myers Comes Home Blumhouse released a teaser clip on its social media page of the highly-anticipated film on June 6, 2018, to hold fans over until the full trailer is released. The official trailer will air on Friday, June 8. Following the teaser clip, fans were then presented with a look at the main villain Michael Myers' terrifying appearance and the infamous mask that is similar to its predecessor. Jamie Lee Curtis, who played Laurie Strode in the first two films, Halloween H20, and Halloween: Resurrection, will reprise her role as the object of Myers' obsession and sister. Curtis said that this film will bring the new generation into a 40-year-old movie. Nick Castle will also reprise his role as Myers aka The Shape. Halloween 40 Years Later The synopsis for the horror film states that a British documentary crew comes to the United States to visit and interview Myers in prison; however, things go awry when Myers escapes and is once again on the hunt for revenge against his sister. This time, Laurie is prepared to face her brother for a final showdown since she had been awaiting this moment for 40 years. Judy Greer will portray Karen Strode, Laurie's daughter, and Andi Matichak has been confirmed to play Allyson, Karen's daughter, and Laurie's granddaughter. Green stated that the film will touch upon how Laurie's unhealthy obsession with Michael affected her family. "We're being very honest and truthful about that, how it would affect the upbringing of her daughter, who has a lot of conflicts because of her mother's obsession with this incident, and her granddaughter, who's trying to connect," Green stated. The film will also star Will Patton, Virginia Gardner, and Omar J. Dorsey. John Carpenter, who was the director for the first Halloween film, returned to the 2018 film as an executive producer and composer. The film is scheduled to be released on Oct. 19, 2018. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A new research based on genetic data reveals that spending more time studying in school can indeed have a negative effect on people's eyesight. One reason for this, according to researchers, is the reduced exposure to natural daylight. Education And Nearsightedness Nearsightedness, also known as shortsightedness or myopia, is the inability to focus and see things or objects clearly when they are far away. According to the National Eye Institute, nearsightedness affects around 25 percent of the population in the United States. In Britain, it is estimated that up to 40 percent of adults suffer from the condition. Fortunately, nearsightedness is an eye-focusing disorder, not an eye disease. It can be corrected with eyeglasses, contact lenses, or surgery. New Study In the new study published in the BMJ on June 6, researchers from the University of Bristol and the Cardiff University examined genetic data of more than 67,000 individuals between the ages of 40 and 69 years old. The individuals have been a part of UK Biobank, which is a long-term biobank study in the United Kingdom that aimed to investigate the effects of genetics on people's health. Using a statistical method called "mendelian randomization," the researchers looked for genetic variants related to nearsightedness and genetic predisposition to higher educational attainment. Findings The researchers discovered that people with genetic variants associated with years of education were more likely to become nearsighted or myopic. They found that people who went on to study in universities were more likely to develop vision problems than those who left school at the age of 16. While previous studies only showed the existence of a link between education and nearsightedness, researchers say the current study provides a strong evidence for a causal relationship between the two. "This study shows that exposure to more years in education contributes to the rising prevalence of myopia, and highlights a need for further research and discussion about how educational practices might be improved to achieve better outcomes without adversely affecting vision," the researchers concluded. Why Studying Increases Risk Of Becoming Nearsighted? There are a number of reasons why studying increases people's risk of developing myopia, according to the researchers. One of the reasons is that students usually spend most of their time focusing or looking at screens, books, or other objects held close to the eyes. Another reason, according to Dr. Denize Atan, the lead author of the study, is that students are less exposed to natural sunlight because they spend most of their time indoors. In the study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association - Opthalmology, researchers found that spending more time in the great outdoors early in life offers some form of protection against visual problems later in adulthood. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Climate change threatens life on Earth. It may have also killed alien civilizations in energy-intense worlds. Adam Frank, an astrophysicist from the University of Rochester in New York, and colleagues studied how alien civilizations may rise and fall if their planet's limited natural resources are increasingly converted into energy. The study aims to get a 10,000-light-year view of man-made climate change and show how a technologically advanced population and its planet may develop together. Easter Island Inhabitants The researchers used a mathematical model based on the disappearance of a lost civilization on Earth, the former inhabitants of the Easter Island. This people started to colonize the island between 400 and 700 AD and reached the peak of their population believed to be about 10,000 around 12,000 to 1500 AD. The inhabitants, however, depleted their resources by the 18th century and their population dropped to just about 2,000. Frank explained that the die-off has something to do with a concept known as carrying capacity, the maximum number of species that an environment can support. Many studies suggest that the depletion of resources at Easter Island led to the starvation of its inhabitants and terminated the civilization. Frank said that planet Earth's response to civilization building is what climate change is all about. "The laws of physics demand that any young population, building an energy-intensive civilization like ours, is going to have feedback on its planet," he said. The researcher cited the importance of studying the impact of climate change from an astrobiological perspective. Climate change in a cosmic context may provide better insights on what happens to Earth and how humans have to address it. Potential Scenarios For Energy-Intense Civilizations Using a mathematical model, Frank and colleagues found four potential scenarios that may occur for energy-intense civilizations. By thinking planets and civilizations, including alien ones, as a whole, the researchers argued that they can better predict what needs to be done for human civilization to survive. Three of the four trajectories ended in an apocalypse. The remaining one, which involved a path that converted the whole society to sustainable energy sources worked, but this happened only when civilizations acknowledged the damage they did to their planet and responded in the right way. Frank said that this scenario is also the most frightening because regardless that people did the right thing, their population could still collapse if they wait too long. The researchers published their findings in the journal Astrobiology on May 1. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A scientific organization consisting of international vertebrate paleontologists has tried to sway Aguttes from auctioning the unclassified dinosaur skeleton in a letter dated May 17. The France-based auction house, however, was not persuaded and sold the 150-million-year-old dinosaur skeleton for $2.3 million on June 4. The Executive Committee of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, headed by David Polly, said it was concerned about the auction due to ethical repercussions and possible negative impacts to the scientific community. Eric Mickeler, Spain-based member of The European Chamber of Expert-Advisors in Fine Art who oversaw the auction, instead offered the paleontologists a ticket ahead of the public sale and suggested for the organization to buy the controversial skeleton. Scientific Concerns SVP is a non-profit scientific organization that has more than 2,200 members comprised of vertebrate paleontologists worldwide. In the letter, the organization contends that the auction is specifically of substantial concern due to Aguttes's claim that the species has remained unknown to science. Specifically, Aguttes invited possible buyers to an auction of "a new species of carnivorous dinosaur" and an "unknown theropod." SVP argued that comprehensive scientific study is required for Aguttes to make such claims. "Scientific practice demands that conclusions drawn from the fossils should be verifiable: scientists must be able to reexamine, re-measure, and reinterpret them (such reexamination can happen decades or even centuries after their discovery)," SVP's letter reads. Aguttes stated that the fossils, discovered in 2013 in Wyoming by an anonymous group of British paleontologists, dates back to the late Jurassic period. Scientists previously thought that the fossils belonged to allosaurs. In 2016, however, European scientists noticed that the skeletons belonged to a species with more teeth, wider pelvis, and more elongated shoulder blades aside from other differences in the skull bones. Lost To Science An anonymous French buyer purchased the mystery dinosaur skeleton on June 4. According to auctioneer Claude Aguttes, the buyer is willing to present the skeletons to the public. In addition, it would be lent to a museum and scientists would be able to study it. SVP, however, stated that important fossils should be held in public trust. Once specimens are sold into private hands, they are already lost to science. "Even if made accessible to scientists, information contained within privately owned specimens cannot be included in the scientific literature because the availability of the fossil material to other scientists cannot be guaranteed," the letter reads. Ethical Concerns Mickeler reportedly told some media that the buyer has the right to name the supposedly new dinosaur specimen. SVP described this claim as misleading because naming a new species is governed by the rules of the International Code of Nomenclature. "The scientific community considers it unethical to study, name or include in the scientific literature fossil specimens that are privately owned, even if displayed in a public repository," the organization explains in the letter. Finding Fossils May Become A Business Venture SVP recognized that shipment and transport of the fossils from the United States is legally and morally acceptable. However, selling the skeletons for hefty amount could make a precedent among landowners to perceive important discovery as a business venture. Polly explained that people who might stumble on a historical finding in their lands might prefer working with entities that could pay them rather than with scientists whose primary aim is for the advancement of scientific studies. Furthermore, Polly said that similar auctions could become a trend, which in return, could result in thieves stealing scientific collections to sell them. Mystery Dinosaur Might Not Be 'Mysterious' After All Thomas Carr, a vertebrate paleontologist and an associate professor of biology at Carthage College, believed that Aguttes might have tried to get a higher price for the skeleton by claiming that it is an unknown theropod species. He said that the skeleton looked similar to skeletons of Allosaurus that he has seen. On the other hand, Carr said that if indeed, Aguttes's claim about the skeleton belonging to an unknown group of allosaurid theropod is true, then official confirmation should come from peer-reviewed scientific literature. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Researcher on male and female bottlenose dolphins shows that their names play a role in alliances that are formed between males. Scientists aren't sure how dolphins get their names but they develop signature whistle during their first few months of life. These names are used by the bottlenose dolphins to maintain their social networks. Dolphin Names Role In Alliances Research from 1989 shows that female bottlenose dolphins maintain signature whistles or names for at least 12 years in the wild. This shows the importance of names among the dolphin community. Researchers discovered during a 30-year period studying male bottlenose dolphins in Shark Bay, Australia, that male bottlenose dolphins establish long-lasting partnerships that can last decades. In a study published in the journal Current Biology, researchers show that bottlenose dolphins used each other signature whistles to tell each other apart. This allowed the dolphins to recognize which dolphins were in their alliances and which dolphins were rivals in their social networks. The different names allowed dolphins to keep track of their different relationships. At the start of the study, scientists hoped to find out how vocal communication is able to play a role in the coordination of complex social behaviors. They found out that male dolphins used the signature whistles to form and maintain alliances. Researchers found that male bottlenose dolphins that are in alliances use vocal signatures that were different from their individual names. Each male dolphin will still retain their individual names despite being in the group. This shows that their individual titles are more important than the group call. Benefits Of Partnerships Male bottlenose dolphin alliances improve the dolphin's chances of finding and breeding with females. These alliances come in the forms of duos and trios and will sometimes feature larger alliances with other groups of dolphins. This helps the dolphins fulfill their biological role by successfully breeding. The alliances can be so close that the male dolphins will begin to touch each other. They spend a lot of time caressing each other with their pectoral fins. Researchers used drone footage to capture the dolphins swimming holding their fins on top of each other. This type of synchrony, in which dolphins act simultaneously such as swimming together, shows that the dolphins are strengthening their bonds. They do this by touching each other and practicing acts like swimming together. The corresponding author on the study Stephanie King says that synchrony has been linked with oxytocin release in humans. Oxytocin promotes trust and cooperation among people. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Media services specialist Liquid Media Hub is to change its name to LMH and is expanding its senior team. LMH Managing Director Gary Edwards said the rebrand has come about because we strive to make media services simple and uncomplicated for our clients. We think our new company name reflects the plain-speaking approach that is at the heart of what LMH does. The change of name will be effective immediately, and the company has also launched a new web domain, lmh.media. At the same time, Lance Baker joins the company as Business Development Manager, while Paul Mullins has taken up the post of Senior Media Operator. Lance Baker has 25 year in the industry with managerial roles in technical services and technical operations, including for Universal Pictures, Bonded Services, TCB Media Rights and Soho Digital Cinema. Paul Mullins previously worked as a digital coordinator and VT operator at Zodiak Rights, and as a media operator and workflow automation coordinator at Technicolor Media Services. He joins LMH from Vodafone, where he was a content operations specialist, working on Vodafones TV platform. Share this story Landslide threat forces suspension of Guatemala volcano search Guatemala City, June 7 (AFP) Jun 07, 2018 The threat of fresh landslides forced emergency workers Thursday to suspend a search for victims of a major eruption of Guatemala's Fuego volcano, the country's disaster management agency said. Still-hot volcanic material and the threat of heavy rains displacing loose deposits were posing a serious risk to the safety of emergency workers, said agency spokesman David de Leon. To date, 99 people are known to have died in Sunday's major eruption of the volcano, with nearly 200 more still reported as missing. "We should not underestimate the scale of the disaster," International Red Cross chief Francesco Rocca said after visiting the area. "Critical emergency needs are still enormous, and affected communities will need sustained and long-term support," Rocca said, adding that for the worst affected families, recovery would take at least a year. "These people have lost everything -- homes, livelihoods and tragically, loved ones." The White House said the US was sending emergency aid "to help meet food, water and sanitation needs for the affected population." An American military plane has already transported some burn victims to the US for specialized treatment, the US Air Force said. Mexico announced it was sending a team of burn specialists while Chile said it would send equipment to provide an early warning of volcanic eruptions. A team of Cuban doctors resident in Guatemala were providing support in shelters for the displaced. burs/ec/db/sst Purchases made via links on our site may earn us an affiliate commission Louisiana's pre-kindergarten program for children from low-income families would suffer its first ever reduction under the budget that won final approval in the Legislature earlier this week, state Superintendent of Education John White said Thursday. The program is called LA4, enrolls about 16,000 children and offers full-day classes. It was launched in 2001 to better prepare children for kindergarten, and prevent them from starting behind their peers at the outset of school. White, during a meeting with the Superintendents' Advisory Council, said the potential cut, which has gotten little attention, stems from a 24 percent reduction that would target the state Department of Education. He told local superintendents that, for a variety of reasons, LA4 would be reduced because of limitations in making other reductions to his agency. White said the rollback would include the elimination of some seats for students. He told local superintendents the impact would translate into a 10 percent or 20 percent cut to their programs. Gov. John Bel Edwards is expected to call another special session to tackle the state's latest budget problem, this one a $648 million shortfall for state services starting July 1. Again, state aid for public schools will go unchanged for 2018-19 school year Basic state aid for public schools will be frozen for the 10th time in 11 years under legislation that won final approval Thursday in the Loui That means the budget approved earlier this year could be revamped, including LA4, if Edwards and the Legislature can agree on revenue-raising measures. White told local superintendents that he has a hard time envisioning the Legislature "sending a bunch of pre-K kids home." He said most of the department's key staff members are paid with federal dollars, which largely eliminates them as a target to trim department spending. Reduced state aid for students from low-income families to attend private schools at state expense, called vouchers, would be absorbed by the Minimum Foundation Program, which finances public schools statewide. After the meeting, White said he told Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne's office that his department, in a worst case scenario, could absorb about half of the reduction. "I think that would render the services the department offers almost non-existent," he said. Top stories in Baton Rouge in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up "But at a certain point I think it has to go to the programs we operate," White said. "And the only program that we operate that actually ends up saving the state money if you cut it is LA4." He added, "It us unconscionable to think about cutting pre-kindergarten. But it is what this budget does." Senate Finance Committee Chairman Eric LaFleur, D-Ville Platte, who handled the operating budget in the Senate, said White's concerns point up what happens when the two chambers failed to agree on how to close the shortfall. The Senate backed a plan to extend the current, 1 percent sales tax set to expire on June 30 by one-half, in part to avoid education reductions. The House earlier supported extending it by one-third but a second effort to do so just before adjournment on Monday night failed by a wide margin. "This is not the only problem," LaFleur said Thursday of possible LA4 cuts. "There is a series of problems out there." Under the budget, college students for the 2018-19 school year would get 70 percent of their traditional award under the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students, or TOPS. "The Senate was well aware of what was in the budget," LaFleur said. "Clearly they thought half a penny was definitely worth it." Under the latest budget, the state Department of Education's spending plan would be sliced by about $25 million. The state is spending $74 million for LA4 this year, including $34 million in state funds and $40 million in federal aid for the 4-year-olds. Louisiana was a latecomer to offering a state-run pre-kindergarten program when it began 17 years ago. The late Cecil Picard, who was state superintendent at the time and a onetime state senator, played a key role in convincing the Legislature to finance the classes. The official name of the effort is the Cecil J. Picard LA4 Early Childhood Program. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards was among leaders who took part in a hurricane readiness briefing with President Donald Trump and top cabinet officials on Wednesday. One of the most important aspects of disaster preparedness and response is coordination, Edwards said after the meeting. Over the years, Louisiana has had a great working relationship with our federal partners, and it has paid off for the people of Louisiana. I appreciate President Trump and Administrator Long including Louisiana in this video conference, and should disaster strike Louisiana this hurricane season, we will be ready. The Atlantic hurricane season began June 1 and runs through the end of November. Weve had three devastating major hurricanes, Trump said of last year's hurricane season. America has never experienced so many large scale disasters in such a short period of time. +7 'Now is the time' for New Orleanians to prepare, officials say, as hurricane season begins Officials from the New Orleans area and state agencies marked the official start of the 2018 hurricane season Friday by urging residents to be Our entire government leapt into action to coordinate the response," he added. The scoop on state politics in your inbox Get the Louisiana politics insider details once a week from us. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Edwards, a Democrat, was among seven governors to participate via video conferencing. Others who took part included Govs. Rick Scott (R-Florida), Phil Bryant (R-Mississippi), Roy Cooper (D-North Carolina), Greg Abbot (R-Texas), Ricardo Rossello (Puerto Rico) and Kenneth Mapp (U.S. Virgin Islands). Our Views: We hope Louisianas luck continues to hold for the rest of the hurricane season Summer is supposed to be the most carefree time of all, but it doesnt always seem that way for those of us who live along the Gulf Coast, whe Preparedness is everybodys responsibility, FEMA administrator Brock Long said in the briefing, adding that the agency wants to work with state and local partners. Other White House participants included first lady Melania Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, HUD Secretary Ben Carson, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Acting VA Secretary Peter O'Rourke, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Neilsen, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, EPA administrator Scott Pruitt and SBA administrator Linda McMahon. It's a fundamental part of representative government: Politicians are elected to advocate for their constituents, and not their own interests. But in many states, laws and ethics rules allow representatives to advance bills that would benefit their own financial interests, as well. Take Louisiana, where lawmakers only have to recuse themselves if a proposed bill benefits them specifically and no one else, as The Advocate and ProPublica have detailed this week. So, for example, if the owner of a group of nursing homes votes for a bill that would increase profits for his business, but not for other nursing home owners, that would be a conflict of interest. But if the bill increases profit for the entire industry, then its acceptable. +7 Louisiana lawmakers are pushing bills that benefit their own businesses. And its perfectly legal. Louisiana state Rep. Lance Harris, one of the Legislature's most powerful Republicans, has cast himself as a purist when it comes to conflicts Similar language exists in the majority of states, regardless of whether they have full-time, part-time or citizen legislatures. In part-time and citizen legislatures, in which lawmakers are not paid a full salary and often rely on other employment, this means people connected to certain industries or fields are not automatically barred from voting on legislation that might affect them financially. The increasing complexity of public policy at all levels, with intervention into private affairs, makes conflicts of interest almost inevitable for every part-time public official and particularly for a member who must vote on measures affecting the life of every citizen or resident of the state, the Legislative Manual of North Dakota states. This can mean situations that look like conflicts of interest often technically arent, according to the letter of the law. In Alabama, State Sen. William Beasley proposed legislation last year that would exempt prescription medicine from business license taxes, potentially saving pharmacies money. When he is not making laws, Beasley is president of the company that owns Clayton Drug Company and operates a chain of pharmacies. Beasley stands to personally benefit from the legislation, but so do all the other pharmacy owners in Alabama. I'm sponsoring the bill for all retail pharmacists in the state of Alabama," Beasley told al.com, I'm just one little person. I'm one little spoke in the wheel." The scoop on state politics in your inbox Get the Louisiana politics insider details once a week from us. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Louisianas rules are less stringent than those in some other states. In California, for example, a lawmaker has a conflict of interest when a bill might benefit his or her immediate family, or any business or property where he or she has over a $2,000 investment. In such cases, California lawmakers must recuse themselves, meaning they cannot discuss or vote on the matter. Marylands Ethics Guide specifies that a lawmaker cannot benefit from a close economic association with someone, like a lobbyist, who has an interest in a particular piece of legislation passing. Even when a lawmaker doesnt have a conflict of interest according to ethics rules, some states try to prevent even the appearance of a conflict. For example, in Maryland, lawmakers are encouraged to file a disclaimer of conflict to the State Ethics Commission related to their particular occupation. The commission then decides whether the lawmaker should recuse himself or herself. In Colorado, lawmakers are asked to recuse themselves from voting on issues in which their participation would create the appearance of impropriety. In 2015, the Center for Public Integrity and The Post and Courier reported on how South Carolinas ethics laws allowed lawmakers to use campaign accounts, reimbursements from state governments and gifts from interested parties as a personal ATM. The Legislature passed changes to the states ethics laws the following year requiring lawmakers to file financial disclosures and establishing an independent body to oversee compliance. But even before the reforms passed, critics were saying they didnt go far enough. The State newspaper reported that South Caroline state Rep. Jim Merrill was earning money through his public relations company but did not have to disclose who was paying him. In December 2016, a grand jury investigation into corruption in the statehouse indicted Merrill on 30 charges of ethics violations. Merrill was accused of using his company to accept more than $1 million from groups with interests in state legislation. In 2017, he agreed to cooperate with prosecutors as they continued their investigation, pleading guilty to one charge of misconduct in office. By May 2017, four South Carolina lawmakers had been indicted as part of the probe. Decca Muldowney is a research fellow at ProPublica, a nonprofit news organization in New York. The Advocate is a member of ProPublicas Local Reporting Network. State Sen. Norby Chabert wanted to offer a helping hand to his districts truck stop casinos. The number of video poker machines allowed in the casinos is tied to how much gas the attached stations sell. Bridge construction projects in Chaberts hometown of Houma have diverted traffic and hurt gas sales at nearby casinos, limiting the number of video poker machines they can have. Earlier this year, Chabert supported a bill eliminating that link for truck stops more than 10 years old. Without the bridge being constructed, they would have hit every sales trigger that they needed, he said of one such casino. It was at one of the biggest intersections on the east side of Houma, and when you shut down a bridge in bayou country, people go to the next bridge ... and it damn near shut them down, Chabert told his colleagues in a Senate committee meeting. What Chabert, a Republican, left out of the story: His own brother owns a truck stop on the east side of Houma that has been affected by the bridge construction. Chabert acknowledged to The Advocate that his brother, Marty, matches the particulars of the story he told, but so do other truck stop casinos in his district. Marty Chabert earned $1.5 million in income from the truck stop in 2015 and 2016, according to the financial disclosure forms he filed as a member of the state Board of Regents. The Advocate and ProPublica reported Wednesday that lawmakers are free to sponsor, advocate for and vote on legislation that benefits their own financial interests -- so long as it benefits others too. Norby Chaberts situation and others like it show that legislators also can be involved in bills that directly benefit their relatives and professional clients. +7 Louisiana lawmakers are pushing bills that benefit their own businesses. And its perfectly legal. Louisiana state Rep. Lance Harris, one of the Legislature's most powerful Republicans, has cast himself as a purist when it comes to conflicts Moreover, conflicts of interest in the Louisiana Legislature are entirely self-policed, meaning only lawmakers themselves can hold one another accountable for stepping over the line. That hasnt happened in at least 40 years, experts say. Some political watchdogs say the laws should be tightened to ensure legislators are being transparent about their interests. Norby Chabert said he was comfortable advocating for the bill because he did not stand to personally benefit from it. He said he did not discuss the legislation with his brother and said his brother was not a consideration when he voiced his support. Should I recuse myself from a hairdresser bill because my sister was a hairdresser? Should I recuse myself from bills dealing with the restaurant industry because my other sister owned a restaurant? Norby Chabert said, citing examples from his own family. I see no financial gain or loss from their business, so I dont see how taking a position on issues related to their industry would be a conflict for me. Marty Chabert said he did not discuss the bill or any other legislation with Norby and wasnt aware of the legislation until after it was passed. (Gov. John Bel Edwards signed the bill into law last month.) Marty Chabert previously served as a state senator and is now director of the Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinators Office, a post appointed by the governor that pays $104,000 a year. Elliott Stonecipher, a Shreveport pollster, said he thinks any time a legislator acts in a way that could benefit him or herself, or a relative or a client, it should trigger a recusal that discloses the reason. In other words, no wiggle room, he said. Any degree of self-interest should trigger recusal. An attempted crackdown fails More than a decade ago, the state Board of Ethics tried to take a stand against conflicts of interest in the Legislature, specifically cases where lawmakers were advocating for relatives. In 2007, the board found that former New Orleans state Reps. Jeff Arnold, a Democrat, and Alex Heaton, a Republican, violated conflict-of-interest laws for strenuously fighting bills that would have eliminated the jobs of Heatons brother and Arnolds father, who were Orleans Parish tax assessors. But the two lawmakers claimed that the Ethics Board overstepped its powers, and they argued that the Louisiana Constitution protects lawmakers from being punished by the Ethics Board for participating in the legislative process. The Louisiana 1st Circuit Court of Appeal agreed. In the end, it was the board that got scolded -- not the lawmakers. The decision effectively prevented the Board of Ethics from serving as a watchdog for legislative conflicts of interest -- leaving it to lawmakers to penalize other lawmakers for such conflicts. If someone outside of the Legislature identifies a violation, it can be considered only if another member of the Legislature decides to take it up. Dealing with entanglements is a tricky subject among state legislatures, many of them made up of part-time lawmakers who maintain full-time jobs. In Louisiana, the same rules apply to legislators voting on bills involving family members as do to their own interests -- namely, lawmakers are allowed to vote on bills as long as they or relatives dont benefit more than others in the same industry. In California, by contrast, a recusal would be triggered when a lawmaker, or immediate family member, might benefit from a bill affecting a business where they have at least a $2,000 investment. Understanding how legislators in many states can push bills theyd profit from It's a fundamental part of representative government: Politicians are elected to advocate for their constituents, and not their own interests. In some cases, the conflict doesnt present itself until after votes are cast. State Sen. Gary Smith, D-Norco, was one of five legislators who sat on a task force that shaped proposed legislation overhauling Louisianas riverboat casino and gaming industry. He also chaired the Senate Judiciary B Committee, which considered and largely approved a slate of bills to relax gambling laws in Louisiana. Smith voted in favor of two bills that were strongly backed by DiamondJacks Casino and Hotel. He co-sponsored one, which passed the Legislature, that will allow the states 15 riverboat casinos to move onshore and operate as traditional land-based casinos, with more room for games. The other, which failed, would have allowed DiamondJacks casino to relocate 300 miles south from Bossier City to Tangipahoa Parish. Nine days after Smith cast his vote on the Senate floor to relocate DiamondJacks, the lobbying firm Capitol Partners hired Smiths wife, Katherine, to join its team representing the casino, according to the states lobbyist registry. Smith said he became aware of his wifes job representing DiamondJacks only when he was questioned about it by a reporter. She has been a lobbyist for longer than I have known her, Smith said. We dont discuss her clients and she has never lobbied me. He added that his wifes relationship with the casino would not have influenced his decision because hes consistently supported gambling interests, a contention supported by his voting record. Katherine Smith, who has been a lobbyist since 2004, said she never talks to her husband about the bills shes working on. The Smiths married in 2009. There is no conflict, she said. I would never ask him to do anything. Its not legal. Jesse McCormick, a managing partner of Capitol Partners, said he started discussions with Katherine Smith about hiring her while the bill was pending in the Senate but after it had cleared her husbands committee. We work on a lot of things together; shes a trusted companion and shes a really hard worker, McCormick said of Smith. Earlier this year, another legislator took a different path when faced with a vote that could conflict with his wifes future employment. Rep. Tanner Magee, a Houma Republican, recused himself from a medical marijuana bill because his wife had been contacted about doing part-time bookkeeping for a company contracted to grow the plant. You just dont want to give the appearance of impropriety, Magee said. I dont want to do anything that looks like its affecting me personally. When a day job collides with writing laws The scoop on state politics in your inbox Get the Louisiana politics insider details once a week from us. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Several lawmakers in the Legislature work day jobs as attorneys, which creates another avenue in which different interests can collide. Lawmakers have distinct views on what constitutes a conflict. This year, for example, Rep. Stephen Dwight, a Lake Charles Republican who represents a local sheriffs office, recused himself from a vote that could increase sheriff salaries 7 percent across the state. Dwight said he didnt think he was legally required to abstain but opted to sit out from the vote out of an abundance of caution, after discussing the matter with staff. +5 Louisiana legislators earn big money from government agencies but some kept secret When the Louisiana Legislature isnt in session in Baton Rouge, state Sen. Danny Martiny spends his days in his small law office 80 miles away defending law enforcement agencies. Meanwhile, Sens. Rick Ward, R-Port Allen, and Danny Martiny, R-Metairie, who are also attorneys representing local sheriffs, did not. They voted in favor of the bill, which passed. Ward said the perception of a conflict didnt occur to him at the time, because the bill moved quickly through the chamber and was not controversial. In the Senate, only one person voted against it. Im an independent contractor for the sheriff, so if they do or dont like the way I vote, they could no longer hire me, but I never thought of it as a conflict, he said. I do try to keep as clear of a line as possible, so if I didnt do that here, Im sorry about it. Martiny did not respond to requests for comment. Another attorney, state Rep. Katrina Jackson, recused herself from voting on one bill that pertained to her client during the regular session, while sponsoring a similar bill that passed and was signed into law by the governor. The two pieces of legislation were frequently referred to as companion bills with the same group of backers. Jackson, a Monroe Democrat, has represented physicians under investigation by the state medical board, including Dr. Greg Stephens, an Arkansas-based doctor who was disciplined by the board.. At the Capitol, she has worked to change the way doctors accused of misconduct are investigated. Jackson said she was moved to act by doctors who had lost their licenses. She said they werent getting a fair shake under current board rules. Jacksons bill will prevent the boards executive director from serving as the lead investigator into allegations against doctors, to make the investigations independent from the board and its staff. It also will change the boards composition, by adding three members -- one consumer member and two additional doctors to add more insights to the process. And the bill will prohibit board employees from initiating investigations of doctors. Instead, they will have to stem from outside complaints, law enforcement reports or a two-thirds vote of the board. In a House committee, state Rep. Robert Johnson, D-Marksville, said he had reservations about the motivations behind Jacksons bill, which passed the Legislature and is awaiting the governors signature. Is there a reason for these policy changes? I mean, whats going on? Johnson asked Dr. Vincent Culotta, the executive director of the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners. Culotta, who was testifying against the bill, pointed the finger elsewhere, saying, I think youd have to ask the makers and the people who push these bills. Im worried theres a clash of personalities, and Im worried were changing policy as a result of it and its concerning me, Johnson said. In April, Jackson told an Advocate reporter that she didnt think her work with Stephens presented a conflict. She said she had no plans to recuse herself because she received no money from the board. When the companion bill came before her in a House health committee, however, she did recuse herself, saying she did so on the advice of staff. She didnt abstain from the debate entirely: Taking up her role as Stephens lawyer, she asked her colleagues to limit debate about his case. I have a client that is testifying before this committee which I have a monetary interest in his case, Jackson said as she recused herself from the committee vote. And of course, because hes my client I would ask that not much more be discussed regarding his ongoing case before the board. Jackson said in an interview that she recused herself because Stephens was testifying and because he had written part of the bill, which included a provision that could have applied retroactively to his own case. But despite that, Jackson took an active role in the debate, and when the committee chairman had to leave the room, she presided over part of the hearing. Stephens and a member of his family also gave emotional testimony about the unfair treatment he received from the board. When a member of the board responded by reading aloud some of the accusations against the doctor, Jackson stopped him, saying it was unnecessary because committee members already had access to his records. Legislature considers sweeping changes to investigations of doctor misconduct Legislation that would carve out new protections for doctors accused of wrongdoing is swiftly moving through the State Capitol, despite raisin Records show that Stephens, a psychiatrist, performed a minor procedure on a patient without proper documentation. Stephens also was accused of leaving pre-signed prescription pads unattended and prescribing medicine to family members without adequate documentation. Jackson said her own bill, which passed the Legislature, wouldnt affect Stephens, so there was no conflict. My bill applies prospectively only and applies only to future cases, she said. Though he was against the original version of Jacksons bill, Culotta, the state medical examiner, said he is comfortable with the version that passed. She did a good job at hammering out a compromise, Culotta said. Johnson, who raised the concerns about the pair of doctor bills, said he didnt have a problem with the fact that Jacksons bill was prompted by her clients concerns. We all bring bills based on our life experience, he said. Lawyers bring bills that affect lawyers; doctors bring bills that affect doctors. And as far as bills that affect clients? Thats her personal decision, Johnson said. I dont have a problem with it. Pearson Cross, a political science professor and associate dean at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, acknowledged that it may be difficult to spell out in law exactly where legislators should draw the line when it comes to conflicts of interest. But he said in the absence of legal clarity, lawmakers should govern themselves with common sense. No law can substitute for good judgment in the end, he said. But, then again, we could probably be doing better than we are now. Advocate staff writer Elizabeth Crisp contributed to this report. ProPublica is teaming up with The Advocate to explore conflicts of interest in the Louisiana Legislature this year. What should we investigate? Email rallen@theadvocate.com. Rep. Lance Harris, R-Alexandria, left, and Speaker of the House Rep. Taylor Barras, R-New Iberia, right, chat while the House is in recess after rejecting the Senate amendments to send HB1, the budget bill, to conference committee on the final day of the Special Legislative Session June 4, 2018, in Baton Rouge, La. Louisiana Rep. Bob Hensgens, R-Abbeville, (AP Photo/Melinda Deslatte) sponsored a bill in 2018 that would extend a moratorium on assisted living facilities that offer nursing care, which would compete with nursing homes like the one he runs. Its not often that a state like California takes its cues from the Deep South. So it was a little unexpected to see the Golden State emulate Louisiana and ditch party primaries a few years ago, and instead open its elections to all comers, with the top two meeting in a runoff regardless of affiliation. The idea behind the reform, backed by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, was to change a system that tended to favor committed ideologues on both sides, to give independent voters a voice and to ultimately help more moderate candidates from both parties get elected. Did they really think it would be that simple? Bless their hearts. In a vacuum, yes, the so-called jungle primary system can give a leg up to candidates who attract support from Democrats, Republicans and Independents. But depending on who runs, it can also give one or both extremes an edge. The most important variable is how many ways a particular segment of the vote is split, as California strategists quickly learned this year. With Democratic interest peaking in many congressional districts, party leaders feared a counterintuitive possibility: that the vote could be divvied up among too many choices, allowing two Republicans to claim both runoff spots in districts that might otherwise go Democratic. National Democrats intervened in some cases in order to boost their preferred candidates, a pragmatic but controversial move. Thats happened here too. In 1996, when Republicans hoped to claim their first U.S. Senate seat since Reconstruction, they pushed for conservative voters to consolidate behind Woody Jenkins, the most extreme of the many Republicans running but also the highest polling. The idea was to keep the fields two high-profile Democrats, Mary Landrieu and Richard Ieyoub, from claiming both runoff spots, and it worked to an extent. Jenkins made it into the runoff against Landrieu but lost in a squeaker, a result that suggests one of the more mainstream Republicans might have ended Landrieus long Senate career before it ever started. Theres a variation on the theme in almost every election, a story about how the unusual voting system shaped the outcome. One interesting one is that, in runoffs featuring two members of a single party, members of the other party become the swing voters and tend to elect the less ideological choice. So in those cases, the thinking behind Californias change bears out. There wont be many opportunities to test that particular premise in California this fall. Despite some pre-election angst, Democrats mostly emerged from Tuesdays primaries with candidates in the second round. And strategists there probably figured out what their Louisiana counterparts have long known: Mastering the open primary requires multi-dimensional thinking. Spain's King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia will travel this month to the United States, where they are scheduled to visit New Orleans, Texas and the White House. Authorities said in a statement Thursday that the royal couple will begin their trip on June 14. Both New Orleans and San Antonio are celebrating the 300th anniversaries and both have close historical ties with Spain. Their stop in New Orleans will include a welcoming ceremony at Gallier Hall on Friday, June 15, at 11:35 a.m. Later in the day, the royal couple will visit the Cabildo and St. Louis Cathedral, according to Mayor LaToya Cantrell's office. On Saturday, the king and queen will go to the New Orleans Museum of Art at 11 a.m. for cultural performances. On June 19 the royals will be in Washington, where they will be received by President Donald Trump and Melania Trump. A statement said the foreign minister of Spain's new Socialist government, Josep Borrell, will also be on the trip. It gave no further details. A construction worker from Slidell was working on the future site of Patio 44 restaurant in Gulfport, Mississippi, on Saturday when he fell from a scissor lift. While initial reports stated the man, later identified as Willie Castaing, merely broke an ankle, his family said his injuries were much worse. Amy Castaing, Willie's wife, said he fell 15 feet and was actually in and out of consciousness because of the pain. This story is from The (Biloxi) Sun Herald. For the original version, click here. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up A GoFundMe account has been started by his wife, Amy, to help with hospital expenses had already raised more than $7,000 in one day. Willie Castaing was taken to Memorial Hospital in Gulfport, where they learned his left ankle had separated completely from the foot. Additionally, he broke his right ankle on the fall as well as broke his right shin in three places, an elbow and three vertebrates. Amy Castaing said her husband underwent a third surgery Wednesday morning to clean out the ankle in an effort to battle infection. He had two previous surgeries to insert pins to try and stabilize the injury. "He's a little in and out emotionally right now because he's not one to lay in bed," Amy said of her husband, a 45-year-old father of three daughters. "He's always one to help out, so this is difficult. "(The doctors) said it's going to be a very, very long road." His wife said Willie could be in the hospital for a month or longer due to surgeries and rehabilitation. Fire Chief Mike Beyerstedt said Saturday people heard a loud crashing noise and contacted officials. Firefighters responded and learned part of the building had collapsed, hitting the scissor lift Willie was operating. A detective on Wednesday revealed new details about an investigation that could undermine the case against three Marines and a Tulane University graduate accused of rape. One of the two women who accused the men of raping her texted her roommate to say everything was fine on the night of the alleged assaults at a home near Tulane Universitys Uptown campus, New Orleans Police Detective Anya Coleman testified. The second accuser declined to undergo a sexual assault examination, also known as a rape kit, Coleman added. Coleman was the sole witness at a preliminary hearing held before Criminal District Court Magistrate Judge Harry Cantrell. Defense attorneys said her testimony should tip the scales as District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro decides whether to bring charges in the case. U.S. Marine Corps members Alexander Davenport, Antonio Landrum and Jared Anderson, who are based at Federal City in Algiers, are accused of rape, as is recent Tulane graduate Matthew Farrell. Theres no probable cause in this case, said defense attorney Robert Toale, who represents Farrell. Weve got inconsistent statements. Weve got a vague timeline. We dont have a rape kit. Theres just not enough there. Cantrell deferred making a decision on whether to find probable cause in the case until a June 18 hearing. Assistant District Attorney Payal Patel said there was sufficient evidence for police to have booked each of the men. She gave no indication whether her office will seek formal charges in the case, however. All four men are free on bail; three attended the hearing. As Coleman testified, she laid out a complicated interaction between two women and four men which started at the Boot, a popular student bar near Tulanes campus. At times, even the detective needed to remind herself which man was accused of which crime. Both women said they had been drinking throughout the day on April 14 before they went to the bar, Coleman said. The women then took Landrum back to a residence in the 6100 block of South Claiborne Avenue, according to police. One of the women lived at the residence with a roommate who is only a witness in the case. The other accuser was visiting the residence. Landrum acknowledges having sex with both accusers, which he said was consensual. Police booked him on a count of third-degree rape for having sex with the visitor, who they believe based on surveillance footage from the bar was too impaired to give consent. Landrum then called the three other men over to the house, police believe. The woman who lived in the residence told police that another suspect, Davenport, forced his penis into her mouth and continued despite her request for him to stop. She said that Farrell also forced himself on her in an aggressive manner. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Yet defense attorneys seized on the timeline from the night. According to Coleman, the woman who lived at the house said she had consensual sex with Anderson in a bathroom after Davenport and Farrell had raped her. She couldnt have been too traumatized by this, said Craig Mordock, who represents Davenport. I would have to say no, Coleman replied. The resident's roommate noticed at one point in the night that the resident and the guest were having sex in different rooms. The woman sensed that something was wrong and texted her roommate, according to Coleman. That was when the resident texted back to say that everything was fine, according to Coleman. In relation to the second accuser, Landrum told police that he saw Davenport and Farrell having sex with her. Anderson also acknowledged having sex with the woman, police said. That woman told police that she vaguely remembered several males "violently vaginally and orally penetrating her." Davenport and Farrell were booked on two counts of first-degree rape for allegedly attacking both women. Anderson was booked on one count of first-degree rape, for allegedly raping the guest. Louisiana law allows authorities to bring a first-degree rape charge when two or more offenders participate in the act. The sentence is automatic life imprisonment. Coleman said that the next morning, the three Marines walked with the resident of the house to a PJs Coffee Shop on the Tulane campus. The woman told police that she held hands with Anderson on her way to the shop. My client walked hand in hand after these events with, allegedly, one of the victims (and) with two of his fellow Marines, and then they went back to the base, said defense attorney Roger Jordan. After the fact, hours later, somebody decides that consent wasnt given. Coleman said she had pressed the woman on why she went to have coffee with the men. "She said she didnt get it; it wasnt making any sense to her. She had not 'processed' it, was her exact word," Coleman said. At some point both women went to police and the hospital. The Claiborne Avenue houses resident underwent a sexual assault examination and a toxicology test. The hospital discarded the blood draw by mistake, Coleman said. The rape kit results have yet to come back. The second accuser declined to have her blood drawn or to undergo an examination, according to Coleman. The detective said she may have been tired after hours of waiting for a sexual assault nurse examiner. I dont think she understood the severity of it, Coleman said. Two men who spent decades in prison before their murder convictions were dismissed can proceed with lawsuits against the Orleans Parish District Attorneys Office, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo made her decision minutes after hearing courtroom arguments from the DAs Office, which sought to have lawsuits from Robert Jones and Jerome Morgan dismissed on the grounds that they were filed too late. Judges have ruled that both men were wrongfully convicted, and the new lawsuits allege their civil rights were violated by prosecutors. Wednesday's ruling, which hinged on a narrow legal question, means that lawyers for Jones and Morgan can proceed to the discovery phase of their lawsuits, where they can take depositions from the prosecutors on the two men's original cases. Any trials on the new suits could still be months or years away, however. Prosecutors argued that both men should have filed suit against the DA's Office within a year of the time their convictions were vacated. Attorneys for Jones and Morgan said that if that were the case, they would have been forced to put themselves in physical jeopardy to pursue their rights. That would force plaintiffs like Mr. Jones to bring a (lawsuit) against the same office that is at that time deciding whether to send them back to jail. And in that sense, it is not a choice, said attorney Erin Monju, who represents Jones. Jones and Morgan said the one-year clock started when the DA dropped the cases against them. Milazzo sided with their interpretation of the law. Taken together, the lawsuits represent a serious financial threat to the District Attorneys Office. In 2011, the office narrowly avoided having to make a $14 million payout to John Thompson, who spent 14 years on death row before his conviction was tossed out. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that there was not enough evidence that the local prosecutors had engaged in a pattern of misconduct. In both of the civil lawsuits pending in Milazzos courtroom, attorneys for the plaintiffs have argued that prosecutors under former District Attorney Harry Connick Sr. regularly failed to turn over evidence that could have exonerated defendants. +2 Freed Angola lifer Robert Jones returns to Orleans courthouse, this time to help others Robert Jones stood outside an Orleans Parish criminal courtroom one day last month in a dark suit and an ID badge as he huddled with the famil Although their cases are proceeding separately, Jones and Morgan could try to join them together at a later date to make a more powerful case about systematic misconduct at the DA's Office. Jones alleges that prosecutors steamrolled over evidence that another man with the same last name, Lester Jones, actually committed the 1992 killing of British tourist Julie Stott and a related crime spree. An appeals court vacated Robert Jones' conviction on one of the crimes in 2014. He was released the next year after 23 years in prison. DA Leon Cannizzaro dropped his bid to retry Jones in 2017. Morgan says that police coerced two youths into pinning the 1993 killing of a 16-year-old boy in a Gentilly ballroom on him, and that prosecutors failed to turn over other evidence that could have been favorable to him. After Morgan spent 20 years in prison, a state judge vacated his conviction in 2014, and the DA gave up on the case in 2016. Criminal District Court Judge Tracey Flemings-Davillier ruled last year that Morgan was not just wrongfully convicted. She found that he was also factually innocent of the crime for which he was convicted a higher bar that made him eligible for money from the state's Innocence Compensation Fund. Flemings-Davillier ordered that Morgan be paid $25,000 a year for 10 years for his wrongful incarceration. In August, the judge awarded him another $21,500 to compensate him for loss of life opportunities. Morgan said he intends to use that money to pursue a career as a barber. Editor's Note: This article was updated on June 7, 2018 to correct details about Robert Jones's original conviction. A jury convicted a New Orleans police officer of malfeasance Wednesday for using a department database to look up a romantic rivals address. The six-person jury convicted Officer Carolyn Dalton, 50, after more than three hours of deliberation, according to the office of Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro. Dalton faces a maximum five-year sentence at a June 22 hearing before Criminal District Court Judge Byron C. Williams. She was free on a recognizance bond on Thursday. Authorities said that Dalton used her cruisers mobile data terminal to look up the womans address on Jan. 7, 2013. Dalton then proceeded to travel to the womans home in Chalmette and threaten to get her if she didnt end a relationship with Daltons boyfriend, according to the St. Bernard Parish Sheriffs Office. Authorities in St. Bernard declined to charge Dalton for her actions there. But internal investigators at the NOPD concluded that Dalton not only broke internal department rules, she also broke the law by using the terminal for personal reasons. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up I could not determine a reason for her to run her name, Lt. Arlen Barnes said on Tuesday. Defense attorneys Marcus DeLarge and John Fuller argued during the two-day trial that either someone else had used the computer terminal to access the other womans address, or that what Dalton did was not a crime. The state of Louisiana wont be able to prove that it was Carolyn Dalton who physically accessed that computer. They wont be able to tell you where that vehicle was when it was accessed, DeLarge said in his opening statement. This is a matter of, maybe, a departmental issue that should have been handled internally. Assistant District Attorneys Angad Ghai and Bette Solomon said it was implausible that someone else used Daltons computer to look up the same woman that she harassed in Chalmette. A police department spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the current status of Dalton, a 20-year veteran who was placed on an administrative assignment at the time of the incident. A state grand jury in New Orleans handed up murder charges Thursday against a pair of men accused of separate high-profile killings on St. Charles Avenue this year. Garrett Ward, 25, of Baton Rouge, was charged in the fatal beating on Jan. 6 of 60-year-old Arnold Red Jackson. Eddie Dingle, 21, of Gretna, was charged with fatally shooting 29-year-old Maurice Williams on Feb. 13, Mardi Gras afternoon, while a parade rolled nearby. Both men face mandatory life imprisonment if convicted as charged. Both have been out on bail following their arrests. Wards bail had been set at $250,000 and Dingles at $100,000. But Criminal District Court Judge Robin Pittman increased their bail to $1 million each after the indictments were read Thursday. Pittman also issued new warrants calling for their arrests. In Wards case, documents that cite several eyewitness allege that a noticeably drunk and agitated Ward punched and kicked Jackson after 1 a.m. in the 2000 block of St. Charles Avenue for "no apparent reason." Officers arrested Ward on an elevated parking lot next to a nearby restaurant, booking him on a count of battery. That count was upgraded to murder after Jackson died from his injuries Jan. 18. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up By all indications, Jackson had been casually walking down the street when he was attacked, according to court documents. Wards attorney, Lindsey Williams, objected to the bail increase Thursday. Williams said Ward had no prior criminal record and has made all his court appearances after his parents received a loan to bail him out. Pittman turned him down, though she said she'd entertain a bail reduction request at a later date. Dingle has claimed he was defending himself and his family when he shot Williams during a dispute on the St. Charles Avenue parade route. But police said evidence they collected doesnt support his version of events. Dingle fled the scene but surrendered several days later. Attorney Lionel "Lon" Burns has been representing Dingle, but last month the state Supreme Court handed Burns a one-year suspension from practicing law over an unrelated matter. It's not clear who represents Dingle now. At the time of their arrests, Ward was working as a real estate agent and Dingle was enrolled at Louisiana Tech. Staff writer Matt Sledge contributed to this report. Ganges Part 14: Shocking Conclusion I climbed up on a large flat boulder figuring it to be the safest vantage point and took a position directly across from where the river was gushing from the... Ganges Part 11: The Last Leg I awoke at 4:30 a.m. with a terrible pain in my stomach. When I got up to go to the bathroom, I realized my back hurt worse than my stomach.... You may or may not be aware that Netflix's Queer Eye guys landed in the Australian town of Yass (how good!?) They're performing magic for the locals. They gave a local man a makeover and upgraded a local bistro. For helping improve Yass for the better, the town's Mayor, Rowena Abbey, crowned the gang official Yass Queens in a mini-ceremony that Tan said made him feel like he was in Narnia! Lol!! Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Masahiko Takekoshi (The Japan News/ANN) Tokyo Thu, June 7, 2018 07:41 1226 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e7fc0c2 2 Opinion #China,#NorthKorea,#Taiwan,#PeaceTalks,#diplomacy Free While based in Beijing, I observed China for nearly four years, from the first half of President Xi Jinpings first term until the time his second term got into full gear. Setting aside the concentration of power in Xis hands, which has been conducted at a surprisingly accelerated pace, I observed three changes. Wearing sanitary masks, which became essential for Beijingers when going out, many citizens using their smartphones took photos of a blue sky when one temporarily appeared. This was not a laughing matter because air pollution had become very serious in the capital. But the air condition has remarkably improved now, apparently because regulations have been imposed even on firecrackers a necessity for celebrations and smoke from broiled meat restaurants. Local daily life has also improved in terms of convenience. Payments using mobile devices and bike-sharing have spread all over the country in a very short period, and China has now converted itself into a cashless society in which notes and coins are rejected even when buying roasted sweet potatoes at street stalls. It is tremendous how fast China has been developing information technology while at the same time reinforcing the governments control over society. The most dramatic change is how China has responded one of its neighbors North Korea. After the inauguration of the Xi administration, China-North Korea relations soured to the worst level ever, because Kim Jong-un, chairman of the Workers Party of Korea, continued and even accelerated his countrys nuclear and missile development. Experts said China should handle the bilateral relations on a case-by-case basis based on its national interests, and a government source described Beijings special ties with Pyongyang as no longer an asset for China, but just a debt now. Even with strict control on free speech, the Chinese public harshly criticized this hereditary leader by dubbing him the third-generation fatty of the Kim family, a description that was left untouched by censors. Having said that, Kims visit to China in late March ahead of a planned summit meeting between the United States and North Korea helped the two neighbors mend their ties in a way that is almost hard to believe. Previously, Chinese authorities had never allowed Kim to travel to Beijing aboard an exclusive train for the leader, citing security concerns and extensive negative impacts on the life of the people. However, Kim was allowed to do so for his March visit, and when returning home he filled his train cars with food and other goods. On the internet, North Korea became a term for which users were not allowed to search. North Korea had repeated provocations by conducting nuclear tests and test-firing ballistic missiles in coincidence with international conferences hosted by China, in which Xi wished to take pride. It is easy to imagine how frustrated Xi must have been because the president lost face over and over at a time when he was improving his domestic influence. However, Xis recent words and deeds indicate that the president has begun giving backing to North Korea, or even speaking on behalf of its neighbor. China is apparently considering various options, such as once again using North Korea as a bargaining chip in relations with the United States, which have become more conflict-prone. Or Beijing may be mulling making itself more committed to resolving Korean Peninsula issues, an area in which efforts have been led by Washington, Seoul and Pyongyang. In any case, something seems to be hidden behind the smiling face that Xi is showing Kim. The Communist Party of China has reinforced its control over the government and military, under which Xi has gained stronger leadership and concentrated power to such an extent that his administration is now even likened to a wartime regime. There is a view that his main focus is on reunification with Taiwan. It is difficult for China to respond to North Korea while at the same time reunifying with Taiwan. Historically speaking, Beijing regarded unification with Taiwan as the most important strategic goal just after the founding of the nation, but the goal became more distant as the country dedicated much of its focus to intervening in the Korean War. It was difficult to face two-front operations and still remains so today, an observer said. If the situations surrounding the Korean Peninsula become stable, it would help [China] focus on the Taiwan issue. While diplomatic posturing continues between the United States and North Korea, a real search will continue for a way to declare an official end of the Korean War and to establish a scheme to bring peace to the peninsula. For Xi, the planned summit meeting undoubtedly seems to be a chance in a million. It would be no wonder if the president is setting his sights far beyond that meeting on unifying China and Taiwan. From The Yomiuri Shimbun May 27, 2018 Topics : This article appeared on The Japan News newspaper website, which is a member of Asia News Network and a media partner of The Jakarta Post New US research has found that quitting smoking can substantially reduce the risk of lung cancer within five years, although it also warns that ex-smokers still have a greater risk of the disease even years later. Carried out by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, US, the study used data taken from the landmark Framingham Heart Study, which records the health information of residents in Framingham, Massachusetts, to look at high blood pressure and high cholesterol as key risk factors for cardiovascular disease, as well as tracking cancer outcomes. The Framingham study is also unique because it asked people about their smoking every two to four years, therefore looking at any increases or decreases in smoking over time. For the new study, the researchers looked at data from 8,907 participants who had been followed for 25 to 34 years. Of the 284 lung cancers which were diagnosed during this time, nearly 93% occurred among heavy smokers, defined as those who had smoked at least a pack of cigarettes a day for 21 years or more. However, the team also found that former heavy smokers showed a 39% reduction in their risk of developing lung cancer just five years after quitting, when compared to current smokers. Read also: No need for chemo in many breast and lung cancers, major studies show This risk also continued to fall as the years passed. If you smoke, now is a great time to quit, said first author Hilary Tindle. The fact that lung cancer risk drops relatively quickly after quitting smoking, compared to continuing smoking, gives new motivation, she said. The researchers also cautioned however, that four of 10 cancers in heavy smokers occurred more than 15 years after they quit, and ex-smokers still had a three-fold higher risk of lung cancer than those who had never smoked even 25 years after quitting. While the importance of smoking cessation cannot be overstated, former heavy smokers need to realise 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. The results can be found published online in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Huawei has denied collecting data from Facebook users after the social media giant confirmed that the Chinese phone maker deemed a national security threat by the US was among companies given access to user information. Huawei was able to access Facebook data to get the leading social network to perform on its smartphones, the California-based company said. "Facebook along with many other US tech companies have worked with them and other Chinese manufacturers to integrate their services onto these phones," Facebook mobile partnerships leader Francisco Varela said in a statement on Tuesday. "Given the interest from Congress, we wanted to make clear that all the information from these integrations with Huawei was stored on the device, not on Huawei's servers." Before now-ubiquitous apps standardised the social media experience on smartphones, some 60 device makers including Amazon, Apple and Blackberry worked with Facebook to adapt interfaces for its website to their own phones, the social network said. Facebook, which has been blocked in China since 2009, also had data-access deals with Chinese companies Lenovo, OPPO and TCL, according to Varela. "Facebook's integrations with Huawei, Lenovo, OPPO and TCL were controlled from the get-go," Varela said. Huawei said its cooperation with Facebook was to improve user services and denied collecting or storing user data. "Like all leading smartphone providers, Huawei worked with Facebook to make Facebook's services more convenient for users," Huawei told AFP, adding that it "has never collected or stored any Facebook user data". Huawei has long disputed any links to the Chinese government, noting that its infrastructure and computing products are used in 170 countries. "Concerns about Huawei aren't new," US Senator Mark Warner, vice chairman of the senate select committee on intelligence, said Tuesday. "I look forward to learning more about how Facebook ensured that information about their users was not sent to Chinese servers." Contracts with phone makers placed tight limits on what could be done with data, and "approved experiences" were reviewed by engineers and managers before being deployed, according to the social network. Facebook said it does not know of any privacy abuse by phone makers who years ago were able to gain access to personal data on users and their friends. Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she would not comment on cooperation between companies because she was unaware of the details. "But I hope that the US can provide a fair, transparent, open and friendly environment for the investments and business activities of Chinese companies," Hua told a regular press briefing in Beijing on Wednesday. Read also: Huawei, Samsung neck and neck in foldable smartphone race - Done with deals - Facebook is winding up the interface arrangements with device makers as the company's smartphone apps now dominate the service. The integration partnership with Huawei will terminate by the end of this week, according to the social network. Facebook said it "disagreed" with the conclusions of a New York Times report that found that the device makers could access information on users' friends without their explicit consent. But the report raised concerns that massive databases on users and their friends -- including personal data and photographs -- could be in the hands of device makers. Huawei maintains that its products "meet the highest standards of security, privacy and engineering in every country we operate" and that "no government has ever asked us to compromise the security or integrity of any of our networks or devices". The social network came under attack early this year over British political consultant Cambridge Analytica's harvesting of personal data on 87 million Facebook users and their friends. Cambridge Analytica obtained the data without Facebook's permission and used it to help the election campaign of US President Donald Trump. In April, Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg apologized in Congress over the Cambridge Analytica fiasco, amid rising calls for more regulation of the company. After the lights dimmed and the audience fell silent in the darkness, a female dancer appeared and walked slowly from one corner of the stage to the opposite corner accompanied by scary background music reminiscent of horror films. Her steps followed X-shaped shining white lines on the floor. Minutes later, three other dancers entered the stage. Like her, they slowly walked following the lines. Clad in grey outfits, the four dancers kept walking around the stage. Their expressions implied that they did not know each other. When the music switched to something resembling a warning signal, they increased their walking speed and then ran around the stage in confusion. As the X-shaped white lines disappeared, they stopped moving. They then danced while exploring every corner of the stage. Sometimes they danced together. Sometimes they danced on their own. One dancer displayed ballet moves such as spinning or rotating, while other dancers performed contemporary, jazz and hip hop dances. Each of them expressed their innermost emotions in different moves. Despite their different dancing styles, they were still in harmony. The four dancers Alisa Soelaeman, Nudiandra Sarasvati, Ari Prajanegara and Irfan Setiawan performed a dance titled Spasial (Spatial), at the Salihara Theater in South Jakarta on Saturday. As the name suggests, the dance was about space. Choreographed by Josh Marcy of dance academy Indonesian Dance Theater, the 45-minute show tries to visualize the interaction between human bodies and space and dialogues between the two different entities. Space will become dynamic if there are humans in it, Josh said. Their position determines the perception of spaces. He said that space did not always mean something outside human bodies because there were other spaces within themselves. Space might be seen as an inanimate object, but if humans use it, they can give it life, according to Josh. They also had the freedom to decide whether they would like to adapt to the space or to change it, he added. The idea to create Spasial crossed his mind when he was walking along a sidewalk something that he defined as a space. He later realized that space was not just about what he observed through his eyes because its definition was beyond that. For me personally, it is about how I discover new spaces inside my body as a dancer, he said. The show did not offer a story, and the four dancers did not play any characters because they purely presented themselves as human beings who were trying to know more about their bodies and souls. That is why, although they performed as a team, their moves were not always similar because they were allowed to be themselves. The performers also have different dancing backgrounds. Nudiandra Sarasvati, for example, is primarily a ballet dancer while Ari Prajangera is a jazz dancer. He [Josh] gave us freedom to show what we want on the stage. He does not limit our imagination, Nudiandra said. Josh, who started his dance career as a hip-hop dancer in 2007 in Surabaya, East Java, joined Indonesian Dance Theater in 2016. The winner of the Asia Pacific Dance Competition in the contemporary solo category in 2015 once collaborated with big names in the dance scene, from Eko Supriyanto to Brussels-based German dancer and choreographer Arco Renz. While choreographing, the Samarinda native is also studying urban art at the Jakarta Arts Institute (IKJ) in Jakarta. Before Spasial, Joshs other works were A Walk at Pedestrian ( 2017 ), Layer ( 2016 ), Doa/Pills ( 2016 ) and Emologi ( 2015 ). Josh hoped that after watching the Spasial show, the audience would try to reflect on their bodies to understand them better and be aware of where they were and what was happening around them. A flying car project backed by Google co-founder Larry Page was closer to take-off on Wednesday, with a model for test flights by aspiring buyers. Kitty Hawk, funded by Page, unveiled a "Flyer" model it described as "an exciting first step to sharing the freedom of flight". The company was created last year in Google's home town of Mountain View, California, and has been testing a prototype in New Zealand. Images and details were available at a freshly launched website at flyer.aero, and CNN posted coverage of a reporter taking to the air in a Flyer over a lake at a test site near Las Vegas. Kitty Hawk chief executive Sebastian Thrun, who founded the Google X lab devoted to "moonshots" such as self-driving cars and internet-synched eyewear, was quoted by CNN as saying piloting Flyer was as easy playing the video game "Minecraft". "Making Flyer accessible, which is what we do at our Lake Las Vegas training facility, helps more people experience the freedom and possibilities of vehicles of the future," a Kitty Hawk spokeswoman told AFP. "Our immediate priority is to invite small groups of people -- customers, influencers, media and community members - to experience the freedom of flight here in our newly opened training facility." People interested in buying Flyers were invited at the website to apply for an invitation to do so, with no price specified. An early version of Flyer was shown off last year. Read also: Flying cars eye takeoff at Geneva Motor Show The electric aircraft had 10 small lift rotors on its wings, making it capable of vertical take-off and landing like a helicopter. Kitty Hawk said that at 15 meters (50 feet) away, it sounded about as loud as a lawn mower, while from 250 feet away the volume was on par with a loud conversation. Test flights by first-timers were over water, with the top speed limited to 32 kilometers per hour (20 mph) and the altitude to no more than three meters. The uncovered cockpit appeared big enough for one person, with their head poking out as it might from a go-kart. "Flyer is designed to be easy to fly and flown for recreational purposes over water and uncongested areas," the website said. "Flyer is Kitty Hawk's first personal flying vehicle and the first step to make flying part of everyday life." The new flying machine is one of several concept vehicles being testing, with Uber and others in the mix. Page and Sergey Brin founded Google in 1998, starting out in a Silicon Valley garage and transforming into one of the world's largest companies. He remains chief executive of Google-parent Alphabet but the Kitty Hawk project is a personal pursuit, not part of the tech giant's operations. An exhibition showcasing the works of the 15 Signature Art Prize finalists is being held from May 25 to Sept. 2 at the National Museum of Singapore, with the winner scheduled to be announced at an award ceremony on June 29. After Paradise Lost by Balinese artist Gede Mahendra Yasa is among the finalists for the award, which is organized by the Singapore Art Museum and sponsored by the Asia Pacific Breweries Foundation. Viewing the pieces, it seems the jury panel of has been guided by a sense of urgency in past traditions upon which the contemporary works have been imagined. The paintings, in particular, bring to the fore the ongoing controversial discourse on what constitutes a painting, or what resembles one. Gede Mahendra Yasas work, for instance, is considered a painting, but without being painterly, although the artist uses acrylic on canvas. Uniquely, the canvas is entirely covered: there is no open space and no central point in the densely featured clusters of miniature images, which he calls miniature realist narratives. I am inspired by my cultural background as well as by the miniatures of Persia and China, Gede said, adding that his work was based on art history. In After Paradise Lost, the 51-year-old artist has used the traditional Balinese Batuan style, which is unique in that it includes multiple scenes in a single work. With the scenes spread across the canvas and the absence of a central point, the artist wanted to treat all scenes equally. Those familiar with art history will immediately detect amid the Balinese daily realities, the miniature versions of Raden Salehs nationalist take in The Arrest of Prince Diponegoro ( 1857 ) juxtaposed with Dutch colonial painter Nicolaas Pienemans The Submission of Prince Diponegoro to General De Kock (1830-1835), pitting the Indonesian and the Dutch take on the same subject. Similarly, Theodore Gericaults The Raft of Medusa is juxtaposed with Raden Salehs A Flood in Java (1865-1876). After Paradise Lost by Gede Mahendra Yasa (Gede Mahendra Yasa/File) The painting of non-painting concept is also featured in Thai artist Thasnai Sethaserees Untitled (Hua Lamphong), which is a layered collage of Thai Buddhist monks robes on canvas. In the work, brightly colored paper streamers are rendered in the traditional Lanna paper cutting technique, highlighting the yellow and red that marked the truce between what came to be known as the Red Shirts and the Yellow Shirts in Thai politics. In addition to these paintings, the 15 selected works include video art. Of these, Mud Man a three-channel video installation by artist and award-winning filmmaker Chikako Yamashiro holds a special place. Visually stunning and sensual, she uses fictive and real-life elements from Okinawa, her birthplace, to capture the anguish of hosting American military bases. Another standout piece is the piece by the Propeller Group titled AK-47 vs M16, featuring the two rifles pitted against each other, both in actuality and on-screen, symbolizing both liberation and violence, battle and war, with one invented by the Soviets and the other a brainchild of the United States army. Despite of their controversial rivalrous backgrounds and the memory of battlefields and war, in art they are laid in ballistic gel blocks evoking a sense of the sublime and of immense beauty that testifies to the ability of art to be both a reminder and pacifier at the same time. While all of the selected works have a strong concept, most require intense immersion to grasp their significance. The Infinite Episode by Jitish Kallat (JP/Carla Bianpoen) Such is also true in the case of the mixed media installation of billiard tables, concrete sculptures and various videos by Japans Yuichiro Tamura in Milky Bay, which explores Yukio Mishima, one of Japans most influential 20th-century writers, and his obsession with body-building. It also applies to Singaporean Shubiq Raos mixed media installation Pulp, which explores issues surrounding the destruction of books and libraries with video clips, giclee prints with text, ink drawings, books and a table. The other finalists include the works of Bae Young Whan (South Korea), Yerbossyn Meldibekov (Kazakhstan), Au Sow Yee (Malaysia), Phan Thao Nguyen (Vietnam), Club Ate (Australia), Fang Wi Wen (Taiwan), Mata Aho Collective (New Zealand) and Leung Chi Wo+Sara Wong (Hong Kong). The total art prize is S$100,000, with $60,000 awarded to the Grand Prize winner and $15,000 each to the two Jurors Choice Award winners. A Peoples Choice Award worth $10,000 will be given to the work that receives the highest number of public votes on-site. Given the importance of the jurors Mami Kataoka, chief curator of Tokyos Mori Art Museum, Bose Krishnamachari, president of the Kochi Biennale Foundation, Joyce Toh, head of content and senior curator at the Singapore Art Museum, Gerard Vaughan, director of the National Gallery of Australia, and artist and independent curator Wong Hoy Cheong it will be interesting to see to whom the panel ultimately award the Grand Prize. Stormy Daniels has filed a new lawsuit accusing her former lawyer of being a "puppet" for President Donald Trump and of betraying her by working closely with Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen. The lawsuit against Keith Davidson and Cohen claims that the two attorneys colluded to discredit the adult film actress and manipulate her over her alleged affair with Trump in 2006. It says the pair started working together in January after becoming aware of an article by In Touch magazine concerning Trump and Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford. "Believing this story to be detrimental to his own interests or those of his client, Mr Cohen immediately colluded with Mr Davidson in an attempt to use and manipulate Ms Clifford in a manner designed to benefit Mr Cohen and Mr Trump," according to the suit. Specifically, the suit alleges that the two lawyers "hatched a plan" to have Daniels appear on Sean Hannity's program on Fox News in order to falsely deny her alleged affair with Trump. She ended up not appearing on the show. The complaint, filed by Daniels' new firebrand attorney Michael Avenatti, includes copies of alleged text messages between Davidson and Cohen over a three-month period ending in March. Cohen in one message in January refers to Davidson as "pal" and instructs him in another message to oversee any interviews or statements by Daniels. Read also: Stormy Daniels taunts fake Trump on comedy show SNL The lawsuit also claims that Trump was aware the two lawyers were working together on his behalf. A spokesman for Davidson, who is based in Los Angeles, dismissed the lawsuit as "outrageously frivolous." "That said, attorney Davidson is very happy that he (Avenatti) has filed this lawsuit because he strongly believes that the filing constitutes a full and complete waiver of the attorney-client privilege," he added in a statement. Brent Blakely, Cohen's attorney, also denounced the suit as having no merit. "It appears to be yet another publicity stunt, and nothing more," he was quoted as saying by CNN. "We look forward to defeating the lawsuit in court." Trump in May admitted that he had reimbursed Cohen for $130,000 in hush money paid to Daniels to stop her from going public. Daniels is suing to be released from the hush agreement reached with Cohen, claiming it is invalid because Trump never signed it. I want to thank Hanung Bramantyo for adapting the story of Indonesias feminist figure Kartini to screen last year. Just like every other great movie, Kartini teaches viewers more than a textbook ever could. I knew that she was born to a noble family in Jepara, Central Java. Yet, one thing I didn't know was that she was not born to a noblewoman. Her mother, Ngasirah, was a commoner who was one of the concubines of Kartinis father. Despite her mothers status, Kartini was privileged enough to go to school until she entered pingitan (period of seclusion). Pingitan started when a noble woman started menstruating and continued until a nobleman asked for her hand in marriage. Hanung Bramantyo captured her struggle in the very beginning of the movie. From the very first part of the film, I realized that lessons on Kartini in school barely scratched the surface. I never had a chance to learn a great deal about her. In fact, it was also because of the movie that I was became intrigued and wanted to further unravel Kartini. In the third part of the film, Kartini changed her mind about a scholarship application she had previously submitted. Kartini, who resented polygamy and longed to be liberated from her Javanese culture, accepted a marriage proposal from the regent of Rembang, Raden Adipati Joyodiningrat, even though it meant giving up all hope of a scholarship. In the film, she saw this as a sacrifice that would enable her to establish a school for women. But honestly, I just couldnt buy that a person as determined as Kartini would do that. Read also: Why many 'Kartini' study abroad: A reflection from Australia Hanung Bramantyos screen adaptation made me think and prompted me to do a little research of my own. I came up with RA Kartinis collection of letters titled Habis Gelap Terbitlah Terang (Through Darkness to Light) and Pramoedya Pram Ananta Toers Panggil Aku Kartini Saja (Just Call Me Kartini), which became the inspiration of Hanung. Having read two of the books, I still could not find a clear answer on why Kartini changed her mind. First, Prams book is not complete because some chapters were burned during the New Order era. We never got to see whether Pram analyzed Kartinis drastic stance. Second, Kartinis collection of letters is not complete because it was documented by her Dutch friend Abendanon. Even in an interview with journalist Desi Anwar, Hanung admitted that he couldnt understand why Kartini canceled her study plan and accepted the proposal. That was when he had to create his own story, where the art of fiction storytelling played a part. When I reread Prams book again, the epilogue mentioned Sitisoemandari Soerotos Kartini: A biography. It was written during the 1970s and the author managed to interview Kartinis younger sister, Kardinah. The book answered my question. Simply said, Abendanon had political interests in not encouraging Kartini to study in the Netherlands. Sitisoemandari argued that Abendanon faced threats from local regents in Java to not permit an Indonesian woman to study abroad. They were afraid that Kartini may reveal the injustices of colonialism in Indonesia. The ironic part was that Kartini looked up to Abendanon. Her words mattered to her and she managed to convince her to stay. She told Kartini that she didnt have to go to the Netherlands but could educate young commoner women in Java, that she could build her own school with the full support of the local government and that she could obtain a teaching degree in Batavia (Jakarta) if she wished, which Kartini accepted. Kartini then changed her mind. She was going to go to school, only not in the Netherlands. Nobody really knew why Kartini changed her mind. Probably because the advice came from a person she respected so much that she took it as if it were her own voice. But at the end of the day, Kartini never really went to any school because of the proposal from her future husband. From her letters, we can see that she contemplated this point a lot. She was 24 years old at the time, which was considered old for a noblewoman to marry. It was also considered a disgrace if a woman never married. At that time, her father had been sick for quite some time. While it is not known whether this was the only reason she accepted the marriage proposal, she said in her letters that it was a sacrifice that she was willing to make. In her letters, she said her husband would support her dream to build a school for women. Hence, she changed her mind. Kartini was a determined young woman filled with big dreams and ambitions. Yet, she surrendered herself by bowing to patriarchy. She not only sacrificed her long-held dream to be liberated, she contradicted her own values and stance on polygamy and feudalism. Read also: Insight: Kartini and the everlasting fight for gender parity Kartini might seem like a contradiction filled with mystery that we know nothing about, but above all that, she was a woman whose sacrifice resulted in lasting sustainable change. Kartini may have lost a battle, but she won a war. Look how far we have come. Her aspirations were never as simplistic as women versus men. They revolved around battles between being tied down and being liberated, a battle against colonialism and feudalism. Kartini is more than just a one-dimensional figure. Her story and legacy deserve to be celebrated every day, not just once a year. (dev/mut) *** The writer is a film enthusiast who occasionally reviews Indonesian films. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, June 7, 2018 07:45 1226 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e7fcb76 1 Business Garuda-Indonesia,Air-Force,cooperation,anticipation,Pilots-go-on-strike Free National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia has said it will employ pilots of Indonesias Air Force if the airlines pilots follow through on their strike threat. Garuda Indonesias vice president corporate secretary Hengki Heriandono said in Jakarta recently that it was an anticipatory step in response to the threat made by the airlines pilots. We have made a contingency plan in case they really go ahead with their strike action, Hengki said as reported by tribunnews.com, adding that the cooperation with the Air Force was to ensure that the airline could continue to operate as normal. The Garuda Indonesia Pilots Association (APG) and the Garuda Labor Union (Sekarga) had initially threatened to strike unless the government stepped in to help resolve "managerial problems" at the flag carrier, namely that they were allegedly causing a continued decline in the company's performance. Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar pandjaitan said on Tuesday that the pilots had agreed to cancel their strike plan as their representatives continued to talk with representatives of both the airline management and the government to discuss their demand. Hengki said the cooperation with the Air Force also had the long-term objective of utilizing manpower, particularly pilots, who were working for the force. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, June 7, 2018 08:45 1226 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e8016cb 1 Business shipping-industry,export-import,coal,CPO,rice Free Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita said his ministry has revoked a regulation that requires the use of Indonesian ships to export and import three commodities coal, crude palm oil and rice. Trade Ministerial Regulation No. 82/2017 on the use of sea transportation and national insurance for export and import of certain commodities was revoked in response to protests by businesspeople about the difficulties in fulfilling the requirement. The regulation has been revoked, the minister confirmed as reported by kontan.co.id after attending a breaking-of-the-fast event at his office in Jakarta on Tuesday. Earlier this year, Enggartiasto said he had met with members of the Indonesia National Ship Owners Association to find out about the readiness of the countrys shipping companies to take over the export-import operations of the three commodities. However, it became apparent the national shipping companies were not ready to take over export-import operations. Before revoking the regulation, the Trade Ministry reportedly issued Trade Ministerial Regulation No. 48/2018 to revise the contents of Regulation No. 82/2017, which postponed the requirement of using Indonesian ships for export and import of the three commodities. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin N.Adri (The Jakarta Post) Balikpapan, East Kalimantan Thu, June 7, 2018 18:37 1225 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e822192 1 National IdulFitri,Idul-Fitri-2018,idul-fitri-exodus,Sepinggan-airport,Balikpapan,East-Kalimantan,#IdulFitri,#IdulFitriExodus Free To prepare for increases in passengers at Sepinggan Airport in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, three airlines have added 15 flights to operate during the Idul Fitri holiday season. The airlines proposing extra flights to us are Sriwijaya Air, which proposed seven additional flights, Lion Air with five flights and Wings Air with three flights, said state airport operator Angkasa Pura (AP) I general manager Handy Heryudhitiawan, the operator of Sepinggan Airport, on Wednesday. The extra flights will exclusively serve the Balikpapan-Jakarta and Balikpapan-Surabaya routes. The extra flights will provide an additional 2,700 seats per day starting from Wednesday through the peak of arus balik, when people return back to cities after celebrating Idul Fitri in their hometown, in the third week of June. Jakarta and Surabaya remain the main destinations. Not including the extra flights, there are 23 flights to Jakarta per day and 18 flights to Surabaya, said Heryudhitiawan. AP I expects the number of passengers traveling via Sepinggan Airport during the Idul Fitri holiday season to reach 438,053 with a total of 3,571 flights. The number shows a 4 percent increase from 421,207 passengers and 3,434 flights during Idul Fitri last year. This year, we predict homebound travel will peak on June 9 while the peak of arus balik will be on June 20, said Heryudhitiawan. He said AP I would also open an Idul Fitri Transportation Service Integrated Post at Sepinggan Airport to prepare for any unexpected events both in flight and passenger movement. (ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, June 7, 2018 13:41 1225 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e8105b0 1 City radicalism,mosques,preachers,jakarta,anies-baswedan Free Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan has demanded the people who say there are 40 mosques that have been infiltrated by radical teachings in the capital show evidence to back up the statement. Ask the people who say [there are 40 radical mosques in Jakarta] to show it [evidence of radicalism], Anies said on Wednesday as quoted by tempo.co. The statement contradicted the statement of Jakarta Deputy Governor Sandiaga Uno who said the city administration had gathered data on 40 mosques that were allegedly exposed to radical teachings. Sandiaga said the city administration would give guidance to the mosques to prevent radicalism from spreading. Meanwhile, Bureau of Mental and Spiritual Education head, Hendra Hidayat, urged the Mosque Welfare Council (DKM) in the city to be selective in inviting preachers to deliver sermons amid fears of radicalism being taught in places of worship. "We urge the DKM to present preachers that promote peace and maintain a positive environment," Hendra said. During the Jakarta gubernatorial election last year, some political observers believed that mosques were used as a battleground to discourage voters from supporting then-governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, who was seeking reelection. Some mosques erected banners stating that they would refuse to be used as a place to perform rites for supporters of a blasphemer, referring to Ahok, who was accused of committing blasphemy against Islam. (cal) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Kharishar Kahfi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, June 7, 2018 11:30 1226 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e80c97a 1 National KPK,illegal-logging,Papua Free Relevant state agencies are set to collaborate to establish better forestry management in Papua in order to curb rampant illegal logging in the easternmost province, among other things. The institutions involved are the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), the Environment and Forestry Ministry, the Papua Police and the Papua Forestry and Conservation Agency. Collaboration with other agencies is part of our focus on graft prevention by improving natural resources management, this time in relation to forestry, KPK deputy chairman Laode Muhammad Syarif said after a meeting between the agencies in Jakarta on Wednesday. Among measures to be taken by local authorities is forestry-related permit improvement. The joint team will also work to curb the harvesting of forestry products in the province, Papua Forestry and Conservation Agency head Yan Ormuseray said. We will also continue to crack down on individuals who violate forestry laws, especially illegal loggers, Yan said. In an attempt to tackle the problem, the Papua Police have formed a task force that will cooperate with other agencies to focus on law enforcement against illegal logging. The police have handed over at least 17 forestry-related cases to the court since January. According to the Papua Forestry and Conservation Agency, the rate of illegal logging in the province has increased recently, especially in Sarmi regency where the cost of environmental damage could reach billions of rupiah. Papuans depend on forests for a livelihood, Yan pointed out, suggesting that the government consider allowing indigenous people to manage their own forests. (swd) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, June 7, 2018 17:28 1225 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e81c6fc 1 National BMKG,BMKG-geophysics-station,sumatra,forest-fires,Pekanbaru Free The Terra and Aqua satellites have detected 78 hotspots across Sumatra, indicating the possible occurrence of forest fires. Sukisno, head of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) in Pekanbaru, Riau, said the satellites detected the most recent hot spot at 6 a.m. local time on Thursday. Based on the satellites images, the hot spots are spread out across Sumatra. Most were detected in Riau, with 23 hot spots, followed by Bengkulu (18), Aceh (10), Jambi (four) and West Sumatra (two). Four were detected in Jambi and one Bangka Belitung and the Riau Islands. The weather in Riau is cloudy with a possibility of mild rain, Sukisno said as quoted by tempo.co on Thursday. The Riau administration previously declared an emergency for forest fires to prevent further flare ups from affecting the upcoming 2018 Asian Games in Palembang, South Sumatra. Riau Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) head Edward Sanger said the emergency status would end on Nov.30. The President has instructed the National Disaster Mitigation Agency to prevent any haze disasters caused by forest fires during the Asian Games, he said. (dpk/ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Stefanno Reinard Sulaiman (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, June 7, 2018 11:33 1226 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e80d265 1 Business Chevron-Pacific-Indonesia,Rokan-block,contract-extension,Luhut-Binsar-Pandjaitan Free Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan says PT Chevron Pacific Indonesia (CPI), the local unit of the United States-based oil and gas giant Chevron Corp., has expressed interest in continuing its operation of the Rokan block in Riau, one of the most productive oil blocks in the country. "They [company officials] told me that the block [Rokan] is good. [] They explained that their new technology will boost oil reserves in the block by up to 1 billion barrel," he said. Luhut's statement was made after meeting with Chevron IndoAsia business unit managing director Chuck Taylor and CPI senior vice president for policy, government and public affairs Yanto Sianipar at Luhuts office in Jakarta on Wednesday. The minister said the oil firm also wanted to cut costs for Indonesia Deepwater Development (IDD) by up to 50 percent. The auction of Rokan will begin in July as Chevrons contract is slated to end in 2021. The new contractor must agree to the gross-split scheme. Meanwhile, Yanto said he met with Luhut to update the government on Chevrons achievements. When asked about the possibility of a contract extension, he only said we always try to be punctual in every project." CPIs contract for Rokan, which has a production capacity of 210,280 barrels oil per day, will not be automatically extended because many other companies, including state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina, have shown interest in taking over the block. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, June 7, 2018 18:07 1225 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e820a74 1 City sexual-abuse,molestation,school,student,Depok Free Depok Police revealed on Thursday that dozens of elementary students in Depok, West Java, have allegedly fallen victim to sexual abuse. Depok Police chief Sr. Comr. Didik Sugiarto said according to reports from parents, a teacher, identified as WA, had allegedly molested dozens of students. He added that so far, the parents of four alleged victims have filed police reports. The alleged victims have undergone examinations at the Kramat Jati Police Hospital in East Jakarta. Didik said the police were investigating other possible victims, because according to a parent's statement, the number allegedly reached dozens. "We are delving into the case to find out the total number of alleged victims. Some were allegedly abused at school, while others were allegedly abused at another locale. We are seeking more information," he said as quoted by tribunnews.com. (fac) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, June 7, 2018 16:24 1225 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e81970f 1 Politics graft,bribery,bribery-case,corruption,corruption-case,PDI-P,East-Halmahera Free Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) prosecutors suspected half of the bribes allegedly received by East Halmahera Regent Rudy Erawan would be used to finance the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggles (PDI-P) national leadership meeting (Rapimnas). The prosecutors explained the allegation in their indictment against the regent, which was read out in a hearing at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Wednesday. According to the indictment, Rudy gave Rp 200 million (US$14,410) out of a total Rp 6.3 billion in bribes he had received to the PDI-P to hold the meeting. In early January 2016, the defendant contacted Imran S. Djumadil, former member of the North Maluku Legislative Council [DPRD II], saying he needed financial support to hold the Rapimnas of PDI-P in Jakarta, said the KPK prosecution team as quoted by tempo.co in the indictment. Imran reportedly later contacted Amran HI Mustary, head of the National Road Management Agency (BPJN) IX for Maluku and North Maluku, to inform the latter about the fund request. Imran also called construction company Windu Tunggal Utama director Abdul Khoir and another contractor, Hong Arta John Alfred, to whom he asked each of them to give Rp 100 million, kompas.com reported. Amran later allegedly gave the money provided by Abdul and Hong Arta amounting to S$20,460, or Rp 200 million, to Rudi via his personal guard, Mohammad Arnes Solikin Mei. The prosecutors stated in their indictment that the Rp 6.3 billion kickback received by Rudy was related to Amrans nomination as BPJN head. Amrans candidacy was carried out through collusion and nepotism, they said. (stu/ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Carla Bianpoen (The Jakarta Post) Singapore Thu, June 7 2018 After Paradise Lost by Gede Mahendra Yasa (Courtesy of Gede Mahendra Yasa) Balinese artist Gede Mahendra Yasa is among the 15 finalists nominated for the triennial Singapore Art Museums Signature Art Prize. An exhibition showcasing the works of the 15 Signature Art Prize finalists is being held from May 25 to Sept. 2 at the National Museum of Singapore, with the winner scheduled to be announced at an award ceremony on June 29. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, June 7, 2018 14:25 1225 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e812f7c 1 National terrorism,surveillance,Densus-88,university,students,radicalization-in-campus,social-media Free The government plans to monitor the activity of college students on social media as part of efforts to prevent the spread of radical ideologies, a minister has said. Research, Technology and Higher Education Minister Mohammad Nasir said his side was cooperating with the Communications and Information Ministry to track students' social media accounts and profile them. We need to be more cautious of the spread of radical ideas on social media, Nasir said as quoted by tempo.com on Thursday. He also invited university managements to participate in tracking their students' social media accounts to ensure they were not being exposed to radicalism. Nasir also plans to gather rectors nationwide to discuss radicalism on June 25. The move follows the National Polices Densus 88 antiterror squads recent raid at Riau University in Pekanbaru, during which the squad arrested three suspected terrorists and confiscated homemade explosives. The National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) found that social media had been used to spread radical teachings. The agency also suspects college students in Java and Sulawesi have been exposed to radical teachings, albeit at different levels of exposure. Separately, a survey conducted by the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) in 2017 showed that 39 percent of college students in 15 provinces across Indonesia rejected democracy and disagreed with Pancasila as the nation's ideology. (dpk/swd) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Elly Burhaini Faizal (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, June 7, 2018 08:41 1226 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e800425 1 National immunization,vaccination,vaccines,health-ministry,infectious-diseases,basic-complete-immunization,routine-complete-immunization,Anung-Sugihantono Free The Health Ministry says it will increase activities in promoting its routine, comprehensive immunization program, which gives longer protection from diseases that are preventable through vaccination. We will more actively campaign not only about basic, comprehensive immunization but also routine, comprehensive immunization, the ministrys disease prevention and control director general, Anung Sugihantono, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday. Routine, comprehensive immunization consists of basic and booster vaccinations. Routine, comprehensive immunization consists of hepatitis B (aged 0-24 hours); BCG, polio 1 (1 month); DPT-HB-Hib 1, polio 2 (2 months); DPT-HB-Hib 2, polio 3 (3 months); DPT-HB, Hib 3, polio 4, IPV (4 months); measles/MR (9 months); DPT-HB-Hib, MR (18 months); measles/MR, DT (first grader); Td (first grader); and Td (fifth grader). The government expanded its basic, comprehensive immunization program to become routine, comprehensive immunization last month. Anung said the governments follow-up immunization program had run since 2013. The follow-up immunization program, delivered during School Children Immunization Month, started in 1998. Anung conceded that people were more familiar with the basic, comprehensive immunization program, which protected children against hepatitis B, poliomyelitis, tuberculosis, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, pneumonia and meningitis caused by hemophilus influenza type B (Hib) and measles. This is why some Indonesians think that children need only basic, comprehensive immunization, which is given when they are babies. This is something we want to change, said Anung. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, June 7 2018 Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan has assured citizens that the 2018 Jakarta Fair, held at the Jakarta International Expo (JIExpo) in Kemayoran, part of which was hit by a fire on Tuesday night, is safe for visitors. I think it is safe already at JIExpo, Anies said on Wednesday as reported by kompas.com. The fire broke out at the Niaga Building, the media reported on Tuesday, quoting officials. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, June 7 2018 A group opposed to the privatization of Jakartas piped water supply has submitted to the Central Jakarta District Court a countermemorandum to the judicial review on the water privatization case filed by the Finance Ministry. The Coalition of Jakarta Residents Opposed to Water Privatization (KMMSAJ) has won a Supreme Court ruling instructing the Jakarta administration to put an end to the privatization and return the authority for water treatment and distribution to city-owned water company PT PAM Jaya. The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of civil society. Were very disappointed that the Finance Ministry still cannot accept it, the plaintiffs representative, Nurhidayah, said on Tuesday, as quoted by kompas.com. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, June 7, 2018 13:49 1225 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e810d44 1 National teacher,Education-and-Culture-Ministry,state-schools,Education,school,AdministrativeandBureaucraticReformMinistry Free Indonesia needs nearly a million new teachers for state schools to replace those who retire, die or leave the job, as well as to anticipate the growth in student and school numbers, a ministry official has said. Education and Culture Ministry spokesperson Ari Santoso said in a press release on Thursday that the ministry had made a proposal to the Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Ministry to recruit gradually, beginning with 100,000 teachers for state schools this year. According to Ari, Indonesia currently has 2.1 million teachers nationwide. Yet, the country needs an additional 988,133 teachers. He did not elaborate on his calculation. However, assuming that some teachers are capable of teaching more than one subject in two different educational levels, I think we can make do with 707,324 teachers, Ari said. With state schools in dire need of new teachers, Ari added, the ministry had suggested the recruitment of 100,000 new teachers every year, from 2018 to 2024. The education ministry will also create a list to decide which schools should be prioritized for the additional teachers. The priority list will be made according to a school's student to teacher ratio and location, Ari said. (dpk) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Evi Mariani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, June 7, 2018 13:03 1225 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e810338 4 National HTI,ITB,freedom-of-assembly,radicalization-in-campus,higher-education,Bandung-Institute-of-Technology Free The Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) suspended a student organization for allegedly being involved with the now disbanded Muslim group Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI). According to the university's vice rector for academic and student affairs, Bermawi P. Iskandar, the organization had been suspended two weeks ago as a final warning. Prior to the suspension, Bermawi said the university had given verbal warnings as the organization, the Harmonious Deeds and Knowledge Bridge organization, often invited HTI figures to its events. They already had discussions with HTI figures twice on campus and posted information about the discussions on social media. We warned them because the discussions were related to HTI's aspirations, he said as quoted by kompas.com on Wednesday. However, Bermawi said, there were no significant changes after the warnings were given. The university then decided to suspend the organization. The organization itself has existed at ITB for five years and has 59 members. As the organization held the discussion as its main event, Bermawi said his team had launched an investigation to find out if there was any dangerous activity taking place in the organization. If the investigation showed any indication of dangerous activity, it was possible that the university would have permanently banned the organization. Thankfully, the organization did not conduct any destructive activities, he said. (dpk) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ivany Atina Arbi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, June 7, 2018 17:15 1225 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e81c471 1 City alms,Baznas,controversy,management Free The Jakarta administration has planned to integrate its Muslim Charitable Donations Board (Bazis) into the National Alms Agency (Baznas) in the next three months to follow the prevailing law on alms management. The decision to integrate and also change its name into Baznas Jakarta was made on Thursday when Deputy Governor Sandiaga Uno met Baznas chairman Bambang Sudibyo at the Baznas headquarters in Menteng, Central Jakarta. To follow Law No. 23/2011 [on alms management], we have agreed to do the integration, and therefore Bazis Jakartas name will be changed to Baznas Jakarta, Sandiaga said. As the result of the change, Baznas Jakarta will be required to periodically report alms collection and distribution to Baznas twice a year. Based on the law, Sandiaga further said, Baznas Jakartas financial report will be audited by a public accounting firm. Separately, Baznas chairman Bambang Sudibyo said the administration should soon form a team to select Baznas Jakartas commissioners in accordance with the law on alms management. Baznas will give some names of people who can be chosen by the Jakarta governor [Anies Baswedan] to be the bodys commissioners. Bambang previously urged the administration to integrate Bazis into Baznas as regulated in the law, or else Bazis Jakartas officials could be implicated in a criminal case for collecting and distributing alms without Baznas permission. Baznas was formed in November 2011 to manage alms nationwide. Every alms body that had been established before Baznas should integrate themselves into the agency by November 2016 at the latest. Bazis Jakarta was formed by then-governor Ali Sadikin in 1968 based on Gubernatorial Decree Cb. 14/8/18/68. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, June 7, 2018 16:46 1225 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e81ac7d 1 City KJP,cash-withdrawal,students,Jakarta-council,education-agency Free The Jakarta city council is set to summon the Jakarta Education Agency following the distribution of the Jakarta Smart Card Plus (KJP Plus) educational assistance program, which enables holders, who are students from low-income families, to withdraw cash using the card. Steven Setiabudi Musa, a city council member from Commission D, which oversees development, questioned how the agency would monitor the residents spending, adding that the cash withdrawal marked a setback in the programs system. Previously, the administration of former Jakarta governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama and his deputy Djarot Saiful Hidayat regulated that the card, then called KJP, could only be used for cashless transactions. The policy was taken after the city administration found some people had misused the money for things that unrelated to education. The first phase of the KJP was chaotic, with many people withdrawing cash uncontrollably. There were karaoke and workshop receipts. Were worried that will happen again [with the cash withdrawal system], Steven said on Thursday as quoted by kompas.com. He added that some parents might use the money to buy Idul Fitri clothes for their children, which is unrelated to educational activities. There are 680,046 KJP Plus card holders in the capital. The Jakarta administration has recently handed out KJP Plus cards to 124,969 new recipients. (cal) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Karina M. Tehusijarana (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, June 7, 2018 12:48 1225 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e80f826 1 National Jokowi,2019-presidential-election,2019-elections,#2019PresidentialElection,Gerindra-Party,Prabowo-Subianto,Indonesian-politics Free President Joko Jokowi Widodo has continued to strengthen his electoral position in Java, while Gerindra, the party of Jokowis main rival Prabowo Subianto, has also gained ground, boosting its chances of becoming the countrys second-largest party behind Jokowis Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), a new poll reveals. Java, which is divided into four provinces, is Indonesias most populous island with around 160 million people, accounting for 70 percent of the total population and around 60 percent of potential voters in the upcoming general election. Jakarta-based pollster Charta Politika recently surveyed 800 people in Banten and 1,200 people each in West Java, Central Java and East Java, asking them which presidential candidate and political party they would vote for in 2019. As in other polls, Jokowi and Gerindra chairman Prabowo Subianto are the frontrunners, while the PDI-P remains the dominant party, with Gerindra pushing for second place. Read also: Gatot, Muhaimin tops VP list for both camps In 2014, Jokowi won both Central Java and East Java by more than 6 percentage points but lost by landslides in Banten and West Java, with Prabowo gaining almost 60 percent of the vote in both provinces. According to the survey, Jokowi has turned the tables in West Java, with 46.1 percent of respondents saying they would vote for him, compared to 40.5 percent backing Prabowo. On the other hand, Prabowo seems to have maintained his stranglehold over Banten, with an electability rating of 44.1 percent compared to Jokowis 36.9 percent. Prabowos popularity in the province has also produced a coattail effect for Gerindras electability, according to Charta Politikas executive director Yunarto Wijaya. Around 20.6 percent of respondents in Banten said they would vote for Gerindra, comfortably beating the Golkar Party at 15 percent and the PDI-P at 14.4 percent and improving on their 2014 performance of 14 percent of the vote in the province. Parties electability according to a survey by Jakarta-based pollster Charta Politika (JP/File) Prabowos increased political capital from his two previous presidential bids has strengthened the coattail effect for his party, Yunarto said at the survey release event on Wednesday. In Central Java and East Java, however, Jokowi and the PDI-P maintain their strong positions. More than two-thirds of respondents in Central Java said they would vote for Jokowi, compared to Prabowos meager 11.2 percent, echoing the results of the 2014 election. Read also: Why an anti-Jokowi hashtag could be his strongest foe so far In East Java, Jokowi had the support of 53.4 percent of respondents, compared to 33.6 percent for Prabowo, while the PDI-P had an electability rating of 20.3 percent, slightly higher than its 2014 vote count. The results reflect those of a nationwide Charta Politika survey from April, in which 2,000 people were polled across all 34 provinces. In that poll, Jokowi had a formidable electability rating of 58.8 percent, far ahead of Prabowos 30 percent. Despite his lackluster electability, Prabowos nationwide presence has helped propel Gerindra to second place behind the PDI-P with 12.3 percent, overtaking Golkar. Nearly 40 percent of respondents who said they would vote for Gerindra named Prabowo as the main reason for their support. A recent survey from pollster Indikator Politik Indonesia showed similar results, with both Jokowi and Gerindras electability showing an upward trend. Since Jokowi is only behind in Banten, its safe to say that he remains dominant in Java, which is reflected in several national surveys, Yunarto said. Overall, Jokowi has improved his lead compared to 2014. He added that Jokowi still had some work to do in Sumatra, where he was weak in several provinces, but that Java seemed solidly in his column. Prabowo, on the other hand, has failed to retain West Java, which was the source of much of his support in 2014, he said. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, June 7, 2018 13:29 1225 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e81048a 1 Business KUR,micro-credit,migrant-workers,distribution Free State-owned banks are reportedly experiencing difficulties in collecting installments for the governments microcredit program (KUR) from Indonesian migrant workers. Bank Mandiri president director Kartika Wirjoatmodjo said on Wednesday that according to the programs terms of payment, installments were to be deducted from workers salaries, with the permission of their employers. As long as employers allow us to deduct payment from salaries, we can distribute the KUR. We were trying it in Hong Kong, but most employers have not allowed the deductions from bank accounts," he said in Jakarta on Wednesday. According to the data from the Office of the Coordinating Economic Minister, the government allocated Rp 120 trillion (US$8.64 billion) for its KUR program in 2018, a 12.57 percent increase from last years figure. Only Rp 329.69 billion was disbursed to migrant workers last year. As of February, Rp 41.5 billion had been disbursed this year. Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) president director Achmad Baiquni said each migrant worker could get up to Rp 25 million in loans from KUR, the disbursement of which did not require collateral. "We have to work with foreign agents to disburse KUR. The realization is far behind the allocated budget. We face issues in finding qualified recipients," he said. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Elly Burhaini Faizal (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, June 7, 2018 09:15 1226 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e802533 1 National immunization,vaccination,state-budget,health-ministry,basic-complete-immunization,routine-complete-immunization,Anung-Sugihantono Free The Health Ministrys disease prevention and control director general, Anung Sugihantono, said the newly introduced routine, comprehensive immunization program was an expansion of the basic, comprehensive immunization program, which had been running for a long time. Therefore, the programs logistics supply activities and operational costs will be fully funded through our routine budget. As we know, supplying logistics for the immunization program is the responsibility of the Health Ministry, on behalf of the central government. Meanwhile, local administrations are responsible for covering the operational costs of the program, Anung told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday. Based on Health Ministry Regulation No.12/2017, basic immunization is given to babies aged less than one year. Vaccines provided under the basic immunization program protect children against hepatitis B, poliomyelitis, tuberculosis, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, pneumonia and meningitis caused by hemophilus influenza type B (Hib) and measles. (Read also: Govt to strengthen campaign on routine, comprehensive immunization) Anung said antibodies decline at certain ages and booster shots were given to children at certain ages in a follow-up program. He said the government was introducing new vaccines as part of its effort to prevent diseases that could be prevented through immunization that had not been included in its immunization program. These new vaccines have been scientifically proven to be effective in reducing morbidity and mortality. They are also cost effective, said Anung. The new vaccines aim to prevent cervical cancer caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV), pneumonia in children (pneumococcal conjugate vaccine) and diarrhea in children (Rotavirus vaccine), among others. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Apriadi Gunawan (The Jakarta Post) Medan Thu, June 7 2018 A grisly murder case involving members of a religious cult has shocked the Mandailing Natal regency in North Sumatra. A woman, a young boy and a 6-month-old baby were allegedly murdered by fellow cult members who had fled to the hills to avoid what they believed was a looming major disaster on the 15th day of Ramadhan. The case started when the cult of 10 members all relatives who lived in Lubuk Kancah village in Ranto Baek district began their flight to safety last week after their leader Almahdi, also known as Mahdi, heard voices telling him to seek refuge. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Marchio Irfan Gorbiano (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, June 7 2018 Round of applause: Bank Indonesia Governor Perry Warjiyo (left), International Monetary Fund Mission chief for Indonesia Luis E. Breuer (center) and Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Foundation vice chairman of the Board of Trustees Jusuf Wanandi (right) share a light moment during a discussion in Jakarta on Wednesday. The discussions theme was Indonesia 2030: Economic Opportunities and Threats. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan) Indonesia would have to fully tap into its demographic bonus, thriving digital economy as well as ride the global economic cycle if it wants to jump from middle-income to high-income status by 2040, Bank Indonesia (BI) Governor Perry Warjiyo said. We may catch up [to high income countries] by 2040 if we work very hard on increasing our aggregate supply by tapping into opportunities provided by the demographic bonus, digital economy and finance, as well as how we ride the global economic cycle, said Perry at a discussion hosted by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Jakarta on Wednesday. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Riza Roidila Mufti (The Jakarta Post) Beijing Thu, June 7, 2018 09:22 1226 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e802960 1 Business Siemens,Belt-road-initiative,Beijing Free German engineering company Siemens has signed more than 10 agreements with Chinese partners to explore potential markets in Asia and Africa, including Indonesia, the Philippines, Nigeria and Mozambique. The agreement was announced during the Belt and Road International (BRI) Summit in Beijing on Wednesday. Claiming to be the global leader in automation and industrial software, Siemens collaborated with its Chinese partners for infrastructure development, ranging from power generation, energy management, building technology and intelligent manufacturing. This cooperation encompasses our full scale portfolio, from power generation to energy management and building technology, all the way to digitalization for manufacturing and industry, said Siemens president and CEO Joe Kaeser. The cooperation agreement involved a number of leading Chinese enterprises, including China Gezhouba Group Corporation International Engineering, Guangdong Yuedian Group, China National Chemical Engineering Group Corporation, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation and China Railway Construction Corporation. In Indonesia, Siemens AG, through Siemens Indonesia, signed an agreement on power generation and power plants. The BRI program has proven to have far-reaching works with China to accelerate infrastructure development in emerging markets, Kaeser said. BRI has the potential to change the world and can change the world trade and economic order. It is an economic strategic long-term plan that represents 1 trillion euro investment infrastructure that could potentially improve [the prosperity of] more than 70 percent of the worlds population, he said. Currently, Siemens has partnerships with 100 Chinese enterprises in more than 100 countries. The company has also set up the Belt and Road Office in Beijing to intensify the companys effort to team up with global partners and explore business opportunities arising from the BRI. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, June 7, 2018 15:51 1225 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e816e34 1 City robbery,shooting,East-Jakarta,attack Free The Pulogadung Police have shot dead an alleged begal (violent robber), identified as Raka Jari Yanto, 21, who reportedly often committed robbery in Pulogadung, East Jakarta. Raka was arrested by the police after he allegedly tried to steal a mobile phone owned by Untung Parulian Situmorang, 20, who was sitting on the side of Jl. Cipinang Baru Raya on Tuesday. Pulogadung Police chief Comr. Sukadi said on Thursday Raka had approached Untung on a motorcycle driven by his friend, Aang Ika. In addition to stealing the phone, Raka also allegedly attacked Untung with a sickle after he refused to hand over his phone. Untung suffered injuries to his back and thighs as a result of the attack. Some residents who saw the incident tried to help Untung and captured Raka, who was then taken to the police station. Aang escaped from the scene. Sukadi said Raka was uncooperative when the police asked him to lead them to Aangs house. Raka tried to grab a police officers weapon. We saw that he could threaten the safety of the police officers. The police fired a warning shot, but he paid no heed, so the police shot him in his chest, Sukadi said on Thursday as quoted by wartakota.tribunnews.com. Previously, the Bekasi Police handed out awards to friends Mohamad Irfan Bahri and Ahmad Rafiki, both 19, for fighting off two alleged begal on the Summarecon Bekasi overpass in West Java. Similar to the case in Pulogadung, the begal tried to steal a mobile phone and attacked the victims with sickle. (cal) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Washington Thu, June 7, 2018 09:48 1226 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e803f73 2 World Donald-Trump,iftar,Ramadhan-2018,ramadan,Muslims,minority-groups Free Donald Trump hosted his first iftar dinner as president Wednesday, marking the traditional Ramadan fast-breaking meal with Muslim invitees at the White House. Trump, who has frequently engaged in inflammatory anti-Muslim rhetoric, hosted the event in the State Dining Room. He did not hold a similar event in his first year in office, in a break with past presidents. Millions of devout Muslims observe the holy fasting month of Ramadan, which is slated to end on June 14 this year. From sunrise onwards, they abstain from food and drink, breaking their fast at sunset. There were more than 50 guests. At the head table, Trump sat with Saudi Ambassador Prince Khalid Ben Salman, and Jordanian Ambassador Dina Kawar. Ambassadors were invited from the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Morocco, Algeria and Libya. "To each of you and to the Muslims around the world: Ramadan Mubarak," Trump said. "Tonight, we give thanks for the renewed bonds of friendship and cooperation we have forged with our valued partners from all across the Middle East," he said. Iftar dinners have been a regular feature on the White House calendar, along with prayer breakfasts, Passover Seders and similar events. Several American Muslim groups said they would not participate in Wednesday's iftar. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Karina M. Tehusijarana and Kharishar Kahfi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, June 8 2018 After a week-long tit-for-tat with the Indonesian government, Israel has reportedly waived its travel ban on Indonesian passport holders, allowing the latter to enter that country until after the Idul Fitri holiday, slated for next Saturday. The confirmation regarding the waiver first came from Andri Darmawan, the owner of Christian travel company Galilea Tour in North Jakarta, who told The Jakarta Post on Thursday that the Israeli authorities were permitting Indonesians to visit the country once again. The businessman said he had received the information from GEMM Travel, an Israel-based Christian travel company, which released an official letter stating that the Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry had permitted all Indonesian travel groups to enter Israel until June 26. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Nestor Corrales (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN) Manila Thu, June 7, 2018 18:06 1225 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e8204d2 2 SE Asia #Philippines,#Duterte,#RodrigoDuterte,#health Free Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte suffered from migraine and vomited in the plane on his way back to Manila from his official visit in Seoul. There is nothing to worry about the health of President Rodrigo Duterte, Malacanang said on Thursday, two days after the Chief Executive revealed that he vomited in the plane on his way back to Manila from his official visit in Seoul. Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said Duterte suffered migraine during his trip back to the Philippines. "This has been a recurring problem of the President. He suffers from migraine from time to time. He says this is related to an earlier motorcycle accident that he suffered. But it comes and goes," Roque noted in a Palace briefing. He, however, said this was the first time the President had a migraine attack in the plane. "But of the many trips I've been with the President, this is the first time he had a migraine attack in the plane," he said. He added that the President even asked him to formally apologize to the passengers on the commercial flight because he could not go around and greet them. "But I think it's the first time I saw him suffer from this migraine and yes, he said he was sick on the flight because of the migraine," Roque said. According to Roque, apart from occasional migraine attack, Mr. Dutertes health condition is good. "Otherwise, his health is good. It's the first time I saw him suffer from a migraine and I have gone on at least six of seven trips with him," he pointed out. Asked if the President had already undergone an annual executive check-up, the Palace spokesman said: "Well I will inquire if he has had an annual check-up and I will let you know." Topics : This article appeared on the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper website, which is a member of Asia News Network and a media partner of The Jakarta Post Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Yangon Thu, June 7, 2018 16:44 1225 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e81a7d4 2 SE Asia Myanmar,Rohingya-Muslims,Facebook,violence,religion,extremism Free Facebook has blacklisted a group of Myanmar Buddhist hardliners including monks notorious for bilious hate speech against Rohingya Muslims, the company said Thursday, as it scrambles to show it is tackling inflammatory content. The social media company plays an outsized role in a country that has only recently come online and boasts 18 million accounts among the population of around 50 million people. UN investigators have said that Facebook has morphed into a "beast" in the country and that hate speech and incitement to violence against the Rohingya are rampant on the site. Some 700,000 Rohingya have fled a violent army crackdown in Myanmar to Bangladesh since August last year -- after years of increasingly violent and angry discourse against the minority, much of it playing out on Facebook. In response, Facebook this week has undertaken its highest-profile visit yet to Myanmar. It banned the Buddhist nationalist movement Ma Ba Tha from its platform, as well as a pair of prominent monks known for stoking hatred towards the Rohingya. "They are not allowed a presence on Facebook, and we will remove any accounts and content which support, praise or represent these individuals or organisations," said Content Policy Manager David Caragliano. Extremist monks Parmaukkha and Thuseitta join their fellow firebrand clergyman Wirathu on the blacklist, after he was banned in January. Activists have criticised the platform for responding too slowly to reports of malicious posts, with some content being shared by users for more than 48 hours before being removed. Examples include calls for the killing of a Muslim journalist and posts last September saying Buddhists and Muslims were each preparing attacks against the other. Activists flagged these repeatedly to Facebook but it still took several days for the platform to act. "We can do more, and we have been slow to respond," admitted Facebook Vice President of Public Policy in Asia-Pacific Simon Milner. He said Facebook is increasing the number of people working on Myanmar from Singapore and Bangkok, including those who speak the language, although declined to give specific numbers. The platform says it is also stepping up measures to prevent fake accounts and block repeat offenders while improving systems for users to report harmful content. Myanmar activists welcomed the high profile visit but urged the platform to be more transparent. "What is the time it takes to remove harmful content? How many people do we have in the team that speak Myanmar?" tech hub Phandeeya CEO Jes Kaliebe Petersen asked. "Users deserve to know." Facebook is caught up in a data sharing scandal that also stirred furious debate on its responsibilities for the content users share including "fake news" and hate speech. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Bangkok Thu, June 7, 2018 16:57 1225 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e81b554 2 SE Asia Thailand,military-junta,politics,defense,security,budget Free The Thai junta unveiled a new $10 billion defense and security budget Thursday, in what may be its final opportunity to allocate extra funds to the armed forces before a promised return to elections early next year. Military spending has risen since former army chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha seized power from the civilian government in 2014, fitting a pattern of Thai generals generously boosting budgets following their periodic coups. The figures, proposed to the junta-picked National Legislative Assembly for the 2019 fiscal year, represent $7 billion for defence, a $1 billion increase since the military seized power four years ago. In addition the regime is planning $3 billion in security spending to manage "new threats", maintain "internal peace and order", prevent transnational crimes and cyber attacks as well as protect the monarchy. The overall national budget is $94 billion of which the largest chunk -- $15.3 billion -- is earmarked for the Ministry of Education. The spending proposals are part of a 20-year national strategy laid out last year that is legally binding for future administrations to follow. Prayut, who is now prime minister, has finally suggested a return to elections in February, as many Thais weary of junta rule. Paul Chambers, an expert on Thai politics at Naresuan University, said the latest budget may also be used to help "build and advertise" a military-backed political party for the upcoming poll. "After all, in Thailand's past, militaries have used defence budgeting in this manner," he said. Prayut is increasingly playing the politician rather than military man, taking image-boosting trips around Thailand and abroad. In the four years it has been in power the junta has overseen a sluggish economy that is just starting to pick back up, with growth reliant on domestic spending, exports and a booming tourism industry. The proposed defence budget boost also comes at a time when the Thai junta's reputation as a graft-buster has taken a hit following several high-profile scandals. Critics say the junta has been opaque in its financial dealings and failed to address rampant corruption -- despite seizing power from the elected government of Yingluck Shinawatra vowing to do so. Pichai Naripthaphan, a former energy and deputy finance minister in the previous civilian administration, said spending has risen dramatically since 2006, when the military ousted Yingluck's brother, Thaksin. "If Thailand wants to develop the country the defence ministry budget must be cut in order that money could be spent on infrastructure projects which are more important," he said. Technology has certainly made it easier for us to see the world, what with flight and accommodation bookings only a click away. But does it actually help broaden globetrotters horizons? New research by Booking.com reveals that a significant two thirds (67%) of todays travelers dont believe they are making the most of their travel opportunities due to lingering travel anxieties. The travel booking platform conducted research across more than 20,500 global travellers to uncover the barriers and anxieties which prevent people from making the most of every trip and reveal how they can move to a state of truly limitless travel. Results show that despite a world of opportunities, three in 10 people have never felt limitless on vacation and one in 10 have only ever felt limitless once. The bulk of travellers anxieties boils down to language barrier. Majority of respondents (44%) said getting lost in translation hold them back from planning a holiday. Meanwhile, 18% are nervous about getting lost without speaking the local language. Struggles to find accommodation (41%) and fear about unfamiliar situations when travelling (27%) are also potential barriers. On what would remove travel barriers, top factors cited were great accommodation options (33%), positive reviews from other travelers (30%), being able to ask questions and directions in the local language (25%) and being able to order their favorite food (22%). Read also: Eight destinations to explore in Indonesia in 2018 One cause of travel anxiety is the fear of getting lost without speaking the local language. However, many travellers (49%) admit that using technology frequently while travelling does in some way, help alleviate these concerns. Booking.com senior vice president Pepijn Rijvers said the right technology can enhance travellers experience. As an industry innovator, we are continuously looking for ways to use the latest technologies to take the friction out of travel and empower people to experience the world, he said. Back in March this year, digital media company GlobalData revealed the top six technology trends in travel to look out for in 2018. These include augmented and virtual reality, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, voice technology, WiFi connectivity and wearable devices. But if it were up to travellers, many still believe that unique experiences are what will push their travel limits. Booking.coms survey indicated that about half of the respondents (54%) think the best way to elevate their travels is to get out of their comfort zone. The top getaways to push the limits include a long-distance train journey, ancestry trip to find out about their heritage, gourmet adventure, mystery trip and volunteering holiday. Last summer, on a bucket list trip through Southern Africa, I took a total of six flights with South African Airways. On the first one, a 15-hour trip from New Yorks JFK Airport to Johannesburg, my air vent and seat-back screens were both broken. On my next five flights, the situation was only marginally better. Within a week of my return, a customer service agent at South African Airways received an angry note from me, citing the airlines outdated planes and unsympathetic flight attendants. Surely, I wasnt the only one complaining: The company seemed well-versed in responding to inquiries of this nature. Staff apologized quickly and gave me a mileage credit. It didnt undo the terrible flights, but the swift show of humanity is rare in the aviation industry. Its also the reason that the deep-in-debt carrier took the fifth slot in this years 2018 AirHelp Score report from AirHelp, a company that advocates on behalf of air travelers for compensation in cases of delays or cancelations. Its sixth annual survey uses data from the first quarter of the year to rank the 72 international airlines for which the company had statistically significant data. Overall rankings are based on three factors: on-time performance, quality of service (gleaned from public reviews on an array of reliable websites), and a claims-processing score (which reflects how a company handles customer complaints). South African Airlines has a fantastic claims-processing score, explains Ashley Raiteri, an industry adviser for AirHelpthe airline earned 8.69 points of a possible 10and its also got a good track record of keeping flights on time. Irregularities in flights are going to happen, Raiteri adds. Whats important is whether the airline has planned for that so they can make the experience less hellish for the consumer. With that in mind, here are the best and worst airlines of the year, according to AirHelp, along with their on-time performance records. Read also: AirAsia X named worlds cheapest airline for international flights The 10 Best Airlines of 2018: 1. Qatar Airways (89 percent on-time performance) 2. Lufthansa (76 percent) 3. Etihad Airways (86 percent) 4. Singapore Airlines (85 percent) 5. South African Airways (85 percent) 6. Austrian Airlines (80 percent) 7. Aegean Airlines (90 percent) 8. Qantas (89 percent) 9. Air Malta (86 percent) 10. Virgin Atlantic (82 percent ) The Worst Airlines of 2018: 63. Jet Airways (65 percent on-time performance) 64. Aerolineas Argentinas (85 percent) 65. Iberia (84 percent) 66. Korean Air (64 percent) 67. Ryanair (86 percent) 68. Air Mauritius (69 percent) 69. EasyJet (79 percent) 70. Pakistan International Airlines (61 percent) 71. Royal Jordanian Airlines (83 percent) 72. WOW Air (75 percent) Read also: Soekarno-Hatta world's 17th busiest airport Surprises exist on both lists. Iberiawhich ranked among the best airlines on a similar report from FlightStats last year that was configured purely according to on-time performanceappears in AirHelps worst airlines list, a reflection of its poor claim processing score. KLM and Emirates, airlines with passionate fan bases, ranked 11th and 16th, respectively, just outside the top 10. U.S. carriers didnt fare particularly well: American Airlines Inc. performed best, at 23rd of 72, followed by United Airlines Inc. in 37th place and Delta Air Lines, Inc. in 47th place. Delta has a great on-time performance, but in dealing with claims, more often than not they either ignore them or reject them out of hand, forcing customers into court in order to pay what theyre legally obligated to pay, Raiteri tells Bloomberg. While the three airlines won nearly identical scores in quality of service, Delta was the category leader by a few tenths of a point. While budget carriers did not fare well, with Ryanair DAC, EasyJet Airline Co., and WOW Air all appearing among the bottom 10 airlines, there was one exception: Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA ranked 12th overall, reflecting a 76 percent on-time record and very good scores both for claims processing and quality of service. The data concerning best and worst airports contain similar surprises. No American hubs were ranked in the top 30Seattle-Tacoma took the domestic lead, in the 33rd slotwhile a large number of Brazilian airports dominated the charts, something Raiteri attributes to good local weather and a hub and spoke route network that keeps flights moving smoothly and on time. AirHelps data for airports cover 141 destinations. They factor in on-time performance, quality of service, and online consumer sentiment, but its rankings heavily favor the first two criteria. Different airports deal with different problems, Raiteri explains, saying that HartsfieldJackson Atlanta has recently battled a series of power outages, while airports in Scandinavia tend to get knocked for weather delays, despite their sleek looks and efficient service. Read also: No bomb jokes in airports, airplanes: Authorities In some places, the local culture can leave people feeling cold, Raiteri adds, describing the direct style of security agents in northern Europe. Here are the best and worst airports of 2018. The 10 Best Airports of 2018 1. Hamad International Airport, Doha (DOH) 2. Athens International Airport, Athens (ATH) 3. Tokyo Haneda International Airport, Tokyo (HND) 4. Cologne Bonn Airport, Cologne, Germany (CGN) 5. Singapore Changi Airport, Singapore (SIN) 6. Nagoya Chubu Centrair Airport, Nagoya, Japan (NGO) 7. Viracopos International Airport, Campinas, Brazil (VCP) 8. Amman Queen Alia Airport, Amman, Jordan (AMM) 9. Guararapes-Gilberto Freyre International Airport, Recife, Brazil (REC) 10. Quito International Airport, Quito, Ecuador (UIO) The Worst Airports of 2018 132. Eindhoven Airport, Eindhoven, Netherlands (EIN) 133. Bordeaux Merignac, Bordeaux, France (BOD) 134. Edinburgh Airport, Edinburgh (EDI) 135. Boryspil International Airport, Kiev, Ukraine (KBP) 136. Manchester Airport, Manchester, United Kingdom (MAN) 137. Stockholm Bromma Airport, Stockholm (BMA) 138. Paris Orly, Paris (ORY) 139. LyonSaint-Exupery Airport, Lyon, France (LYS) 140. London Stansted Airport, London (STN) 141. Kuwait International Airport, Farwaniya, Kuwait (KWI) One note of optimism: Raiteri says most airlines and airports that descended in the rankings this year did so because the marketplace is becoming more competitive, not because their individual performance is declining. What we mostly see is improvement, to be honest, he tells Bloomberg. Most airlines have been late to recognizing their responsibility, but after all the publicity that United got last year, were seeing airlines taking a much different approach to dealing with passengers. For both airlines and airports, he says, We dont see folks falling in rank due to poor performancebut because another entity is doing better and pushing them down. Consider it a silver lining the next time youre stranded at the gate. Two Lower East Side elected representatives are speaking out about Mayor de Blasios controversial plan to change how students are selected for New York Citys specialized high schools. If approved by the State Legislature, the city would eliminate the specialized high school admissions test, which is used to determine which students claim 5,000 seats in eight elite schools (Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, etc.) A new admissions system would be based on grades and standardized test scores. As it stands, Blacks and Latinos make up 70 percent of students in the citys public schools, but fewer than 10% in the specialized high schools. The mayor wants to address this disparity. Yesterday, the assemblys education committee approved the legislation (although approval by the full legislature is by no means certain). Asian parents and advocacy groups have expressed outrage about the proposed changes. More than 60% of the students in the specialized high schools are of Asian descent. Before that vote took place yesterday, local Assembly member Yuh-Line Niou told NY1, I actually dont like that Asian-American students are kind of put in the middle here They are being used to be pit against other minority groups, which I dont think is appropriate. Niou, who is Asian American and represents Manhattans Chinatown, put out a statement earlier this week. It read, in part: I am deeply concerned about the language used around this issue, which has been focusing on how Asian American students are overrepresented in our Citys specialized high schools. Asian Americans are also minorities; there are over 180,000 Asian American students in the New York City education system, and 58.4% of them live close to or below the poverty line. It is unfair and wrong to pit minorities against one another when the goal is to improve educational outcomes and opportunities for all New Yorkers. Niou also stated: Tackling the diversity issue in our education system requires us to address the causes of segregation at every level, starting in our early education programs and pre-k, to our elementary, middle schools, and high schools. We must level the playing field by ensuring that families and students have equal access to resources like funding, administration, and parental involvement. Unfortunately, the Mayors current approach has left much to be desired. Per reports, the Department of Education (DOE) undertook this project years ago, yet there seems to be a community engagement aspect missing. Based on feedback, I am concerned that the DOE created this plan with minimal community involvement. When it comes to our schools and our students, it is absolutely critical for families to have ample opportunities to have their voices heard. Regrettably, the Citys abrupt announcement and desire to push this bill through the state legislature is unreasonable in terms of reviewing community feedback. District 1 City Council member Margaret Chin, the first Asian American elected to represent Chinatown, released a statement last night after the assembly committees vote: I am disappointed in the vote today by the Assemblys Education Committee on legislation that would make fundamental changes to our citys specialized high schools without discussion or consultation with the communities that would be most affected. It is time that state and local officials, as well as the NYC Department of Education, hear the concerns expressed by parents who strive to give their children the tools to succeed both inside and outside the classroom. That is why I am demanding that the Mayor meet with us, work with us, and together create a solution that works for all of our students. Many hurdles remain for the legislation, including passage by the full assembly and the State Senate. Governor Cuomo has expressed little enthusiasm for tackling the issue this year. Heres a reminder that this years version of the Lower East Side Film Festival debuts tonight at Village East Cinemas with Getting Naked: A Burlesque Story. The documentary directed by James Lester explores the neo-burlesque scene in New York City (much of the filming took place at the Slipper Room). If you cant make opening night, there are lots of great films and after-parties coming your way in the next week. Tomorrow night, for example, the local film fest celebrates the 10th anniversary of Nick & Norahs Infinite Playlist, the Michael Cera cult classic set on the Lower East Side. Also on Friday, its a special screening of Papillon, starring Rami Malek (Mr. Robot) and Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy). The remake of the 1973 classic tells the story of a Parisian safecracker framed for murder and condemned to life on Devils Island. [The film doesnt open nationwide until late summer.] On Saturday, there a Ladies Night Shorts Showcase and the New York premiere of The Outdoorsman, a romantic comedy. Then on Sunday, you can channel your inner-activist self at a screening of Show Me Democracy, a documentary that follows seven college students on the front lines of the protests in Ferguson, Missouri after the fatal shooting of Michael Brown in 2014. All festival tickets include beer and wine before the screenings. For more info and the full lineup, visit their website here. *Editors note: The author of this story is a member of the Board of Directors of the Lower East Side Film Festival. Unfortunately, The Content Is Not Here You have arrived at this page because the page or post you were looking for no longer exists. Please check our main navigation pages for other content: Home Page Home Rule was a movement and a concept of Irish nationalists in the late 19th and early 20th centuries who were striving to get from under Great Britains dominance. Eventually, the Republic of Ireland was established, but the result was a quarter of the island (Northern Ireland) being retained under British rule. The establishment of a republic did not temper Irish nationalism. There remained (and remains) a strong movement in both the republic and the north to unite the country. Opponents of a united Ireland in the north, the vast majority of whom are protestant, have a saying about uniting with the predominately Catholic republic: Home Rule is Rome Rule. There was much truth to this political battle cry. Ireland was explicitly Catholic in adoption of laws. Pope John-Paul II even praised the Republic of Ireland as the worlds most Catholic nation. And it was until recently when, by a 2-to-1 margin, the Republic of Ireland voted to repeal the 8th Amendment to its constitution forbidding abortion. There was noting sudden about the vote. Though some polls showed a close vote, the more thorough polls (predicting women to show up to vote in numbers larger than men) indicated the referendum was headed for repeal. Moreover, the Republic of Ireland had already voted to allow for divorce in 1980 and the use of contraception in 1995. One dynamic not considered by media is that the vote to repeal the abortion ban puts an end to the concern in Northern Ireland that Home Rule is Rome Rule. Now that divorce, contraception and abortion are legally available in the Republic of Ireland, the small country is no longer the Catholic bastion praised by Pope John Paul II. Indirectly, this might aid the cause in the north to unite the country, rendering the Republic of Ireland less a threat to the personal lives of the Protestant minority. Moreover, both Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland support staying a part of the European Union (EU) and are strong opponents of Brexit. Support for EU membership in the Republic of Ireland is solid and there will be no movement there to leave the continental bloc. But whereas a united Ireland is something that would be welcome to me, that the Republic of Ireland is relinquishing its Catholic character is sad. There was comfort in knowing there was a society in the western world still attached to its Catholic heritage. There was in Ireland an old-world innocence in its Catholic character. Aside from my nostalgia, there is also much truth to the notion that abortion is not health care and that what we are talking about is a child, not a choice. The ease into which the western world slips in the provision of the abortion option detracts from the concept of life and is reflected in the reality of everyday homicides. Disregard for the lives of the unborn has given rise to the disregard for life on every level. Of course, the reality is that Ireland is no longer a theocracy and as long as it was a theocracy, it could hold no hope of convincing Protestants in Northern Ireland to break away from Great Britain and unite with the republic. In a trade-off to terminating its theocracy, the prospect for a united Ireland is enhanced. So there is the choice: Theocracy in Ireland or Unity. Some of us wished for both. John ONeill is an Allen Park freelance writer. He has a degree in history from Wayne State University. Highlights include Wasted Space #5, Friendo #1, and Songs For The Dead. Source: Vault Comics FRIENDO #1 JUN182100 (W) Alex Paknadel (A/CA) Martin Simmonds Leo wasn't allowed toys as a kid, but now that he's all grown up he's going to take yours. He used to play by the rules, but then governments and corporations set fire to the rules and still expected him to behave. He probably would have if it hadn't been for his new friend Jerry. See, Jerry isn't human; he's a personalised marketing VR... and he's malfunctioning. Unhinged ultraviolence from Alex Paknadel (Arcadia) and Martin Simmonds (Punks Not Dead). In Shops: Aug 29, 2018 SRP: $3.99 SONGS FOR THE DEAD TP JUN182102 (W) Michael Christopher Heron, Andrea Fort (A) Sam Beck (CA) Tess Fowler Bethany is a minstrel with a heart full of adventure, a would-be hero determined to find a missing boy from the town of Llyne, and a friend to all woodland critters. But mostly the dead ones, because Bethany is also a necromancer. She's out to prove her magic isn't evil, and she'll need the help of a hot-headed, sword-swinging mercenary named Elissar-that is, she'll need the help of a friend. In Shops: Jul 18, 2018 SRP: $19.99 SUBMERGED #2 (OF 4) JUN182103 (W) Vita Ayala (A) Lisa Sterle (CA) Jen Bartel As the worst storm in New York City's history crashes over its streets, Ellie Puente's desperate search for her brother, Angel, takes her into the terrifying depths of the subway system. There she finds a lost, helpless child, and is confronted with the stuff of her nightmares. In Shops: Aug 01, 2018 SRP: $3.99 WASTED SPACE #5 JUN182105 (W) Michael Moreci (A) Hayden Sherman (CA) Marguerite Sauvage Things hit the fan in the finale to Wasted Space's first arc. And then there's a major twist that's going to screw things up for Billy even more than they already are. Which means we're coming back for more, baby! In Shops: Aug 29, 2018 SRP: $3.99 The Meeteetse Museums will host its annual tour of Legend Rock State Petroglyph Site on Saturday, June 9. This years tour will be led by John Fish, Assistant Superintendent of Hot Springs State Park, and Marit Bovee, Archaeologist and Paleontology Coordinator out of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) office in Worland. The tour is free and pre-registration is NOT required. Those taking part should meet at Meeteetse Museums no later than 9 a.m. The museum is located at 1947 State Street in Meeteetse. The tour will leave the museum at 9:30 a.m. sharp. If more convenient, participants may meet the organized museum group at Legend Rock. The tour begins at 10:30 a.m. Participants are expected to bring a picnic lunch and drinking water. While the walk is no more than 200 yards, hiking shoes or sneakers are recommended. For those preferring not to drive, some car-pooling may be available at the museum. A ride, however, is not guaranteed. Binoculars are strongly recommended. Following the opening presentation and tour, which together last approximately 90 minutes, participants are free to picnic and peruse the rock art on their own. The sites interpretive center will be open as well. Legend Rock, located about 27 miles northwest of Thermopolis, is one of the oldest and best examples of Dinwoody rock art in the world. Most of the Legend Rock petroglyphs are classified as being of the Dinwoody tradition. Dinwoody petroglyphs are exclusively located in the Wind River and Big Horn Basins west of the Big Horn River and were made by the people who inhabited the area as early as 11,000 years ago. The meaning and age of the Legend Rock petroglyphs are still being debated. For more information about this and other events from Meeteetse Museums, please call 307-868-2423, email info@meeteetsemuseums.org, or visit meeteetsemuseums.org. To learn more about Legend Rock, also visit Wyoming State Parks and Cultural Resources online. Rock Drive KFC have a secret menu in Aussie... and it needs to come to New Zealand In the interview with ABC News, it appears that Neil Finn and Mick Fleetwood go back a long way. Neil mentioned that he ran into Mick many, years ago and they got along really well. Many years later, the two met again at the New Zealand Music Awards (NZMA). I just got asked to join Fleetwood Mac During their Out of Silence tour in New Zealand, Liam Finn said he turned up to sound check one day, when his dad calmly said, "I just got asked to join Fleetwood Mac". At first, Neil was not inclined to join Fleetwood Mac as it meant that the father and son had to rework their plans for their Lightsleeper tour. His son, however, was very supportive and encouraged him to "go over to Hawaii and have a jam" as he believed it was an overwhelming prospect. When asked about Fleetwood Mac's complex interpersonal relationships, Neil jokingly said, "I'm just going to have to become a bit of a, you know, prat". "It's better than saying you're just going to have to sleep with all of them," Liam adds. remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. Irans nuclear chief on Wednesday inaugurated the Islamic Republics new nuclear enrichment facility that is geared toward producing centrifuges which will operate within the limits of the nuclear deal Tehran signed with world powers. Iranian state television broadcast an interview with Ali Akbar Salehi after nightfall, showcasing the facility at Natanzs uranium enrichment center. In the interview, Salehi said the facilitys construction began even before the 2015 deal was signed and that he hopes the first centrifuges known as old-generation centrifuges will roll out in a months time. In a gesture likely directed at the Trump administrations withdrawal from the deal, Iran on Tuesday informed the U.N. nuclear watchdog that it will increase its nuclear enrichment capacity, yet stay within the provisions of the accord. Were watching reports that #Iran plans to increase its enrichment capacity. We wont allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon. Iran is aware of our resolve. Its another example of Iran foolishly squandering its resources. It should surprise no one if protests in Iran continue. Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) June 6, 2018 The landmark agreement, which lifted crippling economic sanctions in exchange for Tehran limiting its uranium enrichment program, has been facing its greatest diplomatic challenges in the wake of President Donald Trumps decision to pull America out of it. European nations and others involved in the accord are now trying to salvage it, and many companies that rushed to make billion-dollar deals with Iran now are backing out for fear of being targeted by U.S. sanctions. The United States is aware of reports that Iran plans to increase its uranium enrichment capacity and Washington will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday. Were watching reports that #Iran plans to increase its enrichment capacity. We wont allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon, Pompeo said on Twitter. He added that Iran is aware of our resolve. Natanz, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of the capital, Tehran, includes underground facilities protected by some 7.6 meters (25 feet) of concrete, which offer protection from airstrikes. Salehis choice of Natanz to offer his speech came as no surprise. The facility long has been a point of contention between Iran and the West since its public disclosure by an Iranian exile group in 2002. While Tehran long has maintained its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, Western nations have feared Natanz represented a means for Iran to enrich enough uranium to produce atomic weapons. The Stuxnet computer virus, widely believed to be an American and Israeli creation, caused thousands of centrifuges at Natanz to spin themselves to destruction at the height of the Wests fears over Irans program. Under the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran agreed to store its excess centrifuges at Natanz under constant surveillance by the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency. Iran can use 5,060 older-model centrifuges at Natanz, but only to enrich uranium up to 3.67 percent. Natanz was designed to have as many as 50,000 centrifuges operating there. In Wednesdays interview, Salehi said mass-production for new-generation centrifuges will take years to be fully operational. Every new generation of centrifuges needs eight to 10 years for testing, he said. That low-level enrichment means the uranium can be used to fuel a civilian reactor but is far below the 90 percent needed to produce a weapon. Iran also can possess no more than 300 kilograms (660 pounds) of that uranium. Thats compared to the 100,000 kilograms (220,460 pounds) of higher-enriched uranium it once had. Iran also this week told the IAEA it had a tentative schedule to start production of UF6, or uranium hexafluoride. Uranium hexafluoride gas is spun by centrifuges to make enriched uranium that can be used in nuclear weapons and atomic reactor fuel. That work is also restrained under the nuclear deal. Earlier Wednesday, Iranian ambassador to the IAEA Reza Najafi told journalists in Vienna that Iran had given European nations a few weeks to come up with ways to protect the deal from Americas pullout. These are the preparatory works for a possible scenario if in an unfortunate situation the (nuclear deal) fails then Iran can restart its activities without any limits, Najafi said. What I can say is right now, the negotiations at the expert level are continuing and we hope that it could reach some conclusion, he added. Until then, we continue to exercise the most restraint but it is not (an) endless process. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian warned Iran against restarting higher enrichment of uranium. It is always dangerous to flirt with the red lines, he said. (AP) (PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE) On behalf of 36 orphan girls and their families, Colel Chabad hosted the seventh annual Bas Mitzvah celebration in Jerusalem this week. Dressed in their finest and surrounded by family and close friends, the Bas Mitzvah girls were able to celebrate in style at the newly renovated Gutnik Hall in Jerusalem with all the arrangements and costs handled by Colel Chabad. The oldest continuously-running social welfare organization in Israel since 1788, Colel Chabad helps needy families throughout the year with a wide variety of programs and services, including educational support and guidance, enrichment programs, financial support and planning and extra support for the holidays. The joy-filled celebration was mixed with bittersweet emotion as all of these young women had suffered the loss of a parent, often felt even most acutely during momentous occasions. Inspirational speaker Rabbanit Yemima Mizrachi presented a message of strength and hope to the girls and their mothers before the group enjoyed a four-course fully catered meal alongside music and dancing. All of these preparations from the beautiful design of the room to the smiles on everyones faces and the personal attention that we each received as family and not just guests nothing was left out, said one of the mothers. While the mothers and daughters were dancing, I had to move to the side to cry. I thought about my husband, the father of my beautiful daughter, looking down on us from heaven, and I felt alone. But now, looking upon all these other mothers, I see the power we all have together. It doesnt take away the pain, but it gives me strength. We know how hard it can be to celebrate an important milestone without the head of the family, said Rabbi Itzik Marton of Colel Chabad. We make every effort to give support in every way to these families throughout the year but give it our all to make these momentous occasions even more special. Being together in celebration with others in similar situations gives these mothers and daughters a sense of community and support to help them get through tougher times. (YWN Israel Desk Jerusalem/Photo Credit: Kobi Ambsalem) According to a report released by Ynet, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has decided that women form the Women of the Wall (WoW) organization will not be permitted to daven in the Kosel Plaza, but only in the area allocated for them. According to the report, if WoW does not comply with the regulations, they may be prevented from the area entirely. Every Rosh Chodesh, there are regular confrontations with the Women of the Wall who repeatedly violate the regulations and various High Court of Justice decisions, leading to confrontation and at times, arrests. The legal bureau of the Ministry of Religious Services issued warning letters to the Women of the Wall and to the chareidi women who oppose them, in anticipation of the Rosh Chodesh Tammuz prayer next week, regarding the Attorney Generals decision. The Kosel Heritage Foundation said they would demand that the police force them to issue restraining orders from the Kosel Wall, including the WoW, Anat Hofman, and its deputy Tami Gottlieb, the organizations director, Leslie Sachs; prayer leader , Yochi Rappaport Zirler; along with board members Rachel Cohen Yeshurun and Irena Lot. The Kosel Heritage Foundation said at the time that a number of women who came to the Kosel this morning knowingly violated police directives and court decisions and caused provocations to disrupt public order, despite the fact that several times in recent weeks they have been deterred. The Israel Police force was forced to intervene and warned the women that there would be no choice but to issue a restraining order against them according to the law, because they act contrary to the court and the law and violate public order. To the womens aid and worked their way through physical and verbal violence. The media statement continued, The Kosel Heritage Foundation and the Israel Police are obligated by law to maintain the status quo and the courts instructions, and not to allow any body to take the law into its own hands. Therefore, in consultation with the legal authorities, these women were warned that a restraining order had been issued against them. The issue is currently being dealt with by the legal authorities. There have been several High Court rulings on the matter, but WoW officials continue as they wish, preferring to ignore the court. (YWN Israel Desk Jerusalem) Makor Rishon has published the results of an interesting study, to determine how many more chareidim wear eyeglasses as compared to the religious and secular communities. 82% of chareidim wear eyeglasses as compared to the dati leumi community (50.3%), and secular Jews (29.7%). A study presented this week at the conference of the Association of Public Health Physicians and Public Health Schools, attended by 22,823 men who are candidates for IDF service, ages 17 and 18, from three Jewish educational systems in Israel (State, State Religious and Chareidi). It was determined that persons with visual issues requiring corrective lenses was highest among the chareidim, followed by the other sectors. The fact that the participants in the research were candidates for military service was not coincidental. The research was a thesis by Dr. Dana Bez of the Medical Corps, who studied at the Hebrew University of Israel in the combined track for outstanding students in medicine and in public health. Dr. Chaggai Levin, head of the Health and Environment Program at the Hebrew Universitys Hadassah School of Public Health and Hadassah, said: The vast majority of the youth in the chareidi school system suffered from nearsightedness, compared to those who studied in the State Religious or State schools. Moreover, the risk of short-sightedness among the chareidim is significantly higher than among those studying in other streams. Dr. Levine states: It is almost certain that the requirements of studies in chareidi schools, which require the student to make a great effort to read closely from an early age, contribute to the development of childhood myopia. The results of this study indicate the need for collaboration between the health and education systems in formulating strategies to prevent the development of myopia in children, especially in populations at risk. (YWN Israel Desk Jerusalem) The New York State Senate on Monday passed a measure to expand upon existing protections against state funds being used to support efforts to harm Israel and other American allies through boycotts and discriminatory economic agendas. The bill, sponsored by Senator Elaine Phillips (R-C, Manhasset), expands existing state law to prevent New York from entering into a state contract or investment with those seeking to economically harm American allies. New York has no business funding an economic war against Israel, or other allied nations, by conducting business with its enemies. Its an inappropriate and offensive use of taxpayer dollars, Senator Phillips said. This measure extends existing state law to combat the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks to advance anti-Semitic, anti-freedom and anticapitalistic principles. I urge the Assembly and Governor to take action on this important bill immediately so New York can follow suit with other states and end this practice. Current New York State law prohibits the State from directly engaging in an international boycott against American-allied nations. New York City has a similar prohibition as part of its administrative code. However, the state could indirectly support a boycott of American allies by providing state monies to businesses, individuals or organizations that participate in boycotts like the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement aimed at causing economic harm to Israel and the Israeli people. The bill, S.2492, would prohibit New York State from doing business with companies that seek to harm Israel and other American allies through actions like the BDS movement, which aims to cripple the Israeli economy in protest of Israels domestic security policies. This legislation would ensure that state tax dollars are not used to harm Israel and other American allies. Senator Phillips is a genuine friend of the State of Israel and the Jewish people. Her successful sponsoring of anti-BDS legislation and her outright clarity on the anti-Semites who support and sponsor BDS activities is inspiring, said Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, former CUNY Trustee, Board Member, Jewish Community Relations Council of NY and Great Neck resident. Rabbi Shia Markowitz, former Chairman of Agudath Israel of Americas Iranian Rescue Committee said, Elaine Phillips is a great friend of the Jewish community and a strong advocate in Albany for all the issues that are important to our community, including support for non-public schools and legislation opposing BDS. She has traveled to Israel and housed in her home children from north of Israel during the Lebanon war that were being bombed by Hamas. Rabbi Markowitz led the Iranian Rescue Committee for eight years helping Jewish teenagers escape Iran after the Iranian Revolution. A number of other states adopted similar laws to prevent tax dollars from supporting BDS, including New Jersey, Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina. The bill will be sent to the Assembly. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) Thames Water will pay 120million to customers in the largest water compensation payment so far, the watchdog revealed today. But households hoping for a windfall will be disappointed, as the record penalty will only amount to 15 each. The Ofwat deal involves the announcement today of a fresh 65million to be paid back, on top of 55million of automatic penalties for missing a commitment to cut leaks. Each Thames Water customer is set to get a total rebate of about 15 over the next two years Ofwat said its investigation shows that the water company - which has been under fire for paying no UK corporation tax and polluting the environment breached two of its legal obligations. It said it 'did not pay enough attention' to reducing leaks and also 'underestimated' the consequences of its poor management of leakages. 'High leakage creates unnecessary strain on the environment, excess costs for customers and increased risk of water shortages. A well-run water company will have a good understanding of the condition of its pipes and will be able to reduce leakage over time,' said Ofwat chief executive Rachel Fletcher. The 65million payment to customers is on top of a 55million in automatic penalties incurred by the company for missing its commitment it made to customers to cut leaks. Ofwat said Thames Water had 'committed' to bring forward the payment of these automatic penalties. As part of the settlement, Thames Water has also committed to getting its leakage performance back in line with what it has promised it will deliver for its customers in 2019-20. It will publish monthly leakage reports and appoint an independent monitor to certify the information in these reports. That is on top of cutting leaks by a further 15 per cent by 2025 and doing more to engage with customers on leakage issues, including at board level. Ofwat has set all water companies a target of bringing down leakage by at least another 15 per cent by 2025 and expects further reductions beyond this date. The penalties come as Thames Water has been under fire for years for paying vast dividends to its owners while polluting UK waterways, loading up on debt and paying no UK corporation tax. Last year, it was fined a record 20.3million for allowing nearly 308,000 gallons of raw sewage to pour into the upper reaches of the Thames at six sites in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Thousands of fish and birds died while residents fell ill. Thames Water was bought by a consortium led by Australian bank Macquarie in 2006 - the last year in which it paid any corporation tax in the UK. Last year, Macquarie sold all of its holdings in the company. Currently, the largest shareholders are Canadian pensions group Omers and BT Pension Scheme. Ofwat chief executive Rachel Fletcher said: 'Thames Water failed its customers in tackling leakage and the measures we've announced today illustrate the scale of the company's shortcomings and how seriously we take them. 'Thames has assured us that they now have a grip on the leakage situation, but this should serve as a catalyst for the company to improve how it delivers on its wider commitments to customers.' Thames Water chief executive Steve Robertson admitted that their recent performance had not been 'good enough'. 'We let our customers down and for that were sorry,' he added. 'We have taken more control of how we manage the network and are investing significantly more in people and resources to tackle leakage, get back on track and then go beyond.' Chancellor Philip Hammond is forever banging on about the importance to Britain of getting a good global deal for financial services. But when it came to the landmark 7.7 per cent share sale of Royal Bank of Scotland shares this week, support of UK Government Investments and the Treasury for home-grown investment banking was absent. Much of the political rage surrounding the transaction has been to condemn the Government for taking a 2.1billion loss on the taxpayer stake. But that is as much to do with former Chancellor Alistair Darling being advised to overpay in the first instance. Besides, after dozens of fire-sale disposals, RBS is a shadow of the group that it used to be. When it came to the landmark 7.7% share sale of RBS shares this week support of UK Government Investments and the Treasury for home grown investment banking was absent If the US bank and Lloyds share sales are taken as a guide then the act of re-establishing a public market for the stock is more important than initial returns. Subsequent sales given a fair economic wind ought to be at higher prices. Virtually no attention has been paid to the fact that Citigroup, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, the banks gifted the task of selling RBS, are all American. Britains only full service investment bank, Barclays, was left out. This is hardly helpful to Barclays as it bids for new work here in the UK, on the Continent and in the US. There can be no real excuses. In the recent past Barclays was the choice for a big fund raising by Standard Chartered, was involved in the flotation of Virgin Money and has done pan-European fund raising for ABN Amro and the Dutch insurer ASR. Given the scale of its work for other British institutions there is no reason to believe that it is lack of capability or conflict that caused it to be left off the RBS offer. Moreover, Goldman Sachs and others have been distinctly unhelpful to City interests post-Brexit, with loose talk of moving jobs. Goldman also was among banks castigated in the Commons and by the National Audit Office over the flawed flotation of Royal Mail in 2013. By choosing a garlanded group of US banks and ignoring Barclays the Government has made a wilful mistake, making it harder for UK-domiciled City firms to win global mandates. Fattest cat One almost expects corporate greed at luxury fashion group Burberry, where former boss Christopher Bailey is still taking shareholders for a ride with a 13million payout over two years. But one didnt expect it at York-based housebuilder Persimmon, which has grown fat on the back of the Governments Help to Buy scheme. Persimmons new head of the pay committee Marion Sears ought to have come fully armed with facts for a witness session before Parliaments business select committee. But her appearance was as hapless as Persimmons chief executive Jeff Fairburn has been in recognising that his greed is an affront to the housing industry. Sears was reluctant to acknowledge that Fairburn and his fellow executives had carted off share options in forklift trucks. She claimed Fairburn had only received a mere 2 per cent pay rise to 650,000. Then admitted it was closer to 45million, quite a difference.It was also wrong. The annual report and accounts show a figure of 47.1million, part of a package that is actually worth more than 100million, less some 25million Fairburn agreed to sacrifice. The pay director was equally as useless on worker rewards and seemed unaware that the company does not pay the real living wage. Fairburns bonus of 75million alone would pay the annual wages of 4,100 staff. Fairburn has seriously damaged the reputation of a good company. That the chief executive hasnt been dispatched into the outer darkness, taking Sears with him, is one of the mysteries of our time. Broken ARM The more one thinks about the sale of 51 per cent of ARM China to unnamed Chinese financial interests for just 578million, the more insane it looks. Reuters Breaking Views calculates that on the basis of its turnover and earnings the enterprise value of Arm China should be 4.85billion, not the 1.1billion placed on it by Softbanks boss Mayasoshi Son. None of this looks right and the dismemberment of ARM could well be in breach of undertakings made by Softbank when it bought ARM. Time for the Takeover Panel to make enquiries. The number of people interested in buying gold appears to have dwindled to an 11-year low, according to data from Google Trends. Analysis from the search engine giant shows the lowest monthly volumes for the phrase 'buy gold' since July 2007, the eve of the financial crisis. Furthermore, first-time investing in the precious metal has fallen to a four-year low according to BullionVault, the West London-based bullion exchange. Sold gold: Data from BullionVault suggests there has been a rise in profit-taking on the precious metal The number of people using the online gold, silver and platinum market for the first time was well below average last month. It amounted to just 57.2 per cent of the monthly average across the last five years - a level not seen since 2014. Profit-taking in gold has also continued among its existing customer base for a second month running, it says. It revealed that its clients liquidated 85kg as a group after selling 98kg in April. That pulled total client holdings vaulted securely in each user's choice of London, New York, Singapore, Toronto or Zurich down 0.5 per cent from March's all-time record high of 38.8 tonnes. BullionVault's data also shows the number of people starting or increasing their gold holdings in May rose 12.1 per cent from April, which marked the lowest total since January 2016. The number of sellers across May meanwhile rose 22.8 per cent to a four-month high. The price of gold has dropped in recent weeks and currently sits at $1,298 an ounce, levels last seen at the end of 2017. Adrian Ash, BullionVault director of research, said: 'The gold price is often seen as a barometer of fear and financial stress, and it has responded to 2018's stock market drops and geopolitical tensions. 'Contrary to "safe haven" headlines however, the appetite for gold is in fact weakening among private investors overall, with the number of new buyers falling to multi-year lows. 'The rise in gold prices has invited profit-taking by more active traders and also by investors who bought lower down and waited. 'Whether sellers are switching into equities or perhaps cryptocurrencies, the complacency which the lack of new interest suggests about the broader market outlook might offer a contrarian signal for investors considering an allocation to gold as financial insurance.' Whatcoin? After a surge of interest in December and January, interest in bitcoin has dropped drastically according to Google Trends It is not just gold that seems to have had a wane in interest. Cryptocurrencies also appear to have had a crash when it comes to online searches. Bitcoin, the most familiar of the digital currencies, has seen it price stabilise since the huge peak before Christmas. In the last three months, it has stayed within the $9,000 to $6,500 region. It currently sits at $7,690, with many perhaps holding onto the currency after investing in that near $20,000 peak in December 2017. Data from Google Trends suggests that online searches for bitcoin have fallen dramatically in recent months. Searches for bitcoin have fallen 90 per cent since mid-December and 75 per cent from January. Meanwhile data for This is Money from Hitwise - which looks at all the different search engines, not just Google - shows an 83 per cent decrease in the number of searches for bitcoin since the start of the year. Bosses at collapsed builder Carillion tried to cut a deal to protect themselves from fines for wrongdoing, officials have found. Executives at the government contractor thought to be interim chief executive Keith Cochrane and chairman Philip Green asked for immunity from fines or penalties by regulators for actions it took before July 2017, says the National Audit Office (NAO). They made the request at the end of December 2017, three days before the City watchdog Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced a probe into the companys stock market announcements before July 2017. Interim chief executive Keith Cochrane, left, and chairman Philip Green, right, are thought to have asked for immunity from fines or penalties by regulators On July 10 last year, Carillion stunned markets by announcing major problems, raising questions about why it hadnt disclosed them sooner. It collapsed five months later, owing more than 5billion. The request for immunity is revealed in an NAO report published today. It was listed in a table detailing requests made by Carillion, between December 31, 2017 and January 31, 2018. Under other support it says: Protection from the imposition of fined or penalties by regulators for actions taken by the company before July 2017. Bosses have repeatedly defended their handling of the firm, which had more than 420 government contracts and was helping build high-speed rail-line HS2 as well as schools, hospitals and roads. They have been accused of putting payouts ahead of pensions and manipulating accounts to make it look in better health. Immunity was among a string of requests Carillion made of the Government as the firm fought for its survival at the turn of the year, the NAO report shows. Accountants' 50 Bill Bean-counters PwC are expected to pocket 50million for around six months work on the insolvency of Carillion. Taxpayers face having to foot a liquidation bill expected to reach 148million. PwC was hired for the work as it had fewer conflicts of interest than the three other big accountancy firms. The collapse of Carillion has sparked calls for a break-up of the so-called Big Four due to concerns too little competition makes them do their job badly. In addition to immunity, bosses wanted a 160million loan, a 63million tax waiver, assistance getting out of troublesome Middle East contracts, and help negotiating with the Pension Protection Fund. But the Government denied the bailout, opting instead to let the company fall into compulsory liquidation. It believed this would cause less trouble and avoid setting a precedent. The request for immunity was withdrawn by January 8. When it collapsed on January 15, Carillion owed more than 5billion, with a pension black hole of around 1billion. It had only 29million cash in the bank and employed around 20,000 UK workers. Since then, 2,340 have been made redundant while 11,739 people have found new work. The rest are still employed by Carillion or have left. Many of the 30,000 suppliers are expected to get back a fraction of the 2billion thought to be owed. Carillion was struggling to bring in cash and was facing particularly heavy losses on public finance initiative contracts. These included 91million on building roads in Aberdeen, 83million on the Royal Liverpool Hospital, and 48million on the Midland Metropolitan Hospital. As problems mounted, on average Carillion was paying almost one-third of its invoices more than 60 days later, the NAO report says. It announced 1.9billion of new Government work after the July 10 profit warning and was handed the HS2 contract despite extra stress tests, which it passed based on rosier accounts in March 2017. Kingston-upon-Thames-based Intelliflo has been sold by parent company Hg to investment manager Invesco A company that makes software for financial and mortgage advisers has been snapped up for a reported 200million. Kingston-upon-Thames-based Intelliflo has been sold by parent company Hg to investment manager Invesco, it was announced yesterday. The companys Intelligent Office software system is used by about a third of UK advisers, who manage more than 300billion for their clients. It was bought by Hg, a private equity firm, in 2013. Hamish Purdey, chief executive of Intelliflo, said: In a comparatively short space of time, we have built one of the UKs largest pure-play software as a service businesses, and we now look forward to expanding our business, taking our leading technology into new markets. Sebastien Briens, a partner at Hg, said: We will continue our focus on the asset management and wealth sector, having already partnered with several exciting businesses. The deal is worth 200million, says Money Marketing newspaper a figure Intelliflo dismissed. Capita boss Jonathan Lewis is joining the board of Norwegian oil major Equinor (formerly Statoil) as it looks to diversify. Originally from south Wales, he spent 15 years in Texas working for oil services company Halliburton. He took over at outsourcer Capita last December after previous employer Amec Foster Wheeler was sold to Wood Group. The IT and administration firm has tapped shareholders for 701million as it tries to recover from a string of missteps. Asda's headquarters in Leeds is to be demolished and hundreds of Sainsbury's staff moved from London, following the 14.1billion merger of the two supermarkets. Asda House, where 3,000 people work, is set to be rebuilt as an enlarged base for staff of both supermarkets, the Mail has learned. Hundreds of Sainsbury's staff will then be moved from London to the Yorkshire as the company looks to axe 200million of costs following the merger. It will see Sainsbury's become the latest giant British company to move managerial and administrative jobs from London to save costs. Condemned: Asda's headquarters in Leeds is to be demolished and hundreds of Sainsbury's staff moved from London Last month, BT said it was to shut its main London headquarters and move thousands of jobs out of the city. However, the Sainsbury's move risks putting it at loggerheads with more staff. It axed 500 employees three years ago and then 2,000 more workers last year. It has also changed working contracts, leaving some long-serving staff worse off. MPs have already expressed concerns about the future of Asda House after the two supermarkets join forces. But the Mail has discovered that Asda House is under threat from the planned high-speed railway HS2, which is set to run through Leeds. Under current plans, a new station being built for HS2 will run directly into Asda House. If passed in parliament, Asda will be forced to give up the building to HS2 contractors by 2022, meaning staff are likely to need to move out. Sainsbury's is eyeing this an opportunity to build a bigger headquarters in the Yorkshire city and move staff there from London. In a letter last month to Rachel Reeves MP, chairman of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, chief executive Mike Coupe said: 'I can confirm that following the combination of Sainsbury's and Asda, we would continue to have a strong presence in Leeds, alongside our existing office locations. 'This makes good strategic sense given the three core UK retail talent pools are based on the M62 corridor, the Midlands and London.' And Asda chief executive Roger Burnley wrote in a separate letter: 'We are absolutely dedicated to having our head office in Leeds. This was an assurance we gave to Leeds City Council.' But Coupe has admitted that it will slash management jobs. He said 'a very small number of well-paid managerial roles will be duplicated across the group'. Last month Coupe pocketed 1.8million worth of shares, shortly after he was caught singing We're In The Money as the Asda deal was announced. He will run the new firm of more than 330,000 staff and a combined market share of 31.4 per cent. Sainsbury's said: 'Our colleagues already work from a number of office locations across the country, including London, Edinburgh, Manchester, Coventry and Milton Keynes. Following the merger, we will also have colleagues based in Leeds.' Foreign tech stocks helped Monks Investment Trust deliver market-beating results MARKET BEATER Foreign tech stocks such as Amazon and Alibaba helped Monks Investment Trust deliver market-beating returns in the year to April 30. It backs businesses worldwide and delivered 15.8 per cent of its value back to savers. LONDON LAUNCH New York hedge fund Hudson Bay Capital is to launch in London to take advantage of a European deal-making boom. It looks after 2billion of investors cash, and has hired several investment veterans. HQ SALE The headquarters of German lender Commerzbank is on the market for 425million. The site in Gresham Street near the Bank of England has been put up for sale by owner Samsung Life Insurance. BRITISH RECORDS Foreign owners sold British firms worth a record 6.9billion in the first three months of 2018, data from the Office for National Statistics shows. PARTNERS MADE Accountancy firm Deloitte has promoted 54 British staff to the coveted rank of partner, three fewer than a year earlier. Only 20 per cent of these were women. 66M RAISED Property investor Yew Grove Reit has raised 66million ahead of a float on the AIM junior stock market tomorrow. TECH VALUATION Financial technology firm Adyen has been valued at up to 6.2billion ahead of a float on the stock market. SECURITY FEAR Social media network Facebook faces fresh pressure over data-sharing deals with mobile device makers, after it emerged they include Chinese companies such as Huawei, raising security concerns in the US. PASSENGERS UP The number of passengers flying with EasyJet jumped 3.7 per cent last month to 7.8m, despite 1,000 flights being cancelled in May due to storms and strikes. BORROWING BACKED Model train maker Hornby has secured a deal to borrow up to 18million to get back on track, from PNC Business Credit and Phoenix. DEAL OK Aerospace and defence firm Northrop Grumman has been cleared by US competition authorities to buy rocket motor supplier Orbital in a deal worth 6billion. UBER BIKES An electric cycle rental service is being launched in Berlin by Uber, with plans to launch in other European cities. MHLUME The sun has set on eight Mananga Sugar Packers (PTY) Ltd shop stewards who were suspended early this year in connection with their participation in a protracted strike last year. Their dismissal comes after a disciplinary inquiry found them guilty of violating the companys rules and regulations, during the strike which ran from June until December last year. In March this year, the company also fired 23 workers who had also taken part in the protracted strike. The shop stewards were charged with various counts, ranging from violating safety procedures to tampering with clocking records. on July 17, 2017, you violated Section 9, Clause 9.2&9.3 of the MSP IR policies and procedures when you were an accomplice and took part in being dishonest, bearing false witness, forgery and tampering with clocking records as you were clocked in by another employee at the main gate. This act was deliberately done to deceive the employer, reads a charge sheet of one of the shop stewards. Each of the shop stewards faced not less than 10 charges and they were found guilty on most of the charges by the disciplinary inquiry. They appealed the ruling to an appeals chairman who had been hired by the company but he also upheld the initial judgment. Having considered the essential elements as highlighted in the appeal summary of findings and your years of service with MSP (Mananga Sugar Packers), the company has come to the conclusion that the suitable sanction for the various acts of misconduct that you were charged with is a dismissal with notice. I therefore confirm that your employment is terminated with one months notice plus four additional days for each completed year of service, reads one of the dismissal letters of the shop stewards. During the disciplinary hearings, the shop stewards were represented by Archie Sayed, the Deputy Secretary General of the Swaziland Agricultural Plantations and Allied Workers Union (SAPWU). MBABANE The dreadful hunger situation faced by pupils of KaKholwane Primary School has resulted in some of them collapsing and missing classes. This was disclosed by the schools Head teacher Smangele Mtsefwa, who said within a week, about eight pupils collapsed due to hunger, as a result of lack of food at the school. Yesterday morning, she said a Grade II pupil soiled herself after she experienced severe stomach cramps due to hunger, while others bled through their nostrils. This, she said, was the most traumatic experience for the teachers who were also helpless. Mtsefwa said the teachers had challenges continuing with classes as they had to take care of the affected pupils. In most cases, she said pupils complained of hunger, adding that they had gone without a meal for two days. This is an everyday situation that we have to deal with as a school. The pupils clearly cannot concentrate in class under the current conditions, she said. Mtsefwa said those in lower grades were more prone to falling ill, while pupils in the senior classes slept on their desks. Kitchen She said the school kitchen had been locked since the beginning of the term and they were not preparing any meals for the pupils. Mtsefwa said the situation was appalling and this would affect the pupils academic performance. According to Mtsefwa, last term they received 14 bags of maize meal, seven bags of beans, cooking oil and a bucket of peanut butter, which had all been used up. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Thursday announced for the first time an unconditional ceasefire with the Taliban, coinciding with the end of the Muslim fasting month, but excluding other militant groups, such as Islamic State. The decision came after a meeting of Islamic clerics this week declared a fatwa, or ruling, against suicide bombings, one of which, claimed by Islamic State, killed 14 people at the entrance to the clerics\ peace tent in Kabul, the capital. The clerics also recommended a ceasefire with the Taliban, who are seeking to reimpose strict Islamic law after their ouster in 2001, and Ghani endorsed the recommendation, announcing a laying down of arms until June 20. Ghani has urged ceasefires with the Taliban before, but this was the first unconditional offer since he was elected in 2014. "This ceasefire is an opportunity for Taliban to introspect (sic) that their violent campaign is not winning them hearts and minds," Ghani said in a message on social network Twitter after a televised address. There was no immediate reaction from the Taliban but an international political analyst based in Kabul was unimpressed. "It\s a one-sided love story," he said. U.S. Forces-Afghanistan said they would honor the ceasefire. "We will adhere to the wishes of Afghanistan for the country to enjoy a peaceful end to the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, and support the search for an end to the conflict," Gen. John Nicholson, U.S. Forces-Afghanistan and the NATO-led Resolute Support commander, said in a statement. The ceasefire would not include U.S. counter-terrorism efforts against Islamic State and al Qaeda, it said. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the announcement which he said "shows the seriousness of President Ghani and the Afghan government". Both he and the United Nations urged the Taliban to reciprocate. The United States and Russia also praised the decision. "The Afghan governments offer of a temporary ceasefire underscores its commitment to peace as both a national and religious responsibility," the State Department said in a statement. But former Afghan army general Atiqullah Amarkhel said the ceasefire would give the Taliban a chance to regroup. "From a military prospect, it is not a good move," he told Reuters. He also said he doubted the Taliban would lay down arms and deny themselves the opportunity of fighting during the holy month of Ramadan, in which attacks have intensified. The Eid al-Fitr holiday ending Ramadan falls at the end of next week. Ghani in February offered recognition of the Taliban as a legitimate political group in a proposed political process that he said could lead to talks to end more than 16 years of war. Ghani proposed a ceasefire and a release of prisoners among options including new elections involving the militants and a constitutional review in a pact with the Taliban to end a conflict that last year alone killed or wounded more than 10,000 civilians. In August, U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled a more hawkish military approach to Afghanistan, including a surge in air strikes, aimed at forcing the Taliban to the negotiating table. Afghan security forces say the impact has been significant, but the Taliban roam huge swaths of the country and, with foreign troop levels of about 15,600, down from 140,000 in 2014, there appears little hope of outright victory. SOURCE: REUTERS Jail Task Force announces public input meetings An invitation for residents and voters to speak out on what many believe is an ongoing human rights crisis.Read more:KANSAS CITY, Mo. Jackson County Executive Frank White, Jr.s Jail Task Force is inviting community members to attend the first of two public input meetings regarding the Jackson County Detention Center.These meetings play an important role in helping the Jail Task Force fulfill its mission to make recommendations related to the potential capacity and type of jail the Jackson County community needs and deserves.What: Jail Task Force Public Input MeetingWhen: Monday, June 11 5:30 7:00 p.m.Where: Manual Career and Technical Center1215 E. Truman Road, KCMOCitizens will have the opportunity to participate in an open dialogue with task force members and Shive-Hattery/HDR team leaders, who are conducting an analysis and feasibility study of Jackson Countys criminal justice system. The Shive-Hattery/HDR team is comprised of leading firms from coast-to-coast in the criminal justice system, including Urban Institute, Further the Work, Falcon Inc. and MG Martin Inc.Community members can also submit their concerns and ideas by emailing jailtaskforce@jacksongov.org. A second public input meeting is tentatively scheduled for Monday, July 16. Additional details are still being finalized.###Developing . . . Deportation To Mexico's 'Most Dangerous' City Leaves Kansas City Man's Family In Fear After the Board of Immigration Appeals in Virginia denied his appeal on May 3, Crecensio Mendez Ramirez was deported to his native Mexico. Mendez, who had lived with his partner and four children in the Kansas City area for more than a decade, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in February during his yearly check-in. Some of our more callous and skeptical readers might celebrate this hardship whilst bleeding heart "progressives" would be happy with open borders in somebody else's backyard . . . Meanwhile drama immigration drama continues to unfold with real people caught in a political stalemate and very little progress on the The Wall or comprehensive reform. Read more: MILLENNIALS AND THE NEXTGEN DON'T CARE ABOUT BRANDS AND ARE INCREASINGLY MOVING AWAY FROM LUXURY GOODS!!! All of the local reporting on the subject of Kate Spade comes down cynical celebrity hero worship. Public health parallels and info about depression connected to the story fail to resonate because most of the working-poor will never have the kind of resources this bag lady accumulated in her losing fight with her inner demons. The fact is, for decades the U.S. has been coping with a dearth of mental health resources for veterans, homeless and potential mass shooters. So, Kate Spade reportedly hanging herself because she was gonna get divorced isn't exactly relatable given the prevalence of broken homes among every social strata of the American public. Over the past 24 hours local newsies have been falling all over themselves to connect the passing of a super-rich bag lady in NYC to her humble roots in Kansas City.Examples:The story of Kate Spade wasn't exactly rags to riches, she was doing okay before she hit it big time in the fashion industry but rising to the big leagues out of Kansas City middle-class mediocrity is a dream that captivates more than a few locals and just about everybody who talks too loud on the Plaza or in Westport.But more than anything, MSM and middle-class obsession with the passing of the NYC fashionista reveals an age gap and culture divide with denizens of the digital discourse.Why???Further reading on the youngsters in your fam trying to save a buck:And so, all of this MSM heartache might be on behalf of a talented lady with local roots who is otherwise unknown to most of their audience which increasingly skip wasting big bucks on a purse.Meanwhile, more responsible newsies are attempting to shift the conversation to mental health to offer some relevance for their audience asattempts to turn the discussion into a "girl power" talking point:Nevertheless . . .Still, we're all entitled to our grief.Every Summer in Kansas City there are numerous vigils that mourn the death of local homicides throughout the urban core. Accordingly, a luxury handbag vigil for this beloved designer shouldn't be out of the question given the abundance of bitter tears shed on behalf of not only a beloved celebrity but also over the downfall of yet another staple of American middle-class life.You decide . . . So Much For The Honeymoon, Gov. Parsons Not Pro-Gay Enough for Media - The Sentinel Mike Parsons had been Missouri governor for four days and nine minutes when the Kansas City Star editorial board decided it was high time to challenge Parsons on his gay credentials. The provocative Star headline reads, "'I don't support them': Gov. Parson's views on 'the homosexual issue' are cause for concern." Here's an important perspective on the newspaper committing a cheap shot by not offering context on what was actually a statement that mostly offered consideration to the rights of LGBT workers. Thankfully, Conservative pundit Cashill takes them apart on this bit of editorial unfairness. Read more: Federal border authorities in May arrested more than 50,000 people who crossed into the country illegally, the third month in a row that number was eclipsed. The large number of arrests continue despite the Trump administration's announcement that it will continue to separate children from their illegal immigrant parents, who are incarcerated. The petition to move forward a Missouri audit of the embattled suburban local government recently gained 1,691 voter signatures totaling 8,697. A recent fire alarm at the Clay County Courthouse irked reformers over the lack of emergency response and no clear plan to deal with dox at risk in case of a real emergency. THE CONSEQUENCES OF AN ALLEGED SLAP FIGHT BETWIXT A PUBLIC OFFICIAL VS. A SUPPORTER OF THE AUDIT WILL BE CHARGED TO TAXPAYERS!!! "According to a police report, the incident occurred on April 27 at the Lowe's in Liberty where an assistant Clay County administrator allegedly assaulted a private citizen. He was at the Lowe's with another assistant county administrator, who is listed as a witness in the case. "These records show the county -- and ultimately taxpayers -- will pay the attorneys to represent the employees in this criminal investigation." The struggle to clean up Clay County is making progress and getting serious.A few items to consider . . .And then . . .Most importantly . . .Take a look:Deets:And so, the Northland political beef is getting personal and taxpayers are now on the hook as the crusade for reform is literally fighting for survival.Read more . . . A young man from Heraklion city has given a new twist to Cretes favorite drink by inventing a motorbike that runs on tsikoudia. K. Iliadis, put tsikoudia a distilled, transparent local drink made of grapes to a new use as a biodegradable, environment-friendly fuel. The eco-friendly motorbike was presented during City Challenge, a competition held by the Central Union of Municipalities of Greece (KEDE) in an effort to solve urban problems, such as pollution or overcrowding, through technology. Among the proposals was that of a motorbike that uses biogas, or distillation products such as tsikoudia, or other biodegradable derivatives, as fuel, Heraklion Deputy Mayor Petros Iniotakis told ekriti.gr. The proposal was made by a young man from our municipality, who studied and built the greenest and most environmentally friendly motorbike, he noted. The competition was organized at the Heraklion CityLab, and according to ekriti.gr, the Heraklion man might be the winner who will participate in the national-level Stavros Niarchos Foundation competition. Source: Philip Chrysopoulos/greekreporter 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: Nik Frey License: CC-BY-SA Algosaibi Holding Group, a leading investment company in the region, has signed a grant agreement with Ebdaa Bank, as a nonprofit social financing, that seek to help low-income Bahraini make their way to business. This grant of BD100,000 ($263,000) will help enhancing banks financial solvency and to increase its ability to expand borrowers list which currently includes more than 2,500 borrowers. The agreement was signed by Dr Khalid Al Ghazawi, CEO of Ebdaa Bank, and Fawaz Algosaibi, CEO of Algosaibi Holding, at the headquarter of Ebdaa Bank in Sanabis, Bahrain. We grant five types of loans without guarantees to low-income Bahrainis in Ebdaa Bank, including Sayidati loan to finance projects run by housewives, in addition to other financing products that suits each borrowers project, Dr Al Ghazawi said. The total amount of one loan varies between five hundred and one thousand dinars, while the average of per loan is only 893 dinars. This support from Algosaibi Group can greatly improve our business, especially as we monitor high rates of sustainability and expansion of borrowed projects. The CEO of Ebdaa Bank welcomed Algosaibi Holding group as a new supporter to banks supporters group which including Mona Almoayyed, Khalid Kanoo, Abdulhameed Dwani, AGFUND, Eskan Bank and Bahrain Development Bank. He praised Algosaibi Holding Group as one of the leading Bahraini institutions in the field of promoting the national economy and supporting the Bahraini society. Fawaz Algosaibi said: This support is a part groups social responsibility towards Bahraini community, providing support to the low income population and encouraging them to venture their business would contribute to provide job vacancies, reduce import invoices and support the national economy to achieve Bahrain 2030 vision. Algosaibi praised the efforts made by Ebdaa Bank to provide easy financing for low-incomers and prudent management practices implemented by the Bank, which contributed to its financial stability and the constant expansion of borrowers. Expressing his full confidence in the ability of the bank to manage the amount of support and maximize the benefit from it. TradeArabia News Service Arab Contractors Company (ArabCo) said its joint venture with Suez, a French-based utility company which operates largely in the water treatment and waste management sectors, has won a 50-million ($58.3 million) deal from the Egypt government for the revamping of a wastewater treatment plant in Alexandria, Egypt. The contract was awarded by the Ministry of Housing, and the project is likely to be completed by the end of 2020, said a statement from the company. As per the deal, the Arab Contractors Company-Suez JV will help boost the efficiency of the wastewater treatment plant at Alexandria. The scope of work includes construction of four tanks with a diameter of 36m and a height of 23m for sludge collection besides a distribution tower, a boiler building, gas tanks, gas treatment units, a tank for bio gas sludge and receiving tank, it added. Arab Contractors Company said the work is likely to be competed in two phases. In Phase One, the focus will be to improve the performance and increase the efficiency of the plant, and treatment of the sludge generated by the plant using the biogas, while the Phase Two will be aimed at reducing the environmental impact of these sewage purification products. This will have a positive effect in maximising the utilisation of the emerging sludge besides improving the environmental status as (pollution reduction and decrease the odours resulting from the station by reducing the proportion of 30 per cent of the volume of sludge the use of the drying sludge in different matters - generating electrical power up to 50 per cent of the power plant consumption), stated the Egyptian contractor. A giant facility located in Alexandria, the Eastern Purification Treatment Plant caters to most of the eastern regions with a capacity of 800,000 cu m per day, said Hassan Al Far, the head of the Executive Authority for Drinking Water and Wastewater of Greater Cairo and Alexandria, after signing the deal with Mohsen Salah, the chairman of the Arab Contractors Company and Engineer Sherif Noaman, the regional manager of Suez International. The main objective is to burn the products of purification of sewage water for the extraction of gases used in generating electricity a clean energy and achieving self-sufficiency of energy.-TradeArabia News Service Eighty-three per cent of residents in the UAE, Egypt and Saudi Arabia understand the impact of food waste on the environment and 77 per cent actively take action to reduce their food waste footprint, according to a recent survey. In Saudi Arabia, it was recently revealed by Al Arabiya that the estimated cost of waste per year is $13.3 billion, amounting to one third of the countrys food production. Similarly, in the UAE, 40 per cent of waste generated in the country is derived from food waste, said the survey conducted by Danfoss, a global leader in engineering solutions. Egypt, as well, has its own issues with the average Egyptian throwing away around 73 kilograms of food each year. Ziad Al Bawaliz, regional president for Turkey, Middle East and Africa (TMA), said: The food consumption habits in the Middle East are some of the most concerning in the world and this has a significant impact on the global environment, whether its because of overflowing landfills or the emission of greenhouse gases as a result of the food waste. The reduction of food waste helps the environment by diminishing the landfill stream of decomposing food which releases methane gas and, in turn, contributes to global warming. Fortunately, initiatives are already being put in place to ensure this proposed reduction becomes a reality, especially during Ramadan. Saudi Arabia, for example, has launched a national program to tackle the issue of food waste while in the UAE, Dubai is planning to be the first city in the Middle East to achieve zero food waste through the UAE Food Bank, a non-profit charitable organization launched last year. Wasteless Egypt, a mobile phone application that launched last year in cooperation with the Egyptian Food Bank, lets residents donate leftover food and clothes to the less fortunate areas with the click of a button during Ramadan and year-round. Such initiatives have had a positive impact on residents with 79 per cent of survey respondents claiming they are especially more conscious of the food they waste during Ramadan because of the numerous food-saving activities taking place. However, that is not to say they are unaware the other 11 months of the year 68 per cent of respondents often take home their leftovers when they eat at a restaurant and 83 per cent would, if given the opportunity, give their leftovers to the less fortunate. Sustainability and protection of the environment are part of our core values at Danfoss and through this survey, we wanted to spread awareness on the issue of food waste, commented Al Bawaliz. These results are extremely positive; proving that the Middle East region is finally starting to sit up and take notice of the damage being caused to the environment through their own actions is everything we could wish for. It is my hope that the Middle East continues on this path and achieves the goal of zero food waste. Danfoss also said that zero food waste can be achieved by using refrigeration systems with state-of-the-art technologies that support sustainable food storage. Restaurants, hotels and supermarkets can invest in refrigerators that house compressors, variable frequency drives and eco-friendly refrigerants designed for cooling applications that keep foods fresh, safe and high quality in longer duration. This contributes to reducing food waste in large amounts. These technologies require reduced energy consumption that in turn generates substantial cost savings for owners and HVAC professionals. TradeArabia News Service Euro CMBS Market Shows Signs of Life The European commercial real estate securitization market is back! According to a recent report from DBRS, the European CMBS market has experienced a steady stream of issuance since November 2017 after expectations for a post-crisis return had largely petered out. Although, it is still too early to predict a significant return this time around, DBRS wrote, competitive pricing has helped CMBS see a resurgence in issuance. However, the report added CMBS deals have re-emerged with new and interesting structural features that have not been seen before. This report will highlight the key structural changes investors should be aware of in recent European CMBS transactions. Issuance Returns Issuance of European CMBS transactions has begun to re-emerge after virtually disappearing from the European securitization market. Before the global financial crisis, annual European CMBS issuance grew to a peak of EUR 61.7 billion in 2006 from EUR 11.1 billion in 2003. However, after the market turned down, issuance was very limited for European CMBS. Transaction volumes post-crisis ranged from EUR 340 million in 2008 to a high of EUR 8.5 billion in 2013, and were helped by the refinancing of a number of deals, including German multifamily transactions (which have since been refinanced outside European CMBS), in particular. More recently, after a reasonably strong year in 2015 with ten transactions, and following an equally steady 2014, expectations were for a return to a regular issuance market in Europe. However, issuance dried up to only one or two European CMBS transactions per year. In 2016, there were only three transactions, one of which was a tap issuance for the pub group, Greene King. European CMBS is still a relatively small avenue of funding for commercial real estate. There are many alternative sources of funding from deposits and covered bonds to insurance companies and direct loan funds. As a result, European CMBS is very sensitive to the relative cost of these funding alternatives. With readily available low-cost central bank financing to the banks and beneficial capital treatment for commercial real estate loans over CMBS bonds for insurance companies, the demand for the securitization of commercial real estate loans diminished. For more information on related topics, visit the following channels: The Haen Gallery in Brevard will present an exhibit of the late Tim Murray's work, including pieces never previously shown. The opening of "Celebrating Tim Murray: A Life In Art," is planned for Saturday, June 16, from 5-8 p.m. at The Haen Gallery at 200 King St. in Brevard. Born in Reading, England, Murray arrived in the United States in 1948. He went to school in Winston-Salem, studied art and engineering at Mars Hill College and earned a degree in art from UNC-Chapel Hill. An Edward Seese Distinguished Service Professor and Johnie H. Jones Distinguished Professor in Teaching, Murray was... "You Are Going To Explode" is a new short film being produced by Tyler Chase and Tammy Hopkins. Brevard's own Tyler Chase will be stepping into a new acting role as Arthur, a clinically depressed man who has been diagnosed with "corpuscular ignition." "He finds out he's literally going to explode," Chase explained. In the short film "You are going to Explode," which will be directed by Tayler Robinson and was written by Charles Morris, Arthur discovers that he suffers from an illness that requires him to find meaning in his life, or he will, in fact, combust. "We really love the whole concept, and he's even given a timeline on how long he has to find purpose, so it's a very funny... Swiss-Belhotel International, the global hospitality management chain, has recognised its top performers at the annual SBI Awards, which celebrate the highest levels of excellence across the companys global portfolio of hotels and resorts. (TRAVPR.COM) UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - June 7th, 2018 - Swiss-Belhotel International, the global hospitality management chain, has recognised its top performers at the annual SBI Awards, which celebrate the highest levels of excellence across the companys global portfolio of hotels and resorts. The SBI Awards honour the hotels and individuals who excel, achieve exceptional levels of performance, and reflect the trademark Passion and Professionalism of Swiss-Belhotel International. This years winners were announced at the companys annual General Managers Conference, which was held at the Hotel Ciputra Jakarta from 2-5 May 2018. Hotel teams and team members from more than 60 properties around the world can be nominated for an SBI Award. Categories cover the full spectrum of hotel departments, including food & beverage, front office, housekeeping, e-commerce, sales and marketing. Special Loyalty Certificates are also awarded to those team members who have developed their careers with Swiss-Belhotel International and served the company with distinction over the course of many years. Key winners at the 2018 SBI Awards included Trong Khoa Dinh, Regional Director of Operations & Development Vietnam & Malaysia, who took home the Rising Star Award, and Mohamed Ali Hassanien, General Manager of the Swiss-Belhotel Sharjah, who won the prestigious Passion & Professionalism Award. The Executive of the Year award was presented to Emmanuel Guillard, Senior Vice President - Operation and Development - Indonesia, Malaysia, and Cambodia, and CEO of Zest Hotels International and the prestigious Presidential Award went to James Tam, Executive Vice President. And the most coveted award and it was a double celebration as Swiss-Belresort Coronet Peak in Queenstown, New Zealand was named as the companys Hotel of the Year, and its GM, Grant Gaskin, won the General Manager of the Year accolade. At Swiss-Belhotel International, we understand that our people are our most important and valuable assets. They have the ability to elevate our hotels and create extraordinary experiences, ensuring that guests return to Swiss-Belhotel time after time, commented Gavin M. Faull, Chairman and President of Swiss-Belhotel International. It gives me great pride and pleasure to celebrate our top performing teams and individuals. All of our winners are inspirational; they represent the best of our company and reflect the Passion and Professionalism that we strive to bring to every area of our business. I would like to thank each and every Swiss-Belhotel International team member for their hard work and dedication over the last 12 months, and offer huge congratulations to our SBI Award winners for their incredible contributions, Mr Faull added. The SBI Award winners were selected by Mr Gavin M. Faull, Chairman and President, and Mr. James Tam, Executive Vice President of Swiss-Belhotel International with input from the Executive Directors Matthew D. Faull, Oliver R. Faull and Edward J.L. Faull and corresponding senior management in each category and location. The full list of 2018 SBI Award winners are as follows: GENERAL MANAGER OF THE YEAR AWARD Grant Gaskin Area General Manager - New Zealand and Australia Swiss-Belresort Coronet Peak, Queenstown - New Zealand HOTEL OF THE YEAR AWARD Swiss-Belresort Coronet Peak, Queenstown - New Zealand PRESIDENTIAL AWARD James Tam Executive Vice President EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR AWARD Emmanuel Guillard Senior Vice President - Operation and Development - Indonesia, Malaysia, and Cambodia CEO - Zest Hotels International RISING STAR AWARD Trong Khoa Dinh Regional Director Operations and Development Vietnam & Malaysia PASSION & PROFESSIONALISM AWARD Mohamed Ali Hassanien General Manager - Swiss-Belhotel Sharjah OWNERS RELATIONSHIP AWARD Michael Perdikaris General Manager - Hotel Ciputra Jakarta REVPAR (REVENUE PER AVAILABLE ROOM) AWARD - HOTEL Swiss-Belhotel Seef, Bahrain REVPAR (REVENUE PER AVAILABLE ROOM) AWARD - SUITES Swiss-Belsuites Victoria Park, Auckland - New Zealand MOST IMPROVED REVPAR AWARD Swiss-Belhotel Brisbane, Australia E-COMMERCE AWARD Swiss-Belinn Legian, Bali - Indonesia NEW E-COMMERCE AWARD Swiss-Belhotel Brisbane, Australia GUEST SATISFACTION AWARD Swiss-Belboutique Yogyakarta, Indonesia FOOD AND BEVERAGE AWARD Swiss-Belhotel Seef, Bahrain BRANDING EXCELLENCE AWARD Swiss-Belboutique Yogyakarta, Indonesia SBEC (SWISS-BELHOTEL EXECUTIVE CARD) AWARD Swiss-Belhotel Mangga Besar, Jakarta - Indonesia HOUSEKEEPING AWARD Swiss-Belhotel Tuban, Bali Indonesia MOST IMPROVED HOUSEKEEPING AWARD Zest Hotel Sukajadi, Bandung - Indonesia Swiss-Belhotel Tarakan, Kalimantan - Indonesia For further information and high-resolution photography, please contact: Brayna Tolledo Group Communication and Loyalty Programme Manager Swiss-Belhotel International, Group Sales and Marketing Office Tel: (62 21) 2952 7277, 2952 7278 Fax: (62 21) 2952 7275, 2952 7276 Email: braynatolledo@swiss-belhotel.com www.swiss-belhotel.com Notes to Editors: Swiss-Belhotel International currently manages a portfolio of more than *145 hotels, resorts and projects located in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Australia, New Zealand, Bulgaria, Georgia, Italy and Tanzania. Awarded Indonesia's Leading Global Hotel Chain seven times, Swiss-Belhotel International is one of the world's fastest-growing international hotel and hospitality management groups. The Group provides comprehensive and highly professional development and management services in all aspects of hotel, resort and serviced residences. Offices are located in Hong Kong, New Zealand, Australia, Europe, United Arab Emirates, China, Indonesia and Vietnam. *Numbers may fluctuate Hina Bakht Managing Director EVOPS Marketing & PR Mob: 00971 50 6975146 Tel: 00971 4 566 7355 Hina.bakht@evops-pr.com www.evops-pr.com ### editorial@tribune.com Tarn Taran: The patrolling party of the 77th BSF Battalion seized a 9MM pistol with a magazine along with 14 live cartridges from the border outpost in Rattoke during its routine search on Tuesday evening. The Khemkaran police have registered a case under Sections 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act. SHO Balwinder Singh (Sub Inspector) along with other officials visited the spot. BSF Commandant Gurwinder Singh said the patrolling party was searching the spot as per its routine when it found the ammunition hidden near the post. Seizure of arms, ammunition and drugs alongside the border has been a regular affair. OC Man dies in mishap Amritsar: Deba Masih (55), a resident of Kawe village, lost his life after a speeding car hit his cycle near Kalonia village here on Tuesday evening. A junk dealer, Masih was going towards the Lopoke bus stand for selling junk when the mishap took place. His son Billu Masih said a car (PB-02-CA-4206), being driven by an unknown person, hit his father and sped away. Deba Masih died on the spot. The police have registered a case under Sections 304-A, 279 and 427 of the IPC in this connection. TNS Activist gets misinformation Amritsar: An RTI activist, Ravinder Sultanwind, has accused the MC of not providing appropriate information regarding the recently installed biometric machines and cameras at the MC office. He alleged that a few machines got defunct soon after installation. The MC compromised with quality. I want the information through RTI but the MC did not give appropriate response, he added. TNS Man booked for fraud Tarn Taran: Sarmukh Singh, a local resident, has been booked in connection with two cases of fraud. In the first case, the accused took Rs 10 lakh from a woman of Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar for selling his house to her. Complainant Simran Kaur said he refused to get the house registered on her name. The police have registered a case under Sections 420 and 120-B of the IPC. Meanwhile, Sarmukh has also been accused of getting a piece of land transferred on his name through fraudulent means. The police said the accused produced someone in a court in place of the land owner, Subeg Singh of Rasulpur to grab his eight-marla land. The accused has been booked under Sections 419, 420, 467 and 468 of the Indian Penal Code. OC gspannu7@gmail.com Mohit Khanna Tribune News Service Chandigarh, June 6 In order to tighten the noose around NRI grooms who flee after their honeymoon marriages, the Regional Passport Office (RPO) in Chandigarh has formed a core group of NRI deserted wives. The core group, consisting of four honeymoon brides, was allocated a room in the RPO office 10 days ago. These women are assisting the newlywed brides who faced a similar predicament. The department is also planning to launch helpline number for the assistance of honeymoon brides. The move of allotting an office was taken after the RPO witnessed a huge number of honeymoon brides visiting the passport office for action against their NRI husbands. Since the department was grappling with huge staff shortage, four such honeymoon brides, youngest among them is 22, agreed to offer voluntary service to the passport department in preparing the data of NRI grooms. We are preparing a list of such NRIs and soon it will be shared with the Indian missions of the respective countries for seeking the suspension of passports of such NRIs who are having criminal cases and court cases pending against them, said RPO Sibash Kabiraj. Sources said the department has so far prepared a list of nearly 100 such NRI grooms, who have solemnised multiple marriages and deserted their wives and fled. These women have been provided a data operator, computer and printer. Further, they are being assisted by an official of RPO office. The move has been taken close on the heels of Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhis visit to Chandigarh where she had claimed that a committee consisting of joint secretaries from the Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Women and Child Development and Home Ministry has been formed to suspend the passport of NRIs who have deserted their wives. Rupali Gupta (30), a resident of Bathinda who is an M.Tech, is camping in Chandigarh for over two weeks. She married in September last year to Canadian NRI Tarlochan Goyal. However, in December Tarlochan fled to Canada. I visited the regional passport office for seeking the suspension of passport of my husband. During my visit I saw many women who have suffered similar predicament and scuttling from one office to another like me. Rupali came forward and offered to assist the department in preparing the list of NRI grooms. Soon Amritpal Kaur of Budhlada of Mansa district, Leena, a resident of Amin village in Kurukshetra and a 22-year- old honeymoon bride whose father sold his land in Gobindgarh Mandi for her marriage to an Italy-based NRI, offered to assist Rupali. All the women are working free of cost in the passport department. They are currently looking for a place where all of them could stay together. There are nearly 30,000 deserted honeymoon brides in Punjab. I am one amongst them. On the 15th day of marriage, Gurpreet Singh, the groom from Patiala, fled along with his mother to Australia. My parents enquired and were shocked to learn that it was Gurpreets fifth marriage, Amritpal Kaur said. Leena was married for five years to Haryana Police constable Rahul. He entered US as an illegal immigrant and is now seeking asylum. Jasmine Sandhu Jasmine Sandhu A Punjab farmer As per the National Crimes Record Bureau, 270,940 farmers committed suicide in the period 2001-2011. That makes it 16,740 deaths every year and 46 suicides per day: a reality which no political party is willing to face. For a country which employs half its population in the farm sector, a sector which contributes 6 per cent of the GDP, the state allocates a meagre twentieth of the total public investment. The inequality does not stop here. The farmer each year has to beg for loans for buying fertiliser, seeds, pesticides and other inputs. Earlier, farmers could store seed, but hybrid seeds and commercial farming no longer enable them to do this. The new technology demands application of expensive pesticides and chemical fertilisers. In a good year, a farmer makes a profit. But in a bad year, he is wiped out. Banks and private moneylenders haunt him, the weather gods fail him, and governments offer no help. I am a woman farmer of Kapurthala, but not a marginal one. I own 34 acres. I can afford to pay for the five tubewells in my land, but I have been living on the dole of the state government. Last September, my conscience woke up as I read a newspaper report, "Another Farmer commits suicide". Debt was the culprit, but so was I. I contributed to his demise since I was taking away an economic benefit which I was not morally entitled to. The subsidy which the state exchequer was shouldering could have been used to improve the civil hospitals. Half the debt which the marginal farmer accumulates is due to a family member falling ill and he bearing exorbitant bills in private hospitals. No hospital of the stature of PGI has come up in the last four decades. Unfortunately, after Partap Singh Kairon, the vision of the successive chief ministers has been myopic. The state school system is in a shambles. Why cannot we volunteer to give up subsidy and ask that our hospitals and schools be improved? Uniforms and textbooks are not available to poor schoolchildren even as my son goes to an expensive university in the US. Half the ministers and MLAs also avail themselves of this subsidy. The Badals, Finance Minister included, are large land-owners. Taking my social responsibility seriously, last September I wrote to the Chairman of Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd that my subsidy be cancelled and bills be sent to me. I am still waiting to hear from them. There is a systematic loot of money and water, the precious resource. No one is talking about the fast-depleting water level in the state. No one is advocating that free power to farmers for tubewells makes them irresponsible in using water. Why should not the state give the subsidy directly to the marginal farmer in his account and impose water bills on those owning more than 10 acres? The state is not helping the farmer by paying his power bills. He will benefit more if he gets better medical facilities and affordable good schools for his children so that they get an opportunity to come out of the clutches of poverty. The farmer is a stoic brave man who tills, ploughs and nurtures food for all of us. Have you ever heard of an industrialist committing suicide? A peasant is a proud man, practising solid traditions and honesty. The moneylender does not need goons or police. He just shames him by naming him as a defaulter in the village square. The meagre loan which the poor farmer took for buying seeds and pesticides has compounded at an irrational and immoral rate. To escape the shame of not being able to feed his family, he drinks the very pesticide for which he had taken the loan. Mind you, we get meagre loans; not hundreds of crores that banks give to corporates who then swindle them. Farmers constitute 58 per cent of the population and 84.87 per cent of the total landholdings belong to marginal and small farmers. We are in such large numbers but we are so small in structure financially that no one notices us. We are the invisible people; we have no lobby, we are too scruffy to be interviewed by posh anchors, we cannot fund political parties, our faded turbans, torn clothes and inexpensive shoes have no takers in Niti Aayog. The government promises to procure at the minimum support price. But in practice, mandis purchase only from large farmers and the small and marginal ones are forced to sell to the moneylender who is also, incidentally, the guy doing business in the mandi. He determines the price of the produce and later sells it at a higher rate, while the farmer goes into further debt. It's a vicious cycle. The Green Revolution helped the nation become self-sufficient in food. But in this process, 75 per cent of the groundwater has been overexploited in Punjab, the overuse of fertilisers and pesticides has harmed the soil and waterlogging is another major problem in some parts. There is a sense of loss, a community decaying and dying due to the apathy of political class. The courage and commitment to pull back rural India from the brink is absent. The land of five rivers has never failed the nation in working hard to make the country grain-sufficient. We need honest economists to chart a plan for the next decade which should be "a scared document" to be implemented by the successive governments. This Assembly of 117 will either sink us or save us. But let's volunteer to give up a subsidy when we can afford to pay the bills. Let's not cheat the marginal farmer and his children. Contribute to the fabric of society and help make the farmer debt-free. Nations grow when they work collectively for the good of society. A special request to the Finance Minister, Mr Manpreet Badal: Please give up your subsidy. Lead. Rajesh Ramachandran Rajesh Ramachandran MINORITY is a depressing word in democracy. By its very definition it means the defeated. In the Indian context, the word assumes myriad loaded meanings, primarily religious, but also ideological, cultural, linguistic, sexual and much else. Article 29 of our Constitution assures us protection of interests of minorities: Any section of the citizens residing in the territory of India or any part thereof having a distinct language, script or culture of its own shall have the right to conserve the same. So, my language, literature, music, my habits of eating rice with my fingers (wonder why people prefer someone elses cutlery) and wearing a mundu (dhoti wrapped around the waist) are all protected by the Constitution wherever I am in this subcontinent. But the very fact that we are forced to underscore Article 29 every now and then proves that we as a nation havent really come to terms with assimilating, accommodating and living with the idea of a section of society that is smaller, meeker and hence in need of greater protection. The recent, sad example is from the north eastern part of the country. The Punjabi Lane in Shillong has been under attack for about a week. Sikhs who had migrated to Shillong over a century ago from Punjab are being targeted by local goons in an insider-versus-outsider, majority-versus-minority attack. The very concept of minority-hood gets tested in this unseemly argument. Meghalaya is a predominantly Christian state and we can safely assume that the labelling and targeting of the Sikhs of Punjabi Lane as minority and outsiders are an act of assertion of their Christian identity by the local populace. Or to extend the argument farther down to another substratum this could be an affirmation of their local tribal Khasi identity against people from far away Punjab. Now, as Christians and as Khasis, these very locals are defenseless minorities in the greater national socio-political theatre. They seek the protection of the Constitution for running their religious, social and educational institutions within and outside their own areas of supremacy. It is a strange coincidence that in Shillong the victims too are minorities. As a religious group, Sikhs are a smaller minority than Christians at the national level. Worse, here those who have been targeted are the Dalilt Sikhs or the Valmikis whom the British government had condemned to work as manual scavengers in the army, the railways and the municipalities. So, the residents of Punjabi Lane are not just representatives of a nationally recognised minority community, but are vulnerable Valmikis, the poorest of the poor and the most underprivileged in Shillong or elsewhere. This minority-against-minority conundrum forces us to re-evaluate the idea of minority-hood. Should we mechanically call a community minority simply in terms of its presence in the national census records or have a new category to sensitively analyse and categorise each community in terms of the social hierarchy and how it treats other groups in a set context. Ours is such a completely diverse system that, but for a few exceptions, almost every community is a minority in a given constituency. All known political formulae of caste groupings fail miserably because no one community can dictate the electoral outcome of a constituency or a state. Even in a fractured, atomised entity like an Assembly constituency when all the other castes and communities get together, the most numerous community can be defeated. That is the reason why Lalu Prasad Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav have had to create the Muslim-Yadav combination to create a block of votes that can weather the vagaries of incumbency. But even such a strong block of numerically strong communities gets defeated routinely in the Hindi heartland. And these groupings are amorphous ad tactical. Dalit-Yadav combination of 1993 became a bitterly inimical alliance for two decades only to come together again in 2018 in Phulpur and Gorakhpur. So, the concept of a community or a caste group as a minority cannot be evolved through a process of mechanical labelling. In an ideal, equally empowered society every community ought to be minority somewhere and in majority and mighty powerful elsewhere. The Kashmiri Pandits, a community which produced two Prime Ministers and a half, were in a terrible minority and evicted out of their hearths over politics of religious secessionism. The Pandit living in a refugee camp cannot obviously take solace from the history of her brethren that ruled the country for 37 years. Each experience is special, particularly if it is about violence and migration. So is it for the Muslims of the Kashmir Valley, where a jihad for an Islamist state has consumed generations of youth, who are targeted within and outside their state for who they are. In an untidy heap of identities, the socio-political stature of a community ought to be the determining factor and not religion, caste or language. These thoughtless labels have led politicians to create newer minority communities simply to cynically split old or create new vote banks as in the case of Lingayats of Karnataka. Apparently, some of the Lingayats fell for this Siddaramaiah ploy thinking of all that they could do with their educational institutions, all the possibilities of flouting rules and norms meant for regular educational institutions. So, let us term communities simply as dominant and vulnerable. The members of a group should not be counted and classified by rote but by ascertaining the vulnerabilities of a community in a particular political, economic and geographic context. Sure, Parsis are numerically a miniscule minority, but powerful economically and thereby politically. Jats are numerically, politically and in terms of landholding patterns dominant in certain districts of the country. Should it matter what their religion is? Those who had brought the western educational model into India and are still the best educated and the best educators cannot be thus automatically termed minority, when it comes to issues of education. A Bengali-Brahmin recently wrote a sad commentary of life as an outsider in Shillong on his Facebook wall. It was a life full of fear for shadows that concealed hatred. As long as we cannot celebrate our nationhood (like those who cheered Sunil Chhetri in Mumbai), our multiple identities make us hurt each other. Let us frame new rules of engagement and a national register for dominant and vulnerable communities, telling ourselves that we are but mere bullies who hurt the meek. shalender@tribune.com Ananya Panda Tribune News Service New Delhi, June 7 The opposition BJP has accused Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia of lying in the Assembly that the Jan Lokpal Bill is pending with the Central government demanding a clarification from him in the House itself, a request turned down by Speaker Ram Niwas Goel. During the day two of the special sessions called by the AAP dispensation on full statehood for Delhi today, when BJP MLAs, including Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta and Manjinder Singh Sirsa, insisting that the minister clarify on the floor of the House something refused by Goel protested in the well the Speaker ordered they be marshalled out. However, the opposition hoping to corner the ruling side on the Lokpal issue is going to raise it tomorrow in the House. The BJP MLAs alleged that the file of the Delhi Jan Lokpal Bill has been pending with the AAP government since last September while the latter blamed the BJP-led Centre for the same in the House in a bid to mislead people in eye of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. On the matter, they had in a letter to the Speaker this morning pointed out incongruities in the Sisodias statement in the House yesterday on the status of the Delhi Lokpal bill and asked the minister to tell the House about the facts related to the file under question. The issue of Lokpal on which the AAP came to power in Delhi in 2013 (assembly elections), resigned 45 days later and then came back to power in 2015 has taken a backseat for the Kejriwal government. The file was sent to the AAP government last year with some queries and is lying with it since last September. The Kejriwal government knows it well once the law is made their own people, including CMs nephew, will be in jail. So they wont let it happen, alleged Sirsa. Though the AAP government in a well-crafted strategy has chosen the contentious Delhis statehood issue for preparing the ground for the 2019 general elections the BJP today dubbed the AAP governments move to seek full statehood status and call a special session on the same as no more than political posturing and an attempt to deflect attention from its unfulfilled poll promises, including having a Jan Lokpal in place. Special session extended till Monday Expressing anguish, Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel today warned government officers of strict action as per rules if they fail to provide proper answers to written questions asked by AAP legislators by Monday till when he extended the special session. Further, the ruling side has called an all-party meeting on the statehood issue and the meeting is to be convened by minister Gopal Rai. Also, as directed by the Speaker, principal secretaries of education, power and revenue departments today attended the proceedings after ruling party MLAs complained that officers from the three departments did not furnish proper answers to their queries. Meanwhile, participating in the discussion on the resolution for granting full, AAP Labour Minister Gopal Rai said full statehood status to Delhi is the only solution to all woes of the national Capital. shalender@tribune.com Haryanas track record in the treatment of its women and girls was never perfect. The Presidents approval of the Ordinance prescribing death penalty for rapists of girls below 12 years of age was supposed to instill a strong enough deterrent despite child rights activists pointing out that death penalty to reduce rapes of minors is based on a number of misconceptions. Yet, the state is confronted with a Kathua or a Surat practically every day. To blame easy access to pornography or a skewed sex ratio are simplistic presumptions that fail to delve into the gravity and the pervasiveness of the crime. Correlating the increasing frequency with more reporting of such crimes would be missing the point as well; molestation may have earlier gone under-reported but a murder is compulsorily reported. Post-Nirbhaya the country has witnessed an attitudinal shift. Victims can no longer be shamed or silenced. But sadly this has not altered the warped psyche of sexual predators, albeit a small but extremely depraved minority, who clearly know neither reason nor fear of law. Whether they commit the crime in an intoxicated state or buoyed by a feeling of impunity, what is both shocking as well as ironic is that threat of stringent punishment has had no deterrent effect. Rather the sexual assaults against the hapless girl-child continue to acquire increasingly abhorrent dimensions. The crime is repeated with such brazen regularity that it puts not just the government but any civilised society to shame. It is time to move beyond the reliance on simplistic and populist measures like the death penalty. An efficient and smart policing system is just one requisite and it doesnt seem to have happened. There is need for a country-wide data of psychological profiles and analysis to understand the mindset of the rapist-murderers of minors. The government, especially of states like Haryana with low human development index (HDI), must venture out from the self-comforting smokescreen of pithy slogans extolling the girl-child into the tough, politically challenging terrain of addressing the impact of patriarchy on the male mind. The State, despite several tweaks to the law, is not perceived as making an earnest effort. monicakchauhan@gmail.com Tribune News Service Gurugram, June 7 Haryana Special Task Force on Thursday nabbed a notorious contract killer, Sampat Nehra, of Lawrence Bishnoi gang from Hyderabad. Gangster Sampat Nehra, was active in student politics at Panjab University. He is a resident of the Police Lines, Sector 26, in Chandigarh. He was also the campus chairman of the Student Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU). Nehra, who studied in DAV College, Sector 10, was close to Lawrence Bishnoi, a former leader of SOPU, who was also involved in cases of carjacking and extortion in Punjab. Nehra, a national-level decathlon silver medallist, is son of an Assistant Sub-Inspector with the Chandigarh Police. The accused was wanted in over 30 cases of heinous crimes registered in Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan. More details are awaited. gspannu7@gmail.com Rajinder S Nagarkoti Tribune News Service Panchkula, June 7 A local court here on Thursday dismissed regular bail application filed by dera chiefs adopted daughter Honeypreet Insan. She had sought bail on the grounds that no evidence was found against her by the Haryana Police. The Haryana SIT formed to investigate the Panchkula violence had slapped sedition charges against Honeypreet. Honeypreet Insan, whose real name is Priyanka Taneja, had pleaded in her bail application that a woman, she was behind the bars for 245 days without any fault or crime. The prosecution had opposed Honeypreets bail plea. Honeypreets counsel had argued that as many as 15 people booked under various sections in FIR no. 345, related with Panchkula violence, have been granted bail by different courts including district courts and the high court. Her counsel had further submitted that there were some accused, who were facing serious charges in comparison of Honeypreet, have also been granted relief of bail. The counsel had also submitted that Honeypreet did not participate in violence and she was inside the court complex with the dera chief. The special investigation team (SIT) of the Haryana Police had slapped the sedition charge against 22 accused, including Honeypreet, in connection with the Panchkula violence on August 25 last year. According to the police chargesheet, the conspiracy to spread violence in Panchkula was hatched at the dera headquarters by Honeypreet and the 45-member dera management committee. Honeypreet, adopted daughter of rape convict Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim, was charged with criminal conspiracy and sedition, and is the prime accused in the Panchkula violence that broke out after the conviction of the dera chief. Notably, Honeypreet had travelled with the dera chief in a helicopter when he was airlifted from Panchkula to Rohtaks Sunaria jail after his conviction in the rape case. Later, Honeypreet went into hiding for 38 days before her arrest on October 4 last year from the Zirakpur-Patiala highway. As many as 36 people were killed and more than 200 injured during Panchkula violence on August 25 last year. rchopra@tribunemail.com Rajinder S Nagarkoti Tribune News Service Panchkula, June 7 The Panchkula police on Thursday arrested HCS officer Reagan Kumar for allegedly molesting a woman employee of the office. Kumar is administrative officer-cum-secretary and CEO of Utkarsh Society, Secondary Education Department. According to the complaint, the woman alleged that on May 28, the official called her to his cabin and offered her coffee, which she refused. The woman claimed that on May 29 the official again called her to his cabin and tried to sexually abuse her. She claimed that she called up her brother and submitted a complaint to the Haryana DGP. The Panchkula police have booked the HCS officer under Section 354-A (physical touch) and 354-D (stalking) of the IPC. The Director, Secondary Education-cum-vice-president, Utkarsh Society, Rajiv Rattan, had withdrawn work from Kumar and forwarded the case to the internal complaints committee of the department on May 30. editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Shimla, June 7 Buckling under pressure from the ABVP, the state government on Thursday decided to scrap the semester system in undergraduate (UG) courses under the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) and restore the annual examination system from the coming session. Addressing mediapersons here, Education Minister Suresh Bhardwaj said the semester system was started in 2013. However, it did not prove to be a success owing to topographical and demographic variations in the state. A committee, headed by former VC Sunil Gupta, which was formed to review the semester system, also recommended scrapping the same, the minister added. To a query on technical problems in starting annual examinations with the Choice Based Credit System (CBCS), the minister said the university authorities had been asked to work out nitty-gritty. The minister, while justifying the step, said the BJP had stated in its vision document released during the 2017 Assembly elections that the semester system would be scrapped. We have fulfilled our promise, he pointed out. However, sources in the university said the examination branch and a majority of teachers were not in favour of the decision as 75 per cent of the issues under the RUSA had already been resolved. They are of the view that with the implementation of the annual system, problems would increase for the examination branch, which was already facing an acute staff shortage. The university authorities now face a major challenge of preparing the syllabus as per the annual system as the new session is about to commence from this month. State to receive Rs 810 cr under SSA, RMSA The Education Minister said the Ministry of Human Resource Development would soon release a grant of Rs 810 crore under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) to bring about qualitative improvement in education. He said pre nursery classes would be introduced in 3,000 schools and a library would be opened in all educational institutes. The minister announced to start vocational courses in 23 more schools. At present, 20 school are offering these courses. He said the facility of information and communication technology (ICT) would be introduced in 125 schools and in the first phase, 613 schools would be connected through satellite. A sum of Rs 90 lakh had been allocated for upgrading infrastructure in schools situated in the remote Bharari area of Mandi. The minister said the Centre had applauded schemes such as Bag-free day, Akhand Shiksha Jyoti and Mere school se nikle moti introduced by the state government. editorial@tribune.com Ambika Sharma Tribune News Service Solan, June 7 With villagers mechanically lifting water from potable drinking water schemes to irrigate their fields, various rural pockets are facing an acute shortage of drinking water in the district. Areas such as Dharampur, Sadhupul, Sanawar, Garkhal, Shiller, etc., are getting water after four days. In other places such as Sihardi, the situation is even worse. Sources in the Irrigation and Public Health Departmentsaid farmers in the Sadhupul area were using mechanical means to lift water for irrigating their fields on the plea that they had rights over the water. Since there was no other source of irrigation, farmers in the vicinity of potable water schemes such as Larah are openly diverting the potable water for irrigation purpose. Despite resistance from field staff of the IPH Department, the farmers were adamant on diverting water, leading to an acute shortage of potable water. The field staff said they had failed to collect adequate water in the supply tanks even after four days and they were forced to curtail the supply in such cases. Nearly 80 per cent schemes, where surface lifting of water was available, suffered this diversion of water for irrigation. The district has deployed the highest number of 18 water tankers in the state for various areas such as Kandaghat, Arki, Ramsheher, etc., where shortage of water was acute. Though the Chief Minister had recently announced in Shimla that farmers would be compensated for the loss of crop in case they did not divert the potable drinking water for irrigation, no such provision is being applied here. Superintending Engineer, IPH, Sanjiv Kaul said mechanical lifting of water by the farmers was not permissible, though efforts to stop them had proved futile. He said the issue of compensating such farmers for their crop loss would be taken up with the Deputy Commissioner so that the potable water supply did not suffer. DC Vinod Kumar, however, said there was no separate notification to compensate such farmers who suffer crop loss. The only provision of compensating them through the drought relief fund could be explored. He added that the issue would be discussed with senior officials to find a solution. Problems galore editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Jalandhar, June 7 The Thailand police have arrested a Jalandhar-origin hotelier for allegedly having paid sex with a 14-year-old girl procured from another 17-year-old procurer. According to Thailand-based media reports, Parmod Kumar was arrested from Jomtien Plaza Residence in Pattaya, Bang Lamung district, Chon Buri province. Pol Maj Gen Surachate Hakparn, Deputy Commissioner of the Tourist Police Bureau, addressed the media to announce a major breakthrough in the child prostitution racket running in Pattaya. According to sources, Parmod, a resident of Jalandhar, had gone to Thailand around 12 years ago where he ran a hotel on a contractual basis along with a Thai national. The Pattaya tourist police, which arrested Parmod, are now ascertaining his alleged role in the international child prostitution racket reported to be running in Thailand. The police have not revealed the nationality of the children who were found to be part of prostitution. As per reports, the police are reportedly conducting a thorough probe into the catch made by the Pattaya tourist police and may seek cooperation from the Punjab Police as well to ascertain the presence of the alleged network here as well. Meanwhile, Jalandhar Police Commissioner Praveen Sinha said the police had taken cognisance of the report and would act according to law. We will seek information about the incident from the police officials concerned, said Sinha. gspannu7@gmail.com Srinagar, June 7 The Centre is ready to hold talks with all right-minded people in Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan, but the neighbouring country should stop terror activities emanating from its soil, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Thursday. He also said if Pakistan is unable to stop terrorism from its soil on its own, it should take Indias help. The minister is on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir to review the security situation in the state. Dialogue can be held with everyone. It is not necessary to be like-minded to hold talks, but it is compulsory to be right-minded, said Singh offering an olive branch to the separatists. He said while the Centre was ready to talk with all people and groups concerned, the Government of India has appointed a special representative for holding dialogue with all stakeholders in Jammu and Kashmir. The special representative has not been appointed for sightseeing. He has come here 11 times so far, Singh told reporters here. The home minister was referring to the appointment of Dineshwar Sharma as special representative to Jammu and Kashmir in October last year. Singh appealed to the people of Jammu and Kashmir to come forward for bringing back peace in the state. Lest we might lose another generation of the state to the darkness, he said. On whether the unilateral ceasefire announced by the Centre in Jammu and Kashmir will be extended beyond Ramzan, he said a decision in this regard would be taken after reviewing the situation thoroughly. The prime minister (Narendra Modi) took a decision on the suspension of operation during Ramzan after giving it due thought. We took this decision keeping in view the situation of the common people of Jammu and Kashmir... A decision on extending it beyond Ramzan will be taken after reviewing the situation, he said. On what feedback security forces officials gave during the review meetings held today, Singh said, Good things were spoken about it. Condemning recent terror attacks, he said militants were not refraining from their nefarious activities even during the holy fasting month. Those who are not giving up their nefarious activities even in the holy month of Ramzan, should their activities not be called unholy. I would like to say that to mislead the youth is not only deceit, but a crime, he said. On Pakistan, the home minister said some powers were covertly or overtly using terrorism. They should understand that terrorism has no religion... When it will devour whom no one can say with certainty, he said. He said the Centre has maintained from the beginning that it was willing to talk to everyone. At least our neighbouring country Pakistan should prevent terror activities on its soil. And if you (Pakistan) are not able to stop terrorism, why dont you take help from your neighbouring country India, Singh said. He said India was the only country where all important religions of the world were being practised. There is no Islamic country in the world that has all the 72 sects of Islam. If there is any country where all these sects can be found, it is India. (Then why) so much of hatred for that India, he said. Without naming separatists, Singh said they should refrain from misleading the youth into violence. They give education to their own kids and stones in the hands of other kids. I appeal to them to treat the kids of others just like they treat their own, he said. PTI rchopra@tribunemail.com Amir Karim Tantray Tribune News Service Jammu, June 7 A well-coordinated team of Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) commanders based in Pakistan and Pakistani Occupied Kashmir (POK) were behind the November 29, 2016 Nagrota terror attack case. This was revealed by three accused, Muhammad Ashiq Baba, Tariq Ahmed Dar and Muneer-ul-Hasan Qadri, arrested by National Investigation Agency (NIA) from Kashmir. During the interrogation of these three accused, NIA has come to know that JeM commanders Maulana Mufti Ashghar, based in Muzaffarabad in POK, Qari Zarar, based in Rawalpindi, Waseem and Abu Talha, who are incharge of launching militants into Jammu region through International Border (IB) and Line of Control (LoC), were behind this attack. All the three accused were in regular touch with these handlers in Pakistan through Whatsapp messages and calls, especially with Maulana Mufti Asghar, whose nephew Waqas, a JeM commander, was killed in south Kashmirs Pulwama district during an encounter sometime back, ADGP Alok Mittal, NIA spokesperson, said. One of three accused, Muhammad Ashiq Baba had visited Pakistan on several occasions after obtaining visa and met these handlers there. In order to attack security forces in J&K, Ashiq Baba visited Pakistan four times from 2015 to 2017 via Wagah border legally. He got visa from Pakstani Embassy after getting letters from Hurriyat leaders, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Abdul Gani Bhat, the NIA spokesperson informed. During his visits, Baba met JeM commanders and took directions after getting clearance from a local ISI agent. On his return, he received instructions on how and when to receive the group of terrorists, he said. Around a week prior to the attack, Ashiq Baba and the other accused Muneer were given the GPS coordinates of the receiving point along the Samba sector highway as well as of the possible targets along the Nagrota Army cantonment through Whatsapp from their handlers in Pakistan. They were asked to recee these targets. Ashiq went with Muneer (and later joined by the accused Tariq) and finalised the receiving point and the target and officers mess complex of 166 Medium Regiment at Nagrota was chosen due to its convenient location towards the end of the cantonment. After finalisation, the points were passed on Whatsapp to the JeM commanders in Pakistan, the accused revealed to NIA interrogators. A night before (on November 28, 2016) the attack, these three accused dropped three Pakistani terrorists near the attack site before leaving for Srinagar. NIA has come to know that these three were not involved in only Nagrota terror attack case but they had received more militants in March 2017. Ashiq Baba and Muneer received another group of three militants in March 2017 in Samba sector and they were safely taken to Pulwama where they were received by JeM commander Noor Trali. Trali was later killed during an encounter, NIA spokesperson informed. Mittal said that after that Ashiq Baba visited Pakistan again in April-May 2017 and met Waseem, Abu Talha and Mufti Ashghar. He also met Maulana Rauf (brother of Maulana Masood Azhar and accused in the Pathankot attack case) at their headquarters at Bahawalpur. He was showered praises by the JeM leadership and promised with a lot of financial rewards and was told to receive more attackers in future, he added. All these accused were given huge amount by JeM handlers in Pakistan through Gulf countries.Muneer told Ashiq that the JeM leader wanted him to open an account with HDFC or ICICI bank to receive funds as reward. Ashiq baba already had an HDFC account which he provided to the JeM commanders on Whatsapp. They then transferred hefty amounts into his account. Ashiq says the amount came from the Gulf countries, the NIA spokesperson added. shalender@tribune.com Lucknow, June 7 On the eve of Bhim Army founder Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan completing a year behind bars, Amnesty International India and Bhim Army on Thursday asked the UP Government to immediately release him from administrative detention. Amnestys programme director Asmita Basu pointed out that Azad had been languishing in prison since his arrest from Dalhousie on June 8, 2018. The police have accused him of misusing the social media and instigating violence in Ramnagar in Saharanpur on May 9, 2017, in which several police vehicles had been set ablaze and a dozen policemen injured. Keeping Azad behind bars under repressive administrative detention laws shows that the UP Government would rather stifle dissent than address serious human rights concerns, said Basu. On November 2, 2017, the Allahabad High Court had granted bail to Azad, his associate Kamal Walia and two others, observing that the cases appeared to be politically motivated. However, two days later on November 4, the Yogi government decided to keep the Dalit crusader behind bars by imposing the National Security Act against him. On April 27, 2018, the HC dismissed Azads petition to quash his detention under the NSA after the state government submitted that if released he would indulge in activities that would spread caste feelings and have adverse impact on maintenance of law and order. The court has extended his detention under the NSA by another three months till August. Bhim Army chief Vinay Ratan Singh accused the state government of leaving no stone unturned to keep Azad behind bars. TNS Koregaon violence: Left questions probe NEW DELHI: A day after five persons, having close links with Maoists, were arrested by the Maharashtra Police in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence, the Left parties have questioned the BJP-led state government's investigation into the incident. The CPM and the CPI attributed the arrests to the ulterior motives of the Maharashtra Government, saying it was to shift the blame away from the culprit Hindutva forces. TNS rchopra@tribunemail.com Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service New Delhi, June 6 Majority of Congress leaders continue to be in a state of shock over Pranab Mukherjee, the former President, agreeing to visit Nagpur on Thursday to address the RSS cadre. The fact that anxieties over the development run deep in the party is evident from the reaction of Ahmed Patel, the powerful Congress leader better known as a man of few words. I did not expect this from Pranab Da, a very reticent Patel remarked on Twitter on Thursday, in a rare public display of disapproval with Mukherjees move. Patel did not react in isolation and instead tagged the response of Mukherjees daughter to say what he had to say. Sharmishtha Mukherjee, Delhi Mahila Congress chief, on Wednesday surprised everyone in the party by literally taking on her father Pranab Mukherjee for going to the RSS headquarters. You are giving them a handle, she said to her father, an astute politician whose motives behind accepting a controversial invitation have baffled one and all. Meanwhile, Pawan Khera, a close aide of former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit on Thursday became the first Congress spokesperson to openly question Mukherjees visit to Nagpur where he will address the RSS cadre on Thursday evening. Inviting an intellectual giant like Pranab Mukherjee who vehemently opposed all that the RSS stands for is yet another attempt by the Sangh to mainstream itself and shed its image of an unregistered, unaccountable, hydra-headed monster, Khera said even as the Congress officially refrained from speaking on the matter. That said, Mukherjees visit has provoked a debate within the Congress on whether party leaders should sound so touchy about the affair and be seen as promoting ideological untouchability when non-inclusion is actually a charge the BJP and RSS have always attracted. The Congress, on the other hand, boasts of leaders like BR Ambedkar, who despite acute differences on major issues with then Prime Minister Jwaharlal Nehru, worked in the party in national interest, ultimately quitting at his own time. rchopra@tribunemail.com Vibha Sharma Tribune News Service New Delhi, June 7 Make no mistake, the presence of former President Pranab Mukherjee at the RSS event on Thursday is as political as it gets. BJP functionaries and its ideological fountainhead may debunk the observation. But the fact remains that the event coincides with a hectic political activity by opposition parties in the country to build an anti-BJP front to counter the new BJP under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief Amit Shah in the 2019 general election. These parties are apparently looking for a fulcrum to build their strategy to defeat the BJP. This is where the importance of being Mukherjee comes in. It may be unprecedented and sound strange but political observers believe Mukherjee can be that pivot. He will definitely be supported by the lead player in the nascent Third Front--Mamata Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress-- who will be more than happy to support a fellow Bengali. Given his political stature and wide acceptability, there is no reason why others will not support him. In any case, Mukherjee, one of the tallest Congress leaders, is long rumoured to be unhappy over the way he was treated by his party, which chose Manmohan Singh over him for the Prime Ministers post. This apart, Mukherjees presence at the function will provide credibility and endorsement to the Sanghs activities as a social organisation, an image that very few among the non-BJP/Sangh really believe in. amansharma@tribunemail.com Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service New Delhi, June 7 Former President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday lectured RSS trainees on nationalism saying Indian national identity had emerged from pluralism and any attempt to redefine it in terms of religion would dilute it. In a 30-minute address at Nagpur, the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), Mukherjee also spoke of democracy as "not a gift but a sacred trust" and urged the fresh recruits of the RSS to "work for national happiness". "India is the world's fastest growing economy but it ranks very low on the World Happiness Index. You are all young and should work for India's happiness we have lived in pain for so long. The country deserves happiness," said Mukherjee after RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had made light of the controversy around the former President's visit to Nagpur saying, "Sangh will remain Sangh and Pranab Mukherjee will remain Pranab Mukherjee even after today." Mukherjee set the tone of his address in the very first sentence saying he was in Nagpur to share his ideas of nation, nationalism and patriotism in context of India. "Our national identity has emerged through confluence, assimilation and coexistence. Throughout 3,500 years of change of rulers our 5,000 years of civilizational continuity remained unchanged. We derive our strength from tolerance. We accept and respect our pluralism. We celebrate our diversity. Any attempt at defining our nationhood in terms of dogmas and identities of religion, region, hatred and intolerance will only lead to dilution of our national identity," Mukherjee added. His address had a message for everyone - for the RSS, which is accused of polarisation, the Congress which was wary of Mukherjee's visit to Nagpur and for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. For the RSS, Mukherjee spoke of Indian nationalism as equal to pluralism. To the Congress, Mukherjee said, "in a democracy dialogue is essential not just to balance competing interests but also to reconcile them." For the PM, Mukherjee quoted Kautilya to say, "In the happiness of the people is the happiness of the king. The state is for the people." Earlier, Mohan Bhagwat spoke for nearly half-an-hour and took a dig at some Congress leaders for objecting to Mukherjee's visit to Nagpur. "How Pranab ji was invited and why he came is irrelevant. We are all one. No Indian is an enemy of the other. We invited Pranab Mukherjee. He saw the affection in our call and he came. This does not change either the Sangh or Pranab Mukherjee," Bhagwat said opening the valedictory function where 707 people passing the rigorous third year RSS training passed out today. Earlier, Mukherjee paid glowing tributes to the Sangh founder KB Hedgewar saying, "I came here today to pay my homage and respect to a great son of Mother India KB Hedgewar." Accompanied by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, Mukherjee wrote his tributes in the Sangh visitors' book after he visited the room where RSS was founded on Dussehra day in 1925 by KB Hedgewar. In first reactions to Pranab Mukherjee at RSS headquarters, senior Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma said, "The images of Pranab-da, veteran leader and ideologue, at RSS headquarters have anguished millions of Congress workers and all those who believed in pluralism, diversity and the foundational values of the Indian Republic." The images of Pranab Da, veteran leader and ideologue at RSS Headquarters have anguished millions of Congress workers and all those who believed in pluralism, diversity and the foundational values of the Indian Republic. Anand Sharma (@AnandSharmaINC) June 7, 2018 Sharma said dialogue can only be with those who are willing to listen, absorb and change. "There is nothing to suggest that RSS has moved away from his core agenda as it seeks legitimacy." 'Today I came here to pay my respect and homage to a great son of Mother India': Former President Dr.Pranab Mukherjee's message in the visitor's book at RSS founder KB Hedgewar's birthplace in Nagpur pic.twitter.com/ax76NCzJMa ANI (@ANI) June 7, 2018 Mukherjee's visit has become a topic of political discussion in the past few days with some Congress leaders, including Ahmed Patel as also Mukherjee's daughter Sharmistha, a Congress leader, disapproving of his decision. vinaymishra188@gmail.com Vibha Sharma Tribune News Service New Delhi, June 6 Amid rumours that Pranab Mukherjees daughter Sharmistha may contest on a BJP ticket from West Bengal in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, all eyes are on the former President and what he will say to the RSS at a function he has been invited to speak on Thursday. BJP sources have rubbished the speculation (about Sharmistha joining the saffron party). No such political discussion has taken place between the former President (also a senior Congress leader) and anyone from the BJP or its ideological fountainhead the Sangh they say. Meanwhile, Sharmistha tweeted saying she would rather leave politics than leave the Congress. In the mountains enjoying a beautiful sunset, & suddenly this news that Im supposedly joining BJP hits like a torpedo! Cant there be some peace & sanity in this world? I joined politics because I believe in @INCIndia Wud rather leave politics than leave Congress, she said. Terming the speculation as malicious and baseless, BJP leaders say the RSS invite to Mukherjee, which Opposition leaders sections called efforts at legitimising the right-wing Hindutva organisation, came with no attached strings. No such political discussions have taken place. It is a normal invitation keeping in mind the RSS tradition of calling over eminent people to address its cadres, a BJP leader said while supporting the severe criticism by senior RSS functionary Manmohan Vaidya on outrage in the Opposition camp. He termed as undemocratic opposition to the exchange of ideas the unseemly outrage amongst certain sections of the political class. According to RSS leaders, similar invites have been sent in the past to many Opposition leaders. RSS is not a political outfit. As a social organisation working for the welfare of people, we would like to maintain a relationship with all the political parties, they say. Sharmishtha warns "The speech will be forgotten, the visuals will remain. By going to Nagpur you are giving BJP, RSS full handle to plant false stories, spread false rumours as today and making it somewhat believable, and this is just the beginning." Sharmishtha Mukherjee, daughter of Pranab Mukherjee amansharma@tribunemail.com Shiv Kumar Tribune News Service Mumbai, June 7 The Shiv Sena on Thursday reiterated its stand that it would be contesting future elections on its own, a day after its chief Uddhav Thackeray had a meeting with Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah. Sanjay Raut, Shiv Sena's Member of Parliament and editor of party mouthpiece Saamna, said here today that the party would be contesting future elections alone. "The decision to contest future elections on its own was taken by the Shiv Sena's National Executive. The Shiv Sena will go by that resolution," Raut told reporters here. The Shiv Sena further stated that it would be contesting the elections for four seats in the Maharashtra Legislative Council later this month. The BJP has already stated that it would contest the elections for these four seats. The opposition Congress and the NCP have, however, joined hands to form a secular coalition with like-minded parties to contest these elections. BJP leaders in Maharashtra are hoping that the meeting between Thackeray and Shah on Wednesday night would lead to a tie-up for the 2019 Lok Sabha and assembly elections. "We are expecting more meetings between Shah and Thackeray in the future," a BJP leader from Mumbai said this morning. Leaders of the Maharashtra BJP insist that Thackeray and Shah shared good vibes during their meeting at Matoshree, the Thackeray residence, which ended in a dinner. Sources say there were multiple rounds of talks with Uddhav and Shah closeted together without aides while Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Aditya Thackeray joining them later in the two-hour meeting. The opposition Congress party said it expected the Shiv Sena to bargain harder for a better deal with the BJP. "The Shiv Sena will not break its alliance with the BJP," Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Ashok Chavan said. gspannu7@gmail.com Washington, June 7 Scientists from India and the US have teamed up to strengthen their observation of the vast Indian Ocean, where the atmospheric development has a profound impact on the weather of not only India and the countries in the region, but also on America. A team of 20 scientists from America's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are landing in Goa next week to hold meeting with India's leading ocean, atmosphere, and fisheries scientists to review their collaboration in this field and decide on the future course of action. The Madden Julian Oscillation is a phenomenon in the western tropical Indian Ocean which has the most impact on weather pattern of the US, said Craig McLean, NOAA Assistant Administrator for Oceanic and Atmospheric Research and acting NOAA Chief Scientist. "There's some shallow water near the Seychelles Islands. It heats up, you get evaporation and you get this storm pattern that propagates across the Indian Ocean over Indonesia, across the Pacific and then to the United States," McLean, who is leading a high-powered US delegation to India for the meeting, said. "In our NOAA climate prediction centre the most prominent data that they use for week two to week four forecasting is the Madden Julian Oscillation," he said. The Madden Julian Oscillation named for Rolland Madden and Paul Julian, two scientists who discovered it in the 1970s. The Goa meeting of Indian and American scientists would mark a decade of productive collaboration on ocean and atmospheric observations, with life-saving economic benefits for both nations, he said. A system of buoys deployed jointly by India and the US in the Indian Ocean is at the heart of detecting the Madden-Julian Oscillation, McLean said, adding that this is also key tool for early detection of monsoon in India. "We are in the midst of an international level of coordination, a second Indian Ocean expedition," he said. This is being called the International Indian Ocean Expedition Part-II. As part of this NOAA Shop Ronald H Brown, a blue-water research vessel, is all set to arrive in Goa tomorrow which is part of the Indian Ocean expedition, where it will conduct two major research campaigns to advance ocean observing. The first campaign will be to sample ocean and atmospheric conditions in the western Indian Ocean, which has not been sampled since 1995. This new data will help scientists better understand how environmental changes in the Indian Ocean may be contributing to sea level rise, expanding ocean dead zones and more intense monsoons in the region, The second campaign is to launch three new moorings in the Arabian Sea as part of the Research Moored Array for African-Asian-Australian Monsoon Analysis and Prediction or RAMA. This is designed to understand the role of the Indian Ocean in driving monsoons, said Dr. Sidney Thurston, who manages Overseas Program Development for NOAA Global Ocean-Climate Observations. "It counts because what happens and starts to affect the Indian Ocean, which of course gives rise to the monsoon season and the rainfall of the monsoon season has about a third of the world's population dependent upon that moisture. So it's very important for the Meteorological Bureau of India to know when and all the other countries that are basically irrigated by the monsoon to be able to predict that accurately," McClean said. "We are sensing the ocean in order to deliver land-based weather forecasts. The more we sent the ocean and the farther back we go into this link or chain of events, the easier it is for us to be predicting more than just tomorrow's weather, but even weeks and seasonal and even up to how, what is the next year going to be and, in some cases, even beyond that," he said. So the more they study the Indian Ocean, the more they have been able to increase the accuracy of weather forecasts on land in India, in China, in Indonesia, in the Pacific islands, mainland US, and even Europe. "We are really coming to understand a global scientific undertaking. And the ability to work with our colleagues in India has been remarkably rewarding to us. We are looking forward to going over and celebrating the science that we've learned and also plan our future," McClean said. But for the first time in 22 years, the NOAA Brown has been able to make a transit in that area and make ocean measurements on what they would normally want to be doing every decade. "So we missed the last decade because of the international security situation. The ship was able to transit through there, make the measurements. We are looking forward to hearing a report at the colloquium from the scientists, both Indian and US as to what they found, making those physical oceanographic measurements as the ship was able to transmit the area," he said. PTI. monicakchauhan@gmail.com Ruchika M Khanna Tribune News Service Chandigarh, June 7 BJP president Amit Shah on Thursday arrived here for a meeting with the SAD leadership at the house of Akali Dal patriarch Parkash Singh Badal. At least 25 leaders from both the SAD and Punjab unit of the BJP are present at the meeting. The main agenda to be discussed is the alliance partners strategy for the 2019 general election. The meeting has been arranged on the request of Amit Shah, who is trying to reach out to the alliance partners under the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. The SAD is expected to raise the issue of wooing farmers. While SAD top brass, including Parkash Singh Badal and president Sukhbir Singh Badal, has rolled out a red carpet for Shah, its senior leaders are expected to raise the issue of the BJP central leadership ignoring the Akali Dal all these years. Interestingly, SAD MP Balwinder Singh Bhunder, who interacted with mediapersons before the meeting, said they would raise all issues concerning Punjab, including the SYL and implementing the Swaminathan Commission report. He expressed resentment that in the past four years the BJP had ignored several Sikh and Punjab issues. All of a sudden the BJP now thinks of meeting us. We will raise all these issues with Shah, he said. Bhunder said issues like anti-Sikh riots and the decline in recruitment in army from Punjab would be discussed. Another Akali Dal MP and partys core committee member Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa said they were among the oldest allies of the BJP. Punjabs issues had been ignored and they would raise these issues, he added. gspannu7@gmail.com Parvesh Sharma Tribune News Service Sangrur, June 7 The Punjab Cooperative Agricultural Development Bank (PADB), Lehragaga authorities, on Thursday arrested BKU Rajewal president Balwinder Singh from his residence in Ghodenab village. He had taken two loans of Rs 5 lakhs each in 2013 and 2014. But failed to pay even after having 12 acres of land and enough income, alleged Rajnish Bansal, bank officer. "We arrested him after procuring his arrest warrant and if he fails to repay by the evening, we will send him to jail, said Bansal. Curious Cdn said: He doesn't like multilateralism. It's never about HIM when there are six other leaders involved. Click to expand... flagrant abuse of power and grabbing / taking as much power as he can. Indeed. The countries involved are not all that pleased with the Trump regime so , if he shows and things get testy........TRump will cry "victim" claiming they are all against him. Trump and his punitive actions are diggingTrump plans to retaliate against the retaliations ........ and is quite prepared to go bully UGLY even if it paints him into a corner......all self created. He is not interested in conc esus or what is best for all parties.........but only what is good for HIM.........the fact that the tariffs are illegal.......doesn't bother TRump one bit. He will go it alone if need be. He is still in the "my lawyers will bail me out or "fix it" mentality . gspannu7@gmail.com San Francisco, June 5 Apple neither requested any personal data from Facebook nor did it receive any, Apple CEO Tim Cook said while responding to a New York Times report that claimed that the social networking giant allowed about 60 device makers, including Apple and Samsung, to access personal information of users and their friends. "We've never been in the data business," Cook told National Public Radio (NPR) on Monday during the company's annual conference for developers in San Jose, California. "The things mentioned in the Times article about relationship statuses and all these kinds of stuff, this is so foreign to us, and not data that we have ever received at all or requested zero," Cook was quoted as saying. Even before Facebook apps were widely available on smartphones, Facebook had data-sharing partnerships with the device makers, The New York Times report said citing company officials, adding that most of the deals remain in effect. The deals raise concerns about the company's privacy protections and compliance with a 2011 consent decree with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), it added. "What we did was we integrated the ability to share in the operating system, make it simple to share a photo and that sort of thing," Cook added. "So it's a convenience for the user. We weren't in the data business. We've never been in the data business," he said. Facebook is already under scrutiny after the Cambridge Analytica data leak scandal revealed in March how the political consultancy firm had misused data of millions of Facebook users. The social network, however, defended on Sunday the pacts with the device makers saying that these partnerships do not raise privacy concerns. Facebook said that contrary to claims by The New York Times, friends' information, like photos, was only accessible on devices when people made a decision to share their information with those friends. "We are not aware of any abuse by these companies," Ime Archibong, Facebook's Vice President of Product Partnerships, said in a statement. The social network added that the device partnerships are very different from the public APIs used by third-party developers who used the Facebook information people shared with them to build completely new experiences. Facebook said that it had already ended 22 of the device partnerships. A CNET report on Monday said that Senator John Thune, head of the US Senate Commerce Committee, said his committee "will be sending Facebook a letter seeking additional information" about issues including transparency and privacy risks. "We look forward to addressing any questions the Commerce Committee may have," a Facebook spokesman was quoted as saying. IANS. editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Dehradun, June 7 Nepalese Army Chief General Rajendra Chhetri will be the reviewing officer for the June 9 passing-out parade at the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun. Inviting army chiefs of friendly SAARC countries for reviewing the parade has been a tradition of Indian Military Academy. Bangladesh Army Chief had come to review the last passing-out parade. This is because a large number of Gentlemen Cadets from friendly countries come to the Indian Military Academy for training. The friendly countries include Afghanistan, Bhutan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. As many as 74 foreign Gentlemen Cadets will be passing out this time. The Nepalese Army Chief will also be awarding Sword of Honour and other medals while reviewing the parade of 142 regular cadets, 125 technical graduates course cadets and 25 cadets from the university entry schemes. The Nepal Army Chiefs visit comes at a time when the 13th edition of joint Indo-Nepal military exercise is taking place in Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand. Gen Chhetri, who will be reviewing the parade as part of his six-day visit to India, is also scheduled to meet Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval apart from the three chiefs of the Indian defence forces. Gen Chhetri is visiting India on the invitation of Chief of Army Staff General Bipin Rawat. In June 2014, then Nepalese General Gaurav Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana was invited to review the passing-out parade. Meanwhile, in run up to the June 9 passing-out parade, the Commandants parade was held at the Indian Military Academy on Thursday. Indian Military Academy Commandant Lt Gen SK Jha reviewed the parade. He complimented all Gentlemen Cadets for an immaculate turnout and excellent drill movements, which he said indicated a high level of motivation, pride and cohesion achieved by them during their training at the Indian Military Academy.. editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Dehradun, June 7 State Finance Minister Prakash Pant has said that the Uttarakhand Government will not go in for farm loan waiver for now, but would focus on doubling the income of farmers. He said his government never made such promises even at the time of elections, But, instead we are committed to increasing the income of the farmers, he said. According to the government estimates, the total amount of short-term loan incurred by farmers in 13 districts of the state is nearly Rs 1,600 crore, out of which Rs 800 crore has been taken from various banks. The Uttarakhand Government has been under pressure ever since the Uttar Pradesh Government announced the same in UP and the Opposition Congress was daring the BJP to do the same here. However, the government has been skirting the issue by saying that the state was already under a debt of over Rs 45,000 crore, and it will not be possible to waive the loans. We are already offering soft loans to the farmers, which are proving beneficial for them, said Pant. Further, both the state and the Centre have said that they would work towards achieving the target of doubling the income of the farmers by 2022 and several diversified activities have been launched in this regard. We are giving impetus to horticulture and floriculture activities under the MGNREGA scheme. The Central Government is helping us in setting up cold storage in strategic areas of fruit and vegetable belts, said Pant. Further, he pointed out that the government had agreed to pay the arrears worth Rs 217 crore of sugarcane farmers. Focus on increasing farmers' income We never made such promises even during the elections. Instead we are committed to increasing the income of the farmers. We are already offering soft loans to the community, which are proving beneficial for them. We are promoting impetus to horticulture and floriculture activities under the MGNREGA scheme Prakash Pant, Finance Minister editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Dehradun, June 7 Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat on Thursday said the hill state would be on the world map with its capital hosting the main national event on International Yoga Day, which is celebrated annually on June 21. It is a matter of great honour for Uttarakhand to host the event here. It will put the state on the world map. Rawat said at the rehearsal session ahead of the main event to be held on the Forest Research Institute (FRI) campus. A protocol of yoga postures was also prepared. He said it was because of the efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the power of yoga had been recognised all over the world. Rawat exhorted the people to practice yoga daily. Earlier, yog guru Ramdev led the practice session. Among others who attended the session were Union Minister of State for Ayush Shripad Yesso Naik, Swami Chidananda Saraswati, Chief Minister TS Rawat and his Cabinet colleagues. harinder@tribunemail.com Kabul, June 7 Afghanistan announced today a week-long ceasefire with the Taliban for Eid, the holiday that caps off Ramadan, though operations against other groups, including Islamic State will continue. The ceasefire will last from the 27th of Ramadan until the fifth day of Eid-al-Fitr, President Ashraf Ghani tweeted from an official account, indicating it could run from June 12-19. It was not immediately clear if the Taliban had agreed to the ceasefire, which would be the first for Eid since the US invasion in 2001. We are checking with our officials regarding the ceasefire announcement, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP. The surprise move comes days after a gathering of Afghanistans top clerics in the capital Kabul called for a ceasefire and issued a fatwa against suicide bombings and attacks. An hour after the fatwa was issued, a suicide bomber detonated outside the gathering, killing seven people. Ghani said his government supported the clerics call. The government of Afghanistan not only supports the unanimous fatwa announcement by the ulemas (scholars), but also backs the recommended ceasefire, he said in a statement released by his office. (At) the same time, the Afghan government directs all the security and defence forces of the country... to stop all the attacks on the Taliban, but the operation will continue against Daesh (Islamic State), Al-Qaida and other international terrorist networks. In February, Ghani unveiled a plan to open peace talks with the Taliban, including eventually recognising them as a political party. At the time he also called for a ceasefire. The insurgents did not officially respond, but announced the launch of their annual spring offensive in an apparent rejection of the plan. Last month, the Pentagon said that senior Taliban officials have been secretly negotiating with Afghan officials on a possible ceasefire. A lot of the diplomatic activity and dialogue is occurring off the stage, and its occurring at multiple levels, General John Nicholson said in a teleconference with reporters at the Pentagon. He would not identify the figures involved in the negotiations, except to say that they included mid- and senior-level Taliban officials. AFP Welcome relief to civilians harinder@tribunemail.com Washington, June 7 US President Donald Trump hosted his first Iftar dinner at the White House during which he sought cooperation from the Muslim world to achieve a future of security and prosperity for all, a move that surprised many in the community after he skipped hosting such a party last year. Last year, Trump broke with decades of precedent by not hosting the annual Iftar dinner, a tradition that formally began with Bill Clinton in the 1990s but has conceptual roots tracing as far back as under Thomas Jefferson in 1805. Trump, who has frequently engaged in anti-Muslim rhetoric, wished Muslims around the world a Ramadan Mubarak, a blessed holiday and sought cooperation from them to achieve a future of security and prosperity for all. Only by working together can we achieve a future of security and prosperity for all, Trump told a gathering of diplomats and officials at the Iftar dinner last evening. After delivering his remarks, Trump sat on the head table which among others included Saudi Ambassador Prince Khalid Ben Salman and Jordanian envoy Dina Kawar. The Indonesian envoys was also seated on the same table. Envoys from several Muslim countries including the UAE, Egypt, Tunisia, Qatar, Bahrain, Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Kuwait, Gambia, Ethiopia, Iraq, and Bosnia were invited. PTI rchopra@tribunemail.com Washington, June 7 US President Donald Trump hosted his first Iftar dinner at the White House during which he sought cooperation from the Muslim world to achieve a future of security and prosperity for all, a move that surprised many in the community after he skipped hosting such a party last year. Last year, Trump broke with decades of precedent by not hosting the annual Iftar dinnera bipartisan tradition that formally began with Bill Clinton in the 1990s but has conceptual roots tracing as far back as under Thomas Jefferson in 1805. Trump, who has frequently engaged in anti-Muslim rhetoric, wished Muslims around the world a Ramadan Mubarak--a blessed holiday and sought cooperation from them to achieve a future of security and prosperity for all. Only by working together can we achieve a future of security and prosperity for all, Trump told a gathering of diplomats and officials at the iftar dinner on Wednesday evening. For this reason, I was proud to make my first foreign trip as President to the heart of the Muslim world, where I addressed an assembly of more than 50 leaders of Muslim-majority countries. That was something, he said. The partnership and solidarity that we established over the past year has only deepened with time. So many friendships. So many meetings, even in the Oval Office. And weve made a lot of progress, I think, a lot of tremendous progress, Trump said. After delivering his remarks, Trump sat on the head table, which among others included Saudi Ambassador Prince Khalid Ben Salman and Jordanian envoy Dina Kawar. The Indonesian Ambassador was also seated on the same table. Envoys from several Muslim countries, including the UAE, Egypt, Tunisia, Qatar, Bahrain, Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Kuwait, Gambia, Ethiopia, Iraq and Bosnia were invited. A very warm welcome to all of the ambassadors here tonight representing Muslim-majority nations. Were greatly honoured by your presence, and thank you very much for being here. Some very good friends. To each of you and to the Muslims around the world: Ramadan Mubarak, Trump said. Vice President Mike Pence and several of his Cabinet members, including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross attended the Iftar dinner. Tonight, as we enjoy a magnificent dinner at the White House, let us strive to embody the grace and goodwill that mark the Ramadan season. Let us pray for peace and justice, and let us resolve that these values will guide us as we work together to build a bright and prosperous future that does honour and glory to God, Trump said. In gathering together this evening, we honour a sacred tradition of one of the worlds great religions, he said. Meanwhile, members of the some of the Muslim groups held their own Iftar outside the White House in protest against the alleged anti-Muslim rhetoric of the Trump administration. Several Muslim civil rights groups pushed back, organising a NOT Trumps Iftar protest at a park across from the White House. The groups say Trumps heated rhetoric has contributed to an increase in bullying and discrimination against Muslim Americans. The Iftar dinner was completely opposite from the inflammatory rhetoric Trump used during his campaign, when he called for a complete and total shutdown of Muslims entering the country. He has also imposed a travel ban, targeting travellers from five countries with overwhelmingly Muslim populations--Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. PTI STEPHEN GLOVER: Theresa May should make a rousing Brexit speech saying it's not us who are fantasists, it's Brussels By Stephen Glover for the Daily Mail 7 June 2018Many people, be they Remainers or Leavers, are sunk in depression over Brexit . What follows is a rousing speech Theresa May could give to lift our spirits and her political fortunes. For information only - not an official document MEDIA ADVISORY Austrian President to open UNISPACE+50 High-level Segment in presence of dignitaries from around the world Media representatives are invited to the UNISPACE+50 high-level segment on 20 - 21 June 2018 M-Building, Vienna International Centre, Vienna, Austria VIENNA, 7 June (United Nations Information Service) - The Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen will formally open the High-level Segment of UNISPACE+50, the first United Nations global space summit of the 21st century, at 10.45 a.m. on 20 June 2018 in the presence of high-level dignitaries from around the world. UNISPACE+50, organized by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), will be held from 18 to 21 June 2018 in the M-Building of the Vienna International Centre (VIC). It will consist of two parts: a Symposium on 18 and 19 June, and a High-level Segment on 20 and 21 June. UNISPACE+50 will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, held in Vienna in 1968, and provide an opportunity for the international community to consider the future course of global space cooperation for the benefit of humankind. Hundreds of representatives from the space community are expected at UNISPACE+50, including United Nations Member States, Permanent Observers, United Nations entities, space agencies, non-governmental organizations, academia, civil society, students, and the private sector and industry. The UNISPACE+50 High-level Segment will be held in the M-Plenary room of the VIC. The ceremonial opening of the High-level Segment will take place on Wednesday 20 June at approximately 10.45 a.m., after administrative formalities at 10 a.m., with addresses by: Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen Director-General of the United Nations Office at Vienna Yury Fedotov Director of UNOOSA Simonetta Di Pippo United Nations Champion for Space Scott Kelly European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli will also donate a flag featuring the Sustainable Development Goals, which was flown on the International Space Station, to the United Nations. After the ceremonial opening, United Nations Member States will endorse a UNISPACE+50 resolution before commencing statements by their representatives. A number of Ministers and Vice-Ministers are expected to represent and speak on behalf of their States. Following the opening session, a press conference will be held from 2.15 p.m. to 2.45 p.m. in room M4. The Chair of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) will join Ms. Di Pippo and Mr. Kelly at the press conference. Member States' statements will continue in the afternoon of 20 June and on 21 June. A panel of heads of United Nations entities will be held from 1 to 2 p.m. on Thursday 21 June in the M-Plenary room. Other activities The UNISPACE+50 high-level segment will be preceded by a UNISPACE+50 Symposium from 18 to 19 June, to which media are also invited. Details of the Symposium can be found in a separate media advisory available here. There will also be a number of side events during UNISPACE+50, which are listed in the UNISPACE+50 programme. In addition, a UNISPACE+50 exhibition featuring more than 40 exhibitors will be held in the Rotunda of the VIC from 18 to 23 June. The exhibition will be open to the public from 9 a.m. until 12.30 p.m. on Saturday 23 June. A press release about the exhibition open day is available here. Further details about UNISPACE+50, including the full programme, are available at http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/unispaceplus50/media.html *** Media representatives who wish to attend the event, and who are not accredited to the VIC, should write to press[at]unvienna.org. Access to the M-Building is via Gate One of the Vienna International Centre. * *** * For more information, and to request interviews with Ms. Di Pippo or Mr. Kelly, please contact: Daria Brankin United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) Telephone: (+43 699) 1459 8718 Email: daria.brankin[at]un.org For information only - not an official document MEDIA ADVISORY Representatives from governments, private sector, civil society, academia and more than 20 space agencies to speak at UNISPACE+50 Symposium Media representatives are invited to the UNISPACE+50 Symposium on 18 - 19 June 2018 M-Building, Vienna International Centre, Vienna, Austria VIENNA, 7 June (United Nations Information Service) - Representatives from governments, private sector, civil society, academia and more than 20 space agencies from around the world will speak at the UNISPACE+50 Symposium from 18 to 19 June. They will be joined by United Nations Champion for Space, former NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, who will deliver a keynote address. UNISPACE+50, organized by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), will be held from 18 to 21 June 2018 in the M-Building of the Vienna International Centre (VIC). It will consist of two parts: a Symposium on 18 and 19 June, and a High-level Segment on 20 and 21 June. UNISPACE+50 will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, held in Vienna in 1968, and provide an opportunity for the international community to consider the future course of global space cooperation for the benefit of humankind. Hundreds of representatives from the space community are expected at UNISPACE+50, including United Nations Member States, Permanent Observers, United Nations entities, space agencies, non-governmental organizations, academia, civil society, students, and the private sector and industry. The Symposium aims to engage the broader space community in considering current and future space-related issues. It will be held in the M-Plenary room of the VIC. The programme of the Symposium is: Monday 18 June Tuesday 19 June 9:30 - 10:00 Opening remarks by United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs Keynote address by Scott Kelly, United Nations Champion for Space 10:00 - 11:30 Opening panel Space and Civil Society panel 12:00 - 13:30 Space and Industries panel Space for Youth panel 15:00 - 16:30 Space for Women panel Heads of Space Agencies panel Speakers at the Symposium include: UNOOSA Director Simonetta Di Pippo United Nations Champion for Space and former NASA astronaut Scott Kelly Director General of the United Arab Emirates Space Agency Mohammed Al Ahbabi President of the Italian Space Agency Roberto Battiston Permanent Representative of the Republic of Slovenia to the UN, OSCE and Other International Organizations Andrej Benedejeie Director General of the Israel Space Agency Avi Blasberger Director of International Policy of the United Kingdom Space Agency Alice Bunn Head of the Peru Space Agency Carlos David Caballero Italian astrophysicist Patrizia Caraveo Executive Director of the Centre for Research in Air and Space Law at Mc Gill University Kuan Wei Chen President of the Brazilian Space Agency Jose Raimundo Braga Coelho President and co-founder of the Secure World Foundation Cyndia Collins Arsenault Director of European Programmes, Space and Technical Returns of the Centre for Development of Industrial Technology of Spain Juan Carlos Cortes German Aerospace Center Secretary in the International Charter 'Space and Major Disasters' Jens Danzeglocke Executive Director of the Space Generation Advisory Council Clementine Decoopman Group Chief Executive Officer of SCS Aerospace Group Francois Denner Executive Director of the European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency Carlo Des Dorides Chair of the Executive Board of the German Aerospace Center Pascale Ehrenfreund Chief Executive Officer of Green Spin Sebastian Fritsch Chief Scientist of NASA Jim Green Executive Vice President of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey Orkun Hasekioglu Senior Lecturer at Technische Universitat Wien Sandra Hauplik-Meusburger Chief Executive Officer of Satellogic Emiliano Kargieman Director General of the Vienna Natural History Museum Christian Koeberl Chairman of the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission Qaiser Anees Khurram Vice-President of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute Lee Sang-ryul Secretary General of the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization Li Xinjun Chief Executive Officer of Planet Will Marshall Director General of the Mexican Space Agency Francisco Javier Mendieta Jimenez Chief Executive Officer of the South African National Space Agency Valanathan Munsami Head of Space Administration of the German Aerospace Center Walther Pelzer President of the Romanian Space Agency Marius-Ioan Piso Managing Director of Austrian Research Promotion Agency Klaus Pseiner General Director of International Affairs and Space Security of the Mexican Space Agency Rosa Maria Ramirez de Arellano y Haro Founder and Chairperson of Space Trust Namira Salim Manager of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Space Education Center Kaori Sasaki Executive Director of the Secure World Foundation Michael Simpson Chair of the Indian Space Research Organization Kailasavadivoo Sivan Secretary-General of the China National Space Administration Yulong Tian President of the Paraguayan Space Agency Liduvino Vielman Diaz Director General of the European Space Agency Jan Worner President of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Hiroshi Yamakawa President of China HEAD Aerospace Group Dachuang Zhou A full list of speakers is available at www.unoosa.org. Other activities The UNISPACE+50 Symposium will be followed by a UNISPACE+50 High-level Segment from 20 to 21 June, to which media are also invited. Details of the High-level Segment can be found in a separate media advisory available here. There will also be a number of side events during UNISPACE+50, which are listed in the UNISPACE+50 programme. In addition, a UNISPACE+50 exhibition featuring more than 40 exhibitors will be held in the Rotunda of the VIC from 18 to 23 June. The exhibition will be open to the public from 9:00 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. on Saturday 23 June. Further details on the exhibition can be found here. Further details about UNISPACE+50, including the full programme, are available at http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/unispaceplus50/media.html *** Media representatives who wish to attend the event, and who are not accredited to the VIC, should write to press[at]unvienna.org. Access to the M-Building is via Gate One of the Vienna International Centre. * *** * For more information, and to request interviews with Ms. Di Pippo or Mr. Kelly, please contact: Daria Brankin United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) Telephone: (+43 699) 1459 8718 Email: daria.brankin[at]un.org TORONTO, June 06, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MPX Bioceutical Corporation (MPX or the Company) (CSE:MPX) (OTC:MPXEF) is pleased to announce that Robert Petch has joined the board of directors of MPX. Mr. Petch has over 30 years of experience in management, strategic planning and financial analysis. With experience on both the buy-side and sell-side of the investment market, Mr. Petch will be a valuable asset on the execution of MPXs on-going strategy of growth in the North American cannabis industry. Mr. Petch worked for 15 years at Dresdner Kleinwort Benson advising companies on strategy, fund-raising including IPOs where he led a number of successful issues, acquisitions (public and private), disposals and other market-related issues. More recently, he spent 4 years assessing investment opportunities for a specialist AIM-listed private equity investment company and a further 4 years advising a substantial family office on its private equity and real estate portfolio before going independent in 2014. Mr. Petch is a Chartered Accountant, and has an honours degree in Engineering Science from Oxford University. He lives with his wife and three sons in Kent in the United Kingdom. Stock Option Grant The Company also announces that a total of 4,992,500 stock options to purchase common shares of MPX were granted to a director of MPX as well as employees and consultants of MPXs subsidiaries at an exercise price of $0.81 per common share and expiring on May 31, 2023. The grant is subject to regulatory approval. Under the Companys stock option plan (the Plan), 9.86% of the issued and outstanding common shares or 35,543,262 common shares are reserved for issuance, including the above grant, and the Company may grant an additional 507,987 options under the Stock Option Plan representing 0.14% of the issued and outstanding common shares. About MPX Bioceutical Corporation MPX, through its wholly-owned subsidiaries in the U.S., provides substantial management, staffing, procurement, advisory, financial, real estate rental, logistics and administrative services to three medicinal cannabis enterprises in Arizona operating under the Health for Life (dispensaries) and the award-winning Melting Point Extracts (high-margin concentrates wholesale) brands. The successful Health for Life brand operates in the rapidly growing Phoenix Metropolitan Statistical Area. With the acquisition of The Holistic Center, MPX adds another operating medical cannabis enterprise to its footprint in Arizona. GreenMart of Nevada NLV, LLC (GreenMart NV) is an award winning licensed cultivation, production and wholesale business, licensed for both the medical and adult use sectors in Las Vegas, Nevada, and is already selling wholesale into the Nevada medical cannabis market. GreenMart NV has also optioned suitable locations and intends to enter the higher-margin retail arena by applying for at least two dispensary licenses in the Las Vegas market which will operate under the Health for Life brand. In Massachusetts, MPX is building out and will operate a cultivation and production facility as well as up to three dispensaries and manages three full service dispensaries and one producer in Maryland. The Company also leases a property in Owen Sound, Ontario, for which an application to Health Canada has been made for a cannabis production and sales license. In addition, the Company will continue its efforts to develop its legacy nutraceuticals business. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information This news release includes certain forward-looking statements under applicable Canadian securities legislation that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results, performance, prospects, and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, MPXs objectives and intentions. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based on a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: general business, economic and social uncertainties; litigation, legislative, environmental and other judicial, regulatory, political and competitive developments; delay or failure to receive board, shareholder or regulatory approvals; those additional risks set out in MPXs public documents filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com; and other matters discussed in this news release. Although MPX believes that the assumptions and factors 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 time frames or at all. Except where required by law, MPX disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. On behalf of the Board of Directors MPX Bioceutical Corporation (formerly The Canadian Bioceutical Corporation) W. Scott Boyes, Chairman, President and CEO For further information, please contact: MPX Bioceutical Corporation (formerly The Canadian Bioceutical Corporation) W. Scott Boyes, Chairman, President and CEO T: +1-416-840-3725 info@mpxbioceutical.com www.mpxbioceutical.com Heidi Christensen Brown NATIONAL Equicom T: +1-416-848-1389 hchristensenbrown@national.ca Start your day with Sunrise, a roundup of B.C. news and opinions delivered straight to your inbox Start your day with Sunrise, delivered straight to your inbox Sign up now> Boeing says it will not deliver any aircraft to Iran, (AFP/Getty Images) "We have not delivered any aircraft to Iran, and given we no longer have a license to sell to Iran at this time, we will not be delivering any aircraft," the Boeing spokesman said. "We did not factor the Iran orders into our order backlog either." The announcement follows President Donald Trump's decision last month to pull the United States out of the landmark 2015 nuclear accord between Iran and major powers that had cleared the way for a relaxation of sanctions on Iran. Boeing had previously said it would respect US policy on Iran and had pushed back the delivery dates on the Iran planes without commenting directly on deliveries. Boeing and Airbus were among the companies to receive US Treasury licenses to begin conducting business in Iran under strict oversight after sanctions were eased. Boeing in December 2016 announced an agreement to sell 80 aircraft valued at US$16.6 billion to Iran Air. Boeing also announced a contract in April 2017 to sell Iran Aseman Airlines 30 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft for US$3 billion, with purchase rights for another 30 aircraft. Last week, a person close to the matter said engineering giant General Electric would cease all activities in Iran by Nov 4 and meet a 180-day deadline set by the Trump administration to exit the country. Hamilton, Bermuda 6 June 2018. Issuance of common units in Hoegh LNG Partners LP to Primary Insiders of Hoegh LNG Holdings Ltd. Hoegh LNG Holdings Ltd. ("Hoegh LNG" or the "Company") advises that the Board of Directors of Hoegh LNG Partners LP ("HMLP") approved 6 June 2018 to issue 2,210 common units in HMLP to each of Morten W. Hegh, Chairman of the Company and Director of HMLP and Andrew Jamieson, Director of the Company and HMLP, both primary insiders of the Company, as part remuneration for services rendered by them as chairman and director, respectively, of HMLP for the period from February 2017 to June 2018. The number of common units issued constitutes a remuneration of USD 39,000 to each, based on the average closing price of the HMLP unit over the last five trading days including 6 June 2018 of USD 17.65. The total ownership interests in Hoegh LNG and HMLP subject to disclosure requirements held by the primary insiders following the above transactions are as follows: Morten W. Hegh (2,210 common units which has been transferred at the issuance price to Leif Hoegh & Co. Ltd. (LHC) and will be delivered to LHC upon issuance of the common units. Please also see below). Andrew Jamieson (9,733 shares in the Company following the issuance of shares as described in a separate stock exchange notice dated 6 June 2018 and 6,301 common units in HMLP). Mandatory Notification of Trade by Primary Insider On 6 June 2018, Richard Tyrrell, CEO/CFO of HMLP and primary insider of the Company sold 8,138 common units in HMLP and his related party, Rachel Brask-Tyrrell sold 874 common units in HMLP, both at a unit price of USD 17.83, principally to pay taxes that is due on previous HMLP unit awards granted to Richard Tyrrell. Following the above transactions, Richard Tyrrell owns 9,215 shares and 91,067 Stock Options in the Company and 28,917 Phantom Units in HMLP. Rachel Brask-Tyrrell owns 4,126 common units in HMLP. Disclosing regarding Morten W. Hegh and Leif O. Hegh Reference is made to the stock exchange notice "Approval of issuing of shares to Directors as part remuneration" dated 6 June 2018 setting out the issuance of shares to the Company's Directors as part remuneration (the "Share Issue") increasing the issued shares in the Company to 77,260,580 shares. Leif Hoegh & Co. Ltd., which is indirectly controlled by Leif O. Hegh and family trusts under which Morten W. Hegh and his immediate family are primary beneficiaries, will following the Share Issue hold a total of 33,026,031 shares, representing 42.75% of the shares in the Company and following the above transaction, 338,801 common units in HMLP. In addition, the below Brompton Cross entities, which are co-investment vehicles for management of Hoegh Capital Partners, indirectly controlled by Leif O. Hegh and by family trusts under which Morten W. Hegh and his immediate family are primary beneficiaries, hold the following ownership interest in the Company: Brompton Cross VIII Limited holds 28,500 shares, representing 0.04% of the shares in issue. Brompton Cross IX Limited holds 28,500 shares, representing 0.04% of the shares in issue. The percentage has been calculated based on a total of 77,260,580 shares in issue. * * * About Hoegh LNG: Hoegh LNG provides floating energy solutions and operates world-wide with a leading position as owner and operator of floating LNG import terminals; floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs), and is one of the most experienced operators of LNG Carriers (LNGCs). Hoegh LNG's vision is to be the industry leader of floating LNG solutions and the strategy is to continue to focus its growth plans in the FSRU market, with the objective of securing long-term contracts with strong counterparties at attractive returns. Hoegh LNG is a Bermuda based company with established presence in Norway, Singapore, the UK, USA, South Korea, Indonesia, Lithuania, Egypt, Colombia, China and Turkey. The company employs approximately 125 office staff and 500 seafarers. Contacts: Sveinung J. S. Sthle, President and Chief Executive Officer, Telephone +47 975 57 402 Steffen Freid, Chief Financial Officer, Telephone +47 975 57 406 Erik Folkeson, Head of IR, Telephone +47 414 21 769 This information is subject of the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act or the Continuing Obligations of Oslo Brs. A group of South Koreans pose for photos while going sightseeing in Danang City The analysis is based on the number of tours booked in the next two months via the travel agency. Apart from groups of families and couples, South Korean individuals traveling alone prefer to go to the coastal city, followed by Tokyo in Japan, Bangkok in Thailand, the Guam Island in the U.S. South Korean tourists totaled over 500,000 people, which accounted for the largest portion of 1.4 million international arrivals in the city in the five-month period of this year, according to the municipal Tourism Department. Nguyen Ngoc Anh, director of the tourism firm Omega Tours, said that Danang is home to many tourist attractions and lots of beautiful beaches stretching for miles, adding that travel is made easier owing to many air services connecting South Korean cities with the Central coastal city. Therefore, South Korean travel agencies and air carriers have focused on operating and promoting tours to this coastal city. Le Tan Thanh Tung, deputy director of Vitours JS Company, highlight special features of Danang such as a convenient location, modern facilities and full services, which make the city more advantageous than other localities. Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue responds to National Assembly deputies questions on June 6. - VNA/VNS Photo This was the first time Deputy PM Hue had fielded queries from lawmakers since assuming office in 2016. Special economic zones The three proposed special economic zones (SEZs) Van Don, Bac Van Phong and Phu Quoc received particular attention from lawmakers, with questions ranging from human resources development, leadership selection, implications on the planning of seven economic regions and national security. Deputy PM Hue said special zones mean the officials must also be special. He said the three-step process to choose the leader of the SEZ nomination by the provincial chairman, assessment by the home affairs ministry, voting by the Peoples Council and final approval from the Prime Minister would be sufficient to select a qualified and virtuous leader to guide the success of the SEZ. Regarding questions on the realistic effectiveness of SEZs to the Vietnamese economy as well as national security and the countrys sovereignty concerns regarding SEZs, Deputy PM said the zones are meant as a place to test out experimental policies. He also affirmed that Hanoi and HCM City would continue to be the economic locomotives of the country and receive focal resources support, whether or not the proposed SEZs come into existence. NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan said SEZs laws are still being studied and asked unsatisfied deputies to allow the Deputy PM to answer later via documents. Cryptocurrency Deputies asked Deputy PM Hue on the Governments plans for managing virtual currency, to which he said the State Bank has announced bitcoin as an illegitimate currency in Vietnam. However, Deputy PM admitted there is a robust market for bitcoin transactions in the country, therefore ministries and agencies must study international practices to implement reasonable policies. Related mining rigs importation in the country, with the latest data from finance ministry showing that 15,600 rigs have been imported into Vietnam, Deputy PM said the Government is considering whether to ban the import of cryptocurrency mining machines, but only if a legal basis for such ban could be constituted. Other issues Deputy Hue also delivered a report on the economy in the first five-months of 2018, affirming that the overall trend of positive growth is continuing and the macro-economy remains stable, with a strong US$3.4 billion export-import surplus, a 9.8 per cent increase in foreign direct investment and stable growth in all sectors. However, he admitted there are still causes for concern, including the slowing of industrial production, underwhelming progress in administrative reforms and sluggish budget disbursement in key projects. Other issues raised at the Q&A session include transparency in public-private partnership projects, anti-corruption efforts, increasing retirement age, credit priorities for the climate change adaptation programmes in Mekong Delta and tackling fake and overpriced medicine. Deputy PM Hue was the last cabinet member to participate in the Q&A session covering four topics (traffic and transport, environment and natural resources, education and training, labour and social affairs) in the ongoing 14th National Assemblys meeting. The Q&A format, restricting the time for questions down to one minute each and answers down to three minutes each, proved to be effective and was appreciated by both NA deputies and citizens alike, said NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan during her closing speech. 250 deputies questioned Government members during the three-day session. Germany orders recall of 60,000 Audis over emissions, photo AFP "We have ordered that the illegal 'defeat devices' uncovered should be removed and the vehicles refitted according to the regulations," a KBA spokesman told AFP. "Defeat devices" refer to physical or software systems designed to reduce polluting emissions during regulatory tests, while allowing them to rise in real driving conditions. Around 60,000 Audi A6 and A7 diesel cars in the European Union are affected by the recall, some 33,000 of them in Germany, the firm said. In early May, Audi said it had stopped delivering some A6 and A7 versions to customers after finding "irregularities" in their onboard software, adding that it was working on a fix. At the same time, the KBA said it was launching an inquiry into "suspicions of manipulation" in the cars. News magazine Der Spiegel reported that the suspect software related to AdBlue, a fluid injected into the exhaust system to neutralise harmful nitrogen oxides (NOx). The program reduced the amount of the liquid sprayed into the catalytic converter, aiming to lower consumption in between check-ups on the cars - but allowing for higher emissions of the polluting gases. German authorities warned Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler and Audi owner Volkswagen earlier this year that they could face mass recalls after similar AdBlue trickery was uncovered. Meanwhile, prosecutors searched homes and offices belonging to Audi employees in Germany in February and in April. Volkswagen's high-end subsidiary has long been in the focus of the "dieselgate" scandal, in which the Wolfsburg-based behemoth admitted in 2015 to installing software designed to dupe regulatory emissions tests in 11 million diesel-fuelled cars around the world. Some vehicles' NOx emissions were up to 40 times higher than legal limits. The scandal has already cost VW more than US$25 billion (21 billion euros) in fines, compensation and buybacks, mainly in the United States. Dropping rates of return Hoa Sen Group's rates of return in 2018's first quarter dropped by 80 per cent on-year. Photo: zing.vn The firms first quarter financial report shows that its revenue growth increased by 23 per cent on-year but the profit just reached VND87 billion ($3.83 million), equaling one-fifth against the same period last year. Many experts said that rising debts to maintain its market share (from 33.1 per cent in 2016 to 34.7 per cent in 2017) has led to Hoa Sen Groups reduced rate of return. In addition, zing.vn quoted Hoa Sen Groups representative as explaining that higher costs of business activities has led its deeply reduced rate of return in this years first quarter. Furthermore, its main products market shares are threatened by other competitors, making Hoa Sen raising debts to maintain the market shares. Specifically, its corrugated iron products market share reduced from 40.9 per cent (2012) to 33.1 per cent (2016). The interest expenses increased to 70 per cent on-year, its short-term debt remains VND12.646 trillion ($557 million). Its liabilities soared from VND8.18 trillion ($360.3 million) in 2016 to VND16.268 trillion ($716.6 million) in 2017. Halting one project in Nghe An province On June 1, 2018, the Nghe An Peoples Committee surprisingly issued a document No.2202/QD-UBND on halting Hoa Sen Groups project of centre for distributing building materials (Vinh citys Nghi Lien commune), which is granted a permit in 2015. Nguyen Manh Hung, director of the Nghe An Department of Planning and Investment's Foreign Relations Department told VIR that halting project is the investors unilateral decision. May be the recent difficulties make Hoa Sen Group calculating its budget to target improved main products market shares, leading to do not enough capital to develop its project in Nghe An. To clarify this issue, VIR contacted with Hoa Sen Group and received an answer: I do not know about the issue, from a representative of the firms Investment Department. Stock price has fallen down and its shareholders has fled The HSG ticker has been fluctuating heavily during the first five months. Photo: zing.vn In 2018s first five months, Hoa Sen Groups stock price reduced by 51.8 per cent, going from VND23,976 ($1.05) to VND11,550 ($0.5) per stock, scaring away shareholders. Thus, its market capitalisation was reduced by VND4.347 trillion ($191.4 million). Many shareholders are planning to sell their stocks as HSG is hitting rock bottom. For instance, Tam Thien Tam One Member Ltd., managed by Hoang Thi Hoang Xuan, the wife of Hoa Sen Groups chairman Le Phuoc Vu, has just sold five million stocks, reducing the firms ownership rate to 19.21 million shares, equaling 5.49 per cent. Xuan also plans to sell the rest of her HSG stocks in May 23-June 21. In 2014, Vietnam Enterprise Investment Ltd., Hoa Sens biggest foreign investor, sold 300,000 HSG stocks. After the transaction, the firm retained 7.9 million HSG shares, equaling 2.25 per cent of Hoa Sen Groups charter capital, officially leaving the group of the firms largest shareholders. In this February, Amersham Industries Limited sold 600,000 HSG stocks. The foreign investor made quite a deal, as the divestment took place quickly and earned about VND14 billion ($616,740). The National Assembly completed the three-day question period in the afternoon of June 6. (Source: VNA) Four ministers were grilled during the live-broadcast question period, who were Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong Ha, Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung, and Minister of Education and Training Phung Xuan Nha. Deputy Prime Ministers Trinh Dinh Dung and Vu Duc Dam, along with several other ministers and sector leaders, also joined in the Q&A to give further information and explanations on issues raised during the questioning. The Q&A sessions focused on four main groups of issues of great concern of voters and people nationwide. The Minister of Transport was asked about measures to improve transport infrastructure, ensure traffic safety, especially in big cities, and solve outstanding problems related to BOT projects. Meanwhile, questions put to the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment focused on land management in big cities and localities with large numbers of complaints and denunciations, environmental pollution and the management of waste discharge by enterprises, and measures to respond to climate change particularly in the Mekong Delta. The Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs was required to talk about the labour market, vocational training and measures to address violence and abuse of children. The Minister of Education and Training answered questions mainly on how to improve quality of general and higher education, the management of preschool education, especially private kindergartens. Deputy PM Vuong Dinh Hue presented an updated report on the socio-economic situation in May and the first five months of 2018 and answered questions from NA deputies on related issues. Most NA deputies appreciated the effect of the new rule under which each NA deputy has one minute to raise questions, and after three questions, the asked Cabinet member has three minutes to make the answers. They said the change facilitated dialogue and face-to-face debate, allowed more deputies to raise their opinions while preventing overlapping questions. Meanwhile, the questioned Cabinet members must make thorough preparations in order to give satisfactory answers. During the three days of Q&A, more than 200 NA deputies registered their questions or joined in the debate, and some of the questions have to wait for answers in written forms due to a shortage of time. Many interviewed voters said the change in questioning style allowed NA deputies to better perform their role as representatives of the people and convey more wishes and aspirations from the public at the parliamentary forum. The Vietnamese delegation at the event (Source: VNA) Ha made the remarks at the plenary session of the 107th the International Labour Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 5. The official cited the issuance of laws and policies in Vietnam to enable women to improve their management and leadership capacity, and easily access capital. One of the targets of Vietnams national strategy on gender equality for 2011-2020 is to reduce gender gaps in the fields of economy, labour and employment, and enhance the access of poor women in rural areas and women of ethnic minority groups to economic resources and the labour market, she stressed. She said programmes and projects on vocational training, employment, workplace safety, sustainable poverty reduction and support for female entrepreneurs have helped women approach job opportunities, join the labour market, escape from poverty and improve their economic rights. Pointing out challenges caused by the fourth industrial revolution to women who may be weeded out from the official economy or have fewer job options, Ha stressed the need to raise public awareness of the role and potential of female labourers. She suggested integrating gender equality into policies on human resources at the national level. In the region, Vietnam has ran initiatives to promote womens position such as the ASEAN Women Entrepreneurs Network, she said, adding that Vietnam is working with other member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum to materialise the APEC Gender Inclusion Guidelines, while ensuring gender equality within the UN agenda on sustainable development by 2030. Ha thanked the International Labour Organisation (ILO) for its support for Vietnams approval of resolutions on the reform of social insurance and salary policies. Vietnam has also cooperated with the organisation to prepare for the amendment of the Labour Code, as well as in the spheres of gender equality, labour relations, vocational training and workplace safety, contributing to enhancing capacity for the Vietnamese Government and its social partners. Vietnam wishes to receive more support from the ILO and its members in accelerating the reform of labour-related laws, especially policies on social insurance and labour relations, and implementing the Vietnam-ILO national cooperation programme on sustainable employment in 2017-2021, she said. The official affirmed Vietnams commitment to fulfilling its membership obligations and promoting effective collaboration with the ILO and partners in Vietnam. The same day, Vice President of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL) Tran Van Ly also delivered a speech at the plenary session, introducing the Vietnamese Governments guidelines and policies towards women. He highlighted the VGCLs attention to promoting gender equality, protecting rights of female workers and increasing the rate of female leaders in trade unions. The 107th International Labour Conference, which takes place from May 28 to June 8, brings together 5,000 delegates representing Governments, employees and employers from 187 ILO member countries. The delegates looked into a range of issues regarding violence at workplace, rights of labourers, female workers, social dialogues and the implementation of standards and cooperation mechanisms for development. There are 300 Honda cars in this container alone A cargo ship carrying thousands of CBU cars imported from Thailand has arrived at Haiphong Port several days ago, carrying Honda, Chevrolet, Ford, and Nissan vehicles, according to dantri.com.vn. An officer at Haiphong Port told that this cargo ship came from Thailand and could carry around 4,000 vehicles. In late June, another cargo ship from Indonesia will arrive, carrying Toyota vehicles among others. Thus, after a spell of quiet, tax-exempt imported cars from Thailand are flowing into Vietnam, matching consumers thirst for cars. Honda dealers sign contracts with customers and agree to handover the cars a few months later. Ford dealers also announced that they have no Rangers in stock, however, higher value orders are fast-tracked as per company policy. Meanwhile, the Navara model is expected to enable Nissan to sharply increase sales after the Sunny and X-Trail models weak performance in the past months. Navara was the best-selling Nissans model last year. All these new arrivals have to pass import testing before they can be marketed. The imported vehicles still need to pass the tests before being launched on the market During the first months of the year, only Honda and General Motors have passed all requirements of Decree 116 to import tax-exempt CBU cars. Four Honda models (CR-V, Civic, Accord, and Jazz) were imported in early March, and started selling on the market half a month later. Meanwhile, GM only imported a batch of Chevrolet Trailblazers. After successfully importing and discounting its first batch of tax-exempt cars by VND200 million ($8,800) for the first tax-exempted cars, Honda raised prices a short time later. A dealership told VIR that Honda CR-V vehicles went from the already rather high price of VND963 million ($42,500) to VND1.073 billion ($47,300), while the Honda Civic went from VND763 to 903 million ($33,600-40,000). On the other hand, some GM models have been reduced by $1,000-3,000. The consumer demand seems to exceed the number of tax-exempt cars imported as consumers have been waiting for lower prices. However, it seems difficult to buy a cheap car, despite previous expectations. In this context, TMV has just announced expanding manufacturing in Vietnam to 90,000 vehicles annually, while they sold only 50,381 semi-knocked down (SKD) cars in 2016 and 41,424 in 2017. The Japanese auto-maker is considering reducing the number of SKD models assembled in Vietnam to two-three from the five before 2017 and the four in 2017. TMV's president Toru Kinoshita said that while reducing the number of SKD models in Vietnam, they will increase the quantity of remaining SKD cars and reduce their cost. Additionally, TMV will maintain manufacturing in Vietnam if the annual output reaches 50,000 cars. As a result, consumers can expect Toyota SKD models to get cheaper in the time to come. Against the thousands, even tens of thousans of tax-exempt cars imported from the ASEAN, reducing the price of SKD models may be an unavoidable policy for Toyota and other domestic automobile manufacturers. English French Elis closes the acquisition of Wascherei Waiz in Germany Saint-Cloud, June 7, 2018 - Elis, the leading multi-services group in Europe and Latin America, specializing in the rental and maintenance of flat linen, professional clothing, hygiene and well-being appliances, continues its consolidation strategy in its key markets and announces it has closed the acquisition of 100% of Wascherei Waiz GmbH in Germany. Wascherei Waiz is a family business that runs one laundry near Nuremberg. It generated revenues of c.10 million euros in 2017. The business is fully dedicated to flat linen treatment for Healthcare clients for both short and long stays. With this transaction, Elis continues the consolidation of its footprint in Germany in the dynamic Healthcare segment. Commenting on this announcement, Xavier Martire, CEO of Elis, declared: "The acquisition of Wascherei Waiz is an additional step in our development in Germany. It enables Elis to continue consolidating this very fragmented market with a high quality asset in the Healthcare segment in the Northern part of Bavaria, a region where Elis was not previously present. The quick integration of the company and its approximately 200 employees, together with the transfer of know-how, should contribute to Elis' profitable growth trajectory going forward." Contact Nicolas Buron Investor Relations Director - Phone: +33 1 75 49 98 30 - nicolas.buron@elis.com Audrey Bourgeois Investor Relations - Phone: +33 1 75 49 96 25 - audrey.bourgeois@elis.com For almost 1,500 years, Sun Tzus The Art of War has been a significant influence in the Far East. Published in Chinese, it was soon translated into Korean and then to Japanese. The book became a necessary manual for most military strategists in these countries. In fact, Takeda Shingen, a Japanese feudal lord during the Sengoku period, is believed to have won all his battles simply by applying the information given in the text. And though The Art of War is still relevant for military purposes, it is also employed by Koreans and Japanese for business applications. Three Art of War principles that help businesses When one treats people with benevolence, justice, and righteousness, and reposes confidence in them, the army will be united in mind and all will be happy to serve their leaders. This strategy aptly highlights the importance of employee morale in boosting business performance. By ensuring that employees are trained in a proper way and that their concerns are met with an open mind, a business can inspire them to work harder. In contrast, a working environment where employees feel neglected or mistreated will never elicit any loyalty or dedication toward the business. Generally in war, the best policy is to take a state intact; to ruin it is inferior to this. For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill. In the corporate world, this war strategy essentially asks businesses to focus on winning over its competitors using consuming little to no resources. A company might seek to counter a competitor by investing in an expensive marketing campaign. But if the competitors market share can be diminished by exposing a weakness in the product, then that would be the best option to implement. Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles, you will never be in peril. You need to have a perfect understanding of who your competitor is before you can win over them. This includes knowing their strengths, weaknesses, target market, and so on. All such information will help you prepare a true profile of your competitor. Such information can then be used to devise marketing strategies in a way that it attacks the strengths of the competitor while exploiting its weak spots. Japans special affection for The Art of War Japan started using the strategies outlined in The Art of War in the corporate world during the eighties. And as it quickly became a rage among young professionals, it also gathered a huge following from Wall Street. The country is so fond of Sun Tzus book that it has even started offering The Art of War to first graders. This abridged version boils down several chapters into digestible chunks of life advice for kids. This speaks for the universality of Sun Tzus words, which are even applicable to the lives of modern-day children, The Daily Beast quotes the general editor of the book, Itsumi Takano. The book is still in huge demand from Japanese and Korean professionals, which only goes on to prove the timelessness of The Art of War. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest English German Curetis Launches Unyvero System and LRT Cartridge for Lower Respiratory Tract Infections in the U.S. Multiple scientific conference contributions at ASM Microbe highlight benefits of Unyvero LRT First commercial evaluation agreements expected in the coming weeks Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Holzgerlingen, Germany and San Diego, CA, USA, June 7, 2018, 1:00 a.m. EDT - Curetis N.V. (the "Company" and together with its subsidiaries "Curetis"), a developer of next-level molecular diagnostic solutions, today announced the U.S. commercial launch of its Unyvero sample-to-answer molecular diagnostic system and the Unyvero LRT Application Cartridge for lower respiratory tract infections at the ASM Microbe 2018 Congress in Atlanta, GA, USA (June 7-11). Curetis obtained regulatory clearance for the Unyvero System and Unyvero LRT from the U.S. FDA in April this year. The Unyvero System, together with the Unyvero LRT Application Cartridge, provides rapid infectious disease testing directly from aspirate samples in less than five hours. It covers more than 90% of infection cases of hospitalized pneumonia patients and provides clinicians with a comprehensive overview of genetic antibiotic resistance markers detected. As the first-in-class molecular test for lower respiratory tract infections with no direct molecular diagnostic competition, it addresses a significant unmet medical need that causes over $10bn in annual costs for the U.S. healthcare system (see references 1, 2 below). It is also the first time that the U.S. FDA has granted clearance for an automated molecular diagnostic test for the atypical microorganism Legionella pneumoniae. The potential of the Unyvero System and LRT Application Cartridge to positively impact clinical outcomes, support antibiotic stewardship, and create health economic benefits is substantiated by several key contributions to the scientific program of ASM Microbe 2018: Dr. Chiagozie I. Pickens, MD, and colleagues from the Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago, IL, USA show data demonstrating that delays in the transport time of LRT specimens to the microbiology laboratory result in loss of viable pathogens, including virulent nosocomial pathogens. They conclude that "molecular technologies, such as Unyvero PCR, are less affected and identified causative agents even after long transport times." Dr. Matthew D. Sims, MD, PhD, and his group at William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, MI, USA, evaluated Unyvero LRT with regard to clinical impact and antibiotic stewardship and conclude that "the Unyvero Platform and the LRT Cartridge have significant potential to improve the management of lower respiratory tract infections and can improve antibiotic stewardship at the same time." This poster is also featured in an oral presentation by Dr. Sims during the Lounge & Learn Session "Outcomes Impacting Income: Cost Effective Clinical Diagnostics." In addition, in an Industry and Science Workshop hosted by Curetis USA, Dr. Joseph M. Campos, PhD, D(ABMM), F(AAM), Director of Microbiology Laboratory, Infectious Disease Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory, and Laboratory Informatics at Children's National Medical Center, Washington, DC, USA, will share early results from the evaluation of the Unyvero System and the Unyvero LRT Application at his institution. "ASM Microbe is an ideal platform to launch the Unyvero System and the LRT Application Cartridge in the U.S.," commented Chris Bernard, President and CEO of Curetis USA Inc. and EVP Global Sales. "The advantages of Unyvero, highlighted by Dr. Pickens and Dr. Sims in the congress' scientific program, are also recognized by many clinicians and laboratory directors at those hospitals we have been actively reaching out to following the FDA clearance decision. We are making very good progress in getting Unyvero Systems installed in several of those accounts short-term and expect to have signed multiple commercial evaluation agreements in the coming weeks. We also received the first commercial Unyvero cartridge order from a U.S. customer." To drive the commercial roll-out of the Unyvero System and Unyvero LRT as a first application cartridge in the U.S., the Company has completed the U.S. commercial operations setup and has a dedicated team of about 25 seasoned commercialization experts at its Curetis USA Inc. subsidiary in San Diego, CA. With the commercial team in place and the roll-out initiated, Curetis is targeting the placement of 40 to 50 Unyvero Analyzers by year-end 2018 and 60 to 80 Analyzers within the first full year of commercial availability in the U.S. ### Unyvero Posters and Presentations at ASM Microbe 2018 Poster 263: Impact of Specimen Transport Time on Identification of Pathogens: Comparison of a PCR-Based Diagnostic Platform to Routine Microbiological Cultures C. Pickens, C. Qi, H. Donnelly, M. Breganio, R. Wunderink; Northwestern Univ., Chicago, IL, USA Session 221 - CPHM03 - Diagnostic Bacteriology: Pre-Analytical Methods and Automation; June 9, 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. EDT, Exhibit and Poster Hall, Building B, Halls B2-B5 http://www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/4623/presentation/12015 Poster 367: Evaluation of a Rapid Highly Multiplexed Molecular Diagnostic Lower Respiratory Panel for Clinical Impact and Antibiotic Stewardship H. Mopuru, K. Powell, M. SIMS; Beaumont Health, Royal Oak, MI, USA Session 225 - CPHM12 - Molecular Diagnostic Microbiology: The Future of Diagnostics is Here; June 9, 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. EDT, Exhibit and Poster Hall, Building B, Halls B2-B5 http://www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/4623/presentation/12392 Session 501 - Outcomes Impacting Income: Cost Effective Clinical Diagnostics; June 10, 2018, 4:55 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. EDT, Lounge and Learn 2, Building A, Level 3 http://www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/4623/presentation/16632 Industry and Science Workshop - Curetis USA: Microbial Analysis of Lower Respiratory Tract Specimens with the Curetis Unyvero LRT Multiplex PCR Assay J. M. Campos; Children's National Medical Center, Washington, DC, USA June 7, 1:00p.m. - 1:45p.m. EDT, Room B313, Georgia International Convention Center, http://www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/4623/session/1740 References (1) CDC (2015) 'New CDC study highlights burden of pneumonia hospitalizations among US adults', available at: https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2015/p0714-pneumonia-hospitalizations.html (2) American Thoracic Society (2015) 'Top 20 pneumonia facts - 2015', available at: https://www.thoracic.org/patients/patient- resources/resources/top-pneumonia-facts.pdf About Curetis Curetis N.V.'s (Euronext: CURE) goal is to become a leading provider of innovative solutions for molecular microbiology diagnostics designed to address the global challenge of detecting severe infectious diseases and identifying antibiotic resistances in hospitalized patients. Curetis' Unyvero System is a versatile, fast and highly automated molecular diagnostic platform for easy-to-use, cartridge-based solutions for the comprehensive and rapid detection of pathogens and antimicrobial resistance markers in a range of severe infectious disease indications. Results are available within hours, a process that can take days or even weeks if performed with standard diagnostic procedures, thereby facilitating improved patient outcomes, stringent antibiotic stewardship and health-economic benefits. Unyvero in vitro diagnostic (IVD) products are marketed in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the U.S. Curetis' wholly owned subsidiary Ares Genetics GmbH offers next-generation solutions for infectious disease diagnostics and therapeutics. The ARES Technology Platform combines what the Company believes to be the most comprehensive database worldwide on the genetics of antimicrobial resistances, ARESdb, with advanced bioinformatics and artificial intelligence. For further information, please visit www.curetis.com and www.ares-genetics.com. Legal Disclaimer This document constitutes neither an offer to buy nor an offer to subscribe for securities and neither this document nor any part of it should form the basis of any investment decision in Curetis. The information contained in this press release has been carefully prepared. However, Curetis bears and assumes no liability of whatever kind for the correctness and completeness of the information provided herein. Curetis does not assume an obligation of whatever kind to update or correct information contained in this press release whether as a result of new information, future events or for other reasons. This press release includes statements that are, or may be deemed to be, "forward-looking statements." These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the terms "believes," "estimates," "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "targets," "may," "will," or "should" and include statements Curetis makes concerning the intended results of its strategy. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and readers are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. Curetis' actual results may differ materially from those predicted by the forward-looking statements. Curetis undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking statements, except as may be required by law. Contact details Curetis Max-Eyth-Str. 42 71088 Holzgerlingen, Germany Tel. +49 7031 49195-10 pr@curetis.com or ir@curetis.com www.curetis.com - www.unyvero.com International Media & Investor Inquiries akampion Dr. Ludger Wess / Ines-Regina Buth Managing Partners info(@)akampion.com Tel. +49 40 88 16 59 64 Tel. +49 30 23 63 27 68 U.S. Media & Investor Inquiries The Ruth Group Lee Roth lroth@theruthgroup.com Tel. +1 646 536 7012 English French Valneva Announces the Availability of Documentation for its Meeting of Shareholders Lyon (France), June 7, 2018 - The Shareholders of Valneva SE ("Valneva" or "the Company") are invited to participate in the Company's Combined General Meeting to be held on June 28, 2018 at 2:00 p.m. CET, at the Novotel Lyon Confluence, 3 rue Paul Montrochet, 69002 Lyon, France. The preliminary notice of the meeting containing the agenda, the proposed resolutions and instructions for participation and voting was published in the Bulletin des Annonces Legales Obligatoires (BALO) on May 18, 2018. Documents and information relating to the meetings are available on Valneva's website (please refer to this link www.valneva.com/en/investorsmedia/agm). In accordance with applicable law, registered shareholders can, by letter, fax or email, request that the Company provide the meeting documents listed in the French commercial code until the fifth working day before the meeting (please refer to the contact details below). Holders of bearer shares may exercise this right on the condition that they provide a certificate of share ownership issued by an authorized financial institution. Shareholders may also access the documents at the below-mentioned address or the Company's registered office. About Valneva SE Valneva is a fully integrated, commercial stage biotech company focused on developing innovative life-saving vaccines. Valneva's portfolio includes two commercial vaccines for travelers: IXIARO/JESPECT indicated for the prevention of Japanese encephalitis and DUKORAL indicated for the prevention of cholera and, in some countries, prevention of diarrhea caused by ETEC. The Company has proprietary vaccines in development including unique vaccines against Lyme disease and Chikungunya. Valneva has operations in Austria, Sweden, the United Kingdom, France, Canada and the US with over 450 employees. More information is available at www.valneva.com. Valneva Legal Department Contact Valneva SE, Legal Department, 6 rue Alain Bombard, 44800 Saint Herblain, France Fax: +33 2 28 07 37 11 Email: assemblee.generale@valneva.com Valneva Investor and Media Contacts Laetitia Bachelot-Fontaine Global Head of Investor Relations & Corporate Communications T +33 (0)2 2807 1419 M +33 (0)6 4516 7099 investors@valneva.com Teresa Pinzolits Corporate Communications Specialist T +43 (0)1 20620 1116 communications@valneva.com Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain forward-looking statements relating to the business of Valneva, including with respect to the progress, timing and completion of research, development and clinical trials for product candidates, the ability to manufacture, market, commercialize and achieve market acceptance for product candidates, the ability to protect intellectual property and operate the business without infringing on the intellectual property rights of others, estimates for future performance and estimates regarding anticipated operating losses, future revenues, capital requirements and needs for additional financing. In addition, even if the actual results or development of Valneva are consistent with the forward-looking statements contained in this press release, those results or developments of Valneva may not be indicative of their in the future. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by words such as "could," "should," "may," "expects," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "aims," "targets," or similar words. These forward-looking statements are based largely on the current expectations of Valneva as of the date of this press release and are subject to a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievement expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. In particular, the expectations of Valneva could be affected by, among other things, uncertainties involved in the development and manufacture of vaccines, unexpected clinical trial results, unexpected regulatory actions or delays, competition in general, currency fluctuations, the impact of the global and European credit crisis, and the ability to obtain or maintain patent or other proprietary intellectual property protection. In light of these risks and uncertainties, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking statements made during this presentation will in fact be realized. Valneva is providing the information in these materials as of this press release, and disclaim any intention or obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Junot Diaz. Photo: NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images The three poetry editors at the Boston Review, Timothy Donnelly, B.K. Fischer, and Stefania Heim, have stepped down after the magazine decided to retain Junot Diaz, who was recently accused of sexual misconduct and verbal abuse. After women spoke out against Diaz, the magazine reviewed their relationship with the author, who has served as a fiction editor there since 2003, and concluded, On the basis of what we have learned, we have decided to continue our editorial relationship with Junot. The magazine added that they had not received any complaints about him and that the objectionable conduct described in the public reports does not have the kind of severity that animated the #MeToo movement. In response, the magazines three poetry editors announced their intention to resign, effective July 1. They released a statement of their own, saying, What most distresses us are the letters apparent arbitration of what constitutes inclusion in the #MeToo movement and its lack of attentiveness to power dynamics in a star-driven media and publishing landscape. In response, Boston Review editor Joshua Cohen told Publishers Weekly, We think we have done the right thing. But that conviction, arrived at after long reflection and many conversations [with authors], does not remove our sadness at their decision to separate. Here we go again. Photo: Neil Rasmus/BFA/REX/Shutterstock Are you still fatigued from last weeks frazzled, late-night Kanye album release? Welp, chug a Red Bull and chase it with a shot of espresso because were about to do it all over again. Tonight, Kanye and Kid Cudi will release their debut collaborative album, Kids See Ghosts (which is also the name of their new group), once again in elaborate fashion. Therell be another listening party, but this time more local, in Los Angeles since Kanye got all of hip-hop banned from that one Wyoming ranch. And like last weeks party, itll be livestreamed on the WAV app starting at 8 p.m. PT, according to both Cudi and his manager. Simultaneously, Kanye will be putting on a listening party in Brooklyn for YE, recreating the Wyoming experience for us city folk. (But that wont officially be streamed, and he wont be there.) Just when you thought it was safe to delete these apps youll never touch again, start re-downloading now! All we ask is that the album hit streaming services at a reasonable, prompt hour. Download the @WAV_Media app https://t.co/tSKPugfNlF to watch the livestream of the KIDS SEE GHOSTS listening event on Thursday, June 7 at 8PM PST The Chosen One (@KidCudi) June 7, 2018 Sandra Bullock feeds Cate Blanchett on the set of Oceans 8. Photo: SplashNews.com The emotional crux of Oceans 8 happens fairly early on in the movie, when the titular Debbie Ocean, played by Sandra Bullock, is out of prison and back on her bullshit with a master plan to steal a $150 million Cartier necklace at the Met Gala. In order to pull off the heist, she needs to convince her partner in crime, Lou, played by Cate Blanchett, to join her. Cate knows shes going to say yes, but shes loving this little cat-and-mouse thing theyve got going on, so she demurs for a few scenes. Undeterred, Sandra takes Cate to noted drunk-people diner Veselka and offers her a forkful of her food and the promise of $16.5 million. Cate hesitates. The two lock eyes across the table. And finally, Cate assents, putting her entire mouth around Sandras fork. The world shakes: Demi Lovato becomes cool for the summer; Kristen Stewart bites her lower lip; Rita Ora screams at her agent. Harold, theyre lesbians. While Oceans 8 is technically a heist movie, it is actually a movie about how men are boring and peripheral and women are fun and should have sex with each other. And while we regret to inform you that there is no kissing that actually matters in Oceans 8 (men do not matter), there are plenty of meaningful woman-on-woman looks and lewks. So heres a list of the eight women of Oceans 8 Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Awkwafina, Helena Bonham Carter, Rihanna, and Anne Hathaway in ascending order of lesbian energy. Happy Pride! 8. Helena Bonham Carter Helena Bonham Carter plays distressed, has-been Irish designer Rose Weil, whom Cate and Sandra target as the woman to dress Anne Hathaways Daphne Kluger and help them steal the Cartier diamond necklace. In the process, Rose is revivified by these women, and dresses Daphne in a dress with a long train in Barbie pink, which we all know is Janelle Monae Sapphic pink. (The color is a metaphor, Harold.) 7. Mindy Kaling Mindy Kaling plays someone who works at a shop in Queens and gets harassed by neighborhood busybodies about the fact that shes not married yet. Obviously this is because shes a lesbian and is waiting for a Bette-fromThe L Word type to convince her to run a scam. Enter: Sandra Bullock. 6. Awkwafina Awkafina likes to steal from rich white ladies. Lesbian! 5. Anne Hathaway Everything youve heard is true: Anne Hathaway steals the show. As A-list actress Daphne Kluger, shes really playing Anne Hathaway, sending up the Hatha-hate that beleaguered her for years. Throughout the film, she coos, whines, touches her neck, and has a brief panic attack about the size of her own features. It should be noted that, of the octet, she is the only one to have sex with a man but its a ruse, ladies! Anne Hathaways performance is a post-modern interpretation of high-femme celebrity. Call up Judith Butler, because thats extremely gay! 4. Sarah Paulson Sarah Paulson plays bored suburban housewife Tammy, which we choose to believe is a reference to Debbie Reynoldss iconic performance and song Tammy, where she plays a simple country girl from Mississippi looking for love. Well, this Tammy is all grown up and locked in the prison of heterosexuality until Sandra Bullock pays a visit to her in her garage, where shes been running her scams in secret. (This is the lesbian equivalent of a closet.) Sarah Paulson suddenly feels alive again and tells her son that shes going on Mommys very special work trip. Thats called lesbianism, honey! 3. Rihanna Real-life Rihanna allegedly dumped her hot billionaire boyfriend because she gets tired of men, which is secretly the theme of every Rihanna look at the Met Gala. Oceans 8 Rihanna is named 9-ball, and she is definitely that queer girl who reads birth charts and makes her own rosewater. If she could read her own chart (which Im certain she has), shed know that shes a Rihanna sun with a Rihanna rising. Its called Pride for a reason! 2. Sandra Bullock As Debbie Ocean, sister of Danny Ocean, Sandra Bullock is the lesbian whisperer of these proceedings. She has that perfect beach wave that whispers, Step into my ocean, ladies. She feeds Cate Blanchett a forkful of Veselka, cruises Awkwafina in the park, and presses up very closely against Sarah Paulson. She is a little scary and has set out to exact revenge on a man who wronged her, because in prison she learned the important lesson that the greatest scam in life is heterosexuality. 1. Cate Blanchett Cate Blanchett playing Lou (lol) in Oceans 8 is easily the most lesbian thing to have happened since Cate Blanchett played Carol in Carol or the summer Kristen Stewart spent gazing at Cate Blanchett at Cannes. Cate Blanchett exudes power lesbian with a pantsuit in every shade of envy. The biggest conflict of the movie occurs when Cate Blanchett and Sandra Bullock both try to top each other. (Do not run a job in a job!) Cate Blanchett in Oceans 8 is a lesbian. This is canon. Late-night host Samantha Bee has already extended an apology for calling Ivanka Trump a feckless cunt during a Full Frontal segment about 1,500 potentially missing migrant children last week. Pundits weighed in, Twitter blew up and sponsors State Farm and Autotrader.com pulled their advertisements from the TBS late-night show. But all that happened in under a week, so now Bee must address it all again on tonights new episode of her show. It is a word I have used on the show many times, hoping to reclaim it. This time, I used it as an insult. I crossed the line. I regret it, and I do apologize for that, Bee said tonight. The problem is, a lot of women have heard that word at the worst time in their lives. A lot of them dont want it reclaimed. I dont blame them. I dont want to inflict more pain on them. The White House publicly condemned Bees vile and vicious wording last week, and TBS also issued a statement saying the insult should not have been aired. On Wednesday night, Bee expressed her dismay that the controversy distracted the news cycle from more important issues. Said the late-night host, I should have known that a potty-mouth insult would be inherently more interesting to them than juvenile immigration policy. Joked Bee, I want this show to be challenging and to be honest, but I never intended it to hurt anyone. Except Ted Cruz. Its been a good year for comics and its not even May yet. Just in time for assembling your beach-read shopping list, we present you with a list of the best comics of 2018 so far. A note on methodology: To be eligible, a work had to be a bound volume of comics art released for the first time in English in 2018. That includes collections of individual comics and single-story graphic novels/memoirs. Here they are, in no particular order. Why Art? by Eleanor Davis (Fantagraphics) We hardly deserve Eleanor Davis. Mere months after putting out one of the best comics of 2017, the nonfiction travelogue You & a Bike & the Road, shes hit us with Why Art?, which couldnt be more of a departure from the previous work, yet somehow still feels like a logical next step in the development of her aesthetic. It begins innocuously enough, with a series of cheekily non sequitur descriptions of art and artists, but it gradually morphs into something much grander. By the end, youll be questioning your assumptions about the creative process and artistic consumption, and your awe for Davis will be all the stronger. From Lone Mountain by John Porcellino (Drawn + Quarterly) This hefty collection of installments from John Porcellinos long-running zine King-Cat consists mostly of autobiographical comics, but features hearty helpings of personal miscellany, from little essays on loss and growth to lists of things the author was enjoying at the time of a given zines creation. The comics, themselves, are deceptively simple: the lines are few and the anatomy cartoony and basic. But that simplicity makes the work into an emotional Trojan horse, moving past your defenses so it can pierce your heart with its tender insights. Yellow Negroes and Other Imaginary Creatures by Yvan Alagbe (New York Review) Yellow Negroes and Other Imaginary Creatures is not an easy book. Its harsh chiaroscuro inks, fractured storytelling, and defiant politics reshape the readers brain in real time a process thats not necessarily pleasant, but absolutely necessary. Race, color, class, gender, and violence are all ruthlessly dissected in this brief collection of short vignettes (calling some of them stories feels wrong) from underappreciated French master Yvan Alagbe, and the end result is one of the most arresting comics works to hit stands in a good long while. The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang (First Second) Its no secret that were in the midst of a youth-comics renaissance, but even in a crowded marketplace, Jen Wangs The Prince and the Dressmaker stands out. Set in the Paris at the tail end of the horse-and-carriage era, this jubilant story follows two teenagers struggling to find themselves while in each others orbit: a poor tailor girl whose talents thrust her into the heights of aristocratic society, and the covertly cross-dressing prince for whom she starts designing. With ecstatic linework, potent colors, and punchy prose, Wang crafts a tale that feels at once classic and in its effortless undermining of gender roles utterly fresh. Highly recommended for any youngsters out there with sequential-art addictions. X-Men: Grand Design by Ed Piskor (Marvel) In fits and starts, Marvel is trying to make the X-Men happen again. For years, the publisher reportedly held back their merry mutants in an effort to spite their movie adaptations, which are helmed by a rival company; but theyre back in the spotlight, most notably in the form of indie cartoonist Ed Piskors X-Men: Grand Design. Its a stunning and simple pitch: let an auteur reimagine the entirety of X-Men history as a unified, heavily tweaked, grittily illustrated narrative. The end result is both a tribute to and advancement of the X-mythos and should prompt superhero publishers to take more risks with their intellectual property. The Lie and How We Told It by Tommi Parrish (Fantagraphics) Its a tale as old as time: Two old friends reunite and, as they reminisce, it becomes clear that the ghosts of the old days have never been fully exorcised. Tommi Parrishs The Lie and How We Told It is a slow-motion gut-punch, using surreal anatomical proportions, rich paints, stories-within-stories, and punctuation-light prose to meditate on sex and regret. Even though very little happens, per se, one finds oneself increasingly on edge, dreading and craving the next twist or turn in an evening of personal revelation. I had been eavesdropping on a type of life I had never wanted for myself, reads a sentence near the end, and youll find yourself feeling as though youve done just that and wondering whether that type of life is already your own. Young Frances by Hartley Lin (AdHouse) In a world where Dilbert has become sadly synonymous with the alt-right, readers deserve a fresh take on office drudgery, and Hartley Lin has just the thing. In Young Frances a collection of Lins strips from his fantastic Pope Hats series we spend ample time with the title character, a Canadienne grappling with the question of whether or not shes throwing her life away by working as a law clerk at a big firm. It eschews simple screw capitalism rhetoric in favor of a nuanced take on an assemblage of humans who are all trying to muddle through in their own ways. The artwork alone is worth the price of admission: Lin deploys evocative facial acting and thick inks that sweep with the force of a brisk Toronto winter. Batman: The Rules of Engagement by Tom King, Clay Mann, Lee Weeks, Michael Lark, Seth Mann, Jordie Bellaire, Elizabeth Breitweiser, June Chung, Clayton Cowles, and Deron Bennett (DC) While the overall consistency of the DC Comics lineup has evened out and elevated in the two years since its Rebirth initiative launched, there are still far too few series that feel like theyre advancing the superhero genre in any meaningful way. Tom Kings Batman is an obvious exception. With his rotating cast of top-flight artistic collaborators, King has put out The Rules of Engagement: yet another winning collection of Dark Knight yarns, all of them circling around the pitch-perfect romance between Batsy and Catwoman. The standout is the Superfriends two-parter, in which the happy couple go on a double date with Superman and Lois Lane it features a bevy of ticklingly brilliant observations about these august characters and the hoary genre they inhabit. Aliens: Dead Orbit by James Stokoe (Dark Horse) If only Ridley Scott would read more comics. After the piffle that was Alien: Covenant, fans of the Alien franchise may find themselves despairing in a world where that old xenomorph magic appears to have evaporated from Hollywood. But the saga is alive and well on the page thanks to James Stokoe. Aliens: Dead Orbit is more or less everything one wants from an Alien story, jam-packed with used-future claustrophobia and blood-freezing body horror. Visually, Stokoe is the ideal inheritor of the templates set for the franchise by Moebius and H.R. Giger, crafting a story that transcends verbal language and ascends to the heights of inconceivable terror. The Pervert by Remy Boydell and Michelle Perez (Image) The most somber comic featuring a threesome between a cat, a dog, and Jon from Garfield that youll read all year. The Pervert is a fragmented journey through the anthropomorphized life of a trans woman making her way in Seattle on call-center gigs and sex work, and its full near to bursting with empathy and arresting observation. Remy Boydells watercolors deftly illuminate the Pacific Northwest with murmuring sadness and the books frank accounts of stilted intimacy ring all too true. The surreal quasi-cameos from famous comics characters are the unsettling icing on this deliciously depressing cake. All the Answers by Michael Kupperman (Simon and Schuster) People have a nasty habit of breaking the things they love. In Michael Kuppermans All the Answers, the remarkably gifted cartoonist explores the personal history of his father, a former child star, and the results are brutal. While he should have been living a healthily anonymous life in grade school, Joel Kupperman was thrust into the national spotlight as the prodigious and beloved star of a quiz show. The book walks us through how, precisely, this experience ruined the boy and the man he became, as well as how the trauma has rotted away at the relationship between Messrs. Kupperman and Kupperman. No one draws in quite the way Michael does, with a style that is at once photorealistic and cartoony, and if youre used to seeing his talent deployed for humorous effect in books like Tales Designed to Thrizzle, youre in for a shock and a treat here. Sabrina by Nick Drnaso (Drawn + Quarterly) No comic Ive read this year feels as of-the-moment as Nick Drnasos Sabrina. Using his unsettlingly simple figure work, background construction, and coloring, the author pushes himself beyond the heights of his previous work, Beverly, and puts forth a chronicle about the disintegration of the American mind. Ive probably said too much already, as the book is best consumed with no preexisting expectations or foreknowledge of whats inside. Just trust that youll walk away feeling a curious mix of disgust toward and empathy for the people of this great nation. No small feat. A number of US personnel in China have been sent back to the United States for further health screenings after concerns over reports of mysterious acoustic incidents similar to the Cuba "sonic attacks." The US State Department said Wednesday a medical team had been sent to Guangzhou, in southern China, to conduct screenings of all US government employees and family members who asked for them. "As a result of the screening process so far, the Department has sent a number of individuals for further evaluation and a comprehensive assessment of their symptoms and findings in the United States," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said. The screenings came after a US government employee in Guangzhou fell ill in early 2018 after reporting "abnormal sensations of sound and pressure" which resulted in a mild brain injury. The US consulate in Guangzhou issued its second health notice around the issue Thursday, saying a single government employee had reported "subtle and vague, but abnormal, sensations of sound and pressure." The consulate said it did not know what had caused the symptoms, but was taking the incident "seriously." Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Thursday the US government hadn't told China about the new cases. She said the US could reach out directly to Chinese authorities and they would investigate. Speaking in Washington in May, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China had been investigating the incident but hadn't yet found the source of the "sonic influence." Wang added he didn't want to see individual cases "magnified, complicated or politicized." Just days earlier, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Tuesday the formation of a task force in response to "unexplained health incidents" affecting US diplomats and their family members. Pompeo had previously said on May 23 the Guangzhou incident was very similar to the mysterious sound-related illnesses experienced by US personnel in Cuba in 2016 and 2017, a statement which was reiterated by his department on Wednesday. Some officials have characterized these illnesses as "sonic attacks" or "acoustic attacks" as they often coincided with a high-pitched sound. US officials have detailed how personnel came in Cuba to experience a variety of symptoms including sharp ear pain, headaches, ringing in one ear, vertigo, disorientation, attention issues and signs consistent with mild traumatic brain injury or concussion. In nearly all cases there -- 24 in total -- the ailments were preceded by some sort of "acoustic element," such as a "high-pitched beam of sound" or a "baffling sensation akin to driving with the windows partially open in a car." A study earlier this year outlined the extensiveness of the problem, but the State Department has not pointed to a specific cause behind the mysterious incidents. A pizza delivery man could soon be deported after he was turned over to immigration officials after trying to drop off food at a military base in New York. Pablo Villavicencio, 35, arrived at the Fort Hamilton base in Brooklyn last week to deliver an order from the brick-oven pizza restaurant in Queens where he worked. He showed his New York City identification card to the guard as he had done several times before, but it wasn't enough this time, his wife says. Villavicencio, an undocumented immigrant from Ecuador, didn't have a "valid Department of Defense identification" and was asked to get a daily visitors pass, Fort Hamilton said in a statement. He ended up "signing a waiver permitting a background check," which revealed there was an active warrant for Villavicencio's deportation and prompted military police to call immigration agents, the base and Immigration and Customs Enforcement said. "He was doing his job, he wasn't committing a crime," his wife, Sandra Chica, told reporters. "He wasn't doing anything illegal other than working to support his two daughters." Chica said her husband could be deported to Ecuador as early as next week. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday the state has secured pro bono legal counsel for Villavicencio. Cuomo said he had talked to Chica and expressed "deep frustration with the federal government's assault on New York's immigrant families." New York City Councilman Justin Brannan, a Democrat, is questioning the military's decision to call immigration officials. "Pablo never had a problem entering the base before, he had a NYC ID and never had an issue before," Brannan said. "Why was Pablo singled out? What was different this time?" "Is our city, state and nation more safe today because Pablo is off the streets?" he added. He applied for a green card Villavicencio had filed for his green card in February and was waiting for a response when he was detained, Chica says. He is married to Chica, a United States citizen, and they have two young daughters who were born in the United States. An ICE spokeswoman said his application for a green card wouldn't prevent his deportation. An immigration judge had ordered Villavicencio's deportation in 2010 after he overstayed his visa, ICE said in a statement. He was initially ordered to leave without an official deportation order on his record but when he failed to leave the country, he was issued a final order of removal -- an order from a judge that a person can be deported and has no more appeals left. A final order of removal is a civil, not criminal, charge. Since then, he's been considered an "ICE fugitive," the agency said. "It's unfair that deportations appear to be the most important thing -- trying to increase (deportation) numbers regardless of the impact they have on families," Chica said. A 'dangerous precedent' Villavicencio's arrest has sent "shock waves" throughout New York City's immigrant community, including among those who regularly use the kind of municipal identification card that Villavicencio displayed during the incident. "They (undocumented immigrants) were told with this ID, they would have some form of liberty in this city without being arrested," Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, a Democrat, said. "We are setting a dangerous precedent with what we saw here," he added. The IDNYC card was introduced in 2015 as a free and official proof of identification that could be obtained with limited documentation -- making it accessible to the nearly half million city residents without legal immigration status. The ID cards also serve the homeless, low-income elderly people, former prisoners and members of the LGBTQ community who may have difficulty obtaining other government-issued IDs. The personal information of cardholders cannot be disclosed to federal law enforcement or immigration authorities without permission from the city's human resources administration. Applicants do not have to disclose their immigration status to receive a card. The municipal identification cards have made it easier for some New Yorkers to report a crime, lease an apartment, open a bank account and even borrow a library book. New York City's ID program is similar to those in cities around the country, including San Francisco and Los Angeles. Tanner High School is now looking for a new principal. The district fired Louis Gordon more than two months after putting him on leave over complaints about the culture and climate at the school. The Limestone County Board of Education called the firing a personnel matter, so members talked about Gordons future behind closed doors. Members of the Tanner High School community said their last goodbyes and hugged Gordon after the school board voted to fire him Tuesday night. "Of course I'm disappointed in the outcome of tonight's meeting. It's been decided that I will move on," said Louis Gordon. Even though he spent the past two and a half months on leave, Gordon told WAAY 31 he didnt expect to be fired. Gordon also told me hes a little confused because nobody ever gave him a reason for being put on leave and eventually fired. "I would have liked to have conversations with them to discuss whatever concerns they had. I would have liked to have gone through the normal grieving process," Gordon said. Board members said they're allowed to terminate a principal after a year on the job -- with or without cause -- because that first year is a probationary period. Gordon said he did everything Superintendent Tom Sisk asked of him. "The grades are increased. The structure is there. The safety is there. But somehow the climate seemed to not be okay," Gordon said. The NAACP thinks race played a role in Gordons firing. Members told me they plan on investigating if the school board violated any open meeting laws by only talking about Gordon behind closed doors. "There were white teachers who and white staff members who still have their jobs, who threatened his life. Who made remarks about Mr. Gordon and they still have their jobs," said Alabama State Conference of The NAACP Bernard Simelton. "We are calling on this entire community. To rise up and stand with us. Time out. No more. Enough is enough," said Diane Steele with the Limestone County NAACP. Louis Gordon also said he planned to spend the 15 years serving as the Principal of Tanner High School. He plans to continue working with kids wherever he receives the opportunity. A shooting investigationg is underway in Athens after one person was shot inside a home. Police tell WAAY 31 the victim is a male. He was airlifted to Huntsville Hospital. His condition is not known at this time. Police say it happened Wednesday afternoon at a home in 23000 block of Founders Circle in the Canebrake community. Police have not said if they have a suspect in custody or if there is an active search. They did say however there believe there is no active threat to the community. Nokia has deployed its largest Cloud Packet Core to meet the high-bandwidth needs of 7.8 million Vodafone customers in India's 'Silicon Valley', Bangalore A Cloud Packet Core allows Vodafone to increase the flexibility and agility of its network, making it easier to scale and launch new services 07 June 2018 New Delhi, India - Vodafone India has deployed Nokia's field-proven cloud packet core to cost-effectively provide faster mobile broadband and enhance the scale and agility of its network to ensure the timely launch of new services. Nokia's technology leverages all the benefits of a cloud packet core architecture for maximizing resource utilization and rapidly deploying services when and where needed. The Nokia Cloud Packet Core, supported by Nokia CloudBand software, will meet the mobile data demands of 7.8 million subscribers in Bangalore, the third most-populous city in India, often referred to as the 'Silicon Valley of India'. This new deployment contributes to Vodafone's ambition for competitive operations, substantially accelerating time-to-market for differentiated services and expanding business productivity. The Indian mobile broadband market is experiencing exponential growth in data consumption. A cloud packet core is essential for service providers like Vodafone India to connect to a higher number and variety of devices and to deliver a wider range of services across different access technologies. Deployment of the Cloud Packet Core's Cloud Mobile Gateway (CMG) will allow Vodafone to launch a range of digital services for consumers and enterprise customers. The distributed architecture of the Cloud Packet Core supports Vodafone India's strategy to be a digital telecoms operator, enabling it to provide its customers with new and reliable services, while increasing accessibility, performance and security. For example, by deploying the CMG closer to the edge, customer content can be downloaded locally, with reduced network latency enabling Vodafone India to deliver a better experience to its customers in Bangalore. It is also Vodafone's endeavor to contribute positively to the environment. With introduction of this new cloud architecture, Vodafone India is also able to lower the power consumed to serve per customer significantly, thus reducing its carbon footprint. Vishant Vora, Director Technology, Vodafone India, said: "We are thrilled to partner with Nokia and are certain this technology will enable us to scale faster by improving business productivity and network operations. Collaborating with Nokia will also support us in providing a more reliable and superior network experience to our customers. The introduction of a new architecture also enables us to reduce power consumption per customer, in our goal to contribute positively to society." Samar Mittal, account director at Nokia India, said: "We are proud to help deliver Vodafone India's vision of transitioning to a Cloud Packet Core to better handle mobile broadband growth. Our technology also enables Vodafone to deliver the best-in-class mobile broadband experience to the customer and lives upto our joint social responsibility to reduce carbon emissions." Technology details at a glance: Various components of Nokia's Cloud Packet Core solution, including Cloud Mobile Gateway, CloudBand, Dynamic Services Controller, Nokia Netguard Firewall, Nokia DNS, and Dynamic Diameter Engineer are being used in this deployment. Nokia Cloud Packet Core's Cloud Mobile Gateway prepares the network to address the growth of mobile broadband, enabling it to deliver advanced services such as Internet of Things (IoT) and Machine Type Communications. Nokia Integration Services are used to handle the complex multi-vendor and multi-technology network efficiently. Resources: Connect with Nokia Subscribe to receive information on specific areas of interest Website Blog Twitter LinkedIn Facebook About Nokia We create the technology to connect the world. Powered by the research and innovation of Nokia Bell Labs, we serve communications service providers, governments, large enterprises and consumers, with the industry's most complete, end-to-end portfolio of products, services and licensing. We adhere to the highest ethical business standards as we create technology with social purpose, quality and integrity. Nokia is enabling the infrastructure for 5G and the Internet of Things to transform the human experience. nokia.com Media Inquiries: Manisha Singh Nokia India Media Relations Phone: +91 8376922734 E-mail: manisha.singh@nokia.com NokiaCommunications Phone: +358 10 448 4900 Email: press.services@nokia.com VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cameo Resources Corp. (TSX Venture:CRU) (OTC:CRUUF) (FWB:SY7D) (the Company or Cameo Cobalt) is very pleased to announce that the Company has entered into a letter of intent (the LOI) to acquire a large scale land package in Chiles Carrizal Altos historic cobalt region, located 100 kilometers north of the La Cobaltera District. Cameo Cobalts flagship Chilean project is situated adjacent to Genlith Inc.s (Genlith) subsidiary, Chilean Cobalt Corp, as per Genliths April 11 new release (https://www.genlith.com/news/company-update-0). Genlith Inc. is a Pennsylvania based holding company focused on energy storage and critical battery materials and reports that cobalt production occurred on their Carrizal Alto and La Cobaltera projects from 1844 thru 1944, mostly for military applications ceasing at the end of World War II. Cameos CEO, Akash Patel states, Cameo is excited to option the priority exploration properties adjacent to Genliths reported historical cobalt production at Carrizal Alto. We will immediately begin due diligence, and intend to follow up with exploration to define cobalt mineralization on our new mining concessions. About the Carrizal Alto Cobalt Project The area acquired is in Carrizal Altos historic cobalt producing region and is located 100 kilometers north of the La Cobaltera District. Project Highlights: 456 hectares in Carrizal Alto district, Chile; Adjacent to historic operating site that has Chilean government production data with high-grade cobalt, as reported by Genlith Inc. (www.genlith.com); The Chilean National Service of Geology and Mining, Sernageomin, performed preliminary work on the La Cobaltera and Carrizal Alto areas in 2008. A November 2017 report by Chiles Corporation for the Promotion of Production (CORFO) states that the San Juan District has cobalt mineralization in veins and mantos (hydrothermal bedded deposits). The report identifies the land package Cameo Cobalt has secured as within one of the main areas of cobalt mineral potential in Chile. In the San Juan-Carrizal district, primary cobalt mineralization occurs as cobaltite, a cobalt sulfo-arsenide. At surface, cobalt occurs as a secondary oxidized mineral, erythrite, a cobalt arsenate. Mineralization occurs mainly in veins and mantos with average cobalt concentrations of 1.6% for primary ore, and up to 6.4% for secondary oxidized ore. Most recently the Geological and Mining Service of Chile carried out regional sampling of mineralization and hydrothermal alteration systems in the metallogenic province of the Coastal Cordillera of the Atacama and Coquimbo regions. Geochemical data was processed and analyzed by Artificial Neural Nets (ANN). No significant modern exploration or drilling has taken place in the region since then, which has historically been well endowed with copper and cobalt. Carrizal Alto Cobalt Project Transaction Terms Subject to satisfactory completion of due diligence by Cameo, Cameo Chile and the Vendor would enter into and execute a formal purchase and sale agreement (Purchase Agreement) whereby the Vendor would agree to sell to Cameo Chile, and Cameo Chile would agree to purchase from the Vendor, one hundred (100%) percent of the right, title and interest of the Concessions from the Vendor, free and clear of all liens charges and encumbrances, in consideration of the sum of USD $5,050,000 and 2,500,000 Cameo Shares, to be paid and satisfied as follows: (a) upon the closing (such event being the Closing, and the date of Closing being referred to as the Closing Date): (i) an initial payment of USD $150,000, and (ii) 250,000 Cameo Shares; (b) on or before the day which is one (1) month following the Closing Date: (i) a further payment of USD $150,000, and (ii) 250,000 Cameo Shares; (c) on or before the day which is twelve (12) months following the Closing Date: (i) a further payment of USD $500,000, and (ii) 500,000 Cameo Shares; (d) on or before the day which is twenty-four (24) months following the Closing Date: (i) a further payment of USD $750,000, and (ii) 750,000 Cameo Shares; (e) on or before the day which is thirty-six (36) months following the Closing Date: (i) a further payment of USD $1,000,000, and (ii) 1,000,000 Cameo Shares; and (f) on or before the day which is forty-eight (48) months following the Closing Date: (i) a further payment of USD $2,500,000 Qualified Person Harrison Cookenboo, Ph.D., P.Geo., is a qualified person as defined in National Instrument 43-101. He has reviewed and is responsible for the technical information presented in this news release. CAMEO COBALT CORP. Akash Patel For more information contact: (778) 549-6714 Or Email: lucasbirdsall@gmail.com www.cameocobalt.com Reader Advisory This news release contains certain forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as plan, expect, project, intend, believe, anticipate, estimate and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions may or will occur. In particular, forward-looking information in this press release includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the Companys proposed acquisition, exploration program and the expectations for the cobalt industry. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. We cannot guarantee future results, performance or achievements. Consequently, there is no representation that the actual results achieved will be the same, in whole or in part, as those set out in the forward-looking information. 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 and environmental 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; liabilities inherent in water disposal facility operations; competition for, among other things, skilled personnel and supplies; incorrect assessments of the value of acquisitions; geological, technical, processing and transportation problems; changes in tax laws and incentive programs; failure to realize the anticipated benefits of acquisitions and dispositions; and the other factors. Readers are cautioned that this list of risk factors should not be construed as exhaustive. The forward-looking information contained in this news release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. We undertake no duty to update any of the forward-looking information to conform such information to actual results or to changes in our expectations except as otherwise required by applicable securities legislation. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on 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. LONDON, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SecureAuth Corp + Core Security, the leader in Identity Security Automation, today announced that SecureAuth IdP won the Best Authentication Solution award at the SC Awards Europe 2018. The award night, held on Tuesday, 5th June 2018 at Marriott Grosvenor Square in London, acknowledged SecureAuth + Core Security for outstanding leadership and contribution to the cybersecurity industry. The award validates SecureAuth + Core Securitys drive to prevent the misuse of identities and credentials by providing intelligent intersections between Security and Identity. SecureAuth + Core Security is the only Identity Security Automation provider to integrate previously siloed disciplines; from vulnerability management, identity and access management, to identity governance and administration, and penetration testing. As a result, an exponentially faster and more holistic assessment of risk is achieved, which powers effective and efficient breach prevention, detection, and response. SecureAuth + Core Securitys mission to secure the enterprise across all major threat vectors has led to it becoming an industry innovator and leader, providing risk-based and dynamic solutions that are not only operational, but help businesses manage the security challenges of digital transformation. We are delighted to have won in the SC Awards for Europe, which is a great testament to the leading security capabilities of our products, said Jeff Kukowski, CEO of SecureAuth + Core Security. The industry recognition in authentication highlights the breadth of our capabilities to deliver Identity Security Automation across entire organisations. This not only dramatically improves security posture, but also provides a better end-user experience, enabling businesses to better protect customers and employees from ever-expanding cybersecurity threats. About SecureAuth + Core Security SecureAuth + Core Security bring together network, endpoint, vulnerability, and identity security, creating the industrys first Identity Security Automation platform. Core Security is a leader in vulnerability discovery, identity governance, and threat management, while SecureAuth is a pioneer in adaptive authentication and Single Sign-On (SSO). Together our mission is to accomplish what no other security technology vendor can claim: Secure the enterprise across all major threat vectors with an identity-based approach to the attack lifecycle. To learn more, visit www.secureauth.com and www.coresecurity.com, contact SecureAuth at info@secureauth.com, follow us on Twitter (@SecureAuth), and LinkedIn. SecureAuth and Core Security are registered trademarks in the United States and/or other countries. Sellbyville, Delaware, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Stationary Battery Storage Market share is expected to reach USD 35 billion by 2030, as reported in the latest study by Global Market Insights, Inc. Increasing investments toward integration of sustainable energy technologies coupled with growing deployment of enhanced storage units with high power output will foster the stationary battery storage market. Favorable regulatory framework toward the expansion of grid infrastructure will further propel the industry growth. International Finance Corporation in 2017, declared an investment of USD 1.2 billion for the development of renewable energy technologies in India. Expansion of communication network on account of progression in the wireless technologies will augment the stationary battery storage market. Recurrent power failures and outages along with lack of efficient monitoring systems across the developing nations will complement the business outlook. Rapid technological advancements toward the development of distributed generation technologies will encourage the product adoption. Request for a sample of this research report @ https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/1892 Japan stationary battery storage market is set to exceed USD 2 billion by 2030. Ongoing investments toward expansion of microgrid network coupled with rising electricity consumption on account of growing commercial and industrial sector will positively influence the industry growth. In addition, the rising concerns pertaining to security of supply will stimulate the product penetration. Flow battery in 2017, accounted for over 3.5% of the stationary battery storage market. Rapid technological advancement toward the development of efficient and cost-effective storage solutions along with growing investments toward integration of renewable grid network will foster the business growth. Longer shelf life and higher product efficiency are some of the key features which will makes it adoption preferable when compared with available alternatives. Increasing R&D spending toward the development of efficient system along with improved shelf life will positively drive the stationary battery storage market. High discharge rate, reduced weight, comparative efficiency, longer life cycle, reducing cost and high voltage output and some of the key imperative parameters which will boost the product demand. In 2017, MDPI denoted the energy density for lithium-ion battery between 110 to 160 Wh/Kg when compared with NiMH, NiCd and lead acid batteries. Browse key industry insights spread across 330 pages with 364 market data tables & 13 figures & charts from this 2018 report Stationary Battery Storage Market in detail along with the table of contents: https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/stationary-battery-storage-market Investments toward refurbishment of ageing electrical infrastructure along with ongoing adoption of advanced grid support systems will foster the North America stationary battery storage market. Rising concerns toward security of supply with increasing spending toward sustainable electric network will stimulate the industry growth. Exponential increase in the power consumption along with growing demand for continuous and reliable electricity will further complement the business growth. In 2017, China proposed an investment of around USD 800 billion across the U.S. energy infrastructure sector. Notable players across stationary battery storage market includes Samsung SDI, Exide Technologies, A123 systems, Johnson Controls, Durapower, Toshiba, GS Yuasa, Tesla, BYD co, Hitachi Chemical, Duracell, Hitachi Chemical, Valence Technology, Uniper, LG Chem, ACDelco, Hitachi Maxell, Panasonic and Roofer Technology. Make an Inquiry for purchasing this report @ https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/1892 Browse Related Reports: Hybrid Solar Wind Energy Storage Market Size By Product (Standalone, Grid Connected), End Use (Residential, Commercial, Industrial), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, U.K, Germany, China, India, Australia, Japan, Brazil, Chile), Application Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2017 2024 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/hybrid-solar-wind-energy-storage-market Graphene Battery Market Size By Technology (Lithium Ion, Lithium Sulfur, Supercapacitors, Lead Acid), By Application (Automotive, Electronics, Aerospace & Defense, Industrial Robotics, Healthcare), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, Norway, France, Spain, UK, Australia, China, Japan, South Korea, UAE, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Brazil Argentina), Growth Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2016 2024 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/graphene-battery-market About Global Market Insights Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology. SAN JOSE, Calif., June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OpsRamp, the IT operations management platform for the modern enterprise, today announced OpsRamp 5.0, a major update to its multi-tenant software as a service (SaaS) platform. The 5.0 release delivers greater visibility for multi-cloud environments and features a new Artificial Intelligence for IT Operations (AIOps) inference engine for more powerful alerting and event correlation. These new innovations will help enterprise IT teams to optimize cloud costs, speed up incident response, leverage data-driven insights for IT operations and embrace service-centric management. Here are five key highlights of the 5.0 release: Multi-Cloud Visibility. The OpsRamp 5.0 Multi-Cloud Visibility Dashboard features three new widgets for managing hybrid IT, multi-cloud consumption, and cloud cost trends: The Global Assets widget shows a geographical distribution of IT assets across datacenter and cloud environments. shows a geographical distribution of IT assets across datacenter and cloud environments. The Cloud Cost Insights widget shows public cloud spend to date, with a breakdown by cloud account, by custom attributes, and other criteria. The Cloud Cost Trend widget presents public cloud cost trends over time, enabling IT teams to access cost trends by resource type, custom attributes, and other criteria. AIOps Inference Engine. To improve root-cause analysis and reduce mean-time-to-resolution, OpsRamp 5.0 introduces the companys first AIOps inference engine. Customers can now learn how events are correlated and focus their attention on the alerts that matter. Enhanced Reporting. The new custom reporting feature allows IT teams to slice and dice operational data to quickly gain operational insights. Redesigned Service Maps. New and improved Service Maps offer an easier way to organize, visualize, and monitor any IT infrastructure footprint through a simplified line-of-sight between an IT service and its underlying workloads. Expanded Integrations. OpsRamp now offers 46 Microsoft Azure, 28 AWS, and 15 Google Cloud Platform integrations to manage IaaS and PaaS services. New integrations with OpsRamp 5.0 include Google Stackdriver for hybrid monitoring, ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus for enhanced service delivery, and Micro Focus Operations Manager i to accelerate migration from legacy ITOM suites to a modern platform. The OpsRamp platform processes billions of metrics per day in real-time, across global 1,000 enterprises and hundreds of managed services providers, said VP of Product Management, Mahesh Ramachandran. OpsRamp 5.0 is a major milestone for our team, enabling customers to truly understand the makeup of their hybrid infrastructures, including multi-cloud spend visibility. Our latest release delivers the foundation for automated IT infrastructure management, driven by deeper cloud visibility and AI and machine learning capabilities. As cloud adoption spreads, theres a definite market need for innovative solutions that provide clarity, control, and visibility into multi-cloud environments, said William Fellows, Founder and Research Vice President of 451 Research. The OpsRamp 5.0 platform can help effectively manage cross-platform cloud services, avoid vendor lock-in or the dreaded underutilization of multi-cloud resources. OpsRamps new platform updates also broaden and deepen the capabilities of the companys two solutions: Unified Service Discovery that drives visibility across hybrid infrastructures, and Unified Service Intelligence which combines contextual monitoring with smart event management. Together, these solutions are a powerful way to deliver modern IT operations as a service across multi-cloud, hybrid infrastructures. To learn more about OpsRamp 5.0 visit www.OpsRamp.com/whatsnew Register for the OpsRamp 5.0 overview webinar. Sign up for the 48-hour IT Asset Visibility Challenge. About OpsRamp OpsRamp enables IT to control the chaos of managing their hybrid IT operations. Built in the cloud, the OpsRamp IT operations management platform drives total visibility across hybrid infrastructures, complete monitoring and management of business-critical services, and optimization through automation, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. Now enterprise IT can deliver IT operations as a service while discovering, managing, and optimizing cloud and legacy environments as one. Hundreds of enterprises like like Dolby, Epsilon, KAR Auction Services and Bio-Rad and managed service providers like GreenPages, NTT Data, and NIIT use OpsRamp to unify service availability information, transform contextual insight into action and replace routine tasks with intelligent automation. Learn more at OpsRamp.com Media Contact: Kevin Wolf TGPR (650) 483-1552 kevin@tgprllc.com OKLAHOMA CITY, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Chaparral Energy, Inc. (OTCQB:CHPE) today announced that it has expanded its board of directors from seven to eight members and has appointed David Geenberg as a new independent member of the board, effectively immediately. Chaparrals board, with the addition of Geenberg, now includes eight members, of which seven serve as independent directors. Shareholders of record will have the opportunity to re-elect all of the companys directors at its upcoming annual meeting, which will be held on June 29, 2018. We are very pleased to have added David Geenberg to our board of directors, said Chaparrals Chairman of the Board Robert F. Heinemann. Mr. Geenbergs substantial experience working in the financial and energy sector will further strengthen our board. We look forward to leveraging his expertise as we continue to grow Chaparral into a premier pure-play STACK E&P company. David Geenberg currently serves as co-head of the North American investment team for Strategic Value Partners, LLC (SVPGlobal) and also serves on the boards of directors of Silverbow Resources and Penn Virginia Corporation, where he serves as a co-chairman. Mr. Geenberg joined SVPGlobal in 2009 and has led the firms energy, power and infrastructure sector investment efforts. Prior to joining SVPGlobal, he worked for Goldman, Sachs & Company, as part of its merchant banking investment efforts focused on energy and transportation businesses, as well as in the investment banks natural resources group. Mr. Geenberg received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics summa cum laude from Dartmouth College. About Chaparral Chaparral is an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company headquartered in Oklahoma City. Founded in 1988, Chaparral is a pure-play operator focused in Oklahomas highly economic STACK Play, where it has approximately 117,000 net acres primarily in Kingfisher, Canadian and Garfield counties. The company has potential total production reserves of more than 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent and approximately 315,000 net surface acres in the Mid-Continent region. For more information, please visit chaparralenergy.com . Investor Contact Joe Evans Chief Financial Officer 405-426-4590 joe.evans@chaparralenergy.com Multi-year investment will support growth of contract development and manufacturing capabilities GAITHERSBURG, Md., June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE:EBS) today announced the beginning of a $50 million expansion to the companys Camden fill/finish facility located in Baltimore, Md. The multi-year expansion is expected to be completed in 2021, and will significantly increase the companys contract development and manufacturing capacity, redundancy, and flexibility. This expansion is also anticipated to create up to 60 new jobs in the next three years. The expansion of our Camden facility is a significant and impactful capital investment that will generate measurable benefits for our clients, said Sean Kirk, senior vice president, manufacturing operations and CDMO business unit head. This investment in innovative and flexible technology not only expands our customer-centric offerings to support future growth, but also builds upon our history of quality to help ensure the utmost focus on patient safety in pursuit of our corporate mission to protect and enhance life. A highlight of the multi-stage project includes the addition of a new isolator enclosed fill line. Emergent has partnered with Groninger & Co. to install their FlexPro 50 filler with isolator technology and an integrated Christ lyophilizer. This entirely new line will have the capability of filling vials, syringes and cartridges in a new fill suite with dedicated utilities. The company will also be adding a second autoclave to provide manufacturing redundancy and increased sterilization capacity, a new cold storage space to support 2-8c and -20c requirements, new stability chambers, new media fill incubators, and additional warehousing and office space. Emergent has a proven track record as a world-class provider of contract manufacturing services for both bulk drug substances and sterile injectable drug products, said BJ Hull, vice president, general manager and site head at the Camden facility. This $50 million investment further demonstrates our commitment to meeting and exceeding the expectations of our customers as well as to stimulating economic growth and creating jobs in Baltimore. The expansion of Emergent BioSolutions Camden fill/finish facility is a testament to Marylands leadership in biotechnology, said Congressman John Sarbanes (D-MD-03). This facility will not only bring jobs to our community and boost our local economy, but also propel new medical advancements that will improve public health across the country. ABOUT EMERGENT BIOSOLUTIONS INC. Emergent BioSolutions Inc. is a global life sciences company seeking to protect and enhance life by focusing on providing specialty products for civilian and military populations that address accidental, intentional, and naturally occurring public health threats. Through our work, we envision protecting and enhancing 50 million lives with our products by 2025. Additional information about the company may be found at www.emergentbiosolutions.com. Follow us on Twitter @emergentbiosolu and Instagram @life_at_emergent. Safe Harbor Statement This press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements, other than statements of historical fact, including statements regarding our strategy, future operations, prospects, plans, objectives, and any other statements containing the words "will," "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "targets," "forecasts," "estimates" and similar expressions in conjunction with, among other things, discussions about the anticipated benefits of the expansion of the Camden fill/finish facility, and the timing of the completion of such expansion are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on our current intentions, beliefs and expectations regarding future events. We cannot guarantee that any forward-looking statement will be accurate. Investors should realize that if underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or unknown risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results could differ materially from our expectations. Investors are, therefore, cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statement. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this press release, and, except as required by law, we do not undertake to update any forward-looking statement to reflect new information, events or circumstances. There are a number of important factors that could cause the company's actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements, including the amount of time it takes to complete the buildout of our Camden facility and obtain regulatory approvals needed to complete planned improvements to the facility, our ability to secure and maintain contracts sufficient to utilize the full potential of the expanded facility and our manufacturing capabilities and strategy. The foregoing sets forth many, but not all, of the factors that could cause actual results to differ from our expectations in any forward-looking statement. Investors should consider this cautionary statement, as well as the risk factors identified in our periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, when evaluating our forward-looking statements. Investor Contact: Robert G. Burrows Vice President, Investor Relations 240-631-3280 BurrowsR@ebsi.com Media Contact: Lynn Kieffer Vice President, Corporate Communications 240-631-3391 KiefferL@ebsi.com SHANGHAI, China, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WABCO Holdings Inc. (NYSE:WBC) (www.wabco-auto.com), a leading global supplier of technologies and services that improve the safety, efficiency and connectivity of commercial vehicles, today announced that it has received a record 29 awards from customers and industry bodies in China to date for the 2017 performance year. Demonstrating the value customers place on WABCOs ability to drive differentiation, innovate game-changing technologies and deliver excellence in execution through deeply-rooted connectivity to this dynamic market, WABCOs extraordinary performance was commended with top honors from customers for, among other distinctions, quality, delivery, cost-efficiency, seamless collaboration and technology leadership. In total 24 customer awards were bestowed on WABCO by major Chinese commercial vehicle manufacturers, including the following Top Performance awards: Top Supplier and Quality Sinotruk Jinan Truck Co., Ltd. Best Supplier and CV Strategic Supplier Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor Co., Ltd. Outstanding Technical Support FAW Group Excellent Supplier, Quality Contribution and Innovation in Integrated Development Beiben Trucks Group Supplier of the Year: Leading Quality Shaanxi Automobile Top Performing Supplier Quality and Win-Win Cooperation Foton Automobile Best Supplier 2017 Zhengzhou Yutong Bus Co., Ltd. Furthermore, a total of five industry awards were also received, including two for innovations that contribute to commercial vehicle fleet safety and efficiency; WABCOs Trailer Fleet Management System and Trailer Electronic Braking System. With a local presence established in China for more than two decades, WABCO is continuously introducing advanced vehicle control technologies and fleet management systems in support of local customer ambitions. WABCO uniquely combines localized product development capability and its global technology platforms, supported by the agility, maturity and cost-efficiency of its globally integrated supply chain to serve global and domestic OEMs in the region. Local operations include four world-class factories in China, enabling WABCO to offer optimal localized solutions and service levels that are tailored to the dynamics and specificity of the Chinese market. We are deeply honored to have set a new performance record for WABCO in China by achieving 29 prestigious customer and industry awards, said Sujie Yu, President, WABCO Asia-Pacific and Business Leader, China. As we continually strive to exceed customer expectations, these awards also powerfully underline the relevance and success of WABCOs well-established strategies for technology leadership, globalization and excellence in execution to serve their needs. Our passion to sustain differentiation as a leading partner to commercial vehicle manufacturers and fleet operators in China is absolute and we will continue to build on this success by supporting customers with advanced technologies as they seek to address emerging industry domains, including autonomous driving, V2X connectivity and new energy vehicles. We will also augment this technology leadership with industry-leading standards for delivery, quality and service across our integrated supply chain, added Yu. About WABCO WABCO (NYSE:WBC) is a leading global supplier of technologies and services that improve the safety, efficiency and connectivity of commercial vehicles. Originating from the Westinghouse Air Brake Company founded nearly 150 years ago, WABCO continues to pioneer breakthrough innovations to enable autonomous driving in the commercial vehicle industry. Today, leading truck, bus and trailer brands worldwide rely on WABCOs differentiating technologies, including advanced driver assistance, braking, steering and stability control systems. Powered by its vision for accident-free driving and greener transportation solutions, WABCO is also at the forefront of advanced fleet management systems that contribute to commercial fleet efficiency. In 2017, WABCO reported sales of $3.3 billion and has nearly 15,000 employees in 40 countries. For more information, visit www.wabco-auto.com and, for WABCOs 2017 Annual Report, visit ar.wabco-auto.com. WABCO China media contact Ling He, +86 2133 3821 65, ling.he@wabco-auto.com WABCO global media contact Nina Friedmann, +49 69 719 168 171, wabco@klenkhoursch.de WABCO investors and analysts contact Sean Deason, +1 248 270 9287, investorrelations@wabco-auto.com HAMILTON, Ontario, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CTT Pharmaceutical Holdings, Inc., (the Company or CTT) (OTC:CTTH), an innovative life sciences company with an extensive portfolio of IP in novel drug delivery systems, is pleased to announce that effective May 30, 2018, Cam Birge has been appointed President and a Director of the Company, replacing Dr. Pankaj Modi as President. Dr. Modi remains as Chief Executive Officer, Chief Science Officer and a Director of the Company. Mr. Birge arranged for and negotiated the recently announced partnership with Aurora Cannabis on behalf of CTT and its shareholders. We are delighted Mr. Birge has joined our management team and Board of Directors to help lead the Company through its next phase of development, said Dr. Pankaj Modi CEO. President Mr. Birge has over 20 years of experience advising and working with public and private companies in Canada, the United States and Mexico. He also has over 20 years of experience in public and private education, including five years as Adjunct Professor of Business and twice elected Head of the Graduate Business Department of the Academic Council at United States International University, Mexico City campus. He was the founder of Industrial Minerals Inc., the original owner of the Bissett Creek graphite project, and was responsible for the management change that led to the formation of Northern Graphite Corporation for which he is currently nominated as a Director. Mr. Birge previously was the Vice-President of the Trust for Sustainable Development and was instrumental in successfully negotiating the $3 billion Loreto Bay project with the Mexican federal government. He previously served with U.S. based public companies as CEO, CFO and as a Director. Mr. Birge is well connected both in capital markets and within the cannabis and other sectors. I am excited to have the opportunity to work with Dr. Modi and for the Board of Directors to further build shareholder value by expanding CTTs patent portfolio and position the Company for future growth. I also look forward to working with our new partner, Aurora Cannabis, to further development of this technology for the benefit of so many people around the world, said Mr. Birge. CEO and Chief Science Officer Dr Pankaj Modi, CEO and Chief Scientific Officer of CTT Pharma is an entrepreneurial clinician and research scientist and has been involved in novel delivery systems for the past several decades. His patented inventions range from spray formulae for the treatment of diabetes, which he licensed to Eli Lilly, and the topical delivery of botulinum toxins and other molecules that he licensed to Johnson and Johnson. He holds more than 25 US and Canadian patents and more than 280 world patents. Dr. Modi has obtained approval for 13 drugs over the past five years and currently has seven applications in process. Dr. Modi is an M.D. in internal medicine. He holds a Ph.D. in chemistry, biochemistry and biomedical sciences, completed a post-doctoral fellowship in neuroscience and holds a M.S. in chemical engineering. Dr. Modi is an Adjunct Professor of Internal Medicine at several universities around the world and a Fellow with the Royal College of Medicine in the United Kingdom in addition to several other professional memberships in the United States and Brazil. About CTT Pharmaceutical Holdings, Inc. CTTHs principal asset is a unique and novel patented drug delivery technology, an orally administered, fast dissolving thin film (the Wafer). This technology platform will target both the human and veterinarian (pet) markets for treatment of many diseases. The Company believes that its Wafer technology will be one of the first to gain use in major markets such as pain management. The Oral Thin Film (Wafer) formulation is protected by several Canadian and U.S. patents. CTTHs oral fast dissolving drug delivery systems consist of wafers that dissolve without water and within a few seconds after placement in the mouth. The majority of drugs administered using our drug delivery system mirror injections in that they have the ability to enter the bloodstream quickly, are convenient and discrete, and can be administered anywhere. A faster absorption rate is achieved because the mouth contains a very thin mucosa and is extremely vascular. There is no bitter taste; no smoke inhalation as is the case with cannabis; less degradation of medication (by bypassing the stomach) and most importantly lower dosage units are required given the efficacy of absorption. Patient compliance is also improved especially with those who have a fear of choking or difficulty swallowing, and/or are pediatric, geriatric or incapacitated. For more information, please visit our website: www.cttpharmaceuticals.com CTTs common shares trade on the OTC market in the United States under the symbol CTTH. Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This news 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, 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 state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, occur, or be achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including our future sales, income, and financial position. The forward-looking statements included in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and CTT not undertake to publicly update such forward-looking statements to reflect new information, subsequent events or otherwise, unless required by applicable securities law. For more information please contact: Cam Birge info@cttpharmaceuticals.com (800) 516-1635 NAPANEE, Ontario, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ABcann Global Corporation (TSX-V:ABCN) (ABcann or the Company) is pleased to announce the results of its annual general and special meeting of shareholders held on June 5, 2018 (the Meeting). The Company put forward the following resolutions to be voted on by shareholders at the Meeting, all of which were approved: (i) to re-appoint MNP LLP, Chartered Accountants, as auditor of the Company for the 2018 fiscal year; (ii) fixing the number of directors of the Company at six; (iii) the election of directors; (iv) the ratification and approval of the Companys 2017 Stock Option Plan; and (v) the approval of a future change of name of the Company, to be determined and made at the discretion of the Companys board of directors (the Board). A total of 46,801,699 of the 191,001,305 common shares of the Company that were outstanding as at the record date were voted at the Meeting, representing 24.5% of such shares. Each of the directors elected at the Meeting, being Paul Lucas, Barry Fishman, John Easson, Richard Fitzgerald, Aaron Keay and Daryl Kramp, will hold office until the next annual meeting of the Company or until their earlier resignation or removal. Andrew LaCroix did not stand for re-election at the Meeting but will continue in his role with the Company as Vice-President, International Business and General Counsel. Following the Meeting, the Board determined to grant an aggregate of 710,000 stock options to certain directors and employees of the Company, each of which is exercisable into one common share of the Company at an exercise price of $1.39 per share until June 5, 2023. Of these, an aggregate of 190,000 options were granted to certain directors of the Company, and an aggregate of 520,000 options were granted to certain employees of the Company or subsidiaries thereof. The options granted will vest in stages in accordance with their respective terms. The shares issuable on exercise of the stock options will be subject to a TSX Venture Exchange hold period of four months and one day from the date of grant of the options. The Board also approved the grant of 200,000 restricted share units to a director, each of which, once vested on June 5, 2019, may be redeemed into one common share. About ABcann Global ABcann Global Corporation is committed to becoming a top five cannabis company, recognized for high-quality, trusted and innovative products and services. ABcann holds production and sales licenses from Health Canada. Its flagship facility in Napanee, Ontario contains proprietary plant-growing technology, centred on its specially designed, environmentally-controlled growing chambers. This approach results in the production of pharmaceutical-grade cannabis products. ABcann is expanding its production capacity and pursuing partnership and product development opportunities domestically, as well as in select international markets, such as Germany, Australia and Israel. 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. By West Kentucky Star Staff Jun. 07, 2018 | 11:28 AM | PADUCAH, KY McCracken County Treasurer David Hancock has announced plans to retire.McCracken County Judge-Executive Bob Leeper tells West Kentucky Star Hancock will retire at the end of June, and will stay on for a brief transition period after that. Hancock has served as treasurer since last July, when he replaced former treasurer Angie Brown who had served for 22 years.Leeper said he knew Hancock's term would be brief when the county hired him."We knew he had a short term when we got him," Leeper said. "He's done what he said he was going to do. He told me back in February he had some personal issues that he wanted to deal with, and that he was going to get us through a budget. His experience from last year told him that the fiscal year transition was a good time to bring somebody in and get them up to snuff. He thought that would be a good time to swap out."Leeper lauded Hancock's performance as treasurer, saying that his experience in business has benefitted the county."He's been a good professional. He brought a lot of experience from the private sector, and brought a different set of eyes on things. We've been pleased, and I think the county has benefitted from his work." Leeper said.Leeper says the county is actively looking for a new treasurer, and some candidates have already submitted applications for the job. He says he hopes to have a new treasurer hired by the end of June. Email To : Multiple e-mail addresses must be separated with a comma character(maximum 200 characters) Email To is required. Your Full Name: (optional) Your Email Address: Your Email Address is required. Paducah Men Arrested After Church Burglaries Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff Jun. 06, 2018 | MCCRACKEN COUNTY, KY By West Kentucky Star Staff Jun. 06, 2018 | 08:17 PM | MCCRACKEN COUNTY, KY Two Paducah men have been arrested following an investigation into burglaries at a McCracken County church. On May 30th, McCracken County Sheriff's deputies responded to a report of a burglary at Oaks Road Church of God. Church staff reported that a lawnmower had been taken from an outbuilding. Deputies suggested that the church set up video surveillance. Deputies returned on Wednesday to a second burglary report at the church, where another mower and yard care items were taken. Video surveillance showed a white male enter the building and take the items during the overnight hours. While at the scene, deputies saw a man that matched the description of the suspect riding a bicycle on Oaks Road. He was stopped by deputies and identified as 27-year-old Andrew Cook of Paducah. Cook was taken to the Sheriff's Department where he confessed to the two burglaries, and told where the stolen items were. He was arrested without incident on two counts of 3rd degree burglary. Deputies went to a home on Oaks Road and located a mower and bagging attachment that had been taken from the church. While at the home, detectives arrested 40-year-old Joshua Beith of Paducah. Beith was charged with receiving stolen property under $10,000. While in the back of the cruiser, Beith tried to kick out a window. He was also charged with criminal mischief-criminal attempt for that action. Both Cook and Beith were taken to the McCracken County Regional Jail, and the investigation is ongoing. All the stolen items were located by deputies and returned to the church. Police: Teens Injured After Vandalizing Church Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff Jun. 07, 2018 | MCCRACKEN COUNTY By West Kentucky Star Staff Jun. 07, 2018 | 04:24 AM | MCCRACKEN COUNTY Two Paducah teens were injured early Thursday after fleeing from a church they had allegedly vandalized. According to the McCracken County Sheriff's Department, just after midnight, deputies were dispatched to New Hope Cumberland Church for a report of criminal mischief. Just moments after this call was taken, another 911 call was received, reporting an injury collision at the intersection of Cross Mills Road and Coleman Cut Road. Deputies said the pastor of the church had found two teens actively vandalizing the childrens play area. As the pastor approached the two men, both teens ran to their vehicle and fled the area. The teens drove through the church yard and onto Cross Mills Road. Deputies said as the vehicle approached Coleman Cut Road, the driver, 18-year-old Cameron Baker of Paducah, failed to negotiate the turn and the vehicle left the roadway and struck a large tree. Baker and his passenger, 18-year-old Austyn Lindsey, also of Paducah, were transported to Lourdes Hospital for treatment of their injuries. Deputies said Baker and Lindsey both confessed to damaging the property at the church, and alcohol and speed are both believed to be contributing factors in the collision. Baker was cited to court for operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol. Deputies said criminal mischief charges will be sought against both teens for the property they intentionally damaged. Damages are estimated to be under $500. US unemployment claims fall to lowest level since pandemic THE PROPOSED ECUSTA TRAIL: AT OR NEAR THE END OF THE LINE? A WHKP.COM NEWS UPDATE "I AM PERSONALLY CONFIDENT THAT THE ECUSTA TRAIL WILL HAPPEN." HUNTER MARKS With the warm weather season here and outdoor enthusiasts eager to get outside and enjoy the natural beauty of western North Carolina, some are wondering...is the proposed ECUSTA TRAIL ever going to happen, or is it at or near the end of the line? Probably not at the end of the line, not quite...its been hanging on now for years, always a good idea, always hopeful, but with not much happening.. The reason for that proposed rail trail along the old Pea Vine rail line from Hendersonville to Brevard never getting on track rests with the owners of the rail line. For many years, and most of its existence, the line was owned by Southern Railroad, then later by what became Norfolk Southern, and now by WATCO and the Blue Ridge Railroad Company. Back in the day of the Ecusta plant in Pisgah Forest, the Pea Vine line was kept busy. But when Ecusta died, so did much use for the rail line. The lines owners have remained hopeful over the years that some other new industry would settle along the line, or in the Pisgah Forest-Brevard area, and restore the Pea Vine to its previous purpose. And Transylvania County officials have shared that goal, always hoping that a new job-creating, revenue-producing, tax-paying industry would come along to need use that rail line. But years have gone by, there is no new industry in need of that line, and Ecusta Trail is still only a proposal, a design-on-paper, a dream of bicyclists, hikers, environmentalists and others whod like to see that old and largely abandoned Pea Vine become a rail trail similar one in upstate South Carolina and others in the country that have proven to be successful, recreationally and economically for their regions. WATCO has spoken about their plans with WHKP in the past, but recently they referred us to the Ecusta Trail organization. Local landscape architect Hunter Marks is president of the Ecusta Trail supporters, and he told WHKP News that We talk with WATCO periodically and obviously nothing is going to happen until they decide they no longer have any use for that line. They (WATCO) are always very up front and honest with us and they say they are not prepared to make any decisions yet. As for the future, Marks told WHKPs Tippy Creswell that I am personally confident that the Ecusta Trail WILL happen. WATCO bought the line in 2014 and Marks thinks theyre still doing their due diligence. He said, More than likely sooner than later, theyre (WATCO) gonna realize there is not much they can do with that line. As for WATCO, Marks said Ideally, theyd like to have an active railroad line, with customers, and making money.. And they are exhausting all options to make sure there is no potential, no stone unturned, before they say ok...we dont think theres any ;potential here, its time for us to let go. But theyre being good businessmen and they want an active railroad. But I dont think anyone who is knowledgeable about these things thinks theres going to be a legitimate industry on that line. The Ecusta Trail is a great idea and may ultimately be a good use of the old Pea Vine line. But as those whove wanted a multi purpose lane along Highway 280 in Mills River, from the Buncombe County line to Brevard have found out, those who own property along the route...or in the case of Ecusta Trail those who own the rail rine...have something to say about it as well. And until the owners relinquish ownership or otherwise give their permission for these good ideas to happen, not much is going to happen. Years will pass by, money will be raised and spent, enthusiasm will likely diminish over time, and the lesson will be learned that the OWNERS, and the financing to make the dream cone true, should be secured and solidly on board and in sync with the dreamers and supporters from day one...IF good and worthwhile projects like Ecusta Trail are ever to become a reality. By WHKP News Director Larry Freeman 06/06/18 CALGARY, Alberta, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Prairie Provident Resources Inc. ("Prairie Provident" or the "Company") (TSX:PPR) wishes to confirm that the Companys management is unaware of any material undisclosed change in the Companys operations or corporate position that would account for the recent market volatility. Prairie Provident is pleased to report that its core western Canadian operations remain on track. Over the last week, production averaged approximately 5,500 boe/d based on field estimates, with the last well of its first-half 2018 drilling program currently being brought online. The Company continues to execute its 2018 development program and is maintaining its previously disclosed guidance. While not material to Prairie Providents operations, the Company is aware that the Province of Quebec announced yesterday proposed new regulations for oil and gas exploration and development. If implemented as proposed, the regulations would restrict certain oil and gas activities in Quebec, including through a prohibition on shale fracturing, and limit industry opportunities to explore for and develop resources in that province. Prairie Provident will monitor the progress of the proposed regulations as they undergo a 45-day comment period. The Company holds approximately 240,000 acres of Utica shale rights in Quebec, development of which would be restricted under the proposed regulations. The Quebec properties are, however, non-core holdings, do not have any production or reserves, are not relevant to Prairie Provident's liquidity and capital resources, and are not included in its current development plan. Accordingly, the proposed regulatory changes are not anticipated to have any material impact on the Company's operations, financial position or business plan. The Company's arbitration proceedings under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) against the Government of Canada, for actions taken by the Government of Quebec in 2011 to cancel, without compensation, certain oil and gas rights previously held, are unaffected by the proposed regulatory changes. The arbitration claim was heard by a NAFTA tribunal in late 2017, and a decision is pending. About Prairie Provident Prairie Provident is a Calgary-based company engaged in the exploration and development of oil and natural gas properties in Alberta. The Companys strategy is to grow organically in combination with accretive acquisitions of conventional oil prospects, which can be efficiently developed. Prairie Providents operations are primarily focused at Wheatland and Princess in Southern Alberta targeting the Ellerslie and the Lithic Glauc formations, along with an early stage waterflood project at Evi in the Peace River Arch. Prairie Provident protects its balance sheet through an active hedging program and manages risk by allocating capital to opportunities offering maximum shareholder returns. For further information, please contact: Prairie Provident Resources Inc. Tim Granger President and Chief Executive Officer Tel: (403) 292-8110 Email: tgranger@ppr.ca website: www.ppr.ca CALGARY, Alberta, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FLYHT Aerospace Solutions Ltd. (TSX-V:FLY) (OTCQX:FLYLF) (the Company or FLYHT) is pleased to announce a Software as a Service (SaaS) contract renewal with an existing customer. The value of this renewal agreement with the airline is USD $1.43 million, assuming the Company provides services over the full term of the five (5) year contract. The airline operates in North America and uses the Automated Flight Information Reporting System (AFIRSTM) and associated UpTimeTM capabilities to monitor and manage its aircraft on remote flights. The suite of services FLYHT provides to this operator will expand with the new SaaS agreement to include engine trending, airframe exceedances and engine exceedances. The operator will experience significant benefits from this combined functionality. This airline added more of our software products to improve the efficiency of their operations, remarked FLYHTs COO, Matieu Plamondon. FLYHT is excited to deliver services that reduce their operational costs and enhance the safety of their operations. About FLYHT Aerospace Solutions Ltd. FLYHTs mission is to improve aviation safety, efficiency and profitability (located in Calgary, Canada; publicly traded as: FLY:TSX.V; FLYLF:OTCQX). Airlines, leasing companies, fractional owners and original equipment manufacturers have installed the Automated Flight Information Reporting System (AFIRSTM) on their aircraft to capture, process and stream aircraft data with real-time alerts. AFIRS sends this information through satellite networks to the UpTimeTM cloud-based data center, which provides aircraft operators with direct insight into the operational status and health of their aircraft and enables them to take corrective action to maintain the highest standard of operational control. Contact Information FLYHT Aerospace Solutions Ltd. Alana Forbes Chief Financial Officer 403-291-7437 aforbes@flyht.com Adelaide Capital Markets Inc. Deborah Honig 647-203-8793 deborah@adelaidecapital.ca Join us on social media! www.facebook.com/flyht www.twitter.com/flyhtcorp www.slideshare.net/flyhtcorp www.youtube.com/flyhtcorp www.flyht.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 release. Williamson, WV (25661) Today Sunshine and clouds mixed. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High near 85F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies and rain later during the night. Low 62F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch. By: Paige Cline Sometimes I am asked to reprint a column from the past. Here[Read More] FORM 8.3 PUBLIC OPENING POSITION DISCLOSURE/DEALING DISCLOSURE BY A PERSON WITH INTERESTS IN RELEVANT SECURITIES REPRESENTING 1% OR MORE Rule 8.3 of the Takeover Code (the "Code") 1. KEY INFORMATION (a) Full name of discloser: Jupiter Asset Management Ltd (b) Owner or controller of interests and short positions disclosed, if different from 1(a): The naming of nominee or vehicle companies is insufficient. For a trust, the trustee(s), settlor and beneficiaries must be named. (c) Name of offeror/ offeree in relation to whose relevant securities this form relates: Use a separate form for each offeror/offeree CME Group Inc (d) If an exempt fund manager connected with an offeror/offeree, state this and specify identity of offeror/offeree: (e) Date position held /dealing undertaken: For an opening position disclosure, state the latest practicable date prior to the disclosure 6th June 2018 (f) In addition to the company in 1(c) above, is the discloser making disclosures in respect of any other party to the offer? If it is a cash offer or possible cash offer, state "N/A" YES NEX Group PLC 2. POSITIONS OF THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE If there are positions or rights to subscribe to disclose in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 2(a) or (b) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security. (a) Interests and short positions in the relevant securities of the offeror or offeree to which the disclosure relates following the dealing (if any) Class of relevant security: USD 0.01 Class A common stock Interests Short positions Number % Number % (1) Relevant securities owned and/or controlled: 229,396 0.067 (2) Cash-settled derivatives: (3) Stock-settled derivatives (including options) and agreements to purchase/sell: TOTAL: 229,396 0.067 All interests and all short positions should be disclosed. Details of any open stock-settled derivative positions (including traded options), or agreements to purchase or sell relevant securities, should be given on a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions). (b) Rights to subscribe for new securities (including directors' and other employee options) Class of relevant security in relation to which subscription right exists: None Details, including nature of the rights concerned and relevant percentages: None 3. DEALINGS (IF ANY) BY THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE Where there have been dealings in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 3(a), (b), (c) or (d) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security dealt in. The currency of all prices and other monetary amounts should be stated. (a) Purchases and sales Class of relevant security Purchase/sale Number of securities Price per unit USD 0.01 Class A common stock Purchase 6692 171.8599 (b) Cash-settled derivative transactions Class of relevant security Product description e.g. CFD Nature of dealing e.g. opening/closing a long/short position, increasing/reducing a long/short position Number of reference securities Price per unit NONE (c) Stock-settled derivative transactions (including options) (i) Writing, selling, purchasing or varying Class of relevant security Product description e.g. call option Writing, purchasing, selling, varying etc. Number of securities to which option relates Exercise price per unit Type e.g. American, European etc. Expiry date Option money paid/ received per unit NONE (ii) Exercise Class of relevant security Product description e.g. call option Exercising/ exercised against Number of securities Exercise price per unit NONE (d) Other dealings (including subscribing for new securities) Class of relevant security Nature of dealing e.g. subscription, conversion Details Price per unit (if applicable) NONE 4. OTHER INFORMATION (a) Indemnity and other dealing arrangements Details of any indemnity or option arrangement, or any agreement or understanding, formal or informal, relating to relevant securities which may be an inducement to deal or refrain from dealing entered into by the person making the disclosure and any party to the offer or any person acting in concert with a party to the offer: Irrevocable commitments and letters of intent should not be included. If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state "none" NONE (b) Agreements, arrangements or understandings relating to options or derivatives Details of any agreement, arrangement or understanding, formal or informal, between the person making the disclosure and any other person relating to: (i) the voting rights of any relevant securities under any option; or (ii) the voting rights or future acquisition or disposal of any relevant securities to which any derivative is referenced: If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state "none" NONE (c) Attachments Is a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions) attached? NO Date of disclosure: 7th June 2018 Contact name: Nabeel Ashraf Telephone number: 0203 817 1407 Public disclosures under Rule 8 of the Code must be made to a Regulatory Information Service. The Panel's Market Surveillance Unit is available for consultation in relation to the Code's disclosure requirements on +44 (0)20 7638 0129. The Code can be viewed on the Panel's website at www.thetakeoverpanel.org.uk. MIAMI, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) announced today that Barry Logan, Senior Vice President, is scheduled to present at the William Blair & Company 38th Annual Growth Stock Conference being held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Chicago on Tuesday, June 12, 2018 at 2:10 p.m. (CDT). Internet users can listen to a live webcast of the presentation at the Investor Relations section of Watscos website at http://www.watsco.com. About Watsco, Inc. Watsco operates the largest distribution network for heating, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVAC/R) products with locations in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico, and on an export basis to Latin America and the Caribbean. Watsco estimates that over 250,000 contractors and technicians visit or call one of its 563 locations each year to get information, obtain technical support and buy products. HVAC/R products provide comfort to homes and businesses regardless of the outdoor climate. There are approximately 92 million central air conditioning and heating systems installed in the United States that have been in service more than 10 years. Older systems often operate below todays government mandated energy efficiency and environmental standards. Watsco has an opportunity to accelerate the replacement of these systems at a scale greater than its competitors as the movement toward reducing energy consumption and its environmental impact continues. This is especially important since heating and cooling accounts for approximately half of the energy consumed in a typical U.S. home. Additional information about Watsco may be found at http://www.watsco.com. Barry S. Logan Senior Vice President (305) 714-4102 e-mail: blogan@watsco.com Watsco, Inc. 2665 S. Bayshore Drive, Suite 901 Miami, Florida 33133, USA (305) 714-4100 Fax: (305) 858-4492 www.watsco.com PHOENIX, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bishop Fox, an industry-leading cybersecurity consulting firm, has been included among the Top Companies to Work for in Arizona for the fifth year in a row by the Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. The award recognizes companies with the most innovative workplace culture and identifies companies that have achieved top rankings in employer practices, employee engagement, and satisfaction. Founded in 2005, Bishop Fox provides penetration testing, application assessments, and red teaming to some of the largest organizations in the world. The cybersecurity consulting firm has grown quickly in the last few years, consistently doubling in size and recently welcoming their 125th employee. Bishop Fox offers employees excellent benefits, flexible work schedules, maternity and paternity leave, phone plans, and commuter benefits. The firm also provides allocated training budgets for continued education and to foster employees passions. They provide the time and resources for their security experts to do independent research, earn technical certifications, and speak at top industry conferences. The firm also provides an fun and casual work environment offering free yoga classes, a fully stocked kitchen, and free taco lunches on Wednesdays. Their Phoenix headquarters features a large break area where employees can bond over a game of ping-pong or Magic the Gathering. And each year, the company takes all employees on a weekend retreat. This past years retreat was held in Santa Barbara. The management at Bishop Fox really cares about our employees and providing the right environment, said director of human resources Danielle Sahlin. Its rare to find a company that invests so much in their employees. It is not only about providing stellar benefits and training but we want everyone to love what they do! We are incredibly proud that our hard work continues to pay off and we are thrilled to be named to this list for a fifth year in a row. If you are interested in working for a Top Place to Work, check out the current job openings at Bishop Fox here. About Bishop Fox Bishop Fox is an independent cybersecurity firm that helps organizations secure their businesses, networks, cloud deployments, and applications with penetration testing, security assessments, and red teaming. Since 2005, the firm has provided tailored security consulting services to the world's leading organizations. The company is headquartered in Phoenix and has offices in Atlanta, San Francisco, New York City, and Barcelona. Contact: Sarah Broome 714-469-9237 sbroome@bishopfox.com TORONTO, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ARHT Media Inc. (ARHT or the Company) (TSX-V:ART), a global leader in the development, production and distribution of high quality hologram content through its patented Augmented Reality Holographic Telepresence technology, is pleased to announce that the Company has successfully reached agreements with two major global investments banks (the banks), whereby ARHT is providing the banks with pre-recorded holograms for use at multiple events and locations across the globe. The pre-recorded holograms were captured in New York and Hong Kong and have been broadcasted at separate events in Berlin and Singapore, as well as in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, generating CAD$206,000 in revenues. ARHT is currently in discussions with the two banks concerning additional live and pre-recorded event presentations and the repeat use of the content, which is expected to generate recurring revenues for ARHT. We are very excited with the progress we are making across our verticals of focus, and specifically within the financial institutions market where our goal to build high margin recurring revenues is starting to get traction, commented ARHT CEO, Larry OReilly. We remain very confident about the growth opportunities ahead of us based on the robust and growing pipeline of opportunities we are working on. About ARHT Media ARHTs patented Augmented Reality Holographic Telepresence technology is the worlds first complete end-to-end solution for the creation, transmission, and delivery of lifelike digital human holograms, known as HumaGrams. The company's technology is protected by U.S. Patent No. 9,581,962. Connect with ARHT Media Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ARHTmedia Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ARHTmediainc LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/arht-media-inc- For more information, please visit http://www.arhtmedia.com/ or contact the investor relations group at info@arhtmedia.com. ARHT Media trades under the symbol ART on the Toronto Venture Stock Exchange. ARHT Media Investor Contact: Ali Mahdavi am@spinnakercmi.com ARHT Media Press Contact Salman Amin samin@arhtmedia.com This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, the Companys technology; the potential uses for the Companys technology; anticipated future and recurring revenue from existing customers; the future planned events using the Companys technology; the future success of the Company; the ability of the Company to monetize the HumaGram technology; the development of the Companys technology participation by the Company in the Expo; and interest from parties in ARHTs products. Generally, forward looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or 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". Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to: general business, economic and competitive uncertainties; regulatory risks; risks inherent in technology operations; and other risks of the technology industry. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information 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 information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. 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. WiGBits Headline News Would you like to receive our WiGBits? Signup today! WiG Entertainment News Would you like to receive our WiG Entertainment News? Signup today! Digital Issue Would you like to receive our Digital Issue? Signup today! COLUMBUS, Ohio, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Worthington Industries Inc. (NYSE:WOR) announced today that it has earned recognition as a 2018 JTEKT Preferred Supplier. This is the top honor JTEKT North America annually awards a supplier for best overall safety, quality, delivery and cost improvement metrics. Employees from Worthington's dedicated JTEKT account accepted the award at a ceremony on May 9 in Greenville, S.C. "We are proud to accept this honor from a leading global automotive supplier," said John Lamprinakos, president of Steel Processing for Worthington Industries. "Our employees are committed to delivering the very best quality and service and it means a lot when customers recognize these efforts." Worthingtons facility in Rome, N.Y. supplies strip steel to five JTEKT bearing facilities; four U.S. facilities and one in China. JTEKT is a customer-first company that collaborates with suppliers who value manufacturing products to exceed customers expectations, said Jeff Warren, purchasing manager, JTEKT North America. We are pleased to recognize our supplier partners with equally high standards in safety, quality, delivery and cost. About Worthington Industries Worthington Industries is a leading global diversified metals manufacturing company with 2017 fiscal year sales of $3.0 billion. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Worthington is North America's premier value-added steel processor providing customers with wide ranging capabilities, products and services for a variety of markets including automotive, construction and agriculture; a global leader in manufacturing pressure cylinders for propane, refrigerant, and industrial gases and for cryogenic applications, water well tanks for commercial and residential uses, CNG and LNG storage, transportation and alternative fuel tanks, oil & gas equipment, and consumer products for camping, grilling, hand torch solutions and helium balloon kits; and a manufacturer of operator cabs for heavy mobile industrial equipment; laser welded blanks for light weighting applications; automotive racking solutions; and through joint ventures, complete ceiling grid solutions; automotive tooling and stampings; and steel framing for commercial construction. Worthington employs approximately 12,000 people and operates 86 facilities in 11 countries. About JTEKT North America JTEKT North America, a regional division of JTEKT Corporation, is a leading supplier of automotive steering systems and driveline components, bearings, and machine tools. Headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina, JTEKT employs more than 7000 associates in 25 facilities across North America. Safe Harbor Statement The Company wishes to take advantage of the Safe Harbor provisions included in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the Act"). This press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Act. All statements by the Company, other than statements regarding historical information, included in this press release that address activities, events or developments that the Company expects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Act. These statements include the Companys plan to complete a public offering of $200 million aggregate principal amount of senior notes. All forward-looking statements are subject to a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of the Company, including the Companys ability to sell the senior notes, general economic factors and other factors described in the Company's reports filed with the SEC. Contacts: CATHY M. LYTTLE VP, CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS AND INVESTOR RELATIONS 614.438.3077 | cathy.lyttle@WorthingtonIndustries.com SONYA L. HIGGINBOTHAM DIRECTOR, CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS 614.438.7391 | sonya.higginbotham@worthingtonindustries.com 200 Old Wilson Bridge Rd. | Columbus, Ohio 43085 WorthingtonIndustries.com Made of the right stuff At 87 years old, serial entrepreneur Alain Leger (BSc Eng 1954) is celebrating the 60th anniversary of the manufacturing company he founded, VescoPlastics. The journey has taught him some life lessons, which he shares here. Lesson 1: Choose the right partners and business Leger says it was a series of accidents that resulted in him starting his first business. In 1956 he was working at the Merriespruit gold mine plant in the Free State, but this was closed after a flooding disaster. He was transferred to a uranium plant in Virginia, where he worked as a research engineer. There, in 1958, he was approached to invest in an engine reconditioning business. But his partners turned out to be technically incompetent and he had to try to take over and handle all aspects of the business. It was a lost cause. Lesson 2: Experience is the cheapest way of seeing the world as long as you get it from someone else. After that loss, a visit to Pinetown got him interested in the hard-chrome plating business. There were very big companies there that were closing down, Leger says of his decision to buy a chrome plant in 1960. That plant was useless, the machinery was useless and the loss of money was real. Lesson 3: Understand and adapt to changing conditions. I could see that the whole engine business was going to come to an end because car engines were lasting longer thanks to the better filtration of fuel and oil, Leger says. So I worked hard experimenting for about five years, taking a lot of my time to think about possible new directions. I had some premises and some skilled people in machining and had started doing a lot of polymer experiments, converting a very small kitchen upstairs into a laboratory. Lesson 4: Fail fast. Leger started investigating various polymers. A surface coating product was good but the contractors who applied it were unreliable when it came to payment. A nylon-importing business required keeping a lot of stock, which didnt store well. Lesson 5: Solve the customers problems. Leger continued to operate the hard-chrome crankshaft business, and started to think about a difficulty that he felt could be addressed. He came up with a product that resisted chromic acid. This was the beginning of our engineering plastic material business. Lesson 6: Find the right product and optimise the business for its sale and production. Leger carried on experimenting with polymers and eventually came up with Vesconite, which reduced friction in bearing products. Lesson 7: Commit to the business. Leger and his wife, Maire Leger, often worked long hours developing and marketing the product. Building the scale of the business was the work of years. The export market gradually developed, as did applications in various fields. Lesson 8: The biggest room in the world is the room for improvement. From its factory in the Free State, VescoPlastics chaired by Alains son Jean-Patrick Leger (BSc Eng 1979, PhD 1992) keeps responding to new demands and has customers in over 100 countries. AUSTIN, Texas, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 101 Commerce Inc., a multi-brand, private-label ecommerce company based in Austin, today announced its first round of fundraising and initial acquisitions. The Series A investment was led by Next Coast Ventures with participation from 3L Capital, Brian Sharples, founder of HomeAway, and Cotter Cunningham, founder of RetailMeNot. The investment launches 101 Commerces stated objective to acquire and invest in building private-label brands that utilize Amazon FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) as their main ecommerce platform and Amazon.com as their primary distribution channel. The operating leverage that Amazon FBA provides private label brands is incredible, and this funding enables us to acquire multiple brands and build infrastructure to grow them further, said Richard Jalichandra, founder and CEO of 101 Commerce. We are thrilled to have financial partners like Next Coast Ventures and 3L Capital that truly understand the power of consolidation and how it multiplies operating leverage and growth opportunities. 101 Commerce is creating additional operating leverage for growing FBA businesses by providing technology, supply-chain economies of scale, and big data marketing and analytics traditionally challenges for niche, ecommerce brands. The company expects to be profitable this year, and raise additional significant capital to continue acquiring and investing on its expanding pipeline of product categories and consumer segments. 101 Commerces strategy hits squarely on two of our investment themes: the changing face of retail and the ecommerce renaissance ushering in bigger, better and stronger ways to disrupt their respective industries, said Thomas Ball, co-founder and managing director of Next Coast Ventures. Richard has a strong track record of building great brands and has a keen eye for spotting inefficiencies within an industry - we believe this venture is no different, and has the potential to totally enhance the dynamics of the FBA business ecosystem. Jalichandra, formerly the CEO of BodyBuilding.com, iSocket, MapMyFitness, and Technorati, founded the company after seeing the fast growth of in the Amazon FBA marketplace. In 2017, the number of FBA businesses doing more than $100,000 in sales was 140,000, up from 70,000 in 2015. Further, last year more than 20,000 FBA businesses did over $1 million in sales. Today, over half of Amazons package volume is now coming from marketplace sellers. Most of these small and mid-size businesses utilize FBA to operate their ecommerce businesses, as it enables them to outsource the biggest challenges ecommerce companies face and enjoy the benefits of being an Amazon Prime offering: consumer traffic, efficient conversion and checkout, and fulfillment. The creativity and entrepreneurial spirit which Amazon has unleashed with its FBA program has created a new class of entrepreneurs who deliver high quality product experiences for consumers, said Shawn Colo, co-founder and managing partner of 3L Capital. Richard, his founding team, and the investor syndicate have collectively built some of the most successful internet companies by combining smart acquisition strategies with product innovation and we are excited to be their partner. About 101 Commerce, Inc. 101 Commerce is building a global ecommerce business that will power hundreds of private label brands across diverse product categories. In the next two years, 101 Commerce will acquire and launch multiple brands that primarily utilize the incredible operating leverage of Amazons FBA platform. What AWS is to software services, FBA is to ecommerce: you can outsource the hardest parts of ecommerce (traffic, conversion, fulfillment, free shipping, etc). This allows growing businesses to focus entirely on designing a great product, building a great brand and providing stellar customer service. Through consolidation, 101 Commerce is creating additional operating leverage with technology, supply-chain economies of scale and big, data-driven marketing normally a set of big challenges for niche, ecommerce brands. 101 Commerce is based in Austin, Texas, a thriving hub of Amazon FBA businesses. About Next Coast Ventures Next Coast Ventures is an Austin-based venture capital firm founded by entrepreneurs, for entrepreneurs. It engages top entrepreneurs in Next Coast markets to build a robust portfolio comprised of early-stage and high-growth startups disrupting big markets with innovative technology. With a focus on thematic investing, NCV keeps its finger on the pulse of what top entrepreneurs are creating outside the East and West coasts, and helps bring those ideas to life with a dynamic network of industry experts. The fund provides comprehensive company building resources to support the portfolios business growth and its leaders personal growth as rising entrepreneurs. About 3L Capital 3L Capital partners with CEOs and founders of expansion-stage companies in the technology, consumer and data services sectors. The firm provides management teams with the capital, perspective and relationships they need to become market leaders. The firm has offices in Los Angeles and New York. Media contacts: Dagney Pruner dpruner@nextcoastventures.com 713-515-2287 Lauren Seegers Blast PR for 101 Commerce lauren@blastpr.com 903-330-8423 A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/db2b3712-17f7-40ae-9d25-9bf82b4758b4 Terrance Mannery was getting ready to close up at the Salt Lake City dessert shop where he works when four scared-looking men ran in. The men were going home from the Utah Pride Festival on Saturday night when a group of at least seven white men started chasing them and shouting anti-gay slurs, according to Salt Lake City police. "I noticed some men come in and they seemed distraught and afraid so I asked them what was going on," 21-year-old Mannery said. "They said they were being harassed and followed." When the group following the men attempted to come inside, Mannery confronted them, thinking they might damage the store or hurt the customers inside. Mannery tried to close and lock the shop's doors, but somebody punched him and a fight broke out. He was pushed outside in the commotion and several other men joined the mob. They pushed him into the shop's door hard enough to break the hinge. Hit at least seven times Irie Cao, the owner of the Doki Doki dessert shop, said customers and staff inside felt scared and helpless. The people who had sought shelter there called the police. "It was really dark, but we could see he was being overpowered," Cao said. "He was getting hurt." Cao said people inside tried to help Mannery, but a stack of chairs between the doors fell over, blocking the entrance. Mannery said he was hit at least seven times before bystanders were able to break up the fight. He suffered minor cuts to his eye and lip. "I'm just really happy and proud that he stepped out and helped," Cao said. Reward offered Detective Robert Ungricht from the Salt Lake City Police Department said they are looking for the suspects and have asked the public for help. There was no video of the incident. The Utah Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce has offered a $5,000 reward for "information leading to the prosecution and arrest of the perpetrators," said the UGLCC's chairwoman, Tracey Dean. "We have a local hero in Terrance Mannery," she said. The UGLCC also has an anti-violence fund to help the victims of homophobic or trans-phobic crimes and "to provide resources for the prosecution of perpetrators of such crime," according to a news release. "I was just doing the right thing," Mannery said. "At the end of the day, I'm just glad everyone's safe." Senate Republicans on Wednesday accused the Obama Administration of secretly trying to give Tehran access to the US financial system to convert billions of dollars in assets into Euros as part of the Iran nuclear deal. A report released by Republican senators on the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation said the Obama administration didn't tell Congress that it sought access for Iran and, in its eagerness to clinch the nuclear deal, was trying to dodge sanctions that remained in place following the 2016 agreement. "The Obama administration misled the American people and Congress because they were desperate to get a deal with Iran," said Sen. Rob Portman, the Ohio Republican who chairs the subcommittee and opposed the Iran deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The accusations were rejected by Obama administration officials who said Republicans are trying to make a one-time effort to meet obligations under the nuclear deal sound like an attempt to give Iran broad access to the US financial system. They said the Republican senators never interviewed former Obama administration officials involved, and noted that no Democrats were involved. The story "is widely overblown," said Jarrett Blanc, the former State Department coordinator for Iran deal implementation at the State Department. Iran deal reverberations The report and the former officials' response highlight how controversial the Iran deal continues to be, even after President Donald Trump's May 8 decision to leave the international pact. That move continues to roil relations with European allies who are sticking with the Iran deal. They appealed to the US on Wednesday to exempt them from sanctions as they continue to do business with Tehran. But one goal behind report's release, according to an official familiar with its contents, is to make clear that the US is not likely to be open to exemptions of any kind. "As the United States begins to re-impose sanctions on Iran and Iranian entities, our European allies must understand and appreciate that doing business with Iran is no longer permissible," the source said. The report focuses on $5.7 billion from Iranian oil sales that were frozen in Oman's Bank Muscat in that country's currency, the rial. Rials are pegged to the US dollar and are difficult to convert. But as part of the nuclear deal, Iran was promised access to overseas reserves of its own funds that had been frozen by sanctions. To access the rials, Iran wanted to convert them briefly into dollars and then Euros. The majority report by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation says that the US Treasury, at the instruction of the US State Department, granted a license to convert the $5.7 billion briefly into American dollars so it could be converted into euros. The exchange was legal, the report notes. Officials at Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control asked two US banks to work as intermediaries and execute the transaction, but they declined, citing concern over potential regulatory backlash and a ding to their reputations. Emails reviewed in the investigation show that OFAC officials worked to encourage banks to take part in the deal by proposing to bring in senior officials. "I agree it would be a good idea to have (Treasury Secretary Jack) Lew engage (the US bank). If they refuse we can suggest (Secretary of State John) Kerry will call, which will drive them nuts," an email from a US government official said. After Treasury officials were examining whether the Iran deal's relevant sanctions permit currency exchange of rials to dollars, the report says a Treasury official wrote in an email, "Yikes. It looks like we committed to a whole lot beyond just allowing the immobilized funds to settle out." A legal transaction But in the end, Treasury officials concluded that the transaction was legal. The report said they decided that the terms of the JCPOA were "consistent with Iran's position, allowing the Government of Iran to engage in 'transfers,' 'foreign exchange (including Rial related transactions),' and the 'purchase or acquisition by the Government of Iran of US bank notes.'" The source familiar with the report said that Congress asked the Obama administration directly about such a license, but that the administration was under no legal obligation to provide the licenses to Congress. The Republican report argues that in pushing for the license to go forward, Obama officials were violating financial and oil-related sanctions imposed on Iran stemming from the seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979 and trying to give Iran access to the US financial system. They pointed to a number of Obama officials, including Lew, who said in congressional testimony that Iran was not granted access to the US financial system. Lew said in 2015 that Iran "will continue to be denied access to the [US's] financial and commercial market." Treasury's acting under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence during the Obama administration, Adam Szubin, claimed that "Iranian banks will not be able to clear US dollars through New York, hold correspondent account relationships with US financial institutions, or enter into financing arrangements with US banks." Blanc argued that the administration was transparent with Congress, referencing Lew's own testimony. "As Secretary Lew said in the testimony quoted in the report: 'Part of the agreement was to give Iran access to money that it has a right to. We will work on making that happen.' There were regular staff level briefings in much more detail," Blanc said. "(T)his is the kind of work the US Government needs to do every day to make our sanctions regimes effective without creating such burdens on allies and partners that they are pushed to work around our financial dominance," Blanc said. A former administration official told CNN that reports suggesting they were planning to restore Iran's access to the US financial system "were absolutely false," that the license was "totally in line with our well-known obligations under the deal." That source pointed out that the license "did not authorize Iran to conduct commercial transactions denominated in US dollars. It did not allow Iran to conduct commercial transactions in foreign currencies via the US banking system. It did not allow Iranian parties to open accounts or correspondent accounts at US banks. It did not allow Iran to send funds to the US or receive funds from the US. And it did not allow Iran access to US investments or markets." The GOP report offers recommendations on how best to proceed with its relationship with Iran. Recommendations include further informing Congress about future negotiations with Iran, requiring the Treasury Department to give notice of specific licenses, reviewing all Iran deal-related licenses, and increasing policing of US sanctions policies. Louisiana's annual free fishing weekend returns Saturday, June 9, and Sunday, June 10. It's an opportunity for Louisiana residents and visitors alike to fish Louisiana waters without an otherwise required fishing license, according to the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. "This weekend we encourage all of our residents to grab a pole, get outside and enjoy our beautiful Sportsman's Paradise," said Secretary Jack Montoucet. "Whether your interest is saltwater or fresh, Louisiana offers some of the best and most diverse fishing opportunities in the world, and we welcome you to become part of the long-standing tradition of Louisiana fishing. While a fishing license is not required, all fishing regulations, including size, season, catch limits and gear restrictions will remain in effect. With the exception of free fishing weekend, anglers 16 and older must possess a Louisiana fishing license when fishing in any Louisiana public waters. Louisianians who decide to continue fishing the remainder of the year are invited to purchase a state fishing license here. Cathey and Cornelius Belcher are proud parents. Their triplets, Kolby, Sydney and Kendall Belcher, graduated summa cum laude last month from Ola High School. Each completed their high school careers with a 4.0 GPA. "I'm very happy and proud of them," said Cathey. The Belchers began working with their children at 3 years of age, teaching them to read and write and instilling in them the importance of getting a good education. "They took off from there," Cathey said. "They knew they were expected to do their best and never settle for a B or C grade when they could get an A." Cathey said the triplets were always encouraged to put forth their best efforts. "We nurtured them and pushed them along the way," she said. "They've done really well." All three were dual enrolled in college while attending high school. They'll start their first year of college with nearly a year of credits under their belt. Kolby is attending Georgia State University to earn his undergraduate degree and plans to obtain his master's degree in business administration. He intends to pursue a marketing career. Sydney, the youngest of the three by one minute, is also attending Georgia State University to become a nurse. She'll continue her education to obtain a master's degree, hoping to work in the hematology/oncology department at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. Kendall chose to pursue a degree in business administration at Gordon State College and plans to obtain a master's degree for a career in the financial services industry. "I'm excited about them going to college," Cathey said. "We're encouraging them to keep doing what they've been doing and reminding them to always give back to their community." Legalizing recreational marijuana in Canada could spark an industry worth more than $4 billion. That's the assessment of Deloitte, which estimates in a new report that a legal cannabis industry in Canada would generate recreational sales of up to $4.3 billion in its first year. Legal cannabis could soon be a reality in Canada. The Senate is expected to vote on Bill C-45, a measure that would legalize the recreational use of marijuana for those over the age of 18, as early as Thursday. Under the legislation, adults would be permitted to purchase up to 30 grams from distributors that have been licensed by the federal government. Some health care professionals in the country have said they fear the consequences of legal marijuana. But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been supportive of the measure, arguing that it would make it harder for young people to access the drug. "We are very much focused on the control and legalization of marijuana, because the current system is not working," Trudeau said in May. "The decisions and the ways we have chosen to move forward on this issue are based on months if not years of consultations with experts ... looking at the best way to ensure that we are eliminating the criminal elements from the sale of marijuana," he added. Related: The U.S. legal marijuana industry is booming If the legislation becomes law, Canada would be the first G7 country to legalize the drug. Estimates of the industry's potential size vary. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce estimates the legal market could approach 6.5 billion Canadian dollars ($5 billion) by 2020, while New Frontier Data projects the market will reach 9.2 billion Canadian dollars ($7 billion) by 2025. Deloitte said that total cannabis spend could surge by as much as 58%, partly because users will be prepared to pay a premium for legal access to the drug. Regular marijuana consumers will increase purchases by up to 22% under the new law, the consultancy estimated. In terms of tax, Canadian Finance Minister Bill Morneau laid out plans in his 2018 budget for recreational marijuana to be taxed at $1 per gram or 10% of the total purchase, whichever is higher. Experts expect alcohol sales to decline as some consumers turn to legal weed. "Given that sales of cannabis are likely to cut into those of beer, spirits, wine, and even tobacco, it's important that governments ascertain the ultimate impact of legalization on so-called sin tax revenues," Deloitte said in its report. Nine US states and the District of Columbia now allow for recreational marijuana use, and 30 allow for medical use. The emerging US industry took in nearly $9 billion in sales in 2017, according BDS Analytics, which tracks the cannabis industry. Sales are equivalent to the entire snack bar industry, or to annual revenue from Pampers diapers. A local chiropractor is facing a list of felony charges after he allegedly faked exam reports to help employees at the Central New York Psychiatric Center with their fraudulent Workers Compensation claims. Eric Szatko, 47, of Sauquoit, was arrested Wednesday, according to New York State Workers Compensation Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott. Szatko, who formerly had a chiropractic office in Utica, is charged with the felonies of fourth-degree grand larceny, four counts of first-degree offering a false instrument for filing, and three counts of the Workers Compensation crime of fraudulent practices. According to Leahy Scott, in early 2016 Szatko submitted fraudulent medical progress reports to the State Insurance Fund that said he examined and treated three employees at the CNY Psychiatric Center on several separate occasions, when those examinations and treatments never occurred. One of those former psych center employees, Ryan Haley, was convicted last March of faking a deliberate injury to get paid time off, according to Leahy Scott. In 2016, Szatko submitted a medical excuse for Haley to be out of work with pay for two days in February, and between March 21 and April 15, when Szatko never actually performed any examinations. While Haley was alleging that he was too injured to work, he was actually kayaking in Puerto Rico and vacationing with his girlfriend in California, according to Leahy Scott. For another psych center employee, Szatko is accused of providing a medical excuse for them to be out of work with pay for two weeks in Feb. 2016, when the employee was not injured and had not been examined by Szatko, according to Leahy Scott. The third employee reportedly received nearly three weeks of paid time off that same month under similar allegations. Szatko was arraigned in Utica City Court on Wednesday and released on his own recognizance. Hes scheduled to appear again in court on June 14. Leahy Scott says this arrest is part of her long-standing and ongoing investigation into Workers Compensation fraud in central New York. These charges allege a sham medical mill run by a practitioner whose brazen malpractice on New Yorks taxpayers enabled state employees to feign injuries and enjoy paid time off to which they were not entitled, said Inspector General Leahy Scott. The integrity of the Workers Compensation system is paramount to protect honest, hard-working New Yorkers, and this arrest emphasizes my commitment and that of my law enforcement partners to pursue any and all fraud to the fullest extent of the law. ROME A woman has been charged in connection to the medication theft at Dunkin Donuts last week that was captured on video. Rome police say 54-year-old Donna Abbott is charged with felony fourth-degree grand larceny. On Tuesday, police said they were seeking the woman who was shown on surveillance video May 30 taking a wallet or purse from a table in Dunkin Donuts on Black River Boulevard, and then walking away with it. Police said Tuesday that they were investigating the situation as a medication larceny. RELATED: Rome police investigating medication theft at Dunkin Donuts Police say Abbott did mail the wallet back to the owner, but it wasnt until after police spoke with her about the incident. The surveillance video showing the theft was shared hundreds of time across social media. ROME A bear has found its way to the city of Rome, and police are warning the public to stay away from it. The Rome Police Department posted a photo on its Facebook page Thursday morning of a bear up in a tree that was taken Wednesday night. Police say they received a call Wednesday night reporting that a bear was found in the city. The bear eventually climbed up a tree behind St. Peters Church, which is located on East Liberty Street. The state Department of Environmental Conservation has been called, and they are advising people to avoid contact with the bear. DEC officials told police that the bear will come down from the tree and go back to its natural environment. We are advising if the bear is spotted please avoid any contact and [call] the DEC, Rome police wrote on their Facebook page. Mohawk Valley Community College is offering non-credit programs for all ages, interests and skill-levels this summer. Some new offerings include: Tons of new Kids Camps including MakeyMakey, Kids in the Kitchen - Asian Cooking Adventure, Virtual Reality, and many more. New online certificate programs in social media, video game design, and K-12 teaching topics. Teen Arts Series Portfolio Practice and Playwriting. New options for self-defense classes for all audiences. New art classes: Introductory Drawing and Self-Portrait Drawing. A Rome teen is facing charges after he allegedly sexually abused a child last month, according tothe Oneida County Sheriffs Offices Chief Deputy Joseph Lisi, director of the Oneida County Child Advocacy Center. Seventeen-year-old Charles Dobson III was arrested Wednesday and charged with second-degree sexual abuse, forcible touching and endangering the welfare of a child, all misdemeanors. Dobson is accused of sexually abusing an 11-year-old boy in a home in Rome on May 24. Dobson is scheduled to appear in Rome City Court on June 26, and officials say additional charges are possible as the investigation continues. The victim has been offered counseling services through the Child Advocacy Center. Former Twilio Executive to Lead People Team as Company Continues to Grow SAN FRANCISCO, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sauce Labs, Inc., provider of the worlds largest continuous testing cloud for web and mobile applications, today announced that it has hired industry veteran Heather McLinden as the companys Vice President of People Operations. In her role, McLinden will oversee the development of global People strategies within Sauce Labs, including organizational design, culture and inclusion, talent management and recruiting. While I have just joined the Sauce Labs family, what has struck me the most is the companys sheer brainpower. From engineering to marketing to sales, its clear that some of the worlds top talent works at Sauce Labs, said McLinden, VP of People Operations. Sauce Labs is already one of the best places to work in San Francisco, but Im excited to dive in and make this company even more attractive to new and existing talent. Heather brings more than 18 years of strategic People experience to her role at Sauce Labs. She most recently served as a senior member of the People Leadership Team at Twilio, where she worked closely with the Business Units and G&A functions to build and implement the People strategy for these teams during a time of hyper-growth. Prior to Twilio, Heather held leadership positions at Altera (acquired by Intel) and HP. Heather holds a graduate degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, Illinois with a focus on leadership development. Heather has been the driving force behind some of the best People programs in tech and were excited to welcome her to the team, said Charles Ramsey, CEO of Sauce Labs. As we continue to grow, the need to scale while retaining the soul of Sauce becomes more critical than ever before. Im confident Heather has the talent and expertise needed to uphold Sauces reputation as one of the best places to work. Helpful Links Sauce Labs Website Sauce Labs Blog About Sauce Labs Sauce Labs ensures the worlds leading apps and websites work flawlessly on every browser, OS and device. Its award-winning Continuous Testing Cloud provides development and quality teams with instant access to the test coverage, scalability, and analytics they need to deliver a flawless digital experience. Sauce Labs is a privately held company funded by Toba Capital, Salesforce Ventures, Centerview Capital Technology, IVP and Adams Street Partners. For more information, please visit saucelabs.com. Contact Bill McGee Director of Marketing bill.mcgee@saucelabs.com TIPPECANOE COUNTY, Ind. (WLFI) The Tippecanoe County Prosecutor's office is looking into a reported sex offense on a Shuttle service from Chicago. Purdue Police originally took the call, they said a shuttle driver reported the incident Saturday afternoon. According to police, the shuttle was coming to campus from O'Hare Airport. A female passenger told the shuttle driver that a male passenger inappropriately touched her. Purdue Police Chief John Cox said after investigating, they were able to identify a suspect. "We don't get many cases like this, every now and then we get an altercation on a local city bus or something like that but not typically this type of altercation," said Cox. The Tippecanoe County Prosecutor's office is handling the investigation because the alleged incident happened outside of the Purdue Police Department's jurisdiction. OXFORD, Ind. (WLFI)-- Around a dozen German shepherds were found in a home last weekend in Oxford, some of the dogs were turned over to a rescue facility in Indianapolis. German Shepherd Rescue Indy originally took in a few of the dogs from the woman's home. The rescue owner received emails including pictures of the animals in cages, as well as being mistreated. She took actions after getting approval from a family member. Amber Marks said German shepherds aren't an easy breed to take care of. At her facility, she takes care of the dogs on her own. "I had to get a U-Haul and load it up with crates and drive an hour and a half you know," Marks said. "An hour and a half of my day is a lot because that's a lot of kennels, and I could be cleaning or finding homes, and I usually don't take cases like this." After responding to a family friend's request to remove the dogs from the home, Marks said it was a high priority situation. "The emails I received were quite urgent and I felt like it was the right thing to do." The Oxford Police Department classifies the case as a "mental health hoarding situation, and not an illegal puppy mill business." Officers said the 60-year-old woman had about 12 adult German shepherds and some puppies. For Marks, these dogs were unlike any they'd seen before and she rescues German shepherds all across the state of Indiana, even when her shelter may not have much room. Because of the urgency of this call, she ended up saving three dogs and puppies. In Oxford, neighbor Kaylee Daws said she's seen numerous German shepherds across the street. At one point, two ended up in her yard and cornered her own dog. "She used to love to come outside, and since then I don't really let her outside unless I'm usually out there or able to watch her," Daws said. "Even though I do have a gate to keep her inside of her yard." According to Marks, she was the only agency that was available to help. "No one could help because they were out of a jurisdiction and that Benton County did not have a local animal care and control, I was told. So I did my research well and it's unfortunate. This situation was just overall sad." The Oxford Police Department also stated this case is still open and pending further enforcement actions. One of the mothers and her puppies have been released to a family friend of the original owner. The police department says other dogs were re-homed to other shelters. English French MONTREAL, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TELUS Health announced today the launch of the TELUS Baby Health mobile app, a free digital tool for new and expecting parents in Quebec to track their infants health information as soon as theyre born and act as an educational resource all in one easy-to-access app thats available at their fingertips. The app is available for free download on iOS in the Apple App Store and for Android on Google Play. The TELUS Baby Health app supports parents in taking control of their babys health by tracking and monitoring their childs health information and developmental milestones from birth, creating an easy-to-access, digital health record on a smartphone or tablet. The app not only keeps a babys important health information in one place, but also gives parents access to a rich library of curated video and written content, arming them with the information they need during their infants first 18 months. We want to empower Canadians with the right information, tools and support they need to lead healthier and happier lives. Our new Baby Health app helps new parents build a digital health record for life for their baby. They will have everything they need regarding the health of their child in the palm of their hands, anytime and anywhere they need it. This will help ensure better healthcare experiences through all stages of life, said Juggy Sihota, vice president, Consumer Health, TELUS. Reliable access to a childs historic health information enables Canadian parents to be more informed about their childs wellbeing and proactively monitor their health. Further, using a digital tool that can be easily accessed and updated in real-time with information such as allergies, immunizations, medications and illnesses not only builds a childs health history, but also keeps all information in one place for quick reference when visiting healthcare providers and helps to create stronger doctor-patient communication. More than a decade ago, TELUS made a bold decision to leverage its world-class innovation and technology to tackle the challenges facing Canadas healthcare system. Since then, the company has invested $2 billion to bring health solutions to market that improve collaboration and the flow of patient information across primary healthcare providers. Digital tools, such as the TELUS Baby Health app, can help shift how the majority of Canadians currently manage their health by empowering them to proactively monitor their well-being and have improved access to their complete health information. The TELUS Baby Health app is currently available in English and French with new content being added regularly. To download the app for free, new parents can visit the Apple App Store or Google Play. At TELUS, good health is a community effort, so for every account registered on the TELUS Baby Health app between June 7 and December 31, 2018, TELUS will donate $5 to Operation Enfant Soleil. The organisation raises funds to develop high-quality paediatrics and to contribute to various projects for all the children in Quebec. TELUS has been a proud supporter of Operation Enfant Soleil for more than 20 years. For more information visit: telus.com/babyhealth and follow the conversation on social media using #BabyHealthApp. About TELUS Health and Payment Solutions TELUS Health is a leader in home health monitoring, electronic medical and health records, as well as consumer health, benefits management and pharmacy management solutions. TELUS Health leverages the power of technology to enable better health outcomes for Canadians with innovative digital solutions that enable collaboration, efficiency and productivity for physicians, pharmacists, health authorities, allied healthcare professionals, insurers, employers and citizens. TELUS Payment Solutions complements our health solutions by delivering secure, industry-compliant payment and lending solutions that connect lenders, payors, insurers, extended healthcare providers and financial institutions to their customers across Canada. For more information please visit: telushealth.com and www.telus.com/payment-solutions. For media inquiries, please contact: Marie Houle TELUS Social and Media Relations Marie.houle@telus.com 514-702-0369 Two photos accompanying this announcement are available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f5655aea-27cb-4f03-8206-4069c08abd3a http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2ebcc947-a38a-4028-958e-74a21c754c95 China News on Women Sorry, the page you requested was not found. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Womenofchina.cn, try visiting the Womenofchina Home page BERLIN, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Matthias Woestmann and his business associates, through their investment vehicles Quadrat Capital and Sycamore GmbH, received a striking blow on Tuesday from a Berlin judge in a ruling that may be the first of many setbacks for the current majority owners of Swiss blockchain infrastructure company envion AG. A preliminary injunction filed on behalf of envions founders - led by Michael Luckow through the founders company Trado GmbH - who claim rightful ownership of envion, was granted on Tuesday, June 5th, 2018. Actions taken by Woestmann and the others follow a pattern used with previous companies involved in scandals across Germany. Evidence seen by the Berlin court was sufficient for the judge to rule that envion shares cannot be sold or traded to any 3rd party. The ruling further forbids envions unlawful shareholders from transferring or debiting any of envions assets. Envions founders have stated that they will continue to file lawsuits in both German and Swiss courts until their majority is restored. The next court date is scheduled for June 21st. The owners of the two holding companies (Quadrat Capital GmbH and Sycamore GmbH), Matthias Woestmann, Thomas van Aubel, Jutta Freifrau von Falkenhausen, and Dinnies von der Osten, have a history of profiting from investments in companies that fail spectacularly and under suspicious circumstances. They and their associates are linked to a long list of companies involved in some of Germanys largest financial scandals, including IBG, Balda (renamed to Clere), Q-cells, and Solon. Mistakes made while executing the takeover of envion, which raised $100 million in an ICO in January, may keep envion from being their latest victim. Instead of a legal corporate takeover, Woestmann violated a contract which explicitly forbade him from actions compromising the majority ownership of the founders. Woestmanns inaction since the takeover has resulted in millions of dollars in lost dividends for investors and the founders being blocked from operating the company. Woestmanns serious missteps now threaten to bring his and his confederates house of cards crashing down because he illegally created extra shares via an unauthorized capital increase which he then gave to Sycamore, said Michael Luckow, one of the founders of envion who have taken legal action against Woestmann and his associates. Speaking to Swiss news service SWI, Woestmann did not deny charges that his actions were illegal when he diluted the founders shares. Envion investors reported that he admitted his guilt in a call on May 28th which was widely discussed within the envion investor community, stating that he expected that he would be found guilty and would be liable for damages. When solicitations distributed by Woestmann for bids to buy envion were attained by the founders, they moved quickly to file the court injunction. Documents show Woestmann attempting to sell envion for use as a holding structure for new businesses to separate envion (sic) balance sheet from profitable businesses and advertising that the existing investor base can be used for all kinds of [other] business models apart from the business that investors supported with $100 million. About Trado GmbH Trado GmbH holds the founders shares in envion AG, a German-Swiss company that has developed a disruptive datacenter concept for crypto mining: a system of container-based mobile units that can be deployed right at the source of energy, either at the solar photovoltaic (PV) park or the power plant, providing the required flexibility for todays energy markets. Information about Trado and envions founders can be found at www.envion-founders.org. SNC-Lavalin signs agreement on Bellefonte completion 07 June 2018 Share SNC-Lavalin subsidiary SNC-Lavalin Nuclear (USA) Inc has signed a letter of agreement (LOA) with Nuclear Development LLC to provide engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) management services to complete construction of Bellefonte 1. Nuclear Development's acquisition of the Alabama facility is due to close later this year. Bellefonte (Image: TVA) Nuclear Development successfully bid to buy the partially-completed Bellefonte nuclear power plant from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in a two-part auction held in November 2016. The privately-owned company bid USD111 million for the site, with its two partially-built pressurised water reactors (PWRs) plus infrastructure including switchyards, office buildings, warehouses, cooling towers, water pumping stations and railroad spurs. It was given two years to close on the property, which in the meantime is being maintained by TVA. If the acquisition is not completed in the specified timeframe the LOA will expire on 31 December 2018, SNC-Lavalin told World Nuclear News. SNC-Lavalin Chief Nuclear Officer Preston Swafford said: "The impetus to complete the Bellefonte plant signifies that nuclear power has regained interest as an energy source that is necessary as part of the overall energy portfolio in the US." Sandy Taylor, president of SNC-Lavalin's nuclear sector, added: "SNC-Lavalin is collaboratively working with many major nuclear vendors in North America to form the most capable team that has the depth and breadth of experience to complete this nuclear project." TVA purchased Bellefonte, near Hollywood in northern Alabama, in 1974 and began work to build two Babcock & Wilcox PWRs. Construction was suspended in 1988, when unit 1 was about 90% complete and unit 2 58% complete. Since then, many of the units' components have been transferred or sold, while others would need to be upgraded or replaced, meaning that the levels of completion of the units today are substantially lower. TVA in 2011 announced plans to complete unit 1 following the completion of Watts Bar 2. However, against a background of lower energy demand and changing usage patterns, TVA's 2015 Integrated Resource Plan determined that it would not need to build any new large-scale baseload capacity for at least the next 20 years, and the authority decided to auction off Bellefonte to the highest bidder. Researched and written by World Nuclear News Related topics An Israeli minister has formally asked Twitter to ban Irans supreme leader for his racist and genocidal hate speech against Israel. The Algemeiner reports that, in a letter to CEO Jack Dorsey, Minister of Strategic Affairs and Public Diplomacy Orit Farkash Hacohen wrote that Twitter itself forbids calls for violence, antisemitism, or hate speech against a nation or its people. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, she said, is unremittingly abusing your platform by doing just that without any enforcement or repercussions. For far too long he has been allowed to spread calls for physical violence and antisemitism on Twitter. I call on Twitter to act in haste and uphold its own Hateful Conduct Policy by immediately suspending Khameneis account, and ensure Twitters users will no longer be subjected to his hate speech or calls for violence against them on your platform, Hacohen wrote. Email to a friend, Share on Facebook, Share on Twitter, and more: Boston, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BIOMODEX , a medical device company that uses 3D printing technology to develop patient-specific synthetic organs for pre-operative planning, today announced it has received an additional $15 million in Series A funding led by European investment firms Idinvest Partners and InnovAllianz. With the participation of pre-existing investors, LBO France and Inserm Transfert Initiative, BIOMODEXs total financing is now more the $18.5 million. The latest financing will be used to develop new products in the interventional cardiology space, and enable the opening of a new manufacturing facility outside Boston, Massachusetts. "We are proud to support BIOMODEX in the development of a completely innovative solution to improve efficacy and individualize the preparation of complex surgical operations, said Julien Martinez, head of Strategy, M&A and Innovation at Allianz France. As an insurer, we believe that the value BIOMODEX brings will ultimately bring a new paradigm between people insureds, surgeons and hospitals, the Medtech industry and insurance companies. We have been immediately impressed by the innovation and execution capability of BIOMODEX team. This new funding will open new perspectives for BIOMODEX products and access to new key markets, said Luc Maruenda, Partner at Idinvest. BIOMODEXs patented INVIVOTECH technology enables the 3D printing of organs based on medical imaging, such as a CT Scan or Echo. By combining the precision and speed of 3D printing with INVIVOTECH, BIOMODEX is able to produce the biomechanics of the organ and surrounding tissue, mimicking the patient-specific biomechanical properties and behavior with a quick turnaround time. To date, the solution has been used primarily for interventional neuroradiology applications, but according to CEO Thomas Marchand, there is tremendous demand in the cariological space as well. Our personalized, 3D-printed organs will enable surgeons to gain a better understanding of their patients unique anatomy - so they will be able to plan the most complex procedures in an optimal way. Whether its involves a brain aneurism or structural heart defect our solutions will help surgeons choose the best medical device and operating strategy to reduce risks and improve medical and financial outcomes, said Thomas Marchand, CEO of BIOMODEX. Since our initial investment in 2016, BIOMODEX has progressed significantly in both the technological development of its INVIVOTECH technology and the understanding of the ecosystem of surgeons, Medtech industry players and health payers. BIOMODEX represents today a key investment of the SISA fund, as evidenced by the very good conditions of this round of financing, said Valery Huot, Partner and Head of Venture at LBO France. About BIOMODEX BIOMODEX is an innovative company based in Paris in Boston that is developing a solution to help physicians predict what will be the best treatment for their patients. Their 3d printed organ twins from medical imaging will offer a unique planning and practicing experience to reduce risk and improve patient outcomes. About Idinvest Partners With almost 8 billion under management, Idinvest Partners is a leading pan-European private equity firm focused on the mid-market segment. Idinvest Partners has developed several complementary areas of expertise including: investment in innovative European start-ups ; mid-market direct lending (unitranche, senior loans and junior financing); primary and secondary investments in unlisted European companies, and private equity consulting. Founded under the AGF Private Equity in 1997, Idinvest Partners was formerly part of Allianz until 2010 when it became an independent firm. About Allianz Allianz , one of the world's leading insurance companies, offers a comprehensive offering that covers all the insurance, assistance and financial services needs of individuals, professionals, businesses and communities. With nearly 140,000 employees worldwide, Allianz is present in more than 70 countries, serving 88 million customers. A general insurer, specialist in wealth and social protection, Allianz France draws on the wealth of its expertise and the dynamism of its 9,000 employees in France. Nearly 7,000 commercial intermediaries, Agents, Consultants, Brokers, Partners advise and support 5.5 million customers who trust Allianz France. About LBO France: As a key player in private equity with 3.4bn of capital under management, LBO France is an independent company that has been supporting French and Italian companies in their growth for more than 30 years. Its strategy is based on 4 investment approaches in non-listed assets, managed by dedicated teams: (I) Mid Cap Buyout through the White Knight funds and Small Cap Buyout through the Hexagone/Small Caps Opportunities funds, (II) Venture Capital through the Digital Health funds, (III) Real Estate through the White Stone and Lapillus funds, (iv) Debt. LBO France is 100%-owned by its management and employs nearly 60 professionals. About Inserm Transfert Initiative (ITI) Inserm Transfert Initiative (ITI) is a French investment firm based in Paris, dedicated to investing in early-stage life sciences companies which develop breakthrough innovations from French academia. Attachment Southern Nevada home prices keep rising, approaching all-time peak The total value of local real estate transactions tracked through the MLS during May was nearly $1.1 billion for homes and more than $127 million for condos, high-rise condos and townhomes. Compared to one year ago, total sales volumes in May were up 2.5 percent for homes and up 11.2 percent for condos and townhomes. Homes and condos continued to sell faster than last year at this time. In May, 87.2 percent of all existing local homes and 91.4 percent of all existing local condos and townhomes sold within 60 days. That compares to one year ago, when 81.6 percent of all existing local homes and 87.3 percent of all existing local condos and townhomes sold within 60 days. According to the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, prices for existing homes sold in Southern Nevada kept rising through May 2018 and are now approaching their all-time peak.GLVAR reported that the median price for existing single-family homes sold in Southern Nevada during May 2018 was $295,000. That's up 2.1 percent from the previous month and up 18.0 percent from $250,000 in May of 2017.The median price of local condos and townhomes sold in May was $160,000, up 16 percent from the same time last year."At the rate we're going, with prices going up by nearly $5,000 per month, it's possible that local home prices could finally get back to their all-time peak sometime later this year," said 2018 GLVAR President Chris Bishop.Bishop further commented, "Most major markets around the country have already surpassed their peak home prices. With the local economy and job market continuing to post some of the biggest gains in the nation, I think it's only a matter of time before we set an all-time record for local home prices. This has already occurred with new homes built here in Southern Nevada. For these reasons and more, we don't buy into some recent reports suggesting that homes here are somehow overvalued."According to GLVAR, the median price of existing single-family homes sold in Southern Nevada peaked at $315,000 in June of 2006. Prices hit a post-recession bottom of $118,000 in early 2012.Bishop said a tight housing supply has been one factor pushing up prices. Southern Nevada continues to have about a month and a half supply of existing homes available for sale when a six-month supply is considered a balanced market.By the end of May, GLVAR reported 4,118 single-family homes listed for sale without any sort of offer. That's down 17.2 percent from one year ago. For condos and townhomes, the 799 properties listed without offers in May represented a 26.8 percent increase from one year ago.Bishop said more homeowners would consider selling if there were more homes being built and available for them to buy. He cited recent surveys by the National Association of REALTORS (NAR) showing more than 70 percent of U.S. homeowners think it's a good to time to sell.The low supply may also be slowing down local home sales, which have been running roughly even with last year's sales pace so far this year after increasing in recent years. The total number of existing local homes, condos and townhomes sold during May was 3,890. Compared to one year ago, May sales were down 10.7 percent for homes and down 3.8 percent for condos and townhomes.GLVAR reported that 24.3 percent of all local properties sold in May were purchased with cash. That compares to 26.9 percent one year ago. That's well below the February 2013 peak of 59.5 percent, indicating that cash buyers and investors are still active in the local housing market, but have been playing a much smaller role than they were five years ago.Meanwhile, the number of so-called distressed sales continues to decline. GLVAR reported that short sales and foreclosures combined accounted for 2.6 percent of all existing local home sales in May, down from 6.8 percent of all sales one year ago.These GLVAR statistics include activity through the end of May 2018. GLVAR distributes statistics each month based on data collected through its MLS, which does not necessarily account for newly constructed homes sold by local builders or homes for sale by owners. Jari-Matti Latvala was fastest through an unusually damp shakedown at Rally Italia Sardegna on Thursday morning. He topped the times in the 3.51km Olmeda test in his Toyota Yaris, 0.8sec clear of Hayden Paddons Hyundai i20. Thierry Neuville, Esapekka Lappi and Ott Tanak were tied in third, a further tenth behind. It was the third successive rally in which Latvala has won shakedown, but broken suspension sidelined him early at the last two rounds in Argentina and Portugal after hitting rocks. The Finn has changed his preparations in a bid to avoid an unwanted hat-trick. In the recce I used more time than previously. I stopped at some places to throw the stones away and I walked around and looked at the stones, he told wrc.com I also tried to mark more carefully the bad places or where there was a stone on the ground and rather than going over it, I will go round it. Well run the car higher which should help with the impacts and I wont turn so aggressively into corners. There was no time to do any suspension work between Portugal and this rally but the reality is that Ive been driving too aggressively. Team-mate Lappi set the pace during the first pass of the gravel stage. Paddon was fastest on the next two runs before Latvala moved top of the standings on his fourth and final attempt. Persistent rain fell in the Alghero service park and while the stage was drier, the obligatory hard compound Michelin rubber was not ideal for the conditions. Sebastien Ogier and Andreas Mikkelsen were both caught out, swiping a rock during their first runs which caused bodywork damage to the co-drivers side of their cars. Leading positions were: Position Driver Car Time 1 Jari-Matti Latvala Toyota Yaris 1min 53.9sec 2 Hayden Paddon Hyundai i20 +0.8sec 3= Thierry Neuville Hyundai i20 +0.9sec 3= Esapekka Lappi Toyota Yaris +0.9sec 3= Ott Tanak Toyota Yaris +0.9sec 6 Sebastien Ogier Ford Fiesta +1.4sec 7 Elfyn Evans Ford Fiesta +2.2sec 8 Teemu Suninen Ford Fiesta +2.8sec 9 Andreas Mikkelsen Hyundai i20 +3.2sec 10 Craig Breen Citroen C3 +3.6sec Head to WRC+ to watch All Live from Rally Italia Sardegna, including every stage broadcast live, breaking service park news and expert studio analysis. Video More News Sebastien Ogier grabbed an early lead at Rally Italia Sardegna on Thursday night after winning the headline heat against arch-rival Thierry Neuville in the opening speed test. Stage info: SS1 Ittiri Arena Show, 2.00km Sardinias opener is identical to the stage used in 2017, held at a former motocross track just outside the village of the same name. Two cars at a time, starting a kilometre apart from each other, compete around two laps of the track on wide roads which include a jump and a watersplash. Driving a Ford Fiesta, Ogier defeated the Belgian by 0.7sec in their head-to-head duel at the rain-soaked Ittiri Arena. He took a slender 0.1sec lead over Norways Andreas Mikkelsen, who beat Ott Tanak in the previous heat. The plan is to try to do a good weekend. We had really good speed at the last round in Portugal but finished without any points. Speed is not enough, we need to bring back the consistency, said Ogier. Neuvilles performance in a Hyundai i20 was good enough to place him third in the standings, 0.6sec behind team-mate Mikkelsen. Elfyn Evans beat Esapekka Lappi to claim fourth in another Fiesta, with Kiwi Hayden Paddon and Lappi rounding off the top six in the overall positions. Craig Breen was the only big name to have a problem. The Irishman stalled his Citroen C3 and languished in 13th position overnight, 6.4sec behind Ogier. Big crowds braved the rain and with forecasts suggesting more rain overnight, conditions for tomorrows opening leg could be far removed from those traditionally experienced on the sun-kissed Mediterranean island. The action continues with two loops of four tests north-east of the Alghero service park totalling 124.18km. Drivers regard it as the toughest leg of the event, the abrasive roads demanding careful tyre management. Head to WRC+ to watch All Live from Rally Italia Sardegna, including every stage broadcast live, breaking service park news and expert studio analysis. VIDEO More News VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- West Kirkland Mining Inc. (TSX-V:WKM) (West Kirkland, WKM or the Company) reports new high-grade assay results from continuous sampling completed at surface on the Gold Mountain target, located near the Companys Hasbrouck Gold Project, which outline clear targets for shallow surface drilling. New assay results from the east and central areas of the Gold Mountain target include: 160 feet (49m) with an average of 4.34 g/t gold (across strike) 140 feet (43m) with an average of 4.32 g/t gold (across strike) 140 feet (43m) with an average of 2.15 g/t gold (across strike) Previously announced results from the west part of the Gold Mountain target include: 140 feet (43m) with an average of 3.40 g/t gold (across strike) 100 feet (30m) with an average of 3.67 g/t gold (across strike) The WKM surface sampling and mapping program outlines clear drill targets aimed at adding at-surface ounces from 0 to 200 feet (60m) deep within approximately 6,000 feet (1.8km) from the Companys current heap leach Reserves at the Hasbrouck Gold Project. The current target area at Gold Mountain is approximately 3,200 feet (980m) long. Additional highlighted gold values from recent WKM systematic surface sampling are detailed below. Surface Samples Length Gold (g/t) Location Orientation Reported 12 240 (73m) 0.87 SR-04 Across strike May 17 2018 11 220 (67m) 1.27 SR-01 Across strike June 07 2018 5 100 (30m) 1.85 SR-05 Across strike June 07 2018 5 100 (30m) 1.49 SR-02 Across strike June 07 2018 3 60 (18m) 1.32 SR-02 Across strike June 07 2018 7 140 (43m) 1.05 SR-09 Across strike June 07 2018 4 80 (24m) 0.53 NP-12 Across strike June 07 2018 6 120 (37m) 0.65 NP-13 Across strike June 07 2018 53 1,060 1.10 The target zones shown on the map are outlined by a further 179 continuous samples from WKM and historical work. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f9bc67bd-1c3d-4331-98f0-c3c83eae8426 Four targets at Gold Mountain are planned to be drilled in the next phase of exploration (labelled 1-4 in map). The targets are controlled by clear structures and gold values are found at the upper elevations of these structures. The textures and controls for gold mineralization fit the classic low-temperature epithermal near-surface formation model, similar to the nearby Hasbrouck deposit and reserves. Further surface sampling will be completed where the targets are open. Drilling is planned with low cost, short holes at depths of 100 feet (30m) to 200 feet (60m), collaring in the mineralization. If required, deeper drilling will be completed in a second round of drilling. Drilling performed by previous owners did not target or effectively evaluate the shallow and at-surface gold mineralization currently targeted by WKM. Some drill holes completed by past owners did intersect the 100-200 feet of gold mineralization at more than 1 g/t now targeted by WKM when their drill holes were collared in or near the zones now outlined by the WKM sampling. The exploration targets at Gold Mountain (100% WKM Option Interest) are located approximately 1.8km to the east of the hill hosting the Hasbrouck Project (75% WKM, 25% Waterton Fund). See Photo below. The Hasbrouck Gold Project contains Proven & Probable Reserves of 784,000 gold equivalent oz, (45,270,000 tons at 0.58 Au g/t for 762,000 contained Au oz; 7.99 Ag g/t for 10,569,000 contained Ag ounces. NPV5 Post Tax (US$1,275/oz Au) estimated at US$120M, IRR 43% (Technical Report and Updated Preliminary Feasibility Study for The Hasbrouck and Three Hills Gold-Silver Project, Esmeralda County, Nevada, USA, Report Date: September 14, 2016). A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/035e8b57-68af-45e2-b672-173a89d87249 QUALIFIED PERSON R. Michael Jones P.Eng., CEO of West Kirkland Mining, is a non-independent Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. He has reviewed the information contained in this news release and has verified the data by hiring qualified geologists and engineers and has completed a review of the detailed technical information. Mineral Reserve information in this news release relating to the Hasbrouck Gold Project has been developed and approved by Thomas L. Dyer, P.E., of MDA following CIM standards. QUALITY ASSURANCE/QUALITY CONTROL West Kirkland Mining utilizes a well-documented system of inserting blanks and standards into the assay stream and has a strict chain of custody for samples taken by WKM. Assays by WKM are completed at independent laboratories which have internal quality assurance and quality control systems and procedures. Assays were performed by ALS Chemex Labs Ltd., by fire assay and ICP methods. On behalf of West Kirkland Mining Inc. R. Michael Jones Chief Executive Officer For further information, please see the Companys website at www.wkmining.com or contact us by email at info@wkmining.com. Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information 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: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. Forward-looking information in this news release includes, without limitation, the exploration and project approach of a Prefeasibility Study. Historical mineral title also has risk of an unrecorded claim. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking information provided by the Company is not a guarantee of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking information as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, the state of the financial markets for the Company's equity securities, the state of the market for gold or other minerals that may be produced generally, variations in the nature, quality and quantity of any mineral deposits that may be located, the Company's ability to obtain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations required for its activities, to raise the necessary capital or to be fully able to implement its business strategies and other risks associated with the exploration and development of mineral properties. The reader is referred to the Company's public filings for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects which may be accessed through the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.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 release. Clwyd South MP calls for urgent Government action to tackle speeding This article is old - Published: Thursday, Jun 7th, 2018 The MP for Clwyd South has called on the Government to U-turn on police cuts and take urgent action to tackle speeding offences. Susan Elan Jones MP raised both of the issues in Parliament yesterday stating that it was time more police were funding to patrol rural roads. The Clwyd South MP was road safety charity Brakes 2014 Parliamentarian of the Year and has previously introduced a road safety bill to Parliament. Weve got an opposition day debate on rural crime today. Ill be speaking about why the Government needs to fund more Police officers and why we need to do much more to tackle dangerous speeding on our roads. Susan Elan Jones MP (@susanelanjones) June 6, 2018 Speaking in the House of Commons Chamber, Susan Elan Jones MP quoted January Home Office figures that revealed the number of neighbourhood police officers in North Wales had fallen from 160 to 90 in five years. It is time we brought in proper speeding bans, time we funded more police to watch over our rural roads, and time we took the issue of speeding seriously, she said. I really hope that this will become a much bigger issue in years to come and that the Government will act. Speaking after the debate in which the Clwyd South MP gave examples of speeding of up to 140 mph on country roads. Ms Jones said: Weve seen recently on the A5 here in North Wales a crazy situation where a driver can do 122 miles per hour and get a driving ban of only 56days, or 138 miles per hours and a ban of only 90 days. A car or a bike is a really dangerous weapon. It may not injure or kill every time, but every time someone drives at these unbelievable speeds, it makes it more likely that really serious accidents will occur. Small wonder that organisations like the Institute of Advanced Motorists want longer driving bans, more visible policing and more anti-speeding tuition. The Government needs to fund extra police and increase the length of driving bans in the most serious cases. A534 reopens after crash closes road Air Ambulance attends incident This article is old - Published: Thursday, Jun 7th, 2018 Update: We are told the road has since reopened. Original information below. The A534 by Farndon is blocked after a two vehicle crash just before 3pm. Police and the fire service are in attendance at the incident that we are told has occurred closed to the B5069 cross roads. Cheshire Police have said: Police are dealing with a collision on the A534 at Farndon and have put on a road closure at the Broxton roundabout. Please avoid the area for the near future as traffic is already building. The air ambulance attended the incident and left the scene at 3:50pm and appeared to head to Aintree Hospital. The Welsh Ambulance Service did not attend the incident. Cars are turning around from both directions due to the blockage and queues are growing. More shortly. Go visit towns improving markets and try out the new WiFi but no access to tunnels under the High St This article is old - Published: Thursday, Jun 7th, 2018 Councillors have examined the progress of an improvement plan for the towns markets, with recognition of some successes and the ongoing work ahead. Progress on the Strategic Asset Management Plan 2016-21 (SAMP) for the General and Butchers Markets was presented as part of an annual update to members of the councils employment, business and investment scrutiny committee yesterday. Cllr Terry Evans, lead member for economic development regeneration presented the report, saying the installation of wifi in the two indoor markets was an important development to allow existing traders to capitalise on social media and promote their own products. The bill for such wifi is noted in the committees report as costing 28,607. Cllr Marc Jones, who noted the two markets were in his ward, said he had spoken with traders regarding the new wifi system and that he had been told it was intermittent and not reliable, referring to the huge cost of the system stated in the documents before the committee. The business investment lead officer pointed to earlier comments by Cllr Evans on why the wifi installation was seen as a priority, and read a technical statement from the councils IT department that had advised on the installation. The standalone system was described as being pricey due to the spec being one centered around capacity, compliance, filtering and control. The installation is in Grade II listed buildings which increased the figures, and needed sufficient power to cover the areas. Raising a smile from a couple of the committee members with Cllr Jones comments fresh in their ears, the system was described as ensuring consistent performance. There is a cloud hosted controller, and will allow lots of simultaneous users, and the entire system is future proofed. After the meeting ended at 5:30pm we went to a then empty Ty Pawb, and asked about the wifi status, and was told the trader network is accessible but terrible however the public wifi is better. Responding to the specific issues mentioned, the town centre manager told the meeting that the issues recently lay with BT rather than the council. Bringing fresh information to the table she informed the meeting that traders in the two indoor markets were given logins Tuesday morning and no issues had been reported, however there are issues with the public wifi. The thrust of the wifi installation was described as being based around a bigger drive to experiences, with the hope that people will dwell in the markets and use social media to tell everyone they know about their great time and therefore promote the markets. Cllr Geoff Lowe welcomed the work, and noted with wifi people will be able to order items or services online, and then visit the markets to pick things up and hopefully other items as well. Later in the meeting it emerged that the 28k wifi cost as listed in the figures for the Butchers and General markets was a part-cost of an overall bill, as it was part of the Ty Pawb installation. Cllr Davies asked for the total cost, however the figures were not to hand, but it was described as being split across the three. CCTV is on the markets plan for 2021, with councillors asking why such a factor had not been sorted along with the wifi system. The town centre has a recent CCTV upgrade along with a wifi roll out but the meeting was told the new install is not connected to that system, and it would be a separate procurement. Marketing figures were discussed, with the 5k budget last year being increased to 10k this year. It was explained: That is not to say only spend that, if we have more income or more marketing opportunities we can spend more if need be. A recent Love your local markets campaign was described, with various banners and bunting in place, along with two weeks of activities such as face painting, art workshops and guitarists in the markets chosen after consultation with traders. One councillor explained she had been told a musician was not audible due to a radio playing, and traders were not able to turn it off. However that was rejected with it pointed out four traders have access to the volume and could have done so. The overall campaign was described as having a good vibe and the traders embraced it. Cllr John Pritchard pulled up a reference to future roof work, and enquired if solar panels had been explored as an option to help save traders money. The officer said that had not been considered, but would now be looked into. The number of vacant stalls were also examined by councillors, with context given by an officer: In the last 12 months it has been difficult to recruit. A lot of tenants were holding off due to Ty Pawb, but now that is running, since then we have had more interest in the Butchers and General markets. Ty Pawb appeared to have been veteoed in a secret pre-meeting as a topic for questions despite having a market element and perhaps breaking from the prearranged voldemortifcation. Cllr Evans said we must not forget Ty Pawb explaining that vacancies in the Butchers market had been created due to Ty Pawb, adding that new businesses had been created in the new development and all were doing extremely well. Ten vacant stalls are noted in the report, with Cllr Sonia Benbow-Jones asking about the plans to remove four stall places to create dwell space, enquiring if it was better to see the market full to capacity. The meeting was told of experience from other markets across the UK that have methods to increase dwell time by those visiting, saying people will shop as well as sit down and have a cup of tea, listen to music or take part in specific events. Trader feedback was mentioned, with their preference for full stalls being explained: Trading in town and markets has changed. Dwell time is something we are pushing for and wifi is a now a massive difference. We have consulted with traders and will be reviewing in three and six months time. There was positive talk about the outdoor Monday Market, with the aim to extend it if possible, and attract new traders rather than move people from their historic good performing pitches. Cllr Marc Jones asked about the figures of stall reduction to create dwell space and how that matched with rent roll, looking for assurances trader rent would not go up. The officer reasssured the meeting the change would just mean the ten vacant stall figure would reduce to six, and the increased dwell time should mean increased take up. Cllr Pritchard took a subterranean turn to the meeting, burrowing into the history of the markets to explain there were big cellars under the Butchers market and tunnels under the High Street. His call for more historical explorations was echoed later by Cllr Benbow-Jones who said history does not make money but it sells, exploring holograms as an option to tell the take of Wrexhams rich market history. Sadly the meeting was told that the cellars, despite being beautiful down there, had not been used for many years and were not safe and there was no access and perhaps most disappointing was the description of the tunnels as being blocked off. Such underground adventures are not on immediate plans, however were not totally ruled out. Cllr Paul Roberts, who was chairing his first meeting in a businesslike and efficient manner, enquired on the offer from traders and how that could change in the future. The meeting was told that research in other markets had seen food offerings being positive, and something that the town has, but could be expanded. To the surprise of many the (too warm) heat in the Butchers market was described as an issue and is being looked at. Food was given as a daily reason to come in and research from Glyndwr University students will be finalised later this year that ought to give more background to these findings. The officer spoke of trader and shop offerings If we get footfall into markets and town centre, and if they are not buying, is it what they are providing? adding that some traders are open to change whereas others seem less keen. Cllr Roberts told the meeting for the benefit of the webcast (as the sweltering public gallery was empty aside from Wrexham.com) that two representatives from traders had been invited to the meeting, however none had attended, and only one had replied to say they could not. That one reply also appeared to have unspecified feedback notes, not read out in the meeting, but must have had strength as a meeting between the chair, vice chair, council officers and the email-writer was to be arranged to discuss the issues raised. Councillors agreed to thank officers for the work, and also put forward a request for next years report to include feedback from traders and further information on costing and the impact of marketing campaigns. As usual we were tweeting from the meeting, with an archive below in reverse chronological order. No AOB so Cllr Paul Roberts wraps up his first chairmanship fuller meeting report on site soon as usual! Fresh air and cold water now needed Wrexham.com @wrexham Calendar juggle: Ty Pawb was to be looked at in 12mths, Clr Davies wants update in 6mths & gets it unanimously. Meeting to investigate the reasons for the closure of the Sprouts childcare nursery looks like will be bumped forward too Cllr Marc Jones: Sooner the better! Wrexham.com @wrexham If @wrexhamcbc want to raise some cash, sell some sauna whisks in the main chamber. 25% of cmttee using home made fans as temps verge on middle-of-mcdonalds-apple-pie PIC: (Click for large) Wrexham.com @wrexham Ty Pawb was off limits today, appears some Cllrs had Qs but told before meeting not for today. Topic request form to scrutinise it has been submitted so should be looked at some point this year ( details link ) Wrexham.com @wrexham Cllrs wrap up the market scrutiny debate recommendation appears to be thanks to officers for good work, but wants feedback from traders next time, more detailed costings plus details on marketing to discover what has worked so can be spread around WCBC. Wrexham.com @wrexham Officer makes general comment about footfall (with stats saying town centre is up) noting that if people in but not buying then offer could have to be reviewed and some traders open to that. Wrexham.com @wrexham Although Ty Pawb off limits, Lead Cllr Terry Evans points out some traders moved from Butchers market and thus vacancies there, notes we have created new businesses in Ty Pawb adds they are doing extremely well in there. Wrexham.com @wrexham Lots of positive stuff about Monday Market from officers and cllrs need more traders! Lots of positivity about the potential of the wifi and what it means to indoor traders too. Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Benbow-Jones might want another look at cellars and tunnels, says history does not make money but it sells, adds that holograms and beacon points could be used to tell the story of Wrexhams market town history! Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Jenkins goes on to say he is pleased with progress of the two markets being discussed, and that surpluses are being reinvested. Notes WCBC doesnt own much in town centre, the markets are at the heart of the success of the town. Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Jenkins has some mic feedback issues, after the screech Clr Marc Jones enquires if he has just been beamed down? Wrexham.com @wrexham Cllr Lowe keen on wifi, says people can order online and pick up from markets! (Perhaps a relook at free short period parking? Was raised by a market trader in Town Forum and bumped by us although chair at the time wasnt keen in 2016 link ) Wrexham.com @wrexham Sadly Officer says cellars are unsafe and tunnels blocked off, although notes they are beautiful. One for the future? Wrexham.com @wrexham Cllr John Pritchard suggests more history on view at the markets notes the Butchers Market cellars and tunnels under the high street. Work ongoing with Glyndwr students, but not including that aspect of work. Wrexham.com @wrexham Cllr Davies probing why CCTV was not procured at the same time as the markets wifi was installed. Appears CCTV was different option, with wifi priority, and is in the plan for 2021. Wrexham.com @wrexham Officer speaking about possible changes to increase dwell time tells meeting Wrexhams markets are gorgeous buildings and not visible with current layout. Dwell time a critical component. Wrexham.com @wrexham The 28k wifi install figure is percentage covering General/Butchers market parts of the whole as its part of Ty Pawb install too, Clr Davies asks for total wifi bill. Officer does not have the total cost to hand. Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Dana Davies asks about the 28k wifi, says committee advised not to mention Ty Pawb but asks if the wifi bill was split 3 ways to cover all 3 markets or just Butchers / General. Wrexham.com @wrexham Officer updates market wifi issues BTs end and traders issued with passwords yesterday morning and 24hrs later no issues from traders reported. Wrexham.com @wrexham Two bits to start via Cllr Marc Jones who praises work, notes Ty Pawb will not be mentioned today, and asks about wifi costs and says he has heard it is not reliable via traders Wrexham.com @wrexham We have a committee, cllrs, a chairperson, various officers & the relevant lead member it seems the meeting is ready to rock. Public gallery empty aside from us, thought there might have been a few observing / feeding in. Temp? Volcanic. Watch live link Wrexham.com @wrexham Town centre, and democracy thattaway (no markets signage yet) PIC: (Click for large) Navamedic ASA has today, 7 June 2018, held an annual general meeting. All resolutions were made in accordance with the board's/nomination committee's proposals. The minutes from the general meeting is attached hereto and will be made available at www.navamedic.com. This information is subject of the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act. Attachment As of the end of April, there have been at least 418 people killed by police in the US according to figures tracked by killedbypolice.net. The Trump administration, for its part, has deliberately promoted a fascistic culture in the countrys police departments, calling on police not to be too nice to those they arrest, and has greatly expanded the anti-immigrant activities of the Border Patrol and ICE. Rampant police brutality has become an everyday part of American life. Not a day goes by without someone in the US being killed by law enforcement or subjected to an egregious beating. Jersey Shore beachgoer beaten for refusing to give her name Police questioned 20-year-old Emily Weinman about a bottle of liquor she appeared to possess on May 26 at Wildwood beach in New Jersey. Despite passing a Breathalyzer test and claiming that the alcohol wasnt hers, police persisted in questioning her. After refusing to give her last name and walking away, one of officers followed her, and said, Alright, youre about to get dropped. He then pinned her to the ground, put her in a chokehold and repeatedly punched her in the face. As her nearby 18-month-old daughter cried, officers repeatedly shouted, Stop resisting. The Wildwood Police Chief Robert Regalbuto claimed that he was shocked by the video, but justified the beating. The use of force is never pretty, he said. All you have to do is comply with the officers request. Wildwood Mayor Ernie Troiano also spoke in support of the police officers. We're not dealing with an angel here, he said. She chose to take on the police. The police did their job. He echoed the line of the police that the body cam footage would show Weinman kicking an officer in the groin. However, there is no visible kicking in either the police body cam video or in the video captured by others present. She has been charged with two counts of aggravated assault, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, obstruction, and possession of alcohol as a minor. The involved officers have not been charged, but have been placed on administrative leave. Naked man killed off Virginia highway Marcus-David Peters, a twenty-four-year-old biology teacher in Essex County, Virginia, was tasered and shot several times on May 25 by officer Michael Nyantakyi after walking down I-95 nude. He died from his gunshot wounds at a local hospital later that night. The reason for Peters behavior remains unclear, as his family states that the man had no history of mental health issues or substance abuse. He had no criminal record and was by all accounts well liked by students where he taught. Students posted sympathetic notes on his classroom door shortly after his death. Whatever the reason for his behavior, he was unarmed and had recently been hit by oncoming traffic when Nyantakyi approached. With a second officer arriving almost immediately after the shooting, Peters could not have posed a significant threat to the officer. Upon viewing police body cam video, Peters sister, Princess Blanding, commented, Marcus needed help, not death. The body-camera footage released by Richmond Police Department today confirmed what I already knew. Marcus was unarmed, clearly in distress and in need of help. And instead of receiving help, he received two fatal bullets. Richmond, Virginia police chief Alfred Durham defended the officers actions. I looked at what it would take to become a psychologist, psychiatrist, mental-health counselor. Five to eight years of training, he said. Our police department gives our officers 40 hours. Five to eight years, and we get 40 hours. People expect us to go out there and get it right. And when incidents come like this, and folks just want to beat us up without having all the facts, that hurts, ladies and gentlemen. It hurts the morale of the men and women on my department, and it hurts me. He went on to call for a fair and thorough investigation, which will almost certainly lead to Nyantakyis exoneration. New body camera exposes lies in police account of 2015 Iowa shooting Autumn Steele, a 34-year-old mother of two, was killed by officer Jesse Hill in front of her toddler in Burlington, Iowa in January 2015, when police responded to a domestic disturbance call. Police initially claimed that the officer was first bitten by a dog, which prompted him to discharge his weapon, and that Steele was hit on accident. After the initial proceedings in 2015, Hill was taken off of administrative leave and was found innocent of the manslaughter charge, allowing him to return to police work. However, part of a recently released body cam video shows no dog, and the police officer involved has changed his story and now denies ever being bitten and says instead that he slipped on the ice. Iowa and Burlington police are currently in a separate legal battle for refusing to release the full body cam video, in violation of open records laws. In campaigning for todays Ontario election, provincial New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Andrea Horwath has repeatedly fielded questions about her attitude to the Bob Rae-led NDP governmentthe last, and only ever, NDP government in Canadas most populous province. This is not the 1990s and Im certainly not Bob Rae has been Horwaths stock, vapid reply. Sometimes she has gone on to insinuate that Rae, who became a leading light in the federal Liberal Party a decade after the Ontario NDP fell from office, was never a true social democrat. Horwaths eagerness to distance herself from Premier Rae, whose name for many workers became synonymous with betrayal, and the 19901995 Ontario NDP government is entirely understandable. It is also entirely disingenuous. Elected on a pledge to shield working people from a gathering economic storm, the Rae NDP government quickly succumbed to big business demands that it junk its promises of timid reform and turn on the working class. It invoked rising joblessness and mounting provincial budget deficits to justify slashing social services, imposing onerous tax hikes, and cutting the wages of one million public sector workers. This anti-working class offensive was capped off with denunciations of welfare cheats and a pilot workfare program. It paved the way for the coming to power in June 1995 of a Conservative government under Mike Harris committed to a Common Sense Revolutiona Reagan-Thatcher style assault on public services, worker rights and welfare recipients that has left Canada a far more unequal and meaner society. It is now more than two decades since the fall of the Rae government, butas Horwaths Im not Bob Rae tagline exemplifiesCanadas social democrats havent bothered to offer any substantive critique of how and why the ostensible party of working people proved to be a ruthless enforcer of capitalist austerity. Indeed, the NDP and their trade union allies have only lurched further right during the past 23 years. The social democrats have repeatedly backed Canadas involvement in US-led imperialist wars and military-strategic offensives, including those currently targeting Russia and China. Whenever they have held provincial office, from Nova Scotia to British Columbia, they have imposed austerity. They have also repeatedly formed or pursued alliances with the big business Liberals and, fittingly, expunged any mention of socialism from the NDP constitution. Horwath's suggestion that the Rae NDP governments rightwing policies were due to it being led by a party outlier who later showed his true colours by jumping ship to the Liberals is absurd. Firstly, Rae was a quintessential social democrat, who, like Horwath, long enjoyed close ties to the trade union bureaucracy. It was Canadian Auto Workers President Bob White, along with other senior labour bureaucrats, who persuaded Rae to give up a career on the NDP frontbench in Ottawa to take up the reins of the Ontario NDP. Secondly, and more importantly, there was no significant opposition among the NDP legislators at Queens Park to the policies of the Rae government. Not to its role in imposing job and wage cuts through various government-engineered private sector restructuring plans. Nor to its social contract, which imposed a three-year wage-freeze on provincial public sector workers and forced all but the lowest-paid to accept a further five percent wage cut in the form of unpaid days-off work, the so-called Rae Days. The Steelworkers (USW), Communication, Energy and Paperworkers (CEP), the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) and most other private sector unions publicly backed the NDP government and its social contract to the end. As for the public sector unions, their opposition, such as it was, was a thoroughly cynical maneuver, motivated by fear that mounting working class opposition would escape their control. Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) President Judy Darcy, a former Maoist, initially backed the idea of a social contract, saying her union would be willing to support a wage-restraint agreement like that negotiated between the BC NDP government and the unions. But Rae, acting at the behest of the credit-rating agencies and the financial elite, insisted on imposing much steeper cuts, including the elimination of thousands of jobs. While Horwath declaims I am not Bob Rae, she has already demonstrated that she is fashioned from the very same mold. With Horwath at the helm, the NDP propped up a minority Ontario Liberal government for two-and-a-half years ending in May 2014. And did so, while the Liberals imposed sweeping social spending cuts and criminalized teacher job-action so as to ram through wage and benefit cuts. So desperate were Horwath and her fellow social democrats to curry favour with big business, that their campaign in the subsequent June 2014 Ontario election was widely acknowledged to have been to the right of that of the pro-austerity Liberals. Horwaths current campaign is little different. Promises of small social spending increases and the rolling back of corporate tax rates to where they stood when Kathleen Wynne became premier in 2013 are being touted as radical measures. The social democrats, as illustrated by the Toronto Stars endorsement of an NDP-led Ontario government, have won the backing of a significant faction of the ruling class. This faction fears a Conservative government under the rightwing populist Doug Ford will become a lightning rod for social opposition; especially, as recent months have seen a resurgence of class struggle in Canada, the US, and internationally. It calculates the assault on the social rights of the working class can best be advanced by a government that employs left rhetoric to conceal its reactionary agenda and works in close cooperation with the unions to smother popular opposition. Social democracy has been a vital prop of capitalist rule for more than a century, ever since the leading parties of the Second or Socialist International supported their respective capitalist governments in the First World War. It has used saccharine phrases, piece-meal reforms and, when these failed, state repression to politically suppress the working class, dragoon it into imperialist wars, and otherwise defend the capitalist order. During the post-Second World War capitalist boom, the various Socialist and Labour parties were closely identified with the development and expansion of the welfare state, a series of social provisions meant to protect working people from cradle to grave from the ravages of capitalism. For a time, this reform policy enjoyed the support of the bourgeoisie, which in the wake of the Great Depression and the second imperialist world war in a generation feared a repetition of the October 1917 Russian Revolution However, with the collapse of the boom in the early 1970s and the globalization of capitalist production, the objective basis for the social democrats pro-capitalist national-reform program collapsed. Responding to the bourgeoisies repudiation of class compromise, social democrats the world over shredded their reformist platforms and took a wrecking ball to the public and social services they had previously held up as proof capitalism could be humanized. From Frances Francois Mitterrand, through Australias Bob Hawke and Paul Keating to Britains Tony Blair and Germanys Gerhard Schroeder, Bob Rae-type figures have headed social democratic governments whenever and wherever they have come to power since the early 1980s. This rightward march has been endorsed and encouraged by the social democrats traditional allies, the trade union bureaucracy. Incapable of charting a progressive response to globalization, the nationally-based unions have responded to the intensification of class conflict by turning toward corporatism and serving as appendages of corporate management and the state in the ruling-class drive to increase profits through job and wage cuts and speed-up. In this context, Horwaths quip that this is not 1990 bears careful consideration. Beset by its greatest and most prolonged crisis since the Great Depression, world capitalism is wracked by economic imbalances, trade war and incendiary great power conflicts. The universal response of the capitalist elites to this crisis is an offensive against what remains of the social rights of the working class, rearmament and militarist violence, and the stoking of social reaction, including anti-immigrant chauvinism. Should Horwath and the NDP come to power after todays vote, they will be compelled by their capitalist masters to lash out against the working class just as surely as Rae and the NDP were a generation ago. The authors also recommend: Toronto Star endorses NDP-led government in Ontario [5 June 2018] Naomi Klein promotes pro-war, pro-austerity NDP as antidote to populist far-right [1 June 2018] Boulder, Colo., June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Within the cryptocurrency ecosystem, there has been a distinct lack of tools to help investors learn about and improve trading until now, that is. Cryptanite Blockchain Technologies Corp. 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The Company does not undertake to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law. ### The World Socialist Web Site has been investigating the censorship of a panel discussion, Whistleblowing: Exposing injustices or undermining institutions? hosted by the Oxford Union earlier this year. Records of the event, including transcripts and videos, have been withheld from publicationapparently to suppress remarks by human rights activist Heather Marsh about the activities of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) made in the presence of one of its former operatives, David Shedd. A veil of silence has been thrown over the February 27 event, in an effort to suppress Marshs remarks and block any knowledge of them ever having been made. Marsh has now published a letter she sent to the Oxford Union in April, pointing out they are in breach of contract over the censorship of the video, threatening legal action. As she notes, both her invitation to speak and the Oxford Unions web site boast of the significant publicity given to speakers at their events, from press coverage to its own YouTube account. The only caveat listed is that such publicity will be at each participants discretion as far as his or her own contributions are concerned. Marsh has been denied publication of her own speech. The Union still refuses to say by whose instruction this decision was made. Since the event, Marsh has made every effort to hold the Oxford Union to its obligations. In her letter, she describes sending a number of e-mails asking when the video recording would be posted and why this had not yet been done. She has not even had the courtesy of a response. In late April, she returned to the Oxford Union to collect her travel reimbursement and to inquire in person about the video of her speech. According to Marsh, union bursar Lindsey Warne explained, We have had many meetings about this and A great many people are asking, but that video is not ever going up. According to Marsh, Warne reportedly commented in one of these meetings that it was ironic that we were censoring a whistleblower panel. In the course of its own inquiries, the WSWS has met with similar stonewalling. E-mails sent to the Oxford Union, to the standing committee and to the now three presidents who have been in office during this censorshipasking on whose authority and on what grounds was reporting of the whistleblowers panel censoredhave been met with silence. Phone calls have seen our reporters given the runaround before finally being told to send an e-mail for an answer. Whoever demanded or carried out the decision to censor the records of the Whistleblowing Panel, the entire Oxford Union is now engaged in a cover-up to protect them. It should be noted that the Oxford Unions Facebook page announces a forthcoming debate, Is Democracy Under Siege?, and an advertisement for womens public speaking workshops, open to all self-identifying female and non-binary members, to improve womens confidence in all areas of public speaking. There is no small irony involved, given that they have undemocratically silenced a debate due to the remarks of a female panellist! Marsh and Shedds co-panelist was Ewen MacAskill, defence and intelligence correspondent at the Guardian newspaper. Neither MacAskill nor the Guardian has written on the event itself, or the blackout. One would have thought that the issues raised by Marsh over the activities of the CIA during her presentation at the Oxford Union, and their subsequent silencing, would be of fundamental concern to anyone concerned with democratic rights and the use and abuse of power. In response to an inquiry from the International Youth and Students for Socialist Equality (IYSSE) regarding censorship of the meeting, MacAskill wrote, I left almost immediately after the panel discussion to catch a train back to London. I have had no discussion since then with anyone from the Oxford Union, other than to sort out reimbursement for my train fare. I dont know why a decision was taken not to make the video freely available. I was unaware the video had not gone up online until I read a few pieces online. I have no objection to it being made available. There is not a word of protest in this response. MacAskill states neither whether he supports Marshs complaints nor if he will be pursuing the matter further. The Guardian did not report on an event at which one of its leading journalists appeared and has not publicly complained about the suppression of his and everybody elses remarks. The only published work on the matter, besides that of the WSWS, is from journalist Douglas Lucas, writing in the Buffalo, New York-based news weekly the Public. This can hardly be because the story is not considered newsworthy. Oxford Union debates usually receive widespread coverage in the UK media. In fact, the most recent Guardian article pertaining to the Oxford Union was published on June 1after all the currently available details about the Whistleblowing Panel had become public. Focusing on the controversy around the Oxford Unions decision to invite fascistic former Trump advisor Sebastian Gorka to speak, the Guardian piece mentions previous controversies over speakers, but makes no reference to the suppression of an entire debate. This silence can only be interpreted as evidence that the paper has signed up to the restrictions placed on reporting the event. It should also be noted that Marshs comments, which she has published, reveal no state secrets or any information not publicly available. And there is no question of libel or defamation of Shedd. Marsh did not accuse him of specific actions, but described him as belonging to and a representative of the hideous organisation that is the CIAsome of whose well-documented crimes she powerfully exposed. The event is being censored, therefore, not on legal grounds and not on the usual cowardly basis that sensitive information has been revealed. What has been deemed necessary to suppress is critical opposition to the US security apparatus and its activities. Meanwhile, the likes of Nigel Farage and Marine Le Pen are free to air their opinions through the Oxford Union with no complications. The implications of the silencing of a talk on whistleblowing by the self-professed last bastion of free speech are made clear by their broader context: an international intensification of political censorship, which currently finds clearest expression in the persecution of WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange. Opposition to the turn by the major imperialist powers toward war and dictatorship is everywhere coming under sharp attack. Democratic rights are now deemed an unwarranted burden on bourgeois regimes in crisis. The fate of the Whistleblowing Panel is one manifestation of this process and should be strongly opposed. The International Youth and Students for Social Equality calls on Oxford studentson whose behalf the Oxford Union claims to actto condemn this censorship and the continued refusal of Oxford Union leaders to provide any explanation for their actions. We will offer all possible assistance to students who wish to mount such a campaign or investigate this issue. Cape May County Prosecutor Jeffrey Sutherland said Tuesday that no criminal charges will be filed against the police officers who were videotaped assaulting and arresting a 20-year-old Philadelphia woman on the beach in Wildwood, New Jersey on May 26. In the video, an officer can be seen punching the woman twice. The video has been viewed over 7,000,000 times. Police were carrying portable breathalyzers on the beach and randomly testing beachgoers. In the body-cam footage released this week, the Wildwood police officer can be seen carrying a breathalyzer wand and approaching a woman sitting on her beach towel with an open container of fruit. Emily Weinman, 20, agreed to submit to the test, which came up negative. But the encounter quickly escalated to a violent arrest in which the officer pulled her hair, slammed her to the ground and punched her. The Cape May County Prosecutors Office said it recognized that the footage raised questions regarding the officers actions, but claimed the arrest wasnt against the law. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Prosecutor Sutherland reviewed police body-camera footage, videos taken by beachgoers, police vehicle video, arrest and internal affairs reports and other police documents in deciding whether or not to charge the police officers. In justifying the officers actions, Sutherland said emotional appeals have no place in matters of police work. A decision such as this is not based on emotion; it is based upon applying the proper laws, policies and directives that govern law enforcement, he said. Members of the public should understand that no matter what your opinion is regarding the subject event, it is not based on a full review of the evidence. Wildwood Mayor Ernie Troiano has vigorously defended the three officers, identified as Thomas Cannon, John Hillman and Robert Jordan. Emily Weinman faces multiple charges after the arrest, including aggravated assault on a police officer and spitting at a police officer. Weinmans attorney, Stephen Dicht, told the Inquirer he wasnt surprised that the prosecutor did not charge the police officers. Its ironic. The officer who said, Youre about to get dropped isnt charged. The one who beat her on the head wasnt charged. The only person charged is the one who was dropped and beaten on the head, he said. Officer fired for hitting man with car hired by neighboring sheriffs department A Georgia police officer who was fired for deliberately striking a man with his vehicle was back at work as a cop just two days later. Taylor Saulters, who was fired by the Athens-Clarke County Police Department, was hired by the neighboring Oglethorpe County Sheriffs Office on Monday. On Friday, Saulters and his police partner stopped Timmy Patmon, who had an open warrant for a probation violation. Patmon fled on foot, according to police records. Saulters partner, Hunter Blackmon, chased Patmon on foot while Saulters got into his police cruiser and chased after them. Footage released by the Athens-Clarke County Police Department showed Saulters swerving in front of Patmon while trying to cut him off. Saulters then accelerated and hit Patmon with the front of the police cruiser. In the footage, Patmon can be seen rolling on the hood of the car and falling onto the pavement. Bystanders chastised the two officers for hitting Patmon as he was being taken into custody. Oglethorpe County Sheriff David Gabriel announced the decision to hire Saulters on Facebook, saying, I have known him since he was a baby and I know he will be a great asset to our county. Gabriel defended the hiring in the same post, saying of the incident, a fleeing felon struck his patrol car. This examination and exposure of the inveterate opportunism of Savas Michael-Matsas, was originally published on August 11, 1989 and appeared in Volume 16, Nos. 3-4 of the Fourth International magazine. It was written by David North in response to the split between Gerry Healy, the long-time leader of the WRP, and Michael-Matsas, the national secretary of the Workers Internationalist League in Greece. Michael-Matsas had previously supported Healy in 1985, defending his opportunist politics and betrayal of Trotskyism. He broke with the ICFI, refusing all discussion with other sections. He asserted that they had no authority to even meet without the permission of Healy. In 1989 Healy and Michael-Matsas came into conflict over tactical issues relating to their opportunist agendas, which led to a sudden and bitter collapse of their unprincipled collaboration. Healy died five months later, on December 14, 1989. For a Marxist analysis of Healy's political career, see Gerry Healy and His Place in the History of the Fourth International by David North. The split between Gerry Healy and Savas Michael brings to a shabby and pathetic end the squalid partnership of two opportunist renegades from Trotskyism and lackeys of the Soviet Stalinist bureaucracy. In October 1985, Healy found in Savas Michael, who was then secretary of the Greek section of the International Committee of the Fourth International, the one man so devoid of political principles and personal integrity that he was prepared to justify and even eulogize the depraved practices and gross abuse of authority that had led to Healys expulsion from the Trotskyist movement. Michael lied to his own members about the circumstances of Healys expulsion, refused to permit the distribution of the documents of the International Committee, and split his organization from the ICFI. Finally, he sought to defraud the workers movement in Greece by presenting himself as the secretary of a bogus International Committee. This entire miserable enterprise has come to the end it deserved. The self-styled secretary of the ICFI has been abandoned by Healy. Though he claims to have had the support of the majority of the partys leadership, Michael has been tossed out of the premises of the Greek Workers Revolutionary Party and his name, without even the dignity of an official announcement, no longer appears in its press. In a mimeographed English-language statement, dated July 1, 1989, the central committee of Michaels faction of the Greek Workers Revolutionary Party gives the following account of the split (which, except for corrections in the spelling, is reproduced exactly as written): The Workers Revolutionary Party of Greece, affiliated until recently to the ICFI led by G. Healy, became the target of a vicious attack and of the split activities of G. Healy himself and his tiny clique: Healy, presenting himself as more Gorbachevite than Gorbachev himselfin matter of fact he is well on the right of the Gorbachev grouptried to impose on the WRP, his pro-Stalinist line, forbidding any criticism to the policies of the official leadership of the CPSU. The WRP, although supporting Perestroika and Glasnost in the USSR, had and has a critical attitude, fighting for the independent Trotskyist analysis, programme and leadership of the developing political revolution. G. Healy clashed with the WRP, in November 1987, when S. Michael, the general secretary of the WRP, with the support of the Greek Trotskyist leadership, issued an Open Letter to M. Gorbachev sharply criticizing the attacks on Trotsky and the historical truth incorporated in the official speech of the 70th anniversary of the October Revolution. This Letter was, for Healy, an unforgivable crime, as well as the support given by the WRP to Boris Yeltsin against his bureaucratic purge, which took place at the same period. Healy, not only accused Yeltsin for ultra-leftism and openly supported his Stalinist opponent, Ligachev, but tried also to silence, with bureaucratic means, the criticisms of the WRP and S. Michael. As G. Healy himself said, from November 1987 he started to organize a split in the WRP through a secret tiny faction of supporters. As he could not have a majority in the elected leadership, Healy intervened, using all the cominternist methods to change the composition of the PC and the CC of the WRP, expelling elected members who politically disagree with his line and his unconstitutional actions. In a 2 days time, an emergency congress of the Greek section was called by Healy and his ICagainst all the rules of the constitution of the WRP and of the FIin April 1-2, 1989. An orgy of bureaucratic purge escalated from the so-called congress onwards continued afterwards with a campaign of expulsions, slanders and intimidation. The WRP was split by the actions of Healy. But the continuity of Trotskyism was not destroyed: the majority of the party leaders, cadres and members and all the youth organization the Young Socialists, fought back the liquidationist attack and defended the principles of Trotskyism against the pro-Stalinist revisionists. The WRP had its constitutionally held emergency congress in June 11th 1989, broke irrevocably with the revisionism developed by Healy in his decay, defended all the revolutionary heritage of Trotskyism, including the heritage of the first 10 congresses of the ICFI, and decided to fight, in the road of the world socialist revolution to build the Fourth International. Even if one were to accept this account of the split between Healys Marxist Party in Britain and the Greek Workers Revolutionary Party, it represents a devastating self-indictment of the unprincipled political activities of Savas Michael over the last four years. It is the height of political cynicism for Michael to complain that the Greek WRP has been the victim of the unconstitutional activities of Gerry Healy. When Savas Michael split from the International Committee in October 1985, he did so in order to defend the personal and unchallengeable right of Healy to do whatever he pleased! Michael refused to attend a duly-constituted emergency meeting of the ICFI, which had been called following the expulsion of Healy from the British Workers Revolutionary Party on October 19, 1985. The WRP Central Committee took this action on the basis of evidence that Healy had engaged systematically in the sexual abuse of female party members, many of whom were underage. The ICFI scheduled a meeting for October 25, 1985. It recognized that the gross abuse of authority of which Healy was accused was inextricably linked to the opportunist degeneration in the political line and organizational methods of the British WRP over an extended period. This crisis had developed to such a point that the WRP leadership was on the verge of a devastating split and the entire organization threatened with a political collapse. For this reason, the International Committee insisted that it intended to examine the evidence relating to the allegations against Healy and also to analyze the political issues underlying the crisis inside the Workers Revolutionary Party. Michael, however, proclaimed that Healy was a historic leader with unchallengeable authority and who, therefore, was not subject to any constitutional procedures either within the WRP or the International Committee. He asserted that the WRP Central Committee did not have the power to expel Healy and that the International Committee could not hold a meeting unless it had been personally summoned and sanctioned by Healy! The International Committee rejected this reactionary position, which had nothing to do with constitutional procedures based on the organizational principles of democratic centralism. It informed the Greek section that Michael could, as a delegate to the ICFI, oppose the expulsion of Healy and attempt to win the international movement over to his position. But, it insisted, Michael and the Greek Workers Internationalist League (as the organization was then known) could not defy the political discipline of the International Committee on the preposterous ground that Healy was some sort of Stalin-style infallible historic leader. Michael ignored the instructions of the International Committee, the highest body within the Fourth International. Instead, Michael entered into a behind-the-scenes conspiracy with Healy and his supporters in a minority faction of the WRP headed by Sheila Torrance. He also established contact with the representative of the Spanish section of the ICFI, urged her to boycott the ICFI meeting, and then issued a joint communique rejecting the authority of the International Committee. The International Committee meeting was held on October 25, 1985 as scheduled. Its delegates voted unanimously in favor of the expulsion of Healy based on irrefutable and uncontested evidence which confirmed the charges against him. At the same timedespite fierce opposition from the leaders of the WRP majority faction, Cliff Slaughter and Michael Bandathe ICFI adopted a procedure to resolve the crisis within the WRP on the basis of an exhaustive discussion of all issues of political perspective and program. This procedure required scrupulous respect for the rights of the pro-Healy minority faction led by Torrance. The Torrance faction immediately rejected the independent intervention of the International Committee and officially split from the ICFI on the morning of October 26, 1985. They were case-hardened nationalists who believed that the ICFI had no business interfering in disputes inside the British WRP. But it was the intervention of Savas Michael that provided them with a bogus international cover for their reactionary split from the International Committee. Moreover, Michaels action rescued Healy and provided him with a new international forum for his opportunist activities. Without Michaels defense of Healys supra-constitutional powers in 1985, this so-called historic leader would not have been in a position to organize inside the Greek WRP what Michael now denounces as an orgy of expulsions, slanders and intimidation. Indeed, the International Committee foresaw the inevitable results of Michaels unprincipled maneuvers and issued a clear warning to the Greek Workers Internationalist League. In a letter dated November 9, 1985, the International Committee told the Greek section that its rejection of international collaboration and discipline meant that the WIL faces destruction as a Trotskyist party. Noting that the WIL had disregarded the ICFIs advice that it postpone its plan to transform itself into a mass-type revolutionary party pending the political clarification of the issues arising from the crisis inside the British WRP and the International Committee, the letter stated: Comrade Savas and the CC [of the WIL] know that there are gigantic destructive dangers in founding a party on the unprincipled foundation of a break with internationalism. The very best interpretation which can be placed on Comrade Savas and the Greek CCs break from the IC is that they fear disruption of their work for the transformation into a party. Such a position, politically, means that internationalism, the foundation of our movement in every country, is rejected in favor of immediate national concerns as perceived by the WIL leadership. Not only did this letter anticipate the eventual collapse of Michaels new revolutionary party. The ICFI was entirely correct in its evaluation of the nationalist opportunism which underlay Michaels unprincipled support for Healy. He and his right-wing associates in the WIL anticipated that their split with the International Committee would liberate their activities in Greece from all international Marxist supervision. The new Greek Workers Revolutionary Partyas the organization was renamed in late November 1985would be free to do whatever it liked in Greece. Michael immediately hailed the split as an opportunity to repudiate all the fundamental political conceptions of the Fourth International. He denounced the International Committees uncompromising defense of the Marxist program as the reactionary return to the practices of the period of the defeats and isolation of Trotskyism. In opposition to the International Committee, which, due to its obsession with principles, wanted to confine Trotskyism to small sects, Michael discovered in unrestrained opportunism a new political panacea. Thus, as soon as the split was consummated, the Greek Workers Revolutionary Party turned to popular front politics. Its work within Greece became centered on working out electoral alliances with the Greek Stalinists and various petty-bourgeois progressive forces. In municipal elections held in Piraeus in 1986, the WRP entered into discussions with the Stalinists and several small bourgeois parties with the aim of forming a political bloc. It attempted to justify its capitulation to popular frontism by proclaiming that a broad collaboration of the progressive and left forces of Piraeus can become the key which will give to our municipality a capable and fighting municipal authority, which together with the people of Piraeus will struggle for a new political agreement for the peoples interest. Little more than one year later, the transformation of the WRP into an open agency of class collaborationist politics had reached the stage where it supported the election of the bourgeois politician Vassiliou to the presidency of Cyprus. One does not know whether to laugh or retch upon reading Michaels claim that Healy tried to impose on the WRP his Stalinist line. This absurd attempt to portray himself as the innocent victim of Healys political chicanery is contradicted by Michaels own account of his relations with the historic leader. In another document, dated May-June 1989 and published in a magazine called Revolutionary Marxist Theory, Michael makes clear that he collaborated fully with Healy in the elaboration of their pro-Gorbachev line. In the summer of 1986, after the Congress of Soviet Cinematographers and the Soviet Writers Congress and after the speech of Gorbachev at Khabarovsk, at the same time G. Healy and S. Michaelwho then and until 1987 collaborated closely and fruitfully, being in nearly daily telephone communicationreached the same conclusion that the turn to perestroika meant a leap in the political revolution against the Stalinist bureaucracy in the Soviet Union. On the basis of this Pabloite adaptation to the reform wing of the Stalinist bureaucracy, Michael gave full backing to Healy in the ensuing fight inside the Healy-Torrance faction of the British WRP. In opposition to Torrance, who objected to Healys support for Gorbachev, Michael wrote a joint communique, signed by Healy and himself on November 4,1986, which asserted, The Trotskyist movement is not indifferent or neutral towards the changes in the Soviet Union. It must urgently and actively intervene into them supporting with a united front action every blow against the bureaucracy.... Michael went along entirely with the pro-Gorbachev line worked out by Healy. From 1987 on, Socialist Change, the newspaper of the WRP, became the local Athens house-organ of the Gorbachev bureaucracy. There is ample reason to believe that Michaels services to the Gorbachev regime were financially rewarded. Similar propaganda services rendered by Socialist Change to Middle Eastern regimes and bourgeois national movements had previously been offered by Michael in exchange for special subsidies of which the rank- and-file members were not informed. Indeed, in one of his own documents, Healy noted in passing that Michael has close contact with the Libyans, the Soviet Embassy, the CP and the PLO. At any rate, Michael became a specialist in providing cynical rationalizations for the counterrevolutionary politics of the Kremlin bureaucracy, as witnessed by his rapturous praise for the Soviet-US agreement on missiles in September 1987, in which he compared Gorbachevs dealings with Reagan to the revolutionary diplomacy carried out by the Bolsheviks in the early years of the Soviet regime! On the question of the economic policies of perestroikawhose essential aim is the restoration of capitalist property in the Soviet Union and its integration into the structure of world imperialismMichael was, and remains, in agreement with the Gorbachev regime. However, and this is where he apparently ran afoul of Healy, Michael insisted, though not too vigorously, on his right to occasionally criticize Gorbachev. To a great extent, this position arose from Michaels need to maintain some small political justification for the continued existence of his petty-bourgeois group outside the ranks of the Greek Communist Party. However, this was not acceptable to Healy, who made it clear that he saw no need for the continued existence of Michaels organization. At the third congress of the Greek WRP, according to Michael, The greatest confusion was provoked as the membership of the WRP, thunderstruck, heard the historic leader of postwar Trotskyism, Gerry Healy, tell them that for the sake of the political revolution in the USSR, with a turn to the membership of the Communist Party of Greece and a United Front with it, the road was open for a unified CP on a Trotskyist basis. (Revolutionary Marxist Theory) Once Healy arrived at this conclusion, he proceeded to organize the removal of Savas Michael and his supporters from the Workers Revolutionary Party. The documents of the split provide further illustration of the grotesque character of Healys degeneration. He now operates as nothing more than a paid stooge of the Moscow bureaucracy. In October 1988, with the full support of Savas Michael, Healys bogus International Committee announced it was forming a united front with the Memorial Union in the USSR, an organization of a faction of the bureaucracy, including physicist Andrei Sakharov and academician Yuri Afanasyev, which explicitly supports the restoration of capitalism. A photograph of Healy and Vanessa Redgrave meeting with leaders of Memorial in the editorial offices of the Moscow News was prominently displayed in the April 1 issue of Socialist Change. Like Healys previous united fronts with the Palestine Liberation Organization and the governments of Libya and Iraq, this one consists of providing Trotskyist support for a counterrevolutionary regime in exchange for money. The Soviet bureaucracy, whose intelligence agencies are intimately familiar with the circumstances surrounding the catastrophe which overtook Healy in 1985, know how easy it is to use and manipulate a man in his desperate political straits. Pathetically dependent upon the good graces of his Kremlin patrons and working under the supervision of whoever the KGB has assigned to handle him, Healy became frightened that Michaels unauthorized letter to Gorbachevwhich contained criticisms of the Soviet leaders televised denunciation of Leon Trotsky on November 2, 1987might undermine his united front with the Soviet government. He came to the conclusion that it was necessary to disband this organization. First, he informed Michael that while his criticisms were correct, the content was historically an error and the letter should not have been sent because Gorbachevs speech had also announced the Politburos decision to investigate Stalins crimes. While Michael submitted to Healys criticism, a new pretext was soon found to resume the offensive against the Greek WRP. Michaels organization produced a 1989 calendar which apparently did not include a photograph of Trotsky and other martyrs of the Left Opposition. It is likely that Michael was simply trying to adapt himself to what he thought Healy wanted; for Vanessa RedgraveHealys principal accompliceregularly gives interviews in the Soviet press without mentioning the name of Leon Trotsky. However, Healy pounced on Michael, intoning, The calendar presented the forms of appearance which the political revolution takes without their historical content. Thus, it represented a continuation of the political error which took place in connection with the speech of November 2, 1987 by Gorbachev, on the 70th anniversary of the October Revolution. There was an attack on its form, a criticism against Trotsky, Bukharin and others, while the historical content, the [formation] by Gorbachev of a Committee of Investigation for the examination of the crimes of Stalin, was ignored. When Michael, at long last, refused to quietly accept the removal of all his supporters from the central committee and make the necessary self-criticism, Healy resorted to his special mystical language to explain the gravity of the issue: A leader who refuses to base his political analysis on the Thing-in-itself, counterposes to dialectical materialism self-constructed images which are a determinateness of his own Ego... The Egotist is incapable of correcting errors, given that he is limited only to self-constructed thought forms. Without the establishment of the in-itself of the historical content of thought forms, it is impossible to correct errors. Without the negation of Being from the external world, where, within its unity of analysis and synthesis with historical materialism, not-Being emerges, it is not possible, for any historical content to exist. No thing-in- itself content (not-Being)no correction of errors. The individuals who, like Fichte, exceed their own Ego, generally speaking, turn to blaming others for the very mistakes which, in the name of the excessive subject of their Ego, they made themselves. Egotism is the deadly enemy of the training of a collective Marxist leadership. It is the trademark of subjective idealist bourgeois ideology. It is not very hard to decipher this pseudophilosophical verbiage. One has only to understand that the real thing-in-itself with which Healys ego is preoccupied is his cash subsidy from Moscow. The political outcome of Healys purge of Michael and his supporters from the Greek WRP has been clearly indicated by the recent change in the masthead of Socialist Change. It now carries the hammer and sicklewithout the number four! This is a necessary symbolic preparation for the eventual liquidation of the WRP into the Stalinist party. It should be noted that within weeks of the split, Socialist Change was able to complete its special fund on time, due to a sudden and miraculous last-minute infusion of three million drachma, nearly half the total of the entire fund! Before the split of 1985, Healys political and personal opinion of Savas Michael was usually expressed in language which is unprintable. He spoke with contempt of Michaels political spinelessness, indifference to principle, ignorance of history, and nationalist provincialism, and would refer with bitter sarcasm to evidence of his physical cowardice and petty-bourgeois vanity. Michael would seem to shrivel beneath the force of Healys withering and merciless denunciations. So brutal were Healys verbal onslaughts that even those on the International Committee who agreed with the gist of his criticisms could not help but feel sorry for the hapless Michael, whose eyes would grow red and watery during these terrible tirades. That Michael and Healy would eventually emerge as allies in a common front against the International Committee would have seemed inconceivable even to an astute observer. But politics possesses an inexhaustible gift for irony; and the crisis which overtook the British Workers Revolutionary Party in 1985 brought about the unexpected reconciliation. There was, of course, a deeper logic at work. Without him being fully conscious of it, Healys protracted opportunist degeneration had drawn him closer to Michael over the years. In retrospect, it may well be that his often-apoplectic reaction to the mere physical presence of Michael may well have reflected Healys inner anxiety over what he himself was becoming. Now that his marriage of convenience with Savas Michael has been terminated, Healy has produced a document, dated April 23, 1989, in which he recalls that Michaels politics contains the worst features of Greek nationalism. He recalls that prior to the split of October 1985, Michaels section had to be expelled on account of a nationalist orientation. Despite the Greek organizations subsequent readmission and its defense of Healy in October 1985, bourgeois ideology remained deeply entrenched within the section. Healy asserts, In the objective conditions of Greek bourgeois nationalism, the number of cadres was reduced to a hard core within which reactionary Greek bourgeois nationalism continued to develop. As the number of members fell after the founding congress of October 1985, so the nationalist orientation developed until it began to threaten the very existence of the Greek section of the ICFI. This account is a devastating indictment of Healy. After all, how does he explain that his only international base of support in 1985 was provided by an organization based on Greek bourgeois nationalism? Of course, Healy will not attempt to answer this question. Nor does Savas Michael help his own political cause with his account of the split. He writes the following about Healys organization of the split within the Greek WRP: The methods which they have employed to wound the party and its cadre have lacked nothing of the villainous, bankrupt and filthy methods of Stalinism: intrigues, unconstitutional dismissals of members of the Politburo on the order of Gerry Healy alone and only because they expressed differences, unconstitutional dismissals of members of the CC, splitting, the organizing of congresses in two days in violation of the constitution and without discussion and informing members and closed to them. Slanders of the most vulgar police and Stalinist type. In other words, exactly the methods which Healy employed, with the full support of Savas Michael, against the International Committee. What Michael does not attempt to explain is how his infallible historic leaderthe peerless author of Studies in Dialectics, whose dialectical materialist method of training represents, in the words used by Michael in early 1986 to denounce the ICFI, the highest creative contribution ... of Cde Gerry Healy to the world revolutionhas within such a short period of time been transformed into an out-and-out Stalinist gangster. Michael cannot and will not answer this question because he himself shares essentially the same Pabloite perspective as Healy; and his differences with him, despite all the fighting and shouting, are essentially of a tactical character. Both Michael and Healy take as their theoretical point of departure the basic Pabloite conception that the political revolution will be realized through the initiative of one or another section of the bureaucracy. Even as he is licking his wounds, Michael declares: Against false charges, the CC of the WRP shows that it supports warmly and without conditions the political antibureaucratic revolution in the USSR, which is developing in the form of perestroika, while we give critical support to the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev. We support every measure of Gorbachev which strikes against the bureaucracy and we exercise criticism of every practice or speech which delays the revolutionary process. We support the formation of a united front with the leadership of Gorbachev and much more so with the fighters of the left wing like Boris Yeltsin and the anti-Stalinist Memorial Union. If this is supposed to represent a break with the Stalinism of Healy, it is truly mutiny on ones knees. In fact, to the extent that a genuine programmatic difference can be gleaned from this brawl between two Pabloite factions, it would appear that Michael is more openly aligned with that section of the bureaucracyled by the Inter-Regional Group of Yeltsin, Afanasyev and Sakharovwho are emerging as the most militant procapitalist element within the Stalinist leadership. But even this difference should not be overstated, because Healy himself has already proclaimed these very individuals to be the leaders of the political revolution. Less than four years after he claimed that his break from the sectarians of the International Committee would quickly transform the Greek WRP into a mass party, Michael now wanders around Athens without a press and without a party. Like all opportunists, he foresaw absolutely nothing. Having no understanding of the implications of the protracted struggle waged by the International Committee against Pabloite opportunism, he blindly pursued the same opportunist methods which have led so many times to political shipwreck. Michael stupidly believed that he could combine a purely platonic adherence to Trotskyism with practical support for the Stalinist bureaucracy. Two years ago, this writer ridiculed Michaels conception of critical support for Gorbachev and predicted its pathetic outcome: Savas Michael, dressed in a warriors toga, will fight alongside Gorbachev sword in hand as the Soviet leader combats the bureaucracy; but then, the moment Gorbachev and the bureaucracy attack the workers, Michael will deftly pivot to his left and hurl himself against Gorbachev. We can be sure that in the course of this complex and awkward maneuver, Savas Michaels toga will become unraveled and this petty-bourgeois sophist will stand politically naked in front of the working class, exposed before one and all as a charlatan. (Fourth International, September 1987, pp. 11-12.) And so it has come to pass. There is one other feature of the Healy-Michael split of which we must take note. In the document of April 23, 1989, Healy makes a dark reference to the possibility of police penetration of the Greek WRP. In a section plunging into debt to the usurers, he writes, the doors are wide open for the Greek state to work unhindered inside the party. In October 1985, it was none other than Savas Michael who joined with Healy in making slanderous allegations, which they did not even attempt to substantiate in any way, that their opponents in the International Committee were police agents. How the wheel does turn! The split between Healy and Michael is the final vindication of the struggle conducted by the International Committee of the Fourth International against all the revisionist tendencies that emerged out of the opportunist degeneration of the British Workers Revolutionary Party. Each of these tendencies refused to recognize the political authority of the International Committee, proclaimed its political demise, and, as in the case of Healy-Michael and Torrance, even went so far as to usurp the name of the ICFI for the purpose of endowing their own essentially nationalist activities with some historical legitimacy. But in the course of less than four years, all of these opportunist formations have been politically shattered. The WRP faction led by Cliff Slaughter, Michael Banda, and Bill Hunter has broken into approximately a dozen fragments. Michael Banda has denounced Trotskyism and proclaimed his allegiance to Stalinism. Cliff Slaughter and Bill Hunter, who following Bandas desertion proposed to rebuild the Fourth International on the basis of an alliance with the Argentine Morenoites, came to blows over the failure of the WRP to consummate the alliance. Hunter is now the representative of the Morenoites in Britain. The original Healy-Torrance faction of the WRP broke up within a year of the splitwith Torrance preserving the name Workers Revolutionary Party, while Healy and Vanessa Redgrave formed their Marxist Party. Later, another leading member of the Torrance group, Richard Price, split with Torrance to form the Workers Internationalist League. And, finally, the Healy-Michael alliance has broken apart. All of these bewildered and demoralized groups and individuals operate within a purely national framework. Not one of these organizations are related on the basis of a common program to any organization existing outside their own national boundaries. And, as with all radical petty-bourgeois organizations that operate on such a parochial foundation, their own national existence lacks all political stability. On the other hand, the International Committee of the Fourth International has demonstrated astonishing strength and viability during this same period. Since its final split with the British WRP on February 8, 1986, the International Committee has developed an unbreakable unity between its sections. Not only have there been no splits between sections of the ICFI, not a single split has taken place within any of the ICFI sections. This internal strength within an international movement that is active in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia is the expression of the profound political clarification that the International Committee has achieved on the basis of the unrelenting political, theoretical and organizational struggle it has conducted against Pabloite opportunism. This struggle is recorded in published books, articles and documents totaling thousands of pages. The unity of the International Committee is not merely an organizational achievement. It reflects, if still only in embryonic form, the emerging political reunification of the vanguard of the international working class under the banner of Marxism. The Fourth International, under the leadership of its International Committee, is becoming the proletariats World Party of Socialist Revolution. Award-wining Sri Lankan film director Prasanna Vithanage and popular tele-drama script writer and author Aruna Premarathne have issued statements supporting the ICFIs campaign for the freedom of WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange. Vithanages films include Death on a Full Moon Day (Purahanda Kaluwara) [1997], August Sun (Ira Madiyama) [2003] and With You, Without You (Oba Nathuwa, Oba Ekka), [2013] which deal with the Sri Lankan governments 30-year civil war against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Statement by Prasanna Vithanage: Prasanna Vithanage I endorse and fully support the call issued by the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) and the International Editorial Board of the World Socialist Web Site for urgent action to be taken around the world to defend WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange. Reckless imperialist powers, led by the US, are increasingly dragging the world towards a nuclear war, which will bring incalculable devastation to mankind as a whole. The ferocious attacks on fundamental democratic rights by the imperialist powers and their client capitalist states all over the world, and in the South Asian region in particular, go hand-in-hand with these war preparations. As we know, truth is the first casualty of war. What WikiLeaks does is tell the truth to the world. WikiLeaks and Assange have exposed the lies and crimes of the imperialist powers, including the US. It is for this that Julian Assange is facing immense dangers that could end with his extradition to the United States to face concocted charges of espionage. In solidarity with the World Socialist Web Site, I demand that the Australian government extend to Assange the rights that should be available to him as a citizen of that country and guarantee his protection from any possible indictment and extradition to the US. I call on workers and youth all over the world to promote, publicise and participate in the international initiatives in defense of Julian Assange. Statement by Aruna Premarathne: Aruna Premarathne I vehemently oppose and denounce the repressive actions taken against WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange by the worlds major powers, led by the United States. The American government is ready to prosecute Assange because he has attempted to defend peoples basic democratic rights. The American government is boasting about its accusations against Assange. This exposes the nakedness of American democracy. In publishing secret government documents, the WikiLeaks editor has bravely exposed how human lives and individual freedoms are ruthlessly violated by the state machineries of the capitalist social and economic system. Through the publication of WikiLeaks cables, he exposed the truth about the wars which have been launched in the name of defending democracy, and how the people are repressed under the guise of eradicating terrorism, to the astonishment of the whole world. Only those who are anti-democratic or against humanity could say what Julian did is a crime. Therefore, all those who aspire for a society that cherishes individual freedom and democratic rights should come forward to oppose and condemn the repressive measures taken against Julian Assange. Ethiopia is opening key economic sectors, including the state-owned Ethiopian Airlines and state-run telecoms, to local and international private investors. The privatization drive comes at a time when Ethiopian Airlines, Africa's largest carrier, is making big plans to expand into other markets in Africa and to include more international destinations. Ethiopia's ruling party, which has been in power since 1991, said the economic reforms were an attempt to sustain the country's rapid growth. The Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front, ( EPRDF), in a statement Tuesday, said government will wholly or partially transfer its shares in state-owned railways, hotels, parks and state-run manufacturing companies to the private investors. "The greater shares of Ethio Telecom, Ethiopian Airlines, Electric Power Stations and Maritime and Logistics shall be owned by the government, whereas the rest of the shares shall be privatized by local and foreign investors or diaspora," the statement said. Ethiopia, Africa's second most populated country, which has been pursuing a number of large-scale infrastructure projects, is forecast to be the fastest growing economy in Sub-Saharan Africa this year, according to the IMF. In the last decade, the east African nation has averaged around 10% economic growth, according to the IMF. It's economy is predicted to grow by 8.5% this year. The country has seen big changes since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office in April. This week members of parliament lifted a state of emergency which was first imposed in October 2016. The move followed months of protests from ethnic groups. Ahmed, 41, currently the continent's youngest leader, has freed many jailed journalists, bloggers and political prisoners, according to Human Rights Watch. Since he took over as leader, Ahmed has made several trips abroad initiating the release of Ethiopians detained in places like Djibouti, Sudan and Kenya. In May, Ahmed also met with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman which resulted in the Saudi government freeing 1,000 Ethiopian nationals, including billionaire Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi, local media reported. He has also ended a web blackout that had lasted three months prior to him taking office. And for the first time, the country's publicly owned Ethiopia telecoms company will partner with a private company to provide internet services to Ehiopians. TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - News 10 has uncovered new information on Franklin Fennell. The former Vigo County Schools employee was set to report to the federal prison in Pekin, Illinois by 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday. We spoke to the warden at that prison who told us Fennell's court order has him serving his time at a male camp, which is low security. LINK | JUDGE GRANTS FRANKLIN FENNELL ONE MORE WEEK BEFORE HE HAS TO REPORT TO PRISON Pekin's facility recently changed, and now is only a female camp. Until online records are updated, it will not be known where Fennell will serve his sentence. Fennell was sentenced to two years in federal prison after he was convicted in a kickback scheme. The jury convicted him of taking thousands of dollars from the Vigo County School Corporation. LINK | GOVERNMENT MOTION AGAINST FRANKLIN FENNELL According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Fennell must serve at least 85 percent of his time, and that is only if he is on good behavior. By our math, if Fennell is released early, he will be due to get out in February of 2020. MARION, Ill. (WTHI) - We continue to follow the case of Franklin Fennell. As of Wednesday afternoon, Fennell officially began serving his two-year federal prison sentence. According to online records, Fennell will serve his time at a Marion, Illinois facility. On April 19th, a federal judge sentenced Franklin Fennell to two years in federal prison. This was after his conviction in December on all charges related to a kickback scheme. The jury convicted him of taking thousands of dollars from the Vigo County School Corporation. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Fennell must serve 85 percent of his time...and that's only if his time is served on good behavior. LINK | GOVERNMENT MOTION AGAINST FRANKLIN FENNELL After doing the math, if Fennell is released early, he is due to be out in February 2020. INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Two state agencies have distributed nearly $1 million to Indianas 92 Soil and Water Conservation Districts to improve water quality. The Indiana State Department of Agriculture and the State Soil Conservation Board announced this week theyve distributed more than $900,000 through the Clean Water Indiana program as part of a matching grant. Each district received roughly $10,000 to support their conservation efforts, whether thats providing technical assistance, education, training or cost-sharing programs. Clean Water Indiana provides financial assistance to landowners and conservation groups that work to reduce non-point sources of water pollution. The program is administered by the Soil Conservation Board and funded by a portion of the states cigarette tax. The Defense Department intends to release an American citizen accused of fighting for ISIS, according to a Justice Department filing Wednesday night. The unnamed individual has been detained as an enemy combatant in Iraq since September. He was turned over to American forces by a US-backed militia fighting ISIS in Syria. The Justice Department said the US plans to release the dual US-Saudi national in a town in Syria, the name of which was not provided, no sooner than 72 hours from the time of the filing. The department notified the American Civil Liberties Union, which represents the man, of its intent and the man "would not agree to the release" as described, the government wrote. "Accordingly, out of an abundance of caution, the Department is filing this Notice of its intent to release Petitioner in the town specified in the Declaration," the filing says. The move comes as a federal judge in DC mulled an ACLU challenge to the man's detention, which had drawn unprecedented judicial scrutiny to the US's legal underpinning for the war on ISIS. If the release is allowed to go through, it would render the challenge essentially moot. When asked about the announcement, ACLU attorney Jonathan Hafetz condemned the government's plan, calling it a "death warrant." "The government has effectively admitted that it has no reason to continue detaining our client and that he does not pose a threat. But, instead of offering a safe release, they want to dump an American citizen onto the side of the road in a war-torn country without any assurances of protection and no identification. This is a country that the government itself has classified as an absolute 'do not travel' threat, encouraging citizens to 'draft a will' and 'leave DNA samples with [their] medical provider[s]' in the event they decide not to heed the government's warning," Hafetz said in a statement. "What the government is offering our client is no release -- it's a death warrant. This is a disgraceful way to treat an American citizen. Now, our fight for our client's right to due process has also become a fight for his right to life. We'll be asking the court to immediately intervene and ensure the safe release of our client," the statement continued. In April, CNN reported that the government had been denied permission to transfer the man to a country with a "strong" and "sovereign interest" by a DC district judge. Last week, another court filing indicated the Defense Department had made an "inadvertent breach" of the individual's confidential communications with his attorneys but had committed to steps to remedy the situation. CNN reported that the Pentagon had recorded several phone calls between the detainee and his attorneys, but the Pentagon said it "deeply regrets" the "inadvertent breach" of attorney-client communications, according to the filing. DALLAS, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ignite Sales, Inc. and FIS Global are partnering to provide Ignites industry leading customer engagement technology to FIS clients for digital customer engagement and application conversion success to the community bank market. The partnership will provide FIS customers with technology previously only available to the largest banks in the US at a very affordable price point and in an easy to implement cloud-based solution. The Ignite Dialogue technology has been designed specifically for community banks and credit unions. Ignite Dialogue provides community bankers with powerful but affordable software as a service to discover the needs of consumers and small businesses. Ignite Dialogue gives community bankers the capability to significantly enhance the customer experience and help consumers and small businesses improve their financial wellness by guiding them to the best product and financial options offered by their FIS bank. Banks that use Ignite Sales technology often see customer satisfaction scores go up by as much as 40% and an increase in customer product adoption by as much as 200%. The powerful Ignite Dialogue technology is a bank administered cloud service that is easy to implement and requires little or no integration. The technology digitally guides customer facing interactions in branches, as well as online and mobile, to discover needs and match customers to the right bank solutions to meet each customers needs. The Ignite IQ Analytics reporting portal that comes with the service provides unique insights and knowledge to help banks develop a much more efficient and effective sales enablement capability across all channels. We are excited and honored to partner with the FIS team, said George Noga, CEO of Ignite Sales. We share a common goal of empowering banks and credit unions with technology and service that delivers a competitive differentiator in the market place. About Ignite Sales, Inc. Ignite Sales is changing the way retail and business banks engage with customers, service their customers and measure the results of their efforts. Ignites machine learning based technology is designed to discover and fulfill customer financial needs, resulting in more than a 40%+ increase in customer satisfaction. Ignites patented, proven technology has been in use with many of the top banking institutions in the country for twenty years. Ignite is a three-time winner of Barlow Research Associates Monarch Innovation Award, The Big Innovation Award for Business Intelligence and The Stevie Award for Marketing & Sales Intelligence. Ignite Sales is headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Visit us at www.ignitesales.com. Additional Resources Follow Ignite on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Ignitesales Connect with Ignite on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ignite-sales Media Contact: Barbie Boe Ignite Sales, Inc. 972.528.5043 bboe@ignitesales.com The UK's highest court dismissed the latest bid to liberalize Northern Ireland's highly restrictive abortion law on Thursday. The Supreme Court said it had no jurisdiction to consider the challenge brought by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) because the proceedings did not involve an identified victim. But a narrow majority of the seven-strong panel of justices were of "clear opinion" that the current legislation is "incompatible" with Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights in cases of fatal fetal abnormality, rape and incest, but not serious fetal abnormality. The Deputy President of the Supreme Court, Lord Jonathan Hugh Mance, said that "the present law clearly needs radical reconsideration." NIHRC told the court in October that the current law criminalizes women and girls, subjecting them to "inhuman and degrading" treatment. It had asked the court to rule on whether it was unlawful to prohibit abortions that arise from sexual crimes or cases involving "a serious fetal abnormality." After the Irish republic's overwhelming abortion referendum result in late May, Northern Ireland is now the only area of the British Isles where termination is only permitted if there is a risk to the woman's life or if there are long-term or permanent threats to a woman's mental or physical health. The republic's constitutional reform had spurred questions over whether there should be a similar change to the law in Northern Ireland. Decisions on abortion law are the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Assembly, but it has been suspended for more than a year because of a political impasse. But despite the hiatus, the UK government has said it will not intervene on the issue. The minority government of British Prime Minister Theresa May relies for its survival in the UK parliament on support from the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), a deeply conservative party from Northern Ireland that opposes any attempt to ease restrictions on abortion. DUP leader Arlene Foster said last week that the referendum in the republic had "no impact upon the law in Northern Ireland." Pressure falls on UK PM Shortly after the ruling, NIHRC Chief Commissioner Les Allamby said in a statement: "The highest court in the UK has today agreed with the Commission that Northern Ireland's laws on termination of pregnancy are incompatible with human rights." Allamby said that Thursday's proceedings made it clear that Northern Ireland needs to reform its termination laws and called on the UK government to intervene. "The law now needs to change to stop women and girls from further anxiety and suffering. In the absence of the NI Executive and Assembly it falls to the UK government to make this change and it must act without delay," he added. More than 160 lawmakers, including some Conservatives, have written to May demanding she allow a referendum on relaxing the abortion laws in Northern Ireland. The UK's Royal College of Midwives has also said it supports such a move. Her eyes brimming with tears, Teresa de Jesus Barillas recites the names of her 18 relatives who are missing or dead days after the Fuego volcano erupted in Guatemala, leaving nearly 100 people dead and scores more missing. Barillas, a 52-year-old grandmother, breaks down as she names her father, her five siblings, their spouses, their children and her granddaughter. They were all in San Miguel Los Lotes when volcanic ash and rock overtook the small town. Amid an apocalyptic scene, some touches of everyday life remain. Clothes hang from clotheslines; chickens squawk in their cages as piles of ash threaten to swallow homes. Burned out cars, packed with the few possessions their owners could grab, litter the side of the road, their tires reduced to puddles of melted rubber and steel. Asked if she believed she was going to die, Barillas said, "Yes." "I thought my children were going to lose me, as I couldn't run but my children kept saying, 'Mom, come on, run! Come on! Let's go,' but I just couldn't run," Barillas told CNN. There was no warning that the volcano was going to explode on that Sunday afternoon until a wall of lava, ash and toxic gases came bearing down on the communities that dot the mountainside. Miraculously, she and some of her family managed to escape. But Teresa is now racked with guilt because she survived, while others did not. Head of disaster agency told to resign Since Fuego erupted Sunday, 109 people have been declared dead, according to Guatemala's Institute of Forensic Sciences. As the death toll rises, the head of Guatemala's disaster management agency is facing calls to step down. Sergio Caba-as, head of the agency, CONRED, met Thursday with leaders with the National Union for Hope, an opposition party dubbed UNE. In the meeting, UNE Congressman Mario Taracena blamed Caba-as for the high death toll and said he should resign and face "penal consequences" for failing to respond to eruption warnings in a timely manner. "I'm telling you this as a human being: Quit," Taracena said, according to a video posted on Taracena's Twitter account. "You are not someone who is capable for this job." Taracena pointed out that early reports suggested Fuego could unleash pyroclastic flows -- a dangerous mix of ash, rock and gas. The fast-moving flows are impossible to outrun. "My good man," Taracena said, "you need to have reacted immediately to that." Caba-as and his team claimed there wasn't sufficient information to issue an evacuation warning based on bulletins sent early Sunday by Guatemala's National Seismological Volcanic and Meteorological Institute. On Thursday, the office of Guatemala's attorney general and the head of the Public Ministry said they would launch an investigation into the tragedy to find out if "the necessary protocols were established to make prudent and timely decisions" in the manner of response to the volcano's eruption. Agency suspends rescue operations CONRED on Thursday suspended search and rescue operations in the disaster zone, even as 192 people remain missing, the agency said in a statement. Rescue teams' safety was at issue amid concerns over Fuego's continued activity, as well as the potential for volcanic mudflows, known as lahars, that could form as rain moves into the area, it said. Searches would resume if conditions change. Fuego was still intermittently spewing smoke into the air on Thursday morning. Ovidio Garc-a Su-rez of San Miguel Los Lotes is still searching for his loved ones. He's lived in the shadow of the volcano for 64 years but had never seen anything like this. Garc-a was away from his home when his daughter called him as Fuego exploded. "Mom disappeared," she told him. His son's wife was in the home, too, and they don't know where she is, either. Their home was destroyed. "Now there is nothing," he said. "What's the government going to do?" Texas hospital treating Guatemalan children Twelve people severely injured in the eruption will receive medical treatment in the United States and Mexico, Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales said. Shriners Hospital in Galveston, Texas, is treating six children who suffered severe burns, spokesman Mel Bower told CNN. They arrived early Thursday and were taken to the hospital's pediatric burn center. The children were burned by ash, said Dr. Steven Wolf, the hospital's chief of staff, during a Thursday news conference. "Getting caught in an ash cloud, then the particles from the ash then cause a contact burn," Wolf said. The children's injuries are "life-threatening," and the hospital will provide surgery, treatment, rehabilitation and psychological support, Bower said Thursday during a news conference. They were chosen for treatment based on the severity of their injuries and their potential for recovery, Wolf said, adding that the hospital has the resources to treat more children with severe injuries. Hospital officials would not share the full extent of the children's injuries, nor their ages, citing medical confidentiality. Shriners personnel also were deployed Monday to Guatemala, where they have been treating the injured, officials said. Recovery could take at least a year Many of those affected by the volcano are just beginning their roads to recovery. "We should not underestimate the scale of this disaster," said Francesco Rocca, president of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. "Critical, emergency needs are still enormous, and affected communities will need sustained and long-term support." After visiting the disaster area, Rocca said in a statement that recovery "will take at least a year." "These people lost everything -- homes, livelihoods and tragically, loved ones," he said. Rocca also pointed out that ash expelled by Fuego has fallen all over the country, potentially affecting agriculture. "The economic impact of this is unclear," he said. "We hope it will not mean a secondary disaster." JACKSON, Miss. (AP) Seven groups seeking to open eight charter schools in Mississippi have moved forward to the next phase in the application process. The state's Charter School Authorizer Board on Monday voted to accept those applications as complete and eligible. Existing charter school operator RePublic Schools proposes a high school and a K-8 school for Jackson, while an operator associated with an existing private school seeks a K-5 school in Greenwood. Three schools are proposed for Jackson and three are proposed for Greenwood. One each is proposed for Canton and Gloster. Fewer than half of the schools for which operators expressed interest in April moved forward. The board denied three applications as incomplete, while others who expressed interest never submitted applications. Such attrition is typical in Mississippi's multistep process. The board will now review the applications to determine if they meet basic requirements for quality. Then outside evaluators will review the proposals, interview proposed school leaders and submit recommendations to the board, which will also hold public hearings. The board will ultimately choose from among finalists in September. Mississippi's process has heavily favored experienced operators in the past. Startup groups sometimes have trouble proving they have the money and institutional ability to run a school. Five charter schools have been authorized so far. Three are now operating in Jackson, with schools in Jackson and Clarksdale scheduled to open this fall. Besides RePublic, applicants are: Ambition Preparatory Charter School, which seeks to open a school of the same name in Jackson in 2019, ultimately serving grades K-8. Girls Club & Learning Center, a repeat applicant from last year, which seeks to open GCLC Charter in Greenwood in 2019, ultimately serving Pre-K-5. KMartin Group, which seeks to open Highpoint Academy of Excellence in Gloster, ultimately serving grades K-8. Mississippi Community Education Center, which seeks to open the Leflore County Charter School in Greenwood in 2019, ultimately serving grades K-5. The proposed school's founder is Nancy New, who is associated with New Summit schools in Jackson and Greenwood. MS Delta Academies, which seeks to open Leflore Legacy Academy in Greenwood in 2019, ultimately serving grades 6-8. SR1, a repeat applicant from last year, which seeks to open SR1 College Preparatory and Stem Academy in Canton in 2019, ultimately serving grades K-5. BOONEVILLE, Miss. (WTVA) - The Mississippi Supreme Court will not review the appeal of a Booneville women convicted of trying to defraud a hotel owner in Tippah County. Sharron Sallie, 50, was found guilty during trial in 2016 of taking more than $15,000 from the woman. The court records state Sallie approached the woman for a loan she intended to repay when she settled a medical lawsuit. Prosecutors with the Mississippi Attorney General's Office says no lawsuit existed. Sallie was sentenced to repay the woman the money and spend 10 years in prison. She appealed claiming the indictment did not list specific facts about the crime she was charged with. The Mississippi Court of Appeals upheld the conviction in April of 2017. ALICEVILLE, Ala. (WTVA) - There's freedom for a federal inmate in Pickens County, Alabama, whose life sentence was commuted by President Trump. Alice Marie Johnson was hugged by her family after her release Wednesday afternoon from the womens federal prison in Aliceville. The release came just days after reality TV star Kim Kardashian West went to the White House on her behalf since she was a non-violent drug offender given a life sentence. Im feeling no handcuffs, nothing on me," said an emotional Johnson just minutes after her release. "Im free to hug my family. Im free to live life. Im free to start over. I cannot this is the greatest day of my life. Johnson had spent more than 20 years in prison before she was granted clemency. High pressure moves out of our area overnight and a cold front moves into our area on our Friday afternoon and evening. This will bring back into our area some good chances for some showers and thunderstorms. Some on the heavy/hefty side at times. Radar Temperatures Severe Weather JACKSON, Miss. (AP) A majority of Mississippi Supreme Court justices ruled Thursday that some local judges were wrong to ban people with enhanced concealed-carry licenses from taking guns into courthouses. The high court said judges in the 14th Chancery District overstepped their authority because the Mississippi Constitution specifies that only the Legislature "may regulate or forbid carrying concealed weapons." The Legislature enacted a law in July 2011 saying that people with enhanced concealed-carry licenses may take guns into courthouses but not into courtrooms. In November 2011, judges in the 14th Chancery District issued an order banning anyone other than law enforcement officers from having concealed guns in and around all parts of courthouses in the district in Chickasaw, Clay, Lowndes, Noxubee, Oktibbeha and Webster counties. A resident with an enhanced concealed-carry license, Ricky Ward, challenged the chancery judges' ban. The chancery judges responded by writing that courthouses can be places of high emotion, with people going there for divorces and child custody cases. They wrote that it is reasonable to consider a courthouse hallway to be an extension of a courtroom and that it is "ludicrous to assume that people in heightened states of emotional upheaval would pause to decide where in the building they can be mad and where they cannot." The chancery judges also wrote that most confrontations in the courthouses had occurred outside of courtrooms. Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood and the National Rifle Association submitted court papers opposing the chancery judges' ban on concealed weapons throughout the courthouses. A local attorney who practices in chancery court wrote a brief supporting the ban, as did some other chancery and circuit judges. People holding enhanced concealed-carry licenses must state on their applications that they do not have felony records and that they are physically and mentally healthy. In a dissenting opinion Thursday, Justice Leslie B. King wrote that the Mississippi Constitution specifies that the administration of justice is only a function of the judicial branch of government. "That function and that obligation both extend beyond the four walls of the courtroom," King wrote. While other justices found that the chancery judges had violated the separation of powers between the judicial and legislative branches of government, King found that legislators had done so by enacting a law that allows concealed weapons in most parts of courthouses. MORE: See the entire ruling here JACKSON, Miss. (AP) A case involving the British data firm Cambridge Analytica is before a county judge in the U.S. state of Mississippi, where representatives of a British insurance company and the University of Mississippi have testified under oath that no private data of British citizens was ever transferred to the American university. Britain's Fair Vote Project continues to seek proof that private data ended up in Mississippi, despite their repeated denials. The hearing continues Wednesday. Eldon Insurance Services Ltd. and its lawyers argue the lawsuit's aim is to make the insurance seller appear guilty even though there's no evidence of wrongdoing. They want Hinds County Chancery Judge Denise Owens to dismiss the suit as having no place in the Mississippi courts. "This is a lawsuit between British people and it's about the alleged use of British people's personal data," lawyer Sterling Kidd argued Tuesday in Jackson. "This court does not have personal jurisdiction." The Mississippi action stems from April testimony before the British Parliament by Brittany Kaiser, a former employee of Cambridge Analytica. Kaiser told Parliament she believes that leaders of the 2016 Brexit campaign to have the United Kingdom leave the European Union misused private data from Eldon Insurance and the U.K. Independence Party. She said Eldon owner Arron Banks and Andy Wigmore told multiple people they were going to use her proposals and create their own "their own Cambridge Analytica" at the University of Mississippi. Cambridge Analytica said it did no paid or unpaid work on the Brexit campaign. It also denies using Facebook data to support Donald Trump's presidential campaign. Both Banks and Wigmore, until recently an Eldon director, were prominent proponents of the successful 2016 Brexit referendum on Britain leaving the European Union. John Banks, whom Kidd identified as Arron Banks' brother and Eldon's general counsel, attended Tuesday and consulted with Kidd during the hearing. The entity in question is an Eldon subsidiary, Big Data Dolphins Ltd., which the company says aims to use data for the legitimate purpose of improving insurance sales. Dorsey Carson, arguing on behalf of Fair Vote Project and its leader Kyle Taylor, said plenty of evidence supports the lawsuit being heard in Mississippi, including a lease that Eldon signed with the university in February. The organization says any transfer of data to the United States would have broken British law, and wants to prove that Cambridge Analytica, Banks and Wigmore acted illegally to manipulate the outcome of the Brexit referendum. "The question has to be asked: Why do they not want a court order prohibiting them from destroying evidence using personal data that neither Mr. Kyle Taylor or anyone else gave them permission to use?" Carson told the judge. It was Mississippi's Republican Gov. Phil Bryant who ultimately connected Eldon with the university after cultivating relationships with Banks, pro-Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage and others. The lease, filed publicly for the first time Tuesday, shows the state economic development agency controlled by Bryant agreed to give Eldon and the university $100,000 to help complete office space for Big Data Dolphins. Josh Gladden, the university's vice chancellor for research, testified that the office space has never been finished or occupied, and that Big Data Dolphins has no access to university computer servers and has stored nothing at the university. He said university researchers never agreed what specific projects they would assist Eldon with, and testified that Eldon hasn't asked the university to destroy evidence. "The result of this investigation is, to our satisfaction, that there's been no data transfer between any of the companies and the University of Mississippi," Gladden said. Victoria Sena, who manages the Big Data Dolphins project, testified she never discussed server access. "I haven't transferred data," Sena testified. "I don't have access to data. There is no way to access it. There is no one to transfer it to." Sena also said Eldon had no access to any improper trove of Facebook data, instead using input only from its own Facebook page. She said Eldon never "scraped" Facebook profiles for data, saying that's illegal in the United Kingdom and would result in the company being banned from Facebook. She testified that Big Data Dolphins was incorporated after the Brexit vote and Trump's election. She said that while Banks may have been involved in the Brexit campaign, she denied that Eldon was involved. GREENVILLE, Miss. (AP) Police in Mississippi say a 9-year-old boy has died after being shot with a pellet gun in his home, and an initial investigation shows his 8-year-old brother accidentally did the shooting. The Delta Democrat-Times reports the shooting happened Wednesday evening in Greenville. The city's assistant police chief, Michael Merchant, says an investigation suggests the younger child accidentally shot his brother. The 9-year-old boy was taken to Delta Regional Medical Center, where he died. Merchant tells The Associated Press that parents were in the home when the shooting happened. Officers found the air pellet gun inside the house. No charges had been filed as of Thursday morning. Merchant would not release other details about the investigation, or the name of the child who was killed. LOS ANGELES, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Levine Leichtman Capital Partners (LLCP) announced today that it is partnering with management to acquire Squla (the Company). The Companys management team, headed by CEO Serge Bueters, will invest alongside LLCP. Squla is the leading consumer education brand for parents and their children in the Netherlands. Launched in 2010 by Andre Haardt and based in Amsterdam, the Company provides interactive educational tools for primary school students. Squla is linked to the Dutch national curriculum and is designed to supplement a students education in a fun and adaptive way. While originally targeting home use, Squla is now also used in classrooms throughout the Netherlands. Regarding the investment, Serge Bueters commented, We are very excited about this next step and look forward to jointly continuing our mission to help as many primary school children as possible to experience progress through Squlas fun learning approach. Bueters added, We believe we have found an excellent partner in LLCP to further grow our business and expand into new services, such as this weeks launch of our new service for children with reading and spelling difficulties: TaalExtra. LLCP has a long history as a value-added partner for its portfolio companies. I value their vast experience in the educational space as well as their local Dutch presence as part of a global network. According to Wouter Snoeijers, Managing Director of LLCP, We are thrilled to partner with Serge Bueters and the Squla management team and look forward to supporting them in their mission. Squla greatly improves educational outcomes for primary school children in the Netherlands, and we look forward to supporting its continued growth and success. For more information, visit http://www.llcp.com. About Levine Leichtman Capital Partners LLCP is a Los Angeles, California based private investment firm that has managed approximately $9.7 billion of institutional capital since its inception. LLCP invests in middle market companies located in the United States and Europe. LLCP is currently making new investments through Levine Leichtman Capital Partners VI, L.P., LLCP Lower Middle Market Fund, L.P., Levine Leichtman Capital Partners Private Capital Solutions, L.P., Levine Leichtman Capital Partners Europe, L.P., LLCP Co-Investment Fund, L.P. and Levine Leichtman Strategic Capital, LLC. LLCP has offices in Los Angeles, New York, Dallas, Chicago, Charlotte, London and The Hague. David Wolmer 310-275-5335 PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) - An adult and a 1-year-old child were killed while crossing a road in Florida. BREAKING: A portion of Cervantes is closed between Pace and W Street. Authorities say the hit & run incident leaving 2 dead happened around 8:30 tonight. Theyre looking for a white #Dodge Charger or Challenger with a missing mirror on the drivers side. @weartv #BreakingNews pic.twitter.com/mmylsEvszl Renee Beninate (@reneebeninate) June 7, 2018 The child's mother was also injured Wednesday night when a car hit them as they crossed a Pensacola road. Pensacola police spokesman Mike Wood says the adult who died was a friend of the child's mother. Wood tells news outlets that officers are searching for a white Dodge Challenger or Charger with damage to the driver's side. It may also be missing a rear-view mirror. The incident is under investigation. (Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.) PENSACOLA, Fla. (WEAR) A hit-and-run crash at the intersection of Cervantes and M Street has left two dead. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - It's time to get red hot. The Delta Sigma Theta Sorority will host the hottest event in Tallahassee, Red Empire IV. Joining WTXL's Stephanie Rank this Thursday morning to talk all about the event is Taylore Maxey. The Tallahassee Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority will hold the event on Friday, June 8, 2018, from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. at The Pavilion at the Centre of Tallahassee. The cost is $25 for general admission. VIP tables will cost $125, and sponsorship opportunities are available. Proceeds will go toward the chapter's public service programs. More information is available at www.tallahasseedst.org. SUWANNEE COUNTY, Fla. (WTXL) - An investigation is underway at Suwannee Iron Works into the cause of a silo explosion that killed one person. Yeah, there was a ball of fire at first, but it extinguished once it burnt all the gas down, said Suwannee County Sheriff St. John. Suwannee County Fire and Rescue responded to an alarm Wednesday just after 7:20 a.m. They said one of the two employees they found was relocating cylinders used for the companys welding. Upon their arrival, authorities discovered that a pressurized welding gas cylinder had suffered a catastrophic structural failure which resulted in the death of one employee, 32-year-old Andrew Reynolds. No other employees were injured. It was found that the bottle contained nitrogen butane and propane," said James Sommers, the public safety director at SCFR. "He was moving the cylinder to a safer area and the bottle exploded on him. Sheriff's deputies plan to remain on scene, restricting access to the facilities to ensure that all hazardous materials are contained. OSHA and the State Fire Marshall have been called in to investigate as well. No foul play is suspected. Reynolds leaves behind a wife and two children. SUWANNEE COUNTY, Fla. (WTXL) - A Suwannee Fire Rescue spokesperson said one person died in an explosion at the Suwannee Iron Works and Fence in the O'Brien area Wednesday morning. One other person was also injured in the explosion. Crews are working to contain the surrounding area as a precaution in case of chemical leaks. The rescue crew found a metal frame structure had suffered an explosion but there was not an active fire. No other information was immediately available. After the Suwannee Fire Rescue Facebook post, several people commented that they had heard a loud boom. Suwannee Iron Works and Fence is a steel fabricator that makes fences of materials that include iron, vinyl and aluminum. CARRABELLE, Fla. (WTXL) - The World War II museum in Carrabelle is releasing a historic video showing troops training for D-Day. The year is 1942. The United States has just entered into World War II and Camp Gordon Johnston opens for military training in Carrabelle. "Camp Gordon Johnston was a major training facility. They trained commando troops here and they were the main amphibious assault training base," said Tony Johnson, Camp Gordon Johnston WWII Museum Board Member. Entire divisions, trained for months on end, specifically for D-Day before shipping out of England for the attack. It was on Carrabelle Beach and Dog Island that the US Armys Fourth Infantry Division actually trained for the Normandy invasion. "They had physical challenges. They had obstacle courses. They were crawling through the sand and dirt. They had live machine rounds firing right over their heads," said Johnson. Although there are stories and pictures from the amphibious training, it's not until you see a video that you fully understand what the soldiers went through. "This last week, our archivist found a training film that we're showing here in our little theater of the training of the assault right here on the beach," said Johnson. Even though World War II Army Veteran Salvator Esposito didn't train at Camp Gordon Johnston, he still believes that the training video and the World War II museum are important to have. "They should carry this on because a lot of young folks now don't know what happened back then. It's something you should have," said Esposito. Esposito like many other Americans fighting during the war were simply doing their jobs. "I did what I had to do. After that, the war ended, right then," said Esposito. It's said that D-Day was the start of the end of World War II, thanks, in part, to Camp Gordon Johnston. For those unable to make it out to the World War II Museum Wednesday, it's open Monday through Saturday afternoons, and will continue to show the training video for visitors. You can view our Emmy Nominated D-Day Special titled: D-Day: The Great Crusade here. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A man who led authorities on a high-speed chase and charged his car at a Florida Patrol trooper received a 180-day sentence. David Moreland of Lantana, Florida was sentenced Wednesday in the Leon County Circuit Court. With a ten-day credit for time served, he is to serve his sentence in the Leon County Detention Center. LEON COUNTY, Fla. (WTXL) - The man accused of leading authorities on a high-speed chase and nearly hitting a Florida Highway Patrol trooper in the process is now being charged with assault on an officer. Captain Bagnardi was doing a traffic stop Wednesday at 6:05 p.m. in Leon County on I-10 at mile marker 212 when attempted to stop a second car, a Nissan Altima driven by David Moreland, 30, of Lantana, FL. Troopers write that Moreland reluctantly pulled his car over, in between the first stopped car and the trooper's unmarked car. When Bagnardi tried to approach Moreland's car from the front, Moreland's car began to move forward with its engine revving. It was a close call for the trooper, as he jumped out of the way to avoid getting hit. Bagnardi pursued the Altima, which traveled off the road to pass vehicles in front of it. Trooper Suchocki, who was in Leon County at the time, traveled onto the interstate and pursued the Nissan. They say they were going between 110 and 115 mph all the way to the Gadsden County line. Another trooper, Barrow, was waiting in the median on the interstate in Gadsden County. Barrow then traveled onto the interstate as the pursuit passed him and caught up to Suchocki and Bagnardi. A few miles after passing Barrow, Moreland lost control of the vehicle, which crashed into a guardrail, causing the front tire to separate from the vehicle. Troopers say Moreland tried to keep driving the car, but the Nissan was disabled and came to a stop on the shoulder of the interstate. The three occupants were removed as the vehicle began to smoke. The vehicle eventually caught fire and Gadsden County Fire Rescue arrived to extinguish it. Moreland was arrested on scene. He is charged with assault on an officer, fleeing police with disregard of safety to people or property, and reckless driving. He remains in the Leon County Jail on a $20,250 bond. MOBILE USERS: Download our WTXL news app on your Apple and Android devices for the latest from South Georgia and North Florida. Also, download our WTXL Weather Now app for Apple and Android devices to get the latest local weather wherever you go. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Residents of Guatemala are still on edge after two eruptions from Volcano Fuego this week. This Thursday morning WTXL's Jada Williams spoke with one family in Antigua. That family says that they are lucky enough to not be directly in the path of Volcano Fuego, and that is why they have been spending their days aiding other families who have suffered due to its eruptions. With massive devastation and threats that the volcano could erupt a third time, the Tallahassee-based missionary group Medical Missions Team is unable to provide aid, but they are remaining in touch with families in the area. The Von Cannon family says the volcano regularly rumbles, and it is common to see puffs of smoke come from it, but they have never experienced anything so devastating before. The couple sent their children to stay with their grandparents, another 30 miles out from the volcano, while they inch closer to provide aid to families in need. They told me they are working on starting up a drive to collect food, clothes, blankets and other necessities for the displaced people of Guatemala. They said they are still on red alert and there is not an exact day that officials are telling them things will be safer. As of now, the family is planning on picking their children up this Saturday. THUNDER BAY, Ontario, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A 55-year-old man from Manitouwadge has been found guilty of animal cruelty under the Ontario SPCA Act after leaving a dog unattended in a vehicle during hot weather. On August 11, 2017, an Ontario SPCA agent with the Thunder Bay & District Humane Society responded to a call about a dog found inside a vehicle in the west end of the city. A Shepherd-type dog was observed panting heavily on the floor of the vehicle, attempting to avoid the sun. The temperature inside the vehicle was measured at 39C. After the owner could not be located, the officer removed the dog from the vehicle to alleviate its distress. A veterinary examination revealed the dogs internal body temperature was elevated. If left in the vehicle any longer, the veterinarian says the dog may have suffered brain damage or death. Daniel Stuart of Manitouwadge pled guilty on May 25, 2018 in a Thunder Bay Provincial Offences Court of causing an animal to be in distress. The Justice of the Peace fined Stuart $200. There is no excuse to leave an animal in a hot vehicle for any amount of time, says Lynn Michaud, Senior Inspector, Ontario SPCA. Fortunately, in this case, the dog was removed from the car before it suffered serious health affects, thanks to the fast-acting public that reported the incident. There can be legal consequences if you leave an animal in a unattended vehicle, which can quickly reach deadly temperatures, even on relatively mild days with the vehicle parked in the shade and the windows slightly open. If you see an animal left in a vehicle, do not attempt to take the law into your own hands. Report it to the Ontario SPCAs province-wide animal cruelty hotline at 310-SPCA (7722) or your local police, and ask surrounding businesses to make an announcement requesting the owner return to their vehicle immediately. Ontario SPCA and Humane Society: Protecting animals since 1873, the Ontario SPCA is Ontario's animal welfare organization. A registered charity, the Society is comprised of close to 50 Communities. Since 1919, when Ontario's first animal welfare legislation was proclaimed, the Ontario SPCA, with the help of its Communities, has been entrusted to maintain and enforce animal welfare legislation. The Act provides Ontario SPCA agents and inspectors with police powers to do so. The Ontario SPCA provides leadership in animal welfare innovations, including introducing high-volume spay/neuter services to Ontario and opening the Provincial Education & Animal Centre. OntarioSPCA.ca Adopt Learn Volunteer Donate Charitable Business Number 88969 1044 RR0002 TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Agents with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement searched a home in Tallahassee Wednesday morning. FDLE says they served a search warrant in the 5200 block of Water Valley Drive near the Oak Valley shopping plaza. They say the investigation is active, so no additional details can be released at this time, though they say the investigation poses no danger to the public. This is a developing story. Stay with us for updates. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Governor Rick Scott announced on Wednesday that Florida has donated 25 Florida Highway Patrol vehicles to the Puerto Rico Police Department to support law enforcement needs and Hurricane Maria recovery. Governor Scott said in a statement: Since Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico last year, I have visited the island six times to offer guidance, assistance and support. Weve made it a priority in Florida to aid Puerto Rico in their recovery from this devastating storm. Im glad that the Florida Highway Patrol, on behalf of Floridians, has stepped up and honored a request to provide additional surplus police cruisers to the island. These 25 vehicles will assist law enforcement efforts as they work to rebuild. We will continue to do all we can to support Puerto Ricos recovery. The announcement is part of a continued commitment from the state of Florida to assist Puerto Rico as they recover from the devastating impacts of Hurricane Maria. The vehicles had been out of circulation and were ready for surplus before they were donated. Per the states replacement criteria, FHP law enforcement vehicles may be taken out of circulation when they reach 80,000 miles or are eight years old. In November, 50 FHP troopers were deployed to Puerto Rico for one month to assist the Puerto Rico Police Department with security operations and traffic control needs. The Florida Highway Patrol is proud to continue assisting the Puerto Rico Police Department following Hurricane Maria, said Colonel Gene Spaulding, Director of the Florida Highway Patrol. These donated vehicles are another way Florida is supporting the people of Puerto Rico in their recovery. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Residents of Guatemala are still on edge after two eruptions from Volcano Fuego this week. With massive devastation and threats that the volcano could erupt a third time, the Tallahassee based missionary group, Medical Missions Team, is not able to provide aid, but they are remaining in touch with families in the area. We spoke to one of those families currently in Antigua, Guatemala. They say the volcano regularly rumbles, and it's common to see puffs of smoke come from it, but they've never experienced anything so devastating before. "I think one of the things that makes the situation so tragic is that we're so accustomed to the eruptions and nobody reacted," said David Von Cannon, who currently lives in Antigua. "In the moment that it was beginning, I think everybody just went on with life as normal and didn't think that this about to be a massive eruption." The Von Cannon family says they have been working diligently to help refugee families in need. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A 19-year-old has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for stabbing a woman in the head during an armed robbery at Red Roof Inn in early 2017. Tyrone Murphy Jr. pled no contest to attempted first degree murder and armed robbery with a deadly weapon. He was sentenced to 18 years in the Florida Department of Corrections. Murphy was just 18 when he committed the crime. According to court documents, Murphy went into the Red Roof Inn in early February 2017 asking about room prices. When the clerk said there were no rooms available, Murphy stabbed her in the head. As she fell to the floor, they said he demanded money and tried to stab the clerk again in the back. Luckily, the clerk was able to get away and lock herself in the bathroom until Murphy left. Documents say Murphy stabbed the woman with so much force, it broke her orbital bone. Police say took around $200 from the hotel cash drawer. The incident was captured on the hotels surveillance video. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A 18-year-old has been arrested in connection with a February robbery at Red Roof Inn. The Tallahassee Police Department said that Tyrone Murphy, Jr. was arrested on Thursday. They said that Murphy stabbed the clerk at the Red Roof Inn off Hospitality Street then took cash from the register. According to court documents, Murphy went into the hotel around 3 a.m. asking about room prices. When the clerk said there were no rooms available, Murphy stabbed her in the head. As she fell to the floor, they said he tried to stab the clerk again in the back. Luckily, the clerk was able to get away and lock herself in the bathroom until Murphy left. Police say took around $200 from the hotel cash drawer. The incident was captured on surveillance video. When the clerk said there were no rooms available, Murphy stabbed her in the head. As she fell to the floor, they said he tried to stab the clerk again in the back. Luckily, the clerk was able to get away and lock herself in the bathroom until Murphy left. Police say took around $200 from the hotel cash drawer. They said that the incident was captured on the hotels surveillance video. Murphy was booked into the Leon County Jail. He is charged with attempted murder and armed robbery. TIFTON, GA (WALB) - A Tift County teacher plans to take her case against the Tift County school system all the way to the United States Supreme Court. The teacher had been suspended after the school received complaints about a post on her personal Facebook page. Her appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court was denied on Monday. "It is indeed a First Amendment rights case. That's what it's all about," said Craig Webster, Tucker's attorney. Kelly Tucker, a teacher in the Tift County School System, filed a lawsuit against the Tift County School System after she had been suspended for a post on her personal Facebook page. According to a statement from the school system, they suspended Tucker after receiving complaints from parents and citizens. Tucker took her case to the Georgia Supreme Court where the Court denied her appeal. "It's an enormously important case because what it involves is the employer's right to make an employee not say things when they're off work that they don't like," said Webster. The Georgia Supreme Court ruled school and government officials can't be sued, but three justices did write their own opinion about the case. "They said we agree that government officials are immune, they can't be prosecuted, but we do want a right to say we do think they violated her First Amendment rights," Webster said. This is what led Craig Webster and his client to decide to take the case to the United States Supreme Court. "This means that either the law wasn't clear and so we feel like maybe the Supreme Court should look at it and say yes this is what the law is going to be from now on, or if, and we of course feel this is the situation, or the Supreme Court may look at it and say no we think the law was clear and we think this needs to be cleared up," said Webster. Webster says he and his client are willing to fight for this case and what he believes is his client's right to free speech. "Our country stands alone from other countries in the world for one reason and that's because we enjoy freedoms in this country that no one else in the world enjoys," Webster said. He says he just hopes for one thing, even if the case isn't heard before the Supreme Court. "I hope that out of this case if nothing else that people gain a respect for each other's rights to speak their opinions whether we agree with them or not," said Webster. Copyright 2018 WALB. All rights reserved. WORLAND The Wyoming Highway Patrol wants to bring awareness about the dangers of driving with unsecured loads on the states highways. WHP will participate in the national Secure Your Load Day on June 6th, 2018. Governor Matt Mead will sign a proclamation recognizing June 6th as Secure Your Load Day in Wyoming. During that day, troopers will be educating the public about the importance of... ABC News(ALBANY, N.Y.) -- New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is offering free legal help to a pizza delivery man who was detained by immigration authorities when he tried to deliver an order to a military base in Brooklyn. Cuomo is offering to pay for Pablo Villavicencio's legal fees through the Legal Defense Project. "Detaining a hardworking man, separating a father from his children and tearing apart communities doesn't make America safe, and a wrong minded immigration policy grounded in bias and cruelty doesn't make America great," Gov. Cuomo said in a statement. Villavicencio was detained by ICE officials on June 1 when he tried to deliver a pizza to the Fort Hamilton military base in Brooklyn. When Villavicencio arrived on the base he was directed to the Visitor Control Center to get a daily pass, according to a statement sent to ABC News by the Fort Hamilton base. He signed a waiver permitting a background check, and officials were notified that an active ICE warrant was on his file, the statement said. The arrest of Pablo with a municipal ID is sending shockwaves throughout the immigrant community, Brooklyn Borough president Eric Adams told reporters at a press conference Wednesday. It was alright to take his pizza but it was also alright to put him in prison. ICE released a statement saying Villavicencio was granted voluntary departure by an immigration judge in 2010 but failed to depart the country by the July date that was ordered. His voluntary order became a final order of removal and became an ICE fugitive, according to the statement. He is in ICE custody pending removal. Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. MIRAMAR, Fla., June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- From sandy beaches to soaring skyscrapers, it just got easier to plan your next More Go adventure! Today, Spirit Airlines announced it has extended its booking schedule through February 13, 2019, while adding seven exciting new routes. Spirit Guests can now book ultra-low fares for the holiday travel season and check out new routes, including warm weather getaways. We know many of our Guests love to plan ahead and save, said Mark Kopczak, Spirit Airlines Vice President of Network Planning. By extending our booking schedule, Guests have the opportunity to lock in low fares for the holiday travel season. With the addition of several new routes, theyll have even more destinations to choose for their winter getaways. As Spirits booking schedule extends, the addition of several new routes will connect more Guests to some of the countrys most beautiful places. Guests living in Kansas City, Newark, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Atlanta will now have more options when planning their next vacation. Philadelphia Gets More Florida Sunshine! Philadelphia, get ready to warm up on the beach in sunny Florida! On December 13, Spirit will launch seasonal service to Fort Myers Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW). The very next day, on December 14, flights will launch to Tampa International Airport (TPA). Guests can hop on a flight four times weekly to Tampa and three times weekly to Fort Myers. New to Newark! The Tri-State Area is getting ready for some southern charm! Beginning September 6, Spirit will provide daily year-round nonstop service between Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL). Kansas City, Grab a Beach Umbrella and Go! Kansas City its time for a little R&R on the beach! Starting November 9, Spirit will launch nonstop seasonal flights to sunny South Florida with service to and from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) four times weekly. Detroit Gets More Sunny Options For Winter! Introducing another option for Detroit Guests to exchange the snow for the sand! Starting December 21, Spirit will launch seasonal service running 4 times weekly between Detroit Metro Airport (DTW) and Palm Beach International Airport (PBI) in beautiful West Palm Beach, Florida. Myrtle Beach Gets More Go! Now there are more ways to get to and from lovely Myrtle Beach! Starting November 10, Spirit will add nonstop year-round service between Myrtle Beach International Airport (MYR) and Orlando International Airport (MCO), complementing existing service between Myrtle Beach and Fort Lauderdale. Also on November 10, Spirit will now provide year-round service between Myrtle Beach and BaltimoreWashington International Airport (BWI), previously this route was seasonal. Both routes provide service 2 times weekly. New Route Recap: Starts: Frequency: Newark (EWR) to/from Atlanta (ATL) September 6 Daily, year-round Kansas City (MCI) to/from Fort Lauderdale (FLL) November 9 4x weekly, seasonal Myrtle Beach (MYR) to/from Orlando (MCO) November 10 2x weekly, year-round Baltimore - Washington, DC (BWI) November 10 2x weekly, year-round Philadelphia (PHL) to/from Fort Myers (RSW) December 13 3x weekly, seasonal Tampa (TPA) December 14 4x weekly, seasonal Detroit (DTW) to/from West Palm Beach (PBI) December 21 4x weekly, seasonal With Spirits expanding network, the airline continues to improve its on-time performance and Guest satisfaction, while building upon its larger commitment to invest in the Guest experience. The airline recently announced state-of-the-art high-speed Wi-Fi connectivity will be installed on its entire fleet by summer of 2019. Recent Department of Transportation data shows Spirit Airlines among the top carriers for on-time performance and baggage handling. Guests can learn more about Spirits pledge to keep improving at InvestInTheGuest.com. To check out Spirits super low fares and vacation packages head to spirit.com, and dont forget to sign up to receive alerts on Spirit's email deals and special offers. About Spirit Airlines: Spirit Airlines (NYSE:SAVE) is committed to offering the lowest total price to the places we fly, on average more than 30% lower than other airlines. Our customers start with an unbundled Bare Fare and get Frill Control which allows them to pay only for the options they choose like bags, seat assignments and refreshments the things other airlines bake right into their ticket prices. We help people save money and travel more often, create new jobs and stimulate business growth in the communities we serve. Our Fit Fleet is one of the youngest and most fuel-efficient in the U.S. We operate more than 500 daily flights to 65 destinations in the U.S., Latin America and the Caribbean. Come save with us at spirit.com *Subject to government approval. Based on data from the Department of Transportation and verified by an independent service. Contact: Derek Dombrowski (305) 916-6065 derek.dombrowski@spirit.com En Espanol: Manuel Jaquez (954) 628-4898 manuel.jaquez@spirit.com Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-06 23:20:21|Editor: zh Video Player Close JIANGMEN, China, June 6 (Xinhua) -- The United States ended Brazil's 9-match winning streak in women's fourth-round action at the FIVB Volleyball Nations League (VNL) here on Wednesday. It's a battle between top 2 teams in the VNL standings. Brazil has won 9-straight matches after losing to the Germany in the opening game. On the other side, the Team USA is on eight straight 3-0 wins after defeating Russia on Tuesday. Middle blocker Lauren Gibbemeyer and Jordan Larson scored 16 points each to help Team USA finish the match in 4 sets (25-23, 26-28, 25-21, 25-18). However, they lost the second set to Brazil, with the record stopped at a 25-set winning streak. Team USA will take a 9-match winning streak into the battle with China on Thursday. The hosts swept Russia Wednesday evening 25-21, 25-19, 25-22. Chinese superstar Zhu Ting dominated on defense and offense, delivering 13 points, while spiker Liu Xiaotong contributed a game-high 15 points. Russia's loss also sends Team USA to the FIVB VNL finals with four games remaining. ADDIS ABABA, June 6 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UN-ECA) said Wednesday that the strong economic growth witnessed in many African countries in recent years has only had a marginal impact on poverty reduction. Saurabh Sinha, ECA's employment and social protection section chief, while addressing ECA's Expert Group Meeting and Policy Forum on "Poverty, Inequality and Jobs in Africa" on Wednesday in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, said that poverty in Africa declined much more slowly since 1990 than in other regions in the world. "The poverty headcount ratio declined from 54.3 percent in 1990 to 41 percent in 2013," Sinha said, adding that in absolute terms, the number of people in extreme poverty is stagnating at the 2002 level. According to the ECA, even though poverty, inequality and lack of productive jobs are declining steadily in Africa, they "remained the greatest challenges in Africa." The two-day event, underway on June 6 and 7, aimed to examine the interlink between poverty, inequality, and employment in Africa Experts also urged African countries to work on narrowing the inequality gap so as to utilize the benefits of economic growth in reducing poverty level. Thokozile Ruzvidzo, ECA's Social Development Policy Division (SDPD) director, said that "economic growth delivers less poverty reduction when initial inequality is high." "To reduce poverty rapidly, we need to keep inequality in check," she said. Noting the higher impact of inequality on older people and other vulnerable groups, Ruzvidzo further stressed that "inequitable access to quality education and health across income groups, gender and location often leads to lack of social and economic opportunities in life." According to the ECA, the African continent is the world's second most inequitable region after Latin America and the Caribbean, "which may explain the slow rate of poverty reduction on the continent as high inequality hampers the poverty-reducing effects of growth." Despite strong economic growth on the continent since the early 2000s, there are few "good" jobs that offer secure employment and social protection, and an estimated 268 million people, or nearly 63 percent of all those with jobs, were in vulnerable employment in 2016, according to the ECA. The meeting followed the conclusion of the ECA 2015-2018 project that aimed to promote equality as a key driver of sustainable development and strengthen countries' capacities on implementing public policies towards greater socio-economic equality, it was noted. BRUSSELS, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Austria is poised to streamline the European Union (EU) after it takes over the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU next month, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said Wednesday. Speaking at a joint press conference with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker following their talks, the visiting chancellor also vowed to play a role of "bridge builder" and bring more "harmony and solidarity" in the EU, which has been in the past years plagued by division over issues like the migrant quota, among others. Referring to last year's Commission white paper in which Juncker floated five scenarios for the future of the EU, Kurz stressed that "it will be key to have an EU that is getting stronger on the big issues, but is taking a backseat when it comes to smaller issues." Juncker, for his part, lavished praise on Austria's role as a" bridge builder", saying that's not only because of its "geographical position" but also "its philosophy which is very pro-European". The president saw eye to eye with Kurz on streamlining the EU. Both of them emphasized "subsidiarity", an EU jargon which, in Juncker's words, "means that the EU or rather the European Commission should do what it does best or what it can do better than the individual member states". "Of course we also take into account national and regional specificities," Juncker added. "That's just what the Austrians are like. They know how to differentiate between what can be done jointly in the EU, and what can be done in member states and on the regional level in a better way," he said. NO CONSUS ON MIGRATION Though Juncker stressed that the Commission has high hopes on Austria's presidency, both leaders conceded that there's no census among member states on how to overhaul the EU's asylum system. Austria, in harness with a group of EU member states, has floated a proposal setting up "centers outside of Europe" to process asylum applications. "I'm of the opinion that when people travel illegally to Europe, they usually come through several countries and they may pick their favorite country for lodging an application for asylum. But that's not the right approach," said Kurz. The chancellor, whose center-right People's Party is in coalition with far-right Freedom Party, claimed that the proposal was made to "provide protection" to illegal migrants outside of the EU. "They can have the protection when it's necessary, but they should not have the possibility to just pick the best system for their asylum application," he argued. The proposal is deemed as a further tweak to the EU's current Dublin Regulation whereby migrants lodge asylum claims in the first EU country they enter. Previous proposals for a Dublin Regulation change and a fairer refugee distribution across the EU have been strongly advocated by Italy (among others) since 2015, and opposed by several partners such as Austria, Hungary, Poland, and other eastern EU countries. Striking a conciliatory tone, Juncker said: "We need to find consensus, we need to move towards each other, there's no point in just following dogma here." EU leaders are set to discuss the migration issue at a summit later this month. But the chance of a breakthrough on it remains slim. Kurz said if leaders could not thrash out any solution at the summit, they will keep working on it at the informal summit in Salzburg slated for Sept. 23. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-07 02:11:14|Editor: Chengcheng Video Player Close Firefighters and emergency services staff work at the scene after a fire broke out at Mandarin Oriental Hotel in London's Knightsbridge, Britain, on June 6, 2018. A total of 20 fire engines and 120 firefighters and officers are battling a massive blaze at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in London's Knightsbridge, London Fire Brigade said Wednesday. (Xinhua/Stephen Chung) LONDON, June 6 (Xinhua) -- A total of 20 fire engines and 120 firefighters and officers are battling a massive blaze at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in London's Knightsbridge, London Fire Brigade said Wednesday. Huge plumes of smoke coming out of the five-star hotel were visible across central London. "Ash is falling everywhere," an eyewitness said. The 12-floor hotel has been evacuated. "Firefighters are working extremely hard to bring the fire under control. Crews wearing breathing apparatus are carrying out a search inside the building," London Fire Brigade Station Manager Pam Oparaocha said at the scene. "Firefighters are likely to be there throughout the evening and once the fire has been brought under control fire investigators will take over to establish how the blaze started," she added. The cause of the fire is not known yet. It is not immediately known whether there are any casualties. Police near the site told media that they didn't know if there were people trapped inside. Part of the road near Knightsbridge had been closed, according to London traffic authorities. Knightsbridge is an exclusive residential and retail district in West London. London Ambulance Service has sent multiple crews including incident response officers and hazardous area response team to the site. "We have not treated any patients, but we remain on scene as a precaution," said Graham Norton, its assistant director of operations. The fire came as the city commemorated the one year anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire which claimed 72 lives. According to the Mandarin Oriental's official website, the London hotel had recently completed a multi-million pound renovation. It has altogether 181 guestrooms and suites. Mandarin Oriental announced via Twitter that the situation at Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park was still unfolding and they would provide an update once they had more information to share. BERLIN, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Germany, France and Britain are demanding for their companies to be exempted from new U.S. sanctions against Iran in a joint letter seen by Xinhua on Wednesday. The letter was addressed by the three European countries to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Finance Minister Steven Mnuchin. In the high-level document, Berlin, Paris and London urged Washington to ensure that the U.S. president "grant exemptions from U.S. sanctions for EU companies". The letter is signed by German foreign minister Heiko Maas, finance minister Olaf Scholz, minister for the economy Peter Altmaier, as well as the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Frederica Mogherini. Amongst others, the European signatories called for companies which only built economic relations with Iran in 2016 after the agreement of the landmark nuclear deal with Teheran to be spared from sanctions. The message noted that Europeans shared U.S. concerns with regards to the Iranian ballistic missile program. While the EU was willing to keep economic incentives for Teheran enshrined in the nuclear deal intact, Brussels expected continued full Iranian compliance with the de-proliferation regime in exchange. As a consequence, the Europeans are seeking sector exemptions for the pharmaceutical-, energy-, civil aviation- and automotive industry from new U.S. sanctions, and want to preserve business relations with Iranian banks which do not feature on any EU sanctions lists. The text emphasized that Germany, France and the United Kingdom were committed to upholding the Iran deal abandoned by the U.S. which they described as the "best basis" to prevent nuclear proliferation in the Middle East and general destabilization of the region. "As allies, we expect that the United States will refrain from taking action to harm Europe's security interests," the letter reads. The candid letter that is dated on June 4 is indicative of a longer-standing trend of deteriorating transatlantic relations between Europe and America. In an unusual interference with German domestic politics, the new U.S. ambassador in Berlin Richard Grenell ordered companies in his host country to "immediately wind down" their operations in Iran following Washington's withdrawal from the nuclear deal. Despite having only been officially posted to Germany in May, Grenell has already heard vocal criticism by local politicians for undiplomatic public interventions including calls for his sacking. NEW YORK, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CryptoMillionsLotto, a cryptocurrency lottery offering players the chance to win life-changing jackpots, and investors to earn regular dividends and be a part of an established lottery business, is delighted to announce that David Drake has agreed to join its Advisory Board. David is a renowned crypto expert, entrepreneur, investor, and speaker. He has more than 20 years experience in media, most recently with ICOs and crowdfunding, and is a regular contributor to Forbes and the Wall Street Journal. Through LDJ Capital and its partners, David's investments currently maintain relations with institutions and family offices managing $1.5 trillion in assets. He has represented the US Commerce Department at the Transatlantic Forum with the EU Commission in Brussels and Rome and has spoken on their behalf to the UK Parliament. We are very pleased that David has joined us. His exemplary reputation and knowledge of ICOs and capital markets is a perfect fit since our offering combines a Security Token with publicly listed shares. We recognize that he is the best at what he does, and we know that he will be a great addition to our team, said Sulim Malook, founder, and CEO of CryptoMillionsLotto. I am thrilled to be on the Advisory Board of CryptoMillionsLotto. I was originally drawn to the project because of its potential to disrupt an enormous global market whilst promoting the mass adoption of crypto beyond the existing community. Its simplicity, the fact it already has a product and business, and its innovative use of Security Tokens made me want to be part of what Sulim and his associates are doing, said David Drake. CryptoMillionsLotto offers prizes comparable to State and National lotteries in the US and Europe, surpassing all existing cryptocurrency lotteries combined. It is not constrained by borders and open to players from all around the world as long as online gambling is not prohibited where they live. CryptoMillionsLotto will be initially selling 25,000,000 ERC20 Ethereum tokens priced at USD 2.50 to launch. Its crowdsale starts on 18 June and extends through to 30 July. Token buyers will also receive free publicly traded shares in the parent company. For more information, please visit www.cryptomillionslotto.io Contact: Veronica Welch veronica@cwrpartners.com 508-643-8000 Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-07 02:56:22|Editor: Chengcheng Video Player Close Photo taken on June 6, 2018 shows the lower house of Italy's parliament in Rome, Italy. The new Italian government cleared its second administrative hurdle on Wednesday, winning a confidence vote in the lower house of Italy's parliament. (Xinhua/Alberto Lingria) ROME, June 6 (Xinhua) -- The new Italian government cleared its second administrative hurdle in as many days on Wednesday, winning a confidence vote in the lower house of Italy's parliament. The government, led by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, won the vote with 350 votes in support and 237 against, with 35 abstentions. The result was widely expected. A day earlier, parliament's upper house, the Senate, voted 177-117 in favor of the Conte government, with 25 abstentions. If Conte had lost either of the votes he would have been forced to step down. With support of the anti-establishment Five-Star Movement and the nationalist League, two of Italy's three largest parties, the two outcomes were in line with expectations. But they gave Conte a chance to outline his plan of government and gave lawmakers their chance to declare their support to give voice to their points of opposition. Conte spoke for more than an hour Wednesday, and was interrupted multiple times by applause and catcalls. He spoke about proposed plans for an across-the-board flat tax for companies and individuals: "We can all agree, the current tax system leaves a great deal to be desired," he said. Conte also mentioned the need to pay down government debt, seek help in addressing the high number of migrants landing in Italy, confront organized crime, digitalize the country's civil bureaucracy, and the need to heel political wounds remaining from the campaign. WASHINGTON, June 6 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump Wednesday commuted the sentence of a 63-year-old drug offender, while reiterating his administration's hard-on-crime policy. According to a White House statement, the beneficiary of the commutation was Alice Johnson, who was given life sentence in 1996 for possession of drugs and money laundering. "Ms. Johnson has accepted responsibility for her past behavior and has been a model prisoner over the past two decades." the statement said. Trump's decision came after hollywood celebrity Kim Kardashian West visited Trump last week to lobby on behalf of Johnson, West reportedly became involved in the case after learning of Johnson's case in a video, she tweeted to her 60 million followers "BEST NEWS EVER!" after the White House's decision. Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner is said to have coordinated with West from within the White House. Despite being applauded by some, the move has raised concerns among most of Trump's advisers, who believe that commuting Johnson may undermine the administration's hard-on-crime message. Among the skeptics are White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and White House Counsel Donald McGahn, who upon reviewing the case argued that it was unnecessary for Trump to carry out the commutation. In defense of Trump's decision, the White House pledged that it will "always be very tough on crime," while insisting that "those who have paid their debt to society and worked hard to better themselves while in prison deserve a second chance." U.S. media reported that Trump may pardon a dozen or more people in the coming weeks. In a controversial tweet earlier this week, Trump touted that he has "absolute" power to pardon himself. Prompting the White House press office to clarify later that the occasion wouldn't arise as Trump hasn't done anything wrong. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-07 03:46:32|Editor: yan Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Dutch Ambassador to the United Nations Karel van Oosterom on Wednesday urged Russia to accept responsibility for the downing of a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet over eastern Ukraine in July 2014. Van Oosterom made the appeal in the context of a Security Council presidential statement that contains a sentence on the incident. "The Security Council reaffirms its full support for Resolution 2166 (2014) on the downing of Flight MH17," reads the presidential statement on Ukraine, which was released Wednesday. The reconfirmation by the Security Council of Resolution 2166 is especially important for the Netherlands, because the resolution demands that all states should cooperate with efforts to establish accountability, van Oosterom told reporters shortly before the official release of the Security Council statement. The reconfirmation means that states should work together with the Joint Investigation Team in establishing the facts, he said. "It means that the Russian Federation should fully cooperate with the criminal investigation, should accept responsibility for its part in the downing of MH17," he told reporters. The ambassador reiterated Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok's demand last week that Russia should enter into bilateral talks with the Netherlands and Australia to achieve truth, justice and accountability. "We feel very strongly that that is what the families of the victims deserve," said van Oosterom. 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 193 Dutch passengers and 27 Australians. The Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team has established that the missile that downed Flight MH17 belonged to the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade of the Russian army. On this basis, the Dutch and Australian governments made the announcement to hold Russia accountable for its part in the downing of the flight. Last week, Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia told a Security Council meeting that Moscow does not accept the conclusions of the Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team. The Russian Defense Ministry has also refuted the accusation, saying that no new anti-aircraft missiles crossed the border to Ukraine since 1991. WASHINGTON, June 6 (Xinhua) -- A new study involving monitoring of nearest stars beyond our Sun revealed that one of them might be friendlier to life than the Sun in terms of X-ray radiation. The United States space agency NASA said on Wednesday in a news release that any planets orbiting the two brightest stars in the Alpha Centaur system were likely not being pummeled by large amounts of X-ray radiation from their host stars. Alpha Centauri is a triple star system located just over four light years, or about 40 trillion kilometers, from the Earth. "Because it is relatively close, the Alpha Centauri system is seen by many as the best candidate to explore for signs of life," said Tom Ayres with the University of Colorado Boulder. "The question is, will we find planets in an environment conducive to life as we know it?" said Ayres. X-rays and related space weather effects are bad for unprotected life, directly through high radiation doses and indirectly through stripping away planetary atmospheres. The stars in the Alpha Centauri system include a pair called "A" and "B," which orbit relatively close to each other. Alpha Cen A is a near twin of our Sun in almost every way, including age, while Alpha Cen B is somewhat smaller and dimmer but still quite similar to the Sun. The third member, Alpha Cen C, also known as Proxima, is a much smaller red dwarf star that travels around the AB pair in a much larger orbit that takes it more than 10,000 times farther from the AB pair than the Earth-Sun distance. Proxima currently holds the title of the nearest star to Earth, and AB is a very close second, according to NASA. The Chandra data revealed that the prospects for life in terms of current X-ray bombardment were actually better around Alpha Cen A than for the Sun, and Alpha Cen B fares only slightly worse. Proxima, on the other hand, is a type of active red dwarf star known to frequently send out dangerous flares of X-ray radiation, and is likely hostile to life, according to NASA. The findings came after more than a decade observation by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. "This is very good news for Alpha Cen AB in terms of the ability of possible life on any of their planets to survive radiation bouts from the stars," said Ayres. "Chandra shows us that life should have a fighting chance on planets around either of these stars." However, the bad news is that, although there is one remarkable Earth-size planet around Proxima, astronomers have till now failed to find exoplanets around Alpha Cen A and B. Planet-hunting around these stars has proved more difficult recently due to the orbit of the pair, which has drawn the two bright stars close together on the sky over the past decade. Planets in the habitable zone around Proxima receive an average dose of X-rays about 500 times larger than the Earth, and 50,000 times larger during a big flare, according to NASA. ANTANANARIVO, June 6 (Xinhua) -- China donated 250,000 U.S. dollars worth of medical equipment to Madagascar as a memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed on it on Wednesday in Madagascar's capital Antananarivo. The equipment donation was part of the two-week Chinese brightness action campaign that began in Antananarivo on May 31 to offer free treatment to cataract patients. "I am happy that this equipment continues to serve the patients of Madagascar," the Chinese ambassador to Madagascar Yang Xiaorong said during the MoU signing. "China attaches great importance to health cooperation with Madagascar. China will continue to work with Madagascar to treat patients who do not have financial means to treat themselves," the ambassador said. Eleven ophthalmic experts from China are offering free operation for patients of cataracts in Antananarivo in about two weeks. In the past 43 years, China has sent 21 medical team and 624 doctors to Madagascar. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-07 04:06:40|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Deputy Director General for Programmes Daniel Gustafson attends the FAO side-event, at the FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy on June 6, 2018. Sharing experiences through South-South Cooperation was a "powerful tool" to forward poverty and hunger eradication, officials at a side-event at the FAO headquarters said on Wednesday.(Xinhua/Alberto Lingria) ROME, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Sharing experiences through South-South Cooperation was a "powerful tool" to forward poverty and hunger eradication, officials at a side-event at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) headquarters said on Wednesday. The initiative -- titled "End poverty and hunger and secure the right to food" -- comprised a photo exhibition and an in-depth debate on successful policies for reaching the first two Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provided by the Agenda 2030. China, Chad, Kenya, Senegal, and Ghana were in the spotlight, each of them giving concrete examples of the strategies they were implementing or planning to reach such goals. In his opening remarks, FAO Deputy Director General for Programmes Daniel Gustafson reminded that, despite the progress made in latest decades, the global challenges remained daunting. "Some 783 million people continue to live in extreme poverty... and the number of chronically food-insecure people was 815 million in 2016, up from 777 million in 2015," Gustafson said. However, FAO virtuous country members could lead the global fight into a new phase. "China, Chad, Ghana, Kenya, and Senegal are examples of how to accelerate progress," the FAO official declared. "China is moving quickly towards its goal of eradicating poverty 10 years before the SDGs deadline (2030), and has a lot to share," he added. Indeed, as Chinese Ambassador to FAO Niu Dun explained, China has actively taken part in the global cooperation, while developing itself. "Up to now, we have sent more than 1,000 experts and technicians to Africa, Asia, South Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean to help countries improve their food security," Niu said. The ambassador added the FAO South-South and Triangular Cooperation provided the necessary platform for such a strategy of mutual support. "This kind of innovative model of cooperation will further build a bridge between countries and regions so they can learn from each other, and make exchanges," Niu stressed. The representatives from Ghana, Chad, Senegal, and Kenya also outlined the major policies their countries were undertaking to achieve SDG 1 and SDG2. "Kenya has already developed a national Food and Nutrition Security Policy 2017-2020-2022," deputy head of Kenya's National Social Protection Secretariat John Gachigi explained. "This is our strategic framework aimed at achieving the SDG2 on zero hunger." As for ending poverty, the official said the eastern African country's government delivered a National Social Protection Investment Plan to be developed by 2030. Wednesday's event took place on the sidelines of the 159th session of the FAO Council, which was running on June 4-8 in the Italian capital. by Eric J. Lyman ROME, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Less than a week into the mandate of Italy's newest government, officials are already raising eyebrows for the hardline stance they are taking against refugees. The anti-migrant stance is not a surprise. Matteo Salvini, the leader of the nationalist League -- one of the two parties supporting the government and the country's new minister of the interior -- promised as much during the campaign. But the language from the new government is so far stronger and more pointed than on other controversial planks of its government program. "It is very worrying," Filippo Miraglia, vice-president of the Italian Cultural Recreation Association (ARCI) and the author of the book "Refugees: Conversations About Borders, Politics, and Rights," told Xinhua. "The government is striking quickly to essentially criminalize being a refugee." In his first weekend in his new job, Salvini traveled to the Sicilian port city of Pozzallo, home of a major reception center for refugees. He said that recent at-sea deaths of would-be refugees trying to reach Italy's shores should have been prevented by not allowing the boats they use to leave the shores of Africa. Salvini told reporters that Italy "cannot be Europe's refugee camp." Salvini said if the European Union (EU) does not do more to help Italy confront the refugee problem, Italy would be forced to "choose other methods." In another rally in northern Italy, Salvini said illegal migrants to Italy should "get ready to pack (their) bags." Salvini has vowed to expel as many as 500,000 migrants from the country. More than 600,000 migrants are thought to have landed on Italian shores since 2014. Though the numbers have been falling since the start of last year, nearly 11,000 are thought to have arrived so far in 2018 and more than 100,000 arrived last year. Thousands have died at sea attempting to reach Italy. The Five-Star Movement, the other party in the ruling coalition, has not been as vocal about the migrant issue. But Giuseppe Conte, the government's prime minister, addressed the two houses of parliament on back-to-back days and spoke about the issue both times. On Wednesday, Conte told senators the new government could call for the Dublin Resolution to be reformed so that there would be more of a "fair distribution of responsibilities." The Dublin Regulation requires would-be asylum seekers to be processed in the country of arrival, placing much of the processing burden on southern European countries with long coastlines, like Italy and Greece. On Thursday, speaking in the lower house, Conte criticized the EU for "leaving Italy alone" to deal with the migrant issue. He said asylum seekers should be distributed around Europe. Analysts said Italy had "inexpensive and effective" methods for reducing migrant arrivals, such as reducing the amount its budgets for housing, feeding, and processing new arrivals. "The idea is that it would make Italy a less attractive landing point for migrants and so they might go home or set out for some other destination," Maurizio Ambrosini, a sociologist with the State University of Milan and a frequent commentator on migrant issues, told Xinhua. "But Article 10 of the Italian Constitution says the country has an obligation to help asylum seekers. People don't discuss it as much today, but this is one of our country's founding principles." Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-07 05:11:55|Editor: yan Video Player Close BRASILIA, June 6 (Xinhua) -- The production of vehicles in Brazil was 212,294 units in May, a year-on-year fall of 15.3 percent, as the industry was heavily affected by truckers' strike, industry association Anfavea announced Wednesday. The National Association of Automotive Vehicle Manufacturers (Anfavea) said production had been badly hit, dropping by 20.2 percent compared with the number in April. From May 21 to 31, thousands of truckers blockaded highways nationwide to protest the rising price of diesel, affecting the transportation of goods. This left automotive factories lacking the spare parts they needed. From May 21, production began to wind down and stopped completely from May 24, according to Anfavea. Production lines began to return to normal on May 31 when the truckers lifted blockades after reaching a deal with the government. Another strike by metallurgical workers, beginning before the truckers' strike and lasting about a week, also affected the factory in Sao Bernardo do Campo. However, Anfavea said that the downturn in May would not prevent the sector from achieving real growth across all of 2018. Figures showed that from January to May in 2018, the sector produced 1,178,166 units, 12.1 percent more than the same period of 2017. The automotive production sector has also seen continued job creation, with 616 new jobs added in May to reach a total of 5,372 new jobs in the past 12 months. By Qiu Junzhou, Yang Shilong NEW YORK, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Not a single copy of The Poppy War was left, even for Rebecca F. Kuang herself, after a signing event at BookCon 2018 held in Javits Center over the weekend. A total of 300 plus copies were sold and signed in a single day. That was a pretty good record for the debut novelist, who just graduated from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. The historical fiction tells the story of 20th century China -- the opium wars, the Sino-Japanese war and the Nanjing Massacre -- in an alternate fantasy setting. The dark-skinned war orphan, Rin, strives to escape her fate by rising into the highest echelons of the finest military academy in the Nikara Empire. Tutored by the renegade Master Jiang, she leads the fight against the invading Mugenese. DRAWING ATTENTION TO CHINESE HISTORY FORGOTTEN IN THE WEST In an interview with Xinhua, Kuang said she wrote the book to draw attention to China's historical issues that "have not been traditionally represented either in Western fiction or in American classrooms." "People have forgotten the fact that China was one of the allied powers and fought on the allied side during WWII," said Kuang. "And related to that is the Rape of Nanjing, which has been referred to as the forgotten holocaust, because 300,000 people died, and we just don't teach that in the West." This painful episode in history is deeply tied to Kuang's family. The young author who moved with her parents to the United States from China at the age of five still pays visits to her father's hometown in Leiyang, Hunan province, from time to time. "When I visited my father's home village, you can see the bullet holes in the walls left by Japanese soldiers during the WWII, and they're still there, and that's a history that has stayed with them," Kuang said. "This sort of inter-generational trauma, and this suffering that hasn't really been given voice to." To this day, the Japanese government has repeatedly refused to apologize for war crimes, including the Nanjing Massacre, committed by the Imperial Japanese Army during the WWII. The Poppy War, she said, warns about the possible consequences of overlooking or denying this painful past for both Japan and China. "The only way that we can learn from this is to acknowledge and forgive," she said. "Acknowledge that it happened, and educate younger generations about what happened so that it doesn't happen again. But that doesn't mean forgetting, because that just runs the danger that it happens again." ADDRESSING MULTICULTURAL AUDIENCE Writing a book about China for an audience that is largely Western is a challenging job for Chinese American authors alike, Kuang said. "I have to straddle the line between just writing a book for a Chinese audience, and also explaining some things so that they can be swallowed by a Western audience," she said. "You have to use shortcuts to indicate what you mean so that they feel more familiar. Sometimes it's annoying because some of it feels like cultural reductionism. It really is a balancing act." In the process of adapting to a more multi-cultured audience, Kuang strives to represent authentic Chinese culture. "Good representation means complicated narrative that prove that not all Chinese characters are the same," she said. Kuang finds this is an uphill battle. Chinese American authors would be told by publishers that "Asian stories won't sell," or they don't need to publish another Asian author. "They think that all Asian stories are the same, and that's not true. Not even all Chinese stories are the same. But they just sort of categorize everything into one box, one diversity box, and that's not fair." Yet this battle has seen small victories, thanks to the previous hard work of authors of Chinese descent, Kuang said. "I'm lucky because I'm riding the coattails of people like Cindy Pan and Ken Liu who broke those barriers for the first time and proved that Chinese fantasy does sell," Kuang said. INSPIRATION FOR YOUNGER GENERATIONS Kuang's one-hour autographing event at BookCon on Saturday drew in the crowds. Lilian Chen, mother of two teens, was animated when she managed to get several signed books after a long queue. "My younger daughter is quite into it," said Chen. Kuang has been receiving encouraging letters from many young Asian Americans, thanking her for writing a book during which, for the first time, the main character looks like them. "That means a lot. It means that somebody found a book that I was looking for when I was 12, 13 years old and couldn't find a library shelf, and as long as that story is reaching out to other young Chinese Americans, then I feel like I've done my job." Kuang herself also went through a period of being self-conscious of her cultural heritage. "It took me a long time to get over that internalized self-hatred, and really embrace and accept my Chinese heritage, and so many Chinese American kids go through this." A few years ago, Kuang took a gap year from college to teach debate to high school students in Beijing. "I wanted to study the Chinese language, and understand more about my heritage and history," she said. Kuang believes that the creative process lets Asian Americans know that there are people like them, and that they are accepted, "this is the key to helping them appreciate their own culture." "There are so many talented and incredible Asian creators, authors, directors, actors, etc. and we've seen an explosion of Asian representation because of their hard work, so we should just support those people, go see their movies, buy their books, and support their careers," she said. "I think there's also a cultural side, where I think Chinese parents should be more open to letting their kids pursue careers in arts," Kuang added. LAGOS, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari Wednesday announced June 12 as the new date which Democracy Day will be celebrated in the country. The Nigerian leader made the announcement in a statement. Buhari said June 12, 1993, election was the freest, fairest and most peaceful election since Nigeria's Independence. The commemoration and investiture, the president added, will take place on Tuesday, June 12, 2018, a date which in future years will replace May 29 as a National Public holiday in the celebration of Nigeria's Democracy Day. Abiola, the presumed winner of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election, died a apparently of a heart attack at a meeting with government officials and a high-level United States delegation to discuss issues on his release from four years of detention. English Latvian Recording of the First Quarter 2018 Investor Conference Webinar On June 7 AS Olainfarm organized its Investor Conference Online Webinar. During the webinar the member of the management board of AS Olainfarm Salvis Lapins analyzed the financial results of first quarter 2018 and informed about the other recent activities within the company. The recorded AS Olainfarm webinar is available online: http://ej.uz/OLF_Q1_2018, and the presentation, demonstrated during the webinar, is available in previously published announcement. Olainfarm thanks all participants, who joined the webinar, and encourages everybody to follow companys announcements to get information on the next webinar! JSC Olainfarm is one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in Latvia with more than 40 years of experience in production of medication and chemical and pharmaceutical products. A basic principle of company's operations is to produce reliable and effective top quality products for Latvia and the rest of the world. Products made by the Group are being exported to more than 35 countries of the world, including the Baltics, Russia, other CIS, Europe, Asia, North America and Australia. More information: Salvis Lapins Member of JSC Olainfarm Management Board Phone: +37126448873 E-mail: slapinsh@olainfarm.lv OTTAWA, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met French President Emmanuel Macron, who arrived in Ottawa Wednesday afternoon for a visit to Canada and will attend the G7 summit. Trudeau greeted Macron by welcoming him for his first visit to Canada as French president, saying France is a great friend and partner of Canada on the international scene and they will make the forthcoming summit a success. Macron said the summit comes at a critical moment and is an opportunity for cooperation on economy, climate change and geo-political concerns. France is Canada's ninth-largest trading partner globally and the fourth-largest export market in the European Union. Canadian direct investment in France was valued at eight billion Canadian dollars (6.1 billion U.S. dollars) at the end of 2017, and French direct investment in Canada was valued at 8.2 billion Canadian dollars (6.3 billion U.S. dollars). Canada assumed group of seven presidency on Jan. 1, 2018, and will host summit in the Charlevoix region of Quebec province on June 8 and 9. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-07 08:47:40|Editor: ZD Video Player Close PARIS, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Two of men's singles quarterfinals had to be postponed until Thursday by rain, while Simona Halep and Garbine Muguruza set up their women's singles semifinal clash at the 2018 French Open on Wednesday. Up against 10-time champion Rafael Nadal, Diego Schwartzman built on his momentum following a thrilling five-set victory over No. 6 seed Kevin Anderson to take away the opening set 6-4. The Argentine's solid baseline and powerful forehand posed great threat to the "King of Clay", and he took an upper hand of 3-2 in the second set. The match was spoiled by rain midway through the second set, before Nadal won three games in a row back on court to lead 5-3. The match was interrupted again, when Nadal led 30-15 in the ninth game. The duel between No. 3 seed Marin Cilic and fifth-seeded Juan Martin Del Potro was also postponed, when the two players tied at five-all in a tiebreak of the first set. Top seed Halep, in chase of her maiden Grand Slam title, came back from one set down to see off Germany's Angelique Kerber 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-2. Kerber, who had already matched her best record in Paris with quarterfinal appearance, heated up quicker with four straight games in hand. Although Halep forced a tiebreak, she let the first set slip away after losing the tiebreak 7-2. Halep then regrouped herself to triumph in the second set 6-3. Kerber called for a medical treatment due to foot blister three games into the third set, before she conceded a break, and never appeared to threaten Halep's position. "It was a tough start. I wanted to do too much in the match. It was tough because her ball is very low, and you don't have many chances to finish the points from there. "Actually, I want to forget those games," Halep said with a smile. "It was not exactly what I wanted to play at the beginning, but I just didn't feel it. Then I changed it and it was much better." Muguruza conceded just three games to race past Russia's Maria Sharapova 6-2, 6-1 in 70 minutes, remaining as the only player in women's draw that has never dropped a set. Two-time winner Sharapova, who made her return to Roland Garros after three years, failed to challenge the Spaniard throughout the match, and she easily conceded their first duel in four years. "Being aggressive is a part of my game. When you're facing somebody that also has an aggressive style of game, it's about who takes the command, who takes the first opportunity," said Muguruza. "I just didn't feel free, and I felt there was a lot of force behind all the shots and that it wasn't coming natural to me. I didn't have the rhythm," Sharapova pointed out. Chinese youngsters fared in two directions in junior division, as eighth-seeded Wang Xiyu powered past Maria Lourdes Carle of Argentina in straight sets, while No. 2 seed Wang Xinyu and Zheng Qinwen both crashed out from girls' singles third round. Madison Keys and Sloane Stephens will put on an all-American women's singles semifinal on Thursday. BEIJING, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay a state visit to China and attend the 18th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) on June 8-10. The following is a brief introduction to the Russian leader: Born in Leningrad (today's St. Petersburg) on Oct. 7, 1952, Putin graduated from the Law Department of Leningrad State University in 1975 and he once served in the former Soviet Union's State Security Committee (KGB). From 1985 to 1990, Putin worked in East Germany. He returned to the Soviet Union in 1990 and worked as an assistant to the rector of Leningrad State University, Anatoly Sobchak. Putin worked as chairman of the Committee for International Relations at the St. Petersburg City Hall since June 1991, and concurrently as deputy mayor of the city since 1994. Putin was appointed as the deputy chief of the Presidential Property Management Directorate in August 1996, and the deputy chief of staff of the Presidential Executive Office and chief of Main Control Directorate in March 1997. In May 1998, he was made first deputy chief of staff of the Presidential Executive Office. In July 1998, then Russian President Boris Yeltsin appointed him director of the Federal Security Service (FSB), the KGB's successor. In March 1999, while still heading the FSB, Putin was appointed secretary of the State Security Council. In August 1999, Yeltsin appointed him prime minister. Upon Yeltsin's resignation on Dec. 31, 1999, Putin became acting president of Russia. Putin was elected president of Russia in March 2000, and re-elected in March 2004. In 2008, Putin assumed the post of prime minister. In 2012, Putin was elected again as Russia's president. He was re-elected in March 2018 and took office in May 7. Putin visited China or came to China to attend international functions 15 times as Russian president and three times as Russian prime minister. TRIPOLI, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Libya's eastern-based House of Representatives (parliament) on Tuesday rejected an agreement signed by the Tripoli-based UN-backed Government of National Accord with southern neighboring countries on joint border security. "The committee of foreign affairs of the House of Representatives announces to the whole world its rejection of any agreement or treaty signed by the Government of National Accord with international parties before returning to the committee and the House of Representatives, the legitimate legislator authorized to approve any international agreement or treaty," the parliament's foreign affairs committee said in a statement. Last week, Libya's Foreign Minister Mohamed Sayala of the Tripoli-based unity government signed an agreement with Niger, Chad and Sudan to secure the southern joint border against human and weapons smuggling. "Any treaty that overlooks the constitutional and legal norms is considered a violation to the Libyan sovereignty and gross harm to the democratic path of the country," the parliament statement said. The committee also warned that "violation of the Libyan sovereignty and infringement of the border and territories will be responded to firmly." The southern Libyan border, a barren desert, is a large crossing point for illegal immigrants, as well as the movement of militant groups between Libya and its neighboring countries. Faced with serious difficulties in securing its borders, Libya has repeatedly called upon the three neighboring countries to implement protection programs for the long border. Despite signing a UN-sponsored peace agreement and appointment of the unity government in late 2015, Libya remains politically divided between eastern and western authorities competing for legitimacy. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-07 09:12:47|Editor: Xiang Bo Video Player Close LONDON, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Chinese students in Britain are being targeted in a new, two-way scam, the Chinese embassy in Britain warned on Wednesday, cautioning the students to remain vigilant. Scammers are creating an elaborate "virtual kidnapping" in which Chinese students are told that they are allegedly implicated in crimes back home in China. Pretending to be Chinese officials, the scammers then coerce students to perform specific tasks, such as fake hostage videos, with the threat of violence against their family if they do not comply. They are also often instructed to cease all contact with their families, while the scammers also contact their families simultaneously, informing them that the victim had been kidnapped, using the fake videos as evidence, and demanding large sums of money for their release. According to the warning released from the Chinese embassy in Britain, a number of such cases have been reported to the authorities recently. The embassy suggested that should Chinese students face such a situation, they should call British police or the emergency telephone number for help and contact the Chinese embassy or consulate in Britain to verify the situation. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-07 10:07:59|Editor: Xiang Bo Video Player Close MOSCOW, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is ready to strengthen partnership with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), said Chairman of the CIS Executive Committee Sergei Lebedev. Lebedev made the remarks in an interview with Xinhua before traveling to Qingdao, China's eastern Shandong Province, to participate in an SCO summit scheduled for June 9 and 10. In his view, the coming SCO summit will "undoubtedly" become one of the most important political events not only for Eurasia but also for the whole world. "I think that this event is intended again to emphasize the role of the SCO as one of the main pillars of the emerging multipolar world," Lebedev said. Cooperation between the CIS and the SCO is based on the memorandum of understanding signed on April 12, 2005 between the SCO Secretariat and the CIS Executive Committee, he said. "In my opinion, there are great opportunities for further building up practical ties between the two organizations. The most relevant area is security, countering modern challenges and threats," he said. Lebedev said it is also important to ensure coordination of the SCO and CIS activities in the implementation of mutually beneficial projects and the development of trade ties. "In the last few years, a great potential for cooperation has been found in the rapidly developing areas, such as e-commerce and trade in services. There are big opportunities in the humanitarian sphere as well," he said. The CIS-SCO cooperation should be carried out on the basis of bright and clear principles: mutual trust and equality, open discussion of any problems, and consideration of each other's interests, he said. "The overall strategic goal is to ensure stability and security, promote sustainable social and economic development while preserving the national and cultural identity of each of the participating countries," he said. The CIS was founded in 1991 as a regional association of former Soviet republics. Its members comprise of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Established in 2001, the SCO has eight full members, namely China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan. "An important achievement of the SCO is the extension of cooperation from the security sphere, which was at the first stage, to politics and diplomacy, trade, transport, cultural and humanitarian sphere," Lebedev said. He praised China's contribution, saying that its growing influence in the global arena has a positive impact on the world economy and politics. TRIPOLI, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The Libyan Red Crescent on Wednesday called on the people of the eastern city of Darna not to leave their homes until a safe passage is secured from the military action areas. "We call on the people in the areas of the clashes in Darna not to leave their homes or to be in the facades and roofs of their houses, until we can provide a safe passage for them to get out," the Red Crescent said in a statement. "Safe passages for stranded families in the sites of clashes will be announced soon," the statement said. Humanitarian Coordinator for the UN Support Mission in Libya Maria Ribeiro on Tuesday called for "humanitarian pause to allow life-saving humanitarian goods into the city and allow people to stock up on supplies." The eastern-based army, led by General Khalifa Haftar, is launching a military operation to take over Darna from the militants who control the coastal city. The army has besieged Darna since 2015, demanding that the Shura Council (Consultative Council) of the Mujahideen in Darna, a coalition of Islamist militias, leave. The army accused the armed group of being loyal to al-Qaida. On the other hand, Field Army Commander Saeed Wanis said that the army "managed to take control of new sites and areas in Darna on Wednesday, and captured 30 terrorists." Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-07 10:18:02|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain (5th L) speaks during an interview with Chinese media at the Presidential Palace in Islamabad, capital of Pakistan on June 6, 2018. Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain said his country sees the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as an important framework for regional cooperation and it has played a vital role in safeguarding peace and security in the region. (Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal) ISLAMABAD, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain said his country sees the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as an important framework for regional cooperation and it has played a vital role in safeguarding peace and security in the region. The president told the Chinese media Wednesday ahead of his departure for the upcoming SCO's summit to be held in China's eastern port city of Qingdao that the organization promotes multifaceted cooperation in the region in a wide array of fields, adding that the SCO includes the Pakistan's major development and strategic partners. "It allows us to share perspectives, coordinate positions and develop practical and concrete cooperation with these important countries," he said. The president said the organization espouses the values of the Shanghai Spirit, which features mutual trust and respect, equality, respect for diverse civilizations and pursuit of shared development. Pakistan, as a new member of the SCO since 2017, is "committed to enhancing our relations with all SCO members on the basis of these values," he added. The Pakistani president hailed the SCO's Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) as an important and useful forum for cooperation against the common enemy of terrorism. He said his country has successfully combated terrorism and it is ready to share its experiences in tackling the menace of terrorism through the SCO-RATS. He expected that initiatives of SCO on investment promotion, trade facilitation, customs cooperation, e-commerce, small and medium enterprises, rail and road connectivity and tourism cooperation should be tied to specific timelines, that initiatives such as SCO Development Bank and SCO Development Fund should be pursued in earnest, and the SCO Business Council should be empowered and entrusted to establish business-to-business linkages. The president emphasized that nowadays the SCO stands out not just in terms of the sheer size of its populations or the territorial expanse it covers. "While some major powers are becoming increasingly inward and isolationist, the Shanghai Spirit of mutual trust, equality, shared development and respect for diversity offers a template for a new kind of inter-state cooperation. By according equal priority to economic development and security cooperation, the SCO serves as a model of efficient and effective cooperation," Hussain said. He said the Belt and Road Initiative is a revolutionary global movement connecting over 60 countries with generational impact. "It is a win-win partnership that is already catalyzing growth and integrating economies all across Eurasia, the Middle East and Africa. Pakistan is a strong believer and an ardent supporter of the BRI." The Pakistani president expected that the SCO can be a vehicle for the Belt and Road Initiative as all SCO countries are connected through the ancient Silk Route. He said that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is fast reaching fruition. "It entails greater connectivity and trade linkages between Pakistan and China through a network of road, rail, fiber optic cable, energy pipelines and power generation projects," he said. The Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road initiative, proposed by China in 2013, is aimed at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient trade routes. "By generating employment and improving energy and transport infrastructure across the length and breadth of Pakistan, we have already begun reaping dividends form CPEC. Many of the early harvest projects of CPEC have been completed ... Energy projects have helped Pakistan to overcome its energy shortage," said the president. "Many infrastructure and other projects are fast approaching completion. Gwadar port has become operational. Many projects of social welfare have also been completed in Gwadar." Hussain said that Pakistan and China are all weather and time tested friends. "Successive generations of the leaders in both the countries have worked hard to strengthen this relationship ... Pakistan supports China on all its core issues," said the president, adding that Pakistan believes that maintenance of peace and security is the collective responsibility of all parties to the South China Sea. "Pakistan has maintained that disputes over the South China Sea should be peacefully resolved through consultation and negotiations," the president concluded. TRIPOLI, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) has claimed responsibility for a Tuesday's air strike that killed four Islamic State (IS) terror suspects. "In coordination with the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA), U.S. forces conducted a precision air strike near Bani Walid, Libya, on June 6, killing four ISIS-Libya militants," AFRICOM said in a statement on Wednesday. The strike was carried out on the outskirts of the Libyan city of Bani Walid, some 180 km southeast of the capital Tripoli. "At this time, we assess no civilians were killed in this strike," the statement said. AFRICOM stressed that the United States "will not relent in its mission to degrade, disrupt, and destroy terrorist organizations and bring stability to the region." "We are committed to maintaining pressure on the terror network and preventing terrorists from establishing (a) safe haven." An official source in the joint security chamber of Bani Walid on Wednesday revealed that an unidentified foreign drone aircraft targeted radical groups' headquarters in Bgila area in the valley of Kamkum on the outskirts of Bani Walid. The uninhabited Kamkum valley, located some 140 km south of Bani Walid,is one of the most important areas in which the remnants of militant groups take shelter and operate. The joint security chamber announced a maximum alert in the city after monitoring movements of IS affiliates in its suburbs in January 2018. A U.S. warplane carried out an air strike in March in southern Libya, targeting two senior al-Qaeda leaders in the Islamic Maghreb. YANGON, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The Myanmar police have arrested a key suspect behind an illegal drug haul seized by Malaysian authorities last month, Myanmar News Agency reported Thursday. Maung Maung alias Yassin, 44, was apprehended on Tuesday following a tip-off that the suspect had left Pyin Oo Lwin for Mandalay by car from the Top Light Travel Service. Three Malaysian and three Myanmar citizens were detained in an initial raid in Malaysia along with 1,187 kilos of methamphetamine and 750 grams of heroin found stashed under food products in a container from Nioe Guy Clearance Service Agency. The investigation by Myanmar police force led to the capture of the first suspect and extraction of vital information pointing to Maung Maung who had been on the run since May 30. Maung Maung was found to have contacted U Kaung Trading Company to send the cargo to Malaysia. The Myanmar police also seized a Toyota Lexus owned by Maung Maung on June 3 which was parking under an overpass in Tammwe, Yangon. Further investigation led to a discovery that Maung Maung and his accomplices had opened bank accounts in two private banks with a balance of 2.8 billion kyats ( 2.07 million U.S. dollars) which was frozen by the police. MAPLE GROVE, Minn., June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Twin Cities member-owned cooperative TopLine Federal Credit Union vice-president of marketing and communications Vicki Roscoe Erickson has been promoted to senior vice president. In this role, she is responsible for overseeing all aspects of marketing and communications including member experience, brand stewardship, internal and external communications, omni-channel integrated advertising, business intelligence, public relations and community initiatives to support TopLines strategic goals, cooperative philosophy and commitment to member education. Erickson will continue to serve as president of the TopLine Credit Union Foundation, an organization she helped create in 2015. Vicki Erickson has been a tremendous asset in enhancing TopLines brand recognition and respect in the communities we serve her eye for creative and consistent messaging is unmatched, said Tom Smith, president and CEO, TopLine Federal Credit Union. As a key member of senior leadership, she provides excellent insight and perspective. She is also very active in the community, serving on several boards and has also led our credit union foundation with care and vision since its beginning. In my decade at TopLine, I have strived to fulfill our ongoing core mission of educating consumers on the credit union difference, along with the importance of financial independence and wise money management, said Vicki Erickson, senior vice-president, TopLine Federal Credit Union. One of my greatest honors is to have the opportunity to facilitate financial education sessions for families in our community to date Ive worked with more than 3,500 students and their parents to help them learn the value of financial stability. Erickson holds a degree in business management and political science from Hamline University, and has been with TopLines marketing team since 2008. In addition to her marketing and communications responsibilities, she also oversees and serves as president of the TopLine Credit Union Foundation. She is the past board chair of the North Hennepin Area Chamber of Commerce, co-chair of the Minnesota Credit Union Foundation Scholarship Council, board director for the MN Jump$tart Coalition, partners with Hennepin Technical College for its financial literacy Gear-Up Grant, and is a member of the Credit Union Executive Society, CUNA Marketing Council and the Minnesota Credit Union Womens Leadership Network. TopLine Federal Credit Union, a Twin Cities-based credit union, is Minnesotas 13th largest, with assets of more than $435 million. Established in 1935, the not-for-profit cooperative offers a complete line of financial services, as well as auto and home insurance, from its five branch locations in Bloomington, Brooklyn Park, Maple Grove, Plymouth and in St. Pauls Como Park as well as by phone, mobile app and online at www.TopLinecu.com. Membership is available to anyone who lives, works, worships, attends school or volunteers in Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott or Washington Counties and their immediate family members. Visit us on our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/TopLineFederalCreditUnion. CONTACT: Vicki Roscoe Erickson Senior Vice President, Marketing & Communications, TopLine Federal Credit Union President, TopLine Credit Union Foundation verickson@toplinecu.com 763-391-0872 A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/7715350a-592a-40bd-aa0e-657c7da5b0e3 WASHINGTON, June 6 (Xinhua) -- A bipartisan group of U.S. Senators on Wednesday introduced legislation that would compel President Donald Trump to get congressional approval before imposing tariffs on the grounds of national security. The bill, introduced by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker and other nine senators, would require the president to submit to Congress any proposal to adjust imports in the interest of national security under the Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. The Trump administration has used the obsolete law to unilaterally impose additional tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, drawing strong opposition from the domestic business community and U.S. trading partners. "While we all agree on the need to ensure (that) the international trade system is fair for American workers, companies and consumers, unfortunately, the administration is abusing the Section 232 authority delegated to the president by Congress," Corker said Wednesday in a statement. "Making claims regarding national security to justify what is inherently an economic question not only harms the very people we all want to help and impairs relations with our allies but also could invite our competitors to retaliate," he argued. The European Union (EU), Canada, Mexico and other trading partners have announced retaliation against the United States over its tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. "Our bipartisan bill would make sure Congress has a key oversight role if a president imposes tariffs under the claim of national security reasons," said Heidi Heitkamp, a Democratic Senator from the state of North Dakota. "Huge economic policy decisions like tariffs shouldn't be taken lightly, and Congress should serve as a needed check to make sure we aren't losing out in the end," she said. Jeff Flake, a Republican Senator from the state of Arizona, said that the negative impact of the Trump administration's proposed tariffs is already being felt by workers and businesses across the country. "Congress ought to assert leadership in this situation and take away the 'matches' the president seems intent on using to ignite a dangerous trade war. I encourage my colleagues to promptly pass this legislation and push back against ill-conceived protectionist measures," Flake said in a statement. Major U.S. business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and National Retail Federation (NRF), also expressed their support for Corker's bill. "There needs to be a more appropriate balance on trade policy between Congress and the executive branch," NRF Senior Vice President for Government Relations David French said in a statement. "With the threat of a global trade war, Congress must step in before the U.S. economy suffers, American jobs are lost and families are forced to pay more for everyday products," he added. WASHINGTON, June 6 (Xinhua) -- As Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe departed on Wednesday to visit the White House for talks with U.S. President Donald Trump, analysts here said the tour, the second in two months, is unlikely to dispel bilateral mistrust on the issues concerning the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and trade. Before travelling to Canada for the Group of Seven (G7) summit, Abe will meet Trump on June 7, as part of a trip largely expected to reaffirm Japan's stances on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and trade in Washington and Quebec before Trump's scheduled meeting with DPRK top leader Kim Jong Un on June 12 in Singapore. MISSION OF REASSURANCES Abe's trip to the White House has widely been seen as a bid to seek reassurances from Trump to stand with Japan in his meeting with Kim. Specifically, Tokyo expected Trump to reiterate its demand that Pyongyang abandon its nuke programs as well as all of its medium and long-range ballistic missiles that could cover Japan once triggered. Abe also expected Trump to urge Kim to release the Japanese citizens allegedly abducted in the country. Trump vowed to put forward the issue to Kim while meeting with Abe at his Mar-a-Lago resort in April. A sense of insecurity or fear for being marginalized in future talks concerning the Korean Peninsula has fretted Tokyo amid the fast-changing chemistry between Pyongyang and Washington lately, as indicated in their "positive" meetings in New York, Singapore and inter-Korean border, as well as in Trump's remarks hinting the possible signing of a peace treaty with Kim after meeting with Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of the Central Committee of the DPRK's ruling Workers' Party of Korea, last week. Jenna Gibson, communications director at the Washington-based non-profit Korea Economic Institute (KEI), told Xinhua that "the fact that Abe is rushing to Washington on the eve of the summit, the second visit in just two months, says a lot about how insecure he feels in terms of getting his policy priorities on the agenda." "Whether or not it's true, from a public relations perspective Abe looks desperate to meet with Trump and be included in policymaking in the region," she said. "If Abe gets the last word before the summit, there is a better chance that his priorities, including issues like the abductees, will stick in Trump's mind when he arrives in Singapore." For now, the United States and Japan remain divergent on the issue of the abductees, Gibson added. "Addressing the Japanese abductees who were taken by the North Koreans is a high priority for Japan, and for Abe personally. In principle, the U.S. agrees that North Korea should address the issue, but doesn't see it as a top priority in the same way that Abe does," she explained. Douglas Paal, vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, also saw Abe's visit to Washington as "a mission of reassurance." "It is ... not to change the script," he said. "The Japanese are content that Pompeo and Bolton get their needs, but are unsure about Trump himself. So Abe is coming to make the necessary points." BRAWLS OVER TRADE A growing trade dispute triggered by Washington's imposition of fresh tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from some of its major trading partners is also likely to weigh heavily on Abe's meeting with Trump and his trip for the G7 summit. "I will insist that the G7, which has developed free and fair economic order, has to play its role for the stability of the world economy," Abe said before departing. Gibson argued that the good personal relationship between Trump and Abe has not so far carried over into the United States' "preferential treatment on policy" towards Tokyo. On economic issues, South Korea was able to negotiate its way onto a list of exempted countries for Trump's steel tariffs, while Japan was left off the list, she said. On the DPRK, President Trump is working closely with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, and has not seemed to listen to Abe's more conservative and hardline stance on the DPRK, she added. "Abe may have to rethink his strategy and figure out how to translate his good personal ties with Trump into policy wins for Japan." In the eyes of Douglas Paal, U.S.-Japan relations are largely in alignment on security, and not on trade. "This will lead Japan to cover its bets, especially with Russia," he said. Analysts said that the huge differences between Abe and Trump on trade policies and practices, such as the United States' latest 232 investigations and threat to slap tariffs on imported automobiles will once again turn Abe's upcoming visit to the White House barely fruitless. Yet for Trump, it is reassuring to see that Abe agrees to stay on the same page with him in bettering relations with Pyongyang, analysts said. Darrell West, Brookings Institution's senior fellow, told Xinhua that "Japan is less likely to take a confrontational stance with North Korea since Japan could be the first country attacked (other than South Korea) if there are armed hostilities." Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-07 11:23:11|Editor: Xiang Bo Video Player Close SYDNEY, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The world's only large-scale hybrid power plant project in Australia's north, has received its first shipment of wind turbine blades from China this week. At 70 meters high, the 36 blades onboard weighed approximately 3,500 tons and will now head to the massive Kennedy Energy Park site in Queensland State, which will feature 12 wind turbines as well as 55,000 solar panels and four megawatts of lithium Ion battery storage. As Australia's third largest port, the Townsville dock usually only deals with commodities like zinc, lead, sugar, fertilizer and molasses, according to Scott Stewart, Queensland state parliament member for Townsville, the oversized cargo proved quite a challenge. "The logistical coordination of such enormous cargo involves many parties, from the importer, shipping line, to stevedores and transport companies," he said on Wednesday. "It's an incredible team effort." Developed by Australian-based firm Windlab and Japan's Eurus Energy Holdings Corporation, the 200-meter-high wind turbines were supplied by global energy operation Vestas with the engineering and construction component of the new facility to be carried out in partnership with burgeoning Aussie company Quanta Solar. Expected to create around 110 jobs during construction, the 160-million-Australian dollar (122-million-U.S. dollar) project has the potential to supply more than 30,000 homes with power and decrease CO2 emissions by 185,000 tonnes per year. The state-of-the-art energy facility is part of the Queensland Government's push to achieve 50 percent renewable energy supply by 2030. "Queensland is experiencing a renewable energy boom, and its great to see our state owned ports playing a role," Queensland Transport and Roads Minister Mark Bailey said. Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain (C) is in an interview with Chinese media at the Presidential Palace in Islamabad, capital of Pakistan on June 6, 2018. (Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal) ISLAMABAD, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain said his country sees the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as an important framework for regional cooperation and it has played a vital role in safeguarding peace and security in the region. The president told the Chinese media Wednesday ahead of his departure for the upcoming SCO's summit to be held in China's eastern port city of Qingdao that the organization promotes multifaceted cooperation in the region in a wide array of fields, adding that the SCO includes the Pakistan's major development and strategic partners. "It allows us to share perspectives, coordinate positions and develop practical and concrete cooperation with these important countries," he said. The president said the organization espouses the values of the Shanghai Spirit, which features mutual trust and respect, equality, respect for diverse civilizations and pursuit of shared development. Pakistan, as a new member of the SCO since 2017, is "committed to enhancing our relations with all SCO members on the basis of these values," he added. The Pakistani president hailed the SCO's Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) as an important and useful forum for cooperation against the common enemy of terrorism. He said his country has successfully combated terrorism and it is ready to share its experiences in tackling the menace of terrorism through the SCO-RATS. He expected that initiatives of SCO on investment promotion, trade facilitation, customs cooperation, e-commerce, small and medium enterprises, rail and road connectivity and tourism cooperation should be tied to specific timelines, that initiatives such as SCO Development Bank and SCO Development Fund should be pursued in earnest, and the SCO Business Council should be empowered and entrusted to establish business-to-business linkages. The president emphasized that nowadays the SCO stands out not just in terms of the sheer size of its populations or the territorial expanse it covers. "While some major powers are becoming increasingly inward and isolationist, the Shanghai Spirit of mutual trust, equality, shared development and respect for diversity offers a template for a new kind of inter-state cooperation. By according equal priority to economic development and security cooperation, the SCO serves as a model of efficient and effective cooperation," Hussain said. He said the Belt and Road Initiative is a revolutionary global movement connecting over 60 countries with generational impact. "It is a win-win partnership that is already catalyzing growth and integrating economies all across Eurasia, the Middle East and Africa. Pakistan is a strong believer and an ardent supporter of the BRI." The Pakistani president expected that the SCO can be a vehicle for the Belt and Road Initiative as all SCO countries are connected through the ancient Silk Route. He said that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is fast reaching fruition. Photo taken on May 25, 2018 shows the Multan-Shujaabad section of Multan-Sukkur Motorway in Multan, Pakistan, the largest transportation infrastructure project under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in Multan in the country's eastern Punjab province. (Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal) "It entails greater connectivity and trade linkages between Pakistan and China through a network of road, rail, fiber optic cable, energy pipelines and power generation projects," he said. The Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road initiative, proposed by China in 2013, is aimed at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient trade routes. "By generating employment and improving energy and transport infrastructure across the length and breadth of Pakistan, we have already begun reaping dividends form CPEC. Many of the early harvest projects of CPEC have been completed... Energy projects have helped Pakistan to overcome its energy shortage," said the president. "Many infrastructure and other projects are fast approaching completion. Gwadar port has become operational. Many projects of social welfare have also been completed in Gwadar." Hussain said that Pakistan and China are all weather and time tested friends. "Successive generations of the leaders in both the countries have worked hard to strengthen this relationship ... Pakistan supports China on all its core issues," said the president, adding that Pakistan believes that maintenance of peace and security is the collective responsibility of all parties to the South China Sea. "Pakistan has maintained that disputes over the South China Sea should be peacefully resolved through consultation and negotiations," the president concluded. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-07 12:53:25|Editor: ZD Video Player Close NANNING, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Police in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region arrested 19 suspects for illegally selling more than 48,200 tonnes of steel scrap to Vietnam, local customs said Thursday. The gang, led by a suspect surnamed Gao, used fake contracts and receipts to declare the steel scrap, escaping China's 40-percent export duty on the goods, according to Nanning customs. Since January, they have smuggled goods worth around 100 million yuan (15.6 million U.S. dollars), evading about 16 million yuan in taxes. Steel scrap is the only substitute for iron ore in the manufacturing of steel products and an important material for reducing carbon emissions and alleviating the dependence on iron ore, according to Nanning customs. CANBERRA, June 7 (Xinhua) -- A new research facility in Adelaide is set to consolidate South Australia's international reputation for fine wine. The federal government pledged funding of 3.5 million USD towards a training facility at the University of Adelaide to ensure growers, winemakers and scientists remain globally competitive. "We need to ensure our grape growers and winemakers are supported and have the pathways to expand and remain internationally competitive," Education and Training Minister Simon Birmingham said on Thursday when announcing the facility. Disease and environmental impact are key areas affecting the industry that researchers will tackle. "World-first research and technological breakthroughs in the vineyard, winemaking processes, marketing practices, and even bottle closures, have helped make Australia a world leader," Birmingham said. The South Australian industry is responsible for more than half of total wine production in Australia and has garnered global renown over many decades as a producer of premium varieties. The state's diverse geography and climate enables it to produce a range of grapes, from the cool-climate Riesling in the Clare Valley to the full-bodied Shiraz wines of the Barossa Valley. Along with McLaren Vale and Coonawarra, these regions produce some of Australia's best-known wines, such as Penfolds Grange, Jacob's Creek, Yalumba and Henschke Hill of Grace. CANBERRA, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Strong results in mining exports have led to significant growth in the Australian economy, according to the Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Australia's economy is growing at an annual rate of 3.1 percent, up from 2.4 percent three months ago, the ABS reported late on Wednesday. The strong start to 2018 marks a significant increase in the rate of growth in seasonally adjusted terms. Bureau figures indicate quickening growth in the March quarter was driven mostly by exports of mining commodities, in particular coal, iron ore and liquefied natural gas. Export growth accounts for half the increase in gross domestic product, government spending for about a third. Some economists are not surprised by the increased growth, which they say aligns output growth with jobs growth, which was unsustainably high at 3.5 percent in 2017. Andrew Hanlan, an economist with one of Australia's big four banks, Westpac, said on Thursday: "This is against the backdrop of stronger global growth, which accelerated in 2017 to the fastest pace since 2011." In the past four quarters, Australia's economy has grown by 1.01 percent (March), 0.54 percent (December 2017), 0.52 percent (September 2017), and 1.03 percent (June), bringing the annual growth rate to 3.1 percent. Economists, however, say the strong rise in net exports over the past three months is unlikely to be repeated. Data shows exports of goods were up 2.9 percent, powered by non-rural exports, with mining commodities, liquified natural gas, coal, iron ore and non-monetary gold the main drivers, which helped net exports rebound from their poor showing in the December quarter. Paul Dales, chief economist at Capital Economics, told the Australian media: "We doubt that the strength of net exports will be sustained as some of it was due to a catch-up after production problems in the middle of last year." The ABS is the independent agency of the Australian government, providing key statistics on a range of economic, population, environmental and social issues. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-07 13:28:32|Editor: ZD Video Player Close RIO DE JANEIRO, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's federal police on Wednesday requested the disclosure of the phone records of President Michel Temer and two members of his cabinet. The request for the phone records of Temer, presidential Chief of Staff Eliseu Padilha and Minister of Mines and Energy Moreira Franco is part of an investigation of the "Operation Car Wash" corruption probe, which has uncovered numerous illegal dealings, bribery and embezzlement in the Brazilian government. The presidential office said it will not comment on the request, which was presented to Supreme Court Justice Edson Fachin. The police investigation is related to the three politicians' alleged wrongdoing in a bribery scheme involving construction company Odebrecht and the civil aviation secretariat in 2014. Temer was vice president at that time. Former Odebrecht executive Claudio Melo Filho told the police that he had a meeting with Temer in his official residence, in which the president asked for a 10 million reals (2.6 million U.S. dollars) bribe from the company in exchange for a favorable attitude toward it in contracts. In the past, Temer had admitted to having a meeting with Melo Filho, but denied any requests for money. It is not the first time President Temer is investigated by the "Operation Car Wash." Earlier this year, the police had requested his bank records, to which Temer expressed outrage and said he would disclose his bank statements to the press himself. But he then backed off and did not release any of the documents. SYDNEY, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Scientists and marine wildlife specialists in Western Australia state have developed buoys to help track and rescue whales that get entangled in fishing gear, amid the annual highly anticipated mass migration of the animals along the coast, authorities said on Thursday. The technology allows parks and wildlife staff to remotely monitor the real-time location of whales before disentangling them if necessary, according to a government statement. At least 10 of the devices have been placed between the state's Esperance and Broome areas, including three off state capital Perth. About 35,000 whales are currently migrating from Antarctic waters to calving areas off the state's northern Kimberley region, which regularly attracts many whale-watching tourists, the state's Environment Minister Stephen Dawson said. It was previously "extremely difficult" to find an entangled whale off the Western Australia coast once it was lost from sight, and some opportunities to rescue the cetaceans "were missed as it was unsafe to attempt disentanglement due to poor weather and light," he said. "This new technology allows time for disentanglements to be carried out in safe weather conditions and with sufficient daylight, while being aware of the whale's location at all times," Dawson said. While whale disentanglements from lobster fishing gear alone have steadily fallen from 17 in 2013 to six last year due to gear modification, "it is pleasing to see that the rock lobster industry is showing its commitment to protecting whales" by helping to fund the buoys, the state's Fisheries Minister Dave Kelly said. "The development and deployment of this technology demonstrates the state government's commitment to working with the fishing industry to investigate new measures to minimize entanglements along the coast," he said. CANBERRA, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Scientists from the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra have designed microscopic optical sensors that could enable real-time health monitoring. The sensors, which are 50 times thinner than a human hair, could be fitted into a wearable device, such as a watch, to allow people and their doctors to regularly check their health. The breakthrough promises to help doctors detect diseases, such as diabetes, much earlier than is possible today. Associate Professor Antonio Tricoli, leader of the Nanotechnology Research Laboratory at the ANU Research School of Engineering, said on Thursday the sensors opened the door to a revolution in health care. The research was conducted in partnership with the Queensland University of Technology and the Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, and hopes to better manage a range of chronic diseases. "These ultra-small sensors could be integrated into a watch to literally provide a window on our health," Tricoli told the ANU website. "This exciting invention shows that we are on the cusp of designing the next generation of wearable devices that will help people to stay well for longer and lead better lives." Tricoli said the sensors could measure very small concentrations of gases coming through skin and breath, called metabolites, allowing doctors to keep track of people's health in real time. "You could simply use a pulse of light to track these biomarkers of disease, there'd be no need for batteries, wires or large and expensive lab equipment," he said. "A wearable medical diagnostic device using our optical sensors may one day eliminate the need for blood tests and many other invasive procedures." The ANU team's sensors are said to be super versatile and have numerous applications, ranging from medical diagnosis, farming and space exploration, to whether a plant has a particular disease or a fruit is ripe. English French MONTREAL, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, access to residential Internet is essential to economic, social, and educational opportunity, yet many Canadian families make significant trade-offs in order to pay for it. Computers for Success Canada Inc. (CFSC) is proud to be involved in Innovation, Science and Economic Developments (ISED) Connecting Families initiative to increase Internet affordability for low-income Canadians. Announced by Minister Navdeep Bains at the Canadian Telecom Summit in Toronto, the initiative brings together seven Internet Service Providers (ISPs) across the country -- Bell, Cogeco, Rogers, SaskTel, Shaw, TELUS and Videotron that are partnering with the Government of Canada to offer low-cost service to eligible households. Connecting Families is set to run until 2022 and CFSC will develop a secure online portal that will enable eligible low-income Canadian families to access the $10 per month high speed Internet service from participating Internet Service Providers while protecting their privacy. Up to 50,000 computers will also be made available to eligible families through the Computers for Schools program. Computers and Internet are basic tools Canadians rely on for access to public services, education and employment, said Toby Harper-Merrett, Executive Director of CFSC-OPEC. Our organization, and others delivering ISEDs Computers for Schools program, bring decades of community-sector knowledge to this initiative that will provide more Canadian families access to the valuable resources available to them online. The initiative was designed to connect low income families to the Internet. As such, Canadian families that currently receive the maximum Child Care Benefit (CCB) are eligible for this initiative. Eligible households will have access to residential wireline Internet service for $10 per month, with no less than 10 Mbps download speeds (or the fastest available) and no less than 100GB of data usage each, with no equipment or installation fees applied. As the cost of computer hardware is also a barrier for some families, a target of 50,000 computers will be distributed to eligible families through the existing Computers for Schools (CFS) program. Family income should not be a barrier to making an appointment or completing homework. This affordability initiative will help low-income Canadian families spend less of their household budget on Internet, and for others address significant challenges to getting online at all, added Mr. Harper-Merrett. About the CFS program Computers for Schools is a Government of Canada program that refurbishes computers donated by government, private businesses and individuals for use by schools, libraries, registered not-for-profit organizations and Indigenous communities. About CFSC Computers for Success Canada (CFSC-OPEC) is a not-for-profit organization established in 2005 supporting the impacts of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada digital inclusion and economic participation programs. CFSC-OPECs services stand in four pillars - marketing and communications, partnership development, project management, and strategic planning. Contact Julie Brouard Manager, Communications Computers for Success Canada Inc. julie.brouard@cfsc-opec.org +1 514 756 3885 Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-07 13:48:37|Editor: Xiang Bo Video Player Close RIO DE JANEIRO, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's ruling party presidential candidate, Henrique Meirelles, on Wednesday said if he wins the October elections he will promote the privatization of state-run oil giant Petrobras and state banks. In an interview with Brazilian daily Correio Braziliense, Meirelles said he wants the private sector to play a bigger role to keep companies competitive. Should he win, the first government-run financial institution to be privatized would be the Caixa Economica Federal, the Federal Savings Bank. "The Caixa is being prepared for that, with a new statute," said the candidate, adding the institution could eventually be opened to private capital. Ideally, state companies such as Petrobras or the Bank of Brazil should not be sold to a single controlling entity or individual, because that could lead to private monopolies, he said. Meirelles, who resigned as economy minister a few weeks ago to hit the campaign trail, is the candidate of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB), the same right-of-center party as President Michel Temer. Most Brazilians are against privatizing Petrobras and other state firms, according to a recent poll commissioned by leading workers' union CUT and carried out by pollster Vox Populi. Some 49 percent of those queried were against privatizing the Banco do Brasil and Caixa Economica Federal. Despite being the ruling-party candidate, Meirelles is trailing far behind in the polls, with a scant 1-percent support among eligible voters. KHOST, Afghanistan, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Four civilians have been killed and five others wounded after gunmen fired on worshippers at a mosque in Afghanistan's eastern province of Khost, a provincial government spokesman said Thursday. The firing took place in Kamal Khil Mosque in Lalmayi locality, Mandozayi district on Wednesday evening after gunmen entered the mosque and fired onto people who were offering evening prayers, spokesman Talib Mangal told Xinhua. The assailants fled the scene shortly after the shooting and police have launched an investigation into the case, he added. The motive behind the attack remained unknown and no group has claimed responsibility for the incident yet. The Afghan civilians continue to bear the brunt of armed conflicts as more than 3,430 civilians were killed and over 7,000 others injured in conflict-related incidents in 2017, according to figures of the United Nations mission in the country. KABUL, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The Afghan army personnel found 73 improvised bombs and landmines within the last 24 hours, the country's Defense Ministry said Thursday. "Afghan National Army (ANA) explosive-ordnance disposal teams recovered 73 rounds of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and landmine elsewhere since early Wednesday. They safely defused or destroyed the explosives over the period," the ministry said in a statement. Taliban militants and Islamic State fighters have been using IEDs to make roadside bombs and landmines for targeting security forces, but the lethal home-made weapons also inflict casualties on civilians. The national army remains committed to secure communities and works diligently to provide security for Afghans across the country, the ministry noted. NEW DELHI, June 7 (Xinhua) -- A paramilitary trooper of India's Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was killed and a policeman wounded Thursday in a gunfight with Naxals in India's eastern state of Jharkhand, officials said. The gunfight broke out in the Dalbhaga-Arki area of the Saraikela-Kharsawan district at about 133 km southeast of Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand. "Today in the morning a joint team of CRPF and police launched a search operation in Saraikela area. During the process it came under heavy fire from Naxals, thereby triggering a gunfight," an official said. "During the stand-off a CRPF commando was killed and a policeman wounded." So far there were no reports of damage to Naxals in the gunfight. According to officials, the firing was still going on in the area until last reports poured in. Currently Naxals are active in central and eastern India. WASHINGTON, June 6 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday held his first iftar dinner at the White House, joining the gathering after dozens of guests broke fast with their first course. He said in prepared remarks that Ramadan was "a great month." The White House did not release a full guest list for the event, but according to a handful of reporters present, the invitees mostly consisted of U.S. government officials and diplomats from Muslim countries. The event was the first for Trump, who last year broke with the decades-long tradition at the White House to host members of the U.S. Muslim community to celebrate Ramadan. Despite the effort, Trump was still criticized for his anti-Muslim rhetoric and policies seen during his presidential campaign and his tenure. Also after his inauguration, he has vigorously pushed for a ban on travelers from several Muslim majority countries. In response to the iftar dinner, dozens of people gathered across the street from the White House to protest against Trump's anti-Muslim policies. Bilal Askaryar, an activist, said, "No one in the Muslim community can look at his actions and think that he is a friend." Iftar is a dinner held every day in the month of Ramadan by Muslims after their daily fast. The food at the iftar meal is especially abundant and carefully prepared. Afghan gov't announces ceasefire with Taliban during Eid festival Source: Xinhua 2018-06-07 15:03:46 KABUL, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The Afghan government has announced an eight-day ceasefire with Taliban insurgent group during an upcoming religious festival, the state-run RTA TV reported on Thursday. Editor: Shi Yinglun Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-07 15:13:49|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close by Levi Parsons PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea, June 7 (Xinhua) -- After 22 years of developing vital infrastructure projects across the tropical, sun-drenched nation of Papua New Guinea (PNG), the relationship between Chinese enterprises and local people has never been stronger, said an executive of a Chinese construction company. "Whenever Chinese employees have difficulties here, locals always offer lending hands," Wu Dongzheng, general manager of China Railway International Group's South Pacific branch, told Xinhua. On one such occasion when travelling in an isolated, mountainous area, a heavy storm saw the business leader and his team's vehicle become stuck in thick mud. Looking like they might be stranded until the weather cleared, Wu said that when a group of local villagers passed by and saw the Chinese company logo, they immediately wanted to help and offered to push the vehicle to safety. Launched in 2007, as a subsidiary of its predecessor and parent company China Railway Engineering Corporation, China Railway International Group trades under the acronym CREC and currently has over 300,000 employees in around the world. The international construction enterprise is perhaps best known for developing Poland's 610-km A2 highway, Venezuela's 471-km high-speed railway line through the country's agriculture belt and a number of transformative projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo that have included hospitals, schools and airports. Financed largely by the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the Chinese Government, CREC currently have 17 infrastructure projects in PNG which include airports, bridges, water supply projects and a scheme to construct the country's first national road network spanning over 1,600 km. But the company's impact in the picturesque, palm-tree laden paradise goes far beyond the bricks and mortar developments that have helped the country modernize over recent years. With more than 2,500 local staff, CREC have made it a priority to improve living standards of the employees and their families. "I've seen too much poverty, too many jobless young men and too many families without medical care," Wu said. That's why the company is focused on providing staff with technical training and professional qualifications, as well as offering financial reward incentives to employees. "Many families have changed their way of life because of this, and sent their children to primary schools and even universities," Wu explained. In the isolated Highland region, where many of CREC's operations are located, school facilities are often drastically under-supplied. "We make donations such as books, to families of local staff," Wu said. "We have also funded many children from poor families to go to school in PNG, or to study abroad in China and Australia." "Besides this, we are one of the first Chinese enterprises to provide employees who joined us for more than three months with a social security fund." For one of the company's longest serving local employees Daniel Nere, the most important facet of his job over the last decade is to ensure there's local participation in all CREC projects. "We make sure the local people get contracts, subcontracts and are employed as we work along the corridors of the constructions path," he said. "It has been my job to figure out the interrelationship between the company and the government here, and the Chinese understand us, they have much respect for PNG people like me." With the nation riding an economic wave of success and preparing to host the 2018 APEC leaders' meeting at the end of the year, disaster struck back in February when a 7.5-magnitude earthquake, along with a relentless series of aftershocks, rocked Hella province and much of the mountainous Highland region. In total, it's estimated that around 150 people died as a result of the tragedy. But during this desperate time in the aftermath of the tremor, CREC took it upon themselves to help rescue local villagers. "Severe landslides had blocked off most of the roads, so we used all of our machines and excavators to clear access roads and reach people so we could bring them food and water," Wu said, adding that after years of cooperation with local subcontractors and employees, the friendship between Chinese enterprises and local people since the earthquake has once again deepened. At the end of 2017, Wu signed an agreement with the East and West Highlands Province Governments to develop two integrated industrial agriculture parks. "I think developing agriculture is the most important thing for this country," he said. "But there is no road network to deliver agricultural products." "So I invited the PNG government to join China's Belt and Road Initiative to improve connectivity and services." With PNG's leadership onboard, there is a plan to establish "six or seven" advanced farming sites across the country that would sell eco-friendly products to the world, totally revolutionizing the local economy. "China is one of our strongest development partners, and this direct investment is an example of the huge confidence that China and Chinese companies have in Papua New Guinea," PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill said when he signed the project's Memorandum of Understanding. "These developments will enhance agriculture, roads and water supply in parts of the Highlands and help people to be more active in the economy," he said. "The projects we have agreed on will deliver positive change for people in many towns and villages and I thank the government of China and the China Railway Company for their ongoing commitment to Papua New Guinea." Wu's plan to help grow the country's agriculture sector stems from the long-time partnership that Chinese researchers have built with PNG's local farmers. "About 20 years ago, Fujian Province Agriculture and Forestry University started to send experts here to assist local people in planting mushrooms and dry-land rice crops," he said. "Now, we want to set up a training center in the agriculture industrial park to teach local students advanced agricultural science and technology." In addition, CREC will soon build new processing plants for PNG's famed coffee and cocoa industry. HELSINKI, June 7 (Xinhua) -- A Finnish company has launched a new smartphone application designed to help ordinary people develop skills required to navigate space as an astronaut. Space Nation, a Helsinki-based startup, said the Space Navigator aims to help anyone prepare for the age of space tourism. "Space is not far away. It's in our backyard," Mazdak Nassir, the company's founder and chief content officer, was quoted by Finnish national broadcaster Yle as saying. The application offers a variety of tasks, games and quizzes for astronaut wannabes. The training package, which is intended to make the users both physically and mentally space-ready, is suitable even for those who "begin from zero," according to the company. Space Nation will select 12 people from the fittest users of the app for further training and give the best among them an opportunity to get an actual space tour. "Our aim is to dispel the notion that an astronaut is super-human," said Nassir. Although sending people into space is still challenging, the introduction of Space Navigator is a positive development, said Jaan Praks, an assistant professor and space expert at Aalto University. "All activities and investments in this direction are good. This will prepare us for the future when we travel in space much more," he said. NEW DELHI, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Indian archaeologists have unearthed over 4,000-year-old chariots, swords and helmets in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, which they claim clearly suggests that those were also used in wars in this sub-continent during the Bronze Age. A team at the state-owned Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) found the chariots, which are two-wheeled open vehicle drawn by horse, and other artefacts in Sanauli village in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, 60 km from the Indian capital, after a three-month-long excavation. According to the researchers, this is the first time that chariots have been found in the Indian sub-continent. When in 2000 BC, the Mesopotamians were using chariots, swords and even helmets during wars, the researchers said, people in this sub-continent also had similar items. "It's shocking to find such antique from ancient civilization in this area. Many royal tombs have also been found during the excavation. Whatever has been found so far seems to be 4,000 years old, which is approximately 2,000-1,800 BCE," top ASI official S.K. Manjul told the media. On animals used to draw the chariots, Manjul said, "It could be a bull or a horse, but having said that the preliminary understanding points to the horse." "The chariot is a lookalike of the ones found in its contemporary cultures like Mesopotamia. It is a solid wheel with no spokes. In one of the pits, crown or helmet worn by the rider of the chariot has been recovered," the official added. Some historians, however, argue that chariots figure prominently in the Rigveda, evidencing their presence in India in the 2nd millennium BCE. Among Rigvedic deities, notably Ushas (the dawn) rides in a chariot, as well as Agni in his function as a messenger between gods and men. The Rigveda is a collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns counted among the four Hindu religious texts known as the Vedas. The Rig Veda was likely composed between roughly 1,700-1,100 BCE. Others went further and said the discovery of chariots could be a hint of the existence of the horse-drawn carts in the Mahabharata, one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India. "There was mention of chariots in the epic," local historian R.S. Prasad said. In Mahabharata, where the main story revolves around two branches of a family - Pandavas and Kauravas - who, in the Kurukshetra War, battle for the throne of Hastinapura. The ASI researchers also said a coffin found by them during excavation is copper-decorated. "For the first time in the sub-continent we have found this kind of coffin. The cover is highly decorated with eight anthropomorphic figures and the sides with floral motifs," Manjul said. According to them, the discovery of chariots, swords, daggers, among others, suggests that a warrior tribe had lived in that place during that time. "The new findings will shed light on India's place in the ancient world history. Previously, chariots were found to be a part of Mesopotamia, Georgia, Greek civilizations. But, the Sanauli recovery shows we were on par with them," Manjul added. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-07 15:33:57|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close CARACAS, June 6 (Xinhua) -- The Organization of American States' (OAS) resolution on Venezuela is legally nonviable and therefore "nonexistent," Venezuelan Communication and Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez said Wednesday. On Tuesday, about two-thirds of OAS members agreed on a U.S.-backed resolution that could pave the way to Venezuela's suspension from the hemispheric bloc, but the measure contravenes the organization's own charter, said Rodriguez. "That resolution is nonexistent for Venezuela and it is nonexistent for international law ... since it violates something that is above the resolution, which is the OAS charter," Rodriguez told reporters at a press conference. The resolution also refuses to recognize the legitimacy of the May 20 elections with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro being reelected for a second term, although the charter states that the OAS cannot interfere in the internal affairs of member states, said Rodriguez, describing the U.S. maneuver as "a failure." "They did not succeed. They failed again. They needed 24 votes ... and with 19 they approved a resolution that absolutely violates the OAS charter," the minister said. "What's the point of Venezuela being in an organization that does not even respect its own founding charter?" Rodriguez asked. Venezuela said last year that it had started a two-year process to pull out of the OAS. The minister criticized the United States for leaning on countries to vote its way. However, Venezuela reaffirms its willingness to engage in dialogue with the United States. "We are going to insist: Civilized nations have to have dialogue, to get closer, they have to use the tools of international law," said Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Arreaza at a press conference in Washington, following his meeting with a U.S. senator. The United States has taken a hard-line stance towards the South American country, rejecting dialogue in favor of imposing economic and financial sanctions. The OAS held its General Assembly on June 4 and 5. The resolution to call an extraordinary assembly to vote on suspending Venezuela's membership was passed with 19 votes in favor, four against and 11 abstentions. MCLEAN, VA, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Washington Technology, an 1105 Media Inc. brand, has released its annual Top 100 rankings of the largest companies selling IT and other technology products and services to the federal government. For the second year in a row there is a new No. 1 company General Dynamics Corp. GD captured the top spot with $7.3 billion in prime contracts during fiscal 2017. GDs rise from No. 6 in 2017 to No. 1 in 2018 is thanked in a large part by its acquisition of CSRA earlier this year. Last years No. 1, Leidos Inc., moved down to the No. 2 spot. Leidos displaced Lockheed Martin, which had held the No. 1 position for 22 years, but sold the bulk of its IT services business to Leidos in 2016. The annual rankings are based on an analysis of procurement data from the Federal Procurement Data System. Agencies assign codes to all of their spending and Washington Technology uses codes that best represent IT, systems integration, telecommunications, research and develop and professional services to analyze the data and create the rankings. The rankings are a great barometer for how the market is changing and how the companies are evolving, said Washington Technology Editor-in-chief Nick Wakeman. Some of the major trends represented in the Top 100 include a resurgence in large acquisitions, the importance of IT modernization, and more firms embracing strategies built around presenting customers with solutions rather than just services. The 2018 Top 100 is the 25th annual rankings Washington Technology has produced since publishing the first Top 100 in 1994. Obviously, the market has changed a tremendous amount since then, Wakeman said. But the 25th annual rankings also tell us that more change is underway right now with robust M&A activity and companies developing solutions around the cloud and mobility as well as emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning. Join Washington Technology's webcast on June 20th as they explore the 2018 annual rankings of the largest prime contractors in the federal market. Visit http://washingtontechnology.com to find out more. About Washington Technology Washington Technology provides actionable and insightful information to all contractors in the government IT and systems integration marketplace. Expert coverage and analysis fuels strategic decisions around partnering, RFPs and resource development, which enables readers to competitively build relationships, bid smartly and win contracts. http://washingtontechnology.com About 1105 Public Sector Media Group 1105 Public Sector Media Group, a division of 1105 Media, Inc., provides information, insight and analysis to the Government IT sector. Content platforms include print, digital, online, events and a broad spectrum of marketing services. http://1105publicsector.com SAN FRANCISCO, June 6 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. West Coast city of San Francisco is considering renaming a downtown park that bears the name of a U.S. congressman who initiated a notorious anti-Chinese act in the early 20th century. San Francisco Supervisor Norman Yee said Wednesday in a signed article that the city's "Board of Supervisors must rename the Julius Kahn Playground because we cannot bury our own history by overlooking who we choose to honor in our public spaces." Kahn served and represented San Francisco in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1899 to 1903. In 1902, he introduced a bill to make permanent the racist Chinese Exclusion Act that barred Chinese laborers from entering the United States and further imposed debilitating immigration requirements on people of Chinese descent. "He was a key San Francisco leader who promoted racism, bigotry and exclusion," Yee said. Though Kahn lived more than 100 years ago, the ideas and rhetoric he espoused still ring familiar today, he said. "Kahn's immigration policies did not espouse the values that San Francisco stands for today: respect for diversity, tolerance, and the appreciation of the contributions of our immigrant communities," Yee wrote. Some other supervisors like Aaron Peskin and Jeff Sheehy, and several Asian American groups such as the Chinese Historical Society of America and Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA), have expressed their support for Yee's appeal. "We must rename Julius Kahn Park. We can't change history, but we right the wrongs," the CAA tweeted Wednesday. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-07 16:34:16|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close BEIJING, June 7 (Xinhua) -- China will guide more foreign investments into central and western regions, the Ministry of Commerce said Thursday. Central and western regions should replicate the successes of the country's pilot free trade zones, said Gao Feng, spokesperson for the ministry. There will be favorable tax, land, and credit policies and new infrastructure connecting with neighboring countries, according to Gao. A recent State Council executive meeting decided that more needed to be done to attract foreign investors. China will create a fair, transparent, and convenient environment for foreign investors through broader market access and better protection of investor interests, according to Gao. Gao said that despite intense competition for investment, China has high-end industrial capability, top-level human resources, and an improving business environment, so will remain a popular investment destination. Total foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Chinese mainland edged up 0.1 percent year on year to 287 billion yuan (45 billion U.S. dollars) in the first four months. The number of new overseas-funded companies set up during the period surged 95.4 percent from a year earlier. FDI into high-tech sectors climbed 20.2 percent, Gao said. NEW DELHI, June 7 (Xinhua) -- At least 10 people were killed and 12 others injured after a minibus rammed into a parked truck in the western Indian state of Maharashtra Thursday, police said. The accident occurred on a national highway near Chandwad in the state's Nashik district, some 160 km from state capital Mumbai. "The minibus carrying some 25 people, including two drivers and a helper, hit the stationary truck from behind after its driver lost control of the vehicle, following a sudden tyre burst. The impact of the crash was such that 10 people died on the spot," a police official said. Those injured have been admitted to a local hospital, where the condition of five are said to be serious. "The death toll may go up later in the day as the five are battling for their lives in Chandwad Civil Hospital after sustaining head injuries," he said. The victims were returning home in Thane district from a pilgrimage in the neighboring state of Madhya Pradesh's Ujjain district. Eye-witnesses told cops that the minibus was travelling at high speed and went out of control after its front tyre bursted suddenly, leading to the fatal crash. A probe has been ordered into the incident, the official said. "A case has been registered and a manhunt launched to track down the truck driver who fled the spot after the accident. We will also question the injured passengers of the bus once they are out of hospital," he added. This is the second major road accident in the state in the last one week. Some 10 people died in a car-truck collision in the state's Yavatmal area on June 1. India has one of the highest numbers of road fatalities in the world. Road accidents occur mostly due to poor driving or badly maintained roads and vehicles. JALALABAD, Afghanistan, June 7 (Xinhua) -- A couple were killed and their four children wounded when an unexploded mortar shell exploded in Afghanistan's eastern province of Nangarhar, the provincial government said in statement Thursday. The incident happened on Wednesday afternoon in Chaparhar district in a family house and the injured children were aged between 10 and 14, the statement added. The shell struck the house during an insider clash between two armed groups of Taliban in the past but the device did not explode then. It was found by one of the family members in Dago area of the district, and blew up, when the person was trying to throw it away, the statement said. Three of the wounded were rushed to the district township healthcare center, with one of them in critical condition shifted to provincial capital Jalalabad city, the statement said. Landmines and anti-personnel mines kill or maim more than 50 people every month in the militancy-hit country, according to officials. Unexploded ordnance and explosive remnants of war also frequently cause casualties among Afghans elsewhere in the country. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-07 17:14:27|Editor: Lu Hui Video Player Close A cargo container of China Railway Express train is loaded on a truck at Eurokombi terminal in Hamburg, Germany, on May 29, 2018. (Xinhua/Shan Yuqi) by Xinhua writers Shen Zhonghao, Qiao Jihong, Shuai Rong BRUSSELS, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Forging ahead or losing ground amid headwinds stemming from escalating U.S. trade protectionism? As two major forces in the world, China and the European Union (EU) should jointly safeguard the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, improve global governance, and advocate an open world economy, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said recently in Brussels. In the face of the United States' imposition of tariffs on steel and aluminum, China and the EU share the similar stance of safeguarding the multilateral trading system, which underpins the global economic growth. The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, announced Wednesday that it would start applying the rebalancing duties on U.S. products in July as part of the "three-pronged response" including the launch of legal proceedings against the United States in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the possible actions aimed at protecting the European market from disruptions caused by the diversion of steel from the U.S. market. "We regret that the United States left us with no other option than to safeguard EU interests," EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said. Still, the door to trade negotiations would never be closed eternally, in view of the fact that unilateralism and protectionism are neither able to "protect" anyone in the interrelated global economic and trade system, nor in line with the fundamental interests of people in any country who pursue sustainable prosperity and well-being. Against that backdrop, China and the EU, both are the victims of U.S. trade protectionism, comprehensive strategic partners as well as firm supporters and active participants of multilateral free trade, are expected to collaborate more closely to anchor world trade in line with the free and fair principle. A CHORUS OF TRANSATLANTIC CRITICISM AGAINST U.S. It was not much unexpected that U.S. President Donald Trump announced by the end of last month to impose punitive tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from the EU. Equally unsurprisingly, the tariff which came into effect since June 1 has drawn a chorus of criticism in Europe, where rage, anxiety, deep concern over further trade barriers on imported cars overshadowed political and economic activities. In a statement, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker lambasted U.S. tariffs, stressing that they are "protectionism, pure and simple". Germany, the largest economy in Europe, rejects the U.S. measure. "The German government rejects the tariffs imposed by the U.S. on steel and aluminum. We consider this unilateral measure to be illegal; the cited grounds of national security do not stand up," German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert said in a statement. "There is no point denying that the U.S. now has put a bomb under the global trading system." Fredrik Erixon, director of the European Center for International Political Economy, a Brussels-based think tank, told Xinhua. The excuse for imposing the tariffs, namely "America First," was "far-fetched," said Volker Treier, foreign affair specialist with the German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DIHK). Treier criticized the penalty duty as an "outmoded" instrument in the 19th century, incompatible with a time of globalization and digitalization. Gabriel Felbermayer, trade expert at the Ifo institute in Munich, warned that the development was likely to signal a looming "cold war" between Europe and the United States over trade. While economic damage would be "limited" at first, Felbermayer said, it had to be worried that the steel and aluminum tariffs were "only the beginning of a row of further U.S. measures." TRADE WAR GRANTS NO WINNERS In spite of countermeasures adopted to hit back against the United States, European policymakers and economic communities are well-versed in the lose-lose consequences of a trade war. "The measure risks touching off spirals of escalation in the end hurt everyone," Merkel warned. In Germany, around 25 percent of jobs depend on exports. Open markets are therefore especially important for the "core" country within the EU. "It's sure that in the vicious circle of tariffs, sanction and retorsion, there will only be losers: U.S. customers, German, European, and American companies, as well as the trust based on the established international rules," President of DIHK Eric Schweitzer said. Aluminum and steel are both important resources for German carmakers. For Germany's largest carmaker of Volkswagen, there would only be losers from a trade war. The Wolfsburg-based group called for a program of mutual tariff reductions as outlined in plans for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), a nascent EU-U.S. free trade agreement. But talks of the deal were frozen after Trump took office. CHINA AND EU JOINTLY PRESERVE MULTILATERALISM The more chaos and uncertainties Trump's protectionism has been stirring up worldwide, the more resilience and perseverance the open and fair trade system is needed to bring about. In this regard, China and the EU have abundant reasons to join hands to preserve multilateralism, globalization and free trade. Meeting with Juncker last Friday in Brussels ahead of the 20th EU-China summit, Wang said that as two major forces in the world, China and the EU should jointly safeguard the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, improve global governance, and advocate an open world economy. The international situation is undergoing complicated and profound changes, Juncker said. In this context, safeguarding multilateralism and free trade are not only at stake for the EU and China, but also for the rest of the world. Felbermayer recommended that the EU maintain a united front in opposition to the U.S. measure together with other international partners like China, a staunch supporter of multilateral system of fair trade. China has decided to slash its automobile import tariffs from July 1, pledging to further open up, including increasing imports from the United States, which will benefit both peoples and the rest of the world. Wang and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini co-chaired the eighth round of the China-EU high-level strategic dialogue in Brussels last Friday. Noting that unilateralism and protectionism are on the rise in the international landscape, Wang reiterated that China and the EU, as two stable forces, should strengthen strategic communication, promote mutual strategic trust, and deepen strategic cooperation. The two sides should jointly safeguard the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and safeguard multilateralism and global free trade regime, he said, adding that both sides should make due contributions to tackling global challenges. Mogherini stressed that the EU is willing to work with China to uphold and strengthen the multilateral system with the United Nations at the core, and the rules-based international order. (Xinhua reporter Tian Dongdong also contributed to the story.) NAIROBI, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The wreckage of a small plane which disappeared in the Aberdare forest in central Kenya on Tuesday has been found early Thursday, a senior government official said. Principal Secretary for the Kenyan Ministry of Transport Paul Maringa said that aerial search teams spotted the Fly-SAX plane early Thursday. "The missing plane has been spotted this morning southwest of the Abardare area. The government will be issuing a statement," Maringa said. The Fly-SAX plane, with 10 people on board, was flying from the Kitale airstrip in western Kenya to the capital of Nairobi when it lost contact with the control tower. Nyandarua County Commissioner Boaz Cherutich said Wednesday that the search mission had been hampered by the bad weather during which the light aircraft was suspected to have crashed. The light aircraft, operated by East African Safari Air Express (EASAX) trading as Fly-SAX, was carrying eight passengers and two crew members, according to the company's statement on Tuesday night. MANILA, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The administration of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte vowed on Thursday to intensify its campaign against criminals and illegal drugs. Presidential spokesman Harry Roque told a news conference that Duterte is very much concerned about the rising number of crime incidents in the country, including the recent deaths of two government prosecutors, and the reported increase in the number of holdup cases in the Philippine capital, Metro Manila. Roque said Duterte was especially concerned about the death of a 33-year-old assistant special prosecutor who was stabbed to death on Monday. The victim was five months pregnant when she was killed in broad daylight by a male drug addict. Roque said Duterte believes there is still room for improvement as far as public order and safety are concerned, although recent data would show that crimes in the country declined since he took office. "The president reiterated that while we have been combating crime and prohibited drugs since day one of his administration, apparently, we can do more," Roque said. Roque's statement came in the wake of Duterte's statement late Tuesday that "there are simply too many crimes" in the country. He even threatened to declare a state of "national emergency" and warned criminals that he would "make radical changes in the days to come." TOKYO, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Japan's Ube Industries Ltd. said Thursday that an internal probe at the firm had revealed that substandard quality checks may have been carried out for decades by the chemical product maker. A probe launched in February and carried out partly by external lawyers concluded in part that the company "had not prioritized ensuring quality as much as manufacturing." Substandard quality inspections, the probe revealed, affected 24 products that have been shipped to 113 companies. The improper inspections spanned all of Ube Industries' six group companies. According to Ube Industries, to take responsibility for the scandal, President Yuzuru Yamamoto will return his salary for June, while pay cuts will be dished out to five other senior members of the firm including Chairman Michio Takeshita. The punishments for the board members and other executives included pay cuts of between 30 to 60 percent, the firm said. The embattled chemical product maker had initially said that the substandard checks involved a plant in Chiba Prefecture, close to Tokyo, and some polythene products. One such case involved the falsification of the origin of raw concrete the company was using. The probe also found that such substandard quality checks and improprieties had been routinely carried out by Ube Industries, with such practices endemic in the group's working culture for a long period of time dating back to the 1970s. Investigators said the chemical maker had prioritized fulfilling delivery deadlines, rather than focusing on the quality of its work. A lack of personnel also compounded the problem. Ube Industries is the latest Japanese manufacturer to join a long list of multinational corporations in Japan who have been found to have rigged data or used uncertified staff to carry out inspections. These included Kobe Steel Ltd., Nissan Motor Co., Subaru Corp., with the growing list continuing to dent global faith in Japan's once highly regarded manufacturing sector. ULAN BATOR, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Mongolian President Khaltmaa Battulga on Thursday announced the start of the "Mongolia-Russia Initiative 2018" that aims to strengthen bilateral ties. "We hope that the series of events will help enrich the strategic partnership between our two countries and give a new impetus to the development of bilateral cooperation in trade, economy, industry, investment and culture," Battulga said at the launching ceremony of the program. Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a congratulatory letter to the ceremony, in which he said that Russia has always attached great importance to its relations with Mongolia. "Our two countries have great potential to further strengthen bilateral cooperation," the letter read. During the three-day event, business leaders from various sectors including agriculture, light industry, energy, construction and transportation will meet to discuss cooperation opportunities. Meanwhile, a machinery expo will take place at the central square of the capital city of Ulan Bator. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-07 17:39:39|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close BEIJING, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Approved by Chinese President Xi Jinping, the first friendship medal of the People's Republic of China (PRC) will be awarded on Friday. According to the law on national medals and honorary titles, friendship medals, one of the highest state honors, will be presented to foreigners who have made outstanding contributions to China's socialist modernization drive, in promoting exchange and cooperation between China and the world, and in safeguarding world peace. Xi will present the first friendship medal at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Friday afternoon. China Central Television will broadcast the event live. SAN FRANCISCO, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Syapse, the leading precision medicine company, announced today the formation of the Syapse Precision Medicine Council, a group of oncology, operations, and research leaders from health systems dedicated to advancing precision oncology through sharing best practices. Each year, Syapse and members of the Precision Medicine Council will convene to share strategies and insights for growing precision medicine programs in the community setting. Syapse will host the inaugural event October 18-20 in San Francisco. "We are privileged to serve a progressive group of early adopters in the field of precision medicine, said Ken Tarkoff, CEO of Syapse. Beyond providing health systems with the industry's leading software application, they have asked us to facilitate the exchange of early lessons within our network and to broker insights that benefit the entire group. Through the power of this collective exchange, we believe Syapse customers will help define best practices for the industry." Inaugural members include Henry Ford Health System, Catholic Health Initiatives and Dignity Health (the Precision Medicine Alliance), Providence St. Joseph Health, Aurora Health Care, and the University of Miami Health System. These health systems represent a wide range of communities from around the United States with diverse care needs. Syapse customers who join the network in the summer of 2018 will be eligible to join the Councils fall event, space permitting. "We have been a founding member of the Syapse network because of the opportunity to share data on similar patients, for both patient care and data mining research purposes, through a common technology platform," said Thomas Brown, MD, MBA, Executive Director of the Swedish Cancer Institute, part of Providence St. Joseph Health. "Joining the Syapse Precision Medicine Council will also allow us to engage strategically on best practices in scaling precision medicine programs for the future." Oncologists and administrators know that collaboration is vital in bringing research to and making the best treatment decisions for patients, said Damon Hostin, CEO of the Precision Medicine Alliance (PMA). PMA recognizes that health systems can learn from like-minded peers across the country. Im excited to join the Syapse Council and meet with other members this fall to share information about developing precision medicine programs that ensure access and opportunity to those we serve. Leading health systems are increasingly adopting precision medicine to provide better cancer care. With precision medicine, physicians can deliver personalized treatments based on a patients clinical and genomic profile, an approach that has been shown to improve patient outcomes, lower costs, and increase efficiency. Health systems that partner with Syapse have access to the Syapse software platform, data sharing network, and the benefits of our industry partnerships. New Syapse partners will also have the opportunity to join the Syapse Precision Medicine Council to connect with other leading health systems with more advanced precision medicine programs. About Syapse Syapse is on a mission to deliver the best care for every cancer patient through precision medicine. Our software platform, data sharing network, and industry partnerships enable healthcare providers to bring precision cancer care to every patient who needs it. By bringing together leading healthcare innovators into a unified ecosystem, we are working toward a future in which all cancer patients have access to the best personalized care, regardless of location or income. Our customersincluding Intermountain Healthcare, Providence St. Joseph Health, Henry Ford Health System, Aurora Health Care, Catholic Health Initiatives and Dignity Healthmanage one million active cancer cases at nearly 300 hospitals in 25 states. Contact: Courtney Lamie Crosscut Strategies 202-792-7200 courtney@crosscutstrategies.com by Xinhua writer Xu Xiaolei UNITED NATIONS, June 6 (Xinhua) -- An Indian-designed safety device aiming to protect women from assault won 1 million U.S. dollars in an philanthropic awards ceremony held here Wednesday, beating the other four finalists in the competition. The 1 million Anu & Naveen Jain Women's Safety XPRIZE, backed by Seattle-area entrepreneur Naveen Jain and his wife, was created in October 2016, focusing on the issues of sexual harassment and violence against women. Leaf Wearables, the startup company behind the winning smart device, was built by students of the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and Delhi Technological University. "It sends out signals based on two aspects instead of one," Neihariks Rajiv, the strategic designer of the device, told Xinhua, explaining that not only emergency alerts, but also live audio recordings could be sent to five pre-set guardians through the device if triggered. A video clip run at the awards ceremony said one in five women in the United States was a victim of assault on college campuses and 90 percent of the cases went unreported. Globally, a third of women has experienced violence in their lifetime, and many of them have no access to emergency response. That number soars to 92 percent of women in New Delhi, India. The Anu & Naveen Jain Women's Safety XPRIZE acts as a challenge to technologists to create a device that can inconspicuously trigger an emergency alert if a woman is facing a threat, and transmit information to a network of community responders within 90 seconds. Jain said when presenting this feature "that means it's not about he said, she said,(but) she said and she has proof," to a big round of applause. The low-cost device (it costs under 40 U.S. dollars) and its compatibility with low network connectivity were also among the requirements for competitors. The device could "go as low as 2G," given that in many developing countries, connectivity was problematic, said Rajiv, adding that they "took a lot of insights from women in developing countries." Since its launch, 85 teams from around the world had registered to compete for the prize. Five teams made it to Wednesday's awards ceremony, three of them from the United States and the other two from India and Switzerland. All the solutions were tested in simulated environments this April, including on public transportation in Mumbai, and in front of an independent judging panel composed of experts, including a geopolitical security consultant and a former FBI executive. Peter Diamandis, founder and CEO of XPRIZE, said this project "has proven that breakthrough solutions are borderless and exponential technology can help aid humanity in our most challenging global issues." Jain said a total of 200,000 dollars from two philanthropists presented at the award would be divided among the four finalists who did not win. All five solutions would go out in the marketplace, Jain said, and were "all winners nonetheless." Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-07 17:44:41|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close SHANGHAI, June 7 (Xinhua) -- China's e-commerce giant JD.com has begun using photovoltaic (PV) generators in its smart logistics center in Shanghai. JD.com are installing PV systems for its logistic centers around the country. PV will provide clean energy for the warehouse's robots and automated sorting system. By the end of 2018, JD.com will have installed PV cells on millions of square meters warehouse roof, according to Chu Xuhui of the company. The 40,000-square-meter business-to-customer (B2C) unmanned logistics center in Shanghai, "Asia No.1," can handle 200,000 online orders per day. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-07 18:04:45|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close MACAO, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The ninth International Infrastructure Investment and Construction Forum kicked off on Thursday in China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) to promote cooperation in the sector. China's Vice Minister of Commerce Gao Yan said at the opening ceremony that infrastructure construction is the basis of economic development and helps improve people's livelihood. China has actively supported and participated in global infrastructure development, and is willing to encourage more local enterprises to go global under the principle of achieving shared growth through discussion and collaboration, she added. The Belt and Road Infrastructure Development Index (2018) and the Annual Report on Development of the Belt and Road Construction (2018) were also issued at the opening ceremony, with statistical information and future prospect related to the development of infrastructure and business cooperation. Chief Executive of the Macao SAR Chui Sai On said at the opening ceremony that the forum is an important platform for exchanging experience on global infrastructure development, adding that the Macao SAR has achieved fruitful results in its role as a commercial and trade cooperation service platform between China and Portuguese-speaking countries. The two-day event will focus on discussion on promoting global infrastructure development and international cooperation through innovation and technological changes. It attracted more than 1,500 politicians, businessmen and academics from more than 60 countries and regions, including those from Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia and Central and Eastern Europe. Meanwhile, the fourth China-Latin America Infrastructure Cooperation Forum will also open at the event. Over the past eight editions of the International Infrastructure Investment and Construction Forum, more than 50 cooperation agreements or contracts were signed, covering hydropower, roads, railways, airports, ports, housing and other infrastructure projects. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-07 18:24:48|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close GAZA, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The death of female Palestinian paramedic Razan al-Najjar by Israeli gunfire last week has left her family, friends and the Palestinians at shock. Al-Najjar, 21 and a volunteer, was shot dead by Israeli soldiers on Friday during the "Great March of Return" rallies that have been ongoing since March 30. The rallies demand the return of Palestinian refugees who were forced to leave their cities during the Arab-Israeli war in 1948, as well as lifting the blockade Israel has imposed since 2007. In addition to al-Najjar, more than 120 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers since the eruption of the protests. Thousands of outraged Palestinian mourners Saturday participated in the funeral of al-Najjar who was wrapped with a Palestinian flag. Images of al-Najjar wearing a white coat and smiling shyly were placed on the walls of her family's home. After her loss, grief overwhelmed al-Najjar's family in a small neighborhood on the outskirts of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. In al-Najjar's bedroom, a small cabinet filled with gauze, medical cotton and other simple tools was beside her bed. "My daughter was the first volunteer paramedic to join the protests," Um Ahmed, al-Najjar's mother, told Xinhua. The woman said her daughter did not work for a specific organization, adding that her goal was to treat peaceful protesters injured by Israeli soldiers. "She was doing a peaceful work, even the protest was peaceful, that is why she decided to join the rallies since they are not harming anyone," Um Ahmed said. She explained that al-Najjar joined the medical field two years ago after receiving intensive courses, adding she volunteered in a local hospital in Khan Younis before she decided to provide help in the rallies. "Sometimes she bought medical supplies at her own expense," al-Najjar's mother said. Al-Najjar's death made her a symbol of the anti-Israel return rallies, with her images flooding social media networks in Palestine over the past days. "Killing my daughter is a crime against humanity," al-Najjar's mother said with a sad voice. "She was intentionally killed by live ammunition." However, an Israeli probe into her death found out that Israeli soldiers did not fire directly at the Palestinian paramedic. The investigation found that al-Najjar was seen close to the border fence, treating protesters wounded by Israeli military fire, adding that the probe will continue. But al-Najjar's colleagues rejected the army's investigation results. One of them, 30-year-old volunteer paramedic Fares al-Qudwa, told Xinhua that al-Najjar was killed during her running towards the border fence in an attempt to reach a wounded man. "Her white coat was distinctive for her role and work," he said. Mustafa Barghouthi, head of the medical relief society, also rejected the results. He said in a statement that al-Najjar was shot in the chest by a bullet which pierced her back. He doubted Israeli probe, which said it was not a direct shot. After her death, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called her father, saying that she is "a martyr of Palestine and martyr of the humanitarian duty." Jawad Awwad, Palestinian Authority minister of health, described the Israeli killing of al-Najjar as a "war crime," which "reflects the Israeli army's determination to violate all international conventions on protecting paramedics." In retaliation, Islamic Hamas movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, and the Islamic Jihad group, fired barrages of mortars and rockets from the coastal enclave into Israel. Israeli war jets then launched intensive airstrikes on the military facilities of the two groups across Gaza. Al-Najjar is not only missed by her family, but also by her colleagues at the field. At their tent clinic near the border fence with Israel, al-Najjar's volunteer coworkers recalled their moments shared with her. They said she was one of the bravest paramedics and her life was endangered many times while saving the lives of others. The coworkers vowed that they will not be frightened by her death to abandon volunteer work helping people shot by Israeli snipers during the protests. "The camp is very sad and gloomy for losing our colleague Razan," al-Qudwa said sadly. "She always brought smiles to her colleagues." Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-07 18:29:50|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close GUIYANG, June 7 (Xinhua) -- At the end of a zigzag mountain trail veiled by lush eucalyptus trees, two monolithic statues with eerie masks marked the entrance to a vine-covered stone castle. "I wanted to build the castle of my childhood fantasies," 79-year-old Song Peilun says. His inspiration came from memories of desolate stone citadels scattered around the mountains and valleys of Guizhou Province. They were left behind by chieftains of ethnic minority groups centuries ago. Twenty-four years ago, Song gave up an opportunity to stay in the United States as a cartoonist. Instead, he returned to a plot of wasteland in his home province of Guizhou -- landlocked, mountainous and poor. There, he decided to create a different kind of art. The castle grounds are home to more than 300 statues lining both sides of a creek. They resemble the huge human figures on Easter Island. Song drew inspiration from local Nuo opera, a tradition in which people wear masks and dance to drive away evil spirits. Song said he had seen such rituals performed in times of sickness or death. He had found it spooky but enchanting. "I believed they bridged humans with heavenly spirits," Song said. Thanks to Guizhou's landlocked position, many local traditions have been preserved as they were centuries or millennia ago. Song named the castle "Yelang" after an ancient kingdom that included what is now western Guizhou. Song said he would like to build a fantasy kingdom to pass on local history. Since 1997, when Song started the project, he has hired people from neighboring villages to help him. While the villagers, who have lived in the mountains for generations, are talented stonemasons, they liked to carve lotus flowers or clouds on the stone. Song urged them to carve the statues in a primitive and natural way, "just like they are building pigpens." "The villagers often teased me for preferring crude stone patterns, which they found aesthetically repellent," Song said. "Until one day when a group of foreign visitors came and expressed admiration for their work." An Yushu, who has sold tickets at the site for 10 years, even created a genre of her own. She scribbled what she saw in the statues during work and posted the drawings on the ticket booth. A professor from the Central Academy of Fine Arts walked by one day and purchased them for 5,000 yuan (about 780 U.S. dollars). "Everyone has art living inside, regardless of their educational backgrounds," Song said. "They just need to be inspired and discovered." The castle is located on an area of about 13 hectares in a valley. "Despite its magnitude, the castle and sculptures are basically locally sourced," said villager Zhu Lang, who has worked at the castle since 1997. Used pottery, tiles, and bricks collected in nearby villages have been brought to life as part of Song's creation. Even the use of recycled materials and local labor have not prevented rising costs. Having exhausted all his savings, Song had to borrow 3 million yuan (about 470,000 U.S. dollars) to continue construction. However, he resolutely declined all investment offers. "If an investor wants to start a barbecue restaurant in my castle, I don't want to find myself in a vulnerable position to refuse him," Song said. Song said the castle is about harmony between humans and nature as the 300 sculptures have merged with the vines, trees and mountains around them. "My work is only half done here," Song said. "The latter half is left for nature and future generations to finish." Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-07 18:29:51|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close BAGHDAD, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Air Force on Thursday carried out an airstrike on a position of the Islamic State (IS) militants inside Syria near the border with Iraq, the Iraqi military said. Acting on intelligence reports, the Iraqi F-16 warplanes pounded a headquarters for terrorist Daesh (IS group), with IS leaders and militants inside, in Hajin area in Syria, said a statement by the media office of the Joint Operations Command. The airstrike was effective, and more details will be released later, said the statement. The airstrike is part of preemptive airstrikes against IS militants inside Syria with Iraqi F-16 fighter jets. On April 26, Haider al-Abadi, the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi forces, pledged to continue airstrikes on positions and headquarters of the IS in Iraq's neighboring Syria, asserting that Iraq will not interfere in Syrian affairs. "Iraq will not allow IS terrorists to regroup in Iraq, as they will not find breeding ground inside Iraq anymore," Abadi told reporters in Baghdad. He said that IS group has suffered fiasco in both Iraq and Syria, but the complex situation in Syria and the ongoing conflict gave a breathing chance for IS in eastern Syria near the border with Iraq. On Dec. 9, 2017, Abadi officially declared full liberation of Iraq from IS militants after Iraqi forces recaptured all the areas once seized by the extremist group. British Prime Minister Theresa May (R) poses for photographs with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu inside 10 Downing Street in London on June 6, 2018, at the beginning of their meeting. (AFP photo) LONDON, June 6 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Theresa May told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Downing Street on Wednesday that Britain was firmly in support of the Iran nuclear deal following U.S. President Donald Trump's pulling out of the deal. An official spokesperson for May issued details of the bilateral meeting, which came after Netanyahu had discussed the same issue with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. May's spokesperson said: "They discussed Iran, where the prime minister reiterated our firm commitment to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) as the best way of preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. They agreed on the need to counter Iran's destabilizing activity in the region." On Syria, the two agreed on the importance of seeing the conflict and deep humanitarian suffering brought to an end, and of preserving stability in other countries in the region, according to the spokesperson. The spokesperson added that May told Netanyahu that she was deeply concerned by recent rocket attacks from Gaza and, as a friend of Israel, reiterated Britain's support for Israel's right to self-defense. She also said the Palestinians had a right to protest but it was important that these protests be peaceful. "May said there was, however, concern about the scale of casualties in Gaza in recent weeks, and around Israel's use of live fire. The prime minister noted the importance of seeing the situation in Gaza swiftly alleviated and parties moving back towards direct negotiations for a two-state solution," said the spokesperson. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-07 19:05:03|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close BEIJING, June 7 (Xinhua) -- You would think the hometown of Santa Claus is busy just once a year -- but it's humming all year round thanks to an influx of Chinese travelers. Rovaniemi, in Finland's Arctic Circle in Lapland, is getting a tourism boost from Chinese visitors arriving from Helsinki on Finnair flights. "People need a reason to travel. Finnair wants to be a part of that, making their flight more meaningful," Finnair president and CEO Pekka Vauramo told Xinhua in an exclusive interview. In his idea, travelling is human nature -- to meet interesting people and explore other cultures. Vauramo came to Beijing to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Finnair's Helsinki-Beijing non-stop service, which started in June 1988. Finnair has since carried more than 2.65 million passengers on the Helsinki-Beijing air route. Vauramo launched his career at a time when the Helsinki-Beijing route took at least 20 hours. "There used to be many roundabout routes, but none was direct. And one of them was Helsinki-Zurich-Bombay-Beijing -- Bombay in India," he recalled. "China had just opened up then, and Finnair has been flying with its growth. It takes only seven and a half hours now." Now, Finnair has 38 weekly flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Xi'an, Nanjing, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. It has flown the fuel-efficient, wide-body Airbus A350 aircraft to China since 2015. It was a pioneer in sustainable flying and the first airline listed on the Leadership Index of the worldwide Carbon Disclosure Project, which supports companies and cities to disclose environmental impacts. Finnair was also the first airline worldwide to launch the Alipay online payment service on long-haul flights to China in 2017. The airline has doubled its onboard duty-free goods sales. "Our expanding network in the surging Chinese civil aviation market ties Finland and other European countries closer to China," Vauramo said. Key to Finnair's future strategy, Finnair is extending its network and strengthening capacity in the Chinese market. In the early days, people in Finland and other European countries came to China to sell things. Now, it has turned round as more Chinese travel to Europe to export and promote goods, and make investments, Vauramo said. He noticed more Chinese investment in industries like gaming, medicine, bio-technology and other high-tech fields. "China's opening-up is continuing, and opening makes growth happen," said Vauramo. "People come to visit Santa, and immerse themselves in nature with the blue skies, northern lights and clean air. I am proud that our flights make their dreams come true," he said. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-07 19:25:08|Editor: ZD Video Player Close Wang Yang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, talks with residents in the Xinglong community in Xiamen, southeast China's Fujian Province, June 7, 2018. Wang made an inspection tour in Xiamen during his visit to the 10th Straits Forum in Fujian. (Xinhua/Wang Ye) XIAMEN, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Wang Yang, top political advisor and senior Party official, has urged the expediting of the implementation of preferential policies for Taiwan compatriots to further communication and cooperation across the Strait. Wang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, made the remarks during his visit to the 10th Straits Forum in Xiamen in east China's Fujian Province. Calling for upholding the notion that "both sides belong to one family," he said that Taiwan compatriots who study, work, or live on the mainland will step by step gain equal rights with mainland citizens. Noting that economic and cultural communication and cooperation should be continuously strengthened, Wang stressed enhancing the relationship and improving the well-being of people across the Taiwan Strait. Every Taiwanese who studies, works, or lives on the mainland tells a story of the notion "both sides belong to one family" with their unique experiences, said Wang, calling them the contributors and practitioners of the peaceful development across the Strait. He required Party and government officials at all levels to listen to and respond to the opinions and concerns of Taiwan compatriots, and create a more convenient and better environment for their development on the mainland. Wang visited several Taiwanese enterprises and communities in Xiamen, as well as the Graduate Institute for Taiwan Studies at Xiamen University, and held a symposium with Taiwan representatives on Wednesday and Thursday. BERLIN, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Official polling for expatriate citizens in Turkey's presidential and parliamentary election began at consular offices throughout Germany on Thursday. Around 1.4 million voters with Turkish passports in the country are entitled to cast their ballots from abroad. Consular offices in cities like Berlin, Duesseldorf, Essen, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich began polling in the morning (CET) and will remain open until June 19. National citizens in Turkey will be called to the vote on June 24. The acting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is seeking re-election after having recently succeeded in widening the powers associated with his office significantly in a controversial constitutional referendum. Erdogan warded-off a military coup against his rule back in 2016 and has since launched a government crack-down on political dissidents. Nevertheless, recent opinion polls suggest that the incumbent will narrowly fail to secure an absolute legislative majority in the first round of voting. If a second run-off ballot is held, polling will commence again at Turkish consulates in Germany between June 30 and July 4, while a second round will be held in Turkey on July 8. In total, more than 3 million Turks who are living abroad are entitled to vote, of which the biggest single group lives in Germany. Turkish expatriates represent more than 5 percent of the country's electorate and could hence be a decisive factor in the outcome of a narrow presidential and parliamentary contest. Speaking during a campaign rally on Wednesday, Erdogan made a plea to his European-based supporters to turn up at consular voting booths in force. "With god's help, make the ballot boxes overflow," he said. WATERLOO, Ontario, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BlackBerry Limited (NYSE:BB) (TSX:BB) announced today that it is collaborating with the Government of Canada to modernize their operations centers during G7 ministerial meetings and the 2018 G7 Summit. Using BlackBerry AtHoc, a crisis communication platform that includes AtHoc Alert for mass notification and AtHoc Collect for field reports, the operations centers are able to efficiently mobilize and secure the flow of critical information by delivering updates to targeted lists of recipients in real-time. We are honored that the Government of Canada has chosen BlackBerry to support their operations, said Sanjay Saini, SVP and GM, BlackBerry AtHoc. Whether in times of crisis or during a high-profile event like the G7 Summit, reliable and secure communications are crucial. BlackBerry AtHoc technology enables real-time information exchange across organizations, their people and devices, providing them with the necessary details to make informed and safety-critical decisions. Additionally, BlackBerry is one of the companies that has been selected to demonstrate its innovative solutions at the 2018 G7 Innovation Showcase. Many G7 government departments and agencies, including the Parliament of Canada, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Department of Defense and New Zealand Parliamentary Service, trust BlackBerry software to keep them safe and secure. About BlackBerry AtHoc A leading networked crisis communications platform, BlackBerry AtHoc applications run on a cloud platform to deliver a unified and secure end-to-end solution capable of real-time collaboration with anyone, anywhere and across virtually any device. BlackBerry AtHoc is a suite of integrated applications used to safeguard millions of people and thousands of organizations around the world: AtHoc Alert automates alert notification AtHoc Collect enables in-bound reporting AtHoc Account automates personnel accountability process AtHoc Connect enables secure communication with other organizations About BlackBerry BlackBerry is an enterprise software and services company focused on securing and managing IoT endpoints. The company does this with BlackBerry Secure, an end-to-end Enterprise of Things platform, comprised of its enterprise communication and collaboration software and safety-certified embedded solutions. Based in Waterloo, Ontario, BlackBerry was founded in 1984 and operates in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, Middle East, Latin America and Africa. The Company trades under the ticker symbol "BB" on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. For more information visit BlackBerry.com, and follow the company on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. BlackBerry and related trademarks, names and logos are the property of BlackBerry Limited and are registered and/or used in the U.S. and countries around the world. All other marks are the property of their respective owners. BlackBerry is not responsible for any third-party products or services. Media Contact: BlackBerry (519) 597-7273 mediarelations@BlackBerry.com JAKARTA, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on Thursday that the government is considering rules to block the penetration of extremism teaching, particularly among university students. The move came on the ground that many perpetrators of recent suicide attacks were university students and the police even recovered bombs in a compound of a campus in Riau province. "Should such regulations be badly needed, we will set them up. Now they are being studied by the high education ministry," Widodo said in West Java province. Notwithstanding the crackdown, Widodo was adamant that it would not disturb the educational process, as was the concerned of some community members. Indonesia has long battled Islamic militancy, who carried out a series of attacks including the 2002 Bali bombing that killed over 200 people, most of them foreign holiday makers. The most recent suicide attacks in Surabaya city of East Java and Riau province left dozens dead or injured. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-07 19:45:13|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close KUNMING, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The 16th ASEAN Overseas Chinese Entrepreneurs Conference will be held in Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province from June 12 to 15 with the theme "New Era, New Opportunity, New Journey and New Development." More than 600 overseas Chinese businessmen from over 40 countries and regions including Japan, Russia, Singapore and the United States will attend the event. Since the conference was first held in 2003, it has attracted more than 3,000 enterprises and 5,000 overseas Chinese entrepreneurs, with actual investment of more than 5 billion U.S. dollars, according to the Yunnan overseas Chinese affairs office. By the end of 2017, there were 1,084 overseas Chinese-funded enterprises in Yunnan with fixed assets of 65 billion yuan (10 billion U.S. dollars). Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-07 19:45:13|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close LONDON, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) is at the top place among the world's leading institutions for high-quality scientific research, according to the Nature Index 2018 annual tables released on Thursday. Besides CAS, Max Planck Society, French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers, University of Tokyo, University of California Berkeley (UC Berkeley), University of Cambridge are also included in the top 10 of the list. As for the specific sector of academic institutions, China's Peking University and Tsinghua University makes it into the global academic top 10. Meanwhile, Nanjing University has climbed from 21 to 13, and the University of Science and Technology of China has made its way to 18, from 27. Among the leading 100 academic institutions in the 2018 annual tables are 44 from the United States and 16 from China. Britain and Japan contribute seven each, with six from Germany, four from Switzerland and three from Canada, according to Nature Index. Overall, almost 90 percent of the 83 academic institutions from China in the top 500 have improved their positions in the last year, compared to just about 45 percent of the 135 from the United States. The global picture is changing, and Chinese institutions are gaining their place, Nature Index quoted Marijk van der Wende, a professor at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, as saying. The Nature Index is a database of author affiliation information collated from research articles published in an independently selected group of 82 high-quality science journals. The database is compiled by Nature Research. The 2018 annual tables assess institutions on their contribution to articles in scientific journals in which researchers would most want to publish their best work. TOKYO, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Japan's National Police Agency (NPA) said Thursday that more than 57,000 elderly drivers were suspected of having dementia during the first year of tougher screening measures to renew their licenses. Under a revised traffic law that took effect in March 2017, drivers aged 75 or older are required to see a doctor in the preliminary part of the screening if they are suspected of having dementia. The NPA said around 1,900 elderly drivers had their licenses revoked or suspended after undergoing medical tests in the first year under the revised traffic law. An additional 16,000 senior drivers surrendered their licenses of their own volition, while 4,517 elderly people chose to stop the renewal procedure before it was completed, thus nullifying their licenses. With more than 1,500 seniors still in the middle of the renewal process, which has to take part every three years, the likelihood is that the number of suspensions and nullifications will increase. As Japan's population rapidly ages, the concern is that the number of traffic accidents caused by elderly people may rise significantly, although the total number of deaths caused by traffic accidents in general is actually on a downward trend, at a record low of 3,694 people in 2017. But accidents caused by the elderly and the fact that Japan's "silver tsunami" demographic crisis is set to worsen has made the topic of elderly drivers a national talking point, with such accidents rarely out of the headlines. On May 2, a woman in her 70s crashed her car through a hospital window and into the lobby of the hospital in Oita Prefecture in southwestern Japan, leaving 13 people injured. Several pedestrians were struck on a road, one fatally, on May 28 in a city southwest of Tokyo, by a driver in her 90s. The accident, which killed one person and injured six others, was the result of the elderly female driver pulling out from a company building and onto a main street, while ignoring traffic signals. In doing so, she struck four people who were on a crossing walk and two other people who were on a side street. Drivers aged 75 or older, including those who had not taken a cognition test, caused 418 fatal accidents in 2017 alone of which 41 percent were vehicle collisions and 19 percent involved collisions between vehicles and pedestrians. According to the NPA's data, 194 people died in the accidents caused by drivers suspected of having dementia or impaired cognition. Cases where drivers mistook the accelerator for the brake pedal before causing a fatal accident where almost eight times higher among the elderly. National Public Safety Commission Chairperson Hachiro Okonogi said the data on senior drivers reveals that age-related diminished cognitive function could lead to fatal accidents. Okonogi said people should intervene when they think their parents or grandparents are displaying signs of diminished capacity when driving, and ask them to give up their licenses voluntarily. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-07 20:05:19|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close BEIJING, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The average density of PM2.5 in Beijing from January to May was 58 micrograms per cubic meter, down 18.3 percent year on year, the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau announced Thursday. In May, the average reading of PM2.5, airborne particles measuring less than 2.5 microns, stood at 54 micrograms per cubic meter, up 8 percent from a year ago. In the first five months, authorities fined the owners of more than 117,700 heavy-duty diesel vehicles for excessive emissions, twice the total number fined last year. In May, six construction sites were fined for failing to control dust. BUJUMBURA, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza Thursday announced that he will leave the presidency in 2020 at the expiry of his current presidential term. Nkurunziza made the announcement in Bugendana district in the province of Gitega, central Burundi, after promulgating the newly voted constitution at a presidential palace in Gitega, which allows him to stay in office until 2034 if he is elected in future presidential elections. BRUSSELS, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The European Commission earmarked nearly 100 billion euros (118 billion U.S. dollars) on Thursday for research and innovation between 2021 and 2027. Horizon Europe, hailed by the Commission as its "most ambitious research and innovation program", was proposed to receive funding of 97.6 billion euros. The program will feature a European Innovation Council, which will help identify and fund innovations through two main funding instruments, one for early stages and the other for development and market deployment. According to the budget proposals, new European Union-wide research and innovation missions will be supported by Horizon Europe. The missions could vary from the fight against cancer, to clean transport or plastic-free oceans. A total of 2.4 billion euros was proposed for the Euratom research and training program, which funds research and training on nuclear safety, security and radiation protection. The proposed spending is part of the next long-term EU budget, which will need a go-ahead of the Council of the EU and the European Parliament. PARIS, June 7 (Xinhua) -- An explosion in a Seveso-classified factory injured 3 people, including two in critical conditions, on Thursday at Saint-Julien-du-Sault (Yonne) in central France, local media quoted the prefecture as saying. The accident occurred Thursday before 11:00 a.m. local time (0900 GMT) in a storage building and is believed to be related to maintenance work for the company which specializes in the manufacture and design of sealing materials and insulation, according to the site France Info. The prefecture said the fire was quickly extinguished by the staff and that "the situation returned to normal". NAIROBI, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan search teams said on Thursday that they have intensified ground operations after sighting the missing small plane that went missing in the Aberdare forest in central Kenya on Tuesday. Daniel Nyameti, Nyandarua County Deputy Commissioner, said the ground team began the search early Thursday after the aerial search teams spotted the wreckage of the Fly-SAX plane at the peak of the Aberdare range. "Our aerial search commenced early morning and it has yielded to positive/good results, we have focused point, we are narrowing down to the spot to confirm. To reach the spot, it may require sometime or hours due to rugged terrain," Nyameti told journalists. The Fly-SAX plane, registration number 5Y-CAC, was flying from the Kitale in western Kenyan to the capital of Nairobi when it lost contact with the control tower on Tuesday afternoon. The 12-seat aircraft had 10 people on board -- eight passengers and two crew members. Families of those involved in the crash expressed their frustration with the grueling wait for the outcome of the rescue operations. But the government has assured the country that all efforts are being done to reach the spot and called for calm. Family and friends of the missing passengers and crew have been gathering at a hotel in Nairobi awaiting further information. Paul Maringa, Transport Ministry Principal Secretary, said on Thursday that the helicopter that was conducting aerial surveillance located the Fly SAX aircraft in Njabini. "The ground search will intensify in the next hour despite poor weather conditions that are posing a challenge," Maringa told journalists in Nairobi. He said the wreck of the plane, registration number 5Y-CAC was found at 6.45 a.m local time by the aerial search team at Elephant Point, some 11,000 feet above sea level. "A ground team of military specialists in mountain rescue operations has been dispatched to the site, which is 11,900ft up a 400m cliff face in a dense area," Maringa said. "A recovery team, including medics has been directed there, and the Red Cross is on board too," he added. However, the condition of the plane's two crew members and eight passengers is not yet known. Maringa said investigations into the probable cause of the accident have commenced and promised to update the country as and when it becomes available. Nyandarua County Commissioner Boaz Cherutich said the search team has stepped up efforts to reach the crash scene. "It's now a matter of landing to do the rescue. The rescue team has strategized on how to land and conclude the job," Cherutich said. NAIROBI, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Africa's forestry cover is fast increasing courtesy of farmer's regeneration efforts, a forestry expert revealed on Thursday. Godwin Kowero, Executive Secretary of African Forestry Forum (AFF) noted that despite having less natural forest cover and climate change effects, farmers have inculcated the idea of planting trees in their farms, hence replenishing the overall tree cover in the continent. "The adoption of agro-forestry has become a great achievement in increasing tree cover away from demarcated forest areas in Africa," Kowero told Xinhua in Nairobi. Kowero said agroforestry has picked up in East African countries where forests are found in highly populated areas where people grow trees alongside crops. Kowero noted that in 1990-2012, Niger farmers planted 5 million hectares trees on their farms hence regenerating the degraded land. "Farmers in the continent have since realized the potential of fruit trees that are currently being grown in large numbers besides other fast maturing trees that are grown for commercial purposes," he noted. He, however, admitted that tree cover is diminishing in the government owned public forests due to poor management and lack of private sector involvement yet forest and tree resources have an immense potential to contribute to social and economic development of the continent. "Africa needs to privatize its forestry sector to help replenish the fluctuating forest cover that is mainly due to deforestation and degradation," he added. He revealed that following the economic reforms in late 1980s that moved forest activities to the hands of private investors, the pace of regeneration reduced in government owned forests. Kowero said the rate of afforestation went down as some countries failed to get potential private investors, a move that led to low wood production as demand outstripped production. Kowero said that due to lack of private investors, most governments are now devolving forest management to local communities but due to lack of skills and finance, there is slow take-off in the sector. The official called on governments to invest in afforestation program to help improve water catchment areas and also absorb carbon in the fight against rising climate change. "There is need to embark on massive afforestation program to mitigate against climate change through reduction of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and also create employment for the unemployed youths," he said. He suggested that farmers grow useful trees that grow faster after harvesting to sustain tree cover. Kowero attributed the current afforestation trend to civil society for mobilizing communities in the continent into taking action in the protection of forests. He revealed that the African Union Commission has embarked in developing a sustainable forestry management program for the continent. He said the Sustainable Forestry Management Framework (SFMF) will help guide all African countries in the planning of their forest activities with the aim of accruing benefits from the sector. NEW YORK, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mr. Leonard Schutzman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Arbitrade, a leading coin and cryptocurrency exchange, said today that its home domicile will be Bermuda. In making the announcement, Chairman Schutzman said the process to winning incorporation started late last year when company representatives first met with Premier David Burt, Minister Wayne Caines, the Minister of National Security who is spearheading the introduction of crypto and digital asset legislation in Bermuda, Minister Wayne Furbert, The Junior Finance Minister, Stephen P. Gift from the Ministry of Finance, representatives from the Bermuda Monetary Authority and Bermuda Business Development Agency. The company made numerous visits over several months and a considerable amount of work was done to securing our incorporation. Bermuda is justly regarded as the gold standard in the Fintech and Reinsurance industries globally and Arbitrade's goal was always to domicile its head office in this exacting jurisdiction before registering subsidiaries in other countries around the world, Mr. Schutzman said. He noted Bermuda was one of the very few jurisdictions leading the way with full legislation affecting ICOs and cryptocurrency laws and Arbitrade welcomed cryptocurrency legislation and associated regulations that form a strong foundation in developing the best strategies to advance its business model into other countries. Arbitrade welcomed the stringent Know Your Client (KYC)/Anti Money Laundering (AML) process with which companies will have to comply before they are able to be licensed to operate as a merchant exchange business. It seemed to us the only way our industry will receive global acceptance. With this thoughtful and timely structure of Bermudas laws to guide and support us, Arbitrade can now move forward into over 12 additional countries quickly and then continue to introduce our platforms to more jurisdictions, he said. Bermuda expects its ICO legislation to be passed within the next three weeks and Arbitrade intends to hold the very first, fully legal, ICO in Bermuda when this happens. Information about the legislation is available on the Government of Bermudas website. Once Arbitrade has its licenses in hand, the company will proceed first with its eight-week legally approved ICO, followed by the launch of the Arbitrade platform in late August/early September. Bermuda is a well-regulated Country Led by the Bermuda Monetary Authority. All new companies are scrutinized to ensure that the jurisdiction is protected and know its customer, hence a sometimes lengthy period of due diligence. While many countries still wrestle with ways to regulate digital assets businesses, the Bermuda government has passed the Digital Assets Business Act. This thoughtful and timely action demonstrates, once again, why Bermuda is a world leader in regulating financially related services. The progressive legislation sets the highest standards for those companies who have chosen to establish Digital Assets businesses on the island and validates the companys decision to incorporate and domicile our global headquarters in Bermuda. Mr. Schutzman said, Arbitrades management would like to thank everyone for their patience and understanding while it worked to achieve this incredible accomplishment. This is only the beginning, and the road ahead is going to be extremely busy as management sets up the operating infrastructure of the company, with our head office in Bermuda. Arbitrade has been locking down all deals regarding our bullion purchases as we move forward with this news. We needed two things to be able to close the bullion negotiations: 1. Be a registered company in Bermuda, and 2. Be a legally licensed and insured company in Bermuda. We have already accomplished the first requirement and, we have been advised, the second requirement will happen later this month, Mr. Schutzman said, noting that the company seeks to finish all agreements and deals with all partnering companies before the end of the month. Once this is achieved, it will announce the official ICO dates, the bullion related news, partners information, and the official launch date of Arbitrade. Arbitrades management and consultants were hoping for earlier dates to receive approvals however this is a long process that has to pass through many channels of Government. We have made it through the most difficult part of the process. ARBITRADE, through its proprietary software and strategic partnerships, plans to be in all segments of the cryptocurrency business, including currency mining, trading (The ARBITRADE Exchange) gift cards, debit cards, money transfer and Point of Sale processing. Media Contact: Victor Webb Marston Webb International T: (212) 684-6601, C: (917) 887-0418 e-mail: marwebint@cs.com Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-07 20:40:36|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close DAMASCUS, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian Kurds in northern Syria seem to be more willing to negotiate with Damascus after President Bashar al-Assad's remarks of opening door for negotiations. The willingness also came after the United States reached a deal with Turkey about jointly administering the Manbij city, which is under the control of Kurdish-allied local forces in the northern countryside of Aleppo province in northern Syria. The Manbij Military Council (MMC), a local force partner with the U.S.-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), has rejected the U.S.-Turkish deal for settling the situation in Manbij, as Turkey longed to enter the area along with its allied Syrian rebels to oust the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which is allied with the Turkish-banned Kurdish Workers Party (PKK). Dislodging the YPG and allied forces from Manbij was the next Turkish plan to eliminate the Kurdish threat in northern Syria near the Turkish border after the Turkish troops and Syrian rebels overran the predominantly-Kurdish district of Afrin in March. Both Manbij and Afrin are located on the Syrian-Turkish border, but unlike Afrin, U.S. forces are present in Manbij, which apparently pushed Washington and Ankara to reach the agreement. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights recently said that U.S.-Turkish agreement includes the withdrawal of the YPG from Manbij to the eastern bank of the Euphrates River, where the SDF and the United States have a heavy presence. It added that the Manbij Military Council will remain in the Manbij. A watchdog group said that the U.S. and Turkish forces will deploy on the frontline between Manbij and its countryside, where Turkish-backed Syrian rebels are in position. However, the MMC was cited by the pro-government al-Watan newspaper on Thursday as saying that it will not accept Turkish military presence in Manbij, and the YPG military advisors will leave Manbij in the coming days. The Syrian Kurds in northern Syria wanted to negotiate with Damascus without preconditions, said the newspaper. Mays Kreidi, spokeswoman of the National Democratic Front, Syrian opposition group, said the atmosphere is positive in the predominantly Kurdish areas in northern Syria about the negotiation with Damascus, citing Kurdish figures. Kreidi said that a delegation of her group met with the Elham Ahmad, a co-chairman of the Syrian Democratic Council, which is the political wing of the SDF, in the northern city of Qamishli. She added that the council agreed to send a delegation to negotiate with Damascus without preconditions. Assad has stressed Syrian army's determination to capture all Syria areas and said that the United States must withdraw from Syria. It is worth noting that the SDF has spearheaded the war on the Islamic State (IS) in the northern province of Raqqa, which was the de facto capital of the terror-designated group. Riad Darar, another co-chairman of the Syrian Democratic Council, stressed that the negotiation with the Syrian state is the best way to reach results that serve Syria, according to the al-Watan newspaper. He said that the SDF has prepared itself to fight IS, and the SDF is ready to be a part of the Syrian army after a settlement, adding that the SDF alliance with the foreign forces was to get rid of terrorism. Observers believe that the positive interaction comes apparently after Kurdish political groups in predominantly-Kurdish areas in northern Syria sensed the risk of keeping on reliance on the United States. Syria's Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said that "neither Turkey nor the United States has the right to negotiate regarding the Syrian cities," stressing that the Syrian forces will liberate every inch of the Syrian territory. CAIRO, June 7 (Xinhua) -- An Egyptian court sentenced on Thursday 28 defendants up to 15 years in prison over storming a police station following the removal of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in 2013, official MENA news agency reported. Giza Criminal Court sentenced 18 defendants to 15 years in jail and 10 others to five years for breaking into a police station in Atfih district in Giza province near the capital Cairo. The defendants also faced charges of assaulting the police station chief and other policemen, as well as setting fire to 15 police vehicles, burning down 65 seized private cars and stealing police weapons. Morsi was removed by the military in early July 2013 in response to mass protests against his one-year rule. Later security crackdown on his supporters, mostly from the currently outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group, left hundreds dead and thousands arrested. Newly re-elected President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi led Morsi's ouster as the army chief then. A lot of Brotherhood leaders, members and supporters, including Morsi himself and the group's top chief Mohamed Badie, are currently jailed, and many have received appealable death sentences and life imprisonments over various charges varying from inciting violence and murder to espionage and jailbreak. Since Morsi's ouster, Egypt has been facing a wave of terror attacks that have killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers, as well as civilians, with a Sinai-based militant group affiliated with the regional Islamic State terrorist group claiming responsibility for most of them. Meanwhile, the Egyptian forces have killed hundreds of terrorists and arrested thousands of suspects during the country's anti-terror war declared by Sisi following Morsi's removal. ISLAMABAD, June 7 (Xinhua) -- At least three people, including two policemen, were killed and two others injured when a blast hit a police vehicle in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Thursday, according to local media and district police. Local police officials said the vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device in the Maidan area of Lower Dir district of the province, killing two cops and a passerby on the spot. local media said a police team was on its way to carry out an investigation of a murder case, which happened last night, when their vehicle was targeted by the miscreants. Following the incident, security forces and rescue teams rushed to the site and shifted the bodies and injured to a hospital in the district. The two injured cops are said to be in critical condition. Security forces have condoned off the area and kicked off a search operation to arrest the culprits. No group or individual has claimed responsibility for the attack yet. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-07 20:55:39|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close NEW DELHI, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate in the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in China, India's foreign ministry spokesman said Thursday. The forthcoming 18th meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization will be held in Qingdao in China on June 9th and 10th. "This will be the first SCO summit after India became a member in 2017," Raveesh Kumar told a media briefing. India, together with Pakistan, was accepted as a full member of the SCO in 2017 during its summit in Astana, Kazakhstan. The organization was established in 2001 by six founding members -- China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The SCO has become the most populous regional organization, covering nearly half of the world's population and accounting for more than 60 percent of the Eurasian landmass as well as over 20 percent of global gross domestic product. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-07 20:55:40|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close Chinese President Xi Jinping holds a welcome ceremony for Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev before their talks in Beijing, capital of China, June 7, 2018. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei) BEIJING, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev in Beijing on Thursday, and they agreed to consolidate the traditional friendship and work together to forge ahead in achieving national rejuvenation of their countries. LONDON, June 7 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Theresa May and her Brexit secretary David Davis are embroiled in a stand-off over a proposed deal to keep Britain linked to the European Customs Union after Brexit, local media reported Thursday. Davis was in "open rebellion" and refused to be the frontman for the PM's plans of a customs "backstop" to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, The Daily Telegraph reported. Davis's revolt came after May refused his demand to define a precise time limit for the backstop solution, according to newspaper The Sun. The proposal has been put forward as a fall-back solution if no other arrangement is reached to avoid a hard border in Northern Ireland, but the cabinet is divided over whether it should include a specific time limit. So-called Brexiteers warned that without a fixed end date, the "temporary" arrangement could continue indefinitely. Some seasoned political commentators suggested that the rift could lead to Davis resigning just days before the critical voting on May's crucial Brexit Withdrawal bill in the House of Commons. The Brexit secretary is considering resigning if the Customs Union proposal is published without his approval, according to media reports. When Britain leaves the European Union (EU) next March, the 500-kilometer border between Northern Ireland and Ireland will become the only EU frontier with Britain. Both British and Irish governments have insisted there should be no hard border. In a sign of growing concern among Conservative Eurosceptics over Downing Street's Brexit plans, David Jones, a former Brexit minister, has told the PM she must keep Davis on side, The Independent reported. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-07 21:05:47|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close TEHRAN, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called for a mass turnout of Muslims on Quds (Jerusalem) Day rallies this Friday in support of Palestinians, Iran's Foreign Ministry said Thursday. "Quds Day is a historic day as everybody protests against tyrants and voices support for the oppressed (Palestinian) people who have been displaced from their homes for 70 years," Rouhani said. Besides decrying the occupation, the rallies this Friday should also target the recent relocation of the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and condemn the killing of Palestinian protesters by Israel over the past months, he said. Meanwhile, Iran's Foreign Ministry urged all Muslims around the world to attend the international Quds Day rallies on Friday. In a statement issued on Thursday, the ministry called for Muslim unity against what it called Israel's "war crimes and crimes against humanity in the occupied territories." This year's Quds Day has turned into one of the most sensitive periods in history, the statement said. Quds Day, an annual event falls on June 8 this year, is observed on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in Iran, along with several Arab countries, to express support for the Palestinians. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-07 21:10:48|Editor: mmm Video Player Close Laurence Barron, former CEO of Airbus China, speaks during an interview with Xinhua in Toulouse, France, May 17, 2018. Airbus embarked on its partnership journey with China more than three decades ago. In 1985, China bought its first Airbus aircraft; in 1994, the group established its first official presence in Beijing. Nowadays, more than 1,900 Airbus employees work in China, many of whom at the final assembly line in Tianjin, which had assembled and delivered 352 A320 aircraft by late 2017. (Xinhua/Xu Tian) by Han Qian PARIS, June 7 (Xinhua) -- China began its historic journey of reform and opening-up in 1978. In the past 40 years, the drive has lifted the country into the world's second largest economy. Over the past 40 years, China's GDP has averaged an annual growth rate of around 9.5 percent in comparable prices. The long-held policy not only brings China rapid and sustainable development, but also enables the country to have contributed greater momentum to global economy and created huge opportunities for multinationals. Among them is Airbus, Europe's largest aircraft manufacturer. WIN-WIN PARTNERSHIP Airbus embarked on its partnership journey with China more than three decades ago. In 1985, China bought its first Airbus aircraft; in 1994, the group established its first official presence in Beijing. "I am particularly proud of this history," Airbus CEO Tom Enders told Xinhua in a recent interview. Enders noted the partnership between China and Airbus had taken a leap forward over the past 10 years, with the group's first final assembly line outside of Europe beginning operation in Tianjin in 2008. The group has remarkably expanded the number of its commercial aircraft sold to China. By late 2017, there were more than 1,500 Airbus commercial jetliners in service in China, and deliveries to the country represent nearly a quarter of Airbus' total jetliner production. Also in 2017, Airbus announced the establishment of its second global innovation center, following the one in Silicon Valley, in Shenzhen, the pioneering city of China's reform and opening-up. Nowadays, more than 1,900 Airbus employees work in China, many of whom at the final assembly line in Tianjin, which had assembled and delivered 352 A320 aircraft by late 2017. As head of the Tianjin final assembly line project, Laurence Barron, former CEO of Airbus China, has a vivid memory of how vegetable fields turned into a factory in two and a half years and rapidly developed into a new industrial zone. "Change is the word I would use to describe modern China. Subways, roads, a new airport open in Beijing next year...everything has changed at a very fast speed in Beijing and that's one of the reasons I like to live there, because it is a very dynamic city," Barron told Xinhua in an interview. GREATER OPPORTUNITIES The first time Barron went to China was in the summer of 2003. He took office as the CEO of Airbus China one year later and has worked and lived in China ever since. Barron recalled that from 1985, when Airbus delivered the first aircraft to China, to 1994, when Airbus set up its official bureau in Beijing, fewer than 20 Airbus aircraft had been delivered to China. "The achievements made by Airbus in China is a good example of how foreign companies can take advantage of the reform and opening up and better position themselves in China," Barron said. Having witnessed Chinese reform and opening up, Barron said many of the restrictions and obligations for foreign companies to set up businesses in China have been eased and relaxed, which will certainly encourage more foreign companies to go to the world's largest emerging economy with vast market potential, "Opening up is a win-win for both foreign companies and China," Barron said. At the 2018 annual conference of the Boao Forum for Asia in April, China announced several significant measures to enhance opening up, including cutting auto import taxes, and has promised to ease limitation on foreign equity in banking, security, and insurance industries. Enders said that over the years of cooperation with China, Airbus has had an increasing number of partners and suppliers in the country. Meanwhile, the global leading aircraft manufacturer has also seen the Chinese aviation industry becoming more mature and competitive. "We never underestimate the capabilities and strength of China's aviation industry. We believe that China can create competitive products. Competition is a good thing for the aviation industry," said Enders. MORE PLANES, HELICOPTERS Today, beyond its role of important customer and supplier to Airbus, China has also become a strategic partner for the company. The cooperation spans various areas, from commercial aircraft to helicopters, defense, space, and innovation. Airbus' helicopter division in China held a 40 percent market share as of late 2017. An H135 helicopter final assembly line is under construction in Qingdao, Shandong province, which will become the first H135 final assembly line outside of Europe. Recent reforms passed in China will help open lower-altitude airspace in the coming years, handing flight control from the military to civil aviation authorities. With only 900 or so civil helicopters in service in the whole country (as of late 2017), this will lead to tremendous possibilities for growth, making China the future world's largest rotorcraft market. Xu Gang, CEO of Airbus China said Airbus' cooperation with China had been fruitful in the fields of market, capital, industry, and innovation and has made great progress in the past. Xu said with China's further reform and opening up, the company will seek more cooperation opportunities and integrate more deeply into China. "For any multinational company, China is a huge market, we should be more proactive in thinking, investing and exploring cooperation opportunities." China is expected to overtake the United States as the world's largest aviation market by 2024. More opportunities will certainly emerge from the Chinese sky, Airbus aims to have 2,000 aircraft operating in China before the end of 2020 as demand continues to rise. BERLIN, June 7 (Xinhua) -- German industrial manufacturers are witnessing the longest period of decline in new orders since the outbreak of the global financial crisis in 2008, official figures by the Federal Statistical Office showed on Thursday. According to the figures, industrial orders fell by 2.5 percent in April, registering the fourth consecutive monthly decline. The economy ministry on Thursday mainly attributed the disappointing data to weak demand in Germany and the wider eurozone. Total foreign demand for German industrial products shrank by 0.8 percent in April. Domestic and eurozone orders hereby declined 5.4 percent and 9.9 percent respectively, while orders from the rest of the world rose by 5.4 percent. At least in part, the dearth of new orders experienced by producers was also seen as a result of growing global insecurity created by the protectionist policies of U.S. President Donald Trump and the decision of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union (EU). However, the economy ministry noted that it was "difficult to estimate" the precise impact of recent "developments in trade policy" on industrial orders. Germany is a highly export-oriented economy and is hence widely considered by experts to be a major potential loser of Washington's new "America First" doctrine. Nevertheless, the economy ministry noted that there was no reason for panic yet as the volume of outstanding industrial orders was still at a high level by historical standards. Broken down by sectors, monthly orders fell by the single biggest margin (36 percent) for products in the category of "other vehicle construction", including ships, trains and airplanes, which are traditionally subject to considerable variance. Once excluded in the Federal Statistical Office's assessment, overall industrial orders in April only fell by a less significant 0.6 percent. Speaking to Xinhua on Thursday, Thiess Petersen, senior economics expert at the Bertelsmann Foundation, consequently highlighted that, at least for the time being, the German "engine of growth is still running." Petersen argued that falling orders in April most likely owed to a more modest than anticipated expansion of gross domestic product (GDP) in Germany and the eurozone at the start of the 2018. The Bertelsmann expert warned that whether slower growth proved to merely be a "temporary phenomenon" or not would ultimately hinge on the future development of international trade conflicts sparked by recent policies of President Trump. "An increase in global protectionism would hit the German exporting nation hard and further undermine its current economic momentum," Petersen said. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-07 21:15:52|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close by Xinhua writers Shen Zhonghao, Qiao Jihong, Shuai Rong BRUSSELS, June 7 (Xinhua) -- China and the European Union (EU) have both voiced their firm objections to U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum, and are expected to collaborate more closely to uphold multilateralism and free trade. Despite worldwide opposition, U.S. President Donald Trump announced in March a 25-percent tariff on imported steel and a 10-percent tariff on aluminum. The administration had given temporary exemptions for EU member states, Canada and Mexico until June 1. Shortly after the end of the exemption, the EU initiated a dispute with the United States at the WTO, and announced Wednesday the start of applying rebalancing duties on U.S. products in July, as part of the "three-pronged response." In late April, the EU had sought to join the consultations at the WTO requested by China with the United States on the U.S. tariffs, saying that it has substantial trade interests in the matter. In a statement, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker lambasted U.S. tariffs, saying that "this is protectionism, pure and simple." "We regret that the United States left us with no other option than to safeguard EU interests," EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said. Meanwhile, China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said earlier that unilateralism and trade protectionism are harmful and offer no benefits in a deeply integrated global economy. China has decided to slash its automobile import tariffs from July 1, as part of its opening-up efforts aimed at strengthening a rule-based and multilateral global trade system. The world's second largest economy has also announced an increase imports from other countries. Gabriel Felbermayer, a trade expert at the Ifo institute in Munich, said while economic damage from the steel and aluminium tariffs would be "limited" at first, they would be "only the beginning of a row of further U.S. measures." Felbermayer suggested the EU maintain a united front in opposition to the measures together with other international partners like China, which is interested in upholding a multilateral system based on fair trade. Last week, top diplomats of the two sides already pledged to deepen strategic cooperation and safeguard multilateralism, as Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini co-chaired the eighth round of the China-EU high-level strategic dialogue in Brussels. Noting that unilateralism and protectionism are on the rise, Wang said China and the EU should closely cooperate to combat any threat to free trade. Mogherini, for her part, said that the EU is willing to work with China to uphold the multilateral system with the United Nations at the core, and a rules-based international order. As Trump's protectionism creates more chaos and uncertainties worldwide, more resilience and perseverance is badly needed for an open and fair trade system. In this regard, China and EU, which share substantially the same view on preserving multilateralism, globalization and free trade, have tremendous potential in the cooperation to tackle protectionism. In response to its unilateral measures, other trading partners of the United States are also joining the fight. Last week, Canada filed a challenge at the WTO against the U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum hours after EU and announced retaliatory tariffs. Mexico responded with similar measures on Tuesday, targeting the American steel, aluminum and agricultural sectors. As the international situation is undergoing complicated and profound changes, safeguarding multilateralism and free trade is not only at stake for the EU and China, but also for the rest of the world, said Juncker. (Xinhua reporter Tian Dongdong also contributed to the story.) CLEARWATER, Fla., June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On June 6th the Church of Scientology Information Center hosted a quarterly reception for Downtown Clearwater Merchants, thanking them for creating a friendly, service-oriented environment for downtown visitors. The reception was held at the 100 year-old historic Clearwater Building purchased by the Church of Scientology in 1975. Built in 1918, the property originally served as the Bank of Clearwater Building. On July 15th , 2015, it was re-opened to the public as the Scientology Information Center. At the after-work reception, guests enjoyed a spread of light refreshments, relaxed and caught up with friends an uncommon opportunity for them to enjoy hospitality for themselves. The Information Center has two unique roles. It provides information on Scientology and its also a gathering place for community meetings and events, said Amber Skjelset, the Manager of the Center. We host high-teas for social and non-profit groups and receptions such as these for the community. We will be hosting quarterly merchant receptions to provide these business owners and their staff an opportunity to stop a moment and enjoy themselves. They work hard and they deserve it. The next Info Center event will be on the 16th of June, where the East Coast Golden Age Theater will perform a classic short story by L. Ron Hubbard from the pulp fiction era. The Center itself is open seven days a week, from 10am to 10pm. For more information on upcoming Information Center events, please contact Amber Skjelset, the Scientology Info Center Manager, at (727) 467-6966 or by e-mail: amber@cos.flag.org The Scientology Information Center: The Scientology Information Center, located in the century-old Clearwater Building in downtown Clearwater, opened on July 11, 2015, and currently houses a gallery of audiovisual displays with some 400 videos. The Center is open to all and provides a self-guided tour showing basic Scientology beliefs, Churches around the world, ongoing social programs and the life of L. Ron Hubbard, Scientologys founder. The Center offers tours to the broad public and civic leaders; holds concerts, theatrical performances and receptions for the community; and opens up the use of its conference room to social, civic and non-profit groups. For more information on Scientology, visit www.scientology.org or the Scientology Network on DirecTV channel 320, or streaming at www.scientology.tv or apps at appleTV, fireTV and ROKU. Amber Skjelset (727) 467-6966 A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a7cb77e7-a721-4ddc-9cf2-2044b7c43720 Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-07 21:15:53|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close SHANGHAI, June 7 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese insurance company on Thursday issued the country's first tax-deferred pension insurance policy in Shanghai, marking the beginning of the long-awaited tax-deferred pension plan. China Pacific Life Insurance Co., Ltd. issued the insurance policy to Cai Jun, captain of the maiden flight for C919, China's first home-made large passenger plane. In May, a pilot tax-deferred pension insurance project has been launched in Shanghai, Fujian Province and Suzhou Industrial Park in Jiangsu Province, respectively. Under the plan, individuals are allowed to defer tax on part of their income that is used to buy commercial pension insurance until they retire and draw money from the fund. On Wednesday, six insurance companies have been approved by China's banking and insurance regulator to sell tax-deferred pension policies. China is facing the challenge of an aging society. By the end of 2017, the number of people aged 60 or above had reached 240 million, accounting for 17.3 percent of the country's total population. The aged population in China was expected to peak around 2050 at 487 million. By then, there will be one senior among every three people. Industry insiders said the launch of the new tax-income deferred pensions was designed to encourage people to prepare for old age, and would promote the balanced development of China's pension system, which is composed of basic government pension, occupational pension, and commercial insurance pension. By reducing the personal tax burden and different marginal tax rates for different ages, people's consciousness of senior care will be raised effectively, said Gan Weimin, CEO of Ping An Pension Insurance Corp. "The tax-deferred pension can adapt to different risk preferences and raise the substitution rates of personal pensions," said Gan. The potential purchasing power released by the tax-deferred pensions will exceed 100 billion yuan each year in China, according to the insurance company. Source Xinhua| 2018-06-07 21:54:21|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg addresses a press conference prior to an NATO defense ministers meeting at its headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, June 7, 2018. (Xinhua/Ye Pingfan) KIEV, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The Ukrainian parliament on Thursday approved a law on creating a supreme anticorruption court. The parliament received 315 votes for the legislation, more than the minimum required 226, it said in a statement posted on its website. According to the legislation, the supreme anticorruption court will serve both as the court of the first instance and the court of appeal in Ukraine. Commenting on the move, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko tweeted: "Today we have completed the formation of the anticorruption infrastructure." The law also stipulates that a council of seven international experts, whose candidacies will be submitted by Ukraine's international partners, will form part of the court. In February, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) demanded the establishment of the anticorruption court as a precondition for continuing its 17.5-billion-U.S.-dollar cooperation program for Ukraine. Under the program launched in 2015, the eastern European country, currently in an economic crisis, has received about 8.7 billion dollars. The disbursement of the aid was suspended in April 2017. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-07 22:01:05|Editor: mmm Video Player Close Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan (R) arrives at the airport in Pyongyang, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, June 7, 2018. (Xinhua/KCNA) PYONGYANG, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan arrived here Thursday, according to Korean Central News Agency. The visit comes days ahead of a historic summit between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the United States to be held in the city state. DPRK top leader Kim Jong Un will meet U.S. President Donald Trump on June 12 in Singapore, the first summit between the two countries since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. Balakrishnan is expected to meet with Kim on Friday. No details about the visit have been revealed. ULAN BATOR, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia is willing to diversify its exports to Russia, Mongolian Prime Minister Ukhnaa Hurelsukh said here Thursday. Hurelsukh made the remarks when meeting with a visiting Russian delegation led by Trade and Industry Minister Denis Manturov. "Mongolia is interested in diversifying its export products to Russia," the prime minister told his Russian guests. "In particular, we want to increase the export of meat and meat products," he added. In this regard, he called on the Russian side to cooperate with Mongolia on a project called "Wool" and set up a joint meat processing plant that meets Russia's requirements and standards. Manturov, for his part, said the Russian government is willing to import highly demanded goods from Mongolia, build an aircraft assembly plant as well as a leather and hide processing facility. Moreover, Russia plans to export agricultural equipment and helicopters to Mongolia, Manturov said. The country will also take part in the renovation and extension works of the Mongolia's 3rd Thermal Power Plant and the Ulan Bator Railway, as well as the construction of a highway, according to Manturov. The Russian delegation arrived here Thursday to attend the "Mongolia-Russia Initiative 2018," an event aimed at strengthening bilateral ties and cooperation. HELSINKI, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The number of wolves in Finland is increasing some 10 percent annually, surveys of the Finnish natural resources authority Luke indicated on Thursday. Professor Ilpo Kojola from Luke told newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet that there are now 16 flocks of wolves in western Finland, a double from last year. "The development is fast as the wolves came back to the west only 15 years ago," he said. Wolves have been making news recently as they are now commonly seen in the coastal areas of western Finland. The reason for the migration is possibly the fact that there are more elks and deer to eat in western Finland than in the eastern part these days, local media said. Late last year, a wolf entered the backyard of a family home in Pyharanta, western Finland, where a child was playing. As a result, the municipality started arranging school transport for all pupils. An investigation revealed later two wolves ran around in an unhurried way and were not afraid of people. The wolves are protected and licenses to kill one are currently restricted to 53 per year. Killing without a license is criminal. In Nousiainen, near Turku, a man got half-a-year imprisonment on probation for killing a wolf last year. The ministry of agriculture pays compensation for wolf damages, such as the loss of a dog. Traditionally, there is a strong fear of wolves in Finnish public. The last confirmed killing of a human was a girl near Turku in 1882. In the 19th century, at least 77 persons lost their lives in wolf attacks in all. Legends about struggle with wolves have existed in Finnish folklore, in a way second only to war memories. The last wolf attack survivor lived in Salo until 1960 and a statue was erected in her memory in the 1990s. Authorities have published instructions advising "a calm disengagement" if meeting a wolf. Screaming may scare away a wolf as well, even when the animal has already bitten, the instructions say. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-07 22:11:13|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close BEIJING, June 7 (Xinhua) -- China's annual college entrance exam began Thursday as about 9.75 million students sit the all-important exam needed to pursue their higher education dreams. The exam, known as the gaokao in Chinese, has changed the lives of tens of millions of people and opened up China's education since it was resumed in 1977. The exam was disrupted by the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), and its reintroduction by then-leader Deng Xiaoping was a clear signal that times had changed. It was not easy to organize a nationwide exam in a country where many people still lacked living materials in 1977. The papers that would have been used to print the selected works of Mao Zedong were later used to print test papers for examinees. In 1977, the exam was taken by around 5.7 million people, including high school graduates, farmers and factory workers. "Our future is closely associated with the times via the gaokao," said Zhao Zhengguo, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Zhao was a factory worker in central China's Hunan Province in 1977 and was admitted to study physics at the University of Science and Technology of China after completing the gaokao in 1978. The resumption of the gaokao showed the country was resolved to reform its talent selection system. All students, no matter rich or poor, are welcome to take the exam. Like Zhao, Zhang Pingwen, a professor with the School of Mathematical Sciences of Peking University, still remembers his childhood hawking ice cream on the street to help his family. "Without the gaokao, it would be impossible for many children like me in rural areas to leave our places of birth and engage in scholarship," said Zhang, adding that he had barely dared to imagine his future at that time. Zhang was admitted by the university in 1984 and conducted ground-breaking research in a number of fields in the ensuing years. For Yu Minhong, CEO of education company New Oriental, the gaokao holds a special place in his heart. He took the exam three times from 1978 to 1980 before being admitted to Peking University. "The resumption of the gaokao was of landmark significance and marked the standardization of the education system," said Cheng Fangping, a professor with the School of Education of Renmin University of China, adding that it is also important for China's modernization, reform and opening. A proper university admission system is profoundly influential for social and economic development, said Liu Haifeng, head of the examination and research center of Xiamen University. "China's rapid economic growth is closely related to the gaokao system," Liu said. The gaokao system has been continuously adjusted in line with changing realities over the past 40-plus years. Independent enrollment, which enables colleges to enroll students of their choice, and making the process more convenient for disabled students have been part of the adjustment. While inspecting preparation for this year's gaokao at the National Education Examinations Authority Tuesday, Vice Premier Sun Chunlan said the gaokao's content would continue to be reformed and overall competency would be emphasized. College enrollment will continue to expand to encourage comprehensive and individual development of students. Statistics from the Ministry of Education showed that China's higher education institutions were home to 36.99 million students in 2016, accounting for one-fifth of the world's total. The gross enrollment rate for higher education jumped to 42.7 percent in 2016 from the previous 30 percent in 2012. "I think the gaokao is so far a fair test as everybody is able to strive to change their fates through the test," Yu said. File Photo: 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) WASHINGTON, June 6 (Xinhua) -- As Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe departed on Wednesday to visit the White House for talks with U.S. President Donald Trump, analysts here said the tour, the second in two months, is unlikely to dispel bilateral mistrust on the issues concerning the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and trade. Before travelling to Canada for the Group of Seven (G7) summit, Abe will meet Trump on June 7, as part of a trip largely expected to reaffirm Japan's stances on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and trade in Washington and Quebec before Trump's scheduled meeting with DPRK top leader Kim Jong Un on June 12 in Singapore. MISSION OF REASSURANCES Abe's trip to the White House has widely been seen as a bid to seek reassurances from Trump to stand with Japan in his meeting with Kim. Specifically, Tokyo expected Trump to reiterate its demand that Pyongyang abandon its nuke programs as well as all of its medium and long-range ballistic missiles that could cover Japan once triggered. Abe also expected Trump to urge Kim to release the Japanese citizens allegedly abducted in the country. Trump vowed to put forward the issue to Kim while meeting with Abe at his Mar-a-Lago resort in April. A sense of insecurity or fear for being marginalized in future talks concerning the Korean Peninsula has fretted Tokyo amid the fast-changing chemistry between Pyongyang and Washington lately, as indicated in their "positive" meetings in New York, Singapore and inter-Korean border, as well as in Trump's remarks hinting the possible signing of a peace treaty with Kim after meeting with Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of the Central Committee of the DPRK's ruling Workers' Party of Korea, last week. Jenna Gibson, communications director at the Washington-based non-profit Korea Economic Institute (KEI), told Xinhua that "the fact that Abe is rushing to Washington on the eve of the summit, the second visit in just two months, says a lot about how insecure he feels in terms of getting his policy priorities on the agenda." "Whether or not it's true, from a public relations perspective Abe looks desperate to meet with Trump and be included in policymaking in the region," she said. "If Abe gets the last word before the summit, there is a better chance that his priorities, including issues like the abductees, will stick in Trump's mind when he arrives in Singapore." For now, the United States and Japan remain divergent on the issue of the abductees, Gibson added. "Addressing the Japanese abductees who were taken by the North Koreans is a high priority for Japan, and for Abe personally. In principle, the U.S. agrees that North Korea should address the issue, but doesn't see it as a top priority in the same way that Abe does," she explained. Douglas Paal, vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, also saw Abe's visit to Washington as "a mission of reassurance." "It is ... not to change the script," he said. "The Japanese are content that Pompeo and Bolton get their needs, but are unsure about Trump himself. So Abe is coming to make the necessary points." BRAWLS OVER TRADE A growing trade dispute triggered by Washington's imposition of fresh tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from some of its major trading partners is also likely to weigh heavily on Abe's meeting with Trump and his trip for the G7 summit. "I will insist that the G7, which has developed free and fair economic order, has to play its role for the stability of the world economy," Abe said before departing. Gibson argued that the good personal relationship between Trump and Abe has not so far carried over into the United States' "preferential treatment on policy" towards Tokyo. On economic issues, South Korea was able to negotiate its way onto a list of exempted countries for Trump's steel tariffs, while Japan was left off the list, she said. On the DPRK, President Trump is working closely with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, and has not seemed to listen to Abe's more conservative and hardline stance on the DPRK, she added. "Abe may have to rethink his strategy and figure out how to translate his good personal ties with Trump into policy wins for Japan." In the eyes of Douglas Paal, U.S.-Japan relations are largely in alignment on security, and not on trade. "This will lead Japan to cover its bets, especially with Russia," he said. Analysts said that the huge differences between Abe and Trump on trade policies and practices, such as the United States' latest 232 investigations and threat to slap tariffs on imported automobiles will once again turn Abe's upcoming visit to the White House barely fruitless. Yet for Trump, it is reassuring to see that Abe agrees to stay on the same page with him in bettering relations with Pyongyang, analysts said. Darrell West, Brookings Institution's senior fellow, told Xinhua that "Japan is less likely to take a confrontational stance with North Korea since Japan could be the first country attacked (other than South Korea) if there are armed hostilities." JUBA, June 7 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan's main rebel group, the Sudan People's Liberation Army-in opposition (SPLA-IO), said on Thursday that its leader, former First Vice President Riek Machar, is happy to meet his rival President Salva Kiir as requested by regional leaders. The SPLA-IO said in a statement that Machar is more than happy to meet Kiir in the country or region following the recent request by the Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir to mediate face to face talks between the warring leaders in Khartoum. "Despite the propaganda of the regime and for the sake of peace, the SPLM/SPLA-IO Chairman and Commander in Chief, Riek Machar Teny is more than happy to meet with President Salva Kiir in any IGAD country, including Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda; or any country outside the region, including Mauritania," the rebels said. Last week, the East African regional bloc, IGAD, which is mediating efforts to revive South Sudan's stalled 2015 peace deal, recommended a Kiir-Machar meeting before the next African Union summit slated for July in Mauritania. The meeting was called for after the several warring parties in South Sudan last month failed to agree during the second round of the High Level Revitalization Forum held in Ethiopia. The SPLA-IO denied any awareness about the proposed face-to-face meeting by Sudan involving Machar and President Kiir in Khartoum saying they have not been informed officially. "The truth is that the SPLM/SPLA-IO has not received any official communication regarding the venue of any prospective 'face-to-face' meeting between President Kiir and Machar," said the rebels. However, the rebels admitted knowledge of peace efforts by Kenyan opposition figure Raila Odinga to help mediate between the rival leaders in the South Sudan conflict. The SPLA-IO further said they are fully committed to the peace process and shall continue to engage positively with IGAD in helping achieve peace. South Sudan descended into violence in December 2013 after political dispute between Kiir and Machar, leading to killing of thousands and displacement of millions of people. A peace agreement signed in 2015 between the warring parties was again shattered after renewed violence broke out in July 2016. OTTAWA, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese embassy in Canada on Thursday confirmed the second death of a Chinese tourist from a traffic accident in Ontario days earlier. The accident occurred Monday when a bus carrying 35 Chinese tourists from the United States crashed on the 401 highway in eastern Ontario. All 37 on board, including an American driver and tour guide, were injured and hospitalized. The first death was confirmed by Canadian police early Tuesday. Without disclosing further details of the dead, the Chinese embassy said one Chinese victim remains in critical condition, while the conditions of the three other seriously injured improved. The other injured have mostly been discharged from several hospitals. Family members of some Chinese victims have arrived in Canada. The cause of the accident is still under investigation. The bus involved in the accident belongs to the U.S.-registered travel company LLTOURTU. The Chinese tourists departed from Shanghai on May 19 for a trip to the United States and Canada through Saturday. OAKLAND, Calif., June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Unless the Golden State Warriors win 4 in a row in which case we must reschedule our event for the following day, as the Warriors will be celebrating in a parade in front of our building! (We want them to win, of course, but we may need to reschedule.) EVENT WHAT: CALIFORNIA CURES! Book Launch WHEN: Tuesday, June 12, 11 am to noon WHERE: 1999 Harrison Street, Oakland, California, Suite 1650 Don C. Reed has been called the Grandfather of stem cell research advocacy, for his 23-year struggle for scientists funding and freedom, especially his support of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). In his new book, CALIFORNIA CURES: How the California Stem Cell Program is Fighting Your Incurable Disease!, Reed tells why the agency needs to be renewed when its funding ends. Lives have been saved, and suffering eased, because California stood up for stem cells in 2004, Reed says. Now as we approach the end of that voter-approved program, it is vital that everybody knows the story of CIRM, the good it is doing, and why it must be allowed to continue. Attending the book launch will be six-year-old Evie Vaccaro, who, Reed says, is alive today because of a stem cell therapy supported by CIRM. Evie was born with Severe Combined Immune Deficiency (SCID), the bubble baby disease. Without a functioning immune system, a common cold can be fatal. For her own protection, Evie was kept inside a sterile plastic bubble. Untreated, SCID children usually die in the first two years of life. But a CIRM-supported treatment, developed by Donald Kohn of UCLA, has cured Evie-- and 40 other children just like her. Begun by citizen initiative Proposition 71 in 2004, CIRM is a quiet triumph, says Reed, who has written two books and a weblog (http://www.stemcellbattles.com) on the subject. He points to 49 human trials the agency has funded, helping people with paralysis, vision loss, stroke and multiple types of cancer. CIRM has also created thousands of jobs, generated hundreds of millions of dollars in new taxes, and made California a global leader in stem cell research. Inspired and led by Bob Klein, father of a diabetic son, CIRM has contributed major funding ($2.6 billion) to the fight against chronic disease, including: diabetes, obesity, deafness, heart disease, HIV/AIDS, sickle cell anemia, Alzheimers, Parkinsons, ALS and more. To fight the epidemic of obesity, stem cell scientist Shingo Kajimura may have found a way to change the color of human fat! Brown fat burns off quickly, and the body is lean and muscular. White fat is long-lasting blubber, difficult to get rid ofbut could it be changed to brown? Leukemia may be fought by locating cancer super-cells when they hide, peeling off their cloak of invisibility so the body can kill them. To those who say, we cant afford the research, Reed says: We cant afford not to do it! In 2017, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, chronic disease and disability cost America $2.9 trillion dollars, more than all federal income taxes combinedcure is the only way to bring down this mountain of medical debt. Confirmed Guests at the Book Launch Include: Bob Klein, inspirational founder of CIRM; Hans Keirstead, pioneering researcher (and congressional candidate); Bertha Chen, called the Gorilla Gynecologist; Dr. Maria Millan, President/CEO of CIRM; Don Reed, author CALIFORNIA CURES Evie Vacarro, 6-year-old girl cured of SCID by CIRM-supported therapy; of SCID by CIRM-supported therapy; Alysia Vacarro, Evies mother; Xavier Darzaq, inventor of super microscope; Adrienne Shapiro, sickle cell anemia advocate. CALIFORNIA CURES! is produced by World Scientific Publishing, Inc., publishers of the late Professor Stephen Hawking. https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/10747 About the Author: Don C. Reed is vice President for Public Policy, Americans for Cures Foundation. He can be reached for interviews at (650) 812-1011. For audio, video and more information, visit: www.stemcellbattles.com Reed was citizen sponsor of Californias Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Act of 1999, named after his paralyzed son. Don was grassroots organizer for Americas first pro-stem cell research legislation, California Senate Bill 253 (Ortiz). Reed served on the patient advocate Board of Directors for Proposition 71, and remains actively involved in the $3 billion California stem cell agency. As David Jensen of the CALIFORNIA STEM CELL REPORT remarked, Don has probably attended more public meetings of the CIRM than anyone else, including staff. Reed has received numerous awards, including: the first Patient Advocacy Award from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the first Stem Cell Action Award from the World Stem Cell Summit, the Willie Shoemaker Award for advancing awareness of Spinal Cord Injury, Teacher of the Year for Fremont School District, Highlights for Childrens Best Science Article of the Year, the U.S. House of Representatives Community Service Award, and more. In addition to CALIFORNIA CURES and its preceding volume, STEM CELL BATTLES: Proposition 71 and Beyond, Reed has written more than 200 pieces for the Huffington Post, Daily Kos, and other internet outlets. He has also written books about sharks and dolphins (based on 15 years as a professional scuba diver at Marine World Africa USA) as well as articles for such publications as THE LANCET, BOYS LIFE and OCEANS. Married to Gloria for 49 years, Reed is proud father to Roman and Desiree, and has four amazing grandchildren. MOSCOW, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Russia has no immediate plans to pull its troops out of Syria, but may do it quickly when conditions permit, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday. "The Russian military will stay there as long as it is beneficial to Russia and in fulfillment of our international obligations," Putin said during his annual televised "Direct Line" Q&A session. Putin said that the Russian participation in fighting terrorists in Syria was an "important and noble mission" aimed at defending the interests of Russia and its citizens. According to him, thousands of terrorists originating from Russia and Central Asian countries have concentrated in Syria. It is preferable to neutralize them in Syria than wait until they come to Russia with weapons, he said. Russia now maintains two military facilities in Syria, namely the Tartus naval base and the Hmeymim airfield, under an agreement with the Syrian government. "If needed, we will be able to promptly withdraw our military personnel at no material costs," he said. Russia started participating in anti-terrorist operations in Syria in September 2015 at the invitation of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, predominantly with missile strikes in support of the Syrian army. In December 2017, the Russian military announced that Syrian troops supported by Russian servicemen have completed the destruction of Islamic State (IS) terrorists in Syria. Later, Putin ordered a partial withdrawal of Russian troops from the war-torn Mideast country. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-07 23:06:28|Editor: yan Video Player Close BAGHDAD, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Thursday ordered an investigation into the Wednesday deadly explosion in a residential area in eastern Baghdad. According to a statement by his office, Abadi, also the commander-in-chief of Iraqi forces, instructed the Interior Ministry to "investigate the incident and to take deterrent legal action against the perpetrator of the crime." A day earlier, an explosive cache at a house used as a warehouse went off near a Shiite mosque in the Shiite bastion of Sadr City neighborhood, a stronghold of nationalist Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. The house was totally destroyed, and five nearby houses were badly damaged, leaving a crater of five meters deep and a diameter of 50 meters. An Interior Ministry source put the toll of the massive blast at 14 killed and more than 90 others wounded, without giving further details about which militia owns the house. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-07 23:31:35|Editor: yan Video Player Close ANKARA, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Turkey suspended a bilateral migrant readmission agreement in response to the Greek court's rulings refusing to extradite coup-linked former soldiers, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Thursday. "There is a migrant deal with the European Union. That's being implemented. On the other hand, we have a bilateral readmission agreement with Greece. We have suspended that at the moment," Cavusoglu told reporters in southern province of Antalya. Under the bilateral deal signed in 2001, Turkey would accept illegal refugees deported from Greece. Greece refused to extradite eight former Turkish soldiers who fled to the country and were granted asylum by the Greek Council of State. All fugitives were released by Greek courts despite the fact that Turkey accuses them of involvement in a coup attempt on July 15, 2016. OSLO, June 7 (Xinhua) -- A 50-year-old Norwegian citizen, originally from Rwanda, was arrested by Norway's National Criminal Investigation Service (Kripos) and charged with genocide in his homeland in 1994, public broadcaster NRK reported Thursday. The man will be detained for four weeks, two of which will be in full isolation, and he has no right to receive letters and visits, the report said. Kripos believes there is reason to suspect the man participated in the killing of a large number of people, mainly Tutsi. The suspect came to Norway as a refugee through the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in 2006, Kripos said in a statement. "A lot of investigation remains, including interrogation, review of seizures and further investigations. The case is being investigated with a goal to further prosecution in Norway," said Espen Hanken, police attorney in Kripos. According to the man's lawyer, Brynjar Meling, he is not guilty. "He has nothing to do with the genocide in Rwanda. It is a known case that there are a number of wrong and fake charges in the Rwanda complex. We have not come to terms with the charges yet, but he is aware that he has nothing to do with this," Meling said. The man, however, "wants to collaborate with Kripos, and therefore agrees to custody for a period of time," the defender added. Kripos conducts investigations of Norwegian or foreign citizens residing in Norway, who are suspected of committing war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. These cases are both complicated and time consuming, it said. "The alleged crime usually occurred several years ago in countries that differ widely from Norway. The scene of a crime will often be old, destroyed or changed. Kripos is dependent on tight and close cooperation with the country where the crimes occurred, as well as other countries that are investigating similar cases," Kripos said. ADDIS ABABA, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Migration Agency (IOM) said 46 Ethiopian migrants had drowned and 16 others remain missing, "presumed dead" while they were travelling to cross the Gulf of Aden. The incident happened while at least 100 migrants crammed onto a smuggler's boat that left the port of Bossaso, Somalia, on June 5. The migrants who are said to be Ethiopians, 83 men and 17 women, were travelling through the night across the Gulf of Aden to find employment in Yemen and the Gulf region, when their vessel capsized in high waves as it approached its destination in the early hours of Thursday, according to the statement. The tragedy occurred amid IOM's recent call for concerted efforts to halt the life-threatening journey of "short but treacherous Gulf of Aden." According to IOM, more than 7,000 migrants take the "perilous journey" every month. The number of migrants that had used the route last year had also reached 100,000. "They are treated appallingly and go through horrendous conditions. This has to end," the statement read. Earlier this week IOM announced its support to 101 Ethiopian migrants to leave Yemen as clashes grew closer to the area. The migrants were brought to Djibouti. The UN migration agency also indicated that migrants, while travelling to and in Yemen, are routinely abused by smugglers and other criminals, which include physical and sexual abuse, torture for ransom, arbitrary detention for long periods of time, forced labor and even death. ADDIS ABABA, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia received 29,211 refugees in the first five months of 2018 ending May 31, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Thursday. In a press statement sent to Xinhua, the UNHCR said the refugee arrival figures for 2018 has pushed the total number of refugees sheltering in Ethiopia to 920,262, making it the second biggest refugee-hosting country in Africa next to Uganda. The UNHCR further said in May alone, 4,436 refugees arrived in Ethiopia, out of which 2,157 refugees came from South Sudan and 2,094 refugees came from Eritrea. Meanwhile, the UNHCR said it has only received 17 percent of the 327.8 million U.S. dollars needed to support the refugees in Ethiopia. Most refugees in Ethiopia come from strife-torn nations of Somalia and South Sudan and Ethiopia's northern neighbor Eritrea. Smaller groups of refugees fleeing war in Sudan and from across the Red Sea from Yemen are also among those the UNHCR has registered as refugees in Ethiopia. VILNIUS, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The Women Political Leaders Global Forum opened here on Thursday, calling for more involvement of women into decision making processes in the world's politics. Silvana Koch-Mehrin, president of the forum, made the call at a high-level conference in Vilnius on Thursday. According to Koch-Mehrin, currently about 93 percent of world state and government leaders are male, which implicates that women are still insufficiently involved into the global decision making in politics. "The main goal of the Forum is to attract more women into politics and encourage those already holding a political mandate to strengthen their influence and get involved at the main power centers," Koch-Merin was quoted as saying at the press conference by local media. In her words, one of the main goals of the gathering is to attract more women decision makers into the areas currently dominated by men, such as defence and security, finance, energy, information technologies. "These areas are crucially important for every state and every economy, however, we should wear very strong glasses in order to find women decision makers there," Koch-Mehrin said. Themed "It's about time! 100 reasons to act!", the forum was opened in Lithuanian capital Vilnius on Thursday by the country's President Dalia Grybauskaite. The event is held when Lithuania celebrates a Centennial of the Restoration of the State and 100th anniversary when Lithuanian women, among the first in Europe, gained the right to vote. In her address to the women world leaders, Grybauskaite underscored that Lithuania had addressed gender equality issues through established legal regulation. However, 150 states in the world still have laws that discriminate against women. At the current pace, global gender gap will take at least another 100 years to close, said the Lithuania's leader. The president also drew attention to the necessity to further the effort in stopping violence against women. The president has called for the remove of the stereotypes related to "male" and "female" professions and encouraged women to pursue careers in science and innovations. The Women Political Leaders Global Forum, which will run through June 8, has gathered more than 300 female leaders in politics, business and international organizations from over 90 countries and regions, Lithuania's presidency announced. Relatives of Palestinian female paramedic Razan al-Najjar mourn during her funeral in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Yunis, on June 2, 2018. Al-Najjar, who volunteered as a paramedic, was killed on June 1 by Israeli troops near the Israel-Gaza border. (Xinhua/Stringer) GAZA, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The death of female Palestinian paramedic Razan al-Najjar killed by Israeli gunfire last week has left her family, friends and the Palestinians at shock. Al-Najjar, a 21-year-old volunteer, was shot dead by Israeli soldiers on Friday during the "Great March of Return" rallies that have been ongoing since March 30. The rallies demand the return of Palestinian refugees who were forced to leave their cities during the Arab-Israeli war in 1948, as well as lifting the blockade Israel has imposed since 2007. In addition to al-Najjar, more than 120 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers since the eruption of the protests. Thousands of outraged Palestinian mourners Saturday participated in the funeral of al-Najjar who was wrapped with a Palestinian flag. Images of al-Najjar wearing a white coat and smiling shyly were placed on the walls of her family's home. Mourners carry the body of Palestinian female paramedic Razan al-Najjar during her funeral in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Yunis, on June 2, 2018. (Xinhua/Khaled Omar) After her loss, grief overwhelmed al-Najjar's family in a small neighborhood on the outskirts of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. In al-Najjar's bedroom, a small cabinet filled with gauze, medical cotton and other simple medical tools was beside her bed. "My daughter was the first volunteer paramedic to join the protests," Um Ahmed, al-Najjar's mother, told Xinhua. The woman said her daughter did not work for a specific organization, adding that her goal was to treat peaceful protesters injured by Israeli soldiers. "She was doing a peaceful work, even the protest was peaceful, that is why she decided to join the rallies since they are not harming anyone," Um Ahmed said. She explained that al-Najjar joined the medical field two years ago after receiving intensive courses, adding she volunteered in a local hospital in Khan Younis before she decided to provide help in the rallies. "Sometimes she bought medical supplies at her own expense," al-Najjar's mother said. Al-Najjar's death made her a symbol of the anti-Israel return rallies, with her images flooding social media networks in Palestine over the past days. "Killing my daughter is a crime against humanity," al-Najjar's mother said with a sad voice. "She was intentionally killed by live ammunition." However, an Israeli probe into her death found out that Israeli soldiers did not fire directly at the Palestinian paramedic. The investigation found that al-Najjar was seen close to the border fence, treating protesters wounded by Israeli military fire, adding that the probe will continue. But al-Najjar's colleagues rejected the army's investigation results. One of them, 30-year-old volunteer paramedic Fares al-Qudwa, told Xinhua that al-Najjar was killed during her running towards the border fence in an attempt to reach a wounded man. "Her white coat was distinctive for her role and work," he said. A file photo taken on April 4, 2018 shows Palestinian female paramedic Razan al-Najjar(R) volunteered near the Israeli-Gaza border to give medical treatment to wounded Palestinian protesters. (Xinhua/Stringer) Mustafa Barghouthi, head of the medical relief society, also rejected the results. He said in a statement that al-Najjar was shot in the chest by a bullet which pierced her back. He doubted Israeli probe, which said it was not a direct shot. After her death, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called her father, saying that she is "a martyr of Palestine and martyr of the humanitarian duty." Jawad Awwad, Palestinian Authority's minister of health, described the Israeli killing of al-Najjar as a "war crime," which "reflects the Israeli army's determination to violate all international conventions on protecting paramedics." In retaliation, Islamic Hamas movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, and the Islamic Jihad group, fired barrages of mortars and rockets from the coastal enclave into Israel. Israeli war jets then launched intensive airstrikes on the military facilities of the two groups across Gaza. Al-Najjar is not only missed by her family, but also by her colleagues at the field. At their tent clinic near the border fence with Israel, al-Najjar's volunteer coworkers recalled their moments shared with her. They said she was one of the bravest paramedics and her life was endangered many times while saving the lives of others. The coworkers vowed that they will not be frightened by her death to abandon volunteer work helping people shot by Israeli snipers during the protests. "The camp is very sad and gloomy for losing our colleague Razan," al-Qudwa said sadly. "She always brought smiles to her colleagues." SARAJEVO, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The European Commission on Thursday announced a 1.5-million-euro (1.77 million U.S. dollars) humanitarian aid fund to address the increasing needs of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants stranded in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). "The number of refugees and migrants arriving in BiH has increased and we must act swiftly. We are committed to help BiH deal with this situation and deliver assistance to the most vulnerable refugees and migrants," Christos Stylianides, commissioner for humanitarian aid and crisis management, was quoted as saying. The funding aims to strengthen the provision of assistance, the protective environment and enhance the capacity of organizations already providing first-line emergency response. Hundreds of thousands of migrants passed through the so-called "Balkan route" in 2015, trying to reach Western Europe. BiH was not part of that route at the time. However, migrants have turned to BiH in recent months, trying to avoid more heavily-guarded routes and borders in the Balkans. Around 4,900 refugees and migrants have entered BiH since early January 2018, according to government estimates. PARIS, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The National Assembly on Thursday approved a law to impose a total ban of mobile phone use in the country's primary and middle schools. With the ruling "Republic On the Move" party dominating the lower house of parliament, the government won lawmakers' green light to implement its proposal to prevent pupils aged 11 to 15 from using mobile phones in schools. France has already banned phones in classrooms in France. With the new law, pupils will be barred from taking them out at breaks, lunch times and between lessons. The ban on mobiles in schools, one of President Emmanuel Macron's campaign promises, will take effect in September 2018. "It's a law for the 21st century, a law for addressing the digital revolution," Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer told lawmakers. "It's a signal to French society of the stakes for our society. Being open to technologies of the future doesn't mean we have to accept all their uses," he said. 43-101 resource estimate, led by Mr. Owens, better positions the company to move forward and fully realize the potential of Alexandria Minerals. The potential of the companys Val dOr property is great and similar to neighbouring properties that have significant deposits. Only Eric Owens has a plan that puts the interests of shareholders an increase in their return on investment ahead of the interests of members of the board. TORONTO, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today Eric Owens, former CEO, current director, and a founder of Alexandria Minerals Corporation (Alexandria), along with other concerned shareholders (together the Concerned Shareholders or Founders Group), welcomed the vindication of Mr. Owens by Alexandria Minerals Corporation (Alexandria or Company) through their strong endorsement of Eric Owens 43-101 resource estimate work. As stated in Alexandria's news release yesterday, the 43-101 resource estimate, led by Mr. Owens, has enabled the Company to have a much better understanding of the styles and potential of ground within the belt and to know how to drill out, model and build resources more efficiently. A number of targets with significant historical drill results as well as known mineralized structures have not been followed up with recent drilling but have shown the ability to host the required widths and grade to host potentially significant mineralization. Additionally, some zones previously targeted for drilling are known not to have the gold tenor required to warrant further drilling. These will be eliminated. The Founders Group believes it is a mistake to turn aside a CEO with a proven ability to conduct the very drilling program that will allow the company to better understand its assets and to raise the funding necessary to more aggressively and quickly explore this asset base. Even more importantly for shareholders, the fabrications contained in the first 14 paragraphs of the news release are directly refuted by Alexandrias own conclusion in its Path Forward. As Mr. Owens has been excluded from company affairs for more than 7 months, the Founders Group questions the current managements decision to exclude approximately 25% of the 2017 drill holes from the estimate (10,500 m of core), given the delay in the resource estimate, and further to not capture the additional 12,500 metres of drilling that had occurred in early 2018. In total, some 40% of the drill holes completed over the last 18 months have been excluded from the results. It is frustrating for shareholders that the Special Committee of Alexandria over the last 7 months has wasted so much time and money to only come to the conclusion we had the right plan all along, said Mr. Owens. Plus, some points of clarification are required. Ive never opposed selling non-core assets. While non-core asset sales can be strategic, attempting to finance a proper drilling program, and continuing to grow an exploration company, based solely on these sporadic, one-off sales is ill-advised. The Founders Group also disagrees with the Special Committees approach over the last 7 months, which it believes could only have one possible objective: to drive down the stock price while seeking a partner or a fire sale. The Founders Group has deep concerns as to why the Special Committee is still using Sprott Capital Partners as its financial advisor. Sprott is a unique shareholder, which doesnt have the same interests as the majority of shareholders, and all shareholders should question the advice the Special Committee is receiving from Sprott Capital. Further, Mr. Owens strongly disagrees with the implication that the substantial, accretive financing he raised while CEO would have resulted in a greater dilution than the Special Committees efforts to sell the Company. To be clear this is false and misleading information. Mr. Owens plans have included both strategic financing and non-core asset sales, which would have preserved much greater value, while better positioning the company to deliver shareholders greater value. Mr. Owens vision and plan for Alexandria is the best one for growing shareholder value. The current board and Special Committee have frittered away time and resources, while pursuing short-sighted objectives. By Alexandrias own admission, again from their recent news release: The Companys asset base, in addition to the Orenada deposits, consists of a very large continuous land base along the Cadillac Break in the Val Dor area and adjacent to and contiguous with the Sigma-Lamaque-Triangle assets of Eldorado (Formerly Integra Gold). The Cadillac Break is one of Canadas most prolific and well-known gold producing areas. There are a number of active targets on the Companys land adjacent to areas on which other gold companies, specifically, Eldorado Gold Corporation and Agnico Eagle Mines Limited are working systematically on. Given this reality, its time the Special Committee stop its time-wasting games and resource-depleting distractions and embrace Mr. Owens and the Founders Groups plan to get Alexandria back on track. Disclaimers Eric Owens has not sought or obtained consent from any third party to the use herein of previously published information. Any such information should not be viewed as indicating the support of such third party for the views expressed herein. Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters addressed in these materials are forward-looking statements that involve certain risks and uncertainties. You should be aware that actual results could differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Eric Owens does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking information. Information in Support of Public Broadcast Solicitation Eric Owens is relying on the exemption under section 9.2(4) of National Instrument 51-102 Continuous Disclosure Obligations and section 150(1.2) of the Canada Business Corporations Act to make this public broadcast solicitation. The following information is provided in accordance with securities and corporate laws applicable to public broadcast solicitations. This solicitation is being made by Eric Owens, and not by or on behalf of the management of Alexandria Minerals Corporation (Alexandria). The registered and mailing address of Alexandria is 1 Toronto Street, Suite 201 Toronto, Ontario M5C 3B2. Eric Owens has filed an information circular containing the information required by Form 51-102F5 Information Circular in respect of the Founders Nominees, which is available under Alexandrias profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Mr. Owens is not requesting that Alexandria shareholders submit a proxy at this time. Once Mr. Owens has commenced a formal solicitation of proxies, a registered holder of shares of Alexandria that gives a proxy may revoke it: (a) by completing and signing a valid proxy bearing a later date and returning it in accordance with the instructions contained in the form of proxy to be provided or as otherwise provided in the proxy circular accompanying such proxy; (b) by depositing an instrument in writing executed by the shareholder or by the shareholder's attorney authorized in writing, as the case may be: (i) at the registered office of Alexandria at any time up to and including the last business day preceding the day the Meeting or any adjournment or postponement of the Meeting is to be held, or (ii) with the chairman of the Meeting prior to its commencement on the day of the Meeting or any adjournment or postponement of the Meeting; or (c) in any other manner permitted by law. A non-registered holder of shares of Alexandria will be entitled to revoke a form of proxy or voting instruction form given to an intermediary at any time by written notice to the intermediary in accordance with the instructions given to the non-registered holder by its intermediary. Proxies for the Special Meeting may be solicited by mail, telephone, email or other electronic means as well as by newspaper or other media advertising, and in person by associates, agents, representatives and employees of Eric Owens, who will not be specifically remunerated therefor. In addition, Mr. Owens may solicit proxies in reliance upon the public broadcast exemption to the solicitation requirements under applicable Canadian securities laws, conveyed by way of public broadcast, including through press releases, speeches or publications, and by any other manner permitted under applicable Canadian laws. Mr. Owens may engage the services of one or more agents and authorize other persons to assist him in soliciting proxies should he commence a formal solicitation of proxies. In this regard, Mr. Owens has entered into an agreement with Navigator Ltd., which has agreed to act, in addition to other capacities, in a capacity to assist Mr. Owens in the oversight and solicitation of proxies in connection with the Meeting. Pursuant to this agreement, Navigator Ltd. will be paid a fee of $15,000 for this activity. All costs incurred for the solicitation will be borne by Mr. Owens. Dan Palikrousis has contributed funds to Mr. Owens to defray the costs of such solicitation; as a result he may also be deemed to be a solicitor within the meaning of applicable securities laws. To the knowledge of Mr. Owens, neither he nor any of his associates or representatives, nor any of the Founders Nominees, or their respective associates or affiliates, has: (i) any material interest, direct or indirect, in any transaction since the beginning of Alexandria' most recently completed financial year or in any proposed transaction that has materially affected or would materially affect Alexandria or any of its subsidiaries; or (ii) any material interest, direct or indirect, by way of beneficial ownership of securities or otherwise, in any matter currently known to be acted upon at the Meeting, other than the election of directors of Alexandria. For more information: Mike Van Soelen Navigator Ltd. mvansoelen@navltd.com (416) 307-3039 https://www.votefoundersgroup.ca/ Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-08 00:01:48|Editor: ZD Video Player Close Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (R) meets with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who is in China on a state visit and to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Qingdao Summit, in Beijing, capital of China, June 7, 2018. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin) BEIJING, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Premier Li Keqiang on Thursday met with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, calling for closer economic cooperation. Premier Li hailed the traditional friendship and cooperation between China and Kazakhstan, saying they are improving increasingly. Earlier in the day, President Xi Jinping met with President Nazarbayev and held fruitful discussions to map out the future of bilateral relations, said Premier Li. China attaches great importance to its relationship with Kazakhstan and stands ready to work with Kazakhstan to enhance bilateral ties and strengthen synergy of the Belt and Road Initiative and Kazakhstan's Bright Road Initiative so as to expand mutual benefits and achieve win-win cooperation, Premier Li said during the meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse. While noting that cooperation between China and Kazakhstan in industrial production capacity has yielded fruitful results in recent years, Premier Li said China hopes to intensify cooperation with the neighboring country in the areas of infrastructure construction, energy, resources, trade in agricultural produce, and finance. Premier Li called on both countries to jointly boost trade and investment and facilitation of personnel exchanges, and enhance coordination within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) so as to benefit countries and people in the region. Nazarbayev, who arrived in Beijing Wednesday for a state visit to China, said Kazakhstan values its relationship with China and the two countries yielded fruitful results in cooperation in various fields, with economic and trade cooperation elevated to a new level. Saying bilateral ties of Kazakhstan and China are an example of mutually beneficial cooperation, Nazarbayev said Kazakhstan is an important partner in the Belt and Road construction. Kazakhstan is willing to dovetail development strategies with China and promote bilateral cooperation in industry, investment, innovation, agriculture, energy, and finance, said Nazarbayev, adding his country would like to enhance coordination and communication on international and regional affairs. Following his state visit to China, he will attend the 18th meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO scheduled for Saturday and Sunday in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province. BERLIN, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz on Thursday warned that the survival of the Schengen free-travel-zone in Europe depends on better collaborative efforts to police its external borders by European Union (EU) member states. Speaking at a conference of the EU parliamentary group of European People's Party (EPP) in Munich, Kurz demanded more funding, staff and competences for the European border control agency Frontex in order to enable it to better fulfill its mandate. "A lack of protection for the (Schengen) external borders will be the beginning of the end of a Europe without internal borders," the Austrian chancellor said. The EPP is currently attempting to agree on a shared overarching political position for its constituent members with view to looming elections of the European Parliament in 2019. In order to do so, the group must first overcome bitter infighting over pressing questions, such as whether or not to expel the Hungarian Fidesz party led by Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Migration is a topic which is likely to feature prominently the campaigns of the national EPP parties. EPP parliamentary faction leader and Christian Democratic Union (CDU) politician Manfred Weber in particular has repeatedly called for Europe's conservative to mount an electoral challenge against right-wing extreme political forces in this context. During a keynote speech delivered on Wednesday night, German Chancellor and CDU leader Angela Merkel called for a swift solution in shaping EU refugee policy together. Additionally, Merkel argued in favor of far-reaching reforms of EU institutions as a means to make the continental community of 27 nations a more harmonious and decisive actor in international relations. Many of Kurz' views on EU reform resemble those of Merkel, a circumstance reflected in the Austrian chancellor's plea for a "more efficient European Union" on Thursday. However, the coalition government between the right-wing OEVP and far-right FPOE in Vienna is more opposed to a strengthening of the federal level of governance in the EU than the governing cabinet formed by the CDU, Christian Social Union (CSU) and German Social Democrats (SPD) in Berlin. Kurz wants to reduce the size of the Brussels-based European Commission in spite of the fact that it employs less staff than the municipal governments of most large cities in Europe at around 25,000 in 2016. The Austrian chancellor is also keen to cut the level of EU funding provided by member states after the departure of Britain, describing the bloc on Thursday as "no longer being appropriate for the 21st century" in its present form. In spite of such rhetoric, the EU budgetary commissioner and CDU politician Guenther Oettinger was hopeful at the EPP conference in Munich that his own proposal to raise EU funding levels in the next financing period would ultimately be signed-off by member states. "I am optimistic that we will reach a good solution in the course of (budgetary) negotiations," Oettinger said on Thursday. STOCKHOLM, June 7 (Xinhua) -- A Swedish court on Thursday sentenced Uzbek national Rakhmat Akilov to life imprisonment for "terrorist crimes" after he mowed down pedestrians on a busy shopping street in central Stockholm in April last year. The Stockholm District Court found Akilov guilty of five murders, 119 attempted murders and 24 cases of endangering others. He will be deported from Sweden once his sentence is served and will be banned from ever returning to the country. Akilov hijacked a truck outside a restaurant in Stockholm on April 7 last year and ran down pedestrians on the busy Drottninggatan street before crashing into a department store. Five people died and ten were injured in the attack. Before stealing the truck, Akilov swore allegiance to the IS. He was arrested on the same day outside a gas station in a Stockholm suburb after he was recognized from a surveillance camera image. Prosecutor Hans Ihrman urged the Stockholm District Court to issue the harshest punishment possible for what he labeled "perhaps the most severe crime ever committed in Sweden". The court agreed with senior judge Ragnar Palmkvist, who noted at a press conference on Thursday, that "Rakhmat Akilov's sympathies for IS are beyond doubt. He has himself spoken of it on several occasions and it is also clear from material found on his mobile phone." After his arrest, Akilov quickly admitted to being the driver of the truck and he also pleaded guilty to terrorism when the trial began in February. He expressed no remorse for his actions throughout the trial, during which he turned 40. He also denied being guilty of 18 attempted murder. Life sentences in Sweden are usually commuted to a fixed term. An average life term in Sweden is 16 years. Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) shakes hands with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad during their meeting in Sochi on May 17, 2018. (AFP/SPUTNIK) MOSCOW, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Russia has no immediate plans to pull its troops out of Syria, but may do it quickly when conditions permit, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday. "The Russian military will stay there as long as it is beneficial to Russia and in fulfillment of our international obligations," Putin said during his annual televised "Direct Line" Q&A session. Putin said that the Russian participation in fighting terrorists in Syria was an "important and noble mission" aimed at defending the interests of Russia and its citizens. According to him, thousands of terrorists originating from Russia and Central Asian countries have concentrated in Syria. It is preferable to neutralize them in Syria than wait until they come to Russia with weapons, he said. Russia now maintains two military facilities in Syria, namely the Tartus naval base and the Hmeymim airfield, under an agreement with the Syrian government. "If needed, we will be able to promptly withdraw our military personnel at no material costs," he said. Russia started participating in anti-terrorist operations in Syria in September 2015 at the invitation of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, predominantly with missile strikes in support of the Syrian army. In December 2017, the Russian military announced that Syrian troops supported by Russian servicemen have completed the destruction of Islamic State (IS) terrorists in Syria. Later, Putin ordered a partial withdrawal of Russian troops from the war-torn Mideast country. BUJUMBURA, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza on Thursday announced that he will leave the presidency in 2020 at the expiry of his current presidential term. "As the party visionary, I commit that my term is ending in 2020. In that context, don't be misled by people giving wrong interpretations on terms of the current president, or on this amended constitution," Nkurunziza said after signing and promulgating the new constitution in Gitega town. The new constitution extends the presidential term from five years to seven years and allows the president to serve two consecutive terms, which means Nkurunziza is allowed to stay in office until 2034 if he is elected in future presidential elections. "This constitution was not amended for President Nkurunziza as our enemies have been saying it. It was amended for the goodness, honor and good future of Burundi and its people," he said. The Burundian Constitutional Court Thursday endorsed the results of the constitutional referendum, announcing that the amendments to the constitution were approved by a vote of 73.24 percent in the referendum. The new constitution also creates the post of prime minister and cuts the number of vice presidents from two to one. According to the new constitution, the prime minister is to be designated from the ruling party, while the vice president will come from a different party. Burundi plunged into a crisis in April 2015 when Nkurunziza decided to run his controversial bid for a third term. His candidature, which was opposed by the opposition, resulted in a wave of protests, violence and even a failed coup in May 2015. BERLIN, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The German federal government on Thursday vowed to improve export guarantees offered to small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) operating in Africa. Speaking in Berlin, Thomas Bareiss, secretary of state in the economy ministry, explained that closer economic ties between Germany and African nations were a priority of chancellor Angela Merkel's (CDU) governing cabinet. "Today we will send a signal to Africa as well as in support of the German Mittelstand sector: We are expanding our guarantees for African exports," Bareiss told press. The term "Mittelstand" is commonly used in Germany to denote SMEs, but also has additional qualitative connotations such as family-ownership, long-term outlook, social responsibility and strong regional ties. The sector is often considered to constitute the backbone of the export-oriented German economy. Specifically, the government now wants to lower the insurance excess shouldered by these companies or the banks they work with in international trade between Germany and African states. The new rulings will apply to countries which have joined a G20 initiative for more international investment and were SMEs previously faced relatively steep deductible rates of up to five percent. Amongst others, German exporters operating in the African markets of Cote D'Ivoire, Senegal, Ethiopia, Ghana and Rwanda will benefit from the expansion of government guarantees. KIEV, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The Ukrainian parliament on Thursday endorsed Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman's proposal to relieve Finance Minister Olexandr Danylyuk of his duties. The proposal was supported by 254 lawmakers out of 344 present in the 450-seat assembly, said a statement on the parliament website. Last week, Groysman asked the parliament to dismiss Danylyuk, accusing him of "provoking conflict during the cabinet meeting" and "spreading false information among Ukraine's international partners." Danylyuk, 42, served as an investment manager in several private companies and as the deputy head of the presidential administration before being appointed a finance minister in April 2016. ADDIS ABABA, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has appointed Seare Mekonen as the chief of staff of Ethiopia National Defense Forces (ENDF), replacing Samora Younous, state media Ethiopia Broadcasting Corporation said Thursday. Local and foreign analysts have been keenly watching Abiy's moves in the army and intelligence sectors ever since he came to power in April as a test of his grip on power. At a ceremony held in the national palace in Addis Ababa, Younous formally handed over his army chief position to Mekonen in the presence of Ahmed and Ethiopian President Mulatu Teshome. During the ceremony Younous was honored with Ethiopia's highest military award for his four-decade service in ENDF. In a related development, the Office of the Prime Minister of Ethiopia in a press statement announced a decision to restore full ranks to two ex-generals who had been stripped of their title after being accused of a coup plot in 2009. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-08 00:26:59|Editor: yan Video Player Close Chinese President Xi Jinping holds a welcome ceremony for Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev before their talks in Beijing, capital of China, June 7, 2018. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei) BEIJING, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev in Beijing on Thursday, and they agreed to consolidate the traditional friendship and work together to forge ahead in achieving respective national rejuvenation of their countries. As an important neighbor, Kazakhstan is an influential power in the region, Xi said, noting that the relations between China and Kazakhstan have become an example of friendly relations for neighboring countries. China was willing to work with Kazakhstan to push ahead the process of building a community with a shared future for humanity, Xi said. The Chinese dream and Kazakh dream show the people-centered development concept and pursuit of a bright future, Xi said. Xi said that China and Kazakhstan should work together to help each other. China will, as always, firmly support Kazakhstan's domestic and foreign policies, and is willing to cooperate with Kazakhstan in deepening cooperation in areas such as fighting the "three evil forces" of terrorism, extremism, and separatism, and will closely communicate and coordinate with Kazakhstan in international and regional affairs. Five years ago, during Xi's first visit to Kazakhstan, he proposed building a Silk Road Economic Belt when touring Nazarbayev University accompanied by the Kazakh president. Xi said that in the past five years, the Belt and Road Initiative has received positive responses from the international community. The key to the progress scored in promoting the initiative is that it conforms to the trend of world peace and development and meets the aspirations for development and cooperation shared by countries along the route. The initiative has become an important practice in promoting the building of a community of shared future for humanity, said Xi. The Chinese president said that in the past five years, the cooperation between China and Kazakhstan in building the Belt and Road has entered a new stage of deep integration and mutual promotion. The two sides should strengthen policy coordination and implement the alignment of the Belt and Road Initiative and Kazakhstan's Bright Path economic policy, advance cooperation on production capacity, investment, economic and trade, energy, finance, connectivity, agriculture, innovation, and people-to-people exchanges, said Xi. China is willing to strengthen coordination and cooperation with Kazakhstan to promote SCO cooperation in all areas, and continuously enhance the cooperation under the framework of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia, so as to make the conference better serve regional security and development needs, said Xi. Nazarbayev said China is a friendly neighbor and important partner of Kazakhstan, and his country values the traditional friendship between the two countries and also appreciates China's long-term support. China's development has brought opportunities to Kazakhstan, Nazarbayev said, noting that Kazakhstan supports the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era, and believes the success is also in line with the interests of Kazakhstan. Nazarbayev said Kazakhstan firmly adheres to the one-China policy, and fighting the "three evil forces" of terrorism, extremism, and separatism. Kazakhstan is ready to work with China to support each other in international affairs and coordinate more under the framework of SCO and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia, Nazarbayev said. The Silk Road Economic Belt, proposed by President Xi in 2013, will benefit regional countries, Nazarbayev said, noting that Kazakhstan is willing to promote synergy of the Belt and Road Initiative and its own Bright Path economic policy. After the talks, the two presidents signed a joint statement and witnessed the signing of a series of cooperative agreements. Prior to the talks, Xi held a welcome ceremony for Nazarbayev outside the East Gate of the Great Hall of the People. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-08 00:42:02|Editor: ZD Video Player Close Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (R) meets with Kyrgyz President Sooronbay Jeenbekov, who is in China on a state visit and to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Qingdao Summit, in Beijing, capital of China, June 7, 2018. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin) BEIJING, June 7 (Xinhua) -- China and Kyrgyzstan on Thursday vowed to explore more cooperation potential under their newly-established comprehensive strategic partnership. The pledge was made by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and visiting Kyrgyz President Sooronbay Jeenbekov at Diaoyutai State Guest House in Beijing. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Jeenbekov agreed to establish a comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries Wednesday. As friendly neighbors with 26 years of diplomatic relations, China and Kyrgyzstan have witnessed leapfrog development in bilateral ties based on mutual respect and win-win cooperation, Premier Li told Jeenbekov, adding that China stands ready to make joint efforts with Kyrgyzstan to bear more fruits of cooperation in various fields. Noting the two economies complement each other with great cooperation potential, Premier Li said China is willing to accelerate its exchanges with Kyrgyzstan in such areas as industrial capacity, interconnection, and finance to improve the quality and efficiency of their pragmatic cooperation. China will increase imports of quality agricultural products from Kyrgyzstan for balanced trade ties, and will encourage its enterprises to invest more in Kyrgyzstan, Premier Li said, calling for convenience and support to be provided by the Central Asian country. Premier Li also urged the two sides to work together within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to boost regional economic cooperation. Jeenbekov, who is in China on a state visit and to attend the SCO Qingdao Summit scheduled to be held this weekend, said China's remarkable achievements during the past four decades have significantly contributed to the world's development. The establishment of a comprehensive strategic partnership elevates the two countries' relationship to a new height, he stressed. Kyrgyzstan is willing to align its development strategy with China's, push forward mutual investment, speed up cooperation in processing service, agriculture, new energy, transportation, and healthcare, and facilitate cultural and people-to-people exchanges, Jeenbekov said. Los Angeles, Calif., June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MedTech Innovator, the premier nonprofit startup accelerator in the medical technology industry, today announced it has been selected as one of eight accelerators in the nation by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to drive innovation in lifesaving medical technologies that solve challenging problems spanning modern health security threats and daily medical care. Accelerators are part of a new business-friendly approach, said Deputy Secretary for Health and Human Services Eric Hargan. This approach will help startups and other businesses shape the next generation of lifesaving technology and transform health security. That innovation is crucial to protecting Americans and saving lives. Accelerators will scout out innovative technologies and products that can be developed to solve healthcare challenges that extend beyond traditional vaccine and drug development. One of the first challenging problems is the need for earlier detection of infection, creating technology that can alert people when they have been infected with a bacteria or virus even before they begin to feel sick. The second is the urgent need to solve sepsis, the bodys life-threatening response to infection or traumatic injury. Sepsis is a top cause of hospitalization in America, leads to 250,000 deaths annually and costs approximately $24 billion a year to treat. The number of sepsis cases could skyrocket after a bioterrorism attack or pandemic. A new HHS unit called DRIVe part of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) at the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response will oversee the accelerator network and is recruiting a nonprofit partner that can work with private investors to fund innovative technologies and products to solve these and other systemic health security challenges. DRIVe also can invest in the projects using quick, streamlined funding methods. To assist startups and other businesses in developing their technologies and products, accelerators will connect them with essential product development and business support services. This support could position innovative technologies and products for follow-on investment from the public or private sectors. At a time when artificial intelligence and personalized medicine are not just conceivable but attainable, the time is uniquely now to solve some of the most daunting, far-reaching health security problems, said Rick Bright, BARDA director. Bright added that with the accelerators, startups and other businesses have a new pathway to bring ideas together, nurture them with experienced partners, and direct them to BARDAs experts who have demonstrated success in partnering with private industry to take new ideas to regulatory approval. We are honored to have received HHS BARDA DRIVe Grant, which will assist us in continuing to bring transformative innovations to patients in our role as the medtech industrys leading accelerator, said Paul Grand, MedTech Innovators founder and CEO. MedTech Innovator received a $100,000 DRIVe grant to serve as an accelerator. Other accelerators are: First Flight Venture Center (Research Triangle Park, NC), New Orleans BioInnovation Center, SUNY Research Foundation (Stony Brook, NY), Texas Medical Center Innovation Institute (Houston), University City Science Center (Philadelphia), Massachusetts Medical Device Development Center (Lowell), and Life Science Washington Institute (Seattle). About MedTech Innovator Based in Los Angeles, Calif., MedTech Innovator is the premier nonprofit startup accelerator in the medical technology industry. Our mission is to improve the lives of patients by matching healthcare industry leaders with innovative early-stage medtech companies for mentorship and support. For more information about MedTech Innovator, visit https://medtechinnovator.org/ and follow @MedTechAwards on Twitter. About HHS, ASPR and BARDA HHS works to enhance and protect the health and well-being of all Americans, providing for effective health and human services and fostering advances in medicine, public health, and social services. The mission of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) is to save lives and protect Americans from 21st century health security threats. Within ASPR, BARDA invests in the advanced research and development, acquisition, and manufacturing of medical countermeasures vaccines, drugs, therapeutics, diagnostic tools, and non-pharmaceutical products needed to combat health security threats. For more about ASPR and BARDA, visit www.phe.gov/aspr. To connect with MedTech Innovator and partner with DRIVe, visit www.drive.hhs.gov, sign up for HHS email updates and follow @HHSMedia on Twitter. Attachment MAPUTO, June 7 (Xinhua) -- President of Mozambique Filipe Nyusi said Thursday that the government has been implementing reforms aimed at transforming the tourism sector and increasing its appeal to investors. Nyusi made his remarks in the opening address at the three-day International Conference on Nature-Based Tourism, which was for the first time held in Maputo, bringing together officials and institution members from across the world. Nyusi said the government has taken measures to improve the business environment and boost the value chain of tourism, including easier acquisition for visa, rehabilitation of the national reserves and better tourism services. "The government is eliminating corrupt and bureaucratic practices that inhibit investments. We have freed the national air space for international flights, which allow them to fly from their countries straight to Mozambique," added the president. According to the president, the tourism sector is growing and currently employing over 60,000 people, with a significant contribution to the country's GDP. With 25 percent of its territory occupied by conservation areas, Mozambique considers tourism as one of its four strategic priorities. The other three are agriculture, energy and infrastructure. NAIROBI, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The Kenyan police warned on Thursday that Somalia-based extremist group al-Shabab is planning to carry out terror attacks on key infrastructure in northeast Kenya including coast regions during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Police spokesman Charles Owino said they have received credible intelligence that the terrorists who have waged increased attacks in Somalia were targeting key infrastructure in Mandera, Wajir, Garissa and the Coast counties. "They are particularly targeting installations that are far flung along the border," Owino said in a statement issued in Nairobi. Owino also clarified that the five paramilitary police officers who were killed on Wednesday were attacked on Somali soil and not in Kenya. The five security officers were killed and three others seriously injured after their vehicle ran over a landmine in Liboi near the Kenya-Somalia border. The early morning explosion happed when the police officers were on normal border patrol a few kilometres from the Somali border. "We wish to assure members of the public that we have deployed our resources appropriately to counter any such actions by these criminals. Our officers are on high alert and will continue monitoring their movements at all times," Owino said. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-08 01:32:17|Editor: yan Video Player Close BEIJING, June 7 (Xinhua) -- China hopes the United States will meet it half way and promote balanced and coordinated development of economic and trade cooperation between both countries, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Thursday. Speaking about a statement issued by the Chinese economic and trade consultation team, MOC spokesperson Gao Feng said that the attitude of the Chinese side remains consistent and clear, that is, China does not want trade disputes between it and the United States to be escalated. To implement the consensus reached in Washington, Chinese and U.S. economic and trade teams held candid and in-depth consultations in Beijing from June 2-3 and made positive and concrete progress in many areas. According to the statement issued by the Chinese side, the economic and trade outcomes reached in the talks will not take effect if the United States imposes any trade sanctions including raising tariffs. During the consultations last weekend, both parties held in-depth and concrete discussions on some specific trade cooperation areas, particularly agriculture and energy, Gao told a press briefing. "China is willing to increase imports from the United States on the assumption that two parties meet each other half way," said Gao. Reform and opening-up as well as expanding imports are China's established strategies. It is willing to increase imports from other countries, including the United States, to meet the people's ever-growing needs for a better life and the requirements of high-quality economic development, said Gao. The Chinese market is growing and the China International Import Expo will be held this November, said the spokesperson, who also welcomed competitive products around the world to enter the Chinese market. Gao said China will create an international business environment, provide more convenient, transparent, and predictable terms of trade to benefit world enterprises, including those from the United States. Details of the consultations are yet to be confirmed by both sides, said Gao, noting that economic and trade cooperation between the two countries is always moving forward to achieve mutual benefits and win-win outcomes despite some twists and turns. China is willing to expand cooperation and properly resolve differences through dialogue and consultations. It hopes the United States will make joint efforts with China to maintain the stable and healthy development of economic and trade ties between both countries, said Gao. Part of smuggled artifacts restored from France. (Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities) CAIRO, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The Egyptian authorities said on Thursday that the country has recovered nine illegally smuggled artifacts from France. French authorities seized these artifacts at a train in Paris that was heading to England in 2012, the foreign ministry said in a statement. The cultural relics were handed to the Egyptian embassy in Paris in 2017 after a final ruling by a French judge on the smuggling case in 2016. According to another statement by the Ministry of Antiquities, the artifacts are parts of five coffins, two statues of cats, a human head made of basalt, and a pharaonic mask made of wood. The nine artifacts will be stored in the Egyptian Museum until they are fit for display after restoration work, the ministry said. During constant cooperation between France and Egypt on preventing antiquities trafficking, France agreed to return 239 pieces to Egypt in November 2014. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gestures as he speaks during a joint press conference with French President after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, on June 5, 2018. (AFP photo) JERUSALEM, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's meetings with European leaders this week posed an attempt to rally support for greater pressure against Israel's arch enemy Iran. It was a tough task; impossible some may say. He first met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, then French President Emmanuel Macron, and finished the tour in London with British Prime Minister Theresa May. Netanyahu's visit comes after the United States announced last month their withdrawal from the nuclear deal Join Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) signed with Iran in 2015, which stipulated that Iran should curb its nuclear activities in return for a let-up on tough sanctions. The Israeli prime minister aimed to crack the European wall of support for the deal, but the leaders were reluctant. In a statement made by Merkel, she said "differences of opinion exist." After U.S. President Donald Trump decided to abandon the deal, European leaders were quick to declare their continued support for it. Trump and Netanyahu have been largely isolated in their aversion for the JCPOA. "Netanyahu is fighting a lost war," said Moshe Maoz, a professor at the Harry S. Truman Research Institute at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Netanyahu has voiced his opposition to the Iranian nuclear deal from the beginning of the negotiations on it. "He knows that he is not going to get support, but he is still trying to prevent salvaging of the deal," said Eran Ezion, former Deputy Head of Israel's National Security Council. In their public statements together with the Israeli leader, both Macron and Merkel voiced their continued support for the nuclear deal, but there was willingness to discuss issues that are currently not part of it. The JCPOA does not address Iranian ballistic missile capabilities, one of the core issues triggering accusations from the United States and Israel. There has also been criticism about the "sunset" clauses set to end the restrictions on Iranian nuclear activity in 2025. Netanyahu believes Iran will be quick to produce a nuclear weapon at that point. In addition, he wants the world to deal with an increasing Iranian military presence in neighboring Syria, a cause of great concern to Israel, which may earn some support from Europe. Ezion said the Israeli prime minister set "a very high bar" on this topic, with Israeli media reporting the European position was moving towards him. "He does not expect to have a significant effect in the course of one visit, that's not how diplomacy works," Ezion told Xinhua. "It's going to be a long battle ... these are critical moments." After meeting the French president, Netanyahu clarified his position. "I want to make it clear that I did not ask President Macron to leave the deal. I think that economic realities are going to decide this matter so it's not what we focus on actually. What we focus on, and what I focus on, is to stop Iranian aggression in the region," Netanyahu said. "Netanyahu puts his trust mostly in the U.S.," Maoz said. "He wants to show the (Israeli) public that he is a world leader accepted by all these (European) leaders, its more PR (public relations) than something tangible ... an attempt to increase his popularity." Whether Iran will agree to modifications of the JCPOA remains to be seen, but the newly imposed American sanctions may push them to concede on some matters. However, Iranian rhetoric and actions parallel to the meetings in Europe spoke differently. Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei tweeted just as Netanyahu began his tour that "Israel is a malignant cancerous tumor." And Iran's nuclear chief has announced it will begin preparations to step up its uranium enrichment capacity within the limits allowed by the JCPOA. With Israel believed to already possess a substantial nuclear arsenal, the Iranian aspirations do not bode well for the region. "Eventually, there will be a balance of terror as between nuclear powers, we cannot stop it," said Maoz. Ezion believes the remaining parties are "able to perpetuate the deal" and this is what Netanyahu is trying to avoid. The result of his diplomatic efforts will be seen in the coming weeks. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-08 02:07:23|Editor: yan Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The UN General Assembly will hold elections for five new members of the Security Council on Friday, with contention between Indonesia and the Maldives for one seat for the Asia-Pacific group. The elections are scheduled for Friday morning, Brenden Varma, spokesman for the president of the General Assembly, told reporters on Thursday. Six member states will contest five non-permanent seats. Indonesia and the Maldives will contend one seat for the Asia-Pacific group while the other four states -- Belgium and Germany (for Western Europe and Others), the Dominican Republic (for Latin America and the Caribbean) and South Africa (for Africa) -- will run unchallenged. The UN Security Council has 15 members -- five permanent ones and 10 elected ones. The 10 non-permanent members are elected by the General Assembly for two-year terms, with five replaced each year. The five permanent seats are held by Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States. To be approved, a candidate must receive at least two-thirds of all votes cast for that seat, regardless of whether the election is contested or not. The 10 elected seats are distributed among the five regional groups: three seats for Africa, two seats each for Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Western Europe and Others. The Eastern European group has one seat. The five newly elected members will replace Bolivia, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands and Sweden, and start their two-year terms as from Jan. 1, 2019. The Security Council, which is tasked with the maintenance of world peace and security, is the most powerful body of the United Nations. SOFIA, June 7 (Xinhua) -- A meeting on Black Sea fisheries and aquaculture ended in Sofia on Thursday with the signing of a joint declaration against unregulated fishing. Karmenu Vella, European Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, told the conference that all participators recognized the need for a strong commitment to protecting the biological resources in the Black Sea. Vella said four of every 5 tonnes of fish caught in the Black Sea are illegal, so it was important to overcome this problem together. The declaration dealt with tackling unregulated fishing, sharing scientific data and supporting small-scale fishermen, which represented a large share of fishing operations in the Black Sea. The document set very clear objectives that would benefit everyone -- the fishermen, the environment and the Black Sea countries, he added. Roumen Porozhanov, Bulgaria's Minister of Agriculture, Food and Forests, said that the Sofia declaration had given a strong impetus to the joint management of Black Sea resources and ecosystems, as well as relevant scientific research and data collection. The two-day conference was attended by agriculture ministers and deputy ministers of all the Black Sea countries except Russia and Ukraine. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-08 02:32:30|Editor: yan Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council on Thursday welcomed the recent progress on the development of a plan to transfer security responsibilities in Somalia from the African Union mission (AMISOM) to the country's own institutions. In a presidential statement, the council said the transition plan is "conditions-based" and "with clear target dates," and called for the implementation of Somalia's security architecture agreement to provide the foundation for a successful transition. In this regard, the statement urged the Somali federal government and federal member states to prioritize efforts, including by integrating and providing federal support to regional forces. It also called on international partners to support the process. The transition plan was endorsed by the African Union Peace and Security Council on April 30, 2018, and by international partners at the Somalia Security High-Level Meeting in Brussels on May 2, 20l8. The council noted that AMISOM's role in enabling the transition to Somali-led security will be critical, saying it looks forward to seeing how the mission should be configured to support the process. In addition, the council noted with concern the recent fighting in the Sool region of northern Somalia, urging an immediate cessation of hostilities. It also expressed concern at the ongoing threat posed by militant group A1-Shabaab, reaffirming its support for a comprehensive approach to security in Somalia consistent with international humanitarian law and international human rights law. KIGALI, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on Thursday physically marked their boundary on the shared frontier adjacent to western Rwanda's Rubavu district and eastern DRC's Goma town. The demarcation took place at the Rubavu-Goma common border on an occasion to mark the eighth Africa Border Day. Rwandan defence minister James Kabarebe and DRC's deputy prime minister Herny Mova Sakanyi signed an agreement of the demarcation report after the demarcation. Kabarebe said he is confident that the two sides will expedite the demarcation and materialization of the remaining section of the land needed to be demarcated and Lake Kivu before 2022, the deadline set by the African Union for all member states to demarcate and materialize their boundaries. During the occasion, the two countries also inaugurated a one-stop border post at the Rubavu-Goma common border and 22 physical boundary pillars. Numerous cross-border initiatives to improve border efficiency in clearances are in place to cut down unnecessary costs and duplication of operational services, Kabarebe said. Currently, 7,000 people cross the border each day through the border post commonly called Grande Barriere on the Rubavu-Goma border and 45,000 people cross another Rubavu-Goma border post commonly called Petite Barriere. Africa Border Day is marked in line with the African Union Border Program, aimed at addressing the persistence of lack of delimitation and demarcation of African boundaries that gives rise to undefined zones and developing cross-border initiatives. File Photo: Photo taken on June 1, 2018 shows the United Nations Security Council voting on a U.S.-drafted resolution on the question of Palestine at the UN headquarters in New York. (Xinhua/Li Muzi) UNITED NATIONS, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The UN General Assembly will hold elections for five new members of the Security Council on Friday, with contention between Indonesia and the Maldives for one seat for the Asia-Pacific group. The elections are scheduled for Friday morning, Brenden Varma, spokesman for the president of the General Assembly, told reporters on Thursday. Six member states will contest five non-permanent seats. Indonesia and the Maldives will contend one seat for the Asia-Pacific group while the other four states -- Belgium and Germany (for Western Europe and Others), the Dominican Republic (for Latin America and the Caribbean) and South Africa (for Africa) -- will run unchallenged. The UN Security Council has 15 members -- five permanent ones and 10 elected ones. The 10 non-permanent members are elected by the General Assembly for two-year terms, with five replaced each year. The five permanent seats are held by Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States. To be approved, a candidate must receive at least two-thirds of all votes cast for that seat, regardless of whether the election is contested or not. The 10 elected seats are distributed among the five regional groups: three seats for Africa, two seats each for Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Western Europe and Others. The Eastern European group has one seat. The five newly elected members will replace Bolivia, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands and Sweden, and start their two-year terms as from Jan. 1, 2019. The Security Council, which is tasked with the maintenance of world peace and security, is the most powerful body of the United Nations. CLEARWATER, Fla., June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On Monday the 25th of June, Karena Morrison, founder of the Benevolution Foundation, will deliver the second of her series of seminars in the Clearwater Community Volunteers Center Maximizing Your Message. There is no fee to attend these seminars and it begins at 7pm. The purpose of these seminars is to give grassroots non-profits the tools they need to grow and help more children and families. Non-profits or volunteer groups can sign up for the seminar via the Benevolution Facebook event page, Eventbrite or by contacting the Clearwater Community Volunteer Center, (CCV Center). Karena Morrison has been helping grassroots movements across the Tampa Bay Area for over 15 years. The Clearwater Community Volunteers Center was established not only with the purpose of helping non-profits but to also to help people like Karena who are giving back to the community. The CCV Center has its doors open to non-profit organizations host their events free of charge. Since the Centers opened, more than 1225 people have toured the center, held their group meetings, volunteered their time, or attended one of the weekly seminars. Michael Soltero, Manager of the Center said, We will always welcome those who seek to help others. Its all about giving back to the community! As humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard once said, A community that pulls together can make a better society for all, and I love the fact that I get the chance to do this every day. For more information about the Clearwater Community Volunteers Center or to have your non-profits event there, please call Michael Soltero at the Clearwater Community Volunteer Center at (727) 316-5309. About the Church of Scientology: The Scientology religion was founded by humanitarian and philosopher, L. Ron Hubbard. The first Church of Scientology was formed in the United States in 1954 and has expanded to more than 11,000 churches, missions and affiliated groups, with millions of members in 167 nations. Based on L. Ron Hubbard's words, "A community that pulls together can make a better society for all," the Church of Scientology regularly engages in many humanitarian programs and community events. To learn more, visit www.scientology-fso.org. Michael Soltero (727) 467-6860 A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a2640aef-5920-40cb-90ff-05dde7a484cf Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-08 03:42:50|Editor: yan Video Player Close BRUSSELS, June 7 (Xinhua) -- NATO defense ministers on Thursday took decisions to boost the command structure and readiness of forces amid transatlantic tensions. Speaking at a press conference following the ministerial meeting, Stoltenberg announced that ministers agreed to strengthen the Alliance's command structure to ensure rapid reinforcement across the Atlantic and Europe. Ministers decided to add more than 1,200 personnel to the command structure. The Alliance will establish a new joint force command for the Atlantic at Norfolk in the United States and a new enabling command at Ulm, Germany. "These headquarters will be essential for Alliance reinforcements," Stoltenberg said. NATO's command structure was reduced to fewer than 7,000 staff in seven commands after the end of the Cold War. Ministers also endorsed a new readiness initiative, called "Four Thirties", that means NATO will have 30 mechanized battalions, 30 air squadrons and 30 combat vessels, ready within 30 days or less. "This is not about new forces. But about increasing the readiness of the forces our nations already have," the NATO chief added. NATO's meeting has been overshadowed by disputes between the United States and Europe regarding trade issues, the Iran nuclear deal, and climate change treaty. Asked by reporters whether U.S.-EU differences affect cooperation within NATO ahead of the meeting, Stoltenberg admitted that "there are now serious disagreements between NATO allies." "It's nothing new," he said, stressed that Allies have been able to unite around NATO's core task. "As long as they're not solved, I have to be focused on how to reduce the negative consequences for NATO," Stoltenberg told reporters. Ministers meet Thursday and Friday to make preparations for the upcoming Summit in July. "Burden sharing will be a key theme of our summit next month. And I expect all Allies to continue their efforts," the NATO chief said. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-08 04:02:57|Editor: yan Video Player Close TEHRAN, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Iran's ambassador to the UN nuclear watchdog said Thursday that Israel's nuclear program poses threat to the international peace and security. Reza Najafi said Israel's nuclear capabilities should be put on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) supervision as a real threat to the regional and international peace and security, according to Press TV. The supervision should continue until Tel Aviv joins the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) unconditionally and all the regime's clandestine nuclear facilities are placed under the UN agency's Safeguards, he said at a IAEA Board of Governors meeting in Vienna on Thursday. He called for a complete ban on any nuclear cooperation with Israel and transferring of nuclear material and equipment to the country. Israel has continued the military dimension of its nuclear program through its ignorance of the legitimate demands of the global community, reliance on the support of certain countries and blatant violation of the international law, he added. Tel Aviv has rejected global calls to join the NPT, refusing to allow international inspectors to observe its controversial nuclear program. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-08 04:08:00|Editor: yan Video Player Close HAVANA, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Cuba's foreign ministry on Thursday roundly condemned the resolution by the Organization of American States (OAS) against Venezuela and reiterated its firm support to the government of President Nicolas Maduro. The ministry's director general for Latin America and the Caribbean, Eugenio Martinez, denounced the resolution at a press conference as "unacceptable meddling in the internal affairs...of Venezuela." The OAS on Tuesday passed a resolution to call an extraordinary assembly to vote on suspension of Venezuela's membership. The resolution was passed as 19 member states of the OAS general assembly voted in favor, four against and 11 abstained. The Cuban official said that "the adopted resolution does not contribute to dialogue in Venezuela", saying the pressures being exerted by various OAS members are impeding the chance of a deal between the Venezuelan government and opposition. Martinez underlined that "the United States does not have the moral authority, and neither does the tarnished Organization of American States, to give lessons in democracy and human rights." Cuba was part of the OAS when it was created in 1948 before being kicked out in 1962 at the behest of the United States, which opposed the government of Fidel Castro. In 2009, the OAS lifted Cuba's suspension but the country has refused to return to the group. LONDON, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Fears that Britain's Brexit secretary David Davis would resign in a wrangle with Prime Minister Theresa May was averted Thursday after the two held a crisis meeting at Westminster. Before the dust had settled on what had been a bruising 24-hours, a new dilemma emerged to confront the prime minister. Media reports in London quoted Sir Alan Duncan, minister of state for Europe and the Americas at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, as saying it would be just possible for there to be a second national referendum on the terms of the exit deal Britain strikes with Brussels as it leaves the European Union. Duncan insisted there would not be a second referendum on whether Britain should leave or remain in the EU. Peace was restored among May's leading cabinet ministers after the government published a revised version of a so-called backstop arrangement in the event of Britain and the EU not agreeing on a future working deal before the two part company. A backstop plan is essential to avoid the imposition of a hard border between Northern Ireland, which is part of Britain, and the neighboring Irish Republic which will remain as an EU member. May held a 60-minute crunch meeting to discuss a modified plan that would see Britain matching EU trade tariffs temporarily in order to avoid a hard Irish border post-Brexit. Pro-Brexit ministers as well as Davis were concerned that unless a time limit was set Britain could remain in the European customs union indefinitely. Britain's revised plan states that should a temporary customs arrangement be needed it will be only in place until the future customs arrangement can be introduced. The document says Britain expects the future arrangement to be in place until the end of December 2021 at the latest. That dateline was enough to satisfy Davis and other critics, though it did not stipulate what would happen should a permanent solution be found. Some political commentators said it allowed both Davis and May to claim victory. While peace broke out among May's ministers and senior party members, everything now hinges on how the EU and its chief negotiator Michel Barnier will react to May's stopgap plan. Barnier said he welcomed publication of the British proposal, but did not give a verdict on whether it would be accepted. The European Parliament's Brexit co-ordinator Guy Verhofstadt went further, saying that Britain's plan did not look workable. The Daily Telegraph in London said Thursday night that Duncan, who is deputy to Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, had plunged May's government into deeper chaos with his comment that there could be a second referendum on Britain's exit from the European Union. The Telegraph said Duncan, in a speech in Berlin which had been cleared by Downing Street, insisted there would be no second in-out referendum. He added: "It would, I suppose be possible to ask the people in a referendum if they liked the exit deal or not, but that would mean the choice would be between the exit deal on offer or no deal at all. "It would not in reality offer people the option of reversing the original decision to leave the EU." A Foreign Office spokesman clarified the statement later, saying: "As the minister said several times in his speech in Berlin, we are leaving the EU and there will be no second referendum." FRANKFURT, June 7 (Xinhua) -- German chemicals and pharmaceuticals producer Bayer AG told press on Thursday that it had successfully completed the acquisition of U.S. agrochemical firm Monsanto, marking the end of the largest acquisition in the company's history. Bayer paid Monsanto shareholders 128 U.S. dollars per share, according to the statement released by Bayer, which made the acquisition worth 63 billion U.S. dollars. According to the conditional approval from the United States Department of Justice, the integration of Monsanto into Bayer can take place as soon as the divestments to BASF have been completed. "This integration process is expected to commence in approximately two months," estimated Bayer. "Our sustainability targets are as important to us as our financial targets. We aim to live up to the heightened responsibility that a leadership position in agriculture entails and to deepen our dialogue with society," said Werner Baumann, chairman of the Bayer Board of Management. "Today's closing represents an important milestone toward the vision of creating a leading agricultural company, supporting growers in their efforts to be more productive and sustainable for the benefit of our planet and consumers," said Hugh Grant, outgoing chairman and CEO of Monsanto. Monsanto will operate independently from Bayer until the integration commences. WASHINGTON, June 7 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that he is willing to invite Kim Jong Un, the top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), to visit the United States for further talks if their summit negotiations in Singapore go well. Trump made the remarks at a joint press briefing in the White House with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Trump said that Kim's personal letter to him was a very warm and nice one, and that he appreciated it very much. The U.S. president also said he would like to see the normalization of bilateral ties once the mutual concerns are solved. Speaking of the U.S. "maximum pressure" campaign against the DPRK, Trump said he would not use the term now. Whether he will re-use it in the future depends on the negotiations, and the U.S. campaign has not changed. He added that he is totally and fully prepared to walk away from the Singapore meeting if it does not go well, as he did to the historic Iran nuclear deal. "But I hope it won't be necessary," he added. For his part, Abe said he sincerely hopes the Singapore meeting between Trump and Kim could be a success. Speaking of the bilateral trade imbalance, Trump said that it was an issue the two nations "have to" deal with. He said that Abe had promised him Japan would buy many U.S. farm products and Boeing planes, and build more factories in the United States. Earlier on Thursday, Trump told the media before his meeting with Abe that his stay time in Singapore has not been decided. "One, two, three -- depending on what happens," he said. "It's going to be much more than a photo op. I think it's a process." LONDON, June 7 (Xinhua) -- A senior British official on Thursday night said that it is time now for Britain to look beyond Europe at the rest of world, including China, and Britain is ready to develop further relations with China. Caroline Nokes, British minister of state for immigration, told a gathering of the Conservative Friends of the Chinese, an organization of the Chinese British Conservative Party members, that the British government is successful in attracting more Chinese students and more investment from China. Nokes, who was appointed to the current post on Jan. 6, cited the example of the two-year visas granted to Chinese visitors to Britain as the government's efforts to make Britain more open to the rest of the world. She told Xinhua that there are too much discussions about Europe in Britain, it is time now for Britain to turn its eyes to the rest of the world, including China. Britain looks forward to getting more Chinese investment, she said. Nokes is a Conservative Party politician in Britain. She was first elected as the member of British Parliament for Romsey and Southampton North in Hampshire in 2010. Meanwhile, she also encouraged more ethnic Chinese in Britain to run for public posts, such as members of the local councils, at all levels in the country. The Conservative Friends of the Chinese is designed to become a sustainable organisation that acts as the bedrock to political, cultural and trade and investment relations between Britain and the British Chinese communities. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-08 05:58:31|Editor: yan Video Player Close RIO DE JANEIRO, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's government on Thursday raised 3.15 billion reals (about 807 million U.S. dollars) by auctioning off three pre-salt oil blocks in deep waters off the Atlantic coast. Had the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP) succeeded in selling off four oil blocks, as the auction intended, it would have raised a total of 820 million U.S. dollars. Together, the four blocks are estimated to contain some 5 billion barrels of crude. Brazil's state-owned oil giant Petrobras lost its bid on two blocks to foreign oil firms, however the company exercised its preemptive right, granted by law, by acquiring a 30 percent stake in the winning consortiums. Investment in the blocks is estimated to reach a minimum of 738 million reals (about 190 million U.S. dollars). "It was an extremely successful auction, in which we succeeded in attracting competitivity and raising the revenue generated," the ANP's president, Decio Oddone, said. The blocks are expected to add 40 billion reals (about 10.2 billion U.S. dollars) to the coffers of the federal, state and local government, he said. The gigantic reserves could turn Brazil into one of the world's biggest exporters of crude. WASHINGTON, June 7 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday that after the June 12 meeting in Singapore between U.S. President Donald Trump and the DPRK's top leader Kim Jong Un, he will travel to South Korea and China to update those countries on the summit. Speaking at a press briefing, he said that "I will be traveling to meet with my Japanese and South Korean counterparts after the summit to continue to coordinate with them. I will also stop in Beijing following the Singapore summit." A press release from the U.S. State Department said that Pompeo will travel to Seoul on June 13-14 and then will head to Beijing on June 14. Officials of the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) have been holding direct talks in preparation for the Trump-Kim meeting. A comprehensive, whole-of-government effort to support for the meeting is underway, Pompeo said, referring to the U.S. advance team in Singapore to make logistical preparations. Trump and Kim will "certainly" discuss security assurances for the DPRK, improving relations between the two countries, he said. LUBLJANA, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Slovenian President Borut Pahor confirmed on Thursday that Janez Jansa, president of the Democrats (SDS) which won Sunday's parliament election, the priority to form a government, according to the national media. The confirmation was made during the president's meeting with Jansa, who called for, after the meeting, dialogues and a politics of inclusion as opposed to exclusion, reported the Slovenian Press Agency STA. "Let me say this very clearly: I'm not pushing for any particular coalition, I only wish the PM-designate to succeed," Pahor said, while adding that it would be best if it is the winner of the election who forms the government. "Of course somebody else can also form the government, but experience has taught us that this is the second best option," he added, calling for political stability and a smooth coalition building process. He called on parties and their leaders to set aside political differences or even see them as a reason to embrace dialogue. They should talk and be inclusive, he said after the informal meeting with Jansa. As regards the potential scenario of a different grouping demonstrating the ability to form a government, Pahor said that in this case Jansa would visit him again and give up the status of PM-designate. Meanwhile, Jansa confirmed the priority by the president. Jansa said the SDS was happy with the result of the election, but noted that nine parties made it to parliament this time as a result of Slovenia's system of proportional representation. He said such a situation required an approach where all parties are invited to form the ruling coalition, STA reported. If he is formally confirmed as PM-designate, he will sent invitations containing certain platform starting points to all parties. Although the SDS has won some 24 percent of the vote in the Sunday's general election, it is still not able to form the new government alone. It needs to collaborate with at least other two or more parties to form a coalition government. BERLIN, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The following are statements issued by Trado GmbH: Matthias Woestmann and his business associates, through their investment vehicles Quadrat Capital and Sycamore GmbH, received a striking blow on Tuesday from a Berlin judge in a ruling that may be the first of many setbacks for the current majority owners of Swiss blockchain infrastructure company envion AG. A preliminary injunction filed on behalf of envions founders - led by Michael Luckow through the founders company Trado GmbH - who claim rightful ownership of envion, was granted on Tuesday, June 5th, 2018. Actions taken by Woestmann and the others follow a pattern used with previous companies involved in scandals across Germany. Evidence seen by the Berlin court was sufficient for the judge to rule that envion shares cannot be sold or traded to any 3rd party. The ruling further forbids envions unlawful shareholders from transferring or debiting any of envions assets. Envions founders have stated that they will continue to file lawsuits in both German and Swiss courts until their majority is restored. The next court date is scheduled for June 21st. The owners of the two holding companies (Quadrat Capital GmbH and Sycamore GmbH), Matthias Woestmann, Thomas van Aubel, Jutta Freifrau von Falkenhausen, and Dinnies von der Osten, have a history of profiting from investments in companies that fail spectacularly and under suspicious circumstances. They and their associates are linked to a long list of companies involved in some of Germanys largest financial scandals, including IGB, Balda (renamed to Clere), Q-cells, and Solon. Mistakes made while executing the takeover of envion, which raised $100 million in an ICO in January, may keep envion from being their latest victim. Instead of a legal corporate takeover, Woestmann violated a contract which explicitly forbade him from actions compromising the majority ownership of the founders. Woestmanns inaction since the takeover has resulted in millions of dollars in lost dividends for investors and the founders being blocked from operating the company. Woestmanns serious missteps now threaten to bring his and his confederates house of cards crashing down because he illegally created extra shares via an unauthorized capital increase which he then gave to Sycamore, said Michael Luckow, one of the founders of envion who have taken legal action against Woestmann and his associates. Speaking to Swiss news service SWI, Woestmann did not deny charges that his actions were illegal when he diluted the founders shares. Envion investors reported that he admitted his guilt in a call on May 28th which was widely discussed within the envion investor community, stating that he expected that he would be found guilty and would be liable for damages. When solicitations distributed by Woestmann for bids to buy envion were attained by the founders, they moved quickly to file the court injunction. Documents show Woestmann attempting to sell envion for use as a holding structure for new businesses to separate envion (sic) balance sheet from profitable businesses and advertising that the existing investor base can be used for all kinds of [other] business models apart from the business that investors supported with $100 million. About Trado GmbH Trado GmbH holds the founders shares in envion AG, a German-Swiss company that has developed a disruptive datacenter concept for crypto mining: a system of container-based mobile units that can be deployed right at the source of energy, either at the solar photovoltaic (PV) park or the power plant, providing the required flexibility for todays energy markets. Information about Trado and envions founders can be found at www.envion-founders.org. DUBLIN, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The temporary arrangements, or called "backstop", to avoid a hard border between Britain's Northern Ireland and Ireland after Brexit can not be time limited by a date, said Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar on Thursday. The remarks were made by Varadkar shortly after the British government published its proposals on the "backstop" policy, in which it said that the temporary "backstop arrangements to prevent a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland should not continue beyond December 2021, according to local media RTE. Varadkar told local media that the agreed protocol, or "backstop", will apply until there is an alternative in place between Britain and the European Union (EU) that prevents a hard border. He said the "backstop" has to be all weather and applicable until if and whenever a new agreement emerges that ensures there is no harder border in Ireland. Irish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney said in a statement following the publication of the British government's "backstop" proposals on Thursday that he will look forward to discussing Britain's written proposals, aimed at making progress in the Brexit negotiations, with the EU negotiating task force. He said that "The Task Force will be assessing whether these proposals have the potential to help deliver the UK's repeated commitment to avoiding a hard border." "The EU has been clear that the backstop is an essential element of the EU-UK withdrawal agreement and that negotiations can only progress as long as all commitments undertaken so far are respected in full," he said. "Ireland and the Commission have both stressed that substantial progress on the backstop is needed before the June European Council. Based on the negotiations between the UK and the Commission Taskforce in the coming days and weeks, Michel Barnier (EU's Brexit chief negotiator) will make an assessment of progress, for consideration by the Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) and his counterparts at the European Council three weeks from now," he added. Britain will withdraw from the EU in March 2019. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-08 06:18:41|Editor: yan Video Player Close CARACAS, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Venezuelan authorities have dismantled a smuggling ring that sold price-controlled medicines on the black market for much higher profits, Attorney General Tarek William Saab said on Thursday. The scheme was run by employees of Farmatodo, a prominent chain of pharmacies, which over an eight-month period smuggled medicines valued at 7.5 billion bolivars. "Those who did this sought to deal a blow to the most vulnerable patients, without giving a care for anyone's health," said Saab during a press conference. The smugglers "should be treated as highly dangerous criminals," he said, adding that "the damage caused was much greater, since they are medicines and products imported with preferential dollars." Venezuela's government imports essential items, such as medications, at controlled exchange rates, and provides them at subsidized prices. But the disparity between domestic prices and those in neighboring countries, such as Colombia, has led to a booming smuggling business. In the past 10 months, 2,149 people have been arrested for reselling price-controlled items, smuggling, hoarding and other similar crimes. Saab's office launched the pharmaceutical investigation in October 2017, after the chain's vice president filed a complaint. A liberal and a pro-government pundit lambast the Constitutional Court for not discussing the constitutionality of the so-called lex CEU and the anti-NGO legislation. On Tuesday, the Constitutional Court announced that it will postpone discussion of the two controversial pieces of legislation, passed by Parliament a year ago, until the European Court decides whether the two laws are in-line with EU law. One set new conditions on the operations of the partly Soros-funded Central European University, while the other obliged foreign funded NGOs to mention this fact in their publications. On Index, Gabor Miklosi wonders if the Constitutional Court even began to inspect the lex CEU and the NGO laws, or just pretended to do so, in order to save face. The liberal columnist finds it a spectacular stunt that the same Constitutional Court which in the dispute over mandatory migrant redistribution quotas in the EU, claimed that the Hungarian Constitution should put ahead of EU law, is now willing to compromise Hungarys legislative autonomy. Miklosi suspects that the Constitutional Court does not have the guts to decide in the politically extremely sensitive debate over the CEU and NGOs. Meanwhile, a new NGO bill, unofficially called Stop Soros is under consideration in Parliament. Magyar Idoks David Megyeri is also appalled by the Constitutional Courts decision to postpone the verdict on the lex CEU and the NGO bill. The pro-government commentator thinks that the Constitutional Court has practically limited its own sovereignty by suggesting that it is subordinated to the EU court. Megyeri agrees with the dissenting judges that the Constitutional Court has created a precedent for the EU court to intervene in Hungarian legal affairs. Megyeri interprets all this as putting Hungarians at the mercy of the unlawful EU institutions. In conclusion, Megyeri suspects that the Luxembourg court will rule against the lex EU and the NGO bills, but Megyeri nonetheless thinks that the two laws are resilient enough to withstand the challenge of liberal globalist critics, and will prove lawful even without the Constitutional Courts decision. MTI Photo This opinion does not necessarily represent the views of XpatLoop.com or the publisher. Your opinions are welcome too - for editorial review before possible publication online. Click here to Share Your Story Father's Day is celebrated in Hungary annually to honour fathers and celebrate fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the positive influence of fathers in society. In Catholic Europe, it has been celebrated on March 19 (St. Joseph's Day) since the Middle Ages. In Hungary, Father's Day is celebrated on the third Sunday of June and is not a public holiday. Around the world, Father's Day is celebrated on different dates though the day is celebrated in a similar manner, usually involving giving gifts to fathers and family activities. In Spain, Italy and Portugal, Father's Day is celebrated on 19 March, which is the Feast of St. Joseph who is the patron saint of fathers. In Germany, Father's Day is celebrated on the same date as Ascension Day. Across Scandinavia, the tradition of a Father's Day was adopted in the 1930's. Originally the American date was used, but in 1949 the Nordic countries decided to move it to the second Sunday in November. This was partly to place it half a year away from Mother's Day but also it was chosen to increase sales in an otherwise quiet trading period before Christmas. The only country who didn't fall in line was Denmark. They forgot to inform the public and press about the date change, so Father's Day remained on the same day as their other early June holiday, Constitution Day. In Taiwan, Father's Day is celebrated on 8 August as the Chinese for eight is 'ba', while a colloquial word for father is 'ba-ba' - so the eighth day of the eighth month sounds similar to 'daddy'. This was also the date for Father's day in China, but the date was moved to the third Sunday in June. More: officeholidays.com In a letter addressed to the editor of the website of Bloomberg news agency in response to a recent article on the Hungarian governments policies, government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs (pictured on top) said the article painted a skewed picture of todays Hungary. In its June 1 article, Bloomberg described Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban as a key figure of a rise of populists threatening to divide the European Union. It cited Orbans critics as saying that his rhetoric was contrary to the values the EU has been built upon. The article also said the Hungarian government had widened a crackdown against non-governmental organisations and moved to silence dissent by undercutting the media and the judiciary. It said political pressure has led US financier George Soross Open Society Foundations (OSF) to move from Budapest to Berlin. Kovacs said the article listed the usual litany of charges and distorted the meaning of what is happening in parts of Europe that oppose mass migration. He called the OSF a fund for ideologically driven political activism. Under the so-called crackdown, the Soros-funded Open Society network has come under stricter regulations affecting groups that survive almost exclusively on foreign funding to carry out activities that are blatantly partisan and drive an agenda that seeks to influence political outcomes, Kovacs said. These groups have no democratic mandate but represent instead the very ideological interests of their foreign funder. Bloomberg said in its article that Orban increased his support in this years election campaign by targeting Muslim immigrants, whom he called invaders. It noted that Hungary has erected a fence on its southern border with a view to protecting Christian Europe. Kovacs said in response to this that when 400,000 migrants entered Hungary illegally in 2015 in flagrant disregard for all international rules, it had felt like an invasion. He said the government had never forced asylum-seekers into detention camps, but rather built processing centres where they could wait until their asylum requests were ruled on. He said that by having built the border fence, Hungary was also protecting Europes border. MTI Photo: Kovacs Attila Hungary, along with Poland was the second-most investigated country by the EUs anti-fraud office OLAF in 2017 after Romania, with the office having looked into 10 cases related to the use of EU funds in the former two member states, according to its annual report released on Wednesday. OLAF conducted 11 probes in Romania. In the cases of Hungary and Poland, OLAF issued recommendations to the local authorities in seven cases each. It issued recommendations in eight cases to Romanian authorities. The annual report specifically touched on the investigation into public lighting projects in Hungary, in connection with which OLAF recommended the recovery of 43.7 million euros to the EU budget. OLAF said it had looked into a total of 35 bids in connection with the projects and had found numerous serious irregularities. In a case of suspected abuse of EU research money by a Hungarian-Serbian-Latvian network, the office recommended the recovery of 28.3 million euros. The report said two research centres had been set up with the sole purpose of applying for EU funds and that they had artificially increased their project costs. Hungary was also implicated in a case concerning the attempted import into the EU of 122 tons of illegal or counterfeit pesticides that also involved 15 other member states. MTI Photo: Szecsodi Balazs The Socialist Partys parliamentary group refuses to back either the governments constitutional amendment bill or the Stop Soros package of bills, the partys deputy group leader said. The Socialist Party will only participate in the opening round of the debate on the constitutional amendment proposal, Tamas Harangozo (pictured on top) said. But the party will take part in the debate on the Stop Soros bill to see whether the interior ministry has considered its proposals, he said. Harangozo called the constitutional amendment proposal completely unacceptable, saying that no decent lawmaker with a European value system can support it. He criticised the proposals for covering three unrelated areas. Harangozo rejected the amendment proposals that would establish an administrative high court and restrict the right to assembly. The deputy group leader noted that his party had already rejected the proposal to create an administrative court structure in the previous government cycle. He said this proved that ruling Fidesz was not serious about wanting to win the oppositions support for the bill. Harangozo said the amendment proposal was submitted with the intent to stigmatise the opposition. On the topic of the Stop Soros bill, Harangozo said the clause criminalising the organisation of illegal immigration should have been worded more carefully, noting that experts had indicated that it was unclear. The Socialist Party, he said, would consider supporting that clause if it were about punishing people smugglers rather than Hungarian citizens providing humanitarian and legal assistance to those needing it. Fidesz responded by saying that the Socialists were still pro-migration and dont want to protect the country. Hungarys opposition parties are proving one by one that they are pro-migration and are ready to bring migrants to Hungary in line with [US financier George] Soross plan, Fidesz said in a statement. If they wont support the action plan aimed at protecting Hungary, theyll only be confirming that they are Soross mercenaries and dont want to protect the country, the party added. MTI Photo: Bruzak Noemi Every year since 2013 this special cultural day has been celebrated in Hungary. It's an annual occasion when institutions from all over the world join together to create a series of events to showcase this unique art scene of the turn of the century. Guided tours in English: 9 June, 4 pm, - Lechner, Lajta and friends in the footsteps of Hungarian Art Nouveau in Budapest (KEK Urban Walks) 10 June, 12 am - Gems of Budapest city walk in the spirit of Art Nouveau (Imagine Budapest) Participation in all events is free of charge but is subject to registration. Click here to register More from the organisers: This year the theme proposed by Reseau Art Nouveau Network, an international organisation for the popularization of Art Nouveau, is "My favourite Art Nouveau Architect". The special event of the programme series is an international exhibition of the Art Nouveau art of the region, that can be viewed at a time by the members of the Interreg Danube Transnational Programme (Belgrade, Bucharest, Budapest, Ljubljana, Oradea, Sofia, Subotica, Szeged, Vienna, and Zagreb). The exhibition Waves of Art Nouveau Architecture in the Danube Region can be visited free of charge in FUGA in Budapest from 30 May to 18 June 2018. On the occasion of the World Day, further weekend programs, Art Nouveau city walks, guided tours in the exhibition and family sessions will be organised for the public on 910 June 2018.Photo: imm.hu The World Bank raised its forecasts for Hungarys GDP growth in 2018-2020 in its fresh biannual Global Economic Prospects report. The World Bank raised the GDP growth forecast for this year to 4.1 percent from 3.8 percent in the previous report published in January. It raised the forecasts for 2019 and 2020 both by one-tenth of a percentage point to 3.2 percent and 3 percent, respectively. Hungarys government puts GDP growth at 4.3 percent this year. With the new forecasts, the World Banks analysts also acknowledge that Hungarys economic policy is on the right track, after a number of international economic and financial institutions did the same, the finance ministry said in a statement after the report was released. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Corvus Gold Inc. (Corvus or the Company) - (TSX:KOR) (OTCQX:CORVF) announces it has completed a CAD $4,500,002 private placement (the Private Placement). Pursuant to the Private Placement, the Company issued 1,730,770 common shares at a price of CAD $2.60 to a key strategic shareholder. No warrants were issued. Proceeds of the financing will fund the planned Phase Three 30,000 metre exploration drill program at Mother Lode project through 2018-19. Jeff Pontius, President and CEO of Corvus, said, We are pleased to have secured the funding for our Phase Three Mother Lode exploration program with a strategic investor. The Company appreciates the confidence this investment shows in Corvus Golds ability to advance the large new Nevada, North Bullfrog and Mother Lode gold projects. Our shareholders can look forward to continued news flow on our progress of the Mother Lode project including a maiden resource expected in Q3 and a combined North Bullfrog-Mother Lode preliminary economic assessment expected in Q4. The common shares issued in the Private Placement are subject to a minimum 6-month hold period unless otherwise registered under applicable securities laws. The Toronto Stock Exchange has granted conditional approval to the issuance of the Corvus common shares under the Private Placement. The foregoing securities have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended or any applicable state securities laws and may not be offered or sold absent registration or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements. 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 foregoing securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. About the North Bullfrog & Mother Lode Projects, Nevada Corvus controls 100% of its North Bullfrog Project, which covers approximately 72 km in southern Nevada. The property package is made up of a number of private mineral leases of patented federal mining claims and 865 federal unpatented mining claims. The project has excellent infrastructure, being adjacent to a major highway and power corridor as well as a large water right. The Company also controls 194 federal unpatented mining claims on the Mother Lode project which totals 1,597 hectares which it owns 100% of. About Corvus Gold Inc. Corvus Gold Inc. is a North American gold exploration and development company, focused on its near-term gold-silver mining project at the North Bullfrog and Mother Lode Districts in Nevada. In addition, the Company controls a number of royalties on other North American exploration properties representing a spectrum of gold, silver and copper projects. Corvus is committed to building shareholder value through new discoveries and the expansion of its projects to maximize share price leverage in an advancing gold and silver market. On behalf of Corvus Gold Inc. (signed) Jeffrey A. Pontius Jeffrey A. Pontius, President & Chief Executive Officer Contact Information: Ryan Ko Investor Relations Email: info@corvusgold.com Phone: 1-844-638-3246 (toll free) or (604) 638-3246 Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, forward-looking statements) within the meaning of applicable Canadian and US securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein, including, without limitation, statements regarding the potential use of proceeds from the offering, the advancement and development of our Mother Lode project and the expansion of our 2018 drill program; the full funding of the 2018 drill program as a result of the financing; updates on the development progress at the Mother Lode project; expected timing for the maiden mineral resource estimate and the combined North Bullfrog Mother Lode preliminary economic assessment; the potential for new deposits and expected increases in a systems potential; anticipated content, commencement and cost of exploration programs, anticipated exploration program results, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. 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, but not limited to, variations in the nature, quality and quantity of any mineral deposits that may be located, variations in the market price of any mineral products the Company may produce or plan to produce, the Company's inability to obtain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations required for its activities, the Company's inability to produce minerals from its properties successfully or profitably, to continue its projected growth, to raise the necessary capital or to be fully able to implement its business strategies, and other risks and uncertainties disclosed in the Companys Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended May 31, 2017 filed with certain securities commissions in Canada and the Companys most recent filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC). All of the Companys Canadian public disclosure filings in Canada may be accessed via www.sedar.com and filings with the SEC may be accessed via www.sec.gov and readers are urged to review these materials, including the technical reports filed with respect to the Companys mineral properties. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Uniserve Communications Corporation (TSX.V:USS) (the Company) wishes to announce the resignation of Daniel Frydenlund as a Director of the Company, effective immediately. The Company further wishes to announce the termination of the contract services provided by Mr. Hashim Mitha to the Company, as well as his acting as the President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Company, effective immediately. Mr. Mitha was appointed the President and COO of the Company in September of 2016. About Uniserve Uniserve is a unified communications company in existence for 30 years, combining voice, data and media all into one seamless solution, one bill and one point of contact. The unique selling proposition of the business is SMART Home, businesses and spaces (buildings and cities). With 13,000+ customers spread across residential and enterprise centered around Vancouver, Calgary and Waterloo/ Kitchener. Uniserve prides itself on world class customer service based in Canada. When all else is equal, clients can trust Uniserve to have a great price, a great experience and to be a company customers like working with we call it click, call, connect. This news release was prepared on behalf of the Board of Directors, which accepts full responsibility for its contents. Learn more at www.uniserve.com or at www.sedar.com. Michael C. Scholz Chairman of the Board For more information please contact Mr. Mark Stanton at 604-395-3908 or email us at mark.stanton@uniserveteam.com. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulations Services Provider (as the term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Management has prepared this release and no regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein. The statements contained in this news release that are not historical facts are forward looking statements. Such statements are based on managements estimates, assumptions and projections using available information. Uniserve cautions that actual financial results could differ materially from the current expectations due to a number of factors. By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] BESSEMER An Ironwood man pleaded guilty to felony drug charges in two cases in Gogebic County Circuit Court Tuesday. Ira Asher Wilson-Johnson pleaded guilty to possession with intent to deliver marijuana in one case and possession with intent to deliver cocaine in a second case at Tuesdays hearing. The marijuana charges carries a potential maximum sentence of four years in prison, while the cocaine charge carries a potential maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The pleas came as part of an agreement that will have other charges in the... By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] Wisconsins wolf population remains nearly three times higher than the Department of Natural Resources goal. The DNR said Tuesday data suggests the wolf population may have begun to stabilize, however. Data collected by more than 100 volunteer trackers and DNR staff members during the 2017-18 winter reveal a minimum count of 844 to 925 wolves, a 2.2 percent decrease from the previous count. The number of packs increased from 232 to 238, however. Scott Walter, WDNR large carnivore ecologist, said the states official wolf population goal is... This has been a long time in the making, but in our continuing pursuit to bring only the best of firearms, 2nd Amendment and defence related news to our readers, we are very excited to announce the next step in our evolution as a company. As of 2020, Minuteman Review is now the proud owner and operator of Your Defence News, a website with a long history of breaking huge news stories and investigative journalism. We hope you are equally as excited as us. This means that now the teams of Minuteman can combine with the firepower of Your Defence News to stay at the absolute forefront for our readers. Keep an eye. Big things are coming soon. We couldn't be more excited. In the meanwhile, here are some of our most popular posts and categories to keep you busy. Happy shootin' my friends! Buying Guides: Firearms Firearm Accessories Ammunition Gun Safes Scopes & Optics Hunting Air Rifles Best AR-15 Best AR 15 Scope Best Hunting Rifle Best Gun Safe Best AK 47 Best AR 10 Best Glock Triggers Best Glock Best Home Defense Shotgun Coun Perez reiterates warning to barangay leaders involved in drugs 07 Aug 2017 Hits:37 Comments(0) Liga ng mga Barangay President, Councilor Jerry Perez yesterday reiterated his warning to all barangay officials from using or selling drugs. Perez said he is closely monitoring the activities of all the barangay officials and vowed sanctions against erring leaders. Aqui gane na mio barangay ya quita ya iyo na puesto cunel dos barangay leaders quien mas temprano ya sale positivo na... NEW YORK, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Executive Perspectives Live, one of the top online business shows on C-Suite TV , is adding new episodes to its eighth season, starting with Jim Amos, Founder and Chairman Emeritus, Mailboxes, etc. from the C-Suite Network Conference in Dallas. Amos sat down with host Jeffrey Hayzlett to talk about rebranding, his formula for success and the complexities of leadership. As the Chairman Emeritus for Mailboxes, etc., which was bought by UPS, he took on the enormous task of having to rebrand two already well-known companies. Hayzlett asked Amos what does he tell other leaders when it comes to making the transition into rebranding, he said, the passion that you bring to the business, the enterprise that youre in, is extraordinarily important. As a Vietnam veteran, the former Marine shared what it takes to be a good leader in the current business environment. He said, the difference between a medal and a court marshall is razor thin because leadership requires risk, risk requires boldness, which mean youll lose sometimes. Amos is quick to point out that the complexities of leadership begins and ends with relationships and a dream. People are what makes the business run smoothly and that trust is the basis for any relationship. He adds, there are no relationships that can survive without trust and that in order for a person to be deemed trustworthy, they need to have character, which he says, character trumps everything. Amos believes that people are one of the best assets any company can have. You have to have a positive belief in people and he admits some of the best, and worst, decisions hes ever made are people decisions. After all, a person with a lack of integrity will hurt you every single time. All episodes of Executive Perspectives Live are hosted by Jeffrey Hayzlett and can be seen throughout the month on C-Suite TV. Best-selling author, speaker, and former Fortune 100 CMO Jeffrey Hayzlett created C-Suite TV to give top-tier business executives a forum for sharing thought-provoking insights, in-depth business analysis, and their compelling personal narratives. Our eighth season continues with a former Marine and Chairman Emeritus of Mailboxes, etc. talking about the current business landscape, Hayzlett said. The episode offers a refreshing take on what it means to be a good leader, the effort it takes to rebrand a large company and how he defines trust. For more information on TV episodes, visit https://c-suitenetwork.com/tv/ . About C-Suite TV: C-Suite TV is a web-based digital on-demand business channel featuring interviews and shows with business executives, thought leaders, authors and celebrities providing news and information for business leaders. C-Suite TV is your go-to resource to find out the inside track on trends and discussions taking place in businesses today. This online channel is home to such shows as C-Suite with Jeffrey Hayzlett, Executive Perspectives Live and Best Seller TV, and more. C-Suite TV is part of C-Suite Network, the worlds most powerful network of C-Suite leaders. Connect with C-Suite TV on Twitter and Facebook. About Jeffrey Hayzlett: Jeffrey Hayzlett is the primetime television host of C-Suite with Jeffrey Hayzlett and Executive Perspectives Live on C-Suite TV and is the host of the award-winning All Business with Jeffrey Hayzlett on the CBS on-demand podcast network, Play.It. Hayzlett is a global business celebrity, Hall of Fame speaker, best-selling author, and Chairman of C-Suite Network, home of the worlds most trusted network of C-Suite leaders. Connect with Hayzlett on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ or www.hayzlett.com Media Contact: Keira Rodriguez Senior Media Strategist TallGrass Public Relations Keira.rodriguez@tallgrasspr.com 914.830.3241 Washington: United States President Donald Trump has asked Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that didn't Canada burn down the White House in 1812. Over a testy phone call on May 25, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asked the United States President as to how he could justify the tariffs as a national security issue, to which Trump responded saying, "Didn't you guys burn down the White House?" referring to the War of 1812. This comes after new tariffs were imposed by the Trump administration targeting steel and aluminium imports coming from Canada. As per CNN, the British troops burnt down the White House during the War of 1812. It is believed that the British attack on Washington was in retaliation for the American attack on York, Ontario, in territory that eventually became Canada. Back then, it was a British colony. Earlier on Wednesday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rejected the United States' (US) proposal to scrap the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and sign a bilateral trade pact. Earlier, Trump said that if the revised NAFTA deal gets signed, he shall drop the newly-imposed 25 percent tariffs on the aluminium and steel products. NAFTA is an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America, which came into force on January 1, 1994. Amaravati: Taking an extreme stand against a possible alliance between ruling Telugu Desam and Congress, senior party leader and Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister (Revenue) KE Krishna Murthy on Wednesday said he was ready to 'hang' himself if the tie-up became a reality. "There is no question of the TDP aligning with the Congress but if that happens, I am ready to hang myself," he told a press conference in his hometown Kurnool. He went on to add that he was speaking this "on behalf of the party" and it was not his individual view. Murthy, however, said an alliance would be decided only ahead of the (general) elections. His remarks come at a time when talk about TDP cozying up to the Congress has become a hot political topic in the state after Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu rubbed shoulders with Rahul Gandhi in Bengaluru recently. Some TDP leaders even tried to reason that the Congress promised to accord special category status to Andhra Pradesh if it returned to power at the Centre in 2019 and hence being pally with that party would do no harm. Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy in an interview to a news magazine has said he was asked by Naidu and other leaders such as West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee to align with the Congress. Washington: Former Mayor of New York City and the United States President Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani has claimed that the North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un literally "begged" Trump to reschedule their summit. As per Fox News, Giuliani said on Wednesday that after Trump sent a letter to Kim calling off the June 12 talks in Singapore, "Kim got back on his hands and knees and begged for it." In May, Trump cancelled the meeting with Kim, blaming hostility and anger displayed by North Korea regarding the US-South Korea 'Max Thunder' military drills. The deadlock regarding the fate of the summit broke after Vice-Chairman of the North Korean ruling Workers' Party's Central Committee, Kim Yong Chol visited the White House along with a letter written by Kim and met the US President. The much-awaited summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will be on Singapore`s southern island of Sentosa, the White House said on Tuesday as preparations accelerated for next week's event. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a Twitter post that the venue would be the Capella Hotel on Sentosa and thanked Singaporeans for their hospitality. The summit is scheduled to start on the morning of June 12. Trump told reporters at an Oval Office event that plans for what will be the first meeting between a serving US President and a North Korean leader, were "moving along very well." "A lot of relationships being built, a lot of negotiations going on before the trip," he said. "Well see what happens. But it's very important it'll be a very important couple of days." Trump, who is seeking to persuade Kim to shut down a nuclear missile programme that now threatens the United States, said on Friday the summit he had cancelled the previous week was back on after he received the North Korean delegation bearing a letter from Kim. Trump said last week he expected an eventual "very positive result" with North Korea but dampened expectations for a breakthrough in Singapore, saying it could take several meetings to reach an agreement. Trump said one thing that could come out of the summit is an agreement formally ending the 1950-53 Korean War, which was concluded only with a truce, not a peace treaty. Former US officials and analysts say that if the meeting produces a peace declaration, this could give Trump a big headline-grabbing, made-for-TV moment on the world stage. But they say the public relations value of such a historic event could quickly fade if Trump fails, in return, to wring any significant concessions from Kim towards the dismantling of North Korea`s nuclear arsenal. North Korea defends its nuclear and missile programs as a deterrent against what it sees as US aggression. The United States stations 28,500 troops in South Korea, a legacy of the Korean War. On Monday, Singapore declared a central region that is home to its foreign ministry, the US embassy and several hotels, as a special zone from June 10 to 14. In its online gazette, the government amended the area to include Sentosa and an area of the sea stretching more than 1 km (0.6 mile) off its southwestern shore. The Singapore government has said police would make stricter checks of people and personal belongings and items such as public address systems and remotely piloted aircraft system would be prohibited in the area. Chandigarh: BJP President Amit Shah arrived here on Thursday afternoon and held a closed-door meeting with the top Shiromani Akali Dal leadership. Shah met Akali Dal patron and five-time Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son and party President Sukhbir Singh Badal. The meeting was held as part of Shah`s initiative to connect with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJPs) allies in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Shah had met NDA ally and Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai on Wednesday. Sukhbir Badal`s wife, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, is the Union Minister for Food Processing in the Narendra Modi government. The alliance of the two parties did not do too well in the Punjab Assembly elections early last year. They also did not fare well in the Lok Sabha polls in April-May 2014 despite a clear Modi wave in most other states in north India. The Akali Dal-BJP alliance in Punjab, which has been there for over three decades, was relegated to the third spot in the 2017 Assembly polls. New entrant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) got 20 seats in the 117-member Assembly and became the principal opposition party. The Congress, which was out of power in Punjab for a decade (20-07-2017), during which period the Akali Dal-BJP alliance ruled Punjab, got 77 seats in the Assembly (the Congress tally increased to 78 after winning in Shahkot by-election last month, giving the party a two-thirds majority in the house). Out of the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab, the Akali Dal-BJP combine holds five (four Akali Dal; one of BJP), while the Congress has four seats and AAP another four New Delhi: Ranbir Kapoor starrer 'Sanju' is one of the most awaited releases of this year. With only weeks left before the film hits the theatres, the makers are ensuring to keep the excitement and curiosity about the film on high. After unveiling the poster of Sanjay's mother Nargis Dutt, the makers released a new poster on Wednesday featuring actress Dia Mirza as Maanayata Dutt, Sanjay's wife. Director Rajkumar Hirani shared the poster on his Twitter handle, writing, "Dia Mirza enacts the part of Maanayata Dutt... New poster of #Sanju... Directed by Rajkumar Hirani... 29 June 2018 release." Check out the post here: In the poster, Dia looks convincing as Maanayata Dutt. Earlier the director released multiple posters of the film, revealing the varied looks of Ranbir from the biopic. All the posters have gained immense appreciation from the audience and critics alike for the striking resemblance to Sanjay Dutt. Moreover, several reports claimed that Hirani even revamped Sanjay's old house where he once lived with his parents. The house doesn't exist anymore but that did not Hirani from replicating Sanjay's childhood home. The filmmaker approached Sanjay's sister Priya Dutt who helped him with photos and videos of their ancestral Bandra home. "Rajkumar Sir wanted to portray Sanjay's life right from childhood as is and hence we all got into recreating the entire set up for the house where Sanjay originally resided with his parents Sunil and Nargis Dutt. The set creation took about 25 days and once it was ready, the cast and crew including the visitors on the sets were shocked and amazed to see the exact replication of the original house," a source told a tabloid. 'Sanju' is the brainchild of Hirani and has an ensemble star cast with the likes of Ranbir playing the titular role of Dutt. It stars Sonam Kapoor, Dia Mirza, Paresh Rawal, Manisha Koirala, Anushka Sharma, Karishma Tanna, Jim Sarbh to name a few. The film will be hitting the screens on June 29. New Delhi: A day after budget carrier GoAir announced a special monsoon sale for domestic travel, Vistara Airlines too followed suit by announcing a 24 hour only Early Monsoon Flash Sale with all-inclusive one-way fares discounted as much as 75% all-in relative to normal fares. The company has however extended the 24-hour sale by one more day. It means customers can book tickets under the sale till midnight of Thursday (June 7). Under the sale the company is offering Economy class fares starting at Rs 1,599, Premium Economy fares starting at Rs 2,499 and Business Class fares starting at Rs 6,999 (all inclusive fare). Bookings are open from for travel between June 21 and September 27. The limited period sale requires 15 days advance purchas. Seats are limited and are available on first-come-first-serve basis. The fares are all-inclusive, with no surprise fuel surcharges or taxes in addition to the stated fare, Vistara wrote in its website. Travellers can choose to fly to destinations across the airlines network including Goa, Bengaluru, Kochi, Port Blair (Andaman & Nicobar Islands), Guwahati, Bagdogra, Chennai, and Lucknow, amongst the 22 destinations served, the company said. GoAir has announced special discounted fares as low as Rs 1,299 inclusive of all taxes for a one-way journey across its network under a limited period scheme. The bookings for the three-day 'Monsoon sale' has begun for travel between June 24 and September 30. The sale offers fares starting Rs 1,299 (taxes and fees included) and can be availed for travel across all the 23 sectors operated by GoAir. WELLESLEY, Mass., June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aging populations; increases in the prevalence of cancer, diabetes and obesity; and higher patient preference for minimally invasive surgeries are major drivers of the global market for endoscopy devices. A new BCC Research study forecasts that this market will reach $51.7 billion by 2022 and examines it by applications, device technology and geographic region. Shorter hospital stays, faster recoveries, and reduced medical budgets should also drive growth. North America holds the largest market share. The markets of emerging countries are expanding because of increases in their medical spending, improvements in medical infrastructure, and changes in lifestyle. From a total value of $37.0 billion in 2017, this market is projected to expand at a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.9%, according to BCC Researchs new report, Endoscopy Devices: Applications and Global Markets. Favorable reimbursement policies have attracted significant investments in the development of new technologies, which will drive the global endoscopy equipment market. However, the shortage of qualified endoscopic technicians, the high cost of initial investment, contamination risk and patient safety during endoscopic procedures pose threats to market growth. Research Highlights The Asia-Pacific region is expected to grow by 8.1% due to growing demand for endoscopy in emerging countries such as India and China. The increasing global incidence of gastrointestinal diseases (e.g., acid reflux and stomach ulcers) bodes well for growth in the endoscopy market. Thirty to forty percent of people in the United States contract Helicobacter pylori, the cause of peptic ulcers, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. The global market is becoming increasingly receptive to endoscopic procedures, as more countries recognize their advantages compared with conventional surgeries, the report notes. Endoscopy has changed the manner of detecting diseases and performing surgeries. Its less invasive methods are gaining attention across the globe. Endoscopy involves cost-effective procedures that result in fewer postoperative complications and minimal scars in the body. Technological Advances Lead to New Applications Breakthroughs in the field of endoscopy are expected to drive the global endoscopy equipment market. Resulting innovations include increased angles in the field of view in endoscopes; reduced outer diameters of scopes; endoscopy systems that are integrated with high-resolution technologies such as 3D systems; capsule endoscopes; and miniaturized endoscopy systems. Recognition of the technology in emerging markets (e.g., Japan and Vietnam) is also contributing to growth. Editors/reporters requesting analyst interviews should contact Eric Surber at press@bccresearch.com. About BCC Research BCC Research is a publisher of market research reports that provide organizations with intelligence to drive smart business decisions. By partnering with industry experts worldwide, BCC Research provides unbiased measurements and assessments of global markets covering major industrial and technology sectors, including emerging markets. For more information about BCC Research, please visit bccresearch.com. Follow BCC Research on Twitter at @BCCResearch. Gurugram: A foreigner has been gang-raped in Gurugram. As per Zee Media reports, five people allegedly gang-raped the woman, who belongs to Kenya. Out of the five, three have been arrested. The incident happened late at night on Wednesday. The police are investigating the matter. Another incident of gang-rape had taken place in Gurugram recently. A 23-year-old pregnant woman was allegedly raped by an auto driver and his two accomplices in Manesar on May 21, 2018, when the victim was going for a routine check-up at a hospital in Manesar with her husband on a bicycle, the police had said. While the couple was returning home, the woman complained that she was uncomfortable on the bicycle. "The woman's husband told her to take a shared auto to reach home in the nearby village. But she did not return until very late," a senior police officer had said. The victim and her husband later filed a complaint at the woman police station and alleged that the woman had boarded an auto and was offered some water by the driver, following which she got unconscious and was later raped by three persons. (Reporting by Alok Upadhayay) 'Jurassic World: The Fallen Kingdom', is the fifth instalment of the Jurassic Park series and the second of a prospective Jurassic World trilogy. Helmed by Director J.A. Bayona, the film promises a lot when it comes to presenting concepts and characters, but at the time of developing the story, it falls into the same sin as Jurassic World. Just as Jurassic World was remade on a larger scale from Spielberg's Jurassic Park for consumption by the younger generations, 'The fallen Kingdom' too, seems to aspire for the same with the continuation of the lost world. Here you see more reptiles, close and upfront, in all their glory and action. The action-sequences are intense but at times appear deliberate and dumb, just to stimulate heartbeats. The actual story begins with some exposition about the end of the first Jurassic World. The theme park on Isla Nublar off Central America's Pacific Coast is destroyed and the dinosaurs roam freely on the island for three years. While the Former Jurassic World Operations Manager, now an animal-rights activists - Claire Dearing (Bryce Howard) is working to save the dinosaurs, we then see Jeff Goldblum, reprising his role from the first two films, addressing a committee. He tells them that he thinks the dinosaurs, "should be eliminated by the volcano" that threatens the island, and Goldblum works hard to give this plot exposition some urgency. Claire is joined by her ex-boyfriend Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), a former dinosaur trainer when she teams up with Benjamin Lockwood, to bring the creatures to a sanctuary in America. But soon she and Owen are betrayed and mayhem follows. There is also a helpless little girl Maisie (Isabella Sermon) who elevates the emotional quotient. Chris Pratt is a charismatic, good-looking and funny guy. He returns as the leading man and everything he utters tends to sound like a double entendre. "If I don't make it back, remember, you are the one who made me come," he tells Howard at one point and pauses just enough to generate a laugh. Also when Howard is on top of a dinosaur and needs to sedate it with a syringe, Pratt matter-of-factly states, "You are going to have to jam it in there!" The plot hinges, as so many large studio films do, on the evil of villainous capitalists who have no shame or moral scruples. These villains are poaching the dinosaurs to make their millions and also to use them for warfare. The director unfolds so comfortably with this material that one ends up scrutinizing the frames, wondering if any of the reptilian offspring that appear on screen will end up looking clumsy. But instead, the CGI is spot on and the visuals are aesthetically mounted. Director of Photography, Oscar Faura's live-action frames mesh smoothly with the CGI and together, you experience some enchanting images. Overall, this edition is much better than its predecessor. (Ratings: 3.5/5 Stars) Nagpur: As the country wonders what former President Pranab Mukherjee might say at Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) headquarters here on Thursday, his last speech as President in 2017 reflects the thoughts and concerns that had engaged him throughout his over five-decade-long political career. Unlike his 2012 speech when he took over as President in which he made a passing reference, pluralism and tolerance dominated the 2017 address. "I want to share with you some truths that I have internalized in this period. The soul of India resides in pluralism and tolerance. India is not just a geographical entity. It carries a history of ideas, philosophy, intellect, industrial genius, craft, innovation and experience. Plurality of our society has come about through assimilation of ideas over centuries. "The multiplicity in culture, faith and language is what makes India special. We derive our strength from tolerance. It has been part of our collective consciousness for centuries. There are divergent strands in public discourse. We may argue, we may agree or we may not agree. "But we cannot deny the essential prevalence of multiplicity of opinion. Otherwise, a fundamental character of our thought process will wither away," said the lifelong Congressman on the last day of his career. Mukherjee, who has been critical of the RSS, is set to address its activists in Nagpur on Thursday. This will be his first speech from the RSS platform. Accepting an invitation from the Hindutva group has sparked controversy with some of his former Congress colleagues and Left leaders expressing their reservations over his participation in the RSS meeting. However, what he is going to speak about at the Nagpur gathering remains a guess. He has said whatever he has to speak would be only known when he addresses the meeting. In his last speech as the President, Mukherjee had expressed his concern about increasing violence and how darkness, fear and mistrust was at the heart of this violence. Power of non-violence has to be resurrected to build a caring society to ensure participation of all sections of the people, he said. While pluralism along with environment and inclusion engaged Mukherjee last year as he readied to hang up his boots after a very successful career, his first speech as President in 2012 was markedly different and focussed mainly on poverty, terrorism and corruption. He talked about education both the times. The first topic Mukherjee touched in his 2012 speech was poverty after making the same overarching statement on basic fundamentals for a modern nation - democracy, secularism and equality. Real development is when the poorest feel they are part of the narrative of rising India, he said. "There is no humiliation more abusive than hunger. Trickle-down theories do not address the legitimate aspirations of the poor. We must lift those at the bottom so that poverty is erased from the dictionary of modern India." However, then, too, Mukherjee`s faith in secularism is reflected in the solitary line on the topic when he said: "Our social harmony is the sublime co-existence of temple, mosque, church, gurudwara and synagogue; they are symbols of our unity in diversity." NEW DELHI: UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi's political advisor Ahmed Patel has joined a section of party leaders cautioning former president Pranab Mukherjee from attending as RSS event in Maharashtra's Nagpur. In a tweet, the Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Gujarat said that it was not expected of Pranab Mukherjee to attend an RSS event in Nagpur. I did not expect this from Pranab da ! https://t.co/VBqXZ8x7SE Ahmed Patel (@ahmedpatel) June 6, 2018 Patel's tweet has once again shown the discontent brewing in the Congress party over Pranab Mukherjee's acceptance of the RSS invite to be the chief guest of its 'Tritiya Varsha Sangh Shiksha Varg' (cadres training program). Patels tweet came a couple of hours after Pranabs daughter Sharmistha Mukherjee publicly urged her father not to go through with the visit to RSS headquarters. Hope @CitiznMukherjee now realises from todays incident, how BJP dirty tricks dept operates. Even RSS wouldnt believe that u r going 2 endorse its views in ur speech. But the speech will be forgotten, visuals will remain & those will be circulated with fake statements. 1/2 Sharmistha Mukherjee (@Sharmistha_GK) June 6, 2018 Sharmistha Mukherjee, who is also the president of Mahila Congress as well as in-charge of the communication department of the party's Delhi unit, is among several Congress leaders who had urged him to reconsider his decision. Many said that his visit would create an "undesirable difference" in the country. Sharmistha had on Wednesday strongly disapproved of his father's decision to addresses a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) event in Nagpur. She tweeted saying that he was giving the BJP and the Sangh a handle to plant false stories, as his "speech will be forgotten" but the "visuals will remain". .@CitiznMukherjee By going 2 Nagpur, u r giving BJP/RSS full handle 2 plant false stories, spread falls rumours as 2day & making it somewhat believable. And this is just d beginning! 2/2 Sharmistha Mukherjee (@Sharmistha_GK) June 6, 2018 Sharmistha's outburst came soon after rumours about her joining the BJP cropped up ahead of Pranab Mukherjee's speech in Nagpur on Thursday. She dismissed such "rumours" of her joining the BJP as "false" and alleged they were the handiwork of BJP's "dirty tricks department". Sharmistha said she would rather leave politics than quit the Congress. Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken also rejected such suggestions, saying Sharmistha was a "devoted" Congressperson. She also warned her father of the consequences of attending such a meet. "Even the RSS wouldn't believe that you are going to endorse its views in your speech. By going to Nagpur, you are giving BJP/RSS full handle to plant false stories, spread falls rumours as today and making it somewhat believable. And this is just the beginning," Sharmistha said. Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said earlier that since Pranab Mukherjee has accepted the invitation, he should go and tell the RSS "what is wrong" in their ideology. Ramesh Chennithala, a senior Congress leader from Kerala, sent a letter to the former president, requesting him to refrain from attending the event. Chennithala, also a leader of the opposition in Kerala assembly, had said that Pranab Mukherjee's decision had come as a "rude shock" to the secular minds of the country. West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Chowdhury and senior Congress leader V Hanumantha Rao too had urged Pranab Mukherjee not to attend the event. And, Hanumantha Rao, the AICC Secretary and former Rajya Sabha member, said that the former president should withdraw his decision" in the interest of secularism". Veteran Congressman CK Jaffer Sharief also wrote to Pranab Mukherjee, expressing surprise over the move and had said that he, like other secular people, was "stunned" to hear about his attending the RSS function. However, Amit Shah-led BJP had strongly backed the former president's decision to attend the RSS event, saying Mahatma Gandhi, former president Zakir Husain, activist Jayaprakash Narayan and commander-in-chief of the Indian Army, Kodandera M Cariappa had previously been guests at various RSS events. The RSS had earlier said that it is the greatness of the former president to accept their invitation. Responding to his criticism, Mukherjee had said that he will reveal his thoughts on the matter during the event itself. (With Agency inputs) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami is set to visit Thoothukudi on Saturday. He is also expected to meet the families of those killed and persons injured, in the police firing during the anti-Sterlite protests. The visit comes weeks after questions were raised continuously over why the CM had still not visited the city after 13 people were killed and 60 others injured in the Thoothukodi massacre. The incident took place on May 22, when the police opened fire during the protest against the construction of a new smelter plant by Sterlite copper mining Industries, a business unit of Vedanta Limited, in Thoothukudi. The construction of the copper plant was reportedly polluting the groundwater and was hazardous for the environment. Following the violence, the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court directed the Tamil Nadu government to state the reasons for the police firing and asked the State to file its response by June 6. CM Palaniswami said the protesters not only pelted policemen with stones but also set on fire their vehicles as well as those parked in the Collectorate.''They hurled stones at the collector's office, police had to control the violence. I was grieved to know that people were unfortunately killed in this incident'' the CM said in a statement. The Tamil Nadu Government ordered for the permanent closure of the Sterlite unit in Thoothukudi, under provisions of Section 31A of Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1971, and Section 33A of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1974. Actor Rajinikanth met the injured persons at a general hospital in Thoothukudi and announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh each for the kin of the deceased. The actor blamed anti-social elements for deaths. The attack on the collector's office and setting on fire (Sterlite) quarters was not done by the common people. Some anti-social elements infiltrated, he said. Kollywood actors Vijay and Kamal Haasan also visited the families of those who died during the clashes. Vijay handed over a consolation of Rs 1 lakh to each family. (With agency inputs) New Delhi/Pune: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday accused the Congress of using Dalits as tools to create anarchy in the country. Talking about a letter allegedly recovered from the house of Bhima-Koregaon violence accused Rona Wilson, he said, "This letter is not just a letter, it strips every cloth of modesty the Congress party was trying to wear. They have been exposed before the people. Dalits were being used as tools. This letter is a means of communication as to how violence can be perpetrated. Bhima-Koregaon incidents started on December 31, 2017, and culminated on January 1, 2018, and letter was is of at that time," ANI reported. The letter was allegedly written by a core committee member of the banned outfit, CPI(Maoist), lauding the efforts by human rights activist Rona Jacob Wilson and others to make Elgaar Parishad - organised by Dalit and left-wing organisations at Pune's Shaniwarwada on December 31 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle a success. The letter, dated January 2, 2018, detailed a larger conspiracy by the group to carry out similar events in BJP-dominated areas, the police had claimed. Patra added, "You saw Jignesh Mevani in Gujarat (MLA and Dalit leader)... This is part of a conspiracy to stop PM Narendra Modi's chariot in 2019... Congress wants to create chaos in the whole country... they are not bothered about Dalits... the Congress never did anything for them..." The hunger for power in Congress party has been exposed as never before : Dr. @sambitswaraj, watch LIVE at https://t.co/Hh8LjiSYZR pic.twitter.com/CcVf5NyTNL BJP (@BJP4India) June 7, 2018 The Pune police on Wednesday arrested five people allegedly having close Maoist links, including prominent Dalit activist Sudhir Dhawale, from Mumbai, Nagpur and Delhi in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence on January 1. According to Joint Commissioner of Pune Police Ravindra Kadam, Dhawale was arrested from his house in Mumbai, lawyer Surendra Gadling, activist Mahesh Raut and Shoma Sen were picked up from Nagpur and Wilson were arrested from his flat in Munirka in Delhi in simultaneous raids. Dhawale was one of the organisers of Elgar Parishad at Shaniwarwada. There Kabir Kala Manch (KKM) activists had allegedly made provocative speeches leading to violence at Koregaon-Bhima, according to an FIR registered at Vishrambaug police station after the event. Dhawale is a Dalit activist and editor of Marathi magazine Vidrohi while Gadling, a Nagpur based lawyer, also known as a Dalit and tribal activist, provides legal aids to those who arrested for Maoist links, police said. Sen is a professor at Nagpur University and her husband Tushar Kranti Bhattacharya was arrested from Nagpur station for his alleged Naxal links in 2010. Raut is said to have close Maoist links. Wilson, 47 is a native of Keral and is aassociated with for Committee for Release of Political Prisoners. "While investigating the case registered at Vishrambaug police station, we conducted some searches at various places in the state. During the searches we found some evidence which was indicating that all those arrested had links with the Maoists," said Kadam. He clarified that the action was not against any Dalit person or Dalit organisations. "This action basically is a result of a Maoist link, which was established during the investigation. We are investigating whether this Maoist link has any direct connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence," Kadam had told PTI. He had added that the case in which all these people were arrested was registered against the organisers of Elgar Parishad and Kabir Kala Manch members whom he referred as "Maoist activists". Kadam had further said that some of the arrested activists were the "top brass of the Urban Maoists". Asked if the Koregaon Bhima violence was a Maoist plot, he had said, "All five have close Maoist links and prima facie, their involvement is being seen in the matter. It is to be investigated whether they instigated the violence." The event (Elgar Parishad) was attended by Gujarat MLA and Mevani, JNU student leader Umar Khalid, Rohit Vemula's mother Radhika Vemula, and Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh president Prakash Ambedkar. Shaniwarwada, a historical fortification in the city, had remained the seat of the Peshwas of the Maratha empire until 1818. The complaint against the KKM members was lodged by one Tushar Damgude. The FIR was registered against Sudhir Dhawale, Sagar Gorkhe, Harshali Potdar, Ramesh Gaychor, Deepak Dengle and Jyoti Jagtap, a police official said. The complainant had alleged that the "provocative" speeches and presentations made during the entire programme "promoted" enmity between two groups. The complaint also had stated that the "inciting speeches and presentations" led to the violence. One person was killed in the caste violence between two groups near Sanaswadi, adjacent to Koregaon Bhima. The violence led to the statewide Dalit agitation. The mobs had damaged and torched several vehicles and shops on New Year's day and the houses of local residents were also ransacked. The Pune Police had registered a case against Hindutwa leader Milind Ekbote and another right-wing leader Sambhaji Bhide. Ekbote had already been arrested in the case. Bhide and Ekbote are accused of orchestrating the violence. A case against the members of the Kabir Kala Manch was registered under sections 153(a), 505(1)(b) and 117 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code. (With PTI and ANI inputs) The Congress took to Twitter to attack the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) just minutes before former President of India and ex-Congressman Pranab Mukherjee addressed an RSS event in Nagpur. The Congress tweeted a post that raised the RSS's links to MK Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse and its conduct in the run-up to Independence. Acknowledging the controversy over Mukherjee's presence at the RSS event, the Congress said the row afforded an opportunity to recall the history of the RSS. The Congress's tweet read, "It is imperative for all Indians to know what the RSS has historically stood for and to understand what it thinks today. People of India should never forget how antithetical their ideologies are to the idea of India." It is imperative for all Indians to know what the RSS has historically stood for and to understand what it thinks today. People of India should never forget how antithetical their ideologies are to the idea of India.https://t.co/j3DoUsaftu Congress (@INCIndia) June 7, 2018 The tweet carried a link to a post on the Congress website, titled 'Never forget what the RSS stands for'. The post attempted the portray the RSS as an organisation that failed to stand with the freedom struggle and held no respect for the Tricolour. It also underscored its links to Godse. "The RSS has never respected the tricolour, and it is only recently, that they have allowed the flag to be unfurled at their headquarters Furthermore, the close association between the RSS and Nathuram Godse (Mahatma Gandhi's assassin) is too well known to warrant repetition. After Gandhi Ji's assassination, RSS members distributed sweets in RSS circles at several places," read the Congress post. "To start with, the RSS was never part of the freedom struggle against the British. At a time, when revolutionaries young and old were agitating against the British, the RSS leaders of yore took utmost care to ensure that nothing that they did would tick off the Brits," read the post. "KB Hegdewar, the founder of RSS was arrested for his role in the Khilafat movement and that was last participation in the freedom movement. The RSS always remained subservient to the colonial power that the British were. When Gandhi Ji launched the Salt Satyagraha in 1930, Hegdewar made it known that the Sangh would have nothing to do with the protest," the post added. The Congress also accused the RSS "has never had much reverence for the Indian Constitution", and took a shot at the mercy petitions that RSS icon VD Savarkar had submitted to the British. "It is, therefore, imperative to know what the RSS has historically stood for, to understand what it thinks today. We should never forget what the RSS really is," the post concluded. Nagpur: Extending a warm welcome to Pranab Mukherjee at sangh's headquarters in Nagpur, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said on Thursday that everyone knows about the personality of the former president. "We are grateful to be able to learn something from him and are honoured to receive Pranab Mukherjee's guidance. We are all aware of Dr Mukherjee's ordinary and simple nature. We are grateful for his presence at this function today." Slamming those criticising the former president for attending the RSS event (an annual training camp, meant for swayamsevaks in their third year in the organisation), he said, "There have been many debates on Pranab Mukherjee attending the event. but we do not consider anyone different from ourselves. Debate over RSS invitation to former Pranab Mukherjee is meaningless... Indians are all one and united. There has been a tradition where we invite well-known people from various walks of life. The RSS only wants to unite the entire society. We embrace all." Bhagwat added, "RSS believes in unity in diversity. Every citizen born in India is an Indian and it is his/her right to worship our motherland.... We are working for the progress of the country. There are times when we have differences. But we are all sons of the same soil. We must remain united irrespective of our diversity. Several great minds laid down their lives for this country." "Government alone cannot do everything. Citizens also have to contribute. Then only the country can change... RSS has grown vastly since 1925, but we cannot stop here. We are not doing any work for fame. We want to move forward," he maintained. Pranab Mukherjee accepting the invite from the RSS has generated a lot of interest as well as controversy, with Congress leaders urging him not to attend the event in the "interest of secularism". Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel on Thursday expressed his disapproval at his visiting the RSS headquarters and said he did not expect this from him. Patel, who is UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi's close confidant and has been her political secretary, voiced his view on Twitter, in reply to his daughter Sharmistha Mukherjee who spoke out against the decision of the former president to address the RSS event. I did not expect this from Pranab da ! https://t.co/VBqXZ8x7SE Ahmed Patel (@ahmedpatel) June 6, 2018 Earlier, Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram had said that since Pranab Mukherjee had accepted the invitation, he should go and tell the RSS "what is wrong" in their ideology. Ramesh Chennithala, a senior Congress leader from Kerala, had sent a letter to the former president, requesting him to refrain from attending the event. Chennithala, also a leader of the opposition in Kerala assembly, had said that Pranab Mukherjee's decision had come as a "rude shock" to the secular minds of the country. West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Chowdhury and senior Congress leader V Hanumantha Rao too had urged Pranab Mukherjee not to attend the event. And, Hanumantha Rao, the AICC Secretary and former Rajya Sabha member, had said that the former president should withdraw his decision" in the interest of secularism". Veteran Congressman CK Jaffer Sharief had also written to Pranab Mukherjee, expressing surprise over the move and had said that he, like other secular people, was "stunned" to hear about his attending the RSS function. On the other hand, Manmohan Vaidya, Akhil Bharatiya Sah Sarkaryavah had said, "There has been unseemly outrage amongst certain sections of the political class on former president Pranab Mukherjee's acceptance of an invitation as chief guest for the concluding ceremony of the RSS' Tritiya Varsh Training programme... The invitation has been extended to him with the view that this will be an invaluable opportunity to listen to his views. Also, he will have the opportunity to listen to the views of the Sangh and have a firsthand experience of Sangh as well. This exchange of views and ideas is intrinsic to the Bharatiya concept of dialogue, this invitation and its acceptance is but a continuation of that democratic tradition, enshrined in our cultural ethos." (With PTI inputs) NAGPUR: All eyes are on former president and veteran Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee who arrived in Nagpur late on Wednesday to attend a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) event on Thursday. Ahead of the event, a political slugfest had erupted over Pranab Mukherjee's acceptance of the RSS invite to be the chief guest at its 'Tritiya Varsha Sangh Shiksha Varg' (cadres training program). While several Congress leaders had urged him to reconsider his decision, many said that his visit would create an "undesirable difference" in the country. Among those who warned him of the ''serious consequences'' of attending the RSS event included his daughter Sharmistha Mukherjee, who is also the president of Mahila Congress as well as in-charge of the communication department of the party's Delhi unit. Sharmistha had on Wednesday strongly disapproved of his father's decision to addresses a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) event in Nagpur. She tweeted saying that he was giving the BJP and the Sangh a handle to plant false stories, as his "speech will be forgotten" but the "visuals will remain". Hope @CitiznMukherjee now realises from todays incident, how BJP dirty tricks dept operates. Even RSS wouldnt believe that u r going 2 endorse its views in ur speech. But the speech will be forgotten, visuals will remain & those will be circulated with fake statements. 1/2 Sharmistha Mukherjee (@Sharmistha_GK) June 6, 2018 Sharmistha's outburst came soon after rumours about her joining the BJP cropped up ahead of Pranab Mukherjee's speech in Nagpur on Thursday. She dismissed such "rumours" of her joining the BJP as "false" and alleged they were the handiwork of BJP's "dirty tricks department". Sharmistha said she would rather leave politics than quit the Congress. Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken also rejected such suggestions, saying Sharmistha was a "devoted" Congressperson. In reply to certain rumors-Just spoke to @Sharmistha_GK , who is out of Delhi- She is a devoted Congress Person and firmly believes in the ideology of @INCIndia . She told me, that she is in politics, just because of her firm faith in the ideology of the Congress Party. Ajay Maken (@ajaymaken) June 6, 2018 She also warned her father of the consequences of attending such a meet. "Even the RSS wouldn't believe that you are going to endorse its views in your speech. By going to Nagpur, you are giving BJP/RSS full handle to plant false stories, spread falls rumours as today and making it somewhat believable. And this is just the beginning," Sharmistha said. .@CitiznMukherjee By going 2 Nagpur, u r giving BJP/RSS full handle 2 plant false stories, spread falls rumours as 2day & making it somewhat believable. And this is just d beginning! 2/2 Sharmistha Mukherjee (@Sharmistha_GK) June 6, 2018 Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said earlier that since Pranab Mukherjee has accepted the invitation, he should go and tell the RSS "what is wrong" in their ideology. Ramesh Chennithala, a senior Congress leader from Kerala, sent a letter to the former president, requesting him to refrain from attending the event. Chennithala, also a leader of the opposition in Kerala assembly, had said that Pranab Mukherjee's decision had come as a "rude shock" to the secular minds of the country. West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Chowdhury and senior Congress leader V Hanumantha Rao too had urged Pranab Mukherjee not to attend the event. And, Hanumantha Rao, the AICC Secretary and former Rajya Sabha member, said that the former president should withdraw his decision" in the interest of secularism". Veteran Congressman CK Jaffer Sharief also wrote to Pranab Mukherjee, expressing surprise over the move and had said that he, like other secular people, was "stunned" to hear about his attending the RSS function. However, Amit Shah-led BJP had strongly backed the former president's decision to attend the RSS event, saying Mahatma Gandhi, former president Zakir Husain, activist Jayaprakash Narayan and commander-in-chief of the Indian Army, Kodandera M Cariappa had previously been guests at various RSS events. The RSS had earlier said that it is the greatness of the former president to accept their invitation. Responding to his criticism, Mukherjee had said that he will reveal his thoughts on the matter during the event itself. (With Agency inputs) Today's Google doodle honours 109th birthday of American anesthesiologist Dr Virginia Apgar. Now don't be surprised if you have not heard about her. But her creation may have played a special role after your birth. Dr Apgar is the woman behind "Apgar score": a unique score given to newborns to assess their health within one to five minutes after the birth. The Apgar scale is determined by five simple criterion: Appearance Pulse Grimace Activity Respiration One each scale, the newborn baby is given 0 to 2. The final Apgar score ranges from zero to 10. Dr Apgar was the first woman to become a professor at the prestigious Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons (P&S) in 1949. The Apgar scale was create by her after committed to lowering America's infant mortality rate by investigating the first 24 hours of an infant's life and document trends to distinguish healthy babies from those who require medical attention. Born on June 7, 1909, Dr Apgar grew up in New Jersey, USA. Severe medical problems in her family, led her to develop an interest in science and medicine. She a residency in surgery at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons (P&S) in 1937. She later joined anesthesiology departmemt and became involved in treating children and soon provided the contribution to medicine for which she is best known. Dr Apgar gave lectures across the US and published over 60 scientific articles. In 1972, she co-wrote a book called "Is My Baby All Right?" which explained the causes and treatment of a variety of common birth defects. FORT LAUDERDALE/DAVIE, Fla., June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nova Southeastern University (NSU) Shepard Broad College of Law has launched a Master of Laws (LL.M.) program designed for attorneys to enhance the knowledge and skills needed in todays climate of fast-paced technological and economic growth. This graduate level program is designed to be highly flexible, so lawyers can participate online or on campus at convenient times to build the scope of their legal practice areas and increase overall success without putting their careers on hold. We are delighted to offer attorneys this opportunity to transform their law practices, help their clients solve problems, and build value in an entrepreneurial legal environment, said NSU Law Dean, Jon M. Garon. Our LL.M. students understand the importance of an innovative approach to the business of law, which is our hallmark. The NSU Law LL.M. program is a one-year full-time or two-year part-time program of study offering online, on campus, or hybrid options. The program is designed with flexibility in mind, providing focused schedules that concentrate on highly valuable practice areas. NSU Law faculty and subject matter authorities with a genuine commitment to student success will teach all LL.M. classes. LL.M. students may select their own course of study or choose one of NSU's areas of focus, which include Business and Entrepreneurial Counseling, Health Law, Intellectual Property, Cybersecurity, and Technology Law, International Law, and Litigation and Dispute Resolution. All focus areas incorporate leadership, strategic planning, fiscal literacy, and technology as core competencies for practicing attorneys. Associate Dean of Graduate and Online Programs, Susan H. Stephan, points out that with the addition of the LL.M. to our J.D. and our four M.S. in Law programs, we now offer practical, graduate-level studies to all professionals. The LL.M. is a key progression of legal education for lawyers, who must navigate a rapidly changing practice. Through the LL.M. degree program, NSU Law strives to bring tangible value to the legal community, with benefits apparent for law firms and individual students. NSU Law is now accepting applications for the inaugural class, set to begin in Fall 2018. To apply or to find more information about NSU Law LL.M., please visit: https://www.law.nova.edu/llm/index.htmlor contact Dean Susan Stephan at LLMAdmissions@nova.edu or 1-800-326-3660. # # # Shepard Broad College of Law: Nova Southeastern Universitys College of Law offers a cutting edge, skills-centered academic program in three-year full-time and four-year part-time divisions. With its recently redeveloped clinical programs, every NSU Law student is guaranteed a live-client experience. In-house clinical studies are supplemented by full-time field placement opportunities practicing law in Florida, across the United States, or select locations throughout the globe. To solidify student success after graduation, NSU Law pioneered a curriculum on the business of lawyering through the NSU Law Leadership Academy. NSU Law students have a myriad of curricular opportunities, including a rich, diverse curriculum, concentrations in International Law, Health Law or IP, Technology and Cybersecurity; dual degree programs abroad in Rome, Barcelona, or Prague; dual degree programs at many of NSUs other 17 colleges; and much more. For more information, please visit www.law.nova.edu . About Nova Southeastern University (NSU): Ranked among U.S. News & World Reports Top 200 National Research Universities and located in beautiful Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Nova Southeastern University (NSU) is a dynamic research institution dedicated to providing high-quality educational programs at the undergraduate, graduate, and first-professional degree levels. A private, not-for-profit institution, NSU has campuses in Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Jacksonville, Miami, Miramar, Orlando, Palm Beach, and Tampa Bay, Florida, as well as San Juan, Puerto Rico, while maintaining a presence online globally. For more than 50 years, NSU has been awarding degrees in a wide range of fields, while fostering groundbreaking research and an impactful commitment to community. Classified as a research university with high research activity by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, NSU is 1 of only 50 universities nationwide to also be awarded Carnegies Community Engagement Classification, and is also the largest private, not-for-profit institution in the United States that meets the U.S. Department of Educations criteria as a Hispanic-serving Institution. Please visit www.nova.edu for more information about NSU. Attachment Amid the controversy over his visit to Nagpur, former President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday visited the birthplace of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, fondly called Doctorji. The latest controversy has been triggered by Mukherjees post in the visitors book at Hedgewars birth place wherein he termed the RSS founder as a great son of mother India. The former president wrote in the visitors book: Today I came here to pay my respect and homage to a great son of Mother India. He visited Hedgewars birthplace in Nagpur along with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. Pictures and videos of the former president and the RSS founder also emerged on the social media. Several political parties, including the Congress, have raised objections to the visit of the former President to RSS headquarters in Nagpur. Mukherjees daughter Sharmistha Mukherjee also took to Twitter on Wednesday to warn her father of the consequences of the visit. She tweeted saying that he was giving the BJP and the Sangh a handle to plant false stories, as his "speech will be forgotten" but the "visuals will remain". She tweeted, "Hope @CitiznMukherjee now realises from todays incident, how BJP dirty tricks dept operates. Even RSS wouldnt believe that u r going 2 endorse its views in ur speech. But the speech will be forgotten, visuals will remain & those will be circulated with fake statements." She further said, ".@CitiznMukherjee By going 2 Nagpur, u r giving BJP/RSS full handle 2 plant false stories, spread falls rumours as 2day & making it somewhat believable. And this is just d beginning!" Veteran Congress leader Ahmed Patel also took to Twitter to criticise Mukherjees visit, saying he did not expect this from Pranab Da. Reacting to the controversy and criticism, Mukherjee had said that he would respond to all questions in Nagpur itself. PANCHKULA: Honeypreet, a close aide of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim, will have to remain in jail as Panchkula Sessions Court on Thursday rejected her bail plea. She had been arrested for allegedly inciting violence in Panchkula following the arrest of Gurmeet Ram Rahim on August 25 last year. On August 25, 2017, Ram Rahim was convicted of raping two of his female followers. Following his conviction, large-scale violence had spread in Haryana's Panchkula and Sirsa, leaving 38 people dead and 264 injured. Incidents of violence were also reported from Delhi and several places in Punjab. Ram Rahim, has been sentenced to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment with a fine of over Rs 30 lakh was also imposed. Honeypreet, whose real name is Priyanka Taneja, was arrested by the Haryana Police on October 3, 2017 after remaining fugitive for 38 days after the violence. Honeypreet had allegedly paid Rs 1.25 crore to a Dera Sacha Sauda member to arrange logistics for inciting violence in the Panchkula on August 25 if the Dera chief was convicted in the rape case. The special investigation team (SIT) of the Haryana Police had filed a 979-page chargesheet before the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate in Panchkula. She has been lodged in the Ambala Central Jail since October 23. The SIT took Honeypreet to various locations in Haryana to establish evidence of her involvement in the violence. Honeypreet's ex-husband Vishwas Gupta had alleged illicit relations between her and the sect chief. The woman -- who has been claiming to be Ram Rahim's "adopted daughter" -- starred as the lead heroine in five films he directed, produced and acted in over a period of three years. Kathmandu: A technical delegation from the Airports Authority of India (AAI) is scheduled to visit Nepal on June 14 to discuss cross-border airspace issues, confirmed the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN). The two sides are likely to discuss three key cross-border routes that Nepal has sought from India: Janakpur in the eastern, Nepalgunj in the mid-western and Mahendranagar in the far western regions, reported the Kathmandu Post. "We don`t know about the mandate that the Indian delegation has been entrusted with by its government, but we are prepared to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) if the discussions yield a positive outcome," the report quoted a high-level anonymous CAAN official, as saying. "If the MoU is signed during this meeting, it will open the door for both sides to conduct a safety assessment of the proposed routes soon," the official added. According to the report, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s visit two-day state visit to Nepal on May 11, the issue of new air routes was on the agenda. Nepal has been pushing the agenda of expanding cross-border air routes for the past nine years, the report said. New Delhi: The quad comprising India, the US, Japan and Australia met in Singapore on Thursday and reiterated their call for a free and prosperous Indo-Pacific and to promote a rules-based order in the region. According to an External Affairs Ministry statement here, foreign ministry officials of the four countries met on the sidelines of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Senior Officials Meeting in the southeast Asian city state. It said the four nations considered ways to pursue shared objectives in the areas of connectivity and development, regional security, including counter-terrorism and non-proliferation, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief and maritime cooperation. The Indian side, which was represented at the Joint Secretary-level, highlighted India's vision for the Indo-Pacific Region as outlined in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's keynote address at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore earlier this month. In his speech on June 1, Modi said that India's vision for the Indo-Pacific region is that of a free, open and inclusive region that embraces all in a common pursuit of progress and prosperity. "India does not see the Indo-Pacific region as a strategy or as a club of limited members," Modi said while delivering the keynote address at the Shangri-La Dialogue, the Track I annual inter-governmental security forum organised by the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) think tank. According to the External Affairs Ministry statement, in Thursday's meeting of the quad that was revived on the sidelines of the Asean Summit in the Philippines in November last year, the participants reaffirmed their support for a free, open, prosperous and inclusive Indo-Pacific region. "They also confirmed their common commitment, based on shared values and principles, to promote a rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific," the statement said. "The participants reaffirmed their strong support for Asean centrality and Asean-led mechanisms in the regional architecture for the Indo-Pacific," it stated. "They agreed to partner with all countries and institutions in the region to promote the shared vision of a peaceful, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific, including through such plurilateral formats." The quad's views reflect New Delhi's stand that the 10-nation Asean regional bloc is central to peace and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region. The idea is for the four countries to promote free trade and defence cooperation across a stretch of ocean from the South China Sea, the Indian Ocean and all the way to Africa. The emerging quadrilateral is seen to counter China's aggressive maritime expansion under its Belt and Road Initiative. China's plans would cement a sphere of influence for Beijing well beyond Asia. During French President Emmanuel Macron's visit to India in March this year, both sides announced a broadbasing of their ties through a joint strategic vision for cooperation in the region that agreed on the need to establish an open, inclusive and transparent cooperation architecture for peace, security and prosperity there. Though France is not against the quad of India, the US, Japan and Australia, Paris would rather like to work with New Delhi bilaterally in the Indian Ocean Region given that there are around two million French citizens in its territories in the region. Thursday's meeting in Singapore came ahead of Modi's bilateral summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Qingdao, China, on June 9 on the margins of this year's Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit. Nagpur: Former president Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday warned that hatred and intolerance will dilute national identity and said that nationalism was not bound by race or religion. "I am here amongst you to share my understanding of the concepts of nation, nationalism and patriotism in the context of India... Any attempt at defining our nationhood in terms of dogma and identities or religion, region, hatred and intolerance will only lead to dilution of our identity. In India, we derive our strength from tolerance. We respect our pluralism. We celebrate our diversity. As Gandhi ji said Indian nationalism was not exclusive nor aggressive nor destructive...," he said at the RSS headquarters in Nagpur addressing the new recruits of the organisation. "It was this very nationalism that Pandit Nehru so vividly expressed in the book 'Discovery of India'. He wrote - 'I am convinced that nationalism can only come out of the ideological fusion of Hindu, Muslims, Sikhs and other groups in India'... Indian nationalism emanated from universalism, we see the whole world as one family. We believe in collective conscience for centuries... For us, democracy isn't a gift but a sacred trust," Mukherjee added. He pointed out, "Every day, we see increased violence around us. At the heart of this violence are darkness, fear and mistrust. We must free our public discourse from all forms of violence, physical as well as verbal. Every time a woman and child are hurt, the soul of India is wounded. The aim of the state should be to galvanise them to fight a concerted war against poverty, disease and deprivation. We must move from anger, violence and conflict to peace, harmony and happiness. Only then can we create a nation where nationalism flows automatically... From our Constitution, flows our nationalism. The construct of Indian nationalism is constitutional patriotism, which consists of an appreciation of our inherited and shared diversity. Secularism and inclusion are a matter of faith for us. It is our composite culture which makes us into one nation." In an apparent reference to the 'one-nation-one-culture ideology' often identified with the RSS, Mukherjee said India's nationhood is not "one language, one religion and one enemy". "It is 'perennial universalism' of 1.3 billion people who use 122 languages and 1600 dialects... Practice seven major religions... Live under one system, one flag and one identity of being Bhartiya and have 'no enemies'. That is what makes Bharat a diverse and united nation," he said. Mukherjee also talked about thousands of years of Indian history, including the rules of various dynasties, Muslim invaders, a mercantile company and then the British empire. He quoted from works of Jawaharlal Nehru, Rabindra Nath Tagore, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and others and praised Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel for uniting India by bringing the princely states into the main fold. Earlier, he visited the birthplace of the RSS founding Sarsanghachalak Keshav Baliram Hedgewar at the Sangh headquarters. He was welcomed by the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. "Today I came here to pay my respect and homage to a great son of Mother India," the former president wrote in the visitor's book. Pranabda & Mohanji offered their homage at the Samadhi of Pujya Dr.Hedgewarji - #SmritiMandir ; The #RSSTritiyaVarsh is organised in the same campus. pic.twitter.com/isa5gtdBe8 RSS (@RSSorg) June 7, 2018 Pranabda visited Dr.Hedgewar's ( founder of Sangh ) home along with Mohanji Bhagwat. #RSSTritiyaVarsh pic.twitter.com/0TeaNdFDi3 RSS (@RSSorg) June 7, 2018 'Today I came here to pay my respect and homage to a great son of Mother India': Former President Dr.Pranab Mukherjee's message in the visitor's book at RSS founder KB Hedgewar's birthplace in Nagpur pic.twitter.com/ax76NCzJMa ANI (@ANI) June 7, 2018 #WATCH:Former President Pranab Mukherjee in conversation with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat at RSS founder KB Hedgewar's birthplace in Nagpur. pic.twitter.com/PDXnP5H4lE ANI (@ANI) June 7, 2018 Mukherjee accepting the invite from the RSS had generated a lot of interest as well as controversy, with Congress leaders urging him not to attend the event in the "interest of secularism". Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel on Thursday expressed his disapproval at the former president visiting the RSS headquarters. Patel, who is UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi's close confidant and has been her political secretary, voiced his view on Twitter, in reply to Mukherjee's daughter who spoke out against the decision of the former president to go to Nagpur. I did not expect this from Pranab da ! https://t.co/VBqXZ8x7SE Ahmed Patel (@ahmedpatel) June 6, 2018 Earlier, Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram had said that since Mukherjee had accepted the invitation, he should go and tell the RSS "what is wrong" in their ideology. Ramesh Chennithala, a senior Congress leader from Kerala, had sent a letter to the former president, requesting him to refrain from attending the event. Chennithala, also a leader of the opposition in Kerala Assembly, had said that Mukherjee's decision had come as a "rude shock" to the secular minds of the country. West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Chowdhury and senior Congress leader V Hanumantha Rao too had urged him not to attend the event. And, Hanumantha Rao, the AICC secretary and former Rajya Sabha member, had said that the former president should withdraw his decision "in the interest of secularism". Veteran Congressman CK Jaffer Sharief had also written to Mukherjee, expressing surprise over the move and had said that he, like other secular people, was "stunned" to hear about his attending the RSS function. On the other hand, slamming those criticising the former president for attending the event in Nagpur, Bhagwat said that the debate over Mukherjee's decision to attend the RSS event was "meaningless" and no one is an outsider for his organisation. "Pranab Mukherjee will remain what he is and the sangh will remain the sangh even after the event," he added. Bhagwat maintained that his organisation wants to unify the entire society and no one was an outsider for it. "People may have different views but they are all children of mother India," he said. While the Sangh is often described as a 'Hindu right-wing organisation', it calls itself a nationalist and cultural organisation rather than a political or religious one. It was founded by Hedgewar on September 27, 1925, on Vijayadashami day at his house in Nagpur. (With PTI inputs) MUMBAI: A Jet Airways 9W-117 London-Mumbai flight was on Thursday diverted to Ahmedabad due to heavy rain in Mumbai. Jet Airways flight. Heavy rains lashed Mumbai leaving streets water-logged in several parts of the city. Indian Metrological department has predicted heavy rains on Friday and Saturday too. In view of the heavy rain predictions, the Bombay Municipal Corporation has cancelled the leaves of its officers on Saturday and Sunday. From 11am-12 noon, the BMC automatic weather stations reportedly recorded 15 mm rain in Kurla, 13mm in Chembur, 26mm in Goregaon, and 18 mm in Malad. As per the India Meteorological Department, Monsoon has advanced and rain is likely to increase over coastal Karnataka, Goa and south Maharashtra, from Thursday. "The widespread rainfall activity is likely to continue till 10th June. It is very likely to extend to north coastal Maharashtra, including Mumbai from tomorrow. Extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places in these regions is also very likely during this period," the IMD release said. A woman named Pintu Devi has challenged her marriage as a child in a court in Rajasthans Jodhpur. Married at the age of six, she has decided to move the family court after surviving the child marriage for 12 years. Pintu Devi has approached the court with the help of an NGO. The woman has allegedly been receiving threats from her in-laws, and has asked the court to nullify her marriage as she was forced to marry when she was just six. The court has taken cognisance of her plea, and family court judge PK Jain has issued a notice to her husband in this regard. Pintu Devi, who is now 18, was married in 2006. She could approach the court after NGO Sarthi came to her rescue. According to the complaint, her in-laws were involved in criminal activities and had threatened her family of boycott. Sarthi has helped 36 couples in getting their child marriage quashed, and is now helping Pintu Devi so that she could live her life on her own terms as an adult. I was married at a very small age. My in-laws were involved in criminal acts, and there were other reasons because of which I did not live with them. Now with the help of Kriti didi (member, Sarthi), my petition has been accepted in the court. Now I hope to get freedom from my marriage soon, says Pintu Devi. Gurgaon: Infuriated at being terminated, a sacked employee along with an accomplice on a bike on Thursday opened fire and injured a Gurgaon-based Japanese company's human resource wing head, police said. The incident occurred at around 9 am when the victim, Binesh Sharma, HR head of Mitsubishi, was going to his office in IMT, Manesar, in a car. Two persons on a bike tried to intercept Binesh Sharma's car on gun point. When he did not stop but accelerated instead, the pillion rider opened fire aiming to kill Sharma, Gurgaon Police PRO Ravinder Kumar told PTI. Sharma suffered two gunshot injuries, he said. "The attackers, one of whom was later identified as Joginder, managed to escape from the spot. Some passersby called the police and Sharma was admitted to Rockland Hospital where he is said to be out of danger, Kumar said. On Wednesday, Sharma had sacked an employee, Joginder, over his alleged "unprofessional behaviour", officials said. Joginder later threatened Sharma of dire consequences but the HR head did not take his warning seriously, the officer added. We have registered a case under relevant sections against Joginder and his accomplice. Investigation is underway and raids are being conducted at all possible hideouts of the attackers. We will arrest them soon, the PRO said. New Delhi: Urging for a diplomatic initiative to hold unconditional dialogue with Pakistan, the CPI(M) said on Thursday that Home Minister Rajnath Singh's offer to hold talks with Hurriyat leaders in Kashmir should also be taken forward. In an editorial in party organ 'Peoples Democracy', former CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat said there is no reason why a broader dialogue cannot be started with Pakistan if the national security advisors of the two countries can meet and the Directors-General of Military Operations can confabulate. "Along with that, the offer of talks with Pakistan that Rajnath Singh extended, should be taken forward. But it cannot be conditional to what both the home minister and the defence minister stated that talks and terror cannot go together. "Just as Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought to arrive at some modus vivendi with President Xi Jinping at Wuhan, similarly, there is the need for a diplomatic initiative on the Pakistan front," Karat wrote. The editorial came at a time when Singh is in Jammu and Kashmir on a two-day visit from today to review the security situation, particularly after May 16, when the Centre unilaterally announced the suspension of anti-terror operations during Ramzan. The Hurriyat Conference has offered to hold talks with the Union government but has also put some conditions. On May 26, Singh said the government is ready to hold talks with Hurriyat if its leadership is ready. As far as Pakistan is concerned, he said, the government is ready to hold talks with Islamabad if it comes forward with a proposal. Singh, however, had said that terrorism promoted by that country has to end. Stating that the people in Kashmir do not have much faith in the prospects of a political dialogue to find a political settlement because of a hardline security stance, the Left leader alleged the situation in the valley has "deteriorated" since the Modi government assumed office four years ago. Karat emphasized that "some degree of trust" was required between the people of Kashmir and the Centre for a meaningful dialogue. He suggested that Singh should extend the ceasefire announced during Ramzan for another specified period. In Srinagar today, Home Minister Singh said the Centre has decided to withdraw cases against those "misled into stone pelting" as it was concerned about the future of the youth. Karat said authorities should announce the withdrawal of the use of pellet guns against stone-pelters and separatist leaders such as Shabir Shah, who is being treated as common criminals in jail, should be released. He called for prompt action against any excess committed by security forces on civilians. NEW DELHI: There have been "no big changes" in the H-1B programme and "nothing new" on the H-4 visa policy, the United States has said, amid the Trump administration's plan to overhaul the immigration system. US Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) in Delhi, MaryKay L Carlson said on Wednesday that granting employment visa and work permits is the sovereign decision of a country. The US Mission observed 'Student Visa Day', an event to celebrate higher education ties between India and the United States. "There have been no big changes in the H-1B programme and nothing new on H-4...," Carlson told reporters here. Certainly, employment visa and work permits for Indians is the sovereign decision of the US, the official said. The Trump administration's move to end the Obama-era rule could have an impact on more than 70,000 H-4 visas holders, who have work permits. H-4 is issued to the spouse of H-1B visa holders, a significantly large number of whom are high-skilled professionals from India. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had last month said the government would make all efforts to persuade the Trump administration against such a move. In her annual press conference on May 28, the minister had said it was true that President Donald Trump was reviewing the H-4 visa programme and there were reports of its possible revocation. On the occasion of 'Student Visa Day', the Mission also dedicated the day to student visa applicants who have enrolled for higher studies in different US universities. The US Embassy in New Delhi and the consulate general of Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai, welcomed over 4,000 Indian students, who applied for visas to study in the United States. In 2017, more than 1,86,000 Indian students were enrolled in US institutions for higher education, more than double the number from a decade ago and a 12 per cent increase from the year before. India is the second leading place of origin for students coming to the US, with Indians comprising over 17 percent of the total international students in the United States, according to the US. Consular staff members wore shirts and hats from their alma matters. Some consulates invited guest alumni speakers, while others had a video or "selfie" station. Representatives from partners, including Education USA, the American Library, and recent US graduates were present at the event to give their insights and answer queries from students about studying in the United States. Cleveland, OH, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- American Greetings Corporation will host a conference call on Tuesday, June 12, 2018 at 10:30 AM EST for lenders, bondholders, prospective bondholders, broker-dealers and securities analysts to discuss the Companys fiscal 2018 full year results. To register for the conference call and receive the dial-in number and passcode, please call the Companys Investors line at (216) 252-4864. We highly recommend that interested participants register prior to 4:00 PM EST on Monday, June 11 so as not to delay the registration process the day of the call. A telephone replay of the call will be available until 1:30 PM EST Monday, June 18. About American Greetings As the leader in meaningful connections, American Greetings is committed to making the world a more thoughtful and caring place. Founded in 1906, the creator and manufacturer of innovative social expression products offers paper cards, digital greetings, gift wrap, party goods and more to help consumers honor the people and moments in life that really matter. The Company's major greeting card brands are American Greetings, Carlton Cards, Gibson, Recycled Paper Greetings and PAPYRUS. AmericanGreetings.com is a go-to destination for connecting, shopping and celebrating with its offering of paper cards, ecards, printables, party supplies and gift wrap along with inspirational content, gift guides, DIY tutorials, a What to Write series, and party planning tips. The 112 year-old Company is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, and its products can be found in retail outlets worldwide. For more information, please visit www.corporate.americangreetings.com. Former President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday pulled off a balancing act in his speech at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) headquarters in Nagpur. In front of an audience that he is certainly not used to addressing, the Mukherjee underscored the importance of tolerance to India's identity. Mukherjee also put forth his understanding of the concepts of nationalism and patriotism, while avoiding any direct political points. His speech is historic in that it is arguably the first time a senior Congress leader, even if he is presently not a member of the party, has addressed the RSS at its headquarters. Here are the top quotes from Mukherjee's address at the RSS: I am here amongst you to share my understanding with you of the concepts of nation, nationalism and patriotism in the context of India Our national identity has emerged after a long drawn process of confluence, assimilation and coexistence. The multiple cultures and faiths make us special and tolerant. We derive our strength from tolerance. We accept and respect our pluralism. We celebrate our diversity. Any attempt at defining our nationhood in terms of dogmas & identities of religion, region, hatred & intolerance will only lead to dilution of our national identity. On 26 January 1950, the Constitution of India came into effect. Democracy became our most precious guide towards peace and regeneration from the swamp of poverty created by centuries of colonial rule. For us, democracy is not a gift, but a sacred trust. The Constitution of India represents the hopes and aspirations of a billion plus Indians. From our Constitution flows our nationalism. The construct of Indian Nationalism is Constitutional Patriotism. India's Nationhood is not one language, one religion and one enemy. It is the perennial universalism of 1.3 billion people, who use more than 122 languages and 1600 dialects, practice 7 major religions and belong to 3 major ethnic groups, live under one system,one flag and one identity of being Bharatiya. As Gandhi ji explained, Indian nationalism was not exclusive nor aggressive nor destructive. It was this very nationalism that Pandit Nehru so vividly expressed in the book 'Discovery of India', he wrote, "I am convinced that nationalism can only come out of the ideological fusion of Hindu, Muslims, Sikhs and other groups in India." People are at the centre of all activities of the State, and nothing should be done to divide them. The aim of the State should be to galvanise them to fight a concerted war against poverty, disease and deprivation. Only then can we create a nation where nationalism flows automatically. In a democracy, informed and reasoned public engagement on all issues of national importance is essential. A dialogue is necessary not only to balance the competing interests but also to reconcile them. New Delhi: In a major setback to former Janata Dal United president Sharad Yadav, the Supreme Court on Thursday ordered a stay on salary, allowances and other perks currently available to the veteran Bihar politician. According to ANI, the top court partially modified a previous Delhi High Court order in this regard and said that Sharad Yadav won't get salary, allowances and other facilities like air and rail tickets. The top court also granted him relief from vacating his official bungalow in New Delhi till July 12 till the matter pertaining to his disqualification from Rajya Sabha is resolved. Plea challenging Delhi HC order allowing Sharad Yadav to retain official residence: SC partially modified Delhi HC's order, says 'Sharad Yadav won't get salary, allowances & other facilities like air & rail ticket'. SC grants him relief till July 12. (file pic) pic.twitter.com/QwBOesBu5S ANI (@ANI) June 7, 2018 The top court also directed the Delhi High Court to hear and expedite Sharad Yadav's plea challenging his disqualification from Rajya Sabha. Supreme Court asks Delhi High Court to hear and expedite Sharad Yadav's plea challenging his disqualification from Rajya Sabha. ANI (@ANI) June 7, 2018 The order was passed by the vacation bench of Adarsh Kumar Goel and Ashok Bhushan. The country's highest court passed its order in response to a plea filed by Janata Dal (United) challenging the Delhi High Court order by which it had allowed Yadav to retain his official residence in New Delhi. On May 18, the top court had agreed to hear the appeal by JD(U)'s Rajya Sabha MP Ramchandra Prasad Singh and issued a notice to Yadav. Singh, the party's leader in the Upper House, had challenged the order of the high court passed on December 15 by which it had refused to grant interim stay on Yadav's disqualification as a Rajya Sabha MP and allowed him to draw his salary, allowances, perks and retain the bungalow till the pendency of his plea. The interim order of the high court had come on Yadav's plea challenging his disqualification on several grounds, including that he was not given any chance to present his case by the Rajya Sabha chairman before passing an order against him and his colleague and then MP Ali Anwar on December 4. Singh had sought their disqualification before the high court on the grounds that they had attended a rally of opposition parties in Patna in violation of the party's directives. Yadav had joined hands with the opposition after JD(U) president and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar dumped the Grand Alliance with the RJD and the Congress in Bihar and tied up with the BJP in July last year. Yadav was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2016 and his term is scheduled to end in July 2022. Anwar's term as a Rajya Sabha MP expired in April. Both were disqualified under the anti-defection law. (With PTI inputs) Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and former Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav met Congress president Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi on Thursday. The two leaders reportedly met for over 40 minutes and they discussed the political scenario in Bihar. The RJD leader and the Congress chief discussed the strategy for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, and the steps needed to further strengthen the Mahagathbandhan in the state. They talked about various issues such as poll campaign, selection of candidates, agenda setting and failure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre. Tejashwi and Rahul are expected to meet again in near future, reported Prabhat Khabar. We are here not to form govts but to transform the lives of the downtrodden people against the wishes of current right wing authoritarian regime. Our togetherness is aimed at protecting constitution,secular-democratic values & goals of Social Justice. We shall fight, we shall win pic.twitter.com/6X4hDZdVoE Tejashwi Yadav (@yadavtejashwi) June 7, 2018 Fruitful meeting with @RahulGandhi Ji. Bliss was it to be in that dawn..to be young was all the more heaven. We are committed to take nation out of the climate of fear generated by this regime. Watch out! Shall come out wth a committed programme for farmers,youth,women,poor... pic.twitter.com/lPX2uEAiYJ Tejashwi Yadav (@yadavtejashwi) June 7, 2018 The two leaders discussed in detail the alleged failures of Modi government on key issues and non-fulfilment of promises made before 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Terming the meeting as fruitful, the Yadav scion took to microblogging site Twitter, saying, We are committed to take nation out of the climate of fear generated by this regime. Watch out! Shall come out wth a committed programme for farmers,youth,women,poor... He further said that the pupose of their attempts was not to form government, "but to transform the lives of downtrodden people". Tejashwi Yadav called the Modi government a "right wing authoritarian regime". He added that the Congress and the RJD together stood for Constitution and "social justice". The RJD leader tweeted, "We are here not to form govts but to transform the lives of the downtrodden people against the wishes of current right wing authoritarian regime. Our togetherness is aimed at protecting constitution,secular-democratic values & goals of Social Justice. We shall fight, we shall win." The meeting between Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav came on a day when members of the National Democratic Alliance converged in Patna for a dinner. The dinner was attended by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Ram Vilas Paswan. Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal has called for constituents of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to stand together, keeping aside all differences. Speaking to mediapersons after meeting Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah, Badal asserted that his party is a permanent ally of the ruling party. Dismissing reports of differences between the SAD and the BJP, Badal said, Shiromani Akali Dal is a permanent ally of BJP. There is no conflict between us. He further appealed to all NDA constituents to join hands saying, I would like to appeal to all our allies that this is the time to fight (opposition unity) as the battle is in six months. We should get together and cast away all our differences. The call for unity by the Punjab strongman comes amid opposition parties, such as Congress, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party etc, joining hands to form a joint front in a bid to stop the Modi juggernaut ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha elections. On Wednesday evening, BJP president Amit Shah met Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray at Matoshri in Mumbai to convince him to remain a part of NDA as the parties go for 2019 general elections. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had accompanied Shah to the residence of the Shiv Sena chief. Following the meeting, while members in the BJP claimed that it was fruitful, sources told Zee News that Shah failed to convince Thackeray to give an assurance for the general elections. According to sources, Thackeray told Shah that it was not possible for the Shiv Sena to give any commitment on the alliance, as the party was unhappy with the BJP-led Maharashtra governments attitude towards the ally. Thackeray told Shah that the Shiv Sena would think about going for a pre-poll alliance with the BJP in 2019 if they see a change in attitude of the Fadnavis government. The developments come just days after the BJP faced poll debacles in various Lok Sabha and Assembly seats that went for byelections. West Bengal Uccha Madhyamik results 2018: The West Bengal Board Of Secondary Education or WBCHSE is all set to announce Class 12 Higher Secondary Result 2018 on June 8, 2018, at 10 am. Candidates can check their WB HS Result 2018 on wbresults.nic.in or examresults.net or indiaresults.com. The WBCHSE had conducted the Uccha Madhyamik Examination for the academic year 2017-18 from March 27, 2018 to April 11, 2018. How to Check WBCHSE Result 2018/WB HS Class 12th Results 2018? Step 1: Visit wbresults.nic.in or examresults.net or indiaresults.com. Step 2: Look for West Bengal Board of Higher Secondary Education Examination-2018 link and click on it. Step 3: Enter the Roll No and date of birth and submit Step 4: The results will be displayed on screen. Please save a copy of the result. Candidates can also get their results via SMS. Get Your WBCHSE Higher Secondary Result 2018 ON SMS SMS - WB12ROLL + NUMBER - Send it to 56263 Last year, the results were released in the last week of May. The West Bengal Government established the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE) in the year 1975. The head office of WBCHSE is located in Vidyasagar Bhavan, Salt Lake, Kolkata and has 4 regional offices across West Bengal. It also has offices at Bidhannagar, Karunamoyee, Kolkata, other than the regional offices. The WBCHSE is the government-recognized autonomous examining authority for Class 12th. KERAN: Terrorists on Thursday attacked a patrol party near the Line of Control fence in Keran sector in Jammu and Kashmir leaving one soldier dead. Two soldiers had been injured in the attack but one of them succumbed to his injuries during the treatment. Indian security forces retaliated to the attack. Firing has ended and search operations are underway. The attack comes at a time when Home Minister Rajnath Singh is in Jammu and Kashmir on a two-day visit. During his visit, he will meet Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and review security arrangements for Amarnath Yatra which commences from June 28. As per intelligence reports, at least 450 Pakistan-backed terrorists are believed to be waiting for an opportunity at several launch pads along the LoC to infiltrate into Kashmir. Intelligence agencies have warned that Pakistan-backed terror outfits, especially Hizb-ul- Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), are planning to target the annual Amarnath Yatra. A senior official of the Home Ministry has confirmed the presence of Pakistan's Special Security Group (SSG) along the LoC to aid the fresh batch of terrorists waiting to infiltrate into Kashmir. Pakistan's SSG Special Forces have reportedly been deployed on the LoC forward posts to carry out BAT (Border Action Team) actions. The well-trained SSG commandos have been spotted at terror launch pads along with the terrorists linked to Jaish-e-Mohammad, LeT and Hizbul. SRINAGAR: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will arrive in Jammu and Kashmir`s Srinagar on Thursday for a two-day visit to the state. The Home Minister will review the law and order situation with the state's Governor NN Vohra, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and senior officials of various state and Central departments, following which he will take a call on whether the present suspension of operations against the terrorists would be extended after the Eid festival to cover the annual Amarnath Yatra. Home Minister #RajnathSingh, Union Home Secretary, Joint Secretary J&K & MoS PMO Jitendra Singh to go on a two-day visit to #JammuAndKashmir. ANI (@ANI) June 7, 2018 The Home Minister will also review the security and other preparations for the Amarnath Yatra, which begins from June 28. While the Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP-BJP coalition government in the state wants the continuation of the Ramzan ceasefire beyond the Eid, top sources suggest the field commanders of the Army have argued that the cessation of hostilities from only one side is helping the militants to regroup and increase their numbers through recruitment of local boys. Among other issues, the Home Minister will also deliberate upon the response of the separatist leaders to the Centre's offer of talks. While the Home Minister has earlier maintained that the Centre is ready to talk to everyone including the separatists, BJP`s National General Secretary Ram Madhav had recently made an offer to the separatists to engage in a meaningful dialogue with the Centre. The separatist leaders have been demanding clarity in the talks offer so that their engagement in the dialogue would yield concrete results. Meanwhile, the Muzaffarabad-based conglomerate of armed groups, the United Jehad Council (UJC), has strongly rejected any imminent possibility of the Kashmiri separatist leaders to engage with the government. A statement issued by the UJC a few weeks back said that talks would only be held with the government only after it accepts Kashmir as a dispute. In addition to his all-important security and political agenda, the Home Minister will also review the implementation of various Centrally-sponsored developmental programmes. On the second day of his visit, the Singh will review the security along the international border in Jammu and also deliberate on the situation that has been arising because of the migration of border residents each time Pakistan violates the bilateral ceasefire on the border. Jitendra Singh, MoS (PMO), and a team of senior Home Ministry officials will also accompany Rajnath Singh during the two-day visit. (With IANS inputs) JAMMU: At least 450 Pakistan-backed terrorists are believed to be waiting for an opportunity at several launch pads along the Line of Control (LoC) to infiltrate into Kashmir, the intelligence agencies have warned in a fresh report sent to the Centre. According to the inputs gathered by the intelligence agencies, the Pakistan-backed terror outfits, especially Hizb-ul- Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), are planning to target the annual Amarnath Yatra, which commences from June 28. The intelligence agencies have warned that the suspension of anti-terror operations by the Army during the holy month of Ramzan has given ample time to the terror outfits to recruit new people and regroup themselves. This is the first time such a heightened activity has been seen along the Line of Control after Indian Army's successful Surgical Strikes which destroyed several terror launch pads backed by Pakistan along the LoC. A senior official of the Home Ministry has confirmed the presence of Pakistan's Special Security Group (SSG) along the LoC to aid the fresh batch of terrorists waiting to infiltrate into Kashmir. Pakistan's SSG Special Forces have been deployed on the LoC forward posts to carry out BAT (Border Action Team) actions. The well-trained SSG commandos have been spotted at terror launch pads along with the terrorists linked to Jaish-e-Mohammad, LeT and HjM. Zee Media, which accessed the intelligence report, claimed that several terror outfits are currently active along the LoC. It also gave an estimated number of terrorists present on each launch pads along the LoC. Launch pad: Location: No. of terrorists Launch pad 1: Gurez sector - 20 terrorists Launch pad 2: Machhil sector - 50 terrorists Launch pad 3: Keran sector - 55 terrorists (Pak Border Action Team waiting to strike) Launch pad 4: Tangdhar sector - 65 terrorists belonging to LeT, Jaish Launch pad 5: Naugam sector -7 terrorists Launch pad 6: Uri sector 50 terrorists 50 Launch pad 7: Poonch sector 35 terrorists Launch pad 8: Bhimber Gali 120 terrorists aided by BAT Launch pad 9: Naushera sector 30 terrorists Launch pad 10: Rampur sector 30 terrorists The warning from the intelligence agencies has come at a time when there are reports that the Centre may further extend the suspension of operations against terrorists after Eid to cover the annual Amarnath Yatra. Importantly, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will arrive in Jammu and Kashmir's Srinagar on Thursday for a two-day visit to the state. The Home Minister will review the law and order situation with the state's Governor NN Vohra, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and senior officials of various state and Central departments, following which he will take a call on whether the present suspension of operations against the terrorists can be extended after Eid festival to cover the annual Amarnath Yatra. The Home Minister will also review the security and other preparations for the Amarnath Yatra, which begins from June 28. While the Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP-BJP coalition government in the state wants the continuation of the Ramzan ceasefire beyond the Eid, top sources suggest the field commanders of the Army have argued that the cessation of hostilities from only one side is helping the militants to regroup and increase their numbers through recruitment of local boys. Among other issues, the Home Minister will also deliberate upon the response of the separatist leaders to the Centre's offer of talks. While the Home Minister has earlier maintained that the Centre is ready to talk to everyone including the separatists, BJP`s National General Secretary Ram Madhav had recently made an offer to the separatists to engage in a meaningful dialogue with the Centre. The separatist leaders have been demanding clarity in the talks offer so that their engagement in the dialogue would yield concrete results. On the second day of his visit, the Singh will review the security along the international border in Jammu and also deliberate on the situation that has been arising because of the migration of border residents each time Pakistan violates the bilateral ceasefire on the border. Jitendra Singh, MoS (PMO), and a team of senior Home Ministry officials will also accompany Rajnath Singh during the two-day visit. (With Agency inputs) Mumbai: In what could be perceived as a shocking setback to the Rajinikanth legend, his latest release "Kaala" has opened to an underwhelming response. It is one of the lowest-recorded openings in recent times for a Rajinikanth starrer. What gives? Actor-activist Vishal Krishna who heads the Tamil Nadu Films Producers' Council (TFPC) says it's too early to make any predictions. " 'Kaala' has been unnecessarily embroiled in the Cauvery controversy. How much this has affected the film's opening, I don't know. What I do know is that at the end of the day Rajini sir is Rajini sir. "Any film of his evokes a massive response. The opening of 'Kaala' may be on the lower side -- I haven't found the time to check -- because his last film with the same director (Pa. Ranjith) had not been appreciated that much." However, Vishal adds that 'Kaala' may well surprise all the naysayers. "Rajini Sir's fan club is stronger than ever. And I am a member. They will ensure a smooth run for 'Kaala'. Let's not forget, this is the Ramzan week and a sizable chunk of the audience likes to refrain from watching films during this period even if it is Rajini Sir's film. I intend to see 'Kaala' the soonest possible." Trade analyst Atul Mohan says that the buzz for this one is low despite having known faces from Hindi cinema like Nana Patekar, Huma Qureshi and Pankaj Tripathi . "This may be due to some of the factors like couple of postponements in release date, Ramzan period , particularly the week before Eid which is dullest for business , as next Friday the big film of Salman Khan releases. Rajinikanth is still a huge craze as the character Chitti of 'Robot' and fans are waiting for the sequel '2.0' . "Also his last few films haven't done well. The promos of 'Kaala' haven't established a connect with Hindi audiences. It looks like a 1990s' film. But we hope they have some great story to be shared which may be liked and the film does well," said Mohan. Atul Mohan also warns about the competition. "'Kaala' has to compete with a Steven Spielberg franchise 'Jurassic World' which is a huge event. Also, a section of Rajinikanth's audience is not happy with his entry into politics," said Mohan. Oscar-winning sound designer Resul Pookutty who has worked repeatedly with Rajini on "Ra.One", "Robot" etc, agrees that Rajini's politics could be a negative force in his career. "I have not been following 'Kaala' release or its prospects, but I would imagine, the socio-political stand Rajini Sir has taken in the past one year people might have started looking at him differently from the demi-god that he used to be," he said. Bengaluru: Single screen theatres and multiplexes across Karnataka on Thursday avoided screening the multi-lingual "Kaala" film of Tamil superstar Rajinikanth amid vociferous protests by pro-Kannada activists against his remarks on the Cauvery river water issue. "We are unable to screen 'Kaala' film for the time being despite the security provided due to strong protests against its release by the Kannada Rakshana Vedike (KRV) activists outside," a multiplex official told IANS here. Though police were deployed at some 120 theatres and multiplexes where the film was to be screened on the Karnataka High Court's direction on Tuesday, morning and afternoon shows were cancelled to avoid untoward incidents. "We have not issued tickets for the morning and afternoon shows though many fans turned up to watch the movie on the first day first show as we do not want to antagonise the protesters and also want to ensure that the tense situation outside does not go out of hand," said the official on the condition of anonymity. Hundreds of activists of pro-Kannada organisations, including the KRV, gathered outside theatres and multiplexes in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Hubballi, Mangaluru, Ballari and Belagavi to protest against the film's release. "Cauvery water is more important than a Rajinikanth film for us. Our honour and Kannada pride are at stake. He (Rajinikanth) has hurt us by supporting the cause of Tamil Nadu in the sharing of the river water," KRV president Praveen Shetty told reporters here. Many fans who bought the tickets online for the show on Wednesday were disappointed as they could not watch their favourite superstar's film. Besides the original Tamil version, the film has been released across the country and beyond with sub-titles in Hindi, Telugu and English. LONDON, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- InMed is a Canada-based biopharmaceutical company focused on maximizing the therapeutic potential of cannabinoids. Through its biosynthesis platform, the company believes it has distinct advantages over both naturally sourced and chemically synthesized cannabinoids, which could give it access to both the medical and retail markets, although the process is still in development. The company is also developing a proprietary pipeline, including INM-750 for epidermolysis bullosa (EB), a serious orphan indication, and expects to file an IND for INM-750 in H219. We arrive at our valuation of C$221m or C$1.45 per basic share (C$1.20 per diluted share) based on a risk-adjusted NPV analysis. Because of the early stage of InMeds proprietary pipeline, we only attribute a value of C$11m to it, although that will change as it progresses into the clinic. The company ended its fiscal Q318 (31 March) with C$13.9m in cash and we estimate this provides a runway into FY20. Click here to view the full report. All reports published by Edison are available to download free of charge from its website www.edisoninvestmentresearch.com About Edison: Edison is an investment research and advisory company, with offices in North America, Europe, the Middle East and AsiaPac. The heart of Edison is our world-renowned equity research platform and deep multi-sector expertise. At Edison Investment Research, our research is widely read by international investors, advisers and stakeholders. Edison Advisors leverages our core research platform to provide differentiated services including investor relations and strategic consulting. Edison is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Edison is not an adviser or broker-dealer and does not provide investment advice. Edisons reports are not solicitations to buy or sell any securities. For more information please contact Edison: Maxim Jacobs, +1 646 653 7027 Dr Nathaniel Wilkinson, +1 646 653 7036 healthcare@edisongroup.com Learn more at www.edisongroup.com and connect with Edison on: LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/edison-investment-research Twitter www.twitter.com/Edison_Inv_Res YouTube www.youtube.com/edisonitv Chennai: Dancing to drum beats, bursting firecrackers, cutting cakes and pouring milk over their hero's banner is how fans of actor Rajinikanth in Tamil Nadu celebrated the release of his much awaited film "Kaala" on Thursday. Additional security was provided by the police at all the several hundred movie theatres where the film was screened in the state. Large crowds were seen outside all the theatres since early in the day. "I am a fan of Rajinikanth. I am from Karnataka and came here to see the movie," a person told the media outside a theatre here. "Today is Diwali for me. I have waited for a long time for this movie," another fan told journalists in Coimbatore. "This not Rajinikanth movie but movie director Pa. Ranjith movie." This is the first movie of Rajinikanth since he announced his political foray. "Kaala" has been facing opposition in both Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Several Tamil activists and political parties voiced their opposition to Rajinikanth's views on the violence in Thuthookudi. Visiting the violence-hit town where 13 persons were killed on May 22 in police action amid anti-Sterlite Copper smelter plant protests, Rajinikanth had blamed anti-social elements for the violence. In Karnataka, the film's release was opposed by some organisations after the southern superstar said the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) on the sharing of river water between Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry has to be set up. However, theatre owners and others are keeping their fingers crossed about the movie's success and raking in money. "Movie halls will be packed with Rajini fans during the first four days. General public will come only after that. While the hall is full for the first four days, there is no major demand for tickets post Monday," a theatre owner told IANS preferring anonymity. According to him, the story line is nothing new - rich versus poor - an age old theme and reminds the viewers of Kamal Haasan starrer "Naayagan". Queried about the hype for Rajinikanth's earlier movie "Kabali" as compared with "Kaala", he said the former was produced by a seasoned movie producer who knew how to create a hype and market the product. He said one of the issues with "Kaala" was that the movie should not have been released in so many screens as the supply had been increased instead of creating a demand by restricting the number of screens. New Delhi: Search engine giant Google has successfully completed its target to provide public Wi-Fi programme at 400 India`s railway stations with free internet. Dibrugarh in Assam has become the 400th station to go live on Thursday. Google had, in collaboration with Railtel, launched free Wi-Fi services to 400 railway stations as a key initiative under the government`s Digital India programme in 2016. Today, were proud to announce that Dibrugarh railway station in Assam state, northeast India is the 400th train station in India to be powered by public Wi-Fi. There are now over 8 million people getting online with Google Station every month. On average, people consume 350MB of data per session, roughly the size of a half hour television episode and over half of the people using Google Station engage in multiple online sessions a day. Some are watching videos, some are chatting with friends, but like Shrinath and Helen, they are all actively seeking that Wi-Fi connection to get things done during their day, wrote Caesar Sengupta, VP, Next Billion Users Team. Within the first year of the project's launch, 100 of the busiest railway stations across India were brought online, enabling 15,000 people to experience the internet for the first time every day, it said. The service, which offers thirty minutes of free access to the internet, saw users consuming about 350 MB of data per session on an average. While majority of the users are in the 19-34 age group, efforts to help older and first time users with onground support staff has helped millions to experience the internet for the first time. Kabul: The Afghanistan government is set to release at least 269 more prisoners affiliated with the former militant group Hezb-e-Islami in regard to the peace accord signed in late 2016. The decision to release more inmates of Hezb-e-Islami was taken during the meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) presided over by President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, reported Khaama Press, citing, the office of the President, ARG Palace, as saying, in a statement. During the meeting, the authorities presented the schedule of the release of Hezb-e-Islami prisoners. According to the statement, the participants of the meeting reviewed the list and essential decisions were taken in connection with the release of the inmates. Hezb-e Islami was the former militant group which has reconciled with the government. The prisoners are being released in accordance with the agreement reached between the Afghan government and Hezb-e-Islami for the conclusion of the peace deal which was inked late in the year of 2016, the report said. This recent development comes after a couple of when in January at least 75 Hezb-e-Islami prisoners were released from Kabul`s Puli Charkhi prison. Washington: Five days before meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, US President Donald Trump said on Thursday the unprecedented summit was "all ready to go," as he welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to the White House. Trump and Abe were to hold a joint press conference at the White House at about 2:00 pm (1800 GMT), before heading to Canada for what promises to be a tense Group of Seven summit clouded by the US leader's aggressive trade policies. But before tackling the thorny trade issue, Trump expressed unbridled optimism about his June 12 tete-a-tete with Kim in Singapore. "The summit is all ready to go," Trump said, with Abe at his side. "It's going to be much more than a photo op." Since the first inkling that a Trump-Kim summit could be on the cards, Japan has repeatedly insisted that Washington be mindful not to let its guard down with the nuclear-armed regime in Pyongyang. And by coming to Washington to see Trump for the second time in less than two months, Abe wants to be sure to get his point across to the US president, amid the intense diplomatic flurry over the future of the Korean peninsula. Before leaving Tokyo, the Japanese leader emphasized that during his lightning visit to Washington, he hoped to "closely coordinate and agree" with Trump on an approach to the North Korea issue. He clearly outlined what would need to happen for the summit to be a success: tangible progress on curbing the North's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, as well as answers about Japanese nationals kidnapped by Pyongyang in the 1970s and 1980s. During their last meeting at Trump's Florida retreat in April, the US president promised Abe to raise the politically sensitive abductions issue in any talks with Pyongyang. But the subject is hardly a priority for the businessman-turned-president, whose strategy appears to be in constant flux. Above all, Trump seems most enthused by the notion of being the first sitting US leader to hold direct talks with a scion of the ruling Kim dynasty. The intensifying diplomacy on North Korea has so far left Abe as the odd man out: Trump is preparing to meet Kim, while Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korea's Moon Jae-in have each already seen the North's leader twice. For Richard Armitage, a former senior diplomat during the administration of George W. Bush, Tokyo runs a very real risk of finding itself out in the cold after the Trump-Kim talks. "We should absolutely prevent decoupling - decoupling Japanese and US security," he told AFP. "This is and has been an aim of China and North Korea for a long time, and we can't allow this to happen. That would be falling into a terrible trap." Trump and Abe so far seem to have forged a sort of friendship, but even that bonhomie was revealed to be limited at their last meeting. Today, it could again be put to the test - beyond North Korea, they are also meant to discuss the controversial issue of tariffs, which Washington says were put in place to protect American workers. "I will stress that measures to restrict trade would not serve the interests of any country," Abe said before heading to Washington. Japan had hoped to convince the US to shield it from fresh tariffs on steel and aluminium imports and did not hide its bitter disappointment when those talks failed. The government in Tokyo warned of the "grave impact" that US tariffs could have on bilateral ties and the world trading system. "The US government's trade measures, citing its security, makes us concerned that they could disrupt the global market," government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters on Monday. Ottawa: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday called Donald Trump's national security justification for new metal tariffs on US allies "laughable," as he and French President Emmanuel Macron formed a united front on trade ahead of the G7 summit. The leaders, who met in Ottawa before heading to Quebec to join the US president and their other Group of Seven partners for a two-day summit, noted that the tariffs on steel and alumnium imports would also hurt American workers. "It is laughable to say that Canada, France... Can represent a threat to America's national security, as we are the best allies that the US has had for a long time," Trudeau told a press conference, with Macron at his side. Dubai: A Dubai-based Indian man threatened to kill Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan leading to his getting fired from his job. Krishnakumar S.N. Nair, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) supporter, in a Facebook video on Tuesday said that he would soon travel to Kerala to carry out the act, Khaleej Times reported on Thursday. I am a former RSS worker. I am going to be active again. I am resigning my job here and returning to Kerala. I am staying in Dubai. I will be in Kerala for two to three days with an aim to kill. I am least bothered how my life is going to end. If we decide to kill a person then we need to finish the job," he said in the four-minute video. Nair, who used to work as a senior rigging supervisor at the Abu Dhabi-based Target Engineering Construction Company, also hurled abuses at Vijayan and commented about his caste. He was terminated with immediate effect on Wednesday for the provoking post in an inebriated condition at the company accommodation. He will be flying to Kerala as soon as all formalities are over. "I have lost my job. I am ready to face any action. I remain an RSS supporter. I seek forgiveness from Pinarayi Vijayan and all politicians," Nair apologised on Wednesday. Ottawa: The other leaders of G7 nations must not be afraid to reach agreements without US President Donald Trump at their upcoming summit, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday, as a trade war between Washington and its allies looms. Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau held a joint press conference after private talks the night before to form a united front ahead of the Group of Seven summit that begins on Friday. While both Macron and Trudeau have forged cordial relationships with Trump, they made it clear they would not be intimidated by the US leader - especially in the face of US tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada, Europe, Japan and Mexico. "The G7 is an opportunity for us to get together and have frank, open discussions among nations who have long been allies and friends," Macron told reporters, with Trudeau at his side. "There will be subjects on which the (US) president is not totally in sync with the others - I'm thinking of course of climate change and trade," the French leader said. "Our common goal is to try to find a text that can be signed by everyone. (...) That said, I agree with what Justin Trudeau has said many times -- the desire to sign a common G7 declaration must not outweigh the need to be mindful of the content," he explained. "We Europeans and the Japanese are not ready to give up everything to get" Trump's signature, he said, adding that would be a "mistake." Trudeau heaped scorn on Donald Trump's national security justification for the new metal tariffs. "It is laughable to say that Canada, France... Can represent a threat to America's national security, as we are the best allies that the US has had for a long time," Trudeau said. He and Macron also noted that the tariffs would hurt American workers. The leaders will join Trump, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister Theresa May, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and new Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte in Quebec for talks on Friday and on Saturday. Prime Minister Groysman signed a submission to the Verkhovna Rada on the dismissal of Finance Minister Olexandr Danyliuk Read the original text at 112.ua. Prime Minister Groysman signed a submission to the Verkhovna Rada on the dismissal of Finance Minister Olexandr Danyliuk, as reported on his Facebook page. According to the prime minister, Danyliuk provoked the conflict at the governmental meeting, and later "took the liberty of actions incompatible with the continued membership in the Cabinet of Ministers." He also noted that the head of the Ministry of Finance "did not make adjustments to the chosen line of conduct" even after "discussing the situation with members of the government team." Who is Danyliuk? Open source Olexandr Danyliuk Olexandr Danyliuk graduated from the Kyiv Institute of Investment Management, Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, as well as the business school at Indiana University (USA). He started working in 1995 as a broker in the Ukrainian company TEKT, then led the investment banking department at Alfa Capital and worked as a junior investment manager in the American fund Western NIS Enterprise Fund. For three years he has been working on the projects of McKinsey & Company in London and Moscow. In 2006-2010, he led the investment fund Rurik Investment in London and Luxembourg. Before the appointment for the post of the head of the Ministry of Finance, the media reported that he continued to be a director of two companies, which, in turn, contradicted the status of a state official. In September 2010, Danyliuk headed the Coordinating Center for the Implementation of Economic Reforms. Since July 2014, he has been a permanent representative of the President of Ukraine in the Cabinet of Ministers. Since September 2015, he served as a Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration. In April 2016, he was appointed Minister of Finance in Groysmans government. First of all, we should remember his significant contribution to the implementation of the budget reform and a serious approximation to the so-called "three-year planning", which was not possible with the previous Cabinet. In addition, under Danyliuk, the discipline in the department has seriously improved: state budget projects were submitted strictly in time and taken for a couple of weeks before the end of the year. However, there were some scandals. In addition to the recent skirmish with PM Groysman, there was a scandal connected with accusations against the head of the Ministry of Finance. It is about accusations of tax evasion. The minister himself refuted everything, stressing that he had not received any official documents and after a while stated that he would appeal against the decision of the Pechersk district court regarding his examination by the State Fiscal Service. In turn, the Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko said that he would demand from Danyliuk to resign, accusing him of including inadequate salaries of prosecutors. In response, Danyliuk demanded the resignation of Lutsenko, accusing, among other things, of "attacking the new anti-corruption bodies." The Prosecution General associated this requirement with an attempt to avoid liability for non-payment of taxes. Open source Groysman and Danyliuk May 23, at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers Olexandr Danyliuk, tried to get himself appointed to one more (sixth in a row) deputy (Yana Bugrimova). Groysman refused. A conflict erupted, during which Danyliuk even proposed to fire him. As a result, Danyliuk complained about the PM to G7, where he voiced his own position regarding the reasons for the conflict with Groysman. However, later, according to the PM, the head of the Ministry of Finance apologized for this letter. Nevertheless, the conflict seems to have failed to pay off, which led to today's decision of the Prime Minister. Now the Ministry of Finance has been added to the list of so-called "suspended" ministries, where the issue with the leadership has not been finally resolved. Who else? In August 2016, Ulyana Suprun was appointed acting Minister of Health. The question of her appointment has not been resolved. Moreover, among the deputies, there are often demands for her dismissal. Moreover, scandal connected with her deputy Olexandr Linchevsky fueled the conflict. In addition to Suprun, the situation with the ministries of agrarian policy (Taras Kutovyi) and the information policy (Yuriy Stets) is not clear too. Both ministers have written resignation letters, but the Verkhovna Rada has not considered them yet. No casualties among Armed Forces of Ukraine reported since the beginning of June 7 Open source The pro-Russian militants shelled the positions of the Joint Forces operation in Donbas 25 times, including two uses of the heavy weaponry, during the past 24 hours. Two Ukrainian soldiers died, another two wounded as the press service of the JFO reported on Facebook. 'The activation of the Russian occupation troops took place at the night near Krymske, Novozvanivka, Opytne, Mariinka, Vodiane, Shyrokyne. Totally, the militants violated the ceasefire regime 25 times, including two uses of the mortar launchers. The detachments of the Joint Forces operation hindered the provocative actions of the enemy and responded to it adequately', the message said. Two soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces died in the result of the attack and another two were wounded. According to the Ukrainian intelligence, five pro-Russian militants were killed, another three were wounded. Since the beginning of the day, the militants opened fire five times from 120-mm and 82-mm mortar launchers near Krymske and Novotoshkivske at Luhansk direction. 'The situation is under control of the Joint Force. No casualties among Armed Forces of Ukraine reported since the beginning of June 7'. As we reported the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau discussed the deployment of the UN peacekeepers in Donbas during the phone talk. On June 7, Russian mercenaries opened fire in war-torn eastern Ukraine 17 times. According to the press center of the Joint Forces Operation, two Ukrainian soldiers sustained combat wounds in action over the mentioned period. The hostile casualties are being specified. 'The enemy used Minsk-banned weapons three times. Russian occupant forces continue resorting to provocations in Luhansk, Donetsk and Mariupol directions', reads the message. In Opytne, Mariinka, Pisky, Troitske and Vodyane, the enemy fired small arms and grenade launchers. 82 and 120 mm mines hit Novotoshkivske, Krymske and Lebedynske. Earlier, Petro Poroshenko, the President of Ukraine, had a telephone conversation with Justin Trudeau, the PM of Canada, and discussed the deployment of the UN peacekeeping mission in Donbas, as the press office of Ukraines President reported. The importance of the deployment of UN peacekeeping forces in Donbas to settle the situation was stressed. The parties have also noted the necessity of the further pressure on Russia to make it release the Ukrainian political prisoners illegally kept in Russia, the message says. Poroshenko has informed about the current state in Donbas and Moscows provocations to create tensions on the Sea of Azov. The interlocutors have coordinated the positions before the G7 summit. NEW YORK, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Exantas Capital Corp. (NYSE:XAN) (the Company) (formerly known as Resource Capital Corp.) announced that its newly formed subsidiary, Exantas Capital Corp. 2018-RSO6, Ltd. (the Issuer), will issue $404.9 million of non-recourse, floating-rate notes (Offered Notes, the Securities or the Offering) at a weighted average cost of LIBOR+112 basis points. The Offered Notes include: $290.5 million of Class A Notes, which were rated Aaa by Moodys Investors Service, Inc. and AAA by Fitch Ratings Inc. and Kroll Bond Rating Agency, Inc. (KBRA) and will be issued at a coupon of LIBOR+83 basis points; $39.2 million of Class B Notes, which were rated AA- by KBRA and will be issued at a coupon of LIBOR+115 basis points; $30.2 million of Class C Notes, which were rated A- by KBRA and will be issued at a coupon of LIBOR+185 basis points; and $45.0 million of Class D Notes, which were rated BBB- by KBRA and will be issued at a coupon of LIBOR+250 basis points. The Offered Notes are collateralized by floating rate commercial real estate first mortgage loans originated by the Company with an aggregate principal balance of $514.2 million. The Company will retain the Class E and Class F subordinated notes and the preferred shares in the transaction, which is expected to close on or about June 26, 2018, subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions. Robert C. Lieber, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, stated, We are very pleased to have executed the Companys largest CRE CLO issuance. This transaction is more than 35% larger than its CLO issuance completed last June, which was the Companys largest post-crisis issuance at the time. Matthew J. Stern, President of the Company, added, The transaction demonstrates strong reception in the debt markets for the Companys CLO offerings with significant demand and corresponding favorable pricing. The Securities will not be registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the Securities Act), and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration requirements. The Offering was made privately in transactions exempt from the registration requirements of the Securities Act. This press release is not an offer to sell any securities of the Company or the issuer and is not a solicitation of an offer to buy such securities. This press release includes statements that may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that are difficult to predict, many of which are beyond management's control. Factors that can affect future results are discussed in the documents filed by the Company from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. About Exantas Capital Corp. Exantas Capital Corp. is a real estate investment trust that is primarily focused on originating, holding and managing commercial mortgage loans and other commercial real estate-related debt investments. The Company is externally managed by Exantas Capital Manager Inc. (formerly known as Resource Capital Manager, Inc.), which is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of C-III Capital Partners LLC, a leading commercial real estate investment management and services company engaged in a broad range of activities. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such forward-looking statements can generally be identified by our use of forward-looking terminology such as may, trend, will, continue, expect, intend, anticipate, estimate, believe, look forward or other similar words or terms. Because such statements include risks, uncertainties and contingencies, actual results may differ materially from the expectations, intentions, beliefs, plans or predictions of the future expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that can affect future results are discussed in the documents filed by the Company from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect new or changing information or events after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as may be required by law. For more information, please visit the Companys website at www.exantas.com or contact investor relations at IR@exantas.com. The decision on the evacuation of the stations staff pending for two days already Due to combat activity, Donetsk Filtration Station was cut of electric power on in the evening on June 6. The Ministry of Temporarily Occupied Territories and IDPs reported that in Twitter. Due to ongoing armed hostilities, Donetsk Filtration Station was cut of power supply at 10 p.m. on June 6, reads the message. According to the press service of Company Voda Donbassa public utility provider, the issue of evacuation of the stations staff pending for two days already. As we reported earlier, several explosions occurred at the filtration station near Donetsk on June 4 after it resumed its work after the shelling by pro-Russian militants on May 17. Before that the militants shelled the convoy of the filtration station's workers. Five workers suffered, one of them is in the serious condition. On April 18, Donetsk Filtration Station has stopped its work and the supply of the drinking water was stooped to Avdiivka, partially to Donetsk and Yasynuvata, Chervony Partyzan, Kruta Balka and Verkhnyotoretske villages. The Headquarters of the Ukrainian Armed Forces is sure that the situation was staged and provoked by the leaders of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk Peoples Republics. U.S. State Department condemned the shelling of the filtration station and claimed that Russia is responsible for the worsening of the humanitarian station in the east of Ukraine. Avakov hopes that this operation will be deployed by police, without Ukrainian Armed Forces Open source Ukraine's Interior Minister Arsen Avakov predicts holding of the police operation for the deoccupation of Donbas without the involvement of the soldiers soon. He claimed this in Kyiv as Ukrainian News reported. 'In the near future, we have got the hope and chances that Putin will yield under this international pressure and we will return the occupied territories. It is most likely to be the police operation without involvement of the Ukrainian Armed Forces', Avakov said. The minister is sure that it will be unnecessary to attract 40, 000 UN peacekeepers to this operation and 2, 000 law enforcers will be enough. Avakov noted that the release of Donbas will take place gradually with the establishment of the Ukrainian authority and consistent holding of the election in every released town and village. The minister also reported that according to poll, about 60% citizens of Donbas want to return to the peaceful life in Ukraine, 20% want to join Russia and 20% afraid of the onslaught of the Ukrainian forces. As we reported Arsen Avakov announced his plan on the reintegration of occupied territories of Donbas. According to him, it is impossible to reintegrate the whole occupied territory. Due to this, Avakov offers to begin with the particular areas. The Russian corporation is ready to accept an offer to the tune of $270-315 million. TPS Real Estate, a company belonging to the Russian businessmen Igor Rotenberg, Alexandr Ponomarenko, and Aleksandr Skorobogatko, is currently holding negotiations with the Ukrainian investment fund Dragon Capital regarding the sale of Ocean Plaza, a shopping mall located in downtown Kyiv, Kommersant has informed quoting sources close to the negotiation process, Interfax-Ukraine reports. TPS Real Estate is ready to shut down its operations in Ukraine and thereby dispose of Ocean Plaza, a shopping mall in Kyiv owned by the corporation. The negotiations concerning the transaction are currently ongoing with Dragon Capital, a Ukrainian investment fund, which has been acquiring commercial property across the country for the last few years. The Russian corporation is ready to accept an offer to the tune of $270-315 million, which is the amount the facility was evaluated at six years ago when the Russian company entered the Ukrainian market, the newspaper writes. According to the source, the negotiations are already at the advanced stage, however the deal has not been concluded just yet, as the potential buyer is currently seeking financing opportunities. Nonetheless, neither party to the negotiations have commented on the potential agreement yet. The Ocean Plaza comprises a total area of 165,000 m2 located at 176 Antonovycha Street in Kyiv and opened its door for business in December 2012. Around $300 million was invested in the projectthen. The shopping center was developed jointly by UDP, KAN Development (both Kyiv-based developing firms) and TPS Real Estate (based in Moscow), whereas UTG Consulting acted as the exclusive broker for the deal. As of right now, Ukraine exports around $8 billion worth of goods and services to the Arab nations. The President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has announced that the government is currently negotiating LNG supplies from Qatar, adding that the diversification of gas suppliers is a matter of national security, Interfax-Ukraine reports. Hence, we are in the middle of negotiations with the government of Qatar regarding the possibility of purchasing liquefied natural gas from that country. Qatar can soon become an exporter of natural gas to Ukraine. The gas may be shipped through the regasification terminal in Poland, which is already operating. It is very possible for Ukraine to start getting Qatari gas soon, the Ukrainian president said during an interview with the Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera on 31 May. However, the Ukrainian president also noted this is just the first stage of the negotiations. We have agreed with our Qatari allies to invite our Turkish partners to cooperation. They have provided us with assurances of the possibility of the project to supply Qatari natural gas through Turkey, as well as via Poland. We will be very excited to open the door for Qatari corporations that would allow them to enter the Ukrainian energy market, which would be extremely important. I believe that the implementation of this project would contribute to making our nation stronger and more secure in the energy matters, the President said. Furthermore, the President of Ukraine said that the country currently exports circa $8 billion worth of goods and services to the Arab nations every year, meaning that the cooperation with these states is of strategic importance for the Ukrainian economy and foreign policy. Hence, Ukraine is looking to acquire the observer status within the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. We are proud to be supported by our Arab allies in this matter. We are hopeful that eventually, Ukraine will get such opportunity, the President Poroshenko explained. The fight occurred in the session hall of Kyiv city council; MPs from Samopomich party insisted that the agreement with investor should be postponed, while opponents demanded the investor to carry on A fight occurred at the session of Kyiv city council. The activists who demand to create the Museum of Kyiv's History at Poshtova Square, broke the doors in the session hall of the city council's building. According to 44.ua news agency, the cause of the fight was the discussion over the creation fo the museum and the scandal over the illegal building in the area. Both the supporters and the opponents of the construction reached the scene. The MPs of the council could not consider any of the questions from the agenda, as the quarrel between the sides grew into a fight. The MPs from Samopomich party left the building, and their colleagues from Solidarnist and Samopomich party remained; Samopomich insisted that the agreement with investor should be postponed, while opponents demanded the investor to carry on. Kyiv city council failed to vote for suspension of the agreement with the tenant builder, not collecting enough votes. The respective draft law was only approved in the first reading in April. The draft foresees passage of the land parcel and the unfinished museum to the state-run Centre of Kyiv Archaeology. Various construction projects are now considered on the international contest; the winner will get the right to construct the building. In February 2015, the archaeologists found a part of the ancient Kyiv's street - deep under the ground at Poshtova Square. The Culture Ministry ruled that the tenant builder will have to change the construction project. The archaeologists suspended their work in the area because of the landslide in March 2015. The security service agents found over 200,000 U.S. dollars in the cell The SBU, Ukraine's state security service, performed a sanctioned search of the bank's safety deposit box that belongs to Kyrylo Vyshynsky, the editor-in-chief of RIA Novosti news agency. The agents found a handgun, USD 200,000 and labor contract with Russia Today. According to the press service of the SBU, 'the law enforcers found more than 200,000 U.S. dollars, the item that looked like Browning 1906 hand gun, and the labor contract between the defendant in the case and Russia Today news agency, which foresees his chairmanship over the Russian representation office in Ukraine'. The Ukrainian law enforcement agency added that the pre-trial investigation is underway. As we reported the workers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Prosecutor's Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea has exposed the network of the media entities controlled by the Russian Federation. The law enforcement bodies held the investigative actions at the office of RIA News-Ukraine. On May 15, the SBU considered the detention of the head of RIA News Ukraine agencys office. Kremlin has already responded to the incident and called the actions of the SBU outrageous. Also, Russia promised to assume reciprocal measures. Then, the state sent a protest note over searches at the mass media office. Later it was reported that the actions of Vyshynsky were preliminarily qualified as the state treason. The same day the SBU reported that Kyrylo Vyshynsky is now officially suspected of state treason. The official will start working in her new office on June 8 Ukraine's Cabinet appointed Oksana Markarova the Acting Finance Minister - in the view of the recent removal of Oleksandr Danylyuk from this office. 'First Deputy Minister of Finances of Ukraine Oksana Markarova is now acting as the Minister of Finances. The respective decision was made unanimously on the extraordinary meeting of the government. Oksana Markarova is to start performing her duties since June 8', the press service of teh government reported. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the governmental bill #8433 on the dismissal of Oleksandr Danylyuk from the post of the Finance Minister of Ukraine. 254 MPs voted in the affirmative as 112 Ukraine broadcasted. 'It is ordered to dismiss Oleksandr Danylyuk from the post of the Finance Minister of Ukraine', the bill said. On May 23, the argument between Finance Minister Oleksandr Danylyuk and Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman took place. The reason was the demand of Finance Minister to appoint one more deputy for him. According to his explanations, he cannot work properly without him. Groysman offered the minister to resign after this but Danylyuk left the session hall. After a while, Finance Minister sent the letter to G7 Ambassadors in which he explained that reasons of the arguments with the Ukrainian Prime Minister. Particularly, he describes the unwilling of Groysman to appoint Yana Buhrymova as Danylyuk's deputy. On June 6, Volodymyr Groysman reported signing the submission for the dismissal of the Finance Minister from his post. Danylyuk claimed that he is put on pressure and demanded to deliver a speech at the parliament before the voting on his resignation. The young man was captured in 2017 and held in a penitentiary facility in Luhansk; he suffered both psychological and physical pressure Open source Ukraine's SBU, the state security service, managed to return another citizen from the captivity of pro-Russian militants in Donbas. This time, they brought home a student who hoisted the national flag of Ukraine over a school in the occupied Luhansk. According to the SBU press service, the Vinnytsia-based college student, native of Luhansk region, came to the occupied territory of Luhansk region, along with his parents - to sort out the property issues there. During his stay in Luhansk, the boy and some local supporters with patriotic views rose the Ukrainian flag over the school where he studied. They also put some Ukrainian national symbols on the forefront of the school's building. The local militants captured the boy and took him to the local penitentiary facility. The SBU pointed out that he and other political prisoners suffered both psychological and physical pressure. 'Thanks to an effective operative move, the SBU agents brought the illegally detained man to the Ukraine-controlled territory and brought him back to Vinnytsia', the press service of the authority reported. The criminal case is opened under the charges of kidnapping or illegal freedom restriction (Part 1, Article 146 of Ukraine's Criminal Code). It is noted that the detention of Ukrainians by Russia was politically motivated Open source The UK has urged Russia to release 70 Ukrainian political prisoners, particularly Oleg Sentsov, Oleksandr Kolchenko, Oleksandr Shumkov and Volodymyr Balukh who went on the hunger strike as the press service of the U.K. Foreign Office reported. 'We are deeply concerned about the welfare of the four Ukrainian nationals held by Russia, who are on hunger strike in protest against Russias continued detention of Ukrainian political prisoners. Their imprisonment, and that of many more Ukrainians who have been jailed by Russia, appears politically motivated. We call on the Russian authorities to release them immediately', the message said. Their detention, as well as other 70 Ukrainians, including the Crimean Tatars, shows the systematical prosecutions of Russia of those who stand against the illegal annexation of Crimea. 'Russias control over Crimea remains illegal and illegitimate, and is a flagrant violation of a number of Russias international commitments', the message stated. As we reported Ukrainian political prisoner Oleg Sentsov who continues the hunger strike in Russia, wrote the letter, addressed to the leaders of G7 member countries. Ukrainian political prisoner Oleg Sentsov has announced a hunger strike on May 14. This way, he demands that all Ukrainians detained in Russia and annexed Crimea be released. Sentsov said he was ready to die if the requirements were not fulfilled. Ukrainian lawmakers go on considering the draft law on the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court. This is mentioned in the official agenda, as published on the website of the Parliament, the hearing is broadcasted by the 112 Ukraine TV channel. Ukraine's Prime Minister and President arrived at the Parliament, where the preparation to the June 7 voting is underway. As it was reported earlier, President Petro Poroshenko is convinced that the process of creating an Anti-Corruption Court will be completed already in the first half of this year. He said this in an interview to Focus magazine during the discussion of the issue of Ukraine's cooperation with the International Monetary Fund. At the same time, Poroshenko stressed that, along with the position on the need to further strengthen the fight against corruption, the IMF notes significant economic growth and the implementation of reforms in our state. "I am proud of the fact that we managed to improve the investment climate, for these four years we reached more than 25 years ago," he said, noting that this is not only an assessment of the IMF, but also of the World Bank. The Verkhovna Rada supported in the first reading the presidential bill number 7440 on the Anti-Corruption Court on March 1. Since that day, the head of state has called upon the people's deputies to speed up the work on the adoption of the full document. This bill provides that the Anti-Corruption Court will consider cases if the subject of the crime or the damage caused is at least 500 times higher than the subsistence minimum for able-bodied persons (from January 1, this is UAH 881 thousand). This is the basic condition. And it does not matter who considered the case - the National Police, Prosecutor General's Office or NABU. Some of the articles describe violations related to drugs or weapons, but there are no articles regarding electronic declaration. LONDON, June 08, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ASLAN presented data at ASCO from a Phase Ib dosing study examining varlitinib in combination with carboplatin, paclitaxel and Herceptin. Patients were enrolled across a range of cancers, but the majority (20/37) were HER2+ metastatic breast cancer patients. The drug demonstrated efficacy across the study and the addition of Herceptin at the optimal dose did not induce toxicity, suggesting the potential of future combinations. We have increased our valuation to $364m (NT$11.0bn) from $308m (NT$9.3bn), although it is lower on a per-share basis: $11.04 per ADS (NT$66.68 per ordinary share) compared to $11.83 (NT$71.85) previously. We arrive at estimated net cash (Q118 + offering + greenshoe) of $70.2m. We expect the company to require $60m in additional capital to reach profitability in 2021. Click here to view the full report. All reports published by Edison are available to download free of charge from its website www.edisoninvestmentresearch.com About Edison: Edison is an investment research and advisory company, with offices in North America, Europe, the Middle East and AsiaPac. The heart of Edison is our world-renowned equity research platform and deep multi-sector expertise. At Edison Investment Research, our research is widely read by international investors, advisers and stakeholders. Edison Advisors leverages our core research platform to provide differentiated services including investor relations and strategic consulting. Edison is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Edison is not an adviser or broker-dealer and does not provide investment advice. Edisons reports are not solicitations to buy or sell any securities. For more information please contact Edison: Nathaniel Calloway, +1 646 653 7036 Maxim Jacobs, +1 646 653 7027 healthcare@edisongroup.com Learn more at www.edisongroup.com and connect with Edison on: LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/edison-investment-research Twitter www.twitter.com/Edison_Inv_Res YouTube www.youtube.com/edisonitv Ukrainian political prisoner Volodymyr Balukh, who went on the termless hunger strike on March 19, lost 30 kilograms. Advocate Olga Dinze claimed this as Radio Liberty reported. Balukh went on the hunger strike at the end of March 2018. Now, he is on hunger strike for 2, 5 months. The only thing he has easier kind of the hunger strike he eats crusts and kysil as he lost 30 kilograms, Dinze said. We begin to lose him and thank to the Archbishop Klyment who convinced him to eat at least something the lawyer added. As it was reported earlier, the Russia-controlled Crimean court scheduled for May 15 a court hearing on the fabricated criminal case against Ukrainian activist Volodymyr Balukh, who has been starving in protest for more than 55 days. Balukh's lawyer Olha Dinze reported that the convoy beat Volodymyr Balukh, the illegally convicted in the occupied Crimea, Ukrainian activist on April 2. In addition, according to her, the administration of the pre-trial detention center refused to give Ukrainian political prisoner water, saying he was on a hunger strike. This criminal case is against Ukrainian (Article 321 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) was opened in August 2017, after Balukh and his lawyer filed a complaint to the police about the illegal actions of the head of the Rozdolnensky prison cell Valeriy Tkachenko, who insulted and hit the Ukrainian. In response, Tkachenko filed a complaint against Balukh. According to Tkachenko, the Investigation Committee of the Russian Federation filed a criminal case against the activist on August 22, 2017, "the statement reads. 'I hope he will not be angry as I gave up so soon', he wrote in the latter passed to advocate Open source Ukrainian political prisoner Oleksandr Kolchenko convicted in Russia to 10 years of imprisonment announced that he gives up the hunger strike begun a week ago. His advocate Andry Lepyokhin reported this on Facebook. 'Oleksandr Kolchenko has stopped the hunger strike today. According to him, he is too weak and begins to faint. The blood sugar got low and he was provided glucose. His weight dropped to 54 kilograms during the hunger strike', Lepyokhin reported. He also specified that it was planned to transfer Kolchenko from the infirmary of the colony to the prison hospital due to the medical reasons. The advocate noted that Kolchenko was forced to refuse from the hunger strike for many times. 'During the hunger strike, Oleksandr was forced in presence of the colony's head to stop it by the members of the local Social Monitoring Commission and representatives of the ombudswoman of Chelyabinsk Oblast. Ombudswoman Pavlova even did not come to Kolchenko in colony but wrote a letter to the bar chamber, attempting to put pressure on the advocate and force me to convince Oleksandr to give up the hunger strike', Lepyokhin said. The advocate also published the photo of the letter written by Kolchenko. 'I am obliged to admit that I overrated by forces I turned out to be too weak. I decided to stop the hunger strike. Otherwise, I would put my health in the unnecessary risk', the prisoner wrote. Kolchenko called the hunger strike unnecessary risk due to the fact that any such protest counts that the state will try to minimize the reputations losses, while 'the reputation of modern Russia can be barely harmed by anything'. Moreover, the visit of French President Macron to Russia shows the unwilling of the Normandy Four countries to strengthen the pressure on Russia as Kolchenko is sure. 'I really want to hope that I am wrong in the estimation of the situation with Oleg Sentsov. I hope he will not be angry as I gave up so soon', Kolchenko concluded the letter. Oleksandr Kolchenko began his starvation campaign on May 31; Sentsov began the hunger strike on May 14, demanding to release all Ukrainian political prisoners. 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. Eduard Katz, a beneficiary owner of the 112 Ukraine TV channel, held a number of meetings with representatives of major TV channels in the U.S. in order to have collaborative relations and learn their experience to fight for freedom of speech. He described the actions of Ukrainian regulator as unacceptable ones in the modern world. Eduard Katz has already talked to the heads of the leading TV channels and trade unions, producers of local media, representatives of associations that unite the foreign journalists this week. The necessity to hold these meetings is due to the fact that the situation with freedom of speech in Ukraine is critical now, and the National TV and Radio Broadcasting Council is constantly making pressure and threatening to independent media. Americans treat the values of freedom of speech as a holy thing. And I am confident that these values shall be followed in Ukraine as well. I hope that Ukraines regulator of TV broadcasting shall realize that their actions are not acceptable in modern globalized society, Eduard Katz noted. 112 Ukraine shows all the national and international news updated every hour with the focus on important social, economic and political issues, which makes 18 newscasts daily. The TV channel provides its viewers with professional analytics, expert evaluation, journalistic investigations and exclusive interviews the daily content includes more than 50 exclusives, 20 live standups, 35 on-air phone conversations, 15 live streams and 30 guests in the news channels studio. There are three editorial main principles: balance, objectivity and trueness. 112 Ukraine is fast, reliable and exclusive: it takes only three minutes for the news to appear on air. 112 Ukraine provides live standups from all over Ukraine, civil correspondents from Europe and even has launched the studio 112 Europe in Brussels. In September 2015 the new project 112 Team creating and developing news channels for different countries. 112 Ukraine covers all the territory of Ukraine and is available in packages of the largest cable providers in Ukraine. The channel is broadcasted via a digital DVB-T2 network and AMOS-2/3 satellite. Due to international OTT-platforms and online streaming on the 112.ua website the TV channel is also available for viewers from Eastern and Central Europe and even from other continents. The prosecution got up to few dozens of thousands of information files in the case against Strana.ua as it published the list of 47 potential victims of the Russian special services. Anatoly Matios, the Chief Military Prosecutor of Ukraine claimed this as 112 Ukraine reported. 'The only thing I will comment is that the information received by the prosecution and it is confirmed that it is legal information that is also the evidence, makes up to few dozens of thousands of the files', he claimed. However, Matios refused to comment on the details of the criminal proceeding. 'I see no reason to comment the grounds of the opening of the criminal case. Why? We do the routine work along with the SBU. The depth of my awareness is possibly one of the biggest but, I emphasize one more time, I do not consider it is worthy to be commented as it is a routine work', he said. On June 1, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yury Lutsenko claimed that thank to the staging of the murder of Russian journalist Arkadiy Babchenko, the prosecution got the list of the famous Ukrainian and ex-Russian journalist who should be killed too. Totally, there are 47 people on the list. As we reported the list of the 47 Ukrainian and former Russian journalists and bloggers was published by the mass media on June 5. Later the SBU opened the criminal proceeding due to the publishing of the list of 47 potential victims. Ihor Guzhva, the chief editor of Strana.ua claimed that the Security Service of Ukraine confirmed by its statement that earlier published list of 47 potential victims of the Russian special services is authentic. On June 6, the SBU confirmed hat the list published in Strana news agency is authentic to the list received within the special operation. Open source The Supreme Anti-Corruption Court shall consider cases against top corrupted persons, who fall under the jurisdiction of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), and the cases against the representatives of the NABU, who fall under investigation of State Bureau of Investigation (SBI). This refers to the crimes on inappropriate use of budget funds, abuse of power or influence, illegal enrichment, bribery. Apart from that, the jurisdiction of the court shall cover crimes that caused damage in the sum of at least 500 times higher than the subsistence minimum for able-bodied persons (from January 1, this is around USD 31 thousand). This is the basic condition. And it does not matter who considered the case - the National Police, Prosecutor General's Office or NABU. Some of the articles describe violations related to drugs or weapons, but there are no articles regarding electronic declaration. The Supreme Anti-Corruption Court shall also consider the cases on abuse of authority embezzlement, stealing or extortion of weapons or ammunition supplies, narcotic drugs, precursors, equipment for drug manufacturing, fraudulent taking possession over documents, stamps or seals. The law stipulates for creation the Anti-Corruption Court itself and Appeals Chamber of the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court. The launch of the institution will be possible after at least 35 judges appointed and at least 10 of them appointed to the Appeals Chamber. The document also provides for the requirements to the Anti-Corruption Court, as well as the circumstances under which a person has no right to hold a post of a judge. Thus, a candidate shall have a least a five-year experience on the position of a judge or at least a 7-year experience on the position of an attorney, or a 7-year experience in scientific activity in the sphere of law. There is also an option of an aggregated term of employment as a judge, scientist in the sphere of law during at least 7 years. The judge shall comply with the requirements under the Law on Judicial Administration and Status of Judge, shall have knowledge and skills to be able to provide justicement in corruption cases. Former law enforcement officers, officers of NABU, National Agency for Preventing Corruption, Anti-Monopoly Committee, Audit Office, Fiscal Service, The State Financial Monitoring Service of Ukraine, High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine, High Council of Justice, etc. The judges shall fall under repeated checked as for violation of law. Not only judges but also their relatives and close ones (persons who share living with them, their spouses, parents, brothers and sisters, grandparents, spouses parents, grandchildren, adopted children and foster parents) shall have 24/7 protection. Judges place of residence shall be equipped with alarm systems and panic alarm buttons. In the first reading, the draft law provided for the checks with the use of a lie detector, however, this item was excluded in the second reading. The High Judicial Qualifications Commission shall elect the judges with the help of the Public Council of International Experts. This will be a new body of six people. It may consist of foreigners and the Ukrainians with impeccable reputation, high professional and moral qualities and a 5-year experience in executing procedural management, the performance of public prosecution in court or performing legal proceedings in corruption cases abroad. In the first reading it was stipulated that the international experts shall work on Free Of Charge basis, however, in the final version, adopted in the second reading, the wage of the expert shall equal 75 minimum living wages for able-bodied persons (USD 4720 in 2018). Those not residing in Ukraine shall get compensation of accommodation and moving expenses. The draft law shall take effect the next day after the official publication, some norms shall take effect since the launch of the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court. At that, the project binds the President of Ukraine to introduce a draft law on the creation of Anti-Corruption Court to the Parliament of Ukraine. Open source The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the governmental bill #8433 on the dismissal of Oleksandr Danylyuk from the post of the Finance Minister of Ukraine. 254 MPs voted in the affirmative as 112 Ukraine broadcasted. 'It is ordered to dismiss Oleksandr Danylyuk from the post of the Finance Minister of Ukraine', the bill said. On May 23, the argument between Finance Minister Oleksandr Danylyuk and Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman took place. The reason was the demand of Finance Minister to appoint one more deputy for him. According to his explanations, he cannot work properly without him. Groysman offered the minister to resign after this but Danylyuk left the session hall. After a while, Finance Minister sent the letter to G7 Ambassadors in which he explained that reasons of the arguments with the Ukrainian Prime Minister. Particularly, he describes the unwilling of Groysman to appoint Yana Buhrymova as Danylyuk's deputy. On June 6, Volodymyr Groysman reported signing the submission for the dismissal of the Finance Minister from his post. Danylyuk claimed that he is put on pressure and demanded to deliver a speech at the parliament before the voting on his resignation. Petro Poroshenko is confident that not everyone can cope with what he is doing as a President of Ukraine. Poroshenko said that to the journalist Maryna Baranovska in a film One day with a president. The journalist asked the head of the state what for he agreed to live this stressful kind of life. My answer shall be very modest. It was back in 2014. If I knew during the war that everything would still be done no matter whether you go there or not, that we would manage to create an army, a word coalition, to muster efforts of all world leaders and that this can be done anyone but not me, I could possibly accept this why do you need this?. I am still firmly convinced that for others it will be very hard to do what I am doing now, he said. Poroshenko also told about the tight schedule of his wife Maryna, who could have stayed at home an do not deal with inclusive education or charity. I am telling her, that its enough that I am not at home. I want you there when I come, I want you relaxed. In spite of that I come home at 2:00 3:00 a.m. and you get up at 6 a.m. and go somewhere. This is not good. But I love her very much, that she is the way she is, and I could be myself around her, the President noted. Its big adrenalin when you have a result, he summoned up. We recall that Maryna Baranovska was invited to spend one working day with the president. On February 28, during the press conference in Mystetsky Arsenal, she asked Poroshenko 'how come that everything bad in the country but personally president is good'. The president answered that his life is not so easy and invited her to spend one day together and to change her mind. On March 16, Baranovska spent the day with Poroshenko, visiting Donbas. On June 6, on the Journalist Day, the documentary about their visit was released. Courtesy of Al Parra and Friends of Mountain Road Mountain Road has a unique pullit's certainly not like every road cutting an east-west path across the city. Artist Juliana Coles enumerated a few of the reasons that she's loved the road for more than 20 years saying, There is something here. You feel it when you drive down it. The way it is so thin, and how you have to drive 18 miles per hour. It has the old lights, old architecture. I travel a lot and I always can't wait to get back here. Mountain Road is one of the reasons this place feels like home. Another artist, Julianna Kirwin, whose beautiful studio we sat outside of that afternoon added sagely, What you sense is the history. This history, as evidenced through architecture and other features along the historic thoroughfare, has long captivated Kirwin, at least as long as she's been in her studio at the intersection of Eighth and Mountain. It's what spurred her to submit a proposal to the city to develop History of the Neighborhood through the Eyes of Contemporary Artistsa unique public arts project that unpacks the past through artworks sourced from local creatives with a story to tell. When I moved here I realized that there's so much history, but it's all hidden, Kirwin said. Like, it was called Mountain Road because they would go from the Old Town settlement up to get their wood in the mountains, she explained gesturing toward the eastward course of the street. As she started investigating the history and tuning in more to her surroundings, she also started noticing the street's lampposts, complete with dowelsyet they were empty of banners. Courtesy of Blue Rain Gallery According to her friends and colleagues, Kirwin has long been driven and self-directed. Illustrating just that, last August she wrote a proposal for the city's Art in Public Places program (also known as One Percent for the Arts) to commission works from local artists to print as banners and hang from Mountain Road's lampposts as a visual history that simultaneously works to beautify and honor the historic stretch. More than 20 artists were selected to create pieces for the project. Among the works on display are mixed media pieces by students at Escuela del Sol Montessori School (facilitated through workshops by Coles), photographs of figures like adobe master Albert Parra, linocuts, acrylic and oil paintings, and portraits of the likes of iconic Burqueno Johnny Tapia. Another individual who figures prominently into History of the Neighborhood through the Eyes of Contemporary Artists is historian, poet and journalist Emma Moya. Moya's family roots run deep in Albuquerque traceable all the way back to 1598. She was a journalist for La Herencia, she wrote poetry, was an activist in the Chicano Movement and continues to be a historian of the area. Kirwin connected with her through happenstance. As Kirwin began her research, she relied heavily on the Emma Moya Collection at the library. One day, Kirwin stopped in at a local print shop, toting a photograph of Moya. Oh, the clerk said, gesturing to the photo, she comes in here sometimes. Kirwin left a note with the clerk and soon connected with Moya, who shared her boundless knowledge of Mountain Road, helping along the project and giving it greater depth. Courtesy of Georgette Endicott and Friends of Mountain Road Among the works that will line the road is a portrait of Moya created by Georgette Endicott, who was inspired by conversations with Moya to paint her as a young woman with her guitarra. In loopy cursive paint like a halo over the painted figure are the words familia, historia and justicia. She's been so important for this project, Kirwin said. Meeting her is one little jewel of this project that I never expected. Some artists, alternatively, chose to research and depict iconic businesseseither still in existence or long gonethat line the corridor. The well-loved Golden Crown Panaderia shows up in a piece by Andrew Fearnside, for example. Fearnside interviewed staff at the bakery and restaurant and learned of a favorite paddle cactus that had long stood outside the storefront. One recentand particularly severewinter killed the plant. In honor of that sweet reminiscence, Fearnside made a digital art piece of the cactus, which in his work fantastically sprouts pan dulce. Other places depicted include the old Sunshine Market, in the location where Cocina Azul now stands, represented charmingly by Ilene Weiss, or the American Lumber Company drawn by Amaris Feland Ketcham. The banners were officially hung last week, and celebrated their opening on Friday, June 1. An informal stroll down the street will allow visitors a sense of the project. Kirwin and a number of the artists involved with the effort will also host a banner walk on Saturday, June 9 from noon to 4pm. Various docents and artists will be planted on corners along the stretchthat is, on Mountain between 5th and 12th Streetsto illumine process and the individual stories that were unpacked over the course of creating History of the Neighborhood through the Eyes of Contemporary Artists. At that time, Kirwin would like to invite anyone with stories to tell about Mountain Road to share them. Places like this iconic street, and their rich history, are so much a part of who we are and our identity, Kirwin offered. We, as artists, should connect with people. I love learning about place and the special identity of placethe character, the food, the people. All of that feeds me as an artist, too. To experience the rich history of Mountain Road, simply take a walk. More information on participating artists and associated events can be found online at friendsofmountainroad. com. PRINT | EMAIL | PERMALINK Found Objects Still Resonant Courtesy of Tanaya Winder and REZARTX Rezilience, sometimes also known as REZARTX, is back for the third year running, bringing a celebration of Indigenous arts to the National Hispanic Cultural Center (1701 Fourth Street SW) on Friday, June 8. From 4 to 11pm, visitors can experience diverse, high caliber performances from local artists, as well as those with roots farther afield. Attendees can expect to sit in on performances from the likes of Hawaii's Jordan T, Southern Ute Reservation-born and currently Albuquerque-based poet and educator Tanaya Winder and Anishinaabe and Oneida hip-hop artist Tall Paul, to name just a few. Tickets are available both online and day-of and start at about $25. More information is available online at rezartx.com. View in Alibi calendar Summer of William Hop aboard the #704 northbound train on Saturday, June 9 and you won't just be catching a ride to Santa Fe or various stops on the way, you'll be taking in some classic theater as well. Since 2010 a small troupe of local actors have been offering culture on the commute with Shakespeare on the Rail. This year performances kick off on Saturday on the #704 northbound and #705 southbound, and players will be bringing scenes from A Midsummer Night's Dream, Comedy of Errors and Romeo and Juliet to passengers. Busy this weekend? Performances also happen on Saturday, June 16 and Saturday, June 23. All you need is pocket money for the train fare. Rob M. A survey of 420 New Mexicans conducted by Research & Polling Inc. in March, said that 63 percent of adults polled would support a bill to legalize, tax and regulate cannabis sales to adultsup from 61 percent reported in 2016. It also found that the number of people strongly supportive of legalization has grown by six percentage points. Shocking news, to be sure. New Mexicans are far from stupid, and we're well aware of the already booming medical cannabis industry (the Department of Health reported 52,260 patients and 6,693 personal production license-holders at the end of April). The idea of opening the doors to any industry that will pump cash into this dried out husk seems mighty temptingand we're mighty thirsty. The legalization of cannabis is becoming a major talking point in the race for governor, and while it's easy to blow offto remind yourself that there's no such thing as a one-issue raceit's important to remember that this issue addresses concerns that are immediate to many New Mexicans: personal freedom and low coffers. As of this writing, the primaries have yet to happen. We know Steve Pearce, who already said he wouldn't support legalization, is running unopposed for the GOP, but our Democratic candidate has yet to be determined. Of the three running, only Jeff Apodaca fully supports cannabis legalization. Joseph Cervantes isn't interested in legalizing at all and Michelle Lujan Grisham has been soft on the issue, calling for more research. But whoever is now running against Pearce had better start thinking hard about their stance. His anti-cannabis platform has surely turned off a portion of the voters out there, and an opponent taking up the pro-cannabis banner would have no trouble drawing them in. I still won't hold my breath, though. This place nurtures my cynicism. More Studies Show Cannabis Curbs Opioid Dependence A number of new studies support the idea that cannabis can be used to treat opioid dependency, despite the numerous concerns voiced by politicians of late. The Tilray Observational Patient Study (TOPS), reportedly the largest national longitudinal medical cannabis study ever performed in Canada, surveyed 573 medical cannabis patients who are currently using Tilray products. The study found that 51 percent of patients who admitted to using opioids regularly when they enrolled in the survey reported complete cessation of opioid use within the first 6 months of cannabis treatment. Philippe Lucas, vice president, Patient Research and Access at Tilray, and lead investigator of TOPS said the data suggests that cannabis may play a harm-reduction role in the ongoing opioid dependence and overdose crisis. In May, the online journal The Mental Health Clinician published a study that showed a number of patients enrolled in New York's medical cannabis program saw improvements in their quality of life, a reduction in pain and a reduction in opioid use within the first three months of enrollment. And JAMA released a report last month studying data collected from Medicare that found that in states where cannabis is legally obtainable, the number of opioid prescriptions was reduced by 3.7 million daily doses. Although the findings don't prove anything, they appear to show a correlation between cannabis availability and opioid use reduction. Employee Cannabis Testing Losing Popularity A number of employers are dropping the practice of drug testing applicants for cannabis. According to Lexology, judges in three court cases last year sided with employees who were either passed over at the hiring stage or fired from their position because of failed cannabis tests, despite their enrollment in legally recognized medical cannabis programs. In Massachusetts, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts allowed an employee who was turned away from a job after one day of working because she failed her drug test to sue the hiring company, saying she had a claim for handicap discrimination. The case is currently moving through the state's lower courts. In Connecticut, a federal district court blocked a company's motion to dismiss a lawsuit in which an employee was similarly turned away following a pre-employment drug screening. According to the decision, the state's Palliative Use of Marijuana Act protects patients enrolled in the program from employer discrimination. The case is now being litigated. And in New York, an Administrative Law Judge ruled that the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission could not revoke a driver's TLC license because they tested positive for THC if they were enrolled in the state's medical cannabis program, as the rules only bar the use of illegal drugs. Christopher S. Rugaber, an economics writer for the Associated Press, recently instructed small business owners to reexamine their drug policies, since they could cause legal headaches in the future. His advice: If you aren't running a business that's regulated by the federal Department of Transportation, is a defense contractor or involves the use of tools which cause safety concerns, youre safer just dropping the tests altogether. Estimados amigos, Les doy cordialmente la bienvenida a este Blog informativo con articulos, analisis y comentarios de publicaciones especializadas y especialmente seleccionadas, principalmente sobre temas economicos, financieros y politicos de actualidad, que esperamos y deseamos, sean de su maximo interes, utilidad y conveniencia. Pensamos que solo comprendiendo cabalmente el presente, es que podemos proyectarnos acertadamente hacia el futuro. Gonzalo Raffo de Lavalle Las convicciones son mas peligrosos enemigos de la verdad que las mentiras. Quien no lo ha dado todo no ha dado nada. Helenio Herrera History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce. Karl Marx If you know the other and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. Sun Tzu We are travelers on a cosmic journey, stardust, swirling and dancing in the eddies and whirlpools of infinity. Life is eternal. We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share.This is a precious moment. It is a little parenthesis in eternity. Paulo Coelho 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!) Eric Williams Photography A brief note on the history of HIV, AIDS and consequently, the epidemic that followed in North America during the mid-80s through 1995: In 1979 it seemed like the sky was the limit. As American culture grew in influence, boundaries were coming down everywhere. The struggle engaged by LGBTQ citizens at places like Stonewall and in noticeably progressive cities like San Francisco seemed to indicate that a sea change was coming. Accepting queer sexual identities as valuable parts of the over-arching American identity seemed inevitable. The election of a right-wing, backwards looking president in 1980 certainly didnt help things, however. A backlash inevitably followed and many wondered when the civil rights campaign undertaken by our LGBTQ comrades would once again gain traction, helping to change this place into a more inclusive, accepting and diverse society. The situation became more complicated just a few years later when the first epidemic of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromethe disease that follows infection with HIVstruck, displacing and destroying lives as a nation and its healthcare system dealt with a particularly cruel blow that seemed to inordinately affect gay men. Making sure we give young people access to education and resources, so that they can be healthy on their own termson their own termsis an essential part of our mission. If you give the people access to the education necessary to make healthy decisionsand the access they need to tangibles like condoms and lube, you are giving them the power to fight their own fight. Here in Burque, much of the towns creative class was shaken, as otherwise healthy young mendancers, artists, musiciansliterally took sick, withered and died. Among the profound losses, many were felt at the UNM College of Fine Arts, where up and coming creatives and contributors to the scene like flautist Frank Bowen and dancer Lee Connor seemed to just slip away into the gathering darkness. These were very difficult times indeed, and before the advent of anti-viral treatment with AZT in 1995, there was much fear in the community: fear about the disease as well as fear that the pathology of the affliction would re-stigmatize the LGBTQ community in complex and imutable ways. But in a subculture known for its tenacity, cohesionand ability to weather the culture wars that always seemed to be hanging like clouds nearbya message, an answer, more a call to action, was initiated. Silence = Death is what that message read. The short phrase, created by Avram Finkelstein and his colleagues, was used by the activist group ACT UP to bring the rapidly spiraling situation into the light. And knowing ones HIV statusand consequently engaging in safer sex to help stanch the diseases horrible course through this countrybecame a rallying point that signaled empowerment and engagement for the LGBTQ community. Flash forward more than 25 years later, to the year 2018. AIDS is pandemic in the United States. Advanced medical treatment and prevention have rendered the affliction, in many cases, survivable. But the disease still kills thousands each year. And the LGBTQ community is still fighting for its place in America, even as a right wing, backward looking administration does its best to shut such efforts down. Given that education and prevention are still priorities, the same dictum applies then as now. Knowing ones HIV status is of paramount importance. Practicing safer sex is not just a good idea, its a matter of establishing and maintaining public health priorities. Into this realm of public policy, peer education and altruistic activism comes MPower, a local nonprofit tasked with providing local LGBTQ youth with the answers and support they need to properly and healthfully engage the future. Weekly Alibi sat down with MPowers HIV Programs Managers Josh Garcia and Jax Sugars, as well as HIV Prevention Educator Xian Bass, to find out how their program supports local youth, as well as how activism still plays a roll in the civil rights struggle faced by LGBTQ citizens here in Albuquerque. Weekly Alibi: Josh, how did you get involved with MPower? Josh Garcia: When I graduated from high school, back in 2003, I didnt have any gay friends. I didnt know much about gay sex or anything. I met a friend in college who told me about MPower. He said I might be able to make friends who you can relate to, who you can learn from. Had you been educated about HIV as a youth? No, growing up in a catholic family, I hadnt heard about it. I heard that if you got AIDS you would die; thats all that I knew. So I wasnt well educated about HIV or AIDS. Do you think thats a common thing, that young people dont generally know the pathology of HIV? I think that it is, even in this day and age. In [public] schools, they talk a lot about heterosexual practices but not much about homosexual activity, or what people are going through, knowing that not everyone has the same [experiences with] sex. Thats okay because this program is focused on educating people about what to be on the lookout for, depending on what sort of sexual practices they engage in. Thats what MPower does. Besides providing public health services and education, how does MPower create and sustain community? So, when I came back to Albuquerque after college, I went into corporate America. I worked in the hospitality industry, but I wasnt getting any fulfillment out of that. It wasnt very rewarding, but I had always done volunteer work related to HIV awareness. It just came to a point where I began thinking that I wanted to support my community by being a leader in that community and helping it grow and flourish, through education and activism, in Albuquerque. Anyway, I met with a friend and he asked me to think about what I really love doing. It turns out I really love making sure people in my community know about their [HIV] status, making sure they know about the options available to them. Now that youre a programs manager here at MPower, what is your vision of what the nonprofit can provide to LGBTQ youth and to the city of Albuquerque at large? My vision is making sure that everybody knows their [HIV] status. It doesnt matter what your status isif you are negative it doesnt matter, if you are positive it doesnt matterbut knowing is absolutely important to an individual and to the community. What follows that is knowledge of the resources available for people with a positive status. MPower, which is under the direction of Planned Parenthood nowit used to be under New Mexico AIDS Services, now its a national organization that oversees our workmay not be the place you want to go to get health services, but we are committed to helping clients find services that match their needs and wants. How much of a concern is HIV? Does it remain a health threat to the youth of the city? There have been amazing advancements in the past 20 years. The idea that HIV and AIDS are the same has changed. [A positive status] is no longer a death sentence. As long as you get into treatment, it can be managed. Thats one of our most important messages. In 2012, a medication regimen, called PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, came into use. This approach, when used daily and with the involvement of a heath care provider can help prevent an HIV-negative person from getting HIV from a partner who is positive. We want to make sure people know this treatment is available. Is this an expensive course of treatment? Just like any medication, it can be expensive, but there are many resources available here in New Mexico that are designed to get people the help they need. The drug manufacturer of Truvada [the name of the PrEP drug combo] has financial assistance available. We work closely with our community partners to find funding for our clients too. How is your organization funded? We came under the authority of Planned Parenthood about four years ago and get additional funding through the N.M. Department of Health. The great thing about working with Planned Parenthood is that our organization has shifted a little over the years. Weve embraced the pro-choice platform. Just as womens healthcare involves choices, so does engaging with us. We, as individuals, have choices. If you tell me that you dont want to use a condom, Im not going to gasp and say, Oh no, you must. Instead, Im going to ask that we talk about your choice, about other preventative measures, like giving oral [instead of engaging in intercourse] or going on PrEP. So we are pro-choice and believe individuals have the right to choose whats best for their body. Jax, what sort of values do you want to embody and pass on to the community through your involvement in MPower? Jax Sugars: I always wanted to work with LGBTQ kids. Getting to work with adolescents everyday and the different things they have to struggle with in their lives has been very awesome. Being a safe voice that is always present in their lives is very important to me. Teaching them skills about life, even as they struggle is valuable to everyone involved. How is MPower important to the Albuquerque community? I think its important because we dont have many places our towns LGBTQ kids can go and be themselves, where they can be surrounded by their peers and friends. This is a drug- and alcohol-free space where its safe to just be yourself and have a good time, getting to know one another. We also dont have many places that are actively teaching our kids sex-ed. Do you feel like the public schools have dropped the ball on sex-ed? I feel like the public schools do an okay job, but its very heterosexual- centralized, very cis-gender centralized. That makes it a lot harder for LGBTQ kids to get information geared specifically towards them, towards the kind of sex that they are having. As soon as they figure out that most of it [sex-ed] is centered around pregnancy pevention, they tune out. LGBT kids really need to hear the message that, even if they dont have to worry about pregnancy, they should still be concerned about STIs. So that leads me to ask whether as a culture, weve lost some ground in the battle for LGBTQ rights. Have recent political events caused a backlash? Do you feel ostracized by the patriarchy? Theres a lot more acceptance than there used to be. Its easier for families to accept their LGBTQ kids and thats great. But there is still a stigma. This is especially true for trans people. There are more and more laws being passed that discriminate against them, take away their rights. There is fear coming from conservatives who dont understand, who view LGBTQ people, especially trans people as predators. That is absolutely not true. Xian, what would you like to add to all of this? Xian Bass: In my position, we talk about sex and sexuality through performing arts. I teach Afro-Caribbean based hip-hop dance here, among other programs. All of this functions with the intention of bringing up health-related issues. Do the performing arts provide an accessible means of discussing issues that affect the lives of young people in Burque? I would say yes, however, I think they need to be active too. Not everyone is interested in singing and dancing or reading poetry, but the really wonderful thing I love about this job is the drag shows we have for both youth and adults. And thats a great entry, young people are already performing, expressing themselves, experimenting with identity and sexuality. Finally, how is what you are doing important to this little village on the river? Two things come up, similar to what Josh was saying. The first is safe-space making. I know that the term gets thrown around a lot, but when were talking about building LGBTQ community, especially for young people that may not have a safe space at homeand a lot of the young people Ive worked with have been homeless because of their sexuality. So, safety is number one. Making sure we give young people access to education and resources, so that they can be healthy on their own termson their own termsis an essential part of our mission. If you give the people access to the education necessary to make healthy decisionsand the access they need to tangibles like condoms and lube, you are giving them the power to fight their own fight. We are making warriors who can protect themselves. Nothing says diminished expectations like a summer replacement series on network television. Back in the day, summer TV was the exclusive realm of reruns and Battle of the Network Stars specials. Since the explosive growth of cable, satellite and internet streaming television, however, the big broadcast networks have upped their game. A little. There are more original summer shows now. But with few exceptions (CBS Under the Dome, NBCs The Night Shift), almost all of them are short-lived shows that have been hustled out of the fall season and dumped in the summertime when viewers are busy going to movie theaters or catching some sun. Late last month NBC debuted its first seasonal timeslot filler, the low-effort sci-fi drama Reverie. Billed as a 10-episode event (a big hint there will be no second season), the show exists in one of those near future worlds that look suspiciously like modern-day Vancouver. Near future, you see, requires little to no effort or expense from the set and prop departments. Other than the now ubiquitous clear plastic slab sci-fi phones, the only out-of-place technology here is the invention of a stereotypical virtual reality world. Known as Reverie, this computer simulation allows users to create their own private worlds. Unlike Steven Spielbergs recent film Ready Player Onein which everyone flew around, fought Godzilla and turned into Transformersno one in Reverie does anything remotely interesting. There they are, hanging out on the rooftop of an ordinary hotelwhich is surrounded by hot air balloons! Wow. Quite the imagination there, Sparky. The other feature of Reverie is that it can recreate simulations of dead loved ones and family members based on their online profilesa conceit that is patently ridiculous. If all my friends were digitally recreated based on their online profiles theyd be nothing but doggo memes and photos of tacos who argue about whether The Last Jedi sucked or not. Nevertheless the problem is that this virtual reality simulation is allegedly so great that users are slipping into comas and refusing to awake from their computerized dreams. Enter former hostage negotiator and current nonverbal communication professor (or something to that effect) Mara Kint (the always-welcome Sarah Shahi from Person of Interest and The L Word). Shes recruited by her old boss (Dennis Haysbert from 24), whos now head of security for the mysterious (or is it just underdeveloped?) company that built Reverie. Her job is to go into the computer-generated dreams of troubled folks and convince them to return to the real world. Reverie does score points for appealing to general audiences with its dumbed-down science and tear-jerking plots. In the first episode, for example, Maras got to counsel a guy whos on a never-ending date with his dead wife. Each week Mara employs her psychological smarts to talk a VR addict into facing their problems rather than escaping reality. (And for bonus feels, Mara ends each episode by quietly drowning tears about her own prematurely deceased relatives in a bottle of booze.) The end result is less like a TV version of The Matrix and more like a computerized remake of Fantasy Island. Reel World Max Experience courtesy of the producers The Albuquerque Film & Music Experience kicks into full gear this weekend with a tempting selection of features, documentaries and shorts scheduled through Sunday, June 10. Among the local highlights is a screening of Ol Max EvansThe First Thousand Years. Based on the biography of the same name by Slim Randles, this documentary examines the life and work of noted New Mexico author Max Evans (The Rounders, The Hi-Lo Country). From his childhood in West Texas to D-Day in World War II to his wild days in Hollywood, the film charts Evans many livesup to and including his settling in the Duke City in the late 60s. Actor Peter Coyote narrates the film, while Sam Elliott gives voice to Evans grizzled prose. Longtime Santa Fe journalist Lorene Mills and Ken Burns collaborator Paul Barnes are producers on the film. New Mexico-based editor David Leach (Lonesome Dove: The Series) serves as editor. Ol Max Evans screens Thursday, June 7 at 5pm at the KiMo Theatre (423 Central Ave. NW). Unfortunately, Mr. Evans himself is currently ill and unable to attend the screening. Other members of the cast and crew will be there, however. Tickets are $7. For more info on that, check out maxevansmovie.com. Of course, thats just the tip of the iceberg for AFME. Theres also a Native American short film block (Guild Cinema, 2pm on Thursday), a kids acting camp (Hotel Andaluz, Friday at 9am) and a screening of the illuminating farming documentary SEED: The Untold Story presented by actor/producer Marisa Tomei (Hiland Theater, 7:30pm on Friday). You can catch an Official After Party Tribute to Prince featuring former band members of Shalimar, The Revolution and The Heartbreakers (Hotel Andaluz, 9:30pm on Friday). Plus, theres that 20th anniversary screening of Theres Something About Mary (Hiland Theater 4:30pm on Saturday) to look forward to. For a complete list of films and events, go to abqfilmx.com. PRINT | EMAIL | PERMALINK Show Up! Sure as the Sandias Rise like Olympus above el valle courtesy of the artist I stopped an old man along the way/ Hoping to find some long forgotten words or ancient melodies/ He turned to me as if to say, Hurry boy, it's waiting there for you. Africa. Perhaps you picture Totonot from the Wizard of Oz, but the band from El Lay, pendejoswhen the above lyric floats by you. If you came up with Wild at Heart, thats two points; good job. Anyway listeners can now add the vaunted second generation new wave band called Weezer to the list of associations that come up when any of the previous aspects of reality are lumped together and handed out by the media. After a fan implored that one band with that one decent album (its blue, yo) to re-record a classic American pop tunemade famous by a band that featured three brothers that were mainly hell bent to outdo the choptastic yacht rocking proclivities of Fagen and BeckerRivers Cuomo and company did just that. Their fuzzy rendition cleared up a couple of things for me, like mostly cementing the idea that Weezer is decent but theyll never be a Pixies or Radiohead. Much like their vaunted predecessors, theyll also remain right outside the orbit that contains the bigger planets, but continue to chase them joyfully anyway. What does that have to do with this weeks concert line-up? I dunno; maybe you can ask your favorite local band to cover something atypically grand yet vacuous. I dont recommend it, though. Youre better just going out and listening to the great music thats playing here in the next few days. Or you can stay home and listen to Countdown to Ecstasy. Your choice. Friday courtesy of the artist Califas who wanted to jam to folk music in the early 60s but didnt know what to call the subsequent spasmodic sequences. Whatever you wanna call it, theyll be doing it American-style, roots bared and all, on Friday, June 8. Thats when Silver String Band, The Porter Draw, Dirty Brown Jug Band and The High Desert Playboys will be picking and grinning until oblivionor 1am the next morning, whichever comes first, at Burques premier rock club, Launchpad (618 Central Ave. SW). As you may recall, these bands feature some of the best players in town, including Emily Anslover, the fiddle player for SSB, an outfit that took a number one award away in the folk/Americana category of our yearly BoB music readers poll. In addition, the Porter Draw (the inverted, ghostly alter-ego of Lousy Robot) has one of the cleanest, purest, tinged with darkness alt-country sounds in the hood and will play a set. Dirty Brown Jug Band still adheres to a philosophy based in booze, cigarettes, dope and guitar pickin, so they are worth hearing and dancing to as well. I havent heard The High Desert Playboys, but Clark Andrew Libbey fronts this new classic country outfit so I reckon they rock too; theyre fine if you got the time, as I recall. 9pm $7 21+. On flyers found round the Downtown area, its advertised as a Summer Get Down. Another appropriate word might be hootenanny, which is a reference to the American folk music and dance scene of the late 19th century, appropriated for modern audiences inwho wanted to jam to folk music in the early 60s but didnt know what to call the subsequent spasmodic sequences. Whatever you wanna call it, theyll be doing it American-style, roots bared and all, on Friday, June 8. Thats whenandwill be picking and grinning until oblivionor 1am the next morning, whichever comes first, at Burques premier rock club,(618 Central Ave. SW). As you may recall, these bands feature some of the best players in town, including Emily Anslover, the fiddle player for SSB, an outfit that took a number one award away in the folk/Americana category of our yearly BoB music readers poll. In addition, the Porter Draw (the inverted, ghostly alter-ego of Lousy Robot) has one of the cleanest, purest, tinged with darkness alt-country sounds in the hood and will play a set. Dirty Brown Jug Band still adheres to a philosophy based in booze, cigarettes, dope and guitar pickin, so they are worth hearing and dancing to as well. I havent heard The High Desert Playboys, but Clark Andrew Libbey fronts this new classic country outfit so I reckon they rock too; theyre fine if you got the time, as I recall. 9pm $7 21+. Saturday courtesy of the artist Ufomammut, one of the darkest, most droning and deliriously hypnotic power trios to ever come outta Europe (unless youre all about that black Norwegian blend, in which case, excuse me) is playing at Sister (407 Central Ave. NW) on Saturday, June 9. Known for esoteric and complex rocanrol music that evokes ancient religious rites and personages while also indulging in the heavy synth sounds abundantly explored by other continental metal and prog bands, Ufomammut is a singular entity. Their serious approach to music and to metal aesthetics should make this a must see show for anyone interested in what the dark frontiers of rock music sound and feel like. New acolytes are encouraged to indulge in masterworks like Lucifer Songs or Ecate but there still should be a sign preceding or framing said experience that reads Abandon all hope for melody, ye who enterexcept it should be in Italian, just like in the Divine Comedy. Legendary Nueva York experimental psych outfit White Hills open. Their record Frying on This Rock still thrills, six years out. Damn. 9pm $13 21+. For metal heads who like your Plutonic stew to be thick as the sludge on the floor of the kitchen in Hades, have I got news for you., one of the darkest, most droning and deliriously hypnotic power trios to ever come outta Europe (unless youre all about that black Norwegian blend, in which case, excuse me) is playing at(407 Central Ave. NW) on Saturday, June 9. Known for esoteric and complex rocanrol music that evokes ancient religious rites and personages while also indulging in the heavy synth sounds abundantly explored by other continental metal and prog bands, Ufomammut is a singular entity. Their serious approach to music and to metal aesthetics should make this a must see show for anyone interested in what the dark frontiers of rock music sound and feel like. New acolytes are encouraged to indulge in masterworks likeorbut there still should be a sign preceding or framing said experience that reads Abandon all hope for melody, ye who enterexcept it should be in Italian, just like in the. LegendaryYork experimental psych outfitopen. Their recordstill thrills, six years out. Damn. 9pm $13 21+. PRINT | EMAIL | PERMALINK Newscity ART Woes Continue During a press conference last week, Mayor Tim Keller told reporters that while ART construction is nearing completion, many issues continue to plague the project. Chief among them is a problem with the battery life of the system's new buses. Officials planned on the buses being able to run around 275 miles on a single charge. Tests confirmed, however, that the batteries only have a charge that lasts around 180 miles. The company building the buses, Chinese manufacturer BYD, said they are willing to set up charging stations along the route that they will pay for themselves to offset the problem. The mayor says there are other options available, though, including cutting the BYD contract and looking for a different manufacturer. This could endanger millions of dollars in funding from the federal government, though, and leave the city holding the bill. The mayor said to expect an interim service utilizing the buses that are currently working as early as the fall. APS Requests Funds for Failing School Albuquerque Public Schools is going ahead with an application for funding from the Public Education Department to help Hawthorne Elementary School to champion choice. Hawthorne was one of three public schools in Albuquerquethe others being Los Padillas and Whittier Elementary Schoolswhich were deemed to require most rigorous intervention by the education department earlier this year. The schools were given the option to restructure, champion choice or close their doors. Both Los Padillas and Whittier chose to restructure, but Hawthorne chose to Champion and Provide Choice. Hawthorne is now required to inform parents of other, better-performing schools in the area and facilitate the transference of students to those schools. APS has requested a total of $853,000 from NMPED to help the school with this mission. Most of the requested funds will go toward buying new buses to transport students to alternate schools if they are granted. The budget also requested funding for expos that will offer information on higher-performing elementaries. I Quit My Cushy Job at OkCupid to Live on Donations to Zig I am fortunate to be one of those people who started tinkering with code in their teens, and then found themselves in the position where their hobby could not only pay rent, but afford a comfortable standard of living, even in New York City. For a little over a year now, I worked on the backend team at OkCupid, maintaining a large C++ codebase that has not been reworked since 2005 when Maxwell Krohn published the original OKWS paper on which OkCupid is still based. As satisfying as it is to delete dead code, rework abstractions to remove footguns, and migrate a monolithic codebase to Service Oriented Architecture, my coworkers were well aware that my real passion was spent on nights and weekends, where I poured all the energy I could muster into Zig - if not from my incessant comparisons between snippets of C++ code and how it could be better expressed in Zig, then from the tea mug that my lovely girlfriend Alee got me as a celebratory gift for reaching release 0.1.0: Zig is Picking Up Steam Ever since I gave this Software Should be Perfect talk, it seems that the Zig community has seen a steady influx of new members. David keeps sending me selfies with this hat that he made. The Zig community grew in size so much, that some weekends I found myself with only enough time to merge pull requests and respond to issues, and no time leftover to make progress on big roadmap changes. I found this both exciting, and frustrating. Here I was working on legacy code 40 hours per week, while multiple Zig issues needed my attention. And so I took the plunge. I gave up my senior backend software engineer salary, and will attempt to live on monthly donations. Roadmap Here are some of the bigger items that are coming up now that I have more time: I can't wait to make significant progress on these items. That said, I will also dedicate time each day for bug fixes and writing documentation. Every weekday except Friday, this will be my wakeup process: Make tea Fix a bug Write some documentation Deal with all open pull requests, whether that is by merging, rejecting, requesting changes, or solving the use case a different way. Proceed with working on a big feature item. On Fridays, I will spend the day working on a project other than Zig, but one that is implemented in Zig. For example: I'm beyond excited to get Zig to a place where it can reasonably be used for high quality and practical software projects. My goal is to make Zig so useful and practical that people will find themselves using it without intending to. And so it comes down to this - will you fund my efforts? Why Donate to Zig? Consider the basic premise of a for-profit business: Customers pay currency in exchange for goods or services. If all goes well, both parties benefit from the exchange. But for-profit businesses are motivated, at the end of the day, not by customer satisfaction, but by profit. It's fine, this is how the world works. But it's not how Zig works. Zig is created by the open source community, for the open source community. One of our main tenets is Together we serve end users. The Zig project is a public service, entirely motivated by improving the technical landscape of open source tools. There is no board to please, no stock shareholders demanding higher quarterly earnings, no office politics or career progressions on the line. 100% of donations I receive go towards paying rent, buying food, and generally attempting to live a modest, but healthy life. Will you pledge $5/month? YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS. The ministry of Diaspora says advisor to the minister Vagharshak Hakobyan has been appointed to serve as assistant to the minister. The move comes after Hakobyans appointment sparked controversy surrounding his age. Hakobyan is 27 years old and media reports emerged that the position requires the office-holder to be at least 30 years old. However, the ministry initially dismissed the reports, claiming that there is no violation of law in the appointment. In a press release issued today, the ministry said that Hakobyan was appointed advisor due to an incorrect application of Article 8 of the law on public office. The ministry of Diaspora regrets for the misunderstanding and apologizes to the citizens, It said. Thus, Hakobyan was dismissed as advisor to the minister and appointed to another position assistant. ENGLISH: Editor/Translator - Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS. The business environment in Armenia is really free: in the current realities broad opportunities are opened for investments, First Deputy Prime Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said during the UK-Armenia business forum in Yerevan, reports Armenpress. Traditionally it has been accepted to say that the businessmen of other countries are not interested in investments in Armenia which firstly has been linked with neither transparent nor competitive environment. It has also been linked with non-independent courts. There has also been a problem in connection with the personal business interests of leadership representatives which significantly undermined the free competitiveness. Today I want to officially announce that the issue of independent courts, non-competitive market is solved in one day, Ararat Mirzoyan said. He noted that the Armenian authorities do not have their own business interests, therefore, there will be no obstruction for those people who have business interests in Armenia. The First Deputy PM stated that its already a month the Armenian leadership doesnt and will not interfere in the activities of the judiciary. From now on the business environment is free, it can live with its rules and can freely compete, apply to the court. This is the main message I want to address to the business forum participants, the business of other countries, Ararat Mirzoyan said. The First Deputy PM said the Armenian-British cooperation has a great potential which is still not utilized, and now there are real opportunities for its utilization. The UK-Armenia Business Forum was held in Yerevan on June 7. It has been organized by the UK Embassy in Armenia, in partnership with the Armenian-British Business Chamber. English translator/editor: Aneta Harutyunyan A week after crudely insulting Ivanka Trump in an attempt to draw attention to the plight of immigrant children being separated from their parents, late night talk show host Samantha Bee apologized for a second time, this time on her program, Full Frontal. During the cold open, she said, "I crossed the line. I regret it and I do apologize for that. The problem is that many women have been called that at the worst time in their lives. A lot of them don't want that word reclaimed. They want it gone. I don't want to inflict more pain on them. I want this show to be challenging and I want it to be honest but I never intended it to hurt anyone. Except Ted Cruz." She added, "Many men were also offended by my use of the word. I do not care about that. I hate that this distracted from more important issues. I hate that I did something to contribute to the nightmare of 24-hour news cycles that we're all white-knuckling through. I should have known that a potty-mouthed insult would be inherently more interesting to them than juvenile immigration policy. I would do anything to help those kids. I hate that this distracted from them and so to them I am also sorry." (Full remarks below.) In the May 30th Full Frontal episode, Bee addressed Ivanka Trump, a senior White House adviser and businesswoman, who had recently tweeted a photo showing her holding one of her children and saying, "My ! #SundayMorning." The tweet's dissonance with the Trump administration's "zero-tolerance" policy of separating undocumented children sparked widespread scorn. In her segment, Bee showed the photo and said, "You know, Ivanka, thats a beautiful photo of you and your child, but let me just say, one mother to another: Do something about your dads immigration practices, you feckless c*nt! He listens to you! Put on something tight and low-cut and tell your father to fucking stop it!" Bee's crass joke came on the heels of ABC cancelling Roseanne Barr's rebooted Roseanne after Barr posted a racist tweet, and the Trump administration quickly drew a false equivalency between Barr's bigotry and Bee's vulgarity. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters, "The language used by Samantha Bee last night is vile and vicious. The collective silence by the left and its media allies is appalling. Her disgusting comments and show are not fit for broadcast, and executives at Time Warner and TBS must demonstrate that such explicit profanity about female members of this administration will not be condoned on its network." President Trump himself complained on Twitter, "Why arent they firing no talent Samantha Bee for the horrible language used on her low ratings show? A total double standard but thats O.K., we are Winning, and will be doing so for a long time to come!" "I would like to sincerely apologize to Ivanka Trump and to my viewers for using an expletive on my show to describe her last night," Bee Tweeted on May 31 in an apology. "It was inappropriate and inexcusable. I crossed a line, and I deeply regret it." In last night's show, Bee had another segment about the missing migrant children, but first told the audience, "Sorry for breaking America?" and then introduced an all-male panel of network censors. Earlier this week, the United Nations said that the United States should stop separating undocumented children from parents, calling it a "serious violation of the rights of the child." The U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley, responded, "Once again, the United Nations shows its hypocrisy by calling out the United States while it ignores the reprehensible human rights records of several members of its own Human Rights Council. While the High Commissioners office ignorantly attacks the United States with words, the United States leads the world with its actions, like providing more humanitarian assistance to global conflicts than any other nation." Read Samantha Bee's full remarks from Full Frontal With Samantha Bee on June 6th: YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS. The HHK (Republican) faction of the parliament will give the chance for the government program to be adopted, Vice Speaker Eduard Sharmazanov (HHK) told reporters ahead of todays sitting where lawmakers are debating PM Pashinyans government program. Asked which lawmakers from the HHK faction will vote in favor of the program, Sharmazanov said: Thats the powers of faction leader Vahram Baghdasaryan, he will say. He added that everything is already clarified. You will witness that the majority [of the faction] will vote against, while some will vote in favor, he said. Earlier a few lawmakers, who reportedly run major businesses contrary to the requirement of the law, have quit the HHK faction. Nikol Pashinyan was elected Prime Minister on May 8. Four days later, on May 12, the Cabinet was formed. The new government presented its program for approval to the parliament on June 1. Experts call the program an interim one and prioritize holding snap elections. ENGLISH: Editor/Translator - Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS. The UK businessmen are interested in the Armenian market. On June 7 the UK-Armenia Business Forum kicked off in Yerevan which was attended by the British, Armenian businessmen, representatives of concerned sides. The agenda included spheres of bilateral mutual interest, reports Armenpress. Araksya Martirosyan president of the Armenian-British Business Chamber, told reporters that 10 business companies arrived in Armenia: they are engaged in renewable energy, infrastructure development and professional services. This is mainly a cognitive visit to Armenia in order to understand the new realities, conditions on to what extent the investors are protected in Armenia. We had quite interesting meetings with a number of ministries. The British businessmen are interested in new markets, and Armenia in this sense is in beneficial positions. It has agreements with different directions, as well as good relations with Iran which makes our country attractive, she said. UK Ambassador to Armenia Judith Farnworth said she is in Armenia for already 2.5 year and during this period she has heard that there is an interest towards British investments, trade. The UK government reacted to this interest and today the UK Trade Envoy to Armenia and Georgia Mark Pritchard today is in Armenia. Over the past six months he has visited Armenia, and 3 spheres for the Armenian-British business cooperation have been outlined urban development, infrastructures and renewable energy. This business forum enables to reveal real opportunities in Armenias market, the Ambassador said. She informed that during the meetings with the Armenian ministers it was stated that the UK government is not only ready to work in trade and investments field, but also to assist the Armenian government in public administration and economic development matters. Mark Pritchard told reporters that this is the first time during these years that such a bilateral Armenian-British business forum with such a scale is being organized. The United Kingdom and the prime minister attach importance to the global investments at the stage following the Brexit not only in this, but also in other regions. Tourism, hotel business, banking sector and etc can be interesting fields for our business, he said. The UK-Armenia Business Forum was held in Yerevan on June 7. It has been organized by the UK Embassy in Armenia, in partnership with the Armenian-British Business Chamber. English translator/editor: Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS. Unique discoveries were made as excavations resumed at the Arshakuni Tomb in Aghdzk, archaeologist Hakob Simonyan told a press conference. Aghdzk is a village on the slopes of Mount Aragats. King Shapur II of Persia exhumed the bones of the Armenian kings and took them to Persia symbolically taking Armenia's power. When Sparapet Vassak Mamikonian defeated the Persians and reclaimed the bones of the Arshakuni monarchs, he buried them at Aghdzk in the 4th century. Simonyan, head of the Scientific-Research Center of Historical-Cultural Legacy, says theyve found a tombstone and a palace structure dating back to medieval times. The tombstone depicts certain images, he said. He says the tombstone is unique in Armenian archaeology because theyve never found one with a cross image. We assume that the remains of a certain prominent individual are buried here, he said. He emphasized the fact that the tombstones feature Armenian-letter records. Records werent made on churches of the early middle ages. We see Armenian-letter records after the 7th century. These tombstones are important and remarkable from this perspective, he said. Speaking about the palace structure, he said it is 30 meters in length and 15 meters in width. We can say that this is a 4th century palace, he said, adding that only the eastern part is destroyed. The government began sponsoring excavations in Aghdzk in 2015. ENGLISH: Editor/Translator - Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian side attaches importance to the status and security of the Artsakh people in the settlement process of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, Foreign minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan said during a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow on June 7, reports Armenpress. He said during the meeting with FM Lavrov they discussed a number of issues of international and regional agenda. A special attention was paid on the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. We highly appreciate Russias contribution with the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs aimed at settling the conflict exclusively through peaceful means. We are ready to continue the joint efforts directed for the progress of the negotiation process. At this stage we work on the continuation of the negotiation process, the FM said, adding that the Armenian side attaches importance to the status and security of the people of Artsakh. The negotiations are directed for solving these issues, the FM said. FM Mnatsakanyan said during the meeting with Lavrov it was stated that the Armenian side is inclined to develop the multilateral partnership. During the meeting I highlighted the importance Armenia attaches to the strategic partnership with Russia. We plan to continue that partnership later based on the principles that exist in the 1997 Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, the FM said. Zohrab Mnatsakanyan said the mutual ties between the two peoples have been as example of constant friendship, mutual understanding, sincere respect and mutual assistance. The intensity and depth in our relations really oblige to make new efforts to ensure their continuation, the Armenian FM said. He added that the sides plan to further deepen and expand the close cooperation in all spheres, including within the CSTO and the EAEU. These plans have already been announced during the Sochi meeting of the Armenian Prime Minister and the Russian President. We are happy that the dynamics of these meetings is being maintained, we expect new meetings in the nearest future, he said. The minister also thanked Sergey Lavrov for the warm reception and constructive dialogue and stated: We look forward to see you in Yerevan. English translator/editor: Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS. In the relations with Armenia, Russia is proceeding from the stances which have been officially presented by the Armenian government, Russias foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said at a joint press conference with his Armenian counterpart Zohrab Mnatsakanyan in Moscow. A reporter said that a number of experts have argued that the current government of Armenia has a pro-Western mood, and asked Lavrov if the Russian government shares this opinion. In response, the Russian FM noted that listening to experts and understanding analysis on domestic and foreign political events in any country is important. In relations with our allies, our strategic partners, we, as representatives of Russias foreign ministry, despite analysis of experts, proceed from the stances in the given case which have been officially presented by Nikol Pashinyan after assuming premiership of Armenia and the positions which now the foreign minister officially confirmed. I assure you that our talks, which took place today, stemmed from this very allied and strategic collegial relations, Lavrov said. ENGLISH: Editor/Translator - Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS. A bit of a funny episode took place during todays joint press conference of the Armenian and Russian foreign ministers in Moscow, Russia. A reporter asked Sergei Lavrov and Zohrab Mnatsakanyan about how is the potential of the century-old relations being used today, and Lavrov in response laughed and joked that the reporter is forcing him to repeat the statements which were made earlier. Then, the reporter thanked Lavrov for the smile. Do I smile so rarely? a surprised Lavrov responded. Armenian FM Mnatsakanyan intervened into the conversation, disagreeing with the reporter. Frankly speaking I dont agree with the opinion that Sergei Lavrov smiles rarely, because Ive often had the privilege to see him working, namely in the UN. I have to note that his ability to smile and involve others in it is legendary and very well known in New York, Mnatsakanyan jokingly said. Its time to change the subject, Lavrov joked in response. Armenias foreign minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan served as envoy to the UN from 2014 to 2018. ENGLISH: Editor/Translator - Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS. Alice Marie Johnson's life changed on Wednesday -- and she has US President Donald Trump and Kim Kardashian West to thank. And thank them she did as soon as she left an Alabama prison after 21 years behind bars. "I feel like my life is starting over again," an emotional Johnson told reporters outside the prison in Aliceville. Earlier on 31st of May, Kim Kardashian West met with US President Donald Trump and other officials, including senior adviser Jared Kushner, at the White House to discuss prison reform. Great meeting with Kim Kardashian today, talked about prison reform and sentencing, the US President said on Twitter. During a White House press briefing a week ago ahead of the meeting, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders wouldn't provide further details on who Kardashian West was meeting, only saying, "She is expected to be here at the White House. I can confirm she'll be here. We'll keep you posted on any meetings that take place and what those look like, CNN quoted Sanders as saying. The Armenian-American entrepreneur and reality television star has advocated for a pardon for a low-level drug offender named Alice Marie Johnson, who has served more than 20 years in prison. Earlier Wednesday, Kardashian West tweeted, "Happy Birthday Alice Marie Johnson. Today is for you," adding the prayer hands emoji. "I would like to thank President Trump for his time this afternoon. It is our hope that the President will grant clemency to Ms. Alice Marie Johnson who is serving a life sentence for a first-time, non-violent drug offense," Kardashian West said in a statement Wednesday night. "We are optimistic about Ms. Johnson's future and hopeful that she -- and so many like her -- will get a second chance at life." President Donald Trump has commuted the sentence of Alice Marie Johnson, a first-time nonviolent drug offender, a week after Kim Kardashian West pleaded her case during an Oval Office meeting with Trump. Johnson has already served 21 years of a life sentence after she was convicted on charges of conspiracy to possess cocaine and attempted possession of cocaine, according to the nonprofit Can-Do, which advocates for clemency for non-violent drug offenders. She was released from prison later on Wednesday. "Ms. Johnson has accepted responsibility for her past behavior and has been a model prisoner over the past two decades. Despite receiving a life sentence, Alice worked hard to rehabilitate herself in prison, and act as a mentor to her fellow inmates," the White House said in a statement Wednesday afternoon. "While this administration will always be very tough on crime, it believes that those who have paid their debt to society and worked hard to better themselves while in prison deserve a second chance," the statement added, according to CNN. Kardashian West hailed the commutation, tweeting, "BEST NEWS EVER!!!!" and expressing gratitude to Trump and senior adviser Jared Kushner. So grateful to Donald Trump, Jared Kushner & to everyone who has showed compassion & contributed countless hours to this important moment for Ms. Alice Marie Johnson. Her commutation is inspirational & gives hope to so many others who are also deserving of a second chance, Kardashian tweeted. ENGLISH: Editor/Translator - Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS. New Ambassador of Russia Sergei Kopyrkin on June 7 presented his credentials to President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian, the Armenian Presidential Office told Armenpress. During the meeting President Sarkissian congratulated the Ambassador on his appointment and wished him success in that responsible position. The President expressed confidence that Ambassador Kopyrkin will make maximum efforts to further deepen and develop the Armenian-Russian allied mutual partnership based on the historically formed friendship. Armen Sarkissian expressed readiness to support all initiatives of the Ambassador that will be directed for deepening the bilateral ties. The Russian Ambassador conveyed to the President the warm greetings of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He assured that he will do the utmost to deepen and strengthen the strategic allied relations of the two countries. The officials also highlighted that the relations of Armenia and Russia are expanding every year by involving new directions. English translator/editor: Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS. Armenias foreign minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, who is in Moscow on a working visit, on June 7 met with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, the ministry told Armenpress. Welcoming the Armenian FM, the Russian FM said: I am happy for this opportunity now to personally congratulate you on your appointment as foreign minister, and I hope today we will be able to discuss issues relating to our alliance and strategic partnership development both in the bilateral format, as well as within our involvement in different international structures. The Armenian minister thanked for the warm reception and said this is his first foreign trip as a foreign minister, and it is natural that it is taking place in Moscow. Its a pleasure for me to be here, in this city taking into account the warm feeling I personally have towards Russia, Moscow. Being a MGIMO graduate I want to state that these were the most wonderful years of my life. I am grateful for the great, professional education I have received in that structure. Our relations, really, have quite firm base. The Armenian governments commitment to deepen and strengthen our allied relations, our cooperation based on understanding and mutual respect has been and remains as one of our priorities. It is also reflected in the governments program, which today is being debated in the Parliament. And I am in Moscow with that spirit and mood, the FM said. The two ministers emphasized readiness not only to ensure the continuation of allied relations, but also to conduct daily activities at various formats. In this context they touched upon the implementation process of the agreements reached during the meeting of the Armenian PM and the Russian President on May 14 in Sochi, as well as the timetable of upcoming high-ranking mutual visits. The two FMs also discussed issues relating to the Armenian citizens working in Russia, as well as their possible solutions. The meeting also covered a number of international and regional issues, the officials exchanged views on the recent developments over the Iran nuclear deal and the situation in Syria. They discussed in-detail the peaceful settlement process of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and the recent developments over it. The Armenian FM attached importance to the efforts of Russia, together with the US and France as OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries, aimed at peacefully settling the NK conflict. At the end of the meeting the Armenian and Russian FMs held a joint press conference. English translator/editor: Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS. If the Nagorno Karabakh conflicting sides reach an agreement on the involvement of the NK representatives to the negotiation process, Russia will respect that decision, Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said during a joint press conference with Armenian foreign minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan in Moscow, reports Armenpress. The reporter recalled the statement of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan according to which Artsakh should return to the negotiation table, and the Russian FM said in response: Russias stance has remained unchanged. That is the following: the conflict should be settled through the Minsk Group, and Armenia is also a member of that Group. We are convinced that it is an optimal format. Lavrov said Russia, as an OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair, has always strived to create conditions that will allow Baku and Yerevan to come to an agreement. This work continues for many years, there have been different phases. Moreover, during some phases the representatives of Nagorno Karabakh participated in that process. Later the format changed by the agreements of the sides, Lavrov said. If the sides reach an agreement at any stage that Nagorno Karabakh should again be presented n the negotiations, it will be their decision, and we will respect that decision, the Russian foreign minister said. English translator/editor: Aneta Harutyunyan Edging ever-closer to his final form as a sentient Twitter egg, a possibly lost Rudy Giuliani appeared at a Tel Aviv business conference yesterday to share some thoughts on what women should do with their bodies and their careers, lest they lose the respect of other blustering, thrice-divorced human ringworms. Taking a break from raving about the usual Mueller conspiracies and just raving in general, the president's top legal mind offered the Israelis some insight into his boss's mating habits: "Excuse me, but when you look at Stormy Daniels," he began, stroking his pinky ring. "I know Donald Trump. Look at his three wives, right? Beautiful woman. Classy woman. Woman of great substance. Stormy Daniels?" To communicate his disgust with the Trump accuser's body, Giuliani then sneered, while raising his shoulders in the direction of where a typical human neck is located. Rudy Giuliani slams Stormy Daniels, says her work as a porn star makes her less credible: 'I don't respect a porn star the way I respect a career woman' pic.twitter.com/NRVwXFBvG0 Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) June 7, 2018 "So yes, I respect all human beings. I even have to respect, you know, criminals," the walking Blues Lives Matter bumper sticker crossed with a Female Body Inspector T-shirt continued. "But I'm sorry I don't respect a porn star the way I respect a career woman or a woman of substance or a woman who has great respect for herself as a woman and as a person and isn't going to sell her body for sexual exploitation." Asked about the comments on CNN, Giuliani doubled down on Thursday, saying, "If you're involved in a sort of slimy business, (that) says something about you, says something about how far you'll go to make money." A totally fair point! Later this week, Giuliani is expected to return to Washington D.C., where he'll continue his work of cleaning up the president's many messes. .@morningmika just now "I know someone who spoke to Donald Trump recently about life in the White House and @realDonaldTrump biggest complaint was that he's not allowed to watch porn in the White House." pic.twitter.com/6jcs8TAkJc Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) June 7, 2018 #basta Michael Avenatti on Giulianis Stormy Daniels comments: "Enough is enough. This cannot be allowed to stand. We cannot have men in positions of power basically making these statements against women. Any woman. It doesnt matter what a womens profession is... Period." @MSNBC Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 7, 2018 YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS. President Armen Sarkissian held a meeting today at his office with the delegation of the Armenian Assembly of America. The delegation included co-chairs Van Grigorian and Anthony Barsamian, executive director Bryan Ardouny and regional director Arpi Vardanian, the Presidents Office told ARMENPRESS. At the meeting, the President attached importance to the activity of Armenian organizations dealing with issues of pan-Armenian significance in the United States. The sides exchanged ideas over issues of the pan-Armenian agenda, opportunities of finding new ways for solving issues and making the activity more effective and targeted. The delegation was proud to note the peaceful nature of the fundamental changes which took place in Armenia and the important and balancing role of the president in the process. ENGLISH: Editor/Translator - Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS. The heroes of Aurora humanitarian initiative laid flowers at Tsitsernakaberd memorial complex, honoring the memory of the Armenian Genocide victims on June 7, reports ARMENPRESS. The moment of paying tribute to the memory of the Armenian Genocide victims was very ceremonial for me. It was very emotional and impressive for us, Sunitha Krishnan said. This is the first visit of Sunitha Krishnan to Armenia. She noted that she is amazed at the hospitability and love of Armenians. The other Aurora hero Fr. Tomas Gonzalez Castillo assessed Tsitsernakaberd as a sacred place. I felt something powerful here. And the most important thing is that the Armenian people managed to revitalize, he said. U Kyaw Hla Aung felt sorrow for peoples who have passed through the horrors of genocide. As You may know, the Rohingya people are now facing the danger of genocide. But we cannot have such a memorial complex. I am very sorry for that, he said, adding that Armenians are really very hospitable and friendly. The Aurora heroes also toured in Armenian Genocide Institute-Museum, got acquainted with very valuable samples and listened to their stories. The Aurora Humanitarian Initiative has announced that the 2018 Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity ceremony, Aurora Dialogues and weekend of inspirational events, will take place June 8-10, 2018 in Armenia. Pre-eminent humanitarians, academics, philanthropists, human rights defenders, government officials, journalists and business leaders from around the world will gather for the purpose of galvanizing action to address most pressing humanitarian challenges and to celebrate the best of humanity. The weekend will culminate with the presentation of the third annual $1.1 million Aurora Prize, a global humanitarian award given to an individual for the exceptional impact their actions have had on preserving human life and advancing humanitarian causes. The laureate is invited to share $1million with organizations which inspire their work. 2018 Aurora Humanitarians will be announced on April 24. The Aurora Humanitarian Initiative was founded in memory of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide and in honor of their saviors by descendants of the survivors who wish to demonstrate their gratitude by action. English translator/editor: Tigran Sirekanyan Afghanistan announced Thursday an apparently unilateral ceasefire with the Taliban for Eid, the holiday that caps off Ramadan, though operations against other groups including Islamic State will continue. The week-long ceasefire, which was backed by the US and would bring some welcome relief to war-weary civilians, will last "from the 27th of Ramadan until the fifth day of Eid-al-Fitr", President Ashraf Ghani tweeted from an official account, indicating it could run from June 12-19. It was not immediately clear if the Taliban would agree to the ceasefire, the first during Eid since the US invasion in 2001. "We are checking with our officials regarding the ceasefire announcement," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP. The surprise declaration comes on the heels of a fatwa issued by Afghanistan's top clerics branding suicide attacks "haram", or forbidden, and after the Pentagon announced that senior Taliban officials had been negotiating with Afghan authorities on a possible ceasefire. Nearly 17 years after they were toppled from power, the Taliban are resurgent, with Afghan forces -- who have taken the lead in the conflict since NATO combat troops pulled out in 2014 -- struggling to contain them, while civilians pay a disproportionate price in the fighting. "(The) Afghan government directs all the security and defence forces of the country... to stop all the attacks on the Taliban, but the operation will continue against Daesh (Islamic State), Al-Qaeda and other international terrorist networks," Ghani said in an official statement. Ghani added that more details about the ceasefire would be revealed during a "massive gathering" next week but did not elaborate further. Deputy interior affairs minister General Akhtar Mohammad Ebrahimi said that if security forces are attacked during the ceasefire period, "your security and defence forces will respond". General Mohammad Sharif Yaftali, the army chief of staff, added that if the ceasefire holds it "could be extended". The US will also "honour" the ceasefire, US Forces in Afghanistan said in a statement, though it seconded Ghani's stipulation that this did not extend to IS and other groups. "We will adhere to the wishes of Afghanistan for the country to enjoy a peaceful end to the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, and support the search for an end to the conflict," said General John Nicholson, head of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan. - 'One-sided' - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged the Taliban to observe the ceasefire and enter into direct peace talks with the Afghan government. He urged the Taliban to "reciprocate the temporary ceasefire and accept President Ashraf Ghani's peace offer to commence direct talks to bring an end to the long suffering of the Afghan people". Last month, the Pentagon said that ceasefire negotiations with the Taliban were ongoing. However analysts were sceptical of any positive response, saying Ghani's announcement appeared to be unilateral. Kabul-based political analyst Haroon Mir said the Taliban were "highly unlikely" to agree to a ceasefire, and suggested it was more of a political move by Ghani. "I doubt this announcement will change anything on the ground," he added. Rahimullah Yusufzai, a Taliban expert based in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, agreed. "A ceasefire normally is negotiated... This is one-sided and I don't expect the Taliban to respond positively," he told AFP. The announcement comes days after a gathering of Afghanistan's top clerics in Kabul called for a ceasefire and issued a fatwa against suicide bombings. An hour after the fatwa was issued on June 4, a suicide bomber detonated outside the gathering, killing seven people. The attack was claimed by IS, and was the latest demonstration of militants' ability to hit the capital, which has become the deadliest place in the country for civilians. It also showed that any ceasefire with the Taliban alone might have a limited effect on security, given the myriad other militant groups infesting Afghanistan. - 'They have to answer' - The Taliban view Ghani's government as illegitimate, and have previously said they would negotiate only with the US, whom they consider the main player in the conflict. In February Ghani unveiled a plan to open peace talks with the Taliban, including eventually recognising them as a political party. At the time he suggested a ceasefire would form part of the plan. The insurgents did not officially respond, but attacks have proliferated since then, especially in Kabul. However when coupled with the fatwa, the announcement does put pressure on the Taliban, Yusufzai said. "If it was only Ghani or the government, then the Taliban wouldn't have cared," he said. "This is the clerics ... The Taliban cannot just say they don't agree, they will have to come up with an answer." Social media users quickly called on the insurgents to agree to the ceasefire. Many were sceptical, though some were more hopeful. "I hope all parties involved announce ceasefire and not a single bullet is fired anymore," wrote Twitter user Sharyar Hadi. "We are tired of wars and killings." Afghan Army Chief of Staff, General Sharif Yaftali, said that if the ceasefire holds it 'could be extended' The Afghan government indicated the ceasefire will run from June 12 to 19 Afghan President Ashraf Ghani added that more details about the ceasefire will be revealed during a 'massive gathering' next week but did not elaborate further The ceasefire would bring some welcome relief to war-weary civilians The International Committee of the Red Cross said Thursday that it has pulled 71 of its international staffers from Yemen over rising security threats. "While the Yemen delegation has received numerous threats in the past, we cannot now accept additional risk less than two months after a gunman killed a staff member," the organisation said in a statement, referring to the killing of a Lebanese employee in Yemen's southern city of Taez in April. "The security of our staff, who are being intimidated by parties to the conflict, is a non-negotiable prerequisite for our presence and work in Yemen," it added. The ICRC said that the decision would lead to the "crippling" of its life-saving work in the war-ravaged country, which includes emergency medical work and food assistance. "Our current activities have been blocked, threatened and directly targeted in recent weeks, and we see a vigorous attempt to instrumentalise our organisation as a pawn in the conflict," the statement further said. The ICRC is known for its unrelenting commitment to neutrality, seeking to engage all parties to armed conflicts including extremists like the Islamic State group while carrying out humanitarian work. Those withdrawn from Yemen represent more than half of the ICRC's international staff in the country and one fifth of its total staff, spokeswoman Marie Claire Feghali told AFP. She added that after the withdrawal, ICRC counted a team of 452 staff members in the country, including Yemeni nationals. The organisation said it has worked in the country since 1962. The conflict between Iran-backed Huthi rebels and Yemen's government, allied with Saudi Arabi, has claimed 10,000 lives and pushed the country to the brink of famine. The violence escalated in 2015 when Saudi Arabia and its allies intervened on behalf of the government after the rebels seized Sanaa. The 71 people withdrawn from Yemen represent more than half of the ICRC's international staff in the country In a surprise move, Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza said Thursday he would step down in 2020, despite widespread belief that he backed a new constitution extending term limits in a bid to cling to power. His announcement came shortly after he signed into law a new constitution, passed in a May referendum, that in theory allows him to seek another two terms in office. "Our mandate ends in 2020," Nkurunziza said in a speech to supporters and diplomats in the central city of Gitega. Describing himself as "Guide" of the ruling CNDD-FDD party and referring to himself in the third person, the 54-year-old president said he would not seek re-election at the end of his current, controversial third term. In power since 2005, Nkurunziza's decision to run for re-election in 2015 plunged Burundi into a deep and deadly political crisis, with opponents saying his candidacy went against a peace deal that had ended more than a decade of civil war. Turmoil since then has killed 1,200 people, forced 400,000 to flee their homes and triggered an investigation by the International Criminal Court. Nkurunziza's third term has been characterised by growing authoritarianism, intimidation and abuse, according to human rights groups. Many political opponents have left the country for safety, while a sustained campaign against the press has forced most independent journalists also to leave. - 'Enemy claims' - Last month Burundians voted overwhelmingly in a referendum in favour of constitutional changes, including extending presidential terms to seven years. The reforms also placed greater power in the hands of the president and was seen by critics as a death blow for the Arusha peace deal, signed in 2000. The changes were widely seen as a move paving the way for Nkurunziza to run for a further two terms under the new dispensation, allowing him to rule until 2034. But on Thursday Nkurunziza said that was not his plan. "The new constitution has not been tailored for Pierre Nkurunziza, as our enemies claim," he said. "As far as I am concerned, I am preparing to support, with all my strength, the new president who we are going to elect in 2020." A diplomat based in Burundi, speaking on condition of anonymity, described the announcement as a "nice political move". "It remains to be seen how sincere he is, because he is the one who launched the revision of the constitution and said he would be willing to run again if the people demanded it." He said after three years of crisis that have hit the economy hard, Nkurunziza "needed to give something to the international community to try and bring back financing." In neighbouring Rwanda, President Paul Kagame held a constitutional referendum in 2015, insisting it was not about his own desire to stay in power. However, he gave into what he said was the people's will and ran successfully for a third term two years later and is now permitted to vie until 2034. The European Union said Nkurunziza's announcement could ease the situation in Burundi. The president's move is "in line with the principle of democratic alternation as set out in the Arusha Accords and the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, and may de-escalate the situation in Burundi," said a spokesman for EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini. The EU statement called for "a peaceful and consensual solution" which would guarantee credible elections in 2020. The opposition took Nkurunziza's announcement with a pinch of salt. Pancrace Cimpaye, spokesman for the exiled opposition group CNARED, said "the word of Pierre Nkurunziza, a man who buried the Arusha Accords and the 2005 constitution, means nothing." Nkurunziza made the surprise announcement at ceremonies to usher in Burundi's controversial new constitution Nkurunziza on Thursday signed papers implementing the new constitution -- critics say the new charter is a vehicle enabling him to stay in power Canada's Senate passed a bill Thursday legalizing recreational marijuana, moving it closer to becoming the first member of the Group of Seven nations to legalize the production, sale and consumption of the drug. Bill C-45, or the Cannabis Act, passed the Senate with 52 votes for, 30 against and one abstention after months of debate over the ramifications of legalization. The Cannabis Act will now go back to the House of Commons, which passed the bill in November 2017 but needs to sign off on changes made by the Senate. Legalizing weed was a 2015 campaign promise of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has admitted having smoked a joint with friends "five or six times." The initial timeline for legal pot sales called for it to be available by July 1, Canada's national day, but fall now appears more likely. It would then be up to Canada's provinces and territories to set up distribution networks and enforcement. The sale of medical marijuana has been legal in Canada since 2001. Bill C-45 would allow individuals over the age of 18 to possess up to 30 grams of marijuana for personal use. Sales to anyone under 18 would be banned under federal law but provinces and territories could set their own age limits. Statistics Canada has estimated that the market will be worth Can$5.7 billion ($4.5 billion US), based on last year's consumption data. Uruguay approved the recreational usage of marijuana five years ago and nine US states have too but Canada will be the first G-7 country to do so. - 'Canada is being daring' - In an interview with AFP last month, Trudeau said the world is closely following Canada's plans and predicted several nations would follow suit. "There is a lot of interest from our allies in what we're doing," he said. "They recognize that Canada is being daring... and recognize that the current regime (of prohibition) does not work, that it's not preventing young people from having easy access to cannabis. "In many countries, especially in Canada, it is easier (as a minor) to buy a joint than buy a beer," Trudeau said. "Organized crime is making huge sums of money on the illicit sale of marijuana." Trudeau insisted that creating a regulated market would take it out of the hands of crime groups and "better protect communities and children." However, he added the allies he spoke with "are interested in seeing how things go... before they try it," without specifying which nations. It would also allow the federal government and the provinces to levy taxes on legal weed sales amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars annually. Pot sales would be through authorized retail stores much like the current situation regulating alcohol sales in Quebec and Ontario. A total of 105 businesses have been authorized to grow marijuana and offer pot-based products. Under the new measure, individuals could grow up to four plants at home. The government has also set aside funds to study the impact of legalized cannabis consumption on public health. Legalizing weed was a 2015 campaign promise of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau The European Commission provided Bosnia on Thursday with 1.5 million euros ($1.8 million) to help the impoverished country cope with an influx of migrants passing through on their way towards Western Europe. "The number of refugees and migrants arriving in Bosnia-Herzegovina has increased and we must act swiftly," the European Union's aid commissioner Christos Stylianides said. The funds should help the Balkan country to meet the migrants' "basic needs and provide emergency shelter, food and health assistance, as well as protection," he said in a statement. More than 5,500 illegal migrants have entered Bosnia since the start of the year, particularly young men, but lately also families with children, notably from Iran and Pakistan. Their number still does not compare with the hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Asia and Africa who arrived in Europe in 2015-16 using the so-called Balkans route. The route was closed in March 2016 but small numbers of people, seeking alternative ways, still cross the region to reach the European Union. They gather in northwestern Bosnia, in Bihac and Velika Kladusa, near the border with EU member Croatia. Meanwhile, police officials from southeastern Europe pledged Thursday in Sarajevo to cooperate to avoid a humanitarian crisis feared by non-governmental organisations. "The joint view is ... that 2015 and migrations from that time cannot happen again at any price," Bosnian Security Minister Dragan Mektic told reporters after their meeting. Slovenia's top interior ministry official Bostjan Stefic voiced his country?s concern over the rise in number of illegal migrants. "Our first task is to protect EU borders," he said, warning it was "high time that we all together ensure that these migrations be under control." Since the start of the migrant crisis in the Balkans three years ago, Brussels has allocated more than 25 million euros to Serbia and over four million euros to Macedonia to help them deal with the issue. A family gathers outside a tent at a makeshift migrant centre in the northwestern Bosnian town of Bihac. Israeli farmer Avner Yona holds up a wooden-framed sheet of plastic almost as large as he is, fitted with a now blackened tail ribbon that shows the kite-maker's malicious intent. The kite that drifted onto land he manages in the kibbutz, or collective farm, of Nahal Oz was launched from the Palestinian Gaza Strip just a kilometre (less than a mile) away over the heavily-guarded border. "They hang clothes soaked in petrol here and set them on fire," the 54-year-old says, pointing to an attachment on the kite. This time the fire did not spread and the damage is limited to a few scorched brambles. But for more than a month hundreds of such kites have been launched across the border, setting fire to hundreds of hectares (acres) of farmland and protected scrub. Like the stones and Molotov cocktails thrown in previous years, the kites have become a potent symbol of a wave of Palestinian protests that broke out on March 30 against Israel's crippling decade-long blockade of Gaza. - Safer way to protest - At least 125 Palestinian protesters have been killed by Israeli fire since then, the majority as they approached the border fence where troops have orders to use lethal force to prevent any infiltration attempts. The kites offer a safer way for Gazans to protest, inflicting economic losses on Israel while remaining far enough from the border to avoid being shot. They also maintain the image of mainly peaceful protests, during which organisers have largely succeeded in preventing any Palestinian gunfire despite Israeli allegations of manipulation by Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas. The kite found by Yona may have been launched from outside the nearby Al-Bureij refugee camp. There, a dozen young men sit on a large sandbank facing Israel fitting kites and balloons with makeshift incendiary devices. "If you give kites enough rope, they can go for 20 or 30 kilometres (12 to 20 miles)," says Abu Moussa, 25. "As soon as it arrives over the forest we cut it." "We aim to set fire to their farms," adds Abu Majd, 28. "In this way we hurt them." Israeli farmers are suffering significant losses from the low-cost tactic. - Compensation claim - Yona points to the charred wheat at his feet. "Five shekels (a little over a euro) for the material, five minutes to make and look at the result," he says. Pointing to a still green field in the distance, he says he remains hopeful of saving the chickpea harvest due in mid-July and the sunflowers that should ripen by late August. The damage to the kibbutz?s crops amounts to around two million shekels (500,000 euros), he estimates. The wheat had to be harvested early even though much of it was not yet ready. But Yona insists that the battle against the fires will not deter the kibbutz's residents, who have endured three wars across the Gaza border since 2008. "It's our land, we'll work it to the last metre (yard), we will not be defeated," he said. The Palestinians, too, believe the land is theirs and the protesters are calling for the right of return to the homes their families fled or were expelled from during the creation of Israel in 1948. A firefighter from the Jewish National Fund holds a fire kite which was launched across the Gaza border by Palestinian protesters setting fire to scrubland in nearby Kibbutz Beeri on June 5, 2018 el says any such return would mean the end of it as a Jewish state. Yona collects the kites that land in his fields for use as evidence in what he hopes will be an eventual compensation claim by the Israeli government. The government has estimated the damage at 5 million shekels (1.2 million euros) so far and has promised compensation. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has demanded the state make the Palestinian Authority pay for the damage, though it has no control in Hamas-run Gaza. - Low-tech challenge for army - The kite has become a "terrorist" weapon, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said during a visit to the border area on Tuesday, calling for targeted assassinations of those responsible. The Israeli army launches drones to damage or cut down the kites, but a country that prides itself on the effectiveness of its "Iron Dome" anti-rocket system has yet to find an effective response to this low-tech tactic. According to the Israeli defence ministry, of the more than 600 kites launched from Gaza so far, around 400 kites have been intercepted. There are "other means we may use in the future," says army spokesman Jonathan Conricus, without elaborating. Back near the border, about 15 staff of the Jewish National Fund, which manages much of Israel's land, are on the alert, scrutinising the area's tinder-dry valleys. The wind is strong, the air is hot and dry. Four fires are reported almost simultaneously. The emergency crews rush to the sites, ploughing the area around them to create firebreaks with help from the Israeli army. It is not just farmland that is being torched.Every day, dozens of fires devour protected scrubland and forest "causing enormous damage to animals -- birds in their nests, turtles, reptiles,? said the JNF's Daniel Ben David. "Two months ago, I found the kites funny. Today it's totally different, he said." cmr-am-jod-yh/kir Israeli children watch the progress of a fire on farmland in Kibbutz Beeri after it was set ablaze by a kite launched from across the border in nearby Gaza on June 5, 2018 Palestinians pose behind makeshift fire kites in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on May 4, 2018 before launching them over the border into Israel A firefighter from the Jewish National Fund holds a fire kite which was launched across the Gaza border by Palestinian protesters on June 5, 2018 causing damage to scrubland on nearby Kibbutz Beeri An Israeli drone flies near a Palestinian fire kite on the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip on May 14, 2018 as the army struggles to tackle the low-tech tactic French lawmakers on Thursday approved a ban on the use of mobile phones in public schools, one of President Emmanuel Macron's campaign pledges which critics say will do little to end classroom disruptions or cyberbullying. While schools in many countries have rules limiting mobile phone use France is one of the first nations to introduce a total ban, covering primary and junior high schools. Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer called it "a law for the 21st century, a law for addressing the digital revolution." "It's a signal to French society of the stakes for our society," he said in parliament. "Being open to technologies of the future doesn't mean we have to accept all their uses." The bill has tapped into anxiety among many parents over the amount of time their children spend glued to their smartphone screens and the rising incidence of online bullying. It was approved by members of the lower house National Assembly in a show of hands. But opposition groups have dismissed it as "useless", pointing out that a 2010 law already forbids phone use during classtime and that roughly half of the country's junior high schools already outlaw their use. Nearly nine out of 10 French students aged 12 to 17 owns a mobile phone, according to a 2016 survey. The new law being proposed would require them to keep their phones in backpacks or otherwise out of sight. "We're not talking about a big bang, but we backed the legislative route because it reinforces the process," Philippe Vincent of the SNPDEN union of school directors told AFP ahead of the parliamentary vote. But the law does not set out any specific punishment for their use, and lawyers have noted that teachers do not have the right to confiscate non-dangerous belongings from students. Critics also say the law is unlikely to wean students off their phones, saying they could easily be on Snapchat while pretending to rummage through their backpacks. And some teachers chafe at calls for them to put away their phones during school hours as well, noting they are the main source of alerts in case of emergencies. New York mayor Bill de Blasio cited security concerns for his decision to lift a ban on phones in his city's schools in 2015, saying parents should be allowed to stay in touch with their children. Defending the bill, Richard Ferrand, head of Macron's Republic on the Move party in parliament, said the law would not just help children learn it would also improve their social skills. "When, on a playground, you see young people next to each other all staring at their phones," the consequence is "to break the link of camaraderie and sharing," he said. "Being open to technologies of the future doesn't mean we have to accept all their uses," French Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer said. If you're the parent of a NYC public school student, you may have sleepily prepared your child's lunch this morning and then realized you wasted your time, because it's Anniversary Day (again). If you're not a parent, then you may be wondering why there are kids adorably wandering around your workplace. Anniversary Day is a tradition dating back to the 1800s, when it was "Brooklyn-Queens Day." The Queens Public Library explains: "Brooklyn-Queens Day originated as a Protestant holiday celebrated in the City of Brooklyn in 1829. Back then it was known, and fondly remembered by some, as Anniversary Day. Anniversary Day is celebrated annually on the first Thursday in June, commemorating the founding of the First Sunday School on Long Island. The first parade was held in Brooklyn June 1829. The New York State Legislature enacted, in 1959 at the request of the Queens Federation of Churches, the bill permitting the schools in both Kings and Queens Counties to be closed on this day. It was signed by Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller." Children at the 1944 Brooklyn-Queens Day Parade (Library of Congress) Thus, from 1959 through 2005, schoolchildren in only Brooklyn and Queens got the day off. The United Federation of Teachers negotiated to bring the holiday to all boroughs during their 2005 contract negotiations, making 2006 the first citywide Anniversary Day. That year, a teacher reminisced to the NY Times: A few years back, a friend of mine, a roller coaster enthusiast, carefully planned a trip to Great Adventure. To avoid long lines and unchaperoned teenagers, he chose to visit the park while the schools were still in session in early June. He thought he had picked the perfect day, but upon arrival he saw long lines of unruly, popcorn-throwing schoolchildren. "You should have called me," I told him. "It was Brooklyn-Queens Day." "Brooklyn-Queens Day! What is that?" I spent my first teaching year in Brooklyn. When the great day came, I celebrated unquestioningly, even smugly. "Why are you off school?" I was asked. I just shrugged and said, "Brooklyn-Queens Day, of course. " The city describes the day as "Anniversary Day. Chancellor's Conference Day for staff development. In all five boroughs, students will not be in attendance." On Monday, June 11th, there is a "clerical day" for elementary and middle schools, meaning those students have the day off. Then, Friday, June 15 is Eid al-Fitr, which means all schools are closed. High school students have off on Friday, June 22, for Regents Rating Day. June 26th is the last day of school, so Godspeed. A man has been left feeling used and unappreciated after his partner of 27 years only left him her ashes when she died. Steven Moon and Mary Doyle, from Auckland in New Zealand, first met when they were both working at a city council in the late 1970s and started dating in 1989. According to court documents, Ms Doyle suffered a significant medical condition from an early age with the couple believing it was chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), although it was never formally diagnosed. Within 18 months of their relationship, Ms Doyle was restricted to a wheelchair and in 2015 she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. She died on January 8, 2017. Steven Moon said he felt very upset after reading Ms Doyles will after her passing. Photo: Getty After her death, Mr Moon took his case to the High Court to lay claim to the whole of Ms Doyles estate after she only left him her ashes. Court documents state that Ms Doyle wrote a note to the 62-year-old ahead of her passing, saying she was leaving him her most precious thing. Steve. Im leaving you the most precious thing:- me. (even though its in a box). I dont want it scattered anywhere, she wrote. Please keep hide it away in a cupboard or whatever. At least it cant talk! Always loved you and didnt want to leave. P.S Thank you for being there for me for all these years. And putting up with me. Ms Doyle left her home, near Albany in Auckland, to her older brother Patrick Doyle. Patrick told the court that his sister described her relationship with Mr Moon as friends to family members. Ms Doyle and Mr Moon did not live together. But, Mr Moons unchallenged evidence in court was that the pair had a normal sexual relationship up until the cancer diagnosis. After her death, Mr Moon took his case to the Auckland High Court to lay claim to Ms Doyles estate. Photo: Google Maps Mr Moon said he felt very upset after reading Ms Doyles will after her passing. It was as if I was nobody in her life. I had spent nearly every day with her for 27 years, except for 2 weeks when I was in hospital and some short trips to the South Island, he said, according to court documents. Story continues I do feel that in death Mary should have put me first as I put her first in life. I feel betrayed by her. I struggle to understand why she treated me as she did. I know that she loved me, but her Will does not reflect that. On May 23, Justice Grant Powell ordered that Mr Moon be paid $276,000 out of Ms Doyles estate. Ultimately the picture that emerges is of two quite private people who formed a relationship that worked for them despite very considerable difficulties arising from Marys medical condition, Justice Powell said. There can be no doubt whatsoever how important this relationship was, not just to Steven, but also to Mary. A plane passenger has been ridiculed online for his complaint over inflight refreshments. The traveller took to Singapore Airlines Facebook page on May 28 to query the airlines flight attendants and their protocol for serving champagne in premium economy, Singaporean news site Motherland reported. What is the standard process of drinks service for premium economy class passenger? he wrote in a post since removed. On our recent flight we did not (get offered) any champagne by your service crew. Not once throughout the entire flight and this does not reflect as what you have displayed in your premium economy microsite. The passenger took to Facebook to query the protocol of Singapore Airlines crew onboard regarding champagne. Source: Getty/ Facebook But the passengers issue didnt lie in the beverage not being available, he was instead upset he wasnt asked if he wanted a glass. Hi, may we clarify if you managed to approach our crew to make the request? the airline responded. The passenger seemed puzzled, replying: What do you mean? I need to ask for champagne? The passenger took to the airlines Facebook page to complain about not being offered champagne. Source: Facebook/ Mothership If a passenger needs to ask for something especially despite you touting it as a service, please state clearly in your website. Do not mislead the consumer. A series of comments from Facebook users followed, with many in disbelief over his stance on the misunderstanding. Grow up, man, one declared. The airline appeared slightly puzzled by the mans complaint. Source: Facebook/ Mothership Why not have the crew feed you champagne on a tube or something?? Seriously?! another suggested in jest. One contribution tried to remonstrate with the passenger in a more civil manner, using other inflight services such as the bathroom as an example to help in future. You did not wait to be offered the lavatory when you need to use it you simply made your way to the lavatory, they said. So if you want a glass of champagne, is it that difficult to just open your mouth and ask to be served one? A Singapore Airlines spokesperson told Yahoo7 News that their cabin crew are more than happy to provide a customers choice of beverage on request. Singapore Airlines offers all Premium Economy customers a choice of beverages during their flight, including champagne. A humanitarian crisis in conflict-torn South Sudan is reaching alarming proportions after four and a half years of fighting, Jan Egeland of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) warned on Thursday. "I've never before seen, heard, experienced so many people being so food-insecure in so many places in South Sudan," he told a press conference in Nairobi. "What is different this year is that the acute food insecurity has spread to more parts of the country," such as southern Equatoria, he said. In February, UN agencies warned that 48 percent of South Sudan's population was experiencing extreme hunger and seven million would need aid in 2018. In 2017 some 100,000 people were affected by a famine -- meaning people started dying due to lack of food. It was declared over in June. However the protracted conflict has devastated agriculture, displaced millions and sent food prices soaring, putting 11 counties at risk of man-made famine this year. Egeland highlighted increasing fatigue with the conflict while donors are overstretched with crises elsewhere, and the difficulty for aid workers inside the country. "South Sudan gets decreasing attention and has increasing needs. We are ready to help but we need more resources, we need access, security and we need a ceasefire," he said. Since war broke out in December 2013, 101 aid workers have been killed in South Sudan, said Egeland. South Sudan, the world's youngest nation, was engulfed by civil war in 2013 after President Salva Kiir accused his rival and former deputy Riek Machar of plotting a coup against him. Violence -- initially between ethnic Dinka supporters of Kiir and ethnic Nuer supporters of Machar -- has since spread to other parts of the country, engulfing other ethnic groups. The last ceasefire, signed in December, was broken within hours while the latest round of peace talks in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa have stalled. Last week the UN Security Council gave the two warring sides a month to reach a peace deal or face sanctions. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir this week offered to host a meeting between Kiir and Machar. Kiir welcomed the opportunity while Machar's camp said they would be happy to hold such a meeting, but had not been informed about it. Observers say that with the government winning militarily and the opposition fractured more than ever before, there is little incentive for Kiir to make concessions to his rivals. The war in South Sudan has triggered a worsening refugee crisis Suspected jihadists wielding knives and machetes killed five people in a Mozambique region that has been rocked by attacks blamed on radical Islamists, police said Thursday. Cabo Delgado, a northern province expected to become the centre of a natural gas industry after several promising discoveries, has seen a string of assaults on security forces and civilians since October. "There was one more attack (by) the same group that has been attacking the neighbouring villages, (it) attacked a village on Wednesday around 9:00 pm and killed five and destroyed houses and left running," a police source told AFP. The attackers targeted Namaluco village in the Quissanga district of Cabo Delgado. Rights group Amnesty International said in a statement that as many as 10 people were killed in the latest attacks, but AFP was unable to confirm this toll. Police reinforcements had been deployed to the area to step up security but attacks have continued unabated. Police believe the same group also hacked seven people to death in another village in the region on Tuesday after beheading 10 people in another settlement on May 27. "The strategy of the group is to attack different villages over several days, confusing the strategic response of government forces," added the police source. Cabo Delgado police spokesman Augusto Guto said that "defence and security forces are on the ground hunting the attackers". The May 27 bloodshed 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 Cabo Delgado. - 'An alarming deterioration' - Wednesday's slayings ocurred roughly 100 kilometres (62 miles) from Pemba, a town that is an emerging tourist destination. In October, armed men targeted a police station and military post in the regional town of Mocimboa da Praia in what was believed to be the first jihadist attack on the country. Two officers died and 14 attackers were killed. "It is an alarming deterioration. It has contributed to a climate of uncertainty and fear in Cabo Delgado," said Alex Vines, a Mozambique expert at the London-based Chatham House think-tank. "International investors are asking questions about the ability of the Mozambican authorities to both contain and counter this emerging problem." The group, often described by locals and officials as "Al-Shabaab", has no known link to the Somali jihadist group of the same name. In the weeks following the initial attacks, at least 300 Muslims, including Tanzanians, were arrested and several mosques were forced to close. Signal Risk, an Africa-focused consultancy, said that "the group goes by different names... and has about 1,000 members". "It is deemed unlikely that the group will formalise a relationship with the Islamic State group or any other Islamist extremist network given that criminality may serve as the primary motivation for (their) actions," they added. Analysts have previously suggested group members may have used proceeds from organised crime, including timber, gemstones and narcotics trafficking, to travel abroad to Tanzania and Democratic Republic of Congo to receive training in guerilla tactics. The increase in attacks in the north of the country could pose serious issues for Mozambique, which holds general elections next year and is hoping for a bonanza from the recently-discovered gas reserves. The vast deposits discovered off the shores of Palma could transform the impoverished country's economy. Experts predict that Mozambique could even become the world's third-largest exporter of liquefied natural gas. The north has largely been excluded from the economic growth of the last 20 years, and the region sees itself as a neglected outpost, creating fertile ground for radical Al-Shabaab-style ideology. According to official statistics, 17 percent of Mozambicans are Muslim but Islamic leaders say the real figure could be double that. In Mocimboa, more than half of the population is Muslim. Mozambique last month passed an anti-terrorism law that punishes terror activity with prison sentences of more than 40 years. Mozambique's Cabo Delgado province, where large deposits of natural gas have been found offshore, has suffered a spate of suspected jihadists attacks since October Police believe the same jihadist group responsible for Thursday's attack hacked seven people to death in Naude on June 5 Fighter jets, helicopters and thousands of troops in Taiwan fought back a simulated Chinese invasion Thursday as the self-ruled island faces increasing military and diplomatic pressure from Beijing. Relations between Taipei and Beijing have deteriorated since President Tsai Ing-wen was elected in 2016, as her government refuses to acknowledge that Taiwan is part of "one China". Live-fire drills began Monday with troops simulating surprise air and coastal assaults to reflect increased military threats from China, which sees Taiwan as a renegade province to be brought back into the fold -- by force if necessary. Tsai watched Thursday's session of the ongoing "Han Kuang" (Han Glory) exercise involving 4,100 soldiers, attack helicopters and fighter jets from an air base in Taichung. Thursday's scenario simulated the enemy bombing of an airfield and a paratrooper attack, with air and ground troops deployed to take back the base. An F-16 fighter flew overhead and deployed flares in a defensive move against heat-seeking missiles. Special operations troops were seen moving to secure a building. "I have seen our troops' capabilities and I have faith that our troops can achieve the goal of 'solid defence and multiple deterrence'," Tsai said. China held its own live-fire drills in April in the Taiwan Strait -- the narrow waterway separating the Chinese mainland from Taiwan -- following weeks of air and naval manoeuvres in the area. Beijing has also stepped up diplomatic pressure on Taipei, luring four countries to switch allegiance from Taiwan to China since Tsai took office. China has been incensed by a recent warming in relations between Taiwan and the United States, which remains the island's most powerful ally and arms supplier even though it has no official diplomatic ties. President Donald Trump recently signed a symbolic bill paving the way for mutual visits by high-level officials and Washington gave long-awaited approval for a licence necessary to sell submarine technology to Taiwan. A defence spending bill currently before congress in Washington calls on the US military to participate in Taiwan's drills, including the annual Han Kuang exercise. "We are optimistic about all exchanges with the US as long as it's about national security, and regional peace and stability," defence ministry spokesman Chen Chung-chi said when asked to comment on American participation in Taiwan's drills. On Monday, the pilot of an F-16 jet involved in the drills was killed after crashing into a mountain in northern Taiwan. The cause of the incident was under investigation. The scenario simulated the enemy bombing of an airfield and a paratrooper attack, with the deployment of fighter jets, attack helicopters and ground troops to take back the base The drills simulate a Chinese "invasion," involving surprise air and coastal assaults to reflect increased military threats from China Beijing has also stepped up diplomatic pressure on Taipei, luring four countries to switch allegiance from Taiwan to China since Tsai took office Donald Trump's attorney said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un begged "on his hands and knees" for a summit with the US president, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. "They... said they were going to go to nuclear war with us, they were going to defeat us in a nuclear war," Rudy Giuliani told a Tel Aviv investment conference, according to the newspaper. "We said we're not going to have a summit under those circumstances." "Well, Kim Jong Un got back on his hands and knees and begged for it, which is exactly the position you want to put him in," Giuliani said. The Trump attorney said that with the summit rescheduled, the United States has the upper hand. Singapore's foreign minister will make a two-day trip to Pyongyang starting Thursday, as preparations for the Trump-Kim summit in the city-state accelerate. The announcement came a day after the White House revealed that the historic June 12 meeting between the US and North Korean leaders will take place in a luxury hotel on Singapore's resort island of Sentosa. The summit is due to be held following a rapid detente between Pyongyang and Washington -- as well as South Korea -- in a turn-around from a dramatic escalation of tensions last year, when the North ratcheted up its weapons programme. Donald Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani reportedly said that North Korea's leader "begged" for a summit with the US president Remember When What kind of sound brings you into a reflective or peaceful place? Maybe the wind blowing the leaves around or... Art of Achievement returns with a new award and venue; nominations are open now With the COVID pandemic raging last year, 2020 was nothing short of extraordinary. The disruption was so extensive that we... Wheres the voters fraud? As a resident of Davison Township, I see township clerk campaign signs saying Stop Voter Fraud. What is she talking... Kids need additional supports outside the classroom now more than ever For the first time in a year and a half, the majority of Michigans kids are back in the classroom,... Summits of the Group of Seven powers are often marred by anti-globalist demonstrations in the streets of the host city. This time, the greatest threat to the liberal world order will be inside the fence. President Donald Trump comes to this week's Quebec G7, which begins Friday, touting an America First agenda that hits US allies with trade tariffs and threatens multilateral free trade deals. His stance will receive such a hostile reception from the other leaders of the world's richest democracies that some observers have suggested renaming the G7 summit the G6+1. Trump may well be distracted by preparations for his June 12 summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, which will be in Singapore immediately after the rich world talking shop in Canada. But it is not such a stretch to imagine that the US leader will enjoy a warmer encounter with the autocrat from Pyongyang than with his Canadian hosts and European and Japanese allies. And leaders like Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel admit it will be difficult to even agree a joint communique at the two-day meeting. "We know certainly that there will be frank and sometimes difficult discussions around the G7 table, particularly with the US president on tariffs," Trudeau told reporters. - All-out trade war - Merkel told German lawmakers Wednesday before setting off for Canada that there would be "no compromise for its own sake" and that dropping the statement "may be the more honest way." But Trump's decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum -- and eventually other goods, such as German luxury cars -- have pushed G7 members to the brink of all-out trade war. Canada's Trade Minister Francois Philippe Champagne was more blunt, declaring: "What we are seeing is that the world economic order is under pressure, under attack." And Trump is not likely to back down. "There are disagreements," top White House economics advisor Larry Kudlow told reporters Wednesday. "He is sticking to his guns." Kudlow, in common with the longstanding expert consensus in the G7 nations, had long opposed tariffs before joining Trump's team, but now says he agrees that the trade status quo hurts America. "Until we can have reciprocal relationships we will not have free trade, and we will not have fair trade," Kudlow said. "So I think his cause is just and I think the rest of the world agrees with him." Europe does not come to Quebec from a position of strength. Britain's Theresa May is mired in endless Brexit negotiations and Italian premier Giuseppe Conte only formally took power on Wednesday. French President Emmanuel Macron made initial headway in forming a public friendship with Trump, but has failed to sway the US leader on any issue, while Merkel has been distracted by coalition negotiations. The G7's only Asian member, Japan, has close relations with the White House, but Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's support for Trump's North Korean outreach has not seen his country spared the tariffs. So the prospect of a joint communique encompassing trade seems faint, and the summit may be capped by a simple statement from the hosts summarizing the narrow areas of consensus. A senior European Union official briefing reporters on the pre-summit negotiations used discreet understatement to describe the impasse, but only ended up underscoring the width of the rift. "We find the tariffs to be illegal, so finding common language continues to be a challenge," he said. - End of the world order - The G7 developed in part because the world's rich powers -- despite their supposed Cold War victory -- became frustrated in working through the broader multilateral system with lesser rivals. The globalized economy that they helped build had winners and losers, of course, but until Trump's election the United States was seen as the system's uncontested leader and a major beneficiary. But now, according to Laurence Nardon of the French Institute for International Relations (IFRI), one of the main actors on the international stage is no longer following the same script. "It completely calls into question the international system," she told AFP. "This G7 summit is a new act in the drama. So far, the six are standing strong, but Trump has not finished. William Reinsch, a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, said he expected the other six nations of the G7 to "gang up" on Trump. "The president's proclivity, though, you know, when criticized is consistently to hit back," he added. Since coming to office in January last year, Trump has pulled the US out of the Paris climate accord, the Iran nuclear deal and the TPP Pacific free trade deal. - Feting US foes? - While cozying up to authoritarian Chinese leader Xi Jinping, the Philippines' brutal Rodrigo Duterte, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and even Kim -- he has clashed with May, Trudeau and Merkel. "And it feels like we are treating our allies with contempt, while we are feting our adversaries," said Heather Conley, a CSIS senior vice president, warning that any consensus statement would be "very short." The summit begins on Friday in La Malbaie, in Charlevoix, north of Quebec, and runs until Saturday, when Trump will fly on to Singapore. President Donald Trump comes to the Quebec G7 touting an America First agenda that hits allies US with trade tariffs and threatens multilateral free trade deals Europe and hosts Canada warned US President Donald Trump on Thursday that they will not be intimidated at the G7 summit, despite fears that a trade war will weaken the Western alliance. With the leaders of the Group of Seven industrialized democracies due in Quebec, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned the US leader that they would not roll over on trade tariffs. And France's President Emmanuel Macron, who met Trudeau in Ottawa before they headed on to the summit, said he would rally support from his British, German and Italian counterparts before they all sit down with Trump. "The American President may not mind being isolated, but neither do we mind signing a six country agreement if need be," Macron tweeted in English, turning to the medium Trump has made his own. "Because these six countries represent values, they represent an economic market which has the weight of history behind it and which is now a true international force." Trump, of course, responded in kind. "Please tell Prime Minister Trudeau and President Macron that they are charging the US massive tariffs and create non-monetary barriers," he tweeted. "The EU trade surplus with the US is $151 Billion, and Canada keeps our farmers and others out. Look forward to seeing them tomorrow." "Why isn't the European Union and Canada informing the public that for years they have used massive Trade Tariffs and non-monetary Trade Barriers against the U.S.," he later added. "Take down your tariffs & barriers or we will more than match you!" Trump, who met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Washington before the summit, may be more preoccupied with next week's historic nuclear summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. But before leaving Washington, he made clear that he too has no intention of backing down on his plan to rebalance trade by imposing tariffs on steel, aluminum and other goods imported from US allies. - All-out trade war - So great is the rift between traditional allies that some observers have suggested renaming the G7 summit the G6+1 -- and Macron said they should not hesitate to reach agreements without Trump. But observers point out that the group has never before failed to agree on some form of final communique, even in 1985, when they were likewise divided over trade. Despite the threat that tensions over trade could tear the Western alliance apart and damage the cause of globalization and free trade, the usual group of anti-capitalist protesters gathered. The main meetings will be held two-and-a-half hours north of Quebec City -- and of the international media center housing most of the reporters following the summit -- in La Malbaie, Charlevoix. But a small group of around 400 protesters had gathered in the provincial capital anyway on Thursday night, and were confronted by a large police operation to contain them. As night fell crowds gathered near the conference media center, some of them burning G7 flags and assaulting journalists. Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel had already admitted it will be difficult to even agree on wording for the traditional joint communique at the two-day meeting. Merkel said Wednesday there would be "no compromise for its own sake" and dropping the statement "may be the more honest way." Canada's Trade Minister Francois Philippe Champagne was even more blunt, declaring: "What we are seeing is that the world economic order is under pressure, under attack." Top White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow opposed tariffs before joining Trump's team, but now says he agrees the trade status quo hurts America. "Until we can have reciprocal relationships, we will not have free trade, and we will not have fair trade," Kudlow said. - End of the world order - The G7 developed in part because the world's rich powers -- despite their Cold War victory -- became frustrated working through the broader multilateral system with lesser rivals. The globalized economy they helped build had both winners and losers but, until Trump's election, the United States was seen as the system's uncontested leader and a major beneficiary. But since coming to office in January 2017, Trump has pulled the US out of the Paris climate accord, the Iran nuclear deal and the TPP Pacific free trade deal. The summit begins Friday in La Malbaie, in Charlevoix, north of Quebec, and runs until Saturday, when Trump flies on to Singapore. French President Emmanuel Macron (L) and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (R) presented a common front in Ottawa before heading to the G7 summit President Donald Trump comes to the Quebec G7 touting an America First agenda that hits allies US with trade tariffs and threatens multilateral free trade deals Protestors march near riot police during an anti-G7 demonstration in Quebec City on the eve of the leaders' summit German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday that there would be "no compromise for its own sake" at the G7 summit Flags fly over the Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu hotel, the location for the G7 summit in La Malbaie, Quebec Ukrainian lawmakers on Thursday approved key legislation to create a long-awaited anti-corruption court while also voting to dismiss the country's finance minister, a respected reformer backed by the West. A total of 254 lawmakers in the 450-seat parliament supported a motion submitted by Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman to sack Oleksandr Danylyuk. The 42-year-old anti-corruption campaigner ruffled many feathers as he sought to clean up the former Soviet country's fiscal and customs services. He is supported by global donors including the International Monetary Fund and his dismissal is expected to raise concern among Ukraine's lenders and foreign governments. In another crucial development expected to be received more favourably by the West, the parliament approved in the second and final reading a draft law to create an anti-corruption court -- a key IMF condition for it to distribute more aid to Ukraine. President Petro Poroshenko hailed the move as a "victory for Ukraine" after 315 lawmakers supported the legislation, with just 25 voting against. "I believe this is a historic day," Poroshenko said in parliament. "Today we have completed the formation of anti-corruption infrastructure," he added on Twitter. - 'Corruption threatens security' - Ukraine's Western allies have long called on Kiev to reform the country's kleptocratic system and create an independent court to handle corruption cases. The State Department said this week the legislation should satisfy the IMF which has long insisted that international experts should have veto power in the appointment of Ukrainian judges to root out corruption and speed up economic growth "The establishment of a genuinely independent anti-corruption court is the most important, immediate step the government can take to meet those demands and roll back corruption that continues to threaten Ukraine's national security, prosperity, and democratic development," Washington said. Poroshenko said the legislation adopted Thursday was in line with Western recommendations and Ukrainian law. Poroshenko initially balked at the idea of creating an independent anti-corruption court, saying in 2017 that such institutions existed in "Kenya, Uganda, Malaysia and Croatia" but not in western Europe or the United States. The IMF and the World Bank have in the past criticised Ukraine's draft legislation for the anti-corruption court, saying it was not in line with Western requirements. The IMF said Thursday it needed time to review the legislation. "The IMF staff look forward to reviewing the approved law to assess its consistency with agreements under the IMF-supported program," said Goesta Ljungman, the organisation's Ukraine representative. Reformist lawmaker Sergiy Leshchenko, writing on Twitter, expressed hope that the creation of the anti-corruption court would "restore the confidence of international financial institutions and support the hryvnya," the country's currency. - 'Good reputation' - Over the past years, global lenders have provided Ukraine -- which is locked in a conflict with Russian-backed rebels -- with billions of dollars of financing to allow its stricken economy to stay afloat. After Danylyuk's dismissal the government appointed his first deputy, Oksana Markarova, acting finance minister. "In Ukraine and abroad, she has a good reputation among technocrats and reformers," Tymofiy Mylovanov, an associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh, told AFP. Mylovanov, who is also honorary president at the Kyiv School of Economics, said Danylyuk's sacking could be seen as "a bad sign for relations with creditors, agencies and markets" but added it was more important for the IMF that Ukraine had adopted the legislation for the anti-corruption court. Ukrainian media reported last week that Danylyuk wrote a letter to the Group of Seven nations, complaining the government was trying to hamper his efforts to push through fiscal and other reforms and accusing officials of "corruption (and) vested interests." Addressing lawmakers before the vote, Danylyuk said he had been accused of "defending the interests of international organisations." "I am defending the interests of Ukrainians," he added. Danylyuk said Wednesday he "had faced colossal pressure over the past year" and accused the authorities of corruption. "I was given a choice -- either leave or become an accomplice," he said. Corruption was among top reasons that prompted Ukrainians to take to the streets and oust a Kremlin-backed regime in 2014. Danylyuk had the backing of the IMF and western governments A woman who faked a pregnancy for several months has been found guilty of fatally shooting a former co-worker and kidnapping the victims newborn baby with the intention of raising the child as her own. Yesenia Sesmas, from Texas, US, was found guilty of first-degree premeditated and intentional murder, kidnapping and interference with parental custody at Sedgwick County on Tuesday. Prosecutors said she shot 27-year-old Laura Abarca on November 17, 2016, at Abarcas Wichita apartment and abducted six-day-old Sophia Gonzales. The baby was found safe less than two days after the abduction at Sesmas apartment in Dallas and was returned to relatives in Wichita. According to authorities and evidence at the trial, Sesmas, a 36-year-old Mexican national, faked a pregnancy for months after she lost her unborn child. After finding out Abarca had given birth, Sesmas drove to Wichita and shot her in the head before taking the baby back to Texas. The two women had worked together at a Wichita restaurant years earlier. Yesenia Sesmas is accused of killing Laura Abaca and kidnapping her six-day-old child in November 2016. Source: Bo Rader/The Wichita Eagle via AP The trial centered on Sesmas intentions when she went to Abarcas apartment, The Wichita Eagle reported . Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett told jurors during closing arguments on Tuesday that after Sesmas had faked a pregnancy, prepared a home for a new baby and had a baby shower, she reached the point where she was either going to have to come home with a baby or explain her lies to those who knew her. When she walked into that apartment on Novermber 17, 2016, there were only two ways for this to end, Bennett said. Sesmas went back to Texas thinking she would wake up and raise that baby and her life would begin, he said. In interviews with investigators and the media, Sesmas has maintained that Abarca had agreed to give her Sophia but rescinded the offer after the girl was born. Story continues Laura Abarcas six-day-old daughter was taken by Sesmas. Source: GoFundMe She said she didnt plan to kill Abarca and took a gun to the apartment only to threaten her into turning over Sophia. She didnt know that it (the gun) was going to fire and she was surprised when it did, public defender Jason Smartt said during closing arguments. She didnt intend to kill Laura. Jurors deliberated for less than three hours before reaching their verdict. Sesmas faces life in prison plus the possibility of additional time when she is sentenced on July 13. The Cayuga Economic Development Agency was formed in 2009 and then added two new specialists in 2014: the economic development specialist and the business development specialist. Over the past four years, CEDA has aided with the startup and growth of numerous Cayuga County businesses. After recently redefining these two specialist positions, we are pleased to continue this business assistance with the addition of a new staff member, Derek Simmonds. Maureen Riester is also continuing as one of CEDAs specialists, but with a new focus. Derek is filling the business development specialist position. Prior to CEDA, Derek spent five years at Seneca County Cornell Cooperative Extension working as an agriculture economic development specialist, advising farmers and agricultural processors on business issues and organizing the Finger Lakes Craft Beverage Conference. Before that, he worked at Onondaga County Cornell Cooperative Extension for two years as a food systems educator. Previously, Derek worked in Ecuador, managing a U.S. Agency for International Development project focused on diversifying livelihoods and building local capacity in a rural coastal community. He was also in Peace Corps Malawi, working as a natural resources extension agent. Derek holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst Isenberg School of Management and a Master of Science degree from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. He grew up in the Auburn area and currently lives in the town of Owasco with his wife and two children. As the business development specialist, Derek focuses primarily on assisting entrepreneurs, startups and existing small businesses. If you are a small or new business owner or entrepreneur, you may want to sit down with Derek to confidentially discuss your business idea, review your business plan, assess financial projections or brainstorm your marketing strategy. A main part of his role is to connect these entrepreneurs and business owners with local resources and potential partners, such as accountants, lawyers, financial institutions, marketing firms, etc. One example of this is when Maureen, in her previous role, worked with Mike and Pam Parks to provide assistance as they were opening L.B. Lightning Cyclery in downtown Auburn. Mike and Pam wanted to turn their hobby of building, fixing and restoring bikes into a small business, but were looking for some local guidance. Maureen assisted them by reviewing their business plan, connecting them with local events that could help to boost their business, introducing them to local professionals and bike enthusiasts, and connecting them with Cayuga-Onondaga BOCESs Graphic Design & New Media class to have a logo designed. Derek will be continuing this work, and we are confident that Dereks local background and regional experience will be a great asset to Cayuga Countys entrepreneurs and small business owners. Ride the Lightning: Bicycle retail, repair shop opening in downtown Auburn AUBURN Mike Parks spent the majority of his life in Washington, D.C. An employee of the st Maureen Riester, meanwhile, has taken on the position of economic development specialist. In this role, she will focus on retention and expansion of larger existing businesses, as well as business attraction. For the latter, she stays apprised of the available commercial sites and buildings and sells the benefits of expanding or relocating businesses to Cayuga County. She will be visiting the existing businesses throughout Cayuga County to assess their needs and challenges, and making the appropriate connections to local, regional, state or federal resources necessary for them to remain in the county and grow. Maureens work with DuMond Ag is a great example of how she can help introduce an existing business to new resources. About a year ago, Maureen assisted DuMond Ag with its business plan to expand and build a non-solvent soybean processing plant at its headquarters in the town of Fleming. CEDA then helped it navigate the Consolidated Funding Application process to apply for an Empire State Development grant and excelsior tax credits, which they were awarded last December. This award prompted DuMond Ag to put its plan for investment and job creation into motion. Knowing it would require more electricity at its location to power the new plant, Maureen connected the business to longtime client Doug Hirsh, who happened to have a vertical wind turbine on its way to a test site in upstate New York. Rather than putting it at the test site, it was an ideal partnership to erect the turbine in Fleming, where its energy could be utilized and it might find a permanent home. Maureen is a Cayuga County native and graduate of RITs College of Business, where she was a member of the business honor society Beta Gamma Sigma. Her work history includes sales, marketing, account management, product management and counseling. She is an active volunteer, serving on multiple local boards and committees, including IGNITE and the Auburn SCORE chapter. Her local upbringing, work history and four years of experience as CEDAs business development specialist make her a great resource to any Cayuga County business. CEDA is actively working on new opportunities to create jobs and improve our quality of life in Cayuga County. Keep in mind that the connections CEDA makes and the assistance we provide may not always happen in a traditional way, so it is worth the time to make a phone call and see what might be available to help your business start or grow. While not every opportunity comes to fruition, it is important that we focus on every win that builds our community. Projecting a positive image is what will prove Cayuga County is the best place to start or grow your business. To start or grow your business, contact our specialists at mriester@cayugaeda.org or dsimmonds@cayugaeda.org. Tracy Verrier is the executive director of the Cayuga Economic Development Agency and Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce. For more information about the agency, visit cayugaeda.org. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 By her own account, Holly Jones did everything right. She graduated from Auburn High School, went on to college and got a degree in business and communications from SUNY Albany and then secured a full-time job. But somehow, she still found herself unemployed and desperately seeking work. After working at the same company for eight years out of school, Jones decided it was time for a career change. But a week and a half into her new job, she was laid off. "I felt like a rug had been pulled out from under me, Jones said. "I thought, 'I went to college, I'm good.' You don't ever think your employment could be in jeopardy." Jones will share her experience with unemployment at 12:30 p.m. Saturday during a Unity Picnic at Booker T. Washington Community Center. The picnic, hosted by a group of Auburn churches, will be a listening session for people in the community suffering from economic hardship caused by unemployment and underemployment. People will have the opportunity to share their experiences or just sit and listen. Free lunch and children's activities will be provided. "We as churches are called to cry out for justice and walk in solidarity with those who are suffering, our neighbors and friends," pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church Rev. Patrick Heery said. The event is being sponsored by All Auburn Churches, a group of about a dozen churches of all denominations that came together earlier this year to "work together for the wellbeing of our community," said Heery, whose church is part of the group. Other churches and organizations involved in the group include: First Presbyterian Church, Auburn United Methodist Church, Auburn First Church of God in Christ, The Apostolic Church of our Lord Jesus Christ, Harriet Tubman Church, Lakes Church, The Vineyard, Sacred Heart Catholic Church, St. Ann's Catholic Church, Saints Peter and John Episcopal Church, Harriet Tubman Center for Justice and Peace, NAACP and Cayuga County Area Interfaith Ministries. The church group was inspired by a movement called the Poor People's Campaign, a national call to "challenge the evils of systemic racism, poverty, the war economy, ecological devastation and the nation's distorted morality," according to the campaign's website. Auburn transplant Debra Brillati learned about the campaign when she was studying at Andover Newton Theological School in Massachusetts. When she moved to Auburn in 2015 with her husband, she wanted to bring the message of the campaign to the city. In May, Brillati attended protests in Albany and was arrested on May 22 while taking part in a demonstration at the state Capitol. "As a Christian, I feel that I need to stand up in the public square and say this is not what Christ is about," Brillati said. "Christ was about feeding the hungry and helping the poor. I'm at a place in life where I'm able to do this. Many of the people who are most affected are the ones who can't do it. I need to stand for the people who are unable to stand up for themselves." After nearly five months of being unemployed, Jones found a new job and has been working there for about a year and a half. In February, when Jones heard the news that Cayuga Centers was closing its residential treatment program in Auburn and cutting about 120 staff members, her heart went out to those who were going to be impacted. As a member of All Auburn Churches, she brought her concern to the group and they began planning Saturday's picnic. Jones said she hopes the event will inspire people and show them that they're not going through times of hardship alone. "We want to encourage those that are going through it that better days are coming," Jones said. "It might not seem like it right now, but things are going to get better." Staff writer Natalie Brophy can be reached at (315)282-2239 or natalie.brophy@lee.net. Follow her on Twitter @brophy_natalie. Love 2 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. AUBURN Last month, a Cayuga County probation officer made a surprise visit at Brian Swan's home in Genoa and found methamphetamine, scales and plastic baggies spread throughout his room, and on Thursday, Swan admitted his intent to sell some of the drug. Swan, 31, of 1244 Route 34, pleaded guilty in Cayuga County Court Thursday to third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a class B felony. His plea satisfied two other charges, seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and second-degree criminal use of drug paraphernalia, class A misdemeanors. During his plea, Swan said he possessed more than 1/8 of an ounce of methamphetamine on May 12, and while he intended to use some of it himself, he also planned to sell some of it to support his own addiction. "I'm an addict," he said. "I intended to sell some of it to support my addiction so I could get more." In exchange for his plea of guilty, Cayuga County District Attorney Jon Budelmann recommended Swan be sentenced to no more than three years in prison and three years post-release supervision. That would make Swan eligible for a shock camp order, which would allow him to serve the majority of his sentence on parole supervision while receiving intensive substance abuse treatment. Swan was previously sentenced to five years probation in 2014 for third-degree attempted burglary. As a second felony offender, he could face up to 12 years in prison. Swan was remanded to Cayuga County Jail without bail. His sentencing was scheduled for Aug. 9. Also in court A Cayuga County man was rated a level 3 sex offender for having sex with an underage girl. Joseph Kowal, 30, of 5555 W. Lake Road, Fleming, appeared in Cayuga County Court Thursday for a sex offender risk level assessment. Kowal was sentenced to two years in prison and five years post-release supervision in 2016 for third-degree rape. Budelmann said Kowal had a "sexual relationship" with a 16-year-old girl in 2013. Then, he said, the girl became pregnant, and Kowal fled to another state to evade police. Kowal was ultimately extradited to New York in April 2015 after an unrelated arrest in Florida. He ended up pleading guilty to third-degree rape in July 2016. Following some extensive input from the district attorney and Kowal's defense attorney, Rome Canzano regarding Kowal's criminal record, history of substance abuse and acceptance of responsibility Judge Leone found Kowal was a non-violent level 3 sex offender. Level 3 offenders are deemed a high risk to reoffend and must register as a sex offender for life. Kowal is currently incarcerated at Mohawk Correctional Facility. He is scheduled to be released July 6. Staff writer Megan Blarr can be reached at (315) 282-2282 or megan.blarr@lee.net. Follow her on Twitter @CitizenBlarr. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 2 Sad 1 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. In a historic ruling, an Oklahoma judge found Johnson & Johnson helped fuel the state's opioid drug crisis and ordered the company to pay $572 million to help abate the problem. The following was letter was sent this week to members of the U.S. Congress: I am writing on behalf of the News Media Alliance, which represents 2,000 news organizations across the United States and globally. In an effort to create a more transparent advertising ecosystem, Facebook has imposed a new policy for registering and labeling political ads. While we understand the reasons for the new policy and support its goals, we believe that the new policy sweeps within its scope materials that are not political ads but are instead promotion of news coverage of political issues, and that thus the impact of the policy will jeopardize the news medias ability to play its critical role in society as the fourth estate by improperly characterizing such news coverage as political advertising. Facebook has become one of the primary sources of news and information for current events and politics around the world. Because voters rely on Facebook for news, including political coverage, Congress has rightfully become concerned over its influence on state and federal elections, and Facebook is attempting to respond to these concerns. However, Facebook has hastily overcorrected with a system that throws any and all sources of content into a political advocacy archive. A thoughtful response to the concerns would have taken into account the significant differences between political advertising and news/editorial coverage of political events and would have excluded the latter from the reach of the new rules. News publications are only categorized as advertising in the first place because of Facebooks decision earlier this year to prioritize posts from friends and deprioritize content from news publishers. This decision contradicts Facebooks own claims that 56 percent of their users say they want more news, yet it still remains unclear why the algorithm would be adjusted to work adverse to those interests. Nevertheless, in light of this new policy, many news publishers now find it necessary to promote their articles through paid advertising so that they can reach their readers with valuable content. Facebook is forcing publishers to make a choice between labeling that is fundamentally counter to who we are and what we do, or to walk back our presence on a dominant platform for news consumption and discovery. By conflating reporting and politics, Facebook is further contributing to the erosion of trust of the news media, and potentially reducing access to critical insights by depriving people from independently assessing and ultimately understanding key issues. Facebook is undermining the core outcome it is trying to strengthen. We cannot and will not engage in any process that conflates legitimate news-reporting with political advocacy. We ask you to support the news media industry by holding a set of hearings that will cover these issues and possible solutions, similar to the series of hearings that have been held in UK to uncover these abuses. Topics should include examining the issue raised in this letter and treatment of news as political advocacy; consideration of legislation that would allow for news media to collectively negotiate with the tech platforms and avoid decisions like the one identified in this letter; and a look at the algorithms lack of transparency that veils bad behavior. We are deeply concerned about this new policy to treat reputable news as political advocacy and we call upon your leadership to engage on this issue and to help us course correct what could be an irreparable moment in the history of news. Chavern is president and CEO of the News Media Alliance. Visit newsmediaalliance.org to learn more. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Congressman John Katkos recent votes on tax cuts and federal spending demonstrate his commitment to furthering American energy innovation and economic development in Upstate New York. The FitzPatrick and Nine Mile Point nuclear power plants will certainly benefit from the FY 2018 omnibus bill Congressman Katko supported earlier this year, which provides $1.2 billion for the Department of Energys nuclear energy programs and supports critical energy research under the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy and the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. In addition, he voted to extend the nuclear production tax credit (PTC). The congressman also backed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act at the end of 2017, offering relief for countless entrepreneurs and startups in New Yorks clean energy industries, as well as saving major utilities millions of dollars. He then wrote the New York State Public Service Commission to urge them to pass along savings to ratepayers; subsequently, the commission approved National Grids proposal to ensure that its $75 million in tax savings are indeed passed on to customers over their new three-year rate plan at the same time as the company is investing $2.5 billion in energy infrastructure. These are commonsense strategies to meeting New Yorks energy goals and will generate great returns for years to come, which should appeal to voters across the political spectrum. I commend Congressman Katko for his leadership and encourage him to continue his advocacy for domestic energy solutions. Heather Reams Washington Reams is managing director of Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions Love 6 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 2 After ridiculing Stormy Daniels appearance and stating that porn stars desecrate women, porn stars dont respect women, on Wednesday, Donald Trumps personal lawyer and public spokesperson Rudy Giuliani continued his attack against the porn industry on Thursday in an interview with CNN. In the interview, Giuliani called porn a slimy business and claimed that feminists must, by definition, oppose porn. "If you're a feminist and you support the porn industry, you should turn in your credentials," Giuliani told CNNs Dana Bash Thursday morningcomments that came after he said in an interview in Israel the day before that women who work in the porn industry lack credibility and dont have a reputation. If youre involved in a sort of slimy business, [that] says something about you. Says something about how far youll go to make money, Giuliani said in his Thursday remarks. Our real point about [Daniels] is that shes not just generally uncredible, shes uncredible from the point of view of wanting to get money. Shes a con artist. In comments made in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Wednesday, Giuliani not only attacked Daniels' credibility and reputation, he also ridiculed her appearance, saying, Just look at her, and wincing when comparing her to Trumps three beautiful wives. Giuliani also spoke to interviewer Hallie Jackson on the MSNBC cable network Thursday, who asked him if he wanted to retract his derogatory comments about Daniels, and about women who work in porn, generally. Why would I withdraw them? the 74-year-old former New York mayor said. Youre going to tell me that being involved in pornography isnt demeaning to women? Daniels' attorney Michael Avenatti labeled Giuliani an absolute pig over the comments, and called on Trump to fire him as his lawyer. My client Stormy Daniels should be celebrated for her courage, strength and intelligence. She is one of the most credible people I have ever met regardless of gender. Period. I would put her character up against Mr. Giulianis any day of the week, Avenatti said on his Twitter account. If any attorney for any Fortune 500 company made the public comments that Giuliani did yesterday (which he affirmed this morning), they would be immediately fired. Giuliani must be fired by Mr. Trump NOW. Otherwise, it sends a message to the world that the comments are acceptable. As of Thursday afternoon, Trump himself had not made a public comment about his lawyers remarks. Trump, of course, is the target of two lawsuits filed this year by Daniels and Avenatti: one over a hush agreement barring her from speaking about her sexual encounter with him in 2006, and a second accusing Trump of defaming her. But according to longtime MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski, Trump himself not only had sex with Daniels, a porn star, but is a fan of porn himself. I know someone who spoke to Donald Trump recently about life in the White House, and Donald Trumps biggest complaint was that hes not allowed to watch porn in the White House, Brzezinski, a longtime Washington D.C insider whose father was Carter administration National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, said on the Thursday Morning Joe program. So there you go; theres a little bit of news for you. He's upset that he can't watch porn in the White House. The Morning Joe host also labeled Giuliani a misogynistic fool over his remarks about Daniels and porn performers. "Are you kidding me? 'Just look at Stormy Daniels? Just look at yourself. Are you kidding me? At this moment, where we are with women, you're going to ask us to just look at her?" an outraged Brzezinski said. Photos by LasVegasVegas.com/Medija centar Beograd/Wikimedia Commons MIAMI BEACH, Fla.While its hard to imagine living without access to completes and technologies these days, it wasnt that long ago we were just learning about business machines and the names Dell, Apple and IBM. In a short amount of time, computers have come to do amazing things, and now adult industry companies are ready to embrace all that technology can offer. To that end, Rock Solida brand by LucomUSAis instituting 3D interactive imaging. 3D interactive imaging is an advancement in internet web technology that allows users to virtually see and control. In the adult business, it allows buyers to see manufacturers products and really view them: the products can be viewed, then the image can be controlled to the viewers liking. Rock Solid and its 3D interactive imaging are part of LucomUSA, one of Richie Harris companies. Harris is best known in the pleasure products industry for heading up the pjur USA Group for 22 years. He recently exited pjur Group USA to focus on his other projects. Additionally, Harris company Global Brand Management Consulting Services is working with other companies and offering this as one of its services. Those interested in learning more about 3D interactive imaging, visit RockSolid.world to see examples of the technology. The technology will be on full display at the ANME Founders Show next month in Burbank, Calif. LOS ANGELESWith the intent of changing the sexual enhancement category of the adult industry, Rock On is focusing on Natural Sexual Energy with its new formulas and flavors. Rock Ons new male shot Power gets right to the point of the consumer benefit of Sexual Energy leaving no doubt of what it is for. Rock On natural female enhancement sexual energy shot Passion features a combination of natural energy support and supplements to promote sexual stimulation, libido, desire, mood designed to enhance the female orgasm. Energy shots are so popular in every other retail environment from convenience stores, drug stores and even hardware stores because people are looking for that extra energy boost, said Rockn Products President Keith Caggiano Offering a sexual energy boost to couples who just made a big exciting purchase can ensure that they can be up, in tune and turned on to enjoy their time together. In recent years, the industry has seen the transition from using so-called sexual supplements for erectile dysfunction to now using them for that extra pep and zing in the bedroom. Rock On has been spearheading this change with their Recreational Enhancement approach to the category. Rock On recently a coveted 2018 O Award for Outstanding Sexual Enhancement or Supplement. Since Rock On was launched in 2009 it has been a multiple winner of the prestigious best sexual enhancement award in both 2012 and 2013. Rock On has also been featured at many Rock Concerts, events and famously received a cameo on TVs Bad Girls Club where all of the girls drank, what they called horny juice or Rock On sex shots for her and ended up in the hot tub with each other. The lines popularity over the years is based on its ability to appeal to men, women and couples and carved out a niche as a top selling line in both adult stores and on-line. For more information on the line of Rock On Sexual enhancement products, contact [email protected]. LOS ANGELESAdult retailer The Pleasure Chest has a months worth of event planned for celebrate Pride in Los Angeles in June. In-house workshops and outreach events are planned. Pleasure Chest was founded in the Stonewall era a few blocks from the Stonewall Inn. Pride is an important time of year for us as a company. Our yearly participation in Pride celebrations and our Pride programming gives us an opportunity to connect with our community in fun and meaningful ways, said Sarah Tomchesson, head of business operations. All month long, The Pleasure Chest is showing their love with a series of queer-themed workshops designed to give folks a safe space to explore identity, gender and sexuality. There will be classes on Queering Your Sex, Strapping On, Booty Play, Electroplay, and a range of S&M topics. During L.A. Pride weekend, the Outreach Team will be on hand at various events representing The Pleasure Chest with free giveaways, mini-workshops, and other sexy surprises. The highlight of the weekend will be in the Leather Tent at the Dyke Day LA event, where our team of Sex Specialists will be offering free mini-workshops on Queering Your Sex, Spanking, BDSM and Bondage Basics. Wherever you end up at Pride, look out for the colorful crew wearing Pleasure Chest t-shirts and grab some free pins, fans, and maybe a spanking or two. Pride Focused In-Store Workshops at Pleasure Chest Los Angeles: Wednesday, June 6 - Strap On, Get Off 8-10 p.m. Wednesday, June 13 Feng Shui your Sex Life with Sunny Rodgers 8-10 p.m. Sunday, June 17 Gay Sex 7-9 p.m. Wednesday, June 20 Awaken Your Senses 8-10 p.m. Wednesday, June 27 Advanced Butt Sex 8-10 p.m. All workshops are free to attend and will be held at Pleasure Chest Los Angeles, 7733 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90046. No registration is required. Attendance is on a first come, first served basis. Full listing of workshop dates and times can be seen at ThePleasureChest.com/events. There is free parking int he stores lot. L.A. Pride Weekend Outreach Events: Friday, June 8 - Lez Croix L.A. Pride at the Airliner Nightclub in Lincoln Heights 9 p.m. to 2 a.m., 2419 North Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90031. Pleasure Chest staff on hand with games, prizes, giveaways and spankings. More info at Facebook.com. Pre-Sale tickets are $10 at RestlessNites.com/lezcroixpride. Saturday, June 9 - Dyke Day LA: A Pride Picnic in the Park at Montecillo de Leo Politi site noon to 6 p.m., Elysian Park, Los Angeles, CA 90012. Find Pleasure Chest staff at the Leather Tent giving mini Pleasure Ed. workshops, free giveaways and spankings. More info and event map at Facebook.com. This event is free to attend. Sunday, June 10 - Gay Pride Parade West Hollywood 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Santa Monica Boulevard between Fairfax and Doheny. Pleasure Chest staff on hand with giveaways and spankings. More info at LAPride.org. The LA Pride Parade is free to attend. For more information, visit ThePleasureChest.com. A Welsh consortium has secured 350,000 in funding for research into using an apple by-product to reduce levels of sugar and saturated fat in items such as cakes. The funding, from the Welsh Governments Food and Drink Division and Innovate UKs Small Business Research Initiative, will be used to develop a method of utilising apple pomace the solid residue that remains after milling and pressing of apples in juice and cider production. The resultant ingredient would then be able to provide texture in certain food products. Products aimed at children are a primary target of the research, as more than 40% of children in Wales are either overweight or obese by age 11. Apple pomace is a wonderful natural ingredient and weve discovered that it can be used to replace certain high-calorie ingredients such as fat, while enhancing the fibre content in popular school menu food items such as cakes, savoury dishes, gravy and sauces, said Dr Jonathan Hughes, MD at sustainable food technology specialist Pennotec. A key aim of the project is to make food and drink healthier and cheaper without sacrificing the flavour. It also intends to address the global issue of food wastage by making use of apple pomace, which would usually be disposed of, bringing a number of environmental and cost benefits. The company, based in Pwllheli, is undertaking the research in collaboration with Bangor Universitys BioComposites Centre, Coleg Menais Food Technology Centre and Cork company CyberColloids. Hughes added that the consortium was already in talks with retailers and food manufacturers. Like the rest of the UK and Europe, Wales generates thousands of tonnes of surplus fresh food resources like apples, a rich source of natural fibres, that never make it to the supermarket shelves because they are out-graded, surplus to requirements or are processed and only partly utilised, added Dr Adam Charlton of Bangor Universitys BioComposites Centre. In this project we are targeting the potential to use apple pomace to provide the texture for food instead of high-calorie ingredients such as fat. Apple pomace is gaining traction as an ingredient. A team of students from the University of Nottingham recently won the gold prize at Ecotrophelia UK a Dragons Den-style competition that challenges students to create an eco-friendly food and drink product for Pom Puffs, a snack made from extruded apple pomace and maize. Bank part of program run by environmental groups and governments to encourage 'decarbonization' and claiming, on paper, they're using 'green' energy "As a member of RE100, we envision a future where renewables are the mainstream choice of electricity for all global businesses, and where corporates are active participants in energy markets and policy debates." Ohio-based Fifth Third Bank claimed in a March press release it's theThe project is a $200-million, 80-megawatt solar facility slated for a 1,600-acre site in Hertford County.But when questioned by Carolina Journal about the claim, a company official acknowledged the solar facility wouldn't power any of the bank's 1,200 locations in 10 states, including North Carolina. Director of Sustainability Scott Hassell said the company willFifth Third's claims rest on the concept that a megawatt hour of renewable solar electricity generated in rural North Carolina can offset a megawatt hour produced by traditional utilities - from coal, nuclear, natural gas, or other sources - and used at one of the bank's locations. Fifth Third has 55 locations in 33 North Carolina cities. The Fifth Third solar farm is about 120 miles from Raleigh - the nearest Fifth Third Bank office.Fifth Third didn't come up with this concept on its own. The company is affiliated with RE100, a program launched in 2014 sponsored by the Climate Group and CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project). RE100 is aIn 2016, BankAmerica joined RE100 and committed to be 100 percent renewable by 2020. Wells Fargo Bank joined in RE100 and allegedly met its 100 percent renewable goal in 2017.RE100 uses its website and social media to urge its members to use their green claims to prod other companies into joining the offset business. A recent post stated:The goal? "Decarbonization" - ending the use of fossil fuels such as crude oil, natural gas, or coal."This optimism has led a momentum on climate action which has seen businesses leading the way in accelerating the transition to a zero-carbon economy, alongside cities, regions, and national governments committing to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions," the site says.Fifth Third and similar companies, including Apple, Google, and Amazon make green claims by securing power purchase agreements or Renewable Energy Certificates. They buy "green" power offsets, though the energy often in produced far from the businesses' physical locations. Companies rely on this concept to project an environmentally responsible public image.Indeed, Fifth Third's press release stated theIn 2016, less than 3 percent of the total electricity generated in North Carolina came from solar facilities, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Nationwide, solar generation in 2016 was less than 1 percent.The project "powering" Fifth Third, off N.C. Highway 11 in Hertford County between Ahoskie and Aulander, will be built and operated by Aulander Holloman Solar LLC, a subsidiary of Mooresville-based SunEnergy1. SunEnergy1 is one of the country's largest solar developers. Fifth Third will buy all the power generated by the project, estimated to be 194,000 megawatt hours per year.Hassell, of Fifth Third, told CJ the solar project should produce enough power to match the bank's estimated annual energy consumption. The bank signed a Power Purchase Agreement with SunEnergy1 to buy all the power at a fixed price per megawatt hour.The bank will resell the power to the regional transmission grid. Prices for the power will fluctuate along with the spot energy market. The difference between the energy Fifth Third actually buys from local utilities at its locations and the power produced in Hertford County will be reconciled monthly. The bank will get either a check or a bill from SunEnergy1 for the difference.He said the bank's contract let SunEnergy1 get a loan to build the project. Any profit or loss the bank makes from the energy transactions is confidential, Hassell said.Other renewable claimsMajor companies began announcing commitments to renewable energy in part through the efforts of the environmental organization Greenpeace. It called out Amazon in an April 2014 report about electricity consumption at large data centers.the report says.In November 2014, seven months after the Greenpeace report, Amazon Web Services announced aaccording to the company's website. Amazon fulfills its commitment in part with the output from the Amazon Wind Farm near Elizabeth City, N.C.Apple announced April 9 that 100 percent of its global facilities are powered clean energy.the company's press release said.SunEnergy1 initiated the Aulander Holloman Solar project in February 2015 when it submitted an application to the N.C. Utilities Commission. Like all other solar projects, this facility won't produce reliable electricity 24 hours a day.SunEnergy1 completed another large North Carolina project in 2017. Three parties - the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Boston Medical Center, and the Post Office Square Redevelopment Corporation - claimed energy from the 60-megawatt Summit Farms Solar project in Currituck County will offset their "carbon footprint." MIT says the solar power purchased from the Currituck facility will equal 40 percent of the institute's current electricity use.Boston Medical and the redevelopment group say the Summit Farms Solar power will offset 100 percent of their electricity use. But none of the electricity generated at Summit Farms Solar will supply energy to those Massachusetts facilities. It will not even be on the electrical grid they use. 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. Tom Campbell Every Saturday night our family would gather round the black and white TV to watch the latest Perry Mason episode. Before the hour was over Raymond Burr would have solved the mystery, always titled "The case of the......". But not even Mason could solve North Carolina's latest mystery in an hour.Here's the plot. This March the Congress passed bipartisan legislation to provide states with $2.4 billion in funding for early childhood education. North Carolina's share of that funding was $74 million. We have 50,700 children on a wait list for childcare assistance and advocates for children were excited that we would be able to provide more than 9,000 children an average of $5,600 per year, therefore making it easier for parents to work.But a strange thing happened. Our state budget for early childhood education only increased by $25 million, causing raised eyebrows and more than a few questions as to what happened to the remaining $50 million of our state's allocation. We need Perry Mason to solve the case of the disappearing $50 million.Every reputable study we've seen underscores the benefits of early childhood intervention in lower socioeconomic and single parent families. A dollar invested in those early years earns many multiples in dividends in later years. Children come to school prepared to learn, frequently with eye exams, hearing exams and physical examinations. They generally have fewer behavioral problems, learn to read and stay on grade level, and more remain in school and graduate on time. They seek more education or get better jobs, require less government assistance, avoid ending up in our criminal justice system and make more contributions as taxpaying citizens of society.It begins with quality childcare. The average cost of childcare is more than $9,000 per year or $750 per month for parents. Even if the parent earns $15 per hour (the amount many say should be the state minimum wage) and works 40 hours per week, that amounts to only $2,600 per month gross income. Deduct from that gross income taxes, housing, food and clothing and it is easy to see how the $450 monthly subsidy per child (many have more than one child) can often mean the difference between being able to adequately provide for children or not. Our Republican controlled Congress and Republican President obviously recognized this need.The second part of the puzzle is also essential. Getting that three year old in pre-k is vitally important to a successful trajectory in education and in life, yet full funding for our pre-k has taken a back seat to other priorities; our legislature only projects eliminating the wait list after 2020.We can thank our legislature for the environment that resulted in a major budget surplus this year, however we cannot praise them for not using either the surplus or the $50 million in federal funding to significantly increase funding for early childhood education. True, we will be helping 3,700 more children, but that's small potatoes when we've got almost 51,000 needing help.Politicians love to talk about how important our children are. Our state leaders failed to give the same priority to our children that our Congress and President provided. As Eliza Doolittle sang in My Fair Lady, "Don't talk of love, show me." Contact: White House White House Press Office In his first 500 days in office, President Donald J. Trump has achieved results domestically and internationally for the American people. Since taking office, President Trump has strengthened American leadership, security, prosperity, and accountability. After 500 days, the results are clear: the American economy is stronger, American workers are experiencing more opportunities, confidence is soaring, and business is booming. President Trump has re-asserted American leadership on the world stage, secured vital investments in our military, and stood up against threats to our national security. President Trump has put the American people first and made government more accountable.The American economy is stronger today and American workers are better off thanks to President Trump's pro-growth agenda. Nearly 3 million jobs have been created since President Trump took office. 304,000 manufacturing jobs have been created since President Trump took office, and manufacturing employment stands at its highest level since December 2008. 337,000 construction jobs have been created since President Trump took office, and construction employment stands at its highest level since June 2008. Under President Trump, the unemployment rate has dropped to 3.8, the lowest rate since April 2000, and job openings have reached 6.6 million, the highest level recorded. 67 percent of Americans believe now is a good time to find a quality job, according to Gallup. Only under President Trump have more than 50 percent of Americans believed it is a good time to find a quality job since Gallup began asking the question 17 years ago. President Trump prioritized job training and workforce development to empower workers to seize more opportunities, signing an Executive Order to expand apprenticeship opportunities. President Trump has restored confidence in the American economy, with confidence among both consumers and businesses reaching historic highs. Consumer confidence in current conditions has reached a 17-year high, according to the Conference Board. Optimism among manufacturers has hit record highs under President Trump, according to the National Association of Manufacturers. Small business optimism has sustained record-high levels under President Trump according to the National Federation of Independent Business. President Trump signed the historic Tax Cuts and Jobs Act into law, cutting taxes for American families and making American business more competitive. American families received $3.2 trillion in gross tax cuts and saw the child tax credit double. The top corporate tax rate was lowered from 35 percent to 21 percent so American businesses could be more competitive. President Trump has rolled back unnecessary job-killing regulations beyond expectations. In 2017, President Trump far exceeded his promise to eliminate regulations at a two-to-one ratio, issuing 22 deregulatory actions for every new regulatory action. The Administration rolled back rules and regulations harming farmers and energy producers, such as the Waters of the United States Rule and the Clean Power Plan. Regional and community banks and credit unions got relief after President Trump signed legislation reducing harmful requirements imposed by the Dodd-Frank Act. Since taking office, President Trump has advanced free, fair, and reciprocal trade deals that protect American workers, ending decades of destructive trade policies. Days after taking office, the President withdrew the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations and agreement. President Trump's Administration is working to defend American intellectual property from China's unfair practices through a range of actions. The President improved the KORUS trade agreement with the Republic of Korea, which will allow more U.S. automobile exports to South Korea with lower tariffs and increase U.S. pharmaceutical access to South Korea. American agriculture has gained access to new markets under President Trump.President Trump has re-asserted American leadership on the world stage and is achieving results for the American people. President Trump followed through on his promise to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. President Trump ordered an end to United States participation in the horrible Iran deal and immediately began the process of re-imposing sanctions that had been lifted or waived. The President has taken action to confront aggression by Iran and its proxies. The Department of the Treasury has issued a range of sanctions targeting Iranian activities and entities, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force. Under President Trump, the United States has led an unprecedented global campaign to achieve the peaceful denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. President Trump's leadership has contributed to the return of 17 Americans held overseas. In May 2018 alone, Venezuela released one American and North Korea released three Americans who came home to the United States. The President has secured historic increases in defense funding in order to rebuild our Nation's military with the resources they need, after years of harmful sequester. President Trump signed legislation to provide $700 billion in defense spending for fiscal year (FY) 2018 and $716 billion for FY 2019. The United States has worked with international allies to decimate ISIS. President Trump ordered strikes against Syria in response to the regime's use of chemical weapons in April 2017 and April 2018. The Trump Administration has imposed a range of sanctions on the Maduro dictatorship in Venezuela, including sanctions targeting Maduro and other senior government officials.President Trump has worked to secure our borders, enforce our immigration laws, and protect the safety and security of American communities. Despite limited resources and obstruction from Congress, President Trump has worked to take control of our border and enforce our immigration laws. President Trump has called on Congress to provide the resources needed to secure our borders and close loopholes that prevent immigration laws from being fully enforced. President Trump authorized the deployment of the National Guard to help secure our borders. President Trump's Administration has carried out immigration enforcement efforts based on the rule of law. From the start of President Trump's Administration to the end of FY 2017, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) made 110,568 arrests of illegal aliens. Arrests made in this timeframe represented a 42 percent increase from the same timeframe in FY 2016. Of the 110,568 arrests made, 92 percent had a criminal conviction, pending criminal charge, were an ICE fugitive, or had a reinstated final order of removal. President Trump has made clear that his Administration will continue to combat the threat of MS-13 in order to protect communities from the horrendous violence the gang has spread. In 2017, the Department of Justice worked with partners in Central America to file criminal charges against more than 4,000 members of MS-13. The Trump Administration has cracked down on the import and distribution of illegal drugs in order to stop them from reaching our communities and causing even more devastation. As of April 2018, U.S. Border Patrol has seized 284 pounds of fentanyl in FY 2018, already surpassing the total of 181 pounds seized in FY 2017. The President has launched a nationwide effort to fight the opioid crisis, which has devastated communities across America. The President's Opioid Initiative seeks to reduce drug demand, cut off the flow of illicit drugs, and save lives by expanding treatment opportunities. President Trump signed an omnibus spending bill which provides nearly $4 billion to address the opioid epidemic. The bill included $1 billion for grants focused on the hardest hit States and Tribes and provided funding for a public-private research partnership on pain and addiction.Since taking office, President Trump has worked to ensure government is more accountable to the American people. President Trump has confirmed the most circuit court judges of any President in their first year, and secured Justice Neil Gorsuch's confirmation to the United States Supreme Court. President Trump has signed legislation to bring more accountability to the Department of Veterans Affairs and provide our veterans with more choice in the care they receive. President Trump signed the Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017, improving processes for addressing misconduct. President Trump signed the VA Choice and Quality Employment Act into law, authorizing $2.1 billion in additional funds for the Veterans Choice Program. President Trump successfully eliminated the penalty for Obamacare's burdensome individual mandate. The President's Administration is seeking to provide more affordable health coverage and broader access to affordable alternatives to Obamacare plans. President Trump has released a blueprint to lower drug prices for Americans. President Trump has ensured that the religious liberties and conscience of Americans are protected and respected by the Federal government. President Trump signed an Executive Order to protect the free speech and religious liberties of groups such as the Little Sisters of the Poor. The Department of Justice issued guidance to all executive agencies on protecting religious liberty in federal programs. The latest proof of their dishonesty: according to the Associated Press, the Obama administration attempted to end-around its own sanctions in order to give cash to the worst terror sponsor on the planet. Here's the report:The report by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations revealed that under President Barack Obama, the Treasury Department issued a license in February 2016, never previously disclosed, that would have allowed Iran to convert $5.7 billion it held at a bank in Oman from Omani rials into euros by exchanging them first into U.S. dollars. If the Omani bank had allowed the exchange without such a license, it would have violated sanctions that bar Iran from transactions that touch the U.S. financial system.Only the fact that U.S. banks didn't want to violate American law prevented Iran from getting its hands on $5.7 billion more in U.S. dollars. As Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) explained, "The Obama administration misled the American people and Congress because they were desperate to get a deal with Iran." The Obama administration repeatedly lied - over and over again - about their supposed unwillingness to allow Iran "access to the US financial system." Obama's Treasury Secretary Jack Lew even testified to that effect.So, what did Team Obama have to say about all of this? Unnamed Obama officials told the AP that they were acting "in line with the spirit of the deal," and that the lies were justified because they were attempting to debunk arguments that Team Obama wanted to give even more concessions to the Iranians. Which is somewhat like arguing that Bill Clinton didn't lie about Monica Lewinsky, he just wanted to debunk rumors that he had sex with an intern.The Obama administration activity on behalf of Iran went even further, the AP reports. In March 2016, Obama officials including execrable Secretary of State John Kerry "fanned out across Europe, Asia and the Middle East trying to convince banks and businesses they could do business with Iran without violating sanctions and facing steep fines." In other words, the Obama administration became the foreign ministry for the mullahs in Iran. The AP continues:That same week, the AP reported that the Treasury had prepared a draft of a license that would have given Iran much broader permission to convert its assets from foreign currencies into easier-to-spend currencies like euros, yen or rupees, by first exchanging them for dollars at offshore financial institutions.The draft involved a general license, a blanket go-ahead that allows all transactions of a certain type, rather than a specific license like the one given to Oman's Bank Muscat, which only covers specific transactions and institutions. The proposal would have allowed dollars to be used in currency exchanges provided that no Iranian banks, no Iranian rials and no sanctioned Iranian individuals or businesses were involved, and that the transaction did not begin or end in U.S. dollars.Obama administration officials at the time assured concerned lawmakers that a general license wouldn't be coming. But the report from the Republican members of the Senate panel showed that a draft of the license was indeed prepared, though it was never published.And when questioned by lawmakers about the possibility of granting Iran any kind of access to the U.S. financial system, Obama-era officials never volunteered that the specific license for Bank Muscat in Oman had been issued two months earlier.This is the second story this week demonstrating that Team Obama lied to Americans about the Iran deal, which Obama treasured so dearly.On Tuesday, the Iranian government announced that they had completed a new centrifuge assembly at their Natanz facility - just a month after President Trump killed the Iran nuclear deal. This is deeply suspicious, given their supposed acquiescence to disarmament under that deal. Here's how Obama fanboys at The New York Times reported that odd development:While Iran said it would keep enrichment within limits set by the 2015 nuclear accord, the center's opening seemed to signal that it could swing to industrial-level enrichment if that agreement, which the United States withdrew from last month, should further unravel. ... Under the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran stopped enriching uranium to the 20 percent level that would allow for rapid development of a nuclear weapon and agreed to a limit of under 5 percent. It will adhere to that limit, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in a speech on Monday.Yes, surely the mullahs who lied about their nuclear program for well over a decade would never have lied to us, facilitated by the obsequious Obama administration.And, of course, the Obama administration lied constantly during the Iran negotiations about the supposedly "moderate" Iranian regime that had opened the door to those negotiations, with serial confabulator Ben Rhodes taking the lead. Rhodes later bragged about his " echo chamber " strategy to anyone who would listen.We keep hearing that the Trump administration is historically dishonest. But the same press saying so largely overlooked and in many cases actively covered for Team Obama's dishonesty on the Iran deal, beyond even covering for Team Obama's rampant dishonesty on issues ranging from Libya to Obamacare. Obama goes around bragging that his administration was scandal-free. That's factually untrue. But his administration was largely criticism-free thanks to a media replete with his supporters. The bill is a game changer for breeding dogs in the Buckeye State, which has the second largest number of puppy mills in the country after Missouri, and it sets the stage for national reform of commercial dog breeding kennels. Photo by Paul Vernon/For The HSUS 8.5K shares We have exciting news to report from Ohio today. In response to our Stop Puppy Mills Ohio ballot initiative campaign, the state legislature has given near-final approval to a bill that brings major reforms designed to improve the lives of breeding dogs. The measure includes a ban on some of the most cruel practices used by commercial dog breeders, like stacking dogs on cages one on top of the other, and keeping the animals in cages with wire flooring. The bill is a game changer for breeding dogs in the Buckeye State, which has the second largest number of puppy mills in the country after Missouri, and it sets the stage for national reform of commercial dog breeding kennels. A year ago, the Humane Society of the United States, working together with local allies and some amazing volunteers, launched a campaign in Ohio to place a measure on the ballot that would end cruel practices common in puppy mills. Thousands of volunteers gathered signatures to place the Ohio Puppy Mill Prevention Amendment on the ballot and voters from every county in the state signed. This groundswell of activism prompted the state legislature to take action. House Bill 506 was originally introduced in January and we were critical of the bill, as it fell short of the changes we judged necessary to fully protect breeding dogs. But motivated legislators listened to what people across the state were saying. Two weeks ago, a committee in the Ohio senate accepted 13 amendments that significantly strengthened the bill to mirror the reforms sought in our ballot measure, and yesterday the bill passed the senate by a sweeping vote of 31 to 1. Within 90 days of HB 506 being signed into law, practices like stacking dogs in cages will be abolished and, in a first for any state in the nation, no pet retailer will be allowed to acquire puppies from any kennel that fails to meet these standards. Dogs will receive better protection from extreme temperatures and will be provided daily exercise and socialization. These changes will become law before our ballot initiative could even have been voted on. It will be among the strongest anti-puppy mill laws in the country, in the nations second largest puppy mill state, and will provide momentum for the national campaign against puppy mills. We expect the Ohio House of Representatives to concur with the positive changes the senate made to the bill when the house is next in session, which could be this week or next. The bill will then go to the governor for his signature. Once it is enacted into law, we will refocus our energies to extend these kinds of reforms across the nation. This is a major turn of events and it comes on the heels of state legislation in California and Maryland that bans the sale of commercially raised puppies in pet stores and blistering exposes of problem puppy mills through our 6th annual Horrible Hundred report and the recently published book, The Doggie in the Window. Just 18 months ago, the Ohio General Assembly passed legislation that struck down local laws that regulate the sale of animals in pet stores a hostile move designed to make it easier for puppy mills to sell into the state of Ohio. Since that time, we have seen a sea change in lawmakers attitude, with the General Assembly taking a stand against puppy mills, and adopting meaningful statewide standards for the care of dogs in large-scale commercial breeding operations and the sale of dogs to Ohio consumers, saving tens of thousands of dogs from a life of misery. This is exactly the kind of change we work for each day here at the Humane Society of the United States. A big thank you to everyone who worked to help the dogs caught up in Ohios puppy mills we couldnt have done it without you. Voters elected to recall Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky, who held the position since 2003. In 2016 Persky sentenced Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner to six months in prison for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman behind a dumpster in Palo Alto after a fraternity party. This is the first time a California judge was recalled in 87 years. During Turner's sentencing hearing, the victim read a heart-rending impact statement about how Turner's sexual assault caused lasting damage: "You have dragged me through this hell with you, dipped me back into that night again and again. You knocked down both our towers. I collapsed at the same time you did. Your damage was concrete, stripped of titles, degrees, enrollment. My damage was internal, unseen. I carry it with me." Persky said he took her statement into account when he sentenced Turner to the six-month term, even though prosecutors asked for six years. (Turner ended up being released after serving just three months. He appealed the conviction in late 2017, but the California Attorney General's office called his argument "unavailing" and "baseless.") From Washington Post: Persky said at the sentencing hearing that he considered the fact that Turner was drinking as a mitigating factor in his sentence. But some, including the Recall Judge Aaron Persky Campaign, charged that Turner's status as an elite, white young athlete at a prestigious university also factored into Persky's decision to be lenient. In a statement submitted to the Santa Clara County Registrar and that appeared on the ballot, Persky defended himself by saying, "As a prosecutor, I fought vigorously for victims. As a judge, my role is to consider both sides. California law requires every judge to consider rehabilitation and probation for first-time offenders. It's not always popular, but it's the law, and I took an oath to follow it without regard to public opinion or my opinions as a former prosecutor." Writing for Vox, a public defender named Rachel Marshall argues that the recall sets a bad precedent: "In my work as a public defender in Oakland, California, I have observed how the recall effort has changed judges, whether consciously or not, making them more timid about taking risks on defendants who deserve mercy." A former executive from the data-mining dark operator Cambridge Analytica 'visited Julian Assange in February last year and told friends it was to discuss what happened during the US election,' the Guardian reported today. Brittany Kaiser worked as a director there until not long ago, and is reported "to have channelled cryptocurrency payments and donations to WikiLeaks." Excerpt: Assange issued a statement saying that he had turned down the Cambridge Analytica offer. Alexander Nix, the company's chief executive, told Westminster MPs the same in February, during an appearance at the Commons digital, culture, media and sport (DCMS) select committee. Nix said he found a contact for WikiLeaks' speaking agency on the internet and sent Assange an email. But visitor logs from the Ecuador embassy obtained by the Guardian and Focus Ecuador appear to show that Brittany Kaiser, a senior executive at Cambridge Analytica until earlier this year, visited Assange on 17 February 2017. Information passed to the DCMS committee in the UK and the Senate judiciary committee in the US states that the meeting was "a retrospective to discuss the US election". Kaiser is also alleged to have said that she had funnelled money to WikiLeaks in the form of cryptocurrency. She called the organisation her "favourite charity". The reports passed to investigators say that money was given to her by third parties in the form of "gifts and payments". After the afore-quoted story was published, there was all-new news in London today. Alexander Nix appeared as scheduled before the DCMS committee for the second time at 3pm on Wednesday (today), where he was questioned by lawmakers on Cambridge Analytica's relationship with WikiLeaks and the disinformation campaign by Russia to elect Donald Trump. At his earlier appearance, Nix denied any connection. He previously said to the committee: "We have no relationship with WikiLeaks. We have never spoken to anyone at WikiLeaks. We have never done any business with WikiLeaks. We have no relationship with them, period." Turns out that's not true. Excerpt from Reuters: Incredibly Interesting Authors: RSS | iTunes | Download this episode | Email | Android Please rate or review Incredibly Interesting Authors on iTunes. How did Trump manage to become president of the United States? There's no simple answer. It involves fear, racism, nationalism, populism, hatred, dirty tricks, manipulation, and more. But the one thing I never suspected was that occult beliefs and practices played a part in Trump's surprising victory. In Gary Lachman's new book, Dark Star Rising: Magick and Power in the Age of Trump, I learned that occult and esoteric thinking permeates the alt-right, Putin's inner circle, and even Trump himself. Before I read Dark Star Rising, I had no idea that Trump was a devoted follower of the New Thought movement, which has it roots in 19th century mysticism. Trump's family attended Marble Collegiate Church in New York, which was ministered by a pro-Christian nationalist named Norman Vincent Peale, who promulgated a doctrine of "positive thinking" the idea that you can use your mind to cure yourself of disease, get rich, or even become president ("Change your thoughts and you can change the world"). I also didn't know that the alt-right bases much of its ideology on an Italian philosopher and mystic born in 1889 named Julius Evola, who thought the problem with Mussolini was that he wasn't a big enough fascist. And then there's Aleksandr Dugin, a very influential Russian fascist philosopher who is a kind of Rasputin figure for Putin and who pushes the idea that the only way to return Russia to greatness is by wiping liberal democracy off the face of the earth. Dugin is relatively unknown in the West, except among members of the alt-right and the dark enlightenment, who would love to install the kind of fascist regime Dugin is advocating in their own countries. Dark Star Rising introduced me to all of these phenomena, along with many other related concepts, such as using Pepe memes as a form of chaos magick a postmodern magical practice that stresses achieving desired outcomes through applied experimentation as opposed to rituals and symbols of traditional mystic practices. Lachman is an erudite scholar of occult history, and he combines his encyclopedic knowledge of esotericism with his ability to clearly explain complex ideas to good use in Dark Star Rising. He wisely avoids ascribing any kind of paranormal efficacy to occult practices, and instead presents what can, and often does, happen when zealous people apply occult-influenced ideologies to the real world. Here's my interview with Lachman about Dark Star Rising. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Patrick Kelley. Brace yourself for abundant Avenatti on the telly. A new lawsuit filed for Stormy Daniels by her scene-stealing lawyer Michael Avenatti shows text messages between Trump lawyer Michael Cohen and Keith M. Davidson, Stormy's ex-lawyer, in which Cohen and Davidson discuss what amounts to a plot to silence the story of Stormy's affair with Donald J. Trump. Trump currently occupies the office of President of the United States. The new lawsuit basically says Trump plotted to to turn Stormy's then-lawyer into a double agent to help Trump. From Rebecca R. Ruiz, NYT: The suit, filed in California State Court, accused Keith M. Davidson, the Beverly Hills lawyer who represented Ms. Clifford in 2016, of violating attorney-client privilege. It also said he withheld relevant communications from her and her current lawyer, Michael Avenatti. The suit accused Mr. Cohen, Mr. Trump's personal lawyer, of helping and encouraging Mr. Davidson to breach his professional duties of confidentiality and loyalty to his client this year. In 2016, Mr. Cohen paid her $130,000 shortly before the election to keep quiet about the alleged affair. The legal challenge is at least the third that Mr. Avenatti has brought in the last three months on behalf of Ms. Clifford, known professionally as Stormy Daniels. The suit intensifies the legal pressures on Mr. Cohen, who has been a subject of Ms. Clifford's earlier complaints, and brings Mr. Davidson directly into the fray of civil litigation for the first time. In April, Ms. Clifford sued Mr. Cohen and Mr. Trump for defamation, and in March, she sued to be released from the nondisclosure agreement. That suit has been delayed as a federal corruption investigation in New York scrutinizes Mr. Cohen and the $130,000. The new Stormy Daniels/Stephanie Clifford lawsuit asks for $200,000+ and punitive damages. It demands that Mr. Davidson share 100% of his files on Clifford with her, and for Cohen "to disclose any recordings of phone conversations he had with Mr. Davidson relating to Ms. Clifford," the Times reports. In April, the FBI raided Cohen's home and office, and seized many recordings on an array of different devices. WATCH: On May 6th @ChuckTodd asked Stormy Daniels' lawyer @MichaelAvenatti about the relationship between Michael Cohen and Keith Davidson, Daniel's previous lawyer@MichaelAvenatti: "They have a history that posts and predates the involvement of my client" #MTP pic.twitter.com/vioe1cPhBu Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) June 6, 2018 NOTE: @MichaelAvenatti confirms that the text messages came from Davidson, telling me, "We obtained them after months of demands from Keith Davidson. https://t.co/wed5nIXQij pic.twitter.com/1mJvGj2SH2 Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) June 6, 2018 Avenatti adds: "We still have not been provided all of the text messages." Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) June 6, 2018 Michael Cohen met with Melania at Mar-A-Lago to do damage controldays before Stormy Daniels sued Trump. https://t.co/U4ujNGhsge via @thedailybeast kate briquelet (@kbriquelet) June 6, 2018 As anyone who has been following the sorry saga of the EU copyright reform, key elements -- Articles 3 on text and data mining, 11 on the link tax and 13 on the upload filter censorship machine -- are turning into the proverbial dog's breakfast, a complete and utter mess. The well-founded criticisms of the proposed law have piled up to an unprecedented extent, causing the politicians behind it to resort to iterative obfuscation. Successive arguments against each of the three articles mentioned above have led to the Commission's original text being mashed and murdered in an attempt to "address" the points by adding in new "clarifications" that just make things worse. It's enough to look at the recent text being discussed in the European Parliament under Rapporteur MEP Axel Voss in the lead JURI (legal affairs) committee: it's a barely literate hodge-podge of inchoate ideas. And that's before some of the 1000 amendments proposed for the final JURI report have been voted on and shoved into the text to butcher it further. Legislative rough-and-tumble is normal enough for complex legislation. It wouldn't matter too much if (a) the end results were good and (b) the public weren't being misled by some of the claims made about what the constantly shifting text really means. But, unable to respond to the justified criticisms of the proposals, it seems that some of the copyright directive's supporters are trying to muddy the waters. The plan is evidently to hide what is really going on here the destruction of the Internet as we know it in the EU until it's too late. Once the directive is done and dusted, the copyright industry can safely celebrate the passing of a law that diminishes the online public space while propping up lazy companies that have refused to propoerly embrace the digital world. Even once the harmful consequences of Articles 3, 11 and 13 become evident as they enter into force, there's no chance the copyright directive will be revised or revisited for many years. It matters little how misleading or downright mendacious the campaign in favour of the copyright directive becomes: once it is passed, it is passed. That effectively irreversible nature of the EU law makes the current fight against the copyright directive's worst elements all-the-more vital. If we don't stop them now, we never will. The key action is contacting MEPs explaining why the proposed versions of Articles 3, 11 and 13 are so harmful, and what the consequences would be for the EU and its digital realm if they are not thrown out or at least greatly modified. Mythbusting Misinformation on the Article 13 Censorship Machine The new SaveYourInternet site has plenty of resources to help people do that, including tools that make it easy to contact MEPs via email, phone or Twitter. Those resources deal with the facts of the situation. Here, I'd like to address some of the fiction that is floating around, because it's part of the toxic atmosphere of calculated misinformation designed to make it hard to discuss effectively the copyright directive with MEPs. The EU Legislative Process, and why we need to act now One of the problems here is that the EU's legislative process is poorly understood by most people. That's not a criticism of the latter: the EU has done a terrible job of explaining itself, so it's no wonder that the public finds it hard to follow how the sausage machine of government grinds up proposals and spits out new laws. As a result, people may not appreciate how important the text in the JURI report, to be agreed later this month, is in terms of the final result. Currently, the JURI text is very similar to that of the Council, as drawn up under the Bulgarian Presidency. This means when the legislative discussion enters the so-called "trilogue" negotiations, which involve representatives of the European Commission, the Council and the European Parliament, the final result will inevitably be very close to the deeply-flawed Council/JURI text. We need MEPs to stand up for EU citizens, and to introduce strong alternatives, particularly for Article 13, the most pernicious part of the current text. Here, the only acceptable solution is removing it completely. It's still filtering, even if you don't say the word "filtering" It is striking that the different draft versions of the copyright directive texts all assiduously avoid using the tell-tale word "filtering". But it is clear from the obligations imposed by Article 13 that a constant, general filter is the only technology capable of spotting files that copyright companies want removed automatically. In order to ensure that there is no copy of material on a site, it is obvious that every single upload has to be inspected, compared against a list of "forbidden" material, and then filtered out if necessary. There is simply no other way, so it is entirely false to claim that Article 13 does not impose a general filtering obligation on companies. It most certainly does, just not explicitly. And a general, omnipresent filter is surveillance, and leads inevitably to censorship which is why the draft directive avoids using the term. This goes way beyond notice-and-takedown There's another misapprehension about the upload filter. Sometimes, people claim that it is nothing special or onerous, since it's just like the current take-down system employed by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in the US, and the e-commerce directive in the EU. But the crucial difference is that those only apply to allegedly infringing material; the copyright directive would allow companies to send vast lists of material and require that every upload be filtered against them. The Council text makes this clear: "it may not be proportionate to expect small and micro enterprises to apply preventive measures and that therefore in such cases these enterprises should only be expected to expeditiously remove specific unauthorised works and other subject matter upon notification by rightholders." Other companies, though, are expected to apply "preventive measures" that is, to filter out pre-emptively anything the copyright industry cares to send through. As well as being a completely disproportionate obligation, this also confirms that a general upload filter would be needed since it is the only technology that could even to attempt to achieve that. There's no magic filter for all types of content One claim in this context is that this massive filtering effort of every single upload isn't a problem. After all, some point out, Google has adopted it on a voluntary basis for uploads to YouTube. This shows that the technology already exists, they say, and so rolling it out more widely is straightforward. This overlooks a number of issues. Google's Content ID video filtering technology required 50,000 hours of coding, and cost $60 million to develop. It's not only a huge project, it's proprietary, which means that Google probably won't want to share it with rivals. And if it did, it would doubtless charge high fees for a licence. If other companies wanted to offer filtering technology, they would probably have to spend similar amounts to Google. The high costs involved, and the relatively small market for this specialised software completely separate and different solutions need to be developed for video, music, images, text and software code, making it even more unattractive as an investment together mean that only very deep-pocketed companies would be interested. As a result, they will probably be US-based, like Audible Magic. The company offers a filtering system for music, and will be well-placed to pick up business thanks to the copyright directive. This means that the EU's Internet would not only be automatically censored by black boxes running inscrutable software, but the embedded rules for that censorship would probably be set by US companies. Does the EU really think this is the best way of encouraging a vibrant indigenous digital economy? The GDPR is an ally, not the enemy Finally, one of the more absurd claims flying around is that the resistance to Article 13 has nothing to do with concerns about surveillance and censorship as a result of general upload filtering. Instead, some say, this is simply another attack by big US companies that hate the EU's approach to regulation, particularly the GDPR, which imposes stringent privacy protections on hitherto freewheeling online services. While it is certainly true that the major US online services such as Facebook and Google dislike the GDPR, and continue to press for it to be interpreted in the weakest way possible, this is unrelated to the fight against Article 13. Indeed, the constant monitoring required for the upload filter to work is not only the antithesis of the GDPR, but contravenes it. Article 22 of the GDPR states: "The data subject shall have the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing." Filtering is an automated decision process that has major negative consequences for EU citizens, notably in limiting their right to freedom of expression. Since filtering algorithms cannot capture the rich complexity of EU copyright law even courts find it hard they are inevitably unable to "safeguard the data subject's rights and freedoms and legitimate interests" as required by the GDPR, and are thus illegal under that law. So, far from being a reaction against the GDPR, efforts to get Article 13 thrown out actually build on it. Please try to Save Your Internet Although many of the "mythbusting" points above may seem like quibbles, discussions about the copyright directive in general, and Article 13 in particular, very often hinge on these subtle points. Forewarned is forearmed, and being able to counter any misleading points that MEPs might raise either maliciously or simply through lack of knowledge should help to make conversations with them more fruitful and ultimately more successful. Please try. (Image: Georgie Pauwels, CC-BY) A gentleman turned his SUV into a battering ram, repeatedly bashing another car. Eventually exiting his vehicle to climb atop the target of his anger, the rage filled driver slips and is apprehended. Via CBS: "The initial call was that someone was behind a driver and upset for some reason after a disturbance on the freeway," said Sgt. Vance Chandler with the Sacramento Police Department. The suspect ended up on 5th and X streets, where police say he rammed the car he was allegedly following on Business 80. From there, officers say the suspect became fixated on the Honda CR-V. "This person was in a crisis, obviously," Chandler said. Police stood back, waiting for the clearly agitated suspect to calm down. "They were unable to get him to cooperate or speak to them," Chandler added. The video shows the suspect eventually falling from the top of the CR-V, and officers quickly moving in to detain him. Officers say they're waiting for the suspect to be medically cleared from the hospital before he's booked into the Sacramento County Jail on charges of vandalism and felony assault. When a person in South Korea tries to visit a porn site, they discover the government's National Police Agency Cyber Bureau has blocked it. In this Asian Boss video of street interviews, people explain how they route around this censorship, using P2P networks, social media, and redirecting IP addresses. As one woman says, "according to our male friends, they search for porn using some code. They all have their ways of downloading it." The European Union is updating its 2001 Copyright Directive, with a key committee vote coming up on June 20 or 21; on GDPR day, a rogue MEP jammed a mass censorship proposal into the draft that is literally the worst idea anyone in Europe ever had about the internet, ever. Under "Article 13," sites that allow the public to post anything that might be copyrighted text, pics, videos, games, sounds, code will have to run user submissions through a copyright filter that will check to see if it matches the a known copyrighted work. It's YouTube's perennially busted, overblocking Content ID, but for everything from Github to the copyrighted images on that band tee you wore in your Tinder profile. These black boxes will have the unaccountable power of life or death over everything Europeans say to each other online. They'll ingest everything we say to each other likely sending it to one of the giant American tech companies that specialise in this kind of filtering and render a judgment. Anyone can add to the blacklist, too: under Article 13, sites have to let people claim new copyrighted works but the rule has no penalties for abuse. Trolls can lay claim to every word ever posted to Wikipedia and stop anyone from quoting it on a WordPress site or Twitter or Facebook. If you get censored, your only recourse is to ask the site to reconsider its algorithmic judgment. If they won't listen or don't agree, you have to hire a lawyer to sue to get your free speech back. So far, this has flown under mainstream radar. A few right-wing sites like Breitbart have picked up on it, and well they should, because the conservative and eurosceptic parties are backing this proposal, even though it will make it vastly harder to start new sites where unpopular speech can be heard. It's one thing to pass the hat around to start a right-wing version of Twitter, it's another thing to cough up $60,000,000 to clone YouTube Content ID to comply with European law. But this affects all politics, and all movements. The whole point of this exercise is to make Google pay German newspapers royalties for linking to newspapers, and you can bet Google and Facebook and the other Big Tech companies will figure out how to comply with it. But as those companies increasingly block and filter speech at the behest of governments, the ability of #BlackLivesMatter or the movement to stop the new Heathrow runway will also have to come up with $60,000,000 if they get kicked off the big platforms for not colouring in the lines. If you're a European, here's a tool to tweet or call your MEP and tell them how you feel about this. Article 13 gets Wikipedia coming and going: not only does it create opportunities for unscrupulous or incompetent people to block the sharing of Wikipedia's content beyond its bounds, it could also require Wikipedia to filter submissions to the encyclopedia and its surrounding projects, like Wikimedia Commons. The drafters of Article 13 have tried to carve Wikipedia out of the rule, but thanks to sloppy drafting, they have failed: the exemption is limited to "noncommercial activity". Every file on Wikipedia is licensed for commercial use. Then there's the websites that Wikipedia relies on as references. The fragility and impermanence of links is already a serious problem for Wikipedia's crucial footnotes, but after Article 13 becomes law, any information hosted in the EU might disappearand links to US mirrors might become infringingat any moment thanks to an overzealous copyright bot. For these reasons and many more, the Wikimedia Foundation has taken a public position condemning Article 13. Speaking of references: the problems with the new copyright proposal don't stop there. Under Article 11, each member state will get to create a new copyright in news. If it passes, in order to link to a news website, you will either have to do so in a way that satisfies the limitations and exceptions of all 28 laws, or you will have to get a license. This is fundamentally incompatible with any sort of wiki (obviously), much less Wikipedia. It also means that the websites that Wikipedia relies on for its reference links may face licensing hurdles that would limit their ability to cite their own sources. In particular, news sites may seek to withhold linking licenses from critics who want to quote from them in order to analyze, correct and critique their articles, making it much harder for anyone else to figure out where the positions are in debates, especially years after the fact. This may not matter to people who only pay attention to news in the moment, but it's a blow to projects that seek to present and preserve long-term records of noteworthy controversies. And since every member state will get to make its own rules for quotation and linking, Wikipedia posts will have to satisfy a patchwork of contradictory rules, some of which are already so severe that they'd ban any items in a "Further Reading" list unless the article directly referenced or criticized them. The EU's Copyright Proposal is Extremely Bad News for Everyone, Even (Especially!) Wikipedia [Cory Doctorow/EFF Deeplinks] News / National by Staff reporter ZIMBABWE Revenue Authority (Zimra) commissioner-general, Faith Mazani was yesterday grilled by MDC-T Chitungwiza North legislator, Godfrey Sithole, who demanded to know if Zanu-PF had paid import duty for campaign vehicles and other materials, which were recently imported ahead of next month's general elections.The issue was raised in Harare during a Zimra engagement meeting with parliamentarians to conscientise MPs about the country's revenue collection systems.Sithole claimed that there were speculative reports that Zanu-PF imports were not being charged duty. "There is information to the effect that there are campaign materials - vehicles and T-shirts - for Zanu-PF, which are coming into the country for free," Sithole said."Why are they exempted from paying duty? Is it within the confines of the law?"In response, Mazani demanded documentary proof to support the allegations."As Zimra, we do not allow goods to come in without paying taxes, but at times, there will be paperwork to show that the government has requested for those goods to come in and then they pay later," she said.Buhera South MP, Joseph Chinotimba (Zanu-PF) also requested an explanation over allegations that some Chinese businesses were evading paying taxes."Harare is now a city of vendors and how are we collecting taxes because it is no longer the Sunshine City. Shop owners are now selling wares outside without Zimra gadgets recording the sales for taxation purposes."There is corruption at border posts with cross border traders working in cahoots with Zimra officials to evade taxes, and some of the culprits are MPs," Chinotimba said.Mazani said most vendors were charged taxes whenever they purchased goods at retail shops for resale.The Zimra boss said generally compliance levels for paying taxes, remittances and submission of returns were very low."Of the 511 059 returns expected for the first quarter of 2018, filing compliance levels stood at 23% and 39% for paye as you earn and value-added tax respectively. The reasons for low compliance include corruption, negative perceptions by taxpayers and lengthy prosecution processes, which make it difficult for the authority to bring delinquent taxpayers to book," she said.Zimra board chairperson, Willia Bonyongwe said there was need to deal with the corruption syndicates at border posts, which included members of staff and law enforcement agents deployed at borders, but who end up forming syndicates with some corrupt staff.To deal with corrupt staff, Mazani said there were regular transfers and lifestyle audits. News / National by Staff Reporter President Emmerson Mnangagwa is the guest of honour at the official opening of Davipel food company in Sunway Park, Ruwa, in Harare this morning.The company comprises two entities Davipel which manufactures corn snacks and Agrimilling which produces the raw material for Davipel.The total value of the investment is US$8 million.The corn snacks manufacturing company is saving US$500 million from the import bill every month through the value addition of Zimbabwean maize for the production of snacks supplying the local market which had been inundated with foreign-made snacks in supermarket shelves. Opinion / Columnist I ALMOST threw up in my mouth recently when I read that Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans' Association (ZNLWVA) secretary general, Victor Matemadanda had said former President Robert Mugabe was solely responsible for the Gukurahundi massacres.Yes, Mugabe was a bad leader, a fiendish one for that matter, but to say he was solely responsible for the mass killings is the weirdest form of revisionism.We have had cases of revisionism before, but this takes the cake and Matemadanda ought to be taken to task.The Gukurahundi killings were the most diabolical episode in this country, but to blame one person for it borders on Rambo-esque fantasy.Mugabe was the commander-in-chief and the buck ultimately stopped with him, but questions have to be asked on who helped him plan it, implement it and execute it.Surely, it was not a one-man band and his enforcers also have to be blamed for it, as there is no record of them protesting the killings, but rather they seemed to praise them.For a long time, my gripe with MDC was that they believed or at least acted as if Zimbabwe's history began in 2000, when they were formed.Their messaging was quite ahistorical and allowed Zanu-PF to run away with the nationalist narrative.On the other hand, for Zanu-PF, the period between 1982 and 1987 is a blur and they have collective amnesia of what happened during that era.In the aftermath of the military's taking over last November, there seems to be a new wave of denialism and revisionism, where everything bad is blamed on Mugabe, while his former lieutenants behave as if they are some modern-day Rip Van Winkles.There is pretence that those in the corridors of power had no clue what Mugabe was doing, as he was doing it alone.It's as if they were not there, or they were sleepwalking for the majority of the 37 years that Mugabe was in power.Like Rip Van Winkle, those in power seem to want us to believe that they were sleeping for 37 years and they cannot be held accountable for the excesses that were wrought by the successive governments that, bizarrely, they were part of.For those in power now, it's as if history begins in November 2017 and everything before that must be forgotten or at worst, never happened.There is a lot of rewriting of history by Zanu-PF and it is sickening why a whole party and government would fail to take responsibility for their actions.It's as if they believe that if they ignore history long enough, it will finally go away, but as one philosopher once said, if you hide a people's history, you teach them to hate.Why Zanu-PF always struggled in Matabeleland is because the people of that area resent that their history is being ignored and airbrushed, leading them to an existential crisis, as they begin to question their very existence.This is all the work of loudmouths like Matemadanda, who instead of addressing the people's problems and issues, choose to insult their audience's intelligence.Had I been in the audience that day, my first question was going to be why his party leader, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, has refused to apologise for nor acknowledge the Gukurahundi if Mugabe was solely responsible.When Mnangagwa began his diplomatic charm offensive, he was asked whether he would apologise and he deflected that question.Instead, he chose to question the numbers of those allegedly killed by the government he served.Mnangagwa was the State Security minister during Gukurahundi and he said many things that were captured in the media, which can easily be characterised as hate speech, yet Matemadanda wants us to believe that it was only Mugabe who was responsible.Mnangagwa has a golden opportunity to produce the Chihambakwe and Dumbutshena commission of inquiry reports on the Gukurahundi killings, as President, but I am not holding my breath that these will be released anytime soon.It was quite condescending for Matemadanda to go to an area that suffered the brunt of the Gukurahundi and try to rewrite their history.What is worrying is that Matemadanda's boss, ZNLWVA chairman, Christopher Mutsvangwa also has bizarre views about the Gukurahundi and maybe that is the strategy that the war veterans' association has chosen on how to deal with that dark episode in the country's history.Mutsvangwa, who holds the lofty position of being Mnangagwa's adviser, was quoted saying speaking about Gukurahundi is unhelpful and irresponsible and one can only wonder what type of similar toxic advice he is giving the President.Probably, this is why Mnangagwa can describe the past as a bygone, but the reality is that the axe may forget, but the tree remembers, as African wisdom has told us.Matemadanda and his ilk should rather keep quiet about Gukurahundi, rather than saying the most ludicrous things.The victims of Gukurahundi know what was happening, they know who was responsible and ultimately know who is to blame for their suffering and will not be lectured by revisionists like Matemadanda.Matemadanda might be forgiven if he was speaking from a position of ignorance, but there is so much literature on that episode now and that can help him disabuse himself of the notion that only one person was responsible.Mugabe deserves everything that is coming his way, but so does everyone else that helped him on that path that turned so many lives upside down and ruined the country.Feedback: nmatshazi@southerneye.co.zw Twitter @nqabamatshazi Best Coffee Subscriptions 10 Best Coffee Subscriptions to Make Mornings Better The AskMen editorial team thoroughly researches & reviews the best gear, services and staples for life. AskMen may get paid if you click a link in this article and buy a product or service. Coffee: Its one of the most widely consumed beverages in the world. According to the International Coffee Organization (ICO), in 2018/2019, around 165.35 million 60 kilogram bags (or just over 132 pounds for those imperial enthusiasts) of coffee were consumed worldwide, a slight increase from 158 million bags in the previous year a trend that has only been increasing since the data of the survey began in 2012/2013. So, statistically speaking, we can safely assume most of you rely on this magic morning elixir for much-needed strength to face the day. RELATED: 11 Meal Delivery Services to Get You Through Life If Youre Avoiding the Stores We also know that some of the worst mornings start with discovering you're out of coffee. Weve all been there, but imagine a world where this doesnt have to happen ever again. A world where you literally never have to run out of coffee. Plenty of people already do. With over half of online respondents of a 2017 Socratic Technologies survey stating they have an active coffee or tea subscription to their home or office, there is an ever increasing variety of high-quality coffee subscription services brewing on the market. On top of the convenience of delivery keeping your coffee cabinet stocked, a great coffee subscription can allow you to expand your coffee horizons discovering new blends and roasts from across the globe. Rather than endlessly perusing the expansive coffee aisle at your local supermarket or settling for a basic coffee add-on to reach your minimum on Amazon Pantry, you can save yourself the time and struggle and receive a blend that is perfectly catered to meet your needs, delivered right to your door. Whether you consider yourself to be a cafe connoisseur or you simply like a basic cup of drip coffee to kick off your day, these top services are guaranteed to elevate your morning cup of joe experience. Best Coffee Subscriptions Grounds & Hounds Why we love it: Signing up for the Coffee Club provides you with access to a full range of Fairtrade, 100 percent organic coffees and benefits $2 flat rate shipping for the members on any club orders, early access to our new releases and limited availability blends while also providing additional funding for animal rescue initiatives throughout the country. The *best* part? Each month Ground & Hounds randomly selects one club member and makes a $100 donation the dog rescue organization of their choice. During the checkout process you'll see the impact your subscription is making for rescue pups in need so we like to say that joining the Coffee Club is the best tasting and easiest way to put impact on repeat! Who else would love it: Its not just for dog-lovers. If you love trying something new each month and are open to sipping everything from light roast Ethiopian coffee to dark roast blends, the Roaster Select subscription is a perfect fit for you. You'll receive a new coffee every month featuring the most popular options, seasonal releases and exclusive Roaster's Select club member blends. If youre more sure of what you want, there is an option for you too. During the sign-up process, simply choose your favorite blend, select whole bean, ground or single serve recyclable pod and choose the delivery interval. After that, it's fully customizable and flexible so you can pause, edit and swap subscriptions with ease. How much does it cost: The monthly Roaster's Select subscription is the least expensive and most popular option and it costs $16.99 per month (including shipping) and the highest is the Three Blend Starter Kit subscription (three bags per shipment) for $43.99 per month. Available at GroundsandHoundsCoffee.com MistoBox Why we love it: MistoBox is more than just a means of getting coffee delivered to your house. Its aim is to help us coffee lovers figure out what kind of coffee we like, better appreciate the beverage and continually send new, amazing coffee to discover. What really stands out about this modern subscription service is the balance between high-tech and human touch. Each subscriber is paired with a coffee curator who gets to know our preferences and makes selections for us, based on feedback about each coffee while a MistoBox Alexa app helps users manage subscriptions using voice control with any echo device. Who else would love it: True coffee enthusiasts who already know a lot and maybe have been homebrewing with a sophisticated set up for a few years would love this service. But, thats not to say that it isnt also well suited for the everyday coffee drinker who doesn't know a lot (yet) and wants to learn more while discovering the world's best coffee at home. The goal of MistoBox? To take specialty coffee culture and make it more accessible to people who are just starting to get into it. How much does it cost: Personal subscriptions start at $10.95 plus $5 shipping per shipment and the highest tier of coffee can be up to $17.95 plus shipping not bad. Available at MistoBox.com Craft Coffee Why we love it: As one of the original coffee subscription services (and the first to feature personalized coffee recommendations based on customers' preferences) Craft Coffees mission is to provide fresh, high-quality coffee at prices comparable to the grocery store or Amazon but actually comparable. Its tech streamlines the fulfillment process, so it has consistently been able to offer lower prices than competitors over the years. Who else would love it: Everyone from coffee connoisseurs looking for a bargain to grocery store coffee drinkers looking for fresher, tastier beans to brew at home. Anyone who loves rich dark roasts will be happy with something from Craft Coffee. How much does it cost: The "Buy More, Save Money" option is very popular, which starts at $6.99 per 12oz bag when you buy 4 or more bags. Prices top out at $19.99 for the rotating "Roaster's Choice" light-roast single origin which is comparable to third-wave specialty roasts. Domestic shipping is always free. Available at CraftCoffee.com Atlas Coffee Club Why we love it: Atlas Coffee Club provides a coffee and an experience you can't find anywhere else. It connects the coffee consumer directly to the coffee country. With over 50 countries producing amazing coffee around the world, it has designed the coffee subscription as a Coffee World Tour, highlighting the best coffee from country to country. From Papua New Guinea to Peru, Burundi to Brazil, Congo, Ecuador, Myanmar, Tanzania you get the idea. Its mission is to allow subscribers to experience delicious, specialty grade coffees that are roasted to order which guarantees freshness. Who else would love it: If you enjoy delicious coffee and are up for discovering coffees you can't find elsewhere, Atlas coffee subscription is aligned to accommodate. It is best for the coffee drinker who knows there's great coffee out there and is up for an adventure someone who is interested in both discovery as well as quality. How much does it cost: The go-to subscription is one 12oz Bag of Coffee per month for $18.95. Subscriptions range from $13.95 per 6oz bag to $53.95 for four 12oz bags. Available at AtlasCoffeeClub.com Blue Bottle Coffee Why we love it: Arguably the most well-known coffee brand on our list (have you listened to any podcasts lately), Blue Bottle Coffee subscriptions are entirely customizable thanks to several subscription packages that include some of its most popular and interesting single origins and blends in every form freshly roasted whole beans for coffee, espresso or decaffeinated drinks. Additionally, subscriptions are shipped directly from roasteries, which means you are getting about as freshly roasted coffee as you can. Who else would love it: This coffee subscription is great for just about any coffee drinker. Typical subscribers are individuals and families that love the familiar flavor of Blue Bottles fresh roasted single origins and blends, but dont happen to live in areas with cafes. If you want to find that familiar flavor, but havent popped by one of Blue Bottles cafes, it offers a Welcome Kit Subscription which is great for the newbies. It includes the Welcome Kit in the first shipment a proprietary dripper, a 90 day supply of custom filters and an organic cotton tote as well as one of the most popular blends. For the next five months, you will receive other popular Blue Bottle coffees including popular blends, single origins and espresso. How much does it cost: The most popular option is the bi-weekly shipment of 12oz of Single Origin, which costs between $20 and $23. Blend assortments start at $8 per month for a 6oz bag and go up to 36oz of single origin for $47. This will serve up to four coffee drinkers for about two weeks. This Welcome Kit Subscription costs $119 for the entire six months. Available at BlueBottleCoffee.com Driftaway Coffee Why we love it: They are focused on two main things with Driftaway personalization and sustainability. Keeping coffees unique to you is important, but there is refreshing attention on keeping the planet in good shape by using eco-conscious packaging and maintaining low CO2 emissions. Shipping coffee weekly within 12 hours of roasting ensures coffee is fresh upon arrival and with new coffees every four weeks in each of its four profiles, there is something new to discover in your tasty comfort zone. Added bonus? Driftaway is launching a new cold brew product this summer. Who else would love it: In a way, it's suited for all tastes of all coffee drinkers who have an added interest in keeping the environment in its perfect percolating position so they can make better specialty coffee at home. How much does it cost: The most popular plan is an 11oz bag every month for $17 per delivery which includes shipping this plan can be prepaid for six months to get 15 percent off. Plans start at $14 for a 7oz bag up to $34 for a 2lb bag. Available at Driftaway.com Bean Box Why we love it: The Bean Box model is based around sampling. It brings some of the world's finest artisan coffee through every box by sourcing from some of the best local coffee roasters in the Pacific Northwest. Each month you receive four sample bags of coffee to taste, which are perfect for one pot of coffee each. Once you find specific roasts you like, you can purchase larger bags to enjoy. The brand receives its coffee the day its roasted and its shipped within days of receiving ensuring that when its delivered, it will be at peak freshness for maximum flavor. Oh yeah, being able to add a variety of chocolate to some boxes doesnt hurt. Who else would love it: Picky coffee drinkers who are always chasing the next great cup will find this sample sized service quite useful since there is no need to commit until you find that perfect cup at least, until next month. How much does it cost: Shipping is included in all costs, and the most popular plan is the six month pre-pay plan for $114. Prices range from $19 per month for the Bean Box Sampler six month pre-pay plan to $96 per month for Coffee of the Month weekly deliveries. Available at BeanBox.com Crema Why we love it: Crema strictly offers specialty coffees by roasters that treat their farmers at origin fairly. Every coffee is roasted and shipped no more than three days after an order is submitted. You are able to choose how often you get coffee, which coffees you want and you can pause your subscription anytime for as long as you want. We especially love that Crema gives us the ability to buy in 5lb bags something not usually available when picking from a wide assortment of coffees. Who else would love it: This is ideal for beginners or anyone who wants the highest quality coffee experience at home or at work. Using the guide pages helps someone of any education level to learn about coffee while its brew log helps everyone figure out what they truly love in a cup of coffee. Unlike other subscriptions Crema gives users complete control to add what coffees you want, when you want. How much does it cost: Each 12oz bag ranges from $16 to $25 which includes shipping anywhere in the U.S. Available at Crema.co Moustache Coffee Club Why we love it: Moustache Coffee Club works with some of the best coffee importers in the world to source incredible, high-end single origin coffee and it ships everything the day it's roasted for maximum freshness. (It even started labeling coffees with a "drink after" date since in many cases, coffees arrive before they've fully rested post-roast.) Since the club roasts a new coffee every week, you can always try something new. Its coffee inventory changes based on what's in season, so it offers an ever-changing slate of coffees from the best growing regions. Who else would love it: Nerdy single-origin specialty-grade coffee lovers who want really, *really* good coffee. Since the brand has so many to offer, it has custom-built an artificial intelligence to help select the best coffees for each member, each week. Once you rate the coffees you have tried, those ratings are fed into the A.I. which monitors all sorts of parameters about each coffee. It then compares your profile to other members' allowing the system to select the coffee from our inventory you're most likely to enjoy for your next shipment. The more you rate, the smarter it gets. Additionally, it sends along as many details about each shipment as possible, such as altitude, varietal and region, so you'll get the story behind each coffee you're brewing. How much does it cost: The most popular plan is the Solo Artist 12oz every two weeks which is enough for one coffee drinker that brews one or two cups per day. Plans are priced by-the-bag $13 for 6oz, $22 for 12oz and there are options for weekly, bi-weekly and monthly at both sizes. There is also a high-end Tasting Series subscription for rare varieties such as Geisha and Pink Bourbon. The sizing on that plan is variable (generally between three and six ounces) for a flat $22 per month. Available at MoustacheCoffeeClub.com Black Oak Coffee Roasters Why we love it: Its simple: there are no options and no quizzes with this club, just great single origin coffee that are lightly roasted, vibrant, distinctive and varied. Its shipped free, once a month. Each coffee is approved in a rigorous blind tasting setting by its dedicated team of experts, including three U.S. Tasters Cup finalists and the 2017 champion, Steve Cuevas. Most of Black Oaks business comes from its own shops as well as from supplying coffee to some of the best restaurants, offices and cafes so there is something very personal about the entire interaction. Who else would love it: If you like fancy packaging, inserts and order chat bots, this isnt the subscription for you. If you like great coffee in bulk, welcome to your new club. This is a team of four hard working coffee professionals who have won over 50 national awards over the last three years. They curated a collection of coffees for lovers of single origin coffee who want to have a great cup without it being fussy. How much does it cost: The best deal it has going on right now is the 5lb bag which ranges from $10 to $12. The lowest cost deal has free shipping and consists of two blends and runs about $12 per bag. Available at BlackOakCoffee.com Are these every coffee subscription you can find? Certainly not, since there seems to be a new one every day, but these are some of the best we found and couldnt be happier. If youre not sure which coffee is right for you, dont worry, we can help you there too. You Might Also Dig: AskMen may get paid if you click a link in this article and buy a product or service. To find out more, please read our complete terms of use. By Philip Wen and Brenda Goh BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Air Canada and Air China Ltd entered a joint venture on Wednesday, with the Canadian carrier saying the deal would significantly increase its presence in the Chinese market which is set to be the world's largest by 2022. The two airlines said the joint venture, which they have been discussing since 2014, would allow them to increase commercial cooperation on flights. It is also Air China's first such deal with a North American airline. The proposed tie-up, however, came under scrutiny last month after the Montreal-based company decided to list Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, as part of China on its booking website, drawing a sharp reaction from Taiwan's foreign ministry which asked it to make a "speedy correction". Air Canada denied that the deal had anything to do with its recent decision to refer to Taiwan as part of China. "One's got nothing to do with the other," Air Canada's Chief Executive Calin Rovinescu told reporters on the sidelines of the signing ceremony in Beijing, when asked if its decision to change its website was prompted by the pending joint venture. "I'm not getting into Taipei. Today is not a day for discussions on Taipei," he said. China's civil aviation administration in April sent letters requesting airlines remove references on their websites or in other material that suggests Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau are part of countries independent from China. The move was described by the White House as "Orwellian nonsense." Last month, the aviation body said 18 out of the 44 airlines it contacted had changed the way they referred to the territories. Qantas Airways Ltd on Monday said it had decided to comply, a move that was criticized by the Australia's foreign minister. John MacLeod, Air Canada's vice-president of global sales and alliances, said the carrier did not receive any pushback from the Canadian government and that it had not lost any bookings as a result of the website change. "We responded to the Taiwanese government that we are an airline that will always be compliant and we are compliant with the rules of the countries that we fly too," he said. ALLIANCES Canada's biggest airline has said the joint venture would help it compete more "aggressively" in the Pacific market, especially at a time when it is facing yield pressures on flights to China and Hong Kong. The joint venture "is an important strategy in our global expansion as it significantly increases Air Canada's presence in an aviation market set to become the world's largest by 2022," Air Canada Chief Executive Officer Calin Rovinescu said. Both carriers had earlier agreed to codeshare services and allow passengers to use each other's lounges, but a complete joint venture is expected to help expand their collaboration. The companies did not reveal financial terms for the deal, but said the process is expected to be wrapped up in six months. Between them, they operate up to a total of 52 trans-Pacific flights per week between Canada and China. Air China Chairman Cai Jianjiang said that the Sino-Canada market was one of its most significant long-haul markets and that it hoped to roll out more products and services under the partnership. Air China's domestic rivals have also been forging alliances with North American peers. China Eastern Airlines Corp Ltd agreed to sell a 3.55 percent stake to Delta Air Lines Inc in 2015, while China Southern Airlines Co Ltd sold a small stake to American Airlines Group Inc for $200 million last year. (Reporting by Philip Wen; Writng by Brenda Goh, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Alexandra Hudson) Kristl Tipton says she knows poop when she smells it. Tipton said her family was on the back deck of their home on Rempel Lane just before 7 p.m. CST Tuesday, making barbecued chicken and asparagus. Her four-year-old son played with his toys on the deck, while her 12-year-old daughter tended to the chicken. Tipton and her children brought the food inside, ate then ran an errand. When they returned they found a spatter of "perfectly circular" brown spots dotting their back deck. "We smelled it and it smelled like poo," said Tipton. "It was pretty gross. We were pretty happy we were not barbecuing at the time." Tipton recalled thinking it was mud. She looked around and saw no other neighbours or children in their backyards. Her husband and neighbours were unaware of the spatter. Then she took a closer look. "It was definitely not a normal mud smell," she said. "It didn't look like bird droppings at all." "It was pretty amazingly localized." Nothing similar fell on neighbouring homes Tipton then examined her barbecue. She saw no signs of wayward grease or food drippings that would explain the pungent brown dots. "There was nothing that was in the neighbour's yard or down the stairs or anything," she said. "It was droplets that came from straight up, there was no spatter pattern that indicated the direction it came from other than straight from the sky," she said. "It was just so mysterious to us, how it happened, how it was localized to that one spot," she said. Droppings closely resemble 'blue ice' incidents in B.C. That night, a neighbour sent her a photo of a woman in British Columbia whose vehicle was hit by what Transport Canada suspects may be "blue ice" dripping from an airplane's sewage tank. Tipton said the size and shape of the spatter pattern of the feces on her deck appeared virtually identical. Officials at Transport Canada said Wednesday they've received a "substantial" number of calls about similar incidents. Story continues In an e-mail to CBC this week, the agency said "it is possible that a valve malfunctions and allows some leakage of the tank's content." "If this happens, the liquid seeping from valves freezes and adheres to the outside of the aircraft when the aircraft is flying at high altitudes," officials wrote. "As the aircraft starts its decent and the atmosphere gets warmer, the ice will start to melt and pieces will detach themselves from the aircraft. These pieces of ice will either melt or remain in their solid state before hitting the ground," the e-mail said. 'It was pretty gross' Tipton frequently sees planes flying over Stonebridge, and suspects that's what happened in this case. "It was pretty gross. We figured we'd just better wash it off." she said, noting she scrubbed off the spots and used Pinesol to disinfect the area. Later that night, she emailed Transport Canada, indicating the droplets fell at roughly 7 p.m. and providing her address "I don't expect anything," she said. "If it was an airplane or whatever, I hope it gets fixed so it doesn't happen to anybody else." A Calgary teenager is contributing an Alberta point of view to the development of the Canadian Children's Charter in Ottawa this week. "Overall, there was this unanimous feeling that Canada as a nation can do better for its children," Toney Bedell told The Homestretch, describing the work done by youth delegates since November. "We all believe there is something that can be done, there are things that must be done, if we want to make Canada the best place for youth to grow up." The charter is being drafted by young people across the country working with Children First Canada to address myths about growing up in this country but also offer solutions to challenges. "Mental health is a huge one, absolutely. From mental health we have substance abuse, we have bullying, we have violence, we have failure to access quality health care," Bedell said. "These are issues that are not necessarily being addressed in the community." Effort to recognize problems One of the central goals is to get on the government's radar. "We want the federal government making an effort to recognize that there is a problem and that the parts of the charter have fundamental solutions. Access to support or resources, encouraging more school or community trustees to engage youth where they are in their communities," he said. Bedell says sharing experiences with the other delegates has been incredible. "The people I have met are just some of the most amazing people that you can ever meet. They are from all walks of life. They are dedicated, committed, inspiring, hardworking." And talking is the only way to understand each other, Bedell says. "Conversation is vital to any democracy. To any program or organization that seeks to do real change. Other people who have different opinions from you doesn't have to be an argumentative thing, it can be a learning experience. The process of making a charter really isn't a single person, it's a group effort. I've learned how to engage people more." Story continues - MORE ALBERTA NEWS | 'I can't find my words:' Family mourns 3 sisters killed in Alberta highway crash - MORE ALBERTA NEWS | Most homes listed for sale in Calgary this year haven't sold: What that means for prices With files from The Homestretch A Nova Scotia man is speaking out about a Florida-based magazine subscription company with a slew of complaints against it after his mother fell victim to the business's telemarketing push. Craig Cote said his mother, 75-year-old Theresa Gillis of Dartmouth, N.S., is being billed hundreds of dollars even though the company, Magazine Publishers Service, has not provided a written contract or itemized statement for the amount. Her first bill was $111, the second was $240 and when Cote asked for a full accounting, his mother subsequently received a bill for $843.75. "I said, 'Wow. That's a pretty good amount for a magazine subscription. What's going on here?"' Cote told CBC News. His mother has refused to pay the bills, but both worry the company might send her to a collection agency, something that's reportedly happened to other customers. It started in March when Gillis received a call from someone with Magazine Publishers Service offering to sell her magazines. She said she agreed to the sales pitch after being told she could cancel within 10 days. She said she mailed a cancellation letter on the sixth day, but when she called she was told the letter arrived too late, she could not cancel and she had to pay the bill. Gillis is receiving seven different magazines, including Women's Day, Hello Canada and Country Living. But Cote has no idea how long the subscriptions last or how Magazine Publishers Service arrived at $843. His mother received several calls asking for payment, but she refused and has not heard from the company in three weeks. Cote said he is thankful she never gave her credit card number. "I think it's pretty heinous that someone is able to do this and put a senior in dire straits," he said. BBB warning about company Gillis's situation is very similar to the more than 140 complaints about the company filed over the past three years on the Better Business Bureau website. Story continues The BBB has taken the unusual step of placing an alert on the company, and says there's been a "pattern" of complaints from consumers. They include allegations of charging people without authorization, high-pressure calls, not sending terms-and-conditions paperwork, and not cancelling subscriptions at a customer's request. Some customers complain they were misled about the amount they were charged. Others say they were told they could cancel at any time, and were promised a diamond watch and entry into a sweepstakes for thousands of dollars. Still others say they were charged but no magazines ever arrived. Some complain their accounts were sent to a collection agency. Many complained they were misled and their credit cards were charged much more than they expected. "I'm living a nightmare," one person wrote on the BBB site. Company does not acknowledge wrongdoing In 73 of those cases, the company responded to the satisfaction of the customers after BBB became involved. In most cases, the response is virtually identical. The company does not admit doing anything wrong, but closes the accounts, writes off the balance and places the customer on a "Do Not Call" list. The BBB has given Magazine Publishers Service an "F" rating. It says the company operates under other names, including Canada Mags, M. Video Readers Club of America, Inc., National Readers of North America and Canadian Periodicals Service. The websites for two of those companies are identical, except for the name. National Readers of North America also has an "F" rating from the BBB. It has 64 complaints, 23 of which were rectified to the customer's satisfaction. CBC News has made multiple efforts to contact Magazine Publishers Service by both email and phone since May 18. While we were assured by phone that someone would contact us, no one has. Companies that sell directly to consumers are regulated in Nova Scotia, but a government spokesperson said Magazine Publishers Service is not licensed to operate in the province. "Service Nova Scotia can confirm that neither Magazine Publishers Service nor any of the other names we found that it operates under in Canada hold a Direct Sellers Permit to sell in Nova Scotia," said Service Nova Scotia spokesperson Marla MacInnis. She said the sale would be considered a direct sale, and the purchaser would be protected under the Direct Sellers' Regulation Act. MacInnis said the law specifies "a contract is unenforceable if the direct seller is not licensed at the time of sale and no action can be taken by a direct seller against a purchaser for the enforcement of that direct sales contract." Cold-call advice The president of the Direct Sellers Association of Canada said consumers need to exercise their rights when they receive high-pressure sales calls. Peter Maddox's organization does not include businesses that sell by phone, but instead represents companies like Avon, Pampered Chef and Mary Kay that use alternative techniques. He said the organization checks business practices and ensures they're operating legally before they can join. As for cold calls, he said people should know they have a right to say, "I don't want to speak to you," or they want to think about an offer. "No one should ever expect a sale on that first cold call," Maddox said. "From a common sense perspective I would say you should never buy anything on a cold call." He said consumers should do research on a company before agreeing to anything. His other tips include: - Get a written contract outlining the term, price and product. - Get a receipt. - Check the company's BBB rating. - Understand your province's legislation, and check on the "cooling off" or returns policy. As for Craig Cote, he has filed a formal complaint with both the BBB and Service Nova Scotia. "It's something that we need to get a better handle on," he said. "I really think that seniors, especially, are unprepared for something like this." Correction : An earlier version of this story referred to the company as Magazine Subscriptions Service. In fact, the company name is Magazine Publishers Service.(Jun 07, 2018 7:02 AM) By Jess Macy Yu and Sue-Lin Wong TAIPEI/SHENZHEN, China (Reuters) - Foxconn, the Taiwanese contract manufacturer that rose to global prominence as the manufacturer of the Apple iPhone, is trying to reinvent itself as smartphone sales plateau and Apple Inc diversifies its supplier base. The company, which kicked off a three-day event on Wednesday to celebrate its 30 years doing business in China, already does much more than assemble goods for others. It's a top global producer of display screens, thanks to the acquisition of Sharp Corp. Its far-flung activities include autonomous car startups and investments in cancer research. But with its stock down almost 20 percent since late last year, Foxconn, Taiwan's second most valuable company with a market cap of $51 billion, is under pressure to show that it can convert new initiatives into growth. The Sharp purchase and a handful of more recent deals -including an agreement announced this week for Sharp to buy Toshiba Corp's personal computer business for $36 million - indicates that a push into producing its own branded products is one part of the strategy. Just as important, though, is a plan to provide integrated solutions for businesses that include both sophisticated hardware and software services such as cloud computing, Foxconn chairman Terry Gou announced at the company's 30 year anniversary celebrations in Shenzhen on Wednesday. This "new business model" that could be especially appealing to smaller companies and institutions like hospitals, who have sophisticated technical requirements that they often have trouble handling on their own, Louis Woo, special assistant to Foxconn chairman Terry Gou, told Reuters in an interview. "We have built data centers for many of our customers, but we're not known to provide data center services," Woo said. "In the future since we're having all these pieces, we can put them together to provide a technical service to a business customer." The company is also betting that it can package its traditional expertise to sell "smart manufacturing" services, included fully automated factories, to other industrial companies. Woo acknowledged that none of this would happen overnight - a view shared by skeptical analysts. "Right now, with the contract manufacturing, it's very hard to switch to a new model," said Vincent Chen, an analyst at Yuanta Investment Consulting in Taipei. And it has to be careful to keep current customers onside, in particular Apple - which is estimated to still generate around half of Foxconn's total revenue. "There will definitely be risks," in pursuing so many different areas, said Boyce Fan, an analyst at Trendforce. "But this will be key for Foxconn to find the next growth opportunity." FOCUS ON TECH AND HEALTH-TECH This attempt to pivot toward a new business model comes as trade disputes between the United States and China ratchet up. "I don't think the current conflict between the United States and China is about trade, it's about technology," Foxconn's chairman Terry Gou said in a video that was broadcast at the ceremony on Wednesday in Shenzhen. "Regardless whether we are talking about aeroplanes, ships or semiconductors, the United States is ahead of China so China needs to focus on designing and manufacturing technology," he said, noting that this was Foxconn's focus. He added that, among other things, Foxconn recently bought 20,000 textbooks about AI for all of its employees to study, including line workers and office secretaries. Gou also touted healthcare as a major new opportunity at Wednesday's opening ceremony. The company's technical strengths are in Sharp's high-resolution imaging and displays, which use the next-generation 8K standard and have ready applications for medical imaging devices such as endoscopes. Gou has also touted the possibility of smart toilets that can double as health diagnostic devices, Woo said, with sensors feeding data to the cloud for analysis. That would play to Foxconn's strength in 5G wireless communications equipment. Such efforts won't come cheap, and Foxconn is laying the financial and political groundwork for its next chapter with a Shanghai IPO for one of its main subsidiaries, Foxconn Industrial Internet. The $4.3 billion IPO will provide funding for initiatives in smart manufacturing, cloud computing, data centers and 5G technology, among other areas. A number of Chinese state-owned companies are expected to participate in the deal. FII currently generates a big chunk of revenue from making comparatively mundane components such as smartphone casings and frames. And for all the talk of healthcare and cloud and AI, most of the IPO proceeds are earmarked for smart manufacturing. Sharp is also selling $1.8 billion worth of new shares to buy back preferred stock, issued to banks in return for a financial bailout. Meanwhile, the parent company has huge capital needs for the core display business, with new plants in China and the U.S. expected to cost almost $20 billion between them. THE XIAOMI MODEL? It is still unclear how hard Foxconn will push its own products in the mainstream consumer electronics business, a hyper-competitive arena where sophisticated marketing is crucial. Fan at Trendforce says Foxconn could do more deals to acquire established brands. "It will use whatever branding there is already," he said, rather than try to build a Foxconn brand. The company earlier this year added to its brand portfolio with the acquisition of Belkin, a well-known U.S. maker of computer accessories. Chen, the Yuanta analyst, said Chinese smartphone juggernaut Xiaomi could be a model for Foxconn to emulate. He said Xiaomi is not only selling its phones and other products but also has a range of services to go with them, offered through their own stores. But Woo expressed caution: "We're still looking at how to go about doing that without any direct conflict with our current customers," he said. The world's largest contract manufacturer is planning long term, Gou said on Wednesday. "Our future plan isn't a ten year plan, it's a thirty year plan." (Reporting by Jess Macy Yu and Sue-Lin Wong; Writing by Jonathan Weber; Editing by Miyoung Kim, Martin Howell and Jane Merriman) Lava from Hawaiis Kilauea volcano has destroyed hundreds more homes, engulfing two oceanfront communities where residents were advised to evacuate last week, officials said. No injuries were reported as most residents had heeded the advice to leave. The latest lost homes were in addition to at least 117 reported by officials since lava began spilling last month from cracks in the ground in a mostly rural district of the Big Island. We dont have an estimate yet, but safe to say that hundreds of homes were lost in Kapoho Beach Lots and Vacationland last night, said Janet Snyder, a spokeswoman for Hawaii County. Residents had fled their homes and no injuries were reported (Picture: Reuters) A morning overflight confirmed that lava had completely filled Kapoho Bay, inundated most of Vacationland and covered all but the northern part of Kapoho Beach Lots, the US Geological Surveys Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said. Despite earlier reports that lava had claimed Big Island mayor Harry Kims second home in Vacationland, an aerial flyover confirmed his home was still standing, Ms Snyder said. MOST POPULAR TODAY ON YAHOO County managing director Wil Okabe said his own vacation home in Kapoho Beach Lots was threatened. He described the area as a mix of vacation rentals and year-round residences. For us its more of a vacation area, but for those who live there permanently, theyre trying to figure out where theyre going to be living, he said. Mr Kim and Mr Okabe live in Hilo, the countys seat, which is more than an hour drive from the Kapoho area. Governor David Ige signed a second supplemental emergency proclamation on Tuesday that gives the county more options for shelters and sets criminal penalties for violating emergency rules, such as failing to evacuate and interfering with emergency workers. Story continues Lava from the Kilauea volcano ripped through residential areas (Picture: Reuters) Thousands of people have been evacuated in the past month (Picture: Reuters) Thousands of people in the Puna area had to evacuate after the first fissure opened on May 3. Officials issued mandatory orders for residents of Leilani Estates, and those in Kapoho Beach and Vacationland were advised to leave last Friday or risk being trapped and unreachable by emergency crews. A volcano in Hawaii is still causing destruction (Picture: Reuters) Homes in Kapoho Beach Lots and Vacationland are on smaller lots and closer together than those in other parts of the Puna district. Mr Okabe estimated there are several hundred homes in each of the two subdivisions. How are Ontarians meeting the challenge of electing a premier? With a due amount of sass, cynicism, urgency and of course, technical issues at the polls. While voters are heading in droves to vote, not everything is going as planned. According to CBC News, polling stations have reported technical difficulties with the ballot technology, and paper forms have been used to cast voter ballots. At Corpus Christi Elementary School in Ottawa, Ont., a modem was not functioning when the polls opened. @CBCOttawa The ballot reader wasnt working at my polling station They were collecting the ballots in a big bag. Michael Porter (@The_BRO) June 7, 2018 In the event of a technical issue, poll officials will revert to the traditional paper method of servicing electors, Elections Ontario told CBC Ottawa. Ontarians have been very active on social media, urging people to vote but also sharing their sassy comments on the state of their ballot options today. Although the party leaders were excited to head to the polls, the people of Ontario have expressed a lack of enthusiasm about all the candidates running for the next premier of the province. Dont forget to VOTE! Even if all the options seem bad this year, if you dont vote then you certainly dont get the right to complain about the outcome So exercise your democratic right #onpoli #OnElxn https://t.co/JR9bUuDeWR Readers even poked fun at Doug Ford after spotting photos of him behind the screen, photography being frowned upon in polling stations. My poll had prominent no photography no recording signs. https://t.co/rTdqDAVlCK John Francis (@johnefrancis) June 7, 2018 Others followed suit by poking fun at the potential next premier of Ontario. Follow our Scribble Live of the latest developments in the Ontario election: Pre-election polls have Doug Fords Conservative party in the lead with 38 per cent support, followed by the NDP led by Andrea Horwath. Current premier Kathleen Wynne publicly conceded the weekend before election day, admitting she will not be Ontarios premier when the race comes to an end. She has also urged Ontarians to vote for their local Liberal MPPs to stop a majority Progressive Conservative or NDP government. Ontarians are also wondering if Wynne will step down as leader of the provincial Liberal party once the new premier is named. David Henderson, candidate in Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, has said he plans to bid for the party leader position. Wynne and the Liberal government received extensive criticism on the increase in electricity prices in Ontario. In 2017, the provincial government introduced the Ontario Fair Hydro Plan, which reduced electricity bills for residential consumers by 25 per cent and between 40-50 per cent for consumers in rural or remote areas of the province. Electricity prices were going up in this province because our government..had to make investments in the electricity system to rebuild lines and wires across the province, billions of dollars because we had a degraded system, Wynne told Yahoo Canada News. Despite the governments resolution action in 2017, Ontarians and Wynnes opponents continued to bring up the hydro debacle frequently throughout the election campaign. Not only could the Liberals lose power after all the votes are counted, but the provincial NDPs might be in power for the first time since Bob Rae in the 1990s. The provincial NDPs promise free child care for families that earn less than $40,000 and a fully implemented universal pharmacare program by 2020. If elected, Horwath would increase taxes by one per cent for individuals earning more than $220,000, and two per cent for people earning $300,000 or more. Similar to the Liberal plan, the NDPs are anticipating multi-year deficits, totaling $3.3 billion in the first year and peaking at $5 billion in 2020-2021. The party anticipates reducing the deficit to $1.9 billion in five years. Horwaths main opponent has criticized both the NDP and Liberal debt projections throughout the election campaign. The NDP want to double down on Kathleen Wynnes tax-and-spend policies, the Ontario PC plan states. If Ford is named the Ontario Premier, he plans to get rid of the carbon tax, reduce gas prices by 10 cents per litre and fire the Hydro One CEO. Ford also wants to scrap discovery math programs in schools and introduce a minimum-wage tax credit in the province. Ford has received significant criticism from his opponents for promising numerous tax cuts without releasing a fully costed platform. The Ford family has also made headlines this week after it was revealed that the Ontario PC leader is facing a lawsuit from his sister-in-law, wife of former Toronto mayor Rob Ford. Renata Ford is alleging that he mishandled his brothers estate and deprived her and her children of shares in the family company Deco Toronto. Ontarians, particularly those around Toronto, will be watching to see if Fords personal scandal impacts the provincial election results. Sitting at an estimated 5 per cent support, the Green Party leader Mike Schreiner spent the election campaign sharing his platform with Ontarians. The Green Party has heavily criticized the media consortium for excluding the party from televised debates. During the election campaign, Schreiner used social media to answer questions live as they were asked to his Liberal, NDP and Progressive Conservative competitors on television. I think its a slap in the face of the people of Ontario and its a slap in the face of our democracy, Schreiner said. Keep checking in with Yahoo Canada News for election coverage throughout the day! Vancouver Island RCMP are asking for the public's help to find two men who've been missing since last month. Daniel Archbald, 37, and Ryan Daley, 43, were last seen leaving the Ucluelet Small Craft Harbour by land on May 16. They'd just finished an eight-week sailing trip from Panama to B.C. Family and friends say they were heading to Daley's property in Jordan River, a small surfing hamlet on the southern end of Vancouver Island. Archbald and Daley, both from Squamish, were reported missing after they didn't call home for days. On Wednesday, RCMP released an update saying their disappearance is now being treated as suspicious. A statement said investigators have searched for the men on the ground and by air without luck. Kevin Courtes manages the small craft harbour where the men were seen last. Courtes said the pair docked on May 13 and spent time getting Archbald's sailboat, the Astral Blue, assessed as he worked out taxes with the Canada Border Services Agency. He said Archbald paid for a month of moorage for his boat the day before he left. Anyone with information on where the men may be, or who spoke to Archbald and Daley between May 13 and 16 is asked to call RCMP at (250) 380-6211. Those wishing to remain anonymous are asked to call Crime Stoppers. Sergey Kopirkin, newly appointed Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Armenia, presented his credentials to Armenian President Armen Sarkissian. Sarkissian congratulated the ambassador on his new diplomatic appointment and wished him success in his office. The president expressed confidence that during his tenure, Ambassador Kopirkin will make efforts to further strengthen and develop the relations between two countries. What is life? This is so often the question I ask myself. One week I am preparing for an Easter festival, the next I am wearing an an Islander dress, simulating missions for our students. Growing up, I couldnt have imagined myself living in Australia at 25. Nor living as a full time volunteer. I left England, very insecure, not sure of what I wanted out of life, nor where I was going. I had few hobbies and passions, but nothing I thought worth pursuing. Leaving College was one of my most vulnerable times. Unsure of the path ahead of me, living with so much regret behind me, what was I to do? From my naive perspective, it looked like everyone around me had life figured out. Whether it was an internship or a Uni program, they had a plan. I felt the pressure of Uni applications closing, getting turned down from every job I interviewed for and wanting an adventure with zero income. One day my friend introduced me to Youth With a Mission (YWAM), and told me I could travel, get to know God and study photography in Australia. Well, that sounded like a pretty sweet deal! Over the next few months, I became pretty anxious. I was nervous about the future, having no money and making the right decisions. Sounds pretty normal, right? Well on October 19th 2011, with all those fears intact, I landed in Brisbane airport, unknowing this would be my home for at least the following 6 and a half years. Completely unaware to a God who had been perusing me and planted the desire in my 12 year old mind that I would indeed live in Australia at the age of 18. With few passions, a lot of unhealthy-broken relationships and bitterness in my heart, I was ready to be completely transformed. First six months The first six months were spent fundamentally learning who God is, how He speaks and desires relationship with each and every single person. I then took an 18 month leadership course, welcoming a season of mentoring, road trips and the next 2-3 hardest years of my life. For the first time in my life I started to deal with comparison and feelings of inadequacy. Much to my dishearten though, this wasnt a rip of the bandaid kinda a deal. It took days, which turned into months, slowly turning into years; of crying, having good days and then bad days, trying to overcome and feeling like a failure. For over a year, I was prescribed anti-depressants and a psychologist. When the moments of insecurity that would hit my trigger point would try and tip me over the edge, I needed to learn to not react or give up. My brain and my heart needed to learn they were okay, I was loved and people wanted the best for me. There were many moments of feeling lonely and wanting to give up, but the encouraging thing was learning you can change your thought pattern. We are not destined to live out our fears, or act a certain way because we always have. We can be powerful people by holding on to truth and making healthy choices. During the leadership course, I was set to co-lead a team to India. After booking flights, buying a visa, organizing things logistically, I learnt I wouldnt be going. This is when it became real to me that I needed to change. A loving community I feel fortunate to be in a loving community, who believe in championing young people and getting to grow alongside so many. Looking back, I feel honored to have been given this space and time to grow and deal with things that could have otherwise held me back and stopped me stepping in and reaching my full God-given potential. To begin with, it took a conscious everyday choice to learn to stand in the truth of who God is, and then it became easier to trust God, knowing He was trustworthy. And now, I love life, who I have been created to be and who I get to do life with, those far away and those I see everyday. I believe in young people and seeing them learn who they are. Many think its something we will just know, but this isnt true. To see a young person express themselves takes a lot of vulnerability. With all this in mind, I have prayed and made the decision to stay in YWAM Brisbane, until I get permanent residency. I believe in the vision we have as a Centre and the direction God is leading us in. It has not been an easy decision, knowing it means I am away from so many in England and all over the world. However, knowing God is in control has been the best thing to learn and I am excited to see all He has for me. Beckie Bowie is a Press Service International young writer from England THURSDAY, June 7, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- You're probably familiar with the stereotypes about people who wear glasses -- these folks are studious and spend a lot of time indoors with their noses in a book. As is often the case, it turns out that at least that stereotype may be true, a new British study suggests. The research found that the more years someone spent in education, the greater the risk of developing nearsightedness (myopia). The study also reported that wearing glasses wasn't linked to better educational outcomes. "This study provides strong evidence that more time spent in education is a causal risk factor for myopia," said senior study author Dr. Denize Atan, a consultant senior lecturer at the University of Bristol. But the research wasn't designed to prove more than an association between the two. Nearsightedness is a leading cause of visual impairment all over the world, but especially so in children schooled in some high-income East Asian countries. In the United States and Europe, about 30 to 50 percent of adults are nearsighted. But in countries such as South Korea, Singapore and China, the rates can be as high as 80 to 90 percent, the researchers said. Using a statistical technique called Mendelian randomization, the researchers looked at a group of nearly 68,000 people from England, Scotland and Wales. The researchers looked for genes linked to nearsightedness and combined this with information on years in school, as well as whether or not someone was nearsighted. "A university graduate from the United Kingdom with 17 years of education would, on average, be at least -1 diopter [focusing power] more myopic than someone who left school at 16 [with only 12 years of education]," Atan said. That level of myopia would lead someone to need glasses for driving, she added. The study was published June 6 in the BMJ journal. Ian Morgan, a professor at the Australian National University and author of an accompanying journal editorial, said, "People need to understand how education systems have a major impact on the prevalence of myopia, and that attention needs to be paid to how they are structured to avoid the problems that have emerged in East and Southeast Asia." In those areas, he explained, with "high pressure education systems, and epidemics of myopia [around 90 percent of children need glasses], the vast majority of these children are not stereotypical bookworms, but children trying to succeed in a high-pressure education system." Of course, that doesn't mean Morgan is advocating less education to prevent myopia and the need for glasses. "Clearly, the world is not going to abandon education, but there are some simple changes that can be made," he suggested. One such change is letting kids spend more time outdoors. Both Atan and Morgan said it appears that time outside may be good for the eyes. "There are clues from epidemiological studies and animal experiments to suggest that exposure to natural light may be protective," Atan said. "Large differences in ambient light exist between well-lit classrooms and bright sunlight and, very simply, those who spend more time in education may have less exposure to natural light." She added that other research has shown that the progression of myopia is faster in winter months, lending credence to the idea that natural light is important. And, surprisingly, Atan said, time spent reading wasn't consistently shown to affect myopia as much as time spent outdoors. "The approach of increasing time outdoors in primary schools has already been implemented in Taiwan and has already reversed an almost 40-year trend of worsening of children's vision after initial implementation in 2010," Morgan said. He also suggested that schools could likely reduce academic pressure in early education, which would probably lead to a reduction in myopia without significantly affecting overall education. More information Learn more about myopia from the U.S. National Eye Institute. THURSDAY, June 7, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- Suicide rates are soaring across America, a new government report shows. Between 1999 and 2016, 25 states saw suicide rates jump more than 30 percent. There was variation: They rose by just under 6 percent in Delaware to more than 57 percent in North Dakota, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers. "Suicide is just one of the three leading causes of death that are on the rise, and these statistics don't begin to reveal the emotional, social and financial toll that suicide exacts on individuals, families and communities that are left devastated," CDC Principal Deputy Director Dr. Anne Schuchat said during a media briefing Thursday. The most recent data (2014-2016) in the report shows a fourfold difference in state suicide rates, ranging from 6.9 per 100,000 residents per year in Washington, D.C., to 29.2 per 100,000 residents in Montana. In 2016 alone, nearly 45,000 Americans aged 10 and older died by suicide, the report showed. Just this week, the iconic American fashion designer Kate Spade hanged herself in her New York City home. Her husband, Andy Spade, said his wife had suffered from anxiety during their 24-year marriage and had experienced bouts of severe depression in the past six years. Suicide rarely springs from a single factor, the CDC report authors noted. While mental health conditions are a main focus of suicide prevention efforts, the authors found that more than half of Americans who died by suicide did not have a diagnosed mental health condition. Relationship problems or loss, substance abuse, physical health problems, and job, money, legal or housing stresses often contributed to suicide risk, the report showed. Guns were the most common method of suicide used by people with and without a diagnosed mental health condition. Jeffrey Bridge is director of the Center for Suicide Prevention and Research at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. He said the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention have set a goal to cut the nation's annual suicide rate 20 percent by 2025. "The CDC's analysis of suicide trends suggests no state is making acceptable progress toward reaching this objective, and for many states the burden of suicide is growing," Bridge said in a statement Thursday. "These data should be a call to action for all states to intensify their focus on implementing suicide prevention policies and programs that have the strongest potential for helping save the most lives," he said. The CDC researchers agreed that states need to address a wide range of risk factors in suicide prevention efforts, and they need to include government, public health, health care, employers, education, media and community organizations. The agency offered these suicide prevention steps that can be taken by everyone: learning the warning signs of suicide, to identify and appropriately respond to people at risk; reducing at-risk people's access to guns, medications and other means of suicide; and contacting the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline -- 1-800-273-TALK (8255) -- for help. The findings were published June 7 as a CDC Vital Signs report. More information The U.S. National Institute of Mental Health has more on suicide prevention. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Email Telegram June 7, 2018 His Excellency Mahathir Mohamad Prime Minister of Malaysia Prime Ministers Office Federal Government Administration Center Bangunan Perdana Putra, Putrajaya 62502 Malaysia Tel: +60 3 8888 8000; Facsimile: +60 3 8888 3444; Sent by facsimile Dear Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, The Committee to Protect Journalists, a non-partisan, independent press freedom organization, congratulates you on your May 9 election victory. In line with promises made during your campaign, CPJ calls on your government to prioritize the promotion and protection of press freedom, and to immediately take action to repeal the recently enacted fake news law and other restrictive legislation. As you are aware, the government of your predecessor, Najib Razak, maintained antagonistic relations with the independent media through frequent harassment, intimidation, and threats. In 2015, CPJ honored Malaysian editorial cartoonist Zulikiflee Anwar Ulhaque, better known as Zunar, for his bravery in the face of persistent government threats, including sedition charges for critical portraits authorities considered detrimental to public order. We were encouraged to learn that your government has lifted restrictions on Zunars travel that have been in place for nearly two years. We urge your government to follow through by lifting the bans imposed on nine of his political cartoon volumes and dropping the nine sedition charges still pending against him related to his pictorial journalism. The Najib governments harassment of the media culminated in the April 2018 passage of a fake news law that allows for six-year prison penalties and 500,000 ringgit (US$125,000) fines for news, information, data, and reports which is or are wholly or partly false. This overly broad and arbitrary provision covers print, visuals, and audio recordings. Journalists should never face prison time or punitive fines for doing their work. We encourage you to repeal the law immediatelyas you pledged to do during the campaignrather than redefine it, as you indicated was your intention in a post-election press interview. We note that your communications and multimedia minister, Gobind Singh Deo, said on May 21 that the law would be repealed within the governments first 100 days. Similarly, we call on your government to repeal Section 233(1) of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, which criminalizes the use of network facilities for communications that could be deemed by authorities as offensive, false or obscene. Convictions under the law allow for one-year prison sentences and fines. Government authorities used the law to charge independent news site Malaysiakini for airing live a July 27, 2016, press conference on its affiliated KiniTV news station related to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) financial scandal implicating Najib. We ask that your government move quickly to abolish this law, and immediately and unconditionally drop the pending charges against Malaysiakini Editor-in-Chief Steven Gan and Chief Executive Officer Premesh Chandran. CPJ was heartened by your campaign pledge to abolish laws that restrict press freedom, and it is our earnest hope that you will take this historic opportunity to build a legacy as a champion of a free media in Malaysia. Thank you for your attention. Sincerely, Joel Simon Executive Director Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Email Telegram Berlin, June 5, 2018The car of Dragos Bota, the editor-in-chief of local news website Pressalert, was set on fire by unknown assailants the night of June 2, 2018, in Romanias southwestern city of Timisoara, the Romanian news agency Mediafax reported. No one was injured, according to the report. Botas neighbors reported the fire to the emergency services around 2:40 a.m. on June 2, 2018. Firefighters found that the rear window of the car had been smashed before the car was set alight, according to Mediafax. Police believe that the car blaze was premeditated and opened a criminal investigation into the fire, representatives of the Timis County Police Inspectorate told Mediafax. Bota referred to the fires as a Mafia-style act of intimidation, according to The Associated Press. According to the AP report, Bota has been working on a story about an advisor to the Timisoara mayor, Nicolae Robu, and the journalists previous reports in Pressalert have angered local authorities. Speaking with Mediafax, Bota said he will keep reporting. It is time to ask ourselves whether we accept to see Timisoara become another Sicily, he told the news website. The citys mayor called for a thorough investigation into the fire, while also stating that Bota had been libeling [him] for years, the AP reported. In a Facebook status update, quoted by Mediafax.ro, Robu wrote that the city`s reputation was at stake. Timisoara has and must preserve the fame of a safe city, a city of legality, freedom of expression, but also of perfect public order, he said. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Email Telegram Bangkok, June 7, 2018A Filipino journalist was shot and killed today in Panabo City, in the southern province of Davao del Norte, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the killing and called on authorities to swiftly identify and bring to justice the assailant. Dennis Denora, publisher and reporter at the privately owned weekly community newspaper, Trends and Times, was shot at around 1:10 p.m. while in his car and died instantly from multiple gunshot wounds to the head, according to news reports. His driver, Mayonito Rivera, was wounded in the attack and is in a Panabo City hospital, the reports said. Authorities must quickly identify, apprehend and bring to justice the killer of journalist Dennis Denora, said Shawn Crispin, CPJs senior Southeast Asia representative. Until President Rodrigo Duterte demonstrates he is serious about protecting journalists, this type of wanton killing will continue. Police spokesman Chief Inspector Milgrace Driz said that an unidentified assailant escaped on foot, according to a Manila Bulletin newspaper report. Police recovered three fired bullets and one used cartridge case from a .45 caliber pistol from the scene, the reports said. The Philippine Inquirer reported that police are investigating. The Davao del Norte Press and Radio-TV Club, an independent local press group, said in a statement that Denora was known for his fearless newspaper and radio reports. The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, a national press group, said on its Facebook page that Denoras killing was a clear assault on press freedom. The Philippines ranked fifth on CPJs most recent Impunity Index, which lists countries where journalists are killed and their murderers go free. On April 30, Filipino broadcast reporter Edmund Sestoso was killed by an unidentified gunman in Dumaguete City, according to CPJ research. No suspects have been identified or arrested in the case, according to NUJP research. In February, Joel Sy Egco, executive director of the Presidential Task Force on Media Security, a government body created by Duterte to tackle media murder cases, said that the president wants all media killings solved by 2020, state media reported. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Email Telegram New York, June 7, 2018 Sudanese authorities should allow the privately owned Al-Jarida newspaper to be distributed freely and cease its ongoing campaign against critical journalists in the country, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Agents from the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) held up distribution of the paper on the morning of June 6 until 7:00 a.m., preventing physical copies of the paper from being shipped throughout the country and eventually leading the newspapers staff to cancel distribution, the newspaper said in a post on its Facebook page. Al-Jarida Editor-in-Chief Ashraf Abdelaziz told independent Sudanese broadcaster Radio Dabanga that an NISS agent came to the newspapers printing press in Khartoum early in the morning and asked to see five copies of the newspaper. The agent then told one of Al-Jaridas employees present at the press that the newspaper could not be distributed before 7:00 a.m. The NISS agent cited articles about increases in the prices of beans and bread, as well as a recent attack on a market in Sudans Darfur region, Radio Dabanga and the Sudan Tribune reported. Abdelaziz added that since the newspaper has to be ready for distribution by 6:00 a.m. at the latest, the newspaper was not distributed at all yesterday, resulting in a loss of 50,000 Sudanese pounds (US$2,770). The NISS did not immediately respond to an email from CPJ requesting more information. Preventing Al-Jarida from being distributed is the latest example of the Sudanese governments war of attrition against the independent press, seemingly designed to starve newspapers until they fold or stop publishing embarrassing news, CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Sherif Mansour said from Washington, D.C. Sudanese authorities must stop harassing independent newspapers and let them publish and distribute freely. Abdelaziz was sentenced to a month in prison in March 2018 alongside his colleague Hassan Warrag after both refused to pay a fine over a 2015 column in Al-Jarida alleging corruption in a local land deal, CPJ reported at the time. The Sudanese government previously confiscated newspapers at the beginning of 2018 for reporting on price increases, and CPJ has documented newspaper confiscations as a tried-and-true tactic used by authorities against critical media in Sudan. By Arakel Minassian The Aurora Humanitarian Initiative continued its 2018 Aurora Dialogues on humanitarian concerns today with a talk by former Boston Globe reporter Stephen Kurkjian. Mr. Kurkjian, who is currently writing a piece on the 1988 earthquake, is a forty-year veteran of the Boston Globe, and a founding member of its influential Spotlight investigative journalism team. Held to mark the 30th anniversary of the 1988 Spitak earthquake, his talk focused on the humanitarian response to the tragedy that claimed tens of thousands of lives. Specifically, Mr. Kurkjian discussed the role international journalism played in spreading awareness of the earthquake to different parts of the world, and thus facilitating quick responses. Then General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachevs decision to allow the world press into Armenia to cover the events was significant in this regard. Mr. Kurkjian also spoke to the rupture between Armenians in the diaspora and in the Soviet Union at that time. He commented that the earthquake was important in breaking this division, as diasporan Armenians recognized the need to send aid to the Soviet Republic, and went on to help through significant humanitarian initiatives. The talk was followed by a question-and-answer period, in which a major topic of concern was the continued struggles facing people devastated by the earthquake. Thousands of people in Gyumri are still said to be living in makeshift homes, called Domiks, after their own residences were destroyed. Mr. Kurkjian commented that, were Armenias government functioning as a proper democracy, the issue would have quickly been addressed, because no politician would be able to stay in power if their constituents were forced to live in such conditions. The problem was, however, that in the years following independence, Armenias democracy was not properly functioning. He held out hope that this would change in the years following the Revolution. Continuing in this vein, Mr. Kurkjian related a story about an encounter with former President Serzh Sargsyan. Mr. Kurkjian met with the former president after journalism students in Yerevan lamented that their work made no difference, because the government would never change. In their meeting, Mr. Kurkjian said amot the common Armenian word for shame that Mr. Sargsyans corrupt regime was tearing down the hopes of young Armenians. Their conversation did not last much longer. Mr. Kurkjians talk ended with praise for the young Armenians who successfully unseated the former president from power in the recent events dubbed the Velvet Revolution. He commented that the work did not end with Nikol, but that young Armenians should take charge and write the next chapter of their nations history. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Email Telegram New York, June 6, 2018The Committee to Protect Journalists today strongly condemned the abduction of journalist Gul Bukhari and the attack against journalist Asad Kharal in Lahore, Pakistan, yesterday and urged Pakistani authorities to promptly investigate the incidents and prosecute the perpetrators. These shocking attacks against journalists show a blatant disregard for freedom of expression and journalist safety in Pakistan and are especially dangerous as the country prepares to hold elections, said Steven Butler, CPJs Asia program coordinator, from Washington, D.C. If the media cannot do its job without facing severe intimidation, results of the election will always be open to question, undermining the legitimacy and effectiveness of the new government. Bukhari, a senior journalist known for her outspoken criticism of the military, was abducted by unidentified men on Tuesday night as she was on her way to record a television program for Waqt News, her colleague Muhammad Gulsher told CPJ. As news of her abduction spread, there was a strong outcry on social media. Bukhari was in a press car on her way to the station when her vehicle was intercepted by several cars not far from her home in an army cantonment area, Gulsher said. The driver was forced out of the vehicle, beaten, and told to run away, while the men put a mask on Bukhari and dragged her off, Gulsher said. He gave these details based on the account of the driver, who went to the TV station after the incident. The men who stopped the car were in plainclothes, while some other men were in army uniforms, according to news reports. A few hours later, Bukhari was released, Issam Ahmed, her nephew, confirmed to CPJ. Bukhari later tweeted confirming that she was well and requesting privacy. On the same night, BOL TV broadcast journalist Kharals car was intercepted by masked men near Lahore airport, and he was taken out of the car and beaten. Photographs show several injuries to Kharals head and bloodied clothes. He was taken to Lahore Services Hospital for medical treatment, according to the Express Tribune. Kharal has been critical of the former ruling party and has reported on corruption, according to news reports. The chief justice of Pakistan, Mian Saqib Nisar, called on police to submit a report on the attack within 24 hours, according to news reports. The attacks on the journalists came a day after the spokesperson for Pakistans military and intelligence agencies accused journalists of sharing anti-state remarks on social media and said the Inter-Services Intelligence was monitoring such accounts and those that engage with them, CPJ documented. Pakistani authorities have cracked down on press freedom ahead of national parliamentary elections scheduled for July 25. Recently, CPJ documented disruptions to the distribution of Dawn newspaper and access to television channel Geo TV. Tamil Nadu: To set up fishing harbour in Tiruvallur district June 07,2018 | Source: The Times of India The Tamil Nadu government will set up a fishing harbour at nearby Tiruvallur district at an estimated cost of Rs 200 crore, Chief Minister K Palaniswami said on Monday. The move was part of the government's efforts towards creating infrastructure for handling deep-sea fish as well as due to the congestion at the existing fishing harbour here, he told the state Assembly. "The fishing harbour at Tiruvottiyur will be set up with world class facilities to handle deep-sea fish," he said in a suo motu statement. The existing fishing harbour in Cuddalore will be upgraded at an estimated Rs 100 crore, the Chief Minister said. The chief minister also made a number of other announcements concerning the departments of Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development. These included provision of modern equipment to detect diseases in cattle, new veterinary facilities and upgradation of veterinary centres as multi-speciality hospitals. He further proposed expansion and upgradation of existing milk processing centres in Chennai, Salem, Vellore-Tiruvannamalai and Thanjavur. West Bengal: Over-exploitation is threatening to take the prized hilsa away from West Bengals waters by Sahana Ghosh The number of fishing boats operating in the northern Bay of Bengal is in excess of the sustainable limit and there has been a persistent decline of fish catch. Tajen Dass voice is full of foreboding. It mirrors the choppy waters of the Bay of Bengal as he spruces up his fishing boat and gear for the upcoming hilsa (Tenualosa ilisha) season in the monsoons. My men are ready. My boat is ready. The fishing nets are in place. We are waiting for June when the monsoons begin. But how long will the hilsa survive in Bengal? said Tajen Das, a fisherman associated with a south West Bengals fishermen forum. The reign of the king of fish may soon be over. The highly sought-after silvery trans-boundary fish that travels between the saline seawater and the sweet river water is not only integral to the socio-economy of West Bengal in east coast of India and neighbouring Bangladesh but also to diplomatic parleys. A hilsa fish can weigh up to 2.5 kg and is rich in Omega-3-fatty acids. Inspiring poets and artistes, the darling of waters, is imperiled by over-exploitation in northern Bay of Bengal. What has dismayed Tajen Das and his co-workers is a persistent decline in hilsa catch in West Bengal waters despite revamped efforts. It is extremely unnerving to watch the catch dwindle even as we press more boats into service, said Tajen Das. Unsustainable fishing pressures In a new study, scientists questioning the sustainability of hilsa fishing practices in the northern Bay of Bengal region suggest that an excess of licensed fishing boats (mechanised boats or trawlers and non-motorised boats) are to blame for the plummeting stock. The study states that between 2002 and 2015, even though the number of boats engaged in fishing increased by 25%, the hilsa catch dipped by 13%. At present, the number of boats operating in the northern Bay of Bengal has gone beyond the sustainable limit resulting in over-exploitation of the hilsa population, said Isha Das of Jadavpur University, lead researcher of the study. We need to draw a line. Hilsa fishery is being significantly over-exploited in the West Bengal waters. Strict regulations are needed to curb overfishing. Overfishing happens when more fish are caught than the population can replace through reproduction. Using available data, sample collection and computer modelling, the team estimated 25,440 tonnes as the sustainable yield limit for hilsa fishery annually in northern Bay of Bengal region of West Bengal, while the maximum number of boats that may be deployed to achieve this catch is 3,987. We wanted to examine how we could increase the catch without impacting the fish stock. So one way was to determine an acceptable limit of fishing with boats as one of the parameters. In practise, there are other factors as well that come into play as oceans and rivers are natural systems and are dynamic in nature, said Isha Das. Referring to the West Bengal Government data, the researcher clarified that though in the last several years, except for 2010, the annual catch has remained below 25,440 tonnes, the number of fish removed from the population through interaction with fishing (fishing mortality) has been high and the number of boats have gone up. This has had a negative impact on the stock in subsequent years, said Isha Das. Currently, the study states, fishing pressure from the number of boats legally deployed is almost three times as much. When asked about the over-exploitation of the fish in northern Bay of Bengal, a peeved Tajen Das held the businessmen-fishermen-government nexus responsible. We fishermen have to make a living somehow and we are operating boats that belong to big businessmen. Each businessman owns about 12 to 13 boats. They are here to make money because hilsa fetches good money because of a drop in stock, Tajen said. The state government, he claimed, argues that some boats are lost or wrecked on sea and so new vessels are needed. The hilsa supremacy Like the salmon, hilsa live most of their lives in salt water and swim to freshwater and estuarine waters to spawn (release eggs). Hilsa start swimming upstream during the southwest monsoon when the rivers swell. The hatchlings go back to the sea and repeat the cycle. They can cover as much as 70 km in a day. The species is widespread ranging from the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and Vietnam Sea to China Sea. The hilsa fishery in India and Bangladesh is dependent on hilsa harvested from a particular area: the Indo-Gangetic and Brahmaputra river basins, said study co-author Sugata Hazra, director, School of Oceanographic Studies, Jadavpur University. The species breed throughout the year with peak activity in October-November and minor spawning phases in February-March and July-August in various rivers and estuaries in the region. Between July and October, large size groups of fish are abundant in the riverine area. In general, about 80% to 90% of the hilsa is captured during monsoon months (July to October) coinciding with the upstream movement to the rivers and estuaries. About 95% of the catch of this commercially important species comes from India, Bangladesh and Myanmar. Annual average production of hilsa in India is 40,000 tonnes per year. In West Bengal, hilsa is an important component of the state fishery. It accounts for about 11% of the total fish landings. The annual fish catch of hilsa from the BhagirathiHooghly River has fluctuated over the years, ranging between 12,733 tonnes and 20,000 tonnes between 2000-2001 and 2010-2012. Over-exploitation, siltation in riverbeds, dams, a decrease in water flow, pollution and fragmentation of the river in the dry season are key impediments to migration. A fast swimmer, hilsa has a history of migrating all the way to Allahabad and above in the Ganga river system from Bangladesh. Installation of a barrage in Farakka has completely intercepted the Hooghly-Bhagirathi migratory route of Hilsa since 1975, said Hazra. Hilsas well-being To shore up supplies, one factor that requires urgent attention is the practice of trapping juvenile hilsa (100 to 150 mm), which according to Isha Das, has stretched on for years and has taken its toll on the overall haul. The stage right after the fingerling phase is referred to as a juvenile. Hilsa normally has a life expectancy of four to five years if not fished out. They spawn thrice, Isha Das said. The juveniles are entangled in fishing gear during their seaward migration. For four to five months, the juveniles feed in freshwater before they make a move to sea water. They are caught in large numbers using nets of small mesh size during their grazing period in rivers as well as estuaries by artisanal fishermen resulting in indiscriminate killing of these tiny fishes, said Hazra. We have told the government that boats are in excess, especially the trawlers, and they should not be allowed. We dont like trawlers because the nets with small mesh size trap juvenile or baby hilsa that could have become adults and spawned. This results in an overall decrease in catch, Tajen Das said. Juvenile hilsa, mostly the by-catch of fishery, is not preferred by the fishermen due to their low market price, Isha Das said. Destruction of tiny hilsa and other fishlings are inadvertently brought upon by the prawn and prawn seed collectors using zero mesh nets, Hazra explained. Isha Das said their study also draws attention to the case of netting first-spawners (270 mm). Our analysis of decade-old data shows that the probability of first spawners getting caught in the nets is very high at 75%, she added. So you are destroying the opportunity for them to spawn and produce more hilsa. She said this leaves a stock with a higher proportion old fish, the third time spawner or older than that. Further, the study also attributes the deterioration in the health condition of hilsa in its natural habitat to overfishing. They are not attaining the required length and weight. West Bengal hilsa fishery is targeting smaller hilsa fish that is unsustainable in the long-term, she said. Tajen Das also rued the disappearing breeding grounds for the hilsa. There is no breeding ground for the fish in India, he said. Earlier it used to breed in Uttar Pradesh also. Now the fish that we get comes from Myanmar, moves to Bangladesh and that is what we catch. Our fishermen have to go in illegally to Bangladesh waters often to get a decent catch. Gap in enforcement Following recommendation from the IUCN-led trans-boundary studies on hilsa migration, in which Hazra was a participant, the government of West Bengal issued fresh regulation for hilsa fishery management in 2013 where five hilsa sanctuaries were declared and mesh size and minimum catch size were regulated. The West Bengal government has imposed a fishing ban during the peak breeding period (between September 15 and October 24) every year and has issued directives on mesh size regulation to protect juveniles. Putting up bag nets, scoop nets and small mesh gill nets along the migratory route during to February to April each year is prohibited as per government regulations. However, this remains to be implemented at the ground level with participation from department of fishery, fishermen association, businessmen and consumers, said Hazra. Similarly, Hazra said this restriction of boats and catch in a year (as suggested in the study) should be announced by a fresh notification after thorough discussion with the stakeholders for implementation to meet the Sustainable Development Goal 14, which is mandatory for India as a signatory. The country is committed to protect the oceans and the lives that depend on them. The government can marginally modify the figures depending on last two to three years catch data. This will be more scientific. However, initially the limit suggested in the study can continue for four to five years, Hazra said. The situation is improving But things are slowly looking up, according to the state fisheries department, even though there are gaps in enforcement of the rules. The state government admits that the hauling of juvenile hilsa is a major problem as also is the issue of unbridled use of mechanised fishing boats, use of bag nets, drag nets or gill nets with small mesh size (less than 90 mm mesh size). For the last few years, we have had substantial catch in the open waters. But we do have a crisis in the sense that the production needs to be ramped up to satiate the demand. The demand has not been estimated but is as much as you can get. We are trying to generate more awareness among the fishermen, a source in the state fisheries department told Mongabay-India requesting anonymity. The government is offering alternative employment opportunities and rice at Rs 2 per kg to fishermen during the ban period so they dont catch the fish. Decline in hilsa availability threatens the livelihoods of over 26,000 fishermen, the source said, but Tajen asserts it could affect millions in Bengal who are both directly and indirectly dependent on it. Last year, the floods offered some respite to the fishermen community. There was a glut of hilsa, particularly in Odisha, following heavy rains in the coastal belt. They swam from the sea to the river mouth to lay eggs. This increase in supply also led to a drop in prices, Tajen Das observed. The fisherman highlighted how the implementation of the 22-day ban slapped across the border in Bangladesh to stop catching, selling, transporting and hoarding of hilsa during its peak breeding season has been effective in ramping up supply. Hilsa is Bangladeshs national fish. The Bangladesh government has introduced an extensive hilsa management action plan to increase hilsa production not only by conserving the juveniles but also by protecting the brood fish during breeding seasons by imposing a ban on fishing and restricting the mesh size. The Bangladesh Government also offers VGF (vulnerable group feeding) programmes for poor fishermen during the ban period. Tajen Das batted for better management of hilsa fishery on the lines of Bangladeshs policies, thanks to which the country has seen an increase in hilsa production at a rate of eight to ten percent every year. This is in contrast to the wane in production in India and other countries. The popular fish (hilsa of the Padma river) was last year recognised as geographical indication product of Bangladesh, which recently lifted its export ban on hilsa, whose key market is India. The situation needs to improve in India. The fishermen have very limited means to earn money when the ban is imposed. The benefits announced by the government does not reach all sections. They have to pay the boat owners. The trend that we are seeing is most fishermen migrate out of Bengal to coastal states like Andhra Pradesh and Kerala to eke out a living, Tajen Das claimed. Maharashtra: Thousands in Maharashtra are opposing what could be 'globe's largest' oil refinery by Sukanya Shantha and Ruchira Petkar June 07,2018 | Source: The Wire Last week, for the first time ever, 18-year-old Mariya stepped outside her village, Katradevi, in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra. Around eight other women, all belonging to the Konkani Muslim community, had travelled nearly 30 kilometres to participate in an agitation a first for all of them. They joined villagers from all over the region who got together last week to oppose an oil refinery, the globes largest project, as touted by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. The reasons for covering this distance, as Mariya explains, was machimaaranchya hakka sathi (for the rights of fishing communities). The oil refinery, planned over an expanse of over 15,000 acres of land in Maharashtras Konkan region, if it takes off, will inevitably displace farmers and fisherfolk from 17 villages 15 villages in Ratnagiri and two in neighbouring Sindhudurg along the western coast. The Rs 3 lakh crore oil refinery project which, officials say, will employ over one lakh people, is being opposed by all political parties, including the Shiv Sena, by environmentalists and also by human rights activists. But so far, the government has stayed resolute in its decision and in April, amidst opposition, it went ahead with signing a Memorandum of Understanding between Saudi Aramco and three state-owned companies Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited. When completed by 2022, the project will be the worlds biggest single-location oil refinery project with a capacity to process 60 million tonnes of crude annually. As the government sees it, the flourishing 720 kilometres long coastline of Konkan is the ideal place for the massive refinery. The villagers, however, are not taking the governments decision lying down. On May 30, around 15,000 villagers the police had come prepared for around 10,000 protestors gathered at the Rajiv Gandhi Maidan in Rajapur to demand an uncompromising roll-back of the ambitious project announced by Fadnaviss government early last year. The presence of both women and men in equal numbers from across the affected villages and several hundred more from neighbouring villages showcasing their solidarity meant only one thing, according to Mariya: A strong message that all villages are 100% against the proposed project. This was in response to the claims made by Fadnavis on several occasions that only about 10% of the villagers were against development. Manikrao Kamble, a 55-year-old farmer from Ratnagiri town, had travelled only to extend his solidarity. His 13-acres of farmland, 350 mango trees and an ancestral house are all safe, but he had still come in the blistering heat to participate in the rally. It could have happened to any of us. I am here to tell the affected villagers that they are not alone in the fight, Kamble said. His wife Suryalata called the government anti-farmer. Taking away existing livelihood in the name of employment generation and development is the worst kind of human rights violation to happen, she said. Konkan, a biodiversity hotspot and one of the most prosperous belts of the state, is home to the famous Alphonso mango, among other produce. The picturesque western coastline of India has innumerable beaches, mostly unexplored and underexposed to tourist activities. With rains in abundance, the farmers of this rich land, unlike those from Vidarbha and Marathwada region, have managed to do well without needing the state to extend its loan waiver scheme to the region. Konkan alone contributes 41% of Maharashtras GDP. Of the total 14,675 acres (5,870 hectares) needed for the project, only 126 acres (52 hectares) belong to the state. The rest has to be acquired. The 17 villages identified for the project are Nanar, Sagwe, Taral, Karsinghewadi, Vadapalle, Villye, Dattawadi, Padekarwadi, Katradevi, Karvine, Chowke, Upade, Padwe, Sakhar, Gothiware, Girye and Rameshwar. Each of these villages has several smaller revenue villages under them. Nanar gram panchayat, for instance, consists of four revenue villages Nanar, Ingalwadi, Palekarwadi and Wadi Chivari. The villages here are divided into waadis (smaller colonies) that loosely operate as caste clusters. Brahmins reside separately in one waadi, and most Bahujan communities live in other waadis. The villages, largely peaceful, both on communal and caste lines, are economically interdependent. Across caste lines, people work as labourers, or agents at each others farmlands. Coastal fishing here has remained a primary source of income for most Koli and Kokani Muslim communities who work harmoniously together. These fishing communities, unlike their farmer counterparts from the region, are only marginal landholders. And with this project underway, it is the fisherfolk who face the maximum risk of losing out on their source of livelihood without any reasonable compensation. Majid Adam Bhatkar, former sarpanch (head of the village) calls these beaches the communitys ATM. Absolutely no family has ever gone to bed hungry. One could just go into the sea for a few hours and return home with fish worth a few hundred. These beaches have been our lifeline for generations, Bhatkar explains. On at least two occasions, representatives from the revenue department had visited villages for land measurements, but the villagers obstructed their way and they had to return. When we do not want this project then what is the point of measuring our lands? We will not allow any kind of government intervention on our land until the state withdraws its decision, said Sheetal Ghurav of Sagwe village, who is leading the womens agitation against the project. The district administration has made several attempts to speak to the village heads and convince them to organise meetings with the villagers, but these official efforts have not made any headway so far. The people are in no mood to listen they want the project to be cancelled. The Wire tried to contact Ratnagiri district collector Pradeep P. but was informed by his office that he was on long leave and no one else was authorised to speak on the project. Several attempts were made to contact him through calls and messages, but he has not replied. The story will be updated once he responds. Salman Solkar, a young man from the fishing community and also an emerging leader in the ongoing agitation, says it is his community that stands to lose the most. Almost all of us are landless. We only own our respective houses. Our lives are primarily dependent on the beaches we live on. We catch and sell fish and earn our living. Once we are displaced, we would lose both our livelihood and access to these beaches, Solkar says. And with most of these houses built post-1991, the villagers fear their homes might end up being classified as illegal houses under the Coastal Regulation Zones rules. In Nanar alone, around 750 families live on the beach front and Solkar says almost 50% of their houses were built in the late 90s. Mango and paddy cultivation is the main source of earnings for the farmers. Vinod Suke, the newly-elected sarpanch of Rameshwar village in Sindhudurg explains that an average household here manages to earn between Rs 6-10 lakh from Alphonso mangoes alone. It is a six-month-long work starting November. Even the poorest in the village owns over 100 mango trees. The earnings are enough for them to live a reasonably comfortable life, Suke says. Last year, over 54 thousand metric tonnes of mangoes were sold from these 17 villages. This is over and above other produces like paddy, ragi and toor dal. Yogesh Natekar, another resident of the village and an active member of the Konkan Refinery Virodhi Sangharsh Samiti, an organisation of affected persons floated to oppose the project, points out that no farmer in this region had to ever end their life due to failed crops. Kokani (Konkan) soil has never failed its people. Even in the worst times, people have managed, Natekar claims. The farmers here boast of being self-reliant, which is also one of the primary reasons why they do not consider an oil refinery project as a gateway to development. What jobs will the government provide us. Even the poorest here employ four or five workers under them, says 69-year-old N.D. Kulkarni of Sagve village. The villagers claim Ratnagiri alone has over one lakh migrant labourers working at the Alphonso orchards. Kulkarni, who worked in Mumbai for over three decades, said the project will, in fact, render a large number of people jobless. At present, even an elderly person like me is able to earn for his living. Once our lands are taken away, the state will consider only the younger generation eligible for employment. What will the older generation, especially those living alone do? Kulkarni asks. Konkan and the peoples struggle This is not the first time a massive scale project has been planned in Konkan. Also, this is not the first time that a project has been met with massive protest. In 1992, Vedantas Sterlite Industries was allotted 500 acres of land in Zadgaon village of Ratnagiri to set up a 60,000 tonne per annum copper smelter and associated facilities by the state government. But a well-informed peoples movement pushed the company outside the state and the project finally moved to Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu. This was followed by another project set up by the Dabhol Power Company in the early 90s. The project was initiated by the now-defunct US energy major Enron. This project went through a lot of political churning and peoples opposition. The land acquisition was forced upon the locals by the then Congress government. While the BJP and Shiv Sena had initially opposed the project, they too went ahead with the project when they were voted to power in 1995. The project since has run into major losses and its future is now uncertain. Another project, the Indo-French nuclear power initiative at Jaitapur, has also faced vociferous opposition from the local people and the Shiv Sena. The project, with a capacity to generate 9,900 MW electricity, was planned in 2010 by the then Congress-led United Progressive Alliance. Though land for the project was acquired amidst vehement opposition, it has barely made any progress because of concerns about the cost of the electricity that will be produced. Unfair means Even though the villagers are confident of their unity and say with time the movement will only intensify, they fear that bulk buying of the land by outsiders could dent their agitation. Even before the state had decided on the project, Suke says several investors had suddenly begun buying land from the locals. This was a sudden thing. They were ready to pay higher prices and buy land in bulk. Most of these investors are from Gujarat, Suke told The Wire. In his village, Rameshwar and the neighbouring Girye, a large chunk of land has already been bought. The villagers might have sold just the surplus uncultivated land. But if these buyers manage to make inroads and start luring our people, our fight might get diluted, says Suke. When villagers were served notice and asked to submit their consent letters to the revenue department, these new buyers now considered farmers in official records swiftly consented to the project. It is pretty obvious that they had only blocked the land and were acting at the behest of the state, says Prabhakar Devlekar, ex-sarpanch and vice president of the Konkan Refinery Virodhi Sangharsh Samiti. The land, Devlekar says was bought from villagers for around Rs 3 lakh per hectare and upon acquisition by the state, could yield the owners anywhere around a crore of rupees, he estimates. There are fears that the state will use this way to show that the locals have acceded to the project. Environmental impact The project is expected to destroy over 14 lakh mango trees, six lakh cashew trees, paddy fields spread over 500 acres along with huge parcels of flora and fauna, hence endangering the regions fragile coastal environment. Even before an exhaustive environment assessment could be carried out, Fadnavis had declared the project would emit zero pollution and that it would not pose any hazard to the environment. But environmentalist Girish Raut says these are mindless claims made to keep the locals in the dark. He says the first impact of the refinery will be on the intertidal zone, which is a critical interface between terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Globally, resistance has been building against such refinery projects and there is ample research pointing at the hazards of such plants on the coasts. But the state is refusing to look at these alarming statistics, Raut claimed. Not just will the trees be felled for the refinery, but the habitat of marine life will also be severely impacted, Raut adds. The villagers here are conscious of not wanting to be seen as anti-development. There are at least a dozen different projects that the state can provide us. Why cant they set up a processing unit to help farmers store and sell their produce? asks Satyavan Palekar of Nanar. We want development, but our question to this government is, at what and whose cost? Kerala: 52-day trawling ban to begin in Kerala on Saturday midnight June 07,2018 | Source: The New Indian Express Ahead of the 52-day monsoon trawling ban, which will begin on Saturday midnight, the district authorities have issued a directive to all other-state mechanised boats to leave Kerala coast before the commencement of the ban period. The duration of the ban has been extended to 52 days as a first step to raise it to 61 days on a par with other southern states. A meeting held at the district collectorate to review the steps taken to regulate the operations of fishing boats in Kerala coast has decided to shut down the diesel bunks operating in the fishing harbours and along the coastal belt during the period. Diesel will be provided to inboard fishing boats through the bunks operated by the Matsyafed and select diesel bunks. Mechanised boats will not be provided diesel for these bunks. The meeting also decided to impose restrictions on catching fish below the minimum legal size. Mechanised boats and traditional boats catching juvenile fish will be seized and a fine of Rs 2.5 lakh will be imposed on them, said Fisheries Deputy Director S Mahesh. The government will provide free ration to fishing boat workers and peeling shed workers. The fishermen should contact Matsya Bhavan to apply for free ration.Though inboard fishing boats are allowed to continue fishing operations, an inboard boat will be allowed to take only one carrier boat along with it. The registration details of the carrier boats should be submitted at the fisheries offices concerned. Traditional fishermen venturing into the sea during the trawling ban period should carry biometric identity card along with them. The Fisheries Department has deployed three patrolling boats and opened a control room at the Vypeen Fisheries Station to help fishermen in distress. The control room will function round-the-clock. The Coast Guard will deploy a ship and a helicopter for rescue operations and patrolling, said Mahesh. Fishermen should keep safety gadgets ready in the boats and follow the weather warning issued by the Fisheries Department. The representatives of Coast Guard, Marine Enforcement Wing, Police, Revenue Department Civil Supplies Department and Matsyafed and representatives of traditional fishermen and mechanised boat operators participated in the meeting. Deputy Collector M P Jose presided over the meeting. Central region Fisheries Joint Director Ramadevi also participated. Phone numbers: Fisheries control room: 9496007037, 9496007029 - Marine Enforcement: 9496007048. A 66-year-old man who killed a Birmingham woman and then escaped from prison and killed a 68-year-old man has died. Donald Thigpen died Tuesday night in the William Donaldson Corrections Facility in Jefferson County after serving 45 years for the murders which happened in the 1970s. Thigpen was found unresponsive in his infirmary bed at 7:55 p.m., according to the Jefferson County Coroner's Office, and pronounced dead five minutes later. There was no foul play in his death. Thigpen was convicted in May 1972 shotgun shooting death of his girlfriend, Cassie Lee Davis. The shooting happened in one of Birmingham's public housing communities where the victim lived. Authorities said Birmingham Housing Authority officials had told Davis that Thigpen could not live with her and that had been conveyed to Thigpen. Witnesses testified that Thigpen, while gathering his belongings to leave, picked up the single-barrel, sawed-off shotgun from a table, pointed it at Davis and fired. He then left the apartment and returned a moment later, asking, "Did I kill her?" The shooting happened in front of a public housing manager. Thigpen was convicted and sentenced to death. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals later reduced to the sentence to life in prison. While serving that life sentence, Thigpen and 10 other inmates in April 1975 escaped from Alabama's Holman Prison. The next day, Thigpen and another one of the escapees, came across a 68-year-old farmer who was building a fence along a roadway way. Authorities said one of the escapees killed Henry Lambeth with an ax or fence post and fled in his pickup truck. Again, Thigpen was sentenced to death but escaped execution when the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals ruled out the death penalty statute under which Thigpen was sentenced. | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE! "One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed, but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde Mom, boyfriend sentenced in 8-year-old's beyond animalistic' torture killing LOS ANGELES (AP) A judge sentenced a California mother to life in prison Thursday and gave her boyfriend the death penalty in the beyond animalistic killing of the womans 8-year-old son, who prosecutors say was punished because the couple believed he was gay. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge George Lomeli told the couple that he hopes they wake up in the middle of the night and think of the injuries they inflicted on 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez of Palmdale. I can only wish ... that it tortures you, the judge said. Gabriel was repeatedly beaten, starved, tied up, locked in a cabinet, shot with a BB gun and once had his teeth knocked out with a bat, the judge said. The boy also had a fractured skull, broken ribs and burns across his body. It goes without saying that the conduct was horrendous and inhumane and nothing short of evil, Lomeli said. Its beyond animalistic because animals know how to take care of their young. Gabriels mother, 34-year-old Pearl Fernandez, pleaded guilty to murder in February in the death of her son. A jury found her boyfriend, 37-year-old Isauro Aguirre, guilty of murder last year and found that he intentionally tortured the boy. Fernandez called 911 on May 22, 2013, to report that her son wasnt breathing. She told responding deputies that he had fallen and hit his head on a dresser. He died two days later of blunt-force trauma and neglect, the coroners office found. Gabriels siblings testified that Fernandez and Aguirre would call the boy gay, punish him if he played with dolls and forced him to wear girls clothes to school. Gabriels first-grade teacher, Jennifer Garcia, tearfully addressed the court ahead of Thursdays sentencing, saying she thinks of him every day and how he just wanted to be loved. I find comfort in believing he is now at peace, Garcia said. And I know that unlike him, his abusers will never have peace. They will have a lifetime of suffering to endure, and I know Im not alone in hoping they experience the same abuse in their lifetime and worse. An expressionless Fernandez spoke briefly during the court hearing, saying she was sorry and wished Gabriel was alive. She also criticized family members who have spoken of their grief over Gabriel, saying they just want fame. A jail chaplain who has met with Fernandez told the court that she loved her son and is a different woman today than when she walked into jail. Several agencies investigated abuse allegations leading up to Gabriels death. On several occasions, investigators concluded there was no evidence of abuse. Prosecutors have since filed charges of child abuse and falsifying records against four county social workers in Gabriels death. Man Sentenced to Death, Woman to Life in Prison for Boys Torture-Murder A Palmdale man was sentenced to death and his girlfriend to life in prison without parole Thursday for murdering the womans 8-year-old son, who was routinely beaten, starved, forced to sleep in a closet and tortured until his death in 2013. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge George G. Lomeli called the couples actions horrendous, inhumane and nothing short of evil before handing down the sentences against Isauro Aguirre, 37, and Pearl Sinthia Fernandez, 34. Jurors recommended Dec. 13 that Aguirre be sentenced to death after convicting him of first-degree murder and the special circumstance allegation of murder involving the infliction of torture for the death of Gabriel Fernandez. The boys mother pleaded guilty Feb. 15 to first-degree murder and admitted the torture special circumstance allegation in exchange for a life prison term without the possibility of parole. She had been facing a possible death sentence if the case against her had gone to trial and if she had been convicted as charged. You want to say that the conduct was animalistic, but that would be wrong because even animals know how to take care of their young Its beyond animalistic, the judge said, noting that he hoped the two would wake up in the middle of the night thinking about what they had done to the boy. In denying an automatic motion to reduce the jurys recommendation of a death sentence for Aguirre to life in prison without the possibility of parole, the judge cited the repeated beating, binding, burning and starving of the boy. The judge also denied the defenses motion for a new trial for Aguirre. This case is without a doubt the most aggravated and egregious case of torture this court has ever witnessed, Lomeli said. The weight of this factor alone is simply enormous. In a brief statement shortly before she was sentenced, the boys mother said, I want to say Im sorry to my family for what I did I wish Gabriel was alive. Every day I wish that I made better choices. One of the boys cousins, Emily Carranza, spoke directly to the defendants, saying the boy was an innocent child who didnt deserve the abuse. Pearl, you need to know that Gabriel loved you, and all he ever wanted was acceptance from you. The world fell in love with Gabriel as their own. Why couldnt you? she asked. The boys first-grade teacher, Jennifer Garcia, who called authorities to report that the boy had asked her if it was normal for a mother to hit her children with a belt, said she goes back and forth between sadness and guilt and anger. Then, I just remember that no matter what, I cant bring him back. I cant change what happened For me, it will never go away. This will always be a part of me, something I will think about until the day I die, the boys teacher said. But I know who is truly to blame. We can blame different people for what should or should not have been done. But when it comes down to it, the defendants are the ones who ended his young life During her testimony in Aguirres trial, Garcia said it fell to her to explain to the boys classmates at Summerwind Elementary School in Palmdale that he was not coming back to class because he had died. She said she hasnt used the number 28 which was assigned to the little boy since his death. The boys biological father, Arnaldo Contreras, who is in custody on an unrelated case, was brought into court in blue jail clothes, but Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Hatami told the judge that he simply wanted to listen to the hearing from his jail cell. He testified during the trials penalty phase that he was in jail in Riverside County when he learned that his son had been severely beaten and was on life support. In a statement, District Attorney Jackie Lacey said the case showed how evil can not only inflict lasting damage to those who loved Gabriel but our society as well. The horrific nature of Gabriels abuse and murder has been seared into our minds and the defendants will now spend the rest of their lives in prison for their reprehensible actions, the countys top prosecutor said. Several jurors who heard the case against Aguirre returned to court for the sentencing. Los Angeles County Fire Department personnel went to the familys home in the 200 block of East Avenue Q-10 in Palmdale on May 22, 2013, in response to a call that Gabriel was not breathing. He was declared brain-dead that day and taken off life support two days later. During Aguirres trial, prosecutors told jurors that Gabriel Fernandez was routinely beaten, shot with a BB gun, forced to eat cat feces and sleep inside a small cabinet while gagged and bound. Hatami called Aguirre an evil man who liked torturing the boy and did so systematically in the months leading up to the childs death. Aguirre hated Gabriel because he thought the boy was gay, according to the prosecutor. The boy was 7 when the abuse began and was killed three months after he turned 8, according to the prosecutor, who handled the case with colleague Scott Yang. One of Aguirres attorneys, Michael Sklar, contended that Fernandez was the one who hit the boy with a belt, shot him with a BB gun and was responsible for much of the abuse prior to his death. I think they both pointed the fingers at each other, which sometimes happens in co-defendant cases, Hatami responded after Fernandezs plea. The evidence showed and our office believed that they were both equally culpable in the case, and I think the evidence showed that. The judge agreed, saying that the evidence indicated that Aguirre was a major participant. Based upon the overall evidence presented to the jury, defendant Aguirre was by no means a passive participant in the crimes, Lomeli said, adding that he was convinced that Aguirres participation was major, personal and active. The boys death and the arrests of Fernandez and Aguirre led to an outcry over the handling of the case by Los Angeles County social workers, who had multiple contacts with the family. A subsequent investigation led to criminal charges being filed against two former social workers Stefanie Rodriguez and Patricia Clement and their supervisors, Kevin Bom and Gregory Merritt. They are awaiting trial on one felony count each of child abuse and falsifying public records involving the boy. | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE! "One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed, but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde Anthony Wright, the Philadelphia man who served nearly 25 years of a life-without-parole sentence for a 1991 rape and murder that DNA evidence decades later proved he did not commit, on Wednesday received a nearly $10 million settlement from the city, the largest wrongful-conviction payout in Philadelphia history. The $9.85 million payment to Wright, 46, is more than double the largest previous payout by the city, of $4.4 million made in January 2017 to college student and food deliveryman Philippe Holland . He was shot multiple times by two plainclothes police officers after he had dropped off a cheeseburger at a West Philadelphia home in 2014. Last month, Philadelphia Police Officer Ryan Waltman was found liable for $10 million in the 2011 arrest of a city man he accused of pointing a gun at him and who spent three years in jail before being found not guilty by a jury. Because that verdict was not against the city, the eventual payout to the victim, Khanefah Boozer, is expected to be significantly smaller. Wrights case underscores how important DNA evidence is in criminal prosecutions. Statistics from the Innocence Project, whose lawyers were on Wrights legal team, show that since 1989, DNA evidence has led to exoneration of 356 people serving prison terms in the United States. In August 2016, with the DNA evidence on his side, Wright was retried in Common Pleas Court and was found not guilty by a jury whose members later expressed disgust with the District Attorneys Office for retrying the case in the face of evidence that proved Wright was not guilty of raping and killing Louise Talley inside her Nicetown home. DNA tests showed that sperm found inside Talleys body belonged to Ronnie Byrd, a former Nicetown crack addict who died in a South Carolina prison at age 62. The testing also proved that only Talleys DNA was inside clothing that homicide detectives say Wright told them he wore and that was found inside his bedroom in his mothers Nicetown house. The settlement is a fair resolution to a tragic case, Mayor Kenney said in a statement Wednesday. Mr. Wright has shown great dignity throughout this process, and I hope this resolution assists him and his family after what they have been through. Wright expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the case. Although I will never get over the 25 years I spent in prison for crimes I did not commit, or missing time with my mother before she died or with my son the whole time he was growing up, I am relieved that I can now get on with my life, he said in a statement. For the sake of my young grandchildren, I am encouraged that the City of Philadelphia will continue to take steps to make sure that what happened to me never happens to my grandchildren or any other child. A spokesman for District Attorney Larry Krasner, who took office in January, said the DA believes the decision to retry Wright was unacceptable. It is not a case that the current office would have retried, Ben Waxman said. The citys decision to be accountable for law enforcement misconduct while protecting public funds is commendable. Peter Neufeld, one of Wrights attorneys and a founder of the Innocence Project, said: Tony Wright, an innocent man, wrongfully charged and convicted, narrowly escaped execution when a divided jury declined to impose the death penalty. Mr. Wright maintained his innocence for 25 years and fought in the courts to win the right to DNA testing. His steadfastness, his grace under fire, inspire us all. The settlement does not include an admission of liability and will be paid over time: $4 million by June 30; $3 million by Aug. 30; and $2.85 million by Aug. 30, 2019. After the 2016 retrial ended in a not guilty verdict, jurors said they were disappointed that city prosecutors had decided in 2014 to retry the case. Im angry, Grace Greco, the jury forewoman, said after leaving the courtroom then. The evidence was there that he did not commit this crime. The city should never have brought this case. In the more than a quarter-century since Wright was imprisoned, the city Police Department has seen tremendous reforms, Police Commissioner Richard Ross said in a statement. He noted that advancements have been made in the area of forensic science and in investigative and interrogation procedures, including the videotaping of interrogations. Manuel Santiago and Martin Devlin, the now-retired homicide detectives who interrogated Wright and got him to sign a confession, have denied wrongdoing in their handling of the investigation. Wright, who testified at both trials, denied confessing to the rape and murder. The seventh-grade dropout said he was berated by the detectives for about four hours before he signed the statement without reading it. In addition to Wrights alleged confession, city prosecutors relied on statements by five witnesses, four of whom testified at the original 1993 trial. Two of the witnesses had died by the 2016 retrial their testimony was read to the new jury and the remaining three recanted their statements that they had seen Wright going into Talleys house. | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE! "One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed, but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde A Saudi court has sentenced 4 people to death for links to regional rival Iran, alleging that they were plotting the assassination of "prominent figures", state media said Thursday. "The criminal court has sentenced four terrorists to death for forming a cell for Iran," the state-owned Al-Ekhbariya TV reported. "The terrorists were trained in camps in Iran" and "planned to assassinate prominent figures," Al-Ekhbariya said, without giving any more details on those convicted. Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia and Iran, the predominant Shiite power, have a long history of rivalry. They today stand on opposing sides of conflicts in the Middle East, from Syria to Yemen. In December 2016, a Saudi court sentenced 15 people to death for spying for Iran, according to local media. A source told AFP then that most of them were members of the kingdom's Shiite minority. Earlier in 2016, regional tensions spiked when Riyadh executed prominent Sasudi Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, a driving force behind anti-government protests, for "terrorism". The ultra-conservative kingdom has one of the world's highest rates of execution, with suspects convicted of terrorism, homicide, rape, armed robbery, homosexuality and drug trafficking facing the death penalty. Rights experts have repeatedly raised concerns about the fairness of trials in the kingdom, governed under a strict form of Islamic law. The government says the death penalty is a deterrent for further crime. | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE! "One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed, but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde Agence France-Presse, June 7, 2018 Foxconn, the Taiwanese contract manufacturer that rose to global prominence as the manufacturer of the Apple iPhone, is trying to reinvent itself as smartphone sales plateau and Apple Inc diversifies its supplier base. The company, which kicked off a three-day event on Wednesday to celebrate its 30 years doing business in China, already does much more than assemble goods for others. Its a top global producer of display screens, thanks to the acquisition of Sharp Corp. Its far-flung activities include autonomous car startups and investments in cancer research. But with its stock down almost 20 percent since late last year, Foxconn, Taiwans second most valuable company with a market cap of $51 billion, is under pressure to show that it can convert new initiatives into growth. The Sharp purchase and a handful of more recent deals -including an agreement announced this week for Sharp to buy Toshiba Corps personal computer business for $36 million - indicates that a push into producing its own branded products is one part of the strategy. Just as important, though, is a plan to provide integrated solutions for businesses that include both sophisticated hardware and software services such as cloud computing, Foxconn chairman Terry Gou announced at the companys 30-year anniversary celebrations in Shenzhen on Wednesday. This new business model that could be especially appealing to smaller companies and institutions like hospitals, who have sophisticated technical requirements that they often have trouble handling on their own, Louis Woo, special assistant to Foxconn chairman Terry Gou, told Reuters in an interview. We have built data centres for many of our customers, but were not known to provide data centre services, Woo said. In the future since were having all these pieces, we can put them together to provide a technical service to a business customer. The company is also betting that it can package its traditional expertise to sell smart manufacturing services, including fully automated factories, to other industrial companies. Woo acknowledged that none of this would happen overnight - a view shared by sceptical analysts. Right now, with the contract manufacturing, its very hard to switch to a new model, said Vincent Chen, an analyst at Yuanta Investment Consulting in Taipei. And it has to be careful to keep current customers onside, in particular, Apple - which is estimated to still generate around half of Foxconns total revenue. There will definitely be risks, in pursuing so many different areas, said Boyce Fan, an analyst at Trendforce. But this will be key for Foxconn to find the next growth opportunity. FOCUS ON TECH AND HEALTH-TECH This attempt to pivot towards a new business model comes as trade disputes between the United States and China ratchet up. I dont think the current conflict between the United States and China is about trade, its about technology, Foxconns chairman Terry Gou said in a video that was broadcast at the ceremony on Wednesday in Shenzhen. Regardless whether we are talking about aeroplanes, ships or semiconductors, the United States is ahead of China so China needs to focus on designing and manufacturing technology, he said, noting that this was Foxconns focus. He added that, among other things, Foxconn recently bought 20,000 textbooks about AI for all of its employees to study, including line workers and office secretaries. Gou also touted healthcare as a major new opportunity at Wednesdays opening ceremony. The companys technical strengths are in Sharps high-resolution imaging and displays, which use the next-generation 8K standard and have ready applications for medical imaging devices such as endoscopes. Gou has also touted the possibility of smart toilets that can double as health diagnostic devices, Woo said, with sensors feeding data to the cloud for analysis. That would play to Foxconns strength in 5G wireless communications equipment. Such efforts wont come cheap, and Foxconn is laying the financial and political groundwork for its next chapter with a Shanghai IPO for one of its main subsidiaries, Foxconn Industrial Internet. The $4.3 billion IPO will provide funding for initiatives in smart manufacturing, cloud computing, data centres and 5G technology, among other areas. A number of Chinese state-owned companies are expected to participate in the deal. FII currently generates a big chunk of revenue from making comparatively mundane components such as smartphone casings and frames. And for all the talk of healthcare and cloud and AI, most of the IPO proceeds are earmarked for smart manufacturing. Sharp is also selling $1.8 billion worth of new shares to buy back preferred stock, issued to banks in return for a financial bailout. Meanwhile, the parent company has huge capital needs for the core display business, with new plants in China and the U.S. expected to cost almost $20 billion between them. It is still unclear how hard Foxconn will push its own products in the mainstream consumer electronics business, a hyper-competitive arena where sophisticated marketing is crucial. Fan at Trendforce says Foxconn could do more deals to acquire established brands. It will use whatever branding there is already, he said, rather than try to build a Foxconn brand. The company earlier this year added to its brand portfolio with the acquisition of Belkin, a well-known U.S. maker of computer accessories. Chen, the Yuanta analyst, said Chinese smartphone juggernaut Xiaomi could be a model for Foxconn to emulate. He said Xiaomi is not only selling its phones and other products but also has a range of services to go with them, offered through their own stores. But Woo expressed caution: Were still looking at how to go about doing that without any direct conflict with our current customers, he said. The worlds largest contract manufacturer is planning long-term, Gou said on Wednesday. Our future plan isnt a ten-year plan; its a thirty-year plan. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. New Delhi-based Leaf Wearables was among the five finalists selected from 85 teams hailing from 18 countries for the million dollar prize instituted by eminent Indian-American philanthropists Anu & Naveen Jain called 'Women's Safety XPRIZE'. (Photo: @leafletparas/Twitter) United Nations: A group of young Indian entrepreneurs, inspired to find solutions for women safety following the December 16, 2012 gangrape, have won a million dollar prize by developing a wearable smart device that women can use to send out emergency alerts if threatened or assaulted. New Delhi-based Leaf Wearables was among the five finalists selected from 85 teams hailing from 18 countries for the million dollar prize instituted by eminent Indian-American philanthropists Anu & Naveen Jain called 'Women's Safety XPRIZE'. The technology start-up, founded by students of IIT Delhi and Delhi Technological University, won the prize for their project 'Safer Pro', an enhanced new version of their earlier smart safety devices. The Jains, prominent entrepreneurs and philanthropists, partnered with non-profit organisation XPRIZE to create the Anu & Naveen Jain Women's Safety XPRIZE aimed at addressing the safety of women and girls by leveraging technology. "Women safety is a global problem, it's a global epidemic. A safe environment for women is a fundamental human right, it should not be considered a luxury and yet in today's world, with so much advancement in technology and innovation, we still haven't been able to solve this problem, Anu Jain, the founder of the Women's Safety XPRIZE, told PTI at the award ceremony organised in the UN on June 6. Teams participating in the challenge had to create a device, costing no more than USD 40 and able to work without internet, that can inconspicuously trigger an emergency alert if a woman is facing a threat and transmit information to a network of community responders, all within 90 seconds. Leaf Wearables' Manik Mehta, Niharika Rajiv and Avinash Bansal collected the million dollar prize. "It was in 2012 that the Nirbhaya rape took place in Delhi," Mehta, the start-up's co-founder said, adding that it was then that they decided "enough is enough. Delhi is unsafe and things are not changing at all. We have got to solve this problem." The start-up has previously launched two wearable devices. "We are not saying we have made the perfect device. We are saying we are (working) on the problem and we are going to make one billion families safe and connected," Mehta said. Niharika said, being a woman, she understands the need for such solutions but it is "excellent that people understood too that women safety is a global need." Going forward, the team will continue to work on its product and improve it. Rajiv said so far the product has focused on getting the information out if someone is in a situation where they feel threatened and the next mile is to ensure that help gets to them. She said the prize money will help "jumpstart all our efforts." The smart device by Leaf Wearables will also be able to make audio recordings, giving valuable proof and evidence to the women using it. Anu Jain said that instead of using the traditional philanthropic route, she and her husband decided to "crowdsource" to find solutions that ensure women's safety. "The mindset that perpetuates violence and discrimination against women and girls needs to change but we cannot wait for that to happen. Our goal is to do something today, use technology to find solutions fast," she said. "We wear technology everyday, we are counting our every footstep through technology. Let's use that technology and innovation to provide safety for women and girls around the world," Anu Jain, co-founder of technology company InfoSpace, added. Naveen Jain, founder of several technological companies including Moon Express, Viome and Bluedot said that none of the solutions and projects required cell phone or wifi, so even if a women's phone is taken away or she is in a basement, the wearable devices will still be able to track the person's exact location. Amid growing awareness and activism around women's rights and increasing instances of sexual harassment, the Jains launched the competition in October 2016 with 85 teams competing from 18 countries including Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, India, Morocco, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, South Korea, UAE and the US. These teams ranged from university students, scientists, entrepreneurs and parents and victims of abuse. The five finalist teams hailed from the United States, India and Switzerland. The devices range from smart jewellery that can trigger emergency alerts to other wearables that detect physical gestures and speech recognition for emergency triggers. All solutions were tested live in front of the judging panel and in simulated testing environments in April 2018 including public transportation in Mumbai, taking routes unknown to the teams to test the mobility and advanced functionality of their devices. The World Health Organisation estimates that about one in three women worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime. Founder and CEO of XPRIZE Peter Diamandis said implementing this XPRIZE in India helped the organisation to demonstrate that "breakthrough solutions are borderless and exponential technology can help aid humanity in our most challenging global issues like universal safety." The finalists were Artemis from Switzerland, led by Nicee Srivastava and Katerina Zisaki, who developed data analytics for wearables and IoT devices, which provide a way to improve women's safety via the ability to trigger an alert through gestures and physiological signals. Outside OPEC, however, there were ongoing signs of rising output. Oil prices rose on Thursday to shake off some of the previous sessions losses, supported by plunging exports by OPEC-member Venezuela. Brent crude futures LCOc1 were up 33 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $75.69 a barrel at 0101 GMT, Reuters said. Read alsoUkraine's Supreme Court blocks gas production near Russian-occupied Crimea U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 was up 38 cents, or 0.6 percent, at $65.11 a barrel. It ended the previous session 1.2 percent lower at $64.73 a barrel. Venezuela, a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), is nearly a month behind in shipping crude to customers from its main oil export port, according to Reuters data, as chronic delays threaten to breach state-run PDVSA's crude supply contracts if they are not quickly cleared. Tankers waiting to load more than 24 million barrels of crude, almost as much as PDVSA shipped in April, are sitting off the country's main oil port, according to the data. The backlog is so severe, PDVSA has told some customers it may declare force majeure, allowing it to temporarily halt contracts, if they do not accept new delivery terms. "OPEC supply changes remain the biggest uncertainties in the market," said Xi Jianrui, senior crude analyst with oil consultancy JLC said. Venezuela's supply trouble comes amid voluntary production cuts by OPEC which have been in place since 2017 in order to tighten the market and prop up prices. The group is due to meet at its headquarters in Vienna, together with top producer but non-OPEC member Russia, on June 22 to discuss production policy. OPEC-member Iraq said on Wednesday that a production increase was not on the table as the market was stable and prices good. This comment followed an unofficial request from the United States asking OPEC's de-facto leader Saudi Arabia to boost output. Outside OPEC, however, there were ongoing signs of rising output. The United States is close to becoming the world's biggest crude oil producer, edging nearer to the 11 million bpd churned out by Russia, with exports also surging. U.S. crude inventories also rose, gaining 2.1 million barrels in the week to June 1, to 436.6 million barrels, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. The sanctions will be officially published on June 7. The United States has imposed sanctions against the Ukrainian Dart Airlines. The sanctions are being applied due to the fact that the Ukrainian airline cooperated with the Iran's Caspian Air. Read alsoSwiss banks block accounts of Russian oligarch Vekselberg over U.S. sanctions media "For assisting in, sponsoring, or providing financial, material, technological support for, or financial or other services to or in support of, Iran's CASPIAN AIR," reads a statement by the Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control Notice of OFAC Sanctions Actions. Caspian Air was earlier sanctioned for supporting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps by transporting personnel and illegal materials, including weapons, from Iran to Syria. The sanctions will be officially published on June 7. As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukraine-registered Khors Air and Dart airlines might be stripped of their licenses for allegedly providing aircraft to entities in Syria, Iran, and Iraq that fall under U.S. sanctions. The District Court of Nicosia in 2017 issued a temporary order to freeze SCM's Cyprus-based assets up to the amount of US$820 million. The District Court of Nicosia on June 6 ruled in favor of the Ukrainian tycoon Rinat Akhmetov's System Capital Management (SCM) financial and industrial group, discharging the previous order to restrict the alienation of certain SCM assets and thus 'unfreezing' them now. "We are delighted by today's judgement. The District Court of Nicosia has ruled that the freezing order obtained by Raga Establishment Limited on 27 December 2017 against, among others, several SCM Group companies and Mr Rinat Akhmetov has now been discharged. All restrictions imposed by that freezing order in dealing with their respective assets have been removed. The Court also issued an order awarding the legal costs in favor of the SCM Group and against Raga," SCM's Director of International and Investor Relations Jock Mendoza-Wilson said on June 6. Read alsoLondon Court orders Akhmetov's SCM to pay extra $760 mln for Ukrtelecom "The court stated in its judgement that the December 2017 Cypriot freezing order was obtained by Raga inappropriately and unjustifiably. This is illustrative of Raga's behavior in this dispute and a reflection of the true nature of its claim filed against SCM Group and Mr Akhmetov in Cyprus. We maintain that such claim is baseless, just as the now discharged freezing order had been baseless. We will continue to defend vigorously against Raga Establishment claims in Cyprus and other jurisdictions," he added. As was earlier reported, the District Court of Nicosia in 2017 issued a temporary order to freeze SCM's Cyprus-based assets up to US$820 million, following a dispute with Raga Establishment over the privatization of Ukraine's telecoms giant Ukrtelecom. Read alsoFT: Ukraine's Rinat Akhmetov has $820m of assets frozen The reason for the legal proceedings was the contract terms of Ukrtelecom sale to the SCM group in 2013. According to Ukrtelecom's lawyers, Raga Establishment Ltd, as the seller, claimed in the agreement that it adhered to a 2011 privatization agreement with the State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPF). This refers to the commitment of Raga Establishment Ltd to invest in the development of Ukrtelecom's infrastructure in the country. The SCM states that this obligation was not fulfilled. Moreover, upon discovering Raga's failure, it tried to terminate the deal and demanded the return of its $100 million prepayment. This sparked a lawsuit on the part of Raga Establishment, demanding that SCM pay them the full US$760. In September 2016, SCM filed a counterclaim with the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) to rescind the sale of Ukrtelecom, which would have returned shares in Ukrtelecom to Raga and the prepayment sum to SCM. While the arbitration was still pending, in April 2017, the State Property Fund of Ukraine filed a lawsuit for the dissolution of the privatization agreement and the return of Ukrtelecom shares to state ownership, which indicates that Raga Establishment has not fulfilled its obligations under the privatization agreement. The construction has already kicked off in Germany's Lubmin of a gas receiving station in the project's framework. Sweden has approved an application from Nord Stream 2 to lay two gas pipelines through its economic zone in the Baltic Sea, the government said on Thursday. Our judgment was that we were not able to say no, Minister for Enterprise and Innovation, Mikael Damberg, told reporters, according to Reuters. The EUR 9.5 billion ($11.24 billion) project will bring Russian gas to Germany and has been criticized by the United States, Ukraine and Poland, countries claiming it will undermine Europes energy security. As UNIAN reported earlier, the construction has already begun in Germany's Lubmin of a gas receiving station in the framework of the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline project. The project's fierce opponents, including Poland, the Baltic states, Ukraine, Moldova, the U.S. and Denmark, argue that the Nord Stream 2 will increase the EU's dependence on Gazprom, which already supplies about a third of gas the EU consumes. Read alsoGazprom's Dutch assets to be seized to secure US$2.6 bln settlement with Naftogaz In addition to Germany, Finland also approved the construction. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the Nord Stream-2 project could not be implemented without preserving Ukraine's gas transiter status. As UNIAN reported earlier, Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman said Nord Stream 2 would become another lever of Russia's pressure on the EU and would endanger Europe's energy security. Read alsoGroysman: Russia wants to 'destroy' Ukraine's gas pipeline with Nord Stream 2 Speaking at the conference on the Russian gas transit to the EU in Brussels, he said that the project is "a hybrid weapon that is aimed against European states, and we must stop it ... Russia seeks to construct build a gas pipeline, destroy the Ukrainian gas transportation system and get an absolutely unique lever of pressure on the European countries." Nord Stream 2 is fully owned by Russias gas export monopoly Gazprom. German energy groups Uniper and Wintershall, Anglo-Dutch group Shell, Austrias OMV and Frances Engie are financing the 1,225 km pipe. Ukraine boosts electricity exports by 25% in Jan-May Hungary accounted for 62.2% of electricity sales to foreign customers. If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+Enter The Fund called Danyliuk a strong supporter of reforms. Ukraine's key creditor, the International Monetary Fund, has expressed concern over the change in the role of Ukraine's Ministry of Finance in the country's fiscal policy following the firing on Thursday of finance minister Oleksandr Danyliuk. "We don't comment on personalities, on internal personnel issues, so let me be clear on that. But our staff had expressed concern about a possible change in the institutional role of the finance ministry. I'm distinguishing again from the person, but we had expressed concern about the institutional role. The finance ministry should retain in our view its central and crucial role in fiscal policy. A finance minister is obviously an important counterpart for the IMF in our discussions. And Minister Danyliuk had been a strong supporter of the reforms," Gerry Rice, Deputy Spokesperson at the IMF Communications Department, told a traditional Thursday briefing in Washington DC, answering a question by UNIAN. Read alsoUkraine's parliament sacks finance minister As UNIAN reported earlier, the Verkhovna Rada on June 7 backed an appeal by Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman calling on MPs to dismiss Finance Minister Oleksandr Danyliuk. At a government meeting May 23, the minister reacted sharply to the fact that the issue of an appointment to a deputy minister's post of Yana Buhrimova, whom he had been promoting for about two years, was off the agenda. After Danyliuk in a letter complained about the situation to G7 Ambassadors, claiming that he was being forced to give in to the appointment to his deputy's post of someone from the president's team. After the said meeting, media reported about the Cabinet's decision to transfer the SFS to the government's subordination and strip the finance ministry of the privilege to approve all gov't decrees before they enter into force. Earlier, the SFS was accountable to the Finance Ministry. Danyliuk claims the decision was never made public because it violated the Ukrainian legislation. On June 7, Oksana Markarova, who was Danyliuk's first deputy, was appointed acting finance minister. For more than a decade, Starbucks has branded itself as a liberal company that MSNBC viewers can support. This careful posturing, though, was not enough to shield the company against accusations of racism after staff called the police on two African-American men sitting at a table without making a purchase. Since then, Starbucks announced that all were welcome to make use of company facilities such as bathrooms and Wi-Fi, even if no purchases are made. But what if, instead of a panicked PR response, Starbucks open-access policy is an opportunistic ploy to put itself in a league of its own and receive more taxpayer subsidies? Private companies with non-commercial public benefits can benefit from taxpayer money not available to competitors. Now, by angling itself as a public utility of sorts with its new open access policy, Starbucks has the potential to increase its government-provided subsidies while virtue signaling to its customer base. Starbucks already receives subsidies from taxpayers. The companys employee tuition program is only possible through a special arrangement with public universities such as Arizona State University (ASU), which offers a nearly 50 percent tuition discount for qualified employees. ASU receives more than $300 million from state taxpayers, meaning that this special arrangement is at least partly financed by taxpayers. In analyzing Starbucks bold response to its racial optics problem, it is easy to declare its new policies to be an unprecedented embrace of woke politics in 2018. This, however, ignores a long history of companies and organizations ditching exclusivity and opening up to the public. For instance, on Memorial Day weekend, millions of Americans walked up and down the hundreds of miles of boardwalks and beaches along the countrys coasts, eating jumbo pizza and soaking up sun. Some beaches and boardwalks, such as Ocean Grove, New Jersey, are maintained by private players, and usually rely on member and user fees for upkeep and maintenance. Over the years, an implicit understanding has developedmore public access means more taxpayer-funded assistance in various circumstances. When Hurricane Sandy destroyed the coastline in 2012, publicly-owned areas were included in a gargantuan federal relief bill. Funding the reconstruction of the Ocean Grove area proved to be particularly thorny. The Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) argued that the half-mile boardwalk in the city is a privately-maintained recreational area, while the Camp Meeting Association (the owning organization) countered that the area provided a public thoroughfare in providing emergency access and life-saving operations. After repeatedly denying requests for federal relief, FEMA finally reversed course in 2014 and approved reconstruction funding. Unlike the Starbucks kerfuffle, the Camp Meeting Association struggled to get public buy-in due to concerns over religious, rather than racial, bias. By most accounts, FEMA only reluctantly agreed to a 2012 court case forcing the Association to treat gay and straight couples equally in marriage hosting decisions. When the case was still being decided in 2011, FEMA refused to help Ocean Grove recover from damage from Hurricane Irene. In receiving public funds, perceptions of equal and open access are important. This plays into a much older legal principle known as the Public Purpose Principle, which grants state favoritism to private interests if a compelling public benefit exists. The Encyclopedia of the American Constitution notes that, throughout American history, private businesses were given special privileges in promotion of drainage, wharf facilities, supply of water to urban centers, and transportation facilities, as the Ohio Supreme Court declared in 1836, because the public has an interest in them. Starbucks provision of free bathrooms and Wi-Fi sets the company up to lobby for government privileges and taxpayer-financed construction or maintenance assistance. As Taxpayers Protection Alliance Foundation (TPAF) investigative reporter Johnny Kampis notes, large companies such as Google can reap sweetheart deals at taxpayer expense for rolling out public internet networks. As a newly-christened provider of free Wi-Fi, Starbucks is now in a similarly advantageous position. And, municipalities have shown a willingness to subsidize public restrooms even if the primary beneficiary happens to be a private company. Often there more than meets the eye when it comes to branding. In Starbucks case, an open access policy is just the latest foray by private enterprise into the smorgasbord of government favoritism. And, instead of altruism, opening up the non-paying public could be a cynical attempt to receive more taxpayer subsidies. Ross Marchand is the director of policy for the Taxpayers Protection Alliance. Interested in real economic insights? Want to stay ahead of the competition? Each weekday morning, E21 delivers a short email that includes E21 exclusive commentaries and the latest market news and updates from Washington. Sign up for the E21 Morning Ebrief. The Kyivstar mobile communications operator with support of the Agricultural Policy and Food Ministry of Ukraine has launched m-Agri mobile application for small farms, the company has said in a press release. "The business application should provide farmers with access to best practices, knowledge base, industry price proposals, news, training resources and online consultations, as well as to bring farmers to new markets to sell their products and provide them with opportunities to grow their business," the operator said. Currently, seven basic sections are available in the application: news, market prices, weather, finance, knowledge base, Smart Assistant and messages. In the future, it is planned to supplement the functionality of the platform with financial services, a trading platform, and other things. The application is designed for mobile devices on the Android system. It is free of charge for Kyivstar users. On Google Play the application is a free trial version. Ferrexpo Plc with assets in Ukraine opposes the transfer of ports to concession, but the company backs the privatization of ports. "We are against the concession, but we suppot privatization - this is the most profitable option, which will bring the greatest benefit to Ukraine," Head-Investor Relations & Corporate Communications at Ferrexpo Plc Ingrid McMahon said on Tuesday, answering a question from the Interfax-Ukraine. She also said that the company is involved in negotiations on the liberalization of river navigation. In addition, the company monitors privatization processes in Ukraine. At the same time, as the representative of Ferrexpo said, investments in this or that project depend on the prices of premium segment pellets, which the company sells. Ferrexpo is a Swiss headquartered iron ore company with assets in Ukraine. It mines, processes and sells high quality iron ore pellets to the global steel industry. Naftogaz proposes Gazprom to conduct dialogue on terms of future transit with EC's participation Naftogaz Ukrainy has proposed Russia's Gazprom to negotiate on the terms of future transit of Russian gas to the EU in a trilateral format initiated by the European Commission. "We suggest that Mr. Miller discuss this issue at the talks initiated by the European Commission," the press service of Naftogaz said. Earlier Deputy Chairman of Gazprom Alexander Medvedev said he did not understand with whom from the Ukrainian side it is necessary to negotiate on this issue. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passed the law on the Anti-Corruption Court just a few hours ago, therefore the International Monetary Fund (IMF) needs some time to assess it, IMF Spokesman Gerry Rice has said. "That happened a few hours ago, so we will now assess that law as it was adopted. We'll be looking to see that it ensures the establishment of an independent and trustworthy anti-corruption court that meets the expectations of the Ukrainian people. In this regard, the selection process of judges who sit on that court is critical, and it's important that the panel of independent experts to support this process has a crucial role in verifying that applicants to the position of a judge have the necessary qualifications. Those are the things we will be looking at as priority items," he said at a traditional briefing in Washington. "We're still working toward the completion of the fourth review, which would rest on the implementation of certain important items, and one of those was a strong and independent anti-corruption court," he said. The draft law on the National Financial Security Bureau (No. 8157) does not take into account the basic conceptual remarks of the European Business Association (EBA), and only some "cosmetic" corrections have been adopted, the business association has told Interfax-Ukraine. "The business community cannot stay on the sidelines and calmly watch how they ignore our point of view, while publicly announcing broad support for business. The largest business associations of Ukraine, including the EBA, with the support of the Business Ombudsman Council, sent a letter to Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Andriy Parubiy, in which reasoned all our comments on this bill," the EBA said. At the same time, the association said its experts had joined the study and discussion of the document from the very beginning of its promulgation. In particular, specialists of a number of companies, which are members of the association, including law firms, pharmaceutical and investment companies, conducted thorough work on studying the bill, which resulted in almost ten pages of comments. "In addition, we held a meeting with Nina Yuzhanina [the head of the parliamentary committee on taxation and customs policy], at which voiced the main comments and discussed the problematic issues of the draft law. Moreover, we met with the specialists, who worked on the text of the document, and discussed certain questionable norms," the EBA noted. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, at a meeting with people's deputies of the Bloc of Petro Poroshenko (BPP) faction in parliament, has called on lawmakers to support the draft law on an Anti-Corruption Court, according to First Deputy Chairwoman of the Verkhovna Rada Iryna Gerashchenko, who represents Ukraine in the humanitarian subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group. According to her, the law is needed, first and foremost, to Ukraine, not only to its partners. "The law should correspond primarily to the Constitution of Ukraine, because Ukraine is a sovereign state, and also take into account the positions and recommendations of the Venice Commission," Gerashchenko wrote on her Facebook page on Thursday. Head of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine Petro Tsyhykal and Director of the Slovak Border and Alien Police Ladislav Cemi at a meeting in Bratislava reached an agreement on a special training course for the staff on duty in joint patrols on the Ukrainian-Slovak state border. "To improve the professional training of persons involved in joint patrolling, the parties agreed to conduct a special training of personnel to perform service in joint patrols on the Ukrainian-Slovak state border," the press office of the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service reported on Thursday. Tsyhykal and Cemi signed a plan on the development of cooperation between the administration of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine and the Office of the Border and Alien Police of the Presidium of the Police Corps of Slovakia for 2019-2020, and agreed on the next meeting to be held in Ukraine in 2019. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has called on the Verkhovna Rada to pass a draft law on a High Anti-Corruption Court on Thursday, June 7. "I urge you to ensure that today the Verkhovna Rada could find the strength and opportunity to demonstrate, how it has demonstrated not once in the last four years, and vote for the law on the Anti-Corruption Court," Poroshenko said at a morning plenary meeting of the Verkhovna Rada on Thursday. Two killed, two wounded in 25 enemy attacks on Ukrainian positions in Donbas Russian-backed militants have opened fire on the positions of the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) in Donbas 25 times over the past 24 hours, killing two Ukrainian servicemen and wounding two more, according to the JFO's press center. "Russian occupation forces were active in the hours of darkness near the villages of Krymske, Novozvanivka, Opytne, Maryinka, Vodiane, Shyrokyne. In total, the enemy violated the ceasefire 25 times, including twice with the use of mortars. Joint Forces units prevented the provocative actions of the enemy and responded adequately," reads a report as of 07:00 on Thursday, which was posted on the Facebook page of the JFO. According to Ukrainian intelligence, five militants were killed and three more wounded Since the beginning of the current day militants in Luhansk region have fired five times on Ukrainian positions from 120mm and 82mm mortars near the villages of Krymske and Novotoshkivske. National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov has said more than 50% of the state's military order is fulfilled by private companies. "More than 50% comes from private companies," he said during the 9th National Expert Forum in Kyiv on Thursday. Turchynov added that steps are being taken to liberalize foreign economic activity and they will be approved in the near future. "We're talking about permission to export military equipment directly, irrespective of whether it belongs to the state or commercial sector. We will allow export irrespective of legal status for our needs in the production of military equipment and weapons," he said. Turchynov said all restrictions on direct contracts of state security structures for acquiring weapons from abroad (if Ukrainian supplies cannot provide same) will be dropped. He said the steps would improve Ukraine's military preparedness. The issues of continuing cooperation of the World Bank with Kyiv city and the implementation of projects to develop transport infrastructure, logistics of urban transport operation, energy saving technologies were discussed by Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko and Vice President of the World Bank Cyril Muller at a meeting in Washington. "We have jointly implemented projects and look forward to further cooperation. We need to continue updating and developing the transport infrastructure of Kyiv, implement new projects in the field of public transport, as well as projects of public private partnership," the press service of the Kyiv mayor reported on Thursday morning, citing Klitchko. Muller said that the World Bank has a positive experience of cooperation with Kyiv and is committed to the further implementation of investment programs. "Today, the bank's experts prepare recommendations on the logistics of urban transport, in particular, the bus traffic, and in three months they will present their developments in Kyiv. The bank is also interested in the successful implementation of the public private partnership project for the construction of a modern hospital in Kyiv. Its implementation was started with support of the International Finance Corporation (IFC)," the Vice President of the World Bank said. At the same time, Klitchko met with American politicians in Washington, Director of Office of Eastern European Affairs of the U.S. Department of State Jorgen Andrews, Congressmen David Price and Peter Roskam, as well as experts from the American think tank Marshall Fund. "At all the meetings we talked about the processes taking place in Ukraine, about what we need to focus on in order to achieve progress in the reforms. I stressed that we need further support, because it would be too difficult for Ukraine without the support of those countries that want to see it as a democratic, developed and European country. The fight against corruption, which is a great challenge for Ukraine and hinders further reforms and reforms, was discussed. I hope the Verkhovna Rada adopts the law on the anti-corruption court, which is expected today by all partners who support and help Ukraine," Klitschko said. In addition, the mayor of Kyiv spoke about the need to strengthen sanctions against Russia. "We understand that sanctions have a powerful effect, we need to unite the efforts of as many countries as possible," Klitschko said. Ukrainian rights commissioner asks Russian counterpart to look into living conditions, health of Kolchenko, who has ended hunger strike Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Liudmyla Denisova has sent a message to Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova following reports of the declining health of Ukrainian Oleksandr Kolchenko, who was convicted in Russia. Kolchenko ended his hunger strike for health reasons on June 7; he had become very weak and begun fainting, and his weight had declined to 54 kilograms, the human rights commissioner's office said on Thursday. Denisova asked Moskalkova to personally look into Kolchenko's living conditions in prison and the possibility of giving him medical assistance. The Northern Caucasus District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced Sentsov, who was detained in Crimea in 2014, to 20 years in a high-security penitentiary in August 2015 for an attempt to set up a terrorist group in Crimea. Kolchenko was sentenced to ten years in prison in the same case. On May 14, 2018, Sentsov went on hunger strike and demanded the release of all Ukrainian citizens held in Russia. Kolchenko went on hunger strike and demanded Sentsov's release on May 31. Kolchenko ended his hunger strike on June 7 after his health declined. He lost ten kilos in the course of the hunger strike and the preparations for it. He is serving his term in Penal Colony 6 in Kopeisk, Chelyabinsk region. The press service for the regional directorate of the Federal Penitentiary Service confirmed to Interfax that the protest has ended. "Convict Kolchenko wrote a statement saying he was ending his hunger strike and began taking food on Thursday morning. He is currently in a medical unit under doctors' observation. His health is stable and there are no plans to transfer him to a prison hospital," the press service said. Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksandr Turchynov expects that the Verkhovna Rada will adopt the law on national security at the second reading and in the whole the next plenary week. "I hope that in the near future, perhaps the nearest plenary week, we will be able to pass a bill on national security that actually provides for the transition to the European, NATO model of the military sector, security and defense," Turchynov said during the IX National Expert Forum on Thursday. He stressed that the bill was developed in the expert community of international partners and NATO. According to the schedule of work of the Verkhovna Rada, the next plenary week will be held from June 19 to June 22. The Verkhovna Rada's Regulatory Committee has considered the motion of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine on granting the parliament's consent to prosecute the People's Will group member Oleksandr Ponomariov and found it unmotivated, and the evidence questionable. The corresponding conclusions were supported by the majority of the members of the Regulatory Committee during the meeting on Thursday, an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent reported. Rada calls on world community to impose new sanctions against Russia in connection with another sentence on Sushchenko The Verkhovna Rada condemns the sentence of the Moscow City Court of the Russian Federation on Ukrainian citizen Roman Sushchenko and calls on the world community to impose sanctions against Russia in connection with the verdict and the continuation of political persecution. Draft resolution (No. 8446) on appeals to the parliaments of foreign countries, parliamentary assemblies of international organizations, world leaders and the world community was supported by 238 parliamentarians at a plenary session on Thursday evening, an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent reported. Russian President Vladimir Putin said he has not thought about Russian journalist Kirill Vyshinsky's possible exchange for Ukrainian citizen Oleh Sentsov. Vyshinsky has been arrested in Ukraine on high treason charges, and Sentsov is serving a lengthy prison sentence for terrorism in Russia. "These are absolutely different and incomparable things, and therefore we haven't thought about it yet. But we've thought that common sense should prevail in Ukraine," Putin said during a Q&A session in Moscow on Thursday, when asked whether Vyshinsky could be exchanged for Sentsov. Putin said he hoped Vyshinsky would be freed. "I hope we will secure the Russian journalist's liberation, including under pressure from international organizations, on which the Ukrainian administration depends today this or that way," Putin said. Comparing the cases of Vyshinsky and Sentsov, Putin said the journalist had been "detained for his direct professional activity, for performing his journalistic duties." "This is an absolutely unprecedented and unacceptable policy that the current Ukrainian rulers are pursuing today. It should draw a proper reaction from the international community, international human rights organizations," he said. In commenting on Sentsov's case, Putin said he had been detained in Crimea "not for journalistic activities but for preparing a terrorist attack, preparing an explosion, which could have harmed particular people." London, June 7, 2018 (AFP) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was "no longer immune" from retaliation, while declaring the Iran nuclear deal over after Washington ditched the accord. Noting that Israel had stayed out of Syria's protracted civil war, in which Tehran backs Assad, Netanyahu said increasing Iranian encroachment required "a new calculus". "He is no longer immune, his regime is no longer immune. If he fires at us, as we've just demonstrated, we will destroy his forces," the Israeli leader said at an event organised by the Policy Exchange think tank in London. Last month, Israel launched a large-scale attack on purported Iranian targets in Syria following what it said was a barrage of rockets fired by Iran from the country toward its forces in the occupied Golan Heights. Even before that, Israel had been blamed for a series of recent strikes inside Syria that killed Iranians, though it has not acknowledged them. "Syria has to understand that Israel will not tolerate the Iranian military entrenchment in Syria against Israel," Netanyahu added. "The consequences are not merely to the Iranian forces there but to the Assad regime as well," he said, adding: "I think it's something that he should consider very seriously". Netanyahu is on a three-day European tour -- visiting Berlin and Paris earlier this week -- marked by strategic differences on Iran, as its leaders attempt to rescue the nuclear deal after US withdrawal in May. He met Wednesday with British Prime Minister Theresa May, who reiterated London's "firm commitment" to the accord, according to Downing Street. But the Israeli leader said Thursday "the weight of the American economy" was already dooming "this very bad agreement". "It's a done deal -- in the other meaning of the word," he added, noting companies were already pulling out of Iran under threat of damaging US sanctions. "You have to choose whether to do business with Iran, or forego doing business with the United States... that's a no-brainer and everybody's choosing it effectively as we speak." Netanyahu said he had reiterated his dislike for the 2015 deal, which offers sanctions relief in exchange for strict limits on Iran's nuclear activities. However, the focus of his discussions in Europe had been on reducing Iran's presence in Syria, he added. "I found considerable agreement on that goal." At the same time, he criticised his European hosts for an outdated approach to the region. Netanyahu said Iranian expansion had led to a "realignment" of relations with Arab states in the Middle East who also oppose Tehran -- something Britain and western Europe were "evidently not understanding". "There is a whole realignment taking place in the Middle East -- they're sort of stuck in the past," he added, displaying a map of the world with numerous countries highlighted to show Israel's "expanding diplomatic horizons". "I think there's a west European problem with recognising that the world is changing," he said. In a gunfight at a border post near the northwestern city of Sardasht, two Iranian border guards were shot June 5. First lieutenant Yousef Piraneh and warrant officer Mahboub Qorbani were killed in the fighting, which broke out at 11 p.m. local time. Though no group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, border posts in the area, which borders Iraq, have frequently come under attack in the past, mainly by members of the PJAK militant group. PJAK, or the Kurdistan Free Life Party (Partiya Jiyana Azad a Kurdistane in Kurdish) is a Kurdish political and militant organization which has waged an intermittent armed struggle since 2004 against the Iranian government, insisting on self-determination for Kurds in Iranian Kurdistan. The Islamic Republics authorities believe that PJAK operates in tandem with Turkeys PKK Kurdish militant group. Irans southeastern provinces of Sistan and Baluchestan, as well as West Azarbaijan and Kurdistan provinces have been the scene of frequent armed clashes between Iranian security forces and armed dissident groups, including the Baluchi militant group Jeish al-Adl (Army of Justice), PJAK, and the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), in recent years. Last week, Iranian security forces disbanded a terrorist cell in the southeast of the country, seizing a considerable amount of weapons and munitions from the group, Irans state-run English language channel Press TV reported. The clash between security forces and terrorists took place near the border region of Saravan in Sistan-and-Baluchestan province, Press TV said. Back in April, Iranian security forces also announced that they discovered and captured a large cache of explosives in Sistan-and-Baluchestan province, Press TV added. As a rule, Iranian state media refers to all armed groups as terrorists. None of these reports could be independently confirmed. Baku, Azerbaijan, June 7 Trend: President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said he expects that the new leadership of Armenia will not repeat the mistakes of the former authorities and will seriously work for early settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. He made the remarks addressing an Iftar ceremony hosted by Chairman of the Caucasus Muslims Office Sheikhulislam Allahshukur Pashazade on June 6. "I have repeatedly said that Armenia is experiencing an economic, demographic crisis. The country is getting empty as yearly tens of thousands of people leave it forever. Armenia lacks prospects for development. I have said that Azerbaijan turned Armenia into a dead end, an economic, political, transport deadlock. Why? Because, Armenia has occupied our lands. Now, all this is said by the Armenian people," the head of state said. President Aliyev noted that this once again shows that Azerbaijan will achieve its goal in the conflict, restore truth and justice. "I expect that Armenia's new leadership will not repeat the mistakes of the former authorities, will do serious work for early settlement of the conflict, and a real - not imitated - negotiation process will begin. Thus this issue can be resolved and peace can come to the Caucasus. We want this, we demand the settlement of the conflict, we have the right for this. We hope this issue can soon find a solution through negotiations," President Aliyev added. Baku, Azerbaijan, June 7 Trend: OSCE is expected to monitor the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops on June 8, Azerbaijans Defense Ministry said in a message on June 7. The monitoring will be held under the mandate of the OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative in Azerbaijans Terter district. On the Azerbaijani side, the monitoring will be held by Ognyen Yovic and Simon Tiller, field assistants of the OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative. On the Azerbaijani territories, occupied and controlled by Armenian armed forces, the monitoring will be held by Mikhail Olaru and Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, the Personal Representative of the Chairperson-in-Office on the conflict. 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, June 7 By Leman Zeynalova - Trend: Russia will assist the sides of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in its settlement, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said June 7 at a joint press conference with Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan in Moscow. Russia, both in the context of our bilateral relations with Yerevan and Baku, and as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, together with the US and French counterparts, will continue to assist the parties in finding mutually acceptable solutions, Lavrov said. 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. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn Headline changed, details added (first version posted on 14:15) Baku, Azerbaijan, June 7 By Leman Zeynalova - Trend: Igor Popov, the OSCE Minsk Group (MG) co-chair from Russia, never said that Nagorno-Karabakh must return to the negotiations for settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said June 7. He made the remarks at a joint press conference with Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan in Moscow answering a question by an Armenian journalist. The Armenian journalist, referring to the statement by the OSCE MG co-chairs, in particular Popov, who allegedly said that at a certain stage Nagorno-Karabakh must return to the negotiation process, asked about Russias stance on this issue and whether Nagorno-Karabakh will soon return to the negotiations. Russias position remains unchanged, Lavrov said. It has always been the position of resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh issue through the OSCE Minsk Group, in which Armenia, along with Azerbaijan and other states, also participates. We are convinced that this is the optimal format, and as one of the three co-chairs of the Minsk Group - together with the co-chairs from France and the US - we pursue a common interest and a consistent line for creating conditions that would allow Baku and Yerevan to agree. This work has been going on for many years, and there have been different stages, he noted. At some point, by the way, representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh participated in this process. Then, by the agreement of the parties, the format was changed and now we have it as it is. Mr. Popov has never said that Nagorno-Karabakh must return to the negotiations table. So, please, be more careful. If the parties agree at some point that Nagorno-Karabakh is again represented at the negotiations, this will be their decision and we will respect this decision. On June 7, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan once again made a statement in the parliament on the need about the return of the separatist regime of Nagorno-Karabakh as a party to the negotiations in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement. 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. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn Baku, Azerbaijan, June 7 Trend: The "Baku process" is already an important part of the global agenda, said President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev as he addressed an iftar ceremony. It is no coincidence that the "Baku process", started on our initiative 10 years ago, is the only large-scale format of cooperation in the world. Over these 10 years, no one else has put forward a similar initiative. The "Baku process" is a purely Azerbaijani initiative. This year, we will mark the 10th anniversary of the "Baku process". This initiative is supported by the UN and other influential international organizations, the president said. The "Baku process" is already an important part of the global agenda. Look how many major events we have held in Azerbaijan over the years the summit of religious leaders, the Global Forum of the UN Alliance of Civilizations, the Baku humanitarian forums, the forums on intercultural dialogue. We are doing all this because there is a great need for that. We want interreligious relations to be regulated at a high level not only in Azerbaijan but all over the world, the head of state added. Baku, Azerbaijan, June 7 Trend: The City of Santa Monica in the U.S. State of California has proclaimed May 28, 2018 as Azerbaijan National Day in the city, Azerbaijans Consulate General in Los Angeles told Trend June 7. The relevant proclamation was signed by City Mayor Ted Winterer. In the proclamation, which was sent to the Consulate General of Azerbaijan in Los Angeles, the City Mayor notes that following the October Revolution in the Russian Empire, the Azerbaijani people established the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic on May 28, 1918, which became the first secular democracy in the entire Muslim world. The document further states that the new democracy enacted many progressive reforms, including granting the right to vote to women in 1919, which made Azerbaijan not only the first majority-Muslim nation to empower women, but also put the country ahead of many advanced nations of the time in championing womens rights. It stresses that after restoring its independence in 1991, Azerbaijan has consolidated its freedom and independence, and has become one of the worlds fastest developing and modernizing countries, the largest economy of the region and an important trade partner with the United States in the South Caucasus. The document further mentions that the United States was one of the first countries to recognize the Republic of Azerbaijan and establish full-fledged diplomatic relations with it. The proclamation notes that represented by its Consul General in Los Angeles, Azerbaijan has formed a strong partnership with the City of Santa Monica over the last few years. In the end, Ted Winterer, on behalf of the Members of the City Council, proclaimed May 28 to be the Azerbaijan National Day in the City of Santa Monica. Baku, Azerbaijan, June 7 Trend: Defense products developed and manufactured by the Ministry of Defense Industry of Azerbaijan will be demonstrated at the EUROSATORY-2018 international defense and security exhibition on June 11-15, which will be held in Paris, the Ministry of Defense Industry said in a statement released June 7. In this regard, the delegation of the Ministry of Defense Industry headed by Minister Yaver Jamalov will be on a visit to France. During the five-day exhibition, 270 products of the Ministry of Defense Industry will be presented to visitors. More than 1,700 companies from 63 countries are expected to participate in EUROSATORY 2018. During the visit, meetings of Yaver Jamalov within the framework of military-technical cooperation are planned. Baku, Azerbaijan, June 7 Trend: Brussels will host a meeting of the defense ministers of the nations contributing to the NATO Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan on June 8, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said in a message on June 7. Defense Minister, Colonel General Zakir Hasanov will attend the meeting. The meeting will discuss issues related to the NATO Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan and changes in the operational situation. Headline changed, details added (first version posted on 10:31) Baku, Azerbaijan, June 7 Trend: President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has attended the inauguration of the Sahil metro station after major overhaul. Chairman of the Baku Metro CJSC Zaur Huseynov informed the head of state about the renovation work carried out at the station. The infrastructure at the station has been reconstructed to the modern standards. A state-of-the-art centralized heating and cooling system was installed at the station. Four new German-made escalators were installed instead of the three old ones. The head of state viewed a photo stand reflecting previous look of the Sahil metro station. After viewing the renovation work carried out at the station, President Ilham Aliyev wished Baku Metro staff success and gave his instructions and recommendations. Baku, Azerbaijan, June 7 Trend: Recent processes once again demonstrate that the Armenian community of the Nagorno-Karabakh region is under the captivity of a mafia structure, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry's spokesman Hikmet Hajiyev told Trend on June 7. Hajiyev commented on the recent statement of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who addressing the Armenian Parliament on June 7, claimed that the negotiations on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict cannot be effective without participation of the separatist regime. "Baku considers such statements by the Armenian leadership as a non-constructive step aimed at undermining the negotiation process on the conflict settlement and keeping the occupation status quo," Hajiyev said. "Presence of the Armenian armed forces in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and continuation of the occupation define direct international legal responsibility of Armenia as a party to the conflict. If the Armenian leadership is concerned that 'the agreements reached remain on paper', they should comply with requirements of the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, which demand the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of the occupying troops from the Azerbaijani territories," he said. Hajiyev further reminded the new Armenian leadership that the civic status of the Armenian community of Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region has not changed. "Together with the Azerbaijani community of Nagorno-Karabakh they still are citizens of Azerbaijan. The recent processes taking place in Nagorno-Karabakh have once again demonstrated that the Armenian community of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan is totally in captivity and exploited by an organized criminal group," Hajiyev said. The Azerbaijani side, according to Hajiyev, has repeatedly expressed its position openly and unequivocally regarding the negotiation process. "Azerbaijan is ready to continue negotiations on the basis of the existing format and agenda for an early resolution of the conflict, provision of sustainable peace and security in the region. The negotiations are aimed at withdrawing the Armenian troops from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, ensuring the return of Azerbaijani IDPs, who were subjected to ethnic cleansing, to their native lands. The Armenian side must understand that holding negotiations with Armenia, which is an invader and an aggressor country, for more than 25 years is the biggest compromise of Azerbaijan," Hajiyev stressed. 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, June 7 Trend: Recent processes once again demonstrate that the Armenian community of the Nagorno-Karabakh region is under the captivity of a mafia structure, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry's spokesman Hikmet Hajiyev told Trend on June 7. Hajiyev commented on the recent statement of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who addressing the Armenian Parliament on June 7, claimed that the negotiations on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict cannot be effective without participation of the separatist regime. "Baku considers such statements by the Armenian leadership as a non-constructive step aimed at undermining the negotiation process on the conflict settlement and keeping the occupation status quo," Hajiyev said. Presence of the Armenian armed forces in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and continuation of the occupation define direct international legal responsibility of Armenia as a party to the conflict, according to Hajiyev. "If the Armenian leadership is concerned that 'the agreements reached remain on paper', they should comply with requirements of the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, which demand the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of the occupying troops from the Azerbaijani territories," he said. Hajiyev further reminded the new Armenian leadership that the civil status of the Armenian community of Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region has not changed. "Together with the Azerbaijani community of Nagorno-Karabakh they still are citizens of Azerbaijan. The recent processes taking place in Nagorno-Karabakh have once again demonstrated that the Armenian community of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan is totally in captivity and exploited by an organized criminal group," Hajiyev said. Details added (first version posted on 14:00) Baku, Azerbaijan, June 7 Trend: Recent processes once again demonstrate that the Armenian community of the Nagorno-Karabakh region is under the captivity of a mafia structure, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry's spokesman Hikmet Hajiyev told Trend on June 7. Hajiyev commented on the recent statement of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who addressing the Armenian Parliament on June 7, claimed that the negotiations on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict cannot be effective without participation of the separatist regime. "Baku considers such statements by the Armenian leadership as a non-constructive step aimed at undermining the negotiation process on the conflict settlement and keeping the occupation status quo," Hajiyev said. "Presence of the Armenian armed forces in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and continuation of the occupation define direct international legal responsibility of Armenia as a party to the conflict. If the Armenian leadership is concerned that 'the agreements reached remain on paper', they should comply with requirements of the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, which demand the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of the occupying troops from the Azerbaijani territories," he said. Hajiyev further reminded the new Armenian leadership that the civic status of the Armenian community of Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region has not changed. "Together with the Azerbaijani community of Nagorno-Karabakh they still are citizens of Azerbaijan. The recent processes taking place in Nagorno-Karabakh have once again demonstrated that the Armenian community of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan is totally in captivity and exploited by an organized criminal group," Hajiyev said. The Azerbaijani side, according to Hajiyev, has repeatedly expressed its position openly and unequivocally regarding the negotiation process. "Azerbaijan is ready to continue negotiations on the basis of the existing format and agenda for an early resolution of the conflict, provision of sustainable peace and security in the region. The negotiations are aimed at withdrawing the Armenian troops from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, ensuring the return of Azerbaijani IDPs, who were subjected to ethnic cleansing, to their native lands. The Armenian side must understand that holding negotiations with Armenia, which is an invader and an aggressor country, for more than 25 years is the biggest compromise of Azerbaijan," Hajiyev stressed. 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, June 7 By Elchin Mehdiyev Trend: Twenty-three families were resettled to houses constructed within the second stage of restoration in the Jojug Marjanli village of the Jabrayil District, which was liberated from the Armenian occupation in April 2016, Jabrayil District Executive Authority Head Kamal Hasanov told Trend. Hasanov said the second stage was launched a few days ago and 23 families have been settled in the village. He noted that the families were provided with transportation services. "The migration process continues and families will be gradually settled in the houses," he said. On June 15, 2017, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed an order on measures to continue the reconstruction work in the Jojug Marjanli village, liberated from the Armenian occupation in April 2016. 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, June 7 By Ilhama Isabalayeva - Trend: Opening ceremony of the international scientific and educational conference on strategic planning of education was held on June 7 at the ADA University with the support of the EU Baku office. Speaking at the event, Vice Rector of the ADA University Vafa Kazdal noted that the activities in the field of education do not immediately lead to success and it takes time. She said the participants of the conference will get acquainted with the best international experiences in the field of education, as well as hold discussions in four directions in connection with the state strategy for development of education in Azerbaijan. National and foreign experts will share their opinions during the discussions. Minister of Education Ceyhun Bayramov, speaking at the event, noted the great importance of such a conference held at the ADA University, which is one of the leading universities in the country. He reminded that about five years have passed since the adoption of the State Strategy for the development of education in Azerbaijan. "During this time, much work has been done and success has been achieved, active work is being done to train professional personnel, and some changes have been made in the field of higher education and primary vocational education. Over the past few years, the number of students enrolled in universities has increased by 12 percent or 4,000 people," the minister said. The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the State Examination Center (SEC) Maleyka Abbaszade noted that the next year will be very important for the education system. "Next year, along with the students of the 9th grade, the students of the 11th grade will also take the final exams based on new programs," she said. The winners of Made in Azerbaijan-3business idea contest and the members of the organizing committee of the contest visited the leading universities of Turkey. The goal of the visit, taken place with the financial support of Kapital Bank, was to study the startup and technopark experience of leading Turkish universities. The director of the UNEC Career Center Fuad Aliyev, the director of the Innovative Business Center Mirjavid Hasanov and the winners Eshgin Jafarov, Elchin Suleymanov, Toghrul Mirzoyev got acquainted with the technopark and business incubators of the Istanbul Technical University (ITU) and Yildiz Technical University(YTU). At the Istanbul Technical University, the UNEC delegation was informed about the activites, startups and the projects implemented by the technopark, and the new startup products and services were demostrated, as well. In the meeting also was discussed the issue of membership of technoparks in the international organizations. On the second day of the visit, the representatives of UNEC visited the Yildiz Technical University, which has the rich experience and the largest technopark in Turkey. M.Hasanaov told them about the UNEC Innovative Business Incubator, startups and business idea competition Made in Azerbaijan. Then, the UNEC students made the presentation for the management of the technopark on the projects they had won. Within the meeting, the representatives of the Yildiz Technical University (YTU) spoke about the business competitions, startups and the latest innovations. Then, the visitors visited the technopark and the workshops equipped with startup and the modern technology in Davutpasha campus of university. In the Business Incubator of the YTU, they got acquainted with the products and projects of the company Medron Technology. Within the framework of the visit, the issues of cooperation between the Innovative Buziness Incubator of UNEC and the Technoparks of ITU and YTU were discussed, was gained the agreement on implementation of joint workshops, trainings and projects and expansion of exchange of experience. It should be noted that, the Made in Azerbaijan-3 business idea competition was held among the students by the joint organization of the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Kapital Bank OJSC and UNEC. Baku, Azerbaijan, June 7 By Fikret Dolukhanov Trend: About a third of all the vehicles manufactured at the joint French-Uzbek enterprise Uzbekistan Peugeot Citroen Automotive will be supplied abroad, the senior officials of Jizzak FEZ told Trend June 6. The activity of the enterprise on the territory of the FEZ will be launched in December 2018. The total cost of the project for the production of minibuses and commercial passenger vehicles will be $133.3 million, of which $60 million is allocated by the European Investment Bank. The project is planned to produce up to 10,000 units of vehicles per year with a total cost of $170 million, 30 percent of the vehicles will be exported to Russia, CIS, Iran and France. Production will be localized by 50 percent, and 600 jobs will be created at the enterprise. At the first stage, the company will produce two models: the Peugeot Boxer and the Peugeot Expert. There are 10-12 options of modifications for the first model, and seven modifications - for the second one. Follow the author on Twitter: @FDolukhanov Baku, Azerbaijan, June 7 By Anvar Mammadov - Trend: Azerbaijan Insurers Association (AIA) plans to launch Audatex, a unified insurance system of damage assessment, in all insurance companies of the country, AIA Chairman Mustafa Abbasbayli said in an interview with Trend. He said that although this system has been operating in Azerbaijan for about two years, not all insurance companies use it. "The system has not been used in mass, although it has been available in the country for already several years. We want to boost this process, so that all people know that they are paid exactly the amount that should be paid. It is of high necessity with a view to increase public confidence in insurance companies," Abbasbeyli said. Since Oct. 1, 2015, Azerbaijan's insurance companies, which are members of the Compulsory Insurance Bureau, can use the Audatex Azerbaijan software. The software allows to apply in the Azerbaijani insurance market a system of assessment of damage inflicted to a vehicle as a result of an accident. This provides an assessment of damage by insurers under a single system. Audatex Azerbaijan was created on the basis of ISBs agreement with Sidexa, a company that represents Audatex interests in France. The document was signed in late 2014; however, the company was registered in March 2015 in Azerbaijan. Audatex is a part of Solera Inc. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Anvar_Mammadov Baku, Azerbaijan, June 7 By Ilkin Shafiyev - Trend: Sale of cars manufactured at the joint Azerbaijani-Iranian factory in the Neftchala industrial zone will be launched in coming days, said Emin Akhundov, the chairman of the Board of AzerMash, a co-owner of the plant. He told Trend that at the current stage, two models - Khazar LD and Khazar SD will be offered to customers. Others cars under the Khazar brand will go on sale until the end of 2018. In early April, the Azerbaijan-Iran automobile factory Khazar started production of the first cars. The factory produces cars under the brand name of Khazar, and a number of models of Peugeot and Renault will also be assembled there. The annual capacity of the factory is about 10,000 cars. It is expected that in the future the cars will be delivered to Ukraine, Russia and Central Asian countries. The cost of cars will amount to 14,000-16,000 manats. By the end of 2018, the plant plans to launch production of new models, which will cost a little more - 18,000-20,000 manats. All cars produced at the factory comply with Euro 5 standards. On Aug. 6, 2016, a major Iranian automaker Iran Khodro and Azerbaijani company Azeurocar (subsidiary of AzerMash) signed an agreement to establish a joint automobile factory in the Neftchala industrial zone. The total cost of the project is estimated at 24 million manats. The Azerbaijani side has invested 75 percent in the factory, and the Iranian side has invested 25 percent. -- Follow the author on Twitter: @IlkinShafiyev Baku, Azerbaijan, June 7 By Anvar Mammadov Trend: In January-May 2018, investment company PASHA Kapital led the ranking of brokers in the Azerbaijani market of public and corporate securities, the Baku Stock Exchange said in a message on May 14. The investment company provided brokerage services worth 2.99 billion manats during the reporting period. Unicapital took second place with the rendered services worth 2.53 billion manats. Unicapital is followed by InvestAZ, which rendered services worth 2.27 billion manats in January-May 2018. Below is the ranking of brokers in Azerbaijans securities market in terms of services rendered in January-May 2018: Brokers name Value of brokerage services (AZN) Brokers current place in terms of services volume PASHA Kapital 2, 989, 955, 347.54 1 Unicapital 2, 534, 962, 952.61 2 Invest-AZ 2, 268, 492, 145.03 3 AzFinance 2, 155, 686, 821.55 4 Xalq Kapital 692, 315, 675.48 5 PSG Kapital 279, 740, 148.65 6 Kapital Menecment - 7 ($1 = 1.7 AZN on June 7). Follow the author on Twitter: @Anvar_Mammadov Baku, Azerbaijan, June 7 By Fikret Dolukhanov Trend: UzCard national processing center of Uzbekistan and UnionPay International (China) signed an agreement on issuing co-badged cards, the press service of UzCard stated on June 7. According to the information, the document was signed during the visit of the delegation of UzCard to China, when the parties discussed issuing co-badged cards, which will allow carrying out operations in two payment systems. The decision made by the parties provides for the Aloqa Bank acting as the settlement bank. The first co-badged cards of UnionPay International will be issued in this bank. It was earlier reported that the co-badged cards will be issued in Uzbekistan from July 1. The agreement signed between the two companies will allow using the new cards both on the territory of Uzbekistan, under the UzCard payment system, and outside, under the UnionPay International payment system. Uzbekistan has already purchased equipment for card embossing. As of today, the first co-badged cards have already been released in the test mode. It should be noted that the infrastructure of the Ipak Yuli Bank, Qishloq Qurilish Bank, Agrobank, OFB, Infinbank, Hamkorbank and the National Bank of Uzbekistan are at the integration stage. Also, active work is underway to reinstall the software of all POS-terminals to accept international UnionPay International cards. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @FDolukhanov Baku, Azerbaijan, June 7 By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend: Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping CJSC has opened a representative office in Athens, the company said on June 7. The opening of the representative office in Athens is linked with the company's plans to strengthen and expand the activities in international waters. The opening ceremony was attended by Charge d'Affaires of Azerbaijan in Greece Eldar Aliyev, Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping CJSC Head Rauf Valiyev, International Authoritative Classification Societies (IACS) and the staff of the CJSC . During the event, there were held working meetings in the B2B format. The Azerbaijani company discussed prospects of cooperation with a number of international companies. Currently, 13 vessels of Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping CJSC (11 dry cargo vessels and two tankers) operate in international waters - the Azov, Black and Mediterranean seas. -- Follow the author on Twitter: @MTsurkovTrend Baku, Azerbaijan, June 7 By Anvar Mammadov Trend: PASHA Yatirim Bankasi AS, a subsidiary of Azerbaijans PASHA Bank OJSC in Turkey, after increasing its authorized capital will continue to contribute to investing in the Turkish economy and the development of trade in the region, a source in the bank told Trend June 7. The source noted that the bank achieved significant success in the previous three-year strategic period. PASHA Bank is distinguished by steady growth, the source added. We completed the process of increasing authorized capital, and this was announced in March. Over the past strategic period, we not only provided financial support to major corporations in the energy, mining and construction sectors, but also built trade and cultural bridges among Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. During our second strategic period, with our strengthened capital structure and highly qualified human resources, we will continue to contribute to investing in Turkey and to develop trade relations in the region. Having completed the initial three-year strategic period with profit and asset growth, PASHA Yatirim Bankasi announced about an increase of the authorized capital by approximately two times in March 2018. Finally, the process was completed in May. PASHA Holding LLC became new shareholder of the bank after the capital injection worth 245 million Turkish liras. As a result, the capital of PASHA Yatirim Bankasi increased to 500 million Turkish liras. Thus, after the change in the structure of the share capital, 50.96 percent of the banks shares now belong to PASHA Bank, 49 percent belong to PASHA Holding, and the remaining 0.04 percent to Aksoy Holding. Turkeys Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) approved PASHA Bank's purchasing a 79.9 percent share in TAIB Bank, which was renamed to PASHA Yatirim Bankasi, on Dec. 29, 2014. PASHA Bank has been operating in Azerbaijan since 2007. PASHA Bank renders a range of corporate banking services, including issuance of loans, operations in the securities market, assets management, and treasury services. Presently, PASHA Bank has a subsidiary in Georgia. (4.6178 TRY = $1 on June 7) --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Anvar_Mammadov Baku, Azerbaijan, June 7 By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend: Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR is interested in products of the oil, gas and petrochemical enterprises of Russia's Omsk region, the online publication "Capital of the Country" reported with reference to General Director of the Regional Agency for Development and Investment Evgeny Kovtun. Reportedly, the Omsk companies presented their products and developments designed for the oil & gas and petrochemical industries during a big energy sector event in the Caspian region. Azerbaijan's capital Baku hosted the Caspian International Oil & Gas Conference from May 29 to June 1, which brought together leading experts and leaders of the oil industry to demonstrate advanced technologies in the field of oil and gas production and processing, transportation and logistics, and services, according to the message. "The Omsk region was represented by leaders and specialists of six small and medium enterprises engaged in the oil and gas, petrochemical and chemical industries: Vneshtorgresurs, Kross-Avtomatika, ZKZ LLC, Polikon, ETP-Trading and KSK-Service," the report reads. A stand prepared by the Omsk Regional Export Support Center allowed to familiarize with the achievements of the Omsk companies. Kovtun said each of the Omsk companies held a number of productive negotiations. For example, there was a meeting with Rapid Solutions hydraulic engineering specialist John Salins, who spoke about the specifics of the oil and gas industry in Azerbaijan, and companies that are ready for cooperation. "Representatives of SOCAR, which is one of the most promising oil companies in the world, showed special interest in the products of our region," Kovtun said. Director of Kross-Avtomatika Alexander Dudarev, in turn, said this is the second trip of the company to Azerbaijan. "Last year, the company representatives visited the country within a business mission. They held a number of meetings with engineering and construction organizations from the oil industry. This year, they decided to take part in a major profile exhibition to consolidate last year's contacts and get new ones," he said. Reportedly, for the Omsk companies the exhibition was productive. The region's products attracted attention of the Azerbaijani businessmen and proved to be very competitive in price and quality in the local market. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @MTsurkovTrend Baku, Azerbaijan, June 7 Trend: Rector of Baku Higher Oil School (BHOS) Elmar Gasimov hold a meeting with delegation from China University of Petroleum-Beijing (CUPB). The delegation included CUPB Vice President professor Dong Zhaoxia, Dean of International Education College professor Zhang Yongxue, Department Head of International College Li Lingyun and officer of Student Admission department of International Education College Gunay Aliyeva. The meeting also gathered representatives of BHOS management. During the meeting at the Higher School campus, rector Elmar Gasimov provided detailed information about the Higher School main activities, departments, academic programs and teaching process. He said that BHOS students receive education in various engineering fields including Process Automation Engineering, which was recognized as the most prestigious profession for prospective students last year. In the rectors words, the fact that all subject in both universities are taught in English provides solid foundation for development bilateral cooperation including student exchange programs. In her turn, the Vice President of the China University of Petroleum professor Dong Zhaoxia told Elmar Gasimov about CUPB history. Set up in 1953, it is the very first university in China, which prepares specialists for oil and gas industry, she said. Professor Dong Zhaoxia invited Elmar Gasimov to participate in the Forum of Energy Engineering universities rectors scheduled to be held on September 22 this year to commemorate 65th anniversary of CUPB. The Vice President also expressed her interest in establishing partnership relations with the Higher School. In her words, the exchange program will be especially important for Chinese students trained to work in the oil and gas industry, as they shall learn about Azerbaijan expertise in developing this sector of economics. The meeting participants agreed that in the nearest future, two BHOS undergraduates would go to Beijing to study at CUPB, while two students of the China University of Petroleum would come to Baku to enroll in the Higher School. It was also decided that cooperation agreement between BHOS and CUPB would be signed in October 2018. Baku, Azerbaijan, June 7 By Maksim Tsurkov Trend: SOCAR Turkey Enerji (Turkish subsidiary of the Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR) has signed a long-term agreement with the Canadian Coreworx Corporation for the provision of software for contract management, Coreworx said June 7. The agreement gives SOCAR the right to obtain a license to use Coreworx Contract Management software, which is the Canadian company's own solution. Coreworx Contract Management software will enable SOCAR to manage project contracts and associated risks from the planning stage to the project closure. According to Egbert Wijnen-Riems, Procurement and Supply Chain Group Director at SOCAR Turkey, contracts are the basis for commercial success of any project. "The project-specific solution Coreworx provides will help ensure our team members are compliant with our contract policies and commitments, and also provide us with a higher-level of insight to manage contract-related risk," said Wijnen-Riems. In turn, John Gillberry, Coreworx CEO, stated, "We look forward to working with SOCAR and are focused on contributing to their commercial success. "Our end-to-end contract solution provides management of project contracts from pre-award through post-award. In doing so, it will provide SOCAR with greater control and insight into their projects, and significant improvements in risk assessment and management," said Gillberry. Founded in 2008, SOCAR Turkey Enerji is an affiliate of SOCAR in Turkey. It is expected that in 2018, SOCAR Turkey Enerji's consolidated turnover will reach $ 15 billion, and it will become the second largest industrial company in Turkey with 5,000 employees and $3 billion of export potential. SOCAR Turkey Enerji aims to become Turkey's largest industrial company by 2023. Coreworx is a software and services company that provides integrated information management software solutions, including Coreworx Contract Management, for the world's engineering and construction projects. Coreworx solutions service a portfolio of projects valued at over $1 trillion across 40 countries, on more than 2000 projects with 100,000+ users. Follow the author on Twitter: @MTsurkovTrend Baku, Azerbaijan, June 7 By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend: The Trans-Anatolian pipeline (TANAP) project has further unified Turkey and Azerbaijan, the Turkish Presidential Administration told Trend on June 7 commenting on the upcoming opening of TANAP. The Administration emphasized that all projects implemented jointly with Azerbaijan are very successful and are aimed not only at development of the two countries, but the entire region. "TANAP is such a project, which was under the special attention of Turkey and Azerbaijan from the first day," the Turkish Presidential Administration said. The opening of TANAP is scheduled for June 12, 2018. TANAP project envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field to the western borders of Turkey. The gas will be delivered to Turkey in 2018 and after completion of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline's construction the gas will be delivered to Europe in early 2020. The length of TANAP is 1,850 kilometers with an initial capacity of 16 billion cubic meters of gas. Around six billion cubic meters of this gas is meant to be delivered to Turkey, with the remaining volume to be supplied to Europe. Thus, the share distribution of TANAP shareholders is as follows: Southern Gas Corridor CJSC - 51 percent, SOCAR Turkey Enerji - 7 percent, Botas - 30 percent, BP - 12 percent. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, June 7 By Maksim Tsurkov- Trend: Azerbaijan exported oil worth $195 million to Ukraine in January-May of 2018, Ukrainian media reported referring to the data from the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine. Reportedly, 94.8 percent of oil supplies to Ukraine accounted for Azerbaijan. The other suppliers are Algeria with oil exports for $7.2 million (3.5 percent), Iran - $1.84 million (0.9 percent) and other countries (0.8 percent) - $1.62 million. In total, during the first five months of 2018, Ukraine imported crude oil and gas condensate for $205.5 million, which is by 66.8 percent more than in the same period 2017. UkrTransNafta OJSC, the operator of the oil transportation system of Ukraine, resumed the operation of the pipeline from Odessa to Kremenchug from March 10, 2017, and began transporting Azeri Light oil to the Kremenchug refinery. The agreement signed in late 2016 envisaged the transportation of at least 1.3 million tons of Azeri Light oil to the Kremenchug refinery in 2017. The Kremenchug refinery processes Azeri Light starting from December 2016, but earlier oil was supplied to the refinery by rail. -- Follow the author on Twitter: @MTsurkovTrend Baku, Azerbaijan, June 7 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: OPEC-14 crude oil production fell year-on-year by 926,000 barrels per day (b/d), or 2.8 per cent, while crude production in non-OPEC countries registered gains, OPEC said in its 53rd edition of the Annual Statistical Bulletin (ASB). The cartel said that in 2017, world crude oil production declined by 701,000 b/d, or 0.9 percent, as compared to 2016, to reach 74.69 million barrels per barrel (mb/d), marking the first yearly decline since 2009. This is while world oil demand averaged 97.20 mb/d in 2017, up by 1.7 percent y-o-y, with the largest increases taking place in Asia and Pacific region (particularly China and India), Europe and North America. The 2017 oil demand in Africa and the Middle East grew by around 100,000 b/d, as compared to 2016, while oil demand declined in Latin America for the third year in a row, said the report. Total exports of crude oil from OPEC averaged 24.86 mb/d in 2017 declining by 406,000 b/d, or 1.6 percent, as compared to 2016, according to the data. As in previous years, the bulk of crude oil from OPEC countries was exported to the Asia and Pacific region, in the amount of 15.56 mb/d or 62.6 percent. Significant volumes of crude oil were also exported to Europe, which increased its imports from OPEC member countries from 4.40 mb/d in 2016 to 4.64 mb/d in 2017. North America imported 3.21 mb/d of crude oil from Member Countries, which was 82,000 b/d, or 2.5 per cent, less compared to 2016 volumes, said the cartel. In December 2016, at a meeting of oil producers in Vienna, 11 non-OPEC member countries 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. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn Baku, Azerbaijan, June 7 By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend: Azerbaijans Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov has been elected new chairman of the Azerbaijan National Oil Committee, the Committee told Trend June 7. A meeting was held in Baku under the chairmanship of first vice-president of Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR, Khoshbakht Yusifzade, during which a new chairman and board of the Committee, which consists of 19 people, were elected. The Azerbaijan National Oil Committee was established in 2005 and became a member of the World Petroleum Council (WPC) in the same year at a congress in Johannesburg. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @MTsurkovTrend Baku, Azerbaijan, June 7 By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend: The Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies of Azerbaijan is open to cooperation with the European Union and will develop it, Deputy Minister Elmir Velizade told reporters June 7. The Deputy Minister noted that the Ministry is actively working towards cooperation with the EU. "Even the general policy of Azerbaijan is to improve the legislation in accordance with the European laws. This reference point is very important for us, so we are actively working towards this. There are a number of projects under which we already cooperate. We are fully involved in the European cooperation in the field of both transport and information technologies, and we participate in that cooperation at the level of ministerial meetings and at the level of meetings of working groups. This cooperation covers a wide range of spheres, including the development of electronic services, which include electronic signature, electronic commerce and various others. Work is now underway in all these areas," Velizade said. The Deputy Minister noted that the Ministry is open to cooperation and calls for it. "We have very good relations with many countries, in particular with Austria, with which we are now working closely. Azerbaijan has many similarities with Austria, both in terms of territory and population. So we are actively developing cooperation with the EU in all areas," Velizade said. Baku, Azerbaijan, June 7 By Ali Mustafayev Trend: The National Bank of Kazakhstan announced a tender for provision of technical support services for diesel generators and uninterruptible power supply systems via request of price proposals. Applications will be accepted until June 15, 2018. Services are provided in accordance with the terms of the contract. A full list of purchased services, their number and details should be specified in the bidding documents. For more information, please call: 8 (7292) 701-500 (ext. 3251) --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Ali_Mustafayev Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, June 7 By Huseyn Hasanov Trend: The State Duma of Russia adopted the law on ratification of the agreement between Russia and Turkmenistan on strategic partnership, the State Duma announced June 6. The agreement envisages that the relations of strategic partnership between the two countries will be based on the principles of mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, equality and mutual benefit, peaceful coexistence and mutual trust. The agreement between the Russian Federation and Turkmenistan on strategic partnership was signed in Ashgabat on October 2, 2017. The agreement notes that the parties' strategic partnership is aimed at expanding cooperation in the political, economic and humanitarian spheres, creating favorable conditions for mutual security, countering global threats and challenges, and strengthening regional stability. The parties expand and deepen cooperation in the fight against terrorism and other manifestations of extremism, various forms of transnational organized crime, corruption, illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and their precursors, weapons, smuggling and illegal export of cultural property, and other manifestations of new threats and challenges to security. In addition, the agreement states that Russia and Turkmenistan shall protect the ethnic, linguistic, cultural and religious identity of ethnic groups living in their territories. Russia is a leader in the ranking of the largest foreign trade partners of Turkmenistan. In recent years, cooperation has intensified at the regional level, including with Tatarstan, St. Petersburg, Astrakhan and Sverdlovsk regions. With the participation of Russian capital, more than 190 enterprises are registered in the Turkmen market, which implement more than 240 investment projects. Among the traditional partners, there are KAMAZ and Areti companies and Siberia airline. At the same time, Russia's Gazprom, a traditional trade partner, completely stopped purchasing Turkmen gas in 2016. Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, June 7 By Huseyn Hasanov - Trend: The regular meeting of the Mejlis (Parliament) of Turkmenistan of the sixth convocation will be held on June 9, 2018, the government announced. Parliamentarians will discuss draft laws "On the basics of transport policy of Turkmenistan" and "On state regulation of agricultural development". Changes and additions to a number of existing laws will also be considered, and a report of the Ombudsman-Commissioner for human rights of Turkmenistan will be heard. The Turkmen MPs will consider draft resolutions of the Mejlis on accession to the Convention for the suppression of unlawful acts with regard to international civil aviation, on accession to the Protocol supplementing the Convention for the suppression of unlawful seizure of aircraft, on the establishment of groups of inter-parliamentary friendship of the Mejlis of Turkmenistan with the parliaments of foreign states and other documents. According to the Constitution, the parliament adopts laws, makes changes and additions to the basic law, approves the state budget; resolves issues of holding national referendums; appoints elections of the president, members of the Mejlis, members of representative bodies; considers issues of appointment and dismissal of the Chairman of the Supreme Court, the Prosecutor General, the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Minister of Justice based on the proposal of the head of state; ratifies and denounces international treaties; and solves the issues of changing the state border and administrative-territorial division of the country. Tehran, Iran, June 7 By Kamyar Eghbalnejad- Trend: The executive director of the Iranian Offshore Engineering and Construction (IOEC) Company said Chinese firms have expressed eagerness to participate in Irans overseas projects after Washingtons pullout from the countrys nuclear deal. "We are more looking for European companies to cooperate (on our overseas plans). Of course, the Chinese have also referred to us for many times (to undertake our projects overseas)," Abolqasem Rahmani told the ILNA news agency on June 5. He added that foreign companies potential exit from Iran due to the threat of new US sanctions would not be a hindrance to our overseas projects. We need to get help from foreign firms in the exploration and production (E&P) sector, Rahmani, however, said, noting that IOEC also needs to clinch foreign finance deals in order to able to continue to implement the projects. US President Donald Trump announced on May 8 that Washington was walking away from the nuclear agreement, which was reached in 2015 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. The US sanctions have a 180-day period during which buyers should "wind down" purchases. Baku, Azerbaijan, June 7 Trend: The Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) held a meeting at expert level in Tehran June 7, the state-run IRINN TV reported. Iranian experts as well as 25 experts from P4+1, including Germany, UK, France, Russia and China took part in the session, which was held at the Institute for Political and International Studies, the research body of the Iranian Foreign Ministry. The former round of the meeting was held in Vienna May 25, following the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal, reached between Tehran and the six world powers in 2015. The next meeting of the experts is planned to be held in one of the member states within one or two weeks. The three European countries are trying to save the JCPOA under which Iran curbed its nuclear program in return for a lifting of international sanctions. However, they have warned Iran that if it were not to abide by the terms of the deal, then they would also be forced to pull out and reimpose sanctions as Washington has done. Baku, Azerbaijan, June 7 By Umid Niayesh - Trend: Hackers have taken control of monitors in Tabriz International Airport of Irans East Azerbaijan province on June 7, Iranian media outlets reported. The hackers posted massages in support of protests in Iran and strike of Iranian truck drivers. A group introducing itself as Tapandegan (Palpitaters) has taken the responsibility of the attack, saying will continue its attacks. Irans semi-official Fars news agency reported that the airport authorities have shut down the monitors and efforts are underway to settle the problem. The officials have refused to make comment regarding the issue. In a similar attack on May 24 evening, Tapandegan group took control of Mashhad airports electronic sign boards, posting a statement protesting against Irans military presence in the Middle East and expressing support for the people of Kazeroon, a city in Southern Fars Province, where people have been demonstrating against the government for months. Baku, Azerbaijan, June 7 Trend: Irans intelligence forces have arrested several terrorist teams in the country, the Islamic Republics Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi said. The terrorists were arrested in the countrys western and southwestern areas, Alavi said, the state-run IRINN TV reported June 7. He further said a big number of weapons and explosives were seized from the terrorists during the operations. Further details regarding the issue will be shared with public soon, Alavi added. Iran has arrested dozens of terrorists since the deadly attacks on Tehran on June 7, 2017, which left at least 17 dead and 43 injured. The attacks were simultaneously carried out by five IS-linked terrorists on the Iranian Parliament building and the Mausoleum of late Imam Khomeini. Tehran, Iran, June 7 By Kamyar Eghbalnejad - Trend: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will set off a three-day visit to China on June 8 to discuss ways to improve mutual relations and the latest regional developments, the countrys ambassador to China said. President Rouhani will pay a working visit to China to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, Asghar Khaji told the IRNA news agency on June 7. The president is scheduled to hold meetings with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and other senior officials to discuss ties as well as the latest developments around the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, he added. During his three-day visit, four basic agreements on combating narcotics and organized crimes, increasing cooperation in the area securities and bonds, and improving academic ties will be signed, Khaji said. The president is also planned to hold talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin during his visit, the envoy said. The summit is scheduled to be held in the northern Chinese city of Qingdao. The visit will take place as major powers are seeking to save Irans nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), after the United States pulled out. In a speech from the White House on May 8, Trump accused Iran of sponsoring terrorism and seeking nukes before announcing the US withdrawal from the nuclear agreement between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany). Baku, Azerbaijan, June 7 By Ali Mustafayev Trend: Rising oil production at Kazakhstan's three largest fields - Tengiz, Karachaganak and Kashagan - could negatively affect its participation in the OPEC+ agreement, which stipulates output cut to stabilize prices in the world markets, Oleg Egorov, chief researcher at Kazakhstan's Institute of Economics, consultant at Kazakhstan's Energy Ministry, told Trend. "The volume of oil production at the Tengiz field is planned to rise from 25 million tons to 35 million tons. However, even if this process drags on, the main obstacle to the agreement between OPEC and Kazakhstan is expansion of the relatively new Kashagan field, oil output at which hit 4 million tons only in 2017," Egorov said. The expert stressed that in case of a continuous increase in Kazakhstan's oil production, the country will either withdraw out of the deal with the cartel, or achieve changes in the agreement. According to Egorov, withdrawing from the deal is currently unprofitable for Kazakhstan. Earlier, Energy Minister Kanat Bozumbayev said that Kazakhstan intends to gradually increase oil production from current 86 million tons to 104 million tons annually by 2025. "During five months of 2018, oil production in the country reached 37.7 million tons, showing an increase of 6 percent compared to the same period in 2017. This year, according to our forecasts, the oil production will hit 87 million tons," Bozumbayev said. The minister noted that the oil production growth will be achieved mainly through the Tengiz, Karachaganak and Kashagan fields. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Ali_Mustafayev_ Jordans Prime Minister-designate Omar Razzaz said on Thursday he would withdraw a controversial tax bill soon after he has been sworn in by King Abdullah, Reuters reports. Razzaz told reporters after a meeting in parliament there was a consensus to withdraw the tax bill, which had sparked rare protests against IMF-driven economic policies that critics say have eroded living standards. Chinas Commerce Ministry said on Thursday that the country does not want an escalation of trade frictions with the United States, and that some specific progress was made in the latest round of talks that concluded over the weekend, according to Reuters. China has said that it is willing to increase imports from America as part of negotiations to reduce the United States $375 billion goods trade deficit with the worlds second-largest economy and defuse broader commercial tensions. Sources have told Reuters that President Donald Trump has discussed with trade advisors a Chinese government offer to import an extra $70 billion in US agricultural and energy commodities, but it is unclear if such as deal would be enough to avert a trade war. Trump has threatened tariffs on up to $150 billion of Chinese exports as part of a separate dispute over Chinese intellectual property (IP) protections. The administration has said that a final list of goods for a first wave of duties will be issued next week, and that US Treasury Department plans to limit Chinese investment in the United States were also under way. Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng said that talks on Sunday between US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He in Beijing included in-depth discussions about agriculture and energy trade, but he did not confirm that China had made a $70 billion offer. Gao told a weekly news briefing that the talks had made specific progress, and reiterated Chinas willingness to import more from the United States, but he did not offer details. There were discussions regarding specific areas of cooperation, including in-depth talks on agriculture and energy. China is willing to increase imports from the US (as part of negotiations), Gao said. China on Sunday warned that any agreements reached on trade and business between the two countries will be void if Washington implements tariffs and other trade measures. Structural issues that for years have angered Washington, such as Chinese joint venture rules, market access restrictions, and policies that result in technology transfers, were not covered during Ross latest trip to Beijing, according to sources. Spains new Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez named his cabinet on Wednesday, with women taking most of the posts at the top of government for the first time in the countrys history, Reuters reports. Sanchez, whose Socialist party holds just 84 of 350 parliamentary seats, was propelled into office on Friday after an unlikely alliance of anti-austerity and nationalist parties backed his bid to unseat Mariano Rajoys conservatives over a corruption scandal. But he rejected calls for places in government for hard-left party Podemos, which with 67 seats was a key supporter of the no-confidence motion, and made his appointments predominantly from within the ranks of his PSOE party. Sanchez drew from a wide range of professions, however, choosing an astronaut for science minister, a state attorney specializing in the prosecution of jihadist attacks for justice minister and a climate change treaty negotiator for environment minister. All are highly qualified and bring a vocation for public service and reflect the best of Spain, Sanchez told reporters on Wednesday. (The new cabinet) is pro-gender equality, cross-generational, open to the world but anchored in the European Union. High-profile women appointees included Socialist stalwart Carmen Calvo, who becomes deputy prime minister; Budget Director-General at the European Commission Nadia Calvino, named economy minister; and state prosecutor Dolores Delgado, who becomes justice minister. With parliament fragmented, major policy shifts will be hard for Sanchez to push through, but quick wins on consensual, popular proposals could allow him to stay in office or potentially win a snap election if the government fails to last until the end of its scheduled term in 2020. One of his biggest challenges will be rebuilding relations with the northeastern region of Catalonia, which held a divisive referendum on independence last year that culminated in the imposition of direct rule by Madrid. He must stay firm on his partys support for Spanish unity, enshrined in the countrys constitution, yet open lines of communication to repair relations with the regions re-appointed government, which remains fiercely pro-independence. He named two Catalans to cabinet posts, though his choice of vocal pro-unity former European Parliament president Josep Borrell as foreign minister angered secessionists. The British government will publish its proposals for a backstop plan for the Irish border later on Thursday, sources said, after Prime Minister Theresa May moved to defuse the latest Brexit row, Reuters reports. May held constructive talks with Brexit minister David Davis, her spokeswoman said, after he had raised concerns over the proposal to ensure no return to a hard border between Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland after Brexit. The row is yet another sign of the difficulty a weakened prime minister is having in driving the negotiation with the EU, struggling to unite not only her cabinet of ministers but her Conservative Party over a strategy that will define Britains trading relationship for years to come. She had constructive discussions with the Brexit secretary this morning and she also met other cabinet ministers, the spokeswoman said, adding that May had met trade minister Liam Fox and foreign minister Boris Johnson, who, like Davis, had campaigned for Britain to leave the European Union. She said the government would publish its backstop proposal and send it to Brussels shortly. Government sources said that meant on Thursday. The decision to publish suggested that a row over the backstop had blown over, but the proposals will be pored over to see whether there has been any compromise to keep Davis on board, after one source suggested he might quit. When asked whether May expected Davis to still be in post by the end of the day, the spokeswoman said: Yes. The so-called Brexit war committee will meet later on Thursday after Davis, according to one source close to the government, had gone bananas over the proposal because it contained no end date. Pro-Brexit campaigners fear the plan is another step by the prime minister to maintain the closest possible ties to the EU, undermining the clean break with the bloc they are seeking so that Britain can forge new trading relationships with the world. Davis believed this could mean Britain would stay inside the customs union indefinitely, the source close to the government said. The current proposal would see Britain applying the EUs external tariffs for a limited period beyond December 2020. Under the customs union, EU member states trade freely with each other and charge the same duties on imports from outside the bloc. Members of the customs union cannot negotiate their own trade deals with non-members, meaning that leaving the EU heralds the biggest shake-up in British trade for decades. At the heart of the problem is ensuring there is no hard border between the British province of Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, which will remain in the EU. Some politicians say any return of border controls could disrupt a peace agreement to reduce sectarian conflict in the north. Israels government said that it would invest 30 million shekels ($8.4 million) a year on a pilot program aimed at improving transportation and developing the countrys high-tech industry, Reuters reports. The program looks to promote companies that will impact the state of transportation in Israel and globally, the Israel Innovation Authority said in a statement. The authority is working together with the Transportation Ministry and prime ministers office on the initiative. The program is intended for Israeli tech companies in the field of transportation. They will receive financial support of 20 to 50 percent for approved research and development expenses with additional support of up to 75 percent of R&D expenses for projects that can demonstrate significant potential to streamline and improve transportation within Israel. Companies will return their grants to the Israel Innovation Authority via royalties from sales only if an initiative has been commercialized. Changes in the retail business are forcing even veteran conventional companies to adapt themselves to the dynamic situation by switching to ecommerce, including outside of their domestic market, through international giants such as Amazon. Now taking its first steps in this direction is Sano-Bruno Enterprises Ltd., managed by CEO Yuval Landesberg. Sources inform "Globes" that the company is scheduled to begin selling its product to the US market through Amazon in October. The measure is part of a pilot that will initially include 10 toiletry and cosmetics products through the Natural Formula and Careline brands, which will be shipped from Sano's logistics center in Israel. It can be assumed that if the pilot is successful, cooperation between the two companies is likely to expand to a wider range of products. The emphasis in Sano will be on highly distinctive brands classed as premium, rather than basic products for which there is no reason for buying from Israel. The Careline series of products includes makeup and personal care items, such as facial and eye creams, eye pencils, nail polish, mascara, etc. The Natural Formula series of products includes shower gel, shampoo, soap, hair conditioner, and hair care and design products. At the same time, following the connection created between the two companies, Sano is also preparing for Amazon's entry into the Israeli market and expects to cooperate with it in sales to the local market. Meetings have taken place between the two companies. This, however, is not Sano's first venture into the international market. The Sano group, controlled by the Landesberg family, operates in the US market only in the Jewish haredi (ultra-Orthodox) sector, with no presence at all in the general US market. On the other hand, Sano is active in a number of Eastern European countries, primarily Romania, Ukraine, and Bulgaria, and wants to expand its business there. Sano runs its export business through its Sano International subsidiary. In addition, an independent production unit has been set up in Romania, which is "focusing continually on development of additional overseas activity, including penetration of new markets in Africa and Western Europe." As of the end of 2017, the Sano group's exports amounted to NIS 116 million, 8% of its total sales. Most of these exports are to Eastern Europe through subsidiaries and local distributors. Sano's toiletries and cosmetics activity through its Sano Cosmopharm subsidiary. This subsidiary's business has substantially expanded in recent years, following Sano's acquisition of Careline's activity in March 2010. The company's other brands include Crema, Keff, Neka 7, and Orbitol. Sano's reports state, "The cosmetics field features relatively high gross profit compared with the company's other activity sectors," but also "personnel, advertising, sales, and marketing costs are very high." Sano says it wants to "increase sales turnover in cosmetics items and continue cutting expenses." In contrast, Sano says that the toiletries sector features "intense competition from local manufacturers and imported products, as well as the large retail chains marketing private brands." The challenges in these markets are nevertheless mounting. Sano notes that recent years have seen "tough competition from manufacturers in the local market, importers, and multinationals with international brands, whose entry has stepped up competition. The company added that this competition had led, among other things, to "a major increase in advertising and marketing expenses for products and large investments in branding, an increase in the range of products offered, and a significant increase in the level of specializing in niche products." Despite all of these challenges, Sano is still the market leader. According to its reports, Sano Cosmopharm's market share in toiletries and cosmetics was 18%. The company's main competitors in this areas were Schestowitz - 17%, Unilever Israel - 15%, Procter & Gamble - 8%, Henkel Soad - 6%, Danshar - 4%, and Reckitt Benckiser - 4%. Where are the products that Amazon will market made? Sano Cosmopharm's toiletries production activity takes place mainly in the company's plant in Hefer Valley, which began operating in late 2011, while its cosmetics manufacturing activity and a limited proportion of toiletries manufacturing takes place both in external plants and through importing finished products. Israel-based ride sharing app Gett is in the process of raising $350 million after plans to raise a larger sum of money did not pan out, Reuters with reference to the Israeli news website Calcalist reported on Thursday. Calcalist, a leading financial daily in Israel, reported that one reason Gett has had some trouble attracting investors is due to its relatively high valuation of $2 billion. Gett Chief Executive Dave Waiser, asked about the Calcalist report on the sidelines of a Techcrunch conference, declined to comment. Gett, according to its website, has raised to date $640 million, including a $300 million investment from Volkswagen in 2016. At the time Gett was valued at about $1 billion, Calcalist reported. Last year Gett bought U.S. rival Juno for $200 million. The Gett app lets customers book on-demand rides or pre-book rides for later. IBI High Technology Mutual Fund, the IBI high-tech fund, has passed the minimum hurdle and will offer its units on the TASE (Tel Aviv Stock Exchange). The fund will receive government protection for investment in startups. The fund, led by Dr. Dan Aks and Dr. Dor Lilo, reported that it had met the minimum requirements by raising over NIS 403 million, Globes reports. High-tech funds in Israel are nevertheless a big failure for Israel, which sought to create four funds raising at least NIS 400 million each that would obtain government protection in order to promote investments in the Israeli high-tech sector. IBI's fund is one of five groups that competed for four places provided by the state. The other four all failed to raise the minimum amount. The funds were Ayalon Mutual Funds together with shareholders in Halman Aldubi Investment House, Alumot Investment House, Kesem Excellence, and Eucalyptus, led by Eldad Tamir and Tamir Fishman. All of the funds have cooperation between capital market and venture capital and technology personnel. It is believed that Eucalyptus will continue its efforts even without government support. The funds in question, which are a kind of marketable venture capital fund with the structure of a mutual fund, are designed to facilitate investment by the general public in technology ventures. In July 2017, the Ministry of Finance Accountant General department and the Israel Securities Authority jointly published a "tender for selecting concerns to manage funds for investment in high-tech companies," to be listed on the TASE. IBI High Technology did not have an easy time, either; it had to strive mightily to achieve the required minimum, and even then only after cutting its initial 2% management fees to 1.3% and setting a yield hurdle of 7% a year above which it will earn a success fee of 20% of the positive return on non-marketable investments generated for holders of units in the fund (the fund originally planned to charge success fees on every positive return without any minimum success, including on the marketable part). Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced a ceasefire with Taliban insurgents on Thursday until June 20, coinciding with the end of the Islamic fasting season, but said fighting against other militant groups such as Islamic State will continue, Reuters reports. He made the announcement in a televised address. This ceasefire is an opportunity for Taliban to introspect (sic) that their violent campaign is not winning them hearts and minds but further alienating, he said in a Tweet. With the ceasefire announcement we epitomize the strength of the Afghan government and the will of the people for a peaceful resolution to the Afghan conflict. Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza on Thursday announced that he will leave the presidency in 2020 at the expiry of his current presidential term, Xinhua reported. "As the party visionary, I commit that my term is ending in 2020. In that context, don't be misled by people giving wrong interpretations on terms of the current president, or on this amended constitution," Nkurunziza said after signing and promulgating the new constitution in Gitega town. The new constitution extends the presidential term from five years to seven years and allows the president to serve two consecutive terms, which means Nkurunziza is allowed to stay in office until 2034 if he is elected in future presidential elections. "This constitution was not amended for President Nkurunziza as our enemies have been saying it. It was amended for the goodness, honor and good future of Burundi and its people," he said. The Burundian Constitutional Court Thursday endorsed the results of the constitutional referendum, announcing that the amendments to the constitution were approved by a vote of 73.24 percent in the referendum. The new constitution also creates the post of prime minister and cuts the number of vice presidents from two to one. According to the new constitution, the prime minister is to be designated from the ruling party, while the vice president will come from a different party. Burundi plunged into a crisis in April 2015 when Nkurunziza decided to run his controversial bid for a third term. His candidature, which was opposed by the opposition, resulted in a wave of protests, violence and even a failed coup in May 2015. Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani announced on Thursday a temporary ceasefire with the Taliban until June 20, though it was not immediately clear if the armed group had agreed, Al Jazeera reproted. In a televised address, Ghani said fighting against other armed groups such as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) will continue. The Afghan president told security forces to cease operations against the armed group until June 20, coinciding with the end of fasting month of Ramadan. The ceasefire will last "from the 27th of Ramadan until the fifth day of Eid-ul-Fitr", the president tweeted from an official account, indicating it could run from June 12-19. "This ceasefire is an opportunity for Taliban to introspect that their violent campaign is not winning them hearts and minds but further alienating," he said. "With the ceasefire announcement, we epitomise the strength of the Afghan government and the will of the people for a peaceful resolution to the Afghan conflict." Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov could meet U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in August in Singapore, Reuters with reference to the RIA news agency reported on Thursday. A possible meeting is being discussed, RIA said, providing no further details. President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia was not planning to withdraw its forces from Syria for now, and would keep them there for as long as it was in Russias interest, Reuters reports. We are not yet planning a withdrawal of these military forces, Putin told a televised call-in. We are not building long-term facilities there and if needed we could fairly quickly withdraw our troops without material losses, he said. But for the moment, we need them there, they are carrying out important tasks, including providing security for Russia in the region, and helping our interests in the economic sphere. Russia-China Investment Fund (RCIF) and a Chinese partner will set up an investment fund worth $1 bln, co-head of the Fund and Chief Executive Officer of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) Kirill Dmitriev said Thursday. "Tomorrow we will announce an agreement with one of Chinas leading funds on establishing a fund worth $1 bln to invest in such sectors as transport, tourism, and infrastructure," he said. Speaking about the organization participating in the project, he said that "it is a major Chinese partner." According to Dmitriev, it is also planned to announce investments from the side of China's corporation to one of Russian banks. "As you know Russias banking sector is undergoing big changes. High-quality banks need capital, and we will invest in one of them," he said. Baku, Azerbaijan, June 7 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: Turkey is currently actively developing in various fields, and it is possible that the time will come when the country will send an astronaut into space, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, Turkish media reported June 7. Erdogan noted that development in all directions, including the space sector, is a priority for Turkey. "Today, Turkey leads the way in many directions in the region," Erdogan said. Earlier, a source in the government of Turkey told Trend that one of the goals of Turkey is to send astronauts into space, and the implementation of this task is planned to begin after the country will create a national space agency. The source said currently, work is underway in Turkey to create a national space agency. "The creation of the national space agency in Turkey is one of the most important priorities for the Turkish government," the source said. Turkey will allocate $6 billion for creation of the national space agency, scheduled for 2023. The project to create the space agency is the second biggest undertaking in Turkey after the construction of a shipping channel in Istanbul. The national space agency will have a territory of 500 hectares, with 100 hectares planned for the construction of a special center for development of space technologies. The agency is being created to ensure the national interests of Turkey. The agency's headquarters will be located in Ankara. In February 2017, the draft law on the establishment of the National Space Agency was submitted to the Turkish Parliament for consideration. The government of Turkey announced the creation of the National Space Agency for the first time in January 2016. Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, June 7 By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend: The Turkish Armed Forces have established control over a base of the PKK terrorist organization in the Avashin area in northern Iraq, the Turkish General Staff said on June 7. Reportedly, the PKK base in the Avashin area in the north of Iraq has been completely destroyed. The spokesman and deputy chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of Turkey, Mahir Unal, earlier said that the Turkish armed forces are advancing in northern Iraq establishing control over the positions of the PKK terrorist organization. Unal said the Turkish authorities have repeatedly stated that military operations against the PKK militants in northern Iraq may begin at any moment. Earlier, it was reported that as part of the operation against the PKK in northern Iraq, the Turkish military moved 73 kilometers deep into Iraqi territory. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Turkey has 11 military bases in the north of Iraq, which greatly facilitates the fight against the PKK. The conflict between Turkey and the PKK, which demands the creation of an independent Kurdish state, has lasted more than 25 years claiming more than 40,000 lives. The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by the UN and the EU. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, June 7 By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend: A bus carrying police officers in the Turkish province of Kars crashed into a car, Turkish media reported on June 6. According to preliminary reports, 16 policemen were injured in the road accident. All the wounded were taken to a city hospital. On June 2, a bus carrying police officers overturned in Bitlis. Then, 20 policemen were injured in the road accident. According to Turkey's police reports, in April, 35,836 road accidents were registered in the country, in which 221 people were killed. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, June 7 By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend: Many reforms have been implemented in various fields in Turkey, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said during an election rally in the province of Kars, Turkish media reported June 7. Yildirim noted that the reforms in Turkey have been and remain one of the priorities of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) "When we came to power, we promised that requirements of the people will be the most important thing for us," Yildirim said. The PM also recalled that one of the AKP's promises was related to strengthening the fight against terrorism. "The fight against terrorism will be successful and let no one doubt it," Yildirim said. Earlier, spokesman and deputy chairman of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) of Turkey, Mahir Unal, said that the Turkish armed forces are moving deep into the north of Iraq, establishing control over the positions of the PKK terrorist organization. Unal said the Turkish authorities have repeatedly stated that at any moment military operations against the PKK militants may begin in northern Iraq. The conflict between Turkey and the PKK, which demands the creation of an independent Kurdish state, has lasted more than 25 years, claiming more than 40,000 lives. The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by the UN and the EU. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, June 7 By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend: The logistics center in Kars, which is being built in collaboration with Azerbaijan, will give impetus to the development of the economy of the entire region and, in particular, the province of Kars, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said, Turkish media reported June 7. Yildirim noted that the opening of the logistics center also contributes to the increase of cargo transportation. "Another important Turkish-Azerbaijani project in Kars is the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway," Yildirim said. Earlier, the Ministry of Transport, Shipping and Communications of Turkey informed Trend that the construction of a logistics center within the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project has been carried out for more than 50 days, and the opening of a logistics center in Kars will be held on October 30 this year. The ministry also noted that 16 km long railway lines will be built in the territory of the logistics center, and this section will be connected to the Kars-Erzurum railway. The agreement on establishment of the logistics center was signed on July 19, 2017 during the visit of the head of Azerbaijan Railways JSC Javid Gurbanov to the province of Kars. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, June 7 By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend: Turkey has suspended the reception of illegal migrants from Greece, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said, Turkish media reported June 7. Cavusoglu noted that this decision was made after Greece freed the military putschists who fled to Greece after the military coup attempt. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said earlier that if the European Union does not abolish the visa regime with Turkey, Ankara will not be able to accept illegal migrants from the EU. The agreement on reception of illegal migrants was signed between the EU and Turkey in 2013. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu The top U.S. military officer Joseph Dunford Jr. will meet his Russian counterpart Valery Gerasimov in Helsinki on Friday, Finnish defense forces said in a statement, Reuters reports. The generals will also meet separately with Finnish president and chief of defense, the statement said, but gave no further information. US President Donald Trump announced Thursday that his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore on June 12 is "ready to go". The president promised that the summit would be "more than a photo op," Sputnik reported. The US president stressed that it would be "unacceptable" if North Korea does not agree to denuclearize. "They have to de-nuke. If they don't denuclearize it would not be acceptable. We cannot take sanctions off," Trump said before a working lunch with Japanese President Shinzo Abe at the White House. Trump said he could put more sanctions on North Korea, but decided not to do it at this time and added that his administration can enforce more punitive measures against Pyongyang in the future. Speaking to reporters as he welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to the White House, Trump said he and Abe would discuss trade and issues regarding North Korea. "The summit is all ready to go. It's going to be much more than a photo op," Trump said, emphasizing that "everything is ready" for the meeting. At the same time, the president once again indicated that everything could still change. According to the US president, he is "very well" prepared for the summit. "I don't think I have to prepare very much. It's about attitude," he said. Last week, Trump announced he was not going to agree to any kind of deal with Kim during their first meeting set for June 12 in Singapore. He underlined that the United States and North Korea were going to "start a process" and a new relationship during the summit. The long-standing tensions on the Korean Peninsula have significantly de-escalated in 2018 when Kim announced his willingness to denuclearize the country and met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. KYODO NEWS - Jun 8, 2018 - 10:00 | All, World U.S. President Donald Trump reaffirmed in a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday that he will push for resolving the Japanese abduction issue during his unprecedented meeting with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un next week in Singapore. Abe expressed eagerness to meet with Kim himself, saying, "I would like to directly face North Korea and talk with (Kim) so as to achieve an early resolution to the abduction issue." In a meeting at the White House, Trump and Abe underscored that the two allies, in coordination with the international community, will maintain pressure and sanctions on Pyongyang to compel it to rid itself of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. Speaking at a joint news conference with Abe after the meeting, Trump said, "We will be discussing that with North Korea, absolutely," in reference to the issue involving Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s. Abe urged Kim to take credible actions to address the issue, saying that Japan, based on a 2002 bilateral declaration, is prepared to normalize diplomatic relations and extend economic cooperation to North Korea. "But first and foremost, Japan would like to extend its full support for the success of the historic U.S.-North Korea summit on the 12th in Singapore so as to advance the abduction, nuclear and missile issues," the prime minister said. (Sakie Yokota, the mother of Megumi Yokota who was abducted by North Korea in 1977 at the age of 13, visits an exhibition of photographs of her daughter in Tokyo on May 8) Expressing his readiness for a meeting with Kim in the first-ever U.S.-North Korea summit, Trump said the two sides could sign an agreement to end the 1950-1953 Korean War. "We're looking at it. We're talking about it with them," he said. "As you know, that would be a first step. It's what happens after the agreement that really is the big point." Trump said he could invite Kim to visit the United States, possibly the White House, if the summit goes well, and that he would like to see the normalization of diplomatic relations with North Korea. At the same time, the president said if things do not go well, he could reinstate the policy of applying "maximum pressure" on Pyongyang. Although Trump said last week he does not want to use the term "maximum pressure" in consideration of "a friendly negotiation" in the upcoming summit, he repeated that "we cannot take sanctions off" unless the North denuclearizes. "Perhaps after that negotiation, I will be using it again," he said. "We have a list of over 300 massive, in some cases, sanctions to put on North Korea. And I've decided to hold that until we can make a deal." In the meeting with Abe, Trump said he does not expect to reach a nuclear deal with Kim in just one meeting. Tuesday's meeting, he said, will be part of "a process" toward denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. "I think it's not a one meeting deal," the U.S. leader said. "At a minimum, we'll start with, perhaps, a good relationship. And that's something that's very important toward the ultimate making of a deal." Aside from North Korea, Trump said he seeks a bilateral free trade agreement with Japan as part of efforts to reduce the U.S. trade deficit with the world's third-largest economy. "We're working hard to reduce our trade imbalance, which is very substantial, remove barriers to U.S. exports, and to achieve a fair and mutually beneficial economic partnership," he said. Trump quoted Abe as telling him that Japan will buy "billions and billions of dollars" of American products, ranging from military jets and civilian aircraft to agricultural products. The two leaders agreed Tokyo and Washington will hold the first round of their new dialogue on trade and investment in July, a senior Japanese official told reporters after the Abe-Trump meeting. The two governments have yet to decide where to hold the dialogue, which will be led by Toshimitsu Motegi, Japan's economic and fiscal policy minister, and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. Abe and Trump met before they attend a two-day Group of Seven summit beginning Friday in Quebec, Canada, where Pyongyang's weapons programs and issues related to global trade will be high on the agenda. The leaders of the G-7 -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States plus the European Union -- are expected to demand that North Korea dismantle all weapons of mass destruction, missiles and related facilities in a complete, verifiable and irreversible way. By Tomoyuki Tachikawa, KYODO NEWS - Jun 7, 2018 - 07:24 | World, All In an attempt to ensure the continuation of his rule, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is expected to enter into serious negotiations with U.S. President Donald Trump when they meet next Tuesday in Singapore, according to an expert on Korean affairs. The keyword of the historic U.S.-North Korea summit is "survival," Young-Key Kim-Renaud, a professor emeritus of Korean studies at the George Washington University in Washington, said in a recent interview with Kyodo News via email. She said Kim has stuck to his original objectives: being free from the fear of "being annihilated" by a U.S. invasion, preventing "regime/institutional change" and minimizing "economic distress." North Korea had carried out ballistic missile and nuclear tests at the rapid pace in recent years in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions, prompting the United States, Japan and other countries to ramp up economic sanctions. Late last year, China, North Korea's main economic lifeline, decided to bolster its own sanctions and they are believed to have dealt a severe blow to its neighbor's economy. In November, Kim also declared that his country has developed an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of striking anywhere in the United States with a nuclear warhead, spurring Trump to repeat that the military option to deal with such threat remains on the table. For over six decades after the 1950-1953 Korean War ended in a cease-fire, the United States, which led multinational military forces in support of South Korea during the conflict, has remained technically at war with North Korea. At first, North Korea may have tried to begin negotiations with the United States as a nuclear power, but Trump's tougher stance appears to have forced Kim to change his strategy to achieve his strategic goals. Since the beginning of the year, North Korea has suddenly extended olive branches to the South and the United States. In early March, Trump announced that he will meet Kim in an effort to resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis. Kim has recently committed to "complete" denuclearization of North Korea and agreed with South Korean President Moon Jae In in their April 27 summit to strive to formally end the Korean War by the end of this year. Although Trump in late May initially canceled his own planned summit with Kim after Pyongyang moved to throw Washington off balance, the U.S. president has been making conciliatory gestures since he met a close aide to the North Korean leader. After meeting with Kim Yong Chol on Friday at the White House, Thump reinstated the summit and said he no longer wants to use the term "maximum pressure" because the United States and North Korea are now "getting along." "We're going to make sure it's secure," Trump said of Kim's regime, adding that "they have a potential to be a great country." Kim-Renaud noted, "President Trump says Kim Jong Un will be happy and prosper as a result of the meeting. (Trump) will not call for regime or institutional change in North Korea." The United States and North Korea are still at odds over how to realize denuclearization on the divided Korean Peninsula. Washington has sought swift and complete denuclearization, while Pyongyang has been apparently aiming to gain concessions such as easing sanctions by vowing denuclearization in a "phased" and "synchronized" manner. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, however, said on Sunday, "North Korea will receive relief only when it demonstrates verifiable and irreversible steps to denuclearization." Kim-Renaud said that Kim is certain to be engaged in sincere negotiations with Trump to attain his cherished goal of regime survival. "One way out would be for Kim to show the world that he is a new, progressive, young blood in North Korea, and from now on will be different from his father and grandfather and will bring change for a more prosperous and freer North Korea," she said. "Above all, he needs to earn his trust from the world by continued goodwill gestures, including keeping promises and using civilized language," she added. Kim-Renaud, meanwhile, urged Trump and Kim to cooperate to achieve peace and stability in the region and across the globe. "The two heads of the states should go through the list of what they consider the most threatening, and address each, one by one, and find a way of compromise," she said. "If they can't go so far as agreeing on a timetable, they should at least schedule next working meetings for addressing specific issues. This way, we will buy time and lower the tension in the Korean peninsula and the world," she added. By KiMi Robinson, KYODO NEWS - Jun 7, 2018 - 12:03 | Feature, All Gwendellyn Sanchez hoped 100 people would attend the gathering she'd organized in Honolulu for descendants of "Gannenmono" -- the first group of Japanese immigrants to arrive in Hawaii in the 19th century, including her great-grandfather, Tokujiro Sato. In the end, more than twice as many came as Hawaii kicked off its yearlong celebration of the 150th anniversary of the first Japanese immigrants arriving in the islands, helping to give the commemorations a deeply personal significance to Sanchez. After spending more than five months compiling the Sato family tree, she emotionally greeted around 220 family members gathered at the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum and arranged for families to pose for photos by relation to each of Sato's children. Descendants of the Gannenmono, who ranged in age from adolescents to octogenarians, traveled from as far as Chicago and Guam to meet each other, most for the first time, and pore over a Sato family tree that stretched several meters long. "The people in there are all my cousins, but I don't know 90 percent of them," said 33-year-old Kawai Davis, a great-great-grandson of Sato. Davis' wife, Natsumi, is from Tokyo. Sato was one of nearly 150 Gannenmono -- which translates from Japanese as "first-year people" -- who emigrated from Japan at the start of the Meiji era in 1868 to fill increased demand in Hawaii for contract laborers at sugar and pineapple plantations. Mistreated by plantation overseers, some returned to Japan while 30 to 40 others, such as Sato -- who is also said to have gone by the surname Sasaki -- remained in the Kingdom of Hawaii and started families with Hawaiian women. Sato and his Hawaiian wife, Kalala Kelihananui Kamekona, had nine children at the end of the 19th century. Now, 150 years after Sato's arrival, his descendants span eight generations. "I am grateful that he had the courage to come to Hawaii to make a new life," said Sanchez, whose interest in Gannenmono history began in high school. "What amazes me the most is he chose to remain here in Hawaii." One couple in attendance represented two Gannenmono, Sato and Yonekichi Sakuma, respectively. After marrying in 2013, Raymond and Ekela Ka'anapu were shocked to find they both shared connections with those early Japanese immigrants. The Gannenmono celebration preceded a preview of the Bishop Museum's latest exhibit, "Gannenmono: A Legacy of Eight Generations in Hawaii," which counted Japan's Prince Akishino and his wife, Princess Kiko, in attendance. "It was an unbelievable honor," said Sanchez of the royal couple's appearance. "For them to recognize these Gannenmono, that's a lifetime dream." The 150th anniversary celebration of the relationship between Japan and Hawaii was shown in a display depicting the lives of the Gannenmono through illustrations, firsthand accounts and two remaining 19th century artifacts. Though the Sato family tree that started in Hawaii has not yet been finished, Sanchez hopes to soon trace her great-grandfather's lineage in Japan. "We don't know anything about (Sato's) life in Japan," Sanchez said. "Our goal is to be able to link ourselves to (Sato's family) in Japan," she said. Related coverage: Prince Akishino visits Hawaii to commemorate Japanese immigration Prince Akishino visits cultural site for Japanese immigrants in Hawaii KYODO NEWS - Jun 8, 2018 - 20:46 | World, All The North Korean and Singaporean foreign ministers have had "in-depth" discussions ahead of next week's summit between Pyongyang and Washington, North Korean media said Friday. The Korean Central News Agency did not provide details of their exchange, but the officials appear to have made final arrangements for the historic meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore on Tuesday. The meeting between Singapore's Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan and his North Korean counterpart Ri Yong Ho was held Thursday after the former arrived in Pyongyang earlier in the day. On Friday, Balakrishnan also met with North Korea's nominal head of state Kim Yong Nam, KCNA said. Balakrishnan on the same day visited Mangyongdae, the birthplace of Kim Jong Un's grandfather and North Korea's founder Kim Il Sung, and the Tower of the Juche Idea, a monumental stone column named after Pyongyang's official ideology, the news agency said. It was the first time since 2008 for a Singaporean foreign minister to visit North Korea, according to the Tokyo-based Radio Press news agency. North Korea's state-run media have yet to report that the Trump-Kim summit is scheduled to be held in Singapore. Singapore has maintained diplomatic relations with North Korea for more than 40 years. But in November, at a time when Pyongyang still clung to its defiant pursuit of nuclear and missile capabilities, the city-state suspended trade ties with North Korea in line with toughened sanctions imposed by the U.N. Security Council. Singapore has been serving as a broker between North Korea and the United States, which have no diplomatic ties. KYODO NEWS - Jun 7, 2018 - 10:58 | All, World Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo agreed Wednesday to urge North Korea to denuclearize in a "complete, verifiable and irreversible" way while keeping existing U.N. sanctions in place. After meeting with Pompeo, Kono told reporters that the two foreign ministers will meet again after a U.S.-North Korea summit slated for June 12 in Singapore. (Pool photo) Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is scheduled to meet Thursday with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington to reaffirm the importance of urging North Korea to abandon all nuclear weapons and missile programs. Tokyo has asked Washington to raise the long-standing issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s, as Abe has made resolving it a priority. Pyongyang has claimed that the issue is settled. Kono and Pompeo reaffirmed that the abduction issue will be taken up when Trump sits down with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, a Japanese government official said. Pompeo, who served as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, has taken the lead in U.S. negotiations with Pyongyang. The foreign chiefs' meeting came as the Trump administration is stepping up preparations for the summit with Kim that Trump reinstated last week. Despite Washington later clarifying that the United States will maintain its policy of putting maximum pressure on Pyongyang, Trump said Friday that he does not want to use the "maximum pressure" phrase. "We understand it's a message (to North Korea) that he hopes he won't have to carry out (further) sanctions," Kono told reporters after the meeting. The Japanese government is seeking to gather information and strengthen bilateral coordination in the run-up to the first-ever summit between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader. After getting an update on U.S. preparations for the upcoming meeting, Kono, who also met with Pompeo in May, said the two have agreed to hold phone talks "if the situation changes." KYODO NEWS - Jun 7, 2018 - 18:49 | World, All South Korea's biggest opposition party said Thursday that next week's summit between the United States and North Korea should be called off unless Pyongyang agrees to fully denuclearize. "The most important thing is that CVID (complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization) must be achieved through next week's U.S.-North Korea summit, and if the North goes against it, it is rather reasonable to cancel the meeting right away," Liberty Korea Party Chairman Hong Joon Pyo told a press conference in Seoul. (Hong Joon Pyo, center, campaigns in Seoul on May 31 for local elections) The United States and its allies like South Korea are calling for a process that would require North Korea to abandon its nuclear arsenal and its weapons-building infrastructure and development programs, while also submitting to international inspections and monitoring to ensure the shift would be complete and permanent. Hong also opposed declaring an official end to the 1950-1953 Korean War, which ended with an armistice, on the occasion of next Tuesday's summit in Singapore, suggesting that such a move should only come after thoroughly discussing denuclearization. "Decreasing the number of U.S. troops in South Korea should also never be on the summit table," he said, adding this would only heighten the possibility that North Korea may renege on an agreement that would come out of the summit. Hong's LKP, formerly known as the Saenuri Party, was in power until May last year when it was defeated at the polls by the Democratic Party of current President Moon Jae In. Public support for the conservative party plummeted after late 2016 when then President Park Geun Hye was impeached over a massive corruption scandal. She was subsequently convicted and sentenced to 24 years in prison. The LKP currently holds 113 seats in the 300-member National Assembly. By Sayuri Romei, KYODO NEWS - Jun 7, 2018 - 13:58 | All, World Following the Trump-Abe summit in Mar-a-Lago this past April, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe secured President Trump's commitment to the abduction issue. The New York Times described it as "one small victory," while The Washington Post even defined it as "a rare but important win for Abe." Abe's rhetoric on the thorny issue of Japanese nationals kidnapped by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s is direct and categorical. Speaking on Fuji TV, the prime minister announced that the solution he envisions is the "immediate return of all abductees to Japan." The following day, the DPRK's Korean Central News Agency responded that Japan is "clumsy and foolish" to bring up the issue, which it considers already resolved. In this never-ending impasse, Japan's chance to make progress on the abduction issue is to take a different approach. Is the immediate return of all abductees to Japan a realistic goal for Abe's government? The abduction issue became politicized in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when two major support organizations emerged and the media began to report on the abductees' families. Those families have made good efforts to raise public awareness of the issue and even sensitize U.S. administrations on the abductees' ongoing suffering. In September 2002, former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi became the first Japanese prime minister to visit North Korea and meet Kim Jong-Il. Some considered Koizumi's visit to Pyongyang an effort to recover his plummeting popularity, a step Abe might be trying to follow. However, in this case, Abe's decisiveness is also symptomatic of a bigger fear. While emphasizing the importance of cooperation with China and South Korea on North Korea's denuclearization plan, and contemplating a Japan-North Korea summit, in the past weeks Abe's government has been nervous about the risk of being sidelined by its closest ally, the United States. A MOFA official pointed out that the prime minister "is worried about being seen as 'left out of the mosquito net' ('kaya no soto')," adding that the Cabinet has given the order not to use the expression. Another government official noted that, "Since North Korea's denuclearization is the prime interest for the United States and South Korea, there's no way for U.S. President Donald Trump to place emphasis on the issue of the abductees during the U.S-North Korea summit." One way the Japanese government could break this deadlock is to consistently include the Japanese case in the broader issue of postwar regional abductees, and link it to the human rights violations made by North Korea. South Korea has also seen its citizens kidnapped by the DPRK, which is an opportunity for Japan to actively promote dialogue between Japanese and South Korean families and activists, and enhance its credibility on a regional and international level. Therefore, the first step Japan could realistically achieve is to negotiate directly with North Korea a reopening of the joint investigations on all regional abduction cases, emphasizing the shared burden with the other American ally in the region. This will constitute a more original position, and a more achievable goal for Japan. It will also enhance cooperation between Japan and South Korea, putting greater pressure on North Korea to reopen talks. Lastly, it will engender continued U.S. support and align the three countries in the negotiation process, thus ensuring Japan remains inside the mosquito net. (Sayuri Romei is Associate Fellow for Security and Foreign Affairs of Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA.) KYODO NEWS - Jun 7, 2018 - 18:14 | All, Feature A Syrian man living in Japan has opened a school in Bangladesh for young Rohingya Muslims who have fled a military crackdown in Myanmar. Mazen Salim, 43, who runs a trade business and lives in the Toyama Prefecture city of Takaoka, established the school named Toyama Terakoya in Cox's Bazar, a town in southeastern Bangladesh near the border with Myanmar. Almost 700,000 Rohingya Muslims, a minority in Buddhist-dominant Myanmar, fled from Rakhine state to neighboring Bangladesh since last August to escape the harsh crackdown launched by the Myanmar government in reprisal for attacks by an armed Rohingya faction against government security posts. (Mazen Salim, center, at the school he established for Rohingya refgees in Bangladesh) [Photo courtesy of Mazen Salim] Myanmar and Bangladesh agreed to begin a repatriation process in January but it has since been delayed by logistical factors. Toyama Terakoya currently has 300 students, half of whom are illiterate, and four teachers who are also refugees living in refugee camps. Bengali, Burmese and mathematics classes are held for 7 to 13 year-old boys and girls for a total of four hours a day, five days a week. Of the 1.2 million yen ($10,900) initially needed to construct the simple school building made of bamboo and metal sheets and to run the school, Salim personally shouldered 400,000 yen and donations covered the rest. Salim, who heads the Toyama Muslim Center, has been helping Muslims and non-Muslims alike. He already built an elementary school last September in his home country where a civil war has displaced millions of people. He also collected donations and provided food for people after torrential rain last July devastated the city of Asakura in Fukuoka Prefecture, southwestern Japan. [Photo courtesy of Mazen Salim] After being asked to help Rohingya people in Bangladesh, Salim began making arrangements with people at refugee camps from January and collected textbooks and other necessary school materials. When the school celebrated its opening on May 15, Salim also visited there and was greeted by children. But he said the school operation is far from stable yet. With the school operation requiring about 600,000 yen annually, some students worry whether they can study at the school next year too, he said. "Opening the school is merely the first step as there are many other children who need education," said Salim, adding he plans to collect donations to continuously operate the school. By October 16 the two low-pressure areas are even expected to come together like twins, possibly changing the course of rains in central India. Leptospirosis, which affects more than one million people worldwide each year, is known to be transmitted to humans from a wide range of animals. Now, researchers reporting in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases have discovered that more than 7 percent of the cattle and 1 percent of sheep and goats in local slaughterhouses in northern Tanzania are infected with Leptospira bacteria. Leptospirosis is a disease caused by infection with bacteria of the genus Leptospira. In humans, the disease can range in severity from mild to severe disease leading to kidney damage, liver failure, or death. The disease is most common in tropical environments, but occurs worldwide, particularly in people who work outdoors or with animals. Acute leptospirosis is an important cause of febrile disease in Tanzania, where little is known about the most common sources of infection in humans. In the new work conducted in northern Tanzania, Kathryn Allan, of the University of Glasgow, UK, and colleagues tested rodents, cattle, goats and sheep for Leptospira infection. Animals were sampled in the catchment areas of two hospitals that had high prevalence of patients with leptospirosis. Small samples of kidney tissue were collected and used to test for the bacteria. Among 384 trapped rodents trapped, no animals were found to carry Leptospira infection. In contrast, Leptospira was detected in kidney samples from 7.1% of cattle, 1.2% of goats, and 1.1% of sheep. As well as having a high prevalence of infection, cattle were found to be carrying four different types of Leptospira bacteria, all of which have the potential to cause disease in people. "Our study makes a substantial contribution to the growing body of evidence that livestock, especially cattle, play an important role in the epidemiology of human leptospirosis in sub-Saharan Africa," the researchers say. "Our findings support recent hospital studies that have identified cattle farming as a major risk factor for human infection. Understanding the factors that support the transmission of Leptospira from livestock to people are important priorities for future public health research and could help us develop effect control measures to reduce both human and animal infection." ### In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases: http://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0006444 Citation: Allan KJ, Halliday JEB, Moseley M, Carter RW, Ahmed A, et al. (2018) Assessment of animal hosts of pathogenic Leptospira in northern Tanzania. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases 12(6): e0006444. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0006444 Funding: This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust (grant number 096400/Z/11/Z; https://wellcome.ac.uk/). Jo Halliday, Venance Maro, John Crump, and Sarah Cleaveland received support from the Research Councils UK, UK Department for International Development, and UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) (grant numbers BB/J010367/1, BB/L018926, BB/L017679, BB/L018845; http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/). John Crump and Venance Maro also received support from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH)-National Science Foundation (NSF) Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Disease program (R01TW009237; https://www.fic.nih.gov/programs/pages/ecology-infectious-diseases.aspx). Mark Moseley received support from the BBSRC East of Scotland Bioscience Doctoral Training Partnership (http://www.eastscotbiodtp.ac.uk/). Michael Maze received support from a University of Otago Frances G. Cotter Scholarship and a University of Otago MacGibbon PhD Travel Fellowship (http://www.otago.ac.nz/). Venance Maro and John Crump received support from the US National Institutes of Health National Institute for Allergy and Infectious (grant number R01 AI121378; https://www.niaid.nih.gov/). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Over the past five years, Magellan Midstream Partners (NYSE: MMP) has generated a total return of nearly 70%. That's quite impressive considering that most master limited partnerships (MLPs) have lost value over that timeframe. One of the reasons the company has delivered such strong total returns is that it has steadily increased its payout even as rivals have either stopped raising their distribution, or cut it. Magellan has avoided this fate by investing within its means instead of stretching to grow at a faster pace. Growing to create value, not build an energy infrastructure empire Over the past decade, Magellan Midstream Partners has invested $5.4 billion in expanding its refined products and crude oil infrastructure business via targeted acquisitions and organic expansion projects. The company has largely funded this growth with retained cash flow and a modest amount of debt. Because of that, the company has only needed to issue $260 million of new equity (all in 2010), which represents a mere 5% of total spending. The company has also managed to keep its leverage ratio to less than 4.0 times debt to EBITDA (it's currently just 3.3 times), which is why it has one of the best credit ratings among MLPs. Rising stacks of coins with growing plants on each one. Image source: Getty Images. Because Magellan Midstream Partners has lived within its means over the past five years, the average number of units it has outstanding is up less than 1%. Contrast that with rivals Buckeye Partners (NYSE: BPL) and Energy Transfer Partners (NYSE: ETP), which have a much more aggressive approach to financing growth because they typically pay out virtually all their cash flow to investors each quarter. That forced both to issue a boatload of new equity and debt to fund acquisitions and expansion projects. As a result, Buckeye's outstanding unit count has surged 41%, while Energy Transfer's is up a jaw-dropping 120% over the past five years. Meanwhile, both have more highly leveraged balance sheets with debt-to-EBITDA ratios currently well above 4.0 times. While that new debt and equity has enabled both companies to expand the size of their infrastructure portfolios at a faster pace, investors haven't benefited from this growth. Not only have both companies stopped increasing their payouts, but Energy Transfer Partners has delivered a total return of just 2% over the past five years, while Buckeye has produced a negative total return of 16%. Story continues Sticking with what works Magellan Midstream Partners currently has about $1.7 billion high-return expansion projects under construction that should enter service through 2020. Because of the company's low leverage ratio and healthy distribution coverage, it can finance these projects without having to issue any equity. That ability to grow within its means gives Magellan Midstream the confidence that it can increase its 5.3%-yielding payout by 8% this year and at a 5% to 8% annual rate in 2019 and 2020, even as it maintains a healthy 1.2 times distribution coverage ratio and keeps leverage below 4.0 times. That steadily growing distribution should enable investors to continue earning outsized total returns. At the same time as Magellan's more conservative business model puts it on pace to continue growing value for investors, the more aggressive approaches of Energy Transfer and Buckeye could see them further erode investor value in the coming years. In Energy Transfer's case, it's searching high and low to find the capital it needs to finance the roughly $10 billion of expansion projects it has under construction. Because of its tight financial situation, its yield has risen into the double-digits, a sign that investors fear the company might need to cut the payout to get its finances on more sustainable footing. Buckeye Partners, likewise, has a double-digit yield because investors fear a cut is coming down the pipeline since the company has only covered it with cash flow by a worrisome 0.96 times over the past year, meaning it paid out more than 100% of its cash flow, which isn't sustainable over the long term. A great high-yield stock for the long haul Magellan Midstream's focus over the years has been on growing the value of the company, not building an energy infrastructure empire. The company's more conservative approach has paid off by helping it create significant value for investors at a time when some rivals have destroyed value in their overly aggressive attempts to grow. Magellan's differentiated business model is why it remains an excellent high-yield stock to consider holding for the long term. More From The Motley Fool Matthew DiLallo has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Two of the worlds biggest economies, the United States and China, have been involved in a trade skirmish since March. Both countries have since imposed tit-for-tat import tariffs on each other worth $50 billion. Moreover, delegations from both countries have met on two different occasions but have failed to reach a resolution. Just when trade war fears seemed to be aggravating, China, in a rather surprising move, announced that it was planning to purchase more agricultural and energy products from the United States. This move is largely being seen as Chinas efforts to forfend Trumps multi-billion tariffs on its imports. Whatever be the reason, such developments are poised to boost both the sectors. Investors looking to make the most of such an opportunity should look no further than investing in agricultural and energy stocks from the United States. Chinas Offer to Buy $70 Billion Worth of US Goods During talks with US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross last weekend, Chinas Vice Premier Liu He offered to purchase $70 billion worth of U.S. agricultural as well as energy products. Such purchases are aimed at ending rising trade tensions between China and the United States. This development follows a series of multiple talks between delegations of both the countries. On May 21, a deal was reached between the countries wherein China would purchase more of U.S. products but did divulge any details. In return, the United States promised to delay import tariffs worth $50 billion on Chinese products. However, President Trumps decision to move ahead with the tariff escalated tensions. The administration had pended further discussions with China to reach an even deal. Trump had earlier requested that China should help United States reduce the size of its trade deficit with the Asian country. In the event of China buying up more of U.S. products, the size of this trade imbalance is likely to dwindle. Story continues Terms of the Package The deal offered by China states that it would increase its purchase of soybeans, corn and other agricultural goods from the United States. Further, it also plans to ramp up its purchase of crude oil and natural gas from America in order to meet its ever-rising demand for energy. Chinas He issued an official statement after talks with Ross. He stated that both the countries had good communication in various areas such as agriculture and energy. He also stated that further details were yet to be confirmed by both sides." 4 Hot Choices Chinas offer to purchase more of U.S. agricultural and energy products would most certainly reduce U.S.-China trade deficit. This is going to broadly improve fortunes of both sectors. In this context, we have selected four stocks that are expected to gain from these factors. These five stocks carry a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Titan International, Inc. TWI is a manufacturer and seller of wheels, tires, undercarriage systems and other related equipment for agricultural as well as construction sectors. The company is based out of Quincy, IL and has a Zacks Rank #1. The expected earnings growth rate for the current year is more than 100%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved 71.4% over the last 60 days. Bunge Limited BG is a processor, transporter and seller of agricultural commodities and commodity products such as soybeans, rapeseed, canola, and sunflower seeds. The company is based out of White Plains, NY and has a Zacks Rank #2. The expected earnings growth rate for the current year is more than 100%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved 27.8% over the last 60 days. Anadarko Petroleum Corporation APC is an explorer, developer and producer of oil and gas in United States as well as other countries. The company is based out of The Woodlands, TX and has a Zacks Rank #1. The expected earnings growth rate for the current year is more than 100%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved 59.7% over the last 60 days. WildHorse Resource Development Corporation WRD is an exploiter, developer and explorer of oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquid resources. The company is based out of Houston, TX and has a Zacks Rank #1. The expected earnings growth rate for the current year is more than 100%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved 24.8% over the last 60 days. Will You Make a Fortune on the Shift to Electric Cars? Here's another stock idea to consider. Much like petroleum 150 years ago, lithium power may soon shake the world, creating millionaires and reshaping geo-politics. Soon electric vehicles (EVs) may be cheaper than gas guzzlers. Some are already reaching 265 miles on a single charge. With battery prices plummeting and charging stations set to multiply, one company stands out as the #1 stock to buy according to Zacks research. It's not the one you think. See This Ticker Free >> 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 Titan International, Inc. (TWI) : Free Stock Analysis Report Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (APC) : Free Stock Analysis Report Bunge Limited (BG) : Free Stock Analysis Report Wildhorse Resource Development Corporation (WRD) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Apple China AP/Eugene Hoshiko China runs the largest merchandise trade surplus with the US at $375 billion. But some analysts think the data can be misleading. The US-China trade deficit could be overstated by as much as 20%, one analyst said. China is the world's largest trader and is part of almost every supply and value chain. But a team of Macquarie Research analysts led by Viktor Shvets argue in a recent research note that China's trade importance is "overstated" and "distorted." Shvets says the trade balance used to be more relevant. But now, in an era of multinationals and fragmentation of global supply value chains, he says it can be misleading. China often imports parts from Japan, then assembles a final product and exports it to the US. Shvets sees that as Japan trading with the US, but on paper China has a trade deficit with Japan and a surplus with the US. "How much value does a country or a company add to the process is what counts," Shvets writes. "But our current trade statistics do not reflect value but rather flows." Deutsche Bank economists Zhiwei Zhang and Yi Xiong came to a similar conclusion earlier this year, writing in a note to clients that the US-China trade balance is "clearly misleading." They pointed out that it doesn't account for hundreds of billions of dollars in sales made by US companies run abroad, also known as subsidiaries. US subsidiaries sold $223 billion goods and services in China in 2017, according to a Bureau of Economic Analysis survey. Those weren't counted toward the US's goods and services trade deficit with China, which was a record $375 billion last year. Screen Shot 2018 06 06 at 12.14.01 PM Deutsche Bank And a lapse in data can also be seen at the company level, Zhang and Xiong said. Apple generated $48 billion in revenue from China in 2016, mostly from iPhone sales. But, according to trade data, China imported only $1 million of cell phones from the US that year. Story continues "From an international trade perspective, iPhone sold by Apple's Chinese subsidiaries are not counted as imports," Zhang and Xiong wrote. "But from an economic and financial perspective, iPhone is a US product, and the US benefits the most from it." Screen Shot 2018 06 06 at 12.14.58 PM Deutsche Bank Shvets says Trade in Value Added (TiVA), an OECD measurement that tracks domestic value-added in exports and how much it's reflected in final products of third parties, is a better way of looking at how nations measure up against one another in the global economy. Though, this method has a major timing caveat the latest numbers are from 2011 and 2012. "Nevertheless, it is still far better in providing clues of where the ultimate value is generated and explains the changes of relative positioning," Shvets writes. He uses the TiVA model to make current estimates, removing balances from products that travel through China but are mostly made in other countries. He says his results suggest the US-China trade deficit is at least 15% to 20% overstated. "To answer our question, what would happen if China disappeared tomorrow? There clearly would be a massive dislocation," Shvets added. "However, from a systemic perspective, there are very few things that China produces or trades that are truly unique." Screen Shot 2018 06 06 at 11.23.26 AM Macquarie NOW WATCH: A Navy SEAL explains why you should get up at 4:30 am every day See Also: SEE ALSO: US trade deficit hits 7-month low as exports surge to a record high Stocks, such as Vita Group, trading at a market price below their true values are considered to be undervalued. Investors can benefit from buying these companies while they are discounted, because they gain when the market prices move towards the stocks true values. Below is a list of stocks Ive compiled that are deemed undervalued based on the latest financial data. Vita Group Limited (ASX:VTG) Vita Group Limited markets and sells communication and technology solutions in Australia. Formed in 1995, and currently run by Maxine Horne, the company now has 1,700 employees and with the companys market cap sitting at AUD A$154.78M, it falls under the small-cap category. VTGs shares are now floating at around -67% beneath its value of $2.95, at a price tag of AU$0.96, according to my discounted cash flow model. The mismatch signals a potential chance to invest in VTG at a discounted price. Whats even more appeal is that VTGs PE ratio is trading at 5.13x against its its Specialty Retail peer level of, 16.1x meaning that relative to other stocks in the industry, VTGs shares can be purchased for a lower price. VTG is also in good financial health, with current assets covering liabilities in the near term and over the long run. Finally, its debt relative to equity is 12.45%, which has been declining over time, signalling its capacity to pay down its debt. More on Vita Group here. ASX:VTG PE PEG Gauge Jun 6th 18 Energy One Limited (ASX:EOL) Energy One Limited supplies software products and services for wholesale energy, environmental, and carbon trading markets in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and Philippines. Energy One is currently led by CEO Shaun Ankers. With the companys market capitalisation at AUD A$17.09M, we can put it in the small-cap group EOLs shares are now hovering at around -68% under its true value of $2.61, at the market price of AU$0.84, according to my discounted cash flow model. This mismatch indicates a chance to invest in EOL at a discounted price. Also, EOLs PE ratio stands at 21.39x against its its Software peer level of, 28.97x meaning that relative to its peers, EOLs shares can be purchased for a lower price. EOL is also a financially healthy company, with current assets covering liabilities in the near term and over the long run. Story continues Interested in Energy One? Find out more here. ASX:EOL PE PEG Gauge Jun 6th 18 Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ASX:ANZ) Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, together with its subsidiaries, provides various banking and financial products and services to individual and business customers. Formed in 1835, and currently lead by Shayne Elliott, the company employs 39,540 people and with the companys market cap sitting at AUD A$76.21B, it falls under the large-cap group. ANZs stock is currently trading at -20% beneath its true level of $33.28, at the market price of AU$26.52, according to my discounted cash flow model. The difference between value and price signals a potential opportunity to buy ANZ shares at a discount. Also, ANZs PE ratio is currently around 10.44x compared to its Banks peer level of, 11.35x meaning that relative to its competitors, ANZ can be bought at a cheaper price right now. ANZ is also strong financially, with near-term assets able to cover upcoming and long-term liabilities. Dig deeper into Australia and New Zealand Banking Group here. ASX:ANZ PE PEG Gauge Jun 6th 18 For more financially sound, undervalued companies to add to your portfolio, explore this interactive list of undervalued stocks. To help readers see pass the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price sensitive company announcements. The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. or Petrobras PBR 2017-2018 divestment plans could be in jeopardy, as the Brazilian Federal court suspended the companys $7-billion deal with Engie SA. The court recently passed a ruling against the sale of Petrobras natural gas pipeline unit, Transportadora Associada de Gas (TAG) to France-based Engie SA. The company had announced the sale of its wholly-owned subsidiary, TAG, last year. TAGs gas pipeline system spanning 4,500 kilometers is primarily located in the north and northeast of Brazil. It can transport up to 74.7 million cubic feet per day, which is fully contracted through long-term agreements with ship-or-pay clauses. The court halted the transaction due to discrepancies in the way Petrobras advanced with the sale. It is believed that the sale was not publicized well enough to stimulate ample competition. Petrobras is taking necessary legal steps to protect the interest of its shareholders. The sale of TAG is major part of Petrobras divestiture program of 2017-2018. The company plans to sell assets worth $21 billion over the said time frame. These divestment plans are in sync with the companys strategy to reduce its debt burden, and reinstate its investment grade rating and financial health. Further, it will also help the company gain additional liquidity, as it intends to increase investment in the ultra-deepwater projects. As it is, with the resignation of the companys CEO, Pedro Parente, Petrobras has been thrown into disarray, with its shares falling sharply. The departure of Parente has raised speculations that the country may resort back to its old fuel pricing of subsidies that may again hamper the companys growth and economy. Moreover, with this latest unpleasant news about the suspension of $7 billion divestment deal, Petrobras might have a tough time ahead. Zacks Rank and Key Picks Currently, Petrobras has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Story continues Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Price Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Price | Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Quote Some better-ranked stocks in the oil and energy sector are Cheniere Energy, Inc. LNG, Occidental Petroleum Corporation OXY and Oasis Petroleum Inc. OAS, each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Cheniere Energys 2018 earnings are anticipated to grow 224.03% year over year. Occidentals earnings for 2018 are expected to grow 360.67% year over year. Oasis Petroleum delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 74.88% in the trailing four quarters. Will You Make a Fortune on the Shift to Electric Cars? Here's another stock idea to consider. Much like petroleum 150 years ago, lithium power may soon shake the world, creating millionaires and reshaping geo-politics. Soon electric vehicles (EVs) may be cheaper than gas guzzlers. Some are already reaching 265 miles on a single charge. With battery prices plummeting and charging stations set to multiply, one company stands out as the #1 stock to buy according to Zacks research. It's not the one you think. See This Ticker Free >> 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 Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (PBR) : Free Stock Analysis Report Oasis Petroleum Inc. (OAS) : Free Stock Analysis Report Cheniere Energy, Inc. (LNG) : Free Stock Analysis Report Occidental Petroleum Corporation (OXY) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Texas Capital (TCBI) reported earnings 30 days ago. What's next for the stock? We take a look at earnings estimates for some clues. The marijuana industry witnessed significant profits in the last few years after the recent trend of legalization supported the industry. In the United States, nine states have legalized the recreational use of marijuana. Moreover, 29 U.S. states have legalized medical marijuana, though at the federal level, marijuana use is still banned. The countrys northern neighbor, Canada, had legalized medical use of marijuana way back in 2001. Additionally, Canada has now geared up to legalize recreational marijuana this summer, which in turn has brought attention back to the cannabis industry. Moreover, several marijuana giants are now eyeing foreign markets like Africa to improve growth opportunities, which is also good news. Canada: First G7 Nation to Legalize Marijuana More than 17 years ago, Canada legalized the use of marijuana for medical purposes. Moreover, the country recently introduced the Cannabis Act and is all set to legalize the recreational use of marijuana by the end of next month. Today, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Senate of Canada will be voting in favor of the C-45 bill that will help in legalizing marijuana use. According to several projections, the Canadian cannabis industry is expected to produce 800,000 kilograms of marijuana per year after the legalization. Further, Canadians are estimated to incur a total expenditure of $7.17 billion on marijuana products in 2019, with overall consumption increasing by 35%, per a Deloitte report. In fact, legal recreational marijuana sales are expected to be around $4.34 billion next year. Moreover, illegal sales and purchase of marijuana will be reduced significantly after the availability of legal cannabis. Along with, Canada, another profitable marijuana market is the United States. Marijuana Sales in U.S. to Jump 28% by 2021 After eight states, California is the latest to legalize the usage of marijuana for recreational purpose. Moreover, Washington D.C. (District of Columbia) has also legalized recreational marijuana usage. However, earlier this year, this optimism hit a roadblock when Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that it is necessary to "return to the rule of law" to repeal the Obama-era marijuana-friendly state laws. Story continues However, all is not as lost as legal marijuana sales in the United States increased significantly in 2017. According to a report by ArcView Market Research and BDS Analytics, sales of legal marijuana in North America increased 33% in 2017. Moreover, in the next four years, i.e. 2018-2021, legal marijuana sales are estimated to surge 28%, touching a new high of $25 billion. If the data came true, it will be significantly higher than 2017s performance. Africa Holds Prospects for Marijuana Canadian marijuana giants are clearly moving beyond their known terrain and now looking for new markets like Africa. One such major medical cannabis seller, Aphria Inc. APHQF is looking for more business in Africa. This is mainly because, in the African continent, marijuana of 10,000 tons or higher is being produced each year, per a UN survey. Additionally, African countries like Lesotho and then Zimbabwe have legalized the production of marijuana for medical and scientific purpose. Given this scenario, companies related to the marijuana industry like Terra Tech Corp. TRTC, GrowGeneration Corp. GRWG, Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. IIPR and GW Pharmaceuticals PLC GWPH are expected to gain. Both Innovative Industrial Properties and GW Pharmaceuticals have a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Summing Up Undoubtedly, the marijuana industry is booming at present, following the legalization of both medical and now recreational cannabis in Canada. Moreover, strong growth prospect in its two major markets, Canada and the United States is also a positive. Also, recent development in the African continent is expected to boost the marijuana industry further. Will You Make a Fortune on the Shift to Electric Cars? Here's another stock idea to consider. Much like petroleum 150 years ago, lithium power may soon shake the world, creating millionaires and reshaping geo-politics. Soon electric vehicles (EVs) may be cheaper than gas guzzlers. Some are already reaching 265 miles on a single charge. With battery prices plummeting and charging stations set to multiply, one company stands out as the #1 stock to buy according to Zacks research. It's not the one you think. See This Ticker Free >> 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 GW Pharmaceuticals PLC (GWPH) : Free Stock Analysis Report Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. (IIPR) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Every day, Wall Street analysts upgrade some stocks, downgrade others, and "initiate coverage" on a few more. But do these analysts even know what they're talking about? Today, we're taking one high-profile Wall Street pick and putting it under the microscope... Has there ever been a more surprising turnaround story than Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE: CLF)? Once a bifurcated coal and iron miner known as Cliffs Natural Resources, folks began writing Cleveland-Cliffs' obituary in 2012 after President Obama was elected to his second term -- an apparent death knell to anyone involved in the coal industry. Three years later, the predictions seemed to be coming true, and analysts opined about whether Cleveland-Cliffs could even survive to the end of Obama's term. Within only a few short months, the stock would bottom out. But fast-forward a few years years, and what do we see today? Cleveland-Cliffs has sextupled off of its January 2016 lows, and gained more than 40% over the past year alone. Today, analysts at Citigroup are predicting the stock has even more room to run. Here's what you need to know. Molten steel pouring in foundry Cleveland-Cliffs produces the ore that feeds America's steel industry -- and Cleveland-Cliffs stock is red hot. Image source: Getty Images. Getting out of coal The story of Cleveland-Cliffs' turnaround begins in its darkest days, in 2015, when the company saw the writing on the wall and sold out of the coal business entirely. Refocusing its efforts on iron ore extraction and supplying that element to the steel industry, Cleveland-Cliffs began growing again, in 2016 posting its first year of revenue growth since 2011 -- and a GAAP profit to boot. Profits proceeded to double in 2017, to $367 million (not bad for a company with only $2.5 billion in market cap). True, in the first quarter of 2018, Cleveland-Cliffs posted a loss, but as my fellow Fool.com contributor Tyler Crowe pointed out at the time, only because management elected to "shut down unprofitable assets" and focus on quality. Despite the loss, Cleveland-Cliffs booked "better-than-expected" prices for its iron ore pellets and earned better EBITDA than in the prior year's first quarter, "despite only recording about half the sales volumes." Story continues Closing out its report, management promised investors "very strong results for Cleveland-Cliffs in 2018." Upgrading Cleveland-Cliffs Analysts at Citigroup are taking that promise to heart, upgrading shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock to buy this morning. As the analyst explains in a note covered on StreetInsider.com, Cleveland-Cliffs "has significant logistical, quality and cost advantages [over other iron suppliers] when it comes to providing high quality iron to steel mills in an improved domestic market." Cleveland-Cliffs is "the only major independent supplier of iron ore pellets to the domestic market" and it has secured its revenue stream with sales "under longer-term, partially fixed pricing contracts." Weighing the alternatives Investors have multiple avenues to bet on the U.S. steel industry benefiting from the new Trump tariffs. One might invest in a steel minimill operator like Nucor or Steel Dynamics, for example, or in an integrated steel manufacturer such as U.S. Steel. In Citigroup's opinion, however, Cleveland-Cliffs stock offers greater "leverage to steel price than" minimill producers, and it earns "better margins than integrateds." Last year, Cleveland-Cliffs earned an operating profit margin of 17.6% -- four times better than U.S. Steel's 4.2% margin, and higher than the margins at Nucor and Steel Dynamics as well. A word to the wise Even assuming for the moment, though, that Citigroup is right about Cleveland-Cliffs being a better investment than the steel producers who use its product, does that mean Cleveland-Cliffs is itself a good investment, period? That depends on how you look at the numbers. Based on trailing-12-month results, the $311 million in GAAP profit that Cleveland-Cliffs earned over the past year gives the stock about a 7.9 P/E ratio relative to its $2.5 billion market capitalization. Factor in about $1.6 billion in net debt, however, and the company's enterprise value rises to $4 billion, and its debt-adjusted P/E to 13. That's not an obviously high price. In might even be cheap enough to tempt some investors to buy -- after all, the average stock on the S&P 500 today costs closer to 25 times earnings. Still, before you decide to buy Cleveland-Cliffs, two things need to be considered. First, Citigroup is a bit of an outlier in recommending Cleveland-Cliffs today, after its multiyear run-up in price. Most analysts who follow the stock believe that Cleveland-Cliffs' earnings will peak this year and slowly decline through at least 2020, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. The company's free cash flow has already begun to weaken, in fact, falling from $234 million in 2016 to $186 million last year, to just $25 million in cash profit generated over the last 12 months. Don't get me wrong -- I'm as impressed as anyone with the turnaround in Cleveland-Cliffs, and applaud management's success in stabilizing the business. Still, if those estimates come to pass -- and if the trend in free cash flow begins bleeding into GAAP earnings results -- it could turn out that Citigroup is recommending you buy Cleveland-Cliffs stock at exactly the wrong point in time in its business cycle. Don't say you weren't warned. More From The Motley Fool Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends NUE. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Denmark and six pension funds on Thursday launched a 4.1 billion crowns (483.85 million pounds) investment fund aimed at promoting Danish technology and fighting poverty and climate change in developing countries. The aim is to raise an additional 1 billion crowns in the autumn and to use some of the funds for projects worth 30 billion in total. The expected annual net yield from the capital fund is 10 to 12 percent over the fund's expected 11 year duration. Danish pension funds ATP, PFA, PKA, PensionDanmark, PenSam, JOP/DIP have each invested 400 million crowns in the first closing. The fund will among other things invest in sustainable energy, agribusiness and infrastructure in Africa, Asia and Latin America and it should contribute to reaching the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals set in 2015. (Reporting by Teis Jensen; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg) The EUR/USD moved higher but closed off the session highs as EU GDP came out in line with expectations, while German orders slumped. The Atlanta Fed sees Q2 GDP at 4.5%, which failed to buoy the greenback. Technicals The EUR/USD moved higher for the 4th straight trading session. Support is seen near the 10-day moving average at 1.1683. Resistance on the currency pair is seen near the 50-day moving average at 1.2008. Momentum is positive as the MACD (moving average convergence divergence) index recently generated a crossover buy signal. The MACD histogram is printing in the black with an upward sloping trajectory which points to a higher exchange rate. The fast stochastic surged higher reflecting accelerating positive momentum. Eurozone Q1 GDP growth Was in Line with Expectations Eurozone Q1 GDP growth was confirmed at 0.4% quarter over quarter, 2.5% year over year, as expected and in line with the preliminary release. The breakdown, which was released for the first time, showed private consumption growth accelerating to 0.5% quarter over quarter from 0.2% quarter over quarter, while public consumption stagnated. Exports contracted -0.4% quarter over quarter after jumping 2.2% quarter over quarter in Q4 last year and net exports detracted -0.1% points from the quarter growth rate. The data and the slowdown in the quarterly growth rate from a strong 0.7% quarter over quarter in Q4 2017 was partly due to special factors, including adverse weather conditions and the timing of Easter this year. German orders slumped German orders slumped -2.5% month over month in April, with the March reading revised down to -1.1% from -0.9%. The second months of contraction left the annual rate at -0.1%, down from 2.9% year over year in March and the first negative reading since July 2016. Expectations had been for a rebound from the dip in the previous month and while there may be some special factors still at play related to holidays and bridging days, the numbers are a worry and will add to concerns that the German recovery is slowing down much faster than feared. The breakdown showed domestic orders in particular weighing down the index, with a drop of -4.8% month over month. Export orders rose for a second months and that Eurozone orders slumped -9.9% month over month, after already falling -2.9% month over month in March cast a shadow over the outlook. Story continues NEC Director Kudlow previewed the G-7 meeting NEC Director Kudlow previewed the G-7 meeting endorsing fast U.S. growth, while noting that trade issues will be discussed, including bilateral meetings with Canadian and French leaders. He also expects shared security issues like N. Korea to be discussed. He attributed U.S. success to tax policy and regulatory rollback, along with trade advocacy by the president. Kudlow touted record small business confidence and low unemployment, which show that U.S. policies are working and he hopes that our economic partners join with us in embracing growth. Kudlow said the Chinese-U.S. negotiations on trade will lower the trade deficit if they work, but there are no deals at the moment. He hopes that the trade gap with China would fall if Beijing lowers tariffs. He believes that Trump has been clear on reform on the basis of reciprocity and will do what is necessary to protect U.S. workers and businesses. Kudlow said the WTO has become completely ineffectual, as major countries wont even abide by its decisions, nor will the U.S. as a multilateral organization wont determine U.S. policy. He says were not engaged in a trade war and dont blame Trump, who is the first leader to act on these inequities. Kudlow said that most countries agree with the U.S. stance on China, but the U.S. is the first to stand its ground. Atlanta Feds GDPNow model estimates a 4.5% real growth Atlanta Feds GDPNow model estimates a 4.5% real growth rate for Q2 following the April trade report as the nowcast contribution of net exports to real growth in Q2 inched down to 0.31% from 0.42% previously. The headline forecast is down slightly from the 4.6% projection from Tuesday after the stronger than expected ISM services report. This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: FILE PHOTO: Piglets are pictured in a production module at the pig farm Granjas Carrol de Mexico in Cuyoaco FILE PHOTO: Piglets are pictured in a production module at the pig farm Granjas Carrol de Mexico (GCM), in Cuyoaco, Puebla state, Mexico August 4, 2017. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido/File Photo By David Alire Garcia MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico will impose a 20 percent tariff on U.S. pork imports, two industry officials with direct knowledge of the plan told Reuters on Monday, for the first time providing details of the country's retaliatory measures to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs on steel and aluminum. Last week, Mexico said the retaliatory tariffs would apply to pork legs and shoulders from U.S. suppliers, which account for about 90 percent of the country's $1.07 billion annual imports of the cuts. "It's a 20 percent (tariff) on legs and shoulders, fresh and frozen ... with bones and without bones," said Heriberto Hernandez, president of Mexico's leading pork producers association OPORPA, following a briefing earlier on Monday with Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo and his team. The government has not yet given details of the level of the tariff and did not immediately respond to a request for a comment about the tariff or the meeting. Hernandez said he supported the Mexican government's decision and does not expect it to cause pork prices in Mexico to rise because "there are many alternatives" to U.S. suppliers. The tariff was in response to the Trump administration's decision last week to impose steel and aluminum tariffs on Mexican exporters on grounds that countries including Mexico engage in competition damaging to U.S. national security. The U.S. decision to go ahead with the steel and aluminum tariffs has complicated talks with Mexico and Canada to rework the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Story continues Other industry officials pointed to Canada as a possible substitute pork supplier that has tariff-free access to Mexico thanks to NAFTA, or the European Union, which recently concluded a revised trade pact with Mexico that allows tariff-free pork imports but does include other restrictions like volume quotas. The industry officials said the new pork tariff schedule will be published on Tuesday in Mexico's official gazette and will go into effect on Wednesday. Last year, Mexico imported nearly 650,000 tonnes of pork legs and shoulders worth an estimated $1.07 billion, according to government data. Mexico's overall pork imports in 2017 totaled about 840,000 tonnes. Pork legs and shoulders are not as highly valued in the United States, where ribs and bacon are in greater demand, but in Mexico they are used to make some of the country's most popular dishes, including tacos al pastor and carnitas. Victor Manuel Ochoa, chief executive of top Mexican pork producer Granjas Carroll, said he would support a temporary import deal for Brazilian pork legs if Mexico goes ahead with the tariffs on U.S. imports. He said prices in Mexico will likely rise as a result of the tariffs on U.S. pork. "We think they'd rise around 15 or 16 percent, and I think that could reduce consumption which worries me," Ochoa said. Granjas Carroll is a joint venture of ECOM Agroindustrial Corporation, a major commodity trader, and China's WH Group. "It would be very difficult for Mexican pork prices to stay the same," Ochoa added, if imported U.S. pork prices spike as a result of the tariffs. (Reporting by David Alire Garcia; Editing by Leslie Adler) Financial freedom cannot be achieved independently- at least for Americas youngest generation, according to a new Merrill Edge report. The survey found that one in three Americans relied on an inheritance for financial stability. When narrowed down between generations, the do-it-yourself generation Z- the generation after millennials, were more than twice as likely to depend on their family legacy. Young people in the generation, roughly ranging between ages 18 to 22, face three very serious challenges: rising student debt, the prospect of living longer, and competing priorities, according to Bank of America Merrill Edge Head Aron Levine who said its creating a new normal for how to redefine retirement. If youre in your young twenties youre not sitting there saying at 65 Im going to have this pot of money Im just going to get out of the workforce, he told FOX Business Maria Bartiromo on Morning with Maria. I think theres a clear view that says I may continue working the question is how do I finance that over the course of time versus some lump sum I have to have over a certain age. Related Articles By Norihiko Shirouzu SHANGHAI/BEIJING General Motors is accelerating the pace of electric vehicle (EV) launches in China as policymakers in the world's biggest auto market continue to promote EVs as an alternative to gasoline cars. Matt Tsien, head of GM's China operations, said in Shanghai on Tuesday the U.S. automaker plans to launch 10 heavily electrified vehicle models in China from 2021 through 2023, adding to the 10 it has already planned for 2016 through 2020. "Clearly, we have a strategy in place and there is an implementation in place to do that," Tsien told a small group of reporters, referring to GM's new-energy vehicles being developed and deployed by its two joint ventures in the China marketplace. The acceleration of electric car launches by the Detroit automaker comes as stringent new energy vehicle production quotas are to take effect in China next year. Those quotas, to be made more stringent over time, have prompted a flurry of electric car deals and new launches of battery-electric and plug-in hybrid models as automakers in China race to ensure they do not fall short. In April, China's state planner said it would remove foreign ownership caps for companies making fully electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles in 2018, for makers of commercial vehicles in 2020, and the wider car market by 2022. GM's Tsien on Tuesday said the company does not plan to take advantage of the easing of those ownership restrictions. GM plans to continue to work through its current joint ventures with local Chinese automakers to design and develop new-energy vehicles for the Chinese market, he told reporters. New energy vehicles in China largely refer to all-electric battery cars, plug-in electric hybrids, as well hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. Reporting by Shanghai newsroom and Norihiko Shirouzu Related Video: [caption id="attachment_2104" align="aligncenter" width="620"] Randy Holland Randy Holland.[/caption] Retired Delaware Supreme Court Justice Randy J. Holland this week was elected "door tenant" at London's 3 Hare Court, becoming the first former American jurist to affiliate with a leading English set of chambers. The honorific title allows Holland, the longest-serving judge to ever sit on the state's high court, to work with the commercial chambers from Delaware, where he serves as senior of counsel in Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati's Wilmington office. Throughout his two decades on the bench, Holland earned a reputation as a constitutional law expert and an ambassador for both Delaware's renowned system of corporate law and the U.S. courts, serving as a past president of the American Inns of Court and writing about English legal history. He has also taught internationally and developed deep ties with the English bar. Holland, 71, said he sees a "direct correlation" between his current practice and the advisory role he now plans to play overseas. "It will be completely complimentary, but it won't take up most of my time," he said. "It's just one of those extremely nice honors." Jeffrey Golden, who took over as the joint head of 3 Hare Court in April, said Holland was top of mind as he began to think about the chamber's international strategy in an increasingly globalized legal market. The two exchanged emails in the spring and quickly realized that the arrangement would be "mutually beneficial," he said. "His career has been very special, if not unique, and we were all thrilled this has come together the way it has," said Golden. "Justice Holland has a great deal of experience we can benefit from." Holland said he cleared the offer with Wilson Sonsini and has already fielded requests for consulting work with 3 Hare Court in London, where he plans to contribute as an arbitrator and expert witness in commercial matters. Typically, door tenants are professionally associated with chambers, but do not operate out of the physical space that barristers rent. It is less common for door tenants to be based in another country, but never has a retired American judge served in such a capacity, chambers leaders said. "Having appeared in Delaware myself, possibly the worlds senior corporate and insolvency court, I am delighted to welcome into our midst this legendary judge and jurist," said Simon Davenport QC, 3 Hare Chambers' joint head. "It is a significant message of our intent and reach at 3 Hare Court that we would attract someone of his caliber and standing to our chambers. Holland's time away from the bench, Holland said, has allowed him to remain flexible, practicing law and staying involved internationally. He has visited London each of the past eight years for the opening of the Inns of Court. Since retiring from the Supreme Court, he has taught a two-week course in London for the University of Iowa College of Law, and he plans to return again in January. In 2007, Holland published "Middle Temple Lawyers and the American Revolution," a book he co-authored with retired English Judge Eric Stockdale about the involvement of British lawyers and the American Revolution. Among his historical subjects was John Dickinson, the attorney from Philadelphia and Wilmington, who became known as "The Penman of the American Revolution" after studying law just down the road from where 3 Hare Chambers resides. "It's really something, with my love of history, to think I'll be associated with legal London and Temple Lane, where John Dickinson studied law," he said. * Tehran details plans to build centrifuges * Signals resolve to hike enrichment capacity * Has tentative plans to produce feedstock (Adds U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo's tweet) By Francois Murphy and Sudip Kar-Gupta VIENNA/PARIS, June 6 (Reuters) - Iran will not cooperate more fully with atomic inspectors until a standoff over its nuclear deal is resolved, its U.N. envoy said, as one signatory warned Tehran against moving ahead with preparations to boost its uranium enrichment capacity. Tehran meanwhile signalled its resolve to expand its enrichment capability by detailing plans to build advanced centrifuges - the machines that enrich uranium. European powers have been scrambling to salvage the agreement they signed in 2015 since U.S. President Donald Trump pulled Washington out last month and said he would reimpose far-reaching U.S. sanctions on Iran. Foreign and finance ministers from those three countries - France, Britain and Germany - have written to U.S. officials to stress their commitment to upholding the pact, and to urge Washington to spare EU firms active in Iran from secondary sanctions. An Iranian withdrawal from the deal, which lifted sanctions on Tehran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme, would "further unsettle a region where additional conflicts would be disastrous," the ministers wrote in the letter dated June 4 and seen by Reuters on Wednesday. Since the U.S. pullout was announced, authorities in Tehran have sent mixed signals on whether they believe the nuclear deal's remaining signatories, which also include China and Russia, can salvage it. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei said on Monday he had ordered preparations to increase uranium enrichment capacity if the agreement collapsed. Tehran also informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.N. nuclear watchdog that polices restrictions placed on its activities under the deal, of "tentative" plans to produce the feedstock for centrifuges. Story continues In Paris on Wednesday, French Foreign Minister Yves Le Drian told Europe 1 radio that, while that initiative remained within the framework of the nuclear deal, it was unwelcome and risked sailing close to a "red line". U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Twitter that Washington was aware of reports Iran plans to increase its uranium enrichment and he vowed not to allow Tehran to develop a nuclear weapon. "Iran is aware of our resolve," he said. Emphasising that Tehran's patience with European efforts to save the deal was not unlimited, its envoy to the IAEA said it had granted the three powers a few weeks. "A few weeks means a few weeks, not a few months," Reza Najafi said outside a quarterly meeting of the agency's Board of Governors in Vienna. STANDOFF He also dismissed calls by the IAEA to go the extra mile in cooperating with the nuclear watchdog's inspectors, telling reporters that, while the standoff over the deal continued, "no one should expect Iran to go to implement more voluntary measures." "But I should emphasize that it does not mean that right now Iran will restart any activities contrary to the (deal)," Najafi added. "These are only preparatory works." Iran's nuclear chief on Wednesday inaugurated work on a facility in Natanz plant in central Iran designed to build advanced centrifuges and said the centre would be fully functional in a month. "After the supreme leader's order we prepared this centre within 48 hours. We hope the facility to be completed in a month," Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, said on state television. Although the move was not a violation of the nuclear deal, it sent a strong signal to the West that Tehran would not succumb to the pressures. Answering a question about a remark by Pompeo last month that Iran must halt all uranium enrichment, Salehi said: "We are far beyond that point. That man has been talking for himself." The agency has said Tehran is implementing its commitments, but also called for "timely and proactive cooperation" on providing access for snap inspections. Diplomats who deal with the agency say an inspection in late April went down to the wire in terms of how quickly the IAEA team gained access to one site. (Additional reporting by Tom Koerkemeier in Berlin, Bozorgmehr Sharafedin in London and Eric Beech in Washington; writing by John Stonestreet; editing by William Maclean and James Dalgleish) Mexico's retaliatory tariffs on US pork could lead to lower prices for bacon for a little while Pork producers say they expect "red ink" to flow for the industry after Mexico detailed plans to slap retaliatory tariffs of 20 percent on U.S. pork exports. The news follows China earlier this year imposing levies of its own on U.S. pork products. Mexico's retaliatory trade action follows the Trump administration in March announcing duties on imported steel and aluminum products. The latest tariffs could lead to more pork supplies staying in the domestic market and lower prices for pork and bacon at U.S. supermarkets. American pork producers are bracing for pain ahead after confirmation Tuesday that Mexico will levy hefty tariffs up to 20 percent on U.S. pork in retaliation for the Trump administration's duties on Mexican steel and aluminum products. But it might be good news for U.S. supermarket shoppers buying bacon, at least for a little while. Mexico's tariffs could lead to more pork supplies staying in the domestic market and lower consumer prices in the short term. Mexico also announced tariffs on several other agricultural products, including apples, potatoes and cheese as well as on American bourbon. The tariffs will amount to between 15 percent to 25 percent. Mexico's tariff on American pork applies to the animal's legs and shoulders. It also follows China slapping tariffs on U.S. pork earlier this year. On Tuesday's news, July lean hog futures fell more than 2.3 percent on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in early trading. The hog futures recouped some of the earlier losses but settled down 1.4 percent in the session. "Producers are going to bleed a lot of red ink," said Ken Maschhoff, chairman of Maschhoff Family Foods and co-owner of the nation's largest family-owned pork producer. He said because the U.S. pork industry is "a low-cost producer of a high-quality product that's heavily dependent on trade, we've become the unintended victim here." Added Maschhoff, "I'm not here to predict what impact it might have on the markets, but any time you get tariffs on a market that's as important as Mexico to us...it's not going to be good for pork producers. It's a terrible market disruption and bad timing" Story continues The timing comes as the pork industry prepares for the busy grilling season during the summer months. Bacon prices at supermarket could fall The U.S. pork industry has been in the expansion mode in recent years, so industry executives say the impacts of new tariffs are amplified due to the increased supply coming on the market. They indicate that there could be lower consumer prices in the near term for pork, including bacon products. That said, pork executives say the industry could pull back on supplies in the next year or two if trade-restricting barriers force producers to start losing significant amounts of money. If that downsizing happens, they say it could ultimately lead to higher prices in the long term for American consumers. Mexico made an announcement last week about planned trade retaliation but didn't publish any details about it until Tuesday morning. The tariffs on unprocessed pork are 10 percent and effective Tuesday and grow to 20 percent on July 5. "This is devastating to my family and pork producing families across the United States," said Jim Heimerl, a pork producer from Ohio and president of the National Pork Producers Council. "A 20 percent tariff eliminates our ability to compete effectively in Mexico." Canada expected to impose new tariffs Canada has also published a proposed retaliation list following the U.S. steel tariffs and it doesn't currently include pork but would impact American exports of prepared ready-to-eat beef products. "Unfortunately, last week's announcement by the Mexican government about retaliatory duties on U.S. pork has now become official," Dan Halstrom, president and CEO of the U.S. Meat Export Federation, said in a statement Tuesday. The U.S. exports about 27 percent of total pork production, according to USMEF. Mexico is the largest volume market for U.S. pork producers, representing about 25 percent of all pork shipments last year. In terms of value, the Mexico market ranks second to Japan. Last year, more than 800,000 metric tons of American pork products shipped to Mexico, with a value of about $1.51 billion. U.S. pork exports to China n the same period were nearly $1.2 billion. According to Halstrom, Mexico "has been a record-breaking mainstay market for U.S. pork, especially for U.S. hams, and its rapidly growing pork consumption is a critical driver of growth and profitability for the U.S. industry. USMEF is still working through the details of how these new tariffs will be administered, but this is a difficult situation we had hoped to avoid." Mexico tariffs to 'negatively impact everyone' Halstrom added that the Mexico tariffs on U.S. pork "will negatively impact everyone in the U.S. supply chain, place an unnecessary burden on Mexican consumers and potentially open up a tremendous strong market to a whole range of competitors." Maschhoff noted that the U.S. pork industry already was feeling the impacts of China's 25 percent tariffs on U.S. pork imports, which Beijing put into place April 2. "That's been pretty costly to the industry," he said. In early March, President Donald Trump unveiled a 25 percent duty on steel imports and 10 percent charge on aluminum imports . That led to China's finance ministry to slap retaliatory tariffs on up to 128 kinds of U.S. goods , including pork, nuts, wine and fruit. China essentially tripled the tariff on U.S. pork this year in its tit-for-tat trade action against the United States. The standard Chinese tariff rate prior to the move was about 12 percent for most most frozen pork going into China, although they imposed an additional 25 percent duty in early April so the rate jumped from 12 percent to 37 percent. Industry experts estimate that the Chinese tariffs alone represent around $18 per animal for a hog producers on an annualized basis, or a hit of more than $2 billion. The Mexican and Chinese markets have been important to the U.S. pork industry because they have purchased product that Americans typically don't buy, including raw hams and what's called variety meats or organ meats. Those products have historically been seen as adding value to the animal and helping producers in terms of profitability. "The administration has asked us to be great patriots and loyal Americans through this process," Macshhoff said. "The pork producers, by in large, have not thrown rocks at anybody through this process. We realize that we're a small piece of bigger discussions." More From CNBC An artists conception shows NASAs New Horizons probe silhouetted by the sun, with the Kuiper Belt object known as Ultima Thule or 2014 MU69 dominating the scene. (NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI / Steve Gribben) The mission operations team for NASAs New Horizons probe has awakened the spacecraft from its robotic hibernation, and now itll stay awake for its scheduled Jan. 1 flyby of a mysterious object on the solar systems edge, known as 2014 MU69 or Ultima Thule. New Horizons has been traveling toward Ultima Thule since its history-making Pluto flyby in 2015. To save on resources, the piano-sized probe has been in hibernation mode since last Dec. 21. The radio signals confirming New Horizons latest wakeup call took more than five and a half hours to flash at the speed of light from the solar systems frontier to NASAs Deep Space Network, and onward to mission control at Johns Hopkins Universitys Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland. The good news finally arrived at 2:12 a.m. ET today (11:12 p.m. PT Monday). Todays update quoted mission operations manager Alice Bowman as saying the spacecraft is in good health and operating normally, with all systems coming back online as expected. This week the mission team will collect navigation tracking data and start the months-long process of programming the probe for the New Years Day flyby. Our team is already deep into planning and simulations of our upcoming flyby of Ultima Thule and excited that New Horizons is now back in an active state to ready the bird for flyby operations, which will begin in late August, said the missions principal investigator, Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute. Ultima Thule is a billion miles beyond Pluto and 3.8 billion miles from Earth, in a region known as the Kuiper Belt. Its thought to be an icy object much smaller than Pluto, and preliminary long-range observations suggest it could consist of multiple objects. New Horizons could come within 2,175 miles of Ultima Thule, which would make it the farthest-flung object ever observed at close range. Moreover, the missions scientists say Ultima Thule may well have existed in the vicinity of its current orbit for more than 4 billion years, which would make it the most primitive body ever studied by any spacecraft. Story continues The spacecraft is scheduled to stay active until late 2020, in order to transmit all the data from the Ultima Thule flyby and make further science observations. And theres already talk about yet another follow-up mission deep within the Kuiper Belt. More from GeekWire: U.S. West Texas Intermediate and international-benchmark Brent crude oil posted a mixed performance on Wednesday, highlighting the sensitivity of this market to just the slightly change in supply. July WTI crude oil settled at $64.73, down $0.79 or -1.22% and August Brent crude oil closed at $75.36, down $0.02 or -0.03%. Daily July WTI Crude Oil Crude oil was supported early Thursday by reports of plunging exports by OPEC-member Venezuela and the American Petroleum Institutes weekly inventories report that showed a larger-than-expected drawdown. According to Reuters data, Venezuela is nearly a month behind in shipping crude to customers from its main oil export port as chronic delays threaten to breach state-run PDVSAs crude supply contracts if they are not quickly cleared. Reuters went on to say that tankers waiting to load more than 24 million barrels of crude, almost as much as PDVSA shipped in April, are sitting off the countrys main oil port. The backlog is so severe, PDVSA has told some customers it may declare force majeure, allowing it to temporarily halt contracts, if they do not accept new delivery terms. Later in the session, prices dropped sharply from intraday highs after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported another rise in U.S. production. The EIA said crude oil output hit another record last week at 10.8 million barrels per day (bpd). U.S. crude inventories also rose, gaining 2.1 million barrels in the week to June 1, to 436.6 million barrels, according to EIA data. Daily August Brent Crude Forecast WTI crude oil is sitting at a key level on the charts. Trader reaction to this area will either fuel the start of a meaningful short-covering rally, or another steep plunge in prices. The chart pattern indicates that investors are waiting for OPEC to make the next call. If OPEC decides to make up for the entire Venezuelan shortfall plus any shortages it expects from sanctions against Iran then oil prices are likely to retreat further. If OPEC decides not to make up most of the shortfall in Venezuela, or if the troubled nation decides to declare force majeure then we could see a spike to the upside in prices. Story continues In other news, OPEC-member Iraq said Wednesday that a production increase was not on the table as the market was stable and prices good. This indicates that the 1 million bpd increase that the market has been pricing in for two weeks, may not take place after all. OPEC is set to meet at its headquarters in Vienna, together with top producer but non-OPEC member Russia, on June 22 to discuss production policy. This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: FILE PHOTO: A pump jack is seen at sunrise near Bakersfield, California October 14, 2014. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson By Jessica Resnick-Ault NEW YORK (Reuters) - Global benchmark Brent crude surged nearly $2 a barrel on Thursday, lifted by concern about a steep drop in exports from Venezuela and worries OPEC may not raise production at its meeting this month. Brent crude futures settled up $1.96 a barrel, or 2.6 percent at $77.32. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose $1.22, or 1.88 percent to $65.95 a barrel. Surging U.S. production has capped gains in WTI prices, widening the grade's discount to Brent to more than $11 a barrel . Crude prices got an early lift on concerns about exports from Venezuela. Gains grew when Algeria's oil minister indicated OPEC would focus on balancing the market rather than on rolling back production caps. "They're all seeming to push back on the Saudis' push to raise production," said John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital Management in New York. "With this more than 10 percent (price) fall, they may reconsider things as we come closer to the meeting." OPEC member Venezuela, threatened with U.S. sanctions in the midst of an economic crisis, is nearly a month behind delivering crude to customers from its main export terminals, according to shipping data. Angola has also seen output decline rapidly from its aging fields. In Venezuela, chronic delays and production declines could soon breach state-run PDVSA's supply contracts. Tankers waiting to load more than 24 million barrels of crude, almost as much as PDVSA shipped in April, are sitting off the main oil port, according to shipping data. Story continues Noting Venezuela's troubles and OPEC's pending decision on supply, London Capital Group head of research Jasper Lawler said "oil traders could be in for an increased bout of volatility."(GRAPHIC: U.S. oil production and inventories: https://reut.rs/2JuOIma) The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers including Russia have cut output since 2017 to reduce a global crude glut. The group meets in Vienna on June 22 to discuss its supply policy. Algerian Energy Minister Mustapha Guitouni said on state radio: "What matters to us is that there is a balance between supply and demand to ensure the stability of the oil markets."(GRAPHIC: Top oil producers: https://reut.rs/2M7nuR1) OPEC-member Iraq said on Wednesday a production increase was not on the table. This followed an unofficial request from the United States asking OPEC's effective leader Saudi Arabia to boost output.(OPEC/non-OPEC crude output changes y/y in April: https://reut.rs/2M7cKC7) "Venezuelas worsening economic crisis, together with ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, will remain supportive of oil prices," Abhishek Kumar, Interfax Energy senior analyst said. "Nevertheless, growing prospects for an increase in production from the OPEC Plus and rising oil output from the U.S. will cap price gains." (Additional reporting by Meng Meng and Aizhu Chen in Beijing and Amanda Cooper in London; Editing by David Gregorio) Qualcomm is a major chip supplier for ZTE phones. U.S. officials had banned American companies from selling chips to ZTE as part of sanctions. The deal, announced Thursday, ends the sanctions and imposes a $1 billion fine on ZTE. Chip maker Qualcomm QCOM jumped as much as 5 percent Thursday after news of a deal between U.S. officials and Chinese telecom giant ZTE . The leading U.S. chipmaker had for weeks been caught in the crosshairs of growing trade tensions. U.S. officials had banned American companies from selling components to ZTE , and Qualcomm is a major chip supplier for ZTE phones. The deal announced on Thursday, which ends sanctions and imposes a $1 billion fine on ZTE, contains any "ripple impacts that could have damaged the prospects of the chip sector," GBH Insights analyst Dan Ives told CNBC. "The Street is relieved this ZTE situation is [now] resolved as it's an olive branch that will help the broader tech sector with a thawing of tensions, especially on the [telecommunications] front," Ives said. Qualcomm is still waiting on Chinese approval on its proposed merger with Dutch semiconductor company NXP NXPI . CEO Steve Mollenkopf told CNBC in April that trade tensions with China were likely stalling the deal. Qualcomm is down 3 percent on the year but up 7 percent in the 12-month period. More From CNBC CWCO vs. GWRS: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now? CWCO vs. GWRS: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option? The Chinese governments announcement of a sudden policy makeover on Jun 1, involving a significant cut down in subsidies offered to the nations solar projects, dealt a major blow to the solar industry worldwide. Since China is the largest solar market in the world, such an upheaval had a rippling effect on the global solar industry. The Zacks Solar industry has declined 10% since the announcement. Not only did the policy reform result in a decline in solar stocks but also prompted analysts to reduce their projections for 2018 solar installations in China. Details of the Policy Reform Chinas National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the Ministry of Finance and the National Energy Administration (NEA) jointly released the 2018 Solar PV Power Generation Notice that might totally change solar market dynamics in China. Per the new policy, feed-in tariffs (FiTs) related to utility-scale solar projects will be cut and distributed generation (DG) projects will be capped until further notice. In terms of utility-scale projects, the Chinese administration abolished its deployment target of 13.9 GW and announced that no new projects will be given feed-in tariff contracts under the old 2018 rules. However, DG projects that received grid connection till May 31, 2018 will be eligible for FiTs (feed-in tariffs). In the context of DG programs, China has decided to put a cap of 10 gigawatts (GW) on new solar projects in 2018, down from 19 GW installed in 2017. Analysts Opinion Analysts across the globe have expressed their skepticism regarding the latest policy changes through reduction in expectations for the nations solar projects. Asia Europe Clean Energy (Solar) Advisory (AECEA) lowered its forecast for Chinas solar capacity addition for 2018 from 40-45 GW to 30-35 GW in response to these policy changes. AECEA also lowered its forecast for the remaining years of Chinas 13th Five Year Plan (2016-20) to 20-25 GW annually. Other analysts like Roth and Daiwa Capital have also reduced the 2018 forecast to 30-35 GW. Story continues Impact on Chinese Solar Stocks The policy changes are expected to significantly impact Chinese solar panel manufacturers as well as those involved in solar projects in the nation. This is because the cap on solar projects will restrict construction of any new project in the country, while falling panel price will hurt revenues of Chinese panel manufacturers, at least in the near term. Shares of China-based solar stocks like Yingli Green Energy YGE have declined 6%, while that of ReneSola SOL declined 5% since the news of the policy reform. JinkoSolar JKS has plunged more than 20%, in the same time frame. Impact on International Solar Stocks This policy change is anticipated to be detrimental for a few international solar stocks, especially the ones that are set to expand their footprint in China, have increased commitments to ship modules or are set to construct new projects. For instance, since the United States slapped a tariff of 30% on import of solar panels earlier this year, many solar players have increased their focus on Chinas solar market. In line with this, Canadian Solar CSIQ had earlier announced the shift of its module shipment toward China and away from the United States. It expects to witness significant volume shipment in China during the second quarter of 2018 and beyond. However, with the recent policy change, it is difficult to predict whether the company will be able to duly expand its realm in China. In fact, following the announcement of subsidy cut, this Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stock suffered a loss of more than 20.7%, much more than the industrys decline of 10%. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Another renowned solar stock in the international market, First Solar FSLR witnessed a steep decline in its share price, after China cut down solar subsidies. However, the rationale behind this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock is a bit different. With First Solar being a prominent U.S. module manufacturer, a price fall in China may result in a decline in module price in the United States, to compete in the global market. This, in turn, will hurt the companys financials. First Solars shares have lost 15.8% since the Chinese policy reform news compared with the industrys decline of 10%. Is the Policy Reform a Blessing or a Curse? The Chinese government has justified the policy makeover decision with the agenda to promote the solar energy sectors sustainable development as well as reduce the $17 billion subsidy bill, that the country is incurring. However, considering the aforementioned discussions, the impositions made in the reform may hurt the solar market, at least in the near future. FiTs are the contracted rate that developers get for solar power sent to the grid. Therefore, a cut in the same is likely to directly hit each Chinese solar project's revenue. Moreover, the sudden cap on building solar projects will hit demand in the market, thereby creating oversupply of panels, which in turn will drag down the prices. As per GTM Research, oversupply pressure will likely push panel prices down 32-36%. This in turn should wind down revenue generation for solar panel manufacturers, in the near term. Nevertheless, the oversupply situation in China along with subsequent fall in panel price may prompt Chinese manufacturers to sell their panels in other booming solar markets like Japan and India. International solar players may also follow suit. So, all might not be lost in terms of global solar markets growth prospect, although only time will reflect the ultimate impact we of the policy reform. Will You Make a Fortune on the Shift to Electric Cars? Here's another stock idea to consider. Much like petroleum 150 years ago, lithium power may soon shake the world, creating millionaires and reshaping geo-politics. Soon electric vehicles (EVs) may be cheaper than gas guzzlers. Some are already reaching 265 miles on a single charge. With battery prices plummeting and charging stations set to multiply, one company stands out as the #1 stock to buy according to Zacks research. It's not the one you think. See This Ticker Free >> 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 First Solar, Inc. (FSLR) : Free Stock Analysis Report Renesola Ltd. (SOL) : Free Stock Analysis Report JinkoSolar Holding Company Limited (JKS) : Free Stock Analysis Report Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited (YGE) : Free Stock Analysis Report Canadian Solar Inc. (CSIQ) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Sony has unveiled the RX100 VI 20.1-megapixel premium compact camera with a new telephoto lens that will make it a lot more interesting for travel photography. Rather than the Zeiss Vario-Sonnar 24-70mm equivalent f/1.8-2.8 T lens of the last model, the Mark VI packs a hugely longer, optically stabilized 24-200 f/2.8-4.5 T mm 8.3X zoom lens. That's over a stop slower than previous f/1.8-2.8 T lens, but the extra range will be worth it for many folks, and Sony has boosted other specs to make up for it. The RX100 VI is equipped with a 1.0-type Exmor RS CMOS sensor with a built in DRAM chip to maximize speed. It can can shoot at 24 fps with full AF/AE tracking as before, but now focuses in just 0.03 seconds compared to 0.05 seconds. Moreover, eye-tracking Eye AF focus is twice as fast as on the RX100 V. It still has 315 phase-detection (plus contrast-detection) AF points, but gets a speed boost from the image BIONZ X processor found on Sony's flagship full-frame A9 mirrorless camera. Happily, the RX100 VI now has a touchscreen that can handle touch focusing and shutter release, and it flips up 180 degrees for selfie shooters or vloggers, too. (Unfortunately, there's still no microphone port, limiting its usefulness for pros and serious vloggers). Furthermore, it comes with 2.35 million-dot Tru-Finder OLED EVF (above) with one-touch operation so that you don't have to pull it out manually anymore. As you'd expect, the RX100 VI supports 4K video at 30fps, but can now handle HDR 4K, too -- the first for a Cybershot camera, Sony said. Along with the camera, Sony unveiled the $100 VCT-SGR1 shooting grip to support all RX100 and RX1 camera models. It connects via a micro USB terminal and built-in buttons let you control shutter release and video recording. The bottom can be spread out into a tripod, letting it serve the same function as a Joby GorillaPod, for instance. Sony introduced the RX100 V in 2016, just a year after the Mark IV model, so we were getting impatient to see a new model. Now we know why it took a bit longer, considering the significant lens and spec overhaul. The RX100 VI will arrive in July, but you can pre-order it on June 7th for $1,200. For more images of it, check out our first look. Spains government just became a little more women-friendly. Pedro Sanchez, who was sworn in as the new Prime Minister on Saturday following Mariano Rajoys ouster via a no-confidence vote the day before, announced his cabinet choices at a press conference on Wednesday evening. His cabinet choices reflected a pledge made during his campaign to choose Socialist, feminist, and pro-European individuals to serve in his government. Most significantly, however, the cabinet, which includes 11 women and six men, is the countrys first majority-female cabinet since the country returned to democracy after the 1975 death of dictator Francisco Franco. Among the 11 women is Carmen Calvo, Spains new deputy prime minister and equalities minister, responsible for gender equality. Sanchez said that his government would be unmistakably committed to equality, and would reflect the growing movement for gender equality in Spain spurred by a feminist strike on International Womens Day earlier this year. According to statistics from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the 65% female cabinet beats out the previous record held by Finland. The Nordic country had a record-breaking 62.5% female cabinet in 2015. Spain also significantly out-ranks the other top countries in terms of female representation, all of which barely pass the 50% mark: Bulgaria, France, Nicaragua, Sweden and Canada. To compare, Rajoys 2017 cabinet was 38.5% female. The front hood logo on a 2018 Tesla Model 3 electric vehicle is shown in this photo illustration taken in Cardiff, California, U.S., June 1, 2018. Picture taken June 1, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Blake By Supantha Mukherjee (Reuters) - Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) shares headed for their best day in more than two years on Wednesday after Chief Executive Elon Musk said the car maker was now churning out 500 of its Model 3 sedans a day and should achieve its 5,000 per week target by the end of June. The move overturned around a third of the impact of a rocky few months for Tesla, which has seen shares fall by a quarter from a peak last September as it battled with production delays and reports of a series of car crashes. Speaking at the company's annual shareholder meeting on Tuesday, Musk offered teasers for upcoming projects, welling up when he spoke of the company's vehicles being made "with love" and said his production lines have demonstrated the ability to make 3,500 Model 3 vehicles per week. Tesla's future profitability hinges on ramping up output of the affordable sedan but the company has fallen short of a series of targets. "The market is starting to give Elon the benefit of the doubt that he will finally meet his production goal even though it is now six months late," Tigress Financial Partners analyst Ivan Feinseth said. In April, Tesla said it was making 2,270 vehicles a week. Musk himself has also stung Tesla shares by warring with critics and journalists on social media and recently declining to answer questions from Wall Street analysts about Tesla's capital requirements, saying they were "boring". A shareholder proposal came up for vote on Tuesday that required Musk to give away his chairman role. More than 80 percent of shareholder votes were against the proposal. "We have no corporate governance problem with Mr. Musk's dual titles, as ultimately it is about delivering the vehicles profitably," CFRA analyst Efraim Levy said. Story continues "We do, however, wish to see more discipline with the CEO's pronouncements, but don't expect much improvement there." Tesla also showed a design sketch of the upcoming Model Y SUV although little could be seen in the shadowy image and Musk teased that the car might not even have a steering wheel, stoking some fans' hopes that the car could be fully autonomous. He said the vehicle would be unveiled in March and begin production in 2020 along with Tesla Semi and the new Roadster. Throughout its history, Tesla has repeatedly missed aggressive start-of-production targets, and auto experts believe that launching production of three new vehicles within two years is extremely unlikely. (Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee and Sonam Rai in Benagluru; Alexandria Sage in San Francisco; editing by Patrick Graham) By Roberta Rampton and David Ljunggren WASHINGTON/OTTAWA (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump is not backing down from the tough line he has taken on trade, the White House's top economic adviser said on Wednesday, setting the stage for a showdown with top allies at this week's G7 summit in Canada. The meeting on Friday and Saturday in Charlevoix, Quebec, will be the first chance G7 leaders have had to confront Trump in person since U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada, Mexico and the European Union were imposed last week. That move unleashed fury in the Group of Seven (G7)industrialized nations and prompted quick retaliation from Canada and Mexico and a promise from the EU to do so as well, unnerving investors who fear a trade war that could derail the global economy. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the summit host, and British Prime Minister Theresa May, who will also attend, are among those to sharply criticize the U.S. tariffs as unjustified and punitive. "There are disagreements. He's sticking to his guns. And hes going to talk to them," Larry Kudlow, Trump's top economic adviser, told reporters in Washington. "The lines are open, the negotiations are ongoing." Kudlow added that the United States and China had not yet reached a deal to resolve Trump's demand for a smaller U.S. trade deficit with China. Washington has demanded that Beijing take steps to open its markets further to U.S. goods. The U.S. trade deficit, however, fell to a seven-month low in April as exports rose to a record high, the U.S. Commerce Department reported on Wednesday. Trump, who has vowed to protect U.S. industry and workers from what he describes as unfair international competition as part of an "America First" agenda, is due to hold bilateral meetings with Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron during the summit, Kudlow said. The meeting with Trudeau could be particularly frosty, given Trump's recent sharp criticism of Canada's trade policies and the anger in Ottawa over Washington's decision to justify its new tariffs on national security grounds. Story continues Ottawa is also frustrated with the slow-moving talks to update the North American Free Trade Agreement, the 1994 agreement between Canada, the United States and Mexico. "I know we're going to have some very, very frank conversations quite clearly around the table," Trudeau told Global TV in an interview, adding he would convey Canada's displeasure over the metal tariffs personally when he met Trump in Quebec. LOW EXPECTATIONS Two sources in Ottawa said divisions between the United States and other G7 members were so great that senior officials in charge of each nation's preparations planned to hold an unusual additional meeting the night before the summit in a bid to find consensus. Canada and Mexico already have retaliated against a range of U.S. exports that include pork, bourbon and steel, and the EU has promised to do so as well, raising the specter of a tit-for-tat escalation of protectionist measures. Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, pressed about a Washington Post report that said the White House was considering additional economic penalties against Canada, told reporters that Ottawa was unaware of any such move. U.S. stocks, apart from those of steel and aluminum producers, have fallen sharply in response to Trump's recent tariff announcements and other actions against trading partners. U.S. stocks were trading higher on Wednesday. Expectations for a resolution of the trade row this week are low after finance leaders from the United States' G7 partners butted heads with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin at a meeting last week in the Canadian resort town of Whistler, British Columbia. Adding to the uncertainty is European anger over Trump's decision to pull the United States out of the international nuclear agreement with Iran. European allies have urged Trump to reconsider. Ministers from Germany, France and Britain have already written to U.S. officials urging them to shield European companies working in Iran from getting caught up in Washington's new sanctions on Tehran. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she expects "difficult discussions" at the summit in Quebec. "I will of course try to speak to the U.S. president about the current problems that we have overall, in particular on Iran and on trade tariffs," Merkel told the Bundestag lower house of parliament during a question-and-answer session with lawmakers. Despite the G7's efforts to coax the Trump administration away from a go-it-alone approach, some analysts now question whether Washington remains committed to basic policies that have upheld the post-World War Two international economic system. "We do seem to be at a little bit of a Rubicon moment in terms of whether or not the United States is going to fundamentally turn its back on this economic order," said Thomas Wright of the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington. The G7 groups Canada, the United States, Japan, Britain, Italy, France and Germany. The EU also attends. (Reporting by David Ljunggren in Ottawa and Roberta Rampton in Washington; Additional reporting by Jason Lange and Tim Ahmann in Washington and Paul Carrel and Madeline Chambers in Berlin; Writing by Paul Simao; Editing by Alistair Bell) Washington's newly toned-down approach on Pyongyang has led many to ask whether President Donald Trump will still press Kim Jong Un at next week's summit. Last week, the U.S. president curbed expectations for immediate denuclearization in a major shift from his previous demands. A lengthy disarmament process, however, poses several risks, experts warned. Immediate denuclearization has long been Washington's stated goal on nuclear diplomacy with Pyongyang. But now that President Donald Trump has noticeably softened his tone on that front, many are wondering whether he will still pressure North Korea's Kim Jong Un next week. Eight days after canceling the June 12 summit , Trump last Friday confirmed the high-stakes meeting was back on and indicated any kind of deal on denuclearization would likely take multiple meetings. "We're not going to go in and sign something on June 12 ... We're going to start a process," he told reporters. It was a dramatic change in course from the president, who has previously insisted the reclusive regime surrender its weapons arsenal in a "complete, verifiable and irreversible" manner . The president's shift to a less hard line position "is fueling concerns that he will not press hard in Singapore to extract a clear promise from Kim to achieve 'complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization' in a short period of time," analysts at political consultancy Eurasia Group said in a note this week. Trump has also retreated from using the term " maximum pressure ," a policy consisting of strict sanctions, diplomatic actions and military threats that's long been the cornerstone of his North Korea policy. "We're getting along, so it's not a question of maximum pressure," he said on June 1. The president is now recognizing the reality of the situation, according to Tom Collina, director of policy at Ploughshares Fund, a public foundation against nuclear weapons. Story continues "Trump is still pushing for denuclearization, as he should, but he now has more realistic expectations for how long it will take," he explained, adding that "as long as the North is not conducting nuclear and missile tests, there is no rush." Trump's new measured approach now appears to be more in line with the preferences of Kim's government , which wants a nuanced, lengthy process of disarmament accompanied by concessions such as sanctions relief and security guarantees. Instead of producing a concrete deal, the June 12 summit will set the stage for "a lengthy, step-by-step process for negotiating and implementing pledges by both sides to work towards North Korea's denuclearization that results in Kim giving up some, but certainly not all, of his nuclear capabilities," the Eurasia Group analysts said. However, that process entails several risks that could produce a diplomatic breakdown and see Washington pivot back to "maximum pressure." For one, "Trump might get frustrated with the slow pace of progress on denuclearization and feel it is exposing him to criticism that he is getting played by Kim," the Eurasia Group warned. Kim may also decide that he is not getting enough concessions out of the process and thus opt to withdraw, it continued. "Much can still go wrong," echoed Bruce Jones, vice president and director of the foreign policy program at think tank the Brookings Institution, adding that "the risks of war are higher now than before the drive to the summit." By conveying to Kim that he is genuinely willing to go to war, make peace, and walk away from a deal if it is not a good one, Trump has confronted Kim "with an existential choice: a genuine deal, or war," Jones explained. More From CNBC By Karen Freifeld (Reuters) - Chinas No. 2 telecommunications equipment maker ZTE secured a lifeline from the Trump administration on Thursday after agreeing to pay a $1 billion fine and overhaul leadership in a deal that will lift a ban on its doing business with U.S. suppliers. The agreement comes as U.S. President Donald Trump seeks trade concessions from China and negotiations continue to avoid a trade war between the world's two largest economies. Shares of U.S. companies that do business with ZTE rose on Thursday. U.S. lawmakers immediately attacked the agreement, citing intelligence warnings that ZTE poses a national security threat. ZTE pleaded guilty last year to conspiring to evade U.S. embargoes by selling U.S. equipment to Iran. The ban on buying U.S. parts was imposed in April after the company lied about disciplining some executives responsible for the violations. ZTE then ceased major operations. Under the deal, ZTE will change its board and management within 30 days, pay a $1 billion fine and put an additional $400 million in escrow. The deal also includes a new 10-year ban that is suspended unless there are future violations. "We will closely monitor ZTE's behavior," Ross said in a statement. "If they commit any further violations, we would again be able to deny them access to U.S. technology as well as collect the additional $400 million in escrow." Reuters reported exclusively on Tuesday that ZTE had signed a preliminary agreement with the Commerce Department, along with the fine and other terms. Ross said the penalty is the largest the Commerce Department has ever levied. The agreement does not take effect until ZTE pays the $1 billion fine and puts the $400 million in escrow, which is likely to take at least a few days, according to a person familiar with the matter. Story continues ZTE did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday. Under the new agreement, ZTE must also retain a compliance team selected by the Commerce Department for 10 years. The company already has a U.S. court-appointed monitor. #VeryBadDeal U.S. senators said they plan legislation to roll back the agreement. "I assure you with 100 percent confidence that #ZTE is a much greater national security threat than steel from Argentina or Europe," Republican U.S. Senator Marco Rubio tweeted with the hashtag #VeryBadDeal. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that ZTE poses a "significant" national security threat. "ZTE is a state-controlled telecommunications company that poses significant espionage risks, which this agreement appears to do little to address," U.S. Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said in a statement. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called the agreement "a 180-degree turn away from the president's promise to be tough on China." Eric Hirschhorn, a former U.S. undersecretary of commerce who had been involved in the ZTE case, said "the government is merely setting a price for doing business instead of giving them the punishment they deserve." A U.S. investigation into ZTE was launched after Reuters reported in 2012 the company had signed contracts to ship hardware and software worth millions of dollars to Iran from some of the best-known U.S. technology companies. (https://reut.rs/2GbpCmO) The probe found that ZTE bought U.S. components and incorporated them into its equipment, illegally shipped them to Iran, and devised elaborate schemes to hide the illegal activity. The company pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Texas last year. Shenzhen-based ZTE has a subsidiary in Richardson, Texas. ZTE's survival has been a topic of discussion in high-level U.S.-China trade talks. Trump tweeted on May 14 that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping were working together to help ZTE get back into business, fast. Trump met with his trade advisers on Tuesday to discuss China's offer to import an extra $70 billion of American goods over a year in hopes of defusing a potential trade war between the world's two largest economies. One of the U.S. companies caught in the international crossfire is Qualcomm Inc, whose products account for the lions share of chips inside ZTE smartphones. Separately, Qualcomm is trying to get Chinese approval for its pending $44 billion acquisition of NXP Semiconductors NV. Qualcomm Chief Executive Officer Steven Mollenkopf said on Thursday he hoped the ZTE agreement would pave the way for the NXP approval. Shares of Qualcomm Inc rose as much as 4.7 percent while NXP jumped as much as 6.7 percent. ZTE supplier Oclaro Inc was up 1.3 percent while Acacia Communications Inc was down 0.6 percent. Oclaro got 18 percent of its business from ZTE last year, while 30 percent of Acacia's total revenue was from ZTE. (Reporting by Karen Freifeld in New York; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey, Eric Walsh, Patricia Zengerle in Washington and Supantha Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe) (Adds source, background) By Corina Pons CARACAS, June 6 (Reuters) - Venezuela has released two local executives of Chevron Corp jailed two months ago during a corruption probe in the oil sector, a local consultancy and a source close to the U.S. oil major said on Wednesday. "The two Chevron managers, Carlos Algarra and Rene Vasquez, detained in April this year in the Puerto La Cruz offices were freed," financial consultants Ecoanalitica tweeted, saying it was unclear if conditions were put on the pair's release. Ecoanalitica gave no more details, and there was no immediate confirmation from Chevron. But a source close to Chevron confirmed the release to Reuters, saying the executives had to report into authorities every 15 days. The two are Venezuelan citizens. The arrests, in a raid by national intelligence officers, were the first at a foreign oil firm since Venezuela's government launched a purge last year that has resulted in detentions of more than 80 executives at state oil company PDVSA and partners. It spooked other foreign companies working in the OPEC member nation, and Chevron had evacuated other executives. But the government of President Nicolas Maduro, condemned by the West and major Latin American nations over a May 20 re-election critics said was a farce cementing dictatorship, has been trying to project a more benign image in recent days. It freed dozens of anti-Maduro activists at the weekend, and Foreign Minster Jorge Arreaza reiterated calls on Wednesday for dialogue with the U.S. government, which has imposed sanctions aimed at squeezing the socialist government. The two Chevron employees had been facing possible treason charges for refusing to sign a parts contract for a joint venture with state-owned oil company PDVSA, sources said. Chevron, the world's seventh-largest publicly traded oil producer with 2017 revenue of $135 billion, operates in Venezuela mostly through minority stakes in five projects. (Additional reporting by Marianna Parraga in Houston; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Andreina Aponte, Marguerita Choy and Cynthia Osterman) Thursdays Doodle honors Dr. Virginia Apgar, whose Apgar Score has saved countless lives. Dr. Virginia Apgar, who would have been 109 years old today (she died in 1974), was the obstetric anesthetist who developed a test for the health of newborn babies that is still used around the world today. The Apgar Scores name is not just that of its creator -- each letter refers to a part of the test. The Apgar test examines: Appearance (is the newborn a healthy color or blueish?) Pulse (is it above or below 100 beats per minute, or undetectable?) Grimace (what response does the baby make when reflexes are stimulated?) Activity (how much are legs and arms moving?) Respiration (how strong is the babys breathing?) The Apgar Score is whats known as a backronym -- the words were only chosen after the Dr. Apgars test had gone into practice in 1952, in order to help people remember the elements of the test. COOL: This morning's @GoogleDoodles honors Virginia Apgar (MPH '59) on what would have been her 109th birthday. As a researcher and maternal and child health advocate, Dr. Apgar developed the 10-point "Apgar Score" used to assess the health of newborns. https://t.co/7OV7sxNT4a pic.twitter.com/YfVMhzsrL1 JHU Public Health (@JohnsHopkinsSPH) June 7, 2018 Each of these categories in Dr. Apgars test earns the baby between zero and two points, depending on the health of the response. The theoretical maximum is 10, but this is rare. An Apgar Score between 4 and 6 may mean some medical intervention is needed. An Apgar Score below four may mean resuscitation is needed. The Apgar test is conducted a minute after birth, and again four minutes later, in order to judge the effectiveness of intervention. Story continues Dr. Apgar developed the test after noticing that, even though the general U.S. infant mortality rate fell between the 1930s and 1950s, it remained constant for babies within the first day of life. Who was Dr. Virginia Apgar? She developed the Apgar Score, the first standardized method to monitor a baby's health after being born. Today, the Apgar Score is used throughout the world, and has saved countless lives. https://t.co/UaE1I3eCAfpic.twitter.com/M2LZO9fXuv HHS.gov (@HHSGov) June 7, 2018 Apart from developing her famous scoring exercise, Dr. Apgar was a notable advocate for universal vaccination in order to combat the rubella epidemic of the mid-Sixties. In her later years, she worked for March of Dimes, a non-profit founded by President Franklin Roosevelt that initially targeted polio but went on to focus on the prevention of birth defects. Even before she developed the Apgar Score, Dr. Apgar had already become the first female full professor at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. She received a masters degree in public health from Johns Hopkins University in 1959, and was a director at the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, which is know known as the March of Dimes. Imagine two futures. The year is 2050. The world is more polluted, unequal, and dangerous than ever. Megacities like New Delhi, Mexico City, and Lagos are suffocated by smog. More than a billion people around the world still lack access to reliable electricity. And climate change is serving up droughts, floods, and heat waves with alarming regularity. The trouble is that fossil fuels continue to exert a stranglehold on the global economy. Coal and natural gas are still burned to produce most of the worlds electricity and run most of its factories, spewing carbon dioxide and other climate-warming gases into the atmosphere. And oil still fuels a majority of cars and trucks, as well as almost every single airplane and ship on the planet, further polluting the air. Much of this disastrous state of the world is a result of the solar power revolution sputtering out. Way back in 2016, solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, which convert sunlight into electricity, became the cheapest source of electricity on the planet. Experts breathlessly prophesied that it was only a matter of time before solar PV dethroned fossil fuelsa bold claim for a technology that supplied less than 1% of the worlds energy needs then. For a time, those rosy projections were vindicated. Over the next two decades, solar PV would soar in popularity. In developed countries, new homes came with sleek solar roofs, and in the poorest corners of the developing world, stand-alone solar systems gave millions of villagers with no connection to an electricity grid their first taste of modern energy. And as producersmostly in Asiachurned out silicon-based panels year after year, they got better at shaving the technologys costs. But sometime in the 2030s, solar powers once-unstoppable growth slowed, leaving it far short of dethroning fossil fuels. But sometime in the 2030s, solar powers once-unstoppable growth slowed, leaving it far short of dethroning fossil fuels. On its face, this stagnation was puzzling: if solar PV kept getting cheaper, widening its competitive lead over fossil fuels, why did its expansion slow? Story continues Solars gloomy days Part of the problem was that even as the cost of producing electricity from solar PV fell, the value of that electricitythe amount that a utility, for instance, was willing to pay for it to then send via the grid to meet the needs of homes and businessesdecreased even faster. The value diminished because a power source tied to unreliable sunshine quickly becomes a nuisance as it grows. PV panels produce power only when they receive sunlight, so even a passing cloud can sideline them. In California, for example, solar PV quickly rose to meet most of the states power needs around lunchtime, when the sun was overhead. But then, adding a new solar panel, no matter how cheap, was worthless because when the state needed powerat dinnertimethe sun was setting. As a result, the gently declining cost of existing silicon solar PV technology was soon overtaken by the swift erosion of the value of the power the panels could produce. Some countriesespecially those that raced ahead to deploy solar PV projectsrecognized that solars value was in decline. But they were confident that lithium-ion batteries, which were also getting cheaper alongside PV panels, would come to the rescue. The falling cost of these batteries did indeed make it feasible to store some of the unused daytime solar power for later in the evening. Batteries, though, were not the panacea that many expected. It made economic sense to use them to store power for a few hours; but they were too expensive to use for smoothing out the day-to-day variations in solar PV output and certainly for handling the biggest energy storage need: squirreling away surplus solar energy from sunny months for use in gloomier ones. Solar PVs growth also slowed because countries, especially in the developing world, failed to build out their electricity grids to keep up with the deployment of solar power. For example, India struggled to connect solar farms in distant deserts to its thirsty megacities. And when the government shifted focus to deploying solar panels on building rooftops, ramshackle urban grids buckled under the strain of absorbing sudden surges of solar power. With the exception of wind power, other clean energy sources have not stepped in to pick up much of the slack. And even though wind power rose alongside solar PV for a time, it too was unreliable and so faced limits on its deployment. Having slowed their growth to a crawl, the two sister sources of renewable energy today produce a disappointing one third of the worlds electricity. As a result, the world still depends on fossil fuels to meet most of its electricity needs. More reliable sources of clean energy have disappointed. Nuclear powerpolitically radioactivehas declined from its glory days in the twentieth century to just a few remaining reactors in Asia today. Building new hydropower dams remains just as unpopular. And various other potential clean energy sourcesfrom geothermal to tidal powerremain mostly on the drawing board. As a result, the world still depends on fossil fuels to meet most of its electricity needs. On top of this, many of the worlds energy needs dont involve using electricity. Those needs are met almost exclusively by fossil fuels, and they have only grown as emerging economies have industrialized, with staggering consequences. Industrial facilities, like cement and steel plants, belch out soot from burning coal. Although it once looked like autonomous vehicles and ride-sharing apps might take cars off the road and use the remaining ones more efficiently, the opposite has happened, as these advances have made it easier and cheaper than ever to get around by car. Though electrics have risen to lead the pack in new vehicle sales, over 1 billion petroleum-fueled cars and trucks still share the road. A warmer world It seems laughable that way back in 2015, countries around the world signed the Paris climate agreement, committing in all seriousness to limit global warming to 2C. Just fifteen years later, those countries had already pumped enough greenhouse gases into the atmosphere to guarantee at least such a temperature rise. Climate change has already taken a toll around the world. Rising sea levels have spurred waves of mass migration from the floodplains of Bangladesh. Ocean acidification has decimated fisheries from Norway to Nicaragua. Droughts across Africa and the Middle East have left hundreds of millions in a persistent state of famine and water scarcity; Egypt has just declared war on Ethiopia for choking off its supply from the parched Nile river. The US suffers an increasing number of superstorms on the Atlantic seaboard and perpetual wildfires in the west. Like a runaway train, the changing climate cant be stopped. Not now, nor for the next 10,000 years. Like a runaway train, the changing climate cant be stopped. Belated international efforts to drastically curb global emissions have stalled. Emergency negotiations at the United Nations over a global carbon tax dont stand a chance of finding common ground among bickering blocs. While the political theater has played out, entire countriesincluding the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, and Fijihave been swallowed whole by the Pacific Ocean. The time for decisive action is long past. With the benefit of hindsight, it is increasingly clear that the meteoric growth in solar power lulled governments into false confidence before their rude awakening to the solar slowdown. They left the transition to clean energy on autopilot. Had they instead made a small course correction in those early daysby planning for, and investing in, the futuretodays gloomy outlook might have been avoided. *** The alternative The year is 2050. Despite facing grave challenges, the world still controls its destiny. Nightmare scenarios of economic and humanitarian catastrophetoward which the planet once hurtledare off the table. The climate is undeniably changing, but at a manageable pace that has allowed countries to adapt. The dramatic rise of clean energy has prevented climate change from spiraling out of controland in the process powered economic growth and lifted the worlds destitute out of darkness. For the first time in history, fossil fuels are on the wane. A dwindling number of plants still burn coal and natural gas to produce electricity and run factories, but their carbon emissions get captured and either used in industrial processes or stored deep underground. Oil still fuels a large percentage of global transportation, but that share falls every year as electricity and clean fuels are used instead. Solar energy is the linchpin of this clean energy revolution. Today, it supplies a third of global electricity; well before the century is out, most of the worlds energy needs will be met by converting sunlight into electricity, heat, and portable fuels. When that happens, the 21st century will be remembered as the one in which humankind finally tamed the sun. Solar energy is the linchpin of this clean energy revolution. China-produced PV panels played an important role in establishing solar technology as a feasible source of energy. Their early success also reassured the worlds biggest investors that it was safe to invest in clean energy projects. But those original PV panelsheavy, ugly, and maxed out in terms of performanceevolved to become lightweight, attractive, and much more efficient at converting sunlight into electricity. By 2030, industrial printers were churning out rolls of solar PV coatings in a range of colors and transparencies. A decade later, solar-coating your house was as cheap as painting it. Today at the mid-century mark, most urban buildings are wrapped in electricity-generating solar materials that tint the windows, enliven the facade, and shrink the carbon footprint. Still, these wondrous solar PV cannot supply power once the sun sets. Fortunately, that need has been met by a completely different solar technology that enjoyed a renaissance in the 2020s after analysts prematurely wrote it off as dead. Concentrated solar power plants, which employ armies of mirrors to focus the suns rays to generate heat that can run a power plant, are able to store the heat that they capture to produce power throughout the night. In recent decades, the term solar energy has supplanted solar power. Thats because PV and other solar technologies not only generate electric power now, they also produce fuels that can store energy to be used where electricity is less practical. In the mid-2030s, firms began to mass-produce materials to convert sunlight directly into hydrogen fuel. Slowly but steadily, the makeup of the worlds fuel mix has shifted toward zero-carbon solar fuels. Just as oil refineries convert crude oil into products like gasoline, jet fuel, and asphalt, so do solar refineries convert hydrogen into liquid fuels for vehicles, ships, and aircraft and into a whole range of other products, from fertilizer to plastics. Hydrogen itself has become a popular fuel for cars and trucks. Petroleum-fueled vehicles are now a distant third-place choice, behind electric and hydrogen-fueled vehicles, neither of which contributes to local air pollution. Todays panoply of solar technologies is the result of farsighted decisions made over three decades ago in the public and private sectors to invest in innovation. The US led this push and has profited handsomely as a result, now that the combined market for solar technologies is bigger than that for petroleum products. Just as America had surged past Saudi Arabia in 2013 to become the worlds biggest oil producer, so too did it dethrone China 20 years later as the leading manufacturer of solar technologies. The US managed to achieve prosperity and energy security at the cost of a few billion dollars a year in additional funding for research into and development and demonstration of new technologies. Countries have cooperated to build out continent-spanning power gridsthe biggest ones are in Asia and North Americathat connect solar PV in sun-drenched deserts with power-hungry cities. Not only are grids bigger, but they are smarter. They transmit signals to billions of Internet-connected devicessuch as air conditioners, water heaters, and industrial machinerythat adjust their electricity demand on the fly to match the availability of solar PV supply. In addition, they can call upon various options to store intermittently produced solar energy, from batteries to hydropower reservoirs to underground wells. Grids can even intelligently decide when to charge up or draw down the millions of plugged-in electric vehicles that act as mobile batteries to back up solar PV. Although solar energy has emerged as the star of the energy revolution, every star needs a supporting cast. Although solar energy has emerged as the star of the energy revolution, every star needs a supporting cast. Wind power has ably supplemented solar, rising steadily during this century. And the renaissance of nuclear power has shored up the supply of reliable electricity after governments around the world braved political headwinds to invest in a new generation of safer, cheaper reactors. Seeing the writing on the wall, fossil fuel companies have done their part as well, lavishly funding the development of technologies to capture and store the carbon emissions from the fossil-fueled plants that remain. And they have invested heavily in their own portfolios of renewable energy projects. To ease water scarcity, countries have turned to cheap solar PV to run desalination plants that transform saltwater into freshwater. Concentrated solar power plants have also been repurposed in the developing world to power refrigeration, preserving badly needed food supplies and blunting famine. The sobering scientific consensus predicts that the climate will continue to change for the foreseeable future. To stabilize it, governments are in final negotiations before unveiling a massive effort to suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. Some of the countries hardest hit by climate change are clamoring for alternative approaches, like seeding the worlds clouds to reflect more sunlight. Fortunately, governments can afford to deliberate carefully over whether and how to engineer the climate. Sharply reducing global carbon emissions from energy has bought them time to do so. Few would dispute that solar energy has emerged as one of the most important technologiesif not the most important oneof the twenty-first century. It may not have ensured victory over global challenges like climate change. But it has given the world a fighting chance. *** The skys the limit The world may well be bound for the first of the two futures laid out hereand thats terrifying. But there is cause for optimism: the second future is not science fiction, but rather still an achievable goal. To arrive at it, the world must address the many challenges of realizing solar energys sky-high potentialand that will require sharply increasing investment in innovation. Varun Sivaram is the Philip D. Reed fellow for science and technology at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of Taming the Sun: Innovations to Harness Solar Energy and Power the Planet, from which this essay has been adapted. This article is part of Quartz Ideas, our home for bold arguments and big thinkers. Sign up for the Quartz Daily Brief, our free daily newsletter with the worlds most important and interesting news. More stories from Quartz: LONDON, May 22, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As countries across the Horn of Africa embark on ambitious programmes to attract foreign investment, Djibouti seems a stable option in a volatile region. But are there risks? A new report by political and security risk consultancy Allan & Associates (www.Allan-Assoc.com) offers guidance. Download the study: www.goo.gl/xydCWe Multimedia content: https://goo.gl/kSgTua When African Development Bank officials meet in Busan, South Korea, today, details of new foreign investment opportunities in Africa are likely to emerge. Djibouti, which is seeking to become a Horn of Africa trans-shipment hub, has proved attractive to investors in recent years. Located near some of the worlds busiest shipping lanes, with access to the Indian Ocean and Red Sea, it can boast decades of peace and political stability, unlike neighbours that include divided Somalia, secretive Eritrea and war-torn Yemen. Djibouti offers an attractive environment for investors in the Horn of Africa, but be careful how you tread, says Allan and Associates Senior Analyst and Sub-Saharan Africa specialist Olivier Milland, author of the report. Indicators suggest that significant investment risks exist in Djibouti, Allan & Associates assesses. These include: Growing corruption concerns as the country has slipped in international indices for transparency and governance and Regional competition for contracts may see national elites attempt to access rents from foreign investors attempt to access rents from foreign investors Poor macro-economic indicators , with public debt reaching 87 per cent of GDP in 2018 , with public debt reaching in 2018 Over-dependence on neighbour Ethiopia 95 per cent of Ethiopian exports pass through the port of Djibouti and China , its top source of foreign investment 95 per cent of Ethiopian exports pass through the port of Djibouti and , its top source of foreign investment Vulnerability to a global protectionist trend , driven by United States President Donald Trump, due to a reliance on port traffic , driven by President due to a reliance on port traffic Rifts between Gulf countries threaten stability of investments Concerns over renegotiation of contracts under a new law and localisation Changing geopolitical dynamics in the region, amid protectionist policies in the U.S. and a rift between the Gulf countries, are posing additional challenges for investors, says Milland. Read Beyond the headlines: Investment risks in Djibouti and the Horn of Africa: www.goo.gl/xydCWe Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Allan & Associates. For more information call Donald MacPhail on: +44 (0) 207 300 7252 Email: dmacphail@allan-assoc.com About Allan & Associates (www.Allan-Assoc.com) is a full-service consultancy offering information services, protective security and logistics services. Founded in 2006, Allan & Associates has offices around the world, including London, Hong Kong and Shanghai. OAKVILLE, Ontario, June 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Saint Jean Carbon Inc. (Saint Jean or the Company) (TSX-V:SJL) (OTCQB:TORVF), a carbon science company engaged in the design and build of green energy storage, green energy creation and green re-creation through the use of carbon materials, announces that the Company terminated William Pfaffenberger from his position as President of the Company today. All duties of the President will be covered by the CEO and CFO on an interim basis until the Company is able to find a qualified replacement. The Company has requested Mr. Pfaffenberger to resign from the Board of Directors. The Company expects to call a special meeting of the shareholders to have Mr. Pfaffenberger replaced on the Board of Directors should he not resign. About Saint Jean Carbon Saint Jean is a publicly traded carbon science company, with specific interests in energy storage and green energy creation and green re-creation, with holdings in graphite mining and lithium claims in the province of Quebec in Canada. For the latest information on Saint Jeans properties and news please refer to the website: http://www.saintjeancarbon.com/ On behalf of the Board of Directors Saint Jean Carbon Inc. Paul Ogilvie, CEO and Director Information Contact: Email: info@saintjeancarbon.com Tel: (905) 844-1200 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, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- B-Temia Inc., a Canadian biorobotics technology company and market leader in human mobility, entered into a joint venture agreement with Wistron Corporation to launch its Keeogo Dermoskeleton technology in Asia. Wistron is one of the world's largest Original Design Manufacturer (ODM), with more than $34 billion CAD sales, and now a major shareholder of B-Temia since June 2017. Wistron and B-Temia form B-Temia Asia for the marketing of Keeogo in several Asian countries such as China, Japan and Hong Kong. Headquartered in Singapore, B-Temia Asia will benefit from a significant investment from Wistron in exchange for marketing rights for Keeogo products in Asia. "B-Temia Asia represents the realization of our business plan and our mission to help people regain their independence through mobility. B-Temia is now expanding around the world, which is another demonstration of the real value of our technology and the need to bring modern and revolutionary solutions to the many people living with mobility limitations. In addition, we are excited to expand and strengthen our partnership with Wistron. Over the last year, both organizations have effectively proven their ability to work together for manufacturing transfer to Asia. This joint venture is the next logical step for Wistron, which became a major shareholder of our company in 2017", said Stephane Bedard, CEO of B-Temia. "This international expansion is a very exciting time for our shareholders said Mr. Bedard. "Wistron is advancing the development and application of medical technologies to help people with mobility challenges and we are very excited to increase our partnership with B-Temia and to work closely together to develop the human mobility market in Asia. This partnership directly supports our goal of improving people's lives through technology", said Donald Hwang, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Wistron Corporation. About Keeogo Dermoskeleton Keeogo is a motorized walking assistive device developed by B-Temia. Keeogo, short for "Keep on Going", has been used by people suffering from degenerative diseases such as osteoarthritis of the knee or hip, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, stroke, incomplete spinal cord injury and other mobility-limiting diseases. Used as a rehabilitation equipment or as a home assistive device to help with daily activities, Keeogo is approved by Health Canada and is commercially available in Canada for purchase or rental. For more information, please visit: www.keeogo.com. About B-Temia Founded in 2010, B-Temia Inc. is an innovative Canadian medical device manufacturer that develops and markets leading edge products for the growing market of human augmentation systems. B-Temia operates through two wholly owned subsidiaries, B-Temia Inc. and B-Temia USA Inc., in the medical, industrial and military fields. B-Temia has a patented technology called Dermoskeleton that restores, maintains or enhances user mobility. For more information, please visit: www.b-temia.com . About Wistron Wistron Corporation is one of the world's largest companies to produce servers and storage devices for cloud computing and data centers, desktop and laptop computers, smart phones, industrial devices and control units, medical devices, Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Analysis. Wistron's full line of engineering teams enables Wistron's customers to outsource all or part of their product development and manufacturing tasks to focus on their core competencies and further develop their intellectual properties. Wistron manufactures medical products for customers in the medical industry at two ISO 13485-certified factories in Taiwan's Hsinchu Science Park and in Chongqing, China. For more information, please visit: www.wistron.com. Information MONTREAL, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Auxico Resources Canada Inc. (CSE:AUAG) is pleased to announce that the Company has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Aucito S.A.S., a Colombian company, concerning the Villa Kelly Property (the Property) in the Department of Bolivar, Colombia. The Villa Kelly Property covers an area of 92.2 hectares. According to the report written by M.Sc. Eng. Rene Florencio Lugo Primelles of ITKnowLogistics S.A.S (Link to the report: https://bit.ly/2JvakyL ), a total of 12 veins have been prospected on the Property, and limited sampling of these veins has resulted in values up to 200 g/t. The Kelly vein has a shaft down to 14 metres and had been exploited from 2011 until 2014. There are 40 artisanal miners currently on the Property. Auxico is in the process of conducting due diligence on the Property, which will include a site visit, sampling and grade verification of the veins, with a view to creating a joint venture for the full exploitation of three veins on the Property. The Property is accessible from the road and has infrastructure, such as a ball mill and Falcon concentrator, that should be upgraded in order to achieve economic profitability. Once the due diligence has been completed, a joint venture will be formalized, with the understanding that Auxico will invest 100% of the capital required to implement industrial production of the precious metals or base metals. If the due diligence process in successful, both parties will negotiate the terms of the joint venture, including specifically the sharing of profits. Qualified Person This news release was reviewed and approved by Joel Scodnick, P.Geo., an independent consultant to Auxico, in his capacity as a Qualified Person, as defined by National Instrument 43-101. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS signed Pierre Gauthier Chairman & CEO, Auxico Resources Canada Inc. pg@auxicoresources.com Cell: +1 514 299 0881 About Auxico Resources Canada Inc. Auxico Resources Canada Inc. (Auxico) is a Canadian company that was founded in 2014 and based in Montreal. Auxico is engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of mineral properties in Colombia and Mexico. The Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or the accuracy of the contents of this release. BIRMINGHAM, Ala., June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Shipt, a leading online marketplace, today announced it will begin same-day delivery of an assortment of groceries and household essentials with five major retailers in Augusta, Georgia. Beginning June 21, Shipt will launch same-day delivery from BI-LO, Kroger, Lidl, Publix and Target in the Augusta metro area. Shipt originally launched in the state of Georgia in 2015, and this launch gives more than 170,000 households across Georgia access to products delivered by Shipt in as little as one hour. Shipt members will be able to shop fresh foods and household essentials from all five retailers, in addition to an assortment of product categories that are unique to each retailer. To celebrate the announcement, new Augusta-area Shipt members who sign up before June 21 will receive an annual membership for $49 (regularly $99). Shipt has delivered staple products, essential ingredients and beloved brands to the homes of busy Georgia families since launching in the state in 2015. This expansion brings even more variety and personalization from familiar retailers to the Shipt marketplace, said Bill Smith, founder and chief executive officer, Shipt. Through our app, our members have access to everything they need, when they need it, right at their fingertips. Founded in 2014, Shipt is committed to simplifying its members lives by offering a new, convenient same-day shopping experience. Shipts marketplace gives members the ability to browse, search and shop the in-store assortment of products online. Members can note preferences, choose a one-hour delivery window and pay for their order, all within the app. Shipt's expert team of shoppers takes care of selecting, bagging and delivering the items. The annual membership grants access to free, unlimited delivery on orders of more than $35. Leading up to the launch, Shipt plans to add more than 200 new Shipt shoppers across the Augusta metro area to be part of the team responsible for ensuring complete, accurate fulfillment of each order. To apply to be a Shipt shopper, visit Shipt.com and click Get Paid to Shop. About Shipt Shipt is a membership-based online grocery marketplace delivering fresh foods and household essentials through a community of shoppers and a convenient app. Shipt offers quality, personalized grocery delivery to members for $99 per year, and is available to nearly 50 million households in more than 150 markets across the country. Throughout 2018, Shipt will continue to expand by adding both Target stores and additional retailer partners to its online marketplace, offering members more options to shop. Shipt was founded in The Magic City, Birmingham, Alabama, and maintains offices in Birmingham and San Francisco. For more information, visit Shipt.com. Shipt is not endorsed by or affiliated with Kroger and Publix. MEDIA CONTACT: press@shipt.com | (415) 625-8555 Aberdeen, 7 June 2018 Reference is made to the stock exchange releases by Awilco Drilling Plc (the "Company") on 28 February 2018 regarding the successfully completed private placement of 17,600,000 shares in the Company at a subscription price of NOK 29 per share (the "Private Placement") and the announcement of the subsequent offering of up to 1,400,000 shares in the Company (the "Subsequent Offering"). The Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority has approved a prospectus dated 7 June 2018 (the "Prospectus") for (i) the listing of 17,600,000 new shares issued through the Private Placement (the "Private Placement Shares"), (ii) the Subsequent Offering of up to 1,400,000 new shares (the "Offer Shares") and (iii) the listing of the Offer Shares on Oslo Axess. The Prospectus will be available on the Company's website: www.awilcodrilling.com. Hard copies of the Prospectus may be obtained at the offices of Awilhelmsen Offshore AS at Beddingen 8, 0118 Oslo, Norway. The Private Placement Shares were issued on 27 March 2018 and have been registered with the VPS under a blocked VPS account until the publication of this Prospectus. As of 8 June 2018, the blocking of the account will be lifted and the Private Placement Shares will be freely transferable. The Private Placement Shares will be listed on Oslo Axess on 8 June 2018 and the Offer Shares are expected to be listed on Oslo Axess or or about 22 June 2018. The Private Placement Shares and the Offer Shares are equal in all respects to the Company's shares. The Subsequent Offering is directed towards shareholders who (i) were registered as holders of shares in the Company's register of shareholders with the VPS as of expiry of 1 March 2018 (the "Record Date"), (ii) were not allocated Private Placement Shares in the Private Placement and (iii) are not resident in a jurisdiction where such offering would be unlawful or, for jurisdictions other than Norway, would require any prospectus filing, registration or similar action (the "Eligible Shareholders"). For shares recorded as held in the Company as of expiry of the Record Date, each Eligible Shareholder will receive non-transferable subscription rights (the "Subscription Rights"), rounded down to the nearest whole Subscription Right. One (1) Subscription Right will give the right to subscribe for, and be allocated, one (1) Offer Share, subject to the selling and transfer restrictions set out in Section 16 "Selling and Transfer Restrictions" in the Prospectus. Oversubscription will be permitted. Subscription without Subscription Rights will not be permitted. Eligible Shareholders are offered to subscribe for Offer Shares in the Company at the subscription price of NOK 27.35 per Offer Share (the "Subscription Price"). The Subscription Price is equal to the subscription price in the Private Placement adjusted for the dividend distribution in the Company on or around 22 June 2018 of USD 0.20 per share, equivalent to NOK 1.6496, with record date 22 May 2018. The Subscription Rights may be used to subscribe for Offer Shares from 09:00 hours (CET) on 8 June 2018 until 16:30 hours (CET) on 18 June 2018 (the "Subscription Period"). Upon expiry of the Subscription Period, the Subscription Rights will expire and have no value. Holders of Subscription Rights should note that subscriptions for Offer Shares must be made in accordance with the procedures set out in the Prospectus. Subscription for Offer Shares may be made by duly completing and delivering the subscription form (which is attached to the Prospectus as Appendix B and is available online at www.abgsc.com, www.arctic.com and www.fearnleysecurities.no) in accordance with the terms and conditions set out in the Prospectus. Norwegian investors with a VPS account can in addition subscribe for Offer Shares online at www.abgsc.com, www.arctic.com or www.fearnleysecurities.no. Allocation of the Offer Shares is expected to take place on or about 18 June 2018. Notifications of allocated Offer Shares in the Subsequent Offering and the corresponding amount to be paid by each subscriber will be set out in a letter on or about 19 June 2018. Assuming due payment of the Offer Shares subscribed for and allocated in the Subsequent Offering, delivery of the Offer Shares is expected to take place on or about 22 June 2018. ABG Sundal Collier ASA, Arctic Securities AS and Fearnley Securities AS have acted as managers in the Private Placement and the Subsequent Offering (the "Managers"). An investment in Awilco Drilling Plc and its shares involves inherent risks. More information about this and other matters it is important to understand before an investment decision is made, can be found in the Prospectus. The information in this release does not constitute a basis for making an investment decision. More extensive information about the Subsequent Offering is included in the Prospectus. For further information, please contact: Ian Wilson, CFO Phone +44 1224 737900 Cathrine Haavind, IR Manager Phone: +47 93 42 84 64 Email: ch@awilcodrilling.com This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act Important information: The release is not for publication or distribution, in whole or in part directly or indirectly, in or into Australia, Canada, Japan or the United States (including its territories and possessions, any state of the United States and the District of Columbia) or any other jurisdiction in which the release, publication or distribution would be unlawful. This release is an announcement issued pursuant to legal information obligations, and is subject of the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act. It is issued for information purposes only, and does not constitute or form part of any offer or solicitation to purchase or subscribe for securities, in the United States or in any other jurisdiction. The securities mentioned herein have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "US Securities Act"). The securities may not be offered or sold in the United States except pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of the US Securities Act. The Company does not intend to register any portion of the offering of the securities in the United States or to conduct a public offering of the securities in the United States. Copies of this announcement are not being made and may not be distributed or sent into Australia, Canada, Japan or the United States. The issue, exercise, purchase or sale of subscription rights and the subscription or purchase of shares in the Company are subject to specific legal or regulatory restrictions in certain jurisdictions. Neither the Company nor the Managers assumes any responsibility in the event there is a violation by any person of such restrictions. The distribution of this release may in certain jurisdictions be restricted by law. Persons into whose possession this release comes should inform themselves about and observe any such restrictions. Any failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. The Managers are acting for the Company and no one else in connection with the Private Placement and the Subsequent Offering and will not be responsible to anyone other than the Company for providing the protections afforded to their respective clients or for providing advice in relation to the Private Placement and the Subsequent Offering and/or any other matter referred to in this release. Forward-looking statements: This release and any materials distributed in connection with this release may contain certain forward-looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they reflect the Company's current expectations and assumptions as to future events and circumstances that may not prove accurate. A number of material factors could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. LONDON, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hitachi Europe Ltd., a subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE:6501), has partnered with Stena Line, one of the largest shipping companies in Europe, to implement artificial intelligence technology on ships to reduce fuel consumption costs and become an important tool in the companys efforts to minimise environmental impact. The partnership will see a team of Hitachi experts from across its business units review the existing digital architecture, in close collaboration with Stena Line, and advise the ferry company as it aims to become the worlds leading cognitive shipping company by 2021. Controlling fuel consumption is vital to Stena Lines business, since it is a major part of their total cost base. By leveraging cutting-edge AI technologies, Hitachi will be able to identify the key factors causing high fuel consumption and, critically, advise how to make operations more efficient. Stena Line is at the forefront of the shipping industrys efforts to reduce its environmental footprint whilst increasing efficiency through the integration of smart technology. Hicham Abdessamad, Chief Executive Officer, Hitachi Global Digital Holdings Corporation, Corporate Officer of Hitachi, Ltd said: Digitalisation plays a key role in helping industries such as shipping optimise their operations for both financial performance and environmental impact. We are engaged with Stena Line on a number of strategic co-creation initiatives and we see this as an important next step in providing digital expertise to help them achieve positive business and societal outcomes. Rune Kleiberg, Head of digital strategy, Stena Line said: With a structured approach and by taking continuous initiatives, the aim is for Stena Line to become a leader in sustainable shipping. We are pleased to have Hitachi on board to help us in our cognitive journey to improve fleet operation across ship and shore, providing new capabilities for safer and more sustainable ferry journeys, as well as helping improve operational efficiencies and overall vessel performance. About Hitachi Europe Ltd. Hitachi Europe Ltd., a subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., is headquartered in Maidenhead, UK. The company is focused on its Social Innovation Business - delivering innovations that answer societys challenges. Hitachi Europe and its subsidiary companies offers a broad range of information & telecommunication systems; rail systems, power and industrial systems; industrial components & equipment; automotive systems, digital media & consumer products and others with operations and research & development Laboratories across EMEA. For more information, visit http://www.hitachi.eu. About Hitachi, Ltd. Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE:6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, delivers innovations that answer societys challenges, combining its operational technology, information technology, and products/systems. The companys consolidated revenues for fiscal 2017 (ended March 31, 2018) totaled 9,368.6 billion yen ($88.4 billion). The Hitachi Group is an innovation partner for the IoT era, and it has approximately 307,000 employees worldwide. Through collaborative creation with customers, Hitachi is deploying Social Innovation Business using digital technologies in a broad range of sectors, including Power/Energy, Industry/Distribution/Water, Urban Development, and Finance/Social Infrastructure/Healthcare. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at http://www.hitachi.com. HITACHI is a trademark or registered trademark of Hitachi, Ltd. All other trademarks, service marks, and company names are properties of their respective owners. COMPANY CONTACT Kelly Smith Hitachi Europe Ltd. Kelly.Smith@Hitachi-eu.com +447748555915 Denver, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- United Rotorcraft is pleased to announce they have received CAAC (Civil Aviation Authority of China) validations of Supplemental Type Certificates (VSTC) for the United Rotorcraft 407 EMS kit, their Articulating Litter Loading System (ALLS), and their controllable Search Light kit. The validation supports the delivery of the first three Chinese EMS Bell 407s. United Rotorcrafts CAAC validated B407 EMS kit consists of a Med Wall that includes soft goods storage, medical outlet panels and controls for the advanced life support systems, such as oxygen, integrated compressed air, suction and A/C electrical power. The EMS kit not only includes the installation kits to complete the 407 as a dedicated air ambulance platform, but the VSTC also includes stand-alone approval for an ALLS litter kit, allowing a Chinese operator to modify the aircraft with only a litter installation for basic lifesaving missions. The Search Light VSTC gives operators the option of augmenting the factory delivered aircraft with additional lighting to further expand their mission. This CAAC validation represents continued growth and market expansion for the division, stated Frank Graham, senior director of Global Sales and Marketing at United Rotorcraft. We are confident these three aircraft will be the first of many opportunities in China. United Rotorcraft continues to pursue CAAC Validation for other products, as well as development of interiors for newer airframes, such as the Bell 505, Leonardo Helicopter 169 and the Airbus lineage. For more information regarding the United Rotorcraft Bell 407 interior or any other United Rotorcraft products, please visit www.unitedrotorcraft.com. About Bell Helicopter Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, Bell Helicopter has additional plants in Amarillo, Texas, and Mirabel, Canada. We maintain key logistics supply and service centers in Europe, Canada and Singapore, as well as in the United States. As the worlds premier provider of vertical lift aircraft, Bell Helicopter continues to provide every customer with products, service and support second to none. About United Rotorcraft United Rotorcraft, An Air Methods Division, (www.unitedrotorcraft.com) specializes in the design and manufacture of aeromedical and aerospace technology. United Rotorcraft offers a full range of completion, paint and MRO services and products for emergency medical services, search and rescue, law enforcement, utility, VIP and military operators. About Air Methods Air Methods Corporation (www.airmethods.com) is the global leader in air medical transportation, delivering lifesaving care to more than 100,000 patients per year. The Tourism Division is comprised of Sundance Helicopters, Inc. and Blue Hawaiian Helicopters, which provide helicopter tours and charter flights in the Las Vegas/Grand Canyon region and Hawaii, respectively. Air Methods fleet of owned, leased or maintained aircraft features over 450 helicopters and fixed wing aircraft. saikiran1003 wrote: Hi all, I just took my 3rd attempt at gmat and scored a 690(Q49 V34) with IR-8(93 percentile)[1st - 580(Q51 V21), 2nd - 590(Q51 V22)]. Though I could get a 100 point jump on my score, I really regret not replicating my previous quant performance which would've let me break the 700 barrier. My dream schools are Rotman, University of Toronto and Foster, University of Washington. I am indian, male, 24 years old. GPA: I studied CSE. I do not have a great gpa from college - 6.5 with 6.8 in final year without any backlogs(Concentrated way too much on learning data science in my last two years). Work Exp: My work experience and performance at work have been completely opposite to my grades(probably a reaction to my disappointing college grades). I will be having 3 years of work experience by the time i wish to start my mba. I work in a data analytics firm(Its a deloitte fast 50 firm for the last 8 years) which was my college dream(Somehow obsessed with data science and data engineering) and i have received the top performer award. I constantly work with the top people of the company, thanks to their trust in young people. I can get my references from my manager who is a visiting faculty and course designer at IIM-Calcutta and also one from the dean of computer science in my college(He somehow liked me as a student). I believe I am really good at my writing skills. So I am confident of writing good essays. I served as the head of Public Relations for entrepreneurship development cell in my college. What I would really like to know are- Do I really have a profile which is good enough for the schools i want to go to? Or do i have to take my gmat again if it is going to help offset my profile? If yes, What should be the score I will have to target. I am pretty confident about pushing V34 to around V40 or even more with some more focus and organized preparation(I am yet to take a GMATPrep to be honest) and also push the Q49 to Q50 or Q51 but that i think is a matter of my test day focus and management. My short-term ambition is to do research in Strategic and Operational management. My long-term ambition is to be a professor. Thanks in advance. Congratulations on your accomplishments at work! It is good to be motivated and turn things around so kudos for that. As mentioned above, retaking is probably a good idea if you want to increase your chances of getting into Rotman. Can it work with a 690? Certainly. The average is 665, however given the competitive demographic and your low undergraduate GPA, you really want to shine here. Even just bumping from 49 to a 50 can make a nice improvement here. Are you considering applying to other schools as well? I would advise you to increase the number of schools you are looking for since you have lower than the average # of years of work experience and the process is competitive. If you do both of those things, your chances will increase quite a bit.Reach out if you want help crafting your applications. I will be giving a talk in Toronto this summer and would be happy to explore how you could pitch yourself on the personal side as well (how to fit in on campus!)Best,Scott_________________ boksana wrote: The number of North American children who are obese - that is, who have more body fat than do 85 percent of North American children their age - is steadily increasing, according to four major studies conducted over the past 15 years. If the finding reported above is correct, it can be properly concluded that (A) when four majors studies all produce similar results, those studies must be accurate (B) North American children have been progressively less physically active over the past 15 years (C) the number of North American children who are not obese increased over the past 15 years (D) over the past 15 years, the number of North American children who are underweight has declined (E) the incidence of obesity in North American children tends to increase as the children grow older OFFICIAL EXPLANATION Answer choice (C): This is the correct answer. Number of obese children 15 = 15% Number of non-obese children 85 = 85% This stimulus provides information about both the numbers and percentages of obese children, and so you can end up with an answer that has either a number or a percentage (though a numerical answer is more likely since the percentage is fixed at a constant 15% in the stimulus). The numerical information comes from the phrase, The number of North American children who are obese...is steadily increasing. The percentage information comes from the phrase, children who are obesethat is, who have more body fat than do 85 percent of North American children their age. The percentage information defines obese children as those who fall into the top 15% among all children their age in terms of body fat, and therefore the percentage is known to be constant. The numerical information tells us that the actual number of obese children is increasing (and since this is a Must Be True question we can accept that information as accurate).Answer choice (A): This answer is incorrect because there is no evidence in the stimulus to support it. Although the stimulus mentioned four major studies that apparently agreed about the increase in the number of obese children, it would be an exaggeration to say that any time four major studies produce similar results they must be accurate.Answer choice (B): This answer proposes a causal reason for why the number of obese children is growing. From the information in the stimulus we cannot determine the cause of the rise in obesity, so answer choice (B) is also wrong.Consider the following example: 15 years ago100 total children of similar ageNow, let us say that the number of obese children has risen to 150 children today: So far we have conformed to the information given in the stimulus: the actual number of obese children is rising. However, although the number of obese children has now risen to 150, the definition of obesity (more body fat than 85 percent of North American children) remains unchanged. Since this is the case, the 150 obese children today must still comprise the top 15% of the total child population. Consequently, the remaining 85% of non-obese children must now be 850 (150 is 15% of 1000, and thus 85% of 1000 is 850):Answer choice (C) is fully supported because the stimulus provides information about both the number and percentage of obese children. As stated earlier, if the stimulus provides information about both the numbers and percentages in a situation, then you can select any supported answer choice that contains either numbers or percentages. Note the emphasis on the word supported. In the obesity problem, GMAC could easily have written an incorrect answer choice that says, The number of North American children who are not obese decreased over the past 15 years.Answer choice (D): This answer addresses underweight children, who are neither defined nor discussed in the stimulus.Answer choice (E): This answer is directly contradicted by the information in the stimulus, which states that the incidence of obesity is definitionally set at a constant 15%._________________ My names Will Capers. For almost nine years, Ive blogged on various topics. I blogged as Blaque Ink first, and as Brotha Wolf second. The latter had a mu... 2 years ago STORY UPDATED: check for updates below. Correction: A ballot measure "D" was actually passed with 75.94% in Oakland but it had nothing to do with hate crimes or undocumented persons. It read: Shall the measure, to protect and improve library services throughout Oakland, including: providing safe places for youth after school; preventing library closures; providing youth reading and senior programs, evening/weekend hours for students/families and adult literacy services; establishing a 20 year annual parcel tax, $75 for single family parcels, other parcel type at specified rates; and providing about $10,000,000 annually, with audits, citizens' oversight and exemptions for low income seniors and residents, be adopted? Was ballot measure "D" passed in California during yesterday's election related to hate crimes? No, that's not true: there is no new measure in effect that would automatically charge any law-enforcement officer committing an act of violence against an undocumented person with a hate crime. That news came from a satirical meme posted by a Facebook page set up to troll conservatives. It was not real. The meme was published in a post dated June 6, 2018 on a Facebook page titled "America's Last Line Of Defense |." (archived here) and the text in it read: In yesterday's election, Californians passed ballot measure "D". Any law-enforcement officer who commits an act of violence against an undocumented person... ..will be charged with a hate crime. No such measure was actually on the ballot yesterday. The Facebook page originally spreading it carries following disclaimer in the about section: Photo by Michael K. Smeltzer for UPI Mary Bohlen of UPI and Dan Egler of the Chicago Tribune were among reporters covering the Illinois Senate in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Watching the debate on the Equal Rights Amendment last week in the Illinois House was a true case of deja vu. Some 40 years ago, I was covering similar debates in the General Assembly as a young reporter for United Press International. When I realized how many years had passed, I was ashamed of my state. How could blue Illinois, surrounded by a red sea in the 2016 election, have taken all this time to pass what seems so basic? How could Illinois not have approved the same rights for the whole country that we have had in our state constitution since 1970? How could it be that my daughter, daughter-in-law and two granddaughters, all born in the meantime, live in a country that hasnt guaranteed them the respect and rights they deserve? Photo by Michael K. Smeltzer for UPI ERA activist Wanda Brandstetter demonstrates on the Statehouse lawn during the original fight over the Equal Rights Amendment in the early 1980s. She was later charged with attempting to bribe a state legislator for his yes vote, tried and convicted. In the intervening years, weve had a woman lieutenant governor, attorney general, treasurer, comptroller and candidate for governor. More women serve in the legislature and hold offices throughout the state. Women are university presidents, deans, provosts and professors. Women are the majority of college students, including those in journalism departments. No one blinks an eye when a female doctor walks into the room.Yet not everything is equal when it comes to pay, promotion and practice. Womens salaries lag behind their male counterparts in many jobs, a not-so-hidden bias often arises against working mothers reaching the top, and the #metoo movement reminds us sexism is far from dead.I am not so naive as to think that the ERA will make us equal in all things and erase the indignities women continue to endure. True change must begin long before anyone enters the workforce, indeed before beliefs are taught in the crib and in the toy aisle.Last weeks debate was relatively low key, compared to the emotions and activities in the late 1970s and early 1980s. As Illinois became a focal point for the amendments passage then, ERA supporters took to fasting, chaining themselves to the Capitol railing and even tossing animal blood on the marble floor. One activist was charged and convicted of trying to bribe a legislator for a yes vote.Fear-mongers warned the amendment would lead to unisex bathrooms, women drafted into the military, abortion on demand and irreversible disruption in family life. Phyllis Schlafly and her Eagle Forum crew inundated the Statehouse, bearing homemade bread as a sign that men could no longer count on their wives to tend their needs if the ERA passed.I remember having to physically remove myself from the UPI bureau when Schlafly popped in, knowing I could not objectively report on whatever she said. Many of the other women in the Statehouse pressroom also struggled to maintain an even balance in their reporting about the ERA, when pressure from both sides became intense. Our male colleagues, for the most part, struggled alongside us.Last week opponents invoked some of the old arguments and emphasized abortion and fighting poverty as reasons to vote against the ERA. I wondered if they had even read the amendments language, just as I wondered the same 40 years ago. I respect deeply held beliefs on these issues, but I feared such arguments might condemn the ERA to another lengthy purgatory.Fortunately, proponents prevailed and the House joined the Senate to make Illinois the 37th state to ratify. With another state needed to make the ERA part of the U.S. Constitution and the validity of its original passage deadline questioned, the forecast for the amendment is cloudy. I also am appalled and perplexed that my female state representative, a young working mother, was one of 45 to vote no.But for now, I take comfort in Illinois at last joining the movement toward equal rights for all. It also is fun to reminisce with my former women colleagues about covering the story, even if most of us cant believe it took this long to pass the amendment.We are all mothers and many of us are grandmothers now, and only two are still working journalists. We share our memories and celebrate that todays women reporters finally got to write the story we all longed to write, those 40 years ago. 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 Advisory referendums are good for our democracy, but only if the right question is asked. For years people have talked about the inefficiency and absurdity of two different governments serving the same geographical area, like the City of Springfield and Capital Township. But no legal mechanism existed to abolish the township or merge it into the city. That changed in January, with a new law allowing townships having the same boundaries as a city to be abolished by referendum, with their functions absorbed by the city. I went to this years Capital Township annual meeting and urged the township to save tax dollars by following the lead of similar townships, which had dissolved. Most township functions would be taken over by the city of Springfield. Other Capital Township voters expressed similar views. Citizens Club President Bob Gray advocates abolishing Capital Township. The Better Government Association (BGA) and the Chicago Tribune also advocate such reforms.The Capital Township Board responded with a non sequitur. The board did not begin the public hearing process, required by the new law before putting a binding referendum on the ballot to abolish the township. Instead, the Township Board unanimously voted in May to put an advisory referendum on the November ballot asking: Shall Capital Township pursue a full merger with Sangamon County?The board did this even though the new law mandates that if Capital Township is abolished, its functions and taxing authority go to the city. So the only way the township could be merged into the county would be for the city to enter into an intergovernmental agreement to do this. But Mayor Jim Langfelder is opposed to this, except for the townships tax assessment and collection functions, already done by by county officials acting ex officio as township officials.It makes no sense to merge Capital Township into a county with 25 other townships which are not merging into it. Capital Township has more than $2.1 million in reserves, paid by Springfield taxpayers. Why should these funds be deposited in the countys treasury? Similarly, the county would pick up the authority to impose the same property taxes the township now levies on Springfield residents, but it would be the county board levying the taxes on city property owners, not the city council taxation without representation.Finally, the township has proved very inefficient at its only real function welfare. The township employed six people to administer General Assistance in the last fiscal year, spending almost 50 cents in administration for every dollar of benefits. Thats way more than a leading authority on charity expenses allows. Charity Navigator says no more than 33.3 per cent should be spent on administration and, according to the charity rating organization, even thats high. The average is typically much lower. Since county officials view the county and township as already being merged, if they actually do merge this inefficiency would likely continue.If the city absorbed the townships welfare function, it would likely put it in the Community Relations Department, which already provides some welfare services. Director Juan Huerta says he could likely handle the new responsibility with only one additional employee, making it likely taxpayer dollars would be saved, as they were when the city of Evanston absorbed Evanston Township, saving almost $1 million a year.You cant get the right answer if you dont ask the right question. If the Capital Township Board really wants its constituents views, it would ask two questions: (1) Shall Capital Township, which has the same boundaries as the city of Springfield, be merged into the city of Springfield?; and (2) Shall Capital Township, which has the same boundaries as the city of Springfield, be merged into Sangamon County? click to enlarge PHOTO BY LARRY D. MOORE Jim Hightower Some extremely rich fellows whove been hiding behind the tree to avoid taxation for years are the global financial speculators engaged in the high-rolling, computer-driven, fast-buck, multi-trillion dollar casino gambles that now define Wall Street. Unbeknownst to most people, the dominant investment banks today have been converted into casinos. Rather than amalgamating capital to finance the real economy, the bulk of Wall Street transactions are purely speculative such as gaming foreign currency exchanges, collateralized debt obligations, credit default swaps, crude oil and farm commodity futures, and more.These transactions create nothing but quick profits for those few big traders who can afford to play, with most of them using automated tracking systems and superfast computers to invest millions of dollars at a time into these exotic financial instruments. They buy into a scheme one day and sell it the next or even turn the transaction around in a matter of minutes. And were talking about huge sums of money every year a mindboggling $700 trillion according to The Wall Street Journal.As we saw in the 2007 crash in the housing bubble, such gamesmanship for the few wreaks havoc on the many. And Wall Streets continuing refusal to invest in productive enterprises has created Americas new normal of a stagnant economy.One way to restore some sanity is to erect a disincentive for Wall Streeters Gone Wild. A financial speculation tax would achieve that ... and more. First, the FST would be a very modest assessment of, say, 0.25 percent per transaction. Every time anyone buys or sells a stock or bond, as well as any derivative, option, future, credit default swap or other financial exotica, a tiny tax of 0.25 percent or less would be applied to the transaction.Regular folks who have some of their money in the stock market would feel no pinch from this tax, for they make relatively stable, small, long-term investments in stocks and bonds, so the FST would be a trivial charge.However, the tax would sting the global speculators and profiteers who surge in and out of the market, buying and selling huge volumes of assets at lightning speed, each of them betting on hundreds of these ultra-short-term transactions every day, grabbing millions of dollars a year by finding a small profit margin on each one. Because of those small margins, an FST add-on of 0.25 percent to buy each asset and another 0.25 percent to sell it would be a real restraint on their frenzied and dangerous gambling on financial nonsense, helping to stabilize our present flash-crash economy.While the tax on speculators is tiny, it would pay off big for our country. Two economists calculate that it would generate $100-150 billion a year for the public treasury, virtually all of it from speculators. This money is needed to reduce the deficit while also providing funds to rebuild our infrastructure, create a green-jobs economy, and get America moving forward.Crazy? From 1914 to 1966 the U.S. had a 0.20 percent tax on the buying and selling of stocks. And in 1932 Congress more than doubled it to help finance job creation and national recovery during the Depression. It worked, helping America prosper. As for being too wild, after the 1987 Wall Street crash, none other than President George Bush the elder endorsed the idea, as did GOP Senate leader Bob Dole.Its time to put the Wall Street tax back on the table. Rather than just cutting back on the middle class and on Americas future lets invest in the grassroots people to build America up. The money to do that is now being frittered away by speculators on Wall Street. Lets reclaim a chunk of it for the common good of all the people 0.25 percent at a time. Many Iranians, both living in Iran and as part of the Iranian diaspora, took to Twitter using the hashtag #FreeIran2018 to declare support for the US sanctions and report on protests and acts of civil disobedience, which are part of the ongoing peoples uprising that began in December 2017. On Wednesday, May 30, Javad Hamida wrote: I am an Iranian, And I welcome the sanctions against the tortuous and oppressive organs of the Iranian people, By the US government. Maryam Rajavi, president of the Iranian Resistance, explained that the Iranian Regime cannot survive against the will of its people much longer. She wrote: [The] mullahs religious fascism in Iran is fleeting, devoid of any future. The people of Iran are seeking the overthrow of the entire Velayat-e Faqih regime, Rebellion Across Iran, there are many thousands of people rebelling against the malign mullahs on a daily basis. Here are just a few examples of their civil disobedience from the past two weeks. Activists set fire to a picture of Irans Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on the streets of Zarrin-Shahr on Thursday and uploaded a video of the act to the internet, with the camera operator saying Dictator, say hello to your end. Also, truck drivers remained on strike for the tenth consecutive day on Thursday. They are striking over unpaid wages, according to video footage shared by news editor M. Hanif Jazayeri. As the days pass, more drivers are joining the strike, including energy-sector workers who are likely to deal the fatal blow to the Iranian economy. Jazayeri wrote: Iranians are prepared to pay the price to end mullahs rule. Rajavi also said that the strike was an example of how much the Iranian people want freedom from the corruption of the mullahs. On May 24, Hackers took over the video monitors at Mashhad Airport, Irans second busiest airport, and displayed messages supporting the uprising, including the question How much longer? and the Farsi version on the hashtag #FreeIran2018. The hashtag #FreeIran2018 is also being used to promote the annual gathering of Iranians and their supporters in Paris, organised by the National Council of Resistance of Iran. The gathering, happening on June 30, will address that regime change in Iran is the will of the people and will happen sooner than most think. The NCRI said: This gathering will express solidarity with the Iranian peoples long quest for freedom and democracy, and support for the democratic alternative to the current dictatorship in Iran. US stands with Iranian people When the new round of US sanctions was announced, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that he is taking action to hold the Iranian Regime responsible for their brutal human rights abuses, oppressive censorship, and crimes against humanity. He said: [The US] stands with the people of Iran [Iran] not only exports terrorism and instability across the world, it routinely violates the rights of its own people. The Iranian regime diverts national resources that should belong to the people to fund a massive and expensive censorship apparatus and suppress free speech. The Iran-HRM report also noted that Sundays demonstrations was subject to predictable attempts by state security forces to suppress and disperse the protesters. Witnesses on the scene reported that a number of workers had been injured after being attacked by police, in a repeat of clashes that have taken place against the backdrop of numerous labor rights demonstrations over the past several months. Beginning in May and proceeding for more than two weeks, a coordinated strike by truck drivers virtually shut down the Iranian transportation industry for a time. This protest also met with a violent response from security forces, but not before participants undertook to peacefully but directly confront regime authorities. When IRGC-owned companies hired scabs to break the strike, protesters responded by obstructing their vehicles and forcing them to unload goods. Such bold measures may come as a surprise to many observers, considering that the coordination of labor movements has traditionally been impeded by the illegality of formal unions, while the IRGC has repeatedly demonstrated its strength in the midst of crackdowns on protests and other forms of dissent. It was largely by virtue of the IRGCs response that nationwide protests in December and January initially motivated by public outrage over an economic crisis ended with 8,000 arrests and 50 protesters shot dead. But despite this repression, opponents of the Iranian regime were quick to predict that the peoples outrage would not be contained, and the Iranian Resistance leader Maryam Rajavi declared that the following year can and must be turned into a year full of uprisings. The coalition that Mrs. Rajavi heads, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, has repeatedly cited ongoing labor protests and other demonstrations as evidence that her prediction was correct and that the Iranian people are acting in accordance with it. This message is underscored by the apparent overlap between specific demonstrations like those calling for the payment of outstanding wages and the more general message that characterized the December-to-January uprising, in which participants chanted death to the dictator and death to [President] Rouhani. Regime officials were unusually quick to attribute these and other slogans to organized Resistance groups. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei first declared in a speech on January 9 that the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran had planned for months to bring about the mass uprising. The PMOI is the leading constituent group of the NCRI, and has been an advocate of regime change since the years immediately following the establishment of the Islamic Republic. The regimes anxiety about the growth of such movements and the expansion of their activities has been on display at various times in the midst of the most recent protests. Iran-HRM noted in a report last Friday that at least one Iranian Member of Parliament attempted to downplay the ultimately violent suppression of the truckers strike by saying that the various arrests associated with that movement were not arrests of striking worker but rather of activists who had piggybacked off of the strike in order to voice their opposition to the regime. But as the January uprising demonstrated, many Iranians, including farmers and blue collar workers who have traditionally been political inactive, have recently opted to make it clear that they attribute many of their hardships, in the workplace and in society at large, to the essential nature of the ruling authorities. This suggests that it is not as difficult to separate labor protesters from anti-government protesters as the regime authorities have been implying, even if they sincerely believe that they have been targeting one group and not the other. But this sincerity is also cast into doubt by accounts of the regimes reaction to other protests in recent days and weeks. As an example, the CHRI reported last week that 15 protesters had been arrested on May 29, out of about 200 who had gathered outside of the governors office in the province of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad to protest government plans to divert water, which are expected to greatly harm the livelihood of local farmers while also exacerbating the effects of an ongoing drought. The 15 arrestees in the case had been selected to represent the larger group in talks with local authorities, but those talks were cancelled at the last moment and the negotiators were instead ordered arrested upon their arrival. This incident has naturally been a source of particular outrage among defenders of workers rights, with one Iranian journalist writing: Even primitive tribes respected the enemys representatives and believed that violating that trust was dishonorable. But of course the broader pattern of arrests and attacks on protesters is itself indicative of the systematic obstruction of free speech and free assembly. This represents a violation not only of international norms but also of the laws of the Islamic Republic. Another report by CHRI quotes Article 27 of the Iranian Constitution as saying, Public gatherings and marches may be freely held, provided arms are not carried and that they are not detrimental to the fundamental principles of Islam. Yet that report also notes that worker protests at the Heavy Equipment Production Company (Hepco) in the city of Arak were deemed illegal gatherings, leading to 10 participants being charged with the crime of disturbing public order. Those defendants now face up to five years in prison, and there is a strong possibility that others may join them, as workers continue to demand the payment of three months worth of back wages. One Hepco strike began on May 14 and ended two days later after managers offered a deal. But when they failed to make any payment in line with that agreement, another strike was initiated on May 21. This sort of back-and-forth is part of a much larger pattern involving the company, which Human Rights activists describe as a case study in Tehrans utter failure to manage its own program of industrial privatization. The IranWire article in question traces the history of Hepco in substantial detail, highlighting the recurrent non-payment of worker salaries to illustrate how the government and its affiliates in the private sector have failed to take action to rectify a well-known problem. This company, like many others, has reportedly seen declining revenues over the years as a result of a combination of persistent factors, including corruption, mismanagement, and the Iranian regimes failure to address the crises facing the national economy as a whole. Against the backdrop of those crises the move toward privatization, beginning in the mid-2000s, resulted in institutions like the Revolutionary Guard enriching themselves on the backs of ordinary workers. According to IranWire, those in the private sector who did benefit from the move were often accused of corrupt and sweetheart deals and having close links with the countrys most powerful elite. And to the extent that these trends laid the groundwork for the current labor protests, they also lend credence to message of anti-government protests: that the Iranian peoples hardships are inextricably linked to the overall behavior of the clerical regime. Meanwhile, another report arguably lends support to the argument that a wholesale change of government may be necessary in order to facilitate a change in those behaviors. That report, focused on certain conditions leading up to recent protests and clashes with security forces in the city of Kazerun, points out that researchers affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard had identified threats to the regions stability at least three years earlier. Despite this fact, it appears that nothing was done to counteract those conditions, just as nothing has been done to diminish the gap in wealth and incomes between well-connected Iranian elites and the ordinary Iranian people who have been driving so many protests since the end of last year. For the moment, Khamenei says that the planned increase in uranium hexafluoride will keep the country within the framework of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. A report by UPI regarded this as evidence that the supreme leader is committed to salvaging the deal in partnership with the European signatories Britain, France, and Germany as well as with allies Russia and China, following the American pullout. But the same report notes that Khamenei previously established a series of preconditions for talks with the Europeans over this matter, suggesting that if he is interested in keeping the JCPOA in effect, he is interested in doing so strictly on his terms. The supreme leaders eight conditions were specifically delineated by IranWire more than a week earlier, in a report that credited him with returning to his role as bad cop in the 2015 negotiations. At that time, Khamenei established a number of supposed red lines, thereby allowing negotiators and so-called moderate President Hassan Rouhani to argue that their hands were tied in certain areas and that they were limited to offering different or lesser compromises in order to prevent Khamenei from pulling them out of the talks. This argument was never seriously tested, so it cannot be said with certainty whether Khamenei would have actually walked away without the desired relief from nuclear-related sanctions. Similarly, it cannot be said with certainty that he will allow the JCPOA to collapse in its entirety if his conditions are not met. In this case, however, the supreme leaders resolve will almost certainly be put to the test since some of the given conditions are recognizably non-starters. As an example, IW says of Khameneis demand for European resistance to any and all American economic pressures, European countries cannot fight American sanctions against Iran. And they are unwilling to engage in arguments with the US over the matter. In fact, it is not farfetched to believe that European countries could impose their own sanctions on Iran in connection with violations of human rights. But even though Khameneis demands may be unworkable in whole or in part, they are clearly indicative of the same commitment to anti-Western rhetoric that guided his publicly begrudging acceptance of the JCPOA in the first place. His recent announcement of expanded enrichment can easily be seen as playing the same role and giving the impression that his regime will not be forced into compromise but will only accept it on his terms. That message, a near-constant feature of Iranian officials public statements, was given an especially loud outlet on Monday, when the Islamic Republic marked the 29th anniversary of the death of its founder, Ruhollah Khomeini. Mehr News Agency published excerpts from Khameneis speech on that occasion, in which he made extensive use of the word enemies to refer to the United States and its European allies while declaring them untrustworthy and praising Khomeinis legacy of resistance to foreign power. The supreme leaders speech provided an opportunity to reiterate one red line that had long been held in common by him and by President Rouhani, a supposed political rival. The enemys plot for Iran to abandon its missile program is a dream that will not come true, he said according to Mehr. He added that Iran will attack ten times more if attacked by the enemy. The ongoing expansion of the Iranian ballistic missile program was cited by President Trump as a major justification for his withdrawal from the JCPOA. This, he said, constituted a violation of the spirit of the deal, both because of the weapons potential application as delivery systems for a nuclear warhead and because of the provision of those weapons to other enemies of the US and its allies, such as the Houthi rebels in Yemen, who have repeatedly fired missiles into Saudi Arabian territory. For Trump and other harsh critics of the Iranian regime, these sorts of activities, along with the sort of militarist rhetoric that Khamenei displayed in his speech on Monday, are evidence of malign regional ambitions that make Iran untrustworthy even in the context of the nuclear deal. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for one, insisted that that agreement would only pave the way to an Iranian nuclear weapon by allowing Iran to recoup its financial resources while extending its regional influence, and then rush the production of a nuclear weapon at a later date. Netanyahu has remained a staunch opponent of the JCPOA throughout the two and a half years since its implementation, but Reuters indicated on Tuesday that his attention may at last be shifting to other instances of Irans malign behavior. Israel and Iran have already come into conflict in recent months over these other matters, specifically the establishment of an Iranian foothold in Syria against the backdrop of its seven-year civil war. But now the sources of that conflict may be moving closer to the center of Netanyahus outreach to European partners. The Reuters report detailed the Israeli Prime Ministers meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron. In it, he urged the French government to follow the Trump administrations lead in taking on an assertive stance with the Islamic Republic, but he did not ask Macron to pull out of the JCPOA, believing that it is already on course to collapsing on its own. Khameneis intransigent position on negotiations with Europe may be a factor in Netanyahus confidence. The differently-focused Israeli appeal will presumably find a more receptive audience in Europe and specifically in France, where officials have already expressed serious concern about Irans regional role. Macron has expressed agreement with Trump about the need to limit Irans ballistic missile activities. And in direct talks with his American counterpart, the French president has even personally urged President Trump against a plan to withdraw American troops from Syria, specifically because doing so would open the way to even greater influence there. Netanyahu had seized upon aspects of this topic on Monday, as well. At a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, he insisted that Irans regional activities could create yet another Middle Eastern refugee crisis. Merkel expressed general agreement with the outlined security concerns, according to Yahoo News. The effect of Netanyahus advocacy on the issue has evidently been to only inflame Khameneis defiance and violent rhetoric. As Townhall reported, the Iranian supreme leader began the week by tweeting that the Jewish state is a cancer that must be removed and eradicated. The report pointed to this as the latest evidence that the dangerous Iranian regime has been ramping up hostilities against the United States and Israel ever since the US pulled out of the nuclear agreement a month earlier. Jean-Yves Le Drian told Europe 1 radio: This initiative is unwelcome. It shows a sort of irritation. It is always dangerous to flirt with the red lines, but the initiative was taken remains totally within the framework of the Vienna (nuclear) deal. He continued: If they go to a higher level then yes the agreement would be violated, but they need to realize that if they do then they will expose themselves to new sanctions and the Europeans will not remain passive. This came after Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei said on Monday that he had ordered Iranian scientists to prepare to increase uranium enrichment capacity if the nuclear deal collapses, following Donald Trumps withdrawal of the US from the deal in May. Iran also informed the United Nations nuclear watchdog that the country has tentative plans to produce the feedstock for centrifuges (machines used to enrich uranium). Tensions have been rising between Iran and the West, ever since Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal on May 8, calling the international accord deeply flawed and citing that it was not in the USs national security interests. Trump announced that he would be reimposing unilateral nuclear sanctions on Iran, which would come into place in November and would also affect foreign businesses that traded with Iran. A kick in the teeth for Europe European powers have been struggling to save the deal, which was supposed to curb Irans nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief, so these comments must seem like a kick in the teeth. They want to preserve the nuclear deal to protect their own trade deal with Iran and also because they say this is the best way to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons, but then Iran threatens to restart its nuclear programme. Europe has already warned Iran to stick to the terms of the 2015 deal, or they will be forced to withdraw from the deal too and reimpose sanctions of their own. Of course, Iran never really ended its nuclear programme, so they have already violated the deal. Therefore, France is well within its rights to withdraw from the accord and reimpose sanctions. Le Drians comments came just one day after Benjamin Netanyahu urged France to focus on tackling Irans regional aggression, as economic pressure would kill the 2015 deal anyway. Candidate Profile: The successful candidate: will be qualified (holding at least a bachelors degree, or equivalent, and an entry-level TESOL qualification) and experienced, preferably within an international school setting; have sufficient up-to-date knowledge of the key issues in Second Language Teacher Education; have sufficient knowledge of/experience of teaching EAL within mainstream curriculums; will have either experience of working with English Language Learners or a desire to broaden his/her experience and skills in EAL teaching and learning strategies; be motivated, enthusiastic, imaginative and innovative; have excellent interpersonal skills; be aware of and sensitive to the demands of working in a cross-cultural setting; will be a dedicated teacher capable of inspiring students; will have a working knowledge of the National Curriculum for England and an ability and aspiration to attain high standards; will have assessment for learning skills; will have a flexible approach to working within the school curriculum and structures; will have demonstrated an appreciation of the value of the extra-curricular dimension in developing the potential of students; will have a positive approach to professional development, particularly in the areas of EAL and ICT; will be happy to commit to and apply all school policies; Child Safeguarding: Shrewsbury International School is committed to Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. The successful candidate will be required to attend in-house Child Safeguarding programmes promote and safeguard the welfare of all students in the school report to the Child Protection Officer any concerns they have for the welfare of a student. This may include unsafe practices witnessed within the school as outlined in the schools Speak Out (Whistleblowing) Policy. keep professional relationships with students where personal boundaries are respected and maintained seek advice from a Line Manager or Child Protection Officer with issues or concerns related to Child Safeguarding. Requirements: Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service Check (DBS) prior to the start of contract. Formal proof of identity with photo ID (Original Driving License / Passport). 2 signed, confidential references (one of which will be from the candidates current headteacher) before the start of contract. Verification of original qualifications. How to Apply: Applications will only be accepted on the official Shrewsbury International School Application Form, which is available on the school website Job Vacancies page. Further Details: Full details of the school are available on our website at www.shrewsbury.ac.th. Any queries should be forwarded to james.c@shrewsbury.ac.th Pointing out the holes in Maryann Loncars allegations against Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie) is like shooting fish in a barrel. But it doesnt necessarily mean that absolutely everything she said was untrue. Loncar, a longtime medical marijuana activist, made her allegations last week during a much-anticipated press conference on the final day of the General Assemblys spring session. Lets start with her alleged $170 million bribery scheme by a medical marijuana company, which Loncar claimed she helped expose. She claimed her meddling caused Rep. Lang to retaliate against her. This is not a new allegation. Loncar emailed me in 2015 to allege a $168 million pay-to-play scheme involving the company. The bribe turned out to be an alleged offer of a state payment by a company named Medponics for all medical marijuana licenses during a stakeholder meeting. Loncar said she had an eyewitness at the 2012 meeting. But he told me the Medponics proposal was immediately shouted down by everyone in the room, including Lang. A former lobbyist for the company flatly denied that any such offer was ever made.In 2014, Loncar and her business partners told the Tribune that their Plainfield company wanted to open three for-profit grow centers and five dispensaries. They claimed credit for convincing then-House Republican Leader Tom Cross to support medical marijuana. Cross district included Plainfield. But the medical marijuana bill written by Rep. Lang and others in 2013 barred for-profit companies like Loncars from the industry. Because I refused to let the medical marijuana profiteers trump the interests of patients, I made some people mad, Lang said. So be it.She also told me in 2015 she was being bullied by Lang and a female medical marijuana activist. Some of the alleged bullying is pretty easy to verify. Lang did indeed tell several people last year that he wouldnt support the bill to legalize hemp if Loncar was involved. But Loncar also claimed that Lang killed the hemp bill last year because of her involvement. Lobbyists involved with the hemp bill flatly denied that to me and said the same to the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune.Loncar claimed that Rep. Lang had contacted her ex-husband and allegedly said he could help you bury her if you want. She said that conversation led her to fear for her life. But her ex told the Tribune that Lang never reached out to him.Denise Rotheimer, a Loncar surrogate who accused Sen. Ira Silverstein (D-Chicago) of sexual harassment last year, told the Sun-Times last Tuesday that Loncar was not going to allege sexual harassment against a legislator.But then Loncar appeared on conservative activist Dan Profts Chicago radio show the Thursday morning before her press conference. Proft asked her whether the still-unnamed legislator had said if she wouldnt play ball, and play ball means of a sexual nature, then youre not going to get what you want.In every nature, Loncar replied. It all starts in Springfield of a sexual nature if youre female. All of it.However, when her Thursday morning statement to Proft was read back to her later that day by my associate Hannah Meisel, Loncar admitted Rep. Lang had made no such demand.The fact that she appeared on Profts radio show, invited Republican Rep. Jeanne Ives to her press conference, and used Rotheimer as a surrogate all apparently prompted Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) to tell WMAQ TV reporter Mary Ann Ahern: Each person that comes forward to share their truth deserves to be heard and taken seriously. Its unfortunate that this announcement seems to have a veneer of partisanship. This isnt a partisan issue and shouldnt be treated as such. Rep. Cassidy has been a leader on #MeToo issues at the Statehouse and recently accused Speaker Madigan of intimidation.So, what do we make of Loncars other claims, including that Lang inappropriately touched her once and made some suggestive comments?I think we should leave that for the inspector general to decide, not us. She says she has witnesses, so maybe theyll come forward. Others could conceivably make similar allegations.Langs resignation of his deputy majority leader post as well as from two important committees after consulting with House Speaker Michael Madigan clearly means he has been punished. Whether hes been punished enough will, again, be up to the inspector general. Authorities Identify Bicyclist Fatally Shot in South Los Angeles Authorities today identified a bicyclist who was fatally shot in South Los Angeles, apparently by an assailant who opened fire from a vehicle. The shooting occurred about 12:15 a.m. Sunday in the 200 block of 95thStreet, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Deandre Wells, 31, died at the scene, the coroners office reported. His home town was not known. ADVERTISEMENT No arrests were reported, and investigators were unsure of a motive for the crime. Anyone with information on the case was urged to call (877) LAPD-247. Democrats Choose Newsom Leutinant Governor Gavin Newsom came out the front runner this week in the primary race for Californias next governor and Republican John Cox followed close behind, sending both to the general election in November. Newsom is a Democrat, who formerly served as San Franciscos mayor and Cox is a Republican business executive endorsed by Trump. Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, also a Democrat, pulled in fourth behind Republican Travis Allen and wont be heading to the general election. To me, Courage for a Change is more than a campaign slogan. It has always been and will always be Californias truest calling, Newsom tweeted Tuesday night. Thanks to you, tonight we are one step closer to achieving it. Thank you, California. Now, on to November! ADVERTISEMENT Newsoms platform focuses on education, economic growth, better infrastructure and values like universal healthcare, gun safety and criminal justice reform. California is the fifth largest economy in the world, and continues to show the world that an economy can thrive when it protects workers rights, environmental protections, civil rights, and vulnerable communities, Newsom said via his campaign page. Newsom started his political career under former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, as a volunteer in his campaign. He was appointed to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in the late 90s replacing Kevin Shelly and was subsequently voted into a four year term in 1998. He served as San Franciscos mayor from 2004 to 2011. One of his most notable legacies there was the Care Not Cash initiative, which provided 5,000 homeless people with permanent shelter in the city. Other programs initiated by Newsom to end chronic homelessness include the San Francisco Homeless Outreach Team (SF HOT), and Project Homeless Connect (PHC). He was also known for rebelling against state laws against same sex marriage licenses, when he directed city/county clerks to issue to such couples. For his part, Cox said he wants to take back California through immigration and tax reform, he said. Once the land of promise and opportunity, California today is on the brink of financial insolvency, thanks to the failed policies of the Jerry Brown Liberal Democrats, Cox wrote on his campaign website. ADVERTISEMENT We should begin by repealing Jerry Browns massive $52 billion gas tax increase and ending the Sanctuary State. Next, we need to unshackle the productive capacity of Californias vast economic engines. The only possible way to rescue California from a likely financial melt-down is to unleash small business, roll back oppressive regulations and focus on economic growth. Im a businessman, not a politician. I have a 35 year conservative record and have an economic plan that will make California affordable again for middle class families Cox cut his political teeth in a run for Congress to represent Illinois 10th District in 2000. He ran for U.S. Senate in 2002. He became a full time resident of California in 2007. President Donald Trump said, California finally deserves a great Governor, one who understands borders, crime and lowering taxes, in his endorsement of Cox. [Cox is] a really good and highly competent man. Meanwhile, Villaraigosa called for Los Angeles County to keep its polls open until Friday, because of a printing glitch that knocked more than 100,000 voters off of rosters. Were not saying anything nefarious happened but when youre a leader, you say, Weve got to have answers,' he said Tuesday night. Weve asked to extend the time to vote so we can make it clear how many people were turned away. Weve been told that a number of people were turned away and werent allowed to cast a ballot. According to news reports, Villaraigosa is relying heavily on support from Los Angeles County, and the glitch could lead to a delay in tallying many votes in his favor. His campaign has also expressed concerns that some voters whose names werent on the roster may have left without voting at all. Story has been updated to include excerpts from an email sent to ALPLM by a former state official. Anyone who suspects that faith in government institutions might be lacking need look no further than a behind-the-scenes kerfuffle involving the city of Springfield and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. The stars of the show are two interment books from Oak Ridge Cemetery that contain burial records of Abraham Lincoln and kin. The city recently paid $30,000 to restore the crumbling books. Now that the books are no longer falling apart, the city needs a place to keep them, preferably a place that controls for humidity and leaky ceilings and paper-eating insects and would-be vandals so that the books wont crumble again. Enter the ALPLM.Museum director Alan Lowe last month signed a deal with Mayor Jim Langfelder aimed at keeping the books safe in the ALPLMs vault. Now, some are questioning the arrangement, which is being tweaked in advance of a city council vote to establish a long-term agreement between the city and the museum.It boils down to issues of trust.No one is saying that the ALPLM isnt the best place for the books. The goal is to keep them stored away and untouched and out of public view save for occasional exhibits that would feature the books safe inside glass cases. Digital copies exist, and if the internet isnt sufficient, the city also has paid for replicas to keep at cemetery offices.But some lovers of Lincoln, and the cemetery, are nervous that the agreement between the city and the museum doesnt sufficiently protect the documents, or the citys interests.For one thing, the agreement now in place allows the ALPLM to make copies of the books. That doesnt sit well with some.City officials have said that the secretary of states office borrowed the books in 2003 to make digital copies and returned them unbound and in pieces. Its an accusation disputed by the state. Secretary of state spokesman Henry Haupt says that his office never touched the books but rather handled grant money that paid for copies that were made under the direction of the state historical library. Haupt is backed by Alyce Scott, a lecturer at San Jose State University and former coordinator of the digital imaging program at the state historical library for a dozen years beginning in 2000. Scott, who attached a photograph of one volume in a recent email to a top ALPLM official, said the book's condition "was not the greatest" when the city loaned it to the state for copying, and no damage was done during the copying process. "The vendor setup included digital cameras and a cradle for the book to be placed in during the digitization process," Scott wrote in an email to Michael Little, ALPLM chief operating officer, in response to accusations from city officials that the state had damaged the books. "As it was being digitized, the volume was handled with great care, and was never placed on a flatbed scanner. I know this to be true, because I saw the digitization in process. To imply that anyone (from the SoS office, or otherwise) entrusted with digitizing a volume this precious would handle it in such a cavalier fashion, is a great slap in the face of all these people, but especially the vendor who did such a careful job in creating the digital version." Still, some city officials want to make sure that the state cant ever be in the position to damage the books by making copies. The last thing we want, after paying to have these things restored, is to have someone take them apart again like the secretary of state did the last time to do a page-by-page scan, says Ward 8 Ald. Kris Theilen. I feel very comfortable with it being at the museum. We need a reasonable guarantee that the books are going to be protected. Michael Lelys, Oak Ridge Cemetery executive director, shares Theilens concern. If you already have copies, why do you need to copy it again? Lelys asks. There also are questions of future ownership. P.J. Staab, a local funeral director whose relatives are buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery, says that hes concerned that the existing agreement is titled a deposit agreement as opposed to a loan agreement. A loan agreement, Staab says, would help guarantee that the books never fall under state ownership in the event that future city officials somehow forget to renew the agreement between the city and the museum, which must be renewed every 10 years. I kind of liken it to a shirt that you take to the dry cleaners, says Staab, who provided a replica hearse for a 2015 reenactment of Lincolns funeral at Oak Ridge. You dont loan it to them, you deposit it. And if the shirt doesnt get picked up in 30 days, the cleaner owns it. Corporation counsel Jim Zerkle says that the citys ownership is protected under a deposit agreement. However, a revised contract attached to a proposed intergovernmental agreement presented to the city council on Tuesday would not allow the museum to make copies of the books. The current deal between Mayor Jim Langfelder and the museum, Zerkle said, was established so that the city would have a place to store the books pending city council approval of a formal intergovernmental agreement. Chris Wills, ALPLM spokesman, says that the museum wants to help the city and is open to suggestions. Wed be happy to listen to whatever they have to say, Wills said. At least one thing is clear. No one should pretend theyre from the city and ask the ALPLM to hand over the books. Both the agreement thats in place and the proposed deal up for city council approval state that anyone designated by the mayor to pick up the books must present photo identification issued by the state of Illinois before the ALPLM will surrender the manuscripts. Contact Bruce Rushton at brushton@illinoistimes.com. Dorothy Cobb Wheeler, Advocate for Others, Passes Away A life dedicated to faith, family and community has ended for longtime Los Angeles resident Dorothy Cobb Wheeler, who passed away on May 27 at the age of 77. Inspired by her love for God and concern for all people, Dorothy devoted her first career to assisting residents as part of the LAPD Wilshire and Pacific Divisions Community Relations Office. Following her retirement, she attended law school at age 58 and became an attorney specializing in employment discrimination and working pro bono for faith-based and senior citizens groups. A celebration of her life and her steadfast commitment to others will be held on Tuesday, June 12, at 11 a.m., at Brookins-Kirkland Community AME Church, 3719 West Slauson Blvd., in Los Angeles. ADVERTISEMENT The Right Rev. Theodore Larry Kirkland, Sr., retired bishop of the AME Church, will deliver the eulogy and the Rev. Dr. Mary S. Minor, BKCAME pastor, will officiate the service. In lieu of flowers, the family asked for donations to the American Heart Association and the Black Women Lawyers Association. A native of Tryonza, Arkansas, Dorothy was born October 6, 1940 to Robert Abraham and Willa Mae Taylor. Relocating with her parents to Madera, California, she honed her leadership skills early as the second oldest of 10 children. She married the late Carroll Cobb and they produced two sons. The young family settled in the Baldwin Vista district of Los Angeles where they raised their children and Dorothy was active in neighborhood organizations. In 2012, she married James Wheeler. She also worked 33 years for the Los Angeles Police Department. A fast learner and enthusiastic employee, Dorothy headed several programs in the Wilshire and Pacific Divisions. Her assignments included volunteer director, crime prevention program manager and Adopt-A-School coordinator, a highly successful initiative that led to Dorothy receiving the LAPD Humanitarian Award in 1994. Dorothy earned a Bachelors degree in 1977 from the University of Redlands, but after retiring in 1997, she enrolled in the University of West Los Angeles School of Law. Graduating with a Juris Doctor degree in 2001, she started a private practice and focused her efforts on assisting others. Also, she served as the universitys alumni director from 2001 to 2003. In addition to her community service, Dorothy was active in her church, said Bishop Kirkland, who welcomed her into membership at Brookins Community AME Church when he was the pastor. ADVERTISEMENT Dorothy was an outstanding church leader. She served on the Steward Board, developed rebuilding strategies when the church burned in 1991 and was a great supporter of my candidacy for the episcopacy, recalled Kirkland. She was also an achiever and thats why she was able to work for LAPD for 33 years and retire with honors. Then she went to law school and became an outstanding legal professional in order to do something for the people, he added. Citing Dorothys role as a friend, Arshell Quarles said, Dear Dorothy, you were truly a good girlfriend. You treated me like a sister! I miss you so much already and I will always love you to the moon and back! Offering similar sentiments, Juanita Hamilton noted, Dorothy was everyones best friend. We all loved her kindness, generosity and sense of humor. I will always treasure our friendship and cherish her memory. Dorothy was preceded in death by parents, Robert Abraham and Willa Mae Taylor, and her first husband, Carroll Cobb. Her surviving loved ones include her husband, James Wheeler; sons, Dr. Rodney Cobb and Carroll Cobb, five grandsons, four sisters, five brothers, and many other family and friends. Ex-Fugitive L.A. Gang Member Gets 20 Years for Killing Black Motorist A Highland Park gang member, who spent more than 15 years on the run, was sentenced today to 20 years behind bars for the unprovoked murder of an innocent motorist whose killing was part of a deadly anti-Black pact among gang members that used violence, intimidation and harassment to force blacks out of the mostly Latino neighborhood. Before Merced Shadow Cambero, 39, was sentenced, U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson made sure that survivors, witnesses and those affected by the 1999 murder accepted the plea deal that resulted in a sentence that was considerably less than the maximum possible term of life in federal prison. ADVERTISEMENT This is a particularly troublesome decision for the court in light of the fact that three people lost their lives, if for no other reason than the color of their skin, Anderson said, adding that he reluctantly accepted the plea agreement. Cambero pleaded guilty in February to felony counts of conspiracy against rights, interference with federally protected activities, and use or discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence causing death. Cambero admitted he shot 38-year-old Kenneth Wilson, a Black man who did not live in Highland Park and was looking for a parking space while visiting friends in April 1999. The case against Cambero and his co-defendants in the Avenues gang marked the first time the federal hate crime statute had been used to combat racial violence by members of a street gang, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office. In 2006, while Cambero was a fugitive, three fellow members of the Avenues gang were sentenced to life in federal prison as part of the six-year conspiracy that also saw another Black man gunned down at a bus stop in December 2000. A fourth man was convicted as a lookout in that 2000 slaying of 28-year-old Christopher Bowser. Following his 20-year prison sentence, Cambero must serve a five-year term of what prosecutors characterized as particularly stringent supervised release, including a requirement that the defendant submit, at any time of the day or night by any law enforcement or probation officer, to warrantless and suspicion-less searches of his person, property, residence, vehicles, papers, computers and phones. ADVERTISEMENT That provision will allow for close monitoring of Cambero and help ensure that if he violates any law or any term of his supervised provision, his release can be revoked and he can be returned to prison, Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara Bernstein wrote in a sentencing document. Before sentencing went forward, the court heard from Luisa Prudhomme, whose biracial 21-year-old son, Anthony, was killed in 2000 when Avenues members shot him in the head as he lay on a futon. Its the worst thing in the world to lose a child murdered in cold blood in that way, she said, adding Wilsons late mother would have agreed. I pray that theres justice for all of our loved ones. Bowsers mother also spoke, telling Anderson that from my heart, I dont have any vengeance against (Cambero). He has to answer to God. In its position papers, the government said it recognizes that the crimes in the case are among the most serious in the penal code, and that, if there were no other factors to take into consideration, imprisonment for life would be a just punishment. However, based on a number of powerful considerations including the desire of almost every witness and victim to avoid the terrifying prospect of again having to testify about violent gang activity; evidentiary concerns raised by the fact that the evidence is now 20 years old; and the desire of the victims, witnesses, and government for definite and final justice the prosecution entered into plea negotiations to determine if a just resolution could be reached without the need for another trial. In a hand-scrawled letter to the judge, Cambero apologized to everyone in Highland Park for all the hurt I caused as a member of the Avenues gang. He wrote that he often thinks of the now-deceased mother of the man, Mr. Wilson, that I killed on Avenue 52 that night 20 years ago. Cambero was taken into custody by Mexican authorities in Baja California and turned over to the FBI at the border last year. He was one of three shooters who gunned down Wilson, who died of a gunshot wound to the neck, court papers show. Anderson said Cambero will be in his late 50s when released from prison, an age when the risk of recidivism is believed to be reduced. The judge then reminded the audience that we all know someone that has been impacted by gang violence. There isnt a day that goes by when were not reminded and its a cost we all have to pay. I dont care what part of the city you live in. Ex-prosecutor becomes first black leader of Louisiana ACLU A former prosecutor and Louisiana Supreme Court staffer will be the first Black executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana. The New Orleans Advocate reports 36-year-old Alanah Odoms Hebert starts Monday, succeeding the retired Marjorie Esman. In the wake of the organizations successful legislative push for criminal justice reform last year, Hebert says she hopes to continue to tackle Louisianas status as a top incarcerator and expand the groups focus on issues like gay rights. ADVERTISEMENT The New Jersey native has somewhat of an atypical background for the group, which often spars with prosecutors. She says she joined the Orleans Parish District Attorneys office with idealistic hopes, but felt she became complicit in pursuing harsh penalties. Shes also served as the state Supreme Courts deputy general counsel. From Millionaire to Billionaire in Training, Dr. Abagail Mamboleo Shares Keys to Successful Entrepreneurship From Nairobi, Kenya to a self-made American business woman, Dr. Abagail Aby Lilian Mamboleos career journey has been life changing! Today, the entrepreneur is living her motto, Im a B.I.T. (billionaire in training), and encouraging others to follow suit. When I was in my undergraduate school I used to say, Im an M.I.T. (millionaire in training). After I started my first business and it [transformed] into a publicly traded company, I changed that goal of becoming a M.I.T because I could no longer claim that goal. So I changed that to I am a B.I.T. I am still training to become a billionaire, said Mamboleo. Mamboleo earned her bachelors degree in Communications Studies from Biola University, accompanied by her JD/MBA from the University of La Verne and her 20 years of experience in entrepreneurship has prepared her to go into multiple career fields and business ventures. Her extensive background doesnt end there. Mamboleo also has skills in human resources and recruitment from her early career when she founded, Infinity Quality Services Corporation. All of which led her to her current position, CEO of Staff Today Inc., a full service staffing company that specializes in facilitating industries like healthcare, clerical, and government. ADVERTISEMENT Mamboleo, whose parents are missionaries, made it a priority to give back to her community through contributions and programs. Some of her philanthropy work involves initiating programs like Baking/Bakery for widows and the Tea Seedling Project. As the founder and vice president of African Aid Mission, which focuses on assisting underprivileged individuals in rural areas of Africa with clean water, education, micro-finance, and self-help resources, sets time aside for her professional growth and uses her passion and resources to help others. We teach people how to be independent and generate income in rural areas in Africa. Weve taught them how to bake bread and be able to sell it so that they can become self-reliant so that they are not always relying on aid, she said. Our main focus is to be able to empower children, women, girlsmy goal is to be able to eventually start a school. Mamboleos New Book to Inspire Young Entrepreneurs Recently, Mamboleo released her new book, The Entrepreneurs Funding Guide: 100 Places to Get Over $100k To Fund Your Business. The book, co-authored by Mamboleo and Constance Moonzwe, helps up-in-coming entrepreneurs get rid of the phrase, I have this idea for a great new business but I just wish I had the money for it and replaces it with successful strategies of securing their own multi-million dollar business. According to Mamboleo, the book is geared towards both the early-stage entrepreneur looking for start-up cash as well as established CEOs looking to expand upon their business model. Having experienced Mamboleo deftly presents the pros and cons of dozens of approaches so the entrepreneur can feel confident in deciding and executing the appropriate funding strategy for their unique needs. In The Entrepreneurs Funding Guide, the two discuss small businesses, loans, credit cards, retirement savings, and asking friends and family for money. Everything within the pages of this book has been vetted, explored and directly applied to my own life in some fashion, says Mamboleo. I have used dozens of tactics and philosophies in high-stakes negotiations, high-risk environments, or large business dealings. The lessons learned along the way have made me millions of dollars, while also saving me years of potentially wasted effort and frustration. Consider my book as a gift to yourself and to your business. ADVERTISEMENT Mamboleo and Moonzwe hope that readers are able to leverage the tools that are given to them and learn the secrets to becoming M.I.Ts and B.I.Ts. We are hoping that people who are reading this book, can say oh yeah I can get money this way to help me with this. The book can be purchased at www.100waystofund.com and on Amazon. For more information on Mamboleo, please visit www.abymamboleo.com . Garcetti Taps Michel Moore As New LAPD Chief Los Angeles Police Department Assistant Chief Michel Moore was chosen today by Mayor Eric Garcetti as the departments new chief, replacing the retiring Charlie Beck. The City Council still must sign off on the selection of Moore, who has been with the department since 1981. Garcetti was given three finalists to choose from by the Board of Police Commissioners, the civilian body that oversees the LAPD. They were Moore, San Francisco police Chief William Bill Scott and Deputy LAPD Chief Robert Arcos. In some ways this was the most difficult decision I have faced, and one of the easiest, because I knew whoever I picked would be great for this department, Garcetti said. In the end it was a tough decision, because I knew that Bill Scott, Bobby Arcos and Mike Moore were ready for this job, but today I am proud to announce that I am appointing Michel Moore as the 57th chief of police of the Los Angeles Police Department. Moore was also one of the three finalists chosen by the Board of Police Commissioners back in 2009, but then-Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa chose Beck. Moore has risen through the ranks of the department as a police officer, detective, sergeant, lieutenant and captain before taking on various high command roles. He was also placed in charge of the Rampart Division in 2000 in the aftermath of a scandal that found widespread abuse and corruption in the division. ADVERTISEMENT Moore was born in Porterville, grew up in various parts of the United States and graduated from high school in Conway, Arkansas. Although he did not get into specifics, Moore referenced a difficult upbringing. As for who Mike Moore is, let me just say that I come from what can be described as a humble background, he said. Ive grown up across this great nation. Ive seen as a young child many challenging circumstances. And what I know is I came to the department as a young man looking to make a difference, and for the past 36 years Ive felt that no other profession could have given me the amount of reward that this department has. Over the coming days my story will inevitably be told more. Beck announced earlier this year that he would retire June 27, a year and a half before his second five-year term ends. He has led the department since 2009. The choice of the next chief carries a significant amount of symbolic weight in light of the departments troubled history on race relations, the current #MeToo movement bringing sexual harassment into the public debate, and President Donald Trumps aggressive rhetoric and actions on immigration, although Garcetti said he made the selection based qualifications and not race or ethnicity. Scott, who is black, was sworn in as San Franciscos police chief on January 23, 2017, after 27 years at the LAPD, where he rose through the ranks to become a commander in 2012 and Deputy Chief of the South Bureau. Arcos, a Latino, leads the LAPDs Central Bureau, which includes downtown and parts of northeast Los Angeles. Moore is in charge of LAPDs patrol operations. Moores father was Basque, and he is listed as Hispanic on LAPD rosters. I said from the beginning I wasnt looking to fill a demographic or make history, Garcetti said when asked by a reporter why he did not choose Arcos considering the citys large Latino population. He added, I wanted the best person for the job, and thats Mike Moore. Some city leaders, including Councilman Joe Buscaino, a former LAPD officer, had called on the city to hire its first female chief after Beck announced his retirement. Sandy Jo MacArthur, who retired three years ago as an assistant chief, applied for the job but was not among the three finalists, and Assistant Chief Beatrice Girmala did not apply for the job despite being viewed by some as a potential top candidate. When asked about his priorities, Moore first mentioned building trust in communities of color. The most important question of the moment may be, why do I want to be the next chief of police of this great city? Moore said. And its pretty simple. I wish to continue to momentum of building trust, particularly in communities of color, and improving public safety while we build a more diverse and representative department. The Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union representing rank- and-file officers, said, We congratulate Assistant Chief Michel Moore on being recommended as LAPDs next chief. We are hopeful that if Chief Moore is appointed, he will take immediate action to address low officer morale stemming from our critically low police staffing and that he will be absolutely committed to collaborating on new ideas to reduce violent crime and prepare our city for the 2028 Olympics, according to the LAPPL. These are huge issues to tackle, but were ready to roll up our sleeves and get to work with Chief Moore to move our department forward and improve public safety in Los Angeles. ADVERTISEMENT Los Angeles City Councilman Gil Cedillo, who had openly lobbied Garcetti to select Arcos, suggested the mayors selection would not be rubber stamped. Mayor Garcettis announcement today is the first step in the selection process. We now move to the next step, consideration by the City Council, Cedillo said. I look forward to engaging in a rigorous vetting process with my colleagues to ensure that our city and our police departments leadership reflects the best of what our city is and can be. As council members, we represent 15 distinct districts and know what experience is most important to our communities. Its within that framework that the council must make its decision to determine what experience matters most and who the next police chief will be. Jury Awards 4 Cents To Family Of Black Man Killed By Deputy Jurors who awarded only 4 cents to the family of a Black man fatally shot in his home by a deputy expressed confusion about the courts instructions as they struggled to reach a verdict. Notes sent to the judge show the jurors said they couldnt reach a unanimous decision before finally finding 30-year-old Gregory Hill Jr. 99 percent responsible for his death, because he was drunk when a St. Lucie County Sheriffs deputy shot him. Hills fiancee called the verdict a slap in the face, and the familys lawyer is preparing an appeal, saying he cant tell whether the jury was angry, or just confused. ADVERTISEMENT Hill was in his garage in the South Florida city of Fort Pierce, listening to loud music when a parent picking a child up from an elementary school across the street called in the complaint in 2014. According to court documents, deputies responded and Hill eventually raised his garage door to answer them, then lowered it again. A deputy then fired through the door, hitting Hill three times. Deputies testified that they saw Hill holding a weapon. An unloaded gun was found in the dead mans back pocket. The sheriffs office called in a SWAT team, who tear-gassed the home before officers went in and found Hills body. A sheriffs statement said Deputy Christopher Newman, who fired the fatal shots, was placed in a very difficult situation, and like so many fellow law enforcement officers must do every day, he made the best decision he could for the safety of his partner, himself, and the public given the circumstances he faced. A grand jury in Florida brought no charges, so Hills family turned to federal court, filing a civil rights lawsuit against Newman and his department. Attorney John Phillips said the jurors one black man, two white men and five white women seemed receptive to the familys case during the trial, but confused by the instructions the judge gave for their deliberations last week. ADVERTISEMENT The jury smiled, cried and showed anger during the trial. They were normal, reactive people and seemed to understand both sides of the case, Phillips said. There were two claims the jury had to decide: a federal civil rights claim, and a state-law claim of negligence. Phillips suggested that the wording of the instructions may have confused the jurors. The instructions said they could award $1 in nominal damages to the family if Hills injuries werent clearly the result of unjustifiable force. But that part of the instruction was supposed to apply only to the federal civil rights claim, which the jury decided entirely in the deputys favor. On the state-law claim, they decided in a very small way in favor of the family by finding the sheriffs department 1 percent negligent. Hours before the verdict, the jury sent the judge a note with a question: If we find minimal negligence, can the courts overrule monetary amounts presented by the jury? The judge replied that she did not understand, and asked them to clarify. They never did. At another point, they said they were struggling to reach a unanimous decision. The judge told them to keep trying. Finally, the jury awarded Hills relatives $1 for funeral expenses and $1 for each of Hills three children. That $4 was then reduced to 4 cents or 1 percent, representing the sheriffs liability. The other 99 percent was blamed on the dead man, under a Florida law that enables such decisions if a victim was under the influence of alcohol. Hills fiancee, Monique Davis said she had to leave the courtroom during the verdict so she wouldnt have an outburst. It was basically a slap in the face. You value someones life as one dollar? Phillips said hes baffled. Hes planning to ask for a new trial, and to file an appeal if thats denied. A finding of no negligence and no civil rights violations is one thing, but the series of one-dollar awards for these kids was shocking, upsetting and confusing. University of Miami law professor Osamudia James says the option of nominal damages is given to juries as a way to acknowledge a wrong, even if they dont believe large damages are warranted. Its one tool juries are given to facilitate the difficult process of assigning monetary awards for injuries. In cases like this with nominal awards, juries are saying `We dont like what happened, but were not awarding a lot (of money) to it, James said. Hill and Davis were high school sweethearts, engaged to be married. He had two kids with Davis and a third with another woman. Davis called him a family man who loved working and fishing, and always provided for his children. He wasnt running the streets doing bad things, she said. He was not perfect but he wasnt a bad guy. Meet Nurse Joann Boyd When we go to the hospital, we see the doctor and they give us a diagnosis on our healthgood or bad. But before we see the doctor, we make first contact with a nurse. He or she receives all of our information, takes our vitals and prepares us for the doctor. Joann Boyd is a nurse in the Neurology Department at Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center, meeting the needs of the community every day. She was the recipient of the Daisy Award for Extraordinary Nurses in 2013 and 2015. I have been practicing as a licensed vocational nurse for approximately 31 years, said Boyd. I was inspired to become a nurse at the very young age of six-years-old. Originally from Los Angeles, Boyd was born and raised in Inglewood, CA. She attended and graduated from Morningside High School. After high school, Boyd immediately enrolled in a private nursing program Pacific Coast College which was located in Culver City. She graduated from nursing school in August of 1987. ADVERTISEMENT My mother was a nurse and she often took me to work with her, said Boyd. She would dress me up in a little white dress and make me feel as though I was a nurse. Boyd continued, She would allow me to walk the halls with her while passing medications to her patients. She would allow me to assist her with pouring juice/water for her patients. Boyd stated how she loved to see patients faces light up when they saw her. The priceless exposure her mother allowed her to participate in lit a passion within her. Boyd decided to become a nurse and help heal people as a career. During her journey, she would work in various departments gathering valuable experience. During my 31 years of nursing, I have worked in various departments such as Emergency/Urgent Care for five years, Hematology/Oncology for four years, Bariatric Surgery for three years, Pediatrics for six years, and Neurology for eight years, said Boyd. She shared a little about her daily routine as a nurse in the neurology department. Boyd works in a very serious department at Kaiser West L.A. and takes her job seriously as the cases that are brought to this department must be taken seriously. ADVERTISEMENT Neurology is a very special and challenging department, said Boyd. When you think of neurology you think of the Brain, the entire Central Nervous System and all of its functions. She continued, In Neurology, I am faced with patients who may be suffering from many disorders such as seizures, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injuries, neuropathy, migraines, bells palsy, etc. In neurology we perform procedures such as lumbar punctures for diagnosing purposes. My role as a nurse is to provide total patient care, medication administration, injection/intravenous therapy as indicated. Boyds mother passed away fighting pancreatic cancer last year, but her memory lives on through Boyds career. She keeps her mothers nursing awards on her mantle as a reminder of what makes for a good nurse and remembers her mothers words, you never know who is watching you. Be who you are every day. Metro to Hold Community Meetings for Sepulveda Transit Corridor Project in June The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) invites the public to a series of community of meetings for the Sepulveda Transit Corridor Project in June. Metro is conducting a feasibility study to identify and evaluate a range of high-capacity rail transit alternatives between the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles International Airport, including connections to existing and planned bus and rail lines such as the Metro Orange, Purple and Expo Lines. Several alignments and station locations will be considered for the various rail alternatives. Meetings will provide an overview of the ongoing study and present initial concepts for the future rail connections between the Valley and Westside. Public hearing information is as follows: ADVERTISEMENT Thursday, June 7, 2018 6 8 p.m. Westwood United Methodist Church 10497 Wilshire Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90024 Saturday, June 9, 2018 10 a.m. 12 p.m. Marvin Braude Center 6262 Van Nuys Boulevard Van Nuys, CA 91401 Tuesday, June 12, 2018 6 8 p.m. Proud Bird Restaurant 11022 Aviation Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90045 Live webcast available at: http://bit.ly/MetroSepulveda Information presented will be the same at all meetings. A presentation will be given at 6:30 p.m. for weeknight meetings and 10:30 a.m. for the Saturday meeting. All Metro meetings are held in ADA accessible facilities. Spanish translation will be provided. Other ADA accommodations and translations are available by calling 213.922.7375 or the California Relay Service at 711 at least 72 hours in advance. The feasibility study, which began in December 2017, is expected to conclude in the summer or fall of 2019. The studys findings will be the basis for future environmental analysis and project refinement. More than 400,000 people travel through the project study area every day to commute to work, school and other destinations along the freeway and beyond. ADVERTISEMENT The project is funded by Measure M, the transportation sales tax approved by Los Angeles County voters in 2016. The project will receive $9.8 billion in sales tax funding with the first phase between the Valley and the Westside scheduled to open in 2033. The project may be expedited through a public-private partnership, potentially within the next decade as part of Metros Twenty-Eight by 28 Initiative to accelerate priority transportation projects in time for the 2028 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in the Los Angeles area. Missing Boys from Ladera Heights Found with Grandmother from Phoenix A woman accused of taking her two toddler sons and failing to return them as ordered by a court has been arrested in Phoenix, a sheriffs deputy said today. Iman Milner was pulled over at approximately 6:30 p.m. Saturday by officers from Phoenixs South Mountain Precinct for a routine traffic stop, said Deputy Kimberly Alexander of the Sheriffs Information Bureau. Phoenix police said Milner was arrested on a Los Angeles County report that she had failed to return her 2- and 4-year-old boys from a planned unsupervised visit that had been scheduled to end at 4 p.m. Friday in Ladera Heights. She was arrested on suspicion of child abduction and violation of court order, Alexander said. ADVERTISEMENT However, the two missing children were not present in the vehicle, she said. Phoenix police detectives contacted the childrens maternal grandmother in Phoenix, who confirmed that she had the children. The childrens grandmother agreed to transport the children from Phoenix to (the sheriffs) Marina Del Rey station, the L.A. deputy said. At approximately 10:30 p.m. Saturday, the grandmother arrived with the two missing children. Both children were safely reunited with their father in Marina Del Rey. Detectives in Marina Del Rey would ask jailers in Maricopa County to extradite Milner, the spokeswoman said. NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson being honored in bronze Katherine Johnson, the NASA mathematician whose calculations helped astronauts return to Earth, is being honored at her alma mater with a bronze statue and a scholarship in her name. West Virginia State University says a dedication ceremony is planned for Aug. 25, the day before Johnsons 100th birthday. Long before the digital era, Johnson worked as a human computer at the agency that became NASA, working in relative obscurity as an African-American woman. Her contributions were later recognized in the Hidden Figures movie, with actress Taraji P. Henson playing her role. ADVERTISEMENT West Virginia State hopes to endow the scholarship at $100,000, awarding money to students majoring in science, technology, engineering and math, targeting people who are underrepresented in those fields. A sense of relief returned to Illinois government last week. For the first time in years, lawmakers agreed to a budget by their May 31 deadline, and they did it with little partisan acrimony. But larger problems still loom. Among the biggest are the states backlog of unpaid bills, its unfunded pension liabilities and the publics mistrust of state government. They will all play a role in this years elections and in state government generally for years to come. However bad you think government might be, Bruce Rauner tells an audience, its worse. Rauner, a Republican governor seeking re-election, has plenty of reasons to portray his state as fundamentally broken. Its a way to explain why he hasnt been able to make the big changes in Illinois he promised when he ran four years ago. But its also a great line for a knowing audience, and the crowd of call center workers in Moline, on the Mississippi River, laughs appreciatively. Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo/Chicago Tribune/MCT Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich prepares to deliver a statement on his last full day of freedom at his Chicago home on Wednesday, March 14, 2012. Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo/Chicago Tribune/MCT On Nov. 4, 2014, in Chicago, Bruce Rauner declares victory. Illinois voters have endured a lot from their state government. It hasnt been just one recession or one administration thats done the damage, either. Its been nearly a generation of political upheaval and dysfunction at the state Capitol. Springfield has not been working for them, and I think voters, residents of Illinois are frustrated and angry. They should be, Rauner tells me after his Moline event. Always unbalanced budgets. Not paying pensions. Not growing the economy and creating good-paying jobs. Massive corruption, cronyism and patronage. And four of my nine predecessors have gone to prison. Its a broken system.Nearly everyone agrees with Rauner that the system is broken, but theres no consensus about why the system is failing. Pick your favorite culprit legislators, unions, pensions and you may have a case. But the one thing that current and former elected officials, academics and Springfield insiders cite most is perhaps the most painfully obvious: Illinois government did work, says former Gov. Jim Edgar, a Republican who presided over what now looks to be the states heyday in the 1990s. But then we had bad luck with a couple of governors.Illinois governors are powerful. They have many executive tools at their disposal that their counterparts in other states dont possess. As chief executives, they have the biggest say on the states financial situation and the biggest platform to tend to the states economy. But over the last two decades, public confidence, financial stability and economic growth in Illinois have all suffered.During that time, Illinois has had four governors: two Republicans and two Democrats. George Ryan came first, starting in 1999 and, despite substantial achievements in Springfield, erased the publics trust in state government with a corruption scandal that landed him in prison. Rod Blagojevich swept into power in the wake of Ryans scandal, promising reform and renewal, but exited in disgrace after an FBI arrest and subsequent impeachment trial, leaving a state woefully unprepared for the Great Recession. Illinoisans breathed a sigh of relief when Pat Quinn stepped in, but the relief died quickly, as a major tax increase failed to steady Illinois finances, and low-level patronage scandals undercut his reputation as a reformer. Rauner capitalized on Quinns unpopularity and defeated him in 2014. But Rauner saw his own standing collapse last year when rank-and-file GOP lawmakers abandoned his cause after a two-year budget standoff.The cumulative effect is that the states credit rating teeters on the edge of junk bond status. Officials have only recently started dealing with a $16.7 billion backlog of unpaid day-to-day bills. Longer term, Illinois is $129 billion short of what it needs to pay its pension obligations. Only a tiny fraction of residents believes the state is heading in the right direction.Getting Illinois back on track will require years of calm attention to rebuilding public trust, balancing budgets and practicing the neglected art of governing. The governor has to be the fiscal leader. He has to be the one who worries about not going too far into debt, Edgar says. The legislature likes to spend money and it doesnt want to raise taxes. Theyll blame you. Thats OK, though. Thats why you get the house, the car and the plane. The fact is, he says, good government is boring.But politics in Illinois has been anything but boring.Twenty years ago, Illinois was humming along. Its median household income stood at nearly $64,000 in todays dollars -- more than $6,300 above the national average and higher than its been at any time since 2000. Edgar handed his successor a surplus of more than $1 billion in state revenue. Bond ratings had been upgraded a handful of times during his tenure, a first in Illinois history. Lots of people grumbled at Edgars fiscal austerity, but he left office at the end of his eight-year tenure more popular than ever, with a 60 percent approval rating.It was hard to see at the time, but the start of Illinois downward slide came with the election of George Ryan as governor in 1998. A Republican pharmacist from Kankakee, Ryan was an imposing figure with deep-set eyes, a gravelly voice and large hands that barely budged when you shook them. He rose through the ranks in Springfield as a legislator, House speaker, lieutenant governor and secretary of state. When Edgar decided to retire, Ryan was the logical choice for Republicans. His term as governor extended the GOPs winning streak for that office to 26 years.Ryan might have gone down in history as one of Illinois greatest governors, if he hadnt landed in prison instead. He pushed through a much-needed but pork-heavy $12 billion public works program, expanded Chicagos convention center and its OHare Airport, orchestrated a deal to expand riverboat casino gambling, called for an end to the U.S. embargo of Cuba and visited Fidel Castro, opened a new Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, and won international accolades for emptying death row by commuting more than 160 death sentences in his final days of office.But thats not what Illinoisans remember him for. Instead, they associate him with a sprawling bribes-for-licenses scandal that dogged Ryan from his days as secretary of state. It sprang from an investigation over a fiery traffic crash in 1994 that killed five children because an Illinois trucker failed to heed warnings that his taillight was loose. The truck driver, it turned out, had bribed someone who worked for Ryan to get his Illinois commercial drivers license.To advance his career, Ryan not only developed political skills that helped him cut deals on big-ticket issues but also relied on cozy relations with contractors and a de facto patronage army of workers at the secretary of states office. Corruption allegations followed Ryan to the governors office and clouded most of his term. His approval ratings plummeted from 50 percent in 1999 to 27 percent a year later. Ryan defiantly denied any wrongdoing, but his standing would never recover.From his weakened position, Ryan had to guide the state through an unprecedented fiscal crisis after the 2001 terrorist attacks. When the books closed on his final budget, Illinois had posted back-to-back deficits of more than $1 billion. An early retirement package that Ryan pushed to trim the states payrolls proved far more popular than he or lawmakers anticipated 11,000 employees jumped at the chance, compared to the 7,400 that Ryan and lawmakers expected. That drove up fiscal pressure on the states already-stressed pension funds.Nobody was surprised when Ryan was indicted on a variety of federal corruption charges nearly a year after he left office. He served six and a half years in prison and was released in 2013. But the scandal that tainted his administration would open the door to a successor who would not only land in prison, but would also become a national pariah.Rod Blagojevich became instantly infamous when the FBI arrested the sitting Illinois governor in his running clothes in the morning darkness of Dec. 9, 2008. The same feds who had patiently stalked Ryan for years said they had no choice but to arrest Blagojevich after listening to seven weeks of wiretaps of his phones and office. Blagojevich, they claimed, was about to sell an appointment to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the newly elected president from Illinois, Barack Obama.Illinois lawmakers quickly impeached and removed Blagojevich. But the disgraced governor launched a media roadshow while he awaited trial. His cartoonish claims of innocence failed to keep him out of prison there were, after all, lots and lots of wiretaps but the spectacle undercut Illinois reputation just months after Obama won the White House.Even before Blagojevichs self-immolation, he had wreaked havoc and brought long-lasting damage to Illinois government. To make a clean break from the Ryan years, Blagojevich had brought in out-of-state advisers and political neophytes to run his administration. They quickly ran into a big problem: Illinois government still had not recovered from the 2001 recession, and there was precious little money to pay for ambitious programs.So Blagojevichs team came up with a brazen idea: a $10 billion pension bond sale. While the state might have conceivably saved money in the deal, in reality it was an elaborate way to skip $2.7 billion in otherwise required pension payments. Lawmakers went along with the idea anyway. The gimmick not only deprived the pension systems of needed cash, it also skewed the states budgets for two years. When the third year came, there was no money built in to the budget for pension payments. So Blagojevich and the Democratic-controlled legislature opted to take a pension holiday for another two years. That meant theyd pay only half of their expected contribution, shorting the system another $6.8 billion.Meanwhile, Blagojevich quickly made enemies with the leader of his own party in Springfield, House Speaker Michael J. Madigan. Shortly after Blagojevichs re-election, the governor suggested switching from a sales tax to a gross receipts tax. Madigan, who opposed the idea, embarrassed the governor by quickly putting it up for consideration in the House, where it failed to get a single vote.On top of that, federal prosecutors and local reporters started to look into Blagojevichs fundraising tactics, especially because so many of the people Blagojevich appointed to state boards and commissions had contributed tens of thousands of dollars to the governors campaign.Two months before his arrest, Blagojevich had few friends left, in Springfield or in the state as a whole. The Chicago Tribune reported in October 2008 that only 13 percent of Illinoisans viewed him favorably. FBI wiretaps showed that the feeling was mutual. I [expletive] busted my ass and pissed people off and gave your grandmother a free [expletive] ride on a bus. OK? I gave your [expletive] baby a chance to have health care, the governor vented, as he ticked off some of his legislative achievements. And what do I get for that? Only 13 percent of you all out there think Im doing a good job. So [expletive] all of you.Before Blagojevichs removal, few people would have envisioned Pat Quinn as governor. For decades, the Democrat had been in and around state government, but mostly as a rabble rouser. In the early 1980s, he led a successful effort to reduce the size of the Illinois House by a third, but then he bounced from office to office. He won election for a single term as state treasurer, lost a bid to oust Ryan as secretary of state and then ran successfully for lieutenant governor on the same ticket as Blagojevich. (At the time, Illinois gubernatorial candidates did not pick their running mates.)Once Quinn became governor, he did a lot of heavy lifting, especially on budget-related matters, that Blagojevich refused to do. But he had to do it in the throes of the Great Recession.Months after assuming office, Quinn reported that the state would face an $11.6 billion shortfall over the next year and a half if lawmakers didnt take drastic action. That came at a moment when the backlog of unpaid bills had risen to $8 billion. The legislature cut spending by $2 billion, gave Quinn the power to cut $1 billion more, relied on $1.8 billion in federal stimulus money and authorized $3.7 billion in short-term borrowing to make that years pension payment. It wasnt enough, and the situation kept getting worse.When Quinn ran for a full term in 2010, he campaigned on raising the states income tax by a percentage point to address persistent deficits. But within two months of his victory, rating agency threats of a downgrade to junk bond status and a projected deficit of $15 billion convinced Quinn that more was needed. So he persuaded outgoing lawmakers in a lame-duck session to raise the income tax by double the original proposed amount. Lawmakers hiked personal income tax rates from 3 percent to 5 percent, and raised corporate rates as well. The catch was that the new rates would last only four years before going back down.But the new money did help the state catch up with some of its unpaid bills. By the end of Quinns term, the backlog was down to $6.6 billion.Quinn also tried to take on the pension problem by reducing retirement benefits. In 2010, he signed a law that reduced pensions for most new state employees and teachers. But Quinn pressed for more, and in 2013, lawmakers agreed to a package that would have curbed benefits even for workers and retirees covered under the original pension scheme. Those changes, though, never took effect. In 2015, the state Supreme Court struck down the law for violating the Illinois Constitution, which has strong protections against diminishing retirement benefits for state employees.Eventually, the public soured on Quinn. The governor faced accusations that his administration misspent $55 million on a Chicago anti-violence program months before his 2010 election, in order to boost his political standing rather than lower the citys murder rate. His reputation took another hit when an investigator found widespread patronage hiring at the state Department of Transportation, both under Blagojevich and under Quinn.When Quinn came up for re-election in 2014, his loudest critic was a wealthy businessman who won the Republican nomination to oppose him. Pat Quinn is not the folksy, bumbling fool hed like us to think he is, Bruce Rauner said at the time. He knows what hes doing. He knows what hes done.Although Rauner had long mingled in political circles and once counted Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel as a friend, he was virtually unknown to most Illinoisans before his bid for governor. But the private equity investor soon became a household name, thanks to the $65.3 million he spent of his own money to boost his candidacy and a general election message that centered on his frugality and the need to shake up Springfield.Once in office, though, Rauner set his sights on limiting the power of public employee unions and career politicians in the General Assembly. He called for far-reaching concessions that would have limited the power of both and demanded that they be met before he signed a full years budget. Illinois desperately needed a budget, because the temporary income tax hike that Quinn pushed through expired just before Rauner came into office, and there were no spending cuts to offset the lost revenue.But rather than being cowed by the governors tactics, labor leaders and Democrats in the General Assembly dug in their heels. The standoff lasted nearly two years, during which time Illinois limped along without any clear spending plan. It was the longest span any state had ever gone without a budget.Strangely, much of the government continued to function. Long-standing laws required Illinois to make pension contributions and bond payments even without a budget. Rauner cut a deal with lawmakers to keep money flowing to schools during the hiatus. And courts insisted that state employees be paid, and ordered the state to abide by consent decrees that mandated spending on certain social services.But the impasse created all sorts of havoc in other places. It devastated nonprofit social service agencies that worked with the state but werent covered by court orders. Many of them had already reduced services and laid off staff during the recession. State-run universities also got no funding from Springfield during the budget crisis. All sorts of contractors, from the utility that provided power to the Capitol to dentists who treated state employees, were frozen out as well.Meanwhile, the backlog of unpaid bills shot up again. Illinois was spending about the same amount it had spent when the income tax had been higher, but the state was no longer collecting enough money to sustain that spending. By last November, Illinois was $16.7 billion behind in its payments. Comptroller Susana Mendoza warned that Illinois was dangerously close to not having enough cash to meet court orders to pay for essential services, which meant Illinois could be held in contempt of court in several cases.On Wall Street, bond rating agencies grew increasingly alarmed by the impasse. Two of the three downgraded Illinois to a step above junk bond status. If they had moved it any lower, institutional investors would no longer have been able to buy the states debt, because it would be considered too risky. No state had ever been in this situation.As the collateral damage grew, so did pressure on lawmakers to end the crisis. In the Senate, President John Cullerton started negotiating with the Republican leader, Christine Radogno, to come up with a grand bargain that would combine some of Rauners business-minded proposals with a restoration of the income tax increase. The talks were so promising that the governor even counted on the revenue they would produce in his annual budget proposal. But as the deal moved closer to a vote, Rauner attached ever more demands and ultimately warned Republican senators not to support it.So Democrats, who have a supermajority in the Senate, passed the budget they negotiated with Republicans, which included both the tax hike and $3.8 billion in spending cuts. But they did not pass changes to the workers compensation system or a local property tax freeze that Rauner wanted. The governor got none of his so-called reforms, Cullerton says. He doesnt know how to work or compromise.The Senates action shifted focus to the House, where Blagojevichs old nemesis, Speaker Madigan, had emerged as Rauners whipping boy and most stubborn obstacle. Unlike in the Senate, though, Democrats on their own didnt have enough votes to pass a budget and override Rauners expected veto. They needed a handful of Republicans to go along, too.The impetus came from rank-and-file Republicans. Rep. David Harris was one of them. What we did with the two-year budget stalemate was the most disgraceful thing the Illinois General Assembly has ever done, he says. He met with a group of about 10 fellow Republicans many of them from downstate, which was on fire because of the impasse, he says to figure out what they wanted in the budget if they negotiated with Democrats. They wanted to know whether Democrats were serious about ending the standoff, or just wanted to use it to discredit the governor.The House Democrats took them up on their offer to work together. Fifteen Republicans were among the 72 House members who supported the spending plan. When Rauner vetoed the measure, 10 of the GOP members joined in a successful move to override him. On July 6, 2017, after two years of costly stalemate and embarrassment, Illinois finally had a budget again.The budget package allowed the state to borrow money to pay off its oldest bills which, due to penalties, were accruing interest at a rate of 12 percent annually. Those bonds were also used to pay off Medicaid bills, because the state receives matching federal funds for those expenses. The governor describes the budget as a massive loss for taxpayers in the state. Was it worth fighting about? He thinks so. Its never in the best interest of the people of Illinois to compromise on raising taxes with no reforms, he says. Thats a disaster.For several years, Moodys Analytics, which examines the states economy for the legislature, has warned that the uncertainty over Illinois financial situation threatens to discourage firms from locating or remaining in the state. Its not that Illinois costs of doing business are particularly high, the economists note. Its taxes, labor and energy costs are in the middle of the pack for industrial Midwest states. What sets Illinois apart, they say, is the recent political tumult in Springfield. The state went more than two decades with stable income tax rates, but since 2011, its changed those rates three times, making long-term planning for businesses difficult. The good news, Moodys added this year, is that the states two-year budget logjam finally broke with the passage of a $36 billion spending package, easing some of the long-standing uncertainty in the outlook.There is another widely held theory to explain Illinois decades of mismanagement, and one that Rauner has had a lead role in promoting. That is the idea that Madigan, the powerful House speaker who has held the title for all but two years since 1983, is the real center of power in Springfield. Rauner and many of his fellow Republicans point their fingers at Madigan as the true source of trouble in state government.Theres no question Madigan is a powerful figure. The speaker controls the legislative agenda in the House, and makes most of the important decisions behind closed doors, leaving lobbyists, members, the media and even governors to guess why certain bills die or suddenly come back to life. His pronouncements to the press are practically Delphic, and his public remarks rarely deviate from a very short script.In addition to being speaker, Madigan is the chair of the state Democratic Party and a much-feared ward boss on the southwest side of Chicago. He has allies throughout government: former staffers who now have lucrative lobbying practices, neighborhood residents who got government jobs thanks to his clout, and judges and legislators he supported in tough election fights. On top of that, he is the partial owner of Chicagos top law firm for property tax appeals, meaning that huge corporations come to him to try to knock off some of their tax bills for downtown skyscrapers.Madigan has been entrenched in Illinois politics for so long that hes had a hand in basically every major decision the state has made for decades. He went along with budgets that ran deficits, shorted the pension systems, underfunded schools, empowered unions and imposed regulations. Madigans got an empire in the state of Illinois. Hes led the corruption. And hes very powerful, says Rauner, who, along with Republican groups that he largely funds, has hammered Madigan with similar messages on TV commercials for nearly three years now. There is no sign that they will let off anytime soon. Rauner says his Democratic opponent this coming November, J.B. Pritzker, is Madigans hand-picked candidate.Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie, Madigans top lieutenant in the House, says Rauners constant talk of corruption has poisoned the atmosphere in Springfield, especially because business groups and the Chicago Tribune editorial board have also pounded away at the message. You can disagree with someones policies without calling them corrupt, she says. The people who should be cheerleading for the state are spewing doom and gloom.There are a few big holes in the theory of Madigan as the root of all evil. The first is that the timing doesnt work. Illinois troubles have come and gone and come again all while Madigan held the speakers gavel. They dont seem to be tied to the presiding officer of the lower chamber, so much as the occupant of the executive suite on the second floor of the Capitol. The second problem is that it doesnt explain why Republicans cheered Madigan as he led the opposition to Blagojevich but denounced him when he used similar tactics against Rauner.But maybe the biggest shortcoming of anti-Madiganism is that it imbues the speaker with more clout than he actually wields. Madigan has stayed in power all these years because he can read the changing political dynamics. He has crossed traditional allies such as teachers unions, trial lawyers and Chicago mayors when the politics demanded it. But even he has misjudged the climate from time to time. He recently faced threats to his position, at least as head of the Democratic Party, because of harassment allegations in his political operation. He himself was not implicated.Both Democrats and Republicans have benefited from inflating Madigans stature. His Democratic allies gain the advantage of a friend whom no one wants to cross. Republicans get an enemy who is easy to vilify, encouraging them to rally voters to support GOP candidates.As governor in the 1990s, Edgar, a Republican, often ran afoul of Madigan. He jokes that, when he had to undergo quadruple bypass surgery in office, he blamed one of the bypasses on stress caused by Madigan. But its easy to go too far, he says. The media give too much credit to Madigan. Hes very smart. He was the smartest guy in Springfield when I was there. You have to treat him with respect. But still, the governor is the important thing. Even a weak governor like Blagojevich is stronger than the speaker.Does Rauner agree? No, he says, emphatically. The governor is strong, and Ive done major things. And Ive beat him. But, Rauner adds, those victories are difficult and not often enough. Hes got too much concentrated power.Recently, Rauner survived a scare in the Republican primary. Rep. Jeanne Ives, one of the most conservative elected officials in the state, ran to the right of Rauner and came within 3 percentage points of beating him. She attacked him for going back on his promise to veto a law that provides public funding for abortions. In a sign of how focused the governor is on his House nemesis, Rauner ran TV ads accusing Ives of being in league with Madigan.As Rauner addresses the workers in Moline, he is trying to reassure them. He talks up the states educated workforce, its vital infrastructure, its manufacturing prowess. We have every advantage in Illinois, he says.One can see signs of economic vitality while driving through the hills of northern Illinois. Huge new wind turbines and mirror-sided grain elevators rise in the distance. Farther east, construction crews erect towering corporate headquarters and condo towers that will join Chicagos iconic skyline.David Harris, one of the GOP lawmakers who opposed Rauner on the budget vote, makes a point to stand up every day in the Illinois House to say something good about the state. In these strange times, its something of an act of political defiance. There is a commitment on the part of public officials to address our problems, he tells me. Dont write us off simply because of some of the bad things you hear. Theres an awful lot that Illinois has to offer. NHS Builds Stronger Communities in Compton As Neighborhood Housing Services of Los Angeles County (NHS) continues to address systemic issues affecting underserved communities of Los Angeles County, the NHS Sustainable Communities Initiative celebrated the one-year anniversary of the first Center for Sustainable Communities (CSC), Compton. NHS, along with partners Metro Community Development Corporation and Pacific Coast Regional Small Business Development Corporation, hosted two days of events including a Farmers Market and Information Fair and a Community Sustainability Summit. We are facing the most severe housing crisis probably in the history of housing, not only in California, but in every major city across the United States. The need for assistance, the need for subsidy, the need for counseling, the need for education is greater than ever before and this is the mission of NHS, says Sal Mendoza, NHS chairman and senior vice president and manager of City National Banks Community Reinvestment Department. ADVERTISEMENT Home ownership continues to be a way to improve lives, a way to build family wealth, and a way to stabilize communities, to revitalize communities. Over the past year, Comptons CSC. has reached 51,000 households, trained 99 entrepreneurs and local businesspeople, created or retained 53 jobs for youth, and provided 305 pounds of vegetables for food insecure families. What makes a neighborhood thrive: housing, health, economic development, small business, transit, affordable opportunities for people to start their lives and keep their lives running, says Lori Gay, president and CEO of NHS. The question is how do we do that; how do we serve to a community like [Compton]. The Sustainable Communities Initiative serves as a catalyst for achieving broader community and personal empowerment goals that will help low-income families most adversely impacted by economic divestment. By ensuring capital reinvested addresses financial and social concerns of LA Countys most distressed communities, NHS continues to create a sustainable future for underserved neighborhoods. Gay also extended special thanks to presenting sponsor Luther Burbank Savings, title sponsor City National Bank, KJLH, NeighborWorks, HSBC, Pacific Mercantile Bank, CIT/One West, as well as community members for supporting the Farmers Market and Sustainable Communities Summit. Protesters March In Response To Police Shooting Of Naked Man Hundreds of protesters are demanding answers about last months fatal shooting of a man who had run naked onto an interstate highway. The protesters marched Saturday afternoon down Broad Street in Richmond holding signs that said Help Not Death and Justice for Marcus-David. The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia was among the groups participating in the protest. Twenty-four-year-old Marcus-David Peters was shot and killed May 14 by a Richmond police officer after a confrontation on Interstate 95. Peters was unarmed but charged at the officer, who first fired a stun gun and then his service weapon. ADVERTISEMENT Both Peters and the officer who shot him are black. Peters family has asked police to release their protocols for dealing with people suffering from episodes of mental instability. Reverend Kelvin Sauls Takes Ministry Beyond Holman Reverend Kelvin Sauls of Holman United Methodist Church in Los Angeles, recently announced that he would transition now, from inside the churchs four walls to share his ministry with the community at large. More than words to spread the Gospel, Sauls said he wants spread it through his actions, most notably in the areas of homelessness, immigration and racial and environmental justice. His unequivocal commitment to the upliftment and betterment of the least of these will remain, he said. As Pastor Sauls transitions from his pastoral leadership at Holman United Methodist Church, he is committed to following Gods call on his life in ministry and the vow that he made as an elder in the United Methodist Church to lead the people of God to faith in Jesus Christ, to participate in the life and work of the community, and to seek peace, justice, and freedom for all people, said a spokesperson for Sauls via a statement released Monday. In his six-year tenure as the Senior of Pastor Holman United Methodist Church Sauls is described by people who knew him as having displayed courageous and visionary leadership through his passion for bridging multi-racial, multi-ethnic and multi-generational congregational vitalization for meaningful community transformation. ADVERTISEMENT He was born and raised on the south side of Johannasburg in the Republic of South Africa. Confirmed in the Methodist Church in his youth Sauls was very active in church leadership. But it was the backdrop of the system of Apartheid in his country that nurtured a spiritual warrior in Sauls that would lead him to a style of activism that interwined mobilization and action with spiritual leadership, a style he would keep to as a Bishops Leadership Scholarship brought him to America to pursue a higher education. Now, In his six-year tenure as the Senior of Pastor Holman United Methodist Church he has displayed courageous and visionary leadership through his passion for bridging multi-racial, multi-ethnic and multi-generational congregational vitalization for meaningful community transformation, said Sauls spokesperson via this weeks statement. Sauls had been involved in a variety of causes while leading the congregation at Holman, usually ones that promoted his mission of fostering an environment of hope and healing. He headed up the Promoting Healthy Men Conference and the Women Rising event both earlier this year. He has also hosted notable people at Holman from Minister Louis Farrakhan to Senator Kamala Harris. With his transition, Sauls told the Sentinel Tuesday, that he is leaving a message for his congregation. They need to continue to leverage their legacy, he said. [They need to leverage it] in such a way, that they can continue a progressive and prophetic work in serving all of the members in the community. ADVERTISEMENT Sauls said he feels congregational vitality is measured by relevant and impactful ministries with cutting-edge and ingenious partnerships with historic and contemporary grassroots social justice organizations, the philanthropic sector, business and city, county and state governmental collaborations Through his bold and bridge-building, collaborative and adaptive leadership, Holman has been re-launched as a progressive, prophetic, prevailing, and Pan-African faith-based and hope-filled humanitarian movement, wrote Sauls spokesperson. His leadership has enabled Holman to re-emerge as the community hub for social justice. His innovative Community endeavors include launching the Brenda Marsh-Mitchell Gospel Stage at Taste of Soul, hosting Navidad en el Barrio with the Brotherhood Crusade, and vibrant and enhanced Freedom School program. In his 22 years of ordained ministry, Rev. Sauls has served both local congregations and general agencies in the United Methodist Church. Pursuing synergy between personal holiness, social holiness and environmental holiness, he said, is at the core of his involvement and collaboration with community-based organizations for local, regional, national and global collective and transformational impact. He said that his solidarity with migrants and immigrants resulted in his collaboration with Rev. Phil Lawson in co-founding the national and international movement, Black Alliance for Just Immigration (www.blackalliance.org). In addition to serving as the current Board Chair of BAJI, Rev. Sauls serves on the Board of Directors of National Justice for Our Neighbors (www.njfon.org), a national United Methodist program resourcing affordable and quality legal services for immigrants. He also co founded the Priority Africa Network (www.priorityafrica.org) , the South Los Angeles Transition Age Youth, Foster-care and Homeless Collaborative (www.southlatay.org), Justice not Jails, a program that facilitates opportunities for individuals to re-enter society from prison. He was appointed by Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles to serve as a Commissioner on the Los Angeles Housing Services Authority (www.lahsa.org), a city and county agency to invoke and implement strategies to end homelessness. According to Rev. Sauls, he lives out his passion to health equity through the prevention of, and intervention around HIV/AIDS and STIs locally and globally by serving on the Board of Directors of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (www.aidshealth.org). With a vision for, and commitment to move underserved communities in South Los Angeles from health disparity to vitality, Sauls serves on the Deans Advisory Council of the School of Medicine at Charles Drew University (www.cdrewu.edu). And, With economic equity as indispensable to his holistic approach to community transformation, Rev. Sauls is a founding Board member of the Black Cooperative Investment Fund (www.bcif.org). Seeking synergy between social justice and environmental justice, Rev. Sauls is the co-founder of a grassroots environmental justice movement in Los Angeles, Standing Together Against Neighborhood Drilling (www.stand.la.org). There will be a Sending Forth Worship Celebration for Pastor Sauls and his wife Rev. Judi Wortham Sauls, an ordained Minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, is scheduled for Sunday, June 24 at 11am at Holman United Methodist Church. A Community Celebration is scheduled for Saturday, June 30, at 5pm at the Conga Room in LA LIVE!! As of press time no announcement had been made about Sauls replacement. Riot Police Break Up Transparency Rally in Mali The UN is calling for calm in Mali after dozens of protestors were attacked by soldiers in the capital city Bamako, two months ahead of a presidential election. Several hundred people attended the rally, outside the headquarters of the Democratic Alliance for Peace the party of the current President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. Some 30 people were hospitalized, according to the protestors, including prominent opposition figure Etienne Fabaka Sissoko who was reportedly in a coma after security forces fired live ammunition at protesters on Saturday. Police also fired tear gas and beat demonstrators with batons, according to an AFP reporter at the scene. Clashes also took place in other locations. ADVERTISEMENT The crackdown on protestors took place just as U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was scheduled to meet with donors in Bamako, the Malian capital. The donors provide operating funds to the G5 Sahel, a partnership of five countries hard hit by al-Qaeda and Islamic State terror attacks. Mali has been the center of a multi-national force fighting jihadists for over a decade. Last February, a conference 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, planned for years, 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 (the United Nations) are working to ensure effective international solidarity by the strength of G5 Sahel, he added. The Malian government must ensure the protection of fundamental human rights and freedom of expression to peaceful demonstrations, including in the context of the ongoing state of emergency, a UN statement said. ADVERTISEMENT In the polls that take place in July, President Keita will face around a dozen challengers, including Modibo Kone, a rural development expert at the West African Development Bank, and Hamadoun Toure, who runs the Smart Africa initiative to drive development on the continent via technology. Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch is urging the government of Mali to investigate abuses against suspects detained during a major military operation against armed Islamist groups. Sheila Thorne Will Receive the New Jersey State Assoc. IBPOEWs Civil Liberties 2018 Community Service Award Sheila Thorne, the President of Multicultural Healthcare Marketing Group, will receive the 2018 Community Service Award at the New Jersey State Association of the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks of the World (IBPOEW) Civil Liberties Luncheon, honoring her advocacy, service and commitment to public responsibility. The IBPOEW Civil Service Liberties Award recognizes public service, innovation, and leadership. The theme for this years program is Community Responsibility and Partnership and will take place on Friday, June 8, 2018, at 12:30 pm at the ML Hotel, 915 Route 73 (Exit 4 off NJ Turnpike), Mt Laurel, N.J. As President and CEO, Sheila L. Thorne has built the Multicultural Healthcare Marketing Group, LLC (MHMG) into a thriving and growing full-service market research, cross-cultural educational, marketing communications company. Thorne is committed to reducing racial and ethnic health disparities and promoting health. She has spent almost three decades designing health education programs, Diversity and Inclusion, cultural competency training programs, and marketing campaigns for racially and linguistically diverse populations throughout the United States, Western Europe and Latin America. Her deep understanding of the challenges and roots of injustice and the connections between individual health outcomes and social determinants has led to collaborative partnerships with National Medical Association, Interamerican College of Physicians & Surgeons, and Asian Pacific Islander American Health Forum among many other professional health advocacy organizations and numerous community-based organizations throughout the country. Among her many affiliations, from 2011 through 2014, she served as a member of Region II Health Equity Council and co-chair of the Cultural and Linguistic Competency Committee, part of the Federal Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health National Partnership to End Health Disparities representing New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. ADVERTISEMENT As a volunteer, Thorne gave 110 presentations about the Affordable Care Act to faith and community-based organizations in New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C. and worked with 125 African American and Hispanic families to enroll them in health insurance plans for the first time in their lives. I am humbled to receive the Civil Liberties Community Service Award and would like to thank the New Jersey State IBPOEW. I have committed my life to promoting health equity and to closing the gaps in health and healthcare disparities, Thorne said. It has been a privilege to work with individuals and families in communities of color to promote health and well-being of mind, body and spirit so that all can live a quality life and work to their full potential to build healthy communities. South African Promise of a New Dawn Slowed by Infighting South Africas former leader Jacob Zuma is among those said to be impeding efforts by his successor, President Cyril Ramaphosa, to create a new dawn for citizens and foreign investors free of corruption and cronyism which became associated with the Zuma regime. Zuma was ousted as president of South Africa three months ago. It was a humiliating end to his nine year rule. Now Zumas shadow is looming large over the Ramaphosa era as his allies launch a fightback within the ANC. ADVERTISEMENT There is bad blood there, and Zuma is feeling betrayed it is an open secret, political analyst Somadoda Fikeni from the UNISA university in Pretoria told the French news service AFP. Zumas advisors still believe that he is universally loved and that the nation shares in his belief and anger that the charges against him are a political plot. Even if that were true, Ramaphosas popularity, both inside and outside the ANC, is huge and without any doubt much, much bigger than that of Zuma. In a public appearance at the High Court of Durban where he faced corruption charges dating back to before he came to power, Zumas followers chanted Hands off Zuma and Tell us what he had done wrong. Later at a recent media briefing, Blade Nzimande, head of the South African Communist Party, threw the towel back at Zuma and urged the new president to dismantle the networks of parasitic looting of public resources that flourished under the patronage of former president Jacob Zuma. Elsewhere in South Africa, white farmers are said to be receiving self-defense training from an ex-Israeli soldier. It follows statements from President Ramaphosa that a radical land redistribution plan is in the works to address unequal land ownership in the country. ADVERTISEMENT Participants deal with simulated home invasions, violent assaults and imminent executions, with techniques designed to overpower the aggressor. Despite statistics showing 638 farm attacks last year, organizations representing White farmers, such as AfriForum, argue that the number of violent incidents is far higher. Yet crime does not just happen to White farmers, says Ronald Lamola, a presidential adviser and a senior ANC member. It also happens to Black farm workers. It also happens to anyone, anywhere in this country. Tamar Rices Mother, Builds Center to Nurture Youth & Honor Son Walk in the front door of 6117 St. Clair Avenue today, and youll see an empty space with a patterned linoleum floor and nicked paneling that covers nearly every wall of the two-story brick building. Samaria Rice sees something different. The mother of Tamir Rice envisions a warm and energetic space filled with children. They are painting and drawing with pastels. They are beating on African drums and bowing violins. They are performing plays they created in an intimate theater. ADVERTISEMENT The children inside what will become The Tamir Rice Afrocentric Cultural Center will be mentored and nurtured and taught how to dissect and participate in political systems, something Rice said she never learned in school but was forced to learn 3 1/2 years ago to speak up for 12-year-old Tamir after he was shot and killed by a Cleveland police officer in the recreation center park where he played daily. For Rice, the center is a gift to Tamir. Its solid assurance that while he never grew to be a man, his legacy will not fade. Rice said some people have discouraged her from opening the center, or questioned her ability to pull it off. The 41-year-old mother may have only an 8th grade education, but she brushes off those naysayers just like she did the annoyance last week of someone putting superglue in every one of the locks on the centers newly purchased building. I dont pay no attention to them, Rice said bluntly. They cant beat me for the simple fact that their child wasnt killed by the state. Im going to do it through the grace of God and Im going to do it because the city of Cleveland gave me no choice but to do it as far as building my sons legacy and keeping his legacy alive. What some might not understand is that being hands-on with the work of the foundation and the center is an important part of Rices grieving and healing process, Amanda King, an activist artist, who consults for the foundation said. ADVERTISEMENT King is the founder of Shooting Without Bullets, which uses photography and performance to allow black and brown teens to process and express their feelings about complex social problems and injustices they experience. In terms of education and credentials, Rice might not fit the normal mold of an executive director running a foundation, King said. Its also hard for her to trust others with something as deeply personal as honoring her son. Its wakening a creative energy in her, King said. It really is a new life and a new career. Sweet Sixteen Next month, Rice is throwing a Sweet Sixteen party for the milestone her son cant celebrate. Shes invited the public to help her honor Tamir with musical and spoken word performances, and to help raise $21,000 to renovate the more than 3,500-square-foot building purchased in March by the Tamir Rice Foundation. Built in 1920, the building has good bones but needs some new windows, drywall and a stage for performances. She hopes to complete work and open the center in 2019. Tickets for June 14 fundraiser at the Cleveland Museum of Art are $55 and contributions to the renovation are also being collected online. Rice hesitated initially before deciding to put the center in Cleveland, she said. But her son was born and raised here, and she wanted to make sure that Cleveland doesnt try to erase the memory. Nobody is talking about Tamir any more in Cleveland, she said. And thats sad. Not council people. Not church pastors. Some artists have kept what happened to him alive, like Terrence Spivey, a theatrical director, who in 2016 helped create a play that wove together searing monologues that grappled with the communitys response to Tamirs death. Spivey will be the artistic director for the centers drama program, Rice said. Rice created the foundation that bears her sons name in 2016. Later that year, a judge approved a $6 million settlement of the wrongful death lawsuit shed filed against the city and the two officers involved. It was the largest settlement the city had ever paid related to a police shooting. After lawyers fees and costs and payments to other relatives, Tamirs estate was left with about $1.8 million. That money didnt bring back her son, nor did it temper Rices anger with the justice system or the city itself, which she feels never appropriately atoned for Tamirs death. The foundation provided a way to channel that frustration into something positive, something with a lasting purpose. Rice said she wants to invest in Clevelands children. More Nurturing To Do Rices own childhood was fraught with trauma. Her mother, Darlett, went to prison after shooting and killing her abusive boyfriend when Rice was 12. Rice taught herself, with the help of counselors and programs, to provide the structure for her children she never had. Rice sought out and enrolled them in arts programs and sports, and made sure their needs at school were addressed. Tamir, she said, loved to create, drawing cartoons and making pottery. At first, Rice said she was interested in forming a school, but that had its own hurdles. In her mind, she kept coming back to what mattered most to her as a mother. Im a nurturer and I still had some nurturing to do for Tamir but I was robbed of thatI want to see some positivity. I dont really see a whole lot of positivity coming out of the inner city when it comes to the youth that is sufferingI want the center to give them a sense of hope. The mentoring component was especially important to Rice. Tamir and his older sister, Tajai, had mentors through a program with Ohio Guidestone, and Rice recalled how those few hours a week made a difference. That kind of helped Tamir with emotional and coping skills and social skills, which a lot of children lack in the inner city, she said. Rices plan crystalized one day this year as she drove down St. Clair Avenue. She spotted a narrow building between the Empress Taytu Ethiopian restaurant and an indoor flea market. The building had a for rent sign and Rice decided see if the owner would sell. In March, the foundation purchased the building for $162,680. For decades, the space was home to the Ameriska Dominova, a Slovenian newspaper dating back to 1899, and printed in the building from 1929 until 2008. Katherine and Edward Turk bought the building in 2010, mainly to preserve its historical contents, which now are in a small museum down the street. Most recently, a band practiced and performed in the space where Rice said shell build a small theater. Edward Turk said hed had other offers for the building in the past but he turned them down. It was waiting for its next purpose, he said. I feel good about it, he said. I feel good for anyone who wants to be in there to help others. While Rice aims to create a hub for artistic expression, and a safe space for all children, she also wants to learn to dissect the system for change. To know what it takes to be a councilperson, a mayor, a representative. And also to learn the chain of command and who has the power to make change in a city. Those children thats coming out of the 12th grade, theyre not talking about it, lets be honest, like they are in the white schools, she said. When it does happen, it isnt enough. Youve got some kids out there that want to see some change, they just dont know how to go about it. Thats what she wants to teach them. I gotta do something, you know, she said. They aint gonna hear me outI aint got time for that. Thats why Ive got to channel my stuff to the youth because theyre going to be our future. I may not see it in my lifetime, but the center will make sure it gets done, thats for sure. U.S. Virgin Islands Economic Development Authority Names Kamal I. Latham Chief Executive Officer The U.S. Virgin Islands Economic Development Authority (USVIEDA) announced Kamal I. Latham, MPP as the new chief executive officer (CEO), following an international search by the PACE Group. Latham has helped facilitate over $5 billion in economic growth throughout his nearly 20 years of combined experience as a non-profit executive, entrepreneur, Fortune 500 advisor, U.S. diplomat, and Wall Street financial analyst. The USVIEDA Board, worked hand-in-hand with The Pace Group, a leading international executive search firm specializing in economic development. A top-notch pool of candidates was developed, and five finalists were interviewed by the Search Committee. Latham advanced numerous successful initiatives during his career including facilitating over 70 business growth recommendations being adopted by local governments in Florida, designing a strategy resulting in millions of dollars in new revenue for a Fortune 500 company, helping negotiate a multi-billion dollar trade deal between the United States and China, securing European support for a multi-million dollar Middle East/North Africa investment program, and helping raise approximately one billion dollars in debt and equity capital for corporations. ADVERTISEMENT I am humbled and honored to have been chosen by the governing board to lead the U.S. Virgin Islands Economic Development Authority and work with its gifted staff. It is an impressive organization with a great mission and reputation, said Latham. I am excited about partnering with stakeholders from the government, business, non-profit, education, civic, arts, and other sectors to leverage existing assets and further realize the Territorys potential, added Latham. Born and raised in New York City, Latham earned a Master in Public Policy degree from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and history from Temple University. He has lived and worked in North America, Europe, and Asia. Latham is a two-time recipient of the U.S. Department of States Meritorious Honor Award for his role in brokering bilateral trade agreements. He and his wife Jonnel have a son and daughter. The U.S. Virgin Islands has a rich cultural heritage with an industrious and talented workforce. I am passionate about public service and look forward to facilitating job creation and economic opportunity Territory-wide, commented Latham. The USVIEDA CEO will spearhead efforts promoting economic development in the U.S. Virgin Islands by developing and implementing a comprehensive economic development program focused on business expansion and recruitment, small business incubation, business financing, industrial park development, neighborhood revitalization, and marketing. The U.S. Virgin Islands Economic Development Authority is a semiautonomous government organization responsible for developing, promoting and enhancing the economy of the U.S. Virgin Islands. The USVIEDA is the umbrella organization under one governing board which assumes, integrates, and unifies the functions of the following subsidiary entities: the Economic Development Commission, the Enterprise Zone Commission, the Economic Development Bank, and the Economic Development Park Corporation. For more information visit www.usvieda.org. Woman Sues Alleging Sexual Assault by Uber Driver Uber and a former driver for the ride-hailing company are being sued by a passenger who alleges the driver took her unconscious to a North Hollywood motel in 2017 and raped her. The plaintiff is identified only as Jane Doe in the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit filed against Uber Technologies Inc. and Alaric Spence, alleging sexual battery, false imprisonment, battery, civil rights violations and intentional infliction of emotional. Plaintiff joins hundreds of other female victims who had been sexually assaulted by Uber drivers possibly thousands around the world, the suit alleges. ADVERTISEMENT The suit was filed Friday and seeks unspecified damages and various reforms within Uber, including the implementation of a policy requiring cameras inside Uber vehicles and the placement of a panic button on an Uber app alerting the company and police of any unlawful conduct by its drivers. Uber spokesman Andrew Hasbun released a statement regarding the complaint that reads, in part: What the rider reported to police is horrifying and has no place anywhere in our society. Our hearts are with the victim. Spence lost his Uber driving privileges in June 2017 when the alleged crime was reported and the company worked closely with police, Hasbun said. He also noted that Uber recently strengthened its safety approach with new features, including an emergency button, driver screening improvements and the addition of the former Secretary of Homeland Security to head up Ubers Safety Advisory Board. Spence, 47, has pleaded not guilty in Los Angeles Superior Court to one felony count each of kidnapping to commit rape, rape of an unconscious person and rape by use of drugs, according to the District Attorneys Office. He is awaiting a preliminary hearing and his next court hearing is June 8. Prosecutors allege that Spence picked up the woman in downtown Los Angeles, June 23, drove her to the motel and carried her from his car into the room, where he raped her. The woman was intoxicated and unconscious at the time of the alleged attack, according to Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller. Los Angeles police said the woman passed out in the back of Spences car while en route to Hollywood about 3 a.m. She woke up alone, not knowing where she was or how she got there, and called police. ADVERTISEMENT According to the lawsuit, Doe attended a work function in downtown Los Angeles the previous day and summoned an Uber driver to take her to her boyfriends West Hollywood home because she had consumed several alcoholic drinks. The plaintiff alleges that Spence drove her toward her destination and administered a date-rape drug or something similar to render her unconscious. Once they reached the womans destination, the driver then continued to the Ritz Motel in North Hollywood, where he carried the still- unconscious woman into a room and raped her, according to the lawsuit. Spence left the woman and she awoke later dazed and confused in a strange room wearing only a shirt, the suit states. Plaintiff realized that she had been sexually assaulted when she found two used condoms in the motel room, the complaint alleges. Doe found out that Spence was her alleged assailant by checking the room registration, the suit says. Spence was arrested shortly after the attack. He has prior drug- related convictions and had been an Uber driver for six months, according to police. For years, European and American researchers dug up land where Native Americans buried their dead. They recovered countless bones and cultural artifacts as part of their studies. Now, museum officials have begun returning some of these artifacts to Native American tribes. Late last month, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation returned nine such objects to the Alaskan Native Chugach tribe. The objects included a wooden mask, a wooden idol, and a basket for carrying a baby. They were taken by a Norwegian explorer, Johan Adrian Jacobsen, in the late 1800s. He found them in tribal lands along the northwest coast of North America. Jacobsen gave the artifacts to the Royal Museum of Ethnology in Berlin. They were stored for many years at Berlins Ethnographic Museum. Hermann Parzinger is president of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. He said that since the artifacts were taken from the Chugach people without their approval, they do not belong to the museum. The first step of cooperation John F.C. Johnson is with the Chugach Alaska Corporation. He represented the tribe in Berlin at a ceremony marking the official return of the nine artifacts. Johnson told VOA that, for years, he has traveled to Europe to document all the objects taken from the tribes territory. He plans to create an online registry showing where the artifacts can be found around the world. The process for returning the mask, babys basket and other objects began in 2015. That is when a Chugach delegation visited the Berlin museum to identify Chugach artifacts in its collection. Some of the artifacts were found to be funerary objects. Johnson said he does not expect that everything will be returned to the tribe, but it is important that funerary or religious objects are sent back. When we do reburials, different elders will say that its a basic cultural value that you have to...respecthonor, and give dignity to the human remains and funerary objects. If different cultural organizations or states went by those value systems, I think our world would be a lot better place to live in. After the German museum confirmed that the nine objects had been taken without the tribes approval, museum officials agreed to give them back. After the artifacts are officially returned to the Chugach, Johnson says they will be kept in local museums or community centers. Returning their history In the United States, the federal government is supporting Native Americans' efforts to recover lost or missing artifacts. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act requires museums to make Native American artifacts available to government-recognized tribes. Johnson said this means that if tribes wish to have objects returned from an American museum, they need to make an official request. However, European countries do not have such laws. So Native American tribes depend on the willingness of European museum officials to return artifacts. Johnson said that with Berlins Ethnographic Museum, this was not a problem. People in Germany are doing it out of their own good will, and Im really impressed with their efforts of doing that. Monika Zessnick is the curator of American ethnology at the Ethnographic Museum. She said the return of the artifacts was a first step in an ongoing cooperation between the museum and the Chugach people. She added that this event comes at a time when many museums in Europe are looking closely at how their artifacts were collected. Future cultural exchanges Zessnick said that working directly with tribal representatives helps museum officials widen their own knowledge about the artifacts in their collections. These are old collections of about 130-150 years, and evidence and information is sometimes very thin its really a lot of help for us for presenting collections, she noted. Johnson agrees, and said the Chugach are working with the Berlin museum for possible future exchanges. With Berlin, were developing cultural exchanges where in the future we can have some of our members come to Berlin and see some of the collections, he said. Zessnick said that she and Johnson are also working on having the museums members travel to Alaska to experience a Chugach culture camp, called the Nuuciq Spirit Camp. The camps bring the tribes young and older members together for cultural programs, such as dancing, language, art and cooking. Johnson added that he would also like to see community artists create models of the returned artifacts, which they can then give to museums overseas. Zessnick said the two sides have discussed working together on a possible exhibition, or a long-term loan of the more than 200 other Chugach objects the museum has in its collection. Artifacts coming home This is not the only time a museum has returned artifacts back to Alaska Natives. Last year, National Public Radio reported on the return of human remains to the small Yupik village of Igiugig from the Smithsonian Institutions National Museum of Natural History. Local tribal leaders accepted and later reburied the remains of their ancestors. The bones had been taken in 1931 by Ales Hrdlicka, the director of the museums department of anthropology at the time. He dug them up as part of his research of how people first came to North America. In 2016, The Anchorage Daily News reported that two artifacts were returned to Alaska Native Organizations after they were discovered on sale in Paris. After assistance from the U.S. State Department, the artifacts were purchased in secret by a nonprofit group, which then returned them to the tribes. The two objects were small wooden boxes belonging to the Chugach tribe and the Chilkat Tlingit tribe. Experts believe that at one time the boxes probably were used to transport important religious objects. I'm Dorothy Gundy. And Im Phil Dierking. Phil Dierking reported this story for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor. Do you have important artifacts from your country that were taken by explorers for museums? Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story artifact - n. a simple object (such as a tool or weapon) that was made by people in the past curator - n. a person who is in charge of the things in a museum, zoo, etc. dignity - n. a way of appearing or behaving that suggests seriousness and self-control elder - n. a person who has authority because of age and experience idol - n. a picture or object that is worshipped as a god online - adj. connected to a computer, a computer network, or the Internet exhibition - n. an event at which objects (such as works of art) are put out in a public space for people to look at : a public show of something impress - v. to cause (someone) to feel admiration or interest mask - n. a covering for your face or for part of your face museum - n. a building in which interesting and valuable things (such as paintings and sculptures or scientific or historical objects) are collected and shown to the public When leaders from seven of the major industrial countries, known as the G7, meet in Canada, it will likely be the G6 and the United States. Canadas finance minister Bill Morneau says the focus of the meeting will be on trade especially what he has called U.S. President Donald Trumps absurd tariffs. Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and the U.S. make up the Group of Seven (G7). The group meets yearly to discuss issues like the international economy and security. Last week, Trump announced the U.S. would put tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada, Mexico, and the European Union. Trump called the tariffs part of fair and reciprocal trade. But Morneau says he expects the G7 will continue to try to pressure the U.S. to reconsider. Trump has recently angered other G7 leaders over other issues, too. Last month he withdrew the U.S. from a deal to monitor Irans nuclear activities. And his efforts to improve ties between the U.S. and North Korea risk pushing Japan aside. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire spoke to reporters on Friday before meeting with other G7 finance officials. What this G7 is going to show is that the United States are alone against everyone and especially alone against their allies, he said. In addition to the economy, business investors want G7 leaders to talk about strengthening national plans to cut greenhouse gases and end the use of coal. However, Trump has resisted these efforts before. He does not believe that severe weather changes are the result of human activities, and he wants to support and grow the U.S. fossil fuel industry. Test of relevance Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is hosting this weeks G7 leaders summit in the Quebec town of La Malbaie. He played down talk of division at the meeting. Instead, he said, the summit was a chance for like-minded nations to come together and talk about shared challenges. But one expert says the divisions on trade will make focusing on other issues hard. Heather Conley is a former U.S. State Department official, now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC. Theyre either going to struggle through this and remain relevant to the management of the international system as it continues to evolve or theyre not, she said. Another observer warned of a serious break. Roland Paris is a professor of international affairs at the University of Ottawa, as well as Trudeaus first foreign policy adviser. He said leaders could make light of their differences. Or, he added, There is the real possibility of a more open rupture. But Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow suggested the stakes were much lower. He said the tensions over trade were more like a family quarrel, and that leaders could overcome their differences. The meeting will be held June 8 and 9 in La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada. I'm Dorothy Gundy. The Associated Press reported this story. Kelly Jean Kelly adapted the report for VOA Learning English. Hai Do was editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section. _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story absurd adj. unreasonable; completely foolish tariff - n. a tax on goods coming into or leaving a country summit - n. a meeting or series of meetings between the leaders of two or more governments reciprocal adj. involving or related to both sides relevant adj. relating to a subject greenhouse gases - n. gases that contribute to the warming of the Earth's atmosphere fossil fuel - n. a fuel (such as coal, oil, or natural gas) that is formed in the earth from dead plants or animals management - n. the act or process of controlling and dealing with something evolve - v. to change or develop slowly often into a better, more complex, or more advanced state rupture - n. a break in good relations between people or countries stakes - n. something (such as money) that you could win or lose in a game, contest, etc. family quarrel n. a disagreement between people who are often on good terms A new study has found that the number of American teenagers using Facebook is dropping. Many turn instead to YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat. The study by the U.S.-based Pew Research Center found that 51 percent of American teens between the ages of 13 to 17 said they currently use Facebook. This was a large drop from 2015, when 71 percent of teens in that age group reported using the social media service. The study found that YouTube is now the most popular internet service for teens, with 85 percent saying they currently use it. The second-most popular is Instagram, at 72 percent. Facebook owns Instagram. Sixty-nine percent of teens said they use Snapchat, while 32 percent use Twitter. Less than 10 percent reported using Tumblr or Reddit. In March, another Pew study found that 68 percent of adults said they were Facebook users. Of those, 74 percent said they used the social media service daily. About half of the adults reported using Facebook several times a day. Results of the latest study were based on interviews with 743 teens and more than 1,000 parents during March and April 2018. The study also found that 95 percent of teens reported they either owned a smartphone or had a way of using one. This marked a 22 percent increase over a similar study from 2015. When asked which services they use most often, 35 percent of teens identified Snapchat. About 32 percent said they use YouTube the most, while 15 percent said they use Instagram more than other services. The Pew study found that, in general, teens from different economic and racial backgrounds liked the same services. However, the researchers did find some differences. For example, about 70 percent of teens whose families earned less than $30,000 a year said they used Facebook. Among teens from families making over $75,000, just 36 percent of teens reported using it. There were also some differences among males and females. The study found that about 42 percent of girls said Snapchat was the service they used most, compared to 29 percent of boys. More males 39 percent said they used YouTube the most, compared to 25 percent of females. Pews latest study also confirmed earlier research that a huge majority of teens like to spend time gaming. When asked whether they ever play video games -- either on a computer, a game machine or phone -- 90 percent answered yes. The marketing research company eMarketer noted in a report earlier this year that Facebook was losing younger users at a much faster rate than experts had predicted. The companys research showed that in 2018, less than half of U.S. internet users aged 12 to 17 used Facebook on any device at least once a month. eMarketer said that even younger users would be signing off Facebook in 2018. It predicted a 9 percent decrease in users aged 11 and younger. The company said Facebook can expect to lose up to 2 million users aged 24 and younger in 2018. The company also predicted about 1.6 million users 24 years and younger will be joining Facebook-owned Instagram in 2018. But another 1.9 million are expected to move over to Snapchat, the company said. Im Bryan Lynn. Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page. _______________________________________________________________ Quiz Quiz - Teens Dropping Facebook for YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story teenager n. someone who is between 13 and 19 years old The U.S. State Department has announced plans to shorten the length of stay for some visas given to Chinese citizens. The move is part of an effort by the administration of President Donald Trump to protect U.S. intellectual property. The changes are expected to begin June 11. The State Department said that, under the new policy, U.S. consular officials giving visas may limit how long students can stay in the U.S. Currently, officials give visas for the maximum length of time possible. The State Department did not provide more details. However, a U.S. official told the Associated Press, or AP, that U.S. embassies and consulates were informed that some Chinese graduate students will be limited to one-year visas. This will be the case if the Chinese students are studying fields like robotics, aviation and high technology manufacturing. China has identified these fields as most important for its Made in China 2025 manufacturing plan. The report said some Chinese citizens seeking visas would also need special approval from several U.S. agencies. This would be the case if they work as researchers or supervisors for companies that require higher levels of security. Approvals are expected to take months for each visa application, the official said. The official who gave AP the information did not want to be identified. However, the State Department said that the visa application process itself will not change. The changes are expected as the Trump administration seeks to limit some of Chinas methods related to trade. These include information related to important industries that China wants to strongly influence. On Tuesday, the Trump administration threatened to place a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion in Chinese goods. It said the import taxes are a reaction to Chinas unfair trade methods especially those related to intellectual property. Spying at universities? The U.S. released its national security strategy in December. In it, the administration said the U.S. would study and tighten the visa process to reduce economic theft by non-traditional intelligence collectors. The strategy document also said there could be restrictions on visas for foreign students studying science, technology, engineering and mathematics. In February, Christopher Wray, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, spoke to a Senate committee about the issue. He said American universities need to be more concerned about the risks of Chinese students and researchers trying to take advantage of the open research environment in the U.S. In April, the New York Times reported that the Defense Department was concerned about the problem. It said that almost 25 percent of all foreign efforts to find sensitive or classified information in 2014 was done at academic institutions. Good or bad policy? Some lawmakers have voiced their support for the policy changes. Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida sent a message on Twitter last week in support of the limits. "Another great move! Imposing limits on some Chinese visas may seem harsh, but its necessary. China poses unprecedented threat. Student & academic visas are another weapon they use against us in their campaign to steal & cheat their way to world dominance." However, several American universities and education organizations criticized the new policy. They said it would have an economic cost to the U.S. "This new policy would be bad for institutions and bad for the nation, said American Council of Education president Ted Mitchell in a statement. Mitchell added that such moves risk sending a message that the U.S. no longer welcomes intelligent students from around the world. And, he said, it could hurt the ability of programs to interest international students from other countries. Mitchell also said that international students help the U.S. economy. A report by the research group, the Institute of International Education said that international students bring $36.9 billion and 450,000 jobs to the U.S. Mitchell added that Chinese students alone "contributed $12.55 billion to our national economy in 2016. Wojtek J. Chodzko-Zajko is head of the graduate college at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He said that increased competition from universities outside the U.S. means it is important to be welcoming and supportive of foreign students. The Institute of International Education report found that more than one million international students are attending American universities. More than 30 percent of them come from China. A State Department spokesman Richard Buangan spoke to VOA about the changes to the student visa policy. He said that all visa requests are judged case-by-case, based on U.S. law. Buangan is Managing Director for International Media Engagement, and former spokesperson of the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. He added that national security is very important when considering visa applications. We are constantly working to find ways to improve our screening process and to support legitimate travel and immigration to the United States while protecting U.S. citizens and national interests, he said. Im Phil Dierking. And I'm Susan Shand. Abigail Rubel of VOA Student Union and Stella Hsu of the VOA Mandarin Service contributed to this report. Phil Dierking adapted this story for VOA Learning English using additional media. Mario Ritter was the editor. Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story aviation - n. the business or practice of flying airplanes, helicopters, etc. classified - adj. kept secret from all but a few people in the government consular - n. a government official whose job is to live in a foreign country and protect and help the citizens of his or her own country who are traveling, living, or doing business there dominance - n. more important, powerful, or successful than most or all others harsh - adj. unpleasant and difficult to accept or experience impose - v. to cause (something, such as a tax, fine, rule, or punishment) to affect someone or something by using your authority institution - n. an established organization legitimate - adj. allowed according to rules or laws screen - n. the usually flat part of a television or computer monitor that shows the images or text tariff - n. a tax on goods coming into or leaving a country unprecedented - adj. not done or experienced before Wall Street analysts have given Enel Generacion Chile a "N/A" rating, but there may be better buying opportunities in the stock market. 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Fundamental company data provided by Zacks Investment Research. Twelve out of a total of 17 spoken enquiries made by lawmakers yesterday at the Legislative Assembly (AL) addressed the Pearl Horizon case. In fact, the interventions from the lawmakers involved little discussion, being almost exclusively direct messages to Polytex, the former concessionaire of land plot P in the Areia Preta district, which the government claimed back due to non-development after the granted construction period of 25 years expired. The lawmakers gathered in a united critique of the company, recalling that the Court of Final Appeal has already ruled on the dispute between the company and the government, informing the company to fulfill its liabilities with buyers as fast as possible. Some lawmakers went even further and accused the company of trying to hide behind a new lawsuit against the government, in order to delay the refunds and compensation to buyers. Others, like Zheng Anting, who has frequently been a voice on the topic, recalled the shortcomings of the Land Law currently in force. Zheng called for a revision to the law, to allow the land concession period to be extended or renewed if land concessionaires are not to blame for delays. The Chief Executive should be empowered to renew the provisional concessions in such situations, so that they can be converted into definitive concessions, Zheng said, adding, I hope that the Government will respond to the demands of the public and move forward as soon as possible with the revision of the Land Law so that the people can indeed live and work with stability. Mak Soi Kun added to the words of Zheng, saying, [the current Land] Law can be legal but its irrational Is it acceptable [to have] a chaotic phenomenon, legal but irrational? The same lawmaker noted, for a [large] group of residents the laws come from a group of people that share the same space and live together. When there are conflicts, this should be the only grounds to solve them, Mak said, recalling that many experts had already expressed the idea that a review on the land law is needed. On the same topic, lawmaker Kou Hoi In, besides urging Polytex to fulfill their duties with the buyers, called on the buyers to pay attention to the good faith warning left by the government, about the right to claim compensation and its expiration period. Kuo urged them to protect their own interests by presenting their claim as soon as possible. The topic that went across the entire spectrum of the legislators, and also resonated with Ng Kuok Cheong from the pro-democratic wing, was the Social Welfare Fund. Ng continued, If such [a] company [Polytex] still has any credibility [they will] face the problem and compensate the buyers and the government. The government-proposed bill to establish the Arbitration Law was yesterday approved at its first reading with a unanimous 29 votes in favor in the plenary session of the Legislative Assembly (AL). Although the project was in general consensual, there were a few topics that raised questions from several lawmakers. One of the questions that raised more debate concerned the qualifications and competencies of the arbiters; a topic initially raised by lawmaker Agnes Lam. What are the requirements to be an arbiter? Lam asked, adding who can perform such a task? On the topic, Secretary for Administration and Justice Sonia Chan replied that such qualifications could be examined later when the proposal is analyzed in detail. We are taking one step [forward]; this will be the basis, she said adding, It is most important to attract arbiters of international reputation. The Secretary also advanced the government will study if it will be feasible to unify all these [five existing] arbitration centers into just one. According to Chan, Macau has several advantages when compared to neighboring regions [in terms of arbitrations], especially to become the center for arbitration of conflicts between China and Portuguese-speaking countries, although admitted that there is still a long road to walk until the city reaches such a point. Thats mostly due to another of the issues raised by the lawmakers: The lack of bilingual staff. On the topic, lawmaker Pereira Coutinho mentioned that to reach the standard pursued by the government, besides bilingual, we need also trilingual, noting that for international arbitration it would be also necessary to add the English language to the process. Nevertheless, Pereira Coutinho said he agreed with the proposal for correcting the [currently existent] dual system [of local and international arbitration] and meeting the current modern legal systems. Questioned on the possibility of hiring foreign experts, the director of the Legal Affairs Bureau, Liu Dexue, replied, yes, it is possible. The law does not establish any limitation on nationality but, we must observe the rules of quotas for non-resident workers. Adding to the topic, lawmaker Ip Sio Kai proposed to eliminate the quota system for such professionals in order to allow the hiring of foreigners so we can start the arbitration center and establish a baseline while we train more professionals. Australias trade minister said yesterday that weeks of delays at Chinese ports of Australian wine exports were an irritation in a bilateral trade relationship that was thriving despite diplomatic tensions. Australian wine and beef industry representatives are pressuring the government to patch up diplomatic differences with Beijing that the industries fear are impacting on exports to China, Australias most important trading partner. Australia sees the major strain as its plan to ban covert foreign interference in domestic politics. Australia-based Treasury Wine Estates, one of the worlds largest wine companies, told the Australian Securities Exchange last month that its wine was being delayed while going through Chinese customs. Trade Minister Steven Ciobo said yesterday he had taken up the companys complaint with Chinese authorities during a recent visit to Shanghai and had had a high degree of success. Ciobo did not reveal how much of the wine backlog had been allowed off the Chinese docks, saying that was commercially sensitive information. Where we do see an irritation, we work in a constructive way to overcome that, Ciobo told Australias National Press Club. Im not papering over where theres challenges, but it is also critical that we dont lose sight of the bigger picture here which is a trade-investment relationship that is very strong, very broad and very deep, he added. Australian wine exports to China are booming since a bilateral free trade agreement took effect in December 2015. Wine exports have climbed from 211 million Australian dollars (USD162 million) annually three years ago to more than AUD1 billion almost double the value of exports to Australias next biggest customer, the United States. Winemakers Federation of Australia chief executive Tony Battaglene said several of Australias larger wine exporters had experienced the same problems with Chinese customs as Treasury Wine Estates. Certainly weve seen improvement of these issues at the border since the visit of Ciobo. Hopefully things are going to get back to normal, Battaglene said. The holdups were caused by Chines customs officials making more inspections in search of country-of-origin certificates that entitle Australian wine to preferential tariff treatment under the free trade deal. It was taking a month or longer to get approval of shipments to cross the border, and it always does take a little bit of time because its China, Battaglene said. But were now seeing inspections have gone back to what we would consider more appropriate levels and products are starting to go through so hopefully it will continue, he added. Battaglene said he could not quantify how much wine had been delayed. A Treasury Wine Estates spokeswoman declined to comment. In Beijing, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman defended the right of the countrys customs officials to inspect imported products and suggested that talk of delays at Chinese ports was mere speculation. You say that its delayed, spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters at a regular briefing. I wonder if this is a fact or merely speculation by certain people and companies from Australia. She said China and Australias customs authorities maintain smooth communications. Ciobo said he did not know for much longer Chinese customs officials would demand more paperwork for Australian wine. Product is moving and ultimately, I think that is an indication of the strength of the relationship and the open lines of communication, Ciobo said. Chinas Foreign Minister Wang Yi last month demanded Australia take concrete actions to improve bilateral ties. Rod McGuirk, AP On college campuses in virtually every state across the U.S., the Chinese government supports more than 100 institutes that teach language and culture. For university students like Moe Lewis, they offer a chance to learn about Chinese art and pick up a few phrases in Mandarin. For critics, like Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, they present a threat to academic freedom and a spy risk. As tensions between the U.S. and China rise over trade and security, perceptions vary wildly about educational exchanges that have thrived since diplomatic relations were normalized four decades ago. Increasingly, U.S. authorities are concerned that Chinese professors and students could exploit access to universities to gather intelligence and sensitive research an issue a Senate judiciary panel will address today [Macau time]. And while the China-funded Confucius Institutes that have mushroomed worldwide since 2004 focus on benign subject matter, U.S. lawmakers are pushing for them to be more tightly regulated or even shuttered. I think every college should be aware of what these institutes are used for and that they are in fact consistently been used as a way to quash academic freedom on campus at the behest of a foreign government, said Rubio, R-Fla. I would encourage every college in America to close them. Theres no need for these programs. The view from the George Mason University campus a few miles outside Washington is much different. While institutes have sometimes been accused of squelching anti-Beijing views on issues like Tibet, Lewis, an undergraduate studying animation, said shes seen no sign of intentional bias. She said the institute is one of her favorite places on campus. I think that its nice to have a lot of multicultural experiences especially with countries that [we] have tensions with, said Lewis, after painting peony leaves with watercolors at a weekly art session where most attendees were Chinese students and the painting teacher was an American. Its important to learn about those places. The debate over Confucius Institutes has become a testing ground for the American response to Chinas growing global reach, and underscores anxieties over the more than 350,000 Chinese who study in the United States, more than one third of all foreign students. Only around 20,000 Americans study in China. In February, FBI Director Christopher Wray voiced concern that China could be using professors or students to collect intelligence at universities naive about the risks. He also told a Senate intelligence committee hearing on worldwide threats that the FBI was monitoring Confucius Institutes, although he highlighted no evidence of wrongdoing. Since then, universities have announced the closure of three institutes in Texas and Florida after pressure from lawmakers. Rubio is co-sponsoring legislation that would require the institutes to register with the U.S. government as representing the interests of a foreign power. Currently, their academic activities exempt them from the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which requires disclosure by lobbyists and others advocating for foreign governments and organizations. To me as a person, it seems to be more about fear, an anti-China sentiment, rather than speaking of the truth, responds Gao Qing, executive director Confucius Institute U.S. Center in Washington, who rejects allegations of espionage. The problem I have with people who disagree with Confucius Institutes is that they havent visited them. Foreign government funding of educational programs in the U.S. is not uncommon. U.S. allies like Japan and South Korea, for example, fund courses in their nations language and culture. Saudi Arabia and other Mideast nations have supported research in Islamic and Mideast studies. Political suspicion about the Confucius Institutes has been driven in part by their sheer reach, with more than 500 in 140 countries, and by Chinas rise as a world power. In 2009, a top Chinese Communist Party leader described the institutes as an important part of the Asian nations overseas propaganda. The Chinese government contributes teachers, materials and funding. America has been the biggest beach-head. But have threats to academic freedom which forced the closure of institutes on campuses in Chicago and Pennsylvania in 2014 been overblown? Each institute has an American and a Chinese director, and according to Harvey Pearlman, a law professor at the University of Nebraska, the Chinese government agency that oversees the institutes, Hanban, has been flexible in amending contracts to make them subordinate to university rules. Their courses are tailored to the needs of the host university and have their own specialties, like Chinese theater and opera, traditional medicine and Chinas financial system. Former Republican lawmaker Matt Salmon of Arizona is incredulous that Chinese language training poses a security threat. Hes a Mandarin speaker and former chair of a House subcommittee on Asia a longtime friend of Taiwan and critic of Chinese trade practices. He now works at Arizona State University, which hosts more than 4,000 Chinese students. He said that the Defense Department awarded a three-year grant to Arizona State to promote Mandarin teaching in public schools that is conducted with its Confucius Institute. It helps design courses taught by local teachers for high school students taking advanced Chinese. The funding from National Security Education Program, which supports learning in strategically important languages, has totaled USD450,000 in the past year-and-a-half, institute director Joe Cutter said. I believe very strongly that if the DoD felt there were some kind of a threat to the national security, it would have never given us that grant, Salmon told The Associated Press. Pentagon spokeswoman Maj. Carla Gleason said the institute is not a formal partner in Arizona or elsewhere although it is mentioned in the language programs annual report for 2017. Rubio, a member of the Senate intelligence committee and one of the most outspoken critics of China in Congress, says such cooperation should end. He contends that Confucius Institutes are used to identify students who could become agents of Chinese influence. He warns that it is part of broader strategy by Chinas ruling party to eclipse American power. Its a new world were living in. A lot of the stuff sounds like Hollywood. But I wouldnt waste my time on it if it wasnt real, he said. Matthew Pennington, Washington. AP Ambrose So, vice-chairman of the board of directors of SJM, told the press that the gaming operator has not received any official information regarding the gaming renewal licenses, yet stated that the SARs gaming concessions will be re-auctioned. Speaking to the press on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the Macau Gaming History Gallery, the executive explained, Everyone thinks that this will be a logical arrangement because everyone will [get to] start on the same page because its quite unimaginable if [it] starts [one] tender procedure two years after the other. So believes that the region has space for new players in the gaming industry, yet leaves the decision of how many concessionaires are beneficial to the development of the city to the central government and the SAR. The executive also expressed that Sociedade de Jogos de Macau (SJM) would want to keep its satellite casinos, after being questioned on whether he was expecting some changes that will impact service agreements. Of course we will comply with whatever policy is announced by the government. [] We want to contain the number of satellite casinos, something that we inherit from the past. As you know, if we operate our own casinos, the profit margin is much better. This is a policy of SJM, So explained. The executive further added that it is open to the idea of partnering with other players in the industry, after the new tender has been disclosed. We are open to consider all opportunities. We dont have [potential foreign partners] for the time being. Commenting on the recent UnionPay crackdown that targets POS machines in Cotai pawnshop terminals, So argued that gaming operators will not suffer any major impact. UnionPay will set up their terminal anywhere If they have to move away from the casino premises, for the time being, I dont see any major impact for any policy regarding this, he said. Meanwhile, Bernstein analysts described the crackdown as unusual, due to the lack of information provided by authorities. LV Chinese mobile phone maker Huawei said yesterday it has never collected or stored Facebook user data, after the social media giant acknowledged it shared such data with Huawei and other manufacturers. Huawei, a company flagged by U.S. intelligence officials as a national security threat, was the latest device maker at the center of a fresh wave of allegations over Facebooks handling of private data. Chinese firms Huawei, Lenovo, Oppo and TCL were among numerous handset makers that were given access to Facebook data in a controlled way approved by Facebook, the social media giants vice president of mobile partnerships, Francisco Varela, said in a statement on Tuesday. The statement came after The New York Times published reports detailing how Facebook has given device makers deep access to the data of users friends without their explicit consent. The data included work history, relationship status and likes on device users and their friends. In a follow-up report, The Times said the recipients of Facebook data included Chinese firms like Huawei that have long been labeled a national security threat by Congress. Facebook told the newspaper it would end its data partnership with Huawei by the end of this week. Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the news raises legitimate concerns and wanted to know how Facebook ensured data was not transferred to Chinese servers. Given the interest from Congress, we wanted to make clear that all the information from these integrations with Huawei was stored on the device, not on Huaweis servers, Facebooks Varela said Tuesday. Huawei said its cooperation with Facebook was aimed at improving services for its users. Like all leading smartphone providers, Huawei worked with Facebook to make Facebooks services more convenient for users, Huawei spokesman Joe Kelly said in a text message yesterday, adding that Huawei has never collected or stored any Facebook user data. Hua Chunying a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, declined to comment on the issue but said: We hope the U.S. can provide a fair, transparent, open and friendly environment for Chinese companies operation and investment. The company, founded by former Chinese military officer Ren Zhengfei, has long denied that its products pose security risks even as it grew into the worlds largest telecom equipment provider and a leading phone manufacturer behind only Apple and Samsung. Huawei and its Shenzhen-based rival ZTE have been the subject of security misgivings in the U.S. for years, but they have come under particular scrutiny since the start of the Trump administration amid rising U.S.-China tensions on a range of subjects. The Pentagon in May banned the sale of Huawei and ZTE phones on military bases, four months after AT&T dropped a deal to sell a new Huawei smartphone. Gerry Shih, Beijing, AP Myanmar and U.N. agencies signed an agreement yesterday that could eventually lead to the return of some of the 700,000 Rohingya Muslims who fled brutal persecution by the countrys security forces and are now crowded into makeshift camps in Bangladesh. The memorandum of understanding promises to establish a framework of cooperation that aims to create conditions for voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable repatriation of Rohingya refugees but does not address Myanmars denial of citizenship for the minority. Myanmars government said it hoped the pact would hasten repatriation, but rights groups still doubt it will let many Rohingya return or can guarantee the safety of those who do. Myanmars statement didnt mention Rohingya, reflecting the government and the Burmese majoritys insistence there is no such ethnic group in Myanmar. Instead it referred to them as displaced persons. Myanmars security forces have been accused of rape, killing, torture and the burning of Rohingya homes in western Rakhine state, where most Rohingya lived. The U.N. and U.S. have described the army crackdown that began in August last year as ethnic cleansing. Predominantly Buddhist Myanmar and Bangladesh agreed in November to begin repatriating Rohingya. But refugees feared their lives would be at risk in Myanmar without international monitoring while Myanmar insisted they have identity documents, which most Rohingya have been denied. Knut Ostby, U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Myanmar, said the agreement is an important first step toward resolving the crisis. There is a lot of work to be done. This task should not be underestimated, Ostby said. We are talking about approximately 700,000 people who dont only have to return, but the conditions have to be right for them to return: the conditions both in terms of their identity in society, in terms of their safety and also in terms of services, livelihoods, a place to live, infrastructure. The U.N. has said the agreement provides for its refugee and development agencies to be given access to Rakhine state. It said that will allow the refugee agency to assess the situation and provide information to refugees about conditions in their areas of origin so that they can better decide whether they want to return. The Myanmar government statement said assistance from the U.N. agencies would assist the work it has already started toward repatriation. It highlighted that it had cooperated with the U.N. a quarter century earlier in repatriating 230,000 displaced persons Rohingya who had fled violence in Rakhine to Bangladesh. Rights groups remain pessimistic that the safe return of Rohingya refugees will ever be possible. They point to a lack of firm commitments from Myanmar and its decades of hostility toward a minority that was denied citizenship by a 1982 law that excluded them from a list of recognized ethnic groups in the majority Buddhist nation. How will the Burmese government guarantee these people will not face again persecution? said Kyaw Win, executive director of Burma Human Rights Network. It is very politically convenient for the Burmese government to sign this agreement, and also never commit. Some 125,000 of the Rohingya who remain in Myanmar are living in camps where their movement is restricted after being forced from their villages in 2012 by a wave of violence led by radical Buddhists and security forces. Theres still been no movement to ensure Rohingya have equal access to full citizenship, said Matthew Smith, the head of advocacy group Fortify Rights. Discourse around repatriation now unfortunately appears to be attempt by authorities to distract from mass atrocities and crimes taken place. Amassing ever-larger profits by providing small loans is becoming more difficult in Thailand. Shares in microlenders Muangthai Capital Pcl and Srisawad Corp. have slumped this year on concern about the profit outlook and the prospect of tougher regulatory oversight. The phase of exponential growth in earnings may be over, according to Muangthais founder Chuchat Petaumpai. Were starting from a higher base and theres more competition, so its that much harder to replicate the substantial earnings expansion of the past few years, Chuchat said in an interview Monday. We also have to balance aggressive growth against asset quality. Millions of Thais lacking the credit history required by commercial banks flocked to firms like Muangthai, Srisawad and Group Lease Pcl in recent years, pledging cars, motorcycles or land as collateral for loans. The demand helped to spur a boom in the companies share prices. Cracks emerged in 2017, after Group Leases stock slumped and Thailands Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint against a Group Lease executive. This year, fears of slowing profit growth contributed to a 41 percent drop in Srisawad and a 12 percent decline in Muangthai shares through Tuesday. Chuchat expects Muangthais earnings to rise 35 percent next year, slowing from an estimated 40 percent pace in 2018. Srisawad, Asias worst performing large consumer finance stock in the past month, is tackling bad debt and opening new branches to bolster its outlook. Theres lingering concern that new regulations may affect non-bank lenders including Muangthai, said Kasem Prunratanamala, the head of research at CIMB Securities (Thailand) Co. in Bangkok. The net interest margin may also be hurt by rising competition and higher borrowing costs. Chuchat said clarity in the new rules is likely as the year progresses and that the framework will have a limited impact on earnings, adding Muangthais shares may eventually return to a more normal pattern once such uncertainty is resolved. He and his family have a fortune of about USD1.5 billion based on their Muangthai shareholdings, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The sisters who help to run Srisawad, as well as their mother, have stakes in it worth roughly $420 million combined, data compiled by Bloomberg shows. Anuchit Nguyen, Bloomberg Chinese authorities are ramping up political indoctrination among Tibetan Buddhist clergy and officials in charge of religious affairs as part of a campaign to strengthen the ruling Communist Partys grip on religion. A Tibet government website reported this week that 35 officials traveled to the eastern city of Suzhou last month for training in Chinas policies on Tibet, ethnic and religious theories and diplomacy. An unidentified number of monks and nuns also underwent three days of training in Tibets capital, Lhasa, ending on June 2. As facilitators who pass on instruction in government policies, they were told to be reliable in politics and take a clear-cut and firm stance, the website Tibet.cn reported. The clergy and officials under the partys United Front Work Department responsible for religious affairs were from the Tibet Autonomous Region and ethnically Tibetan areas of Yunnan province. Such indoctrination, along with compulsory political study in monasteries, aims to reduce the appeal of the Dalai Lama, Tibets exiled spiritual leader, as well as build loyalty to the officially atheistic party. It is important for United Front Work officials to improve their ability first, especially in regions such as Tibetan areas where the Dalai Lama clique intends to penetrate, Zhu Weiqun, former chairman of the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee of the legislatures advisory body, was quoted as saying by the party newspaper Global Times. Other religious groups have also come under increased pressure in recent months, with Christian churches destroyed and hundreds of thousands of Muslims held in re-education centers where they are forced to denounce Islamic beliefs and traditional culture. Events have also been organized nationwide among religious communities to study the newly amended constitution that scrapped term limits for President Xi Jinping, who recently launched a campaign to study the works of Karl Marx. According to the Global Times, party school professors, police and judges have been invited to symposiums and lectures at Buddhist temples to study the constitution since March. Based on a Tibet.cn report on May 23, promotional campaigns have reached over 500,000 people in Tibet since March this year. AP The Interpublic Group of Companies pays an annual dividend of $1.08 per share and currently has a dividend yield of 2.93%. The Interpublic Group of Companies has been increasing its dividend for 9 consecutive years, indicating the company has a new, but growing committment to grow its dividend. The dividend payout ratio of The Interpublic Group of Companies is 62.43%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%. Based on earnings estimates, The Interpublic Group of Companies will have a dividend payout ratio of 42.19% next year. This indicates that The Interpublic Group of Companies will be able to sustain or increase its dividend. View The Interpublic Group of Companies' dividend history. Is this article evidence that we (I?) are living in a simulation? Or did the editors of The Economist place it as an Easter Egg for me?: The building, which was once called a vertical slum by a Singaporean legislator, is a densely packed mix of residential and commercial units. Along with Peoples Park in Chinatown (pictured), which has been praised by the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, it is among a handful of Brutalist buildings that were built in a surge of architectural confidence after the country became independent in 1965. They are particularly adored by those who love concrete, as well as bold and wacky colours. Modernist buffs have started to fret that many of these Brutalist buildings will soon be gone. In February one of them, Pearl Bank, once the highest residential tower in Singapore, was sold for S$728m ($544m) to CapitaLand, one of Asias largest real-estate developers. The company plans to demolish the yellow horseshoe structure and build a high-rise residential development of 800 flats in its place. Credit: CC0 Public Domain A new blood test for pregnant women detects with 75-80 percent accuracy whether their pregnancies will end in premature birth. The technique can also be used to estimate a fetus's gestational ageor the mother's due dateas reliably as and less expensively than ultrasound. Developed by a team of scientists led by researchers at Stanford University, the tests could help reduce problems related to premature birth, which affects 15 million infants worldwide each year. Until now, doctors have lacked a reliable way to predict whether pregnancies will end prematurely, and have struggled to accurately predict delivery dates for all types of pregnancies, especially in low-resource settings. The blood tests are described in a paper that will be published online June 7 in Science. Stephen Quake, Ph.D., professor of bioengineering and of applied physics at Stanford, shares senior authorship with Mads Melbye, MD, visiting professor of medicine. The lead authors are former Stanford postdoctoral scholar Thuy Ngo, Ph.D., and Stanford graduate student Mira Moufarrej. "This work is the result of a fantastic collaboration between researchers around the world," said Quake, who is also the Lee Otterson Professor in the School of Engineering. "We have worked closely with the team at the Stanford March of Dimes Prematurity Research Center, and the research involved collaborations with scientists in Denmark, Pennsylvania and Alabama. It's really team science at its finest." The tests measure the activity of maternal, placental and fetal genes by assessing maternal blood levels of cell-free RNA, tiny bits of the messenger molecule that carry the body's genetic instructions to its protein-making factories. The team used blood samples collected during pregnancy to identify which genes gave reliable signals about gestational age and prematurity risk. "We found that a handful of genes are very highly predictive of which women are at risk for preterm delivery," said Melbye, who is also president and CEO of the Statens Serum Institute in Copenhagen. "I've spent a lot of time over the years working to understand preterm delivery. This is the first real, significant scientific progress on this problem in a long time." Largest cause of infant mortality in U.S. Premature birth, in which a baby arrives at least three weeks early, affects 9 percent of U.S. births. It is the largest cause of infant mortality in the United States and the largest contributor to death before age 5 among children worldwide. In two-thirds of preterm births, the mother goes into labor spontaneously; doctors usually do not know why. Previously, the best available tests for predicting premature birth worked only in high-risk women, such as those who had already given birth prematurely, and were correct only about 20 percent of the time. Quake first became interested in this problem when he became a parent: his daughter was born nearly a month premature. "She's now a very healthy and active 16-year-old, but it certainly stuck in my mind that this is an important problem to work on," Quake said. Doctors also need better methods for measuring gestational age, he added. Obstetricians now use ultrasound scans from the first trimester of pregnancy to estimate a woman's due date, but ultrasound gives less reliable information as pregnancy progresses, making it less useful for women who don't get early prenatal care. Ultrasound also requires expensive equipment and trained technicians, which are unavailable in much of the developing world. In contrast, the researchers anticipate that the new blood test will be simple and cheap enough to use in low-resource settings. 'Super-high resolution view of pregnancy' The gestational-age test was developed by studying a cohort of 31 Danish women who gave blood weekly throughout their pregnancies. The women all had full-term pregnancies. The scientists used blood samples from 21 of them to build a statistical model, which identified nine cell-free RNAs produced by the placenta that predict gestational age, and validated the model using samples from the remaining 10 women. The estimates of gestational age given by the model were accurate about 45 percent of the time, which is comparable to 48 percent accuracy for first-trimester ultrasound estimates. Measuring cell-free RNA in mothers' blood also could provide a wealth of new information about fetal growth, Ngo said. "This gives a super-high resolution view of pregnancy and human development that no one's ever seen before," she said. "It tells us a lot about human development in normal pregnancy." To figure out how to predict preterm birth, the researchers used blood samples from 38 American women who were at risk for premature delivery because they had already had early contractions or had given birth to a preterm baby before. These women each gave one blood sample during the second or third trimester of their pregnancies. Of this group, 13 delivered prematurely, and the remaining 25 delivered at term. The scientists found that levels of cell-free RNA from seven genes from the mother and the placenta could predict which pregnancies would end early. "It's mostly maternal genes," Moufarrej said, noting that the genes that predict prematurity are different than those that give information about gestational age. "We think it's mom sending a signal that she's ready to pull the ripcord." Biology of preterm birth still mysterious The scientists need to validate the new tests in larger cohorts of pregnant women before they can be made available for widespread use. A blood test to detect Down syndrome that was developed by Quake's team in 2008 is now used in more than 3 million pregnant women per year, he noted. The biological mechanism behind preterm birth is still a mystery, but the scientists plan to investigate the roles of the genes that signal prematurity to better understand why it happens. They also hope to identify targets for drugs that could delay premature birth. Explore further U.S. preemie birth rates rise two years in a row More information: T.T.M. Ngo el al., "Noninvasive blood tests for fetal development predict gestational age and preterm delivery," Science (2018). Journal information: Science T.T.M. Ngo el al., "Noninvasive blood tests for fetal development predict gestational age and preterm delivery,"(2018). science.sciencemag.org/lookup/ 1126/science.aar3819 Provided by Stanford University Medical Center Cattle, a possible source of human leptospirosis in northern Tanzania, cross a stream in northern Tanzania. Credit: Maze, et al (2018) University of Otago researchers are helping lead international studies which have discovered that exposure to cattle and rice farming are risk factors for the devastating disease leptospirosis in northern Tanzania. Dr. Michael Maze from the University of Otago's Centre for International Health, says the findings from two research papers, which have just been published in the scientific journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, have implications for potential control of leptospirosis in Africa. Leptospirosis is a globally important disease that is transmitted from animals to people and affects more than 1 million people worldwide each year. The infectious disease is a major cause of febrile illness and death in Africa, but little is known about risk factors for human infection. The bacteria that cause leptospirosis have their usual life cycle in animals; humans are infected as accidental hosts. In Africa it is unknown which sources of leptospirosis are most responsible for human infection and what behaviours put people at risk of infection. However, one area of research has identified that cattle and in smaller numbers goats and sheep, but not rodents, are commonly infected with pathogenic Leptospira infection. While the other research focus has shown that exposure to cattle and rice farming are risk factors for contracting the disease. Dr. Maze has been based in Moshi, Tanzania, and is a lead investigator in the studies. They are part of a larger collection of studies investigating zoonotic infections in Tanzania that are led by Professor John Crump, who is the Director of the University of Otago's Centre for International Health, and involve Associate Professor Katrina Sharples from the University of Otago's Department of Medicine and researchers from the US, Tanzania and the UK. The researchers investigated risk factors for the infectious disease among 1293 patients with fever attending hospitals in northern Tanzania between 2012 and 2014. Their results identify associations between cattle contact and work in rice fields with acute leptospirosis. Dr. Maze says the findings indicate that cattle may be a source of human leptospirosis in the African country. "Our findings suggest that control of Leptospira infection in livestock could play a role in preventing human leptospirosis in Africa." In a second study, the researchers tested rodents, cattle goats and sheep for Leptospira infection and found cattle had a high prevalence of infection (7 per cent), goats (1.2) and sheep (1.1). Among 384 trapped rodents, no animals were found to carry the infection. As part of their studies, the researchers have also identified work in rice fields is an important risk factor for human leptospirosis. In Asia, rice farming is an established risk factor for leptospirosis. There humans are infected through prolonged contact with water that may be contaminated by infected animal hosts. Further work is needed to evaluate possible sources of contamination of rice paddies in Tanzania and promote personal protective measures among rice farmers, Dr. Maze says. The study results have potential to help control the infectious disease, he says. "Transmission of leptospirosis within rice fields and from livestock to people is amenable to control through personal protective equipment for those performing high-risk activities." The researchers say further investigation is needed to explore the potential for control of leptospirosis to prevent human illness. Explore further Vaccine protects against leptospirosis in cattle More information: Maze MJ, Cash-Goldwasser S, Rubach MP, Biggs HM, Galloway RL, et al. (2018) Risk factors for human acute leptospirosis in northern Tanzania. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases 12(6): e0006372. Journal information: PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases Maze MJ, Cash-Goldwasser S, Rubach MP, Biggs HM, Galloway RL, et al. (2018) Risk factors for human acute leptospirosis in northern Tanzania.12(6): e0006372. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0006372 Provided by University of Otago Drones that deliver automated external defibrillators to cardiac arrest victims are being tested in the U.S. and elsewhere. Photo courtesy: The JAMA Network Drones, the unmanned aircraft that got its start as part of the U.S. military's arsenal and is today being used by everyone from photographers to farmers, are now heralded as a solution to a problem that's bedeviled emergency medical personnel for years: How to deliver lifesaving defibrillators to people suffering cardiac arrest in areas not quickly reached by ambulances. Experiencing a cardiac arrestwhen the heart stops due to an electrical malfunction in the heartis almost always a death sentence when suffered outside a hospital. Of the more than 356,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests each year in the United States, nearly 90 percent of them are fatal, according to statistics from the American Heart Association. The survival rate could be dramatically improved, experts said, if bystanders would perform CPR and use portable devices called automated external defibrillators, or AEDs. Research shows brain cell death starts three minutes after the heart stops beating and every minute that elapses without defibrillation means a 10 percent decrease in the odds of survival. Drones are being tested to see if they can swiftly and safely bring defibrillators to those in distress. Some drones use a cord to lower the AED to the ground, while others land and a bystander removes the AED. A Canadian study published in Circulation last year found that when compared to ambulances, using drones in the Toronto area cut AED delivery times in urban areas by 6 minutes, 43 seconds and slashed it in rural neighborhoods by 10 minutes, 34 seconds in most cases. Likewise, a Swedish study published in JAMA last year showed that drones deployed in Stockholm took an average of 5 minutes, 21 seconds to reach their destinationmore than 16 minutes faster than ambulances. "Faster response time should lead to higher survival," said Timothy Chan, director of the Centre for Healthcare Engineering at the University of Toronto and an author of the Toronto study. "Getting a defibrillator is time-sensitive and literally every second counts. If we can do it and keep people safe, this is a no-brainer." It's unclear if drones have ever successfully delivered AEDs in real-life situations. The Toronto study applied mathematical models to out-of-hospital cardiac arrests that occurred in the city from 2006 to 2014. The Swedish study dispatched drones and ambulances to the same location as an experiment though no patients were involved. However, the opportunity for real-life experience is growing. The city of Reno, Nevada, was selected last month to participate in the Federal Aviation Administration's drone pilot program that will help determine how to regulate and safely integrate drones into the U.S. airspace. The city will partner with drone delivery startup Flirtey to deliver AEDs. The Canadian County of Renfrew began using drones last year and has deployed one roughly every two weeks to provide services such as conducting reconnaissance and delivering medicine, said Michael Nolan, chief paramedic and director of emergency services for the county of 100,000 people located just outside of Ottawa. They recently deployed a drone with an AED, but the ambulance arrived first. However, the county is awaiting approval from Canadian regulators to fly drones a distance of 4 nautical miles (4.6 miles), an increase from the currently approved 2 nautical miles (2.3 miles), increasing the chances the aircraft could be used to deliver a defibrillator. Nolan said he worked with Canadian regulators for two and a half years to pave the way for the first approvala time span he called "a blink of an eye in the public policy world," especially given that drones are still a relatively new technology. "The biggest concern that we and the regulators shared was making sure we were integrated with the aviation community to make sure that people in the air and on the ground were safe," said Nolan. Together they set limits on how high and far the drones could fly. Test runs proved to regulators the drones could fly safely even though the operators couldn't see the aircraft. The drones also needed some modifications such as being formatted to fly at night. Meanwhile, 911 operators had to learn how to instruct bystanders to approach the drone and use the defibrillator. "It is a lifesaving device that provides a benefit," said Nolan. "When you do the safety-risk assessment, it is clear that the risk associated with doing something outweighed the risk of doing nothing." Explore further Drones carrying defibrillators could aid heart emergencies 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. (HealthDay)Active participation in intellectual activities among adults aged 65 years or older is associated with reduced risk of dementia, according to a study published online May 30 in JAMA Psychiatry. Allen T.C. Lee, M.B.Ch.B., from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and colleagues conducted a longitudinal study among 15,582 community-living Chinese individuals aged 65 years or older at baseline who were free of dementia. Baseline evaluations were conducted between Jan. 1 and June 30, 2005, and follow-up assessments were performed between Jan. 1, 2006, and Dec. 31, 2012. The researchers found that during a median follow-up period of five years, 1,349 individuals (8.7 percent) developed dementia. After those who developed dementia within three years after baseline were excluded and after adjustment for health behaviors, physical and psychiatric comorbidities, and sociodemographic factors, the estimated odds ratio for incident dementia was 0.71 for those with intellectual activities at baseline. "Active participation in intellectual activities, even in late life, might help delay or prevent dementia in older adults," the authors write. Explore further Optimal sleep linked to lower risks for dementia and early death Copyright 2018 HealthDay. All rights reserved. Credit: CC0 Public Domain Small sample sizes in studies using functional MRI to investigate brain connectivity and function are common in neuroscience, despite years of warnings that such studies likely lack sufficient statistical power. A new analysis reveals that task-based fMRI experiments involving typical sample sizes of about 30 participants are only modestly replicable. This means that independent efforts to repeat the experiments are as likely to challenge as to confirm the original results. The study, reported in the journal Communications Biology, also finds that task-based fMRI studies with sample sizes of up to 100 also fall short of being perfectly replicable. Task-based fMRI studies track changes in blood oxygen levels in the brain while study subjects are engaged in cognitive tasks. The technique allows researchers to see which brain regions are recruited to perform specific tasks. But those in the field of cognitive neuroscience have not agreed on specific standards for the design of task-based fMRI studiesin particular, how many study subjects are needed to ensure reliable findings. The new research aims to address this shortfall, researchers said. "This study is the largest investigation of the role of sample size in the reproducibility of task-based fMRI methods," said University of Illinois psychology professor Aron Barbey, who conducted the research with Erick Paul, a former postdoctoral fellow at the U. of I.; Benjamin Turner, of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore; and Michael Miller, of the University of California, Santa Barbara. "We systematically examined the reproducibility of studies at different sample sizes, from as few as 16 to as many as 121 participants, and across many different task-based fMRI approaches," Barbey said. "We found that reproducibility is modest in studies involving the standard number of 30 participants, and that much larger sample sizes may be needed to improve replicability." The problem is widespread, Paul said. A majority fMRI studies published in cognitive neuroscience journals in 2011-14 involved fewer than 100 participants. The median number is about 30. The problem stems in part from the fact that fMRI studies are expensive. "Even small studies can cost several tens of thousands of dollars, and funding systems are not generally set up to enable the routine collection of data from more than 100 participants," Paul said. Other factors also contribute to the challenge. For example, researchers in neuroscience and psychological science may not understand how statistical analyses for fMRI differ from those in behavioral studies, and so may not accurately evaluate the statistical power of their fMRI analyses, Turner said. "They may confuse the high retest accuracy of fMRI with high replicability," he said. "But that sort of accuracy refers only to retests of the same individuals engaged in the same tasks, not to similarity across separate small groups." To overcome the problem of expense, Miller suggests that researchers pool their resources to conduct fMRI studies across numerous sites involving greater numbers of participants. This would likely result in more diverse participant pools. It also would advance the work of many scientists, laboratories and institutions at once, yielding more data per participant with potentially greater impact. "Replicability is the foundation of scientific progress," the authors wrote. "Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, many scientific fields are gripped by a crisis of irreproducibility. While some of the causes of the crisis are deeply woven into the academic landscapeincentives related to publication, funding and tenurethe most straightforward solution relates to statistical power." "Our study points to a major problem in the field of cognitive neuroscience, a field in which fMRI studies are a commonly used tool," Barbey said. "But this is a problem that we can solve by increasing the size of the samples we study." Explore further Novel fMRI applications in childhood epilepsy increase understanding of seizure impacts More information: Benjamin O. Turner et al, Small sample sizes reduce the replicability of task-based fMRI studies, Communications Biology (2018). Benjamin O. Turner et al, Small sample sizes reduce the replicability of task-based fMRI studies,(2018). DOI: 10.1038/s42003-018-0073-z Credit: CC0 Public Domain Malaria is one of the most infectious diseases worldwide. Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg, Germany, and from the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, Canada, have studied how the human immune system combats malaria infections. In this study, the researchers discovered a previously unnoticed characteristic of antibodies against the malaria parasite: They can cooperate with each other, thus binding even stronger to the pathogens and improving the immune response. The results, now published in Science, are expected to develop a more effective vaccine against the disease. Each year, an estimated 200 million people contract malaria and approximately 440,000 people succumb to the infectious disease. Although regarded as a tropical disease, malaria can occur in both tropical and subtropical regions. There are malaria cases in Germany as well, with 500 to 600 patients annually. Most of these cases are travelers returning from malaria-endemic regions in Africa or Asia. "How severe the course of malaria gets, depends on the body's immune response," explains Hedda Wardemann from the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ). "Immune cells can destroy the pathogens that have invaded the body after a mosquito bite." In regions where malaria is widespread, people often exhibit a certain immunity that prevents a severe course of the disease. As a result of repeated exposure to the malaria parasite, their bodies have been able to improve their immune responses to the disease. A vaccine is supposed to provide the same kind of immunity but without having to go through an infection. "Studying the immune response of people who have been exposed to malaria parasites can provide clues about how we can make a malaria vaccine," explains Jean-Philippe Julien, Scientist from SickKids, with whom Wardemann and her team investigated antibodies against the malaria pathogen. The antibodies were obtained from study participants who have had repeated contact with the parasite in the past. Antibodies are actors of the immune system. They attach to specific targets on the surface of pathogens so they can block their development and tag them for destruction. For an antibody to prevent infection effectively, its affinity (the strength of its interaction with the pathogen) is pivotal. The immune system specifically multiplies antibodies with high affinity to ensure they are present if the body gets infected with the same pathogen again. Among the antibodies studied, the DKFZ and the SickKids scientists found a group that displayed a previously unnoticed characteristic that appears to be valuable for the immune system: They interact directly with each other. The antibodies can do so because the target structure where the antibodies attach on the malaria pathogen's surface has a special feature. "The protein contains a short sequence of four motifs that repeats itself many times," explained Wardemann, an immunologist. An antibody can attach to each of the sequence repeats. Neighbouring antibodies can then interact directly among each other. "This type of cooperation between antibodies has been unknown so far in humans," Julien said. "In an indirect way, it enhances the affinity of the antibodies to the pathogen, explaining why our immune system selects for these antibodies." The human immune system stores these protective antibodies in order to mount a better response in case of a new infection with the same pathogen. Subsequent diseases may then take a milder courseor be prevented altogether. This mimics the immunization effect from vaccines. Next, the scientists plan to investigate how their results may be used to improve immunization protection against malaria and bring them one step closer to a malaria vaccine. In addition, they will explore whether these observations can be transferred to other repetitive molecules that are present on other pathogens. Explore further Human antibodies undermine parasite sex More information: "Antihomotypic affinity maturation improves human B cell responses against a repetitive epitope" Science (2018). Journal information: Science "Antihomotypic affinity maturation improves human B cell responses against a repetitive epitope"(2018). science.sciencemag.org/lookup/ 1126/science.aar5304 Credit: Shutterstock Three-quarters of the British public think doctors should be able to prescribe cannabis for medical purposes. Wider interest has followed recent media reports about children such as six-year-old Alfie Dingley, whose seizures have been dramatically reduced after being given cannabis products often by travelling abroad for treatment, or illegally sourcing or importing from countries such as the Netherlands. Senior politicians have expressed a desire to help children with serious illnesses, but provision of individual cannabis licenses and legal exemptions on a case-by-case basis does not help the many thousands of other people across the UK who also say that cannabis helps them. The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Drug Policy Reform recommended improving access to medical cannabis through a dedicated regulatory body. However, a new system that would licence and regulate herbal medical cannabis products would require a rethink of how medicines are approved in the UK. How the system works There are currently only four cannabis-based medicines in Europe that have been approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). All are pharmaceutical products, such as oral sprays, containing defined active components such as tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) in specific amounts they are not herbal cannabis preparations. To receive marketing authorisation, manufacturers are required to present evidence of efficacy and safety, and offer well-defined products for specific conditions that are produced, processed and packaged to high standards. This is an expensive and lengthy process that can cost millions of pounds. Although the Bedrocan company in the Netherlands has received certification for the quality of production of its herbal cannabis materials, none have received marketing authorisation as medical products because they have not been submitted for review in accordance with licensing criteria. The problems in testing medical cannabis Medical cannabis challenges scientific norms and the regulation of medicines. The evidence-based medicine approach, where medicines and practices are evaluated and recommended on the basis of high-quality experimental and economic evidence rather than anecdote and industry marketing has led to the identification and availability of many important medical treatments. When medical cannabis is tested against traditional evidence-based principles, it does not fare as well as might be popularly believed. Reviews of scientific evidence show promising findings for some, but not all, conditions for which cannabis is considered a treatment and this evidence is difficult to untangle. Cannabis products show general success in reducing seizures, for example, but the best evidence is from studies of pharmaceutical-grade CBD in the treatment of rare forms of childhood epilepsy and not the whole plant itself. Studies of whole plant products are difficult to interpret because of differences in product composition, dose and administration regimes, and the lack of long-term follow up. Most medical cannabis patients in the UK are not using pharmaceutical grade products, but are instead smoking, vaping or consuming illicitly grown herbal cannabis products to self-treat a wide variety of conditions, many of which will not have been formally diagnosed. It is therefore difficult to know how to translate scientific findings into practice. In contrast, there is a clear support from patients, the public and some professional healthcare bodiesfor medical cannabis. Advocates point to benefits reported by patients, and the long history of folk medicine to argue for its safety and efficacy. Campaigners argue that herbal cannabis is denied to patients because of the laws prohibiting recreational use and the inflexibility of medicines regulations that are set up to evaluate tightly defined pharmaceutical products. Cannabis is now grown commercially in countries such as the U.S. Credit: Shutterstock The evidence-based medicine "brand" has also been criticised as being too focused on large randomised controlled trials to generate evidence and discounting professional expertise, to the detriment of individualised responses to patient needs. An exceptional product? Suggesting that cannabis should not be subject to the same standards of evidence as other medicines and should bypass current regulatory processes is a radical move that positions cannabis as an exceptional product. An evidence-based approach is particularly valued in publicly funded healthcare systems such as the NHS where the majority of the financial burden is borne by taxpayers. In England and Wales, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) reviews clinical and economic evidence on new pharmaceuticals in order to decide which should be recommended for use in the NHS. Changing the law to allow healthcare providers to prescribe herbal cannabis products to patients would respond to patient demand but without a new regulatory system those treatments would not subject to the same level of scrutiny as other medicines prescribed in their practice. International regulators have tried to address this. Herbal cannabis products are available on prescription in several countries. But regulatory models are internationally diverse and many systems are not easily translated to the UK because of differences in healthcare funding and access to medicines. In Germany, doctors are only allowed to prescribe government-approved cannabis products on a compassionate basis to severely ill patients with specific illnesses who have not benefited from other treatments. In contrast to more tightly regulated systems, in the USA the boundaries between medical and recreational cannabis have been blurred and cannabis has been presented as a panacea for many diverse conditions and "well-being" needs. Medical cannabis is both an emotional issue and technical challenge. A plausible case can be made for changing the law and allowing patients access to medical products. However, this requires more than an act of Parliament and presents a fundamentally different way of thinking about what a medicine is, and how patients should get access. For now, the UK government is considering the option of a cannabis oil trial for epilepsy sufferer Alfie Dingley, who currently has to travel 450 miles to the Netherlands for the treatment. Explore further Many dispensaries in CO proffer marijuana for morning sickness This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Lilli Fishman, UT Ph.D. candidate, and Dr. Tomer Avidor-Reiss, professor in the UT Department of Biological Sciences. Credit: Dan Miller, The University of Toledo Life doesn't begin the way we thought it did. A new study at The University of Toledo shows that a father donates not one, but two centrioles through the sperm during fertilization, and the newly discovered sperm structure may contribute to infertility, miscarriages and birth defects. The newly discovered centriole functions similarly and along with the known centriole. However, it is structured differently. "This research is significant because abnormalities in the formation and function of the atypical centriole may be the root of infertility of unknown cause in couples who have no treatment options available to them," said Dr. Tomer Avidor-Reiss, professor in the UT Department of Biological Sciences. "It also may have a role in early pregnancy loss and embryo development defects." The centriole is the only essential cellular structure contributed solely by the father. It is the origin of all of the centrioles in the trillions of cells that make up the adult human body. Centrioles are essential for building the cell's antennae, known as cilia, and cytoskeleton, as well as completing accurate cell division. A zygote, or fertilized egg cell, needs two centrioles to start life. It was previously thought that sperm provides a single centriole to the egg and then duplicates itself. "Since the mother's egg does not provide centrioles, and the father's sperm possesses only one recognizable centriole, we wanted to know where the second centriole in zygotes comes from," Avidor-Reiss said. "We found the previously elusive centriole using cutting-edge techniques and microscopes. It was overlooked in the past because it's completely different from the known centriole in terms of structure and protein composition." The atypical centriole contains a small core set of proteins needed for the known sperm centriole to form a fully functional centriole after fertilization in the zygote using the egg's proteins. Dr. Tomer Avidor-Reiss, professor in the UT Department of Biological Sciences. Credit: Dan Miller, The University of Toledo This discovery may provide new avenues for diagnostics and therapeutic strategies for male infertility and insights into early embryo developmental defects, according to the research titled "A Novel Atypical Sperm Centriole is Functional During Human Fertilization" that was published today in Nature Communications. In addition to human sperm, Avidor-Reiss and his research team studied the sperm of flies, beetles and cattle. "The whole idea for this study started with the fly," said Lilli Fishman, UT Ph.D. candidate who is being honored with the 2018 Lalor Foundation Merit Award from the Society for the Study of Reproduction for her work on the project. "Basic fly research indicated the misconception in sperm structure. It has been incredible to be part of the ensuing process that included incredible scientists from four states and two countries." The cutting-edge techniques and microscopes used on this research include super-resolution microscopy; electron microscopy with high-pressure freezing; and correlative light and electron microscopy. "The super-resolution microscopy was critical for this discovery," Avidor-Reiss said. "The technology allows you to see proteins at the highest resolution." The University of Toronto, National Cancer Institute, University of Michigan, and University of Pittsburgh also contributed to the research. Avidor-Reiss and his team are taking this research to the clinical level. "We are working with the Urology Department at The University of Toledo Medical Center to study the clinical implications of the atypical centriole to figure out if it's associated with infertility and what kind of infertility," Avidor-Reiss said. Explore further Scientists record how starfish egg cells eliminate crucial structures to ensure the embryo will be viable Provided by University of Toledo Credit: CC0 Public Domain Negative experiences on social media carry more weight than positive interactions when it comes to the likelihood of young adults reporting depressive symptoms, according to a new University of Pittsburgh analysis. The finding, reported today in the journal Depression and Anxiety, may be useful for designing interventions and clinical recommendations to reduce the risk of depression. "We found that positive experiences on social media were not related or only very slightly linked to lower depressive symptoms. However, negative experiences were strongly and consistently associated with higher depressive symptoms," said lead author Brian Primack, M.D., Ph.D., dean of the Honors College and director of the Center for Research on Media, Technology and Health at Pitt. "Our findings may encourage people to pay closer attention to their online exchanges. Moving forward, these results could assist scientists in developing ways to intervene and counter the negative effects while strengthening the positive ones." In August 2016, Primack and his team surveyed 1,179 full-time students ages 18 to 30 at the University of West Virginia about their social media use and experiences. The participants also completed a questionnaire to assess their depressive symptoms. Each 10 percent increase in positive experiences on social media was associated with a 4 percent decrease in odds of depressive symptoms, but those results were not statistically significant, meaning that the finding could be due to random chance. However, each 10 percent increase in negative experiences was associated with a 20 percent increase in the odds of depressive symptoms, a statistically significant finding. "It is valuable to know that positive and negative experiences are very differently related to depression," said Primack. "But we don't know from our study whether the negative social media interactions actually caused the depressive symptoms or whether depressed individuals are more likely to seek out negative online interactions. As with many things in social science, the answer is probably some combination of the two, but more research will be needed to disentangle cause and effect." Other characteristics also were linked to the participants having depressive symptoms. For example, compared with men, women had 50 percent higher odds of having depressive symptoms. Identifying as non-white and having only completed "some college," rather than completing a degree, also were associated with higher odds of depressive symptoms. All of these characteristics have previously been shown to increase a person's likelihood of depression. While the findings still need to be replicated, Primack said public health practitioners could start using them to educate the public of the risks of negative social media interactions. He also points out that cyberbullying occurs not only among adolescents, but also among adults. Universities, workplaces and community spaces could use the findings to increase awareness around positive and negative social media experiences. Primack noted that health care professionals working with depressed patients could suggest strategies to improve the quality of online experiences, such as restricting time spent on social media to reduce the number of negative interactions and "unfriending" people or groups that tend to enable negative experiences. Although the finding was not statistically significant, Primack said that increasing the opportunities for positive experiences on social media is still likely to be worthwhile. "In other studies, engaging in certain forms of social media use has been shown to enhance communication and social connection," he said. "Certainly, there are many situations in which connecting with others in this way might actually lower depressive symptoms. That just wasn't the primary finding in this particular study." Explore further At-risk adolescents are less likely to express depression on social media as they age Credit: Northeastern University One form of the disease begins with large open sores that won't heal, then migrates to the nose and lips, rotting them away like a form of leprosy and leaving the victim badly disfigured. Another strain isn't nearly as visibly grotesque, but it's far more deadly, attacking the spleen, liver, and bone marrow. The deadly strain of the disease, visceral leishmaniasis, infects 300,000 people annually, causing 20,000 deaths, according to the World Health Organization. It is the second largest cause of parasitic death after malaria. Another 1 million people are infected with cutaneous leishmaniasis annually and more than 500 million worldwide are at risk for contracting some form of the disease. You may wonder why you've never heard of such a horrid, deadly, and widespread disease. The answer is simpleit's a tropical disease suffered primarily by the most impoverished populations in the world. While it poses a risk to American soldiers, researchers, and adventure travelers, the vast majority of cases are found among rural populations in equatorial countries. So for most of the developed world, leishmaniasis is a distant threat. But for two Northeastern professors, Richard Wamai and Michael Pollastri, controlling the disease is a top priority. The two co-founded the Integrated Initiative for Global Health at Northeastern to spearhead their interdisciplinary work on neglected diseases. Wamai, an expert in global health, is building a research center in rural Kenya, where he has been conducting research on leishmaniasis for the past eight years. Kenya is one of the seven countries that account for 90 percent of the reported cases of the disease. To advance experiential learning at Northeastern, he has invited students to participate in many of his research trips to the African nation. Pollastri is attacking the problem in his Northeastern lab, where he develops new medicines to combat neglected tropical diseases. Although the two men are approaching the disease from different disciplines, one as a social scientist and the other as a chemist, they are working collaboratively toward the same goal. In 2011, Wamai and Pollastri received a $50,000 seed grant from Northeastern to conduct preliminary field research in Kenya needed to win major grants from the National Institutes of Health and other private sources. "That experience is why my lab got so deeply into this," said Pollastri. "People were walking 20 kilometers with their whole family to get tested. The kids who suffered from this disease were the same age as my kids, who were 9 and 4 at the time. This isn't just some academic exercise. It's as real as it gets." A personal mission Wamai grew up in a rural Kenyan village with no electricity, running water, or indoor toilets. He didn't have his first pair of shoes until he was 13, and like the other kids in his village, he ran barefoot to school each day. When the kids cut themselves working in the fields, they bound their wounds with dirt to stop the bleeding, which often caused more serious problems. "Growing up, every little boy had intestinal worms at some point," he said. "Mothers would know because their children would be eating and not gaining weight." In 1983, at age 13, Wamai took the national test that Kenya administers to determine which children will continue their education. "I was the top candidate in my district, so I went to a national boarding school 10 miles from my house," he said. "That's when I got my first pair of shoes and trousers." He did so well in school that he was transferred to an advanced academy 300 miles from his home near the Somali border. That eventually led to a degree in sociology at the Egerton University in Kenya and a doctorate in international health at the University of Helsinki in Finland. Explore further Sugar withdrawalkilling the leishmania parasite Credit: CC0 Public Domain According to a new study, those who feel greater certainty that a prospective romantic partner reciprocates their interest will put more effort into seeing that person again, while rating the possible date as more sexually attractive than they would if they were less certain about the prospective date's romantic intentions. Published in Computers in Human Behavior, the study by researchers from Israeli-based Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya and the University of Rochester finds that uncertainty about potential partners' romantic interest decreased their sexual appeal. "People may protect themselves from the possibility of a painful rejection by distancing themselves from potentially rejecting partners," explains study co-author Harry Reis, a professor of psychology and Dean's Professor in Arts, Sciences & Engineering at Rochester. While some scientists have argued that uncertainty spices up sexual desire, Reis says his team's results suggest the opposite holds true. "People experience higher levels of sexual desire when they feel confident about a partner's interest and acceptance," says Reis. Lead author Gurit Birnbaum, a social psychologist and associate professor of psychology at the IDC Herzliya, says the findings suggest that sexual desire may "serve as a gut-feeling indicator of mate suitability that motivates people to pursue romantic relationships with a reliable and valuable partner." Conversely, "inhibiting desire may serve as a mechanism aimed at protecting the self from investing in a relationship in which the future is uncertain." Are you really into me? Over the course of six interrelated studiessome of them experimental and some daily diary entriesthe researchers examined whether and under what circumstances uncertainty about a partner's romantic intentions would affect their partner's sexual desirability. In the first study, 51 women and 50 men from a university in central Israel who identified as single and heterosexual, ranging in age from 19 to 31 years, were led to believe they would be participating in an online chat with another participant who was located in a different room. Next, participants had their picture taken and were told it would be shown to the other person, who was in fact an insider, working with the scientists. Then the researchers showed the study participants a photograph of their purported chat partner. In reality, all participants were shown the same picture of an opposite-sex individual. At the end of the chat via Instant Messenger, the scientists told the participants that they were allowed to send one last message to their "partner." Some participants were told that a message from their chat partner was waiting for them; others were told there was no message, thereby creating either certainty or uncertainty, respectively, about the potential partner's intentions. Afterwards, the researchers asked the participants to rate the insiders' sexual desirability and their interest in future interactions with them. Participants rated the sexual desirability of their potential "partner" on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (not at all sexually desirable) to 5 (very much so). The data shows that study participants perceived the potential partner as more sexually attractive in the certainty condition (here the mean of the insider's sexual desirability was 3.15) than in the uncertainty condition (where the mean of the insider's sexual desirability dropped to 2.73). The answer is clearsexual desire thrives on reduced uncertainty. While studies one through four examined the uncertainty effect on single adults, studies five and six explored whether the effect of uncertainty could be generalized to the everyday lives of long-term partners. Here romantic interest was substituted with perceived partner regard. Again, the researchers found that feeling greater relationship certainty predicted greater desire for sex with one's partnerwhich held true for both women and men in a committed romantic relationship. Of course, uncertainty is more typical of initial romantic encounters when little is known about the new partner, compared to more advanced relationship stages, when the certainty about a partner's commitment and intentions is relatively high. When uncertainty about a partner's interest emerges in an established relationship, it clashes with the need for security that long-term relationships typically provide. Birnbaum says uncertainty "may therefore be particularly threatening and devastating for personal and relationship well-being in established relationships, in which it is least expected." The studies build on the age-old debate as to whether or not knowing a partner's (or potential partner's) romantic interest increases or decreases their sexual desirabilityessentially the question of whether "playing hard to get" makes one more successful in the dating arena. Do the findings put the debate finally to rest? "Well, they don't put the final dagger in the heart of this idea, but our findings do indicate that this idea is on life support," says Reis, noting that the uncertainty idea was "never supported by solid sciencebut folk wisdom at best." More information: Gurit E. Birnbaum et al. Are you into me? Uncertainty and sexual desire in online encounters and established relationships, Computers in Human Behavior (2018). DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2018.04.023 Journal information: Computers in Human Behavior Gurit E. Birnbaum et al. Are you into me? Uncertainty and sexual desire in online encounters and established relationships,(2018). DOI: 95% hoc sinh tu 12-17 tuoi se uoc tiem 2 mui vac xin trong quy IV nam 2021 Uber Technologies Inc. announced it would roll out its on-demand electric-bicycle service to Europe, as it seeks to expand its international offerings to include more environmentally-friendly forms of transportation. Uber said Wednesday it aims to bring its Jump bike rental service to Berlin before the end of this summer, with other European cities to follow soon after. When you get onto these bikes and you pedal, you feel like Superman, Uber Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi said at the Noah tech conference in Berlin as he was pushing a red Jump e-bike on stage. This is potentially a replacement for Uber trips so that we can be bigger than just cars, we can be about mobility within a city, and we can help resolve the traffic issue every city is facing. The expansion comes after Uber bought Jump in April, the companys first acquisition since Khosrowshahi joined the ride-sharing company as CEO last year. It fits into Ubers wider strategy to branch out beyond offering traditional taxi-style rides, to include services such as food delivery to city travel in flying cars. Uber will be entering a crowded bike-rental market. The German capital has a significant presence already from companies such as OBike, based in Singapore, Chinas Mobike, and LimeBike, which also offers electric rides. These companies have moved aggressively into cities across Europe and the U.S. with app-based services that let customers find the nearest bike and leave it wherever they want after use. Uber will also bring its UberGreen service of electric car rides to the German capital this year as it wants to promote the electrification of transport in cities across Europe. The new products for Germany are an example of the new Uber, the CEO said, which is trying to enter markets through partnerships and dialog. Germany has been a difficult market for Ubers primary business units. It had to pull back its mainstay product of offering cheaper-than-taxi rides with private drivers amid legal challenges. Khosrowshahi, who has been on a charm offensive since he became CEO, pledged at a tech conference in Munich in January to expand more carefully in the country. It didnt stop local taxi drivers demonstrating outside, whistling in protest over the competition from the U.S. giant. The company already offers Jump bike rides in Washington D.C., San Francisco and other California cities, where customers can take 30-minute trips for $2 a ride on an electrically-assisted bicycle. Uber said it would provide more details on pricing for bike rides in Europe in the near future. Similar fleets of bikes intended for short-term rental can be seen in cities worldwide, and sharing schemes of non-electric models have been in operation for decades. In London, about 11,500 public bicycles are available for an initial fee of 2 pounds ($2.68); some cities in China count their available two-wheelers in the hundreds of thousands, to the point that the popularity led to a government crackdown. Vodacom has partnered with Google to launch its first Android Go smartphones in South Africa. The company launched its new Vodacom Vaya programme at an event in Sandton, Johannesburg. Android 8.1 Go Edition is a streamlined version of the Android 8.1 operating system, which retains the interface and core features of Android 8.1 while offering a smaller install size and less performance overhead. The OS aims to offer a similar experience to the full version of Android on devices without high-end specifications. Google Director of Android Platform Partnerships for Google in Africa Mahir Sahin said Android devices have to work well at all price points, which is why the company created Android 8.1 Go. We have made the OS as compact as possible and optimised the pre-installed apps that come with the device, said Sahin. Vodacom Vaya devices Vodacom launched its new devices as part of its Vodacom Vaya proposition, which includes data specials created for Android Go smartphones. The devices are priced below R1,000 and are part of the companys plan to migrate customers to 3G and 4G handsets. Vodacom said that of the 30 million sub-R1,000 smartphones sold in South Africa, only half a million are 4G-enabled. The new smartphones which support Android 8.1 Go are below. Huawei Y3 2018 (4G) Display 5-inch 5-inch Front Camera 2MP 2MP Rear Camera 8MP 8MP Chipset MT6737M MT6737M RAM 1GB 1GB Storage 8GB 8GB Battery 2,200mAh 2,200mAh Price R999 Vodacom Smart Kicka 4 (3G) Display 4-inch 4-inch Front Camera 0.3MP 0.3MP Rear Camera 2MP 2MP Chipset MT6580M MT6580M RAM 512MB 512MB Storage 4GB 4GB Battery 1,500mAh 1,500mAh Price R399 Vodacom Vaya promotions Vodacom also launched tailored promotions for its Android Go devices, which offer monthly data bundles and data for the lightweight YouTube Go application. Vodacoms Vaya promotions are listed below. 4G Devices 200MB per month for three months. 250MB YouTube Go daily data for three months. Customers will have to recharge with R29.00 every 30 days to unlock the data promotion. 3G Devices 100MB per month for three months. 100MB YouTube Go daily data for three months. Customers will have to recharge with R12.00 every 30 days to unlock the data promotion. Vodacom said it plans to bring new 4G and 3G devices to its Vaya programme in the near future. California law has several things to say about what happens to your fathers estate planning documents upon his death. If he had a will, and he probably did because most people who create trusts have pour-over wills leaving their estates to their trust, then the person in possession of the original will must file the will with the Superior Court in the county where your father resided upon his death. If his will was properly lodged with the court, you can get a copy of it from the courts files. But your father and his wife had a trust, and that makes it different. Whether or not you are entitled to a copy of the trust depends on how the trust was written. If all or part of the trust became irrevocable upon your fathers death, then the trustee is required by California Probate Code section 16061.7 to notify you within 60 days of your fathers death of the existence of the trust and your right to a copy of the trust document. On the other hand, if your fathers trust didnt become irrevocable upon his death, then you do not have a right to a copy of the trust. This puts you in a Catch-22. Is your step-mother not giving you a copy because shes being sneaky? The Class of 2018 had other numbers, dates and important events surrounding it, according to Principal Crystal Lopez, who spoke during the ceremony. Three was the number of principals the Class of 2018 had during their time at ACHS. The schools first principal, Mark Brewer, left in 2015. His successor, Damon Wright, was promoted last year to district headquarters, resulting in Lopez taking over. The Class of 2018, Lopez also said, began high school in August 2014, the same month that American Canyon and the rest of the Napa Valley was rocked by a powerful earthquake. Their senior year was marked by another natural disaster the October wildfires which gave many seniors and other ACHS students the chance to shine while volunteering at the local emergency shelter set up in the schools gym. That was just one example of your community service, she told the graduates seated on the stadium field. Commencement also marked the last opportunity for retiring Superintendent Patrick Sweeney to address ACHS graduates and their families in multiple languages something he has done each year during graduation. A devout Catholic, Shirley was a founding member of St. Paul Catholic Newman Center and the Newman Club, and was deeply involved in Parish life. She continued to support and provide input to the Cardinal Newman Library even after moving to St. Helena in 2000. Shirley actively supported numerous community groups, particularly the Fresno Philharmonic, the Fresno Art Museum and the Candlelight Guild. She loved cooking and entertaining in their family home, hosting regular dinner parties where wonderful conversation and idea sharing were the norms. Since childhood, she had an abiding passion for musical theater, taking her children to, the Best of Broadway for several seasons. Her greatest cultural passion, however, was the opera. She and Jose were patrons of the San Francisco Opera for over 40 years, and Live at the Met could be heard at high volume throughout their home on Saturday mornings. Shirley had amazing style and an impeccable eye for fashion. During her teaching years, she used her formidable skills as a seamstress that she learned from her mother to fashion her professional wardrobe. She loved to shop and found a willing and able co-conspirator in daughter Tina. Shirley was naturally curious and had a deep lust for knowledge, reading all types of literature throughout her life. Shirley and Jose traveled extensively and made many friends on their travels. Oh man, Im happy about this! We have the signs; we have everything, said Robert Vega as he and his family arrived to see his daughter Jessica whose face adorned several signs they carried by the armful receive her diploma. Life after high school would take Jessica farther from Napa than for many of her classmates; this fall she is slated to go with her older sister to nursing school in Puerto Rico, at the Universidad Adventista de las Antillas in Mayaguez. Im getting ready to become an empty-nester now, said Robert Vega, a nursing manager who lives in American Canyon. You want to see your kids succeed but you dont want to see them leave the house circle of life, I guess. Ninety percent of New Techs graduates will enroll at four- or two-year colleges in the fall, according to Principal Riley Johnson. On Tuesday, Johnson, who was New Techs assistant principal when the Class of 2018 enrolled four years ago, praised the graduates-to-be for their growth outside the classroom as well as in school. With graduation season in full swing, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. cautions schools, graduates and their families to celebrate safely. If your graduation celebration involves helium-filled metallic balloons, make sure they are secured with a weight to prevent them from coming into contact with overhead power lines and causing a public safety risk. In the first five months of 2018, metallic balloons striking electric lines have caused 203 power outages in PG&E's service area alone, a 22 percent increase over the previous year, and the highest number of outages in the past 18 years, the company said. There have been two incidents in Napa County. These power outages can interrupt electric service to critical facilities such as hospitals, schools and traffic lights. No attempt should be made to retrieve any type of balloon, kite or toy that becomes caught in a power line. Leave it alone, and immediately call PG&E at 1-800-743-5000 to report the problem. Never go near a power line that has fallen to the ground or is dangling in the air. Stay far away and immediately call 911 to alert the police and fire departments, PG&E said. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The Napa Valley Community Foundation has been honored as Nonprofit of the Year for the Third Senate District by Sen. Bill Dodd. The foundation has a strong track record of filling gaps and addressing urgent needs," Dodd, D-Napa, said in a news release. "Its work following the North Bay fires is an excellent example. So is the program it started five years ago thats helped nearly 1,000 Napa Valley residents become U.S. citizens." The foundation has distributed more than $50 million since its inception 24 years ago. This recognition means a lot to Napa Valley Community Foundation and the hundreds of nonprofit programs that we support in our community every year, foundation president erence Mulligan said. The foundation has been a bridge between philanthropic families and nonprofit agencies since 1994. It's the philanthropic partner to 100 individuals, families, nonprofit agencies and corporations in Napa Valley. The foundation manages the Napa Valley Community Disaster Relief Fund, established after the 2014 Napa earthquake with a $10 million gift from Napa Valley Vintners. In the wake of the 2017 October wildfires, the fund was used to raise another $15 million to help recovery efforts. The money has enabled 15,000 fire survivors to receive relief services like temporary housing, meals and medical care. Another 2,000 households suffering economic hardship as a result of the disasters received direct cash assistance totaling nearly $2.3 million. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Even if people were offered the chance to vote with a provisional ballot, she said, some may have decided not to bother. "It's a herculean effort to get anybody in L.A. to the polls," she said. "To get them to the polls, and then get them through a conversation about why they're not on the rolls, even though they should be, and then talk through provisional voting -- it's less than ideal." Patricia Sanders, 34, said that poll workers seemed unsure what to do when her name was missing from rosters at her polling place on Mulholland Drive. "It took them a while to decide to give me the provisional ballot," she said. The whole experience was "just an awkward interaction. My concern was, 'Was this done correctly? Did it go where it's supposed to go?' I didn't leave feeling very confident that my vote was handled correctly," Sanders said. Kuehl recounted that one of her aides tried to vote in Sylmar but was told that her name wasn't on the list. Poll workers told the woman to try voting at another precinct, but the aide insisted on getting a provisional ballot. The woman had to ask five times for a provisional ballot before one was given to her, Kuehl said. Both utilities and paint companies want to erase, or at least limit, their financial exposure and, true to historic form, are once again doing battle with plaintiffs attorneys. Pacific Gas and Electric is leading the charge on wildfire liability, since its at risk for as much as $15 billion in damages from the fires that swept through Sonoma and Napa counties last year. Pending lawsuits target PG&E under the legal doctrine of inverse condemnation. Its lobbyists counter that because of climate change, wildfire damages are mostly beyond its responsibility. In March, Brown and legislative leaders declared that they would consider updating liability laws for utilities. And last week, the Senate passed a bill by Sen. Bill Dodd, a Napa Democrat, that may give them some protection from future liability if they follow approved safety procedures, although it would not apply retroactively. Retroactivity is precisely what three paint companies are seeking in a proposed ballot measure. On behalf of all of us in American Canyon, I would like to send out a huge "thank you" to our American Canyon firefighters. Their swift response quickly put out the hillside fire on Monday, May 21. I felt quite alarmed because our usually quiet neighborhood was disturbed not once or twice, but several times by fire engine sirens. I went out to see a lot of smoke in the air. Concerned residents who happened to be at home, rushed outside to get a look at the hillside fire. Once again, thank you to our firefighters for extinguishing the fire and putting out our fears. Memories of the October fires are still with us, but on that Monday, we were reminded that we can all rest assured that we are in good hands. Debbie A. Chavarria American Canyon As an editor and reporter, Ive spent a lot of time covering local elections and this year has been no different. Weve discussed Measures C & D until were blue in the face, especially on the opinion pages in this paper, and considered the candidacies of incumbent Diane Dillon and challenger Cio Perez. Ive also spent many memorable hours at election parties on Tuesday night waiting for election results, getting peoples reactions and in one memorable case, drinking a glass or two of wine that I could not afford no way, no how. That was in November 2012 when I was at the home of Del Britton and Marielle Coeytaux-Britton. Del was running for mayor and I was an invited guest to a small election party. In addition to taking photos of the critical moment when Del and Marielle found out that Del won the election, I also sipped some Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon from a big bottle. It was delicious and made that party remarkable. Im writing this column on May 31, and on Tuesday, June 5 I will have spent another evening at an election party maybe at the Native Sons Hall, where Perez and the Yes on C campaigns will gather. The first election night I remember as a reporter was in November 1980, when I worked at The Weekly Calistogan. The newspapers offices were a few doors down from the Silverado Tavern and Jack Kenny and I went over to the bar for a drink and to watch the televised national returns. He was upset because it was 6 p.m. and the polls in California wouldnt close for another two hours. Yet, the television commentators had already called the election for challenger Ronald Reagan, who upset Jimmy Carter for the presidency. I dont remember the local Calistoga election that year. Maybe it was when Nick Rulli, Peter Kagel or Edy Wilkinson was elected to the Calistoga City Council, or it may have been when Bill Berkhout was elected mayor. (When both Rulli and Berkhout served on the city council, it was tough to get a good quote from either of them because of their thick accents: Rullis was Italian; Berkhouts was German.) Elections in Lake County A few years later, I was involved in covering a supervisors race in Middletown, between Norm Mahlberg, son-in-law of Earle Wrieden, longtime insurance agent, tax preparer and supervisor, and challenger Voris Brumfield, who was a newcomer to the Middletown area. Typically, on election nights, the party would be at Bob and Geri Weatherwaxs house, just north of the downtown. Bob and Geri owned the local convenience store in the downtown, were members of the Middletown Lions and Lioness Clubs, and were home-town boosters. Their election parties were tremendous fun, with plenty of food, soft and hard drinks and a good crowd of people, who filtered in and out during the night. Some of the folks entertained themselves by playing blackjack in a back room whether it was for money or not, I never knew, because I was busy being a reporter. In those days before the widespread use of computers and the Internet, it was my job to call the elections department and find out the results. And not just once, at 8 p.m. when the absentee ballots were counted and results released, but then every half-hour or so, to make sure we knew the latest election numbers. It always took a while for drivers to pick up and deliver the ballots from an outlying precinct like Middletown, Cobb or Anderson Springs, for example to the elections department in Lakeport. The majority of the numbers were usually counted by 10 or 11 p.m., so wed have a pretty good idea who the winner was. I would go home, get some sleep and write up the story on Wednesday morning, before taking the newspaper flats to Healdsburg where the newspaper was printed. If Joni was with me, wed go have a late breakfast or lunch while the papers were being printed. Then wed bring the newspapers back to Middletown, where we would address them, get them to the post office and then deliver them to the newspaper racks around town. Measure P in Clearlake I was editor at the twice-weekly Clear Lake Observer American newspaper from 1989 to 2005. During that time, the citizens of Clearlake faced a difficult dilemma the use of methamphetamine was increasing and the citys police force was having a hard time trying to stop the drug use and the crime associated with it. A group of people, including City Administrator Dan Obermeyer and Police Chief Bobby Chalk, formed a task force and, after much study and many meetings, recommended the city council put a half-cent sales tax on a November ballot. Proceeds from Measure P were specifically designated to support the police department, and as such, it required a two-thirds vote. As editor, the newspaper supported Measure P. I wrote endless stories of the crime going on in town, meeting with the police lieutenants twice a week going over the police log, and wrote editorials telling people to vote for Measure P. One of the aspects of the election campaign was that the local California Highway Patrol officers worked in Clearlake, not just traffic enforcement, but actually responding to police calls in town. The newspapers support was integral to Measure P passing with an amazing 85 percent of the voters approving the sales tax. After leaving the Observer, I worked as news editor and editor of the Lake County Record-Bee, a five-day-a-week newspaper. During most of the 10 years I worked in Lakeport, my job was sitting at a desk, rewriting stories and laying out pages. My job also was to make sure the newspaper came off the press properly, which meant my shift ended when the press ran, or about 1 a.m. I worked what I called a vampire shift from early afternoon to early morning. I never got enough sleep and it was a tough job. Election night was pure craziness. Reporters were sent out to get photos and quotes from candidates the later the better and my job was to get the latest election results from the county, either by phone or through their website, and paste those into a chart on the front page. Since the Record-Bee had an offset printing press, we could push the deadline back as far as possible, to midnight or later, so that we could get the latest numbers into the print edition. On the editorial side, our emphasis was two-fold: to get the results from 90 to 95 percent of the precincts and to beat the Press-Democrat with our local, Lake County results. Most of the time we were able to do that, even if it meant leaving work at 2 a.m. or later. I remember one more thing about those election nights: I left a piece of paper with handwritten election results by the front-desk phone, because sure enough, someone was bound to call, wanting the answer to a simple question: Who won? Catch the latest in Opinion Get opinion pieces, letters and editorials sent directly to your inbox weekly! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Flavor Usually, you want a contrast between your food and your wine. If you have a fish dish with acidity, then a white wine with a creamier body will be a good pairing. If you have a fish dish with a creamy or buttery sauce, then an acidic white wine will be a better pairing. Contrasting is usually a safe bet except when it comes to sweets. Sweet dishes, such as dessert, pair best with sweet wines. Acid and Tannins Acidity makes your mouth water. When you have an acidic wine, it is good to pair with foods where the fat is already inside, such as salami. Tannins, on the other hand, dry your mouth. As a result, tannic wines are best paired with foods with added fats, for example, a braised meat where butter or oil are added. In addition to pairing tannic wines with foods with added fats, you can also pair a tannic wine with spicy food as the tannins are textural and will act like bread does by cleaning the palate. Based on the wines we were drinking this past week, below are some of the sample pairings that worked best, based on the above rules: I never forgot the lesson. It led to further study of German Rieslings, which helps me explain German wines. To more quickly understand this, consumers can taste various wines with Riesling-savvy persons though such people arent easy to find. Asking retail clerks and restaurant personnel usually is no help. Ive learned that few have any understanding of the word dry. Recently at a wine-oriented Sebastopol-area cafe, the waiter was pouring a house white wine. I asked if it was dry. He said yes. Unconvinced, I asked for a sip. The wine was cloyingly clumsy. It may have been dry to him, but still lacked the acid it needed to avoid being flabby. This subject isnt easy to explain. There are many parameters here and only those who make a study of the issues can truly understand them and how they connect to wine. The best way to understand this is to taste wine often. There are two wines in the market today, a well-regarded Napa Valley Chardonnay and a popular Pinot Noir. Neither is inexpensive. Most average consumers (those who drink perhaps a glass of wine every two months) would say they are dry. To my palate, both are sweet. Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal is keen to introduce Drukair flight services between Bhutan and Singapore via Guwahati. Sonowal on Thursday, met with Consul General of Bhutan Phub Tshering at his official residence to expedite the process for the mutual benefit of the region. Earlier in the year, Foreign Minister of Bhutan Damcho Dorji announced introduction of Drukair service between Guwahati-Paro and Singapore, to take advantage of Indias Act Policy initiatives. He asked the officer of the Royal Bhutanese Embassy about the status of implementation of the service and informed him that he would request Civil Aviation Ministry, Government of India to expedite the process so that this dream can become reality. Sonowal also told him that he would also talk to Bhutan Prime Minister Tsering Togbay regarding the issue. The Assam Chief Minister also conveyed the States warm greetings and vowed to cement the diplomatic relations between Bhutan and Assam. FM: There will be no large-scale war as long as Russian peacekeepers are in Artsakh Karabakh defense army: Armenian side has no positional, territorial losses Artsakh State Minister: Situation has stabilized along entire line of contact (PHOTOS) Karabakh Defense Army: Situation along entire length of line of contact relatively stable at this moment Karabakh Ombudsman: Artsakh Defense Army has no casualties Head of Karabakh's Harav village: There were shootings at military posts, shootings have mainly stopped Karabakh Defense Army: Azerbaijani Armed Forces open fire at military base, 6 injured Azerbaijani Armed Forces use weapons of large caliber in direction of Karabakh's Nor Shen village Attorney: Armenian MP Artur Sargsyan to be released on bail for AMD 20,000,000 Armenian Unified Info Center: Karabakh Defense Army will provide official information soon Armenia Ombudsman: Azerbaijani army's attack leaves 6 Armenian soldiers injured, 2 of them in critical condition Eduard Sharmazanov: Republican Party of Armenia will hold its congress on Dec. 18 Armenia ex-defense minister Seyran Ohanyan: Azerbaijan can't be compared with Iran in terms of capabilities Karabakh Defense Army: Azerbaijan MOD's news that Azerbaijani soldier died from Armenian soldier's gunshot is false Armenia ex-defense minister assesses possibility of start of Iran-Azerbaijan war Armenia ex-defense minister: Military exercises held in Iran were great support for Yerevan Armenia court rules to release Goris deputy mayor on bail for AMD 30,000,000 Karabakh emergency situations service: Remains of another 2 Armenian servicemen found in Hadrut region Armenia receives batch of 50,000 doses of Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine Armenia defense minister holds consultation over preparation for the winter Azerbaijani FM 'on need for Armenia to transfer precise mine maps to Azerbaijan' Russia welcomes disposition of Azerbaijan and Armenia to normalize relations Karabakh Defense Army: Azerbaijan MOD's news about seizure of reconnaissance UAV is disinformation BREAKING: UN court hears Armenia case against Azerbaijan; Erdogan, Aliyev to open airport in Shushi Taliban's high-ranking delegation arrives in Turkey Mirzoyan, Lavrov and Bayramov meet, discuss issues related to Nagorno-Karabakh conflict Latvia President tests positive for COVID-19 Sergey Melikov elected leader of Dagestan Armenia official: Zero vacant bed at coronavirus treatment hospitals Armenia ex-President Kocharyan meets with National Security Service reserve officers' union founders Azerbaijan plans to increase natural gas supplies to Turkey and Europe Dollar loses value in Armenia Armenia Parliament Speaker receives Sweden Ambassador Armenia PM attaches importance to formation of common electricity and natural gas markets within EEU Azerbaijan states readiness to normalize relations with Armenia, but on several conditions Rustaveli Avenue blocked in central Tbilisi Armenian, Russian FMs meet in Minsk Armenia representative asks UN court to end vicious cycle of violence perpetrated against Armenians by Azerbaijan PM: Air Arabia, Armenia government will invest $10m each, establish national air carrier Prison burning in Georgia's Rustavi, Mikheil Saakashvili in adjacent jailhouse Armenias Mirzoyan attends CIS foreign ministers' meeting in Belarus Armenia State Revenue Committee chief: YouTube, Google, Facebook and others agreed to fulfill tax obligations Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan FMs trilateral meeting expected in Minsk Armenia Parliament Speaker receives representatives of SEPPA program's partnering organizations Armenia Representative delivers speech at UN International Court of Justice CSTO says reached agreements contribute to creation of necessary conditions for political settlement of Karabakh crisis Pilgrims will be able to visit Dadivank Monastery again, says Artsakh minister Zakharova: Russia peacekeepers in Karabakh determining circumstances behind civilians death Artsakh official: Azerbaijan does not even value its own culture UN Court to hear Armenia's petition for interim measures against Azerbaijan Russia MFA: Armenian, Russian, Azerbaijani spiritual leaders meeting is important format for overcoming problems Zakharova: Russia favors unwavering implementation of all Karabakh provisions 34 new cases of coronavirus, including kids, reported in Artsakh Artsakh Investigative Committee starts investigating another criminal act motivated by national hatred PM: Armenia companies will get cheaper loans from abroad Belarus to host CIS FMs meeting Thursday 1,589 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia Russia peacekeepers in Karabakh conduct comprehensive exercise at all observation posts Armenia government holding Cabinet meeting World oil prices on the rise Putin to run in Russia presidential election in 2024? India man sentenced to life in prison for killing wife with cobra, viper Newspaper: Armenia police enter medical institutions, 6 people detained Newspaper: Injections of unknown origin are made to Armenia state budget Armenia Parliament Speaker receives delegation led by Iran's Prosecutor General Group of Armenian police officers apprehend citizen by using brute force Armenian analyst: Negotiations over Karabakh issue to resume sooner or later, "3+3" format is unrealistic Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin expresses hope after Russian, Armenian and Azerbaijani spiritual leaders' meeting Iran clarifies, says Azerbaijan released other prisoners, not detained Iranian truck drivers Saakashvili agrees to have doctors assess his health condition Putin: Events in Afghanistan may seriously impact situations in Central Asia and Transcaucasia Iran Armed Forces Staff chief, Pakistan PM discuss strengthening of border security Taliban warn US, EU of refugees if sanctions against Afghanistan aren't lifted Armenia PM receives India FM Azerbaijan refutes report on release of two Iranian truck drivers Artsakh FM: Azerbaijan's next provocation may be directed directly against Russian peacekeepers Armenia health minister: Another mother-to-be dies from COVID-19 Karabakh emergency situations service: Remains of 2 more Armenian servicemen found in Hadrut Baku releases two Iranian truck drivers after Azerbaijan and Iran FMs' phone talks Erdogan, Aliyev to mark anniversary of occupation of Shushi by opening airport Armenia deputy justice minister receives Council of Europe delegation Armenia appoints new Ambassador to Iran Armenia finance minister presents government's five-year plan to German partners Russian, Armenian and Azerbaijani spiritual leaders make statement on Karabakh Karabakh Defense Army refutes Azerbaijan MOD's disinformation Digest: Pashinyan and Putin meet in Moscow, Biden and Erdogan discuss Nagorno-Karabakh Armenia Parliament Speaker receives AGBU Montreal Chapter's leadership Mher Shirinyan appointed Armenia Armed Forces Armament Department head S&P Improved the Outlook on Ameriabank to Positive Security Council chief: Armenia never held, will not hold negotiations about corridor US embassy in Armenia remains unable to resume routine visa operations Healthcare specialist: Hospital bed capacity for Armenia COVID-19 patients is full Dollar gains value in Armenia Armenia Prosecutor General: Essential progress has been made in processes for transfer of Iranian convicts UAE Supreme Audit Institution chairman-led delegation on official visit to Armenia Armenia Ambassador to Iran Artashes Tumanyan recalled Armenia FM leaving for Minsk Armenia court rejects appeal, Goris mayor to not be released Iran Prosecutor General to Armenia PM: Our relations are good basis for jointly confronting regional challenges Iran Prosecutor General to Armenia justice minister: It is necessary to work more closely YEREVAN. There are several matters which hinder business growth in Armenia; that, first and foremost, was the various corruption schemes and the authorities personal business interests. First Deputy Prime Minister Ararat Mirzoyan on Thursday told the aforesaid to reporters during the UK-Armenia business forum in capital city Yerevan. But Mirzoyan added that this matter, as well as the matter of courts, was resolved in one day. We, the [incumbent] authorities of the Republic of Armenia, dont have personal business interests, and the [current] executive [branch of] power in no way attempts to influence the judgments of the courts, stressed the first deputy PM. These are those matters that are essential for business, and which open all doors before international and large businesses. Im confident that we will see significant changes in this matter in the in the coming months, years; and interest [in Armenia] is increasingly growing and growing. YEREVAN. The main objective of the foreign policy of the new government of Armenia is the protection of Armenias sovereignty, ensuring of the security of Armenia and Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), and raising of the international standing of Armenia. The aforementioned is noted in the new Armenian governments program, which Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Thursday presented in the National assembly. According to this program, the new government will make efforts toward achieving solely a pacific resolution to the Karabakh conflict, and within the format of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs and based especially on the equality and right to self-determination of peoples. Under this program, the new Armenian government reaffirms that Artsakh, as a main party to this conflict, shall have a decisive say and engagement in the peace process. As stated by this program, the new government will make efforts toward making Armenias membership in the Eurasian Economic Union and the Collective Security Treaty Organization become more productive. Also, the new Armenian government will work towards developing its strategic and allied relations with Russia and boosting its friendly partnership with the United States. In addition, the new government will make efforts toward starting a discourse with the European Union (EU), in order to implement the Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement and to achieve EU visa liberalization for Armenian citizens. Also, according to this program, deepening of cooperation with European countries is an important direction of the foreign policy of the new government of Armenia. YEREVAN. There should be no reverse in the foreign policy of the Republic of Armenia. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Thursday stated the aforesaid at the special session of the National Assembly, as he presented the program of the new government of the country. He stressed that Armenia will continue to be a member in the Eurasian Economic Union and the Collective Security Treaty Organization, alike. Our [Armenias] task will be to further increase the productiveness of our membership, Pashinyan added, in particular. To develop strategic relations with the Russian Federation in the most diverse domains is [also] important to us. Armenia-Russian Federation relations should be based on the willingness for equality. The government considers military cooperation with the Russian Federation to be an important constituent of the countrys security. Also, the Armenian PM stressed that they will work hard to boost relations with the United States too. We will cooperate with the European Union [(EU)] toward the implementation of the Armenia-EU agreement and the EU visa liberalization [for Armenian citizens], Pashinyan added. Such relations should be developed with [neighbors] Iran and Georgia too. Our key objective is the ensuring of the sovereignty and security of our country, and the serving of the interests of our country. Working vigorously through the month of April, the Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly) held 50 meetings with congressional offices discussing key issues of concern, including reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide, U.S. assistance to Armenia and Artsakh, as well as Christian and other minority communities at risk in the Middle East. As a result of these efforts, the Assembly says is pleased to welcome Representatives Charlie Crist (D-FL), Steve King (R-IA), Eric Swalwell (D-CA), and Steve Knight (R-CA) as the newest Members to join the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, bringing the total to 122 Members. Im proud to join the Armenian Caucus, working in a bipartisan manner to strengthen the U.S.-Armenian relationship a vital strategic partnership, stated Rep. Crist. Congressman Crist represents the 13th congressional district of Florida, on the Gulf Coast from Clearwater down to St. Petersburg. After meeting with the Assembly, he co-signed this years letter to President Donald Trump to formally recognize the Armenian Genocide. Last year, the Congressman co-signed a letter to then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urging him to arrest, prosecute, and jail members of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans security detail who attacked peaceful protesters outside the Turkish Ambassadors residence in Washington, D.C. Rep. Swalwell told the Assembly: Im happy to join the bipartisan Congressional Armenian Caucus because I believe in strengthening the diplomatic, cultural, economic and military ties between our nations. You dont need to be of any particular political party, or of Armenian descent, to know that many of our interests intersect and we should work together to ensure peace and prosperity throughout the Middle East, West Asia, and around the world. Congressman Swalwell represents the 15th congressional district of California, which includes parts of the East Bay in Northern California, and is a co-sponsor of H.Res. 220, affirming the Armenian Genocide. Rep. King agreed to join the Armenian Caucus after meeting with the Assembly and Ecumenical Director and Diocesan Legate of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern) Archbishop Vicken Aykazian. During the meeting they discussed the plight of Christians and other minorities in the Middle East. Rep. King also co-sponsored H.Res. 220 and signed the letter urging President Trump to reaffirm the Armenian Genocide. Im proud to join my colleagues on the Congressional Armenian Caucus, said Rep. Knight. America and Armenia share much in common, especially our mutual commitment to freedom of religion and individual liberties. Its also important to never forget atrocities like the Armenian Genocide so that we may always remain vigilant in ensuring they never happen again. Southern California has a large contingent of Armenian Americans, and I look forward to working with my colleagues on the caucus to address these important issues. Congressman Knight represents the 25th congressional district of California, which covers a sizable part of northern Los Angeles County, and includes the Santa Clarita Valley, Simi Valley, the Antelope Valley, and the northern section of the San Fernando Valley. He co-signed the bipartisan Royce-Engel letter, which proposes common sense measures to curtail ongoing Azerbaijani military-initiated attacks against citizens of Artsakh and Armenia, and calls upon the OSCE Minsk Group to publicly condemn specific acts of aggression along the line of contact. The Assembly is pleased that Rep. Knight has joined the Congressional Armenian Caucus, and looks forward to continue working closely with the Congressman and his staff. I would like to take this opportunity to express the Assemblys gratitude to Ms. Vanessa Wilk for her extraordinary efforts in encouraging Rep. Knight to join the caucus, stated Assembly Western Region Director Mihran Toumajan. The Armenian Assembly looks forward to working with these new Members and with the leadership of the Armenian Caucus as we continue to strengthen U.S.-Armenia relations, and continue to promote genocide awareness and education, including the remarkable efforts of John Elder and James O. Arroll of the YMCA in helping the survivors of the Armenian Genocide, said Assembly Executive Director Bryan Ardouny. [Provisional Translation] On June 6, 2018, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the 15th meeting of the Council on Overcoming Population Decline and Vitalizing Local Economy in Japan at the Prime Minister's Office.At the meeting, there was discussion regarding the Basic Policy for Overcoming Population Decline and Vitalizing Local Economy 2018 (draft), and best practices in regional vitalization and the development of local economies.Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,Today, we received briefings from Mr. Kumano, Mr. Iizuka, and Ms. Mizukami, who are working hard in their respective local communities and producing results, on their initiatives.It is exactly in the local communities that there are opportunities. Young people who believe in this are making the U-turns (from their hometown in a local district to city and back), I-turns (from their hometown in a local district to a different local district) and J-turns (from their hometown in a local district to a nearby city) and starting up businesses there. Women are unleashing their power to the fullest in their communities. As long as the opportunity presents itself, the local districts still have huge potential. I have renewed my sense on that.In order to add momentum to this trend, we have compiled a policy package as the Government, focused on human resource development and job creation, which lie at the center of regional revitalization. For instance, it provides strong support for young people making U-, I- and J-turns, enables highly-motivated women and senior citizens to realize their full potential in their communities, and empowers foreign personnel who love Japan amidst the significant rise of inbound tourism.With all the relevant ministries and agencies working together, fleshing out these initiatives and moving swiftly to implement them, we will further accelerate regional revitalization.At the same time, we also received a proposal from Mr. Higuchi towards easing the excessive concentration of the population in Tokyo.Based on the views expressed today, I intend for this Council to proceed with the review focused on town development, such as strengthening the functions of central and hub cities in the local districts, as the next policy issue.Moving forward, we will fully support the willingness of those in the local districts, and promote regional revitalization throughout all of Japan.I would like Minister Kajiyama to take the lead in finalizing the Basic Policy for Overcoming Population Decline and Vitalizing Local Economy, based on the discussion today. US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has announced that the Chinese telecoms equipment maker has signed a definitive agreement to pay more than one billion dollars in fines in exchange for the removal of US sanctions, DW reported. Wilbur Ross unveiled details of the deal in an interview for US television channel CNBC on Thursday, saying that ZTE had agreed to pay out $1.4 billion (1.18 billion) in return for the lifting of a ban that prevented it buying vital US components. China's second-largest telecoms equipment maker was banned from the US market in April, after the company was caught violating US sanctions on Iran and North Korea and the terms of a subsequent plea agreement. "At about 6 a.m. this morning, we executed a definitive agreement with ZTE. And that brings to a conclusion this phase of the development with them," Ross told CNBC. Noting that the deal imposed the strictest compliance ever on any company, American or foreign, Ross added: "We are literally embedding a compliance department of our choosing into the company." Dividends play a key role in compounding returns over time and can form a large part of our portfolio return. Precinct Properties New Zealand Limited (NZSE:PCT) has returned to shareholders over the past 10 years, an average dividend yield of 5.00% annually. Should it have a place in your portfolio? Lets take a look at Precinct Properties New Zealand in more detail. View our latest analysis for Precinct Properties New Zealand 5 questions I ask before picking a dividend stock When assessing a stock as a potential addition to my dividend Portfolio, I look at these five areas: Is its annual yield among the top 25% of dividend-paying companies? Has its dividend been stable over the past (i.e. no missed payments or significant payout cuts)? Has it increased its dividend per share amount over the past? Can it afford to pay the current rate of dividends from its earnings? Will it have the ability to keep paying its dividends going forward? NZSE:PCT Historical Dividend Yield Jun 6th 18 How does Precinct Properties New Zealand fare? The company currently pays out 49.06% of its earnings as a dividend, according to its trailing twelve-month data, which is rather low compared to other REITs. Generally, REITs are expected to pay out the majority of its earnings to provide a regular income stream for their investors. Going forward, analysts expect PCTs payout to increase to 88.41% of its earnings, which leads to a dividend yield of 4.64%. However, EPS is forecasted to fall to NZ$0.11 in the upcoming year. Therefore, although payout is expected to increase, the fall in earnings may not equate to higher dividend income. If dividend is a key criteria in your investment consideration, then you need to make sure the dividend stock youre eyeing out is reliable in its payments. The reality facing PCT investors is that whilst it has continued to pay shareholders dividend, there has not been any increase in the level of dividends paid in the past decade. However, income investors that value stability over growth may still find PCT appealing. Compared to its peers, Precinct Properties New Zealand generates a yield of 4.44%, which is on the low-side for REITs stocks. Story continues Next Steps: Taking into account the dividend metrics, Precinct Properties New Zealand ticks most of the boxes as a strong dividend investment, putting it in my list of top dividend payers. Given that this is purely a dividend analysis, I urge potential investors to try and get a good understanding of the underlying business and its fundamentals before deciding on an investment. Ive put together three pertinent factors you should further research: Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for PCTs future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for PCTs outlook. Valuation: What is PCT worth today? Even if the stock is a cash cow, its not worth an infinite price. The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether PCT is currently mispriced by the market. Other Dividend Rockstars: Are there better dividend payers with stronger fundamentals out there? Check out our free list of these great stocks here. To help readers see pass the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price sensitive company announcements. The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. So this really happened tonight. @seanhannity publicly advised all potential Mueller witnesses to smash their phones into tiny pieces in case Robert Mueller will ask for their phone.@FoxNews used as a platform to instruct witnesses in a criminal case to destroy evidence. pic.twitter.com/oPCNfW25Qs The Reagan Battalion (@ReaganBattalion) June 7, 2018 Since this is politics-related, I saw this and thought it needed to be shared wider. Reply Thread Link jfc. i'm currently taking a twitter hiatus. this stuff is just not good to consume all day long. it's way too much going on. Reply Parent Thread Link Yikes Reply Parent Thread Link I mean why wouldn't tr*mps minions destroy evidence? That's how we roll now. Reply Parent Thread Link Also it's widely reported that Trump calls Hannity every night before bed. SO LIKE. HE IS A PRESIDENTIAL ADVISOR. TELLING POTENTIAL WITNESSES TO DESTROY EVIDENCE. I AM I JUST HOW WHY And he's going to face zero repercussions for this!!!! Reply Parent Thread Link smash away! mueller will just get a court order from cellular companies for records of calls and texts. all they will do is ruin a perfectly good cellphone and get charged with more crimes Reply Parent Thread Link who's in charge of the brain cell with these people? who's in charge of the brain cell with these people? Reply Parent Thread Link So Hannity thinks they all have something to hide, right? Reply Parent Thread Link What Hannity did tonight is illegal, and we know he talks to Trvmp all the time. Also, transcripts of texts between Hannity's attorney Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniel's former attorney Keith Davidson came out today that show them conspiring to get her on Hannity's show so she could lie and say she never slept with Trvmp. The appearance didn't work out, but they tried it. Of course Michael Cohen is also Trvmp's attorney and he would have benefited from her appearance on Hannity, so we can assume he hand a hand in this. Also, Samantha Bee has raised $148,000 for relief for Puerto Rico. Reply Parent Thread Link they're gonna get away with it congrats white people, thanks for somehow making this country even worse than it already was Reply Parent Thread Link Yeah, I don't think so. Manafort is going to prison on Friday for witness tampering and Hannity may have bought himself a ticket to go along with him by making this dumb announcement on his show tonight. Also, Dems did very well in the primaries yesterday, it looks good for them gaining control of the House in November. That Ipsos/Reuters poll (the one that recently had Republicans up by 6 points) now has Democrats winning the generic ballot by 11 points. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link MESS Reply Parent Thread Link Wow Reply Parent Thread Link And it STILL won't lead to any real consequences for 45 and co. It damn well SHOULD. But it'll slide off like everything else. I can't with this administration. Reply Parent Thread Link lol omg. Reply Parent Thread Link Edited at 2018-06-07 05:01 am (UTC) i remember i was listening to NPR and there was a segment where they were discussing her comment in comparison to Roseanne's and i legit was like Reply Thread Link Again? Wonder if she was threatened or paid? Reply Thread Link I mean, we all saw the kind of hell Kathy Griffin had to go through for the beheading picture. This may not be that level but Sam is probably being cautious. Reply Parent Thread Link True, but I feel like she's done nothing but apologize now. I mean, she could've just been like, "Look at who her Dad is? Did I lie though?" and she would've at least won the popular vote. :P Reply Parent Thread Expand Link she's apologizing for using a gendered word, not for calling out Ivanka. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link You can keep your messed up opinion to yourself. Reply Parent Thread Link I still believe what she said was too NICE. Ivanka is a corrupt, complicit piece of human garbage and I hope she burns with the rest of them. Reply Thread Link i want her to go down. so sick of everyone acting like she's so precious and untouchable. Reply Parent Thread Link The idea she's secretly liberal who is "biding her time" is so goddamn laughable I just......? Here's the thing. If Ivanka Trump is more socially liberal and is just playing along with her dad, then SHE IS AN ABSOLUTE GARBAGE MONSTER FOR THAT. Also, the fuck is she waiting for? Are children being ripped from their parents not the time to break out that secret liberal ideology? I live for the day I see her shackled and headed to prison. Reply Parent Thread Link people do that way too often with white women. Reply Parent Thread Link ia, I hate that she had to apologize Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Agreed. She shouldn't have apologized. Reply Parent Thread Link mte fuck her Reply Parent Thread Link Every single word she said is true. "Feckless cunt" is completely true. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I just need libs to stop apologizing and trying to be polite because GUESS THE FUCK WHAT - I've yet to hear or read a heartfelt apology for all the targeted racial harassment the Obamas received and those were all WAY WORSE. This liberal ideology of maintaining poise & dignity to show how they are morally better than the republicans just doesn't work because they've never been about shame. Like, being rough on them and not backing down doesn't make you as bad as the literally nazi sponsored opponent Dems! GROW UP! Reply Thread Link No because when they go low, we go high Reply Parent Thread Link Really really starting to hate that one. Reply Parent Thread Link mte Reply Parent Thread Link Finally, a politics post after yesterday's primaries! So many good wins for Dems. One of the VERY flippable House districts is near me and the Dem I think has the best shot at winning made it through the primaries last night. I'm so excited to volunteer and do what I can to help her take a seat away from a Republican. Reply Thread Link I loved that the judge who sentenced Brock Turner was recalled, well done CA Reply Parent Thread Link A judge in my district was reelected after letting a female teacher who slept with 3 students get off with just 6 months in jail. I'm so pissed. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link yesss, although some of the reactions from fellow judges rme Reply Parent Thread Link I'm so relieved by this, hopefully next we can get a mandatory minimum sentencing in sexual assault cases Reply Parent Thread Link California did so well yesterday. Out of 53 contests, they have a candidate in every single one. The Republicans don't have candidates in 10 races. So the Dems are guaranteed of 10 wins either way. And 70% of voters voted against Dana Rohrbacher, so even though he will be the GOP name on the ballot, it's not likely he'll win this time. Hopefully by November even more 18-year olds will register and provide the insurance for flipping the House. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link liberals are obsessed with being doormats for conservatives whenever the latter disingenuously cry a little Reply Thread Link This is when the snowflake label actually applies tbh sadly enough Reply Parent Thread Link Soo true. Reply Parent Thread Link Yup Reply Parent Thread Link CHRIST. I got into a somewhat heated exchange on reddit with a guy who insisted that people who hate that word are just overreacting and that since it's not a big deal in other countries, we shouldn't care about it in the US either. Reply Parent Thread Link For a while there people were careful about "bitch" but now it's being used more and more again, as insult, and it started with making "sassy gay memes" because "that was allowed" and now everyone is just using it again. fuck thaaat. Reply Parent Thread Link I understand why people are offended by the word, but given that it happened last week right after the Roseanne thing and people were making these false equivalences was really not okay. A woman using a gendered slur (whether or not people agree with reclaiming it or not) is not the same as a white person saying racist shit, and it's the false equivalency that frustrated a lot of people. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I understand why it's bad but I just don't care about it being used in this particular context Reply Parent Thread Expand Link that's an incredibly narrow view on why some people don't care that she used that word. Reply Parent Thread Link lmao ilu Reply Parent Thread Link girl why are you apologizing to these assholes? who is suing you? Reply Thread Link pressure from the network I'm sure, plus I think she lost a sponsor or two Reply Parent Thread Link she also has a point about how the inflammatory nature of the word completely distracted from her larger, more important point. it's just the idea that there's any comparison between her and Roseanne (which everyone on twitter was making last week) that is SO frustrating Reply Parent Thread Link She's fine and there was nothing wrong with what she said to begin with. Reply Parent Thread Link 100% slurs don't become okay to use just because someone is reprehensible. [supposedly] leftist men are constantly being misogynistic under the guise of "this woman is a bigot" (criticise her bigotry then!), so i'd rather not encourage/cosign that behaviour. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Agreed, it doesn't come across as apologizing to Ivanka/conservatives to me, and I really appreciate everything she said here. Reply Parent Thread Link I'm so baffled by this lol. Is it some kind of subliminal attempt at sucking up? Reply Parent Thread Link I thought this was shopped, like that gif of Lindsay stealing things in the courtroom. Reply Parent Thread Link lmao this is so creepy/weird Reply Parent Thread Link lmaoo that's sooooo fucking weird. Reply Parent Thread Link i just assumed jeff sessions was under the table like a good little dog and they wanted to make sure he stayed hydrated Reply Parent Thread Expand Link what is this mind control juju Reply Parent Thread Link Thats so creepy straight up fucked up creepy as hell Reply Parent Thread Link i hate them both but... maybe he just thought it was a good idea he hadn't thought of? (or actually, he wouldn't have done himself because it's not really cool to put your bottles on the floor in meetings but if the pres does it, he can too.) Reply Parent Thread Link LOL Reply Parent Thread Link "Many men were also offended by my use of the word... I do not care about that." lol She makes a lot of great points, unfortunately the gop will use any excuse they can to not talk about real issues. Reply Thread Link That was a great quote. Reply Parent Thread Link This era has felt like such a non event. She needs to quit it with the collabs too. Reply Thread Link It's a non-event because Shakira is too lazy to leave her house but at the same time she's had a string of big and moderate hits and she's been the biggest female artist in streaming last year and has been selling her tour pretty well... It shouldn't be, she needs to count her blessings. Reply Parent Thread Link did she ever pay her back taxes? Reply Thread Link Why is Maluma so damn pretty? Cant get my eyes off ha. So pretty Reply Thread Link Maluma needs a haircut And Shakira needs to put some effort in her music she hasnt delivered since la bicicleta Reply Thread Link As someone that likes Shakira...Her tour this go around, seems pretty basic and very Joanne. Also gorl, pay your taxes! Edited at 2018-06-07 05:02 pm (UTC) Reply Thread Link Her tours have been basic since 2002. I've been trying to steer away from spoilers because I'm seeing her in a month but overall fans seems pleased with everything but the clothes, I think? Reply Parent Thread Link I guess the tour specials, made them seem more entertaining. I saw clips of the El Dorado Tour from Hamburg and Cologne and yes, the costumes were some interesting choices. LOL. I was just expecting theatrics. I assumed because of the tour delay that maybe she spent less money to make up for the months of delay. Reply Parent Thread Link Did they ever pay their taxes back? Reply Thread Link She paid 20M euros for 2011 alone, the Spanish tax agency postponed the investigation until the end of the year so who knows how much she'll be charged later on! Reply Parent Thread Link Paying tax like a plebeian, love it! Reply Parent Thread Link I've been on a Shakira kick l8ly: Reply Thread Link what is with ppl in Spain not paying their taxes?? or are they just the only ones I pay attention to idk Reply Thread Link Imagine if someone started looking into celebs in America... Reply Parent Thread Link Enough with the Maluma collabs Shakira. Pero hasta cuando?! Reply Thread Link Marisha Pessl ya just doesn't interest me. But I need to reread night film soon. Reply Thread Link Reese must have an amazing home library Reply Thread Link Im halfway through Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough and I think its giving Gone Girl a run for its money in fucked up rich wh*te women fiction Reply Thread Link omg it gets even CRAZIER. make sure you're not spoiled for the ending! Reply Parent Thread Link I just finished reading it and oh my god what the fuck Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I'm reading that one too and loving it so far. I really like the writing style. Reply Parent Thread Link The Abyss Surrounds Us books are just so delightful and fun. Just the kind of thing I always wanted to read as a kid and teen. Reply Parent Thread Link Oh shit, there's another one in the Abyss series??? Yay, those were fun reads and I got my friend's kid into them, too. Reply Parent Thread Link I read Crazy Rich Asians this week and am on China Rich Girlfriend now. They're definitely fun trash, and I appreciate the easy read lol Reply Thread Link Those books are such fun reads but I wish I had a little primer showing all the familial relationships while I was reading bc I found that a bit hard to remember. Reply Parent Thread Link My copy of the first book had a family tree in front, though it wasn't super helpful due to how it was organized. Right now my solution is to just read through all of the books as fast as possible before I forget the relations LOL Reply Parent Thread Link those books were like a soap opera in book form. def not high literature but fun lol. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Do you know any other books that are similar to Crazy Rich Asians (and its sequels)? My mom doesn't really like reading outside of stuff for her work, but she loved these and I'd like to get her similar stuff to keep her interested in reading fiction. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I don't know what I like about Egan's writing, but I do. Have Manhattan Beach in my Express list, maybe move that up. Reading Half The World now, but what used to be pleasingly recognisable Joe Abercrombie is up to now pretty dull. Also still on The White Road, which gets more interesting whenever I want to give up on, and only 200 pages left, so why not finish it. Reply Thread Link I had to read A Visit from the Goon Squad for a uni course and absolutely loved it!!! and I've heard nothing but good things about Manhattan Beach!! lol I'm always worried that I'll give up on a book just before it gets good... but mostly it doesn't haha Reply Parent Thread Link This is non-fiction so I try to go into it a bit differently, but ..it's really a chapter a day book. Reply Parent Thread Link I want to re-read the Autobiography of Red, had to read it for a class but I don't really remember it. Finished a poetry book I was reading as a quick read and I really related to quite a few of the poems. Still not a form I regularly read though. Reply Thread Link I finally just finished The Blind Assassin, which I loved, and now I'm onto Emma for my book club. Clearly I am super up-to-date on what's hot & happenin'. Reply Thread Link i remember loving that book and it was oddly like a thriller in the last third. like will you forgive her or not? can she be forgiven? i also weirdly remember one chapter toward the end seeming to be out of order that bugged me. Reply Parent Thread Link lol I remember being so mad at Curtis Sittenfield's American Wife that as soon as I'd finished it, I put it straight into the donate pile just so I'd have it out of my house. Something in the Water sounds interesting, I added it to my list. I can't wait to start Marisha Pessl's new one - Night Film was so, so good! Reply Thread Link Curtis Sittenfield is a hack imo, and i say that as someone who enjoys that genre of literature. Reply Parent Thread Link yeah, she's really awful. and i don't trust reese's taste anymore. i feel like she just buys the rights of anything "hot" and probs doesn't even read the books. Reply Parent Thread Link I finished Save the Date and will start The Kiss Quotient today (depending on the time I can get home). don't celebs use kindle? lol I was so against using them, now I'm addicted and prefer reading there. I have a pile of books to read and I just look at them and get the kindle again. Reply Thread Link I have a pile of books to read and I just look at them and get the kindle again. lmao same! I'm sure they do have kindles, but they don't photograph as well lol. plus they get the physical books for free Reply Parent Thread Link I bought like 3 books and I'm asking myself WHY just buy on kindle, why I keep doing this to me? there is no space here anyway I wish I got books for free Reply Parent Thread Link I finished Six of Crows and i absolutely loved it! I'm already halfway through Crooked Kingdom I don't usually read YA but this is YA done right Reply Thread Link i gotta go to the library and pick up Lakota Woman; When they call you a terrorist: a Black Lives Matter memoir; and Misery Reply Thread Link The Trump administration was on the verge of releasing a major change in U.S. biofuels policy, but a last minute political assault from corn states might have shelved the proposal indefinitely. The proposal was an effort to water down biofuels requirements while trying to prevent a full-blown outcry from corn country. Federal law requires oil refiners to blend ethanol into their fuel supply, an obligation refiners say is costly. For years, the policy remained unchanged, but the Trump administration cracked open the door to undermining the ethanol requirements to the enormous benefit of oil refiners. But the biofuels industries and politicians from corn states have revolted, blasting the EPA and the Trump administration for doing severe damage to their industries. The fight picked up pace earlier this year when Philadelphia Energy Solutions declared bankruptcy, citing burdensome costs for complying with ethanol purchases. Refiners either have to buy and blend ethanol into their fuel mixes, or if they are unable to do that, they have to purchase credits known as renewable identification numbers (RINs). The bankruptcy of such a large refiner led to calls to reform biofuels policy. In the midst of this, the EPA stepped up the number of exemptions it offered to refiners, allowing them to get out of some of their ethanol purchasing requirements. Those exemptions alone are thought to be a big reason for the declining value of RINs, as it sowed doubt about the future of the ethanol market. RIN prices have plunged to their lowest levels in five years. Late last month, for instance, the EPA awarded tens of millions of dollars worth of credits to HollyFrontier and Sinclair Oil, after deciding that the refiners had been wrongly denied waivers years ago. The spike in waivers issued by the EPA under the Trump administration has outraged the biofuels industry, provoking lawsuits. Related: Goldman: OPEC Must Raise Production Adding insult to injury for the ethanol industry, China put an extra 15 percent tariff on ethanol imports from the U.S. in response to U.S steel and aluminum tariffs. There was strong support for the president, Jon Doggett, executive vice president of the National Corn Growers Association, said in a Bloomberg interview. There continues to be strong support for the president. However, some of that support is wavering because of the trade issue and ethanol. After months of haggling and trying to appease both sides, the Trump administration was set to unveil what it saw as a compromise. Part of the proposal included a provision that would count biofuels exports towards the mandates for refiners, ultimately allowing them to purchase less ethanol. To appease the corn and biofuels industries, the Trump administration wanted to allow year-round sales of E15, which is currently banned during the summer. But, at the last minute, the Trump administration appears to have pulled the plug on the entire proposal. Bloomberg reported that the White House, which was set to release the idea on Monday, delayed the announcement indefinitely. While it had hoped to thread the needle between corn states and the oil industry, there may not be enough common ground after all. Senator Chuck Grassley, a powerful Republican from Iowa, threatened to demand the resignation of EPA administrator Scott Pruitt if the Trump administration moved forward. He said on June 5 that he thought Pruitt had betrayed the president. He was pessimistic that the U.S. Congress would be able to do anything about the EPA proposal because the initiative is being very much driven by Big Oil. Related: China Deals Shocking Blow To Solar Industry Also, Senator Joni Ernst, also a Republican from Iowa, accused Pruitt of breaking our Presidents promise to farmers at a conference hosted by S&P Global Platts. Pruitt "is about as swampy as you get here in Washington, D.C. And if the president wants to drain the swamp, he needs to take a look at his own Cabinet," Ernst said. Ernst added that Pruitt had promised her last year not to count ethanol exports by refiners as part of their quota a promise that the Trump administration was just about to break. Administrator Pruitt put in writing he intended to uphold the congressional intent of the RFS and he has not done that, she said. He also put into writing that the scheme to attach [Renewable Identification Numbers] for exported ethanol would stop and thats a lie, because now thats exactly what he proposed. The verbal attack by some powerful Republicans in a crucial swing state may have scared off the Trump administration. Sen. Ernst declared victory on Tuesday on Twitter. . @realDonaldTrump has said he looovves the farmers! #Iowa is feeling that love today, as the President just assured me he wont sign a deal thats bad for farmers! Thank you, Mr. President! Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) June 5, 2018 By Nick Cunningham of Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Cash-strapped Venezuela is pleading with OPEC for solidarity against U.S. sanctions, a week after Iran also asked its fellow cartel members for support against the returning U.S. sanctions on Tehran. I kindly request solidarity and support from our fellow members, Venezuelas Oil Minister Manuel Quevedo wrote in a letter to OPEC seen by Bloomberg News. In the letter, Quevedo is calling upon the cartel to discuss the constraining effects of unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States of America, which represent an extraordinary aggression, financially and economically, for our national oil industrys operations and the stability of the market. The letter by Venezuela is similar to the one that Iran sent to OPEC last week, in which Tehran sought support from fellow OPEC members against the returning U.S. sanctions and wanted the issue on the agenda at the Vienna meeting later this month. In his letter, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh also suggested that his country does not agree with recent remarks by certain OPEC members, noting that the Organization adopted decisions by consensus and no single member spoke for the body. This comment could be setting the stage for a difficult OPEC meeting, all the more so that it was Irans archrival Saudi Arabia that hinted that the cartel and allies may discuss easing the production cuts in June. Venezuela, for its part, is said to be nearing the point in which it may have to declare force majeure on its oil exports as production plunges and its ports are unable to ship enough crude. Related: Corn States Win In Fight Against Refiners Iran and Venezuela are currently the two key oil supply concerns globally that supported the oil price rally in recent weeks, before Saudi Arabia and Russia hinted at discussions that they were considering reversing some of the cuts to offset production losses and ease market and consumer anxiety. If the partners in the production cut deal decide to raise production and if this move depresses oil prices, Iran and Venezuela will be two of the biggest losers from lower oil revenues, because they cant raise their respective production levels, also because of the U.S. sanctions. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Microsoft said yesterday it had submerged a second experimental data center off the coast of Scotland, as part of its Natick project that studies less energy-intensive data centers. While the idea in itself is a very good onedata centers consume huge amounts of energy for coolingthe environmental consequences of a wide adoption of such data centers are yet to be identified, and not all of them may be good. Its all about temperatures, really. The notorious energy intensity of data centers was the main reason why Microsoft began working on Natick, whose goal is to study the manufacturing and operating environmentally sustainable, prepackaged datacenter units that can be ordered to size, rapidly deployed and left to operate lights out on the seafloor for years. The experimental data center is as large as a shipping container, at 12.2 m in length and a diameter of 3.18 m and contains 12 racks with a total 864 servers. It has a capacity of 27.6 petabytes, which Microsoft equates to storage space for five million movies and the power of several thousand high-end PCs. It also consumes 240 kW of electricity, all sourced from renewable sources including wind, solar, tidal, and wave, since the data center is located in the European Marine Energy Center. Now lets imagine thousands of such data centers being submerged into the sea around the world. What will the environmental effects of such mass adoption of energy-efficient data centers be? Will it actually help the environment by reducing onshore electricity needs, or will it damage it? A typical data center consumes only a small portion of the energy it receives from the grid for useful work. The restand it is a lot at up to 98 percentis released in the form of heat. Now, this heat could be reused by linking the data centers to heat-consuming facilities such as household heating grids. Its not a universal solution, however, since heat is easily lost when it has to be transported from its place of origin, for example, and it is often not hot enough to be used as an alternative to conventional heating methods. Related: Will Saudi Arabia Listen To U.S. Demands For More Oil? To solve the heat problem of their data centers, majors companies are looking for ways to reduce their cooling costspretty high due to the scale of their data center networksby sending these data centers to cooler parts of the world. Cooler is the keyword when it comes to submerged systems such as Microsofts Natick. The North Sea is unquestionably a good place for a submerged data center. Yet not all seas are as cold as the North Sea, and thats just one potential issue with the mass implementation of submerged data centers. Another, much bigger issue is the very fact of the heat: it does not disappear just because the data center is underwater. It is still generated and the more data centers there are underwater, the more heat is generated. The worlds oceans are already getting warmer. Oneor a dozensubmerged data centers will hardly worsen the situation, but start thinking in hundreds or thousands, and their effect on water temperatures near the coasts becomes more pronounced. All this falls within the sphere of conjecture for now. Microsofts stated purpose with the Natick initiative was to study the possibilities of an environmentally friendly, economical application of modular underwater data centers. Its way too early to worry about any major impact on the environment. Lets first see how it goes with the Northern Isles data center. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Global liquefied natural gas (LNG) markets in Asia are convulsing, undergoing yet another fundamental shift amid increased demand for the super-cooled fuel. Last week, spot prices for LNG in Asia, a region that makes up around two-thirds of all LNG demand with that demand growth set to increase amid more gas usage in China, spiked again, reaching $9.60 per million British thermal units (MMBtu), an increase of some 32 percent since mid-April. At the beginning of this week, prices for the fuel reached near the $10/MMBtu mark. LNG demand is seasonal and typically peaks during winter season in colder northern Asian markets, while demand wanes during milder spring season months, while picking up again during hotter summer months when more consumers use air conditioning. Pricing pivot This year, however, all that has changed. The reason? Demand has strengthened due to stricter environmental standards and rising economic growth. However, as prices increase to multi-year highs, this could cause end-users, mostly industrial users, to shift back to cheaper fuel sources. Coal, historically a cheaper alternative for gas and often used for power generation in Asia could benefit from this development. LNG, for its part, has a hard time competing with coal on a pure cost basis, even though it offers environmental advantages. Meanwhile, LNG imports to China and Pakistan during the first five months of 2018 increased over 50 percent from last year, while shipments to India, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore jumped by about 15 percent to 30 percent, Reuters said on Monday. Lower LNG storage from the worlds top LNG importer, Japan, and also top LNG importer, India, has also caused more unseasonal demand for LNG. Related: Goldman: OPEC Must Raise Production Chinas increased procurement of the super-cooled fuel earmarked for storage in anticipation of demand spikes for the upcoming winter season is also causing spot prices to jump. Last year, northern China experienced a severe gas shortage as the government rushed to replace dirtier burning coal used for power generation with cleaner burning gas. The shortage was somewhat of an embarrassment for energy planners in Beijing, bringing criticism from both within and outside the country. The government had to divert gas from industrial users to residential users to make up for the shortage, causing a temporary shutdown in several key industries. This time around Beijing doesnt plan to be caught flat-footed and is on an LNG buying spree, uncharacteristic for this time of year. Kittithat Promthaveepong, a senior analyst at consultancy FGE, said this week that higher oil prices and Chinas continued buying of spot cargoes so far this year is also supportive of increased LNG demand and the rise in spot prices in the region. This is driven mainly by three factors: lower domestic gas production due to maintenance at gas fields, industrial demand due to fuel switching away from oil, and early stock building to prepare for the coming winter, he added. Related: Anti-Qatar Threats Could Jeopardize OPEC Meeting Moreover, forecasters are predicting a hotter than normal summer season which will also increase demand in the coming summer months, putting more upward pressure on LNG prices in the region. Prices going forward Many analysts, including Nicholas Browne, an LNG analyst at energy consulting firm Wood Mackenzie agrees that prices are poised to trend upward. He said that Asian LNG prices could end the year at nearly $12/MMBtu. To put this price increase in perspective, JKM spot prices for LNG in Asia at the start of June in 2015 were at $7.5/MMBtu, according to numbers provided by commodities data provider S&P Platts Global. During this period in 2016, prices were at $4.9MMbtu and last year at $5.375/MMBtu. By Tim Daiss for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: QUEZON CITY, Philippines The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) revealed that around seven million Filipinos are still without civil registration record. For this reason, PSA targets to complete the registration and validation of 106 million Filipinos and include them in the agencys official record also in preparation for the possible implementation of the National ID System in the country. PSA Undersecretary Lisa Bersales said they consider it a huge challenge to complete the process of registering all Filipinos in and out of the country. She added that most of those without registration are living in far-flung areas. This is why they are planning to establish additional 40 PSA service outlets across the country by 2020. Aside from this, the agency also plans to digitize its database to include the registry of Filipinos in remote barangays. PSA calls on all Filipinos to visit the nearest Office of the Civil Registry in their areas to register or verify their information to update their records. The public may also send their civil registration concerns through the agencys website www.psa.gov.ph. Aiko Miguel / Marje Pelayo The post 7M Filipinos still without civil registration record PSA appeared first on UNTV News. An Australian former terror suspect has been refused entry to Singapore due to his past activities, authorities said Thursday, days before a historic US-North Korea summit in the city-state. Zeky Mallah, 34, was barred entry when he arrived at Changi Airport on Wednesday from Sydney and placed on a flight home the next day, the Ministry of Home Affairs said. Singapore has been stepping up security ahead of Tuesday's historic meeting between US President Donald Trump and the North's leader Kim Jong Un. In 2003, Zeky was the first person to be charged under new terrorism laws in Australia for allegedly planning a suicide attack on the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and the department of foreign affairs, said a ministry statement. He was acquitted of charges of preparing a terrorist act in 2005 but was jailed for two and a half years after he admitted threatening government officials. Zeky was also reported to have travelled to Syria and to have expressed support for Al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist groups, the ministry said. He told Australia's Seven Network that he believed he had been barred due to the looming summit. BlackBerry's new handset, the latest effort to revive the faded brand, includes a physical keyboard There's a new BlackBerry smartphone, the latest effort to revive the once-dominant brand. The BlackBerry Key2 was unveiled Thursday in New York by TCL Communication, the Chinese manufacturer which took over the rights to the smartphone brand from the Canadian tech firm in 2016. The new device, which includes a physical keyboard under a 4.5 inch screen and runs the Android operating system updates the first BlackBerry Key released last year. It will be sold this month starting at $649 or 649 euros, according to the company. "Although there are many different smartphones for consumers to choose from today, most tend to offer very similar experiences without much distinction from one to the next," said Alain Lejeune, head of TCL's BlackBerry Mobile division. "With the introduction of BlackBerry Key2, we've created a distinct smartphone that captures all the traits that have made BlackBerry smartphones iconic, while introducing new innovations and experiences that not only make this one of the best devices for security and privacy, but also the most advanced BlackBerry smartphone ever." BlackBerry's share of the global smartphone market has fallen to virtually zero from a peak of more than half a decade ago. The dominance of Apple's iOS and Android-powered handsets prompted the Canada-based firm to abandon the market to concentrate on software and services. Under the agreement between the two firms, Canada's BlackBerry will remain in control of software and security on smartphones, while TCL will produce handsets powered by Google Android software, abandoning the former BlackBerry OS software. TCL also produces smartphones under the Alcatel brand. Explore further China's TCL brings back physical keyboard in new BlackBerry 2018 AFP All 14 staff at BuzzFeed France, which like its US equivalent publishes both viral content such as quizzes and traditional news stories, are set to lose their jobs, two employees said US news website BuzzFeed is to shut down its French version after four years online, staff told AFP on Thursday. All 14 staff at BuzzFeed France, which like its US equivalent publishes both viral content such as quizzes and traditional news stories, are set to lose their jobs, two of them said. The French site's chief editor Stephane Jourdain blasted the "brutal and completely unexpected" decision in a Twitter post, saying BuzzFeed France had just enjoyed "four great months in terms of news and traffic". One staffer said the news had been announced to the Paris team by Scott Lamb, BuzzFeed's New York-based head of international growth. A spokeswoman at BuzzFeed's US headquarters declined to confirm the closure, saying: "We are taking steps to reconsider our operation in France given the uncertain path to growth in the French market." She added: "We have begun a consultation process with BuzzFeed France and will follow up when we have more information to share." BuzzFeed launched in the United States in 2006 and has since become a major international media player. Initially best known for its light-hearted viral content, it has gone on to hire veteran journalists around the world to develop its serious news coverage. BuzzFeed France launched in 2013 and "was right in the middle of a period of growth and investment," one staffer said. "Traffic was going out and the site has published its biggest scoops in 2018," they added, notably allegations of systematic discrimination against Arab customers at a Paris restaurant favoured by celebrities like Kim Kardashian. The site also recently ran scoops on the far-right National Front backing candidates that it knew had made extremist statements, and on sexual harassment allegations at television station TNT. BuzzFeed had announced late last year that it was sacking around 100 people from its US and British operations, in an earlier sign that its advertising-dependent model was in trouble. US media had reported in November that BuzzFeed had dropped plans to launch on the stock exchange for the immediate future, worried that its failure to meet ambitious growth targets would scare off investors. Explore further Digital media company BuzzFeed cutting jobs in US, UK 2018 AFP Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/University of Colorado/T.Ayres; Optical: Zdenek Bardon/ESO In humanity's search for life outside our Solar System, one of the best places scientists have considered is Alpha Centauri, a system containing the three nearest stars beyond our Sun. A new study that has involved monitoring of Alpha Centauri for more than a decade by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory provides encouraging news about one key aspect of planetary habitability. It indicates that any planets orbiting the two brightest stars in the Alpha Cen system are likely not being pummeled by large amounts of X-ray radiation from their host stars. X-rays and related Space Weather effects are bad for unprotected life, directly through high radiation doses and indirectly through stripping away planetary atmospheres (a fate thought to have been suffered by Mars in our own Solar System). Alpha Centauri is a triple star system located just over four light years, or about 25 trillion miles, from Earth. While this is a large distance in terrestrial terms, it is much closer than the next nearest Sun-like stars. "Because it is relatively close, the Alpha Centauri system is seen by many as the best candidate to explore for signs of life," said Tom Ayres of the University of Colorado Boulder. "The question is, will we find planets in an environment conducive to life as we know it?" The stars in the Alpha Centauri system include a pair called "A" and "B," (AB for short) which orbit relatively close to each other. Alpha Cen A is a near twin of our Sun in almost every way, including age, while Alpha Cen B is somewhat smaller and dimmer but still quite similar to the Sun. The third member, Alpha Cen C (also known as Proxima), is a much smaller red dwarf star that travels around the AB pair in a much larger orbit that takes it more than 10 thousand times farther from the AB pair than the Earth-Sun distance. Proxima currently holds the title of the nearest star to Earth, although AB is a very close second. The Chandra data reveal that the prospects for life in terms of current X-ray bombardment are actually better around Alpha Cen A than for the Sun, and Alpha Cen B fares only slightly worse. Proxima, on the other hand, is a type of active red dwarf star known to frequently send out dangerous flares of X-ray radiation, and is likely hostile to life. "This is very good news for Alpha Cen AB in terms of the ability of possible life on any of their planets to survive radiation bouts from the stars," said Ayres. "Chandra shows us that life should have a fighting chance on planets around either of these stars." While one remarkable Earth-size planet has been discovered around Proxima, astronomers continue to search, without success, for exoplanets around Alpha Cen A and B. Planet-hunting around these stars has proved more difficult recently due to the orbit of the pair, which has drawn the two bright stars close together on the sky over the past decade. To help determine whether Alpha Cen's stars are hospitable to life, astronomers have run a long-term campaign in which Chandra has observed the system's two main stars about every six months since 2005. Chandra is the only X-ray observatory capable of resolving AB during its current close orbital approach, to determine which star is doing what. These long-term measurements have captured the complete ups and downs of the X-ray activity of AB, analogous to the Sun's 11-year sunspot cycle. They show that any planets in the habitable zone for A would receive a lower dose of X-rays, on average, than similar planets around the Sun. For companion B the X-ray dose for habitable zone planets is higher than for the Sun, but only by a factor of about five. In comparison planets in the habitable zone around Proxima receive an average dose of X-rays about 500 times larger than the Earth, and 50,000 times larger during a big flare. Besides illuminating the possible habitability of Alpha Cen's planets, Chandra's X-ray history of AB plays into theoretical explorations of our own Sun's cyclical X-ray activity. Understanding this is a key to cosmic hazards such as Space Weather, which can impact the technology-laden civilization right here on our home world. Tom Ayres presented these results at the 232rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society meeting in Denver, Colorado, and some of these results were published in January 2018 in the Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society. More information: T. R. Ayres. Alpha Centauri Beyond the Crossroads, Research Notes of the AAS (2018). T. R. Ayres. Alpha Centauri Beyond the Crossroads,(2018). DOI: 10.3847/2515-5172/aaa88f Credit: Pexels.com Within public relations, the standard practice of looking out for No. 1 and viewing relationships as sources of conflict and competition is defended by best-selling textbooks and a generation of research. A growing body of scientific evidence, however, supports a different vision of PR, a University of Kansas researcher has found. Discoveries in evolutionary biology and economics show that helping others and building mutually beneficial relationships can boost an organization's reputation and build resources. Charles Marsh, Oscar Stauffer Professor of Journalism & Mass Communications, has published a study analyzing the effectiveness of indirect reciprocity in evolutionary biology and economics. In essence, indirect reciprocity is the idea that party A helps party B, knowing that B cannot reciprocate or pay them back. They are then rewarded by party C, who has observed or learned of A's treatment of B. Marsh has been building an interdisciplinary case for cooperation and justice as the better approach to building the resource-securing relationships that organizations need to survive and to flourish. "Some professionals and academics would tell me, 'We wish that were true, but read Darwin: It's a dog-eat-dog world,'" Marsh said. "So I did read Darwin, and it turns out that he and modern evolutionary biologists have found that helping others with no expectation of immediate return is highly effective. That seemingly selfless behavior builds good relationships, good relationships bring in resources, and resources are what we need to achieve our goals." Marsh analyzed studies from evolutionary biology as well as 14 recent economics experiments that examined indirect reciprocity. All concluded that the concept exists and is strongly embedded in human nature. Marsh's summary of the research from those other disciplines was recently published in the journal Public Relations Review. The economics findings were unanimous, though often not expected by the researchers themselves. "Several of the economics researchers said, 'This isn't what we expected to find,'" Marsh said of the studies. "Indirect reciprocity runs counter to standard economic theory. These new findings, however, have been so dramatic that they've helped to launch a relatively new area of economics, behavioral economics. Behavioral economics studies what seem to be persistent oddities within human economic behavior." Basic economic theory holds that people tend to act for their own identifiable benefit. Why, then, would they help others when they know they probably won't be directly rewarded? Interdisciplinary research, Marsh says, shows that there are two main reasons: First, such behavior can be a calculated move, designed to boost one's reputation because others will see the good the party did in helping another. Second, such behavior tends to be human nature. Evolutionary biologists' findings, which Marsh also analyzes in the study, show that indirect reciprocity appears to be genetically embedded within our species, assisting our survival. That conclusion from evolutionary biology has led Marsh to analyze research in other disciplines to see what they say about indirect reciprocity. He is now studying work of neuroscientists who examine which parts of the brain are active when a person engages in indirect reciprocity. He plans to examine what scholars in psychology and primatology say about the practice as well, all to better understand the effectiveness of cooperation and justice in relationships as effective means of acquiring needed resources. Marsh said he hopes that as public relations scholars review the compelling interdisciplinary evidence for indirect reciprocity, they will begin to include it in the textbooks they write and classes they teach. Ideally, he said, students in those classes will begin to practice that approach when they become professionals. Public relations is still a young discipline, with the first university courses on the topic being offered in 1923, meaning plenty of room still exists for growth and change. Marsh will present his summary of neuroscientific analyses of indirect reciprocity at the Barcelona International Critical PR Theory conference this summer. Last year, he authored the book "Public Relations, Cooperation and Justice: From Evolutionary Biology to Ethics," which made the argument for a cooperative approach to PR with backing from evolutionary biology, philosophy and rhetoric. It also contained 20 recommendations on how cooperation can be implemented by public relations professionals. Public relations is a wide-ranging profession that touches many aspects of everyday lives, Marsh said, so how the discipline is taught to students is important. He said he hopes to eventually show that the pervasive approach of viewing relationships as venues of conflict and confrontation is, at best, the second-best approach. "PR is a relationship business, and we need to look carefully at how we build those relationships," he said. "To be able to present such clear evidence that cooperation and justice generally outperform conflict and competition is very gratifying." Explore further Evolutionary computation scientists find social norms required for the transition to cooperative societies More information: Charles Marsh, Indirect reciprocity and reputation management: Interdisciplinary findings from evolutionary biology and economics, Public Relations Review (2018). DOI: 10.1016/j.pubrev.2018.04.002 , Charles Marsh, Indirect reciprocity and reputation management: Interdisciplinary findings from evolutionary biology and economics,(2018). DOI: 10.1016/j.pubrev.2018.04.002 , dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2018.04.002 Self-template synthesis of ZnS@CdS PNTs and successive in situ photo-deposition synthesis of CoOx/ZnS@CdS/Ni PNTs, and Schematic illustration of photocatalytic H2 production process in CoOx/ZnS@CdS/Ni PNTs. Credit: Science China Press Solar energy conversion of water into H2 through photocatalysis is considered a promising approach for H2 production. However, the separation efficiency of charge carriers is the key to improving the efficiency of photocatalytic hydrogen production. A recent study reveals that the double-layered porous nanotubes with spatially separated photoredox surfaces were synthesized by a self-template strategy and show enhanced photocatalytic activity toward hydrogen production. The paper, titled "Self-template synthesis of double-layered porous nanotubes with spatially separated photoredox surfaces for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen production," was published in Science Bulletin by Prof. Bin Zhang from Tianjin University. The authors synthesized ZnS@CdS double-layered porous nanotubes with spatially separated photoredox surfaces, which were realized by using ZnO nanorods (NRs) as templates through sequentially interfacial anion/cation exchange reactions and template etching. The photo-reduction deposition of Ni nanoparticles and photo-oxidation deposition of CoOx nanoparticles were distributed on the outer surface and inner surface of ZnS@CdS shell, respectively, suggesting the spatially separated photoredox reaction sites in ZnS@CdS double-layered shell, achieving highly enhanced photocatalytic activity. With the outbreak of the energy crisis in recent years, the development of new energy is highly important. Solar energy conversion of water into H2 through photocatalysis is envisaged to be an attractive approach for H2 production. However, the separation efficiency of charge carriers is the key to improve the efficiency of photocatalytic hydrogen production. Loading cocatalysts is an effective strategy to promote charge separation and create surface redox reaction sites. However, in most cases, the randomly distributed co-catalysts on the surface of photocatalysts resulted in a random flow direction of photogenerated charge carriers with a high recombination probability. The rational design of hollow-nanostructured photocatalysts, with spatially separated photo-reduction and photo-oxidation reaction sites on different surfaces (inner or outer surfaces), respectively, is a promising strategy. Nevertheless, these photocatalysts are always restricted to hollow spheres with close-ended structure which increased the mass diffusion resistance, and the high-cost of Pt nanoparticles used as the electron collector limits their practical application. Herein, the Zhang group reported a self-template strategy for rationally designed synthesis of double-layered ZnS@CdS porous nanotubes (PNTs) with an open-ended structure. The fabrication of a thin heterostructure endows the photocatalysts with spatially separated reduction and oxidation reaction surfaces. The mesoporous wall and macroporous cavity in the as-converted products allow visible light penetration and multiple reflections inside the cavity. for efficient utilization of solar irradiation. The existence of Zn vacancies (VZn) in the inner ZnS layer states energy can act as acceptors of holes from CdS. And the conduction band (CB) of CdS is below the CB of ZnS, which can induce the enrichment of photogenerated electrons in the outer CdS layer. After selective photo-deposition of Ni and CoOx as dual cocatalysts, Ni nanoparticles as electron collectors and reduction reaction sites are loaded on the outer shell, while CoOx nanoparticles as hole collectors and oxidation reaction sites are loaded on the inner shell. As a result, a novel CoOx/ZnS@CdS/Ni photocatalyst was obtained and showed high visible-light-driven photocatalytic hydrogen production activity owing to the synergistic effect of self-template-derived thin mesoporous heterojunctions and photo-deposition-derived spatially separated dual co-catalysts, which can significantly provide driving force for the ordered transfer of photogenerated electrons and holes toward opposite direction and promote the surface catalytic reaction. Explore further Core / shell photocatalyst with spatially separated cocatalysts for more efficient water splitting More information: Yani Xin et al, Self-template synthesis of double-layered porous nanotubes with spatially separated photoredox surfaces for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen production, Science Bulletin (2018). Yani Xin et al, Self-template synthesis of double-layered porous nanotubes with spatially separated photoredox surfaces for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen production,(2018). DOI: 10.1016/j.scib.2018.03.015 Facebook says it fixed a glitch that may have made some posts public instead of private for some 14 million users Facebook acknowledged Thursday a software glitch that changed the settings of some 14 million users, potentially making some posts public even if they were intended to be private. The news marked the latest in a series of privacy embarrassments for the world's biggest social network, which has faced a firestorm over the hijacking of personal data on tens of millions of users and more recently for disclosures on data-sharing deals with smartphone makers. Erin Egan, Facebook's chief privacy officer, said in a statement that the company recently "found a bug that automatically suggested posting publicly when some people were creating their Facebook posts." Facebook said this affected users posting between May 18 and May 27 as it was implementing a new way to share some items such as photos. That left the default or suggested method of sharing as public instead of only for specific users or friends. Facebook said it corrected the problem on May 22 but was unable to change all the posts, so is now notifying affected users. "Starting today we are letting everyone affected know and asking them to review any posts they made during that time," Egan said. "To be clear, this bug did not impact anything people had posted beforeand they could still choose their audience just as they always have. We'd like to apologize for this mistake." Facebook confirmed earlier this week that China-based Huaweiwhich has been banned by the US military and is a lightning rod for cyberespionage concernswas among device makers authorized to see user data in agreements that had been in place for years. Facebook has claimed the agreements with some 60 device makers dating from a decade ago were designed to help the social media giant get more services into the mobile ecosystem. Nonetheless, lawmakers expressed outrage that Chinese firms were given access to user data at a time when officials were trying to block their access to the US market over national security concerns. The revelations come weeks after chief executive Mark Zuckerberg was grilled in Congress about the hijacking of personal data on some 87 million Facebook users by Cambridge Analytica, a consultancy working on Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. Explore further Facebook deals with Chinese firm draw ire from US lawmakers 2018 AFP 18th century map of the Inner Austrian districts of Gorz and Trieste created between 1789 and 1797. Credit: University of Bristol A lost world in a former empire in Europe has been brought to life thanks to University of Bristol researchers who used artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to analyse 47,000 multilingual pages from newspapers dating back to 1873. The study, published in Historical Methods, aimed to discover whether historical changes could be detected from the collective content of local newspapers from the Princely County of Gorizia and Gradisca. The findings reveal a series of political and cultural events which took place in a forgotten corner of the Austrian Empire that is now divided between Italy and Slovenia, some of which were unknown, until now. A team of computer scientists and a historian digitised microfilms of old multilingual newspapers from the County between 1873 to 1914. The images were then converted to text. The patterns that emerged from the automated analysis of 47,000 pages revealed the individual stories of thousands of people, but also the collective trends of a population in the years leading up to WW1 and the final years of that Empire. Professor Cristianini, Professor of Artificial Intelligence and lead author of the study, said: "Importantly, we get a glimpse in the last years of a world heading towards a new chapter in its history and during a period that transformed it beyond recognition. We see new technologies, new ideas, new economic opportunities, new cultural challenges and problems." The findings highlight how the war transformed the city and its county into something entirely different. The front lines crossed through the city itself and the urban population was largely relocated. The annexation of the city by Italy was quickly followed by twenty years of fascism, another war, and finally the iron curtain that ran right through the County itself, partly separating the city centre and some of its neighbourhoods. Professor Cristianini added: "In this paper we have shown that, in the space of a few decades, the town embraced new ways to communicate, such as the cinema and the telephone, along with modes of transportation, like the car, the airplane, the bicycle and the train. Far from being a backwater of a decaying empire, this was a city with an eye on the future and an interest in new ideas including political ones. It was, however, also a time in which new tensions emerged along ethnic lines and of rapid change, with problems and anxieties that sound very familiar to the modern ear. "It is also incredibly fortunate that the collection of newspapers in the Biblioteca Isontina library survived so many threats." Explore further Big data shows people's collective behavior follows strong periodic patterns More information: Nello Cristianini et al. Large-scale content analysis of historical newspapers in the town of Gorizia 18731914, Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History (2018). Nello Cristianini et al. Large-scale content analysis of historical newspapers in the town of Gorizia 18731914,(2018). DOI: 10.1080/01615440.2018.1443862 Credit: Yale University Looking at the microbial communities that grow on students' desks, a team of Yale researchers found that the bacteria and fungi overwhelmingly came from the children sitting at the desks. They also found that, even after a desk cleaning, the microbes were back in full force within a few days. The results, published in the Journal of Applied Microbiology, suggest that in times of outbreaks or for children sensitive to allergens, school officials should consider more rigorous desk-cleaning practices. The research team in the lab of Jordan Peccia, the Thomas E. Golden, Jr. Professor of Chemical & Environmental Engineering, analyzed samples from the surfaces of classroom desks from three Connecticut schools, grades 7 to 12, in one school district. Each desk was tested before cleaning and then tested five times over a period of 21 days during the school year. Analyses of samples taken 30 minutes after the desks were cleaned found that only about half of the bacteria and fungi were cleared. Within two to three days, the microbial communities were as plentiful as before the cleaning. Also, their makeup was close to what was found in the initial sample. Between 70 to 80 percent of the microbes were of human originspecifically, from the skin, mouth, and gut. Sarah E. Kwan, a Ph.D. candidate in Peccia's lab and lead author of the study, said they were surprised to find that there was almost no change in the microbial makeup over all of the samples. "That means the bacteria and fungi are coming from one dominant sourcehumans," she said. "It's not coming down from the air, not from environmental factorsthe kids at the desks are depositing the microbes on the desk." The desks, used by multiple students each day, are normally washed once per semester. "That means these desks are a tremendous vehicle for the exposure of one person's microbiome to another," Kwan said. "That might not mean anything if the students are healthy and have a good immune system, but it could have a profound effect on the health of children with compromised immune systems, or if there is some kind of outbreak in the school." The good news is that, under normal circumstances, parents of children in schools shouldn't worry too muchexposure to microbes can even be beneficial. However, other studies have shown a correlation between the cleanliness of classrooms and how frequently students are out of school due to illness. Kwan said, schools experiencing a viral outbreak or that have students with certain health conditions should consider more frequent desk cleanings. To test the samples, the researchers used a process known as quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) to determine the total number of bacteria, fungi, and human cells in each sample. Then, with next-generation DNA sequencers, they determined the specific types of bacteria and fungi. It's a powerful analytical tool, but not an easy one to use. The Peccia lab is currently working on a cost-effective and convenient way to test on site the cleanliness of desks. Explore further Stand and deliver at work with activity-promoting desks The internet giant may be on the hook for billions of euros in fines The EU's powerful anti-trust authority is set to decide in the coming weeks that Google unfairly punishes rivals of its Android mobile phone operating system and faces billions of euros in fines, sources said on Thursday. The long-expected decision comes as transatlantic tensions are at a pinnacle in the wake of shock tariffs by the US on European steel and aluminium imports and an EU privacy crackdown on US tech giants, including Facebook. Several sources with knowledge of the matter told AFP that the decision could land in the next few weeks, most likely in July. Brussels has already spent eight years targeting Google, fuelled by a deep apprehension of the company's dominance of Internet search across Europe, where it commands about 90 percent of the market. EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager "likes taking people by surprise," said one source, referring to the steely former Danish minister who has led the campaign against Google. The case against Android is the most significant of three complaints by the EU against the search titan, which has already been hit with a record-breaking 2.4-billion-euro fine in a Google shopping case. In the Android file, the European Commission has accused Google of obstructing innovation by giving unfair prominence to its own apps, especially its search engine, in deals with mobile phone manufacturers such as Samsung and Huawei. Google is on the hook to be fined 10 percent of Google's parent company Alphabet's annual revenue, which hit $110.9 billion in 2017. Both Google and the European Commission refused to comment on this information when questioned by AFP. 2018 AFP Credit: CC0 Public Domain A trio of researchers from Duke University and the University of California has found that Google search data can offer insights into the relationship between anti-Muslim and pro-ISIS sentiment in the U.S. In their paper published on the open access site Science Advances, Christopher Bail, Friedolin Merhout and Peng Ding discuss their study and what they found. In the modern age, as travel and technology have improved, global terrorism has become a major threat. Because of that, those in charge of protecting people from terrorism have instituted policies and defense mechanisms. Sometimes, the researchers note, those policies involve targeting groups for special investigation. It is no secret that Muslims are the most highly targeted group because of the connection between Islam and groups such as the Taliban and ISIS. But, the researchers suggest, targeting groups in countries such as the U.S. might be causing home-grown radicalization to occur. To learn more about radicalization of Muslim extremists in the U.S., the researchers accessed publicly available data from Google search engine queries. Queries, they noted, can be done looking for phrases such as "I hate Muslims" or "How do I join ISIS?" Data from the searches was then cross-checked with data provided by the U.S. Census, allowing the researchers to see where those searches were coming from at the community level. The researchers found a common themein low income communities where there were a lot of anti-Muslim searches, there were also a lot of searches by people looking for more information about radical Islamic groups. Such communities, the researchers further noted, tended to be homogeneous in nature, mostly white, with few people of color. People from the Middle East, they point out, stand out in such communities. This finding, they claim, suggests that anti-Muslim activities such as discrimination and being targeted by government officials might actually be pushing some of those targeted people toward becoming extremists. They suggest that if the goal is to slow or stop radicalization of people living in the U.S., another approach might be needed. They also point out that evidence from other studies has shown that assimilation tends to lead to reduced radicalization. Explore further Are current efforts to combat terrorism actually increasing the risk of future attacks? More information: Christopher A. Bail et al. Using Internet search data to examine the relationship between anti-Muslim and pro-ISIS sentiment in U.S. counties, Science Advances (2018). Christopher A. Bail et al. Using Internet search data to examine the relationship between anti-Muslim and pro-ISIS sentiment in U.S. counties,(2018). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aao5948 Abstract Recent terrorist attacks by first- and second-generation immigrants in the United States and Europe indicate that radicalization may result from the failure of ethnic integrationor the rise of intergroup prejudice in communities where "home-grown" extremists are raised. Yet, these community-level drivers are notoriously difficult to study because public opinion surveys provide biased measures of both prejudice and radicalization. We examine the relationship between anti-Muslim and pro-ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) Internet searches in 3099 U.S. counties between 2014 and 2016 using instrumental variable models that control for various community-level factors associated with radicalization. We find that anti-Muslim searches are strongly associated with pro-ISIS searchesparticularly in communities with high levels of poverty and ethnic homogeneity. Although more research is needed to verify the causal nature of this relationship, this finding suggests that minority groups may be more susceptible to radicalization if they experience discrimination in settings where they are isolated and therefore highly visibleor in communities where they compete with majority groups for limited financial resources. We evaluate the validity of our findings using several other data sources and discuss the implications of our findings for the study of terrorism and intergroup relations, as well as immigration and counterterrorism policies. Journal information: Science Advances 2018 Phys.org Credit: University of Sheffield A new report demonstrating how drones can come to the rescue in natural disasters, help starving people in conflict and provide emergency medicine has been published today (7 June 2018) by one of the UK's leading robotics experts. The report, unveiled by the Foundation for Responsible Robotics, which is led by Professor Noel Sharkey from the University of Sheffield, outlines five key areas in which drones can be used to benefit humanity. Aside from industrial uses, drones have gained a bad reputation as tools for violations of human rights, breaches of privacy and irresponsible and dangerous uses by hobbyists particularly at airports. However, new uses of drones are emerging that could greatly benefit us all, according to the authors of the report. The report highlights how, if used appropriately, drones can serve society in numerous ways: Humanitarian Aid: assisting in the acquisition of data during humanitarian crises and delivering essential goods such as food and medical supplies; Environmental Protection: helping scientists with observation of (often endangered) species as well as monitoring and wildlife protection; Emergency Services: search and rescue, monitoring disasters and crises, inspecting critical infrastructure, and finding missing persons; Responsible Journalism: reaching areas of international interest that might otherwise be inaccessible; Activism: helping activists collect information about societal injustices, such as pollution from industry, unjust livestock treatment, inadequate delivery of healthcare supplies, etc. Professor Noel Sharkey, co-director of the Foundation for Responsible Robotics and Emeritus Professor of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence at the University of Sheffield, said: "I have long campaigned against the excessive use of drones in armed conflict and policing as well as their erosion of our privacy. However, we mustn't throw the baby out with the bathwater. "It is now clear that the responsible use of this technology could be enormously helpful in humanitarian work and environmental protection. When we have natural disasters, starving people in conflict, or emergency need for medicines, drones can come to the rescue." The authors of the report warn that drone technology touches on so much of our society that robust research is needed to maximise the service performed by drones towards the public good. The report emphasises a need to get it right. "The benefits of using drones in some circumstances can reap great benefits but we need to ensure that we don't overlook potential negative impacts on individuals, communities, and the environment that would undermine the benefits of the technology," emphasizes Dr Kristen Thomasen from the law faculty of Windsor University in Canada. It is not just the regulatory landscape that needs to be addressed to ensure the beneficial use of drones, according to the report. Dr Aimee van Wynsberghe, co-director of the Foundation for Responsible Robotics and a robot ethicist at Delft University, stressed: "There may be unintended ethical problems raised by the use of drones in the service of society which challenge the current approach to technological implementation; 'move fast and break things'. It is time for global standards and best practices to protect individuals in their public and private lives." Professor Sharkey added: "We need to get the public behind us in this important endeavour. As Denise Soesilo, a Development Advisor on Emerging Technologies in Geneva, put it: 'drones are a rapidly emerging technology that stands to radically alter human society.' We urgently need societal discussion on how we use the technology and we need to persuade those who control it to ensure that it is used for the common good." The report delivers five key findings to ensure that, regardless of the circumstances, a responsible attitude must be maintained to protect the operators and the individuals or groups who are being helped. Key findings of the report Reduction and/or mitigation of psychological and physiological responses to drones such as stress and trauma are key elements for maximizing the societal benefits of drones. There is urgent need for more detailed research to assist stakeholders in reducing the negative impacts. Heightened privacy considerations are required and stricter stance on privacy and data protection guidelines is needed due to the potential impact on both drone operators and the individuals or groups whose data is being collected. Erosion of human rights including infringements of human dignity and justice should be deliberated prior to launching drone operations. Such consideration should impact the whole process from the choice and design of the drones to the planning and strategy phases of operations. Coordination with professional rescue operations should be a strict requirement for private groups (including NGOs) before initiating assistive operations in disaster zones. Otherwise there is a risk of hampering or seriously impeding ongoing rescue and disaster relief. Consulting existing guidelines and professional codes of practice is essential before private individual users or groups consider operations in fields such as humanitarian aid and journalism. There are existing policy documents and established codes of practice that need to be taken into account in the initial formulation of such projects. Explore further Video: Footage shows how drones can boost turtle conservation More information: The report is available online: The report is available online: responsiblerobotics.org/2018/0 -service-of-society/ Credit: Mathieu Duval First direct dating of an early human tooth confirms the antiquity of Homo antecessor, western Europe's oldest known human fossil species. A previous find from the unit TD6 of Atapuerca Gran Dolina archaeological site in northern Spain has yielded more information about our early human lineage. An international team of researchers from Australia, China, France and Spain has conducted the first direct dating study of a fossil tooth belonging to Homo antecessor (H. antecessor), the earliest known hominin species identified in Europe. The study shows that H. antecessor probably lived somewhere between 772 000 and 949 000 years ago. These new results are consistent with previous indirect estimates based on the dating of the sediments and associated animal fossil teeth. This early human species might also be the last common ancestor of Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens, or very close to the point where these modern and archaic lineages are believed to have diverged (550-765 thousand years ago). The team explain their findings in a recent paper led by Dr. Duval from the Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution at Griffith University, Australia, and published in the journal Quaternary Geochronology. The Atapuerca cave system is one of the richest sites in early human fossils and stone tools in the world. Gran Dolina TD6, the site in Atapuerca where the tooth comes from, has yielded about 160 human fossils since the 1990s, all believed to belong to one species, H. antecessor. The fossil tooth's great age ruled out carbon dating as a means of determining its age. Instead, the researchers adopted a cutting-edge approach used recently on much younger human teeth. The approach combined two methods: electron spin resonance (ESR) and uranium-series (U-series) dating. A few older human fossils have been found in other sites across Western Europe. However, unlike the TD6 specimens, they couldn't be attributed to a given fossil human species. The challenges of direct dating ESR measures the natural radiation absorbed by a material since its formation. Before applying this method, the researchers used U-series dating to ensure that the tooth's uranium concentrations were homogeneous overall and there was no uranium leaching from the dental tissues. However, despite the tooth's suitability, this approach presented certain challenges. The first challenge arose from an earlier CT scan of the fossil, which added to the radiation dose it had absorbed over time. Using scan data from a modern human tooth as a comparison, the researchers calculated an X-ray dose of about 1 % of the geological dose. This bias was taken into account when calculating the tooth's age. Additionally, whereas carbon dating only requires the sample itself to be analysed, the combined ESRU-series approach needs sediment from the area around the fossil. But when the fossil was found in 2004, no such material had been collected. The problem was overcome by taking different measurements and sediment samples from the site based on spatial and stratigraphic data kept in the excavation database. The researchers' analyses also yielded an unexpectedly high concentration of uranium in the enamel layer of the tooth. However, further investigation located the contamination in the dentine, the dental tissue beneath the enamel. Since dentine is more than 10 times less sensitive to radiation than enamel and its uranium concentrations are usually much higher, this would have led to a significant underestimation of the fossil's age if it hadn't been identified. The scientists' findings indicate the challenges encountered in dating human fossils using ESR. Taking these difficulties into consideration will help future studies to improve their direct dating analyses of hominin fossils. Now closed, HR_ESR (Developing High Resolution Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) dating of fossil teeth: contribution to the chronology of early hominid occupations in the Mediterranean area) has helped to improve our knowledge of the first hominid settlements in the Mediterranean. Explore further First direct dating of Homo antecessor More information: Project page: Project page: www.cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/186320_en.html This artist's concept of lightning distribution in Jupiter's northern hemisphere incorporates a JunoCam image with artistic embellishments. Data from NASA's Juno mission indicates that most of the lightning activity on Jupiter is near its poles. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/JunoCam Ever since NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft flew past Jupiter in March, 1979, scientists have wondered about the origin of Jupiter's lightning. That encounter confirmed the existence of Jovian lightning, which had been theorized for centuries. But when the venerable explorer hurtled by, the data showed that the lightning-associated radio signals didn't match the details of the radio signals produced by lightning here at Earth. In a new paper published in Nature today, scientists from NASA's Juno mission describe the ways in which lightning on Jupiter is actually analogous to Earth's lightning. Although, in some ways, the two types of lightning are polar opposites. "No matter what planet you're on, lightning bolts act like radio transmitterssending out radio waves when they flash across a sky," said Shannon Brown of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, a Juno scientist and lead author of the paper. "But until Juno, all the lightning signals recorded by spacecraft [Voyagers 1 and 2, Galileo, Cassini] were limited to either visual detections or from the kilohertz range of the radio spectrum, despite a search for signals in the megahertz range. Many theories were offered up to explain it, but no one theory could ever get traction as the answer." Enter Juno, which has been orbiting Jupiter since July 4, 2016. Among its suite of highly sensitive instruments is the Microwave Radiometer Instrument (MWR), which records emissions from the gas giant across a wide spectrum of frequencies. "In the data from our first eight flybys, Juno's MWR detected 377 lightning discharges," said Brown. "They were recorded in the megahertz as well as gigahertz range, which is what you can find with terrestrial lightning emissions. We think the reason we are the only ones who can see it is because Juno is flying closer to the lighting than ever before, and we are searching at a radio frequency that passes easily through Jupiter's ionosphere." While the revelation showed how Jupiter lightning is similar to Earth's, the new paper also notes that where these lightning bolts flash on each planet is actually quite different. "Jupiter lightning distribution is inside out relative to Earth," said Brown. "There is a lot of activity near Jupiter's poles but none near the equator. You can ask anybody who lives in the tropicsthis doesn't hold true for our planet." Why do lightning bolts congregate near the equator on Earth and near the poles on Jupiter? Follow the heat. Earth's derives the vast majority of its heat externally from solar radiation, courtesy of our Sun. Because our equator bears the brunt of this sunshine, warm moist air rises (through convection) more freely there, which fuels towering thunderstorms that produce lightning. Jupiter's orbit is five times farther from the Sun than Earth's orbit, which means that the giant planet receives 25 times less sunlight than Earth. But even though Jupiter's atmosphere derives the majority of its heat from within the planet itself, this doesn't render the Sun's rays irrelevant. They do provide some warmth, heating up Jupiter's equator more than the polesjust as they heat up Earth. Scientists believe that this heating at Jupiter's equator is just enough to create stability in the upper atmosphere, inhibiting the rise of warm air from within. The poles, which do not have this upper-level warmth and therefore no atmospheric stability, allow warm gases from Jupiter's interior to rise, driving convection and therefore creating the ingredients for lightning. "These findings could help to improve our understanding of the composition, circulation and energy flows on Jupiter," said Brown. But another question looms, she said. "Even though we see lightning near both poles, why is it mostly recorded at Jupiter's north pole?" In a second Juno lightning paper published today in Nature Astronomy, Ivana Kolmasova of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, and colleagues, present the largest database of lightning-generated low-frequency radio emissions around Jupiter (whistlers) to date. The data set of more than 1,600 signals, collected by Juno's Waves instrument, is almost 10 times the number recorded by Voyager 1. Juno detected peak rates of four lightning strikes per second (similar to the rates observed in thunderstorms on Earth) which is six times higher than the peak values detected by Voyager 1. "These discoveries could only happen with Juno," said Scott Bolton, principal investigator of Juno from the Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio. "Our unique orbit allows our spacecraft to fly closer to Jupiter than any other spacecraft in history, so the signal strength of what the planet is radiating out is a thousand times stronger. Also, our microwave and plasma wave instruments are state-of-the-art, allowing us to pick out even weak lightning signals from the cacophony of radio emissions from Jupiter. " NASA's Juno spacecraft will make its 13th science flyby over Jupiter's mysterious cloud tops on July 16. Explore further New science from Jupiter More information: Shannon Brown et al. Prevalent lightning sferics at 600 megahertz near Jupiter's poles, Nature (2018). Shannon Brown et al. Prevalent lightning sferics at 600 megahertz near Jupiter's poles,(2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0156-5 Related: Ivana Kolmasova et al. Discovery of rapid whistlers close to Jupiter implying lightning rates similar to those on Earth, Nature Astronomy (2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41550-018-0442-z Journal information: Nature , Nature Astronomy Letters of recommendation written for women are more likely to contain words or phrases that raise doubts about job or education qualifications than letters written for men, according to new research from Rice University and the University of Houston. "Raising Doubt in Letters of Recommendation for Academia: Gender Differences and Their Impact" is available online and will appear in an upcoming print edition of the Journal of Business and Psychology. The research was led by Mikki Hebl, the Martha and Henry Malcolm Lovett Professor of Psychology, and her former graduate student, Juan Madera, now an associate professor of hospitality management at the University of Houston. The paper included two studies about language that raises doubts in letters of recommendation. The researchers defined "doubt-raisers" as phrases or statements that question an applicant's aptness for a job. This language falls into four categories: negativity (directly saying something bad), faint praise (indirect criticism of someone or something by giving a slight compliment), hedges (cautious or vague language) and irrelevant information (going off in a direction unrelated to the job description). Examples of doubt-raisers are statements like "the candidate has a somewhat challenging personality" or "she might be a good leader in the future." The first study revealed that, on average, letters written for women were more likely to contain a doubt-raiser than letters written for men (regardless of whether a man or a woman wrote the letter). This was true for negativity, hedging and faint praises but not for irrelevancies. Hebl notes that doubt-raisers are not extraordinarily uncommonon average, more than half of the letters contained at least one. She also notes that such wording might weigh in on decisions in which candidates otherwise have very similar qualifications. "Letters of recommendation are usually so positively skewed to begin with that a 'doubt-raiser' can stand out in a sea of positivity," Hebl said. "Also, recommendations are made all the time, even if they're not in letter form. It's so important to think about the ways language reflects subtle biases, as these spoken subtleties also may add up over time to create disparities." In the second study, the researchers examined whether people actually recognized and were influenced by a doubt-raiser within a recommendation letter. Approximately 300 university professors across the country were asked to rate one recommendation letter. Letters were manipulated to have just one of the four doubt-raisers and to be written for either a man or woman; all other information contained in the letter was identical across conditions. The researchers found that the presence of any one of three doubt-raisersnegativity, faint praise or hedgescaused the professors to rate these letters negatively. The fourth doubt-raiser, irrelevant information, made no difference in how the letters were rated. Hebl noted that doubt-raisers were considered negative regardless of whether the letter was written for a male or female. "I would suggest avoiding these types of phrases in recommendations if you are trying to write a strong letter," Hebl said, "and to be aware that they might be more likely to unintentionally slip into letters for women than men." Explore further Recommendation letters could cost women jobs, promotions More information: Juan M. Madera et al, Raising Doubt in Letters of Recommendation for Academia: Gender Differences and Their Impact, Journal of Business and Psychology (2018). Journal information: Journal of Business and Psychology Juan M. Madera et al, Raising Doubt in Letters of Recommendation for Academia: Gender Differences and Their Impact,(2018). DOI: 10.1007/s10869-018-9541-1 This photo shows allied male bottlenose dolphins swimming together. Credit: Simon J Allen at the Dolphin Alliance Project It's not uncommon in dolphin society for males to form long-lasting alliances with other males, sometimes for decades. Now, after studying bottlenose dolphins in Shark Bay, Australia, for more than 30 years, researchers reporting in Current Biology on June 7 find that these males retain individual vocal labels rather than sharing a common call with their cooperative partners. "We found that male bottlenose dolphins that form long-term cooperative partnerships or alliances with one another retain individual vocal labels, or 'names,' which allows them to recognize many different friends and rivals in their social network," says Stephanie King from the University of Western Australia. "Our work shows that these 'names' help males keep track of their many different relationships: who are their friends, who are their friend's friends, and who are their competitors." In the new study, King and colleagues set out to better understand what role vocal communication plays in coordinating complex social behaviors, including cooperation, in bottlenose dolphins. The researchers knew from years of study that male bottlenose dolphins form long-term cooperative alliances with one another. However, they did not know how these males used vocal signals to form and maintain these relationships. To explore the role of vocal signals, they recorded the dolphins' vocalizations using underwater microphones and determined the individual vocal label used by each of the males. They then measured the similarity of those identity signals within and between alliances to find out whether males with stronger social relationships used vocal labels that were more similar. This video, taken by drone, shows adult male Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) from a second-order alliance called the Hooligans. These three males spend time petting each other, e.g., using pectoral fins and tail flukes to rub against each other. These gentle contact behaviors play an important role in maintaining the strong social bonds between allied male dolphins. Credit: Simon J Allen at the Dolphin Alliance Project "We wanted to understand if allied male dolphins converged onto similar calls as a way of advertising their alliance membership, or whether they retained individual vocal labels," King explains. The analysis showed that males in an alliance retain vocal labels that are quite distinct from one another, suggesting that those calls serve a purpose similar to an individual name. That's in contrast to findings in many other species where individuals with close relationships converge on shared vocalizations as a way of advertising their membership to that partnership or group. "With male bottlenose dolphins, it's the oppositeeach male retains a unique call, even though they develop incredibly strong bonds with one another," King says. "Therefore, retaining individual 'names' is more important than sharing calls for male dolphins, allowing them to keep track of or maintain a fascinating social network of cooperative relationships." Allied male bottlenose dolphins swimming together. Credit: Simon J Allen at the Dolphin Alliance Project King says they will now study the males' relationships with one another more closely. They'll play the "names" of individual males back to each other and explore how males respond to members of their alliances in different contexts. "It will be interesting to reveal whether all cooperative relationships within alliances are equal or not," she says. Explore further Researcher discovers male bottlenose dolphins using social network to secure a mate More information: Current Biology, King et al.: "Bottlenose Dolphins Retain Individual Vocal Labels in Multi-level Alliances" Journal information: Current Biology , King et al.: "Bottlenose Dolphins Retain Individual Vocal Labels in Multi-level Alliances" DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.05.013 During its continued mission, NASA's Juno spacecraft will maintain its 53-day polar orbit around Jupiter. At its closest, Juno passes within 3,000 miles (5,000 kilometers) of Jupiter's cloud tops once during each 53-day orbit. At the high end of each orbit, Juno is about 5 million miles (8-million kilometers) from the planet - which is just beyond the orbit of the Jovian moon Themisto. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA has approved an update to Juno's science operations until July 2021. This provides for an additional 41 months in orbit around Jupiter and will enable Juno to achieve its primary science objectives.Juno is in 53-day orbits rather than 14-day orbits as initially planned because of a concern about valves on the spacecraft's fuel system. This longer orbit means that it will take more time to collect the needed science data. An independent panel of experts confirmed in April that Juno is on track to achieve its science objectives and is already returning spectacular results.The Juno spacecraft and all instruments are healthy and operating nominally. NASA has now funded Juno through FY 2022. The end of prime operations is now expected in July 2021, with data analysis and mission close-out activities continuing into 2022. "With these funds, not only can the Juno team continue to answer long-standing questions about Jupiter that first fueled this exciting mission, but they'll also investigate new scientific puzzles motivated by their discoveries thus far," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "With every additional orbit, both scientists and citizen scientists will help unveil new surprises about this distant world." "This is great news for planetary exploration as well as for the Juno team," said Scott Bolton, principal investigator of Juno, from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. "These updated plans for Juno will allow it to complete its primary science goals. As a bonus, the larger orbits allow us to further explore the far reaches of the Jovian magnetospherethe region of space dominated by Jupiter's magnetic fieldincluding the far magnetotail, the southern magnetosphere, and the magnetospheric boundary region called the magnetopause. We have also found Jupiter's radiation environment in this orbit to be less extreme than expected, which has been beneficial to not only our spacecraft, but our instruments and the continued quality of science data collected." Juno will make its 13th science flyby over Jupiter's mysterious cloud tops on July 16. Explore further NASA's Juno spacecraft to make its fourth flyby over Jupiter More information: More information about Juno is available at More information about Juno is available at www.nasa.gov/juno Plate tectonics may have helped facilitate the development of life on Earth. Credit: NASA A new study suggests that rapid cooling within the Earth's mantle through plate tectonics played a major role in the development of the first life forms, which in turn led to the oxygenation of the Earth's atmosphere. The study was published in the March 2018 issue of Earth and Planetary Science Letters. Scientists at the University of Adelaide and Curtin University in Australia, and the University of California at Riverside, California, USA, gathered and analyzed data on igneous rocks from geological and geochemical data repositories in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Sweden and the United States. They found that over the 4.5 billion years of the Earth's development, rocks rich in phosphorus accumulated in the Earth's crust. They then looked at the relationship of this accumulation with that of oxygen in the atmosphere. Phosphorus is essential for life as we know it. Phosphates, which are compounds containing phosphorus and oxygen, are part of the backbones of DNA and RNA as well as the membranes of cells, and help control cell growth and function. To find out how the level of phosphorus in the Earth's crust has increased over time, the scientists studied how rock formed as the Earth's mantle cooled. They performed modeling to find out how mantle-derived rocks changed composition as a consequence of the long-term cooling of the mantle. Their results suggest that during an early, hotter period in Earth's history the Archaean period between four and 2.5 billion years ago there was a larger amount of molten mantle. Phosphorus would have been too dilute in these rocks. However, over time, the Earth cooled sufficiently, aided by the onset of plate tectonics, in which the colder outer crust of the planet is subducted back into the hot mantle. With this cooling, partial mantle melts became smaller. As Dr. Grant Cox, an earth scientist at the University of Adelaide and a co-author of the study, explains, the result is that "phosphorus will be concentrated in small percentage melts, so as the mantle cools, the amount of melt you extract is smaller but that melt will have higher concentrations of phosphorus in it." A cross section of the Earth, showing the exterior crust, the molten mantle beneath it and the core at the center of the planet. Credit: NASA/JPL-Universite Paris Diderot Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris Phosphorus' role in the oxidation of Earth The phosphorus was concentrated and crystallized into a mineral called apatite, which became part of the igneous rocks that were created from the cooled mantle. Eventually, these rocks reached the Earth's surface and formed a large proportion of the crust. When phosphorus minerals derived from the crust mixed with the water in lakes, rivers and oceans, apatite broke down into phosphates, which became available for development and nourishment of primitive life. The scientists estimated the mixing of elements from the Earth's crust with seawater over time. They found that higher levels of bio-essential elements parallel major increases in the oxygenation of the Earth's atmosphere: the Great Oxidation Event (GOE) 2.4 billion years ago, and the Neoproterozoic Oxygen Event, 800 million years ago, after which oxygen levels were presumed to be high enough to support multicellular life. Even before the GOE, from approximately 3.5 to 2.5 billion years ago, some of the earliest life forms possibly generated oxygen through photosynthesis. However, during that time, most of this oxygen reacted with iron and sulfur in igneous rocks. To understand how these reactions affected oxygen levels in the atmosphere over a period of four billion years, the scientists measured the amounts of sulfur and iron in igneous rocks, and figured out how much oxygen had reacted. They compared all of these events with changes in levels of atmospheric oxygen. The scientists found that decreases in sulfur and iron along with increases in phosphorus paralleled the Great Oxidation Event and the Neoproterozoic Oxygen Event. An explosion of life All of these events support a scenario in which the cooling of the Earth's mantle led to the increase of phosphorus-rich rocks in the Earth's crust. These rocks then mixed with the oceans, where phosphorus-containing minerals broke down and leached into the water. Once phosphorus levels in seawater were high enough, primitive life forms thrived and their numbers increased, so they could generate enough oxygen that most of it reached the atmosphere. Oxygen reached levels sufficient to support multicellular life. Dr. Peter Cawood, a geologist at Monash University inMelbourne, Australia, comments to Astrobiology Magazinethat, "it's intriguing to think that the [oxygen] on which we depend for life owes its ultimate origin to secular decreases in mantle temperature, which are thought to have decreased from some 1,550 degrees Celsius some three billion years ago to around 1,350 degrees Celsius today." Could a similar scenario be playing out on a possible exo-Earth? With the Kepler discoveries of a growing number of possibly Earth-like planets, could any of these support life? Cawood suggests that the finding is potentially significant for the development of aerobic life (i.e. life that evolves in an oxygen-rich environment) on exoplanets. "This is provided that [phosphorus] within the igneous rocks on the surface of the planet is undergoing weathering to ensure its bio-availability," says Cawood. "Significantly, the phosphorus content of igneous rocks is highest in those rocks low in silica [rocks formed by rapid cooling] and rocks of this composition dominate the crusts of Venus and Mars and likely also on exoplanets." Cox concludes by saying that, "This relationship [between rising oxygen levels and mantle cooling] has implications for any terrestrial planet. All planets will cool, and those with efficient plate tectonic convection will cool more rapidly. We are left concluding that the speed of such cooling may affect the rate and pattern of biological evolution on any potentially habitable planet." Explore further Land rising above the sea 2.4 billion years ago changed planet Earth More information: Grant M. Cox et al. Linking the rise of atmospheric oxygen to growth in the continental phosphorus inventory, Earth and Planetary Science Letters (2018). Journal information: Earth and Planetary Science Letters Grant M. Cox et al. Linking the rise of atmospheric oxygen to growth in the continental phosphorus inventory,(2018). DOI: 10.1016/j.epsl.2018.02.016 This story is republished courtesy of NASA's Astrobiology Magazine. Explore the Earth and beyond at www.astrobio.net . Human chromosomes during metaphase. Credit: Steffen Dietzel/Wikipedia A Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) research team has identified the essential role of a structural protein in the silencing of the inactive X chromosome, a process that prevents both copies of the same gene from being expressed in female mammals, which carry two copies of the X chromosome. In their report published online in the journal Cell, the investigators describe finding that the SMCHD1 protein is required for the inactive X chromosome to be processed in a way that blocks the expression of its genes. "We showed that the SMCHD1 protein influences gene expression by regulating the folding of the inactive X chromosome into its unique conformation, which prevents expression of its genes," says Chen-Yu Wang, MD, of the MGH Department of Molecular Biology , lead author of the Cell paper. "Mutations in SMCHD1 are associated with several human diseases, including a severe form of muscular dystrophy and a syndrome in which an infant's nose fails to develop. Our finding suggests that misfolded chromatinthe chromosomal structure consisting of DNA wrapped around proteins called histonesmay play a role in those diseases." When mammalian chromosomes fold themselves to fit into the nucleus of a cell, they typically are organized into two "compartmentsan active A compartment, which contains many actively transcribed genes, and an inactive B compartment, which contains a few genes that are rarely if ever transcribed. Each compartment is further partitioned into "topologically associated domains" (TADs) that contain genetic elements that frequently interact within a TAD but rarely between TADs. X chromosome inactivationwhich occurs in early embryonic developmentreconfigures chromatin into a unique formation through the mediation of a large RNA molecule called Xist. The spreading of Xist across the chromosome induces it to fold into two large structural domains, which then merge into a "compartment-less" structure that suppresses transcription of the genes on the chromosome. To investigate protein factors that may regulate the process of X inactivation, the team focused on the SMC family of structural proteins, which are known to regulate chromosome conformation. Previous studies found that SMCHD1 was highly enriched on inactive X chromosomes and appeared to be critical to the inactivation process. The team's experiments in mouse cells first confirmed that the presence of SMCHD1 was necessary for the silencing of a large subset of genes on the inactive X chromosome. They then found that the loss of SMCHD1 prevented the spreading of Xist across the chromosome and kept the two large domains, which the team named S1 and S2 compartments, from being merged into the typical compartment-less inactive X structure. By bridging the S1 and S2 compartments, SMCHD1 was found to induce their merging into the conformation that prevents gene expression. Without the protein, the two compartments persist, allowing the expression of about 40 percent of the genes on what should be an inactive chromosome. Senior author Jeannie T. Lee, MD, Ph.D., MGH Molecular Biology, notes that her team hopes to investigate further the process by which SMCHD1 merges the S1/S2 compartments and potentially how disease-associated SMCHD1 mutations may affect inactive X conformation and gene silencing. She says, "The knowledge gained could also be used to reactivate the inactive X chromosome to treat certain diseases, such as the neurodevelopmental disorders Rett syndrome and CDKL5 disorder. But because whole-X reactivation could potentially have unwanted side effects, one of the major goals of our research is to achieve specificityturning on one or several specific genes but not all X-linked genes. We know that certain X chromosome genes are particularly sensitive to the loss of SMCHD1, so in the future we may be able to harness that differential sensitivity to turn on specific genes." A team of researchers are investigating how to create a composite roofing material to retrofit buildings like this commercial building located in New Kensington, Pennsylvania. Credit: Penn State The dramatic deindustrialization of much of Pennsylvania during the 1980s and 1990s left many areas of the state in serious need of revitalization. Once vibrant and bustling communities have been left in disarray. Deteriorating streets, abandoned factories and buildings and empty storefronts are found in cities like New Kensington, Pennsylvania, a town located 18 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. Esther Obonyo, associate professor of engineering design and architectural engineering, was awarded a $25,000 grant from Penn State's Institutes of Energy and the Environment to design and test a new roofing composite. The project is part of an ongoing economic development initiative in the city of New Kensington. The initiative was stimulated by an Invent Penn State seed grant that funded the creation of Penn State New Kensington's Corner LaunchBox entrepreneurial center and coworking space, a cornerstone for the city's revitalization and development efforts. Through Corner Launchbox, Penn State New Kensington campus chancellor Kevin Snider is working to entice new businesses to the community by highlighting New Kensington's affordable real estate market. A goal of the program is to find cost-effective ways to improve and retrofit building elements in disrepair to help encourage business growth in the area. To gather data on the building elements, representatives from Penn State New Kensington have been working with city officials to engage community members in the improvement conversation. A panel consisting of Obonyo; Snider; Clive Randall, director of the Materials Research Institute (MRI) and professor of materials science and engineering at Penn State; and Steve Leonard, an industry-based innovation manager, also spent time discussing the problem and possible solutions during MRI's 2017 Materials Research Day in October. The collected data and information points to leaky roof problems as a top priority to improve local buildings in the New Kensington area. With the help of co-investigators Randall, Snider, and Ali Memari, Bernard and Henrietta Hankin Chair in Residential Building Construction, director of the Pennsylvania Housing Research Center and professor of architectural engineering and civil engineering, Obonyo hopes to fix this issue. According to the Center for Environmental Innovation in Roofing, each year nearly 4 billion square feet of roof coverings are installed in the United State alone. Re-roofing work to existing buildings accounts for close to 3 billion square feet. Because building materials can equate to one-third of the total cost of construction, Obonyo and her team are working on a concept that uses innovative materials, reduces costs, lowers energy costs and optimizes the use of resources. The team's initial conceptual model, a rubber-type membrane like ethylene propylene diene terpolymer (EPDM) will be installed on top of the old, leaky rooftops. Aluminum panels will play a role akin to ballast to prevent movement. To produce energy, a thin-film photovoltaic solar cell layer will be attached to the panels. "We believe that our proposed multifunctional solution is more cost-effective because it addresses the existing moisture-related durability concerns, while also improving the energy efficiency and environmental sustainability of the building envelopes," Obonyo said. Both simulations and lab testing will be used to determine the model's practicality in regards to waterproofing, insulation and condensation minimization. The research team will use the gathered data to refine the initial prototype to deliver a detailed, sustainable and energy-producing reroofing system. Obonyo also looks to investigate additional challenges New Kensington is currently facing in the future. Crumbling foundations; issues with sewage, water and power; spaces for the aging; and workforce demographics and meaningful educational experiences in the K-12 school system rise to the top of her project list. "Transformational use of sustainable building materials would result in significant financial benefits, reducing construction costs while enhancing the use of scarce materials [in the area]," Obonyo said. Explore further Designing urban energy systems based on the urban climate In their new book, The Human Planet, the authors have now gathered new evidence which reveals the basic rules governing human societies from the earliest hunter-gatherers to those of the present day. They warn that this evidence points to today's globally interconnected mega-civilisation moving in one of two directions; one of continued rapid global growth and an eventual catastrophic collapse, or the emergence of a new mode of living that replaces the latest type of society, consumer capitalism. Credit: UCL For the first time in our planet's 4.5 billion-year history a single species, humans, is increasingly dictating its future, according to a new book by UCL scientists. The new epoch known as the Anthropoceneassessed in 2015 by Professors Simon Lewis and Mark Maslin in a report published in Naturemarks the period when human impacts on our home planet have become global and sustained. In their new book, The Human Planet, the authors have now gathered new evidence which reveals the basic rules governing human societies from the earliest hunter-gatherers to those of the present day. They warn that this evidence points to today's globally interconnected mega-civilisation moving in one of two directions; one of continued rapid global growth and an eventual catastrophic collapse, or the emergence of a new mode of living that replaces the latest type of society, consumer capitalism. The two scientists show that in all of human history there have been just five successive types of society that spread worldwide. Each of these societies relied on the greater use of energy, and a greater generation and flow of information and knowledge. This resulted in more people, increased productivity, and rising collective human agency, but also led to ever-greater global environmental consequences. "How the human story fits within Earth's history is obviously complex, but one role of scientists is to pick away at difficult problems to understand them in simpler and more fundamental ways," said Simon Lewis, Professor of Global Change Science (UCL Geography). "By tracing the environmental impacts of different human societies since our march out of Africa we noticed that they had features in common. While new energy sources, like fossil fuels, and new ways of communicating information, like record-keeping, are well-recognised as revolutionary in their impacts, a much larger and more coherent picture emerged." The five societies that emerged and spread are: Hunter-Gatherer, Agricultural, Mercantile Capitalist, Industrial Capitalist and Consumer Capitalist. Each of these started with a major, and usually traumatic, transition: Domestication, European colonisation, the Industrial Revolution and the Great Acceleration that followed the end of the Second World War. The scientists believe that their analysis points towards to two future scenarios. One following the response of all other types of animal that encounter vast new resources: a long period of exponential growth, just as the global economy is growing, followed by a swift collapse; or the emergence of a new sixth type of society that replaces the consumer capitalist mode of living. The academics argue that more energy for all and increased investments in education, the internet and computing are essential components for a transition to sixth type of society. However, even if new energy comes from renewables, and fossil fuels are rapidly phased out to avoid catastrophic climate change, such a leap may not be enough to avoid collapse. To do that requires breaking the current high-production and high-consumption model of human development at the heart of consumer capitalism and a focus on environmental repair. The book ends with two bold ideas that are under increasing discussion to do this: Universal Basic Income, an unconditional payment to every citizen to cover their subsistence needs, to break the production-consumption dynamic; and Half-Earth, where half the Earth's surface is allocated for the primary benefit of other species, with humans having the run of the rest, to enable environmental restoration. "What human actions have done in the small amount of time we have been on this planet is astonishing. We have cut down half the trees on Earth, over 3 trillion of them, and have made enough concrete to cover the whole surface of the Earth in a layer 2 millimetres thick. We have created over 170,000 synthetic mineral-like substances compared with about 5,000 'natural' occurring minerals, and we make over 300 million tonnes of plastic per year which can be found in every ocean. Most shocking of all is that if we weighed all land mammals in the world, humans would represent 30 percent livestock 67 percent and just 3 percent wild animals. We really do live on a human dominated planet" says Mark Maslin, Professor of Earth System Science (UCL Geography). Lewis and Maslin conclude that we need to recognise our planet-changing power and redirect it to shifting to a new type of society so that people and the rest of life we share our home planet with can all flourish. Astronaut Harrison Schmitt uses an adjustable sampling scoop to retrieve lunar samples during the Apollo 17 mission in December 1972. Newly restored lunar data tapes show the Apollo astronauts activity warmed the Moons surface slightly. Credit: NASA. After eight years spent recovering lost moon data from the Apollo missions, scientists report in a new study they've solved a decades-old mystery of why the moon's subsurface warmed slightly during the 1970s. Scientists have wondered about the cause of the warming since soon after the Apollo missions started, when astronauts deployed probes on the moon to measure the heat coming from its interior. The lost data tapes recovered by the scientists filled in a record gap during the 1970s and helped the researchers pinpoint the source of the warming as the Apollo astronauts themselves. The astronauts disturbed the moon's surface soil by walking and driving a rover on it. As a result, the moon reflected less of the Sun's light back out to space, which raised the lunar surface temperature by 1-2 degrees Celsius (1.8-3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) where it was disturbed. The new findings show it is almost impossible to deploy astronauts or instruments on the moon without disturbing its surface environment, information that could be valuable for future lunar missions, according to the researchers who published a new study detailing the results in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, a journal of the American Geophysical Union. "In the process of installing the instruments you may actually end up disturbing the surface thermal environment of the place where you want to make some measurements," said Seiichi Nagihara, a planetary scientist at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas and lead author of the new study. "That kind of consideration certainly goes in to the designing of the next generation of instruments that will be someday deployed on the moon." Measuring the moon's heat Left: This photograph by astronaut James Irwin shows the borestem and the cable of the Apollo 15 heat flow probe 1 protruding from the ground. Around the borestem, footprints of the astronauts can be seen. Right: This photograph by astronaut Harrison Schmidt shows the borestem and the cable of the Apollo 17 Probe 2 protruding from the ground. Credit: NASA During the Apollo 15 and 17 missions in 1971 and 1972, astronauts deployed probes to measure the moon's subsurface temperature and tried to quantify how much heat moves from the moon's core to its surface. Scientists expected these heat flow measurements would tell them whether the moon's core was hot like Earth's and how much heat the rocks of its crust and mantle could generate. The probes measured temperatures at the moon's surface and a few meters down into its subsurface from 1971 to 1977. The raw temperature data was transmitted to NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, where it was recorded on open-reel magnetic tapes. Technicians then gave the tapes to scientists involved in the mission who analyzed the data and archived them. But when the heat flow experiments ended in 1977, only tapes from 1971 to 1974 were archived at the National Space Science Data Center, the NASA space science mission data archive at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The rest of the tapes, presumably still with the scientists who analyzed them, were never archived, and most have been lost ever since. In 2010, Nagihara and several colleagues decided to track down the lost heat flow data from 1975 to 1977 to answer some outstanding questions. One long-standing mystery was why the moon's subsurface temperature gradually increased in the years after the heat flow probes were deployed. Planetary scientists debated the cause of this unexplained warming for several decades. Some suspected it was due to the astronauts' activity, while others thought it could have been due to changes in the moon's orbit or excess radiation coming from Earth. Solving the heat mystery A Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) image of the vicinity of the Apollo 17 landing site. Note the surface around the lunar surface experiment deployment site is darker than the surroundings. Credit: NASA When the researchers started searching for the missing data, they discovered NASA had created a separate set of tapes specifically for archiving. They found 440 of these archival tapes, with data from April through June 1975, gathering dust at the Washington National Records Center in Suitland, Maryland, which stores records from several U.S. federal agencies. At the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, the researchers recovered hundreds of weekly logs that recorded temperature readings from the heat flow probes from 1973 through 1977. These logs helped the scientists reconstruct the temperature readings for the times not covered in the archival tapes January through March 1975, and July 1975 through February 1976, when the instruments began to reach the end of their functional lives. It took the scientists several years to extract data from the decades-old tapes and several more years to analyze their contents, including recovering documents describing how each probe was calibrated and how to process the data each probe recorded. The missing tapes and the weekly performance logs gave the researchers enough new information to tease out a likely cause for the mysterious heating. The probes closer to the surface saw a greater temperature jump and saw it sooner than the probes deeper down, suggesting the heat started from the surface and moved downward. The researchers also paired the new data with images of the moon's surface from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The images show the astronauts' activity disturbed the surface environment at their landing sites, which darkened the lunar soil in those areas. Darker soil absorbs more light from the sun, which makes it warmer, and the researchers suspect this is what caused the warming. "It doesn't take much disturbance to get that very subtle warming on the surface," Nagihara said. "So analysis of the historic data together with the new images of the moon really helped us characterize how the surface warmed." Explore further Scientists sift through lunar dirt for record of early Earth's rocks More information: S. Nagihara et al. Examination of the Long-Term Subsurface Warming Observed at the Apollo 15 and 17 Sites Utilizing the Newly Restored Heat Flow Experiment Data From 1975 to 1977, Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets (2018). Journal information: Journal of Geophysical Research S. Nagihara et al. Examination of the Long-Term Subsurface Warming Observed at the Apollo 15 and 17 Sites Utilizing the Newly Restored Heat Flow Experiment Data From 1975 to 1977,(2018). DOI: 10.1029/2018JE005579 Provided by GeoSpace This story is republished courtesy of AGU Blogs (http://blogs.agu.org), a community of Earth and space science blogs, hosted by the American Geophysical Union. Read the original story here. Black tip sharks swim with tropical fish in a lagoon in French Polynesia. Credit: Shutterstock In French Polynesia, fishing is an integral part of everyday life. The people living here fish on the flats and along the reef using nets, hooks and line, harpoons, spearguns and traditional artisanal traps. They fish for food. They are also seeing the benefits of using their traditional knowledge to guide recreational fishing tourists a business with potential to improve long term employment security. Abundant sharks in the lagoon led to questions about their contribution to the fishery and whether it would help the fishery if they were targeted. This is a question that is often on the minds of humans when they encounter predators. As an ecologist working with the fish populations in French Polynesia, I went looking for research about what happens to an ecosystem when a predator is removed. Are the responses predictable? Does it work? Can we make generalizations? Our new study, published in Biological Conservation, surveyed the research on predator removal and identified several interesting and perhaps unexpected trends. Humans and other predators Predators are among the most charismatic animals on Earthlions, eagles and sharks adorn many human symbols. On land, in the air and in water, predators fascinate and inspire, they are quintessential representations of nature's majesty and might. In spite of their ecological, economic and cultural significance, predators are among the most heavily persecuted animals, due to conflict with humans and their assets. Predators attack and kill livestock, hunt economically important prey and can kill or injure people or be perceived as a threat to human safety. These conflicts may motivate humans to try to manage predators to lessen the damages. One of the oldest and most rudimentary methods is to cull or remove them, even though predators are already rare and some are threatened with extinction. Caracals and other predators have been blamed for killing sheep and goats in South Africa. Credit: gundy/flickr The motivation to remove predators is easy to understand, but what if predator removal does not even achieve the desired outcomes? In balance Predators are essential to ecosystems because they regulate prey populations. Without predators, prey can become over-abundant. This can result in damage to local plants, as well as disease outbreaks that can spread to domesticated animals. Top predators like wolves dominate small predators like coyotes, keeping those populations in check too. Without predators, ecosystems become unbalanced in many ways because plants, herbivores and small predators change in response to their loss. In a perfect scenario, successful predator removal would strike a balance. It would reduce conflict and be sustainable, but not cause the predator population to disappear entirely. However, our review of 141 studies of predator removal revealed that success is rarely achieved. Livestock attacks weren't always reduced when predators were removed, and the human-wildlife conflict remained. On top of that, new predators often moved into vacated territory and recolonized areas where others had been removed. For example, when caracal (a type of wild cat) and leopard were culled in South Africa, predator conflicts on farms increased. A small number of studies have shown successful removal of predators without harming the predator population, and led to increases in the prey population. However, these examples of success were generally from the Arctic where wolves were removed to increase caribou or moose numbers. In that scenario, there are fewer links in the food web, possibly making responses more predictable. Generally, however, the responses were unpredictable and removing predators often failed for one reason or another. Coexistence, not conflict Ecosystems are complex networks of species. They include plants, decomposers, naturally subordinate predators (such as feral cats, foxes and coyotes), pathogens, predators and their prey. Together, they all play vital roles in regulating each other. A predator-proof corral in the South Gobi desert in Mongolia keeps livestock safe from snow leopards and wolves. Credit: Ksuryawanshi/Wikimedia When humans remove predators, the effects are consistently negative. The action can, for example, fracture wolf packs into smaller units, or increase the reproductive rates of coyotes to produce even more offspring. This can have knock on effects, including an increase in disease, plant damage if herbivore populations explode and even an increase in the number of collisions between large herbivores, such as moose, and vehicles. Instead of killing predators, there are other measures we can take to reduce conflict and learn to live with wildlife. In parts of Alberta, biologists are encouraging landowners to use electric fencing around bee hives and chicken coops to fend off bears. These types of non-lethal solutions can be tested and may often be more effective than removing the predator. Other studies have suggested that "rewilding" an ecosystem that is, reintroducing species into the ecosystem can reduce conflicts. When their prey are abundant, the predators have less interest in nearby livestock. One study showed that lynx conflict with farmers increased when their natural prey, roe deer, were scarcer. Essential elements Instead of removing predators to manage human-wildlife conflict, we should be looking towards non-lethal alternatives. Using deterrent devices (lights, sounds or flapping material) can keep predators away from homes, fields and livestock. The services that predators and functioning ecosystems provide to humans are of enormous value, and we would be wise to work hard to conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all. Predators aren't only symbols, they are essential parts of healthy terrestrial and aquatic landscapes. And beyond what we value, we should feel an imperative to preserve the diversity of life we share Earth with, most of which precedes our own evolution. Of course, there will be times when predator removal may be necessary to protect people and their interests. Interventions that champion the principles of coexistence between humans and predators may be more successful and justifiable approaches to managing wildlife. Efforts to protect predators or proactively promote their return, rather than continue contributing to their decline and extinction, are among the greatest conservation challenges we face. Explore further Removing predators doesn't guarantee bird safety This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. In this Sept. 12, 2005, file photo, John Petraborg holds up a 35-pound moonfish, also known as opah and normally found in the deep waters near Hawaii, on board his troller Roulette at ANB Harbor in Sitka, Alaska. Scientists have identified three new species of opah, a colorful peculiar deep-diving fish that is increasingly caught and served in U.S. restaurants. A team of researchers with NOAA Fisheries has identified five distinct species of opah, rather than just one. (James Poulson/The Daily Sitka Sentinel via AP) The fish buyer noticed something different about the large, colorful disc-shaped opah waiting to be sold at the auction house in Honolulu. Among the differences: one fish had a bigger eye than the other. His curiosity set in motion DNA testing and more sleuthing that led to the identification of three new species of opaha peculiar deep-diving fish recently found to be the first fully warm-blooded fish. "The more we looked, the more differences we could pull out," said Karen Underkoffler, lead author of a recently published paper in the peer-reviewed journal Zootaxa that describes the anatomical characteristics of the different species of opah, including one marked by its big eyes and a purple tongue. In all, the team of scientists with NOAA Fisheries identified five distinct species of opah, revealing that there isn't a single global species. Three are newly identified, one was already named and researchers better identified another that had been previously described. "We have known for quite some time that opahs in different parts of the world look different," said Misty Paig-Tran, assistant professor of marine biology and biomechanics at Cal State Fullerton who was not involved in the paper. People were calling them all the same thing, and the paper clearly shows their differences, she said, adding that it's great to finally have anatomical descriptions and DNA to back those descriptions. The researchers say knowing the population of opahwhich has a silvery gray body, red fins and mouths, and white spotsis important to make sure they don't get overfished. While opah isn't harvested by commercial fisheries, the fish is often caught incidentally in commercial fishing for high-value tuna or swordfish off the coasts of Hawaii and California. Sport anglers also frequently catch the colorful fish, which on average weighs about 100 pounds and can be bigger than an automobile tire. Opah is becoming popular at restaurants in Hawaii and elsewhere. The value of U.S. commercial landings of opah has increased from just a few thousand dollars before 2000 to nearly $3.2 million in 2016. The Hawaii-based longline fishing industry reported the catching of nearly 30,000 opahs by vessels targeting tuna and swordfish in 2015. Most opah landed by those vessels arrive at the United Fishing Agency auction in Honolulu, where Underkoffler was working several years ago when Garrett Kitazaki flagged the big-eyed opah for her and her colleague Megan Luers, another study co-author. They took measurements, clipped fins and sent tissue samples to the Southwest Fisheries Science Center in San Diego. From the samples collected at the auction, the team quickly determined the fish were distinct from each other. "In that effort to find more, we stumbled across more very distinct opah species," said John Hyde, program leader of genetics fisheries at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center who did the DNA tests. They put out a call to museums, ports and commercial fisheries to get samples of opah. They thumbed through literature dating back to the 1700s to find references and descriptions of the fish. Underkoffler even traveled to Monaco to check out a specimen. "It kept building and building," said Underkoffler, who now works for NOAA's seafood inspection program in Seattle. Hyde said that "when you realize there are five species instead of one, it tells us there's a lot to still discover out there." Explore further New research reveals first warm-blooded fish 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Cleithrum of Umzantsia amazana. Credit: Rob Gess and Per Ahlberg The first African fossils of Devonian tetrapods (four-legged vertebrates) show these pioneers of land living within the Antarctic circle, 360 million years ago. The evolution of tetrapods from fishes during the Devonian period was a key event in our distant ancestry. Newly found fossils from the latest Devonian Waterloo Farm locality near Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, published today in Science, force a major reassessment of this event. "Whereas all previously found Devonian tetrapods came from localities which were in tropical regions during the Devonian, these specimens lived within the Antarctic circle," explains lead author, Dr. Robert Gess of the Albany Museum in Grahamstown, and co-author Professor Per Ahlberg of Uppsala University in Sweden. The research was supported by the South African DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences, based at the University of the Witwatersrand and the Millennium Trust. The first African Devonian tetrapods Two new species, named Tutusius and Umzantsia, are Africa's earliest known four-legged vertebrates by a remarkable 70 million years. The approximately metre-long Tutusius umlambo (named in honour of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu) and the somewhat smaller Umzantsia amazana are both incomplete. Tutusius is represented by a single bone from the shoulder girdle, whereas Umzantsia is known from a greater number of bones, but they both appear similar to previously known Devonian tetrapods. Alive, they would have resembled a cross between a crocodile and a fish, with a crocodile-like head, stubby legs, and a tail with a fish-like fin. Cleithrum of Tutusius umlambo Credit: Rob Gess and Per Ahlberg The Waterloo Farm locality (where the tetrapods were discovered) is a roadcut first revealed in 2016 after controlled rock-cutting explosions by the South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL) along the N2 highway between Grahamstown and the Fish River. This cutting exposed dark grey mudstones of the Witpoort Formation that represent an ancient environment of a brackish, tidal river estuary that contain abundant fossils of animals and plants. The first tetrapod found outside of tropical regions The real importance of Tutusius and Umzantsia lies in where they were found. Full reconstruction of Waterloo Farm by Maggie Newman including Tutusius and Umzantsia. Credit: Maggie Newman Devonian tetrapod fossils are found in widely scattered localities. However, if the continents are mapped back to their Devonian positions, it emerges that all previous finds are from rocks deposited in the palaeotropicsbetween 30 degrees north and south of the equator. Almost all come from Laurussia, a supercontinent that later fragmented into North America, Greenland and Europe. The much larger southern supercontinent, Gondwana, which incorporated present-day Africa, South America, Australia, Antarctica, and India, has hitherto yielded almost no Devonian tetrapods, with only an isolated jaw (named Metaxygnathus) and footprints, being found in eastern Australia. Because Australia was the northernmost part of Gondwana, extending into the tropics, an assumption developed that tetrapods evolved in the tropics, most likely in Laurussia. By extension it was assumed that movement of vertebrates from water onto land (terrestrialisation) also occurred in the tropics. Attempts to understand the causes of these major macroevolutionary steps therefore focussed on conditions prevalent in tropical water bodies. Infographic of evolution of the shoulder girdle across the fish to tetrapod transition. Includes the proposed position of the cleithra of Tutusius and Umzantsia. Credit: R. Gess & C. Harris (SA NRF-DST CoE in Palaeosciences) The Waterloo Farm tetrapods not only come from Gondwana, but from its southernmost part: reconstructed to have been more than 70 degrees south, within the Antarctic circle. Abundant plant fossils show that forests grew nearby, so it wasn't frozen, but it was definitely not tropical and during winter it will have experienced months of complete darkness. This finding changes our understanding of the distribution of Devonian tetrapods. We now know that tetrapods occurred throughout the world by the Late Devonian and that their evolution and terrestrialisation could realistically have occurred anywhere. South Africa now adds insights into the emergence of land animals to its incredible fossil record, which also includes transition to mammals from reptile-like ancestors and the evolution of humans. There is probably not another country on the planet that so fully documents the long and dramatic evolutionary history of our own lineage. Explore further Stable isotopes suggest earliest tetrapods were euryhaline creatures More information: R. Gess at Albany Museum in Grahamstown, South Africa el al., "A tetrapod fauna from within the Devonian Antarctic Circle," Science (2018). Journal information: Science R. Gess at Albany Museum in Grahamstown, South Africa el al., "A tetrapod fauna from within the Devonian Antarctic Circle,"(2018). science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi 1126/science.aaq1645 The amber sample with the new beetle trapped inside -- the beetle is the tiny speck indicated by the tip of a mechanical pencil for scale. Credit: Shuhei Yamamoto, Field Museum Featherwing beetles are smaller than the period at the end of this sentence. They get their name from the feathery fringe on their wings that enables them to catch the air and float like dandelion seeds. And, it turns out, they go way back scientists discovered a 99-million-year-old featherwing beetle preserved in amber, and they named it "Jason." "This tiny beetle lived during the Cretaceous Period, it saw actual dinosaurs," says Shuhei Yamamoto, a researcher at the Field Museum in Chicago and co-lead author of a paper describing the beetle in Cretaceous Research. "The amber the beetle was found in is like a time capsule." The new beetle, the earliest member of its family to get a scientific name, is called Kekveus jason. "Jason" is a reference to the Greek hero who sailed the world in search of the Golden Fleece; "Kekveus," meanwhile, doesn't mean anythingco-lead author Vasily Grebennikov of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, picked it because new genus names for little-known fossils often wind up changing when the species is later reclassified as scientists learn more about it. "From my perspective I always believe that an animal name should not have any meaning (except when named after a person), since if the authors are wrong, it might be odd to have later species 'chinensis' endemic to Europe, or something similarly absurd," says Grebennikov. Close-up shot of the new species of featherwing beetle, with the long, thin fringe on its hind wings visible. Credit: Shuhei Yamamoto, Field Museum Yamamoto discovered the tiny sailing insect by poring over pieces of amber. Amber is made from fossilized resin, a sap-like substance produced by plants. When prehistoric insects got trapped in resin, their bodies would get incorporated into the amber that formedthink the mosquitos from Jurassic Park, minus the "resurrecting dinosaurs" part. When Yamamoto spotted a tiny black speck in the amber, he was cautiously optimistic that he'd found a prehistoric insect. "I didn't have much confidence at first, but after cutting and polishing the amber so I could get a better look, I realized, oh, this is truly an amazing fossil," he says. The beetle is only 0.536 millimeters longit's dwarfed by the tip of a mechanical pencil. But under a microscope, Yamamoto was able to glean details of its anatomy that revealed it as a different species and genus from living featherwing beetles. For instance, it has three grooves running like pinstripes up its body, a feature not found on its modern cousins. Overall, though, the researchers found that K. jason has a lot in common with featherwings alive today, meaning that the family of beetles evolved features like a tiny body size and fringed wings millions of years ago. According to Yamamoto, amber fossils yield a level of preservation rarely found in regular rock, especially for insects. "There are many rock fossils from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, but they're limited to big animals like larger insects, mammals, dinosaurs, and birds, because small insects cannot be preserved in rock fossil very clearly. Only fossil insects in amber are preserved in fine detail, in three dimensions," says Yamamoto. Yamamoto looks forward to further discoveries of prehistoric animals preserved in amber. "It's likely that we'll find more in the futureBurmese amber is one of the hottest fossils in the world," he says. "There are so many great findings happening, literally day by day. Many important discoveries of insects will be made." Explore further Researchers uncover New Zealand's first fossils preserved in amber More information: Shuhei Yamamoto et al, Kekveus jason gen. et sp. nov. from Cretaceous Burmese amber, the first extinct genus and the oldest named featherwing beetle (Coleoptera: Ptiliidae: Discheramocephalini), Cretaceous Research (2018). Journal information: Cretaceous Research Shuhei Yamamoto et al, Kekveus jason gen. et sp. nov. from Cretaceous Burmese amber, the first extinct genus and the oldest named featherwing beetle (Coleoptera: Ptiliidae: Discheramocephalini),(2018). DOI: 10.1016/j.cretres.2018.05.016 9 hours ago Deere & Co. workers go on strike after rejecting contract MOLINE, Ill. (AP) More than 10,000 Deere & Co. workers went on strike Thursday, the first major walkout at the agricultural machinery giant in more than three decades. The union had said its members would walk off the job if no deal has been reached Wednesday. Read Article Aptiv Plc engages in the design, development, and manufacture of vehicle components. The firm also provides electrical, electronic, and safety technology solutions to the global automotive and commercial vehicle markets. It operates through the following business segments: Signal and Power Solutions, Advanced Safety and User Experience, and Eliminations and Other. The Signal and Power Solutions segment includes complete electrical architecture and component products. The Advanced Safety and User Experience segment covers component and systems integration in connectivity and security solutions, as well as advanced software development and autonomous driving technologies. The Eliminations and Other segment comprises of elimination of inter-segment transactions, other expenses, and income of a non-operating or strategic nature. The company was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. Read More LoyalTeach provides students of all income levels and backgrounds affordable access to life-changing educational mentorship, based on a sliding scale. Most costs are covered by donations and fundraising efforts through community partners. If you would like to donate or set-up a consult for your learning institution, contact Ian Cummings at loyalteach@loyalteach.org or visit their website at www.loyalteach.org. With more than 90 years as your local newspaper, today and every Thursday, to reminisce and honor the rich history of the Santa Ynez Valley, the Santa Ynez Valley News editors will reach into the archives to give you "Throwback Thursday," aka #tbtsyv. If you would like to contribute your own piece of history, story, photo, etc., please email Lifestyle Editor Lisa Andre at Landre@leecentralcoastnews.com. Education Reporter 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. APF Constable found dead under mysterious circumstances An Armed Police Force (APF) Constable was found dead under mysterious circumstances in Sunsari on Thursday. " " A group of scientists is suggesting that the rise of a host of unique animal life is tied to panspermia, a seeding of the Earth that enabled many bizarre and never-before-seen creatures to descend from organic alien material. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona Imagine a comet hurtling through the nothingness of space. It smashes into a planet, causing destruction but also bringing life. That's because hitching a ride on the surface of the comet were tiny traces of organic material or even alien eggs, explaining how life could spread across the cosmos and arrive on our planet. Panspermia (meaning 'seeds everywhere') is the name of the theory that life on Earth may have cosmic origins, and it's been both debated by scientists and featured in works of science fiction. Now, a group of nearly three dozen scientists from around the world are putting a tweak in the theory, suggesting not that Earth's earliest life has outer-space origins, but that panspermia may be responsible for the Cambrian explosion. That's a point in Earth's history approximately 541 million years ago when most major animal groups appear in the fossil record. Advertisement In the article "Cause of Cambrian Explosion Terrestrial or Cosmic?" published in the August 2018 issue of the journal Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology, 33 scientists tie the rise of unique animals tardigrades, octopuses, and the bevy of odd and unique animals that flourished at the time to panspermia, suggesting that many of these relatively bizarre and never-before-seen creatures descend from organic alien material. "It takes little imagination to consider that the pre-Cambrian mass extinction event(s) was correlated with the impact of a giant life-bearing comet (or comets), and the subsequent seeding of Earth with new cosmic-derived cellular organisms and viral genes," the authors write. For those getting excited that a number of reputable scientists have cracked the mystery of life's origins, it's not so simple. This new paper isn't built on any new discoveries or research; it's a literature review that for the most part references the authors' own existing work. But that's by design, the authors acknowledge. "We are acutely aware that mainstream thinking on the origin and further evolution of life on Earth is anchored rmly in the 'Terrestrial' paradigm," write the authors. "Our aim here is to facilitate further discussion in the biophysical, biomedical and evolutionary science communities." Panspermia is at this point only a concept, but it dates back well before the last hundred years or so of modern science fiction. Way back at the turn of the 18th century, French diplomat and natural historian Benoit de Maillet proposed that life across the cosmos could have been "seeded" from space. And a few scholars even interpret ancient Greek philosopher Anaxagoras of Clazomenae's musings, who spoke vaguely of cosmic seeds 2,500 years ago, along the same lines. The paper has already drawn skepticism. Astrobiologist Frances Westall, for instance, points out that while some forms of extremophile life have been observed surviving the vacuum of space for short periods of time, this new paper's suppositions would require eggs, embryos or other cells survive thousands of years, if not more, in space. "Unfortunately it is all too easy to pull information out of the literature to support one's hypothesis," Westall told Newsweek when discussing the paper. "Nature is incredible, and I do not think it is necessary to call on extraterrestrials to explain it." Now That's Interesting An alternate theory for the Cambrian explosion goes by the name Snowball Earth, and it suggests that 715 million years ago, our planet became encased in ice for 150 million years, killing most existing life forms, and that a massive thaw allowed for an explosion of biodiversity. The Complete Guide to Shopping on Taobao in Singapore (2018) When you hear Made in China, one word comes to mind: Taobao. What better place to get your hands on cheap, mass-produced items from mainland China, lead and other toxins hopefully not included? Known as the Amazon or eBay of China for the variety of items you have access to, Taobao can help you save money on buying wedding dresses to electric scooters and everything else in between. Trouble is, it can be confusing AF. Heres a comprehensive guide to what you need to know about shopping on Taobao, and more importantly, your delivery options. Taobao hacks: How to find the best Taobao shops & products First of all, one does not simply walk into Taobao. Taobao is like Mustafa. Its a bad idea to go in without an idea of what you want, or youll just end up trapped in there for 30 hours, whimpering in a collapsed pile of buffalo curd. So, before you even start, you need to have an idea of what youre looking for. Need inspiration? Thats okay plenty of resources are available on the internet. Some of our favourites are Dayre: For womenswear and home decor, search blogging site Dayre for loads of picture-intensive Taobao hauls. Particularly useful if you want to check out real life photos of clothing and get some fashion inspiration. Reddit: For menswear and streetwear, Reddit has loads of resources. For example, this list of Taobao streetwear shops and comprehensive product reviews. Dont bother with r/Taobao though it sucks. HardwareZone: For logistics reviews and buying experience, follow HardwareZones biggest Taobao thread to see what the lao jiaos have to say. Pro tip! You can also use Taobao image search to find specific items. Its particularly useful if you dont know what the Chinese term for certain products are. Taobao buying and shipping options: a quick overview Due to restrictions in the past, it was pretty much impossible to ship your stuff from China to Singapore without external help. This need has resulted in a very saturated market of third-party agents, who help international customers communicate with the vendors on Taobao, handle the payment and most importantly, shipping the goods. Story continues In Singapore, the most popular Taobao delivery agent used to be EZbuy (formerly 65Daigou). But EZbuy ran into trouble with Taobao last year, causing a mass exodus from the platform. In order of popularity, the runners-up are SGShop, Peeka and Oops. Its likely that Taobao will continue to clamp down on third party agents, so use them at your own risk! (Update: EZbuy has contacted us to inform us that theyre still alive and kicking. Their Buy-For-Me service seems to be up and running once more, but HWZ forum users have been reporting issues with Ship-For-Me of late.) The good thing is, its now possible to buy from Taobao and ship directly to Singapore. Taobao has incorporated several forwarding services directly into its shipping options. Taobao also now offers direct shipping right to your doorstep, without requiring you to wait for a forwarder to consolidate Singapore orders. Theres one major caveat though you must have some rudimentary linguistic proficiency in Chinese. If thats a problem for you, theres a final option. You can shop Taobao on Lazada, which is owned by the same parent, Alibaba. But it doesnt show you everything on Taobao, which means you might not get the cheapest deal. To recap, there are 3 main ways to buy stuff on Taobao and here are their pros and cons in summary: Method Pros Cons Taobao direct Gives you the most control over product selection and price Multiple shipping methods offered Taobao guarantees fast delivery Require Chinese proficiency & knowledge of Taobao platform Bad for bulky/heavy orders (e.g. furniture) due to air freight limits Taobao agent (EZbuy, SGShop, Peeka, Oops) Service provided in English Does basic goods inspection and repacking Good for bulky/heavy orders as they do sea shipment Need to pay extra fees e.g. agent fees, service charge, sometimes local delivery Longer lead time especially if you opt for economy sea shipping Might get shut down by Taobao in the future Lazada Taobao Collection All in English, familiar and easy to use Shipping is currently free for min. order of $20 Shows only a limited selection of Taobao products Cost comparison of Taobao shipping fees Seems like there are a billion shipping options out there. So how much does each one cost? Before we start off, this is just a quick disclaimer: with the vast number of items available on Taobao, and the fact that you can get items from practically all over China, its impossible to say with accuracy how much your items will cost you until they reach the warehouse in China just before being shipped over. What we can do is just estimate cost based on available information. Note that Ive selected the cheapest option for a 2kg parcel. In some agents cases, the cheapest option is sea freight (indicated), which takes up to 3 weeks to arrive. Everything else is air freight and should take only a week or so. Taobao official shipping option Shipping fee Estimated fee for 2kg parcel, $50 order Taobao Global Direct Shipping Auto-calculated based on weight, 39 RMB (S$8.18) onwards Varies, but should cost slightly more than consolidated shipping Taobao forwarder DEX (SimplyPost) First kg 26 RMB (S$5.45) Every subsequent 500g 9 RMB (S$1.89) S$9.23 Taobao forwarder Prouter (PRT Express) First kg 27 RMB (S$5.66) Every subsequent 500g 10 RMB (S$2.10) S$9.86 Taobao forwarder ZTO (DPEX) First kg 30 RMB (S$6.29) Every subsequent 500g 10 RMB (S$2.10) S$10.49 Taobao forwarder 4PX (SingPost/PopStation) First kg 33 RMB (S$6.92) Every subsequent 500g 10 RMB (S$2.10) S$11.12 Third-party shipping option Shipping fee Estimated fee for 2kg parcel, $50 order EZbuy $1.20 up to 30kg (Sea) $1.69 per 500g (Economy Air) Agent fee 8% surcharge of product value + international shipping $5.30 (Sea) $9.34 (Economy Air) SGShop $1.25 per 500g up to 20kg (Economy Sea) Clearance fee $0.98 per parcel Agent fee 8% surcharge of product value + international shipping $10.38 Peeka S$1.40 per 500g up to 30kg (Economy Sea) Agent fee 3% surcharge of product value $7.10 Oops First 500g 30 RMB (S$6.29) Every subsequent 500g 10 RMB (S$2.10) Agent fee S$1 per kg $14.59 Buying through Lazada Shipping fee Estimated fee for 2kg parcel, $50 order Lazada Taobao Collection Auto-calculated based on item Free standard delivery for min. order $20 from Taobao Collection Free Based on these calculations, EZbuys Sea shipping is the cheapest option, but bear in mind that its also really slow. Even if you dont mind waiting, you must be comfortable with the risks of using third party agents as you never know if Taobao will try to squash them again! If you really want to play safe, go for Taobaos consolidated shipping via DEX which appears to be the cheapest. Or shop on Lazadas Taobao Collection for free delivery, if you dont mind not having access to every single item on Taobao. Lets go through the options in order: Official Taobao shipping options 3rd party Taobao agents Lazada Taobao Collection Official Taobao shipping options for regular items If you want the widest range of products and can handle shopping in Chinese, the best way to do it is through Taobao itself. But how do you get your Taobao haul from the vendor in China to your doorstep in Singapore? There are 2 main types of Taobao shipping options: Taobao Global Direct Shipping Global Consolidate & Shipping Taobao Global Direct Shipping is straightforward. The cost of shipping from the seller in China right to your doorstep is auto-calculated for you when you checkout, and you make a one-time payment, just like with any other e-commerce sites such as Amazon. Note that if you buy so-called sensitive items (e.g. batteries, power banks, cosmetics and food), you cant use direct shipping. Taobao Global Consolidate & Shipping is slightly more complicated. Because Taobao is a marketplace of sellers all over China, the first step in logistics is to get sellers to ship your items to a central warehouse. After, say, your iPhone case from Shenzhen and Hello Kitty beanie from Beijing have arrived in the same warehouse in Guangzhou, someone will have to pack them in one parcel and ship them to Singapore. A handful of international parcel forwarders (kind of like FedEx or DHL) take care of these logistics, and they are integrated with Taobao itself. However, its a bit more hassle as you have to monitor your items and make payment twice once for your purchase and another time for the shipment. For a simple and clear explanation of the shipping options that Taobao offers, see their website. Taobao delivery agents shipping option for bulky items Third-party Taobao agents often go beyond just consolidating and forwarding a shipment to you. Many are known to have been known to check the quality of the goods youve ordered, as well as liaise with the seller should there be any damaged item. That saves you the trouble of contacting the seller directly and trying to understand Mainland Chinese millennial lingo, a tall order even for people who are proficient in Chinese. As a result, it is usually more costly to go with them. So if inspection services and language barriers are not issues for you, you can save on the extra fees by just using one of Taobaos shipping options. BUT, if youre buying heavy or bulky items e.g. furniture, you cant use Taobaos direct shipping or forwarding services. These go by air freight and thus have size and weight limitations apply. Packages cannot exceed 1.2 metres for each dimension and the total weight cannot exceed 80 kg. On the other hand, delivery agents are willing to handle crates that weigh more than 100kg. This is because they have shipping by sea options. Delivery will take weeks rather than days, but this is the only cost-effective way to ship huge items. Heres a look at how much it costs: Shipping option Shipping fees (Economy Sea) Estimated fee for 100 kg shipment of 1 cubic metre EZbuy Up to 30 kg $1.20 per 500g (capped at $48) 30 to 60 kg $0.80 per 500g (capped at $60) 60 to 160 kg $0.50 per 500g (capped at $96 via Guangzhou or $128 via Shanghai) 160 kg and up $0.30 per 500g via Guangzhou ($96 per cubic metre) or $0.40 per 500g ($128 per cubic metre) Agent fee 8% surcharge of product value + international shipping Shipping S$96 (via Guangzhou) or S$100 (via Shanghai) Agent fee 8% surcharge of product value + international shipping Oops First 5 kg 50 RMB (S$10.48) Every subsequent kg 5 RMB (S$1.05) OR 450 RMB (S$94.33) per cubic metre Agent fee S$5 per 0.1 cubic metre Shipping S$110.23 (calculate by weight) or S$94.33 (calculate by volume) Agent fee S$50 SGShop Up to 20 kg $1.35 per 500g (capped at $39) 20 to 50 kg $0.95 per 500g (capped at $69) 50 to 100 kg $0.75 per 500g (capped at $115) 100 kg and up $0.45 per 500g (capped at $115 per cubic metre) Clearance fee $0.98 per parcel Shipping S$115.98 Agent fee 8% surcharge of product value + international shipping Peeka First 30 kg $1.50 per 500g Next 50 kg $1 per 500g Next 80 kg $0.70 per 500g Beyond 160 kg $0.50 per 500g Shipping S$218 Agent fee 3% surcharge of product value When you ship items by sea, you will sometimes have to calculate shipping based on volumetric weight (cubic metres or cbm) rather than just plain ol weight. But its easy to derive this number from the dimensions of the parcel. A parcel thats 1m tall x 1m wide x 1m deep is, quite simply, 1 cubic metre in volume. A quick Google search will show you plenty of volumetric weight calculators online. Lazadas Taobao Collection Taobao in English? Beg pardon, kind sir, but is there an English version of Taobao? Yup, youll be glad to know that you can Taobao in English, thanks to the Lazada Taobao Collection. The buying experience is really hassle-free and shipping is, at the moment, free with a minimum spend of $20. But it doesnt come close to offering the entire range of goods on Taobao, so you might lose out on the best deal. Another downside is that you cant contact the sellers directly to make specific requests or enquiries. Basically, you lose out on control and flexibility. Technically, you can also shop Taobao in English on EZbuys website as products from Taobao are listed on the site (mixed with products from other platforms and countries including the US, Korea and Taiwan). On the product page, just under the product name, there will be a tiny orange icon that says By seller on Taobao. If you want to shop on Taobao directly but dont know Chinese, your best bet is to use Google Chrome to browse Taobao. The browser will auto-translate Chinese to English (mixed with some gibberish), which might be good enough to get you through the basic functions. The internet abounds with Taobao guides but you neednt look any further than the official Taobao interactive guide (dont worry, its in English). It goes through 5 main topics: How to register as a Taobao member How to make sense of Taobao reviews and rating systems How to deal chatting with sellers on Aliwangwang and setting up delivery How to order and pay through Alipay How to leave feedback after you receive your order Once you get past the language barrier, shopping on Taobao is not rocket science. It might be a little weird the first time you use Aliwangwang and Alipay the first time, but thats about it. How long does Taobao delivery to Singapore take? Its not possible to determine exactly how quickly a package reaches you when buying from Taobao. Broadly speaking, Taobao Global Direct Shipping is the fastest as the seller will ship it to you directly. For everything that involves a forwarder, there are several compounding factors: The time it takes for the seller to ship your item to the warehouse The waiting time to consolidate your order Any extra processing time the forwarder might take Whether your international shipment is by air or sea freight Shipping lead time estimates typically count the days from the time your shipment is in the warehouse to the time it reaches your doorstep (or wherever youre collecting your items). So you should buffer a couple more days for the seller to ship the item to the warehouse in China. Shipping option Type of freight How long it takes to ship from warehouse Taobao Global Direct Shipping Air Within 5 days Taobao forwarder (DEX, Prouter, ZTO, 4PX) Air Within 5 days 3rd party agent (EZbuy, SGShop, Peeka, Oops) Air 7 to 10 days Sea 2 to 3 weeks Lazada Taobao Collection Unknown Varies from 1 to 4 weeks Whether you opt for direct shipping or consolidated forwarding, as long as you shop directly on Taobao, shipping should be pretty fast. Taobao has a 5-day delivery guarantee from the warehouse to Singapore. If lead time exceeds 5 days, you can get 50% of the international shipping fee refunded. If you dont see your parcel after 15 days, the full amount (including your purchased item!) is refunded. Although third-party delivery agents also use air freight, theres usually a longer lead time involved. Some only do shipments from their China warehouse to Singapore once or twice a week, for example. And after your goods arrive in Singapore, it takes 1 or 2 more days to get it to your doorstep or collection point. Naturally, if you opt for the cheaper sea shipping option, it will take even longer, usually up to 3 weeks. In theory, Lazada shipping SHOULD be fast as its part of the same company as Taobao. But as it seems to be sorting out logistics issues at the moment, the timeframe given remains very vague. Other considerations when selecting a Taobao delivery service Payment options: In general, you can use MasterCard and Visa credit cards when buying directly from Taobao and use an international parcel forwarder. Some delivery agents allow the use of credit cards, but there is an additional fee (usually about 3% of the transaction amount). However, for delivery agents like Peeka, payment can only be made via Internet Banking. There may be delays in payment if youre doing an interbank transfer. Storage: Maybe you want to consolidate your items before shipping them over. Or maybe youre unable to take possession of your order immediately. Whatever the reason, youll be glad to know that most services provide free storage of at least 14 days. However, do note that after this grace period, they will start charging you $1 to $5 per day, depending on the size of your item. So, which Taobao delivery service should you use? It all boils down to two things: how proficient you are in Chinese, and what kind of items youre ordering. If youre proficient in Chinese, it is always cheaper and faster to order directly from Taobao. (The 5-day guarantee is pretty hard to beat.) Use the DEX forwarder for the cheapest rates, or Taobao Global Direct Shipping if you want minimal hassle. If reading Chinese gives you nightmares, shop on Lazadas Taobao Collection instead. While it doesnt have EVERYTHING, theres still a decent range and prices are still really low. However, be prepared for a longer waiting time as Lazada sorts out its logistics. If youre ordering bulky or heavy items from Taobao, then stick to a delivery agent. Its the only cost-effective way to ship heavy items to Singapore. Plus the agent will ensure that your items are securely packed and notify you of the status of your order quite essential if its a big ticket item youre getting. Have you ordered anything from Taobao? Share your experience with Taobao delivery services with us. Related articles: The Best Credit Cards in Singapore for Online Shopping Amazon vs Lazada vs Wish: Which Online Shopping Site is Best for Singapore? How to Furnish and Decorate Your New Home on a Tight Budget The post The Complete Guide to Shopping on Taobao in Singapore (2018) appeared first on the MoneySmart blog. MoneySmart.sg helps you maximize your money. Like us on Facebook to keep up to date with our latest news and articles. Compare and shop for the best deals on Loans, Insurance and Credit Cards on our site now! More From MoneySmart By Liz Lee KUALA LUMPUR, June 7 (Reuters) - Moves by Malaysia's new government to change the guard at market regulators and state-owned firms have lifted the country's stock markets this week as investors hope for better governance and an end to decades of patronage politics. The Malaysian stock index was the top gainer among Southeast Asian markets on Thursday as it scaled two-week highs. It has risen nearly 2 percent this week, during which the central bank governor resigned and sources said the stock exchange chief might be replaced. Shares in Telekom Malaysia surged 10.7 percent on Thursday before cooling to finish 5.6 percent higher at 3.94 ringgit ($0.99), one day after its managing director resigned. The telecommunications group is more than one-quarter owned by sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd and 20.5 percent by Permodalan Nasional Bhd, the largest asset management firm. The resignations appeared to be part of a series of top management changes initiated by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's government. "The buoyant market proves that the new government really means to have change," said Danny Wong, CEO of fund management firm Areca Capital. "The market believes that better corporate governance is ahead, which will benefit the economy and businesses." The KLSE benchmark rose 1.25 percent on Wednesday. The index, which has lagged regional peers, is down 0.6 percent this year but has rallied nearly 4 percent since May 30, when it dropped to its lowest levels since December. On May 9, Malaysians stunningly voted out a coalition led by Prime Minister Najib Razak that had ruled the country since independence in 1957. The new government led by the 92-year-old Mahathir, who was prime minister from 1981 until 2003, is seeking to investigate allegations of graft during Najib's nearly decade-long tenure. An investment banker, requesting anonymity, said many domestic and foreign investors have long felt that most government-linked firms can perform better than they have. "With the changes sweeping the country, I don't think they would put cronies into these top positions, so there will be a more level playing field, and more quality candidates brought to the fore," he said. "The market is buying into that sense of optimism," he said. "Market breathed a huge sigh of relief and more money is being deployed back in as there is a lot of pent-up demand," he added. ($1 = 3.9750 ringgit) (Editing by Vidya Ranganathan and Richard Borsuk) Afghanistan announced Thursday an apparently unilateral ceasefire with the Taliban for Eid, the holiday that caps off Ramadan, though operations against other groups including Islamic State will continue. The week-long ceasefire, which was backed by the US and would bring some welcome relief to war-weary civilians, will last "from the 27th of Ramadan until the fifth day of Eid-al-Fitr", President Ashraf Ghani tweeted from an official account, indicating it could run from June 12-19. It was not immediately clear if the Taliban would agree to the ceasefire, the first during Eid since the US invasion in 2001. "We are checking with our officials regarding the ceasefire announcement," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP. The surprise declaration comes on the heels of a fatwa issued by Afghanistan's top clerics branding suicide attacks "haram", or forbidden, and after the Pentagon announced that senior Taliban officials had been negotiating with Afghan authorities on a possible ceasefire. Nearly 17 years after they were toppled from power, the Taliban are resurgent, with Afghan forces -- who have taken the lead in the conflict since NATO combat troops pulled out in 2014 -- struggling to contain them, while civilians pay a disproportionate price in the fighting. "(The) Afghan government directs all the security and defence forces of the country... to stop all the attacks on the Taliban, but the operation will continue against Daesh (Islamic State), Al-Qaeda and other international terrorist networks," Ghani said in an official statement. Ghani added that more details about the ceasefire would be revealed during a "massive gathering" next week but did not elaborate further. Deputy interior affairs minister General Akhtar Mohammad Ebrahimi said that if security forces are attacked during the ceasefire period, "your security and defence forces will respond". General Mohammad Sharif Yaftali, the army chief of staff, added that if the ceasefire holds it "could be extended". The US will also "honour" the ceasefire, US Forces in Afghanistan said in a statement, though it seconded Ghani's stipulation that this did not extend to IS and other groups. "We will adhere to the wishes of Afghanistan for the country to enjoy a peaceful end to the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, and support the search for an end to the conflict," said General John Nicholson, head of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan. - 'One-sided' - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged the Taliban to observe the ceasefire and enter into direct peace talks with the Afghan government. He urged the Taliban to "reciprocate the temporary ceasefire and accept President Ashraf Ghani's peace offer to commence direct talks to bring an end to the long suffering of the Afghan people". Last month, the Pentagon said that ceasefire negotiations with the Taliban were ongoing. However analysts were sceptical of any positive response, saying Ghani's announcement appeared to be unilateral. Kabul-based political analyst Haroon Mir said the Taliban were "highly unlikely" to agree to a ceasefire, and suggested it was more of a political move by Ghani. "I doubt this announcement will change anything on the ground," he added. Rahimullah Yusufzai, a Taliban expert based in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, agreed. "A ceasefire normally is negotiated... This is one-sided and I don't expect the Taliban to respond positively," he told AFP. The announcement comes days after a gathering of Afghanistan's top clerics in Kabul called for a ceasefire and issued a fatwa against suicide bombings. An hour after the fatwa was issued on June 4, a suicide bomber detonated outside the gathering, killing seven people. The attack was claimed by IS, and was the latest demonstration of militants' ability to hit the capital, which has become the deadliest place in the country for civilians. It also showed that any ceasefire with the Taliban alone might have a limited effect on security, given the myriad other militant groups infesting Afghanistan. - 'They have to answer' - The Taliban view Ghani's government as illegitimate, and have previously said they would negotiate only with the US, whom they consider the main player in the conflict. In February Ghani unveiled a plan to open peace talks with the Taliban, including eventually recognising them as a political party. At the time he suggested a ceasefire would form part of the plan. The insurgents did not officially respond, but attacks have proliferated since then, especially in Kabul. However when coupled with the fatwa, the announcement does put pressure on the Taliban, Yusufzai said. "If it was only Ghani or the government, then the Taliban wouldn't have cared," he said. "This is the clerics ... The Taliban cannot just say they don't agree, they will have to come up with an answer." Social media users quickly called on the insurgents to agree to the ceasefire. Many were sceptical, though some were more hopeful. "I hope all parties involved announce ceasefire and not a single bullet is fired anymore," wrote Twitter user Sharyar Hadi. "We are tired of wars and killings." UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for the world body's mission in Mali to concentrate more on political goals, seeing serious shortcomings three years after a peace agreement. The UN stabilization mission, known by its French acronym MINUSMA, along with international partners "should reprioritize its actions to focus on political tasks," Guterres said in a report this week to the Security Council looking at renewing the force at the end of June. "I intend to explore ways of broadening MINUSMA's political role in support of the peace process," he said, citing a strategic review conducted this year. The government in Bamako and Tuareg-led rebels signed an agreement in 2015 which Guterres described as the "cornerstone" of the peace process in the Saharan country. But the review found that the peace agreement "had not resulted in enough meaningful progress on the ground," Guterres said. He voiced alarm that the security and humanitarian situations have kept declining since the signing of the pact and pointed to concerns of food shortages. Guterres said that the 12,500-strong international force faced a dilemma "between the need to reform and reconstitute the Malian defense and security forces while simultaneously supporting existing forces in addressing the current instability." Mali has been in disarray since 2012 when guerrillas linked to Al-Qaeda seized much of the north, staying in control until France launched a military intervention in January 2013. But vast parts of Mali remain outside the control of Malian, French and UN forces, who have faced frequent attacks. Authorities arrest two firm owners for not delivering Authorities have arrested two contractors in Sindhupalchok and Mugu districts as part of the Home Ministrys crackdown against non-performing and under-performing contractors. Hong Kong customs officers discovered nearly six tonnes of endangered wood with an estimated value of HK$6.9 million (US$884,600) in a shipment of gypsum boards from Malaysia. The haul of suspected red sandalwood the fourth such case foiled in the city this year brought the total quantity of seized high-value wood to 85 tonnes this year. The amount was more than double the 42 tonnes seized in the whole of last year. The manifest for the shipping container, which arrived from Port Klang, west of Kuala Lumpur, on May 30, said it held 16 piles of gypsum boards, according to the Customs and Excise Department. The container was selected for inspection because it contained gypsum boards which are rarely shipped from Malaysia, Assistant Superintendent Joy Wong Sek-yan of customs ports control group said on Wednesday. She said X-ray images aroused suspicions about the container before it was opened for inspection at the Kwai Chung cargo examination compound on Tuesday. The 5.7 tonnes of suspected red sandalwood were hidden in the hollow centres of 14 piles of gypsum boards, Wong said, adding that it was the first time such items were used to conceal smuggled goods. She said investigations were continuing. No arrests have been made. Superintendent Raymond Chan Wan-hung said officers were investigating where the consignment was headed. The wood was probably intended for use in the manufacture of high-end furniture, he said. The latest case follows the April 19 seizure of 23.8 tonnes of Honduras rosewood worth HK$2.4 million hidden in a shipping container from Honduras. On February 5, customs seized 26.16 tonnes of Thailand rosewood hidden in two shipping containers from Thailand. The haul had an estimated market value of HK$3.6 million. The previous month a consignment of 29.23 tonnes of Honduras rosewood worth HK$2.9 million was found in a container from Guatemala. Story continues Chan said customs would improve the exchange of intelligence with overseas law enforcement agencies to tackle such illegal activities. In Hong Kong, importing or exporting an endangered species without a licence carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail and a HK$10 million fine. Anyone importing or exporting unmanifested cargo faces seven years in prison and a HK$2 million fine. Members of the public may report any suspected smuggling activities to customs 24-hour hotline at 2545 6182. This article Hong Kong customs seize HK$7 million haul of rare wood smuggled from Malaysia first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018. More from South China Morning Post: An Iranian flag flutters in front of the IAEA headquarters in Vienna An Iranian flag flutters in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters in Vienna, Austria, January 15, 2016. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger By Francois Murphy and Sudip Kar-Gupta VIENNA/PARIS (Reuters) - Iran will not cooperate more fully with atomic inspectors until a standoff over its nuclear deal is resolved, its U.N. envoy said, as one signatory warned Tehran against moving ahead with preparations to boost its uranium enrichment capacity. Tehran meanwhile signalled its resolve to expand its enrichment capability by detailing plans to build advanced centrifuges - the machines that enrich uranium. European powers have been scrambling to salvage the agreement they signed in 2015 since U.S. President Donald Trump pulled Washington out last month and said he would reimpose far-reaching U.S. sanctions on Iran. Foreign and finance ministers from those three countries - France, Britain and Germany - have written to U.S. officials to stress their commitment to upholding the pact, and to urge Washington to spare EU firms active in Iran from secondary sanctions. An Iranian withdrawal from the deal, which lifted sanctions on Tehran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme, would "further unsettle a region where additional conflicts would be disastrous," the ministers wrote in the letter dated June 4 and seen by Reuters on Wednesday. Since the U.S. pullout was announced, authorities in Tehran have sent mixed signals on whether they believe the nuclear deal's remaining signatories, which also include China and Russia, can salvage it. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei said on Monday he had ordered preparations to increase uranium enrichment capacity if the agreement collapsed. Tehran also informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.N. nuclear watchdog that polices restrictions placed on its activities under the deal, of "tentative" plans to produce the feedstock for centrifuges. In Paris on Wednesday, French Foreign Minister Yves Le Drian told Europe 1 radio that, while that initiative remained within the framework of the nuclear deal, it was unwelcome and risked sailing close to a "red line". Story continues U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Twitter that Washington was aware of reports Iran plans to increase its uranium enrichment and he vowed not to allow Tehran to develop a nuclear weapon. "Iran is aware of our resolve," he said. Emphasising that Tehran's patience with European efforts to save the deal was not unlimited, its envoy to the IAEA said it had granted the three powers a few weeks. "A few weeks means a few weeks, not a few months," Reza Najafi said outside a quarterly meeting of the agency's Board of Governors in Vienna. STANDOFF He also dismissed calls by the IAEA to go the extra mile in cooperating with the nuclear watchdog's inspectors, telling reporters that, while the standoff over the deal continued, "no one should expect Iran to go to implement more voluntary measures." "But I should emphasise that it does not mean that right now Iran will restart any activities contrary to the (deal)," Najafi added. "These are only preparatory works." Iran's nuclear chief on Wednesday inaugurated work on a facility in Natanz plant in central Iran designed to build advanced centrifuges and said the centre would be fully functional in a month. "After the supreme leader's order we prepared this centre within 48 hours. We hope the facility to be completed in a month," Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, said on state television. Although the move was not a violation of the nuclear deal, it sent a strong signal to the West that Tehran would not succumb to the pressures. Answering a question about a remark by Pompeo last month that Iran must halt all uranium enrichment, Salehi said: "We are far beyond that point. That man has been talking for himself." The agency has said Tehran is implementing its commitments, but also called for "timely and proactive cooperation" on providing access for snap inspections. Diplomats who deal with the agency say an inspection in late April went down to the wire in terms of how quickly the IAEA team gained access to one site. (Additional reporting by Tom Koerkemeier in Berlin, Bozorgmehr Sharafedin in London and Eric Beech in Washington; writing by John Stonestreet; editing by William Maclean and James Dalgleish) By Kwiyeon Ha TOKYO (Reuters) - Ethnic Koreans in Japan loyal to Pyongyang hope next week's historic U.S.-North Korea summit will help bring reconciliation on the Korean peninsula and clarify their own murky legal status. Their optimism has built following April's upbeat summit of the leaders of North and South Korea and ahead of next Tuesday's meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore. "I thought reunification was something in the distant future, especially with all the sanctions" on the North, said 17-year-old Paeng Yu Na, who attends one of about 60 schools across Japan affiliated with the North. "But it now feels so much closer," said Paeng, who wears traditional Korean dress along with her classmates, although not outside the school walls to avoid attacks from Japanese right-wing nationalists. Wider Image photos: https://reut.rs/2LsLehc Paeng is one of the "zainichi" minority, Japan's largest such ethnic group, descended from Koreans who moved or were brought to the country during Tokyo's colonial rule of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945. Over the years, many ethnic Koreans have opted for Japanese citizenship, while others have taken South Korean nationality, totalling about 450,000. But a smaller community of about 30,000 have remained loyal to Pyongyang, stuck in a legal gray zone with permanent residency but no legal nationality, as the countries lack diplomatic ties. Born and raised in Japan, most differ little from Japanese people on the surface, speaking the language fluently and often marrying Japanese. But many have faced discrimination, with the ebb and flow of international politics shadowing their lives. Job opportunities for pro-Pyongyang Koreans were long limited to firms run by members of their community, including nightclubs, barbecue restaurants and pachinko pinball parlours. Some 90,000 in fact opted to leave for North Korea between 1959 and 1984, lured by the slogan "Let's go back to the fatherland!" Those numbers plunged in the 1980s as tales of the North's poverty spread. Story continues Others supported the North with steady cash remittances and by carrying goods on a ferry that made occasional trips between the two nations until tightening sanctions banned its port calls. Each new round of North Korean nuclear tests brought threats and abuse. Students like Paeng, once a not unfamiliar sight on Tokyo streets in their long, traditional uniforms, became particular targets. Hong Ryong Su, 49, a third-generation "zainichi", hopes the summit will yield not only a treaty ending the 1950s Korean War, which culminated in a truce that left both sides technically at war, but also improve conditions for the community. "Living in Japan, we see a new path opening that will also normalise relations between North Korea and Japan," Hong said over a meal of kimchi and stir-fried beef at his home in an industrial suburb of Tokyo. "We can't think of that starting without the first (summit) happening, so we'll be watching developments with bated breath," said Hong, adding that he stood ready to toast any successful outcome. It is unlikely that just one meeting will achieve a major breakthrough, however, said Ryom Mun Song, a professor of international relations at Korea University, which has ties to Pyongyang but is not recognised by Japan. "It will be difficult if each side just presents conditions the other side cannot accept," said Ryom, another third-generation ethnic Korean. "However, if both sides keep in sight the goal (of complete nuclear disarmament), and through confidence-building measures, address it step-by-step with further meetings, then I think we can expect great results." Suggestions for North Korea to follow Libya in scrapping its nuclear weapons irked many North Koreans in Japan, who drew an unfavourable parallel with subsequent events. "Didn't the United States say we should take the Libyan approach? But wasn't Libya ruined by this approach?" asked 95-year-old Baek Chong Won. Last month, North Korea criticized U.S. national security adviser John Bolton, who had urged it to give up its nuclear arsenal in a deal that would mirror Libya's abandonment of its program for weapons of mass destruction. But Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was deposed and killed by NATO-backed militants several years later. "How can we easily give up our nuclear weapons that North Korea developed when it had nothing to eat?" asked Baek, whose lapel pin portrayed the last two generations of North Korea's leaders, forebears of its current ruler. (Reporting and writing by Kwiyeon Ha, additional reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Olivier Fabre, Malcolm Foster and Clarence Fernandez) Focusing on deliveries in Greater Jakarta Area, Lalamove expects to secure around 2,000 driver-partners by the end of the year Hong Kong-based logistics startup Lalamove has been accelerating its expansion in Indonesia following the set up of its company in the market in February. Lalamove aims to give a different logistical approach from similar, existing companies. Lalamove Indonesia Marketing Manager David Ceasario explained that the companys business model offers last-mile delivery services for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to reach out to their customers. The service offers same-day delivery service with a two-hour maximum distance for one location, and an extra 30 minute for additional location. For the time being, the service only offers motorbike as a mode of transportation. Before we start operating, we had already done a market research for a year to make sure that what we provide is in line with what the market needs. For the time being we only offer motorbikes as a mode of transportation, considering the density of Jakarta as a city, Ceasario told DailySocial on Tuesday. The company is targeting motorbike riders to help them make extra income. The requirements are quite simple: They only have to provide data according to their drivers licence, citizen ID card, et cetera. The vehicles age should not be older than 10 years since its production. Driver-partners will then be required to attend a full-day training before they can officially be part of Lalamove. The goal of the training is so that they can understand the companys logistical SOP. [Running a] B2B service requires certainty and stability. We need to train the drivers so that they can be fully aware of it, with the goal that they can be responsible in doing their job, Ceasario said. Also Read: Lalamove raises US$100M Series C funding round led by Xiaomi founders ShunWei Capital Lalamove also paid extra attention to their customer service (CS) team, as the team will be directly in contact with customers when problems arise. This is why Lalamove decides to set up its own CS team instead of working with a third party. Story continues Our CS officers are also trained to be a pro-active problem-solver, to always ask for feedback from customers and partners, what needs to be improved, et cetera. Since we are working in B2B sector, trust is a very important element, thats why they have to be trained, Ceasario said. Lalamove features development lalamove_launch_indonesia_2 Lalamove offers two types of mobile apps with different functions. The first one was dedicated to driver-partner while the other one is for Lalamove users, both individuals and SMEs. The UI/UX was designed to be as simple as possible and to-the-point. The landing page displayed options for goods delivery. Users only have to put pick-up location and destination. The app will then calculate the shipping fee that has to be paid, with other additional charges for purchase service or round trip. Purchase service is a shopping service for end users that allows drivers to buy food and other goods for a maximum of IDR300,000 (US$21.6) per transaction. In other countries, Lalamove already have different kinds of unique logistics services. In Hong Kong we have a logistic service to pick-up pets, while in the Philippines we have a medicine delivery service, Ceasario said. Business owners are able to put a driver into their favourite list so that the driver will be prioritised every time the company placed an order. Users can also use the multi-drop feature for delivery to up to 10 destinations for each booking. Ceasario said that the company will continue on developing new features to adjust to the markets needs. There is a possibility that they are going to implement features that have already been launched in other markets. Also Read: Lalamove to launch same-day delivery service in Bangkok this June Future plan At the moment, the company is focusing on delivery in Greater Jakarta Area with 500 active driver-partners on board. Ceasario claimed that Lalamove opens an opportunity for drivers who are looking to make extra income with great flexibility. The company offers driver-partners a 20:80 commission for every transaction, which is considered competitive when compared with other ride-hailing services operating in Indonesia. The Lalamove service implements a flat tariff without considering peak hours. Users will have to pay IDR16,000 (US$1.16) for the first five kilometers, with IDR2,250 (US$0.16) per kilometer beyond that. Ceasario said that the company aims to keep on adding up the number of drivers until it reaches 2,000 persons by the end of the year. The company also plans to reach out to SMEs to join the platform and give their inputs. Lalamove is approaching 250 small business owners to test out the service, so that they can give their inputs to us, he said. In its early days, Lalamove claimed to have received 30-50 bookings each day, and the number is expected to increase as the number of users grow. There is also a possibility for them to expand to other cities such as Bandung and Surabaya. But Ceasario said that the team still has to perform in-depth research for the plan. Lalamove is also preparing for an open API so that it can become a new shipping option on various e-commerce platforms. With all these strategies we expect the public to start recognising Lalamove as an option, and that the features we offer can suit the markets needs, he closed. Founded in 2013, in addition to Indonesia, Lalamove is already available in Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, and China. The article Startup Logistik Lalamove Tawarkan Layanan Terpadu Same Day Delivery untuk Pengusaha UKM was written in Bahasa Indonesia by Marsya Nabila for DailySocial. English translation and editing by e27. Image Credit: DailySocial The post Logistics startup Lalamove offers same-day delivery for SMEs in Indonesia appeared first on e27. By John Geddie and Liz Lee KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - As Malaysia seeks to move beyond the excesses associated with nearly a decade of rule under ex-prime minister Najib Razak, one of his pet projects continues to rise irreversibly skyward to become the tallest building in Southeast Asia. Just months from completion, Exchange 106 - or Najib's tower as some locals call it - is one of only a few mega-projects cleared by a new government that has pledged to review deals struck by the previous administration, cut back debt, and root out high-level graft. Yet the 492-metre skyscraper remains an irritant as they try to dismantle Najib's legacy after the May 9 election upset that drove the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition out of power after it had run Malaysia for six decades since its independence from Britain. They can order that his photos be removed from government offices and that posters carrying his '1Malaysia' slogan be taken down. One staff member at the library of a government agency told Reuters they had even received a directive to "hide Najib's books" by not having them displayed on front desks. But it doesn't make sense to dismantle a giant skyscraper that is almost finished. Symbolically, the building will rise above the famous Petronas Twin Towers built during the previous term of returning Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad - Najib's mentor-turned-foe. But financially it could still hurt Malaysia. The new government has said funds raised to finance the project by scandal-plagued state fund 1MDB were not used for that purpose, and that its Indonesian developer needed an "injection of funds" from the government to keep the project on track. "The true picture was not told," new Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said in a video posted online. "It is better to get the building completed and owned by us than to let it be abandoned," he said. Lim said he could not disclose how much money the government has put into the project. Story continues Najib could not be immediately reached for comment. In just his first few weeks back in office, Mahathir has cancelled a planned high speed rail project between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, and pledged to renegotiate a deal with Chinese partners to build a 688-kilometre East Coast Rail Link. He has said both projects are too expensive and have limited economic benefit. Another big property development Bandar Malaysia hangs in the balance after a $1.7 billion deal to sell a majority stake to a Malaysian-Chinese consortium fell through in May 2017. A year on, the project has failed to attract any buyers. MONEY LAUNDERING PROBES Exchange 106 was conceived as the centrepiece of a financial district in Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur that would rival the likes of London's Canary Wharf. The Tun Razak Exchange - named after Najib's father and launched by Najib in 2012 - was expected to be a commercial, residential and leisure hub that would generate a gross development value (GDV) of more than 26 billion ringgit ($6.55 billion), create 500,000 jobs and lure more than 100 top global companies, marketing documents show. GDV is a metric used by real estate developers to determine how much a property is worth. However, the plan initially proved a tough sell, according to one source close to the project. Questions about the finances of project developer 1MDB, a state fund set up by Najib over a decade ago, started around 2013 and by 2015 it had become the centre of money laundering investigations in multiple countries. In a statement last month, the finance ministry said some $3 billion of debt raised by 1MDB to fund the development of the complex in 2013 was not used for that purpose. Today, the 70-acre site remains largely undeveloped and is dominated by a gleaming tower of glass and steel - Exchange 106 - rising from its centre. Some big foreign firms have signed up. Banking group HSBC and insurer Prudential plan to move their country headquarters into other buildings on the site, and Australian property firm Lendlease penned a deal to develop a complex consisting of a hotel, residential blocks and a shopping centre. A number of plots remain unsold, though, and the government is yet to clarify publicly whether it will stick to the initial plans for the huge new financial district. Prudential declined to comment. HSBC did not respond to a request for comment. Lendlease said in a statement: "We look forward to working with the new government". As for Exchange 106, the finance ministry in March confirmed it had bought back a 51 percent stake in the building, after initially selling all of it to Indonesian developer Mulia Group for 665 million ringgit (125.24 million pounds). At the time the ministry said its participation was pre-agreed and was necessary because of the building's strategic location and iconic nature. Lim has since said that the development "needed an injection of funds". A spokeswoman for Mulia said around half the building has been leased since it was first marketed back in 2016. She declined further comment. Local media reported it is mainly local firms that have signed up, with real estate agents saying some parts of the design may not appeal to multinational companies. For example, Sarkunan Subramaniam, managing director at Knight Frank Malaysia, who has visited the site recently, said unlike other modern office buildings, the floors in Exchange 106 are not raised to allow for underfloor wiring for workstations. That could be a problem for any companies that need lots of bandwidth, such as investment banks with big trading floors. The market conditions also do not augur well for the project. Malaysia's capital has been experiencing an oversupply of office space in recent years, especially as oil and gas companies have downsized their operations. With new properties entering the market in the coming years, the vacancy rate for office space in Kuala Lumpur is expected to go up from the current 15 percent to about 17 percent, said CBRE-WTW managing director Foo Gee Jen. (Reporting by John Geddie and Liz Lee in KUALA LUMPUR; Editing by Martin Howell) More Americans flee US consulate in China as mysterious sonic sickness linked to Cuba illness spreads More US citizens have been evacuated from a US consulate in Guangzhou, China, after suffering what appears to be the same strange, sound-related illness that befell Cuba consulate workers in 2016, it emerged on Wednesday. Consulate worker Mark Lenzi and his wife heard strange noises over the course of several months before falling ill with what they described as neurological symptoms, The New York Times reported. On Wednesday night they were flown to the US with their children, including a three-year-old boy who was also affected. Speaking to The Washington Post that same day, Lenzi described the sound as being like marbles bouncing and hitting a floor then rolling on an incline with a static sound. US diplomat in China shows symptoms of mild brain injury similar to Cuban illness They asked their neighbour if he was responsible, but he denied it. Months later, the couple began to develop excruciating headaches and suffer sleep deprivation as did their son. Consulate doctors prescribed painkillers and sleeping tablets, they said. Then, last month, he found out that their neighbour had been evacuated from the consulate, having suffered similar symptoms. Those included subtle and vague, but abnormal, sensations of sound and pressure, the State Department said at the time. He was checked and diagnosed with a mild traumatic brain injury, the State Department said. That statement also said the government did not know of any other cases - which was a lie, Lenzi told The Washington Post; he said hed filed reports with both the consulate and the State Department. He also said that the State Department froze out his security clearances after he spoke up, making it impossible for him to work at the consulate, and that he is now calling for the resignation of the US ambassador to China, who is based in Beijing. Mark is a very capable guy, Lenzis friend, political consultant Michael Getto, told the Post. If he says something is wrong or amiss, then it is. Story continues A State Department medical team has flown in to Guangzhou and is performing tests on other employees and their family members, the Times reported. There are around 170 workers at the site, plus family members. China says it hasnt found reason or clues behind US workers brain injury The Guangzhou illnesses follow identical cases that occurred at the US embassy in Havana, Cuba, in 2016, when 24 people - all embassy workers and their families there - suffered the same symptoms. Those symptoms included dizziness, headaches, tinnitus, fatigue, cognitive issues, visual problems, ear complaints and hearing loss, and difficulty sleeping, the State Department said at the time. Tests concluded that they had suffered injuries consistent with concussion or minor brain injury. In the wake of the initial illnesses, speculation on the cause included the possibility of targeted sonic attacks that might cause such disruption. The US, blaming Havana, expelled Cuban dignitaries following the incident. The Associated Press later obtained a recording of what it said were the sounds heard by the sufferers before they fell ill. Other theories in the matter include bacterial poisoning, a toxic attack, surveillance devices that have emitted disabling sounds and mass hysteria. On Tuesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the launch of The Health Incidents Response Task Force, which had been created to respond to the unexplained ailments, including testing workers and families at the Guangzhou consulate. The task forces role includes identification and treatment of affected personnel and family members, investigation and risk mitigation, messaging, and diplomatic outreach. In the same announcement, he said that 24 US government personnel and family members who served in Cuba have been medically-confirmed as having symptoms and clinical findings similar to those noted following concussion or minor traumatic brain injury, as well as the initial China consulate victim. The precise nature of the injuries suffered by the affected personnel, and whether a common cause exists for all cases, has not yet been established, he added. On May 24, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said in a regular press briefing that China had investigated the initial May 16 case, but had not found a reason for the illness. China has conducted a very careful investigation and has given preliminary findings to the US, and we havent found the reason or clues that led to the situation mentioned by the US, he said. China has always followed the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations and consular relations to protect the US diplomatic staff and staff from other countries. This article More Americans flee US consulate in China as mysterious sonic sickness linked to Cuba illness spreads first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018. More from South China Morning Post: Every day we read news of insane Orwellian moments from China, but do they fairly depict the situation on the ground? The article Opinion: China isnt the AI-powered dystopia you think it is was written by Max Parasol for TechNode. In the 18th century, English philosopher Jeremy Bentham envisaged a theoretical Panopticon prison with one guard observing all the inmates, who were unable to tell whether they were being watched. Media reports have increasingly drawn parallels between Benthams panopticon and surveillance in China. These reports have noted various signs with apprehension: a pervasive use of facial recognition applications, surveillance systems, and plans for a universal social credit system. China strives to be a world leader in new technologies, yet at the same time, it has created a cyber regime that may hamper Chinese innovation by making international collaborations problematic. Access to major overseas markets and research facilities will be hindered for some companies with a close association to the Chinese security apparatus. An AI-powered Chinese dystopia faces many obstacles, including: The immense practical difficulty of creating a unified social credit system; The positive innovations of facial recognition companies; Increased transparency from open source algorithms; Greater demands for privacy protection from Chinese citizens. Creating a unified social credit system is hard The development of a social credit system in China may seem sinister, but three elements invite moderation: the system is not one unified apparatus, it began attempting to solve a huge problemthe large unbanked economyand it has run into many hurdles. In July last year, the Chinese government delayed the public launch of the program, announced in 2014, saying the siloed data was unscientific. This is because the government and eight tech companies each operate a separate pilot scheme, for which they use only their own proprietary data, refusing to share it with each other. Story continues Theres now a widely shared view that Chinas vast data reserves that power the pilot credit systems will also help Chinese AI development. But previously Chinese bureaucracies kept siloed and haphazard data sets, including for calculating personal credit. Further, China is also notorious for its shadow banking industry. The future social credit system could help to control this murky shadow banking industry, currently without regulatory oversight. Read more: Chinas Social Credit System: AI-driven panopticon or fragmented foundation for a sincerity culture? The private sectors internet data sets can solve this problem. Also Read: Thai accelerator Krungsri RISE seeks to boost corporate innovation with the launch of its 3rd cohort These datasets are also relatively new. WeChat was only released in 2011 and WeChat Pay came along in 2014. Alipay was founded in 2004, super-charging Alibabas e-commerce empire with its Western legal version of trust: the escrow system. This is the same trust problem that these pilot credit systems attempt to resolve. Some aspects of the pilot social credit systems are bizarre and highly disruptive. For example, when jaywalkers get fined, it lowers their credit score and the government will not allow people with low scores to travel via plane or train. For the companies running their pilots, like Alibaba and Tencent, this becomes a PR problem. And there are also many global examples of companies making credit decisions based on non-traditional but otherwise reliable data: the Philippines Lenndo, German Kreditech, and Hong Kongs WeLend, that also has a successful Chinese subsidiary (). These are private companies, and Chinas social credit systems are initiated by the government, but creating a lending system through non-traditional but otherwise reliable data is viable with some checks and balances. Social credit system watchers have known for a while, as academic Rogier Creemers put it, that: [t]he primary role of the [social credit system] is to engineer trust in the marketplace and in social conduct, as well as providing means of internal oversight of government officials. In that sense, its actually quite boring. The jury is still out on Chinas social credit experiment. In its final form, it may not be a government-run system of control but rather a badly needed banking product. Tech companies offer multiple products In China, you can start to board trains, flights, or even pay for your KFC meal using facial recognition. While much of this rapid innovation has been driven by consumer convenience, some of the products resemble an episode of the dystopian sci-fi TV series Black Mirror. But tech companies offer multiple products. Companies that develop facial and voice recognition technologies, also build products in fields like medicine. iFlytek is investing resources into medical diagnostics, including creating a robot that passed Chinas medical exam. This will help the scarcity of doctors in rural China. Along with smart city partnerships with Microsoft, YITU Tech worked with Alibabas cloud computing arm to build a real-time cloud system for the Guizhou Traffic Police. The company is also looking at tough medical problems we all face, like using AI to diagnose lung cancer. In addition to being deployed in hospitals around China, YITU Tech has signed strategic agreements with hospitals from Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan. We cannot understate the tenacity and skill of Chinese entrepreneurs in building talented teams, creating new innovative products and better algorithms, and building global partnerships. They walk regulatory tightropes with great skill. Chinas Skynet is opaque There are, of course, also various potentially more sinister aspects of facial recognition. Now the worlds second largest AI start-up firm, SenseTime said recently that as far as it knows, Chinese police have only used the companys tech to catch criminals. For these companies, this is a hard PR problem for global expansion. There are CCTV cameras everywhere globally, the issue is the opaqueness of the Chinese system. Hikvision (), a real-time surveillance program for public security, is a key player in Chinas Skynet surveillance system. It is also a major supplier in the surveillance industry globally. The Chinese government owns a 42% stake in Hikvision, which makes a fifth of all cameras currently sold worldwide. In 2017, BBC reporter John Sudworth agreed to be tracked by the system. It took just seven minutes for it to locate and apprehend him. At the same time, the companys facial recognition system has reportedly decreased red light violations by over 90 percent at one intersection in Suqian, Jiangsu. Xie Yinnan, VP of Megvii (Chinas third largest AI company), told NPR that the governments procurement of facial recognition technologies has helped rapid innovation. The government is pushing the need for this technology from the top. So companies dont have big obstacles in making it happen, Xie said. In America, people are too busy discussing how they should use it. Watch: Facial recognition is on the rise in China We just provide the government the technology, and they do their job with it. Cameras in China are set at 2.8 meters above the ground, he added. That means they wont be able to capture human faces. Thats a rule. Chinese citizens know that, so they dont think about it too much. But that statement needs to be validated, as privacy concerns increase in China and a new privacy regime emerges. The Chinese demand for privacy Western media often say that Chinese people dont worry about privacy, but the evidence is mounting against this notion. In late March, a Chinese TV investigation found that users of free WiFi apps did not actually understand that by using the apps, they were agreeing to upload a list of all the networks they have ever connected toincluding their own homes and workplaces. Users were able to save on mobile data at the cost of giving their own personal data. Furthermore, according to a recent survey carried out by State-run CCTV and Tencent Research, 76.3 percent of the 8,000 participants feel that AI is a threat to privacy. According to the survey, they mostly fear facial recognition technologies. There is a greater public consciousness of these new emerging technologies. And Chinas privacy regime is evolving: the government is legislating new protections like the countrys new Cyber Security Law that, amongst other aims, bans online service providers from collecting and selling users personal information. New Chinese privacy standards also took effect on May 1, 2018. Of course, these legal rules may not pertain to the Chinese government but there are indications of growing citizen awareness of data privacy. This is a growing issue for Chinas tech companies. YITU Tech research scientist Dr. Wu Shuang said in March that better understanding of facial recognition is needed for reasonable public dialogue. Dr. Shuang said the technology is still misunderstood: I believe facial recognition has improved a lot in recent years, he noted, It is still not widely understood how much better we have gotten, even in the industry. The industry and general public have to be informed about this rapid progress, and then we can talk about how to apply such advanced technology in a more reasonable way. We need to establish industry standards, and also policy-makers need to set up policies and regulations for facial recognition to be used properly and widely, and to void the ambiguities and doubt about how it can be used. In other words, policy has not yet caught up with the technology. A global push means an open source approach Privacy is a universal issue and PR is increasingly important for companies seeking to go global. On March 28, Hikvision announced it would provide open source access to its AI technology. Hikvision manufactures front-end cameras and AI chip powered data analysis systems. The company will also be opening an AI development platform, and the companys AI Cloud will be merging algorithms from other AI companies. How this will work remains unclear but this Chinese report provides some explanation, saying Hikvision aims to build a global security industry ecosystem. In early March, Hikvision also opened a new Source Code Transparency Center (SCTC) in California attempting to demonstrate its commitment to security and transparency. Similar data centers may also be possible in China under the countrys new Cyber Security Law. Also Read: The Reign of Peng: Is Lucy what Lazada needs? These are either PR exercises or a genuine attempt to share source code. And there are caveats to these sorts of disclosures. But Hikvisions global business partners can decide that. Nevertheless, in late May the US government banned Hikvision in the US, citing security concerns. An open source software approach does not prevent companies like Hikvision from closely assisting the Chinese government in creating an Orwellian surveillance system. However, it is a sign of the unresolved public-private tensions, as Chinese companies increasingly go global and exponentially need global R&D talent to develop AI products. Public perceptions This is a new era built on the polarity of decentralized open data blockchain and proprietary dataset-driven AI. Many ethical questions will need to be addressed by Google, Facebook, and Amazon and by Chinese AI companies: Baidu, iFlytek, Sensetime, and Hikvision. So while fears of a Panopticon 2.0 persist, various domestic, international and commercial factors may prevent it from being realized. And as demands for privacy grow louder globally, China too is beginning that conversation. Benthams dystopia is not guaranteed. Photo by Mojor Zhu on Unsplash The article Opinion: China isnt the AI-powered dystopia you think it is first appeared on TechNode. The post Opinion: China isnt the AI-powered dystopia you think it appeared first on e27. Shane Dowrich compiled a patient, invaluable hundred and enjoyed stubborn support from Devendra Bishoo in frustrating Sri Lanka's bowling and lifting the West Indies to 350 for seven at tea on Thursday. In the face of mounting criticism over his place in the team, especially after vulnerability to short-pitched bowling was exposed in the two-match series in New Zealand six months earlier, Dowrich responded in the best possible manner with a determined effort on the second day of the first of three Tests. He reached his second Test century off the final ball of the session at the Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad, turning a delivery from Rangana Herath through square-leg to reach the landmark off the 282nd delivery he faced and after more than five hours in the middle. There were ten fours to embellish an innings that will nevertheless be remembered more for its doggedness than the extravagance which he curtailed to a considerable degree. Dowrich's partnership with Bishoo was worth 102 for the seventh wicket, an effort which began late on the first day and continued deep into the afternoon session of day two when the lower-order player eventually fell for a vital innings of 40. Senior seamer Suranga Lakmal took a deserved second wicket of the innings via a catch at gully by Roshen Silva as Bishoo flashed once too often at the faster bowlers to again fall short of a maiden Test half-century. With concerns over the fitness of Lakmal and champion left-arm spinner Herath clearly hampering his ability to engage his bowling resources as effectively as he wanted to, Sri Lankan captain Dinesh Chandimal employed his other options without success. Seamers Lahiru Gamage and Lahiru Kumara, who picked up three wickets and was by far the best of the bowlers on day one, together with off-spinner Dilruwan Perera failed to make any real impact on the overnight pair as batting conditions improved through the day. - Rain delays - Rain had limited play to just 43 minutes in the morning session during which time Dowrich and Bishoo added 22 runs without ever looking to be in any real discomfort. A brighter afternoon appeared to work in favour of the batsmen as the bowlers failed to present any effective challenge to the pair. As is his tendency, Bishoo occasionally flirted with danger in attempting to take on the occasional short-pitched deliveries, more than once getting a top-edge that fell clear of the desperate fielders. When his luck eventually ran out, new batsman Kemar Roach played with typical stoicism in support of Dowrich's quest for a hundred. Nerves were getting the better of the wicketkeeper-batsman in the final over before tea, though, when a sweep was top-edged out of the reach of the close fielders. It brought him two runs to take him to 99 and it was with a mixture of relief and celebration that he greeted the single that took him to the landmark. He resumes in the final session of the day in partnership with Roach and the West Indies still thinking of getting close to a total of 400. Lakmal, the lone wicket-taker for the day, has been by some distance the pick of the Sri Lankan bowlers on day two with Herath still looking a bit short of work despite bowling 27 overs. Confusion in RJP-N over party establishment day The Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal, which was formed last year following a merger of six Madhes-based fringe parties, has yet to decide on the date for partys first national convention. King Felipe VI on Thursday swore in Spain's new pro-EU government, with women holding the majority of ministerial posts. Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez named 11 women to top posts including defence and economy in a cabinet with six male ministers. That makes it the European government with the highest ratio of female cabinet ministers, ahead of Sweden's, which has 12 women and 11 men. But Sanchez's administration risks not lasting until the end of the current mandate in 2020, however, given the fragmented state of Spain's political parties. His Socialist Party holds just 84 seats in the 350-seat congress, the smallest parliamentary presence of any Spanish government since the return to democracy in the 1970s. Sanchez, 46, ousted conservative veteran Mariano Rajoy as prime minister last Friday in a parliamentary no-confidence vote. The vote was sparked by corruption convictions against former officials from Rajoy's Popular Party (PP), which had governed for six years. - Equality a priority - At Thursday's ceremony, the ministers broke with tradition by taking their oaths on the constitution rather than the Bible. They followed the example set by Sanchez, who became the first Spanish prime minister to forego religious symbols during his own swearing-in on Saturday. The first minister to take the oath was veteran Socialist Carmen Calvo, a former culture minister, who became deputy prime minister and will also be in charge of equality. Equality is a priority for Sanchez's government in a country where women staged an unprecedented strike to defend their rights in March. Calvo said her government would work to "build the greatest equality, that between men and women". The first measure the Socialists will propose to congress concerns gender violence training for judicial officials, the head of the party's parliamentary group, Adriana Lastra, told reporters. - 'An ordeal' - With its parliamentary minority, the government will rely on the votes of far-left party Podemos as well as Basque and Catalan nationalist lawmakers who supported his confidence motion. Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias wished the new government "good luck", adding during a TV interview that trying to govern with such a small minority "would probably be an ordeal" for Sanchez. Podemos is pushing for greater social spending -- a delicate issue given the European Union's demands on budgetary discipline. Sanchez has said the "main priority" will be to respect Madrid's deficit reduction commitments to the EU. Spain has promised to reduce its deficit to 2.2 percent of GDP in 2018, which would bring it at last under the three percent limit set by Brussels. To maintain "stability," Sanchez has also pledged to implement the 2018 budget crafted by the previous conservative government which includes pensions hikes and a salary increase for civil servants. Sonia Lopez, a 40-year-old pastry chef, said she was not "expecting anything" from the new government. "Before the government only looked after bosses, this one says it will look after workers. But if it does, it's because it's already competing for election next time round," she said as she smoked a cigarette outside the luxury Madrid hotel where she works. - Pro-EU government - EU budget manager Nadia Calvino was sworn-in as economy minister in a move welcomed by the EU Commission, and former European parliament president Josep Borrell became foreign minister. The new Spanish executive's pro-EU credentials sets it apart from certain other parts of Europe. They contrast with the eurosceptic stance of the populist government about to take office in Italy and the Brexit process in Britain. Anti-terror prosecutor Dolores Delgado became justice minister and former Supreme Court judge Margarita Robles defence minister. Other women have been put in charge of budget, education, employment and health. The new interior minister is Fernando Grande-Marlaska, an openly gay former judge at Spain's top-level National Court. He has handled cases against Basque separatist group ETA. New foreign minister Borrell, who fiercely opposes the independence movement in his home region of Catalonia, will be tasked with defending abroad his government's commitment to Spanish unity. Meritxell Batet, another Catalan, has been put in charge of relations with Spain's regions. She will have the prickly task of trying to ease the situation in her own deeply divided home region. Sanchez's new team also includes a minister in charge of science -- Spain's first astronaut, Pedro Duque. A man who threatened to detonate a fake bomb aboard a Malaysia Airlines flight from Melbourne while under the influence of drugs was jailed Thursday for 12 years by an Australian court. Kuala Lumpur-bound Flight MH128 was turned back to Melbourne in May last year shortly after take-off when Sri Lankan national Manodh Marks falsely claimed a portable speaker and battery pack he was carrying was an explosive. The 25-year-old who had taken methamphetamine, commonly known as "ice", on his way to the airport and was experiencing delusions, tried to enter the cockpit while threatening to "destroy" the plane with a bomb. "The passengers and the crew certainly were not only concerned, but convinced, that you were indeed in possession of a bomb," Victoria County Court judge Michael McInerney said in handing out the sentence. Several passengers tackled Marks to the ground and bound his hands and feet with plastic ties. The judge found there was no suggestion of pre-planning or a terror-related motivation from Marks. "However that psychotic state was induced by his own actions," the judge said. "Given the serious nature of this crime, there is a need for general deterrence and also specific deterrence." "This crime is clearly and obviously at the very serious level," McInerney added. The catering student had been released from a psychiatric institution the day before the flight. He pleaded guilty to attempting to take control of an airplane and was sentenced to 12 years, and will serve a minimum of eight years. It was the first time anyone in Australia has been sentenced for the offence. Marks started using ice after arriving in Australia in 2016 and had entered treatment facilities suffering drug-induced psychosis a number of times, the court heard. There were 220 people on the plane, which was dramatically stormed by armed police officers when it got back to Melbourne. ddc/mp/amz Malaysia Airlines A Taiwanese think tank has called on Taipei to lease part of a Taiwan-controlled islet to the US military, a highly explosive move certain to infuriate Beijing and escalate tensions in the South China Sea if realised. The bold proposal by some experts of an unnamed pro-independence think tank calls for the Pentagon to set up a base on Taiping Island for humanitarian and rescue operations, according to local news media. Taiping, the biggest islet in the Spratly chain, is technically controlled by Taiwan, though an international arbitration tribunal has ruled that it is merely a land formation over which no claimants are entitled to claim sovereignty. Citing an unnamed source, the Taiwan edition of Next Magazine reported on Monday that some researchers from the think tank suggested Washington could benefit from stationing troops on Taiping as it continued to face off with Beijing over the South China Sea. Beijing has established military strongholds on artificial islands it has built in the waters, while Washington can only shore up its position by sending warships on patrols through the region, the source was quoted as saying. The scholars said that leasing part of Taiping to the US military would not only allow the US to have a military base in the South China Sea but would also indirectly help Taiwan uphold its sovereignty over Taiping. Taiping is also claimed by Beijing, Manila and Hanoi. The report said the proposal was supported by a number of senior military officials. But one military source told the South China Morning Post that it was unlikely the defence ministry would agree to such a proposal. It would not only further escalate the tensions in the South China Sea and the region, but would also bring high risks to Taiwan, the source said. Story continues Actually, it is not the first time we have heard this kind of proposal. The source said the idea was raised soon after Tsai Ing-wen of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) became president in 2016. At the time, Taiwan was waiting for the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague to hand down its decision in a case brought by the Philippines against China over claims to a vast part of the South China Sea, including Taiping. Then defence minister Feng Shih-kuan firmly rejected the idea, saying he will never agree with it, the source quoted Feng as saying. Military expert Lu Li-shih said that if the government did go ahead and lease Taiping to the US military, China would apply even stronger pressure to squeeze Taiwan. Beijing considers self-ruled Taiwan to be a wayward province subject to eventual unification, by force if necessary. It has warned other countries against offering military help to the island and suspended official exchanges and talks with Taipei since Tsai took office and refused to accept the one China principle. DPP legislator Wang Ding-yu said the prospect of further escalation the regions tension and the willingness of the US to lease Taiping would have to be factored into any decision on the proposal. We need to think from various angles about whether the proposal is actually in Taiwans interests, Wang said. Opposition Kuomintang legislator Lee Hsiu-yen said the Tsai government must assess it could bear all the consequences and pressure from a highly provoked Beijing. This article Taiwanese think tank floats South China Sea base plan for US troops first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018. More from South China Morning Post: The Communist Partys top political adviser has openly derided the Cultural Revolution for damaging traditional Chinese culture, in a rare reference by a senior Chinese official to the dark chapter in the partys history. The Cultural Revolution eliminated a large part of both the essence and the dregs of traditional culture on the mainland, said Wang Yang, chairman of the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference, Chinas top political advisory body. But Taiwan preserved it well. Wang made the assessment on Wednesday in a meeting with a group of about a dozen Taiwanese working in Fujian province, across the strait from Taiwan, according to the Taipei-based Central News Agency. Beijing has suppressed public discussion on the Cultural Revolution, a decade of political and social turmoil set off in 1966 by then supreme leader Mao Zedong, over fears of a backlash against the partys rule. Such suppression has intensified in recent years under President Xi Jinpings push to stem historical nihilism, or any challenges to Beijings official narrative of the past. Controversy over Chinese textbooks Cultural Revolution chapter as state publisher denies censorship In the meeting in Xiamen on Wednesday, Wang highlighted Taiwans retention of the traditional Chinese system of borough chiefs, a form of administration that disappeared in mainland China after the communists took power. Taiwans borough chiefs are elected village-level officials and the system dates back to around 700BC. The meeting was also attended by Liu Jieyi, Beijings top official overseeing cross-strait relations, and Fujian party boss Yu Weiguo. Responding to comments from the Taiwanese attendees, Wang acknowledged there was work to be done to improve overall conditions in mainland China but did not elaborate. Wang also underlined Beijings strategy of courting Beijing-friendly camps in Taiwan and attacking opponents. Soft policies will be softer, but hard ones will be harder against pro-independence sentiment. We will walk a fine line, Wang said. Story continues Why are so many Chinese nostalgic for the Cultural Revolution? As part of that approach, Beijing introduced a raft of measures in March that it says are designed to give Taiwanese companies and individuals freer access to opportunities and benefits in mainland China. Among other things, the new measures will allow Taiwanese companies doing business in mainland China to tap into the Made in China 2025 programme, the central governments blueprint for upgrading the countrys manufacturing sector. The Taiwanese companies will also be able to bid for infrastructure projects, and claim various tax breaks. At the same time, the Peoples Liberation Army has stepped up air force and naval drills that many observers see as intimidation of pro-independence groups in Taiwan. This article Top Chinese Communist Party cadre criticises Cultural Revolution for damage to tradition first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull would "love" Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg to be grilled by Australian lawmakers, he said Thursday, in the wake of revelations the tech giant allowed Chinese smartphone makers access to user data. The social media behemoth has drawn renewed criticism after confirming it shared data with Chinese electronics firms, including Huawei which has been banned by the US military over cyberespionage concerns. Canberra has recently moved to strengthen its own intelligence capability amid growing fears of foreign, particularly Chinese, political interference. "Certainly there are a lot of concerns about Facebook -- about privacy," Turnbull told reporters in Brisbane. "I would welcome Facebook coming and testifying before our parliamentary committees. "Of course, we'd love to see the boss," he said when asked if Zuckerberg should appear personally. Social networks had rapidly become "dominant in every respect" of people's lives, the prime minister added, and it was important users were aware of how their data was used. The deputy chair of Australia's joint intelligence and security committee, Anthony Byrne, said the Facebook boss needed to explain to Australia's 15 million Facebook users why it was sharing their data with Chinese firms. "It is completely unacceptable that information from Facebook users has been slyly handed over to Huawei by Facebook," he told the Australian newspaper. "I want to know why Mr Zuckerberg allowed this to happen. If need be, he will be invited to appear before the (committee) in a public hearing to explain himself to our committee and the Australian people." The revelations come weeks after Zuckerberg was grilled in US Congress about the hijacking of personal data on some 87 million Facebook users by Cambridge Analytica, a consultancy working on Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign. Facebook said its contracts with phone makers placed tight limits on what could be done with data, and information obtained by Huawei was not stored on the firm's server. The social media giant said it was winding up the interface arrangements with device makers and its integration partnership with Huawei would end this week. Huawei has said that it has never collected or stored any Facebook data and has claimed any national security concerns were unfounded. Britain's Supreme Court said on Thursday it would have declared Northern Ireland's abortion laws incompatible with human rights legislation if not for a procedural technicality, in what pro-choice campaigners hailed as a victory. A majority of justices said they would have ruled the current law, which outlaws abortion even in cases of rape, incest and fatal foetal anomaly, incompatible with the European Convention on Human rights (ECHR). But a majority also ruled that the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC), which brought the appeal, did not have the power to "institute abstract proceedings of this nature". "It follows that the Supreme Court has no jurisdiction in these proceedings to give relief in respect of the challenge Northern Ireland abortion law," the ruling added. Despite not issuing an official ruling, the Supreme Court had delivered a victory for reformist campaigners, said the NICHR. "The highest court in the UK has today agreed with the Commission that Northern Ireland's laws on termination of pregnancy are incompatible with human rights," said Chief Commissioner Les Allamby. "We took this case to bring greater clarity to the law and we welcome the court's decision." The court's findings are likely to raise political pressure on London and Belfast to alter legislation, potentially setting Prime Minister Theresa May on a collision course with the anti-abortion Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and further complicating her Brexit plans. The DUP is the biggest party in Northern Ireland and also props up May's minority government, giving her the votes she needs to get Brexit legislation through the House of Commons. The devolved government in the British province is responsible for deciding abortion laws, but Westminster can step in if it is a human rights issue. Adding to the complication, Northern Ireland has been unable to form a power-sharing government for over a year. - 'Mental torture' - Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley, said the government was "carefully considering the judgement and its implications. "The analysis and comments from the court on the issue of incompatibility will be clearly heard by this House and politicians in Northern Ireland." Jonathan Mance was one of five of the seven judges who would have ruled that Northern Ireland's current laws contravene European legislation. "I would have concluded without real hesitation ... that the current state of Northern Ireland is incompatible with Article 8 of the Convention," he wrote, adding that "the present law clearly needs radical reconsideration". The judges decided, however, that they could not officially issue a ruling as the NICHR could only bring cases through specific victims, not on general principles. "If an individual victim did return to court in relation to the present law, a formal declaration of incompatibility would in all likelihood be made". Unlike in mainland Britain, abortion is illegal in Northern Ireland, carrying a potential life sentence, except when a woman's life is at risk or there is a permanent or serious danger to her mental or physical health. The NIHRC argued that the current law subjects women to "inhuman and degrading" treatment, causing "physical and mental torture" as it bans abortion in cases of rape, incest, serious foetal anomaly and fatal foetal abnormality. Four of the judges said that outlawing abortions in cases of rape, incest and fatal foetal abnormality would likely contravene ECHR rules. Another judge reached the same conclusion with regards to fatal foetal abnormalities, but not in the case of rape and incest. Bernadette Smyth, director of Northern Ireland-based anti-abortion campaign group Precious Life, said the decision to not issue a formal ruling "was upholding democracy". But Sarah Ewart, who travelled from Northern Ireland for a termination in England in 2013, said she was "relieved" by the court's actions. "I am relieved to hear the highest court in the land has recognised that Northern Ireland is in breach of human rights for people who find themselves with fatal foetal abnormality and have said that the law needs to be changed, so we will keep going until we get that change." Presidential Communications Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson MANILA, Philippines Presidential Communications Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson remains defiant against apologizing to Kris Aquino. In a 20-second video uploaded on Facebook in response to Aquinos rants, Uson tells Kris that the issue is not about her. Aquino took offense at Usons post on former Senator Benigno Ninoy Aquino being kissed by two women on the last flight he took before getting killed in Manila in 1983. Uson also said in a later post that she declines to apologize for the truth. Ito po ang aking response sa live video ni Ms. Kris Aquino. This is not about Kris Aquino. Tungkol ito sa paglagay ng malisya sa isang halik. Itinumbas lang sa gawain ng ibang lider tulad ng tatay niya, Uson said in the video message. (This is my response to the live video of Ms. Kris Aquino. This is not about Kris Aquino. This is about putting malice in a kiss. [The video] was to show similarity among leaders like his father.) In response, Aquino said she constantly tried to reach out to Uson to fix the issue. She also promised to end the spat by saying that Uson is right in saying this is not about her and that this is a reminder that Filipinos still love and respect Cory and Ninoy Aquino. President Rodrigo Duterte has already apologized to Aquino through Special Assistant to the President Christopher Bong Go. Duterte had drawn criticisms for the kiss that happened onstage after he addressed Filipinos in Seoul, South Korea. UNTV News & Rescue The post Unapologetic Mocha Uson tells Kris Aquino: This is not about you appeared first on UNTV News. 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. China should collaborate on multiple fronts to work through a three-way stand-off over trade between Beijing, Brussels and Washington, observers and diplomats have said. The need for a strategic balancing act has gained fresh urgency with Beijing and the European Union (EU) to hold high-level economic talks on June 25, according to a European source, after dialogue due last year was delayed. The two sides would also soon start a new round of talks on what would form the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment, covering market openness, the source said. There had been signs that Beijing and Brussels were ready to engage over trade and investment since Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He and European Commission Vice-President Jyrki Katainen agreed on May 24 to hold economic dialogue as soon as possible, but the discussions will have a complex backdrop. The EU and the United States hold similar positions on uneven intellectual property treatment and the slow pace of opening up market access in China, but have been in dispute on aeroplane subsidies for more than a decade. The EU and China share common concerns on the unilateral trade actions taken by the US, and its exit from the climate change accord and the Iran nuclear deal, but have long disputes on industrial overcapacity and anti-dumping rules. The situation is very complicated because the interests and conflicts of three parties intertwine, said Cui Hongjian, a senior fellow with China Institute of International Studies. It is not a simple friend-or-foe question. In the trade friction with the US, China has positioned itself as a defender of the multilateral global trade system and recently talked up a belief that joint efforts with the EU are necessary in countering the protectionism of Donald Trumps US administration. Story continues A diplomatic source said EU members were watching the US-China trade talks closely and were concerned about being squeezed out of the Chinese market if a deal was reached on large-scale Chinese purchase of US products. The EU, facing deepening rifts with the US, political uncertainties in Italy and increasing internal conflicts among member states, has carefully sought a balance with the other two parties. There are clear lines being drawn where China could find itself on the side of Europe, with the US on the other side Robert Carnell, ING Banks head of research for Asia-Pacific Right now, the way the Trump administration is behaving on matters from trade to climate to Middle East peace, there are clear lines being drawn where China could find itself on the side of Europe, with the US on the other side, said Robert Carnell, ING Banks head of research for Asia-Pacific. On an economic front, a series of trade tariff reductions and expansion of Belt and Road Initiative projects with Europe could provide a win-win for both Europe and China. But there remains an element of mistrust between China and Europe that stems, in my view, mainly from the US being Europes historic ally in both economic and military areas, and from Chinas viewpoint, it not being clear who the go-to person was in Europe: [German Chancellor] Angela Merkel or [European Commission President] Jean-Claude Juncker? The EU raised a complaint with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on June 1 against what it says is Chinas unfair requirement of technology transfer, putting itself in one camp with the US, which filed a similar dispute with the WTO in March following a probe of Chinas trade and technology practices. Meanwhile, the EU also filed a WTO dispute over the steel and aluminium tariffs imposed by the US, and threatened to impose tariffs on US products as a countermeasure. However, the union issued a joint statement with the US and Japan vowing to jointly set higher standards on state subsidies and state-owned enterprises than the existing WTO rules do, apparently targeting China. Concern about intellectual property (IP) protection has been one of the issues raised by the EU for years, but teaming up with US actions through the WTO on Chinas IP practices had also been one of the conditions for the EU to earn an exemption from steel and aluminium tariffs from the US, and it had been suggested inside the EU that it should solve the issue with the US by targeting Chinas overcapacity, said Cui. Peking University international relations professor Zha Daojing said the WTO was designed to function as a venue for continuous bargaining by and among its member states and it is just procedural for the EU to take China to the WTO and vice versa. He said that on some issues any two of the three shared similar concerns, so the trio just need to keep working at it at the WTO: it is the lowest common denominator. There is not that much of two members ganging up against one. Despite the deepening rift across the Atlantic, the EU was trying not to take a side with China or with the US on the trade front, while it had urged Beijing to abide by international rules on economic and geopolitical fronts rather than taking assertive actions, the diplomatic source said. Beijing and Brussels will hold their annual high-level summit in July, and the annual cabinet-level meeting between Beijing and Berlin will be held in the same month. Cui said the EU had limited scope to reshape transatlantic relations because of hefty reliance on the US on security issues, and it was more anxious than China to reinforce bilateral cooperation while being wary of mounting competition from China. China should not only deal with the EU authorities but also manage relations with big member countries, he said. China has many partners in Europe that share common interests. Beijing and Brussels have become more confrontational in recent years on a wide range of issues, including manufacturing overcapacity, market access, investment scrutiny, the South China Sea and human rights. The defence ministers of France and Britain said in Singapore over the weekend that they would sail warships through the South China Sea to challenge Beijings expanding military presence in the disputed waters. Discontent about the lack of investment reciprocity in China is widely believed to be a major factor in the EUs recent efforts to promote scrutiny of inbound investment. The EU and European companies have urged Beijing to reduce investment barriers, while Chinese companies have enjoyed much greater freedom to invest in Europe. In her visit to China late last month, Merkel made clear that Chinese investment continued to be welcome, said Michael Clauss, the German ambassador to China, adding that Germany remains one of the most open markets for foreign investment. However, such an exceptionally high degree of openness requires greater reciprocity from the Chinese side to be sustainable, he said. Another issue is a growing wariness in the European bloc of Chinas increasing economic presence and influence in central European countries, and the accusation that China is using a divide-and-rule tactic to push its global Belt and Road Initiative agenda in the region. Major European countries have refrained from solid endorsements of the initiative but have urged China to keep projects transparent and open for foreign players. The same diplomatic source said that western European countries could have a scrutinising role in ensuring belt and road projects abide by rules and regulations. Additional reporting by Catherine Wong This article Why Europe is pivotal player for China in a three-way trade puzzle first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018. More from South China Morning Post: (Woman who stripped naked at Pioneer MRT station on 6 June 2018. Photos: Social media) A 35-year-old Caucasian woman who stripped naked at Pioneer MRT station on Wednesday night has been arrested. Two photos of the woman on the stations platform have been circulating on social media. One shows the woman holding a mans hands while an SMRT staff wrapped a towel around her. Another photo shows the woman hugging the man next to two towels on the floor of the platform. The police received a call for assistance at the station on 6 June 2018 at about 10.30pm, the Singapore Police Force said in a statement on Thursday (7 June). The woman was arrested under the Mental Health Act. Four arrested for vandalising NEA Distribution Centre office Police have arrested four people for vandalising the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) Beni Distribution Centre that had caused power outage for more than eight hours for past three days. Govt rolls back decision to hike CGT threshold The government on Wednesday rolled back its decision to revise the capital gains tax threshold on the sale of bonus and rights shares following the protests from stock investors. Brendan Fraser is not happy with the Hollywood Foreign Press Associations response to a groping incident from 2003 involving the organizations former president. Earlier this year, Fraser publicly accused Philip Berk, who is still a member of HFPA, of touching him inappropriately during a luncheon 15 years ago. Multiple sources, including Berk himself, acknowledge that Berk touched Frasers backside that day, but Fraser said in a GQ profile that Berk did more than that: His left hand reaches around, grabs my ass cheek, and one of his fingers touches me in the taint. And he starts moving it around. Advertisement Berk has called Frasers version of events a total fabrication and explained the encounter as having pinched Fraser in jest, in reference to a false gossip item hed read about Fraser doing the same to someone else. The HFPA, which also investigated Frasers claims in 2003, commissioned a new independent investigation in response to the GQ story in which Fraser raised the allegations again. According to Fraser, the organization asked him to sign off on a joint statement, which supposedly read: Although it was concluded that Mr. Berk inappropriately touched Mr. Fraser, the evidence supports that it was intended to be taken as a joke and not as a sexual advance. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Frasers story is strikingly similar to that of Terry Crews, who became among the most prominent male voices to join the #MeToo movement when he accused a Hollywood agent, later identified as Adam Venit, of groping his privates at a Hollywood party in 2016. Venit responded to that accusation by issuing a general denial of the allegations, but he also clarified that his actions were not sexual. Advertisement HFPA used similar language in a new statement in which they affirmed their anti-harassment stance but noted that while they have apologized again to Fraser, they also conveyed our need to abide by the investigations finding that the exchange was not an intended sexual advance. Its notable that that distinctionthat the alleged touching was not sexual in naturehas now been brought up in response to two high-profile incidents, and in both cases, all parties involved were men. Fraser told GQ, If I was a woman, I question if Berk wouldve even been in a job in 2003. The full statement from HFPA is below. Zora Neale Hurston built her literary career on productive entanglement with the Southern black folk culture that nourished her. A native of the black town of Eatonville, Florida, Hurston showed a lifelong intellectual commitment to the voices of the men and women from whom she had learned what it meant to be black. She gave these voices, and the stories they told, the kind of respect that the literary establishment accorded to Greek tragedians. These stories whimsical tenor and sense of myth seeped into her own writing1934s Jonahs Gourd Vine, 1937s Their Eyes Were Watching God, and the 1942 memoir Dust Tracks on a Road. Borrowing from folklores mythic logic, she crafted lush, sensual, and exuberant tales of black life in the American South. In her hands, that life was characterized by its rich array of social relations and ingenious strategies for surviving under Jim Crow. Reading a Hurston novel, you find yourself set down in communities so abundant with life that white supremacy seems almost incidental; we encounter it as just another element among countless others. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Before she had mastered the command of folklore that allowed her to integrate black folk culture into her fiction, though, Hurston was a student anthropologist whod been dispatched to Alabama in December 1927. At the behest of Charlotte Mason, a wealthy white patron of Harlem Renaissance artists, Hurston had embarked on a mission to scour Alabamas Mobile Bay for whatever tales, music, poetry, and other folk culture might still exist among the regions black denizens. It was on that trip that she encountered the former slave Cudjo Lewis, also known as Oluale Kossola. The aging Kossola was ostensibly the last known survivor of the middle passage, the only remaining human who possessed firsthand knowledge of the traumatic journey from West Africa to American shores that transformed Africans into objects. In accordance with her mission to gather and preserve the remnants of cultural memory, Hurston traveled to Kossolas home in Africatown to understand how the kidnapped African was able to make a life in America. How does one sleep with such memories [as the middle passage] beneath ones pillow? she wondered. Put another way, how does one live after such immense loss? The manuscript that resulted from her inquiryKossolas first-person oral narration of his life in a West African village, abduction by slave traders, and overwhelming grief at the loss of his home and loved onesdid not see publication in Hurstons lifetime. Advertisement Reading Hurston, you find yourself set down in communities so abundant with life that white supremacy seems almost incidental. Literary scholar Deborah G. Plant has finally ushered that manuscript, which had been languishing for nearly a century as a curiosity in Hurstons archive, into publication. Originally completed in 1931, Barracoon: The Story of the Last Black Cargo tells a very different story than the sort Hurston staked her career upon. Hurstons novels and memoir are testaments to black lifes vibrancy, innovation, and improbable persistence. Barracoon centers on the violence necessary to transform kidnapped Africans into goods for sale; sitting with Hurston as she coaxes the recalcitrant Kossola to tell his story, were forced into an encounter with the open wound that is blacknesss prerequisite. Advertisement Kossola was born in the West African kingdom of Takkoi, and in 1860, the slave-trading kingdom of Dahomey raided his town. He and others were captured and eventually sold to the Georgia lumber-mill-owner Timothy Meaher. Despite the fact that the 1807 Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves imposed death on anyone caught trading flesh, Meaher retrofitted the lumber ship Clotilda so that it could hold human cargo. In the summer of 1860, he crossed the Atlantic and left the West African coast with captives, Kossola among them. By the time the ship arrived on the coast of Alabama, Kossola had been turned into a commodity, as interchangeable as the wood that the Clotilda had transported in years past. He labored for five years before emancipation, when idle Union soldiers informed him that he was free.* Kossola and other former slaves with memory of their home eventually bought land from Meaher, on which they founded Africatown. Advertisement Advertisement Barracoons publication doesnt mark the revelation of this history: The presence of illegally imported Africans into Alabama, and of Kossolas life in particular, was known even in Hurstons day. In 1925, Harlem Renaissance writer Arthur Fauset published the folktale Tappin in Alain Lockes seminal anthology of black writing, The New Negro. His source was none other than Kossola. Hurston herself had interviewed Kossola in his Africatown home on behalf of the anthropologist Franz Boas and historian Carter G. Woodson in 1927, and published an article about the interview in Woodsons Journal of Negro History. That article, its since been revealed, largely plagiarized information Emma Roche had published in her 1914 apologia for slavery, Historic Sketches of the South. In 2009, historian Sylviane Diouf published the stunning Dreams of Africa in Alabama, which tells the story of Africatown and its founders. Kossola features prominently on its cover. Advertisement Advertisement While this history might not be new, Barracoon offers a generative friction produced by the encounter between Hurstons luxuriant sense of black life and Kossolas volatile grief. The book unfolds from Hurstons perspective as a listener to Kossolas tale, and we hear her voice in interludes marked by her buoyant wit. However, Hurston rendered Kossolas story in first person, using dialect that evokes the distinct rhythms of his speech. In this way, she creates an image of Kossola as a griot who tells his story directly to the audience, just as she heard it. These two perspectives sometimes grate against one another: Kossolas sobering narrative of a human cruelty that traverses racial categories creates a drag against which Hurstons characteristic exuberance struggles to find its footing. Her insistence on black vigor runs headlong into knowledge of the tragedy that enabled it. In these moments, the book leaves us to ponder how the vitality Hurston dedicated her life to illustrating is intimately bound up in Kossolas nearly unspeakable anguish. Advertisement Advertisement Kossolas narrative is marked by a deep familiarity with violence and an irreversible sense of loneliness and loss. When Hurston tells him that she wants to make a record of his lifes story and the society he comes from, he breaks out in ecstatic joy. Thankee Jesus! he proclaims, Somebody come ast about Cudjo! I want to tellee somebody who I is, so maybe dey go in de Affickey soil some day and callee my name and somebody dere say, Yeah, I know Kossula. We sense the monumental contours of his grief not only at the deaths of his wife and children but also at the gaping wound that resulted from being torn from a home to which he will never return. His utmost desire is to be known again, to exist in a community of people with whom he shares a heritage and culture. Advertisement Advertisement Kossolas desire for Affickey soil mirrors a common Harlem Renaissance trope: the dreaming of an African homeland in which the historical wound that slavery inflicted on black subjects might be sutured. Works like Countee Cullens 1925 poem Heritage are characteristic of this trope. Positing a continuity between himself and his ancestors on the continent, the speaker in Cullens poem chafes at Western civilization, a culture whose mores constrain his natural African self. Advertisement Advertisement Barracoon undercuts the idea of that desire for return. Kossolas narrative presents an Africa that is not as whole as Harlem Renaissance writers theorized. His Africa is a place of cruelty and strife, stripped of any mythical innocence. Recalling the Dahomey attack that turned him into cargo, he conjures images of brutal violence. Some of the Dahomey soldiers snatch de jaw-bone while people ain dead. Oh Lor, Lor, Lor! De poor folkses with dey bottom jaw tore off dey face! The present tenses urgency suggests that Kossola is still caught in these memories traumatic embraceand that the stunning violence that characterized white supremacy in his contemporary American moment has some relation to the cruelty he experienced at the hands of the Dahomey slave traders. Advertisement This revelation of African complicity in the slave trade made enough of an impression on Hurston that she returned to it in Dust Tracks. The white people had held my people in slavery here in America, she wrote. They had bought us, it is true and exploited us. But the inescapable fact that stuck in my craw, was: my people had sold me and the white people had bought me. That did away with the folklore I had been brought up on my own people had butchered and killed, exterminated whole nations and torn families apart, for a profit before the strangers got their chance at a cut. Kossolas pain infected Hurston: After seventy-five years, he still had that tragic sense of loss, she observed. That sense of mutilation. It gave me something to feel about. Kossolas sense of having been mutilated produces a rupture in Hurstons previously safe folkloric knowledge of the black past. Advertisement Advertisement One gets the sense that this something to feel about motivates Barracoons aesthetic logic. The collision of Hurston and Kossolas voices produces a friction that seems intentionallike an attempt to transmit the experience of mutilation that Hurston herself was beginning to feel. In place of some mythical unity, Hurston centers the primacy of the barracoonthe temporary holding cell in which captives were kept before being shipped to Americaas an origin story for kidnapped Africans and their descendants. From his position in the barracoon in which he was held, Kossola succumbed to a state of profound bewilderment, a liminal space in which everything he knew was behind him, yet his fate was occluded: We stay dere in de barracoon three weeks. We see many ships in de sea, but we cain see so good cause de white house, it tween us and de sea. His view obstructed, Kossola is trapped in a state of suspension, halfway between human subject and degraded object. Advertisement Advertisement Reading this account, one feels the terror inherent in Kossolas situation. But in this state he also undertakes new forms of sociality that are radically different from what he knew before. De barracoon we in ain the only slave pen at the place, he remembers. Dey got plenty of dem but we doan know who de people in de other pens. Sometime we holler back and forth and find out where each other come from. But each nation in a barracoon by itself. Reading this passage, Im reminded of the literary critic and poet Fred Motens theorizing of the hold, that cramped space in which slaves were kept beneath the slave ships deck during the middle passage. To have been shipped is to have been moved by others, with others, Moten wrote in his 2013 book with Stefano Harney, The Undercommons. It is to feel at home with the homeless, at ease with the fugitive, at peace with the pursued. To be in the hold is to succumb to suspension, and to birth a new social logic in the face of rupture. Advertisement Advertisement Kossolas memory of his and other captives hollering feels like evidence of the vigor that Hurston assumed characterized blackness, and the ushering into existence of a new social logic born of that vigors protean relentlessness under slaverys pressure. If Kossolas experience defied the folklore on which Hurston was raised, it also gave her a deeper sense of how slaverys wound produced the black life she so cherished. Barracoon by Zora Neale Hurston. Amistad. Read all the pieces in the Slate Book Review. This article is published through a partnership with New York Medias Strategist. The partnership is designed to surface the most useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change. Every editorial product is independently selected by New York Media. If you buy something through our links, Slate and New York Media may earn an affiliate commission. Welcome to Reading Lists, comprehensive book guides from the Strategist designed to make you an expert (or at least a fascinating dinner-party companion) in hyperspecific or newsworthy topics, from microdosing and psychedelic therapy to French cooking. Here, weve compiled a list of essential books on writing, with guidance from novelists, poets, essayists, short-story writers, and writing teachers. Those surveyed (listed with their most recent books) included writing faculty members at the Writers in New York summer program at NYU (Said Sayrafiezadeh, Brief Encounters With the Enemy; Angelo Nikolopoulos, Obscenely Yours; and Craig Morgan Teicher, The Trembling Answers); and writing faculty members at Sarah Lawrence College (Brian Morton, Florence Gordon; Jo Ann Beard, In Zanesville; Jacob Slichter, So You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star; and Mary La Chapelle, House of Heroes); as well as Gabriel Packard, author of The Painted Ocean and associate director of Hunter Colleges MFA program; Halimah Marcus, executive director of Electric Literature; Paul La Farge, author of The Night Ocean; Kevin Guilfoile, author of The Thousand and contributor to The Morning News; and Leni Zumas, author of Red Clocks and associate professor of creative writing at Portland State University. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Each writer shared a list of books they consider essential reading for aspiring writers. The results reflected the diverse interests of the group surveyed, from classic writing manuals and 19th-century novels to contemporary works that blur the lines between fiction and nonfiction, poetry and prose. While dozens more titles in a variety of genres could be on this list, we only included ones recommended by at least two writers to give you the best shot at becoming the next Rachel Kushner or Michael Cunningham. Consider the eight books below an introduction to the writers library. For All Writers Advertisement Advertisement Theres a reason this succinct style guide will be on freshman composition syllabi ad infinitumor at least until we all give up and start writing exclusively in emojis: It teaches everything you need to communicate clearly and accurately in writing. Everyone should have a Strunk & White, said Guilfoile. I believe I own at least three copies and I suspect most professional writers have the entire text internalized. Packard said, Get your prose style down, at the level of the sentence, with the pithy wisdom contained in this book, not least of which is omit needless words. BUY: The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White $9, Amazon Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement With more than 100,000 entries along with usage and etymology for each, the Oxford English Dictionary is an invaluable resource for wordsmiths. I wish someone would give me an online subscription to the OED, said Marcus. I would waste time looking up all the words instead of wasting [time] on Twitter. La Farge prefers the print edition: Of course you can look words up online. But how will you stumble on the ones you dont know you dont know: ug, or apocalypst, or catoptromancy? BUY: Paperback Oxford English Dictionary $12, Amazon For Fiction Writers Advertisement Advertisement Packard called Letters to a Young Writer, from Colum McCann, National Book Award-winning author of Let the Great World Spin, the writing-advice book for our generation with fatherly guidance on living as a writer. McCann shares thoughts on craft, like writing dialogue and creating characters, as well as practical advice on finding an agent and choosing an MFA program. Sayrafiezadeh also recommended McCanns book and advised aspiring writers that it might be most helpful to start with the chapter Dont be a Dick. BUY: Letters to a Young Writer by Colum McCann $17, Amazon Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A collection of Forsters lectures given at Cambridge University in 1927, Aspects of the Novel gave writers a vocabulary for discussing craft, like distinguishing between flat and round characters and defining the elements of plot, thats still used today. Morton said the nearly one-century-old book is still fresh, thought-provoking, and funny like a guided tour of the house of fiction, given by a charming and knowledgeable practitioner. Zumas said its especially useful for thinking about plot. (Forsters oft-quoted definition goes, The king died, and then the queen died is a story. The king died, and then the queen died of grief is a plot.) Advertisement BUY: Aspects of the Novel by E.M. Forster $8, Amazon Advertisement La Chapelle chose this book for its provocative, paradigm shifting essays from a wonderful fiction writer and literary scholar. Baxter examines how storytelling in everyday lifelike political spin or our tendency to anthropomorphize inanimate objectsaffects ones writing. La Chapelle said I have circulated at least four of his essays in my craft classes for years. Zumas also enjoyed Baxters book and said its a regular fixture on the syllabi of her fellow writing teachers. Advertisement BUY: Burning Down the House by Charles Baxter $13, Amazon For Nonfiction Writers Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The New Yorker may have declared the personal essay over, but when written skillfully, ones personal story can transcend navel gazing and evoke universal human emotion. Teicher recommended this book from Lopate, an essayist and the former director of Columbia Universitys nonfiction program, for mastering the form: In this concise, opinionated guide, he delves deep into the concepts that make personal nonfiction workenvisioning oneself as a character, thinking aloud rather than just narrating events, and much more. Sayrafiezadeh said its a primer on how to create story out of our own lives, emphasis on story. BUY: To Show and To Tell by Phillip Lopate $9, Amazon Advertisement Advertisement For more guidance on giving your personal experiences a literary touch, Slichter likes writer Vivian Gornicks book, which draws on her experience teaching in MFA programs: Gornick addresses important questions facing writers [such as], Is my job as a memoirist to write an account of what happened, or is it something else? Am I the same person as the narrator who speaks from my pages? Beard also recommended this brilliant book: Its a kind of tutorial on how to see below the surface of our everyday lives. Theres the situation and theres the story, and they are linked but they are not the same. Searching for metaphorical meaning is crucial to anyone who wants to find emotional depth in their story. Advertisement Advertisement BUY: The Situation and the Story by Vivian Gornick $11, Amazon For Poets Teicher said Howes collection, written shortly after the death of her brother from AIDS-related complications, is one of the great books of poetry of the 1990s, a guidebook for how to hear, see, and understand ones feelings as much as it is an exemplary work of art. Howe touches on loss, love, sexuality, and growing up in intensely evocative poems which, thanks in part to her economical language, never feel sentimental. Nikolopoulos called it mandatory reading for any fledgling poet attempting clarity. BUY: What the Living Do by Marie Howe $13, Amazon Names in this piece have been changed. As we see with hired family members, professional cuddlers, therapists, and bodyworkers, intimacy and commerce often overlap under capitalism. This is equallyperhaps especiallytrue for someone like Sarah, who works as a sugar baby to support herself. Sarah is a friend of a friend, and whenever I spent time around her she exuded a warm, friendly glow. I was drawn to how easy it was to connect with her, soaking up a mood that felt light and fun. After posting a callout on Facebook looking for sugar babies as part of a reporting project, she messaged me to tell me her story. Advertisement Sarah, now 22, joined the site Seeking Arrangement about three years ago. In her final year of high school, she became interested in escorting services and ultimately ended up getting some clients through the website while living in her small hometown in British Columbia, eventually shuttling over to larger cities like Victoria or Vancouver on the ferries for more clientele. Over time she settled on the price of $500 for a dinner, wine, and sex arrangementa somewhat standard price among the sugar babies I interviewed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During her first few months on the site she met Dan, a divorced father of two in his 40s. He paid her $500 twice a week to go on dates. Over time, she began to feel differently about him than she did her other clients. The first night we got together it felt different. We had sex and rather than him being like, Hey, that was fun, see ya, we just sat in bed talking, and we got along and had a lot in common. They also started to want to see each other more than he could afford. They agreed that he would pay for her gas to come and see him but didnt need to pay her regular fee. Once we started seeing each other for a bit, I was like, I dont want you to pay me anymore. It doesnt seem right, she says. Advertisement Sugaring could be a good fit for people who like the dynamic of a relationship where they are supported, or like the dynamic of being the provider. Sarah and Dan clickedwhich is certainly something that can happen in any job with an interpersonal element. But whats interesting is that sugaring necessarily requires a striving toward intimacy, whether real or performed. It feels fairly intuitive that, like movie co-stars who end up dating after playing each others love interests, over time and repetition, a performed intimacy could possibly lead to a real one. And after all, with sugaring, the job is literally dating. It seems reasonable that the same disappointments and successes of intimacy in regular dating would seep into sugaring. Even if you start out connecting for money, some of those connections might develop into something deeper. Advertisement I think that arrangement dating has the ability to be semitypical as far as dating is concerned. With Sarah and I, it stopped being an arrangement and became dating, says Dan, a power engineer in the Alberta oil sands. [With] some of the girls I had tried arrangements with before, you could tell it was just about the arrangement. But I wasnt looking for a quick meetup; I was looking to also meet someone I could connect with and text message and talk and share things with. Dan joined the site after he and his wife divorced in 2014. He found it hard to date. Most of his friends were already married with children, and they didnt have a lot of time for just hanging out with the single guy, he explains. With the nature of his jobtwo weeks in the Alberta oil sands, two weeks at home with his kids in a small town in British Columbia with a population of about 5,000 peoplehe was having a hard time finding the sort of connection he wanted. Advertisement Advertisement Sugaring, as a dating model, has the ability to accommodate both people looking for long-term commitment and those looking for short connections or meetups. On Dans side of the spectrum, the payments and Seeking Arrangement were ways to show women that he was looking for connection and was in a position to contribute to their life financially. Advertisement Dan enjoys being an older support figure or role model and says that the nature of the relationship changed with Sarah because of who she is. He continues, She liked me as a person and was interested in me and I felt the same about her. At the end of the day, all a person can hope for when theyre looking to date is to find someone that gets them and that they can connect with, and can fall in love with, and feel like its the right person. Im really thankful that I found Seeking Arrangements and that I met Sarah. Advertisement But can a paid arrangement ever really be real? I think that theres this preconceived notion that Seeking Arrangement and sites like that are purely monthly allowances and pay to play, and not that theres genuine connections that come out of it, Dan says. However, Dan thinks that sugaring should be normalized as a style of dating, and he likens its ascent out of the category of taboo to the widening of social acceptability for gay relationships. Speaking on the rise of sugar-baby visibility, Dan says, I think a lot more women are becoming more independent and willing to take control of their own situation. And part of that is feeling empowered to take advantage of the fact that they are attractive and desirable and theres a market for that with men. Because more women are empowered, they are not threatened by the stigma. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sugaring, broadly, has the potential to be a good fit for people who like the dynamic of a relationship where they are supported, or like the dynamic of being the provider. This can be a form of kink in some cases, but the caretakercared-for, or pursuer-pursued, dynamic is an aspect recognizable in most romantic relationships. Sugaring can also take a practical role in the dating world: It can be useful for people who dont have a lot of time to meet people, people who are new to a city, people who arent finding connections in their current social spheresall common realities that lead people to seek alternative dating methods. If theres a dating app or website for people with an interest in BDSM (FetLife) or finding someone as hairy (Scruff), why shouldnt it be acceptable to have a dating model and platforms for people who have the same desire for an explicit supported-provider dynamic? Advertisement Sarah plans to move in with Dan and has decided to stop sugaring entirely once she does. But some of the original dynamic remains. He will be buying her a car and will financially support her while she lives with him. Money is still a part of the relationship, just not in exchange for dates or discrete promises of time. As I discuss their relationship with her further, Sarah shares with me the wide range of murky and intractable emotional complexities bound up in the connection. Despite feeling something special with him, and I am, in a way, in love with him, sexually it doesnt feel like it did with my first boyfriend. she says. We do have a lot of fun together. He always makes me laugh. The love just doesnt feel as innocent and pure as it did with my first boyfriend before all of this. It always feels like theres a gray curtain in front of me. It feels like theres always an agenda. Its like, if I let him do this, maybe hell get me a puppy, or you know, something like that. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Which is to say, sugaring can definitely come with potential limitations as a relationship model. Perhaps the sugaring dynamics from the initial setup of the relationship will bleed over awkwardly into the more regular relationship Sarah and Dan are currently undertaking. Or perhaps with decreased social stigma and more time spent developing their relationship, these two relationships structures eventually wont feel so irreconcilable. Perhaps Sarahs gray curtain will lift. Only time will tell. Another reality for Sarah is that, after years of sugaring, she now has to grapple with the cumulative effects of creating a gap between herself and the persona she has had to project to successfully market herself. As a sugar baby with other clients, playing the character of loving girlfriend or exciting datecompartmentalizing her feelings throughouthas taken an emotional toll. If I didnt turn off my emotions, I would be a total wreck right now, Sarah says dryly. And one day it definitely will catch up with me. Any time I start feeling anything, I just think, nope, thats for future Sarah to deal with, and then I drink. Advertisement Nonetheless, she is excited to explore her relationship with Dan and move into his house in a small town in British Columbia. I definitely feel like I want to move in with him. I dont know if thats my real feelings or my fake feelings because I kind of have both from being able to turn off my real feelings to feel safe. Whatever it is, it just feels right. I feel safe. I feel happy. And those are the two biggest things for me right now. For what its worth, Dan and Sarah both seem genuinely happy and grateful to have found each other, and never would have met without Seeking Arrangement. In addition to money, their relationship is built on a foundation of a mutual desire for affection, friendship, and intimate connection. All normal thingsincluding, to a degree, the money, when you think about what dating usually entails. Maybe sugaring is just setting clearer terms? In any case, if it can lead to happily ever after for Dan and Sarah, maybe it can for others too. Every week, Danny and Nicole Cliffe discuss a Prudie letter. This week: My friends baby son died. How can I protect her from well-meaning questions like How many kids do you have? Nicole: Aww, jeez, this poor woman. I definitely think you should ask her what she prefers: for you to send a quiet message asking people to refrain from bringing it up, or for her to just field them as she normally would. Danny: but if theres any chance you think Samantha might find that out and be upset, its better to check in first Advertisement though I think its a kind instinct, and youre certainly not trying to overstep anything Nicole: I am a very firm proponent of if you THINK maybe you should check first, check first. But I do think its a very kind instinct and would always be seen as such. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Danny: my only reason for suggesting quietly alerting everyone else without asking first is that she might feel worse at the prospect of knowing everyone in the room knows/may be thinking about it? Nicole: Yeah, I would just worry that someone would shoot her a nice email after, saying Karen said not to ask you about your kids at the party, Im so sorry to hear about your baby. People are just clumsy, and sometimes feeling like you were Managed is hard. Advertisement Danny: oh gosh, I didnt think about thatthat people would want to offer condolences Nicole: right? Danny: this is like a Russian nesting doll situation of fraught possibilities Nicole: so err on the side of transparency, is my advice Danny: and just frame it as an offer, dont try to sound Overwhelmingly Serious: I know getting asked about kids has been hard for you, would it help if I gave the women who dont know you a heads up not to ask, or would that feel worse? Whichever you prefer, Im happy to help run interference in any way I can This post is part of Outward, Slates home for coverage of LGBTQ life, thought, and culture. Read more here. The European Unions Court of Justice provided a landmark judgment on Tuesday legally recognizing same-sex couples in the bloc. The EUs highest court found that member states that do not recognize same-sex marriages must still grant residency to EU citizens partners under the blocs freedom of movement policy. Although the Member States have the freedom whether or not to authorize marriage between persons of the same sex, they may not obstruct the freedom of residence of an EU citizen by refusing to grant his same-sex spouse, a national of a country that is not an EU Member State, a derived right of residence in their territory, the court said in a statement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It also clarified the definition of spouse, writing that the term includes spouses of the same sex within the freedom of movement directive. The term, to the court, is gender neutral. Tuesdays ruling involves the case of Romanian Adrian Coman, who married his American husband, Clai Hamilton, in Belgium in 2010. They currently live in the United States. We can now look in the eyes of any public official in Romania and across the EU with certainty that our relationship is equally valuable and equally relevant. Adrian Coman Romania does not allow or recognize same-sex marriages or civil partnerships. The country is considered one of most anti-LGBTQ countries in the EU; the conservative Romanian Orthodox Church, along with anti-LGBTQ groups, has successfully urged the government not to pass equality measures that are common throughout the rest of Europe. U.S. citizens can only stay in Romania for 90 days before requiring some sort of residency permit or extension. This barred the couple from the chance to settle in the country. The Romanian authorities would not provide Hamilton with the necessary residency documents because, as the court said, he could not be classified in Romania as a spouse of an EU citizen as that Member State does not recognize marriage between persons of the same sex. Advertisement Coman and Hamilton went to Romanias constitutional court to appeal the decision in 2013. That court then referred it to the ECJ in 2016. Advertisement Responding to the ruling, Hamilton tweeted: My [husband] and I are so excited for this decision! We thank everyone who has supported us in this journey! Now we are one step closer to being recognized as a family! We can now look in the eyes of any public official in Romania and across the EU with certainty that our relationship is equally valuable and equally relevant, Coman said. We are grateful to the EU Court and to the many people and institutions who have supported us, and through us, other same-sex couples in a similar situation. Advertisement Advertisement The judgment does not require EU countries to recognize marriages of same-sex couples, only to allow residency. But human rights groups and politicians still praised the courts decision and called on the Romanian authorities to quickly comply with the ruling. Romanita Iordache, vice president of the ACCEPT Association, a group that supported Coman and Hamilton in their case, said in a statement from the European LGBTQ rights organization ILGA-Europe that EU norms should now apply equally to same-sex families beyond only spousal recognition. ILGA-Europe had acted as a third party intervener in the case to support Coman and Hamilton. Its executive director, Evelyne Paradis, praised the ruling. Advertisement [The court] recognized that rainbow families should be recognized equally in the eyes of the law on freedom of movement. Now we want to see the Romanian authorities to move swiftly to make this judgment a reality, she said. Advertisement EU politicians also hailed the ruling. The EU commissioner for justice, consumers, and gender equality, Vera Jourova, wrote her support for the decision on Twitter, saying she welcomed the results. Others noted that there is work to be done in Romania and across the EU. While this calls for celebration, we must stress that much remains to be done for Rainbow Families in the European Union. Too few countries allow same-sex couples to enter registered partnerships, let alone marriage. These families remain unrecognized and unprotected by law, said Sophie in t Veld, a Dutch Member of the European Parliament and vice president of its LGBTI intergroup. Recently, EU member states had been called out by LGBTQ rights activists on the static movement of LGBTQ rights. In its annual assessment of Europes performance, ILGA-Europe found that advances in policies are not progressing as in previous years. The group also cautioned against rising nationalist and populist movements in member states and the effect these movements have on LGBTQ-identifying people. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The organization ranks countries from across Europe, not only in the EU, on the laws in place protecting the LGBTQ population on the continent. The Netherlands, which became the first country to allow same-sex marriage in 2001, even slipped in its ranking. Currently, six out of the 28 EU member states do not allow same-sex marriage. Northern Ireland also does not recognize it. For more than a year, Romania has been attempting to organize a referendum banning same-sex marriage. If the referendum were successful, marriage would be enshrined in the constitution as between a man and a woman. This follows other EU countries like Croatia and Slovakia that held similar referendums. The one in Croatia succeeded, though its government still recognizes same-sex civil partnerships. Slovakias referendum, however, failed. Tuesdays ruling provides some hope to activists who are concerned with the stagnation of LGBTQ rights in EU countries that have resisted embracing equality. It is human dignity that wins today, Coman said. A string of mysterious illnesses ailing American diplomats at a U.S. consulate in southern China has prompted the State Department to evacuate some employees and their families as concerns grow that a sonic weapon is being deployed. The New York Times reports the State Department evacuated at least two afflicted Americans from Guangzhou, China this week after they reported hearing strange noises. Its unclear how many diplomats and their families have exhibited symptoms, but, according to the Times, American officials are worried the diplomats have been subjected to targeted attacks involving odd sounds, leading to symptoms similar to those following concussion or minor traumatic brain injury. Advertisement The new incidents come weeks after the first employee case was reported in Guangzhou, which is home to some 170 American diplomats and employees. The growing number of reported symptoms is cause for concern as the situation closely resembles the experiences of American diplomats in Cuba, where, beginning in 2016, at least 24 embassy staff in Havana suffered brain injuries believed to be the result of exposure to similar sonic sounds. In Guangzhou, the consulate employees usually live in apartment complexes and thats where the employees reported hearing the strange sounds. The problem in Guangzhou appears to be more widespread than first believed and U.S. officials expect more diplomatic families to be evacuated. The State Department has already provided increased medical care, though it has not yet officially identified the cause of the unexplained illnesses, whose symptoms include headaches, chronic sleeplessness, nausea, hearing loss, and other concussion-like symptoms. One employee reported subtle and vague, but abnormal, sensations of sound and pressure, while another told the Washington Post he heard a sound that resembled marbles bouncing and hitting a floor then rolling on an incline with a static sound. On Thursday, the Arizona Court of Appeals released the first decision to consider the constitutionality of LGBTQ nondiscrimination laws in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Courts ruling in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. Unfortunately, Masterpiece Cakeshop declined to expressly resolve the central question in the casewhether religious businesses have a First Amendment right to discriminate against same-sex couples. But the decisions issued in its wake will help to determine how lower courts interpret the Supreme Courts somewhat ambiguous resolution of the First Amendment issues at hand. And the Arizona Court of Appeals ruling provides the first indication that, as many predicted, the judiciary will construe Masterpiece Cakeshop to affirm the constitutionality of civil rights measures that protect LGBTQ Americans. Advertisement Brush & Nib Studio v. Phoenix, Thursdays decision, involved yet another challenge mounted by Alliance Defending Freedom, an anti-LGBTQ law firm, to a local nondiscrimination ordinance. (ADF also represented the anti-gay baker in Masterpiece Cakeshop and hopes to undermine LGBTQ civil rights laws across the country.) In 2013, Phoenix passed a measure prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in public accommodations. ADF filed suit against the law on behalf of Brush & Nib Studio, a for-profit business that sells cards and decorations for, among other special events, weddings. The studio argued that the Phoenix law violates its First Amendment right to freedom of speech by prohibiting it from turning away same-sex couples who wish to celebrate their weddings. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a unanimous opinion, the Arizona Court of Appeals emphatically rejected Brush & Nibs claim. The court first pointed to a number of state court decisions that considered and rebuffed extremely similar lawsuits brought by bakers, florists, photographers, and venue rental owners. It then cited a paragraph of Masterpiece Cakeshop that may prove to be its most enduring declaration: Our society has come to the recognition that gay persons and gay couples cannot be treated as social outcasts or as inferior in dignity and worth. For that reason the laws and the Constitution can, and in some instances must, protect them in the exercise of their civil rights. The exercise of their freedom on terms equal to others must be given great weight and respect by the courts. At the same time, the religious and philosophical objections to gay marriage are protected views and in some instances protected forms of expression. As this Court observed in Obergefell v. Hodges, [t]he First Amendment ensures that religious organizations and persons are given proper protection as they seek to teach the principles that are so fulfilling and so central to their lives and faiths. Nevertheless, while those religious and philosophical objections are protected, it is a general rule that such objections do not allow business owners and other actors in the economy and in society to deny protected persons equal access to goods and services under a neutral and generally applicable public accommodations law. Advertisement Advertisement Masterpiece Cakeshop, the appeals court explained, struck a balance between free speech for discriminators and equal dignity for gays. The government may prohibit businesses from discriminating against same-sex couplesso long as it respects those businesses religious beliefs in adjudicating their disputes. Brush & Nib Studio may sincerely oppose same-sex marriage. But, the court explained, it could not create an exception for anti-gay businesses without inflicting a grave and continuing harm on gay people. Advertisement With that framework in mind, the court evaluated Brush & Nib Studios free speech claims. The act of creating merchandise, the company insisted, constitutes expressive conduct that implicates the company in the celebration of same-sex weddings. It must therefore receive the highest protection under the First Amendment. Advertisement Not so, the court wrote. As the Supreme Court held in Rumsfeld v. FAIR, a law designed to regulate conduct may place incidental burdens on expression without triggering First Amendment scrutiny. That is precisely what Phoenixs law does: While it has an incidental impact on speech, its main purpose is to prohibit discrimination, and thus properly regulate[s] conduct, not speech. It does not matter that Brush & Nibs goods are customized, rather than off-the-shelf. This distinction would likely be indistinguishable to the public, and no general observer would attribute a companys product as indicative of the companys speech or personal beliefs. Whether custom-made or prepackaged, a wedding companys goods do not express approval of any particular wedding and therefore involve no First Amendment speech. Advertisement Advertisement Brush & Nib proffered a few other weak complaints that the court easily swatted down. The company argued that Arizona also violated its right to expressive association under the First Amendment by forcing it to associate with same-sex couples. While private groups have a constitutional right to promote their message by excluding members, however, the primary purpose of Brush & Nib is not to convey a particular message but rather to engage in commercial sales activity. As a for-profit business, it has no right to reject customers on the basis of their identity. Finally, the appeals court swatted down Brush & Nibs claim under Arizonas Religious Freedom Restoration Act. This law bars any government action that substantially burdens religion unless it furthers a compelling interest through the least restrictive means necessary. Phoenixs nondiscrimination law, the court held, does not substantially burden religion; it merely requires companies to provide equal goods and services to customers regardless of sexual orientation. But even if it did, the court held, it would comply with RFRA, because eliminating discrimination has long been understood to qualify as a compelling government interest. Moreover: Advertisement Advertisement Prohibiting places of public accommodation from discriminating against customers is not just about ensuring equal access, but about eradicating the construction of a second-class citizenship and diminishing humiliation and social stigma. The least restrictive way to eliminate discrimination in places of public accommodation is to expressly prohibit such places from discriminating. These are strong wordsbut they echo Masterpiece Cakeshops encomia to the equal dignity of same-sex couples, simply taking the Supreme Courts reasoning to its logical endpoint. ADF will almost certainly appeal to the Arizona Supreme Court, but it is unlikely to fare better among the relatively LGBTQ-friendly justices. It is obviously too soon to declare Masterpiece Cakeshop a long-term victory for gay rights. But the earliest signs are extremely encouraging. Over the past month, the Trump administration has begun to implement a policy that has reportedly led to the forced separation of hundreds of undocumented immigrant parents from their children after theyve arrived together at the U.S. border. This followed reports that a pilot program of such a policy had been undertaken between July and November 2017. Democrats have argued that this apparent practice is cruel, heartless, and betrays our nations deepest values. The ACLU, meanwhile, has argued in court on behalf of separated immigrant families that such a practice would beand isblatantly unconstitutional. Advertisement On Wednesday, Dana Sabraw, a federal district court judge in California, issued a stinging rebuke to the governments request to dismiss the ACLUs claim under the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment. He also indicated in his opinion that the government would likely be found to be in violation of the due process rights of these immigrant families. Judge Sabraw resoundingly rejected the argument that the Due Process clause of the Fifth Amendment had not been violated. (Sabraw, a George W. Bush appointee, at the same time accepted the governments motion to dismiss the ACLUs statutory grounds arguments.) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As I wrote earlier this week, the constitutional case here is clear. While this is a ruling on a motion to dismiss and not a final ruling by any means, Sabraw clearly found that the Fifth Amendment claims ought to be adjudicated. From Sabraws ruling (emphasis added): Advertisement For Plaintiffs, the government actors responsible for the care and custody of migrant children have, in fact, become their persecutors. These allegations sufficiently describe government conduct that arbitrarily tears at the sacred bond between parent and child, and is emblematic of the exercise of power without any reasonable justification in the service of an otherwise legitimate governmental objective[.] Such conduct, if true, as it is assumed to be on the present motion, is brutal, offensive, and fails to comport with traditional notions of fair play and decency. At a minimum, the facts alleged are sufficient to show the government conduct at issue shocks the conscience and violates Plaintiffs constitutional right to family integrity. Accordingly, Defendants motion to dismiss Plaintiffs due process claim is denied. Advertisement As Sabraw noted, he is still poised to rule on whether or not separated families will be certified as part of the ACLUs requested class action lawsuit, and to determine if a preliminary injunction will be issued to halt a practice he describes as brutal, offensive, and [failing] to comport with traditional notions of fair play and decency. In other words, the class action question is still open, but his view that such a practice is shockingly cruel for constitutional purposes, does not seem to be in doubt. Advertisement The ACLU attorney who argued the case, Lee Gelernt, described the ruling to me as a powerful initial victory for his clients. This is an enormous ruling, theres no question about it, because the major dispute between us and the government was whether there was a constitutional right [for] families to remain together in these circumstances, Gelernt told me. Advertisement Advertisement The court has essentially said that the practice alleged in the suitand reportedly taking place all across our border for the past monthis a gross violation of the U.S. Constitution. Now it has merely to determine whether the practice is actually taking place. The court could not have been clearer that on the facts alleged in the complaint, which are essentially indisputable, this policy is not only brutal but shocks the conscience in violation of fundamental constitutional principles, Gelernt said. As Gelernt notes, the government has yet to really call into question the factual merits of the two parents who have already been certified as part of the suit. The first plaintiff is a Congolese woman, Ms. L., who sought asylum at a U.S. port of entry. She had her six-year-old taken from her, purportedly because the government doubted her parentage, and only had her daughter returned four months later after the government was made to conduct a DNA test following the issuance of the suit. Advertisement Advertisement The second plaintiff is a Brazilian woman, Ms. C, who crossed the border illegally with her child. She served a 25-day sentence for misdemeanor illegal entry, had a hearing that ruled her to have a credible asylum claim, and is awaiting the adjudication of that claim. Even after she served her time, Ms. Cs 14-year-old was not returned to her. Instead, they have been kept separately as they await their asylum request. Crucially, the judge ruled that Ms. L and Ms. C had a similar constitutional claim, despite the governments justification of Ms. Cs indefinite separation from her child on the grounds that she had committed misdemeanor illegal entry. According to the allegations in the Amended Complaint, Ms. L. did everything right. She and her child presented at the port of entry and requested asylum. She passed a credible fear screening interview, was taken out of expedited removal proceedings, and placed in removal proceedings before an [immigration judge] to pursue her asylum claim. Ms. C., by contrast, did not do everything right. She committed a crime by entering the United States illegally, and was prosecuted and imprisoned for her transgression: 25 days in custody for misdemeanor [illegal entry]. However, having served her sentence, Ms. C. was then returned to ICE detention to pursue her asylum claim, as she too had passed a credible fear screening. Ms. C., therefore, is on equal footing with Ms. L. for purposes of pursuing her due process claim. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The ACLU pointed to affidavits of several similarly situated parents, who described in chilling detail the trauma they claimed to be experiencing at the hands of the government and how their children were crying for their parents as the government ripped them away. The government had argued that Ms. Ls claim was now moot, because the government had returned her child after the court-mandated DNA test. Cynically, the government also claimed that its return of Ms. Ls child had nothing to do with her lawsuit. The court rejected this out of hand. Defendants also have failed to offer any evidence to explain why DNA testing of Ms. L. and [her child] was not completed during the four months that [they] were detained and during which time Ms. L. consistently maintained parentage, but occurred only after the Court ordered it, Sabraw wrote. Because Defendants have not shown that Ms. L. was released from detention and reunited with her daughter for reasons other than this litigation, the Court finds Ms. L.s claims are not moot. Advertisement Importantly, the judge similarly rejected the governments citation of a First Circuit case called Aguilar v. United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Division of Homeland Security for the proposition that these families could be lawfully separated without any substantive due process violation. Advertisement Advertisement [U]nlike Plaintiffs in this case, none of the plaintiffs in Aguilar were detained with their children, he wrote. The judge noted in his ruling that he had not yet determined whether a nationwide practice of separating families at the border in order to deter undocumented immigration had been put into effect. But he clearly found that such a policy would be a betrayal of our Constitution. The government has contended in court that such a policy does not exist, but Chief of Staff John Kelly has stated that such a policy was meant for that specific purpose and Attorney General Jeff Sessions has stated If you dont want your child separated, then dont bring them across the border illegally. Advertisement Advertisement As Sabraw noted, Ms. Ls child was actually brought here legallyas were several other similarly situated parents according to the ACLUs affidavitsin accordance with our countrys international agreements on asylum consideration. Arriving on United States soil with ones minor child to pursue relief extended by U.S. lawas well as international law to which the United States has accededcalls out for careful assessment of how governmental actors treat such people and whether constitutional protections should apply, he wrote. And as Sen. Dianne Feinstein noted last week in proposing a law to end the practice, the government has acknowledged an enormous uptick in child separations just as it has announced a new zero tolerance immigration measure of prosecuting anyone who comes over the border illegally, including parents with minor children. Again, right now, there are hundreds, if not thousands of similarly situated families. As far as this judge is concerned they may have their day in court. Depending on how Judge Sabraw rules on the outstanding questions, they are also now poised to get relief from what he has deemed to apparently be a blatant and brutal constitutional violation. Health insurance plan yet to cover 38 districts in Nepal The public health insurance plan, started by the central government in 2016-17 fiscal, is yet to cover 38 of the 77 districts, Health Insurance Board (HIB) data shows. Throughout the opening months of the Trump presidency, and Rex Tillersons tenure as secretary of state, a major line of criticism against the administration was the slow pace at which it was filling key foreign policy positions, particularly the dozens of ambassadorships to important allies and trouble spots that had been left vacant. In the meantime, the ambassadorial roles in these embassies were carried out by career foreign service officers, but, the argument went, these officials were hamstrung by their inability to convey the actual policy preferences of the idiosyncratic and unpredictable new president. Advertisement Richard Grenell, who has served as U.S. ambassador to Germany since May, is an example of an ambassador who is fully in line with his bosss thinking and preferences. Hes also an example of why Trumps critics should sometimes be careful what they wish for. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As a highly partisan figure with a reputation as a Twitter troll, Grenell was a controversial pick to begin with, and his nomination was held in limbo for months with heavy opposition from congressional Democrats. As spokesperson for the U.N. mission to the United Nations, he was described by reporters as rude, a bully, and unbearable. When he was appointed spokesman for the Mitt Romney campaign in 2012, he had to delete hundreds of past tweets, many of them mocking the physical appearances of women including Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama. (He lasted only a few days in the role due to both the Twitter controversy and objections from social conservatives to the fact that hes gay.) He was also an early defender of Trump in his most recent role as Fox News contributor, which, as with his former boss at the U.N., John Bolton, was apparently enough to get him a job. Advertisement The Trump administration has had a strained relationship with Germany and its chancellor, Angela Merkel, from the beginning. Its hard not to view it as an intentional provocation that Trump appointed a figure like Grenell as ambassador to a government with a near fetishistic attachment to diplomatic norms. Just hours after arriving in Berlin in May, shortly after Trump announced the U.S. withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, Grenell angered his hosts with a tweet stating, German companies doing business in Iran should wind down operations immediately. German officials and commentators tut-tutted that it was not a U.S. ambassadors place to give orders to German companies. Advertisement A former German ambassador to the United States tweeted, Ric: my advice, after a long ambassadorial career: explain your own countrys policies, and lobby the host country - but never tell the host country what to do, if you want to stay out of trouble. Germans are eager to listen, but they will resent instructions. Grenell responded, not inaccurately, that the language he had used was nearly identical to that in the White House fact sheet about the withdrawal. Advertisement Advertisement That fracas was just a preview of the uproar that followed an interview Grenell gave to Breitbart last weekend in which he said he wanted to empower other conservatives throughout Europe who are experiencing an awakening from the silent majority. He said he had been contacted by conservative leaders throughout the continent and that there is a groundswell of conservative policies that are taking hold because of the failed policies of the left. The remark was interpreted as a show of support for the rising wave of right-wing populist parties throughout Europe, including Germanys AfD, which has benefited from opposition to the immigration policies of Merkels center-right government. In the same interview, Grenell referred to Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz as a rockstar. Kurz has controversially formed an alliance with the far-right populist Freedom Party and vocally opposed Merkels immigration policies. Advertisement Advertisement The German government called on Grenell to clarify the comments, and left-wing politicians are now calling for his expulsion. Grenell has denied that he was endorsing any particular party, though he added on Twitter, I stand by my comments that we are experiencing an awakening from the silent majoritythose who reject the elites and their bubble. Led by Trump. Ambassadors are traditionally supposed to stay neutralpublicly anywayin the domestic politics of the countries to which they are appointed. And at a time when theres growing concern about support from Vladimir Putins Russia to populist parties throughout Europe, the ambassadors suggestion that these parties are part of a global movement led by Trump is not exactly helpful. Advertisement On the other hand, its no secret that Trump has sympathy for far-right parties in Europehe came close to endorsing Marine Le Pen in the most recent French electionor that he views Merkels policies as insane. A more traditional ambassador might respect all the norms of international diplomacy and do his or her best to translate the mixed signals and provocations coming out of Washington into something coherent; however, it wouldnt change the fact that Trump himself is disrespectful and incoherent. Grenell is a convenient foil for German politicians and commentators, but its also apparent that the person they really want removed from office is his boss. President Trump sent budget director Mick Mulvaney over to the federal consumer financial watchdog, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, in order to bleed it dry or hack it into bits, whichever comes first. On Wednesday, Mulvaney took the hatchet approach when he unceremoniously dismissed the watchdogs 25-member advisory board, the Consumer Advisory Board, which convened industry experts of all stripes, from banking executives to academics and activists, and was charged with setting agency priorities by working with consumer groups to identify and prioritize areas where American consumers were getting ripped off. Advertisement So what caused Mulvaney, the interim acting head of the CFPB, to oust this pretty well-intentioned group of experts? The move appeared to have been months in the making, as Mulvaney had already cancelled the groups scheduled meeting in February, one of two in-person meetings the group is legally required to convene each year. Last week, he cancelled another scheduled meeting of the board. That prompted 11 board members to hold a press conference Monday criticizing Mulvaneys leadership of the consumer protection bureau that was created in the wake of the financial crisis specifically to protect consumers as part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial law. Two days later, Mulvaney dispatched his deputy to axe the group altogether via conference call. The administration officials made a vague attempt to try to make the dismissal look like an effort to by thrifty with taxpayer dollars to the tune of multi-hundred-thousand dollars a year. Oh yeah? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mulvaneys flouting of the Dodd-Frank rules may be increasingly brazen, perhaps because the cover provided by the outrageousness of transgressions elsewhere in the Trump administration, but his disdain for the methods and mission of the agency he was charged with running is longstanding. As a congressman, Mulvaney called the consumer protection bureau a joke and, as acting head, hes effectively frozen its budget and undermine its authority at every possible turn. But the cherry on Mulvaneys sundae of sabotage came last week when the leader of the agency empowered to protect consumers from unscrupulous financial actors, like payday lenders, sided with those very payday lenders when they sued the CFPB to block new regulations on the industry. As he was leaving House Republicans two-hour immigration conference on Thursday morning, Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie didnt seem particularly impressed by what hed heard. I say this in jest, Massie told reporters, but I was sitting there thinking, If I could get another person to walk out of here and sign the discharge petition with me, we could end this meeting. The meeting was prompted by a discharge petition put forward by Republican moderates, which would force a series of votes that could produce a compromise immigration bill passed by those moderates and all Democrats. The petition has ratcheted up the pressure on Republican leaders to act, and it now sits at 215 signatures, only three away from the 218 it needs. If two more Republicans sign it, Democrats believe they could pressure their last remaining holdout, Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar, into signing as well. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement To head off this momentum, House Speaker Paul Ryan convened Thursday mornings colloquy, where most of the progress reported by members amounted to friendly team-spirit sloganeering. Consensus was reached in certain areas, though not on the difficult aspects that have prevented an immigration deal for decades. The reported consensus seemed to concern structure: that moderates and conservatives would work out a new bill on the four pillars of immigration policy that President Donald Trump had asked to be addressed in a plan earlier this year: Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, border security, the diversity lottery, and family reunification visas (which the GOP refers to as chain migration). There supposedly had been a similar consensus to pursue a deal around these four areas in January, but conservatives wanted more restrictive policies and moderates wanted less restrictive ones. There is no reason to believe thats changed. Advertisement The stickiest issue has always been whether to grant DACA beneficiaries (or a broader pool of Dreamers) a path to citizenship. In one of the more risible moments of this nine-month debate, both moderate and conservative negotiators this week floated the idea that while a special path to citizenship would be too far for conservatives, a bridge to the legal immigration system might do the trick. When asked to describe how a bridge to the legal immigration system, which could be a visa for the DACA-eligible population, would be different from a special path to citizenship, neither moderate Florida Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart nor conservative North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows would answer. They wouldnt even confirm that the bridge idea exists. Advertisement Advertisement To talk about a bridge, Meadows said, I would have to admit there was a bridge. Though moderates claimed by midafternoon that a tentative deal had been struck, conservatives, like Meadows, unequivocally denied that. Advertisement The conference did, however, appear to achieve the main goal for Republican leaders: delaying the petitions organizers from pushing it over the top for at least another few days. Texas Rep. Michael McCaul, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said that negotiators in the meeting had been given the green light to begin writing a new bill organized around the four pillarsand that, in the meantime, moderates had agreed to hold off on the discharge petition. Asked whether Rep. Carlos Curbelo, a Florida member organizing the discharge petition effort, had agreed to put the process on ice for the time being, a spokeswoman from his office said that moderates will continue to work in a constructive manner with Leadership and the Freedom Caucus, while maintaining the discharge petition as the back stop. Rep. Jeff Denham, another organizer, was a little more direct, telling CNN that the discharge petition gives us a timeline, which means weve got until next Tuesday to get an agreement on paper that we know weve got whipped and have enough votes for. In other words, another week will pass without moderates pushing the petition over the line but maintaining that they still have the ability to do so later. Advertisement Advertisement For all of the talk about how moderates were finally willing to buck Republican leaders with this discharge petition, their leadership sure seems to have an easy time getting them to delay it. Before recess two weeks ago, moderates talked a good game about how they would have the signatures by the end of the week if there wasnt an alternative deal in place. The promise they got, instead, was to hold this two-hour conference. After a couple hours of open-mic prattling about pillars and consensus, the moderates have agreed to hold on for another five days. The deadline of next Tuesday should be a real, rather than artificial, deadline: Its the last day that discharge petition organizers have to reach 218 if they want their petition to be considered this month. Diaz-Balart told reporters that he and other petition signers were well aware that leaders could just be trying to string them along until the clock runs out. When asked whether they would get the remaining signatures on Tuesday if there is no deal, though, he balked. They will cross that bridge when we get to it, he said. There are some skeptics out there who see more hype than hope with regard to the new progressive prosecutors whove been sweeping into office across the nation. But the residents of Philadelphia, at least, seem to have elected the real deal in Larry Krasner, who managed to become the top prosecutor in Philly despite being a former criminal defense attorney who loves to sue the cops. Among many exciting policies coming out of Krasners office is his recent plan to start a sentence review unit. To be clear, this is not a conviction review unit, which focuses on cases that may have been adjudicated incorrectly. What Krasner wants to review are the sentences attached to legitimate convictions. This is cause for real hope. If you want to undo mass incarceration, releasing a few poor souls who never committed any crime in the first place is a good deed but not a solution. Cutting the ridiculous sentences that have so long characterized the American criminal justice system is an actual path forward. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Reviewing sentences might also provide an opportunity to examine the mechanism by which nearly every defendant in the criminal system is convicted: the plea bargain. There has been a lot of great writing about plea bargainings innocence problem, specifically that the ratio between the trial penalty and the plea bargain penalty is so out of whack that many totally innocent people plead guilty out of fear of a massive sentence after trial. But what might emerge during the review of sentences in Philadelphia and elsewhere is plea bargainings guilt problemthat is, that the plea bargain conviction can be totally untethered from what the defendant actually did. Guilty defendants sometimes plead to crimes they never committed to avoid harsh collateral consequences that are attached to the actual crime. Advertisement Heres a real example from my research: A defendant is charged with marijuana possession in Washington state. Knowing that the charge will make him deportable, he negotiates to a charge of inhaling toxic fumes (which is actually a crime in Washington). Inhaling toxic fumes doesnt carry the same dire immigration consequences, nor does it have any basis in reality. It functions as a sort of floating conviction of convenience. Advertisement In Ohio, a local judge has called attention to this issue by documenting 400 felony sex offense charges in his jurisdiction that were negotiated to nonsex crimes offenses, like kidnapping and aggravated assault. These negotiations presumably took place so the defendants could avoid sex offender registration requirements. A public defender in California has noted that her clients will plead guilty to anything to avoid being sex offenders. And courts and prosecutors allow them to do it. Advertisement The case law in this area has been scant, but courts have tended to look favorably on these fictions. The New York Court of Appeals held it was no problem that a defendant charged with animal cruelty took a plea to criminal trespass even though there was no common factual or legal predicate for the charge. It was perfectly fine, the court said, because the defendant knowingly pleaded guilty to a crime he didnt commit to avoid the stigma associated with an animal cruelty conviction. Advertisement It seems like the factual basis requirement that accompanies most pleas under Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure (or its state counterpart) would prevent this outcome. In fact, as Justice John Paul Stevens noted in his dissent in 1995s Libretti v. U.S., a plea should require a legitimate factual basis. But 15 years later in Padilla v. Kentucky, which held that defense attorneys must advise their clients about the immigration consequences of a plea bargain, it was Justice Stevens declaring that prosecutors and defense attorneys should negotiate creatively to avoid the deportation consequence for a defendant. But how could the defendant in Padillaa drug trafficking casehave negotiated around deportation? The reality is that almost all drug charges are deportable offenses. The creativity Stevens describes wouldve had to come in the form of finding a real crime to match imaginary conduct. And indeed thats exactly what many lawyers do in such cases. Advertisement Advertisement Its not hard to see how plea bargainings guilt problem relates to Krasners heralded new sentence review program. Particular sentences are attached to particular convictions. In order to figure out what sentence someone deserves, you need to know what theyve done. And convictions are poor markers for understanding what criminal act someone did or did not perpetrate. Why is this the case? There are many answers, but one of the most important is that federal and state legislatures have imposed mandatory collateral consequences on a huge range of criminal convictions. These consequences include deportation and sex offender registration, but also the loss of public housing or student aid. (Heres a state-by-state list of thousands of collateral consequences.) As a result of these consequences, defense attorneys and prosecutors are often looking for a way around noncriminal sanctions that would unfairly harm the defendant. Sometimes, fudging a plea bargain may be the only way. Sentence review units like the one in Philadelphia are set up to examine defendants actual pleas, not the consequences they sought to avoid in making those pleas. Solving plea bargainings guilt problem will require a more comprehensive overhaul, one that demands all the stakeholders in the criminal justice system to understand that a guilty plea doesnt always tell us what a person is guilty of. Greetings, Future Tensers, Antique store-worthy hardware. Constantly pushed-back software updates. Shudder-inducing security hygiene. These are the types of technological calamities-in-waiting that can keep governments, businesses, and other organizations behind the curve. And this month, Future Tense will be documenting their struggles to stay digitally caught upand what happens when they fall behindin a series were calling Update or Die. First up, if youve been putting off those software updates on your device, at least you can say you probably havent been stalling as long as some corners of the U.S. military. Mind-bogglingly, the Pentagon is still running certain computers, including those with mission-critical functions, on long-outdated operating systems like Microsofts 2001 software package Windows XP. Jeremy Hsu explains why the military cant seem to quit these legacy products, and what that means for the cybersecurity of digital systems with life-or-death consequences. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Some hospital administrators have also been faced with weighing the life-or-death consequences of not keeping their systems updated. Many medical institutions rely on outdated software, and thats left them vulnerable to a rising number of ransomware attacks, in which hackers freeze the institutions IT systemsdigital patient records, communications, and websitesand demand money to unlock them. But, as Josephine Wolff argues, paying up can be problematic. One tool doctors dont have to worry about going offline? Their fax machines. Rachel Withers explains why some medical providers are still clinging to the relics of 1980s office culture. And speaking of things that belong in a museum, Cleo Levin tells us about how one design museum has brought back the stylus to revolutionize visitors experiences. Rejoice, former Blackberry users! Advertisement Other things we read while wishing a computer glitch would help us win the lottery: Not again, Facebook: A month after Mark Zuckerberg testified to Congress about the Cambridge Analytica scandal, new reports show the platform shared similar user dataincluding profile information like religion, relationship status, and political preferencewith at least 60 device manufacturers. Connection Racket: Nearly $900 million worth of FCC grants to rebuild communication networks in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands may look like progress for beleaguered residents. But April Glaser sees some serious trade-offs. Hamburgers on your house: Augmented reality may soon enable advertisers to superimpose marketing messages on our physical environments. But will we have the right to reject ads digitally plastered in front of our own homes? Getting in with GitHub: Microsoft announced its acquiring GitHub, the largest code repository in the world. Now the corporation must convince a community of 28 million developers that it deserves their trust. Not quite as awkward as AirPod accessories, Mia Armstrong For Future Tense Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University. This article is part of Update or Die, a series from Future Tense about how businesses and other organizations keep up with technological changeand the cost of falling behind. Between the housing crash, the subsequent housing crisis, and the unshakeable ascent of real estate reality TV, the past decade has so fundamentally changed the way Americans think about buying and selling homes that its easy to forget that the way we actually buy and sell homes is the same as it ever was. Advertisement For sellers: hire an agent, do a little renovation, list, and wait. For buyers: hire an agent, traverse open houses, make an offer, and wait. If youre selling, expect to pay at least a 5 percent commission on one of the biggest financial transactions of your life. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Nearly 9 in 10 Americans use an agent to buy and sell their homes. Last year, residential commission revenue was somewhere in the range of $75 billion. And the market remains fragmented, with even the biggest brokerages managing just a tiny fraction of transactionsat least for now. Wall Street and Silicon Valley are infatuated with the idea there isnt an industry in the world they cant blow to shreds with money and technology, says Steve Murray, the president of real estate analysis firm Real Trends. There are signs that real estates time has come. Were going to see an infinite variety of changes to the way people buy and sell homes. Advertisement According to PitchBook, an analysis firm owned by Morningstar, the amount of venture capital invested in real estate technology companies was up to $1.2 billion in 2017 from just $31 million in 2012. In May, Zillow, the online listings behemoth that also owns Trulia and StreetEasy, announced it would start buying and selling homes. Newer startups will buy houses sight unseen, or with a lifelong contract that allows the seller to remain living there until death. Theres a general sense that the internet should do more than entertain window shoppers and generate leads for agents. It should actually make it easier and cheaper to sell a house. Theres just one issue: No one has figured out how to bypass the flesh-and-blood real estate agent. Advertisement Advertisement The old idea that real estate is never going to change, that were going to pay 6 percent, is completely untrue, argues Glenn Kelman, the CEO of Seattle-based Redfin, a publicly traded brokerage whose calling card is lower commissions. For Kelman, the rush of cash into real estate startups feels like vindication for a corporate model that investors have regarded with skepticism. Redfins low-fee model relies on an army of in-house agents who trade typical commissions for the volume thats possible with internet-generated leads. A Redfin world isnt a world without real estate agents, but it is one where fewer agents do more. The nations 1.4 million working real estate agents do not particularly like Redfin. Advertisement Advertisement Zillow has a different approach. The company hasnt disrupted the traditional agent model; on the contrary, its dependent on it. In the first quarter of 2018, Zillow raked in $300 million in revenue (Redfins revenue for all of 2017 was $370 million); more than 70 percent of that came from the companys Premier Agents, who pay for prime placement on the site to generate leads. In becoming an iBuyer (the industrys term of art, short for instant buyer), the company wont bite the real estatebrokering hand that feeds it. If anything, the pivot provides a lucrative opportunity for local agents to cement their relationships with a company that is trying to become an industrial-scale homebuyer. Advertisement Advertisement Youll wind up banking less from Zillow than you would have from a traditional sale through a local real estate agent. But the company believes theres a big tranche of sellers who will take convenience in exchange for a smaller sum for their house. Thats not what most consumers care about, surmises Jeremy Wacksman, the companys chief marketing officer. What they care about is pushing the button and making magic happen. Magic, in this case, means selling your house in a matter of days, even at a small discount. Zillow aims to finish the year with 300 to 1,000 houses in its inventory. In the long term, the company imagines using its extensive reach to make it possible for families to easily coordinate sales and purchases, even across cities, eliminating the uncertainty that accompanies a move. If a new job at Disney World draws your family from Las Vegas to Orlando, Zillow might help you on both ends of the move, making sure theres just a few days downtime between sale and purchase. Advertisement Advertisement Theres another trend that explains Zillows logicand that of a handful of other startups willing to engage (and able to secure funding) in the capital-intensive business of buying houses. Driven by a national, yearlong homebuilding shortage, home prices have recovered and surpassed their pre-recession value, while the homeownership rate remains just ticks above a 50-year lowa housing recovery without homeowners. This gives investors confidence in the market: There really arent enough places for Americans to live. Relatedly, it has created a new and prominent force in homebuying, the single-family home investor, which can be a good partner for startups looking to make quick transactions. Before Zillow announced its big push into flipping this spring, it ran a trial program called instant offers in Las Vegas and Orlando, working exclusively to sell houses to investor-buyers like Invitation Homes, one of the countrys largest single-family landlords. Advertisement Advertisement Zillow also isnt the first company to try acting as a middleman. San Franciscobased Opendoor has made tens of thousands of offers on homes, mostly in Sun Belt cities like Phoenix and Dallas. These places are an easier market than New York or San Francisco: The housing stock is newer, cheaper, and more suburbanwhich is to say, self-similar. Transactions taxes tend to be lower. The company sees itself as competing against seller uncertainty. [Zillow] keep[s] the agents at the center of the transaction, which is in line with their business model, says Cristin Culver, head of communications for Opendoor. And we keep the customer at the center, which is really our North Star, and thats the difference. The companys rapid appraisals make it possible for sellers to skip agents on the first transaction, and after doing some small renovations (paint, HVAC, basic repairs), Opendoors All Day Open House allows buyers to find and unlock the house themselves with a smartphone. Easy, right? And yet most of them come with an agent, and the company says its one of the biggest payers of commissions in its markets today.* Why hasnt the internet cut out the agent, even as houses sell to internet companies with the click of a button? In part because consumers arent really trying to inject any startup pizzazz into the largest (and most complex) transaction of their lives. Local knowledge remains invaluable. That, and its hard to develop regular clients. This isnt Seamless. In real estate, a satisfied customer isnt coming back anytime soon. As smart speakers gained popularity, a big name in the space seemed to have fallen by the wayside. Sonos pioneered a high-quality connected home-theater speaker system in the early 2000s. In 2016, it began making a shift to support streaming music services on its products. It shipped its first assistant-laden speaker, the Alexa-enabled Sonos One, in 2017, but has now taken that idea even further. The company, on Wednesday, unveiled Beam, a smart sound bar, which will soon be virtual assistant agnostic: Its shipping with Alexa, gaining Siri control with AirPlay 2 in July, and adding Google Assistant compatibility later this year. While many smart-speaker productslike Apples HomePodaim to lock you into a specific brand-and-assistant ecosystem, Sonos is taking the opposite approach, hoping to appeal to a wide variety of users by accommodating whatever virtual assistant they prefer. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And it does this with a unique form factor for the smart-speaker space. The Sonos Beam is a $399 sound bar designed to sit below your TV in your living room. It has a five-microphone array for picking up your voice (and cancels out noise from the TV to do so); for audio playback, it has four woofers and three passive radiators for bass and midlevel audio, and one tweeter for highs and dialogue. According to Sonos director of hardware design, Dana Krieger, the company tried to make the Beam as accessible as [they] could by keeping the devices footprint and price point as small as possible. Sonos is hoping to appeal to a wide variety of users by accommodating whatever virtual assistant they prefer. The Beam is smaller than the companys other sound bars, the $699 Playbase and $699 Playbar. The speaker is 25.6 inches long, just fewer than 4 inches tall, and 2.7 inches deep, with a woven grille encircling its perimeter. It has a slightly concave top marked with pinholes for its far-field mics and buttons for optional nonvoice control. The speaker has three ports (power, Ethernet, and HDMI-ARC) on the back and a hidden IR receiver for operation with remote controls. Advertisement While both Google (with its Google Home Max) and Apple (with its HomePod) have smart-speaker products that focus on high-end music audio, the home-theater arena has not yet been targeted by digital-assistant makers themselves. Sonos, between its TV roomfriendly form factor and its eventual access to all three major virtual assistants, is setting itself up to be a leader in this space. Advertisement At $399, the Beam isnt as palatable as a $50 Echo Dot, but its also targeting a different consumer market: people looking to add both assistant smarts and better-quality audio to their living room. In a demo of the technology at an event in San Francisco, the Sonos Beam did indeed offer rich, powerful, room-filling audio that can emulate some of the benefits of a surround-sound setup. While its performance isnt quite as good, from a home-theater perspective, as Sonos more expensive sound bars, its far better than your typical built-in TV speakers or an Amazon Echosize music player. It can deliver two-channel audio for music and three-channel audio for TV and movies, which offers some degree of audio tracking as action moves across the screen. Advertisement Advertisement Beam was a natural next step for a company like Sonos. In its design and performance, the speaker stays true to the companys roots while bringing it up to speed with the latest home-technology trends. And while its $199 Sonos One competes directly against options like Google Home and the Amazon Echo, the Beam has far fewer competitors. For buyers, it makes sense as well. Its a narrow, neutral-looking black or white speaker that wont tie them down to one particular software or assistant ecosystem or dated aesthetic. If youre spending $399 on a product, you dont want it to become irrelevant when you eventually decide you prefer Google Assistant over Alexa or dont like the color coral so much after all. While we grapple with the issue of planned obsolescence in so many of our personal electronic products, its refreshing for a company to put longevity and future-proofing at the forefront. Home Ministry vows action against delinquent builders Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa on Wednesday vowed to take action against those contractors who fail to complete their task within the deadline. Premiere of Tosca opened the Eurokontext 2018 festival Apart from the hosting National Theatre, the Kosice one will offer its creme de la creme of opera/ballet, as will the theatres from Prague/Frankfurt, St Petersburg, Ostrava, Krakow, and Budapest. The Eurokontext.sk international theatre festival alternately offers drama and opera/ballet every second year. In 2018, the fine selection of performances in the latter category from several Slovak and foreign theatres will be shown between June 2 and 27, in the Slovak National Theatre (SND). Our ambition is to present a unique overview of the current trends and direction of European theatre, SND head Marian Chudovsky said, as quoted by the Pravda daily. I consider the international festival Eurokontext.sk the culmination of our theatre season. When it concludes, something ends each time, and with the beginning of a new season, something new starts again, he noted, adding that they still need new encouragement and further inspiration. A theatre-maker strives all the time to invent something new, not to be satisfied with the current situation, to always seek new inspiration or surprising moments and especially to attract and maintain attention and interest, Chduovsky summed up. What is on the menu? The event opened with the premiere of the famous opera by Giacomo Puccini, Tosca, from the hosting theatre, the TASR newswire wrote. Directed by Martin Bendik and musically rehearsed by Rastislav Stur (who alternates as conductor with Martin Leginus), the piece was first performed again on June 3 and will be on the SND repertory next season. This is not true about the guest performances, neither of opera, nor of the ballet pieces. The fifth year of The Festival of European Theatre, Eurokontext, presents the State Theatre Kosices operatic piece Fairies by Richard Wagner (premiered last year) on June 7; the National Morava-Silesian Theatre in Ostrava with its Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District by Dmitry Shostakovich on June 9; Karol Szymanovskis modernist King Roger staged by the Polish Krakow Opera June 15, and the Czech National Theatres Werther, by Jules Massenet directed by Willy Decker and in cooperation with Oper Frankfurt on June 17. The SNDs opera offerings include apart from Tosca performed once more on June 13 also the Spanish Hour (June 6); Puccinis Triptych, and Trittico on June 14; as well as Oskar Nedbals operetta Polish Blood on June 16. Dance, dance, dance.... The ballet gems on offer are the hosting theatres Daphnis and Chloe, the choreographic work of SNDs dancer Reona Sato to the music of Maurice Ravel (June 6); Beyond Sin (the Karamazov Brothers) by Boris Eifman on June 8; and Esmeralda, a piece by Vasilij Medvedev, Cesare Pugni (to the music of the latter), directed by Vasilij Medvedev and Stanislav Feco, in June 23. Among the guest performances, offering a unique chance to see the work of European ballet houses, are Bartoks Dance Triptych of the Hungarian National Ballet on June 7; Anne Franks Diary by the State Theatre Kosices ballet section (directed by Ondrej Soth) on June 12; and the dance highlight of the festival, the Tchaikovsky PRO et CONTRA, from the world-renowned Boris Eifman Ballet troupe from St Petersburg on June 26 and 27. Possibilities of the human body are unique and deserve to be developed, Eifman commented on this latest work, as quoted by Pravda. It is not just about technique, but also about spirituality. An in-depth exploration of the human soul can only be expressed with a new way of dancing, he said, adding that he thinks he has managed with his team to find a symbiosis between the traditional Russian ballet culture of the 19th and 20th centuries, and all the achievements of contemporary global choreographers. In one way or another, through various means, classical, modernist, realistic, experimental, all the performances of Eurokontext 2018 represent a study of the human soul, the fate of its impact and of its implications. 7. Jun 2018 at 13:53 | Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovska Top 3 news from Last Week in Slovakia The killing of Filipino expat in Bratislava prompts protests against violence. Top stories AmCham: Attacks like the one on Henry Acorda have no place in civilised society Businesses employing foreigners speak up against violence and racism in the wake of the brutal attack. People have lit candles at the place where Henry Acorda was attacked. (Source: Sme) The American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham Slovakia) and its Business Shared Service Centers Forum (BSCF) will bring their perspective to Slovak public officials "to help ensure that Slovakia remains a welcoming place for all to do business", according to their position statement issued in reaction to the recent attack on a Filipino expat in Bratislava on May 26. Henry Acorda succumbed to his injuries in one of Bratislava's hospitals five days after he was brutally beaten by Slovak citizen Juraj Hossu. Acorda was an employee of the IBM International Service Centre in Bratislava, a member of the BSCF. AmCham and the BSCF offered their condolences to the family and survivors of the victim. "AmCham Slovakia and BSCF affiliated companies, employing more than 32,000 workers in the third largest sector of the Slovak economy, including a number of foreign experts, condemn all forms of violence in our community, regardless of the motivation, including intolerance, xenophobia and racism," the statement provided to The Slovak Spectator reads. "Similar expressions have no place in any civilized society." AmCham and the BSCF say they are encouraged that the authorities are taking their concerns seriously and that they are taking immediate steps to increase security on the streets. IBM ISC reacted for The Slovak Spectator earlier this week. "Our heartfelt condolences are with his family, friends and colleagues, the companys spokesperson Vladislav Doktor said. We are in touch with the family and the embassy and we will assist the authorities as they conduct their investigations." 8. Jun 2018 at 0:06 | Michaela Terenzani These days, it's pretty commonplace to find really good, local coffee inside a grocery store. But have you ever found a grocery store inside a really good, local coffee shop? If you live in Denver, you are about to have the chance to, with the opening of the new Method Coffee Roasters. Opened in 2013, Method has kept a community focus at the heart of what they do. And with the opportunity to open a cafe in Denver's Lower Highlands area, a minor food desert as Method's James Lopez explains to us, they seized it. And added a small grocer to it. Along with coffee, patrons can pick up things like eggs and prepared meals from local restaurants. It's a novel idea, turning the coffee-in-grocery-store concept on its head. So let's check in Method Coffee Roasters in Denver, Colorado, shall we? As told to Sprudge by James Lopez. For those who arent familiar, will you tell us about your company? Method Coffee Roasters officially began in early 2013, however its roots were planted long before. The concept of sourcing, roasting, and serving coffee for the community came from the founders' shared interest in the the economics of impact and of course coffee. MCR is the adventure that we all embark on to become a better self. In a garage in 2013 some friends setup a coffee roaster with the idea to start a coffee company. Their goal was to honestly source amazing coffees, prepare it with passion, and serve the community. Since then, MCR has grown to serve the greater Rocky Mountain area and give back to the community through scholarship funds, non-profit partners and direct donations. Can you tell us a bit about the new space? The new space is designed with the local community in the Lower Highlands area in mind. We wanted to create a space that could be a community gathering place, allowing people to connect and share in a great coffee experience. Being a wholesale roaster for five years, we were very excited to start offering our coffees to the public as well as pairing it with great pastries and foods from local producers. We also saw there was a mild food desert in the area, with two grocery stores close but still an inconvenient drive away. We wanted to build a specialty grocer space to allow people to pick up odds and ends when they are heading home or in the neighborhood without having to get in their car. Things like eggs, prepared foods from local restaurants, and other odds and ends will be stocked at the cafe. Whats your approach to coffee? We want all of our coffees to be extremely accessible. Dustin, our head roaster, is fantastic at creating great flavor profiles that are developed to balance acidity and sweetness, making each of our coffees great day to day coffees. When we have someone come into the shop, our goal is to create a consistent experience and open up the world of specialty coffee to our customers without overwhelming them. We like to emphasize flavors like honey and caramelized sugar to help customers enjoy without too much background knowledge in coffee varietals. Method Roasters was also one of the champions of nitro cold brew and we will be featuring our nitro cold brew coffee at the space offering a variety of different seasonal and our regular cold brew recipes. Any machines, coffees, special equipment lined up? We will be using a La Marzocco Linea Classic, Mahlkonig K30 Twin, and nitro cold brew setup. We really wanted to limit the amount of equipment we had to focus on our coffees and consistency. Whats your hopeful target opening date/month? Early June Are you working with craftspeople, architects, and/or creatives that youd like to mention? A huge shout out to Raw Creative who did everything to make our space come to life! Thank you! No, thank you The Build-Outs Of Summer is an annual series on Sprudge. Live the thrill of the build all summer long in our Build-Outs feature hub. 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. Read More Handout / USGS/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images(PAHOA, Hawaii) -- Aerial footage of Hawaii's Big Island shows the extent of the damage from the Kilauea volcano's latest explosion. Before and after photos reveal a vast amount of land near Kapoho Bay now covered in lava. About 500 homes were in the direct path of the lava, and hundreds of homes in the Kapoho Beach Lots and Vacationland communities were destroyed, the County of Hawaii Civil Defense told ABC News. Around 4:30 a.m. Tuesday, the volcano began spewing ash nearly a mile into the air, sparking a 5.5 magnitude earthquake, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Less than two hours after the explosions began, lava had entered the ocean, with thick smoke surrounding the coast, according to the USGS. Lava had filled the shallow Kapoho Bay before 2 p.m. Tuesday. Thousands have been evacuated from the area, but officials fear that up to a dozen residents who decided to stay could be dead. The volcano's valve is open, and the volcano is going through "a cycle of deflation," Wendy Stovall of the U.S. Geological Survey told ABC News. More eruptions are possible in the coming months as the deflation process continues, Cindi Preller, geologist and duty scientist at the Oahu office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told ABC News. Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. IBN refutes govt claim on West Seti Project Investment Board Nepal (IBN) has refuted Finance Ministrys claims that the government would build the West Seti Hydropower Project with internal resources as stated in the recently released budget statement for fiscal 2018-19.There has been no decision to scrap the pact signed with China Three Gorges Corporation (CTGC)the potential developer of the 750MW reservoir-type project, the IBN said in a statement on Wednesday. Pramod Mishra is a biweekly columnist for The Kathmandu Post. He is the department chair of English Studies at Lewis University in the United States. Khatiwada urges transparency in using grants to rebuild houses Finance Minister Yubraj Khatiwada has said that the grant provided to earthquake victims for reconstruction of private houses should be spent in a transparent manner. Melamchi project crawls as Italian firm dithers on job Melamchi project work continues to crawl as the contractor has failed to honour his commitment to work efficiently as per schedule and supply water to Sundarijal by August this year. NCP finally gets legal party status The Election Commission (EC) has decided to register Nepal Communist Party (NCP), nearly three weeks after the merger between the CPN-UML and the CPN (Maoist Centre). The decision was made at a meeting of the EC commissioners on Wednesday. Nepal-India talks on air routes next week A technical delegation from the Airports Authority of India (AAI) is scheduled to arrive in Nepal on June 14 to discuss cross-border airspace issues that have been pending for the last five years, Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (Caan) officials said. NOC Managing Director Khadka resigns Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) managing director Gopal Khadka resigned from the post on Thursday. Nearly 20 e-commerce businesses in Vietnam received foreign capital in 2017, according to a recently released official report. Dr. Vu Viet Ngoan, head of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phucs economic consulting team, cited that number in an address to members of Vietnams Leading Business Club, an organization comprised of Vietnams most notable companies, during a forum on Wednesday in Ho Chi Minh City. The majority of these foreign investors are from China, he added, a country that accounted for 40 percent of global retail e-commerce in 2017, according to Forbes. Ngoan pointed out that Vietnamese start-ups in the e-commerce market are often sold to foreign investors after achieving initial success due to fears of losing their competitive edge as they attempt to scale. Tiki, one of Vietnams largest online retailers which aspires to be the countrys Amazon, recently became 40 percent foreign-owned after major investments from Chinas second-biggest e-commerce firm JD.com and Japanese giant Sumitomo, which own 22.1 percent and 7.32 percent of the company, respectively. In March, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibabasaid it wouldinvest an additional US$2 billion in Southeast Asian e-commerce firm Lazada Group, of which it already holds an 83 percent stake, an illustration of its aggressive expansion in the region, including the Vietnamese market. A shipper delivers items bought online to a customer in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Tuoi Tre Vietnam e-commerce market grew by over 25 percent in 2017 and is projected to maintain an impressive two-digit growth rate through 2020, according to a report released last year by the Vietnam E-commerce Association (VECOM). According to Nielsen, Vietnams e-commerce market could hit $10 billion by 2022, up from the current $4 billion. Apart from cultural reasons, government policies are also responsible for the tendency of local ecommerce start-ups to accept ownership offers from foreign investors, Ngoan explained. According to the economic expert, a national scheme to improve Vietnamese businesses productivity is being drafted by Ngoans team to help local companies maintain long-term competitiveness against foreign players. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Vietnams state-owned flag carrier Vietnam Airlines has rolled out a new pay scale for its employees after the airlines Vietnamese pilots submitted a petition to the government protesting unfair wages and poor working conditions. Last month, 16 Vietnam Airlines pilots, all of whom are Vietnamese nationals, co-signed a petition submitted to Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh accusing the airline of violating labor laws by failing to address poor working conditions and wage differences between Vietnamese and foreign pilots. According to their letter of protest, Vietnamese pilots working for Vietnam Airlines are paid up to 40 percent less than their foreign colleagues and lower than the average salary for pilots flying for other airlines operating in Vietnam. A Vietnam Airlines pilot told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that Vietnamese first officers are paid VND96-201 million (US$4,200-8,800) a month, while captains earn a monthly salary of up to VND168-221 million ($7,400-9,700). To put this in perspective, foreign first officers and captains receive VND181-199 million ($8,000-8,700) and VND262-268 million ($11,500-11,700) in post-tax monthly salary on average, respectively, according to Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper. In addition, foreign pilots employed by the state-owned airline enjoy two weeks off for every six weeks of work, while Vietnamese pilots are only permitted one week off for every nine weeks on duty, they claimed. Meanwhile, first officers and captains at privately-owned budget airline Vietjet receive VND120-140 million ($5,300-6,200) and VND180-240 million ($7,900-10,500) a month, respectively. Weve been engaged in talks with the airline for the past three years, but they have not been cooperative [in addressing our demands], the pilots wrote in their petition. A Vietnam Airlines plane is seen in this file photo. Photo: Tuoi Tre They also claim that a circular issued by the Ministry of Transport in 2015 has created significant obstacles for pilots to leave their jobs by dictating that skilled airline employees give 120 days notice before terminating their labor contract. The circular is in violation of Vietnams Constitution and Law on Labor, which state that laborers are only required to give a months notice to their employers, the pilots pointed out. According to Duong Tri Thanh, president and CEO of Vietnam Airlines, a new pay scale for all of the airlines employees came into effect on June 1, providing raises of up to ten percent for its pilots. Its highest-paid pilots now receive an average after-tax monthly salary of VND256-297 million ($11,300-13,000), he said. Between 2015 and May 2018, over 250 Vietnam Airlines pilots quit their jobs, primarily enticed by aggressive recruitment tactics from Chinese airlines, according to the CEO. Pilots wages currently account for nearly half of the airlines salary budget despite pilots making up only 17 percent of its 6,700 employees, Thanh said. He also attributed the wage gap between Vietnamese and foreign pilots to the fact that foreign pilots are hired through international suppliers and therefore must be paid in accordance with global standards. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! HANOI, June 6 -- Vietnam's second oil refinery will be fully operational by early August, a senior executive at the plant told Reuters on Wednesday, significantly reducing the country's reliance on refined product imports. The 200,000-barrel-a-day (bpd) facility, owned by Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical LLC, is already running at 55 percent capacity and is undergoing a long start-up process, the executive told Reuters. "The starting process is going smoothly without any technical problems," said the executive, who requested anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media. The new refinery will process mostly crude oil imported from Kuwait. The $9 billion Nghi Son refinery, 260 km (160 miles) south of Hanoi, is 35.1 percent owned by Japan's Idemitsu Kosan Co, 35.1 percent by Kuwait Petroleum, 25.1 percent by state-run PetroVietnam and 4.7 percent by Mitsui Chemicals Inc. The company has no plans to use crude oil from other sources, he said, adding that the company will sell all of its gasoline, diesel products and liquefied petroleum gas in the local market, while other products, including petrochemicals, will be exported. The company is still in the process of testing its jet fuel output and getting quality certificates, the executive said. "We don't have a time frame for launching jet fuel to the market yet," he said. Vietnam's first refinery, the 130,000-bpd Dung Quat plant, started up production in 2009. When fully operational, the Nghi Son plant will add to this output and help Vietnam meet 70 percent of its demand for fuel. Vietnam imported 5.56 million tonnes of refined fuels in the first five months this year, up 11 percent from a year ago, according to the government's General Statistics Office. The Nghi Son Refinery produced its first batches of gasoline and diesel last month. Vietnams Ministry of Industry and Trade is taking heat from retail industry insiders who fear its proposed legislation aimed at regulating the development and management of the countrys distribution sector will only serve to complicate operations for local businesses. The ministry is currently seeking feedback on the bill, which would tighten regulations governing stores, auction centers, supermarkets, and shopping centers, claiming they are necessary to improve the inadequate rules currently imposed on the distribution operations of these businesses. Many industry insiders have condemned the proposal, saying it goes against the governments efforts to ease the business landscape for local enterprises, especially when the governments aim was to review the development and management of small markets only. One of the bills most controversial propositions is requiring all supermarkets to have a minimum of floor space of 250 to 10,000 square meters, which Dinh Thi My Loan, president of the Vietnam Retailers Association, said does not reflect the reality, and restricts the operational scale of retailers. The bill also calls for the imposition of a minimum floor space requirement of 10,000 square meters for shopping centers. There are supermarkets that are larger than 10,000 square meters, but they do not meet the standards and requirements to be legally considered a shopping center. How will they be classified? she asked. Another section of the bill stipulates that supermarkets and shopping centers may not run more than three sales programs per year, with each lasting a minimum of 30 days and separated from the previous sales program by at least 30 days. At least 70 percent of goods available at supermarkets and shopping centers must be covered by the programs as well, the draft says. The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) said in a written complaint that the bill would be an unnecessarily deep intervention in retailers operations, particularly with regard to rules on promotional programs. Other conditions such as regulating supermarkets opening hours from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm and forcing them to offer delivery services, telephone and post office sales, and e-commerce platforms are also being decried as unreasonable. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! A Vietnamese air charter provider has reinstated a direct service between Vietnams Mekong Delta and Thailand, hoping to tap into growing demand as the summer vacation heats up. A nonstop flight between the southern Vietnamese city of Can Tho and Bangkok was launched on Wednesday, marking the resumption of the service operated by Transportation Services Company (Worldtrans). The inaugural flight, carrying 180 passengers on an Airbus 320, departed from Can Tho International Airport and arrived in the Thai capital after one hour and 25 minutes. It normally takes people in the Vietnamese city more than three hours to travel to Ho Chi Minh City before boarding a plane to Bangkok there. Worldtrans will offer a total of 28 charter flights on the Can Tho Bangkok route with a frequency of one trip every four days, from June 6 to July 28. The service will depart from Can Tho at 9:05 am and arrive in Bangkok at around 10:30 am. The return flight will leave the Thai capital at 7:00 am and land in Can Tho at around 8:25 am. In 2017, the Can Tho Bangkok charter service also opened in the summer, but the number of flights operated was only half of this years figure. As of Wednesday, Worldtrans had sold out 5,000 tickets for all of those 28 flights. The company will review the economic effectiveness of the route after the last flight on July 28 to see if it should continue the service until the end of 2018, according Vu Duc Bien, chairman and general director of the company. Worldtrans will also wait until that point to set a new plan for 2019, he added. Worldtrans plans to launch direct charter flights from Can Tho and other Vietnamese provinces and cities to Japan, South Korea, mainland China, Taiwan and ASEAN countries in the future. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Earning a spot amongst Britains Got Talent 2018 finalists is just the latest addition to the daredevil gymnasts Giang Brothers impressive resume. Days after the shows June 3 finale, Vietnamese across the country are still celebrating Giang Quoc Co and Giang Quoc Nghieps historic road to the finals of the British talent competition, despite the brothers falling short of a top three finish. Their appearance in the finale marked the first time representatives from the Southeast Asian country have made it so far in the show, earning international recognition along the way for their extraordinary feats of strength and concentration. According to Hanoi-based An Ninh Thu Do newspaper, the shows organizers covered all expenses for the Giang Brothers to participate in the contest. After their performance in the final night, they received 9.5 percent of the 2.5 million public votes submitted from viewers across the UK. Through each stage of the competition, from the audition round to the grand finale, the acrobatic siblings wowed both the judges and audience with their incredible balance and muscular physiques. Guinness World Record breakers and international winners Prior to their appearance on Britains Got Talent, the pair earned fame in 2016 for breaking a Guinness World Record when they scaled the 90 steps leading up to the Cathedral of Girona in Spain in just 52 seconds with one sibling balanced atop the other using only head-to-head contact. The picturesque cathedral is well-known for being featured in the popular TV series Game of Thrones. The previous record for most stairs climbed while balancing a person on the head was achieved by Chinese duo Tang Tao and Su Zengxian, who climbed 25 consecutive steps in September 2014. Due to a busy schedule, the Giang Brothers were only able to practice on the steps of the Cathedral of Girona once before the official challenge. The Vietnamese brothers have since worked on a new version of their iconic performance, widely known as Suc Manh Doi Tay (The Strength of the Arms), with more challenging stunts and techniques they hope to use in future international competitions and festivals. Their Suc Manh Doi Tay performance has so far won several local and international circus prizes, including the Grand Prix Award at the 10th International Circus Festival Circuba 2011 in Havana, Cuba; three prizes at the 13th International Circus Festival in Italy including a silver medal and two minor titles awarded by internationally renowned circus groups - Monte Carlo Circus and Cirque du Soleil; and the Silver Lion Award at the 2011 13th Intl Circus Festival in Hebei Province, China. The Giang Brothers scale 90 steps of the Cathedral of Girona in Spain with one sibling balanced atop the other using only head-to-head contact in December 2016. Photo: AFP In November 2016, Co and Nghiep organized a circus art and contemporary dance performance at the Ho Chi Minh City Municipal Theater to celebrate their 15-year career. The event also celebrated the tenth anniversary of the Suc Manh Doi Tay performance. Live by the sword, die by the sword Born into a circus family, Co and Nghiep grew up surrounded by the dangers of artists performing death-defying stunts. For decades, they have been together as both brothers and co-workers bonded by their mutual passion for performing. When they first entered the industry, the brothers would spend eight hours practicing each day. Now, with years of experience under the belts, they are able to maintain their elite level with only four hours of practice each day. Although they have performed in more than 30 countries and territories around the world, earning many local and international circus awards in the process, the two remain constantly vigilant against the dangers of their profession. During a performance in Russia, elder brother Cos neck became obstructed, preventing him from breathing. He tried to bear it until the act was completed, but his body suddenly collapsed onto the stage. In a 2009 show in Taiwan, the duo was performing when Co tripped, causing Nghiep to fall onto the ground and lose consciousness. Each incident has contributed to each brothers degenerative spine condition. A photo of the Giang Brothers when they first began practicing circus. Despite concerns for their health and life, the Giang Brothers refuse to give up on their passion. Sometimes we are set back by the difficulties and harsh practice involved in this career. But we urge ourselves to persevere. Step by step, we finally succeeded, Co said during his latest interview with Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper. The glory must be paid with sweat, blood, and tears. If its too easy, it cant be respected, Nghiep said. We are happy with what we have done. We are where we are today thanks to circus. The Giang Brothers perform a gravity-defying stunt. Photo: Tuoi Tre A photo of the Giang Brothers when they first began preforming. The Giang Brothers take a photo with one of the other ten finalists at Britains Got Talent 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Province 2 MPs in ugly spat Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Province 2 lawmaker Manju Yadav slapped her fellow party lawmaker Kishori Sah at the Parliamentary Party office in Janakpur on Tuesday. Check out the news you should not miss today, June 7: Society - The administration of the north-central province of Quang Ngai on Wednesday called on prompt action to be taken to retrieve a sunken ancient ship, which contained dishware dating back to the 15th century that was found during a local dredging project. - Le Canh Duong, director of the Da Nang Investment Promotion Agency, who has been from leaving the central metropolis and indicted on charges of violating regulations on land management, was suspended from work on Wednesday for his involvement in a broader case of deliberately divulging state secrets, evading taxes, abusing power in the course of duty. - Colonel Nguyen Van Thuan, director of the border guard department in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang, is currently suspended and likely to be relegated and dismissed from the Party, for beating his wife with cruelty, one of his fellow officials said Wednesday. - Vietnam Airlines has begun an across-the-board increase in the salary and the number days off for its pilots, who have filed multiple complaints to the deputy prime minister that the national flag carrier created a discrepancy in salary and leave between the domestic and foreign pilots. - A 50-meter-high crane standing above an under-construction 13-story Topaz Elite apartment building in District 8, Ho Chi Minh City, tumbled on Tuesday afternoon allegedly due to the breakage of some of its bolts, causing terror amongst nearby residents but no casualties were reported. - A 32-year-old Vietnamese man has been fined VND7.5 million ($330) for wounding a staff member of the privately owned airliner Vietjet on Sunday in Da Nang by throwing a mobile phone at her face, after she asked a member of his family to stop smoking in the local airport. - Several villagers in a rural area of central Vietnamese Quang Nam province captured a one-meter-long crocodile on Wednesday morning while it was swimming in a local river after escaping from a cage by a resident. The animals presence frightened people living near the river. Business - Hong Kongs 65,000-tonne and 300-meter long container ship named Zim New York ran aground Wednesday while diverging from its usual route in its way to deep-sea Thi Vai-Cai Mep International Port in southern Vietnamese city of Vung Tau during a low tide. It had to wait for rising water and a tugboat to regain mobility, a local official said. - A draft law is drawing criticism for proposing that Vietnamese supermarkets and business centers must provide home delivery and online services, and offer only three sales a year at most. Education - The Ministry of Education and Training has released a number of measures to limit the outflow of Vietnamese students who gravitate to other countries to study abroad, which includes importing high-quality programs from international universities, attracting more foreign professors and students. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Solutions to the fractures found at the under-construction Vam Cong Bridge in Vietnams Mekong Delta is expected to complete by the end of 2018, which may put the project a year behind schedule, an official from the transport ministry has said. The construction of Vam Cong Bridge connecting Dong Thap Province and Can Tho City over the Hau (Back) River started in 2013 and was ceased in November 2017 after some cracks were discovered on a steel girder at the top of abutment No. P29. As the bridge is symmetrical, the cracks later led to fractures on the girder at the abutment No. P28, but the situation is less severe. Measuring 2.97 kilometers long and 24.5 meters wide, the structure is developed at a cost of US$271 million, funded by official development assistance (ODA) from the South Korean government and Vietnams budget. Seven months on, the cracking issue has yet to be solved. During an interview with Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Tuesday, Le Kim Thanh, head of the Transport Engineering Construction and Quality Management Bureau under the Ministry of Transport, said the cracks are expected to be fixed by the end of the year. The process may be affected by the weather as the region has entered the rainy season, but we will try out best, Thanh stated. Le Kim Thanh, head of the Transport Engineering Construction and Quality Management Bureau under the Ministry of Transport. Photo: Tuoi Tre About 98 percent of the bridge construction has been finished, he added. The transport ministry, in coordination with the Ministry of Construction and experts from Vietnam and South Korea has carried out examination to determine the cause of the fractures, the official continued. The United Kingdom-based Arup Group has also been asked for their consultation. Results from all parties showed that there are three main reasons behind the cracks, namely stress concentration, residual stress, and welding quality. Repair works are expected to replace about 60 percent of the affected steel girders, said Thanh. Replacing the entire girder is not viable and much more complicated as the structure is near completion, he added. More in-depth tests will be conducted to figure out which unit is responsible for the cracks. The bridge was initially scheduled to open to traffic by the end of this year, but this timeline may be delayed by at least one year thanks to the serious problem posed by those fractures, according to a representative from the construction ministry. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Authorities in the southern Vietnamese province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau said Wednesday that they had confiscated dozens of taxidermied endangered turtles at a local shop. Police officers found 72 stuffed turtles of various rare species, weighing a collective 47 kilograms, on display at a shell-craft shop in the provinces coastal city of Vung Tau. The owner, who claimed to have no knowledge of the regulations on protecting endangered animals, says he collected the specimens over 20 years ago and had no certificates of their origin. A customer first spotted and reported the turtles when they were being put into boxes at the shops warehouse. The incident followed reports by Education for Nature Vietnam (ENV), a nongovernmental organization for wildlife conservation and environmental protection, which claims the shop hung turtle shells on its walls, along its stairs, and on its facade. An investigation into the case is still underway. ENV said although the five red-list turtle species present in Vietnam the leatherback sea turtle, green turtle, hawksbill, loggerhead and olive ridley seat turtle are protected at the highest level offered by domestic and international law, they are still gravely endangered by trafficking and illegal hunting. The nonprofit organization said the use of taxidermy on wildlife for decoration inadvertently encourages the hunting and keeping of animals, hence damaging biodiversity and hampering wildlife protecting agencies. A massive seizure of turtle shells belonging to highly threatened species took place in late 2014 in the south-central Vietnamese province of Khanh Hoa, leading to a four-and-a-half-year prison sentence for the local man behind the crime. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! ABC News has announced two new correspondent appointments to its London bureau, with Samantha Hawley (pictured) to become the next London Bureau Chief and Linton Besser one of the Europe Correspondents. Hawley will replace Lisa Millar, who leaves the Bureau Chief post in September after three years in the role. Besser will take over in coming months from Steve Cannane as Europe Correspondent. Hawleys previous roles include being South-East Asia Correspondent, based in Bangkok, and Indonesia Bureau Chief, based in Jakarta. Her coverage has included the military coup in Thailand, the disappearance of MH370 and the downing of MH17, the Nepal earthquakes and the 2016 Jakarta terrorist attack. She found the mother of Baby Gammy and provided exclusive coverage of the Thai adoption scandal, broke the story of how some Jakarta mosques were providing platforms to ISIS recruiters and secured the interview with Jakarta Governor Ahok which became a flashpoint for Islamic fundamentalists in Indonesia. Besser (pictured above), previously with Fairfax Media, is currently one of Four Corners investigative reporters. Last year he became news himself when he and camera operator Louie Eroglu were arrested and briefly detained in Malaysia for asking questions about Prime Ministerial corruption. Sunday Night investigates 1965s Wanda Beach Murders, New South Wales oldest unsolved homicide case, which it will link to a serial killer. The Wanda Beach Murders are, to this day, one of Australias most infamous unsolved crimes. They happened on a popular Sydney beach way back in 1965. Two teenage girls, Marianne Schmidt and Christine Sharrock, sexually assaulted, murdered and partially buried in the sand dunes. For a shocked nation, it was a loss of innocence. Who could commit such a crime? Its a question thats tortured investigators and the victims families for more than 50 years. Now, in a major investigation, Sunday Night will expose the killer. Reporter Michael Usher reveals Wanda was just the beginning. Police had the prime suspect, and the courts let him go. Let him go to become one of the most heinous serial killers in modern history. Incredibly, two women escaped almost certain death at the hands of this depraved killer and they help solve one of Australias greatest murder mysteries. Sunday at 8.30pm on Seven. This week on The Living Room Amanda Keller visits the Irwins, and Dr. Chris runs with some Texas Longhorns in far North Queensland. Renovation with Cherie Barber Renovation queen Cherie Barber shares her tips and tricks in a step by step guide to renovating a kitchen. Cherie will give advice on how to plan and project manage the renovations like a pro, all while saving thousands of dollars. Travel with Chris Brown: Dr Chris Brown heads to Leahton Park, just outside of Townsville where he runs wild with an impressive herd of Texas Longhorns. Iconic symbols of the American Old West, Chris meets a steer with 3 meter long horns, and delivers some happy news to one of the herds females. Food with Miguel Maestre Miguel Maestre teams up with Oz Harvests Executive Chef, Travis Harvey, to learn how the food we often treat as waste can be turned into delicious meals. Oz Harvest is Australias leading food rescue organisation, and Travis shares lots of handy hints to reduce food waste by transforming scraps into healthy and tasty meals. Using donated ingredients, Miguel and Travis whip up a Leftovers Lasagne which they dish out on Oz Harvests new food truck. Celebrity with Amanda Keller: Amanda Keller heads to Australia Zoo, where she visits Australias most famous zookeeper, Terri Irwin. Amanda and Terri go on a tour of the zoo, visiting the animal hospital, meeting meerkats, goofing off with giraffes and finally, releasing some dragons with Bindi and Robert. 7:30pm Friday on TEN. Realistic aims Finance minister has come up only with plans and programmes that can be implemented, if tried honestly Back in January 2015, Henri van Breda took an axe and cold-bloodedly took the lives of his parents and his brother as they slept, while leaving his sister severely injured. The case has finally gone to sentencing and he has received three life sentences, plus a 15-year sentence for attempted murder relating to his sister. Family axe murder in South Africa In a case that horrified South Africa and the world, Henri van Breda took an axe to his father, Martin van Breda, 54, his mother Teresa van Breda, 55 and his brother Rudi van Breda, 22. He went on to also attack his younger sister, Marli van Breda, who was 16 at the time. Marli was critically injured but survived the brutal attack in their luxury Stellenbosch home, all while the family was sleeping. Marli finally recovered from her wounds and was able to return to school. Marli van Breda back at school http://t.co/S3tLWKaggI pic.twitter.com/yTqjP3VoEh Eyewitness News (@ewnupdates) June 9, 2015 Henri then took his time to have a cigarette and phone his girlfriend before eventually calling emergency services to say his family had been attacked by an intruder. He inflicted minor wounds on himself and said that he had fought off the intruder. Court case against Henri van Breda The BBC quotes a paramedic who gave testimony in the court as saying the scene they found in the familys home was the worst he had ever seen in his 40 years of working. Meanwhile, Henri denied any charges, insisting that he had also been a victim in the attack [VIDEO] and that someone had broken in and attacked the family. The court did not believe the testimony of the defendant and his defence attorney. 'It was a cold blooded murder': Watch the moment Henri #VanBreda is sentenced https://t.co/nC9cCM8zQF pic.twitter.com/0OXih2HbWw News24 (@News24) June 7, 2018 As noted by Eye Witness News, sentencing in the Western Cape High Court has finally been carried out on Thursday in the brutal axe killing, and van Breda, now 23, received a life sentence for each of the murders, along with a 15-year sentence for the attempted murder of his sister in January 2015. The defendant was poker-faced as he faced the judge, but as can be seen in a video at the end of this article, he sometimes had a slight smile on his face. Speaking to the court, Judge Siraj Desai said that the brutal and cold-blooded murders were carried out by the defendant, using "excessive and gratuitous violence." He also received a further sentence of 12 months for obstruction of justice, three-and-a-half years after the brutal and bloody attack on his own family. Judge Desai also noted that Henri gave no explanation for his actions and displayed no remorse for his crimes. Desai then went on to hand out what he termed the severest possible penalties for van Bredas crimes. The defence attorney plans to appeal the sentence and leave to appeal was set for 27th June. Businesses contacted by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) are mistaking the intelligence agency staff for pranksters. The NCSC, which opened as the defensive arm of GCHQ in 2016, contacts organisations following cyber security breaches and attacks to confirm details and offer advice. A number of organisations which have suffered security incidents have mistaken these contacts and failed to engage with the agency, Sky News has learned. When the agency opened, the deputy director for its incident management directorate, Peter Yapp, explained the environment around its outreach work to businesses. "If something [regarding a cyber incident and your company] breaks in the press, I'll get a call from someone in government," Mr Yapp was quoted in The Register , before adding that he would be expected to explain to government what the incident meant. "If you haven't phoned me and told me about it, I will phone you," he added. These kinds of contacts are being treated with suspicion, according to individuals with knowledge of the outreach efforts, who said the intelligence agency's staff had been accused of being pranksters. These mistakes were especially understandable following security incidents, Sky (Frankfurt: 893517 - news) sources added, when criminals can often attempt to take advantage of the confusion. Businesses which have been contacted by the agency are encouraged to use the Contact Validation tool on the ncsc.gov.uk website which allows them to confirm the identity of the staff member. A number of organisations first encountered NCSC during and just after the WannaCry attack which hit the NHS last year and led to almost 20,000 hospital appointments and operations being cancelled. NCSC aims to offer both the public and private sector incident response advice as British businesses continue to be hit by more online attacks than ever before . Sky sources noted that the situation is improving as the agency works on building a recognisable brand as a resource for providing cyber security advice. Story continues A spokesperson for NCSC told Sky News: "As the UK's authority on cyber security, we are committed to providing effective incident response to minimise harm and provide expert advice and guidance when needed. "On occasions when NCSC technical experts contact organisations about cyber incidents, we provide them with the option to confirm the caller's identity via the NCSC website. "Our Contact Validation gives reassurance to our customers and ensures best practice in keeping the UK's digital communities the safest place to live and work online." KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Elusive financier Low Taek Jho, wanted for questioning in a massive corruption probe focused on Malaysia's former prime minister Najib Razak, has offered to assist investigators, his spokesman said on Thursday. Empowered by a new government elected last month, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has relaunched a probe into why $10.6 million (8 million) from SRC International, a former unit of 1Malaysian Development Bhd, was transferred into Najib's bank account. The amount is tiny compared with the billions of dollars that went missing from 1MDB, but the transfers from SRC were made through Malaysian entities making them easier for investigators to trace. Anti-graft agents have questioned both Najib and his wife Rosmah Mansor, in the wake of his shock defeat in an election on May 9. Low, popularly known as Jho Low, was regarded as close to Najib and his family and is regarded as a central figure in the 1MDB affair, having allegedly advised on investments and negotiated deals although he never held any official role in the fund. The whereabouts of the portly, 37-year-old ethnic Chinese Malaysian has been a mystery since the scandal first erupted three years ago, though he has released statements at various times denying any culpability. Prior to the scandal, Low had courted publicity by throwing parties attended by A-list Hollywood stars, famous models and celebrities. The latest statement, issued by an international law firm quoted an unnamed spokesman and omitted any information on Low's location, but said he was ready to help the MACC with its inquiries having read media reports that the agency wanted to speak to him. "Following this, Mr Low immediately instructed his lawyers to make contact with the MACC today with respect to offering such assistance," the spokesperson said, in a statement emailed by Kobre & Kim, a lawfirm with offices in the United States, Britain, the Caribbean and Asia. Story continues Najib founded 1MDB in the early years of his near decade-long rule of Malaysia, and has consistently denied any wrongdoing at the fund. The MACC had earlier issued a notice asking Low and one other person, SRC International director Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil Nik Othman Arif Kamil, to contact the agency immediately to assist in its investigation. "The MACC urges anyone who has information or knows both individuals to contact the investigating officer...or the nearest MACC office," the commission said. Scandalised by the scale of the alleged corruption, Malaysians dumped Najib out of office on May 9 in an election that also spelt an end to six decades of unbroken rule by a multi-ethnic coalition led by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). The new government led by 92-year-old Mahathir Mohamad, who came out of retirement, quit UMNO, and joined the opposition to topple Najib, has vowed to get 1MDB's money back and punish whoever looted the fund. One of Mahathir's first acts was to bar Najib and his wife from leaving Malaysia, and police have raided apartments linked to the former first couple. The money trail from 1MDB has led to investigations in half a dozen countries, including the United States where the Department of Justice (DoJ) has made it the biggest probe launched under its anti-kleptocracy programme. Low has been named along with Najib's stepson Riza Aziz in civil lawsuits filed by the DoJ, which alleged that about $4.5 billion was misappropriated from 1MDB. Filings by the DoJ also alleged that Low had used funds stolen from 1MDB to arrange for the purchase of nearly $30 million worth of jewelry, including a rare 22-carat diamond set in a necklace, for Najib's wife. The DoJ is seeking to seize about $1.7 billion worth of 1MDB-linked assets, including a $250 million super-yacht said to have been purchased by Low. It is also pursuing a criminal probe. (Reporting by Joseph Sipalan; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore) * Surging U.S. crude output widens WTI discount to Brent * Venezuela crude deliveries nearly a month behind -data * Algeria minister seeks 'stability' in oil market (New (KOSDAQ: 160550.KQ - news) throughout, updates prices, market activity and comments to settlement) By Jessica Resnick-Ault NEW YORK, June 7 (Reuters) - Global benchmark Brent crude surged nearly $2 a barrel on Thursday, lifted by concern about a steep drop in exports from Venezuela and worries OPEC may not raise production at its meeting this month. Brent crude futures settled up $1.96 a barrel, or 2.6 percent at $77.32. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose $1.22, or 1.88 percent to $65.95 a barrel. Surging U.S. production has capped gains in WTI prices, widening the grade's discount to Brent to more than $11 a barrel (CL-LCO1=R). Crude prices got an early lift on concerns about exports from Venezuela. Gains grew when Algeria's oil minister indicated OPEC would focus on balancing the market rather than on rolling back production caps. "They're all seeming to push back on the Saudis' push to raise production," said John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital Management in New York. "With (Other OTC: WWTH - news) this more than 10 percent (price) fall, they may reconsider things as we come closer to the meeting." OPEC member Venezuela, threatened with U.S. sanctions in the midst of an economic crisis, is nearly a month behind delivering crude to customers from its main export terminals, according to shipping data. Angola has also seen output decline rapidly from its aging fields. In Venezuela, chronic delays and production declines could soon breach state-run PDVSA's supply contracts. Tankers waiting to load more than 24 million barrels of crude, almost as much as PDVSA shipped in April, are sitting off the main oil port, according to shipping data. Noting Venezuela's troubles and OPEC's pending decision on supply, London Capital Group head of research Jasper Lawler said "oil traders could be in for an increased bout of volatility." Story continues The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers including Russia have cut output since 2017 to reduce a global crude glut. The group meets in Vienna on June 22 to discuss its supply policy. Algerian Energy Minister Mustapha Guitouni said on state radio: "What matters to us is that there is a balance between supply and demand to ensure the stability of the oil markets." OPEC-member Iraq said on Wednesday a production increase was not on the table. This followed an unofficial request from the United States asking OPEC's effective leader Saudi Arabia to boost output. "Venezuelas worsening economic crisis, together with ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, will remain supportive of oil prices," Abhishek Kumar, Interfax Energy senior analyst said. "Nevertheless, growing prospects for an increase in production from the OPEC Plus and rising oil output from the U.S. will cap price gains." (Additional reporting by Meng Meng and Aizhu Chen in Beijing and Amanda Cooper in London; Editing by David Gregorio) A former owner of Little Chef is trying to cook up a last-ditch rescue deal for Poundworld amid increasingly bleak prospects for the bargain retailer and its 5,300 staff. Sky News has learnt that Rcapital has been holdings talks with TPG Capital, Poundworld's owner, for the last 48 hours even as the company prepares to begin a legal process paving the way it to fall into administration. Sources said that Rcapital had entered the fray even as rival turnaround firm Alteri Investors had pulled out of rescue talks with Poundworld. The prospects of a deal involving Rcapital were put at no more than 50-50 by one insider, with Poundworld said to be planning to file a notice of intention to appoint administrators as soon as Thursday. One insider said either Deloitte or BDO would act as administrator. Such a move would buy the high street chain an additional ten days' protection from creditors as it seeks to tie up a rescue. Any takeover would nevertheless involve the closure of well over 100 stores and lead to thousands of job losses. The news compounds another bleak day for the retail sector with House of Fraser confirming plans earlier on Thursday to axe 6,000 jobs and close just over half its 59 stores. Failure to successfully conclude a deal with creditors will lead to HoF plunging into administration, it warned in an announcement about its restructuring. If a solvent sale of Poundworld cannot be agreed, the business could be sold through a pre-pack administration or collapse outright, underlining the urgency of rescue talks which are being led by Deloitte, the professional services firm. TPG (Taiwan OTC: 6521.TWO - news) opted to put Poundworld up for sale last month rather than funding it through a restructuring programme that will involve the loss of about 1,500 jobs. The grim climate on the high street, which has claimed casualties such as Maplin and Toys R Us UK this year, has paved the way for a string of chains to attempt restructurings through a mechanism called a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) - a legally binding agreement with creditors. Story continues Carpetright (Other OTC: CGHXF - news) , Marks & Spencer (Frankfurt: 534418 - news) , Mothercare (Other OTC: MHCRF - news) and New Look are among the other retailers which have announced store closure plans this year, with thousands of jobs disappearing as a consequence. A CVA at Poundworld would, if approved by creditors, lead to its store estate being reduced to around 250 shops with 4,000 employees. The series of corporate crises on the high street have led the Government to establish a new industry council, jointly chaired by the former Co-op Group chief executive Richard Pennycook, to devise ways of easing retailers' pain. Rcapital, Poundworld and TPG declined to comment. Qatar Airways chief executive Akbar Al Baker has apologised for saying a woman could not do his job. The airline boss made his remarks in Sydney, shortly after he was appointed chairman of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) at its annual meeting. The conference - often dominated by profit predictions and headwinds facing the sector - included a focus on gender diversity as only six of its 280-member airlines have female chief executives. IATA has just two men on its board. Responding to a question at a news conference on whether a woman could do his job, Mr al Bakar told reporters: "Of course it has to be led by a man because it is a very challenging position." Mr al Bakar is one of the airline industry's most colourful characters - known for a strong sense of humour but he has form for controversial comments. He faced PR turbulence last year after calling US flight attendants "grandmothers" during a trade row with US airlines - a remark for which he also said sorry. He responded to a backlash on his latest comment by saying: "Quite frankly I think the press took it out of context. "They blew it out of proportion. It was just a joke. I didn't mean it in the way it was meant to be... I apologise for it." Asked whether he really believed only a man could do his job, he added: "No, I don't believe that. :: Bank deputy sorry for 'offence caused' by menopause comment "As a matter of fact (at) Air Italy the majority shareholder has shortlisted women to be CEO and as minority shareholder we are actively encouraging that." He also defended the airline's record saying Qatar was the first Middle East carrier to have female pilots and said 44% of its staff were women. Qatar was recently rated the best global airline by compensation service AirHelp while the Gulf state's Hamad International Airport - on which Mr al Baker was a lead developer - also scored best among top world destinations. The diversity issue hung a cloud over the meeting of IATA, which has two women on its 31-member board. Story continues The boss of British Airways' owner IAG, Willie Walsh, weighed in on the issue by calling for IATA to take a lead on growing diversity in the industry as a whole. "If you look at the board it is predominantly middle-aged white men from Europe. "We have more diversity on the board now than we have had for a long time, and we have to strive to improve that situation." The chief executive of Qatar Airways has apologised for saying a woman could not do his job, saying it was "just a joke". Akbar al Baker made his remarks in Sydney on Tuesday, shortly after he was appointed chairman of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) at its annual meeting. Responding to a question on whether a woman could do his job, Mr al Baker told reporters: "Of course it has to be led by a man because it is a very challenging position." The conference - often dominated by profit predictions and headwinds facing the sector - included a focus on gender diversity as only six of its 280-member airlines have female chief executives. Mr al Baker responded to the backlash over his comment by saying: "Quite frankly I think the press took it out of context. "They blew it out of proportion. It was just a joke. I didn't mean it in the way it was meant to be... I apologise for it." Asked whether he really believed only a man could do his job, he added: "No, I don't believe that. "As a matter of fact (at) Air Italy the majority shareholder has shortlisted women to be CEO and as minority shareholder we are actively encouraging that." :: Bank deputy sorry for 'offence caused' by menopause comment He also defended his airline's record, saying Qatar was the first Middle East carrier to have female pilots and said 44% of its staff were women. Mr al Baker is one of the airline industry's most colourful characters - known for a strong sense of humour - but has form for controversial comments. He faced PR turbulence last year after calling US flight attendants "grandmothers" during a trade row with US airlines - a remark for which he also said sorry. Qatar was recently rated the best global airline by compensation service AirHelp, while the Gulf state's Hamad International Airport - on which Mr al Baker was a lead developer - also scored best among top world destinations. The diversity issue cast a shadow over the IATA meeting, the association also has only two women on its 31-member board. Story continues The boss of British Airways' owner IAG, Willie Walsh, has weighed in on the issue. He called for IATA to take a lead on improving diversity in the industry as a whole: "If you look at the board it is predominantly middle-aged white men from Europe," he said. "We have more diversity on the board now than we have had for a long time, and we have to strive to improve that situation." CANBERRA, Australia (AP) Australia has laid cartel charges against Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and ANZ, plus six bank executives, over the sale of 2.5 billion Australian dollars ($1.9 billion) in ANZ shares to institutional investors three years ago. The charges allege that the banking rivals made non-compete arrangements to fix prices of ANZ shares held by Deutsche Bank and Citigroup. ANZ and officials from all three banks are alleged to have been knowingly concerned in the illegal conduct, the regulator Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said in a statement on Tuesday. The three banks deny the allegations and say they will defend their current and former employees. The first hearing in a Sydney court will be July 3. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Wednesday the charges plus the agreement this week by the nation's largest bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, to pay a record AU$700 million fine for failing to comply with measures to prevent money laundering and terrorism financing showed that regulators were doing their jobs. The government has also commissioned a wide-ranging judicial inquiry into misconduct in the financial sector which has been hearing testimony since March. "The wrong thing has been done, clients have not been put first. We are determined to ensure that this misconduct through the financial services sector is not repeated and we've changed the law and improved the regulation and given greater resources to the regulators to ensure it is not repeated," Turnbull told reporters. "We will ensure that those who have done the wrong thing are held to account," Turnbull added. Citigroup and Deutsche Bank had underwritten an ANZ share issue in August 2015 and had allegedly agreed on a minimum share price so that the stock would not lose value. Former head of Citigroup in Australia, Stephen Roberts, who retired in 2016, and Deutsche Bank's former Australian boss Michael Ormaechea, who retired last year, were among those charged. Story continues Deutsche Bank's former head of equity capital markets in Australia, Michael Richardson, has also been charged. Richardson is now employed by Bank of America Merrill Lynch in London. Citigroup's head of capital markets origination, John McLean, and global head of foreign exchange trading Itay Tuchman, have also been charged. The only ANZ employee charged is Rick Moscati, the bank's treasurer. Under tough laws introduced in 2009, each man would face a maximum of 10 years in prison and fines of up to AU$420,000 if convicted. The banks face a potential maximum penalty equivalent to 10 percent of their annual turnover or three times the benefit gained from the criminal behavior. Melbourne University Professor of Commercial Law Ian Ramsay said the regulator had never before taken law enforcement action in the area of companies raising capital. "These are criminal proceedings against some of our most prominent financial institutions and very prominent individuals. It is what I would call high-stakes litigation," Ramsay told Australian Broadcasting Corp. "There's a lot of people who are very, very nervous" in the banking industry, Ramsay added. See Also: Larissa Watson was arrested after she allegedly stole a motor boat from an exclusive Italian resort (Facebook) A British artist in Italy has been arrested after she allegedly tried to steal a luxury motor boat at an exclusive resort favoured by the rich and famous. Larissa Watson, 50, is said to have been spotted setting off in a 132,000 Sangermani Daycruiser that belonged to a rental company in Portofino. However, a quick-thinking harbour worker is said to have become suspicious and bounded along the dock to jump on board and steer the vessel back to its mooring. Watson is alleged to have been reported to police across Italy for leaving hotels and restaurants without paying bills (Instagram) The painter, who has been dubbed the Portofino Pirate by local media, was charged with theft after the incident on Monday, according to the Daily Telegraph. Captain Simone Clemente told the paper: Nothing like this has happened before in Portofino, its very unusual. By looking through her Facebook and Instagram accounts we found that she had done navigation courses in the past and knew how to handle a boat. MOST POPULAR TODAY ON YAHOO Italian police said that the mum-of-four chose not to contact her family following the arrest. Watson is alleged to have been reported to police across Italy since she arrived in February for leaving hotels and restaurants without paying bills. Italian paper La Riviera wrote: The double life of Larissa Watson seems to have come straight out of a film. Watson allegedly took the boat from a rental company in Portofino, Italy (Wikipedia/stock photo) In Britain shes an esteemed artist, in Italy a thief whos been under scrutiny by the police for some time. According to a biography on riseart.com, the award-winning artist has exhibited extensively in Britain, Europe, the US and Japan. Watson has been bailed on theft charges and ordered to leave the area while the investigation continues. RJPN to continue support to govt of Province 2 Rastriya Janata Party Nepal (RJPN) has decided to continue its support to the government of Province 2. Of course it was Bitcoin Cash. The man accused of stealing a military armored vehicle in Virginia on Tuesday and joyriding it 60 miles before being arrested is passionate about more than just living his life a quarter-mile at a time. A quick glance at his Twitter account also shows him to be a Bitcoin Cash evangelist. SEE ALSO: This rap song tries to explain bitcoin cash and is ridiculously great That's right, he's all about what Bitcoin Cash supporters (and practically no one else even Amazon's Alexa has dunked on Bitcoin Cash ) insist is the "real bitcoin." You may have caught video of the chase on social media. It was quite a thing to behold. This is INSANE! Someone has hijacked a Tank-like vehicle from Fort Pickett and just drove it by our apartment! This is on Broad Street in the Fan. pic.twitter.com/EYfhFux1dk Parker Slaybaugh (@ParkerSlay89) June 6, 2018 According to the Associated Press, the man accused of stealing the vehicle from the National Guard base at Fort Pickett in Blackstone is none other than the 29-year-old Joshua Philip Yabut. The AP also reports that Yabut was tweeting before the incident. "Hours before the vehicle drove off the base, an account confirmed by the Guard as Yabut's tweeted a Wikipedia entry about the M113 armored personnel carrier, which is similar to the M577 vehicle police chased, and a screenshot of a map around the area where the vehicle eventually stopped," notes the AP report. "He wrote a series of odd tweets Tuesday, including: 'where is this damn water buffalo' 'all i wanna do is get an anime wife' and 'wow I think I just discovered a large illegal spy operation in the us government.'" Story continues Let's take a look at what appears to be his Twitter account. And just so you know we're not trying to pin these hijinks on an innocent BCH fan, here are a bunch of the tweets the AP says were confirmed by the National Guard to have come from his account. all i wanna do is get an anime wife Joshua [BCH] (@movrcx) June 5, 2018 where is this damn water buffalo Joshua [BCH] (@movrcx) June 5, 2018 A quick glance through the account shows that Yabut had more on his mind than anime wives. Specifically, that aforementioned sweet sweet Bitcoin Cash. tryna explain to my gf why i support bitcoin cash (the holiest chain) Joshua [BCH] (@movrcx) December 15, 2017 @Alvizier have u guys heard about bitcoin cash? Joshua [BCH] (@movrcx) June 1, 2018 i will send you one bitcoin cash if you get a tattoo of craig wright on your tricep Joshua [BCH] (@movrcx) December 28, 2017 Once Bitcoin Core gets rekt they'll beg for a merge of the two chains. Joshua [BCH] (@movrcx) January 18, 2018 me when i'm talking about bitcoin cash https://t.co/XnMSOhxZqD Joshua [BCH] (@movrcx) December 7, 2017 And this wasn't just some passing fancy. While a lot of his Bitcoin Cash-specific tweets were from late 2017, he still has "BCH" the abbreviation for Bitcoin Cash in his Twitter name. Thankfully, no one was reported injured in the roughly two-hour chase, and Yabut was safely taken into custody. His legal fate, however, remains unclear much like the long-term prospects for his beloved BCH. LOS ANGELES (AP) U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein trounced a field of 31 competitors in California' primary, while a Democratic state senator promising generational change struggled to take second place in a bid to replace her. "I'm running for the United States Senate to protect California in what are difficult and contentious times," Feinstein said in a video from Washington, where she spent Tuesday's primary night. With nearly 3 million votes counted as the day closed, Feinstein held about 44 percent. Fellow Democrat Kevin de Leon, the heavy favorite to finish second, trailed at nearly 11 percent, less than 100,000 votes ahead of little-known Republican James Bradley. Millions of ballots remained uncounted and could be for days. A Feinstein-de Leon general election would be California's second U.S. Senate contest featuring two Democrats. In 2016, then-state attorney general Kamala Harris defeated U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez. Regardless of her challenger, Feinstein is the heavy favorite. She's one of the most well-known politicians in California and has a sizeable war chest to communicate her message. While de Leon, the former state Senate leader, is considered Feinstein's most credible challenger, he'll have an uphill battle should he make it through the primary. He stopped short of declaring second place Tuesday night, but in a sweeping speech to supporters, he outlined his pitch for the fall: Feinstein is too entrenched in Washington to fight for liberal interests and too old to serve another term. She was first elected to the Senate in 1992, and at 84, Feinstein is the chamber's oldest member. She would turn 90 in her next term. "We decided to give voters a real choice between new ideas and the same old, same old," he declared, later adding, "this race is a fight for California's future." Bradley, meanwhile, said he felt strong as the results rolled in. A second place showing for Bradley would be an upset. He's never held elected office and raised less than $5,000 in his campaign. Story continues Feinstein, for her part, argues that her seniority in Washington gives her the clout to advocate effectively for California. She is the top Democrat on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and has considerable clout in the chamber. She's highlighted her successful 1994 effort to ban assault weapons, which has since expired, and legislation to protect the environment as evidence that she understands Californians' priorities. She pledged in her victory statement to fight for a federal minimum wage of $15 per hour, women's reproductive rights and universal health care. While her support is strong, some party activists have chaffed at Feinstein in recent months, particularly after she said last fall that Donald Trump "could be a good president." Activists denied her the California Democratic Party's endorsement in February, highlighting frustrations among some of the most liberal members about her interactions with Trump and stance on issues such as immigration. De Leon sought to seize on that vulnerability by making the case that he better represents California's values in the Trump era. Sue Regan, a 66-year-old retired psychiatrist, said she voted for de Leon because Feinstein is "too old" and too conservative on certain issues. "Feinstein's time is up," said Regan, a registered Democrat from Sacramento. "I know that Kevin de Leon would not have the power that she has in the Senate, it would take him some time to develop that, but I think he's very liberal, and I support the causes that he does." But Feinstein's age didn't stop 82-year-old Jay Smith, a registered Republican, from casting his vote for her. "I went to Stanford and so did Dianne Feinstein," he said. "I don't care how old she is." ___ Sign up for "Politics in Focus," a weekly newsletter showcasing the AP's best political reporting from around the country leading up to the midterm elections: http://apne.ws/3Gzcraw See Also: A Mangalica pig is seen in the mud on a pig farm in Zebegeny, Hungary, June 1, 2018. Picture taken June 1, 2018. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo Thomson Reuters By Krisztina Fenyo ZEBEGENY, Hungary (Reuters) - Robert Laczko, who rears Hungary's traditional breed of hairy "mangalica" pigs, prized for their meat, is bracing for tough times. In April, Hungary detected its first cases of African swine fever (ASF) among wild boar in a north eastern region. The highly contagious, devastating viral disease of pigs has been spreading across Eastern Europe in recent years. Russia, Poland, Ukraine and Romania are among the countries affected by ASF, alarming governments and pig farmers due to the pace and distance of its reach. Although no domestic pigs have been infected by ASF in Hungary, some of the biggest foreign markets for Hungarian pork products, including Japan and South Korea, reacted to the outbreak by imposing temporary import bans or restrictions. Laczko, whose farm in Zebegeny sits near the banks of the Danube, said that since the outbreak the authorities had imposed "many restrictions." His mangalica pigs are bred outdoors, and he has had to build an extra double electric fence to prevent contact with wild boar. In the last two months, Hungary has detected 17 cases of African swine fever in dead wild boar in the north east, according to data from the food safety authority NEBIH. "We can say that the Hungarian domestic pig ... production is safe till now," said the country's chief vet Lajos Bognar. But Bognar said that 10 countries, most of them from Asia, had imposed restrictions on Hungarian pork imports for the time being. He said his rough estimate of the cost of the ASF outbreak to the industry so far was around 11 billion forints ($40.3 million) so far. Gyula Nagy, a pig farmer in Rabacsecseny, west of Budapest, who has 2,500 pigs, said the outbreak was hurting his livelihood. "The price of our slaughter pigs has ... dropped by 10 percent, plus our export possibilities have also decreased," he said. Nagy said an export deal with Serbia he had been working on fell through because of the ASF outbreak. Serbia was one of the countries to have imposed temporary import bans. Story continues Other measures, including hunting bans, were also being put into place, but mangalica breeder Laczko says these may not be enough to halt the advance of the deadly virus. "The main problem that it comes from the Ukraine and until that tap is turned off, the virus will keep spreading and all measures will be just minimal fire extinguishing," he said. (Writing by Krisztina Than; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky) See Also: Iran Will Stay in Syria Until the Country Is Free, Politician Says as Russia and Israel Hatch Border Plan Iran and its ally Hezbollah will stay in Syria until the country is liberated from terrorists and regains its territorial integrity, a Lebanese politician told Russian media Wednesday. If it had not been for Hezbollah [in Syria], Daesh [the Islamic State] would have been here [in Lebanon]," Nabih Berri, the countrys speaker of parliament, said. Berri is a close ally of Hezbollah in Lebanese politics. The statement was made as a delegation of senior Russian officials traveled to Lebanons neighbor Israel, where the two countries discussed the future of Syria and a potential plan to move Irans militias away from the region of southern Syria that borders Israel. Both Moscow and Tehran are currently in Syria to provide military and other kinds of support to Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad. Trending: Dolphins Purposely Killed for Use as Seafood Bait Reports have suggested that Russia and Israel have reached a deal that would see Iranian militia fighters retreat at least 15 miles from the border. The enmity between Israel and Iran has deepened in the wake of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. As a result, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been traveling around Europe to persuade its leaders to abandon the nuclear deal and support Irans withdrawal from Syria. Sources later told the Israeli media that the effort had been successful and that Netanyahu had garnered support for Irans removal from the war-torn country. Don't miss: Russia Will Host World Cup With Its Worst Team Ever Nevertheless, most European leaders continue to support the Iran nuclear deal, which put curbs on Irans uranium enrichment program in exchange for international sanctions being lifted on Iran. President Donald Trump canceled the U.S. participation in the deal in May, a move Netanyahu had vocally advocated for. Military officials in Iran, however, have also said that the countrys militias will not leave Syria or move away from the area bordering Lebanon. Story continues "Iran and Syria enjoy deep relations that would not be influenced by the propaganda measures of anyone, Irans Brigadier General Masoud Jazayeri said Sunday, according to local media. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek BAGHDAD (AP) A commission looking into alleged irregularities in Iraq's national elections has found "unprecedented" violations, the prime minister said Tuesday, a development that could prolong the process of forming a new government following last month's voting. During his weekly press conference, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the commission found "widespread manipulation" and faulted election authorities for "not taking the needed measures or taking wrong ones." He said the Cabinet approved the recommendations of the commission, which is made up of the heads of five security and oversight agencies as well as the head of an anti-corruption agency. The recommendations include a manual recount of at least 5 percent of ballots and annulling all votes from overseas and displaced voters. The elections, the fourth held since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, saw low turnout reflecting widespread anger at the country's dysfunctional political class. Supporters of the populist Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose forces once battled U.S. troops, emerged with the most seats, but would have to form a coalition government with other blocs in a process that could drag on for months. Al-Abadi's bloc came in third, after a coalition of mostly Shiite paramilitary forces. The Independent High Electoral Commission, which administered the vote, has denied widespread irregularities and rejected past calls for a manual recount or the cancellation of ballots. It's unclear whether the government can force it to undertake those measures, and it's also unclear whether doing so would change the outcome of the election. The winners of the election have already begun talks on forming a new government. Al-Abadi has meanwhile called for criminal investigations, and has banned election officials from traveling abroad without his approval. See Also: FILE PHOTO: Hezbollah and Syrian flags are seen fluttering in Fleita, Syria August 2, 2017. REUTERS/ Omar Sanadiki/File Photo Thomson Reuters MOSCOW (Reuters) - Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said Iranian and Hezbollah forces will not withdraw from Syria until the country is "liberated" and its "territorial integrity is restored", Russia's RIA news agency reported on Wednesday. Iran-backed forces such as Lebanon's Hezbollah, a close political ally of Berri, have been key allies alongside Russia in supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's war effort. RIA interviewed Berri in Beirut. Both the United States and Israel have demanded that Iran should entirely withdraw from Syria, and Israel has also demanded that Hezbollah should pull out. Assad has recovered swathes of Syria from rebels seeking to oust him, but large parts of the country remain out of his hands. Differences between his allies Iran and Russia have grown more apparent of late as Israel presses Moscow to make sure Tehran and its allies do not entrench their military sway in the country. Israel has carried out repeated air strikes in Syria against targets connected to Iran and Hezbollah, which it wants to keep away from its border. Lebanon is a recipient of U.S. military aid and follows a policy of disassociation from foreign conflicts. (Reporting by Maria Kiselyova; Writing by Tom Balmforth; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky) See Also: Abortion restrictions in Northern Ireland have caused "ongoing suffering" and are "incompatible" with human rights laws, the Supreme Court has said. The highest court in the UK delivered its judgment on Thursday morning as pressure continued to mount on the prime minister to intervene on the issue. The court said it did not have the jurisdiction to make a formal declaration that the law should be changed, and ruled that the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) had no right to bring its case against the abortion law. But a majority of justices agreed that the law was in breach of article eight of the European Convention on Human Rights. :: Sky Views: Abortion reform would secure PM's feminist legacy Supreme Court President Lord Mance said the restrictions were a cause of "ongoing suffering" and "clearly need radical consideration". He also suggested that "a victim of the existing law would have standing to pursue similar proceedings" to those addressed on Thursday. "Those responsible for ensuring the compatibility of Northern Ireland law with the convention rights will no doubt recognise and take account of these conclusions," he added. The view expressed by the court saw further calls for Theresa May to act, despite the government's DUP confidence-and-supply deal making the prospect of intervention unlikely. The PM has been under pressure since the Republic of Ireland voted in a referendum last month to ease restrictions in its abortion law. Labour MP Stella Creasy secured an urgent question in the House of Commons following the Supreme Court hearing and told colleagues "our own law is breaking the basic human rights of our own citizens". Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley said the government was "carefully considering" the Supreme Court judgement, but stressed that no formal declaration had been made and that the appeal had been dismissed. Story continues She added: "While the court made no formal declaration, a majority of judges stated their view that the laws of abortion in Northern Ireland are incompatible with article eight of the European Convention of Human Rights. "This is clearly a complex area of law and extremely sensitive subject matter that raises a number of different issues to consider." :: UK abortion laws aren't as simple as you'd think Mrs Bradley stressed that her "urgent priority" was trying to re-establish a power-sharing executive in Northern Ireland "so decisions can be taken there". Last year, the Court of Appeal ruled that even if the abortion law did violate human rights, it could only be changed by a devolved government. With none in place, the prime minister has been forced to resist calls for intervention. On Mrs Bradley's insistence that abortion is "a devolved matter" for Northern Ireland, Ms Creasy responded: "Clearly, this ruling challenges that disregard for the human rights of women in Northern Ireland." She continued: "The women of Northern Ireland deserve better, they deserve control over their bodies. "They deserve not to be forced to go to court and talk about these issues in order to get the government to listen. "They deserve the kind of control that Arlene Foster currently has over this government." In an impassioned plea, Ms Creasy continued: "Human rights are an international obligation. Minister, I beg of you, don't make a victim go to court." Former Tory cabinet minister Justine Greening urged Mrs Bradley to accept that parliament, in the absence of an administration at Stormont, should look at what steps it can take. The Commons exchange came after Les Allamby, the chief commissioner of the Northern Ireland human rights commission, told reporters the outcome had brought "greater clarity" to the country's abortion law. "The law now needs to change to stop women and girls from further anxiety and suffering," he said outside the court. "In the absence of the Northern Ireland executive and assembly it falls to the UK government to make this change and it must act without delay." But while pro-choice campaigners saw the court's decision as further reason to push for a change to the law, those on the other side of the argument viewed it as reason to draw a line under the debate. Both Lives Matter co-founder Dawn McAvoy said: "It is not a moment to celebrate, but rather to pause and be thankful for the lives this judgment will save. "The Supreme Court has dismissed the case brought by the Human Rights Commission. In doing so, it has made clear that there is no human right to abortion." Bernadette Smyth, director of Precious Life, said: "What happened here today was upholding democracy. This court made a ruling that this court has no right to make decisions for Northern Ireland. "Our laws matter because every life matters." Norway has banned the burqua from schools and daycare centres (Rex) A ban on burqas and niqabs is set to come into force in schools in Norway after the countrys parliament passed a bill on the issue. Students and teachers will no longer be able to wear the traditional Islamic clothing in places of education, or anything that partially or fully covers the face. A similar measure banning all face coverings in public passed in Denmark last week. Voting on the matter took place over the course of three days, with representatives from the Socialist Left, Red and Green parties opposing it. The ban will be enforced on both teachers and pupils (Rex) The Socialist Left voted in favour of applying the ban to teaching staff but not to students but the bill was passed despite their opposition. The anti-immigration Progress Party expressed its delight at the passing of the bill, telling Bergens Tidende: This is very good news. When Progress in 2003 proposed a total ban on the niqab and burqa, we were laughed at. MOST POPULAR TODAY ON YAHOO We see now that we have succeeded in bringing the political environment around to our viewpoint. The party suggested that a total ban will come into force within a few years. Several educational institutions in Norway opposed the measure, including the University of Bergen and Norwegian University of Science and Technology, who both described it as unnecessary. Akbar Al Baker REUTERS/Regis Duvignau The head of Qatar Airways apologized on Wednesday for saying that a woman could not do his job, while global airlines pledged to speed up efforts to break down gender imbalances in aviation. Qatar Airways Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker said his remarks at the closing of a global airlines gathering on Tuesday had been intended as a joke and taken out of context. Asked on Tuesday about female employment among Middle East airlines and why his job as CEO could not be done by a woman, al Baker had said: "Of course it has to be led by a man because it is a very challenging position." SYDNEY (Reuters) - The head of Qatar Airways apologized on Wednesday for saying that a woman could not do his job, while global airlines pledged to speed up efforts to break down gender imbalances in aviation. Qatar Airways Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker said his remarks at the closing of a global airlines gathering on Tuesday had been intended as a joke and taken out of context. He defended his airline's record of gender diversity, saying 44 percent of its staff were female including some in senior positions. "Quite frankly I think the press took it out of context. They ... blew it out of proportion. It was just a joke...I apologize for it," Al Baker told a CAPA-Centre for Aviation conference in Sydney. Asked on Tuesday about female employment among Middle East airlines and why his job as CEO could not be done by a woman, al Baker had said: "Of course it has to be led by a man because it is a very challenging position." He made the comments at a news conference following a meeting of airlines group International Air Transport Association (IATA), moments after being elected its chairman. The remarks drew criticism on social media. The issue of gender imbalance in aviation was a hot topic at the three-day annual meeting of IATA - only six of whose 280 member airlines, or 2 percent, have female chief executives. Story continues Al Baker later said Qatar Airways was the first carrier in the Middle East to have female pilots. On Wednesday, the director-general of IATA noted that al Baker had earlier apologized for his comments. "But the immediate reaction illustrated that expectations for change are high. And it is absolutely clear that aviation has a lot of work to do on gender balance at senior levels," Alexandre de Juniac added in a blog on IATA's website. 'LONG WAY TO GO' Al Baker is one of the airline industry's most outspoken figures, known for provocative and often humorous criticism of rival airlines or suppliers, but he has also drawn criticism over the judgment of some of his declarations. In 2017 he apologized after calling U.S. flight attendants "grandmothers" during a trade row with U.S. airlines, prompting an airline union to accuse him of sexism and age discrimination. In 2014, Qatar Airways defended policies on pregnancy and marriage for cabin crew after coming under fire over working conditions in the conservative Gulf emirate. Asked at Wednesday's CAPA conference whether he truly believed that only a man could do his job, Al Baker said, "No, I dont believe that. As a matter of fact (at) Air Italy the majority shareholder has shortlisted women to be CEO and as minority shareholder we are actively encouraging that." Sharing a podium, Willie Walsh, the head of British Airways owner IAG , said the industry had a long way to go in promoting women, starting with IATA, a quasi-international organization with two women on its 31-person board. "This whole debate should encourage more," Walsh said. "If you look at the board it is predominantly middle-aged white men from Europe. We have more diversity on the board now than we have had for a long time, and we have to strive to improve that situation." Al Baker pledged to bring more women onto IATA's board, but said there had been few applicants. Board members must be a CEO. IATA says just 3 percent of airlines have a female leader. Delegates said seats are also divided up by region, meaning some national airlines may have to release influential board seats to favor a female candidate from their own region, but a woman in one region could not benefit from a vacancy in another. "Bridging the gap at senior levels will not be simple," de Juniac wrote. The gender row comes amid a deeper debate about whether airlines based on different national social models, recruitment policies and wage structures can compete on equal terms. U.S. and some European airlines have accused Gulf carriers of unfair competition based on subsidies and social policies, but Walsh - whose group counts Qatar Airways as a shareholder - said he believed Gulf airlines competed on an equal footing. NOW WATCH: This reusable straw collapses to fit on your keyring and 'will last a lifetime' See Also: In an historic ruling for the rights of same-sex couples, the EU Court of Justice (ECJ) has held that for the purposes of EU free movement law, the notion of a spouse includes the same-sex spouse of an EU citizen. The case was referred to the ECJ from the Romanian Constitutional Court which was confronted with a dispute between a couple, Adrian Coman, a Romanian national, and Claibourn Hamilton, a US national, and the Romanian authorities. After living for a number of years in Belgium, where the couple married, Coman wished to return to Romania with his spouse. But Hamilton was refused the right to reside in Romania as Comans husband, on the grounds that Romania does not recognise same-sex marriage. The case was referred to the ECJ as EU law requires member states to grant a right of residence to the spouse of an EU citizen who moves there in exercise of EU free movement rights. The ECJ was asked whether the term spouse should include same-sex spouses and it ruled that it should. As the ECJ underlined, EU member states still remain free to decide whether or not to allow marriage for persons of the same sex in their territory. But in situations where an EU citizen, who has been living in another EU member state, wants to return to their country of origin, their same-sex marriage must now be recognised under EU law. The same law applies for EU citizens moving to any other EU member state so for example if Coman had wanted to move to Poland with his husband, he would be allowed to. Rights clarified The ruling provides much-needed clarity and legal certainty for same-sex couples who get married in an EU member state. It makes clear that wherever they wish to move in the EU, their union should be recognised as a marriage for the purposes of family reunion, irrespective of whether the host state allows same-sex couples to formalise their relationship in its territory. Currently, 15 out of the EUs 28 member states do not permit same-sex marriage, including Romania, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. The court had comforting words for these countries, that its ruling does not require them to provide for the institution of marriage between persons of the same sex. But the ruling appears to have the potential of initiating a process of voluntary harmonisation whereby all member states will realise they need to recognise and make provision for same-sex spouses, even in situations when this is not required by EU law. The ruling offers an interpretation of spouse for the purposes solely of family reunification in cross-border situations. However, once a member state accepts that a same-sex married couple are spouses for the purposes of EU family reunification and are therefore entitled to a right of residence in its territory it would appear anomalous to strip them of this status for other legal purposes, regardless of whether those situations fall within the scope of EU law. This could include rights regarding taxation, inheritance, pensions, hospital visitation rights, childbearing and childrearing. Story continues Not open to marriage tourism At the same time, the court repeatedly stressed in its ruling, that an EU citizen can only claim family reunification rights upon moving countries if they have taken up genuine residence in the territory of another member state and during that time have established and strengthened their family life. In previous case law, the court clarified that such genuine residence can only exist when the EU citizen has settled in another member state for more than three months. This should put to rest fears that the ruling can lead to marriage tourism. It ensures that EU citizens living in a member state that does not permit same-sex marriage cannot move to another member state simply in order to marry and then return to the first state claiming the right to be recognised as a married couple. They will need to show that they have taken up genuine residence in that member state and during that period they established and strengthened their family life. The court should be applauded for its audacious approach, in a case which involved an admittedly delicate matter. The ruling, nonetheless, leaves a question unanswered. It emphasises that the obligation imposed on member states is to recognise same-sex marriages lawfully concluded in another EU country. The marriage of Coman and Hamilton satisfied this requirement because it took place in Belgium. Would they be in the same position if their marriage was concluded in, say, the US? This is a question that will have to wait for another ECJ ruling. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. The Conversation Alina Tryfonidou 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. Russia is a top destination for international students and the most popular place for students from former Soviet countries to study. The country currently hosts more than 243,752 international students and considers international recruitment to be an important geopolitical goal. More recently, Russia has resurrected and intensified the Soviet tradition of politicising student mobility. The government has requested that Russian students studying abroad should leave their new countries, when Russias political relations with those destinations deteriorate. Rossotrudnichestvo a Russian government agency primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid issued an information campaign, Highly Likely Welcome Back, !, in April, with the aim of bringing Russian students back home from these hostile countries. The agency explained: There are serious safely issues for our young people studying abroad. They may suffer from provocations in countries that are unfriendly to Russia. Russophobic sentiments negatively influence [the] lives of our citizens abroad, for example, Russians residing in the UK. The phrase highly likely seems to refer to Theresa Mays comment about it being highly likely that Russia was responsible for the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal. The use of this phrase in the slogan suggests the message is directed at students studying in the UK. There are 56,915 Russian students studying abroad, of which around 4,092 are based in the UK. The Highly Likely Welcome Back campaign appears to have had little effect Russian students in the UK reportedly seem unmoved by the governments discourse on Russophobia. Education or politics? A similar decision was made by Russia in 2015 when the government recalled Russian students studying in Turkey. This was after the downing of a Russian warplane by the Syria Turkey border. Russia also proposed a reduction in the quota for international students from Turkey. Story continues This politicisation of Russian higher education dates back to the Cold War when exchange programmes became extremely important especially with emerging communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe. As anti-colonial movements spread across Africa, Asia, and Latin America in the mid 20th-century, the USSR saw this as an opportunity to extend its activity to developing countries. Shutterstock The foundation of Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow in 1961 named after the murdered Congolese politician and independence leader was a milestone in this regard. International students who studied there were considered advocates of the communist ideology and promoters of the Soviet model of higher education. The Soviet Union viewed international student recruitment as a critical instrument for serving its expansionist intentions. And also as a way of gaining superiority over its Cold War enemies. Key hotspots for recruitment This political rationale still seems to be alive and well and serves as a key driver for Russian higher education internationalisation to date. These days, Russia places a particular focus on recruiting students from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). This is the regional organisation established during the breakup of the USSR in the 1990s. Of the 15 former Soviet republics, nine are member states. The Baltic States never joined and Georgia withdrew its membership following the war with Russia in 2008. Shutterstock The promotion of Russian interests is of particular importance for post-Soviet Russia in its former territories of influence. In the words of Vladimir Putin, the collapse of the USSR was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th-century. This is why the Russian government provides generous funding to international students. High-priority applicants for federal scholarships include students from the CIS, the Baltic States, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia. These scholarships cover all tuition fees, pay a monthly stipend of 1,500 roubles (18) and provide a place in halls of residence. What does the future hold? Russias ambition going forward is to expand the boundaries of international student recruitment to Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs hopes this will help to improve the efficiency of Russias soft power. The education of international students in Russia is seen as a process of formation of the pro-Russian national elites. And it is believed these national elities will help promote Russian interests, including long-term ones in their home countries. With this in mind and given the fact that Russia is aiming to triple international students numbers to more than 700,000 by 2025 it seems the politicisation of higher education in Russia is not going away any time soon. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. The Conversation Maia Chankseliani receives funding from Qatar Foundation World Innovation Summit for Education, the British Council, the University of Oxford. Sadiq Khan insists police cuts were to blame for a rise in London violence (Rex) The recent surge in violence in London has seen Sadiq Khan come under increasing pressure to deal with the issue. Now the London Mayor has accepted responsibility for a hike in shootings and stabbings across the capital but insists police cuts were to blame for making the situation worse. The former Labour MP also said that the problem was not confined to London, but part of a national crime wave. Violent crime has been rising nationally, but my team will support the police and carry on doing everything we can to tackle it. pic.twitter.com/wj1mWDo886 Mayor of London (@MayorofLondon) June 6, 2018 Asked how he would respond to people who believe he bears personal responsibility for the surge in knife crime and violence, Mr Khan told LBC: Im the Mayor of London, Im the Police and Crime Commissioner I accept responsibility for what happens in our city. Security is the biggest concern that I have, its the one thing that keeps me up at night whether its terrorism threats, whether its the surge in serious violent crime. But I am not going to apologise for explaining the context. We have seen across the country an increase in serious violent crime. This weekend in Ipswich, a 17-year-old child lost his life because of a stabbing. MOST POPULAR TODAY ON YAHOO Weve seen in Liverpool, in Cardiff, in Manchester, shootings in daylight hours where teenagers have lost their lives. Story continues Over the course of the last three or four years, weve seen an increase in violent crime across our country. These are national problems that demand national solutions. Mr Khan said the Government was ignoring the link between police cuts and an increase in crime. London has been hit by a wave of shootings and stabbings in 2018 (Rex) He added: Whether its the commissioner, whether its chief constables, whether its senior Home Office civil servants, all of us, except for the Government, now accept theres a link between cutting police resources and an increase in serious violent crime. Thats not the sole reason by the way, but theres a link. Mr Khan said the Metropolitan Police had fewer officers now than at any time since 2003, and that the Government was responsible for almost 80% of the forces funding. He said: We can dance around about what proportion of responsibility is mine versus the Government, but you cant escape the fact you have fewer police officers now doing more work than they were in 2003. Scientists have found a link between sleeping too much or too little and developing dementia. Growing evidence suggests the amount people sleep can affect their mortality rate and the risk of developing cognitive disorders such as dementia. A team of researchers at Kyushu University in Japan wanted to unpick the apparent connection between these factors. Their study involved 1,517 elderly people without dementia in a Japanese community. The individuals were part of a group screened for dementia prospectively in the decade following 2002. Of the total participants, 294 developed dementia, and 282 died. Trending: Where is Kim Jong Un Staying in Singapore? U.S. Company Offers To Pay His Hotel During Summit with Trump The individuals were asked to report how long they slept, and were categorized into five groups. Those who slept for fewer than five hours; between five and 6.9; seven to 7.9; eight to 9.9; and over 10. sleep-stock Getty Images The risk of dementia and early mortality was significantly greater in those who slept fewer than five hours or more than 10 hours, compared to those who sleep between five to 6.9 hours. Participants who used sleeping pills, regardless of how long they slept, had a higher risk of death or dementia than those who didnt and slept between five to 6.9 hours. The risks remained when the data was adjusted to take into account the age and sex of the participants. But the risk was lower in individuals who were physically active. High physical activity was defined in the study as engaging in moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity at work or regular exercise. Don't miss: Stormy Danielss Former Lawyer Was Puppet for Trump and Tried to Get Her to Deny Affair on Fox News, Lawsuit Claims The authors concluded that given the benefits of physical activity for a good night's sleep, their findings indicate that not only sleeping for the correct amount of type but adopting behaviors like exercising "may be an effective strategy for preventing dementia and premature death in elderly adults." Story continues Last month, a new study involving around 500 adults with dementia found that moderate- to high-intensity exercise does not, on its own, ease the symptoms of the condition. Professor Sarah Lamb, lead author of the study published in the British Medical Journal, told The Guardian at the time she was disappointed but not surprised by the findings, as dementia is a difficult problem to fix. We dont want to alarm members of the public with dementia and their families. We used a very specialized exercise program. We know that gentle exercise is good for you. We dont want people to stop what they are doing, she said. Most popular: Video: Chicago Police Handcuff 10-Year-Old After Call About Black Male With Gun Dr. James Pickett, head of research at U.K.-based charity the Alzheimers Society, told Newswee: "Most people with dementia find that a poor nights sleep affects their ability to think the following day. This is a short term effect what we dont know is if recurrent poor sleep over a longer period of time increases our risk of dementia." He explained this new research implies there might be an ideal number of hours sleep to prevent dementia, but other emerging research suggests that quality of sleep might be more important than the quantity. Dr Pickett added: "In fact, our researchers at the UK Dementia Research Institute are looking at this relationship, delving not only into the importance of quality versus quantity of shut-eye, but also what happens in our brains when we get a good nights rest." This piece has been updated with comment from Dr. James Pickett. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek Chile's Finance Minister Felipe Larrain speaks during an interview with Reuters at the OECD headquarters in Paris, France, May 31, 2018. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer By Antonio De la Jara (Reuters) - Chile's finance minister on Wednesday described as "imprudent" the appointment by lithium miner SQM of its former Chairman Julio Ponce as a strategic adviser, in light of an agreement with the state that he distance himself from the firm. SQM , the world's biggest exporter of lithium carbonate, confirmed on Tuesday that it had retained Ponce's services, along with those of his brother Eugenio. The move has sparked criticism from politicians from both the governing coalition and opposition, as well as the business community. Finance Minister Felipe Larrain said that the contract drawn up between SQM and the government to end a royalties dispute would have to be checked to determine if the appointment of Ponce as adviser was compliant. "It's a complex situation and seems to be an imprudent move," he told journalists at a news conference on Wednesday. "We need to check whether it's a violation of the contract or the spirit of the contract from the government's point of view. We will protect the interests of the Chilean state." Ponce, a former son-in-law of late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, is a controversial figure in Chile. He has held power at SQM since it was privatised under Pinochet in the 1980s and is still the largest shareholder. In 2014, he was fined for market manipulation. The firm's current president, Alberto Salas, said in a statement on Tuesday that the board took the unanimous decision to appoint Ponce and his brother after an "exhaustive analysis" and because of the pair's "extensive business experience and technical know-how." State development agency Corfo, which oversees Chile's lithium leases, earlier this year inked a deal with SQM that increased the miner's quota of the highly prized metal in the Salar de Atacama, but stipulated that Ponce remove himself and his family from decision-making at the firm. Story continues Corfo on Wednesday said an external law firm it hired had reviewed the contract, as well as emails sent during the negotiations, and found that the ban did not apply to "advisors." "The spirit of the parties was to not broaden the prohibition to the role of the advisor," Corfo said in a statement. "We will exert strict oversight to make sure that SQM's decision to hire Julio Ponce Lerou and Eugenio Ponce Lerou as advisors does not mean that they participate in decision-making." (Reporting by Antonio de la Jara; Writing by Aislinn Laing, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien and Lisa Shumaker) ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey has suspended its migrant readmission deal with Greece, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was quoted as saying by state-run Anadolu agency, days after Greece released from prison four Turkish soldiers who fled there after a 2016 attempted coup. The four soldiers were released on Monday after an order extending their custody expired. A decision on their asylum applications is still pending. "We have a bilateral readmission agreement. We have suspended that readmission agreement," Cavusoglu was quoted as saying, adding that a separate migrant deal between the EU and Turkey would continue. Under the bilateral deal signed in 2001, 1,209 foreign nationals have been deported to Turkey from Greece in the last two years, data from the Greek citizens' protection ministry showed. Cavusoglu was quoted as saying he believed the Greek government wanted to resolve the issue about the soldiers but that Greek judges were under pressure from the West. "The Greek government wants to resolve this issue. But we also see there is serious pressure on Greece from the West. Especially on Greek judges," Cavusoglu was quoted as saying. The eight soldiers fled to Greece following the July 2016 failed coup in Turkey. Ankara has demanded they be handed over, accusing them of involvement in the abortive coup. Greek courts have rejected the extradition request and the soldiers have denied wrongdoing and say they fear for their lives. In May, Greece's top administrative court rejected an appeal by the Greek government against an administrative decision by an asylum board to grant asylum to one of the Turkish soldiers. (Reporting by Ali Kucukgocmen and Karolina Tagaris in Athens; Editing by Daren Butler) FILE PHOTO: A man walks during a visit by a U.N. delegation to the Red Sea port of Hodeidah, Yemen July 26, 2017. REUTERS/Abduljabbar Zeyad Thomson Reuters By Warren Strobel and Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has warned its close ally the United Arab Emirates not to launch an assault on Yemen's port city of Hodeidah, which United Nations experts fear could precipitate a new humanitarian crisis, U.S. officials said on Tuesday. The warning was issued as Emirati-backed Yemeni forces moved within 10 kilometers of the Red Sea port, a lifeline for humanitarian supplies for the country's war-wracked populace. The port is controlled by Yemen's Houthi movement. U.S. officials met at the White House on Tuesday to discuss the crisis, two sources with knowledge of the meeting said. It was unclear whether any decisions were reached. A spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said Washington opposed any effort by the Emirates and Yemeni troops it backs to seize the city. "The United States has been clear and consistent that we will not support actions that destroy key infrastructure or that are likely to exacerbate the dire humanitarian situation that has expanded in this stalemated conflict," said the spokesperson, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter and asked not to be named. "We expect all parties to abide by the Law of Armed Conflict and avoid targeting civilians or commercial infrastructure," the spokesperson said. The United States and the Emirates are close economic and security allies, working together against militant groups in Yemen and elsewhere. Any direct American support to an Emirate ground offensive against Hodeidah would mark a major departure from U.S. policy toward Yemen, which has sought to focus U.S. military activity against al Qaeda-affiliated militants. The United States also has repeatedly urged the Saudi-led coalition, both under President Donald Trump and his predecessor Barack Obama, to prevent civilian casualties. Critics of Washington, however, have said that its refueling of Saudi-led coalition jets, arms sales and limited U.S. intelligence support make it complicit in civilian casualties caused by the coalition. Story continues U.N. officials warned that an assault on Hodeidah, which has a population of about 600,000, would cause a humanitarian calamity. A U.N. contingency plan projects that, in the worst-case scenario of a prolonged siege, tens of thousands could die. Yemeni political sources said on Monday that the U.N. envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, was in the capital of Sanaa to broker a deal to avert a possible assault on Hodeidah, under which the United Nations would take control of the port. (Reporting by Warren Strobel; Additional reporting by Jonathan Landay and Yara Bayoumy; Editing by Toni Reinhold) See Also: A soldier has been arrested for stealing a military vehicle and taking it on a joyride through the streets of Virginia. Officers were involved in an unusual chase following reports an armored personnel carrier (APC) was being driven through Richmond at speeds of up to 40mph. Videos of the vehiclewhich police later confirmed was not a tank or equipped with any weaponrywere posted to social media by shocked onlookers. Trending: ICE Arrested Man Delivering Pizza to Military Base and He Now Faces Deportation This is INSANE! Someone has hijacked a Tank-like vehicle from Fort Pickett and just drove it by our apartment! This is on Broad Street in the Fan, Parker Slaybaugh, communications director for Virginia state House Speaker Kirk Cox, wrote on Twitter. 1528257297-efc58ab6-339e-435e-b406-ee7e27857b83-original Storyful/Peter Slaybaugh The vehicle, believed to have been taken from Fort Pickett in Blackstone, Virginia, was property of the Virginia National Guard. It made its way northbound on Interstate 95 and into the City of Richmond, reports Cleveland.com. Don't miss: Tensions Rise Between Ukraine And Russia In Shared Territorial Waters The driver of the vehicle eventually stopped and surrendered to authorities around 9:40 p.m. on Tuesday on East Broad Street and 11th Street in Richmondclose to the city's Capitol building, according to USA Today. Dozens of state troopers were said to be in pursuit of the vehicle at the time of the chase. "The Virginia State Police began pursuit of the vehicle since receiving the initial report and traveled along with it from Nottoway County to the City of Richmond," said Corrine Geller, Virginia State Police spokesperson. "No crashes or injuries occurred during the course or as a result of this incident." Most popular: Early Humans Liked Jerky Too, Ancient Jaws Suggest Charges are still pending against the driver, who has not been identified, after he was taken into custody by Virginia State Police. Story continues This is INSANE! Someone has hijacked a Tank-like vehicle from Fort Pickett and just drove it by our apartment! This is on Broad Street in the Fan. pic.twitter.com/EYfhFux1dk Parker Slaybaugh (@ParkerSlay89) June 6, 2018 Updated: The headline of this story has been updated to correct a typo. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek Jubilee Metals Group announced on Thursday that its operations at Hernic achieved "record" production in May, with the second quarter of 2018 on course to be well ahead of the first. The AIM-traded diversified metals recovery company said Hernic, located on the Bushveld mineral complex in South Africa, delivered 2,101 ounces of platinum group metals (PGM) from 1,871 ounces in April, with 3,972 ounces produced so far in the second quarter. Leon Coetzer, chief executive of Jubilee Metals, said: "I am particularly pleased with the performance of our Hernic operation. The Hernic operation continues to set new benchmarks quarter on quarter with May setting a new record high delivering an impressive 2101 PGM ounces." Jubilee achieved production of 4,897 ounces in the first quarter and said its current three-month period is set to be 20% ahead of that, with a target of 6,000 ounces. Elsewhere, construction of the companys Kabwe project is underway after a mining license was reinstated by the Zambian government. "Our initial focus is on the implementation of the zinc recovery circuit. I will provide further details and clarity on the project following my presentation to the Zambian Mining Department later this month," said Coetzer. The DCM platinum and chrome project in South Africa has seen the implementation of a hydro-mining circuit as part of the integration of fine chrome and platinum recovery circuits at the site. As of 1624 BST, Jubilee Metals Groups shares were up 4.95% at 2.65p. According to the Financial Times, the European Commission is ready to impose a second antitrust fine on Google over alleged abuse of power in Android licensing deals with phone makers. The first fine was imposed last year and was the largest in EU history at $2.8bn. Google appealed the fine and will probably do so again with the new one. According to the FT, EU Competition Chief Margrethe Vestager is "poised to announce the negative finding within weeks [...] marking the most significant regulatory intervention made against Googles business model." Defence competition authorities in Brussels claim that Googles app-install requirements in Android-OEM contracts favour Google services and harm consumer choice. Google could potentially be liable for a penalty of up to $11bn, but it is unlikely that the final sum will reach that figure. Separately, Vestager told The Telegraph that the ability to break up Google had to remain a real threat. The case shares similarities with that of Microsoft in 1998, which then had the most popular operating system for PCs in the world, Windows. However, both Brussels and Washington said the Redmond, Washington-based firm was depriving users of choice by bundling the Internet Explorer browser and its Media Player with the operating system, triggering the anti-trust action. As of 1548 BST, shares of Googles parent company, Alphabet were dropping -1.61% to $118.58 following the FT report. 'Expected' end-date of December 2021 inserted into wording Brexit Secretary David Davis and Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday averted a crisis when they agreed a compromise on the proposed Irish border "backstop" plan stating the arrangement should be in place by the end of December 2021 and "time limited" After two tense meetings between the pair at Downing Street, plan for post-Brexit trade with the EU was published with the inclusion of the 2021 date. This would keep the UK in the customs union after the transition period ends in December 2020. "The UK is clear that the temporary customs arrangement, should it be needed, should be time limited, and that it will be only in place until the future customs arrangement can be introduced," the document states. "The UK is clear that the future customs arrangement needs to deliver on the commitments made in relation to Northern Ireland. The UK expects the future arrangement to be in place by the end of December 2021 at the latest. There are a range of options for how a time limit could be delivered, which the UK will propose and discuss with the EU." In response chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier said he welcomed the proposal and would examine it against three questions: "Is it a workable solution to avoid a hard border? Does it respect the integrity of the single market/customs union? Is it an all-weather backstop?" There had been speculation that Davis could resign over the issue, and leave May vulnerable to a revolt from hard Brexiteer ministers in her Cabinet. She also met with right-wing Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Trade Secretary Liam Fox. May is set to meet Cabinet ministers later to try to resolve the tensions over plans for Britain to remain tied to the EU tariffs framework for a period of time after the UK leaves the bloc, in a bid to avoid a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. Originally, the proposal was to have been presented in Brussels on Wednesday, but was delayed as a result of Davis's resistance to the lack of an end date. The proposal document states that where the backstop applies, a temporary customs arrangement should exist between the UK and the EU. "This arrangement would see: - The elimination of tariffs, quotas, rules of origin and customs processes including declarations on all UK-EU trade; - The UK outside the scope of the common commercial policy (CCP), except where it is required to enable the temporary customs arrangement to function. This will mean applying the EUs common external tariff at the UKs external border, alongside the union customs code and such other parts of the CCP that are required to enable the temporary customs arrangement to function; and - The UK able to negotiate, sign and ratify free trade agreements with rest of world partners and implement those elements that do not affect the functioning of the temporary customs arrangement," it states. The EU has been adamant that any 'backstop' plan must remain open-ended until a suitable alternative is found so the UK can continue to trade with the EU with the least amount of distortions possible - and without endangering the peace between Northern Ireland and the Republic. As he has in the past, Donald Trump kicked off his morning by firing off multiple tweets. In response, critics of the president made sure to respond as expected. How could Jeff Flake, who is setting record low polling numbers in Arizona and was therefore humiliatingly forced out of his own Senate seat without even a fight (and who doesnt have a clue), think about running for office, even a lower one, again? Lets face it, hes a Flake! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 7, 2018 Trump on Twitter It's no secret that Donald Trump has used social media to push his message and agenda for the better part of the last three years. After engaging in a feud with the media during the early days of his presidential campaign, the former host of "The Apprentice" used Twitter as a way to bypass the press. Fast forward to present day and Trump is continuing that strategy. Some of the latest headlines involving the president include Republican Sen. Jeff Flake who is reportedly planning to rip into Trump on the Senate floor on Thursday as he sets to retire from Congress after the upcoming election. In addition, the Russian investigation has been moving forward, resulting in even more defiance from the commander in chief. When and where will all of the many conflicts of interest be listed by the 13 Angry Democrats (plus) working on the Witch Hunt Hoax. There has never been a group of people on a case so biased or conflicted. It is all a Democrat Excuse for LOSING the Election. Where is the server? Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 7, 2018 In a pair of tweets sent out on June 7, Trump turned his attention to the Democrats and Jeff Flake. "When and where will all of the many conflicts of interest be listed by the 13 Angry Democrats (plus) working on the Witch Hunt Hoax," Trump tweeted, before adding, "There has never been a group of people on a case so biased or conflicted." "It is all a Democrat Excuse for LOSING the Election," he wrote, before asking, "Where is the server?" Following up with an additional tweet, Donald Trump then went after fellow Republican Jeff Flake. Discuss this news on Eunomia "How could Jeff Flake, who is setting record low polling numbers in Arizona and was therefore humiliatingly forced out of his own Senate seat without even a fight (and who doesnt have a clue), think about running for office, even a lower one, again?" Trump wrote. "Lets face it, hes a Flake!" he concluded. Twitter reacts Not long after Donald Trump sent out his tweets, those who oppose the president wasted no time hitting back. "I don't see 13 angry Democrats. I see one angry, scared, panicky Republican president who can sense the walls closing in at this point," one tweet read. Go to work you have the G7 and your meeting with a tyrant in less than a week. Dont you have homework to do? Can you at least educate yourself so you dont embarrass us! Carole Burnett (@CaroleBurnett07) June 7, 2018 TRUMP IS so freeking DESPERATE and PATHETIC.......WHAT A PATHOLOGICAL LIAR B-MAN (@BMAN89921340) June 7, 2018 There you go again personal attacks from a president Bruce Kraft (@Bruce_Kraft) June 7, 2018 "TRUMP IS so freaking DESPERATE and PATHETIC.......WHAT A PATHOLOGICAL LIAR," a Twitter user wrote. "Lots of sad men having a mid-life crisis thinking theyre somehow rebellious. Dull," another tweet noted. "Go to work you have the G7 and your meeting with a tyrant in less than a week. Dont you have homework to do? Can you at least educate yourself so you dont embarrass us!" yet another tweet stated. I don't see 13 angry Democrats. I see one angry, scared, panicky Republican president who can sense the walls closing in at this point. Don't Leave Blank (@WTFisGoingOnDon) June 7, 2018 Jeff may be a Flake, but Donny is a Snowflake Bobby Ram DOS (@LikeVerySmart) June 7, 2018 Just because you repeat the same narrative over and over again doesnt make it so. You cant gaslight America. Sam Barrett (@BirchHillSam) June 7, 2018 "Get it? I said he's a *flake*! 'Cause, like, that's his name! Man, only a stable genius would've come up with that zinger!" a social media user wrote. "So what you are saying is you loved Melania's message about #BeBest, you've taken it to heart, and you are trying to better yourself as a human being and leader? Got it," a follow-up tweet read. The rift between Donald Trump and many celebrities in Hollywood has been well-known for some time and the relationship doesn't look to be improving anytime soon. With "Saturday Night Live" off the air until the fall, veteran actor Alec Baldwin has decided to increase his Twitter use to mock the president. If youre completely nuts, do you really want a lawyer whos completely nuts?#TRUMP/GIULIANI2020 ABFoundation (@ABFalecbaldwin) June 7, 2018 Baldwin on Trump It all started after the Republican primary election when Donald Trump stunned the world by pulling off the upset win for his party. Following his first debate with Hillary Clinton in the general election, Trump was criticized for how he handled himself, resulting in the producers of "Saturday Night Live" hiring Alec Baldwin to the play the satirical role of the former host of "The Apprentice." Since then, Baldwin has played a mock version of Trump on a semi-regular basis, much to the chagrin of the commander in chief. Trump has ripped into "SNL" and Baldwin at times, but that hasn't stopped the Emmy-award winning actor from sounding off. President Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, says he stands by his recent comments that adult film actress Stormy Daniels has no credibility because of her profession https://t.co/y3r4Pb2DhJ pic.twitter.com/DzCewHg3QJ CNN (@CNN) June 7, 2018 In recent weeks, Donald Trump's lawyer, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, has come under fire for various remarks he's made about the administration in regards to their handling of the Russian investigation and other issues. Giuliani's latest gaffe includes claiming that the president could "shoot James Comey" and not be prosecuted. In addition, Giuliani has come out to claim that Trump's alleged former mistress, adult film star Stormy Daniels, has no credibility due to her profession. Responding to the controversy was Alec Baldwin who did so during a June 7 tweet. Discuss this news on Eunomia "If youre completely nuts, do you really want a lawyer whos completely nuts?" Baldwin rhetorically tweeted out, before using the hashtag "TRUMP/GIULIANI2020." Twitter applauds Responding to Alec Baldwin's tweet, users on Twitter cheered on the "Saturday Night Live" actor in agreement. "This is why you can't stop doing him on SNL. For those of us who are organizers, fundraisers, campaign workers, or just everyday concerned citizens you build moral and bring levity in the wake of this national nightmare," a Twitter user wrote in praise of Baldwin, while referring to him as "the Bob Hope of The Resistance." This is why you can't stop doing him on SNL. For those of us who are organizers, fundraisers, campaign workers, or just everyday concerned citizens you build moral and bring levity in the wake of this national nightmare. You are the Bob Hope of The #Resistance and we need you. Salty John (@saltyjohnbos) June 7, 2018 I always believe Trump is a man who really actually wants to get caught so he surrounds himself with criminal types who will bring him down. Either that or hes the stupidest man alive! Patti (@PattiFromNYC) June 7, 2018 Match made in...I cant describe... Mary Schroeder (@WomanOfSubstanc) June 7, 2018 "That would be some ticket.... their slogan could be six marriages, five divorces, endless lies. An all NY ticket that won't win in their home state," a Twitter user wrote. "If you are completely nuts usually you have to find a lawyer who is just to take you on or as in this case one who is nuts enough to nominate himself," an additional tweet stated. If you're nuts, probably the only lawyer willing to take you on as a client would have to be nuts, as well. Anna Maria (@Barbiewithatude) June 7, 2018 Well, Hell yes. Nuts hang together. MoodyB (@lagrand46) June 7, 2018 Perfect question!!!!! Mary Battenberg (@scutterhadley) June 7, 2018 "Well, Hell yes. Nuts hang together," a social media user went on to write. "I always believe Trump is a man who really actually wants to get caught so he surrounds himself with criminal types who will bring him down. Either that or hes the stupidest man alive!" a follow-up tweet noted. Eileen Van Aken has been appointed head of Virginia Techs Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering in the College of Engineering, effective June 10, 2018. Eileen is a talented scholar in the areas of enterprise performance measurement systems, lean work systems, and organizational improvement practices. She has emerged as a true leader through her vision and unwavering dedication to the university and college, said Julia M. Ross, the Paul and Dorothea Torgersen Dean of Engineering. I am delighted that after a successful national search, Eileen has accepted the position. An educator and leader in the industrial and systems engineering field, Van Aken has led the department as interim head since 2016, when former head, G. Don Taylor, began service as acting dean of the college. Taylor now serves as the vice provost for learning systems innovation and effectiveness at Virginia Tech. Under Van Akens leadership, the department has continued to be top-ranked, according to U.S. News & World Report, with the undergraduate program at No. 8 and the graduate program at No. 7. Research expenditures received from external sources for the department increased by 20 percent in the past year. Additionally, Van Aken hired six new faculty in the past two years, including positions in the areas of ubiquitous mobility and industrial analytics, which will contribute to the universitys Destination Areas. Working with the departments advisory board and alumni, Van Aken launched innovative programs to increase alumni engagement and philanthropy, including creation of an emerging leaders board of more recent alumni, an alumni mentoring program, and an annual departmental give challenge. Over the past two years, Van Akens efforts, in collaboration with the college's advancement team, have resulted in a 54 percent increase to the departments excellence fund endowment, which is used to support student-focused activities, organizations, and programs. Industrial and systems engineering at Virginia Tech has a rich history and tradition of excellence in the industrial engineering profession. I am honored to have the opportunity to lead the department in the coming years, said Van Aken. The breadth of our faculty expertise enables us to serve an instrumental role in advancing knowledge to address the complex and pressing challenges we face today. I am most excited about continuing to work with our exceptional students, staff, faculty, and alumni. The industrial and systems engineering community at Virginia Tech has a strong reputation, a passion for excellence, and spirit of Ut Prosim. Van Aken has received approximately $3.5 million in external funding for her research with a personal share of more than $2.4 million. She founded and directed the Enterprise Engineering Research Lab and has advised or co-advised twelve doctoral students to completion. Van Akens research has been funded by the National Science Foundation and multiple industry sponsors. She has published 140 papers in refereed journals and conferences. Throughout her career, Van Aken has collaborated with international faculty and students from Brazil and Belgium on research, visiting scholar exchanges, and student exchange programs. Prior to her interim role, Van Aken served as the associate department head, assistant department head, undergraduate program director, and professor, all in the Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering. Van Aken joined the College of Engineering faculty in 1996, after working with the universitys Center for Organizational Performance Improvement. She was also an industrial engineer for AT&T Microelectronics in Richmond, Virginia, where she was a member of product and process engineering departments in the printed circuit board manufacturing facility and conducted engineering analyses on product and process problems and issues. Van Aken is a Fellow of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE), the American Society for Engineering Management, and the World Academy of Productivity Sciences. She is also a member of both the American Society for Quality and the American Society for Engineering Education. She served as co-editor-in-chief of the Engineering Management Journal from 2012 through 2018 and on the board of directors for the American Society of Engineering Management. Van Aken currently serves on the board of trustees as senior vice president-international for IISE. She has served as an ABET evaluator for industrial engineering programs both within and outside the U.S. Van Aken is a three-time Hokie, earning her bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees in industrial engineering in 1988, 1991, and 1995, respectively. Sarah Karpanty, an associate professor and assistant department head in the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, has received the Graduate Schools 2018 Faculty Outstanding Mentor Award for the College of Natural Resources and Environment. Sponsored by the Graduate School, the annual award recognizes excellence in mentoring graduate students. Students nominate recipients, and one professor from each college receives an award. Karpanty studies how individual animal behavior influences populations and community ecology and how human activities alter animal behavior. Most of her funded research and focus has been on coastal wildlife population in the United States, but she also studies these fields in Madagascar. She has received more than $14 million in research grants and projects while at Virginia Tech, and has authored numerous articles. She also serves as the graduate program coordinator for the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation. Her approach to mentorship is engaging, enlightened, and rigorous, said students who nominated her. She helps students secure grants needed for their work and fosters strong relationships with them. Students who were on her Madagascar research team said she worked tirelessly to ensure their safety during an outbreak of the plague on the island. Students also noted that Karpanty helped them develop mentoring skills and modeled effective teaching practices for them as well. Zach Farris, now a visiting assistant professor at Appalachian State University, said, Her type of mentoring, which combines tough and effective advising with respectful and caring friendship, is truly a rare thing and ensures that her students will continue to find success. Karpanty earned her bachelors degree at Miami University and her Ph.D. at The State University of New York at Stony Brook. Wall Street analysts have given iShares MSCI Switzerland 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 iShares MSCI Switzerland ETF wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys. View MarketBeat's top stock picks here. The following companies are subsidiares of Cardinal Health: A+ Secure Packaging LLC, Access Closure, Access Closure Inc., Aero-Med Ltd., Alaris Medical Systems, Allegiance Corporation, Allegiance Healthcare, AssuraMed, AssuraMed Inc., Automatic Liquid Packaging, Bergen Brunswig Corp, Bindley Western Industries, Boron LePore & Associates, Borschow Hospital & Medical Supplies, Cardinal Health 100 Inc., Cardinal Health 104 LP, Cardinal Health 105 Inc., Cardinal Health 107 LLC, Cardinal Health 108 LLC, Cardinal Health 110 LLC, Cardinal Health 112 LLC, Cardinal Health 113 LLC, Cardinal Health 114 Inc., Cardinal Health 115 LLC, Cardinal Health 116 LLC, Cardinal Health 118 LLC, Cardinal Health 119 LLC, Cardinal Health 121 LLC, Cardinal Health 122 LLC, Cardinal Health 123 LLC, Cardinal Health 124 LLC, Cardinal Health 126 LLC, Cardinal Health 127 Inc., Cardinal Health 2 LLC, Cardinal Health 200 LLC, Cardinal Health 201 Inc., Cardinal Health 222 (Thailand) Ltd., Cardinal Health 247 Inc., Cardinal Health 249 LLC, Cardinal Health 3 LLC, Cardinal Health 414 LLC, Cardinal Health 5 LLC, Cardinal Health 6 Inc., Cardinal Health 7 LLC, Cardinal Health Australia 503 Pty. Ltd., Cardinal Health Austria 504 GmbH, Cardinal Health Belgium 505 BVBA, Cardinal Health Canada Holdings Cooperative U.A., Cardinal Health Canada Inc., Cardinal Health Chile Limitada, Cardinal Health Colombia S.A.S., Cardinal Health D.R. 203 II Ltd., Cardinal Health Denmark ApS, Cardinal Health Finland Oy, Cardinal Health Foundation, Cardinal Health France 506 SAS, Cardinal Health Funding LLC, Cardinal Health Germany 507 GmbH, Cardinal Health Germany Manufacturing GmbH, Cardinal Health IPS LLC, Cardinal Health International Philippines Inc., Cardinal Health Ireland 419 Designated Activity Company, Cardinal Health Ireland 508 Limited, Cardinal Health Ireland Unlimited Company, Cardinal Health Italy 509 Srl, Cardinal Health Japan G.K., Cardinal Health Korea Limited, Cardinal Health Malaysia 211 Sdn. Bhd., Cardinal Health Malta 212 Limited, Cardinal Health Managed Care Services LLC, Cardinal Health Medical Equipment Consulting (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Cardinal Health Medical Products India Private Limited, Cardinal Health Mexico 244 S. de R.L. de C.V., Cardinal Health Mexico 514 S. de R.L. de C.V., Cardinal Health Middle East FZ-LLC, Cardinal Health Netherlands 502 B.V., Cardinal Health Norway AS, Cardinal Health P.R. 120 Inc., Cardinal Health P.R. 218 Inc., Cardinal Health P.R. 220 LLC, Cardinal Health Pharmaceutical Contracting LLC, Cardinal Health Pharmacy Services LLC, Cardinal Health Poland Spolka z ograniczonaa odpowiedzialnossciaa, Cardinal Health Portugal 513 Unipessoal Lda., Cardinal Health Singapore 225 Pte. Ltd., Cardinal Health Spain 511 S.L., Cardinal Health Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Cardinal Health Sweden 512 A.B., Cardinal Health Switzerland 515 GmbH, Cardinal Health Systems Inc., Cardinal Health Technologies LLC, Cardinal Health Technologies Switzerland GmbH, Cardinal Health U.K. 432 Limited, Cardinal Health do Brasil Ltd., CareFusion, Cirpro de Delicias S.A. de C.V., Convertors de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Cordis, Cordis (Shanghai) Medical Devices Co. Ltd., Cordis Cashel Company Unlimited, Cordis Corporation, Cornerstone Partners G.P.O. L.P., Covidien Manufacturing Solutions S.A., Curaspan Health Group Inc., Denver Biomedical, Dik Drug, EPIC Insurance Company, Emerge Medical, Enturia, Especialidades Medicas Kenmex S.A. de C.V., Futuremed Health Care Products, Gala Biotech, Geodax Technology, Griffin Capital LLC, HLS Freight Services, Healthcare Solutions Holding, Innovative Therapies Inc., Instant Diagnostic Systems Inc., KPR Australia Pty. Ltd., KPR Italia S.r.l., KPR Switzerland Sales Gmbh, KPR U.S. LLC, Kendall Patient Recovery BVBA, Kendall-Gammatron Limited, Kinray, Leader Drugstores Inc., Limited Liability Company "Cardinal Health Russia", Ludlow Technical Products Canada Ltd., MCD, Magellan Laboratories, Marin Apothecaries, MedMined, Medicine Shoppe International Inc., Mediquip Sdn. Bhd., Medtronic - Patient Monitoring & Recovery, Mirixa Corporation, NaviHealth, Nippon Covidien Ltd., One Cloverleaf LLC, Outcomes Incorporated, Owen Healthcare, PCI Pharma Services, ParMed Pharmaceuticals, Pinnacle Intellectual Property Services Inc., Pinnacle Intellectual Property Services-International Inc., Post-Acute Care Center for Research LLC, Pyxis Corporation, Quiroproductos de Cuauhtemoc S. de R.L. de C.V., R Cubed Inc., R.P. Scherer Corporation, RGH Enterprises Inc., RainTree GPO LLC, RainTree Oncology Services, Renal Purchasing Group LLC, Rxealtime Inc., Sonexus Health LLC, Syncor International, TelePharm, TelePharm LLC, The Harvard Drug Group, The Harvard Drug Group L.L.C., Tradex International Inc., Viasys Healthcare, WaveMark Inc., Zuellig Pharma China, mscripts, mscripts LLC, and mscripts Systems India Private Limited. Companhia Energetica de Minas Gerais, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity in Brazil. The company generates electricity through renewable energy sources, such as water, wind, sun, and biomass; or non-renewable sources, including fossil and nuclear fuels. As of December 31, 2016, it operated hydroelectric plants, thermoelectric plants, and solar plants with a total installed capacity of approximately 8,000 megawatts in 10 states of Brazil. It is also involved in the telecommunications and energy solutions consulting businesses; exploitation of natural gas; sale and trading of electricity; and acquisition, transport, and distribution of gas and its subproducts and derivatives, as well as provision of technology systems and systems for operational management of public service concessions, including companies operating in electricity, gas, water and sewerage, and other utility companies. The company was founded in 1952 and is headquartered in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Read More The Pavilion of Luxembourg has installed a series of elevated towers at the Venice Architecture Biennale, addressing the questions on "the privatisation of lands", for not only the city of Luxembourg, but also for many European cities suffering this unending speculation of lands. The exhibition, titled "The Architecture of the Common Ground", is seeking radical answers from not only social and political perspective, but also from a design point of view, aiming to make the lands accessible to public uses. The Pavilion of Luxembourg is located at the Sale dArmi, Arsenale. Curated by Andrea Rumpf from the LUCA Luxembourg Center for Architecture and Florian Hertweck - with co-curator Philippe Nathan, the Pavilion presents various projects that are taken out from the history as their ideas enter into a dialogue with contemporary experiments that share the aspiration of making the land accessible to public uses. "In doing so, they are resisting an alleged logic that has led to an almost universal privatisation of land in cities, creating isolated enclaves and reducing the public sphere," stated in the Pavilion's manifesto. The presented towers at the Pavilion include; El Lissitzky's Wolkenbugel, Le Corbusier's Ilot insalubre 6, Paul Rudolph's Trailer Tower, Nathan Osterman's Habitat of the Future, Luigi Snozzi's Residential Tower, Aldo Rossi's Locomotiva 2, Egon Eiermann's Hangehochhaus, Kevin Roche's Federal Reserve Bank, James Wines' Highrise of Homes, Studio SNCDA's Structure 1, Structure 5, HHF Architects' Parking & More, and the University of Luxembourg. "The way we deal with land has a decisive influence on architecture and urban planning. In the past decade, the privatisation of land and speculation with especially municipal land have risen dramatically. Many European cities that are, like Luxembourg, under high developmental pressure have practically no more of their own land available for construction," stated in the Pavilion's manifesto. The exhibition The Architecture of the Common Ground of the Luxembourg Pavilion is engaging with the most radical of these approaches elevated buildings that allow the land to remain open, both physically and symbolically. "Freespace, the theme for this years Venice Architecture Biennale, has been transformed into Freeland. The social and political dimension of architecture is linked to its creative power." "The Architecture of the Common Ground" puts forward a clear statement that does not meanto deliver universal answers but to show to what extent architects may conceptually react to the privatisation of land." "The exhibition is not a plea for a thoroughly elevated city, but an appealto understand the finite and indispensable land as an inalienable common good, like air and water. Only then will we be in a position to further develop our cities in socially and environmentally sustainable ways," read the statement. On the first level, the exhibition uses a spatial installation to tangibly illustrate the issue of the privatisation of land. Right at the start, visitors are led into a central corridor which only opens up to the exhibition space at the other end. The corridor takes up eight per cent of the floor area of the entire exhibition space. This projects the situation in Luxembourg onto the exhibition space, illustrating that public authorities only have a remaining eight per cent of building land at their disposal. Positioned around this installation, in the form of models at a scale of 1:33, is a selection of 13 as yet unrealised elevated projects from the history of ideas. The focus here is less on the objects themselves than on the space between land and object which is made available to the public even in the context of a privately owned property. The various projects not only clearly illustrate how much variety the elevated building typology can yield from slab buildings and towers to clusters and urban block developments but also how manifold the design and use of this porous ground-floor space can be. The large-scale diagram is designed as a work in progress. Based on research on an Architecture of the Common Ground conducted by masters students at the University of Luxembourg, visitors are invited to continue writing the atlas of a committed architecture that sets the value of the public sphere and participation above the privatisation and encapsulation of urban land. In collaboration with the journal Arch+, this resulted in issue no. 231, The Property Issue, which focuses on land and new common goods, further deepening the thematic background of the exhibition. The Arch+ features devoted to the Luxembourg Pavilion is available in the exhibition for visitors. Also available in the exhibition, for our young visitors, are DIY (do-it-yourself) architectural paper models that help children to approach the exhibition in a playful, yet educational way and leave them with a souvenir of the Luxembourg Pavilion. The 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale, curated by Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara under the title of Freespace, will be on view from May 26th to November 25th, 2018 in the Giardini and the Arsenale, and around other venues in Venice. The organisers also stated that for its first exhibition at the Arsenale and unlike in previous years, the commissioner, the Luxembourg Ministry of Culture, decided to not launch an open call for projects, but to rather trust the conception and production of the exhibition to LUCA Luxembourg Center for Architecture and the Masterin Architecture of the University of Luxembourg in order to highlight the countrys competences in architectural research and the Baukultur. All images LUCA Luxembourg Center for Architecture / Alberto Sinigaglia - OpFot > via Venice Archiecture Biennale/Luxembourg Pavilion En espanol | Nancy Giacobbe has been a medical marijuana cardholder since the legalization of medicinal use of the plant in California in 2008. But in 2014, her husband Chris had trouble sleeping due to painful spasms and tremors caused by treatments for a rare form of cancer. While Giacobbe, 61, had used the plant for its psychoactive properties (i.e., the high produced by tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC) she soon saw the medicinal benefits of the plant's other, lesser-known compound cannabidiol, or CBD when Chris began to use it for his pain. Giacobbe realized Chris could just use CBD without psychoactive effects. "When he would sleep, his face would just be at peace," Giacobbe says. CBD, which comes in a wide variety of forms including salves, edibles and oils, does not produce the high typically associated with marijuana. But CBD seems to help people deal with pain, inflammation and even seizures, although even medical researchers and professionals aren't sure why it works, how it works or even how much to use for what ailments. Her husband passed away three years ago, but Giacobbe, who lives in Bodega Bay, Calif., now uses topical CBD for her arthritis, which has the potential to severely hinder her work as an aesthetician because she uses her hands every day. She can use the CBD ointment during the day because it causes no side effects and has no smell. At night, she says, "I put the salve on my hands and put on cotton gloves. Within an hour, I'm a happy person and can do a full 35-hour workweek." Giacobbe is just one of many older adults who now use CBD as a treatment both with and without a prescription for mental and physical health issues. As of March 2018, in Colorado, one of nine states in which marijuana is legal for recreational use (the others being Alaska, California, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, as well as the District of Columbia), people 50 and older now make up more than 36 percent of patients on the medical marijuana registry. We see really great interest amongst seniors, says Martin Lee, director of the Northern California nonprofit Project CBD, which promotes the use of the compound as a natural alternative to traditional forms of drug therapy. Mikhail Kogan, M.D., medical director of the George Washington University Center for Integrative Medicine, has prescribed CBD for his patients since the compound was legalized for medical use in the District of Columbia in 2011. Kogan says cannabinoids are "safer than Tylenol or caffeine by tenfold. If you compare them to opiates, they're about 10,000 times safer." He recommends placing a few drops of the oil under the tongue. All cannabis is illegal on the federal level. But cannabis-based CBD products with THC are widely available in states where it is legal. These products have varying ratios of CBD to THC, and because there are no official medical guidelines on dosage, patients are left to determine for themselves how much to take or how to modify their ratio. "You have to find the point at which you're comfortable, hopefully, and that will include as much THC as works per person," Lee says. "Some people do better at higher doses of CBD. Some people can tolerate higher doses of THC." For those in states where it is not legal, however, the CBD available is derived from industrial hemp, which is cannabis with a negligible amount of THC. This makes it impossible to modify the ratio as there is no THC present, which means there are fewer products to choose from. And since there is no FDA approval of these products, it can be hard to trust that what you're buying actually is what's advertised. CBDs cost is not uniform either. Depending on the dosage, strain and dispensary, it can cost from $100 to $1,000 a month. In California, for example, there is a 15 percent excise tax, plus an additional cultivation tax, which means a $50 bottle of CBD oil can cost about $65. You also have to pay for it out of pocket; private health insurance and Medicare don't cover CBD due to the federal illegality of cannabis. Even as CBD's popularity has grown, the medical community is still not sure how it works scientifically. "It clearly has some anti-inflammatory effects, but the exact mechanism is still not known," says Pal Pacher, a pharmacologist and cardiologist at the National Institutes of Health, who has conducted studies on the compound. Clinical trials both in the U.S. and around the world have shown that CBD works. The compound has been proven to dramatically reduce seizures in children with rare forms of epilepsy, and in 2017, GW Pharmaceuticals submitted Epidiolex, a pure CBD plant extract, to the FDA for approval as an epilepsy drug. It received a recommendation for approval from an administration advisory panel in April. While there is growing interest among scientists to study CBDs causes and effects, researchers are hindered by marijuana's Drug Enforcement Agency Schedule I classification, meaning it is considered in the same drug class as heroin. As a physician specializing in integrative medicine, Kogan says that CBD and cannabis are excellent components of his care model because of their documented use throughout history. "Cannabis use goes back in every existing society," he says. Lee, who uses CBD to help with his own health issues stemming from a stroke in 2006, sees people 50 and older as the critical generation that is turning back the stigma of cannabis-based therapy. "Its the baby boomers," he says. "We have all sorts of health problems. Cannabis can really speak to a lot of those problems." The way doctors evaluate patient risk of cardiovascular disease may be leading to overprescribing drugs to combat it, according to a new study published in Annals of Internal Medicine. The study found that a current tool, known as the ASCVD Risk Estimator Plus, used to determine a patients 10-year risk of heart disease is overestimating that risk by about 20 percent, meaning that some patients may be unnecessarily prescribed statins and aspirin to ward off the disease. The study says the assessment of risk for African Americans is overestimated at a higher rate; that many have a lower risk of cardiovascular disease than previously thought. The ASCVD Risk Estimator Plus is used by doctors to determine their patients risk for cardiovascular disease and come up with interventions to help decrease the persons chance of getting it. Maintained by the American College of Cardiology, the tool was created in 2013 using information from five cohort studies which, the authors report, is dated and may not reflect shifting changes in population. As a result, populations like African Americans are underrepresented in the original data. The overestimation affects all populations; African Americans were affected at a greater rate. Among African Americans, 3.9 million were "misestimated" as having extreme risk compared to their white counterparts with identical risk factors, according to the study. As part of the study, researchers updated the tool. The results after the update showed that 11.8 million U.S. adults who were labeled high-risk by the 2013 standards would now be relabeled lower-risk. Researchers concluded that revising the tool would improve the accuracy of cardiovascular risk estimates. Study co-author Sanjay Basu, M.D., told CNN: "It's inevitable that we are all going to have to update the data that determines risk factor every few years," he said. "That's because data sets change, and the ability to collect data improves." En espanol | Just days after the much-publicized suicide of fashion designer Kate Spade, at 55, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that suicide rates are rising sharply around the country, with a notable increase among middle-aged Americans. According to the CDC report, rates of suicide increased 30 percent between 1999 and 2016, making suicide one of the top 10 killers of Americans. Its also one of the top three causes of death that remain untouched by advances in medicine or public health (the others eluding improvement are Alzheimer's disease and drug overdoses.) While suicides rose among all age groups, to total 45,000 self-inflicted deaths in 2016, the highest rate of increase as well as the greatest number of suicides is among middle-aged Americans. (There was no increase in those over 75.) According to Deborah Stone, a CDC behavioral scientist who wrote the report, the 45-to-64 age group makes up "the greatest proportion of suicides," with a particularly high rate of increase over the period a whopping 45 percent. The rate among those 65 and older, she noted, increased 5 percent. The rate of increase was slightly more for women than for men, although Stone observed that "older women are not driving" the overall increase in suicide and that men are still three to five times more likely to die of suicide. At a press briefing, Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director at the CDC, speculated that the increase for middle-aged people in particular might relate to their higher rates of drug overdose as well as what she called an emerging "depths of despair" phenomenon among the age group. Schuchat said that increases in suicide tend to correlate with economic downturns and that the nationwide recession falling during the years the suicide risk was analyzed "may have left the middle-aged population especially hard hit." Researchers also used the report and the press briefing following it to send a clear message that suicide often happens without any known battle with depression or mental illness preceding it. "I'd like to say our data suggest that suicide is more than a mental health issue, Schuchat said. "Suicide can happen to anybody." According to the report, slightly more than half of people who died by suicide did not have a known or diagnosed mental health condition at the time of death. What that group (along with those with a mental illness) did seem to have suffered from, at least one third of the time: some kind of personal crisis within two weeks of their death, with the most common type being relationship problems, though substance misuse, physical health woes, and job, money, legal or housing stress also made the CDCs chart of "circumstances preceding suicide." In fact, what emerges from the report is a picture of suicide as a complicated human riddle combining everything from age to genes to midlife stressors and, sometimes, the unfortunate consequence of emotion and impulse combined with the availability of a firearm: Guns were, according to the agency, the method most often used by those without known mental health conditions and the method used most overall. The CDC culled information from states. All but Nevada showed a rise in suicide risks, though that was likely only because it already had such a high risk, Schuchat explained. The rate of increases varied from Delawares 6 percent to North Dakota's whopping 57 percent. In announcing the new figures, the agency also stressed suicide prevention with the following tips. En espanol | Theres a popular misperception that as you get older, you're no longer interested in sex. The truth is, rather than feel sexually stalled, there is a large body of research showing that a lot of action is going on between the sheets among those in their 50s and older. And although normal aging does, of course, bring about physical changes that may impact ones sex life, there are plenty of health reasons both physical and emotional for continuing to get jiggy with it. And thats why AARP has created a series of stories and quizzes around the topic that's titled Lets Talk About Sex After 50. A recent University of Michigan/AARP poll found that 40 percent of those between 65 and 80 report being sexually active, with more than half of those who have a partner saying that they still engage in intimate encounters. When it comes to those in their 50s, a separate study found that up to 91 percent of men and 86 percent of women are sexually active. And one in three 50-somethings is having sex at least once a week. A few other interesting nuggets from that AARP-sponsored National Poll on Healthy Aging: 72 percent of people between 65 and 80 have a romantic partner and of those 54 percent are sexually active. Close to two-thirds of those 65 to 80 say theyre still interested in sex whether or not they are sexually active. Women were less likely than men to be sexually active 31 percent overall, compared with 51 percent of men but were more likely to be extremely or very satisfied with their sex lives. Women and Sex After 50 Iris Krasnow, author of Sex After Women Share How Intimacy Changes as Life Changes and The Secret Lives of Wives, told AARP that "sex after 50 can be the best sex of your life because, for one reason, an empty nest means more spontaneity for intimacy." I hear from a lot of wives with empty nests who have found the kitchen to be a real hot spot, she said. Krasnow emphasized that the more sex you have, the more sex you will want to have. The best way to stoke the fires and keep a marriage hot or at least really warm after 50 is to remember to put have sex on your to-do list, she said. Busy couples with two professions and long marriages can take each other for granted and/or be too exhausted at the end of the day to even speak to each other, let alone undress each other. If youre not talking, youre probably not touching, she added. And if youre not touching, youre in trouble. Sustained intimacy, emotional and to some degree physical even if its hugging and kissing are essential for making a marriage last as we age. Krasnow and other experts argue that people should not assume that the decline in hormones that happens as women age automatically leads to a decline in libido. Indeed, a study out of Kings College London found that menopause doesnt play as great a role in sexual problems as once thought. A bigger factor in determining the enjoyment of your sex life is whether you had issues with desire and orgasm before menopause. In short, women can still pursue a fulfilling sex life even after menopause. Boomers seem to be doing their best to defend an American institution the summer vacation thats increasingly being intruded upon by the demands of a 24/7 work culture. A recent survey of 2,800 U.S. workers by accounting staffing firm Accountemps, a Robert Half company, found that unlike younger employees, most boomers dont check in with the office while theyre on holiday. Sixty percent of boomers say they stay unplugged from work, compared with just 31 percent of millennials and 43 percent of Gen Xers. Of those boomers who do check in while theyre vacationing, 15 percent say they do it only once or twice a week. Another 10 percent check in several times a week, the same percentage that makes contact once or twice each day. Only 4 percent check in several times daily. Accountemps Executive Director Michael Steinitz said boomers feel confident about remaining out of touch because theyve planned for it. Through years of experience, they may have developed processes that help them prioritize and delegate work, leaving projects with trusted colleagues while they are away, he said. Boomers similarly are resisting the trend of workcations, in which employees travel to a beach or some other vacation spot but continue to work a regular schedule remotely. A survey of 4,349 U.S. adults conducted on behalf of Project Time Off, an initiative by the U.S. Travel Association, found that only 18 percent of boomers were interested in workcations, compared with 39 percent of millennials and 28 percent of Gen Xers. Can't-miss games in Northeastern South Dakota this week With nine-man and 11B wrapping up this week, how each team finishes this week is even more crucial than before. A protest and rally Wednesday to call attention to the death of a transgender woman while she was in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement last month drew about 75 people, who marched and chanted slogans within earshot of the Albuquerque ICE building at Mesa del Sol. Many of the people attending were members of organizations representing the immigrant community and organizations that advocate on behalf of the LGBTQ community. As part of a national day of action, with protests around the country, they called upon Congress to abolish ICE and for the immediate release of all asylum-seeking immigrants at the privately run Cibola County Correctional Center, where ICE detainees are held in New Mexico. They also called upon New Mexico officials for a review of conditions in every detention center in our state, said Gabriela Hernandez, executive director of New Mexico Dream Team. Leticia Zamarripa, spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said of the Wednesday protest: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) fully respects the rights of all people to voice their opinion peacefully. The dead transgender woman was identified by ICE as Jeffry Hernandez, 33. She went by the name Roxsana Hernandez, and was from Honduras, according to the protesters. However, a previously released statement from ICE said Hernandez twice entered the U.S. illegally between 2005 and 2009, and both times was granted voluntary return to Mexico after claiming Mexican nationality. She also illegally re-entered the country a third time in 2014, was arrested, processed and removed. Hernandez arrived at the U.S. San Ysidro Port of Entry in California on May 9 as part of the caravan of Central American migrants seeking asylum. On May 16, she was transferred to the Cibola County Correctional Center, which is run by the private CoreCivic firm. The following day she was transported to a nearby hospital and ultimately transferred to Lovelace Medical Center in Albuquerque, where she died on May 25. She was the sixth person to die in ICE custody since October, Gabriela Hernandez said. A preliminary finding on the cause of death was cardiac arrest as a result of complications from HIV, according to the previously released ICE statement. The protesters, however, said the cause of death was inhumane treatment and denial of prompt access to medical attention for a woman who was medically fragile from the moment she was taken into custody, said Joaquin Sanchez-Leal, an attorney with Instituto Legal in Albuquerque. Hernandez spent her first five days in custody in extremely cold holding cells called iceboxes, where she filled out paperwork and experienced hunger, fear and intimidation, Sanchez-Leal said. ICE, however, claims that comprehensive medical care is provided from the moment detainees arrive and throughout the entirety of their stay. On June 6, 1918, Marines of the 6th Marine Regiment attacked across a field of wheat toward a treeline bordering Belleau Wood, France, into the teeth of withering German machine gun fire. Taking heavy casualties, the Marines were forced to hug the deck. Progress seemed impossible. Sergeant Major Dan Daly was one of those Marines. Forty-four-year-old Sgt. Maj. Daly had already received two Medals of Honor for heroic action during Chinas Boxer Rebellion and later in Haiti. Now his frustration level reached its zenith in that wheat field. He stood to his feet in the midst of the shower of German lead and shouted, Come on, you (Marines). Do you want to live forever? The Marines rose to their feet and followed him into the woods, where hand-to-hand fighting ensued against a well-entrenched enemy. The battle lasted several days, and in the end the Americans were victorious. Because of their tenacious fighting, the Germans labeled the Marines Teufel Hunden Devil Dogs an unofficial moniker we carry proudly to this day. That salient event is generally seen as the catalyst that changed the United States Marine Corps from a small, ship-bound service into a serious force capable of being used for major land operations. Between World War I and World War II the concept of amphibious warfare was developed, whereby Fleet Marine Forces could forcibly secure a beachhead and expand it to accommodate and sustain a fighting force for 30 to 90 days. So, by the time the Battle of Guadalcanal emerged as a necessity early in WWII, the Marines had a doctrine in place to meet the need. After WWII the Marines continued as a formidable land force in Korea and Vietnam. Changing from amphibious to expeditionary in the 1980s, the Corps now utilizes the latest in movement and rapid build-up capabilities. During my 37 years in the Marine Corps and Marine Corps Reserve I have seen many of these changes take place. As the Corps project manager for the creation of the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, Va., it was my privilege to work with our team in taking careful pains to ensure every detail is explained accurately, including an immersion experience of Belleau Wood and the display of both of Dan Dalys Medals of Honor. I even took our designers to Belleau Wood, where so much started for the Marine Corps 100 years ago this week. Just when you think the level of discourse and civility in this country cant get any lower, you are proven wrong as illustrated by two stories that competed for headlines last week. The first was an incredibly offensive tweet by Roseanne Barr who managed to sink her hit new television show in which she played essentially herself, a Trump supporter. She one-upped her previous history of obnoxious behavior in just 53 characters by referring to Obama confidante and former adviser Valerie Jarret as a product of the Muslim Brotherhood and Planet of the Apes. Why she would tweet out this racially offensive diatribe about Jarrett, who is African American, is anybodys guess, and it really doesnt matter. Her words do. Yes, she apologized and said it was just a bad joke, but ABC quickly pulled the plug on her show. The company president called it abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values. Fair enough. Shed no tears for Roseanne, but you can feel some sympathy for all those employed on her show. The week didnt get any better in terms of arguing that civilization is, in fact, advancing. Over at TBS, Samantha Bee in her show Full Frontal ripped into Ivanka Trump, calling her a feckless c during a segment about President Trumps immigration policies, including the separation of children from parents who are taken into custody by border agents. Bee then urged her to put on something tight and low-cut and tell your father to f stop it. She did not, of course, use ellipses to edit herself. And neither did the network. Barrs was a spontaneous racist blast while Bees was written out ahead of time and placed on the Teleprompter. Bee quickly apologized which sounds phony since the comments were planned and faced zero consequences from her employer, which praised her for apologizing. ABC and TBS both made choices last week; both were well within their rights. That, however, hasnt shut off the debate and argument. No one is really defending Roseanne, but many have called out TBS, urging some kind of parity. One of those was Ari Fleisher, former U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici staffer and White House press secretary under President George W. Bush. He tweeted theres a double standard in action when you compare the mainstream medias reactions to the two events. Why? he asked. Because shes a liberal. Perhaps. It would be hard to imagine a talk show host getting away with using that language to describe, say, Michelle Obama. Be that as it may, this much is clear: Our discourse wont get any better from the president to Hollywood until the public demands it. This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers. Copyright 2018 Albuquerque Journal SANTA FE New Mexico has never elected a woman as land commissioner. And the nation has never had a Native American woman in Congress. Both those possibilities moved a little closer to reality in Tuesdays primary election when women swept all five statewide and federal races in New Mexico that featured at least one female candidate. Women also enjoyed success farther down the ballot in legislative races, winning six of the eight contested primaries that featured a female candidate. This authenticity I think people are just craving that right now in politics, said state Rep. Stephanie Garcia Richard, who won the Democratic nomination for land commissioner over two male candidates. They are craving someone they can relate to, and I feel like the people who won represent that for the voters. The success of women wasnt just a Democratic phenomenon. State Rep. Yvette Herrell of Alamogordo won the Republican primary in the 2nd Congressional District, grabbing 49 percent of the vote in a race against three men. Herrell is now lined up for a general-election showdown against another woman, Xochitl Torres Small, a Las Cruces water attorney who took the Democratic nomination. The race to represent the 1st Congressional District will also feature two women. Deb Haaland will face Republican Janice Arnold-Jones and Libertarian Lloyd Princeton. Former state Democratic Party Chairwoman Haaland won 41 percent of the vote in a large field that featured another strong female candidate, Antoinette Sedillo Lopez. Haaland will become the first Native American woman elected to the U.S. House if she wins this fall. A lot of clout Most of Tuesdays action was on the Democratic side, where there were far more contested primaries. And women are always a powerful force in the Democratic primary, said Brian Sanderoff, president of Research & Polling Inc. They sometimes make up 60 percent of the electorate, he said. As a group, Sanderoff said, they have a lot of clout, especially in years when they tend to favor a particular candidate. This years campaign, of course, has come amid a nationwide reckoning over sexual harassment of women. The Roundhouse itself has been rocked by allegations of harassment and other inappropriate behavior, especially targeting female lobbyists. One legislator on Tuesdays ballot, Rep. Carl Trujillo, faces an internal House investigation into allegations made by a woman who accused him of propositioning her, touching her inappropriately and retaliating when she rejected his advances. Trujillo says the allegations are politically motivated lies. He lost his re-election bid Tuesday to an opponent from his own party, Andrea Romero, an entrepreneur from Santa Fe. She took 53 percent of the vote over Trujillo, a business owner and scientist from Nambe. Romero said Tuesday that a candidates stance on the issues is more important than gender. But, I think, in general, women are qualified theyre ready, she said. Theyre just stepping up, feeling empowered to make changes and standing up for what they believe in. Landslide Heading into the fall, Democrats will have a woman at the top of their statewide ticket. U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, whos leaving Congress to run for governor, won a three-way race to secure the Democratic nomination. She received 66 percent of the vote, easily outpacing two male candidates. Lujan Grisham said Wednesday that voters have started to realize female candidates typically have a certain skill set, including strong communication and negotiation skills. The research is pretty clear women operate in this world a little differently, she told reporters. In the general election, Lujan Grisham will face U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, a Republican whos also leaving his seat in Congress. Theres no incumbent in the gubernatorial race. Republican Susana Martinez, the nations only Latina governor, cannot run because of term limits. Ryan Cangiolosi, chairman of the state Republican Party, said the GOP is no stranger to electing strong female leaders. Republicans led this movement back in 2010 by electing the first woman governor in New Mexicos history, he said in a written statement. Republicans will continue to lead the way in 2018 with Yvette Herrell, who will become the first woman to represent New Mexicos second congressional district. Total turnout in the primary was strong, with 28 percent of voters eligible to vote casting ballots. Thats 8 percentage points higher than in 2014, the most recent midterm election. According to unofficial returns, 111,778 people voted early or absentee this year, and 149,199 turned out on Election Day. Total turnout was 260,977. Only Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians could vote in Tuesdays primary election. Key contests Heres a look at some of the key races with female candidates: Garcia Richard narrowly won the Democratic primary for state land commissioner over two better-funded male candidates, with 39 percent of the vote. She will be the first female nominee of a major party in the land commissioner race, she said. In the fall, Garcia Richard will compete against Republican Pat Lyons, a former land commissioner, and Libertarian Michael Lucero, a rancher. Rep. Patricia Roybal Caballero of Albuquerque and House Majority Whip Doreen Gallegos of Las Cruces, both Democrats, defeated male challengers. Micaela Lara Cadena beat two other female candidates to win the Democratic nomination in House District 33, setting up a general-election contest against Republican Charles Wendler for an open seat that includes parts of Las Cruces and Mesilla. Retiree Susan Herrera defeated Rep. Debbie Rodella, a 25-year House veteran, in the Democratic primary in House District 41. She faces no opposition this fall. Christine Chandler won the Democratic nomination for an open seat in the Los Alamos-area House District 43, setting up a fall contest against Republican Lisa Shin. Republican Gregg Schmedes, a surgeon, will face Democrat Jessica Velasquez, an educator and business owner, in the fall. Schmedes beat Merritt Hamilton Allen, the daughter of former state Rep. Dianne Hamilton, for the Republican nomination in East Mountains-based House District 22. Democrat Joseph L. Sanchez is expected to face former state Rep. Tweeti Blancett, whos running as an independent, in the fall. Sanchez defeated Paula Garcia and another candidate to win the Democratic nomination for an open seat in northern New Mexico House District 40. Journal Capitol Bureau Chief Dan Boyd contributed to this report. TIJUANA, Mexico Undaunted by President Donald Trumps tough talk on immigration, asylum-seekers are forming unusually long lines at the Mexican border, with parents and children sleeping on cardboard in the sweltering heat and waiting for days or even weeks to present themselves to U.S. inspectors. Wait times of a few hours or longer are not uncommon at the border. But the backlogs that have developed over the past several weeks at crossings in California, Arizona and Texas and people sleeping out in the open for days at a time are rare. Telma Ramirez made the trip from El Salvador to seek asylum in the U.S. She arrived at the border in Tijuana with her 5-year-old son and year-old daughter, only to find a crush of others ahead of her. The 27-year-old mother kept checking in at the border crossing to see if civilian volunteers were close to calling their numbers, in a scene that resembled the host station at a crowded restaurant. Finally, on the 20th day, Ramirez made it to the front of the line. You must come every day to see if its your turn. If you dont come, youll lose your place in line, Ramirez said. The exact reasons for the bottleneck are unclear. But the U.S. has been seeing a surge in requests for asylum over the past few years. A top Homeland Security Department official told lawmakers last month that new asylum filings tripled between 2014 and 2017 to nearly 142,000, the highest level in more than 20 years. The official, Francis Cissna, director or U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said the asylum backlog stood at 318,000 cases. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement that any waits in Mexico are expected to be temporary. It said the number of people the agency can take depends on such factors as detention space, complexity of cases, translation requirements, medical needs and traffic at the crossing. Some advocates insist the administration has enough resources to avoid the delays and is dragging its feet to discourage people from trying to come across. The Trump administration has declared a new zero-tolerance policy of prosecuting every immigrant arrested for illegal entry, a practice that is separating parents from their children. Asylum-seekers who turn themselves in to border inspectors usually do not face such a fate. At the Hidalgo, Texas, border crossing, parents and children sleep on cardboard on a bridge separating the two countries, waiting for U.S. authorities to signal their time has come, according to volunteers bringing them food and water. Lawyers said asylum-seekers at the Nogales, Arizona, crossing are camping out for up for five days to make a claim. Across from San Diego, more than 100 asylum-seekers gathered Monday in a large plaza at the Tijuana side of the nations busiest border crossing, alongside pushcart vendors selling oatmeal, tamales, burritos and smoothies. Families whose numbers arent called return to Tijuana migrant shelters to pass the time. Volunteer Carlos Salio told them the wait is about three weeks. Salio consulted his tattered notebook of people who left their names with him, calling them out when their turn came. When U.S. authorities said 50 would be allowed to claim asylum that day, Salio encouraged people to go back to their shelters. Everyone knows that when your number is close, you better be here, he told the crowd, many of them women with young children. Separately, in another indication that Trumps hardline actions and rhetoric have had limited effect, the administration said Wednesday that border arrests topped 50,000 for a third straight month in May. That is roughly three times what they were a year earlier and higher than the levels seen during much of the Obama administration. It is not uncommon for asylum-seekers to have to wait. A caravan of Central Americans who provoked Trumps anger earlier this spring waited nearly a week. The recent waits have not reached levels seen in 2016, when thousands of Haitians overwhelmed border inspectors in San Diego and had to bide their time for up to five weeks. Under federal law and international treaties, people can obtain asylum in the U.S. if they have a well-grounded fear of persecution back home. Trump administration officials and their allies have charged that the system is rife with fraud and groundless claims and have demanded stricter standards. Senior White House aide Stephen Miller said last month that the integrity of the immigration system is completely shattered and legitimate asylum cases have become a needle in a haystack. About 8 of every 10 asylum-seekers pass an initial screening and are then either held in an immigration detention center or released on bond into the U.S. while their cases wind through immigration courts, which can take years. Many asylum claims are eventually denied. In Texas Rio Grande Valley, people have been seen waiting on the bridge at Hidalgo for at least two weeks, according to witnesses and news reports. One volunteer, Esperanza Chandler, said Friday that families have been told by U.S. authorities that theres no room to process them. Where they are, the sun hits them all day long, Chandler said. Theyre under a little bit of covering, but the concrete and that whole area is very, very hot. Volunteers brought umbrellas to provide some shade. To keep order in Tijuana, activists created a system in which asylum-seekers give their names and are then issued numbers, ensuring that people who arrive after them wont jump ahead. Mexicans dominated the list of asylum-seekers waiting to cross in San Diego. There were also large numbers of Central Americans. Blanca Estela Garcia, 31, said she fled the violent Mexican state of Michoacan because a neighbor had been kidnapped and she received a death threat. She didnt know where she would go with her husband and children ages 14, 8 and 1 if they were allowed into the U.S. The important thing is not to go back, she said. After spending her first night in Tijuana on the concrete outside the border crossing, she was given a number and planned to look for shelter for the next few weeks. ___ Merchant reported from Houston. LAS CRUCES The Rio Grande. New Mexico State University. The Chile Pepper Institute. New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum. White Sands Missile Range. Fort Selden. Las Cruces City Hall. These places and more will take center stage on C-SPAN this August, when the cable networks book and history channels air a documentary series about Las Cruces. The series is part of this years C-SPANs Cities Tour, which made its way into the City of the Crosses on Sunday for a three-day shoot that included interviews with about a dozen local historians, non-fiction writers, professors and others, as well as visits to some of the most historic sites throughout Las Cruces and surrounding areas. The series aims to shine a national spotlight on cities across the country in the hopes of exposing what makes each featured city special, while emphasizing local history and local authors. Las Cruces joins a list of dozens of small and large cities that have been profiled by C-SPANs Book TV and American History TV channels. Albuquerque was featured on the Cities Tour series in 2013. The crew behind the series revealed Monday at City Hal that Las Cruces had been selected to be profiled by C-SPAN. Just as C-SPAN strives to make Washington, D.C., accessible to the rest of the country, the C-SPAN Cities Tour looks to turn a spotlight on unique cities around the country, C-SPAN producer Ashley Hill said during the news conference. Hill was joined by Mayor Ken Miyagishima and Chris Dunkeson, an area vice president for Comcast, which serves as a partner in the production of the Las Cruces series, which will air on Comcast Channels 18 and 105 on Aug. 18-19. Now, how do we do that? Were three producers who embed ourselves in a community for a week at a time, Hill added, We interview authors and historians, lawmakers, visit interesting sites around the city. And we hope to introduce America to what makes a city like Las Cruces so special. For Hill, and many others, the oft-lauded, world-famous green chile grown throughout southern New Mexico is at the top of that list. And that is why the C-SPAN crew taped a segment this week at the Chile Pepper Institute, an international, nonprofit organization devoted to education and research of chile peppers. Everything you have to offer with green chile, Ive been trying to eat, she said. Hill said the Las Cruces series will include at least 10 different segments. Each segments will focus on different areas and topics that will include a look at Sen. Pete Domenicis papers, which are housed at the NMSU Library; Las Cruces agriculture industry, with interviews conducted at the Farm and Ranch museum; as well as White Sands Missile Range and Fort Selden. Weve been really embedding ourselves into your city and enjoying it to its fullest, Hill said. On Sunday, she added, We went on the Rio Grande river, floating down it on rafts, shooting video of the beautiful landscapes. Producers also interviewed NMSU history professor Jon Hunner to discuss his book, J. Robert Oppenheimer, The Cold War, and The Atomic West. They also interviewed Nancy Baker, a former NMSU political science professor and journalist, who wrote General Ashcroft: Attorney at War. Associate NMSU Professor Blanca Araujo and author Jim Eckles will be featured in the series, Hill said. Were very fortunate that (C-SPAN) has had a chance to come here and just experience what happens here in the City of the Crosses, Miyagishima told the C-SPAN crew on Monday. Carlos Andres Lopez can be reached at 575-541-5453, carlopez@lcsun-news.com or @carlopez_los on Twitter. How to watch TV: Segments will air on Book TV (on C-SPAN2, Comcast Channel 18, and American History TV (on C-SPAN3, Comcast Channel 105) on Aug. 18-19. Online: https://www.c-span.org/series/?citiesTour 2018 the Las Cruces Sun-News (Las Cruces, N.M.) Visit the Las Cruces Sun-News (Las Cruces, N.M.) at www.lcsun-news.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. _____ PHOENIX An Arizona appeals court on Thursday upheld a Phoenix anti-discrimination law that makes it illegal for businesses to refuse service to same-sex couples because of religion. The ruling comes days after the U.S. Supreme Court sided with a Colorado baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. The high court found Monday that a Colorado civil rights commission showed anti-religious bias when it ruled against Jack Phillips for refusing to make the cake at his Masterpiece Cakeshop. The decision, however, did not address the larger issue of whether a business can invoke religious objections to refuse service to gay and lesbian people. In the Arizona case, the state Court of Appeals sided with the city in a lawsuit first brought in 2016 by a wedding invitation business, saying the ordinance is constitutional and does not violate freedom of religion or speech. We have previously found that eliminating discrimination constitutes a compelling interest, Judge Lawrence Winthrop wrote, adding that antidiscrimination ordinances are not aimed at the suppression of speech, but at the elimination of discriminatory conduct. The court said if Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski, owners of Brush & Nib Studio, want to operate their for-profit business as a public accommodation, they cannot discriminate against potential patrons based on sexual orientation. Attorney Jonathan Scruggs of Alliance Defending Freedom, who represented the women, said they intend to appeal the decision to the Arizona Supreme Court. Artists shouldnt be forced under threat of fines and jail time to create artwork contrary to their core convictions, Scruggs said in a statement. The courts decision allows the government to compel two artists who happily serve everyone to convey a message about marriage they disagree with. The three-judge panel said a stationery store that includes the customized design of wedding event merchandise is not entitled to First Amendment free speech protections. The case before us is one of a blanket refusal of service to the LGBTQ community, the judges said. Phoenix expanded the ordinance in 2013 to include protections against discrimination and bias based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Duka and Koski, who are devout Christians, preemptively asked for an injunction barring the ordinances enforcement. Last October, a trial judge rejected their challenge. Phoenix Mayor Thelda Williams applauded the ruling Thursday. We will continue to be a city that welcomes everyone, and value each of our residents regardless of who they love, she said in a statement. The American Civil Liberties Union, which served as co-counsel for Phoenix, also praised the ruling. This decision in Arizona helps affirm that discrimination has no place in businesses open to the public, nor in our Constitution, said ACLU attorney Joshua Block. In its analysis, the Arizona court referenced the outcome of the Colorado case. There is no evidence in the record to support any suggestion that Phoenixs adoption of (the ordinance) or its interpretation as it relates to Brush & Nib, has been anything other than neutral toward and respectful of their sincerely-expressed religious beliefs. ___ Associated Press writer Paul Davenport contributed to this report. Lenovo India has appointed Amit Doshi as Chief Marketing Officer. He will be taking charge from Bhaskar Choudhuri, who is moving on to head marketing for Lenovo Asia Pacific as Chief Marketing Officer. Doshi will report to Choudhuri. In this role, Doshi will be responsible for strengthening the Lenovo brand in India and South Asia to enable profitable growth across all business segments Consumer, Enterprise and SMB. He will focus on deepening Digital and Data competencies towards building a more customer-centric organisation. Doshi has over 15 years of experience in diverse sales, product innovation and marketing roles. Prior to joining Lenovo, he had worked in the FMCG industry for 10 years and his last role was at Britannia Industries. Doshi has been a significant contributor to the Lenovo business, in establishing the Lenovo brand in tablets and smartphones, initiating Lenovos digital transformation journey and increasing Lenovos consideration in the PC category. Announcing the appointment, Rahul Agarwal, Managing Director and CEO, Lenovo India, said, We are very pleased to elevate Amit to the role of Chief Marketing Officer. He has played a pivotal role in the Lenovo brand journey over the last five years and understands its pulse. Amit and his team have helped significantly grow Lenovos unaided PC brand consideration and awareness in the Consumer PC business. We have also been able to establish Lenovo as a strong PC+ player with the Lenovo tablet brand, which has enabled our current position in the Tablet market as a top player. Today, Lenovo PC brand in India is the strongest worldwide outside of China. On his appointment, Amit Doshi, Chief Marketing Officer, Lenovo India, said, India is at an inflection point, when one talks about access to data and technology. Lenovo is an extremely dynamic company. It has a rich history of nurturing pioneering brands like ThinkPad and Yoga and I am really excited at the opportunity of leading marketing for them in India. Click here for more related news. The first round of jurors for The Immortal Awards, the free-to-enter global award for all Little Black Book members, has been announced. The jury will decide which finalists deserve the title of Immortal in New York in November 2018 and includes a host of industry leading names across the agency, brand, production and post-production spheres. Jury members, so far, include: Anuraag Trikha, Global Brand Director of Heineken and Instagrams Global Lead & Director, Kay Hsu. Bruno Bertelli, Global Chief Creative Officer of Publicis Worldwide, and Malcolm Poynton, Cheil Worldwides Global Chief Creative Officer, will be joined by Joanna Monteiro, Chief Creative Officer of FCB Brasil and Noriaki Onoe, Creative Director at Dentsu Inc. Droga5s Chief Creation Officer, Sally-Ann Dale and R/GAs Chief Creative Officer US, Taras Wayner, represent US agencies whilst Chaka Sobhani, Leo Burnett Londons Chief Creative Officer, and Wayne Deakin, Executive Creative Director EMEA of Huge, represent UK agencies. Production jurors include Kerstin Emhoff, Co-Founder & President of PRETTYBIRD, Laura Gregory, Founder & CEO of Great Guns and Sergio Lopez, Chief Production Officer of McCANN Worldgroup EMEA. Framestores Co-Founder & CCO, Mike McGee, is the first post-production juror to be announced. Awards Director Paul Monan, comments: Were incredibly excited to unveil our first wave of jury members and its an honour to have them all involved in our inaugural year. Little Black Book has established itself as a truly global platform, so its important that The Immortal Awards is a global award show which reflects the advertising industry of 2018. Selecting a first-class international jury that represents the industrys current fluidity across brand, agency, production and post-production has been a pleasure, and we cant wait to unveil the rest of our jury over the coming weeks. The Immortal Awards jury currently includes: Anuraag Trikha, Global Brand Director, Heineken Bruno Bertelli, Global Chief Creative Officer, Publicis Worldwide Chaka Sobhani, Chief Creative Officer, Leo Burnett London Joanna Monteiro, Chief Creative Officer, FCB Brasil Kay Hsu, Global Lead & Director, Instagram Kerstin Emhoff, Co-Founder & President, PRETTYBIRD Laura Gregory, Founder & CEO, Great Guns Malcolm Poynton, Global Chief Creative Officer, Cheil Worldwide Mike McGee, Co-Founder & CCO, Framestore Noriaki Onoe, Creative Director, Dentsu Inc. Sally-Ann Dale, Chief Creation Officer, Droga5 Sergio Lopez, Chief Production Officer, McCANN Worldgroup EMEA Taras Wayner, Chief Creative Officer US, R/GA Wayne Deakin, Executive Creative Director EMEA, HUGE The full jury line up is available to view online at https://lbbonline.com/immortal s/jury/ The Immortal Awards entry system is now open to all Little Black Book members until September 3rd. Members should visit the submissions page to complete their submissions, whilst non-members can join LBB here. Diversity in the workforce has become a necessity today, and more so in the leadership positions. It cant be denied that women bring a high level of creativity and empathy while solving problems and handling crises. Women leaders bring to the table a different level of dexterity. AdGullys The W-Suite series features interactions with influential women leaders in India, who share some deep insights on what being a woman leader means in Indias business landscape, the mantras to succeed, achieving work-life balance, pay parity and much more. Sakshi Choudhary, Creative Controller, Ogilvy India, gave up a promising corporate career to be part of the advertising business. Seven years into her journey, Choudhary created award-winning work for some of the worlds most iconic brands. She has been ranked by One Club as one of the worlds top ten Next Creative Leaders, she was the only Indian to make it to the Cannes Lions See It Be It Programme in 2017, and was also listed on Campaign Asias Women to Watch. Also Read: The W Suite | Need more female heroes in the boardrooms: Marya Shakil Alongside her key role at Ogilvy India, Choudhary hopes to start a platform for Indian women in advertising that focuses on equal representation of females in leadership positions, and discusses the role the industry can play in fighting a deeply entrenched patriarchal society while also trying to simplify the complex interpretations of gender bias in India through an art initiative The Seesaw Project, which she founded in 2016. A strong proponent for gender equality, Choudhary highlighted the rise of the Female Economy in her address at the recently held Zee Melt 2018 conference, where spoke about the growing spending power of women and how brands and marketers have realised the changing scenario. Whats your take on women and advertising? I think the country is telling us what we are doing wrong; my entire address (at Zee Melt 2018) was about that. As an industry, we need to acknowledge and really work towards getting our communication right to the women out there. And if we are able to do that, its great. But more than that, we also need more women as it would benefit the business and there is enough proof to show that. I recommend marketing, advertising and all the brands to look at the statistics and do something about it. Do you think women are not portrayed right or you think a brand is not selling in a right way to women? I think we are not recognising the opportunities that exist for us. For example, if we are doing an empowerment ad, it is only for Womens Day or if you are doing a gender equality ad, you see a spike one year and then the brands go back to their regular messages. What are your thoughts on women in media? Why are there fewer women as one goes higher up in the hierarchy? There are loads of reasons for that. Firstly, we dont have too many women CCOs right now because 20 years ago women did not see adverting as a long-term career. So, they would not choose advertisement as a career option. We are great when it comes to diversity, but we are not an inclusive industry where we are doing enough for our women. In fact, marketing is also like that. On the other hand, there are a lot of unconscious biases that affect women. Therefore, they dont see it as a long-term career. What are the kinds of opportunities that Ogilvy provides its women workforce to rise and reach the boardroom level? Ogilvy has come up with focused efforts to get the representation up. We have exclusive mentorship programmes for women at the level where they would give up on their careers. Ogilvy is also doing something like Leadership Talk, where we get women leaders from outside the industry to inspire the women. Internally there is a lot of focussed effort, which I cannot reveal. So, there is enough going around in the network. Also Read: The W-Suite | Gender pay gap is a huge issue in India: Tara Kapur When it comes to the big names in creative, it seems like an exclusive mens club with names like Piyush Pandey and Prasoon Joshi coming to the fore. Why dont we get to hear about the women creatives? I would disagree with that. I think its the perception of people in the media as they wholly cover them. Look at the work that Kainaz Karmakar has produced in the last two years or the work that Swati Bhattacharya has done this year. There is so much transformation happening. Tista Sen has been at the helm all these years. I think media must take a conscious effort to write more about them. What is your opinion on the gender pay gap issue in the industry? I think its not just specific to our industry, but exists everywhere. I feel there are lots of issues the go beyond the employer paying less to women employees. One of the reasons behind this is we dont ask for what we are really worth. We often feel guilty. Its more of a societal problem. From birth we are conditioned to not take risks as compared to men. So, for me it starts from there. Do you think the industry as a whole is doing enough to make women reach the boardroom level? No. Some agencies are, but I dont think in India we are coming together and making a conscious effort to make a change. Apart from Babita Baruah, Managing Partner, GTB India, whos a business head, I cannot think of many names. So, we need to do that consciously when it comes to women in boardroom levels. Click here to Read More Related Articles. The North Star Underground Railroad Museum has announced the return of its popular mini-bus tours of antislavery and underground railroad sites in Keeseville and Peru. New this year, photo albums will help passengers follow the narrative, new information has been added on the Episcopal and Wesleyan Churches, and passengers can hear the recently discovered story of a man who escaped from Baltimore, Maryland, and reached Canada via Albany, Saratoga, Warren, Essex and Clinton Counties. Guided tours on an air-conditioned 12 passenger mini-bus will be offered on the first and third Saturday every month until Columbus Day. These tours are an opportunity to learn about the North Countrys links to the National Underground Railroad. Passengers hear about heroes and heroines, pastors and publishers, and conflicts in churches. As well as visit a root cellar that was a hiding place. The Champlain Line of the Underground Railroad was a network of individuals who helped hundreds of self-emancipated African Americans escape to freedom before the Civil War. Most found refuge in Canada, but some risked staying in the North County. 2018 tour dates are: June 16, July 7, July 21, August 4, August 18, September 1, September 2, September 15, and October 6. Tours leave the North Star Underground Railroad Museum, 1131 Mace Chasm Road, Ausable Chasm, at 9:30 am. The cost is $10 per person. Only 12 seats are available. Call (518) 834-5180 or email [email protected] and make a reservation. For more information about the North Star Underground Railroad Museum, visit their website. Photo of North Star Underground Railroad Museum provided. Wintertime temperatures can drop to -55 degrees in Norilsk, Russia. And, note British directors James Newton and Edward Edwards, the sun doesnt rise for 40 days. It's also a toxic, deadly place. Norilsk, located above the arctic circle in Siberia, is an industrial city where many of the more than 160,000 residents work for the worlds largest mining and metallurgy complex, Norilsk Nickel, producing platinum, nickel, and cobalt. Norilsk is responsible for two percent of the planets total CO2 emissions, according to the filmmakers. Here, in Russia's coldest and most polluted place, the death rate is ten years shorter than in the rest of the county. Norilsk is closed off to non-Russians, but Newton and Edwards managed to go there on the last day of sunlight before winter descended to document life in the city. Their short film captures the stories of residents who grew up between the bleak masses of Soviet-era apartment blocks and its harsh, industrial landscape, they recently told Nowness. The film, which we feature below, paints an eerie portrait of a strange, killing place at the edge of the world, where a glimpse of a man wearing just a tee shirt is a memorable occasion. Newton and Edwards are not the only filmmakers and journalists to visit the city. In December, The New York Times featured images from Norilsk made by photojournalist Sergey Ponomarev. As The Times noted, the history of Norilsk is no less brutal than its present-day reality: The city was once part of Stalins Gulag, where some 250,000 prisoners died from cold, starvation or overwork. Russian photographer Elena Chernyshovas World Press Photo-winning series Days of Night/Nights of Day also looked at Norilsk. Another recent glimpse of Norilsk comes from London- and Naples, Italy-based documentary filmmaker Victoria Fiore, who spent two years trying to get access to the city. It is really impossible to emphasize just how otherworldly this place was, Fiore told The Atlantic, which featured her short film My Deadly Beautiful City. The film was originally produced for The New York Timess OpDocs series. Fiores film finds a bizarre irony: [M]ost people, including the city's nuns and head doctors, claim that those from Norilsk have better health, Fiore told The Atlantic. And this is without mentioning that all nature in a radius almost the size of Germany is dead from severe air pollution. I already knew that the people of Norilsk loved their hometown, but I didn't expect them to so openly contradict medical findings. Would you like to receive breaking news notifications from The Post and Courier? Sign up to receive news and updates from this site directly to your desktop. Breaking News Columbia Breaking News Greenville Breaking News Myrtle Beach Breaking News Aiken Breaking News N Augusta Breaking News Click on the bell icon to manage your notifications at any time. Success! Please click the 'Allow' button in the 'Show Notifcations' alert in your browser if one is available. Thank you for signing up! Please enable notifications in your browser and reload the page. As a three-year civil war continues to plague Yemen and create a fertile breeding ground for terrorist groups, Congress is seeking to mitigate spillover into neighboring Oman by bolstering border security. But the funding may be aimed at cracking down on alleged Iranian smuggling routes through Oman as much as protecting the neutral Gulf state. The Senates annual defense authorization bill, released this week, would add Oman and Pakistan to a list of countries eligible for reimbursement for border security funding. The bill stipulates that the funding is for purposes of supporting and enhancing efforts of the armed forces of Oman to increase security and sustain increased security along the border of Oman with Yemen. The Senate is likely to vote on the bill within the next few days. The House last month passed its own version of the bill, which does not contain the provision. Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and Tunisia already receive assistance for border security operations. The four countries border either Syria or Libya, both of which are in the midst of conflicts that have enabled the rise of extremist groups such as the Islamic State (IS). The inclusion of Oman on the list indicates growing congressional concern over Yemens instability and its impact on the 187-mile border with its neighbor. In addition to IS, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula also maintains a robust presence in southern Yemen. And as the civil war pushes the worlds poorest country into an unprecedented famine while killing and wounding thousands of civilians, numerous displaced Yemenis have flocked to the border. Part of the problem is that you have an extremely difficult terrain there, Anthony Cordesman, a Gulf analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Al-Monitor. There are all kinds of paths and small areas that people are trying to secure. Its fairly easy to cut across. Both sides share a lot of tribal affinities and they dont necessarily recognize the border from day to day, added Cordesman. That hasnt stopped Muscat from trying to firm up the border as Yemens civil war continues to escalate. Oman closed much of the border in 2016 after the Saudi-led coalition intervened on behalf of the internationally recognized government to fight the Iran-backed Houthi rebels and has even begun to construct a border wall. A joint US-Omani delegation met in Muscat last year to discuss border security and export control, according to a report in the Times of Oman. The Omani Embassy did not respond to Al-Monitors request for comment. The United States plans to provide Oman with $3.5 million in security assistance this year, $1.5 million of which is already set aside for border security, export control and anti-terrorism assistance programs. Despite Muscats best efforts, illicit smuggling rings fueled largely by the narcotic qat have long plagued the Omani-Yemeni border. Many analysts also fear that Iran is exploiting the porous border to smuggle arms to its Houthi allies. The routes that are good for smuggling things like drugs dont necessarily lend themselves to large-scale missiles, but theyre coming from somewhere, and when it comes down to smaller weapons, almost anything is possible, said Cordesman. A Congressional Research Service report released earlier this year says, Iran reportedly has taken advantage of its relationship with Oman to ship weapons across Omans borders. In late 2016, US officials reportedly expressed concern to their Omani counterparts that Iran might be taking advantage of its relationship with Oman, and of Omans porous border with Yemen, to smuggle weapons to the Houthi rebels, the report adds. Because Oman maintains diplomatic ties with Iran, the United States often turns to Muscat to conduct back-channel negotiations with Tehran. However, the Saudis have frowned upon Omans relations with Iran, especially as Muscat seeks to remain neutral in the Saudi-Iranian proxy war playing out in Yemen. Even as Muscat denies allegations that Iran has used it as a weapons-smuggling route for the Houthis, it remains skeptical of the Saudi and United Arab Emirates military buildup along the Yemeni side of the border. Oman has been wary of Saudi Arabia and the UAE for some time, particularly since they increased their military operations along its border with Yemen, Jay Solomon, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, wrote earlier this year. CAIRO Dozens of politicians, writers and human rights activists were attacked June 5 by unknown assailants at the iftar dinner party for the breaking of the daily fast during Ramadan organized by the Civil Democratic Movement. The assailants crashed the iftar at the Swiss Club in Cairo and overturned the dinner tables while chanting Traitors! Spies! The head of the Constitution Party, Khaled Dawoud, who attended the dinner, said in a Facebook post on the day of the incident, There are no more red lines and any gathering for the opposition or independents figures is prohibited, hinting at the regimes responsibility in planning the attack. Mustapha El Sayed, a professor of political science at Cairo University who was also present at the event, said the assailants were shouting slogans supporting President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. In a Facebook post, Sayed said, The iftar party was initially a social gathering and some of the attendees would have taken advantage to open discussions about national dialogue to achieve political development and democratization in Egypt. Parliamentarian Haitham El-Hariri commented on the June 5 incident, saying, Such attacks send negative messages at the start of the new presidential term and contradicts the presidents promises. He asked in a Facebook post, Why is the security policy not in line with the rhetoric of the presidential institution? On June 2, Sisi addressed the Egyptian parliament and pledged to achieve real political development. I assure you that tolerance and common spaces are my top priority for achieving peace and harmony in our society, Sisi said. According to a Human Rights Watch report published May 31, the Egyptian security forces raided the houses of six Egyptian activists and arrested them in the month of May. The executive director of the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch, Sarah Leah Whitson, stated in the report, The state of oppression in Egypt has sunk so low that al-Sisis forces are arresting well-recognized activists as they sleep, simply for speaking up. She added, The message is clear that criticism and even mild satire apparently earn Egyptians an immediate trip to prison. Egyptian police arrested video blogger Shadi Abu Zaid on May 8, political activist Amal Fathi on May 11 and political activist Shadi al-Ghazaly Harb on May 15. The Supreme State Security Prosecution requested an investigation into these arrested activists within the scope of case No. 621 of 2018, on charges of joining an outlawed group and spreading false news. On May 18, police arrested labor rights lawyer Haytham Mohamdeen, following a 15-day investigation by the Supreme State Security Prosecution. He was accused of collusion with a terrorist organization and inciting protests. Prominent Egyptian blogger Wael Abbas was arrested May 24. He was accused of colluding with a terrorist organization, using the internet to promote terrorist ideas and encourage terrorist acts, and spreading false news to intentionally disrupt security and public peace and harm public interest. The security prosecution ordered his arrest pending further investigations. The Egyptian security campaign was not limited to activists and journalists; it also included a former presidential campaigner who worked on Sisis 2014 electoral campaign. The prosecution ordered the provisional arrest of political activist Hazem Abdel Azim on May 28 for 15 days pending further investigation. He was accused of calling for obstructing the constitution and spreading false information. On May 30, two days prior to Sisis taking the constitutional oath of office for his second term, the European Union issued a statement expressing concern over the recent wave of arrests of political and human rights activists in Egypt. The statement said, The increasing number of arrests of human rights defenders, political activists and bloggers in the latest weeks in Egypt is therefore a worrying development. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry rejected the EUs statement and responded on the same day, describing the statement as inaccurate and not representative of the Egyptian reality. Gamal Eid, director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, said that because the Egyptian regime is scared of criticism, it resorts to spreading fear among the opposition and those seeking democracy through arbitrary arrests. The latest campaign against activists aims to drain democracy in Egypt and punish those with different opinions, Eid, who is also a human rights lawyer, told Al-Monitor. The majority of accusations are vague, subject to interpretation and lack proof. He also warned of the rising political tensions and of more anger triggered by the ongoing arrest campaigns. Journalist Abdallah al-Sennawy believes the priority for the Egyptians is the economic crisis that the country is going through. Yet he noted that the recent wave of arrests only adds more negativity to the political and economic arenas when the country is desperate for political openness. Sennawy told Al-Monitor, Restriction of public freedoms and oppression amid an economic crisis will only lead to unrest, which Egypt cannot handle right now. He said the behavior of the Egyptian security forces contradicts the presidents promises in terms of freedom of thought and expression. Sennawy added that the states current political approach is unclear and its security decisions are random. National Council for Human Rights member George Isaac told Al-Monitor that Sisi had granted pardons May 16 for around 332 prisoners charged with criminal offenses, but that only four have been released. Isaac said he had hoped the prisoners of conscience and those who were not involved in violence would be released. He was surprised by the latest wave of random arrests, and is working on a petition to be sent to Sisi asking for the immediate release of those not convicted of violence. Isaac believes that the grip of security forces in Egypt is too tight and the ongoing oppression will lead Egyptian young people to total despair. Alaa Abed, head of the Egyptian parliamentary Human Rights Committee, said, Political activists were arrested because they were involved in matters threatening Egyptian national security, such as leaking false news abroad, claiming forced disappearance without proof and criticizing the government without proof. This has to be stopped to preserve national security, he told Al-Monitor. In turn, the head of the Egyptian parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee, Tarek Radwan, believes the relationship between Egypt and European countries and the relationship between Egypt and the United States is governed by common interests and could not be shaken by concerns about individual freedoms. On May 24, the White House issued a statement expressing the US administrations concern about the Egyptian authorities arrests of peaceful activists in Egypt. The Egyptian government has yet to comment on the statement. On July 24, 2017, Amnesty International had called on the EU to take clear positions on the issue of human rights and freedoms in Egypt. Amnesty International also underlined that reinforcing relationships between the EU and Egypt cannot be at the expense of human rights. Ever since Sisi was elected for a second term, the authorities have arrested dozens of critics. Most of those arrested have been either secular or leftist, and they are being interrogated concerning charges of spreading false news and joining banned groups or terrorist organizations. Dawoud said on his Facebook page, We hold on to our right for [a better] Egypt, life, freedom and social justice. We warn about the current political sanctions. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip Fadi Abu Salah, one of the Palestinians killed during the Great Return March, left his family with a huge debt that they had no means of paying off until a small group of local activists came to their aid and set up a social initiative. The initiative is using donations from Muslim families who gave during the holy month of Ramadan to help the families of those killed in the protests along the Israeli-Gaza border between March 30 and May 15. Abu Salah, whose legs had been amputated following an injury during the 2008 Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip, had just finished building a house for his family and had been unable to pay his debts to lending institutions and the construction company. In addition, he owed money to the shopkeepers who had extended his family credit to buy food and basic necessities. Abu Salah was killed May 14 by an Israeli sniper in the largest protests in Gaza since 2014. His mother, Entsar Abu Selmi, told Wael Abu Omar, a journalist who interviewed her for the Smart Media network, that the family was unable to settle the debt of $27,000 now that they were left without a breadwinner. She asked him to refer her to any associations that could help the family. Abu Omar is also a social activist and one of the supervisors of the Palestinian charity campaign Forgive and You Shall Be Rewarded, which works with shopkeepers to write off debts or set up payment schedules for Gazans who cannot repay what they owe. Abu Omar conveyed the story of Abu Salahs family to members of the campaign, asking whether they could assist the family and others in a similar situation. They decided to start a new campaign to pay off the debts of those who were killed during the Great Return March. He told Al-Monitor that the first step was to gather information on the amounts owed by those killed in the recent protests. They launched the campaign on Twitter and Facebook May 19, a few days after the start of Ramadan, with the hashtag #ItIsOurDutytoSettleYourDebt, asking individuals and companies to help the poor families settle their debts. Members of the team involved in setting up the campaign included Bakr Abu Salah, an accountant who gathered information on the debts outstanding with the families, friends and lenders of the deceased; Saeed al-Taweel, a social activist who contacted donors and philanthropists; Khaled al-Hams, who promoted the campaign, its goals and achievements on news websites and social networking platforms; and Abu Omar, who coordinated the small team. The team made a chart of all the information gathered and started off by helping the poorest family first namely Abu Salah's whose debt amounted to $27,000," Abu Omar noted. "He had built a house for his family before he died and had not paid it off yet. He also owed money to grocers and other tradesmen for the food he bought for his family. Abu Selmi told Al-Monitor that her son worked as a computer programmer. He had taken some programming courses, but the family was too poor to afford his university education in this field. Following Abu Salah's injury in 2008, she had used all the donations her son received to marry him off. This was the only way to afford a marriage. I wanted him to have children who would support him later in life. We opened a small shop where he worked as a programmer so that he could earn some money, Abu Selmi said. A year before his death, Fadi built a house for his wife, his five children, his unmarried sisters and I. To be able to finish the house which he built on land he inherited from his grandfather he had to borrow money from lenders, relatives and friends. He paid his debt to the construction company in installments every two or three months. After he died, I happened to complain to a journalist who was visiting us about the amount of debt that neither his wife nor I could pay off. His wife neither works nor has a degree that would allow her to do so. A couple of days later this journalist contacted us and said that he was about to set up a campaign to pay off the debts of the martyrs and asked for details concerning the debts of my son," she added. Through individual donations, $6,000 worth of debt was paid off, and several grocers agreed to write off part of Abu Salah's debt. According to Abu Omar, not a single Palestinian association or faction has contributed so far to paying off these outstanding debts. He said that the donations were mostly small amounts between $30 and $150 from individuals who wanted to donate money during Ramadan. We rely on our personal pages on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to promote the campaign, Abu Omar said. The campaign will end once all the debts on the list we made are paid off." He noted that the debts of those killed during the Great Return March range between $1,500 and $27,000, with the lowest amount belonging to Mohammed Abdel Aal and the highest to Abu Salah. The team has so far been able to pay off 90% of what Abdel Aal owes and a sizeable portion of Abu Salah's debt. Abu Omar said that many families are still waiting to get assistance. Abu Omar noted that the financial assistance does not extend to all those killed, but only some 100 families who need the money. Some victims came from well-off families who could afford to pay their children's debts themselves. Others were children, who had no debts, he concluded. In a new onslaught on moderate President Hassan Rouhani, former hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has attacked the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the signature foreign policy achievement of the incumbent administration. In remarks published by Iranian media June 5, Ahmadinejad claimed that Rouhani was the cause for the United Nations Security Council resolutions against Iran over its nuclear program. The remarks were reportedly made during a trip to the northwestern city of Tabriz on May 31. "The pretext for all the resolutions and sanctions was [from developments] that were before my presidency and when the current president was responsible for the nuclear [file]. I told them to release [relevant information] and [asked] why they are depicting me as guilty?" said Ahmadinejad. Of note, Rouhani served as the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council for 16 years (1989-2005). Between 2003 and 2005, he led nuclear negotiations with the E3 (Britain, France and Germany), which ultimately failed mainly due to US pressure. Subsequently, during Ahmadinejad's presidency (2005-2013), six resolutions were passed against Iran by the UN Security Council. The former president also claimed that he had suggested to top state officials that he be given six months to make nuclear-related sanctions ineffective, but that this was not accepted and that the senior leadership consequently decided to enter the secret talks with the United States in Oman. Ahmadinejad also took a swipe at Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying, "Despite all the claims, the sanctions are back. We dont seek to [say that] a person is blameworthy, because all officials approved [the deal]. We want to [learn] from experiences. We still dont know what happened in the [nuclear] talks. The members of parliament still state that they havent seen the content of the [nuclear] agreement." In an article, moderate Asr-e-Iran slammed the former president over his attack on Rouhani and the JCPOA, writing June 5, "Ahmadinejad has seemingly forgotten that most of the problems of today in Iran is because of himself and his governments decisions. Ahmadinejad, like an inexperienced youth, was flexing his muscles against the other sides." Moreover, the pro-reform Entekhab news site criticized Ahmadinejad for his apparent attempt to evade accepting responsibility for the series of UN Security Council sanctions against Tehran. The news site said June 5, "Ahmadinejad's positions during his presidency indicate that he basically didnt care for international institutions such as the UN Security Council in terms of their legality. And as a result of such thinking, he didnt recognize any resolution and decision by these institutions." To bolster its argument, Entekhab quoted remarks by Ahmadinejad on Nov. 24, 2008, when he said, "When the Western countries were witnessing Iran's growth and progress, [they drafted] a resolution every day and [passed it] against us in the Security Council. I tell them today to pass as many resolutions as you want so that the venue where resolutions are passed becomes [destroyed]." In Iran, the insurance industry is one of the most important sectors of the economy that will be impacted by the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal indeed, the trade already has been affected. However, it appears that Iran, which experienced a bitter sting as a result of the previous sanctions, is much better prepared for external restrictions this time around. The Iranian insurance sector is ripe with opportunity as its potential remains largely untapped. Abdolnasser Hemmati, head of the Central Insurance of Iran (CII), says 70% of the country's $3 trillion potential is uncovered. The CII acts as the industry's sole regulator and one of its few local reinsurers. The industry's annual turnover recently surpassed 500 trillion rials ($11.87 billion) for the first time. That potential prompted dozens of major companies, mostly European ones, to quickly try to find their way back into the country's market after sanctions were lifted in January 2016 thanks to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Germany's Munich Re, the biggest reinsurer in the world, in July 2017 signed a contract with Saman Insurance Company, affiliated with private Bank Saman. It became the first foreign reinsurer to start working with Iran again following JCPOA implementation. In early October 2017, the CII's lengthy negotiations paid off when it reached a framework agreement with France's SCOR, which committed the world's fourth-largest reinsurer to provide catastrophe excess of loss insurance in Iran. Days after that agreement, SCOR inked a contract with Mellat Insurance Company in order to provide catastrophe excess of loss insurance in case of fire and natural disasters, among others, up to a ceiling of 200 million euros ($235 million). Munich Re also reached a deal with Mellat, affiliated with the privatized Bank Mellat, which was publicized in early May, where the entire life insurance portfolio of the Iranian insurer is covered by the Germany powerhouse. The reinsurer Iranian Re, affiliated with Bank Pasargad, also has engaged in negotiations with global brands such as SCOR, Partner Re and Nasco Insurance Group. India's GIC Re was also eyeing Iran's market last year. Meanwhile, Europeans have been considering purchasing shares in Iranian insurance companies since the JCPOA implementation. But all that has fallen flat during the past few months as it was becoming increasingly evident that US President Donald Trump would not remain faithful to the nuclear deal. Another important field of cooperation that may be undermined in light of returning US sanctions is the variety of educational courses held in Tehran by European insurers. The classes could prove vital in updating Iranian insurers' level of knowledge and expertise and the country's conformance to ever-evolving international standards. Germany's Allianz on May 15 dealt the first Trump-related blow to Iran's insurance industry by announcing that it is "developing wind-down plans for relevant business to ensure appropriate termination within the defined periods" of the effective reimplementation of US nuclear-related sanctions on Aug. 6 and Nov. 4. The details of Allianz's dealings with Iran namely with Parsian Insurance were not publicized much beyond that it concerned medical insurance, but the Allianz representative stressed that the company's Iran business was "totally minimal." When contacted by Al-Monitor, Allianz repeated the same statement; SCOR and GIC Re did not respond. Munich Re said it cannot comment on the issue at the moment. Still, global insurers other than Allianz so far have stayed their hands, A Partner Re representative told Al-Monitor, "We are currently monitoring the developments in Iran and analyzing the impact on our reinsurance relationships." A Swiss Re representative said the company is "currently assessing the impact of the announced US withdrawal on its business whilst anticipating further guidance from the US authorities and the EU" and that it "considers compliance and regulatory matters to be of the highest importance." Sara Haghighivand, an Iranian insurance expert and the director of business development at the credit rating company Capital Intelligence, said circumspect European insurers are more likely to exit Iran than choose to continue collaborations under threat of sanctions, even as they are familiar with the lucrative potential of the Iranian market. "They won't wait for their governments to make a decision for them because the level of business they have with the US is much bigger than their business in Iran," she told Al-Monitor. She said the CII, having experienced hefty sanctions previously, trod very carefully when clinching the European reinsurance deals, especially when devising the deals sanctions snapback clauses. That was because previous multilateral sanctions hit the insurance industry hard and it took a long time for the industry to adapt to new conditions. This time, the volume of the deals was much lower, so their potential withdrawal will have no immediate and severe impact, Haghighivand said. Iran is not just standing around. Even as top-tier officials participating in the 6th Iran-Europe Forum in Tehran on April 28 were trying to salvage existing ties and encourage Europeans to stand up to US pressure, Hemmati announced at the event that Iran is already looking to the east. The country has commenced negotiations with the likes of China, Russia and India, he said. CII also pointed out in a recent edition of its biweekly publication Insurance News that it had foreseen a US withdrawal from the JCPOA and a subsequent winding down of European business in Iran. The regulator also expressed confidence that there are no unsolvable problems. There remains only the shipping front, in which Iran had managed to obtain membership in several P&I Clubs after the JCPOA. But as the Oslo-based Skuld, one of those clubs, warns, "Shipowners and charterers who are considering trading to Iran should understand that P&I cover for such trade is unlikely to remain in place where there is a risk that providing insurance risks the imposition of sanctions by the US. So should Europe fail to keep the JCPOA alive, Iran will have no choice but to turn to other prospective partners. Those will certainly not be on-par replacements for the likes of Munich Re and SCOR, but will simply have to do. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote a letter to the foreign ministers of the countries who signed on to the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), to update them on the status of attempts to keep the deal alive despite the US withdrawal. In the letter, Zarif called the US exit from the deal between Iran, the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany impulsive, unlawful and provocative. Zarif wrote that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeos threats to punish countries that continue to deal with Iran violated US commitments to the JCPOA, "failed to comply with the unanimously adopted" UN Security Council Resolution 2231 and "breached the Charter of the United Nations and showed their contempt for international law. The letter said the International Atomic Energy Agency, the nuclear watchdog of the United Nations, has repeatedly confirmed that Iran has lived up to its obligations of the nuclear accord. Zarif wrote, If the JCPOA is to survive, the remaining JCPOA participants need to ensure that Iran is unconditionally compensated. The letter, which Zarif published as screenshots on his personal Twitter page June 7, is dated May 23. The tweet was accompanied by the text, My letter to fellow foreign ministers on steps to take to address US unlawful withdrawal from JCPOA. However, the letter did not offer specific steps other than insistence on continued sanctions relief. While Zarif has been active on the diplomatic front to keep the nuclear deal alive, Ali Akbar Salehi the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran spoke to Iranian television from the Natanz nuclear facility on Irans decision to push forward on enrichment following the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal. Salehi said that at Irans current capacities, We cannot produce centrifuges at our desired levels because we have limitations under the nuclear deal and the Supreme Leader [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] asked that for now we operate under the nuclear deal. Regarding the call for 190,000 SWU (separative work units), which is what Khamenei first called for in 2014, Salehi said, If we connect the sixth-generation centrifuges with 60,000 machines, we can reach 180,000 SWU within 10 months." He said Iran could reach 190,000 with more advanced centrifuges. Salehi also addressed the cost of Irans nuclear program. He said that in the last 30 years, Iran's Atomic Energy Organization has spent $6.5 billion and that $1.5 billion has been on the Bushehr nuclear plant. He said Bushehr value is $5 billion, far more than Iran has spent on the plant. He discussed sabotage and in particular the Stuxnet virus that infected Irans centrifuges. While there were reports that one-fifth of Irans centrifuges were destroyed by Stuxnet, Salehi said the Iran had been prepared for such an attack and said the countries that released the virus were not successful. He added, Even if they destroy our installations, they cannot do anything to our knowledge, which is in our minds. Regarding efforts to keep the nuclear deal alive, Salehi said, The problems with the deal are not technical but the lack of the other side fulfilling their banking and economic commitments. He said that Europe is in a political predicament between maintaining its political independence while having Iran as an energy source while resisting American pressure to withdraw from economic ties with Iran. The Iranian authorities have been grappling with how to limit the use of foreign social media apps in the country. On April 30, the Iranian judiciary ordered the filtering of Telegram against the will of the administration. While the political, security and cultural motivations behind such moves are clear, few seem to have paid much attention to the fact that each ban on technology-driven services incurs costs to the Iranian economy and leads to job losses in a country where generating employment is the top political priority. In this vein, it is important to examine the socio-economic and economic consequences of restricting social media apps and what the authorities need to understand to get their priorities right. There are 40 million Telegram users in Iran, and they use it both as a messaging tool and a social media platform. For many Iranians, Telegram has become the main point of access to a wide range of information as well as a platform for small businesses, advertising and health-related services. In a country that has continuously witnessed a clampdown on newspapers and other publications, the blocking of a virtual service like Telegram may not come as a surprise, but in economic terms, the banning of the popular app is more dramatic than the closure of a print media outlet. One key difference is obviously the feasibility of such a ban. Interestingly, a brief analysis of the judicial instruction to ban Telegram indicates that the judiciary instructed the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology to make it inaccessible inside Iran even with circumvention tools. From a technical point of view, this instruction amounts to the blocking of Telegram and all other routes that could facilitate indirect access through anti-filtering software. Technical experts agree that such a blockade would seal off many IPs, protocols and ports within the countrys internet infrastructure, hence undermining the backbone of many economic, social and cultural activities including official government services. For this reason, the administration particularly Information and Communications Technology Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi has opposed this policy. As a result of such blockades, which have targeted Telegram as well as Twitter, many legitimate activities of economic, social and governance significance have been undermined. In other words, the damage to the country is not just of a social nature, but also strongly of an economic nature, going far beyond the small businesses that rely on communication through Telegram. Furthermore, the blockade compels users to utilize the services of virtual private networks, which may offer a good platform for espionage and intelligence activity by other countries. Therefore, the blocking of popular apps and web-based services could also be counterproductive from a security perspective. Not all Iranian politicians agree with the restrictions on social media. Apart from President Hassan Rouhani and many ministers in his administration, a number of parliamentarians have also indicated their opposition. After the protests over December and January, Mohammad Kazemi, deputy head of parliaments commission on judicial issues, stated, A permanent blockade of social networks does not serve the countrys interests as many people earn their living through such platforms. Depriving those persons who live off such networks will lead to other disadvantages, hence any restriction should be minimal and short-term [and] related to security concerns. It is not clear how many jobs have been created based on Telegram as a social media platform. Some analysts have estimated that 9,000 jobs would be lost as a direct result of the apps filtering. However, the indirect impact could be much more severe. Initially, when the suggestion of filtering Telegram emerged, detractors claimed that connectivity on Telegram had facilitated the establishment of a number of startups and had created a total of 1 million jobs. Not all these jobs would be lost immediately, but many initiatives would be left unsustainable, leading to economic damages. In addition to the loss of actual jobs and opportunities, the loss of social media will have a negative psychological impact on Iranian society. In the words of prominent actor Ali Sarabi, such actions induce a sense of job insecurity and also harm the field of arts and culture. A large number of tickets for cultural events are advertised and sold through Telegram channels, and the ban has already had a negative impact on the sales of such items. Tehran's prosecutor general Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi has also realized the negative consequences of the ban on Telegram, saying, If we would have banned it two years ago, it would have been easier. Apart from the limitations imposed on web-based businesses and public services, millions of Iranians are forced to pay for anti-filtering services, and some of those funds are spent abroad. This means that even more significant sums will leave the country because of the judiciarys decision capital that could be used to create jobs domestically. Unfortunately, the clampdown on online freedoms has gathered pace after the recently announced US withdrawal from the nuclear deal, partly due to the fear of Iranian authorities that online activism will be used to undermine the regime's stability. What the regime as a whole fails to comprehend is that its stability depends on successful economic development and efficient job creation, and such limitations will amplify the social and economic ills of the country. There is no doubt that the continued filtering of popular social media platforms will not only undermine public confidence in the regime as a whole, but will also hurt the countrys economic activities and will pave the way for additional funds flowing outside the country, to the detriment of domestic jobs and opportunities. One may thus argue that the hard-line political forces who are behind such restrictions engage in such policies to cause further social and economic regression in order to consolidate their own power. However, as the social protests of the past few months have underlined, Iranian society will demand increased economic efficiency and job creation phenomena that clash with the current attitude toward online freedom. Rarely do parliaments in democratic states flatly refuse to debate proposed bills and disqualify them before they are even put on the agenda. However, this happened June 4 when the Knesset Presidium decided in an unusual move, by its own admission, to reject the submission of a proposed constitutional law sponsored by three members of the Balad faction within the Arab Joint List. Their proposed basic law, titled State of all its citizens, sought to redefine the character of the Jewish state, qualifying it as giving equal status to the Jewish nationality and the Arab nationality. Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein said this was the first time since he took office five years ago that he had recommended vetoing proposed legislation, adding that the presidium had not vetoed a single proposed bill in the current Knesset or in the previous one. The three [Knesset members] from Balad keep trying to garner votes through provocation, Edelstein stated, and we cannot lend a hand to this. Has he really forgotten the embarrassing provocation to which his Likud Party colleague Culture Minister Miri Regev subjected him on Israels recent Independence Day celebrations? When she hijacked the traditional keynote address at the ceremony from the speaker for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was Regev not trying to garner votes among Likud members? Does Edelstein not know of any Jewish lawmakers who submit bills in order to pick up votes? Placing this bill on the Knesset's table may set a precedent for placing other inherently racist bills on the Knesset table, said Knesset member Revital Swid of the center-left Zionist Camp. Swid was one of seven presidium members who voted to disqualify the proposed law. Only two presidium members (both Arabs), Esawi Frej of the left-wing Meretz Party and Ahmed Tibi of the Joint List, voted nay. What was the issue that so riled Jewish lawmakers from the coalition and opposition parties? Why did this proposal make them bare their teeth? What is that precedent for other inherently racist bills to which Swid referred? Can they be referring to a clause in the bill that recognizes the existence and rights of the two national groups one Jewish, one Arab living in the State of Israel? Perhaps the problem lies in its proposed system of government based on separation of religion and state, while ensuring freedom of worship for all religions? Or were they beside themselves over language stating, The state shall respect the individual and collective identity of its citizens on an equal basis, without discrimination on the basis of nationality, race, religion, gender, language, color, political views, ethnic origin or social status"? Indeed, the proposed law is not Zionist. Its sponsors seek to nullify the right of return that grants automatic citizenship to all Jews and to change the symbols and anthem of the state so that they provide equal expression to both nations living in Israel. What racist overtones does it contain that are any different from the ones enshrined in the proposed nationality law that enjoys the support of Netanyahu and most members of the ruling coalition? The proposed nationality law seeks to define the character of the state through constitutional-style legislation that fails to guarantee the human rights of all the countrys citizens, chief among them the right to equality, the right to language, culture and minority rights. The proposed bill enshrines racial segregation in housing and undermines the rights of one-fifth of the countrys citizens to their language, culture and identity. There is something highly embarrassing in viewing Israels definition as a state of all its people as undermining the fundamental principles of our system of government and therefore disqualifying it in advance, wrote leading legal scholar Mordechai Kremnitzer in Haaretz on June 5. Kremnitzer, a professor emeritus of the Faculty of Law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said, If this is not an obvious fact, there is something fundamentally flawed in our democracy. The latest Peace Index, issued this week, indicates that almost half of all Israelis (41%) think the countrys democracy is under severe threat. That view is held by 75% of those defining themselves as left wing and 70% of the Arabs polled. To protect the state from any hint that its Jewish character and symbols are being eroded in favor of the principle of equality, most Knesset members are willing to destabilize one of the central pillars of democracy. At the same time, these same lawmakers support policy and legislation that deprives Israel of its Jewish majority. Since the seating of the current Knesset, 31 bills have been submitted calling for the direct annexation of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, whether by annexing the entire West Bank, annexing blocs of settlements or imposing Israeli planning and construction laws on extensive areas outside sovereign Israel. It is only thanks to human rights organizations that refuse to give in to the campaigns of incitement being waged against them that the Regularization Law, designed to authorize the establishment of settlements on private Palestinian lands, is now under deliberation by the Supreme Court. In addition to the moral, security and diplomatic cost being exacted by the settlements on Israel, they are forcing the state to choose between turning into a binational state or an apartheid regime. According to data presented to the Knesset by military authorities in March, Arabs outnumber Jews in the area under Israeli control between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River 6.8 million Arabs versus 6.5 million Jews. The latest violence along the border with Gaza clearly demonstrates that Israels unilateral withdrawal from the enclave in 2005 failed to sever it from Israel, which continues to control its air space, territorial waters, supply of goods, water and power. The Jewish majority in the Knesset can violate the right of Arab lawmakers to submit a bill seeking to define Israel as a state of all its citizens, even though this is an accepted definition in all democratic nations around the world. However, Israel can hardly be called a democracy when this majority refuses to represent millions of people whose fate is controlled by the state and to ensure their rights. At the same time, many Jews around the world, most of them affiliated with liberal Judaism, are having a hard time defining an occupying state that establishes settlements on stolen lands as a Jewish one. Chief Justice Esther Hayut has retained the services of a communications adviser to help in her clashes with politicians and to mobilize public opinion. This is a first in the history of Israels Supreme Court. Since taking office as chief justice in October 2017, Hayut has had to counter attacks from right-wing politicians seeking to curtail the powers of the countrys top court, which, they argue, erodes the authority of the Knesset. This friction between the judicial and legislative branches of government is hardly new. However, Hayut and the court she heads have found themselves under an onslaught spearheaded by a combative and popular politician, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, in a bid to institute judicial reforms. This is no longer just a case of radical right Knesset members, such as Bezalel Smotrich of HaBayit HaYehudi, regularly harassing the court. Shaked and the chair of her party, Naftali Bennett, are pushing forward a meticulously planned reform that enjoys public backing, even from former Justice Minister Haim Ramon (Labor). On May 6, the Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved the Override Clause, the flagship of the Shaked-Bennett plan. The bill enables the Knesset to re-enact legislation struck down by the Supreme Court. The next day, Hayut took advantage of a swearing-in ceremony for new judges to deliver a speech castigating proponents of the proposed bill and warning against its consequences. In her widely quoted speech in the presence of Shaked, President Reuven Rivlin and leading jurists, Hayut warned against the loss of the judiciarys independence. These are not happy days for Israels court system, she said at the outset of her remarks. The judicial branch is under a brutal and unprecedented attack that poses a realistic threat to its power and independence. Shaked, who took the podium after Hayut, did not appear perturbed and seemed glad of the opportunity to fight back. Every week a voice is heard proclaiming that Israeli democracy is marching toward its end, she answered Hayut. I regret to disappoint the eulogists, but go outside and take a look Israeli democracy is alive and breathing and kicking and stronger than any of its critics and eulogizers. Shaked and Bennett are leading a political campaign that reflects their convictions as well as their desire to appeal to their conservative base. But so far, their actions generated a broad political debate beyond the political right and left division. Hayut is troubled, rightly so, sensing a loss of control and erosion of her standing. The bottom line is that her warnings have not changed a thing. The government has suspended further action on the Override Clause, for now, not because of Hayuts campaign but due to the political machinations of Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, the head of the center-right Kulanu Party, who has pledged to protect the Supreme Court. Standing as she does at the top of the pyramid, all eyes are now on Hayut, but appointing a communications adviser does not seem the appropriate solution to the multidimensional and substantive issues plaguing the court system. Hayut seems to blame the public criticism of the court on the delegitimization campaign championed by the political right. But in reality, things are far more complex. Most probably, the criticism of the public against the court also stems from concerns on the way the judicial system operates. One case in point is the recent scandal involving Tel Aviv Magistrates Court Judge Ronit Poznanski-Katz, caught in an inappropriate text message exchange with a representative of the Israel Securities Authority, a situation that damaged public opinion of the court system far more than Shakeds attacks. Or the troubling report by investigative TV journalist Omri Assenheim who exposed backroom dealings over the appointments of Supreme Court justices, depicting supposedly unblemished and impartial jurists scrounging for votes like the last of the political wheeler-dealers. Not to mention the backlog in the courts, the lengthy legal procedures and citizens encounters with an antiquated system that often seems detached from reality. Rather than facing the truth and trying to reach out to the public using the vast resources of the legal system, Hayut could find herself being dragged into the political arena. A development of that sort might damage her personal reputation as chief justice and the statehood of her position. Hayut picked Lt. Col. (Res.) Hai Lugasi, formerly the spokesman of the Israeli Air Force who served very briefly as Bennetts media adviser. Lugasi was chosen without a tender, as is customary with positions of trust. Without detracting from his experience as a spokesman, it is hard to ignore the fact that Hayuts associates underscored Lugasis background with Bennett, meaning that he worked for the Supreme Courts archenemy and he hails from the political right. Associates of Hayut rejected the claim that was brought up in social networks that she picked Lugasi as means to appeal to the right-wing political base. Lugasi, according to the courts announcement, will be tasked with making the legal discourse accessible to the public and actively explaining rulings on social media and elsewhere to provide handy, simple readouts of the complex legal process. A judicial source cited in Ynet news claims that hiring a media adviser was necessary because currently, By the time the judiciary reacts, the politicians have already hogged the stage and determined the narrative. Judicial rulings taken out of context skew the words and intentions of the judges. However, appointing a media adviser appears to reflect the search for an easy way out of what is a deep crisis. Hayut and her fellow justices can and should seek to win public trust with their rulings. The exchange of violence between Israel and the Gaza Strip at the end of May revealed another remarkable achievement of Israeli technology. For the first time ever, Israels Iron Dome anti-missile system successfully shot down barrages of short-range mortar shells fired extensively by Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas at Israeli settlements adjacent to the border fence. Few people believed that it would be possible to shoot down mortar shells that are small targets, in the air for such a short time and travel such a short distance. But it happened. Engineers from Rafael Advanced Defense Systems overcame this difficulty and made it possible to shoot down the tiny shell, despite it being fired at a steep trajectory toward a relatively close target. Iron Dome has achieved an impressive rate of success in doing this, eliminating yet another terrorist threat against the Israeli population living along the border fence. This significant achievement has flown under the radar because of the incendiary kites being launched from Gaza. For the past few weeks, Israel has been left helpless in dealing with the new Palestinian weapon, which sets its fields and settlements on fire on a daily basis. Israel is a cyber superpower. The high-tech nation is a leader in drone technology. It sends satellites into space and can shoot down everything from mortar fire to intercontinental ballistic missiles that fly outside the earths atmosphere (with its Arrow missile system). Nevertheless, it doesnt know what to do about kites flown from the Gaza Strip with flaming torches attached to their tails. These kites ignore the border fence, the underground border obstacle, the air force, the navy, ground forces, tanks and snipers. Their load, consisting of a small Molotov cocktail or a smattering of hot coals, has succeeded in setting fire to Israeli fields at the height of the harvest season. On June 5 alone, these kites were responsible for some 15 fires in the south, with one of them raging over a large area along the fence of Sapir College, just outside of Sderot. These fires have destroyed about 10,000 dunams (approximately 2,500 acres) of crops and natural wooded areas. Some of these fires threatened residential areas. As for a solution to the problem? Israel has none. This is becoming a competition between the most innovative and advanced technology in the world and the primitive means of long ago. Kite flying has always been popular in Gaza because of its beach, winds and geographic conditions. Hamas has now weaponized this popular childhood pastime and turned it into a means of spreading terror. The irony is that Hamas is actually following the model of a story told in chapter 15 of the Book of Judges and known to all Israelis as Samsons foxes. According to the story, Samson captured 500 foxes, tied them in pairs by their tails and attached a torch to each pair. Then he released them in the Philistines fields during the harvest season, setting the fields on fire. Now Israel finds itself in the exact same location (the Philistines lived in the vicinity of modern-day Gaza), but on the wrong side of the fire. It can block and seal off Hamas attack tunnels, the sea, the ground routes and even the air with its top-notch air force, but it is unable to deal with something as simple as a kite. These kites fly low. They are made of transparent plastic wrapping, and they are relatively tiny. This makes them almost unpredictable and unstoppable. Often, the simplest things can be the most powerful. Not quite. Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said June 4 that ever since the phenomenon began, some 600 arson kites have been sent from Gaza to Israel. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) blocked about 400 of these with gliders, snipers and other means. The remaining 200 reached Israel, where they were remarkably successful, causing 198 fires. In other words, almost every kite that landed in Israel started a fire, and this happened before the summer season, which makes the entire area particularly flammable. Meanwhile, protests are becoming more vocal on the Israeli side of the border. Farmers are losing their entire livelihoods all because of a kite, and local residents are living in a state of constant terror. Aerial photographs of the region show vast stretches of once green land that are now blackened and charred. Israel is also having problems with its aerial firefighting planes, which fly low and are therefore vulnerable to gunfire from the Gaza Strip. Israels defense establishment has a problem, and the best minds are searching for a solution. One example of a solution is having two gliders flying just a few dozen meters from each other, connected by a nylon string that can slice through the kite string and bring it down. While there are other embarrassing solutions of this sort, some members of the Cabinet are insisting on a change of policy instead. Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan has demanded that the people launching these kites be classified as terrorists in every sense of the word. This would mean that the IDF would use the air force to identify and fire at them while they are releasing the kites. The IDF, on the other hand, is firmly opposed to this policy. Most of the kites are being flown by teens. Targeting them would spark an international commotion. It would spur such harsh criticism that the whole effort would not be worthwhile, especially with Israel already facing widespread criticism over its uncompromising policies to block the waves of Gazans storming the fence. Military sources told Al-Monitor that these kites do not pose an immediate or serious threat. Furthermore, most of the kites are flown just over the rooftops of Gazas homes, with most of them flown from the homes themselves. It would not be feasible to fire a missile at a house just because a kite rose above it. It would make no sense. Erdan and several other ministers think differently. They believe that the kites are terrorism. Period. They also claim that Israels policy will change as soon as a kite results in injuries or deaths. Only deterrence will prevent this phenomenon, and the instigator of this terrorist activity is Hamas. Over the last few weeks, kites landing in Israel have included detonators, timers, cell phones and other indications that this is just the beginning of an attempt to attach small explosive devices to them. According to one IDF assessment, the next generation of kites will be more like flying bombs than flying Molotov cocktails. It is a disconcerting evolution. The kite threat should be eliminated, said Erdan, before it becomes a dangerous explosive glider. There is, of course, a middle option. Israel has defined all attempts to attack the border fence as terrorist incidents and set an immediate threshold for responding to Hamas. It is defined in the exact same way as the firing of rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip. The kites can also be declared terrorism, with Hamas targets getting bombed in response as soon as any kite lands in Israeli territory. But once again, the political leadership is reluctant to do this. It may be that the objective is impossible to meet, given the large number of kites and the small number of high-quality Hamas targets across the fence. Regardless, the Israeli Cabinet has yet to hold a formal discussion about the problem. They are waiting for a technological solution, hoping to find one before everything burns to the ground. On July 25, 2017, at a serene historical site just outside Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron hosted a rare meeting between Libyan rivals, namely Gen. Khalifa Hifter, the commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA) who has the military upper hand in eastern Libya, and Fayez al-Sarraj, the head of the Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli. Every now and then, Sarraj would talk of the capital being safe to create the impression that he is in control. But the harsh reality was and still is that Tripoli was and continues to be controlled by various militias that are nominally aligned with the GNA but are not fully under its control. The final communique signed at the end of that meeting, and read out to the media while both men stood next to Macron, said both sides agreed to hold elections in 2018, refrain from use of force and continue to look for a political solution. Macron appeared satisfied with what was achieved, and he commended the two men for showing what he called historic courage before declaring that the cause of peace [in Libya] has made great progress today. However, little peace was actually brought to the war-ravaged country after the meeting. The country has not been in total war since 2014, but fighting is never far away. Ten months later, on May 29, Macron did it again and played host to a larger group of Libyan politicians, which included Sarraj, Hifter, president of the House of Representatives (HoR) Aguila Saleh, and head of the Supreme Council of State Khaled al-Mishri. About 20 organizations, including the European Union, African Union and the Arab League, were also present alongside diplomats representing regional countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Algeria, Egypt and Tunisia. Four Security Council permanent members attended: Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom plus the host country, France. The relatively large gathering intended to relay the message that Libya is important for the stability and security of both sides of the Mediterranean, and indeed important to international peace and security. European countries have been struggling to cap illegal immigration as well as potential terrorists coming out of Libya. Since the toppling of its leader Moammar Gadhafi in October 2011, Libya has been the preferred route for human traffickers. The International Organization for Migration in January 2018 estimated that about 120,000 people made it to Italy, which is less than it was a year before but still far too much. And again this second meeting ended with a communique, but this time no one signed it because no one recognizes the other, as Macron said when explaining why the final statement was not signed by those who verbally committed themselves to it. Indeed, Hifter puts Islamists, including the Muslim Brotherhood, on top of his list of hardest enemies. Of course, the hatred is reciprocated, which was made clear by Mishri in an interview with France 24 while still in Paris. He said, I only recognize him [Hifter] as a de facto force, but I do not recognize his legitimacy, before confirming that he is a member of the Brotherhood in Libya. The same case of nonrecognition extends to others as well; Sarraj does not recognize Hifter as commander of the LNA nor Saleh as president of the HoR, and the two do not accept Sarraj as the head of the government, even though his government is recognized by the UN as the only government in Libya. Regardless of this diplomatic disappointment over recognition, the final statement of the latest meeting contains interesting points that if implemented could help Libya see the light. For example, the parties agreed that they will accept the outcome of the elections that will take place Dec. 10, as proposed by UN envoy Ghassan Salame. They also agreed to make the necessary legislative arrangements, including adopting a new elections law and ratifying a new constitution, which had been drafted months earlier. Back then, no one appeared enthusiastic enough to even discuss it in the on-and-off-again dysfunctional HoR. The HoR has to pass a law paving the way for the new constitution to be put into public referendum. Again, all parties repeated their commitment to a peaceful solution to the conflict, which has paralyzed the oil-rich North African country for the last eight years. There is also a commitment by all parties that they will accept the outcome of the elections after they are finished and results become known. It is important that all parties publically and officially declare their acceptance of the elections outcome so there is not a repeat of the 2014 elections. Back then, different Islamist parties and sympathizers won about 30 seats of the 200 seats contested, and the rest were won by secularists and independents. Facing such humiliating defeat, the Islamists resorted to force by starting a military operation codenamed Libya Dawn in August 2014 to drive out those who actually won the ballots. It is interesting to note that point 4 of the nonsigned statement commits all Libyan parties present at the meeting to officially accept the requirements to conduct elections as outlined by Salames report to the Security Council. In his May 21 report, Salame demanded that a new round of voters registration be opened in Libya, and he required that legislation to help conduct the elections be in place by September 2018 at the latest. Indeed, the High National Election Commission (HNEC) in Tripoli was targeted by the Islamic State on May 2, and it could be that the voters records have been damaged, although the HNEC chairman denied any damage to such vital database. However, whatever was agreed to verbally should not be taken for granted. This is not the first time that the rivals met with the aim of ending Libyas state of chaos and lawlessness. It will be an outstanding achievement if Libya could be ready for elections within the window of six months between now and Dec. 10. The HoR must first finish the legislative prerequisites, such as a new election law and move to the next stage of putting the draft constitution to a referendum. Security is also a vital component of conducting successful elections, and security remains one area where Libya is hugely deficient. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip Palestinians officials are planning to meet soon to address ideas for attracting more foreign investment and working to make Palestine an investment hub. Saleh Rafat, a member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization's (PLO) executive committee, confirmed June 4 to Voice of Palestine that the PLO Central Council would meet after Eid al-Fitr to discuss the economic disengagement from Israel. The Executive Committee had originally been scheduled to meet June 3 to implement the decisions taken during the 23rd session of the four-day Palestinian National Council (PNC) meeting April 30, on developing mechanisms to define relations with Israel, supporting national products and increasing investments in Palestine. No new date has been set for the next Executive Committee meeting. For the first time, the PNC had allowed the participation of Palestinian businessmen abroad to discuss investments in Palestine, including how to develop the economic situation in the country and ideas on how to support and strengthen the economy and national products. Israeli media outlets reported June 3 that Israel had begun advanced negotiations to allow 400 Arab-Israeli businessmen to enter the Gaza Strip in order to invest in the local economy. On May 31, the businessmen were granted travel permits to enter the besieged enclave. Palestine accords great importance to encouraging investments by providing a range of incentives through the Palestinian Investment Promotion Agency (PIPA). In 2017, foreign direct investments represented 6% of total investments in Palestine with a value of $1.5 billion. Most of these investments were concentrated in the tourism sector as well as in the banking sector in the form of stocks and bonds. These sectors are seen as the most profitable and secure sectors in Palestine. Economists believe Palestine needs more investments in the industrial and agricultural sectors, and demand that these sectors be allocated greater investment incentives. In this context, PNC member Hatem Abu Shaaban told Al-Monitor, A number of new members have been included in the PNC, most of whom are businessmen and investors. He said that the PNC, in a bid to boost the deteriorating economic and financial situation in the country, encourages businessmen to consider investing in Palestine and has taken a number of decisions that encourage businessmen to invest in all sectors in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Ahmed Abu Houli, a deputy in the Fatah Legislative Council and a member of the National Assembly's Executive Committee, told Al-Monitor that the PNC vision for the economy and investments in Palestine is very broad. We are working to develop plans for the implementation of the PNC economic decisions and launch practical steps for bringing in more investments, he said. The spokesman for the Ministry of National Economy in Ramallah, Azmi Abdul Rahman, told Al-Monitor that Palestine has poor economic resources, most of them in Area C, which is under Israels control. He expressed hope that the national economic agenda and incentive packages would bring in more investments to all sectors. He noted that the Palestinian government had approved on July 18, 2017, a package of incentives to encourage investments in renewable and alternative energy technologies in order to encourage investments in these fields in such a way that fulfills the requirements of sustainable development in Palestine. The government also issued on Aug. 1, 2017, a package of incentives for projects in industrial cities and free trade zones in a bid to encourage investments. Abdul Rahman stressed that the Palestinian Authority (PA) provided the necessary infrastructure for investment in the Palestinian territories through the establishment of industrial zones in cities such as Jericho and Bethlehem, as well as ones that are under construction in Hebron and Jenin. In addition, the PA provided the required legislative environment for the investors and the incentive package offered. Abdul Rahman said that most foreign investments in Palestine are owned by Arab businessmen or Palestinians based abroad, stressing that Arab and non-Arab investors are treated on an equal footing. He noted that the political instability makes it difficult to draw new investments to Palestine, especially the agricultural sector that is plagued by several challenges due to Israel controlling the water supply and lands. He added that investment is mainly focused on the tourism and banking sectors because they are safer compared to the agricultural and industrial sectors, due to the unstable economic and political situation. In regard to how the ministry organizes investment priorities in Palestine, he said, Investors cannot risk investing in sectors that may entail losses, especially under the unstable political conditions in Palestine. We cannot impose a specific sector on investors. Abdul Rahman pointed out that all sectors in Palestine need investments, to varying degrees. The ministry's priorities are to support national products and increase its market share locally and abroad, by imposing customs duties on products that have a competing national alternative. He added, however, that the Palestine Standards Institution must keep pace with international standards. Nur Eddin Abu Alrub, a professor of economic sciences at the Arab American University in Jenin, told Al-Monitor that the country must focus on attracting Palestinian funds instead of allowing these funds to be invested abroad. It must also focus on attracting foreign and Arab funds in order to turn Palestine into an investment hub. Increasing investments will require manpower and support national products, thus raising the income of the Palestinian citizens. Palestine is still under occupation and therefore incentives and facilities provided by the government remain hindered by obstacles, he said. Talking about investment in the tourism and banking sectors, Abu Alrub noted that the Palestinian banking sector is secure, integrated and encouraging for foreign investors. He noted, The Palestinian tourism sector has thrived in light of the influx of tourists, with Jerusalem named as the 2018 capital of Arab tourism. The incentives offered to investors in renewable energy that were approved by the government have recently been hindered by several obstacles pushing the investors to take a step back. Abu Alrub said in this regard that the obstacles may include disputes over land ownership, the ban on the entry of some equipment, and the lack of political and economic stability. Asserting that PIPA should remove all obstacles and hindrances to investors in all sectors, he urged the government to follow up on incentives offered to investors, create local and international marketing outlets for Palestinian goods and services, benefit from Arab and European customs facilities on Palestinian products and allocate greater incentives to sectors facing greater risks. RAMALLAH, West Bank The 24-hour military confrontation May 29 between the Israeli army and the Palestinian factions led by Hamas in the Gaza Strip proved the parties' desire to contain the situation and keep it from escalating into an open confrontation. The desire of the parties to refrain from military escalation indicate that the word that circulated in Arab and Hebrew media circles in May about Egyptian and Qatari mediation attempts to conclude a long-term truce between Hamas and Israel to ease the siege on Gaza which Al-Monitor reported on is likely true. Israeli newspaper Maariv said in its editorial June 1, The recent escalation in Gaza has not hindered the advanced contacts and negotiations on the comprehensive settlement on the southern front, but on the contrary has further accelerated them. The newspaper stressed that contacts continue at a high pace, with an Egyptian mediation and a limited Qatari participation. Meanwhile, Al-Monitors Ben Caspit reported in late May that Israel has given Egyptian and Qatari mediators the green light to deliver the goods when it comes to a Hamas-Israel agreement. Days before the military confrontation, on May 23, Israeli analyst Alon Ben-David revealed in statements to Israeli Channel 10 extensive efforts to achieve a long-term truce between Hamas and Israel in tandem with diplomatic efforts deployed to reach a long-term cease-fire in Gaza, pointing out that Israel is considering two truce proposals one Egyptian and the other Qatari. Washington was not unaware of these contacts aimed at reaching a truce. On May 19, Al-Hayat quoted Western diplomatic sources as saying that Washington is discussing with an Arab country the issue of Gaza and its humanitarian, security and political situation. The sources said the United States also discussed with this Arab country the possibility of persuading Hamas to take political and security steps. These steps include refraining from defying US efforts for a comprehensive political solution in the region ("the deal of the century") and creating a special department to manage the Gaza Strip. This department shall be formed, with Hamas approval, of independent personalities receiving financial support from the United States and Western countries to solve the humanitarian problems in Gaza. The US contacts raised the concern of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and President Mahmoud Abbas, who described them as an attempt to force him to return to negotiations with Israel. Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said in a press statement May 23, Any attempts to circumvent the clear and firm Palestinian position, whether through Palestinian parties or suspicious models that failed to act as local leaders, or through regional parties, will only lead to further deterioration and tension in the region and the world. A source in the PA told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that the PA is very concerned about the proposals that encourage the secession of Gaza from the West Bank under humanitarian pretexts. He argued that the PAs fear is due to the stance of some Arab countries, which he did not specify, that support those proposals in order to pave the way for the deal of the century and obtain favors with the United States. The source pointed out that the PA is addressing these attempts by coordinating with the Arab countries. It noted that the tripartite meeting held in Cairo May 31 by the foreign ministers of Palestine, Jordan, Egypt and their heads of intelligence services is part of these efforts. Azzam al-Ahmad, a member of the Fatah Central Committee and a member of the PLO Executive Committee, told Al-Monitor that the Palestinian leadership is aware of extensive diplomatic movements that are being carried out under various pretexts by the United States and some Arab and regional countries. He said, These movements aim to shuffle the cards in the Palestinian arena by talking about a possible political solution based on the humanitarian situation in Gaza and that may put an end to reconciliation and national unity. This explains why these countries were annoyed by the PA for having rejected the Donald Trump declaration on Jerusalem and the deal of the century. Arab states continuously confirm that they support our stance toward the deal of the century. Although the declared positions of some of these Arab countries fall in favor of Palestine, leaks in the media show otherwise with positions backing Washington's expected deal. In a closed meeting with US Jewish leaders in New York March 27, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was quoted by Israeli Channel 10 as saying, For the past 40 years the Palestinian leadership has missed opportunities again and again, and rejected all the offers it was given. The crown prince reportedly added, The time has come for Palestinians to take what they are offered and return to the peace negotiations or shut up and stop complaining. In regard to the fear of the PA from Hamas position on these proposals, Ahmad said, We do not fear Hamas approval of such proposals. The PLO is the leader of the Palestinian people that is recognized by Israel, the United States and the world. Osama al-Qawasmi, a member of Fatah's Revolutionary Council and the movement's official spokesman, told Al-Monitor that Hamas' actions on the ground or statements are messages to Israel and the United States that it wants to separate Gaza from the West Bank. Contacts with Hamas are being made under the pretext of improving the humanitarian situation and the partial relaxation of the blockade in exchange for a long-term truce, and this is a purely Israeli demand. Israel seeks to turn Gaza into an entity separate from the West Bank, he said. The rocket fire and escalation days ago were mutual malicious messages between Israel and Hamas that highlight the need for the secession of the Gaza Strip. Qawasmi stressed the PAs capacity to thwart any such schemes. We are the leadership of the Palestinian people. We insist on preserving the unity of Palestinian political representation. The PLO and the PA enjoy international legitimacy. We are capable of sabotaging any suspicious plan that may contribute to the secession of Gaza, he said. Hani al-Masri, the head of the Palestinian Center for Policy Research and Strategic Studies - Masarat, told Al-Monitor that the chances of success of the truce between Hamas and Israel have increased at the present time more than before. He noted, The stumbling Palestinian reconciliation and unity in addition to Israels inability to deal with Gaza especially after the recent rounds of infighting increased the chances of a truce between the parties, he said. Commenting on the PA position, Masri argued that the truce proposals are keeping the PA up at night. The PA sees them as tantamount to an implementation of the deal of the century, in complicity with some Arab countries, he said. If the PA wants to block truce proposals or the deal of the century, it must show flexibility and agree with Hamas on common points. The PA must recognize that the best way to thwart such plans is national unity and reconciliation with Hamas. The continuation of the siege of the Gaza Strip for 12 years, ever since Hamas victory in the 2006 parliamentary elections, has led to a total collapse in all aspects of life in the enclave. The failure of reconciliation with Fatah and the PAs imposition of sanctions on the Gaza Strip, including the recent freezing of salaries of PA employees in Gaza, have cornered Hamas. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip Protesters have been flying kites outfitted with Molotov cocktails into Israeli towns surrounding the Gaza Strip, causing major fires, as the Israeli authorities threaten to retaliate and prepare for potential outbreaks of violence during a special Palestinian commemoration event June 8. "We will settle accounts with Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the rest of the terrorists operating against us from the Gaza Strip," Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman warned June 4. He said 600 burning kites had come from the Gaza Strip into Israel since the end of March. Only 400 had been intercepted, and the remaining 200 had burned more than 2,200 acres of farmland and forest in Israel, he said. Violence escalated along the Gaza Strip border with Israel beginning March 30, when Palestinians began the Great Return March to call for their right to return to lands expropriated by Israel. The protesters are also seeking to end Israel's devastating 11-year blockade on the Gaza Strip. The demonstrations will continue, Hamas political bureau member Khalil al-Hayya vowed in a May 31 interview on Al-Aqsa TV. The return marches will not stop until [the protesters] achieve their goals of indefinitely breaking the siege on Gaza and making the world aware that there are refugees who want to return to their country, he said. He spoke of several ideas to address the Gaza Strip situation that aren't ripe yet but will be presented to the entire nation. Despite the rising number of Palestinian casualties in the marches, mainly in the bloody clashes on May 14, Hamas leaders such as Hayya and the head of Hamas' political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, spoke of Arab and regional initiatives to lift the siege and calm the situation in the Gaza Strip. Yet so far, nothing has managed to ease the blockade. Haniyeh mentioned May 18 at the Friday sermon in the Great Mosque of Gaza that serious diplomatic and political efforts are being made to lift the siege on Gaza and open the Rafah border crossing thanks to the steadfastness and sacrifices of Palestinians. On May 29, Egyptian contacts succeeded in instilling a new calm, following a May 27-28 escalation that saw intensive Israeli shelling and rockets fired from Gaza. That violence came after Israel targeted a Hamas surveillance point on the border east of Rafah. Islamic Jihad and Hamas' military wing reported several deaths among their forces. We have the right to confront occupation by popular, peaceful and military means. This is what occupied peoples of the world have done to counter occupation, Hayya said in his interview, commenting on the recent armed resistance activity against Israel. Meanwhile, Ibrahim Madhoun, a political analyst close to Hamas, told Al-Monitor Israel is not engaging seriously with proposals from Egypt, Turkey, Qatar and others to ease the siege on Gaza. "Israel, rather, wants to maintain the siege and corner Hamas, while betting on the time factor. So far, the siege continues and the current diplomatic and political activity has yet to bring serious solutions to the Gaza Strip. It rather aims to maintain the status quo and tame the marches of return," Madhoun told Al-Monitor. However, political analyst Talal Okal has a different opinion. Hamas' talk about a deal, or its offer to ease the humanitarian situation in Gaza, confirms that a long-term truce with Israel is underway, but is being prepared in secret under Arab and international auspices, he told Al-Monitor. Both sides are trying to exert maximum pressure so as to reap the best gains they can get from this deal. Since the most recent flareup, the Palestinian resistance has refrained from direct armed confrontations. However, the National Committee to Break the Siege (NCBS) has continued preparing for the commemoration of the Naksa, when Israel took over the West Bank and Gaza as well as East Jerusalem in 1967. (This year, Hamas has moved the observance to June 8 from the actual anniversary of June 5.) There are also plans to launch a second flotilla from the Gaza port in the coming days. On May 29, the Israeli navy stopped the first Palestinian flotilla organized by the NCBS. Israel detained 17 activists but released them later that day through the Erez border crossing, Mukhaimar Abu Saada, a political science professor at Al-Azhar University, told Al-Monitor, I don't expect the events scheduled for June 8 to be as bloody as May 14. Hamas isn't interested in more casualties, amid the medical deprivation plaguing the Gaza Strip and in light of the International Committee of the Red Cross [ICRC] warnings on May 31. The ICRC had noted in a press release that the Gaza Strip is facing an "epic" crisis and said it was sending two surgical teams, additional medical specialists and an influx of supplies to fortify medical facilities struggling to assist residents affected by the recent violence. In the same press release, Robert Mardini, the ICRCs regional operations director for the Near and Middle East, said, Thousands of Gaza residents are confronting new, long-term medical needs that the health care system simply cant handle. Since the return marches began March 30, thousands of Palestinians have been injured and more than 110 killed. Talal Abu Zarifa, a senior member of NCBS and a member of the political bureau of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, told Al-Monitor, Palestinian factions and activists gave various analyses of the return marches after May 14. The various factions in the NCBS agreed on measures to reduce the number of Palestinian casualties. He added, The analyses carried out by the factions focused on continued popular support for the marches, without calls to breach the separation fence on the border, which has led to increased casualties and injuries. It was also agreed to prohibit any armed demonstrations, so as not to give pretexts to Israel to target protesters. He said Hamas has yet to offer NCBS any new initiatives to break the siege, but we will continue our struggle." Salah Abdel Ati, an NCBS legal committee member, told Al-Monitor, Protests are ongoing and protesters will keep swarming to border camps. It was agreed to deploy Palestinian youths at several points instead of stationing them around one point near the separation fence to reduce casualties and injuries. Meanwhile, march organizers are anticipating the early July arrival in Gaza of the Freedom Flotilla from Lisbon, Portugal. Al-Monitor confirmed the plans with London-based activist Zaher Birawi, who heads the coordinating committee of the Great Return March and also leads the International Committee to Break the Siege on Gaza. The international Freedom Flotilla Coalition has organized all of the maritime resistance movements since the original in 2010. On May 31 of that year, the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, part of the original Freedom Flotilla that headed to Gaza to deliver aid, was stopped by the Israeli navy. Clashes erupted, leading to the death of nine solidarity activists and the detention of 581 others at the port of Ashdod. If the return marches and the solidarity ships fail to break the siege, then the last choice will be a direct confrontation with Israel or great chaos in which Palestinian central forces will lose control over the security conditions in Gaza, said political analyst Madhoun. While the Palestinian Authority (PA) has upped its rhetoric against the US administration ever since US President Donald Trumps announcement late last year recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, new reports suggest Ramallah and Washington continue to cooperate when it comes to intelligence matters. Ever since Trump's Dec. 6 announcement regarding Jerusalem, public contact between the two sides has been suspended. On May 15, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas recalled head of the PLO office in Washington Hussam Zamlat in protest of the US decision on Jerusalem. Yet despite the diplomatic boycott, Haaretz reported May 28 on a meeting in Washington at the end of April between Palestinian intelligence chief Majid Faraj and Mike Pompeo, who at the time was still head of the CIA but was about to become secretary of state. The meeting came as part of a close relationship between the two intelligence chiefs, which began last winter, according to Haaretz. The article further mentioned that it was the most high-ranking meeting between both sides in the past six months. The men discussed regional security issues that have implications on the region, the meeting of the Palestinian National Council that took place at the end of April and the health of Abbas, which could signal an American attempt to ensure stability and governance on the Palestinian side in the days after Abbas. A Palestinian official close to Abbas, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Al-Monitor, Abbas and a few other close associates knew about the meeting between Faraj and Pompeo, which was a security meeting par excellence. Security talks between the Palestinian and American sides have been going on without any interruption, knowing that Pompeo had previously met with Abbas in Ramallah in February 2017 in a meeting arranged by Faraj with senior US intel officials. It is still unknown whether Farajs desire to nominate himself as a successor to Abbas was discussed during the meeting with Pompeo. The US choices in this matter are based on its security interests and on the candidate who might serve these interests. Many names have been debated in Washington. Perhaps Farajs visit to Washington was an attempt to sway the United States into choosing him, especially since his chances were lessened when he was not selected as a member of the PLO Executive Committee at the beginning of May. In December 2016, he was also not selected as a member of Fatahs Central Committee. These two positions are critical for any candidate to succeed Abbas. All in all, Farajs chances of eventually assuming the presidency may be slim because some Palestinians see him as a collaborator with Israel. In an interview with Defense News Magazine in January 2016, Faraj said that his security forces had foiled 200 armed attacks against Israelis since October 2015 and that the forces are working alongside Israel and the United States. Yoni Ben Menachem, a former Israeli military intelligence officer, said May 27 that Faraj, who is close to Abbas, has US and Israeli support and the support of some Arab states, which he did not specify, and that Abbas may appoint him as his successor. Ibrahim Habib, an expert on national security in Gaza, told Al-Monitor, The Faraj-Pompeo meeting means that the US intelligence services have a close network with their Palestinian counterparts. When Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in mid-2007 and took over of the intelligence security archive, it revealed strong security cooperation between Palestinian intelligence and the CIA. He added, In fact, Palestinian security personnel train in the US, and US officers oversee the security situation in the West Bank. The Palestinian intelligence service has security attaches in most Palestinian embassies in the world (90 embassies) and security ties with international bodies. They also help US security to track down armed groups in some parts of the world such as Syria and Libya by providing security data. There has been speculation in both Gaza and West Bank that Faraj is involved in many security activities in coordination with or directed by the CIA, in countries where there is a Palestinian presence and where Palestinians can easily move, especially in countries with security tensions such as Syria, which are troublesome for the United States and Israel. US and Libyan sources reported that Faraj was praised by Washington for providing valuable data to the CIA that helped identify the whereabouts of al-Qaeda leader Abu Anas al-Libi, leading to his abduction in 2013. In Syria, the Palestinian intelligence services, led by Faraj, participated in the release of two Swedish hostages in 2015. The hostages had been held by armed groups since 2013. Fadi Elsalameen, a US-based Palestinian researcher, told Al-Monitor, Faraj is well-liked in US security circles and has a strong network of relations with senior CIA officers. His meeting with Pompeo was a personal farewell to him, after years of working together. Their meeting focuses on bilateral coordination to pursue armed groups in the Middle East. The Palestinian issue was not extensively touched on during the talks. Americans are thankful for Farajs security efforts, and he is grateful for the training and money. Hamas has already condemned the role of Faraj and the intelligence services. Ismail al-Ashqar, a Hamas member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and chairman of the councils Interior and Security Committee, said in November 2013 that the cooperation of Palestinian intelligence with the CIA to prosecute people who are wanted by the law harms the Palestinian cause. He also said that Hamas has hundreds of documents proving that Palestinian intelligence has been spying on friendly Arab and Islamic countries for the benefit of Israel and the United States. Abdel Sattar Qassem, a professor of political science at An-Najah National University in Nablus, told Al-Monitor, The PA is one of the arms of US policy in the region. There is high-level security coordination between the two sides. Talks about political rupture between Washington and Ramallah are not true, as communication channels are still open between the two sides. The PA cannot sever its relations with the US, as this would be like cutting off its arteries. Faraj and Pompeo could have touched on Abbas health issues during their meeting, as Farajs name is among the candidates to succeed the Palestinian president. Faraj is seeking to have [full] US support. Until recently, the system of checks and balances that foreign stakeholders sought to build in Syria relied primarily on military means, but now there is a more pronounced leaning toward economic methods, especially by Russia. For example, a new bridge connects Russias mainland to the Crimean Peninsula, which can become the main transportation route from Russia to Syria and help restore Syrias infrastructure, said Georgy Muradov, the deputy chairman of the Crimean Council of Ministers, when he spoke in February at a forum on Russian-Syrian business cooperation. The $3 billion, 12-mile span opened almost simultaneously with a May 14 ceremony to lay the foundation stone of a Russian-Syrian tourist site in Manara, in Syrias Tartus province. The two developments have certain things in common. Each project involves a person believed to belong to Russian President Vladimir Putins inner circle, and both men have been on EU and US sanctions lists. Construction of the $3 billion Crimean Bridge, also known as the Kerch Strait Bridge, has been run by billionaire Arkady Rotenberg, one of Putins friends since childhood. The Manara project is linked to Gennady Timchenkos construction company, Stroytransgaz. Timchenko, a Russian oligarch, is another of Putins old friends. Other developments are also in the works. In April at the Yalta International Economic Forum, Crimea signed a memorandum of intent with Syrias port city of Latakia for projects worth 62 billion rubles ($997 million). There are some drawbacks to Russian-Syrian partnerships. Syria hasnt yet granted preferential treatment to Russian exports, and the current lack of Syrian infrastructure to store, process and transport goods to Russia remains a serious challenge. Representatives of the Syrian government have told the Russian RBC business news agency that Russian businesses arent necessarily enthusiastic about Syria just yet, given the small size of the market at this stage and the associated risks posed by sanctions, which far exceed potential profit. Anti-Syrian sanctions have forced large companies with a vested interest to carry out their operations through a chain of intermediaries to skirt restrictions. Late in January, the Russian Energy Ministry said a road map providing for the rehabilitation, modernization and construction of new energy facilities in Syria had been signed. The ministry hasnt provided details yet, but Russian media report that the document contains a list of companies that are supposedly ready to risk working in Syria. Among them is Evro Polis LLC. The company is supposedly controlled by the Kremlins chef, restaurateur Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose name is associated with the controversial private Russian paramilitary group Wagner PMC. Prigozhin is also said to be closely involved with Russian internet trolling operations. Stroytransgaz has had a notable presence in Syria. Late in 2017, its specialists launched the final phase of the construction of the Northern Gas Processing Plant (GPP-2) near Raqqa, and it began to rebuild the Khunayfis and Al-Sharqiyah mines, the countrys largest phosphate mines outside Palmyra. But its a tough call whether Timchenkos company will manage to complete construction of the Manara tourist site. These days, the military and political environment is much more complicated than that of the prewar period. As for the oil and gas industry, it is riddled with problems. On one hand, amid the countrys aging infrastructure, oil production started to decline long before the Syrian war. On the other hand, the return of Syrias energy system to prewar operation levels is hampered by several factors. This is in part because of infrastructure degradation, but also because major oil fields are controlled by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and Western countries still punish Bashar al-Assads regime economically through sanctions and aid boycotts. Areas of eastern Syria and two de-escalation zones in the north and southwest are still outside Assads control. This prevents Damascus from restoring sovereignty, on the one hand, but may help its economically vulnerable allies on the other. However, Russian efforts to reach compromises in these areas don't align with Irans position. Tehran, Moscows tactical partner, actively participates in Syrias social and economic life, which gets on the nerves of the United States, Israel and the Persian Gulf monarchies. Any concessions from the US-led international coalition are related to constraining Iran in the region for example, the potential dismantling of al-Tanf military base at the Syrian-Jordanian-Iraqi border, and the opening of the Damascus-Baghdad highway. Moscow would like to keep its agreements with Washington concerning the de-escalation zone in southwest Syria, to get the United States to reduce its presence in the east and to prevent the US campaign from deploying Arab fighters to SDF-controlled territory which would reduce Syrias prospects of integrating its eastern territories. There is some scope for compromise. Iran-backed foreign proxies have left some areas in Syria for Iraq, with Syrian government forces replacing the militias with their own soldiers in Daraa. At the same time, Irans intelligence services have started to recruit eastern residents to a Hezbollah-type group in Syria to preserve Irans influence on the ground. This may affect prospects for Syrias recovery. However, for Russia to implement its own recovery plans for Syria, Moscow has to ensure the stability of Syrias postwar security and find ways of maintaining leverage over Damascus against the background of close Syrian-Iranian interaction. ALEPPO, Syria Military factions in northern and central Syria are joining forces to form the National Liberation Front (NLF) and calling on others to join them in building a new democratic state that preserves the rights of all Syrians regardless of ethnicity. The NLF includes a number of major opposition military factions operating in northern and central Syria, among them the Free Idlib Army, Martyrs of Islam Brigade, Jaish al-Nasr and others. The group officially launched in May, when Col. Fadlallah Al-Hajji was appointed commander in chief, with Lt. Col. Suhaib Leoush as his deputy and Maj. Mohamed Mansour as chief of staff. The NLF is a new military formation that was the result of four months of consultations and negotiations between the leaders of the Free Syrian Army factions. The leaders realized how serious this phase is and how important it is to have a unified front, a unified position and unified efforts on the military, political and security levels, to find solutions and face any hardships," NLF spokesman Capt. Naji Abu Hudeifa told Al-Monitor. The NLF is committed to the objectives and principles of the Syrian revolution. It seeks to overthrow [President] Bashar al-Assad's regime and to hold him accountable for his terrorism and the killing of the Syrian people, he added. One of its other objectives is to defend the people against the attacks of any terrorist organization, such as the Kurdistan Workers Party and the Democratic Union Party. The new group's members are deployed on most fronts and regions in Syria, especially Idlib province and the western, southern and northern countryside of Aleppo, as well as on the Syrian coast in the Kurd Mountains and the Turkmen region, and in Afrin. "Our members are ready to thwart any attack by the enemy," Abu Hudeifa said. The NLF has no direct civil activities. "Its role is limited to providing assistance to local civil councils that run the opposition-controlled cities, towns and villages," he added. "We are always ready to provide whatever help these local councils might need. Syrians who oppose Assads regime, as well as activists at home and abroad, have long called for unifying the armed military factions. Syrian activists in several opposition-controlled areas in past years have organized popular demonstrations calling on the factions to unite and overcome their differences. In the past, disagreements evolved into direct military confrontation between factions, such as the battles between Jaish al-Islam and Faylaq al-Rahman in eastern Ghouta in mid-2017. Activists later said such battles allowed the Syrian regime forces to take control of eastern Ghouta in March. Activist Moumtaz Abu Mohammed from northern rural Aleppo told Al-Monitor, Every action that unifies the military factions is seen as a positive step. The years of division have paved the way for the Syrian regime forces to advance and take over large areas once controlled by these factions. He added, The regime and its allies want to end this in the field, ignoring all cease-fire agreements signed in Astana [Kazakhstan] and elsewhere. All military factions operating in Syria should join forces as soon as possible to prevent a future catastrophe in the remaining areas under their control in northern Syria. The Syrian regime has yet to comment on the new organization. Many Syrians have high hopes for unifying the armed military factions to thwart attacks by regime forces that are supported by Russia and Iran. The regime has displaced thousands of people into the north. Syrians believe that as long as division prevails among opposition factions, battles are bound to erupt in the areas they still control in northern Syria and then the displaced would have nowhere else to go, save a few opposition-controlled areas in southern Syria. Other militias forming NLF include Sham Legion, 1st Coast Division, Second Coast Division, 1st Infantry Division, Second Army, Elite Army, al-Forkh 23 and the Horya Brigade. DIYARBAKIR, Turkey A flurry of statements by Turkish leaders in recent days have heralded a ground operation on the Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq, where the leadership and major camps of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) are based. The warnings come amid heightened Turkish efforts to curb Kurdish militants, including a military campaign in northern Syria and the walling of borders, but also in the midst of a heated election campaign dominated by nationalist bluster, raising questions over Ankaras motive. Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu was the first to reveal June 2 that Turkish troops had penetrated 26-27 kilometers (some 16 miles) into northern Iraq, advancing toward Qandil. We are almost there. We will not let that treacherous setup stay there, he said, referring to the PKK, which Ankara considers a terrorist group over its armed insurgency since 1984. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the following day during a campaign trip to Diyarbakir that Qandils turn is coming." Government spokesman Bekir Bozdag followed up with remarks after a Cabinet meeting that anything can happen anytime regarding Qandil. Al-Monitors Metin Gurcan had reported in April that Turkish commandos were inside northern Iraq, quietly putting up military outposts in the Sidekan area, north of Hakurk, which is adjacent to Qandil and a major route for PKK infiltrations into Turkey. Ankaras objectives, he wrote, were to eliminate the PKKs setup at Sidekan that allows infiltration into Turkey and to ensure 24/7 domination of the area through temporary military camps while opening a corridor to Qandil. The low-key advance proceeded amid official silence, though Turkeys regular airstrikes in the region continued and reports appeared occasionally in the media about a ground incursion. Things appeared to be heating up in recent days, as the military reported the deaths of several soldiers in clashes in northern Iraq, without revealing details. Some social media accounts, meanwhile, shared images of Turkish troops in villages in the area. According to PKK sources, the ground incursion began from the Hakurk and Bradost regions following airstrikes mid-December. On March 11, the PKK said the operation had entered a new phase, as the troops backed by artillery sought to seize control of the Bradost region. Now, with the louder statements coming out of Ankara, the Turkish military appears to have set its sights on Qandil, which, for the large part of the Turkish public, is synonymous with the PKK itself. But how realistic is the prospect? The first hurdle that comes to mind is the terrain. Qandil is a sprawling mountain range that abuts both the Turkish and Iranian borders of Iraqi Kurdistan and abounds with deep ravines, cliffs and caves. Due to the formidable topography, coupled with regional political constraints, cleansing Qandil has remained an elusive aim for successive Turkish governments, despite relentless air raids on PKK hideouts in the area. Aydin Selcen, former Turkish consul general in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), believes that a ground operation targeting Qandil would be neither realistic nor rational, given both geography and politics. The Turkish military has been inside Iraq since the early 1990s [in various forms], including liaison points, bases, forward operational bases, seasonal deployments around bases and various larger-scale operations from time to time, Selcen told Al-Monitor, adding that the available information did not yet suggest that an operation to conquer Qandil was underway. This, I think, would be neither a realistic nor a rational objective in terms of scope, topography and regional politics, he said. I dont believe an operation on such a scale could be launched and conducted without the consent of Baghdad and the support of Tehran and against the will of Erbil and the KRG public. Indeed, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu made sure to emphasize regional cooperation, including the United States, when he was asked June 5 about any move on Qandil. There will be a four-way cooperation between Turkey, the United States, Baghdad and Erbil [in the fight against the PKK], because the PKK is also the enemy of Erbil, he said, adding that this would involve intelligence sharing. The Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which has enjoyed close ties with Ankara, blames the PKK for Turkish incursions. They would not have crossed the border if the PKK were not there, KDP member Ali Awni said June 4, without explicitly confirming the advance of Turkish troops. Erbil-based journalist Hemin Hosnaw, who is closely familiar with the region, told Al-Monitor that the Turkish soldiers had reached the Lelkan hills in the Bradost region, about 50 kilometers (some 31 miles) from Qandil. It looks close, but it is a long distance in military terms and an operation seems difficult, he said. Hosnaw described in detail the strategic points that Turkish troops would have to secure en route to Qandil, including the town of Sidekan and mountainous areas riddled with landmines remnants of the Iran-Iraq War as well as highlands stretching to the Iranian border. The Iranian military takes position on the hills, especially during the summer, and dominates the whole region. In other words, an operation without Irans consent will be impossible, Hosnaw opined. Additionally, the Turkish troops would have to pass through many settlements on the route, he noted. If Turkey still launches an operation despite all those difficulties, it would be the most difficult and riskiest one in its struggle against the PKK, he said, stressing that the topography of the region would be to the PKKs advantage. Though Cavusoglu spoke of cooperation with Baghdad and the KRG, Ankara cannot afford to disregard Iran either. If a ground offensive on Qandil is such a difficult prospect, why would Turkish troops have advanced so deep into northern Iraq? Turkey will gain a big advantage against the PKK if it manages to control the supply lines and infiltration routes of the PKK. Hence, keeping the PKK away from Turkish borders is the first reason that comes to mind. Alternatively, many suspect the heightened rhetoric could be a prelude to a military move to boost the government ahead of the June 24 polls, in which Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) face a stronger opposition challenge than ever. In a June 6 column, veteran Milliyet columnist Guneri Civaoglu recalled how Turkeys 1974 Cyprus intervention and the 1999 capture of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan had proved huge political boons for the ruling parties at the time. Can the seizure of Qandil cause [similar] electoral storms? he asked. No doubt, it would create a strong wind at least. And Erdogan and the AKP does not really need a big jolt in the vote percentages. Five or six points will suffice. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu is pleased with the results of his talks with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Washington on June 4. Taken at face value, Ankara seems to have scored something of a diplomatic success by convincing Washington to come around to its position regarding the presence of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in the northern Syrian city of Manbij. This will also provide a welcome boost to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party ahead of the crucial presidential and parliamentary elections June 24. However, many questions about the deal struck by Ankara and Washington remain. The joint statement issued after the June 4 Cavusoglu-Pompeo meeting said the sides had endorsed a road map on how to proceed in Manbij. It added that they had also underlined their mutual commitment to implementing the road map. Little was provided, however, about the details of what was actually agreed on. Most of the information about the road map has been coming from the Turkish side, while Washington has refrained from going on the record in this regard. Remarks by Cavusoglu and from American officials who spoke on condition of anonymity show that there is still much work to be done before the agreement comes into force. Ankara sees the US-backed YPG and its political wing, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), as terrorist groups linked to the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Turkey says these groups pose an existential threat to the countrys security. Although the United States has the PKK down as a terrorist group, it has been working with the YPG in Syria against the Islamic State (IS). Turkey has vowed to clear the whole region along its borders with Syria, right up to the Iraq border, of YPG elements, with or without US support, raising the specter of a military standoff between the two NATO allies if a solution to the problem cant be found. Turkey launched its successful Olive Branch operation in January against the YPG in the city of Afrin, in northern Syria, to underline its determination in this regard. The United States, which has no forces in Afrin unlike Manbij could do little as its YPG allies were driven out of Afrin by the Turkish military and the Free Syrian Army, after Moscow gave the green light to the Turkish operation. Cavusoglu told Turkish reporters in Washington, following his talks with Pompeo, that the agreed upon road map would be implemented according to a timetable. This, he said, entails the expulsion of the YPG from Manbij, the clearing of YPG and PYD elements from local administrations and the establishment of joint security and administrative structures for the city by Turkey and the United States. The Turkish media, for its part, had provided concrete details about the Manbij road map before the Cavusoglu-Pompeo talks. According to these, the YPG would leave Manbij in 30 days, joint Turkish-US military patrols would start in the city within 45 days and local administrative bodies comprising groups endorsed by Ankara and Washington would be set up within 60 days of the Cavusoglu-Pompeo talks. Cavusoglus remarks to Turkish reporters in Washington showed, however, that nothing should be expected to happen in Manbij in the coming days, or weeks. He said preliminary work regarding the parameters of the plan to evacuate the YPG from Manbij still needed to be worked out. After these parameters are determined, Cavusoglu said, work would begin to establish the local government in Manbij, purged of the YPG and PYD, and to determine how security would be provided in the city by Turkey and the United States. Cavusoglu also said that the timetable for implementing the road map reported by the Turkish media was incorrect. There is a clear date, but this will depend on the steps we take with our friends in the field. We are talking about a number of months, not six months or so. This has to be less than six months, Cavusoglu said. The pro-government media in Turkey has taken these vague remarks as confirmation that the deal struck with Washington will be implemented within six months. Press reports from Washington, however, show that the American side is reluctant to give a specific timeline for the implementation of the Manbij road map. Hurriyets Washington correspondent Cansu Camlibel cited an unnamed US official involved in the negotiations with Turkey as saying the implementation stage would not be easy and its timeline would depend very much on developments in the field. There are also those on the Turkish side who suspect that Washington may have merely kicked the can down the road by endorsing a road map whose complicated details have still to be worked out in order to appease Turkey at a critical juncture in the Syrian crisis. Erdogan foreign policy adviser Ilnur Cevik is among the cautious ones. The past performance of the Americans on Manbij and how they still insist on supporting PKK-affiliated militants in Syria makes you wonder if utmost caution is needed on the matter, Cevik wrote in an article for Daily Sabah. The YPG announcement a day after the Cavusoglu-Pompeo talks that it was pulling its military advisers out of Manbij was also taken with a grain of salt by Ankara. The semi-official Anadolu News Agency quoted Col. Thomas Veale, the spokesman for the US-led coalition in Syria, who said on the same day as the YPG announcement that there had been no operational changes in Manbij yet. Veale also added that everything would be determined by the continuing negotiations between Turkey and the United States, as well as developments in the field. Camlibel said US officials briefing the press on the Manbij road map on condition of anonymity had confirmed that the intention was ultimately to relocate YPG fighters in Manbij to east of the Euphrates River. This, however, is at odds with Cavusoglus remarks that the Manbij model would be used to clear the YPG from the whole of northern Syria, up to the Iraqi border. Camlibel pointed to a statement issued by Pompeo, a day after his talks with Cavusoglu, in which the secretary of state underlined continuing US support for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in its fight against IS east of the Euphrates. She argued that the timing of Pompeos statement was designed to show that the agreement with Turkey over Manbij does not mean the United States is giving up on the SDF, whose backbone is provided by the YPG. Although Manbij has become a vital issue, it is not the only problem clouding Turkish-American ties. A host of unresolved problems, including Turkeys purchase of S-400 anti-ballistic missile systems from Russia and the incarceration of an American pastor in Turkey on what Washington says are trumped-up terrorism charges, continue to influence these ties negatively. Ankaras failure to get Fethullah Gulen extradited from the United States to stand trial for allegedly masterminding the failed coup against Erdogan in July 2016 is another sore point for Ankara. There is also the fact that the United States appears determined to contain Iran and limit its influence in Syria. Many say this ensures that US forces will remain in Syria for the foreseeable future, regardless of President Donald Trumps desire to pull out of that country as soon as possible. It also means the United States will maintains its ties with the SDF, especially east of the Euphrates. It is difficult to say, therefore, that the YPG problem between Ankara and Washington has been resolved. As far as the Turkish side is concerned, though, it is satisfied over what it believes it has gotten out of the United States in Manbij so far. The rest, as officials on both sides indicate, will depend on developments in the field. These may produce the results that Turkey hopes for, but then again, they may not, given the direction the Syrian crisis takes. The ink on a road map for the Syrian town of Manbij announced Monday between Turkey and the United States has barely dried. But differences in interpretation as to its actual substance are already casting a shadow over the latest stab at salvaging US-Turkish ties and rekindling trust between the two countries. They could result in things getting worse, not better, some analysts warn as Washington grapples to balance ties with Turkey, a critical NATO ally, and its Syrian Kurdish partners in the fight against the Islamic State. Secretary of Defense James Mattis underscored the difficulties, telling reporters en route to Brussels today that Syria is the most complex battle space he has ever seen. We are working with Turkey to try and address their concerns at the same time defeat [IS]. And its a very difficult job, Ill be the first to admit. Were working it, and were ranking it with Turkey, not against Turkey. But Turkeys patience is wearing thin. The administrations policy of pursuing military cooperation with the Syrian Kurdish Protection Units (YPG) with vague promises of continued support while assuring Ankara that the ties will end once IS is well and properly defeated rings increasingly hollow for Turks and Kurds alike. Ragip Soylu, Washington correspondent for the pro-government Turkish daily Sabah, conveyed Turkish displeasure in a column today, claiming that the US administration's duplicity was fully on display during a June 5 background briefing by two senior State Department officials on the Manbij deal. Soylu wrote, While one senior American official was trying to underline the US commitment to decrease tensions and stabilize relations with Turkey, the other one probably the unhappy one was trying to diminish the importance of the road map and repeatedly reminding everyone [of the] obvious: It wouldnt be easy to do it. The backgrounder follows Mondays meeting between Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The pair announced they had endorsed a blueprint for security and governance structures in Syria's mainly Arab town of Manbij. Manbij has come to embody the distrust engulfing Turkish-US ties because the United States failed to deliver on promises that the YPG would withdraw from the town after it was wrested from IS in August 2016. However, the belief of the YPG and some US officials that Turkey would be forced to swallow this reality, albeit kicking and screaming, rapidly unraveled. Turkey invaded neighboring Jarablus when the YPG made a play for it. In this sense, the Manbij deal is meant to rewind the clock, and it's easier now that the fight against IS is drawing to a close. But as Afrin showed, Turkish moves against the YPG can torpedo the final stages of the anti-IS campaign, and what if it follows through on its threats that Manbij is next? Cavusoglu told reporters Tuesday that Afrin served as a wake-up call for Washington, prompting it to devise the Manbij plan. As Turkey sees it, the accord foresees the withdrawal of the YPG from Manbij and eliminating the groups political arm from local governance. US and Turkish military officials would work out the technicalities in the coming days, paving the way for US and Turkish patrols to monitor the area, a template that Cavusoglu argued needed to be replicated across the northeastern territories where the YPG and its affiliates govern under the protection of the US-led coalition. In the background briefing cited by Soylu, one of the US officials seemed to suggest, however, that the scope of the Manbij road map more a framework for cooperation than a hard and fast agreement was more modest. Its main purpose was to fend off potential armed confrontation, presumably between Turkey and the YPG and its Arab allies through deconfliction measures rather than a wholesale reconfiguring of the US-led coalitions partnership with the YPG. The benefit to everyone is that you have a stable environment and you don't have a threat of pending military offenses or military action, and thats what we want to get off the table, one of the officials said. The second official stressed the deal was a conditions-based agreement, without specifying what those conditions were. Ankaras hopes are currently pinned on President Donald Trump, who, according to Turkish officials quoted by Soylu, pushed the US diplomatic and military bureaucracy to fall in line after Trumps numerous telephone exchanges with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkish officials largely credit President Donald Trumps personal intervention for renewed US commitment to find a mutually agreeable solution to the crisis. A program beginning this month is another outreach of the Birmingham Business Alliance to attract and keep talent in the Magic City. The BBA's Talent Recruitment Project (TRP) is offering "Magic City Summer," a free program for interns at companies across the Birmingham seven-county region. What it encompasses are a slate of events to showcase what city has to offer to talent considering careers in Birmingham. The program's planned kick-off is at 4 p.m. on June 13 at Regions Field. The event will include food and a summer events expo for interns and students. Events during the summer long program will include a seminar about money management skills, a week of service and a reception with Birmingham's young CEOs to learn why they chose Birmingham to build their business. Participants will also snag discounts for some of the city's summer events and activities. Get young talent into Birmingham, sampling the food scene and seeing the sights, so the thinking goes, and the city's companies will be able to retain young talent instead of watching it move to other metro areas. This was one of the ideas supported by this week's "Building (it) Together" report, which identified ways the Birmingham metro area can economically transform the region over the next decade. Sanjay Singh, chairman of the BBA's Workforce Advisory Council, said the program is the city's chance "to showcase our great quality of life, where you can work hard and play hard as well as anywhere in the country." For Calvin Littlejohn, programs manager for Inroads, an intern placement organization, one of the Magic City Summer sponsors, the program is also a way to encourage networking. "Exposure to the city through engagement events provides interns the opportunity to not only connect to the workforce, but it also allows them to connect socially, building both their corporate and personal networks," Littlejohn said. Sen. Doug Jones said today President Trump's considering 25 percent tariffs on imported automobiles could be "devastating" to Alabama's auto industry. During a media conference call, Jones said Alabama's auto manufacturers are "very concerned" about the effect the tariffs could have on prices, production and jobs. "This proposal is going to hurt Alabama, plain and simple," Jones said. Jones' comments came days after similar concerns from Sen. Richard Shelby, who said the ramifications of recently imposed tariffs could be great. "Trade is obviously a two-way street, and we should encourage fair trade between all countries. However, trade is also a double-edged sword if you impose too many tariffs," Shelby said last week. "I believe that rather than imposing more tariffs, we should go back to the drawing board to renegotiate our trade agreements to make them fair and equitable to the American worker," Shelby said. Canada, Mexico and the European Union are now subject to a 25 percent tariff on steel and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum. They retaliated with tariffs on U.S. goods across a wide spectrum of products. Brazil, Argentina and Australia have agreed to limit steel exports to the U.S. to avoid tariffs. Last week, Trump requested the Commerce Department investigate imported automobiles, trucks and auto parts as a national security threat. Why should Alabamians care about a tariff on foreign autos? Because even though cars are being made in Alabama, some parts are manufactured abroad and subject to the tariffs. This potentially could cause price hikes. Price increases also affect the bottom lines of the companies affected. Alabama's major automakers are, of course, international companies - Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Hyundai and Mazda-Toyota. "I don't think Toyota is saying they're not coming to Alabama," Jones said, alluding to the $1.6 billion Mazda-Toyota plant slated to begin construction later this year. "It just makes it very difficult for these plants to plan for the future." Jones lent his name to a letter to U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, joining Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., urging the administration to reconsider the tariffs. He said there is broad support for some action regarding the tariffs among both parties, but he hopes the response will resonate with the Trump Administration. "Congress will start intervening if they believe the president is going too far," Jones said. "That's not necessarily something we want to do." What is concerning, he said, has been previous action on tariffs that was immediately followed by exemptions. The policies seem at odds with the administration's pro-business, pro-growth philosophy. Tariffs can be a good tool in protecting American jobs, but the auto industry, and Alabama's slice of it in particular, is doing well, Jones said. Alabama exported $21.7 billion in goods in 2017, and $10.9 billion worth of transportation goods, including not just vehicles but parts and components for automobiles, aircraft and spacecraft. In addition, among Alabama's top 5 export markets were No. 1 Canada ($4.14 billion), No. 3 Germany ($2.94 billion) and No. 4 Mexico ($2.9 billion). This post was modified at 2:52 p.m. June 7 to add clarifying information. The North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church passed a resolution this week that pledges to work toward equal pay for women pastors. "I'm delighted that the conference is committed to greater parity for women clergy," said Bishop Debra Wallace- Padgett, head of the North Alabama Conference. "We have some amazing women doing great ministry in North Alabama." There are 308 ministers appointed to churches this year by the conference and 53 are women, about 17 percent. There were 104 ministers whose base pay was $70,000 a year or more, but only four were women. There were 46 ministers in the conference paid $100,000 a year or more, and only one was a woman, according to a study by the Commission on the Status and Role of Women. The resolution, passed Tuesday during the annual conference meeting at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, resolved that the conference upholds the "equal value of women and men" and and finds the lack of women in "higher-paying appointments to be unacceptable." The North Alabama Conference pledged to narrow the disparity by 2020 so that the percentage of women among the highest-earning clergy will be equal to the percentage of women in the general pool of clergy. "They realized the pay inequity," said the Rev. Stephanie Arnold, who will take over as senior pastor at First United Methodist Church of Birmingham by the end of June. The vote on the resolution was nearly unanimous, she said. "It was a resounding vote of confidence in the realization this was a justice issue and needed to be put right," she said. "I think it's pretty practical. We have many competent women of many ages in the conference." The resolution also addresses working to improve acceptance of women pastors. "How many churches do we have that still say, 'No, we don't want a woman pastor?" Arnold said. "That is not the Methodist way and hasn't been since the 1950s." For most congregations, it's not biblical interpretation but tradition that makes them reluctant to change, she said. "I think it's more fear of the unknown - 'I haven't had a woman pastor before' - and until they've had experience that challenges their assumptions about a woman would do a pastor, that is the fear." The North Alabama Conference voted down another resolution that called for unity, which supporters said was to signal a desire to be unified on including gays in the church, although that wasn't specifically mentioned in the resolution. "I advocate for inclusion," said the Rev. Dave Barnhart, pastor of St. Junia United Methodist Church. "I think it was not a well-written resolution. There was problematic language." If the resolution had spelled out its intent to specifically welcome gays in the church, it would not like have passed. United Methodists have repeatedly decline to change longstanding language in the Book of Discipline that forbids same-sex marriage and bars openly gay clergy. "I was not surprised it did not pass because we are not unified in what the way forward is," Arnold said. "It's my hope we could be unified. I appreciated the sentiment. We can be together in our difference. I affirm that desire for unity." The Commission on a Way Forward, a report addressing the controversy over issues of sexuality being developed by the Council of Bishops, will be presented to the United Methodist General Conference in a special session in St. Louis, Feb. 23-26, 2019. For the black women who were on the ballot during Tuesday's primary, some of them won their seats while others struggled to beat white candidates or lost in historically Republican districts. Ashley Smith and her campaign strategist, Lindsey McAdory, spent most of Tuesday zig zagging across Lowndes County, where she tried to become the first black district judge - a title she has thought about since she started her campaign last year. Smith said the predominantly black county has yet to elect a black district or circuit judge. It is also poverty stricken and most of the people who come to court depend on public defenders. Smith said there is a lack of black public defenders in the county. "I don't know how you all are not in control because you're in the majority," Smith said talking about Lowndes County residents. "It's a white power structure and it's a few white people who are controlling the whole." But it wasn't to be. Smith was aware of the history that favored her. Her grandfather was the first black county commissioner, which added weight to her name. She launched her campaign during a time when about 70 black women across Alabama decided to run for office, or reelection. But Smith was unable to unseat incumbent Adrian Johnson, who received 2,608 votes, or 60 percent, over Smith's 1,741 votes, or 40 percent. Johnson also ran as a Democrat and there isn't a Republican opponent for the November general election. While there were many factors going for her, Smith was also aware of the history that played against her. She wasn't just running against an incumbent who has built political support over the past eight years. She said she was also fighting against fear that's been rooted in the county for decades. Black people were kicked off white-owned land when they registered to vote during the 1960s. "There's always a price to pay. So either I am going to stay here on the white man's property and not exercise my God-given right or I'm going exercise my God-given right and get put off the property," Smith said. "So modern day, what does that look like? 'Oh, my son is in trouble. He has to go before the judge.' The retribution - that is what they are afraid of." Smith said that some of the people of Lowndes County aren't knowledgeable about the role of district judge or the state's sentencing laws. "I remember hearing people saying, 'Oh, well he did me a favor.' And I'm thinking, 'You wouldn't have went to jail for that (charge) anyway,'" Smith said, "The judge isn't doing you any favors. The judge is doing what he is supposed to do under the law. But if I don't know that, I'm just going to walk away like, 'That judge really did me a favor.'" Smith was raised in neighboring Montgomery, but visited the area frequently to visit family and she moved to Lowndes County last year. Despite her election loss, she said she will be looking for other opportunities to help the citizens. "I'm not going to turn my back," Smith said. "This is where my family is from. So Lowndes County will always be a part of me. I'm not going to walk away and forget about Lowndes County because this is where my roots are." Boundaries in the way The primaries were full of wins and losses for black women. All three black female candidates who were running for traditionally Republican U.S. house seats lost, leaving Rep. Terri Sewell as the only black female running for re-election in November. Sewell was unopposed during the Democratic primary. In Jefferson County, which is historically democratic, many women kept or won judicial seats. None of the five black women running for state senate seats have lost and two of them are heading to a runoff. Deborah Barros said gerrymandering and low voter turnout made it harder for her to secure the Democratic nomination for state senate district seven in Huntsville. Barros and her opponent Deidra Willis will face a runoff on July 17. Neither of the women came out with more than 50 percent of the vote on Tuesday night. Willis, a former high school principal, received 49.5 percent of the vote while Barros received 36 percent. A third candidate, Johnathan Hard received only 15 percent and will not be in the runoff. When the state redrew the senate districts after the 2010 Census, which is mandated by law, Barros said lawmakers left out or split traditionally Democratic areas and added in more areas that housed citizens who tend to vote Republican. The change took effect in 2014. She received many calls from supporters who were upset that her name wasn't on their ballots. "Two of my strongholds got split after they did this gerrymandering. You get blacks and women stepping up to run and they throw all these obstacles in our way," Barros said. "You can't fight these things. The innuendoes and the dirty politics, I could have dealt with that. But these are things you can't fight." Along with the redistricting, fewer democrats came out to vote. About one-fourth of Alabama came out to for the primaries, Secretary of State John Merrill said. An estimated 25 to 30 percent were predicted to show up. Based on unofficial voting numbers from the Associated Press, Republicans outvoted Democrats by a 2 to 1 margin in the governor's race. Barros said the Democratic Party should do a better job of educating people about the importance of a primary. "Primaries are crucial because politics are local," Barros said "You have to start local and then it trickles down to the state. Then once you get your people in the state then you can make change in U.S. congress." When Barros decided she was going to run for political office, she did it because she was having difficulties getting proper medical care for her grandmother. Over time, her platform started to grow to include many issues, such as the lack of educational funding, the grocery tax and increasing the minimum wage. Barros said she was ready to fight for those issues. "But there are all these road blocks," Barros said. "If I can't represent the people this way, I have to figure out how to help the people another way. I fought a good fight in this campaign. I ran this campaign with grace and dignity. I went full throttle with passion and focus. My focus wasn't about what will I gain, but what will I do when I get to Montgomery." Janine Hunt-Hilliard defeated current Jefferson County family court Judge Raymond Chambliss during the primary on Tuesday, June 5, 2018. An encouraging sight About an hour and a half south of Huntsville on Tuesday, a Birmingham attorney was celebrating her victory of becoming the first black female judge of Jefferson County's family court. Janine Hunt-Hilliard said it was a surreal end to a long and tiring campaign. "Me, my friends, my family and my supporters have been working for this goal for six months," She said. "It was humbling to finally reach that goal and see all the hard work that so many people put in come into fruition." As of Wednesday afternoon, Hilliard defeated the current presiding judge Raymond Chambliss with 20,706 votes, or 55 percent. Hilliard is unopposed in the general election and will be sworn in in January. Until that time, Hilliard said she will be talking to people who have knowledge of the family court system to uncover what needs to change. One of the main concerns Hilliard has is that family court is not addressing people's needs. She told Al.com that families are dealing with a host of problems, like mental health, drug abuse and poverty. She believes they can prevent families from returning to court by connecting them with local organizations who can address their needs. Although family court already works with a couple of groups, Hilliard said there are many more that can provide services to children. Hilliard remembers when nine black women were elected to become judges in district and circuit courts in Jefferson County in November 2016. On Tuesday, black women won four of the five circuit judge seats that were on the democratic ballot. Two of the women, including Hilliard, are running unopposed in the general election. Linda Hall, who won the democratic nomination in Jefferson County Circuit Court Place 16, will go against Republican Teresa Pulliam. Hilliard is happy to see more black women on the bench. "It's encouraging and exciting to see that continue," Hilliard said. "I felt honored to be in the position. It'll be my responsibility to make sure that once I get there, I will be able to help the children and families of Jefferson County." The Jefferson County Commission on Thursday approved an incentives package for an Amazon fulfillment center in Bessemer. Commissioner David Carrington said Amazon is planning to build a $325 million advanced robotic fulfillment center in Bessemer. The center will employ up to 1,500 workers. Employees will receive full benefits and an average wage of $14.65 an hour. "They are ready to move dirt," he said. "They are planning to open by Labor Day of next year." While county commissioners spoke as if the project is a done-deal, all of the potential incentives haven't been approved yet and contracts haven't been signed. Bessemer Mayor Ken Gulley said the state and Alabama Power have also offered incentives to Amazon. The last incentives will come from Bessemer, he said. The Bessemer City Council will vote on those incentives on Tuesday. Gulley said the Amazon project would be the single largest investment in the city. He expected the project to draw more companies and residents to Bessemer. Carrington said he expected the deal with Amazon to be complete in 10 days. Amazon is expected to build a 855,000-square-foot, four-story fulfillment center on 133 acres of U.S. Steel-owned property off Powder Plant Road near Bessemer City High School and Alabama Splash Adventure. Carrington said construction could start this month. The commission agreed to pay an amount not to exceed $3.3 million to fund certain roadway improvements and/or reimburse Amazon.com Services for a portion of its capital investment if it decides to locate on the Bessemer property, according to a public notice. The development of the property includes installing and equipping certain items of machinery, equipment, furniture, fixtures, and other personal property at the facility necessary for Amazon to conduct customer fulfillment operations, the notice stated. Carrington said the investment happened because of Birmingham's #bringatob campaign to try to lure Amazon's second corporate headquarters. He said the campaign, which included three gigantic Amazon Prime boxes, captured the company's attention for a fulfillment center instead. The Bessemer City Council at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, June 12 will consider incentives that include reimbursing Amazon for a portion of its capital investment by making quarterly payments to the company over a 10-year period, according to a public notice. The payments would be based on the number of Amazon's full-time employees, and the occupational tax collected by the company from these employees and remitted to the city of Bessemer. If approved, the incentive would be calculated as follows: 50 percent of the occupational tax revenues earned on up to one to 2,000 full-time employees; 55 percent earned on 2,001 to 3,000 full-time employees; 60 percent earned on 3,001 to 4,000 full-time employees; and 65 percent earned on 4,000-plus full-time employees. In the deal, Bessemer would also limit all of its permit fees for Amazon to $200,000 and cap its annual business license tax at $5,000, according to the public notice. The city would also agree to partner with Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority to construct and operate an additional transit stop near the site. The city would also agree to provide certain recruitment, screening, and training services. Voting in Alabama - at least in some counties - has gone high-tech. Poll workers in 26 Alabama counties were armed with electronic poll books for the June 5 primaries. The change was designed to streamline the voting process, Secretary of State John Merrill said. "The only issues we had were some of the people in the field using the (electronic poll books) for the first time and we got those corrected," Merrill said. "Overall, (the electronic poll books) worked very well." The technology meant voters no longer had to wait in line based on their last name, then stand by again as a worker flipped through a book to find their registration and check identification. Instead, voters were presented with iPads on which they could scan their driver's license, select their primary and sign in. People at the polls were directed to an available iPad, no matter the letter their last name started with. Electronic poll books were first used in Alabama during 2016 presidential election. Merrill said the goal is to have them in place for every site by 2022. Alice Marie Johnson, the woman whose life sentence for drug offenses was commuted by President Trump, has been reunited with her family, according to multiple reports. President Trump commuted Johnson's sentence after reality TV star Kim Kardashian West recently met with the president regarding Johnson's sentence. Multiple reports now show Johnson has been released from prison and is reunited with her family. Alice Johnson, the moment she was released from prison and reunited with her family pic.twitter.com/qRi9HhI0JY WVTM 13 (@WVTM13) June 6, 2018 Video shows Johnson, dressed in white, running to her loved ones, who were waiting for her with flowers. The Associated Press reported Johnson was convicted in 1996 on eight criminal counts related to a Memphis-based cocaine trafficking operation involving more than a dozen people. The 1994 indictment describes dozens of deliveries and drug transactions, many involving Johnson. She was sentenced to life in prison in 1997, and appellate judges and the U.S. Supreme Court have rejected her appeals. Court records show she has a motion pending for a reduction in her sentence, but federal prosecutors are opposed, saying in a court filing that the sentence is in accord with federal guidelines, based on the large quantity of drugs involved. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Memphis did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday afternoon, AP reported. Kim Kardashian West tweeted about a conversation she had with Johnson Wednesday morning after the president commuted her sentence. The phone call I just had with Alice will forever be one of my best memories. Telling her for the first time and hearing her screams while crying together is a moment I will never forget. Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) June 6, 2018 "The phone call I just had with Alice will forever be one of my best memories. Telling her for the first time and hearing her screams while crying together is a moment I will never forget," she said in the tweet. Johnson had served more than 20 years in prison. In another tweet, she said she was grateful to President Trump and the others involved in Johnson's commutation. So grateful to @realDonaldTrump, Jared Kushner & to everyone who has showed compassion & contributed countless hours to this important moment for Ms. Alice Marie Johnson. Her commutation is inspirational & gives hope to so many others who are also deserving of a second chance. Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) June 6, 2018 "So grateful to @realDonaldTrump, Jared Kushner & to everyone who has showed compassion & contributed countless hours to this important moment for Ms. Alice Marie Johnson. Her commutation is inspirational & gives hope to so many others who are deserving of a second chance," she said in the tweet. A CrossFit official was fired Wednesday after he posted a series of tweets praising an Indianapolis, Indiana CrossFit gym that canceled a Pride-themed workout and calling the celebration of Pride a "sin." Russell Berger, a Chief Knowledge Officer for CrossFit, posted the series of tweets Wednesday afternoon. Berger is from Huntsville, according to his Twitter and Facebook account bios. Berger posted the tweets after an Indiana CrossFit gym canceled a previously-scheduled workout to support Indy Pride, FOX 59 News reported. In the now-deleted tweets, Berger said: "As someone who personally believes celebrating "pride" is a sin, I'd like to personally encourage #CrossFitInfiltrate for standing by their convictions and refusing to host an @indypride workout. The intolerance of the LGBTQ ideology toward any alternative views is mind-blowing." "The tactics of some in the LGBTQ movement toward dissent is an existential threat to freedom of expression. The lack of tolerance for disagreement, which has been replaced with bullying Twitter mobs promising "consequences", should be a concern regardless of your political stance." "Allow me to double-down. I believe @indypride is a celebration of sin, as do most Christians. I deleted this and reposted to a different version to make sure it's clear these are my personal beliefs, you know, since the Twitter mobs are hard at work trying to get me fired." The controversy at a #CrossFit in Indy, as we approach Pride in Indianapolis this weekend, has got people around the nation talking. pic.twitter.com/YQ8xXOKVkS Marc Mullins (@MarcMullins1) June 6, 2018 Twitter users captured screenshots of the tweets. Berger did not immediately respond to a message from AL.com requesting comment Wednesday night. CrossFit's official twitter account tweeted Wednesday that Berger had been put on leave, and soon after tweeted that he had been terminated. The statements made today by Russell Berger do not reflect the views of CrossFit Inc. For this reason, his employment with CrossFit has been terminated. CrossFit (@CrossFit) June 6, 2018 "Effective immediately, Russell Berger has been placed on unpaid leave while management completes a thorough review." "The statements made today by Russell Berger do not reflect the views of CrossFit Inc. For this reason, his employment with CrossFit has been terminated," the fitness company said in the tweets. The gym in question, CrossFit Infiltrate in downtown Indianapolis, has since decided to close its doors after several members canceled their memberships, ABC affiliate RTV 6 reported. The gym released a statement defending its decision, saying the gym's community has always been "welcoming," FOX 59 reported. "The unfortunate line that is being read about the gym grossly misrepresents what CrossFit Infiltrate stands for and what it believes. The majority of the reviews and statements being read about the gym largely point out that Infiltrate's community has been incredible and welcoming and that the decision not to host an Indy Pride event is the reason we are called bigots or discriminative. However, let the history of the gym speak for itself and for the position we take in this divisive atmosphere, CrossFit Infiltrate welcomes, serves, and prioritizes training people to be fit and functional in body, mind, and spirit. It never has and never will be anything but welcoming to all human beings who live, move, and breathe in God's world." An Albertville police sergeant who was accused of domestic violence has been acquitted by a judge. Albertville police Sgt. David Atwell has been acquitted of a misdemeanor domestic-violence charge. Sgt. David William Atwell, a 44-year-old from Altoona, was found not guilty of reckless endangerment in Etowah County District Court, records show. He was acquitted of the misdemeanor domestic-violence charge after a bench trial in Judge Willis H. Clay's courtroom on May 31. Atwell was arrested in January, accused of firing a gun into the floor behind the couch where his wife was sitting, court papers state. The couple was amid a contested divorce, which has since been dismissed, according to court records. Albertville police Chief Jamie Smith couldn't immediately be reached for comment. AL.com news partner WHNT News-19 reported that Atwell will return to work Monday. An attempt to reach Atwell wasn't immediately successful. Alabama Sen. Doug Jones said he believes President Donald Trump may be sending a mixed message with his decision Wednesday to commute the life sentence of Alice Marie Johnson, who served more than 20 years for drug offenses. Speaking in a media conference call today, Jones said he believes Johnson "may deserve" a commutation. Trump commuted Johnson's sentence after reality TV star Kim Kardashian West recently met with the president regarding Johnson's sentence. Johnson walked out of the Federal Correctional Institution at Aliceville yesterday. She was convicted in 1996 on eight criminal counts related to a Memphis-based cocaine trafficking operation involving more than a dozen people. The 1994 indictment describes dozens of deliveries and drug transactions, many involving Johnson. Alice Marie Johnson What concerns Jones, though, is the process by which Trump is granting pardons and commutations. Trump has recently pardoned conservative commentator Dinesh D'Souza, former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, former Vice Presidential Chief of Staff Scooter Libby, and a U.S. Navy sailor convicted of taking photos of classified portions of a sub. He has suggested commuting the sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, and celebrity homemaker Martha Stewart. The commutation comes only a few days after the Justice Department announced hiring was assigning 311 new prosecutors to fight, among other issues, drug use. "It almost seems to be that if you have a rich and famous friend, then you get access directly to the President of the United States for a pardon," Jones said. "And that's not the way to do this." Jones said, during his career as a prosecutor and defense lawyer, he has argued the president should regularly review petitions for clemency and pardons, as Trump does, instead of granting them at year's end, as was the custom of previous administrations. For those petitions, the Justice Department reviewed the cases and made recommendations. In Johnson's case, the Justice Department's Office of Pardon attorney reportedly recommended against clemency for Johnson three times during the Obama administration. "Right now, it doesn't seem that the president is following anything other than just doing what he wants to do, just based on who has access to him," Jones said. Jones noted that even conservative commentators are beginning to question whether Trump's pardons and proposed pardons are sending signals to potential targets of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. The signal may be, "Don't worry, I've got your back," Jones said. Johnson's time in prison also illustrates another problem, he said. "There are a lot of folks out there who have served a lot of time on relatively minor offenses," he said. "So many people of color that are in those boats. Unfortunately, they don't have a famous friend who can go directly to the president and argue on their behalf." New details have emerged about the life of a homeless man arrested Tuesday evening in connection with an assault and attempted rape at a parking garage in downtown Mobile. Douglas Dunson, 43, was arrested by police after allegedly attacking a woman at the downtown RSA parking garage. Police reported that during the assault he was disturbed by a passerby and ran off. Law enforcement had initially said they only wanted to question Dunson in connection with the attack. Dunsons's uncle and another resident of Mobile have spoken exclusively to AL.com about some of the mental health issues experienced by Dunson since being released from a 20-year prison sentence around a year ago. "I'm worried about him because I know he's suffered a lot since getting out of jail after all those years," said Duncan Dunson, the accused's uncle. "He stayed here for a while but got banned from being on the property because he always made so much trouble with neighbors." Court documents show that after Dunson was released from Holman prison in Atmore that he has repeatedly been arrested for disorderly conduct and public intoxication, a common charge for many of Mobile's homeless. But his string of arrests for indecent exposure dating back to before Christmas paints a more sinister pattern of behavior. Since then, he has been arrested on four separate occasions for that crime but has been released each time, according to Mobile County Sheriff records. His most recent release was on Sunday. Arrest reports show that on at least one occasion Dunson has been arrested for openly masturbating in public in front of people on Dauphin Street. Despite there being witnesses to the alleged behavior, Dunson has always been released from custody. It's not clear if he was formally charged after any of the incidents or if he is currently awaiting trial. In response to the attacks, Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson said that attack was "appalling" and that his "heart goes out" to the woman involved. "We will work with our judicial partners to keep violent recidivist criminals off the streets and encourage citizens to stay alert and report any suspicious behavior they encounter in the future," the mayor added. Dunson was thrown out of his own bond hearing Thursday after talking back to Judge Jill Phillips. Before refusing to issue Dunson bond, she said that he was a danger to the community and sent him out of the courtroom. Duncan, who lives in midtown, said that he hadn't seen his nephew for weeks and has been worried about him since he finished his sentence for burglary 1st in 1996. "He has serious mental issues and since he left jail there has been no help for him," said Dunson. "He doesn't know where to go for mental health help. He doesn't even know what medication he's supposed to be on." According to multiple Facebook posts, people have claimed to have encountered Dunson on various occasions, often accusing him of harassment ranging from aggressive begging to grabbing people. One of Duncan's neighbors, Larrah Craig, said that she had encountered Douglas many times before and had experienced direct harassment from him. "He's definitely got something going on," said Craig of Dunson's mental condition. "One night after me and a neighbor had called the cops on him he shouted outside 'I'm gonna kill those white bitches.' Really loudly." Craig said that she and other neighbors had often called the police on Douglas, but said that they often just asked him to be quiet. "Maybe after the fourth time of calling they'd take him away," added Craig. She also said that she never felt unsafe around him and would often confront him about his behavior directly. The outcry on social media over the attack has largely pointed the blame at judges for not holding on to Dunson when they have had the chance, while others have questioned the lack of mental health facilities in the state. Judge Karlos Finley, a part-time judge with the City of Mobile, was the last person to allow Dunson to walk out of his courtroom, according to records. In a Facebook reply to criticisms of his actions, Finley said that the individual should take it up with the "officer that arrested him or the witness that saw him perform an act of public lewdness and didn't sign a complaint in time." "What you shouldn't do is go off half-cocked about something that you don't know," he added. "I'm tired of all of those things happening in our community too, but the law must remain supreme." A south Alabama woman has been charged with murder in the death of her 11-month-old baby, according to court documents filed Tuesday. Bonita Mercedes Cunningham, 29, of Excel in Monroe County, is charged with murder in the death of Catalaya Kyles. The child's death was reported to police by Monroe County Hospital. Bonita Mercedes Cunningham After arriving at the medical facility, officers noticed visible injuries on the baby. Excel Police Chief Jeff Dunn signed a warrant for Cunningham's arrest in late May, alleging that the child died from blunt force trauma, according to court documents. Cunningham's bond is set at $80,000. The charge comes just weeks after a Baldwin County mother was arrested and accused of causing the death of her 13-month-old child. The child, named as Violet Rice, was discovered dead in a small chair inside an RV near to the Styx River community, Robertsdale. The child's mother, Jordan Rice, 27, has been arrested and charged with Aggravated Child Abuse. She is not currently charged with the child's death, but is being held on $100,000 bond in the Baldwin County Corrections Facility. The autopsy may take months to come back to investigators, according to the county prosecutor. After that point the charges against Rice could be dropped or increased, according to officials. Baldwin County Sheriff Hoss Mack said that it was the worst example of child abuse he'd seen in 33 years working in law enforcement. He did not say what injuries the child had sustained. Alabama State Rep. Ed Henry has been indicted in an ongoing federal pill mill case in Montgomery. The indictment, announced on Thursday by Middle District U.S. Attorney Louis V. Franklin Sr., charges the 47-year-old lawmaker from Hartselle with one count of conspiring to pay kickbacks and to defraud the U.S., one count of conspiring to commit health care fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, five counts of health care fraud and six counts of paying unlawful kickbacks. Efforts to reach Henry for comment weren't immediately successful. However, Henry later posted on Facebook that he is not guilty of any crimes. "For the last 8 years I have fought the government from further encroachment on our Freedoms. Today began my fight with the Federal Government for my freedom. So while I would like to lay everything on the table for all to see, that would not be wise while fighting an opponent that has endless resources like our Government," the post read. Doug Howard, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, said Henry pleaded not guilty at an arraignment Thursday morning and will be released on bond today. The trial is currently set for October. According to court documents, from 2015 through 2017, Henry was an owner of a health care company, MyPractice24, Inc. During some of that time, Henry also served as the company's chief executive officer. MyPractice24 provided non-face-to-face chronic care management services to Medicare beneficiaries who had two or more chronic conditions. The company did so with contracts into which it entered with primary care physicians. Under those contracts, the doctors would pay Henry's company to provide these chronic care management services to the doctors' patients, the company would provide the services, the doctors would bill Medicare for the services, and then the doctors would pay Henry's company a share of the reimbursements received from Medicare. The indictment claims that in 2016, Henry entered into an agreement with Dr. Gilberto Sanchez, a Montgomery physician who subsequently pleaded guilty to drug distribution, health care fraud, and money laundering charges. Under that agreement, MyPractice24 would provide various kickbacks to Dr. Sanchez and his staff in return for the providers at Dr. Sanchez's practice referring Medicare beneficiaries to MyPractice24 for chronic care management services. Among the kickbacks provided, authorities said, were direct payments to a member of the staff, free chronic care management services, free medical billing services, and free clinical services unrelated to the provision of chronic care management services. Additionally, Henry assisted Sanchez in paying kickbacks to patients who enrolled in the chronic care management program. Sanchez paid the kickbacks by systematically waiving copays--copays which Medicare required Sanchez to collect. On the six counts of paying unlawful kickbacks, each count is based on a different type of kickback Henry paid to Sanchez and those who worked at with the doctor at his practice. The other charges are based on Henry's assisting Sanchez in unlawfully waiving copay obligations and then failing to report the copay waivers to Medicare. The money laundering charges stem from Henry's using the proceeds of health care fraud to make payments to Sanchez's staff members. Henry's district included Cullman, Marshall and Morgan counties. The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - Office of Inspector General, the Drug Enforcement Administration's Tactical Diversion Squad, and the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation Division. The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners, the Montgomery Police Department, and the Opelika Police Department assisted in the investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Jonathan S. Ross is prosecuting the case. Rep. Ed Henry, R-Hartselle, was indicted today in connection to a conspiracy scheme to defraud Medicare. Henry pleaded not guilty at an arraignment Thursday morning and will be released on bond today, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Long before his high-profile arrest, however, the 47-year-old lawmaker has captured headlines for his outspoken efforts to root out corruption and promote conservative values. His Twitter bio spells out his thoughts: "Trying to hold politicians accountable and make them answer to the people with zero regard for my own political life." Then a political newcomer, Henry was first elected to the State House to represent Cullman, Marshall and Morgan Counties in 2010, replacing Democrat Ronald Grantland, who decided not to seek reelection. An Air Force veteran, Henry previously worked at Decatur General Hospital as a CT technologist and later at The Heart Center as an Imaging Specialist. Henry made headlines in 2012 when he told a group gathered for an anti-abortion rally in Montgomery that in 1991 he had accompanied a pregnant girlfriend to have an abortion. "I made a decision that I will always regret," he said. "I murdered my child, my first child," Henry told the crowd. In the House, Henry became involved in conservative causes and served as state co-chair in Donald Trump's presidential campaign. During the campaign, he tweeted criticism of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, whom Henry referred to as "likely a rapist." It would take a cataclysmic event to save our Nation. Aug 21st 2015 a cataclysm occurred, a movement was born. Thank You ! @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/rC8Lm23cGb Ed Henry (@Ed_Henry_HD9) December 18, 2016 Was a great day in Mobile yesterday with @KellyannePolls and @realDonaldTrump. pic.twitter.com/Raj24IElg1 Ed Henry (@Ed_Henry_HD9) December 18, 2016 It is ironic that Lying Hillary blast Trump as a sexist when she is married to Bill, who is likely a rapist.@KellyannePolls Ed Henry (@Ed_Henry_HD9) September 27, 2016 In 2017, Henry became involved in efforts to oust Gov. Robert Bentley, a fellow Republican, amid controversy surrounding the governor's personal relationship with adviser Rebekah Caldwell Mason. Henry led the charge to oust Bentley, rounding up 23 votes in the House for an impeachment resolution. Bentley later resigned as part of plea deal in connection to campaign finance and ethics violations tied to the Mason relationship. HR367 Articles of Impeachment on Governor Bentley have been filed with 23 signatures to start the impeachment process on Governor Bentley. Ed Henry (@Ed_Henry_HD9) April 28, 2016 "If we, as public officials, are going to be true servants of the citizens who elected us and offer ourselves as good stewards of their taxpayer dollars, we must root out wrongdoing wherever it may occur in government regardless of party affiliation," Henry said during the Bentley investigation. Shortly after Bentley's resignation, Henry announced he was not running for reelection to the Alabama House but then said he was seeking the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat then held by Luther Strange. Henry's candidacy didn't last long and he soon became a champion of Strange's primary opponent, former chief Justice Roy Moore. Henry frequently blasted Strange, who was appointed to the post by Gov. Bentley, and stood by Moore even after the GOP nominee was accused of having improper sexual contact with teenage girls in the 1970s. "There are going to be instances where men and women make accusations like this where the accuser is the victim and then there are going to be instances where the accused is the victim," Henry said in an interview with AL.com. "I believe, in this instance, the accused is the victim." "If these women truly believe that Roy Moore is a sexual predator, then they are equally as guilty for allowing a sexual predator to be out there for 40 years," Henry said in another interview. After receiving criticism for his comments regarding the women accusing Moore, Henry tweeted: Clearing the air. I don't believe victims of sexual assault should be prosecuted. I believe people who falsely accuse should be accountable Ed Henry (@Ed_Henry_HD9) November 10, 2017 Moore lost his bid for the Senate to Democrat Doug Jones, something Henry described as a "sad day for Alabama." Last week, Scott Stadthagen won the Republican nomination to replace Henry. He faces Democrat Terrie Jones Savage in November. Henry's trial is set for October. Democrat Robert Vance will face Republican Tom Parker in Roy Moore vs. Doug Jones, part II. For hours, Russian president answers emails, texts, and calls from ordinary citizens solidifying his macho image. Sixteen times hes done this now. Every year since 2001 minus a couple Vladimir Putin has gone through the endurance test. For hours on end, the Russian president answers emails, texts, calls, videos, and live links from Russians. This years Direct Line as its called, wrapped up after four hours and 20 minutes. Its another part of Vladimir Putins macho image. What other world leader, Russian state TV sometimes asks, could manage such a feat? Most of the content is domestic. Yes, the president tells the people who call in, things might have been difficult recently. The oil price crash and Western sanctions have taken their toll on the economy. But thanks to the good work of the tireless government, sunny times lie ahead. Thats the message at least. But for a leader who presents Russia as something akin to a besieged fortress, international affairs are essential talking points. Defending interests According to Putin, the West has imposed sanctions on Russia because they see Russia as a threat, they see that Russia is becoming a competitor. But Russia, he says, will defend its interests. This pressure will come to and end when our Western partners will realise that the methods they employ are ineffective, counterproductive and harmful to everyone. Putin has long wanted a new system of global security one in which the United States no longer rules the roost. His restoration of Russia as a major global player can be viewed as a bid to bring about this desired multipolar world. Advanced weaponry and a disruptive, assertive foreign policy are the tactics he hopes will eventually force the West to the negotiating table. If they dont come to parlay, he warns, the results could be awful. The understanding that the Third World War will be the end of civilisation, this understanding must restrain us from extreme and dangerous steps in the international arena. But so far, Russia is generally seen by the West as an unruly aggressor and one that wont own up when its dark arts come to light. The poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in the UK earlier in the year is a case in point. As he has done several times before, Putin denied Russias involvement. {articleGUID} If, as Britain insists, a military chemical agent was used against these people, he said, they would have died within second or minutes, on the spot. Thank God this did not happen. Clearly we are dealing with something other than a military agent. Eyebrows raised Such claims, repeated ad infinitum on Russian state TV and pro-Kremlin Twitter handles, go against chemical weapon experts opinion. The lethality of nerve agents depends on how the poison enters the body, and if skillful medical attention is received lives can be saved. So it might raise eyebrows in European capitals that when asked what advice he would pass on from his father to his grandchildren, Putin said, Dont lie. This year there were a couple of small tweaks to the tried and tested Direct Line format. The usual studio audience was ditched. And in came live links to government ministers and regional governors. These politicians were there to report on successes and failures in their patches. And, when necessary, receive a stern interrogation by their president on behalf of his people. But its fitting that, like Putinism in its fourth presidential term, these were largely cosmetic changes to what is essentially the same beast. Expectations that a reformist agenda might be brought in following Putins landslide election victory in March have not come to pass. Theres no let up in the confrontation with the West. For Putins policies, as well as his Direct Line, were getting more of the same. Inequality has been growing in the US and the Trump administration is making it much worse. Lauren Carasik is the Director of the International Human Rights Clinic at Western New England University School of Law. On June 1, Phillip Alston, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, released a report on the United States. It outlined his searing critique of the Trump administrations policies, arguing that they are deepening entrenched inequality and increasing misery. Alston painted a grim picture of the countrys current circumstances and its likely trajectory, not only for those at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder but for American society itself. The report presents a withering appraisal of American exceptionalism. As Alston observes, the United States is alone among developed countries in insisting that, while human rights are of fundamental importance, they do not include rights that guard against dying of hunger, dying from a lack of access to healthcare or growing up in a context of total deprivation. The high rates of child and youth poverty are particularly alarming, since they perpetuate the intergenerational transmission of poverty very effectively, and ensure that the American dream is rapidly becoming the American illusion. While people outside the US might be shocked by the conclusions of the report, for many Americans they are painfully clear. Aspects of the US political system and long-term socioeconomic policies have kept the poverty rate high and hampered social mobility. This reality predates the Trump administration, but its policies will just make it worse. Poverty and corporate control over lawmaking Inequality and extreme poverty are not new, nor is the persistent social exclusion that accompanies them. Decades of neoliberal policies have valorised and promoted private enterprise and flouted state responsibility for the well-being of its citizens. Economic and political power are mutually reinforcing. The corrosive influence of money in politics has consolidated corporate capacity to advance its own interests. The majority of lawmakers are beholden to their big donors instead of the interests of their constituents. Too few care to ensure that their poor voters too can live the American dream. Many of them like President Donald Trump also embrace the view that poverty is essentially a function of personal failings rather than structural disadvantage. {articleGUID} It is hardly surprising, therefore, that instead of working to level the playing field or widen the social safety net for those at the economys margins, Trump has supported efforts to improve profitability for corporate companies. His administration has rolled back protections for workers, eased restrictions on banks, and gutted safety and environmental regulations. The regressive $1.5tn tax cut package passed last December inured to the benefit of the wealthy and exacerbated inequality. Republican groups, led by the Koch brothers, invested millions to market the tax cuts as helpful to middle class and to promote the law. The trumpeted trickle-down benefit to workers has largely failed to materialise, as many corporations have pocketed their tax breaks instead of passing them along. The tax cuts were historically unpopular, and have grown increasingly so. No wonder there is widespread pessimism: a Pew Study found that 62 percent of people believe the countrys economic system unfairly favors powerful interests, while just over a third believe it is generally fair to most Americans. Eroding political rights Political marginalisation foments economic misery. Yet impediments to political participation, including felon disenfranchisement and voter suppression, are undermining the ability of Americans to shape a more just system. Most of these predate Trump. These obstacles are designed to keep poor and minority voters from registration rolls, in part because the projected mid-century shift to a majority non-white nation bodes ill for Republicans. {articleGUID} Efforts to forestall the impending demographic shifts and a corresponding realignment of political power are also evident though increasingly hardline immigration policies aimed at keeping non-white migrants out of the country, propelled by fear-mongering that intensifies existing tensions. In his report, Alston invokes the example of Puerto Rico to highlight the nexus between poverty and political rights. The impoverished territory lacks meaningful political representation yet is precluded from real self-governance all part of the legacy of ongoing colonisation. After touting the federal governments efficient disaster response to last Septembers devastating hurricane and the storms low death toll, Trump lashed out at local leaders pleading for more assistance, calling them politically motivated ingrates. Amid recent confirmation that the initial death toll was woefully undercounted, its sadly unsurprising that a study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research found that the islands federally imposed oversight board is prioritising debt repayment over the needs of a population ravaged by a humanitarian crisis. A moment of opportunity It is a bleak time for the US and the global community, with the resurgence of populist authoritarianism raising vexing questions about the ultimate compatibility of democracy and unbridled global capitalism. These queries are made more urgent by worries about the sustainability of the current system and its ability to adapt to the existential threat of climate change. As peoples struggles mount, their social support narrows, and their prospects dim, there is a real risk of escalating social conflict and instability, fuelled by Trumps divisive and inflammatory rhetoric. But it is also a moment of opportunity for a unifying grassroots mobilisation around demands for a more socially and economically egalitarian society. Those efforts are already well under way, with emerging strategies to push back against the ravages of market fundamentalism and advance a truly transformative agenda, including a revived Poor Peoples Campaign and the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative for a new Social Contract, constructed and driven by communities rather than imposed from above. As presidential candidate Bernie Sanders popular success showed, calls for distributive justice are no longer a fringe concept. In these moments of despair, a clear-eyed vision about the structures that undergird and perpetuate social and economic inequality will inform the best strategy to transcend them. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance. And it is very much in Eritreas interest to accept. It has been 18 years since Ethiopia and Eritrea signed the Algiers Peace Accord that officially ended the 1998-2000 war, which killed an estimated 100,000, displaced more than a million, and splintered thousands of families. The Accord, brokered by the African Union, the United Nations and the United States, was not designed merely to end one of the most senseless and deadliest conflicts in the world. It was also meant to iron out the underlying issues and pave the way for peaceful co-existence between the two nations. Nearly two decades on, however, the two countries are still at loggerheads and see each other as the number one geopolitical threat that they face. On June 5, the Ethiopian government announced its readiness to fully comply and implement the Algiers Peace Accord, an agreement it refused to comply with for 18 years. It also said that it will accept the outcome of a 2002 border commission ruling, which awarded disputed territories, including the town of Badme, to Eritrea. Why now and what does this mean for the future of the two countries and the region? The Badme conundrum {articleGUID} In 1998, Ethiopia and Eritrea went to war over Badme, a desolate piece of land very few Ethiopians or Eritreans had ever heard of. Although Badme was a mere pretext to start a conflict fuelled by much deeper political problems, it has since been etched into the imagination of many Ethiopians and Eritreans and has taken on a deeper meaning. Today, the name Badme condenses within itself a series of fundamental political and economic anxieties and hegemonic aspirations, acting as a byword for brutality, anguish, guilt, shame, fear, and pride. In 2002, the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC) issued its final and binding ruling on the border between the two countries, which awarded Badme to Eritrea. Ethiopia refused to withdraw from the contested territory, effectively blocking the demarcation of the border. The international community, which brokered the peace deal, failed to hold Ethiopia accountable for flouting the EEBC ruling. Consequently the two countries remained on a war footing and engaged in hostile activities against each other, spawning proxy wars in neighbouring Somalia, and further destabilising an already unstable region. Ethiopia used its relatively stronger regional sway and diplomatic clout to isolate Eritrea, which was subjected to international sanctions. The political anxieties that led to the war were compounded by the anxieties that resulted from the war, creating the intractable predicament that made dialogue between the two parties almost impossible. A new era? Ethiopias change of heart towards Eritrea is genuine, and is directly tied to the momentous changes taking place domestically. Since coming to office a little over two months ago, Ethiopias new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has reconfigured the Ethiopian political landscape and its strategic direction, moving with incredible speed to drive changes aimed at widening the political space and narrowing the social divisions and antagonism within the country. Since assuming power, Ahmed linked the political, social and economic transformations in Ethiopia to regional dynamics, particularly Eritrea, with which Ethiopia has closer security, economic, and social ties. During his inaugural address, the prime minister directly addressed Eritrea, expressing his readiness for dialogue and engagement. He urged his Eritrean counterpart to reciprocate his efforts to find a negotiated settlement to the conflict and to forge a mutually beneficial relationship for the sake of the common blood relations between the peoples of the two countries. Two months after making this commitment, he followed up with a decisive announcement committing Ethiopia to a full compliance with the Algiers Agreement. In a speech after the announcement, Ahmed said, Putting an end to this situation and finding peace is necessary beyond anything else not just for Ethiopia but also for the wider Horn of Africa. The prime minister rejected the characterisation of relations between the two countries as a no war no peace situation, arguing that the psychological burden and the endless antagonism means that we are still in a state of war. Ahmed said, Every Ethiopian should realise that it is expected of us to be a responsible government that ensures stability in our region, one that takes the initiative to connect the brotherly peoples of both countries and expands trains, buses, and economic ties between Asmara and Addis Ababa. While subsequent Ethiopian leaders have expressed their readiness to resolve the crisis with Eritrea, no previous Ethiopian leader has expressed the desire to end the stalemate with the determination, clarity and sense of purpose as Ahmed has. The ball is in Eritreas court However, Ethiopia needs a responsible partner on the Eritrean side to resolve the dispute. So far, Eritrea has not yet replied to Ethiopias call. The Eritrean government has consistently demanded Ethiopias full compliance with the EEBCs decision before normalising relations. {articleGUID} However, the insistence on unilateral withdrawal as a condition for normalising relations is not tenable, not least because Badme was under Ethiopian rule before the EBBCs ruling and continues to be under the effective control of the Ethiopian government. The two countries must come together in good faith to hammer out a number of details including the fate of the population there. The ball is now in Eritreas court and Asmara can no longer claim Ethiopias occupation of its territory as an excuse for inaction. Ethiopias call is genuine, and Eritrea stands to benefit as much, if not more, from a rapprochement with its southern neighbour. By normalising relations, Eritrea can eliminate the biggest security threat it has been facing; it can end the compulsory recruitment of its youth into the military, and gain access to the largest market in the region. Prospects for peace While there will be some resistance to the prime ministers move to return the flashpoint town of Badme to Eritrea, Ahmed has an unprecedented opportunity to close this dark chapter in the history of the two countries. He was elected at a critical moment for Ethiopias history with a strong mandate from his party. He has created substantial excitement and optimism about the direction of the country. He has the vision, the determination, and, above all, the political capital, necessary to commit Ethiopia to the deal. The political landscape in Eritrea remains the same. While a rapprochement with Ethiopia may bring its own political risks for the regime in Eritrea, these are minuscule compared with the significant social, political, and economic advantages. The Ethiopia-Eritrean conflict is one of the most important latent conflicts in the region, with serious consequences for regional and global security. The international community, particularly the West, has ignored the dispute for long. Now that there is a newfound optimism for peace, the international community must seize the opportunity and act proactively and preemptively before local and regional dynamics change. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance. Dania Ahmed is an analyst and writer, and has worked on counternarcotics and communications strategies for Pakistan. On Monday, a high court in Pakistan acquitted a man who had been accused of stabbing a woman 23 times. Despite the presented video footage of the incident, 23-year-old Shah Hussain walked free, to the shock and dismay of his victim, and fellow law student, Khadija Siddiqi. The young woman was attacked in Lahore in May 2016 while trying to get into a car after picking up her sister from school. Siddiqi has alleged that Hussain had harassed her before the attack. For two years, she tried to obtain justice but was failed repeatedly by Pakistans judicial system. Last year, she even had to sit an exam in the same room with Hussein the son of an influential lawyer after a lower court granted him post-arrest bail. After initially getting a seven-year prison sentence for the attack, which was reduced to a five-year one after an appeal, Hussein was acquitted for reasons the court has not yet made clear. According to Siddiqi, a sessions judge told her that she must provide proof of this murder motive. She also claimed that the judge said that this incident occurred because she must have insulted Hussain in some way or another. Her character was continuously questioned in court and she was pressured to make a compromise which she refused to do. This is not the first time a person with authority has justified violence against women in Pakistan. And its not the first time the judicial system has failed a Pakistani woman either. Siddiqis case should be seen in the larger context of Pakistans systemic failure to protect women and children from violence and punish those who choose to perpetrate it. A culture of impunity for men and victim-blaming for women Pakistan is heavily influenced by its religious zealots and conservative forces. It is not uncommon for people in a position of power to claim to be proponents of morality and religious principles. Yet the interpretations of Islam or of local traditions they propose, almost always are to the detriment of womens and minoritys rights. Thus, harassers, rapists and murderers are often let off the hook, as their victims are blamed for what has happened to them. {articleGUID} They are accused of not covering enough, not being religious enough or of provoking the violence. In the cases of gender-based violence, rarely are these religious, conservative authorities arguing that harassment, rape and murder are all crimes that Islam condemns and proscribes punishment for and therefore, those who commit them should be severely punished. These perceptions, unfortunately, are widely spread not only within rural conservative communities but also within judicial and law enforcement institutions, which are heavily male-dominated. It is therefore hardly surprising that Pakistan is no stranger to blaming a woman for a mans crime and seeking to punish her. In 2007, Kainat Soomro, who was 13 at the time, was kidnapped and gang-raped. After she spoke out against her rapists, the village elders decided that she should be killed for bringing dishonour to her family. Her parents rejected the decision; her brother was subsequently killed and her sister divorced. She lost the court case against her rapists. A sense of impunity rules in Pakistan which allows men to violate women without fear of the consequences. As Soomro said: Men from the powerful families of the village rape any woman they please and then simply kill her or declare her outlawed. Men get away with it because they are powerful. And the woman is always blamed. Thats how these influential men behave. Another rape victim, Mukhtar Mai, went through a similar struggle. In 2011, after an almost decade-long battle for justice, Mai lost an appeal to have all six rapists thrown in jail. Mai was ganged raped in 2002 at the order of a village council for a perceived slight by her then 12-year-old brother against a powerful clan in her village. The Supreme Court in Pakistan acquitted five of her six rapists. Victim blaming of even younger children is also not uncommon in Pakistan. In February this year, seven-year-old Zainab Ansari was raped and murdered . Instead of asking why a man raped and killed the little girl, there were some publicly questioned why she was left alone to walk around. And even when the Pakistani justice system is presented with indisputable evidence of a violent crime perpetrated by a man against a woman, it is slow to deliver justice. It has been two years since social media star Qandeel Baloch was killed by her brother and even though he proudly confessed that he strangled her in the name of honour, the case against him is still dragging through court. The fight for justice continues The cases of Soomro and Mai we know about because they managed to find in themselves the super-human courage to speak out despite threats to their lives. But there are also many we dont hear and will never know about. In its 2017 report, The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan revealed that cases of violence against women are largely unreported due to conservatism, illiteracy, fear of stigma, shame and dishonour, and poverty. {articleGUID} It is commonly believed that decent women should not report rape or harassment for the sake of upholding their honour. This is why so many incidents are unreported. All the while, men get away with their crimes. That in this dangerous environment plagued by shameless misogyny and sexism, resilient Pakistani women still speak up should make us feel proud. Like Soomro and Mai, Siddiqi has vowed to continue her struggle for justice. She plans to take her fight to the Supreme Court and has already called on the chief justice of Pakistan to look into her case. Her unwavering courage is indeed a beacon of hope for all women in Pakistan. In the end, it will be women like her, like Soomro and Mai, who with their courage and determination will force the system to change. Siddiqis struggle is for the sake of all women in Pakistan. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance. While most of the world rejected US President Donald Trumps decision to move the United States embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, some Latin American leaders have supported it enthusiastically. This may come as a surprise to many; after all the region has been vocal about its support for the Palestinian cause. All Latin American states, except for Colombia, Panama and Mexico, recognised the state of Palestine between 2008 and 2013. But political realities in the region have changed. Paraguay recently became the third country to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, following in the footsteps of the US and Guatemala. Honduras may be next; last month, its Congress passed a resolution urging its foreign ministry to carry out the move. And in December 2017, Jair Bolsonaro, the far-right presidential candidate leading in Brazils most recent polls, stated that if elected he would follow Trumps controversial decision. Such developments signal a worrisome shift in support for the Palestinian cause and demonstrate a broader regional trend towards regressive politics. Many observers are pointing to the fact that Latin America and Israel have ties that date back to 1948. Guatemala pioneered these relations with its immediate recognition of the Israeli state, and more than half of Latin American countries opened embassies in Jerusalem in the years that followed. Yet though Latin America was rather friendly towards Israel until 1967, afterward, relations changed. {articleGUID} For instance, in 1980, Israels adoption of a law proclaiming Jerusalem its indivisible and eternal capital led to a UN Security Council resolution calling on countries to move their embassies to Tel Aviv. Nine Latin American states Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Panama, Uruguay, and Venezuela immediately respected the demand. The Dominican Republic and Guatemala delayed until 1982 but ultimately implemented the resolution. More recently, in 2014, as the Israeli offensive against Gazas population escalated and the international community stayed silent, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, and Peru issued strong statements of condemnation and recalled their ambassadors for consultation. Regional support for relocating embassies to Jerusalem is linked to an alarming takeover of power by right-wing forces in the region and their need for US approval. The right-wing governments of Guatemala and Honduras are facing serious political crises, for example, and desperately need Washingtons support. Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales has been mired in a series of corruption and money laundering scandals since 2016, and is still under pressure to submit his resignation. Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandezs recent re-election in November 2017 was plagued by widespread allegations of electoral fraud and corruption, as well as violence against protesters. For Morales and Hernandez, moving their embassies to Jerusalem is not only a show of goodwill towards Trump, but an attempt to shift attention away from domestic troubles. It also shows a resurgence of servile subordination to US interests something most Latin American governments had managed to overcome in the 2000s. The two leaders also have personal connections to Israel. Morales is an evangelical Christian, as are 40 percent of Guatemalans, and as such he is a staunch Zionist. Hernandez, on the other hand, is a graduate of an outreach programme administered by the Agency for International Development Cooperation under the Israeli foreign ministry. Paraguays President, Horacio Cartes a billionaire who has also been accused of money laundering and drug smuggling also has close ties with Israel. He is known to have close relations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. One of Cartes campaign advisers in 2013, Ari Harow, also served as Netanyahus chief of staff. {articleGUID} Further, these three leaders came to power with the support of right-wing parties that have long-standing ties with the Israeli military industry. Israel sold weapons to and maintained excellent relations with the Paraguayan tyrant Alfredo Stroessner, a military general who ruled from 1954 to 1989. Cartes, the leader of the right-wing Colorado Party, which served as the political power base of the Stroessner dictatorship, has revived these military connections. Similar ties were established in the late 1970s between the Guatemalan regime and Israel. A few years later, when General Efrain Rios Montt staged a coup, it was reported that 300 Israeli military advisers aided him. Officers who participated in the Guatemalan civil war side by side with Montt, who was later convicted of genocide against indigenous communities, are now part of Morales party. Therefore, it is hardly surprising that the Guatemalan president chose to go to Israel for his first official trip abroad. Honduras, too, received significant military support from Israel during the 1980s, when the CIA-backed Contra uprising swept through the country. In 2016 it signed a new arms export deal with Israel, one of the largest in Latin America in recent years. Hernandez called it a historic deal that would strengthen the countrys security forces, unlike anything that came before it. Admittedly, democracy is receding in Latin America even in countries governed by left-wing parties, such as in Nicaragua and Venezuela. But there is something especially worrisome about this new generation of right-wing leaders in Guatemala, Honduras, Paraguay and elsewhere. They are reversing gains achieved by the civil society on indigenous and minority rights and re-introducing toxic racist rhetoric and policies not that different from the Israeli ones. Israels financial and military support for these right-wing powers spells nothing good for the people of Latin America. Editors note: This article has been updated to add Panama to the Latin American countries which have not recognised the Palestinian state yet. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance. Born in 1921, Abu Nihad remembers the toughest battles against Zionist militias after the British left Palestine. Sur Baher, occupied East Jerusalem In the village he defended from Zionist militias 70 years ago, Muhammad Mahmoud Jadallah is celebrated as a blessing. Born in 1921, the 97-year-old, known as Abu Nihad, witnessed the unfolding of what has been dubbed by some as the worlds most intractable conflict. He is one of the few Palestinian men who fought against Zionist gangs in 1948 and is alive today to tell the tale. Sitting on a sofa in his humble home in Sur Baher, a town on the southeastern edges of Jerusalem, Abu Nihad recounts his memories with impressive detail. He takes pride in his recall, pausing in between sentences to say: See how well I remember? Photographs from his time as a freedom fighter as he describes himself and of his father who was part of the resistance against British occupation, line his living room walls. In the corner, a well-organised cabinet is filled with nearly a hundred years of photos, letters and documents bearing witness to his eventful past. Palestinians attacked from two fronts Abu Nihad was born at a critical time in Palestines history; three years after Britain occupied the country with a declared goal of creating a Jewish state there. Zionist immigration from Europe to Palestine, facilitated by the British, was increasing dramatically, displacing tens of thousands of Palestinians from their lands. There was a lot of injustice against the Palestinians, he says. {articleGUID} The Palestinians were being attacked from two fronts; on the one hand the Jews were taking our lands, and on the other, the British were occupying us. As a young man, he worked in hospitality, becoming head waiter in some of the most prestigious hotels in Jerusalem. At one point, Abu Nihad became the supervisor of the British officers club at the largest British military base in Sarafand in the heart of historic Palestine. I oversaw the serving of the meals breakfast, lunch and dinner for the officers. History will record that you lost Palestine By 1944, tensions were particularly high. The British tried on several occasions to curtail Zionist immigration, leading Jewish armed groups to launch large-scale attacks on British authorities. They [Zionists] attacked the ones who fostered them and brought them to Palestine in the first place. Many of them had served and worked with the British army particularly in World War II. Many women also used to undergo what they called ATS at the time Auxiliary Territorial Service, he says, referring to the womens branch of the British army carrying out non-combat duties. {articleGUID} In the years leading up to 1948, two different forces were forming to fight against Zionist forces. While the Arab League was scouting for volunteers from Arab countries to fight, a local and well-respected leader, Abd al-Qader al-Husseini, was building his own irregular Palestinian force, al-Jihad al-Muqadas. Counting on the Arab League to provide his group with weapons, al-Husseini selected hundreds of young Palestinians to attend military training in Syria, including Abu Nihad. We left Jerusalem on a bus based on orders from the Arab Higher Committee, Abu Nihad says, referring to the main Palestinian political organ prior to 1948. From the town of Safad near the Syrian border, the men were led by Palestinian nationalist Subhi al-Khadra, who was known for his large citrus fruit groves on the Jordan River. When we got to the groves, there were Syrian officers on the other side of the river. They stretched a rope across to us, and we used it to cross the river, says the former fighter, his eyes lighting up as he remembers the excitement of preparing to defend his homeland. Abu Nihad is proudest of his role in successfully defending his village of Sur Baher [Showkat Shafi/Al Jazeera] The men were taken to the Qatana military base near Damascus. We trained for three months. Wed go out and march up hills, practise using guns, throw grenades, all kinds of things. Every Thursday we would go to the baths, put on some formal clothes, and head to Damascus. Wed spend the night in the city, and return to the base the next morning to continue training. But by the time the group returned to Palestine, the Arab League had refused to supply them with weapons, claiming it didnt have the arms. In fact, it simply didnt have faith in al-Husseinis guerrilla movement. Al-Husseini, who was in Damascus asking for help, stormed out of a meeting with the Arab League shouting: Youre all traitors, and history will record that you lost Palestine. Abd al-Qader al-Husseini returned to Palestine heartbroken, says Abu Nihad. Nakba and the 1948 war While the Zionist ethnic cleansing campaign of Palestine had started immediately after the United Nations recommended the partition plan in November 1947, the Arab-Israeli war began on May 15, 1948, shortly after Israel declared statehood and the British ended their mandate. When the war broke out, not one British soldier emerged from Sarafand armed. Zionist militias took complete control of the base, taking all the weapons. Palestinian refugees in the Galilee in 1948, five weeks prior to the creation of Israel [Reuters] This gave the Jews an upper hand in the war against us. We made do with whatever we could. We had nothing. There were some weapons they [Palestinians] took from the British army some people traded their belongings for weapons. When the UN recommended the partition of Palestine into Arab and Jewish states, the first phase of the Nakba was unleashed. Although law and order was meant to be guaranteed under the British administration until their mandate ended on May 15, 1948, Zionist groups attacked and expelled some 440,000 Palestinians from 220 villages, before the British pulled out. This well-planned, unexpected offensive was the Zionist forces key to success. By March 1948, there were around 50,000 Zionist fighters against some 2,500 Palestinian fighters who were bolstered slightly by the arrival of 4,000 Arab volunteers who came to help liberate Palestine. While Zionist forces had acquired armoured vehicles, tanks, aircraft and advanced artillery, Palestinians made do with small numbers of light arms and mortars. The fall of West Jerusalem Abu Nihad trained for three months at the Qatana military base near Damascus in preparation for the 1948 war [Showkat Shafi/Al Jazeera] On April 9, Zionist forces committed one of the worst massacres in Deir Yassin, executing about 110 civilians and raping several women. The events of that day terrified Palestinians, and families fled the violence seeking a safe haven. They annihilated the entire village. The news spread over Palestine, and, immediately after that, many packed their bags and began leaving which is what the Jews intended to happen. {articleGUID} His village, Sur Baher, was near five Jewish colonies and therefore a strategic location for the remaining Palestinian forces; it was attacked at the end of May that year. We had to defend the whole area of southern Jerusalem, Abu Nihad says. There were about 100 fighters alongside him, including men from Egypt. We patrolled the area on a 24-hour basis and formed a strong defensive position. Every night, before the soldiers went to the front lines, our commander would give us a code word to be used for safe passage. He always chose a word that starts with the letter haa (in Arabic) like hilou (nice), haleeb (milk), halawa (sweets). I asked him why he did that, he said: because the Jews are immigrants, not one of them can pronounce the letter haa. Even though Abu Nihad had helped protect his village, the larger Zionist military operation that had begun in April 1948 proved to be the start of many losses. When asked whether he foresaw the outcome of the war, Abu Nihad says it was inevitable. The Palestinian people were defenceless. Compared to the Jews, we had no weapons. We received very little help. I had no doubt in my mind that we were going to be defeated. Follow Zena Tahhan on Twitter: @zenatahhan When President Ashraf Ghani announced a temporary ceasefire with the Taliban on Thursday, Shafiqa Rahimi, a widow of a security force member, recalled how bravely her husband fought the Taliban in the southeastern province of Ghazni. I am surprised, this decision is an insult to us and my husband who fought the Taliban so bravely, the 24-year-old told Al Jazeera. Ghani ordered security forces to cease operations against the armed group until June 20, coinciding with the end of fasting month of Ramadan and the Islamic holiday of Eid alFitr. The ceasefire excludes all other armed groups, such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group. How can the president announce a ceasefire with the Taliban? Shafiqa asks My husband fought for the safety and security of the country, ceasefire with the Taliban makes us vulnerable to them. Decade-long fight Violence has spread across Afghanistan in recent weeks with heavy fighting taking place between the Taliban and the security forces from the provinces of Badakhshan, Baghlan and Faryab in the north to Farah in the west. Last month, Farah city, one of the largest cities of Afghanistan, was on the verge of falling to the Taliban, which would have made it the second city, after Kunduz in 2015, to fall under the Taliban since the war began in 2001. In an attempt to put an end the decade-long fight, in February, Ghani offered recognition of the Taliban as a legitimate political group and involvement in a constitutional review that he said could bring the group to the negotiating table to end the 16-year-old war. The Taliban continued fighting and instead sent an invitation to the US for talks. According to a recent report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), 229 districts were under Afghan government control about 56.3 percent of total Afghan districts as of January 31, 2018. There were 59 districts approximately 14.5 percent under the armed groups control. The remaining 119 districts about 29.2 percent are contested, controlled by neither the Afghan government nor the armed group. A military commander, who wishes to remain anonymous because he is not authorised to speak, raised a question after the announcement. With so many militant groups active here, how do we identify who is the Taliban and who is not? he said. The areas where we are fighting to push back the Taliban, will be taken over by them, is the president allowing this to happen? I dont understand. The military commander also said that the Taliban had brutally killed police and members of the security forces and cannot be made peace with. The Taliban want to take over the country and have the foreign forces out. Our brothers [police and soldiers] have sacrificed their lives for this fight, and after this announcement, we are helpless and cannot even protect our people or even us. Spring offensive The latest report disclosing Afghan security forces casualty figures was in July 2017. A total of 2,531 members of the Afghan forces had been killed, and 4,238 wounded in the first four months of 2017. Hundreds of soldiers and police officers have been killed since the Taliban launched their spring offensive in April this year in a bid to control large swaths of the country. Amir Yagana, a Kabul resident, believes Ghanis ceasefire decision is to put pressure on the Taliban for peace talks, and a desperate attempt to end the war in the country. They want to ally with the Taliban so they can fight the other militant groups together, but I need to know about us civilians, he said. In a report published on April 12, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said 763 civilians had been killed, and 1,495 others injured, between January 1 and March 31, 2018. A six percent increase in cases was attributed to anti-government forces, mainly the Taliban and ISIL. On-ground battles were the second-leading cause of civilian deaths and injuries according to the report. After this ceasefire, are we safe now? Yagana asks. On Friday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani heads to China for an economic and security summit in the city of Qingdao. As the fate of the 2015 nuclear deal hangs in a balance, and with Europe wavering in doing business with Iran due to the return of US sanctions, Tehran is making a hard turn East to boost its economy, and counter mounting pressure from Western powers. On Friday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani heads to China for an economic and security summit in the coastal city of Qingdao, where he is expected to hold talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on bilateral relations, and the future of the nuclear deal. Amid rising anti-Iran sentiments from the West, analysts said, the meeting between Rouhani and Xi presents an opportunity for Tehran to further cement its economic and political ties with Beijing, and for China to reinforce its growing geopolitical influence in the region. Chinas foreign policy mouthpiece, Global Times, reported on Wednesday that Rouhanis visit will see Irans comprehensive strategic relationship with China upgraded to a new level. Unlike the US, China will not break its promise and will ensure that China-Iran relations wont be affected, Hua Liming, Chinas former ambassador to Iran, told the state-owned publication. For Iran, a country that prides itself as Neither Western nor Eastern, US President Donald Trumps decision to spurn the nuclear agreement, meant readjusting its policy to tilt ever closer to the East. Iran has had to borrowing the phrase grin and bear it since late 2017, once it was certain that Trump would violate the deal, Sumitha Narayanan Kutty, a foreign policy and defence expert at Singapores S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), told Al Jazeera. For the moment, it seems, Trumps decision is indeed pushing Iran Eastward, added Ali Noorani, an Iranian journalist based in Tokyo, Japan. Looking East Recent developments point to an increasing reliance of Iran on China, the anchor of its Looking East policy. When the French energy giant, Total, said in May that it is likely to pull out of a joint gas project in Iran because of the very slim chance it could get a US waiver on sanctions, China stepped in. Chinas state-owned petroleum company, CNPC, announced it is willing to takeover the majority stake of the project from Total. Tehran also told Total that it has 60 days to secure an exemption, otherwise the contract goes to China. In 2017, when two European companies backed out from bidding on a project to provide new cranes at the southeastern Iranian port of Chabahar, a Shanghai-based supplier cornered the contract. Maziar Motamedi, a journalist at the Tehran-based Financial Tribune, said that China has become Irans biggest alternative for the many European deals that may become endangered as a result of the snapping back of US sanctions in the coming months. Iran is negotiating with Chinese companies in wide-ranging deals from insurance to building train wagons at the moment, Motamedi told Al Jazeera. But Chinas years of presence in Iran proved that it is not just an alternative, or the partner of last resort, said Kutty of RSIS at Singapores Nanyang Technological University. Rather, China was the only one willing to further investment or trade when times were tough, she said. This was particularly visible when both the United States and Europe isolated Iran in the period leading to the signing of the 2015 nuclear deal, she added. China was the only one 'willing to further investment or trade when times were tough' Kutty of RSIS at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University Doing business For the last three decades, China has been pouring billions in aid and investments in Iran including in the construction of the Iranian capitals underground railway network winning goodwill from Tehran. Since the signing of the 2015 nuclear deal, relations have advanced even further with Chinas Xi visiting Iran in January 2016 and pledging to increase China-Iran trade to $600bn by 2025. In 2017, Chinas investment arm CITIC Group extended a $10bn line of credit to Tehran, with additional $15bn in pledges from China Development Bank. Current fiscal year figures ending in March 20, showed Irans total trade with China at $37bn, including $22.28bn in non-oil products. Around the same period, Irans oil export to China amounted to at least $11bn. Today, China is Irans largest import and export market. On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying dismissed reports that businesses are retreating from Iran, saying Beijing and Tehran maintain normal economic and trade ties, and will continue to cooperate on the basis of not violating our international obligations. And in an indirect dig to the US, Hua said China opposes one country imposing unilateral sanctions on others in accordance with its domestic laws. What also helps Chinas presence in Iran is that there are more Chinese companies that do not have business interests with the US, Kutty of RSIS said. They [Chinese companies] can today insulate themselves better from [US] sanctions because they are not exposed to US payment networks, she said. [Chinese Kutty can today insulate themselves better from [US] sanctions] Still, Kutty said Iran does not want to be so heavily reliant on any one partner, thus it is also maintaining ties with its other Eastern neighbour, India, seen as a regional rival of China. Iranian officials were keen that India work on developing its southeastern port of Chabahar, and the connecting rail route to Afghanistan all part of the trilateral Afghanistan-India-Iran transit initiative, Kutty said. She said Iranians are also wary of the Chinese way of doing business, one reason why the Rouhani administration waited for New Delhi to come on board for the port project at Chabahar. For India, its position towards Iran is dictated by its own strategic interests: energy and connectivity, Kutty said. India needs Irans oil, as well as access to Afghanistan without going through Pakistan. Meanwhile, Noorani, the Tokyo-based Iranian journalist, said there would not have been a need for the nuclear deal in the first place if China could give Iran all that it wanted. Even if it could, Iran wants to have the freedom of choice, Noorani said, echoing popular a sentiment among ordinary Iranians of their countrys independent foreign policy. Noorani added that if President Rouhani can succeed in limiting the potential financial losses for Iran, amid US withdrawal from the nuclear deal, then that would help him maintain a grip of the country, despite growing domestic discontent. He said that will give the public assurance that they dont need to worry about the nuclear deal falling apart. President Ashraf Ghani tells security forces to cease operations against the armed group until June 20. Afghanistans President Ashraf Ghani announced on Thursday a temporary ceasefire with the Taliban until June 20, though it was not immediately clear if the armed group had agreed. In a televised address, Ghani said fighting against other armed groups such as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) will continue. The Afghan president told security forces to cease operations against the armed group until June 20, coinciding with the end of fasting month of Ramadan. The ceasefire will last from the 27th of Ramadan until the fifth day of Eid-ul-Fitr, the president tweeted from an official account, indicating it could run from June 12-19. This ceasefire is an opportunity for Taliban to introspect that their violent campaign is not winning them hearts and minds but further alienating, he said. With the ceasefire announcement, we epitomise the strength of the Afghan government and the will of the people for a peaceful resolution to the Afghan conflict. Commitment to peace The surprise move comes days after a gathering of Afghanistans top religious leaders in the capital, Kabul, issued a fatwa a religious edict issued by an expert in Islamic law against suicide bombings and attacks. The religious gathering was attacked by a suicide bomber, killing at least seven people. The United States welcomed Afghanistans offer of a ceasefire to the Taliban, the State Department said on Thursday. The Afghan governments offer of a temporary ceasefire underscores its commitment to peace as both a national and religious responsibility, it said in a statement. It added the ceasefire will allow the Afghan people to celebrate the Eid-ul-Fitr holiday that marks the end of Ramadan without fear of violence. Russia also welcomed the ceasefire offer but said it doubts the Taliban will join it, Interfax news agency reported, citing Zamir Kabulov, President Vladimir Putins special representative on Afghanistan. Deadly conflict Ghani in February offered recognition of the Taliban as a legitimate political group in a proposed political process that he said could lead to talks to end more than 16 years of war. Ghani proposed a ceasefire and a release of prisoners among a range of options including new elections involving the armed group, and a constitutional review in a pact with the Taliban to end a conflict that last year alone killed or wounded more than 10,000 Afghan civilians. Taliban has been fighting in Kabul since it was removed from power in 2001 by the US-led forces. The armed group has set the withdrawal of foreign forces as a pre-condition for peace talks. Nkurunziza had been expected to take advantage of recent changes to the constitution on term limits. Burundis long-serving President Pierre Nkurunziza announced on Thursday that he would not run for another term, easing fears of new violence in the impoverished country after a referendum on term limits. Nkurunziza was widely expected to take advantage of recent changes to the constitution to stand for two more terms raising concerns that Burundi would see a repeat of deadly unrest that erupted after he stood for the third time in 2015. I will not go back on my word. Our mandate ends in 2020, Nkurunziza said in a speech to supporters and diplomats in the central region of Gitega. In a referendum last month, more than 73 percent of Burundis 4.7 million voters approved changes to the constitution which extended the length of the presidents term from five years to seven. That could allow the 54-year-old Nkurunziza, in power since 2005, another 14 years when his current term expires in 2020. This constitution was not modified to favour President Nkurunziza, as the enemies of the country spread recently, he said in the speech broadcast on state television. As far as I am concerned, I am preparing to support, with all my strength, the new president who we are going to elect in 2020. The violence that erupted in 2015 shook a region still haunted by the 1994 genocide in Burundis neighbour, Rwanda. Scepticism The presidents announcement brought scepticism from some in the opposition. I think the message is for his own people and not the public. He has lied to us since long ago, Frederic Bamvuginyumvira, a former vice president who leads the opposition party Sahwanya-FRODEBU, told The Associated Press. The opposition had alleged intimidation and harassment of people who did not support the amendments ahead of the May 17 referendum, including threats of drowning and castration. A presidential decree criminalised calls to abstain from voting, with a penalty of up to three years in jail. The government rejects allegations of abuses, describing it as propaganda by exiles. Singapore-based international investment expert Mattia Tomba discusses North Koreas economic potential if integrated into the global market. By After the US imposed new tariffs, the heads of leading industrial nations will meet amid growing animosity. Montreal, Canada This weeks G7 summit may be more about damage control than anything else. A week after the United States imposed trade tariffs on some of its closest allies, including Canada and the European Union, the heads of the worlds leading industrial nations are meeting amid a feeling of growing frustration. And most of that instability, analysts say, is tied to US President Donald Trump his erratic and unpredictable behaviour and his administrations increasingly protectionist policies. I do not think it has been a great time for many of Americas traditional allies. They have become increasingly frustrated and disillusioned, said Donald Abelson, a professor and chair of political science at the University of Western Ontario. The G7 meetings to be held in Canadas Charlevoix region, near Quebec City, on Friday and Saturday will bring together the leaders of Canada, the US, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Japan. On the agenda? Abelson said he expects the leaders to attempt to present a united front and seek to figure out how best to deal with the US president. They have to figure out how theyre going to tip-toe their way around an increasingly fickle administration in Washington, he said. Its a chess game, but the problem is that the stakes are incredibly high. I do not think it has been a great time for many of America's traditional allies Donald Abelson, professor As is typical of the annual G7 meeting, the leaders will discuss key policy points, including international trade, economic policy, security and climate change. Thomas Wright, director of the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, said North Koreas nuclear programme would also be on the agenda. Thats especially important for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was at the White House on Thursday before flying to Canada for the G7. The US president intends to hold a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore on June 12, and Abe is concerned the president will not take into account Japans interests in those talks, Wright said. Thats at the top of his agenda at the G7, Wright told reporters on a conference call earlier this week. For France, the focus will be on addressing the US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, a decision that French President Emmanuel Macron had tried in vain to prevent, he said. Climate change and a pipeline Canada, meanwhile, will hope to address the fight against climate change, as well as a commitment to gender equality in whatever policy statements come out of the summit. Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus government has been under fire for his governments support for and recent purchase of the 1,100-km Trans Mountain oil pipeline, which many say puts Canada at odds with its commitments to fight climate change. Presenting a strong statement on the climate file will, therefore, be especially important for Canada, Abelson said. Both Macron and Trudeau will have bilateral meetings with Trump at the G7, said Larry Kudlow, the presidents assistant for economic policy, on Wednesday. Kudlow said despite recent tension, he had no doubt that the United States and Canada will remain firm friends and allies, whatever short-term disagreements may occur. There may be disagreements. I regard this as much like a family quarrel. Im always the optimist. I believe it can be worked out, he told reporters, according to a read-out published by the White House press office. But despite these reassurances from the US, its recent trade measures are sure to loom large at the summit, said Krzysztof Pelc, an associate professor of political science at McGill University in Montreal. On May 31, the Trump administration confirmed it would apply additional tariffs on the import of steel and aluminium an increase of 26 and 10 percent, respectively on Canada, Mexico, and EU countries, ending a two-month exemption period. In response, Canada said it would apply surtaxes or other countermeasures on up to $12.9bn worth of imports from the US, its largest trading partner. Those changes would take effect on July 1, the Canadian ministry of finance said. The European Commission responded in a similar fashion, saying it would consider its own countermeasures. US tariffs weigh heavily Both Canada and the EU also filed legal proceedings against the US at the World Trade Organization (WTO), arguing the Trump administration violated WTO trade rules in applying the tariffs. The EU believes these unilateral US tariffs are unjustified and at odds with World Trade Organisation rules. This is protectionism, pure and simple, said Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, who will also attend the G7. For his part, Trudeau was particularly incensed by the US justification for imposing the tariffs national security which the Canadian prime minister called frankly insulting and unacceptable. On Thursday, he called Trumps security reasoning for tariffs laughable. {articleGUID} National security is an accepted reason in international trade law, and the WTO agreements to unilaterally suspend trade agreements, explained Charles Hankla, associate professor of political science at Georgia State University. Hankla, an expert on US trade policy, told Al Jazeera there had been a tacit norm not to use the national security justification, however, since it could undermine the system of global trade. The national security justification is, I think, a useful one for President Trump because it allows him to act unilaterally domestically and gives him an excuse for doing so internationally, he said. I dont actually believe that there are real national security concerns here. I think its more a useful instrument. Protectionist US Whatever the reasoning, the decision highlights a rise in protectionism under Trump, who campaigned on the slogan America First. Under his direction, the US pulled out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal and had threatened to pull out of the long-standing North America Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico. The tariffs not only represent a rise in protectionism among states that have vowed in the past to avoid it; they are also a sharp break in practice, and a betrayal of fundamental norms of global, post-war cooperation, Pelc said. While the G7 is not typically the place to deal with complex trade relations, it presents a small chance for the US to backtrack on its tariffs, he added. {articleGUID} However, the other countries may have to offer up a concession, such as renegotiating an aspect of the WTO agreements for Trump to claim enough of a win to justify halting his protectionist measures, Pelc said. Hankla agreed, saying Trump has backtracked on trade decisions in the past, but that it likely wouldnt happen at a public and heavily scrutinised forum such as the G7. Could he conceivably, when hes a little bit more out of the spotlight, change his policy? Absolutely. Hes done it a number of times before, Hankla said. G6 plus one? Still, of primary concern to the six other world leaders this week remains how to deal with Trump and whether they should switch strategies, and if so, to what alternative? For the first 500 days of the Trump administration, these countries generally were bent over backwards not to criticise President Trump There is a feeling I think over the last few months that that approach has not borne fruit, Wright said. That was echoed by Abelson, who said Trumps behaviour from his tweets to his seemingly snap decisions on key pillars of US policy has put others on edge. Whether the leaders all sign on to a customary, joint statement at the end of the summit is also very much up in the air. Earlier this week, German news agency DPA reported that disagreements with Trump had left the statement hanging in the balance. It would be the first time all G7 countries do not sign a final statement. Many journalists are referring to this summit as the G6 plus one, Abelson said. Youre dealing with someone who doesnt necessarily hold all the cards, but someone who can cause a lot of disruption. And I think thats what theyre ultimately concerned about, just controlling the potential damage. White House denies report saying Kushner told Kuwaits initiative embarrassed him in front of US officials, allies. Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trumps son-in-law and White House senior adviser, met Kuwaits ambassador to Washington and expressed his frustration with the Gulf nations position on Palestine at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), according to Kuwait-based daily Al Rai. Citing an unnamed US diplomatic source, the newspaper said on Wednesday that Kushner conveyed the Trump administrations annoyance over a recently drafted Kuwaiti resolution that called for the protection of Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. Kuwait drafted the resolution after Israeli forces killed dozens of Palestinian demonstrators last month in Gaza. Kushner reportedly told ambassador Salem Abdullah al-Jaber Al Sabah that Kuwaits position had personally embarrassed him in front of US officials and friends of America who support [US] efforts to solve the crisis. The presidents son-in-law said in the five-minute meeting that he had been working alongside Egypt and Saudi Arabia on a joint Arab-US statement regarding the situation in Gaza before the Kuwaiti initiative. According to the report, Kushner said he wanted Kuwait to maintain its role as mediator in the ongoing Gulf crisis, despite some parties objections to its diplomatic efforts. The 37-year-old, who is also the presidents Middle East peace envoy, insisted that Hamas be considered a terrorist organisation, adding that the Palestinian group worked to advance Irans agenda in the region and did not have Palestinian peoples best interests at heart. In a statement to Al Jazeera, a White House spokesperson denied Al Rais report, saying Kushner and al-Sabah have a strong relationship based on mutual respect and shared strategic goals. They met recently to discuss the peace process and actions at the United Nations and had an honest and constructive discussion, said Raj Shah, White House deputy press secretary. The reports by an unnamed US official characterising their recent meeting as strained are false. An official source at Kuwaits foreign ministry also dismissed the report, saying ties between Kuwait and the United States are deep-rooted. Last week, the US was alone in voting down the Kuwait-drafted UNSC resolution on protecting Palestinians from Israeli live fire. Ten countries, including Russia and France, voted in favour of the resolution. Razzaz, whose nomination became subject of debate in Jordan, pledges new taxation system that will be fair to all. Only days into his appointment by King Abdullah II, Prime Minister Omar al-Razzaz is facing opposition from military veterans, while analysts consider his appointment as a pragmatic move. The countrys powerful Military Veterans Association issued a statement earlier in the week signed by several retired senior military leaders and others decrying al-Razzaz appointment. The statement called the appointment shocking and a provocation. He is an honourable man and a technocrat, however, he is unfit to lead the government at this critical junction. General Musa al-Adwan, former commander of Jordan's Special Forces Retired General Musa al-Adwan, a former commander of Jordans Special Forces, told al Jazeera that al-Razzaz is not the right man at this time. Retired army General Musa al-Adwan [Al Jazeera] He is an honourable man and a technocrat. However, he is unfit to lead the government at this critical junction, said al-Adwan, who is one of the signatories of the veterans statement. He was part of the old failed government, and if he is not empowered to lead the government with a great measure of independence, he will fail, he said. Popular prime minister Fahad Khitan, a prominent Jordanian political analyst, downplayed the veterans statement and motivations. There is a difference between the current protest movement against the proposed tax law and politically motivated ones such as those led by the Hirak, an opposition formation dominated mainly by former government and military officers hailing from the countrys powerful tribes, Khitan said. The current protest movement is led by the middle class and business community, who felt the proposed tax law will have dire consequences on them. Razzaz will be a popular prime minister because of his previous job as an education minister which endeared him to the public. This is the first time I see enthusiasm for a prime minister in the country, he added. Al-Razzaz has previously pledged to hold a dialogue over the controversial tax law, but on Thursday he was reported to have said that he would drop the proposed bill, conceding to a key demand of protesters. He tweeted on Wednesday I pledge to have dialogue with all groups and to work together with them to reach just taxation system that will be fair to all. Economist Mazen Irsheid told Al Jazeera that the Jordanian government has no choice but to go ahead with its planned economic reforms. I do not think Razzaz will cancel the law because Jordan has committed itself to tax reform with the International Monetary Fund [IMF]. The new government will technically withdraw the laws current version and start a dialogue with different groups including the professional and trade associations. It will then submit a watered-down version of it to the parliament within several weeks, he told Al Jazeera. Irsheid thinks the appointment of al-Razzaz was a smart move by the king. It is possible that the king has selected Razzaz who worked for IMF before to assure the international agency that Jordan is still committed to its planned economic reforms, he said. The key demands The Hirak also called on the king to initiate structural economic and political reform. The main demands of the Hirak and the military veterans group is changing the course of Jordans economic policies, combatting corruption, restoring the constitutional monarchy and the direct election of the prime minister. Al-Razzaz, who was minister of education in the previous government of former Prime Minister Hani al-Mulki, faces the daunting task of trying to strike a balance between the need to pass the controversial tax law and satisfy the demands of the street and opposition groups. King Abdullah sacked al-Mulki after mass protests demanded his resignation and the withdrawal of a proposed tax law that would have increased taxes across the board and caused further hardship on the population. In Jordans political tradition, the prime minister often functions as a buffer between the king and the population when things reach a boiling point. Historically, prime ministers have been appointed for as little as one month or as long as three years, mainly to enact specific laws or resolve domestic or regional crises, after which they were dismissed. The king has repeatedly said in public that he wants to see strong political parties in the country so they can stand for elections and form an elected government. Fighting corruption Hussam Abdallat, one of the key leaders of the Hirak and former senior government official, told Al Jazeera that Razzaz appointment is just a change in decorum, not in substance. What we need is a fundamental political and economic change that will restore the constitutional monarchy system and get rid of corrupt officials who still dominate the government ranks today. He said While asserting that al-Razzaz is clean, opposition groups still consider him one of the neo-liberal advisors responsible for the countrys economic collapse. If the king backs the new prime minister and urges him to wage war on corruption, the country will make it through this difficult period. General Mahmoud Hammad, former Chief of Staff of Jordan Land Forces Retired General Mahmoud Hammad, former chief of staff of Jordans land forces, told Al Jazeera that the biggest problem facing the new prime minister and Jordan, in general, is corruption. He said Jordan would be on the track of recovery if it had a government that is serious in its efforts to fight corruption. Hammad told Al Jazeera that he had on one occasion advised the king on the urgent need to get rid of corrupt advisors who are eroding the peoples trust in the regime. The king must act decisively and back the new prime minister up against those who would try to weaken him. If the king backs the new prime minister and urges him to wage war on corruption, the country will make it through this difficult period, he added. Follow Ali Younes on Twitter: @ali_reports Omar al-Razzaz said his government would repeal the bill days after he was appointed in the wake of mass protests. Jordans new Prime Minister Omar al-Razzaz on Thursday announced his government would repeal a controversial income tax bill once he is sworn in by King Abdullah II. Speaking to reporters after a meeting in the Jordanian parliament, Razzaz said there was a consensus on withdrawing the tax bill that sparked nationwide protests that began last week and had been introduced as part of International Monetary Fund-backed economic reforms. The king appointed al-Razzaz as the new prime minister on Tuesday and tasked him with reviewing the tax plan and launching a national dialogue with unions and civil society groups. But protesters demanded the proposed law be scrapped entirely, adding that a cabinet reshuffle was not enough to raise living standards. The governments economic reform measures are the latest in a series of economic changes since Amman secured a $723m three-year credit line from the IMF in 2016. Nicaragua unrest: Business owners put pressure on government Mercado Oriental is the largest open-air market in Central America, it generates hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, and taxes, every year. Landmark Trump-Kim summit creates the possibility of economic revival for North Korea, but significant obstacles remain. Seoul, South Korea In the face of the landmark summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump, the whole world seems obsessed with watching the wall-to-wall coverage of the on-again off-again summit scheduled for June 12 in Singapore. Not so, for North Korea. Instead, economic development projects are dominating the headlines of Pyongyangs tightly controlled state-run media outlets. Recently completed railways and the on-going construction of a large tourist zone in the countrys eastern coastal city of Wonsan have been getting the spotlight. One of toughest issues of the negotiations, and one of Pyongyangs main goals, would be the lifting of a multitude of international sanctions mainly designed to stifle North Koreas economy. This would be in exchange for a complete, verifiable, and irreversible dismantlement of the Norths cherished decades-long nuclear programme. Nuclear weapons might be able to guarantee the regimes security from the US for a short period of time, but they do not help meet peoples growing expectations of economic livelihood, said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul. Chairman Kim has been making his move to address a very urgent issue of improving the residents livelihood and developing the economy, Yang added. In fact, Kim has been gradually shifting the countrys strategic focus from the military to the economy since he inherited power from his late father Kim Jong Il in 2011. In 2013, he replaced his fathers flagship policy of Military First with the now-scrapped Dual Policy of simultaneously seeking economic and nuclear weapons development, and recently dropped the emphasis on nuclear proliferation from the countrys strategy. At a key meeting in Pyongyang in April, the ruling Workers Party vowed to concentrate all efforts on building a powerful socialist economy through the mobilisation of all human and material resources, according to a report by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). Kim does not have much time left in producing tangible economic achievements, as he previously laid out during the first ruling Party Congress convened in more than three decades; an ambitious five-year strategy for the state economic development that will end in 2020. Such a drive for the economy seems to have borne fruit to some extent, despite international sanctions. Under Kims leadership, North Koreas GDP has been projected to have expanded (albeit at a low rate) every year with the exception of 2015, according to the latest estimates released by the central Bank of Korea in the South, which tracks North Koreas economic activities. With rapprochement and peace on the horizon, potentially clearing geopolitical risks and uncertainties, big players are now looking into potential economic dividends. Of course, many of the scenarios on economic projects involving North Korea are largely contingent upon the outcome of the Singapore summit, more specifically, the Norths pledge for denuclearisation and the subsequent lifting of sanctions. South Korea sees a potential opening up in the North as another growth engine. Mineral resources Many experts here point out the most distinctive assets of North Korea is its vast amount of mineral resources, including iron and magnesite. Since North Korea does not disclose the details of its natural resources, it is difficult to come up with an estimate of potential value. However, one estimate by the Korea Resources Corporation in the South puts it at more than $3 trillion . In addition, North Korea is known to have a big reserve of rare earth metals, essential materials in producing digital devices such as smartphones. In contrast, while South Korea is the fifth largest consumer of minerals in the world, the country is poorly endowed with natural resources and has to rely on 90 percent of the mineral resources it consumes from foreign imports. Joint factories An affordable and relatively well-educated workforce in the North is another factor attracting South Korean manufacturing companies, many of whom have relocated their factories overseas. In addition, geographic proximity and the same language spoken on both sides of the border helps to bring down additional costs. The joint inter-Korean Kaesong Industrial Complex was the last vestige of inter-Korean economic cooperation, located just north of the border. Before it shut down in early 2016 in the wake of missile and nuclear tests, an average monthly wage paid to a North Korean worker was $169. A minimum wage worker in the South earns nearly 10 times that, at about $1,470 a month, working a 40-hour week. Tourism Tourism is an industry that Kim has keenly pushed to develop, although it might sound odd for many outsiders. Kim built a Masikryong Ski Resort in the eastern city of Wonsan immediately after he came into power, and is now concentrating resources, including army soldiers, into constructing a huge tourism complex along the coast with an aim to finish by April next year. A soaring number of South Koreans are spending their holidays overseas, surpassing the 26 million mark last year. Even if a fraction of those people cross the border and visit historically famous places in the North, it would easily become a multi-billion dollar business. However, there is a mountain to climb. South Korea has halted all inter-Korean tourism projects since a South Korean tourist was shot and killed in 2008 by a North Korean guard in a scenic mountain resort, just north of the border on the east coast. More than 3,000 South Koreans crossed the border to visit the mountain in 2007. Seoul has demanded Pyongyang make an apology and provide safety measures, a set of conditions not yet met by the North. Railways South Korea hopes to reconnect railways between two Koreas, and ultimately connect to the Trans Siberian Railways. The two Koreas made some nascent progress in the 2000s, before their relations began to sour in 2008. Severed by the inter-Korean border, South Korea is a de facto island nation. Currently, South Korea, the sixth largest exporter in the world, relies heavily on sea shipping for a bulk of its trade. Shipping freight from South Koreas port city of Busan to Berlin via railway would halve the current shipping time of 35-40 days via sea. In order for this to materialise, a major overhaul and modernisation of the Norths old railway systems are needed. During the landmark inter-Korean summit in April, Kim made a rare admission of his countrys inferiority, when South Korean President Moon Jae-in, an avid hiker, expressed his wish to travel to the highest mountain in the North. According to Moons spokesperson, Kim said he was concerned about transportation inconveniences in contrast to South Koreas high-speed train. Two leaders agreed to adopt practical steps towards the connection and modernisation of the railways and roads. With most of the land already developed in the South, major infrastructure projects would be a boon to construction companies. Relationship with Russia Russian President Vladimir Putin, eager to develop Russias Far East, has repeatedly pushed for trilateral economic projects involving two Koreas and his country, even during the heightened tensions in previous years. As the peace mood has blossomed, Putin wasted no time in rekindling the moribund projects, including connecting railways and building a gas pipeline between Russia and the South via the North. Putin once again raised the prospect during the phone call with Moon, two days after the April 27 inter-Korean summit. Last week, he sent his top diplomat, Sergey Lavrov, to Pyongyang, pointing out the need for a revived push for trilateral economic projects. A $100bn deal between Seoul and Moscow reached in 2008, to supply annually 7.5 million tonnes of Russian natural gas starting in 2015 via a pipeline to be built via North Korea, was placed on hold in the wake of souring inter-Korean relations. The project was considered to be a win-win for both countries, as resource-rich Russia can secure an important consumer and resource-strapped South Korea can bring down its import price. Putin has invited Kim to a major Russia-held economic forum to take place in Vladivostok in September. Key leaders in the region, including President Xi Jinping of China and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, are likely to attend as well. China ties China hopes to give yet another impetus to its drive to develop the countrys laggard northeastern provinces that border with North Korea. {articleGUID} Despite its rosy economic blueprint, the provinces have been plagued with high unemployment and a string of scandals, including falsified GDP figures. An exodus of labour force to wealthier provinces and geopolitical uncertainties amid a string of missile and nuclear tests across the border have made it more difficult for the region to turn things around. The latest rounds of UN Security Council resolutions have restricted the import of North Korean labour and much of the trade with North Korea. Despite the Norths potential, experts warn challenges also lie ahead. For all-round economic development, infrastructure projects such as the construction of roads, railways and power plants for electricity are needed. A realistic question would be how to fund them, when any infrastructure project would cost an enormous amount of money and take a long time before yielding profit. President Trump clearly stated the US would not provide money when his country is 13,000km away, stressing that South Korea, China and Japan would provide the financial backing. The South Korean government has earmarked roughly $1bn for an inter-Korean economic cooperation fund. A move by the government to secure a bigger budget will likely entail a heated social and political debate in a country already struggling with expanding social welfare programmes. If private investments are made, then positive achievements could be made. My concern is whether the private sector would actively participate in investments, Shin Se-don, an economics professor at Sookmyung Womens University, told Al Jazeera. Even if private companies raise funds and build infrastructure first, they need to be able to recover the cost at a later stage . The question is whether North Korea is capable of paying back, and whether North Korea is willing to pay back, Shin added, pointing out the Norths track record. He said there could be a way around suggesting one scenario in which governments in the region provide guarantees and private banks provide loans to the private sector. That arrangement would be a lot harder for Pyongyang to default on, said Shin. In a televised call-in show, Russian president calls Syrian war a unique tool by which to improve our armed forces. President Vladimir Putin says Russia has no plans to pull its military out of Syria, but isnt building permanent facilities there. The troops will stay there for as long as it is to Russias advantage, and to fulfill our international responsibilities, Putin said during his annual televised call-in show on Thursday. But, he added, we are not building long-term installations there and, if necessary, can withdraw our servicemen quite quickly without any material losses. Putin called the Syrian war an unique experience for Russian troops. Firstly, the use of our armed forces on the battlefield is a unique tool by which to improve our armed forces. No amount of military exercise could compare with the use of force in combat conditions, the Russian president said. Let me remind you that thousands of militants left Russia and the countries of Central Asia with whom we do not have hard borders and gathered on Syrian soil. It was better to deal with them there liquidate them there, than let them come back here weapons in hand. Mutual destruction The Kremlin first launched air attacks in Syria in September 2015 in its biggest Middle East intervention in decades, turning the tide of the conflict in President Bashar al-Assads favour. When asked about the possibility of a third world war, Putin responded the threat of an end to human civilization should be enough restraint, though he accused the United States of provocative moves. The threat of mutual destruction has always restrained participants of the international arena, prevented leading military powers from making hasty moves, and compelled participants to respect each other. US withdrawal from treaties on anti-ballistic missiles is an attempt to put an end to strategic parity, but we will respond to this, Putin said without elaborating. Aid agency calls on all warring sides to provide security guarantees so it can continue its life-saving work. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has pulled 71 of its international staff out of Yemen because of rising security threats. Some 450 ICRC employees remain in Yemen, including dozens of expatriate staff, spokeswoman Marie-Claire Feghali said. The aid agency urged all sides in the countrys three-year war to provide security guarantees so its staff could keep running surgical, water and food assistance programmes, which it said had been crippled by the partial evacuation. The ICRC is calling on all parties to the conflict to provide it with concrete, solid and actionable guarantees so that it can continue working in Yemen. The agency said moving the majority of its staff to Djibouti was due to high risks in the war-torn country. {articleGUID} An ICRC employee, a Lebanese national, was killed on April 21 by an unknown gunman who opened fire on his car in the southwestern Yemeni city of Taiz as he was on his way to visit a prison, it said at the time. Our current activities have been blocked, threatened and directly targeted in recent weeks, and we see a vigorous attempt to instrumentalise our organisation as a pawn in the conflict, the ICRC said in a statement. While the Yemen delegation has received numerous threats in the past, we cannot now accept additional risk less than two months after a gunman killed a staff member. The security of our staff, who are being intimidated by parties to the conflict, is a non-negotiable prerequisite for our presence and work in Yemen and an absolute priority, the statement added. Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirate have been at war against the Houthis in Yemen, trying to expel the shia fighters, who are widely believed to be backed by the kingdoms regional rival, Iran. Since then, more than 10,000 people have been killed and at least 40,000 wounded, mostly from air raids. In retaliation, the Houthis have launched dozens of missiles at the kingdom. Saudi authorities say over the past three years 90 ballistic missiles have been fired at the kingdom by the rebels. UN calls for ceasefire In recent weeks, a disparate collective of forces have advanced on the Houthi-held city of Hudaida, a vital lifeline where millions of Yemenis get their food and medicine. Riyadh sees Hudaida 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. {articleGUID} The UN has warned any operation aimed at seizing Hudaida port could disrupt the entry of aid shipments, 70 percent of which flow through the rebel-held port. The international body has called on the Houthis to give up its ballistic missiles in return for an end to the Saudi bombing campaign. The kingdom has carried out more than 16,000 air raids since March 2015, resulting in mass civilian casualties with weddings, hospitals and funerals targeted. The United States has been helping the coalition with weaponry and logistical support. According to a draft document which has not been made public and could be modified, the UN has urged the Houthis to hand over heavy and medium weapons including ballistic missiles. The document also cites plans to create a transitional government, in which political components shall be adequately represented, in an apparent nod to the Houthis, who would be unlikely to cede Sanaa without participation in a future government. Houthis cautious A Houthi official told the Reuters news agency he cautiously welcomed the UNs efforts, describing a ceasefire as the first building block in the political process. Our optimism will be determined by how serious and respectful the other parties are of the UN role, the official told Reuters. Anwar Gargash, the UAEs minister of state for foreign affairs, signaled Abu Dhabis desire to support the plan which was drafted by special UN envoy Martin Griffiths. Politically, there is a necessity to back the UN effort. It will ultimately mean a transition, to a new political order in Yemen. Clearly with the UN effort, the military and political process will see the Houthis pull out of urban centres, he told UAE English-language newspaper, The National. 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. The court said the four were guilty of conspiring to kill prominent figures in the predominantly Sunni Gulf nation. A Saudi court has sentenced four people to death for alleged links to the Kingdoms archrival Iran. State media reported on Thursday that the four were guilty of conspiring to kill prominent figures in the predominantly Sunni Gulf nation. The criminal court has sentenced four terrorists to death for forming a cell for Iran, the state-owned al-Ekhbariya TV said. The terrorists were trained in camps in Iran and planned to assassinate prominent figures, it added. According to government-affiliated media, the four trainees traveled to Iran through a tourism office and received training from Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Saud Arabia has one of the worlds highest execution rates with some 600 people killed since 2014. Offenses that are punishable by death range from links to terrorism to rape, armed robbery and drug trafficking. Tensions spiked between Saudi and Iran in 2016 following Riyadhs execution of Shia leader Nimr al-Nimr alongside 46 others for supporting terrorism. Nimrs death prompted protests in a number of countries, including Iran where demonstrators broke into the Saudi embassy and started a fire, leading Riyadh to cut ties with Tehran. Rights experts have repeatedly raised concerns about the fairness of trials in the Kingdom, governed under a strict form of Islamic law, although the Saudi government claims it serves as a deterrent. Rakhmat Akilov given life sentence for killing five people using stolen truck last year. A Swedish court sentenced Rakhmat Akilov to life in prison on Thursday for killing five people and injuring another 10 when the Uzbek asylum seeker slammed a stolen truck into shoppers on a busy street in Stockholm last April. The defendant has, among a series of crimes, been found guilty of terrorist offense by murder in five cases. The penalty has been set to life imprisonment, the Stockholm District Court said in a statement. On April 7 last year, Akilov hijacked a beer truck outside a restaurant in central Stockholm and sped some 500 metres down a pedestrian street, ploughing into shoppers before crashing the truck into a department store. He was arrested the same day outside a gas station in a Stockholm suburb after he was recognised from a CCTV image; he quickly admitted to being the driver of the truck. Akilov stated during the trial that he wanted to punish Sweden for its part in the global fight against the armed group the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS). Stockholm was one of several cities in Europe where vehicles have been used to target crowds of civilians. Tariffs overshadow G7 summit: Can a trade war be averted? Meeting in Canada between leaders of the worlds wealthiest nations may be one of the last opportunities to avert what appears to be a looming trade war. Trump hosts first Ramadan Iftar dinner at White House Wednesday marked the first Iftar hosted by Trump, sparking much criticism from the Muslim community. Turkey suspended its migrant re-admission deal with Greece days after Athens released from prison eight Turkish soldiers who fled their country after a 2016 attempted coup. The troops were released on Monday after an order extending their custody expired. A decision on their asylum applications is still pending. We have a bilateral re-admission agreement, we have suspended that re-admission agreement, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was quoted as saying by state-run Anadolu news agency on Thursday. He said a separate migrant deal between the European Union and Turkey would continue. Under the bilateral deal signed in 2001, 1,209 foreign nationals have been deported to Turkey from Greece in the last two years. Cavusoglu said he believed the Greek government wanted to resolve the issue with the Turkish soldiers, but Greek judges were under pressure from the West. {articleGUID} Turkey has repeatedly called for the extradition of the suspected coup-plotters. Greek courts have rejected the requests and the soldiers have denied any wrongdoing, adding they fear for their lives. The soldiers arrived to Greece on board a stolen military helicopter hours after the failed coup that killed hundreds and wounded thousands. Turkish soldiers and tanks took to the streets in July 2016 as explosions rang out in Ankara and Istanbul. Turkish fighter jets dropped bombs on their own parliament. After the putsch was quickly put down, a state of emergency was imposed under which more than 150,000 people were taken into custody with 110,000 civil servants dismissed, according to recent European Commission report. Turkeys Western allies have repeatedly condemned the Turkish governments detentions and purges, and rights groups accuse Ankara of using the coup detat as a pretext to silence opposition in the country. The government says the purges and detentions are in line with the rule of law. Muharrem Ince says Turkey should have a role in promoting harmony across the troubled Middle East region. Turkey will work to create a basin of friendship in the Middle East if presidential candidate Muharrem Ince wins the June 24 election, he has told Al Jazeera. Ince, who opinion polls place as the closest rival to incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is standing for the opposition Republican Peoples Party (CHP) in the race to become Turkeys 13th president. The campaign has focused mainly on domestic issues, but Ince said Turkey should have a role in promoting harmony across the troubled region. Under our rule, we will work hard to re-establish brotherhood between all Middle Eastern countries and peoples based on mutual trust and try to create a basin of friendship in the region, Ince said. Normalise relations with Assad In recent years, Turkey has become embroiled in disputes among its Arab neighbours, notably in Syria but also in backing Qatar after Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic and economic ties with it. In the year since the blockade began, Turkey has increased food exports to Qatar, boosted investment and reinforced military ties by sending troops to the Gulf state. However, many in Turkey see this involvement in the affairs of neighbouring states as a retreat from the decades-old practice of avoiding regional squabbles summed up in the zero problems with neighbours policy. In Syria, Turkey initially backed rebel groups in a bid to overthrow Bashar al-Assad but is now more focused on battling the territorial gains of the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG), due to their links to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The PKK has waged a decades-long war against Turkey that has led to tens of thousands of deaths. The group is listed as a terrorist group by Turkey, the US and EU. However, the US has used the YPG as its on-the-ground ally in northern Syria and has provided it with air support and arms. Ince reiterated his partys call for Turkey to normalise relations with the Assad government and said the CHP would reopen an embassy in Damascus as well as focus on the territorial unity and integrity of Syria a further indication of widespread opposition to the creation of a Kurdish entity along Turkeys southern border. Turkey would support peace in Syria by backing a new constitution and elections, allowing some 4 million Syrian refugees to return home, he added. He noted that Turkey had paid a heavy price for its involvement in Syria a reference to attacks carried out by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) inside Turkey as well as the military casualties in cross-border operations in northern Syria. Dialogue and actions Turkeys Syria policy is one of several areas where Ankaras relationship with the US has suffered, largely due to Washingtons support for the YPG. Following a recent US-Turkey deal, the YPG has agreed to withdraw from the city of Manbij, which it took from ISIL in 2016, although it still holds a broad swath of northeast Syria along the Turkish border. Discord between the NATO allies goes further than Syria and includes the prosecution of Andrew Brunson, a US pastor accused of supporting terrorism within Turkey, and the US refusal to extradite Fethullah Gulen, an exiled religious leader and businessman based in the US. Ankara considers Gulen to be the mastermind of the July 2016 coup attempt that killed more than 300 people. The disagreements extend to Turkeys purchase of S-400 missiles from Russia, President Donald Trumps decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, the arrest of Turkish officials working at US consulates and the jailing of a Turkish bank executive in New York for breaching sanctions on Iran. Describing the extent of US-Turkey disputes as quite a big dossier, Ince called for some reassessing and reevaluation of the relationship. Both countries benefit from these relations, the former physics teacher said. We will develop our relations with the USA, which is a global super power, by providing new cooperation opportunities. Dialogue and actions must be carried out in a manner that is required between true allies. EU bans of Turkish politicians In addition to the US, Turkeys ties to the EU, which it aspires to join, have also suffered in recent years, particularly due to what Turkey has perceived as a lack of support over the coup attempt and Europes focus on human rights abuses in the subsequent crackdown. During last years referendum on switching from a parliamentary to a presidential system, European states such as the Netherlands, Germany and Austria banned politicians from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) from addressing rallies to Turkish voters living in their countries, leading Erdogan to denounce Nazi-like practices. These bans have remained in place during the current campaign for Turkeys parliamentary and presidential elections, reducing the opportunity for politicians to speak directly to some of the 3 million Turkish voters that live abroad. The problem with Holland is one of the unnecessary problems that the current government has created, Ince said. Of course, like any country, Holland has the right to decide whether another country can carry out election campaigns in its country or not. You have to respect this. If you are not happy with this decision you have to establish relations that will erase the worries of the opposite side. We have seen that nothing has been done in this direction. Talks for Turkey to join the EU it applied in 1987 and discussions began in 2005 are currently suspended amid European concerns around human rights and the rule of law in Turkey in the wake of the coup attempt. Last year, during a German election campaign, Chancellor Angela Merkel called for an end to negotiations. Our fundamental problem with Germany is their approach towards our European Union membership, Ince said. We understand their worries, but they are not worries that cannot be removed. Rule of law According to the most recent opinion survey, Erdogan leads the race with 48.3 percent, not enough to avoid a second round in the presidential vote. Ince, who polled 31.4 percent, is therefore likely to face Erdogan in a follow-up vote on July 8. During his campaign, the CHP candidate has emphasised the need for Turkey to return to the rule of law. According to the UN, 160,000 people have been arrested, and a similar number dismissed or suspended from their jobs following the coup attempt. Ince stressed that respect for the impartiality and supremacy of the legal system should also translate to foreign affairs. Referring to the case of the US pastor Brunson, who is said to be one of several examples where Turkey is employing hostage diplomacy to further its objectives, Ince said: Above all, Turkey will become firstly a state of law. The two countries had formed a separate military and trade partnership amid the GCC rift. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have held the first meeting of their new military and trade alliance that is separate from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Wednesday evening in Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah. The two countries formed the partnership in December last year amid an ongoing regional rift that has divided members of the GCC council a political and economic alliance of six countries that includes Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait and Oman. On June 5 last year, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic and trade ties with Qatar, sparking the biggest diplomatic crisis in the Gulf in years. Land and maritime borders with the Gulf country were closed, air links suspended and Qatari citizens expelled. Accusing Doha of supporting terrorists and being too close to Saudi Arabias region rival Iran, Riyadh said it acted to protect its national security from the dangers of terrorism and extremism. Qatar has repeatedly rejected the accusations levelled against it, viewing the campaign as an attempt to impose custodianship over the nation. It has called the allegations baseless. The partnership between the two countries, which militarily intervened in neighbouring Yemen in an attempt to drive out Houthi rebels, was announced during the 38th GCC summit in Kuwait City. The two-day key regional summit was cut short and concluded after a closed session that kicked off the conference. At the time, regional expert Majed al-Ansari from Qatar University said: It seems that there is an intention by the by the Saudis and Emiratis, especially with the timing of the announcement [of the new partnership] to say that the GCC is effectively dead. UK Supreme Court backs N Ireland womens right to abortion Non-legally binding ruling says victims of rape or those with serious health risks have right to terminate pregnancies. One year since farmers killed by police in Indias Mandsaur Farmers had been protesting over low produce prices, a problem that persists, when officers opened fire on them. Edgardo Antunano is leading a team in Texas and Brian McGonagle is promoted in Florida. Team Worldwide, a freight forwarder and 3PL company, opened a team branch office in McAllen, Texas, on Monday under the leadership of Edgardo Antunano. Antunano (pictured above), a 24-year veteran in transportation and global logistics, joined forces with custom house brokers in the McAllen and Reynosa, Mexico, border area under the umbrella of Team Worldwide. Antunano and his group operate a 70,000-square-foot facility in McAllen that offers transborder service northbound and southbound and a 63,000-square-foot multiclient storage depot in Monterrey, Mexico. We are excited to welcome Mr. Antunano and his team to our Team Worldwide family. TEAM recognizes the importance of transborder relationships in global trade. With Mr. Antunanos many years of experience and commitment to customer service, Team Worldwide customers can expect superior transborder services and a very knowledgeable, capable team to assist them with all of their transportation needs, said Jason Brunson, president and chief executive officer of Team Worldwide. The Lee County Port Authority (LCPA) has named Brian W. McGonagle division director of administration. The division oversees the areas of air service development, communications and marketing, finance, human resources, information technology and properties for Southwest Florida International Airport and Page Field in Fort Myers, Fla. McGonagle joined LCPA in 1997 as a budget analyst, was promoted to manager of budget and accounting and then named director of finance in 2004. Prior to joining LCPA, McGonagle worked for more than 12 years in accounting and finance at the Bank of Boston. He started his career as a cost accountant for United Airlines flight kitchen in Boston. California: Land of Fruits and Nuts in the Jungle (Primary) For as long as I can remember, California has been facetiously branded "the land of fruits and nuts." At the same time at least until recent years it was ironically acknowledged to be America's innovative land of milk and honey. In the mid-fifties, when I put my winter coat in mothballs and moved to Southern California, the Golden State was the place to head to, not only for the good weather, but for the generally hopeful climate in which one's dream might flourish. Now the term "dreamer" is associated with those whose illegal alien parents brought them illegally to America mostly in droves to the promised land of California. When my young husband and I made the trek west from Illinois in the middle of the last century, we faced a forced drive across an inhospitable desert in our nearly new, un-air-conditioned sea-green Pontiac sedan. Even though we wisely crossed a stretch of the Mojave at night, it helped to put ice cubes into the car's limited air vents. Despite its economic and political importance, the Golden State has become badly tarnished not that you would suspect as much from the recent primary election, during which slews of ambitious liberal politicians talked about defending "California values" as they battled it out to land among the top two vote-getters earning the right to continue their campaigns for five more months leading up to November 6. Those of my acquaintances who live elsewhere in the United States are appalled at the very existence of California's bizarre "jungle primary," in which every eligible voter can weigh in on the same ballot regardless of party affiliation. (And some would say plenty of ineligible voters, too!) One result of this altered primary process has been to encourage an impossibly crowded ballot, crammed not only with candidates from all parties, but with the usual state propositions sometimes termed "measures " that have become a dismal national example of calling upon citizens to legislate by ballot those state issues that their legislators have botched or neglected to address. Perhaps this overload contributes to the state's consistently low turnout of primary voters. In any event, despite the righteous Democrat accusations routinely leveled against Republicans for "disenfranchising the vulnerable," only a fraction more than 20% of California's voters on the rolls bothered to participate in the recent primary contest. (Some 180,000 were inadvertently let off the "official" lists another instance of incompetence in a state locked down by Democratic rule.) Aside from some more or less conservative areas in the Golden State, it is as deep blue as the Pacific Ocean it borders. As such, it has become a reliable resource in the Democrat column, an important and hitherto dependable element factoring into the ultimate control of the United States Congress, particularly in this election cycle the House of Representatives . But California's "jungle primary," the source of such pride from liberal lions, may be inadvertently killing the beast that feeds on it. This year, the DNC has been depending on true-blue California to "flip" some of its Republican congressional districts, currently represented by Republicans but considered "up for grabs." Instead, the present primary rules allow for the possibility that two Republican contenders will take the top two spots in competitive contests, thus shutting the door to a vital Democratic challenge on which a liberal turn of the tide could well depend. When the jungle primary was first decreed, its Democrat defenders offered the phony justification that the previous system of separate party primaries tended to result in partisan voters choosing the more "extreme" candidates, meaning that the electorate would be invariably "stuck" with choosing one of them in the general election. They grandly maintained that this could be rectified by having a "mix" of voters from all parties registering their wishes on the same primary ballot. It hasn't. (Maybe because more "extreme" voters are more motivated to participate in a primary, period.) All eyes will stay on California this election year but not necessarily with a sense of envy. The state is becoming known less for its promise than for its broken promises, less for its privilege than for its poverty not to mention its deteriorating infrastructure, high taxes, astronomical gas prices, clogged freeways, inadequate public transportation, homelessness, mounting welfare rolls, drug addiction, high cost of housing, continuing influx of illegal aliens, and other social concerns in what its lefty leaders in proud defiance of the law of the land have now declared to be a "sanctuary state." These days, the California hijra is often across the desert in the opposite direction: to Arizona, Texas, Nevada. Or north to the Pacific Northwest. For those who have resided in the once Golden State for decades, this reversal of fortune is almost impossible to grasp and even harder to swallow. Somewhat unexpectedly, Republican John Cox made it into the "playoffs," if you will. He is not expected to win the governorship. At the very least, he will turn the campaign from a hate-fest against President Donald Trump into a serious discussion of why this piece of heaven has fallen from grace. Senate Dems Offer Some North Korean Summit Advice for President Trump The long-anticipated, on-again/off-again/on-again summit with North Korea is fast approaching, this coming Tuesday, June 12th, in Singapore. Here, President Trump and Kim Jong-un of North Korea will sit down and see if they can actually come to some agreement regarding the nuclear weapons status of the North. Past administrations, from Clinton to Bush to Obama, have utterly failed to halt -- or even slow -- the Norths efforts at developing nuclear weapons. The prospect of nuclear weapons in the hands of an unpredictable, unstable regime like Kim Jong-uns will radically change the balance of power in the Pacific Rim and it has worldwide implications, since cash-strapped North Korea is likely to sell their nuclear technology to rogue nations across the globe. Past efforts at curbing other nations nuclear ambitions have proven vexing indeed. Pakistan and India have them, Iran is very close (mostly because of the amateurish and insincere efforts of the Obama administration) and Israel has them. Saudi Arabia is thought to have the technical wherewithal, should they begin development, as does Japan. Since 1945, keeping global nuclear ambitions under control is indeed like a genie that is frustratingly reluctant to stay in his bottle. Present-day Democrats have consistently shown little real interest in international or national security issues, except as those issues impacts and affects their political fortunes. The Pelosis, Waters, and Schumers of the world are not really concerned about North Koreas or Irans nuclear ambitions or illegal immigration, unless they can somehow leverage those issues into making Republicans look bad and thus bolster their own electoral fortunes. So it is now with Kim Jong-un and the Singapore summit. All of a sudden, Senate Democrats -- after complete silence on the matter -- have issued a checklist of requirements and demands for President Trump to accomplish at the summit. Its such a transparent political ploy: fabricate arbitrary, difficult-to-achieve, difficult-to-verify goals, and then when (in their view, in the immediate aftermath of the summit) their goals havent been met, issue a very public Aha! He failed! statement. The Democrats issuing a checklist for the North Korean summit is laughable -- like the Democrats actually care about national security, N. Korea or anything along those lines at all. With each succeeding Democratic administration since Kennedy in 1960 -- LBJ, Carter, Clinton, Obama -- the Democratic Party has oriented more and more of its policy objectives towards domestic issues, with an ever-increasing emphasis on pure electoral success, abject media manipulation and demonizing their political opposition. Considering the Obama administrations near-total shunning of international considerations -- from abandoning American personnel at Benghazi to declaring the war on terrorism is over, to allowing Russia to simply annex part of the Ukraine without penalty to failing to keep Assad accountable for stepping over the red line, to undercutting Israel at every turn to gifting $150 billion to Iran while allowing them to keep their nuclear program -- modern-day Democrats have summarily rejected national security/foreign policy issues in favor of concentrating on domestic identity politics: Identify a special interest victim group (blacks, women, LGBT, Hispanics, environmentalists, etc.), then craft a tax-funded Government policy to solve their problem (in other words, buy their votes), all the while enlisting the liberal mainstream media to do their bidding for them. That is the modus operandi of todays Democratic Party. Now, all of a sudden, were to believe that Chuck Schumer and his cohort suddenly have a deep and abiding interest in the national security interests of the United States and its foreign policy strategy? This is so transparent its even obvious to the most casual observers: the Democrats simply want to set a political Gotcha! trap for President Trump, while keeping themselves perfectly inoculated from any judgment or accountability themselves. So they produce a highly-publicized, serious-sounding letter. Quite clever on their part. Heres what President Trump should do: he should take Senator Schumer along with him to the summit. He should very publicly state that he appreciates Schumers obvious expertise and deep, thoughtful analysis of the situation and hed welcome his invaluable assistance in the negotiations. Its a win-win for Trump: If Schumer is there and the negotiations fail to achieve any meaningful results, Schumer doesnt get to criticize from afar, unaccountable, since he was there and part of the process. Part of whatever blame is assigned will be his and the Democrats. If the summit is a smashing success, then Trump gets to thank Schumer for his help, he gets to say that America has achieved a great thing for global peace and stability by coming together, Republicans and Democrats, and showing the world what can be accomplished when We reach across the aisle in pursuit of goals bigger than small-time partisan politics. Regardless of the outcome, if Schumer is there, Trump wins. There would be few things in life more priceless than the expression on Chuck Schumers face as he boards the plane for Singapore. Should Anti-Semitism Be Considered 'Free Speech'? To alter a Wilde witticism, a true lady is never unintentionally rude. A number of women perhaps not ladies, though experienced public entertainers in both the U.S. and Britain may be considered examples of Oscar's mot. In one week in the U.S. in May, two female comedians, Roseanne Barr and Samantha Bee, have admitted and apologized for explicit rudeness and a comedian's nightmare a bad joke. Another recent previous case in the U.K. involving the issue of speech concerned a 29-year-Scottish man named Mark Meechan (aka Count Dankula). He had in April 2016 posted a video on YouTube of his girlfriend's dog, which he had trained to give the Nazi salute. The dog reacted to certain phrases, among them "Gas the Jews" and "Sieg Heil." Meechan was tried and in April 2018 was fined for his video, which the court found offensive, anti-Semitic, and racist. The court did not believe Meechan's excuse that the video was made only to annoy his girlfriend. Alison Chabloz was indicted and found guilty of posting on YouTube "grossly offensive" songs, intended to insult those, including Elie Wiesel, Otto Frank, and Irene Zisblatt, a Holocaust-survivor from Auschwitz, to whom her lyrics related. She mocked, to the tune of "Hava Nagila," some of them for having fabricated their narratives. Her performance was not an academic critique of the Holocaust, but an attack on Jews. A London District Judge, John Zani, on June 1, 2018, held that Chabloz's apology for her anti-Semitic lyrics were neither convincing nor genuine, and she showed no remorse or appreciation of her offense. The judge did not accept as a full explanation that she had acted out of revenge because she had lost a job on a cruise ship, one of the Aida Cruise line that has Jewish owners, after she posted an anti-Israeli tweet. There is no specific law in Britain regarding Holocaust denial, as there is in some countries. The prosecution against Chabloz was first brought by a private organization, the Campaign against Anti-Semitism, before the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) took it on. The court decided on the basis of the U.K. Communications Act of 2003, in which article 127 mentions an offense is committed by sending "by means of a public electronic communications network a message or other material that is grossly offensive or of an indecent, or menacing character," and whose purpose is to cause annoyance, inconvenience, or needless anxiety for another. Chabloz for a number of years has been provocative, claiming that the Holocaust is a "hoax" by Jews. She said there is no proof that allegedly homicidal gas chambers were used to kill Jewish people during World War II. Auschwitz was a "theme park," and the number of six million killed is exaggerated. In this she shares the views of Catholic bishop Richard Williamson, who was excommunicated from the Catholic Church in 1988 for being ordained against papal orders. (The excommunication was lifted in 2009.) Williamson is, by decision of a German court, a Holocaust-denier. He has denied , as has Chabloz, the gassing of Jews in Nazi camps, following the opinion of Ernst Zundel, German promoter of Holocaust denial, and insisted that "only" 200 to 300,000 Jews were killed. He also has suggested that Jews aim at "world domination" and has endorsed the tsarist forgery Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the alleged Jewish plot for world domination. In her fantasy world, Chabloz is not alone. She is associated with dubious company , among them Jeremy Bedford-Turner, leader of the right-wing neo-Nazi London Forum, and David Shayler, former member of MI5. Turner has informed us that London, "once described as the cradle of freedom and democracy," is now the heart of a liberal tyranny. He was sentenced in 2017 to a year in prison for anti-Semitism. His main objective is to free England from Jewish control. David Shayler, a transvestite (aka Delores Kane), portrays himself as the Messiah, on a divine mission from God, successor to previous incumbents King Arthur, Macbeth, Lawrence of Arabia, and Che Guevara. His mission is the dismantling of the "Zionist Empire." Not surprisingly, he holds that 9-11 was orchestrated by Zionist agents and that Hitler was good for the Jews so they could claim compensation. Shayler is a hemp cultivator, and that helps explain all his bizarre statements, including the charge that British MI6 funded Islamist fighters to assassinate Colonel Gaddafi in Libya. The fanatical zealots are a cozy group. In an article in the British newspaper the Independent on May 7, 2017, the reporter claims he had infiltrated in February 2017 a secret meeting of the white supremacist, neo-Nazi London Forum, held in East London. Among the assorted wisdom he heard was that Auschwitz was like Disneyland and that allegations about Hitler were gossip, numerous Jewish conspiracies, defenses of slavery and segregation, and the degeneration of the West. Chabloz was present at the meeting and said she had performed at the 88th birthday party of Robert Faurisson, French major Holocaust-denier; had sung a parody of Edith Piaf's song, "I regret nothing"; and gave the infamous quenelle salute. This Chabloz case once again raised the question of limits on free speech. Does the honored principle allow the right to offend and insult people? Everyone will agree that freedom of expression, especially artistic freedom, should be upheld. However, Judge Zini in the Westminster Magistrates Court held that portrayal of certain historical events namely, the Holocaust affecting the Jewish community, and deceptive and dishonest attacks on well known Jews in an insulting, upsetting, and disrespectful manner, are unacceptable in an open and multicultural society. The principle of freedom of speech did not provide Chabloz with immunity from prosecution. Nor should it be available for any bigoted anti-Semite. You can argue that the Sun rises in the west, but you cannot deny that the Holocaust happened. One little detail largely escaped media notice when Chinese president Xi Jinping met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un on May 8. The visit coincided with China's launch of its first indigenous aircraft carrier in the town where the two met, perhaps sending a message to friend and foes of both China and North Korea: To North Korea, the message was, don't worry, because China has your back. To the U.S., the message was, you'd better start worrying about more than the price of soybeans. China has global ambitions, and those ambitions, like that new carrier, are being paid for in large part by the vast transfer of wealth via our huge trade deficits with Beijing. Agreeing with that assessment is former Wall Street Journal editor and Asia expert Brett M. Decker, who warns that those who worry that tariffs will increase the price of consumer goods and provoke a trade war are missing the big picture: that China is using its trade surplus us to prepare perhaps for a real war. America's trade deficit with China serves the authoritarian state's global ascendance and regional power ambitions, said Decker. "What are our dollars doing?" asked Decker. "We're building, paying for, and underwriting [China's] military buildup. We're building their infrastructure. We're making their country stronger for the future, sort of at the long-term expense of our own. We're not making the investments in our own infrastructure." "Every three years, we're at a rate of $1.2 trillion in trade deficit with China," said Decker. "That's money they're just using to build a deepwater fleet so they can project force in the Pacific. It's a national security issue, as well." ... The trade deficit "is not only a consumer question," said Decker, inviting political observers to contemplate "the bigger picture" of geopolitics. For those who cheerfully chirp that they personally have a trade deficit with K-Mart to neither's disadvantage and both getting what they want, consider that K-Mart is not taking your money and building aircraft carriers, anti-satellite weapons, and ballistic missiles with multiple and maneuverable warheads. Those militarized islands in the South China Sea are there not for tourists, but to militarily support China's territorial and resource theft in the region as it pursues its global ambitions. Peter Navarro, assistant to President Trump and White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing policy director, writing in the February 9, 2016 National Interest, uses America's F-22 Raptor as an example of how China's intellectual property theft in combination with our huge trade deficits has placed us in mortal peril: Let's see, however, if we can put the size of the U.S. trade deficit with China into some perspective; and let's start with the F-22 the only U.S. fighter jet with the agility, speed and stealth to overcome the latest Russian air defense systems and newest Chinese and Russian fighters[.] ... America can deploy only 187 F-22s because Congress, with President Obama's veto gun to its head, cancelled further construction due to high costs: about $360 million a plane[.] ... In contrast, China surely will have the capability to churn out record numbers of its F-22 clone known as the Chengdu J-20 Mighty Dragon. The sad irony here is that even as Congress was voting to halt F-22 construction, Chinese cyber hackers were brazenly stealing the F-22's blueprints. Now here's the relevant trade deficit math: Assuming that it costs about half the price for China to build its F-22 clone because of cheap labor and no need to pay for the R&D that went into developing the F-22, China can use a little more than one month of its trade surplus to replicate the entire U.S. F-22 air wing and pay for 1,000 of these planes with American consumer dollars in less than six months. There's clearly a lot more going on here than the price of a refrigerator at Home Depot. While we wring our hands over how China boycotting our soybeans might affect the midterm elections, China is figuring out how to allocate our gift in the financing of its major weapons systems: [Y]ou can do the (admittedly) rough numbers for any of a number of other Chinese weapons systems. For example, one day's worth of China's trade surplus with the United States buys 1,000 new cruise missiles that Beijing can point at Taipei or one hundred anti-ship ballistic missiles to target American carriers. Similarly, just one week's worth of China's trade surplus finances the construction of at least three new Chinese aircraft carriers to patrol the South China Sea and Indian Ocean or twenty new Yuan class diesel electric submarines to lay [sic] in wait for Japanese destroyers or American aircraft carrier strike groups. And Beijing can pay for its entire annual defense budget with a mere five months of what American consumers contribute to Beijing's imperial fisc. American consumers are quite simply financing China's war machine. They financed China's new aircraft carrier. And they are financing China's long-term territorial ambitions in the East and South China Seas: Beijing has long declared the South China Sea to be its territorial waters and has laid claim to two disputed chains: the Paracel Islands, about 200 miles from the coast of Vietnam, and the Spratly Islands in the southeastern part of the South China Sea. China's territorial ambitions include the Senkakus in the East China Sea, part of what Chinese military doctrine refers to as the "first island chain" that surrounds China. China's claim to the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea involves islands under Japanese administration and that Tokyo claims as Japanese territory. In the South China Sea, as of February, according to Reuters, China had finished construction on no fewer than six different island reefs from which to project its power in the South China Sea. Included in its military effort is the construction of a 3,000-meter (9,842 feet)-long runway on the artificially expanded Fiery Cross Reef as a base for Chinese fighter aircraft. The Chinese know the nexus between national wealth and national strength. While we struggle to find a way to get Mexico to pay for the border wall, China has found the easy way to get America to pay for its military. Daniel John Sobieski is a freelance writer whose pieces have appeared in Investor's Business Daily, Human Events, Reason Magazine, and the Chicago Sun-Times among other publications. Black employment: The new underground railroad In "Just Say It's Racist" in the Atlantic, June 4, Adam Serwer makes an assertion so astonishing and bold that one would be shocked had it not already been said over 3 billion times in just the last six years. Serwer says Trump-supporters are racist and the media should stop being afraid to say so. We would call Mr. Serwer brave in the second place if he wasn't so laughable in the first. The article strikes a strangely defiant yet self-protective pose. It plays out like the end of an old James Cagney gangster film Cagney or Serwer smashing out the second floor apartment window and popping off a few rounds while shouting, "Ah, ya dirty coppers, come in and get me! Take this, ya rats!" Serwer and his frothy media Democratic gang are obviously going on the lam in the face of an I.G. report sure to be unfavorable to their big bosses downtown. They think they can blast their way out of the joint and be across state lines before the heat catches up with them. Hold on, Sonny. Democrats are racists and have always been so. It is in the Democratic Party's DNA to be racist, from opposing Republican president Abraham Lincoln's emancipation of slaves to founding the Ku Klux Klan to act as a terrorist arm in violent support of Democrats' racist opinions. Serwer would say the entire history of America is one of racism, but he would be wrong. As far back as 1800, the people who later formed the Republican Party began meeting and rallying around emancipation. These people must be considered favorably in any equation resulting in a stereotypical slur upon our nation. As for the Democrats, they supported slavery, were willing to go to war in support of slavery, and fought every piece of civil rights legislation proposed by Republicans right up until 1965. It is not America that has a racist history; it is the Democratic Party that exclusively owned and operated any construct of American history that could be understood as manifestly racist. Democrats invented slavery 2.0, the soft tyranny version. Slavery 2.0 exploits African-Americans not for their collective work yield; rather, it exploits African-Americans for their collective vote yield. Democrats shunted millions of African-American families into rat-infested, crime-ridden hellholes with no path to escape. Within these ghettos, atrocities occur every day as hope for a better life is withheld because the Democratic slave-masters rely upon votes cast by the very same citizens they have incarcerated. Democrat racists have literally crushed the soul out of many African-Americans. Democrats loudly complain when Trump's employment figures show the lowest rate of unemployment ever within the black community. It's not respect Democrats such as Don Lemon really care about; they raise hell because employment represents the underground railroad that offers African-Americans freedom and escape from Democratic racist policies and control. The whip wielded by Democrats lands squarely on the backs of poor people who are threatened with eviction if they for a moment consider standing on their own two feet. Democrats won't even allow their poverty-stricken servants to choose better schools for the children, because this would surely deprive Democratic racists of the succeeding generations they must destroy in order to maintain power. The registrar of voters in the third most populous county in the United States is battling in court to keep non-citizens eligible to vote. Ann Harris Bennet of Harris County, Texas (population: over 4.5 million) takes that astonishing position in filing with federal court. In a federal court filing last week she said people can be removed for other reasons, but there is no requirement she erase names of people even after they tell her they aren't citizens. "Once a person is officially registered to vote, a state may only remove them from the voting list if: the person dies, changes residence, asks to be removed from the list, or becomes ineligible under state law because of criminal conviction or mental incapacity," Ms. Bennett said in court papers. The National Voter Registration Act "does not create any obligation for a state to conduct a list maintenance program to remove the names of voters who may be ineligible due to lack of citizenship." Ms. Bennett is fighting a request by the Public Interest Legal Foundation, a conservative group pushing to clean up voter rolls, which asked the county to turn over records of people who'd signed up to vote then later admitted they weren't citizens. If the state law of Texas does not require removing non-citizens from eligibility to vote, then the law needs serious change by the Texas state Legislature and the signature of Governor Abbott. There is a perverse movement underway beyond just Texas to keep ineligible voters on the rolls: She is one of what appears to be a trend of registrars arguing that groups looking to add more names to the voter rolls are protected by the NVRA, but those looking to trim bloated lists of old or erroneous names are not entitled to use the 1993 law to pry loose records. Neal Kelley, the registrar in Orange County, California, made a similar argument in a response to the PILF last week, saying he would only turn over records "if the request is being made in furtherance of the purposes of the National Voter Registration Act which is to enhance voting opportunities for every American." Mr. Kelley demanded PILF provide proof that it's trying to add more names to the voting rolls in order to get a look at the county's citizenship records. In point of fact, every ineligible vote cast cancels the vote of a legal voter who voted the opposite way. It is a clear and obvious subversion of democracy to keep ineligible people on the rolls. But such is the fetishization of "voter participation" that a registrar would even dare make these claims. We are losing our country when bogus votes are openly prized by public officials. responsible for election integrity. And by the way, isn't this enabling vote fraud? Does that make the registrars accomplices? The State Department says it has evacuated some employees and their families from our consulate in Guangzhou, China after one diplomat was sent home with symptoms eerily similar to the sickness that caused the U.S. government to recall more than half of our embassy staff in Havana. The mystery illness that struck several employees at the U.S. embassy in Cuba appears to have hit some U.S. diplomats in China. NBCNews: Heather Nauert, the State Department's spokeswoman, said "several" consulate employees had returned to the United States from China for further evaluation after they were screened as part of a task force Secretary of State Mike Pompeo created last month. The force is investigating reports of hearing, vision, balance and memory damage. The medical screenings in China are continuing, Nauert said. There are about 170 U.S. diplomats or employees and their families in Guangzhou. The State Department said in a health alert last month that the employee in Guangzhou reported "subtle and vague, but abnormal, sensations of sound and pressure" that had no immediate explanation. Pompeo said then that the employee's symptoms were eerily similar to those reported by the Cuban embassy staff. Doctors said in February that the symptoms among some 24 Havana embassy staffers were similar to those caused by concussions headaches, balance problems, sleep disturbances and visual and hearing difficulties. U.S. experts have said they know of no technology that would explain the symptoms. But President Donald Trump and other U.S. officials have accused Cuba of having targeted U.S. personnel with some kind of "acoustic sonic weapon" for unknown reasons, an allegation the Cuban government has forcefully denied. It isn't just diplomats who reported the symptoms. Some U.S. tourists were also affected. Some researchers at the University of Michigan say they may have an answer. Miami Herald: A team of computer scientists from the University of Michigan may have solved the mystery behind strange sounds heard by American diplomats in Havana, who later suffered a variety of medical disorders. Professor Kevin Fu and members of the Security and Privacy Research Group at the University of Michigan say they have an explanation for what could have happened in Havana: two sources of ultrasound such as listening devices placed too close together could generate interference and provoke the intense sounds described by the victims. And this may not have been done intentionally to harm diplomats, the scientists concluded in their study, first reported by the Daily Beast. Those who have followed the case closely say the new theory makes sense. "This is a variation of what I have always thought," James Cason, a former top U.S. diplomat in Havana, told el Nuevo Herald. "It explains the sonic part, that no one was spotted planting new devices inside the homes and doing it from the outside would require something huge." The only similarity between China and Cuba is that they are communist countries that keep extremely close tabs on Americans. So the explanation makes sense in theory but what is still unexplained is how the noise causes these specific symptoms. I would not be so quick to dismiss the idea that this is some kind of attack rather than an "accident." This is especially true since the news about our State Department employees' troubles in Cuba was widely reported. Even if it was an "accident" in the placement of listening devices, the Chinese knew by now that their bugs cause health problems to Americans. Perhaps it would have been difficult to remove them. But the idea that this is some kind of psychological warfare cannot be dismissed. It's unknown if the symptoms from the illness will be permanent. The residual effects apparently last quite a while. If it continues, the U.S. government will have to consider countermeasures, or permanently reducing their staff at these postings. The day after D-Day is appropriate for looking back at the results of WWII, among which was finding proof of the Holocaust. The extermination camps were known about before the war ended, but not everyone wanted to believe they could exist. Germany, after all, was perhaps the most cultured modern country in the world. Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms. The Solvay conferences. Goethe. Heisenberg. Nietzsche. Many say the Holocaust (Shoah, in Hebrew) didn't happen. It did happen. It was not history's first or last determined effort to wipe out a people, but it warrants all the opprobrium heaped on it. Its sheer awfulness should be taught in the schools and condemned in the harshest terms. Some Jews think ordinary Germans supported Hitler's Jew-hatred and therefore willingly went along with the genocide effort. I don't agree with that. It doesn't seem possible not to have known something, at least a little bit, about the camps, but Himmler had Germany by the throat. Nobody could stop the killers, and efforts to do so would only have resulted in them themselves, and probably their families, being killed. This formulation recognizes reality while excusing nobody. No excuses are adequate to the crime. Nor are any alibis. Before the war even began, Hitler made it plain that he wanted all Jews gone from Europe. Though Jews are an educated, law-abiding population who unfailingly help the economy and enhance culture wherever they go, no one would take them. Not America, not Canada, not Argentina, not Brazil. All had the space. All could have used the additional brains, energy, and creativity. Think about that. Had America taken Western Europe's Jews, there would have been no Holocaust. It would still have happened in Poland and Russia, but several million Jews would have survived who perished. We didn't have the imagination or the generosity of spirit; we couldn't imagine what that hateful man would do, and we couldn't rise above our own spitefulness. From extensive reading on the subject, I think for most Germans, the Shoah wasn't personal, just business. And not, they consoled themselves, their business. One suspects that many Americans would take that same attitude if sufficiently inconvenienced or endangered. The way we have rolled over for political correctness in our own day shows that we are doing what Jews themselves did before WWII: accommodating the distasteful, hateful political left, hoping the worst of it will just burn out in time. Yes, Nazism was of the left, not the right. Scholarship has established this beyond doubt, most readably that of Jonah Goldberg in his Liberal Fascism. It means we are up against disguised Hitlerism in George Soros, Barama, the Clintons, et al., which explains why the tactics of these vicious goons so smack of the Brownshirts. To say the least, it's ironic that they call us Nazis; the left, as the original Nazis, understands nothing of irony and little of history. "In gathering together this evening we honor a sacred tradition of one of the world's great religions," Trump said, speaking from notes. He added that Ramadan is a celebration of a "timeless message of peace, clarity and love. There is great love." If there is great love, why is there tremendous hate in Muslim nations? Why are so many people being slaughtered in Muslim countries by Muslims? "It's a great month," Trump said at one point, grinning. "A lot of friends, a lot of great friends." Does America really have a lot of great Muslim friends? Which Muslim countries vote with us at the United Nations? Which Muslim countries call out the subversions of the Taliban and al-Qaeda and Boko Haram and Hamas and all the other Muslim hate groups? The imam invited to lead the Muslim call to prayer during the White House event was Dawud Abdul-Aziz Agbere, a U.S. Army lieutenant colonel in the chaplain corps. Well, that's reassuring. More from the WaPo: The White House struck a considerably warmer tone last month, when it released a statement from the president declaring "Ramadan Mubarak," a common greeting in Islam for a blessed holiday. The statement praised the Constitution for ensuring Muslims can observe the holiday "unimpeded by government" and did not mention terrorism. Why not? Isn't that the elephant in the room: the fact that a significant number of Muslims are terrorists, and an even larger number of Muslims are passive or active supporters of terrorists? Why not talk about that now? By refusing to talk about the problems with Islam, our "allies" feel comfortable, but fundamental problems with the religion and the culture are never addressed. "Ramadan reminds us of the richness Muslims add to the religious tapestry of American life," the statement said. Really? Have Muslims added to the "religious tapestry" of Europe, where they are raping, killing, driving over, beheading, and slaughtering people, especially Jews, left and right? When people hear the call to prayer over loudspeakers at 4 AM, does that add to the "religious tapestry" of American life? I understand what Trump is doing for P.R. purposes, but these statements look as though they could have come out of the Obama White House. It is disappointing that Trump would parrot such ridiculousness rather than confront our "great friends" about the problems with Islam as it is practiced by millions. Ed Straker is the senior writer at Newsmachete.com. Reports are that Mrs. Trump had a benign condition and remained in the hospital for four days. Some patients are discharged from the hospital sooner, and some are not, depending on each individual situation. Some total hip or knee replacement patients are sent home the same day of surgery, while others spend a few days in the hospital. First Lady Melania Trump had a hospital-based kidney procedure last month, described as "[a]n embolization procedure to treat a benign kidney condition." Embolization is a minimally invasive surgical technique that deliberately creates a blood vessel blockage in order to choke off the blood supply to a tumor, either benign or malignant. This variability was enough for the journalistic sleuths at CNN to ask, "Why is Melania Trump still in the hospital?" It's as if CNN felt slighted that it was not part of Mrs. Trump's medical team with medical power of attorney to call the shots in her medical care. Once out of the hospital, she recuperated in the White House, making no public appearances during her convalescence. So what? Maybe she suffered a complication or was fatigued from the anesthesia or procedure. Maybe her doctors placed her at bed rest to prevent bleeding. Maybe, maybe, maybe. And none of our or the media's business. She is the first lady, not the President. According to the U.S. Constitution, a document most journalists are not familiar with, she is not in the succession line to the presidency. She is also not one election away from the presidency, like another woman who had health issues, which the media were noticeably incurious about. The media, after questioning her four-day hospital stay, then wondered why she hadn't made any public appearances in 20 days. Did the media wonder why Bill Clinton made few, if any, public appearances from when the Harvey Weinstein story broke until a few days ago, when he started his book tour? The media couldn't resist creating fantasies about Melania's Trump's absence from the public eye. Jamil Smith, senior writer at Rolling Stone, tweeted his theory that the president had beaten up his wife, and her three-week absence was to conceal signs of abuse. The President responded as he is prone to do, punching back hard when anyone takes a swing at him or his family, tweeting about some of the absurd theories tossed out by the media. CNN's priggish reporter Brian Stelter tried to defend the media, blaming the conspiracy theories on Twitter bots and not the media, except that Rolling Stone is considered by some a member of the media. The only theory missing is that Mrs. Trump was secretly in Russia, meeting with Vladimir Putin, planning how to steal the 2018 midterm elections for Republicans. The same media are incurious about the myriad health issues of Hillary Clinton not as first lady, but as a presidential candidate, who, by all accounts, was going to win the election and be America's 45th president. This was with her concussion, falls, collapsing, seizure-like speech tics, coughing spasms, and long absences from the campaign trail. There were no stories speculating that her numerous days away from campaigning were due to Bill beating her up and telling her to "put some ice on it," staying undercover until the bruising went away. Instead, the media defended her campaign absences, excoriating Donald Trump for "mocking" her for taking a day off. The media downplayed her absences, saying, "She attended a campaign event in Philadelphia Monday and has one scheduled in Florida Wednesday though she has no events scheduled for Thursday or Friday." Do the math: two appearances in five days. Unlike her campaign opponent, who the media acknowledged was far busier and more energetic, "[h]er campaign nixed a planned fundraiser in North Carolina Tuesday, even as Trump attended two rallies." Melania Trump was not elected to anything. She has no constitutional responsibility, and if she takes some time off after surgery, it's no business of the media, and certainly no reason to fabricate nonsensical and mean-spirited explanations for her absence. That's quite a departure from their coverage of the "almost" president of the United States. I say "almost" because she was assumed to be the winner until about 9 P.M. on election night. If Mrs. Clinton was unwell as president, she would be leaving the country in the hands of her finger-wagging husband, hanging out in his favorite room, serving as a surrogate president when not busy with beret-wearing Rubenesque White House interns. Covering up Mrs. Clinton's health issues would be easy enough to do with a willing and compliant media providing the same cover the Soviet media gave to the string of general secretaries on life support, trotted out only for the May Day parade. The media beclown themselves by subjecting the first lady to health scrutiny far more than they ever did to the presumed next president of the United States. Is anyone surprised? Brian C Joondeph, M.D., MPS is a Denver-based physician and writer. Follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Why? Because President Trump took the initiative to get it done, hearing of the 63-year-old grandmother's plight from big-name celebrity Kim Kardashian. The left loathes Trump more than it values that woman and the cause she represents, so a good deed suddenly becomes a bad deed. Only on the left would we see the presidential pardon of a nonviolent drug offender, a cause that up until now has been a Sorosian shibboleth, greeted with grumbles. Here's how the left and its media minions took it, starting with the Guardian: On Wednesday, Trump commuted the sentence of Alice Johnson, a 63-year-old great-grandmother who has spent over 20 years in prison for non-violent drug crimes. It's the sort of pardon decision previous presidents might well have made, but his likely reason for doing so was uniquely Trumpian. He was lobbied last week by the reality star Kim Kardashian to release Johnson. Trump has pardoned slightly fewer people than most recent presidents at this stage of a presidency, but there is a theme to those he has deemed worthy of clemency. Most were considered by Trump as being unfairly persecuted by the "deep state". They have been found, by FBI and DoJ investigations, to have obstructed justice, given false statements to investigators, or broken campaign finance rules. Many have suggested that Trump is using his pardons as a tool in the Mueller investigation. Ah, so it's not about mercy to correct an injustice; it's just all about the Russia Russia Russia thang. Oh, and tilt your head for this one. The Guardian helpfully adds: Many in the White House are reportedly dismayed that a pardon was made in this manner, particularly one that flies in the face of the general government policy on drug offenders, which has been to maintain punitive sentences. As if they are fans of the crew currently in the White House. Vox, citing the Washington Post, was also thoroughly upset about the pardon: But it adds to the unusual string of pardons and commutations that Trump has carried out since he took office last year typically to friends or allies or, as seems to be true in Kardashian's case, causes embraced by friends and allies. That kind of nepotism has reportedly horrified even some of Trump's top advisers, according to Ashley Parker, Robert Costa, and Josh Dawsey at the Washington Post[.] Nepotism, horrors! What's more, Vox really, really, really doesn't like inconsistency. The people there probably had to have their peas served a certain way when they were toddlers. More to the point, they seem unfamiliar with the concept of "mercy." Trump's move is all the stranger because it goes against the broader policy that Trump has been pushing for drug dealers and traffickers. In response to the opioid epidemic, Trump has said that the government should execute drug dealers and traffickers. More broadly, his administration, under Attorney General Jeff Sessions, has adopted a "tough on crime" view toward drugs. Late-night hosts got into the act, too, seeing nothing funny at all, deep down, about that pardon: By contrast, here's what really happened: As if vast numbers of people, black and white, can't relate to that and feel the joy as she shouts, "I love you, President Trump!" That reveals to us what's really bothering the left. Trump is not only stealing their thunder on the cause of unjust sentences (and this one was unjust), but bringing a whole lot of black people into the Republican Party as a result of his correcting this wrong. President Obama pardoned many nonviolent drug offenders, but it was done antiseptically, at the request of the hipsters and activists in his Justice Department, whose agenda is to let all crooks out of prison for Sorosian political purposes. Kim Kardashian's plea to Trump just came out of the blue and wasn't part of a set political agenda; it was a simple human call to mercy for an obvious injustice. The pardon worked because it restored the idea of mercy. It wasn't a political project. And guess what: that goes over well with black as well as young voters. Kanye West was the one who opened the gate to that reality. Black male approval of Trump doubled after Kanye came out and called Trump his "brother" and posed for a Twitter photo in a Make America Great Again hat. The left dismissed him as "insane." Then there was the Reuters poll that followed... How did it happen? Well, Kanye West (the rap superstar whose current album is right now number one on the charts) has 27 million followers on Twitter. Twenty-seven million. Those 27 million saw what he was comfortable with, and quite a few of them got comfortable with Trump, too. They came out. Scroll to Kim Kardashian. She has 60 million followers, with a worldwide rank of #12. Understand what Trump was doing when he pardoned Alice Johnson? The left understands, but it doesn't want to admit it. Every move by Trump to please Kim and win her over to his side has to do with those 60 million. Kim Kardashian is thrilled with the pardon and winning well deserved accolades. She tweeted this: So grateful to @realDonaldTrump, Jared Kushner & to everyone who has showed compassion & contributed countless hours to this important moment for Ms. Alice Marie Johnson. Her commutation is inspirational & gives hope to so many others who are also deserving of a second chance. Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) June 6, 2018 Guess what is going to happen to President Trump's approval numbers in the wake of this pardon of Alice Johnson. President Trump has outsmarted the hell out of the left. No wonder its people are stewing. Theres a new chapter in Facebooks ongoing battle against the spread of fake and misleading news, with the social media giant now reportedly preparing to launch its own news service. In fact, the company will be pulling in hosts from no fewer than three existing and competing news sources for its all original program. According to the companys head of global news partnerships, Campbell Brown, the shows are expected to air on a video service called Watch and to begin airing on the site within just a few months. Thats if Facebook can successfully organize all of the details, which may be more difficult than it sounds. The company has had a fair amount of difficulty with publicity and is looking to make up for that by putting together a diverse lineup of presenters who also happen to be good at capturing the attention of audiences. In this case, it plans to enlist CNNs Anderson Cooper, Univisions Jorge Ramos, and Fox News Shepard Smith. The services shows wouldnt be produced by Facebook either since the goal is to remove as much bias, fake news, and clickbait as possible. Instead, Brown says that three separate companies and other news organizations will be taking care of production. Content will also be brought in from ABC News, Alabama Media Group, ATTN:, and Mic with even more partnerships in the works to fill in any gaps intermittently. The rate at which shows appeared on Watch would vary, presumably with acting producers making the final call as to which hosts would be responsible for what content. Of course, this wouldnt be Facebook if the companys social media-based features werent a part of the mix and there wasnt any ad revenue. On some of the shows and stories shared via Watch, polls and other similar tools would be implemented to gauge audience responses. Those may also serve as a good way to open the door for dialogue since polls can give a better idea of how popular or unpopular a given idea is. Meanwhile, the show will be free and ad-supported, with Facebook including some ad revenue as part of its payments to the networks and news organizations. Brown did not say whether or not the service would be limited or free to every platform on which Facebook has a presence. So its impossible to say whether or not it will be available in the Facebook app or on Android as a standalone app. With that said, this project is still relatively early in development. More information about the service will likely be released as its launch approaches and details are finalized. Possibly the first real-life images of Googles Pixel 3 XL Android flagship appeared online earlier this week, having been shared by one frequenter of the XDA Developers boards. The two photographs that can be seen above are in line with recent rumors about the upcoming device, showing a prototype with a display notch and two front-facing cameras, though Google still appears to be resisting the trend of twin camera setups on the back. The handset also lacks Googles G logo on the rear side and instead features a different marking in its place, with that design cue and the fact that its camera protrusion appears to have rough corners being indicative of a non-final product. The notch cutting into the top of the supposed Pixel 3 XLs display panel is deeper than other such cutouts found on the likes of the Huawei P20 and ASUS ZenFone 5 lineups, whereas its still unclear what the second camera might be used for. A more accurate facial recognition solution is a possibility, though the Pixel 3 XL still isnt likely to feature a 3D camera akin to the one used by Apples iPhone X. The back panel of the device appears to be entirely covered with glass, as suggested by its glossy edges, with the top third of the plate featuring a transparent module, whereas the rest appears to be frosted glass with a matte-like effect. The main implication here is that wireless charging support isnt out of the question as far as Googles choice of body materials is concerned. One of the two leaked images also indicates the device is equipped with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage space. The Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL are both expected to be manufactured by Foxconn, also the biggest iPhone contractor on the planet, which may address some quality control issues that troubled the first two generations of Googles latest Android flagship lineup. With the Pixel and Pixel 2 series both being unveiled on October 4 of their respective years, early fall is also when the Pixel 3 family is widely expected to debut. HTCs business decline continued last month, with the companys total revenues over the 31-day period amounting to the equivalent of $82.46 million, down 46-percent annually. During the first five months of 2018, the Taiwanese original equipment manufacturer managed to generate just over $448 million, around $350 million less than last year. The May drop is comparable to the April one, with HTCs sales plummeting 55-percent a month earlier. While the company is now promising new investments in emerging technologies such as augmented reality, 5G, blockchain solutions, and the Internet of Things, analysts remain skeptical about its overall prospects, particularly those in the mobile segment. HTC has yet to signal that its even considering exiting the smartphone market, though it appears to have started downsizing its annual handset portfolio, with the recently released U12 Plus flagship being believed to be the only high-end product from the firm this year. 2017 was the worst fiscal year in HTCs history, with the company losing some $580 million over the said period and the decline being part of the reason that prompted it to release around 2,000 engineers to Google in exchange for $1.1 billion. The deal also provided Alphabets subsidiary with non-exclusive licensing rights to HTCs patent portfolio, whereas the Taipei-based OEM said its planning on using the money to reinvigorate its operations. Following the release of the U12 Plus and Vive Pro, HTC isnt expected to make any other major product announcements before 2019 and will instead likely be focusing its marketing budget on promoting its existing offerings. Despite streamlining its mobile portfolio, the firm appears to be keen on continuing onward in the mobile market, with its Chairwoman Cher Wang recently talking about its ambitions to deliver innovative devices that the 5G future deserves. HTCs VR unit Vive remains by far its most promising business in the medium term, according to many industry analysts. Taiwanese semiconductor company MediaTek has unveiled its 5G modem chipset, the Helio M70, at this weeks Computex Taipei. The tech firm will officially ship its 5G modem offering starting in 2019 and it is based on the 3GPP Release 15 standard which is non-standalone in nature, i.e. can be built on top of existing 4G infrastructure. The modem will automatically connect to 5G frequencies when it is transmitting data, while it will connect to 4G networks when the smartphone is performing other activities. The Helio M70 modem is capable of transmitting data at speeds of up to 5Gbps while connected to a 5G network. Moreover, to reduce the power consumption of its modem offering, MediaTek will utilize the 7nm process node technology from TSMC for manufacturing it. Chips produced using smaller process nodes require lower voltages to work, which reduces the overall power consumption and heat production. TSMCs 7nm process node technology also takes advantage of Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. The companys 5G technologies and modem offerings were developed in cooperation with a number of smartphone manufacturers, network operators, and telecommunications equipment suppliers. Among the companies that MediaTek collaborated with in the development of its 5G modem are Nokia, China Mobile, Huawei, and NTT Docomo. These partnerships allowed the Taiwanese tech firm to contribute to the standardization of the 5G network technologies and test and modify its modem before it is incorporated into smartphones and other mobile devices. MediaTek released its 5G modem offering six months ahead of the original schedule in an effort to gain presence and market share in the 5G market. The company also said that it will increase the production of its 5G modems between 2020 and 2022. Aside from MediaTek, Qualcomm has also recently unveiled its 5G modem offering for smartphones, called the Snapdragon X50 modem. Qualcomm has already announced that at least 19 different smartphone manufacturers have agreed to incorporate the companys 5G modem into their handsets meant to be released in 2019. Other companies that are also involved in the development of the 5G standard are Huawei, Samsung, and Nokia, as well as a number of wireless carriers. Congress lacks realistic options to stop President Trumps unprecedented deal with ZTE which is providing the Chinese company with a lifeline following nearly two months of uncertainty, with most actions available to legislators either requiring a supermajority vote or not being limiting enough. Industry watchers remain skeptical about the chances of two-thirds majorities being raised in both the House and Senate, with only such overwhelming support being enough to override a veto the President would likely place on any bill aimed at reinstating the denial order imposed on ZTE by the Commerce Department in April, or preventing the White House from spending any more money on addressing the matter. While the agreement thats placing the China-owned company back into business is currently facing bipartisan opposition, Republicans and Democrats dont see eye-to-eye on how to deal with the situation. The legislators presently arent even able to agree on less high-profile issues related to the company, as illustrated by a Wednesday decision from the Republican-led House Homeland Security Committee which voted against a Democratic proposal to force the Department of Homeland Security to disclose more details about the national security threat it claims ZTE poses. The panels chair, Republican Mike McCaul, deemed the suggested resolution inappropriate, adding that the federal agency already provided the committee with sufficient information on the matter. ZTE agreed to replace its seven-year ban on purchasing American technologies with a $1 billion fine and a broad range of concessions. The April denial order was issued in response to the companys failure to honor a 2017 settlement over violations of U.S. trade sanctions imposed on North Korea and Iran, with the Commerce Department also accusing it of lying to its investigators. The firm attributed the development to an omission, arguing it self-reported its non-compliance in good faith, hence deeming the original denial order too harsh of a punishment. Besides the aforementioned fine and management changes, ZTE also pledged to import $70 more billion of American goods over the next twelve months, with the deal having the potential to lower trade-related tensions between Washington and Beijing. Russia and Rwanda are developing military-technical cooperation, and negotiations over potential deliveries of air defense systems to Kigali are underway, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after his meeting with the head of Rwanda's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Louise Mushikiwabo on June 3. Rwanda already operates several SA-7B (Grail-b) 9K32M Strela-2M man-portable air defense systems (Picture source ) "We feature good cooperation in the military-technical area. Rwanda's armed forces and law enforcement agencies operate our helicopters, Ural trucks, small arms; potential deliveries of air defense systems are being discussed," Lavrov said. "Last year, we established an intergovernmental committee on military-technical cooperation," the minister pointed out. "Last Autumn, [the committee] held its first meeting in Kigali and outlined the prospects for development of military-technical cooperation. The next meeting is scheduled for Autumn 2018, it will take place in Moscow," Lavrov added. According to the Military Balance 2018 analytical book published by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), Rwanda operates a large number of Soviet-/Russian-originated platforms, including 24 T-54/55 main battle tanks, several BMP infantry fighting vehicles, several BTR armored personnel carriers, several T-54/55-based engineering vehicles, six D-30 howitzers, several Strela-2 man-portable air defense systems, 14.5 mm/23 mm/37 mm anti-aircraft guns, two Mi-24V (NATO code: Hind) and three Mi-35P (Hind) combat helicopters, and four Mi-17V (Hip), a Mi-17MD (Hip), a Mi-17V-5 (Hip-H), and five Mi-17-1V (Hip) military transport helicopters. 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 Turner was convicted by a jury of three felony charges: assault with intent to commit rape of an unconscious person, penetration with a foreign object of an intoxicated person, and sexual penetration of an unconscious person. While Turner could have been jailed for a maximum of 14 years for the convictions, the then Santa Clara County Superior Court judge sentenced him to just six months in jail saying that jail would have a severe impact on the then 20-year-old man. Persky also said that he thought Turner will not be a danger to others. Turner was subsequently released in September 2016 after serving only three months. He is under three years probation and is a registered sex offender. He was forced to withdraw from Stanford, which also banned him from the campus. Michele Dauber, a Stanford Law School professor, said that Santa Clara County voters are the winners of the election. Dauber led the campaign for the recall. We voted that sexual violence, including campus sexual violence, must be taken seriously by our elected officials, and by the justice system, she said. Thomson Geer has advised an ASX-listed company in acquiring two development sites. Lifestyle Communities has acquired for an undisclosed sum a site in Wollert, 47km north of Melbourne. It has also agreed to buy a 1.27-hectare site adjacent to its Ocean Grove development, which is under construction, on the Bellarine Peninsula outside of Geelong. Lifestyle intends to build its 16th residential community on the Wollert site. The acquisitions bring the companys home portfolio to 2,984. The M8 GTE will be the first BMW to have competed there in the past seven years. However, that doesn't mean we shouldn't be excited about the softer, heavier 8 Series convertible.As we're getting closer to the reveal, it comes as no surprise that a leak of sorts is happening. Our photographers were able to snap a picture of the 8er without any camouflage, but missing the rear bumper. It looks like those assembly prototypes where they measure tolerances and work out the kinks for the production line.The photo would be considered a "reveal" were it not for the fact that patent images have already shown us the 8 Series bodywork in both regular and M Performance form.Speaking of which, the other spy images we have are of an M850i model. Its gaping grille and square exhaust tips make it unmistakable, not to mention we already know a fair bit about it.As the name suggests, a 4.4-liter resides under the hood. However, it's not the same one you'll find in the M550i. Thanks to numerous hardware changes and more boost, power has gone up to 530 horsepower. Thanks to standard xDrive, this model will be even quicker to 100 km/h than the old M6.The twin-turbo V8 won't be the only engine available, of course. At launch, we should have an 840i model and at least one diesel. Seeing as the new X5 isn't offering an M50i version in Europe, we're curious to see if an M850d quad-turbo convertible will be provided. It sounds like a weird combo, but it could make for a great high-speed GT.While the 8er still won't be as spacious a 4-seat convertible as a Rolls-Royce, it will have some clever performance aids, such as rear-wheel steering, active anti-roll bars and torque vectoring. Judging by Watsons posts on social media, she was living the high life in Europe, first in Paris and then in Italy and the Italian Riviera. She even used a hashtag that referenced a new beginning: #learningtoliveagain.Born and raised in the UK, she had a successful career and a loving family with 3 children. Earlier this year, she left it all behind and embarked on a journey that would see her become what the British tabloids are calling the Portofino pirate. Thats a stretch obviously, but the change was so dramatic as to make authorities think that she may be dealing with mental issues.Her latest feat would certainly indicate that. According to authorities, she jumped onto the unattended motorboat and used the keys in the ignition to try and make her way out of the harbor. A port worker noticed that she wasnt the owner of the 150,000 boat, jumped into it and stopped her from leaving.She was brought back to the quay where police were waiting. Initially she refused to get off but soon surrendered, Captain Simone Clemente, of the carabinieri, tells The Times . We googled her and thought she was carrying out some kind of artistic experiment. We then learned her family had reported her missing in May. After her arrest she told the British embassy she did not want to go home and we suspect she has had some kind of psychiatric problem. Now we hope her family and friends will come to Italy. We can solve crimes but there is also the human element.Still, Walker will have to answer in court for her crimes, and including her attempt to steal the luxury boat and the many times she tried to leave before paying for the services received. She pretended to be a guest at the La Spezia hotel to get a key and fled when she was found sleeping next day, she stayed at another hotel in Reggio Calabria without paying, she dined and dashed in restaurants on the French border, and she ordered an expensive spa treatment in Santa Margherita Ligure and tried to flee without footing the bill.At the time of her arrest, Walker had no money, no clothes and no ID on her, police say. She appeared to have been living on the streets. But flying through space is an incredibly boring and resource consuming business. Space is mostly empty, so keeping the probe online while covering the vast distances between objects of interest would have been useless.Now that New Horizons is approaching by space standards such an object, NASA decided to wake it up to get it ready for the task ahead.The object of interest is unofficially called Ultima Thule, a phrase which means the extreme limit of travel and discovery. Until March, NASA referred to it in as (486958) 2014 MU69.The piece of rock is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO). As per the observations made with the Hubble telescope in 2014, it is likely to be an object composed of two bodies that have gravitated toward each other until they came together. The rock measures 30 kilometers (19 miles) in diameter.New Horizons encounter with Ultima Thule is scheduled to take place in January 2019, and the time between the probes activation and the rendezvous would be spent by NASA engineers to get it ready for the historic moment.When the flyby would happen, Thule would become the farthest object in the Solar System ever to be visited by a human spacecraft.MU69 is humanity's next Ultima Thule, said in a statement earlier in March Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator from Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado.Our spacecraft is heading beyond the limits of the known worlds, to what will be this missions next achievement. Since this will be the farthest exploration of any object in space in history, I like to call our flyby target Ultima, for short, symbolizing this ultimate exploration by NASA and our team. Image: Holly Rush American Airlines Flight 1897 was forced to make an emergency landing Sunday night after flying through a severe thunderstorm. The aircraft, which had departed from San Antonio heading for Phoenix, sustained significant hail damage to the windshield and radome. The A319 diverted to El Paso International Airport (ELP) and landed safely at approximately 8:03 p.m. with no injuries reported. There were 130 passengers and five crewmembers on board. As can be heard on the LiveATC.netrecording of ELP Approach audio below, the pilots reported that damage to the windshield was severe enough that they had lost most of their forward visibility. The hailstones encountered were estimated to be between 1.5 and 3 inches in diameter. A severe thunderstorm watch had been issued for the region. Rick Kohrs, a programmer and graphic artist who works at the Space Science and Engineering Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, mapped the path of the flight on the sattelite imagry of the storm. Follow the (terrifying) track of American Airlines Flight 1897 dodging destructive hail storms before a forced landing at El Paso #Texas on June 4th. Path mapped on #GOESEast/#GOES16 imagery by @UWSSEC colleague Rick Kohrs. #AA1897 pic.twitter.com/b4grNpIh6M UW-Madison CIMSS (@UWCIMSS) June 5, 2018 American Airlines issued a statement apologizing for the disruption to its customers travel plans and said their maintenance team is in the process of evaluating the aircraft. Passengers were put on another flight to Phoenix later that night. The General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) and the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) sent a letter to Congress on Monday urging the U.S. Senate to consider the FAA Reauthorization Act (S. 1405) as soon as possible. Both organizations expressed support for the bill in the letter (PDF), writing that This comprehensive bill includes key FAA certification and regulatory reforms that will help bring new safety technologies to the market, strengthen aviation sales and exports, and more effectively utilize the resources of the FAA and industry. GAMA and AIA, who together represent more than 400 member companies, are pushing to have a long-term funding solution in place before the FAAs temporary funding extension expires on Sept. 30. The Senate bill was introduced in June of last year by Senator John Thune, R-S.D.S. 1405would authorize funding for the FAA through 2021. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 (H.R. 4) on April 27, which cover FAA funding through 2023. For reauthorization to go forward, the Senate legislation must also be passed and the differences between the two bills reconciled. At the time the House bill was passed, it was reportedly hoped that the Senate bill would make it to the floor by May or June. The last multiyear authorization bill for the FAA was enacted in 2012. Army Gen. Robert Abrams, head of U.S. Army Forces Command, has approved the court-martial sentence for Bowe Bergdahl from his trial last year, which includes no prison time, the Army Times reports. The big picture: The sentencing also requires that Bergdahl pay $1,000 a month for 10 months, per the Times, and resulted in a dishonorable discharge, as well as a reduction in rank from sergeant to private. Bergdahl was handed the sentence in November, after a trial examined how he voluntarily left his outpost in Afghanistan in 2009 and was captured by the Taliban shortly after. He pled guilty to desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. By Ritah Kemigisa. The Citizens Coalition for Electoral Democracy has poked holes in the presidents state of the nation address. According to Crispy Kaheru, the coalitions coordinator says the president during his address avoided talking about the subject of politics and governance yet it is very important for development. Kaheru says that given the current developments in neighboring Kenya where political harmony seems to be paving way for bigger strides of economic development, it was a serious exclusion on the side of Museveni not to talk about the state of politics. He adds that the presidents attribution to the ADF is problematic considering the fact that the due process including investigations, trials around the recent security incidents are not yet concluded. Russias Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov praised the current state of Russian-Armenian relations after holding what he described as good talks with his new Armenian counterpart Zohrab Mnatsakanian in Moscow on Thursday. We held good, constructive and trustworthy negotiations in the spirit of allied relations binding our states, Lavrov told a joint news briefing following the meeting. I would like to express my satisfaction with the results of the negotiations which I am sure will contribute to the further advancement of allied relations between Russia and Armenia, he said. Lavrov said he and Mnatsakanian discussed, among other things, commercial ties between their nations. Russia remains Armenias leading [trading] partner, he said. Our trade grew by 30 percent last year. This positive dynamic continued into this year. Growth [in bilateral trade] reached nearly 40 percent in the first quarter. We closely cooperate and coordinate our actions in the international arena, added the chief Russian diplomat. Our relations really have a quite strong foundation, Mnatsakanian said, for his part. He reaffirmed the new Armenian governments stated commitment to deepening them further. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has repeatedly said in recent weeks that he will not pull Armenia out of the Eurasian Economic Union and the Collective Security Treaty Organization despite his criticism of the two Russian-led blocs voiced in the past. Pashinian assured Russian President Vladimir Putin that Armenia will remain allied to Russia during his tenure when they met for the first time in Sochi on May 14. For his part, Putin told Pashinian that he regards Armenia as our closest partner and ally in the region. Lavrov spoke of important agreements reached by Putin and Pashinian in the Russian Black Sea city. But he did not elaborate. Pashinians cabinet underlined the strategic and allied character of Russian-Armenia ties in its policy program debated by the Armenian parliament on Thursday. The program says that military cooperation with Russia will remain an important component of Armenias national security strategy. The unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was also on the agenda of Lavrovs talks with Mnatsakanian. The Russian minister said that Moscow will continue to seek a peaceful settlement of the dispute together with the two other mediating powers, the United States and France. The Russian, U.S. and French diplomats co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group are due to visit Yerevan next week for what will be their first face-to-face contacts with the new Armenian leadership. Speaking during Thursdays parliament debate, Pashinian renewed his calls for Karabakhs direct involvement in Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks. He claimed that he has no mandate to negotiate on behalf of the Karabakh people. The Armenian premier said at the same time that he is ready to negotiate Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev. Official Baku was quick to denounce Pashinians remarks and reiterate that it will not directly negotiate with the Karabakh Armenians. An Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman said that Karabakh is an Azerbaijani territory occupied by Armenia. Lavrov said in this regard: If Baku and Yerevan decide that Karabakh must return as a negotiating party Russia as well as the two other co-chairs of the Minsk Group will support that decision. By Rashid Shirinov The continuing deaths in the military units of the Armenian Armed Forces cannot but worry the Armenian society. Worse still, miserable parents of the deceased soldiers cannot get justice for the deaths of their sons. Parents of the serviceman Levon Torosyan, who died in mysterious circumstances on May 6 in a military unit in North-East Armenia, have recently arrived at the Government Building in the hope of meeting with the new Defense Minister David Tonoyan. However, he left the building through the back exit, Armenian media report. It is noteworthy that Tonoyan is not the only defense minister of Armenia that avoids meeting with parents of soldiers killed in non-combat conditions. The former defense minister Seyran Ohanyan was doing the same. After the death of Torosyan, the Investigative Committee claimed that he committed 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. The late soldiers mother Armenui Poghosyan was hoping that the head of the defense ministry would at least come out, talk to them and give some information about the progress in determining the circumstances of their sons mysterious death. However, having learned that the minister left the workplace, the woman called on all parents of future recruits not to let their sons serve in the army until all cases of the soldiers deaths are solved. Better our children go to prison for evasion of military service than they would serve. They [the authorities] must figure out the situation in the army drunk officers inhumanely treat soldiers. I demand a meeting with Nikol Pashinyan he must put an end to the slaughter in the army! the mother said. Thus, the incident that occurred at the Government Building has shown that although Pashinyan made several appointments in the government, the attitude of the new authorities to the ordinary population has not improved. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend Over the past 24 hours, Armenias armed forces have 87 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said June 7. Armenias armed forces were using large-caliber machine guns. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Rashid Shirinov Since Nikol Pashinyan came to power, many Armenian analysts were assuming that the new government program would not be appropriate for the countrys development. Today, when the program is ready, it becomes clear that the experts were right. The first glaring flaw is that the new program consists mainly of political points and the economy is less addressed in it. In particular, preparation for early parliamentary election, formation of electoral lists and other similar issues are in the foreground of the program. It is surprising that economic issues were left behind culture, science, military, health and environment in the document. This approach shows that the government of Nikol Pashinyan has no knowledge of how the state should develop. Of course, the above spheres are important, but they cannot develop if the economy is weak. Another noteworthy fact about Pashinyans program is that it is maybe the first government program in the world that has not a single figure. Head of the Center for Innovative and Institutional Research Atom Markaryan, who tried to justify the document, told journalists that most likely this program combines the ideas of different political forces, which have different expectations in terms of quantitative indicators. However, it is unclear how the different political forces are related to the program of Pashinyans government. Moreover, the Armenians expect from the new authorities, first of all, the improvement of their well-being. People supported Pashinyan so that he would address their social problems. Therefore, they would like to see something specific in the government program rather than mere words. The chapter dedicated to the sphere of agriculture in the government program reminds the program of good wishes which is not disclosed, Chairman of the Agrarian-Peasant Union of Armenia Hrach Berberyan told journalists. He noted that the current government faces the problem of lack of specialists and there is no awareness of the spheres. Unfortunately, the pages I am talking about are professional directions. I believe there were no professionals who could disclose these pages and make them available to the society, Berberyan said. Thus, Armenia chose a new government which has no enough experience of ruling a country and its economy. Therefore, the countrys population will have to suffer a bit longer until Pashinyan and his team realize what ruling a country really means and what the population want from them. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Mohamed Sidibay My family was murdered before I could tie my shoes. As a young boy in Sierra Leone, years that should have been playful and carefree were spent fighting in someone elses war. For me, childhood was a nightmare; escape always seemed impossible. But when the war officially ended, in 2002, I began finding ways to recover. One of the most important has been an opportunity I couldnt have imagined as an angry, illiterate, nine-year-old soldier: school. I am living proof of the transformative power of education. Thanks to hard work and lots of good fortune, I managed to graduate from high school and then university. Now, in just a few months, I will begin graduate classes at the Fordham University School of Law, an unimaginable destination for most of the former child soldiers in my country. And yet, throughout my brief educational journey, one question has always nagged me: why did luck play such a crucial role? After all, education is supposed to be a universal human right. If only it were that simple. Today, more than 260 million children are out of school, and over 500 million boys and girls who do attend are not receiving a quality education, as the International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity discovered. By 2030, more than half of the worlds school-age children some 800 million kids will lack the basic skills needed to thrive or secure a job in the workplace of the future. Addressing this requires money. But while education may be the best investment a government can make to ensure a better future for its people, education financing worldwide is far too low. In fact, education accounts for just 10% of total international development aid, down from 13% a decade ago. To put this in perspective, developing countries receive just $10 per child annually in global education support, barely enough to cover the cost of a single textbook. In an age of self-driving cars and smart refrigerators, this dearth of funding is simply unacceptable. Over the past few years, I have advocated on behalf of three global education initiatives the International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity (Education Commission), the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), and the Education Cannot Wait fund (ECW). I have done so eagerly, because these organizations are working collectively toward the same goal: to raise funds to make quality education for every child, everywhere, more than a matter of luck. One of the best ways to do this is by supporting the International Finance Facility for Education, an initiative spearheaded by the Education Commission that could unlock the greatest global investment in education ever recorded. Young people around the world understand whats at stake. Earlier this month, Global Youth Ambassadors presented a petition, signed by more than 1.5 million children in some 80 countries, to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, calling for the UN to support the finance facility. By leveraging roughly $2 billion in donor guarantees, the finance facility aims to make $8 billion in new funding available to countries that need it most. If adopted widely, the program could make it possible for developing countries to provide quality education to millions more children, including refugees, young girls, and former child soldiers like me. Politicians often say that young people are the leaders of tomorrow. Thats true; we are. But platitudes not backed by financial support are meaningless. Simply put, the world must unite to fund quality education for everyone. The International Finance Facility for Education which is already backed by the World Bank, regional development banks, GPE, ECW, and numerous UN agencies is among the best ways to make that happen. Twenty years ago, law school was an impossible dream for me. Today, thanks to hard work, global support, and much good fortune, my future is brighter than it has ever been. But my story should not be an exception. To ensure that others can gain a quality education and follow the path that has opened up to me, we must remove luck from the equation. Copyright: Project Syndicate: Education saved my life --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has today signed an order on liquidation of the Heybat railway station located in the Garadagh district of Baku. A railway station with a vast territory, modern infrastructure and equipped with new information and communication technologies, as well as meeting the international standards was built in the territory adjacent to the Heybat railway station in the Garadagh district of Baku. Under the presidential order, the Heybat railway station located in the territory of the Garadagh district of Baku, is being liquidated. The newly-constructed railway station will be named Absheron. The Cabinet of Ministers is instructed to resolve the issues arising from the order. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Sara Israfilbayova Sale of cars manufactured at the joint Azerbaijani-Iranian plant in the Neftchala Industrial Zone will be launched in coming days. Chairman of the AzerMash Board told Trend that at the current stage, two models - Khazar LD and Khazar SD will be offered to customers, adding that other cars under the Khazar brand will go on sale until the end of 2018. In early April, the Azerbaijan-Iran automobile factory Khazar started production of the first cars. The plant produces cars under the brand name of Khazar, and a number of models of Peugeot and Renault will also be assembled there. The annual capacity of the plant is about 10,000 cars. It is expected that in the future the cars will be delivered to Ukraine, Russia and Central Asian countries. The cost of cars will amount to 14,000-16,000 manats ($8,200-$9,400). By the end of 2018, the plant plans to launch production of new models, which will cost a little more - 18,000-20,000 manats ($10,500-$11,700). All cars produced at the factory comply with Euro 5 standards. A major Iranian automaker Iran Khodro and Azerbaijani company Azeurocar (subsidiary of AzerMash) signed an agreement on August 6, 2016 to establish a joint automobile plant in the Neftchala Industrial Zone. The total cost of the project is estimated at 24 million manats ($14.12 million). The Azerbaijani side has invested 75 percent in the factory, and the Iranian side has invested 25 percent. The plant intends to cooperate with the Sumgayit Industrial Park and SOCARs new plant. Some 20 percent of the vehicles will be exported to CIS and Central Asian countries. Currently, Azerbaijan is highly dependent on import of cars and the plant will help a certain extent to eliminate dependence on imported cars and at the same time, there will be opportunities for exports. Azerbaijan imported 3,506 motor vehicles in January-March 2018, which is by 2.45 times more than the indicator of the same period of last year, according Azerbaijans State Customs Committee. The Committee reported that the largest number of vehicles imported to the country during the period accounted for motorcars and other motor vehicles for passenger transportation 3,158 (an increase of 3.7 times). --- Sara Israfilbayova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Sara_999Is Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Sara Israfilbayova Pakistani companies express interest in cooperation in the Free Trade Zone established on the territory of the Baku International Sea Trade Port. Pakistani Ambassador to Azerbaijan Saeed Khan Mohmand made the remarks during the meeting with Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev. The Ambassador stressed that Azerbaijan is important for Pakistan and noted that Pakistan fully supports the fair position of Azerbaijan on the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and the Pakistani Senate officially recognized the Khojaly massacre. . Said Khan Mohmand noted that the number of tourists arriving from Pakistan to Azerbaijan is growing from year to year. The Ambassador positively assessed the actions taken by Azerbaijan to simplify the visa regime. He stressed that the establishment of direct transport links between Baku and Islamabad is important for Pakistan and noted that one Pakistani company is interested in opening direct flights. Shahin Mustafayev, in turn, noted that Pakistan is one of the first countries that recognized the state independence of Azerbaijan. It was also noted that in 2015 a joint declaration on strategic partnership was signed between the two countries. The meeting also noted the activities of the joint Azerbaijan-Pakistan intergovernmental commission, as well as the working group on cooperation in the field of trade between Azerbaijan and Pakistan. In November 2017, the Pakistani Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the city of Karachi announced the desire of entrepreneurs to make a contribution into a Free Trade Zone in the Azerbaijani village of Alyat. The main attention will be paid to the development of the pharmaceutical field. Since late 2017, Pakistan has been negotiating with Azerbaijan noting the importance of the "North-South" transport corridor for future. This corridor can become a link in the railway transport of Azerbaijan, Iran and the Russian Federation. The annual trade between Azerbaijan and Pakistan is approximately $10 million. --- Sara Israfilbayova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Sara_999Is Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Sara Israfilbayova Azerbaijan and Australia are discussing new projects in the field of agriculture, founder and director of the Azerbaijani Chamber of Commerce in Australia Nizami Jafarov told Trend. So, according to Jafarov from the end of last year companies of the two countries are discussing a project on the supply of pomegranate juice from Azerbaijan to Australia, adding that in Australia there is a great interest in this product, given the competitive [compared to the Australian] prices for Azerbaijani products. Australia is also interested in purchasing Azerbaijani spices, such as saffron, as well as new breeds of cattle, he added. He went on to say that Azerbaijan shows interest in technology of shock freezing of fruits and berries, adding that the first delivery of Australian wine from Perth to Azerbaijan began. Cooperation between Azerbaijan and Australia is rapidly developing. This was evidenced by last years visit of the Australian trade mission to Azerbaijan, which includes representatives of over 30 companies. Of course, the trade relations between the two countries still leave much to be desired, but the potential is great, despite the fact that both countries are far apart, the head of the Chamber of Commerce concluded. The Commonwealth of Australia recognized the independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan on December 26, 1991. Diplomatic relations between two countries have been established on June 19, 1992. Azerbaijan exports crude oil to Australia. Butter is imported from Australia. The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Australia amounted to $5.5 million in 2017, according to Azerbaijans State Customs Committee. Almost the entire amount of trade fell on imports of Australian products. --- Sara Israfilbayova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Sara_999Is Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Rashid Shirinov The logistics center in Kars, which is being built together with Azerbaijan, will give impetus to the development of the economy of the entire region and, in particular, the Kars province, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on June 7. He noted that the opening of this logistics center will also contribute to the increase of cargo transportation. Another important Turkish-Azerbaijani project in Kars is the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, Yildirim added. Previously, the Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communication of Turkey told Trend that the construction of the logistics center in Kars within the BTK project has been carried out by more than 50 percent and the opening of the center will be held on October 30 this year. A plot of 300,000 square meters was allocated for the construction of the logistics center, of which an area of 170,000 square meters is allocated for a barn. It will be possible to transport 412,000 tons of cargo annually through the center. The ministry also noted that 16-kilometer-long railway lines will be built on the territory of the logistics center, and this section will be connected to the Kars-Erzurum railway. The agreement on the creation of the logistics center was signed on July 19 last year, during the visit of Head of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC Javid Gurbanov to the Kars province, when he familiarized himself with the progress of the BTK project. The official opening ceremony of the BTK railway was held in Baku on October 30, 2017. The railway was constructed on the basis a Georgian-Azerbaijani-Turkish intergovernmental agreement. The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railways peak capacity will be 17 million tons of cargo per year. At an initial stage, this figure will be one million passengers and 6.5 million tons of cargo. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Moses Kyeyune. President Yoweri Museveni has waned public opinion leaders against breeding obstacles for development. The President, while giving the State of the Nation Address has said that many political and traditional leaders have exploited the ignorance of the population and manipulated them to resist the countrys development agenda.This he has said is criminal. There has been a public outcry against the legalisation of genetically modified organisms, with critics dismissing it as a threat to organic food production. The Bill that had been passed by Parliament last year, was rejected by President Museveni who advised the House to revise it. By Laman Ismayilova Goethe-Zentrum Baku continues to build bridges between Azerbaijan and Germany through cultural diplomacy by organizing exhibitions, presentations, artists talks and many other activities. The summer exhibition program Goethe-Zentrum Baku was opened by the "Dialogue" curated by Asli Samadova. Its summer programme, including the launch of Dialogue project curated by Asli Samadova caused a huge interest among art lovers. The Dialogue project pairs site-specific artworks in the buildings originally built for religious purposes: Egyptian artist Youssef Limouds Maqam. Poetry of Ruins installation at Neo-Gothic Kapellhaus is coupled with German artist Mischa Kuballs Five Suns/after Galileo at the 15th century Shah Mosque of Shirvanshahs Palace that opened on June 2, Day.Az reported. Ruins and the process of decomposition have always fascinated Youssef Limoud, who builds landscapes in his works and recreates memories, both on the physical and the metaphysical levels. Multiple meanings of the word "maqam" in Arabic give a wide range of exploration and interpretation of Limouds artwork. One of such stands for modal structure of Arabic music, very similar to Azerbaijan mugham. For that reason Makam. Poetry of Ruins is preceded by a music performance titled "Sovq v Hsrt" in which traditional mugham is juxtaposed to contemporary jazz. The project had been specially designed for the Azerbaijan Cultural Year in Germany and performed to critical acclaim at the famous Akademie der schonen Kunste (Academy of Fine Arts) in Munich on June 25, 2008, and has never been performed since then. Limoud won the Leopold Senghor award of Dakart 2016 for his installation Maqam. The artist represented this installation in several countries around the world. The idea of the work has always remained the same, but its form of implementation has always changed. Limoud always uses local materials for its installation and, beginning the process of creating ruins. One part of his installation was created after visiting the Alley of Martyrs in Baku. This visit made a great impression on him and reflected in his artwork. The exhibition is open daily from 14:00 to 20:00 from June 3 until June 12. Kapellhaus, 35, 28 May str. Free admission. Notably, Youssef Limoud is an artist and a writer, born in Giza-Egypt, 1964. His paintings and installations have been shown in a number of exhibitions in Egypt and abroad. Limoud writes, mainly about art, in some Arabic newspapers and magazines. He published some books about art, Egyptian art history, and poetry. He lives and works between Basel and Cairo. --- Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Laman Ismayilova Azerbaijan National Art Museum will host the anniversary exhibition of People's Artist Tagi Tagiyev, who played a huge role in enriching and promotion of national art. Some 60 paintings and graphic works from museum's collection will be showcased on June 8. The exposition will feature such works as "Before the exam", "Before the performance", "Window", "Snowy roads", etc. Representative of the classical Azerbaijani school of painting Tagi Tagiyev masterly created portraits, still life and landscape genres. In his work, the artist united the national art and the traditions of the European and Russian schools. In 1935, Tagiyev graduated from the Art College . After graduating from the technical school, the young artist worked on portraits and thematic works. Tagiyev created portraits of such personalities as Gara Garayev, Sattar Bahlulzade, Kamil Khanlarov and Sultan Muhammad. Still life takes a special place in the artist's creativity. In such works, he skillfully conveys a gentle color. Tagiyev brought to the canvas the hot summer days at Absheron beaches, narrow streets in Baku, Boulevard Bay at night time in poetic form. In the works "Window of My Workshop in Baku" (1958), "Cloudy Day in Baku" (1959), the artist shows himself not only as a brush master, but also as a lyric poet who evokes sympathy. The still life was one of those genres in which Tagiyev worked with special zeal. His still lifes were distinguished by rich color and elegant composition structure. The artist skillfully conveyed the elegant texture of the material, the structure of the fabric, the transparency of the glass. Looking at the landscapes, one can enjoy the captivating beauty of country's nature. He made a creative journey to the countries of West Africa, the artist depicted the cares, desires of people living there. In his work, a special place is occupied by images of strong physically and mentally, purposeful workers and oil workers. Living a fruitful life, the artist left behind a rich artistic heritage. His works are kept in the State Museum of Oriental Art in Moscow, the Azerbaijan National Museum of Art, the Azerbaijan State Art Gallery, museums and galleries of Georgia and many other countries, including private collections. Unfortunately, the artist died in 1993. --- Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Rashid Shirinov The Foreign Affairs, Defense and Trade Committee of the Australian Senate has held a hearing on foreign and defense policy of the country, the Senate said in a statement on June 6. A number of issues were discussed during the hearings, including Australias position on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. During the hearing, Senator Lee Rhiannon, member of the Greens party, asked a question about the conflict. Referring to the statement of Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, Minister for International Development and the Pacific, saying that Australia strongly supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, including Azerbaijans position on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Rhiannon asked if it complies with the fundamental principles of the OSCE Minsk process. Answering the question, Catherine Raper, Head of the Europe and Latin America Division at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia, once again confirmed that support for the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan as well as the non-recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent state are the long-term policy of the Australian government. She also noted that Canberra supports the activity of the OSCE Minsk Group. The statement of the Australian Senate on the issue led to serious discontent of the Armenian National Committee of Australia. Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. While the OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, the occupation of the territory of the sovereign state with its internationally recognized boundaries has been left out of due attention of the international community for years. Until now, Armenia ignores four UN Security Council resolutions on immediate withdrawal from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, thus keeping tension high in the region. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will discuss the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in Moscow with Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, said Artem Kozhin, deputy director of the Information and Press Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry. "An exchange of views on the issues of the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement will take place," Kozhin said. Kozhin noted that bilateral relations will also be discussed during the meeting. 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. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has signed an order on measures to reconstruct the Mashtaga-Nardaran road in the Sabunchu district of Baku. Under the decree, 9.5 million manats will be allocated from the funds provided for construction and reconstruction of highways in the 2018 state budget to the State Agency of Highways to rebuild the Mashtaga-Nardaran road, which connects three settlements with a population of 63,000 people. The Finance Ministry is instructed to provide financing in the amount indicated in the order, while the Cabinet of Ministers is tasked to resolve issues arising from the order. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend A regular meeting of the Council of Defense Ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States was held in the city of Kyzyl, the Republic of Tuva of Russia, on June 6, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said. Azerbaijan's Defense Minister, Colonel General Zakir Hasanov attended the meeting. Before the meeting, the CIS defense ministers came to Victory Square and laid a wreath at the monument erected in memory of the victims of the Great Patriotic War. Then, the guests got acquainted with the educational base of the Kyzyl presidential cadet school, planted trees and visited the ethno-cultural complex Aldyn-Bulak. Current military cooperation and other forthcoming issues were discussed during the meeting. Previously, the defense ministers participating in the meeting visited the Aldan Maadyr National Museum and the sculptural and architectural complex "Center of Asia", where they got acquainted with various expositions. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend The Armenian people finally realized that they were led by a criminal junta regime for 20 years, said President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev as he addressed an Iftar ceremony. The ceremony was hosted by Chairman of the Caucasus Muslims Office Sheikhulislam Allahshukur Pashazade on June 6. The head of state said the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should be settled only on the basis of international norms and principles. "Nagorno-Karabakh is our historical land. We convey this, these realities to the whole world. Many papers, books were published, many events were held. We must convey and we do convey the historical truth. Now, no one doubts that Nagorno-Karabakh historically belongs to the Azerbaijani people. Nagorno-Karabakh is an inalienable part of Azerbaijan from the legal point of view, and the whole world recognizes the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. No country recognizes and, I am sure, will never recognize the criminal, self-proclaimed regime in Nagorno-Karabakh. These factors, the historical facts, the norms of international law, regulations and resolutions of international organizations not only strengthen our position, but also create the basis, the legal basis, for the conflict settlement, and we achieved this as a result of tireless activity. I am sure that by pursuing a consistent policy, we will achieve our goal, restore the territorial integrity of our country. I do not doubt this," President Aliyev said. Historical realities, legal framework, resolutions of the UN Security Council, regulations and resolutions of other organizations, the country's economic might, military power and the real situation in the region give grounds to say this, added the president. "Today, Armenian people talk about the things that I have been talking for years. I exposed the former criminal regime of Armenia from the highest tribune of the world, from the tribune of the UN. I called them by names, I accused them of the Khojaly genocide, war crimes. I named the former leadership of Armenia a bloodthirsty, criminal, bandit regime. All this is true. I told the truth, today the Armenian people say this truth. The Armenian people finally realized that for 20 years they were led by a criminal junta regime, a regime that pursued only its own interests, a regime, because of unsatisfactory and criminal activity of which, Armenia found itself in such a deplorable state," the president said. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend Kazakhstans KazPetrol group of companies, engaged in development of oil fields and oil production, will increase the volume of recoverable oil reserves in the countrys Kyzylorda region to 2.5 million tons, commercial director of KazPetrol Batyrzhan Daulet told Trend. "We work on implementation of innovative methods of process management, reduction of production costs, achieving accelerated commissioning of explored oil and gas deposits," Daulet said. He stressed that the company plans to increase the amount of recoverable oil reserves from the Khairkeldy, Yugo-Zapadny, Zholtai and Taur fields, at which KazPetrol completed exploration and evaluation procedures, adding that an increase in production volumes would allow the company to increase the geography of oil exports. "Presently, we also work to diversify oil export routes. In addition to the existing directions, we plan to export crude to the southeast regions of Kazakhstan, as well as to the countries of Central Asia," Daulet said. KazPetrol is engaged in exploration, development of oil and gas fields, as well as production with the sale of commercial oil in the domestic and external markets. The company is part of the international Kusto Group Holding, founded in the late 90s by Kazakh specialists in the field of direct investments, project and corporate financing. The company started its activities in the mining industry, expanding its scope of activities and covering projects in the energy industry, production of construction materials and agriculture. Currently, Kusto Group implements projects in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Vietnam, China, Turkey and Israel. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend An official with Irans Seafood Exporters Union said the government is mulling plans to directly export shrimp to China. "We are in talks with relevant authorities to export potted shrimp to China and we plan to do this directly," Hassan Ahmadi Jazani, the deputy head of Irans Seafood Exporters Union, told the Trend news agency on June 4. He added, "China was a major importer of Iranian shrimps as it used to purchase 70 percent of the countrys shrimp". In the past, the Chinese imported the Iranian shrimps via ports of Vietnam, Ahmadi Jazani said, noting that Tehran is now seeking to deliver the small sea creatures to China directly as they can no longer use Vietnamese borders. Iran produced some 20,000 tons of shrimps last year and this is expected to reach 30,000 in the current Iranian year (started March 21), he added. "Once, Europe was a destination for Iranian shrimps, but it was later replaced with the UAE due to (banking) problems." The deputy head of Irans Seafood Exporters Union added that Iran is also experiencing the same problem with Dubai and that this can be settled if Europe helps facilitate banking and trade transactions under new circumstances. Elsewhere in the interview, Ahmadi Jazani pointed to Russias market and said, "The problem with Russians is that they are interested in the wholesale trade and we cannot do wholesale under our normal exporting circumstances". He further said Iran and Russia need to open a letter of credit to boost their business transactions. More than 82,450 tons of different kinds of seafood worth $283 million were exported from Iran in the nine months to Dec. 21, 2017, registering a 23 percent and 37 percent growth in weight and value respectively compared with the similar period of last year. Shrimp culture in Iran is mainly practiced in the provinces of Khuzestan, Hormozgan, Sistan-Baluchestan, Bushehr in the south and Golestan in the north. --- By Kamila Aliyeva Uzbekistan exported sweet cherries worth more than $ 103.96 million starting from April 28 up to June 6, according to the Uzbekkozikovkatholding company. The deliveries of sweet cherry r amounted to 24,575 tons, according to the company. In the reporting period, cherry exports from Uzbekistan increased by 5,340 thousand tons or $ 58.32 million compared to the previous year. During the same period in 2017, Uzbekistan exported 18,900 tons to foreign countries for the amount of $ 44.23 million. The geography of exports is also being expanded. To date, the largest quantity of Uzbek cherries has been shipped to new markets - the UAE, Korea, as well as the already traditional markets of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and other countries. A promising market of China is also being opened for the Uzbek sweet cherry. Earlier, a presentation of the Uzbek sweet cherry was held at the Uzbek Embassy in China, as a result of which Chinese companies expressed their readiness to purchase about 5,000 tons. In July 2017, a protocol was signed on the supply of Uzbek sweet cherries to China, according to which representatives of the quality control department, inspection and quarantine of the Peoples Republic of China conducted an inspection of places for cultivation of sweet cherries in Uzbekistan. Currently, Uzbekistan is the worlds fifth-largest sweet cherry. And today a number of measures are being taken to ensure the supply of cherries to various developed countries of the world in accordance with their standards and quality requirements. --- Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Ritah Kemigisa. The women of Uganda are disappointed with the state of the nation address delivered President Yoweri Museveni yesterday. According to the FDC womens league spokesperson Sarah Eperu, the president did not make a strong statement about the current spate of kidnaps and women murders. Eperu says it is disappointing that the president did not even talk about the possible solutions government is going to put in place to contain these crimes. She adds that intelligence cannot work as the president suggested if there is no security in the country. By Kamila Aliyeva Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan intend to create a joint transport and logistics company for the development of the trade and economic corridor Shymkent-Tashkent, Podrobno.uz reported. It is planned that within the framework of the work of this company, in particular, a green corridor for freight transport, which is serviced in logistics centers of both countries, with an expected volume of transportation of 250,000-400,000 tons per year, will be organized, the press service of the Development Bank of Kazakhstan said. Earlier this year, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan agreed to take further concerted measures to ensure the growth of trade turnover to $ 3 billion in 2018 and $ 5 billion by 2020. The countries also intend to increase the number of rail, bus and air communication between two states. The parties are also discussing the possibility of building an international Cross-Border Cooperation Center, a transport and logistics center (Dry Port) in the border areas of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The trade turnover between the countries in 2017 amounted to $ 2 billion, which is 31.2 percent more compared to 2016. Exports from Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan in 2017 increased by 35 percent and totaled $ 1.3 billion. Imports to Kazakhstan from Uzbekistan increased by 25.1 percent and reached $ 735.2 million. Over 200 companies with Kazakh capital currently operate in Uzbekistan. It should be noted that 2018 is declared as the year of Uzbekistan in Kazakhstan whereas 2019 will be the year of Kazakhstan in Uzbekistan. --- Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will set off a three-day visit to China on June 8 to discuss ways to improve mutual relations and the latest regional developments, the countrys ambassador to China said. President Rouhani will pay a working visit to China to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, Asghar Khaji told the IRNA news agency on June 7. The president is scheduled to hold meetings with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and other senior officials to discuss ties as well as the latest developments around the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, he added. During his three-day visit, four basic agreements on combating narcotics and organized crimes, increasing cooperation in the area securities and bonds, and improving academic ties will be signed, Khaji said. The president is also planned to hold talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin during his visit, the envoy said. The summit is scheduled to be held in the northern Chinese city of Qingdao. The visit will take place as major powers are seeking to save Irans nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), after the United States pulled out. In a speech from the White House on May 8, Trump accused Iran of sponsoring terrorism and seeking nukes before announcing the US withdrawal from the nuclear agreement between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany). --- Weird, Puzzling Balls of Goo Identified: Oregon Coast, British Columbia Published 06/06/2018 at 11:22 PM PDT - Updated 06/07/2018 at 3:22 AM PDT By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff (Cannon Beach, Oregon) They were weird. They were puzzling. They were kind'a gooey. And for awhile the possible answers were all over the map. Literally, in two distinct ways: with the possible answer and with the locale. These mysterious beach balls had been found in British Columbia, Canada and the Oregon coast. (Photos courtesy Haystack Rock Awareness Program). It all started with the Haystack Rock Awareness Program (HRAP) in Cannon Beach. They starting noticing little, sort of squishy balls of something showing up in the area. No one there knew what it was; no one had seen it before. Daily investigations of the beach kept yielding samples of the semi-gooey stuff, which they brought back for study, or at least documentation. HRAP spokesperson (and beach kingpin) Kari Henningsgaard said one of the programs volunteers discovered it on April 9, and a mystery was born. We asked the Seaside Aquarium and Tiffany Boothe guessed it to be a compound tunicate - possibly stubby stalked compound tunicate, Henningsgaard said. Fawn Custer of Coast Watch also guessed it was a tunicate. Citizen scientist Stephen Grace thought they were bryozoan colonies, and guessed them to be Pectinatella magnifica. Eric Owen, land steward for the North Coast Land Conservancy, found them to be inconsistent to what he had experienced that species to look like. Then, it turns out, biologists in British Columbia had also been puzzling over what became nicknamed beach balls. Among them, a marine biologist from southern Canada known as the Marine Detective on Facebook joined in the search, posting her own shots of the round oddities, those from Cannon Beach, and from other locales. Her real name is Jackie Hildering, and she zoomed into scientific discovery action mode. Okay, this one is driving we marine nerds crazy, Hildering wrote on FB. What are these ocean balls?! I first noted them in April 2016 in Port McNeill, British Columbia, and this year known documentations include: Haystack Rock Awareness Program in Oregon and Cyndi Browne in Port McNeill. Then the answers slowly came. Another biologist in the province had examined them under the microscope and figured out they were likely egg masses from a kind of sea worm called the Pile Worm or the Clam Worm. Technically: a polychaete worm by the real name of Nereis vexillosa. Other marine brains chimed in and confirmed. So why were these showing up just now along the west coast of the continent? Hildering doesnt think that was the case. Theres nothing out there in the ocean that was causing them to come in, she said. Theyve probably been coming in all along. Its just now that humans are noticing. Theres simply a lot of stuff out there in the ocean, and its hard to notice everything thats coming in with the tides, she said. The clam worm itself lives just a little ways offshore, probably just beneath the breakers you see coming in. They reproduce by ejecting parts of their bodies, which then eventually fertilize the eggs the females have released into the same area of water (known as a mating swarm.) The fertilized mass drops to the ocean floor and grows to about the size of an egg. Clam worms are often used for bait and will squirm like crazy when captured. They also pack some powerful jaws for such small creatures and can bite when handled. You needn't worry about them being on bad behavior if you're swimming in the ocean, however. Mating is done in winter and spring and dependent on darkness. If these egg masses wash up again in the area, it will be next season. Oregon Coast Lodgings for this - Where to eat - Maps - Virtual Tours More About Oregon Coast hotels, lodging..... More About Oregon Coast Restaurants, Dining..... Coastal Spotlight LATEST Related Oregon Coast Articles Back to Oregon Coast Contact Advertise on BeachConnection.net All Content, unless otherwise attributed, copyright BeachConnection.net Unauthorized use or publication is not permitted When Jamie Byrd-Grant talks to a struggling teenager while on the job as a Houston Police officer, she tells them about herself at their age, feeling lost after her father was brutally murdered. I was that 16-year-old that was broken, she said. I didnt know whether I should hate, whether I should forgive. I had to come to grips with that. Standing in the Jasper park named for her father Thursday, Byrd-Grant, now 36, said her faith started to waiver, until she eventually shifted her focus to the positive change that has come after his death. RELATED: Byrd's family: Don't forget him On June 7, 1998, James Byrd Jr., 49, was chained to the back of a truck and dragged to his death on Huff Creek Road by three white men, who were later convicted of capital murder for the racist hate crime. Thursday, his daughters, sisters and other family members gathered at the Jasper County Courthouse to remember him and dedicate a bench his honor. The dedication was followed by a Fun Day at James Byrd Jr. Memorial Park. The anniversary is one of the hardest days, Byrd-Grant said. Every day is a daily walk. 20 YEARS AGO: The dragging death of James Byrd Jr. Fathers Day is another challenge, said her sister, Renee Byrd Mullins. Mullins, who was 27 when Byrd was killed, said she had to concentrate on her 1-year-old daughter to get through the immediate aftermath of his death. I had to forgive, to teach my kids not to hate, she said. She said Thursdays events were intended to remind the community that hate is a learned response. The sisters sat beside each other on the bench, which was engraved with the words Be the change that you want to see in the world, outside the courthouse where two of the three men who killed their father were convicted. PHOTOS: Scenes from Lawrence Russell Brewer's execution Shawn Allen Berry, 43, is serving a life sentence and Lawrence Russell Brewer was executed in 2011. John William King was sentenced to death but appealed his conviction. The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals denied his latest request for a rehearing this spring. MORE: Jasper killer's racism 'fantasy' claim denied The community here did not do this. Three people did this, Newton County Sheriff Billy Rowles said Thursday. The former Jasper County Sheriff recalled going to Byrds parents house to tell them their son had been killed. When I saw Mama Byrds eyes, she already knew what I was there for. We cried together, we prayed together, he said, calling the family the Rock of Gibraltar for helping maintain peace in Jasper after his death. The good Lord took us by the hand and walked us through this, he said. Jasper County got a scar that ran from here to here, Rowles said, motioning across his chest. And its healing. He said that though problems persist, the town is stronger than it was 20 years ago. Were working through them, he said. Louvon Harris, board president of the Byrd Foundation for Racial Healing, said the bench is intended to be a constant reminder to continue to be the difference. It is our hope that your death will bring some good, she said in a tribute to her brother. Youre still alive in our hearts every day. My dad has shined down on my life in a great way, said Byrd-Grant, who called him her guardian angel. She became a police officer six years ago, motivated by his death, she said. Justice was served for our dad, she said. It made me want to do this work. LTeitz@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/LizTeitz Schools in at least 10 Southeast Texas districts, including Beaumont, Orangefield and Little Cypress-Mauriceville, could be eligible for waivers from state ratings this year under hardship criteria announced by the Texas Education Agency on Wednesday. Schools affected by Tropical Storm Harvey that meet at least one of the four criteria announced by Education Commissioner Mike Morath will receive a waiver for the 2017-18 year and will be labeled "Not Rated," instead of "Improvement Required" if they do not meet the state standard. Passing schools still will be rated "Met Standard." The announcement, which comes more than nine months after the storm hit, gives schools whose students struggled on standardized tests as a result of the storm a break in this year's accountability ratings, shielding schools from consequences they face for failing to meet standards, such as increased oversight and possible state intervention. Campuses will be eligible for the "Hurricane Harvey Provision" if they meet one of four requirements after the storm: 10 percent or more of enrolled students were homeless or enrolled at a school other than their home campus. 10 percent of more of teachers experienced homelessness, reported in a February survey. The campus was closed for 10 or more class days because of Harvey. Students were moved to another location or shared their campus with another school's students through winter break. Districts will be labeled "Not Rated" if all campuses receive waivers or if 10 percent or more of the district's students were enrolled at a Not-Rated campus. Districts still will be graded on an A to F scale for 2018, TEA said, but if they receive any grade lower than an A, they will be listed as Not Rated instead. "This represents a substantial expansion to storm-related accountability adjustments when compared to prior storms in Texas," TEA said in a statement Wednesday. "For example, Hurricane Ike in 2008 resulted in accountability adjustments for campuses based only on one of the above criteria whether a campus was closed 10 or more days." The rating suspension will give Beaumont ISD another year to turn around performance at three long-struggling schools. All Beaumont ISD schools were closed for 11 instructional days after the storm, making them eligible for the waiver. Fehl-Price Elementary, Jones-Clark Elementary and Smith Middle have been rated Improvement Required for at least four years and could have been closed by the state or triggered another takeover of the district if they failed to meet standards this summer for a fifth consecutive year. If they fall short again when ratings are released in August, they'll be designated "Not Rated" instead, which will push the determination back one year. The district could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday. Other Texas districts, including Houston ISD, face similar consequences, but not all schools in danger of closure will meet the waiver requirements. School officials across the Gulf Coast asked the state for leniency in the ratings this fall, testifying at Senate and House hearings that low ratings would punish them for circumstances beyond their control. Port Arthur ISD superintendent Mark Porterie told the Senate Education Committee in November that it is "absolutely impossible" to return to normal this year after the storm. "We have kids that have no homes, schools that are being taught in way less than ideal situations, those have to be factors that you would consider" in rating schools, Orangefield ISD superintendent Stephen Patterson told the Enterprise in April. Orangefield schools were supposed to start on Aug. 28 but didn't begin classes until Sept. 25. Schools and districts that were affected by the storm but that do not meet any of the four criteria can appeal to the TEA for the waiver after ratings are released in August, TEA said. LTeitz@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/LizTeitz Here are seven updates for ASC leaders to know for June 7, 2018. Aurora Health Care sells ownership in 2 ASCs for $7M Milwaukee-based Aurora Health Care sold ownership in two joint venture ASCs for around $7 million. Aurora had entered into the joint ventures with Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin more than five years ago. Holland Eye Surgery & Laser Center alerts 42k patients about 2016 breach Holland (Mich.) Eye Surgery and Laser Center recently mailed notification letters to patients affected by a 2016 hacking incident. A hacker called Lifelock claims to have demanded $10,000.00 from Holland Eye to help the organization secure its patients' data. Wexner Medical Center picks site near competitors for outpatient complex Columbus-based Ohio State University's Wexner Medical Center selected a second location for a network of outpatient complexes with ASCs and medical offices. The health system is eyeing 29.6 acres in Liberty Township, Ohio, for $8 million. Medicare to run out of money sooner than expected Medicare's main trust fund will be depleted by 2026, three years earlier than expected, according to updated projections from Medicare's Board of Trustees. The board blamed the updated projections on lower payroll taxes and decreased Social Security benefits, both resulting from President Donald Trump's tax overhaul. JLL adds executive to focus on leasing ASCs Real estate company JLL added Tim Gregory to its staff as senior vice president to focus on leasing healthcare-related properties. Mr. Gregory will focus on ASC and medical office building leasing efforts. $11M Illinois joint venture ASC opens New Lenox, Ill.-based Silver Cross Hospital opened a freestanding ASC in New Lenox through a joint venture with independent physicians and Addison, Texas-based United Surgical Partners International. The center has three operating rooms, 12 preoperative and postoperative beds and a family waiting area. Diamond Orthopedic aims to penetrate ASC market with patented design Diamond Orthopedic received FDA 510(k) clearance for its sterile-packaged faceted bone screw technology. The patented faceted screw design is intended for surgeons to use to insert screws into bone with less torque, reducing the potential for microfractures. The design is engineered to exhibit better purchase at the bone-screw interface and reduced compressive stress compared to traditional helical screws. A leftover feud was reheated last week between University of Iowa Stead Family Children's Hospital in Iowa City, Iowa, and the contractor Modern Piping, according to a report from The Gazette. Modern Piping alleges the university negotiated a settlement in "bad faith" by trying to reopen closed terms and refusing to accept language it previously proposed. At issue is a disagreement over work and timing during construction of the new 14-floor children's hospital. In March, an arbitration panel awarded Modern Piping almost $21.5 million, $4.6 million of which was owed for work on University of Iowa's Hancher Auditorium, according to the report. The university appealed the decision because it lumped together awards for two separate projects. It asked the court for extensions to negotiate with Modern Piping twice before asking again May 31 for more time, reigniting the disagreement. Modern Piping wants University of Iowa to pay the original $21.5 million award, or pay $18.5 million and allow for completion of follow-up work, according to the report. The children's hospital project was nearly $90 million over budget. The university has halted new construction projects after the state cut nearly $21 million from its budget over the past two years, according to the report. Read the full story here. More articles on facilities management: WVU Medicine breaks ground on $150M children's tower Williamson Medical Center seeks funding for $79M expansion Carthage Area Hospital seeks $65M for replacement hospital, rural health center City officials in Hoover, Ala., proposed a $300 million project that would involve relocating the University of Alabama at Birmingham's Medical West hospital from Bessemer, Ala., to Hoover, according to a Hoover Sun report. Here are four things to know: 1. The potential project is in the preliminary stages, with the city and UAB simply discussing the idea, according to the report, which cites "sources." No official agreement is in place. 2. However, if the project were to come to fruition, it is expected to require a $20 million investment from the city and bring more than 1,000 jobs to Hoover, the report states. 3. The 312-bed UAB Medical West hospital primarily serves patients of western Jefferson County. 4. Hospital CEO Keith Pennington reiterated in a statement to the Hoover Sun that the facility remains committed to that area no matter what the future holds. "While we have made no secret of our long-term intention to construct a replacement hospital for the current Medical West facility, no decision has been reached on how, if, when or where that project might be undertaken," the statement reads. "We will continue to evaluate our plans for the future of Medical West so we can best fulfill our mission, which is to provide the highest quality care to all of our communities in a patient-focused environment." More articles on healthcare finance: Fewer medical mistakes saved hospitals $2.9B from 2014 to 2016 $28k: The average price healthcare will cost a family of 4 in 2018 9 latest hospital credit downgrades A nurse in St. Dominic's emergency department in Jackson, Miss., received a $42,036 medical bill after his insurer, the hospital, denied payment for cancer treatment he received, according to The Clarion-Ledger. Here are eight things to know: 1. The nurse, Gus Mohamed, was treated for Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He received the last of his six doses of chemotherapy in April and is now in remission, according to the report. He ended up with a $42,036 medical bill after his insurer denied payment for one of the treatments. 2. Mr. Mohamed received three treatments doses of Bendeka at the St. Dominic infusion center. But he learned in February, days before his fourth treatment, that the hospital ran out of Bendeka, according to the report. The hospital asked him to wait until the medication was back in stock. 3. Mr. Mohamed sought out his oncologist, Guangzhi Qu, MD, who is part of Jackson Oncology Associates, which runs St. Dominic Cancer Center. Dr. Qu had the medication at St. Dominic Cancer Center near the hospital on the St. Dominic's campus, and gave Mr. Mohammed his fourth treatment roughly a week after his original scheduled treatment date, reports The Clarion-Ledger. During the treatment, Mr. Mohamed learned the hospital,which also insures Mr. Mohamed, would not pay for the treatment delivered at the clinic. 4. Mr. Mohamed told The Clarion-Ledger: "They basically wanted me to just get up and go home. There's a business side of the hospital where everybody's a customer and then there's the health care side of a hospital where you're a patient. And the business side of the hospital is the one that's causing the problem." 6. Mr. Mohamed is insured via St. Dominic's self-funded plan for employees, and Aetna determines prior authorizations for the hospital. St. Dominic's spokesperson Andy North told The Clarion-Ledger: "All employees have access to and agree to follow the policies and procedures governing the plan. Chemotherapy drugs administered at a physician clinic are clearly identified as not covered by the plan." The hospital declined further comment to the publication about Mr. Mohamed's case, citing patient privacy. 7. The Clarion-Ledger cited an email exchange between Mr. Mohamed and a St. Dominic employee, in which Dr. Qu's office said Aetna approved treatment at the clinic, since the hospital ran out of Bendeka. Since St. Dominic's pharmacy buyer was under the impression that approval had occurred, it told Mr. Mohamed via email it was willing to clear up any confusion and provide Aetna with information showing the hospital did not receive Bendeka until two weeks after his scheduled treatment, and was not able to get Treanda, the alternative medication it tried to substitute, because "when the Bendeka went on back order, many facilities switched to the Treanda, and there was a run on it," according to the report. 8. In the end, the hospital agreed to pay. Read The Clarion-Ledger's full report here. More articles on healthcare finance: Private equity firm acquires Aspirion Health Resources: 4 things to know MedData names acting president: 3 things to know New Jersey passes law fighting surprise medical billing: 8 things to know Chicago-based Rush University Medical Center received the largest single donation in its history a $45 million pledge to help expand its mental health program for veterans, according to the Chicago Tribune. The donation, from the Wounded Warrior Project, will support Rush's Road Home Program, which treats veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injuries, depression and other related conditions at no cost. Since the program's launch in 2014, it has treated more than 1,000 people. Hospital officials estimate the donation will help Rush treat another 5,000 veterans in the next five years. The pledge, which will be distributed to Rush in stages, will help 1,500 veterans receive access to a three-week outpatient program focused on treating PTSD in patients who aren't responding to typical treatments. It also will help up to 3,500 more veterans and family members receive outpatient therapy and counseling. "We're thrilled," Rush University Medical Center CEO Larry Goodman, MD, told the Chicago Tribune. "Besides the size of the donation, what it goes for is incredibly important. The services provided by the Road Home Program really treat those invisible injuries of war, which are unfortunately all too common in people returning from defending our country." Athenahealth co-founder Jonathan Bush has resigned as president, CEO and member of the company's board, effective immediately. "I believe that working for something larger than yourself is the greatest thing a human can do," Mr. Bush said in a June 6 company statement announcing his departure. "Athenahealth is a near once-in-a-lifetime example of such a thing. With that lens on, it's easy for me to see that the very things that made me useful to the company and cause in these past 21 years are now exactly the things that are in the way." Here are four things to know about the abrupt resignation: 1. The athenahealth board has hired an executive search firm to assist with its CEO search. To ease its transition, the company appointed athenahealth Chairman Jeff Immelt to the post of executive chairman and gave athenahealth Executive Vice President, CFO, Chief Accounting Officer and Treasurer Marc Levine greater day-to-day operational responsibilities. "On behalf of the board, I want to thank Jonathan for guiding athenahealth to this point and for building an incredible team, which is deeply focused on our clients and on driving disruptive, positive change across the healthcare industry," Mr. Immelt said in the June 6 statement. "The board and Jonathan agree that this change in leadership is appropriate as athenahealth turns to its next chapter." 2. Mr. Bush's departure follows Elliott Management making an unsolicited all-cash offer for athenahealth in early May, which may be worth almost $7 billion. Elliott Management is an investment management firm with a reputation for restructuring leadership teams and aggressively pursuing deals, according to Forbes. 3. Elliott Management first disclosed its purchase of a 9.2 percent stake in athenahealth in May 2017, raising questions about athenahealth's future among those in the healthcare industry. Last August, the athenahealth board of directors and management team unveiled plans to restructure the company's senior leadership, including hiring a president and chairman of the board both roles previously filled by Mr. Bush. 4. In its June 6 statement, athenahealth also disclosed its board of directors had initiated a process to consider "strategic alternatives" for the company, which might include a sale, merger or continuing as an independent company under new leadership. "We approach this process with an open mind and a commitment to continuing to strengthen the company including its rich data asset, platform strategy and culture of innovation," Mr. Immelt said in the statement. "We are fully focused on serving the best interests of our shareholders, employees and clients." A U.S. medical team in Guangzhou, China, is screening more American diplomats June 7 after at least one individual was evacuated from the country with symptoms similar to those experienced by U.S. diplomats in Cuba last year, The Washington Post reports. Here are five things to know: 1. At least one American government employee has been evacuated from China after complaining of "subtle and vague, but abnormal, sensations of sound and pressure," according to the U.S. Department of State. On June 6, the State Department said it was evacuating several more Americans for further health screenings in the U.S. A State Department spokesperson confirmed to The Washington Post "a number" of individuals have been affected. "U.S. medical professionals will continue to conduct full evaluations to determine the cause of the reported symptoms and whether the findings are consistent with those noted in previously affected government personnel or possibly completely unrelated," the spokesperson said. 2. In May, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Congress the case in China was medically similar to the symptoms experienced by at least 24 U.S. diplomats and their families in Cuba last year. The American Foreign Service Association said the Cuban diplomats had been diagnosed with "mild traumatic brain injury and permanent hearing loss, with such additional symptoms as loss of balance, severe headaches, cognitive disruption and brain swelling," the report states. 3. A U.S. official not authorized to discuss the situation reportedly told the Associated Press the Americans evacuated from China are being brought to the Pittsburgh-based University of Pennsylvania for tests. In a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, UPenn researchers, who tested and studied the affected Cuban diplomats, concluded the affected individuals "appeared to have sustained injury to widespread brain networks without an associated history of head trauma." However, other researchers have criticized the results of the study, claiming the evidence presented in the study was lacking, according to The Washington Post. 4. Chinese officials said in a statement June 7 investigators have looked into the single confirmed case in Guangzhou, and have been made aware of other similar cases through media reports. However, following an investigation, Chinese officials "haven't found the cause or clues that would lead to the situation mentioned by the United States," a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China said. 5. The FBI has launched an investigation into the reported cases in Cuba. However, after more than a year of investigation, officials have been unable to determine the cause of the injuries or identify the perpetrators, The Washington Post reports. To access the full report, click here. Michele Williams, MD, a member of Nashville (Tenn.) General Hospital's Hospital Authority Board, resigned after the unexpected renewal of CEO Joseph Webb's contract last week, according to The Tennessean. Dr. Williams is the fourth board member to resign in the past month. Dr. Williams said she was "disappointed" with the extension of Mr. Webb's contract without a review of his performance evaluation, The Tennessean reports. The contract was extended in a surprise vote at a May 31 meeting when Dr. Williams was not present. She was one of two members who were absent at the meeting. Two other members recently resigned, and the chairwoman, who abstained from the vote, resigned at the end of the May 31 meeting. Only six members voted, approving the contract without terms in a 5-to-1 vote. Initially, the board planned to review Mr. Webb's performance evaluation and to vote on his contract at a June 11 meeting. Dr. Williams was on vacation last week. She told The Tennessean, "she had been comfortable missing the meeting because she was specifically told the vote on Webb's contract would be held in June." However, the other board members pushed the vote up as they felt, "[Mr. Webb] had waited too long for job security," The Tennessean previously reported. The board will formerly accept Mr. Williams' resignation at the June 11 meeting and will also make Mr. Webb's performance evaluation public, according to the report. Patchogue, N.Y.-based Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center axed plans to rename the 306-bed hospital Long Island Medical Center, Newsday reports. Hospital officials told the publication BMHMC decided not to pursue plans to name the hospital Long Island Medical Center after receiving community feedback indicating the proposed name did not reflect the institution's mission. Officials said neighboring New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health also expressed concern about the potential name, claiming it was similar to its New Hyde Park-based hospital Long Island Jewish Medical Center. However, BMHMC said Northwell Health's concerns were not a factor in its decision-making. "While we are respectful of Northwell's concerns, it didn't impact our decision regarding our name change," a BMHMC spokesperson told Newsday. BMHMC officials said they still plan to rebrand the hospital, but did not disclose any potential alternative names. Officials said in February the health system had been working on rebranding for more than a year. President Donald Trump signed the VA Mission Act June 6 to expand veterans' access to private healthcare, though he has fought the bipartisan funding bill proposed by legislators, according to The Washington Post. The Mission Act does not appropriate funding for the bill, and senators from both parties have proposed $50 billion in new spending. President Trump's administration has lobbied Republicans to get the funding by cutting other spending. "Without subjecting the program to any budgetary constraint, there is no incentive to continue to serve veterans with innovative, streamlined and efficient quality of care," according a Trump administration memo obtained by The Washington Post. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, warned that unless the administration approves a new spending bill, lawmakers will be forced to cut $10 billion a year for five years from the existing program. Reforming the VA was a major part of President Trump's election campaign, but he faced conservative backlash after Congress passed a $1.3 trillion spending bill in March. As urbanization has dramatically altered the demographics of our national landscape, the health and well-being of many rural Americans have suffered significantly from poor access to much-needed care. More than half of the pregnant women living in rural areas reside farther than 30 minutes from a hospital offering obstetrical and gynecologic services. In fact, a Scientific American study found the mortality rate among rural pregnancy cases was nearly double that of metropolitan areas. At the same time, rural hospitals are closing their doors at an alarming rate. Of the roughly 1,300 critical access hospitals open today, 700 are either vulnerable or at risk of closure, according to a recent study by the National Rural Health Association. These are two of the stark realities facing rural families who farm, ranch and provide the many natural resources and food staples we rely on. Thankfully for the nearly 20 percent of Americans who live in rural communities, advances in telemedicine are finally helping providers bridge this divide. Still, more must be done. Englewood, Colo.-based Catholic Health Initiatives, one of the nation's largest nonprofit health systems, operates 29 critical access hospitals more than any other system in the U.S. At CHI our mission is simple: Create and sustain healthier communities. For rural communities in particular, this means identifying new solutions and investing in new pathways to better, more affordable care. Today, CHI manages more than 80 telemedicine programs that are helping provide those solutions. While we know that more needs to be done, CHI's rural hospitals have significantly improved care and increased access by integrating more real-time, two-way video and audio communications into the care continuum. Simply put, this is saving lives. For example: Virtual health services: This telepharmacy program provides critical services to 48 small and rural hospitals, many not part of CHI, that don't have 24/7 pharmacist coverage. This is a critical program because many new regulations require a pharmacist to approve lifesaving medications before they can be administered. The program provides audio/visual connections so providers can verify that the correct medications were retrieved from the hospital's medication dispensary, check IV admixtures prepared by nurses, and can help identify patient medications. Today, the service reviews 3,900 medication orders daily and averages about 70 interventions a day each representing a potential health risk from an adverse reaction. We are using the same technology to help curve the potential of overprescribing antimicrobial medications as well. Since the full program launch in August, we have identified 2,736 interventions, of which, 2,385 were accepted by the attending physician. This program alone has saved CHI $1 million in medication costs while extending expert care into rural America. Teleradiology: This initiative enables rural providers to have their patient's X-rays and images read remotely by a fellowship-trained radiologist. For example, a woman getting a mammogram in rural North Dakota may have her images read by one of our radiologists in Des Moines, Iowa. Enhancing maternity care for women outside a metro area is just one of the many benefits of this effort. Telepsychiatry: This program provides physician-mandated psychiatric evaluations for continued care and mental health sessions to those who typically can't or won't seek mental healthcare, sometimes with devastating consequences. In the first six months of the program's existence, there were 284 patients in the emergency department given mental health diagnoses, resulting in 36 virtual ED visits. We have seen first-hand how this program can help prevent suicides and treat substance abuse. In recent years, CHI has introduced e-hospitalist services to our communities. This newer platform for hospitalist services provides consults, hospital admissions and hospital follow-up care by using technology to remotely connect physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners and nurses. This type of program helps keep patients close to home in their community hospital, yet provides them with the appropriate level of care their condition requires. At our tele-asthma clinic, patients receive the same set of services available in a normal clinic setting but without what can be a two- or three-hour commute each way. Patients are interviewed and examined via live radio by a resident physician and/or asthma educator located at St. Alexius Health in Bismarck, D., and the exams are conducted via a Jedmed digital scope that is shared virtually. Since the initial asthma clinic opened in Dickinson, N.D., in November 2017, patient satisfaction surveys have been extremely positive, with patients responding that they were either "very" or "completely" satisfied with the first telemedicine asthma clinic in the state. Each one of these programs taught us valuable lessons. First, providers need to focus on leverage and local empowerment. For example, while we initially deployed a video-cart solution to address our pharmacist shortage, our rural teams were empowered to explore other ways these assets could be used to fill the care gaps they face. That led to the tele-psychiatrist program. We will also use the video carts to link eight of our rural hospitals with board-certified emergency room physicians 24/7. The second lesson to bolster rural health access is that we have to be open to these and other innovative technologies and encourage our providers to embrace the disruptive changes that come with their use. We are introducing e-hospitalists to help perform inpatient consults remotely. This new platform will help those in the field whether they are a physician assistant or nurse practitioner better serve and diagnose issues remotely. This type of program helps keep patients at home while receiving the level of care their condition requires. This care innovation represents a massive change in our protocols. It requires our specialists to be open to changing how they treat their rural patients. They have to become comfortable with the electronic interface and the unique challenges these tools bring. Healthcare choices for rural American can be more difficult than for their urban neighbors who have ready access to doctors, pharmacists and hospitals. This disparity will be remedied only if the healthcare community at large combines its creative talents, strategic thinking and dedication to bring quality of care to all parts of our country. More articles on leadership and management: Nashville General loses 4th board member over sudden CEO contract extension Leaked details of Trump plan suggest reorganization, rebrand in store for HHS Tom Price for WSJ: An ode to association health plans "Catastrophic debt" and the opportunity to study medicine alongside students of similar socioeconomic backgrounds have led some minority and low-income medical school students to seek out schooling opportunities in Cuba, The New Yorker reports. One such opportunity is the Latin American School of Medicine, or ELAM, in Havana. Established by the Cuban government in 1999, the school aims to recruit students from low-income and marginalized communities across the globe, who upon graduation are encouraged to return to their home countries and practice medicine. Officials created the international medical school after a series of natural disasters decimated vulnerable populations in Central America and the Caribbean, and former Cuban President Fidel Castro mandated Americans, Haitians and students from poor African nations would be allowed to attend the medical school free of charge. The inaugural class of U.S. students began classes at ELAM in 2001, one year after a delegation from the Congressional Black Caucus met with Cuban officials to discuss the need for physicians in rural black communities across the U.S., according to the report. While black and Latino students represent approximately 6 percent of medical school graduates annually in the U.S., nearly 50 percent of ELAM's U.S. graduates are black, while roughly 33 percent are Latino. Nimeka Phillip, MD, an American who graduated from the school in 2015, told The New Yorker reporter Anakwa Dwamena that attending ELAM offered her the opportunity to study medicine without incurring the costs associated with medical school in the U.S. She took and passed the U.S. medical licensing exam in March 2014, and was accepted into a family medicine residency program in Hendersonville, N.C., in 2016, according to the report. "It's one thing to recruit people that have high skills. More unique is when you find people that really have the passion and heart for taking care of underserved patient populations. These are the people needed to close the health-disparities gap," the director of Dr. Phillip's residency program in North Carolina told The New Yorker. To access the full report, click here. Brentwood, Tenn.-based Quorum Health Resources will no longer manage Calais (Maine) Regional Hospital. The Calais Regional Hospital board of directors told WABI the hospital and Quorum mutually agreed to end the management contract. The Maine State Nurses Association applauded the decision. "It is long past time that we got rid of Quorum," Maureen Hayward, RN, MSNA chief steward at Calais Regional Hospital, said in a press release. "We wish this had happened a long [time] ago, but better late than never." The nurses claim Quorum Health Resources, which is a subsidiary of Brentwood-based Quorum Health, reduced services at Calais Regional Hospital to increase profits. More articles on healthcare industry transactions: CHS continues hospital sell-off spree with deals in Louisiana, Tennessee HCA could soon own 53 hospitals in Texas Cone Health, Randolph Health merger is off After committing millions of dollars toward the creation of a healthcare alliance, Iowa City-based University of Iowa Health Care informed its board of regents June 6 it needs $7.5 million "to meet cash flow requirements to facilitate discontinuance," according to The Gazette. The Gazette reports the $1.4 billion healthcare system asked the board of regents June 6 to approve the transfer of $9.5 million to its separate nonprofit University of Iowa Health System, which oversees its alliance, principally for the dissolution of the alliance. Officials told the publication in a June 6 statement, "The ultimate cost of closeout is expected to be less after final dissolution. Capital commitments to the alliance must be met by all members for it to accommodate closeout expenses, including multiyear contractual commitments with third parties engaged by the alliance and direct personnel support." In 2012, UI Health Care established the UI Health Alliance, which includes members such as Davenport, Iowa-based Genesis Health System and Burlington, Iowa-based Great River Health System. The health system also launched an ACO in 2015 to allow its member organizations to contract together on coordinated patient care. However, UI Health Care announced its decision in March to exit both the alliance and the ACO, citing industry and budgetary uncertainty, the report states. "Given a rapidly changing healthcare environment, reductions in federal and state reimbursements, uncertain financial headwinds and looming cuts in state appropriations to the University of Iowa, continuing to participate in the alliance and its ACO would become increasingly difficult," UI Health Care administrators told The Gazette at the time of its March announcement. In addition to the necessary cash flow for the dissolution, UI Health Care also asked the board of regents June 6 for $2 million to cover "residual cash flows of UI Community Connect projects," which included initiatives such as installing clinical information systems at community hospitals. The board of regents is expected to issue a decision on the $9.5 million transfer June 7, according to the report. Editor's note: Becker's Hospital Review reached out to UI Health Care for comment and will update the report as more information becomes available. West Des Moines, Iowa-based UnityPoint Health announced a formal affiliation with Memorial Hospital, an 18-bed critical access hospital in Carthage, Ill., June 6. Here are four things to know about the affiliation: 1. The agreement, effective July 1, will allow the organizations to expand on their commitment to provide high-quality, affordable healthcare. 2. Memorial Hospital's affiliated clinics, home health services and senior services will all be included as part of the deal. 3. The Memorial Hospital board of directors had been searching for potential affiliates for the past two years. Officials selected UnityPoint Health because the organization's mission, vision and values all closely aligned with those of Memorial Hospital. 4. The 18-bed hospital's current board members and administration will continue in their positions once the affiliation is finalized. Shreveport, La.-based Allegiance Health Management, a 13-hospital post-acute health system, agreed to a $1.7 million settlement to resolve False Claims Act allegations. The Justice Department accused Allegiance of submitting and causing other hospitals to submit reimbursement claims to Medicare for medically unnecessary or unreasonable services. According to prosecutors, Allegiance began entering into arrangements with several Southeastern hospitals to run outpatient psychotherapy service centers within the hospitals, only to bill Medicare for inappropriate services. Allegiance's settlement resolves a whistle-blower lawsuit filed in the Eastern District of Arkansas under the qui tam provision of the False Claims Act. Former Allegiance Program Manager Ryan Ladner filed the lawsuit and will receive about $300,000 of the settlement. More articles on legal & regulatory issues: Appellate court revives monopoly suit against Texas hospital: 5 things to know Healthcare CEO sentenced to 19 years for $18M physical therapy fraud scheme Owner of neuropsychology clinic charged with insurance fraud Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare paid out $127.2 million since 2000 to settle lawsuits alleging inadequate worker compensation, according to a report from Good Jobs First, an organization that tracks legal violations at large companies. Good Jobs First evaluated 1,283 collective action lawsuits resolved since 2000. The report identified 450 U.S. companies that each paid out at least $1 million in wage theft settlements. Walmart topped the list with $1.1 billion in settlements and fines related to wage disputes since 2000. Tenet was the only hospital operator on the list, but other healthcare organizations, including CVS, Rite Aid and Novartis, were included. Tenet cited issues with the data in the report. The company told The Dallas Morning News one of the three cases listed under its name is related to an incident that occurred prior to Tenet taking ownership. A second case listed under Tenet's name was settled 10 years ago and relates to a pay practice the company has since eliminated, Tenet told The Dallas Morning News. More articles on legal and regulatory issues: Healthcare CEO sentenced to 19 years for $18M physical therapy fraud scheme Missouri hospital allegedly fired coder for refusing to ignore improper billing Feds arrest police officer for allegedly assaulting patient at New Jersey hospital Monroe, La.-based University Health Conway closed all of its clinics June 6 after a water pipe burst, according to a KNOE report. While the clinics are closed, the main hospital and emergency room at the hospital are still open. Patients who had an appointment June 6 should call the hospital to reschedule. Repairs on the broken pipes are underway. Hospital officials said they hope to have the clinics open June 7. A car crashed into Washington, Pa.-based Neighborhood Health Center on June 6, killing a female employee, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Kimberly Dollard was working on the first floor of the outpatient clinic in the registration office when a red Jeep Liberty with West Virginia plates drove down a hill and crashed into the side of the building. The Washington County coroner's office said she was pronounced dead on the scene. A patient being registered in the clinic was injured during the crash. The patient was flown to a hospital in Pittsburgh for treatment, according to the report. Authorities said the car's driver was alert and conscious when he was taken to Washington (Pa.) Hospital for treatment. More articles on patient flow: Alabama hospital ceases inpatient admissions as it prepares to close Iowa outpatient clinic to close Aug. 31 Bayshore Medical Center reopens ICU after fire and water damage Since the beginning of 2018, 22 payer-provider health insurance products have been launched, with 73 percent of them being a co-branded joint venture insurance policy, according an Oliver Wyman Health analysis. Several national commercial payers are continuing pushes into this space this year. Aetna recently announced JVs with Sacramento, Calif.-based Sutter Health and Allina Health in Minneapolis, in addition to a Medicare product it launched in 2018 and five Whole Health accountable care partnerships. Cigna also unveiled products with Arizona Care Network in Phoenix and San Jose, Calif.-based Good Samaritan Health System. Cleveland Clinic launched three payer partnerships with Humana, Anthem and Oscar Health in 2018. Other notable payer-provider partnerships include Blue Cross Blue Shield Rhode Island with Providence, R.I.-based Lifespan on the state's individual market; Security Health Plan with Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic and Marshfield (Wis.) Clinic Health System for group employers; and WellCare with Chapel Hill-based UNC Health Alliance in Medicare Advantage. "Payers and providers continue to be interested in forming product-based partnerships. Our analysis, which began in 2016, continues to show a steady increase of trend toward deeper partnership, with more co-branding, greater levels of value-based financial alignment, and other forms of closer collaboration and joint ventures," according to Oliver Wyman analysts. More articles on payer issues: UnitedHealth's Optum part of $2.2B deal to acquire physician firm: 4 things to know Anthem reaches deal with St. Vincent to add 4 microhospitals to network Want to realign fee-for-service physicians to value-based care? Act on your data Police are investigating Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital after a second woman was found dead in a hallway June 4, according to an NBC Bay Area report. The death comes one week after 75-year-old Ruby Anderson was found dead in the stairwell of a locked power plant building on hospital grounds. The latest case occurred early morning June 4, when a woman in her early 40s, who was being held on a 72-hour psychiatric evaluation hold, was found dead in a hallway at San Francisco General Hospital. "Apparently she wasn't being monitored closely enough," an unnamed source involved in the investigation told NBC Bay Area. "There had been a report she may have gone to the bathroom. We don't know how long it had been before anyone had checked on her." The woman, whose identity has not been disclosed, was reportedly being treated on a bed in the hallway after San Francisco police took her to the facility at 12:30 p.m. June 3. It is unclear if anyone checked on the woman between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. June 4. Homicide investigators at the San Francisco Police Department are working with the city's medical examiner's office to identify the woman's cause of death. "Privacy laws prevent us from confirming any information about patients in psychiatric care. We always cooperate with police investigations," a spokesperson for the San Francisco Department of Health, which operates the public hospital, told NBC Bay Area. Here are eight Q&As on the application of biologics in orthopedics and spine. 1. Four spine surgeons discussed trends in the use of spine biologics. 2. Mick Perez-Cruet, MD, detailed where the spine field is headed. 3. Former North American Spine Society President William Watters, MD, of Houston Medical, described the biggest spine technology, clinical and business trends for 2018. 4. Roger Hartl, MD, director of spinal surgery and neurotrauma at Weill Cornell Brain and Spine Center in New York City and director of the Weill Cornell Medicine Center for Comprehensive Spine Care, offered two key thoughts on where spine surgery is headed in the future, including technology and practice trends. 5. Michael Gordon, MD, a spine surgeon with Hoag Orthopedic Institute in Irvine, Calif., weighed in on trends he sees with regard to the use of spinal biologics. 6. Three spine surgeons from across the U.S. discussed where they see the biggest opportunities in spinal biologics and disc generation. 7. Luga Podesta, MD, spoke about the possibilities and pitfalls of stem cell therapies in orthopedics and trends in regenerative medicine. 8. PolarityTE Executive Vice President, COO and Director Ned Swanson, MD, spoke about how the orthopedic and spine specialties could benefit from the company's bone and skin regeneration products and other technologies in development. More articles on biologics: International Stem Cell Corp. to launch joint supplement for osteoarthritis pain in Q3 2018 How Dr. Kevin Stone helped Super Bowl champion Tracy Porter make a comeback 6 details Study: First-in-human neural stem cell transplantation shows promise for spinal cord injury treatment 5 takeaways Duxbury, Mass.-based Plymouth Bay Orthopedics broke ground on its new headquarters in Plymouth, Mass., according to Plymouth Wicked Local. Here are five things to know: 1. The new building includes 40,000 square feet of office and clinical space. In addition to performing minimally invasive procedures, the new headquarters will house Plymouth Bay Orthopedics' pain center. 2. Beth Israel Deaconess Plymouth will occupy offices on the top floor of the new headquarters. There, a team of cardiologists will be staffed. 3. Plymouth Bay Orthopedics' new facility will include seven surgeons and five physician assistants. 4. Along with its affiliation with Beth Israel Deaconess Plymouth, Plymouth Bay Orthopedics is affiliated with New England Baptist Hospital in Boston. 5. Plymouth Bay Orthopedics' estimates between its two other locations its physicians perform more than 2,500 orthopedic surgeries and see 40,000 patients annually. Here are eight things for spinal surgeons to know for June 7, 2018. Riverside Spine & Pain Physicians settles $1.2M False Claims Act lawsuit Jacksonville, Fla.-based Riverside Spine & Pain Physicians settled a federal lawsuit, Daily Record reports. The pain management practice will pay $1.2 million for the federal charges of violating the False Claims Act. The case involved charges that the practice purposefully billed the government for medically unnecessary urine drug tests. Read more, here. Tricare updates coverage to include lumbar total disc replacement after 2017 meeting with Aesculap Implant Systems Tricare now covers lumbar artificial disc replacements with Aesculap Implant Systems' activL Artificial Disc for active duty and retired military personnel and their families. Aesculap Implant Systems met with the U.S. Defense Health Agency in late 2017 to discuss long-term evidence in support of lumbar total disc replacement for single-level degenerative disc disease. Read more about the process, here. Medtronic aims to achieve 80% free cash flow, return 50%+ to investors Medtronic unveiled its strategic growth roadmap for creating long-term shareholder value at the 2018 Medtronic Institutional Investor and Analyst Day in New York City. Among its goals, the company hopes to achieve 80 percent free cash flow conversion over the next two to three years and return a minimum of 50 percent of free cash flow to shareholders. Read more about the company's strategic plan, here. Opioid prescribing drops 22.2% between 2013 and 2017 The American Medical Association released a new report on the state of the opioid epidemic, revealing between 2013 and 2017, opioid prescribing decreased 22.2 percent. The report also found a boost in the use of state prescription drug monitoring programs, and an increase in the number of physicians trained and certified in treating patients with an opioid use disorder. Cleveland Clinic Florida receives $6M commitment to advance orthopedic surgery Charlottesville, Va., couple Amy and David Krohn committed $6 million to Weston-based Cleveland Clinic Florida to further orthopedic surgery research and innovation. The Krohns plan to dispense the $6 million commitment over their lifetimes. The initial $2 million donation will go toward research and the Orthopaedic & Rheumatologic Center. Medical device makers 'shocked and disappointed' by Trump's proposed $50B tariffs Last month, President Donald Trump announced plans to impose a 25 percent tariff on about $50 billion worth of goods imported from China. With the final list of affected imports set to be announced by June 15, U.S. medical device industry representatives are holding their breath. Medical device and technology products make up $5 billion of the imported goods facing tariffs. Many of them are made by U.S. companies, Greg Crist, executive vice president of public affairs at trade group AdvaMed, told Medical Design and Outsourcing. Read more, here. Medicrea earns world's 1st FDA approval for patient-specific cages Medicrea received FDA clearance for its patient-specific spinal cages using its UNiD technology. This is the first time a patient-specific spinal cage won FDA approval. Medicrea designed the 3D printed titanium devices using its IB3D predictive analytics model. Safe Orthopaedics acquires Qspine's sales force Safe Orthopaedics unveiled a deal to acquire Qspine's sales force. Qspine, which distributes medical equipment for spine surgery, has served as Safe Orthopaedics' U.K. distributor since 2014. Safe Orthopaedics plans to boost commercial resources and marketing in the U.K. A group involved in the construction of a third runway at Heathrow Airport viewed three sites in Co Antrim yesterday sparking hopes of a major windfall for Northern Ireland. Proponents of the project claim a logistics hub, which would contribute to the off-site construction of the new runway, could be worth 5bn for the economy, helping create around 5,000 jobs. Some 65 sites across the UK, including six in Northern Ireland, have been 'longlisted' for the final four logistics hubs. It's part of a pledge by Heathrow Airport to spend 60% of procurement involved in a third runway outside London. The three sites visited in Co Antrim yesterday were the former Michelin factory in Ballymena, the Global Point business park in Newtownabbey and Belfast International Airport, where managing director Graham Keddie guided the delegation. The sites have been actively promoted by the councils of Mid and East Antrim, and Antrim and Newtownabbey. The other three locations in the running are the former Shackleton Barracks in Ballykelly, Silverwood Business Park in Lurgan and North Foreshore in Lisburn. The latter two sites are being promoted by Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council. The former Shackleton Barracks site is now owned by Newry-based group MJM. Cabinet ministers gave their backing to the third runway at Heathrow on Tuesday. Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said the decision was being taken in the national interest and would benefit the whole of the UK. He said 15% of new landing slots would facilitate regional connectivity. The Co Antrim site visits are part of a process which will progress to a pre-qualification questionnaire process later this year. UUP Mayor of Antrim and Newtownabbey Paul Michael said the council was delighted to have two sites in the running. "This initiative represents a unique opportunity to help to deliver an efficient and affordable expansion of Heathrow, whilst leaving behind a lasting economic legacy," he said. "Our offer is built upon the excellent transport network that connects us with Heathrow by road, rail, sea and air and the outstanding supply chain of local companies that can support the expansion." Outsourcer Mitie has insisted it is where we need to be with a swingeing overhaul, despite reporting a drop in annual earnings after a tough past year. Outsourcer Mitie has insisted it is where we need to be amid a swingeing overhaul, despite reporting a drop in annual earnings after a tough past year. The group reported a 6% fall in underlying earnings to 77.1 million for the year to March 31, although revenues rose 2.8% to 2.2 billion. Its figures come after a difficult time for the outsourcing sector following the collapse of Carillion, while Mitie itself has been forced to launch a wide-ranging turnaround plan following a string of profit warnings. Expand Close Boss Phil Bentley is leading a mammoth overhaul at the outsourcing giant (PA) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Boss Phil Bentley is leading a mammoth overhaul at the outsourcing giant (PA) But chief executive Phil Bentley said Mitie was making solid progress with its revamp and cheered the groups revenue performance, with further modest top-line growth expected in 2018-19. He said: We are one year into our transformation programme and we are where we need to be. It has been a year of discovery, simplification and significant change, all set against a challenging market. Shares lifted 5% after the results. Mities overhaul is seeing the group slash annual costs by 50 million a year by 2020. Under the plans, it is simplifying its corporate structure, outsourcing and automating some back office functions, merging its London offices into one and also overhauling its group-wide IT. Mitie chairman Derek Mapp said: The magnitude of the internal restructuring and the number of things that have needed to be fixed are far more significant than was earlier anticipated. However, much of the heavy-lifting is now complete, and we are moving through each stage of our transformation methodically and systemically. He added that the demise of Carillion has sparked off the need for a wholesale sector recalibration. We are pleased to see that this is already happening; as we engage with Government, prospective customers and existing clients, the focus is moving subtly away from just cost and towards value, he added. But Mitie is also under pressure from regulators after the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) recently said it was launching an investigation into the preparation and content of Mities financial statements for its last financial year, as well as the timeliness of a profit warning announced in September 2016. It confirmed in its annual results that it has provided extensive material to the FCA and continues to co-operate with the watchdog. Figures from the group show that on a bottom-line basis, annual pre-tax losses more than halved to 24.7 million from 58.2 million the previous year. Michael McIntyre had been waiting to collect his sons from school (Ian West/PA) Comedian Michael McIntyre is set to return to the stage days after he was robbed by a gang on mopeds outside his son's school. The funnyman is due to perform at the 3Arena on Thursday in the first show of his tour following the attack. McIntrye was robbed by a gang of hammer-wielding thieves on Monday while he waited to pick up his children from school in London. The windows of his black Range Rover were smashed and he was reportedly forced to hand over a Rolex watch. McIntyre had been waiting in his vehicle to collect his sons in Golders Green in north London when he was attacked by two males. Witnesses reported that the comedian tried to comfort his shaken sons in the aftermath of the attack on Monday. One onlooker told the Daily Mail: The guy at the front of the moped started to hit the drivers window about 10 to 15 times and it eventually just cracked. He opens the door and gets Michael McIntyre out of the car. Michael fell but he was still trying to put up a fight. I just remember one of the bikers trying to get something. I dont know what the guy was trying to get a watch, a wallet, maybe? The Met Police said they were called to North End Road just before 2pm on Monday. The force said in a statement: The victim was stationary in his car when two males on a moped smashed the car windows with a hammer before stealing property. No injuries were reported. McIntyres agent told the Sun: Michael was involved in an incident involving armed robbers. He is absolutely fine and helping police with their inquiries. The comedian was recently in Belfast where he performed two stand-up shows at the SSE Arena. He is scheduled to perform four shows in Dublin from Thursday through to Sunday. U105 DJ Carolyn Stewart - considered one of the most popular voices on Northern Ireland radio - has told listeners she's "not happy" that her Saturday night slot is to be cut from the schedule. The Belfast Telegraph revealed yesterday that the removal of Stewart's weekend show is one of many big changes coming at the station. DJ Rick Nugent will also be axed. Read More Carolyn, who will be keeping her weekday lunchtime show, told listeners yesterday that she couldn't go into detail about the loss of her Saturday Night House Party but added that she would miss it. She was not available for further comment, although her fans are furious on social media over the decision to axe her Saturday show. Listeners from as far away as the United States have also hit out at the other changes - including tweaks to Johnny Hero's Golden Years, which features in his drive-time show, and Rick Nugent and Ivan Martin being axed from the schedules. Nugent presents a night-time show from 10pm to 2am, while veteran Martin, who was the first voice on the station when it was launched in 2005, is stepping away from his Sunday morning programme. It's understood playlist changes by the station's owners will mean that older songs are going to be limited in future. Carolyn Stewart fan Alan Robb said: "Utterly devastated that they're axing Carolyn's House Party. "Saturday evenings just won't be the same not knowing what the rest of the country are eating and drinking, never mind all the great music that Carolyn plays. "What other station plays SLF (Stiff Little Fingers), Undertones, Clash, Sex Pistols etc, etc. "Hope U105 isn't going the way Downtown went." Many listeners also pleaded directly with News UK - the company which has owned U105 since 2016. It had been established in 2005 by TV station UTV Media plc - before a break-up of the business occurred with the radio assets being hived off from the TV division in 2016. Imelda Millar Bingham posted: "To the new owners of U105. You haven't a clue what your doing. Leave well alone. Or go play in your own street." Paddy Doyle said: "Disgusted that they will be taking those shows off the air! Run the risk of losing a lot of ears with decisions like that." Commenting all the way from Florida, Donna Mountcastle said: "This is/was a great station because of its uniqueness. I listen from Florida, have many, many choices and I chose you. Don't fix what isn't broken." News UK did not respond to a request for comment on the strength of listeners' feelings and whether it could influence their decision. It's understood that the changes are set to be introduced next month. However, there are no indications of who will replace Rick Nugent during the week, or Ivan Martin and Carolyn Stewart at weekends. The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) holds the vast archive of the remarkable architectural and civil engineering practice of Young & Mackenzie of Belfast which thrived as a business for over a century from 1850 onwards and was responsible for the design of many well-known structures across Northern Ireland (and occasionally beyond). Its building designs from the High Victorian and Edwardian eras are particularly notable - in Belfast, think of Robinson & Cleaver's; the Scottish Provident Buildings; Anderson & McAuley; the Presbyterian Assembly Buildings; Belfast Royal Academy, and across Ulster, any number of Presbyterian churches, warehouses, schools, houses and villas - one of the most well-known now being the Culloden Hotel at Cultra. Following fieldwork and research into the archive over several years (for a PhD), Ulster Architectural Heritage published my illustrated book on the firm, Architects of Ulster: Young & Mackenzie, A transformational provincial practice, 1850-1960, just over a year ago. Meanwhile, PRONI had invited me to explore the uncatalogued drawings in the collection (D2194). This proved to be a fascinating process and a wonderful array of architectural drawings came to light. To its great credit, PRONI is now in the early stages of a project involving volunteers who are helping to clean and index these drawings alongside PRONI staff who are conserving some of these often very fragile drawings. Once completed, the drawings will be added to the PRONI catalogue. However, as a way of highlighting part of the collection for a wider audience meantime -and in an innovative move, forming the first public display of its architectural drawings by PRONI - in collaboration with the PRONI staff, I've curated an exhibition of selected images from the uncatalogued drawings which will be on display in the atrium at PRONI from today until June 29. Expand Close New Buildings for the Scottish Provident / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp New Buildings for the Scottish Provident The exhibition is being launched today with a talk - Northern Lights: A Century of Design by Young & Mackenzie Architects at 1pm. Admission is free but places are limited and must be booked through the PRONI website using Eventbrite (https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/talks-and-events). The Architects of Ulster: Young & Mackenzie book (which also contains a full gazetteer) accompanies the show by way of a comprehensive catalogue. The exhibition also forms part of Ulster Architectural Heritage's 50th anniversary celebrations, marking five decades of that organisation championing and defending the importance of Ulster's historic built environment. The firm of Young & Mackenzie was founded by Robert Young (1822-1917) who became The Rt Hon Robert Young in 1907 when he was conferred with the unique honour of becoming Ireland's first Architect Irish Privy Councillor. Young, who had trained as an architect and civil engineer under Sir Charles Lanyon in the 1840s and who also worked for a time on designing the railways for William Dargan (in Athlone), established his firm in Belfast which became extraordinarily prolific in designing commercial, institutional, residential and ecclesiastical buildings. Expand Close The Scottish Provident building. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The Scottish Provident building. In the mid-1860s, after training him, Robert Young took John Mackenzie (1844-1917) into commercial partnership. The busy practice - which became a training ground for other well-known Ulster architects such as Henry Seaver (1860-1941), Samuel Stevenson (1859-1924), Matthew Robinson (1872-1929) and William Blackwood (1876-1951) - was later led by Robert Young's son, the distinguished Belfast historian Robert Magill Young (1851-1925), and finally by his son, Captain James Reid Young (1885-1967). As well as practising their craft and business, it's worth noting that the Youngs were all enthusiastic about developing greater public discourse about architectural, cultural, historical and geographical matters and were, amongst other pursuits, highly involved in the activity of the Linen Hall Library (and the Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society) and the founding and life of the Ulster Society of Architects (later the Royal Society of Ulster Architects). The show deliberately provides a diverse range of building types, scales and locations. There are drawings of commercial projects from the City Factory in Derry to the Baroque Revival Scottish Provident Building in Belfast's Donegall Square West, framing the City Hall - including one drawing showing a fanciful French Second Empire dome which ultimately wasn't built (possibly in deference to its important neighbour). Expand Close An architectural sketch of the Irish Presbyterian Church Buildings / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp An architectural sketch of the Irish Presbyterian Church Buildings Mid-19th century industrialisation and economic development in Ulster had offered vast commercial opportunity to Young & Mackenzie from the 1860s, and the firm jumped at its chances, gaining commissions for new factories, warehouses, shops and business premises (as well as undertaking a wide range of alterations and additions to existing buildings). A number of Young & Mackenzie-designed buildings are of exceptional scale and significance, demonstrating the power of architecture to fulfil complex practical needs; function as physical advertisements for companies; contribute to urban civic design and streetscapes and act as indicators of commercial and industrial growth and prowess generally. As for churches, Young & Mackenzie played a remarkably prominent part in the creation of new Presbyterian churches in Ulster, effectively becoming the leading architects for the denomination during the later 19th century. The scale of the firm's contribution to the look of the churches of the largest Protestant denomination in Northern Ireland makes it of note but its ecclesiastical work is also significant because of the high level of technical skill demonstrated and because it evidences the influence of ecclesiastical designs from elsewhere being adopted in Ulster, most notably in the form of Gothic Revivalism, albeit often of an adapted form. The firm's contribution to the popularisation of the various manifestations of this style in Presbyterian buildings was immense, achieving a stylistic revolution. For the exhibition, drawings of Magherafelt First Presbyterian, Spa Presbyterian and First Armagh Presbyterian - with a soaring spire - are among the Gothic Revival selections. As a counterpoint, a series of drawings of the bold Romanesque Revival Townsend Street Presbyterian in Belfast is also included. Townsend Street church, so named because at the time the street was built it was at the town's end, was one of many churches built to cater for the population expansion of industrialised Victorian-era Belfast. The building still survives and is in use as a church; it is visible to motorists driving along the Westlink. The archive holds a large number of drawings of the church, showing how the firm went through various permutations - one including a lofty 190-ft corner spire which was not built. Another elevation presents a symmetrical composition with balancing towers either side of the main gable which boasts a cathedral-esque central doorway, the tympanum of which contains a carved open Bible: in keeping with Presbyterian theology, there are no carved saints. A section drawing shows how the interior is a large amphitheatre - with an arcade of round-headed arches sweeping round three sides. The church could seat 830 people downstairs and 400 in the galleries - the minister at the time, the Rev William Johnston could draw large crowds to hear him preach. The Belfast Newsletter at its opening in January 1879 described the building as 'a splendid sacred edifice'. Immaculately cared for, with its original interior intact, the church is well worth visiting, and contains some interesting An Tur Gloine stained glass. Young & Mackenzie was commissioned to design domestic projects as varied as large residences for wealthy businessmen; substantial detached and semi-detached middle-class suburban houses; manses for Presbyterian clergy; urban housing for speculative developers and groups of working-class housing and whole new streets for industrialists needing to house employees. A small selection from the archive provides a taster of the firm's vast output, from the Gothic Revival 'Culloden' to a lovely Arts & Crafts villa in Adelaide Park. Finally, the exhibition includes examples of the firm's institutional work. Among its many commissions for schools, there are drawings of Watt's Endowed, Lurgan - now Lurgan College; Belfast Ladies' Collegiate School - later Victoria College and now the Crescent Arts Centre; and the grand design for Belfast Royal Academy. The latter, built of Scrabo sandstone and in a Late Gothic Revival style with Scots Baronial touches in the corner stair turrets, is dignified, stately and solid with an emphatically collegiate air about it. The show closes with a post-First World War design from the period when Young & Mackenzie was under the leadership of Captain James Reid Young -the third generation of Youngs to lead the firm. It's an image of the red sandstone Presbyterian War Memorial Hostel in Howard Street, replete with period motor car and tram. Clean lines, Art Deco touches and a large-scale corner setting create an urban block, giving the building an American 'downtown' air - probably reflective of the time when JR Young had worked with the famous New York Architects McKim, Mead & White. With Young & Mackenzie buildings all around us, those with an interest in architecture and the built environment as well as social and cultural history may well find this exhibition illuminating. For more details visit: www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/young-and-mackenzie-architects-ulster, and https://www.ulsterarchitecturalheritage.org.uk/shop/architects-ulster-young-mackenzie-transformational-provincial-practice-1850-1960 Prime Minister Theresa May is fighting to keep her Brexit plans on track amid a Cabinet row over proposals for the Irish border and a potential revolt in the House of Commons. The UK's proposals for a 'backstop' arrangement for the border are to be published shortly, although Brexit Secretary David Davis is understood to have concerns. Mrs May is facing a revolt from eurosceptic Cabinet ministers who fear it could keep Britain tied to the customs union "indefinitely" after Brexit. Plans for the arrangement were due to be published today but could be delayed. Mr Davis has heaped pressure on Mrs May by insisting there will be a time limit on backstop plans to keep Britain in the customs union after Brexit. The backstop document is expected to set out an arrangement under which the UK would remain within elements of the EU's customs union, in the event that it is unable to agree a preferred solution for Northern Ireland. The Prime Minister shared with her Brexit war Cabinet a note detailing her plans for an "Irish backstop" in the event that customs arrangements are still not resolved after 2021. The note infuriated eurosceptic Cabinet ministers because the backstop does not state when the it will come to an end. It threatens to test Cabinet unity, with Mr Davis thought to be pushing for a provision to ensure the UK can withdraw unilaterally. British ministers are also concerned because it does not state that the UK will determine when customs arrangements are completed, which had been one of their key demands. There are also concerns that Britain will be tied to the rulings of the European Court of Justice during the backstop period. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson along with Mr Davis are both understood to have significant concerns about the backstop in its present form. A senior Conservative said: "There is no mandate for this, more to the point politically it's very difficult because a lot of Conservatives will be very concerned that we are giving an incentive to the EU to keep the backstop in place forever. "There is going to be an almighty row, this is a crazy situation." Asked if he could stay in his job if the government's backstop proposals did not have his explicit approval, Mr Davis said: "That's a question I think is for the Prime Minister." Answering questions after a speech on security co-operation, Mr Davis confirmed the backstop had still not been signed off by ministers. When asked if the proposal would be published today, as reports had suggested, he said: "It's for a Cabinet committee to decide that. "If they conclude then you'll see it, but it's up to them to decide." He added: "The detail of this is being discussed at the moment. It's been through one Cabinet committee, it's going to another and it would be improper of me to pre-empt the negotiations there, but I suspect it will be fairly decisive." The terms of reference for a inquiry into Belfast Trust's handling of complaint regarding Dr Michael Watt have been set. The terms of reference have been set for the independent inquiry into the Belfast Trust's handling of complaints concerning neurologist Dr Michael Watt. The trust last month announced a recall of 2,500 patients treated by Dr Watt- the biggest recall of its kind in Northern Ireland. The inquiry will review the circumstances which led to the recall of patients in May. This will include the communication and escalation of the reporting of issues related to concerns about patient care and safety. It will review the trust's handling of complaints or concerns identified or received prior to November 2016. The inquiry will also seek to identify what can be learnt from the scandal. The inquiry panel comprises its chairman Brett Lockhart QC and Dr Hugo Mascie-Taylor. Mr Lockhart today said: I very much welcome the finalisation of the terms of reference and, in particular, the involvement of Dr Hugo Mascie-Taylor, who has significant experience in clinical governance. I am conscious of the level of public interest and concern and a preliminary report will be produced as soon as practicable with the final report issued on the completion and review of all other relevant actions initiated by the Department. Department of Health Permanent Secretary Richard Pengelly said: I am pleased that the terms of reference have been finalised to the satisfaction of the two panel members. "The Department is very grateful to Mr Lockhart and Dr Mascie-Taylor for agreeing to carry out this vital work. I expect full co-operation with the panel inquirys work right across the health and social care system. I would also ask that the panel be given the time and space to carry out its work. Fourteen SDLP members of Newry, Mourne and Down District Council have issued a statement saying they are "unapologetically pro-life" and against "abortion on demand". They were speaking after opposing an Alliance motion which called on Prime Minister Theresa May to bring Northern Ireland's abortion law into line with the rest of the UK. Councillor Michael Savage, a former SDLP chief executive, said his colleagues were totally against any move which would see abortion up to 12 weeks legalised here, as is set to happen in the Republic. Mr Savage said he had voted against the SDLP making abortion an issue of personal conscience for its representatives at a party conference last month. The 14 councillors are the biggest grouping of SDLP elected representatives in any chamber in Northern Ireland, including the Assembly. Mr Savage told the Belfast Telegraph that unlike his party leader Colum Eastwood (right), he would have voted against repealing the Eighth Amendment in the Republic's referendum. But he stressed that he had "huge respect" for Mr Eastwood, who had "a very difficult job" as party leader. The Newry councillor said: "Abortion is a tremendously emotive and potentially divisive issue. "There are families divided on this issue across this island so it is no surprise that there are differing views in the SDLP. "It just happens that I have a different view on this from Colum. I respect his views and he respects mine and I must say he was very gracious to me after our recent debate on this issue in Maghera." In their statement after the council debate, the 14 SDLP councillors said: "We wanted to put it on the record this evening that we are pro-life and against abortion on demand. "We wanted to reassure our party members and supporters in this district that we remain true to the values of being a pro-life party." Mr Savage said his personal experience had led him to oppose repealing the Eighth Amendment. "I had a son born at 25-and-a-half-weeks gestation," he said. "He was under two pounds in weight. "He is now a 20-year-old at university in Liverpool and he is our living miracle." Mr Savage said there was a need to legislate for "the difficult cases" such as rape and fatal foetal abnormality, although he added that some of his council colleagues were opposed to abortion in all circumstances and he respected their views. He continued: "The SDLP, contrary to some media interpretations, is and has been from its inception a pro-life party and I want to reassure all our party supporters out there that the SDLP councillors that represent them in Newry, Mourne and Down are unapologetically pro-life. "We are pro-life with a compassionate understanding of the need to ensure that women who find themselves in the trauma of a crisis pregnancy are given all the medical, emotional and practical support they need." Of the SDLP's 12 MLAs, only Mr Eastwood and South Belfast representative Claire Hanna came out in favour of repealing the Eighth Amendment. Writing in yesterday's Belfast Telegraph, former SDLP MLA Alban Maginness claimed that Mr Eastwood had damaged the party's credibility with his public support for repeal. "Colum Eastwood is putting himself into a minority position within his own party by gratuitously advocating support for the repeal of the Eighth Amendment in the south and a 'fit for purpose abortion law' in the north," Mr Maginness said. "Holding such views and being the leader of the party at the same time sits uneasily with the party's commitment to being a pro-life party." Adam Clark died after falling off the roof of his apartment building in China. Credit: Clark family. The family of a Co Down man who died after he fell off the roof of an apartment block in China have spoken of their tragic loss. Adam Clark, from Newtownards, was living and working in the Hangzhou area of eastern China when the tragedy occurred. The incident happened on May 4 but his remains have only been returned to Northern Ireland this week, with the help of the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust. Mr Clark died just two weeks before he was due back home to be the best man at his father's wedding. In a statement, Mr Clarks family said: We are truly devastated on the tragic loss of our beloved Adam. He has been taken far too soon and will remain forever young in our hearts. Adam could light up any room and would hug you like nobody else in the world. "He had a zest for life that was contagious and he touched the hearts of anyone he ever met. We are extremely grateful to the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust for bringing him home. Expand Close Adam Clark died after falling off the roof of his apartment building in China. Credit: Clark family. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Adam Clark died after falling off the roof of his apartment building in China. Credit: Clark family. Mr Clark had studied Pyschology, Spanish and Philosophy at the University of Dundee and was a former pupil at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. He had taken a year out of university in 2016 to go travelling and while in Sri Lanka met and fell in love with a Russian woman who lived in China. He moved to China to be with her last April and worked at a job teaching English. It is understood on May 4 the couple had been hosting a party for a friend who was leaving the country when they went up to the roof of their apartment building. As the couple were talking, Mr Clark lost his footing and fell off the roof. Police in China have ruled his death an accident. A service of thanksgiving for Mr Clark's life will be held on Friday at Roselawn Crematorium at 2pm. Northern Ireland resident and campaigner Sarah Ewart (4R), who after having been diagnosed with a fatal foetal abnormality in 2013 travelled to England for a termination, arrives at the Supreme Court in London on June 7, 2018. Britain's Supreme Court on Thursday said it could not rule on an appeal against Northern Ireland's strict abortion laws, but that it would have declared them incompatible with human rights laws otherwise. By a majority decision, the justices said that the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC), which brought the appeal, did not have the power to "institute abstract proceedings of this nature". / AFP PHOTO / Ben STANSALLBEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission's (NIHRC) Chief Commissioner, Les Allamby (C), leaves the Supreme Court in London on June 7, 2018 to address members of the media. Britain's Supreme Court on Thursday said it could not rule on an appeal against Northern Ireland's strict abortion laws, but that it would have declared them incompatible with human rights laws otherwise. By a majority decision, the justices said that the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC), which brought the appeal, did not have the power to "institute abstract proceedings of this nature". / AFP PHOTO / Ben STANSALLBEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission's (NIHRC) Chief Commissioner, Les Allamby (C), speaks to members of the media outside of the Supreme Court in London on June 7, 2018. Britain's Supreme Court on Thursday said it could not rule on an appeal against Northern Ireland's strict abortion laws, but that it would have declared them incompatible with human rights laws otherwise. By a majority decision, the justices said that the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC), which brought the appeal, did not have the power to "institute abstract proceedings of this nature". / AFP PHOTO / Ben STANSALLBEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images Grainne Teggart (right) and Sarah Ewart (centre) outside the Supreme Court, Westminster where UK's highest court is to rule on Northern Ireland abortion law challenge. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Thursday June 7, 2018. See PA story COURTS Abortion. Photo credit should read: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire Northern Ireland's strict abortion laws are incompatible with human rights legislation and need "radical reconsideration", the UK's highest court has urged. A majority of a seven-strong panel of Supreme Court justices ruled the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) had no legal standing to bring its challenge against the abortion law. Read More But, by a majority, the judges also strongly expressed their opinion that the current laws are incompatible with article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) - the right for respect for private and family life. Deputy Supreme Court president Lord Mance said the present law "clearly needs radical reconsideration" and that the opinion of the court - while not legally binding - "cannot safely be ignored". Lord Mance said in a lengthy written ruling: "I am, in short, satisfied that the present legislative position in Northern Ireland is untenable and intrinsically disproportionate in excluding from any possibility of abortion pregnancies involving fatal foetal abnormality or due to rape or incest. "Those responsible for ensuring the compatibility of Northern Ireland law with the Convention rights will no doubt recognise and take account of these conclusions, at as early a time as possible, by considering whether and how to amend the law, in the light of the ongoing suffering being caused by it as well as the likelihood that a victim of the existing law would have standing to pursue similar proceedings to reach similar conclusions and to obtain a declaration of incompatibility in relation to the 1861 Act." Giving his opinion, Lord Kerr praised three "enormously brave women" who gave "unsparing accounts" of having to deal with a pregnancy where they knew their babies were "doomed to die". He said: "No-one who heard those accounts could fail to be moved by the courage of those women. "Nor could they fail to have profound sympathy with the terrible ordeal which they had to endure." The judge said the court had to carry out a "dispassionate analysis" of the difficult legal issues, but that the "nature of their suffering and the trauma of their experiences were by no means irrelevant" to the court's decision. Expand Close Grainne Teggart (right) and Sarah Ewart (second right) arrive at the Supreme Court, Westminster where UK's highest court is to rule on Northern Ireland abortion law challenge. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Thursday June 7, 2018. See PA story COURTS Abortion. Photo credit should read: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Grainne Teggart (right) and Sarah Ewart (second right) arrive at the Supreme Court, Westminster where UK's highest court is to rule on Northern Ireland abortion law challenge. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Thursday June 7, 2018. See PA story COURTS Abortion. Photo credit should read: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire He said that, where it is clear a foetus is suffering from a fatal abnormality, there is "no justification" in inflicting on the mother the "appalling prospect" of having to carry it to term. The judge added: "Put simply, the balance cannot come down in favour of a law which imposes that experience on a woman. "Quite apart from other considerations, the imposition of such a law fails to give any weight to the personal autonomy of a woman and her freedom to control her life." He also said the blanket ban was "disproportionate" in cases of rape and incest, adding: "To require in every instance a girl or woman to carry to term a foetus which was the consequence of exploitative and abusive behaviour and which is utterly abhorrent to her could not, we concluded, be considered as having struck the right balance between her rights and those of society." The justices said that because of their decision on the standing of the NIHRC, the Supreme Court "has no jurisdiction" in the proceedings to make a declaration of incompatibility. Explaining why the commission did not have power to bring the case, Lord Mance said: "In summary, the present proceedings were not instituted by identifying any unlawful act or any actual or potential victim of it." During proceedings in October last year, the NIHRC told the court the current law criminalises "exceptionally vulnerable" women and girls and subjects them to "inhuman and degrading" treatment. A QC representing the commission argued that human rights were being breached, with those affected being forced to go through "physical and mental torture". The Supreme Court was asked to rule that a prohibition on abortions where a pregnancy arises from rape or incest, or "involves a serious foetal abnormality", is unlawful. Contesting the appeal, the Stormont Executive's senior legal adviser, Attorney General John Larkin QC, said Northern Ireland's criminal law on abortion is a matter for the "democratic judgment" of the legislature. The legislature, he said, "has struck the proportionate balance required for the protection of the rights of women and unborn children". NI Human Rights gives its reaction to Supreme Court ruling - says politicians need to bring NI abortion law out of 19th century @UTVNews pic.twitter.com/P2s5ibpTHe Judith Hill (@JudeHill_utv) June 7, 2018 The ruling must force the UK Government to urgently legislate for change, Amnesty International said following the verdict. All eyes are now on the UK Government. Theresa May can no longer sit back and do nothing whilst countless women continue to suffer on her watch," Grainne Teggart, Amnesty Internationals Northern Ireland campaigner said. Sarah Ewart, a Northern Ireland woman who was forced to travel to the UK for an abortion after being told her baby would not survive said getting involved in the case had been worth all the effort. This feels like a huge relief. Experiencing something as painful as I did and then going through the ordeal of the courts has been emotionally draining," Mrs Ewart said. "I feel like were finally getting somewhere that people are starting to realise that us women in Northern Ireland are being denied our basic rights. I hope this ruling means that things will change so no more women have to go through what I, and so many others, already have. Sinn Fein deputy leader Michelle O'Neill said the court judgement made it clear that legislative change is required. Todays judgement makes it clear that in cases of Fatal Foetal Abnormalities, sexual crime and rape that the current law in the north remains incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights," she said. Although the Human Right Commission appeal was dismissed, this was essentially a technicality and the court expressed the view that if an individual victim brought a case, a formal declaration of incompatibility would in all likelihood be made. Sarah Ewart has already set out her intention to seek that formal declaration of incompatibility and its clear that change in the law is required." Submissions were made at the Supreme Court by a number of bodies, including seven of the UK's leading reproductive rights organisations, Humanists UK, Bishops of the Roman Catholic Dioceses in Northern Ireland, the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children and Amnesty International. Unlike other parts of the UK, the 1967 Abortion Act does not extend to Northern Ireland. Abortion is illegal except where a woman's life is at risk or there is a permanent or serious danger to her mental or physical health. Anyone who unlawfully carries out an abortion could be jailed for life. The UK Government has resisted calls to step in and legislate amid the ongoing powersharing impasse in Northern Ireland, insisting that any decision on abortion in the region has to be taken by locally elected politicians at Stormont. Damian and Andrea Black face charges connected to the seizure of a weapon said to be capable of firing 850 rounds a minute. A husband and wife are to stand trial accused of possessing a submachine gun at their home on the outskirts of Belfast, a judge has ruled. Damian and Andrea Black face charges connected to the seizure of a weapon said to be capable of firing 850 rounds a minute. The couple mounted a legal bid to have the case against them halted. But the Courts Service confirmed both defendants were returned for trial on a date to be fixed. The Scorpion submachine gun and bullets were allegedly found inside a garage bin at their house on Lagmore Glen, Dunmurry in April last year. It was recovered as part of a police operation into suspected paramilitary activity, a previous court was told. Damian Black, a 48-year-old electrician, and Andrea Black, 43, are jointly charged with possessing the weapon and five rounds of ammunition in suspicious circumstances. They also face a further count of having a firearm designed or adapted so that two or more missiles can be discharged without repeat pressure on the trigger. Both defendants deny the charges, contending there is no evidence connecting them to the gun. During a preliminary enquiry hearing at Belfast Magistrates' Court their lawyers argued that the case against them should be dismissed before it reaches trial. Counsel for Damian Black claimed the prosecution was depending on an assertion that he drove past his home without stopping while police were at the property. Insisting his client then cooperated fully with officers, the barrister told District Judge Fiona Bagnall his client should be discharged. Andrea Black's lawyer also contended there was insufficient evidence for criminal proceedings to continue against her. But the prosecution countered that an inference can be drawn against both accused at this stage. Judge Bagnall had reserved her decision on the defence application to consider submissions and read the relevant authorities. However, the Courts Service has now confirmed that she committed both accused for trial at Belfast Crown Court. The couple remain on bail until those proceedings get underway Queues outside estate agents have been a rare sight in Belfast since the property crash - but house hunters were back on the street late last night. Waiting overnight on the Lisburn Road for the chance to own a new build property in Belfast were five hopefuls who set up camp yesterday outside Simon Brien estate agents. The new development by Braidwater is all about location, with three and four-bedroom homes just off the Ballygowan Road, giving new owners an enviable mix of affordable luxury living and quick access to the city centre. Ranging from 210,000 to 285,000, just 12 homes are available in the scheme's first phase. Aaron Bunting (33) from Ballygowan was first in line yesterday, and had already been there since 12pm. Along with his partner Stacey Campbell and his five children, he's hoping to find his dream home. "I've been looking for new houses around Belfast for months and just by chance this one came up," he said. "The one I'm looking at would be about 235,000. It's been a very long time since there's been new builds in Belfast. "I've five kids so it's all about getting back into Belfast for them. The house we have at the moment just isn't big enough." The developer said that "few places deliver such an ideal semi-rural location within an area where the vibrant metropolitan landscape of south east Belfast merges into the quiet calm of the Co Down countryside". Nearby amenities include regular city centre bus links, the "cuisine heartland" of Ballyhackamore and Forestside Shopping Centre. Gary Curry (22) was camping out for his older sister and her partner. "We've had people camping out in shifts since 2pm," he said. "It's a while before I get my own house so it's all new to me, but hopefully we get to come and stay and get a good dinner out of it!" Another woman from Belfast, who preferred not to be named, said she already knew which house she wanted and couldn't let the chance slip through her fingers. "This is very rare, to get new builds in Belfast that are affordable. I've been looking for quite a while and haven't seen anything else I'm prepared to sit out overnight for," she said. "I really want a new build - if you snooze, you lose." Gareth Lammey (21) was another recruit for an older sibling, holding his sister's place in line until she returns from holiday. "She's a first-time buyer, so she didn't want to miss the chance. I'm still at university myself so I've another few years to get into housing market," he said. "If this is what it takes, though, I'm not sure I'd have the same dedication to look for a house. "I'm hoping my sister's going to come and let me away by 3am. I think it's only fair, though, that she sets aside an extra bedroom for me in the new house." A man who "violated" a vulnerable disabled girl "in the dead of night" in a mixed ward at Antrim Area Hospital they shared was jailed for 18 months by a judge who hit out at the reasoning behind such wards. Judge Desmond Marrinan's scathing criticism came as he also ordered 56-year-old recovering alcoholic Ronnie Carleton to serve an additional 18 months on supervised licenced parole upon his release. Carleton, from Ballymena Road, Cullybackey, admitted indecently assaulting his defenceless 22-year-old victim, described by the Antrim Crown Court judge as "more akin to a child than an adult". Judge Marrinan said that while nursing staff on the mixed high dependency ward were busy with other important duties, Carleton took the opportunity to reach across, in the dim light, and sexually abuse the girl. "I can say to you without emotion," the judge told Carleton, "your actions were despicable and inexcusable", and it must have been obvious to him his victim "was a very vulnerable girl, more akin to a child than an adult". The judge said she was an "utterly defenceless girl ... and easy prey to your sexual desires carried out in the dead of night in a place where she should have felt safe and secure and should have been". Judge Marrinan said but for the good eyesight and quick reaction of a staff nurse, Carleton's criminal behaviour could have gone on for longer. To compound his crime, Carleton told staff: "I thought she was okay with it... I thought she was over 18", and then while awaiting arrival of police, told security staff "they won't get any DNA off me". Carleton later claimed that he had no memory of his time in the hospital, or his attack on the girl. Judge Marrinan dismissed this claim as "a self-serving fabrication" aimed at diminishing his responsibility. Judge Marrinan then turned to criticise the management of the Area Hospital and their thinking behind the operation of mixed wards. While praising nursing and security staff on duty that night, he said he could think of no reason why this defenceless 22-year-old woman should have been been placed in such a ward. "I seriously question whether hospital management gave sufficient consideration to provide safe and secure care for this victim," said Judge Marrinan who added it was "obvious to me she should have been in an all female or side ward". However, instead the woman was in a bed next to which was placed Carleton, admitted because of alcohol-related hallucinations. Judge Marrinan said hospital management should have realised that in Carleton they were dealing with a "volatile and unstable patient" after he had tried to abscond from the hospital earlier. His victim, the court heard, suffered from a rare condition from childhood which left her needing care 24/7, had since died from a matter unrelated to the attack on her. However, Judge Marrinan said that the girl's mother, in a victim impact letter, claimed her daughter "never recovered" from the effects of the horrifying attack. DUP leader Arlene Foster has distanced herself from remarks by MLA Jim Wells comparing the number of people murdered in Nazi concentration camps with abortion. Responding to questions yesterday about the comparison made by the South Down MLA, Mrs Foster said: I dont agree with that. Read More I think its the wrong use of language and again it brings us back to the fact that this is a very emotive issue and people need to be aware of that when they are discussing it, she told UTV. The DUP leader was also asked about comments by East Antrim MP Sammy Wilson during Tuesdays Westminster debate on Northern Irelands abortion law when he talked about foetuses being discarded and put in a bin. Mrs Foster said: This is hugely emotive subject and it is a very sensitive subject and I think everybody needs to bear that in mind when they are making comments in relation to this issue. That doesnt take away from the fact that people feel very strongly about this on both sides of the argument. But you know the debate has to be had and I believe the debate should be had in the Assembly, thats where it should happen. Speaking on Radio Ulsters Nolan Show yesterday, Mr Wells said that more people had been killed in Britain through abortion since 1967 than in the Nazi concentration camps. He was discussing the issue with journalist Malachi ODoherty who said that there was a huge cultural division between the DUPs attitude to abortion and moral issues and that of the ordinary British parliamentarian. Mr ODoherty said: If the DUP does (see abortion as murder) then you are saying that these people are effectively like the Nazis, that theres something worse than the Holocaust happening in England. The DUP MLA replied: I dont think hes too far wrong. Mr Wells, who had the party whip withdrawn last month after criticising the leadership, added that 9.2m people have had their lives terminated through abortion in Britain since 1967. That is actually more than the number of lives murdered in the gas and concentration camps of Auschwitz and Buchenwald, he said. It is a ghastly situation we are killing human beings. These are sentient human beings who have every right to life, who have every right to be protected. Host Stephen Nolan asked Mr Wells if it was fair to make such a comparison with the Nazis. He said: I think the numbers are a fair comparison because these human beings have been killed. I said yes in the sense that the number of human beings who have been killed in the rest of the UK far exceed the ghastly concentration camps of Germany. These are human beings, they are people who have been killed in the womb. I dont support the killing of any human being and abortion has got completely out of control in the United Kingdom. The DUP MLA continued: Two hundred thousand human beings are killed each year. I believe the child in the womb is a person, a person who has got rights and a person who is given no choice when the decision is made to terminate their lives 98.8% of these people are healthy normal babies. Later in the programme Mr Wells clarified that he didnt believe women who had abortions were like Nazis but that the number of lives lost was comparable. He described it as a staggering loss of life. South Down Sinn Fein MP Chris Hazzard criticised Mr Wells comments on Twitter. Im happy to say that Jim Wells archaic views do not reflect the vast, vast majority of #SouthDown community. He is increasingly unfit to be a political representative in 2018, he said. The debate on Northern Irelands abortion law has intensified after the Republics landmark referendum vote to liberalise its legislation. There is growing pressure on Theresa May to step in and change the law here. But the Prime Minister has insisted that abortion is a devolved issue and that any decision to alter the status quo must be made by the Stormont Assembly. Several Tory MPs spoke in favour of liberalising the law here at an emergency debate on the issue in the House of Commons. The DUP withdrew the whip from Jim Wells over his stinging criticism of the party leadership in a Belfast Telegraph interview in April. The South Down MLA had accused the partys top brass of hanging him out to dry over his conservative views. He also claimed the DUP had reneged on a promise to reinstate him as Health Minister after his controversial resignation three years ago. Loyalist Mark Harbinson's fingerprints were located on a biscuit box which contained a gun, silencer and ammunition, a non-jury trial heard on Thursday. As the case against 51-year-old Harbinson was opened at Belfast Crown Court, a prosecutor said the Makarov-type pistol was found during a police search of the defendant's home in December 2015. Harbinson, from Stoneyford Road in Lisburn, has been charged with, and denies, three offences arising from the search - namely possessing the pistol, silencer and 28 rounds of ammunition in suspicious circumstances, and possessing both the handgun, and the ammunition, without holding a Firearms Certificate. The court heard that when the self-loading pistol underwent a forensic examination, it was in "poor condition" and "could not be test fired". On the first day of the non-jury trial, Judge Gordon Kerr QC was told that a search of property on the Sheepwalk Road area of Lisburn - which at the time was "the home of the defendant" - was conducted on Monday December 21st, 2015. The search of both the dwelling house and outbuilding at the rural premises was carried out between 2.20pm and 4.40pm, and located in a woodshed in one of the outbuildings was a Family Circle biscuit box. Revealing the biscuit box was found in the upper part of the building, a Crown prosecutor said it was located on top of a stack of logs and was partially hidden. The prosecutor said the silencer was "compatible for use" with the handgun, with the pistol itself in poor condition, which included rusted metalwork, rust inside the weapon and a broken main spring. The tumbler engaging trigger bar and hammer were also missing and these component parts, according to the forensic expert, are "readily available on the internet or could be cannibalised from a similar pistol", and could be replaced by using a screw-driver. In the aftermath of the seizure, the Family Circle biscuit box underwent forensic examination, and two of Harbinson's fingerprints were found. His right thumbprint was found inside the box, while a print from his left middle finger was lifted from the bottom of the box. Harbinson was interviewed around two weeks later, telling officers he had lived at Sheepwalk Road for around ten years, but had been absent for a period from 2009 to 2013. He also told police he lived alone, but that people stayed over at the weekends and he had parties in the outbuildings. During interviews, he said he had been threatened and intimidated and had taken security measures at his home which including installing four cameras around the property. When asked about the biscuit box, he initially claimed he had never seen it before. When the fingerprint evidence was put to him, Harbinson said someone must have taken it from his house 'to stash the item.' A car hijacked at knifepoint in the early hours of Thursday morning has been found burnt out in the Crumlin area of Co Antrim. Police in Antrim are currently appealing for witnesses to the hijacking that took place around 4:30am. A man was driving a grey Skoda Octavia on Main Street in Crumlin when he was flagged down by two men at the junction of the Lurgan and Glenavy roads. The driver offered them a lift and one man got into the front seat while the other sat in the back. As the driver moved off, he felt what he believed could have been a knife held against his neck. He was told to get out and the two men then drove off in the direction of the Lurgan Road. The first man is described as being in his late 20s, around 58 in height, of thin build and clean shaven with short, dark hair," Detective Sergeant Lyttle said. "He had a scar on his right cheek and was wearing a white shirt with dark trousers and spoke with a Belfast accent. The second man was said to be around 6 in height, of thin build and also in his 20s. He had short, sandy-coloured hair and also had a Belfast accent. He was wearing a plain, light blue shirt with dark trousers. The car, which contained a number of the owners work and personal items was later found burned out in the Cidercourt road area of Crumlin. We are appealing to anyone who was in the area between 4.30am and 5am and saw either of these men or the stolen car - which was grey with a business logo and chevron markings on the doors - to get in touch with police on the non-emergency number 101, quoting reference number 177 of 7/6/18. Alternatively, information can also be provided to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 which is 100% anonymous and gives people the power to speak and stop crime. Signs aimed at saving the lives of people experiencing mental health crisis are expected to be placed at Cavehill Country Park by this autumn. The family of Michael Cullen, whose body was found at Cavehill on January 31 following a three week search, have been campaigning for positive mental health signage to be erected in a bid to prevent more deaths. A massive search operation was launched by the PSNI and search and rescue organisations after his family reported him missing. Michael, who was 33, was an Ulster University employee from the North Circular Road area of north Belfast. He was also an accomplished beatboxer who had performed to audiences all over the UK in cities including London and Dublin. He had been struggling with depression before he went missing. The signs at Cavehill will be aimed at giving people suffering mental health crisis information to call for help when they are at their lowest. Expand Close Michael Cullen / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Michael Cullen Michael's brother, Colm, has been working with SDLP MLA Nichola Mallon on the campaign. "The campaign is to do with positive mental health and to let people know that they are not alone and that there is help that they can reach out to," he told the Belfast Telegraph. "The aim is to save at least one life and help at least one person who is struggling. "I think there will be phone numbers [on the signs] in case someone is needing support." Colm has also started a charity called Tamhi which uses the power of sport to promote positive mental health for children. He added: "As a family we are keeping going and just taking it day by day. Every day is hard but I'm hoping the signage will put a brighter look on things and help someone who is in need." Expand Close Michael Cullen Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Michael Cullen Mrs Mallon, who is also SDLP deputy leader, said: After the loss of Colm's brother, Michael, a number of us wanted to do something practical to try to help anyone feeling distressed or in despair. "We've been campaigning since for signs of hope to be erected in Cavehill Country Park and we are delighted that significant progress is being made. "Belfast City Council, the Public Health Agency and the Belfast Trust are working with mental health charities and stakeholders to agree the design and location of these signs and they are due to be in place by the Autumn." Expand Close Rescue teams search for Michael on Cavehill last month Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Rescue teams search for Michael on Cavehill last month "As well as signs, we are delighted that Belfast City Council is organising a series of activities to promote the positive image of Cavehill Country Park and put into practice the Take5 steps to emotional wellbeing. "These signs on their own wont change the world but if they make just one person stop and realise they are not alone and help is out there, then they will make a world of difference to that person and their family". If you or someone you know is in distress or despair, call Lifeline on 0808 808 8000. The helpline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can also access the Lifeline website at www.lifelinehelpline.info The leader of Ireland's Presbyterians has said he is "heartbroken" after his Church voted to stop inviting the Moderator of its sister Church in Scotland to the annual general assembly. As divisions over same-sex marriage deepen, Presbyterians in Belfast will continue to refuse to send the Irish Moderator to the assembly in Edinburgh. The decision was taken late yesterday afternoon at the Belfast General Assembly when delegates voted by the decisive margin of 255-171 to discontinue the long-established practice of inviting their respective Moderators to each other's annual Assembly. The decision was also a snub, perhaps unintentional but nevertheless symbolic, to the recently-elected Irish Moderator - the Rt Reverend Dr Charles McMullen - whose theme for his year of office is 'building relationships'. Immediately after the vote, Dr McMullen said: "As someone to whom building relationships has been key in my life, I stand before you know heavily burdened and heartbroken." The dispute centres on the Scottish Church's more liberal view on same-sex relationships and its decision to allow people in same-sex relationships to serve as ministers and deacons in congregations which approve of them doing so. Earlier, the Scottish Moderator, the Rt Reverend Dr Susan Brown, made an impassioned plea for unity of visitations and friendship. She said: "The truth is that in Christ we remain a family whether or not you put in an appearance in Scotland. But how can we be effective in working closely with one another if we do not talk to each other?" The principal clerk of the Church of Scotland, Rev Dr George Whyte, told the assembly after the vote: "We have no choice but to leave. "We will continue to pray for you, and if at some time in the future you change your mind, our door is always open to you." The Scottish delegates left Church House immediately after the vote, and some bystanders claimed that the Scottish Moderator seemed visibly upset. The Irish Church has refused to send its Moderator to Scotland for the last three years, while continuing to extend an invitation to the Scottish Moderator to come to Belfast. Yesterday's vote was partly intended to clear up this situation. Delegates were asked to chose between continuing Moderatorial visits, or to abandon that link. They decisively chose the latter. There were impassioned speeches on both sides of the debate, with several former Moderators lining up on both sides. The Rt Reverend Trevor Morrow, who has spent most of his ministry in the Irish Republic said: "This decision is a defining moment for our Church. "It will determine whether we embrace or not a separatist ecclesiology. "The Presbyterian Church in Ireland has never been separatist in its ecclesiology. "The Scottish Kirk needs to hear where we believe that they are in serious moral error, but they too need to challenge us as to how over the years, in the context of Ulster and its sectarian divisions, we have not pursued justice, or practised grace to the detriment of our Gospel witness. "This requires relationships, which is our own Moderator's theme during his year in office." Another former Moderator - the Very Rev Dr Stafford Carson, principal of Union Theological College - said: "The Church of Scotland Theological Forum Report of 2017 fails to give and adequate and solid foundation for the approval of same-sex marriage. "The conclusion of the report that same-sex marriage may be supported and commended by the Church lacks a robust biblical and theological rationale, and it advocates a view of Scripture which is at odds with our confessional commitment. "In offering our critique of what we believe to be an inadequate report, we do so with the prayer that our brothers and sisters in the Church of Scotland would flourish and grow by returning to the clear teaching of Holy Scriptures, and the great tradition of the Reformed Churches." A police officer and his superior, who both admitted to failures in the investigation of an assault on a man in Bangor, have been disciplined following recommendations by the Police Ombudsmans office. The police constable and his sergeant both received written warnings for failure in duty following a complaint by a man assaulted in a club in the town after a Christmas party. No misconduct issues were identified in relation to the constable initially informed of the assault. The man from north Belfast, who had initially reported the assault to an officer outside the premises immediately after the incident in December 2016, said that not only had his complaint not been properly investigated but that the PSNI had failed to update him on the progress of the case. Following investigations by Police Ombudsman staff, the officers supervisor was also included in the complaint for failure to adequately supervise an officer in his command. The complainant, who had been attending his works Christmas party before moving on to the club, told Police Ombudsman staff he had been assaulted by a male he didnt know. The event had been witnessed by his colleagues; and that the male and his two friends had subsequently been removed by security staff. The complainant reported the assault to a police officer before identifying and pointing out the three males to him. The officer suggested he seek medical treatment for a cut to his face sustained in the assault and report the incident the next day. However, on contacting police the following day, the man was told no report had been logged. After identifying this police officer, Police Ombudsman staff found that he was not in fact the investigating officer and that he had passed the relevant details on to the appointed officer. The first officer did have the name of two males pointed out to police but did not believe they were suspects. During an interview with Police Ombudsman investigators, the appointed officer said he had taken a statement from the injured party when they eventually arranged to meet three weeks later and had photographed the scar from his injury. Less than two weeks later the officer went off on sick leave for almost three months during which time the complaint had not been reallocated. On his return he emailed the complainant apologising for the delay and agreeing to follow up on the investigation. However, he admitted to Police Ombudsman staff that he did not look at the case and further, that he had not attempted to speak to any of the security staff working at the time of the incident. He also admitted that he had not asked his colleague on duty on the night why he did not think the two identified males were suspects and made no attempt to contact them. The officer acknowledged that he had not conducted a thorough investigation into the incident and had failed to keep the complainant updated on the case. Police Ombudsman staff also interviewed the officers sergeant in relation to his handling of the case. He, too, accepted there were failings in the investigation as well as in his supervision of the officer. Both police officers were disciplined by the PSNIs Legacy and Justice (Discipline) Department. Former President of Ireland Mary McAleese during a tour of the Museum of Orange Heritage at Schomberg House Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is expected to make a landmark visit to the Orange Orders Belfast headquarters tomorrow. Mr Varadkar is due to visit Schomberg House in the east of the city as part of a one-day visit to Northern Ireland. Its believed this will be the first time an Irish premier has visited the Grand Orange Lodge of Irelands headquarters. Read More The Orange Order has declined to make any comment at this stage but its understood members from lodges in the Republic will attend. The surprise announcement comes after unionist leaders accused Mr Varadkar of aggressive tactics on the issue of the Irish border after Brexit. Last month, the DUP leader Arlene Foster questioned if his stance was just about the European Union or if he was also trying to claim the fourth green field in terms of Northern Ireland. Yesterday, most political leaders welcomed the visit. Sinn Fein MP for west Belfast Paul Maskey called the meeting historic. I welcome this initiative and hope this might open up a new era of engagement between the Grand Lodge and wider society, he said. He also spoke of his delight that Mr Varadkar would also launch the 30th West Belfast Festival. Ulster Unionist leader Robin Swann MLA said Mr Varadkar was very welcome to visit Northern Ireland. I hope he enjoys his visit to Schomberg House and in particular the exhibit relating to the First World War, which highlights a shared past, he said. The Orange Order has made a major contribution to cultural life on both sides of the border and Im sure the Taoiseach will be warmly received. Billy Hutchinson, leader of the Progressive Unionist Party, said: We welcome the visit of Leo Varadkar to the headquarters of the GOLI and the Museum of Orange heritage. Hopefully it is an educational visit where he can experience the rich cultural exhibits and gain an understanding of this part of the UK. Alliance leader and East Belfast MLA Naomi Long welcomed the news on Twitter. The ongoing outreach work of the Orange Order is important and this is another valuable opportunity to further understanding and respect, she said. Her party colleague, South Belfast MLA Paula Bradshaw, added: This move is to be welcomed, provided it is not simply used as tokenism by either the Taoiseach or the Orange Order. Instead, it should be taken as an opportunity for dialogue and to understand each others views, beliefs and traditions. The SDLPs reconciliation spokesperson, Justin McNulty MLA, called the anticipated visit a powerful illustration of the peace process in action. Credit must also go to the Orange Order for opening their doors to the Irish government for the first time, he said. As political tensions in the north seem to rise as the impasse continues into its 18th month, historic acts like these are a great reminder of how far we have come in the north. While the tone of political statements was positive overall, some east Belfast residents voiced their objections online. Laurence Davidson commented on Twitter: As a resident my view is that Varadkar isnt welcome in the Lisnasharragh area at all. Maybe they should rename themselves the Green White and Orange Order? Another pointed to a recent reference to the Orange Order Mr Varadkar made in Washington DC to mark the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. Commenting on how Ireland had changed, Mr Varadkar said at the time: The biggest parade that happens in Northern Ireland every year is not a march of the Orange Order, or a march of the Ancient Order of Hibernians. It is, in fact, Belfast Pride. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon does not plan to meet Arlene Foster during the DUP leader's visit to Scotland later this month. Ms Foster will speak at one of Scotland's largest Orange Order parades in Cowdenbeath, Fife, on June 30 and is expected to stress there is "no place for sectarianism" during the speech at the Boyne celebration march. She is also said to be holding other meetings during her visit. Read More Speaking at First Minister's Questions, Ms Sturgeon said: "I have no plans to meet Arlene Foster when she is in Scotland." Her spokesman said he is not aware of Ms Foster attempting to set up a meeting. Labour's Kezia Dugdale urged the First Minister to raise the the issue of abortion laws in Northern Ireland with the DUP leader and called for a travel bursary to be set up for Northern Irish women travelling to Scotland for terminations. She said: "In Northern Ireland, some women have received longer jail sentences for having an abortion than the men who raped them in first place. "I urge the First Minister to arrange a meeting with Arlene Foster and raise this issue when she visits Scotland later this month. "I hope Nicola Sturgeon will consider addressing the barriers that women face when boarding ferries in Belfast in accessing services here in Scotland. "I support the introduction of a travel bursary for as long as Northern Irish women are denied their basic human rights." Women from Northern Ireland have been able to access free abortion services in Scotland since last November as in their home nation the procedure is only permitted if a woman's life is endangered or if there is a risk of serious damage to her mental or physical health. Ms Sturgeon said: "I am absolutely in support of ensuring that all women have access to safe abortion services, and that includes women from Northern Ireland." She said the Scottish Government would continue to look at how to make services in Scotland "easier" to access for Northern Irish women, saying the current laws there are "deeply unfair and unjust to women". Boris Johnson has warned of a Brexit meltdown and branded the Treasury the heart of Remain in unguarded comments at a private dinner. At the gathering of the Conservative Way Forward, a Thatcherite campaign group, he said exit talks were approaching a moment of truth. The Foreign Secretary said he believed Brexit will happen and would be irreversible but the risk is that it will not be the one we want. In comments captured in a recording obtained by BuzzFeed News, he said Prime Minister Theresa May was going to go into a phase where we are much more combative with Brussels. He added: Youve got to face the fact there may now be a meltdown. OK? I dont want anybody to panic during the meltdown. No panic. Pro bono publico, no bloody panic. Its going to be all right in the end. Mr Johnson suggested Chancellor Philip Hammonds department was basically the heart of Remain. The Cabinet minister was speaking to around 20 people dining in a private room after a reception at the Institute of Directors on Wednesday night. I have become more and more convinced that there is method in his (Trump's) madness.Boris Johnson Concerns over the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic are pure millennium bug stuff, he said. All the planes crashing from the sky. Its absolute nonsense. He said fears about the border were out of proportion. Its so small and there are so few firms that actually use that border regularly, its just beyond belief that were allowing the tail to wag the dog in this way, he added. Were allowing the whole of our agenda to be dictated by this folly. Mr Johnson also revealed he was increasingly admiring of Donald Trump. I have become more and more convinced that there is method in his madness, he added. Imagine Trump doing Brexit, he said. Hed go in bloody hard Thered be all sorts of breakdowns, all sorts of chaos. Everyone would think hed gone mad. But actually you might get somewhere. Its a very, very good thought. Friends of Mr Johnson said: This was a private dinner under Chatham House rules so it is sad and very disappointing that it has been covertly recorded and distributed to the media. Labours Ian Murray, a supporter of the Peoples Vote campaign for a second referendum, said: Boris Johnson is utterly shameless. As these comments show, he knows were going to get shafted with a bad Brexit deal, he knows how much damage it will cause to our economy, he knows it will result in a hard border re-emerging in Northern Ireland, but he couldnt care less. That this disgraceful charlatan holds one of the great offices of state in this country should be a source of constant shame and embarrassment to the Prime Minister. Boris Johnson cares about nothing except himself and his own ambition. He is right about one thing: we are heading for a meltdown over Brexit. But his solution is simply to embrace the chaos. Former DUP leader Peter Robinson has spoken about how to restore powersharing (Niall Carson/PA) A former Democratic Unionist leader has suggested holding fixed generational polls on Irish unification as a way to stabilise politics in Northern Ireland. Ex-Stormont first minister Peter Robinson said the approach would help make the constitutional question less disruptive to local politics and the prospect of a referendum less threatening. Delivering a lecture at Queens University in Belfast, veteran unionist Mr Robinson stressed he would be very confident that citizens would choose to stay within the United Kingdom. But, reflecting on the discordant aftermath of the Brexit vote, he said the prospect of a simple yes/no poll to deal with a colossal constitutional change, and which could be carried with a majority of just one vote, was a recipe for chaos on the island. We are at risk of awaking the slumbering hostilities that we had all hoped would never again be aroused.Peter Robinson As such, he said there was a need for processes and timescales to be agreed in advance, rather than having to tackle the issue on the fly if unification was ever backed. In this I am not, of course, talking about the nature and shape of the new state that would emerge if there ever was a vote to exit the UK, he said. I am alluding to the need to agree a process for negotiations, timescales and not only the means of reaching agreement on all the particulars but also who would be involved in negotiating such an agreement. With those details settled, my own view, for what its worth, is that fixed generational border polls would be less divisive and disruptive of our local political process. Mr Robinson acknowledged he had pulled the pin out of the grenade with his remarks. The main focus of Mr Robinsons lecture at Queens was his reflections on how to restore a stable powersharing administration. The former first minister, who was recently appointed an honorary professor of peace studies at the institution, warned that community division in the region was accelerating and suggested violence could reignite if the political stagnation continued. We are at risk of awaking the slumbering hostilities that we had all hoped would never again be aroused, he said. The former MP suggested that widening the range of issues in the negotiations between the rowing parties could actually help, rather than hinder efforts to secure a deal to resurrect devolution. As I see it, simply applying a sticking plaster, or attempting to patch-up the existing process, will not provide a durable result, he said. He said by broadening the agenda, to take in other unsettled issues, could provide more scope for trade-offs and identify areas where common ground could be found. I am talking about those matters that impact upon the smooth operation, permanence, continuity and stability of the institutions, he said. I say this because I feel sure a new Assembly tripping over the debris of unresolved, critical problems will collapse and because I believe another collapse would be fatal for devolution and harmful to the future of Northern Ireland. He called for reforms to Assembly structures so one party alone could not wield the power to collapse the institutions by walking out. Whatever future problems may arise, the parties, in agreeing a new deal, should, at the very minimum, sign a solemn declaration to work on any problem that surfaces while still operating the agreed institutions, he said. He said there was a need to move from the politics of process to create a sense of permanence around the institutions. Being processed brings with it that unsettled feeling that produces uncertainty and, at times, fear, he said. Thats why I counsel against a nip and tuck solution and favour major reconstructive surgery. The outcome of the next set of negotiations must have the feel of the parties having reached a settlement rather than the continuation of a process. He said current structures that enable parties to veto decisions needed reform, insisting it was possible to design other community protective devices. Addressing an audience that included current DUP leader Arlene Foster, Mr Robinson said the most recent set of failed negotiations to resurrect Stormont ended in a train crash. Where the blame game reached fever-pitch, angry words were exchanged, documents leaked, confidences broken, and trust shattered, he added. In an apparent challenge to the current generation of leaders, Mr Robinson said going forward one of the hardest tasks would be to sell any deal to their respective parties. Lets be clear, not all of your colleagues, will want to make the necessary concessions, he said. Thats where leadership comes in. He added: It will be a career defining moment. Make no mistake about it, your leadership will be on the line. If they reject your recommendation they are rejecting your leadership. So, fight tooth and nail for it. He said an agreement had to involve compromise and insisted Northern Irelands two communities could work together to achieve great things. Mr Robinson said efforts should be focused on achieving reconciliation. We must acknowledge that pain and sorrow, and we must also take responsibility for working together to create real change, he said. That, is the stamp of leadership. Even though many in the ranks will have reservations about aspects of what an agreement may contain; even when it means challenging ourselves and the way things have been done in the past; even though we may face criticism even abuse. For, if, instead of head-butting each other, we join to put our shoulders to the wheel, committing ourselves to serve the whole community and establish shared goals we can build a better and brighter future for our children and grandchildren, without regard to identity, culture, religion or party politics. A former Anglo Irish Bank chief executive has been found guilty of fraud in the Republic. David Drumm (51) faced allegations of conspiracy to defraud and false accounting after denying arranging dishonest or fraudulent multi-billion euro transfers to boost the failed Irish lenders books in the months before it went bust in 2008. Bailing out Anglo was to cost Irish taxpayers billions of euro. The defendant had been charged with conspiring to dishonestly create the false and misleading impression that deposits in 2008 were 7.2bn larger than they were. He also denied knowingly presenting the false figures to the market in December 2008. The jury returned unanimous verdicts on both counts at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court yesterday. Drumm, of Shenick Avenue in Skerries, Co Dublin, sat quietly and did not react as the verdicts were announced. Drumms defence team told the court his wife and children were not present because they were attending a graduation ceremony in Boston. Judge Karen OConnor released him on bail with strict conditions to sign in at a police station every day and not to apply for a new passport since his had expired. She told the court she will sentence him on June 20. Anglo was nationalised by the then government, a move which cost Irish citizens 29bn. Judge OConnor previously told the court to remember these were clearly very stressful and difficult times. 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. The Irish Government introduced a deposit guarantee scheme that year, then underwrote the entire banking system, the court heard. Described as the man who called the shots at the bank, Drumm was Anglo chief executive from 2005 until 2008 when he resigned. He left Ireland for Boston in 2009 but was brought back to the Republic in March 2016 under an extradition warrant. People attend a People Before Profit protest calling of for provision of Abortion in Northern Ireland (Niall Carson/PA) Northern Irelands strict abortion laws are incompatible with human rights legislation and need radical reconsideration, the UKs highest court has urged. A majority of a seven-strong panel of Supreme Court justices ruled the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) had no legal standing to bring its challenge against the abortion law. But, by a majority, the judges also strongly expressed their opinion that the current laws are incompatible with article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) the right for respect for private and family life. Judgment has been given this morning by the UK Supreme Court in the following case. More details are available at: https://t.co/PK8ML4FvMF pic.twitter.com/QKb2jX3pVO UK Supreme Court (@UKSupremeCourt) June 7, 2018 Deputy Supreme Court president Lord Mance said the present law clearly needs radical reconsideration and that the opinion of the court while not legally binding cannot safely be ignored. Lord Mance said in a lengthy written ruling: I am, in short, satisfied that the present legislative position in Northern Ireland is untenable and intrinsically disproportionate in excluding from any possibility of abortion pregnancies involving fatal foetal abnormality or due to rape or incest. Those responsible for ensuring the compatibility of Northern Ireland law with the Convention rights will no doubt recognise and take account of these conclusions, at as early a time as possible, by considering whether and how to amend the law, in the light of the ongoing suffering being caused by it as well as the likelihood that a victim of the existing law would have standing to pursue similar proceedings to reach similar conclusions and to obtain a declaration of incompatibility in relation to the 1861 Act. Giving his opinion, Lord Kerr praised three enormously brave women who gave unsparing accounts of having to deal with a pregnancy where they knew their babies were doomed to die. He said: No-one who heard those accounts could fail to be moved by the courage of those women. Nor could they fail to have profound sympathy with the terrible ordeal which they had to endure. The judge said the court had to carry out a dispassionate analysis of the difficult legal issues, but that the nature of their suffering and the trauma of their experiences were by no means irrelevant to the courts decision. He said that, where it is clear a foetus is suffering from a fatal abnormality, there is no justification in inflicting on the mother the appalling prospect of having to carry it to term. The judge added: Put simply, the balance cannot come down in favour of a law which imposes that experience on a woman. Quite apart from other considerations, the imposition of such a law fails to give any weight to the personal autonomy of a woman and her freedom to control her life. Northern Ireland Termination Law Breaches Women and Girls Human Rights. Our Chief Commissioner Les Allamby responds to the @UKSupremeCourt judgment and says the UK Government must act without delay and change NIs law. See our statement: https://t.co/4Dn9nvfvr1 pic.twitter.com/aEnuvqfmhk NIHRC (@NIHRC) June 7, 2018 He also said the blanket ban was disproportionate in cases of rape and incest, adding: To require in every instance a girl or woman to carry to term a foetus which was the consequence of exploitative and abusive behaviour and which is utterly abhorrent to her could not, we concluded, be considered as having struck the right balance between her rights and those of society. The justices said that because of their decision on the standing of the NIHRC, the Supreme Court has no jurisdiction in the proceedings to make a declaration of incompatibility. Explaining why the commission did not have power to bring the case, Lord Mance said: In summary, the present proceedings were not instituted by identifying any unlawful act or any actual or potential victim of it. During proceedings in October last year, the NIHRC told the court the current law criminalises exceptionally vulnerable women and girls and subjects them to inhuman and degrading treatment. A QC representing the commission argued that human rights were being breached, with those affected being forced to go through physical and mental torture. The Supreme Court was asked to rule that a prohibition on abortions where a pregnancy arises from rape or incest, or involves a serious foetal abnormality, is unlawful. Contesting the appeal, the Stormont Executives senior legal adviser, Attorney General John Larkin QC, said Northern Irelands criminal law on abortion is a matter for the democratic judgment of the legislature. The legislature, he said, has struck the proportionate balance required for the protection of the rights of women and unborn children. Submissions were also made at the Supreme Court by a number of bodies, including seven of the UKs leading reproductive rights organisations, Humanists UK, Bishops of the Roman Catholic Dioceses in Northern Ireland, the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children and Amnesty International. Unlike other parts of the UK, the 1967 Abortion Act does not extend to Northern Ireland. Abortion is illegal except where a womans life is at risk or there is a permanent or serious danger to her mental or physical health. Anyone who unlawfully carries out an abortion could be jailed for life. The Northern Ireland Assembly voted in February 2016 against legalising abortion in cases of fatal foetal abnormality and rape or incest. The debate on Northern Irelands restrictions on abortion has intensified after citizens in the Irish Republic voted by a landslide last month to liberalise the states laws. An emergency debate on the issue was held in the House of Commons on Tuesday. The UK Government has resisted calls to step in and legislate amid the ongoing powersharing impasse in Northern Ireland, insisting that any decision on abortion in the region has to be taken by locally elected politicians at Stormont. The UK Supreme Court ruling on abortion services in Northern Ireland has been welcomed by campaigners on both sides in the Republic. Together For Yes co-founder Ailbhe Smyth said she welcomed the ruling because the majority of the judges involved in the case said Northern Irelands laws were incompatible with human rights. Ms Smyth said she believed the case was lost on a technicality. Effectively they are saying they cant give a ruling that would be in favour of this entity but if an individual were taking a case of that kind it would be a very different matter, she said. It has brought to everyones attention that there is an absurd and harmful situation for women in the north.Ailbhe Smyth Ms Smyth said she hoped to see abortion legislated for in Northern Ireland in the next few years and she believed the success of the campaign in the Republic had been encouraging for women and campaigners north of the border. I know it gives them heart, she said. The Yes campaigner added: The example and experience of the Republic will be a potent factor of speeding up the process in the north. She said campaigning in the country had already gained momentum in recent years because of prosecutions which she described as unpardonable. It has brought to everyones attention that there is an absurd and harmful situation for women in the north, Ms Smyth said. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said he sees no reason why women resident in Northern Ireland would not be able to have terminations in the Republic when the laws are changed, but Ms Smyth said it remained unacceptable that women living anywhere on the island would have to travel. That notion of travelling has to stop, Ms Smyth said. Cora Shelock, of the Prolife Campaign in the Republic, also welcomed the decision for the reason that there will not be a legal requirement to change the laws in Northern Ireland. Because the 1967 Abortion Act was not extended to Northern Ireland there are 100,000 people alive as a result, she said. Ms Sherlock said the suggestion that legislation preventing abortion was violating human rights law was contested. Its unfortunate that human rights law, in the way that its developing, doesnt acknowledge the fact that there is no right to abortion in international human rights law, she said. There is a right to life in the whole process of human rights law. Ms Sherlock said it was very sad to see some Yes campaigners in the Republic after the referendum results were announced immediately pushing to have laws changed in Northern Ireland. She added that she hoped the Supreme Court ruling would not be a decision to be taken apart by abortion advocates who would try it again as it were. I hope it will be seen instead as an opportunity to improve supports that families receive in the north of Ireland. thats something we should be looking at in the south of Ireland as well despite the result, she said. One of the things both sides can agree on is that there is a desire to see fewer abortions take place. Sarah Ewart (centre) was speaking outside The Supreme Court in Westminster (Stefan Rousseau/PA) A Belfast woman behind the campaign to have Northern Irelands abortion law changed says she has no regrets after The Supreme Court ruling. In 2013, Sarah Ewart, now 28, was told during her 19-week scan that her babys brain and skull had not developed properly and the child would not survive. Because of Northern Ireland legislation, newly-wed Sarah travelled to London for a termination at her own expense, with flights and hotels included, of more than 2,100. Expand Close Sarah Ewart (right) has campaigned for change alongside Amnesty International (Stefan Rousseau/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Sarah Ewart (right) has campaigned for change alongside Amnesty International (Stefan Rousseau/PA) Speaking outside The Supreme Court, Ms Ewart said: I have no regrets whatsoever. If this same thing was to happen to me tomorrow, and the law wasnt changed, I would make the same decision. The highest court in the land has recognised that Northern Ireland is in breach of human rights for people who find themselves with fatal foetal abnormality. They have said that the law needs to be changed, so we will keep going until we get that change. MsEwart, who has campaigned for change alongside Amnesty International since her abortion, said Northern Irelands politicians should put their religious beliefs behind them and do their job. To Theresa May and Westminster, I would say we need change and we need help, she said. Please, please help us. I personally have been doing this for five years, and five years is too long. People are putting families and pregnancies on hold for fear that this could happen again. The High Court in Belfast and The Supreme Court are in agreement that the law needs to be changed, so lets just do this. The daughter of a father-of-six killed in the Finsbury Park attack has thanked those who supported her family in the year since the tragedy. Some of those who were injured when Darren Osborne rammed a van onto a crowded pavement shortly after midnight on June 19 last year gathered in commemoration near the scene of the attack. Faith leaders joined the areas MP Jeremy Corbyn, former attorney general Dominic Grieve and his Conservative Party colleague Anna Soubry at the event which also sought to celebrate the community spirit which emerged in the wake of the atrocity. Jobless loner Osborne deliberately targeted Muslims who had gathered outside two mosques in the area during the holy month of Ramadan. Makram Ali was killed in the incident in north London which left 12 others injured. Expand Close Ruzina Akhtar (centre) daughter of Makram Ali, who was killed in the attack, makes a speech (Rick Findler/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Ruzina Akhtar (centre) daughter of Makram Ali, who was killed in the attack, makes a speech (Rick Findler/PA) Osborne was jailed for at least 43 years in February for what the judge described as a suicide mission terror attack. Wednesdays gathering, organised by the Muslim Welfare House, Finsbury Park Mosque and the charity Muslim Aid, was held to mark one year since the incident, according to the lunar calendar observed in the Islamic faith. Among the speakers were Ruzina Akhtar, daughter of 51-year-old Mr Ali, who said her family remains grateful for the communitys support following her fathers murder. With her voice breaking, she said: Ive been asked to say a few words but Im overwhelmed today a little bit. Although last year was a very tragic event for our family that took our beloved father from us, we would like to remember the positives that came out from those days with the community showing love and support. Also everyone that was around us. Were very happy to be part of this community and to be in this country with such a loving, diverse community around us. And we would just like to thank everyone for their support and the love that theyve shown and hope they continue to do so. And please just keep us in your duas (prayers). Expand Close Hundreds sit and eat during the gathering (Rick Findler/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Hundreds sit and eat during the gathering (Rick Findler/PA) The event, which saw St Thomass Road lined with colourful bunting, aimed to combine a British summer street party with a traditional Iftar the meal eaten to break the daily fast observed by Muslims during Ramadan. Recalling Osbornes rampage and the communitys reaction, Mr Corbyn said: It was murder on the streets of our community, and our response was to come together as a community, to come together of all faiths, and come together and show we will not be divided, we will not be defeated, the racists will never win, we will never allow them to win. Bashir Ibrahim, whose brother Abdirahman was injured in the attack, said he felt the attack was one that was waiting to happen amid an environment of Islamophobia. Speaking ahead of the event he added that victims were still feeling the effects, a year on. He said: Most of the victims are still suffering with the consequences today. My brother has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, he has trouble sleeping. Expand Close Jeremy Corbyn joins supporters to celebrate community spirit one year after the Finsbury Park terror attack (Rick Findler/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Jeremy Corbyn joins supporters to celebrate community spirit one year after the Finsbury Park terror attack (Rick Findler/PA) My brother was one of the most outgoing and bubbly people but straight after the attack there was a change. Yassin Hersi, who was hit by Osbornes van as he tried to help Mr Ali while he lay on the ground, thanked those in attendance for such a beautiful event. He said: All faith groups are here tonight. We should be really more stronger together and more united as a community. At sunset, just after 9pm, Mr Corbyn joined those gathered for a feast as crowds sat in the street to enjoy the breaking of their fast. Cambridge University posted a statement on its website on Wednesday saying that the current criticism was wrong David Lammy has accused Cambridge University of a spin exercise after some of its leaders published an open letter defending its record on admitting students from diverse backgrounds. The elite institution posted a statement on its website on Wednesday saying that criticism was wrong and potentially damaging after Universities Minister Sam Gyimah said the current situation is staggering. The letters authors also said that in its most recent intake, 22% of students enrolled described themselves as black and minority ethnic and 64% were from state schools, which it said were the highest proportions on record. But Labour MP Mr Lammy, who has investigated intakes at the Oxbridge universities, said Cambridge must put its money where its mouth is by encouraging students from wider backgrounds to apply, as well as using contextual data when making offers. An open letter on diversity in admissions. https://t.co/hBs2KwS5sO pic.twitter.com/zYkgDmvPhy Cambridge University (@Cambridge_Uni) June 6, 2018 He said: Instead of looking to blame the applicants, schools and everyone apart from themselves, it would be more helpful if both Cambridge and Oxford focused attention on reforming their admissions processes. We need systemic change, not piecemeal PR exercises. Since his first requests for access data in 2010, Mr Lammy said, very little has changed with only minor progress witnessed at Cambridge and Oxford. Instead of spin and massaging the figures, the universities need to face up to their own institutional failings and ask tough questions about its admissions process, he said. The letter from Professor Graham Virgo, pro-vice-chancellor for education, Jon Beard, director of Cambridges admissions office, and Dr Sam Lucy, director of admissions for the Cambridge colleges, came a day after Mr Gyimahs criticisms were published. Nobody is asking Cambridge or Oxford to reduce grades or compromise academic excellence. I am asking them to do the exact opposite and recognise that merit is the kid who gets straight A* and A grades from a disadvantaged background, a tough school and deprived community. David Lammy (@DavidLammy) June 6, 2018 After defending recent intakes, they said: To suggest that no progress is being made in relation to diversity is therefore not only wrong, but potentially damaging and could deter future high-achieving applicants from applying in the first place. They said that last year Cambridge admitted 58 black students, which admittedly is very low as a proportion of its overall intake. But the truly shocking statistic, they said, is that it represents a third of all black students who went to university that year having obtained two A-stars and an A at A-level. The University of Cambridge cannot single-handedly fix this endemic problem of academic attainment which afflicts all levels of education and society as a whole, reflecting deeper-seated inequalities across the country, they added. Mr Gyimah told the Daily Telegraph that the institutions had to do more to bring in a students from backgrounds more representative of Britain and said they should take into account a broad range of factors rather than just academic results, in what is known as contextual admissions. Mr Lammy also said contextual data should be used because the underprivileged kid from a state school in Sunderland or Rochdale who gets straights As is more talented their contemporary with the same grades at Eton or Harrow, and all the academic evidences shows that they fair outshine their peers at university too. Ministers have agreed any backstop arrangement to prevent the return of a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic after Brexit should not continue for more than a year after the end of the transition period. A Government technical note said the UK expected permanent customs arrangements to be in place by the end of December 2021 at the latest. The move came after Brexit Secretary David Davis was reported to be considering resigning unless there was a clear time limit on the temporary customs arrangements which would be adopted if there is no final Brexit deal. Expand Close Theresa May is said to have held constructive talks with the Brexit Secretary (Stefan Rousseau/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Theresa May is said to have held constructive talks with the Brexit Secretary (Stefan Rousseau/PA) The note said: The UK is clear that the temporary customs arrangement, should it be needed, should be time limited, and that it will be only in place until the future customs arrangement can be introduced. The UK is clear that the future customs arrangement needs to deliver on the commitments made in relation to Northern Ireland. The UK expects the future arrangement to be in place by the end of December 2021 at the latest. There are a range of options for how a time limit could be delivered, which the UK will propose and discuss with the EU. Downing Street said earlier that Mrs May had held constructive talks with Mr Davis and expected him to remain in his post. The Prime Minister also held separate face-to-face discussions in her parliamentary office with the two other leading Brexiteers, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and International Trade Secretary Liam Fox. None of the three ministers threatened to resign during the discussions, a spokeswoman for the Prime Minister said. Expand Close Boris Johnson and Liam Fox had face-to-face discussions with the PM (Stefan Rousseau/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Boris Johnson and Liam Fox had face-to-face discussions with the PM (Stefan Rousseau/PA) A source close to Mr Davis said: Obviously, theres been a back and forth on this paper, as there always is whenever the Government publishes anything. The backstop paper has been amended and now expresses, in much more detail, the time-limited nature of our proposal something the Prime Minister and David Davis have always been committed to. Under the current timetable Britain is due to leave the EU on March 29 2019 followed by a transition period running to the end of 2020. The paper proposes that if there is no final agreement, there should be a temporary customs arrangement lasting up to 12 months. During that period there would be no tariffs, quotas, rules of origin (or) customs processes applied to UK-EU trade. At the same time the UK would be able to strike free trade agreements with other countries and to implement those elements which did not affect the functioning of the backstop. The paper was issued after Mr Davis was believed to have insisted the UK should be able to unilaterally withdraw from any border agreement to maintain leverage with Brussels in negotiations. Pressed on whether he could remain in post if the backstop deal did not meet his full approval, Mr Davis said on Wednesday: Thats a question, I think, for the Prime Minister, to be honest. Mr Davis made it clear the document would be decisive as he said he planned to meet chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier again for Brexit talks next week. The EUs chief negotiator Michel Barnier welcomed the publication of the paper. I welcome publication of #UK proposal on customs aspects of IE/NI backstop. We will examine it with 3 questions: is it a workable solution to avoid a hard border? Does it respect the integrity of the SM/CU? Is it an all-weather backstop? Michel Barnier (@MichelBarnier) June 7, 2018 He said they would be examining the proposals in the light of three questions: Is it a workable solution to avoid a hard border? Does it respect the integrity of the single market/customs union? Is it an all-weather backstop? Irelands deputy premier Simon Coveney warned that unless there was a legally-binding assurance that a hard border would be avoided in all circumstances, there could be no progress on other elements of the Brexit talks. Our strong preference remains an overall EU-UK future relationship which would resolve all issues. However, it remains vital that a legally-binding backstop is agreed to provide certainty that, in all circumstances, a hard border will be avoided, he said. The EU has been clear that the backstop is an essential element of the EU-UK withdrawal agreement and that negotiations can only progress as long as all commitments undertaken so far are respected in full. Ireland and the commission have both stressed that substantial progress on the backstop is needed before the June European Council. Clearly, a great deal of work remains to be done and this needs to be the highest priority for all sides in the weeks ahead. Up to 6,000 jobs are under threat after embattled department store chain House of Fraser announced 31 of its 59 stores are set to shut across the UK and Ireland as part of a rescue plan. Up to 6,000 jobs are under threat after embattled department store chain House of Fraser announced 31 of its 59 stores are set to shut across the UK and Ireland as part of a rescue plan. House of Fraser said the planned closures, which include its Oxford Street store, come as part of a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) a controversial insolvency procedure in vogue among struggling retailers. If the CVA is approved by landlords, it will affect up to 2,000 House of Fraser staff and a further 4,000 across brands and concessions. It said the shops earmarked for closure would remain open until early 2019. The group said it also plans to relocate its Baker Street head office and the Granite House office in Glasgow to help slash costs and secure House of Frasers future. Alex Williamson, chief executive of House of Fraser, said: Todays announcement is one of the most important in this companys 169-year history. We, as a management team, have a responsibility to take necessary steps to ensure House of Frasers survival, which is why we are making these proposals. We are fully committed to supporting those personally affected by the proposals. House of Fraser said it has already informed staff set to be impacted by the plans, and was committed to working with all those affected openly and with sensitivity over the months ahead. 6,000 job losses at House of Fraser across 31 stores. Another big loss for high streets. Huge retail turbulence continues. Wes Streeting MP (@wesstreeting) June 7, 2018 As well as the store closures, House of Frasers restructuring deal will also see the rents slashed for a further 10 stores that will remain open. Landlords, who must vote through the plan, have already expressed serious concerns about the proposals and met on Tuesday to discuss how to respond to House of Fraser. At least 75% of creditor approval is needed, with the vote set to take place on June 22. Expand Close (PA Graphics) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp (PA Graphics) Property agency JLL has teamed up with lawyers at Begbies Traynor to unite both institutional and individual landlords, and advise on a course of action on House of Frasers plans. House of Fraser stressed that the group will continue to trade as normal online and through stores ahead of the CVA vote and throughout the proposal. Frank Slevin, chairman of House of Fraser, said: Our legacy store estate has created an unsustainable cost base, which without restructuring, presents an existential threat to the business. So whilst closing stores is a very difficult decision, especially given the length of relationship House of Fraser has with all its locations, there should be no doubt that it is absolutely necessary if we are to continue to trade and be competitive. The future of House of Fraser is at significant risk unless steps to restructure the business both financially and operationally are takenWill Wright Hamleys owner C.banner is being lined up to buy a 51% stake in House of Fraser and invest 70 million into what remains of the business. But its cash injection is pledged only on the condition the retailer can agree the CVA restructuring. Will Wright, a restructuring partner at KPMG which is handling the CVA, warned that House of Fraser would be at risk of administration if the CVA does no go ahead. He said: The business has been impacted by the mounting pressures facing the UK high street, with the declining profitability of certain stores exacerbated by costly legacy leases which were originally negotiated many years ago. With trading conditions unlikely to materially improve in the short term, the future of House of Fraser is at significant risk unless steps to restructure the business both financially and operationally are taken. A raft of CVAs have been struck in recent months as retailers struggle amid surging costs, rising business rates, competition from online rivals and a slowdown in consumer spending. Other retailers undertaking CVAs in a bid to keep trading include New Look, Mothercare and Carpetright. Restaurant businesses have also been seeking to cut their costs with store closure programmes, with Carluccios, Byron and Prezzo all pushing through CVAs this year. Former defence minister Mark Francois has said he is concerned military veterans will be "scapegoated" for actions which occurred during the Troubles. The Conservative MP's comments came after the outgoing head of the armed forces, Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach, said he was deeply uncomfortable at the prospect of an historical investigations unit being established to review the conflict. Mr Francois, speaking during Prime Minister's Questions, said that servicemen and women should be treated as "heroes". He said: "Within this House there is growing concern at the prospect of brave servicemen being effectively scapegoated by others for political or financial gain. "We call our servicemen and women heroes - we should treat them accordingly. "So would the Prime Minister be prepared to at least entertain some investigation into the concept of a statute of limitations in order to protect those who have served on the front line and also those who will follow them in the future?" His remarks came after Defence Minister Tobias Ellwood broke ranks with the official Government position over the weekend to back calls for a time limit for investigations into historical events. A current consultation document on dealing with the legacy of the Troubles does not include provision for a statute of limitations, to the anger of many Conservative MPs. Responding to Mr Francois, Theresa May told MPs: "We don't just call our servicemen and women heroes, they are heroes. "What we do want to ensure is that we don't see our servicemen and women and, indeed, in relation to legacy issues in Northern Ireland, police officers, being the sole subject of investigations, which is what is happening at the moment. "I want to ensure that terrorists are investigated for past crimes as well and that is why the Secretary of State has launched the consultation on legacy issues - and it is of course open to people to respond to that consultation." Julian Assange has been visited in the Ecuadorian Embassy by Australian officials. (Dominic Lipinski/PA) WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been visited by officials from the Australian High Commission. Two officials went to the Ecuadorian Embassy in London where Mr Assange has been living for almost six years. His internet and phone connections were cut off by the Ecuadorian government six weeks ago and he was denied visitors. Expand Close Supporters of Julian Assange outside the Ecuadorian Embassy (Victoria Jones/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Supporters of Julian Assange outside the Ecuadorian Embassy (Victoria Jones/PA) The Australian-born campaigner fears being extradited to the US if he leaves the embassy and being questioned about the activities of WikiLeaks. It is believed to be the first time officials from the Australian High Commission in London have visited him. Jennifer Robinson, a member of Mr Assanges legal team, said: I can confirm we met with Australian government representatives in the embassy today. Julian Assange is in a very serious situation, detained without charge for seven-and-a-half years. He remains in the embassy because of the risk of extradition to the US. That risk is undeniable after numerous statements by Trump administration officials, including the Director of the CIA and the US attorney-general. Given the delicate diplomatic situation we cannot comment further at this time. My main point in another Nolan show clash with Jim Wells was to suggest that Jim did not really believe what he was saying. By his view of abortion in Britain, over nine million innocent human beings have been put to death. His party repeats a figure of 100,000 for the number of lives saved in Northern Ireland through our more stringent abortion laws. Jim also uses a figure of 6,000 Nolan show listeners. And, to reinforce the point, he and Sammy Wilson have both referred to the quality of citizenship of those survivors, workers in factories, good people. But if his party believes that Britain is slaughtering millions of innocents and that Northern Ireland is now the only safe refuge for the unborn, it is not meeting its responsibilities commensurate with that carnage. If a European country is slaughtering innocent humans on such a scale, surely there is no other concern before us that is as urgent. We should, with our allies, be preparing an invasion force to save those lives. We should be badgering the United Nations. So I told him I didnt think he even believed what he was saying; that the implications of his understanding are that this slaughter is comparable to the Nazi Holocaust. And he agreed. Comparable in numbers, he kept saying, meaning as profligate with human lives as the Nazis were in their death camps. But if Britain is such a horrible country, that lays waste to humanity, with the approval of every government that has held office in the last 50 years, why does the DUP want to be in a union with it? The only reasonable conclusion is that the DUP is treating abortion a lot less seriously than it claims to. Or that the partys case against abortion is being made so ineptly, so hysterically and so shallowly that its spokespersons would be best advised to go away and rethink their whole position. Jim also asserts that the political parties in Northern Ireland do not want abortion here. He bases this on the February 2016 vote against legislating for termination of pregnancies in cases of fatal foetal abnormality. But that vote was carried on a promise of the DUP to initiate a consultation and come back to the Assembly. And the consultation has recommended reform. And since that vote, nearly every major political party on the island of Ireland that held a pro-life position has changed its thinking. Fine Gael, Fianna Fail, Sinn Fein and the SDLP are all adjusting to a wave of concern, across the whole country, that women are being shabbily treated at the point of their greatest need. Which is not to say that there isnt a discussion to be had. There is. Abortion is not a morally neutral act in the minds of most people here. But the question is whether it should be, or can continue to be, a criminal one. And if that mood for change is here, then any return to Stormont will last only until the day the DUP uses a position of concern again to block the democratic will. Myanmar signed an agreement with two United Nations agencies on Wednesday to assist with the repatriation of some of the nearly 700,000 Rohingya Muslims who fled a violent military crackdown in northern Rakhine state and are now living in overcrowded displacement camps in Bangladesh. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the U.N.s development (UNDP) and refugee (UNHCR) agencies will help with the voluntary return and reintegration of displaced Rohingya, assessments of conditions in Rakhine state for those who are contemplating returns, and support programs that benefit all communities in the multi-ethnic state. The statement referred to displaced persons and not the Rohingya by name because Myanmar does not include the minority Muslim group as one of the countrys official ethnic groups under the 1982 Citizenship Law. The signing of the MoU is expected to enhance the work already undertaken by the government of Myanmar since last year for the voluntary, safe, and dignified repatriation of the displaced persons, said a statement issued by State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi's office. It is hoped that with the U.N.s involvement, the repatriation process will hasten, it said. Myanmar and Bangladesh signed an agreement for the voluntary return of Rohingya refugees last November, but so far only several dozen refugees returned illegally on their own in May. The U.N. and rights groups have warned that the stateless Rohingya, who are considered illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, will continue to be discriminated against after they return to Myanmar and be denied citizenship and access to basic services in the Buddhist-majority country. Following a May visit to Rakhine state by U.N. Security Council diplomats, the Council called on Myanmar to involve the U.N. agencies in a probe of allegations that the military carried out killings, torture, rape, and arson in Rohingya communities during the crackdown. The MoU [signed] today serves as the first important and necessary step to establish a framework cooperation between the U.N., and more specifically the UNHCR and UNDP, with the government to start working at creating conditions which could be conducive to the voluntary return of refugees from Bangladesh, said Giuseppe de Vincentis, the UNHCRs representative in Myanmar, during an interview with RFAs Myanmar Service on Wednesday. The MoU does not set a time frame for the repatriation of some of the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh who must decide on their own whether to return to Rakhine state, he said. Last week, a senior Bangladeshi official welcomed news that Myanmar had agreed to work with the UN agencies. This is a positive development we think, Mohammad Abul Kalam, Bangladeshs commissioner for refugee relief and repatriation, told BenarNews late Friday. [T]he MoU with UNHCR and UNDP will help smoothen the repatriation process. We can work in a coordinated way for repatriation of the Rohingya, he added. Bangladesh and the UNHCR signed a bilateral memorandum in April on repatriation of Rohingya refugees. Local experts only Also on Wednesday, lawmakers from the opposition Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) submitted an urgent motion to parliament calling for the exclusion of foreign experts from an independent inquiry commission that the government is setting up to investigate human rights violations that occurred during the crackdown in response to deadly attacks in August 2017 by the Muslim militant group Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA). The civilian government under the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party announced its intention to create the three-member panel on May 31. A statement issued by President Win Myints office said the commission would include an international representative and would be assisted by domestic and international legal and technical experts. The lower house of parliament accepted the motion submitted by lawmaker Sai Kyaw Moe and supported by USDP legislator Maung Myint that the commission be composed only of Myanmar experts. We want the government to establish a new inquiry commission only with local experts, Sai Kyaw Moe said. We have had experience with forming commissions with foreigners, but the problems were not resolved; they became more complex. This commission should be formed only with local Myanmar experts because [they] know the Myanmar people, culture, and history very well, he said. In August 2016, Aung San Suu Kyi set up a nine-member advisory commission led by former U.N. chief Kofi Annan to assess the obstacles to development and sectarian tensions between Muslims and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists in Rakhine state. Many politicians and lawmakers objected to the panels composition of three international experts and six domestic ones. The commissions final report issued in August 2017 called for a review of the countrys 1982 Citizenship Law, which prevents the Rohingya from becoming citizens, an end to restrictions on the Muslim minority in order to prevent further violence in the region, and the closure of internally displaced persons camps in Rakhine state. A day after the report was publicly released, ARSA carried out the deadly attacks on 30 police outposts in northern Rakhine, sparking the violent campaign against the Rohingya. The inquiry commission will get close to the truth if it can capture the whole picture. But if it throws a curtain over ARSAs [actions] and only investigates Myanmar security guards, police, and soldiers, it will not capture the entire story, said Maung Myint. Myanmars investigations to date, however, have been largely dismissed by human rights experts for glossing over the ferocious army campaign that drove 700,000 Rohingya into exile. On May 1, a group of U.N. Security Council diplomats who visited northern Rakhine called on Myanmar to conduct a proper investigation into atrocities against the Rohingya following the ARSA attacks. This report was produced by Radio Free Asia, a sister entity of BenarNews. On his first day in office Malaysias new attorney general pledged Wednesday to mount a rigorous and transparent probe into the 1MDB financial scandal, as the central bank governor appointed by the previous government resigned, saying he had lost the publics trust. Attorney General Tommy Thomas said he would start by contacting the United States, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Singapore and other countries to seek the return of billions of ringgit allegedly siphoned from 1Malaysia Development Berhad, a state investment fund. All are equal before the law and no one shall be spared. There will be no cover ups and we will immediately contact our counterparts with the objective of having them return the billions stolen from the taxpayers, said Thomas, 66, a London School of Economics graduate. He said there would be no interference by anyone, including the prime minister, as his office resumed the 1MDB probe. Those who commit no wrong should not fear the midnight knock of policemen, but those who broke the law will be met with the full force of the law regardless of their station in life, he said. I promise to do the right thing that is to tell the truth and to discharge my duty honestly, fairly, freely, independently and to the best of my ability. Former Prime Minister and Finance Minister Najib Razak, whose Barisan Nasional coalition lost last months general election, founded 1MDB in 2009 as an investment vehicle to spur development in Malaysia. While allegations have linked him to the missing funds, Najib, who was on the 1MDB advisory board until its dissolution in 2016, has denied any wrongdoing. Since the election, the new government has barred Najib and his wife from traveling abroad. The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission also interviewed the couple separately as part of an investigation connected to 1MDB. We abhor any semblance of corruption Also on Wednesday, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad announced that his cabinet had accepted the resignation of Muhammad Ibrahim, the governor of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), the countrys central bank, only two years into the job. Muhammad said he resigned because he had lost the publics trust, according to a report published on Wednesday night by Bernama, the state-run news agency. As a central bank, we are only as effective as the trust and confidence that the people of Malaysia and its leaders place in us, he said. I am prepared to relinquish my post if I no longer have the strong trust and support of the public. I cannot in good conscience continue if it affects the banks image and reputation. On Tuesday, media reports began circulating that he offered to resign after Lim Guan Eng, the new finance minister, had raised questions about the banks alleged $520 million purchase of land from Najibs government as a way for the former administration to pay off some of 1MDBs debts. Muhammad denied that the central bank was involved in the 1MDB scandal. This is totally untrue. BNM will never be party to any such activities that would betray the public trust in us. We abhor any semblance of corruption and abuse of power, he said, according to reports. Mahathir said the cabinet had not decided on the bank governors replacement, because we need to have the approval of the king before we can announce [an appointment]. Former Deputy Governor Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus is a candidate to take over the bank, Reuters news service reported, citing two sources. Nor Shamsiah, who left when her term expired in 2016, assisted in the 1MDB investigation under Muhammads predecessor, Zeti Akhtar Aziz. Zeti retired from the post in April 2016 after having participated the previous year in a special task force investigating allegations of financial mismanagement and corruption at 1MDB. Two years ago, the United States Justice Department (DOJ) filed a dozen lawsuits seeking the forfeiture and recovery of more than U.S. $1 billion (3.9 billion ringgit) in assets allegedly paid for with stolen 1MDB money. A source involved in the U.S. investigation identified Najib as Malaysian Official 1 who figured prominently in DOJ court papers. U.S. justice officials have described the 1MDB affair as the worst kleptocracy scandal in recent times, pointing out that more than $4.5 billion (17.9 billion ringgit) was stolen from the fund since its inception. In 2016, authorities in Singapore announced they had seized assets totaling S$240 million (U.S. $177 million) of which S$120 million (U.S. $88.5 million) was from a close ally of Najib, Malaysian businessman Low Taek Jho (also known as Jho Low) and his immediate family. New attorney general Mahathir named Thomas, an ethnic Indian Christian senior lawyer with more than 40 years of experience, to serve as attorney general in the new government. But the prime ministers announcement spurred a backlash from rightwing Malay Muslims who were concerned that his appointment would compromise the status and the rights of ethnic majority Malays and indigenous people, as well as the status of Islam as the federal religion. The controversy compelled Anwar Ibrahim, the de facto leader of the ruling Pakatan Harapan alliance, to intervene and assure that the rights of Malays and the standing of Islam would be preserved through the appointment of a non-Malay attorney general. Ibrahim, who had been jailed during the election but was pardoned of his sodomy conviction by the king, is expected to succeed Mahathir in a year or two. Sultan Muhammad V, Malaysias king, consented to approving Thomas as the new AG after consulting with the Council of Rulers as well as Mahathir on the matter. Thomas replaces Mohamed Apandi Ali, who served under Najib and froze all investigations into 1MDB when he cleared him of allegations of wrongdoing tied to the fund in January 2016. Apandi reached out to his successor. Congratulations to Tommy (Thomas) and all the best to him in discharging his new duties as the AG, Apandi said in a text message to The Star. In addition to investigating 1MDB, Thomas said he would focus on repealing oppressive laws and reviewing previous government contracts. We have to independently study the obligation taken by the previous administration such as contracts in other countries to ascertain if there are any that go against the interest of Malaysia, he said. Saying he understood concerns about his not being Malay, Thomas admitted that he needed to polish his fluency in Bahasa Melayu, a regional dialect, after critics questioned his ability to speak it fluently. Forty-two years of private practice, dealings with commercial clients I have neglected my Bahasa Melayu. I promise to brush up, he said with a smile. Akhbar Satar, the president of the Malaysian chapter of graft watchdog Transparency International, welcomed Thomas appointment, saying he brought strong credentials and many years of experience to the office. Public expectations are high and we are confident he will able to deliver, Akhbar said. College students burn an image of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte as they participate in a protest to defend press freedom in Manila, Jan. 17, 2018. A gunman shot and killed a hard-hitting community newspaper publisher in the southern Philippines on Thursday, police said, in the latest attack against the nations free-wheeling press. Dennis Denora, 67, publisher of the Trends and Times weekly newspaper in Davao del Norte province, was attacked shortly past noon in the southern city of Panab, provincial police chief Senior Superintendent Alan Manibog said. He was the 10th journalist to be killed since President Rodrigo Duterte came to power in 2016 and the 183rd since authoritarian ruler Ferdinand Marcos was ousted in 1986, rights groups and media monitors said. The victim was with his driver in his car near a public market when he was shot by a gunman. His driver, according to police, was also wounded but has been declared out of danger. Police have yet to establish a motive for the shooting. Theres ongoing investigation right now from our policemen in Panabo, Manibog told reporters. Denora's killing follows that of Edmund Sestoso, a crusading journalist who died last month as the nation marked World Press Freedom Day. Sestoso, 50, whose radio program tackled corruption, was shot dead by two motorcycle-riding gunmen in the central Philippines. Denoras colleagues condemned the attack, and called on the government to investigate the murder. The Davao del Norte Press and Radio-TV Club (DNPRC) said it was angered and saddened by the attack, noting that the murder happened in broad daylight. This is a tragic reminder of the physical risks journalists take as they work in the field, club President Pamela Gay Perales said in a statement. Perales said that Denora was known for his fearless forecasts both in newspaper and radio relating to local issues, mostly political. We at DNPRC, believe it is not justifiable to take ones life for personal or political reasons. His death awakens the anger and pains of journalists who do their job and yet are being judged by the pistol, she said. The worst killing of media practitioners in the Philippines took place in November 2009, when 32 journalists were among 58 people massacred by a Muslim clan in the southern province of Maguindanao, officials said. Jeoffrey Maitem from Cotabato City contributed to this report. Zainichi Korean Kim Song-ran, right, poses at a Zainichi school reunion commemorating the 70th anniversary of Fukushima Korean School's foundation. / Courtesy of Kim Song-rang 'Chosen-seki' hate to be called South or North Koreans; they want unification By Park Ji-won As related countries move quickly toward the June 12 summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore with the aim of denuclearizing the North and possibly declaring an end to the 1950-53 Korean War, there is one group that for decades has hoped to see a unified Korean Peninsula. They are ethnic Koreans living in Japan, known as "Zainichi Koreans," especially those who choose to live without a passport, hoping to see the two Koreas reunite. The word Zainichi refers to the ethnic Korean community that arrived in Japan during the 1910-45 occupation of Korea and stayed on after Japan's defeat in World War II. As years passed and bilateral ties between Seoul and Tokyo were forged, the Zainichi largely split into two groups depending on their historical backgrounds: permanent residents with South Korean nationality and a South Korean passport, and "Chosen-seki" (Korean domicile) or those who have chosen not to have nationality. The latter can travel overseas by being issued temporary travel documents. Chosen-seki can be understood as being stateless or having an alternative nationality. Chosen is a way to read the Japanese romanization of Joseon. It was the name of the last existing kingdom of Korea which lasted five centuries until the beginning of the 1900s. But in 1947, Japan ordered the Korean people in Japan to list their nationality as "Chosen." Despite discrimination, Chosen-seki Zainichi in Japan said they stand solidly by their status. A family photo of Ryang Sun-hui, left, with her husband Song Gyong-sok, right, and her children. / Courtesy of Ryang Sun-hui "I won't change my stateless status if there is no big change in the current situation. If I decide to change it, it might only be for my children's future," said Ryang Sun-hui, 34, a fourth-generation ethnic Korean with Chosen-seki status, during a phone interview with The Korea Times. Ryang is married to a man of the same status, and their three children also have the same status. "I won't change my status until Korean unification," said 28-year-old Kim Song-rang, who works for an Osaka-based community group connected to the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon), a pro-North Korea organization. "I never thought about changing my status, regardless of unification, as I can remain as evidence of the Chosen-seki," said 28-year-old Kim Yun-ok. She also works for a Chongryon community group in Hyogo. Their remarks may come across as strident, but unification has been one of their lifetime goals since around the time their communities were formed in Japan. As of June 2017, the Chosen-seki constituted a minority of 30,000 ethnic Korean residents in Japan while another 535,873 had South Korean nationality, according to Japan's justice ministry. Chongryon is known to have the highest number of Chosen-seki people while its pro-South counterpart, the Korean Residents Union (Mindan), has almost none. Kim Yun-ok, center, poses in traditional Korean clothes with her friends. / Courtesy of Kim Yun-ok As their numbers decrease, they face "inconveniences" or discrimination in their daily lives, the interviewees said. Born and raised in Japan, they are fluent in Japanese. Yet many of them have trouble going overseas, as they are automatically considered North Koreans, or suspicious persons with no nationality. "Whenever we, who are Chosen-seki, visit the airport to go overseas, we are summoned to a private room and forced to open our suitcases for searches," Ryang said. "We are obliged to sign a piece of paper in a small room that guarantees we are not involved with any nuclear weapons in order to go on trips," Kim Yun-ok said. They experience "unseen" discrimination on a daily basis, whether they're shopping online or trying to rent a home. "I heard my friend couldn't get a job as the company said it doesn't hire Chosen-seki. I heard that was one of the reasons some change their status to South Korean nationality. Also, there is difficulty in renting a home as Japanese owners require a Japanese guarantor or simply refuse Zainichi from the beginning," Kim Yun-ok said. "When Japanese people hear my Korean name, they ask me where I am from. It is hard for me to answer that I am Chosen," Ryang said. "The worst thing was being turned away at the blood donation center. I heard the center's officials say we don't need Zainichi blood. I was shocked to have heard that," Kim Song-rang said. Such discrimination has been proven in a survey. Almost 40 percent of foreign residents experienced discrimination in finding jobs and housing over the previous five years as of 2017, according to Japan's justice ministry. The survey was the first of its kind conducted by the government. "It is somewhat sad to say, but I have gotten used to such inconveniences. When I face discrimination, I just think it's happening again," Ryang said. Chosen-seki as identity Despite these obstacles, the Chosen-seki embrace their status as their "identity." "The early Zainichi generations faced a life-or-death situation. Seventy years ago, Japanese police rushed into our school and killed several people saying they had been ordered to get rid of Chosen schools. There is still ongoing discrimination against our schools by the Japanese government in a way by not giving subsidies for our children's education," Kim Yun-ok said. Under an education organization called "Chosun Hakkyo" (Chosen School) or "Urihakkyo" (Our School), Chosen-seki have been learning about the Korean ethnicity in their regular syllabus. Back during the colonial period, many were educating their children there as they were thinking about returning to Korea later. However, ironically, the Japanese government's pressure to remove the education facilities made people gather at the schools to fight and protect their children. Many Zainichi with South Korean nationality also choose Urihakkyo as they have little chance to receive education on their ethnic heritage in Japanese or South Korean schools. There are four South Korean government-funded schools in Japan, mainly in big cities like Tokyo and Osaka. Meanwhile, there are 64 Chosen schools categorized into elementary, middle and high schools and universities throughout Japan. Chosen schools have been playing a central role in unifying the Zainichi community ideologically and locally. They have been funded and receiving guidelines and textbooks from Chongryon from the beginning, and have more recently seen additional funding from South Korean nongovernmental organizations. Ryang Sun-hui, left, and actor and activist Kwon Hae-hyo, right, pose at a wedding ceremony for Ryang's friend. / Courtesy of Ryang Sun-hui Residents survey the damage during a visit to the main battle area in Marawi City, May 6, 2018. Two Filipino militants who fought in the southern Philippine city of Marawi have been captured in Cagayan de Oro after they allegedly scouted the area for bombing targets, police said Thursday. The suspects, identified as Eyadzhemar Abdulsalam, 26, and Dianne Catherine Palmitos, 25, were believed to be members of the Maute group, a militant faction that provided fighters to Isnilon Hapilon, the regional leader aligned with the Islamic State (IS), during the five-month siege of Marawi last year. They were caught trying to sneak into Cagayan de Oro Wednesday aboard a passenger bus, regional police spokesman Superintendent Lemuel Gonda said. We detained them. They planned to carry out bomb attacks early this year in Cagayan de Oro but our authorities prevented it, he said, adding the two were facing charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives. Police sources said the duo traveled from Manila to the southern city of General Santos, where they took the bus going to Cagayan de Oro, more than 100 km (62 miles) from Marawi city. Officers recovered a grenade and a hand gun, and the two suspects were taken in for interrogation, police said. The pair were allegedly part of the Maute faction tasked with providing medical supplies to fighters at the height of the siege last year, the worst outbreak of violence in the south in recent years that left more than 1,200, mostly militants, dead. Marawi siege Hapilon launched the siege in May 2017 with a vision of transforming the Muslim city of Marawi into the IS seat of power in Southeast Asia. With him were Abu Sayyaf fighters, militants from the Maute faction and fighters from the Middle East and Southeast Asia. The siege took the government of President Rodrigo Duterte by surprise, forcing him to ask for assistance from long-time allies the United States and Australia. But the militants dug in and engaged the soldiers in urban street-by-street warfare, using dozens of civilians as human shields and hiding in mosques to slow the governments assault. Marawis more than 200,000 residents fled, and the city was transformed into a wasteland of pockmarked and empty buildings. A year later, much of the city remains in ruins, with thousands still living in evacuation camps. Some residents who were allowed to return to their homes in April and May reported finding skeletal remains. Breakthrough Last week, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana announced a breakthrough in the governments goal to achieve peace without bloodshed in Mindanao following the surrender in March of Nhurhassan Jamiri, a little-known Abu Sayyaf commander and 13 of his followers on the island of Basilan. Jamiri has been identified as one of two top leaders of Abu Sayyaf based in Basilan, where the militant group was established in the early 1990s. The other leader is Furuji Indama, who remains at large. The overall operations officer and chief of the group in Basilan, he apparently is being groomed to succeed Hapilon, military sources said. Jeoffrey Maitem in Cotabato City, Philippines contributed to this report. bi-103119-annexation-laws: Depending on annexation rules, you may or may not be living where you think you live. Manisha Koirala's Edgy And Quirky Attire Is The Future Of Airport Fashion Bollywood Wardrobe Devika Last time, Manisha Koirala sported the look that would have taken a lot of guts to try and this time too, her quirky avatar is not quite everyone's cup of tea. At an age when actresses stick to their conventional style sense, Manisha is pushing her boundaries. And we adore her for making us believe that age is just a number. She grabbed headlines with her 'Nargis' look for the movie 'Sanju'. The diva actually nailed the look of Sanjay Dutt's mother. Woah! And now she is in the news again, as she is all geared up for the shooting of her next film, 'Prasthaanam', for which she was headed to Lucknow. And her airport look was so eye-catching that we were totally left speechless. After this look of hers, we have a feeling that she will be soon among the top five fashionistas. So, Manisha had again chosen an attire by Chola By Sohaya Misra and this outfit of hers was drool-worthy. The startlet again sported an asymmetrical collared white voluminous shirt and paired it with a dark brown and light yellow checkered funky skirt-inspired bottom. We loved that her outfit looked hipster, fun, and seriously comfy. It was an amazing colour-block and she teamed her eccentric outfit with a cross body satchel bag, bracelets and a watch, and of course those large round rimmed spectacles were simply unmissable. Her white shoes matched with her shirt. Smart choice, Manisha, we must say. Also, her curly hairdo went perfectly with the attire. Don't you all think that Manisha Koirala looked simply awesome? WTF! A Woman's Tongue Became 'Pregnant' After She Ate Squid Sperm! Pulse oi-Syeda Farah Can you imagine on what can be your worst nightmare when you eat raw seafood? Well, nothing can beat this bizarre case doing rounds on the internet. This is the case of a woman who was believed to have been impregnated with the squid sperm, when she ate it raw! Well, this can definitely bring down your taste if you have been a seafood lover! Weird Things People Eat That Is 'Not' Food Find out more about the details of this bizarre case... About The Bizarre Case... A 63-year-old woman's tongue is said to have become 'pregnant' after the sperm from a raw squid she was eating ended up in her mouth, according to a medical journal. It Was Revealed... Apparently, the woman, from South Korea, was left with severe pain after the squid injected sperm into the tissues of her mouth and it was revealed that she had to be rushed to a hospital. On Examination, The Doctors Found When the doctors examined her mouth, they got a shock of their lives, as they found '12 small, white spindle-shaped, bug like' sperm bags, which had apparently been embedded in her tongue and gums as she chew the raw calamari. The Foreign Bodies Were Identified As... According to the reports, the foreign bodies were identified as squid spermatophores, which are sperm-containing capsules. It was revealed that she had not removed the internal organs of the squid and then had just parboiled it before consumption. The Reality Apparently, this case had appeared in 2012, where the reality is absolutely revolting. The woman had bit into an undercooked squid, and she experienced a sharp pain and wriggling sensation in her mouth. The Term Impregnate The term "Impregnate", which was used in the story that was published, caused a lot of chaos amidst the readers. The fact about the term meant that successful fertilisation has already taken place where the sperm meets with the egg and an embryo is seen developing. But this did not happen in this case. There was no impregnation, no pregnancy, and no baby squid. This Is What The Social Media Revealed A famous debunking site revealed, 'For a number of scientific reasons (a human woman's mouth is not the same as a female squid egg), these sperms never developed into baby squids.' Because the squid sperm needs the egg of a female to fertilise and grow into baby squids, no impregnation took place during the encounter. So for those who panicked initially, you can take a break now, as this case was nothing but a HOAX! Unbelievably Bizarre Eating Addictions That People Have Wish to read more such interesting stories? Let us know in the comment section below. GET THE BEST BOLDSKY STORIES! Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, June 7, 2018, 20:15 [IST] The President also noted the importance of restoring air traffic between the two states, which will give impetus to the further development of relations between Kazakhstan and India. Ash rained down on the car that Brett Young was in; dark, watery, like muddy water is how he described it. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 7/6/2018 (1225 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Advertisement Advertise With Us Ash rained down on the car that Brett Young was in; "dark, watery, like muddy water" is how he described it. The young man originally from Souris and his girlfriend, Mackenzie Salmon, hiked down a volcano in Guatemala on Sunday two hours before the deadly eruption of the neighbouring Fuego volcano. Days later, Young still couldnt believe what happened. On Wednesday, emergency crews pulled more bodies from what remained of villages devastated by the eruption, but time was quickly running out to find survivors as the confirmed death toll rose to 99 with nearly 200 still missing. More than 60 people were killed and hundreds injured after the eruption. "Its pretty crazy to think we were just there an hour before," Young said. "They said that if we had still been there, that all the ash and the gases would have been super harmful to our lungs." Young and Salmon trekked up the neighbouring volcano the day before, and they camped near the active volcano. "You could see it spewing lava, like all night," Young said. They talked to someone in the hostel they were staying at who said hed done the trek a couple of days before. Then, lava was spewing out every 10 minutes or so, according to the man, but when Young hiked it, it was constant, and spewing quite high "at least a few hundred meters out the top," he said. They had just left the volcano a couple of hours before, and looking back that could have been the difference between life and death for Young and his girlfriend. They were driving away when the sky got dark and it became hard to see. "It was just raining down ash, all the vehicles were just covered in black," he said. "Thats when we knew something was pretty wrong." Young, who attended Brandon University, is just glad that they left when they did. "I think everyone is kind of in shock," he said. Thousands of people displaced by the eruption have sought refuge in shelters, many of them of with dead or missing loved ones and facing an uncertain future, unable to return to homes destroyed by the volcano. Firefighters said the chance of finding anyone alive amid the still-steaming terrain was practically nonexistent 72 hours after Sundays volcanic explosion. Thick grey ash covering the stricken region was hardened by rainfall, making it even more difficult to dig through the mud, rocks and debris that reached to the rooftops of homes. mverge@brandonsun.com, with files from The Associated Press Twitter: @Melverge5 More details surrounding the death of a high-ranking biker gang member as well as details surrounding his reputation in the criminal underworld, emerged on Tuesday as the inquest into his 2012 death continued. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 6/6/2018 (1226 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Advertisement Advertise With Us More details surrounding the death of a high-ranking biker gang member as well as details surrounding his reputation in the criminal underworld, emerged on Tuesday as the inquest into his 2012 death continued. Jean Paul Beaumont, a former member of the Hells Angels and sergeant-at-arms of rival gang the Rock Machine, was being held at the Brandon Correctional Centre on Oct. 14, 2012, when he was found unresponsive in a cell in Unit C. Dr. Charles Littman testified in Brandon provincial court that Beaumonts cause of death was a morphine overdose, but initially that wasnt readily apparent. First responders speculated Beaumont may have suffered a stab wound from the bunk below, Littman said, based on a potential wound found on Beaumonts back and a pool of blood that had collected. However, during the autopsy, Littman said he discovered it was a "very superficial wound" more like a puncture wound that had no significant depth to it. The blood found on the sheets of the bunk was due to the "gravitational seepage of blood" after Beaumont died, Littman added, noting it doesnt take a lot of blood to cause the amount of staining found on the sheets. "There was no way that (wound) contributed to his cause of death?" Crown attorney Ron Toews asked. "No," Littman said. While Littman said there was no obvious signs of a struggle or specific evidence Beaumont was restrained and forced an injection, he wasnt able to rule out the possibility, either. "The idea that an autopsy would answer all of these questions is a misconception," Littman said. "I heavily relied on the investigations from the institute and toxicology." The court also heard an audio recording of two individuals discussing Beaumonts death, believed to have been recorded in February of this year, testified RCMP officer Const. Curtis Christie. "How did he get f-----g killed?" a woman can be heard asking on the recording which is at some points muffled and interrupted by loud rock music playing in the background. "I killed JP, I provided the drugs that were administered into his system the drugs that I provided were smuggled into Brandon (unintelligible) did I know what the f--k was going on? no," a man can be heard saying. "JP got done in by his own crew. He was escaping Rock Machine thats why they killed him, because he didnt want to be part of it anymore." Sgt. Wes Law with the Winnipeg Police Service organized crime unit testified that even though Beaumont had fled the jurisdiction, he was skeptical Beaumont would have ever been able to get out of his criminal connections. "He was so entrenched in that life, I dont think he was capable of leaving even if he wanted to, in my opinion," Law said. Law said he first dealt with Beaumont around 2004, after Beaumont had just finished a substantial jail sentence and was back in Winnipeg on parole. "When he got out, his name began floating around the streets, he was already well established in the jails but not necessarily on the street," Law said, adding Beaumont was known to have grown up with several major players in the Hells Angels. "He was coming out of the federal institution with a bit of notoriety those involved in those motorcycle gang circles knew what he was capable of." Beaumont got involved in the Zig Zag Crew and eventually the Hells Angels, Law said, with his name "instilling fear in the drug dealers around Winnipeg." Eventually Beaumont was alienated by the Hells Angels because they saw him as too violent and unpredictable, Law said. "They viewed him as a loose cannon nobody could control," Law said. In 2010, Beaumont established himself as a prominent member of the Rock Machine the sergeant-at-arms acting as an enforcer and controlling the more violent aspects of the organization. "He was the backbone and the heart of the organization his criminal history and who he was a lot of individuals in the Rock Machine gravitated toward him and fed off his strength," Law said. "They looked up to him." Suzanne Beaumont asked Law about a series of violent events such as drive-by shootings, firebombings, assaults and arsons that occurred in Winnipeg in 2011, which media outlets at the time dubbed a "gang war." "Are you aware JPs house was getting shot up?" Suzanne asked. "Was it your responsibility to look into that?" "His residence was shot at several times," Law said. "It had gone unreported. I saw the residence was riddled with bullets but your brother wasnt cooperating he was living that lifestyle, living by a code." Once Beaumont was picked up in Ontario, Suzanne asked Law if he had any concerns returning him to Manitoba. "No more than any other day in the day and the life of JP Beaumont," Law said. "He was more at risk on the street than he was in the institution that was his comfort zone." The inquest continues Wednesday. edebooy@brandonsun.com Twitter: @erindebooy By Geoff Percival Irish forecourt retailer Applegreen is targeting further US growth opportunities after signing a long-term agreement to lease 43 petrol filling stations in Florida. The deal, with property lessor CrossAmerica Partners, significantly expands Applegreens operations in the US, and boosts its filling station numbers there to 114. A spokesperson for the company said the company is considering further acquisition opportunities and views the US as becoming a substantial market for the brand. The company will also look to continue growing here and in the UK, where it has opened 14 service stations since the start of this year and now operates more than 100. The leasing deal with CrossAmerica Partners, which is due to complete before the end of September, follows Applegreen buying 42 filling stations in South Carolina from the Brandi Group last year. In a trading update coinciding with its AGM in Dublin, the company, whose shares were marginally up yesterday, said trading has been up, on a like-for-like basis, since the start of the year. However, it said the harsh weather seen earlier in the year and rising fuel prices have impacted business. Applegreen had a positive start to the 2018 financial year with trading results continuing to improve on the prior year. The severe weather in March, however, affected business across all our markets but particularly in Ireland, while recent international fuel price increases have adversely impacted on fuel margins, said chairman Daniel Kitchen. By Conor Kane The way is clear for the transformation of a long-neglected quarter of Waterford City following the withdrawal of objections to a major development on the North Quays. Waterford City and County Council had secured government funding of over 60m to support the regeneration of the North Quays. The plan includes a pedestrian bridge across the River Suir, an electronic rail system, and new educational facilities. It is envisaged that the public funds will pave the way for a 300m commercial and residential development by the Saudi group Fawaz Alhokair. Bord Pleanala was on the verge of holding an oral hearing on the mixed-use development which includes business, residential, and commercial plans. However, board inspector Hugh Mannion said before the hearing got underway in the city that the last objections to the county and city council Strategic Development Zone plan had been withdrawn. There was, therefore, no obstacle to granting planning permission. The last objection was from Eddie Lynch, owner of a service station in nearby Ferrybank, who had been concerned about the proposed compulsory purchase of his premises. He withdrew his complaint after discussions this week. The other objection, from Cheekpoint resident Pat Moran which had raised concerns about the effects for cruise ship traffic, was withdrawn earlier in the week. The 60m in government funding will pay for infrastructural work needed on the north bank of the river. Waterford council CEO Michael Walsh welcomed news of the withdrawal of the objections and said he expects planning permission to be granted in September or October. Work could start in the first quarter of next year, with 2021 the anticipated completion date for the first phase. Its a really significant step. We were absolutely confident that our case was sustainable. The messaging I think is really positive. "Certainty it is what everybody looks for, particularly investors, and in that context, its a really great step, Mr Walsh told WLRFMs Deise AM. By Padraig Hoare A fuel duty ceiling should be introduced to counteract soaring petrol and diesel costs, fuel retailers have said while a hauliers body has warned of a resurgence in fuel laundering. Consumers have felt the rise in oil prices at the pumps in recent weeks, but business is also feeling the pinch, according to the Irish Petrol Retailers Association (IPRA) and the Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA). According to AA Ireland, the average price of a litre of petrol yesterday was just under 1.48, while a litre of diesel was almost 1.38. The consumer organisation said a retailers margin was 4 cent on average per litre, while wholesalers saw 8c. This months average cost of a litre of petrol is the highest since November 2015, when prices were just short of 1.49. The peak was reached in September 2013 when a litre of petrol cost 1.70, according to AA Irelands records. IPRA spokesman David Blevings said the US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal has caused crude oil prices to increase to over $77, a figure last seen at the tail end of 2014. Unfortunately the instability and concern around the Trump decision to withdraw from this deal has made traders nervous and is adding a premium to crude oil prices. In turn this is increasing the cost of wholesale fuel costs which has to be borne by retailers. We have seen an increase in local terms and this is unwelcome news for consumers and retailers who have no choice but to pass on increased costs. Remember almost 60% of the pump price is taken by the Government in duty/Vat and carbon tax and is out of the retailers or, indeed, wholesalers control. We would advocate that the Government should have a ceiling price at which fuel duty is reduced when prices increase to assist consumers and businesses alike, said Mr Blevings. The fuel retailer body foresee a return to lower prices by the end of the year, due to a calming of political tensions and US shale production becoming more viable, said Mr Blevings. We would be confident that prices will return to a more normal level by the end of the year, he said. President of the IRHA, Verona Murphy, said profit margins were so tight that hauliers had no choice but to pass on costs to customers. She said hauliers needed recognised status, along the lines of farmers. She reiterated the organisations call for increased rebates on fuel, saying the sector was looking to the Government to act at the Budget. It is a struggle and there are businesses out there that are only hanging on. We are the backbone, and everything goes in a truck. Yes, we are a commercial enterprise but if you take farmers, and if the price of beef was fluctuating, the Government would do something to stabilise the cost for the consumer. We cant be expected to absorb it, so we have to charge accordingly, said Ms Murphy. She said there is now a major concern that the fuel laundering market would be reignited. If the Government was savvy enough, and increased the fuel rebate, then the laundering would not be viable. But as it stands, there is nothing there to stop it and I believe it will start up again. Investec chief economist Philip OSullivan said the firms latest services purchasing managers index (PMI) showed input costs continued to rise sharply, with panelists noting higher fuel prices among other costs. By Eamon Quinn Senior Central Bank official Ed Sibley has strongly restated the regulators support for the sale by banks of their troubled mortgage loans to vulture funds. The Central Bank for the first time last month clearly voiced the banks backing of the plans by Permanent TSB, Ulster Bank, and AIB to sell billions worth of residential and buy-to-let mortgages. In his strongest comments yet, Mr Sibley told an Institute of Banking gathering that the sales were a legitimate way to help heal the dysfunction of the mortgage market. It comes after initial strong objections were raised by opposition politicians who were worried that households would fail to get the full consumer protection when their loans were sold on. Debt advisers have said the sales will do little for distressed households in long-term arrears, who could be helped if their unsustainable mortgages were written down by their existing lenders. The Central Bank should be doing more to protect mortgage holders under its remit to protect consumers, some critics say. However, Mr Sibley defended the Central Banks role in looking after consumers and households. He re-iterated that lenders would need to lower their elevated levels of non-performing loans, a legacy of the banking and property crash, to bolster their resilience to future economic blows. The continued high level of non-performing loans makes banks highly vulnerable to future economic downturns, from both the existing non-performing loans, and potentially new defaults. "While all the Irish retail banks are significantly better capitalised than pre-2008, they are more vulnerable than those without this legacy to future economic shocks, he said. One key role of the financial services system is to provide borrowers with loans to purchase their homes. The Central Banks role is to serve the public interest by seeking to ensure that mortgage provision is prudent, sustainable and that consumers interests are protected, he said. Mr Sibley said a healthy market would encourage competition. A functioning market should deliver a sufficient supply of appropriately priced mortgages to support house prices that are in line with the fundamentals of the economy, without driving credit-fuelled house price bubbles, he said. By Geoff Percival Sales at WH Smiths travel division which includes its numerous Irish shops at Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports grew by 8% in the three months to the start of June, the UK book and stationery retailers third quarter. The companys share price jumped by over 6% on the back of a strong trading update, which also showed total group sales growth of 4% and improvement in its high-street shop network, making the company one of the stand-out performers on the FTSE. High Street total sales and like-for-like...is a great performance in the context of a very challenging environment and will surprise, said Investec analysts. Whilst there is some uncertainty in the broader economic environment, WH Smith serves millions of customers each week and continues to grow both internationally and in the UK, said chief executive Stephen Clark. We continue to focus on profitable growth, cash generation and investing in the business to position us well for the future. We remain confident in the outcome for the full year, he said. The company made no comment on its plans for Ireland, but is due to open eight new stores at Madrid Airport this summer - bringing its international store numbers to 282 - and plans to open 15-20 UK shops before the end of the year. Recently filed accounts for WH Smiths Irish operations showed a 120% surge in pre-tax profit - to 2.45m - for the 12 months to the end of August. Irish revenues for the year rose by 7% to 28.8m, with staff numbers here rising from 150 to 163. The business paid its UK parent a dividend of 2.5m in October 2016. 140 Irish 18-year-olds are being offered free Inter Rail tickets this summer as part of a new scheme to promote Europe to young people. Applications for the Discover EU project open to 15,000 people on June 12th via the European Youth Portal. Dublin MEP Brian Hayes says that if the pilot programme is successful it will be expanded out over seven years. The EU has introduced many programmes that have benefited young people such as Erasmus. DiscoverEU is another way that young people can benefit and at the same time promote tourism and social cohesion," he said. In the case of Ireland, 140 Irish citizens will have the opportunity to travel across the EU Inter Rail network from France to Estonia or Denmark to Italy. Even countries that are not in the EU such as Turkey, Norway, Switzerland and Serbia can be visited as they form part of the Inter Rail network. "Furthermore, the EU will assist citizens from countries such as Ireland, Malta and Cyprus who have additional travel costs to reach the Inter Rail network. The scheme is eligible to any EU citizen, living in an EU Member State aged 18 on 1st July (born between 2nd July 1999 and 1st July 2000). Tickets are valid for a minimum of 1 day and a maximum 30-day consecutive period from 9th July to 30th September 2018. People are encouraged to visit https://europa.eu/youth. Applications will be accepted from 12th to 26th June, with successful applicants informed from the 27th June. - Digital Desk By Sarah-Jane Murphy A jury has convicted former Anglo Irish bank CEO David Drumm of taking part in a multi-billion euro fraud scheme in 2008. Shortly after 3pm on day 87 of the trial,- the third longest in the history of the State - a jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court returned the unanimous verdicts of guilty on the two charges of false accounting and conspiracy to defraud. The jury had been deliberating for just over ten and a half hours. Judge Karen O'Connor thanked the nine men and three women of the jury, telling them they had performed an enormous public service. Drumm (51), who was on bail throughout the trial, sat impassively, his arms folded and mouth slightly open, as the registrar took the verdicts from the jury forewoman. It was the State's case that Drumm had conspired with Irish Life & Permanent's former CEO, Denis Casey, Anglo's former financial director Willie McAteer and former Head of Treasury at Anglo, John Bowe among others, to carry out 7.2bn in fraudulent circular transactions in order to bolster the customer deposits figure on Anglo's balance sheet. The State also alleged that this 7.2bn was falsely accounted for as part of the bank's customer deposits in preliminary accounts published on December 3 2008, therefore misleading the market as to Anglo's true strength. Bowe (54), McAteer (67) and Casey (58) were convicted on the conspiracy to defraud charges in June 2016 and subsequently jailed. Detective Sergeant Michael McKenna told the court he was objecting to a continuation of bail and said that Drumm would be aware that his co-conspirators received substantial prison terms for their role in the conspiracy. Drumm, formerly of Wellesley, Massachusetts, US was subject to lengthy extradition proceedings and was held in custody for five months in a US Federal Penitentiary. He made a number of unsuccessful applications for bail during this time and ultimately consented to his extradition in March 2016. Det Sgt McKenna said he firmly believed that Drumm posed a flight risk. Brendan Grehan SC, defending, asked the court to grant bail on humanitarian grounds. He said that his client's wife and children were back in the US for a graduation ceremony and he asked that sentencing be delayed until they were able to get back into the country. He said that Drumm had abided by the strict conditions of his bail throughout the trial. Judge Karen O'Connor noted that there were no breaches of the bail conditions. She released Drumm on bail on condition that he sign on daily at Balbriggan Garda Station. Former Anglo Irish Bank executive David Drumm pictured outside Dublin's Central Criminal Court after he was found guilty. Photo: Brian Lawless/PA Wire The maximum sentence for the conspiracy to defraud charge is unlimited. The maximum sentence for the false accounting charge is ten years. During the 16-week trial, the state called 49 witnesses to give evidence regarding the transactions whereby Anglo lent money to Irish Life & Permanent (ILP) and ILP sent the money back, via their assurance firm Irish life Assurance, to Anglo. The scheme, described by the prosecution as a massive con, was accounted for so that deposits came from the assurance company and were treated as customer deposits, which are a better measure of a bank's strength than interbank loans. The prosecution argued that the objective of the conspiracy, in which the money moved at lightening speed, was to mislead anybody reading Anglo's accounts by artificially inflating the customer deposits number from 44bn to 51bn. An expert witness for the State, Dan Taylor of BDO accountants, testified that there was no commercial substance to the transactions, and described them as misleading and inaccurate. Lawyers for Drumm made a series of admissions on his behalf on the opening day of his trial, accepting the transactions as alleged took place, but disputing that they were fraudulent or dishonest. The prosecution said these so called admissions were self-serving and not based on the facts of the case. The defence called no witnesses during the trial. Counsel for Drumm said he never set out to commit any kind of fraud, and togged out for Ireland when the Central Bank came to him during the international financial crisis and asked Irish banks to help each other out. Drumm's barristers said he did his best in good faith, in the unrivalled circumstances which arose during the recession. But the State said it was no defence that the financial market was under pressure and that Anglo was going down the tubes anyway at the time of the transactions. This does not exonerate those who acted to try to keep the bank limping on for another few days, Mary Rose Gearty SC, prosecuting, told the jury. She told the jurors that a recorded phone-call played in court between Drumm and his co-conspirators during which they discussed the money going around in a circle was clear, reliable and contemporaneous evidence that the men were discussing a criminal conspiracy. Counsel for the State said it was such a monumentally fraudulent scheme that it was hard to understand why it had not been called out by people in the bank. The prosecution argued that there was no evidence that the Central Bank or the Financial Regulator knew of the transactions before they happened and said even if they did, this was totally irrelevant to this trial. Drumm, of Skerries, Co Dublin, had pleaded not guilty to conspiring with former bank officials Denis Casey, William McAteer, John Bowe and others to defraud depositors and investors at Anglo by dishonestly creating the impression that deposits in 2008 were 7.2 billion larger than they were. He had also pleaded not guilty to false accounting on December 3, 2008, by furnishing information to the market that Anglo's 2008 deposits were 7.2 billion larger than they were. The number of Irish women travelling to the UK for abortions fell again last year. 173 less women made the journey in 2017 than in 2016, following the downward trend over the past number of years. In 2017, 3,092 women with Irish addresses had an abortion in an abortion clinic in England and Wales, while 3,265 did so in 2016. Figures from the UK Department of Health revealed the decrease in the number of women giving Irish addresses at abortion clinics in England and Wales. Reacting to the figures, the HSE Sexual Health and Crisis Pregnancy Programme said the drop in figures reflects the fact that Irish women are continuing to contact online providers of abortion pills in large numbers. They are highlighting that a free post-abortion medical check-up funded by the HSE is available to any woman free of charge. Helen Deely, Programme Lead for the HSE Sexual Health and Crisis Pregnancy Programme said: If a woman takes an abortion pill and has prolonged heavy bleeding, bad pain, faints, or experiences other complications, we strongly encourage her to attend an emergency department or GP straight away. "If a woman is in any way concerned about her health following taking an abortion pill or travelling abroad for an abortion, we encourage her to attend a free post-abortion medical check-up funded by the HSE." "These services are free of charge and the full list of services is available on www.abortionaftercare.ie. Ms Deely continues, There are HSE funded crisis pregnancy and post-abortion counselling services in over 30 locations nationwide. Crisis pregnancy counsellors provide on-going support and information to women and their partners. A list of crisis pregnancy services is available on www.positiveoptions.ie and abortionaftercare.ie." The Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) says the latest abortion statistics from England and Wales show that the proposed primary-care model for abortion services in Ireland is practical and achievable. IFPA Chief Executive Niall Behan said: "The UK report gives us important insights that should inform the type of abortion care we introduce to Ireland. "The statistics show that the vast majority of UK residents who access terminations 77% have abortions at or under nine weeks' gestation. Only 0.2% of all women who have abortions require overnight care." Mr Behan continued: "Although the report cannot provide a definitive Irish abortion rate, as the figures dont account for the growing trend of women accessing still-illegal abortion pills online, it shows us that women from Ireland tend to have abortions later due to the extra burdens of travel. "The provision of legal care in Ireland will mean women in this country will no longer face unnecessary delays accessing services. We expect that the overwhelming majority of women who need terminations will have early medical abortions. This type of care is deliverable at a primary healthcare level." The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) said that the figures "show that the government is continuing its relentless policy to eliminate disabled babies". Antonia Tully, Campaigns Director at SPUC said: On the day when judges in the Supreme Court expressed their lethally discriminatory opinions about unborn babies with life-limiting conditions, we note that the pressure on parents to abort disabled babies with a whole range of medical conditions is unremitting. "Every year around 3,000 families who face the challenging news that their unborn baby has a disability of one kind or another undergo the unique tragedy of abortion, where their childs life is quite deliberately taken." While studies show that all women risk mental health problems following an abortion, the after-effects for women who abort a disabled baby are particularly traumatic. Many studies show that these women experience a range of emotions including sadness, loneliness, grief and anger. Families need care and support when they are expecting a disabled child, not the heartless solution of an abortion. Tragically we abort so many of our disabled babies that there is less and less understanding of disability. "Families need proper information about their childs disability, as well as positive messages about the unexpected joys a disabled child can bring to a family. Anti-abortion group Love Both welcomes in the drop in abortions, with Cora Sherlock of the Pro Life Campaign saying: "This is the sixteenth consecutive year that the number of Irish women seeking abortions in England has declined. It is something positive that should be welcomed by everyone. Sadly repeal of the 8th Amendment and making abortion available in Ireland will inevitably lead to an increase in the numbers of abortions taking place. "Ms Sherlock said: There is no doubt the availability of the abortion pill online is a factor in the fall in the numbers of women travelling but campaigners for abortion way overstate this factor." - Digital Desk Latest: The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) has lost a Supreme Court challenge against existing abortion laws in the North. . A majority of the seven-strong panel of Supreme Court justices ruled said, however, that Northern Irelands abortion laws are incompatible with human rights legislation. In commentary on the ruling, Deputy Supreme Court president Lord Mance said the present law "clearly needs radical consideration". Giving his opinion, Lord Kerr went on to praise three "enormously brave women" who gave "unsparing accounts" of having to deal with a pregnancy where they knew their babies were "doomed to die". Lord Kerr said that, where it is clear a foetus is suffering from a fatal abnormality, there is "no justification" in inflicting on the mother the "appalling prospect" of having to carry it to term. He said: "Put simply, the balance cannot come down in favour of a law which imposes that experience on a woman." Bernadette Smyth, director of Northern Ireland-based anti-abortion campaign group Precious Life, said: "What happened here today was upholding democracy. This court made a ruling that this court has no right to make decisions for Northern Ireland. "Regardless of their opinions, this is a law in Northern Ireland and that is where these decisions should be made." "This is about the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission misusing public funding. Stormont has the right to make legislation and this law was debated in 2016 and the decision was not to change that law. A consultation was undertaken and the people said a change should not be made. "All children's with disabilities should be protected. Our laws matter because every life matters." GREAT NEWS from London this morning as the U.K. Supreme Court dismisses an appeal to overturn Northern Irelands pro-life laws. https://t.co/9ACzkFyU5Q Precious Life (@PreciousLifeCom) June 7, 2018 In a statement, Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission chief commissioner Les Allamby also welcomed the decision and suggested the highest court in the UK had agreed with the Commission that Northern Ireland's laws on Termination of Pregnancy are incompatible with human rights. "We took this case to bring greater clarity to the law and we welcome the Court's decision. "The Commission took this case to support and protect women and girls in Northern Ireland and we will continue to do this by whatever means we can. There is a much greater open public debate about the issue and the need for reform. "The law now needs to change to stop women and girls from further anxiety and suffering. In the absence of the NI Executive and Assembly it falls to the UK Government to make this change and it must act without delay. "The commission is disappointed that the Court did not support the arguments that we had sufficient powers to take the case in our own name. We acted in this way in order prevent any woman or girl from having to face the burden of doing so. Northern Ireland Termination Law Breaches Women and Girls Human Rights. Our Chief Commissioner Les Allamby responds to the @UKSupremeCourt judgment that NI's law on termination of pregnancy breaches human rights. See our statement: https://t.co/4Dn9nvfvr1 pic.twitter.com/7vuRONd42d NIHRC (@NIHRC) June 7, 2018 Sarah Ewart, who travelled from Northern Ireland for a termination in England in 2013, was one of three cases referred to in the Supreme Court judgment. Speaking outside the court, she said: "I, and we, will not stop until we can get our own medical care in our own hospitals at home. "To Theresa May I would say 'We need change and help. This is a medical procedure that we need in our hospitals with our own medical team. Please help us now'." Grainne Teggart and Sarah Ewart arrive at the UK Supreme Court today. Photo: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire. The Center for Reproductive Rights welcomed todays ruling, with the group's Regional Director for Europe Leah Hoctor calling it "an indictment of Northern Irelands restrictive abortion law". When women and girls are denied access to safe abortion care in their home jurisdiction their human rights are violated. Todays judgement is ground-breaking in its recognition that legal bans on abortion contravene the European Convention." We welcome the Courts judgement urging lawmakers to undertake radical reform of the Northern Irish law. Legislative change to ensure that women and girls can access safe abortion care in Northern Ireland is needed without delay to protect their human rights. The Center for Reproductive Rights intervened as a third party before the Supreme Court. The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) also welcomed the decision to dismiss the case. Liam Gibson, SPUC's Development Officer for Northern Ireland said: "The accusation that Northern Irelands law is incompatible with Article 8 is no more than the opinion of the majority of judges: it is in no way a binding judgement. "While we welcome the recognition of the value of the lives of people with serious disabilities, it is appalling that judges in the UK Supreme Court do not place the same value on the lives of children with life-limiting conditions or who have been conceived through sexual crimes. "The judges considered that no unborn child should be regarded as a person, but all human beings are persons: there are no subhuman human beings. Nor is abortion good for women." Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley, responding to an urgent question in the House of Commons, said: "The Government is carefully considering the judgment and its implications." Update - 9.55am: UK Supreme Court dismisses appeal over Northern Ireland abortion law Campaigners have lost a Supreme Court appeal over the legality of Northern Ireland's strict abortion law, despite a majority of justices declaring it is "incompatible" with human rights laws. A majority of a seven-strong panel of justices in London ruled the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission had no legal standing to bring its challenge against the abortion law. But, by a majority ruling, the judges expressed the "clear opinion" that the current legislation is "incompatible" with European human rights laws in the cases of fatal foetal abnormality, rape and incest. The justices said the Supreme Court "has no jurisdiction" in the proceedings to make a declaration of incompatibility or to strike down law. During proceedings in October last year, the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) told the court the current law criminalises "exceptionally vulnerable" women and girls and subjects them to "inhuman and degrading" treatment. A QC representing the commission argued that human rights were being breached, with those affected being forced to go through "physical and mental torture". The court was asked to rule that a prohibition on abortions where a pregnancy arises from rape or incest, or "involves a serious foetal abnormality", is unlawful. Submissions were also made at the Supreme Court by a number of bodies, including seven of the UK's leading reproductive rights organisations, Humanists UK, Bishops of the Roman Catholic Dioceses in Northern Ireland, the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children and Amnesty International. Unlike other parts of the UK, the 1967 Abortion Act does not extend to Northern Ireland. Earlier: UK Supreme Court to rule whether NI's abortion law violates human rights The UK's Supreme Court is due to rule later today on whether women in Northern Ireland who are denied abortions are having their human rights violated. The result of last month's referendum on the Eight Amendment has put pressure on politicians to ensure that Northern Ireland reviews its own laws. Today, seven British judges will rule on whether it is unlawful to ban terminations when a pregnancy arises from rape or incest. The ruling by the panel of judges, headed by the court's president Lady Hale, follows a hearing last year. During proceedings in October, the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) told the court the current law criminalises "exceptionally vulnerable" women and girls and subjects them to "inhuman and degrading" treatment. The NIHRC claims the law's effect on women is incompatible with rights under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Abortion is illegal except where a woman's life is at risk or there is a permanent or serious danger to her mental or physical health. Anyone who unlawfully carries out an abortion could be jailed for life. An emergency debate on the issue was held in the House of Commons on Tuesday. The UK Government has resisted calls to step in and legislate amid the ongoing powersharing impasse in Northern Ireland, insisting that any decision on abortion in the region has to be taken by locally elected politicians at Stormont. Grainne Teggart, Amnesty's Northern Ireland campaigns manager, said in a statement: "If the court rules that Northern Ireland's abortion ban breaches women's rights, there will be no excuses left for Theresa May - the UK Government will be forced to fulfil its human rights responsibilities and make things equal for the women of Northern Ireland. "The Supreme Court judges have a unique chance to put right centuries of human rights abuse in Northern Ireland. We hope they take it." - Digital Desk and PA AMP has been hit with a fourth shareholder class action over the scandals revealed at the banking royal commission and the resulting damage to the embattled financial giant's market value. Law firm Slater and Gordon on Thursday said it had filed proceedings against the wealth management business in the Federal Court of Australia, adding that it would act on a no-win, no-fee basis. AMP is facing compensation claims from shareholders. Credit:Erin Jonasson AMP - which has admitted charging customers for financial advice that was never given and subsequently lying to the corporate watchdog about its behaviour - is also facing class actions from law firms Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, Phi Finney McDonald and Shine Lawyers. There is also one potential proceeding lingering from Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, which has previously said it will charge a 12.5 per cent commission on successful completion of the case - a rate it hopes will tempt aggrieved shareholders away from competing actions. Assuming all expenses include GST and claiming it on your tax can cause major headaches with the tax man. You dont pay GST on fresh produce, for example, so when small business owner Libby Gardner comes to do her quarterly tax, she needs to check each receipt to be sure. The founder of The Platter Project, based in Sydney, says: Ive got to be careful that Im not claiming tax on expenses that I havent paid GST on, so its a matter of wading through each receipt, Gardner says. Audit your clients At the end of each financial year, Emilya Colliver takes the time to look over her client base and decide who she wants to work with over the coming year. She runs online art store Art Pharmacy, and admits that some clients are better than others. Were conscious of the fact that 80 per cent of your business comes from 20 per cent of your clients, Colliver says. When you look at your clients in this way and decide who you want to work with, it can help you decide what direction you want your business to go in moving forward. It also means we can focus on clients we love working with, she says. Really read the reports Its easy to ignore the numbers when youre busy running your small business, but make sure you take the time to wade through the monthly financials or tax time will be a nightmare, advises Bree Pagliuso of Twosix Wellness. The health and wellness small business owners, based in Melbourne, uses a bookkeeper for a couple of hours a week. She and her business partner sit down and wade through the monthly reports and look for opportunities to grow. No matter how busy we are, we go over the reports and see how were tracking and where our income is coming from, Pagliuso says. Share files Set up a shared online storage folder like Dropbox to store all bank statements, invoices, deductions and contracts for your accountant, advises financial management accountant, Brad Turville of BJT Financial. Make sure you carefully name each file to drop these documents in so that your accountant can easily access and inform them, which can save hours of meetings and emails requesting additional information to do their job, Turville adds. The Barr Essentials founder Emma Barr set up shared files with her accountant a few years ago to make tax time easier. We now have a joint Excel document that is hosted in Google Drive with all our yearly finances recorded in it. That way we can both add comments and request information as needed, she says. You can also download the Australian Taxation Office app onto your phone to help record receipts and record log book activity for work-related travel, Turville says. See your accountant Schedule a time to sit down with your accountant for a planning session. This gives you the chance to look forward to the coming year and assess the most profitable areas of your small business and make some decisions about key areas to focus on during the coming year. Also ask your accountant to suggest some tax minimising strategies and look for options to reduce tax and map out some ways to make your business more profitable in the coming year. Balance the loans Small businesses set up as a company will need to decide how to deal with any directors loans. This situation arises when a director has withdrawn cash thats not wages and the loan cant be repaid by end of financial year, interest is applied and its not tax deductible, explains Carmen Morris, founder of On The Money Bookkeeping. This loan can be avoided by either repaying the loan, declaring additional wages or treating the amounts as directors fees or dividends, but it depends on individual circumstances, Morris says. Dont overpay tax Its better to overpay tax than underpay it, but better still, review the ATO guidelines for your specific industry and learn what you can claim specifically. Consider memberships, online software paid on a private credit card or the small expenses that add up over the course of the year, says Kylie Parker, Sydneys Lotus Accountants. Legally Blonde 3 is officially a go, and star Reese Witherspoon confirmed the news in true Elle Woods style. The actress and director shared a video of herself floating in a pool in a sparkling bikini on social media, an allusion to Woods' video essay for Harvard. The Instagram caption confirmed recent reports that a third movie is in the works. "It's true," Witherspoon wrote, adding "#LegallyBlonde3." Studio MGM later announced that the movie will open in cinemas on February 14, 2020. "Sorry for breaking America," said political satirist Samantha Bee, wasting no time upon the opening of her latest show in addressing the firestorm she ignited last week when she referred to Ivanka Trump as "a feckless" c-word during an episode of Full Frontal with Samantha Bee. It was the former Daily Show correspondent's first television appearance since the segment caused the White House to demand TBS cancel Bee's hit show, and stoked social media's overworked outrage machine. The comedian who's made a career riffing on the news found herself at the centre of it for saying a word she's used before on her show, but not in the context of describing another woman. But rather than dropping a quick mea culpa to assuage her detractors and the network, Bee continued in an uncharacteristically solemn tone. "A lot of people were offended and angry that I used an epithet to describe the president's daughter and adviser last week. I crossed a line and I do apologise for that... The problem is that many women have heard that word at the worst moments of their lives. A lot of women don't want that word reclaimed, they want it gone and I don't blame them. I don't want to inflict more pain on them." Fallout from the Berejiklian government's plan to protect wild horses in NSW's largest national park has begun, with a leading ecologist quitting a key panel citing a "wilful disregard" for science. David Watson, an ecology professor at Charles Sturt University, resigned his membership on the NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee following the passage late on Wednesday of a bill granting "heritage" status to feral horses in the Kosciuszko National Park. Wild horses have been granted priority protection in the Kosciuszko National Park by the Berejiklian government. Credit:Karleen Minney "The wilful disregard that you and your government colleagues have for science diminishes our collective future, relegating our precious national parks and priceless environment to political playthings," Professor Watson said in a letter to Environment Minister Gabrielle Upton. Fairfax Media has approached Ms Upton for a response. Developers embarking on major construction projects in the ACT will be required to consult with relevant unions under new legislation introduced on Thursday. Industrial Relations Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said the changes went "above and beyond" the bar set by national workplace health and safety laws. Industrial Relations Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith, who introduced the health and safety legislation on Thursday. Credit:Olia Balabina The changes would apply to all territory construction projects with a contract price over $5 million, she said. Employers would be required to consult with unions in establishing work groups for the project, facilitate the election of health and safety representatives, train these representatives and establish a health and safety committee. A man who allegedly stabbed two random strangers waiting at Sydney bus stops this week has been refused bail. Police will allege that about 3.30pm on Tuesday, a man waiting at a bus stop on Pittwater Road in Brookvale was allegedly stabbed in the shoulder by Narraweena man Troy Kapesz, who they describe as having a "noticeable boil", with a knife. One man was stabbed while waiting for a bus at Wynyard. Credit:Twitter @occupy_now The 50-year-old alleged victim was treated at the scene then taken to Royal North Shore Hospital. On Wednesday, another man was stabbed while waiting for a bus at Wynyard in the city's CBD at about 2pm. A Vaucluse man has been charged over an alleged international drug importation ring conducted via the "dark web" that police claim has brought millions of dollars worth of illicit drugs into Australia. Police arrested the 33-year-old man they believe is the Australian head of the ring, alleged to be responsible for importing cocaine and ecstasy from Europe via the dark web. Police arrest a 33-year-old Vaucluse man they allege is responsible for importing drugs via the dark web. Strike Force Bergmark was set up in February to investigate the syndicate, which authorities suspected, was importing illicit drugs from Europe via postal services. A land and air search is under way for a Korean woman who went missing after going for a bushwalk in far north Queensland. Joohee Han was last seen at a supermarket in Tully, south of Cairns, last Thursday. Joohee Han (pictured) was last seen on Thursday at a supermarket in Tully. Credit:Queensland Police Media. She told a friend about 11am the next day she planned to go for a bushwalk at Mount Tyson, police said. The 25-year-old had not been seen or heard from since. Emergency services will have to perform a "risky" rescue operation to save a kayaker who became trapped in rocks after going over a waterfall in far north Queensland. A group of kayakers were travelling along the remote North Johnstone River, west of Innisfail, when one of them went over a waterfall and became trapped between rocks about 4pm on Thursday. A group of kayakers were paddling on the North Johnson River in the Wooroonooran National Park this afternoon when one of the group became trapped on Thursday. The group activated a distress beacon, alerting emergency services that the kayaker, believed to be a man in his 30s, had become trapped. A paramedic and rescue crew were dropped to the area and spent the night with the group at the top of the waterfall, an ambulance spokesman said. "Melbourne as a whole is an amazing city, I love it, I have such a close relationship with the people and the city, and it's really disappointing... I dont want to do it anywhere else, I really want to do it on the carpark," he said. The New Yorker said he wasn't considering other venues at this stage. "What's very interesting about the Chapel Street precinct is there are amazing places to go to, restaurants, cafes, stores, but to gather 1000 or 10,000 in that area is impossible. Even if I wanted a work going down Chapel Street I have the trolley wires above my head and it would be impossible and dangerous to go above them with a lift," he said. "So I wanted to find a location where I could find at least 350 people or 500 people so I found the carpark and thought it was wonderful, very barren, very apocalyptic... I was like, this is a great location. There is no Woolworths sign and it's very peaceful up there so I said let's do it up here." It was around the same time an international art foundation approached Australian multinational architecture firm Hassell to find a location for a new cultural building. Hassell proposed a contemporary gallery at the East Perth site, connecting with the old power station at its northern end to maintain the station's historic riverfront presence. Hassell principal and board member Mark Loughnan said it was rare for such an opportunity to come up, but institutions could see the power of art and culture in an economy. Around the world there are major galleries housed in historic and contemporary buildings. A project like MONA in Tasmania is an example of an economic and tourism boost to the state, he said. An historic photograph of the East Perth power station site. Credit:Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority. We as a business are always interested in sites that can generate healthy debate on the way we live in cities. "With the stadium and the growth of that area this could be a great addition. We wanted to do something for the city and its people that could be a landmark and a boost for the economy. The design produced was described at the time as a "terraced pedestrian bookend to the citys central business district", with a large rotating atrium inside connecting the old power station and the new building, providing public access to large and diverse gallery and lobby spaces. A series of rotating and shifting planks create a horizontal, terraced design leaning against the heritage power station and providing exhibition and performance spaces, a river-edge cafe and theatre. The horizontal design was an attempt to represent the power and the vastness of Western Australia, Mr Loughnan said. Hassell's East Perth Power Station concept plan. Credit:Hassell The water and cliffs of West Australian coastline, something that was quite dramatic and specific. The idea was that people could actually climb on the building, walk around and over and under it and really experience the vastness of it. The design won a 2016 Chicago Athenaeum International Architecture Award. The plan was discussed for a year but the funding did not eventuate. The project would be of the sort needing various funding streams to get off the ground, with buy-in from government agencies and probably additional related development around it to generate revenue. The Waterbank development, for example, is a multibillion-dollar project with LendLease building apartment towers and commercial tenancies, but using $51 million in government funding to provide public beaches and parkland. East Perth Power Station concept plan. Credit:Hassell. Mr Loughnan said the power station project was still relevant, and could still happen with funding, public support and leadership. Its a beautiful historic building and a great site and repairing such places and integrating public architecture is a big thing for cities, he said. Obviously Perth is developing and growing all the time and the activation of the river and waters edge is an important element of the way people live. This site, its connection to public transport, roads rails and particularly ferries, and the residential development coming up around it, could be an interesting addition to a growing precinct. The richest cities, culturally, have a wide collections and museums and galleries. The balance of different experiences within a city is important and a project like this helps counterbalance the new stadium culture and arts, sport and recreation, making for a richer city. We conceived that it was for contemporary and indigenous art. Having indigenous collections in there could be incredible, and much indigenous art is contemporary anyway. But it could also be used for the performing arts as well. It was this idea of a creative precinct on the rivers edge. It is not the first time a plan for new cultural institution for Perth has been mooted, only to be shelved. The interior as per the concept plan. Credit:Hassell. The Elizabeth Quay Master plan made provision for a nationally significant centre of indigenous culture, art and learning, but did not form part of the first stage of the project and no funding was ever allocated for planning and construction. Posted Thursday, June 7, 2018 9:21 am The Senate Republican-led drive to approve the citizen initiative to legalize recreational marijuana died in the House on Tuesday after a final attempt to sway a few Democratic votes fell short, meaning the question will appear on the Nov. 6 General Election ballot, likely as Proposal 1. Republicans wanting to approve recreational marijuana? How did this get within roughly 10 to 15 votes away from happening? A couple things were at play. First of all, there are plenty of traditional Republican supporters like developer Ron Boji owner of Lansings tallest building who have long seen expanded marijuana legalization as a way to make money. The Legislature recently created a five-tier regulatory scheme of growers, testers, transporters, producers and sellers that provides a lot of opportunity for investors with clean records to get involved in medical marijuana. Recreational marijuana only expands that universe of potential profits. The problem is that the citizens initiative that received 277,000 Michigan voter signatures allows for essentially an unregulated microbrew of sorts that doesnt fall under the aforementioned scheme. Those businesses interests not only saw this as a gaping loophole from a safety standpoint, but a backdoor way for unregulated entities to siphon future business away from people who had to play by a tougher set of rules. Business interests like certainty. They saw polling that shows recreational marijuana passing in Michigan with about 60 percent support in November. The best way to make sure these microbrews face state regulations is for the Legislature to amend the citizens initiative. Under the Constitution, the Legislature can amend a citizens initiative with a simple majority only if it adopts the measure. If it does not and the people vote it into law, it takes the lawmakers a three-quarters supermajority. The business entities know how difficult this feat can be, particularly if minority Democrats use their newfound leverage to demand things they dont want. Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof and Sen. Mike Shirkey, the heir apparent for the 2019-20 term, saw the wisdom in doing something theyd likely never do legalize marijuana so they could better control the future process. The other dynamic at play is the 2018 elections. Legislative Republicans fear a marijuana legalization ballot questions will drive to the polls tens of thousands of single-issue voters who have been waiting most of their adult life to legalize pot. Roughly speaking, at least 70 percent of these voters likely will go Democratic for the rest of their ticket, helping Gretchen Whitmer or whoever else ends up being the nominee and Democratic House and Senate candidates in competitive legislative districts. Rep. Brandt Iden of Kalamazoo, who represents Western Michigan University, and Rep. Roger Hauck of Mt. Pleasant, who represents Central Michigan University, in particular, are probably sweating bullets that a bunch of college kids are going to show up Nov. 6, vote to legalize weed and vote them out of office, just as they helped Bernie Sanders become the Democratic presidential choice in Michigan two years ago. However, there is another political factor at play. Conservative Republicans do not want to be on record supporting recreational marijuana no matter the circumstances. Folks like House Speaker Tom Leonard and Sen. Tonya Schuitmaker, both of whom are running for attorney general, may see a yes vote on legalized dope as a killer at the Michigan Republican Party convention, where this years nominee is selected. Someone like a Rep. Gary Glenn of Midland and others didnt want to disadvantage themselves in an upcoming Republican primary by being a yes. They also dont want a no vote hurting them in the General Election, so no vote at all was the preferred option. Legislative Democratic leadership didnt want any part of this either. They want the likely higher voter turnout and they dont want to lose their leverage on future negotiations on marijuana. Some Democrats, like Rep. Bob Kosowski of Westland, said he would have negotiated on legalizing pot legislatively if Republicans would have agreed to not adopt the prevailing wage ballot proposal, which was slated to happen today in both chambers. That, apparently, was a non-starter for Republicans, who have been waiting years to slay prevailing wage. So the end result was this. The Senate Republicans apparently had the 20 yes votes to adopt the citizens initiative legislatively, but the House struggled to get beyond 40, short of the 55 votes needed. Leonard held court with a flock of news reporters afterward as the lead spokesperson for those legislators who managed to stop legalization for now, anyway. (Kyle Melinn, news editor of the capital newsletter MIRS, is at melinnky@gmail.com.) It was the the hunt that pitted Canberra's most famous furry critter against our favourite electronic music duo. But now it is the public that will decide which mammal will become the ACT's emblem and Peking Duk is not among the finalists. Short listed: Either the Southern Brush-Tailed Rock Wallaby, left, and eastern bettong will become the ACT's animal emblem. Credit:Rohan Thomson and Karleen Minney An ACT Legislative Assembly committee has shortlisted the eastern bettong and the southern brush-tailed rock wallaby as the territory's potential mammal emblem. The ACT already has a floral emblem the royal bluebell, found in the high mountain areas of the territory and a faunal emblem, the gang-gang cockatoo. The Turnbull government will launch a second round of sweeping changes to its controversial regime to stop foreign interference in Australian politics, conceding it went too far in ensnaring offshore companies, charities and others in its original scheme. The government will scale back the public register it wants to create to expose the allegiance of those who work for foreign powers, responding to an outcry from groups ranging from universities to multinational corporations. Attorney-General Christian Porter will confirm the changes to the register on Friday in the wake of an agreement with Labor on Thursday on a separate part of the foreign interference package to tackle espionage and covert influence. Attorney-General Christian Porter. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer In a heightened warning about foreign meddling in Australian politics, Mr Porter told Fairfax Media it was utterly critical the twin parts of the reform went through Parliament in time to prevent any threats to the federal byelections due on July 28. The Department of Human Services has completed a trial with Woolworths where payroll information about employees was sent straight to Centrelink in order to calculate their welfare payments, and it's a sign of what could come on a larger scale. In an address to the Trans-Tasman Business Circle, Human Services Secretary Renee Leon said the trial was designed to be more efficient for Centrelink recipients, the agency and the employer. She hopes it will lead to fewer debts, which have been causing controversy for the department. Department of Human Services Secretary Renee Leon. Credit:Dion Georgopoulos Centrelink using Tax Office data to ensure the accuracy of income reporting is not new, but until now that has only been with total annual income. The automated matching of tax data and Centrelink income reports led to the robo-debt controversy, where many debts were incorrectly raised and then reduced or wiped out. "We'll be able to adjust the fortnightly payments automatically, they'll avoid debt, which will be a much less painful experience for them, and a much better use of resources," she said. Premier Mark McGowan has declined to meet with the WA Police Union over concerns medically retired officers are being neglected by the government, as injured police plan to protest for compensation. The union is campaigning for a payment scheme for injured officers that would allow them to be properly compensated and "discharged with dignity", rather than sacked under the same law used to dismiss corrupt police. WA Police Union president George Tilbury. Credit:ABC News Police union president George Tilbury said he met regularly with police minister Michelle Roberts about the issue, but a request to meet with Mr McGowan had been knocked back. "WAPU has been campaigning on these issues for a number of years and despite Labor committing to introducing a Police Compensation Scheme and amending section 8 of the Police Act, it seems law and order is not a priority for the McGowan Government," he said. Jerusalem: Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani on Wednesday boasted that Donald Trump's tough line had forced the North Korean leader to beg to re-schedule a high-profile summit after the President abruptly called off the meeting last month. After the cancellation, "Kim Jong-un got back on his hands and knees and begged for it, which is exactly the position you want to put him in," Giuliani told a business conference in Tel Aviv, Israel. Rudy Giuliani, now a Trump lawyer, was in Tel Aviv on Wednesday. Credit:AP Later, in an interview with the Associated Press, Giuliani rejected suggestions that such comments might sour the atmosphere ahead of next week's summit, saying that the North Korean leader must understand that the United States is in a position of strength. "It is pointing out that the President is the stronger figure," Giuliani said. "And you're not going to have useful negotiations unless he accepts that." "They cannot step out of the forests," said Omar Naji, the head of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights in Nador. "The moment they do they will get arrested. They are not allowed to rent apartments, to live with dignity." The office of the commander of the auxiliary forces attached to Morocco's Interior Ministry, which carried out the raids and removals, did not respond to repeated requests for comment. On that November night when Soumahoro's would-be saviour shook down her travelling party, she recalled that a friend had tried to hide her mobile phone, tucking it inside her bra. One of the smugglers frisked her and found it. Gripping his weapon, he took the petrified woman behind a bush. Loading "She was crying," recounted Soumahoro. "I heard her say: 'Please sir, don't kill me. I'll take off my pants. Just don't kill me.' " At that moment, a car passed and flashed its lights. Most of the smugglers scattered, as did the migrants, leaving the other woman behind with her assailant. "The following morning our sister came back," said Soumahoro. "She'd been raped." When Soumahoro was 8, her mother died. By then, her father had already abandoned the family in the Ivory Coast. It eventually fell upon her to care for her three siblings and pay the rent. She dropped out of school and began to sell her body. "With the money I saved from prostitution, I paid for my journey," said Soumahoro. Refugees and migrants are rescued by members of the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms, after leaving Libya trying to reach European soil aboard an overcrowded rubber boat last month. Credit:AP She had initially considered travelling to Libya and on to Italy. But she changed her mind after reading Facebook warnings from other migrants and speaking with friends. "I was told that things are much worse there," she said. "They would enslave Africans and force women to have sex with them in exchange for nothing." In October, she travelled by bus to Mali and Mauritania, and then in a smuggler's caravan through the Algerian desert and on to Morocco. "The Arabs would treat Africans, especially the women, like slaves," Soumahoro said. But at least, she said, the smugglers held up their end of the transaction. She made her way to Nador, a sprawling city with a boardwalk facing the Mediterranean Sea. The city stretches to the edges of Melilla, which is encircled by four fences, one topped with razors, to prevent migrants from entering the Spanish territory. Fishermen prepare their goods for customers in the port city of Essaouira, Morocco. The country is facing an increase of Europe-bound migrant traffic. Credit:AP On the streets of Nador and in its markets, the African migrants would stand out, and the possibility of arrest or removal was high. So Soumahoro went to the Gourougou forest outside the city and joined several thousand other African migrants. Under the canopy of trees, there was never a peaceful night of sleep. The migrants lived in tents made of bed sheets or plastic bags, as many as six people crammed into each dwelling. They slept on the bare ground and drank rainwater. "It would rain heavily, the wind was strong," said Ousama Diallo, who had arrived from Guinea. "We didn't have any blankets to shelter us from the cold." "We were always afraid in the forest," said Amidou Salam, 25, who was from Burkina Faso. "Wild animals would attack us." The migrants pooled their money to buy food, with volunteers going to a nearby village to buy supplies. They never left the forest after 6pm - unless it was time to attempt the crossing to Spain. Two or three times a week, the migrants said, Moroccan police and other security forces would raid the camp early in the morning, rounding up and abusing the Africans. "There were some who broke our arms, and others our legs," said Abdakar Bara, 18, from Burkina Faso. "If you run and try to escape them, they would beat you," Diallo said. "If you don't, they'd put you in a bus and send you very far away to discourage us from coming back again." Naji and other aid workers in Nador corroborated the migrants' accounts. Migrants, some even with residency permits, have been bused more than 300 kilometres away to the south of Morocco. "These arrests are abusive," said Naji, adding that he has investigated reports of security officers assaulting and trying to rape African women. Helena Maleno, a Spanish human rights activist, said rapes by both the military and police are common, as well as by fellow migrants. "There are many pregnant women in the forests," she said. With no assistance from police, doctors or psychologists, many migrant women have internalised and accepted the sexual violence, she said. "They see it as the price to pay for going as a migrant to Europe," Malena said. To reach Spain, Soumahoro had several options. She could try hopping the fences into Melilla or get smuggled into the enclave in the trunk of a car for $US1200 to $US1800. Or she could try to take a boat to southern Spain, about 30 kilometres away from some parts of Morocco, for about $US2400. Soumahoro tried the latter and nearly died. The boat she took in mid-December capsized in Spanish waters with 37 people on board. The survivors were brought to Melilla. Soumahoro woke up in a hospital to learn that several of her companions had drowned. For the fortunate migrants who make it to Spanish territory, there are more steps to take. On a recent day in Melilla, a group of migrants was meeting at a church-sponsored program to help them adjust to living in Spain, discussing job opportunities and Spanish culture. Some were there to learn Spanish. But even on this day was a reminder of the precariousness of their quest. The mood was sombre. They had learnt that 12 migrants had died a day earlier when yet another crowded boat had capsized. London: The West is in a state of cyber war with Russia or at least thats what it feels like for its intelligence agencies, says the former head of Britains cyber-spy headquarters GCHQ. Russia, Iran, North Korea and others are increasing their cyber capability and testing new cyber weapons on physical and IT infrastructure around the world, said Robert Hannigan who was director-general of GCHQ from 2014 to 2017. Cyberwar: the new challenge for the West. It is only a matter of time before they accidentally kill someone and thats going to put pressure on the West to respond, he warned. There is also a new model of franchising crime, Hannigan told the InfoSecurity Europe conference in London on Thursday. London: Israel had no option but to shoot dead protesters, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, after being confronted over the deaths of more than 100 Palestinians by a former leader of Britain's Conservative party. Netanyahu is in Britain as part of a three-day tour of Europe, including stops in Berlin and Paris, to drum up Western support for curbing Iran's growing sphere of influence in the Middle East, particularly in Israel's neighbour Syria. But British Prime Minister Theresa May, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have used their meetings to register their concerns about the deaths on the Gaza border, while Britain's foreign secretary Boris Johnson has restated a call for an independent inquiry. From father to son The blood runs thin See faces frozen still Against the wind The seam is split The coal face cracked The lines are long There's no going back Through hands of steel And heart of stone Our labor day Has come and gone Yeah you leave me holding on In Red Hill town See lights go down, I'm Hanging on You're all that's left to hold on to I'm still waiting I'm hanging on You're all that's left to hold on to The glass is cut The bottle run dry Our love runs cold In the caverns of the night We're wounded by fear Injured in doubt I can lose myself You I can't live without Yeah you keep me holding on In Red Hill town See the lights go down on I'm hanging on You're all that's left to hold on to I'm still waiting Hanging on You're all that's left to hold on to, on to We'll scorch the earth Set fire to the sky We stoop so low, to reach so high A link is lost The chain undone We wait all day For night to come And it comes Like a hunter child I'm hanging on You're all that's left to hold on to I'm still waiting I'm hanging on You're all that's left to hold on to Love, slowly stripped away Love, has seen its better day - lyrics by U2 Latest News SocietyOne inks warehouse funding deal with Westpac Big Four bank steps in to provide personal lender with $200m warehouse CBA slashes 40 points off flagship interest rate Biggest rate cut in months from Australias largest lender with rate now the lowest ever advertised A growing company specialising in cash flow finance has hired someone to set up the business in Queensland. Australian Invoice Finance (AIF) launched in August 2017 and has clients in five of Australias six states. Sales and cash flow finance veteran Drew Vautin has been hired by AIF to set up its Queensland operations and spearhead sales growth across the state. Vautin, who is based in Brisbane, was most recently a business development manager for specialised products with Scottish Pacific for the Queensland and Northern Territory regions. Before that, he was national manager for Bad Debt Protection at Scottish Pacific. Vautin joins AIF managing director Greg Charlwood, senior manager NSW Matthew Erwin, and senior manager WA and SA, Gary Green. Charlwood said AIFs success since they began showed established cash flow finance players were not meeting the needs of SMEs. The company pays up to 85% of unpaid invoices without asking for property as security, 24-hour approvals and greater flexibility for clients going through challenging periods. He added, Drews wealth of experience in dealing with SMEs across Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia will be invaluable to the growth strategy of Australian Invoice Finance. He has proven himself as an accomplished leader in the cash flow finance industry and built successful teams from scratch. Cash flow finance is a form of lending where a loan is backed by a companys expected cash flows, which can be determined by the value of outstanding customer invoices for work done or goods sold. Cash flow financing companies guarantee to lend a set percentage of these unpaid invoices up front with the balance paid, less a fee, when customers pay the outstanding invoices. Latest News SocietyOne inks warehouse funding deal with Westpac Big Four bank steps in to provide personal lender with $200m warehouse CBA slashes 40 points off flagship interest rate Biggest rate cut in months from Australias largest lender with rate now the lowest ever advertised A former NAB financial adviser who incorporated a company to operate a mortgage broking business has been permanently banned. Mr Max Kiattisak Eung (also known as Kiattisak Eungpongpan), of Tempe, New South Wales has been banned from providing financial services and engaging in credit activities. Eung was banned following an ASIC investigation into his conduct between March 2016 and December 2016 while he was a financial adviser with NAB. It was alleged that during this period Eung engaged in conduct including: creating two false bank accounts in the names of his clients; falsifying documents to open the false bank accounts; causing withdrawals to be made from client funds to the false bank accounts and misappropriating client funds; and impersonating his clients to attempt to obtain access to funds in the second false bank account. Subsequently, Eung incorporated a company for the purpose of operating a mortgage broking business and became a Credit Representative to provide credit assistance within that business. ASIC found that Eung had engaged in dishonest conduct, was likely to contravene a financial services law, and was not of good character. ASIC also found that Eung was likely to contravene credit legislation and was not a fit and proper person to engage in credit activities. ASICs investigation into Eung is continuing. He was an authorised representative and financial adviser with NAB from 21 May 2015 to 20 December 2016 and a credit representative of Connective Credit Services Pty Ltd from 14 September 2017 to 23 October 2017. Latest News SocietyOne inks warehouse funding deal with Westpac Big Four bank steps in to provide personal lender with $200m warehouse CBA slashes 40 points off flagship interest rate Biggest rate cut in months from Australias largest lender with rate now the lowest ever advertised A national mortgage and finance sub-aggregator has appointed a national business development manager (BDM). Former compliance officer at AFG, Eilis O'Callaghan has joined the team at Buyers Choice in a newly created role. With over 15 years' experience in the finance and mortgage broking industry, she has also held roles at PLAN Australia. She will be responsible for supporting existing brokers as well as onboarding new members. Buyers Choice director, Brett Mansfield, said the new role would support the company in its ongoing growth trajectory. He added, "Following a period of strong business growth, we identified the opportunity to increase our resources and skillset within the business. Eilis brings with her a range of skills which complement our current structure, including five years in a compliance focused role where she gained invaluable insights into the processes, tools and resources used by successful brokers. Leveraging this experience, we are excited to see Ms OCallaghan add value to our members and support our continued growth. As a sub-aggregation group within the PLAN Australia network, Buyers Choice has been assisting new to industry to brokers to enter the industry and build successful businesses for five years. Its membership has grown to more than 180 brokers with a loan book worth $4 billion. Mansfield said, Offering a branded business model, the strong community culture of the group provides an ideal support platform for brokers who wish to own and operate their own mortgage broking business. OCallaghan said she was excited by the opportunity to work with brokers in a one on one capacity, helping them to develop their individual businesses. She added, The strong culture at Buyers Choice was a major attraction and I look forward to working with our members nationally. Related stories: Broking firm welcomes new state managers International exec joins customer owned bank Aggregator's SME focus on lending panel 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 scholarship, news and new ideas in legal history According to sources, investors including Ant Financial, Sequoia Capital and Temasek Holdings want the firm to focus on food delivery side of the business, where Zomatos competitors Swiggy and Foodpanda are much ahead. Sources said as many as five more exits might happen in the next six months, of which three would be in the technology team ... 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 and are two separate countries bonded by cooperation and understanding, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said here on Friday. Modi, who was here to attend the convocation ceremony of the Visva Bharati University, shared the dais with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the university Vice Chancellor Sabujkoli Sen, " and are two separate countries, bonded by cooperation and understanding. Be it culture or public policy, the people of the two countries get to learn a lot from each other," the prime minister said. One such example is Bangladesh Bhavan, Modi asserted. Modi, who is the 'acharya' or chancellor of the central university, is scheduled to inaugurate the Bangladesh Bhavan, a "symbol of cultural ties between and Bangladesh", with Hasina and hold a bilateral meeting there, varsity officials said on Thursday. will hold a bilateral meeting with on Saturday on the sidelines of the during which they will take stock of the implementation of decisions taken at the informal summit just over a month ago in Wuhan. Modi is expected to hold nearly half a dozen bilateral meetings with leaders of other SCO countries. However, there is no official word on whether there will be any interaction between Modi and President Mamnoon Hussain, who is scheduled to attend the meeting in The bilateral meeting with President Xi would take place on June 9, while meetings with other leaders on the sidelines of the (SCO) Summit in Qingdao were being finalised, Spokesperson said at a media briefing here. Officials have said Modi and Xi are expected to take stock of implementation of decisions taken at their informal summit in Wuhan. Among other issues, the is expected to focus on opportunities for cooperation among the member countries and the situation in the region, Kumar said. Russian President is also expected to attend the summit. Modi had last month met Putin in an informal summit in Sochi. The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. India and became its members last year, and are participating as full members for the first time. Kumar, while talking to reporters after the briefing, said appreciated Prime Minister Modi's speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue held in Singapore last week. This was conveyed by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj during a meeting held on the sidelines of the BRICS Foreign Ministers Meeting in South Africa this week, he said. This was also conveyed by China's Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou to Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale in a meeting held here, Kumar said. In his address at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Modi said Asia and the world will have a better future when India and work together with trust and confidence while being sensitive to each other's interests. US Secretary of State today asked Army Chief General to take action against terrorist groups without any distinction. It was the first time that a high-level engagement took place between the two sides since travel restrictions were imposed by the two sides on each others' diplomats. Pompeo spoke with Bajwa over phone and their discussion was focused to advance Pak-US bilateral relations, his spokesperson said. "They discussed ways to advance US-Pakistani bilateral relations, the need for political reconciliation in Afghanistan, and the importance of targeting all militant and terrorist groups in without distinction," State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert said. The US and have long complained that provides safe haven to the Afghan and their allies, the Haqqani network, allowing them to carry out cross-border attacks in denies these allegations but has escalated the criticism against Islamabad since he took office. Pakistan last month placed travel restrictions on diplomats based in the country. The restrictions in Pakistan were imposed on the same day that the US barred diplomats working at the in Washington from traveling outside of a 25-mile radius around the city without approval. A 42-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of arson attacks on a mosque and a Sikh temple in English city of Leeds, police said on Thursday as they probed the incident as a Yesterday, the Jamia Masjid Abu Huraira Mosque in Hardy Street, Beeston, was attacked, along with the Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewak Jatha Gurdwara in Lady Pit Lane. The main door of the mosque in south of the city centre had been set on fire at about 3.45am (local time) on Tuesday. A few minutes later, the door of the Gurdwara was also set on fire. The man, who was not named, was arrested at an address in the city yesterday night after fires were started at the front doors of two buildings. He remains in police custody as enquiries continue, The Guardian reported. "We are continuing to liaise with our colleagues in the local neighbourhood policing team who are maintaining an increased presence in the area and having regular contact with key representatives from the communities affected to keep them updated and to reassure the wider community," said Detective Inspector Richard Holmes, of Leeds District CID in a statement following the arrest. Leeds' Racial Justice Network criticised the lack of national media coverage of the incident, saying it revealed "a lack of concern for Muslim and Sikh lives and reminds us that the terrorist label (and public outrage) is only reserved for black and brown people". "These attacks follow on from racist and fascist marches in Leeds and Manchester at the weekend and reflect a resurgence of far-right racism," they said. "Whilst we believe that the far right are still in the minority, there is a real need for the solidification and growth of anti-racist movements. With our allies across the country, the Racial Justice Network will be a part of it. "A few years ago, we used to say, if someone took a trolly full of garlic to the mandi, he might end up buying a new tractor on his way back home. But now it seems even the tractor that the farmer possesses might have to be sold to pay for the expenditure, rues Santosh Rathore from Soni village of Mandsaur. Rathore had cultivated garlic on his one-hectare land hoping to make some money after a disastrous experience with soybean, the main Kharif crop. But the recent price crash has left him devastated. He now has just stopped going to the mandi and stored the crop, ... The Afghanistan government is set to release at least 269 more prisoners affiliated with the former militant group Hezb-e-Islami in regard with the peace accord signed in late 2016. The decision to release more inmates of Hezb-e-Islami was taken during the meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) presided over by President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, reported Khaama Press, citing, the office of the President, ARG Palace, as saying, in a statement. During the meeting, the authorities presented the schedule of the release of Hezb-e-Islami prisoners. According to the statement, the participants of the meeting reviewed the list and essential decisions were taken in connection with the release of the inmates. Hezb-e Islami was the former militant group which has reconciled with the government. The prisoners are being released in accordance with the agreement reached between the Afghan government and Hezb-e-Islami for the conclusion of the peace deal which was inked late in the year of 2016, the report said. This recent development comes after a couple of when in January at least 75 Hezb-e-Islami prisoners were released from Kabul's Puli Charkhi prison. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Afghan security forces on Wednesday foiled 12 Taliban attacks in five districts of Ghazni province on Wednesday, provincial police chief Farid Mashal purported on Thursday. According to Afghan's TOLO News, Mashal said that the security forces thwarted the attacks carried out by the Taliban in districts Qarabagh, Gelan, Khawja Omari, Andar and Muqor. Nineteen Taliban militants were killed and six others were wounded in clashes with the security forces. Furthermore, one policeman was killed and two others were wounded, the report said. The Taliban has not commented on the report so far. The Taliban fighters have ratcheted up attacks across the war-torn country against Afghan security forces and government officials ever since they announced their offensive in April. Ghazni is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the southeastern part of the country. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday named Alauddin Marri as the new caretaker chief minister of Balochistan province. ECP Additional Secretary Akhtar Nazir announced the name during a press conference in Islamabad. Marri belongs to Mastung district of Balochistan province, Express Tribune reported. Marri's name comes hours after Pakistan's top electoral body appointed Dr. Hasan Askari as caretaker chief minister of Punjab province. Dr. Askari is a Pakistani political scientist and military analyst, noted for his work in comparative politics, nuclear weapons and the country's domestic policy, Geo TV reported. Prior to Marri's appointment, five names were suggested by the six-member parliamentary committee to head the interim government till the general elections are held on July 25. The names were - former diplomat Qazi Ashraf, ex-Balochistan assembly speaker Sardar Aslam Bhootani, MPA Alauddin Marri, former environment minister Prince Ahmed Ali and former senator Kamran Murtaza, as per the report. The parliamentary committee later handed the decision of appointing an interim chief minister for Balochistan to the ECP after the committee members failed to reach a consensus. With this, all the four provinces of Pakistan now have a caretaker chief minister. Earlier this week, Dost Mohammad Khan was sworn-in as the caretaker chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) province, while Fazlur Rehman was appointed the interim chief minister of Sindh province last week. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah and Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray held a 'positive' meeting at the latter's residence 'Matoshree' in Mumbai, said BJP sources on Wednesday. "Meeting between BJP and Shiv Sena at 'Matoshree' was positive. This is the beginning of reducing tensions between both the parties. Two or three meetings are expected to happen in the coming days," BJP sources told ANI. Shah on Wednesday met Thackeray as part of the ongoing 'Sampark for Samarthan' (Contact for Support) campaign. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was also present during the meet. In the recent past, differences have cropped up in the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance in Maharashtra. In this regard, Fadnavis clarified that although there was no plan to dissolve the alliance, mutual efforts were essential for sustaining ties. Launched in May this year, the Sampark for Samarthan initiative has devised to generate awareness about the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government's achievements in the last four years. In the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Shah will reach out to 50 people personally with details of initiatives and achievements of the government, whereas each BJP worker is expected to contact at least 10 people. There will also be a special session of 'Sampark for Samarthan' on the NaMo App. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu welcomed Singapore's Minister of Trade and Industry S. Iswaran at the 3rd Joint Implementation Steering Committee (JISC) meeting being held at the Taj Gateway Hotel here on Thursday. The Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA) and Singapore-Amaravati Investments Holding Ltd (SAIH) signed a Concession and Development Agreement (CADA) to develop the start-up area in Amaravati. "After substantial progress since November, this is the last step towards starting the grounding of the project", said Principal Secretary (Energy, Infrastructure and Investments) Ajay Jain. The JISC meeting was followed by a one-on-one interaction where both leaders decided that direct flights between Singapore and Vijayawada would commence in a month's time and talked about the need for teamwork between the Consortium and the state government. "The first flight from Singapore should land in Vijayawada on June 8th", said Chief Minister Naidu. Talking about the required assistance from the Consortium to bring in the convergence of activities in infrastructure, tourism, education and the service sector, he said, "Catalytic development should be our medium to bring in more investments and economic activities. Creating an ecosystem to encourage entrepreneurship is important for ensuring sustainability." A World Cities Summit will be hosted in Singapore from 8 to 10 July, where the chief minister will be speaking at the Mayors Forum (8th July) and the Plenary Opening Session (9th July). The CRDA Commissioner will also participate on July 10 on the thematic track on governance. There will be a booth allotted to showcase the development and planning of Amaravati. Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu, MA& UD Minister P. Narayana, Special Chief Secretary (Finance) M. Ravichandra, Principal Secretary (E, I&I) Ajay Jain, Tourism Secretary Mukesh Kumar Meena, RTG CEO Ahmed Babu, APEDB CEO Jasthi Krishna Kishore, CRDA Commissioner Sreedhar Cherukrui and ADC Chairperson Lakshmi Parthasarathy represented the AP government in the JISC meeting. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Thursday said the controversy surrounding former president Dr Pranab Mukherjee's visit here was uncalled for as it was organisation's tradition to invite people not ascribing to its ideology. Addressing the RSS cadres at the event, Bhagwat thanked Mukherjee for coming and said, "The Sangh is the Sangh. Pranab Mukherjee will be Pranab Mukherjee. Attending RSS event won't change his ideology. The RSS event takes place in the same way, year after year. We call dignitaries every year, those who can come and grace the event with their presence. But all the discussion and opposition around who visits us and when, is meaningless." Bhagwat also explained his rationale behind inviting Mukherjee and said, "The organisation attempts to cultivate people, who lead by example in every nook and corner of the country." Bhagwat said that the RSS does not discriminate between Indian citizens, in fact, believes in unity in diversity. He added that an unregulated power can be dangerous for society. "Despite all our differences, we are sons of mother India. RSS does not discriminate between Indian citizens. No Indian citizen is an alien for us. RSS believes in unity in diversity. Every citizen born in India is an Indian. It is his/her right to worship our motherland," he said. Continuing his tirade against the criticism, the RSS chief further said the political differences are dangerous and are dividing the nation. Bhagwat said, "Only when society at large participates in nation building, only then can governments deliver. Even before independence, everybody agreed that we need to work together for the nation but political differences are now dividing us. The nation's future depends on common citizens." Bhagwat further said that everyone has a right to have a political opinion, but there is a limit to opposing it. "We should realise that we are working for the betterment of the same country but some groups have selfish motives. Governments can do a lot but cannot keep an eye in every sphere. We need to take up the role individually as well," the RSS chief said. Bhagwat asserted that the RSS is trying to bring everyone together in the country and not trying to establish itself as a Hindu outfit, "We must have a democratic mind." Bhagwat reiterated that knowledge is the force that has the ability to unite India. "RSS was founded in 1925 and grew despite so many obstacles. RSS is very popular; we get to love and affection from the society. We are a large organisation today but we cannot stop here. We are not working for popularity or fame. We want to take the country forward at all times," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Pune Court on Thursday sent all the four arrested, including activist Rona Wilson and lawyer Surendra Gadling, to police custody till June 14 in connection to the Bhima Koregaon violence case. Earlier on Wednesday, three people were arrested by the Pune police in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence, from Mumbai, Nagpur, and Delhi, for spreading disputed pamphlets and delivering hate speech. With the help of Delhi Police Special Cell, the Pune police nabbed a man named Rana Jacob, from Delhi. A Delhi Court has sent Jacob to two-day transit remand. He will be produced before the local court in Pune on June 8. Gadling too was arrested in connection with the same incident. On January 2, the 200th anniversary of Bhima-Koregaon battle took a violent turn when a youth died in clashes on during an event to mark the day. The violence left one dead and several injured, including 10 policemen. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hundreds of students who were protesting outside the Bihar School Examination Board's office, alleging disparity in the results, were lathi-charged by police on Thursday. The students who failed their exams alleged negligence in copy checking and discrepancy in the result and demanded to recheck of answer sheets or re conducting the exam. "I don't know on what basis I have been given 2 marks in Chemistry. Even after scoring a total of 248 marks, it shows that I have failed. My college depends on this and the board is taking this matter so lightly. Instead of helping us, we are being lathi-charged by them," said Rahul Rai, student from Jagat Narayan School. "I am confident that my exams went great. I qualified JEE- Mains and all other entrance examinations and scored a great rank but the Board has failed me even after scoring 307 marks. And when we are questioning the board, they are making us stand in the scorching heat and beating us with lathis," said Johnson Kumar, student. However, the police denied of any allegation made by the students. "There has been no lathi-charge on the students and they need to maintain law and order even if they want to raise their voice against something. We are dealing peacefully with them and they should wait quietly for an official to come and listen to their grievances," said the police. More than eight lakh of 12 lakh students, who had appeared for the Class XII exams conducted by the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB), failed this year. The results were declared last week. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) United States President Donald Trump has asked Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that didn't Canada burn down the White House in1812. Over a testy phone call on May 25, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asked the United States President as to how he could justify the tariffs as a national security issue, to which Trump responded saying, "Didn't you guys burn down the White House?" referring to the War of 1812. This comes after new tariffs were imposed by the Trump administration targeting steel and aluminum imports coming from Canada. As per CNN, the British troops burnt down the White House during the War of 1812. It is believed that the British attack on Washington was in retaliation for the American attack on York, Ontario, in territory that eventually became Canada. Back then, it was a British colony. Earlier on Wednesday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rejected the United States' (US) proposal to scrap the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and sign a bilateral trade pact. Earlier, Trump said that if the revised NAFTA deal gets signed, he shall drop the newly-imposed 25 percent tariffs on the aluminum and steel products. NAFTA is an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America, which came into force on January 1, 1994. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A technical delegation from the Airports Authority of India (AAI) will visit Nepal on June 14 to hold a talk over cross-border airspace issues. According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (Caan), these issues have been pending for the last five years. A member of Air Navigation Services and board member of the AAI, Anil Kumar Dutta is set to lead the Indian team. As per Kathmandu Post, the two sides will hold discussions on the three key cross-border routes that Nepal has sought from India: Janakpur in the eastern, Nepalgunj in the mid-western and Mahendranagar in the far western regions. After becoming the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi visited Kathmandu in 2014. Nepal, during Prime Minister Modi's visit, asked India to formally open the new cross-border air routes. According to the proposal, bi-directional or incoming and outgoing air routes would help facilitate the operation of international flights from Bhairahawa, Pokhara and Nijgadh airports. A high-level Caan official said, if the discussions yield a positive outcome, they are ready to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with India. After a safety assessment is done by the technical teams of both India and Nepal, a report needs to be published in an aeronautical information publication (AIP) to make the new air paths operational. During Prime Minister Modi's visit to Nepal on May 11, this issue of new air routes was on the agenda. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A technical delegation from the Airports Authority of India (AAI) is scheduled to visit Nepal on June 14 to discuss cross-border airspace issues, confirmed the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN). The two sides are likely to discuss three key cross-border routes that Nepal has sought from India: Janakpur in the eastern, Nepalgunj in the mid-western and Mahendranagar in the far western regions, reported the Kathmandu Post. "We don't know about the mandate that the Indian delegation has been entrusted with by its government, but we are prepared to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) if the discussions yield a positive outcome," the report quoted a high-level anonymous CAAN official, as saying. "If the MoU is signed during this meeting, it will open the door for both sides to conduct a safety assessment of the proposed routes soon," the official added. According to the report, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit two-day state visit to Nepal on May 11, the issue of new air routes was on the agenda. Nepal has been pushing the agenda of expanding cross-border air routes for the past nine years, the report said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India is waiting for Malaysia's response on the extradition of Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) president and preacher Zakir Naik, as informed in Ministry of External Affairs' press conference on Thursday. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said, "India and Malaysia have an extradition treaty and we have made an extradition request to Malaysia, we are waiting for their response in this matter." He further said that the legal process for the same is near completion. "Once it is complete, we will make an official request to Malaysian government very soon to send back Zakir Naik to India" Kumar said. Earlier in March, the Indian government sought Naik's extradition from Malaysia accusing him of inciting youth to take up jihad. There were reports that Naik had been given permanent residency in Malaysia. Earlier in 2017, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed a charge sheet against Naik in a special court in Mumbai as part of which it said it would explore all the legal options to bring Naik back to India. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Consulate General of India will celebrate the 4th International Day of Yoga in Scotland from June 15th to June 27th. Yoga guru Ramdev will also take part and hold a Yoga Camp in Glasgow. Frank Ross, Lord Provost of Edinburgh said, "Happy to be hosting the event. We welcome everyone." Days ahead of the International Yoga Day a curtain raiser event was held in Dehradun on Thursday. Yoga guru Ramdev and Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat took part in the event. Ramdev and the Chief Minister along with other participants also rehearsed for the International Yoga Day, which will be celebrated all across the globe on June 21. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also expected to take part in the event. International Yoga Day was declared unanimously by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Yoga is a physical, mental and spiritual practice. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Additional Director General, Jharkhand Police, R.K. Mallick on Thursday said that a helicopter has been deployed to rescue the two security personnel who were critically injured in an encounter with naxals in Saraikela district. "We have sent a helicopter to rescue 2 security personnel who are critically injured. We are waiting for more details: Mallick told ANI. In the same encounter, another Jharkhand police official died after he sustained serious injuries. The encounter took place when the troops of 209 CoBRA battalion and Jharkhand Police were combing the area under a Search and Destroy Operation. A 209 CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) battalion official was also killed in the exchange of fire. A search operation is currently underway to track down naxals who are hiding, if any. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday gave West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi additional charge of Tripura Governor, during the absence on leave of Tathagata Roy. "The President of India is pleased to appoint Keshari Nath Tripathi to discharge the functions of the Governor of Tripura, in addition to his own duties, during the absence on leave of Tathagata Roy, Governor of Tripura," read a statement from the Rashtrapati Bhavan without citing reasons for Roy's leave. On a related note, President Kovind arrived in Tripura capital Agartala on Thursday on a two-day visit and was received by Chief Minister Biplab Deb and Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Dev Barman. During his visit to the state, the President will inaugurate the Highway from Matabari to Sabroom, lay the foundation stone for the redevelopment of Matabari Temple complex. The President will also attend a civic reception hosted by the state government and declare the 'Queen Pineapple as the state fruit of Tripura'. He will also attend a banquet hosted by the Governor of Tripura. On the second day of his visit, President will interact with the Chief Justice of the Tripura High Court and other judges over breakfast. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former Mayor of New York City and United States President Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani on Wednesday said North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un "begged" Trump to reschedule their summit. As per Fox News, Giuliani said that after Trump sent a letter to Kim calling off the June 12 talks in Singapore, "Kim got back on his hands and knees and begged for it." In May, Trump cancelled the meeting with Kim, blaming hostility and anger displayed by North Korea regarding the US-South Korea 'Max Thunder' military drills. The deadlock regarding the fate of the summit broke after Vice-Chairman of the North Korean ruling Workers' Party's Central Committee, Kim Yong Chol visited the White House along with a letter written by Kim and met the US President. The United States-North Korea summit is scheduled to happen in Singapore's Capella Hotel on Sentosa Island, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on Tuesday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Thursday visited the historic Pietermaritzburg railway station, where more than a century ago Father of Nation Mahatma Gandhi suffered humiliation after being thrown out of the first class compartment in spite of having the ticket. Swaraj was accompanied by South African officials as she offered flowers at the memorial stone, dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi, on the occasion of his 125th anniversary of Satyagraha. She then inaugurated a two-sided bust of Mahatma Gandhi and a charkha, installed alongside. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in July 2016, during his visit to South Africa, inaugurated a museum dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi at the railway station. He, at that time, expressed his desire to get the museum converted into a digital exhibition. Two years later, the museum was indeed converted into a digital one, showcasing historic moments of Mahatma Gandhi and his memorable addresses. One portion of the museum was termed as the 'birthplace of Satyagraha (fight for truth)'-- a message that became the flag-bearer of the fight for India's freedom. Further, the movie on Mahatma Gandhi, directed by Richard Attenborough, was screened. High Commissioner from India to South Africa Ruchira Kamboj highlighted the achievements undertaken by Indian women in the recent years. "India is not only the fastest growing economy in the world, we have eradicated critical epidemics, increased life expectancy, launched powerful rockets and satellites into space," Kambol said. She further said that women in India have held important posts, including Presidents, Prime Ministers, and the Foreign Ministers. Swaraj then spoke about Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela as crusader of freedom and anti-apartheid movement respectively. As a part of the event, a special message by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be telecasted, in which he will highlight the bilateral ties between South Africa and India, foundation of which was laid years back by Mahatma Gandhi. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A man, who had been missing from Bundi district since five years, has been traced to a jail in Pakistan. Jugraj Bhil, a resident of Rampuria village of Bundi district, is locked up in Pakistan's Karachi jail. Police officials told ANI, "The person is mentally ill. We have information that he has been held as a captive in Pakistan. We are investigating the matter. We don't know how he travelled to Pakistan". After getting the information, Bhil's family sought government's help to rescue him. "Five-six years ago, Jugraj suddenly disappeared from the house late one night. The documents and photo shown by the police now gives us positive options of his being there and coming back home," Bhils's father told ANI. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) While talks of Pranab Mukherjee's visit to Nagpur intensified the political slugfest, Congress on Thursday believed that former president's speech will be in the favour of the nation. Speaking to ANI, former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh said that he has no issues with Mukherjee attending that event. "Pranab Mukherjee is a senior leader and I believe that he will not say anything at the RSS event that will harm the country. He was a President of India, and he can go anywhere where he dims fit," he said "I'm sure that Pranab Mukherjee won't say anything in Nagpur which isn't in favour of the nation. In fact whatever he says will be in favour of the country." He added. Echoing similar sentiments, Congress leader Salman Khurshid said "We should first wait for his speech at the RSS event, before that it would not be right to pass a judgment. He is a person of great intellect, he must have thought enough before taking the decision." "We have always discussed him in critical situations, we trust him enough to have made offered him the position of the President of the country, a position that he served with brilliance. He is above the party, if he thinks a discussion is required and should be taken forward, we should wait and see and it impacts the country. We should not make comment before we know about the implications," he added. Meanwhile, Pranab Mukherjee's daughter and Congress leader Sharmistha Mukherjee took to Twitter and expressed her apprehensions on Mukherjee's visit. She said, "Hope @CitiznMukherjee now realises from today's' incident, how BJP dirty tricks dept operates. Even RSS wouldn't believe that you are going to endorse its views in your speech. But the speech will be forgotten, visuals will remain and those will be circulated with fake statements." "By going to Nagpur, you are giving BJP/RSS full handle to plant false stories, spread falls rumours as today and making it somewhat believable. And this is just d beginning!" She further said. Meanwhile, the RSS said that it is the greatness of the former president to accept their invitation. Mukherjee is set to address the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's (RSS) concluding function of 'Tritiya Varsh Varg' (third-year course) in Nagpur today. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Myanmar and the United Nations agencies have inked an agreement which could facilitate repatriation of about 700,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees. According to the Los Angeles Times, the U.N. agencies stated that the agreement was "aimed at creating conducive conditions for the voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable repatriation of refugees from Bangladesh." More than 700,000 Rohingya refugees are languishing in "crowded" and "flood-prone" Bangladeshi refugee camps. Myanmar, also said it would permit the U.N. agencies access to parts of northern Rakhine state for the first time since August, the report said. Bangladesh and Myanmar have earlier finalised an agreement, which will facilitate the repatriation of the Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh. The agreement title 'Physical Agreement' says that the repatriation would be completed within two years. Rohingyas are a Muslim minority ethnic group in Myanmar and are considered as illegal immigrants. They fled a brutal Myanmar military campaign launched in August last year. The United Nations had said the scorched-earth operation, which had left hundreds of villages burned to ash in Myanmar's restive Rakhine state, amounted to 'ethnic cleansing'. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The three terrorists arrested on Thursday revealed the involvement of Pakistan-based Jaish -e-Mohammad (JeM) commanders in the 2016 Nagrota attack. "Interrogation of three terrorists arrested in the Nagrota attack case namely Md Ashiq Baba, Tariq Ahmed Dar, Muneer-ul-Hassan Qadri have revealed that they were in regular touch with JeM commanders based in Pakistan," read a statement from the Investigation Agency (NIA). As per the NIA, the three arrested were in continuous Whatsapp contact through voice and text with Maulana Mufti Ashghar based at Muzaffarabad whose "bhanja" Waqas (JeM commander in South Kashmir) died in an encounter near Pulwama recently. Besides him, the trio was also in touch with Qari Zarar (another commander in charge of launching terrorists in Jammu region) based out of Rawalpindi and Waseem and Abu Talha. According to the NIA, in furtherance of the conspiracy to conduct attacks on the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir, terrorist Ashiq Baba visited Pakistan four times crossing the Wagah border (between 2015 to 2017) legally. He obtained his VISAs after getting reference letters from Huriyat leaders Syed Ali Shah Gillani, Gani Bhat and Maulana Umar Farooq. During his visits, he met with JeM commanders and took directions from them after getting clearance from a local ISI agent. Ashiq Baba thereafter on return, received instructions on how and when to receive the group of terrorists. Around a week prior to the attack, he and the other arrested terrorist Muneer were given the GPS coordinates of the receiving point along the Samba sector highway as well as of the possible targets along the Nagrota army cantonment through WhatsApp from their handlers in Pakistan. Ashiq went with Muneer (and later joined by the accused Tariq) and finalised the receiving point and the target. Officers mess complex of 166 Medium Regiment at Nagrota was chosen due to its convenient location towards the end of the Cantonment. After finalisation, the points were passed on whatsapp to the JeM commanders in Pakistan. They then received a group of three attackers a day before the attack (28th Nov 2016 in early morning hours) at the decided location. The terrorists changed their clothes near the highway after they were received by Ashiq baba, Muneer and Tariq. Thereafter, the group travelled in two vehicles to Jammu after keeping their weapons concealed in the dickey of one of the two cars owned by Tariq and Ashiq Baba. They parked the car having the weapons at a paid parking slot and then stayed at a hotel in Jammu. Same day, Ashiq took the commander among the attackers namely Abu Hisham to Nagrota to show him the site of the attack and came back to the hotel. Later in the night, these Indian terrorists left for the attack site along with the Pakistani attackers, dropped them near the attack site and left for Srinagar. Ashiq baba and Muneer again received a group of three terrorists in March 2017 from the Samba sector and dropped them at Khrew near Pampore. This time the terrorists were received by Noor Trali (JeM commander who was subsequently killed in an encounter) Ashiq Baba then went to Pakistan in April/May 2017 and met Waseem, Abu Talha and Mufti Ashghar. He also met Maulana Rauf (brother of Maulana Masood Azhar and accused in the Pathankot attack case) at their headquarters at Bahawalpur. He was showered praises by the JeM leadership and promised with a lot of financial rewards and was told to receive more attackers in future. Muneer told Ashiq that the JeM leader wanted him to open an account with HDFC or ICICI bank to receive funds as reward. Ashiq baba already had an HDFC account which he provided to the JeM commanders on Whatsapp. They then transferred hefty amounts into his account. Ashiq says that the amount came from Gulf countries. Interrogation of the arrested persons continues. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Chief Executive of Afghanistan, Abdullah Abdullah during his meeting with the United Kingdom's (UK) Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Boris Johnson, said, no country would use terrorism to achieve foreign policy goals. Both the UK and Afghanistan stressed on the need for taking firm action against terrorism in Afghanistan. Johnson assured the Afghan officials to support Afghanistan in all the sectors including fight against insurgency, Tolo News reported. The government of UK will ensure peace and stability in the country, he added. The topics discussed between the two sides included, enhancing the bilateral relations between Kabul and London, combating terrorism, increase in military and non-military assistance to Afghanistan and to establish peace in the region. This meeting happened during Abdullah's three-day visit to the UK on June 6. He is also scheduled to meet with the UK Prime Minister Theresa May and Prince Charles. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan reviewed its new draft action plan for submission to organisations, working on curbing money laundering and terror financing, to avoid being placed on the blacklist of countries that financially aid terrorism if its action plan is rejected by the task force. As reported by the Express Tribune on Wednesday, the action plan was reviewed just two days before the filing of comments to the observations raised by the Asia Pacific Group (APG) on Money Laundering. APG has reported that Pakistan is highly likely to be involved in money laundering and financing terrorist activities. Pakistan had been earlier directed to submit an action plan for review by the Financial Action Task Force, in a meeting chaired by Finance Minister Dr Shamshad Akhtar. The new plan revolves around four key areas of concerns, including improving supervisions of the AML and the CTF, curbing the illicit cross-border movement of currency through Chaman and Torkham, improving prosecution in AML and CTF cases, and ensuring enforcement of United Nations Security Council resolutions. Asia Pacific Group had expressed dissatisfaction over progress undertaken by Pakistan on the issues of actions against proscribed organisations such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation. Further, Pakistan is not taking up actions on the Haqqani network prevalent in Afghanistan which is alleged to be involved in multiple terror attacks as per the APG report. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Thursday travelled in the historic first-class compartment of a train from the Pietermaritzburg railway station, from which years back Father of Nation Mahatma Gandhi was thrown out by a Britisher. This formed the last leg of Swaraj's visit to South Africa, as the part which she earlier inaugurated a bust of Father of Nation Mahatma Gandhi and a model of charkha at the railway station. Swaraj was accompanied by a score of people, clad in white Khadi cloth. She earlier visited the digital version of a museum dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi. This museum was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his South African visit in 2016. Earlier in the day, while addressing the audience at the railway station, Swaraj recalled the contributions made by Mahatma Gandhi and anti-apartheid crusader Nelson Mandela in starting a movement for independence and anti-racism respectively. She also launched a coffee table book, titled "The Birth of Satyagraha". Swaraj earlier went to Johannesburg to attend the BRICS ministerial meeting and the IBSA (India-Brazil- South Africa) meeting. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday in a telephonic conversation asked Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Jawed Bajwa to target all militant and terrorist groups in South Asia without distinction. The two sides stressed "the need for political reconciliation in Afghanistan, and the importance of targeting the militant and terrorist groups in the in South Asia without distinction," State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said, in a statement. Both of them also "discussed advancing U.S.-Pakistani relations." The recent development is the first high-level engagement between the United States and Pakistan since their relationship turned apparently soured further in light of the imposition of travel restrictions. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) During his visit to the state, the President will inaugurate the Highway from Matabari to Sabroom, lay the foundation stone for the redevelopment of Matabari Temple complex. The President will also attend a civic reception hosted by the state government and declare the 'Queen Pineapple as the state fruit of Tripura'. President will also attend a banquet hosted by the Governor of Tripura. On the second day of his visit, President will interact with the Chief Justice of the Tripura High Court and other judges over breakfast. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The 'Quad' countries - India, Japan, Australia and the United States, have reaffirmed their support for a free, open, prosperous and inclusive Indo-Pacific region. As per a release from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), foreign ministry officials from India, Australia, Japan and the US met in Singapore on the margins of ASEAN-centred Senior Officials Meeting for consultations on issues of common interest in the Indo-Pacific region on Thursday. The participants considered ways to pursue shared objectives in the areas of connectivity and development, regional security, including counter-terrorism and non-proliferation, high availability disaster recovery (HADR) and maritime cooperation. The Indian side highlighted India's vision for the Indo-Pacific Region as outlined in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's keynote address at Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore last week. The officials also confirmed their common commitment, based on shared values and principles, to promote a rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific. The participants reaffirmed their strong support for ASEAN centrality and ASEAN-led mechanisms in the regional architecture for the Indo-Pacific. They agreed to partner with all countries and institutions in the region to promote the shared vision of a peaceful, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific, including through such plurilateral formats. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Mostly, Bollywood films complete their run by week four, but 'Raazi' has proven to be an exception. The Meghna Gulzar-directorial is continuing to attract steady footfalls, almost a month after its release, according to trade analyst Taran Adarsh. The film revolves around a girl Sehmat, portrayed by Alia Bhatt. She plays a Kashmiri girl that gets married to a Pakistani army officer, essayed by Vicky Kaushal. Turns out, she is a spy working for Indian intelligence. Helmed by Gulzar and produced by Karan Johar's Dharma Productions, the spy-romantic flick is based on 'Calling Sehmat', a best-selling book by Harinder Sikka. The film was released on May 11. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A high-level delegation of government officials, led by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh departed for their official visit to Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday. Singh is being accompanied by Union Home Secretary, Rajiv Gauba, Joint Secretary Jammu and Kashmir, Gyanesh Kumar and Minister of State for Prime Minister's Office, Jitendra Singh. The two-day visit comes in the midst of multiple issues causing turmoil in the state, such as cross-border firing, ceasefire violation, terrorist infiltration, attacks on security personnel, and stone pelting incidents. The Rajnath-led delegation will also be inspecting security arrangements in lieu of the Amarnath Yatra. Kashmir Inspector General of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Ravideep Singh Shahi said the visit of the Home Minister was very important for the state, adding that adequate security arrangements have been made for the visit. "The visit of Home Minister (Rajnath Singh) is very important for us and we, in coordination with the Jammu and Kashmir Police, have made elaborate security arrangements. Our jawans will be on the ground, patrolling the area. Apart from that, all the important ingress points to Srinagar will have deployments," Shahi told ANI. Meanwhile, residents of the state, especially the ones close to the border in places like RS Pura, have pinned their hopes of stability in the state lives on the delegation's visit. "I am hoping that there is change following this visit. Our lives are disrupted time and again due to ceasefire and such incidents. We hope Rajnath Ji's visit makes a difference," said a resident. The state has been witnessing a tense situation, with incidents of stone pelting and terror attacks increasing by the day. Last month, 19 CRPF personnel were injured after their vehicle skidded off the road due to stone pelting in Jammu and Kashmir's Srinagar. In the same month, a tourist from Chennai died after being hit by a stone during clashes in Narbal area. On Saturday, grenades were lobbed at security forces deployed at Pulwama's Tahab Chowk, with three separate grenade attacks taking place within a span of around four hours in Srinagar. Meanwhile, three suspected terrorists were killed as security forces foiled an infiltration bid in Kupwara district's Machhil sector on Wednesday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, along with a high-level delegation of government officials, on Thursday arrived in Jammu and Kashmir's Srinagar to review the security situation of the state. Singh is being accompanied by Union Home Secretary, Rajiv Gauba, Joint Secretary Jammu and Kashmir, Gyanesh Kumar and Minister of State for Prime Minister's Office, Jitendra Singh. The two-day visit comes in the midst of multiple issues causing turmoil in the state, such as cross-border firing, ceasefire violation, terrorist infiltration, attacks on security personnel, and stone pelting incidents. The Rajnath-led delegation will also be inspecting security arrangements in lieu of the Amarnath Yatra. Kashmir Inspector General of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Ravideep Singh Shahi said the visit of the Home Minister was very important for the state, adding that adequate security arrangements have been made for the visit. "The visit of Home Minister (Rajnath Singh) is very important for us and we, in coordination with the Jammu and Kashmir Police, have made elaborate security arrangements. Our jawans will be on the ground, patrolling the area. Apart from that, all the important ingress points to Srinagar will have deployments," Shahi told ANI. The state has been witnessing a tense situation, with incidents of stone pelting and terror attacks increasing by the day. Last month, 19 CRPF personnel were injured after their vehicle skidded off the road due to stone pelting in Jammu and Kashmir's Srinagar. In the same month, a tourist from Chennai died after being hit by a stone during clashes in Narbal area. On Saturday, grenades were lobbed at security forces deployed at Pulwama's Tahab Chowk, with three separate grenade attacks taking place within a span of around four hours in Srinagar. Meanwhile, three suspected terrorists were killed as security forces foiled an infiltration bid in Kupwara district's Machhil sector on Wednesday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A group of priests who met Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday said the latter has assured that a Ram Temple will be built in Ayodhya. "We had a dialogue with the Chief Minister (Adityanath) about the development of Ram temple and he has assured us that it will be constructed soon," Mahant Suresh Das told reporters here after meeting the Chief Minister. Prior to the meeting, Das had claimed that if the matter of constructing the Ram Temple was not taken up seriously, there may be a subsequent impact on the 2019 general elections. "Matter of the (Ram) temple will have to be taken seriously. If this isn't taken up, we'll see what to do in 2019," he told ANI. On a related note, the Supreme Court on May 17 had adjourned the Ayodhya-Babri Masjid land dispute case. The next hearing will be held after summer vacation. The apex court is hearing 13 appeals filed against the 2010 judgment of the Allahabad High Court that mandated a three-way division of the disputed site in Ayodhya. It earlier dismissed all the 32 intervention petitions, including applications of filmmakers Shyam Benegal and Aparna Sen, and journalist Teesta Setalvad, in the case. During the previous hearing, a bench, comprising of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra, Justices Ashok Bhushan and Abdul Nazeer, had directed the registry not to entertain any intervention application in the Ayodhya case. The top court had also rejected the intervention plea of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy in the matter. On May 2, the Supreme Court even refused to give an urgent hearing to a mentioning by Swamy, seeking a direction to perform puja at the disputed site at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh. The Babri Masjid, built by Mughal emperor Babur in Ayodhya in 1528, was, on December 6, 1992, demolished by Hindu Karsevaks, claiming that the mosque was constructed after demolishing a Ram temple that originally stood there. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Days ahead of the International Yoga Day, Yoga guru Ramdev and Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat on Thursday took part in a curtain raiser event in Dehradun. Ramdev and the Chief Minister along with other participants also rehearsed for the International Yoga Day, which will be celebrated all across the globe on June 21. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also expected to take part in the event. International Yoga Day was declared unanimously by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Yoga is a physical, mental and spiritual practice. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Ahead of Pranab Mukherjee's address at an Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) event, the organisation said the former president was extended an invitation as part of the Tritiya Varsh Varg's (cadres training program) custom of recognising those who contributed to the nation. In a statement on Twitter, the RSS said, "The RSS Tritiya Varsh Varg (third camp) is held at Nagpur every year, where selected participants come from across the country for a rigorous 25-day training. The participants bear their own expenses. The participants in RSS Tritiya Varsh are those who bear responsibility in their taluks/nagars." "Before coming to this varg, they would have completed a 7-day training (Prathmik) at the district level and two 21-day training camps (Pratham and Dwitiya Varsh - First and Second Camps). In the RSS Tritiya Varsh valedictory, it is customary to invite people who have made significant contributions to life as chief guest and have the benefit of their experience. In line with this, Sri Pranab Mukherjee (Pranabda) was extended an invitation," it added. Earlier in the day, Mukherjee arrived at Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) founder K.B. Hedgewar's birthplace in Nagpur, where he was welcomed by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. In the visitor's book, Mukherjee described Hegdewar as saying, "Today I came here to pay my respect and homage to a great son of Mother India." The former president will address the valedictory function of the RSS's third-year officers' training camp at its headquarters in Nagpur's Reshimbagh shortly. A political slugfest had erupted after Mukherjee accepted an invite from the RSS to be the chief guest at its event. While several Congress leaders urged him to reconsider his decision, many said that his visit would create an "undesirable difference" in the country. Earlier, the RSS said that it is the greatness of the former president to accept their invitation. Mukherjee has said that he will reveal his thoughts on the matter during the event itself. Mahatma Gandhi, former president Zakir Husain, activist Jayaprakash Narayan and commander-in-chief of the Indian Army, Kodandera M. Cariappa had previously been guests at various RSS events. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation summit, scheduled to be held on June 9 in the Chinese city of Qingdao. During the press briefing by the Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday, it was informed that Prime Minister Modi will be participating in the 18th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit. Further, Prime Minister Modi will hold meetings with various leaders of Central Asian countries. The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation was formed in 2001. Among its members are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, China, India, and Pakistan. Earlier in May, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj along with Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman visited China to take part in preparations for the upcoming SCO summit. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The media center for the 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit opened for journalists across the on Wednesday. According to Xinhua, the deputy director of the center Hou Xiaodong said, the building is constructed in 35,000 square meters and has a working zone of 10,500 square meters. It can offer services for about 3,000 journalists, he added. The center has robots that can understand Chinese, English, and Russian to provide information for guests. The center will be open from June 6 to 1, while the 18th SCO summit will take place from June 9 to 10 in Qingdao. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj recalled the contributions made by Father of Nation Mahatma Gandhi and anti-apartheid crusader Nelson Mandela on the 125th anniversary of Satyagraha as she said India and South Africa have emerged as modern nations with strong family values. Swaraj said that Pietermaritzburg railway station is not only remembered for the incident of throwing Mahatma Gandhi out of the train but also for the incident of August 5, 1963. "On August 5 another tall leader of this country (South Africa) was arrested by police barely 25 km away from this place" Swaraj added. She further said, "The incident started Mandela's 27 years of incarceration which finally led to reliving the mankind from last restages of blatant racism." She called on the people who were present there in the event as she said, they all must be conscious that two of greatest freedom movements started here which freed both individuals (Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi) and nations from subjugation. While speaking on the inaugural ceremony of the exhibition dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi, Swaraj at the railway station said, "Prime Minister Modi during his visit to South Africa inaugurated an exhibition in the waiting room where Gandhi spent the fateful night. I am here to inaugurate the digital version of the same." India can never ignore South Africa's contribution to India's freedom movement; Swaraj noted while saying, "Mahatma Gandhi lived in South Africa for 25 years. It was that he tested his own satyagraha which he had to ultimately apply in India in the fight for freedom." She then highlighted a speech delivered by Mahatma Gandhi at a public meeting at empire theatre in Johannesburg while saying, "1906 yet again changed the course of history. Mahatma Gandhi launched a movement of Satyagraha which gave voice to millions who were subjugated and liberated them from shackles of colonialism." Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted to inform that Swaraj inaugurated a coffee table book titled "The Birth of Satyagraha". He further tweeted, "To mark 25 years of the establishment of diplomatic relations! EAM @SushmaSwaraj and Deputy Foreign Minister of South Africa, Luwellyn Landers jointly released postal stamps on Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay and Oliver Tambo." Earlier in the same event, Prime Minister Modi addressed the audience via a video message as he noted that the humiliation meted out to Mahatma Gandhi years back at Pietermaritzburg station after being thrown out of the first class out of a "whites-only" compartment in spite of being holding its ticket led to the beginning of a journey to political awakening. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) U.S. Ambassador to India, Mr. Kenneth I. Juster, visited Lucknow June 6-7. On his first official visit to the city, Ambassador Juster called on Governor Ram Naik and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. In addition, Dr. Ammar Rizvi welcomed the Ambassador to a traditional dinner featuring Awadhi cuisine. Guests included representatives from Lucknow's civil society, media circles, and academia. On Thursday, Ambassador Juster enjoyed a guided tour of the British Residency, led by the Archaeological Survey of India. The Ambassador also met with artisans of the SEWA women's cooperative and admired their famous chikankari embroidery. The day continued with discussions with U.S. business leaders, a meeting with Health Minister Sri Sidharth Nath Singh, and a working lunch with former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav. In speaking about his visit, Ambassador Juster said, "The city of Lucknow truly symbolizes the blending of cultures in India and holds a distinct place in India's history. The rapid development of Lucknow, paired with a deliberate preservation of the past, underscores the achievements of a city leading India into the future. I look forward to coming back. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Bank (WB) has projected that the Indonesian economy would grow 5.20 percent this year, more than the government's projection of 5.18 percent. The WB said both private consumption and investment are expected to strengthen. The Bank country director for Indonesia, Rodrigo A Chaves said, "The investment growth is still high, considering the increasing prices of commodities," quoted by The Jakarta Post. The global economy would grow slower due to tightening monetary conditions, Chaves added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The stock is quoting at Rs 659.25, up 1.4% on the day as on 12:59 IST on the NSE. Bharat Forge Ltd is up 11.26% in last one year as compared to a 11.93% spurt in NIFTY and a 2.59% spurt in the Nifty Auto index. Bharat Forge Ltd gained for a third straight session today. The stock is quoting at Rs 659.25, up 1.4% on the day as on 12:59 IST on the NSE. The benchmark NIFTY is up around 1.06% on the day, quoting at 10797.9. The Sensex is at 35560.39, up 1.08%. Bharat Forge Ltd has slipped around 10.96% in last one month. Meanwhile, Nifty Auto index of which Bharat Forge Ltd is a constituent, has slipped around 1.87% in last one month and is currently quoting at 11155.85, up 0.6% on the day. The volume in the stock stood at 3.79 lakh shares today, compared to the daily average of 11.98 lakh shares in last one month. The benchmark June futures contract for the stock is quoting at Rs 660.5, up 1.44% on the day. Bharat Forge Ltd is up 11.26% in last one year as compared to a 11.93% spurt in NIFTY and a 2.59% spurt in the Nifty Auto index. The PE of the stock is 38.24 based on TTM earnings ending March 18. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi was apprised of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between India and Denmark on technical cooperation in the field of Sustainable and Smart Urban Development in April, 2018. Details The objective of this MoU is to promote bilateral cooperation in the field of sustainable and smart urban development on the basis of reciprocity and mutual benefit through exchange of knowledge, institutional cooperation, research & development and commercial relations on related issues. Areas of cooperation include smart urban solutions, liveability, sustainable and integrated urban planning, re-development and land use, integrated solid waste management including waste to energy, sustainable transport systems, water and sanitation management, energy efficiency, resource mobilization and other related areas mutually agreed upon. Implementation strategy Under this MoU, a Joint Working Group (JWG) will be set up to strategize and implement programmes on cooperation under the framework of the MoU. The Joint Working Group will meet at intervals agreed upon by the Participants, alternately in Denmark and in India. Major Impact The MoU will promote bilateral cooperation in the field of Sustainable and Smart Urban Development between the two countries. Beneficiaries The MoU is expected to create employment in the areas of integrated solid waste management including waste to energy, sustainable transport systems, water and sanitation management, energy efficiency, resource mobilization. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi was apprised of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between India and United Kingdom on technical cooperation in the field of Sustainable Urban Development in April, 2018. Details The objective of this MoU is to facilitate and strengthen India-UK institutional cooperation in the field of sustainable urban development. The areas of cooperation include smart cities development, solid waste management, green affordable housing, waste water management, capacity building of urban institutions, skill development in urban areas, urban mobility, intelligent transport system and transit-oriented development, innovative access to finance and other related areas as mutually agreed upon by the Contracting Parties. Implementation strategy Under this MoU, an Indo-UK Joint Working Group (JWG) will be set up to strategize and implement programmes on cooperation under the framework of the MoU. The Joint Working Group on Urban Development is expected to meet once in a year, alternately in UK and in India. Major Impact The MoU will promote strong, deep and long term bilateral cooperation in the field of Sustainable Urban Development between the two countries. Beneficiaries The MoU is expected to create employment in the areas of smart cities development, solid waste management, green affordable housing, waste water management, skill development in urban areas, urban mobility, intelligent transport system and transit-oriented development. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi was apprised of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between India and Netherlands on technical cooperation in the field of Spatial Planning, Water Management and Mobility Management in April, 2018. Details The objectives of this MoU are to promote and strengthen the collaboration between the signatories in the areas of Spatial Planning, Water Management and Mobility Management on the basis of equivalence, affordable housing, smart city development, geographical information system (GIS) for water supply & sewerage system, waste water reuse and recycle, conservation of fresh water by artificial recharge of aquifer, integrated solid waste management and heritage conservation and mutual benefit, taking into account the practical needs of both the countries. Implementation strategy Under this MoU, a Joint Working Group (JWG) will be set up to strategize and implement programmes on cooperation under the framework of the MoU. The Joint Working Group will meet once in a year, alternately in the Netherlands and in India. Major Impact The MoU will promote bilateral cooperation in the field of Spatial Planning, Water Management and Mobility Management between the two countries. Beneficiaries The MoU is expected to create employment in the areas of Spatial Planning, Water Management and Mobility Management, smart cities development, affordable housing, waste management, urban and heritage preservation. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The stock is quoting at Rs 252.25, up 1.67% on the day as on 12:54 IST on the NSE. Hindalco Industries Ltd is up 27.11% in last one year as compared to a 11.94% gain in NIFTY and a 25.02% gain in the Nifty Metal. Hindalco Industries Ltd rose for a fifth straight session today. The stock is quoting at Rs 252.25, up 1.67% on the day as on 12:54 IST on the NSE. The benchmark NIFTY is up around 1.07% on the day, quoting at 10798.65. The Sensex is at 35557.15, up 1.08%. Hindalco Industries Ltd has added around 5.68% in last one month. Meanwhile, Nifty Metal index of which Hindalco Industries Ltd is a constituent, has added around 0% in last one month and is currently quoting at 3619.6, up 1.92% on the day. The volume in the stock stood at 84.1 lakh shares today, compared to the daily average of 93.53 lakh shares in last one month. The benchmark June futures contract for the stock is quoting at Rs 251.55, up 1.53% on the day. Hindalco Industries Ltd is up 27.11% in last one year as compared to a 11.94% gain in NIFTY and a 25.02% gain in the Nifty Metal index. The PE of the stock is 33.77 based on TTM earnings ending March 18. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Lemon Tree Hotels rose 1.85% to Rs 71.70 at 09:25 IST on BSE after the company announced signing a license agreement for a 104 room property in Madhya Pradesh. The announcement was made during market hours yesterday, 6 June 2018. Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 252.97 points or 0.72% at 35,442.72 On the BSE, 11,000 shares were traded in the counter so far compared with average daily volumes of 1.53 lakh shares in the past two weeks. The stock had hit a high of Rs 72.05 and a low of Rs 70.80 so far during the day. The stock hit a record high of Rs 91 on 23 April 2018. The stock hit a record low of Rs 57.30 on 9 April 2018. Lemon Tree Hotels has signed a license agreement for a 104 room property at Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh under the company's brand 'Lemon Tree Hotel'. The hotel is expected to be operational by June, 2020. Carnation Hotel, the hotel management arm of the company will be operating and marketing this hotel. Shares of Lemon Tree Hotels settled at Rs 71.60 on BSE, a premium of 27.86% over the issue price of Rs 56 on its debut on the bourses on 9 April 2018. The initial public offer (IPO) of Lemon Tree Hotels received bids for 15.49 crore shares, as per the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) data. The issue was subscribed 1.19 times. The issue opened for subscription on 26 March 2018 and closed on 28 March 2018. The price band for the issue was fixed at Rs 54 to Rs 56 per share. On a consolidated basis, Lemon Tree Hotels reported net profit of Rs 11.71 crore in Q4 March 2018 as compared with net loss of Rs 2.20 crore in Q4 March 2017. Net sales rose 18.62% of Rs 132.01 crore Q4 March 2018 over Q4 March 2017. Lemon Tree Hotels is India's largest chain in the mid-priced hotels sector and third largest overall, on the basis of controlling interest in owned and leased rooms, as of 30 June 2017, according to the Horwath Report. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Majesco announced that a new start-up selected Majesco Core Suite for P&C platform on the Majesco Cloudlnsurer platform to support their market launch and growth strategies in a SaaS model. The announcement was made during market hours yesterday, 6 June 2018. Lemon Tree Hotels has signed a License Agreement for a 104 room property at Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh under the company's brand 'Lemon Tree Hotel'. The hotel is expected to be operational by June, 2020. Carnation Hotel Private, the hotel management arm of the company will be operating and marketing this hotel. The announcement was made during market hours yesterday, 6 June 2018. Apple India said that the distribution agreement for iPhone and other Apple products with HCL Infosystems will end on 30 March 2019. The announcement was made during market hours yesterday, 6 June 2018. McLeod Russel India said that the company has decided to dispose of certain tea estates of the company in Assam, namely Moran Tea Estate, Lepetkatta Tea Estate, Attabarrie Tea Estate and Sepon Tea Estate for Rs 141 crore. The company has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Luxmi Tea Company, having registered office at Kolkata on 6 June 2018. The announcement was made during market hours yesterday, 6 June 2018. Sadbhav Infrastructure Project said that board of directors of the company considered issuance of securities up to Rs 3000 crore. The announcement was made during market hours yesterday, 6 June 2018. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation has accepted two major irrigation/multipurpose projects and four flood management schemes/master plans with a cumulative cost of Rs. 84,748 Crores from six States/ UT in its meeting held in New Delhi yesterday. The Kaleshwaram Project of Telangana with an estimated cost of Rs. 80190.46 Crores involves diversion of 195 TMC (5522 Million Cubic Meter) of Godavari water to irrigate about 18.25 lakh acres of land in 13 districts (out of total 31 districts) of Telangana. Further, this project will stabilize about 18.82 lakh acres of land under different projects of the state. In addition to this, the project will provide 40 TMC (1133 MCM) of drinking water to Hyderabad, Secundarabad and villages enroute and 16 TMC (453 MCM) of industrial water. The Upper Pravara (Nilwande-II) Project of Maharashtra with an estimated cost of Rs. 2232.62 Crores will irrigate an area of 2,12,758 acres and provide drinking water to the tune of 13.15 MCM. The Mahananda Flood Management Scheme (Phase-II) of Bihar, Seer Khad Project of Himachal Pradesh, Yanam Flood Protection Works of Union Territory Puducherry and Ghatal Master Plan (Phase-I) of West Bengal were also accepted in the meeting. These projects will provide flood protection to about 13,58,000 persons and save about 4,51,750 acres of area from flooding. The Advisory Committee met in Central Water Commission, New Delhi, under the chairmanship of Shri U P Singh, Secretary, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation yesterday and assessed the techno-economic viability of the above projects. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tata Motors announced that the Company will proposing to raise external commercial borrowing up to U. S.$250,000,000 from Lenders up to a maximum of U. S.$500,000,000. All proceeds from the facility will be fully used towards refinancing a part of the principal amount of the Borrower's Notes as permitted under the ECB Master Directions. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At least 14 people were killed and over 90 injured on Wednesday by a huge explosion in Iraq's Baghdad, an official said. "The latest report said that 14 people were killed and more than 90 others were wounded by the huge explosion of an explosive cache in eastern Baghdad," Xinhua quoted an Interior Ministry source as saying. The blast occurred in the evening when an explosive cache at a house used as a warehouse went off near a Shiite mosque in the Shiite bastion of Sadr City neighbourhood, a stronghold of nationalist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose party won the May 12 parliamentary election. The house was totally destroyed and five nearby houses were badly damaged, the source said, without giving further details about which militia owns the house. Earlier, three civilians were killed and 12 others injured by a car bomb explosion in the Sadr City neighbourhood. Security authorities have opened an investigation into the explosion to determine if it was an accident or a terror attack. --IANS qd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Author Amish Tripathi has penned a book on Raja Suheldev, a semi-legendary Indian king from Shravasti in Uttar Pradesh. It will release on July 16. Titled "Suheldev & The Battle of Bahraich", the book will be a part of a new series - 'Indic Chronicles'. It will narrate the story of an unforgettable battle fought in 1025 AD that drove the Turks away for 170 years, read a statement. The author shared the news during the Facebook Live on Sonali Bendre's Book Club page. Readers are also awaiting the release of his Book 3 of Ramachandra Series- "Raavan: Son Of Aryavarta". "The story of Raavan is long, his life was difficult and I want to showcase the emotions right. The book is coming right on schedule. It will be out by the end of the year or early next year. I am more than halfway through it already. But Suheldev is not delaying the book at all. This was the plan with the publishers and we are launching each book according to schedule," Tripathi shared. Assisted by Vikas Singh, "Suheldev & The Battle of Bahraich" is the first book with which Tripathi has introduced the trending concept of Writer's Center in India. Writer's Center is an international format wherein a particular author is assisted by different authors on different books. The idea is if one author has the story, he hires someone, and tells the whole story to them, and what research nees to be done. And then the assisting author would write the first draft and then the author will work on it. Tripathi says the format has been his "support system for the book". "It not only enables me to hire a writer but also create a skeleton framework for my ideas to turn them into 500 pages worth of material. Working on this book with Vikas Singh has created a pool of ideas and stories for another. "I plan on doing this consistently and release 20 books in the Indic Chronicles coming out in every 6 months. There are two other projects also that I am working on with other writers," he said. "Suheldev and The Battle Of Bahraich" will mark Tripathi's foray into historical fiction for the first time. "The way history is taught to us presents the narrative in a very distorted way. A lot of heroes are airbrushed in our history books and there are many more about whom we never read. 'Suheldev & The Battle Of Bahraich' is based on few 'lok kathaye' (folktales). It is a great story of our country together and to me this a very important message in today's time," he said. --IANS ks/nv/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Amnesty International India and Bhim Army on Thursday demanded that the Uttar Pradesh government release Dalit activist Chandrashekhar Azad from administrative detention under the provisions of the National Security Act (NSA). "Chandrashekhar Azad has been languishing in prison for the past one year. Keeping him behind bars under repressive administrative detention laws shows that the Uttar Pradesh government would rather stifle dissent than address serious human rights concerns," said Amnesty International India Programmes Director Asmita Basu. Both the organisations said Azad has been denied a fair trial. He was first arrested for his alleged involvement in Saharanpur riots on June 8, 2017. On November 2, 2017, the Allahabad High Court granted him bail. However, a day later, he was arrested again under the provisions of the NSA. On April 27 this year, the Allahabad High Court dismissed Azad's plea seeking to quash his detention order under the NSA. Reacting to the court order, Basu said: "It is essential for courts to protect fair trial guarantees of all persons and ensure that the criminal justice system is not undermined." Bhim Army President Vinay Ratan Singh said state authorities had sought the group's help in maintaining peace during Saharanpur riots but now the authorities are saying that if he is released, he will create a law and order problem. "The state government has done everything to keep Azad in jail. What crime has he committed," he asked. Amnesty also said that over 140,000 people across India have supported its campaign calling on Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to release the activist. --IANS akk/him/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi Assembly's special session witnessed high drama on Thursday as BJP leader and Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta and party MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa were marshalled out of the house for creating a ruckus. The two, along with another opposition MLA Jagdish Pradhan, were demanding an apology from Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia for "misleading" the Assembly by levelling allegations against the Centre during a discussion on Wednesday on the demand for full statehood to Delhi. Speaker Ram Niwas Goel asked the opposition MLAs to maintain silence and to take their seats after they trooped near his podium. However, Gupta and Sirsa continued to voice their demand, following which the Speaker asked the house marshals to take the two out of the house. Later, Goel told the house that he will seek Sisodia's views on the matter. "If they (BJP MLAs) had an issue, they could have raised it under Rule 66 (A)," Goel said. As per Rule 66 (A) of the Legislative Assembly of National Capital Territory of Delhi Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business, 2002, a member can raise a complaint involving breach of privilege or contempt either of a member or of the house or of a committee, with the consent of the Speaker. The opposition, earlier in the day, submitted a memorandum to the Speaker, saying the Delhi Government is "misleading the Assembly by levelling false allegations against the Centre during the discussion on full statehood to Delhi". In the memorandum, the opposition MLAs said that the "Jan Lokpal Bill is not lying with the Centre but the Delhi government's Administrative Reform Minister Kailash Gehlot since September 2017." In his speech on Wednesday, Sisodia had said that the Jan Lokpal could have been set up within six months of the passage of the bill, but it was "lying with the Centre". --IANS nks/tsb/vm (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.) After hectic political parleys between Congress leader from Kerala and the high command, including party President Rahul Gandhi, it was decided to hand over a Rajya Sabha seat to former ally Kerala Congress-Mani (KC-M), paving the way for its return into the UDF fold. Of the three seats to which elections are to be held later this month, the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) is able to win just one seat and was likely to renominate Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson P.J. Kurien, but this is now unlikely with Thursday's decision. Addressing reporters soon after the over an hour long meeting with Gandhi, former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said this is just a one-time adjustment. The general consensus in the UDF is strengthening of the alliance and that's the need of the hour and to do that, "we all felt that KC-M should get a seat. As a special case, this time the Rajya Sabha seat will be given to them", he said. "In return, the Congress will get a Rajya Sabha seat when it falls vacant after four years... This out of turn allotment need be seen only as a special case." Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala, who also took part in the discussions, said the KC-M was part of the UDF for 43 years and due to certain issues they decided to opt out about two years back, but in Delhi, they always remained part of the UPA alliance. "Even after leaving the UDF, they gave their support to the UDF in three by-elections in Kerala that took place in the past nearly two years. "The decision of the UDF was to bring KC-M back into the fold and it had entrusted IUML veteran and Lok Sabha member P.K. Kunhalikutty with the task of having discussions with their party leader K.M. Mani... and this was going on for the past three months and the issue has been clinched now," he said. Mani's party severed ties with the UDF in 2016 and his party's six legislators began sitting as a separate block in the Assembly. State Congress president M.M. Hassan, who also took part in the discussions, said as part of the talks, it was also decided to allow KC-M their traditional Lok Sabha seat at Kottayam. Expressing happiness in the new developments, KC-M supremo K.M. Mani told the media in Thiruvananthapuram that he wishes to thank Kunhalikutty who was the mediator in the discussion. "I wish to thank the Congress party for this. Our party is eligible for it, as one of the members retiring now, is our leader. We will all now make a concerted effort to strengthen the UDF. With regards to who the candidate would be, will be decided tomorrow (on Friday)," he said. However, the rapprochement has not gone down well with a section in the Congress, with former Congress state President V.M. Sudheeran lashing out at this "suicidal strategy". "The need of the hour is to strengthen the Congress and the UDF will strengthen only if the Congress is strong. This gifting of seat to Mani will in no way be of any help as Congress men will not be happy at all. Even Mani knows that he has no right to this seat..." said an angry Sudheeran. A peeved Kurien meanwhile told the media in Delhi that he will abide by the decision as the party high command has agreed to it. "This was a meek surrender of the Congress and the key architect in it is Chandy. The decision to hand over the seat to Mani was never discussed in the party at all. "I was told today morning by Chennithala that Mani is demanding the seat. I said I have no problem in giving it up, but wished it would have gone to the Congress and not to some other party," he said. --IANS sg/vd/him/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A day after Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah met industrialist Ratan Tata and former Bollywood actress Madhuri Dixit-Nene among others as part of an outreach programme, the Mumbai Congress on Thursday appealed to them "not to fall for the BJP's lies". Congress city President Sanjay Nirupam, in separate letters to Tata and Madhuri, urged them to "understand the truth" of the BJP government which, he said, "has failed on all counts". "Mr. Ratan Tata, I beseech you to understand the truth and not fall for the lies of Amit Shah. I am sending a booklet to you which clearly identifies and explains that the BJP has not been able to do anything for the people of this country in the past 4 years," he said. Nirupam also sought to remind the industrialist how he (Tata) had always supported secular forces all his life and clearly the BJP has spoiled the secular fabric of the country. "As an artist, you can understand how different forces work together in the creative space as well and this has clearly suffered during the BJP rule. We should work together to stop these forces from gaining ground," Nirupam said in his letter to Madhuri. "In the past 4 years, the BJP Government has failed on all fronts whether it be on economic parameters, social harmony, or international relations," he contended in his letters to the two. He reiterated that the BJP government's "ill-conceived fiscal policies have hurt the industry and economy, including small businesses, agrarian economy and the corporates". Shah on Wednesday made high-profile visits to the homes of Tata and Madhuri, and later ally Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray, as part of the BJP's new initiative, 'Sampark for Samarthan' as a run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Nirupam, who alleged he was followed around by the Mumbai police during the BJP's chief's trip, also questioned the "selective meetings" Amit Shah had with prominent Mumbaikars. --IANS qn/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A CRPF trooper was killed during a shootout here with Maoists on Thursday, police said. The incident occurred in the city's Dalbhaga area at around 6.50 a.m., when a joint team of Central Reserve Police Force's 209 CoBRA Battalion and Jharkhand Police was on a search and area dominance operation. A police personnel has sustained injuries. A CRPF officer said heavy firing was still going on. --IANS rak/ksk (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A CRPF trooper and a state policeman were killed during a shootout with Maoists in Jharkhand's Khuti district on Thursday, officials said. The incident occurred near Jamro village around 6.50 a.m. when a joint team of the Central Reserve Police Force's 209 CoBRA Battalion and Jharkhand Police was on a search and area dominance operation. CRPF trooper Uttpal Rabha, 27, died on the spot in the firing by Maoists while the policeman, whose name is yet to be announced, succumbed to his injuries later, a CRPF official said. A police officer said the gun battle lasted three hours and that some Maoist guerrillas also sustained bullet injuries. The bodies have reached Ranchi, the CRPF said. The CRPF said that Rabha, from North Garo Hills in Meghalaya, joined it in 2011. Hours after the attack, the security forces carried out searches in forest area in Kuchal in Jharkhand's Latehar district andArecovered an AK 56 rifle along with three magazines and 254 live ammunion of 7.62 mm. The search operation was carried out by troops of 11th and 214th Battalion of CRPF and Jharkhand Police. --IANS rak/vd (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A technology team from Delhi inspired by Nirbhaya has won the $1 million Anu and Naveen Jain XPrize for Women's Safety by developing a device that will send out alerts with location and summon help if a woman is threatened. Delhi College of Engineering graduates Manik Mehta and Avinash Bansal, and Niharika Rajiv, whose Leaf Wearables team developed the pendant-like electronic device, SAFER Pro, received the prize at an awards ceremony at the UN in New York on Wednesday. The prize was funded by Naveen Jain, the Indian American technology and space entrepreneur who founded the Moon Express, and his wife Anu. A total of 85 teams from 18 countries around the world entered the competition announced two years ago and five teams were chosen as finalists and their devices were tested on Mumbai trains. The other four finalists received prizes of $50,000 each from contributions by two other donors who each gave $100,000. One of the finalists was the Artemis team from Lausanne, Switzerland, led by Nicee Srivastava. Mehta said that they were inspired by the tragedy of Nirbhaya, the student who was brutally gang raped in Delhi in 2012 and later succumbed to her injuries. The team wanted to use technology to prevent such tragedies. If even one women was saved with their device, he said he would feel gratified. Naveen Jain, whose company Moon Express plans to send spacecraft to the moon to commercially mine metals, said: "How can we go to the moon or Mars if half of us cannot walk outside in safety?" He said that the idea behind the Xprizes was to crowd source innovation and spur people to find solutions to problems right away. Anu Jain said: "Safety is a fundamental right. All of us women, regardless of our social and economic status have felt unsafe." This was a problem around the world and in the US one in five women college students have been sexually assaulted, she said. Peter Diamandis, the executive chairman of XPrize said that unlike other awards it was not given for something that was done years ago, but to find a solution to an imminent problem. Bansal told IANS the device, which is about 35 millimetres long and oval shaped, can send an alert within seconds of being activated to the family and to police giving the exact location where the victim is by using the GPS coordinates. It can also help navigate to the nearest hospital. Although it requires a SIM card, it is not a phone and works independently through cell networks, he added. He said that one of their colleagues regularly took a bus from the stop where Nirbhaya had boarded the vehicle of doom. This focused their attention on the problem of women's safety and they tried to innovate technology to protect women from the time they were in college, he said. They had produced two such devices before entering the competition and developed the third one that won the prize. Mehta told IANS that they were working with a manufacturer in India and another in China to mass-produce the SAFER Pro and were also in contact with cellular network operators in India and the US. It would be sold in India through Amazon and Flipkart, he added. One of the conditions for the prize was that the device should cost less than $40. The other members of the Leaf Wearables team are Ayush Banka, Chiraag Kapil and Paras Batra. XPrize is known for the Google Prize competition it ran for robotic space explorer. It is now running competitions to find solutions to a variety of problems, from illiteracy and water scarcity to exploring oceans and harnessing artificial intelligence. (Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in) --IANS al/in (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Issues regarding representation and treatment of marginalised communities took the centre stage at Google's parent company Alphabet's annual shareholders meeting, the media reported. Even Google employees themselves stepped up on Wednesday to challenge management on diversity issues -- a rarity for a company's rank and file in such a public and formal corporate setting, CNET reported. Google last year was rocked by the now infamous "Damore memo", which argued that the gender gap in the tech industry is due mainly to "biological" differences between men and women, not because of sexism. Google CEO Sundar Pichai eventually fired the author of the 3,000-word memo James Damore - a move that attracted criticism from conservatives. On Wednesday, Irene Knapp, a Google engineer, teamed up with Zevin Asset Management to present a proposal that advocated tying executive pay with improvement in diversity metrics at Alphabet. "The lack of clear communicated policies and actions to advance diversity and inclusion with concrete accountability and leadership from senior executives has left many of us feeling unsafe and unable to do our work," Knapp was quoted as saying. Like many other tech giants, Alphabet has been criticised for not having enough diversity on its board, said the CNET report, adding that of the 11 board members at the company, only two are women. --IANS gb/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An international drug smuggler wanted in India and abroad was arrested in Thoubal district of Manipur, police said on Thursday. Superintendent of Police (Narcotics and Affairs of Border) W. Basu said that many law-enforcement agencies were after Mohammad Masle, who was arrested on May 30 at Lilong. Basu said that six FIRs stand registered against the drug smuggler, who was operating his racket for five years. The officer the smuggler was being interrogated on his illegal activities. --IANS il/tsb/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An Executive Engineer of the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) was shunted out to Banda in Uttar Pradesh after allegedly demanding a bribe of Rs 5 crore. GDA sources said the engineer sought the money from a builder close to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to regularize shops situated in Indirapuram area. The builder video recorded the demand and showed it to Sahibabad MLA Sushil Sharma, who in turn showed it to GDA Vice Chairperson and Ghaziabad District Magistrate Ritu Maheswari. "We are determined to cleanse the GDA of all corruption," Maheswari said. --IANS sps/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A court here on Thursday sentenced extradited gangster Abu Salem to seven years rigorous imprisonment in a 2002 extortion case. "...the convict is a hardcore criminal (who) indulged in the activities of extending threats and extortion under the fear of death, and he has been previously involved in several cases of similar nature, therefore, he deserves severe punishment of such magnitude that the same should be a lesson for the convict and an alarming lesson for others," Additional Sessions Judge Tarun Sahrawat said. The court also slapped a fine of Rs 10,000 on him. On May 26, Abu Salem was convicted under Section 387 (putting person in fear of death or of grievous hurt in order to commit extortion) and Section 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code, but acquitted under charges of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act. The court has acquitted co-accused Pawan Kumar Mittal alias Raja Bhai, Mohd Ashraf alias Bablu, Majid Khan alias Raju Bhai and Chanchal Mehta in the case. According to the prosecution, the gangster demanded money from a Delhi-based businessman and threatened to eliminate his family members if the amount was not paid. --IANS akk/him/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Days after an Archbishop claimed that the Indian Constitution is in danger, participants at an ongoing All India Hindu Convention on Thursday accused the state's BJP-led government of "insulting the Constitution" by banning the entry of Sri Ram Sene leader Pramod Muthalik into Goa. "The Constitution of Indian guarantees everyone the right to freedom of movement. The BJP-led government's decision to ban Muthalik's entry into Goa is an insult to the Constitution and the All India Hindu Convention unanimously condemns it," Hindu Janajagruti Samiti Spokesperson Chetan Rajhauns said in a statement here. The district administration has repeatedly banned Muthalik's entry into Goa, which he has challenged in the Supreme Court. "The Archbishop of Goa (Filipe Neri Ferrao) has asked the Christian community to take active part in state by claiming that the Constitution is in danger. But the truth is that he will never speak up against foreign tourists whose activities are a real danger to Goan people and culture," Rajhauns said. Leaders of various Hindu organisations and religious figures are participating in the ongoing annual convention, which on Thursday resolved to make India a 'Hindu Rashtra'. In his letter, the Archbishop had said: "In recent times, we see a new trend emerging in our country, which demands uniformity in what and how we eat, dress, live and even worship: a kind of mono-culturalism. Human rights are under attack and democracy appears to be in peril. Various minorities fear for their safety. In short, respect for law is frankly on the decline in this country." Christians in Goa account for more than a quarter of the state's population of 1.5 million. --IANS maya/tsb/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Username: Password: or Register Thread Rating: 8 Vote(s) - 3.5 Average 1 2 3 4 5 Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 BREAKING: Germany is calling for Trumps US Ambassador in Berlin to be expelled spo snouou Vocem sine nomine audivit! User ID: 350320 06-07-2018 01:31 AM Posts: 67,593 Post: #1 BREAKING: Germany is calling for Trumps US Ambassador in Berlin to be expelled Advertisement BREAKING: German politicians are calling for Trumps US Ambassador in Berlin to be expelled, after saying he wanted to empower a political party founded by nazis. Quote: He stoked further outrage last weekend with reported comments to far-right website Breitbart of his ambition to empower other conservatives throughout Europe, other leaders. Grenell also raised eyebrows with his plan to host a lunch on June 13 for Austrias arch-conservative Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, described by the US envoy as a rock star. The ambassador is interfering in our internal affairs, said Peter Beyer, coordinator for transatlantic cooperation in Angela Merkels government, in an interview with regional newspaper the Rheinische Post. He should pay attention to the fact that we consider his start as ambassador to be difficult, added the conservative politician, who will be present on Wednesday for a visit by the diplomat to the foreign ministry. Former chief of the Social Democratic Party and ex-European Parliament president Martin Schulz told national news agency DPA: What this man is doing is unheard of in international diplomacy. If a German ambassador were to say in Washington that he is there to empower the Democrats, he would have been kicked out immediately. I hope that Kurzs visit will lead Mr Grenells tenure as ambassador in Germany to be short, added Schulz, playing on the German word for short kurz. Schulz had earlier tweeted that the US envoy did not behave like a diplomat but like a far-right colonial officer. Amid the row, Germanys foreign ministry is seeking clarification from Grenell about his comments, with the topic to be raised at a pre-arranged meeting Wednesday between the envoy and senior official Andreas Michaelis. There will certainly be a lot to discuss and thats why its good that the ambassador will be a guest tomorrow of state secretary Michaelis, said Foreign Minister Heiko Maas. Awful interview But the opposition far-left Die Linke party chief Sahra Wagenknecht said Grenell had disqualified himself as ambassador. Someone like US ambassador Richard Grenell, who thinks he can lord over Europe and determine who is governing here, can no longer stay in Germany as a diplomat, Wagenknecht told Die Welt daily. If the government takes the democratic sovereignty of our country seriously, then it shouldnt just invite Grenell to a chat over coffee, but expel him immediately, she added. The appointment of Grenell, a hawkish supporter of Trumps America First stance, was long held up by US senators who objected to his allegedly disparaging tweets on female politicians and apparent refusal to take seriously claims of Russian meddling in the US election. The controversy comes as ties between Germany and the United States are strained after Trump ditched the Iran nuclear deal and imposed punishing tariffs on European aluminium and steel. Underlining the souring transatlantic relationship, Chancellor Merkel has warned that Europe can no longer rely on the US to protect it and must take its destiny into its own hands. https://www.wetinhappen.com.ng/calls-gro...-us-envoy/ Germany Wants US Envoy to Explain Comments About Support For European Conservatives Quote: Foreign Minister Heiko Maas also said he had taken note of Grenells comments, and expects him to explain himself at Wednesdays meeting. There will certainly be a lot to discuss, Maas told reporters on Tuesday. more: https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/jam...t-european more: (This post was last modified: 06-07-2018 03:36 AM by spo snouou .) spo snouou Vocem sine nomine audivit! User ID: 350320 06-07-2018 02:20 AM Posts: 67,593 Post: #2 RE: BREAKING: Germany is calling for Trumps US Ambassador in Berlin to be expelled go to it.. my sweeties.. my flying monkeys of robo-bumpy-ness clutter away as you flutter away (mods- the flood appears like it starts here) go to it.. my sweeties..my flying monkeys of robo-bumpy-nessclutter awayas you flutter away(mods- the flood appears like it starts here) 44575 lop guest User ID: 442085 06-07-2018 02:21 AM Post: #3 RE: BREAKING: Germany is calling for Trumps US Ambassador in Berlin to be expelled --> Josef Braml = "Wir sollten uns darauf einstellen, dass die amtierende US-Regierung darauf aus ist, Europa zu teilen, um es besser beherrschen zu konnen." >>US-Botschafter Grenell will nationalistische Bewegungen in Europa unterstutzen. Fur den USA-Experten Josef Braml ist das keine Uberraschung: "Wir sollten uns darauf einstellen, dass die amtierende US-Regierung darauf aus ist, Europa zu teilen, um es besser beherrschen zu konnen."< https://www.n-tv.de/politik/Wir-koennen-...67206.html Josef Braml = https://usaexperte.com/ "Wir sollten uns darauf einstellen, dass die amtierende US-Regierung darauf aus ist, Europa zu teilen, um es besser beherrschen zu konnen." TELL-A-VISION PROGRAMMING lop guest User ID: 441548 06-07-2018 03:01 AM Post: #4 RE: BREAKING: Germany is calling for Trumps US Ambassador in Berlin to be expelled The commies in germany can kiss our american asses. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 444812 06-07-2018 03:06 AM Post: #5 RE: BREAKING: Germany is calling for Trumps US Ambassador in Berlin to be expelled SPYGATE/OBAMAGATE Wrote: (06-07-2018 03:01 AM) The commies in germany can kiss our american asses. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 444823 06-07-2018 03:09 AM Post: #6 RE: BREAKING: Germany is calling for Trumps US Ambassador in Berlin to be expelled spo snouou Wrote: (06-07-2018 01:31 AM) BREAKING: German politicians are calling for Trumps US Ambassador in Berlin to be expelled, after saying he wanted to empower a political party founded by nazis. Pinned thread from a spammer with no link. Great job there mods. Pinned thread from a spammer with no link.Great job there mods. 44575 lop guest User ID: 442085 06-07-2018 03:11 AM Post: #7 RE: BREAKING: Germany is calling for Trumps US Ambassador in Berlin to be expelled --> --- >> Kritik in Deutschland: US-Botschafter gibt sich unglucklich Kein Rapport, aber ein klarendes Gesprach im Auswartigen Amt: Der US-Botschafter hat einen schlechten Start in Deutschland hingelegt. Der Trump-Vertraute versucht nun, die Wogen zu glatten. << --> >>BERLIN, Germany: Trumpian U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell has expressed great excitement over the wave of conservatism in Europe, saying he wants to empower leaders of the movement.< http://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/06/...ervatives/ --->> Kritik in Deutschland: US-Botschafter gibt sich unglucklichKein Rapport, aber ein klarendes Gesprach im Auswartigen Amt: Der US-Botschafter hat einen schlechten Start in Deutschland hingelegt. Der Trump-Vertraute versucht nun, die Wogen zu glatten. < https://www.n-tv.de/politik/US-Botschaft...67515.html LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 444812 06-07-2018 03:13 AM Post: #8 RE: BREAKING: Germany is calling for Trumps US Ambassador in Berlin to be expelled Hail Trump hail victory! LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 434171 06-07-2018 03:16 AM Post: #9 RE: BREAKING: Germany is calling for Trumps US Ambassador in Berlin to be expelled Good. I hope it's true. It means they see the writing on the (Berlin) wall. The EU is dying by their own leftist hand and bad immigration policies. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 409200 06-07-2018 03:19 AM Post: #10 RE: BREAKING: Germany is calling for Trumps US Ambassador in Berlin to be expelled Now, it's all Hate the Nazis! First, Germany is all Hate the Jews!Now, it's all Hate the Nazis! spo snouou Vocem sine nomine audivit! User ID: 350320 06-07-2018 03:27 AM Posts: 67,593 Post: #11 RE: BREAKING: Germany is calling for Trumps US Ambassador in Berlin to be expelled LoP Guest Wrote: (06-07-2018 03:09 AM) spo snouou Wrote: (06-07-2018 01:31 AM) BREAKING: German politicians are calling for Trumps US Ambassador in Berlin to be expelled, after saying he wanted to empower a political party founded by nazis. Pinned thread from a spammer with no link. Great job there mods. Well , It was new news An article is incoming, keep your pants on Well , It was new newsAn article is incoming, keep your pants on LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 444818 06-07-2018 03:40 AM Post: #12 RE: BREAKING: Germany is calling for Trumps US Ambassador in Berlin to be expelled spo snouou Wrote: (06-07-2018 01:31 AM) BREAKING: German politicians are calling for Trumps US Ambassador in Berlin to be expelled, after saying he wanted to empower a political party founded by nazis. Quote: He stoked further outrage last weekend with reported comments to far-right website Breitbart of his ambition to empower other conservatives throughout Europe, other leaders. Grenell also raised eyebrows with his plan to host a lunch on June 13 for Austrias arch-conservative Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, described by the US envoy as a rock star. The ambassador is interfering in our internal affairs, said Peter Beyer, coordinator for transatlantic cooperation in Angela Merkels government, in an interview with regional newspaper the Rheinische Post. He should pay attention to the fact that we consider his start as ambassador to be difficult, added the conservative politician, who will be present on Wednesday for a visit by the diplomat to the foreign ministry. Former chief of the Social Democratic Party and ex-European Parliament president Martin Schulz told national news agency DPA: What this man is doing is unheard of in international diplomacy. If a German ambassador were to say in Washington that he is there to empower the Democrats, he would have been kicked out immediately. I hope that Kurzs visit will lead Mr Grenells tenure as ambassador in Germany to be short, added Schulz, playing on the German word for short kurz. Schulz had earlier tweeted that the US envoy did not behave like a diplomat but like a far-right colonial officer. Amid the row, Germanys foreign ministry is seeking clarification from Grenell about his comments, with the topic to be raised at a pre-arranged meeting Wednesday between the envoy and senior official Andreas Michaelis. There will certainly be a lot to discuss and thats why its good that the ambassador will be a guest tomorrow of state secretary Michaelis, said Foreign Minister Heiko Maas. Awful interview But the opposition far-left Die Linke party chief Sahra Wagenknecht said Grenell had disqualified himself as ambassador. Someone like US ambassador Richard Grenell, who thinks he can lord over Europe and determine who is governing here, can no longer stay in Germany as a diplomat, Wagenknecht told Die Welt daily. If the government takes the democratic sovereignty of our country seriously, then it shouldnt just invite Grenell to a chat over coffee, but expel him immediately, she added. The appointment of Grenell, a hawkish supporter of Trumps America First stance, was long held up by US senators who objected to his allegedly disparaging tweets on female politicians and apparent refusal to take seriously claims of Russian meddling in the US election. The controversy comes as ties between Germany and the United States are strained after Trump ditched the Iran nuclear deal and imposed punishing tariffs on European aluminium and steel. Underlining the souring transatlantic relationship, Chancellor Merkel has warned that Europe can no longer rely on the US to protect it and must take its destiny into its own hands. https://www.wetinhappen.com.ng/calls-gro...-us-envoy/ Germany Wants US Envoy to Explain Comments About Support For European Conservatives Quote: Foreign Minister Heiko Maas also said he had taken note of Grenells comments, and expects him to explain himself at Wednesdays meeting. There will certainly be a lot to discuss, Maas told reporters on Tuesday. more: https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/jam...t-european The Russians are coming, the Russians are coming, the Russians are coming The nazi's are coming, the nazi's are coming, the nazi's are coming Starting to sound pretty juvenile The Russians are coming, the Russians are coming, the Russians are comingThe nazi's are coming, the nazi's are coming, the nazi's are comingStarting to sound pretty juvenile LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 441628 06-07-2018 03:42 AM Post: #13 RE: BREAKING: Germany is calling for Trumps US Ambassador in Berlin to be expelled Throw that pedo out. Uppity Me Registered User User ID: 443267 06-07-2018 03:43 AM Posts: 37,104 Post: #14 RE: BREAKING: Germany is calling for Trumps US Ambassador in Berlin to be expelled LOL Merkel that Evilc'vnt Quote: Les pauvres n'ont-ils des Euros ? Alors laissez les pauvres 'sh*t' dans les rues (This post was last modified: 06-07-2018 03:43 AM by Uppity Me .) LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 439240 06-07-2018 03:43 AM Post: #15 RE: BREAKING: Germany is calling for Trumps US Ambassador in Berlin to be expelled LoP Guest Wrote: (06-07-2018 03:19 AM) First, Germany is all Hate the Jews! Now, it's all Hate the Nazis! Nothing wrong with hating supremacists. Live by bigotry, die by bigotry Nothing wrong with hating supremacists. Live by bigotry, die by bigotry Advertisement Google on Thursday dedicated a Doodle to honour pioneering US clinician Virginia Apgar who developed a quick health test for infants to determine if a newborn needs help breathing or is having heart trouble. The Google Doodle marks what would have been Apgar's 109th birthday. Apgar, who was born in 1909 in Westfield, New Jersey, developed the now ubiquitous Apgar score in 1952. The Apgar test is performed on a baby at 1 and 5 minutes after birth. The 1-minute score determines how well the baby tolerated the birthing process and the 5-minute score tells the health care provider how well the baby is doing outside the mother's womb, according to the US National Library of Medicine. The test can be performed by a doctor, midwife, or nurse to examine the baby's breathing effort, heart rate, muscle tone, reflexes and skin colour. Each category is scored with 0, 1, or 2, depending on the observed condition. The test is based on a total score of 1 to 10. A score lower than 7 should warn caregivers that the baby needs medical attention. A higher score in the test means less threat to the baby's survival. The Apgar score contributed immensely towards reducing infant mortality. Her contributions are even more noteworthy as she did her research and inventions at a time when women were discouraged to pursue higher education in medicine. Apgar graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University in the US with flying colours. But she could barely spend two years into her surgery residency as the then Chair of Surgery at the institution persuaded her to switch to anaesthesia, an uncalled-for move that Columbia University termed "a reflection of the times". She trained in anaesthesia at the University of Wisconsin and Bellevue Hospital in the US, but returned to Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital in 1938. The hospital opened a new division of anaesthesia at that time and Apgar became its first Director. She was appointed the first woman Professor at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University in 1949, according to a biography of the clinician at the Columbia University website. Apgar's work on prevention of infant mortality was eventually recognised as she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in the US. A US postage stamp carrying her portrait was also released after her death. She breathed her last at the age of 65. --IANS gb/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Children are the worst victims of conflicts, natural or man-made disasters and other social upheavals as they are often rendered abandoned and homeless. Securing a future for children without families is only possible when the government extends support to NGOs dealing in such issues, says SOS Children's Villages International head Siddhartha Kaul. "There has been a lack of political will in bringing change towards the status of children and women which at times becomes a little frustrating. No NGO can provide the best care solely. Help from any government is very much necessary," Kaul told IANS in an interview. Kaul was initially elected as the president in June 2012 and re-elected for a second four-year term in June 2016. His association with the child care NGO started around 40 years ago when he was appointed Director of the SOS village in Madras, now Chennai. "We want to partner with anyone who wants to partner us. The approach has to be long-term and for that, support from the central authorities is very important; else it will be difficult to fix the issues. The solutions have to come from the states and not from private houses," he further added. According to SOS, migration is the major reason for leaving children homeless. In the recent past, there has been mass migration across Europe and, closer home, the crisis caused by some 600,000 Rohingyas fleeing to Bangladesh to escape persecution in their native Myanmar. Talking about offering sustainable solutions to such situations, Kaul said SOS alone could not do so. "The problems are big; the world is far worse than imagined. We can only present a model of how to take care of a situation. We need to create such conditions in their home countries so that no one has to leave their land," he noted. Currently, SOS Children's Villages International comprises 118 national SOS Children's Villages associations globally. Its General Assembly, which convenes every four years, is its highest decision-making body. Talking about major challenges that SOS faces, Kaul stated that improper utilisation of resources has always remained a major area of concern. "There are countries where there are resources, but they remain unused, whereas there are countries where there are no resources and the demand is huge; the challenge comes in there, like in African countries," he noted. According to the UN, globally, there are more than 220 million children living without parental care and need alternative care like foster homes and orphanages, among others. In India, SOS villages are home to around 17,000 children across 22 states. Apart from financial instability where parents often leave their children at shelter homes, Kaul also pointed that in India, children born out of wedlock is another major reason for children having to live in shelter homes. "It is very much a social stigma in India. Unmarried woman being pregnant is not accepted in our society. In such cases, the child is left to be brought up in a shelter home. The society's approach towards women and children needs to be changed," Kaul contended. Can a shelter home offer the same atmosphere as that of a proper home? "An SOS village is the best alternative to a family. We are focused on giving the young souls the value of love and respect and make sure they are brought up in a good environment. Each and every child under our care is being provided with education and employment, leading to sustainable development." Asked about his future plans globally, Kaul said reaching out to poorer countries is the prime focus. "Our target is to continuously grow even if it is minimal. We have plans to invest in poor countries. We want to give sufficient amount of assistance so that the children don't have to seek refuge in other countries," he explained. (Somrita Ghosh can be contacted at somrita.g@ians.in) --IANS som/vm/tb (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) One soldier was killed and another injured in a gunfight with militants trying to sneak across the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district on Thursday, defence officials said. Defence Ministry spokesman Col. Rajesh Kalia told IANS that the incident took place near the Line of Control (LoC) in Keran Sector, when a Rashtriya Rifles patrol intercepted two to four infiltrating militants, triggering the gunfight. While he said that the two soldiers suffered non-fatal injuries and were taken to the army's Drugmulla hospital in Kupwara, defence sources later said the condition of one of them, identified as Sepoy Sukhvinder Singh, deteriorated and he was brought to the Base Hospital here. The soldier succumbed to his injuries later. Thursday's incident came on a day when Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh is visiting Jammu and Kashmir to decide whether or not the conditional Ramadan truce against militants should be extended to the coming Amarnath Yatra. --IANS sq/vd/him/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Haryana Police STF has arrested most wanted gangster Sampat Nehra of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang from Hyderabad, police said on Thursday. Special Task Force's (STF) Superintendent of Police Ashwin told the media here that Nehra, 28, was arrested from Venkataraman Colony in Sahibabad area late Wednesday evening. The sharpshooter has more than two dozen criminal cases pending against him in Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Chandigarh. Haryana Police had announced Rs 1 lakh reward on him, with Rs 50,000 each announced by Rajasthan and Punjab Police. Ashwin said that Nehra, hailing from Kalauri village in Churu district of Rajasthan, was wanted for heinous crime, including 12 murders, six attempted murders, two extortions, and five dacoity and robbery cases. "He was actively involved in contract killing. He had been active in student politics. The gang is active on the social media as well," the officer said. Nehra will be brought from Hyderabad on transit remand, Ashwin said. "The Lawrence Bishnoi gang is involved in attempted murder of an INLD ex-MLA's brother, demand of ransom of Rs 3 crore from one Ashwani Kumar, owner of medical stores in Chandigarh, firing at police to free accomplice Deepak from custody and killing a person in Punjab after snatching his Ford Endeavour SUV at gunpoint in Kurukshetra area," he said. The gangster had also threatened to kill Bollywood actor Salman Khan. --IANS js/tsb/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Growing hospitalisation costs, rising elderly population and a need for personalised medical attention have fuelled a rapid increase in India's home healthcare services sector, which is set to grow manifold in the coming years, say stakeholders. "The home healthcare sector in India is burgeoning and is expected to reach $6 billion (Rs 40,000 crore) by 2020 from a $2 billion market opportunity in 2014," Nightingales Home Health Services Chief Executive Officer Narasimha Jayakumar told IANS. Echoing him, Alok Roy, Chairman, Medica Group of Hospitals, which recently launched homecare services, said the Indian market had a significant potential though it was now at a nascent stage. "The Indian market is currently estimated at over $3 billion per annum and is growing at over 20 percent annually. "Home healthcare market In India is witnessing tremendous growth due to the rise in the aging population. The market for home healthcare services in India is set to double in the coming years," Roy told IANS. According to Vivek Srivastava , Co-Founder and CEO of Healthcare at Home, the overall homecare market is growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 40 per cent over the past three-four years. Cost competitiveness for in-home health services has been a major driver of their demand. "Homecare as a concept is gaining ground in India and the reasons are clinical and societal... it definitely works out cheaper to the extent of 30 per cent as compared to the hospital cost as there is no infrastructure and other overheads. This apart, the cost of a family member needing to stay off from work is an additional saving," Apollo Homecare CEO Mahesh Joshi told IANS. Roy said patients end up saving 20-50 per cent cost as compared to regular hospital treatment depending upon the services taken. "For instance, ICU services are 40-50 per cent cheaper than those provided in hospitals," he said. Again, oncology care at home would also be cheaper by 20 per cent compared to similar hospital facilities, Srivastava told IANS. Homecare service providers also said improved affordability, need for a personalised care for chronic and lifestyle-based diseases, changes in the traditional family system and rise of nuclear families contributory factors in market growth. The operators are providing an array of services, but the most sough-after include COPD management, stroke rehabilitation, ICU, dentistry, oncology, baby care, attention to post transplant patients and geriatric population. However, non-availability of comprehensive insurance coverage for these services is seen as the "most important piece missing in the entire ecosystem", Joshi said, adding an insurance facility will be a game changer for the industry going forward. "Although home healthcare services are gaining considerable traction in India, they are currently not comprehensively covered by health insurance companies. We expect these policies to change in the coming years as these services prove to be an indispensable treatment option for many," Jayakumar said. According to Joshi, the organised players in home healthcare are in discussions with leading insurance providers and hoping a couple of them would take this up as a value added service for their clients. While home healthcare services have several "clear advantages" for a section of patients over treatment in a traditional hospital, choosing in-home care for one's elderly parents or other loved ones is "not without risk", People for Better Treatment President Kunal Saha said. "In a developing country like India, where corruption has riddled through virtually all aspects of public services, with hardly any checks and balances even for the qualified doctors... the new field of home healthcare services is likely to attract unscrupulous people in this lucrative business." This could pose "serious threats to the lives of the suffering elderly citizens who may become more vulnerable in the secrecy of individualised medical care by unqualified caregivers", Saha told IANS in an e-mailed response. In the US and other developed countries, more and more people have been opting for home healthcare services for elderly and debilitated patients for more than two decades. Saha, HIV/AIDS Specialist, Adjunct Professor and Consultant, Columbus State Community College, Ohio, said the Indian government should lay down a "strict and transparent mechanism and licensing system" to regulate the businesses of home health services before they are allowed to operate. (Bappaditya Chatterjee can be contacted at bappaditya.c@ians.in) --IANS bdc/ssp/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A UAE-based Indian expat set a Guinness World Record for the largest distribution of curry tree saplings, a media report said. Sudheesh Guruvayoor, originally from Kerala, distributed 4,914 saplings to the students of two campuses of Sharjah Indian High School, Gulf News reported on Wednesday. He broke the existing record set by the Guru Nanak Darbar Gurudwara in Dubai which had distributed 2,083 saplings of three varieties of trees to students of Delhi Private School in March. Guruvayoor, who had hit headlines with his enthusiasm and accomplishments in farming in the UAE, achieved the new feat as part of the World Environment Day celebrations in the country. The saplings were from his own farm in Sharjah. The adjudicator for Guinness World Records Hoda Khachab presented the certificate to Guruvayoor in the presence of his family and senior members of the Indian community in Sharjah. Principals, teachers, and parents of Sharjah Indian School were also present. Speaking to Gulf News, Guruvayoor said the initiative was his attempt to support the United Arab Emirates' green vision. With five Limca Book of Records and other awards in his kitty, he said he had been growing curry tree saplings at his farm for almost three months for this dream project. He chose to grow the curry tree as the leaves are an essential ingredient in South Indian cuisine. Curry leaves from India were earlier banned in the UAE due to high levels of pesticides. Through this initiative, Guruvayoor said, families of these students can grow pesticide-free curry leaves at home. --IANS ksk/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Jet Airways London-Mumbai flight was diverted to Ahmedabad on Thursday afternoon following air traffic congestion after a brief spell of rains, an official said here on Thursday. The flight, 9W-117 with 343 passengers on board, landed in Ahmedabad just after 1 p.m. Later it took off from Ahmedabad for Mumbai, a Jet official said. A Mumbai International Airport Ltd spokesperson said that despite spells of rains, all operations at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport were normal. A scheduled runway closure for maintenance for a couple of hours in the afternoon had also been shelved for the present, official sources said. --IANS qn/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Jordanian policeman has been stabbed and seriously wounded by a demonstrator during ongoing trade union protests against the government's economic reforms, Petra news agency reported. Prime Minister Hani al-Mulki resigned on Monday amid pressure from the protesters, and Omar al-Razzaz took office on Tuesday, with a scheduled meeting and discussion with legislators and union leaders on Thursday before the forming of a new cabinet. Wednesday's attack was the first violent incident that Jordan saw during the demonstration week against reform of the income tax law and a sharp rise in fuel prices. It took place in front of newly appointed Prime Minister's Office in Jabal, an area where protests have been held every night for the last seven days, Efe news reported. Amid chants asking for dissolving Parliament, hundreds of people also gathered to demand that the government rescind the controversial bill on income tax and bring about political reforms. In addition, similar protests were held in other major cities across the country, such as Irbid, Zarqa and Al-Karak, according to activists. The General Federation of Jordanian Trade Unions on Wednesday had given the green light for the protests to proceed. --IANS in/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In what could be perceived as a shocking setback to the Rajinikanth legend, his latest release "Kaala" has opened to an underwhelming response. It is one of the lowest-recorded openings in recent times for a Rajinikanth starrer. What gives? Actor-activist Vishal Krishna who heads the Tamil Nadu Films Producers' Council (TFPC) says it's too early to make any predictions. " 'Kaala' has been unnecessarily embroiled in the Cauvery controversy. How much this has affected the film's opening, I don't know. What I do know is that at the end of the day Rajini sir is Rajini sir. "Any film of his evokes a massive response. The opening of 'Kaala' may be on the lower side -- I haven't found the time to check -- because his last film with the same director (Pa. Ranjith) had not been appreciated that much." However Vishal adds that "Kaala" may well surprise all the naysayers. "Rajini Sir's fan club is stronger than ever. And I am a member. They will ensure a smooth run for 'Kaala'. Let's not forget, this is the Ramzan week and a sizable chunk of the audience likes to refrain from watching films during this period even if it is Rajini Sir's film. I intend to see 'Kaala' the soonest possible." Trade analyst Atul Mohan says that the buzz for this one is low despite having known faces from Hindi cinema like Nana Patekar, Huma Qureshi and Pankaj Tripathi . "This may be due to some of the factors like couple of postponements in release date, Ramzan period , particularly the week before Eid which is dullest for business , as next Friday the big film of Salman Khan releases. Rajinikanth is still a huge craze as the character Chitti of 'Robot' and fans are waiting for the sequel '2.0' . "Also his last few films haven't done well. The promos of 'Kaala' haven't established a connect with Hindi audiences. It looks like a 1990s' film. But we hope they have some great story to be shared which may be liked and the film does well," said Mohan. Atul Mohan also warns about the competition. "'Kaala' has to compete with a Steven Spielberg franchise 'Jurassic World' which is a huge event. Also, a section of Rajinikanth's audience is not happy with his entry into politics," said Mohan. Oscar-winning sound designer Resul Pookutty who has worked repeatedly with Rajini on "Ra.One", "Robot" etc, agrees that Rajini's politics could be a negative force in his career. "I have not been following 'Kaala' release or its prospects, but I would imagine, the socio-political stand Rajini Sir has taken in the past one year people might have started looking at him differently from the demi-god that he used to be," he said. --IANS skj/nv/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Afghan government on Thursday announced an eight-day ceasefire with the Taliban in response to a historic ruling issued by hundreds of religious scholars. The ceasefire starting from the 27th day of Ramadan (June 13) will continue until the fifth day of Eid-ul-Fitr, President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani said in a statement. "With the ceasefire announcement, we epitomize the strength of the Afghan government and the will of the people for a peaceful resolution to the Afghan conflict," Tolo News quoted Ghani as saying, "This ceasefire is an opportunity for the Taliban to introspect that their violent campaign is not wining them hearts and minds but further alienating the Afghan people from their cause." On Monday, more than 2,000 Afghan religious scholars from across the country gathered in Kabul and issued the ruling, saying "the ongoing war in Afghanistan is forbidden under Islamic law". However, at the end of the gathering, a suicide bomber detonated himself where 14 people were killed and 17 others wounded. The Taliban has denied any involvement in the attack. --IANS ksk/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Username: Password: or Register Thread Rating: 1 Vote(s) - 5 Average 1 2 3 4 5 Madman Trump justifies tariffs against Canada over war of ...1812 LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 443429 06-07-2018 08:00 AM Post: #1 Madman Trump justifies tariffs against Canada over war of ...1812 Advertisement https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/06/politics/...index.html According to the sources, Trudeau pressed Trump on how he could justify the tariffs as a "national security" issue. In response, Trump quipped to Trudeau, "Didn't you guys burn down the White House?" referring to the War of 1812. The problem with Trump's comments to Trudeau is that British troops burned down the White House during the War of 1812. According to the sources, Trudeau pressed Trump on how he could justify the tariffs as a "national security" issue. In response, Trump quipped to Trudeau, "Didn't you guys burn down the White House?" referring to the War of 1812.The problem with Trump's comments to Trudeau is that British troops burned down the White House during the War of 1812. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 444846 06-07-2018 08:01 AM Post: #2 RE: Madman Trump justifies tariffs against Canada over war of ...1812 Impressive! Impressive! LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 443429 06-07-2018 04:13 PM Post: #3 RE: Madman Trump justifies tariffs against Canada over war of ...1812 Of course this will never be pinned here but this is pure madness. Damn, the war of 1812! Eustace Muffins Banned User ID: 259224 06-07-2018 04:27 PM Posts: 11,088 Post: #4 RE: Madman Trump justifies tariffs against Canada over war of ...1812 LoP Guest Wrote: (06-07-2018 08:00 AM) https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/06/politics/...index.html According to the sources, Trudeau pressed Trump on how he could justify the tariffs as a "national security" issue. In response, Trump quipped to Trudeau, "Didn't you guys burn down the White House?" referring to the War of 1812. The problem with Trump's comments to Trudeau is that British troops burned down the White House during the War of 1812. I already debunked this fake news nonsense on the other thread. You spammers suck at regurgitating bullshit. I already debunked this fake news nonsense on the other thread. You spammers suck at regurgitating bullshit. Looky lop guest User ID: 441568 06-07-2018 04:32 PM Post: #5 RE: Madman Trump justifies tariffs against Canada over war of ...1812 Eustace Muffins Wrote: (06-07-2018 04:27 PM) LoP Guest Wrote: (06-07-2018 08:00 AM) https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/06/politics/...index.html According to the sources, Trudeau pressed Trump on how he could justify the tariffs as a "national security" issue. In response, Trump quipped to Trudeau, "Didn't you guys burn down the White House?" referring to the War of 1812. The problem with Trump's comments to Trudeau is that British troops burned down the White House during the War of 1812. I already debunked this fake news nonsense on the other thread. You spammers suck at regurgitating bullshit. They work on time and pressure, if they can keep the pressure up long enough they will break their opposition. They work on time and pressure, if they can keep the pressure up long enough they will break their opposition. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 209029 06-07-2018 04:35 PM Post: #6 RE: Madman Trump justifies tariffs against Canada over war of ...1812 Hey hey hey Canada has been living on borrowed time.. We can only afford one wall and Canada must be annexed vExceed Registered User User ID: 188208 06-07-2018 05:24 PM Posts: 1,953 Post: #7 RE: Madman Trump justifies tariffs against Canada over war of ...1812 LoP Guest Wrote: (06-07-2018 04:35 PM) Hey hey hey Canada has been living on borrowed time.. We can only afford one wall and Canada must be annexed Good Luck... You couldn't hold Canada... it's a much bigger country than you think.. Good Luck...You couldn't hold Canada... it's a much bigger country than you think.. "Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son" ~ Dean Wormer. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 444752 06-07-2018 05:25 PM Post: #8 RE: Madman Trump justifies tariffs against Canada over war of ...1812 It was just a joke and it is kind of true since Canada was a British colony full of Brits that was stationing British troops during the war. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 384149 06-07-2018 05:32 PM Post: #9 RE: Madman Trump justifies tariffs against Canada over war of ...1812 Fake News LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 443429 06-07-2018 05:49 PM Post: #10 RE: Madman Trump justifies tariffs against Canada over war of ...1812 LoP Guest Wrote: (06-07-2018 05:25 PM) It was just a joke and it is kind of true since Canada was a British colony full of Brits that was stationing British troops during the war. America was also a British colony once. Hey why don't you restart the 100 years war for a joke? America was also a British colony once. Hey why don't you restart the 100 years war for a joke? Fashion designer Kate Spade, who was found dead in her apartment here, was depressed over her business problems and separation from her husband, which was causing her to drink a lot, said police officials. Law enforcement sources told tmz.com that Kate was alone in her apartment when she tied a scarf around her neck, attached it to her closet door knob and hanged herself in her bedroom. According to tmz.com, her husband, Andy Spade, was not in the apartment. The couple had separated and he was living in a nearby building. The sources say Andy told police that he was separated from Kate for a couple of months. Andy added that he was at his apartment when he learned that Kate had committed suicide. Andy told the cops that Kate "was drinking a lot," and was depressed by business problems and their separation. As TMZ.com reported, he wanted a divorce but she did not. It puts her suicide note in a somewhat different light. In the note, she tells her 13-year-old daughter it was not her fault, adding, "Ask Daddy!" suggesting that she blames Andy. --IANS nv/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Thursday that Congress MLAs were supporting "terror" groups, angering the opposition and leading to chaos in the Assembly. There was pandemonium as opposition members shouted slogans against Vijayan and the Home Department for failing to protect a Non-Resident Indian (NRI) who was brutally beaten up by the police late on Tuesday soon after landing in Kochi for Ramadan holidays. Speaking in the House, which has of late regularly experienced ruckus, Vijayan said "knowingly or unknowingly" certain Congress legislators were supporting "terror" groups. The curt remark did not go down well with opposition MLAs. Congress member Anwar Sadath went hammer and tongs against the manner in which NRI Usman was beaten up by four policemen, leaving him with a fractured cheekbone. Vijayan said it had come to light that it was Usman who first hit the policemen. An angry opposition then trooped to the Speaker's podium shouting slogans against Vijayan. Vijayan hit back, saying a section of the people think they are above the law of the land. "I know Alwaye (where the incident took place) very well. None should forget that this was the place where a bus burning terror incident took place sometime back. Among the people who created a ruckus after Usman's arrest were those with 'terror' links. "Those who are now making a noise now do not want me to speak. In some way or the other, these people are helping such 'terror' groups," said a visibly angry Chief Minister. Vijayan also came down hard on Anwar Sadath, who in his speech said that he being a Muslim observing fast was raising the issue. "What Sadath did by bringing in words like 'fast' and 'Ramadan' is purposefully raising communal passion and that can lead to tensions. "This is in no way acceptable... Everyone knows what the Left ideology is towards such groups and we never ever have travelled with such groups," added Vijayan. Following the remarks, the sloganeering rose further, prompting Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan to adjourn the House for the day. Wednesday's proceedings also had to be wound up early following a similar protest by the opposition. Congress leader K.C. Joseph slammed Vijayan for portraying Alwaye in poor light. The Chief Minister rubbished the insinuation that his Home Department had lost control over the police. "Nothing of that sort has happened. Things are firmly under control. No one should worry." --IANS sg/in/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) French President Emmanuel Macron has arrived here and met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ahead of the 44th G7 Summit on Friday, that was expected to be dominated by political and trade differences between the US and its allies. The meeting between Macron and Trudeau will help the two leaders to agree on and create a common front against America, after US President Donald Trump, decided to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from Canada, Europe and Japan. Macron, accompanied by his wife, Brigitte, arrived here at 3.20 p.m. and shortly after met Trudeau in the Canadian Parliament, Efe news reported. On Thursday, the two will meet again before proceeding to Montreal to meet with Philippe Couillard, the Premier of the French-speaking province Quebec. Later in the day, Macron plans to travel to a luxury hotel in La Malbaie, about 140 km east of Quebec City, where the G7 Summit will begin with the leaders of Germany, Canada, the US, France, Italy, Japan and the UK, among others, participating. The summit has gained importance because of growing tensions between the Western allies. US tariffs and punitive actions taken by the European Union and Canada have widened the gap between leaders threatening the start of a trade war. Trudeau on Tuesday said the discussions at the G7 Summit, should have dealt primarily with sustainable and equitable economic growth and gender issues, instead it will be "straightforward and at times difficult" because of Trump's policies. --IANS in/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The CPI-M on Thursday accused Maharashtra's BJP government of persecuting those who were "engaged in defending the victims" of the Bhima-Koregaon violence, and urged all "democratic-minded people" to protest against such "highhanded actions" of the government. "The Politbureau of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) expresses its strong disapproval over the manner in which the Maharashtra government and its police is dealing with the aftermath of the widespread violence against large sections of the Dalit population who had congregated in Bhima-Koregaon to commemorate the anniversary of the battle which was started to be observed by B.R. Ambedkar himself," the CPI-M said in a statement. The Left party said that it was "reprehensible" that instead of booking the "culprits who perpetrated the violence in Bhima-Koregaon" and pursuing the perpetrators, the BJP-led state government was "unleashing steps towards persecuting those who are engaged in defending the victims including the invoking of UAPA". Violence had erupted in Bhima-Koregaon in Maharashtra on January 1 this year as thousands of Dalits gathered there to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the victory of the Mahar regiment over the Peshwas. One person died in the violence and several were injured. The Pune Police on Wednesday arrested six people including activists and a lawyer in connection with the violence. Those arrested from Delhi, Mumbai and Nagpur are activists Rona Wilson, Rana Jacob, Sudhir Dhawale, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut and lawyer Surendra Gadling. While Dhawale is the editor of fortnightly magazine "Vidrohi", Gadling is an advocate who has represented former Delhi University professor G.N. Saibaba, among others, in the court. According to reports, the police have booked them under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). "The Politbureau appeals to all democratic minded people who cherish justice to protest such highhanded actions of the government as this will lead to further alienation of those suffering injustices and now to suffer from the government's clear double-standards," the CPI-M added. --IANS mak/him/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Riyadh, June 7 (IANS/MAP) A visiting Moroccan official held talks here with his Saudi Arabian counterpart to step up bilateral cooperation in the areas of public administration modernization and human resources management. In a statement to MAP, Morocco's Minister Delegate for Administration and Civil Service Reform, Mohamed Ben Abdelkader underlined the importance of cooperation between the two countries to further strengthen the existing bilateral ties. He added that Wednesday's meeting also provided the opportunity to discuss bilateral and multilateral cooperation within the framework of the Arab Organisation for Administrative Development. He also said he invited his Saudi counterpart Sulaiman bin Abdullah Al-Hamdan to participate in the UN Public Service Forum to be held from June 21 to 23 in Marrakech on the theme 'Transforming governance to realize the Sustainable Development Goals'. --IANS/MAP ksk/sar (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The US State Department is evacuating several Americans from China amid health concerns about mysterious symptoms arising after unusual noises detected by US diplomats and their families working in the consulate in Guangzhou. After initial screenings by a medical team dispatched last month when the first incident was reported, the State Department has sent a number of affected people to the US for further evaluation, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said on Wednesday. "US medical professionals will continue to conduct full evaluations to determine the cause of the reported symptoms and whether the findings are consistent with those noted in previously affected government personnel or possibly completely unrelated," Nauert said. The evacuation was the first sign that the unexplained ailments previously known to have afflicted only one US government employee in China have now broadened and threaten to become a full-blown health crisis like the one that affected at least 24 American diplomats and their families in Cuba. The latest round of evacuations began on Wednesday in China. More diplomats and their dependents are expected to be sent home in coming days. On May 23, the State Department issued a health alert for China after revealing that one employee of the Guangzhou consulate had reported hearing strange noises and exhibiting symptoms of brain injury. It described his experience as "subtle and vague, but abnormal, sensations of sound and pressure", and ordered the employee's evacuation, The Washington Post reported. Last month, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo noted the striking similarities between the one reported case in China and those experienced by at least 24 Americans connected to the US Embassy in Havana. Many of them were diagnosed with signs of minor brain trauma, like concussions, after hearing eerily disturbing noises starting in late 2016 and continuing through most of last year. In response, Washington downsized the US diplomatic staff in Havana and prohibited families from joining the diplomats who stayed. The country also expelled 15 Cuban diplomats in retaliation, accusing Cuba of failing to protect American envoys. --IANS ksk/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Mohammad Ashiq Baba, one of the arrested accused in the terror attack on Nagrota Army camp in Jammu and Kashmir in 2016, had visited Pakistan four times "legally" with a reference letter issued by senior Hurriyat leaders, the NIA said on Thursday. "As part of conspiracy to conduct attacks on the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir, terrorist Baba visited Pakistan four times, crossing the Wagah border between 2015 to 2017 legally," a National Investigation Agency (NIA) official said in Delhi. "He obtained his visas after getting reference letters from Huriyat leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Abdul Gani Bhat and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq," the official added. The officer revealed that Baba met Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) commanders in Pakistan and took directions from them after getting clearance from a local ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) agent. "Baba thereafter, on return, received instructions on how and when to receive the group of terrorists. "Baba later went to Pakistan in April/May 2017, and met Waseem, Abu Talha and Mufti Ashghar. He also met Maulana Rauf, brother of Maulana Masood Azhar, and an accused in the Pathankot attack case at their headquarters at Bahawalpur," the official revealed. The counter-terror probe agency also said that the three terrorists arrested for the November 2016 attack on the camp -- Baba, JeM operative Syed Muneer-Ul-Hasan-Qadri and Pulwama-based timber dealer Tariq Ahmad Dar -- were in regular touch with JeM commanders based in Pakistan. "... they were in contact through Whatsapp voice and text messages with Maulana Mufti Ashghar based in Muzaffarabad, whose nephew Waqas, a JeM commander in south Kashmir, died in a shootout with security forces near Pulwama. "They were also in touch with Qari Zarar, another JeM commander in charge of launching terrorists into Jammu region, based out of Rawalpindi and Waseem and Abu Talha," the NIA official said. Seven soldiers were killed in the attack on the Nagrota Army camp in November 2016. Three attackers too were killed in the counter-operation. The official said that nearly a week prior to the attack, the three arrested accused were given GPS coordinates along the Samba Sector and possible targets along the Nagrota Army camp through Whatsapp from Pakistani handlers. They were also asked to conduct reconnaissance of these targets, which they did. The NIA claimed that the three accused received a group of three attackers on November 28, 2016, a day before the attack and travelled in two vehicles to Jammu after keeping their weapons concealed in one of the two cars owned by Dar and Baba. "They parked the car with weapons at a paid parking slot and then stayed at a hotel in Jammu. The same day, Baba took one of the attackers, Abu Hisham, to Nagrota to show him the spot to be attacked and returned to the hotel," the official said. The official said that later in the night, the three Indian terrorists left for the attack site along with the Pakistani attackers and were dropped near the Army camp. He said that Baba and Qadri received another group of three terrorists in March 2017 from the Samba Sector and dropped them at Khrew near Pampore. The NIA official said that a hefty amount of money originating from the Gulf countries was transferred into Baba's HDFC Bank account. --IANS aks/vd/him/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Nigerian man and two women from Tanzania have been arrested here on charges of cheating an Indian of Rs 10 lakh, police said on Thursday. The arrests followed a complaint from Grivesh Sharma, who said he transferred the money to the Africans for a purported business transaction after which they snapped all ties with him. The three revealed their identity as Ivoh of Nigeria and Jahara and Christina from Tanzania. The police recovered two laptops and three mobile phones from them, Senior Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Krishna said. --IANS sps/mr/nir (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Thursday dismissed all criticsm about former President Pranab Mukherjee attending an event at its headquarters here and said his presence is a not a matter of debate at all. "There has been a tradition that we invite well-known people from various walks of life for our Tritiya Varsh event. We are only following this tradition. There is no meaning in the discussion that has happened this time. "Everyone in this country knows the personality of Pranab Mukherjee. We are grateful that we are able to learn something from him. How Pranabji was called and how he is coming is not a matter of debate. Sangh is Sangh, Pranab is Pranab. There have been many debates about Pranab Mukjherjee attending the event but we do not consider anyone different from ourselves," the RSS chief said welcoming Mukherjee, whose acceptance of the invitation to the event has attracted sharp criticism from some Congress leaders and Left leaders -- as also his daughter. Bhagwat said the Sangh only wants to unite the entire society. "We embrace all, we are not just for one section. RSS believes in unity in diversity. Every citizen born in India is an Indian. It is his right to worship our motherland. We Indians are all one and united," he said. The RSS chief said India had great natural resources and so never needed to fight anyone for living. India accommodated everyone from outside. Several great minds laid down their lives for this country. "There are times when we had our differences but we are all sons of the same soil - India. Diversity should be accepted, it's good. We are all one, even in this diversity. Government alone cannot do everything, citizens also have to contribute. Only then can a country change," he said. He said there were times peole have differences. "But we are all sons of the same soil. We are all even in this." "Everybody has the right to have a political opinion but there is a limit to have opposing opinion. We should realise that we are working for the betterment of the same country but some groups have more motives than just debating. Governments can do a lot but not everything. "We need to take up the role individually as well. Only then can the nation change. Even before independence, everybody agreed that we need to work together for the nation. Political differences are now dividing us. The nation's future depends on common citizens. Only when citizens are willing to set aside their aspirations can a nation change for good," Bhagwat said. IANS aks/vsc/vm (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.) Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday flagged off an exposure visit of top 20 winners of the Young Astronomer Talent Search (YATS) edition here. The budding astronomers selected across Odisha will visit the Space Application Centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) at Ahmedabad. Besides, they will also get opportunity to interact with some top-notch space scientists of the country. Patnaik congratulated the winners for their interest in the unique programme and extended his best wishes for their ISRO visit. The 12th edition of YATS, organized by Tata Steel, was also launched by the Chief Minister on this occasion. YATS, organised by Tata Steel in association with Pathani Samanta Planetarium, has come to be regarded as a very popular initiative for schoolstudents of Odisha. "YATS is a unique programme which offers bright young minds of Odisha a platform to fuel their passion in space science. The 2017 edition of YATS saw participation of 32,800 students from 300 schools across all 30 districts of the state. Continuing our association with the Planetarium, in its 12th edition in 2018, we intend to make YATS much more enriching for the participating students," said Rajeev Singhal, Managing Director of Bhushan Steel, a Tata Steel group company. It started in 2007 to identify and encourage talent among schoolchildren in the field of astronomy and space science and to popularise the contributions of legendary astronomer from the state, Pathani Samanta. --IANS cd/tsb (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Username: Password: or Register Thread Rating: 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average 1 2 3 4 5 DOJ Reneges Commitment to Provide Trump Russia Docs to Congress LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 434171 06-07-2018 10:10 PM Post: #1 DOJ Reneges Commitment to Provide Trump Russia Docs to Congress Advertisement Moreover, the Justice Department also issued new stipulations for briefing congressional members and limited the meeting with only the Gang of Eight, which is comprised of eight leaders within Congress who are briefed on classified intelligence matters. This is yet another line of obfuscation, stonewalling and delay tactics by the DOJ These sources claim that briefing Gang of Eight lawmakers restricts the dissemination and discussion of the documents that will be taken for review. Although the DOJ contends that the documents are highly sensitive material, in reality, these documents are not considered to contain high-level national security information. So while it seems that DOJ is complying, congressional sources say it means that the documents provided may be highly redacted. A source familiar with the discussions stated that the documents, do not rise to Gang of Eight level material requiring such strict rules that would limit those members to discuss the material with other lawmakers. Lawmakers are also questioning the Justice Departments decision to provide the documents early next week during the highly anticipated start of the North Korea summit. A senior Justice Department official announced the briefing is, expected on Monday or Tuesday, depending on members schedules. On May 24, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA), Rep. Trey Gowdy, (R-SC) and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), met with DOJ officials and FBI Director Christopher Wray to discuss Nunes demand on April 24, for specific classified documents related to the committees investigation into the FBIs handling of the Russia/Trump investigation. According to a source familiar with the discussions, the DOJ pleaded with the members, not to say anything about the DOJ having brought the documents to the meeting. read the other half here: The Department of Justice reneged on a commitment to provide access to documents they promised to congressional lawmakers by Thursday morning. Instead, DOJ issued a press release after midnight suggesting they will only meet with a group of select lawmakers to discuss the matter on the same day the North Korea summit opens in Singapore, according to numerous sources and a DOJ statement.Moreover, the Justice Department also issued new stipulations for briefing congressional members and limited the meeting with only the Gang of Eight, which is comprised of eight leaders within Congress who are briefed on classified intelligence matters.This is yet another line of obfuscation, stonewalling and delay tactics by the DOJThese sources claim that briefing Gang of Eight lawmakers restricts the dissemination and discussion of the documents that will be taken for review. Although the DOJ contends that the documents are highly sensitive material, in reality, these documents are not considered to contain high-level national security information.So while it seems that DOJ is complying, congressional sources say it means that the documents provided may be highly redacted.A source familiar with the discussions stated that the documents, do not rise to Gang of Eight level material requiring such strict rules that would limit those members to discuss the material with other lawmakers.Lawmakers are also questioning the Justice Departments decision to provide the documents early next week during the highly anticipated start of the North Korea summit. A senior Justice Department official announced the briefing is, expected on Monday or Tuesday, depending on members schedules.On May 24, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA), Rep. Trey Gowdy, (R-SC) and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), met with DOJ officials and FBI Director Christopher Wray to discuss Nunes demand on April 24, for specific classified documents related to the committees investigation into the FBIs handling of the Russia/Trump investigation. According to a source familiar with the discussions, the DOJ pleaded with the members, not to say anything about the DOJ having brought the documents to the meeting.read the other half here: https://saraacarter.com/doj-reneges-comm...-congress/ LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 444939 06-07-2018 10:11 PM Post: #2 RE: DOJ Reneges Commitment to Provide Trump Russia Docs to Congress Just declassify the carp already The Odisha government on Thursday organised an investors' meet in Hyderabad to attract investments in Odisha. An Odisha delegation led by Industries Department Secretary Sanjeev Chopra met officials of 24 Hyderabad-based companies for potential investments and highlighted the strategic advantages Odisha held, such as low cost of doing business, incentives for investors, dedicated sector-specific clusters, availability of over 1.21 lakh acres of land bank for industrial development. A government spokesman said encouraging response was received from the 24 leading companies. Odisha's focus sectors are food processing and seafood, ancillary and downstream industries in metals sector, textiles, chemicals, plastics, and petrochemicals. "We are pleased to receive an encouraging response from the business community of Hyderabad. Odisha's investor-friendly policies and development of world-class infrastructure have received very positive feedback from investors across the country as we have been able to create an ideal business ecosystem for various sectors to flourish in the state," said Chopra. "We are positive about attracting significant investments from Hyderabad-based companies in the near future," said the official. The delegation also participated in a roadshow organised jointly with Indian Oil Corporation Limited in Hyderabad on Wednesday where strategic advantages and opportunities for manufacturing plastics at Paradip Plastics Park were showcased. The roadshow was attended by more than 50 entrepreneurs and potential investors. The Odisha delegation invited companies from Hyderabad to participate in the second edition of the biennial 'Make in Odisha Conclave 2018' scheduled to be held in Bhubaneswar from November 11-15. --IANS cd/tsb/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said his government's aim is to ensure affordable healthcare to every citizen and to achieve this it will open about 1,500 more generic medicine centre across the country. Speaking to the beneficiaries of government health schemes through 'video bridge', Modi termed health the basis of all success and prosperity and acknowledged that expenditure on it was a huge burden to many families. "...illness not only creates a huge financial burden on families, especially poor and middle class, but also affects our socio economic sectors. Hence, it is the endeavour of the government to ensure affordable healthcare to every citizen," a government statement quoted Modi as saying. In his fifth such interaction with the people, Modi said the Central government had opened more than 3,600 Jan Aushadhi Kendras all over the country where more than 700 generic medicines were available at affordable price. He said the number of these centres will reach over 5,000 in the near future. A major drain on health budget for poor and middle class families, the cost of stents has been brought down from around Rs 2 lakh to Rs 29,000, along with that of knee transplant, which now costs Rs 70,000 - 80,000 from Rs 2.5 lakh earlier, he said. "On that account, the reduction in knee transplant prices has saved close to Rs 1,500 crore for public," the statement read. On the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Dialysis Programme, Modi said the government had performed more than 22 lakh dialysis sessions for 2.25 lakh patients in more than 500 districts and his Mission Indradhanush had vaccinated 3.15 crore children and 80 lakh pregnant women in 528 districts. "In order to ensure more beds, more hospitals and more doctors, the government has opened 92 medical colleges and increased MBBS seats by 15,000." To make "healthcare affordable and accessible", he said, the government has launched the Ayushman Bharat scheme, under which 10 crore families will be covered with health insurance of Rs 5 lakh. The Prime Minister said the 'Swachh Bharat Abhiyan' scheme was playing a central role in creating a healthy India. --IANS vn/him/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Even as the Indian forces are maintaining a ceasefire against militants in Jammu and Kashmir and border truce with Pakistan, there have have been over 1,000 violations from the Pakistani side of the 2003 ceasefire agreement between New Delhi and Islamabad in 2018 alone, the External Affairs Ministry said on Thursday. "We always taken it very strongly, this matter of unprovoked ceasefire violation with the Pakistani side as it involves loss of life and property," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said at a media briefing here. "In fact, only this year, in 2018, there have been more than 1,000 unprovoked ceasefire violations by Pakistan," Kumar said. Stating that Pakistan uses the ceasefire violation to infiltrate terrorists into Indian territory, he said: "We have seen the results of such infiltration in the past. We hope that Pakistan will realise what it is doing and adheres by the 2003 ceasefire agreement between the two countries." India announced a ceasefire against militants in Jammu and Kashmir and a border truce with Pakistan on May 16 for the ongoing holy Muslim month of Ramadan. However, unprovoked ceasefire violations continued from the Pakistani side during this period. On Tuesday, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that security forces in Jammu and Kashmir will honour the Ramadan ceasefire and the border truce with Pakistan but any "unprovoked" attack won't go unanswered. "When it is an unprovoked attack, the Army was given the right to retaliate. We honour the ceasefire but, of course, a margin was given to us when it is an unprovoked attack. The ceasefire is the government of India decision and we abide by it," Sitharaman told reporters here. The border shooting has claimed 36 lives on the Indian side and left more than 120 injured this year. --IANS ab/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Over nine million students in China are appearing for the National Higher Entrance Examination that began on Thursday and will help determine their academic and professional future. A total of 9.75 million students will compete for the highest scores to enter the country's best universities, a according to Efe news. The students started on Thursday with a Chinese test, which will be followed by a science or social science exam. On Friday, the second and final day of exams will start with a common mathematics test and will conclude with an English test. To help students concentrate, Beijing authorities have urged bus drivers not to honk. The Ministry of issued a circular on Wednesday requesting examiners and educational departments to ensure noise control and to prevent students from suffering due to the heat. Since 2016, cheating in the exams also known as "gaokao" has been deemed a crime that is included in the Chinese Penal code and punishable by up to seven years in prison. Criminals offer gadgets to help students cheat, such as clothes equipped with microphones. Given the number of candidates and the number of places offered, about one in four students will not score enough to go to college. --IANS and/ksk/sar (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two crew members were injured after a Pakistan Army Aviation's helicopter made a crash landing during a medical mission in the country's Balochistan province on Thursday, the military said. An Army statement said the incident occurred when the chopper was shifting an injured paramilitary member of Frontier Corps from Kohlu district to Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, for medical treatment. A statement from the Army's media wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said the pilots were safe. --IANS ahm/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan was on Thursday shown black flags by protesters in his parliamentary constituency Hajipur in Bihar, police said. Over two dozen protesters belonging to the Sanyukt Sangharsh Morcha waved black flags at the convoy of the Lok Janshakti Party supremo near a hotel in Hajipur, the district headquarters of Vaishali, where he was slated to address the media on the completion of four years of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government. The protesters said they were expressing displeasure over Paswan's alleged neglect of Hajipur since 2014. "No development project has been started or new work undertaken in Hajipur," they claimed. --IANS ik/tsb/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Speaking at its headquarters, former President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday did some plain-speaking on nationalism and patriotism to RSS cadre telling them that India's multiple faiths and cultures made it tolerant and that the soul of the nation resided in its pluralism and secularism. Calling for a dialogue to balance competing interests and reconcile them, he made it clear that hatred dilutes nationalism and intolerance will dilute national identity. "Divergent stands in public discourse have to be recognised." Sharing "some truths that I have internalized during my 50 year long public life" as a parliamentarian and administrator, he said the soul of India resided in "pluralism and tolerance". "This plurality of our society has come through assimilation of ideas over centuries. Secularism and inclusion are a matter of faith for us. It is our composite culture which makes us into one nation," he said addressing the third year annual training camp at the RSS headquarters here even as his acceptance of the invitation to the event came in for strong criticism from Congress leaders and Left parties. Invoking the vision of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel, Mukherhjee said India's nationhood was not one language, one religion or one enemy. "It's the perennial one universalism of 1.3 billion people who use more than 122 languages, 1,600 dialects in their every day lives, practice seven major religions, belong to three major ethnic groups... live under one system, one flag and one identity of being 'Bharatiya' and have no enemies. That is what makes India a diverse and united nation," he said, speaking in English and peppering his speech with some words and phrases from his mother tongue Bengali. He said intolerance diluted nationalism and hate was destroying people. "Only a non-violent society can ensure participation of all sections of people in the democratic process, especially marginalized and dispossesed. We must move from violence, anger and conflict to peace, harmony and happiness. Our motherland is asking for that. Our motherland deserves that," Mukherjee said in his 30-minute address. The former President surprised the political world when he accepted RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's invitation to attend the organisation's event at its headquarters. While the Congress officially maintained silence, its leaders including Anand Sharma, Ahmed Patel and his own daughter Sharmistha were critical of it. As television channels beamed images of Mukherjee watching a drill by RSS cadres in the company of Bhagwat, Sharma tweeted that the image of Mukherjee at the RSS headquarters has anguished millions of Congress workers in the country. Earlier, Mukherjee, who had strongly denounced the saffron founthead during his entire political career, visited the memorial of RSS founder K.B. Hedgewar and wrote in the visitors' book: "Came here to pay my respect and homage to a great son of India K.B. Hedgewarji." On patriotism, the former Congress leader said: "From our Constitution flows our nationalism. The construct of Indian nationalism is Constitutional patriotism which consists of an appreciation of our inherited and shared diversity, readiness to enact one citizenship at different levels and an ability to self correct and learn from others." At the outset, he said he wanted to share with RSS cadres his understanding of the concepts of nation, nationalism and patriotism in the context of India -- that is Bharat. "These three concepts are so closely intertwined that it's difficult to discuss any one of them in isolation." --IANS aks-sid-vv-ps/sar/vsc/vd/him/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Thursday said the government is committed to finding out a permanent solution to the water crisis in Shimla. He said a long-term project was being formulated that would cater to the drinking water needs of the city at least for five decades. Thakur told reporters here that he recently met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi and submitted him a proposal for a drinking water project and it was on his request that the Prime Minister sent a team of the Central Water Commission to the state. Besides, he also sought a funding of Rs 200 crore for augmentation of water supply from the Union Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri. The Chief Minister said the government had set a target to supply extra 10 million litres per day (MLD) water to Shimla from Chaba within a year with an outlay of around Rs 80 crore. He said a proposal for a water harvesting project involving Rs 4,700 crore had also been sent for approval of the government of India for Shimla town under which work would be done for augmentation of water resources to maintain the ground water level. Thakur said the state government would also explore the possibilities to expedite work on lifting water to Shimla from Kol dam. Planned by the British for a maximum population of 16,000, Shimla -- now with a population of nearly 200,000 -- requires 42 MLD water. According to officials, the city is getting 30-32 MLD on an average every day and the residents are getting water once in three-four days. --IANS vg/nir/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh arrived here on Thursday for a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir to review the security situation amid an ongoing Ramadan ceasefire which the militants have flouted. In his meetings with Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, Governor N.N. Vohra and security and intelligence officials, Rajnath Singh and his senior officials are likely to take a call on whether to extend the ceasefire beyond the Muslim month of fasting that ends of June 15. However, since the annual Amarnath pilgrimage is beginning on June 28, some security officials both in Delhi as well in Srinagar don't favour the idea of continuing with the halt in anti-militancy operations in the state. Since the central government announced the ceasefire decision on May 16, militants have re-launched hit-and-run grenade and IED attacks on security forces. Before leaving Delhi, Rajnath Singh said his visit will also involve interaction with youths, people living in border areas and other sections of the society in Jammu and Kashmir. While the state government wants the continuation of the Ramadan ceasefire beyond Eid, informed sources suggested the field commanders of the Army have argued that the cessation of hostilities from only one side was helping the militants to regroup and recruit boys. On Thursday evening, Rajnath Singh is likely to attend an Iftar party hosted by Mehbooba Mufti. Another important agenda on the Home Minister's priority list would be to deliberate upon the response of the separatist leaders to the offer of talks. While Rajnath Singh has said that the central government was ready to talk to everyone including the separatists, BJP's National General Secretary Ram Madhav recently made an offer to the separatists to engage in a meaningful dialogue and end the Kashmir imbroglio. The separatist leaders have been demanding clarity in the talks offer so that their engagement in the dialogue would yield results. The Muzaffarabad-based conglomerate of armed groups, the United Jehad Council (UJC), has applied breaks on any imminent possibility of the Kashmiri separatist leaders to engage with the government. A statement issued by the UJC a few weeks earlier said talks would only be held with the government once India accepted Kashmir as a disputed territory. In addition to his all important security and political agenda, the Home Minister will also review the implementation of various Centrally sponsored developmental programmes. On the second day of his visit, he will review the security along the international border in Jammu and also deliberate on the situation arising because of the migration of border residents each time Pakistan violates the bilateral ceasefire on the border. --IANS sq-akk/sar/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will arrive to Jammu and Kashmir's Srinagar on Thursday for a two-day visit to the state. The Home Minister, after reviewing law and order situation with the state Governor N.N.Vohra, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and senior officials of various state and Central departments, will take a call on whether the present suspension of operations against the militants would be extended after the Eid festival to cover the annual Amarnath Yatra. Security for the Amarnath Yatra, beginning on June 28, will be reviewed by the Home Minister during his stay in the state. While the state government wants the continuation of the Ramadan ceasefire beyond the Eid, top sources suggest the field commanders of the Army have argued that the cessation of hostilities from only one side is helping the militants to regroup and increase their numbers through recruitment of local boys. Another important agenda on the Home Minister's priority list would be to deliberate upon the response of the separatist leaders to the offer of talks. While Singh has said that the Centre is ready to talk to everyone including the separatists, BJP's National General Secretary Ram Madhav recently made an offer to the separatists to engage in a meaningful dialogue with the Centre. The separatist leaders have been demanding clarity in the talks offer so that their engagement in the dialogue would yield results. Muzaffarabad-based conglomerate of armed groups, the United Jehad Council (UJC), has applied breaks on any imminent possibility of the Kashmiri separatist leaders to engage with the Indian government. A statement issued by the UJC few weeks earlier said that talks would only be held with the Indian government once India accepts Kashmir as a dispute. In addition to his all important security and political agenda, the Home Minister will also review the implementation of various Centrally sponsored developmental programmes. On the second day of his visit, the Singh will review the security along the international border in Jammu and also deliberate on the situation that has been arising because of the migration of border residents each time Pakistan violates the bilateral ceasefire on the border. Jitendra Singh, MoS (PMO), and a team of senior Home Ministry officials will accompany Singh during the visit. --IANS sq/qd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Turkish army clears 400 sq km of Iraqi border region At least 155 terrorists have been neutralized since launch of air-supported counterterrorism operation on March 11 Turkish Armed Forces' air-backed operations, which were launched on March 11, against the PKK terror camps in northern Iraq has so far cleared 400 square kilometers of area and neutralized 155 terrorists. ANTI-TERROR OPERATIONS CONTINUE Turkish authorities often use the word "neutralized" in their statements to imply that the terrorists in question either surrendered or were killed or captured. Following a successful counterterrorism operation against the PKK/PYD in Syria under the scope of Operation Olive Branch, Turkish forces now continue their determined operations against terrorist camps in northern Iraq. On Jan. 20, Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch to remove YPG/PKK and Daesh terrorists from northwestern Syria's Afrin region. On March 18, Day 58 of the operation, Turkish troops and Free Syrian Army members liberated the town of Afrin while also neutralizing 4,497 terrorists. The cross border operations coordinated by the Second Army Commander, Lt. Gen. Ismail Metin Temel, and conducted by commando units located in southeastern Hakkari province's Yuksekova district have already neutralized 155 terrorists since March 11. Turkish soldiers have established 11 bases along the 23 kilometer-long border line, clearing terrorists and displaying an exemplary active combat against PKK terror group, 24/7, and preventing possible infiltration of terrorists into Turkey. Northern Iraq's Hakurk, Armus camps as well as Avasin Basyan, Kani Rash, Bermize and Sidekan, known as the terror group PKK's so-called "rear guard logistic base", are now all under the control of Turkish soldiers. Security sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to media restrictions, said the terror group's so-called ranking leaders have withdrawn from the above mentioned regions and fled to Mt. Qandil region. Turkish soldiers have also seized a number of explosives, ammunition and living goods during the operations, as the Turkish army strongly retaliates against the terrorists' attacks. In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- has been responsible for the death of some 40,000 people, including women and children. Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday signalled to separatists to come forward for talks to solve the Kashmir issue but stopped short of extending an invitation to them even as he said the government was ready for dialogue with "right-minded" people, not necessarily like-minded. The Home Minister began his two-day trip to the state to assess security situation in the aftermath of a unilateral and unconditional Ramadan ceasefire announced by the government. In his fresh outreach to Kashmiris, he lavished praises on the youth of the state for their multi-faceted talent that could be channelised positively to change the "tasveer" (image) and "taqdeer" (destiny) of Jammu and Kashmir. He said the government, ready to talk with all without any pre-conditions, won't not be deterred in its aim to bring lasting peace to Kashmir, "no matter how many obstacles come in our way". "We can talk to anyone. We are open to talks with all. But talks should be for peace. For talks, you need not to speak to like-minded people but it is important to talk to right-minded people," Rajnath Singh said here in a joint news conference with Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti. The Central government, he said, intended to open a dialogue in Kashmir and as such its Special Representative Dineshwar Sharma visited the state 11 times since he was appointed in October last year. "He (Sharma) doesn't come here on tourist trips. He meets the people of the state to find solutions to their problems. I am sticking to what I said on my first visit to Kashmir (as Home Minister) that we want talks with every section of the society to resolve their problems." He said the BJP government was firmly committed to solve the problems of Kashmir and not let them linger on. "We will surely find a solution to the problem of Kashmir." The Home Minister is in the state to review the security situation following the May 16 ceasefire announced by the Central government during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan which ends on June 15. Amid speculations that the halt in anti-militancy operations may be extended, Rajnath Singh said the issue would be discussed with the Chief Minister before taking a final call. He said nothing could be ruled out. The final call on the issue is likely to be taken on Friday when Rajnath Singh and his officials will meet Mehbooba Mufti, Governor N.N. Vohra and security and intelligence officials. Since the Central government announced the ceasefire, militants have launched many hit-and-run grenade and IED attacks on security forces. Informed sources suggested the Army commanders have argued that the cessation of hostilities from only one side was helping the militants to regroup and recruit boys. Earlier, addressing over 3,000 boys and girls, mostly sportspersons, at the Sher-e-Kashmir Indoor Stadium here, the Home Minister said if backed by the youth of the state "no power on earth can stop us from beginning a new dawn in Kashmir". He said his government and the people of the country have "a lot of love for Kashmir", asking youth of the state to bring development and prosperity. "We will change the tasveer and the taqdeer of Jammu and Kashmir... I assure you all. "I assure you that we will do all that we can... and even a bit extra to ensure that our brothers and sisters in Jammu and Kashmir progress with the rest of the country," he said defending the government's decision to withdraw about 10,000 cases against first-time stone-pelters. Rajnath Singh said the Central government was keen to provide an opportunity to the youth of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh regions so that they could get employment. --IANS sq-rak-sar/vd/him/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A lawyers body on Thursday demanded the immediate and unconditional release of advocate Surendra Gadling and four others arrested on charges of being "Maoist sympathisers" who incited communal disharmony during the Bhima-Koregaon violence. "A new trend has been started in this country -- to arrest and terrorise activists who speak up for Dalits, Adivasis and undertrials," said lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj of the Indian Association of People's Lawyers, of which Gadling is General Secretary. "Those who are defending the innocents arrested in the Bhima-Koregaon violence are now roped into this case." She said that the arrests were aimed to discourage the unity forged by the Dalits and Bahujans against "castiest-Hindutva forces". Gadling was arrested on Wednesday in a joint operation by Delhi and Pune Police from his house in Nagpur under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The arrests were made in connection with an FIR registered on January 8 by Vishrambaug police in Maharashtra. Four others arrested in Mumbai and Delhi are Nagpur University Professor Shomen Sen, Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson and Mahesh Raut. "Though the FIR did not name Gadling, police still raided his house and office and confiscated all CDs, hard disks, computers, including his family's personal devices," Sudha alleged. She said that Investigating officers Suhash Bawche and Ravindra Kadam -- who had earlier arrested Delhi University Professor G.N. Saibaba -- arrested Gadling. Another lawyer Nithya Srikrishnan claimed that Milind Eknote and Sambhaji Bhide, who "provoked violence" in Bhima-Koregaon, were roaming scot-free despite rejection of their anticipatory bail applications by the Supreme Court. The leaders of the Nagpur-based Democratic Advocates Association for Constitutional Action said that Gadling was in the forefront to fight cases pertaining to Khairlanji protests' aftermath, Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar police firing agitation cases and murder cases of Manorama Kamble and Sanjay Khobragade. --IANS sm/tsb/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The BJP will soon formally seek an appointment with Goa Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao as part of its 'Sampark se Samarthan' outreach programme to inform social influencers about achievements of the ruling party, an official said on Thursday. "As part of the 'Sampark se Samarthan' programme, we will be seeking an appointment with the Archbishop this week. We will be briefing him about the achievements of the Narendra Modi government," a state BJP officer said on condition of anonymity. This is expected to be the first interaction of the Archbishop with BJP office-bearers after the former's pastoral letter earlier this week in which he claimed that India's Constitution was in danger, triggered controversy. The BJP has refrained from commenting on the observations made by Ferrao, who also said that "mono-culturalism" and threats over food habits, freedom of expressions were infringements of human rights. Premanand Mahambre, state spokesperson of the BJP, told reporters that party office-bearers on Thursday met Swami Brahmanand of the influential Kundaim tapobhumi ashram in south Goa and presented him a booklet of achievements. The Swami has a large following among Goa's 'bahujan samaj' which includes a majority of the castes, barring Brahmins. "Our office-bearers including the state BJP president Vinay Tendulkar and General Secretary Sadanand Shet Tanavde met Swami Brahmanand and apprised him about the various development programmes launched by the BJP government in the country and explained to him about the benefits received by Goa for development," Mahambre said. --IANS maya/him/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A soldier injured in a gunfight with militants near the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday succumbed to injuries in a hospital. Defence sources said Sepoy Sukhvinder Singh of the Rashtriya Rifles died in army's base hospital here. After the soldier's condition deteriorated, he was shifted from army's Drugmulla hospital in Kupwara district to 92 base hospital in Badamibagh area here. Two soldiers were injured earlier in the day in Keran sector when a patrol party of the Rashtriya Rifles intercepted a group of three-four militants trying to sneak into the state from Pakistan, triggering a gunfight. --IANS sq/him/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Porn star Stormy Daniels has filed a new lawsuit against Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, as well as her former attorney, Keith Davidson, saying the two men "colluded" and "acted in concert" to "manipulate" her and to benefit the US President. The lawsuit, filed in the Superior Court of California on Wednesday, is the latest in Daniels' continuing onslaught against Cohen, led by her Los Angeles-based lawyer, Michael Avenatti -- and all rooted in the adult film star's alleged sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, reports CNN. Wednesday's lawsuit alleges that in January when Davidson was still representing Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, "Cohen immediately colluded with Davidson in an attempt to use and manipulate Clifford in a manner designed to benefit Cohen and Trump". The men sprung into action, the lawsuit alleges, when they became aware of the forthcoming publication of an In Touch magazine article that would detail Daniels' descriptions of her alleged affair with Trump. The lawsuit also includes alleged text messages exchanged between Cohen and Davidson that appear to show communications between January and March. "These text messages show that the prior denials by Trump and Cohen relating to what Trump knew and about the honesty of my client were absolute lies," Avenatti told CNN on Wednesday. "There was a significant cover-up here as part of an attempt to deceive the American people and Mrs. Trump and we intend on getting to the bottom of it." Avenatti said he was trying to get his hands on more text messages. "This new lawsuit filed by Stephanie Clifford aka Stormy Daniels has no merit whatsoever as to my client, Michael Cohen. It appears to be yet another publicity stunt, and nothing more. We look forward to defeating the lawsuit in court," said Brent Blakely, Cohen's attorney. Dave Wedge, a spokesman for Davidson, also slammed the new lawsuit. "This outrageously frivolous lawsuit is yet another desperate attempt by Michael Avenatti to continue his 'publicity tour', as well as divert attention from the recent allegations against him relating to bankruptcy proceedings and the failure to withhold millions of federal employee taxes," Wedge added. --IANS ksk (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that his anticipated June 12 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will be "much more than a photo-op," although he warned that it will be merely the first step in "a process" that will require other meetings. "I think it's not a one-meeting deal," Trump said in the presence of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is visiting Washington to iron out the details of the summit to be held in Singapore. When asked how many days he would be willing to stay in Singapore to discuss issues with Kim, Trump answered, "One, two, three, depending on what happens." Trump went on to say that he believes he will determine very quickly whether or not Kim is serious about addressing the US demands, which include full denuclearization, Efe reported. "I don't think I have to prepare very much," Trump said. "It's about attitude. It's about willingness to get things done." The US President went on to say that "I think I've been prepared for this summit for a long time, as has the other side. ... So this isn't a question of preparation, it's a question of whether or not people want it to happen." "They have to de-nuke," Trump said regarding the Kim regime. "If they don't denuclearize that will not be acceptable. And we cannot take sanctions off." Despite the on-off-on character of the summit -- with Trump cancelling the meeting two weeks ago but word coming out a couple of days later that it was back on again -- the White House in recent days has expressed optimism that the summit will lead to Pyongyang abandoning its nuclear programme. Kim had expressed his willingness to give up his nuclear arms during the summit held by North and South Korea on their mutual border on April 27, but he does not want that requirement to be unilaterally imposed and prefers a process of gradual disarmament. Trump said that at a minimum he wants the current negotiations to be the beginning of a good relationship between Pyongyang and Seoul. The two Koreas have been in a technical state of war since 1953, given that the 1950-1953 conflict on the peninsula ended in a cease-fire rather than with a formal peace treaty. --IANS qd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Taiwan on Thursday staged live-fire military drills in Taichung city in the presence of President Tsai Ing-wen, amid growing tensions with China. On the fourth day of the Han Kuang drills, the Taiwanese army simulated a full counter-attack against an enemy strike Combat between the island's artillery and 16 F-16 fighter jets, posing as imaginary enemies, while 12 local Jingguo and eight F-16s staged the defence, according to a statement from the Ministry of National Defence. These drills are being conducted at a time when China has intensified its military intimidation by sending in the vicinity of Taiwan aircraft carriers, including the Liaoning vessel and ships, and conducting security manoeuvre in the Taiwan Strait, Efe news reported. Beijing has also intensified its efforts to isolate Taiwan on the international stage, leading to the World Health Organisation rejecting Taiwanese participation as an observer member in May and two diplomatic allies of Taiwan severing ties that same month. The island has intensified its military cooperation with the US and the development of indigenous military hardware, including progress with missile and drone development. --IANS and/ksk/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Indian Navy on Thursday inducted three microlight "Garud" planes to monitor bird activity near the Dabolim International Airport here, an official statement said. "The induction of these microlights is aimed at enhancing surveillance on bird activities around the air station and for augmenting preventive measures to neutralize the bird menace which poses a potential hazard in flying operations," a Navy statement said. Designed and manufactured in Slovenia, the fixed-wing aircraft with low weight, slow landing speed and short landing roll will be stationed at the Indian Navy station (INS) Hansa in south Goa. These aircraft, besides being used in the Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy, are also utilized for training in the National Cadet Corps, the statement said. --IANS maya/mag/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President Donald Trump on Wednesday reproached Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, claiming that Canada burned the White House in the War of 1812, although that was actually done by British troops, media reports said. According to a CNN reported, citing unnamed sources, during a May 25 telephone call to discuss US tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum, Trudeau asked Trump how he could use national security to justify imposing the tariffs. "Didn't you guys burn down the White House?" Trump reportedly responded in what was an overall "testy" conversation. Since Trump announced that he was weighing the possibility of imposing tariffs on steel and aluminum imports -- although he temporarily agreed to exclude the European Union, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, South Korea and Mexico -- the White House has taken the stance that it was being done on the basis of national security. The justification for that argument, however, has been called into question both by experts and other leaders, Efe reported. In fact, during an interview last weekend - and with the tariffs already in place - Trudeau said it was "inconceivable" that the Trump administration could suspect Canada, one of Washington's closest allies over many decades, of posing a national security threat to the US, adding at a press conference that suggesting such a thing was an "affront" to Canada. When asked whether he simply took Trump's comment as some sort of "joke," the Canadian leader said "To the degree one can ever take what is said as a joke. The impact on Canada and ultimately on workers in the US won't be a laughing matter." Regarding the burning of the White House on Aug. 24, 1814, in fact it was British troops who - after invading Washington in the War of 1812 - burned several federal buildings including the White House and the US Capitol. Canada was still a British colony - and thus did not exist as an independent country - at the time and the British occupation of Washington came in response to an American attack on the city of York, Ontario. This is not the first time that Trump has made a comment that riled the Canadians. In March, he boasted before television cameras that he had lied to Trudeau by claiming that Washington has a trade deficit with its northern neighbor. --IANS qd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President Donald Trump on Wednesday called the US "vicious" and "unfair" after some outlets speculated about the health of first lady Melania Trump after she underwent surgery in mid-May. "The Fake News has been so unfair, and vicious, to my wife and our great First Lady, Melania," Trump tweeted. "During her recovery from surgery they reported everything from near death, to facelift, to left the W.H. (and me) for N.Y. or Virginia, to abuse. All Fake, she is doing really well!" he added. Trump complained in a subsequent tweet that last week "Four reporters spotted Melania in the White House ... walking merrily along to a meeting. They never reported the sighting because it would hurt the sick narrative that she was living in a different part of the world, was really ill, or whatever. Fake News is really bad!" The rumors about the first lady's health began on May 14 when she underwent an operation known as a kidney embolization procedure to treat a "benign" renal illness, Efe quoted the White House as saying. According to medical experts, it is normal for patients undergoing such procedures to be released the same day, but Melania remained hospitalized for almost five days. That relatively lengthy hospitalization and the low profile she has maintained since she returned to the White House sparked all sorts of theories on the social networks, including that she had left Trump or was cooperating with Special Counsel Robert Mueller in the Russia probe. Last weekend, Melania did not accompany Trump to Camp David and she is not scheduled to travel with the president to Quebec on Friday for the G7 summit or to Singapore in early June for his anticipated summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The first lady, in fact, had not had any formal event on her agenda until Tuesday of this week, when she joined Trump in attending a reception for military families that was closed to the press. Her first appearance before cameras will come on Wednesday, when she and the President are scheduled to go to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) headquarters to receive a briefing about this year's hurricane season. --IANS qd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two soldiers suffered injuries in an ongoing gunfight with a group of militants in north Kashmir border village of Keran on Thursday morning, an army spokesperson said. The spokesperson said the shootout erupted around 7.15 a.m. in the last village on this side of the Line of Control (LoC) situated some 120 km from here. It was "likely an infiltration attempt" that was foiled, he said. "Two non-fatal casualties have been evacuated," the spokesperson said. --IANS sar/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In deference to demands by area residents and pilgrims alike, the Uttar Pradesh government has banned the sale of liquor in Barsana, Nandgaon, Gokul, Radhakund, Baldeo, and Goverdhan in Mathura district, which are connected to Lord Krishna. More than 30 liquor shops will be shifted after this decision. In Vrindavan, there is already a ban on sale of liquor. Officials said that the decision was taken due to religious sensibilities of the people. On March 18, the government had declared shrines at these places as "teerths". Local Hindu priests had long been demanding prohibition in Mathura district, which visited by millions of pilgrims/devotees of Lord Krishna around the year. While priests of the Goverdhan temple welcomed the decision, those at the Bankey Bihari temple in Vrindavan said the step was "long overdue". --IANS bk/tsb/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US Ambassador to India Kenneth I. Juster concluded his two-day visit Uttar Pradesh on Thursday, officials said. During his visit, the envoy called on Governor Ram Naik and held deliberations with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, among others. He was taken on a guided tour of the British Residency where he was briefed about the rich heritage of the city by officials of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). The US envoy met Health Minister Siddhartha Nath Singh and had a working lunch with Samajwadi Party (SP) chief and former UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. Speaking about his visit, Juster said: "Lucknow truly symbolizes the blending of cultures in India and holds a distinct place in India's history". During his interaction with Chief Minister Adityanath, the two discussed possibilities of taking business ties between UP and the US to new heights. Adityanath briefed him about the decisions and policies rolled out by his government towards ease of doing business. --IANS md/ahm/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A US man was found innocent after spending 25 years in prison and was given $10 million as compensation. The settlement on Wednesday set a record for the city of Philadelphia where Anthony Wright was sentenced to life without parole in a 1991 rape and murder case, reports Xinhua news agency. DNA evidence later discovered proved that Wright was innocent. Innocence Project, an activist group promoting DNA evidence in criminal investigations, said in a statement that Wright was the victim of poor investigation procedures by the police, who allegedly threatened to beat Wright if he wouldn't sign a confession written by the police. Wright is the 344th DNA exoneree in the nation, the group said. --IANS ksk/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Sunil Sood, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Vodafone India, who was Vice Chairman of Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) for the last two years, will now hold the position of Chairman while the Vice Chairman will be Ajai Puri, Chief Operating Officer, Bharti Airtel. The decision was taken at the annual general meeting of the COAI on Thursday. "The (telecom) sector has been one of the primary drivers of India's economic growth, contributing 6.5 per cent to the national GDP. While the industry is reeling under Rs 7.64 lakh crore debt and the additional investment of Rs 2 lakh crore is still required over the next two years to fulfil the dream of a digitally connected India, we are sure the partnership between the government and the sector will get stronger and these targets will be achieved," said Rajan S. Mathews, Director General, COAI. "The National Digital Communications Policy 2018, recently unveiled by the DoT (Department of Telecommunications), holds significant promises for the industry that has been facing difficult times over the last few years. This will also boost government's key initiatives like Digital India and SmartCities. New technologies like AI, Machine Learning as well as Robotics and Automation promise to make our lives much easier while significantly diversifying the revenue streams of the telcos and making room for significant differentiation and long term viability," he added. --IANS ag/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bollywood actress Yami Gautam is headed to Serbia to start shooting for the first schedule of her upcoming film "Uri". "Yami is all set for her first schedule in Siberia. As her fans and media have been tracking not only has she gotten fitter, but has gone through a makeover to dive into the character she is playing," a spokesperson said in a statement. Yami will play the role of an intelligence officer and will be acting alongside Vicky Kaushal in the film. "She is very excited about the role and keeps adding a few nuances to her character to make it even more layered. She is totally looking and feeling the part," the spokesperson added. The film, directed by Aditya Dhar, is based on the Uri attack of September 2016. In September 18, 2016, terrorists from Pakistan attacked a military base in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir leaving 19 Indian soldiers dead. Eleven days later, the Indian Army retaliated with a series of surgical strikes on terrorist camps across the border. --IANS dc/ks/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Scientists have discovered that Zika virus infection that can lead to birth defects and other complications such as seizures and long-term deficits in brain structure and behaviour, also persists in adulthood. In the study, a team of neuroscientists from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, infected three-day-old infant mice with the Zika virus and monitored their behavioural and neurological development until adulthood to observe several early and late symptoms. They found that most of the infected mice developed spontaneous seizures as soon as nine days after birth, and remained more susceptible to chemically-induced seizures in adulthood compared to controls. This indicates that even though the spontaneous seizures may have been resolved as the animals grew older, the damage caused to the brain is permanent, the researchers said, in a paper published in the journal Science Translational Medicine. Furthermore, the infected mice demonstrated weight loss that is not recovered in adulthood, cognitive deficits and long-lasting impaired motor function. The memory and sociability of adult mice were also affected, which may be linked to research that viral exposure shortly before or after birth may be associated to late development of autism and schizophrenia. These behavioural deficits were also accompanied by persistent viral replication and inflammation in the brain. The peak of viral replication in the brain was found to be associated with an abundance of molecules that mediate inflammation. One of these molecules is the Tumor Necrosis Factor Alfa, or simply TNF-a, a molecule closely linked to episodes of acute inflammation in the body. When administered, infliximab -- a drug that inhibits TNF-a -- prevented seizures in young infected mice by Day 12, suggesting that targeting cerebral inflammation could ameliorate some of the long-term consequences of neonatal Zika infection, the researchers said. "Young mice responded very well to the TNF-a inhibitor. We found that some animals had a 50 per cent reduction in the number of seizures, on average. Also, adult animals were no longer susceptible to drug-induced seizures," said Julia Clarke from the varsity. --IANS rt/mag/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The BJP leadership is planning to organize nationwide agitation against the alleged killing of two party workers in West Bengal's Purulia district, a senior party leader said today. The party has planned to hold protests and demonstrations in all the state capitals and New Delhi between June 18-June 24 against the alleged killing of two BJP activists Dulal Kumar and Trilochan Mahato, BJP secretary Rahul Sinha said. "During this agitation programme we will speak about the reign of terror in under TMC rule. We will also organize similar agitation programmes in all districts during the same time," he told PTI. A senior state BJP leader said at a time when TMC supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is trying to pitch herself as the fulcrum of the anti-BJP alliance, the nation wide agitation will "expose the reign of terror TMC in Bengal". Two BJP activists - 35-year-old Dulal Kumar and 20-year-old Trilochan Mahato were found hanging in West Bengal's Purulia district on June 2 and May 31 respectively. BJP president Amit Shah will visit Purulia'a Balrampur area, where the bodies of two men were found hanging allegedly in the wake of panchayat elections. He is scheduled to pay a two-day visit to the state from June 27, BJP state general secretary Sayantan Basu said. After the death of Mahato, Shah had tweeted "Deeply hurt by the brutal killing of our young karyakarta, Trilochan Mahato, in Balarampur, West Bengal. A young life full of possibilities was brutally taken under state's patronage. He was hanged on a tree just because his ideology differed from that of state sponsored goons." The BJP president had tweeted again after the death of Dulal Kumar. "Distressed to know about yet another killing of BJP karyakarta Dulal Kumar in Balarampur, West Bengal. This continued brutality and violence in the land of West Bengal is shameful and inhuman. Mamata Banerjee's govt has completely failed to maintain law and order in the state." The alleged killings had created a political controversy as the BJP had performed well against TMC in Balarampur area of Purulia district in the recent panchayat elections. The BJP had alleged the deaths were "political murders" and demanded a inquiry into the incidents. The BJP had alleged that the TMC was behind the killing. TMC has denied the charge. Former and Congress veteran visited on Thursday the birthplace of the RSS founding Sarsanghachalak, Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, ahead of his much-anticipated speech at the Sangh headquarters in Mukherjee was welcomed by the RSS chief, Mohan Bhagwat. TV news channels beamed visuals of Mukherjee visiting Hedgewar's birthplace. News agency ANI tweeted a photograph showing Mukherjee's message in the visitors' book that called Hedgewar "a great son of Mother India". Congress leader Anand Sharma said Mukherjees visit anguished millions of Congress workers and all those who believed in pluralism, diversity and the foundational values of the Indian Republic. In the build-up to the event, several Congress leaders questioned Mukherjees decision to attend a programme organised by the right-wing, nationalistic RSS, which they consider ideologically opposite. The Congress tweeted what it called a "primer" on what the RSS stood for. Today is a very fitting day to bring you all a primer on what the RSS really stands for. pic.twitter.com/m1oQ15nkDJ Congress (@INCIndia) June 7, 2018 Mukherjee, who reached Wednesday evening, has been invited by the RSS to address its Shiksha Varg. Mukherjee, who reached Wednesday evening, has been invited by the RSS to address its Shiksha Varg. According to sources, his visit to pay tributes to Hedgewar was not part of the itinerary and an impromptu decision was taken by the former ALSO READ: As Pranab prepares for RSS event, here's how Congress leaders feel about it At the RSS headquarters, Mukherjee met senior Sangh functionaries and attended a parade by Sangh workers, who completed training at the camp. It is an annual training camp, meant for swayamsevaks in their third year in the organisation. The RSS holds training camps for first, second and third-year swayamsewaks. Ten people were killed and 12 injured when the mini-bus they were travelling in rammed into a stationary truck at Sogras Phata on Mumbai-Agra national highway near here early today, police said. The mishap occurred around 5.30 am near Chandwad, which is about 75 km from Nashik, police said. "Ten people were killed and 12 others injured when the mini-bus carrying them rammed into a stationary truck," an official of Chandwad Police Station said. A tyre of the sand-laden truck had got punctured and it was parked by the road when the accident occurred, the official said, adding that the injured were admitted to a sub-district hospital, he added. The occupants of the mini-bus were returning to Kalyan in Thane district of Maharashtra from Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh after a pilgrimage, police said. Further details are awaited. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Himachal Pradesh capital which faced worst ever water crisis this year can hope for better summers next year as the state government has decided to supply extra 10 million litres of water per day within a year from Chaba village, which has water reservoirs in the state. The severe water shortage raised its head during peak tourist season and has already hit the hospitality sector here. Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said the state government was committed to find a permanent solution for the water crisis in Shimla town and a long term project was being formulated to cater to the drinking water needs of the people for five to six decades. "As an immediate measure, extra 10 MLD of water would be supplied from Chaba village in less than a year," Thakur said. He said that he recently met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi and submitted a proposal for drinking water project for Shimla. It was on his request that the prime minister sent a team of Central Water Commission to the state. Besides, the chief minister also told Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri to sanction Rs 200 crore for water supply project for Shimla. Thakur said that a water harvesting project with estimated cost of Rs 4,700 crore was also sent for approval to the Centre for Shimla town under which work would be done for augmentation of water resources to maintain the ground water level. Besides, the state government would also explore the possibilities to expedite work on lifting water to Shimla from Koldam dam, he said. The chief minister said, "the residents of Shimla town had to suffer for few days due to shortage of drinking water due to scanty rainfall and snow this winter. However, the state government handled the situation promptly and various arrangements were made to restore normal water supply on priority." He said that Shimla had been facing this situation in the months of May and June for last many years but the previous government made no efforts to find some solution for this problem. "It was unfortunate that few people tried to politicise this issue but they should remember that during the regime of the Congress government, Shimla faced water crisis even when more than 34 MLD water was available," he said. He added that this year the crisis came up as less than 22 MLD water was available, but it was for the first time that such serious efforts were made to restore the normal water supply in a very short period of time. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At least 15 people were killed over the past few days in separate attacks in central Nigeria's Benue State, the scene of regular clashes between Christian farmers and nomadic cattle herders, official sources said today. Suspected militant herders carried out the attacks on several villages in under 48 hours, Benue State information minister Lawrence Onoja said. The village of Tse Ishav, near Guma, was attacked at around 3am on today, with militants "leaving behind eight corpses, several missing and many wounded," he said. It came after two other people were killed on Monday by the same armed men close to the nearby locality of Yelwata, he added. The head of Guma's local government Anthony Shawon confirmed the death toll of 10, adding that the attackers set fire to houses and farms as they left. The same militia also carried out further attacks in the neighbouring district of Logo where "five people were killed... and many more wounded," said Onoja. The head of the local government Richard Nyajo echoed the report, adding that police reinforcements have been deployed. Benue state has seen a wave of deadly clashes which have left hundreds dead in recent months. The area lies in the so-called "Middle Belt" between Nigeria's mainly-Christian south and predominantly-Muslim north. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two men were arrested for allegedly robbing a 78-year-old man's house and threatening a maid servant following she jumped to death from the window to save herself in Karol Bagh, police said today. The accused were identified as Vinay Kumar (32) and Lilu Pal, they added. Avinash Chander Bhalla (78) resides in Karol Bagh. Hariram (48) was working as a servant in his house for the last 30 years. The servant told police that Bhalla stayed with his wife Bulbul while their daughter Geetanjali lived in Singapore. On May 30, Bulbul and Geetanjali, who was in India, were out with their driver and their maid servant came for work. While Hariram was giving medicine to Bhalla, the doorbell rang. When he opened the door, four unidentified persons entered the house forcefully by pushing him. Two of them whipped out pistols and one of them pointed the pistol towards Hariram, police said. They allegedly beat him and took him to the bedroom, where Bhalla was present. They also beat the elderly man and demanded keys of their cupboard. When Bhalla told them that the keys were taken by his wife, they started ransacking the house. They allegedly beat him with a stick and also caught the maid servant and tied her with a dupatta and tapes and kept her hostage in the bedroom along with the elderly man, they added. They broke open the cupboard in the room and took out valuables. They took Hariram to second floor of the house and tied him there. They allegedly threatened to kill her if she made any noise. She managed to enter the attached bathroom and locked herself inside. She jumped from the window of the first floor and died, police said. Later, it was learnt that the accused took a pair of gold earnings, two diamond rings, a mobile phone, an I-pod and Rs 12,000 from the house. Subsequently, police arrested the two accused from near the Ajmeri Gate flyover, New Delhi Railway Station yesterday. During interrogation, Vinay revealed while he was working in the Jhilmil Colony, he came in contact with one Lal Bahadur. He left the job, but remained in touch with Bahadur. As he was in need of money, he asked Bahadur to find some ways to earn money who told him that one of his friends Raju, who worked in a bungalow had informed him that in the second portion of the bungalow, an elderly couple was residing alone, police said. They hatched a conspiracy to rob them with Raju. Later, they also included Lilu, a water supplier of the area and some other persons, in the conspiracy. On May 30, all of them gathered and four of them -- Vinay, Lilu and two others entered the house with two pistols while five persons remained outside the bungalow to keep an eye, said Mandeep Singh Randhawa, joint commissioner of police (Central). (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Vigilance Investigation Bureau (VIB) officials today arrested a cooperative officer and an assistant for accepting bribes of Rs 1.5 lakh and Rs 50,000 respectively in Aurangabad district, a vigilance release said. The VIB officials arrested the Aurangabad District Cooperative Officer (DCO) and general manager of Integrated Cooperative Development Project (ICDP), and an office assistant of ICDP, it said. The DCO was caught red-handed while accepting the bribe for clearing a payment for construction of a rice mill in Ankorha panchayat to the complainant, the release said. It also said that the ICDP office assistant was also arrested for the the same reason. One Sujit Kumar, a resident of Ankorha village under the jurisdiction of Daudnagar police station of the district and also the chairman of Vyapar Mandal, Daudnagar, had lodged a complaint with the vigilance bureau that the DCO and the office assistant, both with ICDP, were demanding bribes of Rs 1,50,000 and Rs 50,000 respectively for clearing the payment for construction of a rice mill to be set up at an estimated cost of Rs 22.15 lakh in Ankorha, the release said. The vigilance officials found that the complaint was true, the release said. A vigilance team then both of them red-handed, it added. Both of them were arrested from a private house at Yodha Nagar area in Aurangabad town, the release said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two Tanzanian women and a Nigerian man were arrested for duping a man here, police said today. The accused asked Girvesh Kumar to transfer Rs 10 lakh in their bank accounts in order to get material for medicines in cheap rates, the police said. Assistant Superintendent of Police Ravi Kumar said that Kumar transferred the money through mobile banking but the accused did not provide any item and made excuses. Acting on a tip-off, the Khoda Police and cyber crime branch arrested the accused from Labour Chowk. They have been identified as Jahara and Christina, natives of Tanzania, and Ivoh from Nigeria. At present, they were living in Delhi, the police said, adding two laptops and 3 mobile phones used in the crime were recovered. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At least three persons were killed and five others injured in a road accident in western Nepal's Bajhang district, police said. The accident occurred yesterday when the vehicle plummeted 100 metres down a hilly road in Pathibhara Rural Municipality of Western Nepal. Five others who sustained injuries in the incident have been admitted to a district hospital. Nepal has many mountainous areas and most roads are narrow. Most accidents in Nepal are blamed on poorly maintained vehicles and road conditions. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A bus hit two pedestrians and rolled down into a ditch in Jammu and Kashmir's Doda district, injuring 31 people, police said today. The incident occurred near a petrol pump and was captured in CCTV, the police said. The injured were rushed to a hospital. In another accident, 12 people were injured when a bus turned turtle on road in Udhampur today, the police said, adding that they were hospitalised. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A local court here today awarded seven years imprisonment to a spurned lover for stabbing a schoolgirl after she refused his advances. Additional District and Sessions Judge Rajesh Kumar awarded seven years in jail to Ravish Kumar, resident of Kurait village under the jurisdiction of Pakri Barawan police station. The court also slapped a fine of Rs 5,000 on the convict, the Additional Public Prosecutor (APP) Anil Kumar, said. Ravish Kumar had attacked the girl with a knife and stabbed her several times when she was returning home after visiting a children's fair, organised in the village on January 25, last year, the prosecutor said. The girl, who received serious injuries, was first admitted to Nawada Sadar hospital. Later, she was referred to the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH), Patna, for better treatment, the APP said, adding, the girl recovered after a long time. One of the girl's relatives had lodged an FIR with Pakri Barawan police station against Ravish Kumar on the day she was attacked, the APP said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Eight forest department personnel, including a deputy ranger, were today arrested for allegedly beating a villager to death and then burning his body to destroy evidence, a police official said. "The incident occurred on Tuesday when a villager Roopchand Sonwane (40) went to the forest to collect firewood near Gangpur village under Bahrai forest circle," said Barghat Police Station in charge Khemendra Jaitwar. He said that deputy ranger Santosh Uike and other forest employees caught him on suspicion that he was cutting teak trees. Some villagers saw the forest department personnel taking away Sonwane, he added. The official said that Sonwane was brought to Uike's residence and the latter assured his family members, when they came looking for the villager, that he would be let off soon. "When Sonwane did not return in the night, the family members contacted Uike again who told them that he had been released. However the man did not return till Wednesday evening," Jaitwar said. After the deceased's family members threatened Uike with a police complaint, the forest deputy ranger came to the police station and revealed the sequence of events, Jaitwar said. Jaitwar said that Uike, along with the other forest employees, beat up Sonwane, and in the process ended up killing him. Uike told police that they had burnt Sonwane's body in the Padnala area of the forest to destroy evidence, Jaitwar said, adding that a forensic team had collected samples from the charred body for further investigation. He said that eight people, including Uike, were arrested today under section 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) and 147 (rioting) of the Indian Penal Code. He said seven others arrested for the crime were watchmen with the forest department and identified them as Shikendra Chandra, Surendra Harinkhede, Sarwan Vishwakarma, Santosh Gwali, Santosh Lohar, Phul Singh UIke and Dilip Thakre. Further investigations were underway, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 9-year-old boy drowned in the swimming pool of a hotel in Calangute near here, police said today. The incident happened at 8pm yesterday when the boy, a resident of Delhi who had come along with his family to Goa for a vacation, went to the swimming pool without the knowledge of his parents, Inspector Jivba Dalvi said. An offence was registered by Calangute police against the management of the resort for negligence as it had not deployed a lifeguard at the pool, Dalvi informed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) AAP Minister Gopal Rai today suggested that the powers be split between the Centre and the Delhi government to run the national capital, saying that the central government should be responsible for Lutyens' Delhi while the city administration for the rest of the city. During a discussion on a government's resolution on full statehood status to Delhi in the assembly, Rai said that the formula of separate responsibilities for the national capital and the Centre should be added to the resolution. The development minister said that the Centre can have responsibilities for maintaining the law and order, water and electricity in areas run by the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), but rest of Delhi can be taken care of by the city government. He demanded a meeting of all ministers and AAP MLAs with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on June 10 to discuss next course of action to press for party's demand for full statehood status to Delhi. Raking up the issue of full statehood for Delhi in the assembly yesterday, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia listed projects and proposals of the AAP government, including appointment of anti-corruption ombudsman Jan Lokpal and implementation of decentralisation initiative Swaraj, was stuck because of "interference" by the Centre and the Lieutenant Governor. Sisodia had said that there were "flaws" in the system which was why an elected government did not have power. He also said that the AAP dispensation could not fulfil many of its poll promises such as appointing anti-corruption ombudsman Jan Lokpal, implementing decentralisation initiative Swaraj and installing CCTV cameras across Delhi as it did not have enough powers. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A court today sentenced gangster to seven years rigorous imprisonment for demanding Rs 5 crore as protection money from a Delhi-based businessman in 2002. The court passed the order after hearing arguments on sentence by the prosecution and the defence lawyers. It had convicted Salem in the case on May 26. In the extortion case lodged in Delhi, it was alleged that Salem had demanded Rs 5 crore as protection money from businessman Ashok Gupta, a resident of Greater Kailash in south Delhi, in 2002. ACME Group today said it has won 50 MW solar power project at Gujrai solar park, Uttar Pradesh in an auction conducted by Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). ACME won the contract in the reverse auction held today, invited by the SECI for Gujrai solar park, a company statement said. The SECI invited solar tenders with cumulative capacity of 275 MW to be executed at multiple solar parks in Uttar Pradesh. According to the statement, the ACME participated in the bidding process for 50 MW at Gujrai solar park in Kanpur dehat district of Uttar Pradesh and won it at a tariff of Rs 3.38 per cent unit. It is a very tough project due to site access, soil condition, difficult contour, high wind speed and lower GHI (Global Horizontal Irradiance). The tariff remains lower than forbearance price of Rs 3.48 per unit. "We wanted to learn from this project and use our innovation and execution capabilities to meet the customer expectation. I'm happy that our team has done this. We will build special structure and balance of plant to meet site condition," said Manoj Kumar Upadhyay, Founder and Chairman ACME Group in the statement. ACME has 30 MW operational project in UP and decided to expand its footprints in the state. By winning this bid, ACME will now sign a 25 year PPA with SECI who will sell power to state utilities of Uttar Pradesh. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Facing a barrage of criticism in the wake of death of a woman in Giridih allegedly due to starvation, the Jharkhand Food department today proposed that the state government set up a foodgrain bank of varied capacity at block and panchayat level. Jharkhand Food, Public Distribution and Consumer Affair Minister, Saryu Roy, also said that his department has written to all the district administrations to conduct a post-mortem if any suspected case of starvation death was reported. "I have proposed that the government set up a foodgrain bank of 10 quintal capacity at block level and one quintal capacity at panchayat level," Roy told reporters. The minister said that the bank could be managed either by his department or Rural Development or by Social Welfare department. The Jharkhand government has drawn flak in the wake of 58-year-old Savitri Devi dying allegedly due to starvation in Mangargadi village of Giridih district after being denied foodgrains at ration shop. However an official probe report -- made public by the state government -- has said she was suffering from a disease and has ruled out starvation for her death, citing Rs 2,375 in her bank account. Besides, the Giridih case, another suspected starvation death in Itkhori of Chatra district recently has been reported in the media. Roy said the woman hailed from Barachatti of adjoining Bihar and she came to Itkhori about a fortnight ago. "However, a post-mortem was conducted on the directive of the district administration and we are awaiting the autopsy report to know the exact cause of her death," he added. The minister cited the probe report on Giridih incident to trash the opposition attack and accused them of running a campaign against the government over the issue to "defame" it. "Why didn't JMM MLA Jagannath Mahato, who was present at her funeral procession, ask for a post-mortem if she had died of starvation?" the minister said. About JPCC President Ajoy Kumar's demand that he resign owning moral responsibility for the death of Savitri Devi, Roy said Kumar, who himself is a doctor, should have tried to find out the details before asking for the resignation. "The demand is nothing but a conspiracy to target the government," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) State-run Air India, which has failed to pay salaries to its over 10 billion employees on time for the third month in a row, has sought proposals for short-term loans worth Rs 10 billion to meet "urgent" working capital requirements. The Rs 10 billion loan will be drawn in June in one or more tranches, according to the bid document. The has requested banks to submit their financial bids by June 13, as per the document. " is inviting bids for short-term loans (STL) totalling to Rs 10 billion to meet its urgent working capital requirement," the bid document said. The tenure of the loan will be one year (renewable) from the date of availing STL, it said. Amid fund crunch, during which also had to defer its staff salaries, the borrowed Rs 62.50 billion from various banks between September last year and January this year for working capital requirements and other needs. The debt-ridden Air India, in which government's attempt to sell 76 per cent stake came a cropper last month after it did not get even a single bidder, has not paid salaries for the month of May and a spokesperson had said yesterday that the salaries are expected to be disbursed by next week. This is the third time since March when the has delayed the payment in this year. The government, which had approved strategic disinvestment for in last June, had on May 31 this year said no initial bids were received for the proposed stake sale. A senior Air India official had last week that the airline has sought restoration of the equity infusion by the government in the carrier. The loss-making airline has already received more than Rs 260 billion under the bailout package announced by the former UPA government in April 2012. The UPA government had approved a turnaround plan under which Air India is to receive a total equity infusion worth Rs 302 billion up to 2021, subject to meeting certain performance thresholds. The carrier, which has a debt burden of about Rs 500 billion till March last year, had been receiving about Rs 3,000-4,000 crore equity infusion on an average per fiscal from the government till FY14. However, after that the amount was gradually reduced. For 2018-19, the airline has been allocated Rs 650 crore. Air strikes in northwestern Syria today, thought to have been carried out by regime ally Russia, killed 18 civilians including two children, a Britain-based monitor said. The raids, which hit a residential zone in the area of Zardana in the northwestern province of Idlib, also wounded 50 people, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said. The monitor says it relies on sources inside Syria for its information, and determines who carried out strikes according to flight patterns, as well as planes and ammunition involved. The toll is likely to increase due to a number of victims still under the rubble, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said. An AFP correspondent at the scene of the strike described a large crater in the midst of several wrecked two- and three-storey buildings. At the nearby hospital, women, children, elderly people and rescue volunteers where among the wounded, the correspondent said. Most of Idlib province lies beyond government control and is held by an array of rebels and jihadists. Zardana is largely controlled by Islamist rebels, with a small presence of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham alliance led by Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate. Since Russia intervened on its side in 2015, the Syrian regime has regained control of around half of the country. More than 350,000 people have been killed in Syria's war since it started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Amnesty International India has demanded the immediate release of Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad who is languishing in jail over his alleged role in the Saharanpur violence in May 2017. Accused of rioting, Azad was arrested from Dalhousie, Himachal Pradesh on June 8, 2017 by a Special Task Force (STF) team of the Uttar Pradesh police. After about six months in jail, he was slapped with the National Security Act (NSA). "Chandrashekhar Azad 'Ravan' has been languishing in prison for the last one year. Keeping him behind bars under repressive administrative detention laws, shows that the Uttar Pradesh government would rather stifle dissent than address serious human rights concerns," Programmes Director at Amnesty International India Asmita Basu said. Stressing that Azad has been denied a fair trial, Basu said even the Allahabad High Court has observed that cases against the Bhim Army chief were politically motivated. "On November 2, 2017, the Allahabad High Court granted him bail and observed that cases against Azad were politically motivated," Basu said in a press conference However, a day before his release, Azad was booked under the draconian NSA, thus preventing his release, Basu added. President of Bhim Army, Vinay Ratan Singh, who was also present in the conference, lashed out at the state government for imprisoning Azad. "The state government has done everything to keep Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan in jail. What crime has he committed?" asked Singh. "When the riots were taking place, the same state authorities had asked for his (Azad) and Bhim Army's help to maintain peace in Saharanpur. Now they are saying that if he is released, he will create a law and order problem," he added. Over 140,000 people across India have supported Amnesty International India's campaign calling on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to release Azad, Singh said. The petition launched on April 4, requests people to give a missed call to show their support for Azad, Singh added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pushing the first major real estate venture in Andhra Pradesh's new capital city Amaravati a step further,the state government today inked two agreements with the Singapore consortium to kickstart the long-delayed startup area development project. Singapore's Minister for Information and Communications S Iswaran promised on the occasion that in six months from now, there would be "significant progress on ground" in the startup area development. Amaravati Development Corporation and Singapore Amaravati Investment Holdings Limited which together constitute the Amaravati Development Partners (ADP), a special purpose vehicle for the startup area development signed the Concession Agreement and Development Agreement (CADA) and the Shareholders Agreement for the development of 6.84 sq km area (1691 acres) in three phases over the next 15 years. The Singapore consortium will have 52 per cent and ADC 48 per cent stake in ADP, which will take up development projects in 656 acres in the first phase in the next five years. On May 15 last year, the state government handed over the Letter of Award for development of the startup area to the Singapore consortium of Ascendas-Singbridge and Sembcorp Development after it was chosen as the master developer through the 'Swiss Challenge method.' But reportedly no work was taken up in the last 13 months though it was targeted to create a real-estate space of 8.07 lakh sft in three years (from 2017). Speaking about the delay in execution of the project, the Singapore minister said: "While there are many visions and plans that we have so far announced, to get them executed, we need these legal entities and the contracts to be properly secured. That has taken some time." "Now that we have got these, the companies, in partnership with their counterparts in AP, are ready to move forward and we will be starting with the Welcome Centre project. We made steady progress and are on the cusp of seeing some progress on ground," Iswaran added. Development of the startup area is expected to spur wide economic activity as the Singapore consortium will help attract foreign investment that will enable job creation, the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority, overseeing the project, said. The CRDA said 1.25 lakh families are expected to settle in the new capital in the next 15 years as 2.50 lakh jobs will be created. The start-up area, once developed, is expected to contribute Rs 1.15 lakh crore to the state's gross domestic product and generate a revenue of Rs 8,000 crore to Rs 10,000 crore to the government in different taxes. The consortium will also try to get industrial and economic clusters set up in the startup area, according to the CRDA. Earlier, the Singapore minister chaired a meeting of the Joint Implementation Steering Committee along with Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and discussed the way forward. Top officials from Singapore and Andhra Pradesh governments were present. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At least 16 people were killed and dozens injured after an arms depot exploded in the Sadr City district of the Iraqi capital today, security and medical sources said. "An arms depot exploded... The security forces have opened an inquiry to determine the cause," Baghdad's security operations command said in a statement. A senior police source told AFP on condition of anonymity that the blast was caused by heavy weapons, including rocket-propelled grenades and shells, belonging to an armed group and stored in a house. He said at least 16 people were killed and some 32 injured in the explosion. Medical sources confirmed the toll and said that women and children were found among the victims. Sources said the blast struck near a Shiite mosque in the district of northeast Baghdad. Witnesses reported heavy material damage to homes and other buildings in the Sadr City district, which is a stronghold of populist Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A day after Pune Police arrested five people for alleged Maoist links in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon caste violence, the NCP today accused the BJP government in Maharashtra of setting a "dangerous precedent" by linking Dalits with naxals. Addressing a press conference here, NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik also alleged that the arrests were "pre-planned" by the government with an intention to save "real culprits". The Pune Police had arrested five people, including prominent Dalit activist Sudhir Dhawale, for allegedly having close Maoist links from Mumbai, Nagpur and Delhi in connection with the January 1 incident. All the five were arrested in a case registered against the organisers of Elgar Parishad held in Pune ahead of the Bhima-Koregaon incident. It is alleged that provocative speeches were made at the Elgar Parishad held on December 31 last year at the historic Shaniwarwada fortification in Pune. "The arrests of those people who had participated in the Elgar Parishad were pre-planned. Right from the day the violence happened, BJP leaders were giving statements that people from the left wing ideology were behind it," Malik told reporters. The Elgar Parishad was organised to commemorate 200 years of the Bhima Koregaon battle in which British forces, comprising a large number of Dalit soldiers, had defeated the Peshwas who had represented the Maratha empire. Dalits view the battle as the defeat of "casteist" Peshwas, who were Brahmins. "The BJP is setting a wrong precedent by linking dalits with naxals and claiming that the Parishad was funded by ultras. If the BJP believes that the opposition parties and dalits are Maoists then there is a grave danger to the integrity of the state," Malik said. He said the government's real intention was to save Milind Ekbote and Sambhaji Bhide--both Hindutva leaders--who he said are the real culprits of the violence. Police had registered FIRs against Ekbote, who heads Hindu Ekta Aghadi, and Bhide of Shiv Pratishthan Hindustan for inciting violence in Bhima Koregaon. Ekbote was arrested by police on March 14 after the supreme court rejected his anticipatory bail application. He was later granted bail by a sessions court in Pune. Despite demands by Dalit activists, Bhide was never arrested in the case. Pune Police had yesterday arrested Dhawale, Surendra Gadling, activist Mahesh Raut, Shoma Sen, and Rona Wilson from various places. Malik also took a swipe at bickering allies BJP and Shiv Sena over yesterday's meeting between Amit Shah and Uddhav Thackeray. "I want to know about the deal struck between them (Thackeray and Shah). Since the time it joined the state government, the Sena has been saying that the BJP does not value it much. During yesterday's meeting, what value did the BJP president assign to Sena?" he questionned. He also criticised the BJP for its 'Sampark se Samarthan' (contact for support) outreach campaign in the run-up to the 2019 polls. "The BJP chief is meeting prominent people, but the party is shying away from submitting a report card of its performance to farmers, labourers, and middle class people who had voted the BJP to power. "This is beacause they know that they cannot face people, as none of the electoral promises have been fulfilled. These meetings with prominent people are nothing but a publicity stunt," Malik said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The arrest of five activist-intellectuals in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence is a move to "discourage" the unity of Dalits and Bahujans against "castiest-Hindutva forces", a Nagpur-based lawyers' body alleged today. The Indian Association of People's Lawyers (IAPL) also sought the release of the five persons, including its general secretary Surendra Gadling. The Pune Police had yesterday arrested them for allegedly having close Maoist links. The arrested include prominent Dalit activist Sudhir Dhawale; Head of English Department, Nagpur University, Shoma Sen; activist Mahesh Raut and Kerala native Rona Wilson, who is associated with Committee for Release of Political Prisoners. "The IAPL believes these arrests are being made in order to discourage the unity and organising of Dalit and Bahujans against castiest-Hindutva forces, and even more to threaten lawyers, professors and activists from standing up for the rights and democratic values in their professional capacities," IAPL vice president Sudha Bharadwaj said in a press conference here. Gadling was arrested in the case, under the "draconian" Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), in which the FIR was registered in January and conspiracy charges were added in March, she claimed. Gadling was the defence counsel for Delhi University professor G N Saibaba who was convicted for Maoist links. Being a lawyer for a political prisoner is not a crime and he was not a criminal, Bharadwaj said. Four others, including former JNU student Hem Mishra and former journalist Prashant Rahi, were convicted along with the DU professor and sentenced to "imprisonment for life" by a sessions court in Maharashtra in March 2017. "The state is trying to implicate people like advocates, thinkers and others by branding them as Maoists and arresting them. We are worried about the manner in which the arrest was made yesterday. "The police took him in a hurry to the judge's residence and obtained his custody," Bharadwaj said. However, Joint Commissioner of Police (JCP), Pune, Ravindra Kadam had said Dhawale was arrested from his house in Mumbai, and Gadling, Raut and Sen were picked up from Nagpur. Wilson was arrested from his flat in Munirka in Delhi in simultaneous raids yesterday morning, the officer had said. The IAPL alleged that the leaders of hindutva organisation who are named as instigators of the Bhima Koregaon violence still roam free. "The bias of the State is all the more obvious when the leaders of Hindutva organisations named in many complaints and FIRs as instigators of the Bhima Koregaon violence - Milind Ekbote and Sambhaji Bhide - whose anticipatory bail applications have been refused by even the Supreme Court, still roam free," the IAPL said. Dhawale was one of the organisers of the Elgar Parishad. It was organised to commemorate 200 years of the Koregaon Bhima battle on December 31 at Shaniwarwada. According to the FIR registered at the Vishrambaug police station after the event, Kabir Kala Manch (KKM) activists had allegedly made provocative speeches leading to violence at Koregaon Bhima, Dhawale is a Dalit activist and editor of a Marathi magazine Vidrohi, while Gadling, a Nagpur-based lawyer, also a Dalit and tribal activist, provides legal aid to those who are arrested for Maoist links, police said. Raut is a former Prime Minister Rural Development fellow and is alleged to have close Maoist links. Wilson, 47, a native of Kerala, is currently based in Delhi and associated with the Committee for Release of Political Prisoners. JCP Kadam had said that yesterday's action was not against any Dalit person or Dalit organisations. "This action, basically, is a result of a Maoist link, which was established during the investigation. "We are investigating whether this Maoist link has any direct connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence," Kadam had told PTI. The case in which all these people were arrested was registered against the organisers of Elgar Parishad and Kabir Kala Manch (KKM) members whom he referred as "Maoist activists". He said that some of arrested activists are the "top brass of the Urban Maoists". The event (Elgar Parishad) was attended by Gujarat MLA and Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani, JNU student leader Umar Khalid, Rohit Vemula's mother Radhika Vemula, and Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh president Prakash Ambedkar. Shaniwarwada, a historical fortification in the city, had remained the seat of the Peshwas of the Maratha empire until 1818. The complaint against the KKM members was lodged by one Tushar Damgude. The complainant had alleged that the "provocative" speeches and presentations made during the entire programme "promoted" enmity between two groups. One person was killed in the caste violence between two groups near Sanaswadi, adjacent to Koregaon Bhima. The violence led to the statewide Dalit agitation. The mobs had damaged and torched several vehicles and shops on New Year's day and the houses of local residents were also ransacked. The Pune Police had registered a case against Hindutwa leader Ekbote and another Bhide. Ekbote has already been arrested in the case. Bhide and Ekbote are accused of orchestrating the violence. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A protest meeting was held in the national capital today to condemn the arrests of five activist-intellectuals by the Pune Police in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence in January. The Pune Police had yesterday arrested the five and claimed that they had Maoist links. The arrested are prominent Dalit activist Sudhir Dhawale; Head of English Department, Nagpur University, Shoma Sen; activist Mahesh Raut; Kerala-native Rona Wilson, who is associated with the Committee for Release of Political Prisoners; and general secretary of the Indian Association of People's Lawyers (IAPL) Surendra Gadling. The protest organised at Jantar Mantar saw the participation of All India Students Association (AISA), All India Students Federation, Association for Protection of Civil Rights, etc. where participants expressed concern about the recent tendency of the government of branding people as anti-nationalists if they support the cause of Dalits and also demanded the release of those arrested. The protesting activists claimed that people who raised a voice for their constitutional rights were being branded as Naxalites and Maoists by the government and were being sent behind the bars. Activist Anirban Bhattacharya said, It was (B R) Ambedkar who was first branded as an anti-national. He said that if someday he was asked to choose between the welfare of the country and the welfare of the Dalit community he would choose the welfare of the Dalit community. All the people following Dr Ambedkar's footsteps and supporting the oppressed in the society are regarded as anti-nationals. IAPL vice-president Sudha Bharadwaj, who was also present at the meeting, said that the arrests had been made to discourage the unity and organising of Dalit and Bahujans against castiest-Hindutva forces. She said that it was being done to deter lawyers and activists standing up for political prisoners. She said that raids were conducted in April in the houses of those arrested while the arrests were made almost two months later. If they had found something at that time, why did they not arrest these persons there and then? Gadling was arrested in the case, under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), in which the FIR was registered in January and conspiracy charges were added in March, she claimed. Gadling was the defence counsel for Delhi University professor G N Saibaba who was convicted for Maoist links. AISF national president Valli Ullah Khadri said that this was the time when everyone should be united against such forces. This is not a new form of attack. We have to stand united and we should be a ready for a fight. We are not afraid of such arrests and we are ready to court arrests. Whenever we have talked about the rights of farmers or Dalits, we are sent to jails, he added. The case in which all these people were arrested was registered against the organisers of Elgar Parishad and Kabir Kala Manch (KKM) members. A senior police officers had said that some of arrested activists were the "top brass of the Urban Maoists". The event (Elgar Parishad) was attended by Gujarat MLA and Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani, JNU student leader Umar Khalid, Rohit Vemula's mother Radhika Vemula, and Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh president Prakash Ambedkar. Shaniwarwada, a historical fortification in the city, had remained the seat of the Peshwas of the Maratha empire until 1818. The complaint against the KKM members was lodged by one Tushar Damgude. The complainant had alleged that the "provocative" speeches and presentations made during the entire programme "promoted" enmity between two groups. One person was killed in the caste violence between two groups near Sanaswadi, adjacent to Koregaon Bhima. The violence led to the statewide Dalit agitation. The mobs had damaged and torched several vehicles and shops on New Year's day and the houses of local residents were also ransacked. The Pune Police had registered a case against Hindutwa leader Ekbote and another Bhide. Ekbote has already been arrested in the case. Bhide and Ekbote are accused of orchestrating the violence. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A businessman allegedly planned an attack on himself in order to implicate those he owed money to, following which he was arrested along with three others who were involved in the plan in southwest Delhi's Sagarpur, the police said today. On June 2, Kamal Kishore Jain told police that when he was sitting in his office, two men came on a scooter and opened fire at him. He expressed suspicion about the involvement of Ravi Jindal whom he owed some money to. Police interrogated Jain's servant Rahul who stated that Jain had a lot of debt. He had borrowed a lot of money from the people of his locality. He had not even given Rahul's salary from last two months. Asked repeatedly to pay the salary, Jain told Rahul that he would give his salary if he introduced him with some criminals, the police said. Rahul introduced him to two persons and Jain hatched a conspiracy to execute an attack on himself. Subsequently, Jain and the others were arrested. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The BJP today said an internal letter purportedly of CPI (Maoists) pointed to funding received by the proscribed outfit from Congress to "stop the Modi juggernaut" in next year's Lok sabha polls by spreading "chaos" in the country. BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra told a press conference that the document has "exposed" the Congress like never before and has striped it of "every cloth of modesty". Quoting from the letter, Patra said it proved that Dalits were being used as a tool in the Bhima-Koregaon violence in Maharasthra around the New Year and that protests were not spontaneous but a "manufactured" agitation. Reading from the letter allegedly written by a member of the banned outfit to another affiliated person, he said it talks about the funding they have received from the Congress to "spread chaos" in the country to "stop the Modi juggernaut" in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. "While the BJP believes in 'Sampark for Samarthan' (contact for support) the Congress believes in sparking chaos to grab power," Patra said, adding he wondered if the "alliance" between the opposition party and the Maoists is the new alliance it has been talking about. "The real face of the Congress has been exposed. Silence is not the answer. It is a serious allegation," Patra said, demanding that Congress president Rahul Gandhi explain his party's role in the matter. "This letter is not just a letter, it strips every cloth of modesty the Congress was trying to wear," he said. "The Congress is saying that we will give you as much fund as you want but spread as much as anarchy as you can," he alleged. Patra said the ultra Left outfits involved in the violence were named by the UPA government as being among the proscribed organisation and alleged that the Congress is now supporting them in its hunger for power. Pune police has arrested some Maoists for their alleged role in the Bhima-Koregaon violence. Asked where he got the letter from, Patra said "we have drawn it from the pool in media". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Barely a week after the stunning bypoll results of Kairana and Noorpur were announced, senior BJP leaders embarked on a mission to reach out to the voters in Uttar Pradesh and inform them about the work done by the Narendra Modi-led government in the last four years. Called the Vishesh Sampark Abhiyaan (Special Contact Campaign), the 15-day programme, which began on June 1, is likely to witness a number of Union ministers, including Home Minister Rajnath Singh, descending at different places across the state. They would make an effort to communicate to the public the Centre's achievements in the past 48 months. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, his deputy Dinesh Sharma, and a number of his ministerial colleagues were likely to reach out to people in different districts. "Some Union ministers likely to be in the state are Rajnath Singh (in Lucknow), Manoj Sinha (Aligarh on June 13), VK Singh (Varanasi on June 9), Satyapal Singh (Allahabad on June 10), Santosh Gangwar (Agra on June 14), Mahesh Sharma (Faizabad), Shiv Pratap Shukla (Bareilly on June 11) and Krishnaraj (Firozabad on June 7)," Amarpal Maurya, UP co-ordinator of the Vishesh Sampark Abhiyaan, told PTI here today. He said Adityanath would be going to Gorakhpur, his own citadel, and Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, besides the state capital which is represented in the Lok Sabha by Rajnath Singh. Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma was likely to be in Varanasi, while national general secretary Anil Jain was likely to be in Kanpur, he said, adding that even party office bearers of the state unit were assigned tasks under the campaign. "The party through this campaign aims to reach out to 16,000 families, and the number is increasing," Maurya claimed. When asked if there was a separate focus on the Lok Sabha and Assembly seats, which the party lost in the bypolls, Maurya said, "This is a nationwide campaign, and is a part of the efforts by the party to reach to its voters." "The word 'Vishesh' has been prefixed to the campaign, as through this, the party aims to reach to the intellectuals in the society. This is different from the membership drive undertaken by the party." He also said former UP BJP chiefs Ramapati Ram Tripathi (for Meerut), Surya Pratap Shahi (for Kanpur) and Kalraj Mishra among others were engaged as a part of the campaign. The current UP BJP chief Mahendra Nath Pandey was in Moradabad. "The intellectual class of the society whom we are approaching (as a part of this yatra) are the opinion makers...It is the responsibility of the political party to present the report of the work done by them to the people," UP BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said. "We are telling people what we have done in the past 48 months, and based on that we are soliciting their support, and why should they vote for the BJP," he added. When asked how the party would ensure that opinion makers help it by ensuring a high polling turnout, Tripathi said, "The interaction through the campaign will help the intellectual class to associate itself with the political process and not stay aloof or isolated from it." He said he was confident that they would exercise their voting rights and motivate other sections of the society to cast their vote as well. "The intellectual class will also apprise the public about the work done by the BJP as compared to those by other political parties including the Congress in the past," he said. A senior party leader said the party might approach some retired judges of the high court to mould public opinion in Varanasi, though the list of names was yet to be finalised. "As far as Ayodhya is concerned, the party is likely to approach the seers, a list of which is yet to be finalised," another party leader said. Meanwhile, UP BJP general secretary and Noida MLA Pankaj Singh yesterday as part of the campaign in Lucknow met eminent cardiologist Padmashri Mansoor Hasan, Alok Dhawan (director of Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, a CSIR institute), Swami Muktinathanand of Ram Krishna Mission Sewa Ashram, PK Seth (founding CEO of Biotech Park) and educationist Jagdish Gandhi. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today called Donald Trump's national security justification for new metal tariffs on US allies "laughable," as he and French President Emmanuel Macron formed a united front on trade ahead of the G7 summit. The leaders, who met in Ottawa before heading to Quebec to join the US president and their other Group of Seven partners for a two-day summit, noted that the tariffs on steel and alumnium imports would also hurt American workers. "It is laughable to say that Canada, France... can represent a threat to America's national security, as we are the best allies that the US has had for a long time," Trudeau told a press conference, with Macron at his side. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The CBI has filed a charge sheet against Paramount Airways promoter M Thiagarajan and three others for alleged cheating in getting scheduled operator licence and diverting loan funds worth Rs 19 crore from nationalised banks to a Swiss bank account, officials said today. The agency had registered the case on April 30, 2016 against Thiagarajan for alleged cheating in showing minimum capital of Rs 10 crore required to get scheduled operator's licence and diversion of bank loans to his other companies, the officials said. During the investigation, the CBI found that Thiagarajan had submitted fake documents to get a scheduled operator's licence and had also opened an offshore account in Singapore for his company Golden Lotus Leasing Corporation (GLLC), which was incorporated in British Virgin Islands and was headquartered in Singapore. He allegedly diverted loans from State Bank of India, Andhra Bank, Indian Overseas Bank and Bank of India to the offshore account between April 2008 and October 2010, they said. The agency has alleged in the charge sheet filed in the Patiala House court that the company moved the assets which were hypothecated to banks for loans to run airlines without their knowledge. It is alleged that the accused siphoned off Rs 19.68 crore between April 2008 and October 2000 to GLLC account maintained with Union Bank of Switzerland in Singapore and showed them as payment towards lease rental-engine access. The CBI has also alleged that he had induced the Directorate General of Civil Aviation to issue a no-objection certificate for scheduled operators permit by submitting false and fabricated information about the eligibility criteria. Paramount Airlines started operations in 2005 and was flying to south and eastern parts of India before it wound up operations in 2010. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Centre is ready to hold talks with all "right-minded" people in Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan, but the neighbouring country should stop terror activities emanating from its soil, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said today. He said if Pakistan is unable to stop terrorism from its soil on its own, it should take India's help. The minister is on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir to review the security situation in the state "Dialogue can be held with everyone. It is not necessary to be like-minded to hold talks but it is compulsory to be right-minded," said Singh offering an olive branch to the separatists. The Home minister said while the Centre was ready to talk with all people and groups concerned, the Government of India has appointed a special representative for holding dialogue with all stakeholders in Jammu and Kashmir. "The special representative has not been appointed for sightseeing. He has come here 11 times so far," Singh told reporters here. The minister was referring to the appointment of Dineshwar Sharma as special representative to Jammu and Kashmir in October last year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Century Textiles and Industries Ltd (CTIL) is focusing on growing its real estate business post its proposed divestment of cement division to Aditya Birla Group firm UltraTech. The company is envisaging capital requirement of Rs 2,000 crore to grow real estate venture and expecting the offloading of cement division to help cut debt and provide firepower to invest into real estate and paper business. "Demerger of the cement business will result in deleveraging the balance sheet reduction of net debt to EBITDA to 1.6x (times), giving firepower to invest in real estate and paper business," CTIL said in an investors presentation. While the cement business demanded intense capital investment to maintain market position, the company said its next phase of growth will come mainly from real estate, pulp and paper, and textiles. "With a strong brand equity and national presence, Birla Estates is poised to capitalise on immense opportunities and focusing on becoming a significant player in the next 5 10 years," it said. Given the large potential in real estate and its relatively marginal position in the cement business, it has been decided to demerge the cement business along with debt of Rs 3,000 crore, the company added. In the real estate business, the development plan of 25 million square fet in five years will require loan of Rs 2,000 crore, it added. It has a portfolio of land parcels of 30.8 acre at Worli and 132.4 acre at Kalyan in Mumbai and 45 acre at Talegaon in pune, totalling 208.2 acre. Factors such as rise in per capita income, reducing mortgage rates, rapid urbanisation, smart city project and focus on affordable housing projects are favouring real estate business, according to CTIL. On the other hand, the BK Birla Group company further said, said that its cement plants were old and require investment up to Rs 3,000 crore to upgrarde and given the situation of its balance sheet, it was not able to do that. "Rs 2,500 core of capex is required to add capacity to maintain capacity share and Rs 350 crore required to upgrade/ modernise the existing plants at all locations, " it said, adding "given stretched balance sheet at CTIL, the company is not in a position to invest in this business". According to the company, it was "marginal player in the cement industry" with 3.25 per cent capacity share. Moreover, the average age of plants is 24 years and are comparatively older plants. CTIL had on May 20 announced to merge its cement business through a 8:1 share swap deal with UltraTech. The deal included transferring of debt of Rs 3,000 crore to UltraTech and is expected to be completed in six to nine months. The company has three integrated cement units situated in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra with a total capacity of 11.4 mtpa (million tonnes per annum) and a grinding unit in West Bengal of 2.0 mtpa. UltraTech, which is a leader in the segment, has an installed capacity of 96.5 mtpa of grey cement and upon completion of it will go up to 109.9 mtpa. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The US is evacuating several diplomats from China amid concerns that they were suffering from a mysterious illness similar to those reported by its personnel in Cuba, even as Beijing today said it has investigated and found "no clue" about the sound attacks. The US move comes after the State Department recently received medical confirmation that one of the US government employees had suffered a medical incident in China that was consistent with what an American personnel in Havana, Cuba had experienced. The worker at its Consulate in Guangzhou had experienced a "subtle and vague, but abnormal, sensations of sound and pressure," the state department said. Thereafter, it deployed a medical team to Guangzhou to conduct a medical screening of all US government employees and family members who requested it. The medical screenings are ongoing for any personnel who have noted concerning symptoms or wanted baseline screening, State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert said. "As a result of the screening process so far, the department has sent a number of individuals for further evaluation and a comprehensive assessment of their symptoms and findings in the United States," she said. "The US medical professionals will continue to conduct full evaluations to determine the cause of the reported symptoms and whether the findings are consistent with those noted in previously affected government personnel or possibly completely unrelated," Nauert said. Reacting to the reports of the mysterious sound attacks on the US diplomats, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing today that Beijing had investigated the May 23 allegation and found no clue. "Relevant authorities of China have conducted investigations and given the feedback to the US. We haven't found the cause or the clues that led to the situation mentioned by the US," she said. "For the latest incident according to my information, the US hasn't conducted any communication with China. We learnt this from the report of the New York Times. I am not aware of the relevant information. If there is really some problem, US can directly connect and communicate with China and China will adopt a responsible attitude to investigate this," she said. She said China followed the Vienna convention to protect diplomatic staff of the US and other countries. The evacuation of the US diplomats with mysterious illness comes at a time when the relations between Beijing and Washington were going through a tense phase as the two countries grappled to avert a trade war. Recently, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the formation of the Health Incidents Task Force, which serves as the coordinating body for the State Department and other US government agencies. The task force will continue to address the unexplained health incidents that have affected US government personnel and their family members stationed overseas, Nauert said. Last month, the State Department issued a travel warning after a US employee in China reported "subtle and vague, but abnormal, sensations of sound and pressure". This was consistent with symptoms experienced by some US personnel in Cuba. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Unable to come to terms with the that she had failed the CBSE Class 10 examinations, 16-year-old Khushboo slit her wrists and hung herself from the ceiling of her Delhi home last week, underscoring yet again the gravity of the student suicide crisis in the country. In this season of results and marks, Khushboo, a student of Delhi's School of Open Learning, is not the only one who opted out of the fiercely competitive arena of the Indian system. Two others in Delhi itself, Rohit Kumar Meena, 17, and Pragya Pandey, 15, ended their lives too, allegedly because they were unhappy with their Class 10 marks. Earlier this week, more young lives were lost when at least four medical aspirants across India, two in Tamil Nadu, one in Delhi and one in Hyderabad, reportedly committed suicide after the NEET exam results were declared. Another young man hung himself in Delhi because he was not permitted to take the Union Public Service Commission preliminary examination as he was late. The spate of student suicides highlights a crisis that cuts across the boundaries of class and age, exposing the flaws in the education-exam-result system and the inability to empathise with those who may fall below the bar imposed on them. From students giving their first major board exam to those older, the ignominy with which poor grades are viewed and the burden of not being able to cope with the competition is taking a massive toll, said parents, counsellors and educators. Left to deal with the reality that she will never see her daughter again, Khushboo's mother Sonia, who irons clothes for a living, has been stunned into silence. There is nothing left for me to say. I have nothing to say, Sonia, overcome with grief, told PTI. "Khushboo was already depressed over getting a compartment in Class 9 and after these results she was perhaps too ashamed to face her parents and took this extreme step," added a friend of the family. According to psychiatrists and counsellors, a celebration of efforts and not marks, is the key to helping a distraught individual in the aftermath of a poor scorecard. "No exam can ever test all your talents," said Mumbai-based psychiatrist Harish Shetty. It is the "shock and shame" element of failure that drives the young to take their own lives, he said. "For these victims, the feeling of having let down their parents is equivalent to a betrayal," Shetty told PTI. Even for toppers, slipping down the podium to come second, can be dreadful. "More exams and tests will follow across years. We cannot perform at our best always. Accept all your feelings as they come. After a few days, analyze your performance and move on," said Shetty. Sakshi Mittal, who runs University Leap, a career counselling institute in Delhi, agreed. Mittal, a certified consultant herself, suggested the introduction of psychometric tests in schools to gauge a student's prowess versus his/her interests. "Just because a child is fascinated by a concept in physics does not mean he will fare well at the subject," she explained. Putting the onus on parents and schools, Mittal said she finds the delegation of streams based on marks in schools absurd. "It contributes to the notion that commerce and humanities are for weak students. Parents make their children's careers a prestige issue. They concentrate on a single weakness, and refuse to see the child's strengths," Mittal said. She added that flawed career decisions taken at an early stage in life often lead to confusion later, particularly at the postgraduate level. For Delhi's Rewa Bhagat, who took her Class 12 exams this year, the board exams were not as much of a challenge as the competitive exams she is now gearing up for. "I did not work very hard for my boards. My focus is on clearing the entrance examinations, and it is when you prepare for these tests that you realise the problem of India being one of the most populated countries. It is frustrating and exhausting," Bhagat, who aspires to be a lawyer, said. She added that having parents who accept her failures as well as her success, and teachers who offer useful guidance has helped her keep "never-ending" stress at bay. Stories of how stress was affecting students terrified Mumbai-based Swati Dasgupta, pushing her to ensure that her daughter continued the extracurricular activities she loved during the Class 10 exam and that she always stood by her. "As parents our objective was to stand by our child no matter what her result was," Dasgupta said. Dasgupta talks about a fellow set of parents in the same residential complex, who haven't come out since result day because their child hasn't performed as well as they expected. "Even the child has not left the house since the results, she said. According to Shetty families must follow a 'no shame, no blame' philosophy. "If one gets over 90 per cent, he/she is not a hero, and if one gets 40 per cent, he/she is not a zero. Life is still a long way ahead," he said. It's a message that needs to travel far and wide. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 36-year-old man was evacuated today by the Coast Guard after he fell from the ladder of a merchant ship at Mumbai outer anchorage. A crew member of merchant vessel "MT Sri Vishnu", carrying crude oil, fell from the 15-feet long vertical ladder and suffered injuries, the Coast Guard said in a note. A medical emergency request was received by Coast Guard Maritime Rescue Co-Ordination Centre in Mumbai at around 5 PM and a medical evacuation process was initiated immediately, a Coast Guard official said. According to the note, the crew member, identified as Digvijay Singh, is suspected to have received fractures on left arm and collar bone. The official said Singh was evacuated successfully and handed over to the shipping company. He is undergoing treatment at hospital. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress today decided to allot the Rajya Sabha seat, which falls vacant with the retirement of senior party leader P J Kurian, to Kerala Congress (M), triggering strong protest from a section of party leaders in the state. The decision to allot the seat to KC-M was announced by senior leaders of the party-led UDF at New Delhi after meeting Congress President, Rahul Gandhi. Opposition leader in the state assembly, Ramesh Chennithala, AICC general secretary Oommen Chandy and KPCC President M M Hassan said the decision to allot the RS seat was taken to strengthen UDF as part of the party's resolve to bring together democratic and secular forces to take on BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. "RS seat was given to KC-M as a special case," Chandy said. The decision was part of the UDF formula to bring back the miffed KC-M, which broke away from the front two-years ago over differcences with the Congress on the 'Bar scam' in which KC-M supremo and former finance minister K M Mani is facing bribery allegations. Indian Union Muslim League All India general secretary and MP, P K Kunhalikutty, who was entrusted by UDF to resolve the issue with KC-M, was also present at the press meet. Reacting sharply, former KPCC President V M Sudheeran, said the decision was "suicidal" and would only help in "destroying" the Congress in Kerala. It has also "hurt" the sentiments of party workers, Ssudheeran said, adding, he was "pained." "No party worker can accept this and it was totally unexpected," he said. "The party should not have surrendered its pride to KC-M to bring it back to the front," Sudheeran said. Echoing similar sentiments, Kurian said no discussion was held in the party or election committee. "This is a surrender of the Congress," he told reporters in Delhi. Attacking Chandy, the RS Deputy Chairman said he (Chandy) was the 'main architect' of this decision. Referring to the demand made by a section of young MLAs not to renominate him to the upper House, he said "I have told the party that even if I am not considered, the seat should be held by theCongress itself as there are many eligible leaders who can be nominated to the upper House." KC-M was keeping equidistance from UDF, the ruling CPI-M-led LDF and also BJP-led NDA for the past two years. However, KC-M had extended support to UDF candidates for all the three bypolls held in the state. Meanwhile, six congress MLAs have shot off letters to Congress president Rahul Gandhi, against the party's decison to allot the RS seat to KC-M. V T Balaram told PTI that the decision had 'disappointed' party workers. "We have asked the congress president to reconsider the decision and recommend a party candidate. It has also affected the morale of the party workers," he said. A total three RS seats from Kerala are falling vacant later this month, of which, as per the strength of UDF MLAs, the front could win one and LDF two seats. Besides Kurian, CPI-M leader C P Narayanan and Joy Abraham of the Kerala Congress are retiring on July 1. Meanwhile, K M Mani welcomed the decision and said his party will be meeting tomorrow to take a final decision on returning to the UDF. The UDF's liaison committee meeting is also slated for tomorrow. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Delhi court today sought the response of the CBI by tomorrow on the bail application of journalist Upendra Rai, arrested by the agency for his alleged involvement in dubious financial transactions. Special CBI Judge Santosh Snehi Mann gave the direction after the Central Bureau of Investigation asked for time to file a detailed reply on the bail plea. In his application, Rai has claimed that no purpose would be served by keeping him in further custody. He has claimed he was not required for further custodial interrogation since the CBI's plea for it was rejected by the court on May 9. Rai, arrested by the CBI on May 3, is currently in judicial custody. The Delhi-based scribe was arrested for allegedly indulging in dubious financial transactions and getting an airport access pass made by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) by furnishing false information. The Supreme Court had on May 4 refused to interfere with his arrest. In his application seeking protection from arrest, Rai had claimed he was framed in the case because of his writings against an Enforcement Directorate officer who was part of the team probing the 2G spectrum allocation scam case. Prasun Roy, chief security officer of Air One Aviation Pvt Ltd, was also booked by the CBI, which had carried out searches at eight locations in Lucknow, Noida, Delhi and Mumbai. In its FIR, the agency has alleged that going by the value of the transactions of over Rs one lakh during 2017, Rai's accounts received Rs 79 crore while Rs 78.51 crore was debited from it during the same period. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel today warned government officers of strict action "as per rules" if they do not provide proper answers to the three written questions asked by ruling party legislators by Monday. Goel has asked three senior bureaucrats to remain present during the House proceedings today after their departments allegedly did not provide answers to the written questions. Principal secretaries of education, power and revenue departments attended the proceedings following the directive. As the proceedings began, MLAs complained that officers have not provided proper answers to their questions. "I am feeling pained that the answers of these questions have also not been provided today as well. I am extending the session till Monday. If officers do not provide answers to these questions on Monday, I will take strict action whatever I can do as per rules," Geol said. The three-day session, which started yesterday, was scheduled to conclude tomorrow. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia alleged that the witholding of the answers by the bureaucrates was being done as part of a "conspiracy" to "weaken" the democratic system and constitutional institutions like the CAG and the election commission. "It is being done because PM himself doesn't believe in democracy. How can education department deny answers to questions on number of vacant posts in schools, citing it falls under services matter? Why cannot MLA ask question on people's behalf? Education is transfer subject," Sisodia said. Aam Aadmi Party legislator Sourabh Bharadwaj said he will expose the "conspiracy" in the Delhi Assembly. During the Budget Session in March, Goel had hit out at LG Anil Baijal after he communicated to him he cannot admit questions on reserved subjects including law & order, services and land. As a mark of their protest against the LG move, Goel, Sisodia, cabinet ministers and all AAP legislators wore black bands during the House proceedings then. Later, Goel wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan over the issue, alleging the power of legislation is being encroached upon by the LG who has "killed" democracy with his order. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Upset over not securing berthsin the expanded H D Kumaraswamy ministry, several Congress MLAs in Karnataka today held separate meetings in the city. The meetings were held a day after the 15-day old two-member JDS-Congress cabinet was expanded with the induction of 25 new ministers after intense bargaining for ministerial berths. The much-awaited exercise has caused heartburn among several lawmakers in the coalition while supporters of some of the ministerial aspirants staged protests. The Congress had dropped several key members of the previous Siddaramaiah ministry, including M B Patil, Dinesh Gundu Rao, Ramalinga Reddy, R Roshan Baig, H K Patil, Tanvir Sait, Shamanur Sivashankarappaand Satish Jarkhiholi. A meeting held at M B Patil's residence here today was attended by disgruntled MLAs including M T B Nagaraj, Satish Jarkiholi, Sudhakar and Roshan Baigs. Emerging out of the meeting, Jarkiholi, who is also an AICC secretary, said they discussed about the cabinet expansion and it was true that they were "unhappy" over not getting Ministership. "We have discussed about how to set it right by bringing it to the notice of state and Delhi party leadership about capable and efficient aspirants. We have discussed this yesterday also.. today also we discussed and we will meet again," he said. However, trying to downplay the significance of the development, M B Patil blamed the media for creating "a hype" about his meeting with party colleagues and asked "what is wrong with it?" Admitting that he was a ministerial aspirant, the former Minister said nothing was more important than self respect for him, but "that doesn't mean being anti-party". He claimed the discussion was about the welfare of the party. Asked if he would agree for the Minister's post during the second phase of cabinet expansion, Patil said "...I'm not a second class citizen. I don't have any aspirations further... even Deputy Chief Minister for North Karnataka then (before first cabinet expansion), I had askedfor it." Patil, a prominent ministerial face of theSiddaramaiah government, was at the forefront demandingreligious minority tag for Lingayats, the largest community in the state. Interestingly, Shamanur Shivashankarappa, the face of Akhila Bharata Veerashaiva Mahasabha that had opposed religious minority tag only for Lingayats, by advocating that Lingayats and Veerashaiava are the same, has also not been inducted as the minister. According to sources, Shivashankarappa also held discussion with leaders and close confidantes. A similar meeting of MLAs took place under former Minister H K Patil's leadership and was attended by Yashvantharayagouda Patil and S R Patil, among others, sourcessaid. Stating that several MLAs had spoken to him personally and also over phone, H K Patil said, "we are thinking about how to avoid such faults from happening in the future and steps need to be taken in this regard.... we will take our next steps. ". The party high-command, considering everything, including performance, should take appropriate steps, he said and ruled out him quitting the party. Protests have also been reported from different places including Belagavi, Haveri and Chellakere, where supporters ofJarkiholi, B C Patil and T Raghumurthy respectively, demanded Minister's post for their leaders. MLAs at the meetings are said to have expressed dismay about party leadership, especially CLP leader and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara, who is also the Pradesh Congress Chief, for not getting them ministerial berths. Kumaraswamy had yesterday expanded his 15-day old cabinet, by inducting 25 ministers, with 14 members from the Congress and nine from his party, JDS and one each from BSP and the nascent Karnataka Pragnavanta Janata Paksha. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rapid desertification, water depletion and "abnormal" Western Disturbances, coupled with cyclonic circulations, have contributed to a "spate of dust storms" in the country in the past few month, environmentalist Sunita Narain said today. In a Facebook Live event hosted this evening, she also said that these storms were becoming the "new normal" and therefore the country needed to improve its forecasting ability, dust reduction management and management of its water resources. The event, titled 'Unprecedented storm season and the challenge before us', comes in the backdrop of death of over 250 people in dust and thunder storms across the country last month, owing to which the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has faced criticism. "Large number of dust storms have hit various parts of the country in the past few months, and that is not normal. So, the question, we need to ask is, whether this the new normal. And, what is the level of the preparedness of the country in that scenario?" she asked. During the online interaction, Narain, the director general of the Centre for Science and (CSE), claimed that "50 dust storms have hit over 16 states in the past two-and-a-half months, killing 423 people". Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar are among the state that have recorded several deaths due to storms. "Several factors have contributed to these storms, from rapid desertification, water depletion, excessive groundwater extraction, abnormal Western Disturbances, coupled with cyclonic circulations from the Bay of Bengal," she said. Unprecedented heat condition has added to the desertification as it makes soil hot and light. "Various factors, coupled with the cyclonic circulations from Bay of Bengal, are making for an extremely deadly cocktail. And, lot of this issue is man-made and therefore, more desertification cannot be allowed, we cannot afford to make mistakes," she said. Desertification refers to the the process by which fertile land becomes desert, typically as a result of drought, deforestation, or inappropriate agriculture. "We have to improve our forecasting ability, dust reduction management and management of its water resources, so the climate change effects do not get exacerbated," Narain said. Meanwhile, the MeT department in Lucknow today warned that thunderstorm and dust storm accompanied with winds were "very likely" in over 20 districts of Uttar Pradesh, mostly in the eastern parts of the state. The environmentalist said monsoon is about to break and furious rains have already lashed Pune and Mumbai. "Monsoon is becoming more complex so we need to achieve greater precision in our forecast capabilities," she said. On the Western Disturbance originating from the Mediterranean, Narain said, "Instead of 2-3 normal Western Disturbances, this time 10 delayed Western Disturbances have occurred. And, instead of March-April, it has come up to May. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A day after Amit Shah met Ratan Tata and Madhuri Dixit as part of his party's campaign, Mumbai Congress president Sanjay Nirupam has asked them not to fall for "blatant lies being propagated" by the BJP and its chief. Shah had called on the two icons in their respective fields as part of the BJP's 'Contact For Support' campaign ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Nirupam has sent separate letters to the actress and the industrialist in which he appealed to them to "dismiss the booklet given to them by Shah with the contempt it deserves". "Blatant lies are being propagated by the BJP and its president and I appeal to you two not to fall for this," he wrote. Shah, along with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and other BJP leaders, had called on Dixit at her residence in suburban Mumbai. He had presented a booklet containing the achievements of the BJP-led central government in the last four years to the Bollywood icon during the meeting that lasted for 40 minutes. During his meeting with Tata at the latter's residence, Shah had presented a similar booklet. Tata had said in a tweet that he was impressed to learn about the progress in the implementation of the Narendra Modi government's initiatives and reform measures in the past four years. Nirupam said the booklets given to Dixit and Tata were a "bundle of lies". "I am sending you a factual account of the failures of the Modi government in the last four years during which it has failed to do anything for the people of this country. Mr. Tata, you have always supported secular forces all your life whereas the BJP has spoilt the secular fabric of our country," he said in his letter to the business tycoon. Nirupam also blamed the Modi government for "rising unemployment and corruption" in the country in the last four years. "In the past four years, the BJP government has failed on all fronts including on parameters of economy, social harmony, and international relations," he stated. In a letter addressed to Dixit, Nirupam said, "As an artist, you can understand how different forces work together in the creative space...and this has clearly suffered during the BJP rule. We should work together to stop these forces from gaining ground". The Congress leader said the "ill-conceived fiscal policies of the BJP government have hurt the industry and economy including small businesses, agrarian economy and corporates". Nirupam also questionned the "selective visits" of Shah who has been meeting prominent personalities as part of the BJP's 'sampark for samarthan' campaign to mark the fourth anniversary of the Modi government. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prince Kumar, who topped the Science stream in Delhi government schools in CBSE class 12 examination, was facilitated by the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) today. Prince, the son of DTC bus driver Manoj Kumar, had scored 97 per cent marks in the examination. The Chief Managing Director (CMD) of DTC handed over a commendation letter to Prince and congratulated him and his parents for his remarkable success, a DTC statement said. Two other DTC employees were also felicitated at a small function here for saving life of a senior citizen from some miscreants. Bus driver Surinder and conductor Manjeet Singh had saved the life of the senior citizen last month. They had also managed to catch one of the miscreants despite being attacked with a knife. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An Indian man in Dubai was sacked from his job after he threatened to kill Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in a Facebook video which went viral on social media, a media report said today. Krishnakumar S N Nair, a former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) supporter who worked as a senior supervisor at an Abu Dhabi-based construction company, said in the nearly four-minute long video that he was planning to travel to Kerala to carry out the act. "I am a former RSS worker. I am going to be active again. I am resigning my job here and returning to Kerala. I am staying in Dubai. I will be in Kerala for 2-3 days with an aim to kill," Nair said. "It is time to sharpen old knives. I am least bothered how my life is going to end. If we decide to kill a person then we need to finish the job," the Khaleej Times reported. He was sacked with immediate effect yesterday for the provoking Facebook post. Nair will be returned to Kerala soon after all formalities are over, the report said. Nair said the reason behind his decision to kill the Chief Minister was the apathy shown by the Kerala police towards a Kerala television artiste who had recently made derogatory remarks against a state BJP woman leader. "I have lost my job. I am ready to face any action. I remain an RSS supporter. I seek forgiveness from Pinarayi Vijayan and all politicians," Nair later apologised, saying the was was done when he was drunk. "I am sorry and seek forgiveness from honourable Kerala chief minister and his family. All Keralites please forgive me," he said in another video. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today said her government will take up with Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) issues like release of water and dredging in its reservoirs ahead of the monsoon to avert floods in South Bengal. Expressing concern over floods in adjoining districts along the Damodar downstream every year, Banerjee said the DVC should regulate the discharge of water with prior intimation to the government to avoid sudden inundation of low-lying areas. "We are writing a letter in this regard to the DVC authority urging it to regulate discharge of water and undertake proper dredging works in their reservoirs to ensure enhanced storage capacity, which could help prevent flood in the downstream adjacent areas," Banerjee said while interacting with the officials at an administrative meeting here. "We don't like to see floods every year at Amta and Udainarayanpur in Howrah, Arambagh-Goghat-Khanakul in Hooghly and Ghatal in West Midnapore with the released water from the DVC and there should be a mechanism to avoid such a flood that disturbs people every year during monsoon," the chief minister said. Apart from this, Banerjee asked officials to take all necessary measures in advance to avoid flood or flood-like situation anywhere in the state. Banerjee also enquired about the progress of the Lower Damodar Basin project, having a budget of Rs 2,800 crore, which would mitigate the perennial problem when implemented, benefitting Howrah, Hooghly, Burdwan and Bankura districts. "The project, when implemented, will help 1.7 lakh hectares of farm land. See, it can be expeditiously implemented in coordination with all concerned departments," she said. On medical facilities, she said 27,000 beds had been added to different hospitals in the state in the past seven years. "We are introducing new facilities in medical colleges and even 43 multi-speciality hospitals have come up during the period," she said. She said the Howrah State General Hospital will be renovated and shifted to a more spacious place covering five acres. "The Howrah State General Hospital can be shifted to the Howrah Correctional Home building. The Correctional Home building will then be shifted to the place where the Police Training School will come up," Banerjee said. She said that with the Panchayat elections now over, the government is committed to fast track different projects. Observing that there had been some incidents relating to law and order in certain pockets of Howrah district recently, Banerjee said she ask the police to step up monitoring. Referring to the bus fare hike announced by the government yesterday, Banerjee said the soaring fuel prices are a concern for her government. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi today appointed Housing Minister Mostafa Madbouli as the country's Prime Minister and assigned him to form the new Cabinet. Madbouli's elevation to the post comes two days after Prime Minister Sherif Ismail submitted his resignation following Sisi's swearing-in as the head of state for a second term until 2022. Ismail's move was in line with the political tradition that the government should resign at the start of a new presidential term. "President El-Sisi received Dr Mostafa Madbouly today to commission him to form the new government," ahramonline quoted Bassam Radi, the president's official spokesperson, as saying. Madbouli, 52, served as an interim prime minister from November 2017 to the end of January this year, while Ismail received medical treatment abroad. He was appointed minister of housing in February 2014 in the Cabinet of then-prime minister Ibrahim Mahlab, and kept his position when Ismail was appointed as premier in September 2015. Madbouli is an architect and urban designer who served as the director of the UN's Habitat Regional Office for Arab States from 2012 until 2014. He also served as chairman of Egypt's General Organisation of Urban Planning from 2009 until 2011. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 48-year-old man was trampled to death by an elephant in Laldhang forest range of Pauri district, a forest officer said today. Bhopal Singh, a resident of Nathukhal village, had gone for some work last afternoon to beat no 7 of Laldhang forest range, a reserved area which is also considered an elephant corridor, Range Officer Virendra Pal Singh said. When he did not return home in the evening, villagers started searching for him, the officer said. They informed the forest department after Bhopal's trampled body was spotted in the reserved forest area late at night, the officer said. The body was sent for a post-mortem in Kotdwar today, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The EU today warned Turkey it must give a fair trial to the Amnesty International country chairman, who has been held in jail for the past year, in line with European rights standards. Turkish authorities have detained Taner Kilic since June 2017 over accusations of links to the group Ankara says was behind an attempted coup against the government in 2016. The European Union's relations with Turkey have been blighted by a series of rows in recent years, particularly since President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's crackdown following the bid to overthrow him. "The authorities in Turkey - a EU candidate country and member of the Council of Europe - need to ensure the right to fair trail, a legal process, on the basis of the principle of presumption of innocence and in line with the European Convention of Human Rights and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights," a spokesperson for the European Commission said in a statement. Negotiations for Turkey to join the bloc began in 2005 but are effectively frozen, and Erdogan has drifted increasingly closer to Russia and Iran, especially concerning the conflict in Syria, despite being a NATO member. Amnesty yesterday vowed to intensify efforts to win freedom for Kilic, who is one of dozens of journalists and rights activists caught up in the crackdown launched in the wake of the coup. Kilic was arrested on June 6, 2017, on what Amnesty describes as the "baseless charge of belonging to a terrorist organisation". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former Janata Dal (U) president Sharad Yadav, who has been disqualified as an MP by the Rajya Sabha chairman, cannot draw his salary, allowances or perks entitled to him as a Member of Parliament, the Supreme Court said today. The top court modified the Delhi High Court order passed last year by which it had allowed Yadav to draw salary, allowances and perks till the pendency of his plea challenging the disqualification as an MP from the Rajya Sabha. A vacation bench of justices A K Goel and Ashok Bhushan, however, allowed him to retain his official bungalow, as ordered by the high court on December 15 last year. The apex court's decision came on a plea by JD (U)'s Rajya Sabha member Ramchandra Prasad Singh challenging the high court's interim order. At the outset, senior advocate S Guru Krishna Kumar, appearing for Yadav, said that he was ready to forgo his salary, allowances and perks but he should be allowed to retain his official residence till the pendency of the petition in the high court. He said that pending further orders of the high court, he will not draw any remuneration or other perks. The bench questioned the high court's direction allowing Yadav get the remuneration when he had been disqualified by the chairman of the Upper House. "We will modify the order of the high court directing payment of salary, allowances and perks. As far as official residence is concerned, that part we are not touching and he can stay there till the pendency of his petition," the bench said. Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, representing Singh, said that the order of the high court should be modified as Yadav cannot be allowed to get salary and retain the official residence here since he was disqualified on December 4 last year. Kumar said a direction should be passed that Yadav's petition before the high court be decided expeditiously by a division bench. To this, the bench said, "Since on account of delay in proceedings the election to the vacant posts in case may be delayed, we request the high court to decide the writ petition at the earliest." It said that since the matter is listed in the high court on July 12, no party shall seek any adjournment and the issue be adjudicated at the earliest The bench referred to an apex court verdict and directed that the matter may now be placed on the next date before a division bench of the high court and disposed of the petition. On December 15 last year, the high court had refused to grant interim stay on Yadav's disqualification as a Rajya Sabha member. The interim order of the high court had come on Yadav's plea challenging his disqualification on several grounds, including that he was not given any chance to present his case by the Rajya Sabha chairman before passing an order against him and his colleague and then MP Ali Anwar on December 4, 2017. On May 18, the top court had agreed to hear the appeal filed by Singh against the high court order and had issued a notice to Yadav. Singh, the JD(U) leader in the Upper House, had sought their disqualification on the ground that they had attended a rally of opposition parties in Patna in violation of the party's directives. Yadav had joined hands with the opposition after JD(U) president and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar dumped his party's alliance with the RJD and the Congress in the state and tied up with the BJP in July last year. Yadav was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2016 and his term was scheduled to end in July 2022. Anwar's term as a Rajya Sabha member expired in April. Both were disqualified under the anti-defection law. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former Janata Dal (U) president Sharad Yadav, who has been disqualified as an MP by the Rajya Sabha chairman, cannot draw his salary, allowances or perks entitled to him as a Member of Parliament, the Supreme Court today said. The top court modified the Delhi High Court order passed last year by which it had allowed Yadav to draw salary, allowances and perks till the pendency of his plea challenging the disqualification as an MP from Rajya Sabha. A vacation bench of Justices A K Goel and Ashok Bhushan, however, allowed him to retain his official bungalow, as ordered by the high court on December 15 last year. The apex court's decision came on a plea by JD (U)'s Rajya Sabha MP Ramchandra Prasad Singh challenging the Delhi High Court's interim order. At the outset, the counsel appearing for Yadav said that he is ready to forgo his salary, allowances and perks but he should be allowed to retain his official residence, till the pendency of petition in high court. The bench then asked Yadav's counsel as how can the high court direct him to pay the salary and perks when he has been disqualified by the chairman of the upper house. "We will modify the order of high court directing payment of salary, allowances and perks. As far as official residence is concerned that part we are not touching and he can stay there till the pendency of his petition," the bench said. Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar appearing for Singh said that the order of the high court should be modified as the high court cannot ask for payment of salary and retention of his official residence at New Delhi here as he has been disqualified by the Rajya Sabha chairman on December 4, last year. Kumar said Yadav's petition pending before the high court should be directed to be decided expeditiously by a division bench. The bench then directed that the petition be heard in July by a division bench of the high court and matter be decided expeditiously. On December 15, last year, the high court, had refused to grant interim stay on Yadav's disqualification as a Rajya Sabha MP. The interim order of the high court had come on Yadav's plea challenging his disqualification on several grounds, including that he was not given any chance to present his case by the Rajya Sabha chairman before passing an order against him and his colleague and then MP Ali Anwar on December 4, 2017. On May 18, the top court had agreed to hear the appeal filed by Singh against the High Court order and had issued a notice to Yadav. Singh, the JD(U) leader in the Upper House, had sought their disqualification on the ground that they had attended a rally of opposition parties in Patna in violation of its directives. Yadav had joined hands with the opposition after JD(U) president and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar dumped the grand alliance with the RJD and the Congress in Bihar and tied up with the BJP in July last year. Yadav was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2016 and his term was scheduled to end in July 2022. Anwar's term as a Rajya Sabha MP expired in April. Both were disqualified under the anti-defection law. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The future course of action for Air India disinvestment process will be decided by the group of ministers as no initial bids were received for the proposed stake sale of the debt-laden national carrier, Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu said today. He said that all alternatives will be discussed by the Air India Specific Alternative Mechanism (AISAM), headed by Union Minister Arun Jaitley. "The future course of action will be decided by the group of ministers," Prabhu told PTI. On whether the government would dilute the bidding norms to attract players, he said that the decision will be taken by that group of ministers only. "There are several alternatives before Air India. All alternatives will be discussed by the group and (they will) decide the best possible alternative in the given situation," he said. The deadline for submission of Expression of Interest (EoI) ended on May 31, with not a single bidder evincing interest in the airline. In nearly two decades, this is the second time that Air India stake sale has not taken off. Back in 2001, during the then NDA government, the disinvestment process was scrapped. The government has proposed to offload 76 per cent equity share capital of the national carrier as well as transfer the management control to private players, as per the preliminary information memorandum. The transaction will involve Air India, its low cost arm Air India Express and Air India SATS Airport Services Pvt Ltd. The latter is an equal joint venture between the national carrier and Singapore-based SATS Ltd. Under the proposed disinvestment process, around Rs 33,000 crore debt would have remained with Air India. The national carrier's debt burden was about Rs 50,000 crore at the end of March 2017. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The National Green Tribunal has rapped the tanneries located in and around Kanpur over the delay in setting up of common effluent treatment plants (CETP) and directed them to contribute 25 per cent of the cost as per its direction. A bench headed by acting Chairperson Justice Jawad Rahim warned the tannery units in Jajmau, Unnao and Banthar that if they fail to abide by its order, appropriate action would be passed against them. "As far as the CETP is concerned at Jajmau, Unnao and Banthar, the CETPs are not established .... it is stated the tannery industries have failed to contribute 25 per cent of the contribution.... "We caution the industries that they will be dealt appropriately if they fail to contribute 25 per cent of their contribution to the CETP establishment exclusive of cost of the establishment of that CETP. However, we direct all concerned to ensure that CETP at Jajmau, Unnao and Banthar are established and the process is expedited and the report in this regard be filed by the industries on the next date of hearing," the bench said. The order came after the counsel for the tanneries submitted that there was a meeting in which they voluntarily agreed to cooperate and make a contribution of Rs 137 crore for the upgradation of the pre-treatment plant and apart from it they will also pay Rs 25 crore. The lawyer appearing for the state pollution control board told the bench that a huge dump of waste was lying at Kanpur and Rs 23.50 crore in the ratio of 60:40 per cent was required to remove it. The green panel directed the Uttar Pradesh and Centre to file an affidavit by July 27, the next date of hearing, stating the time by which the amount can be released for waste removal. Advocate M C Mehta, who has filed plea for cleaning of Ganga, said that more than 60,000 tonnes of chromium waste was lying in Kanpur and polluting the "Be that as it may, we shall have to consider this issue at subsequent stage and proper directions will be passed. We are adjourning this case granting one more month time to all the stakeholders to ensure that the directions are complied and report be filed by the next date of hearing," the bench said. In a detailed judgement, the green panel had directed the industries to contribute finances not exceeding 25 per cent of the total cost in relation to the construction, up gradation of sewage treatment plant, CETP and providing common infrastructure. Regarding shifting of tanneries located in Jajmau cluster in Kanpur, the bench had sought an action plan from the leather units within six weeks, failing which the UP government shall be duty bound to close the tanneries and shift the same to Banthar, Unnao or any other developed site which it considers appropriate. It had passed a slew of directions to rejuvenate Ganga, declaring as 'No Development Zone' an area of 100 metres from the edge of the river between Haridwar and Unnao and prohibiting dumping of waste within 500 metres from the river. The tribunal had said the government has spent over Rs 7,000 crore in two years to clean the Ganga which still remains a "serious environmental issue". The NGT judgement had said "till the demarcation of floodplains and identification of permissible and non-permissible activities by the state government of this judgement, we direct that 100 metres from the edge of the river would be treated as no development/construction zone between Haridwar to Unnao in UP." 'No-development zones' are areas where no construction including commercial or residential buildings can come up. It had also completely prohibited disposal of municipal solid waste, e-waste or bio-medical waste on the floodplains or into the river and its tributaries. The tribunal reiterated its earlier order of ban on mechanical mining in Ganga and said "no in-stream mechanical mining is permitted and even the mining on the floodplain should be semi-mechanical and preferably more manual". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Delhi court today sentenced gangster Abu Salem to seven years rigorous imprisonment for demanding Rs 5 crore as protection money from a Delhi-based businessman in 2002, saying that he is a "hardened criminal" and the punishment should be a lesson for him and others. Additional Sessions Judge Tarun Sehrawat, while passing the order, said that Salem indulged in activities of extending threats and extortion and had been previously involved in several cases. The court imposed the maximum punishment for the offence and a fine of Rs 10,000 on him. "As per the case of the prosecution, the convict is a hard core criminal who indulged in the activities of extending threats and extortion under the fear of death and he has been previously involved in several cases of similar nature... "Therefore, he deserves severe punishment of such a magnitude that the same should be a lesson for the convict and an alarming lesson for others, the judge said. The prosecution, while seeking maximum sentence for Salem, had argued that he was an underworld don and a "synonym of terror" involved in various heinous offences. Salem's counsel M S Khan had, however, contended that his trial was illegal as the extradition order was terminated by courts in Portugal, from where he was brought to India in 2005. He sought leniency for Salem, saying he has faced continuous incarceration since 2002 when he was detained in Portugal and later in India. "The convict is not entitled to get any kind of leniency from this court for the purpose of sentence. Hence, I award the convict Abu Salem Ansari the maximum sentence of rigorous imprisonment for seven years and a fine of Rs 10,000," the judge said. The court had convicted Salem in the case on May 26. The court had, however, acquitted the other accused -- Chanchal Mehta, Majid Khan, Pawan Kumar Mittal and Mohammad Ashraf -- citing lack of evidence against them. One of the accused, Sajjan Kumar Soni, had died during the trial. In the extortion case lodged in Delhi, it was alleged that Salem had demanded Rs 5 crore as protection money from businessman Ashok Gupta, a resident of Greater Kailash in south Delhi, in 2002. Salem was convicted under sections 387 (putting person in fear of death or of grievous hurt, in order to commit extortion), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 507 (criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication) of the Indian Penal Code. Advocate Khan had denied the allegations levelled against Salem and contended that the trial in the case violated the order by which the gangster was extradited from Portugal to India. Salem, who was extradited from Portugal in November 2005, is facing various other cases, including those related to the 1993 Mumbai blasts. He is currently lodged in Taloja prison in Navi Mumbai. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Four suitors, including a government employee and a pizza shop worker, today met Geeta, a hearing and speech impaired woman who returned from Pakistan after accidentally landing in that country as a child, in Indore. A campaign to find a suitable match for Geeta is being conducted under Ministry of External Affairs and a Facebook advert had been put out in this regard. A total of 50 people from various parts of the country had expressed their desire to tie knot with Geeta. However, only 14 proposals were short-listed after Geeta's consent and six of them were invited to meet her in Indore today. "The campaign to find a suitable match for Geeta was being run under the guidance of the Ministry of External Affairs. Six persons from different parts of the country were invited today to Indore to meet her. Of them, four men turned up today," said Madhya Pradesh Social Justice and Empowerment Department Joint Director BC Jain told PTI. He said Geeta has not yet taken a final call on the prospective groom. "Geeta will meet eight men (out of the 14 suitors) tomorrow," Jain said. However, Geeta has put certain pre-conditions. Gyanendra Purohit, a sign language expert associated with the campaign to find a life partner for Geeta, said that "Through the sign language, Geeta has said that if she likes a non-deaf and mute man, he will have to learn the sign language so that both of them can communicate after their marriage. In addition, her future husband will have to help her in finding her parents". When asked about the profile of four men who met Geeta today, sources said they included a moulding machine operator, an Excise Department employee, and a Pizza shop worker. Among them, one Sachin Pal (27), an Indore-based moulding machine operator who is partially hearing impaired, refused to accept the conditions laid by Geeta. Other suitors include Arun Namdev (26), an employee of Excise Department in Tikamgarh district, and Ritesh Patel (26) who works in a Pizza shop in Ahmedabad. Both are deaf-and-mute like Geeta. Geeta also met one Rajkumar Swarnakar (29), a resident of Bhopal, who is physically-challenged. Purohit said he had posted a matrimonial advertisement on Facebook for Geeta on April 10 after meeting External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. Geeta is currently staying in the premises run by "Mook Badhir Sangathan", an NGO, under the supervision of Social Justice Department. In the last two and a half years, more than ten families from different parts of the country have claimed that Geeta was their missing daughter. But none of these claims could be verified in the government's investigations. Geeta was found by Pakistani Rangers in Samjhauta Express at Lahore Railway Station when she was around eight. She was brought back to India on October 26, 2015 on intervention of Swaraj. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Thaawarchand Gehlot today assured Arunachal Pradesh help from his ministry for the welfare of the differently abled persons in the state. He asked the state government to immediately appoint an independent state commissioner for persons with disabilities so that schemes and funds can flow from the Centre seamlessly. Gehlot asked the people to write to the ministry with proper address and details if they have or know of any child below the age of 6 who cannot hear or speak and assured that the government will immediately provide assistance. Responding to Chief Minister Pema Khandus requests during the 'Samajik Adhikarita Shivir', a camp for free-of-cost distribution of aids and assistive devices for people with disabilities here, Gehlot said, "Submit the proposals and I assure approval within a month". At present the Commissioner of Social Justice, Empowerment and Tribal Affairs (SJETA) holds the additional charge of Commissioner of Persons with Disabilities. Talking about cochlear implant and the assistance provided by his ministry, Gehlot informed that till date 1220 children below the age of six, including one from Arunachal Pradesh, have been provided with the free implant that costs about Rs six lakhs each. He expressed satisfaction over the camp being held in Arunachal Pradesh where 957 persons with disabilities, including senior citizens, have been provided with aids and assistive devices free of cost which cost the government Rs 67.37 lakh. He said that in the last five years, the ministry has organized 7150 such camps benefitting 11 lakh people and costing Rs 620 crore. Khandu sought assistance from the ministry to make Papum Pare district, which is the most populated in the state, disability free by December this year as a pilot project and spread to the rest of Arunachal Pradesh. He said the state government through SJETA is implementing the Chief Ministers Disability Pension Scheme, a flagship program of the state government that offers financial assistance of Rs 1000 per month as economic rehabilitation. During 2017-18 a total amount of Rs 82,08000 was disbursed to 684 beneficiaries across the state. Khandu also requested the union minister to consider opening a manufacturing unit of the Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation Ltd (ALIMCO) in Arunachal Pradesh that would cater to the entire North East region. ALIMCO, which manufactures aids and assistive devices for persons with disabilities, has auxiliary production Centres at Bhubaneswar, Jabalpur, Bengaluru and Chanalon in Punjab and one outreach centre at Guwahati. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) German safety and quality expert TV SD has set up its textile testing laboratory in neighbouring Tiruppur. With this expansion, the laboratory known for its physical testing and technical solutions, will offer chemical testing services for all kinds of textile businesses in Tiruppur as well as neighbouring regions including Karur, Salem and Erode. The holistic capabilities of the laboratory will cater to manufacturers and exporters carving a niche for Indian knitwear products in global and domestic markets, TV SD CEO of South and South-East Asia, Middle East and Africa Region, Niranjan Nadkarni said in release here. The facility is fully equipped to provide comprehensive textile, apparel and home furnishing testing services, it said. Manufacturers can avail complete guidance on Restricted Substance List (RSL) and Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC) and other similar safety regulations, Nadkarni said adding new chemical testing laboratory is equipped with state-of-the-art instrumentation. With its wide network of labs and experts across key markets including south Asia, European Union, ASEAN, the US and the UK, TV SD has in-depth familiarity with compliance in exporting and importing nations, Nadkarni said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) President Donald Trump's attorney, Rudy Giuliani, said Stormy Daniels' claim she had sex with Trump in 2006 is not credible because she is a porn actress with "no reputation". "I'm sorry I don't respect a porn star the way I respect a career woman or a woman of substance or a woman who isn't going to sell her body for sexual exploitation," Giuliani said at a conference in Tel Aviv. Daniels' work as an adult film actress "entitles you to no degree of giving your credibility any weight," he said. He said people could "just look" at Daniels to know she wasn't believable. "Excuse me, but when you look at Stormy Daniels..." Giuliani said, prompting the moderator to interject and tell him that he must respect women while he was speaking at the conference. Giuliani's comments at the "Globes" Capital Market conference yesterday drew a heated response today from Daniels' attorney, Michael Avenatti, who called for the president to immediately fire Giuliani. Daniels has said she had sex with a married Trump in 2006. She is fighting to invalidate a nondisclosure agreement she signed days before the 2016 election. Trump has denied Daniels' allegations that they had sex just months after his wife, Melania, gave birth to their son. Giuliani said the first lady doesn't believe Daniels' claim. He said the USD 130,000 that Daniels was paid as part of the nondisclosure agreement was "like a nuisance thing". If her claims could be proven, she would have been paid millions of dollars, he said. Avenatti fired back on Twitter, calling Giuliani a "misogynist". He said Daniels "should be celebrated for her courage, strength and intelligence" and that he "would be put her character up against Mr. Giuliani's any day of the week". "His most recent comments regarding my client, who passed a lie detector test and who the American people believe, are disgusting and a disgrace," Avenatti said. Giuliani declined to comment further on today when reached by The Associated Press. Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles yesterday alleging that her former attorney, Keith Davidson, was a "puppet" for Trump and had been secretly working with the Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen, to get her to appear on Fox and falsely deny the sexual tryst with Trump. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Goa government has begun the process of formulating a policy to conserve and protect the Portuguese-era structures in the state and to give a new lease of life to them. The State Town and Country Planning minister Vijai Sardesai yesterday chaired a meeting of Conservation Committee formed by his department to discuss the issue. This committee appointed a sub-committee comprising officials of the Department of Archaeology and experts to give final shape to the policy. "It was decided to formulate a heritage conservation policy for the Portuguese-era structures in the state. The policy will bring architectural guidelines about the nature of such houses in conservation areas," Sardesai told PTI. The government has already declared certain parts of Goa as 'conservation areas' after taking into account the density of heritage structures in those areas. "The committee will begin its work immediately. Various aspects related to these heritage structures, like their colour, texture and other factors would be specified by the committee," Sardesai said. According to him, a comprehensive policy would be tabled during the next session of the Legislative Assembly. The minister said the policy will also decide on providing financial help to these heritage structures. "Owners of many heritage structures find it unaffordable to maintain their houses. The government will provide financial support to such units," he said. The policy will also envisage a special corpus to provide financial help to the owners of heritage structures, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A top US lawmaker today asked Twitter and Google's parent company Alphabet to provide information about their data-sharing agreements with Chinese companies, amid growing security and intellegence concerns over the tech trade with third-party vendors. The letter by Democratic Senator Mark Warner, who is a Vice Chairman of the powerful Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, follows a disclosure earlier this week by Facebook that it had partnerships with Chinese telecom companies including Huawei that allowed them to access Facebook users' non-public data. "Since at least October 2012, when the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence released its widely-publicized report, the relationship between the Chinese Communist Party and equipment makers like Huawei and ZTE has been an area of national security concern," Warner wrote in identical letters to Twitter and Alphabet. "Since then, numerous articles in the tech trade press have focused on concerns by American and allied intelligence agencies that products from Chinese device makers, such as Lenovo, have security vulnerabilities that could allow Chinese intelligence to access data stored on, or transmitted by, devices," he said. The New York Times reported in 2016 that firmware found in low-end smartphone devices, such as those of Huawei and ZTE, continually transmitted local data to Chinese severs, potentially for foreign intelligence purposes, he said. It is publicly known that Alphabet has entered into strategic partnerships with Chinese mobile device manufacturers, including Huawei and Xiaomi, as well as with Chinese technology platform Tencent. In light of Facebook's recent revelations, Warner requested that the company provide information about those partnerships, as well as any other agreements that Alphabet may have entered into with third-party vendors based in China. He asked Twitter and Alphabet to confirm whether they have entered into similar agreements with mobile device companies and provide a full list of these vendors. "Were any of the third party partnerships with vendors based in China? Were Huawei, ZTE, Lenovo or Xiaomi among them? If so, please provide a full list of these vendors," he asked. The letter comes in the wake of reports that Facebook entered into data-sharing partnerships with at least 60 device makers, under which enormous volumes of non-public consumer data were made available to third parties, including in cases where Facebook users had restricted access from third party apps and websites. Facebook has now acknowledged that the social media company worked with Huawei, TCL and other Chinese manufacturers to integrate their services onto these phones, Warner said. "There are indications that this practice of embedding social media sharing functions with Chinese OEMs may have been more widespread, including potentially through agreements between Twitter and these Chinese companies," Warner said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said access to medicines is a "big concern" for the poor as he expressed his government's commitment to decrease the financial burden and ensure affordable healthcare for every Indian. Interacting with beneficiaries of the 'Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojna (PMBJP)' and affordable cardiac stents and knee implants through video conference, he said government is working to provide more beds, hospitals and doctors and has taken one step after the other so that the cost incurred by the poor on treatment comes down. He said for providing good medical facilities to the poor and those residing in rural areas, more than 90 medical colleges have been opened and 15,000 MBBS seats increased. Talking about his government's ambitious Ayushman Bharat programme, he said under this, around 10 crore families and 50 crore people will be given health insurance of Rs 5 lakh. "The first phase of this yojna has been initiated and soon people across the country, will get benefited by it," he said. As people living in small villages or towns find it difficult to go to a hospital or health centre that is very far away, the government has decided to open around 1.5 health centres across the country under Ayushman Bharat. Apart from medicines, diagnostics facilities will also be available in them, he said. "In the last four years, our government has taken one step after the other so that the cost incurred by the poor for treatment can come down. "I can say with satisfaction that we have chosen the right direction, taken the right path, made the right policies and they are now reaching the grass root level...We have worked in mission mode," he said He said access to medicines is a big concern for the poor and the government's constant endeavour is to "ensure affordable healthcare to every Indian". Modi said several people are benefitting from PMBJP, an initiative of the government to provide medicines at affordable prices. The prime minister said that in every disease the poor is most concerned about medicines and under PM Jan Aushodi Pariyojna, the government has ensured that people get medicines at minimal rates. He said today more than 3,600 Jan Aushadhi Kendras have been opened in which more than 700 different types of generic medicines are available at the lowest rates. "We have tried to ensure that in these kendras medicines are available at 50-90 per cent less price be it be medicines for cancer, blood pressure or anything else," he said. He also noted that the government has reduced stent prices substantially, benefitting the poor and the middle class the most. Although knee-related issues are common, the prime minister said its treatment was not common earlier as those who had the money could ensure its treatment. The cost incurred for knee transplant was anywhere around Rs 2.5 lakhs to Rs 3 lakhs earlier but now it is not the same, he said. The cost incurred on knee transplants have witnessed a decrease of up to 70 per cent. Knee transplants are now done in Rs 50,000-Rs 80,000, he said. According to an estimate in India, every year 1-1.5 lakh knee surgeries are done and due to decrease in their cost, there has been a savings of around Rs 1500 crore for the middle class, he said. The prime minister said that similarly the cost of dialysis too was high and it was available in selected cities. Keeping this in mind, the Prime Minister Rashtriya Dialysis Yojna was started. "Under it for 2.25 lakh patients, around 22 lakh sessions have already taken place. In 80 per cent districts of the country, today this programme is going on. Presently in 400 Jan Swasth Kendras this is going on while 3200-3300 machines have been made available," he said. The prime minister said his government aims to eradicate tuberculosis from India by 2025, five years ahead of a globally-set deadline. "The world has decided that by 2030, TB will be eradicated. We in India decided why wait for 2030. That is why we have made a programme to eradicate it five years ahead of the global deadline. That is we aim to eradicate TB by 2025," he said. He pointed out that the government has also started a huge campaign for immunisation. "Under Mission Indradhanush in four phases till now, in 528 districts across the country, 3.15 crore children and more than 80 lakh pregnant women have been immunised. "Our target is that till 2020, all those children are immunised who have not been immunised or have been partially immunised, so that they can be saved from 12 different diseases," he said. Ahead of the International Yoga Day on June 21, the prime minister appealed to people to practice yoga and make it a part of their life. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The government has left no stone unturned in convincing a UK court that fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya must be extradited to India, spokesperson said on Friday. "Extradition hearings have been going on. I understand that the closing submissions in the case have already been made. We now wait for the verdict. I can only assure you that we have left no stone unturned in our efforts to convince the courts that the extradition of Vijay Mallya to India should take place," Kumar told reporters in response to a question. In February 2017, India made a formal request to the UK for the extradition of Mallya, who faces charges of financial misconduct amounting to nearly Rs 90 billion in debt owed to Indian banks by his defunct When asked about the location of fugitive businessmen and Mehul Choksi, who allegedly duped Bank to the tune of thousands of crores of rupees, he said the will not be able to provide their location details as it comes into picture only when the agencies concerned inform it about their whereabouts. Responding to a question on whether the issue of the extradition of Islamic preacher Zakir Naik from Malaysia came up for discussion during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with his Malaysian counterpart Mahathir Mohamad, Kumar said the interaction between the two leaders was very short. The meeting happened on May 31 during Modi's visit enroute Singapore and the talks covered a broad overview about the relationship between the two countries. Modi made a brief stopover in Malaysia to meet the nonagenarian leader, who won polls after trumping Najib Razak, the then Prime Minister of Malaysia. Kumar added India had sent request to Malaysia to extradite Naik and it was waiting for a response. On the summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un scheduled for June 12 in Singapore, Kumar said, " India welcomes the proposed meeting and supports the peaceful resolution to the Korean Peninsula problem. The government will continue to pursue disinvestment of debt-laden Air India and revised bidding norms are likely to be finalised soon, officials said, even as the stake sale proposal elicited muted response from the investors. After no bidders put in their Expression of Interest (EoI) for the strategic disinvestment of Air India and its two subsidiaries last month, the civil aviation ministry is now gathering inputs from transaction advisor to understand the reasons on the failure to attract bidders. "We had not envisaged a situation when there would be no bids. Disinvestment of Air India is very much on the table," a government official said. Asked if the government could look at selling entire 100 per cent in Air India, the official said, "We would look at simplifying some of the norms, but it would not be entirely different from what the thinking behind the disinvestment has been earlier". In a major setback, no initial bids were received for the Air India disinvestment when the deadline for submission of Expression of Interest (EoI) ended on May 31. EY is the transaction advisor for Air India disinvestment. Officials said the ministry is consulting the transaction advisor on the inputs they have received from the market about the disinvestment plan. This would help in understanding what were the factors that may have held back the investors from bidding for Air India, they added. A government official said the ministry would look at which provisions of the Preliminary Information Memorandum (PIM) needs to be reworked. According to officials, more clarity might be required with regard to foreign fund managers in the context of Air India disinvestment. However, they did not elaborate on the issues involved. The ministry is likely to first send the revised PIM to the evaluation committee, an inter-ministerial grouping under the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) and then to the core group on disinvestment headed by the cabinet secretary. After deliberations by these two groupings, the revised proposal would be put up before the alternative mechanism for Air India disinvestment that is headed by the finance minister, by the end of this month, officials said. The government was to offload 76 per cent equity share capital of the national carrier as well as transfer the management control to private players, as per the PIM. The transaction would involve Air India, its low cost arm Air India Express and Air India SATS Airport Services Pvt Ltd. The latter is an equal joint venture between the national carrier and Singapore-based SATS Ltd. On May 31, Civil Aviation Secretary R N Choubey had said the government was expecting better participation for the Air India stake sale and indicated that there could be a re-think on the strategy. The alternative mechanism headed by the finance minister would decide the future course of action on Air India disinvestment, he had said soon after the EoI deadline ended. As per the disinvestment proposal that failed to attract any bidders, over Rs 33,000 crore debt would have remained with Air India. The national carrier's debt burden was about Rs 50,000 crore at the end of March 2017. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Stressing the need for a sensitive and transparent approach, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani today asked the officials to prepare a ten-point road-map to solve people's problems. He was speaking at the three-day "Chintan Shibir", a brainstorming session of the state government, which began here on the premises of Gujarat State Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd (GSFC). Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, other ministers and senior bureaucrats are attending the session. A government release said that over 200 participants, including probationary IAS officers, took part in various discussions today. Key issues which were discussed included challenges of urban administration. Topics such as new opportunities in the agricultural sector, measures to bring down infant and maternal mortality rates, malnutrition, rural development and improving the quality of education will be discussed in the next two days. In his opening remarks, Rupani asked bureaucrats not to stick only to government resolutions (GRs). "Instead of just following what has been mentioned in the GRs, you need to take the gist of it and take decisions related to pro-people works with sensitive and transparent approach," he said. Indecisiveness is a hindrance to development, he said. "It is necessary to take prompt decisions. People have a perception that only those governments which take prompt decisions are pro-people governments. So we need to change our work culture and create a system where people's work is done easily," he said. The chief minister asked all the departments to prepare a 10-point road-map for solving people's problems. The last such session was held in 2015. The first Chintan Shibir had been been held in 2004, when Narendra Modi was the chief minister. Ahead of today's meet, opposition Congress said the Shibir symbolised the "five-star" culture of the ruling BJP. "This Shibir is a symbol of BJP's five-star culture. Today farmers in Gujarat are not getting water. People are not getting drinking water. Corruption has become rampant under the BJP rule," Gujarat Congress president Amit Chavda said. "Instead of solving these problems, the BJP government is busy enjoying five-star amenities," he said. Responding to the Congress's barb, Rupani said the opposition party always tries to incite people with an eye on electoral gains. "The Congress always tries to incite people keeping elections in mind. The Congress-led UPA ruled India for ten years. People still demand answers as to what they did for farmers. A large number of farmers committed suicide during the Congress regime," Rupani said, talking to reporters. "In those ten years, they did not take a decision about Narmada (dam), which deprived people of water. The Congress does on every issue and tries to incite people for political gains," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani today asked state departments to prepare a 10-point roadmap to solve the problems of the people. He was speaking at the three-day "Chintan Shibir", a brainstorming session of the state government, which began here today. Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, along with senior bureaucrats of the state, are attending the session. A state government release said that 200 participants, including probationary IAS officers, will take part in various discussions in order to usher good governance. Key issues that will be discussed include urban administration, new opportunities in the agricultural sector, measures to bring down child and mother mortality rates, malnutrition, rural development and improving the quality of education, the release added. CM Rupani asked bureaucrats not to stick to just GRs (government resolutions) while taking decisions of public interest in a transparent manner, the release said. "There are problems which could be resolved through dialogue. Indecisiveness affects the road of development. So it is necessary to take prompt decisions. The government which takes prompt decisions creates a good image among the masses," the release quoted Rupani as saying. Rupani asked departments to prepare a 10-point roadmap to solve people's problems, the release added. Chief Secretary J N Singh said that the session will help Gujarat scale new heights as a growth engine. The last such session was held in 2015. It was first held in 2004 under then Chief Minister Narendra Modi. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Ministers, MPs and MLAs of Haryana government will reach out to the masses in a bid to highlight the achievements of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's four years of governance as part of the 'Sampark for Samarthan' campaign. Briefing the media after a meeting between the states' ministers and Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, minister Krishan Kumar Bedi said the campaign, initiated on May 26, will continue till June 11. "Discussions were held at the meeting to reach out to the maximum number of people through Sampark se Samarthan programme initiated on the completion of four years of the BJP government at the Centre," the Minister of State for Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes said here. "Ministers, MPs and MLAs would take the programme to the booth level," he added. Bedi said discussions were held with the chief minister on a host of issues including the celebrations on the birth anniversaries of saints and national leaders. "The Haryana government has decided to celebrate the birth anniversaries of Maharishi Valmiki, Sant Ravidas, Sant Kabir and Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar in the state," he said. "Kabir Jayanti will be celebrated from June 25 to July 1 at the district level," he added. On the continuous protests by state government employees, Bedi assured that the Khattar government was working for their welfare. "The benefits of the Seventh Pay Commission are being given to the employees in government departments, boards and corporations," he said. Under the previous Congress government, benefits of the Fifth Pay Commission took years to reach them, he added. Bedi highlighted that the issues of safai karamcharis of municipal corporations have already been solved. The state government has also decided to give weekly offs to police officials and daily wages of Home Guards have been increased from Rs 300 to Rs 572, which is equivalent to police officials, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Madras High Court today dismissed a plea seeking a CBI probe into the death of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa and imposed Rs 50,000 as costs on a petitioner, saying it was filed on frivolous grounds. The fact remains that an inquiry commission, headed by a retired high court judge, has been appointed by the Tamil Nadu government to probe Jayalalithaa's death, Justice P N Prakash said while dismissing the petition. "The present petition has been filed on frivolous grounds. The petition is dismissed by imposing a cost of Rs 50,000 to the petitioner payable to the Legal Services Authority of High Court, Chennai," the judge said. Petitioner M Ramanathan alleged that mystery shrouds the circumstances leading to Jayalalithaa's death in December 2016 and it should to be investigating by an autonomous agency such as the Central Bureau of Investigation. The petitioner said he had earlier sent a request to the Union home secretary, the state chief secretary and the home secretary for a CBI probe into the issue. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The South West Monsoon has become active over Kerala with heavy rains lashing the southern state since last night. Widespread rains are likely to continue in the state in the next 5 days, Dr K Santosh, In charge Indian Meteorological Department, Thiruvananthapuram, told PTI. Fishermen have been warned that strong winds with speed reaching 35-45 km per hour gusting to 50 kmph is likely to hit the Kerala and Lakshadweep coast in the next 24 hours from 2 pm today. The state capital recorded 45.8 mm rainfall as per the chart at 0830 hrs this morning, while airport received 35.5 mm rains. Airport Director said there have been no disruptions in flight services. Kochi airport recorded 51.8 mm rains, while in Kannur it was 30.2 mm. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A number of right-wing organisations today condemned Goa archbishop Father Filipe Neri Ferrao's remarks that the Constitution is in danger. Organisations like the Hindu Janjagruti Samiti (HJS), Sanatan Sanstha (SS) today adopted a resolution to this effect on the concluding day of the seventh All India Hindu Convention held at Ramnathi, around 40 kms away from the state capital. The six-day convention was attended by more than 375 delegates of over 175 organisations from 18 states of the country and also from Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The resolution criticised the archbishop's letter to Christians in which he lamented that "human rights are under attack and democracy appears to be in peril". Addressing reporters, Sanatan Sanstha national spokesperson Chetan Rajhans said the view expressed by Ferrao is "wrong". "As far as communal harmony and nationalism are concerned, Ferrao's comments are wrong. It is wrong on part of religious institutions to make such comments against the Indian constitution," Rajhans said quoting the resolution. Ferrao, who is the archbishop of Goa and Daman, in his pastoral letter last Sunday had said, "Today, our Constitution is in danger (and that is) the reason why most of the people are living in insecurity. "In this context, particularly as the general elections are fast approaching, we must strive to know our constitution better and work harder to protect it". Rajhans said the archbishop should have spoken about the "crimes committed by foreigners in Goa". "Foreigners like Russians, Nigerians who come to Goa are indulged in illegalities like sale of drugs. Tourists are being raped. The archbishop should have spoken against them in his letter," the Sanstha leader said. He said, "the truth is that the archbishop would never speak out against the Nigerian, Russian and European tourists whose activities pose real danger to Goans and the Goan culture". Rajhans said the ban imposed by the Goa government on Sri Ram Sene chief Pramod Muthalik's entry in the coastal state is "anti-constitutional" and demanded its revocation. The Goa government had issued several prohibitory orders extending the ban on the entry of the controversial Hindutva leader fearing that he may incite violence. Muthalik had challenged the ban in the supreme court. "Everyone has freedom to move across the country under the constitution. Banning Muthalik's entry is an insult to the constitution," he said. After his letter created a controversy, the archbishop's office clarified on Tuesday that he was only expressing his "anxiety to his own people" and that the remarks were not against any political party or government. Ferrao's secretary Fr Joaquim Loila Pereira had said the people should read the entire 15-page letter and not "take this statement or that statement out of context and make it look as if the letter is against political parties. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A court here rejected the bail plea of Honeypreet Insan, who was arrested eight months ago in connection with the violence that followed the conviction of jailed Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in a rape case. "The court has dismissed her bail plea, but we are yet to get the copy of the order," her counsel said. Honeypreet, whose real name is Priyanka Taneja, claims to be adopted daughter of the jailed sect leader. She had sought bail on various grounds including that Haryana Police had found no evidence against her, her lawyer said. While the prosecution had opposed her bail plea, the defence counsel had argued that 15 people arrested in connection with the incidents of violence in Panchkula last year, had been given bail by different courts. After being on the run for a brief period, she was arrested in October last year in connection with the violence that followed Singh's rape conviction on August 25, which left 41 people dead and scores injured. 37-year-old Honeypreet had in the list of 43 people "wanted" by the state police in connection with the violence. Her name has been included in an FIR in which Dera functionaries Aditya Insan and Surinder Dhiman, among others, had been booked on charges of sedition, inciting violence and arson, the police had said earlier. The Dera chief has been sentenced to 20 years in jail for raping two women and is now lodged in jail in Sunaria in Rohtak district. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Ashiq Baba, one of the terrorists arrested for attacking an Army camp in Jammu and Kashmir, had got visa to visit Pakistan on the basis of reference letters from Hurriyat leaders, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said in a statement today. Baba and two other militants -- Tariq Ahmed Dar and Muneer-ul-Hassan Qadri -- are in the NIA custody in connection with the case. Their interrogation has revealed the involvement of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) commanders in the attack on the camp in Jammu and Kashmir's Nagrota. These terrorists were in continuous contact through WhatsApp voice and text messages with Maulana Mufti Ashghar based in Muzaffarabad whose nephew Waqas, a JeM commander in South Kashmir, died in an encounter near Pulwama recently, it said. Besides Ashghar, they were in touch with Qari Zarar, a Rawalpindi-based commander in charge of launching terrorists in Jammu region, and Waseem and Abu Talha -- both in charge of launching terrorists along the Jammu region, the statement said. In furtherance of the conspiracy to conduct attacks on the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir, terrorist Ashiq Baba visited Pakistan four times crossing the Wagah border between 2015 and 2017 legally, it said. "He obtained his visas after getting reference letters from Huriyat leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Gani Bhat and Maulana Umar Farooq," the NIA said. During his visits, he met with JeM commanders and took directions from them after getting clearance from a local ISI agent, it said. "Ashiq Baba thereafter on return, received instructions on how and when to receive the group of terrorists. Around a week prior to the attack, he and the other arrested terrorist Muneer were given the GPS coordinates of the receiving point along the Samba sector highway as well as of the possible targets along the Nagrota Army cantonment through WhatsApp from their handlers in Pakistan," the agency said, adding that they were asked to recee these targets. Ashiq went with Muneer, and was later joined by the accused Tariq, and finalised the receiving point and the target. Officers mess complex of 166 Medium Regiment at Nagrota was chosen due to its convenient location towards the end of the cantonment, it said. After finalisation, the points were passed on WhatsApp to the JeM commanders in Pakistan, the statement said. They then received a group of three attackers a day before the attack (November 28, 2016 in early morning hours) at the decided location. The terrorists changed their clothes near the highway after they were received by Ashiq Baba, Muneer and Tariq, it said. They then travelled in two vehicles to Jammu after keeping their weapons concealed in the dickey of one of the two cars owned by Tariq and Ashiq Baba. They parked the car having the weapons at a paid parking slot and then stayed at a hotel in Jammu. The same day, Ashiq took the commander among the attackers namely Abu Hisham to Nagrota to show him the site of the attack and came back to the hotel, their interrogation has revealed. Later in the night, these Indian terrorists left for the attack site along with the Pakistani attackers, dropped them near the attack site and left for Srinagar. Ashiq Baba and Muneer again received a group of three terrorists in March 2017 from the Samba sector and dropped them at Khrew near Pampore. This time the terrorists were received by Noor Trali (JeM commander who was subsequently killed in an encounter), it said. Ashiq Baba then went to Pakistan in April/May 2017 and met Waseem, Abu Talha and Mufti Ashghar, the NIA said. "He also met Maulana Rauf (brother of Maulana Masood Azhar and accused in the Pathankot attack case) at their headquarters at Bahawalpur," it said. He was showered praises by the JeM leadership and promised with a lot of financial rewards and was told to receive more attackers in future. "Muneer told Ashiq that the JeM leader wanted him to open an account with HDFC or ICICI Bank to receive funds as reward. Ashiq Baba already had an HDFC account which he provided to the JeM commanders on Whatsapp. They then transferred hefty amounts into his account. Ashiq says that the amount came from Gulf countries," the NIA said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Air Commodore Sanjai Chauhan, who died last Tuesday in a Jaguar fighter jet crash, was today cremated in Jamnagar. Before the cremation, Indian Air Force officials paid their respects by laying a wreath on his mortal remains. Those who laid the wreath included Deputy Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal R Nambiar and Air Officer Commanding in Chief, SWAC, Air Marshal R K Dhir, said a defence release here. Chauhan, a recipient of Vayu Sena Medal and the Air Officer Commanding of Jamnagar Air Force Station, died on June 5 when his aircraft crashed in a field in Bareja village of Kutch district after it took off from the Jamnagar air base. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Indian Electrical and Electronics Manufacturers' Association (IEEMA) today said it has created a North East Cell as a nodal point to monitor the supply of equipment and materials to various discoms, with an aim to facilitate 100 per cent household electrification in the region. The IEEMA has included its senior officers at Guwahati, Kolkata and New Delhi to effectively facilitate the North East Cell, an official statement said. The cell will help facilitate 100 per cent household electrification on fast track in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim. It said the North East -- comprising seven sister states and one state Sikkim -- has one of the highest number of power projects in the country, it said. The IEEMA said that despite of abundant power, this region has the highest number of un-electrified villages. "Thus in order to fast-track electrification work in that area and to realise PM's dream of 24X7 electricity for all', the IEEMA in close coordination with REC (rural electrification corporation) will monitor the supply of electrical equipment to various NE discoms". This was proposed during the joint workshop organised by Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) and IEEMA in Kolkata this week, on material requirement for North Eastern states for 100 per cent household electrification under the Gram Swaraj Abhiyan and the Saubhagya Scheme. IEEMA President Shreegopal Kabra said in a statement, The need of the hour is that the industry and the government should work together to realise the potential of Rs 30,000 crore of investments being made by the Government of India in transmission and Rs 7,000 crore in distribution. Production planning and delivery for such an outlay for North Eastern states will be key to success. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Scientists from IIT Madras have developed a solar powered system to convert non-recyclable plastic into fuel that can substitute diesel used in generators, furnaces and engines. The technology - which consists of a mobile unit that can collect and process waste - currently yields around 0.7 litres of fuel oil per kilogramme of plastic, researchers said. "India produces approximately 15,000 tonnes of plastic waste in a day. Centralised systems for plastic waste management cannot work to effectively deal with this much plastic waste on a daily basis, said Ramya Selvaraj, a research student at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras in Tamil Nadu. "We thought that if the plastic can't come to the industry, let the industry come to the plastic," Selvaraj said. The team showcased its project on the occasion of the World Day, hosted by the United Nations (UN) in New Delhi. The theme of this year's World Day was "Beat Plastic Pollution". The conversion of plastic to fuel involves a process called pyrolysis - a thermochemical treatment that exposes the material to high temperature in the absence of oxygen, leading it to go through physical and chemical changes. This creates a low density fuel oil by breaking down the polymer chain of plastic at the temperature of 350- 500 degrees Celsius. This oil can be used as a substitute for diesel to power generators, furnaces and engines. "Our major proposition was instead of taking technology to waste, taking all the waste to a decentralised technology which is a very complex model in solid waste management, said Aravind E S, a research student at IIT Madras. "We found that the current plastic waste management systems were not working because of the logistics involved; there were cost and space requirements that could not be met," Selvaraj added. The team was led by Divya Priya, assisted by technical guide Professor Indumathi Nambi of IIT Madras, and industrial mentor Sriram Narasimhan of Samridhi Foundation, a Chennai based NGO. They won the Zero Carbon Challenge-2018, pioneered by IIT Madras, bagging an initial funding of five lakhs for the development of the prototype, and another 10 lakhs for incubating the idea. "We have approached the government and municipal corporations in multiple cities in Tamil Nadu to put up the small recovery units at the material faculty in all the wards for waste collection and management. This can reduce costs involved in transportation, dumping sites and increase the efficiency with which the waste is dealt," Selvaraj added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The contribution of Islam in the development of India's multicultural milieu was highlighted during the annual iftar banquet hosted by the Indian embassy in Egypt. The dinner, hosted on the lawns of the India House here, was attended by Egypt's Assistant Foreign Minister for Asian Affairs, Khaled Tharwat. Members of the Indian community and eminent personalities from different fields, including representatives from the government, political parties, armed forces, diplomats, business, culture and media, also attended the event. In his welcome address, the Charge d'Affaires, Vinod Bahad, conveyed the warm greetings on Ramazan from the people of India -- home to the second-largest Muslim population in the world. Bahad said prayer and fasting were common to many religions in India. He also highlighted the respect and tolerance towards different religions due to the diversity of India, rich influence of Islam in everyday life, including in customs and traditions, music, fashion and festivals, and its contribution in the development of the country's multicultural milieu. He added that Kerala, which has one of the world's oldest mosques, Cheraman Juma Masjid -- built around 629 AD -- as an example of the country's engagement with Islam in its long history of syncretism. The iftar banquet has been a long tradition in view of the shared culture and strong bonds of friendship between India and Egypt. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A group of young Indian entrepreneurs, inspired to find solutions for women safety following the December 16, 2012 gangrape, have won a million dollar prize by developing a wearable smart device that women can use to send out emergency alerts if threatened or assaulted. New Delhi-based Leaf Wearables was among the five finalists selected from 85 teams hailing from 18 countries for the million dollar prize instituted by eminent Indian-American philanthropists Anu & Naveen Jain called 'Women's Safety XPRIZE'. The technology start-up, founded by students of IIT Delhi and Delhi Technological University, won the prize for their project 'Safer Pro', an enhanced new version of their earlier smart safety devices. The Jains, prominent entrepreneurs and philanthropists, partnered with non-profit organisation XPRIZE to create the Anu & Naveen Jain Women's Safety XPRIZE aimed at addressing the safety of women and girls by leveraging technology. "Women safety is a global problem, it's a global epidemic. A safe environment for women is a fundamental human right, it should not be considered a luxury and yet in today's world, with so much advancement in technology and innovation, we still haven not been able to solve this problem, Anu Jain, founder of the Women's Safety XPRIZE, told PTI at the award ceremony organised in the UN yesterday. Teams participating in the challenge had to create a device, costing no more than USD 40 and able to work without internet, that can inconspicuously trigger an emergency alert if a woman is facing a threat and transmit information to a network of community responders, all within 90 seconds. Leaf Wearables' Manik Mehta, Niharika Rajiv and Avinash Bansal collected the million dollar prize. "It was in 2012 that the Nirbhaya rape took place in Delhi," Mehta, the start-up's co-founder said, adding that it was then that they decided "enough is enough. Delhi is unsafe and things are not changing at all. We have got to solve this problem." The start-up has previously launched two wearable devices. "We are not saying we have made the perfect device. We are saying we are (working) on the problem and we are going to make one billion families safe and connected," Mehta said. Niharika said being a women, she understands the need for such solutions but it is "excellent that people understood too that women safety is a global need." Going forward, the team will continue to work on its product and improve it. Rajiv said so far the product has focused on getting the information out if someone is in a situation where they feel threatened and the next mile is to ensure that help gets to them. She said the prize money will help "jumpstart all our efforts."The smart device by Leaf Wearables will also be able to make audio recordings, giving valuable proof and evidence to the women using it. Anu Jain said instead of using the the traditional philanthropic route, she and her husband decided to "crowdsource" to find solutions that ensure women's safety. "The mindset that perpetuates violence and discrimination against women and girls needs to change but we cannot wait for that to happen. Our goal is to do something today, use technology to find solutions fast," she said. "We wear technology everyday, we are counting our every footstep through technology. Let's use that technology and innovation to provide safety for women and girls around the world," Anu Jain, co-founder of technology company InfoSpace, added. Naveen Jain, founder of several technological companies including Moon Express, Viome and Bluedot said that none of the solutions and projects required cell phone or wifi, so even if a women's phone is taken away or she is in a basement, the wearable devices will still be able to track the person's exact location. Amid growing awareness and activism around women's rights and increasing instances of sexual harassment, the Jains launched the competition in October 2016 with 85 teams competing from 18 countries including Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, India, Morocco, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, South Korea, UAE and the US. These teams ranged from university students, scientists, entrepreneurs and parents and victims of abuse. The five finalist teams hailed from the United States, India and Switzerland. The devices range from smart jewelry that can trigger emergency alerts to other wearables that detect physical gestures and speech recognition for emergency triggers. All solutions were tested live in front of the judging panel and in simulated testing environments in April 2018 including public transportation in Mumbai, taking routes unknown to the teams to test the mobility and advanced functionality of their devices. The World Health Organisation estimates that about one in three women worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime. Founder and CEO of XPRIZE Peter Diamandis said implementing this XPRIZE in India helped the organisation to demonstrate that "breakthrough solutions are borderless and exponential technology can help aid humanity in our most challenging global issues like universal safety." The finalists were Artemis from Switzerland, led by Nicee Srivastava and Katerina Zisaki, who developed data analytics for wearables and IoT devices, which provide a way to improve women's safety via the ability to trigger an alert through gestures and physiological signals. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The bilateral trade between India and Thailand is expected to touch USD 11 billion in 2018 from USD 10 billion in 2017, a senior government official said. "Thailand views India as the gateway to South Asia and beyond. As a result of the reduced tariff rates and new initiatives adopted by both the countries, bilateral trade has increased in recent years," Consul General of Thailand in Mumbai Ekapol Poolpipat said after inaugurating 3-day Thailand Week 2018 here. "The bilateral trade between India and Thailand is expected to touch USD 11 billion during the current financial year from USD 10 billion in 2017," he added. To offer the latest Thai technologies and products to the Indian consumers, the department of international trade promotion, ministry of commerce, Thailand and Thai Trade Centre Mumbai, has organised a three day "Thailand Week 2018" between 7- 9 June. In view of taking advantage of the fast growing Indian economy, several Thai companies are also keen to make investments in India. "The Thailand based companies see good opportunity here and looking to invest around USD 3 billion by 2020. The fast growing Indian market remains attractive for Thai investors given the opportunities in green and brown field projects including energy, infrastructure and metals," Thai Trade Centre executive director and consul Suwimol Tilokruangchai said. "Thailand based companies see a big potential in Indian energy, metals as well as infrastructural facilities," she added. Over the decades, nearly 30 Thai companies are active in the field of infrastructure, real estate, food processing, chemicals, hotel and hospitality sectors in India. The Thai government has also invited Indian companies to investment in Thailand. At present around 40 Indian companies have made an investment of around USD 2 billion in the areas of software, agri chemicals, electric car development in Thailand. Leading Indian companies include, Tata Motors (Thailand), Tata Steel Thailand, TCS, The Aditya Birla group, Mahindra Satyam, Lupin, NIIT, Kirloskar Bothers, Punj Lloyd group, Ashok Leylands, Jindal group and Usha Siam Steel Industries are active in Thailand. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Indonesia today pitched for direct flight connectivity from India to support the rising outbound tourist traffic as no Indian carrier flies to the Southeast Asian country presently. Indonesia's national carrier Garuda started operations to Mumbai from 2016, ambassador of Indonesia to India Sidharto Reza Soryodipuro said. "There is a need to enhance air connectivity between the two countries. Although Indonesia has flights into India, no Indian carriers fly to that country", he said at a session at the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) here today. He said that this was necessary to support the rising number of Indian tourists travelling to that country. Last year, nearly five lakh Indian tourists visited Indonesia. Soryodipuro also said that there was zero maritime connectivity between India and Indonesia. Indian ships go either via Singapore, Malaysia or Sri Lanka. Since there is no direct shipping connectivity, time taken for sending cargo is more and is also expensive. "There was scope for enhancing both maritime and flight connectivity to boost economic and trade ties between the two countries," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat today said the hill state would be on the world map with its capital hosting the main national event on International Yoga Day, celebrated annually on June 21. Uttarakhand was the "land of yoga" and Prime Minister Narendra Modi must be credited for making the world realise its importance, Rawat said at a yoga session presided over by Swami Ramdev at ONGC's Ambedkar Stadium here. "It is a matter of great honour for Uttarakhand to host the main event here on the day which will put the state on the world map with the prime minister," Rawat said at the rehearsal session ahead of the main event to be held on the Forest Research Institute (FRI) campus. "It is because of the efforts of the prime minister that the power of yoga has been recognised all over the world which celebrates it on June 21," Rawat added. The chief minister said yoga could be an effective tool to unite the world as the underlying philosophy behind the ancient practice was health and happiness for all. "When political and spiritual power work together they open the way to international welfare", he said. The rehearsal which began at 6.15 am was attended by a host of prominent politicians, ministers and spiritual gurus. These included the chief minister, his cabinet colleague Harak Singh Rawat, Union Minister of State for Ayush Shripad Yesso Naik and Swami Chidananda Saraswati besides a number of yoga teachers and experts. Ramdev said Dehradun's selection for the main event was a matter of great pride for the people of Uttarakhand. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Islamic State group jihadists today killed at least 17 pro-regime fighters including six soldiers in surprise attacks in southern Syria, a monitor said. Nine jihadists also lost their lives in the assaults in the desert of the southern province of Sweida, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said. They were the first attacks of their kind in the area, where no IS presence had been noted in more than a year, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said. The 17 pro-regime combattants killed also included nine Iranians and fighters belonging to pro-Iran Shiite militias, as well as two unidentified fighters, he said. IS has ramped up its attacks against pro-regime forces since its fighters last month left their last stronghold near Damascus under an evacuation deal with the regime. The new toll brings to 179 the number of pro-regime troops killed in more than two weeks in jihadist attacks across the country since May 22. At least 89 jihadists were killed during that same period. IS in 2014 proclaimed a cross-border "caliphate" in Syria and neighbouring Iraq, but has since lost most of that territory to separate offensives by Russia-backed regime troops and a US-backed Kurdish-Arab alliance. The jihadists now control no more than three percent of Syria, the Observatory says, mostly in the eastern desert near the border with Iraq. Earlier this week, IS assaults in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor killed 45 pro-regime fighters. More than 350,000 people have been killed since Syria's conflict started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das today said action would be taken, for showing laxity, against the agencies assigned to provide electricity to every household. He said the goal should not be delayed due to their laxity, an official release said quoting Das. This is the last warning, the release said quoting him. Those agencies working well would be awarded and this is the final warning against those who are falling behind, Das said, adding, the state government is committed to provide electricity to every household and slackness would not be tolerated. Giving a month's time to the agencies falling behind, Das said cases would be slapped against those cheating. They would blacklisted, he said. All poles should be installed by June, the chief minister said, adding, a review meeting would be held on July 9. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said today he is willing to talk directly with North Korea in a bid to resolve the festering issue of abductions of Japanese citizens and foster better ties with Pyongyang. "I wish to directly face North Korea and talk with them so that the abduction problem can be resolved quickly," Abe said at a joint press conference with President Donald Trump. The US leader promised to raise the highly sensitive issue of the Japanese nationals kidnapped by Pyongyang in the 1970s and 1980s with Kim Jong Un at next week's high-stakes summit in Singapore. Abe added there was no change in Japan's policy to pursue "real peace in Northeast Asia" and that if North Korea "is willing to take steps" in the right direction, it will have a "bright future. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Jordan's new prime minister today announced a controversial IMF-backed income tax bill will be withdrawn, after it sparked a week of angry protests in the kingdom. Crowds have taken to the streets to demand the government drop the unpopular reforms, in some of the biggest economic protests to hit Jordan over the past five years. Doctors, lawyers and teachers staged a strike across the country yesterday as discontent over high unemployment, poverty and price rises bubbled over. New premier Omar al-Razzaz, appointed by King Abdullah II after his predecessor quit over the protests on Monday, announced after talks with legislators that an "agreement had been struck" to withdraw the bill. He said the legislation would be sent back by parliament to the government once a new cabinet is formed, with that process expected to take several days. Razzaz was ordered by the king to carry out a "comprehensive review" of the tax proposals after the country was rattled by days of protests. "As unions, we've done our duty," said the head of Jordan's trade unions council, Ali al-Abous, after a meeting with Razzaz. "The meeting was very positive and we felt a change in attitude," he said. "(Razzaz) promised us... that there won't be anymore decisions that fall on us like parachutes." Jordan has blamed its economic woes on instability wracking the region and the burden of hosting hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees without adequate international support. The tax bill was the latest in a series of austerity measures to cut national debt since Amman secured a USD 723-million loan from the IMF in 2016. The controversial legislation that has sparked much of the ire would have raised taxes on employees by at least five percent and on companies by between 20 and 40 per cent. Although a majority of deputies said they would vote against it, protesters still staged repeated night-time demonstrations after breaking the Ramadan fast to demand the bill be withdrawn altogether. The authorities scrambled to defuse the public discontent, but the call by the king to review the tax bill and resignation of prime minister Hani Mulki failed to stem the protests. Scuffles took place yesterday between police forces, mobilised in large numbers, and some 2,000 demonstrators who tried to repel them in the capital Amman. Demonstrators waved Jordanian flags or carried placards reading "I'm afraid for my future", while others held up loaves of flatbread with "corruption = hunger" written on them. Since January, resource-poor Jordan has seen repeated price rises including for staples such as bread, as well as extra taxes on basic goods. Fuel prices have risen five times since the start of the year, while electricity bills have surged by 55 per cent since February. "Prices are constantly rising on all products: food, cars, housing and telecommunications ... We do not work for ourselves anymore, but to pay the state," unemployed protester Suhaib Rabaibai told AFP yesterday. Jordan, a key US ally, has largely avoided the unrest witnessed by other countries in the region since the Arab Spring revolts broke out in 2011, although protests did flare late that year after the government cut fuel subsidies. The latest protests started last week when unions called for nationwide demonstrations. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Amid protests by pro-Kannada activists, superstar Rajinikanth-starrer 'Kaala' was released in some multiplexes in the city today but stalled in most parts of Karnataka. Cinema halls, where it was to be screened, refused to show the film, leaving cinema-goers, especially die-hard fans of the Tamil top actor, disappointed. Demonstrations were held in front of theatres in the city where the film was to be screened. Protesters were seen requesting the 67-year-old actor's fans not to watch the movie for the sake of their Kannada brethren fighting for Cauvery water. The protesters also asked them to come together to express solidarity with the farmers who have been deprived of Cauvery river water. However, later in the afternoon, some multiplexes in the city screened the movie. "The film has been released in multiplexes in Bengaluru. Three to four multiplexes screened it from 2 pm onwards," South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce Secretary L Suresh told PTI over phone. Police had made tight security arrangements at multiplexes which screened the film, he said. Suresh said standalone cinema theatres were still hesitating to screen the film. Reports from Mysuru said the film's screening was delayed by movie houses due to protests. However, two cinema theatres in Ballari and Raichur districts decided to screen the movie. Praveen Shetty, an office bearer of the 'Karnataka Rakshana Vedike'(KRV), said they went from theatre to theatre asking movie-goers to boycott the film. "We are telling them that the issue of sharing Cauvery water is more important than the film," he said. Miffed with Rajinikanth's reported comments that whichever government came to power in Karnataka should implement the Supreme Court order on Cauvery water sharing in toto, the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce on May 29 decided not to allow screening of "Kaala". Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy had requested the movie's distributor not to release it in "this kind of atmosphere," but said his government would follow the high court order on the issue. The Karnataka High Court had on June 5 directed the state government to provide necessary security for the peaceful release of "Kaala." The apex court had also yesterday declined to stall the movie's release. Rajinikanth, who enjoys a cult following in South India, had made an appeal to pro-Kannada outfits opposed to the release, insisting he had done "no wrong" and requested them not to thwart its screening. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan today condemned the visit of former president and Congress veteran Pranab Mukherjee to the RSS headquarters at Nagpur. He also condemned Mukherjee's showering of praise on RSS founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar. Vijayan, senior CPI-M politburo member, said in a facebook post that the former president's action has come as a shock to nationalists "who keep the principles of secularism close to their heart." His position and visit would only help and encourage those forces that try to build Hindurashtra, Vijayan said adding it should have been avoided. The stand of Pranab Mukherjee that "dented the image of the post of president" could be seen only as a political move and so it is condemnable, Vijayan said. Mukherjee's decision to attend the RSS event has already triggered a major political slugfest with several Congress leaders criticising his decision. Earlier in the day, Mukherjee described Hedgewar as a "great son of Mother India' as he visited the birthplace of the RSS founding Sarsanghachalak in Nagpur. "Today I came here to pay my respect and homage to a great son of Mother India," Mukherjee wrote in a visitor's book at Hedgewar's birthplace. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Every few minutes a new set of visitors arrives at the 'Revenge-Pledging Place' at North Korea's Sinchon Museum, where regime propaganda insists troops massacred more than 35,000 people during the Korean War. A volunteer among the group - they could be from a school, army unit, factory or official organisation - stands up in the concrete amphitheatre, where a mural reads "Let drive out the and reunify our nation", to issue a vitriolic denunciation of the Fists clenched in the air, the crowd responds with unison shouts: "Smash! Smash! Smash!" Opposition to the United States is a fundamental cornerstone of Democratic People's Republic of Korea, as the North is officially known. says the nuclear arsenal it has spent decades developing, suffering sanctions and isolation as a result, is to defend itself from a possible US invasion. That means next week's Singapore summit between leader and - where the North's weapons will top the agenda - presents a potential conundrum: could making peace with the enemy undermine the authorities' claim to legitimacy? The Kim dynasty bases its right to rule in founder Kim Il Sung's role in the 20th century fight against Japanese colonial rule. According to the orthodoxy, that historic mission was interrupted when the US and Soviet Union divided the peninsula between them after Tokyo's surrender ended the Second World War. The North's attempt to reunify it by force with its 1950 invasion was then thwarted again by a US-led United Nations coalition. The vilification of the US - and - is constant in the North, from books and films to education centres in and across the country, including the centrepiece museum in Sinchon, which receives 500,000 visitors a year according to the official KCNA news agency. It portrays US troops committing a litany of atrocities in the area, their hands gnarled and their features twisted twisted as they drive nails into their defiant victims' heads, crush them to death, or cut off a woman's breast. The Americans, said guide Ri Kum Ju, even engaged in cannibalism. "They killed people individually in brutal ways beyond human imagination, including pulling out eyeballs, searing the entire body with hot iron or cutting pieces of flesh and eating it with salt." There is one fundamental problem with this narrative: whatever happened at Sinchon in the autumn of 1950 - and the exact details including the true toll are lost to the chaos of conflict - independent researchers say there is no evidence it was carried out by the US. According to Leeds University historian Adam Cathcart, who has researched Sinchon extensively, the first foreign unit on the scene was British rather than American, and the town was of little interest to the US-led allied troops, including South Korean forces, who were advancing rapidly northwards There were undoubtedly atrocities on both sides in the war, which saw millions killed in just three years, but Cathcart says there were waves of retribution killings in and around Sinchon county that autumn between Communists, and Christians and other anti-regime elements. "This was a case of Koreans killing Koreans in the fog of war, not an American attempt to wipe out an entire county of communists through medieval methods," he says. The North's portrayal of Sinchon was "simply extremely out of line with the reality of the war", he told AFP, but had "underpinned a great deal of anti-US propaganda". One of the key exhibits at the museum is resident Ju Sang Won, now in his 70s, who says his father was dismembered by being pulled apart between two carts, and that he survived the killing of hundreds of people who were forced into a powder magazine that was then blown up. "The US imperialists are a pack of wolves in human form," he said. "We are in a quasi state of war. We must fight the American bastards to the end." A potential peace treaty to formally end the Korean War - hostilities stopped in 1953 only with a ceasefire - is likely to be discussed in Singapore, but without the framework of US imperialism, said Robert Kelly of Pusan National University, Pyongyang would struggle "to explain ideologically to North Koreans why Korea is still divided". Other analysts are more optimistic. "We saw in the cases of China and Vietnam how Communist propaganda could repurpose their messaging away from anti-American vitriol," said John Delury of Yonsei University. "Both systems 'survived' the loss of the US as an enemy state." Even so, primary school vice director Jang Yun Chang, who led the chants outside the Sinchon museum, was adamant. "I will deeply ingrain in my students the brutal nature of the US imperialists, and that it will never change," he said. "My spirit for revenge is growing stronger. (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.) Work on the Rs 5,170 crore LNG Terminal at the Kamarajar Port in nearby Ennore was nearing completion and it would be operational by coming October, Industries Minister M C Sapath told the state assembly today. Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) and Indian Oil Corporation are jointly setting up the Liquefied Natural Gas Import terminal with a capacity of five million tonne per year, he said. Noting that the project had received clearance from Ministry of Environment and Forests, he said the construction began in September 2015 and about 92 per cent of the project has been completed. The project, spread across 130 acres, will be operational in October and would supply about 9 million cubic metres natural gas per day to industrial establishments in Manali region here. The LNG Terminal would also distribute regasified LNG to power plants, fertiliser units, other industries, domestic use and transportation sector. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A low pressure, being formed in the Bay of Bengal, will trigger the advance of Southwest Monsoon in West Bengal and Odisha from June 9, the Meteorological department said here today. The low pressure is likely to intensify into a depression by Saturday and move north-northwestwards across West Bengal and Bangladesh coasts, the MeT department said and forecast isolated heavy rains in West Bengal and parts of Odisha from June 9. It has forecast normal monsoon this year. Its scheduled date of arrival in the Gangetic West Bengal is June 9 and the formation of the low pressure has made conditions favourable for it to keep the date. Under the influence of the system, the southwest Monsoon is likely to advance into some parts of Odisha, West Bengal and Sikkim and most parts of Bay of Bengal from June 9 to June 11, it said. The weatherman said that rainfall activity will increase over West Bengal from June 8 and isolated heavy to very heavy rain will occur from June 9 in the coastal districts of Gangetic West Bengal and isolated heavy rain in the other districts of West Bengal. Squally wind with speed reaching 40 to 50 km per hour, gusting to 60 kmph is very likely over north Bay of Bengal along and off West Bengal, Odisha and Bangladesh coasts. The Met department has warned fishermen not to venture into the sea along these areas from June 8 afternoon till further notification. It also asked fishermen, who are at deep sea, to return by June 8 afternoon as sea condition will be rough to very rough in north Bay of Bengal. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed support for "strong multilateralism" in Ottawa today before the G7 summit, where US President Donald Trump's aggressive trade policies are sure to raise hackles. Displaying a united front, the two leaders in their 40s said in a statement they "support a strong, responsible, transparent multilateralism to face the global challenges." The pair were scheduled to hold formal talks and a private dinner, followed by a joint conference. Those discussions are likely to focus on Trump's decision last week to impose punishing tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum from Washington's closest allies, including Canada, the European Union and Japan. In retaliation, all of them have either hit back with their own tariffs on US goods or threatened to do so, as well as challenging the US trade measure at the World Trade Organization. Both Trudeau and Macron had tried to persuade Trump not to impose the tariffs. "There will be frank and sometimes difficult discussions around the G7 table, particularly with the US president on tariffs," Trudeau told reporters. His private meeting with Macron, he said, "will be an opportunity to talk about the relations between Canada and France that are going very well, but also to highlight the challenges that we are going to have around the G7 table, and to make sure we are aligned. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Maldivian MP has accused India of "bullying" after he was reportedly denied entry into the country. Ahmed Nihan from the ruling Progressive Party of Maldives said he had travelled to Chennai on Monday for medical reasons but was refused entry after enquiries about his diplomatic passport. "This is bullying," Nihan was quoted as saying by the Maldives Times. "If this is the implementation of a policy by neighbouring India, it does not make any sense," he said. Relations between India and the Maldives have come under strain in recent years, mostly over China's influence in the Maldives and also over a controversial 45-day state of emergency and jailing of Mohamed Nasheed, the first democratically elected leader of the country.. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Amid reports that a Maldivian MP was denied entry into India, the External Affairs Ministry said it was trying to ascertain details of the incident. Ahmed Nihan from the ruling Progressive Party of Maldives said he had travelled to Chennai on Monday for medical reasons but was refused entry after enquiries about his diplomatic passport. "This is bullying," Nihan was quoted as saying by the Maldives Times. "If this is the implementation of a policy by neighbouring India, it does not make any sense," he said. Responding to a question about the MP being denied entry, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said here, "He was stopped at immigration when he came to Chennai." "This happened on the night of June 4. We are trying to find out how this happened. We will share information when we have it," Kumar said. Asked about reports that the Maldives government has decided to return two search-and-rescue helicopters gifted by India, Kumar said India's defence ties with that country were very strong and it was in touch with Maldivian authorities over the issue. Relations between India and the Maldives have come under strain in recent years, mostly over China's influence in the Maldives and also over a controversial 45-day state of emergency and jailing of Mohamed Nasheed, the first democratically elected leader of the country. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had said last month that though ties with Maldives might have seen ups and downs, they were "not broken and cannot be broken". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Theresa May revealed plans today for Britain to temporarily align with EU customs rules after Brexit as a fall-back option to resolve the Irish border problem, while also in a compromise with eurosceptic ministers setting a limit to 2021. The so-called backstop proposal was published after a last-minute wrangle over the wording with Brexit Secretary David Davis, who was reported to consider resigning unless it included a time limit. Brussels has proposed that Northern Ireland stay aligned with the EU until another way is found to avoid customs checks with the Republic of Ireland after Brexit. London has rejected this plan as unacceptable, offering instead a "temporary customs arrangement" for the whole of Britain that would "maintain the status quo for traders in respect of customs processes". May has been clear that she does not want this option, hoping instead to resolve the border issue with a wider trade deal between the EU and Britain. But she agreed in December to the need for a plan B if this is delayed or does not happen. "The UK is clear that the temporary customs arrangement, should it be needed, should be time limited," said the document, which has been sent to Brussels. It adds: "The UK expects the future arrangement to be in place by the end of December 2021 at the latest." Britain is leaving the European Union in March 2019 but has agreed a transition period where its position remains largely the same until December 2020. The EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, welcomed the publication of the plan, saying on Twitter that it would be examined with three questions in mind. "Is it a workable solution to avoid a hard border? Does it respect the integrity of the SM/CU (single market / customs union)? Is it an all-weather backstop?" he said. The publication came after two days of swirling rumours that Davis was planning to resign over the document. His chief of staff, Stewart Jackson, tweeted that there had been a "helpful dialogue" and the paper now included more detail on "the time limited nature of our proposal". One pro-European MP in May's Conservative Party said: "This is a clear compromise to keep David from resigning, but it does undermine Theresa hugely." Opposition Labour MP Chris Leslie MP said the EU had already rejected the idea of a time-limit, while the proposal did not deal with regulatory standards. "After weeks of the government negotiating with itself, the fudged document they have produced doesn't engage with any of the key Brexit dilemmas," he said. "It is highly unlikely to lead to anything but more gridlock in the ongoing talks with the EU." May also held separate meetings today with Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and International Trade Secretary Liam Fox, both leading eurosceptics. Yesterday reporters asked Davis if he would quit if the backstop did not have his explicit approval, replying: "That's a question I think for the prime minister to be honest." Asked if she expected Davis to remain in his position today, May's spokeswoman said: "Yes... of course." All sides in the Brexit negotiations have committed to avoiding a hard border in Ireland, fearful of the impact it could have on the fragile peace in the region. But the government is struggling to find a way to fulfil this commitment while sticking to its insistence on leaving the EU's single market and customs union after Brexit. The latest round of Brexit negotiations wrap on Friday, but hopes of a breakthrough at the next EU summit in Brussels at the end of this month are fading. Both sides say they want to agree a deal by October, to allow time for it to be ratified before Brexit on March 29, 2019. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Centre has set up a three-member committee for monitoring and redressal of grievances relating to the alleged racial discrimination faced by the people from the northeastern region residing in different parts of the country. According to an order issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the committee comprises Satyendra Garg, joint secretary (Northeast) in the ministry, Alana Golmei, secretary, Northeast Support Centre, New Delhi and Mizum Nyodu, assistant professor, Law Faculty, Delhi University. The panel has been constituted for monitoring and redressal of issues/grievances relating to the racial discrimination faced by the northeastern people residing in different parts of the country, the order said. Any person or group of persons or communities hailing from the Northeast who claim to be victims or have faced any act of racial abuse, racial atrocities, racial violence, racial discrimination in any part of the country, can send their complaints, suggestions or grievances at a designated e-mail: ne.complaints@mha.gov.in The committee has been established following an order of the Supreme Court after a writ petition was filed in the wake of a series of attacks on people from the Northeast, including the death of a student from Arunachal Pradesh, Nido Tania, in Delhi. In its order, the apex court had said the panel would be given powers for ensuring strict action in incidents of racial discrimination, racial atrocities and racial violence, and suggesting measures to curb such hate and racial crimes. The court had also told the government that the effective monitoring mechanism suggested by the M.P. Bezbaruah Committee in its report should be implemented and "should not like innumerable instances of its ilk, languish in dusty shelves of long forgotten archives". It was also of the view that the involvement of the law enforcement machinery was alone not sufficient to resolve the problem and stressed that mindsets have to be changed including in universities, colleges and educational institutions, places of work and in society. The Bezbaruah panel was set up by the home ministry on February 5, 2014, to suggest "suitable remedial measures" which could be taken, in the wake of attacks on the people from the Northeast in Delhi and other parts of the country. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress would evaluate performance of its ministers every six months and changes would be made if required, said Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara as he tried to pacify MLAs unhappy over not making it to the ministry. "Every six months there will be an assessment by the party to evaluate the performance of ministers, and ministers will be changed depending upon their performance, and according to the decisions of the party, whenever it is needed," Parameshwara, also the Pradesh Congress Committee chief, he told reporters here today. "I'm not saying this; these are conditions that are mentioned by All India Congress party while approving the list (of ministers)," he added. Kumaraswamy had yesterday expanded his 15-day old cabinet, by inducting 25 ministers, with 14 members from the Congress and nine from his party, JDS and one each from BSP and the nascent Karnataka Pragnavanta Janata Paksha. Upset over not securing berths in the expanded ministry, several Congress legislators today held separate meetings in the city. Noting there was still opportunity for legislators, Parameshwara said, "we will have to fill six vacant minister posts." "We will do it, and probably in the days to come based on the performance decisions will be made," he added. The Deputy Chief Minister also said that at the earliest, the posts in boards and corporations would be filled, in accordance with the formula agreed upon between the coalition partners. Alleging that BJP has plans to attract disgruntled MLAs, the KPCC chief said he would talk to them and try to convince them about the party's decision. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday on the sidelines of the SCO Summit in Qingdao, the External Affairs Ministry said today. The meeting would come over a month after the two leaders held an informal summit in the Chinese city of Wuhan in April during which they exchanged views on solidifying the relations between the two Asian powers. Modi will be participating in the 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit, being held under the chairmanship of President Xi, on June 9 and 10, in Qingdao, Shandong province, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said. Among other issues, the summit is expected to focus on opportunities for cooperation among SCO members and the situation in the region. The prime minister's programme includes participation in the welcome banquet hosted by the Chinese president on the evening of June 9. The main day of the SCO summit is June 10, Kumar said. Modi will attend the SCO heads of states meeting in both the restricted as well as the extended formats, he said, adding that bilateral meetings of the prime minister were also planned on the sidelines of the Summit. Bilateral meeting with President Xi would take place on June 9, while other meetings were being finalised, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress today said former president Pranab Mukherjee has showed the mirror of truth to the RSS at its headquarters and asked whether the Sangh and the BJP would admit mistakes and change their "character, orientation, thought process" after accepting his "sagacious advice". Congress communications in-charge Randeep Surjewala said that Mukherjee, in his speech at RSS headquarter in Nagpur, reminded them of India's pluralism, tolerance, secularism and inclusiveness and hoped that the RSS would come out with a reply admitting its mistakes and doing course-correction. Mukherjee particularly highlighted the imperative to free public discourse from all forms of violence, besides putting compassion, harmony and non-violence as the centre stage of public life, Surjewala said. Surjewala said Mukherjee, a Congress veteran, reminded the Modi government of following "rajdharma" founded upon diversity, non-violence, multi-culturalism and assimilation of ideas. He also reminded the prime minister that happiness of people is the happiness of the ruler and their welfare is his welfare, indicating thereby the "unchecked exercise of authority and attack on institutions" in the garb of self-professed definition of pseudo- nationalism. "Let the RSS and the BJP publicly commit today to change its character, orientation, thought process and path and accept the sagacious advice of their guest Pranab Mukherjee. It is time for (RSS chief) Mohan Bhagwat and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to answer. We await a reply," Surjewala said. He, however, played down Mukherjee hailing K B Hedgewar as a "great son of Mother India" and dubbed it as a mere formality. "As a guest what Pranab Mukherjee ji said should be discussed and highlighted, not the unwarranted formalities," he said when asked about the remark. "Is RSS ready to admit its mistakes and ready to adapt India's pluralism, secularism and diversity? Will RSS give up its prejudice towards women and marginalised? Will it give up its inherent character of subjugation and violence?" he asked. "Ex President's visit to RSS headquarters has caused widespread concern and debate amongst those who believe in India's foundational values. "Pranab Mukherjee has shown 'Mirror of Truth' to RSS, to follow India's civilisational values. Will RSS and the prime minister change path and accept his sagacious advice?" he asked. Mukherjee, while addressing the RSS despite criticism from within the Congress and his family, warned that any attempt to define India through "religion, hatred, dogmas and intolerance" will dilute our existence and said public discourses must be freed of all forms of violence. Mukherjee, in a strong-worded speech on 'nation, nationalism and patriotism' in context of Bharat, said India's soul resides in pluralism and tolerance and asserted that India's identity has emerged through a long-drawn process of confluence, assimilation and co-existence. Earlier, there was considerable unease in the Congress, which put out a video on its official Twitter handle and an article on its website attacking the RSS and its ideology, that coincided with Mukherjee sharing the stage with the RSS chief at its headquarters in Nagpur. Senior party leader Anand Sharma also took to Twitter to say that images of the former president at RSS headquarters had anguished millions of party workers and those who believed in pluralism and diversity of the Indian republic. "The images of Pranab Da, veteran leader and ideologue, at RSS Headquarters have anguished millions of Congress workers and all those who believed in pluralism, diversity and the foundational values of the Indian Republic," Sharma said. "Dialogue can only be with those who are willing to listen, absorb and change. There is nothing to suggest that RSS has moved away from his core agenda as it seeks legitimacy," he added, in response to RSS stating, following the controversy over Mukherjee's visit, that dialogue was important, central to RSS ideology and an old tradition of the country. Earlier in the day, senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel expressed his disapproval of the former president's visit to the RSS headquarters. Patel, who is UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi's confidant and has been her political secretary, voiced his view on Twitter, saying, "I did not expect this from Pranab da!" The video, "RSS for Dummies: A guide for the average girl and guy", was accompanied by a post saying, "Today is a very fitting day to bring you all a primer on what the RSS really stands for." "The video was put out in the form of a guide for the young boys and girls on what the RSS stood for and alleged that it did not participate in the freedom struggle while the Congress did," the tweet said. The article titled, "Never forget what the RSS stands for" carried an image with an RSS volunteer spewing fire from his mouth. "...To start with, the RSS was never part of the freedom struggle against the British. At a time, when revolutionaries young and old were agitating against the British, the RSS leaders of yore took utmost care to ensure that nothing that they did would tick off the Brits," the article said. "RSS stalwarts are known for their endorsement of fascist tendencies. In We or Our Nationhood Defined (1939), Golwalkar expressed admiration for the Nazis for their policy on Jews and said that this was a model that India could profit from," it said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President Donald Trump today said that his much awaited summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is ready to go and his meeting next week in Singapore would be more than a photo-op. Singapore has designated a special event area of the Sentosa island tourist resort for Tuesday's historic summit, which is expected to be covered by over 2,500 journalists from across the world. There was initially much uncertainty over whether the summit would go ahead at all, and it was briefly called off last month by Trump after a dispute with the North Koreans over the key issue of denuclearisation. "I think I'm very well prepared. I don't think I have to prepare very much. It's about the attitude. It's about willingness to get things done. But I think I've been preparing for the summit for a long time," Trump told reporters in a brief joint media appearance with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the Oval Office. "As has the other side... They've been preparing for a long time, also. So this isn't a question of preparation, it's a question of whether or not people want it to happen, and we'll know that very quickly," he said. Responding to a question, the US president said it will be more than a photo-op. "Well, it's gonna be much more than a photo-op. I think it's a process. I've told you that many times before. I think it's not a one meeting deal. It would be wonderful if it were. "They've been doing this for a long time. They've got a lot of enemies out there. A lot of dislike, a lot of hatred between countries. This will not be just a photo-op. This will be at a minimum, we'll start with perhaps a good relationship," Trump said. The Japanese Prime Minister is visiting the White House for talks with Trump ahead of the next week's US-N Korea Summit. Multiple US and N Korean teams are holding simultaneous meetings ahead of the Singapore Summit. More than 2,500 people from the local and international media are expected to cover the event in Singapore, according to the number of registrations received by the ministry of communications and information. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu has underlined Panama's strategic significance to India as he met Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela Rodrigues and discussed bilateral cooperation in agriculture, trade, health, culture and education. During their talks yesterday , he also sought Panama's support for India's candidature to the Human Rights Council (HRC) for the term 2019-2021 and also called for greater exchange of high-level visits between the two nations to deepen bilateral relations in various areas of mutual interest. Panamanian Vice President Isabel de Saint Malo de Alvarado also accompanied them during their talks. The two leaders witnessed the signing of an MoU between India and Panama on exemption of visas for holders of diplomatic and official passports. They also witnessed signing of MoU in the field of agriculture. Naidu also visited the Panama Canal. Breaking protocol, President Rodriguez accompanied him to the famous canal. This was an unscheduled engagement of the Panamanian President that surprised the diplomats of both the countries, a statement said. Indian labourers in the 19th Century had contributed in building Panama railways and the canal. Naidu during his talks with Panamanian leaders also reaffirmed India's support for Panama's candidature for the UN Security Council's non-permanent seat. India also reiterated its resolve to combat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. "I am happy to know that Panama helped consolidate Latin America's support against the global scourge of terrorism," Naidu said. "India recognizes Panama's significance on account of its strategic location, robust economy and its active diplomatic pursuits," he said. He said there was a need for greater exchange of high-level visits, especially at the political level, to deepen bilateral relations further in various areas of mutual interest. "India and Panama always had cordial ties. They are the oldest in the Central American region. These ties are based on our common values and a shared commitment to democracy, pluralism, multi-culturalism, and the rule of law," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted. Panama is the first country in Central America that established diplomatic relations with India, he said. Naidu also interacted with the Indian diaspora. Naidu is in Panama on the second leg of his three nation tour to Latin America. He said his visit to the three Latin American countries of Guatemala, Panama and Peru was a part of the government's strategy of reaching out to various countries and regions of the world for enhanced engagement at higher levels to improve bilateral relations for mutual benefit. "Reaching out to the unreached is necessary for our country to play its due role in the emerging world order keeping in line with our strengths and commitments for peace and prosperity," he told the Indian community. "In the increasingly integrating global scheme of things, the progress and well being of the aspiring Indians is intrinsically linked with that of the people of Panama and other countries," Naidu said. "This warrants exploring opportunities for increased trade and investments for mutual benefit of India and the partnering countries. India and Latin American countries have complementarity and not 'competition' and there is huge scope for walking on a new path for mutual benefit," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Urging for a diplomatic initiative to hold unconditional dialogue with Pakistan, the CPI(M) said today that Home Minister Rajnath Singh's offer to hold talks with Hurriyat leaders in Kashmir should also be taken forward. In an editorial in party organ 'Peoples Democracy', former CPI(M) general-secretary Prakash Karat said there is no reason why a broader dialogue cannot be started with Pakistan if the national security advisors of the two countries can meet and the Directors-General of Military Operations can confabulate. "Along with that, the offer of talks with Pakistan that Rajnath Singh extended, should be taken forward. But it cannot be conditional to what both the home minister and the defence minister stated that talks and terror cannot go together. "Just as Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought to arrive at some modus vivendi with President Xi Jinping at Wuhan, similarly, there is the need for a diplomatic initiative on the Pakistan front," Karat wrote. The editorial came at a time when Singh is in Jammu and Kashmir on a two-day visit from today to review the security situation, partcularly after May 16, when the Centre unilaterally announced suspension of anti-terror operations during Ramzan. The Hurriyat Conference has offered to hold talks with the Union government but has also put some conditions. On May 26, Singh said the government is ready to hold talks with Hurriyat if its leadership is ready. As far as Pakistan is concerned, he said, the government is ready to hold talks with Islamabad if it comes forward with a proposal. Singh, however, had said that terrorism promoted by that country has to end. Stating that the people in Kashmir do not have much faith in the prospects of a political dialogue to find a political settlement because of a hardline security stance, the Left leader alleged the situation in the valley has "deteriorated" since the Modi government assumed office four years ago. Karat emphasised that "some degree of trust" was required between the people of Kashmir and the Centre for a meaningful dialogue. He suggested that Singh should extend the ceasefire announced during Ramzan for another specified period. In Srinagar today, Home Minister Singh said the Centre has decided to withdraw cases against those "misled into stone pelting" as it was concerned about the future of the youth. Karat said authorities should announce the withdrawal of the use of pellet guns against stone-pelters and separatist leaders such as Shabir Shah, who are being treated as common criminals in jail, should be released. He called for prompt action against any excess committed by security forces on civilians. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Nepal Army Chief General Rajendra Chhetri today called on Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and discussed ways to deepen defence and security cooperation between the two countries. Official sources said issues related to bilateral defence cooperation figured prominently during the meeting. The Nepal Army Chief's visit comes nearly a month after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to that country during which both countries had decided to bolster defence and security cooperation. Indo-Nepal border is open, porous and thickly populated. The movement of people across the border is governed by Indo-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship, 1950, which provides for free movement of citizens of both the countries across the border. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Nepal and India will hold high-level talks next week to discuss the possibilities of opening up new air routes between the two countries, including one from Janakpur, a major city of religious and historical importance. The issue of new air routes was one of the agendas during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's state visit to Nepal last month. A technical team from the Airports Authority of India (AAI) will arrive here to discuss cross-border airspace issues that have been pending for a few years, an official at the Civil Aviation Association of Nepal (CAAN) said. The meeting of Nepal-India joint technical team will take place here next week to discuss the possibilities of opening new air routes between the two countries, authorities said. Anil Kumar Dutta, member of Air Navigation Services and board member of the AAI, will be heading the Indian team during the talks. The two sides will discuss three key cross-border routes that Nepal has sought from India to expand its international air routes: Janakpur in the South, Nepalgunj in the mid-western and Mahendranagar in the far western regions. Modi visited the famed 20th century Janaki temple in Janakpur and offered special prayers on May 11. Janakpur is known as the birth place of Sita, the wife of Lord Rama. Janaki temple was built in memory of Sita in 1910. The three-storied structure made entirely of stone and marble is 50-meter high and spread over 4860 sq feet. Nepalese authorities had asked India to formally open the new cross-border air routes during Modi's visit to Nepal in 2014, said a CAAN official. The proposed incoming and outgoing air routes will facilitate the operation of international flights from Nepal's three regional airports in Bhairahawa, Pokhara and Nijgadh. "We are expecting that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will be signed during the talks if the discussions yield a positive outcome," the official said. "If the MoU is signed during this meeting, it will open the door for both sides to conduct a safety assessment of the proposed routes soon," the official added. After a safety assessment has been completed by the technical teams of the both sides, a report needs to be published in an aeronautical information publication before the new air paths come into operation. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was "no longer immune" from retaliation, while declaring the Iran nuclear deal over after Washington ditched the accord. Noting that Israel had stayed out of Syria's protracted civil war, in which Tehran backs Assad, Netanyahu said increasing Iranian encroachment required "a new calculus". "He is no longer immune, his regime is no longer immune. If he fires at us, as we've just demonstrated, we will destroy his forces," the Israeli leader said at an event organised by the Policy Exchange think tank in London. Last month, Israel launched a large-scale attack on purported Iranian targets in Syria following what it said was a barrage of rockets fired by Iran from the country toward its forces in the occupied Golan Heights. Even before that, Israel had been blamed for a series of recent strikes inside Syria that killed Iranians, though it has not acknowledged them. "Syria has to understand that Israel will not tolerate the Iranian military entrenchment in Syria against Israel," Netanyahu added. "The consequences are not merely to the Iranian forces there but to the Assad regime as well," he said, adding: "I think it's something that he should consider very seriously". Netanyahu is on a three-day European tour - visiting Berlin and Paris earlier this week - marked by strategic differences on Iran, as its leaders attempt to rescue the nuclear deal after US withdrawal in May. He met yesterday with British Prime Minister Theresa May, who reiterated London's "firm commitment" to the accord, according to Downing Street. But the Israeli leader said today "the weight of the American economy" was already dooming "this very bad agreement". "It's a done deal - in the other meaning of the word," he added, noting companies were already pulling out of Iran under threat of damaging US sanctions. "You have to choose whether to do business with Iran, or forego doing business with the United States... that's a no-brainer and everybody's choosing it effectively as we speak." Netanyahu said he had reiterated his dislike for the 2015 deal, which offers sanctions relief in exchange for strict limits on Iran's nuclear activities. However, the focus of his discussions in Europe had been on reducing Iran's presence in Syria, he added. "I found considerable agreement on that goal." At the same time, he criticised his European hosts for an outdated approach to the region. Netanyahu said Iranian expansion had led to a "realignment" of relations with Arab states in the Middle East who also oppose Tehran - something Britain and western Europe were "evidently not understanding". "There is a whole realignment taking place in the Middle East -- they're sort of stuck in the past," he added, displaying a map of the world with numerous countries highlighted to show Israel's "expanding diplomatic horizons". "I think there's a west European problem with recognising that the world is changing," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) President Vladimir Putin said today that a new hypersonic intercontinental missile would enter service next year and guarantee Russia maintains military parity with the United States. He used a national televised call-in show to once again call attention to the modernisation of Russia's strategic weapons, mentioning in particular the new "Avant-garde" missile capable of changing direction and altitude, which Putin said would make it unstoppable. "Faster than Mach 20, twenty times the speed of sound," said Putin. "I don't think other countries will develop such a weapon in the coming years ... we already have it." He said the missile was in production and would enter service next year. Another hypersonic missile is already in service, said Putin. "The air-launched hypersonic system Dagger, it is a hypersonic missile that flies at 10 times the speed of sound, it is already in service of our army," said the president. He said a laser weapons system was also already in service and that a new, more powerful, ballistic missile called Sarmat would be ready in 2020. Putin stunned the West - and many in Russia - in March by using his state of the nation address just weeks before his re-election to a fourth term in office to unveil the new arsenal of "invincible" weapons. However Putin portrayed the development of the new generation of weapons as a reaction to the United States pulling out of a major arms treaty that he said had ensured strategic parity. The threat of mutually assured destruction helped avoid a nuclear war as it kept nuclear powers from making "abrupt moves and forced them to respect one another," Putin said. However "the withdrawal of the US from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty was an attempt to break that strategic parity," he added. "But we are responding... our modern weapon systems... undoubtedly guarantee that parity." The United States pulled out of the Soviet-era Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which limited the development of anti-missile systems, in 2002 under President George W Bush. Putin said the world needed a new international security framework. "It is already past time we sat at the negotiating table and not only thought about but developed a modern system of international and European security that corresponds to today's" needs, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a strong mandate to act and the leverage to take a bold initiative on Kashmir but the four years of NDA rule at the Centre were wasted as no breakthrough has been achieved, former chief minister Omar Abdullah said today. The National Conference (NC) vice-president was addressing party workers at Baramulla in north Kashmir. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a strong mandate in the Parliament to act. He had the power and the leverage to take a bold initiative on Kashmir as unlike past prime ministers he was not as constrained by compulsions. Unfortunately, four years have been wasted and no breakthrough has been achieved, Abdullah said. Welcoming the unilateral ceasefire announced by the Centre, he stressed the need for a follow-up initiative after taking ground realities in the valley into account. While the Ramadhan ceasefire was a welcome move, one needs to wonder what happens after Ramadhan ends? In the absence of a follow-up initiative that takes the ground realities into account we will yet again fail to rise to the occasion in acknowledging the slide in Kashmir and our responsibility to stem it, he said. Referring to the offer of talks by the Centre to all stakeholders in the state, the NC vice-president said there should be clarity so that forward movement is achieved. There is ambiguity and confusion over the apparent offer of talks with the Hurriyat Conference. Various Central ministers have portrayed the offer in various different ways. The MoS PMO (Jitendra Singh) has said militancy is in its last stages in Kashmir despite the insurmountable evidence to indicate that we are in an alarming state of renewed militancy. How can the Central Government expect the Hurriyat to come forward and talk when the Central Government itself can't speak in one voice on such a crucial issue? There should be clarity so that some forward movement can be achieved, he said. Abdullah said realising the gravity of the situation, his party participated in an all-party meeting called by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti recently and expressed unconditional support to all political initiatives that would bring relief to the people. The prolonged delay by the central and the state governments in taking a political initiative despite repeated red flags and deterioration of the situation in Kashmir is unfortunate and has eroded the dividends of a hard-earned peace and stability that had been achieved in the state, he said. Abdullah said the situation in Jammu was equally worrisome and batted for talks with Pakistan to end the skirmishes on the border. We are losing precious lives in cross-LoC and cross-border shelling. When we advocate talks with Pakistan we are labelled as 'anti-national' by those people whose lives are not affected by hostility along our borders. If seeking peace and relief for border dwellers is 'anti-national', then I am an anti-national," he said. Abdullah said Jammu and Kashmir was the worst victim of hostilities between India and Pakistan. We will continue to advocate for talks with Pakistan for the interests of our state and its people, the NC vice-president said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The government today notified its decision to fix the ex-factory sugar price at Rs 29 per kg as well as the monthly stock holding limit on mills as part of measures to help cash-starved industry to clear cane arrears which have crossed Rs 22,000 crore. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had approved these decisions yesterday. The food ministry notified the Sugar Price (Control) Order, 2018 to empower itself to fix the minimum selling price of the sweetener. While fixing the price, the Centre will take into consideration the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) of sugarcane, conversion cost to produce sugar and realisation of profit from bye-products. This order empowers the government to inspect records, enter and conduct searches in factories, and seizure of stocks. A separate notification was issued to fix Rs 29 per kg as the current selling price. "No producer of sugar shall sell or agree to see or otherwise dispose of or deliver or agree to deliver white or refined sugar in the domestic market or remove white or refined sugar from the godowns of the factory in which it is produced for sale in the domestic market at a rate below Rs 29 per kg till further orders," the notification said. The ministry also issued an order directing the quantity of white/refined sugar stock that every producer of sugar shall hold at the end of June 2018. The Centre yesterday announced a Rs 8,500 crore package to boost farmers' income by creating a buffer stock for sugar, enhancing ethanol production capacity and fixing a minimum selling price to cut mill losses. The Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved Rs 4,440 crore soft loan for building ethanol production capacity to absorb the cane and a buffer stock of 3 million tonnes, besides for the first time fixing Rs 29 per kg as the minimum price below which mills cannot sell sweetener. Sugar mills are incurring losses as prices have fallen below production cost on account of record output of 31.5 million tonnes in the 2017-18 season ending September as against the annual domestic demand of 25 million tonnes. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Russian President Vladimir Putin said today he did not support the global #MeToo movement in which women have publicly denounced their sexual abusers. "We are seeing a process where certain people, certain organisations which specialise in defending the rights of women, are creating a movement in Western countries, and exposing twenty-, thirty-year old cases," he told journalists. "I don't think we should turn all these questions, especially concrete cases, into some sort of campaign," said Putin. "In all civilised countries there is a legal process for handling such conflicts," he said, pointing to law enforcement authorities and the courts. "This raises the question: why is this happening now? Why not ten years ago when these events happened?" Putin spoke in response to a question about a Russian lawmaker who has been accused of making lewd sexual comments and groping, but was cleared of wrongdoing by the parliament's ethics commission. In response, several of Russia's top media outlets have boycotted the lawmaker, the head of the parliament's foreign affairs committee, and pulled their journalists from covering the lower house. Putin said he was unaware of the case and launched into his criticism of the #MeToo movement. Putin's administration keeps a tight lid on political dissent and champions traditional values while denouncing the moral decline of the West. At the end of March, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov called "prostitutes" the actresses who had accused Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault and rape. The #MeToo has been greeted coldly in Russia, where allegations of sexual harassment are often justified or derided. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress' grassroots front organisation, the Seva Dal, would be revived and strengthened, its chief organiser said today. Lalji Desai, who was appointed as Chief Organiser of the All India Congress Seva Dal in April this year, said new measures for the group would include the setting up of a youth wing and launching of a mobile application. He was speaking to reporters after the executive committee meeting of the Gujarat chapter of the organisation here today. To start with, Desai said, Seva Dal workers will no longer be required to salute party leaders. "We are bringing in some changes to revive and strengthen Seva Dal. We have now decided to do away with the our tradition of salute. This was introduced to build an army of discipline workers. But now, Seva Dal workers will not be required to salute, except on the occasion of flag hoisting or during guard of honour," Desai said. "It came to our notice that enrolment of youngsters in Seva Dal was declining. To attract them, we have decided to set up a new Seva Dal wing called Young Brigade. This brigade will have its own dress code," said Desai. Alleging that the BJP and the RSS were trying to weaken Constitutional institutions, Desai said that Seva Dal workers would spread the message of "true nationalism". "We have also decided to connect all our workers through a mobile application. This will also create a data bank of our cadre across the country," he said. He said that the Seva Dal would organise training camps in four regions during the next two months. When asked if this exercise was aimed at countering the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Desai maintained that Seva Dal was "far superior" to the RSS in terms of reach and cadre strength. "RSS is only good at publicity. That is why they get more attention despite doing nothing. We are not competing with them. Our objectives are different. While they are more into spreading rumours, our aim is to bust such rumours and spread truth" Desai said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Pakistan Army helicopter crash-landed in the troubled Balochistan province today, killing one soldier and injuring two others. The aviation helicopter was shifting an injured Frontier Corps (FC) soldier from Kohlu area in Quetta, capital of Balochistan, when it was forced to make an emergency landing, the Army said. One soldier was killed, two crew members were injured while two pilots remained safe, it said in a statement. Aviation accidents in armed forces are not uncommon. A training plane crashed last month in Lahore, injuring two pilots. In October last year, a pilot of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) was killed after his Mirage jet crashed near Karachi's Musharraf Colony. On September 24, 2016, a Flight Lieutenant was killed when an F-7 aircraft went down near the town of Jamrud, near the entrance to the Khyber Pass. Marium Maukhtiar, one of Pakistan's few female fighter jet pilots, was killed in a training crash in November 2015. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain will visit China on Saturday to attend the SCO summit on the sidelines of which he will meet his Chinese counterpart President Xi Jinping to discuss bilateral matters, including the progress of the CPEC projects. The 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit, scheduled for June 9 and 10 in Qingdao, Shandong province, will be attended by a host of world leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal said that President Mamnoon will visit China on June 9 to attend the summit. During his meeting with Xi, all issues of mutual concern including bilateral, regional and international issues will be discussed, he said. "Bilateral political matters, progress of the CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor) projects, economic and commercial relations, defence relations and other areas of bilateral relations will also be discussed, he said. India has protested to China over the CPEC, the USD 50 billion flagship project of Xi's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), as it is being built through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Mamnoon will also have several bilateral meeting with other Heads of State attending the Summit. Faisal also said that no meeting was planned between Pakistani and Indian leaders on the sidelines of the SCO. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan today rejected as preposterous and without any legal basis India's objection to Islamabad's efforts towards incorporating the disputed Gilgit-Baltistan region as its fifth province. Pakistan's Cabinet on May 21 approved Gilgit-Baltistan Order 2018. Civil rights groups in Pakistan have criticised the order. India says the region belongs to it and that Pakistan's action has no legal support. Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal, addressing his weekly briefing, rejected India's objection to recent reform in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) region as preposterous and without any legal basis. From this podium, I challenge India to let the United Nations carry out a free and fair plebiscite in Jammu & Kashmir, as envisaged in the UNSC Resolutions, so that the Kashmiris are able to decide their future as per their aspirations. Pakistan is confident that Jammu & Kashmir would side with Pakistan, he claimed. Faisal also said that Pakistan maintained its consistent position that only through dialogue, issues can be resolved between the two countries. It is India that has imposed conditionalities on the dialogue process, he said. He also accused India of pushing South Asia into a "vicious arms race" by its military buildup coupled with "hegemonic designs". He also warned of a befitting response in case of any misadventure by India. "Pakistan wants to live in peace, however, if aggression is thrust upon us, it would be duly punished. Let there be no mistake. We expect maturity from India in this regard, he said. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj last month had insisted that her government has not said no to comprehensive dialogue with Pakistan but that terror and talks could not go together. After the terror attack on Pathankot airbase in January 2016, India had announced that it will not engage in talks with Islamabad until it stops cross-border terrorism. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan's Supreme Court today ruled that former military dictator General Pervez Musharraf, disqualified for life, can conditionally file his nomination papers to contest the general elections on July 25. A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Saqib Nisar, also directed the 74-year-old Musharraf, currently based in Dubai, to appear before the court on June 13. The bench resumed the hearing of Musharraf's review petition against his disqualification for life by the Peshawar High Court in 2013. Directing Musharraf to appear before its Lahore registry, the apex court also assured that he will not be arrested by the government. Musharraf, who is the head of All Pakistan Muslim League (APML), has been residing in Dubai since March 2016 after leaving the county on medical grounds. He is facing a high-profile treason case and has been declared absconder due to his persistent failure to appear before the special trial court set up to try him in the case. The former president was indicted in March 2014 on treason charges for imposing emergency in the country which led to the confinement of a number of superior court judges in their houses and sacking of over 100 judges. A conviction for high-profile treason carries the death penalty or life imprisonment. Musharraf has sought adequate security from the government for his return from the UAE to appear before a special Pakistani court in the high-profile treason case. Musharraf, who ruled Pakistan from 1999 to 2008, has been declared a fugitive in the Benazir Bhutto murder case and Red Mosque cleric killing case. Meanwhile, APML General Secretary Muhammad Amjad said that his party chief will contest general elections from four constituencies. He also announced that Musharraf would return to Pakistan after Eid which will be celebrated after end of the holy month of Ramadan. "The exact date of his return will be announced after the Supreme Court decides on the review petition filed against Musharraf's disqualification in 2013," Amjad said. In April 2013, Peshawar High Court (PHC) disqualified Musharraf for life holding him ineligible to contest elections. A four-member bench of the PHC had also dismissed Musharraf's appeal against his disqualification. In the same month, Musharraf's nomination papers were rejected from all the constituencies he had applied for. His nomination papers for Karachi, Islamabad and Chitral were earlier rejected by the returning officers. He was given a chance to appeal against the decision in the election tribunal, but the appeal was also rejected. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The current political situation in Kashmir is far from normal and the ceasefire violations by Pakistani rangers as well intrusion attempts by Pak-backed terrorists have caused a great damage to the socio-security scenario of the state, Panun Kashmir, an organisation advocating the cause of displaced Kashmiri Hindus, said today. The organisation also backed the demand for a CBI probe into the Kathua rape and murder case calling it totally justified. "The current political situation in Jammu and Kashmir state is far from a normal situation", Panun Kashmir president Ashwani Kumar Chrungoo told reporters here today. Chrungoo said though there was pressure on the terror regime as well as the ISI from Indian side yet Pakistan was hell-bent upon playing dirty tricks. "The ceasefire violations by Pak Rangers and the intrusion bids by the Pak-trained terror groups have caused a great damage to the socio-security scenario of the Jammu and Kashmir state," he said. The Panun Kashmir chief said there was a strong politico-strategic view to reconsider the options available with India so far as the response to the ongoing situation created by Pakistan and terror operatives was concerned. "There cannot be two opinions about the need to aggressively respond to Pakistan's military misadventures as was done recently by the Indian forces leaving destruction of military assets and scores dead on the other side of the international border", he said. Chrungoo was speaking after a Panun Kashmir meeting here today to discuss the current socio-political scenario of the state. He said the three decades of struggle in exile of Kashmiri Pandits had assumed a great responsibility so far as the fate and future of the community and the nation was concerned. Panun Kashmir batted strongly for the demands of Dogras of Jammu and said that the three points raised by the people and lawyer community of Jammu are genuine and represent the geo-political aspirations of the Jammu region. "The demand for an impartial CBI probe in the Kathua rape and murder case is not only justified but it is the only course left keeping in view the severity of the case and the composition and working of crime branch teams," he said. Chrungoo said the steps taken by the government of India with regard to the issue of continuous stay of Rohingya and Bangladeshi illegal immigrants in the Jammu region were in the right direction but needed urgent follow up. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A court today extended till June 21 the judicial remand of 11 people accused in the April 13 sectarian clash in Phagwara. The accused were produced before the judicial magistrate here through video conference from Modern Jail in Kapurthala, Superintendent of Police (Headquarters) Jaskiranjit Singh Teja said. Teja heads a three-member special investigation team (SIT) probing the clash. Six members of right-wing Hindu outfits and five Dalit activists were arrested in connection with the violence over fixing a board carrying Dalit icon B R Ambedkar's picture at a road intersection here. The Dalit group also wanted the intersection, Gol Chowk on National Highway-1, renamed Samvidhan (Constitution)Chowk. The other group opposed it, triggering violence that left one man dead and three injured. There was tension in the town for a month. Later, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh gave in-principle approval for the remaining of the intersection. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The plastics industry in Gujarat is expecting to face a crisis after the ban, with over 2000 SMEs on the verge of closure in several cities, according to the Gujarat Plastic Manufacturers Association (GPMA). "Over 2000 SMEs will be on verge of closure due to plastic ban in several cities including Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Rajkot in the gujarat, and around 50,000 people may lose employment due to this ban," Alpesh Patel, president GPMA told PTI. The announcement in this regard came at a time when the industry was holding talks at various levels of the government including the Gujarat Pollution Control Boardon how to solve the issue, he further said. Most of the 2000 units are located in Halol in Panchmahah district, Vadodaraand Waghodya (both from Vadodara district), according to him. In a bid to make Vadodara, Ahmedabad and Rajkot cities "free of plastic pollution" the three municipal corporations located in these cities, announced a complete ban on production and usage of plastic tea cups, packaged water pouches and bags on World Day on Tuesday. The president of GPMA pointed out that it will adversely impact thousands of people engaged in the industry such as manufacturers, employees, dealers, consumers including the public at large as also by the states economy. "We had suggested to the Gujarat government to raise minimum thickness of plastic carry bags above 50 microns and give 6 months period to these units to raise it from more than 50 microns for making necessary changes in their plants as it also required to make investments in doing so," Patel said. Patel assured that they want to work together with authorities in ensuring the plastic does not cause any damage to Many producers and dealers appealed to control plastic littering through consumer awareness instead of a blanket ban on its production and sale. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India will pitch for evolving effective ways to deal with the growing challenge of terrorism and enhancing security cooperation among SCO countries when Prime Minister Narendra Modi participates in the grouping's summit in Qingdao this week. The prime minister will be participating in the 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit, being held under the chairmanship of Chinese President Xi Jinping, on June 9 and 10 in Qingdao, Shandong province, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said. Among other issues, the summit is expected to focus on opportunities for cooperation among SCO members and the situation in the region, he told reporters at a briefing here. India and Pakistan became SCO members last year, and are participating as full members for the first time. Talking about the objective of the summit, Kumar said it was to further deepen the existing relationship between the SCO member countries. "They have identified four areas -- politics, security, economic and cultural cooperation. There is something called Shanghai spirit which needs to be strengthened, which talks about mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, mutual consultations, respect for cultural diversity and pursuit of common development," he said, elaborating on the areas the member nations were likely to focus during the summit. He said a discussion on regional and international issues was also expected when the leaders meet for the summit. Kumar said there were multiple objectives of India's participation such as "common development, connectivity, strengthening relationship with Central Asian countries, and terrorism -- how do we use this platform to fight terrorism and the scourge of terrorism in today's world". "It is important for us to ensure peace and security in the SCO region and fight against the growing threat of terrorism," he said. India is also focussed on the connectivity aspect of it and this was evident with its involvement with several connectivity projects such as the International NorthSouth Transport Corridor (INSTC), the Chabahar port development, the Ashgabat agreement, IndiaMyanmarThailand Trilateral Highway projects and Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal (BBIN) Initiative among many others, Kumar said. Asked about India's participation at a recent SCO meeting in Pakistan, Kumar said the participation in that country was under the Regional Anti-terrorist Structure (RATS) of the SCO. "We had sent a technical team to participate in that meeting. It is our obligation and our responsibility to participate in multilateral meetings wherever it is held and that is how we participated in this SCO RATS meeting in Pakistan," he said. The prime minister's programme includes participation in the welcome banquet hosted by the Chinese president on the evening of June 9. The main day of the SCO summit is June 10, he said. PM Modi will attend the SCO heads of state meeting in both the restricted as well as the extended formats, Kumar said, adding that bilateral meetings of the prime minister were also planned on the sidelines of the summit. A bilateral meeting with President Xi would take place on June 9, while other meetings were being finalised, he said. A declaration is to be adopted at the summit. Other documents were to be finalised in this regard, he said. Asked if the SCO Summit could replace the SAARC in the long run, Kumar answered in the negative. Sources had earlier indicated that India's focus would be to include its concerns over cross border terrorism in the final outcome document but it may be resisted by Pakistan which will try to garner support of other countries. India has been raising the issue of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in various multilateral forums with an aim to build pressure on Islamabad to dismantle the terror infrastructure operating from that country. "Cooperation to combat terrorism, extremism and separatism, apart from strengthening trade ties will be among the agreements likely to be inked during the summit of the eight-member grouping at Qingdao," SCO Secretary General Rashid Alimov had earlier said. The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan became its members last year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo today asked Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Bajwa to take action against terrorist groups without any distinction. Pompeo spoke with Bajwa over phone, his spokesperson said. "They discussed ways to advance US-Pakistani bilateral relations, the need for political reconciliation in Afghanistan, and the importance of targeting all militant and terrorist groups in South Asia without distinction," State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 73-year-old priest of a temple, who was on bail in a rape case, allegedly committed suicide today by hanging himself from the ceiling hook of his room in the premises of the temple in Rajkot city, police said. The deceased priest, identified as Magandas Nimavat, was found handing with rope tied to the ceiling hook of his room in the premises of the Hanuman temple in Raiya Dhar area, the official said. The incident came to light when a devotee went to meet Nimavat in the morning hours, he said. Nimavat was accused of raping a 30-year-old woman around two years back, following which he was arrested. He had been out on bail since last four months, he said. "Nimavat apparently ended his life by hanging himself from the ceiling (hook) of the room in the temple premises. A suicide note was recovered from the spot," said university police station sub-inspector P A Gohil. Nimavat purportedly wrote in the suicide note that he was innocent and that the complaint of rape was filed against him by the woman's husband with an intention to defame him and extort money, the official said. "The woman's husband has been demanding Rs 25 lakh to settle the case ever since I was released on bail. Since I do not have money, I have decided to end my life," the officer said quoting the note. He said police are verifying the content of the note and further investigation is underway. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) China today said it has investigated the US allegations of mysterious sound attacks on its diplomats in the city of Guangzhou and found "no clue" even as two more American diplomats were evacuated after complaining of similar phenomena. On May 23, the US State Department had said that one of the workers at its Consulate in Guangzhou had experienced a "subtle and vague, but abnormal, sensations of sound and pressure". The symptoms were similar to those found in the case of US diplomatic personnel who worked in Cuba, including mild traumatic brain injury. The New York Times reported yesterday that at least two more American diplomats in Guangzhou have experienced similar phenomena and fallen ill. One of those embassy workers told the paper that he and his wife had heard mysterious sounds and experienced strange headaches and sleeplessness while in their apartment. Reacting to the reports of the mysterious sound attacks on the US diplomats, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing today that Beijing had investigated the May 23 allegation and found no clue. "Relevant authorities of China have conducted investigations and given the feedback to the US. We haven't found the cause or the clues that led to the situation mentioned by the US," she said. "For the latest incident according to my information, the US hasn't conducted any communication with China. We learnt this from the report of the New York Times. I am not aware of the relevant information. If there is really some problem, US can directly connect and communicate with China and China will adopt a responsible attitude to investigate this," she said. She said China followed the Vienna convention to protect diplomatic staff of the US and other countries. The evacuation of the US diplomats with mysterious illness comes at a time when the relations between Beijing and Washington were going through a tense phase as the two countries grappled to avert a trade war. President Donald Trump has been asking China to cut the USD 375 billion trade deficit. The US is also asking China to prevail on North Koran leader Kim Jong Un to give up nuclear programme. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Senior officials of the Quad countries - India, the US, Japan and Australia - today held consultations in Singapore on "issues of common interest" in the Indo-Pacific region such as counter-terrorism and non-proliferation, the Ministry of External Affairs said today. The participants reaffirmed their support for a "free, open, prosperous and inclusive" Indo-Pacific Region, it said. The officials deliberated on ways to pursue shared objectives in the areas of connectivity and development, regional security, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HARD) and maritime cooperation. External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said there was regular ASEAN related senior officers meeting. Another meeting on the sidelines was also held between the Quad countries. The meeting was attended by joint secretaries in-charge of East Asia and America. The Indian side highlighted New Delhi's vision for the Indo-Pacific region as outlined in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's keynote address at Shangri-La Dialogue, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement. "The participants reaffirmed their support for a free, open, prosperous and inclusive Indo-Pacific Region. They also confirmed their common commitment, based on shared values and principles, to promote a rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific," the statement said. They also reaffirmed their strong support for ASEAN centrality and ASEAN-led mechanisms in the regional architecture for the Indo-Pacific and agreed to partner with all countries and institutions in the region "to promote the shared vision of a peaceful, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific, including through such plurilateral formats". Envisaged by Japan in 2007, the Quadrilateral grouping is seen as a move to counter China. Last year, Prime Minister Modi, his Australian and Japanese counterparts Malcom Turnbull and Shinzo Abe and US President Donald Trump, held the first Quad talks at Manila. The leaders had agreed that a free, open, prosperous and inclusive Indo-Pacific region serves the long-term interests of all countries in the region and of the world at large. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Swedish court today sentenced a radicalised Uzbek asylum seeker to life in prison for terrorism after he mowed down pedestrians with a stolen truck in central Stockholm last year, killing five people. The assault, which mirrored other truck attacks in 2016 that left scores dead in France, Germany and the UK, occurred as Sweden grappled with the aftermath of having taken in more migrants per capita than any other country in Europe. Arrested hours after the April 7, 2017 attack, Rakhmat Akilov, 40, who swore allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) group on the eve of his assault, told the court during his trial that IS members had given him the green light on encrypted chat sites to carry out a suicide attack in the Swedish capital. However, the jihadist organisation never claimed responsibility for the assault. The Stockholm district court convicted Akilov of "terrorist crimes" for five murders and 119 attempted murders in one of Stockholm's busiest shopping streets. Three Swedes, including a girl who would have turned 12 on Thursday, as well as a 41-year-old British man and a 31-year-old Belgian woman were killed. Ten more were injured. During his almost three-month trial, Akilov, who confessed almost immediately to the attack, expressed no remorse. His gaze often remained empty, even when photographs and footage of the bloody attack were projected onto a large screen in the courtroom. "He acted with the direct intention to kill as many people as possible," the court said in its verdict, adding Akilov would be expelled after serving the life term, which averages 16 years in Sweden. After swerving wildly to hit as many people as possible, Akilov's rampage ended when the truck smashed into the facade of a large department store. An explosive device - made up of five gas canisters and nails - did not explode as planned and caused fire damage only to the truck. Akilov fled the scene, running into a nearby metro station, and was arrested several hours later after being identified by public transport video surveillance images and eyewitness reports. Investigators found text messages on Akilov's cell phone with contacts identified only by pseudonyms, and whom Akilov said were high-ranking members of IS or the "Islamic caliphate" declared in parts of Iraq and Syria. While the text messages indicated Akilov consulted with his contacts on how to carry out his attack, prosecutors have insisted that he acted alone. He told the court his motive was to pressure "Sweden to end its participation in the fight against the caliphate, to stop sending its soldiers to war zones." Sweden, a non-NATO member, has around 70 military personnel based mainly in northern Iraq to provide training as part of the US-led coalition against IS. The court said Akilov "intended to force Sweden to stop participating in the global coalition against IS". Prosecutors claim Akilov's intention was also to "spread fear among the population". He told the court he had planned to die as a martyr and did not expect to survive the attack. After arriving in Sweden in 2014, on the cusp of a huge wave of migration to Europe, Akilov's application for residency was rejected in June 2016. He later went underground to avoid expulsion and worked odd jobs in construction. The father of four, who drank alcohol and used drugs according to colleagues and acquaintances, lived alone in Sweden. His wife and children stayed behind in Uzbekistan. After the attack, Swedish authorities were heavily criticised for having failed to find Akilov and expel him from the country. While the government has since adopted a series of measures aimed at ensuring that rejected asylum seekers really do leave Sweden, only 1,000 of 3,000 who were definitively rejected actually left the country in the first three months of 2018. Security and immigration are two of the main themes dominating Sweden's general election campaign ahead of a September 9 vote. The Scandinavian country has registered 400,000 asylum applications since 2012 - or one for every 25 inhabitants, a record in Europe - with a peak of 162,000 applications in 2015. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress president Rahul Gandhi will be in Mumbai on June 12 to attend a court hearing in connection with a defamation case filed against him. Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam said that Gandhi would be present in Bhiwandi court at 11am on June 12 and would later meet the party's booth-level workers. On May 2, the Bhiwandi Magistrate Court in neighbouring Thane had asked Gandhi to appear before it on June 12 to record his plea in a defamation case filed against him by an RSS functionary. The court had, on May 2, heard arguments on Gandhi's application, seeking a detailed recording of evidence instead of a 'summary trial', and adjourned the matter till June 12. The court had said that it would pass an order on the application and would also record the defendant's (Rahul Gandhi) plea on June 12, and asked him to remain present on that day. Rajesh Kunte, a local worker of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, had filed the case against Gandhi in 2014 after watching his speech in Thane's Bhiwandi township where the Congress leader alleged that the RSS was behind the killing of Mahatma Gandhi. He filed the case against the Congress president over the latter's alleged statement at an election rally near Bhiwandi on March 6, 2014 that "the RSS people had killed (Mahatma) Gandhi." Nirupam today said that Gandhi would meet an estimated 15,000 party workers at the Mumbai Exhibition Ground in suburban Goregaon between 2pm and 4pm on June 12. "The Congress party has always believed in working ground up and Rahul ji believes in connecting with the hardworking members of our party who work relentlessly at the booth level," Nirupam said. He said that the meeting was to thank these workers. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Modi government is keen to hold dialogue with all "right-minded" people in Jammu and Kashmir to bring lasting peace in the state, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said today. Singh, who is on a two-day visit to the state, said a decision on extending the ongoing suspension of operations against militants beyond Ramzan will be taken after reviewing the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. "Dialogue can be held with everyone. It is not necessary to be like-minded to hold talks, but it is compulsory to be right-minded," he said, offering an olive branch to the separatists. The Home minister said at a press conference that the central government has appointed a special representative for holding talks with all stake-holders in Jammu and Kashmir. "The special representative has not been appointed for sightseeing. He has come here 11 times so far," he said referring to the appointment of former director of the Intelligence Bureau Dineshwar Sharma as the centre's representative to Jammu and Kashmir in October last year. Singh appealed to the people of Jammu and Kashmir to come forward for bringing back peace in the state. "Lest we might lose another generation of the state to the darkness," he said. On whether the unilateral ceasefire announced by the Centre in Jammu and Kashmir will be extended beyond Ramzan, he said a decision in this regard would be taken after reviewing the situation thoroughly. "The prime minister (Narendra Modi) took a decision on the suspension of operation during Ramzan after giving it due thought. "We took this decision keeping in view the situation of the common people of Jammu and Kashmir... A decision on extending it beyond Ramzan will be taken after reviewing the situation," he said. On what feedback security forces' officials gave during the review meetings held today, Singh said, "Good things were spoken about it." Condemning recent terror attacks, he said militants were not refraining from their nefarious activities even during the holy fasting month. "Those who are not giving up their nefarious activities even in the holy month of Ramzan, should their activities not be called unholy. I would like to say that to mislead the youth is not only deceit, but a crime," he said. Without naming separatists, Singh said they should refrain from misleading the youth into violence. "They give education to their own kids and stones in the hands of other kids. I appeal to them to treat the kids of others just like they treat their own," he said. The Home minister said the central government had decided to withdraw cases against nearly 10,000 persons who were involved in stone pelting for the first time, taking into the considerations of their plight. He said, from ramparts of the Red Fort, the prime minister had said the government wanted a solution to the problem of Jammu and Kashmir, not by firing bullets, but by embracing the people. "When we talk about Kashmiriyat it includes Hazratbal (shrine)as well as Amarnath (shrine)," he said. On Pakistan, the Home minister said the country must stop terror activities emanating from its soil and if it cannot do so, the country should take India's help. Singh said the neighbouring country should prevent terror activities on its soil and if it cannot stop terrorism, "why don't you take help from your neighbouring country, India". He said some countries were covertly or overtly using terrorism. "They should understand that terrorism has no religion... When it will devour whom no one can say with certainty," Singh said. He said the Centre has maintained from the beginning that it was willing talk to everyone. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hours before a gathering of the ruling NDA here, one of its constituent, the RLSP, struck a discordant note with its leader Upendra Kushwaha excusing himself from attending the meeting and a party leader demanding that the next Bihar polls be fought under Kushwaha's leadership. The Rashtriya Lok Samata Party also disapproved of JD(U) assertion that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is the "face" of the NDA in Bihar and put forward a view that the decision about the leadership should be taken after a consensus among coalition partners instead of one party "imposing" its views. The Bihar assembly polls must be fought under Kushwaha's leadership, RLSP working president Nagamani said. "This is because he is the leader of a community which is the largest, after the Yadavs, among OBCs. Kushwahas account for about 10 per cent of the total population in the state." The RLSP leader's statement came shortly before Kushwaha, who is the party's founder and national president, communicated to state BJP president Nityanand Rai via telephone that he would not be able to attend the NDA meeting this evening. Kushwaha said he was occupied elsewhere and hence would not be able to attend the NDA meeting. But much should not be read into this as he has assured that other leaders of RLSP would be attending the meeting, Rai told reporters. BJP, JD(U), LJP and RLSP are constituents of the NDA in Bihar. A former Kumar loyalist, Kushwaha quit the JD(U) in 2013 when he was a Rajya Sabha member, months after having been suspended from the party on disciplinary grounds. He went on to form his own party and joined the BJP-led NDA. Riding the strong Narendra Modi wave in 2014, his party won three Lok Sabha seats and he became the Minister of State for Human Resource Development. However, his party did poorly in the assembly polls a month later, managing to win only two seats. He has reportedly been sulking over his diminished stature in the NDA since Kumar returned to the coalition last year. The NDA gathering is first since Kumar returned to the coalition after dumping the Grand Alliance with the RJD and the Congress in July last year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The railway ministry will set up child help desks at 174 more stations for those needing assistance including lost, abandoned, trafficked and run away children. Ashwani Lohani, Chairman, Railway Board, along with Stuti Kacker, Chairperson, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) today launched an awareness campaign on protection of such children. "This campaign has been launched to address the issue of protection of children across the entire railway system and to sensitise all stakeholders, passengers, vendors, porters. Currently, the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for railways to ensure care and protection of children in contact with railways is successfully implemented at 88 stations. Now, we intend to implement in 174 stations, said Lohani at the function. By the end of this year, the number of stations with such helpdesks is thus expected to touch 262. "The idea is whenever a child is found at any railway station, be it the smallest one, he or she will be escorted by rail personnel to one of these stations where a standard operating procedure is in place to not only keep the children safe but also to rehabilitate them," said a senior official of the ministry. Railways is one of the most common transit points for traffickers, who lure children to cities with the promise of good jobs but sell them into slavery as domestic workers, to work in small manufacturing units, farming or pushed into sexual slavery in brothels. It has rescued around 35,000 children in the last four years, officials said. In 2017-2018, it rescued 11,000 such children. On an average, at least 25 children are rescued every day from trains and railway premises, officials said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A roadside bomb today killed two police personnel and injured another in northwest Pakistan's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near THE Afghan border, police said. The incident occurred in a remote area of Maidan District in the province. A police van was targeted in the blast killing a Station House Officer and a constable on the spot, the police said, adding that another constable who sustained injuries has been shifted to a nearby hospital. Security personnel rushed to the site and cordoned off the area. However, there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. For decades the city of Peshawar has faced the threat of militants, due to its status as a front line for the ongoing war on terrorISM as well as its proximity to the restless tribal areas and the porous Pak-Afghan border. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Infuriated at being terminated, a sacked employee along with an accomplice on a bike today opened fire and injured a Gurgaon-based Japanese company's human resource wing head, police said. The incident occurred at around 9 am when the victim, Binesh Sharma, HR head of Mitsubishi, was going to his office in IMT, Manesar, in a car. Two persons on a bike tried to intercept Binesh Sharma's car on gun point. When he did not stop but accelerated instead, the pillion rider opened fire aiming to kill Sharma, Gurgaon Police PRO Ravinder Kumar told PTI. Sharma suffered two gunshot injuries, he said. "The attackers, one of whom was later identified as Joginder, managed to escape from the spot. Some passersby called the police and Sharma was admitted to Rockland Hospital where he is said to be out of danger, Kumar said. On Wednesday, Sharma had sacked an employee, Joginder, over his alleged "unprofessional behaviour", officials said. Joginder later threatened Sharma of dire consequences but the HR head did not take his warning seriously, the officer added. We have registered a case under relevant sections against Joginder and his accomplice. Investigation is underway and raids are being conducted at all possible hideouts of the attackers. We will arrest them soon, the PRO said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Mocking the Shiv Sena over yesterday's meeting between Uddhav Thackeray and Amit Shah, the Congress today said the Sena has "insulted" Maharashtra by serving Gujarati delicacies to the BJP chief instead of spicy vada pav, the ubiquitous Mumbai street snack. "The Shiv Sena should have given the taste of spicy Vada Pav (a popular street snack in Mumbai and state) to Amit Shah during his meeting with Uddhav Thackeray as the BJP has cheated the country," Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil said in a statement. However, the Sena instead welcomed the visiting BJP leaders with Dhokla, Khandvi and Gathiya (food items from Gujarat), which is an "insult" to Maharashtra, he said. Vikhe-Patil said the Sena has no moral right left now to criticise the BJP following this "insult". Shah had called on Thackeray at his Bandra residence yesterday during his visit to the Maharashtra capital under the BJP's 'contact for support' outreach campaign for the 2019 polls. The meeting, which lasted for two hours, was viewed as politically significant one given strained relations and constant bickering between the two saffron allies. Denouncing the BJP's campaign, under which Shah has been meeting prominent persons in the country, Vikhe-Patil said the BJP was reaching out to celebrities because it is aware that the people are "angry" with the performance of the party government in the last four years. He was referring to Shah's meetings with Bollywood diva Madhuri Dixit and business tycoon Ratan Tata. Referring to Thackeray-Shah meeting, Vikhe-Patil alleged the Sena has "insulted" Maharashtra on the day of coronation of King Shivaji (on June 6 in 1674). Criticising the BJP campaign in the context of demonetisation, fuel price rise and GST rollout, the Congress leader said the ruling party should rather seek the support of agitating farmers and the common people suffering due to the BJP's policies. Referring to Mumbai Congress unit president Sanjay Nirupam's allegation that he was kept under "house arrest" during Shah's visit, Vikhe-Patil said the police should have given Thackeray such a treatment for "back-stabbing" the BJP despite being part of government. Nirupam had questioned "deployment of police personnel" outside his suburban residence while Shah was in the city yesterday. The police, however, had dismissed his claims, saying, "it was not a house arrest". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Delhi court today sentenced gangster Abu Salem to seven years rigorous imprisonment for demanding Rs 5 crore as protection money from a Delhi-based businessman in 2002. Additional Sessions Judge Tarun Sehrawat passed the order after hearing arguments on sentence by the prosecution and defence lawyers. The court had convicted Salem in the case on May 26. The court had, however, acquitted the other accused -- Chanchal Mehta, Majid Khan, Pawan Kumar Mittal and Mohammad Ashraf -- citing lack of evidence against them. One of the accused, Sajjan Kumar Soni, had died during the trial. In the extortion case lodged in Delhi, it was alleged that Salem had demanded Rs 5 crore as protection money from businessman Ashok Gupta, a resident of Greater Kailash in south Delhi, in 2002. Salem was convicted under sections 387 (putting person in fear of death or of grievous hurt, in order to commit extortion), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 507 (criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication) of the Indian Penal Code. Advocate M S Khan, appearing for Salem, had denied the allegations levelled against his client and contended that the trial in the case violated the order by which the gangster was extradited from Portugal to India. Salem, who was extradited from Portugal in November 2005, is facing various other cases, including those related to the 1993 Mumbai blasts. He is currently lodged in Taloja prison in Navi Mumbai. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A cousin of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan will contest the July 25 general election in Pakistan from a constituency here, a media report said today. Noor Jehan will be running for a Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly seat as an independent candidate, The Express Tribune reported. Jehan and her family reside in Shah Wali Qataal area, adjacent to the fabled Qissa Khwani Bazaar. Being Shah Rukh's paternal cousin, Jehan visited the Bollywood superstar twice and the family maintains a close contact with their relatives across the border, the report said. We have a political legacy attached to the family, her brother said, adding that his sister has previously served as a councillor. The Awami National Party (ANP) had also considered Jehan for a reserved seat for women, but unfortunately she couldn't make it to the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, the report said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The CISF today took over security of the international airport in Maharashtra's temple town of Shirdi, which is frequented by lakhs of Sai Baba devotees every year. A contingent of over 180 armed personnel of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), headed by a Deputy Commandant-rank officer, were inducted at the civil facility after a ceremonial event. Located in Ahmednagar district, at a distance of 238 km from state capital Mumbai, Shirdi is home to the famous shrine of Sai Baba and is one of the prominent pilgrimage centres in the country. The temple is about 12 km from the 1,300 acre airport that is located in Kakadi village. With this latest induction, the CISF now guards a total of 60 civil airports in the country. The Union Home Ministry had in January cleared the proposal to deploy the paramilitary force at the facility which was inaugurated by President Ram Nath Kovind on October 1 last year. According to a CISF spokesperson, the contingent, that includes both men and women, will be guarding the airport 24x7, apart from providing a counter-terror cover to the facility using vehicle-borne quick reaction teams (QRTs). The enhancement in the number of airports under the CISF cover has come after six years as the force was last inducted at the Diu airport in March, 2012. According to estimates, about 60,000 pilgrims visit Shirdi everyday, out of which the airport authorities have said they plan to tap at least 10-12 per cent. The aerodrome is owned and developed by Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC), a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to develop airports in the state. Constructed at an investment of around Rs 350 crore, the airport, with a 2,500 m-long runway, is capable of handling single narrow-body aircraft, such as Airbus A320 and Boeing 737s. The 2,750 sqm terminal building has been designed to handle a total of 300 passengers, including the arriving ones. The force, along with the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) and the airport operator, has conducted a security survey of the facility last year. The 1.80 lakh personnel strong CISF is tasked with guarding vital and critical infrastructure in the government and private domain and it works under the command of the Union Home Ministry. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 27-year-old man was shot at and injured allegedly by two robbers when he was returning home from his shop in Shamli district, police said today. The incident took place last evening near Khandarawli village. The robbers also looted Rs 55,000 from the victim, Superintendent of Police (SP) Dev Ranjan Verma said. The two armed men intercepted his car and shot at him after looting the cash, the officer said. The injured shopkeeper has been hospitalised and a search launched to nab the robbers, the SP said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Singapore's foreign minister arrived in North Korea today for a two-day visit ahead of next week's US-North Korea summit in the Southeast Asian city-state. Singapore's Foreign Ministry said in a brief statement that Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan would be in Pyongyang today and tomorrow at the invitation of North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho. He met with Ri later today. Balakrishnan will also meet Kim Yong Nam, the president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly. Kim Yong Nam is a senior official who went to South Korea as part of his country's delegation to the Winter Olympics in February. The ministry statement did not indicate what would be discussed. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is to meet President Donald Trump on June 12 at a resort hotel in Singapore. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Singapore has said all the preparations, including security and logistic arrangements, for the June 12 meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are well in hand and expressed hope that there will be a positive outcome from the summit. Singapore designated a special event area of the Sentosa island tourist resort for Tuesday's historic summit, which is expected to be covered by over 2,500 journalists from across the world. "No, we did not put our hand up, but we were asked. And in this case, both the North Koreans and the United States felt that we were an appropriate venue," Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said during a visit to Washington on Tuesday. "I think Singaporeans can be proud ... that we've been chosen because they know that we are neutral, reliable, trustworthy and secure," said Balakrishnan, adding that it was the Americans who approached Singapore first. He assured that Singapore is ready to host the summit and "do our part" for world peace. "I can say with confidence that all the preparations, logistics and security, the diplomatic arrangements, are all well in hand," Singapore media quoted the Minister as saying. He expressed hope that there will be a positive outcome but cautioned that one meeting will not "unlock the entire situation on the Korean Peninsula". Balakrishnan is visiting Pyongyang today at the invitation of his North Korean counterpart Ri Yong Ho, just ahead of the summit. Singapore authorities are working, along with the Americans, to ensure very tight security. The summit will see Singapore at the peak of security, said Dr Graham Ong-Webb of the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Strict security measures will be enforced around Shangri-La Hotel and The St Regis which have been selected for Trump and Kim's stay in Singapore. Security will also be very tight on Sentosa island. The Capella Hotel on the Island will be the venue for the meeting. In 2006, Singapore deployed all security resources, including the Armed Forces as well as 26,000 national servicemen for the International Monetary Fund-World Bank meeting. The Sentosa Development Corporation (SDC) has assured locals and tourists that it will be business as usual at the island's various unique leisure offerings. The island receives some 50,000 visitors daily. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Smaller cities have been innovative and "more successful" in implementing waste segregation at source methodology compared to the bigger ones, a green body today said, as it awarded a small town in Maharashtra for its eco-friendly initiatives. The Centre for Science and (CSE) has been working with cities to promote and implement source-segregation and decentralised model of waste management. To advance this work, the CSE had launched 'Forum of Cities that Segregate' last December. The forum now has 26 members, including cities like Indore, Thiruvananthapuram, Mysore, Muzaffarpur and some municipal corporations in Delhi-NCR (such as SDMC, EDMC and Gurgaon). The 2017-18 assessment report of the performance of 20 of these 26 forum cities was released here by the CSE today. The cities were assessed based on their performance in 2017-18. The parameters included segregation at source, collection, transportation, waste processing, adoption of decentralised systems, inclusion of informal sector and enforcement of solid waste management byelaws and plastic waste management. Based on the findings of the assessment report, the best performers were selected and the Leaves Awards conferred on them, with Vengurla in Maharashtra receiving the highest 'Five Leaves Award', the CSE said in a statement. Four of the 20 forum cities assessed have a segregation percentage higher than 90 per cent -- Indore in Madhya Pradesh, Panchgani and Vengurla in Maharashtra and Alappuzha in Kerala, it said. "Six cities have wet waste processing greater than 90 per cent -- Indore, Mysore, Alappuzha, Panchgani, Balaghat and Vengurla. Four cities have 90 per cent or higher dry waste processing -- Panchgani, Vengurla, Indore and Alappuzha," the CSE said. The National Capital Region did not perform well. The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) and the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) received the 'Two Leaves Award' and Gurgaon got 'One Leaf Award' only it said. "Our objective through this assessment is to work with cities and help them perform better and continue to reinvent their waste management systems," CSE's deputy director general Chandra Bhushan said. Under this forum, 26 cities from 14 states have come together to ensure that they adopt 100 per cent source segregation and become the pioneers of waste management in the country. "It is clear in our assessment that smaller cities have been more successful in implementing source-segregation compared to bigger cities. They have also been innovative in their approach and hence have performed well," said Swati Singh Sambyal, programme manager, waste management unit, CSE. Chairman of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) S P S Parihar, in his address at a session, said, "Indore has set an example. We are looking for catalysts. The CSE Forum can help identify those catalysts." "But, question is how can we sustain the efforts. When you are looking at a mission mode to meet these challenges, you need sustainable and successful cities," he said. To create the nuclei of successes, it is extremely critical to move towards the policy of reuse and recycle, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) . PTI takes no editorial responsibility for the same). Bengaluru, Karnataka, India - Business Wire India June 7th , 2018 India's most admired and trusted real estate brand, SOBHA Limited continues to strengthen its brand leadership in the Indian real estate sector. The company has yet again been recognised as the Top National Realty Brand across Asset class in India by the Track2Realty BrandXReport 2017-18. This is the 4th consecutive year when SOBHA has been conferred with brand leadership of Indian real estate. SOBHA has been the first company to achieve this rare feat in this space. SOBHA's brand leadership is most credible as it has not only been voted through a set of stringent selection processes but also due to a large number of consumers having voted for the brand as being most trustworthy. In addition, the Indian consumers, as well as the NRIs from all across the world, have voted SOBHA as their top choice. The comprehensive Brand Perception Audit Report has recognised SOBHA as the top national realty brand, top brand in South India, top brand in residential space and top brand in the super luxury segment. The consumers across the country (20 city survey with a sample size of 10,000) have also voted SOBHA as their top pick. The NRIs spread across the globe too have voted SOBHA as their top of the mind recall. In addition to this, the company has been recognised as the best player for its sterling CSR practices in the country. Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Ravi Menon, Chairman, SOBHA Limited said, It is an extremely proud and humbling moment for the entire SOBHA family to be recognised once again as the top real estate developer in India by Track2Realty BrandXReport. We have not only retained but have also strengthened our brand score and thus, the leadership position in the last four years, making it a special achievement for us. This endorses our commitment in exceeding customer expectations with superior quality products across all segments along with our promise of on-time delivery. We extend our gratitude to the stakeholders and customers for their valuable support in our journey. As we move forward, our efforts will continue to focus on creating value for customers while enhancing our competitive advantages. Mr. J.C. Sharma, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, SOBHA Limited said, We are delighted to be at the top, for the fourth consecutive year. SOBHA continues to stay ahead of the curve despite a challenging environment. We have proved our competence to transition smoothly and have adapted to the changing market environment. Over the years, our continuous hard work and unique business model of backward integration have contributed significantly in augmenting our reputation in the market. SOBHA will continue to leverage its strengths and make a meaningful contribution to the Indian real estate sector. As a matter of fact, the brand score of SOBHA is highest this time with its overall national brand score of 80.9 out of 100. The in-depth public perception survey done by Track2Realty has elevated the SOBHA brand even higher with consumer vote and score reaching to its best ever 85 out of 100 this year. The Consumer Confidence Index was assessed across key parameters such as financial stability, execution capability, timely delivery, aspiration value, users' experience, appreciation potential, transparent deals, recall value, media perception and consumer connect. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal today urged the Consul General of Bhutan in Assam, Phub Tshering, to expedite the process of introducing Drukair flight services between Bhutan and Singapore via Guwahati for the mutual benefit of the region. The chief minister asked the officer of the Royal Bhutanese Embassy, who called on him today, about the status of implementation of the flight services, and informed him that he would request the Union Civil Aviation Ministry to clear all formalities at the earliest, so that operating of flights connecting Guwahati, Paro and Singapore would soon become a reality, an official release said here. Sonowal also said that he would talk to the Prime Minister of Bhutan, Tshering Tobgay, on the issue. The Bhutanese Foreign Minister Damcho Dorji, in February this year, had announced introduction of Drukair service between Guwahati, Paro and Singapore to take advantage of India's Act East policy. The chief minister, on behalf of the people of Assam, conveyed warm greetings to the people of Bhutan, and vowed to cement the diplomatic relations between Bhutan and Assam, the release said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Sri Lanka's journalists' association has condemned the telecome regulator's decision to suspend a privately-owned TV channel, saying the incident has exposed the free media policy of the government. Telshan Networks Ltd, the television network owned by the family of Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, was suspended by the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRC) on June 5, accusing its its owners of defaulting on licence fees. The move worsened a power struggle in the fractious ruling coalition. President Maithripala Sirisena in February had asked Wickremesinghe to step down and had even backed a motion of no trust against the premier. He has been publicly critical of Wickremesinghe and his United National Party. The Working Journalists' Association said the incident had exposed the free media policy of the current government and stressed the need to free the TRC of political influence in making decisions. However, the government denied any in the decision. "There was no in it. It was an independent decision taken by the TRC," government spokesman and minister Rajitha Senaratne told reporters. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A group of South Asian University (SAU) students from Pakistan, who graduated today, proclaimed that the institution could act as a "harbinger" of peace between the two countries. They also called for easing the visa restrictions for increased flow of students on either side. In all, 176 students were conferred masters, M.Phil and Ph.D degrees in various programmes by the varsity during its convocation ceremony today. While a good number of students these days in Pakistan opt to move west for higher studies, a few realise the opportunities available next door, said one of the Pakistani students who did his masters in International Relations from SAU. "I have talked to several of my friends and relatives about the university and the quality of imparted here. "I hope with ease of visa restrictions, there would be more number of students coming to India," the student told PTI on the sidelines of the convocation function, requesting anonymity. Sharing her thoughts, another student, who completed her graduation in Computer Science from the University of Karachi, said she had to make several rounds for grant of visa and it came after a month of applying for it. "The case would be similar with Indian students as well applying for Pakistan visa. The situation used to be a lot better two to three years back," the student, who did her masters from SAU, maintained. On their experience studying in the Indian campus, one of them said they never felt like being "discriminated". "The students in our campus came from across South Asian countries. We hanged out together and shared each other emotions as true friends," students said. "The families supported our decisions and were not under fear," they said. The group was unanimous in their observation that the SAU could act a "harbinger" of peace between the two countries. Out of the total number of graduates, 21 were from Afghanistan, 17 from Bangladesh, five from Bhutan, 11 from Nepal, five from Pakistan and one each from Sri Lanka and France. The rest were from India. Minister of Education, Science and Technology of Nepal Giriraj Mani Pokhrel, addressing the convocation said the university was a dream of "our" visionary leaders. "This is our hope that the university will foster a culture of understanding and regional consciousness, the university will be a fountain that nurtures dynamics, bright and quality leadership among the youths," he said. Pokhrel said as the current chair of SAARC, "I would like to assure Nepal's full support and cooperation to the SAARC process and particularly the south asian university." "I would like to share with you that Nepal has entered into an era of political stability," the minister said. "Prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepali is the mission of the government of Nepal. We want an integrated, peaceful and prosperous South Asia. We do believe that the south asian university should be a landmark of South Asian cooperation and integration," he said. Rajya Sabha MP and President of the Indian Council of Cultural Relations Vinay Sahasrabuddhe emphasised on converting SAU into an "university of fraternity and a university of ambassadors who will propagate good values across the world". These graduates could be the vanguard of universal efforts to bring the humanity together for the cause of fraternity, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The government is hopeful that the Supreme Court will give a "favourable" verdict on the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act as it has done on reservation in promotion in jobs, an official said today. According to the official of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, the government will now wait for the outcome of its review petition against the Supreme Court's March 20 order before taking any legislative measure to insulate the Act from further judicial scrutiny. The government had earlier planned to bring an ordinance to overturn the Supreme Court's March 20 verdict putting safeguards on arrests under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and subsequently introduce a bill to incorporate the legislation in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution, laws under which cannot be challenged in courts. The official said that after the Supreme Court's verdict on Tuesday on the matter of reservation in promotion of SC/ST employees, they were hopeful of a "favourable" verdict on the atrocities act too. In a major relief to the Centre, the Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed it to go ahead with reservation in promotion for employees belonging to the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe categories in "accordance with law". The government had earlier planned to introduce a bill in the monsoon session of Parliament to incorporate the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution, laws under which cannot be challenged in courts. Through the ordinance on the atrocities act, the government planned to reintroduce provisions of the act which it felt were diluted by the Supreme Court verdict. The "dilution" triggered massive protests by various Dalit and political outfits, during which nearly a dozen people were killed. "While the bill is a permanent arrangement to ensure that the SC/ST Act's provisions are not diluted again, the ordinance is an interim arrangement to overturn the ruling," a senior government functionary had explained earlier. Dalit groups had organised protests across the country on April 2 against the "dilution" of the act through the Supreme Court's March 20 verdict. In its March 20 order, the apex court had laid down new guidelines for police officers on how to ensure that innocent people, especially public officials, are protected from false complaints under the act. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A suspended Army officer, who is facing a CBI probe for allegedly amassing disproportionate assets, today knocked the doors of the Supreme Court with a plea that he feared for life from insurgents in Manipur, where he claimed to have been framed in a false corruption case. Lieutenant Colonel Harpreet Singh, who was recently suspended, was posted at Manipur in the intelligence wing of Assam Rifles where he had carried out a series of operations against insurgents in which he claimed that over 100 ultras had surrendered and several of them were killed. A vacation bench of Justices Adarsh Kumar Goel and Ashok Bhushan was today told by Singh's counsel that the officer had received death threats in April this year when he had gone to Imphal to attend court proceedings in a disproportionate assets (DA) case lodged against him by the CBI. The matter was mentioned in the court for urgent listing by senior advocate S P Singh and advocate Sudhakar Dwivedi and the bench said that the plea seeking transfer of the DA case from Imphal to Chandigarh would be heard after re-opening of the top court following the ongoing summer vacations. In his plea, the petitioner has said that he had suffered 60 per cent disability due to injuries in operations in Jammu and Kashmir in Kupwara sector and was awarded the Sena Medal in 2002. He said that in October 2009, he was sent to Assam Rifles on deputation and he was posted as SO-2 (intelligence) where his duty entailed functioning to control insurgency. "The petitioner (Singh) was able to establish an effective intelligence and liasion network and was successful in getting more that 100 surrenders and apprehensions of the cadres belonging to the major insurgent groups active in the area of Manipur. During anti-insurgency operations, some cadres of the insurgent groups were also killed," he claimed. As per the petition, Robin Luwang Cha, now the chief of militant outfit People's Liberation Army, was a senior functionary of the insurgent group and Singh was collecting intelligence inputs against him during his posting at Imphal. The petitioner has claimed that Robin was closely related to an Army officer who was posted in vigilance wing of Assam Rifles. Singh has alleged that the Army officer "used to frequently change the local intelligence informers of Manipur with a view to hamper the anti-insurgency operations" and he "often leaked out the secret information about the conduct of operations resulting in failure of the sensitive operations". He claimed that the Army officer had often threatened him over phone after which he duly brought to the notice of his superiors the apprehension about the motives and designs of the officer. "For the above reasons, the petitioner is on the radar of the major insurgent groups operating in and around Manipur and faces serious threat to his life," he said claiming that he would "surely be killed by the insurgent groups" if he goes to attend court proceedings at Imphal. He said that his plea seeking transfer of the case from Imphal was dismissed by the the apex court in March this year after which he went there to attend court proceedings but he received threat on his phone. The plea said that a CBI FIR was lodged under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act in October 2013. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today undertook a train journey from Pentrich to Pietermaritzburg, a railway station where a young Mahatma Gandhi was thrown out of a "whites-only" compartment, an incident that acted as a catalyst for him to practice Satyagraha. Swaraj, who is in South Africa on a five-day visit, yesterday planted a sapling in the Phoenix settlement where Mahatma Gandhi had developed his philosophy of non-violence during his stay in South Africa. "The journey that acted as a catalyst for Mahatma Gandhi to practise satyagraha! EAM @SushmaSwaraj embarks a train journey from Pentrich station to Pietermaritzburg," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted. On the night of June 7, 1893, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, a young lawyer, was thrown off the train's first class compartment at Pietermaritzburg station for refusing to give up his seat. The incident led him to develop his Satyagraha principles of peaceful resistance and mobilise people in South Africa and in India against the discriminatory rules of the British. Later, the incident of Gandhi being thrown off the train on a cold winter evening would be re-enacted, and his a two-sided bust would be installed on the station platform. Gandhi spent 21 years in South Africa before returning to India in 1915. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Taiwan's military is conducting war games simulating the repulsing of a Chinese attack amid heighted tensions across the Taiwan Strait. The drill today at the sprawling Ching Chuan Kang air force base near the central city of Taichung is part of an annual five-day live-firing exercise. The war games are intended to display the military's willingness and ability to fight off an invasion from China, which claims the island as its territory to be brought under its control by force if necessary. Beijing has stepped up its diplomatic, economic and military pressure on Taiwan's independence-leaning President Tsai Ing-wen, sending warplanes to circle the island and an aircraft carrier through the Taiwan Strait. Shortly before the Han Kuang exercises began, an F-16 crashed into mountains in northern Taiwan, killing the pilot. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tata Motors today said it plans to raise USD 250-500 million through overseas loans to refinance buy-back of bonds issued by the company in 2014. Tata Motors had issued senior notes worth USD 500 million on October 30, 2014 and due in 2020. Earlier this month, Tata Motors invited holders of the senior notes to sell their bonds to the company for cash consideration. In a BSE filing, Tata Motors informed that the company plans to raise USD 250-500 million through external commercial borrowings (ECB) to refinance a part of the principal amount. The company had said that the purchase price would be 102.5 per cent of the principal amount of the notes, being USD 1,025 for each USD 1,000 of notes. It will accept up to USD 250 million aggregate principal amount of notes. "The company is undertaking the tender offer as part of its strategy to manage the maturity profile of its existing debt obligations. Notes purchased by the company pursuant to the tender offer will be cancelled by the company," it had said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) There are many festivals in India and then there is the festival of Rajinikanth, complete with its own rituals, not the least of which is frenzied fans appearing for the first day, first show screening, come summer, winter, rain or hail -- or even a pre-dawn start. And so it was today with the release of "Kaala", the superstar's latest film, being heralded by fans forming serpentine queues outside theatres not just in Tamil Nadu but also in Mumbai as early as 4 am, armed with drums and large cutouts of the man they have come to worship as god. In accordance with time-honoured tradition, the cutouts were garlanded and bathed with milk, fans showed up with his face literally painted on their bare bodies and some women visited a temple before heading for the theatre. That the film received lukewarm reviews didn't seem to matter much for the many 'devotees' of the 67-year-old, known as "Thalaivar", the supreme boss. The Rajini phenomenon is not just limited to the South. His fans come from places such as Japan (where he is known as Baba and has a cult following) and Sri Lanka. Amongst those whistling and clapping as "Kaala" appeared on screen in Chennai was Michael Sathish, a 25-year-old Sri Lankan, who said he watches all Rajini films and saw the first half standing so he could cheer better. Also in the audience in a Chennai theatre was a Tamil speaking Japanese couple that had come all the way from Osaka just to watch the opening show of the Rajinikanth film. And they do this for most of his releases, they told NDTV. In Mumbai, the heavy downpour failed to dampen the festive Rajini spirit as his admirers lined up outside multiplexes as early as 12 midnight, armed with drums and carrying their special 'fans only' tickets. "Rajini sir is not a star, he is our god. He is a culture in himself. I inherited my love for him from my parents. They will be proud of me," said a 20-year-old fan from the Tamil stronghold of Dharavi, who took his place at midnight, six hours before the show began at 6 am. Many gathered near a 67-feet poster of the actor, which was duly garlanded. "The poster is 67 feet because Rajini is 67 years old. We were coordinating for months and the auspicious day is finally here. We have prayed for him, danced for him, now we will cheer for him," Santosh, a member of a Rajini fan club, said. When told that the collection of his last few films had not matched the stardom, he said, "Can anything ever hurt god? Nothing. His films are our blessings and we are here to take it." Reports suggest that the film's advance booking was not as great as his previous films. According to Chennai-based trade analyst Sreedhar Pillai, it is too early to give any numbers for the film, directed by Ranjith. "The advance booking was not very good but the state government's special permission to conduct morning shows have helped. People are liking the film better than 'Kabali' (Ranjith-Rajinikanth previous collaboration). "We have to wait and see how it performs over the weekend. But it will not take a massive opening like 'Kabali' because that released in more screens. And 'Kaala' is not getting a full-fledged release in Karnataka, which is a major market for Rajinikanth," Pillai said. Kaushik LM, another Chennai-based trade analyst, believes the film, reported to have been made at a cost of Rs 140 crore, will have a good hold over the weekend. "The Tamil Nadu rights for the film are valued at around Rs 62 crore. Currently, the tracking suggests that the film may slightly fall behind the opening record of Vijay's 'Mersal' as 'Kaala' has released on a non-festival day. "But I am expecting the film to beat 'Kabaali's numbers in the long run... The numbers on Monday will be the film's first litmus test and the following weekdays will provide a fair idea of the lifetime run." But Rajinikanth is the rare actor whose popularity triumphs mere numbers. He gracefully embraces the adulation, balancing his flamboyant movie persona with that of a quiet family man in real life as a husband and father of two daughters. The actor, who unlike most of his showbiz colleagues does not shy away from appearing in public, greying and bald, is ready for active politics and hopes to do well there with the strength of his followers. His political persona has already affected his star status with pro-Kannada groups threatening a boycott of the film over his remarks on sharing of the Cauvery river waters, a contentious topic between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The beginnings of the remarkable star story were humble. Rajinikanth, whose real name is Shivaji Rao Gaekwad, was born on December 12, 1950, to Ramabai and Ramoji Rao Gaekwad in Karnataka. Before becoming a matinee idol, he did several odd jobs before becoming a bus conductor. To chase his dream of acting, he quit that job and made his movie debut with K Balachander's 1975 film "Apoorva Ragangal". Balachander rechristened Shivaji as Rajinikanth. More than 150 films later, Rajini the actor is firmly ensconced in the pantheon of Indian cinema's most idolised stars. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Three country-made bombs were today seized from a saloon in Gomati district, about three km from the helipad at Chandrapur where the chopper carrying President Ramnath Kovind landed today. Additional Inspector General (Law and order) Smriti Ranjan Das said the owner of the saloon was detained for interrogation and the bombs were defused by Gomati district police. The bombs were wrapped in newspaper and kept under a table, he said adding they were seized during a random search when the President was attending a programme at Udaipur in Gomati district. Investigations into the bomb seizure was on. Kovind today dedicated a 73.71 km-long national highway between Tripurasundari temple at Udaipur, about 60 km from here, and Sabroom in South Tripura district. The road would improve connectivity between South Tripura district and Chittagong port in Bangladesh. Kovind, who is on a two-day visit to the state, returned to the Rajbhavan after attending the programmes. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Infighting and the BJP's rising graph in West Bengal seem to be taking a toll on the ruling Trinamool Congress, with the party deciding to crack the whip against internal strife and revamp the organisation ahead of next year's Lok Sabha polls. According to senior TMC leaders who do not wish to be named, the recent spate of reshuffle in the state cabinet and some local bodies is a hint that the party is planning to overhaul the organisation at various levels. The BJP is trying to expand its footprint in West Bengal, which has 42 Lok Sabha seats. The party, at present, has just two seats in the state. The recent bypolls and the panchayat election results have indicated a paradigm shift in the state with the saffron party emerging as the main opposition to the TMC, although it has a long way to go before it can put up a close fight to the ruling party. Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, who has floated the idea of a federal front of regional parties, is also making her presence felt at the national level as a prominent challenger to the BJP. According to TMC insiders, the party has a two-pronged strategy, under which ministers who are "overburdened" with various portfolios will have to do away with some responsibilities. Leaders who are holding dual folios of district president and state minister will have to choose between them, although there will be exceptions for certain leaders who have a good track record. "The performance in some of the districts, especially Junglemahal, is not so good. Although we have won the maximum number of zilla parishad seats, we have also lost the ones we shouldn't have," said a senior TMC leader. Much to the dismay of TMC leadership, in districts like Malda, Purulia, Jhargram, Nadia, Alipurduar, the BJP has made steady inroads, said a senior TMC leader, adding that local TMC leadership was "not well informed" about the ground situation. Once hit by Maoist insurgency, the three districts of Junglemahal- West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura have been the beacon of Banerjee's developmental policies in the state. "We are assessing the results. But we are not bothered with media projections. The people of West Bengal support the developmental policies of Mamata Banerjee," TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee had said. Just within two weeks of the election results, three Cabinet ministers were asked to resign from their posts and concentrate on party's organisational work. Backward Class Welfare Minister Churamani Mahato, Tribal Development Minister James Kujur and Abani Joardar, who did not have a portfolio, had to abide by the party's orders. "All the three ministers have been asked to concentrate on the party's organisational works," Banerjee had said. The portfolios of four other ministers were reshuffled, including of state panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee, who had to give away the additional charge of Public Health Engineering Department. "Although Abani Joardar was ill for the last few months, Churamani Mahato lost his job for the party's performance in Junglemahal, especially in Gopiballavpur area, and James Kujur because of party's performance in Alipurduar district," said another TMC leader. According to party sources, youth leaders will be given preferences at various levels of district leadership ahead of next year's Lok Sabha polls. The leaders of Trinamool Youth Congress will be entrusted with tasks, depending on their ability to perform. Those who are tech-savvy will be utilised by the party to counter the "false" social media campaigns, allegedly floated by the BJP, to create a rift among communities, the sources said. "The BJP is trying to use religion as a tool to enter into our state. But the TMC will never allow divisive forces to succeed, all attempts will be scuttled at any cost," Chatterjee said. The party is also contemplating the idea of reshuffle in various districts by removing the leaders who are adversely impacting the image of the party, according to party sources. "We will not tolerate infighting in the party, we had enough of it. If anybody is found to be involved in infighting strict action will be taken against him or her. There can be grievances in the party but that doesn't mean you will sabotage the prospects of the party," said a senior TMC leader privy to the development. The latest causalities of infighting in TMC are the chairman and the vice chairman of North Dum Dum Municipality, who have been removed after supporters of both the leaders clashed inside the municipal office last month. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tamil Nadu government was in talks with several companies which have lined up investments to the tune of Rs 45,000 crore and Memorandum of Understandings were expected to be signed shortly, Industries Minister M C Sampath informed the state Assembly today. On the request of the prospective investors, their details were being kept confidential till signing of the MoUs, he said. "The MoUs for these projects are expected to be signed shortly," he added. The minister said some of the major proposals that are under finalisation include petroleum refinery projects with a total investment of Rs 28,800 crore and a Rs 2,500 crore tyre manufacturing plant. Sampath said the signing of MoUs would be a testimony to the favourable investment climate prevailing in the State. On the second edition of two-day Global Investors Meet scheduled to be held on January 23 and 24, 2019, he said, the state government sanctioned Rs 73 crore for conducting the event and a Special Officer was appointed to coordinate the activities related to it. "Various countries including USA, Japan, South Korea, France, the UK, Singapore and few others are being invited to be Partner Nations to the meet," he said. The first edition of Global Investors Meet was conducted in September 2015 and was formally inaugurated by late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. The State government had signed 98 MoUs totalling investments of Rs 2.42 lakh crore and creating employment opportunities for 4.70 lakh people in that event. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) There was no food scarcity in the state and no one from Tripura had crossed over to neighbouring Bangladesh in search of food, Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Devvarma has said, refuting claims of CPI(M) MP Jitendra Chaudhury earlier this month. It is a false and "baseless allegation" leveled by a CPI(M) leader, Devvarma told reporters last night. "Those levelling allegations" against the ruling government should introspect more about their actions. If anyone has any information about people crossing over to Bangladesh for food or job should provide the details to us," he said. CPI(M) MP Jitendra Chaudhury had claimed on June 3 that indigenous people from interior areas of Dhalai district, 170 km from here, are "migrating to neighbouring Bangladesh in search of job and food". Chaudhury had also said that the BJP-IPFT government failed to provide work under MGNREGA or other centrally sponsored schemes. Rebutting the CPI(M) MP's allegations, Devvarma said the present government has so far generated 4 lakh more NREGA men-days in the current fiscal as compared to the same period in the last fiscal. "A total of 10.34 lakh men-days were generated in the state up to May 2018 in the current financial year as against 6.49 lakh men-days generated over the same period last fiscal. Of the 10.34 lakh work days, 2.66 lakh have been allotted for Dhalai district alone," Devvarma asserted. The BJP-Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) took oath of office on March 9 last ending the 25-year rule of CPI(M)-led Left Front. The deputy CM also said that Tripura has received funds of Rs 132.04 crore from the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) under MGNREGA in current financial year. The state government also contributed its share of Rs. 41.58 crore, he stated. "If someone is claiming that people were happy with 6.49 lakh work days, but they are unhappy with over 10 lakh men-days, I have nothing to say. It is not fair for a person in a responsible position to make such comments," Chaudhury added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President Donald Trump erroneously blamed Canada for the burning of the White House in the War of 1812 during a recent telephonic talk with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, according to a media report. "Didn't you guys burn down the White House?" Trump reportedly asked Trudeau when the US president called the latter to discuss the administration's tariffs in Canadian steel and aluminum imports, CNN reported yesterday. Trump made the erroneous historical reference during the call with Trudeau on May 25, the network quoted sources familiar with the discussion as saying. According to the sources, Trudeau pressed Trump on how he could justify the tariffs as a "national security" issue. In response, Trump quipped to Trudeau, "Didn't you guys burn down the White House?" referring to the War of 1812. The problem with Trump's comments to Trudeau is that British troops burned down the White House in 1814 during the War of 1812, the report said. Historians note the British attack on Washington was in retaliation for the American attack on York, Ontario, in territory that eventually became Canada, which was then a British colony. "His (Trump's) statement was completely inaccurate," said Major Tanya Grodzinski, an associate history professor at the Royal Military College of Canada. "This was exclusively a British operation," Grodzinski said of the occupation of Washington. "There were no Canadian troops involved whatsoever," Grodzinski said as she reacted to the CNN report. "To claim that some incident from 200 years ago is the rationale behind the tariffs is completely unjustified, and it makes me question the basis of his policy and if there's any thought to it whatsoever," Grodzinski said. British troops led by Maj Gen Robert Ross attacked and burned public buildings including the Capitol, Washington Navy Yard and the president's mansion during the conflict. It was the only time that a foreign power has captured and occupied Washington, the BBC noted. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Five days before meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, US President Donald Trump said today the unprecedented summit was "all ready to go," as he welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to the White House. Trump and Abe were to hold a joint press conference at the White House at about 2:00 pm (1800 GMT), before heading to Canada for what promises to be a tense Group of Seven summit clouded by the US leader's aggressive trade policies. But before tackling the thorny trade issue, Trump expressed unbridled optimism about his June 12 tete-a-tete with Kim in Singapore. "The summit is all ready to go," Trump said, with Abe at his side. "It's going to be much more than a photo op." Since the first inkling that a Trump-Kim summit could be on the cards, Japan has repeatedly insisted that Washington be mindful not to let its guard down with the nuclear-armed regime in Pyongyang. And by coming to Washington to see Trump for the second time in less than two months, Abe wants to be sure to get his point across to the US president, amid the intense diplomatic flurry over the future of the Korean peninsula. Before leaving Tokyo, the Japanese leader emphasized that during his lightning visit to Washington, he hoped to "closely coordinate and agree" with Trump on an approach to the North Korea issue. He clearly outlined what would need to happen for the summit to be a success: tangible progress on curbing the North's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, as well as answers about Japanese nationals kidnapped by Pyongyang in the 1970s and 1980s. During their last meeting at Trump's Florida retreat in April, the US president promised Abe to raise the politically sensitive abductions issue in any talks with Pyongyang. But the subject is hardly a priority for the businessman-turned-president, whose strategy appears to be in constant flux. Above all, Trump seems most enthused by the notion of being the first sitting US leader to hold direct talks with a scion of the ruling Kim dynasty. The intensifying diplomacy on North Korea has so far left Abe as the odd man out: Trump is preparing to meet Kim, while Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korea's Moon Jae-in have each already seen the North's leader twice. For Richard Armitage, a former senior diplomat during the administration of George W. Bush, Tokyo runs a very real risk of finding itself out in the cold after the Trump-Kim talks. "We should absolutely prevent decoupling -- decoupling Japanese and US security," he told AFP. "This is and has been an aim of China and North Korea for a long time, and we can't allow this to happen. That would be falling into a terrible trap." Trump and Abe so far seem to have forged a sort of friendship, but even that bonhomie was revealed to be limited at their last meeting. Today, it could again be put to the test -- beyond North Korea, they are also meant to discuss the controversial issue of tariffs, which Washington says were put in place to protect American workers. "I will stress that measures to restrict trade would not serve the interests of any country," Abe said before heading to Washington. Japan had hoped to convince the US to shield it from fresh tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, and did not hide its bitter disappointment when those talks failed. The government in Tokyo warned of the "grave impact" that US tariffs could have on bilateral ties and the world trading system. "The US government's trade measures, citing its security, makes us concerned that they could disrupt the global market," government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters on Monday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President Donald Trump said today that everything was "ready to go" for his summit next week with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, as he welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the White House for preparatory talks. "The summit is all ready to go," Trump told reporters. "It's all going along very fine. I hope it continues on this track. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President on Friday said he would be willing to invite North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to the if their Singapore summit goes well. Trump made the remarks after meeting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to discuss the June 12 summit. "Maybe we'll start with the White House," he told reporters after he was asked whether he would invite the North Korean leader to the or Mar-a-lago. About the personal letter delivered to Trump from Kim last week, he said, "The letter was just a greeting. It was really very nice. Perhaps I can get approval to put it out. It was really a very warm letter, a very nice letter". ALSO READ: Trump wants Kim to commit to nuclear disarmament timetable in Singapore "I appreciated it very much, and nothing other than. 'We look forward to seeing you, and we look forward to the summit, and hopefully, some wonderful things will work out'. So it was really very warm, very nice. We appreciated it," Trump said. He, however, made it clear that he was ready to "walk away" from the meeting if his goals were not achieved. "I am totally prepared to walk. It could happen. Maybe it won't be necessary. I hope it won't be necessary to walk, because I really believe that Kim Jong-un wants to do something that is going to be great for his people, and also great for his family, and great for himself," Trump said. "I am totally prepared to walk away. I did it once before. You have to be able to walk away. If you're not going to be able to walk away -- we didn't walk away from the horrible Iran deal that was signed, and if you look at what's happened, since I signed that deal, Iran and in all fairness, I say it with great respect for the people of Iran, but Iran is acting a lot differently. They're no longer looking so much to the Mediterranean," he said. Iran, he said, is no longer looking so much to what was going on in Syria, Yemen and other places. "They're a much different country over the last three months. And again, I say that with hope that maybe something can happen," said the US President. Summits of the Group of Seven powers are often marred by anti-globalist demonstrations in the streets of the host city. This time, the greatest threat to the liberal world order will be inside the fence. President Donald Trump comes to this week's Quebec G7, which begins Friday, touting an America First agenda that hits US allies with trade tariffs and threatens multilateral free trade deals. His stance will receive such a hostile reception from the other leaders of the world's richest democracies that some observers have suggested renaming the G7 summit the G6+1. Trump may well be distracted by preparations for his June 12 summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, which will be in Singapore immediately after the rich world talking shop in Canada. But it is not such a stretch to imagine that the US leader will enjoy a warmer encounter with the autocrat from Pyongyang than with his Canadian hosts and European and Japanese allies. And leaders like Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel admit it will be difficult to even agree a joint communique at the two-day meeting. "We know certainly that there will be frank and sometimes difficult discussions around the G7 table, particularly with the US president on tariffs," Trudeau told reporters. Merkel told German lawmakers Wednesday before setting off for Canada that there would be "no compromise for its own sake" and that dropping the statement "may be the more honest way." But Trump's decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum -- and eventually other goods, such as German luxury cars -- have pushed G7 members to the brink of all-out trade war. Canada's Trade Minister Francois Philippe Champagne was more blunt, declaring: "What we are seeing is that the world economic order is under pressure, under attack." And Trump is not likely to back down. "There are disagreements," top White House economics advisor Larry Kudlow told reporters Wednesday. "He is sticking to his guns." Kudlow, in common with the longstanding expert consensus in the G7 nations, had long opposed tariffs before joining Trump's team, but now says he agrees that the trade status quo hurts America. "Until we can have reciprocal relationships we will not have free trade, and we will not have fair trade," Kudlow said. "So I think his cause is just and I think the rest of the world agrees with him." Europe does not come to Quebec from a position of strength. Britain's Theresa May is mired in endless Brexit negotiations and Italian premier Giuseppe Conte only formally took power on Wednesday. French President Emmanuel Macron made initial headway in forming a public friendship with Trump, but has failed to sway the US leader on any issue, while Merkel has been distracted by coalition negotiations. The G7's only Asian member, Japan, has close relations with the White House, but Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's support for Trump's North Korean outreach has not seen his country spared the tariffs. So the prospect of a joint communique encompassing trade seems faint, and the summit may be capped by a simple statement from the hosts summarizing the narrow areas of consensus. A senior European Union official briefing reporters on the pre-summit negotiations used discreet understatement to describe the impasse, but only ended up underscoring the width of the rift. "We find the tariffs to be illegal, so finding common language continues to be a challenge," he said. The G7 developed in part because the world's rich powers -- despite their supposed Cold War victory -- became frustrated in working through the broader multilateral system with lesser rivals. The globalized economy that they helped build had winners and losers, of course, but until Trump's election the United States was seen as the system's uncontested leader and a major beneficiary. But now, according to Laurence Nardon of the French Institute for International Relations (IFRI), one of the main actors on the international stage is no longer following the same script. "It completely calls into question the international system," she told AFP. "This G7 summit is a new act in the drama. So far, the six are standing strong, but Trump has not finished. William Reinsch, a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, said he expected the other six nations of the G7 to "gang up" on Trump. "The president's proclivity, though, you know, when criticized is consistently to hit back," he added. Since coming to office in January last year, Trump has pulled the US out of the Paris climate accord, the Iran nuclear deal and the TPP Pacific free trade deal. While cozying up to authoritarian Chinese leader Xi Jinping, the Philippines' brutal Rodrigo Duterte, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and even Kim -- he has clashed with May, Trudeau and Merkel. "And it feels like we are treating our allies with contempt, while we are feting our adversaries," said Heather Conley, a CSIS senior vice president, warning that any consensus statement would be "very short." The summit begins on Friday in La Malbaie, in Charlevoix, north of Quebec, and runs until Saturday, when Trump will fly on to Singapore. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Turkey has suspended a bilateral agreement with Greece allowing Athens to return migrants to Turkey, in retaliation for Greece's failure to extradite eight Turkish officers who fled to Greece after Turkey's failed 2016 military coup. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters today that the readmission agreement with Greece had been halted, although a separate migrant deal reached with the European Union was still in place. The decision came after Greek authorities earlier this week released the servicemen from custody and moved them to a secret location. The servicemen, who deny involvement in the coup, have requested asylum in Greece. "What Greece did is unacceptable," Cavusoglu said. "There is a migrant deal with the EU which is being implemented. We also have a bilateral readmission agreement with Greece. Now we have suspended this readmission deal." He suggested Turkey would consider other measures against Greece saying: "We will continue our work concerning Greece." Greek courts have rejected Turkey's extradition request on grounds that the officers may not be guaranteed a fair trial in Turkey. Their case has added to tense relations between the two NATO allies, which have longstanding disputes over boundaries in the Aegean Sea. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The violent anti-sterlite protests in Tuticorin once again echoed in the state Assembly today, with opposition DMK staging a walkout from the House on being denied permission to raise some issue. The government asked the main opposition party to approach the one-man inquiry commission headed by retired Madras High Court Judge Aruna Jagadeesan, which is probing the violence and police firing during protests against the Sterlite unit in the southern district that claimed 13 lives. When Leader of the Opposition MK Stalin wanted to raise some issue in connection with the May 22 incident, Speaker P Dhanapal initially denied permission saying "enough debate" has been made on the matter and that even Chief Minister K Palaniswami had responded to it on the floor of the House. However, after much persuasion from DMK, he allowed Stalin to make some remarks, before cutting him short and expunging the comments, saying they were related to the Commission. Miffed over not being allowed to talk, Stalin announced staging a walkout, with his colleagues joining him. However, his party allies Congress and IUML stayed back. Later, the Chief Minister said the DMK should approach the commission and submit whatever matter they wanted to on the issue before it. Noting that a case pertaining to the issue was pending in the Madras High Court, Palaniswami said it was a normal practice not to debate matters that were subjudice, in the House. "It is not a practice to debate sub-judice matters," he said, adding, DMK Deputy Leader Durai Murugan, as Minister in the past, had also clarified in this regard. Later, quoting the Assembly rules, the Speaker said no discussion would be held on matters being probed by an inquiry commission. Thirteen people were killed in police firing on May 22-23 when violence broke out during protest by locals demanding closure of Sterlite Industries in Tuticorin district over pollution issues. The Tamil Nadu government had last month appointed a one-person Commission of Inquiry headed by a retired judge of the Madras High Court to probe the violence in Tuticorin. The government had said inquiry will cover the "law and order incidents following the siege of the District Collectorate by thousands of persons violating prohibitory orders. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two Rohingya Muslim refugees staying at a camp here were today arrested on the charge of running a racket in collecting donations in the name of the community and misappropriating the funds, police said. Mohammad Ayub (39) and Ahmad Noor (32), residing in the Balapur refugee camp since 2012, had shot a video with the help of some other inmates and uploaded it in the social media seeking financial help for the community, a senior police official said. The donations through online transfers were received in a bank account, but the money was not distributed to any other refugees. Instead, the two had used the money for leading a lavish life, the official said. The two had also made fake rubber stamps in the name of Rohingya Refugee Community Hyderabad, police said. Cases had been registered against the two under IPC sections 465 (forgery), 420 (cheating) and 406 (criminal breach of trust). Hyderabad is home to an estimated 3,500-4,000 Rohingyas, who stay in camps in different parts of the city. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A court here today issued release order of Ukrainian model Daria Molcha who was arrested by the STF for staying in the country without valid Visa, an official said. On April 3, Molcha (20) was arrested by the STF from a private hotel in Gorakhpur. Civil judge senior division Surendra Pratap Singh issued her release order. The order of release of Daria Molcha has been received but it came very late so she will be released on Friday morning, Gorakhpur district Jail superintendent Ramdhani said. Two men from Kolkata, Chandari Rawat and Adarsh, reached Gorakhpur on a chartered plane and went to CJM court for release of Molcha. The application of Molcha's bail was rejected by district court on April 12 after that the bail application was filed in the High Court which granted her bail about a week ago. Ukrainian model crossed Indian border without any valid visa and she was arrested by STF from a private hotel at Park road, with a fake driving license on April 3. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union minister Upendra Kushwaha, who heads the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party, today skipped a get-together of senior NDA leaders in Bihar, bringing to the fore the discontent simmering within the BJP-led coalition over sharing of seats for the next Lok Sabha polls. Kushwaha excused himself citing his preoccupation in Delhi, even as Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Union ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad and Radha Mohan Singh, Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, BJP national general secretary in-charge of the state Bhupendra Yadav and LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan attended the gathering. Shortly after Kushwaha conveyed his decision to skip the event to BJP state president Nityanand Rai over telephone, a statement was issued by his party's national working president Nagamani saying: "NDA will achieve spectacular success in Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha polls in Bihar if these are fought projecting Kushwaha as the leader of the coalition". "After the BJP, the RLSP has the largest support base among NDA constituents in Bihar. On the national level, ours is a bigger party than the JD(U) and the NDA had benefitted from Kushwaha's support in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, when JD(U) had fought separately," Nagamani said. "Some leaders of the JD(U), and even the BJP, have acknowledged Nitish Kumar as the NDA's leader in Bihar. This can not be deemed as the view of the entire coalition. The leader for Bihar shall be decided by the NDA's national leadership and not by those of a state level", he added. However in an attempt to avoid confrontation, Nagamani later turned up at the NDA get-together at the Gyan Bhavan complex. As he took a seat near the entrance of the hall, Nagamani was persuaded by Nityanand Rai to be seated close to other senior leaders. Discontent has been brewing among NDA constituents in Bihar, who face the daunting challenge of arriving at a seat-sharing formula acceptable to all. Out of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in the state, the BJP won 22 in the 2014 polls, while the LJP and the RLSP bagged six and three respectively. The JD(U) fought separately and won only two. However, the party has been pushing its status as the "senior coalition partner" in the state, pointing towards its greater number of MLAs. Statements by its deputy leader in the assembly, Shyam Rajak, and national general secretary and chief spokesman K C Tyagi made the JD(U)'s stance clear. "We contested 25 seats in 2009 and we should get the same number this time. It would be our right and not a charity," Rajak told reporters at Gyan Bhawan complex. Tyagi said in Delhi that if 2014 results were to be taken as a benchmark to allot seats to each NDA constituent in 2019, "then in the 2020 assembly polls, the results of 2015 should be taken as the base and JD(U) should be given 150 out of the total number of 243 seats". Kushwaha, a former Nitish Kumar loyalist, had quit the JD(U) in 2013 when he was a Rajya Sabha member, months after having been suspended from the party on disciplinary grounds. He went on to form his own party and joined the BJP-led NDA. Riding the strong Narendra Modi wave in 2014, his party won three Lok Sabha seats and he became the minister of state for human resource development. However, his party did poorly in the assembly polls a month later, managing to win only two seats. He has reportedly been sulking over his diminished stature in the NDA since Kumar returned to the coalition last year. The NDA gathering is first since Kumar returned to the coalition after dumping the Grand Alliance with the RJD and the Congress in July last year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The US today welcomed Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's offer of a temporary ceasefire with the Taliban for Eid, saying it demonstrates the government's commitment to explore ways to end the deadly conflict. The ceasefire will last "from the 27th of Ramadan until the fifth day of Eid-al-Fitr," President Ghani said in a tweet. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan would respect this ceasefire. "The United States welcomes President Ghani's offer of a temporary ceasefire between the Government of Afghanistan and the Taliban to allow the Afghan people to celebrate Eid al-Fitr without fear of violence. "This ceasefire further demonstrates the Afghan government's commitment to explore ways to end the conflict," Pompeo said. It was not immediately known if the Taliban had agreed to the ceasefire, which would be the first for Eid since 2001. The ceasefire follows the Afghan Ulema Council's call for the Taliban to end their campaign of violence against the Afghan people and the government, he said in a statement. Pompeo said that the Afghan government's offer of a temporary ceasefire underscores its commitment to peace as both a national and religious responsibility. "We stand with the Afghan people as they lay the foundation for an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led peace process," he said. "In support of the Afghan government's initiative, NATO's Resolute Support Mission and US forces in Afghanistan will respect the ceasefire, as it applies to the Taliban," Pompeo said, adding that this does not apply to ISIS and al-Qaeda, nor does it prohibit operations to defend Afghan and Coalition forces from attack. "The United States and our international partners look to the Taliban to honour the ceasefire and demonstrate their respect for the people of Afghanistan who have long called for a reprieve to the Taliban's campaign of violence," Pompeo added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, under attack for alleged police lapses, today hit back at the Congress-led Opposition UDF, saying a section of them were "encouraging extremist elements" who were behind the Tuesday's protest against police in Kochi. Coming down heavily on the Opposition in the state Assembly, Vijayan also wanted them to examine whether it was correct on their part to justify the action of "extremist elements." He was replying to a notice for an adjournment motion moved by the Opposition on the alleged attack on a 38-year old man by police following an altercation at Edathala in Aluva in Kochi on Tuesday. Usman was allegedly attacked by police personnel when he protested after his motorbike was hit by their car. The chief minister's remark triggered strong protests from the Opposition members, who trooped to the well of the House raising anti-government slogans and disrupted proceedings, forcing Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan to adjourn the House for the day. Explaining the circumstances of the June 5 incident, Vijayan admitted that the police should not have indulged in a scuffle with Usman, even though he started the fight. However, the protest that broke out against the arrest of Usman for attacking police had "an extremist character," Vijayan said. "Some of those who took part in the protest were accused in the 2005 bus burning case," the chief minister said, adding the opposition should not "encourage militancy." "Should the police force be the target of attack by extremists?" Vijayan asked. The chief minister was referring to a group of people who had on September 9, 2005, torched a Tamil Nadu state-owned bus while protesting against the continued imprisonment of PDP leader Abdul Nasser Madani, an accused in the Coimbatore blasts case. Stressing that no errant police personnel would be protected, Vijayan, however, said the government would also not succumb to malicious propaganda against police with an objective to weaken it. A case has been registered against four police personnel in connection with the incident and they were transferred, he added. Speaker Sreeramakrishnan disallowed permission for the motion after the chief minister's reply. But the Opposition members continued their protest demanding that Vijayan withdraw his "extremist" remark against the Opposition. As the protest continued, Speaker went through the other business scheduled for the day and ended the session. Later talking to reporters, Opposition leaders said the chief minister levelled charges of extremism against them to divert the attention from police lapses. V D Satheesan (Congress) challenged Vijayan to register cases against any of the opposition MLAs who had "extremist" links. The Opposition UDF has been on a warpath over alleged laxity on the part of police with regard to investigation in various cases relating to Dalits and women. The Opposition has alleged that the "laxity and lapse" on the part of the local police was responsible for the alleged incident of honour killing of a Dalit Christian man in Kottayam last month. In Tuesday's incident at Kochi, Usman was allegedly attacked by police personnel when he protested after his motorbike was hit by their car. He suffered a broken cheek bone in the attack and was admitted to a private hospital at Kochi. Usman's relatives alleged he was brutally tortured in custody too. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Special Task Force (STF) of the Haryana Police has arrested Sampath Nehra, one of the most wanted gangsters belonging to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, from Hyderabad. With more than two dozen criminal cases pending against him in Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Chandigarh, Nehra, 28, also carried a cash reward on his head and had been absconding for the past few years, before he was arrested yesterday evening, Haryana Police said. Acting on instructions of Director General of Police B S Sandhu and Additional Director General of Police, Crime, P K Aggarwal, a team of STF Gurugram led by Inspector General of Police, Saurabh Singh and Deputy Inspector General of Police, Satish Balan had made all out efforts to arrest the accused Nehra, a native of Kishangarh, Chandigarh. Haryana DGP B S Sandhu congratulated the STF team on the achievement. The gangster, a resident of village Kalauri in Rajasthan's Churu district, is allegedly wanted for several heinous crime including murder, attempt to murder, robbery and contract killing. He was actively involved in contract killing, police said. Nehra is a sharp shooter of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, had been active in students politics. The Lawrence Bishnoi gang is one of the most dreaded gangs which is also active on social media like Facebook and Whatsapp. Nehra will be brought from Hyderabad, they said. Nehra and his gang were involved in an attempt to murder an INLD leader's brother, demanding ransom of Rs 3 crore from the owner of many medical stores in Chandigarh, opening of fire at a police team to free his associate Deepak from police custody and killing a person after looting his SUV at gun point in Kurukshetra area. He along with his gang member had killed Anand, a resident of Karaur, they said. The gangster along with his colleagues had killed a man, a resident of Jaitapur in Sadulpur court in Rajgarh, Rajasthan. The accused is also charged in a murder case in Faridkot, Punjab, and killing of a retired Army personnel at Barona in Haryana, killing the husband of a woman councillor from Punjab, besides being involved in cases of ransom, murder, loot and robbery in different states. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh is imposing a 28 percent tax on rice imports to support its farmers after local production revived, Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith said on Thursday. The duty hike would reduce imports, especially from neighbouring India, which emerged as the biggest supplier to the South Asian country last year after floods ravaged its crop. "This year we have a bumper production in rice, thus to protect local farmers, 25 percent customs duty and 3 percent regulatory duty has been re-imposed on rice importation," Muhith said in his budget speech for the 2018/19 fiscal ... By Sybille de La Hamaide and Yawen ChenPARIS/BEIJING (Reuters) - Times are good for oak tree growers in France. Exports of oak logs have soared and so have prices, largely because of demand from China. Beijing banned commercial timber harvests last year and Chinese millennials have developed a taste for high-quality wooden floors and furniture from Europe.But boom for France's exporters could mean bust for some of the country's 550 sawmills. French oak producers have traditionally sold oak logs to the mills, which then cut them into lumber for making products ranging from floors and furniture ... China's No 2 telecommunications equipment maker ZTE secured a lifeline from the Trump administration on Thursday after agreeing to pay a $1 billion fine and overhaul leadership in a deal that will lift a ban on its doing business with US suppliers. The agreement comes as US President Donald Trump seeks trade concessions from China and negotiations continue to avoid a trade war between the world's two largest economies. Shares of US companies that do business with ZTE rose on Thursday. US lawmakers immediately attacked the agreement, citing intelligence warnings that ... By Gail MarksJarvisCHICAGO (Reuters) - When Scott Petracco graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago with a bachelor's degree in biology eight years ago, he thought he would quickly get a job in a laboratory and pay off $30,000 in student loans.But the country was just emerging from the 2007-2009 recession, and he could not find a job related to his degree. Now, at age 30, he works part-time as a kidney dialysis technician in Chicago for $15 an hour. Since that does not pay the bills, he also has a second job loading freight. "It's nothing very exciting, but it pays well," said ... TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Fujifilm Holdings Corp said on Thursday it may have no choice but to give up on a $6.1 billion merger with Xerox Corp if there is no progress in talks with the U.S. firm's new board for about half a year."I don't have a specific deadline in mind, but it should normally be from several months to six months. If we have nothing by then, it can't be helped," Chief Executive Shigetaka Komori said in his first media session since the photocopier company scrapped their merger deal.A spokeswoman later clarified this meant Fujifilm could end merger talks.The two companies in ... By Jessica Resnick-AultNEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Wednesday on worries that global supply is climbing after U.S. inventories rose unexpectedly and Saudi Arabia and other big producers signalled that they may increase output.U.S. crude inventories rose 2.1 million barrels in the week to June 1, the Energy Information Administration said, a surprise after analysts had forecast a decrease of 1.8 million barrels. Fuel inventories also rose. "Oil prices are being clobbered by a surprise build to crude stocks as total imports jumped higher, blunting the impact of higher refinery runs," ... By Amanda CooperLONDON (Reuters) - Oil rose on Thursday on concerns about a plunge in exports from Venezuela, although surging U.S. production kept gains in check.Brent crude futures were up 23 cents at $75.59 a barrel by 0900 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was 14 cents higher at $64.87 a barrel.Venezuela, which faces the threat of U.S. sanctions and is in the midst of an economic crisis, is nearly a month behind delivering crude to customers from its main oil export terminals, according to shipping data, and chronic delays and production declines could breach state-run ... By Corina Pons and Marianna ParragaCARACAS/HOUSTON (Reuters) - Venezuela has released two local executives of U.S. oil major Chevron Corp jailed since mid-April during a corruption probe in the oil sector, authorities and sources said on Wednesday.The arrests of Carlos Algarra and Rene Vasquez, by intelligence agents at Chevron's Puerto La Cruz offices, spooked other foreign companies operating in the OPEC nation in partnership with state oil company PDVSA. "They are free," the state prosecutor's office said in an email to Reuters, adding that both had been given unspecified alternative ... By Marianna Parraga(Reuters) - Venezuela is nearly a month behind delivering crude to customers from its main oil export terminals, according to shipping data, as chronic delays and production declines could breach state-run PDVSA's supply contracts if they are not cleared soon.The oil company in recent days has raised the prospect that deliveries could be interrupted to some of the world's largest refiners if it fails to end a tanker bottleneck contributing to a sharp decline in oil exports, the lifeblood of the OPEC-member nation.Tankers waiting to load more than 24 million barrels of ... A few days ago, I was in the middle of a philosophical rant with a friend about life increasingly losing its value and humanity being best explained in quotes rather than real-life examples. People die on roads because other people do not feel impelled to take them to the hospital; robbery turns fatal because a poor man tried to fight off thieves alone. These are just a few examples of lack of empathy and peoples unwillingness to save fellow citizens lives by acting immediately. While some people consider population as the root cause for most problems, others point ... Project management is an exciting career path with infinite possibilities. Each project is unique and brings a new set of challenges there are no "cookie cutter" days in project management. Plus, there's something intensely satisfying about taking the merest whisper of a "what if" and watching it evolve into a fully developed concept, and, finally, into a tangible product or service that others can touch, feel and use. The process of taking an idea and creating a fully functioning product does not happen in a vacuum. It takes money, time, resources (dedicated resources), business and marketing analysis, planning, risk mitigation activities, scheduling and much more. Projects also need sponsors and people who want to see the product or service become a reality. Most importantly, projects need leaders to organize all the moving parts and help them come together in a unified whole. Project managers fulfil that leadership role. Specific responsibilities may vary depending on factors such as the scope of the individual project, organizational preferences and project management methodology (Waterfall, Agile, Scrum, Six Sigma or Kanban, for example) utilized. In traditional Waterfall-type environments, the project scope is defined at the beginning of a project. As a result, project managers typically engage in all five phases of the projects they work on this includes initiation, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and of course, project close out. It's the job of the project manager to ensure that projects are delivered on time, on budget, on schedule and as defined in the project scope. In Agile-type project management methodologies, the project scope is not defined at the beginning. Project activities are conducted in shorter cycles, which may be referred to as "sprints." The role of project manager may look different in these types of environments. Often, Agile teams are self-directed, and project management responsibilities are shared among team members. Scrum methodology uses a ScrumMaster rather than a traditional project manager who manages the process rather than the project, and who plans sprints and clears roadblocks. Key Skills for Project Managers To ensure success, project managers need a variety of skills. A thorough understanding of the technical aspects of the project is a huge plus, and experience plays a huge role. But success isn't built on experience and education alone. Project managers also need a variety of soft skills in their toolboxes to ensure effective leadership. While the following list of items is not exhaustive, you'll find that most successful project managers excel in the following areas: Communication : One of the most important skills a project manager can possess is the ability to communicate effectively. Lack of effective communication has derailed many projects. : One of the most important skills a project manager can possess is the ability to communicate effectively. Lack of effective communication has derailed many projects. Organizational skills : Project managers need superb organizational skills. After all, it's not just their personal tasks that they're managing but those of an entire project and project team. : Project managers need superb organizational skills. After all, it's not just their personal tasks that they're managing but those of an entire project and project team. Problem solvers : Problems can and will arise. In these instances, it's the project manager who takes the lead in identifying a path to resolve the current crisis and mitigate project risks. : Problems can and will arise. In these instances, it's the project manager who takes the lead in identifying a path to resolve the current crisis and mitigate project risks. Negotiation : While this skill may not be as intuitive as the others, the ability to negotiate effectively is a huge benefit in project management. It's not uncommon to find project team members assigned to multiple projects, which may result in competing deadlines. Project managers are often required to take the lead in negotiating for the availability of required resources, scheduling conflicts, resolving conflicts or disputes, and so forth. : While this skill may not be as intuitive as the others, the ability to negotiate effectively is a huge benefit in project management. It's not uncommon to find project team members assigned to multiple projects, which may result in competing deadlines. Project managers are often required to take the lead in negotiating for the availability of required resources, scheduling conflicts, resolving conflicts or disputes, and so forth. Leadership: True leaders never browbeat others into following. True leaders inspire and invite you to follow them on a journey of discovery and innovation. Project managers should manage in such a way as to inspire the team to want to follow, even when following may mean longer hours under uncomfortable conditions to meet project requirements. Project Management Education and Certification While you will always find those who make an argument that experience matters more than education, successful project managers should build a personal portfolio that includes both formal academic education as well as certifications geared to the type of project management methodology they typically practice. While a degree is not necessarily required to become an IT project manager, you'll find few employers willing to hire individuals without one. By way of example, we conducted an informal job search of several popular job boards and reviewed real-world requirements of prospective employers. In addition to experience, all required some type of certification. Except for a single post, all employers required at least a bachelor-level degree in computer science, information management systems, information technology or some similar field. In addition to technical degrees and project management certifications, academic degrees in project management are increasing in popularity. Those interested in pursuing a degree in project management will find numerous programs available. Examples of a few of the degreed project management programs we found included Colorado Technical University's Bachelor of Science in Business Administration: Project Management (BSBA-PM), Ashford University's Bachelor of Arts in Project Management, while Colorado State University's Global Campus offers a Bachelor of Project Management degree. Numerous online universities, such as DeVry and Capella, offer degree programs in project management or will create customized degree programs. Those interested in seeking graduate degrees in project management may want to look at the George Washington University Masters in Project Management. George Washington University also offers a master's certificate program in project management, and allows students who complete that program to apply those credits to their degree program. When it comes to certification, there are simply too many to mention in this article, but there are a few clear favorites among practitioners and employers alike. Our three top recommendations include the CompTIA Project+ credential, the Project Management Institute (PMI) Certified Associate in Project Management, and PMI's coveted Project Management Professional (PMP) credential. If you are just launching your career as a project manager, CompTIA's Project+ is an excellent starting point. Geared to practitioners working with small to medium-sized projects, a single exam is required to earn this credential. While there are no formal prerequisites, CompTIA recommends that candidates possess at least one year of project management experience or equivalent education before attempting the exam. From there, serious candidates can progress to PMI's Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM). The CAPM is a stepping stone to the more senior PMP credential. Soon after yoga guru Baba Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurved said it is planning to shift Rs 2,000 crore food park from Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath told his officials to expedite the process for setting up the food park, prompting the homegrown FMCG major to say it is reviewing the decision to pull out of the project. Patanjali on Tuesday announced that it was pulling out of the mega food processing project along the Yamuna Expressway in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. The company cited non-cooperation from the state government and delay in clearances for transfer of land as the reason for change in its decision. Patanjali MD Acharya Balkrishna in a tweet had said that "the proposed mega food park in Greater Noida which had central government's approval has been cancelled. We have decided to shift to some other location." Reassuring Baba Ramdev-led Patanjali, UP Infrastructure and Industrial Development Minister Satish Mahana said: "We will not let Patanjali go from the state. Our CM has talked to Patanjali. The formalities will be completed soon." He said the state government was talking about incentives as well, and there were some technical issues involved. We are bringing a proposal in this regard to the Cabinet," the minister added. Meanwhile, Patanjali has said that it is reviewing its decision to pull out of the mega food project following the assurance by the UP CM. "We are reviewing our decision in the light of assurances given by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. We do trust the assurances given by him," said Patanjali Spokesperson S K Tijarawala. Earlier in the day, a senior state government official clarified that the project has not been cancelled and CM Adityanath spoke to Patanjali Ayurved MD Acharya Balkrishna over the matter. "The chief minister has talked to Acharya Balkrishna and heard his grievances. There is no cancellation yet. They have been allotted land and the project is to be commenced. The CM has directed to expedite the process and also directed officers for the same," Principal Secretary (Information) Awanish Awasthi told PTI. The Haridwar-based company had proposed to invest up to Rs 6,000 crore to set up a plant over 425 acres of land along the Yamuna Expressway through its step-down firm Patanjali Food and Herbal Park. Yesterday, Union Food Processing Secretary J P Meena had also stated that the project has not been cancelled yet. "We have given one month extension to Patanjali... they have to meet the condition. In case, Patanjali does not meet the condition, we have no choice but to cancel. We have done it earlier in many projects," Meena had said. Earlier, Patanjali had said that its mega food park along the Yamuna Expressway would produce goods worth Rs 25,000 crore annually while running on full capacity. It is envisaged to create 10,000 direct jobs. Patanjali is presently investing in various mega food park projects, including in Nagpur (Maharashtra) and Tezpur (Assam). with PTI inputs Last week GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) roped in Amitabh Bachchan as their brand ambassador for milk food drink, Horlicks, following which the superstar has been tweeting titbits about India's nutrition problem as well as about his association with the brand. However, this association with Horlicks and its campaign, Mission Poshan, has landed the superstar in a spot. After he put out a series of tweets, a national-level think tank on nutrition, Nutrition Advocacy in Public Interest, wrote an open letter to Bachchan urging him to cut his ties with the brand. The think tank includes public health experts such as former health secretary Keshav Desiraju, paediatrician Komal Kushwaha, child health activist Arun Gupta and paediatrician Vandana Prasad. The experts said that Horlicks is not only highly-priced, it also has high sugar content and that they use false advertisement. They also said that this could affect and burden low-income families who would buy the product based on Bachchan's endorsement. "Horlicks is a high sugar product, as 100 gram of a popularly advertised pack of Horlicks Delight, contains 78 gram of carbohydrates of which 32 grams is sucrose sugar. This is harmful for children as it may contribute to childhood obesity and non communicable disease in later life," the letter read. "It is neither good food nor nutrition, it is just a high sugar product, what now a days is called empty calories," they added. They said that big companies take up causes as marketing strategies, which is what Horlicks is doing with its campaign, Mission Poshan. Horlicks Mission Poshan is supporting the Government's Rashtriya Poshan Abhiyaan, with the motto 'We are here to fight the malnutrition in our country'. "We fear that this campaign will influence families and children from these families to buy Horlicks assuming it is a good nutritious product as you are behind it. Horlicks is expensive, may displace real family foods. Thus, your association with Horlicks is unlikely to achieve the objective of curbing undernutrition in India. In the year 2014 you had renounced your association with Pepsi based on health implications on children. Association with 'Horlicks' is equally harmful to children," the think tank said. A GSK Consumer spokesperson said that they aim to address the issue of micronutrient deficiency in children. "Horlicks has been a trusted household name for over 100 years and has been synonymous with nutrition. As a brand, we aim to address the often overlooked issue of micronutrient deficiency in children which is widely prevalent in India," they said in a statement. GSK continues to campaign for the brand on social media using popular social media influencers and running a hashtag, MissionPoshan. Kishore Biyani's Future Group is on to something big. It wants to address your every day problem of going to market to buy small but extremely important food items like milk, eggs, and breads. Though some new entrants are already doing well in the milk delivery space, Future Group intends to use all its force of over 1,000 retail outlets under brands like Easyday, Nilgiri and Heritage to keep its hold over the retail market. According to a report published in The Economic Times, Future Group could announce its plan to enter the hyper-local milk-delivery market in the next two weeks in all metro cities of the country. The plan is to initially see how its 'milk-bread-egg' model works, and subsequently push in more profitable daily food items like vegetables, fruits, and grocery at your doorstep. The report quotes Biyani saying if the plan works, each of these Future Group brand retail stores could generate about Rs 20 lakh per store additional revenue per month. So how does the model work? Consumers will use a mobile app to order these grocery items, and Easyday, Nilgiri, and Heritage stores, located in 2-3km radius of your location will deliver them at your doorstep at the earliest. Apart from local milkmen who cover a huge portion of this segment, startups like Milk Basket and Supr Daily have already proved the business model is workable as Indian households cannot do without milk. On an average, Indian households spend around Rs 1,000- Rs 1,200 on milk, bread and butter items every month. India's star delivery service companies Swiggy and BigBasket have also planned to enter the segment, which would not only increase their frequency of orders and more revenue but would also make their online business model more robust. Chinese giant Alibaba-backed BigBasket is in talks with Pune-based RainCan, Gurugram-based Milk Basket, and Bengaluru-based Daily Ninja. Swiggy is trying to expand its portfolio by including grocery items within its ambit. RedSeer Consulting, a management consulting company, says the online milk delivery has an addressable market of $1.2 billion (Rs 8,000 crore) of which 8 per cent is online. Of the total $95 billion Indian dairy market, $15 billion is in six top metro cities like Delhi and Mumbai, says company. "The online milk delivery players are relying on the frequency of milk purchase to get consumers habituated with their services," says the company. The Future Group plans a mega expansion of its small stores, and in future the number could touch 10,000 small stores. The idea is to gain big revenue from these small stores from Rs 5,000 crore at present to Rs 60,000 in the coming years. And, the milk delivery platform could play a big role in achieving that goal. Future Group Chairman may be ahead in the race to capture the 'milk segment', but e-commerce giants Flipkart and Amazon are also not behind. They have already launched online platforms to deliver grocery items, and might also consider jumping into the hyperlocal milk delivery market. Former President and the Congress veteran Pranab Mukherjee, during his much-anticipated speech at the RSS headquarters on Thursday, said India derived its strength from tolerance and multiculturalism, and that any attempt to denigrate it through religion or intolerance would dilute the very idea of the country. He indicated no one party or organisation has an authority over nationalism and patriotism. Earlier in the day, several Congress leaders, including his own daughter Sharmistha Mukherjee and Ahmed Patel, had expressed displeasure over his decision to attend the annual RSS event. During his speech, Pranab said that without tolerance, there would be no India as intolerance would only dilute its national identity. He said Indians celebrate their diversity, and that nationalism emanates from universalism, assimilation and co-existence. "I am here to share my understanding on the concept of nation, nationalism and patriotism about my country Bharat," said the former President, adding that a nation is defined as a large group of people sharing a particular area, while patriotism is respect for their own country. He said there should be no place in the public discourse for any kind of violence. "We must free our public discourse from all kinds of fear and violence," he said. "India's nationalism emanated from Vasudev Kutumbakam (The whole world is one family). We must respect pluralism. Any hatred, intolerance would denigrate society," said Pranab, adding that "secularism and inclusion is a part of our nation, as these elements make it, not one language or one identity. Before his speech, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said the debate over Pranab Mukherjee's decision to attend the RSS event was meaningless as no one is an outsider for the grand-old organisation. He said the Sangh wants to unite the entire society, and that "every individual who has been born in India is son/daughter of the Mother India". "India is a diverse country. The political structure keeps on changing, political views can be divergent but we should all respect people of other ideologies and live together. This is the RSS ideology," he said. He said that there might be differences between people of different ideologies but "at the end of the day, we are all sons and daughters of the country". "Our paths may be different but the destination is only one, and it's a beautiful thing," said Bhagwat, adding that governments or individuals or political parties don't make a country but its people from diverse cultures do. "A united society is the key to progress. Nothing is possible without a democratic mind, and the society needs a social environment," he said. Mukherjee's decision to attend the RSS event triggered a major political war of words with several Congress leaders criticising his decision. Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel expressed his disapproval by saying he did not expect this from him. Mukherjee's daughter and Congress leader Sharmistha also said her father's words would be forgotten and only pictures would remain. She said he was giving the BJP and the RSS a handle to plant false stories with his decision to attend the RSS event. Among others who were present at the event were former PM Lal Bahadur Shastri's son Sunil Shastri and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's nephew Ardhendu Bose. Before the passing out parade ceremony, Pranab Mukherjee took an impromptu decision to pay a visit to the birthplace of the RSS founding Sarsanghachalak Keshav Baliram Hedgewar. Reports suggest it was not part of his scheduled itinerary. He also described Hedgewar as a "great son of Mother India". With agency inputs A day before the Central Government approved a Rs 7,000 crore sugar package to help domestic sugar mills tide over their liquidity crisis, Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), the apex industry lobby group, had made a written submission to Ram Vilas Paswan, Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution. The objective was to convince the ministry that the net cost of sugar production would work out to be Rs 3484 to Rs 3559 a quintal. The industry wanted to convey in clear terms that any minimum ex-mill price which is lower than that, will not sustain or enable the mills to pay the fair and remunerative price (FRP) to the sugarcane farmer. The government decision, to fix the price at Rs 29 a kilo (instead of Rs 35 a kilo) was thus a dampener. While it is not clear how the government did its maths, industry vouches for the rationality of its calculation. It says that the minimum cost of production of one quintal of sugar - if one considers Rs 290 as the cost of a quintal sugarcane (FRP) at an all India average sugar recovery (from sugar cane) rate of 10.8 per cent - will be Rs 2759. Add to it a cash conversion cost which includes power, chemicals, consumables, wages, packaging, maintenance, overheads etc, minus the earnings from by-products of Rs 550-600 per quintal, an another Rs 175-200 per quintal as interest on working capital and term loan, the net cost of sugar production will be approximately Rs 3559 a quintal. This is why the industry remains disappointed as instead of an ex-mill price of Rs 34-35 for a kilo of sugar, the government offered Rs 29 a kilo. In fact, the representation also carried another set of calculation, based on the formula suggested in the Rangarajan Committee report on sugar industry some years ago. According to that calculation, which is followed by the states of Maharashtra and Karnataka, the sugar mills should have got a minimum price of Rs 35.8 per kilo of sugar to pay out an FRP of Rs 290 per quintal of sugarcane. The industry had even kept the finance ministry, and the ministry of shipping, road transport and highways, water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation in the loop. The only silver lining in the cabinet decision is that it has kept Rs 29 a kilo as an introductory price, stating that it can undergo revision on the basis of a revised FRP. When or whether it will happen is a question that remains unanswered at the moment. Kavita Gupta spent just 40 days at her home in the US last year. For the remaining part of the year, she was travelling different parts of the world searching for promising companies in the blockchain space. After working with institutions like McKinsey, World Bank, IFC and Eric Schmidt's family office, she joined ConsenSys, a leading blockchain technology firm, last year and currently heads the ConsenSys Ventures, a venture fund that helps entrepreneurs in the blockchain space scale their businesses. In a conversation with Business Today, Gupta shares her experience with the Indian blockchain developers, and her work in India. Edited excerpts: BT: What's the size of your fund? Gupta: The first fund is $50 million and the second fund is $100 million. We have already allocated around $8 million. We have invested in 10 companies. I only do investments in Ethereum blockchain - pre-seed, seed stage and early stage companies. They are all global. We are a sector- and geography-agnostic fund. That's the beauty of decentralized world. I continue to look for great companies in India but I haven't seen anything so far that's exciting enough for us. We are starting a developer education programme in India, and then start tapping talent from there. I am happy that India has picked up way earlier than a lot of other places around the world from the education perspective. BT: What are the issues with blockchain ecosystem in India? Gupta: I think Blockchain has become such a big buzzword in India. Last October, when I had first come to India while working with Consensys Ventures, I tried to meet people in the ecosystem, and understand what's really happening. I was thinking that I will find one-two companies to invest in. I could not find people who could go deep into the technology. I realized that the knowledge was just at the surface level. I came back again in January, and we did a four-city tour - Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Vizag - and met over 800 developers and we realized that the technology [knowledge] was at a very shallow level. We do need to build a big ecosystem in India because it's one of the biggest brain power hubs. BT: In India, do you have examples of companies and government bodies that are effectively using blockchain technology? Gupta: We have signed a POC [proof of concept] with NITI Aayog. We are doing land titling in Chandigarh with them. We have a land titling architect flying down to India and implementing it. Chandigarh has good digitalized records. I never expected Chandigarh to be so advanced in technology. We are going to create blockchain nodes for them so that they can see the registration part and taxation part in real-time. As a user, I can see the records going back to hundreds of years. It takes out corruption because it is so much time-stamped and access-oriented. We will deliver the pilot project to them over the next two months. We have also signed MoU with the Andhra Pradesh government which is for their transportation department and land titling. We are in conversation with a lot of banking solutions for custodian and settlement. Today, the settlement of money for the international exchange takes up to 3-5 business days. If you do it on blockchain, it can go up to 30 seconds to 1 day. We are talking to a couple of banks, and hopefully we will close something by July. BT: How's Ethereum different from other blockchain technologies? Gupta: Blockchain is a decentralized database. The first technology was Bitcoin which was created just to support the financial transactions of Bitcoins. But that created the base of what a blockchain technology could be. Ethereum is a financial currency but it's different from Bitcoin. You can use it for authentication, verification and security of data - land titling, land records, transportation records, birth records, medical records and education records. If you actually use Blockchain nodes, online companies cannot use my data without actually asking my permission. I can choose how much data I am comfortable to give them, and get monetized for it. Today, I have no power over it. China accounted for more than half of global electric vehicle sales last year. Photo: VCG General Motors announced plans Tuesday to launch 10 more new-energy vehicle models in China from 2021 through 2023, doubling the 10 it has already planned for 2016 through 2020. The worlds largest automaker is the latest to extend its electric-car investments in China as the worlds largest auto market aims to gradually phase out fossil-fuel-powered vehicles. The moves could bring more competition to the Chinese electric car brands that are now dominating Chinas market. They could also create more demand for local battery manufacturers. General Motors has launched three new-energy vehicle models in China the Cadillac CT6 Plug-In, the Buick Velite 5 extended-range electric vehicle, and the Baojun E100. It will soon introduce two more Buick hybrid and electric cars in China. The Detroit-based automaker didnt disclose its sales of new-energy vehicles in China but said such autos in China logged more than 75 million electric kilometers by the end of May. China accounted for more than half of global electric vehicle sales last year, reflecting the governments subsidies to electric car makers and tax exemptions and discounts for electric car buyers. Data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) showed that 777,000 new-energy vehicles were sold in the Chinese market last year, up 53% year-on-year, and new-energy vehicle production jumped 54% to 794,000 units last year. China recently rolled out a quota system requiring all automakers to have new-energy vehicles account for a fixed percentage of their China sales starting next year. Under the credit point system, automakers must attain a new-energy vehicle score which is linked to the production and import of various types of zero- and low-emission vehicles of at least 10% starting in 2019, rising to 12% in 2020, according a notice by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The new mandate has led to a series of electric vehicle joint ventures between global automakers and local brands. Ford and Anhui Zotye, Volkswagen and Anhui Jianghua Automobile Group, and Renault-Nissan and Dongfeng Motor Corp. are three such recent ventures aimed at producing mandate-compliant vehicles. The inflow of global electric carmakers could also bring more business for local battery-makers. Volkswagen has picked Chinas largest electric-car battery-maker, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. (CATL), as one of its suppliers. Chinese auto-parts manufacturer Wanxiang Group announced in February that subsidiary Wanxiang 123 Co. had been selected to be a new battery supplier for General Motors China and its Chinese joint venture, SAIC-GM Corp. General Motors, which currently sources all of its electric vehicle batteries from South Koreas LG Chem Ltd., didnt confirm the Wangxiang pick. General Motors said Tuesday that its Shanghai battery assembly plant operated by the SAIC-GM joint venture will support General Motors expanding electric vehicle portfolio in China. In April, China also rolled out rules to allow foreign automakers to take full ownership of local ventures by 2022, a move that will mostly benefit electric car producers like Tesla Inc. The current 50% foreign ownership cap on electric vehicle-making ventures will be abolished by the end of this year, while the ceilings for all commercial and passenger vehicles will end in 2020 and 2022 respectively, said the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), Chinas top economic planner. Soon after the announcement of the new rules, Tesla received tentative approval from the Shanghai government to build its own factory in the city, sources familiar with the matter told Caixin. POLICY Securities Regulator Releases Guidelines for Tech Giants to Issue CDRs What: The China Securities Regulatory Commission published highly anticipated guidelines for its China depositary receipt (CDRs) pilot program. Modeled after U.S.-listed American Depositary Receipts for foreign equities, the CDR program will allow for trading in China of shares of overseas-listed Chinese companies. Why its important: Publication of guidelines signals readiness of the CDR pilot, paving the way for overseas listed Chinese tech giants including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Baidu Inc. to trade shares on the domestic market. Big picture: Expectations on the launch of CDRs have risen since the beginning of the year as regulators seek to invigorate domestic capital markets. Sources have told Caixin that Baidu, NetEase Inc., Alibaba and JD.com Inc. have been waiting for the release of detailed guidelines while working with sponsors for planned CDR issues as early as the end of June. (Source: Caixin) DEALS AND FUNDRAISING Foxconn Industrial Internet to Launch IPO in Shanghai on June 8 What: Foxconn Industrial Internet, a unit of Taiwan manufacturing giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd., will launch its IPO in Shanghai on June 8. The company, which makes cloud service equipment and industrial robots, also announced that in the first quarter of 2018 it had operating income of 77.695 billion yuan, an increase of 19.78% year-on-year, and a net profit of 2.653 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.53%. Big picture: Foxconns listing will become the second fast-tracked major offering under Beijings campaign to give preferential treatment to companies representing the new economy. In May, drugmaker WuXi AppTec Co. Ltd. made its trading debut in Shanghai, just two months after the securities regulator gave it speedy approval for the listing. (Source: Company Announcement.) BIG TECH COMPANIES ZTE Takes Back Bonuses, Disciplines 35 Employees to Meet U.S. Pledge What: Chinese telecom company ZTE is trying to resolve a seven-year ban from buying U.S. components by sending reprimand letters to 35 current and former employees involved in its illegal sales to Iran. ZTE also hopes to get back bonuses from these employees, even if some have left the company. Why its important: ZTE suggested the actions under a previous settlement with the U.S. government over its illegal sales of American products to Iran. But it failed to carry through on those actions, resulting in the latest U.S. punitive action that ZTE has called life-threatening. Big picture: Previously, Reuters reported that ZTE had signed an agreement in principle with the U.S. to lift the export ban. But a U.S. Commerce Department spokesman said no definitive agreement has been signed. The ban has spotlighted how Chinas tech giants are still highly dependent on imported technology. (Source: South China Morning Post) Huawei Responds to Disclosure that It Received Shared Data from Facebook What: Facebook Inc. disclosed that it had data-sharing partnerships with four Chinese smartphone makers, including Huawei and Lenovo. The partnership with Huawei prompted particular concerns in the U.S., as Huawei is seen there as a national security threat. Huawei said in an emailed statement that it never collected or stored Facebook user data but had worked in the past with the social media company to make services more convenient for users. Why its important: The U.S. government is worried about Huaweis access to the user data and Facebooks consistent failure to inform users how their personal information is used. Big picture: Facebook is facing a global backlash after a March revelation that information on up to 87 million of its users was given to political consultancy Cambridge Analytica. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had to go to Washington and Europe to testify after the incident. (Source: Bloomberg) Alibaba Affiliate Cainiao Forms JV to Build Logistics Center in Hong Kong What: Alibaba logistics affiliate Cainiao Network said it will form a joint venture with China National Aviation Corp. and delivery company YTO Express to build a logistics center at Hong Kong International Airport for $1.5 billion. Why its important: Alibaba has made a commitment to invest over 100 billion yuan in a logistics network that will complete delivers in China within 24 hours, and within 72 hours globally. The logistics center in Hong Kong is just one of six international logistics hubs the company plans to build. Big picture: According to Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma, logistics costs currently take up about 15% of Chinas gross domestic product, versus around 7% to 8% in countries with more-developed logistics systems. Ma says Alibabas investments in the logistics network will help cut this figure to 5%. (Source: South China Morning Post) PRODUCTS Huawei Unveils GPU Turbo and Inches Closer to Apple in Smartphone Shipments What: Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. said it will ship nearly 200 million smartphones this year, close to Apples 200 million to 210 million annual shipments. The company unveiled GPU Turbo, a new technology it said can boost smartphones image processing efficiency by 60% while reducing chip energy consumption by 30%. Why its important: Huawei has been investing heavily in new technologies in the areas of software systems and chips to compete with Apple. The growing shipment numbers seem to show that investment is paying off. Big picture: Huawei is currently the worlds third largest smartphone maker and one of Chinas most successful companies in the area. It is hoping to someday overtake global leaders Apple and Samsung. (Source: China Daily) Compiled by Zhang Erchi and Zhang Yidi news, latest-news Retirement income has for too long been part of class and political warfare in Australia. The responses to the Productivity Commission's damning indictment of the $2.6 trillion (and growing) industry suggest it is still alive and well. Before 1983, professionals, public servants and people in senior positions in the corporate world generally had superannuation. In the private sector there was no compulsion and the employer's contribution was often contingent on the employee not leaving. The unskilled, the semi-skills and the trades tended not to have superannuation and faced usually a short retirement in semi-poverty on the aged pension. The Hawke-Keating Government changed all that. It wanted to replace a class-based, grace-and-favour system with one that would in the long-term provide decent retirement incomes for all. It was one of the best pieces of public policy in Australian history, along with Medicare, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and the National Disability Insurance Scheme, but it has it faults. Large sums of money are available on a national scale for the provision of services in these schemes. And wherever large sums of money are at stake, the cheats, the unscrupulous and the rent seekers are attracted like iron filings to a magnet, often forming patterns of egregious misbehaviour: over-charging, over-servicing, conflicts of interest, outright fraud and so on. The NDIS is a bit young for the misbehavior to emerge on the service-supply side, but just wait. The ideological divide over superannuation is between Labor, on one hand, which favours compulsion; universality and inclusive fund management and the Coalition, on the other, which abhors compulsion and universality, preferring the free market, individuality and free choice. However, the general success of the superannuation scheme (like Medicare) has made it too popular to abolish outright, so all the Coalition can do is undermine it. We should be careful that the misconduct exposed by the Productivity Commission is not used as a battering ram against the whole scheme, which is fundamentally of great value. It is now the fourth-largest retirement scheme in the world. In the long term it will radically reduce the need for governments to pay aged pensions. Calls for an end to compulsion and delay or abandonment of the plan for contributions to go to 12 per cent are misguided. The idea that freed of compulsion, individuals could and would invest their money as they choose, such as in housing, is fanciful. Without compulsion, Australians have had a hopeless record on saving. Let's face it, without the compulsory scheme, that $2.6 trillion would have been squandered on flat-screen televisions and other ephemeral items, merely adding to Australia's balance of payments worries. Or worse, what if those diligent youngsters had been handed the 9.5 per cent and they had invested it in housing? The result would have been an even more heated housing market, or more likely people buying unnecessarily bigger houses stuffed with more consumer junk. It is unfortunate that the weaknesses in the scheme could not have been ironed out earlier. That is mainly because each side of politics was blinded by ideology and looking after their own rather than attending to the fundamental aim of superannuation to insure for retirement incomes for everyone. Once you recognise that it is an insurance scheme (like Medicare, the PBS and the NDIS) things fall into place. These are insurance schemes. The more people in them the better the spread of risk and the lower the overheads, so the higher the pay-outs. But the trick is to set the right premium to produce the right pay-out without the fund going broke. One of the first, if not the first, attempt to do this was in the mid-18 th century when the Scottish reformed church, after allowing its clergymen to marry, found itself responsible for the upkeep of their widows. They turned to Robert Wallace and Alexander Webster who looked at (in those days very roungh) life-expectancy figures to determine how much each clergyman should have to pay through their working lives in order for there to be a fund which could pay for widows' upkeep without the fund ever being exhausted. It was a non-profit scheme. It was universal and compulsory. And it worked. Similarly, the Australian Government Future Fund set up with the proceeds of the sale of the last third of Telstra to fund the pension obligations to public servants is compulsory and universal for public servants. Under the leadership of that well-known socialist Peter Costello it is well on its way to its aim of amassing $140 billion to fund the $7 billion a year pension obligation. It also runs five nation-building funds. Guess what? It does not allow public servants to choose which fund they want their superannuation levy to go into. Its goes into the Future Fund. And no fat commissions or excessive profits or fees are taken out. Further, the Future Fund does not suffer from some of the flaws in the general superannuation scheme. The 1983 redress of the former class-based system had a couple of unforeseen problems. Because unions initially gave up a 3 per cent pay rise to kick the system off, they rightly wanted a piece of the action. Because it was the workers' money they rightly wanted a say in its management and to ensure the money was not spirited away. To ensure this they often insisted on clauses in enterprise bargaining agreements as to which fund the employer must put workers' compulsory superannuation contributions. There were two poor consequences. As workers moved from job to job and industry to industry they ended up with multiple accounts, each incurring a minimum base administration fee, however small the account. Few workers made the effort to consolidate them. Secondly, a lot of the trustees of these new funds did not have the skills to ensure the investments were sound. Next governments gave generous tax breaks for superannuation contributions and earnings, enticing financial advisers to attract more self-employed people to invest in superannuation. They "earned" fat commissions from advising clients to put their money into retail funds (mainly run by the banks) which also took a profit cut. But the investors hardly noticed they were being dudded because the tax breaks were so good. So the under-performing funds are usually smaller ones with low skill sets and retail funds which have to take out profits and commissions. The bad performing funds, however, are not a symptom of a bad scheme, rather one that needs a few changes which should have been done long ago. But the defects had been ignored because workers were too ignorant or apathetic and too many people were getting too much power, influence and money from leaving things the way they were. A better way to look at it would be that the good performing funds show what is possible. Given that one of the best performing funds is the Future Fund, maybe all Australians should have the option of putting their superannuation there and the Productivity Commission should have recommended that option as a means of keeping the whole industry on its toes. www.crispinhull.com.au /images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/b586a59b-bf14-4553-8dc3-92b725b57037/r0_13_479_284_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg news, act-politics Good morning Canberra, Pack your umbrella today because there is a 90 per cent chance of rain. The maximum temperature is forecast to be a chilly 13 degrees, with an overnight low of 5 degrees. Here's the news. The political fallout from the ANU's decision to scrap the Ramsay Centre continues, with Prime Minsiter Malcolm Turnbull now entering the fray. On Thursday, Mr Turnbull became the latest Liberal politician to wade into the furor over the course, which was to be funded by the John Howard-headed Ramsay Centre. The prime minister said he was "very surprised" by the ANU's decision and would be speaking to vice-chancellor Brian Schmidt personally. Sherryn Groch has the details. A new watchdog position has been established in the ACT to oversee the use of restrictive practices by schools and disabilities services. Legislation establishing the position comes in the wake of a scandal revealed in 2015, in which a 10-year-old boy with autism was placed in a blue cage inside a Canberra school. The "senior practicioner" role will help phase out the use of restrictive practices, as well as providing guidance and advice, Youth Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said. Here is the story. Union consultation has been baked into a major set of health and safety reforms proposed by the ACT government. Opposition MP Andrew Wall said the legislation would need close scrutiny. Anything that favours the rights of unions over the rights of local businesses and local workers wont receive the support of the Canberra Liberals, he said. Read more here. Management are keeping a close eye on weather bureau staff as a testy pay dispute heats up. According to the Community and Public Sector Union, staff have been told that "additional quality control" was needed ahead of forecasts going live, and that all social media posts needed to be reviewed. The union has criticised the actions as "heavy-handed". Sally Whyte reports. Priests in Canberra will soon be forced to break the seal of confession to report child abusers. All three parties in the ACT Legislative Assembly supported the bill to extend the mandatory reporting scheme to cover churches, although three Liberal politicians spoke out about their concerns. The new laws will require religious organisations' "activities, facilities, programs or services" to report allegations, offences or convictions related to children to the ACT Ombudsman within 30 days and launch an investigation from July 1. Katie Burgess reports. /images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/4fd0dcd6-b943-4ff2-a90d-94dac9277160/r0_278_5472_3370_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg news, latest-news Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will intervene in the ANU's decision to pull out of a controversial new degree in Western Civilisation, saying he wants to talk to the university's vice-chancellor about it directly. On Thursday, Mr Turnbull became the latest Liberal politician to wade into the furore over the course, which was to be funded by the John Howard-headed Ramsay Centre. The Prime Minister said he was "very surprised" by the ANU's decision last week to end six months of negotiation with the centre and would be speaking to vice-chancellor Brian Schmidt personally "to get his account of it". "I find it very hard to understand why that proposal from the Ramsay Foundation would not have been accepted with enthusiasm," Mr Turnbull said. But Professor Schmidt has hit back at criticism, saying while the lucrative deal was attractive, the decision came down to protecting the university's academic freedom. Professor Schmidt told Fairfax Media on Thursday that the Ramsay Centre had "sought a level of influence over our curriculum and staffing that went beyond what any other donor has been granted, and was inconsistent with academic autonomy". "This would set a precedent that would completely undermine the integrity of the university," he said, noting the ANU had declined donations before and "will again". Long-standing concerns about the secretive negotiations came to a head last month when the National Tertiary Education Union wrote to the university warning of a potential backlash if the final deal was seen to compromise on the ANU's values or link the university to a "divisive cultural and political agenda". Academics who spoke to Fairfax raised concerns the proposal could push one narrow view of history and give unprecedented control of the curriculum to an outside philanthropic organisation. The proposed course is part of a $3 billion bequest from health care magnate Paul Ramsay to promote the study of liberal arts, an enticing offer, Professor Schmidt acknowledged, that would also give generous scholarships to students. But he stressed the university already had a strong reputation for scholarship in the Western tradition, offering more than 150 courses - or 18 years worth of study - in the area. While the decision "had nothing to do with the subject matter", he said the ANU had a "fundamentally different vision" for the program than the Ramsay Centre and there was no chance of reaching a compromise. The centre has maintained it upheld "the principles of academic autonomy" at all times during its discussions with the ANU, which was the first university to enter into negotiations on the degree after the centre put a call out to universities last year. In correspondence released between the centre and Professor Schmidt, former prime minister Howard said the university's decision was at odds "with the tenor" of talks just two days earlier. He also revealed the centre had recently agreed to let the university prepare a draft curriculum for "examination and response", in lieu of an earlier draft, believed to have been prepared by the centre, that was rejected by the ANU. "The reality is that until a few weeks ago provisional agreement had been reached on the curriculum, and an approach to staff selection, both of which were subject to the final approval of university authorities," Mr Howard wrote. "At all times the centre has sought to negotiate in good faith with the university and, although some differences of approach had emerged, I had thought...that a clear understanding existed about how to handle the issue in the coming weeks." The course had been expected to launch in first semester next year but fears about its content spiked last month when former prime minister Tony Abbott, who also sits on the board of the centre along with Kim Beazley, wrote an article suggesting the board would wield influence over the curriculum and staff. The Ramsay Centre "is not merely about Western civilisation but in favour of it", he declared. According to the ANU's website, decisions on the course's curriculum would have been made by a "partnership management committee" consisting of two academic staff from the centre and two university academics. At Senate Estimates hearings this week, federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham accused the union and the ANU's two student associations, who all backed the university's decision, of stoking negativity about the Ramsay Centre's "significant bequest". He has also called on other universities to "resist politically correct objections" when considering the degree. A spokeswoman for the University of Sydney confirmed the university was now in conversations with the Ramsay Centre about the possibility of running the degree. Professor Schmidt has indicated the ANU remains open to approaches from all potential donors, including a second offer from the Ramsay Centre if the university's academic autonomy could be guranteed. The Prime Minister's office has been contacted for comment. /images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/2b5e5e0f-f237-47be-8375-55349d9a9d52/r0_281_5472_3373_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg Modified On Jun 16, 2018 12:38 AM By CarDekho The discounts are valid till 25 June, 2018 Tatas Motors has announced that it will be offering benefits of up to Rs 1 lakh on cars such as the Tiago, Tigor, Nexon and Hexa to commemorate 150 years of the Tata Group. The homegrown carmaker will also provide insurance at Re 1, special exchange bonuses and many other deals this month. The discounts and offers are valid till 25 June, 2017. Here are the zone-wise discounts on various Tata cars: Car Name Offer for Offer Bolt (MY2018) Pan India Cash discount of up to Rs. 30,000 + Exchange bonus of up to Rs. 10,000 Bolt (MY2017 or before) Pan India Cash discount of up to Rs. 50,000 + Exchange bonus of up to Rs. 15,000 Hexa (MY2018) Pan India First year insurance @ Re. 1 + Exchange bonus of up to Rs. 15,000 Hexa (MY2017 of before) Pan India First Year Insurance @ Re. 1 + Exchange bonus of up to Rs. 20,000 Nano (MY2018) Pan India First year insurance @ Re. 1 Nano (MY2017 or before) Pan India First Year Insurance @ Re. 1 + Exchange bonus of up to Rs. 10,000 Nexon West (1,2,3) & North First year insurance @ Re. 1 Nexon West (4), East, South First year insurance @ Rs. 4,999 Safari Strome Pan India First year insurance @ Re. 1 + Exchange bonus of up to Rs. 15,000 Sumo Pan India Cash discount of up to Rs. 25,000 + Exchange bonus of up to Rs. 15,000 Tigor (MY2018) Pan India First year insurance @ Re. 1 + Exchange bonus of up to Rs. 15,000 Tigor (MY2017 or before) Pan India First year insurance @ Re. 1 + Exchange bonus of up to Rs. 20,000 Zest (MY2018, except Premio) Pan India First year insurance @ Re. 1 + Exchange bonus of up to Rs. 10,000 Zest (MY2017, except Premio) Pan India First year insurance @ Re. 1 + Exchange bonus of up to Rs. 15,000 + Additional discount of up to Rs. 10,000 Zest Premio Pan India First year insurance @ Re. 1 + Exchange bonus of up to Rs. 10,000 + Additional discount of up to Rs. 20,000 Tiago (MY2018) North Exchange bonus of up to Rs. 10,000 Tiago (MY2017 or before) North First year insurance @ Re. 1 + Exchange bonus of up to Rs. 10,000 Tiago (MY2018) West (1,4), East & South First year insurance @ Re. 1 Tiago (MY2017 or before) West (1,4), East & South First year insurance @ Re. 1 + Exchange bonus of up to Rs. 10,000 Tiago (MY2018) West (2,3) First year insurance @ Rs. 2,999 Tiago (MY2017 or before) West (2,3) First year insurance @ Re. 1 + Exchange bonus of up to Rs. 10,000 For more details, check out the companys official statement below: Press Release: Mumbai, 7th June, 2018: Commemorating 150 years of the Tata Group, the Tata Motors passenger vehicles business is extending a special, limited period offer, till 25th June. Reflecting on this group-wide celebration, this attractive offer will include benefits that are worth up to INR 1 Lakh,* provision of insurance at Re 1*, and a special exchange bonus* amongst many other exciting deals, thus making it an exciting proposition for the first-time-car buyers, this monsoon. Related: Production-Spec Tata 45X Spied; Will Rival Elite i20, Baleno Commenting on the occasion, Mr. S.N Barman, Vice President Sales, Marketing & Customer Support, PVBU, Tata Motors said, Throughout the years, Tata Motors has continuously striven to meet the customers expectations and offer them with a joyous experience while purchasing a car. On the blissful occasion of the 150th anniversary of our Group, we wish to strengthen the bond of happiness amongst our customers through many beneficial offers this month. The Company is offering these benefits on the entire range of passenger vehicles, including the blockbuster TIAGO and its LEVEL NEX compact SUV the NEXON. Tata Motors Passenger Vehicle Business in the domestic market ended FY18 with a growth of 22%, compared to industry growth of 7%. The growth momentum continues in FY19 with a strong sales performance with an increase of 61% is sales, recorded in May 2018. With Turnaround 2.0, the Company strives towards a Sustainable Win in PVs by driving volumes and increasing market share. Also Read: Tata Tiago Petrol MT vs AMT - Real World Performance Comparison Read More on : Tata Hexa diesel Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact. Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here. Care2 Stands With: humanitarians, animal lovers, feminists, rabble-rousers, nature-buffs, creatives, the naturally curious, and people who really love to do the right thing. You are our people. You Care. We Care2. When Indian multinational companies started exploring the world market, they did not compromise on recruiting professionals who can make their investment worthwhile with additional language skills. Both international and national companies are looking for a professional who can communicate better and understand the culture. Over the years, a career in a foreign language has become one amongst the lucrative careers. Moreover, many professionals started acquiring the skills in foreign languages, which are considered as added attributes for the advancement of one's career. Let's tour the lucrative careers in foreign languages. How To Take Up A Foreign Language Career Anyone can take up any foreign language at various institutes spread across the country. One can pursue a foreign language immediately after their 10+2. There is an option to pursue 3-year bachelor's in a foreign language. Aspirants who are aiming to use the foreign language for their career advancement can enrol for diplomas and certifications after their graduation. There are many institutes which are backed by the embassies such as Alliance Francaise and Max Mueller Bhavan. There is no specific qualification required to pursue the first level of a course at these institutes. However, the duration varies depending upon the course and program. How Much Does It Costs? Most of the institutes backed by the government and/or embassies charge reasonable fees. Though the fee depends upon the language and number of learners, it will not go beyond thousands. Some languages, such as Korean, Japanese and Mandarin, are available at specific institutes, hence, the price may be a little bit high. However, the fee for the Arabian and Persian are low because they are available at many Indian universities. Best Courses To Pursue Professional who are looking for career advancement can opt for the certificate course offered by many institutes such as Max Mueller Bhavan and Alliance Francaise. One can take up the 3-year bachelor's degree or 4-year integrated course at University of Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Jamia Millia University and English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU). Candidates can also opt for the master's and PhD in foreign languages. Scholarships To Pursue Foreign Languages Many national universities such as Jawaharlal Nehru University and Delhi University encourage students to take up the foreign languages with awarding scholarships. They also provide student exchange programmes with foreign universities. Career Prospects In Foreign Language The proficiency in any of the foreign languages will add a star to your profile and open various opportunities in sectors such as hospitality, diplomatic service, public relation, mass communication, international organisation and multinational companies. Many corporate companies and media houses are specifically looking for positions such as content writers and translators. Apart from the private sector, one can also gain big in the international organisations such as United Nations Organisation (UNO) and others. The Ministry of External Affairs also recruits Indian nationals for various foreign languages for the department works. One can also consider openings in the government organisations such as Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Top 10 Indian Universities That Offer Courses In Foreign Languages 1. Madras University 2. Jawaharlal Nehru University 3. Delhi University 4. EFL University 5. University of Mumbai 6. University of Calcutta 7. Jamia Milia Islamia 8. Bangalore University 9. Punjab Technical University 10. Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) Career In Digital Marketing: Explore Career Opportunities And Skills Required The Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), which is popular across the world for hosting the educational events, has announced the World University Rankings 2019. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from the United States of America has successfully defended its crown for the 7th consecutive time in a row. Though the QS World University Rankings 2019 is dominated by American and European universities, Indian universities have also increased their score and ranks considerably. As the number of universities increased from 959 to 1,000 in the QS WUR 2019, there is an increase in the total number of Indian universities compared to last year. A total of 24 Indian universities are featured in the QS World University Rankings 2019, and IITs continue to dominate the top positions. Here are the Indian universities that have made their way to the QS World University Rankings 2019. Indian Universities In QS World University Rankings 2019 Rank 2019 Rank 2018 Rank 2017 University Name 162 179 219 Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IITB) 170 190 =152 Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore =172 172 =185 Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IITD) =264 =264 =249 Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IITM) =283 =293 =302 Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IITK) =295 =308 =313 Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (IIT-KGP) =381 431-440 399 Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee (IITR) =472 501-550 481-490 Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati (IITG) 487 481-490 501-550 University of Delhi 591-600 601-650 -NA- University of Hyderabad 601-650 601-650 -NA- Jadavpur University 751-800 651-700 -NA- Anna University 751-800 -NA- -NA- Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi 751-800 701-750 -NA- Manipal Academy of Higher Education 801-1000 801-1000 -NA- Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Aligarh 801-1000 -NA- -NA- Amity University 801-1000 -NA- -NA- Amrita University 801-1000 801-1000 701+ Banaras Hindu University 801-1000 801-1000 -NA- Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani 801-1000 801-1000 701+ Savitribai Phule Pune University 801-1000 -NA- -NA- Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology 801-1000 751-800 651-700 University of Calcutta 801-1000 801-1000 701+ University of Mumbai 801-1000 -NA- -NA- Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) Most of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are maintaining the momentum and taking the lion's share of the country in rankings. Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, and University of Hyderabad have improved their rankings compared to last year. However, University of Calcutta and University of Mumbai continue to register the poor rankings. While coming to the methodology of the World University Rankings, QS ranks the universities based on the six performance indicators, namely Academic Reputation (40%), Employer Reputation (10%), Faculty/Student Ratio (20%), Citations Per Faculty (20%) and International Faculty Ratio & International Student Ratio (10%). QS World University Rankings 2019: MIT Topped For 7th Consecutive Time Cochin Port Trust has released an employment notification calling out for aspirants to apply for the post of Senior Deputy Secretary. 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 58000. The last date to apply for the government job is July 16, 2018. BEL Recruitment 2018 For Managers: Earn Up To INR 220000 Cochin Port Trust Recruitment 2018 Vacancy Details CRITERIA DETAILS Name Of The Post Senior Deputy Secretary Organisation Cochin Port Trust Educational Qualification Degree from a recognised university Maximum Age Limit 42 years Salary Scale INR 32900 to INR 58000 Job Location Cochin Industry Port Experience 12 years Application Start Date June 6, 2018 Application End Date July 16, 2018 Also Read: EdCIL Recruitment 2018 For Various Posts: Earn Up To INR 100000! How To Apply For Cochin Port Trust Recruitment 2018 In order to apply for Cochin Port Trust Recruitment 2018, follow these steps: Step 1: Log on to the Cochin Port Trust official website. Step 2: Hover over the Careers tab on the home page. Step 3: Select Current Openings. Step 4: Click on the link for Senior Deputy Secretary. The detailed advertisment will be displayed on the screen. Read the details carefully. Step 5: Scroll down to the bottom of the page to find the application form. Download and print it. Step 6: Send the completed application form to Cochin Port Trust. Cochin Port Trust Recruitment 2018 Application Format And Mailing Address Superscribe on the envelope, "Application for the post of Senior Deputy Secretary" and send it to Willingdon Island, Kochi, Kerala 682003. Click here to read the detailed official notification. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) has released an employment notification calling out for aspirants to apply for the post of Specialist Doctors. 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 100000. The last date to apply for the government job is June 18, 2018. UPSC NDA And NA II Application Process Open: Apply Before July 2, 2018! ONGC Recruitment 2018 Vacancy Details CRITERIA DETAILS Name Of The Post Medical Officer Organisation Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) Educational Qualification MBBS, MD or BDS Age Limit Not mentioned Skills Required Clinical judgement Salary Scale INR 55000 to INR 100000 Job Location Dehradun Industry Medicine Experience Desirable Application Start Date June 4, 2018 Application End Date June 18, 2018 Also Read: NHAI Recruitment 2018 For General Managers: Earn Up To INR 75000 How To Apply For ONGC Recruitment 2018 In order to apply for ONGC Recruitment 2018, follow these steps: Step 1: Log on to the ONGC official website. Step 2: Hover over the Career tab. Step 3: Click on the Recruitment Notice tab. Step 4: The list of recruitments will be displayed on the screen. Click on the link that reads, Engagement of Doctors on Contract at Satya Pal Wahi Hospital, Dehradun. Step 5: On the next screen that opens, click on the link that reads, Online Application. Step 6: Click on the APPLY ONLINE button. Step 7: The instructions to apply will be displayed on the screen. Read them carefully. Step 8: Click on the declaration checkbox to confirm that you have read all the instructions. Step 9: Click on the button that reads, CLICK TO APPLY. Step 10: The application form will be displayed on the screen. Enter your details in the fields provided. Check for your eligibility by clicking on the CHECK ELIGIBILITY button and follow the subsequent pages to complete the application process. Click here to read the detailed official notification. Photo: fr.videoblocks.com A summer reading list for foodies and wine lovers Instead of breaking out the Kindle or iPad for reading books at the beach or on the patio this summer, why not grab the actual book? A glass of wine or a craft beer, your snack of choice paired with one of these reads, and youre all set. Icon: Flagship Wines from British Columbias Best Wineries, by John Schreiner This is a gorgeous hardcover book. Keep it on the coffee table as a reference point or for guest to pick up and thumb through while sipping a glass. Dozens of wineries are profiled, following a detailed introduction by Schreiner that explains the selection process for the book. Several wines per winery are included with tasting notes and a handy drink now note. Need a wedding gift this summer? Start the happy couples wine cellar with this book and a few bottles highlighted in it. Lure: Sustainable Seafood Recipes from the West Coast, by Ned Bell with Valerie Howes Chef Ned Bell is a champion of the sustainable seafood movement and responsible management of the bounty our oceans provide, as reflected in this well-organized cookbook. The book is organized by white fish, shellfish, fatty fish, and sea greens, and by course (salads, soups, sandwiches and so forth). It also includes a handy back to basics section with fun charts, and, of course, a primer on how to cook fish. The Okanagan Table: The Art of Everyday Home Cooking, by Rod Butters with Kerry Gold Okanagan-ites will be familiar with the growing restaurant portfolio under the guidance of Chef Rod Butters (RauDZ, micro bar bites, Terrafina, and Sunnys). It's filled with mouth-watering photos and recipes sorted by the time of day, like sunrise and twilight." The recipes also embrace the flavours and freshness of the Okanagan with an occasional twist. The Cauliflower and Saffron Wedding Soup is divine. One of the best parts of the book is a list of local farmers, producers, and suppliers. The Wandering Vine: Wine, the Romans and Me, by Nina Caplan A lyrical journey through wine regions, from England to France to Italy, that at one point were part of the Roman Empire. This book is part travel journal, part personal exploration, and part wine writing. It may make you want to retrace the writer's route, or simply let this transport you to another realm that explores what wine can do for each of your senses, and what memories a certain wine can make or revive. Tangled Vines: Greed, Murder, Obsession and an Arsonist in the Vineyards of California, by Frances Dinkelspiel The title just about sums things up. This is the true story of a day in 2005 when a warehouse of wine in California went up in flames, the costliest destruction of wine in history. If you like true-crime stories, this meticulously researched book is for you. It addresses many things in the underbelly of the wine industry, from personal tensions to wine fraud. Next on my reading list? Eating Local in the Fraser Valley by Angie Quaale, and Food Artisans of Alberta by Karen Anderson and Matilde Sanchez-Turri. Like pigs with their heads in the taxpayers' trough, our mayor and councillors voted themselves a very nice pay rise and they can all justify it in their own minds. Fortunately, there are civic elections coming this year. Let's hope we all remember their greed, and vote the jokers out of office. Then, maybe, the super developers who seem to always get their way with this mayor and this council will not find life so easy for the next four years. Peter Newton, Kelowna Madison Erhardt It was a perfect, sunny afternoon for Kelowna Gospel Mission's eighth annual 'Well Done' barbecue. The Wednesday event celebrated the hard work by non-profit and social service agencies that help the Mission on a daily basis. When someone transitions from street life, all the community partners celebrate. Last Wednesday, our staff had a tearful but joyful reunion with one of our former guests, Jackie, who lived on and off the street for 15 years. She is now 18 months sober, living in a home, has a car and a full-time job. This would not have happened without community collaboration," said executive director Randy Benson. MLAs Ben Stewart and Steve Thomson attended the event. "Together, we can work towards comprehensive solutions to the very real issues that must be addressed in a responsible way," Stewart said. To find out how you can support Kelowna's Gospel Mission, click here. Photo: Dave Parmelee Snowy view of Okanagan from July 13, 2015. Make sure you're sitting for this news. A special weather statement has been issued for the Okanagan, calling for snow on higher elevation travel routes this Sunday. After a warm and largely dry May, a wet and cool weekend is forecast for the Southern Interior. A strong southerly flow aloft will set up late on Friday ... bring rain starting in earnest Friday night and continue through Saturday, Environment Canada says. Isolated thunderstorms giving gusty winds and increased rainfall rates are possible. For the rest of the weekend, a strong southerly flow will shift east toward Alberta and be replaced with a cool and unsettled airmass. Showery conditions and scattered thunderstorms are likely to continue on Sunday. Freezing levels are expected to fall and some higher elevation travel routes could see some snow on Sunday as well, Environment Canada warns. Increased surface runoff with localized flooding could be cause for concern this weekend. Photo: Nicholas Johansen A man lit a small fire under a tree in the Kelowna Central School field off Rowcliffe Avenue Thursday afternoon. The fire starter fled when firefighters arrived, however. The Kelowna Fire Department responded to the fire about 2 p.m. and found the remnants of a smouldering fire underneath a large tree. A man was underneath the tree with several items when fire crews arrived, but he quickly ran off. While the fire had mostly burned itself out by the time firefighters arrived, they soaked down the area under the tree. RCMP also arrived to investigate. farm 13 The end has come to Victor Pecoraro! The pawn was disqualified from the competition for the live program... Believe it or not, Ivana and President Trump still speak to one another at least once a week. Trump also looks to his first ex-wife as an advisor of sorts, gaining insight and perspective from the mother of his first three children. That comes as a bit of a shock considering the two went through a tumultuous public divorce. And while Ivana got a hefty settlement and significant alimony from the divorce, she has experienced success on her own accord. Follow along to learn about Ivanas career through the years and how she has made her money since splitting from the Donald. 1. Before she ever met Donald, she was a model The Czechoslovakia native fired up her modeling career long before she ever left her home country or met Trump. However, after she moved to Canada with her first husband, the work really started pouring in. Some of her more noteworthy gigs were with the Got Milk campaign, Eatons department store, and even working with the 1976 Olympics Games. It was at a New York nightclub where the two lovers met in 1976. They were married less than a year later. Next: Then they went to splitsville. 2. The couple divorced in 1992 Fourteen years and three children later, the couple divorced, and it wasnt pretty. Trump had been caught having an affair with Marla Maples, turning the couples already rocky marriage into an explosive, very public divorce. Ivana alleged that Trump raped and physically abused her and the tabloids covered every bit of it. When the two finally settled outside of court of law, Ivana walked away with an impressive settlement $10 million plus $350,000 in annual alimony. Next: Ivana got back to work. 3. She branded herself and launched a perfume, clothing, and jewelry line Once the dust settled from the divorce, Ivana did what any well-known public figure would have done: She branded the heck out of herself and started making money. According to Town & Country (and similar to her daughter Ivanka), she produced an entire line of self-branded perfume, clothing, and jewelry. She even tried her hand at authoring books. More on that later. Next: Then, she hit the big screen. 4. She made a cameo appearance in The First Wives Club No stranger to the camera, Ivana had zero trouble holding her own while making a cameo appearance in The First Wives Club. She appeared opposite A-list actresses Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton, and Bette Midler. In the scene, the women thank Ivana for coming to their event, and her response was seemingly ripped from reality. Her famous line: Ladies, you have to be strong and independent. And remember, dont get mad. Get everything. Touche, Ivana. Next: In came the reality TV appearances 5. She has made reality TV appearances Her first go at reality television wasnt a huge hit, but it was certainly entertaining. The 2006 show was titled Ivana Young Man, and the premise was Ivana helping a lady named Kathy seek out and find a young lover. Unfortunately for Ivana, the show didnt proceed past episode one. Fast forward to 2010 and you could find Ivana on Celebrity Big Brother. Next: Shes a writer too. 6. She wrote her memoir Raising Trump Raising Trump was published in 2017, shedding light on the real-life experiences of marrying and divorcing Trump, along with everything that went into raising their three children. She reminisces on Ivanka coming home with blue hair, tells the story about forcing her daughter to sit in economy class until she could afford to pay for her own upgrade to first class, touches on her feelings about Marla Maples, and much more. Next: The big-time job she turned down. 7. She turned down the Czech Ambassador job offer After President Trump took Office, he extended to Ivana what many would consider the job opportunity of a lifetime ambassador to the Czech Republic. After mulling it over, she realized that trading her lavish jet-setting lifestyle for such a big-time job simply wouldnt do. She told the New York Post that Its four years in Prague, so bye-bye to Miami, bye-bye to New York in spring and fall, bye-bye to Saint-Tropez in summer. Next: The one time Ivana followed in Marlas footsteps. 8. She appeared on Dancing with the Stars When it comes to Maples, Ivana may be her most disparaging critic of all. And rightfully so, considering the upheaval created by Trumps second wife. Its well-known that Ivana sees Maples as a joke, which she made clear when Maples appeared on Dancing with the Stars. Coincidentally, Ivana followed in her footsteps, appearing on episode nine of Ballando Con Le Stelle, Italys version of the show. Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook! Source: Town & Country A US missionary kidnapped in Niger in October 2016 is alive, according to the West African nations president. Jeff Woodke, who worked for Jeunesse en Mission Entraide et Developpement (JEMED), a branch of the US-based Youth With a Mission, was abducted by unknown assailants late in the evening of Friday 14 October, 2016, from the town of Abalak in northern Niger. For 20 months, there has been no news of Woodke, but on Monday, 4 June, President Mahamadou Issoufou told TV channel France24 that both he and a German aid worker kidnapped in April this year are alive. We have some news; we know theyre alive, the president said. We continue to create the conditions for their release. Perhaps the contacts that are underway will help to achieve that goal. It is the first proof of life since the kidnapping of the two Western citizens in the Sahel country. Little had been known, or at least divulged, about Woodkes condition or location, other than that his captors were tracked to neighbouring Mali by Nigerien authorities. No group has publicly claimed responsibility. Last July, a coalition of jihadist groups active in the Sahel region (Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen, also known as the Group to Support Islam and Muslims), affiliated to Al-Qaeda, released a video showing six foreign hostages, including three missionaries, but not Jeff Woodke. The three missionaries in the video were: Colombian nun Gloria Argoti, kidnapped on 7 February from her convent in Karangasso, southern Mali; Australian surgeon Ken Elliott, kidnapped in January 2016 from Djibo in northern Burkina Faso, near the Mali border; and Swiss missionary Beatrice Stockly, kidnapped in Malis northern town of Timbuktu, also in January 2016. All are still captive. Jeff Woodkes wife, Els, issued a video pleading for his safe return when there was no sign of him in that video, believing that he could also be held by those who issued it. I am sure that the families of the captives were very encouraged by this message and appreciated the mercy shown by Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen in sending this news and instructions about their loved ones, said Mrs Woodke in her video. But my husband Jeff is not mentioned, so I did not receive the benefit of the reassurance and directions of how to proceed that the other families did. This has been very hard for me, for Jeffs sons and his father to understand. The German Joerg Lange, employed by the aid group Help, was kidnapped by armed men on 11 April, in Nigers western town of Ayorou, which shares a border with troubled northern Mali. No group has claimed responsibility for his abduction, but a security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that his kidnappers had already taken him to northern Mali. On Monday, President Issoufou said he did not know exactly where the pair were being detained, but that it is more likely that they are in Mali. The post Kidnapped US missionary Jeff Woodke is alive, says Nigers president appeared first on World Watch Monitor. Photo: For 20 months, there has been no news of Jeff Woodke Photo courtesy: Facebook/Blaise Gaitou Publication date: June 7, 2018 In view of the U.S.-North Korea Summit taking place on June 12th, Open Doors USA has called Christiansto spend the previous 24 hours in prayer. Open Doors will be hosting an exclusive online prayer summit for those who wish to gather with other believers in prayer and to hear from an expert on the persecuted church in North Korea. However, anyone who wants to can join with believers around the nation and around the world in asking Gods blessing on this important meeting between President Trump and Koreas leader, Kim Jong-Un. Open Doors Founder Brother Andrew reminds Christians of the power of prayer, for prayers can go where we cannot there are no borders, no prison walls, no doors that are closed to us when we pray. The Open Doors article on the prayer event also reminds believers of the power of prayerand of the occasional need for fasting when praying against spiritually stubborn situations. North Koreas history and current certainly seem to qualify it as such a situation. For the last 17 consecutive years, says Open Doors, North Korea has ranked as the #1 most dangerous country for Christians on the World Watch List.The country has become infamously known for its human rights violations of North Koreans and harsh treatment of North Korean Christians. North Koreans must worship the ruling familynothing elseand Christianity is illegal and will be punished.The discovery of faith results in imprisonment in the countrys notorious prison camps and even death for not only the individual or family but also three generations of that family. The Open Doors prayer event will focus on President Trump, Kim Jong-Un, and their time together, as well as 15 specific prayer requests which they suggest for believers praying alongside them. Satan dreads nothing but prayer, wrote 19th-century minister Samuel Chadwick. His one concern is to keep the saints from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks our wisdom, but trembles when we pray. Let us pray then, for Gods will to be done in hearts and in policies on June 12th. Photo courtesy: Thinkstockphotos.com Publication date: June 7, 2018 At a recent multi-day conference, the Minnesota Conference of the United Methodist Church used an edited version of the Apostles Creed which removed a reference to God as Father. When the conference handed out liturgical folders for a worship service, Rev. Keith Mcilwain noticed the change to the historic creed. Throughout Christian history, churches have recited the creed, which confesses, I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. The edited version read, I believe in God, the Creator Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. Rev. Mcilwain, the pastor of Slippery Rock United Methodist Church, snapped a photo of the edited creed and posted it on Twitter. He told the Christian Post that he obtained a copy of the liturgy from a friend who attended the service. This move by the Minnesota Conference comes as many denominations are rethinking the way they refer to God, seeing the language as too restrictive. The UMC has been engaged in a discussion about how to use more gender-inclusive language since the 1980s. Mcilwain expressed disbelief that this major change to the creed took place with no debate or discussion. He told the Christian Post, "No United Methodist individual or body has the authority to edit those creeds which were formulated by the early Church and have helped define orthodox Christianity for the better part of 2000 years. Mcilwain sees this move as driving a deeper wedge into an already splintering denomination. The church has been embroiled in difficult debates for the last few years over marriage, gender, and sexuality. "To see the creed abused in this way is extraordinarily disheartening, further distances our already troubled denomination from the Church Universal, exacerbates already existing tensions within the Church, and harms those affirming the creed by failing to faithfully teach and uphold one of the core essential doctrines of the Christian faith the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity." He further added that this stands as a major undermining of traditional Methodist doctrine. "All ordained United Methodist clergy promise to faithfully uphold and teach the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity, which is shared and defined in Article 1 of our Articles of Religion; I fear that this edited creed represents a failure to be faithful to what The United Methodist Church believes." The Christian Post reached out to the Minnesota Conference for comment, but they have not yet responded. Photo courtesy: Unsplash/Sarah Noltner Publication date: June 7, 2018 For as long as I can remember, my wife and I hosted dinnersbirthday parties for congregants, baby showers, Thanksgiving dinners for displaced New Yorkers, dinners to honor people, and many others. In 2005, I hosted a man I barely knew. I just knew that he was a missionary to China and played a role in the great revivals there. Unknown to me, he was a giant of faith, a modern-day Paul, a person who would shape the trajectory of my life and all those around me. To think that he would accept my hospitalityan uncomfortable red convertible sofa and food from an untrained culinary handhumbles me. Hospitality can be paradoxical. Often those who show it are blessed more than those who receive it. The theme of theoxeny, the showing of hospitality to a god or godsusually in disguiseis not a common one in Christian theological discourse. Ive never come across this word in any commentary or theological book (perhaps an indictment on my shallow reading), not even in a footnote. The first time I came across this word was when I was working in Homeric scholarship. Greek and Roman Examples of Theoxeny In the Odyssey of Homer, the concept of theoxeny emerges clearly in book 16. Here Odysseus son, Telemachus, finally comes in contact with his father but he does not recognize him because he has been disguised as an old beggar. When Athena removes Odysseus disguise, returning his appearance to his heroic self, Telemachus grows afraid, not because of the sudden transformation itself (as we would expect) but because he is afraid that he did not show proper hospitality to a god in disguise. In his worldview, the gods are wont to test peoples characters by whether they show proper hospitality, or xenia. So, Telemachus fears that he did not pass the test; he did not lead this old beggar into his palace to entertain him. Another example emerges in Odysseus subsequent interaction with the suitors. On one occasion, a more sober-minded suitor pauses to second guess the wicked action of the ringleader, Antinoos, saying that he did something egregious by striking a stranger because he might have struck a god. Of course, Antinoos reveals his hubris by dismissing this idea. A few lines later, Telemachus says: Antinoos, beyond the rest, is like black death. If we theologize the Odyssey in broad strokes with some imagination, then Odysseus homecoming can be seen as a literary theoxeny. Odysseus is a stand-in for a god. After all, he is disguised as a beggar and observes, tests, and judges wickedness. Odysseus makes this point clear in book 22 when he says the fate of the gods punished these suitors on account of their lack of xenia. At the least, Odysseus sees himself as an instrument of divine judgment. From this perspective, the whole of the Odyssey is an extended story of theoxeny, a point that would not have been missed in the ancient world where the line between men and gods was permeable. Moving from the Greek world to the Roman world, the idea of theoxeny is still alive and well. The most well-known Roman story which illustrates this is undeniably the myth of Philemon and Baucis, which is the centerpiece of Ovids Metamorphoses. Jupiter and Mercury come, disguised as peasants, looking for a place to stay at night. A thousand homes reject them, but when they come to a small cottage, the poor couple who lives there, Philemon and Baucis, receive the gods and show great generosity. They give out of their poverty and are even about to kill their only goose to feed their guests. At this point, Jupiter tells them not to do such a thing. Instead, he bids them to flee because destruction will come upon the town for their exceeding wickedness. Jupiter is true to his word, and a flood destroys the town, but the humble cottage of Philemon and Baucis is turned into a temple. Moreover, Jupiter allows them to die together in their old age as they wish. He even transforms them into an intertwining pair of trees, one a linden tree and the other an oak, to symbolize their lasting love for each other and their hospitality toward the gods. Article continues below The moral of these stories is simple: the gods test the character of people through hospitality. As Homer states: For the gods do take on all sorts of transformations, appearing as strangers from elsewhere to see which men keep the laws, and which are violent. It is no wonder that the Romans, who considered themselves the most religious people on earth, even had a religious rite called the lectisternium, which literally means to spread a couch. In this rite, the Romans prepared a table with food for the gods; more specifically, it was a rite of hospitality to restore peace with the gods. The Greeks and Romans believed that it was possible, important, and necessary to entertain complete strangers because they could be gods in disguise. Theoxeny in the Bible Given this motif in ancient Greco-Roman literature, it should not be surprising to find examples of theoxeny in the Bible. The thread of showing hospitality to God or angelic beings who represent God is stitched into Scripture as well. The flood narrative is the first example. While Genesis 6 does not explicitly say that God walked on the earth to examine the hearts of people, he did see, regret, and judge (Gen. 6:57). Moreover, he extensively communicated with Noah; after all, he gave building instructions for the ark. This is certainly speculative, but it is notable that all the flood narratives in Greek and Roman literature have the lack of xenia as the cause of the flood. We are on firmer ground when we come to Abrahams three visitors in Genesis 18. Genesis 18:1 makes it explicit that the three men are divine visitors because the text states that the Lord (YHWH) appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre. However, Abraham did not know that this stranger was YHWH because he addresses the lead figure with the appellation adonai, an honorific title. Only later did Abraham realize that this figure was YHWH (Gen. 18:1314). Abrahams virtuous character, therefore, is on display in his alacrity to show hospitality to these strangers. He bids them to wash their feet and rest under the tree. He then quickly makes preparations, offering his own food and shelter to his guests. He has Sarah knead dough and make cakes, and he has a servant pick a choice calf and prepare it while he gets milk and puts it before the strangers (Gen. 18:68). He honors them at his own expense. Unbeknownst to Abraham and Sarah, they have just engaged in theoxeny. What makes Abrahams hospitality more significant is the contrast with the following story of Sodom and Gomorrah. These cities were inhospitable in the worst possible way; the juxtaposition of stories makes this point as stark as possible. According to Genesis 18:20, the cry against these cities is so great that the mysterious visitors have to see the evil for themselves. When they arrive, only one man shows hospitality, Lot. At night the men of the cityyoung and oldcome to Lots house and demand that the visitors come out; they want to rape Lots visitors. The sin of omission would have been bad enough (neglecting strangers), but in this narrative the wickedness is so brazen that they want to violate these strangers in the most violent way. They make Odysseus suitors look like cheeky school boys at best, mere amateurs of iniquity. The wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah is evident in their perverse disregard for showing hospitality to their guests. Article continues below Moving to Exodus, the bread of presence may be seen as an example of theoxeny, showing similarity to the rite of lectisternium among the Romans. In Moses elaborate instructions for the tabernacle, there is a lavishly appointed table, on which the bread of Presence should be placed (Ex. 25:2330; Lev. 24:19). While neither Exodus nor Leviticus explains the significance of this bread, it is reasonable to conclude that this bread shows the nearness of God and the hospitality that the Israelites can and should show to God by replacing this bread weekly. Even if God does not consume the food (Aaron and his sons actually partake of it), it was a gesture of dining in the presence of God. Likewise, the sacrifices may be seen from this perspective as well. To be sure, the sacrifices are pregnant with theological meaning that far exceeds any theology of xenia, but good hospitality is certainly present: The people should only give their best to God. Malachi makes this point when he indicts the priests for offering blind, diseased, and lame sacrifices. He simply says: Try offering them to your governor! (Mal. 1:8). Governors would not look kindly on that type of giving. Why would God? In the New Testament, the concept of theoxeny reaches a highpoint; God becomes man and walks among his creation. Every hint of theoxeny finds its fulfillment in the incarnation. Johns prologue says it best when it says: He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him (John 1:11). That there was no room for Jesus in the inn at his birth shows humanitys failing, and it will continue. At a dinner party in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus makes this very point: Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet (Luke 7:4446). As the story of the gospels unfolds, Christ is the long-awaited Messiah, who preached the good news, healed the sick, drove out demons, showed compassion, grace, and mercy. He was God in the flesh, but he was met with skepticism and rejection; he was mistreated and ultimately killed. He received no hospitality; anti-theoxeny. The power brokers of society got together and crucified him for a confluence of selfish reasons. All humanity, therefore, stands condemned. Putting It All Together The Christian hope, of course, is that none of this human sinfulness took God by surprise. God knew that humanity has been bent toward selfishness and sin since the fall of Adam and Eve. He also knew that Christ would be crucified. Herein lies amazing grace. The triune God made a covenant to bless his people knowing perfectly well that blessings could only come from the work of a crucified messiah. God contemplated what it would take to bless humanity, and he did it. Moreover, if we take the words of John 14 to heart, then Jesus has gone ahead of us through his death and resurrection to prepare a place for his people in his fathers house (John 14:14). While we were inhospitable, like Sodom and Gomorrah, he showed us hospitality. Divine xenia, completely undeserved, for his people. Now through the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, humanity can show the hospitality that it was created to give. If we take one more step, through the lens of theoxeny, we are living within an eschatological application of the parable of the wicked tenants (Matt. 21:3346 and Mark. 12:112). According to this parable, a man has planted a vineyard and rented it out to tenants. When the time of harvest came, the owner sent his servant to collect some of the fruits. But the tenants seized the servant and beat him and did the same when other servants came. They repeated this mistreatment many times over and either beat or killed all the servants. Article continues below The landowner finally sent his son. He reasoned that they would surely listen to him, but the shameless tenants saw this as an opportunity to possess the land once and for all. They reasoned if they kill the son, the land will be theirs. The parable ends with a pregnant question: What then will the owner of the vineyard do? (Mark 12:9) What indeed! If we are living within the framework of this parable, then this is a warning. Be faithful now and show hospitality now. This is wisdom in all of these stories, whether they emerge from the ancient Near East, Greece, Rome, or Scripture. Abraham went out of his way to bless the three strangers, and Philemon and Baucis, though poor, gave their best to Jupiter and Mercury, even willing to slaughter their only goose. The call to faithfulness, particularly in hospitality, presses against us and is the irresistible conclusion of these stories and the grace of Christ. Furthermore, it is one of the best ways to live. As we habituate our hearts to this generosity of giving, we shall edify the church (3 John 8), some will entertain angels (Heb. 13:2), and all will be ready for the end of the age (Matt. 25:113). Moreover, if we take Jesus words seriously, then by serving the least of these brethren, we actually serve him (Matt. 25:45). The great encouragement is that we are all capable of showing generosity not only because Christ took the punishment of our inhospitality on himself on the cross but also because he continues to demonstrate hospitality toward us. When we come to the table of bread and wine in churches all across the world, we are partakers of an eschatological meal of his enduring and sacrificial hospitality; a broken body and shed blood still speaks volumes. We are moving into a season when great hospitality and generosity are needed more than ever. I pray that God will use these means of grace to open eyes and turn hearts to the fount of all generosity and hospitality, namely, himself. Through hospitality, we can begin to change the world. John Lee is the head of the Upper School at The Geneva School of Manhattan, a Christian classical school. His most recent book is Paradoxes of Leadership (Elevate, 2017). Morgan Nevilles new documentary about Fred Rogers, Wont You Be My Neighbor?, reminds us that the television icon was an ordained minister ... and then shows us protesters at his funeral predicting his damnation. It tells us that he was a lifelong Republican ... and then shows conservative pundits roundly condemning him for helping create an environment where childrens self-esteem was respected and nurtured. Fred Rogers, the ultimate hip-to-be-square icon, did not change all that much in the 35 years between the premiere of his iconic show, Mister Rogers Neighborhood, in 1968 and his death in 2003. But we sure did. The film underscores how much we lost when we lost Rogers by making us feel how much those cultural changes have accelerated in the 15 years since his death. It seems to be a given in todays polarized landscape that such changes are cheered or lamented according to ones ideological affiliations. Public figures who transcend political, racial, and cultural divides are increasingly few, and those who generally united us in the past are reconfigured to make them more palatable to our current views, when theyre not being reevaluated and eviscerated for not falling in line with those views. But for most of us, extremist groups and pundits aside, Fred Rogerss reputation has survived intact. That says something about the man he was. Transforming a Medium and a Culture In March 2000, Christianity Today ran a cover story about Rogers, equating adults who evaded the call to love their neighbor with the self-justifying expert in the law who interrogated Jesus and prompted the parable of the Good Samaritan. The 50th anniversary of Mister Rogers Neighborhood (which, in a bit of historic irony, featured King Friday building a wall around his kingdom in its first episode) has prompted a new outpouring of affection and appreciation for Rogers and his work. But as the documentary illustrates, a large part of the current wave of appreciation has more to do with Rogers being ahead of his time than with his being a symbol of a simpler past. To cite just one example, the film cuts between scenes of Rogers soaking his feet in a plastic pool alongside a black actor and footage of whites throwing bleach into public swimming venues that had recently been integrated. Sometimes a demonstration of solidarity with the oppressed and compassion for the persecuted makes a greater impact than any laws, sermons, or tweets. Rogerss television show may be wrongly remembered in some quarters as innocuous pabulum, but its host was actually quite brave, talking to kids about topics like divorce, the assassination of Robert Kennedy, and the explosion of the space shuttle, and trusting that, with loving guidance, they could handle it. Part of what made Rogers enduringly successful is that he viewed the television show as his ministry rather than simply as a platform for his message. I got into television because I hated it so, he once admitted. But after earning his divinity degree in 1962, he had realized that the medium would be a fabulous instrument to nurture those who would watch and listen." Producer Margy Whitmer explains in the film that Rogerss formula was to take all of the elements that make good television and do the exact opposite. Thats a great quip, but even more, it is a powerful reminder of the potential for Christians to transform their industry rather simply conform to it. As Joyce Millman wrote in 1999 when the show had been on the air for 30 years, Rogers has resisted merchandising, razzle-dazzle, fads (though he did break dance once on the show) and technological flash ... reasoning that childrens basic needs dont change with the decades. That focus on the things that transcend time helped to make the show timeless. Memory of Love I spent most of the last half of Wont You Be My Neighbor? recalling J.B. Phillipss 1952 devotional classic, Your God Is Too Small. God will inevitably appear to disappoint the man who is attempting to use Him as a convenience, a prop, or a comfort, for his own plans, he reminds us. The God we construct that is in perfect alignment with our political and social causes is an illusion; God as he is challenges us and convicts us in our complacency and self-righteousness. Similarly, we tend to remake Gods servants into caricatures of themselves so as to be easier to embrace or dismiss. Even Fred Rogers wasnt perfect, and this film doesnt make the mistake of pretending that he was (though as Aisha Harris of Slate reassures us, Theres no bombshell to be found here, no #MeToo-like revelations). But it does hold him up, deservedly, as a good example to encourage and inspire us, helping us to see both his faults and our own in better perspective. In 15 years of reviewing films professionally, I cant recall ever having heard as many sniffles and sobs as I did when Wont You Be My Neighbor? played to a packed house at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. Perhaps each viewer was crying for Rogers himself, but I suspect that a fair number were actually crying for themselvessome for their inner or remembered child who had been helped by a smiling man and a kind word; some for their present, adult selves whose best memory of a loving, caring, nurturing, accepting Christian authority figure was a fading but not yet erased memory. In a moment when many Christian leaders are being called to account for failing to demonstrate love, that example can show us a better way. Kenneth R. Morefield (@kenmorefield) is a professor of English at Campbell University. He is the editor of Faith and Spirituality in Masters of World Cinema, Volumes I, II, and III, and the founder of 1More Film Blog. In 2020, we were the church on our heels. A global pandemic shut down much of our world. But the church has been on the move since it was birthed; it will continue to be on the move until God makes all things new. Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment You've been asked to save the whales, the elephants, and the redwoods, but how about the persecuted Christians? Americans can be passionate about saving endangered speciesand that's great. But I'm hoping a new campaign will spark a passion for saving persecuted Christians around the world. But first, I want to remind you of a campaign from half a century ago, one that's more relevant than ever. In 1963, a synagogue in Ohio launched the Cleveland Campaign for Soviet Jewry to call attention to and generate support for Jews in the Soviet Union who were being repressed and incarcerated in the Gulag. Synagogues across America called attention to their plight using prominently displayed signage to engage members, neighbors, journalists, business leaders, and politicians. Eventually, mass demonstrations in the United States and overseas followed. In 1973, President Nixon dispatched Chuck Colson to pressure the Soviets on Jewish emigration. Next came bracelets bearing the names of Jews seeking to emigrate, such as Natan Sharansky. President Ronald Reagan kept one of those bracelets on his desk. And then, as the public got engaged, came legislative pressure, and economic and political pressure. Political prisoners started being released. And then the unthinkable happenedthe Soviet Union collapsed into history's dustbin. No, the signs and bracelets didn't by themselves cause the fall of the Soviet empire, but it's fair to say they were an indispensable first step. As one observer quipped, "a few people with signs led to the destruction of an empire." So folks, let's do it againthis time on behalf of an even larger grouppersecuted Christians. According to the new Save the Persecuted Christians Coalition, some 215 million Christians worldwide face heavy persecutionincluding rape, imprisonment, forced marriages, physical violence, even death. That's one in 12. According to Open Doors, every month 255 Christians are killed; 104 abducted; 180 Christian women are raped, sexually assaulted, or forced into marriage; 160 Christians detained or imprisoned without trial; and 66 churches are attacked. So what can we do to help? Open Doors USA suggests that we pray daily, engage by writing letters and advocate for the persecuted, volunteer with trusted ministries that help the persecuted, and give to organizations that provide Bibles, food, and other forms of help. But I want to focus on one thing we can do today: it's the Save the Persecuted Christians campaign. The Arabic letter pronounced "nun" stands for "Nazarene," a derogatory reference to Christians in large swathes of the Middle East. The Islamic State used this Arabic character to designate homes of followers of Christ targeted for persecution. Today, however, the letter nun is a prominent part of the Save the Persecuted Christians campaign, displayed on banners at churches and other houses of worship to spread the word about oppression around the globe. To get one of these banners for your church, encourage your church's leaders to visit SaveThePersecutedChristians.org and join those who've already ordered their free kits and banners, which can be displayed in front of their houses of worship, much like the campaign for Soviet Jewry displayed its banners. You'll also find a color poster for your church that explains the banner. Your pastor will receive a folder stuffed full of information on this vital new movement. Please come to BreakPoint.org and I'll link you to it. The growing Save the Persecuted Christians coalition wants to create a movement akin to the one that sparked assistance to Soviet Jewsone that brings about policy changes, holds the persecutors accountable, and increases the costs for their crimes against humanity. Ultimately, they want to launch a movement that, by God's grace, will be instrumental in ending the unconscionable daily abuse of our brothers and sisters around the world. So please get your church involved. And the next time someone asks you to "save" something, invite them to help Save the Persecuted Christians. Click here to find out how to engage in the Save the Persecuted Christians campaign. It's a great way to bring attention to the plight of our brothers and sisters in Christ who are in harm's way in many places around the world. Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment I'm a Californian (don't hold that against me). I love the great state of Texas, and I especially love the food in Texas! I'm talking about Joe T. Garcia's, Texas barbeque, and best of all, Babe's Fried Chicken. You just can't find fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and biscuits like that in California. However, we did give you In-N-Out Burger, so you're welcome for that! As great as those things are, I especially love the people of Texas. Their hearts are as big as the state, and we all know that everything is bigger there. I have had the privilege of speaking in many campuses and churches there, including Prestonwood, Gateway, First Baptist, Crossroads, and several others. There are so many fantastic believers in Texas, and more megachurches (congregations over 2,000) than I have ever seen. In fact, the 10 largest megachurches are right there in Texas. Then, of course, there are the strong family-friendly values and genuine care that Texans have for each other. Not to mention the great love they have for their state! So, why do an evangelistic event at AT&T Stadium? Texas is changing rapidly, with many new people streaming in from around the nation and the world. You might say the world is literally coming to Texas. It's no wonder; there is a very business-friendly culture there, causing many corporations to pull up roots and move thereincluding more than a few from California. While speaking in churches in Texas, I have jokingly said that I have come to Texas to evangelize to the people moving to Texas from California! Yes, as Bob Dylan once sang, "The times they are a-changin'..." Two of the most recent mass shootings also happened in Texas, of all places. The country is still reeling from the heartbreaking events of last week in Santa Fe, when a young gunman ruthlessly shot 10 of his classmates. As an article from USA Today stated, "This week, instead of printing prom pictures and planning graduation parties, this small city held free community dinners and formed prayer circles. A florist was busier than ever, building bouquets for funerals she wouldn't have time to attend."* In November of last year, the unthinkable happened in Sutherlands Springs. A gunman shot and killed 26 worshippers at church on a Sunday morning and injured 20 others. Shockingly, in Tyler, Texas, home to 225,000 residents, the suicide rate is the highest among the state's most populous counties. Yes, even Texas needs Jesusjust like California and the rest of the United States. There is only one thing in the universe that can change the heart of a person, and that is the gospel. What is the gospel? It is the simple message that we all have sinned against God and stand separated from Him. But the story doesn't end there. God loved us so much, He sent His Son Jesus on a rescue operation to our planet. Jesus lived our life, and then He died our death on the cross and rose again three days later. That's the message I want to bring to the great state of Texas and literally to the world on June 10. This event is called Harvest America. Not only will we be speaking to people in the Metroplex, but also to people across the United States watching in host sites large and small. When we held the event at AT&T in 2016, the stadium was filled to overflowing. Another 250,000 people watched it live in a host site, and thousands made a profession of faith to follow Jesus Christ. Some of these were suicidal teens, many came from broken families, and others were breaking free from addiction to drugs. Who do you know that needs to attend or watch? Invite them; join them! I am looking forward to returning with my friend and musician Chris Tomlin, a Texas native born in Grand Saline. David Crowder, another Texas native, will be there along with Dallas' own Trip Lee. To top it all off, I will also be joined by Southern California's Phil Wickham and Switchfoot. You do not want to miss this! I look forward to seeing y'all (you like the sound of that?) again on June 10, and I can say with full certainty that I will stop first for some good ol' fried chicken! Originally posted at harvest.org Greg Laurie is the senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship, with campuses in Riverside and Irvine, California. home World Siege at Nicaraguan church leaves 2 dead Two people were reportedly killed in Nicaragua following a day-long siege at a church, where an estimated 30 opposition supporters took refuge after coming under attack from riot police. The opposition supporters, who were protesting welfare and pension cuts, had gone inside the San Miguel Church in Masaya to avoid the attacks from riot police. Two people have died among the ranks of the protesters. Apart from the riot police, the critics of the government were also reportedly assaulted by pro-government militias, according to La Croix International. The siege reportedly ended after the intervention of local priest Fr. Edwing Roman and human rights lawyer Dr. Alvaro Leiva. Monsignor Silvio Jose BAez, the Auxiliary Bishop of Managua, commended the two men for their role in ending the siege. "Free detainees in Masaya thanks to the good offices of Fr. Edwin Roman and Dr. Alvaro Leiva. Now in the parish house of the San Miguel parish, the injured continue to be attended to," BAez said in a tweet on June 2, as reported by Catholic News Agency. Doctors were allowed to treat the wounded inside the church before the protesters were released. Masaya, which is located about 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Managua, was only one of several cities where conflict broke out between the police and protesters on Saturday, according to St. Kitts & Nevis Observer. The protests in Nicaragua were reportedly prompted by the government's decision to cut social security and pensions in April. President Daniel Ortega, who signed the bill into law, has since rescinded the measure, but the unrest escalated after security forces killed more than 40 protesters. The opposition is now demanding the resignation of Ortega, who reportedly won his third term in 2016 after a constitutional amendment allowed him to run again. The riots have claimed the lives of 76 people and injured 868, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which documented human rights violations in four Nicaraguan cities between May 17 and 21. On Sunday, Pope Francis expressed grief for those who died in the riots and called for a peaceful dialogue. "I join my brother bishops of Nicaragua in expressing sorrow for the serious violence, with dead and wounded, carried out by armed groups to repress social protests," Francis said after the June 3 Angelus, as reported by Catholic News Agency. "I pray for the victims and their families. The Church is always for dialogue, but this requires an active commitment to respect freedom and above all life. I pray that all violence should cease and the conditions for the resumption of dialogue [come] as soon as possible," he added. California University think-tank teaches medical students how to discuss abortion with religious women A think-tank in the University of California-San Francisco has released a guide teaching medical students how to help religious women reconcile an abortion with their religious beliefs. The guide, titled "Early Abortion Training Workbook," was published by the university's Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health. In a chapter called "Pregnancy Option Counseling Techniques," the guide teaches several strategies on how to discuss abortion with pregnant, according to The College Fix. The workbook warns against perpetuating the idea that abortion "will be a sad experience," claiming that some who choose to have an abortion will "ultimately feel relief after completing the process." Aspiring abortionists are encouraged to tell pregnant women that "[y]ou are a responsible person and may be making the most responsible decision by not continuing the pregnancy." When dealing with "ambivalent patients," the guide tells students to ask women to consider how a newborn will impact their lives. "What is your picture of the next year or five years of your life? How does this pregnancy change or affect your goals?" the guide stated, as reported by The College Fix. The document also offers advice for aspiring abortionists on how to counsel religious women. "Patients can experience moral conflict when they seek abortion and they believe that life begins at conception and that abortion is an act of murder," the document stated. It said that appropriate counseling could help determine whether the patient's belief system would "allow for exceptions that can help them reconcile this conflict." The guide also recommended resources from the pro-abortion religious group Faith Aloud when counseling patients with "spiritual or moral conflict" about abortions. Faith Aloud, which separated from the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice in 2008, is aimed at helping women overcome the "religious stigma" of abortion. "Religious stigma about women's sexuality and abortion is perpetuated as an act of control, and that stigma is closely related to the control of women by economics and race," the group claims on its website. Campus Reform was disappointed that the training guide does not mention adoption as an alternative for abortions. Matt Lamb, spokesman for Students for Life, lamented that the Bixby Center failed to include advice on prenatal care, which he says is focused on the "health and dignity" of both the mother and the unborn child. The Bixby Center, which was founded 20 years ago, reportedly sponsors annual fellowships for abortionists at 30 universities across the U.S. Freed American pastor says he shared the Gospel with North Korean official before his release Kim Hak Song, an American pastor released last month from North Korea after spending a year in prison, recently spoke about his detention under one of the most brutal regimes on the planet and explained how he was able to share God's Word despite the circumstances. Kim, who was arrested in 2017 while he was teaching rice growing at a private university in Pyongyang founded by evangelical Christians, shared his experiences after a service at the Oriental Mission Church in East Hollywood, his home congregation. Religion News Service reports that Kim spoke through a translator to offer his "first extended public comments" since being welcomed back to the United States by President Donald Trump, along with fellow imprisoned Americans Tony Kim and Kim Dong Chul. According to Kim, he was told when he was detained in May 2017 that his crime was prayer. In proving their case, Kim said the regime's officials showed him evidence that he had led a worship group in morning prayer. Additionally, they showed him an email that he sent to elders at his home church asking for prayer for the North Korean people. Although many who are sent to prison for religious-related offenses in North Korea are tortured, Kim explained that he was spared of torture during his imprisonment. Yet, Kim still feels "the pain and struggle," his wife told RNS, saying that her husband still deals with some trauma from his detention. Kim said that he spent a lot of time in prayer while he was in prison. He used his time to confess sins and to ask God to protect his family. Although his time working on an experimental farm in hopes of helping the North Korean people have a more sustainable food source was cut short, Kim explained that he doesn't believe his time in prison was spent in vain. Kim said that at one point during his detention an official asked him to write about Christianity. This gave Kim an outlet to share his faith openly with a representative of a regime that for 16 years has been ranked as the worst persecutor of Christians in the world by persecution watchdog group Open Doors USA. Kim said that he began by sharing the book of Genesis. "I was grateful and thankful that at this time I was able to share God's message to this person," Kim was quoted as saying. President Donald Trump announced on May 9 that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was on his way back to the U.S. with Kim and the other prisoners who were released by the regime of Kim Jong Un. The next day, their plane landed at Joint Base Andrews and they were greeted by Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. Kim said that at the time he had no idea that discussions were ongoing for his release and was a bit surprised on the day he was released. He recalled that on the day of his release, he believed he was being moved to another cell. He said that when the guards asked him if he needed anything else before leaving the cell, he said that he needed to bring his Bible. To Kim's shock, he later found himself on a U.S. government plane. Kim admitted that he had dreams while in prison of being in Trump's car while the American people applauded. "The dream became reality," Kim was quoted as saying. "God is walking with us." On the day that Kim, Tony Kim and Kim Dong Chul arrived at Joint Base Andrews, they handed Pence a handwritten note that quoted Psalm 26. "It was an amazing moment I'll never forget ... when three Americans stepped onto the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews and gave me a signed personal note with Psalm 126 on the back," Pence tweeted at the time. "To these men of faith and courage God bless you and welcome home!" RNS reports that Kim told his congregation during his sermon that "miracles still happen" and "prayer is still very important." In its recently released International Religious Freedom report, the U.S. State Department estimated that as many as 120,000 people are imprisoned in North Korea's prison camps under "horrific conditions." "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 states. Last year, 22-year-old American college student Otto Warmbier, who was detained in a North Korean prison for over 17 months, was released back to the U.S. while in a coma. Warmbier died days later. READ MORE ABOUT NORTH KOREA: What life is really like for Christians in a North Korean prison https://www.christiantoday.com/article/what-life-is-really-like-for-christians-in-a-north-korean-prison/128460.htm Otto Warmbier was 'systematically tortured' by North Korea, say parents https://www.christiantoday.com/article/otto-warmbier-was-systematically-tortured-by-north-korea-say-parents/114671.htm This article was originally published in The Christian Post and is re-published here with permission. Kingdom Hearts 3: Square Enix confirms Q4 2018 release window ahead of E3 It has been five years since Square Enix first announced that Kingdom Hearts 3 was in development and fans have been waiting patiently for its release ever since. Kingdom Hearts 2 was released all the way back in 2006 and now the long wait is finally nearly at an end as Square Enix has confirmed that the third installment in the Kingdom Hearts franchise will be making its way out in Q4 2018, so some time between October and December this year. That was confirmed by Square Enix CEO Yosuke Matsuda but he stopped short of giving the exact launch date. The recent Financial Results Briefing did confirm though that an announcement would be made at next week's E3 conference in Los Angeles. The briefing also revealed Square Enix's confidence in the success of Kingdom Hearts 3: "We expect FY2019/3 earnings to benefit from the launches of major titles including 'SHADOW OF THE TOMB RAIDER' and 'KINGDOM HEARTS 3.' Our plan is to announce the details of our forthcoming lineup at E3 in June." Kingdom Hearts 3 will be releasing to the PS4 and Xbox One and the latest installment will make use of Unreal Engine 4. A recent demo in May with members of the media teased the return of Twilight Town and Olympus, and several new worlds including Tangled, Big Hero 6, Toy Story and Monsters Inc. There are also two known summons so far, Wreck-It Ralph and My Little Mermaid's Aerial. E3 gets underway in LA on Monday, June 11, and will be livestreamed at 10 AM PDT/ 1PM EDT/ 6pm BST on YouTube, Twitch and Mixer. According to The Express, Square Enix will be doing a Kingdom Hearts 3 playable demo on the E3 2018 showfloor and it may well feature more about the Toy Story and Olympus worlds. The reveal is also expected to include details of new characters and features. Over 100 European Parliamentarians call for release of Pastor Andrew Brunson from Turkish jail More than 100 European Parliamentarians are reportedly demanding the release of American Pastor Andrew Brunson, who has been incarcerated for 21 months over accusations that he participated in a conspiracy to overthrow the Turkish government. Brunson, who led a church in Turkey for two decades, is facing up to 35 years in prison if convicted in court. A hearing already took place on May 7 and he is scheduled to appear again in court on July 18. The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) has reported that 75 members of the European Parliament from 20 countries have signed an open letter asking Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to allow Brunson to return home. The organization's international affiliate, the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ), has been calling on European politicians and international institutions to support the efforts to secure the release of the pastor. More than 100 members of the European Parliament have already expressed support for the campaign as of June 5, according to ACLJ. Peter van Dalen, a Dutch member of the European Parliament, said: "It is a disgrace that this pastor is still unjustly held in jail. A disgrace that Erdogan suppresses and discriminates so much. And despite this, he would like to join the EU? No way." Apart from the parliamentarians, 27 deputies from the Council of Europe have also indicated their support for Brunson. A statement from the deputies stressed that it is "urgent that Turkey respects its European commitments in putting an immediate end to this scandalous situation." A Turkish judge ruled that Brunson will remain incarcerated until his next hearing. According to Newsmax, the judge reportedly refused to hear the testimonies of the people who wished to speak in support of Brunson in court. The potential witnesses were reportedly branded by the judge as "enemies of the state." In an interview with Newsmax, one of the potential witnesses claimed that a "secret" witness who testified against the pastor was an extortioner who had reportedly blackmailed and physically threatened religious leaders to collect large amounts of money. The secret witness had reportedly filed a lawsuit seeking $800,000 from a religious group, but the case and the subsequent appeal had both failed in courts. Sandra Jolley, the vice chair of the U.S. government Commission on International Religious Freedom, asserted that the hearing in May had been "dominated by wild conspiracies, tortured logic, and secret witnesses," but no actual evidence against Brunson was presented. Erdogan had previously suggested that Brunson could be set free if the U.S. extradites Pennsylvania-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is being blamed for the failed coup against the Turkish government. "Give us the pastor back,' they say. You have one pastor as well. Give him to us. Then we will try him [Brunson] and give him to you," Erdogan said, according to Newsmax. Philippine president Duterte sparks outrage for kissing woman on lips while giving away book about sex in Catholic church Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has angered women's rights advocates and social media users after he was seen on video kissing a woman on the lips during his visit with the Filipino community in South Korea last Sunday. According to Rappler, Duterte invited two female overseas Filipino workers (OFW) to the stage to give them a copy of "Altar of Secrets: Sex, Politics, and Money in the Philippine Catholic Church." The president, who is on a three-day official visit to South Korea, reportedly kissed one of the women on the cheek and asked for a kiss on the lips from the other. Philstar reported that Duterte asked the second woman if she was single. When the woman told Duterte that she has a boyfriend, the president went on to ask "You're not separated from him? But you can tell him that this is just a joke?" according to Rappler. The kiss prompted cheers from the audience, but it sparked outrage among some social media users. "If this is the kind of leader we respect..then there must be something wrong with our values," one Twitter user wrote. Presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. defended the president's actions, saying the woman did not see any malice in the kiss. Reuters reported that the woman later admitted that she is married. Moments after the kiss, Duterte was heard telling the crowd: "Don't take it seriously. It's just for fun, a gimmick." The incident has also drawn criticism from the women's rights group Gabriela, which described it as "disgusting theatrics of a misogynist President." "It is unfortunate that the woman found it her obligation to publicly defend the act as 'no malice,' when it is the President who is duty-bound to explain not only because it was upon his prodding but he is bound, as a public official, by rules of ethics to explain his unruly conduct," said Gabriela secretary-general Joms Salvador, as reported by Philstar. Women's group Likhaan also denounced the kiss, saying Duterte should have restrained himself and should not have used his power to take advantage of women. Migrante International, an advocacy group for OFWs, expressed concern that Filipino workers may not be treated with respect by their foreign employers because of how the president treats Filipino women in public. Samsung Galaxy Note 9 release date, specs rumors: Will South Korean tech giant go for an earlier than scheduled launch? It had previously been reported that Samsung would be launching its highly anticipated Galaxy Note 9 device on August 9, but now there are some reports doing the rounds that the South Korean tech giant might actually bring it out even earlier than that. If Samsung goes ahead with the August reveal as planned it would fit in with its traditional release timeline for Note devices, as fans will remember that the predecessor to the upcoming device, the Galaxy Note 8, was revealed on 23 August 2017 and made available on 15 September that year. So it makes sense that if Samsung sticks with the August 9 reveal, we will be seeing the Galaxy Note 9 hit retailers around mid-September 2018. However, The Inquirer says there are some suggestions the device could be revealed even earlier than reveal, going for July instead of August. TechRadar said supply chain sources had reported that screen panels were being built for the Galaxy Note 9 two months earlier than normal and going as far as to suggest a launch date in late July. However, TechRadar thinks late July is "a little too ambitious" for the device and the August 9 launch date seems more likely. So what can we expect from the device? Renders leaked by 91Mobiles and @OnLeaks suggest that the design will be virtually the same as the Galaxy Note 8, with very few new design elements, and it will come in the same size of display - 6.3-inches. But if that sounds disappointing, Samsung is rumored to be improving the battery, upgrading the Note 8's 3,330mAh battery to a a 3,850mAh battery. It's also expected to be powered by Snapdragon 845 and there has been some speculation that the Note 9 will embed a fingerprint sensor in the display. Respected tipster Ice Universe, via SlashGear, reported that the device would get a better camera and redesigned S-Pen stylus, as well as "Bixby 2.0" and a new 'Teddy Brown' color variation. Watch this space to see which rumors turn out to be true! Diverse and dynamic works from the Saatchi Gallery Collection This month two 100X HANDPICKED auctions celebrate 10 years of the Saatchi Gallery at its current location in Duke of York Square. We look back at seminal shows from the past decade, and works from those exhibitions offered in our sales This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Saatchi Gallerys move into its grand premises on Duke of York Square in Londons Chelsea. Built in 1801 as the Royal Military Asylum (a school for the children of soldiers widows), the building now boasts 15 galleries across four floors. Over the past decade these galleries have hosted a number of landmark exhibitions, starting with The Revolution Continues in 2008, which showcased the best new art from China. Visitor numbers have been consistently high: the 833,450 people who saw the recent Painters Painters, for example, made it the second-most popular exhibition in the world in 2017 (according to The Art Newspaper). A major reason for such high footfall is the chance to see works by leading and emerging artists from across the globe for free. To that end, the Saatchi Gallery is now teaming up with Christies for 100X HANDPICKED, a sale of 100 works it has shown at Duke of York Square 50 to be sold online and 50 in a live auction on 28 June. Proceeds will go towards keeping exhibition entry, as well as the Saatchis education programme, free. Over the past decade, our focus has been to provide visitors with a global overview of artists at work today, says Philippa Adams, Senior Director of the Saatchi Gallery. In many ways, the title of our first exhibition here, The Revolution Continues, could also serve as a motto for the gallery. The works chosen for 100X HANDPICKED are a selection from across the Duke of York Square years that we think show our collection at its most diverse and dynamic. Here, we look back at 10 standout Saatchi shows from the past 10 years, highlighting a work from each thats offered in 100X HANDPICKED. 1 The Revolution Continues: New Art from China, 2008 The inaugural exhibition at Duke of York Square showcased new work from China the early years of the 21st century generally being regarded as a fruitful period for Chinese art, as government censorship eased. The artists included Yue Minjun, Zhang Xiaogang and Bai Yiluo, with one of the most memorable images being the drawing, Portrait of Mao, by Qui Jie. In it, a felines face appears where one expects to see that of Mao Zedong, Chinas first Communist ruler (Jie here making a play on words: mao is Mandarin for cat). This is a deliberately subversive work, says Tessa Lord, Head of Sale for Post-War and Contemporary Art at Christies in London. The punning collision of two remote subjects reflects the impact on an artist raised on the propaganda images of the First Cultural Revolution. 2 Abstract America: New Painting and Sculpture, 2009-10 3 Newspeak: British Art Now, Part I (2010) & Part II (2011) 4 Gesamtkunstwerk: New Art from Germany, 2011-12 The title of this exhibition alluded to Germanys rich, centuries-old painting tradition, which extends today to such senior statesmen as Gerhard Richter and Anselm Kiefer. Gesamtkunstwerk, however, meaning a total work of art, is a nod to the fact that a new generation of German artists is looking far beyond painting. Markus Selg is a fine example, a multi-media artist whose work consists of sculpture, furniture, prints and more. With Anima a totemic, female figure carved from a single block of wood he tried to capture his inner psyche. Here was a Jungian self-portrait that proved contemporary art can have a spiritual side. 5 Out of Focus: Photography, 2012 With this show, the Saatchi Gallery turned to contemporary photography, examining the state of the medium through 37 photographers from 14 countries. Some adopted a documentary approach, while the likes of New York-based Mariah Robertson were more experimental. With Gladiola Window RGB # 1, she took a seemingly mundane shot of a gladiola flower in front of a window and through digital collaging and the application of multi-colour filters transformed it into what Lord calls a vibrant, kaleidoscopic fantasia. The final image is abstract, she explains, yet it retains a tantalising fragment of the original photograph. 6 Body Language, 2013 Featuring 12 painters, two photographers and five sculptors, Body Language explored the human body in all its glory. With her sculpture, The Misanthrope, New Zealand-born Francis Upritchard produced what Lord calls an archetypal figure hovering in a state of unresolved certainty. (Since Body Language, Upritchard has gone on to make a name for herself with figures of this type.) We have a bearded, old man seemingly turning his back on humanity, says Lord. He is enveloped in a yellow cloak, immersed in his own thoughts and wringing his hands at the failures of mankind. He has a haunting presence, one that will stay with you long after youve left the room. 7 Pangaea: New Art from Africa and Latin America, 2014 The title of this show refers to the supercontinent known as Pangaea that existed 200 million years ago, and contained the seven continents of today as a single landmass. The idea was to artistically reunite Africa and Latin America in an exhibition showcasing new works from each. According to Lord, one piece Rafael Gomezbarross installation of giant ants, Casa Tomada has become a Saatchi Gallery icon. Adorning the buildings facade, as well as a number of gallery walls inside, this meticulously crafted piece from tree branches, fibreglass and fabric is art at its most immersive. The ants were a metaphor for the displacement of people from Gomezbarross native Colombia due to violence and civil conflict over the past 50 years. 8 Champagne Life, 2016 Champagne Life sought to redress the perceived gender disparity in contemporary art by featuring works by 14 female artists from across the world. Among the standout pieces was the tropically-coloured See-Saw by American painter, Mequitta Ahuja, who earlier this year was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship. Drawing inspiration from sources as broad as Gauguins visions of Tahiti, folk art and her African-American heritage, Ahuja produced a beautifully worked canvas, featuring larger-than-life figures that are part self-portrait, says Lord. It weaves together her own personal, cultural experiences into the history of art. 9 Painters Painters, 2016-17 Another show that focused on the latest practice in a single medium: this time, painting. Martin Maloney, Dexter Dalwood, Bjarne Melgaard and David Salle were among the more established artists who featured. The 30-something Los Angeleno Raffi Kalenderian, meanwhile, was represented by Spirit Guides and Sunflowers, a vast painting that oscillated between the figurative and abstract realms. It depicted two zebras standing in a field of sunflowers, their stripes creating a dizzying optical dialogue with the striated forest of trees in the background. 10 Iconoclasts: Art out of the Mainstream, 2017-18 Mexico's government is touting the connections between its energy industry and the U.S. despite continuing trade frictions. Lluvia Ponce Avalos from the Consulate of Mexico in San Antonio said Mexico's natural gas demand is expected to increase 27 percent by 2031 and that the border region along Texas is expected to account for nearly a third of Mexico's overall natural gas demand. She stressed that the link between Texas' energy industry and Mexico remains strong, pointing to the billions of cubic feet of natural gas pipeline capacity running from Texas to its southern neighbor. "When we talk about Texas and Mexico we need to remember that we're trading partners, we're friends, we're neighbors," said Avalos, consul for political and economical affairs. Avalos was speaking to more than 100 people at the 4th Mexico Gas Summit in San Antonio, a gathering of industry and government representatives to discuss the state of oil and gas opportunities in Mexico. The importance of the relationship between the U.S. and Mexico is underscored U.S. exports of 4.6 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day into Mexico in 2017, according to data from the U.S. Energy Department. Mexico opened its energy industry to outside investment in 2014 after nearly 80 years of state control. The country has held multiple rounds of bidding for both onshore and offshore oil and gas resources since 2016. In March Mexico's nationally held oil and gas company Petroleos Mexicanos or PEMEX signed a deal with San Antonio-based Lewis Energy to develop part of the Eagle Ford Shale oil field that extends into Mexico. Equus Capital Partners has landed several new tenants including Wholesome Sweeteners at its recently renovated One Sugar Creek office building in Sugar Land. The leases total 26,259 square feet at 1 Sugar Creek Center Blvd., commercial real estate firm Transwestern said. Wholesome Sweeteners, the largest of the tenants with 14,743 square feet, recently relocated its headquarters from 14141 Southwest Freeway in Sugar Land. The company sells fair trade and organic sugars, syrups, stevia and honeys. Other leases include Hydro Resources, 7,911 square feet; Baker Mortgage, 1,906 square feet; and Viza Valves, 1,699 square feet. The $3 million renovation project, designed by Ziegler Cooper Architects, included a conference facility, outdoor game area with updated landscaping, and renovated common areas and restrooms. The work was completed last year. The deals, negotiated by Transwestern on behalf of the landlord, represent almost 15 percent of the 193,988-square-foot building. Transwesterns Doug Little, Louann Pereira and Matthew Seliger handle leasing. Sugar Land remains a strong market with high demand and little exposure to the energy market, Pereira said in an announcement. The building is 90 percent leased, and we have several suites with upgraded finishes available for immediate occupancy. Office vacancy in the Sugar Land/East Fort Bend County market edged up to 7.2 percent in the first quarter, Transwestern said in a report. The availability rate, which factors in sublease space, reached 14.2 percent. That compares with a direct vacancy rate of 15.9 percent for the Houston area overall and a 23.2 percent availability rate. Houston-based Wedge Properties Management cited the strength of the Sugar Land submarket during the oil downturn as a reason for its recent purchase of the Three Sugar Creek office building. Equus Capital Partners, based in the Philadelphia area, entered the Houston market with the purchase of One Sugar Creek in 2015. It owns other office buildings at 10497 Town & Country Way and 5300 Memorial Drive. katherine.feser@chron.com twitter.com/kfeser With their time off from school, kids can double as members of an espionage team to fight crimes inside the museum, which recently beefed up its interactive spy program. Established in 2015, S.E.C.R.E.T. (Special Elite Crime Resolution and Espionage Team) is an opt-in experience that allows children 8 and older to navigate six code-cracking challenges throughout the campus. After selecting a special agent name, spies use gear like a USB drive and polarized glasses to solve puzzles that defend the museum against a gang of villains, led by evildoer Vex. During one mission, the agent will find a key but then has to solve additional riddles to discover where to use it. Agents use a monocular scope to make note of faraway clues and read micro text with a magnifying glass. The program uses radio frequency identification (RFID) technology; spies utilize a UV light to see hidden messages inked by rival minions that regular museumgoers dont know is there. Kids who have successfully completed all six of the initial S.E.C.R.E.T. missions will use the initial tools to tackle the new Elite-level missions. The challenges up the ante and are far more sophisticated, said the museums Keith Ostfeld, who operates the spy program. We now expect you to know how to read maps, how to use all the gadgets, and to know your way around museum, Ostfeld said, explaining that the clues are now hidden better. Elite agents employ 21st-century learning skills like critical thinking, mathematics and orientation, he said. The challenges take them to every floor of the museum, in obscure nooks and crannies and down rarely used hallways. The Elite missions take about hour to complete, compared to 35-45 minutes spent in the original quests. Ostfeld said families can cut down on the time by working together. It always helps to have extra eyes searching for clues and a couple extra brains on some of the puzzles. More Information S.E.C.R.E.T. When: Open seven days a week during the summer Where: The Children's Museum of Houston, 1500 Binz Details: $10, but the missions are not included with the museum's $12 general admission; 713-522-1138, cmhouston.org See More Collapse But, more often, the siblings in a family will each take on their own mission, he said, as a way to compete with one another. In the new missions, participants have to enlist the help of undercover agents who are members of the museum staff. Those high-level agents are identified by a special lanyard, Ostfeld said, but they wont reveal themselves until they hear a certain code phrase. Then and only then will they communicate as an agent. When 9-year-old Jackson Bullock travels from his home in Bryan College Station to act as a special agent at the museum, he knows I will not help him, said his mother Shannon Bullock. Jackson is quite shy, Shannon said, and she appreciated that the new Elite challenges required him to collaborate with a staff member. He has to speak up to get an answer, she said. Its a safe interaction with adults. A math whiz who can complete double-digit multiplication in his head, Jackson chose the Robot Rescue mission because of his fascination with space. The spy missions are a wonderful opportunity to use math and science and not really know hes using it, Shannon said. A longtime museum visitor, Jackson enjoyed revisiting areas of the museum he hadnt explored in a while, she said. To him it was like a big game within the museum. One of his favorite activities was using the glasses to see a secret message none of the kids around him were able to see. He felt so empowered by that, and he really felt he was a secret agent, she said. He was also enamored with the black-light tool, she said, discovering how different wavelengths of light allowed him to see different objects. That was a lesson Jackson previously had in a school setting, Shannon said, and the the hands-on application helped it sink in. As a mom, I was happy to see it clicked for him. Young spies have other opportunities to sharpen their skills this summer. At The Houston Museum of Natural Sciences (5555 Hermann Park Drive) The International Exhibit at Sherlock Holmes, theyll get their own detective notebook to solve a crime. And at Detective Days at Bayou Bend (6003 Memorial), kids 6 to 12 complete a scavenger hunt, using clues found in portraits inside the museum to complete a worksheet. Allison Bagley is a writer in Houston. The Houston Chronicle's staff picks for this weekend include Shania's H-town return and a major stick-up at the MFAH. The Houston bar scene is full of personalities bar stars, if you will. Each week in Preview, well feature one of these mixologists to let you know more about them, aside from how good they are at making you feel good. Know someone who deserves the spotlight? Email joey.guerra@chron.com. Length of time working at current place? Nine years Nickname? Dee Lamest pickup line youve heard at the bar? Baby, I hope there arent two of you because I sure hate to get my heart broken twice. Most famous person youve ever served a drink to? LL Cool J. He was a very nice guy. Tip was great, also. Ive also served Bill Bellamy and Eddie Levert. Most common customer complaint? Delphia Lewis Find her behind that bar at: Dreams Bar & Lounge, 3321 Dixie Hours: 2 p.m.-2 a.m. daily See More Collapse Were so busy that it takes a little while at times to get a drink. Song youve gotten sick of at work? My Side Piece by Pokey Bear Whats the sloppiest, drunkest thing youve ever seen on the job? After having one too many drinks, a man walked over to a lady and threw up on her. Whats the most outrageous request youve ever gotten? Can they have me on ice? Where do you like to go have a drink when youre not at work? Bar 88 and The Address Club. Whats your specialty drink, and how do you make it? Jalapeno Margarita: Don Julio, sweet and sour, lime juice, triple sec and fresh jalapenos. Sugar or salt on the rim of the glass. Whats something your customers may not know about you? I have been a bartender for 37 years. Best tip you ever received? $800 The Houston Police Department is searching for a group of thieves captured on video running into a Houston convenience store to steal an ATM in less than 90 seconds. On May 7 at 3:14 a.m., a group of six masked suspects can be seen on surveillance video backing up a truck to a convenience store's entrance on the 13300 block of the Northwest Freeway in Houston. A San Antonio man came close to breaking the world record Sunday for the largest dog snapper fish ever caught. His catch weighed in at 22.82 pounds, just 1.2 pounds lighter than the 24-pounder holding the world record. The previous state record was 14.4 pounds. Rene Hernandez, who caught the fish while fishing in the Gulf of Mexico, said he didn't initially realize it was even a dog snapper much less a record-breaking one. He thought it was a red snapper, which is similar in look but slightly larger. RELATED: Kids learn how to fish, conserve in free lesson at South Side park "It was really once the captain came down, he came out of his chair to come see it and he bought a record book with him just to identify, and yeah, at that moment he knew. Just looking at the fish you could tell it was more than 14 pounds," Hernandez said. "He knew it was a state record for sure and they were thinking it would even be a world record." Hernandez and his friends had been fishing for red snappers about 35 miles out from Port Aransas. He filleted some of the meat of the fish ("It's really tender and really good") and said the rest of the fish was mounted on a plaque. Hernandez said he's taking it back to his home in San Antonio to hang up and keep for many years. The record is "pending" with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department until it receives certification, according to a spokesman. S. M. Chavey is a staff writer with mysa.com. United Airlines became the first North American carrier to operate the Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft on Thursday morning, with its inaugural flight departing Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport for Orlando, Fla. The new planes are more fuel efficient, with the ability to fly farther on less fuel, and provide a quieter ride. Having a longer range than previous 737 models allows United to operate the 737 Max 9 between Houston and Anchorage, Alaska, which previously needed a larger aircraft. A day after a tentative agreement to overhaul U.S. biofuel policy appeared to collapse amid farm-state concerns, Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt met with the lead senator pushing for the changes: Ted Cruz. Pruitt had dinner with Cruz, a Texas Republican, at a Washington steakhouse blocks from the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday night. Pruitt declined to comment on the meeting as he left the restaurant, but Cruz said the dinner included discussion about the Renewable Fuel Standard and had been planned well before Mondays reports that a White House-brokered accord was unraveling. Cruz stressed that a deal to overhaul the biofuel policy could be revived. The conversations are ongoing, Cruz said. And I continue to believe that there is a positive win-win solution for everyone. Despite months of negotiations, the Trump administration has struggled to find a balance on a contentious issue that divides two of the presidents key constituencies: Midwest farmers and oil interests. On the campaign trail in 2016, Donald Trump promised to support ethanol, a pledge embraced by farmers who grow the corn used to produce it. Corn and Oil Refiners complain about the cost of complying with the biofuel mandate, while farm-state lawmakers say the program provides a crucial safety net for their rural constituents. On Tuesday, the White House indefinitely delayed an announcement of the planned biofuel changes, a development praised by both of Iowas Republican senators. Chuck Grassley said on Twitter that the president had rejected a bad ethanol deal. And Joni Ernst said Wednesday that there is no deal, because Trump said hes not going to sign anything that will harm the farmers. Trump said he did the farmers a big favor last night, during a meeting on Wednesday with his Cabinet. I did a big, big favor for the farmers. We love the farmers and they were happy. I know that Senator Grassley and Senator Ernst were very happy with what we did. Pruitt faces intense criticism from biofuel advocates, including Grassley and Ernst, who say he has undermined Trumps ethanol campaign pledge. But he is also under fire for allegations of ethical misconduct and questionable decisions. Nevertheless, refining advocates have strongly supported Pruitt. Cruz said on Wednesday night that it was premature to write off the deal. Refiners that are pushing for changes argue they pay too much for renewable identification numbers, or RINs, the tradable compliance credits used to prove they have satisfied annual biofuel quotas. The value of RINs tracking ethanol blending have plummeted this year, despite a slight uptick Wednesday to 23 cents apiece. In the meantime, while the value of those compliance credits has declined, ethanol blending hit a seasonal record during the first quarter. Ethanol production has been at near record levels for most of the year on a seasonal basis. And corn prices are up about 8 percent on the year, driven in part by the possibility of grain production disruptions from bad weather in South America. Advocates for a biofuel overhaul have argued to Trump that the data show farmers fortunes arent tied to RIN prices and a deal could be in their interest too. --With assistance from Mario Parker, Jennifer Jacobs and Ari Natter. 2018 Bloomberg L.P. Seventeen-year-old Wasiq Javed wants to create a ripple of change as part of the Commission Against Gun Violence appointed by Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner. His faith-based passion focuses on helping to change one persons mind-set and how that person can, in turn, change others to create a ripple effect. Appointed in late May by the mayor, commission members are talking of forming committees and subcommittees to address different topics. Turner has asked the commission to provide some local recommendations before school starts in the fall and additional recommendations for the Texas Legislature which is in session next year. The diversity of the commission pleases Javed who thinks the mayor did a good job of representing gun advocates, those opposed to guns, teachers, students, faith and civic leaders as well as health-care, police and fire officials. That diversity brought different perspectives to discussion of the issues. Undaunted by working with top civic, government, health and education leaders, Javed said each brings a different perspective to issues. The differences will bring us together, he said. Mayor Turner and staff considered all who were interested and selected a variety of people from diverse backgrounds and interests, said Alan Bernstein, the mayors communications director. In the case of the students, the mayor wanted to include those from the March For Our Lives movement. For the student-led March for Our Lives March 24 in downtown Houston, Javed rallied between 60 and 70 students from Cypress Lakes High School to attend the anti-gun protest. Javed will attend the University of Houston in the fall and has left behind more than 40 Cypress Lakes students who belong to Lakes for Lives, which he helped organize as a civic engagement club at school. As a vehicle for change, the club can encourage students to register to vote and become activists in their community and the world. "Wasiq and his classmates have already begun meeting as a student advocacy group with representation from almost all high school campuses," said Joel Weckerly, CFISD director of communication. "The League of Women VotersCy-Fair hosted a workshop for the students on April 16 that featured District 130 state Rep. Dr. Tom Oliverson as a guest speaker." Superintendent Mark Henry has begun meeting with district leaders to discuss enhanced safety and security measures for the 2018-19 school year and beyond, said Weckerly. Information on these enhancements will be made available to students, staff and community members prior to the start of the school year. "CFISD appreciated Wasiq Javed's thoughtful address during the April Board of Trustees meeting, as well as his fellow classmates who attended the meeting with the uniform goal of peaceful advocacy," continued Weckerly. "Shortly after the meeting we consolidated many of our safety and security resources on an easily accessible page on our district website, Safety & Security in CFISD, that can be found under the "Parents & Students" drop-down on the cfisd.net homepage. "Campus administrators continually remind students about the availability of the CFISD Tipline. Instructions on how to download the app or submit tips through the website are posted on fliers and digital monitors throughout the schools. This year we had a record amount of tips submitted through the Tipline," said Weckerly. But Javed's work on the commission won't be restricted to schools. The commission will address community-wide gun violence, he said. The Houston Police Department presented statistics that showed robbery and aggravated assault as two crime categories with the highest level of gun violence, he said. Reducing the number of aggravated assaults, for example, would stop a significant amount of gun violence, he said. The second amendment adopted in 1791 as part of the Bill of Rights is short and says: A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. Javed said he doesnt want to take guns away from people. But he does want to make sure that those who possess weapons have their backgrounds checked and dont have criminal records or mental health issues that make them questionable candidates for gun ownership. He talks of common sense laws to address long-entrenched practices. He also recognizes that the culture of violence needs to be addressed as well. Responsible parenting and reaching out to people who need a helping hand are important, he said. Membership in The Red Poet Society, serving as vice president of Mu Alpha Theta and having parents as strong role models all help to shape Javed and give him leadership skills to organize and speak publicly about issues and empathy to relate to others and their concerns. Part of the Islamic Circle of North America, his parents Sayeed and Sumbul Javed have formed his beliefs and opinions through their words and actions. She built my inner person. My dad built my outer person. Calling his mom loving and nurturing, he said hes learned from her character starting at a young age to the current day. She tells him: Dont ever lie. Dont ever cheat. Be good to people even when theyre bad to you. From his dad who attends conferences and is very active in the national society, Javed has a role model on how to work to effect change. As to him and his peers being too young to effect change, Javed disagrees. Its a misconception of what young people are capable of doing, he said. Through his faith he has learned to stand up to injustice in himself and the community, he said. He talks of changing the morality and mind-set of others to wake up and do something about the problems of society. There is always hope. If you can affect one other person you have done your job. But he recognizes that there never will be a perfect answer to every problem. We do as much as we can to prevent as much evil as we can. First Reformed, the latest film from pugnacious director/writer Paul Schrader, is as austere and revelatory as a church confessional. Blessed with a sense of rigor and emotional suffocation rare in mainstream American movies, its a bleak portrait of a man in the midst of a spiritual breakdown that is only slightly undone by its rather unsatisfying conclusion. The man in question is Rev. Ernst Toller (Ethan Hawke in one of his best roles), an ill, alcoholic man of the cloth and formerly married military chaplain still living under the dark cloud of guilt from encouraging his soldier son to go to Iraq, where he was killed. Tollers wife subsequently left him, his sense of purpose withered to mere existence, and now he lives isolated and alone and, presumably, will die the same way. His one distraction is being the pastor of First Reformed, a rustic, historic church and stop along the Underground Railroad in upstate New York thats charming enough to be a minor tourist attraction but not charmed enough to have anything but a rapidly dwindling congregation. Whats saving First Reformed from financial collapse is an alliance with a nearby well-funded megachurch, Abundant Life Ministries, run by Rev. Jeff Jeffers (a surprisingly strong dramatic turn from Cedric Kyles, aka comedian Cedric the Entertainer). As First Reformed is getting ready to fete its 250th anniversary, Jeffers is planning a major public-relations celebration with all the local political and community bigwigs in attendance, and Toller is the point man to make sure everything goes smoothly. But things take an unexpected turn when Mary (Amanda Seyfried) walks into his church and his life. Shes worried about her husband, Michael (Philip Ettinger), a disillusioned environmental activist who is being sucked down into the wormhole of extremism. Marys alarm bells really go off when she discovers a suicide vest in her garage. Toller is meant to be Michaels counselor, the one who gets him to back away from the brink. But, in Tollers fragile psychological condition, he finds himself pulled into Michaels world, as sure as a planet teetering too close to a collapsing star. Questions of faith, masculinity, sacrifice and salvation have long been part of Schraders work the former member of the Calvinist Christian Reformed Church, who didnt see a film until he was 17, wrote Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and The Last Temptation of Christ and First Reformed ranks as one of his strongest efforts juggling these themes. Stylistically, First Reformed also stands apart. Beautifully shot in an aspect ratio that makes the image square (as opposed to the usual rectangle), the film is at first discomfiting. The static shots and long takes, so different from much of current American moviemaking, hark back to a different time and different continent. Thats no accident as, in 1972, Schrader wrote the highly praised book Transcendental Style in Film, a tribute to the slow cinema of Denmarks Carl Theodor Dreyer, Japans Yasujiro Ozu and Frances Robert Bresson, and First Reformed is a filmic salute to those influences. In recent years, Schrader has been on something of a slide. The man who once was at the forefront of cinematic conversations with such films as American Gigolo, Hardcore and Blue Collar was cranking out movies few remember and even fewer celebrate. But this lion still roars as he gives a different meaning to the term faith-based film. First Reformed is a rewarding, if astringent, experience. cary.darling@chron.com How well do you know the history of Bay Area communities such as Clear Lake City, El Lago, League City and Dickinson? Try this quiz. 1. What is the city of League Citys official symbol? a. Palm tree b. Magnolia c. Oak 2. Who was League Citys first resident? a. Walter Hall b. George W. Butler c. Alfred E. Neuman 3. What Indian group lived in the Bay Area and along the Texas coast of the Gulf of Mexico? a. Karankawa b. Choctaw c. Apache 4. True for False: The original full name for the Johnson Space Center was the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Manned Space Craft Center. 5. Before changing its name to League City in 1893, the area was referred to as: a. The George Ranch b. Hidden Valley Ranch c. Butler Ranch 6. True or false: The slogan Free the Clear Lake 25,000 was a rallying cry for a group of residents who fought against annexation by Houston. 7. What classic film from 1960 featured a cameo by prized longhorn cattle from League Citys Butler Ranch? a. Giant b. The Searchers c. The Alamo 8. True or False: Clear Lake is the largest master-planned community in the Houston area. 9. What was the name of the first grocery story in Clear Lake located on El Camino at Bay Area Boulevard a. A&P b. Piggly Wiggly c. Market Basket 10. Which railroad ran through Dickinson and was used to help the Confederates retake Galveston during the Civil War? A. Galveston, Houston and Henderson Railroad B. B&O Railroad C. Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado Railroad 11. What was Websters original name? A. Heatherbrooke B. Cabot Cove C. Gardentown 12. True or False. El Lago was a main hide-out for pirate Jean Lafitte. Answers; 1. C, 2. B, 3. A, 4. True, 5. C. Butler Ranch was the name used by a railroad to identify the area because all mail was delivered to the Butler Ranch since owner George Butler was the postmaster. 6. True. Free the Clear Lake 25,000 was a slogan attributed to a group that campaigned against annexation by Houston in 1977. 7. C, 8. False. Clear Lake is the second largest master-planned community in the Houston area, after Kingwood. 9. B, 10. A. 11. C. The community was later named for James W. Webster. 12. True. El Lago sheltered French pirate and privateer Jean Lafitte in the early 19th century. Cindy Harreld-DeWease, president of the Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce, and Chris John Mallios helped with some of the information used for this quiz. yorozco@hcnonline.com The Caribbean sound of steel drums may have seemed exotic amid the steel guitars at this years San Jacinto Day Festival in La Porte, and that was part of the fun. Four years ago, when Garrett Sanborne, the music and fine arts director at Park View Intermediate School, inherited a few steel drums from the San Jacinto College Central music department, he was intrigued by the idea of introducing his own band students to a different cultural experience and exposing that music to a home-town crowd. That basically planted the seed, Sanborne said. The Park View Intermediate Steel Drum band started out with five students from the schools marching band, but in the four years since, membership has grown to somewhere between 20 to 25 players at any given time. It wasnt a hard sell, Sanborne said. The origin of steel drum performing is part of its appeal, he said. In the 1930s, players in the Caribbean countries of Trinidad and Tobago would play melodic rhythms on buckets and tin cans before realizing they could get more tones by using 55-gallon oil barrels. Besides the electric guitar, this is the newest instrument, and students need to understand the cultural difference: the musicians that invented it, thats all they had, Sanborne said. The barrels are conclave at the bottom, and tuned to either a lower range of notes like a tuba, or mid-range and higher tones like trumpets and flutes, giving the full band an orchestra-like sound. Each drum can carry anywhere from three bass notes to 24 higher lead notes depending on the depth and length of the barrel. Sixty or so years later, some companies have tried to customize and modernize the steel drum, but most musicians, said Sanborne, prefer the authentic, metallic sounds of an oil barrel. Parkview was the first PISD school to form a steel drum band and spawned a second at Sam Rayburn High School, where many of the members came from Sanbornes original group. Yeriel Mantilla-Pinette, a seventh grader at Park View, said he plays a little of everything in the band, from high to low tones and in between. Mantilla-Pinette likes the music and playing with his friends, but getting to perform outside of school is a highlight. I get nervous, but its really fun to play in front of a crowd, he said. Park View eighth-grader Jonathan Trevino, who plays the cello-tone steel drum, agreed. Its a little nerve-wracking, but as you start playing you enjoy the whole experience, he said. The band is an extracurricular project, and students volunteer to put in the practice and performing time outside of their regular school schedule; so in many ways it is a labor of love, both for the students and director. What I like most about steel band is seeing new things, trying new things, going to different places like the San Jacinto Monument, and performing at San Jacinto College, Trevino said. Sanborne was introduced to the music in college and has played with steel drum bands at various events over the years. Everybody wants to play the drums, and this give those woodwind and horn players a chance to venture out of their own musical boxes. It actually helps those students because we do have those trumpet or flute players not great at rhythm, Sanborne said. Once they get into playing steel drum, we notice the difference because it forces them to count and listen to rhythms better and be more precise, he said. Its also relatively easy to pick up. It doesnt take training where they have to learn how to use their mouth like other instruments, Sanborne said. They just take (the drums) out and play the right notes, and its instant gratification and they like that. As an educator, Sanborne said he tries to build some curriculum into the band project for the young musicians. Theyre really there to have fun and play songs, but I sort of sneak in some learning, he said. The music can range from original compositions to traditional Caribbean, from Mozart to Bruno Mars. The band has played the last few years at the San Jacinto Day Festival in addition to partnering with the steel drum bands from San Jacinto College and Sam Rayburn for other events at schools and festivals, providing the students with a little taste of gigging. They like loading a truck, getting to go out and play for other people, Sanborne said. They get to be giggers and thats what playing music is about, for me at least. I dont practice music to practice and rehearse and sit in class, I do it to go out and play. yorozco@hcnonline.com A state representative angry over reported continuing odors from Blue Ridge Landfill is inviting residents affected by the problem to a June 13 informational meeting in Pearland. State Rep. Ed Thompson, whose District 29 includes northern Brazoria County, will stage the meeting from 6-7:30 p.m. at Shadow Creek High School, 11850 Broadway, district director Liz Sitta said. Thompson, whose district includes northern Brazoria County, has expressed dissatisfaction with Republic Services, owner of the Fresno landfill, for not solving the problem sooner. In a May 3 letter to landfill owner Republic Services, Thompson implores the company to do more to eliminate the odor he says remains even after the company has claimed it has implemented state-approved mitigation measures. I have been extremely disappointed with BRL (Blue Ridge Landfill) and Republic Services throughout this ordeal, Thompson wrote. Representatives of Republic Services have repeatedly told me that the odor problem is under control and that they are willing to spend whatever it takes to correct the problem. I have been told about a number of measures that have been taken, yet the problems still persists. I urge you to take a closer look at the management and operating practices at BRL in order to truly solve this issue. The company has promised to put a new action plan in place to reduce the foul-smelling odor emitting from the landfill, which is on FM 521. Despite the new plan approved April 10 by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Thompson said his office is still receiving odor complaints. In the days following the Odor Controlling Plan, residents in my district reported noxious odors almost every day over a two-week span, Thompson wrote. In a statement, Blue Ridge Landfill said it has taken significant steps to control potential odors from the facility and that it has been implementing the plan reached with the commission for better site monitoring and community reporting. The landfill said that since 2016, it has invested more than $7 million in infrastructure upgrades and odor control systems. In fact, just last month, we launched an online odor reporting option and a telephone hotline where neighbors can report odor in the community directly to the Landfill so that we can investigate odor reports quickly and thoroughly, the statement said. The hotline number is 281-668-9747. The commission approved the odor plan in April after months of conversations in which the agency rejected four earlier versions of the plan. An outline of the plan obtained from the commission said that the new plan includes measures like plans to minimize odors from on-site sources; 24-hour sulfur monitoring system at the property boundary; activation of a 24-hour a day hotline/message-line and a website; procedures for receiving, documenting, and investigating odor complaints; a surface emissions monitoring program; maintenance of records and a quality assurance project plan. Thompson wrote that the initial plan submitted by the company in August 2017 was grossly inadequate. The disagreement is only the latest development in a years-long battle between residents and the landfill. The city of Pearland is seeking a temporary restraining order and a permanent injunction against the landfill, calling for it to immediately correct the defects in design and operation of the site that have allowed the nuisance odor to persist unabated. The city is also seeking $1 million in monetary relief, plus court costs. The citys primary objective is to have BRL stop generating odors, City Attorney Darrin Coker said. The city would use any damages awarded through the lawsuit to improve the landfill to stop the odor, he said. The lawsuit states that the city received more than 1,600 odor complaints from Pearland-area residents from October 2015 to October 2016 as well as hundreds more since then. Houston ISDs chances of avoiding major state sanctions took another hit Wednesday as Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath announced four of the districts 10 longest-struggling schools will not receive an academic accountability waiver this year in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. The decision means all four schools must meet state academic standards in August to avoid triggering one of two sanctions: a state takeover of HISDs locally elected school board or forced campus closures. Six other schools could have triggered the law this year, but they will get a one-year reprieve because they qualified for the Harvey waiver under criteria set by Morath. The commissioners long-awaited announcement on accountability waivers about 1,200 campuses will be eligible for them statewide, including hundreds in Greater Houston dealt yet another blow to HISD, which is running out of options for avoiding potential penalties. HISD officials have scrambled in recent months to find ways to stave off sanctions, while angry community members have protested that state leaders are unjustly seizing power from the district. An accountability waiver exempts a school from receiving an improvement required rating for poor academic performance, given to roughly 5 percent of campuses each year. Several local school districts received across-the-board accountability waivers Wednesday, including Alief, Clear Creek, Fort Bend, Katy, Pasadena, Spring and Spring Branch ISDs. None of those, however, had as much riding on Moraths decision as HISD. Under a new state law, if a single school within a district receives five straight improvement required ratings, the education commissioner must replace the school board or close the offending campus. HISD is the only local district at risk of triggering the law this year, with 10 campuses facing a possible fifth straight improvement required rating. subhed HISD leaders were hopeful all 10 of the schools would receive accountability waivers this year, delaying any sanctions for another year. To receive a waiver, a campus must have met one of four criteria following Harvey: Closed for at least 10 instructional days 10 percent of teachers were left homeless by the storm 10 percent of students were homeless or enrolled at another school The student population attended school at another facility or shared its campus through winter break Each of the four schools that will not get a waiver Mading and Wesley elementary, Woodson PK-8 and Worthing High were closed nine instructional days and did not meet the criteria for displaced students and teachers. Based on past performance, Woodson and Worthing are considered among the least likely of the 10 troubled schools to meet state standards this year. In an interview Wednesday, Morath said the 10-day cutoff mirrored the threshold set for accountability waivers after Hurricane Ike in 2008. This time, however, Morath added the three additional criteria based on feedback from education leaders and availability of data. I think that, given the totality of the impact of the storm, we had to set a threshold that was fairly low in terms of the degree of impact, the commissioner said. Morath said some campuses in districts hit hard by Harvey were just not affected by the storm and did not warrant getting any special storm-related adjusted accountability. Regarding the long-struggling HISD schools subject to sanctions, Morath said: The attention thats given to these 10 campuses in HISD has little to do with activities specific to this year. Each of those campuses has failed to meet academic standards for four years in a row and at least one of them eight years in a row. Were talking about, in some cases, a generation of students. Morath said about two-thirds of HISDs roughly 280 schools will be eligible for accountability waivers, even though the vast majority of HISD campuses were closed for only nine instructional days. Texas Education Agency officials did not release a list of all waiver-eligible schools. subhed HISD officials and Mayor Sylvester Turner, who lobbied Morath for districtwide waivers in recent months, offered no direct criticism of the commissioners decision Wednesday. In a written statement, district officials said they appreciate Moraths consideration of the devastating impact Hurricane Harvey has had on our students and staff this school year. Despite the challenges we have faced this school year, our data shows that our students performed well on state assessments, HISD officials said. We know that we are moving in the right direction, and our focus remains on the academic success of our students. Turner emphasized the citys desire to help improve long-struggling schools, noting that his education czar is in Los Angeles this week learning about the citys public-private education partnership. He did, however, offer a word of caution to the TEA. If the state is to step in and take over HISD the largest school district in Texas, 215,000 kids if you take that on, you own it, Turner said. Thats the only thing Im saying to the state: Lets not make a situation worse. Lets be very methodical, very deliberative, because there are schools that have been failing in HISD for years. State Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, whose legislative district includes one of the four long-struggling schools that did not receive a waiver, was less diplomatic. He denounced Moraths decision, saying the commissioner lacked an understanding of the storms impact on the Houston area. Coleman said he believes HISD is not getting deserved breaks because Morath wants to replace HISDs locally elected school board. I think that the primary interest of the commissioner is dealing with governance at HISD, and whatever validates his reason for dealing with governance, I think he may be subconsciously doing that, Coleman said. subhed Morath has not committed to which sanction option he would employ if one or more HISD schools trigger the law this year. However, earlier comments by Morath and one of his top lieutenants, AJ Crabill, suggest the TEA may be leaning toward replacing HISDs school board. In a May 9 meeting with the Houston Chronicle, Morath said hes not sure closure is, in fact, the best option in Houston, though he cautioned it was too early to make a decision. Both options have been criticized by many community members, who see political and racial forces at play. If he takes over HISDs school board, Morath, who was appointed education commissioner by a Republican governor, likely would select more conservative, reform-minded replacements, leading some in the community to worry it could open the door to more charter schools in the district. If Morath opts to close schools, all the shuttered campuses would be located in predominantly black and Hispanic high-poverty neighborhoods. Community advocates have argued TEAs accountability system unfairly targets racial minorities. Districts can appeal any accountability-related decisions, including the issuance of waivers. Appeals likely would be decided in late 2018. jacob.carpenter@chron.com twitter.com/chronjacob Drowning is the second-leading cause of unintentional injury death among children ages 1 to 14 (after motor vehicle crashes), according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Local program coordinators this summer are offering classes for residents of all ages who want to have fun in area pools safely. COME CORRECT: Public pool etiquette to remember as Houston enters its hottest months Both the YMCA of Greater Houston and the Houston Parks and Recreation Department are committed to making sure not one more Houstonian dies because they don't know how to swim. According to one of the city's regional aquatic managers Ray Derouen Jr., several City of Houston Parks and Recreation Department pools are offering free swimming classes throughout the city this summer. "With Houston being known as the Bayou City, we have water all around us," he said. "We would like the citizens of Houston to be able to participate in water activities safely." There are four aquatic centers, Alief, Independence Heights, Judson Robinson Sr., and Tuffly which are termed as "SwimWise" locations, all open from June 12 through Aug. 3 offering lessons daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Some of the classes even pair parents with their toddlers. The Mason, Emancipation and the Westbury aquatic centers are among those also offering swimming lessons. Those interested must register online to guarantee a spot in the classes at the official Houston Parks website. A whole list of classes are available online, with classes for residents aged from just a few months of age to senior citizens. COOLING OFF: Your summer guide to Houston's swimming pools The busiest public pool in the Houston area is the T.C. Jester Swimming Pool (4205 T.C. Jester), which welcomed over 700 swimmers on Memorial Day alone. Derouen said the pool logs hundreds of visitors a day during the summer's hottest months. Candi Revere, with the YMCA of Greater Houston's Senior Director of Aquatics, said Wednesday that water safety is something that the organization is passionate about. "One of the strategic initiatives at the YMCA of Greater Houston is eliminating drowning," Revere said. "By equipping adults and children with water safety knowledge, awareness and survival skills, we can eliminate drowning." To that end the YMCA is reaching into the community, even offering classes at some apartment complexes that have pools for their residents. ROAD TRIP!: 14 reasons why you need to visit Hamilton Pool this summer "We have water safety programs to the community at no cost to the participants, where apartment complexes have the ability to sponsor these programs at their sites," Revere said. Children can also participate in free water safety programs at Y Day Camps at locations that have pools on site. "We partner with school districts, non-profits, day cares and other community organizations to offer water safety programs," she added. "We offer scholarships for our traditional swim lessons offered at all of our Y locations with pools." A big part of the YMCA's curriculum is teaching children to ask for permission to enter the water. "We want to educate the parent, caregiver and child that any body of water that they are at, the child knows they need to ask for permission before entering and then the parent or caregiver gives them permission and watches them while they are in the water." The YMCA's full roster of swimming classes and activities is available online. Craig Hlavaty is a reporter for Chron.com and HoustonChronicle.com. AUSTIN Texas House Speaker Joe Straus has submitted a legal brief to the state attorney general calling for the removal of a plaque from the statehouse that misleads visitors on the cause of the Civil War. The plaque was added to the Capitol by the Children of the Confederacy in 1959 and states that the Civil War was not a rebellion nor was its underlying cause to sustain slavery. That claim is directly contradicted Texas Articles of Secession, which states the rebellion was necessary to protect white supremacy and guarantee the continuance of slavery. A central Texas woman released two deer that were captured by nets set by trappers. Now she's facing two criminal charges from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Ashlea Beck cut the netting around the deer captured in Lakeway, Texas, just west of Austin and loaded a video of the bleating deer to Youtube. SNAKE SEASON: Decapitated rattlesnake bites Texas man "On Thursday, March 8, I was inside my home when I heard loud, distressing screams from my daughter, 'Mommy! Mommy! They're hurting the deer!'" Beck wrote in a GoFundMe page to help cover her legal costs. "I ran outside and heard very loud, intense shrieks, similar to bleating sheep. I then saw a net on the ground with several squirming lumps." Those lumps were deer, who according to Beck were injured. She claims her 8-year-old and 10-year-old daughters still have nightmares from hearing the wailing deer. "I realized those were trapped deer and as I got closer, I could see the blood and broken limbs," Beck continued. "Two deer were bleeding from their mouths, one from its eye, two other deer appeared dead - I couldn't tell if they were dead or alive because they were so maimed they couldn't move." Beck said on the GoFundMe page the trappers said they were hired by the city of Lakeway to trap the deer. HUNTING SEASON: The ins and outs of feral hog hunting in Texas A representative from the city of Lakeway said officials had no comment on the situation and deferred to TPWD. Rita Cross, the woman who organized the GoFundMe page said on Thursday Beck has been instructed by her lawyer to not comment on the charges. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department maintain that Beck broke Texas state law. Ms. Beck interfered with lawful efforts to trap and remove white-tailed deer, causing damage to private property in the process," the agency said in a release. "It is a violation of the Sportsmans Rights Act to intentionally interfere with another person lawfully engaged in the process of hunting or catching wildlife, or intentionally harass, drive, or disturb any wildlife for the purpose of disrupting lawful hunting. CRUEL: Texas man caught abandoning dog, charged with animal cruelty Cross said Beck released two of the deer before the trappers stopped her. Cross said Beck now faces one charge of criminal mischief and another for harassment against the trappers, filed by the TPWD. "They didn't offer to fine her or at least warn her. She's a distraught single mother who was teaching her children to stand up to cruelty," Cross said Beck is now seeking funds to pay for a lawyer to fight the charges. Her GoFundMe has raised $4,955 of its $10,000 goal as of Thursday, three days after it was created. MEAN: Texas woman accused of leaving dogs to rot in 'worst' animal cruelty case sheriff has ever seen The Austin American-Statesman reports the charges are considered Class A misdemeanors, which is punishable by up to a $2,000 fine and 180 days in jail. A July 5 pretrial hearing has been set for Beck, the newspaper reports. Will Axford is a reporter for Hearst who doesn't know how he lived without breakfast tacos before moving to the Lone Star State. Follow him on Twitter for the Texas news you need to know. A woman who fatally stabbed her lover at her Northwest Side home was found guilty of murder Thursday, then sentenced to the lowest possible prison term of two years. Andira Abdelaziz, 37, had testified that Mohammed Abdelaziz, 25 her nephew by marriage, with whom she had secretly had an affair had violently abused her but that she couldnt bring herself to have him arrested because of the shame it would have caused in her extended Palestinian-American family. She faced up to life in prison but jurors decided she had killed in sudden passion, reducing the possible sentence to a range of two to 20 years. The jury took less than two hours to decide on the minimum sentence. RELATED: Jury's verdict sends killer into frenzy in S.A. courtroom Andira Abdelaziz had called 911 when her nephew pounded on her door and windows early on Aug. 9, 2016, but convinced Bexar County Sheriffs deputies who responded to release him from handcuffs, according to testimony. With the officers gone, she killed him minutes later with a kitchen knife when he renewed his assault on her, she told the jury this week. Defense lawyers had used the mans own text messages, including some he sent earlier that morning, as evidence she had reason to fear him. The jury didnt buy it. The guilty verdict, and subsequent sentencing decision, each unleashed a chaotic rush of courtoom emotion from members of a bitterly divided family that had watched the trial since last week. The defendant turned to her family when the verdict was announced, then gently rocked back and forth. Her son Mohammed, 19, who had testified about witnessing the aftermath of the killing, opened his mouth wide, but no words came out. Her husband, Karim Abdelaziz, yelled three times in Arabic toward the other side of the courtroom, where relatives of the deceased were seated. RELATED: Woman who fatally stabbed 'secret lover' feared honor killing Andira Abdelazizs sons and husband, wailing and crying, then were escorted out by deputies. One of them could be heard beating on the walls of an attorney conference room just outside. Testimony on the sentencing phase of the trial began within minutes. The mother of the deceased, Feda Abdelaziz, could barely speak through sobbing. When prosecutor Clayton Haden showed her a photo of her dead son, she clutched it to her chest and wept. I never saw him do any violence to anyone, she replied to a question from Haden. He wanted to come to the U.S. to finish his education. But when defense attorney Mike McCrum asked if she had ever seen the dozens of text messages her son sent to the woman who would kill him hours later messages in which he repeatedly warned he was coming to beat her, and calling her daughter of a whore more than a dozen times Feda Abdelaziz replied, I don't know what you're talking about. Did you read any of the police reports? McCrum asked. I don't know what that is, the mother replied. Some of the defendants children also took the stand. Without her, I wouldn't be here. She would help me with homework all night. I'm a straight-A student. She would stay up with me all night helping with school projects. She has been nothing but caring with everyone she's met, her daughter, Haya Abdelaziz, said. She was trying to survive, defense attorney Liza Rodriguez told the jury before it began deliberating the sentence. The state didnt contest that she was a victim of domestic violence. Usually the woman is the one who is dead. If you believe she acted in fear for her life, find that she did this in sudden passion. If she had not reacted with the instinct to survive, I fully believe the state would have been prosecuting Mohammed Abdelaziz for her murder, Rodriguez added. When the sentencing testimony was over and the jury was sent to deliberate, McCrum, a former federal prosecutor, said he was devastated by the verdict, calling it heartless. I think this is most horrible for women in this community, not just for Andira but all the women who have been abused by monsters. If this evidence didn't raise a doubt about whether she needed to defend herself, then I do not know what would, he said. The victims father Aziz Abdelaziz, 52, said after the verdict that he believed the jurors are good people. I have lost my son. Nothing will bring him back. I cannot say what should be done with Andira. Andira is a human being and me and my family don't wish harm on anyone. We leave it with God. Asked if family members could ever reconcile, he replied, Never, never. I gave Karim and his family three chances to apologize and they never did. Islam asks us to forgive but also says if a life is taken, then you take a life, but I am not going there. Addressing the jury in his sentencing arguments, Haden said the victim had been trying to better himself, but was also imperfect. There is no number of years that will bring solace to his family, no number of years that will let his mom hold her son again, he said. Somewhere between two years and out here (life in prison), there is justice. Bruce Selcraig is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. | BSelcraig@express-news.net On Thursday, Speaker of the Texas House Joe Straus rebuked false comments made by Donald Trump over Hurricane Harvey. After the president said Texans required a high number of high-water water rescues during the storm because "people went out in their boats to watch the hurricane," Straus set the record straight on Facebook. "The people who took their boats into the water during Harvey were not storm-watchers," wrote Straus, a San Antonio Rep. "They were heroes who went toward danger to rescue friends, neighbors, strangers. Texans helping Texans in a time of desperate need." FULL DETAILS: Trump says many Texans watched Harvey from their boats, requiring Coast Guard rescue Trump's comments about Harvey were made during a Wednesday conference call with state and federal officials preparing for the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season. The president said the Coast Guard didn't "get enough credit" for rescuing "sixteen thousand people, many of them in Texas, for whatever reason that is." "People went out in their boats to watch the hurricane," Trump added. "That didn't work out too well." Fernando.ramirez@chron.com Twitter.com/fernramirez93 Masterpiece Cakeshop proprietor Jack Phillips, an evangelical Christian who wont bake cakes with alcohol (or cakes for bachelor parties or Halloween) was sued by the Colorado Civil Rights Commission over his refusal to design a custom wedding cake for a same-sex couple. The Supreme Court, per Justice Anthony Kennedy, handed Phillips a surprisingly lopsided 7-2 victory Monday in his six-year battle with the commission. But those who had hoped that the Courts decision might put an end to a disturbing assault on First Amendment rights will have to keep the sparkling cider corked for another day. Kennedy decided the case on a narrow, fact-specific ground particular to this casethe apparent religious bias of the commission against Phillipswhile expressly declining to decide the more basic questions of the religious and free speech rights of creative professionals and artisans who oppose same-sex marriage. Kennedys triangulating avoidance won the votes of two of the four members of the Courts liberal bloc, Justices Elena Kagan and Stephen Breyer, swelling the majority made up of Kennedy and the four conservative justices. But the Court will have to decide the larger issues in another case. Phillipss legal saga began in July 2012, when a gay couple, Charlie Craig and David Mullins, came to his suburban Denver shop seeking one of his elaborate baked creations for their weddingtwo years before same-sex marriage was even legal in Colorado. He declined the business because of his religious beliefs, but offered to sell them any off-the-shelf baked goods, or to design cakes for them for other occasions. After complaining about Phillips online, Craig and Mullins received a free custom wedding cake from one of the 67 other cake artists in the Denver area (including one a tenth of a mile from Masterpiece) listed in gayweddings.com. The Civil Rights Commission found that Phillips had discriminated against Craig and Mullins in violation of the states gay rights law and ordered him to design wedding cakes for gay couples if he continued to do so for straight couples, as well as to institute comprehensive staff training and to file quarterly compliance reports with the state. Rather than violate his conscience, Phillips stopped making any wedding cakes, thus losing 40 percent of his business. A Colorado appeals court affirmed the Commissions decision and the states Supreme Court declined to hear the case, but the U.S. Supreme Court granted review. Phillipss case is one of a series around the country in which civil rights authorities and gay couples have brought actions under state or local gay rights laws to compel photographers, florists, bakers, and other small businesses and craftspeople to provide customized services for same-sex weddings, frequently requiring their attendance at the ceremonies, despite their religious objections. Like the others in the dock in these cases, Phillips challenged the commissions action on two constitutional grounds, alleging violations of his First Amendment rights to free exercise of religion and freedom of speech. However, the religious-freedom claim in these cases is largely precluded by Justice Antonin Scalias decision in Employment Division v. Smith, a 1990 case involving peyote use at a Native American Church, which held that generally applicable laws incidentally burdening religion are subject to only minimal constitutional scrutiny. Thus the arguments in Phillipss case, as in the others, have focused primarily on the free speech claimspecifically, the argument that being required to use ones creative talents to celebrate something that offends your beliefs or to otherwise bear witness against ones conscience violates longstanding precedent against compelled speech. As Ive argued previously, such enforced speech has an Orwellian cruelty that makes it even more vile than negative restraints on freedom. Justice Kennedys majority opinion, however, refused to address either the free speech issue or the main religious freedom issue. Rather, Kennedy latched onto a much narrower free exercise of religion issue, holding that the Colorado Commissions proceedings were tainted by religious hostility against Phillips and that he was thus denied a neutral and respectful consideration of his claims. As he had at oral argument, Kennedy zeroed in on the statement of one of the commissioners that: Freedom of religion and religion has been used to justify all kinds of discrimination throughout history, whether it be slavery, whether it be the holocaust . . . And to me it is one of the most despicable pieces of rhetoric that people can use toto use their religion to hurt others. Kennedy stressed that none of the other commissioners had objected to these comments, and that the state had not disavowed them. As further proof of bias, Kennedy also cited the commissions rejection of claims against bakers who refused to make cakes with Christian anti-gay-marriage themes, noting that the state cant respect those bakers conscientious objections to such cakes but not respect Phillipss religious objection to same-sex wedding cakes. Torn between his devotion to the rights and dignity of gay persons and fundamental freedoms under the First Amendment, including the expression of religious and philosophical objections to gay marriage, Kennedy punted, concluding: The outcome of cases like this in other circumstances must await further elaboration in the courts, all in the context of recognizing that these disputes must be resolved with tolerance, without undue disrespect to sincere religious beliefs, and without subjecting gay persons to indignities when they seek goods and services in an open market. The law, awaiting further elaboration, is little different than it was last week. A petition for review in at least one similar case, involving a Washington State florist, is pending before the Court. Justices Kagan and Breyer made clear in a concurring opinion in this weeks decision that, absent the explicit religious bias present in Masterpiece Cakeshop, they will almost certainly return to the liberal fold. So once again, absent a change in the composition of the Court, Anthony Kennedy will remain the swing vote, as he was expected to be here. The question of how free we are to exercise our conscience on the basis of religious belief remains in abeyance. Photo: Sergey Nazarov/iStock This question of technology leading to a reduction in demand for labor is not some hypothetical prospect, says Larry Summers, former U.S. secretary of the Treasury and president of Harvard University. Its one of the defining trends that has shaped the economy and society for the last 40 years. Summerss view represents conventional wisdom across the political spectrum and around the world, especially with respect to the industrial economy. Factory automation has already decimated jobs in traditional manufacturing, said the late physicist Stephen Hawking. The New York Times calls automation The Long-Term Jobs Killer and editorializes that many economists believe that automation has had a much bigger impact than trade on manufacturing jobs. Speaking just before Brexit, former British Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith attributed global political turmoil in part to automation and technological change, to which so many manufacturing jobs have already been lost, while Brookings Institution scholar Mark Muro said just after Donald Trumps election that it was secretly about automation. These ideas seem self-evident to many people because blue-collar workers have been hurting for a long time. Manufacturing employment has fallen by nearly one-third since 2000, and millions of less educated Americansespecially menhave abandoned the labor force entirely. Wages have stagnated since at least 1980; only half of Americans in their thirties are better off financially than their parents were at the same age a generation ago. Most people expect the next generation to fare even worse. Economists often blame automation. Technology, they argue, allows us to produce more output with fewer people, displacing less skilled workers from high-paying factory jobs into the lower-paying service sector or sending them out of the workforce entirely. Breakthroughs in robotics and artificial intelligence will only accelerate the trend, threatening perhaps the majority of jobs in the decades ahead. Yet these claims find no support in either the data of recent economic performance or careful analyses of future labor-force trends. If automation were rendering workers obsolete, we would see evidence in rising productivity, major capital investments, and a shift in the ratio of production workers to managerial workers. None of these things has occurred. If technology could render workers obsolete, the radical advancements of past generations should have done it. They did not. If this time is different, we should find evidence that a large share of current workers are uniquely vulnerable to the particular set of technologies on the horizon. We do not. What we find, instead, is that the industrial economy has stalled. Technology-driven productivity gains have continued as in the past, if a bit slower. But whereas output used to grow at least as quickly, it now grows barely at all. The dynamic has shifted from one in which workers produce more each year, and total output rises, to one in which fewer workers are needed each year to deliver roughly the same output as the year before. What has changed, and what deserves our attention, is not the trend in automation but rather the dramatic slowdown in output growth. This has its own explanation, one that makes far more sense than the idea that the blessings of rising productivity have suddenly turned wicked: we have pursued a wide range of public policies that harmed the industrial economy broadlythe manufacturing sector, in particularand the blue-collar workers relying on them. Only by acknowledging that reality, rather than scapegoating technological trends beyond our control, can we begin to make amends. Mathematically, automation does destroy jobs. If an activity that required ten workers can, with automation, be done by five, then the economy can maintain its prior level of output with five fewer jobs. Automation is just one specific case of a more general rule: every means of increasing the rate of output per workermeasured as productivitycan also be understood as reducing the number of workers required to achieve the existing level of output. This is not, generally, a problem. To the contrary, producing more stuff with less laborwhether through improved skills, more efficient processes, or better toolsis, by definition, how a society achieves economic progress. This means that any time we talk about rising productivity, wages, and standards of living, we are also talking about reducing the need for workers providing the current products and services. The crucial question is what happens to output as productivity rises. If we achieve the 2.8 percent annual productivity growth that translates to a 100 percent increase after 25 yearsthe typical worker producing twice as much as a generation earlierthis also means, using the language of the automation debate, that every 25 years, we will destroy half of the economys jobs. And that would indeed be the result, if output remained at its initial level. But if output also doubles, then everyone remains working and material living standards can double, too. This is precisely what happened from 1947 to 1972, widely seen as the golden age for American manufacturing and the nations middle class. Economy-wide productivity increased by 99 percent; only 50 workers were needed by the end of the Vietnam War to do the work that 100 could complete at the end of World War II. The result was not mass unemployment. Instead, America produced more stuff. The same share of the population was working in 1972 as in 1947, and mens median income was 86 percent higher. Increasing output can take different forms. Between 1947 and 1972, workers produced greater quantities of the same goods and services, which were now more affordable for more consumers. U.S. vehicle sales doubled during this period, as did vehicle-miles-traveled per person; more than 85 percent of cars and trucks were still manufactured domestically. Goods and services also improved in qualityvehicles were safer and lasted longer, and some came with power steering and an automatic transmission. And with fewer workers required to produce the output of 1947, many could serve markets in 1972 that hadnt existed a generation earlier, or that had been much smaller. In 1947, U.S. airlines flew 13 million passengers a combined 6.5 billion miles; in 1972, they flew 191 million passengers 152 billion miles. Fatalities per mile flown, meanwhile, fell more than 95 percent. This is how growth works. When agriculture mechanized, we didnt continue living as subsistence farmers while lamenting that nearly all our able-bodied adults were now jobless. We produced more and better food. Then we produced more of other things, too. For that matter, when we introduced hundreds of thousands of ATMs across the country, we did not design welfare programs for the armies of unemployed bank tellersbecause bank-teller employment never even declined. As Boston Universitys James Bessen has shown, ATMs lowered the banks cost of doing business, and they responded by opening more branches. In theory, modern automation could produce different effects from what it did in the pastif, for instance, the pace of change accelerated to the point that workers became unnecessary in existing roles much faster than they could find new ones. But when the New York Times argues that this time may really be different because over the same 15-year period that digital technology has inserted itself into nearly every aspect of life, the job market has fallen into a long malaise, it is passing off correlation as causation. If we are to believe that the very process most responsible for economic progress and middle-class prosperity over the past century is now undermining those accomplishments, we should want to see some proof. In fact, the evidence is plentifuland it points in the opposite direction. Automation has not spurred accelerating productivity. During the second half of the twentieth century, economy-wide productivity increased by an annual average of 2.1 percent. From 2000 to 2016, the increase was only 1.8 percent, and slowing: from 3.2 percent (during 20002005) to 1.9 percent (200510) to 0.7 percent (201015). In 2016, productivity declined for the first time since the early 1980s. The manufacturing sector tells a parallel story: no better progress in the early twenty-first century than the late twentieth, a steadily worsening picture, and catastrophic recent performance. From 2010 to 2016, productivity growth in manufacturing has averaged less than 1 percenta period of unprecedented stagnancy. These data yield slightly different results depending on the particular metrics and time frames used: an industrys total output or only its value added; output per worker or per hour worked; or figures published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics or the Bureau of Economic Analysis. But no view alters the underlying reality that recent productivity growth is no better, and likely much worse, than in the past. Might the data be misleading? Certainly, measuring output and productivity is tricky. Debate rages, for instance, over how best to account for the rapid improvement in digital products. If the same workers can produce a computer processor this year with twice as many transistors as last years, are they twice as productive? Some economists worry that taking such rapid productivity gains at face value overstates the real-world effects. After all, the ability to make faster computers this year does not mean that the previous years computers could be made with half the workers. Nor does a computer with twice the processing power offer fully double the value to the typical user. Meantime, other economists believe that accounting methods developed almost a century ago are understating gains by missing much of the value created by newer types of products and services. What is a smartphone worth, if buying separately its camera, map, encyclopedia, music player, and so forth would have cost thousands of dollars only a decade agoand a memory chip of comparable capacity would have cost millions of dollars? Other indicators provide no better support for the claim that automation is spurring disruptive productivity increases. Larry Mishel and Josh Bivens of the Economic Policy Institute show that growth in capital investment generally, and in information technology particularly, has been slowing and stands well below pre-1990 levels. Robert Atkinson and John Wu of the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation likewise find that the rate of labor-market churnemployment disappearing from some occupations or appearing in othersstands at an all-time low. Nor, within the manufacturing sector, are blue-collar jobs under particular pressure. If automation were accelerating, allowing factories to produce more with fewer people on the shop floor, the share of sector employment classified as production and nonsupervisory should decline. In the past, that happened. From 1947 to 1972, the production-worker share of the workforce fell more than ten points, from 87 percent to 76 percentor, put more dramatically, the ratio of line workers to managers fell by half, from 6.8:1 to 3.2:1. By 1982, the share had reached 71 percenta 2.4:1 ratio. Since then, for an entire generation, there has been virtually no change. In 2016, the share stood at 70 percent. As Boston Universitys James Bessen shows, ATMs lowered the banks cost of doing business, and they opened more branches. Econometric studies offer a final line of evidence that explores the statistical relationship between robot installation and employment. A landmark 2015 study from Londons Centre for Economic Performance found that the introduction of industrial robots corresponded to faster productivity growth during 19932007, without affecting overall manufacturing employment, though high-skilled workers did see some gains at the expense of low-skilled ones. Another 2015 study, by the authors of the China Shock paper showing strong negative effects from exposure to Chinese trade, found that technological change did cause some employment shifts within sectors but did not reduce employment overall. Further, while the effect of trade exposure was increasing over time, the effect of technology seemed to be dissipating. One prominent study does report a negative relationship between robots and jobs, but the magnitude of its finding is instructive. Released in 2017 by the National Bureau of Economic Research, the paper was headlined in the New York Times as Evidence That Robots Are Winning the Race for American Jobs and in the Washington Post as Were So Unprepared for the Robot Apocalypse. The actual effect identified: a loss of 360,000670,000 jobs over 17 years, of which only half were in manufacturing. This amounts to a loss of only 15,000 manufacturing jobs per year, roughly 0.1 percent of average manufacturing employment during the period. At that rate, robots might, over a century, eliminate as many manufacturing jobs as were, in fact, lost during 2001. The difference this time, and the cause of economic distress, isnt that productivity is rising. Its that output is not. From 1950 to 2000, while productivity in the manufacturing sector rose by 3.1 percent annually, value-added output grew by 3.6 percentand employment increased, from 14 million to 17 million. During 20002016, productivity rose by a similar 3.3 percent annually. But output growth was only 1.1 percentand employment fell, from 17 million to 12 million. Even with all the technological advancement of the twenty-first century, had manufacturers continued to grow their businesses at the same rate as in the previous century, they would have needed more workersa total of 18 millionby 2016. Faced with this reality, efforts to blame job losses on automation require the fatally flawed assumption that output is not supposed to increase. Holding output constant and comparing the pasts lower productivity with the presents higher productivity will always reveal that employment would be higher but for the productivity gain. This is how, for instance, an oft-cited report from Ball State University reaches the conclusion that 88 percent of manufacturing job losses are attributable to automation: Had we kept 2000-levels of productivity and applied them to 2010-levels of production, we would have required 20.9 million manufacturing workers. Instead, we employed only 12.1 million. But, of course, were employing fewer manufacturing workers than if productivity had not increasedand the same could be said about every decade. Using this reasoning, we could say: Had we kept 1960 levels of productivity and applied them to 1970 levels of production, we would have required 25 million manufacturing workers. Instead we employed 18 million. Did automation destroy 7 million jobs in the 1960s? Maybe. But this wasnt a problem, because output rose 62 percent, so manufacturing employment was higher at decades end. By contrast, the output of the manufacturing sector in 2016 was only 3 percent higher than in 2006. Single years achieved higher growth than that 32 times during 19502000, at least five times during every decade before 2010. We want to know what has changed in our economic trends that has dislocated so many manufacturing workers and produced so much distress. The answer is not higher productivity growth; it is slower growth in output. The automation question shapes debates about not only past economic trends and public policies but also those to come. President Obama, in his farewell address, warned that the next wave of economic dislocations . . . will come from the relentless pace of automation that makes a lot of good middle-class jobs obsolete. The Atlantics cover story, A World Without Work, introduces its topic thusly: For centuries, experts have predicted that machines would make workers obsolete. That moment may finally be arriving. The grandest visions emanate from Silicon Valley, whose technologists believe that they will lead a social transformation. Many have become interested in the policy proposal known as universal basic income, by which government would pay a livable stipend to the no-longer-employable masses. Robots will be able to do everything better than us, warns Teslas Elon Musk. There is a pretty good chance we end up with a universal basic income, or something like that, due to automation. . . . I am not sure what else one would do. Such expectations for automation get four things wrong. First, they magnify the importance of innovations at the cutting edge while taking for granted the equally fundamental innovations of the past. Advanced robotics and artificial intelligence are impressive, but so were the Internet, the computer, the internal combustion engine, and electricity, to say nothing of democratic capitalism and the industrial revolution. Yet, as Northwesterns Robert Gordon shows, for no period in the past two centuries has growth in American output per person exceeded 2.5 percent. If anything, the innovative leaps of the past benefited from access to the lowest-hanging fruit. The elements of human labor easiest to replace with machinesthe processes easiest to optimizeare the ones that get tackled first. In some respects, technological progress accelerates exponentiallythe processing power of computer chips has been doubling every year or two for 50 years. But in others, it becomes ever harder to maintain even a constant rate of progress, as operations managers struggle to find yet another 2 percent to 3 percent efficiency gain on top of the last years. Accelerating technological progress does not produce accelerating productivity; it is the minimum required to deliver even constant productivity gains. Second, these grandiose claims ignore the gradual timeline on which transformations inevitably occur. Technology takes time to adapt by fits and starts to real-world conditions. And organizations take time to adapt to new technologies. Thus, for instance, the head of Googles self-driving-car project acknowledged in 2016 that the companys goal of fielding a fully autonomous vehicle by decades end was implausiblethe timeline was more like 30 years. How quickly can we get this into peoples hands? he asked. If you read the papers, you see maybe its three years, maybe its thirty years. And I am here to tell you that honestly, its a bit of both. . . . This technology is almost certainly going to come out incrementally. And even after such new technology exists, it takes decades longer to penetrate fully its various applications. Existing vehicles will need to reach the end of their useful life, and new processes will have to be developed to capture the benefits. An automated delivery truck sounds wonderful, until it arrives and no one hops out to unload. Deployment is always slow. Thomas Edison presented a lightbulb lit with power from his Pearl Street generating station in 1882, but 40 years later, less than 10 percent of the nations 6 million farms had electricity. Digital is not inherently faster. Walmart took 18 years to grow from $1 billion to $100 billion in U.S. sales. Amazon, likewise, hit the $1 billion mark in 1999 but took until 2017 to reach $100 billion across North America. In manufacturing, every year will see extraordinary upgrades in some processes. But firms will have to decide how many areas they want to risk changing at one time and how much capital they can devote to the effort. With each decision, they will have to balance the benefits of investment in the ideal tool for a specific task with the loss of flexibility that comes from committing to that tool and that task. Even the steel industry, a poster child for automation, required 40 years to increase its per-worker output from 260 tons to 1,100 tonsan annual improvement of less than 4 percent. Across the manufacturing sector globally, the Boston Consulting Group reports that the stock of installed robots grew only 2 percent to 3 percent per year during 200514no faster than total manufacturing output. As Rodney Brooks observed in MIT Technology Review, I regularly see decades-old equipment in factories around the world. I even see PCs running Windows 3.0a software version released in 1990. Anyone who has peered around a checkout counter to see the readout on the cashiers screen knows this feeling. Brooks continued: The principal control mechanism in factories, including brand-new ones in the U.S., Europe, Japan, Korea, and China, is based on programmable logic controllers, or PLCs. These were introduced in 1968. . . . I just looked on a jobs list, and even today, this very day, Tesla Motors is trying to hire PLC technicians at its factory in Fremont, California. The state-of-the-art Tesla plant has faced severe challenges, missing deadlines and postponing targets. In 2016, the company announced a goal of producing 100,000 to 200,000 of its new Model 3 sedans in the second half of 2017; in fact, it managed just 2,700. AutoWeek notes that, far from being a temple of lean manufacturing, the plant produced only about ten vehicles per worker in 2016, across all Tesla models. By comparison, when General Motors and Toyota launched their joint venture on the same Fremont site in the 1980s, they produced 26 vehicles per worker in the first year; by 1997, that rate had reached 74. And yes, despite productivity tripling, the plant had also doubled its workforce. The ultimate check on the rate of productivity growth is the labor force itself. Firms can adopt new technologies and processes only as quickly as they can train workers to operate and perform them. The automated factory may require a few more maintenance technicians and many fewer line workers, but if those line workers cant become technicians, where will firms turn? And even if the same workers can be retrained, instilling new skills can take years. If different workers with different capabilities are needed, more fundamental shifts in the labor market must occur. Schools must develop new programs, and talent must seek other career paths; manufacturers will need to attract higher-skill talent from other industriesand those industries may have something to say about that. The dynamic has already emerged, in the skills gap that manufacturers lament. They say that they need hundreds of thousands of new workers with more advanced skills than their existing workforce can supply, a problem they present as a market malfunction. On the contrary, the market is working properly and sending a clear signal: automation will be harder, slower, and more expensive than you may like; and to make it work, youll have to design your processes with the capabilities of the nations workforce in mind. This leads to the third misconception about expectations for automation: that many jobs can be automated entirely. Technology often makes incremental improvements to workers productivity, generally leading to more and higher-quality output rather than lower demand for their work. One reason people worry that this time may be different is that they believe that robotics and artificial intelligence can now fully replicate human functioning and can therefore substitute for, rather than complement, the worker. Driving the fear of replacement are self-promotional quotes from Silicon Valley moguls about their plans for transforming society, as well as Oxford Universitys much-cited 2013 study warning that 47 percent of U.S. jobs are automatable within a decade or two. Among the most computerizable of 700 occupations, say the studys authors, are tour guides, real-estate agents, and fashion models. They rate school bus driver as among the easiest jobs to automate, along with baker and rail-track layer, and well ahead of other types of truck and bus drivers. Oxfords research usefully illustrates the limitations of such studies. From a tall enough ivory tower, or a heady corner of Silicon Valley, the claim about school bus drivers might seem to make sense. What could be easier than driving a school bus? The route is the same every day, its short, and it gets canceled for snow. For parents, though, the idea of locking 20 kids in a self-driving vehicle for half an hour, with no adult supervision, sounds dubious at best. These misfires point to a more general problem with automation predictions: an abstract description rarely captures the full complexity of any job. Ironically, broad classification of jobs as automatable looks like something that a computer might produce if one took such classification work as an automatable taskrote and lacking in nuance and specificity. When researchers at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development tried focusing on the actual tasks required of various jobs, instead of the occupation description itself, they found that only 9 percent of jobs were automatable. McKinsey & Company, likewise, finds that only 5 percent of jobs could be entirely automated with technology that has at least been demonstrated in labs, whereas 60 percent of jobs could have at least 30 percent of their activities automated; overall, the analysis forecasts that half of tasks could be automated by 2055. This implies that automation could drive a doubling of productivity over 40 years, or less than 2 percent annually. Finally, dire predictions ignore the positive. Even stipulating the unprecedented nature of future technological changes, the full implications of those changes extend far beyond automating low-skill jobsand no law dictates that they should operate on balance to the disadvantage of workers. A tool like 3-D printing, for instance, has the potential to reduce the demand for labor in large factories. But it might also spawn new industries, in which smaller businesses can perform small-scale, highly customized manufacturing with relatively little capital investment. If large factories begin to employ highly skilled and compensated robotics specialists, such specialists will relocate to the communities where the factories operate, changing demographic and economic profiles for the better. If a truck driver can leave his cab and work from a central control facility, in which he toggles to whichever of numerous trucks requires human guidance at a particular moment, he will likely be happier, healthier, and better paid as well. If e-commerce supplants retail, the countless sales jobs concentrated in high-cost urban centers will be redistributed as logistics, delivery, and customer-service positions. Michael Mandel of the Progressive Policy Institute finds that e-commerce is creating new jobs much faster than retail is destroying them, and those jobs pay better, too. Anyway, employment in the retail sector reached an all-time high in 2017, with the share consisting of nonsupervisory and production workers unchanged from 1997. By all means, we should continue scanning the horizon for a hypothetical threat that some fear might materialize. But we cannot let those fears derail the real-world discussion about how to fix the problems that we actually have. Historically, economists and policymakers have led the effort to explain that technological innovation is good for workers throughout the economy, even as its creative destruction causes dislocation for some. So why, suddenly, are economists so eager to throw robots under the bus? Its hard to avoid the conclusion that they wish to direct attention away from themselves. Without automation to blame, the stalling of the nations industrial economy begins to look like the result of poor policy choices, not unstoppable forces. A good place to start would be the regulatory frameworks that have ballooned the cost of industrial activity. Studies of the Clean Air Act have found that the stricter dictates imposed on regions with higher pollution levels eliminated hundreds of thousands of jobs, slowed the creation of new plants by 26 percent to 45 percent, and reduced the sectors profitability by 9 percent. The broader regime of environmental regulation has not only raised costs but also lengthened timelines and created uncertainty over the ability to proceed with projects. It has also raised energy costs and stalled infrastructure upgrades. Government has made it harder and less profitable to build businesses that employ Americans to make things. In other ways, government has made it harder, riskier, and less profitable to build businesses that employ large numbers of Americans to make things. Aggressive safety requirements harnessed to a costly litigation system might be justifiable in isolation, but not when duplicated by sclerotic unions that pile burdens higher. The decline in unionized manufacturing jobs over the past four decades accounts for more than 100 percent of the total job loss; nonunion manufacturing employment has actually increased. (See More Perfect Unions, The Shape of Work to Come, 2017.) Other misguided policies have eroded the prospective workforce. Repeated expansions of the safety net, extending to programs even for able-bodied men, have not only made a job less necessary but also created penalties for taking one. The education system spurned vocational training in favor of college for all. Hundreds of billions of dollars flowed annually toward the fortunate half of students headed for postsecondary degrees, while society designated the other half as losers and offered them nothing. The cultural imperative to work fell away, and many young people chose simply to stay home. Finally, any discussion of automation as the dog that has not barked requires acknowledgment of the dog barking loudly: international trade. For all its myriad benefits to consumers, trade drags heavily on domestic manufacturing output when goods previously made in America are instead imported from abroad and no commensurate rise follows in overseas demand for what Americans can make, as is the case with our trade relations with China. The explosion of the U.S. trade deficit since the 1990s reflects growth in American consumption of manufactured goods, but with the associated growth in output occurring far from home. Nor are jobs lost to trade comparable with those lost to automation. Productivity gains occur bit by bit, year by year, but a plant that shuts down and moves overseas is here today and gone tomorrow. Compare also the situation facing a worker dislocated by trade with that of a worker laid off or never hired because of automation. In the former case, the facility is gone, and the production now occurs somewhere else. In the latter, the facility is still operating, likely producing more output than before. Total demand for labor from the firm and its surrounding ecosystem is likely larger, and if capital has replaced labor, the remaining workers are likely earning moreand some other highly paid professionals may be arriving in town with new demand for services of their own. In which town might it be easier to find a new, good-paying job? Recall that one study did find a small negative effect on employment from roboticson the order of 30,000 jobs lost per year. Using a similar methodology but focusing on the effects of exposure to trade with China, researchers found annual job losses five times larger. A reporter telling the story of automation speaks to a laid-off worker at a lunch counter; one telling the story of trade reports from the empty parking lot of an abandoned building. There is no one left to talk to. In the discussion of what has happened to Americas working class, automation is a distraction. While it can be hard to acknowledge that the problem is instead one of our own making, the news is not all bad. If bad public policies rather than irresistible forces are responsible for the nations predicament, then with better policy choices that prioritize the needs of the industrial economy might come better results. Illustrations by Dante Terzigni Islamic Relief Worldwide has had over 500 audits over the last ten years partly as a result of a hostile operating environment, the charitys chief executive said in an interview in Governance & Leadership magazine. Naser Haghamed, the charitys chief executive, and Lamia El Amri, the charitys chair, were both interviewed by Governance & Leadership magazine. They spoke about the struggles the charity has faced over the last ten years as it has faced numerous allegations of links to terrorism. Its Wikipedia page concludes with a section headed Controversy and allegations of terror links, much of which Haghamed and El Amri reject as inaccurate. Haghamed, who has been with the charity since 1999 and chief executive since 2013, said: In the past ten years we have had over 500 audits and none have ever found any evidence of terrorist or extremist links to Islamic Relief. A lot of our income comes from institutional funding bodies such as the Department for International Development and the United Nations, so we are regularly audited. Some of these audits are really quite intrusive, but nothing has ever been found. We abhor terrorism and categorically deny any links with any terrorist organisation or individuals. We have lost staff to acts of terror and violence in many parts of the world this has made us more determined to ensure that aid reaches its intended recipients and doesnt fall into the wrong hands. Increasing diversity Islamic Relief Worldwide has said that it is currently working on a governance restructure which aims to increase diversity among its governors in the UK and globally and improve accountability within the Islamic Relief family. El Amri became the charitys first and only woman trustee when she joined the board in 2013. She said: We have had a female director at senior management level but I am the only board member. I dont think thats enough, Im not proud of this, or satisfied with it. I am passionate about gender equality and diversity so I want to see a board that reflects the incredible diversity of the communities we serve and our supporter base around the world, so we are working on that. IRW has also strengthened its lines of communication, including its crisis management team. Due to negative media coverage the charity has received in the past, the charity provides regular updates to all our stakeholders, the Charity Commission, banks. Even if there is the smallest negative media coverage about IR, we are proactive and inform them all immediately. Read the full interview with Naser Haghamed and Lamia El Amri here. Find more information on subscribing to Governance & Leadership magazine here. Plan International UK is trialling a new way of using mobile phones to make it quicker and easier for supporters to communicate with children theyve sponsored. At the moment the charity has 81,000 UK-based sponsors who are paired with 86,000 children in 50 developing countries. Sponsors and children currently communicate by letter enabling the sponsor to find out how their support is helping the child and their community. Plan is working with enterprise mobility specialists, CommonTime, to pilot ways for children and sponsors to communicate using mobile phones and tablets. Using standard email is not an option as it can take several weeks to translate messages and moderate content. It hopes that using CommonTimes solution will make it easier and quicker for supporters and enable them to engage with children in new ways, such as by sharing digital photos and video, but also reduce the costs of communication. The charitys staff will receive a copy of every message before it is delivered to the intended recipient so that they can approve or reject the messages depending on content. Rejected messages are automatically returned to the sender, with a brief description of the reasons for rejection and suggestions on modifying the content. Alan Gosschalk, director of fundraising for Plan said: Sponsors find it hugely rewarding building a personal connection with their sponsored child, and receiving updates about how Plan International UK is helping the community they live in. Plan is using funding from its ongoing relationship with the Peoples Postcode Lottery to fund the pilot. The Charity Technology Conference takes place on 7 November 2018. To book click here. There are so many talented professionals willing to volunteer their skills and they offer a great opportunity for increasing charities capacity, without the uncertainty and inefficiency of fundraising. But few charities really embrace this approach to resource-raising. Reach Volunteering runs a service matching charities with volunteers willing to share their expertise, and we see a big variation in how charities use our service: many use us just for finding trustees, while some recruit an inspiring range of volunteers. To celebrate Volunteers Week I spoke to some of the charities that make most effective use of our service to learn more about their approach. What volunteers can do for charities Small Charities Coalition runs an advice service through which volunteer mentors provide advice for small charities in topics including fundraising, governance and strategy. They also engage volunteers to deliver projects. Their Christmas advert is a great example. It is a video that encourages people to consider giving to small charities rather than large household names. Mandy Johnson, chief executive, said: "We needed someone who was a jack of all trades who could deliver the project end to end". The volunteer they recruited was an experienced project manager who then recruited the rest of the team: volunteers to do the filming, write the music and edit the film. Another great example is Thames Estuary Partnership who provide a framework for the sustainable management of the Thames. They involve volunteers across the organisation in key roles such as marketing and communications. Volunteers roles include editor, content writer, journalist, social media manager, and database administrator.Together they run the charitys social media, and produce their weekly email updates, their monthly newsletter and their bi-annual magazine. Lastly, Health Action Campaign champions more action to tackle preventable illness. It has no paid staff at all so all of its research, campaigning and publications are undertaken by volunteers. For example, a multi disciplinary team of volunteer health professionals and economists produced their report exploring the tensions between business needs and mass-produced food. The Healthy and wealthy report has influenced Department of Health policy, demonstrating the huge impact of their combined efforts. Likewise, another volunteers research into European approaches to childhood obesity was recently referenced by the House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee. The impact of skills-based volunteering Skills-based volunteers enable charities to do things that they could never have otherwise even considered. Small Charities Coalition did not have a budget to hire a production team, but their volunteer not only produced the Chistmas advert but also used the footage to create another video for one of the charities which participated in the video. Thames Estuary Partnership is a great example of how you can build the kind of multipdiscplinary marketing team that small charities could otherwise only dream of. And Health Action Campaign show how you can achieve significant influence without any budget or employees at all. This kind of volunteering can also be used to upgrade or profesionalise. Alex Conway of Miricyl (an Edinburgh based charity focused on young peoples mental health) recruited a volunteer marketer who developed an entirely new visual identity for his charity, including fonts, colour palette and logo, and has designed posters, business cards, flyers and elements of their website. He treats us just like a paying client, explained Alex His ideas are always spot on, and he always delivers when he says he will you couldnt ask for more How do they do it? I was hoping that my conversations with these inspiring leaders might distil into a few punchy top tips, but actually it seems that it all boils down to one thing: mindset. All these charity leaders talked about the importance of being flexible, responsive and open. Mandy Johnson knew that she wanted good quality video content, and needed someone with sufficient experience to lead the whole project, but the concept of a Christmas video came through discussing the project with the volunteer. Pat Fitzsimmons of Thames Estuary Partnership talks about adopting a collaborative problem-solving approach with volunteers from the outset, outlining the issues or objectives of the work, and asking the volunteers how they could contribute. Respecting and trusting volunteers expertise is a key ingredient in building successful relationships like this. All the chief executives talk about the importance of listening to volunteers and finding out what their motivations are. They stress that people have a huge range of reasons for volunteering and that you should never make assumptions about an individuals motivations, or what might suit them. Michael Baber from Health Action Campaign said: They may have applied for one role, but through conversation it becomes clear that they are better suited to another one. Its important to be flexible and avoid tunnel vision. According to Pat: "The volunteers are there for a reason, and you have to find out what that reason is. The charities then shape the volunteer opportunity accordingly. The volunteer may want to work remotely, or in the office; they may just want to stay for a short time, or form a long term relationship with the charity. The volunteers role may well change over time. Sometimes a volunteers motivation is about tangible things like bolstering their CV and at others it is about deeper seated interests. Michael talks about tapping into peoples appetite for doing research. Many of our volunteers enjoyed doing research at university but it is not part of their day jobs, so they are really enthusiastic about the opportunity to do research again. The final point that they all make is that you need to be ready and willing to support the work and provide clear direction. This kind of volunteering can add greatly to a charitys capacity, but it does require investment and effective management to make it work. Skills-based volunteering offers a huge opportunity to all charities, but it seems to flourish best in charities with leaders who have an open, flexible approach to resourcing, and good dose of emotional intelligence. Which sounds like the right kind of leadership for most charities. Janet Thorne is the chief executive officer of Reach Volunteering. Reach provides a free online service connecting charities with people who want to volunteer their skills. Civil Society Media is hosting its Charity People & Culture Conference on 18 September 2018. For more information, and to book, click here. Scott Pruitts troubles are mounting. The EPA Administrator, under fire for excessive spending and misuse of government time, saw one of his top aides resign this week. Millan Hupp, who testified that she regularly spent her days doing personal tasks for Pruitt, will leave the agency tomorrow, according to The Atlantics Elaina Plott. When Plott reached out for comment, EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox refused to address the issue, telling Plott, You have a great day, youre a piece of trash. The Washington Posts Erik Wemple argues that the EPA spokesman wasnt going out on a limb. After listing a bevy of examples in which the agency disparaged reporters in official statements, Wemple writes, Wilcox is involved in an enormous cue-taking exercise here. He sees President Trump bashing the media, calling it fake news; he sees White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders scolding the media for alleged bogus reporting; he sees the crowds at rallies roaring for media slams; and he sees little incentive to moderate his vile treatment of reporters. Whos going to brush him back? The larger problem for the administrations communications staffers isnt incivility, but credibility. Wilcox fell back on an insult as a last resort because he refused to respond to reporting he didnt like. Sanders, the White Houses main spokesperson, is generally less combative in her language, but shes spent the week dealing with a credibility crisis of her own. RELATED: The White House credibility crisis starts at the top Back in August, Sanders claimed that President Trump was not involved in the drafting of a statement for his son regarding the 2016 Trump Tower meeting. That assertion was contradicted by Trumps lawyers in a letter written in January. Sanders has been challenged repeatedly this week to correct her statement, but has referred all questions to the presidents outside lawyers, refusing to answer. Asked Tuesday why Americans should trust the information she provides on behalf of the White House, Sanders responded, Frankly, I think my credibility is probably higher than the medias. The comments from Wilcox and Sanders should not, at this point, be surprising. President Trump and his allies have waged an all-out war to discredit serious reporting, and a bit of name-calling is the least of the problem. But by casting the media as the enemy of the American people, as Trump put it early in his term, the administration is attempting to ascribe malicious intent to reporters simply trying to get at the truth. When media members make mistakes, they correct them quickly and apologize. Spokespeople for the administration, and the president himself, have proven unwilling to do the same. Americans can judge for themselves whose credibility they hold in higher regard. Sign up for CJR 's daily email Below, more on the the White Houses ongoing credibility crisis. Support from the boss: Atlantic Editor in Chief Jeffrey Goldberg tweeted Plotts story, adding, Always a good day when our reporters get under the skin of classless flacks. Atlantic Editor in Chief Jeffrey Goldberg tweeted Plotts story, adding, Always a good day when our reporters get under the skin of classless flacks. An ongoing issue: The White House and the president have, in fact, frequently spread false or misleading information and have refused to correct inaccurate statements, writes Politicos Matthew Nussbaum. He writes that speaking for a president who possesses a shaky grasp of the truth is no easy task: The difficulty of the job is one reason there has been so much turnover in Trumps communications and press operationshe is on his second press secretary and quickly cycled through four communications directors. That post currently sits unfilled. The White House and the president have, in fact, frequently spread false or misleading information and have refused to correct inaccurate statements, writes Politicos Matthew Nussbaum. He writes that speaking for a president who possesses a shaky grasp of the truth is no easy task: The difficulty of the job is one reason there has been so much turnover in Trumps communications and press operationshe is on his second press secretary and quickly cycled through four communications directors. That post currently sits unfilled. Continued evasions: CNNs Chris Cuomo repeatedly pressed Sanders about her refusal to address her false statement from last summer. After she claimed that the public didnt care about the issue, Cuomo responded, credibility is something people care about. The truth is something people care about. Other notable stories For FiveThirtyEight, Dan Hopkins argues that all politics is national because all media is national. State and local elections arent drawing the interest from voters or the media that they did a few decades ago, Hopkins writes. National politics, on the other hand, is a bit like your smartphone: Even when you know that other things demand your attention, you cant seem to look away. Facebook announced that it will pay publishers, including ABC News, CNN, Fox News, and Univision to create news programming for its Watch service. CJRs Mathew Ingram writes that the move cements Facebooks status as a media entity, and, in partnering with a select group of outlets, the company is explicitly choosing winners. CNNs Jeremy Herb and Manu Raju trace the path a conspiracy theory took from Reddit to the presidents Twitter feed. They report that the claimthat the FBIs investigation into the Trump campaign began in December 2015, not July 2016originated on Reddit, made its way to far-right blog Gateway Pundit, and was taken up by Fox Business Network host Lou Dobbs. Trump tweeted roughly an hour after Dobbs raised the issue on his program. The latest conspiracy theory appears to have no basis in reality, Herb and Raju write. At the heart of the news business are great reporters doing great reporting, and if someone wants to get scoops and scrawl them on napkins in crayon, thats okay with me, BuzzFeeds Ben Smith says in our magazine feature on what hiring editors are actually looking for. Staffers at The New Yorker have unionized, asking Conde Nast to voluntarily recognize their membership in the NewsGuild of New York. New Yorks Noreen Malone reports that the group includes copy editors, web producers, fact-checkers, photo and design staff, the social-media and publicity teams, editorial assistants, and assistant editors. Staff writers, who are actually contractors who dont receive benefits, are not part of the union. The Daily Beasts Asawin Suebsaeng, Gideon Resnick, and Maxwell Tani lay out the strategy for getting the president to promote your book. His endorsements of certain books have become such a common occurrence, pro-Trump circles jokingly refer to the plugs as Donald Trumps book club, they write. I talked with CNN and Sirius XM host Michael Smerconish about his lonely crusade for political moderation. The former Republicanhe left the party in 2010blames a polarized media environment for much of our current dysfunction, and says that people have got to stop conflating their news and entertainment. ICYMI: In dossier lawsuit, BuzzFeeds fair-report defense survives 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. ON A FRIDAY IN LATE MARCH, reporter Leah Sottile and her producer Ryan Haas drove up the road to Bundy Ranch near Bunkerville, Nevada. Four years earlier, the now-infamous cattle rancher Cliven Bundy had led an armed standoff there against the federal government over grazing fees. The two werent sure if they would meet Bundy, let alone interview him. But as they pulled in, there he was, clad in white rubber boots and a barn coat, looking like he had just been shoveling hay for his cattle, Haas says. Bundy invited them inside his modest house, which was surrounded by trucks and tractors and even an old school bus. Sottile and Haas plopped down on the soft leather couch in the living room. The scent of barbecue sauce lingered in the air. It was surreal, Haas says. They were sitting face-to-face with someone they had spent months researching. You feel like you know them, but you also dont know them, Haas says. When youre covering the Bundys in the middle of these standoffs, its 10 seconds or a couple of minutes at the most. The news media wants soundbites, and thats all they [the Bundys] are giving. ICYMI: 11 images that show how the Trump administration is failing at photography That afternoon was different. Bundy and his son Ryan sat with the two reporters as they asked nearly two pages worth of questions. They talked about their experiences on the ranch, growing up in the West, their faith. For Sottile, the story of the Bundys is so much bigger and deeper than anyone, including her, realized. It was going to take a really long time to unpack all of the history around the family and around the movement, she says. But unpack they did, in the form of a new podcast (and multipart series) from Longreads and Oregon Public Broadcasting. Released last month and spread across seven episodes, Bundyville is the story of Cliven Bundy, his family, their followers, and the ways in which their range rights movement is changing the American West. As Sottile says on the podcast, to understand the West, you have to understand the Bundysan ongoing effort that has taken many national news outlets years. In a way, the situation in 2014 unfolded so quickly and the media did what they could to understand what was happening. Sign up for weekly emails from the United States Project CLIVEN BUNDY HAS BEEN in the national spotlight since 2014, when he and an armed militia held off the feds from rounding up his cattle. For years, the 72-year-old had illegally used federal land surrounding his ranch and refused to pay grazing fees. Two years after the standoff, Bundys sons led an armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon to protest the governments imprisonment of two ranchers (even though the ranchers in question did not want the Bundys involved). The occupation lasted just over a month, and eventually led to the arrest of Cliven, his sons Ammon and Ryan, and more than two dozen followers. In January, all three Bundys (and their fellow supporters) walked free. A jury acquitted the brothers and other Malheur occupiers in Oregon, and a judge declared a mistrial in Nevada. Bundy is many things to many people, including those in the news media. A cowboy, Mormon leader, folk hero, peaceful farmer, and prophet to some; a criminal, racist, cult leader, and terroristeven dubbed Vanilla ISIS & YAll Qaedato others. When Bundy rose to infamy, however, he was primarily covered by the mainstream media as he wanted to be seen. News organizations like The Guardian offered up sympathetic profiles of the family and its cause, positioning the Bundys as the oppressed and the federal government as the oppressors. Writing in The Guardian, Sam Levin described the Bundys as rebel cowboys and their followers as activists, albeit rightwing ones. Such frames tend to overlook the complex issues tied up with the Bundy story, from the history of range management to the protection of the desert tortoise. Bundys so-called range rights movement actually dates back to the rancher-led Sagebrush Rebellion of the 1970s, as reported for years by High Country News. The magazine, which covers the American West, is one of the few news organizations that has been on the Bundy beat since the very beginning. In a way, the situation in 2014 unfolded so quickly and the media did what they could to understand what was happening, says Sottile. But I dont think we were able to get out in front of the narrative that the Bundys were trying to put there. RELATED: How journalism got so out of touch with the people it covers The Bundys are brilliant marketers who positioned themselves as a nice, pure, wholesome family being screwed over by the government. They took their campaign to social media early on; now, Bundy Ranch has more than 200,000 followers on Facebook. They leveraged far-right media from InfoWars to Fox News to YouTube personalities. At press conferences, says Haas, Bundy would purposely give misinformation meant to present a very specific image of what they wanted to see portrayed in the media. Bundyville complicates that portrait. Using news clips, Serial-esque narration, and occasionally heavy-handed scoring, Bundyville takes a diagnostic approach to the notorious family. Sottile began covering the Bundys closely in 2016 during the trial in Nevada; Cliven and his sons, Ammon and Ryan, faced charges stemming from their armed rebellion two years earlier. I was desperate to understand why Cliven Bundy, this remote cattle rancher, had such firm ideas about the Constitution and where he learned these things, she says. Still, even in very deliberate coverage, Cliven Bundy presents a compelling and sympathetic imageall the facts some people need. In the age of social media and in the age of the internet, theres so much information coming in, and we kind of just get pieces of it, says Haas. Youre sitting there talking to him and hes telling you stories like hes your grandpa. Its very easy to believe him. MEDIA NARRATIVES STARTED TO SHIFT two years ago, during the Malheur occupation in Burns, Oregon. That time, the Bundys couldnt get away with playing the victim card. You had Ryan Bundy and Ammon Bundy coming across state lines, taking over a wildlife refuge with a whole crowd of people armed to the teeth, saying Were taking over this refuge and will stay for years until we get what we want. It put them on the offensive, Sottile says. There was a swell in news coverage. The media recognized that something really important happened in Nevada that maybe they shouldve been on the ground with, Sottile says. Local and regional news organizations like The Oregonian (thanks to reporters such as Maxine Bernstein) and public radio station OPB churned out exhaustive reporting over the 41-day occupation, and journalists from national media organizations flew to Burns, Oregon. One of those journalists, James Pogue, recently turned his on-the-ground experiences at Malheur into a book, Chosen Country. Another journalist, Jennifer Percy, revisited the region for The New York Times Magazine in January to understand the residents ongoing fear of the federal government. ICYMI: We asked hiring editors what they are looking for. Hear from NPR, BuzzFeed, Reuters, Washington Post and more. In this second round of Bundy coverage, reporters were able to get ahead of the story. With the benefit of hindsight in Oregon, we had a much clearer picture of what this was all about, says Kirk Siegler, an NPR reporter covering Americas rural-urban divide. Siegler started covering the Bundys in 2014, a month after the standoff. Soon it became clear to him that this thing going on in the desert was more of a broader example of the rural resentment and perceptions of government overreach and rural rebellion that helped propel Donald Trump to the White House, he says. The Bundys represent a fringe movement, something that got lost in the initial round of media coverage. When it comes to Western ranchers, the Bundys are outliers. Most ranchers in the West pay their grazing fees to the federal government, with no intention of stopping, says Tay Wiles, associate editor at High Country News. The majority of Bundy supporters arent ranchers or farmers or cowboys, but militiamen, anti-government agitators, and white supremaciststhe kind of people who flocked to Charlottesville last summer. Thats something Bundyville excavates in its fifth episode, The Followers, and other journalists have investigated in more recent reports in The New Yorker and Newsweek. They had their own anger they were carrying and knew nothing of federal lands, Siegler says. We know a lot more about that now. Bundys movement isnt about range rights. Its about being anti-federal government, with heavy elements of domestic terrorism and conspiracy theory, according to Sottile. A few episodes of Bundyville examine the historical roots of the Bundys anti-government ideologyfor example, how growing up near a nuclear testing site helped radicalize Cliven. The story of the Bundys is a hydra, says Petersen, the BuzzFeed reporter. Post-trial, a lot of coverage of the Bundys has become equal parts reflective and forward-thinking. Now its about the context, not the characters. It places the family, their cause, and their rhetoric within the recent history of the American West. Writing for High Country News, Wiles analyzed how the federal government helped make Cliven Bundy a celebrity. Shortly after Cliven Bundys release from prison in January, BuzzFeeds Anne Helen Petersen wrote about another right-wing insurgency gaining traction in the West. Bundy had gone to Paradise, a small town in Montana, where he preached his gospel to a crowd of people packed into the local schoolhouse. The hundreds who showed up in Paradise werent just there to hear him speak, wrote Petersen. They were waiting to be told what to do next. Thats up in the air, but Petersen knows what shes doing nexta series of in-depth stories about the Bundys (currently in progress for BuzzFeed). One of Petersens colleagues, Salvador Hernandez, deconstructed the nascentand conspiracy-lacedgubernatorial campaign of Clivens son Ryan, who is now running for governor of Nevada. Were all wrestling with how much coverage to give them, Siegler says. Over time, has our coverage legitimized them in some way? At the same time, its irresponsible to not cover the Bundys. They violated federal laws, and set a dangerous precedent with regard to federal lands. What Siegler is trying to do now is move away from the drama and theatrics of the Bundys and focus more on the policy. Theres so much to this story, and a lot of it is getting lost in this manic news environment, that its important to step back and have some context for this, for the next time theres a Bundy standoff, Siegler says. WHEN SOTTILE FIRST shopped around her Bundy story pre-trial, nobody wanted it. She kept getting a lot of The Bundys are over, we shouldnt give them anymore attentionmostly from East Coast editors. To just dismiss them because their trial is over is sticking our heads in the sand about something that is really important to Western people, Haas says. But the Bundys have beaten the federal government twice now, and those confrontations likely wont be the last. Theyre bigger and more important to pay attention to now more than ever, Sottile says. Their acquittal in Oregon, and mistrial in Nevada really played into their hands [] It pushed anyone on the fence into the Bundy camp. And theres plenty more to report on. The story of the Bundys is a hydra, says Petersen, the BuzzFeed reporter. You pick up a rock and you think youre just gonna find one thing, she says, and there are like 50 different types of bugs under there. RELATED: I had a great assignment for Rolling Stone . . . if only I could stop with the throwing up and marathon sleeping Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Meg Dalton is a freelance journalist and audio producer based in Connecticut. She's reported and edited for CJR, PBS NewsHour, Energy News Network, Architectural Digest, MediaShift, Hearst Connecticut newspapers, and more. Follow her on Twitter: @megdalts. Find her on Twitter @megdalts. It is the universal trigger and a pet peeve of millions of drivers. Youre making good time traveling 75 mph in the left lane of a freeway with a 70 mph posted speed limit. You tap your brakes, turning off the cruise control, because a midnight blue 2012 Buick Regal is firmly ensconced in the left passing lane, traveling at 65 mph and staying abreast of a Kenworth tractor pulling a 53-foot trailer. Fifteen minutes later traffic is bumper to bumper behind you as far as you can see, and you resort to flashing your lights, to no avail. The driver of the Buick Regal believes that traveling at or near the speed limit in the fast lane is acceptableand that they are teaching the impatient drivers behind them a valuable lesson in driving safety. In a perfect world, a sheriffs deputy would suddenly appear and pull the Buick Regal over for unsafe driving and violation of state driving statutes. Far too often, however, instant karma doesnt occur, but an accident does. Driving in the left lane for anything other than passing is not only illegal, its unsafe and results in thousands of accidents annually, according to a study by the Traffic Operations & Safety Laboratory within the engineering department of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. When looking for deeper pockets or additional defendants in automobile collision litigation, dont look past the driver who may have put the entire sequence of events into action. If a driver is parked in the left lane on a four-lane highway and is not passing someone or making a left turn, he or she is breaking the law in a majority of states and can be ticketed. A growing number of U.S. states are passing traffic laws that regulate driving in the left lane. Some allow it only for passing and others require slower traffic to yield the left lane if a faster vehicle is approaching. See this chart on the law in all 50 states regarding traveling in the left lane. In Texas, for example, signs on Texas multi-lane highways that read Left Lane For Passing Only indicate that the left lane on a divided highway is not a fast lane; it is a passing lane only. After passing someone and safely clearing the vehicle passed, a driver must move back into the right lane. In Texas, impeding the flow of traffic by continuing to drive in the left lane is punishable by a fine of up to $200. There are two types of drivers: (1) those who get upset when somebody is illegally hanging out in the left passing lane, and (2) those who are blissfully ignorant that hanging out in the passing lane is both illegal and dangerous. When slower drivers are scattered between the right and left lanes, faster drivers must weave back and forth, slowing and speeding up repeatedly. For those who believe that they shouldnt have to move over if theyre driving the posted speed limit, not only are they driving illegally, but evidence shows that slowing down and changing lanes is more dangerous than speeding. A car going 5 mph slower than the speed limit has a greater chance of causing an accident than one going 5 mph faster than the speed limit. That is why every state has some law on the books restricting the use of the left passing lane. In 29 states, any car traveling slower than surrounding traffic must be in the right lane. In 11 states, the laws are even stricterreserving the left lane only for turning or passing. In a growing number of statesespecially Texas, Washington, and Ohiopolice are engaging in an aggressive program to ticket violators. In Germany, the autobahn has a lower accident rate than American highways, despite there being no speed limit. The reason for this is that German drivers stay to the right unless they are passing. The law in many states provides that a driver may use the left lane only when passing another vehicle, moving over to let merging traffic on to the road, moving over because there is an emergency vehicle on the shoulder (law in some states), or because he or she will soon make a left turn/take a left exit. Driving in the left lane makes other cars slow down and creates a traffic backup. Researchers have found that a few slow cars can create traffic jams, such as when there is a slow driver in the left lane next to an equally slow driver in the right lane. Traffic experts confirm that driving slower than surrounding traffic is more likely to cause an accident than speeding. Do-gooders and know-it-alls driving the speed limit in the left lane, albeit slower than the flow of traffic, believe they are teaching faster drivers a lesson. In fact, they are breaking the law and endangering those around them. In other states, this statutory duty of slower traffic to keep right applies notwithstanding the prima facie speed limits. For example, in California, Cal. Vehicle Code 21654 requires any vehicle proceeding upon a highway at a speed less than the normal speed of traffic moving in the same direction to drive in the right-hand lane, notwithstanding the prima facie speed limits. Laws such as this refer to the normal speed of traffic, not the legal speed of traffic. Colorado is another state that takes its Left Lane Law seriously. C.R.S. 42-4-1013(1) of the Colorado statutes makes it illegal for a person to drive in the left lane (passing lane), where the speed limit is 65 mph or more, unless they are passing another vehicle, or the volume of traffic does not permit them to safely merge into a non-passing lane. Before it passed its Left Lane Law, Colorado drivers could proceed in the left-hand lane if they were traveling at the posted speed limit. What sense did it make to cite a driver for impeding traffic, when simultaneously the driver was obeying the posted speed limit? Impeding statutes were only enforceable when a vehicle was traveling below the posted or prima facie speed limit. New approaches to driving safety, combined with higher posted speed limits, now simplify the issue and allow law enforcement to take appropriate enforcement action to enhance the flow of traffic. The new approach acknowledges that by mitigating traffic-flow conflicts caused by slower-moving drivers, accidents resulting from the confluence of slow driving and aggressive driving would likely be reduced. If a motorist is stopped by a Colorado State Trooper for violating the Left Lane Law, the driver may receive a citation. The penalty for the citation is $35.00 with an additional $6.20 surcharge bringing the total to $41.20. The violation includes three points against the violators Colorado Drivers License. If the citation is issued by a state trooper, the points can be reduced to two points if the penalty is mailed in within 20 days. A growing number of states now require drivers in the left lane to move to the right, even if they are driving at or exceeding the speed limit. The speed of their vehicle is irrelevant. There is a duty to keep right and use the left lane for passing only. This is the case in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. This type of statute, such as Wisconsins Wis. Stat. 346.05(3), which ostensibly condones speeding, usually contains language such as: (3) Any vehicle proceeding upon a roadway at less than the normal speed of traffic at the time and place and under the conditions then existing shall be driven in the right-hand lane then available for traffic, or as close as practicable to the right-hand edge or curb of the roadway, except when overtaking and passing another vehicle proceeding in the same direction or when preparing for a left turn or U-turn at an intersection or a left turn into a private road or driveway, and except as provided in s. 346.072. This statute requires vehicles to travel in the right lane if they are traveling at less than the normal speed of traffic. It will be the job of lawyers to define what less than the speed of normal traffic means, but simply traveling the speed limit doesnt suffice. If normal traffic is moving at 70 mph in a 65 mph, is somebody violating the law when passing while driving the speed limit? The police officer will have discretion to determine what the normal speed of traffic is under the circumstances. If a vehicle wants to pass on the left but cant because of a slower-moving vehicle in the passing lane, there would appear to be a violation. One issue which becomes problematical with the new laws is reflected by the concern of fleet owners and trucking associations, who argue that truck drivers should be able to pass slower moving 18-wheelers, but it can take a while because their rigs can be electronically limited to a certain speed. View this article written by Gary Wickert on speed limiters, how they work, and federal laws requiring Electronic Control Modules (ECM) on certain trucks. The irony of the new Left Lane Laws isnt lost on the astute here. People do not want a ticket when theyre speeding, but they want someone else to get a ticket for driving the speed limit. Regardless of your opinion of the Left Lane Laws, most states have them, and aggressive lawyers looking for additional target defendants will make use of them where appropriate. Having slow drivers in all lanes can cause faster drivers to slow down and weave back and forth to change lanes, increasing the possibility of accidents. Drivers are most at risk of accidents when changing lanes. When some drivers are going slow in the left lane, and the right lane, then people who want to move faster through traffic must zigzag back and forth to maintain their driving pace, even if it exceeds the speed limit. They must change lanes looking alternatively over both shoulders, increasing the potential for accidents. Cultural differences also play a role here, as Europeans driving in the U.S. may be used to not having a speed limit. Studies have shown that 98 percent of drivers exceed the speed limit. Twenty-one percent of drivers think its perfectly safe to exceed the speed limit by 5 mph. Forty-three percent saw no risk in going 10 mph over, and 36 percent say theres no harm driving 20 mph over the speed limit. There are stretches of road in Texas where the speed limit is 85 mph. In Nevada, the speed limit is 80 mph. The speed at which 85 percent of motorists travel is called prevailing speed. The prevailing speed is not the speed limit, as much as wed like to insist it is. As a result, we have a proliferation of laws which regulate the use of the left passing lane. Speed limits are going up on interstates and highways because motorists are driving faster on them. Speed limits are increased to help decrease unsafe speed variations among the fastest and slowest drivers. Enforcement of Left Lane Laws helps to decrease those unsafe speed variations. Proving that a vehicle was traveling illegally in the left lane can turn a driver who thinks he or she is being prudent by teaching others a lesson into a criminal and a defendant simultaneously. Violating a Left Lane Law can also result in negligence per sethe doctrine whereby behavior is automatically considered negligent because it violates a statute. Enforcement is inconsistent, but the law is the law. Toledo, Ohio police used to ticket truck drivers for driving at the 60 mph speed limit in the left lane. Police looking for criminal activity frequently use the keep right law as a pretext to stop a suspicious car. Much will depend on the facts of your case, but dont overlook the safe driver who violates Left Lane Laws as a possible defendant should an accident and damages result from an accident that otherwise could and should have been avoided. Republican-turned-independent Steve Poizner and Democratic Sen. Ricardo Lara have broken new ground in the race for state insurance commissioner. The two were the top vote-getters in Tuesdays primary and advanced to the November election that will see one of them emerge as the first of his kind in a California statewide office. Poizner, the former insurance commissioner, would be the first independent to win such an election and Lara would be the first openly gay statewide officer holder. With nearly 2.8 million votes counted, Poizner, a former Republican, had 43 percent of the vote and Lara, a Democrat, had 39 percent in the primary race. Dr. Asif Mahmood, a pulmonologist who was vying to be the first Muslim in statewide office, was a distant third. Nathalie Hrizi, a Peace and Freedom Party candidate, got about 5 percent of the vote, the same result as when she ran for the office in 2014. Like many Democrats, Lara and Mahmood ran in support of universal healthcare, which Poizner opposes. However, healthcare is an area where the insurance commissioner has little control. The Department of Insurance enforces insurance laws, licenses and regulates companies and investigates fraud. Poizner, a wealthy Silicon Valley technology entrepreneur who lost a bid for the GOP gubernatorial nomination in 2010, ran as an independent because he said the office should be free of politics. He said Tuesday he was optimistic that he had been able to break through as an independent and draw support from both sides of the aisle with a statewide campaign that spent less than $1 million. Im very excited that Im paving a new path for people who want to be problem solvers, Poizner said. He attributed his showing to name recognition from past campaigns, his track record during his previous stint in the office and endorsements from all eight newspapers that weighed in on the race. Lara, who had backing of his party, unions and many key Democrats, said in a statement that he would fight for LGBTQ people. We must fight for our place at the table and show the world we have the right to pursue our dreams, he said.`I look forward to working together with grassroots leaders to advance a progressive, inclusive and effective agenda for all and make history in California. Lara, who authored a failed bill that would have provided state-run health insurance, said that remains a top priority, though he also bills himself as an opponent of President Donald Trump another popular position among Democrats. Poizner said he would focus on making sure homeowners have adequate protection against wildfires and other natural disasters. He promised a crackdown on insurance fraud and wants to develop better insurance policies against cybercrime. Both vowed not to take insurance money, though Lara had to give back money he took from the political action committee of the nations largest physician-owned medical malpractice insurer. Lara spent nearly $1 million on the race, the most of the main three candidates. He still led the other two with $325,000 in his account. Poizner spent over $700,000 and had more than $150,000 in his account. If Poizner decides to fund his campaign, he could have fuel for a significant ad campaign. He spent $25 million of his fortune on his unsuccessful race for governor. The winner in November will replace Dave Jones, a Democrat who served the maximum two terms and made an unsuccessful run Tuesday for attorney general. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. GLENWILLOW, Ohio -- Victory Commerce Center, a large state-of-the-art industrial property being built in Glenwillow, will soon be reality. The out-of-the-ordinary building will include 32-foot clear heights, sprinkler systems, LED lighting, 52 docks with an additional 68 dock locations, and parking for cars and trucks. Geis Construction will oversee the building project located at 43000 Victory Pkwy. The 434,000-square-foot building is slated for completion in the first quarter of 2019, said David Stecker, vice president for global real estate investment firm JLL. Construction costs were not disclosed. Victory Commerce Center will be larger than other speculative industrial buildings that have gone up in the past 18 months, and comes at a time when there isn't a lot of modern, industrial space with high ceilings in the region. But Stecker thinks it will be successful. "We believe there's a need for larger spaces," he said. "This is the right time." The new facility's size will allow manufacturing companies to consolidate various locations under one roof, and move in faster than if they constructed their own facility, Stecker said. Victory Commerce Center could be leased by one or several businesses, Stecker said. It will sit on 30 acres in the Diamond Business Park in Glenwillow, just south of Bedford and Bedford Heights. Westminster Capital, a real estate investment manager headquartered in Lake Forest, Illinois, will develop and own the building. JLL, based in Chicago with offices in Cleveland, represented Westminster Capital in acquiring the land, and will lease the completed space. The project was announced in a joint statement today at a groundbreaking ceremony. Westminster Capital is interested in Northeast Ohio's commercial real estate market because of its low vacancy rate and high demand for space, Stecker said. His firm worked with Westminster Capital for more than a year to find the right space. "They were excited to be in Glenwillow," because southeast Cuyahoga County is a strong market, Stecker said. Victory Commerce Center joins several new projects arising in Glenwillow in the past few years, such as GED Integrated Solutions, Mantua Manufacturing Co. and Fastener Tool and Supply. ORANGE, Ohio -- Complaints (general), theft by deception, identity theft; Brainard Road: Staff at Temple Emanu El reported June 6 that one employee appeared to be getting texts and emails from another co-worker telling her to purchase $600 in Giant Eagle gift cards. After the scam was discovered, the gift cards were canceled and the temple was not out any money, although at least one of the workers was advised to contact Verizon Wireless about her cellphone and email being hacked. Police were checking on the originating phone number for the scam, through an area code that could have been Philadelphia or possibly Botswana. No seat belt, driving under suspension, marijuana possession; Orange Place: A patrol officer at the Sunoco station noticed on the evening of June 1 that the driver of a 2017 GMC Acadia was not wearing a seat belt. The Shaker Heights man, 38, immediately informed the officer that he had a concealed carry permit and was packing on his right hip. Asked to reach only for his driver's license, he said he had left his wallet at home, but a computer check showed his privileges had been suspended. Asked about the smell of suspected marijuana coming from the car, the driver said he had a small amount in his right pants pocket. Police also found roughly a half-ounce of marijuana under the driver's seat. The driver said he was unaware of the license suspension. His car was impounded. Theft from building, Lander Road: A resident, 68, came to the police station May 31 to report that the previous day, an employee had taken sterling silver scrap metal valued at $200. Complaints (solicitor), Valencia Circle: A resident reported on the morning of June 6 that a solicitor was riding a Segway two-wheeled vehicle door to door for a landscaping company. The resident registered concern not only that the suspect was soliciting, but that his company would be using hazardous chemicals on neighbors' lawns that would not be environmentally friendly. The suspect was last seen turning onto Orange Tree Drive. If you would like to discuss the police blotter, please visit our crime and courts comments page. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- President Donald Trump on Thursday nominated the state of Ohio's solicitor and a U.S. Justice Department official to sit on the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The White House announced that Eric Murphy and Chad Readler will be nominated to sit on the Cincinnati-based appeals court. Murphy, 39, is the solicitor for the state of Ohio, defending the state from litigation over some of the most polarizing political issues, including abortion, voting rights and gay marriage. Readler, 45, is the acting assistant attorney general over the U.S. Justice Department's civil division, and previously worked as an attorney in Columbus. Both men previously worked at the Jones Day law firm, which has represented Trump. Readler even represented the president's election campaign in 2016 to defend against a voter-intimidation lawsuit filed by the Ohio Democratic Party in Cleveland. Murphy and Readler, if confirmed, would replace Ohio-based appeals Judges Alice Batchelder and Deborah Cook, both of whom indicated that they will take senior status in the near future. The White House announced their nominations, which are for lifetime appointments, along with other nominations for district judge, circuit judge and U.S. marshal. The 6th Circuit hears appeals from federal courts in Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee. All federal judicial nominations must be confirmed by the Senate. A nominee could potentially come from any of the four states that the 6th Circuit covers, though presidents have customarily chosen candidates from the same state as the judge he or she is slotted to replace. The Trump administration and Republicans in the Senate has proven effective in nominating and pushing through nominees for federal courts nationwide. Since taking over in January 2017, the administration has had 41 judges confirmed. Republicans have signaled an urgency to confirm more nominations prior to November's midterm elections, for fear that some Senate seats may swing to the Democrats and thus rob them of the slim majority they currently hold. Getting nominees through the Senate has historically been easier when both senators, regardless of party affiliation, from a nominee's state back them. However, Senate Republicans have shown a willingness to use different procedures to push through confirmations without the support of both senators. Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican, said in a statement Thursday that he met with Murphy and Readler and found them to be well qualified. He said he supports both nominees. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat running for his third term against a Trump-backed congressman, said he would not support the nominees, because he met with them and studied their records. "I cannot support nominees who have actively worked to strip Ohioans of their rights," Brown said in a statement released from his office late Thursday. Murphy Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine appointed Murphy, a former clerk for Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, as state solicitor in 2013. The solicitor is required to advocate on the state's behalf, a duty that includes either arguing for or overseeing efforts to defend Ohio from lawsuits filed on laws passed by the state's conservative lawmakers. This includes such hot-button topics such as abortion and voting rights. Murphy has become somewhat of a fixture in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing in four cases this year, according to analysis by SCOTUSblog. This includes a case in which the Supreme Court is weighing the legality of a decision by the state to purge hundreds of thousands of inactive voters from its rolls. Challengers say the procedure is illegal under the National Voting Registration Act of 1993, which forbids states from using voter inactivity to spark removal from the rolls. The court has yet to issue a decision. Murphy also defended Ohio's gay marriage ban in front of the 6th Circuit in 2014. The appeals court ruled in Ohio's favor that time, but it paved the way for the Supreme Court to legalize gay marriage nationwide. DeWine praised Murphy's work as solicitor and said he would be a good appellate judge. "Eric has a sharp legal mind, and will interpret the law fairly," DeWine said in a statement, adding that the Senate should quickly confirm his nomination. Readler Readler, a contributor to the website for The Federalist Society, was a fixture in certain conservative and legal circles in Columbus before being hired to head the Justice Department's civil division. In addition to defending Trump's campaign while at Jones Day, Readler was a vigorous advocate for charter schools in the state. He served as the chairman for the Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools and defended about 100 charter schools in a 2005 Ohio Supreme Court case that led the justices to rule 4-3 that the state's network of for-profit, publicly-funded schools was constitutional. He has defended many of the Trump administration's policies since he joined the Justice Department, Shortly after he was hired, Readler was tasked with defending the Trump administration from lawsuits over a controversial decision to ban travelers from several Muslim majority countries. The president's executive order caused confusion by immigration officials and chaos at airports in January 2017. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- U.S. Customs and Border Protection has agreed to give back nearly all the cash taken from a Parma Heights man who was traveling to Albania from Cleveland-Hopkins International Airport in 2017. The revelation was made Thursday in minutes from a phone conference U.S. District Judge Dan Polster held with attorneys for customs and Rustem Kazazi, a retired Albanian police officer who is a U.S. citizen. Kazazi, 64, was detained at the airport in October, searched and interrogated because he was traveling with a large amount of cash, according to a lawsuit he filed last week. Customs agents later said they thought the money came from some sort of criminal activity, which Kazazi fervently denies. The minutes of the proceeding says that customs officials told the judge that "they were beginning the process of tendering a check to Petitioner Kazazi in the amount of $57,330 plus interest." However, Kazazi and the government do not agree on how exactly how much agents seized. Kazazi claims the government took an additional $770; the government says it's giving back everything agents took. As a result, Polster scheduled a bench trial for Dec. 10. Kazazi moved with his family to the U.S. in 2005, according to his lawsuit. They became U.S. citizens in 2010. As he headed to Albania for a six-month stay in 2017, he converted his family's life savings into cash so it could be used for expenses while overseas. At the airport, with the stacks of $100 bills in his bag, customs agents detained and strip-searched him and took the money. They did not give a reason for the seizure at the airport, the suit states. Later, agents said they suspected the money was part of an operation involving smuggling, drug trafficking and money laundering and said they intended to keep the money through civil forfeiture proceedings, the suit claims. The government did not initiate forfeiture proceedings by a deadline required by law, though, and Kazazi is suing to get his money back. The government's civil asset forfeiture process allows authorities to seize assets when it suspects a person obtained money or property illegally. Civil liberties groups have said the process is ripe for abuse, as it allows officials to seize money from people who were never convicted or even charged with a crime. Federal authorities seized more than $2 billion in assets from people in 2017, according to The Washington Post. Wesley Hottot, an attorney for the Virginia-based Institute for Justice representing Kazazi, said in an email Thursday that "this case shows how civil forfeiture is inherently abusive, even when the process 'works.'" He added that "the Kazazis will not settle for some of their money. They are entitled to every penny." A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Cleveland, which is representing customs officials, declined comment. If you would like to comment on this story, please visit Thursday's crime and courts comments section. ELYRIA, Ohio -- A 16-year-old boy and a 17-year-old boy will be tried as adults in the January shooting death of an Elyria man during a robbery. Justin Smith, 17, and Quanda Woodson, 16, face charges of murder and aggravated robbery in the Jan. 23 incident that took the life of 19-year-old Cody Snyder. The teens waived their right to a probable cause hearing in Lorain County Juvenile Court Judge Sherry Glass' courtroom. They agreed to have their cases transferred to adult court. Smith and Woodson are each being held in the Lorain County Juvenile Detention home on a $500,000 bond. A hearing is scheduled for June 21 to determine whether Smith should be transferred to the Lorain County Jail due to reports of his recent behavior in the detention home. The hearing might not happen if his behavior improves, Lorain County Juvenile Court Administrator Jody Barilla said. The accused shooter, Kajaun Anderson, 19, of Elyria, pleaded not guilty in March to aggravated murder, murder, aggravated robbery, robbery and tampering with evidence, according to court records. He remains in custody on a $500,000 bond, jail records show. He is scheduled to appear at a pretrial hearing Aug. 15. Jeffrey Miraldi, 20, of Elyria pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter, three counts of tampering with evidence and trafficking in marijuana, according to court records. Miraldi, the son of Lorain County Judge John Miraldi, is accused of hiding the drugs and discarding a gun he brought to the deal, prosecutors said. He also deleted a text message related to the incident, prosecutors said. He is also scheduled to appear at a pretrial hearing Aug. 15. Jenna Turner, 19, of Middleburg Heights pleaded not guilty to three counts of tampering with evidence, according to court records. Turner told investigators she took Snyder's cellphone out of concern it could show that she and Miraldi were involved in the shooting, prosecutors said. Turner is scheduled for a jury trial July 25, according to court records. Miraldi and Turner were released from custody after posting bond, records show. Smith and Woodson arranged to buy marijuana from Snyder but planned to steal the drugs in a robbery, police said. They asked Anderson to come along and bring a gun, police said. Snyder, Miraldi and Turner drove to meet the Smith and Woodson, who got into the car to discuss the transaction. Anderson walked up to the car, opened a door and pulled out a gun. He shot Snyder in the chest, police said. Snyder died after Miraldi drove him to University Hospitals Elyria Medical Center. If you'd like to comment on this story, visit Wednesday's crime and courts comments section. CLEVELAND, Ohio - The owners of a new cafe in Ohio City want their space to be a warm entryway for their coworkers, so they came up with a fitting name: Foyer. Foyer, which aims to open Tuesday, June 12, on Detroit Avenue is more than a coffeeshop with a targeted clientele: The "coworkers" actually are folks who rent office areas over the 10,000-square-foot space. Coworking is the concept employed by Pittsburgh-based Beauty Shoppe, a company that converts an old structure into a modern working office space. Its Cleveland venture is in the Seymour Building, which once housed Kiefer's German-American Tavern. Consumers rent space on a month-to-month basis. Each of the 160 areas can accommodate two to six people. You can choose from a desk, office or flex-level. The latter, which costs $175, comes with access to conference rooms, phones, desks and other business amenities. The spaces will open Wednesday, Aug. 1. Coworking aims for free-lancers, small businesses and entrepreneurs, Beauty Shoppe's Norah Heintz said. Its appeal also is conducive for established businesses seeking remote offices, granting them space and a chance for collaboration. Overall, Beauty Shoppe's coworking space is 10 to 15 percent occupied. The space, right behind Massimo da Milano, is Beauty Shoppe's first one out of Pittsburgh. (The Galley Group owns the restaurant incubator going into the Massimo space while Beauty Shoppe, a separate company, runs Foyer and rents office space.) Beauty Shoppe focuses on locations within rust-belt cities and neighborhoods rather than big buildings. Its long-term vision, Heintz said, is to take a "community-oriented" approach. "We don't want to go in and just bring our brand," she said. Rather, Beauty Shoppe hopes to adopt traits endemic to the coworking space's city. For instance, art will come from local artists, and even Foyer's logo is adorned with carnations - Ohio's state flower. The concept really is an old one modernized. The original coworking space, Heintz said, was a simple coffee shop, a chance for folks to get out of their home office or basement. The most famous example of turning a coffee shop into a de facto office probably is J.K. Rowling, who as a young mom spent time with her baby in Edinburgh cafes while writing "Harry Potter." And while the next billionaire author's work might not come out of the Detroit Avenue space, workers there will want coffee and a bite. "We wanted it to be a warm entrance, a home away from home," Beauty Shoppe's Wes Shonk said. "It's like a foyer at home - 'Hello, welcome, let me take your coat and get you something to drink'." Foyer's signature beverage is Kaffee Tonic, which Shonk said started in Sweden, became popular in San Francisco, and is spreading. It's a shot of expresso with tonic water over ice. The result is a bittersweet, refreshing summer sipper. "This is the drink to cut through the sticky summer weather," he said. Here's what Foyer will have to offer: * Java comes from Parlor Coffee in Brooklyn, N.Y. * Japanese iced tea will be served, with the goal of elevating tea to the affinity level of coffee. Cold-brewed iced tea yields a natural sweetness, Shonk said. * Milk is from Snowville Creamery in Pomeroy, southeast of Columbus. * Tommy's in Lakewood is making the pastries, which will include a croissant with apples that is soft and fresh and not sugary. * Ohio City Provisions will provide cheese and meats. * The Plum will being doing popup lunches. * A 9 spice chai with nine spices and Ceylon black tea from Sri Lanka is rolled in honey. The concoction looks like sticky loose-leaf pipe tobacco. The tea is steeped, milk is added, and it pours like a spicy latte-like drink. "We're going for 'just sweet enough' with our drinks," Shonk said. * A basic 8-ounce cup of coffee to go will be a buck. "A big part of our philosophy is using natural ingredients and letting them stand on their own," Shonk said. If you go Foyer is located at 2529 Detroit Ave., Cleveland. Hours: 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, with weekend hours expanding in the future when apartments across the street open. Street parking. Kyle Webb, formerly of Nuevo Modern Mexican & Tequila Bar in Cleveland, will manage Foyer. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Bernie Moreno has an idea, and he wants you to hear him out. Blockland. Moreno, the high-octane luxury car dealer and influential Cleveland civic leader, wants to make Northeast Ohio a national epicenter of all things blockchain, the digital ledger technology best known as driving Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. However, Morenos pitch intentionally steers clear of cryptocurrency, which is only a portion of what blockchain can do, and instead focuses on broader applications for business and government. His vision is in the early stages. But it includes organizing a blockchain industry conference here sometime this year, encouraging employers like the Cleveland Clinic, KeyBank and Progressive Insurance to research putting the technology to use, and finding funding for local universities to tailor their curriculum around blockchain research and training future experts in the field. Don't Edit Photo credit: Lonnie Timmons III, The Plain Dealer (2014 file photo) Don't Edit He thinks the efforts could reinforce each other and grow as the technology grows. He looks to the example of Pittsburgh, which years ago made a commitment to investing in autonomous driving, despite the citys bad weather, ample bridges and labyrinthian road plan. Why cant Cleveland do the same thing with blockchain, he asks. In recent weeks, Moreno has attended public talks by blockchain practitioners, and talked with local leaders in business, government and education about his still-forming idea. He is known to continually share links of news stories showing the latest blockchain applications as part of his evangelism. Moreno said hes put a humongous amount of his own money into blockchain businesses hes trying to develop, as well as his time and energy advocating for his vision for the region. Weve got to think moonshot, Moreno said. And this is a moonshot thats possible. If I said to you, 'hey, were going to be the world capital of the internet,' you would say, Hey, uh, that kind of happened already But this is something we can do. This is unique. Im so hyper about it, because if we dont do it now, well say two years from now, Well, we should have done that. And then well be a bit player in this deal. (Cleveland.com reporter Emily Bamforth contributed to this story) Don't Edit Don't Edit Photo credit: Marvin Fong, The Plain Dealer (2016 file photo) Don't Edit Don't Edit Who is Bernie Moreno? Don't Edit Moreno, 51, owns a slew of luxury-car dealerships in Cleveland and the Miami area. He has grown his civic influence since he opened his first Cleveland-area dealership in 2005 as his business affairs have grown. Although he's scaled back his holdings, he told Automotive News, a trade publication, last year he expected to bring in about $896 million in annual company revenue. But that doesn't fully capture his local influence. He serves on the boards for Cleveland State University (Ohio Gov. John Kasich appointed him), the Cleveland Foundation, Destination Cleveland, Cuyahoga Community College and the Greater Cleveland Partnership. His clout extends to politics, where he is a significant donor to Republican officials and causes. If you look at Bernie and how long hes been in Cleveland and what hes accomplished, that hes proposing this should really get everyones attention, said Albert Ratner, the longtime Cleveland businessman and philanthropist, who has been one of the recipients of Morenos Blockland pitch. Blockchain now is on a list of technology trends the Cleveland Foundation is tracking, president Ronn Richard said. The non-profit foundation, which awards tens of millions in grants each year, partners with organizations like JumpStart to spur economic development in Northeast Ohio. Emerging technologies, such as advanced energy and biologics, are a key part of that, Richard said. "I think whats happening now is people like Bernie saying 'We cant miss any ways of innovation,'" Richard said, adding he feels that Cleveland missed out on the widespread innovation spurred by the Internet in the 1990s, and that leaders in the area don't want that to happen again. Don't Edit Don't Edit Photo credit: Pixabay, Creative Commons Don't Edit What is blockchain? Don't Edit Don't Edit Briefly, blockchain is an online, decentralized list of records that are linked to each other and secured through cryptography. The power of blockchain, advocates say, is that it allows information to be recorded and exchanged securely, quickly and transparently, and in a way that cant be tampered with. The most well-known application for blockchain technology is Bitcoin, the decentralized financial network. Interest in Bitcoin, and cryptocurrency in general, skyrocketed last year as its value in online exchanges exploded. Governments around the world have experimented with using blockchain to record and manage things like voting and real-estate transactions, and companies are exploring how to use it for things like medical records, supply-chain management and accounting. For a more detailed explanation, click here. Moreno said he first heard about blockchain a few years ago, when his then-teenage son approached him. He said, 'youve got to invest every dollar you have in Bitcoin,' Moreno said. And I was like, 'Yeah, I dunno.' But I started researching. And whats really interesting about bitcoin is blockchain, this underlying part that drives the whole thing. Don't Edit Don't Edit Photo credit: Jackie Borchardt, cleveland.com Don't Edit Regulatory changes needed Don't Edit The first step for encouraging blockchain-related innovation is setting up a regulatory environment that encourages it, Moreno said. After hearing from Moreno, State Sen. Matt Dolan, a Republican, a couple of weeks ago introduced a bill that would create a legal framework for blockchain-based business transactions within the state. The bill is modeled after similar legislation in Arizona and a few other states. Dolans bill has been assigned to a committee for debate, but has yet to receive a hearing. Dolan, whose family owns the Cleveland Indians, said hes intrigued with its potential in the private and public sectors. I dont know that blockchain is the answer to everything, but I can tell you some areas, I can see that could cause government to become more efficient, more effective, more transparent and ultimately could help save millions, Dolan said. A company developing blockchain-based facial recognition software founded by a Cleveland native recently had a successful financial launch, but the company is based in Miami, Moreno said. Theres no reason he should have launched that company in Miami, Moreno said. So the first piece is, if we can get the political environment right, its a good setting in Cleveland to do this. Don't Edit Don't Edit Don't Edit Photo credit: Thomas Ondrey, The Plain Dealer Don't Edit Setting up a blockchain conference Don't Edit Moreno said he attended Consensus 2018, a blockchain industry conference, in mid-May in Manhattan. Sponsors included Deloitte, the "Big Four" global accounting firm, IBM and Microsoft. But Moreno was unimpressed. Most of it focused on cryptocurrencies, much of which he considers to be a scam, he said. I dont care about watermelon coins. I dont even know what that is. I dont want to invest in it, Moreno said. Moreno thinks a conference that focuses exclusively on government and business uses for blockchain could be held in Cleveland. The conference could persuade blockchain-based startups to locate in Cleveland, he said. David Gilbert, head of Destination Cleveland, the tourism agency, in an email indicated hes interested in Morenos idea. Destination Cleveland would assist with the conference in ways that are tied to our mission and leverage our expertise in changing peoples perceptions of Cleveland, as well as in meetings and conventions planning and management, Gilbert said. Don't Edit Don't Edit Don't Edit (IBM, YouTube.com) Don't Edit Finding private funding Don't Edit Key to Morenos vision is getting buy-in from Clevelands corporate leaders. He said hes communicated frequently with Amy Brady, the chief information officer for KeyBank, and is hoping to also make connections with the Cleveland Clinic and Progressive Insurance. All of those companies could make use of blockchain to advance their operations, Moreno said. Key to the initiative could be IBM, Moreno said, which has a limited presence in Cleveland. The Clinic and IBM have collaborated for years on electronic medical record storage and other applications using Watson, IBM's supercomputer. IBM also is investing in blockchain its HyperLedger project is a blockchain platform the company is marketing for business use. Moreno hopes that with buy-in from Clevelands civic leadership, IBM could be persuaded to expand its operations here. My fantasy would be for the town to go to IBM and say, 'Lets do this,' Moreno said. And then, a group of business leaders could turn to Case Western Reserve University with $50 million, and endow a blockchain-focused curriculum for students. Don't Edit Don't Edit (Photo credit: Rdikeman, English Wikipedia, CC-BY-SA-3.0, Wikimedia Commons) Don't Edit Don't Edit Tying in higher ed Don't Edit A key to transforming Cleveland into "Blockland" is getting universities on board to integrate blockchain into curricula and recruiting professors to teach it. Moreno is courting three university presidents: Case Western Reserve University's Barbara Snyder, Cleveland State University's Harlan Sands and Cuyahoga Community College's Alex Johnson. Part of the sell is a trip later this month to the Blockchain Research Institute in Toronto, where they'll be familiarized with the technology. He plans to pitch them on his idea to make Cleveland the leading name in blockchain training and education. Moreno is flying Snyder, Sands and Johnson as well as Richard from the Cleveland Foundation there on his private plane. The pitch to someone like [Snyder] would be, Case can own blockchain for business and government but it takes a full commitment to hire world-class faculty, and substantial world-class faculty, Moreno said. The road map to this isn't clear yet. In Moreno's mind, CWRU would become the leading university in researching blockchain and teaching blockchain-related coding. Tri-C and CSU could help train coders, too. CWRU already has an innovation center called ThinkBox, designed for student entrepreneurs. The university also partnered with Microsoft on HoloLens, a mixed-reality headset, and working on technology to improve MRIs. Snyder, CRWU's president, said in an emailed comment through a university spokesperson that she was looking forward to learning more about the technology on the trip. Moreno, who previously served as chair of Cleveland State University's Board of Trustees, thinks blockchain could be added on as part of a computer science major as early as this year. That requires teachers. The expertise required to teach blockchain coding isn't in Cleveland right now, Moreno said, so recruiting professors would be key. But being simply involved in blockchain won't do. Moreno cites Pittsburgh as an example of how higher education can play a major part seeding the ground for technology research. Pittsburgh is a test site for Uber, which is trying to beat out Google and car manufacturers in the self-driving car industry. An integral part of attracting Uber was Carnegie Mellon, which calls its Pittsburgh campus the "birthplace" of autonomous vehicle technologies. The university began working on self-driving technology more than 30 years ago and has created more than 140 technologies related to the field. Sands, who took over as CSU's president on June 1, said when he worked at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, students pursuing their MBA formed a club around blockchain technology. "Ultimately, our role is to prepare students for the workforce," Sands said. "The interest from our perspective is are we giving students the right tools to go work in this constantly changing environment where technology changes by the moment." Don't Edit Don't Edit Photo credit: Lynn Ischay, The Plain Dealer Don't Edit Moreno's blockchain plays Don't Edit Don't Edit Moreno has his own private interests in play. He said hes looking into blockchain as a potential business opportunity as he sees auto dealerships eventually becoming obsolete. Hes founded a company researching using blockchain to simplify and digitize the recording of future auto-title transfers, which the state government oversees. Its this interest that led to his conversations with Dolan, the state senator. Moreno also has invested in Votem, a blockchain-based Cleveland startup researching online voting through mobile devices. Moreno recently met with Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish, who seemed interested, although unacquainted with the technology. Voting made him a little nervous but I think hes receptive to the concept in general, which is, how can we make government more efficient? Moreno said. Moreno also said he soon plans to meet with Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson. Don't Edit Don't Edit Photo credit: Brandon Blackwell, cleveland.com (2015 file photo) Don't Edit "This is early" Morenos idea is just that, an idea. Moreno is a salesman, and Blockland at this point is just an elaborate sales pitch. This is early, early, early. Its about education, Moreno said. But, he has a rough timeline in mind. Hed like to see a conference organized this year. Hed like local higher-education institutions to update their curricula as soon as the coming school year. But overall, hes thinking months and not years, since he thinks innovation will come quickly. Without thinking big, Cleveland eventually is going to die, Moreno said. One of the things that happens in Cleveland is if we think small, we end up small. And I think we gotta think big, he said. WASHINGTON, D. C. - The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bill that authorizes federal spending for water projects and demands that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers promptly release a long-awaited final report on keeping Asian carp out of the Great Lakes. The Water Resources Development Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a 408 to 2 margin. It contained an amendment authored by Russell Township GOP Rep. Dave Joyce that would require the Army Corps to produce its final report in February 2019, when it is supposed to be released. A preliminary version of the study was delayed for six months, and legislators like Joyce want to ensure there are no more snags. The initial study suggested building multiple structural impediments near the Brandon Road Lock and Dam in Illinois to keep the voracious carp from escaping the Mississippi River system into the Great Lakes and destroying native fisheries. "The sooner the final report is released, the sooner we can begin to implement methods and technologies that will keep the invasive Asian carp out of the Lakes, which count for more than 20 percent of the world's fresh surface water supply," Joyce said on the House of Representatives floor. The Brandon Road Study is the one thing delaying us from responsibly acting to protect the Great Lakes from Asian carp. We need to keep to the schedule and my amendment to #WRDA, that just passed the House unanimously, promises that. pic.twitter.com/t5nHqIij7T Dave Joyce (@RepDaveJoyce) June 6, 2018 The bill also contained a measure from Holmes County GOP Rep. Bob Gibbs that would give the Army Corps a two-year window to complete plans for disposal of the sediments it dredges to keep ports and waterways navigable. Gibbs said the measure would help resolve an impasse between the Port of Cleveland and the Army Corps over disposal of dredged material from the Cuyahoga River's federal navigation channel. Gibbs said the Army Corps' failure to promptly produce a management plan for the sediment means Cleveland's port can't make long term plans "without considerable and avoidable risk." "The Port of Cleveland and many entities across the country rely on these dredged material management plans," said Gibbs said on the House floor. "They should not have to wait as long as four years for these studies and plans to be completed." KENT, Ohio -- Kent State University trustees on Wednesday approved a $44.9 million project to overhaul the former School of Art building into a "Design Innovation Hub" and dining hall. The 24-hour building will include 3D printers, workspaces where students can collaborate on projects, as well a dining hall to seat 350 people. Construction is anticipated to begin in late 2018 and finish in summer 2020. The project will gut the former School of Art building, left vacant in 2017 when the school moved into Taylor Hall. Funding will come from: $24.9 million in Kent State local funds $15 million in state capital allocations a $5 million capital commitment from Aramark through a dining partnership agreement The hub is part of the first phase of Kent State's 10-year facilities master plan approved this year. The board Wednesday also approved moving the university's ROTC offices and fashion school studios out of Terrace Hall. The destination is unknown, but the board voted to designate $5.5 million for the relocation and potential expansion. The move is expected to be completed after spring semester of 2019. FOREST PARK, Ohio -- An innocent bystander was shot in the head Wednesday as a robbery suspect fired at police officers in pursuit, according to reports. The shooting victim, Scott Ramsey, 47, was alert and talking when he was transported to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, WLWT Channel 5 reports. Ramsey was in stable but critical condition Wednesday night. Meanwhile, the suspect, Daimeyon Smith, 35, of Dunbar, West Virginia, is in custody. Smith is accused of robbing a U.S. Bank branch in Woodlawn, Ohio. A teller at the bank put a tracking device in a bag of money taken by the suspect, WCPO Channel 9 reports. The suspect ran to a car and police pursued him into Forest Park, according to WXIX Channel 19. The suspect crashed his vehicle then ran to a nearby bar. As police were set to enter the bar, shots were fired, WLWT reports. Forest Park police Chief Bill Arns says investigators believe the suspect was trying to shoot at officers but instead he shot Ramsey. The suspect ran from the building and threw his gun into a garbage can before surrendering to police, WXIX reports. No other injuries were reported. Smith is being held in the Hamilton County Jail. If you'd like to comment on this story, visit Wednesday's crime and courts comments section. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A 33-year-old man was killed and another man injured in an early Thursday morning shooting, police said. Luther Moore of Cleveland died in the shooting that happened about 2 a.m. in the 16600 block of Kipling Avenue, south of St. Clair Avenue and east of London Road in the city's Collinwood-Nottingham neighborhood. Moore died at the scene. Two men fired gunshots at Moore and a 38-year-old man. Both were standing in the street, police sad. The gunmen ran off after the shooting, according to police. The 38-year-old man was also injured in the shooting, police said. He was not hit by the bullets, but suffered a severe cut on his hand and wrist after diving on the ground to avoid the gunfire. He was taken to University Hospitals for treatment. His condition was not immediately available. No arrests have been made. Cleveland police have not released any other information on the shooting. It's the third homicide in as many days in Cleveland. To comment on this story, please visit our crime and courts comments page. COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio legislators threw a $2.5 million life raft to PEP Connections on Thursday, easing fears the popular Cuyahoga County behavioral health program would be unable to serve at-risk youth in a few weeks. PEP Connections, a program run by Positive Education Partners, had operated for decades with money from a Medicaid waiver. The program used the money to provide intensive case management for children facing debilitating mental illnesses and keep them out of jails, hospitals and other more costly treatments with alternative therapies and programming. But that agreement with the state was set to end June 30 as Ohio moves behavioral health care -- including the kids served by PEP Connections -- from a fee-for-service administration to privately run managed care health plans. Senators added a one-time, $2.5 million appropriation to keep the program running for one year to a bill prohibiting medical provider discrimination against a potential organ transplant recipient based on disability. The House gave final approval to the measure on Thursday in a unanimous vote. The bill is now headed to Gov. John Kasich's desk for his signature. Reps. Sarah LaTourette, a Chesterland Republican, and Nickie Antonio, a Lakewood Democrat, and other Northeast Ohio officials urged the Kasich administration to intervene. Antonio worked with Sen. Dave Burke, a Marysville Republican, to add the appropriation to House Bill 332. Antonio said Thursday the program serves families of youth in desperate situations, and the state should be trying to copy the program's success across the state. "This program keeps them at home, keeps them in their communities instead of institutions," Antonio said on the House floor. "This program has the opportunity to be replicated across the state." The Ohio Department of Medicaid has been working on a new "high-fidelity wrap-around service" that incorporates PEP Connections' case management and alternative therapy method and would be covered by Medicaid through managed care providers. But it's not ready yet, and Medicaid officials told PEP it would have to reach agreements with each of the state's five managed care plans to fund some or all of its services starting July 1. Frank Fecser, CEO of Positive Education Program, said passage of the bill is great news for kids who currently benefit from PEP Connections. "Today's action is a temporary solution, and we look forward to continuing to work with the legislature and administration to achieve a permanent solution that provides for these necessary services," Fescer said. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A grand jury brought aggravated murder charges against a Parma father accused of stabbing his 1-year-old son to death days after custody of the child was awarded to his mother. Jason Shorter, who is being held on $1 million bond, is set for a Monday arraignment in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court after a grand jury on Thursday handed up the seven-count indictment charging him in Nicholas Shorter's death. "This individual viciously took the life of his son, apparently to spite the child's mother," County Prosecutor Michael O'Malley said in an emailed statement. "We are reviewing the case for capital murder specifications." Shorter, 41, and the boy's mother reached a custody agreement on May 7, just five days before Shorter went to the Parma Police Department and said he wanted to "turn himself in" for attempted murder and suicide, according to prosecutors. Shorter was bleeding from self-inflicted cuts to his wrists, and officers found Nicholas in the trunk of his father's car with stab wounds to the boy's chest, police said. Nicholas died after paramedics took him to University Hospitals Parma Medical Center. The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office determined the boy died of stab wounds to his chest and ruled his death a homicide. Shorter petitioned for custody of his son months after Nicholas was born in 2016. The case dragged on for 19 months before he reached an agreement that awarded Nicholas' mother custody of the boy six days a week. Shorter was supposed to pick up Nicholas at the mother's home in Euclid at 6 p.m. each Friday night and return the boy by 7:30 p.m. every Saturday night, the agreement says. To comment on this story, please visit Thursday's crime and courts comments page. WASHINGTON, D. C. - Bainbridge Township GOP Rep. Dave Joyce on Thursday introduced a bill to keep the federal government from interfering with states like Ohio that have legalized various types of marijuana use. The former Geauga County prosecutor teamed up with Oregon Democratic Rep. Earl Blumenauer as well as Colorado GOP Sen. Cory Gardner and Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren to introduce the "Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States" Act. The bill would ensure that each state has the right to determine for itself the best approach to marijuana within its borders, and respect their voters' decisions on cannabis use. "We should trust the people of the states, like Ohio, who have voted to implement responsible common-sense regulations and requirements for the use, production, and sale of cannabis," said a statement from Joyce. "If the people of these states have decided to provide help for those veterans and others suffering from pain and other health issues, we should allow them access without government interference." In Ohio, medical marijuana is legal (although the program is not up and running yet), and there's an effort afoot to also legalize recreational marijuana. It is among 46 states that have laws permitting or decriminalizing marijuana or marijuana-based products. Fixing America's broken marijuana policies: Its time to reform Americas outdated marijuana policies. Watch live as Senator Cory Gardner and I discuss our new legislation that would let states, territories, and tribes decide for themselves how best to regulate marijuana without federal interference. Posted by U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren on Thursday, June 7, 2018 As states developed their own approaches to marijuana enforcement, the Department of Justice issued guidance to safeguard these state actions and ensure practical use of limited law enforcement resources. However, this guidance was withdrawn earlier this year, the bill's sponsors said, creating legal uncertainty, threatening public health and safety and undermining state regulatory regimes. The bill's sponsors said the conflict between federal and local policies that their proposal would address has "real costs," including criminal prosecutions and preventing legitimate businesses that comply with state laws from accessing basic banking services. It would exempt marijuana activities that comply with state or tribal laws from the Controlled Substances Act, remove industrial hemp from that law's list of controlled substances, and clearly state that transactions that comply with state and tribal laws are within the law and aren't drug trafficking. However, it would retain the Controlled Substances Act's prohibitions on endangering human life while manufacturing marijuana and employing people under 18 in marijuana operations. It would also prohibit distribution or sale of marijuana to people under age 21 for anything but medicinal purposes, and would forbid marijuana distribution at transportation safety facilities such as rest areas and truck stops. The proposal is endorsed by organizations as diverse as the American Civil Liberties Union and the Koch Brothers-funded Americans for Prosperity. The National Cannabis Industry Association predicted the bill will pass now that a majority of congressional representatives hail from states with some form of legal cannabis. it noted that an April poll from Quinnipiac University poll released in April found 63% of Americans support legalizing marijuana and 70% oppose federal interference with state-authorized cannabis programs. Gardner announced in April that President Trump indicated that he would sign legislation supporting states' rights on the issue. "Outdated federal marijuana laws have perpetuated our broken criminal justice system, created barriers to research, and hindered economic development," said a statement from Warren. "States like Massachusetts have put a lot of work into implementing common-sense marijuana regulations - and they have the right to enforce their own marijuana policies. The federal government needs to get out of the business of outlawing marijuana." CLEVELAND, Ohio - "Bent," the groundbreaking 1979 play about the persecution of gays during the Holocaust, now in a reverent production at the Beck Center for the Arts, follows the horrors inflicted upon Max (Geoff Knox) and the men who love him. Expelled from a rich family who consider him an embarrassment, Max spends his days grifting and his nights haunting the debauched clubs of 1930s Berlin, seducing boys and bringing them home to the shabby apartment he shares with Rudy (Antonio DeJesus). A sweet-natured dancer, Rudy tolerates and even joins him in his casual infidelities. Anything to keep Max happy. (DeJesus is darling, a shock of hair bobbing as he speaks, but he delivers his lines with a breathless, blurry speed, as though he were being chased.) One night, Max hooks up with the wrong man - a Stormtrooper targeted by Adolf Hitler in a gay purge of the ranks. The morning after their romp, Wolf (Nate Homolka) emerges in a leather thong and a teeny-weeny silk robe. (Nice, naughty touches by costume designer Tesia Benson.) Minutes later, jackbooted thugs in swastika armbands burst in and slit his throat. Max and Rudy go on the run, joining a camp of refugees living in a forest outside of Cologne. But before they can get out of the country, they are scooped up and put on a train to Dachau. Only Max survives the trip. "Bent" is freighted with import. The seminal work of gay theater helped spur much-needed scholarship into the forgotten victims of World War II. According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, between 1933 and 1945, "an estimated 100,000 men were arrested for violating Nazi Germany's law against homosexuality, and of these, approximately 50,000 were sentenced to prison. An estimated 5,000 to 15,000 men were sent to concentration camps on similar charges, where an unknown number of them perished." As director Matthew Wright points out in his director's note, the virulent homophobia practiced by the Nazis is hardly a relic of history. Gays can be sentenced to death for loving whomever they wish in eight countries around the globe. Here at home, the LGBTQ community continues to struggle for equality. Just this week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of bigotry by saying it was OK for a Colorado baker to refuse to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. Still, "Bent" isn't an easy show to watch - or to produce. Cruelties mount, each more unspeakable than the last, and the company seems weighed down by the material. A ponderousness quickly sets in, slowing the action and blunting our emotional responses. Though Max's "before" unfolds in the carnal, anything-goes mecca of Berlin, the Beck's earnest production never achieves the wicked effervescence of the place and time, a necessary contrast to the drab awfulness to come. Wright, a favorite of mine because of the intelligence that burns in his work, deploys men dressed as Nazis to clear the stage of minimal scenery and move us from scene to scene, an often-unwieldy process that bordered on the comic when Max's freshly dead one-night-stand stood up, frog-squatted to lift a small table and carried it off into the wings. Wright makes better use of a wall of tall screens, an efficient set design by Aaron Benson that employ projections to take us everywhere, from Max and Rudy's forest hideaway to a moving boxcar and, finally, to Dachau, a black-and-white hellscape defined by rows of barbed wire. At the work camp, Max is assigned the pointless job of moving bricks, rocks and chunks of concrete from one pile to another along with Horst (Andrew Gorell), a prisoner wearing a pink triangle, the mark of a "fluff." Not Max. He convinces his jailers that he is Jewish and earns a gold star on his chest, thinking it's good camouflage. Gays are lower than Jews in Hitler's Germany, Max reasons. The men are not allowed to make eye contact, touch or speak. But the human spirit is nothing if not resilient, and they find ways to communicate and more. In one of the play's most famous scenes, Max and Horst stand shoulder to shoulder, not looking at one another or touching during a rare break in the backbreaking routine, and bring each other to orgasm, all the while being monitored by guards. The moment takes flight because of Gorell, who tinges his marvelously alive performance with a weary gallows humor. With countless subtle changes in his voice and body, Gorell convinces us that Horst is a flesh-and-blood man rather than a martyred character in a very important drama. He carries the latter half of "Bent" on his slight shoulders with an easy grace. Horst holds onto his humanity by declaring his love for Max without reservation, whether that love is returned or not. "Queers aren't meant to love," Max announces early on, a crushing sentiment from a man gifted at walling himself off from true intimacy with rough sex and thoughtless cruising. As Max, Knox has a gaunt handsomeness - he's pretty like a successful player should be (Richard Gere originated the role on Broadway). But he displays a flat affect that rarely cracks. Everything turns on his journey from coldness to compassion. Though we are to believe Horst's unashamed love changes Max, we don't see it in Knox's granite surface. Wright stages the men's Sisyphean task literally - they pile and unpile, day after day, season after season - making us feel as though we're imprisoned and hauling stones right along with them. It's a logical if trying choice. But if love and human connection are the ways in which Max and Horst escape their nightmarish existence, why not use those screens to project images of the men plodding back and forth and allow the actors to occasionally break free and connect? To look into each other's eyes, caress a cheek, to kiss? In the play's heartbreaking coda, Max frees himself, body and soul, from a world that has labeled him "bent," his love a perversion. If only the production could have achieved a similar liberation. Despite Gorell's transfixing turn, "Bent" buckles under the heaviness of its own subject matter, as though weighted with rocks. REVIEW Bent What: A Beck Center for the Arts production of the play by Martin Sherman. Directed by Matthew Wright. When: Through Sunday, July 1. Where: The Beck's Studio Theater, 17801 Detroit Ave., Lakewood. Tickets: $12-$31. Go to beckcenter.org or call 216-521-2540, ext.10. Approximate running time: 2 hours and 15 minutes, including one intermission. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Former Vice President Joe Biden will appear in Cleveland later this month to help raise money for U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown's re-election campaign. Biden will appear at a pair of events the evening of Friday, June 29 at the Intercontinental Hotel on Carnegie Ave., according to event invitations obtained by cleveland.com. The first event is billed as a "reception" with the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party, the Cleveland Stonewall Democrats, the Cuyahoga Democratic Women's Caucus, the Cuyahoga Young Democrats and the Northeast Ohio Black Democrats. Tickets range from $150 to $1,000 each. The second is billed as a dinner, and carries a higher price-tag for attendees, ranging from $1,500 to $43,900. In accordance with campaign finance limits, the donations would be split among the Brown campaign, the Ohio Democratic Party and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the national campaign arm of Senate Democrats, according to the event invitation. The groups formed a joint-fundraising committee on May 29, federal records show. The appearance by Biden, mentioned occasionally as a potential 2020 presidential candidate, suggests he's keeping his powder dry with Ohio Democrats. Earlier this year, he endorsed a pair of Democrats -- former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau head Richard Cordray for governor and Ken Harbaugh, the Democratic challenger to Republican U.S. Rep. Bob Gibbs. Brown, a Democrat, is being challenged by Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci. The election is in November. Biden has a history with Brown. In May 2016, Biden and Brown appeared together in Columbus at an event touting a new worker-overtime policy, which was subsequently undone by the Trump administration. In 2011, Biden headlined a Cleveland fundraiser for Brown, stopping first at Slyman's Restaurant in Cleveland. COLUMBUS, Ohio -- State regulators are moving ahead with appeals over medical marijuana cultivation licenses awarded last year after final scores were confirmed by a third-party company. But accounting firm Ernst & Young also found several weaknesses in the Ohio Department of Commerce's cultivator application scoring process. Ernst & Young confirmed that two previously identified scoring errors resulted in only one instance where a company incorrectly did not receive a license. The Department of Commerce awarded a license to that company, PharmaCann Ohio LLC, last month. The second type of error reviewed by Ernst & Young, first discovered in April by Auditor Dave Yost's office, was that final scores did not reflect individual marks given on score cards. Ernst & Young found four instances where scorers' answers differed from the final score. The original scorers were asked to re-score one part of the applications without knowing the identity of the applicant. In every case, the scorers' new determination matched the final points awarded. "As we move forward, we need to be able to tell people this is the score we're using as a basis," Mark Hamlin, senior policy adviser for the commerce department, said during a Thursday meeting of the medical marijuana program's advisory committee meeting. Of the 185 applications to grow medical marijuana in Ohio, 24 were awarded provisional licenses in November. Sixty-seven rejected applicants filed appeals with the state for an administrative hearing. The department held four hearings and put the rest on hold in February, after it discovered an employee had inadvertently entered incorrect scores for 10 applicants. It hired Ernst & Young as part of its legal defense in multiple lawsuits filed by unsuccessful applicants. Last month, a Franklin County judge took the agency to task for not giving rejected applicants their due process in a timely manner and ordered officials to hold a hearing as soon as possible for Ohio Releaf LLC, which had filed the complaint. Ohio Releaf's hearing is scheduled for next week, according to the department. Six others are scheduled for this month. During its review of the process, Ernst & Young identified several weaknesses in the scoring process. Among them: Applications were not reviewed or scored in a controlled environment. Much of the process was done by hand, and scorers were inconsistent about how completely they filled out score cards. Score cards were uploaded to a central site in an editable format, and the system did not have safeguards to prevent unauthorized access to the documents. Hamlin said the agency has already implemented several of the report's recommendations into its review of applications to make medical marijuana products. Processor licenses are expected to be awarded later this month. Meanwhile, none of the cultivators have been approved to begin growing medical marijuana, pushing the anticipated Sept. 8 start date back at least several weeks. The Department of Commerce has inspected only one facility; it failed and is working with the agency to pass at a future date. The department plans to inspect two cultivators this month, five in July and at least one in August. COLUMBUS, Ohio--Republican Melanie Leneghan's attorney said Thursday she is preparing to contest the results of the 12th Congressional District primary in Muskingum County, which propelled rival Troy Balderson to a narrow victory last month. According to Leneghan's attorney, Peggy Guzzo, the Muskingum County Board of Elections violated state recount procedures by unsealing ballot containers ahead of Thursday's recount without telling Leneghan. Guzzo pointed to Ohio law, which states that in a recount, ballot containers can only be opened when the recount begins, in the presence of the public. "Given the already questionable election night results in Muskingum County, for a 10-way race, this latest breach of protocol seriously undermines the integrity of the election," Guzzo said in a statement. Leneghan earlier told Capitol Letter, cleveland.com's daily Statehouse newsletter, that while she hasn't heard of any fraud or problems with the election, she was "surprised" that Balderson won his home county of Muskingum by nearly 68 percentage points, or about 3,500 votes. Unofficial results show Balderson finished 653 votes ahead of Leneghan in a crowded 10-way primary on May 8. Marlee Gibson, deputy director of the Muskingum County Board of Elections, declined to comment to cleveland.com on Thursday on the grounds that Leneghan hadn't yet contacted her office about the issue. Leneghan representatives have also expressed concerns about the race to Secretary of State Jon Husted's office, according to Husted spokesman Sam Rossi. In response, secretary of state officials reached out to Muskingum County elections officials, but Rossi said "nothing that they said made it seem that there is an issue" with the election results. "There doesn't appear to be anything improper going on," Rossi said. Leneghan, a Liberty Township trustee in Delaware County, has requested a recount of 16 Muskingum County precincts. She has also asked for recounts in some precincts in Delaware, Franklin and Licking counties. Both Balderson and Leneghan have been running to succeed Republican Pat Tiberi, who stepped down in January. The contest between the two Republicans was seen as a proxy war between Tiberi and other establishment Republicans (who backed Balderson) and Freedom Caucus members such as U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan (who supported Leneghan). In the primary, Republicans voted to nominate Balderson for both the Aug. 7 special election and the Nov. 6 general election. Democrats nominated Franklin County Recorder Danny O'Connor for both races. COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Ohio House passed a bill Thursday to crack down on payday lenders. The vote comes 15 months after the bill was introduced, nearly two months after news of an FBI probe into the former speaker's travels with the industry lobbyists led to his resignation, and a citizens' push to change the constitution if lawmakers don't act. Still, House Bill 123 has a long journey ahead to become law. The 55-minute debate in the House was lively. Rep. Kyle Koehler, a Springfield Republican who is a bill sponsor, said payday lending customers tend to have poor credit scores, lower incomes or are not savvy consumers. Roughly one in 10 Ohioans are industry customers. They need the loans, but they don't deserve to be taken advantage of, he said. He said the bill will save Ohioans an estimated $75 million a year. 'This legislation does not shut down payday lending in Ohio," he said - disputing a charge by the industry. "We need to pass this bill to start protecting people in Ohio." Rep. Bill Seitz, a Cincinnati Republican, argued passionately for the industry, saying financial literacy education is needed instead of the bill. Rep. George Lang, also a Republican from the Cincinnati area, told colleagues the payday lending industry pays taxes that support schools and police officers, among other government services. "This bill will not mitigate the impact they have on Ohio, this bill will eliminate the impact they have in Ohio," Lang said. The bill passed 69 to 14. H.B. 123 had stalled in the House for over a year before it was quickly ushered out of committee in April without any changes. The House's vote Thursday punts it to the Senate to do the heavy lifting starting this month, but not likely finishing until after lawmakers return from a summer break. The bill would close a loophole from a 2008 law, upheld by voters, that limited payday loans to a 28 percent annual percentage rate. The bill would also limit monthly payments to a percentage of a borrower's income and add other consumer protections. Ohio's short-term lenders oppose the bill as drafted and say they were willing to work on a compromise. The bill advanced amid reports that former House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger had taken a trip with payday lending lobbyists last year that had attracted the interest of the FBI. He resigned but has said he did not break any laws. "It took an FBI investigation to finally have this bill on the House floor," said Rep. Kathleen Clyde, a Democrat who is running for secretary of state. H.B. 123 was one of the first priorities of the new House speaker, Rep. Ryan Smith, who was elected to the position Wednesday. Under the bill: Loans could not exceed $500 and interest is capped at 28 percent annually, as was approved in 2008. Lenders could charge a monthly maintenance fee of $20 or 5 percent of the first $400 borrowed, whichever is less. The total monthly payment including fees and interest could not exceed 5 percent of the borrower's gross monthly income or 6 percent of monthly net income. The total amount of fees and charges could not exceed 50 percent of the original loan amount. Lenders could collect damages for unpaid loans in court but not more than the original loan amount. Borrowers could cancel loans by 5 p.m. the next business day and repay loans early without penalty. H.B. 123 now heads to the Ohio Senate, where it will be assigned to at least one committee for consideration - and possible amendments - before it would get to the floor. Ohio borrowers pay on average 591 percent APR, the country's highest rate, according to research by the Pew Charitable Trusts. Ohioans for Payday Loan Reform, a coalition of faith-based groups and advocates for low-income Ohioans, is working on a constitutional amendment for the ballot that would restrict the lenders. Cleveland.com's Jackie Borchardt contributed to this story. CLEVELAND -- There's nothing small about the way state government has betrayed Ohioans during the 21st century. Some of those betrayals have been epic, causing demonstrable damage to Ohio's citizens and the state's reputation. The few moments of leadership have come from governors: * Bob Taft's innovative Third Frontier program and his principled stand against the gun lobby. * John Kasich's stance on Medicaid and his lonely and losing efforts to convince Ohio Republicans that cruelty, racism, lying, vindictiveness, misogyny, and narcissism aren't admirable qualities in a president. New Ohio House Speaker Ryan Smith on Thursday began the long task of cleansing the legislature's atrocious reputation. A day after winning the speaker's job, Smith delivered on a promise to win House approval of a law that prevents payday lenders from saddling working-class Ohioans with the nation's highest short-term borrowing rates. The bill now moves to the Senate, where industry vultures will again tell preposterous lies aimed at tricking people into believing they're eager to discuss a fair compromise. Senators beware: People doing payday lenders' bidding are strangers to the truth. Legislators in Ohio have long stood accused of serving not their constituents, but the people who fund their campaigns. But in the last eight years, House Republicans seem to have reached new lows in their ethical depravity. The victims: Just about everyone who lives here, but especially children, the working poor, and people who believe democracy should guarantee a fair process in the drawing of political boundaries. In April, House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger resigned in the wake of revelations he may be the target of an FBI probe. There are indications that the FBI may be looking at lobbyist ties to some lawmakers, including ties involving the insidious payday lending industry. Before that, the House was ruled by Bill Batchelder, who spent four years protecting some of the most unprincipled bottom-feeders ever to prowl Statehouse corridors. Then, lo and behold, some of those who received favorable treatment, including the now-shuttered Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow online charter school, became clients of the Batchelder lobbying firm. In Columbus, restocking the swamp is a never-ending process. The task of at least trying to drain it now falls to Smith, a southeast Ohio Republican who told me shortly after his election Wednesday that, "I'm going to try my best to keep the integrity as high as possible in the Ohio House." He deserves that chance. And it's tough to imagine him making things worse. Most of the legislature's long-running misfeasance, nonfeasance and malfeasance has been of the work of Republicans -- only because they've controlled just about all of state government for most of the past 27-plus years. But during the four years of this young century when voters awarded Democrats a fair share of Statehouse power, they proved more than capable of selling out their constituents, too. For the better part of a generation, choosing wrong over right has been the legislature's trademark. Just a few examples: *ECOT was once the nation's largest online charter school. And arguably its worst. Earlier this year, ECOT closed its doors. And it has been on the losing end of numerous court rulings designed to challenge the Ohio Department of Education's belief that ECOT owes more than $80 million for submitting false enrollment data over a two-year period. From 2001 to 2016, ECOT raked in more than $1 billion in taxpayer money. In return, ECOT founder Bill Lager and his flunkies contributed more than $2 million to campaigns of Ohio politicians, a huge majority of that going to Republicans. That money seemed to buy protection from a legislature that required only token policing of online charters. Even the Ohio Republican Party got caught up in the immorality of it all. In 2017, state GOP Chairwoman Jane Timken allowed the party to participate in a shameless campaign money-laundering scheme designed to indirectly steer contributions from ECOT officials to former Ohio Speaker Larry Householder, who is seeking a return to the speakership next year. The scam stained Timken's reputation. And her ham-handed ways are bothering some normal party members. ECOT's financial shell game imploded when it was discovered the contributions exceeded legal limits. *Democrats pat themselves on the back for their role in last November's passage of State Issue 1, which essentially guarantees the drawing of fair congressional boundaries, effective in 2022. What's so laughable about that is, but for Democratic arrogance and incompetence, that fairness would have arrived in 2012. It didn't because organized labor, Gov. Ted Strickland and scores of other prominent Democrats decided not to embrace an eminently fair redistricting plan offered at the time by GOP House Speaker Jon Husted. Their reason? They didn't have one - at least not a good one. *Payday lenders suffered a devastating defeat with the House passage of Ohio Rep. Kyle Koehler's reform bill - their worst blow in nearly a decade. On Election Day 2008, Ohioans had voted overwhelmingly to cap short-term borrowing rates at 28 percent. But after 2008, lenders slithered through a loophole legislators refused to close. As a result, Ohio has earned the reputation as a place where ruining the lives of working mothers who need to borrow a few bucks to feed their children is viewed as sound public policy. Payday lenders couldn't care less if their rates ruin lives. Soon we'll find out if state senators feel the same way. Brent Larkin was The Plain Dealer's editorial director from 1991 until his retirement in 2009. To reach Brent Larkin: blarkin@cleveland.com Have something to say about this topic? Use the comments to share your thoughts. Then, stay informed when readers reply to your comments by using the "Follow" option at the top of the comments, and look for updates via the small blue bell in the lower right as you look at more stories on cleveland.com. PARMA, Ohio -- Incoming Parma City Schools Superintendent Charles Smialek, who officially takes over Aug. 1, is getting a head start on meeting the community. While he's already been a presence at Board of Education meetings and other district events, Smialek has announced four town hall-style meetings over the next month. The events are scheduled for 6:30 p.m. June 19 at the Parma-Snow Branch Library, 6:30 p.m. June 26 at the Parma Branch Library, 9:30 a.m. July 14 at the Parma Branch Library, and 6:30 p.m. July 17 at the Parma Heights Branch Library. "We know there's a lot of consternation about the levy failing and whether we're going for another levy," Smialek said. "Also, there's the five-year forecast, which was a little different than folks were expecting. "I think we need to get out and tell our story really clearly about what's going on in the financial end of things, but also being able to hear from people. There are a lot of issues. I want to hear what residents and families think," he said. In less than a month, the school administration watched Parma, Parma Heights and Seven Hills residents defeat the district's 7.4-mill, new-money levy, followed by school district Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer Sean Nuccio announcing that the district had an unexpected 3 percent increase in its cash balance. This changed its five-year forecast, which previously projected a $3.6 million deficit for next year. Nuccio said the current forecast predicts a balanced budget for five years, predicated on the recent reductions approved by the Board of Education and the renewal of all three emergency levies set to expire in 2020, 2021 and 2022. The treasurer stressed that the district still needs to pass a new-money levy. Smialek said: "I'm hoping to meet as many people with a vested interest in the school district as possible and genuinely hear from them. What I will do from those town hall meetings is collate the responses, look for patterns and themes to form a game plan, and put together action steps to address concerns. "I also want to hear about strengths and what makes people proud, because we want to keep doing those things. So let's get better at them and make that part of our identity going forward," he said. For those residents who can't make it to a town hall meeting, the district has announced an in-house survey, open through July 17, asking for input regarding the district. "The new superintendent coming in would like to be armed with his own set of facts and ideas," Board of Education President John Schweitzer said. As far as the new-money levy returning to the ballot, Schweitzer said district leadership is currently deciding the next move. "A recommendation to the board on which way they want to go should be coming up in the next couple of weeks," Schweitzer said. SOLON, Ohio -- In trying to schedule a public hearing on a proposed winery and planned unit development, Councilman Bob Pelunis worries about putting the proverbial cart before the horse. There are renderings of apartment buildings, senior housing, restaurants, retail, "some this and some that, but we don't have any definitive documents that say 'this is a development plan,'" Pelunis noted. In other words, "what is the public going to comment on?" Pelunis asked at the May 29 Planning Commission meeting. Planning Commissioner Roger Newberry concurred, but likened it more to "having a cart and a horse, and in this case, the two have not even been introduced." With that in mind, the commission tabled the request for a public hearing on the proposal, at least until City Planning Director Rob Frankland prepares legislation regarding "mixed-use or planned unit" developments. That may be sooner rather than later, with July 10 being the earliest that a hearing could be scheduled. As it turns out, Frankland was already working on a zoning code provision for mixed-use developments in general when the owners of the former Luczek property -- more than 100 acres near the Thornbury subdivision -- approached him with their proposal. Frankland said that was more coincidental than anything, since he was looking at zoning that could be used to redevelop the former Sears Grand site. "And I was not implying any approval of their project," Frankland told the Planning Commission, explaining that the mixed-use zoning was general enough that it could be applied to both. Jordan Berns, attorney for the owner and applicant, BNH Enterprise Corp. and developer Yisrael Harris, deferred to City Law Director Lon Stolarsky on getting the public hearing scheduled if Frankland can get the draft done. Stolarsky told the planning commissioners that regardless of whether or not they feel they have enough information to make a recommendation to council one way or the other, a public hearing still has to be held. The Luczek property could be the city's first Planned Unit Development or "PUD," requiring a zoning change from its current single-family residential designation. Frankland noted that the city Planning Commission "drives the process." Ultimately, the proposal would have to be recommended by the Planning Commission and forwarded to City Council. In turn, council would have to agree to forward the measure to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections in August in order for the rezoning to appear on the November ballot. Voters would have the final say. Aside from development agreements, engineering, traffic and wetland studies, Berns noted that the city already has a "very comprehensive site plan review process." The Planning Commission also heard some concerns from neighbors of the proposed mixed-use development, some from Thornbury, on May 29. Today, 36-year-old actor Sebastian Stan enjoys international stardom as Bucky Barnes in the Avengers film series. But the Winter Soldier wasn't the role for which he was initially gunning. In fact, he had to face a round of rejection to get to where he is now. In an interview with CNBC Make It, the Hollywood star said he originally auditioned for the role of Captain America, but was told that he was not "right for the part." Instead, the job was given to his multi-film co-star Chris Evans and Stan was offered the role of Barnes. The decision ultimately "worked out" in his favor and was a "much better role," said Stan, who this year starred in "Avengers: Infinity War," the fourth in his nine-movie contract with Marvel Studios. However, knock-backs are never easy and, in an industry as competitive as showbiz, you're bound to face many. To cope with that, Stan said it's all about developing a thick skin and staying dedicated. "Try not to take things personally, learn how to face rejection, no matter what you do, stay obsessed with it," he said. National Security Advisor John Bolton (R), listens to U.S. President Donald Trump as he speaks about the FBI raid at lawyer Michael Cohen's office, while receiving a briefing from senior military leaders regarding Syria, in the Cabinet Room, on April 9, 2018 in Washington, DC. Just weeks after John Bolton's hardline rhetoric infuriated North Korea and nearly derailed a planned summit between Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump, the U.S. national security advisor appears to have taken a back seat to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for the historic meeting. While the hawkish Bolton who has adopted a lower-key approach in recent days is expected to be in Singapore for the talks on Tuesday, Pompeo has taken the lead as the administration assumes a softer tone toward Pyongyang ahead of the summit, several U.S. officials said. Pompeo's ascendance combined with Bolton's more muted public role illustrates how the sometimes messy power dynamic in Trump's inner circle has played out going into the first-ever meeting between U.S. and North Korean leaders. But Trump's ability to deliver the biggest foreign policy success of his presidency could rest heavily on the team he has hastily cobbled together to advise him after announcing in March he was prepared to meet Kim in an effort to persuade the North Korean leader to give up a nuclear arsenal that now threatens the United States. "This summit is being thrown together faster than any we've ever seen for something this important," said one U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "So unless we want the president to get played by Kim, a lot rests with the team that's putting this all together." Pompeo, first as Trump's CIA director and now as his chief diplomat, quickly made North Korea his main focus. But even as Pompeo was launching delicate diplomacy, Bolton an outspoken former U.N. ambassador with a history of fraught dealings with Pyongyang took up his post and began pushing a tougher approach to North Korea that he has long advocated. Never was that clearer than when Bolton went on television on May 13, just days after Pompeo returned from a second visit to Pyongyang, and pressed North Korea to follow the "Libya model" in nuclear negotiations. Libya unilaterally surrendered its nuclear weapons program in 2003, but its leader, Muammar Gaddafi, was killed in 2011 by NATO-backed rebels. Bolton's demand angered North Korea, which threatened to pull out of the summit. Trump, who according to one U.S. official was furious that Bolton had made the Libya comparison, sought to salvage the meeting by disavowing his remarks. But North Korea responded harshly. Trump on May 24 then canceled the summit, only to reinstate it a week later after meeting a North Korean envoy at the White House, where the president appeared to back away from his demand for Pyongyang's swift, complete denuclearization. Bolton once denounced by North Korea as "human scum" during his days at the State Department under former President George W. Bush was conspicuously absent from the Oval Office encounter, raising speculation he was sidelined. The White House did not respond to a request for comment. A view of Shanghai center from Lujiazui financial district. On Saturday, 28 October 2017, in Shanghai, China. China has adopted new rules governing the issuance of securities that will allow the domestic flotation of overseas-listed innovators, the China Securities Regulatory Commission said in a notice published late on Wednesday. China is encouraging overseas-listed Chinese companies to launch secondary listings in the domestic market through the issuance of China Depositary Receipts (CDRs), modeled on the popular ADRs used in the United States. The trial rules, which are effective immediately, will provide the "institutional foundation" for innovative companies to issue CDRs on the domestic market, the China Securities Regulatory Commission said. The CSRC statement said the program would support innovative companies that comply with "national strategies" and have "mastered key technologies". The regulator said it has set strict selection criteria and would strictly control the size, timing and pace of CDR issuance. The CSRC approved the launch of six Chinese mutual funds on Wednesday, which would be allowed to become "strategic investors" in the upcoming listing of high-tech firms. The pilot program would allow domestic investors access to tech giants such as Alibaba and Baidu, which are listed in the United States, state news agency Xinhua said. China, the world's largest consumer of many commodities, is bidding to be the price-maker, not the price-taker for those products. In the last few months, Chinese exchanges have opened up some commodity futures for international traders. Investors talk in front of an electronic board showing stock informations at a brokerage house in Kaifeng, Henan Province. China Daily | Reuters I have a dream. We trade in the daytime. Eugene Zhu CEO, Asia Pacific Exchange The APEX is not just an offshore exchange for Chinese futures participants as the Chinese face capital restrictions on overseas investment. Instead, the exchange offers global investors a complementary product to the yuan-denominated palm olein futures already on the Dalian Commodity Exchange, Zhu said. The palm olein futures on the APEX, meanwhile, are dollar-denominated. "There will be arbitrage opportunities and it will help to generate more volume for all the exchanges," Zhu said. That is particularly as there is keen international interest in what moves the market in China, said Zhu, who previously headed the Dalian Commodity Exchange and the China Financial Futures Exchange. Although palm oil futures are heavily traded on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives, palm olein futures have not taken off on the exchange as they were denominated in the Malaysian ringgit, which has suffered volatility due to political factors and the oil price slump in recent years. APEX palm olein has been doing well since its launch, with tens of thousands, if not well over 100,000 lots traded each day since the product's launch. Bursa Malaysia pushed out its own redesigned dollar-denominated palm olein futures a day before APEX's opening, but that product is only seeing tens of lots traded daily. Trading volumes on the APEX's palm olein contracts were looking good after just a week of trading and stood a good chance of taking off, said David Ng, a derivatives specialist at Phillip Futures in Kuala Lumpur. Bursa Malaysia said it introduced its dollar-denominated palm olein contract to promote a "more inclusive trading community" that is in line with enhancing product diversity on the exchange, the exchange said in an email to CNBC. A key difference between the Malaysian palm olein contract and APEX's is the requirement that the Malaysian product delivered can be traced to sustainable sources up to the crushing mills, said Bursa Malaysia. Sustainability is an issue in the palm oil industry as the widely used commodity produced primarily in Malaysia and Indonesia is blamed for rampant deforestation and labor abuses. Chinese ambitions The development of China's first offshore exchange came after the launch of yuan-denominated crude oil futures in March on the International Energy Exchange in Shanghai. Those futures have already witnessed rapid growth in participation. Dalian Commodity Exchange also opened up trade in iron ore futures to global investors in May and the country has pledged to open more futures contracts to international players. APEX also plans to rollout yuan-denominated contracts and is eyeing rubber and soy products, said Zhu. Meanwhile, there is skepticism in the international trading community over the viability of Chinese yuan-denominated crude oil and iron ore futures due to the fact that the currency is not fully open to the world. There's been heavy trading in the contracts, and that's been attributed to speculators, many of whom are retail investors instead of institutional actors. Zhu, for his part, expressed little concern about the challenges faced by upstarts such as APEX. Despite a host of concerns, the Chinese are betting that the country's large trading base will create a new market with strong liquidity, eventually attracting international players, and establishing new global benchmarks. "Exchanges have the potential to change the investing behaviors of clients and changing these behaviors is a long-term process," Zhu said in Chinese. The APEX chief made no secret that his exchange wants a role in helping China internationalize the yuan and contribute to the Belt and Road Initiative a multi-continent investment regime meant to further Beijing's ambitions. Complement, not compete Commodities trading hub Singapore is diplomatic about how it can position itself against upstart contracts on Chinese exchanges. The Singapore Exchange already lists iron ore futures , and says it is exploring the introduction of steel derivatives. Instead of positioning Singapore Exchange products as competitors to their Chinese counterparts, the island-state is instead pitching them to be complementary. "Companies based in Singapore can seamlessly participate in both exchanges, strengthening our mutual linkages and connectivity. We hope to grow this partnership and there are many win-win opportunities here," Chee Hong Tat, a junior minister in Singapore, said in May about the opening up of Dalian Commodity Exchange iron ore contracts to foreign trade participants. Vested parties were quick to focus on the differences between the products of the two exchanges. The Singapore Exchange, they said, has a wider range of derivatives products, and it boasts an institutional investor base. Dalian, meanwhile, hosts more speculative retail players. Special counsel Robert Mueller's team is requesting that witnesses turn in their personal phones to inspect their encrypted messaging programs Special counsel Robert Mueller's team is asking witnesses to turn in their phones in order to access encrypted messaging applications, sources tell CNBC. Mueller's team has indicated it wants to examine private conversations on WhatsApp, Confide, Signal and Dust, sources say. Fearing a subpoena, the witnesses have complied with the request and have given over their phones. Brian Schwartz | @schwartzbCNBC Special counsel Robert Mueller's team is requesting that witnesses turn in their personal phones to inspect their encrypted messaging programs and potentially view conversations between associates linked to President Donald Trump, sources told CNBC. Since as early as April, Mueller's team has been asking witnesses in the Russia probe to turn over phones for agents to examine private conversations on WhatsApp, Confide, Signal and Dust, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Fearing a subpoena, the witnesses have complied with the request and have given over their phones, the sources said. While it's unclear what Mueller has discovered, if anything, through this new request, investigators seem to be convinced that the apps could be a key to exposing conversations that weren't previously disclosed to them. A spokesman for the special counsel declined to comment. Manafort accused of tampering The revelation that Trump associates are giving Mueller access to their encrypted apps comes as former campaign chairman Paul Manafort is being accused by investigators of tampering with witnesses through the same types of programs. On Monday, the special counsel filed a claim that Manafort tampered with witnesses after he was indicted in February for money laundering and illegally acting as a foreign agent. For evidence, Mueller's deputy listed two apps, WhatsApp and Telegram, that they say Manafort used to contact the witnesses in his case. The filing also says that those conversations were provided to Mueller in May, a month after witnesses say they were approached to provide their phones. Representatives from WhatsApp, Signal and Dust did not return requests for comment. A representative for Confide could not be reached. Encryption to protect privacy The encrypted applications are used to keep conversations private and give users the ability to have discussions without being monitored. WhatsApp, for instance, markets itself as a way to securely communicate with people overseas. "With WhatsApp, you'll get fast, simple, secure messaging and calling for free, available on phones all over the world," the website says. Dust dubs itself a "safer place to text," and pushes its platform as a way to keep messages secretive as well as giving their users the ability to erase messages off of other people's phones, according to their website. "All your messages automatically 'dust' (erase) in 24 hours or as soon as they're read you choose which," the site explains. Dust was also the app reportedly used between longtime Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen and Felix Sater, a real estate developer who has claimed to have ties to Russian oligarchs, when they tried to complete a deal for Trump Tower Moscow. The plan ultimately fell apart. Legal experts aren't surprised It isn't surprising that witnesses are voluntarily giving over possible evidence to federal investigators, experts said. "It's just more typical for law enforcement to ask for consent for the obvious reason because it's much easier than applying to a court to get judicial permission," said Robert Ray, who acted as independent counsel during the Bill Clinton Whitewater investigation. He added, though, that it's "not commonplace, but not all that unusual, either," for prosecutors to seek evidence from witnesses' phones. "There's nothing wrong with asking people to voluntarily provide information to the FBI for whatever investigation," said Michael German, a retired FBI agent and current fellow with the Brennan Center for Justice's Liberty and National Security Program. "And to the extent that that's a voluntary action is where the rub is." CNBC's Kevin Breuninger and Tucker Higgins contributed to this report. About CNBC: With CNBC in the U.S., CNBC in Asia Pacific, CNBC in Europe, Middle East and Africa, and CNBC World, CNBC is the recognized world leader in business news and provides real-time financial market coverage and business information to more than 409 million homes worldwide, including more than 91 million households in the United States and Canada. CNBC also provides daily business updates to 400 million households across China. The network's 15 live hours a day of business programming in North America (weekdays from 4:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. ET) is produced at CNBC's global headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., and includes reports from CNBC News bureaus worldwide. CNBC at night features a mix of new reality programming, CNBC's highly successful series produced exclusively for CNBC and a number of distinctive in-house documentaries. CNBC also has a vast portfolio of digital products which deliver real-time financial market news and information across a variety of platforms including: CNBC.com; CNBC PRO, the premium, integrated desktop/mobile service that provides live access to CNBC programming, exclusive video content and global market data and analysis; a suite of CNBC mobile products including the CNBC Apps for iOS, Android and Windows devices; and additional products such as the CNBC App for the Apple Watch and Apple TV. Members of the media can receive more information about CNBC and its programming on the NBCUniversal Media Village Web site at http://www.nbcumv.com/programming/cnbc. For more information about NBCUniversal, please visit http://www.NBCUniversal.com. Surprise! Millennials are not the be-all, end-all for the stock market, CNBC's Jim Cramer declared on Wednesday. "Just because millennials love it, doesn't mean you should buy it," the "Mad Money" host said. "In the last year, for example, I've heard this from CEOs of cruise lines, timeshare companies, recreational vehicle plays and budget hotels. They all say millennials make up a shocking percentage of their business." But CEOs recognizing that millennials make up notable parts of their customer bases do not good stocks make, Cramer warned. If high fuel costs weigh on the cruise lines, or the cost of making RVs rises, or hotel traffic subsides because of rising gas prices, these millennial plays could enter the house of pain, he said. "Long story short: as we've seen over and over again, having a surprising number of millennial customers is nice, but if your business starts having problems, it won't save your stock from getting trounced," he told viewers. Boeing bounce trounces China? A Boeing 767 Freighter Source: Boeing Since the Trump administration began to consider placing tariffs on Chinese goods, shares of aircraft manufacturer Boeing, which sells heavily into China, have been falling. But when Cramer saw shares of the aerospace giant soar over 3 percent on Wednesday, he took it as a sign that China tensions may not weigh as heavily on Boeing's earnings as Wall Street thinks. "Ever since the president decided to get tough on trade, the stock of Boeing has been trading like it's about to lose a big order from Chairman Mao Airlines," the "Mad Money" host said. Shares of Boeing, which said it planned to sell $1 trillion worth of aircraft to China over the next two decades, were especially hurt by China's April tariffs on 106 U.S. products. The move was viewed as a retaliation to President Trump's proposed list of tariffs on Chinese goods. Still, Boeing's Wednesday rally served to improve the outlook for the company, indicating to investors that its strength was not tied solely to its business in China, Cramer said. Qualcomm CEO talks Broadcom, NXP and Apple Steve Mollenkopf, CEO of Qualcomm. Adam Jeffery | CNBC Uncertainty around whether Broadcom could buy Qualcomm an event that would have been the largest technology takeover ever wasn't the only thing weighing on negotiations, Qualcomm's CEO told CNBC on Wednesday. "I think it was a situation where there were some questions about deal certainty, which clearly became the case, but I think it's also a case where it's very difficult to buy a company using a hostile [bid]," Qualcomm CEO Steven Mollenkopf told Cramer. The deal, which valued shares of Qualcomm around $80, was blocked by President Donald Trump, who cited national security concerns, according to a White House statement. But Broadcom's fighting tactics also gave Qualcomm's top brass pause, Mollenkopf said. For more on his interview, in which he addressed Qualcomm's attempted merger with NXP Semiconductor and its dispute with Apple, click here. Camping World Holdings CEO on "rookie mistakes" Marcus Lemonis, CEO of Camping World. Adam Jeffery | CNBC Camping World Holdings CEO Marcus Lemonis admitted on Wednesday that he's "made some rookie mistakes" as the CEO of a public company. "There's a big transition from being private and I would say that I've really learned," he told Cramer in an interview, adding that "the biggest learning curve" was how to communicate his corporate strategy to the public market. One recent misunderstanding revolved around Camping World's recent acquisition of Gander Mountain, a hunting, fishing and camping equipment retailer. "I think what happened was people originally thought that we bought Gander Mountain to get into the big-box retail business," Lemonis said. "[That's] false." For more on Camping World and Marcus Lemonis' interview, click here. Is the Goose loose? Shares of Canada Goose have run 176 percent since its initial public offering in March 2017, and Cramer was "prepared to look like a moron" if it meant saving investors from potential declines. "Given how the market reacted to the company's last quarter, you have to be a little concerned that Canada Goose could report a great number and the stock could still get slammed" after its upcoming earnings report, he warned. "The stock's up 40 percent year-to-date. That's a recipe for disappointment come earnings," Cramer added. The "Mad Money" host especially cautioned investors about buying shares of Canada Goose ahead of the summer, when sales of the retailer's ubiquitous winter coats will likely slump. "Here's the bottom line: if you own Canada Goose here, I suggest taking profits on at least some of your position," he said. "I've loved this stock all the way up, but after a 176 percent rally, only a madman would tell you to let it ride." Lightning round: Steel your portfolio with the best of breed Rising satisfaction with the American economy has lifted President Donald Trump, but not the Republican campaign to hold Congress in fall midterm elections. That's the message of the new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, which measures how sustained economic strength affects the president and his party. The impacts are markedly different. The survey shows two-thirds of registered voters expressing satisfaction with the economy. That's a significant increase from recent years. Moreover, voters increasingly connect that economic improvement to the president. Seven in 10 say the economy has improved during his tenure, up from 6 in 10 last June. The share crediting Trump for that improvement has grown to 44 percent, up from 38 percent last June. That 44 percent precisely matches Trump's job approval in the new survey, up from 39 percent in April. Rising approval of Trump among white men and independents drives that improvement. So far, however, the president's party has been unable to effectively link positive news to its effort to preserve control of Congress. Democrats hold a 10 point edge over Republicans, 50 percent to 40 percent, when voters are asked which party they want to win midterm elections in November. More than that, Democrats hold a significant advantage in voter enthusiasm. Fully 63 percent of Democrats express the highest levels of interests in the fall election, compared with 47 percent of Republicans. "Democrats' enthusiasm matches Republicans' in 2014 and 2010," said Republican pollster Bill McInturff, who conducts the Journal/NBC poll with his Democratic counterpart Peter Hart. In 2010, Republicans captured control of the House; in 2014, they took over the Senate. Democrats have built that edge on their leads among independents (7 percentage points), voters under age 35 (20 points), white college graduates (24 points), Latinos (24 points), and African-Americans (81 points). Republicans retain a narrow edge among whites (3 points) and a large one among white men who have not graduated from college (37 points). How the issues stack up The survey shows familiar partisan splits on some issues. Voters listing the economy and taxes as top concerns express a solid preference for Republicans, while those who cite health care strongly favor Democrats. But the poll suggests events during the Trump presidency, from recent school shootings to his policies on the Mexican border, have shifted the terrain for other issues. Voters citing the importance of guns traditionally a source of GOP enthusiasm, favor Democrats for Congress by 58 percent to 33 percent. Those citing immigration favor Republicans by just 5 points, 49 percent to 44 percent. One persistent challenge for Democrats remains motivating the young voters who favor them to show up on Election Day. The share of voters 50 and older expressing high interest in the election (67 percent) more than doubles the share of those aged 18 to 34 (30 percent). Another is the unpopularity of House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi. By 45 percent to 21 percent, voters say they'd be less likely to back a congressional candidate who would support Pelosi as speaker. Republicans, as the party in power now, have bigger challenges. Just 32 percent of voters say their representative in Congress deserves re-election, while 53 percent want to give someone new a chance. That's comparable to findings in 1994 and 2010, when Republicans won the House, and more promising for Democrats than in 2006, when they recaptured Congress. The telephone survey of 900 registered voters, conducted June 1-4, carries a margin for error of 3.27 percentage points. The Trump problem President Donald Trump's tariffs imposed on key trading partners will put some Republicans in tough spots this year. Thirty-one percent of registered voters say they are very uncomfortable with backing a candidate who supports tariffs on countries such as Canada, Germany and China, according to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Thursday. Twenty percent said they would have reservations about voting for someone who backs the measures. Only 10 percent say they are enthusiastic about voting for someone who supports tariffs, while 17 percent responded that they are comfortable with a pro-tariff candidate. Trump's push to put duties on imported products has left many GOP candidates with difficult decisions. Some Republicans who supported free trade in the past have backed Trump's protectionist moves in order to better align with the president and the voters who support him. The president won the White House partly through pledges to crack down on alleged trade abuses by foreign countries that he says sapped American jobs. He took his most divisive trade action last week when he decided not to exempt allies Canada, Mexico and the European Union from tariffs of 25 percent and 10 percent on steel and aluminum exports, respectively. The move has sparked retaliatory tariffs and backlash from a bipartisan group of senators who introduced a bill to curb Trump's tariff powers on Wednesday. While most voters overall may disapprove of tariffs, Americans in key states or House districts with heavy manufacturing presences often hold positive views of the duties. Trump's trade rhetoric helped him to win such states as Ohio and Michigan in 2016. Trump's trade policy has taken a role in numerous races such as the campaign for a Senate seat in Ohio. Incumbent Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown has long criticized free trade agreements. But Rep. Jim Renacci, a Republican who previously supported free trade, has changed his tune this year as he tries to defeat Brown. Trump's moves have also factored into key races in Midwestern states such as Iowa, where the president's threatened tariffs on Chinese products prompted Beijing to propose putting duties on soybeans and other agricultural products. The poll also found that 45 percent of registered voters say they are less likely to support a candidate who backs Rep. Nancy Pelosi for House speaker should her party win a House majority in November. The NBC/Wall Street Journal poll surveyed 900 registered voters from June 1 to June 4 and has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3.3 percentage points. Warren Buffett and Jamie Dimon have teamed up to once again call for the end to quarterly earnings guidance by companies. Dimon, the chairman of the Business Roundtable, said the group of CEOs has thrown its support behind companies backing away from the practice. Executives often feel pressure to make quarterly forecasts, but "it can often put a company in a position where management from the CEO down feels obligated to deliver earnings and therefore may do things that they wouldn't otherwise have done," Dimon said in a rare joint interview with Buffett airing Thursday on CNBC's Squawk Box. "Quarterly earnings: they're a function of the weather, commodity prices, volumes, competitor pricing. And you don't really control that as CEO," he added. "Sometimes you're just like the cork in the ocean, but do the right thing anyway and you're going to be fine in the long run." "You should build the systems you need, you should do the R&D that you need and explain it to your shareholders and your board. Of course, some of the CEOs will say it's the sell side, that we put pressure, but what I'm trying to say to people: be free to drop it." Dimon, the chairman and CEO of J. P. Morgan Chase, and Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, wrote about the group's endorsement in an opinion column in The Wall Street Journal. It is a long-simmering debate but one that has gotten more attention in an era when activist investors are more vocal about pushing companies to deliver on their promises. Companies forecast sales and profit numbers to Wall Street analysts, who use it to produce research and stock recommendations for investors. Missing "the number" can often result in big, short-term stock moves. Making a forecast, and then hitting the target, are seen as a way to manage expectations and eliminate volatility. Roughly $1.1 billion worth of cryptocurrency was stolen in the first half of 2018, and unfortunately for owners, it's pretty easy to do, according to cybersecurity company Carbon Black. Criminals use what's known as the dark web to facilitate large-scale cryptocurrency theft. There are now an estimated 12,000 marketplaces and 34,000 offerings related to cryptotheft for hackers to choose from, the company said in a study released Thursday. "It's surprising just how easy it is without any tech skill to commit cybercrimes like ransomware," Carbon Black Security strategist Rick McElroy told CNBC. "It's not always these large nefarious groups, it's in anybody's hands." The necessary malware, which McElroy said even occasionally comes with customer service, costs an average of $224 and can be priced as low as $1.04. That marketplace has emerged as a $6.7 million economy, according to the study. The dark web is a part of the World Wide Web accessible only through special software. It lets users remain anonymous and largely untraceable. "You just have to able to log in and be able to buy the thing you can call customer support and they'll give you tips," McElroy said. Thefts can come from organized cartels or crime groups extorting exchanges and companies. But it is often as simple as a highly trained but unemployed engineer looking to make extra cash. "You have nations that are teaching coding, but there's no jobs," McElroy said. "It could just be two people in Romania needing to pay rent." As the price of bitcoin skyrocketed more than 1,300 percent last year, new buyers flooded the market. Unlike banks, cryptocurrency is typically not protected or insured by a third party, which first-time investors might not know. "Usually we rely on banks, the tools are out there but investors need to know how to do this," McElroy said. "A lot of people are unaware in this new gold rush, people are using cloud wallets and not securing their money." Exchanges were the most popular target for cybercriminals, making up 27 percent of attacks this year. Tokyo-based Mt.Gox, the largest bitcoin exchange at the time, was the first high-profile hack in cryptocurrency history. It filed for bankruptcy in 2014 and said it lost 750,000 of its users' bitcoins and 100,000 of the exchange's own. This January, hackers stole $530 million worth of a lesser-known cryptocurrency called NEM from Japanese exchange Coincheck. In December, a South Korean cryptocurrency exchange called Youbit lost 17 percent of its digital assets and its parent Yapian later filed for bankruptcy. Businesses were the second most vulnerable group, making up 21 percent of those hacked. In many cases, criminals hack the internal system of these companies and demand cryptocurrency as a ransom. Carbon Black said it could not provide company names because some of the incidents were not public. In the U.S. companies don't have to report a ransomware incident because it does not involve a loss of personal data. Hackers often demand payment in cryptocurrency yet bitcoin does not seem to be the top choice. It accounted for only about 10 percent of the targeted cryptocurrencies, while ethereum made up 11 percent. Criminals appear to prefer monero. The lesser-known cryptocurrency was used in 44 percent of all attacks because of its privacy and its difficulty to trace compared with bitcoin, Carbon Black said. It also has relatively low transaction fees. The United States was the most vulnerable country, with 24 crypto-related attacks. China was next with 10, and the U.K. came in third with eight. Technology plays a crucial role in modern life. But, for many, obtaining access to cutting-edge devices in order to develop skills and knowledge is no easy task. British charity the Raspberry Pi Foundation is looking to broaden access to computers and, in doing so, enlarge the programing know-how of those using them. "The original mission of Raspberry PI was to create a device that would help young people learn how to program," Philip Colligan, the foundation's CEO, told CNBC in an interview broadcast this week. "But what we've actually done is created a computer that is used in industry, it's used by hobbyists and grown-ups, but it's also used all over the world in education." A credit card-sized computer, the Raspberry Pi runs the free operating system Linux from an SD card and is powered by a USB phone charger. The device comes in different models, and needs to be plugged into a mouse, keyboard and monitor before it can be used. The applications of the Raspberry Pi do not differ from a larger device. "You can do anything with it that you can do with any other computer," Colignan said. "You can surf the internet, you can send emails, you can watch movies on YouTube, but you can also create, make things. You can learn how to program, you can build robots, make weather stations the opportunities are limitless." "One of the things we're trying to achieve is to remove price as a barrier to anybody having a high-powered computer," Colignan added. "And that's transformational in education." A core goal of the foundation is to educate young people. Initiatives such as CoderDojo offer young people between the ages of seven and 17 the opportunity to learn how to code and create things using technology. There are over 1,400 CoderDojos across 75 countries, and Raspberry Pi said that 40,000 young people regularly attend them. "We have two networks of after-school and weekend coding clubs Code Club and CoderDojo," Colignan said. "Altogether, I think we've got something like 13,000 of those across the world now engaging something like 200,000 kids a week." Activities and clubs such as these are harnessing the potential of young people, with often impressive results, he said. "Last year, we had our big showcase over in Dublin and I met a young girl from Romania who had made a mind-controled robot using a Raspberry Pi." Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook. One central Chinese province has ordered its farmers to more than double their soybean acreage, amid a trade dispute with the U.S. and Beijing's push to reduce reliance on exports. The agriculture department of Henan, which lies about 450 miles southwest of Beijing, said on its website Wednesday it will "actively guide" farmers to expand the soybean planting area by 500,000 mu (82,370 acres). The province had 300,000 mu dedicated to soybeans as of June 1, the provincial government said. "China's policy in 2017 had shifted toward encouraging soybean acreage [for 2018] instead of corn," said Rich Nelson, director of research at Allendale, an agricultural market research and trading firm. Henan province contributed 5 percent to Chinese soybean production in 2008-2010 Source: USDA China is the world's largest consumer of soybeans and the destination for well over half of U.S. soybeans. In April, Beijing threatened tariffs on U.S. soybeans and other products in retaliation against the Trump administration's proposed duties on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods. The two countries are still in negotiations. In the meantime, China's agriculture ministry forecast in May that the country will cut its imports of soybeans in the 2018-2019 marketing year for the first time in 15 years. Soybean acreage is set to increase 7.8 percent to roughly 21 million acres, the ministry said, according to a Reuters report. That follows this year's growth of 9.8 percent, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service said in an August 2017 report. The agency also noted that Heilongjiang, China's largest soybean-producing province, increased its acreage for the crop by 15.8 percent to its largest since 2011. Soybean futures fell 2 percent Thursday to their lowest since February, after overall export sales disappointed. Poor weather has also weighed on prices, Nelson said. "Grain markets are still quite interested in the U.S. trade talks," he said. But "no matter what type of trade disruptions are in place, the U.S. is going to supply 30 to 40 percent [of] soybean exports to the world." WHEN: Today, Thursday, June 7, 2018 WHERE: CNBC's "Squawk Box" Following is the unofficial transcript of an EXCLUSIVE CNBC interview with U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on CNBC's "Squawk Box" (M-F 6AM 9AM) today, Thursday, June 7th. Following are links to video from the interview on CNBC.com: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2018/06/07/wilbur-ross-us-agreement-zte-trump-china-trade.html?play=1 & https://www.cnbc.com/video/2018/06/07/wilbur-ross-zte-pay-1-billion-fine-put-400-million-in-escrow.html?play=1. All references must be sourced to CNBC. JOE KERNEN: THANKS, ANDREW. IF YOU CHECK OUT B1 CHECK OUT "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL" BIG STORY TODAY. CHINESE TELECOMMUNICATIONS FROM ZTE NEARING A DEAL REPORTEDLY WITH THE U.S. GOVERNMENT HOW TO SAVE ITS BUSINESS. AND JOINING US NOW FOR A CNBC EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW, COMMERCE SECRETARY WILBUR ROSS. MR. SECRETARY, AS ALWAYS IT'S GREAT TO SEE YOU. WHERE DOES THIS STAND NOW? "THE JOURNAL" SAYS WE ARE CLOSE TO A DEAL. SECRETARY WILBUR ROSS: WELL, WE ARE MORE THAN CLOSE AT ABOUT 6:00 A.M. THIS MORNING, WE EXECUTED DEFINITIVE AGREEMENT WITH ZTE AND THAT BRINGS, THAT BRINGS THAT BRINGS TO A CONCLUSION THIS PHASE OF THE DEVELOPING WITH THEM. KERNEN: REALLY? OKAY. SO THAT YOU'RE TELLING US THAT RIGHT NOW? BECKY QUICK: THIS IS BREAKING. KERNEN: YEAH. SO, AT 6AM THIS MORNING, THIS IS NO LONGER NEARING A DEAL, THIS IS A DEAL HAS BEEN DONE AND THE LETTER, THE Ts ARE CROSSED, THE Is ARE DOTTED. EVERYTHING IS FINISHED. ROSS: YEP. ALL 23 PAGES OF THEM. KERNEN: 23 PAGES. OKAY. SO WERE THE PROVISIONS AND THE PARAMETERS THAT HAVE BEEN OUT THERE, IS IT BASICALLY, CAN YOU SUMMARIZE EXACTLY WHAT'S IN THE DEAL AND HOW IT WORKS? ROSS: SURE. AS YOU KNOW, THIS IS A TRADE ENFORCEMENT PROCEEDING. ZTE ORIGINALLY HAD BEEN VIOLATING THE U.S. SANCTIONS BOTH AGAINST NORTH KOREA AND AGAINST IRAN. SO IN MARCH OF 2017, WE REACHED A SETTLEMENT WITH THEM AND HAD IT APPROVED BY THE COURT. SUBSEQUENTLY, WE LEARNED NOT THAT THEY HAD DONE MORE VIOLATIONS OF SANCTIONS, BUT, INSTEAD, HAD LIED TO US DURING THE SETTLEMENT NEGOTIATIONS AND AFTER THEM. SO WE THEN TRIGGERED ONE OF THE PROVISIONS THAT WE HAD IN THE AGREEMENT, WHICH WAS, WE COULD EITHER TAKE $300 MILLION THAT HAD BEEN PUT ASIDE OR WE COULD, IN EFFECT, SHUT THEM DOWN BY DENYING THEM ACCESS TO THE U.S. TECHNOLOGIES THAT THEY NEEDED. WE OPTED INITIALLY TO DO THAT. WHAT THIS NEW DEAL DOES IS SOMETHING I THINK EVEN MORE EFFECTIVE. IT IMPOSES THE MOST STRICT COMPLIANCE THAT WE'VE EVER HAD ON ANY COMPANY, AMERICAN OR FOREIGN. WE ARE LITERALLY EMBEDDING A COMPLIANCE DEPARTMENT OF OUR CHOOSING INTO THE COMPANY TO MONITOR IT GOING FORWARD. THEY WILL PAY FOR THOSE PEOPLE, BUT THE PEOPLE WILL REPORT TO THE NEW CHAIRMAN, BECAUSE WE ARE ALSO HAVING THEM REPLACE THE ENTIRE MANAGEMENT AND THE ENTIRE BOARD. THEY'LL REPORT TO THE CHAIRMAN AND TO THE COMMERCE DEPARTMENT DIS DIVISION JOINTLY. AND HERE'S WHAT THIS ACCOMPLISHES. ENFORCEMENT IS ABOUT TWO THINGS: PUNISHING PEOPLE FOR BAD ACTS IN THE PAST AND GIVING THEM AND OTHER PARTIES A DISINCENTIVE TO GO FORWARD WITH BAD ACTS IN THE FUTURE. WE THINK THIS SETTLEMENT, WHICH BROUGHT THE COMPANY -- A $17 BILLION COMPANY TO ITS KNEES MORE OR LESS PUT THEM OUT OF BUSINESS, NOW, THEY'RE ACCEPTING HAVING THIS COMPLIANCE TEAM IN, WHOLE NEW MANAGEMENT, WHOLE NEW BOARD, SHOULD SERVE AS A VERY STRONG DETERRENT, NOT ONLY FOR THEM, BUT FOR OTHER POTENTIAL BAD ACTORS. AND SO THAT'S WHY I'M VERY, VERY HAPPY WITH THIS ARRANGEMENT. NOW, IF THEY DO VIOLATE IT AGAIN, IN ADDITION TO THE BILLION DOLLARS THEY'RE PAYING US RIGHT UP FRONT, WE HAD THEM PUT $400 MILLION IN ESCROW. SO THE TOTAL DEAL IS A BILLION 400 MILLION. THAT MONEY WILL BE FORFEITED IF THEY VIOLATE ANYTHING, WHETHER IT'S LYING OR SANCTIONS OR ANYTHING ELSE AND WE STILL RETAIN THE POWER TO SHUT THEM DOWN AGAIN. SO THIS IS A PRETTY STRICT SETTLEMENT. THE STRICTEST AND LARGEST FINE THAT HAS EVER BEEN BROUGHT BY THE COMMERCE DEPARTMENT AGAINST ANY VIOLATOR OF EXPORT CONTROL. SO IT'S BEEN A LONG ROAD GETTING HERE, BUT I'M QUITE PLEASED WITH THE END RESULT. JOE KERNEN: LARRY BOSSIDY. LARRY BOSSIDY: WILBUR ROSS, LARRY BOSSIDY. ROSS: HEY, LARRY. HOW ARE YOU? BOSSIDY: GOOD. SHOULD WE LOOK UPON THIS AS A SEPARATE DEAL OR SHOULD WE LOOK UPON THIS AS A PIECE OF AN OVERALL SETTLEMENT COMING DOWN THE ROAD WITH CHINA? ROSS: NO, THIS IS AN ENFORCEMENT ACTION. IT HAPPENS THAT I'VE BEEN INVOLVED WITH THE OTHER NEGOTIATIONS WITH CHINA. BUT THAT'S QUITE SEPARATE AND APART FROM ENFORCEMENT. EVERY DAY, EVERY WEEK, PRACTICALLY, WE'RE BRINGING SOME SORT OF AN ENFORCEMENT ACTION AGAINST CHINA OR SOME OTHER COUNTRY AND THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH BIG NEGOTIATIONS SUCH AS THE ONES WE' VE BEEN EMBARKED UPON. ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: MR. SECRETARY, JUST TO CLARIFY ON THAT PARTICULAR POINT, THOUGH, THE PRESIDENT INSTRUCTED YOUR DEPARTMENT TO CONSIDER REVISING YOUR VIEW OF WHAT YOU HAD DONE WITH ZTE ORIGINALLY AND MOST OF US FROM THE OUTSIDE AT LEAST HAVE LOOKED AT THIS AS A CHESS PIECE IN THIS LARGER NEGOTIATION. HOW CAN IT NOT BE? ROSS: WELL, I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE PRESIDENT HAD IN MIND. ALL I KNOW IS WHAT WE HAD IN MIND FROM AN ENFORCEMENT POINT OF VIEW IS CAN WE PROVIDE A REALLY GOOD SOLUTION AND ONE THAT ALSO DOESN'T HAVE ADVERSE SIDE EFFECTS. THIS COMPANY DID SELL 15 MILLION CELL PHONES, VERY LOW END ONES TO AMERICANS LAST YEAR AND SO THAT'S ONE CONSIDERATION THAT WE HAD. IT ALSO BUYS A LOT OF COMPONENTS FROM QUALCOMM AND FROM OTHER AMERICAN MANUFACTURERS, SO THAT WAS ANOTHER CONSIDERATION THAT WE HAD IN MIND. BUT THE MAIN THING IS WHAT I SAID IN THE BEGINNING: PURPOSE OF ENFORCEMENT, PUNISH BAD ACTORS AND BY GETTING RID OF THE WHOLE MANAGEMENT AND BOARD AND FINING THEM ANOTHER BECOME 4 ON TOP OF THE BILLION THAT WE GOT FROM THEM A YEAR AGO AND YET KEEPING THE ABILITY TO PUT THEM OUT OF BUSINESS, I THINK WILL SERVE AS A VERY, VERY POWERFUL DETERENT TO OTHER BAD ACTORS. SORKIN: HOW DO YOU THINK THIS IS GOING TO CHANGE THE DYNAMIC, POSITIVELY OR NEGATIVELY WITH YOUR TARIFF DISCUSSION WITH THE CHINESE? ROSS: I DON'T THINK IT WILL HAVE ANY NECESSARY IMPACT ON THAT. THEY RECOGNIZE THAT THESE WERE BAD PEOPLE. IT WOULDN'T BE THAT SURPRISING IF THE CHINESE TOOK SOME SORT OF A FURTHER ACTION ON THEIR OWN. THIS IS A WORLD CLASS EMBARRASSMENT FOR THAT GOVERNMENT. ZTE IS A $17 BILLION COMPANY OUT OF $30 BILLION MARKET CAP AND THEY BLEW IT OVER SOME VIOLATIONS OF U.S. LAWS. I THINK THIS IS A VERY, VERY WELL PUBLICIZED VERY IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO OTHER PARTIES, DON'T FOOL AROUND WITH OUR EXPORT CONTROLS OR YOU ARE REALLY GOING TO GET HURT. KERNEN: IT JUST SEEMS, WILBUR, THAT I MEAN THE NOTION THAT WE'RE THE U.S. GOVERNMENT IS GOING TO PICK THE PEOPLE ON ZTE'S COMPLIANCE TEAM, IT TEAMS SEEMS LIKE THERE ARE SO MANY CONCESSIONS FROM CHINA, IT JUST SEEMS ALMOST UNCHARACTERISTIC AND HOW MANY OTHER VIOLATIONS ARE WE TALKING ABOUT THAT HAPPEN ON A DAILY BASIS OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OR YOU KNOW TAKE YOUR PICK ON WHY WE'RE EVEN IN THIS BREW HA HA WITH CHINA, BUT IT JUST ALMOST SEEMS UNCHARACTERISTIC THAT THE CHINESE, WHICH ARE, YOU KNOW, YOU NEED TO PART THEIR WITH THEM. IT'S SO DIFFICULT TO DO BUSINESS THERE, IT'S JUST SEEMS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE ALMOST, THAT THEY'RE ALLOWING PEOPLE THAT WE PICK THAT THE U.S. PICKS TO COME IN TO RUN THINGS. ROSS: WELL, I THINK THERE'S A REAL REASON FOR IT. HAD PRIOR ADMINISTRATIONS HAVE BEEN REAL PATSYS FOR THE CHINESE THAN FOR OTHER COUNTRIES, THEY'VE NEVER PUSHED BACK. TRUMP ADMINISTRATION FOR THE FIRST TIME IS PUSHING BACK ON ALL FRONTS: ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS, ON TECHNOLOGY TRANSFERS, ON SUBSIDIZATION OF OVER CAPACITY, DUMPING, ALL KIND OF RULES THAT HAVE BEEN NOT OBEYED. SO I THINK THE CHINESE ARE WELL AWARE THERE'S A NEW MARSHALL IN TOWN AND IT'S CALLED DONALD J. TRUMP. AND HE'S A VERY, VERY GOOD SHOT. QUICK: SECRETARY ROSS, LET ME ASK YOU ABOUT SANCTIONS AND SANCTIONS VIOLATIONS IN GENERAL, BECAUSE THAT'S A BROADER ISSUE THIS IS A TOUCHSTONE FOR. ROSS: SURE. QUICK: THIS WEEK, SOME EU OFFICIALS WROTE TO TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS AND ASKED -- ASKED FOR EXEMPTIONS FOR EUROPEAN COMPANIES FROM THE SANCTIONS THAT ARE GOING TO BE REIMPOSED ON IRAN. DO YOU THINK THAT IS LIKELY TO PASS GIVEN THAT THIS MESSAGE YOU'RE SENDING OUT TODAY? ROSS: I REALLY DON'T THINK SO. SECRETARY MNUCHIN HAS GONE TO GREAT LENGTHS TO TRY TO MAKE SURE THESE SANCTIONS WORK AND THAT THEY'RE EFFECTIVE AND THAT THEY'RE REALLY BITING. AND WE'RE ALREADY SEEING IT MODIFY THE BEHAVIOR OF THE IRANIANS. I BELIEVE IT'S ONE OF THE MAIN REASONS WHY NORTH KOREA SEEMS POTENTIALLY TO BE COMING TO THE TABLE. SANCTIONS ARE IMPORTANT. ECONOMIC WARFARE IS IMPORTANT. I WOULD BE VERY, VERY SURPRISED IF OUR GOVERNMENT WOULD GIVE ANY MEANINGFUL EXCEPTION OTHER THAN MAYBE FOR HUMANITARIAN PURPOSES OR SOME VERY SPECIFIC, VERY SMALL PURPOSE. BUT TO JUST GIVE PEOPLE A FREE PASS TO DO BUSINESS WITH THESE FELLOWS IN THE FACE OF OUR SANCTIONS, NO, I DON'T SEE THAT FORTHCOMING. SORKIN: MR. SECRETARY, WANTED TO ALSO ASK, I DON'T KNOW IF YOU SAW THE NEWS A DISCLOSURE IN "THE NEW YORK TIMES" EARLIER THIS WEEK ABOUT FACEBOOK AND A DATA PARTNERSHIP WITH FOUR CHINESE COMPANIES, INCLUDING HUAWEI, WHICH THE U.S. HAS HAD A NUMBER OF SECURITY CONCERNS ABOUT THAT COMPANY. U.S. -- NATIONAL SECURITY CONCERNS. ROSS: RIGHT. SORKIN: IS YOUR DEPARTMENT LOOKING INTO THAT? ROSS: WELL, FACEBOOK IS NOT REALLY A PART OF OUR DOMAIN. THE REASON WE GOT INVOLVED WITH THE ZTE IS THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, BUREAU OF INDUSTRY AND SECURITY ADMINISTERS AND ENFORCES THE EXPORT CONTROLS. SO UNLESS EXPORT CONTROLS OF HIGH-TECH MILITARILY SIGNIFICANT MATERIALS WERE INVOLVED IN THE FACEBOOK THING, I DON'T THINK THAT WE WOULD REALLY HAVE A JURISDICTION FOR GOING IN THERE. THERE MAY BE SOME OTHER ENTITY THAT WOULD, SO WE WILL LOOK AT IT AND WE WILL SEE IF THERE IS ANY VIOLATION OF EXPORT CONTROLS. AND IF THERE IS, I PROMISE YOU, WE'LL BE ON THEM. SORKIN: DO YOU DO YOU HAVE HAVE CONCERNS ABOUT HUAWEI? AT&T ANNOUNCED THEY WILL NOT BE DISTRIBUTING THEIR PHONES HERE IN THE UNITED STATES. THEIR NEWEST PHONES. ROSS: YES, I'VE SEEN THAT. I'VE HEARD A LOT OF THE RUMORS ABOUT HUAWEI. AS OF THE MOMENT, I DON'T BELIEVE THAT OUR DEPARTMENT HAS FOUND ANY VIOLATIONS OF HUAWEI. KERNEN: HEY, WILBUR, IT'S NICE I GUESS SOME GUYS -- TO GO AGAINST THE CROWD, AT TIMES. AND IN TERMS OF INVOKING CONCERNS FOR CLOSE ALLIES: CANADA, MEXICO, OR WHATEVER, IT'S LIKE YOU'RE THERE'S LIKE YOU AND THE PRESIDENT AND THEN THERE IS EVERYBODY ELSE, THAT THIS MIGHT NOT BE A GREAT IDEA. AND YOU CAN YOU UNDERSTAND IT THAT WE REALLY DON'T THINK OF CANADA AS A SECURITY RISK OR MEXICO, NECESSARILY AS A SECURITY RISK SO IT ALMOST LOOKS LIKE YOU'RE, YOU KNOW, SORT OF USING A LOOPHOLE TO EFFECT THIS AND IT'S GOING TO COME BACK TO HAUNT US. 'CAUSE IT'S LIKE, IF WE'RE GOING TO DO THIS IN THIS SORT OF, I DON'T KNOW, KIND OF A YOU KNOW NOT A TOTALLY ABOVE BOARD WAY, THAT THEY'RE GONNA COME BACK AND SAY, "LOOK, YOU DID IT TO US, WE'RE GONNA DO IT TO YOU." AND IT SETS A BAD PRECEDENT. IS THERE ANYTHING DO TO THAT? ROSS: NO. AND I'D LIKE TO ANSWER THE TWO PARTS OF THAT QUESTION. KERNEN: OKAY. ROSS: FIRST OF ALL, THEY HAVEN'T HAD THEY HAVEN'T EVEN BOTHERED TO USE ANY EXCUSE WHY THEY HAVE ASYMMETRICAL TARIFFS AGAINST US, WHY THEY HAVE NON TARIFF TRADE BARRIERS THAT ARE MONUMENTAL AGAINST US. THEY DON'T EVEN BOTHER TRYING TO INVENT AN EXCUSE. SO THE NOTION THAT NOW INVOKING NATIONAL SECURITY BY US WILL SOMEHOW FREE THEM UP OF THE SHACK HIM IS RUBISH. THEY'VE BEEN VERY, VERY AGGRESSIVE IN THEIR BEHAVIOR BEFORE. SECOND, NATIONAL DEFENSE IS A DEFINED TERM IN SECTION 232 OF THE 1962 TRADE EXPANSION ACT. THAT'S THE LEGISLATION BASED ON WHICH WE BROUGHT THE STEEL AND ALLUMINUM TARIFF. THAT DEFINES IT CORRECTLY AND BROADLY. NAMELY, IT RECOGNIZES THAT YOU CANNOT HAVE MILITARY SECURITY IF YOU DON'T HAVE ECONOMIC STRENGTH AND ECONOMIC SECURITY. SO IT SPECIFICALLY INVOKES THINGS LIKE UNEMPLOYMENT, HEALTH OF AN INDUSTRY, UNFAIR FOREIGN COMPETITION, AS A PART OF THE DEFINITION. I DIDN'T WRITE THE LEGISLATION, SO IT ISN'T MY JOB TO TELL YOU WAS THAT A PROPER USE OF THE DEFINITION. I THINK IT WAS BECAUSE THE TRUTH IS, YOU MUST BE STRONG ECONOMICALLY TO BE STRONG MILITARILY. NOW, AS TO THE PERSONALIZATION THAT TRUDEAU IN CANADA AND OTHERS TIED TO PUT ON IT, THEY'RE JUST HIDING BEHIND THAT. THEY KNOW FULL WELL WE THAT DON'T REGARD THEM INDIVIDUALLY AS NATIONAL SECURITY RISKS. THAT'S NOT WHAT THE ACT IS ABOUT. THIS WAS A COLLECTIVE ACTION TAKEN TO DEAL WITH A GLOBAL PROBLEM, GLOBAL OVER SUPPLY AND OVER PRODUCTION OF STEEL, GLOBAL OVER SUPPLY AND GLOBAL OVER PRODUCTION OF ALLUMINUM. WE HAD TO DO IT ON A UNIVERSAL BASIS IN ORDER TO MAKE IT WORK. AND WHAT'S INTERESTING TO ME IS, THE SAME PEOPLE WHO ARE COMPLAINING THE LOUDEST ABOUT IT ARE FINALLY STARTING TO DO WHAT WE HAVE BEEN WANTING THEM TO DO FOR QUITE A WHILE. NAMELY, PROTECT THEIR OWN BORDERS FROM THESE VERY SAME PROBLEMS. SUDDENLY EUROPE IN THE MONTH OF JUNE IS PUTTING IN ALL SORTS OF SAFE GUARD ACTIONS. WELL, WHERE WERE THEY A YEAR AGO? WHERE WERE THEY TWO YEARS AGO? WE'VE BEEN FIGHT THAT FIGHT EVER SINCE THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION CAME IN. AND WE HAVE NOW ONE-FOURTH OF THE ALL THE TRADE ACTIONS THAT THE U.S. HAS TOTAL FROM EVER HAVE BEEN BROUGHT UNDER THIS ADMINISTRATION AND THAT'S BECAUSE THERE IS SO MANY VIOLATIONS. THE 232 WAS SIMPLY A MEANS OF GETTING TO A SOLUTION TO A GLOBAL PROBLEM ON A GLOBAL BASIS. AND, GUESS WHAT? IT'S WORKING. U.S. STEEL TWO NIGHTS AGO OPENED ANOTHER FACILITY. HASN'T BEEN GOING FOR YEARS AND YEARS AND YEARS. A MILLION 200,000 TONS. A FEW WEEKS BEFORE THEY DID ANOTHER MILLION-AND-A-HALF TON. THERE ARE PIPE MILLS, 20 DIFFERENT PIPE MILLS BEING EXPANDED AS WE SIT HERE. THIS IS CHANGING THE ROAD MAP. IT'S A VERY, VERY IMPORTANT THING. YOU CANNOT HAVE A COUNTRY IF YOU DON'T HAVE STEEL INDUSTRY AND YOU DON'T HAVE AN ALLUMINUM INDUSTRY. AND IF YOU DON'T DRAW THE LINE SOMEWHERE, IT WILL BE THE NEXT INDUSTRY AND THE NEXT. SO THE SAME NAYSAYERS WHO ARE COMPLAINING ABOUT STEEL AND ALLUMINUM, THEY ALSO SAID, OH, IF YOU PUT TARIFFS ON SOLAR PANELS, IT WILL BE THE END OF SOLAR ELECTRICITY. WELL WHAT REALLY HAPPENED? MORE FACTORIES HAVE OPENED HERE MAKING SOLAR PANELS. BUT WHEN WE PUT THE TARIFFS IN WASHING MACHINES THEY SAID, "OH MY GOD, YOU'RE GONNA KILL THE WORLD." GUESS WHAT'S HAPPENED? LG AND SAMSUNG, TWO OF THE MAIN FOREIGN COMPETITORS, ARE RAPIDLY EXPANDING FACILITIES HERE IN THE U.S. AND ARE NOW FOR THE FIRST TIME REALLY SEEKING OUT PARTS SUPPLIERS AND COMPONENT MANUFACTURERS HERE IN THE U.S. KERNEN: HEY, WILBUR. JUST BACK UP TO THE ZTE DEAL AGAIN, WE'RE GETTING SOME QUESTIONS. WHO PICKS THE CHAIRMAN OF THE COMPANY? DOES THE U.S. PICK THE CHAIRMAN? WILL IT BE AN AMERICAN? HOW'S THAT GONNA THAT WORK FOR ZTE? ROSS: NO, THIS WAS A PUBLICLY QUOTED COMPANY. IT HAD HAD A $30 BILLION MARKET CAP BEFORE WE TOOK OUR ACTION. THE SHAREHOLDERS AND -- WILL TAKE CARE OF THE NEW BOARD AND THE NEW MANAGEMENT. THE PART THAT WE WILL TAKE CARE OF IS THE KEY PART. IT'S NOT OUR JOB TO MAKE CELL PHONES. IT IS OUR JOB TO MAKE SURE THAT THEY DON'T VIOLATE SANCTIONS. AND THAT'S WHY WE WILL BE PUTTING OUR OWN COMPLIANCE REGIME IN AND OUR OWN COMPLIANCE PEOPLE. SORKIN: WILBUR WILL THOSE BE AMERICANS? WILL THAT BE AN OUTSIDE COMPANY OR CONSULTING FIRM THAT YOU WOULD HIRE TO OVERSEE THIS? ROSS: NO, IT WILL BE INDIVIDUALS. IT WILL BE INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE FLUENT IN CHINESE, BECAUSE THIS IS GOING TO AFFECT THE TOTAL COMPANY, NOT JUST THE AMERICAN PART OF THE COMPANY. AND THAT'S THE OTHER UNIQUE FEATURE. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THAT I'M AWARE THAT A MAJOR FOREIGN COMPANY HAS BEEN BROUGHT INTO STRICT COMPLIANCE WITH U.S. EXPORT CONTROL RULES. KERNEN: YES. DEFINITELY GOOD THAT THEY'LL BE FLUENT IN MANDARIN OR --. WE WERE ACTUALLY WE WERE TALKING ABOUT THAT EARLIER ACTUALLY IN SORT OF THAT, YOU DEFINITELY WANT TO MAKE SURE THEY'RE IN THE ROOM AND THEY KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON, OTHERWISE, YEAH. HEY, WILBUR, YOU HAVE BEEN A REPUBLICAN YOUR WHOLE LIFE, I THINK, HAVEN'T YOU? ROSS: NO, I DON'T KNOW THAT THAT'S TRUE. KERNEN: ALRIGHT BUT -- YOU SEE THAT THERE IS A LOT OF WELL-MEANING CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICANS THAT THINK THAT THERE'S GONNA BE MORE JOB LOSSES THAT RESULT FROM THIS FEW THAT WE SAVE GIVEN THIS, SOME OF THE TARIFFS, THAT WE'RE KIND OF CUTTING OFF OUR NOSE DESPITE OUR FACE? I MEAN - WE SEE MORE AND MORE OF THAT EVERY DAY IN THE RHETORIC. I KNOW YOU READ IT. DO YOU SEE YOURSELF AND THE PRESIDENT, IF IT GETS TO THAT POINT WHERE IT'S ACTUALLY COUNTERPRODUCTIVE -- ROSS: WELL BUT IT'S NOT KERNEN: IS THIS A BARGAINING IS THERE A BARGAINING LEVEL OF THE BARGAINING HERE WHERE WE'D BE WILLING TO BACK OFF AND GO BACK AND PULL SOME OF IT BACK IN? PULL THE -- ROSS: WELL, FIRST OF ALL, JOE, YOU'RE ASSUMING THAT THEY'RE RIGHT IN THEIR PREMISE. YOU LOOK AT THE RECENT UNEMPLOYMENT FIGURES, I DON'T SEE THAT THERE'S BEEN A NEGATIVE SQUE. IT LOOKS TO ME LIKE UNEMPLOYMENT FIGURES, EMPLOYMENT IS AT ALL TIME HIGHS. WE NOW HAVE 6.6 MILLION JOB OPTION. KERNEN: WE HAVEN'T PUT THE TARIFFS IN YET, WILBUR. THERE JUST-- ROSS: THAT'S NOT TRUE. THAT'S NOT TRUE. KERNEN: OKAY BUT ROSS: -- THEY WENT IN IN MARCH. KERNEN: SOME OF THEM. ROSS: THEY WENT INTO EFFECT IN MARCH. KERNEN: RIGHT. SOME OF THEM. ROSS: RIGHT. AND MEANWHILE, WHAT YOU HAVE SEEN ARE FACTORIES OPENING. ONCE IN A WHILE THERE IS SOME ISOLATED CASE OF SOME SMALL COMPANY CLAIMING TO BE HURT BY THIS EVENT. BUT REMEMBER, I CAME ON THIS VERY SHOW AND DEMONSTRATED WITH THE CAMPBELL SOUP CAN HOW TRIVIAL AN IMPACT THE STEEL TARIFFS AND ALLUMINUM TARIFFS ACTUALLY HAVE. REMEMBER, IT'S A FRACTION OF A PENNY ON A CAN OF CAMPBELL'S SOUP. IT'S A FRACTION OF A PENNY ON A CAN OF COCA-COLA. A FRACTION OF A PENNY ON A CAN OF BUDWEISER. IT'S UNDER 1% OF THE COST OF A CAR. NOW DO REALLY THINK THOSE TRIVIAL IMPACTS DOWN STREAM ARE GOING TO CAUSE LAYOFFS? I THINK IT'S SILLY. KERNEN: IS THERE ANY WAY TO QUICK: WE'RE LOOKING AT RV SHARES DOWN IN SOME CASES, SEVEN, EIGHT KERNEN: THAT MAY BE GAS PRICES -- I THINK THAT'S GAS PRICES, THOUGH. I DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT'S FROM. QUICK: PART OF THAT'S FROM -- IN CANADA, TOO. SOME OF THEM COME FROM CANADA AND SOME OF THEM ARE METAL IMPORTS, TOO. BOSSIDY: IF YOU HAVE SO LITTLE IMPACT, WHY DO WE DO IT? ROSS: NO, IT'S THAT IT DIDN'T HAVE MUCH IMPACT ON THE DOWNSTREAM INDUSTRIES. THE ARGUMENT THE NAYSAYERS HAD WAS THEY SAID, "OH. OH. THERE ARE FAR MORE PEOPLE IN THE INDUSTRIES THAT BUY STEEL THAN THERE ARE IN THE INDUSTRY THAT MAKES STEEL." AND THAT'S TRUE. BUT IT'S NOT RELEVANT WHEN YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT A FRACTION OF 1% OF THEIR COSTS. VERY FEW COMPANIES, LARRY, AS YOU KNOW, CAN GET THE COST OF AN INDIVIDUAL PRODUCT RIGHT TO WITHIN A FRACTION OF THE PENNY. KERNEN: WILBUR, DO YOU THINK THERE IS ANYTHING TO IT THAT THIS IS THE TIME TO DO IT IF YOU CAN PLAY -- IF YOU ARE ABOVE 3% ON GDP AND THAT IS THE TIME TO TRY TO TAKE SOME ENFORCEMENT ACTION WHEN THINGS ARE GOING WELL, DO YOU YOU SEE IT AS ANY HEAD WIND AT ALL? AND IF SO, HOW MUCH COULD YOU SEE IT TAKING OFF GDP? BECAUSE I'M SURE IF IT WAS A HALF A POINT OF GDP, YOU WOULDN'T DO IT. SO, OBVIOUSLY, YOU DON'T THINK IT IS. WHAT DO YOU THINK -- HAVE YOU CALCULATED THAT, IN TOTAL, ALL THESE DIFFERENT THINGS? ROSS: SURE. WELL, IF YOU TAKE THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF THE TARIFFS AND IF YOU ASSUME THAT THAT FULL COST GOT PASSED ON INTO THE ECONOMY, IT'S ABOUT $9 BILLION A YEAR. WE'RE IN AN $18 TRILLION ECONOMY. COMPARE $9 BILLION TO $18 TRILLION, YOU KNOW IT'S A TINY FRACTION OF 1%. IT'S JUST MATH. KERNEN: OKAY. ALL RIGHT. WILBUR, I JUST -- YOU HAVE A FORECAST FOR TOTAL 2018 GDP, WHAT CAN -- WE'RE RUNNING A LITTLE POOL HERE. WHAT'S YOUR NUMBER? ROSS: I'M NOT ALLOWED TO BE A BETTING PERSON ANY MORE. BUT I THINK THAT SOMETHING WELL INTO THE 3s SHOULD BE VERY, VERY ACHIEVABLE. YOU PROBABLY SAW THE FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF ATLANTA-- KERNEN: I DID. ROSS: -- CAME COME OUT WITH A 4.8 OR SOME SUCH A FORECAST. KERNEN: YEAH. ROSS: I THINK THAT'S A LITTLE BIT OF AN OUTLIER. BUT REMEMBER WHAT WE WERE FACED BEFORE THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION, LARRY SUMMERS AND OTHER BIG DEMOCRATS WERE SAYING ECONOMY CAN NEVER GROW MORE THAN 1.5 OR 2% A YEAR. AND THEY'RE PROBABLY RIGHT UNDER THEIR STYLE OF OPERATING, IT PROBABLY WOULDN'T HAVE. BUT, LOOK WHERE WE ARE, A LOT OF THE MEASURES HAVEN'T TAKEN FULL EFFECT YET. THE TAX BILL, THE REGULATORY REFORM AND A LOT OF THESE TRADE REFORMS REALLY HAVEN'T TAKEN FULL EFFECT. SO I THINK THOSE ARE EXTREMELY IMPORTANT AND MAYBE EVEN MORE IMPORTANT AND I THINK THE BIGGEST THING THAT THE ECONOMISTS MISS IS PSYCHOLOGY. KERNEN: PSYCHOLOGY, OK. ROSS: CONSUMER OPTIMISM IS ALL TIME HIGHS. BUSINESS OPTIMISM. SMALL BUSINESS OPTIMISM. KERNEN: MR. SECRETARY -- THANK YOU. WE APPRECIATE -- WE APPRECIATE THE EXTENDED TIME THAT YOU GAVE US TODAY AND THE NEWS THAT YOU BROKE WITH US ABOUT ZTE ZTE AGREEMENT. WE APPRECIATE THAT. WE HOPE TO SEE YOU AGAIN SOON. THANKS. ROSS: THANK YOU JOE. For more information contact: Jennifer Dauble CNBC t: 201.735.4721 m: 201.615.2787 e: jennifer.dauble@nbcuni.com Emma Martin CNBC t: 201.735.4713 m: 551.275.6221 e: emma.martin@nbcuni.com The U.S. has struck a deal with Chinese telecom giant ZTE to end crippling American sanctions, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told CNBC on Thursday. The department said the deal includes a $1 billion penalty against ZTE and a U.S.-chosen compliance team. "We are literally embedding a compliance department of our choosing into the company to monitor it going forward. They will pay for those people, but the people will report to the new chairman," Ross said in a "Squawk Box" interview. ZTE's latest brush with U.S. regulators came after the company's business dealings with Iran and North Korea violated U.S. trade agreements. ZTE paid $1.19 billion in fines for those violations, but the dispute didn't end there. The Commerce Department then alleged that ZTE misled regulators and failed to discipline the employees responsible for the sanction breach. The settlement deal includes $400 million in escrow to cover any future violations as well as requiring ZTE to change its board of directors and executive team in 30 days. "If they do violate it again, in addition to the billion dollars they are paying us up front, we had them put $400 million in escrow. The total deal is $1.4 billion. That money will be forfeited if they violate anything ... and we still retain the power to shut them down again," Ross said. "This is a pretty strict settlement," he added. "The strictest and largest settlement fine that has ever been brought by the Commerce Department against any violator of export controls." "This should serve as a very good deterrent not only for them but for other potential bad actors," he added. In response to the announced deal, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Thursday in a statement, "When it comes to China, despite [Trump's] tough talk, this deal with ZTE proves the president just shoots blanks." Last month, Ross told CNBC the U.S. was looking at alternatives to the crippling sanctions threatening the survival of ZTE. In April, Washington banned ZTE from purchasing parts from U.S. companies, including Qualcomm, Corning and Google. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has said that the enforcement of the ban wasn't meant to put the company out of business, and that any changes being considered would support U.S. national security. But skeptics worried that ZTE's destruction could mar an already delicate relationship between the U.S. and China. ZTE, in addition to smartphones, has been a large manufacturer of telecommunications equipment that allows large carriers to operate their wireless and data networks. It was China's first state-owned telecom equipment maker to go public. It is listed on the Shenzhen and Hong Kong stock exchanges. Despite decades of prominence, ZTE has since fallen from its 2012 spot as the world's fourth-largest smartphone maker, struggling amid new competition. Under President Donald Trump's administration, ZTE's status as a Chinese multinational has also put it in the fray of a larger trade dispute between the U.S. and China. Trump has vowed to rebalance the power in America's trade relationship with China, and both nations have proposed tit-for-tat trade taxes. Ross was in Beijing over the weekend for high-level trade talks with China. The White House has been insisting on fundamental changes in ties between the world's two biggest economic powers. Ross said Thursday that "for the first time" the U.S. is pushing back on all fronts, including intellectual property rights and technology transfers. "Prior administrations had been real patsies for the Chinese and other countries. They've never really pushed back," he said. U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping during the plenary session at the G20 Summit on July 7, 2017 in Hamburg, Germany. The action from Congress has another connection to Russia. Lawmakers are looking at a 1981 report from the State Department about Soviet "active measures" as a model for the proposed investigation into China, the aide said. "It spun out of the Russia stuff," the aide said, "in that people are more aware of the political influence operations of authoritarian countries." Heightened attention to foreign influence campaigns, sparked by Russia's election meddling, accelerated Congress' recent actions, a congressional aide told CNBC. The aide asked for anonymity in order to speak candidly. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., will introduce companion legislation in the Senate, his communications director, Olivia Perez-Cubas, confirmed to CNBC on Thursday. Revelations about Russia 's meddling in America's 2016 presidential election have pushed Congress to turn up the heat on China , as it seeks to tamp down foreign influence on American institutions. To be sure, the two countries have "distinctly different approaches to influence" operations, Timothy R. Heath, a defense analyst at the Rand Corp., said in an email. But they are often linked in reports on authoritarian governments' foreign influence campaigns and by senior American defense officials. President Donald Trump's 2017 National Security Strategy notes that "China and Russia want to shape a world antithetical to U.S. values and interests." In a speech last week at the 2018 Shangri-La Dialogue, Defense Secretary James Mattis noted that while he believed the two countries had disparate interests, "[T]here may be short-term convergence in the event they want to contradict international tribunals or try muscling their way into certain circumstances." China has been accused of increasing its espionage operations in the United States, as well as restricting its citizens' access to Western media and harassing or detaining U.S.-based journalists. Beijing has also faced criticism from human rights advocates over accusations that it has intimidated Chinese college students studying on American campuses and pressured them to toe the Communist Party line. "The Congress and the American public need to better understand the malign goals of China's political influence operations, identify the key institutions, entities, and individuals that carry them out, and distinguish them, if possible, from the cultural, educational, and people-to-people exchanges which benefit both the American and Chinese people," Smith, the bill's sponsor, said in a statement. Some in Washington are reluctant to tie the increased interest in China to Moscow. "I'm sure you'll get multiple answers, but this interest would be occurring the same way regardless of the externality of interest in Russia," Jason Thielman, Sen. Steve Daines' chief of staff, told CNBC. Daines is a commissioner on the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, a government group that monitors China and is chaired by Smith and Rubio. The recent interest in China "has a China-specific trajectory here that was already well underway before Russian interference in the 2016 election," said Andrew J. Nathan, a professor of political science at Columbia University. That trajectory can be traced back to the Obama administration, Nathan said, and its acknowledgment that "engagement hadn't worked." The congressional aide who said the recent legislation was accelerated by the "Russia stuff" agreed that it was also an acknowledgment that "the engagement theory had been discredited." The engagement theory refers to the accommodative policy toward China taken by U.S. presidents from Richard Nixon to George W. Bush, typified by Nixon's visit in 1972 and the admission of China into the World Trade Organization in 2001. The Senate and House bills are both expected to have bipartisan supporters. The House bill is co-sponsored by five Republicans, including House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, and one Democrat, Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio. As recently as Wednesday, Rubio has been looking for a Democrat to co-sponsor the Senate bill, the congressional aide told CNBC, though it is not clear which Democrat might do so. Likely candidates include the three Democratic senators who serve as commissioners of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, including Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California and Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon. The senators did not respond to requests for comment from CNBC. Deutsche Bank Chairman Paul Achleitner is speaking with top shareholders about a potential merger with rival Commerzbank, Bloomberg reported. Achleitner has also discussed a possible merger with key German officials in recent months. There have been no formal talks between the two German lenders, and a deal is not considered to be imminent, sources told Bloomberg. Deutsche Bank's share prices, which have declined 39 percent this year, represent a major obstacle for a potential deal. Investors have reportedly expressed concern that a merger with Commerzbank could trigger a capital increase and hefty write-downs. Any synergies generated from cutting retail outlets in the German market would likely be met with resistance from labor unions due to extensive job cuts, according to Bloomberg. "The Chairman is asked constantly ... about this matter. His answer is always the same: 'All the pro and contra arguments can be read in analyst reports and the media. So what do you think?' He sees no reason to actively raise this issue," a Deutsche Bank spokesperson said in response to a request for comment from CNBC. Speculation about a merger has mounted since private equity firm Cerberus Capital built a stake in both banks last year. Achleitner has struggled to maintain investor confidence amid a restructuring plan that involved reducing staff by about 7,000 in an attempt to return to profitability. Commerzbank declined to comment. A proposal by Jamie Dimon and Warren Buffett to end quarterly earnings guidance drew considerable acclaim but also scattered criticism, including a sharp rebuke from an analyst who's been in the business for more than half a century. The idea is "misguided" in that it would increase market volatility by reducing information and actually increasing speculation, said Dick Bove, a strategist at Hilton Capital Management, who has been a widely followed and sometimes contrarian voice in the financial markets since 1965. "We're driving the market on rumor and innuendo, we're driving the market to high-velocity trading, we're driving it in all these directions that say knowledge has no value," Bove said in an interview. "These two guys are at the top of the list saying knowledge has no value, therefore we don't want to give it to you." Dimon, who runs the largest bank in the U.S. as J.P. Morgan Chase CEO, and Buffett, the legendary head of industrial conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, rocked Wall Street with their suggestion that corporate executives should stop providing future profit estimates during quarterly earnings presentations. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed Thursday, and a joint CNBC interview, the duo bemoaned the short-term thinking plaguing market activity. "In our experience, quarterly earnings guidance often leads to an unhealthy focus on short-term profits at the expense of long-term strategy, growth and sustainability," they wrote. J.P. Morgan representatives did not respond to a request for further comment on Bove's remarks. A Berkshire spokesman pointed to a portion of the op-ed noting that "transparency about financial and operating results is an essential aspect of U.S. markets" and advocates for quarterly reporting to continue, minus the forward-looking aspect. Dimon and Buffett are hardly the only business leaders who have criticized the increasing trend in markets to look for fast gains over sound long-term investing. Vanguard founder Jack Bogle has frequently worried about investors who aren't interested in the long-range prospects for companies in which they put their money, a concern that pushed him into pioneering the first mutual funds that followed indexes rather than individual companies. People inspect the Tesla Model 3 as it sits on display at the Los Angeles Auto Show last December. The driver killed while operating a Tesla on Autopilot in March may not have his hands on the steering wheel just before the crash, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report Thursday. The report indicates what happened in the minutes and seconds before a 38-year-old man slammed a Tesla Model X into the crash cushion at the end of a freeway median and collided with two other vehicles in Mountain View, California. Up to the time of the accident, the driver was operating the car using Tesla's advanced driver assistance system, Autopilot. The system has been investigated by federal agencies for previous crashes. The vehicle warned the driver with two visual alerts and one sound alert telling him to place his hands on the wheel more than 15 minutes prior to the crash, the NTSB said. The driver placed his hands on the wheel three times in the minute before the accident, for a total of 34 seconds. In the final six seconds, the system did not sense he had his hands at the wheel. At six seconds prior to the crash, the car sped up from 62 miles per hour to 70.8 mph, the agency said. A Tesla spokesperson referred CNBC back to Tesla's blog on the accident, and declined to comment further. "The reason this crash was so severe is because the crash attenuator, a highway safety barrier which is designed to reduce the impact into a concrete lane divider, had been crushed in a prior accident without being replaced," the blog said. "We have never seen this level of damage to a Model X in any other crash." CORRECTION: This story was revised to correct that the NTSB's preliminary report said Tesla's Autopilot did not detect driver's hands on the steering wheel just before the fatal crash. A previous version misstated the timing. U.S. President Donald Trump talks to German Chancellor Angela Merkel before the first working session of the G20 meeting in Hamburg, Germany, July 7, 2017. Kay Nietfeld | Pool | Getty Images European powers say they are willing to work with the Trump administration to tackle Iran's "destabilising actions." However, they first want Washington to agree not to punish the Continent's industries over their business dealings with the Middle Eastern country. They are seeking broad carve-outs for sectors from health care to energy, as well as assurances that financial institutions can facilitate transactions with Iran's central bank without fear of reprisal. Firms including French oil giant Total and aircraft maker Airbus have announced billions of dollars in deals with Iran since sanctions were lifted in 2016. Ministers from Britain, France, Germany and the European Union laid out their reqeusts in a letter to top Trump officials obtained by The New York Times and posted online on Wednesday. The Wall Street Journal first reported on the letter. As allies, we expect that the United States will refrain from taking action to harm Europe's security interests. British, French, German and EU ministers The letter is the latest move in a standoff between the transatlantic partners after President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and restored wide-ranging sanctions on the country. The Trump administration also plans to enforce so-called secondary sanctions, which threaten to lock firms that do business with Iran out of the much larger U.S. market. The EU opposes that decision and is taking steps to protect their firms. However, the large corporations and banks that Iran is depending on to bolster its economy say they cannot stomach the threat of U.S. sanctions and will drop business ties with Tehran unless Washington grants them waivers. The finance, economy and foreign ministers acknowledged their limited ability to counter U.S. influence over global markets in the letter. "In their current state, U.S. secondary sanctions could prevent the EU from continuing meaningful sanctions relief to Iran," the ministers said. Iran says it will leave the deal if it no longer accrues enough economic benefits to continue accepting limits on its nuclear program and opening its facilities to inspections. Tehran agreed to those terms in 2015 after enduring years of international sanctions spurred by evidence that it conducted secret research into developing nuclear weapons. Where are all those new flights coming from? Just look at Dallas, Texas. In fact, there will be more than 59 million seats on airplanes making transatlantic flights between Western Europe and the United States, according to OAG which tracks airline traffic worldwide. That's up 43 percent compared to just five years ago. "For the first time not only will you have non-stop flights from Dallas-Fort Worth to Iceland, you will have three flights from three competing airlines," said Henry Harteveldt with the Atmosphere Research Group. "Will they make money? Not on every flight, not on every route. It will be interesting to see how many flights from Dallas-Fort Worth are scheduled next year and to see if they last that long." American Airlines is adding daily flights between Dallas and Reykjavik, Iceland. This comes within two weeks of Icelandair and WOW air, which are both based in Reykjavik, launching service between Iceland and Dallas. WOW air and other low-cost carriers based in Europe are responsible for much of the growth in transatlantic flights coming to or from the U.S. WOW air, which started flying in 2012, wasn't even serving the U.S. in the summer of 2014. Four years later it's expected to offer more than a million seats between the U.S. and Reykjavik, according to OAG. Many of those seats are being sold for as little as $99. While some of the new flights to Europe are being offered by low-cost airlines, the legacy carriers have also been expanding their transatlantic schedules, especially in the summer. Over the last five years, Delta, United and American have increased the number of summer flights to Europe by 11 percent. Some of that is because of stronger demand, but some of it is in response to other airlines adding service to cities where those legacy carriers have hubs or a major presence. American Airlines decision to add daily service between Dallas-Fort Worth and Reykjavik shows the airline is prepared to protect its turf. "We constantly evaluate opportunities for our network and summer travel has always been popular and fits with our network strategy," said Vasu Raja vice president of network and schedule planning for American. " We are excited to provide great service and connecting opportunities to Iceland from our DFW hub." Harteveldt and others in the airline industry wonder if the growth in transatlantic flights can continue since they are being added by low-cost carriers who may get clipped by rising jet fuel prices. "We don't know if all these airlines have financial staying power, so this may be a great summer for long haul low cost flights to Europe. We don't know what next summer will be," he said. Questions? Comments? BehindTheWheel@cnbc.com. There may be room in the business world for both short and long-term forecasts, Larry Bossidy, former chairman and CEO of Honeywell International, told CNBC. He was responding to comments by Warren Buffett and Jamie Dimon, who in a joint interview with CNBC, urged CEOs to end quarterly profit forecasts. "Short-term gives you some focus; long-term gives you future," Bossidy said Thursday in a "Squawk Box" interview. "And you should have incentives that promote that." Buffett and Dimon said short-term forecasts run counter the long-term interests of a company. "I've never seen a company whose performance has been improved by having some forecast out there by the CEO that we're going to earn 'X,'" Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, told CNBC's Becky Quick. "It's also teaching the people that live under [the CEO] that quarterly performance is the end game," Buffett added. Dimon, chairman and CEO of J.P. Morgan Chase, also pointed out some of the "ills and problems" of short-term forecasts. "It can often put a company in a position where management, from the CEO down, feel obligated [to deliver certain results] or may do things that otherwise have done," Dimon said. The two also voiced their concerns in an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal on Thursday, saying the practice is bad for the economy. Dimon said the Business Roundtable, a group of CEOs of which Dimon is the chairman, supports companies that do not give short-term forecasts. Wall Street analysts use a company's sales and profit forecasts for research and to help investors pick stocks. The numbers can often move the market if they're wrong or reduce volatility if accurate. Berkshire Hathaway does not give guidance. Buffett told CNBC that "it's a very, very bad practice. And once it gets going it feeds on itself." The businessman said he's met some good CEOs some he wouldn't even mind if they were married to his daughter but said once the predictions are made egos often get involved. "When they find they can't make the numbers, sometimes they make up the numbers," Buffett said. Michael Thompson, an analyst at S&P Global Ratings, pointed out that the market is forward-looking. "How do you value the companies?" Thompson asked during a "Squawk Box" interview on Thursday. "Less information begets less liquidity begets bigger gaps [and] more volatility," Thompson said. "The guidance is what people are trading on." Bossidy said Buffett and Dimon's practices are "not totally unrealistic," but he still has reservations. "I do think these two business luminaries have a point," he said. "But there's going to be forecasts whether they make them or not." Rudy Giuliani, attorney for U.S. President Donald Trump, arrives for the White House Sports and Fitness Day event on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, May 30, 2018. President Donald Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani would be reluctant to give his client's phones to Special Counsel Robert Mueller if he was asked to do so for the Russia probe. CNBC revealed on Wednesday that the Mueller team has been asking witnesses to hand over their personal phones and provide investigators access to their encrypted messaging programs such as WhatsApp, Confide, Signal and Dust as part of their investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russian operatives. In an interview with CNBC on Thursday, Giuliani said he wouldn't agree to provide the president's personal devices unless certain preconditions were met beforehand. "I wouldn't do it now. I wouldn't reject it out right either. I would ask for preconditions to be met. I would want to know why they need it," Giuliani said. "They would have to ask for specific conversations off of that phone because they are going to be listening to things they shouldn't be listening to. I'm talking about protecting his legal rights and confidential presidential conversations," he added. Google says it won't use its artificial intelligence technology for weapons or surveillance, with a few caveats, according to a list of ethical principles published by CEO Sundar Pichai. The company will still work with the government and military in other areas, including cybersecurity and training, and it will only avoid surveillance that violates "internationally accepted norms," Pichai writes. Google also won't work on technologies that are likely to cause harm, unless it decides that "the benefits substantially outweigh the risks." The guidelines come after months of internal controversy stemming from Google's partnership with the Pentagon to use AI to analyze drone footage. Several thousand employees signed a petition urging Pichai to keep Google out of the "business of war" and dozens resigned in protest. Google eventually told employees that it would not renew the contract when it expires next year. Through the firestorm, Google executives reportedly promised that they would publish a list of ethical principles to guide its future projects. Pichai writes that this document will act as "concrete standards" that inform its research, product development and business decisions. Some people looking to secure a career in the technology sector might fear they are at a disadvantage if they lack technical skills like programming. But according to the head of Google's co-working campus in London, technical skills are not a prerequisite. "When I first came into tech, I was like, 'Isn't that just coders?'" Sarah Drinkwater told CNBC in an interview this week. "And that perception is just not true. When I look at a great company, they've got an amazing business development person, they've got marketers, they've got sales people, they've got technical people great companies need all those skills." Google's London campus houses several start-ups, giving them a space to work in and develop their business. These are start-ups that have nothing to do with Google; instead, the project is aimed at helping early-stage tech firms of all stripes mature. The tech giant has taken more than 85,000 start-ups under its wing in the U.K. capital, and those companies have raised over 194 million ($261 million) since its campus building opened in 2012. Drinkwater explained that the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has meant that tech employees don't all need technical know-how as AI is able to automate a lot of the processes involved in running digital platforms. "Obviously, technical skills are really important, but with the rise of AI, increasingly you're seeing technologies where someone who is not very technical like me can use that to put AI in my start-up," she said. Drinkwater added that she had come from a humanities background and said firms in the tech sector are increasingly looking for talent from creative industries, as well as engineers. The Google executive dismissed the idea of CVs as a way to indicate how successful someone will be in tech, explaining that the industry was increasingly looking for people with a versatile set of skills. "I always look at CVs and think CVs are a bit obsolete," she said. "I think increasingly it's about skillset, increasingly it's about mindset. In a very small start-up you need someone who is very comfortable with coming in and getting stuff done." On Tuesday, White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow told Fox that Trump is "very seriously contemplating" separate trade negotiations with Canada and Mexico rather than pursue multilateral reforms to the North American Free Trade Agreement. "What we're doing in some of these places has now opened the door for much more complicated trade negotiations with our allies," Dimon said. "We should be working with our allies because we have a common interest." "When you start to do bilateral things, it also very much could be used against you," Dimon said in an interview that aired Thursday on " Squawk Box ." Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau subsequently told the Canadian Press that Ottawa will pursue a trilateral deal because it is better for all three countries. The Mexican government did not respond to a CNBC email for comment. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Tuesday that the president has not made a decision but is "open to having individual deals." Regarding the U.S. trade dispute with China, Dimon said the Business Roundtable that he chairs agrees the Trump has "raised some very critical issues" regarding state-owned enterprises, fair competition, market access and foreign ownership of a company in China. But the "Roundtable has been quite clear we don't think tariffs is the way to do it," Dimon said. He said the U.S. should not work against Beijing but instead set global standards the Chinese eventually will have to adhere to. Dimon said in a conference call with reporters on Tuesday that the Trump administration's trade policy could become one of the "flies in the ointment" that ends the economic recovery. He maintained in his comments to CNBC that the U.S. economy is in good shape despite uncertainty on trade. "The president's doing [things] his way. I hope it works," Dimon said. "We're going to try to support it as much as we can. I personally would do some of these things differently." J.P. Morgan Chase's Jamie Dimon attempted to put the question about his political aspirations to rest Thursday on CNBC, saying, "I have no intention of running for president." Earlier this week, Starbucks' former CEO, Howard Schultz, said he would leave the coffee chain giant later this month, prompting immediate speculation that he was gearing up for a run for high office, something that he didn't entirely deny. When The New York Times asked him point-blank if he was considering a run for president, Schultz replied, "I intend to think about a range of options, and that could include public service. But I'm a long way from making any decisions about the future." Dimon said business leaders have a role working with government and getting involved in politics, but it's difficult, and he's not sure being a CEO naturally translates into that role. He added Schultz "would be a great chief executive or governor or senator or mayor or whatever he wants to do." But, he told CNBC's Becky Quick: "You've got to want it. You're not going to be ordained to be the president of the United States. You've got to get out there and fight for it." Dimon has been J.P. Morgan's chairman and chief executive for more than a decade. Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett chimed in during the same CNBC interview on "Squawk Box," "And i'm not running for vice president, either." "I recognize that change is difficult, and that eliminating layers within our organization means some employees will ultimately exit our system," Kempczinski said in the memo, according to The Wall Street Journal. In an email to all U.S. employees, suppliers and franchisees, McDonald's USA President Chris Kempczinski said the Golden Arches would be restructuring its regional offices around the country, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. McDonald's is slimming down its corporate structure and laying off workers in an effort to reduce expenses by $500 million by the end of 2019. Kempczinski did not elaborate on the number of positions that would be reduced, but said that the company would provide more details during its town hall meeting June 12. "We are always evaluating ways to better serve our customers and continue to grow our business," Terri Hickey, a spokeswoman for McDonald's, told CNBC via email. "With that in mind, we are putting into place a new U.S. field structure that will better support our franchisees and will ensure McDonald's continues on a path to being more dynamic, nimble and competitive." "These planned actions are consistent with our previously announced $500 million G&A targeted savings, which we expect to achieve by the end of 2019," she said. The news come just days after McDonald's opened its new headquarters in Chicago. Shares of the company were up more than 2 percent Thursday. Read the full report from The Wall Street Journal. The world's biggest truck-maker has unveiled two new battery-powered models, as it looks to protect its market dominance. Daimler, the German firm best known for its Mercedes brand, said Wednesday that it wanted to have an all-electric big rig called Freightliner eCascadia ready for commercial sale by 2021. A smaller medium-duty Freightliner eM2 106 is also planned by the same date. The trucks were revealed Wednesday at Daimler's North American headquarters in Portland, Oregon. The eCascadia is designed to travel on major highways with a range of about 250 miles between charges. The eM2 has a range almost as long, at around 230 miles, but is designed for local delivery and final mile use. Daimler said in a statement that a fleet of 30 vehicles would be delivered to customers later this year for testing. The German company's leading position in the truck market has been put under pressure by Elon Musk's all-electric battery-powered Tesla Semi, revealed in November. That vehicle is set to have a range of 500 miles and is scheduled to hit the market in 2019. ABCNews.com(TEL AVIV, Israel) -- Rudy Giuliani took aim at Stormy Daniels on Wednesday, saying that her career as an adult-film star and director undermines her "credibility" in her lawsuit against the president over their alleged affair. "So Stormy, you want to bring a case, let me cross-examine you. Because the business you were in entitles you to no degree of giving your credibility any weight," Giuliani told an audience in Tel Aviv, adding later, "I'm sorry I don't respect a porn star the way I respect a career woman or a woman of substance or a woman who ... isn't going to sell her body for sexual exploitation." Giuliani made the comments during the "Globes" Capital Market conference during which he also discussed the upcoming summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un. Giuliani said Trump is "optimistic" about the meeting, which is back on for June 12 after being postponed following a war of words between the two. "So thats why he had the capacity of canceling the meeting with Kim Jong Un, only to find that Kim Jong Un is begging him now for, for a meeting. We changed the whole dynamic of that negotiation," Giuliani said. His comments about Daniels were made in response to a question about whether Trump respects women. "Globes" editor-in-chief Naama Sikuler, one of the event's moderators, then interjected that "on this stage, we respect women." Daniels' attorney, Michael Avenatti, responded to Giuliani's comments on Twitter, calling him a "misogynist." "Mr. Giuliani is a misogynist. His most recent comments regarding my client, who passed a lie detector test and who the American people believe, are disgusting and a disgrace. His client Mr. Trump didnt seem to have any 'moral' issues with her and others back in 2006 and beyond," Avenatti wrote on Twitter. Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, has said she had sex with Trump once in 2006 and was later threatened to keep quiet about it. Trump's then-attorney, Michael Cohen, had Daniels sign a non-disclosure agreement about the alleged affair days before the 2016 election. Trump has denied the affair occurred. On Wednesday, Daniels and Avenatti filed a new lawsuit in California's Superior Court against Cohen and Daniels's former lawyer, Keith Davidson. The suit alleges Davidson betrayed Daniels by communicating with Cohen in order to benefit Cohen and Trump. Davidson responded to the lawsuit in a statement Wednesday. This outrageously frivolous lawsuit is yet another desperate attempt by Michael Avenatti to continue his publicity tour, as well as divert attention from the recent allegations against him relating to bankruptcy proceedings and the failure to withhold millions of federal employee taxes," the statement read. "That said, Attorney Davidson is very happy that he has filed this lawsuit because he strongly believes that the filing constitutes a full and complete waiver of the attorney-client privilege. Thankfully, the truth can now finally come out to rebut the false narrative about Attorney Davidson that Mr. Avenatti has been pushing in his more than 175 television appearances and countless other media interviews. Attorney Davidson believes that the American people deserve to know the entire truth - and they soon will. This lawsuit has made that happen," the statement continued. Cohen has admitted he paid Daniels $130,000 in 2016. In a statement to ABC News in February, Cohen said it was a private transaction using his "own personal funds" that were paid to Daniels. But Giuliani recently appeared to contradict that, telling Fox News last month that Trump had repaid Cohen the $130,000. Brent Blakely, who represents Michael Cohen in a California lawsuit over the non-disclosure agreement, issued a statement Wednesday: This new lawsuit filed by Stephanie Clifford aka Stormy Daniels has no merit whatsoever as to my client, Michael Cohen, and appears to be yet another publicity stunt. We look forward to defeating this lawsuit in court. Daniels is demanding a jury trial in the lawsuit filed Wednesday, and seeking damages as well as the return of her client file from Davidson, including text messages between Davidson and Cohen that relate to her. These text messages show that the prior denials by Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen relating to what Mr. Trump knew and about the honesty of my client were absolute lies," Avenatti said in a statement. "There was a significant cover-up here as part of an attempt to deceive the American people and Mrs. Trump and we intend on getting to the bottom of it. Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. There's more to come in General Electric's turnaround plan, activist investor Nelson Peltz suggested in an interview with CNBC's Jim Cramer on Thursday. "It's onward and upward, they have the makings of a plan," Peltz said at The Deal's 2018 Corporate Governance Conference. Cramer asked about the seriousness of the breakup plan but Peltz did not offer any further details. Peltz instead advised that investors should take CEO John Flannery and the rest of GE's management by what they say. Shares of GE hit a high of $13.80 in trading Thursday, before slipping to trade flat at $13.69. The stock has fallen 50 percent over the last 12 months, as of Wednesday's close. Investors have been selling GE shares amid questions about the company's ability to grow. The company's GE Capital and power businesses continue to drag on its performance but overall the report offered relief for GE after a tumultuous 12 months. Flannery is in the midst of an extensive restructuring of the business, which could result in the sale or spinoff of parts of its portfolio. The industrial conglomerate is examining multiple ways to sell or spin off more than $20 billion in assets since October. Unsubstantiated reports have claimed some big investors were beginning to analyze buying all or part of GE, with some speculating Warren Buffett was among those looking to invest. Buffett has denied the rumors, telling CNBC on May 4 that he simply wants to "the company to do well." Like Peltz, Buffett complimented Flannery in his work at GE's helm. "I admire John Flannery and what he's doing. He's got a very tough job and he's doing it very logically," Buffett said in May. CNBC's Dawn Giel and Leslie Picker contributed to this report. Pedestrians pass in front of the New York Stock Exchange. Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images The New York Stock Exchange finds itself at odds with major pensions and some of the world's biggest asset managers in a fight to preserve a big way exchanges attract business. At issue is the Securities and Exchange Commission's plan to run a pilot test of how the stock market is affected by the transaction fees and rebates that exchanges use to attract trade orders from brokers. The thinking is these fees and rebates, now common across the U.S. stock market, actually distort how stock trades are handled, costing investors money. The SEC plans to see how lowering the fees and rebates for trading in some stocks changes things. Just how much money is at risk is difficult to say. If it's true that investors are getting a worse price for their trades with the rebates in place, it would amount to fractions of a penny, perhaps. But over a long period of time and a big number of trades, those pennies add up. 'You need to care about the pennies' It's the type of inside Wall Street squabble that mom-and-pop investors would normally ignore, if they knew about it at all. But maybe they should pay attention, says Linda Giordano, the co-founder and CEO of BabelFish Analytics, a company that advises mutual funds about their trading. "You need to care about the pennies." The SEC's test has been a long time in the making, and the exchanges are fighting back at what they see as an attempt to undermine a big business. Exchanges make money off the trading data they sell to brokers in addition to the technology services they offer to facilitate speedy trading. The more trading volume they attract, the better. Long-term investors have to compete in this environment with short-term traders looking to make a profit off tiny price moves multiple times a day. Critics say the transaction fees and rebates only motivate brokers to send their trades to the place that will give them the biggest rebate or the lowest fee, not where they could get the best price for customers. Giordano from BabelFish said their observation was that two-thirds of passive routes to an exchange on behalf of investors are made with the rebate in mind. And ClearPool, which designs computer trading models, found that orders placed to get the rebate were seven times more expensive to investors than those placed with a neutral attitude toward the rebate. Pensions in the fight Major pensions such as the California Public Employees' Retirement System and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan have come out in support of the SEC's pilot test, as have giant asset managers such as Vanguard and BlackRock. The agency took in public comments in the last few months before the test is set to begin. "The model creates the appearance of a conflict between broker-dealers and their customers, as firms may appear motivated to route an order to a specific exchange to realize a higher rebate or a lower fee," Vanguard's Joseph Brennan, the global head of equity investment group, wrote in a comment letter. But the NYSE, which is owned by the Intercontinental Exchange, has come out swinging, arguing that the SEC's test itself will be too disruptive and potentially cost investors more than $1 billion. High-frequency trading firms and The Security Traders Association of New York have weighed in with the same concerns, urging the SEC to scale down the test, including eliminating exchange-traded products. The STANY wrote in a recent comment letter, "[T]he Pilot will likely cause serious disruptions to the market, have significant implications for investors and impose industry-wide costs that have not been justified." What's more, the NYSE contends, companies listing their stock on exchanges would also be harmed by the test, which is set up so that 3,000 stocks will be sorted evenly into one of three categories, each with a different set of fees or rebates, to see how different transaction pricing affects them. NYSE letter House Republicans at odds over how best to protect young undocumented immigrants from deportation emerged from a caucus meeting Thursday with no final deal on how to proceed. Amid perceived inaction from GOP leaders, moderate Republicans have pushed to pass an immigration bill and are only a few signatures short of forcing a vote in the chamber. The centrist lawmakers' demands clash with those of House conservatives, some of whom oppose proposals to offer immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children a special pathway to citizenship. Following the meeting Thursday, California Rep. Jeff Denham, a leader of the moderate group, said the lawmakers have agreed to a tentative offer from conservatives to protect the immigrants. However, he said the details are still murky, and they will not strike a final deal until they agree on all the particulars. The conservative House Freedom Caucus denied making an offer and said its members are working with colleagues to come up with a solution. @freedomcaucus: The House Freedom Caucus has not made an offer on immigration. We are continuing to talk with our colleagues and remain engaged in the process of working toward ideas that will secure our borders, enforce our laws and also address the DACA issue. House Republican leaders aim to quickly resolve party fractures on the politically charged issue as the GOP tries to put up a united front and defend its House majority from a Democratic wave in November. Many of the Republicans leading the charge to force an immigration vote face Democratic challenges in competitive districts in this year's midterms. Complicating matters for the GOP is President Donald Trump, who has set specific targets for an immigration bill he would sign. Speaking to reporters following the conference meeting Thursday, House Speaker Paul Ryan called the huddle "very productive" and again stressed that he wants to pass a bill that Trump finds acceptable. "Hopefully we can find a path ahead that is consistent with the four pillars that the president has laid out and avoids a pointless discharge petition," The Wisconsin Republican said. Trump has proposed the four pillars Ryan mentioned. Those are offering a pathway to citizenship for up to 1.8 million undocumented immigrants, boosting border security and building the president's proposed border wall, ending the diversity visa "lottery" system and limiting family visa sponsorships. Chipmaker Qualcomm rose as much as 5 percent Thursday after news of a deal between U.S. officials and Chinese telecom giant ZTE, but gave back most of its gains by the end of trading. Shares closed roughly 1.5 percent up at $60.64 after surpassing $62 earlier in the day. The leading U.S. chipmaker had for weeks been caught in the crosshairs of growing trade tensions. U.S. officials had banned American companies from selling components to ZTE, and Qualcomm is a major chip supplier for ZTE phones. Financial technology firm Revolut now has 2 million users signed up to its platform and is planning to launch a commission-free trading service. The London-based start-up said Thursday that its trading platform, called "Wealth," would let users invest in a range of firms listed publicly in the U.K. and the U.S., in addition to other instruments including exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and options. ETFs are securities that let traders invest in a basket of assets such as shares or bonds. Options are contracts that give investors the right but not the obligation to buy or sell an asset at an agreed price and date, allowing for price speculation or risk reduction. Revolut doubled its user count just months after it said it had passed the 1 million user mark in November 2017. Its planned commission-free trading service would compete with the likes of the U.K.'s Trading212 and U.S. firm Robinhood. "For many years, people have felt frozen out of trading by high fees and clunky interfaces, so Revolut are aiming to make investments cheap, simple and completely mobile," Nikolay Storonsky, Revolut's co-founder and chief executive, told CNBC. The company has widened its product offering into new areas such as cryptocurrency and savings as of late. It started out predominantly as a money management app offering currency exchange at the live currency conversion rate and has since signaled further expansion into banking by offering current accounts and last year applied for a European banking license. "While the cryptocurrency feature has definitely played a part in our growth, our financial marketplace of products have also helped hugely in enticing people to join Revolut," Storonsky said. Revolut's marketplace gives users access to insurance and credit products from a variety of providers, similar to a feature offered by rival fintech firm Starling. It is currently only available in Europe, and is most widely used in the U.K. The firm is looking to expand its presence to the U.S., Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand within months. Giuseppe Conte delivers a declaration after a meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella as part of consultations for a new government at the Quirinale Palace on May 23, 2018 in Rome, Italy. There's a standoff emerging between the European Union and the new Italian government, one which will ultimately answer the question whether Italy is too big to fail, a strategist told CNBC Thursday. The new populist cabinet in Rome is set to cut taxes and increase public spending. This decision will challenge European fiscal rules and is an alarming prospect for EU officials, given that Italy has the second highest pile of government debt in the region, about 132 percent of gross domestic product. German leader Angela Merkel made it clear during an interview over the weekend that the euro zone will never be a debt-sharing union. Meanwhile, the chief of the German Bundesbank also warned this week that there are a lot of differences between the economies within the euro and that each government needs to focus on reforming their own. Discussing the policies presented by the new Italian government, one strategist said a confrontation between Italy and the euro zone, and wider EU, looked likely. "I think these battle lines have been drawn and everybody knows exactly what they are doing," Simon Derrick, chief currency strategist at BNY Mellon told CNBC's Street Signs Thursday. "The key question is ultimately whether Italy is too big to fail," Derrick said. "It is too big to fail, and that's where this is really going come down to, probably at some point later this year when the discussion about the spending program will start," he suggested. Today, Mark Testoni is the CEO of SAP National Security Services, a cyber security firm where he manages a team with over 500 employees. He's responsible for the company's sales, products and strategy, and coordinates with the U.S. government about matters of national security. But when he was just starting out his career, he felt lost. "I was kind of an indifferent high school student, largely because I didn't have a lot of confidence in my own abilities," Testoni, 62, tells CNBC Make It. "Just wasn't a very confident guy." He headed to college in the mid-70s at Towson University outside of Baltimore, Maryland, but couldn't quite find his place there either. He dropped out, tried going to community college, and dropped out there too. Then his dad sat him down for a talk. It was time to get a job. "My dad was a principal in the public school system and he said, 'I'm going to work on finding you a job,'" Testoni remembers. "My dad, being sly as a fox, found me a job: as a janitor in a high school." As a 20-year-old, Testoni found himself mopping floors, scrubbing bathrooms and taking out the garbage for students who weren't much younger than he was. "When you clean high school students' restrooms, it gives you a lot of perspective on life," Testoni says. "Although I took pride in my work, it wasn't something that I wanted to spend the rest of my life [doing]." However, the experience taught him an important skill that would lead to success later in life: discipline. "I got to learn how to show up to work every day, punch a card, and if I was two minutes late, they docked my pay. I started to learn the principles of personal responsibility and accountability," Testoni explains. "It was actually what was the beginning of a renaissance for me personally." That new-found motivation led Testoni to the military, where he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1977. "I knew that was a way I could go to college," he says, and get another shot at pursuing higher education. "I was looking for opportunities." The structure of the military was exactly what Testoni needed to succeed. After serving 20 years in the Air Force and earning an undergraduate degree from the University of Tampa along with a M.B.A from Southern Illinois University, Testoni spent nine years as an executive at Oracle, helping the company partner with the U.S. Department of Defense. Then he became the CEO of SAP National Security Services in 2011. Over his decades long career as a technology executive, Testoni has seen again and again how important discipline is for success. In his experience, the people who get ahead have one trait in common: "When they say they're going to do something, they do it," he says. "Or they may not accomplish it, but they try like hell to do it. You have to make commitments and show up and meet them." And discipline is something he focuses on in his own daily routine. "I still fold my underwear the way that I was taught in basic training 41 years ago," Testoni says with a laugh. (He folds the left side in, then the right side and rolls them up.) "It's little things like that. If you build discipline into your life you'll build discipline into your work." For another example, he takes time every morning to list out his priorities for the company that day. "I take stock in the morning, and I often do it as I'm getting ready," he says, asking himself, "What are those three or four things that I have to accomplish today so at the end of the day we are a better company?" That habit started with his work as a janitor. At that time, he would ask, "What are the three things, between what the boss is telling me and other things I've committed to, what are the three or four things I'm going to get done today while I'm pushing the broom down the hall?" Now as CEO, Testoni has an eye out for a new generation of young people driven to succeed: "The successful ones, they have that focus and discipline." Don't miss: How this Ohio janitor built himself a multimillion-dollar oil empire Like this story? Like CNBC Make It on Facebook An "overwhelming majority" of the Senate is united against the Trump administration's deal to end sanctions on China's ZTE and will "absolutely" try to block the agreement, Sen. Mark Warner told CNBC on Thursday. Earlier in the day, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced the deal on CNBC, which includes a $1 billion penalty against the Chinese telecom giant and a U.S.-chosen compliance team. "This is an awful, awful deal," Warner, D-Va., said on "Power Lunch." "This is not something that you should trade in Mr. Trump's trade war." Warner, who is vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, added: "Trump may have done something I didn't think could still be accomplished. He may have unified virtually every United States senator to make sure that we stop this effort." On Thursday afternoon, Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., introduced an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act to address the issue. "Our amendment would essentially reinstate the earlier penalties until the president makes certain certifications to the Congress," Van Hollen said on "Closing Bell." "What happened today amounts to a slap on the wrist," he added. "There is strong bipartisan opposition to letting them off the hook." Warner, who was in the telecom industry for 20 years and co-founded the company that became Nextel, said the FBI, CIA and NSA all have said in public testimony that the U.S. should not buy ZTE's equipment. In April, the Commerce Department banned U.S. companies from selling components to ZTE, which makes smartphones and telecommunications networking gear, after it determined the company violated U.S trade sanctions against North Korea and Iran. ZTE said the ban was unfair and threatened its survival, according to a Reuters report that month. However, Warner said there is a larger issue at stake. "The truth is ZTE is a national security risk." "We have to decide whether we're going to protect our intellectual property," Warner noted, which China has been accused of stealing, he said. And while Ross said the U.S. is "literally embedding a compliance department of our choosing" to monitor the company, Warner doesn't think it will be able to get to the root of the problem. "The notion that ZTE is going to adequately redesign all its equipment so that the Chinese government doesn't have access to the back doors that our intelligence community has identified I didn't see any of that in this agreement," he said. "And candidly I'm not sure the Commerce Department has that level of expertise." Warner wants to declassify information pertaining to ZTE so he and others can do a better job of getting their message out. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Senators Cory Gardner of Colorado and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts released a long-awaited bipartisan marijuana legislation reform bill on Thursday that would give states the right to determine the best approach to marijuana within their borders. It does not seek to legalize marijuana, but instead proposes an amendment to the Controlled Substances Act, protecting people who choose to use marijuana, so long as they comply with local state or tribal laws. The bill also states that compliant marijuana transactions are not considered trafficking, and, finally, removes industrial hemp from the list of substances prohibited under the CSA. "The federal government is closing its eyes and plugging its ears while 46 states have acted," Gardner said in a statement. "The bipartisan, commonsense bill ensures the federal government will respect the will of the voters - whether that is legalization or prohibition - and not interfere in any states' legal marijuana industry." As it stands, marijuana is federally illegal, but due to the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer amendment, the Justice Department has virtually no budget to enforce laws that say so. The proposed bill would go a step further by making it illegal, rather than unworkable, for the federal government to interfere in state marijuana industries. The language in the bill is not radically different from the legislation Warren and Gardner had envisioned when they discussed it back in April. It upholds a number of federal criminal provisions under the Controlled Substances Act, and recommends a few new ones, such as prohibiting sales at transportation facilities and distribution to those under 21, except for medical purposes. "This is not a bill that forces legalization on any state that doesn't want it," Warren said during a press conference with Gardner. "We are trying to take care of business in Massachusetts, in Colorado. We are trying to respect the voters of our states that said this is how we want to do business around marijuana...and we just want the federal government to get out of the way and let them do it." Colorado and Massachusetts have both legalized recreational use of marijuana. Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, and Gardner, a Republican from Colorado, formed an unlikely alliance in January through a shared distaste of Attorney General Jeff Sessions approach to marijuana policy. In promoting the bill, the two emphasized the bill had wide-ranging bipartisan support, due to its federalist approach to marijuana legalization. "The bill specifically reinforces the 10th amendment it is a states' rights strengthening act. Republicans historically are a states' rights party, so I think they can really get on board," said Tim McCulloch, chair for the cannabis practice group at Dickinson Wright. "There has been a general softening, at least on medical marijuana, and I think Republicans don't want to end up on the wrong side of the issue," McCulloch added. Both Senators have made headlines for their vocal support of cannabis legalization. Gardner's interests mostly concern his support of Colorado's marijuana industry. After Sessions' move to revoke Obama-era legislation that eased federal regulation of marijuana, Gardner promised to block all Department of Justice nominations, pending a resolution. His move prompted Trump to agree earlier this month to support efforts to protect states that have legalized marijuana, ending Gardner's standoff on DOJ nominations. For her part, Warren has been at the forefront of marijuana politics in her home state of Massachusetts. She has expressed a desire to improve marijuana businesses' access to banking, and reform the criminal justice system as it relates to marijuana law. The lawyer for porn star Stormy Daniels said Thursday that President Donald Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani "should be fired immediately" for suggesting that Daniels was not worthy of full respect or credibility because of her sex work. Giuliani also caught flak from Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz, who said Giuliani risks "alienating a great many people" by targeting Daniels for her profession. The back-and-forth came amid continued legal wrangling related to a $130,000 hush-money payment that Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen paid Daniels in October 2016 to keep quiet about an alleged affair with Trump. Trump denies such an affair. Daniels is suing Trump and Cohen to void the nondisclosure agreement she signed. Giuliani, at an event Wednesday in Tel Aviv, Israel, said, "I'm sorry, I don't respect a porn star the way I respect a career woman or a woman of substance or a woman who has great respect for herself as a woman and as a person and isn't going to sell her body for sexual exploitation." "So, Stormy, you want to bring a case, let me cross-examine you," Giuliani said. "Because the business you're in entitles you to no degree of giving your credibility any weight." He also suggested that nothing Trump or Cohen could say about Daniels would damage her reputation because, "If you're going to sell your body for money, you just don't have a reputation." Daniels' lawyer Michael Avenatti blasted Giuliani for those jibes, calling him "a misogynist." "This guy is an absolute disgusting pig," Avenatti said on MSNBC. "He should be fired immediately." Twitter Avenatti added that Giuliani's comments "show how ... out of touch he is with today's society, show what a pig he truly is, shows that he thinks he's above the law and above rebuke, and it shows that he must believe that this president will support him and back him for these outrageous comments against women and my client." "We cannot have men in positions of power basically making these statements against women," Avenatti fumed. "It doesn't matter what a women's profession is. It has nothing to do with their credibility or whether they should be respected." Dershowitz, when asked about Giuliani's remarks, told MSNBC, "You know, I don't like people commenting about how women are living." "If he was cross-examining in a courtroom he would have to make a judgment call as to whether to raise issues about her background and credibility," said Dershowitz, who has been a prominent legal defender of Trump. "But when you're in the court of public opinion in the year of 2018 those kind of comments have the risk of certainly alienating a great many people," he said. "And so I'd be very cautious about making any generalizations about any woman and the occupation she is pursuing." Meanwhile Thursday, Avenatti filed a document in federal court in California arguing that Daniels' defamation case against Trump and Cohen, which last month was put on hold for 90 days, should be restarted now. Cohen had asked for that stay on the grounds that he is the target of a federal criminal investigation in New York City. Avenatti said that defendants' arguments for the 90-day stay were no longer valid in light of new facts surrounding Cohen's $130,000 payment to Daniels. Those facts include Giuliani's admission that Trump had reimbursed Cohen for that payment to the actress and Trump's statement that prosecutors are eyeing Cohen's business dealings in their probe. Avenatti also contended that fears that Cohen would be required to answer questions in a deposition in the defamation case are no longer relevant because "he will not be called upon to testify in the short term." Target has reached an important milestone in the delivery wars versus Walmart, Amazon and others. The company is now more than halfway through its rollout of same-day delivery with Shipt and the launch of a curbside pickup service known as "Drive Up." Its goal, which Target said it's well on track to meet, is to have the services available at the majority of its stores before the holiday season. The discount retailer said Chicago will be the first city in the U.S. to have all four of its new delivery and pickup options Shipt, Drive Up, Target Restock and the fulfillment of online orders from within stores starting this week. Shipt, which Target acquired just a few months ago for $550 million, uses personal shoppers to stay in communication with a customer as they pick up items in the store. The personal shoppers text a recipient if an item is out of stock and alert him or her en route to delivery, for example. Target Restock is a delivery option that allows customers to order everyday essentials, like beauty and pet products, filling up a box up to roughly 45 pounds. (Amazon has a similar offering called Prime Pantry.) Chicago is "an important and strong market for Target, with 80-plus stores, including a host of small-format stores," a company spokesman told CNBC about Target's investments in the area. "It has a dense, urban population to support 'from-store' delivery," he added. "It's also a highly competitive market." (Amazon is reportedly slated to open its next cashierless store, Amazon Go, in Chicago.) Still, Target's recent investments are under a lot of scrutiny. Unlike Walmart, which has made splashier moves scooping up smaller retailers and bulking up various international segments, Target has been focused on bolstering its supply chain, remodeling stores and launching new brands internally. In the latest quarter, Target's investments were seen dragging profits down and shares sold off on the news. Perhaps overlooked, though, was the fact that the number of shoppers heading to Target rose 3.7 percent the strongest performance in more than a decade. Along with the excitement around new brands, four key "last mile" initiatives same-day delivery via Shipt, Drive Up, Target Restock and the fulfillment of online orders from within stores are luring more customers to Target and enticing them to buy more, the company has said. "With Drive Up, we're seeing it as popular among parents of small children for 'fill-in trips' to pick up items like diapers," a company spokesman told CNBC. He also said those shoppers opting to have their online orders fulfilled at and shipped from a local Target store are increasing their basket sizes by six times, on average. By the end of this month, Target said it will offer same-day delivery via Shipt in more than 135 markets. By next year, all "major product categories" at Target will come with the option to be shipped on the same day a purchase is made (some items are currently unavailable on the platform). As of this week, more than 600 Target stores in 20 states offer Drive Up, while nearly 1,000 locations are set to offer the service by holiday season, according to the company. "[T]he expectation is for the benefits [from the shipping and pickup options] to accelerate into next year as each of the programs mature and are rolled out more broadly," Gordon Haskett analyst Chuck Grom said in a recent note to clients. "Target has accelerated its efforts over the past 12 months to leverage its vast store base [1,800+ locations] while providing customers with an array of convenient options to shop," Grom wrote. "In fact, management believes that by year end, Target's array of shopping options will put them on par, if not make them more convenient than Amazon." Target Chief Operating Officer John Mulligan told CNBC that the company "feel[s] great about how guests are responding to these new services as we continue expanding them nationwide." A Target customer must pay $99 annually to have access to Shipt for deliveries, rivaling other services including Instacart and Deliv. For comparison, Amazon's Prime membership costs $119 per year for orders to qualify for free, two-day shipping. Walmart is meanwhile still working to bring its online grocery delivery service where shoppers pay a flat delivery fee of $9.95, and a basket must contain at least $30 worth of items to qualify to 100 metro areas by the end of 2018. Walmart also just launched Jetblack, a members-only platform where goods can be ordered over text message. Target shares are up nearly 20 percent, trading at $77.90, so far this year. The retailer has a market capitalization of $41.7 billion. WATCH: It was once the largest retailer in the US. Here's where Sears sits today A special education teacher quietly amassed a $1 million fortune and bequeathed it to a New Jersey public school district to help the special education students she spent her career teaching. Now the money is being put to use via a scholarship for the 2019-2020 school year. Around 10 years ago, retired special educator teacher Genevieve Via Cava told Dumont Public School District superintendent Emanuele Triggiano that she was going to donate a million dollars, according to NorthJersey.com. "I thought it was a joke," Triggiano told NorthJersey.com. "But then we got the paperwork." "I was not shocked she would donate something, I was shocked by the number," Triggiano, tells CNBC Make It. "She was a teacher here, very unassuming, very modest...[and] that's a large sum of money for anyone." TWEET During her life, Genevieve Via Cava quietly socked away savings, and after her passing in 2011, left the million-dollar gift to the Dumont Board of Education. Her will instructed the money to be used to benefit special education students in the Dumont school district, located in Bergen County, New Jersey, where she worked for nearly 45 years. The Dumont public school system includes five schools, and serves students in grades kindergarten through 12th, according to its website. Triggiano tells CNBC Make It the schools received the check within the last month or so, due to legalities being worked out and processes put in place. The money will be doled out in the form of scholarships: Beginning with the 2019-2020 school year, one special education student from the school system who is pursuing a post-high school education will be eligible for a $25,000 scholarship. The money, courtesy of Via Cava's gift, will fund scholarships for years to come, according to a report in NorthJersey.com. Via Cava, who had no children, began at the school district as a regular and special education teacher in 1945. She had a reputation of being kind and generous, according to NorthJersey.com. Both strangers and former students described the former teacher as very likable, noting her sense of humor, good memory and ability to talk to anyone. Her generosity didn't end with the work day. NorthJersey.com reports that she would befriend parents, referring them to after-school groups aimed at helping special education students transition to daily life, and at times, helped former students find jobs. Via Cava was also reportedly known for being a super-saver, even refusing to purchase hearing aids when she began to lose her hearing. "I asked her what she was saving for, since she could afford it, and it would change her life for the better," Richard Jablonski, a close friend of Via Cava and executor of her will, told NorthJersey.com. According to Jablonski, it had to do with her growing up during the Great Depression, which "really left a mark on her," he told the publication. This isn't the first time a seemingly average person has donated a shocking and substantial gift. Sylvia Bloom, a secretary, amassed a multi-million dollar fortune by living modestly and investing wisely. After the 96-year-old passed away in 2016, her family and friends learned about her wealth, and she distributed $8 million in her will towards charitable causes. Like Via Cava, Bloom was a part of the generation who had been put through trying times during the Depression, which reportedly had an impact on her view towards money and empathy. Other noteworthy posthumous philanthropic donations include Ronald Read's. The one-time janitor and gas station attendant built an $8 million fortune by budgeting and investing, and left most of his wealth to his local library and hospital after he died. Like this story? Like CNBC Make It on Facebook! Don't miss: A 96-year-old secretary amassed a secret $8 million fortunehere's how Lately, when an airline is in the news, it's not all good. This month, Delta said it was investigating the death of a Pomeranian, which didn't survive one of its flights. Last year, authorities were caught on video dragging a doctor off a United Airlines flight. If all of the drama has you wavering about how to travel to your destination, a new ranking of the world's best airlines by passenger rights company AirHelp can make the decision simpler. Hint: United and Delta were pretty far down on the list. In fact, no American airline made it to the top 10. "It is clear the U.S. is in need of significant improvement, with overbooked flights and cancellations making national headlines month after month, and the consistent mistreatment of U.S. consumers," said AirHelp CEO and co-founder Henrik Zillmer, in a prepared statement. Anthony Black, a spokesman for Delta, suggested the ranking didn't tell the airline's whole story. "While survey methodologies may vary, what remains consistent is Delta's industry-leading operational performance, customer service and complaints," Black wrote in an email. "All of which is the result of the hard work of Delta people." Officials at United Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment. More from Personal Finance: If you're hunting for a job, expect to do this for free Here's what you need to qualify for public service loan forgiveness Few people know about this key college savings plan Qatar Airways came in first place, due to its timely departures and arrivals along with its efficient claims processing system, according to AirHelp. The airline's CEO made headlines recently when he suggested a woman couldn't do his job. "We hope more airlines take note of what these impressive competitors are doing," Zillmer said. Indeed. Here are the top 10 airlines, according to AirHelp. President Donald Trump reacts as he delivers remarks during the Prison Reform Summit at the White House in Washington, U.S., May 18, 2018. Before President Donald Trump sits down with a third-generation North Korean autocrat, he will face what may well turn out to be a tougher crowd some of America's oldest allies. With his new tariffs increasing U.S. isolation, Trump heads to Canada on Friday for a meeting of the Group of Seven industrialized nations. The White House is expecting a chilly reception from Canada and West European countries, already frustrated over Trump's withdrawal from the Paris climate accord and the Iran nuclear agreement. German Chancellor Angela Merkel previewed the dynamics on Wednesday, telling the German parliament that "it is apparent that we have a serious problem with multilateral agreements here, and so there will be contentious discussions." Anticipating a tense two days in Quebec, Trump has complained about having to attend the summit, particularly since it comes just before his high-stakes meeting in Singapore with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said two people with knowledge of his thinking. But the White House has signaled no change in plans. "The president wants to go on the trip," Larry Kudlow, Trump's top economic adviser, said of the summit in Canada. "The president is at ease with all of these tough issues. "There may be disagreements," Kudlow added. "I regard this as much like a family quarrel." Trump also is set to hold a series of one-on-one meetings, including with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron. Trump is unlikely to back away from the nationalistic policies that have frustrated and unnerved allies but which he sees as key promises to his most loyal voters. He has highlighted his efforts on Twitter, writing Monday: "The U.S. has made such bad trade deals over so many years that we can only WIN!" Kudlow said allies should understand that Trump "will do what is necessary to protect the U.S., its businesses and its workforce," adding that Trump "has always said, and I agree, tariffs are a tool in that effort." Trump announced in March that he was imposing tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum, but he temporarily granted a waiver to U.S allies like Canada, Mexico, and the European Union, and also to China, as his administration said trade talks were continuing. Trump ended that temporary relief this month, seeking to pressure the other countries to cut new trade agreements with the U.S. Japan was never granted a waiver, despite Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's pleas. Asked if the administration will respect decisions from the World Trade Organization on tariffs, Kudlow said that "international multilateral organizations are not going to determine American policy. I think the president's made that very clear." This will be Trump's second summit of the G-7, an informal gathering that meets every year under a rotating chairmanship. The member countries are: Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Germany, the United States, and Britain. The European Union also attends. While trade is expected to dominate, Trudeau also wants to focus on gender equality and climate change. Kudlow was vague on whether the summit will produce a joint decision or a clear outcome on trade or other issues, saying "let them meet first." The meeting comes after a gathering of G-7 finance ministers concluded last week with a message of "concern and disappointment" to Trump from the other six countries. Describing the tense three days, Bruno Le Maire, France's finance and economy minister, said it was "far more a G-6 plus one than a G-7." Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin responded: "We believe in the G-7, it's an important group," adding that Trump looks forward to the gathering. The increasingly critical tone from allies is a shift after leaders spent the past year and a half seeking to woo and cajole the American president. Thomas Wright, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told reporters that for Trump's first 500 days, "these countries generally were bent over backwards not to criticize President Trump. They tried to have close relations with him. They all tried to hug him close, as we used to say about Blair and Bush." But Wright added: "There is a feeling, I think, over the last few months, that that approach has not borne fruit, and that they haven't really gotten anything for that friendly approach." Canad, in particular,r has been outraged by Trump's tariffs, taking umbrage at the argument that they were motivated by national security concerns. Trudeau told NBC: "The idea that we are somehow a national security threat to the United States is, quite frankly, insulting and unacceptable." Edward Alden, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said this marked the lowest point in decades in Canada-U.S. relations, describing the two countries as allies that have "fought and died alongside each other" since World War I. "This is deeply offensive to Canadians," Alden said. Kudlow played down any conflict, saying he had "no doubt the United States and Canada will remain firm friends and allies whatever short-term disagreements may occur." President Donald Trump said Thursday that he would "certainly" invite North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un to the United States if next week's nuclear summit in Singapore goes well. A visit to the U.S. which Trump added could take place at the White House would be remarkable after decades of minimal contact between the U.S. and the communist dictatorship. The talks next week will mark the first time a sitting American president and North Korean leader meet face to face, as the U.S. aims to push Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear and missile programs and ease concerns about the prospect of armed conflict. At a joint news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday, the president said he wants to eventually establish normal relations with North Korea if the regime commits to denuclearization. Abe also stressed that Japan which has long had tensions with North Korea is ready to normalize its links to Pyongyang, as well. "Normalizing relations is something that I would expect to do, I would hope to do," Trump said. While Trump said he sees the "potential to make a deal" with North Korea to get the isolated regime to abandon its nuclear ambitions, he stressed that he is "totally prepared to walk away" from the summit. Trump already canceled the meeting once before it was rescheduled, following a key North Korean official's trip to Washington. [The stream is slated to start at 3:45 p.m. ET. Please refresh the page if you do not see a player above at that time.] Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will address questions at the White House following a press conference between President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Trump and Abe met Thursday morning to discuss Japan's interests in the upcoming summit between the president and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Pompeo met with North Korean officials earlier in May. Last month, in his first public address since becoming secretary of State, Pompeo said the summit would press for North Korean denuclearization, saying the U.S. would respond with sanctions similar to those on Iran should the parties not reach an agreement. On Wednesday, Pompeo also said that the U.S. would not allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons despite the U.S. pulling out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in May. Pompeo tweet [The stream is slated to start at 2 p.m. ET. Please refresh the page if you do not see a player above at that time.] U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe answer reporters' questions in a joint press conference expected to address the upcoming summit with North Korea and trade tensions with China. Abe and Trump have generally been on good terms compared with previous U.S. presidents, making the Japanese prime minister a more frequent visitor to the White House than in the past, according to a report by The Washington Post. Trump tweet Japanese officials, however, are worried that the relationship will not be enough to protect Japan's interests at the highly-anticipated summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on June 12. Trump had previously mentioned in a meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in that Japan would "invest very, very large sums of money into helping to make North Korea great again." This, along with the Trump administration's "America First" policy, has increased Japanese concerns that their interests would be ignored, and they would be forced to pay for a North Korean recovery, the Post reported. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has indicated that negotiations with North Korea have been directed toward ending nuclear weapons programs targeted toward the U.S. homeland, not including allies, meaning that North Korea would still have the capability to target Tokyo. Additionally, Japanese officials are concerned about escalating tensions over trade between the U.S. and China. A street scene in Kaesong, North Korea. Mark Edward Harris Still, with a historic summit between President Donald Trump and Kim set to take place June 12 in Singapore; after the mysterious death of 22-year-old American student Otto Warmbier, who was imprisoned in North Korea for stealing a banner while in the country as a tourist; and with the North Korea travel restriction being re-examined on Sept. 1, many people are curious about the country. So what's it like to visit North Korea? People bow to the statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il on Mansu Hill, Pyongyang. Mark Edward Harris Mark Edward Harris, a professional photographer based in Los Angeles, has visited North Korea for work (his first trip was in 1997) 10 times. "I have made it in and, more importantly, out 10 times without any major issues," Harris tells CNBC Make It. "That doesn't guarantee issues won't happen for me in the future or for anyone else traveling in a foreign country, especially one that is at odds with the United States." Photographer Mark Edward Harris has been to North Korea ten times Jackie Cheng Harris has a fascination with the country, and he's published several photography books dedicated to North Korea, including "North Korea" (it won Photography Book of the Year at the International Photography Awards in 2013). School children in front of a mural of the world in Wonsan, North Korea. Mark Edward Harris Harris says the country in itself is a tourist attraction worth seeing. "The opportunity to explore a place that's so off the beaten path yet so very much in the news is exciting," he says. Harris says in North Korea, tourists stand out since there are so few. "The people are definitely curious about where you're from and what you're doing there. They also very much appreciate the effort you've made to get there," he says. North Korea is also aesthetically very beautiful, says Harris. School children with placards in the audience at the Arirang Mass Games in Pyongyang. Mark Edward Harris "Pyongyang, the capital and showcase city of the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea], is actually a relatively modern place with impressive architecture," says Harris. "Pre-1990s architecture has a Soviet monumental feel to it," he says, "but the North Koreans love colorful fluorescent lights." One of the architectural centerpieces of Pyongyang, says Harris, is the Arch of Triumph its version of the Arc de Triomphe "which is the same basic shape but 33 feet taller than the one in Paris." Arch of Triumph in Pyongyang, North Korea Mark Edward Harris Plus, all the cities and towns Harris has visited have large areas devoted to parks. And most of those are "dotted with revolutionary statues and murals dedicated to the exploits of the country's founder" Kim Il Sung, says Harris. "The locals love to spend time in large groups having picnics and taking walks," he adds. The DPRK has some beautiful mountains as well, says Harris, "including Kumgangsan [Diamond Mountains] on its southern border, Myohyangsan in the middle and Paektusan on its border with China." Harris also has also taken a train to Wonsan, a seaside city with a major university. "It was off its coast in 1968 that the USS Pueblo was seized," says Harris. "The ship is now on display in Pyongyang at Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum." This year is the 50th anniversary of the vessel's capture. "I had a chance to meet many of the crew at one of their reunions in the States," says Harris. "They are an impressive group of sailors." Then there's Chongjin, known for its heavy industry with huge steel plants, which Harris also has visited. "They have foodstuffs factories producing all sorts of products, including their version of Cheetos," he says. Harris says most travelers make a visit to the DMZ the Demilitarized Zone that separates North and South Korea at Panmunjom. "I've visited Panmunjom from both sides, and it's often billed as the most dangerous place on earth," he explains. "I do think that's a bit of hype. I've been to many more dangerous places, like Iraqi Kurdistan. "That said, if fighting did break out again on the Korean Peninsula, this place would be obliterated," says Harris. The roughly 160-mile long and 2-mile wide DMZ "is full of landmines," according to Harris. There's one area, he says, where North and South Korean solders face off with each other inches apart at times in the Joint Security Area of Panmunjom. "Both sides, close to their respective tour bus parking areas, have souvenir stands," says Harris. A traffic guard in Pyongyang. Mark Edward Harris Of course, even when allowed, travel to North Korea can be complicated. Foreign tour operators send in their own people, and travelers are met at the airport or the train station by two North Korean government guides. On his trips, Harris has been with a guide the entire time, except when he was at his hotel or another controlled space. "I never have felt hovered over like a lot of people think, but there have been times I wanted to photograph something and was asked not to," he says. But "the more time you spend with the guides, the more relaxed they get with you. They're very curious about life outside the DPRK and are interested in engaging conversations about a wide range of subjects. "Obviously, it's best not to discuss politics or religion." As for accommodations, there are limited choices for hotels outside the country's capital, and they are booked by the tour operators working with the government. A seaside scene in Rajin, North Korea. Mark Edward Harris "Some are more basic than others but all are clean," Harris says. "There are a couple of amazing properties, such as the Masikryong Ski Resort and a state-of-the-art Emperor Hotel & Casino in the special economic zone in Rajin near the Chinese-Russian-North Korean border. It caters to Chinese travelers with a good amount of dollars in their pockets." The Emperor Hotel & Casino is now called the Imperial Hotel and Casino, Rason. In Pyongyang, most foreigners are booked at the Koryo Hotel and the Yanggakdo Hotel, says Harris, which are basic, clean hotels. A 105-story, pyramid-shaped accomodation, called Ryugyong Hotel, is still not open, even though construction started in the late 1980s. Recreational boaters in Pyongyang, North Korea. Harris says in Pyongyang central there is actually "a very good Italian restaurant, an Austrian coffee house and a British-style pub as well as some very good Korean BBQ restaurants." Harris says they are all full of locals. "I'm not sure where their money is coming from, since the prices are very moderate for foreigners, but way above what the average citizen would or could consider to spend on a meal. "It's important to keep in mind that 99.9 percent of the population in the DPRK is not eating as well as you are during your trip to the country," he says. Part of travelers' fascination with North Korea is its government-imposed isolation from the rest of the world. The relationship between the U.S. and North Korean governments in particular has a long, uneasy history. The heart of tension dates back to 1945, when Korea, then united and a Japanese colony, was "occupied by the United States and the Soviet Union at the end of World War II," reports The New York Times. "The United States proposed temporarily dividing the country along the 38th Parallel as a way to maintain its influence on the peninsula, which bordered Russia." In 1948, anti-communist southern Korea, backed by the Americans, declared its independence form the north as the Republic of Korea. Soon after, the communist northern faction, backed by the Soviets, became the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. "Each regime was unstable, rejected the legitimacy of the other and considered itself to be Korea's sole rightful ruler," writes the Times. In 1950, the Korean War began, with the U.S. fighting alongside South Koreans against North Korea, supported by the Soviets for a time, and China. A 1953 armistice stopped the fighting, but did not officially end the Korean War, explains Harris. "North Korea was flattened," University of Chicago history professor Bruce Cummings told the Times, and the country saw it as a holocaust. In fact, "Its generals are still fighting the war," Cumings said. "For them it has never ended." Since then, there has been the Pueblo incident; President George W. Bush named North Korea as part of the "axis of evil"; and President Barack Obama supported South Korea and imposed sanctions on North Korea. Trump, of course, has vacillated between threatening on Twitter that North Korea "won't be around much longer" to agreeing to sit down with Kim. As for those who travel there, since Euna Lee and Laura Ling were famously detained in North Korea in 2009, nine other Americans have been detained as well, according to CNN, including Warmbier. All have since been released. The in-state tax break you get for opening that college savings plan may not be worthwhile if high plan costs are devouring your cash. More than 30 states, plus the District of Columbia, offer state tax breaks to residents for contributions to a 529 plan the college savings account families use to save and pay for education on a tax-free basis. Indeed, 45 percent of parents said in-state tax incentives were a factor in their 529 plan selection, according to a survey from Strategic Insight. But as convenient as it may be to invest in your state's plan just for the tax break, some experts actually warn against it. Other things matter, too, especially now that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act allows families to tap a 529 plan to cover up to $10,000 in private elementary and high school expenses each year. As of the end of last year, 529 prepaid and savings plans held $319 billion in assets, Strategic Insight found. Mining giant Vedanta faces a potential revenue loss to the tune of $210 million per month due to closing of operations at its smelter unit at Tuticorin, a top company official said on Wednesday. Last month, the Tamil Nadu government had directed the State Pollution Control Board to seal Vedanta group's copper plant and shut it down "permanently" following violent protests during which 13 people were killed in police firing. Every month the company sells about 30,000 tonnes of refined copper and multiplied by an average price of $7,000 per tonne it comes to $210 million, Sterlite Copper CEO P Ramnath said. "That's a potential revenue loss...but again revenue loss does not translate to bottomline loss," he said in reply to a query. He emphasised, "It is not just loss to the company, it is loss for both the society and the consumers...There were around 3,500 people who were dependent on us. How will they be taking care of their families now? Their savings, if they have any, will last how long." Ramnath also said that his company's unit was not emitting even a kg of sulphur dioxide. "According to national norm, emission of 2 kg of sulphur dioxide is permitted on production of 1 tonne of sulphuric acid. For us the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board had set it at 1 kg sulphur dioxide on production of 1 tonne sulphuric acid but we were emitting 0.5 kg which is below the standards as compared to power plants in there," he said. "If you compare the amount of sulphur dioxide we emit, of the total sulphur dioxide being emitted from rest of the plants in Tuticorin, our contribution is just 1%, the 99% emission of sulphur dioxide is being done by power plants there." Asked if the plant was following norms, why were people protesting against it, the CEO said there could be various reasons including vested interest. "All (those protesting) including the NGOs have their own reasons to protest. There are various myths which need to be broken," the official said. The NGOs have their vested interest and are angry after their funding were stopped under FCRA (Foreign Contribution Regulation Act), he alleged adding, "They may be backed by foreign entities". To support his point, he said India is a huge market after China and lots of players are eying India and added "It could be possible that they don't want India to be self-sufficient." "We had faced issues in Niyamgiri and there were reports that there were NGOs who were involved in it," the CEO said. He also said that he suspects role of some anti-social elements in sparking the protest. Nationalist Hindu group the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is spreading its wings far and wide. The right-wing social organisation has taken up the task of developing Cambodia as the fifth dhaam or pilgrim spot for Hindus. An initiative in this direction has been taken by Shailesh Hiranandani, founder of SRam & Mram Ltd, in step with the campaign of the RSS. Sram & Mram Group is a London-based conglomerate involved in the exports of agro-products from Cambodia to nearly 12 countries, according to its website. The home of the holy Angkor Vat temple, Cambodia retains a strong influence of Indian Hindu and Buddhist rituals and traditions. The country is about 95% Buddhist. "Adorned with Angkor Vat temple, Cambodia should be given the status and pride of becoming the fifth pilgrim place of Hindus," said Indresh Kumar, National Convenor at RSS. Angkor Wat is the largest Hindu temple in the world, and one of the only dedicated to Indian god Brahma. And while Hinduism is no longer directly practiced in Cambodia, it influences Khmer Buddhist practices, such as weddings, funerals, and the use of astrology to find auspicious dates for important events. The RSS wants to promote Hinduism in the South East Asian nation by bulding awareness among the Hindu nationals living in Cambodia about their heritage and values. The organisation has also launched a worldwide campaign to garner support and create awareness about the importance of developing Cambodia as the fifth pilgrim spot. Hindus regard Badrinath, Dwarka, Puri and Rameswaram as the four main pilgrimage sites and visiting these sites help them achieve "moksha" or salvation. This is not the first time that the RSS tried promoting Hinduism on a global scale. RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat, last year, asserted that ancestors of all people of Indian origin - including 172 million Muslims - were Hindu. A complete guide to MU's 2021 Homecoming Homecoming returns with all of the traditions, including house decs, the parade and royalty. Read more about this year's events and look back at the history of the tradition. Read the ebook Types of obituaries The Missourian publishes two types of obituaries family obituaries and life stories. A family obituary is the version submitted by a funeral home or family. Please see the submission form for details on cost and deadlines. Family obituaries A life story is a closer look at a person's life and involves a reporter contacting family and friends. Life stories are based on newsworthiness and consent of the family. Life stories. 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 TECHNICAL NOTE: TEMPORARY CUSTOMS ARRANGEMENT When the UK leaves the EU, it will also leave the EU Customs Union. During the Implementation Period, the UK will continue to apply the same rules as the EU, meaning that access to each others markets will continue on current terms. The UK is committed to securing a new future customs arrangement between the UK and EU, which would operate from the end of the Implementation Period, while also enabling the UK to forge new trading relationships with our partners in Europe and the rest of the world. In determining the future customs relationship with the EU, the UK has been clear on the need to protect the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement in all its parts, including that there will be no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, and no physical infrastructure or related checks and controls. This commitment was recalled by both the UK and EU in the December 2017 Joint Report, including the need to ensure that any solution protects Irelands place within the EU Internal Market and Customs Union, and preserves the integrity of the UKs internal market and Northern Irelands place within it. Upholding these commitments requires a joint solution on both customs, which is addressed in this paper, and an approach on regulatory standards, which will also need to be addressed. While the UK believes that the Joint Report commitments with respect to Northern Ireland can be fulfilled through the overall UK-EU partnership, it is also necessary to ensure that there is an appropriate backstop solution for the Northern Ireland land border in the Northern Ireland protocol element of the Withdrawal Agreement, that would only come into force in limited circumstances. Therefore, to deliver on its Joint Report commitment and ensure the integrity of the UK market, the UK is putting forward a proposal for the customs element of the backstop that would apply to customs arrangements between the UK and EU and avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland. The UKs proposal is that in the circumstances in which the backstop is agreed to apply, a temporary customs arrangement should exist between the UK and the EU. This arrangement would see: The elimination of tariffs, quotas, rules of origin and customs processes including declarations on all UK-EU trade; The UK outside the scope of the Common Commercial Policy (CCP), except where it is required to enable the temporary customs arrangement to function. This will mean applying the EUs common external tariff (CET) at the UKs external border, alongside the Union Customs Code (UCC) and such other parts of the Common Commercial Policy that are required to enable the temporary customs arrangement to function; and The UK able to negotiate, sign and ratify free trade agreements (FTAs) with rest of world partners and implement those elements that do not affect the functioning of the temporary customs arrangement. The temporary customs arrangement will be replaced by a permanent end state settlement, whose terms will need to be agreed by both parties. This temporary arrangement would only come into force following the Implementation Period, in specific and narrow circumstances, such as a delay in the implementation of the end state customs arrangement, and would be time-limited. The UK is clear that this is not its preferred option. Such a temporary arrangement could only be provided for in law if a Withdrawal Agreement is agreed between the UK and the EU. This Withdrawal Agreement will be accompanied by, and refer to, an agreed future partnership framework, which would set out the new customs end state arrangement. The UK acknowledges that the proposal gives rise to a number of issues that would require further discussion with the EU. This paper provides a summary of the issues, the UKs objectives and an overview of possible options. This paper also includes illustrative legal drafting, setting out possible changes to the text of the EUs draft Northern Ireland protocol to give effect to the UKs proposal. The suggested amendments are limited to parts of the draft protocol concerning customs arrangements. They are not intended to be exhaustive, and should not be regarded as representing the UKs definitive position on any of the points discussed in this paper. The UK may wish to propose further or different amendments as discussions continue. Customs, VAT & Excise Customs During a temporary customs arrangement, the UKs objective is to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland and maintain the status quo for traders in respect of customs processes. It is expected that the arrangement will also apply to the Crown Dependencies. The suggested drafting change to the EUs proposed legal text in Box 1 delivers this objective by applying the provision to the whole of the UK. This could be given effect through providing that the territory of the UK would form part of the EUs customs territory or creating a new customs territory comprising the customs territories of the UK and the EU. The UK proposes that the UK and EU should discuss both options. As noted above, the temporary customs arrangement would eliminate tariffs, quotas, rules of origin and customs processes including declarations on all UK-EU trade. To operate effectively, the temporary customs arrangement would need to provide for the UKs application of the EU customs legislation, which would include the UCC. As part of this arrangement, the UK would also need access to relevant IT systems to enable information exchanges, risk-based enforcement and facilitate customs cooperation. In line with the UCC, the UK would continue to operate the Common Transit Convention and the UK and EU would apply a waiver from safety and security entry and exit declarations on UK-EU trade. The full detail of all elements required to give operational effect to the arrangement will need to be negotiated and addressed as part of the Annex to the protocol. Customs duties on imports and exports, and any charges having equivalent effect, shall be prohibited between the Union and the United Kingdom in respect of Northern Ireland. This prohibition shall also apply to customs duties of a fiscal nature. VAT and Excise At present, different rules apply to the movements of goods between Member States and rest of world partners for VAT, due in large part to the presence of customs declarations for rest of world movements. To avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, the application of common cross-border processes and procedures for VAT and excise would be necessary, as well as some administrative cooperation and information exchange to underpin risk-based enforcement. This would need to be negotiated and addressed in the Annex to the protocol. Trade For the duration of the temporary customs arrangement the UK would continue to apply the CET but would no longer be bound by the EUs Common Commercial Policy, unless elements are necessary for the temporary customs arrangement to function. This will enable the UK to pursue an independent trade policy in areas not covered by the temporary customs arrangement. It will also require the UK to be bound by the tariff related elements of existing and future FTAs to deliver the CET for the period for which the arrangement is in force. Securing continuity in EU FTAs To operate the CET during a temporary customs arrangement, the UK will need to apply the preferential tariff rates to rest of world trade as set out in the EUs existing FTAs. Further technical discussions would be required with the EU to explore a shared solution to ensure the UK is able to apply the CET in full, and so that the UK continues to benefit from existing EU FTAs or any new ones signed during the period, and ensure that we remain WTO compliant. Future EU FTAs To keep pace with any changes to the EUs tariff policy and apply the CET, it will be necessary for the UK to continue to participate in any new FTAs that come into force during the period of the temporary customs arrangement. Further discussions will be required to determine a solution to this, including with respect to EU FTAs. Whatever approach is pursued, it will be necessary for the UK and EU to agree a mechanism to ensure that the UK national interest is represented in future FTA negotiations affecting the UK. The UKs independent trade policy during a temporary customs arrangement As the CCP would no longer apply in full, the UK would be able to negotiate, sign and ratify new bilateral, plurilateral and multilateral trade agreements and bring into force any provisions not covered by the terms of the temporary customs arrangement. Participation and Governance arrangements Participation in committees Administering the EUs trade and customs policy in relation to tariffs at the UKs border would require the UK to adopt existing and new rules in these areas for the duration of the temporary customs arrangement. The UK has helped shape current EU rules relating to trade and customs through its participation in EU committees. During a temporary customs arrangement, it is important that the UK has the ability to continue to help develop the rules that govern trade and customs policy. Dispute settlement The UK recognises that these arrangements would need to be underpinned by appropriate governance arrangements, including a mechanism for the resolution of disputes. The Prime Minister set out in her Mansion House speech that, if as part of the future partnership, parliament passes an identical law to an EU law, it may make sense for UK courts to look at the appropriate ECJ judgements, so that the laws are interpreted consistently; and that should the UK continue to participate in an EU agency, the UK would have to respect the remit of the ECJ in that regard. In this context, and respecting the integrity of both parties legal orders, the UK and the EU will need to work together to develop governance arrangements that ensure: Rules are applied appropriately; Rules are interpreted and enforced consistently; and Disputes between the parties related to these rules are resolved effectively. Allocation of duties The UK currently remits 80 per cent of customs duties collected on trade with third countries to the EU budget under the EUs Own Resources Decision, which sets out how member state contributions to the EU budget are calculated. The UK retains 20 per cent to cover administration costs. After the Implementation Period, the UK will no longer have a legal requirement to remit revenue in this way. The UK notes that the Commissions draft legal text as set out in the Northern Ireland protocol suggests that a specific mechanism may be required for revenue collection and distribution. The UK would like to understand this proposal further in discussions with the EU. Time limiting the agreement The UK is clear that the temporary customs arrangement, should it be needed, should be time limited, and that it will be only in place until the future customs arrangement can be introduced. The UK is clear that the future customs arrangement needs to deliver on the commitments made in relation to Northern Ireland. The UK expects the future arrangement to be in place by the end of December 2021 at the latest. There are a range of options for how a time limit could be delivered, which the UK will propose and discuss with the EU. Daniel Hannan: On the Elgin Marbles, as on everything else, Corbyns assumption is that Britain Is Always In The Wrong Daniel Hannan is an MEP for South-East England, and a journalist, author and broadcaster. His most recent book is What Next: How to Get the Best from Brexit. Few voters will be swayed one way or the other by the location of the Elgin Marbles. The British have been arguing among themselves for more than two centuries over whether the exquisite stone sculptures belong on the Athenian Acropolis, and Jeremy Corbyns demand that they be handed over adds nothing new to that debate. But perhaps it adds something to the publics perception of the Labour leader, confirming a view that has been building since last years election, namely that he will always and everywhere back another country against his own. There are honourable arguments for and against shipping the Parthenon marbles to Greece. The strongest case for their restitution is aesthetic. Reuniting the original sculptures would create something resplendent. That was, broadly speaking, Byrons point back in 1812: Dull is the eye that will not weep to see Thy walls defaced, thy mouldering shrines removed By British hands. On the other hand, there is little doubt that the marbles were properly bought and paid for. Lord Elgin sought and obtained permission from the Ottoman authorities to remove the carvings, and later sold them to the British Government, which placed them in the British Museum where they have been drawing huge and appreciative crowds ever since. Property rights do not lapse simply because an artefact is considered culturally significant. Nor should private ownership be trumped by vague collective claims. That principle is one of the foundations of an open society. For what its worth, there seems to me a good case for displaying a unified set of marbles on Athenas temple. Even bare and ruined, the Parthenon is a thing of beauty. Restore its metopes and its magnificent frieze, and it would be dazzling. Id be happy for the British Museum, while maintaining legal ownership, to display its prize possession permanently on the original building. That, though, is not the Greek demand. Fears of pollution and earthquakes led to the removal of the remaining marbles to the nearby Acropolis Museum, which opened in 2009. There is far less of an argument for moving the marbles from one museum to another. Not that Jezza shows much interest in either the legal or the aesthetic claims. Instead, unhesitatingly and unthinkingly, he has taken what he sees as the anti-British side. In his simple view, its all about the evils of colonialism. Here is how he put it last week: As with anything stolen or taken from occupied or colonial possession including artefacts looted from other countries in the past we should be engaged in constructive talks with the Greek government about returning the sculptures. For what its worth, Greece was never Britains colonial possession. Indeed, within a decade of Lord Elgins purchase, idealistic young men were flocking from these islands to fight alongside Byron in the cause of Greek independence a struggle financed, in no small measure, by British Philhellenes. But Corbo doesnt care about details like that. The foundational principle of his world-view is that Britain Is Always In The Wrong. This peculiar national masochism has led him to support some truly nasty causes over the years: Hamas, Hezbollah, the Soviet Union, the IRA. Today it makes him side, in effect if not in intent, with Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad two quasi-fascists. He couldnt even bring himself to back Britain in a defensive war against General Galtieri, whose military junta had murdered dozens of trade unionists and Left-wing agitators. Plainly the Greek demand for the marbles is not in that category: no one is suggesting that they be seized by force. Still, the claim has an ethno-nationalist tinge that sits oddly with the Labour leaders other views. The restitutionist argument boils down to the idea that Greeks have a hereditary claim to something that was carved on their territory 2,400 years ago. We dont normally think in these terms. If you buy a painting by Georges Seurat, its yours. It cant be seized by the French state on grounds that Seurats nationality makes it part of Frances patrimoine culturel. For what its worth, I think the hereditary argument is weak even in its own terms. Who knows where we might find the descendants of the original sculptor, Phidias if, indeed, any survive. Greece, like every country, has experienced vast population movements over the past two millennia. For example, the Byzantine Emperor, Constantine Porphyrogenitus, wrote in the tenth century that Greece had been overrun by Slavs even as far as the Peloponnese and had been lost to civilisation. The British writer Auberon Waugh used regularly to recycle a column about how Greeks had no claim to the stones because you could see from their physiognomy that they were not descended from the men who had carved them. Waugh was a provocateur with a puckish sense of humour, but such arguments can quickly become inflammatory. Once you start arguing that nations have collective claims, and that those claims trump individual rights, including that of private ownership, you can quickly find yourself having eerily 1930s-style arguments about who belongs to which group. Youd think that Jezza would steer well clear of all such quarrels. And, indeed, youd never hear him aver that, for example, Jews have a hereditary right to the West Bank because it contains Josephs Tomb. But, as usual, the claims of a perceived victim group, for Corbyn, trump everything else. The rest of us should hold ourselves to a higher standard. Just as we consider collective punishments to be a war crime, so we should steer clear of collective entitlements. The elevation of the individual over the group is the basis of our liberal civilisation. Remember that. Bradley refuses to rule out new Assembly elections The Northern Irish Office has got the prospect of another set of elections to the Assembly under review, according to the Belfast Telegraph. A spokesperson for Karen Bradley reportedly made the comments in response to criticism from Sinn Fein, which has accused the Government of having no plan to get the devolved institutions back on their feet. Michelle ONeill, who leads the republican party in Northern Ireland, decried the Governments statement as glib and disingenous, and claimed the Tories were too in hoc to the DUP to take decisive action. Furious Davidson opposed the Vow before 2014 Scottish referendum The Times reports that the leader of the Scottish Conservatives was f***ing furious* when the party leaders overruled her and insisted on issuing the Vow in the final days of the Scottish independence referendum. According to a new biography, Davidson thought that the pledge was the wrong way to go about delivering more powers and would hand the initiative to the Nationalists after the vote. How right she was. Just as feared, the SNP were swiftly able to reframe the referendum as a defeat not on the principle of independence, but on the vague terms of a particular deal supposedly offered by the UK parties. This was eminently foreseeable, which is why at the time I urged the Government to frame No as a vote for our country, not a contract. Ellwood backs amnesty for Ulster veterans Tobias Ellwood has called for an amnesty for ex-servicemen who served in Northern Ireland to protect them from ambulance chasers, the Daily Telegraph reports. Apparently the defence minister has announced that he wont support any inquiry which sees elderly soldiers being hounded and has said that he knocked over a few milk bottles during his own deployment in Ulster. The question of whether or not to time-limit inquiries into British troops has divided the Cabinet, with Gavin Williamson in favour and Bradley opposed. The Northern Irish Secretary has said that it would be wrong just to draw a line in the sand over the conduct of British forces during the Troubles. Labour may have special conference to decide Welsh leadership rules Wales Online tells us that Carwyn Jones, the outgoing First Minister of Wales, has proposed that the party organise a special conference to resolve a long-running dispute about how his successor should be selected. Members are currently split between those who support the current electoral college system and those who want to follow the lead of the UK party and adopt one member, one vote (OMOV), which is widely seen as a shift which will favour the partys left wing. The dispute came to a head in the aftermath of the election of Welsh Labours first ever deputy leader, in which the runner-up secured substantially more members votes but was narrowly beaten thanks to the electoral college setup. Foster to lead major Orange Order parade in Scotland Arlene Foster, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, is going to be the star guest at an Orange Order demonstration in Cowdenbeath in Scotland, according to The Sun. It quotes an insider suggesting that the former First Minister may be attending to make a point to Nicola Sturgeon about a second vote on Scottish independence. Neither the Scottish Government nor the local Tories knew about the visit or have any plans to meet with Foster. Not that Foster is the only leader meeting the Order: Leo Varadkar, the Irish Taoiseach, has announced that he will be visiting their Belfast headquarters on Friday. The DUP leaders intervention comes in the same week that both Kwasi Kwarteng and Theresa May hit out at the Scottish First Minister over her ongoing independence push, with the Prime Minister calling her out of touch with the mood of the electorate, and the Institute for Fiscal Studies claimed that the SNPs much-vaunted new report on independence was a blueprint for years of austerity. Meanwhile the Scottish Conservatives accused the Nationalists of putting independence ahead of governing after the Scottish Fiscal Commission announced a 1.7 billion downgrade in its tax projections. Gibraltarian leader signs petition calling for Westminster representation Fabian Picardo QC, the Chief Minister of Gibraltar, has joined more than 9,200 people in putting his name to a petition calling for the Rock to be granted representation in Parliament. At present Gibraltar only votes as part of the United Kingdom during European elections, when it is part of the South West constituency. According to the Daily Express the Government is likely to try to adopt the same model for Westminster, with the territory sharing an MP with Cornwall. However, this seems difficult to justify in light of the fact that the Western Isles have their own constituency despite lying only a few miles from the British mainland, despite having a smaller population than Gibraltar. Not only would the move help to address a representational imbalance, but it would also help to strengthen the UKs bond to Gibraltar and bring the relationship more closely into line with modern international norms. As campaigners have noted, other European countries especially France have numerous territories across the globe which are permitted to vote in national elections. The frogs union flag waistcoat is disintegrating amidst the seething water. It has been clear since the Government reaffirmed its position on the backstop last month that the prospect of a clean Brexit is vanishing with it. In essence, the backstops implementation would mean, if Ministers take on it prevails, the whole UK being bound by the Common External Tarriff, and being aligned to a mass of Single Market rules. This reading of the backstop may or may not turn out to be acceptable to the EU but, were it to prove so, the negotiation would move on to immigration, with the Commission and the EU27 arguing that if the UK is to be so closely aligned in goods it must also so be in peoples. As we have said before, such an outcome would add up less to Canada Plus, let alone Plus Plus Plus, than Norway Minus EEA lite. The question of the direct jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice would also arise. The absence of a White Paper setting out more of the Governments negotiating position, the continued impasse over the customs partnership v maximum facilitation, and the sidelining of both options if the UK is to enter the backstop, point towards a climacteric in the autumn: the EU offers Theresa May not a detailed trade deal, but a vague outline proposal. The EU proposes to swap this for money thats to say, the 40 billion or so that the Government agreed to pay last December. They take; we give. Brexiteers are currently divided into what James Forsyth today calls hedgers and ditchers. Hedgers believe that what matters most is getting out of the EU by March 29 next year. Better to push for a cleaner Brexit from outside the EU than within it, they say however flawed any agreement may be. Ditchers argue that the dirty Brexit looming into view, together with this lopsided deal, could actually leave Britain worse off than it is as an EU member. Better to stay than leave in this shoddy manner. It is far from certain that Parliament will vote for such a deal in any event. This is the background against which next weeks return of the EU Withdrawal Bill to the Commons is set. And over both it and Mays future now hovers a storm cloud which, yesterday, was no bigger than the proverbial mans hand, but has grown this morning, and rumbles with distant thunder like a summer storm. As todays papers confirm, Brexiteer ministers and others have come to believe that the Prime Minister has reneged on safeguards given to them which from their point of view might render the present negotiating position recoverable. First, they claim that she has effectively given up on time-limiting the backstop. (Quite how this could be done in any event is an interesting question.) Second, they point out that the publication of the White Paper, promised for before the European Summit later this month, has been delayed. Third, they argue that the Government has gradually crept closer to alignment than the agreement at the Cabinet committee awayday at Chequers earlier this year provided for. Finally and separately, there is intense frustration with the Chancellor who, they believe, has never believed that no deal is better than a bad deal, and has held out against giving the machinery of government the resources to ensure that we are Ready On Day 730 (thats to say, at the end of transition), let alone on Day One. So what are they going to do about it? If they no longer have confidence in May to cut to the chase will they actually quit? This sites reckoning is that resignation is most likely in the following order among the most senior Brexiteers: David Davis, Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, Liam Fox. It should not be forgotten that their fellow Cabinet members Chris Grayling, Andrea Leadsom, Esther McVey and Penny Mordaunt also backed leaving the EU. The International Trade Secretary is by instinct a strong May loyalist, and will not want to add to her troubles, even though the position on the backstop has added considerably to his. The Environment Secretary would be reluctant to face the claim, however unfair, that he has let down three colleagues in a row David Cameron, Boris Johnsonand the Prime Minister. In any event, we must presume that his leadership ambitions are not dead. The Foreign Secretary huffs and puffs, but has not blown anyones house down so far. That leaves Davis. He is reported today to be refusing to make the case for Mays position on the backstop, presumably on the ground that without the safeguard of a firm end-date he doesnt agree with it. There are also claims that Fox, Gove and Johnson plus, its worth noting, Gavin Williamson were sent papers relating to the negotiation later than to Davis, Philip Hammond and Karen Bradley. Yesterday, the Brexit Secretary didnt rule out resigning: plus ca change, you may say. It may indeed be that the Davis and the Prime Minister, forced to share negotiation policy in the manner of Love Island contestants forced to share a bed, will, if not exactly kiss and make up, at least come to an accomodation about which side each will sleep on, and how to position the ragged duvet. Furthermore, ConservativeHome understands that no discussion of the position on customs will take place in Cabinet committee today anyway. But if trust is breaking down between the two, can it be so easily repaired? At root, there is a deeper problem. Mays point-man on Brexit is Olly Robbins. Robbins was Permanent Secretary at the Brexit Department. He and Davis didnt get on. Robbins was moved out but also up, into Downing Street. So Davis isnt really master in his own negotiation. And Robbins necessarily has a civil servants perspective, not a politicians let alone a Brexiteering politicians. Wheres Nick Timothy when you need him? The role of Robbins, the state of the backstop, the absence of a White Paper, the prospect of a poor deal in the autumn and hesitancy over No Deal preparations meld ominously. A crisis postponed today can be a crisis present tomorrow. Were Davis to go, it is difficult to see how his Brexiteering junior Ministers, Steve Baker and Suella Braverman, could stay. The same would arguably apply to Johnson. Tory MPs would then be in leadership challenge territory, with unknowable consequences for May, the Government, and Brexit itself. Lets go through it all once again. The backstop set out in paragraphs 49 and 40 of Decembers joint report proposes to bind at least part of the UK to the Common External Tarriff, align it to a mass of Single Market rules, and arguably maintain the direct jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice. The EU wants the backstop for Northern Ireland only.The Government wants it, if implemented, to apply to the whole UK. If Ministers get their way, the UK-wide settlement will be a kind of EEA minus; a Norway lite. Either way, once the backstop kicks in, it cannot as matters stand be rescinded by one party to the agreement only. So if the EU wishes the backstop to continue to apply indefinitely (as it well might), it doesnt matter whether the Government proclaims an end date because, as weve seen, the EU isnt bound by it. It may be of course that the final agreement between the UK and EU supercedes what was set out in the joint agreement. But that looks unlikely. After all, Theresa May cant make up her mind to back one of the two arrangements that might supercede the backstop the customs partnership and max fac, and the clock is ticking Even if she did, the EU might well not agree to it. It is therefore very hard to see what David Davis has gained from the technical note on the customs agreement agreed with the Prime Minister today. That note doesnt bring forward the publication of the Government negotiation White Paper, which May has delayed. It doesnt advance preparing for No Deal if necessary, thereby putting a rocket up the Chancellor. It doesnt set out a route map to regulatory divergence in some cases the subject of so much discussion at the Chequers summit. It doesnt remove Olly Robbins from his role as the Prime Ministers chief Brexit negotiator, and put Davis, or another Minister, properly in charge. It doesnt do any of these things because they are beyond its remit. But all of these matters have been the subject of vociferous complaint this week from Ministers and MPs mostly, though not all by any means exclusively, Brexiteers. They have simply not been addressed today. Indeed, all the Brexit Secretary seems to have won is mention of a date by which the Government wants a replacement for the backstop a future arrangement to be in place: December 2021 at the latest. But this is not a time limit. It is merely the date by which the Government expects [our italic] the future arrangement to be in place. ConservativeHome can expect, say, rain to fall on Sunday. It doesnt necessarily follow that it will. The technical note goes on to conclude that there are a range of options for how a time limit could be delivered, which the UK will propose and discuss with the EU. And as we have seen: any such limit cannot be enforced as matters stand. It may be that some private arrangement was agreed between May and Davis that we dont know about that there was more to todays discussion than meets the eye. That is sometimes the case in these affairs. It could also be that the Brexit Secretary has some future gambit up his sleeve, and that there will be more face-offs to come between him and the Prime Minister. That is more likely than not, as we argued this morning especially since he will be very conscious, this afternoon, that some are lampooning him as the boy who always cries wolf. Remember: in the story, the wolf eventually arrives. But, for the moment, the Government is still heading towards an autumn deal in which the EU gives vague promises of a future trade deal, but starts taking hard cash from the UK. May is no stronger, because shes had to appease an irate minister. And Davis looks a bit weaker, because, on some matters at least, he seems to have backed down, at least for now. More steam is rising from that simmering water. But at least the frog has a nice shiny new button for its waistcoat. Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte has backed the Quezon City Police Districts Smart City crime prevention measures employing cutting-edge technology. Belmonte had met with Chief Supt. Joselito Esquivel, who had briefed her about the Smart City concept, and said she was convinced such might make an unprecedented difference in the city governments anti-crime efforts and crime prevention campaign. I think we should really provide police and emergency services with new technologies to fight crimes and make our city safer. And we must admit that public security is a growing problem for cities not just here in our country but also worldwide, she said. [Esquivel] was asking me to support him on this and I said, of course, well support him, she added. As an information technology expert, Esquivel suggested the need to purchase some analytical tools to reinforce the local polices crime surveillance and prevention capabilities.The vice mayor said despite hundreds of closed-circuit television cameras already installed around Quezon City, there are times most video surveillance technology is inefficient because of blind spots and low-quality imagery. But if you have analytics, algorithms will tell you theres something wrong. General Esquivel believes that with analytics, you can solve or prevent street crimes, she said. Widely used in many United States of America and European cities, Smart City solutions use different types of electronic data collection sensors to supply information which are used to manage assets and resources efficiently, she said. 80% Website ansariuk.org uses latest and advanced technologies like: JQuery and WebFonts. It supports HTTPS and GZIP compression. The main html page has a size of 63052 bytes (61.57 kb uncompressed) and 15347 bytes (14.99 kb compressed). This CoolSocial report was updated on 2020-11-10, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want. BROCKVILLE, Ontario On May 23, the Upper Canada District School Board (UCDSB) approved its 2018-2019 budget. The budget has a deficit of $1.8 million. The total expense budget passed is $415, 200, 000. If we dont eventually replace that deficit with a surplus, what happens is the ministry comes in and starts running our schools, and the way we spend money. The freedoms we enjoy, will no longer be there, said Jeremy Armer, Trustee of Ward 7. Armer is an Investment Advisor and the only Trustee who voted against the budget. He encourages parents to contact their local Trustees and ask why they voted in favour of a deficit budget. The Ministry requires the school board not to exceed the budget by one per cent to maintain compliance, which in this case would be approximately $3.6 million according to Stephen Sliwa, Director of Education with the UCDSB. Sliwa said that the budget is related to a funding formula provided by the Ministry of Education. I know that in the last five years, since 2013, the board has had a range of budget outcomes from balanced budgets, to surplus budgets, to on occasion a deficit budget, said Sliwa. During the meeting it was stated that 83 per cent of the budget is a fixed cost around labour. Three pressure points of the remaining 17 per cent were mentioned: Special Education, student transportation and absent staff replacement costs. Sliwa said that a Deficit Reduction Plan will soon be created by staff and presented to Trustees for their approval. Trustees questioned if school programming will be affected by the budget during the meeting. I know they can find $1.5, or even $2 million in budget cuts where it wouldnt affect programming, said Armer. To do that to the next board coming in, I was really disappointed. We owe it to the public to have a balanced budget. We should be able to deliver our programming within the money that weve been given. If not, I dont want to be a part of this board. Its embarrassing. Sliwa feels that whether elected officials are experienced or new, there wont be any issues with them handling the deficit budget. I truly hope that Board staff have taken into consideration the many students in this area who will opt to attend the co-terminus board now that they can start it right after Grade 6 at St. Josephs, said Jennifer MacIsaac, a parent with a child in the UCDSB. That being said, competing for students has never been top of mind for this Board. Perhaps many Trustees dont plan on running in the next election and arent concerned about what sort of budget constraints they are leaving for the next Board who will be elected this fall. We are compliant with the ministry, as we are being told by our finance people, said Caroll Carkner, Trustee of Ward 10 during the meeting. Seeing those minus numbers dont scare me quite as much when were compliant. We can only hope and pray that we have increased enrolment, so our budget will increase whenever we find the kids in the seats in September. The regional scores on the domains of Safety and Security and Militarisation improved, but Ongoing Conflict, particularly internal and external conflicts fought and neighbouring countries relations, deteriorated, it added. However, said the report, Given the wide disparity between the peace performance of the nations of South Asia, the aggregate data tell an incomplete picture. Bhutan, famous for trying to maximise Gross National Happiness rather than Gross Domestic Product, was once again the most peaceful nation in the region and was the most significant regional riser last year. Strengthening scores on the Political Terror Scale, refugees and IDPs and terrorism impact were only partially offset by a deterioration in external conflicts fought after a border dispute with China flared in the Doklam Pass, the report said, adding, The three-month standoff also involved India, which sent troops to the area. The report further said, Sri Lanka was again the second most peaceful nation in South Asia, and the second largest riser in the region last year. Although the scores for terrorism impact, the incarceration rate and military expenditure improved, there are some worrying signs for the future. The scores for both refugees and IDPs and political instability deteriorated, a reflection of waning confidence that President Maithripala Sirisena can deliver the reforms his government promised. Though ranking quite high compared to India, the report, simultaneously, pointed out, Bangladesh had the largest deterioration in the region. Improvements in political stability and terrorism impact failed to offset a rapid fall in external conflicts fought, and neighbouring countries relations, which were adversely affected by the influx of 700,000 Rohingya refugees from neighbouring Myanmar. The report measures GPI using three domains of peacefulness: Ongoing Domestic and International Conflict; Societal Safety and Security, and Militarisation, reflecting the link between a countrys level of military build-up and access to weapons and its level of peacefulness, both domestically and internationally. A Sydney-based non-profit institute has ranked India 136th in its Global Peace Index (GPI) of 163 countries across the globe, a slight (one point) improvement over the year. The report , Global Peace Index 2018: Measuring Peace in a Complex World, released by the Institute for Economics & Peace, has found, however, that except for Pakistan, all other neighbours ranked much better than India. Thus, while Pakistan ranks 151st, one of the worst in the world, Bangladesh ranks 93rd, Sri Lanka 67th, Myanmar 122nd, Nepal 84th and Bhutan, one of the best, 19th. Commenting on the a slightly improved overall score of India, the report claims: Government efforts to tackle violent crime have paid off with an improved score, and falling levels of military expenditure, particularly on weapons imports, resulted in a slight improvement in its militarisation score.At the same time, the report does not fail to notice, though without providing any evidence, However, the concentration of power in the office of Prime Minister Narendra Modi led to deterioration in Indias score for political instability.Interestingly, among the comparable BRICS countries, Indias 136th GPI ranking is worse than Chinas (112th), Brazils (106th), and South Africas (125th), but much better than that of Russia (154th).The reports data show that Indias economic cost of violence, as a result of different types of conflicts, came to 9% of the GDP, as against Pakistans 13%, Bangladeshs 4%, Nepals 6%, Sri Lankas 8%, Myanmars 10% and Bhutans 8%.The report states that South Asia as a whole may have slightly improved its position in GPI, but inequality of peace in the region continued to widen over the year, with the least peaceful nations Afghanistan and Pakistan continuing their decline, while the most peaceful Bhutan and Sri Lanka continued to improve. Peter Lim wants Supreme Court to stop probe on drug charges posted June 07, 2018 at 11:00 pm by Rey E. Requejo June 07, 2018 at 11:00 pm The Supreme Court has been asked to stop the Department of Justice from proceeding with its reinvestigation of the drug charges filed against Cebu-based businessman Peter Lim on the ground that it smacks of persecution, harassment, and oppression. In a 48-page petition, Lim pleaded the SC to issue the temporary restraining order and subsequently to nullify the order of then Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre to conduct a reinvestigation of the complaint filed against him and several others despite a resolution dismissing it for lack of evidence. The State cannot be allowed to resort to improper methods calculated to produce a wrongful conviction, Lims petition lamented.In a controversial resolution, a DoJs panel of prosecutors had dismissed the case against Lim, self-confessed drug distributor Kerwin Espinosa, convicted drug lord Peter Co and several other personalities for lack of evidence. COMMENT DISCLAIMER: Reader comments posted on this Web site are not in any way endorsed by Manila Standard. Comments are views by manilastandard.net readers who exercise their right to free expression and they do not necessarily represent or reflect the position or viewpoint of manilastandard.net. While reserving this publications right to delete comments that are deemed offensive, indecent or inconsistent with Manila Standard editorial standards, Manila Standard may not be held liable for any false information posted by readers in this comments section. Fujifilm said it may back out of a proposed buyout of Xerox if the two sides cannot negotiate better terms, the film companys CEO told investors, according to a Reuters report. I dont have a specific deadline in mind, but it should normally be from several months to six months. If we have nothing by then, it cant be helped, CEO Shigetaka Komori told reporters in Tokyo Thursday morning, according to Reuters. These are his first public comments since Xerox abandoned its deal with Fuji in mid-May. A spokeswoman later clarified this meant Fujifilm could end merger talks, Reuters said. This is the latest salvo from Komori, who last month threatened to sue Xerox for stopping talks. So far the company has not made any legal moves. On May 13, Xerox ousted CEO Jeff Jacobson and several board members to settle legal challenges mounted by activist investors Carl Ichan and Darwin Deason. They also rejected the terms of their deal with Fujifilm that would have seen the American icon surrender 50.1 percent control of the company in exchange for a $2.5 billion special dividend to shareholders. Icahns preferred CEO, John Visentin, was given the corner office, and Deason withdrew lawsuits against Xerox and Fujifilm. Since then, Komori has threatened that Fujifilm would sue to block Xerox from backing out of the $6.1 billion merger that had been in the works for months. Xerox said that in early May it was unsuccessful in seeking better terms from Komori. Icahn and Deason had proposed a buyout that valued Xerox stock at $40 per share. Fujifilm and Xerox did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday morning. According to Reuters, Komori said Fujifilm is not opposed to considering any new proposal from the new Xerox board if its beneficial for both firms, but the $40 per share sought by Icahn and Deason is too high. Capgemini is buying the cybersecurity arm of defense company Leidos in a move that will boost the French business consulting firm's presence in North America. Leidos Cyber -- the security division of the Fortune 500 defense contractor Leidos Holdings -- is made up of nearly 500 cybersecurity professionals located across North America. According to a press release, Leidos Cyber provides enterprise clients with "a holistic platform" that services an entire security architecture, including integrated offerings for security combined with managed security services. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. "Leidos Cyber is a pioneer in the field of cybersecurity. It defined the market in protecting the industrial control ecosystem for the mission critical infrastructure needs of global enterprises," said Paul Hermelin, chairman and CEO of Capgemini. "It is the perfect fit to reinforce our cybersecurity practice in North America, to help meet the security requirements of our international client base. I look forward to welcoming them to the Group." Leidos, a defense firm headquartered in Reston, Va., provides IT services, and systems integration, to large government clients such as the NSA, Department of Defense, as well as Homeland Security. Leidos said the security unit was positioned to capture a broader commercial market outside the companys core customers in government and other highly regulated industries. Cyber remains one of Leidos core competencies and, as such, we remain committed to developing and deploying the best cyber solutions in support of our customers IT needs, Angie Heise, Group President, Leidos Civil Group said in a statement to CRN. We will continue to invest in cyber for these markets and retain approximately 1,500 cyber professionals focused on this mission. Heise said Capgemini's commitment to engaging a broad set of commercial markets makes it an ideal fit for the Leidos Cyber business. Capgemeni declined to comment. The completion of the acquisition is subject to anti-trust and Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. Capgemeni expects the deal to close by the end of this year. Capgemini -- No. 4 on the 2018 CRN SP 500 works in consulting, technology services and digital transformation. It does business in 40 countries and reported revenues of 12.8 billion euro in 2017. Leidos Cybers chief said the deal will open their security offerings up to a global market. "Capgemini's well-established security services portfolio coupled with its global presence makes it a natural home for our commercial cybersecurity team," Robert Meindl, President, Leidos Cyber said in a statement. "Not only will we be able to play our part in augmenting the North America cybersecurity practice but we also look forward to adding value to the global security provisions of Capgemini's clients around the world." NetApp and Cisco next week will use the upcoming Cisco Live conference to show off new FlexPod managed private cloud services and vertical solutions capabilities. The underlying structure of the FlexPod converged infrastructure offering, which integrates NetApp storage with Cisco UCS compute and networking resources with a unified management scheme, is not changing with the new releases, said Ranjeet Sudan, vice president of NetApp's Converged Infrastructure Group. Instead, Sudan told CRN, the focus is on enabling partners to do more with the FlexPod platform, both newly installed and previously installed. [Related: NetApp CEO Kurian: Growth Driven By Sales Of Strategic Products, Especially All-flash Storage] The first new FlexPod enhancement is the ability for partners to help customers set up managed private cloud services on the converged infrastructure platform, Sudan said. This gives customers an on-premises cloud solution that can be managed remotely for business-critical applications, he said. Included are a set of requirements for building the cloud, service-level agreement guidelines, and a pricing structure for multi-tenant environments, Sudan said. Partners can take advantage of NetApp's new optional Converged System Advisor to provide always-on monitoring of the infrastructure. Arun Garg, director of product management for NetApp's Converged Infrastructure Group, told CRN customers get a complete managed cloud with FlexPod at the base, along with a third-party managed cloud service, and full management and monitoring with help from NetApp. "For example, [one solution provider] might help customers deploy an on-premises cloud with FlexPod, its cloud portal, remote connectivity to its network operations center, and SLAs for running the cloud on-premises," Garg said. Other solution providers, however, may take advantage of third-party cloud platforms, he said. Also new from NetApp is the first validated vertical solutions based on FlexPod. Sudan said FlexPod traditionally has been tested and validated with horizontal applications like Oracle databases. However, the company is now unveiling the first validated vertical solution for FlexPod, the FlexPod Datacenter for Epic EHR, which provides a complete infrastructure for managing electronic health records using Verona, Wis.-based Epic's platform. "We already have a lot of hospitals and health-care organizations running FlexPod," he said. "Now we're expanding to vertical solutions like Epic EHR. Epic EHR was written to take advantage of the file data and scale-out capabilities NetApp offers." Looking ahead, Sunnyvale, Calif.-based NetApp will plan more health-care vertical solutions for FlexPod, and then move on to other verticals, Sudan said. "We started with electronic health records first because four to five companies control about 80 percent of the market," he said. FlexPod is already a very flexible platform for building IT infrastructures, with at least 140 Cisco Validated Designs available, said John Woodall, vice president of engineering at Integrated Archive Systems, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based solution provider and longtime NetApp channel partner. "The value of reference architectures like FlexPod is they give customers confidence in the engineering behind it," Woodall told CRN. "Big customers have their own standards, and build infrastructures to those standards. And FlexPod is the standard for many companies. If a business buys FlexPod with Epic EHR, they know what's in it, they know what results they'll get." With FlexPod, solution providers know they can avoid integrating the compute, storage and networking components, and focus on the applications, Woodall said. "Standardization can be a boring topic until you have a problem," he said. "There are so many new issues that pop up and make the platform unwieldy." The U.S. Department of Commerce confirmed that it has reached a definitive agreement to keep failing Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE in business, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross confirmed on Thursday. The settlement, which was allegedly finalized around 6 a.m. ET Thursday, hands ZTE a $1.4 billion fine in total and gives the company 30 days to change its board of directors and executive team. In turn, ZTE will be freed up to once again buy tech components from U.S. suppliers, including from Qualcomm, Corning and Google. The confirmed deal follows initial reports on Tuesday that ZTE, based in Shenzhen, China, signed an agreement over the weekend with the U.S. lift the ban imposed on the company by the U.S. Department of Commerce. [Related: Carrier Catchup: A Look At The Latest Buzz From The Telecom Industry] ZTE in April was slapped with the seven-year buying ban after the company was caught for a second time selling banned U.S. technology to North Korea and Iran, violating U.S. trade agreements. As a result, ZTE was forced to shutter its major operations. The deal, which will help ZTE resume operations, includes a $1 billion penalty for ZTE, as well as $400 million in escrow to cover any future violations. The U.S. will also select a compliance team to oversee ZTE's practices, Ross said in an interview. "We are literally embedding a compliance department of our choosing into the company to monitor it going forward. They will pay for those people, but the people will report to the new chairman," Ross said in an interview on CNBC. Ross called the settlement the strictest and largest fine that the Commerece Department has ever brought against a violator. "The total deal is $1.4 billion. That money will be forfeited if they violate anything ... and we still retain the power to shut them down again," Ross said. Not everyone in Washington is convinced that ZTE should be receiving a helping hand from the U.S., however. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, accused the administration of being soft on China. "There is absolutely no good reason that ZTE should get a second chance, and this decision marks a 180-degree turn away from the president's promise to be tough on China," Schumer said of the new agreement in a statement on Thursday. US Commerce secretary: US reaches 'definitive agreement' with ZTE from CNBC. DRUG WAR. Laguna Provincial Director Sr. Supt. John Kirby and Santa Rosa police chief Supt. Eugene Orate are interviewed by a television news reporter following a buy-bust operation during a bloody encounter Thursday with alleged drug pushers and law enforcement authorities in Baranagay Tagapo in Santa Rosa City. One of two suspects, Donato Yambao Sarsaba, died on the spot. Roy Tomandao The Philippines slipped one notch to 137th out of 163 countries in the 2018 Global Peace Index, giving it the second-worst score in the Asia Pacific, just ahead of North Korea, which placed 150th. The Institute for Economics and Peace, which does the yearly survey, said the Philippines suffered particularly badly as President Duterte continued his assault on alleged drug dealers and from the five-month battle between government forces and Islamic militants who took over the city of Marawi. Some 1,200 people were killed during the siege of Marawi, which ended five months after it started, but Mindanao remains under martial law. The institute also said the Philippines was among the countries that increased weapon imports last year, as China continued to exert itself both militarily and politically in the region.The report cited the warming of ties between Beijing and Manila as Duterte reached an understanding with China.The study reported the global level of peace deteriorated by 0.27 percent in the past year, with six out of nine regions experiencing a fall in peacefulness. The Global Peace Index ranks 163 countries according to their level of peacefulness. The institute says this covers 99.7 percent of the worlds population. Philippine National Police chief Oscar Albayalde disputed the Global Peace Index results, and invited members of the Institute of Economics and Peace to visit the Philippines to appreciate the real peace and order situation in the country. Albayalde said the institutes findings were perceptions that might have been shaped by various groups, including human rights groups that have been critical of the Duterte administration. Cisco's Talos threat intelligence organization has discovered that the VPNFilter malware it pinpointed nearly two weeks ago is more insidious than originally thought. The threat is in fact a man-in-the-middle attack that allows attackers to modify traffic going through as many as 500,000 routers globally, said Craig Williams, Cisco Talos outreach lead. Talos today also added several router models to its list of potentially affected devices. VPNFilter was originally thought to allow state-sponsored attackers to piggyback on targeted internet connections as a means to attack anyone across the planet without being traced. The man-in-the middle attack element represents a considerable advancement to the malware's potential impact. [Related: Cisco's Changing Of The Guard: 8 Executive Moves That Illustrate CEO Robbins' Software-Centric Push] "It can develop into an even more integrated attack against home internet users," Williams said. "It can look for things like credit card numbers, banking credentials. Considering it's man-in-the-middling all of the traffic, it could even modify pages coming back from your bank if they don't protect against that, meaning they could steal money from you while showing you the right amount at home." So far, VPNFilter has targeted small office and home office-type routers, Williams said. No Cisco routers have been found to be vulnerable. Still, the problem for larger businesses and the channel, Williams said, is that any device could potentially be targeted. "It doesn't matter what product you buy. Anything you buy, even if it is the most expensive router on the planet, is going to eventually going to have a security issue," Williams said. "It's the nature of software. Every single device on the planet will have a security issue. If you don't patch those devices, they will be exploited 100 percent of the time." The most vulnerable businesses, Williams said, are those that have allowed employees to bring in routers, or whose employees have brought in routers in a "rogue IT" fashion. "It's just basic home office gear," Williams said. "The problem is a lot of businesses for cost-saving measures, or through rogue IT, allow people to bring these devices into the office where they can become a threat. For IT, you've got to find a way to identify these devices. You've got to scan your network. You've got to be vigilant. As you find these devices, you ensure they're added to whatever system you use to make sure they get patched. Devices like this that are exposed to the internet are always going to be a concern." While it's difficult to pinpoint who is actually responsible for the VPNFilter malware, Williams said, Talos has found code in the attack that overlaps with code used by APT28, a threat group thought to be linked to the Russian government. "We can say the code is similar," Williams said. "It's very likely the code has been reused. It's very likely that the people behind APT28 are behind this software, as well." When the VPNFilter malware was discovered, the FBI encouraged people to reboot their routers. While that will help, Williams said, it's not a foolproof solution. Williams said users of vulnerable devices, or devices that are thought to be compromised should reinstall the device firmware. Device manufacturers can advise users how to reinstall firmware, but the process could be as simple as holding in a button on the back of a router, or going into the web interface and uploading a file, Williams said. Talos has identified about 72 router models that are known to be affected by the VPNFilter malware, most of which have been discovered since the attack was first reported late last month. Routers sold by Asus; D-Link; Huawei; Linksys; Mikrotik; Netgear; QNap; TP-Link and Ubiquiti are affected. Wilhelmsen Ships Service and Airbus will be introducing shore-to-ship drone deliveries in Singapore, delivering spare parts, documents, water test kits and 3D printed consumables via AirbusSkyways unmanned air system to vessels at anchor. This will mark the first time, the viability of autonomous drone deliveries to vessels has been put to the test in hectic, real-world port conditions, according to Marius Johansen, vice president commercial, ships agency at Wilhelmsen Ships Service. When we announced last year that we were pursuing drone delivery, we were greeted with a fair amount of skepticism, he added, but our collaboration with Airbus, shows we really do mean business. Part of our standard services, we organize the delivery of essential spares, medical supplies and cash to the master via launch boat day in and day out all over the world. However, delivery by drone is much more cost effective, quicker, and frankly safer for all involved. Costing on average 90 percent less than launch boats, they importantly remove the risks inherently involved with making launch deliveries and also have negligible environmental impact. The new service is the result of more than a year of planning and close collaboration between Wilhelmsen Ships Service, Airbus, the Singapore Maritime Port Authority and the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore. The partnership will first undergo an initial two-week pilot trial with deliveries to ships anchored in Singapores eastern anchorage. A command center will be set up at the pier to facilitate the deliveries, with an initial delivery range of up to 3 kilometers from the shoreline. A second delivery station will be positioned at an open space in Marina South to extend delivery coverage to more anchorage vessels. Hacking IoT baby monitor cameras may not be high on the priority list for most attackers, but that doesnt mean someone is not getting off on remotely spying on families. That is a lesson learned the hard way by a 24-year-old South Carolina mom who awoke to the baby monitor camera pointed at her. She didnt think anything of it until the camera moved on its own again to watch the spot where she breastfeeds her infant son. My son is only 3 months old, and God knows what kind of images and videos out there of both of us and intimate moments, Jamie Summitt told WCIV. I feel guilty for not doing enough research on this. I didn't know this was something I needed to look into. I thought baby monitors were kind of cut and dry. You find a baby monitor, you watch them napping, it was supposed to be a safety thing. The latest incident involves a $34 FREDI wireless baby camera monitor, which resembled a black-and-white puppy dog. Its cute, and the warranty information posted on Amazon claims, NO RISK of PERSONAL INFORMATION and lifetime technical support. The camera can be controlled via a smartphone app and can turn 360 degrees. If you have this baby monitor, do yourself a favor and unplug it and throw it away RIGHT now, Summit wrote on a Facebook post. If you only use the baby monitor while your infant is sleeping, then know that she only used it then, too. Her story unfolds like this: Summit woke up with the baby monitor camera pointed at her, but she thought her husband had used the app to remotely check in on her. But that night, as the baby slept and she and her husband ate supper, her smartphone app let her know the camera was being moved again. It clearly was not her husband moving it. I looked over on my phone and saw that it was slowly panning over across the room to where our bed was and stopped, Summitt told NPR. She explained that the camera was pointing to where she breastfed her son several times a day. The camera paused on the empty bed, then moved back to the bassinet. If you are not security-focused, then being hacked may not be the first thought to pop into your head. Summit was not the first to jump to a haunted conclusion, although she initially believed the app was haunted and not the device. Honestly, we were naive, she told NPR. It didnt take long for the couple to realize that either the device or the app had been hacked and to quickly unplug the baby monitor. While you may be unsurprised by the hack as similar hacks have happened at least dozens of times over the years, she was floored. I would have never, ever bought something if I thought it was this easy of a security risk, she added. When I was making my baby registry, nobody warned me no other mom said anything. Its not common knowledge. I feel so violated, she wrote on Facebook. This person has watched me day in and day out in the most personal and intimate moments between my son and I. I am supposed to be my sons protector and have failed miserably. I honestly dont ever want to go back into my own bedroom. The family said they called the North Charleston Police Department, but by then, when the cop wanted to see what would happen after plugging the monitor back in, the app had locked them out due to insufficient permission. Summit told ABC News that she suspects the hacker heard everything and saw the officer. No response from camera manufacturer Although Summit attempted to contact the manufacturer, she said there was no response. We called Amazon and reported everything that happened, she wrote on Facebook. They then gave us the number and email for the company. The number was out of service and obviously no one has responded to the email. After learning that, Summit changed the password to a unique password she only used for the baby monitor. Rapid7's director of research Tod Beardsley said it sounded like she did all the right things. Its been over two years since Rapid7 gave 8 in 10 IoT baby monitors an F due to security flaws. Beardsley told NPR that is was disheartening that years later baby monitors with easily fixed flaws are still on the market. The fact that there are still no standards around this is a little depressing, he said. It will keep hackers in business for a long time. While it might be common knowledge to some of us that the internet of insecure things, including baby monitors, have shoddy-to-no security and therefore are easily hacked, this is a good reminder that its not common knowledge to everyone. If you see an internet-connected baby monitor listed on the wish list of a baby registry, then sound the alarm and let the parents know risks. In March 2017, the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) implemented 23 NYCRR 500, generally referred to as the New York Cybersecurity Regulation. Its aim is to encourage financial services firms doing business in the state to minimize their security risks. Although many experts see the regulation as flawed, 23 NYCRR 500 is expected to set a precedent for cybersecurity laws and regulations in other states. Given the importance of the financial services industry to New Yorks economy, its easy to see why the DFS enacted the regulation. New York is home to many of the leading global and domestic financial institutions, which represents about 30 percent of the states gross domestic product (GDP). If that industry falters, New York takes a big hit in terms of revenue, jobs and reputation. The regulation enforces organizations to adhere to what the DFS considers a minimum standard set of security best practices. Setting a cybersecurity regulation standard for the U.S. Much like the European Unions General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the New York Cybersecurity Regulation has far-ranging geographic reach. Because New York is such a big market, [23 NYCRR 500] will have a sweeping effect on companies within the United States headquartered outside of New York, as well as companies that are headquartered outside of the United States, says Harley Geiger, director of public policy at Rapid7. In this way, the regulation is similar to GDPR. A lot of U.S.-based companies, because they do business in Europe, are now finding themselves in the position where they have to comply with EU regulations. Once DFS gets into the business of enforcing this law, I think you will see laws follow quickly in other states and other industries, says Jami Vibbert, counsel with the eCommerce, Privacy, and Cybersecurity Group at law firm Venable LLC. Another reason why the New York Cybersecurity Regulation might set a standard for the U.S.: The federal government is not expected to enact cybersecurity legislation anytime soon. Youre seeing a degree of inertia from the federal government on cybersecurity regulation, says Geiger. Instead, there are multiple non-federal actors, such as states like California and New York, that are taking independent action. Because we do business in such an interconnected world, even regulations in geographically limited areas can affect a broad swath of companies. Geiger adds that this patchwork of regulations puts organizations in a difficult position of having to comply with multiple standards. The complexity is burdensome, even if it does serve the ultimate end of strengthening cybersecurity. A more ideal situation would be a uniform set of regulations that strengthens cybersecurity but makes compliance easier to manage, he says. What organizations does 23 NYCRR 500 target? A 23 NYCRR 500 covered entity is any person or organization that is authorized to operate in the state of New York under banking law, insurance law, or financial services law. This includes out-of-state organizations that do business in New York as well as affiliates, which are persons with the power to direct or influence the policies of an organization. Exemptions from all or parts of 23 NYCRR 500 include organizations that: have fewer than 10 employees, including contractors, of the covered entity or affiliates located in New York. have less than $5 million in gross annual revenue from New York operations by the covered entity and affiliates in each of the last three years. have less than $10 million in year-end total assets, including assets of affiliates. do not directly or indirectly operate, maintain, use, or control any information systems. Organizations that take too narrow a view of the jurisdictional requirements of the regulation might place themselves at risk if they dont submit a certification form, says Vibbert. Thats something the DFS can easily see and track, she says. If they think that you are covered and you dont certify that you are compliant, I think they may make a case out of someone who does that. Why 23 NYCRR 500 exists The introduction of 23 NYCRR 500 makes it clear that the regulation is the New York DFSs response to the ever-growing threat posed to information and financial systems by nation-states, terrorist organizations and independent criminal actors. The regulators believed they needed to act to protect against potential financial losses and theft of individuals private information. New York wants to be seen as innovative [in cybersecurity], says Vibbert. They want to be seen as the financial center of the United States, which is why I think they started with financial services. The states attorney general has also taken some significant moves to enforce reasonable data security measures against companies that sell products within the borders of New York state. What security needs to know about 23 NYCRR 500 At its core, the New York Cybersecurity Regulation is a set of security best practices that covered entities need to follow. The regulation makes clear what an organization needs to do to comply, but offers little guidance on how to implement those measures. Depending on your point of view, this is a strength or a weakness of the regulation. Some observers believe that the regulation gives covered entities flexibility in how they implement the measures, and this allows those organizations to find a solution thats appropriate for them. [The DFS] doesn't detail the technical means for a company to comply with the law, which provides some flexibility, says Geiger. DFS has left it up to the companies to choose their technologies to meet the security requirements. Others say that the vague language leaves too much room for interpretation. That could put organizations at risk of being non-compliant by doing too little or place an unnecessary burden on them if they do too much. The New York Cybersecurity Regulation was, in fact, more prescriptive in its original draft. The final version that was enacted pulled back from some of its prescriptive nature, but still maintained some of it, says Vibbert. The risks to the security community in any law that has any specific security requirements is that it becomes outdated and difficult to follow. Whats good about this law is that it does allow for a flexible approach based on a risk assessment specific to what information and systems you have. The DFS has also provided some flexibility in terms of what should or shouldnt be reported. For certain incidences, like routine hacks or malicious activity, [the DFS] does not expect a company to report that, says Geiger. DFS has been clear that they understand that the financial services sector is under attack all the time and not every routine hack or malicious activity needs to be reported. The company must use its own judgment in reporting serious attacks that cause potential or actual harm. Security teams also need to understand the DFSs definition of non-public information. Non-public information in this law is defined much broader than traditional definitions, which focus on personal information such as name, Social Security numbers, and the like, says Vibbert. The New York definition of non-public information includes confidential information such as any information that could harm the company if released, she notes. Theres far more confidential information floating around these organizations than there is personal information, she says. This has broadened the scope of what CISOs need to worry about. These are the key provisions of 23 NYCCR 500. The regulation is currently in a transition period where some sections have future dates for compliance, as noted where appropriate: Develop a cybersecurity program All covered entities are required to have a formal cybersecurity program to protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of their information systems. This program will be based on a required risk assessment (see below), and focuses on these core functions: Identify and assess internal and external risks. Implement a defensive infrastructure along with policies and procedures to protect systems from unauthorized access, use, or other malicious acts Detect cybersecurity events. Respond to identified or detected cybersecurity events to mitigate negative effects. Recover from cybersecurity events and restore normal services. Fulfill regulatory reporting obligations. All covered entities are required to document all information relevant to the cybersecurity program. Set a cybersecurity policy The regulation requires each covered entity to have a written cybersecurity policy that is approved by its senior management or board of directors. This policy should be based on a risk assessment. Among the areas the New York Cybersecurity regulation expects covered entities to include in the policy are data governance, asset inventory and device management, access controls and identity management, business continuity, customer data privacy, and third-party service provider management. The New York regulation aside, Geiger is seeing greater interest among executive management to develop cybersecurity policies. More companies are establishing cybersecurity policies, he says. Theres still a long way to go, however, as more traditionally non-tech companies incorporate connectivity into their products. The growing patchwork of regulation plays a role in prompting this cultural shift, as well as regular data breaches and the class-action lawsuits that follow. Appoint a CISO Covered entities that dont already have a chief information security officer (CISO) are required to designate a qualified individual responsible for overseeing and implementing the covered entitys cybersecurity program and enforcing its cybersecurity policy. The CISO may be an employee of the covered entity or an affiliate, or an organization may use a third-party service provider. The rationale for requiring a CISO role, it seems, is to give cybersecurity a seat at the executive table. The CISOs role should not be understated, says Geiger. In many ways, cybersecurity is less a technical problem and much more a management and administrative problem. Elevating the role of CISOs within organizations is only going to help. Perform penetration testing and vulnerability assessments This is one of the 23 NYCRR 500 provisions that leaves much to the discretion of the covered entity. All are required to either continuously monitor or do periodic penetration testing and vulnerability assessment to determine the effectiveness of their cybersecurity program. The regulation offers no guidance as to what is an acceptable pen test or vulnerability testing methodology. Be able to do an audit In response to cybersecurity events that have a reasonable likelihood of materially harming any material part of the normal operations, a covered entity must be able to do an audit trail. The organization should also be able to reconstruct financial transactions sufficient to support normal operations. The deadline for full compliance for this section of the regulation is September 1, 2018. Manage access privileges The regulation requires covered entities to limit access privileges to non-public information and to periodically review those privileges. Ensure application security Covered entities must have written processes and standards to ensure secure software development practices. This includes evaluating and testing software developed by a third party. Those processes and standards must be periodically reviewed the CISO or a qualified designee. The regulation gives no guidance as to what those processes or standards should be. Neither does it provide any metrics to help determine whether the software is secure. Perform a risk assessment The risk assessment is a core function for any organization that needs to be compliant with 23 NYCRR 500. It requires covered entities to build its cybersecurity plans, policies, and processes around the outcomes of the risk assessment. They must repeat the assessment periodically (though it offers no guidance on frequency), and each organization must allow for revision of controls to respond to technological developments and evolving threats. Vibbert sees the flexibility that the law provides as an advantage when it comes to doing a risk assessment. It allows you to tailor your security controls to the findings of the risk assessment, she says. To best comply with the regulation and to get the most security benefit, Vibbert advises that you use the risk assessment to understand what the threats are to your business. I think peoples understanding of what a risk assessment really is and how helpful it can be is skewed and not accurate in a lot of instances, she says. Really understanding what the threats to your data are and using that information to help you comply with this law in the best way will keep you from the check the box approach. Just having multi-factor authentication in place, saving documents to the retention period, or having a written policy that isnt implemented wont make your organization more secure, she adds. A thorough risk assessment can, on the other hand, help you comply with legal obligations and make your organization more secure. Many businesses are leaving money on the table and missing out on well-trained employees by not tapping into free services and low-interest loans provided by a variety of organizations in the state, according to panelists at the Connecting in Connecticut event held Thursday morning at Western Connecticut State University. Call one of us because there is money to be saved for your companies, Steve Gray, business services specialist with Regional Work Board, said. Give yourself five minutes and make a phone call. Gray was joined on the panel by representatives from the Department of Economic and Community Development, Connecticut Department of Labor, Small Business Development Center, Naugatuck Valley Community College and Peoples United Bank. We all work as a team, Michelle Caffe of the state DOL said. Gray said a new company could work with the Small Business Development Center to put together a detailed business plan, tap the DECD for a low-interest loan, use the Regional Workforce Boards on-the-job training programs for new employees and then utilize the DOLs incumbent worker training programs. Use these resources, Gray said. As a small business, you have to plan and know how to maximize your benefits. NVCC is one of the institutions in the state training students and workers to meet the high demand for advanced manufacturing jobs. Its programs in Waterbury are at full capacity, said Joseph Defeo, program director at NVCCs Advanced Manufacturing Technology Center. The college in 2015 expanded its training program for incumbent workers into Danburys Henry Abbott Technical High School. NVCCs College Connections program provides high school juniors and seniors who are not likely to go to college a path to earn an advanced manufacturing certificate. The challenges David Martin, dean of the Ancell School of Business at WestConn, served as the moderator and asked the panelists what their clients say are the biggest business challenges they face. Sheila Hummel, business development manager of DECD, said finding skilled workers particularly in manufacturing as well as the cost of doing business in Connecticut and lack of technology skills are among the challenges faced by her clients. Steve Moran, senior commercial relationship manager at Peoples United Bank, said the reputation of Connecticut being unfriendly to business is a major obstacle in attracting companies and retaining young, talented professionals. We need to change that perception and stop the bleeding of the migration of talent, he said. Solving problems Chris Duran, a Danbury resident and supplier development leader for Pratt & Whitney, delivered the keynote address and spoke of the importance of process improvement and problem analysis. The products his company manufactures are made up of thousands of components coming from companies of all sizes. That much diversity in the supply chain can generate a lot of challenges, he said. Im passionate about the process. People dont spend enough time looking at the process. Duran said small businesses and large companies such as Pratt & Whitney share many similarities when it comes to problem solving. The common denominator is that you have to get to the root of the problem. If you can define the problem correctly, you almost have the solution, he said, quoting Steve Jobs. He used an example of a problem he gives to young engineers in which a car has a flat tire. After changing the tire, the car gets another flat tire the next day. Eventually the engineer discovers nails that are coming from a box that is weakened by a leaky roof overhead. The exercise makes you think about the root problem, he said. Without defining the problem correctly, you will just keep changing the tire. The writer may be reached at cbosak@hearstmediact.com; 203-731-3338. William Tong, the Democratic endorsed candidate for attorney general, aims to establish a more powerful civil rights division in the attorney generals office to protect Connecticut residents. We need an attorney general with every tool to fight back against these hateful policies coming out of Washington, Ton said Thursday. Tong, 44, and a state representative from Stamford, would be the states first Asian-American attorney general, if elected. The U.S. Supreme Court decision Monday, which supported a Colorado bakers right to refuse to make a wedding cake for a gay couple, motivated Tongs announcement. The court ruled on the basis that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission was hostile toward the religious beliefs of baker; it did not address the larger question of whether religious beliefs can ever justify unequal treatment in the marketplace. All of our residents, regardless of who they love, deserve a safe, respectful, and equal Connecticut, said state Rep. Jeff Currey, D-East Hartford. Currey and state Sen. Beth Bye, both of whom are openly gay, joined Tong for his declaration Thursday. Assistant Attorney General Clare Kindall also supported the Tongs idea. The attorney generals office now has a civil rights department, but it can only defend the state against civil rights lawsuits. Tong wants it to be able to initiate civil rights suits on behalf of the state or residents as well. The division would act in parallel with the state Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, which receives discrimination complaints, investigates them and enforces human rights laws, Tongs campaign said. The Commision is setting up a meeting with Tong to discuss his idea, Michelle Dumas Keuler, an attorney for the Commission said. Four states, including New York and Massachusetts, have civil rights units similar to Tongs proposal, his campaign said. "Issues surrounding civil rights are among the most pressing facing society, said George Jepsen, Connecticuts attorney general since 2011, who is not seeking re-election. Any proposals that are intended to improve state governments effectiveness in addressing civil rights concerns, as this one is, deserve the most serious consideration by policymakers." Former federal prosecutor Chris Mattei, a Democrat challenging Tong for attorney general, agreed that more attorney general resources should be devoted to affirmative civil rights action. However, that could done now, Mattei said, without new legislative approval. Numerous federal civil rights statutes already authorize state attorneys general to enforce (civil rights), and the attorney general has inherent authority to bring civil rights actions on behalf of its people, Mattei said. Other candidates for attorney general did not respond to requests for comment in time for deadline. emunson@hearstmediact.com; Twitter: @emiliemunson The three Democratic attorney general candidates have agreed to participate in five debates, one in each of Connecticuts five Congressional districts, before their August primary. Candidate Chris Mattei, a former federal prosecutor, called for the debates Tuesday to help voters choose between the three Democrats. ELMSFORD, N.Y. (AP) A brewing company in New York has joined with an ice cream maker so consumers can have their cake in a beer. Captain Lawrence Brewing Company's "Fudgie the Beer" is a take on Carvel's "Fudgie the Whale" ice cream cake that's formed in the shape of a whale. The stout beer is brewed with the ice cream cake maker's signature chocolate and fudge and is 6 percent alcohol by volume. The brewery says the beer pairs well with smoked foods and chocolate desserts. The first batch of "Fudgie the Beer" sold out and the second batch will be available Friday. The beer will be available only at Captain Lawrence's beer hall in Elmsford, New York. Fudgie the Whale turned 40 in 2o17. It all started in 1977 when Tom Carvel decided he wanted to make a fish-shaped Father's Day Cake. Last year, Hearst spoke to Kathy Dumas, a Carvel employee who helped design teh iconic ice cream cake. Dumas and the whole Carvel team began the long and arduous task of designing a fish-shaped ice cream cake. Carvel's idea got a lot of push-back from within the company. "People said 'this is fish and ice cream; it's never going to work,'" Dumas said. But Carvel insisted. I can't tell you how many fish we made that never made it out of the pond," she said. Carvel was determined to make it perfect, and he had a vision in his head right down to the "Mona Lisa smile," Dumas said. Finally, Carvel liked a fish Dumas was making one day because it was large and rectangularlike a whale. The only issue was that the tail kept falling off; their solution was to cover it in fudge, which would work like cement to keep it together. And like many great inventions, out of a quick fix to a problem, Fudgie the Whale was born on June 1, 1977. BOSTON A Lakeville man pleaded guilty Wednesday to illegally trafficking teeth from endangered sperm whales. John Jake Bells guilty plea was announced in a release by Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey H. Wood for the Department of Justices Environment and Natural Resources Division. Bell pleaded guilty in Boston before U.S. District Judge Mark L. Wolf, for the District of Massachusetts, to one count of wildlife trafficking in violation of the Lacey Act. As part of his plea, Bell admitted that in November 2004, while in the Ukraine, he sold approximately 34 sperm whale teeth to a co-conspirator who lived in Nantucket, Massachusetts, for $11,600. Bell shipped the 34 teeth in multiple boxes from the Ukraine to an associate in Connecticut, from where his co-conspirator retrieved them, officials said. Bells co-conspirator was convicted in 2010, after a jury trial, and sentenced to a 33-month term of imprisonment. Related video: Photographer captures candid shots of sperm whales More News Pilot whale dies after swallowing 17 pounds of plastic bags According to the indictment, Bell acquired the teeth and smuggled them into the United States. Bell, who was an artist and scrimshander, carved some of the teeth he sold, but also sold uncarved teeth to customers. According to papers filed in federal court, between July 2005 and June 2006, Bell smuggled in excess of 49 pounds of sperm whale teeth into the United States, valued in excess of $26,000. Also, according to these filings, between June 2007 and April 2008, Bell sold nine carved teeth to customers in the United States, with a total value of $20,300. Sperm whale teeth can weigh over two pounds each and are alluring to many collectors. But gone are the days when people can buy, sell and trade parts harvested from protected creatures like the sperm whale. This amazing creature is safeguarded from exploitation by federal laws like the Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act as well as international treaties, said Acting Assistant Attorney General Wood. Todays guilty plea demonstrates that those who attempt to profit from the illegal trade of endangered species will face the consequences for their actions under law. Federal law provides great protection to the marine mammals that live in our waters, Director James Landon for NOAAs Office of Law Enforcement said in the release. OLE is dedicated to enforcing those laws and seeing that those who violate them are held accountable for their illegal actions. The Marine Mammal Protection Act and Endangered Species Act protect sperm whales and, among other things, prohibits their parts from being sold in interstate or foreign commerce or imported into the United States without a permit. In addition, the Lacey Act creates penalties for knowingly trafficking or importing wildlife and parts from wildlife like sperm whales, and United States customs laws prohibit importing merchandise like sperm whale parts knowingly in violation of the law or federal regulations. The investigation was handled by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations Office of Law Enforcement and the Justice Departments Environmental Crimes Section. The government is represented by Trial Attorneys Erica Pencak and Gary N. Donner of the Justice Departments Environmental Crimes Section of the Environment and Natural Resources Division. Hong KongAs the world awaits the historic summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, one man who has risen to prominence for his impressions of the North Korean leader is preparing for his own appearance in Singapore. The Hong Kong-based Kim impersonator, who goes by the name Howard X, will take part in an alternative summit on the sidelines of the meeting between the US president and Kim, scheduled for Tuesday. In recent months Howard has worked the international circuit and appeared at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics alongside a Trump impersonator. There he was hauled away by police after dancing and waving the unified Korean flag in front of North Koreas female cheer-leading team. Howard says the duo have been hired by a Singapore hotel to give their own take on the landmark meeting. Their aim is to encourage the public to discuss politics via satire, Howard told AFP in Hong Kong Thursday. But he admits his family have reservations about his new career path. The first thing they said was Dont get killed, Howard told AFP, adding his mother had taken out life insurance for him. Born in Hong Kong, Howard grew up in Australia and previously worked as a musician.But his impressions of Kim have become the main act since he began work as a lookalike in 2012. To prepare for each performance, Howard, who says he is in his 30s, applies foundation and trims his eyebrows, but spends the most time perfecting Kims slicked back hairstyle with copious amounts of spray. Onstage he dresses in a black Mao-style suit with a North Korean flag pin and thick-rimmed glasses. You could say Ive been blessed with this face, he told AFP. Kim Jong Un is president for life, unlike an American president, or other prime ministers. Career-wise, Ive got a very long and profitable one. Howard says he now makes a living out of being Kim through gigs, film and commercials and has also become an agent for other lookalikes in Asia. But while his impressions pay the bills, he disagrees strongly with Kims authoritarian regime. Its total control over the population, mind and body. WASHINGTON Class trips to Washington generally involve feel-good visits to the Capitol, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument and the Smithsonian Institution. But for the 16 graduates of the Connecticut Latino Leadership Academy, their just-completed, two-day sojourn in the nations capital mixed the good vibes with healthy doses of cold, political reality. I didnt realize how serious it was, said Fabio Mazo, 27, a Democratic activist in Bridgeport. Things like immigration and DACA (the President Obama program, canceled by President Trump, which gave legal status to young immigrants brought illegally to the U.S. by their parents). Its the real deal, but you dont see much about it on the news because (reporters) are more interested in scandals, said Mazo. While the House is close to signing up enough lawmakers of both parties to force votes on DACA, the threshold hasnt been crossed yet. Meanwhile, class members heard how President Trump has embarked on a strategy to prosecute all illegal border crossers, which necessitates separation of children from parents. It is a policy that Latino Democrats have denounced as unusually cruel. This was the second academy class to visit Washington in a program begun by Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and the Connecticut Hispanic Democratic Caucus to nurture a future generation of Latino leaders as Connecticut Democrats. This years participants were of mixed age and experience, hailing from not only Bridgeport but North Haven, West Haven, Stamford and elsewhere in the state. The group got to meet prominent Latino lawmakers in Washington including Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, and Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill. On Thursday, Gutierrez, who is leaving Congress after 13 terms, regaled the class with tales of his political origins as a streetwise Democratic operative in Chicago and aide to then Mayor Harold Lee Washington, the citys first African-American mayor. To murmurs of agreement, Gutierrez told the audience he plans to live in Puerto Rico while remaining active in efforts to spur voting among Puerto Ricans on the island and the U.S., who are all U.S. citizens. Rep. Elizabeth Esty introduced Gutierrez. Esty, D-Conn., is leaving Congress when her term is up in January in the wake of her mishandling the exit of a male former chief of staff who was abusive to Estys female scheduler. Both parties are actively vying to get their candidates elected in Connecticuts 5th District, which stretches from Danbury north and east to incorporate much of northwestern Connecticut. Perhaps ironically, it is the Republican side that is fielding primary candidates with Hispanic origins. Manny Santos, the former mayor of Meriden who won the partys official nod, was born in Portugal. And Ruby Corby ONeill, a retired psychology professor, was born in Honduras. At a time when the country is divided, we have two choices: continue to divide and demoralize, or we can say We are better when everyone is at the table, Esty said. This program is about providing the tools to help people get involved, Esty said. You can be an organizer, a volunteer, an activist, or you can run for office. We need to empower everyone to understand that in a democracy, everyone has the same vote. dan@hearstdc.com Voting in Pa.: What to know about mail-in voting, register deadlines news Cox's BazarBangladesh says Akramul Haque was a meth kingpin who died after opening fire at police, one of 130 accused dealers killed in murky late-night shootouts in an increasingly bloody war on drugs. But his wife has gone public with tapes that she says prove her husband was murdered in a set-up, causing a sensation in Bangladesh as the police crackdown faces its first real scrutiny. Ayesha Begum says the phone conversations she recorded with Haque on the night he died contradict the official narrativethat he was armed and shot at police, who returned fire in self-defense. They killed him in cold blood, Begum told AFP from Teknaf in southeast Bangladesh, where her husband, a local councilor, was gunned down on May 27. They said it was a shootout. But his hands were tied when he was killed. Someone was told to untie his hands after he was shot, she said, describing what she heard over the phone. AFP has listened to the audio but cannot independently verify that the voices belong to Haque, his wife and young daughter. Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said police had copies of the recordings and were investigating, but would not elaborate. Rights groups say that if true, the chilling tapeswhich have gone viral in Bangladeshare proof that police have committed extra-judicial killings in the campaign that began on May 15 and has also seen 15,000 people arrested. The recordings have cast doubt on what many Bangladeshis considered a legitimate effort to stamp out drugs, most notably yaba, a cheap and hugely popular methamphetamine pill. There have been calls for an immediate inquiry, with some drawing parallels to the Philippines, where the rule of law has been eroded as thousands of bodies have piled up from a deadly drug war. A letter co-signed by 10 high-profile Bangladeshis, including independence heroes and celebrated writers, said the allegations were unimaginable in any democratic state and society. One such incident is enough to question the entire campaign and terrorise the people, the widely published letter said. Police say all the people killed so far were wanted drug kingpins, and all died in late-night gang wars or shootouts with police. No officers have been seriously injured. Haque was no different, they say. They allege he was a top godfather of the yaba trade in Teknaf, a key transit town for the little red pills crossing the border from labs in Myanmar. As is the case with almost all the other shootouts, police say they found drugs and weapons on his bodyin Haques case 10,000 yaba tablets, two guns and rounds of live ammunition. But Haques family says the father of two was innocent.If he were a yaba dealer, we would have many properties. Yet we struggle to pay our daughters school fees, his wife Begum told AFP. She released four recordings to the media on May 31. Haque speaks to his daughter briefly in the first three, but in the fourth he says nothing into the phone as the tape rolls. Sometime later, gunshots ring out and Begum says her husband can be heard moaning. Another man is then heard discussing how to best plant loaded guns, bullets and yaba at the scene. Rights groups say Bangladeshs security forces have a record of staging executions and Haques alleged murder fits a pattern. We have documented in the past, that all too often they engage in extra-judicial killings and then make up stories of these deaths in an armed exchange or in crossfire, said Human Rights Watch South Asia director Meenakshi Ganguly. Local rights activist Nur Khan Liton said Haques case was not the first one bearing the hallmarks of a set-up. Some families said the victims were arrested first... and then killed in what appeared to be staged gun battles, he told AFP. The main opposition partywhose leader was jailed this year ahead of a general electionsays the killings have a political angle, with five of their supporters gunned down so far. They are murdering innocent people to create a climate of fear, so nobody can hold protests against the government, said Bangladesh Nationalist Party spokesman Rizvi Ahmed. The government estimates 400 million yaba tablets hit the streets in 2017, despite seizures numbering in the tens of millions of pills. The drugs crisis has expanded beyond urban areas, authorities say, with addicts found in rural areas of the Muslim-majority country. Even more pills are expected to flood the market this year after Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar for Bangladesh were employed as drug mules, police say. The government has vowed to eradicate the menace with the same aggression it used to choke homegrown Islamic extremism. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has defiantly stated that no [drug] godfather will be spared. I can say this because whenever I deal with something, I use an iron fist, she said. Nobody can deny today that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is on the back foot having lost out badly to Opposition forces in the recently concluded by-elections and failing to form the government in Karnataka. Its problems have been compounded by the rising discontent among its allies such as Shiv Sena, JD(U) and Akali Dal. While the news of BJP problems is being covered widely by the media, another aspect hogging media attention is why Opposition forces can't stick together for too long. The Congress has been seen trying hard to win friends and even agreeing to play the second fiddle in order to get regional parties on its side. The evolving Congress-Bahujan Samaj Party relationship in Madhya Pradesh is particularly interesting because it is the grand old party trying to reach out to the BSP. Does the coming together of Opposition forces, which together secured 69 per cent votes in the 2014 general elections, mean that all is lost for the BJP, which received only 31 per cent of the votes polled in the last general elections? No, that is not the case. BJP still has the edge and with some deft steps can turn the tide completely in its favour. Here are my suggestions on how BJP can once again storm to power with Narendra Modi at its helm: Prepone the Lok Sabha polls Instead of holding the general election in April-May 2019, BJP should hold the polls around October-November 2018. The party should club the national elections with as many as assembly elections as possible. This will deny Opposition party the time to iron out differences and come together against the BJP. This will also deny these parties the time to gather the necessary resources to give BJP a tough fight, especially, because they are still starved of resources post the demonetisation shock. A victory in Lok Sabha polls and around 10 Assemblies will make BJP central to Indian politics for about a decade at least with Narendra Modi and Amit Shah being at the core of this force. Patching up with allies: Shiv Sena, Shiromani Akali Dal and Janata Dal (United) BJP president Amit Shah has shown a marked shift in his approach to allies by showing a willingness to accommodate their aspirations, demands and expectations. BJP's three most important allies command significant clout in their respective states the JD(U) in Bihar, Shiv Sena in Maharashtra and SAD in Punjab. While the party has to ensure it keeps its old allies together, the BJP must also try to reach out to AIADMK in Tamil Nadu and YSR Congress in Andhra Pradesh. The party has to ensure it is not perceived as arrogant by its allies. Look at the pros of the by-poll losses The party leadership must convey to its workers that they should not feel demoralised due to the losses. One, there is hardly any correlation between a party's performance in by-polls and that in Lok Sabha elections. A major factor in BJP's loss in Phulpur and Gorakhpur was low voter turnout. While it is indicative of people's anger against the local government, the same anger may not hold when people vote in the national elections, which will be more of a verdict on Modi's governance. Modi's brand value may help offset BJP's by-poll losses at the national level. Fighting complacency The BJP is less likely to be complacent because of the recent political reverses. Complacency can strike a fatal blow to a party's chances. In 2003, the BJP had done exceedingly well in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh elections. An elated Atal Bihari Vajpayee called for early elections. The rest is history. If the Lok Sabha polls are advanced, BJP will quickly shed its complacency and get to work, while the Opposition will still be struggling to figure out a working formula. BJP's control of state governments absolute BJP holds power either on its own or in alliance with others in 20 of India's 29 states. The last time a party enjoyed such a control was 25 years ago when in 1993, the Congress held 16 of (then) 26 states. When Modi took oath as the prime minister in 2014, the BJP was in power in just seven states. Data shows when the elections are hyper-localised, the BJP has performed poorly but when the canvas has become bigger, the saffron unit has invariably had an advantage. Today the ruling party has far stronger control over the election machinery, state police and central paramilitary forces, Intelligence Bureau and Central Bureau of Investigation. All this will go on to help the party gain an edge over its Opposition. Usurping the electoral narrative and setting the campaign's tone The BJP must reach out to the public with its own list of achievements made in the 48 months of its governance. Doing this at a time when the Opposition does not even have a common minimum programme ready will surely give BJP an edge. Also read: Just keep quiet - because good food doesn't need big noise around it The probe into Maharashtras Bhima Koregaon violence occurring in January this year took a surprising turn on June 6, with the police arresting six Dalit and left wing activists, and booking them under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The arrests of Rona Wilson, activist and JNU alumnus, activist Rana Jacob, Sudhir Dhawale, a Dalit activist and office-bearer of the Elgar Parishad, held on December 31, just before the Battle of Bhima Koregaon anniversary this time, activists Shoma Sen and Mahesh Raut, and lawyer Surendra Gadling, from Delhi, Mumbai and Nagpur, have led to protests, with many claiming these to be unfair victimisation. Utterly illegal & malafide to arrest Dalit activists, lawyers, academics in the Bhima Koregaon case, while main perpetrators of the Carnage are allowed Scot free. Modi govt will have to pay heavily for this fascist assault https://t.co/4vPK3BcrbH Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) June 6, 2018 It was already known that the violence in Bhima Koregaon was a well-organised conspiracy to defame Maharashtra govt & Central govt. Police investigation has proved that the movement was made violent by the organisations who work in favour of urban Naxalism: Hansraj Ahir, MoS Home pic.twitter.com/huCwxmVhdD ANI (@ANI) June 6, 2018 People have also pointed out that the stringent action against the activists is in stark contrast to the way the two saffron leaders booked for the violence, Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote, have been treated while Ekbote is out on bail in both the cases registered against him, Bhide guruji has not been arrested, with chief minister Devendra Fadnavis himself attesting to his innocence. Activists Sudhir Dhawale (left) and Rona Wilson are among those arrested on June 6. Photo: Twitter, YouTube/Dalit Camera. With the arrests, the case, initially seen as a clash between Dalits and upper castes over an event polarising in itself the Bhima Koregaon anniversary celebrates the defeat of the Peshwas by a British battalion aided by Dalits sepoys has now been framed in a very different binary: was the violence the work of the extreme Left, or the extreme Right? Also, will the BJP, in power at both the Centre and in Maharashtra and often accused of going soft on right wing violence, be able to ensure a fair probe and trial? The red letter The activists have been arrested after the Pune police allegedly recovered a letter from Rona Wilsons laptop, written, according to officers, by one Comrade M, who we believe is a senior member of CPI-Maoist's central committee. DNA quotes a source as saying: The letter said the one riot fatality should be exploited and more such events should be held at places governed by BJP. It said sympathisers in London, Sweden and US backed the movement, and asked for new passwords to be sent out to the group to plan future course of action. The BJP has been quick to seize on this, and has gone to town blaming, rather strangely, Rahul Gandhi for the violence. Left versus Right Charges of an international conspiracy by left wing extremists to exploit deaths in India are very serious, and cannot be allowed to float around vaguely. The police must probe them thoroughly and take them to a logical conclusion. June 8 will mark one year of Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Ravans imprisonment, in jail over the Rajput-Dalit clash in Uttar Pradeshs Saharanpur. However, equally serious are charges of a right-wing that is reportedly being patronised and protected by the state, drunk on notions of caste and religious superiority, out to re-organise Indian society according to the world order it believes in, where Dalits are seen as the children of lesser gods. Unfortunately, evidence of this ideology at play, and the states turning an indulgent eye to it, are not too difficult to find. June 8 will mark one year of the Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Ravans imprisonment, in jail over the Rajput-Dalit clash in Uttar Pradeshs Saharanpur. Ravan had the non-bailable National Securities Act slapped against him hours after the Allahabad high court granted him bail in November. The Rajputs booked over the clashes are out on bail. Pehlu Khan was lynched by 'gau rakshaks' in April 2017. Ten months after his murder, the police named him in its charge sheet for cow smuggling. A similar script has been at play in several cases where the accused are ideologically on the side of the ruling party Pehlu Khan killed by gau rakshaks in Rajasthan, teenager Junaid Khans lynching near Faridabad, the murder of Mohammad Akhlaq over cow slaughter suspicions in Uttar Pradesh. Anti-peshwa slogans and urban Maoists While the police must probe whatever criminal activities it suspects the arrested accused of, parts of its statements seem to read a lot like right wing paranoia. The police has described those arrested as top urban Maoist operatives. Urban Maoist is a term used almost exclusively, but liberally, by the Right to describe everyone it does not like activists, media organisations, citizen protesters. During the farmers protest that rocked Maharashtra in May this year, BJP MP Poonam Mahajan had described the agitators as urban Maoists. In the cracked feet of marching farmers, BJP MP Poonam Mahajan heard the footsteps of 'Urban Maoism'. Filmmaker and right wing commentator Vivek Agnihotri, in an article in Swarajya, warns: In the cities, an invisible naxal-intelligentsia-media-academia-NGO-activist nexus works as strategic fortification with the ultimate aim of taking over the Indian state to achieve Maoist rule. Modi with Sambhaji Bhide. This diminutive man was responsible 4 organising violence against Dalits. #MaharashtraBandh pic.twitter.com/mJa9ywvzSk RKHURIA (@rkhuria) January 3, 2018 This aside, one of the charges against the activists arrested on June 6 is of raising anti-Peshwa slogans. The legacy of the Peshwas continues to be disputed. For many marginal communities, the Peshwas appeared as supremacist Brahmins under whom Dalits, for instance, had to tie brooms on their backs to wipe out their footprints and hang pots around their necks to collect their spit. Raising slogans or simply expressing discontent over certain wrongs of history without threatening vengeance in the present does not seem an adequate crime in modern, democratic India. What is puzzling though is another aspect. Ekbote and Bhide have both been close to the BJP. In 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself had hailed Bhide, saying he came to Sangli on gurujis call. The Maharashtra government in 2015 had recommended him for the Padma Shri. Ekbote was once a BJP corporator, has links with the RSS, and a string of criminal cases. Yet, in the immediate aftermath of the violence in January, his brother had publicly said that the police had advised him to lie low, and that Ekbote would be back in Pune once the cops gave the green signal. On April 22, a 19-year-old Dalit girl, a witness to the Bhima Koregaon violence, was found dead in a well. Her family had alleged she was under pressure to withdraw her statement against the men who set fire to their house. Those protesting the arrest of the activists claim this is just a way to intimidate and break the spirits of those working for the Dalits and the marginalised. The Maharashtra unit of the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), in a statement issued after the arrests, has said: These arrests amount to a blatant violation of citizens rights to freedom of expression and voicing dissent People are arrested and incarcerated in jail for years. They are subsequently released as the State fails to prove their case The Bhima Koregaon case, thus, pits two very different ideologies against each other. As of now, the ruling party appears clearly sympathetic to one. While the guilty must be punished, it is the government that also needs to acquit itself honourably. Also read: Bhima Koregaon violence and death of a Dalit teen: What happened to Pooja Sakat? No region in recent times has acquired as much speculation and engrossment as the Middle East (technically it includes Afghanistan, West Asia and Egypt). However, my viewpoint hovers around West Asia, which is the world's principal energy hub and holds almost 60 per cent of the planet's known oil and gas reserves. Since the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the region has invited pharaonic attention as events which unfolded after it continue to have a spell on the region, in Islamic world and on Muslim psyche. The US' invasion of Iraq in 2003 on a spurious assumption that the then leader Saddam Hussein possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) stifled the nation like never before. The attack came at a time when the country was still recovering from the inhumane sanctions imposed on it by Uncle Sam in the aftermath of the First Gulf War (1990-91) and threw the country into a quagmire with sectarian conflict tearing the country apart. Many more people died in Iraq following the invasion than due to any other factor ever before. Since the sectarian conflict in Iraq primarily involved Shias and Sunnis, it invited interference from regional heavyweights - Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shia Iran. Significantly, the American invasion helped Iran (a country which US considers to be a perpetual threat to peace and stability in West Asia) gain a foothold in strife-torn Iraq because of Shia brotherhood and carred its influence to adjoining Syria where again the ruling disposition is Alawite or Nusayri, a minority Shia sub-sect considered heretic by mainstream Muslims Sunni and Shia alike. Iran has horned itself strong in the ongoing Yemeni civil war where it is charged with providing financial and logistical support to the Shia Houthi rebels. The Houthi or Zaidiya'a are again a Shia sub-sect, which incidentally has beliefs more in conformity with the Sunnis than the mainstream Ith'na Ashari or the Twelver Shia. That the Persian or Iranian influence gaining credence in large swathes of the Arabic speaking region naturally invited the displeasure of region's economic powerhouse - Saudi Arabia, which shares a bitter and hostile relationship with the Ayatollah-dominated Iran since the revolution of 1979. While some overtures in cooling off the tensions were made during the reign of King Abdullah (2005-15) and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, none of them materialised and the distrust now is greater than ever. Some years back, eloquent Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir accused Iran of adopting dubious ways to gain access to the Arab world's internal matters and also said that Iran's constitutional charter calls for exporting its "Islamic Revolution" outside also. It must also be noted that the Arabs and Persians have a disdain for each other since the pre-Islamic era. The fillip to the successful Arab occupation of Persia was provided in the Battle of Qadisiyah (636AD) led by Sa'ad Ibn Abi Waqqas, a companion of Prophet Muhammad, and the final subjugation of the mighty Sassanid Persian empire undertaken by the second Caliph Umar Ibn Al Khattab in 642 AD. But the Persians never accepted Arab customs and way of life and their language though they did adopt the Arabic script with some modifications of their own. To this day the Iranians take excessive pride in their culture and history and have retained many customs and traditions from the Sassanid Empire making them a part of the Shia faith. The demographic divide is essential in understanding things better in the region. West Asia comprises 14 countries Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Kuwait, Bahrain, Lebanon, Syria, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates or UAE, Turkey, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. Of these Iran, Iraq and Bahrain are strong Shia majority states and a large Shia population is also found in the oil-rich eastern Al Hasa region of Saudi Arabia adjacent to the Persian Gulf. Shias exercise a disproportionate influence in Lebanon (through armed militia Hezbollah) and Syria where Alawite Bashar al-Assad is back in business. They are also locked in a bitter struggle with Saudi Arabia-backed forces in Yemen. The Sunni Arab states are divided with Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain forming an axis against Qatar while Kuwait, Jordan and Turkey shielding it. Oman where the little known Ibadhi sect of Islam predominates has remained sympathetic to Qatar and shares a "more than normal" relationship with Iran much to the chagrin of Saudi Arabia. Yet, the latter overlooks it because Oman is also a member of the Saudi-led alliance against terrorism, which excludes Iran and is willing to play a mediator in Yemen with which it shares the border. Omani monarch, Sultan Qaboos Bin Said, remains the longest serving leader in the Arab and Muslim world. Against this backdrop, Saudi Arabia lobbied hard to make ensure it becomes the first country US President Donald Trump visits after taking office and inking a $150-billion arms deal ostensibly to contain the growing Iranian influence. Under the new de facto ruler Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, or MBS, the kingdom has pursued a more aggressive proactive policy to keep Saudi influence paramount and there are reports of him cosying up to Israel - the Arab world's arch nemesis to cut Iran to size. The recent abjuration of the nuclear deal with Iran by the Trump administration is the first step in this direction. A military solution or attack on Iran, however, seems a distant possibility with Trump having made it clear that US would not undertake any military involvement in West Asia lest it puts a drain on American economy. Apart from this, barring Saudi Arabia and the UAE, all other Arab states and Turkey favour a dialogue with Iran. With Iraq now out of the picture and reconciliatory talks with North Korea looking a possibility in the much anticipated Kim-Trump meet, the US is free to check the last remnant of its so called "Axis of Evil" Iran. Weariness is visible also on the Saudi economy because of its involvement in the Syrian and Yemeni conflicts and has rendered the Gulf Cooperation Council or the GCC the organisation of six oil rich Arab Gulf states - redundant as of now by threatening Qatar, which is the richest state in the region and is endearing itself strongly to the Muslim world through its television news network Al Jazeera and has long supported the Ikhwan or the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, whose popularly elected leader Mohammed Morsi was ousted in a Saudi engineered military coup. The hostilities among the Arab states and the Iran factor have emboldened Israel to pursue an ever ruthless policy vis-a-vis the Palestinians. The situation has been worsened by Trump's decision to relocate US embassy to Jerusalem. The Saudi Arabian establishment as of today has totally abandoned the Palestinian cause, a complete U-turn since the days of King Faisal. Added to this is the bickering inside the royal family due to the intimidating actions of Mohammed Bin Salman, which is threatening to implode the House of Saud. In fact, Mohammed Bin Salman, Shaikh Mohammed Bin Zayed, emir of Abu Dhabi, and Shaikh Tamim Bin Khalifa Al Thani, the emir of Qatar are over ambitious and eager to expand their footprint in the region. Not surprisingly, Sheikh Sabah of Kuwait and Sultan Qaboos of Oman, the surviving old guard in the GCC, have distanced themselves from the internal bickering, calling for restraint. As of now, the US influence is dwindling in the region in relation to managing the affairs to its advantage so Trump is cosying (more than any other US President in recent times) up to Israel while new players like Russia are increasingly showing assertiveness. This assertiveness has forced a thinking in sheikhdom to do business with them. After all, Mohammad Bin Zayed recently took a two-day visit to Moscow while Qatar is in talks to buy the advance S-400 aircraft from Russia much to Saudi Arabia's displeasure. And you already have Trump's obsession with Iran. All this is only going to complicate and make matters more perilous in an already volatile region. Also read: Kaala is my fathers story. Why we slapped a Rs 100-crore notice on Rajinikanth Indias economy is held hostage by two external factors, both of which are not under government control the monsoon rains and global oil prices. The fluctuating levels of either or both dictate how the Indian economy will perform in a given year. What the government can control, however, is taxes. Less than two years after the Modi government took office, crude oil prices slumped from over $100 a barrel to less than $30 a barrel. While prices of petrol did drop initially from an average of Rs 71 in 2014 in Delhi to Rs 65, it was not commensurate with the fall in international prices. Meanwhile, the government steadily raised excise duties on petroleum products. For a litre of petrol, duty was raised from Rs 9.48 in May 2014, when Modi took over, to Rs 19.48 a litre now. Duty on diesel, too, rose from Rs 3.56 a litre to Rs 15.33 currently. India Today cover story, Death by Oil?, for June 18, 2018. As a result, the government raked in a windfall. Revenue from excise duty on petroleum grew from nearly Rs 1 lakh crore in 2014-15 to as much as Rs 2.42 lakh crore in 2016-17 and helped the regime fund numerous welfare schemes. But the consumer got no relief despite the fall in global crude prices. To add to consumers woes, states have steadily increased value added tax or VAT on fuel to shore up their respective revenues as well. Central and state taxes now make up nearly 50 per cent of the cost of fuel. So while oil companies supply petrol to dealers at Rs 38.09 a litre in Delhi, consumers pay Rs 77.72 per litre. Compare that to Pakistan where consumers pay just Rs 49 per litre of petrol. The mismatch continues when you look at the rest of the subcontinent a litre of petrol costs Rs 58.67 in Sri Lanka and Rs 69.63 in Bangladesh. Oil prices are now climbing back to what they were in late 2014 and the governments financial calculations have been hit. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley based his budgetary formulas on crude oil prices remaining at roughly $55 a barrel. With oil prices now hovering at over $70 a barrel, Indian oil companies must fork out an extra Rs 2 lakh crore. Consumers who now have to pay much more are complaining vociferously. In Mumbai, for instance, the price of a litre of petrol has gone up from Rs 70 in 2016 to Rs 85 today. If the high prices of fuel have sparked some alarm on Raisina Hill, it is only because elections are looming large and the BJP fears alienating its core voter base the middle class. Our cover story this week, written by deputy editor MG Arun, looks at how rising oil prices have caught the government in a bind. If it reduces the price of fuel, its revenues will fall drastically and it would have to cut back on its ambitious welfare programmes. A raft of measures are now being contemplated to reduce the burden on the consumer. These include bringing fuel under the GST to reduce taxes and negotiating cheaper crude buys from OPEC countries. Unfortunately, long-term measures to wean the Centre or the states from their addiction to oil taxes or exercising genuine fiscal prudence are not being talked about. What the government should be doing what Ive been advocating since the NDA came to power is to reduce the size of the bureaucracy and cut out any wasteful non-welfare expenditure. The government does not need some 51 ministries to run India. There are several fiefdoms among them which have outlived their usefulness in the new liberalised India. Realistically, of course, this is unlikely to happen in an election year and, as always, it is the Indian taxpayer who bears the burden of government profligacy. (India Today Editor-in-Chief's note for cover story, Death by Oil?; June 18, 2018.) Also read: What India Today's review of 4 years of Modi government reveals 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. 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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. The following companies are subsidiares of Boston Scientific: 34 Biomedical Merger Corp., 9357-1867 Quebec Inc., Acurate Industria e Comercio Ltda., Advanced Bionics, Advanced Stent Technologies, American Medical Systems, American Medical Systems Europe B.V., Apama Medical, Apama Medical Inc., Asthmatx, Atritech, Augmenix, Augmenix Inc., Augmenix K.K., BSC International Medical Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., BSC Medical Device Technology (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., BTG, BTG Australasia Pty Ltd, BTG Europe B.V., BTG IM Holdings Ltd., BTG International (Holdings) Limited, BTG International Asia Limited, BTG International Canada Inc., BTG International Germany GmbH, BTG International Healthcare Inc., BTG International Healthcare LLC, BTG International Healthcare Limited, BTG International Inc., BTG International Limited, BTG Limited, BTG Management Services Limited, BTG Medikal Limited Sirketi, Bard Electrophysiology, Barosense, Biocompatibles Inc., Biocompatibles International Limited, Biocompatibles UK Limited, Boston Scientific (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Boston Scientific (South Africa) Proprietary Limited, Boston Scientific (Thailand) Ltd., Boston Scientific (UK) Limited, Boston Scientific AG, Boston Scientific Argentina S.A., Boston Scientific Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Boston Scientific Benelux NV, Boston Scientific Canada Limited, Boston Scientific Ceska republika s.r.o., Boston Scientific Chile SpA, Boston Scientific Colombia Limitada, Boston Scientific Comercial de Costa Rica BSCR S.R.L., Boston Scientific Far East B.V., Boston Scientific Gesellschaft m.b.H., Boston Scientific Group plc, Boston Scientific Hellas S.A., Boston Scientific Hong Kong Limited, Boston Scientific Iberica S.A., Boston Scientific India Private Limited, Boston Scientific International B.V., Boston Scientific International Finance Limited, Boston Scientific International S.A., Boston Scientific Israel Ltd., Boston Scientific Japan K.K., Boston Scientific Korea Co. Ltd., Boston Scientific Lebanon SAL, Boston Scientific Limited, Boston Scientific Ltd., Boston Scientific Medical Device, Boston Scientific Medical Device Limited, Boston Scientific Medizintechnik GmbH, Boston Scientific Middle East FZ-LLC, Boston Scientific Middle East SAL, Boston Scientific Nederland B.V., Boston Scientific Neuromodulation Corporation, Boston Scientific New Zealand Limited, Boston Scientific Nordic AB, Boston Scientific Peru S.A.C., Boston Scientific Philippines Inc., Boston Scientific Polska Sp. z o.o., Boston Scientific Portugal - Dispositivos Medicos Lda, Boston Scientific Pty Ltd, Boston Scientific Romania S.R.L., Boston Scientific S.A.S., Boston Scientific S.p.A., Boston Scientific Scimed, Boston Scientific Scimed Inc., Boston Scientific Services Private Limited, Boston Scientific TIP Gerecleri Limited Sirketi, Boston Scientific Technology & Engineering Services Private Limited, Boston Scientific Uruguay S.A., Boston Scientific Vietnam Company Limited, Boston Scientific de Costa Rica S.R.L., Boston Scientific de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Boston Scientific del Caribe Inc., Boston Scientific do Brasil Ltda., Bravo Bidco Limited, BridgePoint Medical, Cameron Health, Cardiac Pacemakers Inc., Cardiac Pathways Corp, Catheter Innovations, Claret Medical, Claret Medical Inc., Cosman Medical, Cosman Medical LLC, CryoCor, Cryterion Medical, Cryterion Medical Inc., Cryterion Medical Ireland Limited, EKOS LLC, EMcision, EMcision International Inc., EP Technologies, EP Technologies Inc., Electron Acquisition Corporation, EndoChoice, EndoChoice Holdings Inc., EndoChoice Inc., EndoChoice Innovation Center Ltd., EndoChoice Israel Ltd., Endotex, Enteric Medical Technologies, Galil Medical Inc., Galil Medical Ltd., Galil Medical UK Limited, Guidant, Guidant Delaware Holding Corporation, Guidant Europe NV, Guidant Puerto Rico B.V., Hong Kong Medtech Trading Limited, Intelect Medical, Millipede, Millipede Inc., NXT Merger Corp., Notebook Merger Sub Ltd., Novate Medical Limited, NxThera, NxThera Inc., PT Boston Scientific Indonesia, PneumRx GmbH, PneumRx LLC, PneumRx Liimited, Protherics Medicines Development B.V., Protherics Medicines Development Limited, Protherics UK Limited, Provensis Limited, RMI Acquisition Corp., Remon Medical Technologies, Rhythmia Medical, Robert S. Smith M.D. Inc., Roxwood Medical Inc., SNS Merger Corp, Sadra Medical, Sadra Medical Inc., Securus Medical Group, Securus Medical Group Inc., Special K Merger Corp., StarMedTec, Stream Enterprises LLC, Symetis, Symetis SA, Target Therapeutics, Target Therapeutics Inc., The LumenR Tissue Retractor System, Veniti, Veniti Inc., VertiFlex, Vertiflex Inc., Vessix Vascular, Xlumena, Zuma Investment Pty Ltd, iogyn, nVision Medical, and nVision Medical Corporation. Posted Thursday, June 7, 2018 6:06 am COLUMBIA, Mo. New Medicare cards are on their way to everyone enrolled in the program. Cards will be mailed automatically and free of charge. People should be wary of anyone calling to offer assistance with the cards or to request money or personal information, says Brenda Procter, University of Missouri associate extension professor. Any time changes are made to programs that target the elderly, scam artists come out of the woodwork, says Procter. If someone calls claiming to be from Medicare and asks for your Social Security number or bank information, hang up, she says. People who call offering help with your cards are scam artists who want your money. Scammers may even threaten to cancel your benefits if you dont give up information. Medicare will never ask for your Social Security number or bank information, Procter says. The new cards are intended to provide more privacy protection than the old cards, which used Social Security numbers as identifiers. The mailings, which began in April, are coming in waves. Missouris cards are due to be mailed after June 2018, according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Mailings this massive take time so people shouldnt be concerned if their neighbor gets a new card before theirs arrives, Procter says. CMS offers a few tips and things to know about the new cards: You can and should destroy your old card when the new one arrives. You can start using your new card immediately. If you are using a Medicare Advantage plan, the card for that plan is still your main Medicare card, so you need to keep it and be ready to show it to providers. They may also ask you to show the new card. Only share your Medicare number with those who need to know it, like providers, insurers or someone working on your behalf. New cards are paper and you can print your own replacement card if you need one. Carry your card with you any time you see a medical provider. If you forget your card, your provider may be able to look up your new Medicare number online. If someone asks you for your information or money, or threatens to cancel your health benefits if you don't share your personal information, hang up and call Medicare toll-free at 800-MEDICARE (800-633-4227). TTY users can call 877-486-2048. If you suspect identity theft or worry that you gave your personal information to someone you shouldn't have, contact the Federal Trade Commission. Call toll-free at 877-438-4338 or 866-653-4261 (TTY), or file a report online at www.identitytheft.gov. For more information about the new Medicare cards, visit www.medicare.gov/newcard. Brookfield Asset Management, Inc. engages in the management of public and private investment products and services for institutional and retail clients. It operates through the following segments: Asset Management, Real Estate, Renewable Power, Infrastructure, Private Equity, Residential Development, and Corporate Activities. The Asset Management segment includes the management of its listed partnerships, private funds and public securities. The Real Estate segment is comprised of the ownership, operation and development of core office, core retail, LP investments and other properties. The Renewable Power segment encompasses the ownership, operation and development of hydroelectric, wind, solar, storage and other power generating facilities. The Infrastructure segment consists of the ownership, operation and development of utilities, transport, energy, data infrastructure and sustainable resource assets. The Private Equity segment refers to the broad range of industries, and is mostly focused on business services, infrastructure services and industrials. The Residential Development segment represents homebuilding, condominium development and land development. The Corporate Activiti Read More Leidos Holdings, Inc. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of scientific, engineering and information technology services and solutions in the areas of defense, intelligence, civil and health markets. It operates through the following three segments: Defense Solutions, Civil, and Health. The Defense Solutions segment focuses on deploying agile, cost-effective solutions to meet the ever-changing missions of the company's customers in areas of intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance, enterprise IT and integrated systems and cybersecurity and global services. The Civil segment focuses on seamlessly integrating and protecting physical, digital and data domains. The Health segment offers solutions to federal and commercial customers that are responsible for the health and wellbeing of people worldwide including service members and veterans. The company was founded by John Robert Beyster on February 3, 1969 and is headquartered in Reston, VA. Read More Eagle Materials, Inc. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of heavy construction materials, light building materials, and materials used for oil and natural gas extraction. It operates through the following segments: Cement, Concrete and Aggregates, Gypsum Wallboard, Recycled Paperboard, and Oil and Gas Proppants. The Cement segment deals with the manufacture, production, distribution, and sale of portland cement. The Concrete and Aggregates segment involves mixing cement, sand, gravel, or crushed stone and water to form concrete, which is then sold and distributed to construction contractors. The Gypsum Wallboard segment mines and extracts natural gypsum rock, which is used in the manufacture of gypsum wallboard. The Recycled Paperboard segment processes paper fiber, water, and paper chemicals to form recycled paperboards, then sell them to gypsum wallboard manufacturers. The Oil and Gas Proppants segment produces frac sand used in oil and natural gas exploration, and provides transloading and storage for well servicing companies. The company was founded in 1963 and is headquartered in Dallas, TX. Read More Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. engages in global investment banking, securities, and investment management, which provides financial services. It operates through the following business segments: Investment Banking, Global Markets, Asset Management, and Consumer & Wealth Management. The Investment Banking segment serves public and private sector clients around the world and provides financial advisory services, help companies raise capital to strengthen and grow their businesses and provide financing to corporate clients. The Global Markets segment serves its clients who buy and sell financial products, funding and manage risk. The Asset Management segment provides investment services to help clients preserve and grow their financial assets. The Consumer & Wealth Management segment helps clients to achieve their individual financial goals by providing a wealth advisory and banking services. The company was founded by Marcus Goldman in 1869 and is headquartered in New York, NY. Read More Posted Thursday, June 7, 2018 11:47 am This past Sunday, June 3, Peace Evangelical Lutheran Church celebrated its 25th anniversary. This is an exciting, yet, humbling time for us. The Lord God in his mercy and kindness has drawn us together as a congregation and given us a beautiful building in which he may be glorified, we may be strengthened in faith, and others may be brought into his eternal kingdom. Our prayer at this anniversary time was twofold. First was that we never lose sight of the fact that this church and people belong to him. He is the source from which all blessings flow. Secondly, we pray that we and future generations shall faithfully use all things to proclaim the gospel of salvation through Christ Jesus, for there is no other name, under heaven, given to men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:10). May we be good stewards of his wondrous gifts of grace. We produced a folder that tells the history of the congregation and people and a booklet describing the architecture of the building (built in 1949) and the symbolism within that takes our thoughts heavenward to our gracious God above as we worship. If you would be interested in reading of these things, please contact Pastor Lehmann or the church office at 468-6061. We invite you to stop in any time we are there, and we would be glad to take you on a tour and present you with a copy of Church Architecture and Christian Symbolism. You will be surprised and edified by how many references to God, redemption and the Christian life you will find in the basic construction of a church. Thanks to all who planned, served and took part that day. May the blessings of Gods saving grace rest upon you all. Osiris Therapeutics, Inc. researches, develops, manufactures, markets, and distributes regenerative medicine products in the United States. Its products include Grafix and Stravix for treating chronic wounds of diabetic foot ulcers, venous leg ulcers, pressure ulcers, arterial ulcers, and severe burns, as well as surgical and trauma wounds; BIO4 for bone repair and regeneration in spine, trauma, extremity, cranial, and foot and ankle surgeries; and Cartiform for treating articular cartilage lesions in the knee and other joints. The company also develops and markets Menvivo for the repair of meniscus; and TruSkin for treating chronic wounds. It markets and distributes its products directly to physicians, hospitals, and other healthcare providers, as well as through agents and distributors. Osiris Therapeutics, Inc. was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Columbia, Maryland. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Prudential Financial: 210-220 E. 22nd Street SSGA Owner LLC, AIG Edison, AIG Star, AREF Cayman Co Ltd., AREF GP II Pte. Ltd., AREF GP Ltd., ASPF II - Feeder Fund GmbH, ASPF II - Verwaltungs - GmbH & Co. KG, ASPF II Management GmbH, ASPF III (Scots) L.P., ASSURANCE, AST Investment Services Inc., Adlerwerke CB Investment LLC, Administradora de Fondos de Pensiones Habitat S.A., Administradora de Inversiones Previsionales SpA, Aoba Life Insurance Company, Asia Property Fund III GP S.a.r.l., Assurance IQ LLC, Assurance Intelligence LLC, BSC CP LP, Braeloch Holdings Inc., Braeloch Successor Corporation, Brazilian Capital Fund GP Limited, Broad Street Global Advisors LLC, Broome Street Holdings LLC, CB German Retail LLC, CLIS Co. Ltd., COLICO INC., Campus Drive LLC, Capital Agricultural Property Services Inc., Chadwick Boulevard Investment Holdings Co. LLC, Cibecue LLC, Coconino LLC, Colico II Inc., Columbus Drive Partners L.P., Commerce Street Holdings LLC, Commerce Street Investments LLC, Coolidge LLC, Coral Reef GP, Coral Reef L.P., Coral Reef Unit Trust, Cottage Street Investments LLC, Cottage Street Orbit Acquisition LLC, DHFL PRAMERICA LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED, DICKENS AVENUE HOLDINGS VI LLC, DICKENS AVENUE PARTNERS VI (Ireland) L.P., DICKENS AVENUE PARTNERS VI (US) L.P., Don Cesar Investor LLC, Dryden Arizona Reinsurance Term Company, Dryden Finance II LLC, EVP II GP S.a r.l., EVP II Sweden Resi I GP S.a r.l., Edison Place Senior Note LLC, Essex LLC, EuroCore GP S.a r.l., European Value Partners GP S.a.r.l., Everbright PGIM Fund Management Co. Ltd., Flagstaff LLC, GA 1600 Commons LLC, GA 333 Hennepin Investor LLC, GA BV LLC, GA Bay Area GP LLC, GA Bay Area Investor LLC, GA Belden LLC, GA CLARENDON LLC, GA Cal Crossings LLC, GA Collins LLC, GA E. 22nd Street Apartments Holdings LLC, GA East 86 Street LLC, GA JHCII LLC, GA MENLO PARK INVESTOR LLC, GA Manor at Harbour Island LLC, GA Metro LLC, GA Mission LLC, GA TRITON INVESTOR LLC, GA W Paces LLC, GA/MDI 333 Hennepin Associates LLC, GIBRALTAR BSN HOLDINGS SDN BHD, GIBRALTAR INDIA SOLUTIONS LLP, Gateway Holdings II LLC, Gateway Holdings LLC, German Retail Income CP LP, Gibraltar BSN Life Berhad, Gibraltar International Insurance Services Company Inc., Gibraltar International Service LLC, Gibraltar Reinsurance Company Ltd., Gibraltar Universal Life Reinsurance Company, Glenealy International Limited, Global Portfolio Strategies Inc., Gold GP Limited, Gold II L.P., Gold L.P., Graham Resources Inc., Graham Royalty Ltd., Green Tree GP, Green Tree L.P., Greenlee LLC, Halsey Street Investments LLC, Hirakata LLC, IVP Fund GP LLC, Impact Investments Bridges UK S.a.r.l, Inter-Atlantic G Fund L.P., Inversiones Previsionales Chile SpA, Inversiones Previsionales Dos SpA, Ironbound Fund LLC, Jennison Associates LLC, Kyarra S.a r.l., Kyoei Annuity Home Co. Ltd., LINEUP LLC, Lake Street Partners IV L.P., MC GA COLLINS HOLDINGS LLC, MC GA COLLINS REALTY LLC, MC Insurance Agency Services LLC, Manor at Harbour Island LLC, Marble Canyon LLC, Maricopa LLC, Market Street Holdings IV LLC, Morenci LLC, Mulberry Street Holdings LLC, Mulberry Street Investment L.P., Mulberry Street Partners LLC, Mullin TBG Insurance Agency Services LLC, MullinTBG Insurance Agency Services, National Family Assurance Group LLC, New Savanna, Orchard Street Acres Inc., PAI Bay Farm LLC, PAI Bayrock Groves LLC, PAI Belvidere Farms LLC, PAI Big Cypress Farm LLC, PAI Corcoran 640 Ranch LLC, PAI DeKalb Farm LLC, PAI Delano 1500 Ranches LLC, PAI Flicker Orchard LLC, PAI Good Hope Farm LLC, PAI Hawk Creek Ranch LLC, PAI Hills Valley Ranches LLC, PAI Holly Hill Groves LLC, PAI Hunt Farm LLC, PAI Jackson Bayou Farm LLC, PAI Lake Placid Groves LLC, PAI Wallula Gap Vineyard LLC, PCP V Cayman AIV GP L.P., PEREF II Co-Invest 1 GP S.a r.l., PEREF II GP S.a r.l., PEREF II PV S.r.l, PFI EM-Tech Fund I LLC, PG Business Service Co. Ltd, PG Collection Service Co. Ltd., PGA Asian Retail Limited, PGA European Limited, PGI Co. Ltd, PGIM (Australia) Pty Ltd, PGIM (Hong Kong) Ltd., PGIM (Scots) Limited, PGIM (Shanghai) Company Ltd., PGIM (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., PGIM AVP IV GP S.a r.l., PGIM Advisory (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., PGIM Agricultural Investments GP LLC, PGIM Agricultural Investors LP, PGIM Broad Market High Yield Bond Fund L.P., PGIM Broad Market High Yield Bond Partners LLC, PGIM Capital Partners Management (Feeder) VI LLC, PGIM Capital Partners Management Fund VI L.P., PGIM European Financing Limited, PGIM European Services Limited, PGIM Financial Limited, PGIM Fixed Income Alternatives Fund II L.P., PGIM Fixed Income Alternatives Fund L.P., PGIM Fixed Income Alternatives GP LLC, PGIM Fixed Income Alternatives II GP LLC, PGIM Foreign Investments Inc., PGIM Holding Company LLC, PGIM INDIA ASSET MANAGEMENT PRIVATE LIMITED, PGIM INDIA TRUSTEES PRIVATE LIMITED, PGIM Inc., PGIM International Financing Inc., PGIM Investments LLC, PGIM Japan Co. Ltd., PGIM Korea Inc., PGIM LTIF Berlin GP S.a r.l., PGIM LTIF Berlin MLP S.ar.l., PGIM LTIF GP S.a.r.l., PGIM Limited, PGIM Loan Originator Manager Limited, PGIM M Campus GP S.a r.l., PGIM Management Partner Limited, PGIM MetaProp Investor LP LLC, PGIM Netherlands B.V., PGIM Overseas Investment Fund Management (Shanghai) Company Ltd, PGIM Private Capital (Ireland) Limited, PGIM Private Capital Limited, PGIM Private Placement Investors Inc., PGIM Private Placement Investors L.P., PGIM REF EUROPE SCSp, PGIM REF Europe GP S.a r.l., PGIM REF Europe Member LLC, PGIM REF Intermediary Services Inc., PGIM Real Estate (Japan) Ltd., PGIM Real Estate (UK) Limited, PGIM Real Estate CD S.a.r.l., PGIM Real Estate Capital VII GP S.a r.l., PGIM Real Estate Carry & Co-Invest GP LLC, PGIM Real Estate Carry & Co-Invest GP S.a r.l., PGIM Real Estate Carry & Co-Invest L.P., PGIM Real Estate Carry & Co-Invest SCSp, PGIM Real Estate Co-Invest Holdings LLC, PGIM Real Estate Debt GmbH, PGIM Real Estate Finance Holding Company, PGIM Real Estate Finance LLC, PGIM Real Estate France SAS, PGIM Real Estate Germany AG, PGIM Real Estate Global Debt GP LLC, PGIM Real Estate Inmuebles S. de R.L. de C.V, PGIM Real Estate Italy S.r.l., PGIM Real Estate Loan Services Inc., PGIM Real Estate Luxembourg S.A., PGIM Real Estate MVP Administradora IV S. de R.L. de C.V., PGIM Real Estate MVP Administradora V S. de R.L. de C.V., PGIM Real Estate MVP Inmuebles IV S. de R.L. de C.V., PGIM Real Estate MVP Inmuebles V S. de R.L. de C.V., PGIM Real Estate Management Luxembourg S.a.r.l., PGIM Real Estate Mexico S.C., PGIM Real Estate S. de R.L. de C.V., PGIM Real Estate U.S. Debt Fund GP LLC, PGIM Senior Loan Opportunities Management (Feeder) I LLC, PGIM Senior Loan Opportunities Management Fund I L.P., PGIM Strategic Financing LLC, PGIM Strategic Investments Inc., PGIM USPF VI Manager LLC, PGIM Warehouse Inc., PGLH of Delaware Inc., PIFM Holdco LLC, PIIC Limited, PIISC Holdings (UK) Limited, PIM KF Blocker Holdings LLC, PIM KF Blocker V Holdings LLC, PIM USPF V Manager LLC, PLA Administradora Industrial SRL, PLA Administradora LLC, PLA Administradora S. de R.L. de C.V., PLA Asesoria Profesional II S. de R.L. de C.V., PLA Asesoria Profesional S.de R.L. de C.V., PLA Co-Investor LLC, PLA Mexico Industrial Manager I LLC, PLA Mexico Industrial Manager II LLC, PLA Mexico Residential Manager I LLC, PLA Residential Fund III Aggregating Manager LLC, PLA Residential Fund III Limited Manager LLC, PLA Residential Fund III Manager LLC, PLA Residential Fund IV Aggregating Manager LLC, PLA Residential Fund IV Manager LLC, PLA Retail Fund I Blue LP, PLA Retail Fund I LP, PLA Retail Fund I Manager LLC, PLA Retail Fund I Red LP, PLA Retail Fund II Aggregating Manager LLC, PLA Retail Fund II LLC, PLA Retail Fund II LP, PLA Retail Fund II Manager LLC, PLA Retail Fund II U.S. Carry/Co-Invest LP, PLA Services Manager Mexico LLC, PLAI Limited, PMCF Holdings LLC, PMCF Properties LLC, PPPF General Partner LLP, PR GA SCP Apartments LLC, PRAMERICA PRECAP VI GP (SCOTS FEEDER) LLP, PRAMERICA PRECAP VI GP LLP, PRECO ACCOUNT III LLC, PRECO ACCOUNT PARTNERSHIP III LP, PRECO Account IV LLC, PRECO Account Partnership IV LP, PRECO III GP LLP, PREFG Hanwha Manager LLC, PREI Acquisition I Inc., PREI Acquisition II Inc., PREI Acquisition LLC, PREI HYDG LLC, PREI International Inc., PRIAC Property Acquisitions LLC, PRICOA Management Partner Limited, PRISA Fund Manager LLC, PRISA II Fund Manager LLC, PRISA II Pooled Manager LLC, PRISA III Fund GP LLC, PRISA III Fund PIM LLC, PRREF II Fund Manager LLC, PRU 3XSquare LLC, PRUCO LLC, PRUDENTIAL CAPITAL ENERGY PARTNERS MANAGEMENT (FEEDER) LLC, PRUDENTIAL MORTGAGE SKP MEMBER LLC, PRUDENTIAL MORTGAGE SKP REIT LLC, PRUDENTIAL MORTGAGE SKP VENTURE 2 LLC, PRUDENTIAL MORTGAGE SKP VENTURE LLC, PT PFI Mega Life Insurance, Passaic Fund LLC, Pine Tree GP, Pine Tree L.P., Platinum GP Limited, Platinum II L.P., Platinum L.P., Pramerica (Hong Kong) Holdings Limited, Pramerica (Luxembourg) CP GP S.a.r.l., Pramerica (Scots) CP GP LLP, Pramerica Business Consulting (Shanghai) Company Limited, Pramerica EVP CP LP, Pramerica Financial Asia Headquarters Pte. Ltd., Pramerica Financial Asia Limited, Pramerica Fixed Income Funds Management Limited, Pramerica Fosun Life Insurance Co. Ltd., Pramerica General Partner LLP, Pramerica Holdings Ltd, Pramerica Insurance Agency (China) Company Ltd., Pramerica PRECAP I GP LLP, Pramerica PRECAP II GP LLP, Pramerica PRECAP III GP LLP, Pramerica PRECAP IV GP LLP, Pramerica Pan European Real Estate (Scots) LP, Pramerica Property Partners Fund (Scotland) Limited Partnership, Pramerica Real Estate Capital I (Scotland) Limited Partnership, Pramerica Real Estate Capital I GP (Scots Feeder) LLP, Pramerica Real Estate Capital II (Scots) Limited Partnership, Pramerica Real Estate Capital III (Scots) Limited Partnership, Pramerica Real Estate Capital IV (Scots) Limited Partnership, Pramerica Real Estate Capital IV GP (Scots Feeder) LLP, Pramerica Real Estate Capital IV GP Limited, Pramerica Real Estate Capital V (Netherlands) GP LLP, Pramerica Real Estate Capital V (Scots) Limited Partnership, Pramerica Real Estate Capital VI (Scots) Limited Partnership, Pramerica SGR S.p.A, Pramerica Systems Ireland Limited, Preco III (Scotland) Limited Partnership, Pru 101 Wood LLC, Pru Alpha Partners I LLC, Pru Fixed Income Emerging Markets Partners I LLC, PruVen Capital Partners Fund I L.P., Pruco Assignment Corporation, Pruco Life Insurance Company, Pruco Life Insurance Company of New Jersey, Pruco Securities LLC, Prudential 900 Aviation Boulevard LLC, Prudential Affordable Mortgage Company LLC, Prudential Agricultural Property Holding Company LLC, Prudential Annuities Distributors Inc., Prudential Annuities Holding Company Inc., Prudential Annuities Inc., Prudential Annuities Information Services & Technology Corporation, Prudential Annuities Life Assurance Corporation, Prudential Arizona Reinsurance Captive Company, Prudential Arizona Reinsurance Term Company, Prudential Arizona Reinsurance Universal Company, Prudential Bank & Trust FSB, Prudential Capital Energy Opportunity Fund L.P., Prudential Capital Energy Partners L.P., Prudential Capital Energy Partners Management Fund L.P., Prudential Capital Partners Management Fund IV L.P., Prudential Capital and Investment Services LLC, Prudential Chile II SpA, Prudential Chile SpA, Prudential Commercial Property Holding Company LLC, Prudential Customer Solutions LLC, Prudential Equity Group LLC, Prudential Financial Securities Investment Trust Enterprise, Prudential Fixed Income Global Liquidity Relative Value Partners LLC, Prudential Fixed Income U.S. Relative Value Partners LLC, Prudential Funding LLC, Prudential General Services of Japan Y.K., Prudential Gibraltar Agency Co. Ltd., Prudential Global Funding LLC, Prudential Holdings of Japan Inc., Prudential Huntoon Paige Associates LLC, Prudential IBH Holdco Inc., Prudential Impact Investments Mortgage Loans LLC, Prudential Impact Investments Private Debt LLC, Prudential Impact Investments Private Equity LLC, Prudential Industrial Properties LLC, Prudential Insurance Agency LLC, Prudential International Insurance Holdings Ltd., Prudential International Insurance Service Company L.L.C., Prudential International Investments Advisers LLC, Prudential International Investments Company LLC, Prudential International Investments LLC, Prudential Investment Management Services LLC, Prudential Japan Holdings LLC, Prudential Legacy Insurance Company of New Jersey, Prudential Life Insurance Company of Taiwan Inc., Prudential Mortgage Asset Holdings 1 Japan Investment Business Limited Partnership, Prudential Mortgage Asset Holdings 2 Japan Investment Business Limited Partnership, Prudential Mortgage Capital Asset Holding Company LLC, Prudential Mortgage Capital Funding LLC, Prudential Mortgage Capital Holdings LLC, Prudential Multifamily Mortgage LLC, Prudential Mutual Fund Services LLC, Prudential Newark Realty LLC, Prudential QOZ Investment Fund 1 LLC, Prudential Realty Securities Inc., Prudential Retirement Financial Services Holding LLC, Prudential Retirement Holdings LLC, Prudential Retirement Insurance and Annuity Company, Prudential Securities Secured Financing Corporation, Prudential Securities Structured Assets Inc., Prudential Seguros Mexico S.A. de C.V., Prudential Seguros S.A., Prudential Servicios S. de R.L. de C.V., Prudential Structured Settlement Company, Prudential Systems Japan Limited, Prudential Term Reinsurance Company, Prudential Trust Co. Ltd., Prudential Trust Company, Prudential Universal Reinsurance Company, Prudential Workplace Solutions Group Services LLC, Prudential do Brasil Seguros de Vida S.A., Prudential do Brasil Vida em Grupo S.A., Prudential/TMW Real Estate Group LLC, Pruservicos Participacoes Ltda., QMA JP EM All Cap Equity Partners LLC, QMA LLC, QMA Wadhwani LLP, Quartzsite LLC, Residential Services Corporation of America LLC, Rio CP LP, Rock European Real Estate Holdings S.ar.l., Rock Global Real Estate LLC, Rock Kensington Limited, Rock Marty GP S.a r.l., Rock Oxford S.a r.l., Rock UK Real Estate Holdings S.ar.l., Rock UK Real Estate II S.a.r.l., Rockstone Co. Ltd., Rosado Grande LLC, Ross Avenue Energy Fund Holdings LLC, Ross Avenue Minerals 2012 LLC, SCP Apartments LLC, SENIOR HOUSING PARTNERS VI GP LLC, SENIOR HOUSING PARTNERSHIP FUND VI GP LLC, SHP IV Carried Interest LP, SHP V Carried Interest L.P., SMP Holdings Inc., SVIIT Holdings Inc., Sanei Collection Service Co. Ltd. (Kabushiki Kaisha Sanei Shuuno Service), Senior Housing Partners IV L.L.C., Senior Housing Partners V LLC, Senior Housing Partnership Fund IV L.L.C., Senior Housing Partnership Fund V LLC, Sterling Private Placement Management LLP, Stetson Street Partners L.P., Strand Investments Limited, TBG Insurance Services Corporation, TENSATOR HOLDINGS LTD, TF Proveedora S.C., TMW ASPF I Verwaltungs GmbH & Co. KG, TMW ASPF Management GmbH, TMW Management LLC, TMW Real Estate Group LLC, TMW Realty Advisors LLC, TMW USPF Verwaltungs GmbH, TRGOAG Company Inc., The Gibraltar Life Insurance Co. Ltd., The Keynes Dynamic Beta Strategy (US) Fund GP LLC, The Prudential Assigned Settlement Services Corp., The Prudential Brazilian Capital Fund LP, The Prudential Gibraltar Financial Life Insurance Co. Ltd., The Prudential Home Mortgage Company Inc., The Prudential Insurance Company of America, The Prudential Life Insurance Company Ltd., The Prudential Real Estate Financial Services of America Inc., The WMF Group, Thurloe Commercial Guernsey Limited, Times Square Center Associates, USPF V - Verwaltungs - GmbH & Co. KG, USPF V Carry LLC, USPF V Co-Invest LLC, USPF V Investment LP, United States Property Fund VI GP S.a r.l., Vailsburg Fund LLC, Vantage Casualty Insurance Company, Wabash Avenue Holdings V LLC, Wabash Avenue Partners V L.P., Wadhwani Capital Limited, Waveland Avenue Holdings I LLC, Waveland Avenue Partners I (Ireland) L.P., Waveland Avenue Partners I (US) L.P., Wellness Services Ecossistema De Bem Estar Ltda., Wellness Services SRL, Yamato Life, and Yavapai LLC. TBC Bank Group PLC, through its subsidiaries, provides banking, leasing, brokerage, and card processing services to corporate and individual customers in Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Uzbekistan. The company operates through Retail; Corporate; and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises segments. It offers various current/settlement accounts, and term deposits; mortgage, consumer, retail, and corporate loans, as well as loans for micro, small, and medium enterprises; credit cards, credit lines, letters of credit, and guarantees; and money transfer and currency exchange services. The company also provides motor, life and personal accident, property, health, and other insurance products; investment, brokerage, and corporate finance solutions; and card processing, leasing, PR and marketing, real estate management, asset management, computer and software, e-commerce, and postal services. In addition, it offers internet and mobile banking services. The company operates through a network of 157 branches; 1,570 automated teller machines; 25,163 point of sale terminals; and 3,905 self-service terminals. TBC Bank Group PLC was founded in 1992 and is based in Tbilisi, Georgia. Read More Tele Columbus AG, together with its subsidiaries, operates fiber optic networks in Germany. The company operates in two segments, TV, and Internet and Telephony. The company offers analogue, digital TV, and radio broadcasting services. Its digital entertainment platform offers approximately 250 TV channels, and 60 digital radio stations. The company also provides internet and telephony, and mobile telephony services. In addition, it engages in the B2B business that comprises products to provide carrier companies with bandwidth and business client networking services, and business clients with internet and telephony services, as well as network monitoring and data center marketing services. Further, the company offers construction services to install fiber optic networks or connecting residential areas. It sells its end user products under the PYUR name. As of December 31, 2020, it served approximately 3.3 million residential units. The company was formerly known as Tele Columbus Holding GmbH and changed its name to Tele Columbus AG in September 2014. Tele Columbus AG was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in Berlin, Germany. Read More UBM plc organizes business-to-business events worldwide. The company offers face-to-face interaction in the form of exhibitions, tradeshows, conferences, and other live events. It also provides Website sponsorships and banner advertising services, as well as online directory and data products; and publishes magazines and trade press to specialist markets. In addition, the company offers data and broadcasting services. It serves advanced manufacturing and technology, brand licensing, business services and infrastructure, fashion and jewelry, food and agriculture, leisure and hospitality, lifestyle, pharma and healthcare, transport and logistics, and other sectors. The company was formerly known as United Business Media Limited and changed its name to UBM plc in May 2011. UBM plc was founded in 1843 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom. Read More Posted Thursday, June 7, 2018 10:40 am It was an unforgettable experience for the Fordland History Club, who took a trip to Washington, D.C., May 19-27. Students had an opportunity to see different memorials and museums, visit the Pentagon and take a tour of the Capitol. There were 18 students and 17 adults who attended the trip, which was organized by Valerie Cochara, Fordland High School social studies. Teresa Cardwell, Fordland High School math teacher, and Tonia McDaris, Fordland High School library media specialist, also helped out on the trip. There is so much to see Washington, D.C., said Cochara. We usually take the trip every two years, and there is a lot of planning that goes into it. The very first D.C. trip I remember Fordland going on was at least 20 years ago. That was with the Fordland FFA chapter. The group stayed in the National 4-H Conference Center in Maryland, getting to meet students from all over the world, such as Chili and Colombia. In addition, they had a chance to participate in a wreath-laying activity at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Lily Hendershot, Shelby Thomason, Catherine Cline and Cardwell, a retired Marine of 30 years, were selected to help place a wreath on the stand at the tomb. The ceremony was very organized, said Cochara. Participants who were laying the wreath had to take seven steps in the ceremony and it was very specific. One of the guards from the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, the Old Guard, helped them. It truly was an honor to be a part of that. According to Cochara, the cost of the trip for each student was $1,200, which included the matching T-shirts and flight expenses. The group was able to raise the funds by working concessions for Missouri State University in Springfield. We started doing concessions three years ago, said Cochara. We do it for concerts and ball games anything that happens at MSU. It is actually really fun. The Fordland History Group is four years old and was formed as a way to get students interested in history and government. Cochara has taught social studies for 22 years. I hope students will get a better understanding of our class and why it is important, said Cochara. The purpose of the History Club is to get kids excited about history and government. I think this trip really helps our students get an idea of why history is so valuable. The following companies are subsidiares of TransDigm Group: ARA Deutschland GmbH, ARA Holding GmbH, Abbott Electronics Ltd., Acme Aerospace, Acme Aerospace Inc., Adams Rite Aerospace GmbH, Adams Rite Aerospace Inc., Advanced Inflatable Products Limited, Aero-Instruments, AeroControlex Group Inc., Aerosonic, Aerosonic LLC, Air-Sea Survival Equipment Trustee Limited, Airborne Acquisition Inc., Airborne Global Inc., Airborne Holdings Inc., Airborne Systems, Airborne Systems Canada Ltd., Airborne Systems Group Limited, Airborne Systems Holdings Limited, Airborne Systems Limited, Airborne Systems NA Inc., Airborne Systems North America Inc., Airborne Systems North America of CA Inc., Airborne Systems North America of NJ Inc., Airborne Systems Pension Trust Limited, Airborne UK Acquisition Limited, Airborne UK Parent Limited, Aircraft Materials Limited, AmSafe, AmSafe Aviation (Chongqing) Ltd., AmSafe Bridport (Kunshan) Co. Ltd., AmSafe Bridport (Private) Ltd., AmSafe Bridport Ltd., AmSafe Global Holdings Inc., AmSafe Global Services (Private) Limited, AmSafe Inc., Arkwin Industries, Arkwin Industries Inc., Aviation Technologies, Aviation Technologies Inc., Avionic Instruments, Avionics Instruments, Avionics Specialties Inc., AvtechTyee Inc., Beta Transformer Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Beta Transformer Technology Corporation, Beta Transformer Technology LLC, Breeze-Eastern Corporation, Breeze-Eastern LLC, Bridport Erie Aviation Inc., Bridport Holdings Inc., Bridport Ltd., Bridport-Air Carrier Inc., Bruce Aerospace Inc., Bruce Industries, CDA InterCorp, CEF Industries LLC, Champion Aerospace, Cobham, DDC Electronics K.K., DDC Electronics Ltd., DDC Electronics Private Limited, DDC Electronique S.A.R.L., DDC Elektronik GmbH, DDL195 Limited, Data Device Corp., Data Device Corporation, Dukes Aerospace Inc., Edlaw Limited, Electromech Technologies LLC, Elektro-Metall Export GmbH, Elektro-Metall Paks KFT, Esterline, Extant Components Group Holdings Inc., Extant Components Group Intermediate Inc., GQ Parachutes Limited, HARCO LLC, Harco, Hartwell Corporation, ILC Holdings Inc., Irvin Aerospace Limited, IrvinGQ France SAA, IrvinGQ Limited, Johnson Liverpool LLC, Kirkhill Elastomers, Kirkhill Inc., Kunshan Shield Restraint Systems Ltd., MarathonNorco Aerospace Inc., McKechnie Aerospace, McKechnie Aerospace (Europe) Ltd., McKechnie Aerospace DE Inc., McKechnie Aerospace DE LP, McKechnie Aerospace Holdings Inc., McKechnie Aerospace US LLC, Mecanismos de Matamoros S.A. de C.V., Militair Aviation Ltd., Norco, Nordisk Asia Pacific Limited, Nordisk Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, Nordisk Aviation Products (Kunshan) Ltd., Nordisk Aviation Products AS, North Hills Signal Processing Corp., North Hills Signal Processing Overseas Corp., Pascall Electronics Limited, Pemberton 123 Ltd., Pexco Aerospace, Pexco Aerospace Inc., PneuDraulics, PneuDraulics Inc., Rancho TransTechnology Corporation, Retainers Inc., SSP Industries, Schneller, Schneller Asia Pte. Ltd., Schneller S.A.R.L., Schroth Safety Products, Semco Instruments, Semco Instruments Inc., Shield Restraint Systems Inc., Shield Restraint Systems Ltd., Signal Processing Matamoros S.A. de C.V., Skandia, Skandia Inc., Skurka Aerospace, Skurka Aerospace Inc., Symetrics, Symetrics Industries LLC, Symetrics Technology Group LLC, TDG Germany GmbH, TEAC Aerospace Holdings Inc., TEAC Aerospace Technologies Inc., TTERUSA Inc., Tactair Fluid Controls Inc., Takata Protection Systems, Technical Airborne Components Industries SPRL, Telair International, Telair International AB, Telair International GmbH, Telair International LLC, Telair International Services PTE Ltd (JV 70.5%), Telair US LLC, Texas Rotronics Inc., TransDigm (Barbados) SRL, TransDigm European Holdings Limited, TransDigm Ireland Ltd., TransDigm Receivables LLC, TransDigm UK Holdings plc, Transicoil (Malaysia) Sendirian Berhad, Transicoil LLC, Whippany Actuation Systems, Whippany Actuation Systems LLC, XCEL Power Systems Ltd., Young & Franklin, and Young & Franklin Inc.. The following companies are subsidiares of Darling Ingredients: B.V. CTH Groep, Best Commodity Trade B.V., Boca Industries, CTH B.V., CTH Belgie BVBA, CTH GmbH, CTH Porto - Industria Alimentar Unipessoal Lda, CTH US Inc., Changchun Sonac Biotechnology Co. Ltd, China Millers Ltd, Craig Protein Division Inc., Custom Blenders, DII Holdings (Gibraltar) Limited, Darling (GI) Limited, Darling (Shanghai) Management Co. Ltd, Darling Global Finance B.V., Darling Global Holdings Inc., Darling Green Energy LLC, Darling Ingredients Belgium Holding BV, Darling Ingredients Germany Holding GmbH, Darling Ingredients International Holding B.V., Darling Ingredients International Rendering and Specialties B.V., Darling Ingredients Nederland B.V., Darling Ingredients Nederland Holding B.V., Darling International Canada Inc., Darling International NL CV, Darling International NL Holdings B.V., Darling International Netherlands B.V., Darling National LLC, Dentrans BV, EV Acquisition LLC, Ecoson B.V., Global Ceramic Materials Ltd, Griffin Industries, Griffin Industries LLC, HR-Service Nederland B.V., Harimex do Brazil Ltda, Hepac B.V., Hunan Teijsen Casings & Food Co. Ltd, IT Services B.V., Kanzler GmbH, LARU GmbH, MD Entsorgungsges. fur Schlachtnebenprodukte mbH, National By-Products, Nebraska By-Products, Nevada Darmen- und Schlachtnebenprodukte Handels GmbH, Qionglai Sonac Biotechnology Co. Ltd, RVO BioPur, Rendac B.V., Rendac BVBA, Rendac CES SA, Rendac Icker GmbH & Co. KG, Rendac Jagel GmbH, Rendac Lingen GmbH, Rendac Rotenburg GmbH, Rendac Son B.V., Rendac Transport BVBA, Rendac UDES SPRL, Rendac Udes Transport SPRL, Rothsay, Rousselot (Da'an) Gelatin Co. Ltd, Rousselot (Guangdong) Gelatin Co. Ltd, Rousselot (M) SDN.BHD, Rousselot (Whenzou) Gelatin Co. Ltd, Rousselot (Zhejiang) Gelatin Co. Ltd, Rousselot Angouleme SAS, Rousselot Argentina SA, Rousselot B.V., Rousselot BV, Rousselot Dubuque Inc., Rousselot Gelatin SL, Rousselot Gelatinas do Brasil Ltda, Rousselot GmbH, Rousselot Inc., Rousselot Isle sur La Sorgue SAS, Rousselot Japan KK, Rousselot Peabody Inc., Rousselot SAS, SNP Handels- und Beteiligungs GmbH, Sanrec GmbH, Schmalzbaron Handels GmbH, Siping Sonac Biotechnology Co. Ltd, Sobel GmbH, Sobel Luxembourg Sarl, Sonac (China) Biology Co. Ltd, Sonac (Guangdong) Biotechnology Co. Ltd, Sonac (Luohe) Biotechnology Co. Ltd, Sonac Almere BV, Sonac Australia PTY Ltd, Sonac Bad Bramstedt GmbH, Sonac Belgie BV, Sonac Bergheim GmbH, Sonac Brunen GmbH, Sonac Burgum B.V., Sonac Eindhoven B.V., Sonac Elsholz GmbH, Sonac Erolzheim GmbH, Sonac Functional Products B.V., Sonac Gelsenkirchen GmbH, Sonac Gent BV, Sonac Harlingen B.V., Sonac Kiel GmbH, Sonac Lingen GmbH, Sonac Loenen B.V., Sonac Lubien Kujawski spolka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia (sp.z.o.o.), Sonac Mering GmbH, Sonac Osetnica Sp.z o.o., Sonac Son B.V., Sonac Transport BV, Sonac USA LLC, Sonac Usnice Sp.z o.o., Sonac Versmold GmbH, Sonac Vuren B.V., Sonac do Brasil Industria e Comercio de Sub Produto Animal Ltda, Terra Renewal Services, Treuhand SNP Icker GmbH, Triperia CTH Espana SL, Vion, and Zhejiang Sonac Biotechnology Co. Ltd. Allergan plc, a pharmaceutical company, develops, manufactures, and commercializes branded pharmaceutical, device, biologic, surgical, and regenerative medicine products worldwide. The company operates in three segments: US Specialized Therapeutics, US General Medicine, and International. It offers a portfolio of products in various therapeutic areas, including medical aesthetics and dermatology, eye care, neuroscience, urology, gastrointestinal, women's health, and anti-infective therapeutic products. The company also offers breast implants and tissue expanders; and RM-131 (relamorelin), a peptide ghrelin agonist for the treatment of diabetic gastroparesis. In addition, it develops medical and cosmetic treatments; therapies for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis and other liver diseases; inhibitor for the treatment of psoriasis and other autoimmune disorders; atopic dermatitis drug candidate; peri-ocular rings for extended drug delivery and reducing elevated intraocular pressure in glaucoma patients; and treatments for neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's disease. Further, the company develops RST-001, a novel gene therapy for the treatment of retinitis pigmentosa; small molecule therapeutics for inflammatory and fibrotic diseases; topical medicines for fat reduction; and delivery system and botulinum toxin-based prescription products. It has collaboration, option, and license agreement with Lyndra, Inc.; and strategic alliance and option agreement with Editas Medicine, Inc. Allergan plc also has licensing agreements with Assembly Biosciences, Inc.; MedImmune; and Heptares Therapeutics, Ltd. The company was formerly known as Actavis plc and changed its name to Allergan plc in June 2015. Allergan plc was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. Read More Posted Thursday, June 7, 2018 11:26 am The story of Forsyth, Missouri, is a lot like the story of Linn Creek, Missouri. They were both river towns, county seats, the head of navigation for steamboats on their respective rivers, and they both had to move when a lake was created. Prior to 1827, the future site of Forsyth was occupied by a trading post until it was bought by William Gillis. Gillis had arrived in southwest Missouri in 1822 where he set up a trading post on the James Fork of the White River in what would one day be Christian County. The Delaware Tribe had been moved to a reservation there from an Eastern state, and Gillis made his living trading with the Indians. His trading post on the James Fork was called Delaware Town. Gillis remained there until 1831 when the Delawares were moved to the area around Kansas City. While in southwest Missouri, Gillis had engaged Joseph Philibert to run the Swan Creek Trading Post. Early residents in the vicinity of the Swan Creek Trading Post were John Pettijohn, George Wells, Thomas Patterson, George Yoakum and Jeremiah Pearson. After Gillis left for parts north in 1831, David Shannon acquired the Swan Creek Trading Post, and by the late 1830s James Oliver was in the area operating a gristmill and sawmill on Swan Creek. Taney County was formed in 1837, and John W. Hancock established the first post office in the new county near the mouth of the Swan. He named it Forsyth after John Forsyth, who was then Secretary of State. In the spring of 1843, John Danforth bought the Shannon Trading Post at Forsyth and acquired the post office. In November of 1845, Danforth donated fifty acres to the county to create a county seat, and Taney County accepted. The first courthouse constructed in Forsyth was a log structure. By 1850, there were nineteen homes in Forsyth and they were occupied by eighty-one residents. In 1855 a three-story brick courthouse was erected. By 1860, at the beginning of the Civil War, Forsyth could boast of a drugstore, a blacksmith shop, three general stores, a tannery, two doctors offices and the Forsyth Hotel. During the war, there were several skirmishes at Forsyth as both sides fought over the town. The Union troops fortified and occupied the town in 1863, and when the Confederate Army advanced on Forsyth, the Union soldiers set fire to the town and fled. After the war concluded in 1865, the courthouse ruins were used to rebuild the structure. In the aftermath of the Civil War, Taney County, which had been basically a no-mans land during the war, continued to suffer from a lawless element that had thrived during the war. Eventually a group calling themselves the Citizens Committee was formed. They employed vigilante methods to combat lawlessness. To hide their identities they wore hooded masks and held their meetings on a hill bereft of trees so no one could sneak up on them. The public soon began calling them Bald Knobbers because of their meeting place. One of the thirteen original members of the vigilante group was Alonzo S. Prather. Nat Kinney was the acknowledged leader. Soon there would be far more members as their number grew to well over a hundred. As the Bald Knobbers became more violent, public sentiment turned against them and a group calling themselves the Anti-Bald Knobbers was formed. On December 18, 1885, the courthouse at Forsyth burned to the ground, apparently as the result of arson, and both the Bald Knobbers and the Anti-Bald Knobbers blamed the other group. By 1886, the Bald Knobbers were being written about in national newspapers. In April, the governor sent his Adjutant General to Forsyth to investigate the Bald Knobbers. The A.G. convinced Nat Kinney that the best thing for all concerned was for the Bald Knobbers to disband, and so the Bald Knobbers publicly disbanded on the Forsyth square the very next day. A new courthouse was constructed in 1889-1890. This structure was a 40-foot by 50-foot stone building with a 10-foot by 12-foot tower. From 1926 to 1934, Douglas Mahnkey served as the Taney County Clerk in that new courthouse. His grandfather was Alonzo Prather, one of the first Bald Knobbers, and from 1936 to 1938, Mahnkey served as the prosecuting attorney there. Forsyth got its own newspaper in 1895 with the founding of the Taney County Republican. The town continued to grow and prosper through the first half of the 1900s. But then, in 1947, work began on a new dam across the White River in Arkansas. It was a project of the Army Corps of Engineers and was completed in July of 1951 and officially dedicated by President Harry S. Truman in 1952. During high lake water levels, the new Bull Shoals Lake would back up into the area where Old Forsyth was located, so the entire town had to be moved to a bluff overlooking the mouth of Swan Creek. After this move, the old courthouse was dismantled and the stones sold to the School of the Ozarks, which started at Forsyth. The stones were taken to the campus at Point Lookout. Douglas Mahnkey would serve as prosecuting attorney in the new courthouse from 1952 to 1956 and again from 1962 to 1964. Old Forsyth was made into Shadowrock Park. Incidentally, Shadowrock Park was the site for the first celebrations of Nixas Sucker Day, where most of the residents of that town camped out overnight and had a big fish fry. The new town of Forsyth is still thriving today perched on a bluff overlooking the site that once was Old Forsyth. Bay Banks of Virginia, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides various banking products and services to businesses, professionals, and consumers in Virginia. The company accepts checking accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts, cash management accounts, certificates of deposit, and individual retirement accounts. Its loan products include commercial and industrial loans, such as small business loans, asset based loans, and other secured and unsecured loans and lines of credit; purchased loans; residential and commercial mortgages; home equity loans; consumer installment loans; and consumer loans comprising automobile and boat financing, home improvement loans, and unsecured personal loans. The company also provides credit cards; and insurance, online banking, telephone banking, mobile banking, analysis checking, cash management deposit, wire, direct deposit payroll, lockbox, positive pay, and remote deposit services, as well as a line of commercial lending options. In addition, it offers management services, including estate planning and settlement, as well as trust administration, investment, and wealth management services; and revocable and irrevocable living trusts, testamentary trusts, custodial accounts, investment planning, brokerage services, investment managed accounts, and managed and self-directed rollover individual retirement accounts for personal and corporate trusts. As of March 9, 2020, the company operated 17 banking offices located throughout greater Richmond region, the Northern Neck region, Middlesex County, and the Hampton Roads region. Bay Banks of Virginia, Inc. was founded in 1930 and is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Ingersoll Rand: 211 E. Russell Road LLC, Air-Relief, Belliss & Morcom Brasil, Belliss and Morcom, Boardwalk Enterprises, Charm Merger Sub Inc., CompAir, CompAir (Hankook) Korea Co. Ltd., CompAir Acquisition (No. 2) Ltd., CompAir Acquisition Ltd., CompAir BroomWade Ltd., CompAir Canada, CompAir Finance Ltd., CompAir GmbH, CompAir Holdings Limited, CompAir Holman Ltd, CompAir International Trading (Shanghai) Co Ltd, CompAir Korea Ltd, CompAir South Africa (SA) (Pty) Ltd., CompAir UK Ltd, CompAir USA, Consolidated Distribution Holdings Ltd., DV Systems Inc., Emco Wheaton, Emco Wheaton GmbH Branch, Emco Wheaton Gmbh, Emco Wheaton UK, Emco Wheaton USA Inc, Enza Air Propriety Limited (South Africa), GD Aria Holdings #2 Limited, GD Aria Holdings Limited, GD Aria Investments Limited, GD First UK Ltd, GD German Holdings GmbH, GD German Holdings I Gmbh, GD German Holdings II GmbH, GD German Investments GmbH, GD Global Holdings, GD Global Holdings II, GD Global Holdings UK II Ltd., GD Global Ventures I B.V., GD Global Ventures II B.V., GD Global Ventures III B.V., GD Industrial Products Malaysia SDN. BHD., GD Investment KY, GD UK Finance Ltd., Gardner Denver (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Gardner Denver Austria GmbH, Gardner Denver Bad Neustadt Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver Belgium NV, Gardner Denver Brasil Industria E Comercio de Maquinas Ltda., Gardner Denver CZ + SK sro, Gardner Denver Canada Corp, Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments II Ltd., Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments II Ltd. - US Branch, Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments Ltd., Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments Ltd. - US Branch, Gardner Denver Deutschland GmbH, Gardner Denver Engineered Products India Private Limited, Gardner Denver FZE, Gardner Denver Finance II LLC, Gardner Denver Finance Inc & Co KG, Gardner Denver France SA, Gardner Denver France SAS, Gardner Denver Group Services Ltd, Gardner Denver Group Svcs Ltd, Gardner Denver Hoffman, Gardner Denver Holdings, Gardner Denver Holdings Limited, Gardner Denver Hong Kong Investments Limited, Gardner Denver Hong Kong Ltd, Gardner Denver Iberica, Gardner Denver Industries Ltd., Gardner Denver Industries Pty Ltd., Gardner Denver Industries Pty Ltd. Branch, Gardner Denver International, Gardner Denver International Ltd., Gardner Denver Intl Ltd Middle East Regional Rep Office, Gardner Denver Investments, Gardner Denver Italy Holdings S.r.L., Gardner Denver Japan, Gardner Denver Kirchhain Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver Korea, Gardner Denver Korea Ltd, Gardner Denver Ltd, Gardner Denver Ltd South Africa, Gardner Denver Ltd., Gardner Denver Ltd. Branch (Ireland), Gardner Denver Machinery (Shanghai) Co, Gardner Denver Machinery (Shanghai) Co., Gardner Denver Nash Brasil Industria E Comercio De Bombas Ltda, Gardner Denver Nash Deutschland GmbH, Gardner Denver Nash LLC, Gardner Denver Nash Machinery Ltd, Gardner Denver Nash Machinery Ltd., Gardner Denver Nederland BV, Gardner Denver Nederland Investments B.V., Gardner Denver Oberdorfer Pumps, Gardner Denver Oy, Gardner Denver Petroleum Pumps, Gardner Denver Polska Sp z.o.o., Gardner Denver Pte Ltd., Gardner Denver S.r.l., Gardner Denver Schopfheim GmbH, Gardner Denver Schopfheim Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver Schweiz AG, Gardner Denver Slovakia, Gardner Denver SudAmerica S.r.l., Gardner Denver Sweden AB, Gardner Denver Taiwan Ltd., Gardner Denver Thomas, Gardner Denver Thomas GmbH, Gardner Denver Thomas Pneumatic Systems (Wuxi) Co., Gardner Denver Thomas Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver UK, Gardner Denver Water Jetting Systems, Garo Dott. Ing. Roberto Gabbioneta S.r.l., Hamworthy Belliss & Morcom, ILMVAC (UK) Ltd., ILS Innovative Labor Systeme, ILS Inovative Laborsysteme GmbH, Indonesia Foreign Trade Representative Office, LeROI, LeRoi International Inc, MP Pumps Inc., Mako Compressors, Nash, Nash Elmo, Oina VV, Oina VV Aktiebolag, Robuschi, Rotary Compression Technologies, Runtech Systems, Runtech Systems (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Runtech Systems Inc., Runtech Systems OY, Shanghai CompAir Compressors Co Ltd, Shanghai Compressors & Blowers Ltd., Syltone, TCM Investments, TIWR Real Estate GmbH & Co. KG, TODO AB, Tamrotor Marine Compressors AS, Thomas Industries, Thomas Industries Inc., Tri-Continent Scientific, Welch Vacuum Equipment (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Zinsser Analytic, Zinsser Analytik GmbH, and Zinsser NA. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA engages in the traditional banking businesses of retail banking, asset management, private banking, and wholesale banking. It operates through the following segments: Spain, the United States, Mexico, Turkey, South America, and Rest of Eurasia. The Spain segment includes mainly the banking and insurance business that the group carries out in Spain. The United States segment consists of the financial business activity of BBVA USA in the country and the activity of the branch of BBVA SA in New York. The Mexico segment refers to banking and insurance businesses in this country as well as the activity of its branch in Houston. The Turkey segment reports the activity of Garanti BBVA group that is mainly carried out in this country and, to a lesser extent, in Romania and the Netherlands. The South America segment comprises of operations in n Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela. The Rest of Eurasia segment includes the banking business activity carried out by the group in Europe and Asia, excluding Spain. The company was founded in 1857 and is headquartered in Madrid, Spain. Read More Wall Street analysts have given Carpetright 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 Carpetright wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys. View MarketBeat's top stock picks here. Cenovus Energy Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops, produces, and markets crude oil, natural gas liquids, and natural gas in Canada, the United States and the Asia Pacific region. The company operates through Oil Sands, Conventional, and Refining and Marketing segments. The Oil Sands segment develops and produces bitumen in northeast Alberta. Its bitumen assets include Foster Creek, Christina Lake, and Narrows Lake, as well as other projects in the early stages of development. The Conventional segment holds assets primarily located in Elmworth-Wapiti, Kaybob-Edson, and Clearwater operating areas of British Columbia and Alberta, as well as various interests in natural gas processing facilities. The Refining and Marketing segment transports and sells crude oil, natural gas, and NGLs. This segment owns a 50% ownership in Wood River and Borger refineries located in the United States; and owns and operates a crude-by-rail terminal in Alberta. Cenovus Energy Inc. was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada. Read More Posted Thursday, June 7, 2018 5:56 am Whats cheaper than renting an apartment or staying for multiple days in a hotel? A storage unit. And while its not up to code for a living space, some in Marshfield are choosing that option, against the rules of the storage companies. Allen Dennis, owner of McFadin Storage, the largest storage company in the city, appeared before the Marshfield Board of Aldermen at their meeting Thursday to ask for help with what appears to be a growing problem. Theres a lot of homeless people more than you think there are, Dennis told the board. Dennis has called the police, he said, but has been told there is nothing they can do. He surmised that people are coming to the area, perhaps to visit relatives, and they find that they can rent space from him for $75 instead of going to the Holiday Inn Express or a similar option. East Ward Alderman Rob Foster, presiding at the meeting in the absence of Mayor Robert Williams, asked city administrator John Benson if there was an ordinance making this act a specific crime, and Benson suggested that a circuit court order could get them to stop, as the units do not having running water, electricity or heating three requirements the International Construction Code for habitations. In phone interviews with other owners of storage companies, owners reported that theyre seeing this problem, too. Robert Boggs of Webster County Storage said that he recently confronted a woman he spotted on his cameras. Its the cheapest place you can rent, he said, agreeing with Dennis. I felt bad for her. People are in difficult circumstances. Derek Edwards of Edwards Appliance and Storage said that he knows this is a growing problem in other cities, but that he hasnt seen it at his facility, perhaps because its outside of city limits. We usually see whoever is coming in and out, and most all units have locks, he said. Danl Newll of Springfield, a friend of this reporter, noted that he has lived in a storage unit, and he doesnt recommend it. It was early January and I was constantly cold, he said in an interview. I slept in a leather coat in an army sleeping bag. The storage unit wasnt water-tight, and part of it I dubbed the splash zone. Lived there for a month and a half before I got too sick to stay there. He said that his unit was full of brown recluses and a whole lot of mold. I thought it was so cold the mold wouldnt faze me, he said. I was wrong. Newll currently lives without plumbing in an Amish-built bar, and in the fall hell begin law school at the University of Arkansas. Ill most likely stay in a minivan down there and retire to my barn on the weekends, he said. Webster County does not have a homeless shelter. Christopher & Banks Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates as a specialty retailer of private-brand women's apparel and accessories in the United States. The company designs and sells women's apparel and accessories to customers ranging in age from 40 and older. Its stores offer women's apparel consisting of casual clothing, everyday basics, wear-to-work, leisure/active wear, and sleepwear in missy, petite, and women sizes, as well as jewelry and accessories. As of December 4, 2018, the company operated 461 stores, including 314 MPW stores, 80 Outlet stores, 35 Christopher & Banks stores, and 32 stores in its women's plus size clothing division CJ Banks in 45 states. It also operates christopherandbanks.com, an e-commerce Website for its Christopher & Banks and CJ Banks brands. The company was formerly known as Braun's Fashions Corporation and changed its name to Christopher & Banks Corporation in July 2000. Christopher & Banks Corporation was founded in 1956 and is headquartered in Plymouth, Minnesota. Read More ConocoPhillips engages in the exploration, production, transportation and marketing of crude oil, bitumen, natural gas, natural gas liquids, and liquefied natural gas on a worldwide basis. It operates through the following geographical segments: Alaska; Lower 48; Canada; Europe, Middle East and North Africa; Asia Pacific; and Other International. The Alaska segment primarily explores for produces, transports and markets crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. The Lower 48 segment consists of operations in the U.S. and the Gulf of Mexico. The Canada segment is comprised of oil sands development in the Athabasca Region of northeastern Alberta and a liquids-rich unconventional play in western Canada. The Europe, Middle East and North Africa segment consists of operations and exploration activities in Norway, the United Kingdom and Libya. The Asia Pacific segment has explorations and product operations in China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Australia. The Other International segment handles exploration activities in Columbia and Argentina. The company was founded in 1875 and is headquartered in Houston, TX. Read More Wall Street analysts have given Credit Suisse Asset Management Income Fund 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 Credit Suisse Asset Management Income Fund wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys. View MarketBeat's top stock picks here. Exelon Corp. operates as a utility services holding company, which engages in the energy generation, power marketing, and energy delivery business. It operates through the following segments: Mid Atlantic, Midwest, New York, Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and other Power Regions. The Mid-Atlantic segment represents operations in the eastern half of PJM, which includes New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware, the District of Columbia and parts of Pennsylvania and North Carolina. The Midwest segment operates in the western half of PJM, which includes portions of Illinois, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee, and the United States footprint of MISO, excluding MISO's Southern Region, which covers all or most of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, the remaining parts of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio not covered by PJM, and parts of Montana, Missouri and Kentucky. The New York (NY) segment provides operations within ISONY, which covers the state of New York in its entirety. The ERCOT segment includes operations within Electric Reliability Council of Texas, covering most of the state of Texas. Read More National Australia Bank Limited provides financial services to individuals and businesses in Australia, New Zealand, and internationally. It operates through Business and Private Banking, Personal Banking, Corporate and Institutional Banking, and New Zealand Banking segments. It operates through Business and Private Banking; Personal Banking; Corporate and Institutional Banking; New Zealand Banking; Corporate Functions and Other; and MLC Wealth segments. The company accepts transaction accounts, savings accounts, deposit accounts, and term deposits; and specialized accounts, such as foreign currency, business interest, statutory trust, community free saver, farm management, and project bank accounts, as well as farm management deposits. National Australia Bank Limited also provides home loans; personal loans; business loans; vehicle and equipment finance; and trade and invoice finance, as well as business overdrafts and bank guarantees. In addition, the company offers insurance products consisting of car, home and content, landlord, travel, caravan and trailer, life, and business insurance products; and pension, superannuation, self-managed super funds, cash management, and financial planning and advisory services. Further, it provides investment products; credit, debit, and business cards; payments and merchant services; travel services; online and internet banking services; small business services; international and foreign exchange solutions; and industry specific banking services. National Australia Bank Limited was founded in 1834 and is based in Docklands, Australia. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Cummins: Anvl, Apollo FC Holdings Ltd., Atlantis Acquisitionco Canada Corporation, Atlantis Holdco UK Limited, Brammo, CIFC Worldwide Partner C.V., CMI Africa Holdings BV, CMI CGT Holdings LLC, CMI Canada Financing Ltd., CMI Canada LP, CMI Foreign Holdings B.V., CMI Global Equity Holdings B.V., CMI Global Equity Holdings C.V., CMI Global Holdings B.V., CMI Global Partner 2 C.V., CMI Global Partners B.V., CMI Group Holdings B.V., CMI Group Holdings Cooperatief U.A., CMI International Finance Partner 1 LLC, CMI International Finance Partner 2 LLC, CMI International Finance Partner 3 LLC, CMI International Finance Partner 4 LLC, CMI International Finance Partner 5 LLC, CMI Mexico LLC, CMI Netherlands Holdings B.V., CMI PGI Holdings LLC, CMI PGI International Holdings LLC, CMI Turkish Holdings B.V., CMI UK Finance LP, CMI UK Financing LP, Cherry Island Renewable Energy LLC, Consolidated Diesel Company, Consolidated Diesel Inc., Consolidated Diesel of North Carolina Inc., Cummins (China) Investment Co. Ltd., Cummins (Xiangyang) Machining Co. Ltd., Cummins Africa Middle East (Pty) Ltd., Cummins Afrique de l'Ouest, Cummins Americas Inc., Cummins Angola Lda., Cummins Argentina-Servicios Mineros S.A., Cummins Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Cummins Aust Technologies Pty. Ltd., Cummins BLR LLC, Cummins Battery Systems North America LLC, Cummins Belgium N.V., Cummins Botswana (Pty.) Ltd., Cummins Brasil Ltda., Cummins Burkina Faso SARL, Cummins CDC Holding Inc., Cummins CV Member LLC, Cummins Canada ULC, Cummins Caribbean LLC, Cummins Center of Excellence Singapore Pte. Ltd., Cummins Centroamerica Holding S.de R.L., Cummins Child Development Center Inc., Cummins Colombia S.A.S., Cummins Comercializadora S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Corporation, Cummins Cote d'Ivoire SARL, Cummins Czech Republic s.r.o., Cummins Deutschland GmbH, Cummins Diesel International Ltd., Cummins Distribution Holdco Inc., Cummins EMEA Holdings Limited, Cummins East Asia Research & Development Co. Ltd., Cummins Eastern Marine Inc., Cummins Electrified Power Europe Ltd., Cummins Electrified Power NA Inc., Cummins Emission Solutions (China) Co. Ltd., Cummins Emission Solutions Inc., Cummins Empresas Filantropicas, Cummins Energetica Ltda., Cummins Engine (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Cummins Engine (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Cummins Engine (Shanghai) Trading & Services Co. Ltd., Cummins Engine Holding Company Inc., Cummins Engine IP Inc., Cummins Engine Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Cummins Engine Venture Corporation, Cummins Enterprise LLC, Cummins Filtration (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Cummins Filtration GmbH, Cummins Filtration IP Inc., Cummins Filtration Inc., Cummins Filtration International Corp., Cummins Filtration Ltd., Cummins Filtration SARL, Cummins Filtration Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Cummins Filtros Ltda., Cummins Franchise Holdco LLC, Cummins Fuel Systems (Wuhan) Co. Ltd., Cummins Generator Technologies (China) Co. Ltd., Cummins Generator Technologies Americas Inc., Cummins Generator Technologies Germany GmbH, Cummins Generator Technologies India Private Ltd., Cummins Generator Technologies Italy SRL, Cummins Generator Technologies Limited, Cummins Generator Technologies Romania S.A., Cummins Generator Technologies Singapore Pte Ltd., Cummins Ghana Limited, Cummins Ghana Mining Limited, Cummins Global Financing LP, Cummins Global Technologies LLP, Cummins Grupo Comercial Y. de Servicios S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Grupo Industrial S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Holland B.V., Cummins Hong Kong Ltd., Cummins India Ltd., Cummins Intellectual Property Inc., Cummins International Finance LLC, Cummins International Holdings Cooperatief U.A., Cummins International Holdings LLC, Cummins Italia S.P.A., Cummins Japan Ltd., Cummins Korea Co. Ltd., Cummins LLC Member Inc., Cummins Ltd., Cummins Maroc SARL, Cummins Middle East FZE, Cummins Mining Services S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Mobility Services Inc., Cummins Mongolia Investment LLC, Cummins Mozambique Ltda., Cummins NV, Cummins Namibia Engine Sales and Service PTY LTD, Cummins Natural Gas Engines Inc., Cummins New Zealand Limited, Cummins Nigeria Ltd., Cummins Norte de Colombia S.A.S., Cummins North Africa Regional Office SARL, Cummins Norway AS, Cummins PGI Holdings Ltd., Cummins Power Generation (China) Co. Ltd., Cummins Power Generation (S) Pte. Ltd., Cummins Power Generation (U.K.) Limited, Cummins Power Generation Deutschland GmbH, Cummins Power Generation Inc., Cummins Power Generation Limited, Cummins PowerGen IP Inc., Cummins Research and Technology India Private Ltd., Cummins Romania Srl, Cummins S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Sales and Service Korea Co. Ltd., Cummins Sales and Service Philippines Inc., Cummins Sales and Service Private Limited, Cummins Sales and Service Sdn. Bhd., Cummins Sales and Service Singapore Pte. Ltd., Cummins Sinai ve Otomotiv Urunleri Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Cummins South Africa (Pty.) Ltd., Cummins South Pacific Pty. Limited, Cummins Southern Plains LLC, Cummins Spain S.L., Cummins Sweden AB, Cummins Technologies India, Cummins Trade Receivables LLC, Cummins Turbo Technologies Limited, Cummins Turkey Motor Guc Sistemleri Sats Servis Limited Sirketi, Cummins U.K. Holdings Ltd., Cummins U.K. Pension Plan Trustee Ltd., Cummins UK Global Holdings Ltd., Cummins UK Holdings LLC, Cummins Vendas e Servicos de Motores e Geradores Ltda., Cummins Venture Corporation, Cummins West Africa Limited, Cummins West Balkans d.o.o. Nova Pasova, Cummins XBorder Operations (Pty) Ltd, Cummins Zambia Ltd., Cummins Zimbabwe Pvt. Ltd., Distribuidora Cummins Centroamerica Costa Rica S.de R.L., Distribuidora Cummins Centroamerica El Salvador S.de R.L., Distribuidora Cummins Centroamerica Guatemala Ltda., Distribuidora Cummins Centroamerica Honduras S.de R.L., Distribuidora Cummins S.A., Distribuidora Cummins Sucursal Paraguay SRL, Distribuidora Cummins de Panama S. de R.L., Dynamo Insurance Company Inc., Efficient Drivetrains, Efficient Drivetrains (Beijing) New Power Technology Co. Ltd., Efficient Drivetrains (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Hilite International, Hydrogenics, Hydrogenics Corporation, Hydrogenics Europe N.V., Hydrogenics GmbH, Hydrogenics Holding GmbH, Hydrogenics USA Inc., Markon Engineering Company Ltd., Nelson Burgess Ltd., Nelson Industries, Newage Engineers GmbH, Newage Ltd. (U.K.), Newage Machine Tools Ltd., OOO Cummins, Petbow Limited, Power Group International (Overseas Holdings) B.V., Power Group International (Overseas Holdings) Ltd., Power Group International Ltd., Quickstart Energy Projects SpA, Shanghai Cummins Trade Co. Ltd., TOO Cummins, Taiwan Cummins Sales & Services Co. Ltd., Worldwide Partner CV Member LLC, Wuxi Cummins Turbo Technologies Co. Ltd., Wuxi New Energy Automotive Technologies Co. Ltd., and ZED Connect Inc.. Wall Street analysts have given iShares China Large-Cap 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 iShares China Large-Cap ETF wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys. View MarketBeat's top stock picks here. Posted Thursday, June 7, 2018 6:02 am First thing Monday morning in the Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce office, Sheri Benson and Chamber coordinator Kasey Mathews were busy planning. Benson, known to Marshfieldians as an active member of GRO Marshfield, is trying to work up an energetic and enthusiastic welcome for a group of 550 bicyclists who will stop in Marshfield on June 19 at the pavilion in North Park, located at 307 Banning St. Were trying to create a stir at North Park, Benson explained in a pop-in interview. The cyclists will be at the pavilion between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., and Benson is doing her best to make sure that the community is there to greet them. They are coming through town as part of the Big BAM Ride BAM standing for Bicycles Across Missouri. BAM riders will get their kicks for six days of music and riding along Missouris Historic Route 66, and while they are not having an overnight stop in Marshfield, they will be lunching in the city. Mathews shared Bensons enthusiasm. These are 500 riders who might not have stopped in Marshfield if they were driving by on the highway, she said. She suggested that by Marshfieldians rolling out the red carpet, we may just encourage riders to visit the city again, and future BAM rides may even schedule Marshfield as an overnight stop. Benson agreed. It would add to our economy, she said. It puts Marshfield on the map and clearly designates us as a welcoming community to Route 66 travelers as well. Bensons goals go beyond a large turnout on June 19. Her eyes are on a bigger prize, which is Marshfield becoming known as a Route 66 hot spot through planned signage and other marketing efforts. We have so much to offer, she said. Were really trying to make a big show of it. Benson asks that people along the route, which enters town from the west and the bikers previous stop in Willard, put out signs, balloons or other decorations, and that anyone who sees the bikers offer a wave. Shed love for townspeople to turn out at North Park to picnic with riders (but notes that they should take their own lunch or be prepared to buy one on site, as free food will not be available). Mathews is currently working with the health department to see what needs to be done for vendors to set up, and she noted that there have already been volunteers. Benson added, People are already saying, I want in. Benson asks that youth, civic, church or other organizations contact Mathews at the Chamber office to find out how to get involved. Its just a vision as being a welcoming community, she said, and she expressed a hope that many would sign on. This is a call to action, Benson said. Marshfield, come out! Come to the park! Wall Street analysts have given iShares MSCI Japan 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 iShares MSCI Japan ETF wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys. View MarketBeat's top stock picks here. KB Financial Group, Inc. engages in providing financial services through its subsidiaries. It operates through the following segments: Corporate Banking, Retail Banking, Other Banking Services, Credit Card, Life Insurance, Investment and Securities business. The Corporate Banking business segment provides services such as loans, overdrafts, deposits, credit facilities and other foreign currency activities. The Retail Banking business segment offers services such as private customer current accounts, savings, deposits, consumer loans and mortgage loans. The Other Banking business segment provides services relating to banking business besides corporate banking and retail banking services. The Credit Card business segment offers services such as domestic as well as overseas credit and debit card operations. The Investment and Securities business segment provides services such as investment banking and brokerage. The Life Insurance business segment provides products such as life insurance and wealth management. The company was founded on September 29, 2008 and is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. Read More Augusta Gold Corp., a junior exploration company, engages in the acquisition and exploration of mineral properties in the United States. It primarily explores for gold, silver, and other metals. The company holds interests in the Bullfrog gold project located in the north-west of Las Vegas, Nevada. It also owns, controls, or has acquired mineral rights on Federal patented and unpatented mining claims in the state of Nevada for the purpose of exploration and potential development of metals on a total of approximately 7,800 acres of land. The company was formerly known as Bullfrog Gold Corp. and changed its name to Augusta Gold Corp. in January 2021. Augusta Gold Corp. was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. Read More Posted Thursday, June 7, 2018 12:03 pm Raymond named to Missouri Southern spring 2018 deans list Alyssa N. Raymond, Marshfield, made the spring 2018 deans list at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin. The deans list recognizes full-time students who earned a grade point average of 3.75 or above on a 4.0 scale. Conley and Eden make MVCs spring 2018 deans list Mckenzie Conley, Rogersville, and Logan Eden, Strafford, were named to the spring 2018 deans list at Missouri Valley College in Marshall. To be named to the list, students must have a 3.3 or higher grade point average, at least 12 graded hours for the semester and no D, F or Incomplete grades for the semester. Hendrycks graduates from University of Chicago Daniel Hendrycks, Marshfield, received his Bachelor of Science degree with honors in computer science from the University of Chicago. He will obtain his Ph.D. in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley. The university will award him full tuition, health insurance and a living stipend. He is a 2014 graduate from Marshfield and the son of Lee and Dawn Hendrycks. Kennedy named to Midwestern State spring honor roll Sarah Kennedy, Rogersville, made the spring 2018 presidents honor roll at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas. A student who completes 12 hours in one semester with no grade lower than A (4.0) will be included on the presidents honor roll. Columbia College releases spring 2018 deans list Lindsey Barnard, Strafford, and Kaitlynn Bushong and Micayla Helms, both of Seymour, were named to the spring 2018 deans list at Columbia College in Columbia. To be named to the deans list, a student must have completed 12 semester hours in a 16-week period and achieved a minimum grade point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 point scale. UCM releases spring 2018 deans list Shelby Rouse, Marshfield, was named to the spring 2018 deans list at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg. Whittaker makes State Technical College spring honor roll Kale Whittaker, Marshfield, was named to the spring 2018 honor roll at the State Technical College of Missouri in Linn. Beeler named to spring 2018 State Technical College deans list Bryce Beeler, Seymour, made the spring 2018 deans list at State Technical College in Linn. To be placed on the deans list, a full-time student must earn a semester grade point average between 3.5 and 4.0 on a 4-point scale. Harding University releases spring 2018 deans list Haley Ragsdale and Parker Samuel, both of Rogersville, and Grace Nickols, Strafford, were named to the spring 2018 deans list at Harding University in Searcy, Ark. The deans list is published each semester by Dr. Marty Spears, university provost, honoring those who have achieved high scholarship. To be eligible, a student must be carrying 12 or more hours with a 3.65 or higher grade-point average and no incompletes. Shaughnessy receives WWU OWL Achievement Award Madison Shaughnessy, Niangua, was one of the winners of the William Woods University OWL Achievement Award. Recipients of the award are selected for their outstanding wisdom and leadership while a student at William Woods. To be eligible, students must have a grade point average of at least 3.4 and have submitted a resume and list of campus activities for review. Criteria include the students scholarship ability, participation and leadership in academic and co-curricular activities, citizenship, service to William Woods and the community and potential for future achievement. Wolff graduates from Park University Robert J. Wolff graduated with his Master of Education degree in educational leadership at Park University in Parkville. The commencement ceremony took place May 12 at the Community of Christ auditorium in Independence. The following companies are subsidiares of Valero Energy: AIR BP-PBF DEL PERU SAC, BELFAST STORAGE LTD, CANADIAN ULTRAMAR COMPANY, COLONNADE TEXAS INSURANCE COMPANY LLC, COLONNADE VERMONT INSURANCE COMPANY, DIAMOND ALTERNATIVE ENERGY LLC, DIAMOND ALTERNATIVE ENERGY OF CANADA INC., DIAMOND GREEN DIESEL HOLDINGS LLC, DIAMOND GREEN DIESEL LLC, DIAMOND K RANCH LLC, DIAMOND OMEGA COMPANY L.L.C., DIAMOND SHAMROCK REFINING COMPANY L.P., DIAMOND UNIT INVESTMENTS L.L.C., DSRM NATIONAL BANK, ENTERPRISE CLAIMS MANAGEMENT INC., GCP LOGISTICS COMPANY LLC, GOLDEN EAGLE ASSURANCE LIMITED, HAMMOND MAINLINE PIPELINE LLC, HUNTWAY REFINING COMPANY, MAINLINE PIPELINES LIMITED, MAPLE ETHANOL LTD., MICHIGAN REDEVELOPMENT GP LLC, MICHIGAN REDEVELOPMENT L.P., MRP PROPERTIES COMPANY LLC, NECHES RIVER HOLDING CORP., NORCO METHANOL LLC, OCEANIC TANKERS AGENCY LIMITED, PARKWAY PIPELINE LLC, PENTA TANKS TERMINALS S.A., PI DOCK FACILITIES LLC, PICKARD PLACE CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, PORT ARTHUR COKER COMPANY L.P., PREMCOR USA INC., PROPERTY RESTORATION L.P., PURE BIOFUELS DEL PERU S.A.C., PURE BIOFUELS HOLDINGS L.P., Parkway Pipeline, Premcor, Pure Biofuels Del Peru, SABINE RIVER HOLDING CORP., SABINE RIVER LLC, SAINT BERNARD PROPERTIES COMPANY LLC, SUNBELT REFINING COMPANY L.P., THE PREMCOR PIPELINE CO., THE PREMCOR REFINING GROUP INC., THE SHAMROCK PIPE LINE CORPORATION, TRANSPORT MARITIME ST. LAURENT INC., ULTRAMAR ACCEPTANCE INC., ULTRAMAR ENERGY INC., ULTRAMAR INC., Ultramar Diamond Shamrock, V-TEX LOGISTICS LLC, VALERO (BARBADOS) SRL, VALERO (PERU) HOLDINGS GP LLC, VALERO (PERU) HOLDINGS LIMITED, VALERO ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO ARUBA ACQUISITION COMPANY I LTD., VALERO ARUBA FINANCE INTERNATIONAL LTD., VALERO ARUBA HOLDING COMPANY N.V., VALERO ARUBA HOLDINGS INTERNATIONAL LTD., VALERO ARUBA MAINTENANCE/OPERATIONS COMPANY N.V., VALERO BROWNSVILLE TERMINAL LLC, VALERO CANADA FINANCE INC., VALERO CANADA L.P., VALERO CAPITAL CORPORATION, VALERO CARIBBEAN SERVICES COMPANY, VALERO COKER CORPORATION ARUBA N.V., VALERO CUSTOMS & TRADE SERVICES INC., VALERO EAST BAY LLC, VALERO ENERGY (IRELAND) LIMITED, VALERO ENERGY ARUBA II COMPANY, VALERO ENERGY INC., VALERO ENERGY LTD, VALERO ENERGY PARTNERS GP LLC, VALERO ENERGY PARTNERS LP, VALERO ENERGY UK LTD, VALERO ENTERPRISES INC., VALERO EQUITY SERVICES LTD, VALERO FINANCE L.P. I, VALERO FINANCE L.P. II, VALERO FINANCE L.P. III, VALERO FOREST CONTRIBUTION LLC, VALERO GRAIN MARKETING LLC, VALERO H2 PIPELINE COMPANY LLC, VALERO HOLDCO UK LTD, VALERO HOLDINGS INC., VALERO INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS INC., VALERO LIVE OAK LLC, VALERO LOGISTICS UK LTD, VALERO MARKETING AND SUPPLY (PANAMA) LLC, VALERO MARKETING AND SUPPLY COMPANY, VALERO MARKETING AND SUPPLY DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO MARKETING AND SUPPLY DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO MARKETING AND SUPPY INTERNATIONAL LTD., VALERO MARKETING IRELAND LIMITED, VALERO MKS LOGISTICS L.L.C., VALERO NEDERLAND COOPERATIEF U.A., VALERO NEDERLAND COOPERATIEF U.A., VALERO NEW AMSTERDAM B.V., VALERO OMEGA COMPANY L.L.C., VALERO OPERATIONAL SERVICES DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO OPERATIONAL SERVICES DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO OPERATIONS SUPPORT LTD, VALERO PARTNERS CCTS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS CORPUS EAST LLC, VALERO PARTNERS CORPUS WEST LLC, VALERO PARTNERS EP LLC, VALERO PARTNERS HOUSTON LLC, VALERO PARTNERS LOUISIANA LLC, VALERO PARTNERS LUCAS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS MCKEE LLC, VALERO PARTNERS MEMPHIS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS MERAUX LLC, VALERO PARTNERS NORTH TEXAS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS OPERATING CO. LLC, VALERO PARTNERS PAPS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS PORT ARTHUR LLC, VALERO PARTNERS SOUTH TEXAS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS TEXAS CITY LLC, VALERO PARTNERS THREE RIVERS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS WEST MEMPHIS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS WEST TEXAS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS WYNNEWOOD LLC, VALERO PAYMENT SERVICES COMPANY, VALERO PEMBROKESHIRE LLC, VALERO PEMBROKESHIRE OIL TERMINAL LTD, VALERO PLAINS COMPANY LLC, VALERO POWER MARKETING LLC, VALERO RAIL OPERATIONS DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO RAIL OPERATIONS DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO RAIL PARTNERS LLC, VALERO REFINING AND MARKETING COMPANY, VALERO REFINING COMPANY-ARUBA N.V., VALERO REFINING COMPANY-CALIFORNIA, VALERO REFINING COMPANY-OKLAHOMA, VALERO REFINING COMPANY-TENNESSEE L.L.C., VALERO REFINING-MERAUX LLC, VALERO REFINING-NEW ORLEANS L.L.C., VALERO REFINING-TEXAS L.P., VALERO RENEWABLE FUELS COMPANY LLC, VALERO SECURITY SYSTEMS INC., VALERO SERVICES INC., VALERO SKELLYTOWN PIPELINE LLC, VALERO TEJAS COMPANY LLC, VALERO TERMINAL HOLDCO LTD, VALERO TERMINALING AND DISTRIBUTION COMPANY, VALERO TERMINALING AND DISTRIBUTION DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO TEXAS POWER MARKETING INC., VALERO ULTRAMAR HOLDINGS INC., VALERO UNIT INVESTMENTS L.L.C., VALERO WEST WALES LLC, VRG PROPERTIES COMPANY, VTD PROPERTIES COMPANY, WARSHALL COMPANY LLC, and ZELIG COMMERCIAL INC.. The Bank of New York Mellon pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and currently has a dividend yield of 2.46%. The Bank of New York Mellon does not yet have a strong track record of dividend growth. The dividend payout ratio of The Bank of New York Mellon is 33.92%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%. Based on earnings estimates, The Bank of New York Mellon will have a dividend payout ratio of 29.44% next year. This indicates that The Bank of New York Mellon will be able to sustain or increase its dividend. View The Bank of New York Mellon's dividend history. The Iraqi parliament Wednesday ordered a nation-wide manual re-count of votes of the May 12 parliamentary elections following comments by outgoing Prime Minister arguing that the election was marred by irregularities. The legislature passed a law demanding the manual re-count, Reuters reports. The move came several weeks after the release of the results, which proclaimed anti-US, anti-Iran Shia Cleric Moqtada al-Sadrs bloc winner. Outgoing Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi Tuesday claimed the process was marred with dangerous violations. The Independent High Elections Commission (IHEC) has taken the blame for the irregularities and nine members have been replaced by judges. Al-Abadis bloc finished third. Sadrs bloc was due to form a new government but the parliament decision risks to wake up sectarian conflicts that tore the country following the US invasion. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) welcomed Sadrs victory pointing out that it counters Irans ambitions. Much of the rhetoric coming out of Iraq is staunchly opposed to Irans influence in the country, indicating a strengthening Iraqi identity that can cut through sectarian divides, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash was quoted as saying. While Iran still has the messianic sectarian view to be the major regional power, I would argue that Iran is getting its own blows and its not a linear progression, he said. Sadr is opposed to Iran and the US influence in the Iraqi affairs and vowed to boot them out. 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. Read More Sanchez Energy Corporation, an independent exploration and production company, focuses on the acquisition and development of U.S. onshore unconventional oil and natural gas resources. It engages in the horizontal development of resources from the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas. It also holds an undeveloped acreage position in the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS) in Mississippi and Louisiana. As of December 31, 2017, the company had assembled approximately 285,000 net acres in the Eagle Ford Shale; and owned approximately 37,000 net acres in the TMS. Sanchez Energy Corporation was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas. Read More The NATO Wednesday crushed Qatars desire to join the alliance as its membership in the regional Gulf Cooperation Council has become shaky amid growing diplomatic tension with its neighbors. According to Article 10 of the Washington Treaty, only European countries can become members of NATO, an official told AFP on Wednesday. Qatar is a valuable and longstanding partner of NATO, the official added. The rejection came a day after Qatars defense minister Khalid bin Mohammad Al Attiyah told the official magazine of the Qatari defense ministry, Altalaya, that the countrys clear ambition was to become full member of the defense alliance. Qatar today has become one of the most important countries in the region in terms of the quality of armament, Attiyah said. Regarding the membership, we are a major ally from outside NATO. The ambition is full membership if our partnership with NATO develops and our vision is clear. Attiyah was speaking on the first anniversary of the diplomatic spat opposing it to its neighbors namely Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain in addition to Egypt. The four severed ties with Qatar over its alleged support for terrorism in June 2017. Qatar dismissed the charge. The quartet has since then imposed a sea, air and ground blockade and even threatened Qatars membership in GCC. The diplomatic crisis has since deepened. Qatar last week banned food products stemming from the boycotting country. Saudi Arabia also threatened to assault militarily the tiny rich country over its plans to buy from Russian S-400 air defense missile system. EU contributes over 35 million to May salaries and pensions in Palestine The EU has made a contribution of 35.875 million to the Palestinian Authoritys (PA) payment of 55,000 Palestinian civil servants and pensioners in the West Bank. This contribution is being funded by the European Union (35.0 million) and the Netherlands (0.875 million). The EU is making today its first annual contribution to the Palestinian Authority for the year 2018. Our joint contribution underscores that the EU and it Member States remain reliable and committed donors in support of a two-state solution said the EU Representative Ralph Tarraf. Most of the European Unions assistance to the PA is channelled through PEGASE, the financial mechanism launched in 2008 to support the PA Reform and Development Plan and subsequent Palestinian national plans and agendas, including the ongoing National Policy Agenda Putting Citizens First. To help the PA meet a substantial proportion of its recurrent expenditure, European funds support major reform and development programs in key ministries, to help prepare the PA for statehood. Since February 2008, over 2.3 billion have been disbursed through the PEGASE Direct Financial Support programs. Gardabani Thermal Power Plant 2 Construction Launched By Tea Mariamidze A new Combined Cycle Thermal Power Plant will be built in Georgias Gardabani Municipality, Kvemo Kartli Region to increase the countrys power generation.230 MW Gardabani Thermal Power Plant 2 was visited by the Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Kvirikashvili and the Minister of Economy and Vice-Premier Dimitry Kumsishvili where they laid the foundation for the construction process.The construction project is being implemented by Gardabani TPP 2, which is a subsidiary of the Georgian Oil and Gas Corporation. A similar TPP with an installed capacity of 230 MW, Gardabani 1, has been in operation since 2015.China Tianchen Engineering Corporation (TCC) was selected for the implementation of the construction. The combined cycles new energy-efficient is planned to be exploited for the 2019-2020 winter season.The plant will have a function "launching from zero, which is provided via autonomous/independent diesel generator (Black Start Diesel Generator). This function enables the TPP to be started even during the so called System Black-out.Georgia's Economy Minister Dimitry Kumsishvili said the foundation is almost prepared for the new plant.Therefore, we think that construction will be accomplished within schedule in 2020, before the winter season, Kumsishvili noted.Moreover, the Georgian PM stated that just a year ago, the first combined cycle thermal power plant, which was financed by the Georgian Oil and Gas Corporation with the Partnership Fund, was successfully completed.Today, the construction of another such object is already underway, which is a great success, the Prime Minister stated.Kvirikashvili drew attention to the positive dynamics that is observed in bilateral relations between China and Georgia.Congratulations on implementing such a significant project. In the energy sector, logistics, of course, in the tourism sector we expect more investments from China in the future, he stated.The PM added that the free trade agreement between Georgia and China was historic and noted that the agreement provided a new dynamic of trade-economic relations between the two countries.Moreover, the Oil and Gas Corporation of Georgia and the China Tianchen Engineering Corporation signed a memorandum of understanding. On the basis of the memorandum, the companies will continue to study the possibilities of cooperation in the field of industrial chemicals and mineral fertilizers in Georgia regarding the construction of a chemical enterprise in Georgia. Killed Teenagers Father Meets the PM By Vladimer Napetvaridze Protest rallies about the Khorava street tragedy that left the two teenagers dead, have been going on for several days. The government used various methods to defuse the tense situation, as some of the demonstrators have demanded the resignation of the cabinet and the system overhaul. Zaza Saralidze, the father of the youngster killed on Khorava Street in December, is asking for a thorough and fair investigation and says he will not stop until he sees the investigation is progressing.Despite the fact that the Chief Prosecutor of Georgia made a statement about his resignation on the first day of the rallies and the Prime Minister Kvirikashvili arrived to the protest to make a statement, the Government couldn't persuade the organizers to stop the protest.To solve the current political crisis, the head of the government and the organizers of the rally agreed to hold the meeting with Saralidze on June 4, in order to discuss possible ways out of the crisis. In his statement, the Prime Minister noted that he would meet Zaza Saralidze and his wife alone.In the end, the meeting was attended by the Public Defender Nino Lomjaria, Zaza Saralidze, his lawyer and the Minister of Internal Affairs Giorgi Gakharia.After the meeting, Saralidze stated he was promised by the PM that concrete steps will be taken to thoroughly investigate the case. However, the father of the killed teenager says he gave time to the authorities until June 10, in order to show him the investigation is progressing.The rallies will continue. If I see no result until June 10, then we will take more radical steps. I do not want only detention of my sons murderer. I want everyone involved to be held responsible, Saralidze stated.He added the PM said he would resign, but it would change nothing.I will be looking forward to the answers. The system must be destroyed Even the Interior Minister could not tell me anything, Saralidze claimed.On May 31, Tbilisi City Court delivered a controversial verdict on the high-profile case of the murder of two teenage boys in central Tbilisi last year.The court found the two detained minors guilty for the murder case. One of the detainees was found guilty for premeditated murder of one of the victims-Levan Datunashvili, while another detainee was found guilty for attempted murder of another victim-David Saralidze.The court failed to say who stabbed Saralidze to death.Zaza Saralidze stated that the court verdict proved there is someone else involved in the case, an alleged killer, who still walks free. He demands detention of his sons murderer. 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. A passion for health care and technology has taken new graduate Ali Daowd on a journey from medical school in the Middle East to a PhD in Computer Science, through the IDPhD program here at Dalhousie. At Spring Convocation, Ali is graduating with a Master of Health Informatics (MHI) but he isnt finished with his studies just yet. He has chosen to continue with his current research at the PhD level, with the hope of using technology to benefit the lives of Canadian citizens. The MHI program has enabled me to combine my medical experience with technology, to explore real solutions to everyday health-care problems, he says. A PhD will allow me to take the research I have done so far to the next stage. Innovative solutions to common medical problems Alis research is based around the development of a health platform that will help citizens self-assess their risk of chronic diseases. Chronic diseases are the leading cause of death worldwide, he explains. However, it is well understood that if modifiable risk factors are targeted, many chronic diseases can be prevented, and individuals can maintain a healthy status. Canadas aging population, and a recognition of health-care platform advances in Europe, led Ali to acknowledge this gap in the Canadian system and look towards a solution. There isnt anything like this in the market here, so we have the opportunity to assist individuals in achieving desired health targets, and avoiding harmful lifecycle choices, he says. The digital health-based platform leverages artificial intelligence, data visualization and mobile health technologies to empower citizens to self-assess, self-monitor and self-manage their overall risk of major chronic diseases and pursue personalized chronic disease prevention programs. Ali credits his combined experience in health care and technology for really helping him think about innovative solutions to some of the medical issues faced by modern society. Canadian health informatics relies heavily on computer scientists for technical input, which makes sense, he says. To be truly effective to meet health-care needs, there needs to be input from medical professionals. This is where my experience in both fields has been very beneficial. Ali will continue to work on the platform as part of his PhD research, with hopes of launching it to the Canadian public in the near future. Discovering a passion for research After graduating from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland Medical University of Bahrain, Ali moved to Halifax to do an elective at the QEII. It was through residents at the hospital that Ali found out about the Master of Health Informatics. I have always been passionate about technology and so the program seemed like a good way to pair my background with my interests, he recalls. I heard great things about the program and Dr. Raza Abidi - my experience certainly lived up to those testimonials. Through the MHI program, Ali has been able to use state of the art health informatics and tools to explore a whole new area of science and discover his love of research, describing his time on the program as an exciting and challenging experience. Ali is now looking ahead to his PhD and the prospect of continuing with a career in either academia or industry. The one thing I do know is that I want to remain in research. I love that in health informatics I can collaborate with researchers in various fields and really make an impact. Maruti Suzuki has made it to the 9th spot, owing particularly to its dominance in the Indian market. Toyota has made it to the top in automotive brand value rankings for the sixth year in a row. In a list released by BrandZ, Mercedes-Benz and BMW sit at the second and third spots respectively, while Maruti Suzuki has made it to the 9th spot, owing particularly to its dominance in the Indian market where it holds more than 50 per cent market share. Its all the more special because of its limited global presence. Heres a look at the top 10 auto brands by valuation across the world. As mentioned above, Toyota remains untouched in the brand value study as it has been ranked 1 (in the automotive space) for 11 years out of 13 that the study has been conducted for. For the times it couldnt bag the top spot, Toyota ranked 2nd. Mercedes-Benz, on the other hand, surpassed its German counterpart BMW to finish second. BMW, Ford, Audi and Honda have been seen in this list earlier but the surprise entrant is Maruti Suzuki which began its journey just 35 years ago in India. The manufacturer has more than 50 per cent share of the Indian passenger vehicles market and recently achieved the feat of producing 2 crore cars, something no other carmaker has achieved or even come close to. Source: CarDekho.com Ministry, which is implementing Companies Act, has powers to take stringent action against entities for violations. New Delhi: The Ministry of Corporate Affairs is looking into companies involved in the ICICI Bank controversy of alleged conflict of interest in bank chief Chanda Kochhar's dealings with certain borrowers, according to a senior official. The official also said the affairs of ICICI Bank are not being looked into by the ministry as that is completely under the purview of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). "The ministry is looking at allegations with respect to fraudulent, preferential or under-valued transactions... (related to) those companies which have come into controversy in the light of ICICI Bank issue," the official said on Wednesday. However, specific details about the companies that are under the ministry's scanner were not disclosed. There are allegations of involvement of Kochhar and her family members in a loan provided to Videocon group on a quid pro quo basis. It was also alleged that Videocon Group pumped money into NuPower Renewables, a firm owned by Deepak Kochhar, husband of Chanda Kochhar. Last month, ICICI Bank's board ordered an independent probe into allegations of 'conflict of interest' and 'quid pro quo' in MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar's dealing with certain borrowers. The enquiry was ordered on a complaint by an anonymous whistle-blower against Kochhar. "... the enquiry to be headed by an independent and credible person (will) examine and enquire into an additional anonymous whistle-blower complaint...," the bank had said in a regulatory filing. Last month, markets regulator Sebi had served a notice on Kochhar on dealings of the bank with Videocon Group and Nupower. The ministry, which is implementing the Companies Act, has powers to take stringent action against entities for violations. The News in Brief By Mariam Chanishvili Ombudsmans report on International Childrens Day Public Defender of Georgia, Nino Lomjaria held a presentation of the chapter on childs rights of the 2017 parliamentary report within the framework of the International Children's Day on June 1st. Lomjaria highlighted the importance and necessity of childs welfare in the state and society. "I can see positive changes, the results achieved through joint efforts with the NGOs and the international community, but it should be noted that systemic problems remain unsolved, which negatively impact on childs welfare in Georgia," said Lomjaria. The report showed that the child poverty and improper living conditions are still major problems in the country, as well as the children remaining beyond education, including children with disabilities, children living and working on the street, children that married at early age and children involved in labor. As a result of the monitoring carried out by the Public Defender's Office, bullying is widely spread in educational institutions and no effective measures and steps have been taken against it. UNICEF Representative to Georgia, Laila Omar Gad discussed the importance of the Public Defender in the field of protection and monitoring of childs rights, noting that UNICEF continues to support the Public Defenders Office and take steps in response to challenges. It worth mentioning, that the number of suicide and suicide attempts among children increased by 20% in 2017. Georgian Dream Has New Secretaries The ruling Georgian Dream party will have two new secretaries. The decision was made at the meeting of the Political Council on June 3. The statement by the party reads that it will have five secretaries in total. Irakli Kobakhidze will remain as the Executive Secretary of the ruling Georgian Dream, as well as Kakha Kaladze General Secretary and Giorgi Volski Political Secretary. In addition, two new positions were created: the position of International Secretary Tamar Chugoshvili, and Regional Secretary - Dimitri Samkharadze. Tech giant Google on Thursday said it has rolled out free public WiFi at 400 Indian railway stations in collaboration with RailTel. (Photo: PTI) New Delhi: Tech giant Google on Thursday said it has rolled out free public WiFi at 400 Indian railway stations in collaboration with RailTel. Launched as a key initiative under Digital India programme, the service was kicked off from Mumbai Central station in January 2016, and Dibrugarh in Assam has become the 400th station to go live today, Google said in a statement. The project has succeeded in its mission of bringing connectivity to millions of unconnected Indians, leveraging on the nationwide optic fiber network backbone created by RailTel, it added. RailTel is the telecom arm of Indian Railways. Within the first year of the project's launch, 100 of the busiest railway stations across India were brought online, enabling 15,000 people to experience the internet for the first time every day, it said. "With over 8 million monthly unique users connecting to the network, this is a lighthouse project for India and every growing economy that is looking to bring the benefit of connectivity to everyone in their country," Google India Director Partnership Next Billion Users K Suri said. K Manohar Raja, Executive Director (Enterprise Business) at RailTel said the endeavour has been to bridge the experience divide by providing one of the fastest public WiFi networks in the world. The service, which offers thirty minutes of free access to the internet, saw users consuming about 350 MB of data per session on an average. While majority of the users are in the 19-34 age group, efforts to help older and first time users with onground support staff has helped millions to experience the internet for the first time, the statement said. Airline management has also not communicated to the staff as to when the salaries for the month of May will be paid. New Delhi: Air India, which failed to get even a single bidder for its disinvestment plan, has delayed payment of salaries to its employees for the third consecutive month, according to sources. The airline management has also not communicated to the staff as to when the salaries for the month of May will be paid, they added. We have still not received our salaries for May. Moreover, the management has not informed us till date as to when it will be disbursed. This is the third month in a row that the airline has delayed the salaries, one of the sources cited above said. According to another person in the know of the development, though the airline had delayed the payment of March and April salaries as well, they were disbursed before the seventh of April and May, respectively. The April salaries were paid after the airline raised working capital loans from the Bank of Baroda, the source added. Air India employees generally get paid by the 30th or the 31st of every month. When contacted, an Air India spokesperson said that the employees are expected to receive their May salaries by next week. Air India has over 11,000 employees on permanent role. The government, which had approved strategic disinvestment for Air India in last June, had on May 31 this year said no initial bids were received for the proposed stake sale. In nearly two decades, this is the second time that Air India stake sale has failed to take off. A senior Air India official had last week said that the airline has sought restoration of the equity infusion by the government in the carrier, which is sitting on a debt pile of around Rs 50,000 crore. The loss-making carrier has already received more than Rs 26,000 crore under the bailout package announced by the former UPA government in April 2012. The UPA government had approved a turnaround plan under which Air India is to receive a total equity infusion worth Rs 30,231 crore up to 2021, subject to meeting certain performance thresholds. Moody's Investors Service on Thursday said it expects India to stick to the estimated fiscal deficit of 3.3 per cent of GDP and even cut capital expenditure to offset any slippage from the budgeted target. New Delhi: Moody's Investors Service on Thursday said it expects India to stick to the estimated fiscal deficit of 3.3 per cent of GDP and even cut capital expenditure to offset any slippage from the budgeted target. It however said any reduction in the excise duty on petroleum and diesel products in view of high crude oil prices, would exert negative pressure on India's sovereign credit profile. Moody's had last year upped India's sovereign rating for the first time in over 13 years to 'Baa2' with a stable outlook, saying that growth prospects have improved with continued economic and institutional reforms. Moody's expects the government to meet its fiscal deficit target of 3.3 per cent for 2018-19, based on its commitment to gradual fiscal consolidation and budget assumptions which appear achievable, it said in a statement. "Although Moody's sees some downside risk to budgeted revenue and expenditure targets, it expects that the government would cut back on planned capital expenditure, as has occurred in past years, if it is needed to offset any slippage from its fiscal targets," Moody's VP and Senior Credit Officer William Foster said. On the revenue side, Moody's sees some downside risk to the government's assumptions on the collections from the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and petroleum products excise duty, Foster said. The ongoing uncertainty around GST implementation and compliance, including the timely provision of input tax credit refunds and iterative changes to tax rates, could result in some potential revenue losses. However, the initial setbacks on implementation appear to be fading and, over the medium term, Moody's expects GST compliance to stabilise and revenues to become more predictable as the economy becomes more formalised, it added. "If global oil prices remain high, Moody's says the government could intervene by reducing the excise duty on petroleum and diesel products, which would exert negative pressure on India's sovereign credit profile,"it said. Excise duties make up over 20 per cent of retail selling prices and were started in 2016 when oil prices fell. According to Moody's Indian affiliate, Icra Ltd, the high crude oil price is likely to widen India's current account deficit (CAD) and points at slowing foreign portfolio investments as an area of concern. "If global oil prices remain at current levels, Icra expects India's CAD to widen to 2.4 per cent of GDP in 2018-19 from 0.7 per cent in 2016-17," Icra Principal Economist Aditi Nayar said. However, higher crude oil prices and a weaker Rupee would improve remittances and the services trade surplus in 2018-19, offsetting some of the adverse effects of rising commodity prices, Nayar said. The price of Indian basket of crude surged from USD 66 a barrel in April to USD 74. The substantial rise in India's foreign exchange reserves has been accompanied by an increase in the merchandise import bill. The current level of reserves is equivalent to around 10 months of 2017-18 imports, which is significantly healthier than the around seven months available amid the taper tantrum in 2013, ICRA said. "Nevertheless, an expected slowdown in foreign institutional investment has emerged as a concern, even though foreign direct investment (FDI), external commercial borrowings, and deposit inflows from non-resident Indians (NRIs) are likely to be healthy in 2018-19," it added. It further said the PSU bank recapitalisation plan will broadly resolve the regulatory capital needs of the country's 21 public sector banks and help augment the banks' loan-loss buffers, but will be insufficient to support credit growth. "The PSBs' capital shortfalls are larger than the scale that the government had expected when it announced the recapitalisation plan in October 2017, mainly because they have failed to raise additional capital from the market," Moody's VP and Senior Credit Officer Alka Anbarasu said. While unveiling its capital support plan in October 2017, the government had anticipated that the banks would raise about Rs 58,000 crore from the equity market. However, they have so far raised only about Rs 10,000 crore. "Moody's believes it may be difficult for them to raise significantly more, after consideration of the substantial decline in their share prices since the beginning of 2018, which indicates weak investor demand for Indian bank equities. "The share prices of PSBs has declined by 19 per cent since beginning of the year, compared to a 3 per cent increase in the Bombay stock market index," Moody's said. Icra said with the likely resolution of large stressed borrowers under the insolvency and bankruptcy code (IBC), there could be a decline in the gross NPAs and net NPAs to below 9 per cent and 5 per cent, respectively by March 2019. During questioning, he was asked pointed questions about the meetings of civil aviation ministry officials and AirAsia executives arranged by him, sources said. New Delhi: The CBI on Thursday questioned Sunil Kapur, owner of Travel Food Services, in connection with its probe pertaining to the alleged lobbying by AirAsia while trying to get international flying licences by manipulating policies and violation of foreign investment norms. According to sources, Mr Kapur was called at the agency headquarters where he was questioned on various aspects of his relationship with AirAsia and meetings with its executives. Earlier, Mr Kapur was questioned by the CBI sleuths on Tuesday in connection with the case. The CBI has alleged that Mr Kapur was employed by Tony Fernandes as a lobbying agent to whom the onboard catering contract was given by deputy CEO Bo Lingam as a quid pro quo without any negotiation. During questioning, he was asked pointed questions about the meetings of civil aviation ministry officials and AirAsia executives arranged by him, sources said. The agency officials also asked him about the alleged role of one Sriram who had purportedly received `50 lakh from Bo Lingam for diluting 5/20 rule for international operations licenses. The CBI has alleged that in December, 2014, at the coffee shop in the Four Seasons Hotel, Mumbai, Kapur along with Bo Lingam had handed over a closed packet containing `50 lakh in cash to Sriram to facilitate the removal of the 5/20 rule. An effort was allegedly made in the ministry of civil aviation to remove/ amend the rule (which makes it mandatory for an airline to have five years of flying experience and 20 aircraft to be eligible for international flying licence), sources said. Gold prices moved up by 0.41 per cent to Rs 30,989 per 10 grams in futures trade on Thursday as speculators built up fresh positions, taking positive cues from overseas markets. New Delhi: Gold prices moved up by 0.41 per cent to Rs 30,989 per 10 grams in futures trade on Thursday as speculators built up fresh positions, taking positive cues from overseas markets. At the Multi Commodity Exchange, gold for delivery in August month rose by Rs 128, or 0.41 per cent to Rs 30,989 per 10 grams in business turnover of 505 lots. Likewise, the yellow metal for delivery in October month contract was trading higher by Rs 106, or 0.34 per cent to Rs 31,200 per 10 grams in 5 lots. Analysts said participants created fresh positions in line with a firm trend overseas where gold prices edged higher on Thursday, supported by a weaker dollar amid ongoing concerns about a trade war between the US and its allies. Globally, gold rose 0.12 per cent to USD 1297.40 an ounce in Singapore. The admitted that they failed to report as they were following traditional customs (Photo: AFP) The birth of a child is reason for celebration but sometimes negligence can lead to horrifying consequences. Last year a story about a child pronounced dead waking up at a funeral was reported from India. In another such story from Brazil a similar call almost led to a tragedy but fortunately the child was saved before it suffocated. The baby was dug out of a shallow grave where it had been buried for eight hours. The family buried the child after incorrectly assuming that she had died at birth. Police expected to find a dead body when they started digging but were shocked to hear a whimper under the dirt. After carefully scraping soil the police officers used their bare hands to shift it and pull out the baby girl. She was rushed to a hospital with paramedics clearing airways after which she was shifted to intensive care. The police went to the family to investigate claims that they hadnt reported the death of a new born child. They admitted that they failed to report as they were following traditional customs. According to the journal report, she had not removed the internal organs of the squid and then had just parboiled it before consumption. (Photo: Pixabay) In a bizarre and shocking incident, a 63-year-old womans tongue became pregnant after sperm from a raw squid she was eating ended up in her mouth, according to a medical journal. The woman, from South Korea, was left with severe pain after the squid injected sperm into the tissues of her mouth and she had to be rushed to a hospital. Doctors, on observation, were shocked to find 12 small, white spindle-shaped, bug like sperm bags embedded in her tongue and gums. The foreign bodies were identified as squid spermatophores, which are sperm-containing capsules and the bizarre case has been published in the Journal of Parasitology. They belonged to a Japanese flying squid known as Todarodes pacificus. According to the journal report, she had not removed the internal organs of the squid and then had just parboiled it before consumption. The spermatophores were alive and well. Researchers wrote that as soon as she put a piece into her mouth, she felt like many 'bugs' were biting her oral mucosa. Having experience sever pain she spat out the entire portion without swallowing. Despite that, she could feel many small squirming white bug-like organisms penetrating her oral mucosa, they wrote. Researchers however, said they are not sure how the spermatophores managed to implant themselves into the womans mouth. Hyderabad: A passenger was arrested along with an airline staffer while he was trying smuggle 12 gold bars weighing 1.3 kg worth Rs 44.60 lakh. According to the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, the passenger whose identity was not disclosed arrived by an Etihad Airlines flight at RGI Airport early on Wednesday. Based on information that a passenger would arrive by an Etihad Airlines flight and would be assisted by an employee of Air India-SATS (to smuggle gold), a trap was laid, said the official. After alighting from the flight, the passenger entered the lounge and went into a toilet. The airline employee who was already inside the toilet received the gold from the passenger. The officials immediately caught them and seized 12 gold bars of foreign origin. On examination, the gold bars were found the weigh about 1399.200 grams and valued at Rs 44,60,640. The Air India-SATS employee said that he had been designated to assist Thai Airways. The passenger attempting to smuggle the gold into the country and the receiver who assisted him were arrested. The smuggled gold has been seized under Customs Act, 1962. Further investigation is in progress, said the additional director-general, DRI. Hyderabad: A man who duped six banks of Rs 77 lakh after taking personal loans using forged documents was arrested by North Zone police along with two bank agents on Thursday. Police seized Rs 8.62 lakh in cash and fake documents from their possession. Acting on reliable information, the police nabbed Kancharla Srinivas, 44, and bank agents Chaluvadi Mallikarjuna Rao, 39, and Marella Nagi Reddy. DCP, North Zone, B. Sumathi, said the first complaint was lodged with the Punjagutta police by Capital First Limited. It stated that Srinivas had taken a personal loan for Rs 15 lakh on March 15, 2017, and had failed to repay the EMIs. The repayment was divided to EMIs of `39,501 over a 48-month period. Capital First said that when Srinivas defaulted on the repayment, its personnel went to the address he had mentioned but found that no such person was available there. Upon company verification, it was revealed that Srinivas had submitted fabricated KYC documents. He had submitted a PAN card bearing a different name as that of his father from that mentioned in the application. He had claimed to be an employee of Wipro Limited, which was also found to be false. Ms Sumathi said Srinivas had procured various fake identity and PAN cards and payslips of companies with an intention to cheat banks. Srinivas became friends with bank agents Mallikarjuna Rao and Nagi Reddy in 2017, and recruited them to the conspiracy by offering a commission of 25 to 30 per cent of the loan amount. He submitted fake documents and obtained huge personal loans in March 2017 and defaulted payments. The men kept shifting their residence address and changed their phone numbers, Ms Sumathi said. Acting on a tip-off, the North Zone team laid a trap and apprehended the trio on Thursday and they were handed over to Panjagutta police for investigation. The duo used the money to fund their lifestyle, police said. Based on a tip off, cops nabbed them and upon inquiry, they confessed. (Representational Image) Hyderabad: Two Rohingya nationals who collected money from locals under the guise of helping Rohingyas back home but used the money for themselves were arrested by the Rachakonda police at Balapur on Thursday. The duo uploaded a short video on social media and used it to raise money. The duo, Mohd Ayub, 39, and Ahmad Noor, 32, both hold United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) cards, said DCP, LB Nagar, M. Venkateswar Rao. The DCP said Ayub and Noor sneaked into India illegally through Bangladesh by paying money to mediators. They recently came to Hyderabad and were residing in Camp No. 9 at Balapur and were working on daily wages. As their income was not sufficient, they hatched a plan to extract money from locals. They uploaded a short video on social media platforms and shared it widely, with an appeal to donate money for the cause of Rohingya Muslims. They also furnished bank account details for donors to transfer money. The account belonged to their employer Ashraf Moinuddin. The duo used the money to fund their lifestyle, police said. Based on a tip off, cops nabbed them and upon inquiry, they confessed. Police seized Rs 33,400, in cash, a gold chain, mobile phones and other material from their possession. A family welcomes one of the life convicts, who was released on Wednesday from Puzhal Central prison. (Photo: DC) Chennai: Spending most of his productive years in the prison does not seem to deter V. Chandra Hasan from approaching life with a positive perspective. Chandra Hasan was one among the 67 life convicts released from Puzhal central prison on Wednesday on the occasion of birth centenary of former chief minister M.G. Ramachandran, said that he had self-confidence and hard work on his side. Chandra Hasan had spent nearly 30 years in the prison. "Although I entered the prison as a murder accused, I'm stepping out with six diploma degrees. Life in the prison is not easy but I have learned from the prison experience. I will open a tea stall with the help of officers and will help society. I will teach Silambam to others," he said. The release was followed by a state government announcement in Assembly, which ordered the premature release of 67 prisoners, who has completed 10 years in the prisons as of February 25. The prisoners were released on Wednesday in an official function, in which the released inmates were gifted with rations for a week. Meanwhile, the happy families of the prisoners gathered at the gate of the Puzhal prison to welcome their near and dears, who were behind the bars for more than a decade. "We are happy to have my brother back. I can't explain the bliss in myself and my family," Dinesh, a relative of a released prisoner, said. Meanwhile, the additional director general of police (prisons) Ashuthosh Shukla, who was present at the event implored the released inmates to not to indulge in criminal activities again. "I hope all of them find suitable jobs," he said. The ADGP also said that a list of 1,750 prisoners was submitted to the government for premature release and they would be released in a phased manner. "The inmates are released only to encourage other inmates to be good inside the prison," Ashuthosh Shukla said. Kerala Health Minister K K Shylaja Teacher has lauded the role of doctors and their quick response and efforts in handling the cases. (Photo: Venugopal) Kozhikode: In a sense of relief, two samples which initially tested positive for Nipah virus in Kerala have now been tested negative, state health officials said on Thursday. The development comes days after the deadly Nipah outbreak claimed 17 lives in Kozhikode and Malappuram districts of Kerala. In addition, blood samples of 244 suspected Nipah cases have also tested negative. The state government on Tuesday had updated the toll to 17 after including the death of Mohammed Sabith, the first victim, whose samples had not been tested for Nipah. Kozhikode Additional District Medical Officer Asha Devi said, "Of the 18 confirmed cases, 16 people died and two have survived. They have tested negative after days of critical care. But they will be under observation for at least 21 days. Among the two who have tested negative is a 19-year-old nursing student who was interning at the Medical College when the first Nipah patient was brought in the beginning of May, a report in NDTV said. Kerala Health Minister K K Shylaja Teacher has lauded the role of doctors and their quick response and efforts in handling the cases. "It's because of so many health officials, doctors, nurses and support staff, who tirelessly worked day and night, that we have been able to contain the outbreak so swiftly. This is unprecedented when compared to the outbreaks seen across the world. Be it private hospitals or government, or the state and central governments -- all worked as a team," NDTV quoted Shylaja as saying. Health officials also went beyond their call of duty to help families. With close relatives staying away due to fear of contracting Nipah, Dr R S Gopakumar, Health Officer of Kozhikode corporation, took the responsibility of handling 12 bodies, whose final journey was supervised by him. "I was saddened that during his last journey there was none of his dear ones to perform last rites. I did not have to think twice and I decided to perform all Hindu rites for the boy as I wanted him to go on his final journey with all the dignity. It was my duty...," Gopakumar said. After relatives of a 53-year-old man, who died of Nipah, informed him that they were not participating in the funeral, he conducted the final rites for him too. Another last journey which tugged his heart was when he assisted the husband of a 19-year-old woman. The woman, who had allegedly consumed poison, had been brought to a hospital here from Karnataka when some persons who were later found to be positive for Nipah, were treated near her bed. However, the woman's samples were found to be negative later. Dr Anoop Kumar and his team from Baby Memorial Hospital also played a significant role in the early diagnosis of Nipah, sample testing and alerting the government. "We got the first patient on May 17 and he was in critical care for encephalitis. But he wasn't responding well to the treatment. He mentioned that his brother had died a few days ago. He also said that three of his family members had fever. We urgently called them to the hospital. Their condition worsened by evening. We sent their samples for testing. The next morning, our team of doctors suspected it to be Nipah based on the literature available and their symptoms. However, the man died that afternoon. Later, the lab reports confirmed Nipah," 40-year-old Dr Anoop Kumar told NDTV. However, the carrier for the virus in Kozhikode remains unidentified. (With PTI inputs) Chennai: DMK leader M.K.Stalins appeal to the Chief Ministers of southern states to oppose NEET is unlikely to find any takers. The reason - students from these states have performed better in Neet than those from Tamil Nadu especially those from Telangana and Kerala. Stalin has come up with the wild accusation that Neet is a killer, following the suicide of Prathiba from Villupuram district for failing in the exam. And hence it needs to be scrapped. But no such demand has come from Telangana where 18 year old Jasleen Kaur Saluja too jumped to her death from a mall in Hyderabad after failing to clear Neet. She too like Prathiba had scored good marks in her 12th board exams. The constant demand to abolish Neet has emanated only from Tamil Nadu while other southern states have brought in laws to apply Neet scores for admission to private medical colleges too. Tamil politicians continue to mislead students that Tamil Nadu alone would be able to procure an exemption from Neet when the Supreme Court, on more than one occasion, has clarified that NEET would apply across all states. No TN political leader wants to admit that NEET is here to stay. Sadly, playing parochial politics for short-term gains-which are difficult to spot in a clean social environment-have often taken precedence over public good for these politicos. While the opponents of Neet from Tamil Nadu have said that it intruded into state's powers to form its own admission policy, similar protestations have not come from any other non-BJP states. Kerala conducted KEAM - an entrance exam for engineering, medical and agricultural seats but in the last two years it has made NEET as the sole entrance exam for medical and allied courses. But KEAM is applicable even today for engineering and agricultural courses. Even Karnataka, which has more medical seats than Tamil Nadu, and is also ruled by a non-BJP government, has not opposed Neet. Stalins logic to draft the southern states into the anti-Neet lobby is that only eight students from all of the southern states made it in the top 50 ranks of Neet. But these states have reported a higher pass percentage than Tamil Nadu. One reason for TN's poor show could be the failure of Tamil Nadu students to comprehend the tougher CBSE syllabus based on which Neet questions are framed. The state's syllabus got dumbed down following the introduction of Samacheer Kalvi in 2009. Also our students forgot how to prepare for competitive exams ever since admissions were made based only on plus two marks. The state government has thankfully woken up now by revamping the syllabus and holding special classes for government school students to prepare for Neet, said an educationist. While the DMK has made NEET a prestige issue, along with various other smaller parties, the Tamil Nadu Congress has been spectacularly silent about Neet. One reason is that Neet was first mooted by the UPA government. Secondly, the SC order refusing any exemption for Tamil Nadu came after the arguments of Nalini Chidamabaram appearing for the pro-Neet petitioners from the state. This point was rubbed in by Health Minister C. Vijayabhaskar in the Assembly on Tuesday. Sadly, suicides in Tamil Nadu get to be glorified by political leaders always looking for victims to make the best even out of the wailings of bereavement. When the opposition leaders make a beeline with garlands for the body and speeches for the TV cameras, and the government quickly comes up with announcements of cash compensations and job offers for the kin of the dead, are they not glorifying, glamourising and even encouraging suicides? I would say this amounts to even perpetuating suicide as an acceptable response to failure. There seems to be, unfortunately, a weird idealism associated with such suicides. They should be, actually, making statements condemning suicides as acts of cowardice and helplessness, said Prof Gladstone Xavier of the Department of Social Work, Loyola College, Chennai. We must train our children to handle failure bravely and prepare for the next challenge and option; tell the child so what if you have failed Neet, that's not the end of the world and there are other options. Arguing his case in the Assembly for Neet abolition, Stalin had asked in dramatic distress how many more Anithas and Pratibhas we must witness Well, a parent has come up with a poignant question in answer: If suicides after Neet call for abolition of Neet, so many students commit suicide every year after failing in class ten and twelve exams. Do we abolish these as well? Former president Pranab Mukherjee is scheduled to arrive at the venue at 5:30 pm, where he will be welcomed by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. (Photo: File | PTI) Nagpur: Preparation is on in full swing at RSS headquarters in Nagpur for the concluding function of 'Tritiya Varsh Varg' (third-year course). Former President Pranab Mukherjee, who is the chief guest for the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) function, has arrived in Nagpur. The RSS event has generated a lot of interests and controversy ever since Pranab Mukherjee agreed to address the RSS trainees. Pranab Mukherjee is scheduled to arrive at the venue at 5:30 pm, where he will be welcomed by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. He will then have tea with Mohan Bhagwat and RSS No. 2 Bhaiyyaji Joshi, after which senior functionaries of the Sangh will be introduced to him. 82-year-old Pranab Mukherjee will visit the memorial of RSS founder KB Hedgewar, offer floral tributes and reach the function venue at 6:15 pm. He is scheduled to make a 20-minute speech soon after. Finally, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat will address the gathering. On Wednesday, Pranab Mukherjee's daughter and Congress leader Sharmistha Mukherjee disagreed with her father's decision of accepting the RSS invite. She also rubbished the rumours that she could switch to BJP. Also Read: Pranab Mukherjee's daughter says his RSS speech will be lost, not visuals Congress president Rahul Gandhi often accuses the RSS -- the ideological mentor of the BJP -- of trying to divide the country on religious lines and playing a major role in shaping government policy. Former union minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram has said that since Pranab Mukherjee has accepted the invitation, he should go and tell the RSS "what is wrong" in their ideology. Last week, Ramesh Chennithala, a senior Congress leader from Kerala, wrote to Pranab Mukherjee, requesting him to not attend the event. "As a person who has served as the first citizen of our country and the greatest ambassador of secularism, I request you to reconsider your decision", said Chennithala. West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Chowdhury said, "just like any other Congressman, I am really astonished". "My question is does he (Pranab Mukherjee) think his previous comments against RSS were wrong," asked Adhir Chowdhury. Congress veteran C K Jaffer Sharief had written to Pranab Mukherjee, saying he was "stunned" to hear about his decision to attend the RSS function. There are some Congress leaders though who have backed the former president's move. "Pranab Mukherjee is a secular person. He will always put forth a secular view which he will do there (at the RSS event) as well," said Sushil Kumar Shinde, a former union minister and senior Congress leader from Maharashtra. Despite the voices of disapproval and requests to reconsider his decision, Pranab Mukherjee has remained firm on his decision. "Whatever I have to say, I will say in Nagpur. I have received several letters, requests and phone calls, but I haven't responded to anyone yet," Pranab Mukherjee was quoted as saying by Bengali daily Anandabazar Patrika. Senior BJP leader and union minister Nitin Gadkari has welcomed Pranab Mukherjee's decision, calling it a good start. "Pranab Mukherjee's acceptance of the invitation is a good start. Political untouchability is not good," Gadkari said. Chennai / Hyderabad: The response to the Rajinikanth-starrer Kaala, releasing in over 1,800 screens worldwide on Thursday, has been lukewarm, leading to doubts about how much of a factor he will be in Tamil Nadu politics. Kaala is Rajinikanths first film after he jumped into the political arena. The usual hype about a Rajini movie was just not there even in Chennai, the hotbed of Rajini fan clubs, or in other centres where he is traditionally strong. In Hyderabad, there was not much Rajini money in the form of posters, cut-outs and sale of merchandise. In Chennai, theatres were booked only for two days which is unusual for a Rajinikanth film. The response to the film could be an indicator as to how Rajinikanth the politician could fare. The lack of traditional buzz could be the result of people taking a stand on his utterances including on the Cauvery dispute with Karnataka and the Sterlite agitation. Rajinikanth has largely avoided getting into political controversies earlier. Taking a stand on hot issues this time could have divided fans and cleared the aisles of those who were disappointed with his utterances. This could tell on the Thaliavars political acceptance and the impact he could make on the elections next year. In Delhi, the Supreme Court refused to stall the release of the film. Everybody is waiting for Rajinikanths Kaala, Supreme Court judges said. Mumbai rains: Water-logging was reported in several areas as monsoon rain hit Mumbai. (Photo: ANI | Twitter) Mumbai: Mumbai is receiving very heavy rainfall since Thursday morning. Reports of water-logging have been received from Dadar, Parel, Cuff Parade, Bandra, Borivali and Andheri. The disaster management authorities have warned of very heavy rainfall over the next 24 hours. A four-day red alert has been sounded in Mumbai and the Konkan coast by civic authorities. Meanwhile, Jet Airways flight 9W-117 to Mumbai from London was diverted to Ahmedabad on Thursday due to heavy rain. The financial capital, Mumbai has been witnessing heavy pre-monsoon showers since Thursday. Office goers faced unusual traffic snarls due to heavy rains. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in a statement said, precautionary measures have been taken to tackle any situation and leaves of all the senior officials, including deputy municipal commissioners and assistant commissioners have been cancelled. BMC cancels Saturday and Sunday offs of its officers after heavy rain warnings issued by India Meteorological Department. Read: BMC gears up to tackle 'heavy rainfall' in Mumbai this weekend People in Mumbai can dial 1916 and those outside Mumbai can dial 1077 in case of emergency. Officials with walkie-talkies and flood rescue supplies have spread out across Mumbai, which witnesses severe monsoon. Navy personnel are being posted in areas like Colaba, Worli, Ghatkopar, Trombay, Malad for flood rescue, according to the civic body. Officers have been asked to keep schools open at all times for shelter during possible flooding. Indian Meteorological Department said that the monsoon has arrived up to Goa and in the next 24 hours it will reach Southern Maharashtra/Konkan region. "In next 48-72 hours it is expected to reach Mumbai. Heavy rain warning still in place for June 8 and 9, intensity of rain to decrease on June 10," IMD said. Also Read: Karnataka among 5 states warned of flash floods by Centre Srinagar: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who is on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, on Thursday said that the government will not deter in its aim to bring lasting peace to Kashmir. He said, "I would like to repeat, that no matter how many obstacles come in our way, we will not be deterred to bring lasting peace to Kashmir." Speaking on the ceasefire that was put in place during the holy month of Ramzan, Rajnath Singh stated that security forces, including the Army and police, had worked with utmost restraint. He lashed out at the separatists for using the youth to propagate violence. He said, "They (Separatists) can play any kind of politics, but they should not play with future of children, these children are not only children of Kashmir but also of India, they are an asset. Keeping this in mind we took back cases of first time stone pelters." On the issue of Kashmiri youths joining militant outfits, the minister said, "The youth are being misguided by certain forces in Jammu and Kashmir. Giving your children the best of education, and handing out stones to children of others? What is this? I always felt there is a lot of talent in youth here, IAS,IIM etc results are a proof." The home minister also added that the Centre is open to hold talks with all. "You don't need to be like-minded to talk but you do need to be right minded," said Rajnath. (With inputs from ANI) Rahul Gandhi at a rally in Mandsaur said that if the Congress comes to power in MP, farmers will get loan waiver within ten days. (Photo: File) Bhopal: Making light of Congress President Rahul Gandhi's speech at a farmers' rally in Mandsaur, the BJP said it was "scripted", like the one delivered by a character in the hit Bollywood film "3 Idiots". While Gandhi promised immediate farm loan waiver if voted to power in Madhya Pradesh, BJP maintained that the government was working on a permanent solution to farmers' woes. "Rahul Gandhi's speech was dramatic, scripted and immature. There were no facts and data. He talked about setting up food processing units in the district. Only a week ago Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister had talked about food processing. It seems the writer of Rahul's speech has taken a cue from that," said Minister of State for Cooperatives Vishwas Sarang at a press conference in Bhopal. "His speech was like that from Bollywood film, "3 Idiots", where a character delivers a speech written by others," the BJP leader said. He was apparently referring to a scene in the film where `Chatur Ramalingam', played by Omi Vaidya, unwittingly delivers a hilarious speech written as a prank. Asked about the Congress chief's promise of loan waiver, Sarang said, "There is no such demand from farmers. We are heading for a permanent solution, and aiming to double farmers' income." The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had questioned the loan waiver granted by the UPA government in 2008 and had termed it a "show piece" for elections, he said. The BJP government in Madhya Pradesh is providing loans to farmers at zero per cent rate, the minister said, adding "This is not a loan but financial assistance." Asked about the loan waiver granted by BJP governments in Uttar Pradesh and elsewhere, Sarang said the previous government in UP had ignored farmers, so it was needed, but that the situation in Madhya Pradesh was different. "The Madhya Pradesh government has been working constantly for the welfare of farmers," he said. To Gandhi's statement that he wanted to see mobile phones with Made in Mandsaur' tag instead of 'Made in China' in the next four years, Sarang said the Congress chief should also state why indigenous mobile phone manufacturing could not happen in Amethi, his Lok Sabha constituency. Earlier in the day, Gandhi at a rally in Mandsaur said that if the Congress comes to power in MP, farmers will get loan waiver within ten days. He also promised action against those responsible for the death of six farmers in police firing last year. Police commissioner Anjani Kumar has appealed to the owner of buildings and the resident welfare associations to keep the doors to terrace locked. Hyderabad: Following instances of student jumping to death from the terrace of their buildings, police commissioner Anjani Kumar has appealed to the owner of buildings and the resident welfare associations to keep the doors to terrace locked. An 18-year-old girl jumped from the terrace of a building in Abids on Tuesday morning after she secured a poor rank in Neet. The loss of such a precious life at such a tender age, makes my heart heavy. We have to impart values to enjoy life in its entirety and not just academic centric, Mr Anjan Kumar said. He asked police officers to ensure that the appeal to close the terrace reaches to maximum people. Pune: In a crackdown at dawn, a Pune police team on Wednesday arrested Ambedkarite activist-editor Sudhir Dhawale in Mumbai along with four other dalit activists in Delhi and Nagpur for their alleged links to naxals and their role in organising the Elgaar Parishad to commemorate the bicentenary celebrations of the Bhima-Koregaon battle in December last year, where socially-divisive speeches were made. The others arrested included human rights lawyer Surendra Gadling, activists Mahesh Raut and Shoma Sen from Nagpur, and activist Rona Wilson from New Delhi. According to police sources, it is yet to be established whether the five arrested activists were involved in the Bhima-Koregoan violence or not. Police sources added that with these arrests they have finally established the existence of urban naxalism. Meanwhile, Ravindra Kadam, joint city police commissioner, Pune said, We have proof of links between these activists and naxals. Ambassador of Belarus I.Petrishenko meets the Ambassador of the Lebanese Republic 06-06-2018 On June 6, 2018 the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to the Russian Federation, Igor Petrishenko, and the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Lebanese Republic to Russian Federation, Shawki Bou Nassar, held a working meeting. During the meeting, the sides discussed intensification of bilateral cooperation in different spheres, as well as interaction between business circles of the two countries, development of the legal basis of bilateral relations. Background information: Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in March 21, 1996. In 2017 the trade turnover amounted to 103,2 million U.S. dollars. print version 32-year-old Dulal Kumar, who went missing on Friday, was found hanging by a pole in Dabha village of Purulia's Balarampur. (Facebook | Screengrab | Kailash Vijayvargiya) Kolkata: The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has sought a report from the West Bengal government on the deaths of Dalit men in the state after the panchayat election results were announced. The body of an 18-year-old man, whom the BJP claimed as its member, was found hanging from a tree near his home in Purulia district last month. Read: 18-yr-old man 'punished for working for BJP' in West Bengal The incident invited strong criticism of the TMC government from BJP chief Amit Shah, who said the ruling dispensation has "surpassed the violent legacy of the Communist rule" in West Bengal. An unsigned handwritten note in Bengali found near the body of Trilochan Mahato near his home in Balarampur, about 295 km from Kolkata, stated that he was "punished for working for the BJP" during the recent rural polls in the state, a senior district police officer had said. Within a couple of days, the body of a 35-year-old man was found hanging from a high-tension tower in Purulia district, triggering protests by locals and the BJP claiming him to be its member. Read: Another BJP worker found hanging in West Bengal, CID to probe death In a note to the state government, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thaawarchand Gehlot expressed concern over the deaths. The West Bengal government on Saturday ordered a probe by the criminal investigation department into the deaths. A pregnant woman being carried to hospital by her family members in Kerala. (Photo: ANI | Twitter) Palakkad: In another shocking incident highlighting the plight of healthcare facilities in the country, a pregnant woman in Kerala had to bear a 7 km ordeal on a makeshift bedsheet stretcher to reach the hospital to deliver her baby. Due to the non-availability of ambulance, the 27-year-old woman from Palakkad's Attapadi village had to be carried on a stretcher made of a bedsheet and tied to logs, hospital sources said. The incident has led to an outrage and sparked a debate after footage of her journey, aired by television channels, went viral on social media. In the video footage, six family members of the pregnant woman can be seen accompanying her as she is carried on shoulders with the help of wooden logs. The woman was taken to the government tribal hospital at Kottathara on Tuesday where she delivered a baby girl. Both mother and daughter are fine, the sources said. H-4 is issued to the spouse of H-1B visa holders, a significantly large number of whom are high-skilled professionals from India. (Photo: Representational | File) New Delhi: There have been "no big changes" in the H-1B programme and "nothing new" on the H-4 visa policy, the US said on Wednesday, amid the Trump administration's plan to overhaul the immigration system. US Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) in Delhi, MaryKay L Carlson said granting employment visa and work permits are the sovereign decision of a country. The US Mission in New Delhi on Wednesday observed 'Student Visa Day', an event to celebrate higher education ties between India and the United States. "There have been no big changes in the H-1B programme and nothing new on H-4...," Carlson told reporters here. Certainly, employment visa and work permits for Indians is the sovereign decision of the US, the official said. The Trump administration's move to end the Obama-era rule could have an impact on more than 70,000 H-4 visas holders, who have work permits. H-4 is issued to the spouse of H-1B visa holders, a significantly large number of whom are high-skilled professionals from India. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had last month said the government would make all efforts to persuade the Trump administration against such a move. In her annual press conference on May 28, the minister had said it was true that President Donald Trump was reviewing the H-4 visa programme and there were reports of its possible revocation. On the occasion of 'Student Visa Day', the Mission also dedicated the day to student visa applicants who have enrolled for higher studies in different US universities. The US Embassy in New Delhi and the consulate general of Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai, welcomed over 4,000 Indian students, who applied for visas to study in the United States. In 2017, more than 1,86,000 Indian students were enrolled in US institutions for higher education, more than double the number from a decade ago and a 12 per cent increase from the year before. India is the second leading place of origin for students coming to the US, with Indians comprising over 17 per cent of the total international students in the United States, according to the US. Consular staff members wore shirts and hats from their alma maters. Some consulates invited guest alumni speakers, while others had a video or "selfie" station. Representatives from partners, including Education USA, the American Library, and recent US graduates were present at the event to give their insights and answer queries from students about studying in the United States. BJP President Amit Shah along with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis meets Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray at Matoshree on Wednesday. Also seen Aditya Thackeray. (Photo: DC) Mumbai: In less than 24 hours following a two hour meeting between BJP President Amit Shah and party's ally in Maharashtra Shiv Sena's chief Uddhav Thackeray, Shiv Sena today continued with their stand of going solo in all the upcoming polls including the 2019 general elections. "We know what the agenda of Amit Shah ji is but Shiv Sena has passed a resolution that we'll contest all upcoming elections on our own. There will be no change in that resolution," senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut told on Thursday. Though Amit Shah asserted that the two (BJP and Shiv Sena) would contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections together, the decision of Shiv Sena after the meeting at Udhav Thackeray's Mumbai's residence Matoshree has foiled all hopes for BJP. After the meeting, which was a part of BJPs Sampark for Samarthan programme, Amit Shah had said the meeting was positive and the two would contest not only 2019 polls, but also 2024 polls together. Read: Amit Shah meets Uddhav Thackeray as BJP tries to pacify sulking Shiv Sena Assembly election in Maharashtra is slated for 2019 while the Lok Sabha elections are also few months away from now. Sanjay Raut also asserted that the BJP and Shiv Sena are going to meet again in a couple of days. In the recent past, differences have cropped up in the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance in Maharashtra, where Sena has attacked BJP, and has expressed its anger towards the party with its strong worded editorial in its mouthpiece Saamana. Also Read: Ahead of meet, Shiv Sena mouthpiece calls Amit Shah, PM Modi 'wilful defaulters' The meeting betweem Amit Shah and Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday which had hinted at things turning around has now left several question marks after Sanjay Rauts statement. BJP president Amit Shah, who was in Mumbai on Wednesday, had a busy schedule. As a part of BJPs Sampark for Samarthan or outreach programme, Amit Shah met actor Madhuri Dixit, industrialist Ratan Tata and also visited the Siddhivinayak temple. Also Read: Amit Shah meets Madhuri Dixit, highlights BJP government's achievements Pro-Kannada activists being detained by police personnel during their protest against Rajnikanth's 'Kaala' release, in Bengaluru on Thursday. Pro-Kannada outfits have threatened to stall release of 'Kaala' over Rajinikanth's reported remarks on the Cauvery row. (Photo: PTI) Bengaluru: While the frenzied fans of superstar Rajinikanth flocked to theatres as early as 4 am to catch the first show of his movie 'Kaala', which was released across the country today, fans in Karnataka were left disappointed as theatres did not screen the movie in view of the opposition from pro-Kannada activists. Many said they would travel to Tamil Nadu to watch the movie. Read: Rajinikanth's 'Kaala' release: Chennai fans cheer, burst crackers at dawn Pro-Kannada groups have been upset with actor-politician Rajinikanth's remarks on the Cauvery water dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy had said the film should not be released in his state "in the present situation". Demonstrations were held in front of all the movie theatres across Karnataka where the film was to be screened. According to reports, protesters were seen requesting Rajinikanth's fans not to watch the movie for the sake of their Kannada brethren fighting for Cauvery water. They also asked them to come together to show solidarity to the farmers who have been deprived of Cauvery river water. Reports from Mysuru said the screening of 'Kaala' was delayed by movie theatres due to protests. However, two cinema theatres in Ballari and Raichur districts decided to screen the movie. Despite Karnataka High Court clearance and order to the state government to ensure security to movie theatres that chose to screen the movie, the distributors played safe. Rajinikanth's fans congregated outside Bengaluru's Balaji theatre, demanding that the movie be released. 'Kaala' is facing the anger of pro-Kannada groups, who threatened to disrupt screenings if the movie was released despite a ban by a Karnataka film body. Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy was seen as backing the groups, when he said it was his "individual opinion" that it was better to delay the release. Also Read: HD Kumaraswamy says, 'timing not good' for 'Kaala' release in Karnataka A day before the release, Rajinikanth had appealed to Kumaraswamy to facilitate the release of the movie by providing security at theatres. The actor, who is from Karnataka, said, "I understand H D Kumaraswamy's situation. This is not good for Karnataka. When the film is released around the world, the ban would highlight the issue (Cauvery water dispute)." Also Read: Give security to my film 'Kaala' in your state, Rajinikanth tells Kumaraswamy After the Congress government of Siddaramaiah was voted out of power last month, Rajinikanth had reportedly made the statement that no matter which government takes over, Karnataka should release Cauvery waters for Tamil Nadu. In Chennai, Rajinikanths fans offered milk to the actors poster, burst crackers as they gather in large numbers to watch Kaala. (Photo: ANI | Twitter) Mumbai: Excitement and enthusiasm is simmering among superstar Rajinikanths fans whose is making a comeback to cinema with his latest movie Kaala that has hit the big screens today. Videos of fans cheering with joy, bursting crackers and dancing to their hearts content (inside and outside the theatres) are all over the Internet. Like most of the times during the release of Rajinikanth's film, people from Japan and other parts of the country joined the fans in India to celebrate yet another film, where Thalaiva takes the centrestage. Movie theatres are adorned with grand posters and hoardings of Rajinikanth's film and it's no less than a festival for fans of Rajinikanth worldwide today. In Chennai, Rajinikanths fans offered milk to the actors poster, burst crackers as they gather in large numbers to watch Kaala. #TamilNadu: Fans offer milk to actor #Rajnikanth's poster, burst crackers as they gather in large numbers to to watch the film #Kaala at a theatre in Chennai. pic.twitter.com/GYSYeHvPQZ ANI (@ANI) June 7, 2018 A large numbers of Rajinikanths fans, some wearing customised Kaala t-shirts, gathered to watch the movie in Chennai's Rohini theatre. The first show of the movie started at 4 am. Fans of Rajinikanth gather in large numbers to see his latest movie 'Kaala' in #Chennai's Rohini Theatre. The first show of the movie will start at 4 am. pic.twitter.com/WfZm3Womwk ANI (@ANI) June 6, 2018 Enthusiasm was seen among Rajinikanths fans in Mumbai who queued up in large numbers outside a movie theatre to watch 'Kaala'. #Maharashtra: Fans of Rajinikanth queue up in large numbers outside Mumbai's Carnival Cinemas to see his latest movie 'Kaala'. pic.twitter.com/t7oBLJQ5Fu ANI (@ANI) June 7, 2018 Here are more glimpses of superstar Rajinikanth's fan welcomed Kaala on Thursday morning: Meanwhile, in France burst crackers to celebrate the release of 'Kaala': This is not INDIA This is FRANCE#Kaala Premiere Celebration Get ready for the Marana Mass Therikka Viduvom@MegaCGRepinay #KaalaFrance #KaalatheRageofRajinikanth pic.twitter.com/v2Hd1i0CXk #KaalaFrance 2.0 #TeraU165 (@universe_tera) June 6, 2018 Suprestar Rajinikanth starrer Kaala has earned Rs 230 crore in pre-release business. If the film collects Rs 280 crore more then it will secure a position on the list of 2018's commercial hit films. Despite the Supreme Courts ruling in favour of Kaalarelease in Karnataka the film continues to face the wrath of pro-Kannada groups who have threatened to disrupt the screening in the state. Upset with Rajinikanth's statement over the Cauvery row, a Karnataka film body banned the release of the film earlier this month. On the eve of the release of the movie Kaala, Rajinikanth requested the outfits to not disturb the screening. "I have not done any mistake. Please do not disturb those who want to watch the movie. I request your cooperation," he said in Kannada, reports news agency PTI. Kaala is set against the backdrop of Mumbai's Dharavi slum. The movie directed by Pa Ranjith also stars Nana Patekar and Huma Qureshi. Kaala is produced by Rajinikanth's son-in-law Dhanush. (With inputs from agencies) CCTVs would be set up along the canals and irrigation projects, and will be linked to satellite. Hyderabad: The eighth round of meetings of the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) concluded without taking any major decision. A few agreements were signed, including to appoint an expert committee to instal telemetry to monitor water consumption along canals, in the backdrop of complaints from each state that the other was using excess water. A Telangana state official said, No decision on water sharing was taken as there is no water availability in the river. A decision will be taken after inflows begin. Both states agreed at the meeting between KRMB chairman H.K. Sahu and representatives from the TS and AP governments to furnish the detailed project reports (DPRs) of new projects for technical clearance by the KRMB The TS government argued that its share of Krishna water should be increased to 50 per cent from 33 per cent for the current fiscal. Officials insisted that AP should consider the allocations for TS, while asking the Board to consider 20 per cent allocation of drinking water to the state. TS officials suggested that out of the inflows received in the Srisailam reservoir, 50 per cent should be released to Nagarjunasagar for agriculture in the common area. In case of heavy releases or deficiency of inflows, the basic modalities of integrated operation of Srisailam, Nagarjunasa-gar and Pulichintala projects may be discussed. Both states decided to take up the water sharing issue in next meeting of KRMB. The two states agreed to formulate an action plan to use telemetry to monitor the use of water. Both states decided to instal side-looking Doppler current profiler at the Pothireddypadu head regulator, which wou-ld be calibrated by measuring discharges. The meeting decided to study losses in Nagarjunasagar Left Canal that is common to both the states. The TS government did not agree on identified locations for placing the telemetry stations. It said even after three years, no calibrated functional telemetry system had been installed. It demanded telemetry at several locations from where Krishna waters are diverted to outside basins. The TS government said AP had drawn over 100 tmc ft from Pothireddypadu to Pennar and other basins. Responding to this, the KRMB agreed to appoint an expert committee on tele-metry system, said an official. Andhra Pradesh demanded relocation of the KRMB office to Vijayawada. Nagarjunasagar Left Canal project committee from Krishna district presented a memorandum to KRMB. It said the area irrigated by the Nagarjunasa-gar Left Canal in AP was 3.68 lakh acres. The canal had 132 tmc ft, of which AP was allotted 32.35 tmc ft for Zones II and III. We request KRMB to ens-ure water supply to standi-ng crop, said Mr A.V. Gop-ala Krishna Rao, member of AP apex committee, water resources department. The TS government wanted the KRMB to take up the working manual after finalisation of allocations by the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal. With a view to avoiding delay, the Telangana state government had consented for preparation of a draft working manual of KRMB. This was misunderstood by KRMB and AP that it was final approval. Telangana wouldnt agree on this issue including notification of jurisdiction of KRMB over projects and same may be kept in abeyance till the allocations are made by Water Disputes Tribunal, said an official. The two states agreed that the KRMB working manual would be finalised on the lines of the line working manual of the Godavari River Management Board. Telangana Chief Secretary Dr S.K. Joshi, engineer-in-chief B. Nagendra Rao, I&CAD, KRMB members T. Venkateshwarlu and A Paramesham, AP water resources department secretary Sasibhushan and other senior officials took part in the meeting. Locals alerted police after seeing the car's engine running and its lights on. Police broke its door and found Khan and Negi unconscious inside. (Photo: File | Representational) Mumbai: A man and a woman today allegedly committed suicide as their families were opposed to their relationship, police said. Salman Afroz Alam Khan (26) and Manisha Negi (21) were found dead inside a car parked near a court in suburban Mulund early this morning. Locals alerted police after seeing the car's engine running and its lights on. Police broke its door and found Khan and Negi unconscious inside. Both were declared brought dead at hospital. Preliminary probe revealed that Khan, a resident of Mulund, and Negi, who lived in Navi Mumbai, were in a relationship for the past four years. They wanted to get married but their families were reportedly against the relationship, a senior police official said. Apparently upset over this, the couple allegedly ended life by consuming poison sitting in the car, he said. However, no suicide note has been found yet. The car belonged to Khan, the officer said, adding that further probe is on. New Delhi: After the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in February this year shot down participation of any Pakistani participant in a conference reportedly to be organised by a private university in July this year in New Delhi, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said "participation by Pakistan or any other country is a reflection of the current state of relationship". This came on a day when the MEA said that there have been more than a thousand cease fire violations by Pakistan this year so far (from across the LoC and international border in J&K). The MEA spokesperson said, "There are several factors that go into taking a decision on participation of an individual or any country in a conference or a seminar. ... If the state of relationship is good, positive, then these things are very smooth and free-flowing and if you have a relationship that is not smooth, then ... there is due diligence. Hyderabad: The park encroachment at Sanjeevnagar Colony in Mahendra Hills has been taken up seriously by the Secunderabad Cantonment Board. SCB president Brig. M.D. Upadhyay sent a team of officials to inspect the park that is located on A1 defence land. He assured the colony executive body that further action would be taken soon. Army Ordinance Corps (AOC) Commander R.S. Jodhaji and his team visited the park and studied the layout. It was decided that a survey will be done by SCB engineering wing. This newspaper had reported that the spot was earmarked for green space. It fell into the hands of land sharks and has been lying without development for 18 years. The residents are fighting to not only protect the land but also build a park there, so that it cannot be grabbed and children and the elderly can use the lung space. Mr Bandi Naresh, a resident and High Court advocate, said, We are happy that the SCB authorities finally inspected the park land. We also want them to inquire into who the encroachers are and why a criminal case hasn't been filed till now, even after defence land was encroached. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus O.Kravchenko meets the delegation of the Senate of the Czech Parliament 07-06-2018 On June 7, 2018 the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, Oleg Kravchenko, met with the delegation of the Senate of the Parliament of Czechia headed by the Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Security, Frantishek Bublan. During the meeting, the sides noted the positive dynamic of the Belarusian-Czech interaction. The sides also discussed the development of cooperation between Belarus and the European Union, as well as topical issues on the international and regional agenda. print version New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping in a bilateral meeting on June 9 ahead of his participation in the 18th meeting of the Council of heads of state of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) at Qingdao in the Shandong province of China, the MEA said on Thursday. However, sources said there is no possibility of any bilateral meeting between Mr Modi and Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain who is expected to represent Islamabad at the meet. Sources also said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has conveyed to external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj in South Africa the Chinese appreciation for Mr Modis recent address at the Shangri La Dialogue in Singapore. Both foreign ministers were in South Africa for a BRICS meeting. The bilateral meeting between Mr Modi and President Xi comes on the heels of their informal summit in the central Chinese city of Wuhan which had put Sino-Indian ties firmly back on track after the Doklam setback last year. A discussion on regional and international issues is expected to take place at the SCO meeting. The main SCO meeting will be held on June 10. The MEA described the SCO as a grouping of central Asian countries, making it clear in response to another question that SCO cannot be seen as an alternative to SAARC. New Delhi: After, courting controversy, the displeasure of his parent organisation Congress and even his daughter, former President Pranab Mukherjee while attending an RSS event at the Sangh headquarters in Nagpur on Thursday, taught the Sangh a lesson on tolerance and the importance of a composite culture. Secularism may be a dirty word for the right wing, but the former President brought up the subject with swayamsevaks and RSS top echelons and said, Secularism is a matter of faith for us. His address was in sharp contrast to that of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, who in his 40-minute speech subtly talked about consolidation of Hindus and that only Hindus are answerable for India. Mr Mukherjee, who was initially criticised by a section of his parent outfit the Congress for attending the RSS event, not merely came out unscathed, but also drew praise from the party. After his speech, a euphoric Congress announced: He (Pranab Mukherjee) showed the mirror of truth to the RSS at its headquarters. There has been no reaction from the BJP. The RSS merely said that Mr Mukherjee spoke like an elder statesman and the Sangh welcomes issues of patriotism and nationalism and ending all types of intolerance and violence. The Congress criticism of Mr Mukherjee, before his speech erupted on social media as he described the founder of RSS Keshav Baliram Hegdewar as a great son of mother India. While aggressive cultural nationlism has emerged as the main plank of the saffron brigade, Mr Mukherjee pushed for a different brand of nationalism and quoted Mahatma Gandhi saying, Indian nationalism was not exclusive, aggressive or destructive. As hundreds of swayamsevaks and the top echelons of the RSS watched, Mr Mukherjee said, I am here to share my understanding on nation, nationalism and patriotism about our country which is Bharat. Earlier while the RSS brass saluted the bhagwa dhwaj (saffron flag), the former President merely stood still and watched. During his address Mr Mukherjee went on to refer to BJP and Sanghs traditional bugbear - Jawaharlal Nehru. While he finished his praise of BJPs icon Sardar Patel in one sentence for the consolidation of India, Mr Mukherjee eulogised Nehru and his conviction in secularism and pluralism. I am convinced that nationalism can only come out of the ideological fusion of Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and other groups in India. That does not and need not mean the extinction of any real culture of any group, but it does mean a common national outlook, to which other matters are subordinated, Mr Mukherjee quoted from Nehrus Discovery of India. He then went on to quote from Rabindranath Tagores Bharat Teertho in which the poet says, No one knows at whose beckoning call how many streams of humanity came in indomitable waves from who knows where and lost themselves in this vast ocean. On the issue of tolerance Mr Mukherjee reminded one of what the then BJP Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had told Mr Narendra Modi after 2002 Gujarat riots. Mr Modi who was Gujarat chief minister during the carnage was asked by an upset Vajpayee to perform raj dharma. Without mentioning names or any direct reference, Mr Mukherjee reminded the saffron gathering. Jaipur: Alcohol may be bad for health but every sip will keep cows healthy in Rajasthan. The BJP government is all set to extend scope of cow cess. The finance department has prepared the proposal t impose cow cess, a surcharge, on price of liquor. After, approval from the state government to its proposal, the finance department has issued a circular to this effect. There was already 10 per cent surcharge on property deals that was introduced by Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje in her budget speech last year. She had introduced it for development of basic infrastructure facilities and protection and propagation of cows. This too has now been doubled. It has also been agreed to increase the cow cess from current level of 10 per cent to 20 per cent on the stamp duty, official sources informed. The cow cess generated Rs 237 crore for the government in last financial year against the requirement of Rs 490 crore to pay for shelter and food for 9.6 lakh cows in 2,562 authorised gaushalas. With the slump in the real estate sector and fewer donations, the government had to widen the scope of cow cess to increase its cow welfare kitty. More so, because the government had increased the grant for fodder and water from three to six months. The previous financial years allocated fund was distributed in three instalments from January to March 2018. But, in the election year, the state government wants to distribute the entire money in time. The amount of cess on liquor will depend on how much money the directorate of Gopalan a body constituted for the exclusive purpose of cow protection wants to collect. Rajasthan was the first state to have a dedicated ministry for cow welfare. Panna (MP): The stain is too deep to be eradicated. Nearly 16 years after the gory death of 87-year-old Kuttu Bai who was allegedly driven to commit sati by burning to death in the funeral pyre of her nonagenarian husband, the people of Patna Tamola in Madhya Pradeshs Panna district under poverty-stricken Bundelkhand region are still finding it hard to obliterate the taint the gruesome incident has earned for the village. Shaken by the horrific incident and the consequent negative publicity it had attracted at the national and international levels then, the villagers have quietly but determinedly initiated moves to rescue damsels in distress in and around the village by socially rehabilitating them as atonement for the tragic end of Kuttu Bai. We have taken up community-based welfare measures to rehabilitate the women who turn widows at a young age or deserted by their husbands by solemnising their marriage in their respective samaj or society, local social activist Ramadin Chourasia told this newspaper on Wednesday. The villagers arrange grooms for such women after soliciting consent of their respective family members and marry them off at the ancient Talari Mata shrine at Tawai, nearly 35 from their villages. The village has hosted over two dozen such marriages in the past four years. The latest beneficiary of the welfare programmes launched by the villagers was 21-year-old Pinki Namdev, a deserted wife whose marriage was performed with another youth of the village with the consent from her and her family members, according to Mr Chourasia. The village took almost half a decade to overcome the shock over the tragic incident of August 6, 2002. Our heads hang in shame when our children remind us of the incident by saying that they could find it in Google, A. Chourasia, a retired school teacher, said, baring his hurt psyche over the terrible incident. Some people had then endeavoured to glorify the incident by declaring the deceased as sati to exploit religious sentiments of gullible people in the region. They had performed parikrama (circumambulation) of the site of the incident. Later, the state government as well as the Centre had imposed economic sanction on the village by cutting all kinds of aids as punishment for allowing the tragedy to happen. As many as 17 people in the villages were booked under sati Eradication Act, 1987 and four of them were later sentenced to life imprisonment by a local court in connection with the incident. While three of them have completed their jail terms six months ago, the other convict was still serving the sentence. This was the last "Sati" incident recorded officially in India. A section of people in the village still believed that Kuttu Bai had volunteered to die in funeral pyre of her husband that day because she thought that there would be no one to look after her after his hubby's death since their two sons were living separately then. But, there were whisperings still heard in the village that she was provoked by some people to take the deadly and tragic plunge on the pyre. Curiously, every family in the village has at least one member in the government service serving in different departments, some of whom even as doctors and engineers. Dr P. Namratha of Srushti Test Tube Centre has been suspended for five years and banned for life from practice of surrogacy. (Representational Image) Hyderabad: Three doctors have been suspended by the Telangana State Medical Council for improper practice and giving false assurances to patients. Dr Chandra Bhushan, senior orthopaedic surgeon who had carried out limb lengthening surgery on techie Nikhil Reddy, has been suspended from practice for two years. The council conducted a re-inquiry on the directions of the High Court and found that Dr Bhushan had wrongly counselled techie Nikhil Reddy, assuring him that he would be able to walk in two months. This did not happen and Mr Nikhil Reddy was not able to walk properly even after two years. Dr P. Namratha of Srushti Test Tube Centre has been suspended for five years and banned for life from practice of surrogacy. Dr Namrata had carried out the surrogacy procedure on Ms Chandana and Mr Manmad Kumar of Nizampet which went wrong. Dr Sona Kakar, psychiatrist of Columbus Hospital, Begumpet, was suspended for six months as she failed to counsel a couple who were having marital discord. Ms Haritha Reddy had approached Dr Kakar for couple counselling but every session was taken singly. The council demanded video recordings of the session but they were not submitted. Dr Mamata Deendayal of Infertility Institute and Research Centre, Secunderabad, and Dr K.L.N. Prasad of Kasthuri Hospital, Bhongir, were issued warning for improper practices. Tirupati: The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) is planning to take legal action against those who made baseless allegations on its functioning. In recent times, it has been alleged that a pink diamond had gone missing from the treasury, and that TTD officials had dug up the Srivari Potu the kitchen where prasadam is prepared for the Venka-teswara temple at Tirumala for hidden treasure. The TTD administration felt the comments made by retired Pradhana Archaka Dr A.V. Ramana Deekshitulu and some others had damaged the image of TTD. Devotees were hurt by the allegations, officials contended. The TTD public relations and legal departments are collecting reports on the issue in the media and plans to take action against news organisations. Though TTD executive officer A.K Singhal had said the TTD legal team was studying all details, no one expected it would happen so quickly. TTD board member and TD MLA Bonda Uma Maheswara Rao said, We had a detailed discussion during the last board meeting. The board felt that the devotees were hurt with the developments that took place following the statements of Dr Deekshitulu, so the board has taken the decision to go legally He said Mr Deekshitulu had said that he would fight the TTD legally. Why cant the TTD do that, Mr Rao said. The videos on the controversy are still doing the rounds on social media. A video of Hyderabads Chilkur Balaji head priest C.S. Rangarajan questioning Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu is still viral on social media. He accused Mr Naidu of being anti-Dr Deekshitulu. The TTD had issued noticed Dr Deekshitulu for taking his grandson into the temple through the mahadwaram. Mr Rangarajan asked, How can the grandson of Mr Naidu sit in Ugadi asthanam, when the Pradhana Archaka cant take his grandson inside the temple. Can a CM come along with his entire family to the festivals that are organised by the government? Your brother-in-law will be an MLA, your son can be given a ministry without contesting in regular elections. The Rayalaseema Porata Samiti (RPS) has sought an inquiry headed by a High Court judge and suggested legal action based on the report. RPS convener P. Naveen Kumar Reddy said, The allegations were not made by a common man, it was made by the Pradhana Archaka. He made the allegations a day before his retirement. The TTD should consider him as a whistleblower and an inquiry should be done with a committee headed by a High Court sitting judge. If the committee says that the allegations were wrong then the Archaka who made them should be punished. If committee says that the allegations were true then the officials should be punished. He said he was pained at the way the TTD and the government were treating Dr Deekshitulu. One minister says he should be kept behind bars and beaten till the facts are out, the TTD says it will proceed legally. Unable to prove that the allegations are false, they are behaving as per their wish. This is definitely not the way to prove that the allegations are false. New Delhi: After initial anguish the Congress did a complete volte-face in praising the address of the former President Mr. Pranab Mukherjee at the RSS event in Nagpur on Thursday. After the address of Mr. Mukherjee, Communications chief of the Congress Mr. Randeep Singh Surjewala praised the Mr. Mukherjee in a press conference saying that the former President of India has shown the mirror of truth to the RSS at RSS headquarters in Nagpur by reminding them of Indias pluralism, tolerance, secularism and inclusiveness as an article of faith and soul of the country. Questioning the RSS Mr. Surjewala said, Let the RSS and BJP publicly commit today to change its character, orientation, thought process and path and accept the sagacious advise of their guest, Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday. We await a reply. Realizing that some of the Congress leaders were wrong in criticizing the former President of India the party was quick to make amends Attacking the Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi, Mr. Surjewala said that Mr. Mukherjee also reminded the present Modi Government of following Rajdharma, founded upon our diversity, non-violence, multiculturalism and assimilation of ideas. Quoting from Mr. Mukherjees speech Mr. Surjewala added, Happiness of people is the happiness of ruler, their welfare is his welfare. Indicating the unchecked exercise of authority and attack on institutions in garb of a self-professed definition of Pseudo Nationalism, he reminded the RSS as also the Prime Minister that, Indian Nationalism is Constitutional patriotism. Thiruvananthapuram: KSRTC's decision to ban dharna and protests in the premises of the chief offices, units and workshops has kicked up a storm of protest from trade unions. A circular issued by KSRTC CMD Tomin J Thachankary on Friday banned processions and protest meetings in the compound of Transport Bhavan which is the headquarters of KSRTC, units and workshop and also the usage of mikes in the premises. Such protests would curb the freedom of movement of commuters, the circular claimed. On the same day, KSRTC officials had denied electricity to the protest meeting of the pro-UDF Transport Democratic Fund (TDF) inside the KSRTC central bus stand at Thampanoor. The protestors however, arranged electricity from a private firm operating in the premises of the KSRTC commercial complex. Following the denial of power, KPCC General Secretary Thampanoor Ravi who was the president of the TDF had called Transport Minister A.K. Saseendran to voice his protest. Though, the minister had promised to look into the matter, the order issued by the KSRTC CMD was not revoked, sources said. The earlier precedence was to provide electricity to all meetings organised by recognised trade unions in the KSRTC premises. The Pro-CPI Kerala State Transport Employees Union has also come out against the decision urging the government to take steps to withdraw the decision. Earlier, also the CMD had wanted the KSRTC to be exempted from political agitations. Earlier this month in a statement, he had urged the government to declare the loss- making Corporation as an essential service and an all-party meet should be convened to discuss the issue. During hartals, KSRTC was not only unable to operate its services causing huge losses, but incurred damage to buses because protesters also throw stones, he had argued. As hospitals, milk supply and newspapers are considered essential services and exempted from hartals, KSRTC also should be allowed to operate its services, he emphasised. New Delhi: Accusing the churches in India of conspiring with the Vatican as contract killers to destabilise elected governments and prop up the puppet ones, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Wednesday asserted that India's Constitution is in danger because of the attacking political stand of the church and its agenda of religious conversions. After a recent letter by Delhi Archbishop Anil Coutos letter stating Constitution is under threat created a massive controversy, another letter by the Archbishop of Goa and Daman Father Filipe Neri Ferrao on Monday to churches saying that the Constitution is in danger and most people are living in insecurity further fuelled the controversy. Reacting sharply to these letters, VHP joint-general secretary Surendra Jain alleged that it is now amply clear that the churches in India are in collusion with the Vatican and is trying to create an atmosphere of distrust against the present government. Hyderabad: Several groups have issued a boycott call to the Dawaat-e-Iftar being hosted by the Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday at the L. B. Stadium. Dr Lubna Sarwath, general secretary, Socialist Party (India), Telangana, said the event was being held with the funds from the minority welfare department and are meant for raising the standards of the minorities. Such waste of money in the name of Dawaat-e-Iftar and distribution of clothes benefits is resulting in lot of finances. It encourages lot of corruption as about Rs 3 crore is spent on the event at L.B. Stadium alone, she pointed out. Tahreek Muslim Shabban, president, Mohammed Mustaq Malik said the organisation is not happy with the performance of the government. The real issues are not redressed and we are boycotting the event to bring to light the failed promises of the government, he said. He appealed to the community to boycott the Dawaat-e-Iftaar to highlight the failures of the government. Meanwhile, senior Congress leader and leader of Opposition in Legislative Council, Mohammed Ali Shabbir is boycotting the Dawaat-e-Iftaar being hosted by Governor E.S.L. Narsimhan on Sunday at the Raj Bhavan. He took the decision after the President of India Ram Nath Kovind office took a decision not to hold the annual event. Ever since BJP in power this type of decisions to insult minorities particularly Muslims are reported in the Media, even Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi has also given up tradition of Hosting Iftar party on behalf of PM office. Muslims all over the world and particularly in India are not bothered for such type of cheap tactics of not hosting Iftar party and also taking away Haj, he said. @alextdaugherty Miami Republican Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart voted against an amendment that would ban federal funds for oil and gas drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf before 2022, the only member from Florida in the House Appropriations Committee to do so. But Diaz-Balart said that his vote against Maine Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree's amendment was not a signal that he favors offshore oil drilling in Florida. "Current law states that any offshore drilling or leasing activity is banned in Florida," Diaz-Balart spokesperson Katrina Bishop said. "Congressman Diaz-Balart worked with his colleagues to ensure this bill passed and was signed into law in 2006. In addition, Interior Secretary (Ryan) Zinke has stated on multiple occasions that Florida will be exempt from any future offshore drilling. Any assertion that Diaz-Balarts vote today would result in offshore drilling off Floridas shores is incorrect." The amendment was part of an hours-long debate on various additions to the 2019 Interior and Environment funding bill, a $35.25 billion package. The amendment failed 20-26, on a mostly party-line vote, though Florida Republican Rep. John Rutherford voted in favor of the amendment along with Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. The fourth member of the Appropriations Committee from Florida, Republican Rep. Tom Rooney, did not vote. Pingree's amendment stated that "None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to prepare a five-year offshore oil and gas leasing program that would schedule any Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas lease sale before 2022." Florida currently has a moratorium on oil and gas drilling in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico until 2022. Sen. Bill Nelson has filed legislation to make the moratorium a permanent ban, and Zinke's announcement set off charges from the Florida Democrat that the Trump administration exempted Florida from a plan to expand offshore oil and natural gas drilling to benefit Gov. Rick Scott politically as he campaigns for Nelson's Senate seat. "Its outrageous that ANY member of Congress from Florida would EVER vote to allow offshore drilling," tweeted Mary Barzee Flores, a Democrat who will run against Diaz-Balart in November. Chennai: Averring that the use of M-sand (manufactured sand) in the construction industry has fairly improved to about 40 per cent, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami said his government is keen on encouraging the industry and people, as well, to shift totally to M-sand in order to conserve the natural resource. He also informed that the government is in the process of finalising tenders for import of sand to meet the requirement. As part of an initiative to dissuade the dependence on river sand, which is a precious natural resource, the government is encouraging the construction industry to shift to M-sand. Though last year has seen only 10 per cent usage of M-sand, its use has improved to 40 per cent now due to increased awareness. We will step up the awareness campaign to ensure cent per cent usage of this sand, Mr. Palaniswami told the Assembly on Thursday. Replying to the issue raised by the Singanallur MLA N. Karthik belonging to the DMK, he said the government has granted permission to 24 units to manufacture M-sand. Construing the importance of this construction material, the government will ensure the needs are met. For instance, several government projects including construction of buildings, housing projects for the poor besides the construction undertaken by the people and the construction industry need regular supplies. Hence, the government has decided to permit import of sand and we are in the process of finalising tenders for import, the CM said. Raising the issue after the reply of Ministers: C. Ve. Shanmugam (Mines and Minerals), M. C. Sampath (Industries) and P. Benjamin (Rural Industries) to the House, Karthik sought to know how many M-sand units are functioning in the State and whether licenses have been granted for new manufacturing units. Sand is an important material for the construction industry and without it, there could be no progress, he said. Hyderabad: Rythu Bandhu and other populist schemes which are being implemented, with the TRS government spending over Rs 40,000 crore per year, have failed to improve the electoral prospects of the ruling party, reveals the latest internal survey ordered by party president and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao. The reason said for this was the severe anti-incumbency against 40 MLAs, and include those who won on TRS tickets in the 2014 elections and those who defected to the ruling party from other parties. This survey has forced Mr Rao to rethink the promise he has made for the past four years of giving tickets to all sitting MLAs in 2019, say the party sources. TRS has a strength of 90 MLAs at present and the survey revealed that only 50 would retain seats if all sitting MLAs are given tickets in 2019. The half-way mark is 60. While the magic figure to form government is 60, TRS had won 62 seats in the 2014 elections. However, scores of MLAs from TD, Congress, YSRC, BSP, CPI defected to TRS later besides TRS clinching 2 seats from Congress in by polls in Narayankhed and Pa-leru, taking the strength to 90. With the 2019 Assembly elections less than a year away, the CM has ordered surveys once in three months by three different survey agencies since January this year. Surveys were conducted in the past two years too and KCR himself revealed the survey results in a party meeting saying that TRS would bag over 100 seats out of the total 119 in 2019 polls and promised to give tickets to all sitting MLAs. However, the latest survey, which revealed anti-incumbency against 40 siting MLAs, came as a shocker . Party insiders now feel that KCR only tried to keep the party flock together by stating all these years that TRS would win over 100 seats and all sitting MLAs will be given tickets. This is to ensure that no TRS MLA jumps to other parties and weakens the TRS government and the party with elections just few months away. KCR revealed the 'real survey results' to deny tickets for non-performers and give tickets only to the winning horses. The survey revealed that the party's condition is weak in south and north Telangana districts and even in districts which were considered to be TRS strongholds, the party is slowly losing ground due to non-performing MLAs, especially the first-timers. The Kashmir Valley badly needed a pause, a moment to take a deep breath and step away from the frenzied cycle of killings, mob violence and public hysteria. The announcement of the so-called Ramzan ceasefire by the Government of India provided an opportunity for a temporary calm and reflection by the conflicted parties. Distress levels in the Valley have long breached limits with hundreds of thousands of Kashmiris believing that life has become intolerable. In the rest of the country, opinions against Kashmiris have hardened, with a majority supporting a hardline approach by the government. The result is a tragedy of untold proportions: daily killings, emotional mass funerals and rising terrorist violence. At the same time, scores of young Indian soldiers from remote corners of the country are dying or being injured every month, adding to the national misery. The borders in the state of Jammu and Kashmir too are in a state of extreme ferment, with large-scale firing and artillery exchanges putting on edge the life of border dwellers on both sides. This cannot be a happy situation or end state that any government should desire. This is a condition of pathological imbalance that is not just brutalising the Kashmir Valley but the rest of the country as well, hardening attitudes beyond a point that is healthy for any democracy. The conditional Ramzan ceasefire announced by Union home minister Rajnath Singh on May 16 directed the security forces in the Valley not to launch operations during Ramzan. However, the minister made it amply clear that the security forces reserved the right to retaliate, if attacked by the militants or if necessary to protect innocents. The move came after ceaseless requests for a ceasefire by the states beleaguered chief minister, Mehbooba Mufti. Hardliners in New Delhi opposed her appeal, arguing that this would ease the pressure on militants and allow their regrouping. The criticism was valid but not justified in the circumstances. A change of tack was necessary. The reaction of Kashmiri separatists and Pakistan-controlled terrorist groups to the ceasefire suggests that the move was in the right direction. The first to denounce it as a cruel joke was the separatist Hurriyat and the self-appointed Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL), comprising Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik. The Hurriyat, as was recently admitted by former Pakistan ISI chief Gen. Assad Durrani, is a creation of Pakistan. It was formed to act as the over-ground political voice of the Islamabad-sponsored uprising in the Valley. Syed Ali Shah Geelani has achieved notoriety as being more pro-Pakistan than most generals in Rawalpindi. He believes it is the Pakistan Armys duty to militarily intervene in Kashmir and wrest it from India. His hard-line views were publicly lambasted by Gen. Pervez Musharraf when he was trying to get the Indians to the negotiating table. Gen. Musharraf was reported to have told Mr Geelani at a meeting: Get out of the way, old man. Ironically, now Gen. Musharraf is out while Mr Geelani remains standing and very much a player in Kashmir. Similarly, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a cleric who shamelessly uses his religious platform to propagate hatred of the Indian state, continues to be a symbol of the Kashmir resistance as does Yasin Malik, the former militant chief of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), whose guerrilla force was wiped out by pro-Pakistan militants, ISI agents and the Indian Army. The separatist trio have managed to retain their position over the years thanks to their unerring political sense. This time, they seem to have gathered it inadvisable to be seen as spoilers to New Delhis offers for a political dialogue. Thus, after initially dismissing the ceasefire and talks offer out of hand, they backtracked a couple of weeks later. Mr Geelani declared he was not against talks provided the Government of India accepted the Kashmir problem as a dispute; while the Mirwaiz dithered by saying New Delhi should clarify its talks offer. Clearly, they were reflecting a nascent desire in the Valley to begin some sort of dialogue with New Delhi. There is also evidence to suggest that the ceasefire has been welcomed by elements of the Valleys largest and only indigenous militant group, the Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), if not its entire leadership. Reports that the Hizbul has pulled back its fighters was confirmed by a message put out by a rival Pakistan-based terrorist outfit, the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), whose chief Maulana Masood Azhar mocked the HM suggesting that the lull left by them would be filled up by Jaish fighters: Our friends have not announced a ceasefire; they have left open space for JeM. Now, these places will witness more firing from our side Azhar added that if the HM does not avenge the killings of their comrades by the Indian forces, then they would be only too happy to oblige. The Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT), the other major Pakistan-sponsored terrorist group operating in the Valley, has also rejected the ceasefire. The groups spokesman, Dr Abdullah Ghaznavi, terming the offer as nothing but a drama, declared that a ceasefire is no option and no thought can be given on such compromise We deem it as sin and disgrace to the sacrifices put up in the freedom struggle. We are the heirs of the martyrs. Opting for such choice is treachery to blood of martyrs Clearly, peace has more enemies than proponents in the Valley today; they want the strife, the killings and distress to continue. The ceasefire and dialogue offer by New Delhi is, however, the only way forward, although it is just a tactical step. The bigger challenge is greater and more complex. Thirty years of military presence in the Valley has given birth to huge resentment. An entire generation has grown up under the shadow of the gun and has spawned an amorphous leadership that today transcends that of the tired separatist trio. Redressing this generations grievances will require a huge strategic effort. The birth pangs of the fortnight-old Karnataka coalition are out in the open, with every possibility that this rare union of a national party and not one but two regional entities, which presaged the possibility of uniting leaders of 20 Opposition parties for the 2019 Lok Sabha battle, is veering off course. Dissidence within the Congress and differences over power-sharing with the JD(S) papered over for now, are the first signs that the alliance could come apart, than serve as a final template for an anti-BJP front for 2019. The silver lining seems visible only to this coalitions architect, former PM H.D. Deve Gowda, who not only pulled in the BSP, and hopes to bind a greater alliance together in 2019. So far, he has seen the Grand Old Party kowtow to his every demand. For BJP leaders, who have seen ties fray with TDPs N. Chandrababu Naidu and JD(U)s Nitish Kumar, the nascent gatbandhan has set off alarm bells. The immediate fallout is the party chief working overtime to keep allies like the Shiv Sena on board. But the grand alliance of anti-BJP parties hinges on two factors as the Karnataka experiment takes baby steps: one, the performance of the new state government, its longevity and whether it matches the expectations of people as a national party plays second fiddle to a regional entity. A mishap here could send Opposition parties into a tailspin and end their plans to knit a peoples coalition after next years elections. Second, the ability of sworn enemies in the Opposition striking pre-poll partnerships in different states on sharing seats and power, without upsetting their cadre or second-rung leaders who are crucial for victory. Both concerns are evidently on the top of the agenda as the Opposition plans to turn the anti-incumbency against the BJP-led NDA government in their favour. The signs of how much of an uphill task it can be are already evident, with both Andhra Pradesh CM N. Chandrababu Naidu and Telanganas K. Chandrasekhar Rao willing to be part of a grand coalition, but unclear on whether it will include the Congress, with which both parties have long been at loggerheads. Similarly, in West Bengal, the Trinamul Congress-led Mamata Banerjee government has had no truck with the Congress electorally. In Kerala, the CPI(M) is at war with the Congress. It must also be said, however, that in West Bengal as much as in Kerala, both the TMC and the Marxists are aware of the threat that a rising saffron presence poses. That may become the glue that draws and binds the anti-Narendra Modi Opposition together. With the BJPs strength down to 272 in the Lok Sabha from a string of byelection defeats, the Opposition leaders may have to put the bitter past behind, to reclaim the seat of power in New Delhi. Countdown for the BJP has begun Jaiveer Shergill On April 6, BJP leader Amit Shah in his sheer political pomposity compared the entire Opposition to cats and dogs. And it virtually rained cats & dogs electorally, completely wiping off the BJP in various bypolls. Two prominent questions have started dominating the discussion forums. First, is it going to be Narendra Modi vs the rest in 2019? Second, is Opposition unity vital to defeat the BJP in 2019? But there is another important question that needs to be answered, and that is will the BJPs anti-people, anti-farmer, anti-women and anti-youth policies and betrayal of their own electoral promises lead to its defeat in the peoples court in 2019? One just needs to look at the results of the byelections held since 2014 to understand that the countdown for the BJP began much earlier than was anticipated by political pundits. In total, there have been 27 Lok Sabha bypolls, out of which the BJP lost 22, while the Congress won four with thumping majority in states where there was a direct contest between these two. Even the usual logic that state bypolls are won by the party in power did not work for the BJP as they lost despite being in government in various states, including Rajasthan, UP, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. In fact, the BJP is facing double incumbency in these states non-performance by the Modi government at the Centre and non-performance of the respective state governments. The reason for these defeats is that people have started realising that all that glitters is not gold when it comes to PM Modi and his event management style of politics. Modi vs the rest in 2019 is merely a catchy hypothetical question created by the media to showcase Mr Modi as the Hercules of the electoral battlefield. The NDA consists of the BJP and 29 parties, and if you factor in state alliances then it is BJP +47 parties against the UPA, which broadly consists of the Congress+17 parties. Thus it is NDA vs Team UPA contest, which has a canvass much bigger than Mr Modis personality. As the soul of India is bleeding now, the time has come for all the like-minded parties to come together, which they have broadly for the sake of protecting the nation from the politics of hate. So yes, Opposition unity is imperative to defeat the NDA, that has started treating India like a private limited company, cheating its shareholders and depriving them of dividends. The writing on the wall is clear that with the Congress as the fulcrum, the arithmetic of Opposition unity combined with the chemistry of voters will completely evaporate the BJP in 2019. The writer is a Supreme Court lawyer and national media panellist, Indian National Congress Regional parties tieup is a chimera R. Balashankar It is too early to analyse the shape and strength of the tieup of regional parties, which is being projected to fight the NDA in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll. At present it looks a chimera or a hydra-headed monster ,very difficult to name or define. The collective desperation and frustration of the Congress and anti-BJP parties in the Opposition is understandable. The BJP, now ruling in nearly two dozen states having almost three fourths of Indias population, has emerged as predominant political force and its leader Narendra Modi is unassailable, as is seen by the results of over a dozen state elections after 2014, where the Congress has been humbled repeatedly. Regional parties like the BSP, SP and the CPI(M) also suffered stunning defeats at the hands of the BJP. This forced all these parties to put up common candidates against the BJP in Gorakhpur, Phulpur and Kairana bypolls in UP. The experiment has rekindled hope in the anti-BJP camp that a united Opposition can make the going tough for the BJP in the 2019 general election. But it is not that simple an arithmetic. It is easier to make adjustments at the local level as issues are localised. But in the general election it is the chemistry and atmospheric that work better. Parties have to work out seat-sharing, they have to have an agenda for governance, and also have to declare a leader who is to rule the country after the elections. Can the Opposition present a credible alternative to the NDA and Mr Modi? The strength of the regional parties is confined to their respective states. Different regional parties dont complement each other. The Congress is an adversary to many regional parties the BJD in Orissa, the CPI(M) in Kerala, the TRS in Telangana and the TDP in Andhra. Further, the Congress has lost its relevance as a national party for others to join under its tag, and it seems unlikely that regional satraps senior to Congress president Rahul Gandhi will form a common front. Moreover, many regional parties are BJP allies. So far the NDA has functioned as a cohesive unit and with some nimble-footed strategy it can expand further, taking in the AIADMK, TRS, TDP and Jagan Mohan Reddys party, as also the regional parties in the Northeast. In a national election, people vote for a stable government and a dependable leader. There is no alternative to the BJP and Mr Modi for the people to choose. A ragtag tieup might work at the state level, but at national level it is a tall order. The BJP has nothing to fear as long as the charismatic appeal of the Prime Minister is intact. The writer is a former national convenor of the BJP intellectual cell, and co-convenor of the BJP national training programme and publication department According to a well known prophetic narration, God Almighty has said: O son of Adam, so long as you call upon me and ask of me, I shall forgive you for what you have done, and I shall not mind. O son of Adam, were your sins to reach the clouds of the sky and were you then to ask forgiveness of Me, I would forgive you. O son of Adam, were you to come to Me with sins nearly as great as the earth and were you then to face Me, ascribing no partner to Me, I shall grant you an earthful of pardon. Muslims believe that Ramzan is the month of Gods limitless mercy in which sincere forgiveness is accepted. It is the time of the year for God consciousness, when one must take account of all their actions, seeking forgiveness for those they have wrongly hurt. Ramzan comes once a year as an honoured guest in which devout Muslims fast through the entire month. Prophet Muhammad said that paradise has eight gates. Al Rayyan is the name of the special gate through which the people who fast will enter paradise. Through fasting, prayer, generosity, kindness and charity, Ramzan provides opportunities for spiritual cleansing and polishing of the heart with the remembrance of God. Islamic traditions lay down certain conditions for seeking forgives from God. One must first recognise the offence, make a sincere commitment not to repeat the action, and then seek forgiveness from God with a sincere heart. Importantly, if the offence has been committed against another human being or society, another condition is added. The offender must first seek forgiveness from whomsoever the offence was committed, and then seek forgiveness from God. Prophet Moses is said to have once asked God, O my Lord! Who is the most honourable of Thy servants to Thee? God said: He who pardons when he is in a position of power. Shaykh Ibn al Arabi, the great twelfth century Sufi scholar from Andalusia once said, There is no higher reward that a human being can achieve from God than the felicity awarded to whoever shows compassion to humanity. According to him, the essence of morality is compassion. On advising how to reach a high station with God, he writes how we need to evaluate on a daily basis, not just our actions but feelings and thoughts as well. The wise mystic adds, May God open your inner eye, so that you can see and remember what you have done and said. Remember, that you will have to account for it on the Day of Judgement. So see yourself and close your accounts. The only way to salvation is to clear and clean all debts. Listen to Prophet Muhammad who said, Make your accounting before it is made for you. Weigh your sins before they are weighed for you. Weigh your transgressions against your good deeds while you still have time. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg pauses while testifying before a joint hearing of the Commerce and Judiciary Committees on Capitol Hill in Washington about the use of Facebook data to target American voters in the 2016 election. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File) Australias prime minister said on June 7 he would welcome Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg testifying to an Australian parliamentary committee on the social media giants sharing of data with Chinese phone maker Huawei. Leaders of Australias Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security have raised the prospect of the 34-year-old multi-billionaire being invited to explain Facebooks relationships with Huawei. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull supported the call for Zuckerberg to fly more than 12,000 kilometres (7,500 miles) from Menlo Park in California to face lawmakers in Canberra. I would welcome Facebook coming and testifying before our parliamentary committees, yes, Turnbull told reporters. Of course, wed love to see the boss. Huawei said on June 6 it has never collected or stored Facebook user data after Facebook acknowledged it shared such data with Huawei and other manufacturers. Huawei, a company flagged by US intelligence officials as a national security threat and barred on security grounds from involvement in Australias National Broadband Network, was the latest device maker at the centre of a fresh wave of allegations over Facebooks handling of private data. Chinese firms Huawei, Lenovo, Oppo and TCL were among numerous handset makers that were given access to Facebook data in a controlled way approved by Facebook, according to a statement Tuesday from Francisco Varela, Facebooks vice president of mobile partnerships. Facebook said it would end its data partnership with Huawei by the end of this week. Its the latest privacy gaffe for Facebook since allegations emerged in March that a Trump-affiliated political consultancy firm, Cambridge Analytica, had improperly harvested data of Facebook users in an effort to influence elections. The Australian committee, like a court, can summons witnesses to give evidence, although it is questionable whether a witness outside Australia could be compelled to attend. In practice, committees always invite rather than compel witnesses to attend hearings. Facebook was asked by The Associated Press whether Zuckerberg would accept such an invitation. Facebook replied with a statement on Thursday: We will be providing the Australian government with more information about the device-integrated APIs, referring to Application Programming Interfaces that enable servers to communicate directly. The committees chairman Andrew Hastie and deputy chairman Anthony Byrne say Facebook owed answers to its 15 million Australian users. It is completely unacceptable that information from Facebook users has been slyly handed over to Huawei by Facebook, Byrne told The Australian newspaper. I want to know why Mr. Zuckerberg allowed this to happen. If need be, he will be invited to appear before the committee, Byrne added. Byrne was not immediately available for comment on Thursday, but his office confirmed that he had been accurately quoted. Zuckerberg has been called to give evidence to US congressional committees and the European Parliament in recent months over user privacy breaches. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. The former head of Cambridge Analytica said on June 6 that his political consulting firm got an incredibly huge target on its back because of its involvement in Donald Trumps 2016 presidential campaign. Alexander Nix said his now-defunct firm had become the subject of global derision and was unfairly blamed for putting Trump in office. The remarks came as an unrepentant Nix clashed with British lawmakers investigating the use of Facebook data in election campaigns. The Parliaments media committee sought his testimony to clarify his previous remarks. While lawmakers had once listened with rapt attention as former employee Christopher Wylie discussed how the Facebook material was gathered and used by the firm, they grew visibly impatient with Nix, who challenged their questions. The sheer tone of the hearing was unusual, marked at times by exchanges that seemed somewhat personal. Nix repeatedly suggested that lines of questioning were politically motivated, such as when Ian Lucas, a Labour lawmaker, challenged Nixs claim that the firm had nothing to do with the campaign supporting Britains departure from the European Union. Im sorry if members of this committee are unhappy with the outcome of the referendum. Im sorry if members of the committee are unhappy with Donald Trump being president of the United States, Nix replied. But you cant simply put forward your prejudices onto me and make sweeping assumptions about our involvement with a political campaign simply because that is what you want to believe because that narrative suits your view of the facts. Lucas retorted: Facts are what we are presenting to you. What we are getting back from you are bluster and rudeness. Trump was one of Cambridge Analyticas customers, though the firm has insisted that none of the Facebook data was used in his 2016 campaign. Nix acknowledged he should have been clearer when asked at an earlier hearing whether his firm had Facebook data through Global Science Research, a company that collected data from users in the guise of a personality test. Nix said he should have said yes but that his focus was on whether we still held the data from GSR, which was the issue Facebook had been most concerned about. He said the data was deleted at Facebooks request. Nix also said hes embarrassed at having been caught on camera boasting that he could entrap political figures by compromising them with bribes and Ukrainian women. But he insisted he was entrapped by unscrupulous, undercover journalists from Channel 4 News a claim the news organisation rejected. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. The drama came after Malaysia Airlines lost two Boeing 777s in 2014. (Photo: AFP) Melbourne: An Australian judge has sentenced a Sri Lankan man to 12 years in prison for threatening to detonate a fake bomb on a Malaysia Airlines flight, terrifying more than 200 passengers and crew. Manodh Marks forced Flight 128 bound for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to turn back to the Australian city of Melbourne soon after takeoff in May 2017 when he screamed that he had a bomb and ran down the aisle carrying a flashing electronic device. The 26-year-old was sentenced on Thursday after pleading guilty in a Melbourne court to attempting to take control of an aircraft, an offence that carries a potential maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. The drama came after Malaysia Airlines lost two Boeing 777s in 2014. Now that private-school scholarships for bullied Florida students are a reality, public school district leaders want to know exactly who will qualify for the available funds. They made clear Wednesday their concerns that the program could be ripe for abuse by families more interested in getting vouchers than in protecting children who really were victimized. "The way the statute reads, we would have to make the scholarship [notification] available even if the allegations were not merited," Santa Rosa County assistant superintendent Bill Emerson said during an hour-long rule-making conference call. "What we're asking is if we've interpreted that correctly." State Department of Education officials couldn't disagree. Adam Miller, executive director of the Office of Independent Education and Parental Choice, responded to Emerson by reading from the law, which was included in HB 7055 passed in the spring. It reads, in relevant part, "a student enrolled in a Florida public school in kindergarten through grade 12 is eligible for a scholarship under this program if the student reported an incident" listed in the law. Those include bullying, fighting, sexual harassment and several other offenses. Once a principal receives a report, the school must investigate the incident. Miller continued reading: "Upon conclusion of the investigation or within 15 days after the incident was reported, whichever occurs first, the school district shall notify the parent of the program and offer the parent an opportunity to enroll his or her student in another public school that has capacity or to request and receive a scholarship to attend an eligible private school, subject to available funding." What if two students were equally involved in a fight and neither reported it? Would the district have to inform families of the scholarship program, asked St. Johns County government relations liaison Beth Sweeny. Not if the student doesn't initiate a report, Miller said. But what if both students report being involved in a fight or another of the listed offenses? "Then the notification would go to both," Miller answered. This scenario has been a driving concern of the scholarship critics, who pointed out that the law as written does not prevent someone from creating a situation simply to get a state-supported private school scholarship. A May 30 report from the PreK-12 Education Impact Conference estimated that 7,302 Hope Scholarships will be awarded to students in the 2018-2019 school year, with the most going to kids in sixth through eighth grades because of the bullying rates in those groups. The report estimates that $27 million will be collected for the pilot year, which will come from people who elect to have the sales tax from a car purchase directed toward the Hope Scholarship fund, per the new law. That money is expected to be available to start being distributed to students in late 2018. The Senate attempted to rewrite the bill to offer scholarships to students with "substantiated" incidents, but the House did not agree. Proponents questioned why a family would disrupt its school life unless the children had true safety problems. The bill sponsors repeatedly said their goal was to give victims a way out. They did leave the door open for less egregious incidents to qualify. "The reasonable parent is not going to say, 'Oh my gosh, I have to move my child,' because of a minor random incident," sponsor Rep. Byron Donalds said in November, when presenting the measure in committee. "Would they still be afforded the information? Yes they would." Emerson said the districts were asking the Department of Education to consider tightening up that aspect within the rule. Miller said that couldn't happen. "We don't have the ability to revise what is explicitly provided for in the law," Miller said. The department will continue to take comments on the proposed rule on its website until the State Board of Education votes on it. That vote is tentatively set for July 18. This report was written by Tampa By Times reporter Jeffrey Solochek and Tallahassee bureau reporter Emily L. Mahoney contributed. A van passes high-rise apartment buildings in The Canton Place where US government workers experienced unexplained health issues in China on Thursday.(Photo: AP) Guangzhou,: A US medical team was screening more Americans who work in a southern Chinese city as the State Department confirmed evacuating a number of government workers who experienced unexplained health issues like those that have hurt US personnel in Cuba and China. The evacuations of the workers in Guangzhou followed medical testing that revealed they might have been affected. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said a number of individuals were brought to the US but didnt say how many were affected or evacuated. One case in Guangzhou had been disclosed last month. She said tests are being offered to any personnel who have noted concerning symptoms or wanted baseline screening. The incidents have raised fears the unexplained issues that started in Cuba in 2016 have expanded. The US government has deemed those incidents specific atta-cks on American workers but hasnt publicly identified a cause or culprit. Most of the incidents were accompanied by bizarre, unexplained sounds that initially led US investigators to suspect a sonic attack. Symptoms have included dizziness, headaches and an inability to concentrate. The American government worker who was removed from China earlier reported subtle and vague, but abnormal, sensations of sound and pressure. Security guards outside the Guangzhou consulate checked reporters IDs on Thursday and told them to leave the area and not attempt to talk to consulate staff. Asked about the latest incidents, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the US had not formally raised the matter with Beijing. If the US makes formal contact with us, China will continue necessary investigations and maintain close communication and cooperation with the US, Hua said at a news conference. China had earlier said it had looked into the first case, but came up with no clues about the cause of the symptoms. The New York Times identified the latest American employee evacuated as Mark A. Lenzi, a security engineering officer who left on Wednesday night with his wife and two children. Lenzi told the Times he resided in the same apartment tower as the officer evacuated in April and suffered in recent months from what he called neurological symptoms. Lenzis apartment was in one of several high-rise buildings in The Canton Place featuring restaurants and galleries spaced around a central plaza. Another diplomat who reported symptoms was at a different upscale building near the consulate. People working in Canton Place, a few kilometres from the consulate said they were just hearing about the incidents, reflecting a lack of coverage in Chinas entirely state-controlled media. Aled Williams, a British teacher at a kindergarten said the reports sounded sci-fi-ish. Hard to get my head around how it works, he said. Better watch myself. AP 3Wayste, a French company, began a waste management feasibility study in Bengaluru on Wednesday. It will focus on the ways to deploy its waste management technology to the local conditions of the city. 3Wayste had signed a memorandum of understanding with the BBMP to set up a waste-to-energy plant in Chikkanagamangala. The city is expected to generate about 3,500-4,000 tonnes of waste every day and has the capacity to process about 2,600 tonnes every day. The plant is expected to process 500 tonnes of garbage every day and the energy generated here will be sold to the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited. The study is expected to conclude by the year-end. Alexandre Ziegler, the French ambassador to India, met Mayor R Sampath Raj, Sarfaraz Khan, joint commissioner, health and solid waste management, and Mahendra Jain, additional chief secretary of the urban development department, on Wednesday. A short train journey northwards from Copenhagen brought us to Helsingor Station. The town was small but its standing was big, thanks to William Shakespeare and one of his most acclaimed plays Hamlet, The Prince of Denmark. The Kronborg castle, or Hamlets Castle as it is fondly called, is a spectacular structure. When we entered the red gates, a person dressed in a medieval regal costume said in a matching accent, But what is your affair in Elsinore? Even as I replied We are here as visitors, another voice from behind me said, My lord, I came to see your fathers funeral. Then it struck me it was Horatio and Hamlet. Elsinore, as referred in the play, is generally believed by scholars to be derived from Helsingr and Kronborg as the setting for the play. In his remembrance, Shakespeare Festival takes place in Kronborg Castle every year in August and we were lucky to be right in the middle of it. Kronborg, built in the early 15th century by King Eric, is a strategically located castle which helped in controlling the merchant ships coming from the Baltic sea and also protecting the Danish land from unwanted incursions. The castle was rebuilt in 1620 when the original castle was destroyed in a fire. After shaking off Hamlet and Horatio, we entered the main courtyard and were transported back a few centuries due to the renaissance architecture of the towers and the buildings and the outfits of the actors. The centre of the courtyard served as the stage for the play. Soon Hamlet arrived and exclaimed, To be, or not to be, thats the question, and the multi-act play continued. The stairs of a tower at one corner of the castle took us to the living quarters of the royalty. Every room was ornately decorated with artefacts. The castle also included a private chapel which was beautifully embellished with religious objects. The paintings on the wall, the chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, the fine wood furniture, all must have been mute spectators to the happenings within the castles walls. As we returned to the courtyard, someone tapped me on the shoulder and asked us if we wanted to see the ghost of the King of Denmark. It was Horatio and we were game for it. We followed him and Hamlet into the clammy casemates of the castle where we saw a translucent apparition of the king and heard him say, I am thy fathers spirit. The floor was wet and slippery and the surrounding dark and eerie. The ghost recounted the horrid tale of how his wife, the queen and his brother Claudius hatched a plot to kill him, the King of Denmark, while we watched spellbound. On hearing the spooky, screechy voice resounding on the walls of casemates, we got the goosebumps. This stunning castle, which has stood the test of time and the vagaries of weather is certainly worth a visit on your trip to Denmark, at least to experience the play in its original settings. India on Thursday once again joined United States, Japan and Australia to call for free and open Indo-Pacific a euphemism often used to oppose hegemonic aspirations of China. Even as it seeks to mend its ties with Beijing; New Delhi made an attempt to strike a delicate balance by sending its diplomats to a meeting with representatives of United States, Japan and Australia in Singapore on Thursday for consultations on issues of common interest in the Indo-Pacific region. The move came just two days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to hold yet another meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sideline of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's summit at Qingdao on the east coast of China. The meeting among the diplomats of India, US, Japan and Australia indicated continuation of the 'quad' as the consultation mechanism launched by the four nations in Manila in November 2017 is popularly known. The diplomats of the four nations considered ways to pursue shared objectives in the areas of connectivity and development; regional security, including counter-terrorism and non-proliferation; humanitarian assistance and disaster relief as well as maritime cooperation, according to a press-release issued by the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi. The four nations also reaffirmed their support for a free, open, prosperous and inclusive Indo-Pacific region, the MEA stated. They also confirmed their common commitment, based on shared values and principles, to promote a rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific. The calls for a free, open, prosperous and inclusive Indo-Pacific as well as for rules-based order in the region are among the phrases, which have been often used to oppose expansionist moves of China. China has been accused by US, Japan and other nations of undermining the rules-based order in Indo-Pacific. The communist country's territorial disputes with its maritime neighbours in East and South China Sea and its reluctance to resolve the disputes in accordance with the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of Sea (UNCLOS) often prompted the other nations, not only to criticize it for not adhering to the international laws and flexing military muscles, but also to call for rules-based order in Indo-Pacific. Though India-China relations hit a new low last year over the 72-day-long military face-off between Indian Army and Chinese People's Liberation Army at Doklam in western Bhutan, both sides have been trying to ease the strains in the ties over the past few months. Prime Minister had an informal summit with Chinese President at Wuhan in central China on April 27 and 28 and reached consensus on certain issues. The two leaders are now set to meet again on the margin of the SCO summit on Saturday. With New Delhi and Beijing trying to bring ties back on track, speculation was rife that India might seek to avoid at least for some time being seen closing ranks with Australia, Japan and the US in order to counter China in Indo-Pacific. New Delhi, however, apparently decided to maintain a balance as it sent its diplomats, Munu Mahawar and Pranay Verma, the joint secretaries heading Americas and East Asia divisions at the MEA headquarters respectively, to attend the meeting in Singapore. The quad was first launched in 2007, but it lost momentum soon. It was re-launched on the sideline of the East Asia Summit in Manila on November 12 last year. The move to relaunch it was apparently aimed at creating a bulwark against China and countering the hegemonic aspirations of the communist country in Indo-Pacific. It however also triggered apprehensions within the ASEAN (Association of South-East Asian Nations) over the possibility of the four-nation initiative undermining the centrality of the 10-nation bloc in the political and security architecture of the region. A day after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) quizzed P Chidambaram in Aircel-Maxis case, the CBI on Wednesday questioned him in connection with investigations into foreign investment clearances given to INX media during his tenure. Officials said he was questioned for nearly four hours in connection with the case. The former finance minister's tryst with investigators is not ending any time soon as the ED has once again summoned him on June 12 in the Aircel-Maxis case. "Appeared before CBI. FIR contains no allegations against me. Questions and answers were based on the files of FIPB. Hence, there was little to add to the record," Chidambaram tweeted after the questioning. Chidambaram's role as finance minister in the UPA-I regime in granting approval by Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to INX Media has come under the CBI scanner. The CBI had claimed "irregularities" in the granting of FIPB approval and Chidambaram's son Karti was arrested by the CBI in the INX Media case in February while both had denied allegations against them. According to the FIR registered on May 15, 2017, in INX Media case, officials of the ministry of finance and FIPB acted under the influence of Karti to grant FIPB clearance for foreign investment, which the firm had already acquired without any formal approval from the government. Chidambaram was the finance minister and the head of FIPB then. The FIR claimed that there were irregularities in granting of FIPB clearance on investment to the tune of Rs 305 crore in INX media. Facing flak from some farmers' leaders for meeting Karnataka chief minister H D Kumaraswamy over the Cauvery issue, actor-turned-politician Kamal Hassan today defended his initiative saying there was no restriction to work for a noble cause. Speaking to reporters after meeting leaders of some farmers' associations here, the founder of Makkal Needhi Maiyam (MNM) urged farmers of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to talk it out to keep "other politicians" at bay. "People are raising questions on my importance. I would say there is no restriction to work for a noble cause. To which political outfit did freedom fighter Mahatma Gandhi belong? He used to be at the forefront to fight any issue," Hassan said. On Monday, Hassan had met Kumaraswamy in Bengaluru and discussed the Cauvery issue and pitched for talks to resolve the issue, saying courts were never a solution to the problem of sharing of the inter-state river. Some farmers' leaders yesterday criticised Hassan for advocating talks, saying why he should now pitch for dialogue with Karnataka when the Cauvery Management Authority has been set up after decades-long legal battle. However, a group of representatives of some farmers organisations which met Hassan today welcomed his initiative. They presented him a sword and a pick-axe as a token of appreciation of his efforts on the issue, they said. "We are open to anyone who come to the rescue of farmers. The meeting with the (Karnataka) Chief Minister should not be politicised," president of National-South Indian Rivers Linking Farmers Association P Ayyakkannu said. President of Federation of Farmers' Association P K Deivasigamani and representatives of some other farmers' bodies were present during the meeting with Hassan. On the opposition to Rajinikanth-starrer 'Kaala' in Karnataka, Hassan said there were many people in the neighbouring state waiting for the release of the movie, which is set to hit screens tomorrow worldwide. The MNM leader had on Monday said the film row did not figure during his talks with Kumaraswamy. The growing Opposition unity has rattled the BJP and is a good sign of a healthy political system, veteran farmers leader Raju Shetti said. "It is evident," said Shetti, adding that this was the precise reason BJP president Amit Shah had to fly down from New Delhi and have a meeting with Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray. Shetti, an MP from Hatkanangle constituency in Maharashtra, was earlier part of the BJP-led NDA. The Swabhimani Paksha leader said: "Meeting (Shiv Sena and BJP) is fine, but will both of them change their behaviour?" Shetti, who may be part of a Congress-led Opposition or what is now being described as Opposition unity, lauded Congress president Rahul Gandhi for speaking on farmers issue. To a specific question about his role vis-a-vis the Opposition unity in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Shetti said: "Opposition unity is good, if change happens it is good....we are largely looking at the issues of farmers and common man...we have to see what they are saying about farmers." Commenting on the BJP-led NDA government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Shetti said: "They have messed up with farmers issues...there has not been any sea change on the ground as promised....farmers' suicides are still happening." Of late, Shetti has been seen hob-nobbing with the Congress and Opposition leaders though he has been non-committal about his political course in the near future. Rebellion in the Congress party over expansion of cabinet by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy has intensified further. On Thursday morning, over 1,000 supporters of Challakere MLA T Raghumurthy who include office-bearers of district KPCC, zill panchayat, taluk panchayat and gram panchayat members left for Bengaluru by several buses and private vehicles to stage a protest in front of KPCC office seeking a berth to their leader. They have threatened to resign en mass if Raghumurthy is not accomodated in the cabinet. Most of them hail from Parashurampur, Hotteppanahalli, Gollarahatti, Turuvanur, Dodderi, Jajur, Megala and surrounding villages. Meanwhile, Vande Mataram Jagrati Vedike members staged a protest near the deputy commissioner's office on Thursday morning against the party high command's decision of denying a berth to Raghumurthy. Out of six Assembly segments in the district, the Congress party has won only in Challakere segment. Hence, there were high hopes that he would be accommodated in the ministry. The check arrived. Florida got its $19.2 million share of a pot of new election security money Thursday. Gov. Rick Scott's chief elections officer, Secretary of State Ken Detzner, now must get the Legislature's OK to distribute the money to 67 county elections supervisors, with the start of voting by mail for the primary less than two months away. That will likely require a vote by the Joint Legislative Budget Commission. "The department has received the federal funds and we will work quickly with the Florida Legislature to provide funding to supervisors of elections as well as bolster state efforts to enhance the security and integrity of our elections," said Detzner's spokeswoman, Sarah Revell. How the state sought and got the money is a circuitous tale, chronicled by the Times/Herald, that required the intervention of Scott and included Sen. Marco Rubio, the federal Election Assistance Commission and county supervisors. On May 17, counties pleaded with the state to apply for the money. On May 23, at a statewide elections conference, Detzner said the money would not be available this election, which prompted Scott to insist that the state quickly seek the money, which it did. The state filed its application two months after the money was available, and the request was approved in one day. The feds say that to date, 26 states have requested 55 percent of the total money available of $380 million. Florida, the nation's largest swing state, is viewed as a likely target of cyber attacks by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and by state political leaders. Within two years, the state must provide a 5 percent match of the federal money, an amount slightly less than $1 million. Detzner's agency also will hire five new cyber-security specialists for the upcoming election. Scott authorized the positions after the Legislature rejected his request that they be included in the next state budget. HARRISVILLE, Weber County A Utah company that develops and sells body armor has unveiled new technology aimed at improving the response times to school shootings and reducing the resulting casualties. Advanced Armor Technology co-owner Mike Larson said the new sensor system can potentially connect to a schools fire alarm and surveillance systems, and it either allows teachers to trigger a panic button, or it can automatically detect gunfire and pinpoint its location to within inches. Weve added a decibel break onto the new unit so if a gunshot is detected, Larson said, within a second, it goes off and lets people know theres been a shot detected in the area. Larson said the system alerts teachers, administrators and students about which areas of the school to potentially avoid, while helping officers pinpoint the location of the active threat. As the shooting keeps moving, the loudest decibel reading will be the new map to where law enforcement knows where to go, Larson said. The concept, which can potentially detect the locations of multiple threats at once, utilizes similar sensors to those the company uses in its smart armor that it supplies to law enforcement agencies. Larson said when a panel is pierced inside a vest, a sensor immediately activates the officers microphones and cameras and an alert is sent to other officers phones. Every officer in the department gets that message and an email or text with a GPS location within 6 inches of where that officer is down, Larson explained. We need to be able to get the officers to the incident as quickly as possible. Dispatch is also notified with information about the downed officer, including the officers known allergies to medication and blood type, he said. Larson said the new technology is already drawing interest from schools in Florida, among other places. Harrisville Police Chief Max Jackson, who was present Friday as company leaders were demonstrating their product, said he also believes it has the potential to make a difference. The way were progressing, I think that itll be a great help, Jackson said. Larson said the companys ultimate goal is not simply to make money on the new systems. I want (shooters) to know were going to catch it, Larson said. Were going to keep our kids safe in ways you dont see. SALT LAKE CITY The Supreme Court this week urged compromise in the ongoing clash between religious freedom and LGBT rights, asking government officials, judges and activists to choose tolerance over a winner-take-all approach. The court's Masterpiece Cakeshop ruling instructs Americans to recognize the humanity in competing beliefs, expressing support for religious Americans who cannot condone same-sex marriage because of their faith and for gay and lesbian Americans who continue to face heartbreaking discrimination. "These disputes must be resolved with tolerance, without undue disrespect to sincere religious beliefs and without subjecting gay persons to indignities when they seek goods and services in an open market," wrote Justice Anthony Kennedy in the majority opinion, which was joined by seven of the court's nine justices. Observers on both sides of the issue joined the Supreme Court in condemning religious hostility. Even lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union, the organization that represented the losing side in the case, supported the underlying message of the decision. "What they did decide is that government bodies and agencies need to be very careful about respecting religion. We totally agree with that. They need to be neutral and dispassionate. They can't harbor any anti-religion bias," said James Esseks, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's LGBT and HIV Project. But that doesn't mean the ruling's celebration of compromise will lead to meaningful change. LGBT rights advocates won't accept unequal treatment, Esseks said. "When people ask, 'Hey, are you ready to compromise?,' what they're talking about is if we're ready to agree to religious exemptions in a civil rights law that only apply to discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people," he said. "There's no reason to think civil rights rules in any state should be different for LGBT people than they are for discrimination based on sex, religion, disability or age." It's safe to say that striking a balance in the future won't be easy. However, that shouldn't stop us from trying, said Robin Fretwell Wilson, the director of the family law and policy program at the University of Illinois College of Law. "The questions left unanswered are really hard. What (the ruling) does seem to say is that we should have been respecting pluralism all along," she said. The ruling The Masterpiece Cakeshop case originated in July 2012. David Mullins and Charlie Craig visited the bakery with Craig's mother, Debbie Munn, to ask about potential wedding cake designs. The store's owner, Jack Phillips, told the group he would not provide a cake for a same-sex marriage celebration because of his Christian faith. The gay couple complained to the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, arguing Phillips had violated the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act. An administrative law judge, the commission and then the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled in their favor. Phillips appealed to the Supreme Court, which agreed to consider his free speech and religious exercise claims. However, this week's ruling did not address whether cake decoration is a form of speech or if nondiscrimination laws unfairly harm religious business owners' ability to live out their faith. Instead, it focused on the behavior of members of the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, deciding they had not respected the baker's beliefs. "The government, if it is to respect the Constitution's guarantee of free exercise, cannot impose regulations that are hostile to the religious beliefs of affected citizens and cannot act in a manner that passes judgment upon or presupposes the illegitimacy of religious beliefs and practices," Kennedy wrote. Kristen Waggoner, who represented the baker, described the ruling as "a strong statement about religious hostility." "The government cannot treat people of faith in a second-class way," she said. The limited scope of the Supreme Court's ruling was surprising, because many observers thought the case could redefine how LGBT nondiscrimination protections are applied across the country. "It didn't decide the question we all thought it was going to decide," said Jennifer Hawks, associate general counsel for the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg expressed frustration with the focus of the ruling in her dissent, which Justice Sonia Sotomayor joined. The majority opinion wrongly ignored the broader legal context surrounding the Masterpiece Cakeshop case, she said. "I see no reason why the comments of one or two commissioners should be taken to overcome Phillips' refusal to sell a wedding cake to Craig and Mullins," Ginsburg wrote. Although it addresses fewer questions than expected, the ruling is still valuable moving forward, said Eric Rassbach, deputy general counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. It shows there is no room for religious hostility in the government's actions. "I do think it's wrong to say it's a narrow opinion," he said. "What I can say as a lawyer is that, long after everyone else has gotten bored by it, I'll be citing it in my cases." He's already included a reference to Masterpiece Cakeshop in a brief for an ongoing case about whether Wayne State University can punish the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship for requiring their leaders to hold certain religious beliefs. "The point is, this ruling could come up in any case where the free exercise clause is invoked," Rassbach said. Finding balance The Supreme Court's decision in Masterpiece Cakeshop backs up a commitment made in the majority opinion for Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide in June 2015. Kennedy presented that ruling as a way to protect and celebrate LGBT Americans, not to attack religious ones. "Many who deem same-sex marriage to be wrong reach that conclusion based on decent and honorable religious or philosophical premises, and neither they nor their beliefs are disparaged here," he wrote. With the Masterpiece Cakeshop ruling, the Supreme Court again makes clear that religious people like Phillips deserve protection even when their views are unpopular, Wilson said. "There should be room for everybody to be true to who they are. You shouldn't have your views sullied just because they're disfavored," she said. Only one-third of U.S. adults favor allowing small business owners in their state to refuse to provide products or services to gay or lesbian people when doing so would violate their religious beliefs, according to Public Religion Research Institute. The Supreme Court's emphasis on respect doesn't mean that religion should always win when someone's beliefs cause pain for a gay or lesbian person. Throughout the majority opinion in Masterpiece Cakeshop, Kennedy condemns harmful, anti-LGBT discrimination, Esseks said. "The court went on at great lengths about how harmful discrimination is and how it would be a bad thing if broad exemptions were adopted that allowed many businesses in society to pick and choose customers and turn customers away," he said. The ruling affirms two principles: that LGBT people deserve protection and that religious people who oppose same-sex marriage can't be assumed to be acting out of ill will for the LGBT community. "The exercise of (LGBT Americans') freedom on terms equal to others must be given great weight and respect by the courts. At the same time, the religious and philosophical objections to gay marriage are protected views and in some instances protected forms of expression," Kennedy wrote. What's next The justices' call for balance is welcome, even if the Supreme Court ruling doesn't provide a step-by-step guide to crafting fair legislation, said Wilson, who has worked with several states, including Utah, on legislation aimed at protecting both religious and LGBT Americans. "They don't tell (state legislatures) what kind of law to write, except to respect pluralism," she said. "That's very welcome to me. We're not going to be able to continue to have laws that protect just one side or the other." However, as Esseks' comments illustrate, compromise between those who support the Christian baker and those who support the gay couple is still a long way off. Members of the two camps can't even agree on what counts as religious hostility in the legal system. "The court clearly thought there was anti-religion animus present (in the Colorado commission.) I don't read (the commission's actions) that way," Esseks said. "I read their comments as saying that the use of religion to justify discrimination is a problem, but that is not a statement condemning anyones religious beliefs." The Supreme Court likely won't be able to avoid ruling on religious service refusals in the future, experts said. Dozens of lawsuits related to this issue are moving through the lower courts, and one, Arlene's Flowers v. State of Washington, could be before the court as soon as next term. "If there is any hint of hostility, we expect they'll be decided in the same way as (the Supreme Court) decided Jack's case," said Waggoner, senior vice president of the U.S. legal division for Alliance Defending Freedom. In the Masterpiece Cakeshop ruling, the justices provided few clues as to how they would rule in a future case, Wilson said, calling it "a very difficult head-counting exercise." The majority opinion noted that, in some circumstances, it would be appropriate to rule against a business owner like Phillips. But it didn't spell out what those circumstances are. "The (Supreme) Court's precedents make clear that the baker, in his capacity as the owner of a business serving the public, might have his right to the free exercise of religion limited by generally applicable laws," Kennedy wrote. Many observers expect the justices to avoid taking up a case related to Masterpiece Cakeshop until lawmakers, civil rights commissioners, judges and others across the country show they can get along. "I think the Supreme Court is going to want to see how the lower courts handle their prescription to treat all persons with dignity and respect and see if there is still confusion or controversy," Hawks said. "I suspect there will be, but I would not expect them to take another (religious service refusal) case next term." Wilson said she's optimistic about the potential impact of the Masterpiece Cakeshop case, adding that justices avoided ostracizing either religious conservatives or LGBT rights activists. "I think this ruling leads you to a fuller world that should be willing to accommodate more voices," she said. SPANISH FORK Some inmates at the Utah County Jail dont want to return to their lives of crime that got them incarcerated in the first place. So instead of just sitting behind bars, theyre standing behind a counter and in front of a grill. Step into the cafeteria at the Utah County Jail, and you wont see handcuffs or iron bars, but a bunch of men in front of hot stoves and food counters. And if youve got to be in jail, why not come and cook some good food and learn some stuff? said inmate Dalton Dumas, 25. We get to learn a lot. He and his fellow inmates are learning how to be cooks and run restaurants. Right when you get here, you wash dishes, then you move up to pots and pans, and then you move up to cooking and cleaning, Dumas said. These are skills they can use when they get out of jail and turn away from the criminal mentality. Once youve done it for so long, it becomes a part of your life. Thats what they try to break you of in this whole entire program, Dumas said. These inmates used to deal in drugs. Now, in the jails RISE program to rehabilitate drug offenders, they make food. But Tyler Wielechowski, 24, is honest about his skills. I cant cook much. Im still learning how to put peanut butter on bread, he laughed. I still put metal pots in a microwave. Wielechowski has a new favorite dish. So far, I think it was the ribs we had last week with a mustard base, he said. They've also made chicken cordon bleu, scalloped potatoes, chile verde, chile Colorado, plus a complement of baked goods. T. Taylor, 37, is learning teamwork. Im learning how to socialize with other people. Thats something I struggled with, and thats what got me into a lot of bad, negative activities on the streets, he said. Colby Grant, 28, hopes his new kitchen skills mean a new way of life for him. The fact of facing prison right now, and thats definitely a place I dont want to go, he said. I have some things lined up with treatment. His colleagues are improving his outlook. Just sitting around, joking around, but still getting the job done, Grant said. It makes time go by easier. Kyran Henderson, 26, likes the interaction with the jail staff and deputies. They like the food a lot. They give us a lot of respect, he said. Every day they come through the line so you talk back and forth. The interaction has taught Henderson about his customers. If they order a hamburger with no bun, I already know what kind of cheese they want on it, Henderson said. But the kitchen inmates supervisor, deputy Jason Heidel, admits it took some time for the deputies to trust what they were eating and who was making it. Food is a very personal thing, he said. Youre creating something from nothing essentially, and someones going to eat it and nourish their body with it. Heidel was a chef before he got into law enforcement, where he thought he would take on the world and be tough with bad guys. I found out that I was much better working in the kitchen, being able to take my skills that I have and help these guys become better people, Heidel said. He reminds us that theyll be our neighbors again one day. SALT LAKE CITY The man who picked up the nickname "Double Hat Bandit" during a bank robbery spree that spanned almost a year and reached seven states has pleaded guilty to 18 robberies, authorities said. In a plea agreement signed Friday in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City, Shayne Carson, 54, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, admitted to four robberies apiece in Utah and Oregon; three each in Colorado and Washington; two in Iowa; and one robbery each in Idaho and Ohio. Carson was arrested in Indiana in September for the spree that started in October 2016, according to a statement released Wednesday by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Salt Lake City, which is is prosecuting the case. "The majority of the robberies took place at banks inside grocery stores and involved a man wearing two hats," according to the statement. During most of the robberies, Carson either told tellers he had a gun or passed them a note that claimed he had a gun. In a few, he brandished what looked like a handgun, according to the plea agreement. Law enforcement authorities believe the handgun Carson showed to bank tellers was "not a real firearm," the statement said. In the plea agreement, Carson admitted to receiving from about $800 up to about $8,400 in each of the 18 robberies. Carson will serve a stipulated sentence of at least 12 years but no more than 15 years behind bars, according to the deal. He will also be ordered to pay an amount of restitution to be decided at Carson's sentence hearing, scheduled for Aug. 15 in Salt Lake City. The statement went on to say that "FBI special agents did excellent work in solving a difficult case with assistance from a FBI analyst in New Mexico," explaining that local and state law enforcement agencies in many states helped with the investigation. Criminal investigators in Miami are hot on the trail of paella. Over the past three weeks, the Miami-Dade State Attorneys Office has been sniffing out the story behind thousands of dollars in food and drinks purchased by Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo from a Little Havana restaurant. Carollo paid for the food from an office discretionary-events account and his staff hand-delivered the food last month to senior centers on the eve of a special election. There's no mystery behind what happened to the hundreds of pounds of yellow rice, pork, plantains and corn. No doubt, the enormous helpings of arroz campesino were delicious. But prosecutors want to know if Carollo purchased the food and drinks from Paella y Pa Ti with public money as part of a delectable scheme to covertly cater campaign events for Alex Diaz de la Portilla, a former state senator who was running at the time for county commission. If Carollo did, it would be a violation of state laws that prevent elected officials from using public money to finance political campaigns and a problem both for the commissioner and the candidate. "There's not a shred of truth to it," said Diaz de la Portilla, who came in third out of four candidates in the May 22 election. An only-in-Miami caper mixing traditional Cuban cuisine, campaigning and conspiracy, "paellagate" began as Carollo's office hosted events at comedores in Little Havana ahead of the general election in Miami-Dade County's fifth commission district. The probe has led to a political food fight, and rumors that it was someone in Carollo's own office who dished on him. Ed Griffith, a spokesman for the state attorney's office, declined to comment, citing an office policy of neither confirming nor denying the existence of ongoing investigations. But Carollo's office records requested two weeks ago and provided to the Miami Herald on Monday show he spent $3,702.72 on 525 servings of "Farmer's paella," salad, drinks, plates and utensils to cater gatherings planned the following week over three consecutive days at Myers Senior Center, Little Havana Activities and Nutrition Center and Metropolitan Senior Center. To read the rest, click here. SALT LAKE CITY When LDS Church President Russell M. Nelson entered medical school in 1948, operating on a live heart sounded like science fiction. But the decorated heart surgeon said Wednesday that divine law, not science fiction, was the basis for the innovations that led Utah Gov. Gary Herbert to award him with the inaugural lifetime achievement governor's medal for science and technology. "Scientific research is the discovery of what God's laws are," President Nelson said, "and then you can manipulate them and use them to your advantage." Herbert, Utah's 17th governor, listed some of the major medical innovations pioneered by President Nelson, 17th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, during his career in cardiothoracic surgery and research. "We all know about his religious and humanitarian service, but we ought to remember and not forget his great service in the medical and scientific field," Herbert said as he presented the award during the Utah Technology Innovation Summit in the ballroom of the Marriott Downtown at City Creek. Herbert listed three major firsts from President Nelson's career. He performed: The first open-heart surgery west of the Mississippi, in Utah in 1955, when the procedure was being done in only two other states. The first pediatric open-heart surgery in 1956. The first surgical intervention for tricuspid regurgitation, a disorder that allows blood to flow backward into the right upper heart chamber. Perhaps most important, President Nelson was a key member of a University of Minnesota team that developed the heart-lung machine, which changed the course of medical practice forever by allowing surgeons to stop the human heart and perform open-heart surgery while the machine bypassed the heart and circulated blood throughout the body. "This innovation enables the open-heart surgeries done every day, that have become commonplace in hospitals throughout the world," Herbert said. After a long standing ovation, President Nelson said he recently shared the story of another important advancement with University of Utah medical students. He and the other team members at Minnesota discovered they could stop the heart by increasing the ratio of potassium to sodium. After surgery, they learned they could start the heart again by profusing it with blood containing the normal potassium-sodium balance. During the presentation, someone asked, "What if that doesn't work?" "It always works," President Nelson said joyfully. "It's according to divine law. I then learned indeed what I learned in Sunday School: Whenever you receive a blessing from God, it's because of obedience to the law upon which it is predicated." Herbert presented the award to President Nelson, one of four recipients of the 31st Governor's Medals for Science and Technology presented in partnership with the Utah Science Technology and Research initiative and the Governor's Office of Economic Development. President Nelson performed about 7,000 operations and published more than 70 peer-reviewed scientific papers before he set down his scalpel in 1984 to become an LDS apostle. Herbert said President Nelson was revered as a teacher, mentor and colleague. "His love of all people is demonstrated in his commitment to train future surgeons with innovation and teaching them to be innovators throughout his career," Herbert said, "which has graced Utah with generations of talented cardiothoracic surgeons, for which we are all beneficiaries. We honor a true medical pioneer." TAYLORSVILLE More than eight years after forensic nurses collected evidence in her sexual assault case, Alyson Ainscough found out the rape kit had not been sent to Utah's crime lab. "It was a kit that had sat on the shelf and fallen through the cracks," Ainscough said. She learned the 2007 kit had been forgotten when she called to ask about its status a conversation she believes led police to forward it for forensic analysis. On Wednesday, public safety managers announced a new tool they hope will help prevent similar experiences for others who report sexual assaults. A recently created website allows victims to track the progress of DNA evidence in their cases much like they would follow the path of a mail delivery online. "It can feel intimidating or daunting to be the one pursuing information or feeling like you have to push your case along," said Ainscough, who lived in Salt Lake City before moving to the Pacific Northwest. "There are some periods of time where I didn't want to call. Having a resource where I could on my own time have looked up information and tracked the status would have been helpful and comforting to me." She said her case still is pending. By typing in numbers associated with their evidence kits and their birth dates, survivors of sexual assault can track the boxes of evidence as they move from a hospital to a lab for DNA analysis and then to police for review. "For survivors, information is extremely empowering and can aid in healing," said Lauren DeVries, victim advocate at the Utah Department of Public Safety. She said forensic nurses, police and crime lab employees will update the status of the kit as they receive it, allowing the progress to be followed in real-time. The new online portal is the latest phase of a state effort to improve handling of sexual assault cases in the wake of widespread criticism over a backlog of untested kits. It also one provision of a 2017 Utah law that mandated testing of all kits in cases where victims choose to provide statements to police. The measure's sponsor, Rep. Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City, said she will push for additional funding for the initiative. "What I want to tell victims out there is that we care about you and we want to make sure that justice is served," Romero said. Still, a backlog in testing remains. Roughly 3,300 kits that previously were collecting dust over several years have been submitted to a private lab for analysis, said Lauren DeVries, victim advocate at the Utah Department of Public Safety. Of those, about 2,200 have finished testing and gone back to police for review, she said. About 1,900 more recently collected kits are now awaiting analysis at the state crime lab, according to figures provided by the department Wednesday. The law sets a 30-day deadline for police to send the kits to the state crime lab, starting on the day a victim files a report of sexual assault. It imposes the same time limit on testing of kits. But Col. Brian Redd, the head of the State Bureau of Investigation, said testing may continue to take up to a year as new employees are trained and the backlog is addressed. The launch of the site comes a year after the creation of a hotline for victims to call and ask about the progress of their kit. Only kits that are still housed at the crime lab can be found in the online system, but DeVries said older cases can be tracked down by calling the hotline, 801-893-1145. Utah's handling of the evidence came under fire in 2014 when a statewide survey revealed a backlog of more than 2,600 sexual assault kits. The number later grew to about 3,300 as the crime lab received more kits from police agencies than it had originally anticipated, DPS officers said Wednesday. A different 2016 study from Brigham Young University revealed that one-third of sexual assault evidence collected from 2010 to 2013 had been processed by the end of 2015. It also found that Utah police departments took roughly 60 percent longer to send the kits in for testing compared to other parts of the country. The new site is not the only step toward more accountability. The initiative has also provided training for police on understanding how trauma affects victims and how to best respond to their concerns. Those who have experienced sexual abuse or assault can be connected to trained advocates through Utah's statewide 24-hour Rape and Sexual Assault Crisis Line at 888-421-1100. SALT LAKE CITY Utah's Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce is offering a reward for more information about a group of five to seven men accused of hurling homophobic slurs at two gay men before allegedly assaulting an ice cream shop worker who intervened. The business group on Tuesday said it is offering $5,000 for new details that lead to prosecution in the case. Salt Lake police detective Greg Wilking said police are investigating the report of the assault on the ice cream shop employee. Because there is no surveillance video, Wilking said "we're at a standstill." According to Wilking, the pair was leaving the Utah Pride Festival about 10:30 p.m. Saturday and sought refuge inside Doki Doki, 249 E. 400 South, when reports indicate they felt threatened by the group. An employee tried to block the group from coming in the door after the two men entered, but they allegedly assaulted him at the entry before leaving, Wilking said. The employee did not have any visible injuries or require immediate medical attention, said Salt Lake City Police Lt. Victor Siebeneck. The group of five to seven men who reportedly made the slurs as well as the two men who were the alleged targets left before police arrived, he said. Anyone with information is asked to call Salt Lake police at 801-799-3000. Equality Utah praised the courage of the shop worker. Troy Williams, the group's executive director, said the report shows that some people in Utah continue to target others for who they are, demonstrating the need for stronger legal protections in Utah. "This kind of violence and hate seems inconceivable in 2018," Williams said in a statement. OKLAHOMA CITY As Presbyterian minister Bobby Griffith sees it, legalizing medical marijuana in Oklahoma could help arthritis sufferers with chronic pain and veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. The 41-year-old husband and father has a personal reason, too, for supporting State Question 788 a pro-marijuana initiative that the Bible Belt states voters will decide June 26. For myself, I would be interested in a prescription for it to see if it works better than my anxiety and depression medications, said Griffith, co-pastor of a Presbyterian church near downtown Oklahoma City and a member of the national group Clergy for a New Drug Policy. As Griffith characterizes it, the Oklahoma ballot measures potential to improve health outcomes and reduce dependence on addictive opioid painkillers makes it a moral issue. Religious opponents counter that backing the issue would be immoral. Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., an ordained Southern Baptist pastor, blasts the ballot measure as a recreational marijuana vote disguised as medical marijuana. The moral issue to me is really a family issue, Lankford, who directed a Baptist youth camp before his 2010 election to Congress, told Religion News Service. The best thing for our state is not to get more parents and grandparents to smoke marijuana, added the senator, who filmed a commercial urging voters to reject State Question 788. To have our communities more drug-addicted and distracted, that doesnt help our families. It doesnt make us more prosperous. It doesnt make our schools more successful. About 30 states have passed medical marijuana laws, starting with California in 1996, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Oklahoma would be the first to do so without listing qualifying conditions. That, assert critics, would allow doctors to issue two-year marijuana licenses to patients for any reason. The Oklahoma State Medical Association cites a lack of evidence-based studies to support medical marijuana. Its trying to trick the people of Oklahoma into buying into it, said the Rev. Paul Abner, an Assembly of God pastor who leads an anti-marijuana coalition called Oklahoma Faith Leaders. On the other hand, Oklahomans for Health, the most vocal group rallying support for the ballot measure, says all patients and their doctors should have the freedom to consider all available medical care options. While that group has no overt religious message, faith arguments are prominent in a state where three out of four residents describe themselves in Gallup polling as moderately religious or very religious. The vote which will take place on the states primary day for governor and other state and federal offices resulted from a petition signed by nearly 68,000 voters and presented to state officials two years ago. If State Question 788 passes, Abner warns, Oklahoma could follow the nine states that have authorized recreational use of marijuana. The key thing is that its not medical, he said. This is something thats hiding behind that (terminology) to bring recreational marijuana to Oklahoma. And from a spiritual standpoint, none of us can sustain the sound minds and healthy bodies God desires us to have when we place ourselves under the controlling influence of something other than the Holy Spirit. Other religious opponents include top officials of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma representing the states roughly 577,000 Southern Baptists and the Catholic Conference of Oklahoma, the public policy arm of the states Roman Catholic dioceses, comprising roughly 288,000 parishioners. My hope is that Oklahoma will vote down marijuana legalization and continue to put legal barriers between addiction and the communities it devastates, Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Conventions Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, said in a statement published by The Baptist Messenger, an Oklahoma newspaper. But Jon Middendorf, senior pastor of Oklahoma City First Church of the Nazarene, said he favors whatever can bring relief to folks who are in chronic pain. Im just exhausted of conspiracy theories that always seem to emanate from the Christian right, said Middendorf, who stressed that he was speaking personally and not on behalf of his congregation. Theres always some sinister story behind it all, he added. It really might be that somebody whos in pain just needs something that hasnt been tried just yet, that offers some help for relief and quality of life, that they would not have had otherwise. Former state Sen. Connie Johnson, a Democrat running for governor who supports the marijuana initiative, acknowledged that she sees it as the first step toward approving full recreational use. Legalizing marijuana use would help reduce Oklahomas mass incarceration rate, now one of the highest in the nation, said Johnson, a longtime member of the Church of the Living God in Oklahoma City. Suffer the little children to come unto me, Johnson told RNS, quoting Jesus words in Matthew 19:14 of the New Testament. Our childrens lives are just beset with issues of locking up their parents and putting them in the pipeline to prison, she added, pointing to potential economic and health benefits of medical marijuana. Typically, Oklahomans rank among the most conservative voters in the nation: In the 2016 election, President Trump won big in the Sooner State, receiving 65 percent support. An even higher proportion of voters 66 percent supported a pro-death-penalty measure in that same election. More recently, Gov. Mary Fallin signed a bill last month allowing private adoption agencies to turn away same-sex couples and other prospective parents who dont meet their religious criteria. But on the medical marijuana issue, recent polling shows State Question 788 enjoying support from 57.5 percent of voters and seeming likely to pass, reported Bill Shapard, CEO of SoonerPoll.com. Weve polled this issue multiple times over the last five years, and we continue to see that certain groups, who one might think would be opposed to SQ788, continue to support it, Shapard said in a statement. Thirty years ago, these groups would have opposed it, but roughly half have changed their minds since then. Griffith, whose congregation is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church in America, said some of his most conservative friends support State Question 788. A very conservative person I know I mean, she loves President Trump but she also wants medical marijuana, he said. She has rheumatoid arthritis and wants to have something that helps relieve the pain and has some healing qualities about it without the addiction. Brett Farley, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Oklahoma, recognized that medical marijuanas opponents face difficult odds. National trends are undeniably moving in the direction of medical marijuana and increasingly to recreational use, Farley said in an email. We believe this is symptomatic of a cultural shift in the West, away from institutions and values that have served as the foundation of Western society for millennia. Oklahoma, Farley added, is still rooted in traditional Christian ethics. But the barriers are quickly coming down. SALT LAKE CITY Police arrested two people Thursday following a shooting that injured two others in Salt Lake City, police said. One victim was hospitalized in critical condition and another was in fair condition, Salt Lake Police Sgt. Brandon Shearer said. Detectives believe the violence may be gang related. The two victims appeared to be in their late teens to early 20s, the sergeant said. Shearer said the shooting happened near 500 N. Redwood Road about 10:30 a.m. Officers were investigating a different report of gunfire when they heard the shots nearby, he said. A witness followed the suspects' vehicle as it left the area. That person lost track of the vehicle, but police later found two people who had been inside the car, Shearer said. Ricky Arriola and Daniel Gonzalez, both 25, were booked into jail in connection to the shooting for aggravated burglary and discharging a weapon causing serious injury, Salt Lake police tweeted on Thursday night. One victim was released from the hospital while the other remained in critical condition Thursday night, according to police. Contributing: Ashley Imlay SALT LAKE CITY A St. George financial adviser who sold fraudulent tax-avoidance and investment strategies to clients totaling more than $10.8 million is going to prison. A federal judge this week sentenced Henry Brock to six years behind bars after he earlier pleaded guilty to tax evasion, securities fraud and wire fraud. The judge also ordered Brock to pay $12 million in restitution. Brock promised investors that he could provide a way for them to avoid paying taxes on IRA withdrawals, which would otherwise be subject to penalties and taxes, according to federal authorities. He issued tax forms to clients falsely representing that they were investors in his business, which served to offset their tax liabilities. As a result, Brock caused clients to file false income tax returns claiming $3.8 million in bogus business losses and resulting in a tax loss of more than $1.1 million. Brock used $196,323 of one clients money for his own personal and business expenses, authorities said. SALT LAKE CITY People packed into the auditorium of the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center Wednesday night to watch a screening of The 5 Browns: Digging through Darkness. No tickets were left available. The documentary tells the story of The 5 Browns, a group of five Utah siblings known worldwide for both their prodigious piano skills and for speaking up about their fathers childhood sexual abuse of the three daughters: Desirae, Deondra and Melody Brown. But despite the heaviness of the topic, the film is not about the salacious details of the abuse but rather about music, hope and life after traumatic events, explained documentary filmmaker Ben Niles, director of Digging through Darkness, in a recent interview with the Deseret News. I hope people will give the film a chance. I hope people will walk out and recognize that theres more to (The 5 Browns) than their abuse, Niles said. The Browns, the three sisters and their two brothers, Gregory and Ryan, hope this documentary starts hard conversations that many people need to have. Everyone here knows someone (who has been affected by sexual abuse,) whether they know it or not, Desirae Brown said during the Q&A session after the screening moderated by RadioWest's Doug Fabrizio, referencing a statistic from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that estimates that about 1 in 6 boys and 1 in 4 girls are sexually abused before the age of 18. Those difficult conversations should involve both talking and listening, Gregory Brown told the Deseret News. It should be clear to anyone who watches the film how hard it can be to talk about this kind of stuff, but (those conversations) can be a little hope for anyone going through something thats painful or traumatic, he said. The documentary includes Brown home videos, filmed and narrated by Keith Brown,the family's father who is now serving time at the Utah State Prison for one count of sodomy on a child and two counts of sex abuse of a child. The footage shows the Brown children playing the piano both together and separately through their quick rise to fame after they were accepted into the Juilliard School the first group of five siblings to all attend. In the documentary, Desirae, Deondra, and Melody Brown speak about how they finally managed to confide in each other regarding their father's abuse. The film also reveals how the siblings went from attempting to salvage their family relationships to privately filing charges against their father, as well as the aftermath of their private matters being made public following their parents car crash on Valentines Day, 2007 four days after the filing. Making the documentary Niles met the Brown siblings while working on his 2007 film, "Note By Note: The Making Of Steinway L1037." Although he knew parts of their story, he wasnt sure if there was enough in the present, he said, for him to go ahead. But he soon realized just how relevant the Browns' story still was. (The sisters) came out with all of this way before the #MeToo movement, Niles said. Although the siblings were at first apprehensive about making a documentary, they gave Niles carte blanche to create the film he envisioned. That speaks volumes to them as artists. I didnt try to tell them how to play the piano and they didnt try to tell me how to make the film, Niles said during the Q&A session. While film address many previously unanswered questions, at its core, the film gets at how the Browns have moved forward after the abuse came to light and the steps they have taken in their ongoing healing process. Life after abuse There are many ways victims of sexual abuse approach the healing process, and "Digging Through Darkness" details the different ways the three sisters have dealt with their trauma. Deondra and Desirae Brown started the nonprofit organization Foundation for Survivors of Abuse, petitioning legislators, including those in Utah and New York, to change laws that will help survivors prosecute their abusers. Melody Brown has found solace with her family in Utah. Every survivor needs to heal in their own time and their own way," Ryan Brown said. "You cant rush these kinds of things. Even though we are The 5 Browns, we are all individuals as well. We heal in different ways. But one thing they can all agree on is the power that music has to heal. The music can transcend the awfulness, Ryan Brown said. In the documentary, the groups music weaves through their story, through home videos, TV appearances, performances and the recent recordings for their upcoming album Little Tin Box. What ties (the story) all together is the music and our relationships, said Deondra Brown in a Q&A session. Little Tin Box will follow their very personal 2013 album The 5 Browns: The Rite of Spring." Melody Brown described The Rite of Spring as the groups angst album, whereas the new album with a release date sometime next year is a new part of healing, clearing the air, looking back and feel some joy, she said. "Little Tin Box" is a musical reflection of the siblings childhood, including music they performed or listened to as children. The title refers to the small treasures children keep in little boxes the good memories. Memories, said Deondra Brown, that they continue to make. Were still happy. We still love each other. Were going to keep performing and its never gonna change. If you go What: "The 5 Browns: Digging Through the Darkness" Where: Utah Museum of Fine Arts, 410 Campus Center Dr. When: Thursday, June 7, 7 p.m. How much: Free Phone: 801-581-7332 Web: umfa.utah.edu Also What: The 5 Browns in concert When: Saturday, June 9, 8 p.m. Where: Kenley Amphitheater, 403 N Wasatch Dr, Layton How much: $29 Web: tickets.davisarts.org Also What: The 5 Browns in concert When: Saturday, January 26, 2019, 7:30 p.m. Where: Abravanel Hall, 123 W. South Temple How much: TBA Web: my.usuo.org Rajinikanth And Kamal Haasan Speak Out On 'Kaala Release Superstar Rajinikanths Kaala has released today and it seems that the movie has been liked by fans and critics. However, the controversial clouds are still there and the movies release in Karnataka is still not happening. But the two superstars, Rajini and kamal Haasan, are showing all their support to the movie. Speaking on the controversy surrounding the release of 'Kaala', the 67-year-old Rajinikanth, the main star of the film, said, "Producers are trying, the movie will definitely release. We ask you to cooperate. The comment came in the wake of a plea filed by K. Rajasekhara. It was seeking to defer the release of the film because of the Cauvery water sharing dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Kamal Haasan, actor-turned-politician, on the other side, said, "'Vishwaroopam' was also banned in Karnataka, the film chambers in respective states had to sort it out. There are many fans eagerly waiting for Rajini's film to be released there. Just like the farmers issues need a conversation, so do films. Moreover, the Supreme Court had refused to stay the release of the film, stated it did not find any merit in the application. The Top Court, while refusing to stay the film, had said, "Everybody is waiting for the film to be released. We don't want to interfere with its release. For latest movie reviews, ratings and trailers, download the Desimartini App. source: www.thehindu.com The government of Ethiopia which has a long history of controlling the countrys economy will allow domestic and foreign investors acquire minority holdings in the state-run operator Ethio Telecom. The move is a departure from the longstanding policy of the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front coalition the ruling party that has been in power since 1991. During this time, it has advocated a monopoly on telecoms and pushed the states control of the economy. Now, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is implementing economic reforms to capitalise on Ethiopias ranking by the International Monetary Fund as Africas fastest-growing economy. A government statement appeared to acknowledge the importance of overseas investors with knowledge and foreign capital that could play a critical role in our growth. While majority stakes will be held by the state, shares in Ethio Telecom, Ethiopian Airlines, Ethiopian Power, and the Maritime Transport and Logistics Corporation will be sold to both domestic and foreign investors, continued the statement. Ethiopia is one of the last African countries to retain a state monopoly on telecoms. Allowing foreign investment in previously closed-off sectors would mitigate a scarcity of foreign exchange. Last month, Ethio Telecom confirmed that it would allow local private companies to use its infrastructure to deliver internet services, driving greater competition in the market. The heads of two Tanzanian operators have reportedly been charged with fraud, along with four unnamed suspects. Halotel MD Le Van Dai and Zantel (Zanzibar Telecom) head Sherif El Barbary are among the six suspects charged for fraudulent use of a network facility. A police raid found that the executives and their alleged accomplices were in the possession of almost 300,000 unregistered SIM cards. It has been claimed that the SIM cards were used by the executives unlawfully to send and receive SMS messages internationally. The group has been charged with illegally importing and operating telecoms equipment as a means of circumventing government surveillance systems. All parties have denied the charges. Halotel is part of Vietnamese group Viettel. It launched its Ethiopian operations in 2015 the same year in which Millicom acquired Zantel from Etisalat. There are a further six operators in Tanzania, including number three Tigo, which is also owned by Millicom. Airtel and Vodacom take first and second place. At the end of Q1 2018, Halotels share of the market was around 9%, while Zantels was 3%. Movistar Argentina has selected Ericsson to transform its Radio Access Network (RAN) over a three-year period based on Ericsson Radio System. In addition to expanded network coverage, the deal will provide customers of Movistar Argentina with more rewarding mobile broadband experiences. The modernisation gets underway this year, with a partial network upgrade to be completed in 2021. The scope covers improvements to radio access network capacity and coverage as well as an OSS migration to Ericsson Network Manager. The deal will deliver improvements in mobile broadband coverage and quality, as well as enabling Movistar Argentina to start its journey towards 5G and IoT through the 5G-evolution capabilities of Ericsson Radio System. This modernisation initiative supports the implementation of energy-efficient networks that will reduce consumption and carbon emissions. Federico Rava, Executive President of Telefonica/Movistar Argentina, says: We are strengthening our strategic partnership with Ericsson by having end-customer experience and satisfaction as the most important common goals. We are focusing on expanding and enhancing our mobile network for people in Argentina. Arun Bansal, Senior Vice President and Head of Europe and Latin America at Ericsson, said: As part of this agreement, Ericsson will deploy its latest generation radio network solutions, including full turnkey delivery of products and services for Movistars Radio Access Network, to help Movistar Argentina deliver the best experiences and quality to its customers. All Ericsson Radio System portfolio products supplied to Movistar Argentina will be able to run 5G New Radio (NR). This capability will be achieved through a remote software installation. WhatsApps plans to introduce a payments feature are reported to have hit a roadblock as its parent organisation Facebook finds itself embroiled in data sharing controversies. The development comes a day after the social media giant admitted that it had shared users information with Chinese smartphone manufacturers Huawei, Lenovo, OPPO and TCL. The instant messaging app had been testing the feature since February and it was supposed to be launched in March. But as the company was mired in a data sharing controversy with British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, which stopped functioning since May 1, the plan to unveil the feature was reportedly pushed ahead. Apparently, following the latest revelation by The New York Times on Monday, where Facebook was accused of sharing data with nearly 60 smartphone manufacturers, including Apple, and Samsung, the company has delayed the roll out of the service. Citing industry sources, a report in national daily Economic Times said that nearly 700,000 users have tested the service. The report also highlights that according to bankers with the knowledge of the matter, WhatsApp has allegedly not met the minimum requirements laid out by the NPCI. Also, unlike other Unified Payments Interface (UPI) applications, WhatsApp Payments has not adhered to the two-factor authentication norm mandated by RBI for all digital payments. However, another section of the bankers have defended WhatsApp saying: By two factors we mean what we have and what we know. For WhatsApp Pay, the first factor is the device and the second factor is the UPI PIN, hence there is no violation of the RBI norm. In India alone, WhatsApp has over 200 million monthly active users. Its payments feature could give popular digital wallet platform Paytm, and Google Tez tough competition. It will process transactions using the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). For processing these peer-to-peer transactions, WhatsApp has partnered with ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank. SBI will also come onboard once it gains the required infrastructure for the same. Popular digital wallet platform Paytm had also accused WhatsApp of flouting norms laid out by the NPCI and had demanded a level-playing field for all UPI-based apps. According to Deepak Abbot, Senior Vice President, Paytm, WhatsApp has custom-implemented the UPI system which is not secure. Further, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) in February had said that the full scale public launch of the feature will be permitted only after the Facebook-owned platform meets all the required norms. "Currently, NPCI has given its consent to roll out WhatsApp BHIM UPI beta launch with limited user base of one million and low per transaction limit," said the corporation which developed the Bharat Interface for Money BHIM - Unified Payments Interface (BHIM UPI). "Four banks will join the multi-bank BHIM UPI model in phases (in the coming weeks) and full feature product shall be released after the beta test is successful," the statement added. About Me: Digit Desk authored articles are a collaborative effort of multiple authors contributing to the page. A combination of category experts and product database analysts together adding content to the page. Read More Two days after Google rolled out its June Android Security patch for Pixel and Nexus phones, the Nokia 6 (2017), which was launched in India last year, has started receiving the update. HMD Global has been totting regular and fast Android updates as the USP of Nokia phones. Customers will either be prompted to download the update or they can check by going to Settings and then to the system updates sub menu. The Nokia 6 (2017) update is 148.3 MB in size. According to Nokiapoweruser, the June Security update brings with it a fix for critical vulnerability in the media framework that could enable a remote attacker using a specially crafted file to execute arbitrary code within the context of a privileged process. HMD Global has been releasing monthly security updates and OS updates for Nokia smartphones. It has made it clear during its launch events that all Nokia Android phones will receive minimum two years of OS updates. The company also recently announced that all its current devices will be updated to Android P once the new OS rolls out. Earlier this year, HMD Global rolled out the Android Oreo update for the Nokia 6 smartphone. The update was about 1659MB in size. Alongside Android Oreo, users also got a refreshed Settings UI, enhanced power savings and background activity manager. Further, the low-light imaging quality was also improved. Five eye-catching edge computing implementations showcased at Computex 2018 Computex 2018, as a benchmark for global B2B professional technology exhibition, highlights six themes - artificial intelligence (AI), 5G communication, blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), innovations & startups and gaming & VR. Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) expects advances of the six major technologies will introduce innovative applications and infuse new energy into Taiwan's economy. A glimpse at the exhibits at this year's event - which started on June 5 - shows that AI has become an industry-wide focus of new product R&D. Centralized computation architectures can hardly cope with the requirements by growingly diverse AI applications. As such, equipping end devices with sufficient edge computing capabilities is now an important market trend. A wide variety of edge computing implementations are being showcased at Computex 2018, with self-driving cars, drones, robots, VR/AR/MR devices, surveillance cameras particularly grabbing visitors's attention. Visitors entering TWTC Exhibition Hall 1 will not miss the large-size drone put on display by Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) at Computex. With a wheelbase of 3.75m, ITRI's unique hybrid power drone features a flight duration of 45 minutes when carrying a 30kg payload. Compared to pure battery-powered flying vehicles, ITRI's drone stays in the air longer. According to ITRI, running on both batteries and internal combustion engines, the drone is easy to maneuver and flies long distance thanks to the combined benefits of the high sensitivity of batteries and the high power output of gasoline. The high-payload and high-duration drone can be used for long-range missions, such as dropping off supplies to disaster areas, inspecting bridges and cleaning power lines. ITRI emphasizes that using the drone to clean power lines is a perfect example demonstrating its tremendous value. Contaminants on the insulators of an electrical power line can cause an electrical fault and must be periodically cleaned and maintained. ITRI's drone can help a power company carry out such a task. In the case of Taiwan, this can increase the total power output by 1%-2%. Aside from drones, self-driving cars are also a highlight of edge computing applications. Elitegroup Computer Systems (ESC) is showcasing a 10.1-inch 2DIM in-vehicle computer with a 3-second boot time as required by automakers. With self-driving cars now a confirmed trend, an advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) that processes data sent back from a range of sensors in real time is essential. In view of this, ESC builds its automotive system with dual ARM processorsCortex M and Cortex A7, operating system software as well as WLAN and Bluetooth communication. ESC is supplying the product to automakers in Taiwan and China. ESC also has a mini remote-control self-driving car integrated with the company's ADAS on display at Computex. The ESC ADAS enables blind spot visibility and 360-degree surround view. It can be applied to trucks longer than 20 feet and resolves the blind spot problem for large vehicles with its camera and image processing capability, thereby enhancing road safety. The service robot moving around at TWTC Exhibition Hall 1 is the smart robot AYUDA developed by SYSCOM Group, a leading system integrator based in Taiwan. AYUDA is also the first police robot that the New Taipei City Police Department is deploying in remote mountain areas to provide local citizens with police administration messages. AYUDA is also being used to provide services at banks and hospitals. According to SYSCOM Group, AYUDA has a built-in indoor positioning system and therefore can navigate an indoor area using its internal database. It also has face and voice recognition capabilities, allowing it to analyze a visitor's speech and give an appropriate response. To avoid delay in response resulting from back-and-forth communication via network connection, AYUDA on display at Computex operates offline, interacting with visitors using its built-in processor and database. In addition, AYUDA allows a high level of customization to accommodate wide-ranging customer needs in robot appearance, communication protocols and cloud connections. Virtual reality (VR) has inspired worldwide users with never-before-experienced visual enjoyments. However, those who have used VR glasses feel limited and inconvenienced by the VR glass cable. In response, Silicon Line introduces VR Optical Links featuring high-speed data transfer, high-resolution display, lightweight form factor, ultra-flexibility and long-range transmission to enhance VR user experiences. Using optical cables, VR Optical Links enable data transfer speeds far surpassing those of traditional copper cables. The advantage of high-speed data transfer is that the transmission range can be up to 10m and it allows the transmission of high-resolution images so the VR effects are more refined and lifelike. Furthermore, as optical cables are 70% lighter than copper cables, VR glass users will feel much less incumbered. With respect to image processing, security surveillance has become an important AI application in recent years. VIVOTEK's 360-degree panomorph fisheye camera FE9391-EV with built-in deep learning algorithms can easily detect and identify people and objects in an area and accurately calculate the number of people and the length of time they stay in the area. VIVOTEK's FE9391-EV is equipped with edge computing capability that allows it to perform front-end image processing and then send the results to the back-end, thereby offloading some work from the cloud platform. This way, the front-end device can respond more quickly. According to VIVOTEK, the product can be put to use in diverse scenarios. For example, the police can use it for security surveillance in public areas. Retailers can use it to check how long consumers stay in front of a particular shelf and figure out a hot spot to display their merchandise. They can also use it to monitor how long a line is at a checkout lane. When it exceeds a predetermined limit, the system can automatically alert other cashiers to support so retailers will be able to enhance service quality. Edge computing is rising to become an important trend in recent years. End devices with capabilities to perform real time computation and make smart responses will soon be everywhere in our lives. At Computex 2018, there are multiple products putting edge computing to practical use and they will continue to boom as the industry infuses more technological advances and creativity into their developments. ITRI's large-size drone can be applied for long-range missions such as dropping off supplies to disaster areas and inspecting bridges 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. Gone are the days of guys having to make do with a hair salon, basic ass barbershop or just their mate using a set of clippers at home. The barbershop experience is one that all guys should take up and enjoy, not just for the fact youll walk out looking a million dollars (if you visit one of the shops on this list, at least) but for the banter to be shared and the beer and whisky to be enjoyed. Sydney may lay claim to being home to a high number of world-class barbers, but with Melbourne being the city of first-class nightlife, its range of barbershops need to be up there with the very best to make sure youre the talk of the town. This list is in no particular order, theyre all equally as good as each other when it comes to fades, undercuts and pompadours, but youll soon notice theyre spread out from the CBD to Fitzroy and beyond, so your new hair-cutting palace may be closer to home than you think. Captains of Industry Address: 2 Somerset Place, Melbourne, 3000 Phone: 03 9670 4405 Opening Hours: Monday: Closed Tuesday Friday: 10am 7pm Saturday Sunday: 10am 3pm Captains of Industry is, quite literally, a jack of all trades. Its a barbershop first and foremost, with resident barber Sam Fordyce wielding the scissors for over seven years bookings with him are essential, by the way but it is also a place to grab breakfast or lunch, get your shoes repaired and to buy some slick Japanese denim. Back to hair, and Sam certainly knows how to make a guy look good, and is more than capable of giving you a slick shave, a simple wash and tidy up or a new-look buzz cut, to mention but a few. Pickings & Parry Address: 3/166 Gertrude St, Fitzroy, 3065 Phone: 03 9417 3390 Opening Hours: Monday Wednesday: 10am 6pm Thursday: 10am 7pm Friday: 10am 6pm Saturday: 10am 6pm Sunday: 12pm 5pm Book Online If you find yourself in Gertrude St, Collingwood, then drop by one of the coolest barbershops in Melbourne to see the team at Pickings & Parry. In addition to some sweet heritage workwear clothing, the team can offer you the full barber service. The shop is packed with motorbikes, vintage watches and handlebar moustaches, so its a really interesting visit. Oh and you can grab a complimentary whiskey, beer or coffee with your shave. Its a small shop with just four chairs, so bookings are recommended, and you can choose which barber you want to book in with when you go through the website or call up. Services include straight razor shaves, moustache trims a full service covering both hair and beard or the full buzz cut chop. The Bearded Man Address: 203 Chapel St., Prahran, 3181 Phone: 03 9510 0563 Opening Hours: Monday Friday: 8.30am 6.30pm Saturday: 8am 6pm Sunday: By Appointment Book Online This place is more than a barbers shop: its a veritable, male focussed lifestyle offering. Upscale and friendly, The Bearded Man is a relaxing abode with great tunes and an even greater coffee selection. Barbering is the core of the business. Backed by 14 years of experience across Europe and South America, The Bearded Man has put together a range of favourite techniques, products and finishing touches to offer customers top-notch haircuts, beard trims and wet shaves. Kings Domain Address: 1/12 Collins St, Melbourne, 3000 Phone: 03 9939 5117 Opening Hours: Monday Friday: 9am 8pm Saturday: 9am 5pm Sunday: Closed Kings Domain has become an institution within the Melbourne barbershop scene. It started out as one shop in 2013 but has since grown to five locations in Melbourne and has even expanded to Sydney. Clearly, the barbering team is doing something right. As soon as you step foot inside youre greeted by attentive staff and offered a complimentary beer or coffee, before consulting with your barber and then leaving more confident to face the world than when you came in. The shops also have a range of in-house grooming products available to buy so you can perfectly recreate your new look at home. Uncle Roccos Address: 1 Fennell St, Port Melbourne, 3207 Phone: 0403 283 837 Opening Hours: Monday: Closed Tuesday Friday: 7.30am 5pm Saturday: 7.30am 4pm Sunday: Closed Book Online If youre working on the wharves or slinging second-hand goods in Port Melbourne, then Uncle Roccos is worth a look. A second location in South Melbourne has opened since, but the Port location is the original, having opened its doors in 2012. Run by Fabian Sfameni its a small but great looking space, and youll always leave with a smile on your face, not just because youll be happy with your fresh cut, but because of the warm atmosphere Fab and his team provides. Uncle Roccos is by appointment only though, so be sure to check the website for availability before rocking up. Code Black Barber Shop Address: 157 Victoria Avenue, Albert Park, 3206 Phone: 03 9690 2255 Opening Hours: Monday Wednesday: 10am 7pm Thursday: 10am 9pm Friday: 10am 6pm Saturday: 8.30am 4pm Sunday: Closed Book Online Code Black can be found in South Melbourne, just a stones throw away from Port Phillip Bay. Obviously great haircuts are the star of the show, but the shop also puts an incredibly strong emphasis on great customer service. Only the very barber who can meet Code Blacks high standards are hired, so no need to worry about walking out with a trim youll want to keep covered. An in-store whisky and coffee bar is more than happy to provide you with a delicious tipple to sip on while youre treated to either a full cut and style, a cut-throat razor shave or just a tidy up of your task. Shinko Address: 203 Langridge Street, Abbotsford, 3067 Phone: 04 1153 3073 Opening Hours: Monday Friday: 10am 6pm Saturday: 9am 5pm Sunday: Closed Book Online Shinko is a barbershop for the style and fashion-conscious gent, offering a ground breaking service for both the industry and the consumer. Its beyond hair. While were not entirely sure what that last bit means, its clear this barbershop is one that is genuinely committed to creating out-there styles to ensure you reflect the very latest in hairstyle trends. Bookings are highly recommended, and you can choose which barber youd prefer to look after your mane through the website. Shinko is also where youll now find Tom, formerly of Temple Town cutting hair. You can book in with Tom by clicking here. Drunken Barber Address: 119-221 Smith St, Fitzroy, 3065 Phone: 03 9417 1561 Opening Hours: Monday Tuesday: 10am 7pm Wednesday Thursday: 10am 9pm Friday: 10am 7pm Saturday: 9am 5pm Sunday: Closed Book Online Drunken Barber is an incredibly bright and vibrant barbershop that caters for both men and women (although, only women with shorter hair, they admit theyre not fully-fledged hairdressers). Walk-ins are welcome or you can book online, and while youre waiting for your turn you can kick back with a can of beer. All haircuts (except for skin fades) are one price, no matter your gender, but if you just want a clipper cut all over then youll only need to part with a very affordable $20. Men+Co Address: Studio 2, Level 1/ 377 Little Bourke St, Melbourne, 3000 Phone: 03 9602 4625 Opening Hours: Monday: 10am 5pm Tuesday: 9am 6pm Wednesday Friday: 9am 7pm Saturday: 9am 3pm Sunday: Closed Book Online Men+Co has been cutting, trimming and shaving since 2013, with a team of expert barbers from both local and international backgrounds. The menu is simple yet detailed, so you know exactly what youre getting for your money, with the deluxe treatment being the ultimate in male grooming and pampering. Regular visitors can sign up to a membership scheme too that includes monthly haircuts and shaves, as well as various vouchers and grooming products. Another Man Barber Address: 162 Hawthorn Road, Caulfield North, 3161 Phone: 03 9041 4418 Opening Hours: Monday: Closed Tuesday Wednesday: 11.30am 6.30pm Thursday: 11.30am 8pm Friday: 11.30am 6.30pm Saturday: 8am 4pm Sunday: Closed Book Online Another Man has two locations in Melbourne, with a third, in Sandringham, due to open soon. It speaks volumes of the quality of cuts taking place at the chairs. Another Man is family-owned, by the Marianis, who have been committed to all things fresh cuts for over 70 years. A comprehensive services menu will cater to your every whim and even includes a head massage for the perfect post-work de-stressor. General FAQ How Much Does A Haircut Cost In Melbourne? Prices for men's haircuts will vary from barber to barber but expect to pay at least $40 for a style cut or up to $100 for a complete grooming package. Can You Walk Into A Barbershop In Melbourne? Most barbershops in Melbourne will accept walk-ins, however, most will recommend you either call ahead or book an appointment through their website. How Do I Ask For A Haircut? Barbers speak a very specific language, so the best thing to do is to take a photo of a hairstyle you like along to your appointment. The barber will tell you what is achievable with your specific hair type? Read Next Postal staff call off strike after cabinet nod for pay revision Gramin Dak Sevaks (GDS) or rural postal employees across the country on Wednesday called off their indefinite strike following the cabinet approval for revision of their wage structure and allowance. The union cabinet on Wednesday approved a revision in the wage structure and allowances of Gramin Dak Sevaks (GDS) of the Department of Posts. The wage revision will benefit 3.07 lakh Gramin Dak Sevaks, including branch postmasters (BPMs) and other than branch postmasters, namely assistant branch postmaster (ABPMs), a cabinet release stated. Postal employees under the banner of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), National Federation of Postal Employees (NFPE), All India Postal Employees Union (AIPEU), All India Gramin Dak Sevaks Union (AIGDSU) and National Union for Gramin Dak Sevaks (NUGDS) had gone on strike demanding implementation of recommendations of Kamlesh Chandra Committee report 2016. Under the wage revision Time Related Continuity allowance (TRCA) structure and slabs have been rationalised. The present 11 TRCA slabs will be merged into only three TRCA slabs with two levels each for BPMs and other than BPMs. The minimum TRCA for a branch post master (BPM) will be Rs12,000 for Level 1 (4 hours) and Rs14,500 for Level 2 (5 hours). For assistant branch post masters, the minimum salary will be Rs10,000 for Level 1 (4 hours) and Rs12,000 for Level 2 (5 hours). Dearness allowance (DA) will continue to be paid as a separate component, and will be revised from time to time whenever it is revised for central government servants. It is decided to continue the calculation of the ex-gratia bonus by applying the calculation ceiling of Rs7,000 as basic TRCA + DA till such time a new scheme is devised. Arrears for the period 1 January 2016 to the date of implementation will be paid by increasing the basic TRCA drawn during the period by a factor of 2.57. The arrears will be paid in one instalment. Annual increase in salary will be at the rate of 3 per cent and the same may be given on 1 January or 1 July of every year as the case may be based on the one time written request of GDSs. A new Risk and Hardship Allowance has been introduced. Other allowances, viz, office maintenance allowance, combined duty allowance, cash conveyance charges, cycle maintenance allowance, boat allowance and fixed stationery charges, have also been revised. The revision in the wage structure would entail expenditure of an estimated Rs1,257.75 crore, which include non-recurring expenditure of Rs860.95 crore and recurring expenditure of Rs396.80 crore, during 2018-19, according to the cabinet release. Branch post offices are the fulcrum for provision of communications and financial services in the village and are located in remote areas. The post master has to deal with large sums while making payments to customers and accountability is already built into his work. Moreover, with the rollout of the India Post Payment Bank (IPPB), the CDS network is expected to play a key role in the process of financial inclusion of the rural population. The extra departmental system in the Department of Posts was established more than 150 years ago to provide basic, economical and efficient postal services in the rural areas where there was no justification for engaging full time regular employees. At present there are 1,29,346 extra-departmental branch post offices primarily manned by Gramin Dak Sevak branch postmasters. In addition, Gramin Dak Sevaks other than branch postmasters are also working in branch, sub and head post offices. The Gramin Dak Sevaks work for part time ranging from 3 to 5 hours per day and supplement their income from other vocations so as to have adequate means of livelihood for themselves and their families. They remain in service up to the age of 65 years. Massive AI Twitter probe draws heat map of entrepreneurial personality A world's first Queensland University of Technology (QUT) -led study has used artificial intelligence to analyse regional personality characteristics estimated solely from language patterns in 1.5 billion Twitter posts and uncover hotspots and cold spots of entrepreneurial personality and activity across the US. QUT's Associate Professor Martin Obschonka from the Australian Centre for Entrepreneurship Research teamed up with researchers from the London School of Economics and Political Science, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Mannheim. Their paper, Big Data, artificial intelligence and the geography of entrepreneurship in the United States has just been published online via the Centre for Economic Policy Research (London, UK) and the Center for Open Science (Charlottesville, USA). Study analyses 1.5 billion Twitter tweets from the US across 1,772 counties (representing 95 per cent of the US mainland population) for differences in entrepreneurial personality, defined as a local patterns of high extraversion, conscientiousness, openness, and low agreeableness and neuroticism (an entrepreneurial constellation of the Big Five personality traits) The language of Twitter used in a region reveals information on the personality structure and economic vitality of the region's population Large hotspots of entrepreneurial personality (larger areas consistently scoring high in entrepreneurial personality): Belt on the East Coast, spanning from Massachusetts all the way to Florida, Colorado around Denver / Boulder, San Francisco / Bay Area, and South California, Gulf Coast regions of Louisiana and Mississippi Large cold spots of entrepreneurial personality (larger areas consistently scoring low in entrepreneurial personality:): Rust Belt, Southern Texas, Central California Professor Obschonka said the study proved a Twitter-based personality estimate is as successful in predicting local differences in actual entrepreneurial activity (eg, local start-up rates) as regional personality data collected by means of millions of standard personality tests. "What we have discovered here is that social media how language is used in Twitter is a reliable marker of economic vitality in a region," Professor Obschonka said. "We have examined Twitter data from a large project at the University of Pennsylvania. This project analysed 1.5 billion US tweets and other social media data to train a machine learning model that can estimate regional personality characteristics by analysing language patterns typically used on social media in a region. "So far, studies examining regional differences in personality and meaningful effects on regional outcomes such as economic performance, well-being, health, or voting behaviour had to rely on costly and resource-consuming questionnaire studies that require millions of people to fill out long online personality tests. "We wanted to test whether we find similar results, in our case effects of local personality on entrepreneurship, when using regional personality estimates generated by an artificial intelligence method, based on publicly available social media data such as tweets. "The answer is yes. The US map of the Twitter-based local measure of entrepreneurial personality and the US map of the actual start-up rates show impressive overlap. We found substantial positive correlations between regional Twitter-based entrepreneurial personality and actual start-ups rates, and these correlations were robust when considering local economic conditions such as level of education, unemployment rate, and industry composition. "More importantly, we find very similar or even higher correlations between regional differences in Twitter-based measures of entrepreneurial personality and entrepreneurial activity than in prior self-report studies analysing millions of personality tests." Professor Obschonka would now like to examine similar data in Australia, Europe and elsewhere. "It seems that we stand at the dawn of a new era where we do not have to wait any longer until millions of people fill out long personality questionnaires to understand the local concentration of entrepreneurially-minded people, and local mechanisms such as entrepreneurship and innovation," he said. "Instead, by means of artificial intelligence methods we can simply analyse existing, publicly-available social media data such as billions of tweets to study local personality differences and their relevance for the well-being and prosperity of whole regions. Baba Kalyani heads group to study SEZ policy The government of India has constituted a group of eminent persons, headed by Baba Kalyani, chairman of Bharat Forge, to review the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) policy and suggest measures to make it more relevant. The SEZ Policy was in vogue since 1 April 2000. Parliament passed the Special Economic Zones Act, 2005, and it was enacted after receiving Presidential assent on 23 June that year. Subsequently SEZ Rules came into effect on 10 February 2006. The SEZ Act entitled investors in specified zones to tax incentives. But the Act was later diluted and the SEZs were brought under the ambit of Minimum Alternate Tax and Dividend Distribution Tax, which rendered SEZs unattractive to investors. The SEZ policy has also been challenged at the WTO by the US over the incentives offered and this issue had to be addressed. The group will evaluate the SEZ policy, suggest measures to cater to the needs of exporters in the present economic scenario and make the SEZ policy WTO compatible, suggest course correction in SEZ policy, make comparative analysis of the SEZ scheme and dovetail the SEZ policy with other similar schemes. The group has been asked to submit its recommendation in 3 months. The group headed by Baba Kalyani, has Ravindra Sannareddy, MD, Sricity SEZ Ltd, Neel Raheja, Group president K Raheja Group, Arun Misra, MD, Tata Steel SEZ Ltd, Anita Arjundas, MD, Mahindra Life Space Developer, Ajay Pandey, MD and Group CEO, GIFT City SEZ ltd, Srikanth Badiga, director, Hyderabad Phoenix Developer, principal secretaries (industries) of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka as members while additional secretary (in-charge of SEZ division, department of commerce) will be member secretary, and the director of SEZ, Department of Commerce, will be the coordinating officer. As of now, 223 SEZs are operating in the country, which have attracted total investment of Rs18,878 crore. RBI to allow urban co-op banks to become small finance banks Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to permit urban cooperative banks (UCBs) to transform into small finance banks (SFBs) on a voluntary basis, following recommendation by a High Powered Committee in August 2015. In a statement on developmental and regulatory policies, the central bank said it has decided to allow voluntary transition of UCBs meeting the prescribed criteria to convert into SFBs. The committee, chaired by R Gandhi, the then deputy governor of the Reserve Bank, had recommended voluntary conversion of large multi-state UCBs into joint stock companies and other UCBs, which meet certain criteria, into SFBs. The panel had in 2015, recommended converting UCBs with business size of Rs20,000 crore or more into regular banks in a bid to propel their growth. The report also suggested that smaller UCBs voluntarily willing to convert to SFBs may be allowed to do so irrespective of the threshold limit, provided they fulfil all the eligibility criteria and selection process prescribed by the RBI and further provided that the small finance banks licensing window is open. The committee had also unanimously recommends that licences may be issued to financially sound and well-managed co-operative credit societies having a minimum track record of five years which satisfy the regulatory prescriptions set by the central bank as licensing conditions. RBI said that the details of the scheme will be announced separately. The Minister of State for the Office of Public Works and Flood Relief Minister Kevin Boxer Moran is in Donegal this morning to meet local representatives about flood defence spending. The government says it is to spend almost 11million on flood relief schemes in Donegal after the green light for works in Burnfoot and Castlefinn. Mitigation and protective measures are being carried out in nine towns and villages across the county under the funding package. The minister for state is briefing council officials and local representatives in Lifford this morning. Minister Joe McHugh announced the funding for Burnfoot and Castlefinn flood relief schemes. A month ago the government announced 1billion investment in flood relief projects nationwide, including several schemes in Donegal," Deputy McHugh said. On that day I promised there was more to come. And now we are delivering. That is what this Fine Gael Government is doing - living up to our promises. With support from Minister Kevin Boxer Moran and the Office of Public Works the Government is giving the financial support - almost 11million - for Donegal. With this commitment, Donegal County Council will drive forward projects in Burnfoot and Castlefinn, in Ballybofey and Stranorlar, as well as Lifford, Glenties, Kerrykeel, Downings, and Raphoe. Works in Burnfoot will cost 1.5million and consist largely of new embankment protections. Mr McHugh said: Burnfoot was reviewed after the severe flooding in August 2017 and subsequent flooding in December. The areas hydrology was examined, hydraulic modelling was updated, flood maps were revised and options re-assessed, including the cost-benefit. Donegal County Council will take the scheme through planning and the Office of Public Works will provide further support by funding necessary engineering expertise. The Castlefinn scheme is being funded with 1.75million. It will also be advanced by Donegal County Council in collaboration with the Office of Public Works. Mr McHugh added: The schemes are being progressed now alongside the 6million relief works for Lifford; works valued at 870,000 for Downings; 550,000 in Glenties; and 30,000 for Kerrykeel. Flood relief work is already underway in Raphoe. On top of that 175,000 has been approved for Donegal County Council for Ballybofey-Stranorlar under the OPWs Minor Flood Relief Works and Coastal Protection Scheme. The funding will facilitate some interim measures to protect vulnerable areas of Ballybofey, necessary clearance works on the existing river embankment, a geotechnical assessment of embankments and recommendations for measures to bring the embankment to a standard that protects the benefiting properties against the one-in-100 flood event. Fine Gael Councillor for the Stranorlar area Martin Harley said: This investment in efforts to mitigate against flood risk and to try to protect homes, businesses, schools and communities in the Ballybofey-Stranorlar area should be commended. Our focus has been on demonstrating the great need for these areas and I would to thank Ministers McHugh and Moran for driving our agenda at the top of Government. Mr McHugh paid tribute to Kevin Boxer Moran TD, Minister of State for the Office of Public Works (OPW) and Flood Relief, who briefed County Council officials, councillors and opposition Oireachtas members on the 11million that the Government is investing in flood relief programmes in Co Donegal. Minister Moran takes a keen, personal interest in how major floods have impacted the lives of people across several areas of Donegal, Mr McHugh said. He deserves great credit for the dedication he has shown to properly study the flood risks and take on board the concerns and needs that I personally raised with him. Lets not forget, Minister Moran was the first Government Minister to come to Inishowen last year in the immediate aftermath of the floods, followed by the Taoiseach and six other Cabinet members. Hearing and seeing the impact first-hand ensured that these funding announcements were always high on his agenda and I am delighted to have helped secured the commitment to delivery. Minister Moran has briefed Donegal County Council executives on the projects and agreed mechanisms to progress the several flood relief schemes. Minister Moran said: Significant progress has been made today in the advancement of flood relief schemes in Donegal. In partnership with Donegal County Council, I look forward to the delivery of these schemes as a priority for communities in Donegal. The long-awaited report into the events surrounding an attack which left a Donegal soldier dead and his colleague missing in Lebanon in 1981 is expected to be published tomorrow. The report by former High Court judge Roderick Murphy into the deaths of Privates Hugh Doherty from Letterkenny and Kevin Joyce from Co Galway was given to then minister for defence Simon Coveney three years ago but is yet to be published. The judge had been commissioned in December 2014 to write a review of all aspects of previous inquiries into the deaths. The review followed a campaign by family members and former colleagues of the soldiers who believed the deaths were not adequately probed. A number of soldiers who were serving with the two men were interviewed by Mr Murphy, including Dungloe man Michael Walker. Privates Doherty and Joyce were killed on April 27th, 1981 near the village of Dyar Ntar in south Lebanon. The two men were serving as members of the Irish Battalion with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil). The terms of reference of the review included an examination of two inquiries - a UN board of inquiry and an investigation by the Defence Forces. Private Hugh Doherty died while manning an observation post. he had only been in the country five days. It is believed Private Joyce was kidnapped and then murdered by a Palestinian faction. He has been missing presumed dead ever since. The Department of Defence sought and received legal advice from the Attorney General in relation to the publication of the report after it was delivered. The draft report was forwarded on a confidential basis to the families and former colleagues. The final report was presented to the dead soldiers families in recent weeks and it is expected to be published by defence minister Paul Kehoe imminently, perhaps as soon as tomorrow. Mr Walker, who saw the 20-year-old Private Doherty on the day he died, said he was hoping for a favourable report that will highlight the shortcomings that led up to the murders. I hope to see a report that means that certain things that happened will never happen again, he said. There were things that happened in relation to the families and former colleagues after the deaths that shouldn't have happened. The families should have been given the full story from the start, not 30 years later. He said the failure to interview colleagues of the soldiers was one of the failings of previous inquiries. Mr Walker said the potential for attacks on UN personnel was high following the deaths of three Senegalese soldiers in a single gun attack three months previously just 8 km from where the Irish soldiers died. The situation was that there was a civil war in Lebanon and the two men should never have been sent on their own without an NCO (non-commanding officer). Even three men would not have been enough. It was bad planning that led to this tragedy. They should never have been sent out there (to the observation post). There was no proper risk assessment. I am looking forward to seeing what the recommendations are. Drugs worth 40,000 have been seized in Letterkenny. The seizure which was carried out by the District Drugs Unit was done on Wednesday, June 6th. Two men in their 20s are currently in custody at Letterkenny Garda Station. Gardai stopped and searched a male travelling in a taxi on June 6th resulting in the seizure of a large quantity of drugs. The man was arrested at the scene. Two follow up searches resulted in more drugs and a quantity of cash being seized. A second male was arrested as a result of these seizures. Both men are are currently detained under the provisions of Section 2 Drug Trafficking Act 1996 at Letterkenny Garda Station. The drugs seized with an estimated street value of 40,000 include: 15,000 Cocaine 18,000 Ecstasy Tablets 4000 Speed/Amphetamine 3000 Cannabis Herb A spokesperson for the gardai said that this is a very significant seizure and demonstrates the drugs which are available on our streets. Gardai are appealing to members of the public to continue assisting us in efforts to tackle the sale and supply of drugs. Any information will be treated with the utmost confidence. Gallagher criticises the government for failing to address Twin Towns flooding measures The government has been criticised for failing to address flooding preventive measures required for Ballybofey and Stranorlar. Deputy Pat the Cope Gallagher has hit out at the government for failing to fund the measures which he says are urgently needed. The government announced 11m of funding for Castlefinn and Burnfoot but Deputy Gallagher said the plan is piecemeal in approach and lacks vision in dealing with flooding risks. While todays announcement is indeed welcome news for Castlefinn and Burnfoot, and the funding approved will deal with the serious flooding issues in those areas and this is a great relief to businesses and residents in those areas. It will do nothing for the other towns which are under the threat of flooding within the county but failed to get the approval from the government in todays announcement. The Twin Towns will not accept tokenism of interim flooding measures especially as of all the towns within Donegal they are constantly under the threat of serious flooding, it is self-evident to everyone that the Twin Towns urgently require major flooding prevention works in order to protect the town in the years ahead. The government have again fallen well short of expectations by failing to approve a substantive plan for Ballybofey and Stranorlar, todays interim measure of 175,000 will not solve the massive flooding risks which these two towns are constantly under. It is incredible that once again no serious funding or comprehensive flooding preventive measures have been approved for these two towns. I am challenging the government to for once and for all to deal with the real and substantive flooding issues in the towns of Ballybofey and Stranorlar, these towns cannot be any longer treated as second-class citizens when it comes to flooding announcements, the government needs to re-evaluate its priorities when dealing with flooding risks within Donegal, and when it does that, Ballybofey and Stranorlar will be top of any list for future funding for flooding risk measures. There is a lack of political will to approve the necessary funding for the Twin Towns, but I for one remain committed to getting this Government to sanction the necessary measures and full funding package for Ballybofey Stranorlar and no interim measures will buy us off or for that matter solve any of the extremely serious issues in Ballybofey and Stranorlar. Interim measures do not solve permanent problems, he said. Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content. Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist. If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider subscribing to our ePaper and/or free daily Newsletter . Support our mission and join our community now. Jeep's parent company Fiat Chrysler Automobiles announced recently that it will expand the Jeep brand exponentially over the next few years with a plan to add 11 new models by 2022, which means the American brand would have an SUV in every product segment. Part of those plans is for an all-new Renegade along with a more affordable offering to sit below the city SUV which is rumoured to wear the Jeepster badge that was originally slated for the Renegade. Part of the SUV expansion plans would be to have some form of electrification for every model which would mean that the next-generation Renegade will most likely offer a plug-in hybrid variant. Local marine technology company Xocean joined volunteers in a beach clean event on Tuesday evening as part of Clean Coasts Week, an annual event that actively encourages the protection of Irelands beaches, seas and marine life. The Xocean team joined Carlingford Tidy Towns, Love your Lough, Carlingford Oyster Company and local volunteers to remove harmful waste from the shoreline. We are delighted to be a part of this years beach clean event and to raise awareness about marine litter. It was great to join the local Carlingford community who came together to help protect our marine resources said James Ives, the CEO of Xocean. Joanne McMaugh of Carlingford Tidy Towns added: The group collected 15 small clean coasts sacks and one tyre. The shoreline was cleaned from Carlingford Oyster Company, Greenore road to King John's Castle. "The volume of waste collected has progressively reduced over the last few years. We had about 40 volunteers who cleaned the coastline in a record one hour. We actually spent more time after sipping coffee and tea! "Carlingford tidy towns would also like to thank Lush who provided Zero waste toiletries a nice surprise for our beach cleaners, delivered by Love your Lough. "Thank you to Clean Coasts for the gloves and bags. What a perfect way to end Clean Coasts week and World Environment day on 5th June. Based in Carlingford, Xocean was founded in early 2017. The company offers turnkey data collection services to survey companies and other organisations using unmanned surface vessels (USVs). Their platform operates 24/7, accelerating project delivery at one third of the cost of conventional methods. For more information, please contact: Xocean press office on 00353 (0) 834461947 or claire.quinn@xocean.com Joan Martin has rubbished suggestions made by Great Northern Distillery founder John Teeling that Louth County Council directed him to select the proposed site at Kilcurry. In an interview with The Irish Times late last month, Teeling said that the local authority thought it was a good place to go, despite the site being located on agricultural land, not land zoned for industry. We were directed there by Louth County Council, he told the newspaper. However, speaking at this weeks special council meeting to discuss the matter, Martin strenuously denied that was the case. I absolutely refute what he said in his article, the Louth County Council Chief Executive said. We would never tell people to buy a site. I absolutely refute the suggestion in the article, which I read myself. At the earliest opportunity, we told them that it would require a material contravention. We have e-mails passed between planners and the council as part of pre-planning. It is a normal part of pre-planning that people come in and you say Yeah, maybe or No, it wont work. A council official added, That is way out of our remit. The executive were very disappointed with that article. At Tuesday's special meeting, the material contravention of the County Development was unanimoulsy voted down by councillors, meaning Teeling could not proceed with plans to build a 111 acre site containing 13 whiskey maturation warehouses at Kilcurry. You can read more about the meeting here. At the beginning of every new month I have been giving you a few tips on simple things you can do to improve your mood and overall mental health. Here are some things you can think about trying this June Spring Clean! Ok, so now that we are in June and I think it is technically summer this month, we may have missed the boat on the spring cleaning! But cleaning is not just for spring time. Whether it is spring, summer, autumn or winter, there is always a good reason to do a bit of a clear out in your home. Clutter and mess can cause such stress and overwhelm and research has actually shown that people who live in tidier, more organised homes are overall much healthier both physically AND mentally! I recently watched a programme on Netflix about minimalism and it really made me think about all the stuff in my house that I really dont need. This is what will be guiding me as we embark on a massive clear out to make some space for our first baby thats due in September. So why dont you join me and roll up the sleeves and get stuck into a bit of decluttering in your own home! Use Lavender Certain scents have an amazing ability to evoke emotions and memories. The smell of freshly cut grass always makes me excited for the summer months. The smell of chlorine always reminds me of days out in Mosney as a child! Some scents also have an incredible ability to affect us physically. Lavender is well known for its calming and relaxation properties. It has become one of my go-to remedies for dealing with stress and anxiety. I simply open the bottle of lavender oil, hold it close to my nose and take a few deep breaths. It is very effective! My husband has already been instructed that when I am labour, his main job will be to hold the lavender bottle under my nose! I also put a drop of lavender on my pillow at night and it really helps me to unwind and fall asleep. I do the same thing when sleeping in a hotel or someone elses home and it is a great way of making my body feel immediately at ease in a strange bed. So, give it a try! You can get lavender oil in any local pharmacy. Face Your Fears As non-drinkers, my husband and I used to go to the cinema a lot. But then at the height of my anxiety, I had a panic attack during a movie. I then avoided going back, even for a long time after my mental health improved. Its really important to step outside our comfort zone sometimes and not live in fear of certain places or situations, especially if there is actually nothing to fear! Ive recently returned to the cinema, and I was absolutely fine! It is a sort of weight off my mind to not have to be afraid of someone asking me to go to the cinema with them anymore, and also a great sense of achievement. As the saying goes, every day you should do something that scares you. Im not suggesting that you have to go parachute out of a plane or sign up for a bungee jump, but if you think about it there are probably some places or situations that you avoid out of fear. Why not try and face some of those fears this month? Laugh I was really sad to read that on average a young child laughs 300 times a day, while an adult only laughs on average 17 times a day! Because its true what they say laughter really is the best medicine! As well as helping to reduce physical pain, improve blood flow and boost our immune system, laughter actually makes us feel happy and relaxed and helps us deal with stress. Amazingly, even forced laughter is shown to have the same benefits as real laughter. This is why there is such a thing as Laughter Yoga, a practice involving prolonged voluntary laughter, whereby the forced laughter eventually turns into real, genuine, contagious laughter. I cant say I have ever tried laughter yoga, but when stress or anxiety strikes me, I head straight for YouTube and watch some snippets of Irish comedian Jason Byrne to entice some real, spontaneous laughter! A new pilot scheme has made available 140 tickets to travel around Europe via train, for free, has been made available to Irish students. Manfred Weber, the leader of the EPP (European People Party), has launched the scheme with 15,000 tickets being made available for 18-year-olds across Europe. According to Fine Gael councillor John McGahon, 140 of them are in Ireland. "Thousands of Dundalk students are currently sitting their Leaving Certs and what better way to celebrate the finishing of exams than to go on a free holiday, thanks to the European Peoples Party," he said. "I think this is an excellent opportunity for any young person to experience everything Europe has to offer while not having to pay for travel. When I look back at my late teens and early twenties, I wish I had bought an inter-rail ticket and travelled the continent. "While there is only 140 tickets for Ireland, this is just a pilot project and if it is successful the amount of tickets will increase each year." Students can only apply if they are 18-years-old on July 1s 2018 (born between 2 July 1999 and 1 July 2000 included) and if you plan to start your travel between July 9th and September 30th 2018. Students must also be planning to travel to at least one and up to four European Member States. Anyone interested can apply for the tickets by clicking here. 5 reasons why your next adventure should be Tanzania With breath-taking beaches and exotic wildlife Tanzania has been enchanting tourists for decades. The East African nation promises an unforgettable experience for families and couples and its popularity has exploded in recent years. From exploring historical slave trade sites to immersing yourself in the ways of the Maasai people of the Serengeti, theres an abundance of activities to enjoy and thats without even mentioning other delights like Mount Kilimanjaro! With the travel industry and leading safari providers like tanzaniaodyssey.com offering more routes and flexible packages to suit a range of budgets, now is the time to jet off and embrace everything Tanzania has to offer. Here are five reasons why Tanzania should be your next holiday destination: 1. See the lions in the Ngorongoro Crater Aside from catching a glimpse on your favourite wildlife show, many people have never seen a lion up close; its a majestic sight, and the sound of its mighty roar is something you will never forget. The Ngorongoro Crater offers visitors the chance to experience the beauty of wildlife up close and you can also take in some of the finest local cuisine there as well. 2. Climb the highest mountain in Africa Kilimanjaro Have you got what it takes to climb one of the most famous mountains on the planet? Put your strength to the test as you slowly work your way up to the peak- you certainly wont regret the hard work! At the top you get to witness the beauty of Tanzania from an entirely new perspective, take in the glaciers and snow, and embrace those spectacular sunrises. 3. Experience real paradise on Zanzibar Zanzibar is home to some of the best beaches in Africa and their mesmerising appeal is unrivalled. The Indian Ocean is crystal clear while Kendwa and Nungwi around the North Coast give offer a fantastic view of sunsets over shallow waters. And if you get tired of the beaches, head over to food market at Stone Town to indulge in some fresh seafood and sugar cane juice. 4. Enjoy Tanzanian music Tanzanian people have a contagious love for music. Local tunes, traditional songs, reggae beats and hip-hop can all be heard blaring out of bars, shops and vehicles and you cant help but get involved. Wake up to the tunes of Hakuna Matata before you set off on safari, the soundtrack to an unforgettable African wildlife adventure. 5. The rich culture and the friendliest people Tanzania has a culture thats entirely different from anything youve ever experienced. People are generally friendly, warm-hearted and accommodating- and dont be surprised by the spontaneity of the locals; some people may even burst into song around you! If youre looking to experience real natural beauty, tackle the highest peaks and embrace a unique culture- travel to Tanzania: it really does have it all. Instantly delete email threats for Office 365 With the free app, 365 Threat Monitor, scan all emails as they reach your users' mailboxes to detect ransomware, phishing and spam. Get real-time phone alerts + security breach updates and delete threats instantly with just one click. Download now! Just when the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, was about to go into effect, the United States Congress created the CLOUD Act (Clarifying Overseas Use of Data). Without any public hearings, review or public comment, Congress passed the legislation as part of the US$1.3 trillion government spending bill. The CLOUD Act changed the privacy provisions that were in effect under the 1986 Stored Communications Act. Originally created to protect privacy in telephone records, the SCA has been used by Internet service providers to restrict access to Internet content in the U.S., except with the owner's permission. Needless to say, Internet privacy issues create headlines around the world every day. So the fact that the U.S. government would modify the SCA without public hearings, review or public comment has raised red flags for many. What Happened in US v. Microsoft? As a result of the CLOUD Act, the U.S. Supreme Court this spring dismissed the U.S. v. Microsoft case after hearing arguments earlier this year. The case related to Microsoft's reliance on the 1986 SCA to justify its refusal to comply with a federal search warrant requiring the production of an alleged drug dealer's emails, which were stored in Ireland. Because the suspect of the federal investigation was an American citizen but had created his email account while overseas, the case presented a new wrinkle as to how Fourth Amendment search and seizure principals should apply in an increasingly digital world. Microsoft argued that because the emails at issue were located on a data server in Ireland, they were outside of the Justice Department's reach. The Justice Department responded that the emails essentially were under Microsoft's American control, which placed them squarely within U.S. jurisdiction. While both the Justice Department and Microsoft relied heavily on public policy in making their arguments -- Microsoft citing citizen privacy rights and the Justice Department raising national security concerns -- Congress's enactment of the CLOUD Act ultimately ended the debate. What Is the CLOUD Act? The Electronic Frontier Foundation earlier this year described the CLOUD Act as "a far-reaching, privacy-upending piece of legislation" designed to do the following: Enable foreign police to collect and wiretap people's communications from U.S. companies, without obtaining a U.S. warrant. Allow foreign nations to demand personal data stored in the United States, without prior review by a judge. Allow the U.S. president to enter "executive agreements" that empower police in foreign nations that have weaker privacy laws than the United States to seize data in the United States while ignoring U.S. privacy laws. Allow foreign police to collect someone's data without notifying them about it. Empower U.S. police to grab any data, regardless if it's a U.S. person's or not, no matter where it is stored. The theory behind the CLOUD Act is that it removes much of the "red tape" federal investigators previously faced when seeking private citizen data stored in foreign nations but controlled by U.S. companies. In the past, foreign data sharing was limited to countries with whom Congress had approved a mutual legal-assistance treaty, or MLAT. If the country housing the desired data had not been approved for an MLAT, the process for approval could take months, potentially nullifying the usefulness of the data. The CLOUD Act grants the Executive branch (including the president, attorney general and State Department) authority to approve immediate data-sharing arrangements with foreign nations, bypassing congressional approval. Another important feature of the CLOUD Act is that it expressly grants law enforcement officials the ability to order production of digital records, regardless of where the data physically is stored. Data storage companies may petition a court to resist disclosure, but they are required to ensure the data is still accessible if a court chooses to enforce the search warrant. Privacy Rights Community Reactions Information technology industry leaders, including Microsoft, Apple, Google, Facebook and Oath, have offered public praise for the Act seeing it as much-needed clarification of how to deal with cross-border data sharing issues. The ACLU, the Center for Democracy and Technology, and the Open Technology Institute have spoken out against the Act. Pointing toward the safeguards previously offered by MLATs, the ACLU has argued that the Act will allow the executive branch to enter foreign data-sharing agreements without congressional oversight or proper vetting. Similarly, the CDT and OTI have cited the need to protect citizen privacy and expressed fear that foreign governments could use obtained data to commit human rights violations. Will the CLOUD Act Comport or Conflict With the EU GDPR? The European Union has taken a remarkably different approach in addressing citizen data protection. The EU General Data Protection Regulation, which went into effect last month, applies to any business that processes EU citizen data. For example, companies that are effected by a data breach are required to disclose such occurrences within a 72-hour window. Additionally, EU citizens are free to request records from the EU data controller, detailing who has accessed their information, when, and for what purpose. To encourage compliance, the GDPR mandates that significant violations can result in a maximum fine the greater of 4 percent of gross revenue or 20 million euros. In contrasted with the CLOUD Act, which places data-sharing authority solely within the executive branch, the GDPR resembles the former U.S. approach of using MLATs to monitor foreign data sharing. Still to be resolved is whether the CLOUD Act and GDPR will exist in harmony, or whether the conflicting agreements will require representatives to negotiate how private citizen data will be shared in the future. Preliminary Conclusions The CLOUD Act could have major implications in the world of e-commerce. U.S. law enforcement officials will be permitted to access international transaction data without significant oversight, as well as enter agreements providing foreign governments with reciprocal information. While it is too early to tell how far the ramifications of the CLOUD Act will spread, those who utilize cloud-based storage providers, or conduct online business with foreign entities, should keep the CLOUD Act and GDPR at the top of their news-to-watch list. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of ECT News Network. Peter Vogel has been an ECT News Network columnist since 2010. His focus is on technology and the law. Vogel is Of Counsel at Foley Gardere, and focuses on cybersecurity, privacy and information management. He tries lawsuits and negotiates contracts dealing with IT and the Internet. Before practicing law, he received a master's in computer science and was a mainframe programmer. His blog covers IT and Internet topics. Email Peter. Stephen Jones is a third-year law student at Texas Tech University School of Law and summer associate at the Dallas office of Foley Gardere. His legal interests include general business litigation, consumer rights suits, data security regulations, and emerging technologies affecting the legal industry. Jones' law review comment, "Data Breaches, Bitcoin, and Blockchain Technology: A Modern Approach to the Data-Security Crisis," is due to be published this summer in the Texas Tech Law Review. Contact Stephen. Two studies published within two months of each other show that typhoons and hurricanes are getting slower, and are expected to slow even more as the planet warms, suggesting that climate change is already extending the time storms spend hammering communities, National Geographic reported Wednesday. The findings mean that storms like Hurricane Harvey, which caused massive flooding when it lingered over Houston, Texas in 2017, could become more common. "Nothing good comes out of a slowing storm," National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Center for Weather and Climate scientist James Kossin told National Geographic. "It can increase storm surge. It can increase the amount of time that structures are subjected to strong wind. And it increases rainfall." Kossin wrote one of the new studies, published in Nature Wednesday, which found that tropical cyclone speed had slowed by an average of 10 percent worldwide from 1949 to 2016. Another study, led by researchers with the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and published April 6 in the Journal of Climate, plugged 22 hurricanes from the past 13 years into climate models with temperatures up to five degrees warmer and found that the storms were on average nine percent slower and 24 percent wetter. "We're showing that it not only slows down, but that it's more intense," lead author on the second study Ethan Gutmann told National Geographic. "That has serious implications for inland flooding and urban infrastructure." While Kossin's study was only observational and did not address why storms had slowed since 1949, Gutmann's future analysis backs up the hypothesis that global warming is already slowing storms. Kossin told The Washington Post that his findings were also consistent with the fact that climate change is warming the poles faster than the tropics, slowing circulation, which should also slow storms. "I went in with that hypothesis and looked at the data, and out popped the signal that was much bigger than anything I was expecting," Kossin told the Post. The regional results from Kossin's study NOAA Regionally, the biggest slowdown was over the Western North Pacific, at 20 percent. The storms also slowed more over land, Kossin found, slowing 20 percent over land in the Atlantic region. Kossin also said slowing storm speed could be a larger contributor to increased flooding than augmented rainfall intensity, since it is happening at a faster rate. Hurricane rainfall is expected to increase seven to 10 percent per degree Celsius of warming, but Kossin found a storm speed decrease of 10 percent in a period that saw just half a degree Celsius of warming. Either way, both studies indicate the nature of tropical cyclones, and the threats they pose, are shifting with the climate. "Inland flooding, freshwater flooding, is taking over as the key mortality risk now associated with these storms," Kossin told The Washington Post. "There's been a sea change there in terms of what's dangerous. And, unfortunately, this signal would point to more freshwater flooding." Due to the combined impacts of climate change and upcoming El Nino conditions, coastal high tide flooding in the U.S. will be up to 60 percent more frequent in 2018 than it was 20 years ago, the most recent high tide flooding report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), announced Wednesday, projected. The report, NOAA's 2017 State of High Tide Flooding and 2018 Outlook, also found that the 2017 meteorological year (May 2017 - April 2018) broke records for the number of high tide flooding days nationally, for an average of six days per coastal location observed. The report predicted that, going forward, 2018 and the years after would continue to break records due to sea level rise, and that the rate of increased flooding might accelerate. Overall, the average number of flooded days has already doubled in the past 30 years. Flooding is increasing most quickly along the Southeast Atlantic coast, up by 160 percent since 2000. Flood frequencies are also significantly increasing along the Northeast Atlantic coast, at 100 percent, and the Eastern and Western Gulf Coasts, at 50 percent. In 2017, more than a quarter of the 98 coastal locations where NOAA measured flooding broke their individual records in 2017. Regionally, the Northeast Atlantic and Western Gulf of Mexico saw the highest number of flooded days in 2017, at a median of 11 and 12 days respectively. Cities that broke records included Boston and Atlantic City, with 22 days of flooding, Sabine Pass, Texas with 23 days of flooding and Galveston, Texas with 18 days. Records also broke along the Southeast Atlantic and Eastern Gulf, with 14 days at Bay Waveland, Mississippi and six days at Fort Myers and Cedar Key, Florida. San Diego was a regional anomaly, breaking records with 13 flooded days. Flooding along the Northeast and in the Gulf of Mexico was influenced by an especially stormy hurricane and nor'easter season, augmented by rising sea levels. But high tide foods can also occur without storms as sea levels continue to rise. "There's a clear upwards trend of this type of flooding," University of Florida geologist Andrea Dutton told The Guardian in an article about the report. "Extreme events like hurricanes may be the breaking point but this sort of frequent flooding is the taste of what is coming in the future on a permanent basis. We need to rethink our relationship with the coastline because it's going to be retreating for the foreseeable future." In 2018, El Nino conditions are expected to result in a higher number of flooded days than average in 48 coastal locations. The Northeast Atlantic and Northwest Pacific Coasts are expected to lead on average with five to six median days of flooding. By Andrea Germanos Four weeks. That's how long the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has to "promptly perform a search and produce the documents" in its possession that underpin Administrator Scott Pruitt's claim that human activity is not a "primary contributor" to the climate crisis, and any studies that support that assertion. The directive comes from a federal court order, issued Friday, which smacks down the EPA's efforts to reject a FOIA request from Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The group first filed that request on March 10, 2017that's a day after Pruitt, speaking in his official capacity, said on CNBC: "I think that measuring with precision human activity on the climate is something very challenging to do and there's tremendous disagreement about the degree of impact, so no, I would not agree that it's a primary contributor to the global warming that we see." Beryl Howell, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, dismissed the EPA's characterization of the FOIA request as "an interrogation" with "simply a reach too far." Instead, she wrote, it was a fair request that reasonably describes the records sought and creates no undue burden, so the EPA is not legally justified in its lack of compliance. She further noted that "EPA's strained attempt to raise an epistemological smokescreen will not work here to vade its obligations under the FOIA," and: "EPA's apparent concern about taking a position on climate change is puzzling since EPA has already taken a public position on the causes of climate change." She added: Particularly troubling is the apparent premise of this agency challenge to the FOIA request, namely: that the evidentiary basis for a policy or factual statement by an agency head, including about the scientific factors contributing to climate change, is inherently unknowable. Such a premise runs directly counter to "an axiom of administrative law that an agency's explanation of the basis for its decision must include 'a rational connection between the facts found and the choice made,'" and the "responsibility of the agency to explain the rationale and factual basis for its decision." Howell also ordered the agency to finish up its search for related records by July 2 and to disclose them to PEER. She gave the agency an additional week to explain to the group its rationale for withholding any documents. "The beauty of FOIA is that a government agency can run but ultimately can't hide," stated PEER senior counsel Paula Dinerstein. "This suit forces EPA to determine whether Mr. Pruitt's statements had a factual basis or were full of hot air." Reposted with permission from our media associate Common Dreams. By Alison Kelly New oil development has no place in sensitive wetland habitats in the Florida Everglades. The Burnett Oil Company, based in Texas, claimed it could explore for oil in the Big Cypress National Preserve with no significant, long-term impacts to sensitive wetlands. But these claims have been refuted, as Burnett Oil has caused significant damage. As NRDC previously reported, the fossil fuel industry targeted the Big Cypress National Preserve in the western Everglades for oil development, beginning the first of four planned phases of seismic survey activities in 2017. However, heavy rains forced the oil company out of the preserve before the seismic activities were complete. Even after damaging wetland soils and vegetation last year, the oil company returned to the preserve this spring to continue its hunt for oil. NRDC and its partners retained environmental professionals to inspect and document the damage these activities are causing. Here's a report outlining the damage along with recommendations for restoration, mitigation and long-term monitoring. The consultants observed extensive soil rutting, which will have long-term adverse effects on the preserve's hydrology, soils and vegetation. Nonetheless, there were no signs that the oil company attempted to restore the wetland impacts, as its state and federal permits require. For example, the 33-ton "vibroseis" vehicles compacted and deeply rutted soils due to their sheer weight. These ruts are almost 2 feet deep in places. The vibroseis vehicles created seismic survey lines that are up to 15 feet wide. In several locations where vibroseis vehicles turned around or were rerouted, consultants observed even wider paths of soil disturbance. Soil damage in Big Cypress National Preserve NRDC Removal of vegetation and subsequent exposure of soils to direct sunlight alters social chemistry, and the churning and rutting of soils disturbs natural soil horizons. If not corrected, each of these soil impacts will affect the composition and abundance of vegetation regrowth in the impacted areas. Soil ruts can also create opportunities for invasion of exotic and nuisance plant species. Within the soil ruts created by the vibroseis and other off-road vehicles, the vegetation coverage was estimated at less than 5%, in stark contrast to the dense and diverse herbaceous vegetation present in the adjacent, undisturbed wetlands. Seismic survey lines bisected dwarf cypress tree strands, and in these areas, consultants noted an abundance of dead cypress trees and stumps, both within and adjacent to the seismic survey lines. They frequently observed scarring of cypress trees growing adjacent to the seismic survey lines, but saw no evidence of efforts to treat tree wounds. Dwarf cypress trees tend to be very old despite their small size, primarily due to the infertile soils and extreme hydrologic conditions where they grow. For example, a dwarf cypress tree with a diameter breast height of 4 inches could range in age from 31 to 2,500 years. These dwarf cypress trees are the cornerstone of the Big Cypress ecosystem. They provide important roosting sites and refuge from high water levels for birds and other wildlife, essential habitat for state endangered bromeliads such as the cardinal air-plant, scratching posts for the Florida black bear and the critically endangered Florida panther, and a food source for the threatened Big Cypress fox squirrel. But the survey crews cut and mowed down dwarf cypress trees, some with bromeliads still attached, to make way for the oil exploration. The creation of seismic survey lines in roadless wetlands could invite unauthorized recreational off-road vehicle use, which will disturb wildlife, widen and deepen seismic survey lines, and increase the potential for litter. This all increases the risk of restoration failure. Burnett Oil Company has proven that new oil development has no place in the sensitive wetlands of the Everglades. Its damage contradicts its own argument that the oil exploration would have no significant long-term effects. Burnett Oil Company should be halted from doing further harm to this sensitive habitat, given the severity and extent of the wetland damage it has caused through its seismic activities. State and federal agencies must now require the oil company to fully restore the wetland damage and monitor the success of the restoration in the long-term, to avoid exacerbation of the damage and further loss of wetland function. The company must also provide compensatory mitigation elsewhere in the preserve for the loss of wetland functions that have occurred, and will continue to occur, until they are fully restored. Big Cypress National Preserve is one of Florida's true ecological gems and should be preserved, as its name implies. Federal officials and conservation groups reached an agreement Wednesday that will finally end Nestle Corp.'s ability to rely on a permit that expired 30 years ago to siphon water from the San Bernardino National Forest for its massive bottled-water operation. The company's diversion has severely reduced water in spring-fed Strawberry Creek, which forest wildlife and plants need to survive. This settlement of the 2015 lawsuit requires the U.S. Forest Service to decide in 30 days whether or not to issue a new permit for the pipeline and Nestle's associated activities in the San Bernardino National Forest. The Center for Biological Diversity, Courage Campaign Institute and the Story of Stuff Project agreed to dismiss an appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals regarding the old "zombie" permit after a new decision is issued. The groups reserved the right to challenge any new Forest Service decision. Under the expired permit, Nestle siphoned off as much as 162 million gallons of water a year from Strawberry Creek. Nestle, the world's largest water-bottling company, earned $8.3 billion in profits from its water business in 2016. U.S. Geological Survey reports from July 2017 show that, despite heavy winter precipitation across California, Strawberry Creek's streamflow levels were the lowest since the agency began keeping track 96 years ago. "This agreement stops Nestle and the Forest Service from relying on a 30-year-old permit, but Strawberry Creek still desperately needs protection," said Ileene Anderson, a senior biologist at the Center for Biological Diversity. "The real tragedy is that Nestle is sucking the creek dry to bottle water for profit, dooming plants and wildlife that have relied on it for tens of thousands of years. We'll keep fighting to protect Strawberry Creek and our forests from commercial exploitation." The groups are urging the Forest Service to deny a new permit to Nestle to safeguard the public land, water, plants and animals of the San Bernardino National Forest. If a new permit is issued, the agency should ensure there is enough water left in Strawberry Creek to support fish, wildlife and native plants year round. The State Water Resources Control Board is also evaluating Nestle's water rights on Strawberry Creek, which a board investigation determined is far less than the corporation claims. "We are encouraged that the Forest Service is finally fulfilling its duty to the public by ending Nestle's unpermitted water taking from the San Bernardino National Forest. Any objective, scientifically rigorous analysis will demonstrate what biologists have been saying for decades: the Nestle operation is detrimental to the health and vibrancy of our public lands and should be discontinued," said Miranda Fox, campaigns manager at The Story of Stuff Project. "We want to ensure that Strawberry Creek and its ecosystem are properly managed for generations to come." "While we are glad to have slayed Nestle's 'zombie' permit, we fear that the Forest Service's action will ultimately do little to protect this national forestowned collectively by all Americansfrom continued exploitation by Nestle, one of the largest and most profitable corporations in the world," said Eddie Kurtz, executive director of the California-based Courage Campaign Institute. "If the Forest Service issues a new permit that again prioritizes Nestle's obscene profits over ensuring sufficient water remains to protect this fragile ecosystemthat will NOT be a viable solution. This fight will be far from over." A newly installed TransCanada natural gas pipeline exploded early Thursday in the remote Nixon Ridge area of Marshall County in West Virginia. No injuries were reported but flames and smoke from the blast could be seen as far as 20 miles away, residents told local media. Area police told CBS News the fire was "very largeif you can see it from your house, evacuate." "It sounded like a freight train coming through, or a tornado, and the sky lit up bright orange, and then I got up and looked out the window and flames were shooting I don't know how far into the sky," Tina Heath-Chaplin, of Moundsville, told WPXI. TransCanadathe same company behind the Keystone pipelinesaid the explosion has been contained and an investigation is underway. "As soon as the issue was identified, emergency response procedures were enacted and the segment of impacted pipeline was isolated. The fire was fully extinguished by approximately 8:30 a.m," the company commented Thursday. "The cause of this issue is not yet known," TransCanada continued. "The site of the incident has been secured and we are beginning the process of working with applicable regulators to investigate, including the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration." Robert Burrough, the director with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration's Eastern Regional Office, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette the affected line is likely TransCanada's $1.6 billion, 160-mile Leach XPress pipeline, which started service in January. Russ Girling, TransCanada president and CEO said at the line opening, "This is truly a best-in-class pipeline and we look forward to many years of safe, reliable, and efficient operation on behalf of our customers." (Photo: LWF)The medical team about to set off from Augusta Victoria Hospital in Jerusalem. F Just over a week ago the International Committee of the Red Cross said it was sending two surgical teams, medical specialists and supplies to the struggling medical systems in the Gaza Strip, which has been overwhelmed by recent violence. "Thousands of Gaza residents are confronting new, long-term medical needs that the health care system simply can't handle," Robert Mardini, ICRC's regional director of operations for the Near and Middle East, told journalists. Since protests and associated violence flared on March 30, more than 13,000 Palestinians have been wounded, including more than 3,600 by live ammunition, some multiple times, for an estimated total of nearly 5,400 limb injuries, the ICRC said. The narrow strip of land on Israel's coastline that is Gaza is beleaguered in the standoff between Palestinians and Israelis, and its 1.5 million people need all the humanitarian help they can get. A team of doctors and nurses from the Lutheran World Federation's Augusta Victoria Hospital, in Jerusalem, has been in Gaza supporting medical teams tending to Palestinians wounded by Israeli forces earlier this week. In addition to the team of specialists, supplies of medicine and medical goods worth 25,000 euro Gaza were also sent. The team worked out of Al-Shifa hospital. CALL FROM THE WHO AND ICRC The LWF said it responded to a call from the World Health Organization and the ICRC to assist in responding to the healthcare crisis in Gaza. The Augusta Victoria Hospital team reported that the situation is extremely difficult. Injured are brought to the hospitals, but there are insufficient staff, supplies and infrastructure to properly care for them. ADDITIONAL EMERGENCY DOCTORS The WHO has asked for additional emergency doctors and nurses. Gaza was already facing a crisis of medical personnel, medicine and supplies, having been under blockade for more than 10 years. Augusta Victoria Hospital chief executive officer, Walid Nammour, praised the role of the Palestinian humanitarian team in its work to provide medical assistance. "We do not merely sympathize with the people in Gaza, we feel their pain and stand with them," said Nammour. LWF Jerusalem program representative, Pauliina Parhiala, said health facilities in Gaza continued to be insufficient to meet the urgent medical needs. Besides the number of wounded and hurt, some medical staff had been injured. Health facilities, such as ambulances, have been damaged. The capacity is simply not meeting the needs, she said. It is worrying as the Gaza health services are already limited and suffering from shortages of medicines and supplies. Fuel and electricity crisis continues. "These add to the overwhelming situation the Gaza health care finds itself," said Parhiala. "The capacity is simply not meeting the needs. It is worrying as the Gaza health services are already limited and suffering from shortages of medicines and supplies. Fuel and electricity crisis continues," she said. She said that during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and the high number of individuals still not having received adequate treatment, the LWF was expecting even greater emergency needs. The Lutheran World Federation called for utmost restraint and work towards the de-escalation of the conflict in a recent statement. To build the largest and most complete Amateur Radio community site on the Internet - a "portal" that hams think of as the first place to go for information, to exchange ideas, and be part of whats happening with ham radio on the Internet. eHam.net provides recognition and enjoyment to the people who use, contribute, and build the site. This project involves a management team of volunteers who each take a topic of interest and manage it with passion. The site will stand above all other ham radio sites by employing the latest technology and professional design/programming standards, developed by a team of community programmers who contribute their skills to the effort. The site will be something of which everyone involved can be proud to say they were a part. We welcome your comments. The eHam.net Team, Revision 07/2020. Late designer Kate Spade's husband has released a statement in regard to his wife's death. Andy Spade says it came as a complete shock to him. A Private Inner Struggle The legendary designer passed away on Tuesday in New York City from an apparent suicide. Her death shocked the fashion community at large and her legions of fans all over the world. According to her husband, however, nobody was more shocked than those closest to her. In a short, emotional statement to the New York Times, Andy divulged that the two had unofficially separated last year after over 20 years of marriage. They had no formal plans to divorce, however, and lived just a few blocks away from each other to ease the transition in co-parenting their teenage daughter Bea. Although Andy, who spent a total of 35 years with his wife, admitted that she had been suffering from depression and anxiety. She regularly went to see a doctor and took the necessary medication to battle her mental health issues. Contrary to what certain outlets have reported, he also made it very clear that there were no substance abuse issues or problems with her business. No Warning Signs Heartbreakingly, Spade acknowledged that he had spoken to Kate just a few hours before she passed. "We were in touch with her the night before and she sounded happy. There was no indication and no warning that she would do this. ... My daughter and I are devastated by her loss ... We are deeply heartbroken and miss her already," he explained. Spade went on to say that he blames his late partner's condition for her demise. "It clearly wasn't her. There were personal demons she was battling," he advised. Spade was just 55 when she was found dead in her Manhattan apartment. She launched the Kate Spade brand with her husband in 1993, subsequently selling her shares in 2006 and starting a new line, Frances Valentine, in 2016. The fashion designer's older sister, Reta Saffo, contradicted Andy Spade's diagnosis by telling the press that she wasn't surprised by Kate's death. That's because she knew the internal struggle her sister was dealing with her whole life. Saffo also advised that she had helped her sister get treatment several times over the past few years and that she was worried the stress of the business would push her sister over the edge. "All the stress/pressure of her brand ... may have flipped the switch where she eventually became full-on manic depressive," she wrote in an e-mail. However, their older brother, Earl Brosnahan, revealed to the New York Times that Saffo has been estranged from the family for more than a decade, and Kate was the only one to keep in contact with her. Brosnahan, along with Andy Spade, believes that Saffo is speaking entirely out of turn. Although he was aware of his late sister's depression and the breakup of her marriage, he saw her last week and said she was happily discussing the future. The designer's brother-in-law, comedian David Spade, took to Twitter to share a photo of Kate smiling at his book signing. He discussed "Katy" at length on social media in the wake of her death. Spade also acknowledged how funny Kate could be, while taking a moment to tell those struggling with mental illness to keep fighting. Reality star Abby Lee Miller requires a second emergency surgery. The Teen Mom alum shares on Instagram that she is in the hospital following the procedure. Just A Hiccup In The Schedule Miller took to Instagram late on Tuesday to share a shot of her hooked up to a drip. "After another 2 hour MRI this morning, the pros thought I needed one more quick little emergency surgery! Ugh!" she wrote in exasperation. Miller explained to fans that she's on a tight schedule and is looking forward to getting back on track. She asked everyone to pray for her and thanked them for their well wishes. Back in April, the Dance Moms alum's doctor revealed that Miller had her first emergency surgery after almost dying. Just Another Battle To Win She had been privately suffering from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer that begins in the immune system. Her doctor explained to PEOPLE that Miller had begun deteriorating rapidly, leading to a severe spine infection. "In the span of 24 hours ... her condition rapidly deteriorated. She was completely paralyzed from the neck down," explained the orthopedic spine surgeon at the time. At the start of the month, Miller posted on Instagram about how she was starting her third round of chemo, describing it as a fight she was prepared to win. "There's nothing I enjoy more than swimming and a good tan," she captioned a shot of herself soaking up a few rays. A Difficult Couple Of Years Last year, Miller was sentenced to 12 months and one day in federal prison for bankruptcy fraud, and for bringing $120,000 worth of Australian currency into the country. The Dance Moms alum was indicted on 20 counts of fraud in October 2015. She pled guilty the following June, facing millions in fines and a prison sentence of up to five years. Miller blamed fame from the hit reality show for her actions. Her illegal activity only came to light when a judge watched a few episodes while ruling on a bankruptcy case, and questioned her alleged income. She went to prison in July 2017 and was moved to a halfway house in March for good behavior, to serve out the remainder of her sentence. The 51-year-old was released from the facility last month due to ongoing concerns for her health after photos emerged showing her being bundled into an awaiting ambulance. NEW YORK...June 6, 2018 - Prolonged stress, such as that experienced during military conflict, can have an adverse impact on sperm quality, according to a new study by researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) and Soroka University Medical Center in Beer-Sheva, Israel. The study, which was just presented at the International Summit on Assisted Reproduction and Genetics in Israel, indicated that more than a third (37 percent) of the sperm samples taken during a stressful period were found to have low sperm motility. "Mental stress is known to have an adverse effect on fertility, but there is little research on the impact of stress on sperm quality," says Dr. Eliahu Levitas, a member of the Ben-Gurion University Faculty of Health Sciences and director of the IVF Unit at Soroka. "This study shows that prolonged stress can have an effect on sperm quality." In general, the probability of weak motility in sperm samples taken during periods of prolonged stress was 47 percent higher. Weak motility makes it less likely that the sperm will successfully fertilize an egg. The study included 10,536 samples donated during unstressful periods between 2009-2017, which were compared to 659 sperm samples taken during and up to two months after two military conflicts between Israel and Gaza in 2012 and 2014. The subjects' average age was 32, and 44 percent were smokers. According to Dr. Levitas, who is also director of the Soroka Sperm Bank, "Our reasoning was that even men who heard incoming rocket warning sirens during a conflict experienced stress throughout the day over a longer period. We were surprised to discover that there is a connection between the security situation and the sperm counts." ### Yuval Mizrakli, a BGU medical student, contributed to the study, as well. About American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (AABGU) plays a vital role in sustaining David Ben-Gurion's vision: creating a world-class institution of education and research in the Israeli desert, nurturing the Negev community and sharing the University's expertise locally and around the globe. As Ben-Gurion University of the Negev looks ahead to turning 50 in 2020, AABGU imagines a future that goes beyond the walls of academia. It is a future where BGU invents a new world and inspires a vision for a stronger Israel and its next generation of leaders. Together with supporters, AABGU will help the University foster excellence in teaching, research and outreach to the communities of the Negev for the next 50 years and beyond. Visit vision.aabgu.org to learn more. AABGU, which is headquartered in Manhattan, has nine regional offices throughout the United States. For more information, visit http://www.aabgu.org Spending more years in full time education is associated with a greater risk of developing short-sightedness (myopia), finds a study published by The BMJ today. The researchers say their study provides "strong evidence" that more time spent in education is a risk factor for myopia, and that the findings "have important implications for educational practices." Myopia, or short-sightedness, is a leading cause of visual impairment worldwide. Currently, 30-50% of adults in the United States and Europe are myopic, with levels of 80-90% reported in school leavers in some East Asian countries. Based on existing trends, the number of people affected by myopia worldwide is expected to increase from 1.4 billion to 5 billion by 2050, affecting about half of the world's population. Almost 10% of these people (around 9 million) will have high myopia, which carries a greater risk of blindness. Many studies have reported strong links between education and myopia, but it is not clear whether increasing exposure to education causes myopia, myopic children are more studious, or socioeconomic position leads to myopia and higher levels of education. So researchers based at the University of Bristol and Cardiff University set out to determine whether education is a direct (causal) risk factor for myopia, or myopia is a causal risk factor for more years in education. Using a technique called Mendelian randomisation, they analysed 44 genetic variants associated with myopia and 69 genetic variants associated with years of schooling for 67,798 men and women aged 40 to 69 years from the UK Biobank database. Analysing genetic information in this way avoids some of the problems that afflict traditional observational studies, making the results less prone to unmeasured (confounding) factors, and therefore more likely to be reliable. An association that is observed using Mendelian randomisation therefore strengthens the inference of a causal relationship. After taking account of potentially influential factors, Mendelian randomisation analyses suggested that every additional year of education was associated with more myopia (a refractive error of ?0.27 dioptres a year). To put this into context, a university graduate from the UK with 17 years of education would, on average, be at least ?1 dioptre more myopic than someone who left school at 16 (with 12 years of education). This level of myopia would mean needing glasses for driving. By contrast, there was little evidence to suggest that myopia led people to remain in education for longer. The researchers point to some study limitations. For example, UK Biobank participants have been shown to be more highly educated, have healthier lifestyles, and report fewer health issues compared with the general UK population, which may have affected the results. However, there was little evidence that this could explain their findings. "This study shows that exposure to more years in education contributes to the rising prevalence of myopia, and highlights a need for further research and discussion about how educational practices might be improved to achieve better outcomes without adversely affecting vision," they conclude. In a linked editorial, Professor Ian Morgan at the Australian National University and colleagues say the evidence suggests that it is not only genes but environmental and social factors that may have major effects on myopia. They point to East Asia, where early intense educational pressures combined with little time for play outdoors has led to almost 50% of children being myopic by the end of primary school, compared with less than 10% in a study of British children. "Early onset allows more time for myopia to progress to high and potentially pathological myopia," they warn, and they argue that education systems "must change to help protect the visual health of future generations." In a linked opinion piece, study author Denize Atan also points to evidence showing that time spent outdoors in childhood partially protects against the development of myopia. Although reduced exposure to natural daylight might not be the sole mechanism to explain the association between education and myopia, she writes, "given the advantages of time spent outdoors on mental health and the protection it provides against obesity and chronic diseases, we might all benefit from spending more time outside." ### It's not uncommon in dolphin society for males to form long-lasting alliances with other males, sometimes for decades. Now, after studying bottlenose dolphins in Shark Bay, Australia, for more than 30 years, researchers reporting in Current Biology on June 7 find that these males retain individual vocal labels rather than sharing a common call with their cooperative partners. "We found that male bottlenose dolphins that form long-term cooperative partnerships or alliances with one another retain individual vocal labels, or 'names,' which allows them to recognize many different friends and rivals in their social network," says Stephanie King (@_StephanieLKing) from the University of Western Australia. "Our work shows that these 'names' help males keep track of their many different relationships: who are their friends, who are their friend's friends, and who are their competitors." In the new study, King and colleagues set out to better understand what role vocal communication plays in coordinating complex social behaviors, including cooperation, in bottlenose dolphins. The researchers knew from years of study that male bottlenose dolphins form long-term cooperative alliances with one another. However, they did not know how these males used vocal signals to form and maintain these relationships. To explore the role of vocal signals, they recorded the dolphins' vocalizations using underwater microphones and determined the individual vocal label used by each of the males. They then measured the similarity of those identity signals within and between alliances to find out whether males with stronger social relationships used vocal labels that were more similar. "We wanted to understand if allied male dolphins converged onto similar calls as a way of advertising their alliance membership, or whether they retained individual vocal labels," King explains. The analysis showed that males in an alliance retain vocal labels that are quite distinct from one another, suggesting that those calls serve a purpose similar to an individual name. That's in contrast to findings in many other species where individuals with close relationships converge on shared vocalizations as a way of advertising their membership to that partnership or group. "With male bottlenose dolphins, it's the opposite--each male retains a unique call, even though they develop incredibly strong bonds with one another," King says. "Therefore, retaining individual 'names' is more important than sharing calls for male dolphins, allowing them to keep track of or maintain a fascinating social network of cooperative relationships." King says they will now study the males' relationships with one another more closely. They'll play the "names" of individual males back to each other and explore how males respond to members of their alliances in different contexts. "It will be interesting to reveal whether all cooperative relationships within alliances are equal or not," she says. ### This study was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation. Current Biology, King et al.: "Bottlenose Dolphins Retain Individual Vocal Labels in Multi-level Alliances" https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(18)30615-8 Current Biology (@CurrentBiology), published by Cell Press, is a bimonthly journal that features papers across all areas of biology. Current Biology strives to foster communication across fields of biology, both by publishing important findings of general interest and through highly accessible front matter for non-specialists. Visit: http://www.cell.com/current-biology. To receive Cell Press media alerts, contact press@cell.com. Wilson is proposing a radical new imaging technology that could diagnose mitochondrial defects in an instant Mitochondrial diseases are rare, but they are cruel. Affecting about 1 in 5,000 children, these devastating illnesses are caused by defects in cellular organelles called mitochondria. Their cells starved of energy, most stricken children die by age 12. There is no cure, and diagnosis can take months. Colorado State University biomedical engineer Jesse Wilson wants to change all of that. The assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering is proposing a radical new imaging technology that could diagnose mitochondrial defects in an instant. His technology could one day save children and families agonizing months awaiting diagnoses, and it could open doors to life-saving trial therapies. To do it, Wilson has the support of Colorado's Boettcher Foundation, which has named him one of seven winners of the 2018 Webb-Waring Early Career Investigator Biomedical Research Award. As a Boettcher Investigator, Wilson will receive about $235,000 in research support for three years. The awards are meant to provide a foundation for promising early-career biomedical researchers at Colorado research institutions to compete for major federal and private awards. A faculty member in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the School of Biomedical Engineering, Wilson's expertise is in biomedical optics and digital signal processing for imaging and microscopy. He has previously been awarded other funding for developing virtual biopsy technologies to improve early detection of melanoma. As a Boettcher Investigator, Wilson will develop a new laser microscope to study mitochondria and metabolism. His ultimate goal is to create a cost-effective, non-invasive, painless way to diagnose mitochondrial diseases. Wilson's project could also open new doors to fundamental studies of mitochondria, which are the organelles responsible for 90 percent of our cells' energy demands. Their functioning is as central to human health as breathing, he says. More and more, mitochondrial defects are being implicated in cancer, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and many other conditions. Wilson's research could give the world a previously impossible view of mitochondrial functioning. "We want to enable a deeper understanding of how mitochondrial faults contribute to disease, and how they can be targeted to improve outcomes," Wilson said. The microscope uses very short laser pulses that can analyze mitochondrial respiratory chain components at picosecond timescales (1 picosecond = 1 billionth of a second). How molecules handle energy in these extremely short timescales can reveal key information about their structure and surrounding molecules, and unprecedented detail on mitochondrial functioning. Wilson plans to use these molecular signatures to pinpoint telltale signs of mitochondrial dysfunction. His initial experiments will involve examining mitochondria and tissue from a mouse model of Barth Syndrome, one of the more well-known mitochondrial diseases. What's more, Wilson's plan is to build on existing technology called "confocal reflectance" to directly probe the respiratory chain functions of mitochondria. There is no microscope in the world right now that can do this. To accomplish this enormous goal, Wilson will leverage his expertise in transient absorption imaging. In addition, he will receive help from collaborators: Adam Chicco, associate professor of biomedical sciences who researches heart mitochondria and Barth Syndrome; and Randy Bartels, professor of electrical and computer engineering and an expert in ultrafast and nonlinear optics. In their ninth year, the Webb-Waring Biomedical Research Awards honor the commitments that the Webb and Waring families made to scientific research. Including the new class of 2018, a total of 61 Boettcher Investigators have received funding through the Webb-Waring program. Since 2010, Boettcher Investigators have gone on to earn a collective $34 million in subsequent independent research funding. "The 2018 class of Boettcher Investigators represents Colorado's most dynamic emerging scientists, leaders who are committed to improving human health," said Katie Kramer, president and CEO of the Boettcher Foundation. "The Boettcher Foundation is honored to support their research at this critical juncture in their careers and to elevate scientific innovation across our state." Previously named CSU Boettcher Investigators include: Melissa Reynolds, John D. (Nick) Fisk, Tingting Yao, J. Lucas Argueso, Brad Borlee, Christopher L. Gentile, Tai Montgomery, Rushika Perera, Tim Stasevich, Erin Nishimura and Kelly Santangelo. ### Columbia Engineers discover a new fundamental feature of brain oscillations: These traveling waves reflect patterns of neuronal activity that move across the cortex and are important for memory and cognition New York, NY--June 7, 2018--The coordination of neural activity across widespread brain networks is essential for human cognition. Researchers have long assumed that oscillations in the brain, commonly measured for research purposes, brain-computer interfacing, and clinical tests, were stationary signals that occurred independently at separate brain regions. Biomedical engineers at Columbia Engineering have discovered a new fundamental feature of brain oscillations: they actually move rhythmically across the brain, reflecting patterns of neuronal activity that propagate across the cortex. The study was published today in Neuron. "We also found that these traveling waves moved more reliably when subjects performed well while performing a working memory task," says Joshua Jacobs, assistant professor of biomedical engineering and senior author of the paper. "This indicates that traveling waves are significant for memory and cognition--our findings show that these oscillations are an important mechanism for large-scale coordination in the human brain." Jacobs' team studied direct brain recordings from 77 epilepsy patients, who had had electrodes placed in widespread brain areas for seizure mapping. For Jacobs' study, the patients were asked to perform a memory task. In examining the brain recordings from these patients, the researchers found large brain regions in individual patients with "theta" and "alpha" oscillations, which are linked to cognition, at specific frequencies between 2 to 15 Hz. These oscillations indicate that the neurons in this region rhythmically activated to support cognition, but the specific role performed by these oscillations has remained unclear. The group used two novel methods to analyze the data. First, they measured individual oscillations simultaneously from multiple electrodes instead of using the more common method of measuring each brain wave separately from individual locations. Second, they developed a new analytical framework that enabled them to measure the instantaneous movement of each traveling wave. Using this approach, they found that the oscillations were actually traveling waves that moved across the cortex at 0.25-0.75 m/s. "The traveling waves were relevant behaviorally because their propagation correlated with task events and was more consistent when subjects performed the task well," says Honghui Zhang, a postdoc in Jacobs' lab and the paper's lead author. The study's findings demonstrate that the brain uses neuronal oscillations to propagate information across different regions, and that, by organizing neural processes across space and time, traveling waves play a significant role in supporting brain connectivity. "Our research indicates that, when a researcher records a brain oscillation, neural activity is being communicated across the brain," says Jacobs. "So, in addition to opening new directions for fundamental brain research on connectivity and memory, our work suggests that clinicians can measure patterns of traveling waves to characterize an individual's brain connectivity. Traveling waves are like ocean waves, moving across the surface of the cortex, and may also provide a new type of signal that can be used for brain-computer interfaces." "This recent work from the Jacobs lab is incredibly exciting," says Kareem Zaghloul, an investigator at the National Institutes of Health's Functional and Restorative Neurosurgery Unit. "The study of traveling waves opens up new directions for brain research, as it now allows us to consider not only what the brain is representing but how information moves around the brain " Jacobs is currently exploring how traveling waves are relevant for other behaviors, including spatial navigation and long-term memory. His group is also developing new methodologies to test whether other types of brain oscillations, such as those at faster frequencies, also behave as traveling waves. ### About the Study The study is titled "Theta and alpha oscillations are traveling waves in the human neocortex." Authors are: Honghui Zhang, Andrew J.Watrous, Ansh Patel, and Joshua Jacobs (Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia Engineering.) The study was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (#MH104606). The authors declare no competing interests. LINKS: Paper: https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(18)30417-3 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2018.05.019 http://engineering.columbia.edu/ http://bme.columbia.edu/joshua-jacobs http://bme.columbia.edu Columbia Engineering Columbia Engineering, based in New York City, is one of the top engineering schools in the U.S. and one of the oldest in the nation. Also known as The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, the School expands knowledge and advances technology through the pioneering research of its more than 200 faculty, while educating undergraduate and graduate students in a collaborative environment to become leaders informed by a firm foundation in engineering. The School's faculty are at the center of the University's cross-disciplinary research, contributing to the Data Science Institute, Earth Institute, Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Precision Medicine Initiative, and the Columbia Nano Initiative. Guided by its strategic vision, "Columbia Engineering for Humanity," the School aims to translate ideas into innovations that foster a sustainable, healthy, secure, connected, and creative humanity. In addition to your passport and driving licence, a phone application that enables you to prove your identity quickly and securely and also offers even more privacy options could soon be possible. As part of the Dutch Blockchain Coalition, Delft University of Technology (TU Delft, The Netherlands) has joined forces with the Netherlands Identity Data Agency (RvIG), a division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Kingdom Relations (BZK), IDEMIA (the current manufacturer of Dutch passports) and law firm CMS, in developing an initial prototype for a digital stamp that could fulfil this purpose in the future. This digital identity is based on TU Delft's innovative blockchain technology, known as Trustchain. The prototype was demonstrated at a BZK event held on 7 June. After the summer, a consumer trial of this technology will be launched in two Dutch municipalities. Under your own control This form of self-sovereign identity service currently being explored could ultimately make it possible for citizens to have access to their personal data in the physical and digital worlds. Currently, many online platforms still use Facebook or Twitter for logging on. However, with a digital stamp, that could become a thing of the past. Johan Pouwelse, TU Delft project manager for this digital ID project: "The digital identity then becomes the property of the citizen. People will be free to store and use their digital identity themselves. Although this is just a future prospect, it is ultimately the direction we intend to go." Trialling after the summer After the summer, there are plans to test a prototype in two Dutch municipalities: Utrecht and Eindhoven. A test group will have an opportunity to obtain the new service 'It's me - validated by the government' and 'I'm over 18' (if applicable) as a digital certificate available on his or her phone. The trial will last until the end of 2018, after which it will be subjected to scientific research to explore the social, ethical, technological, legal, economic and consumer aspects. The results will form the basis for determining whether and how the idea should be pursued. Trustchain For more than ten years, TU Delft has been working on distributed ledger technology, otherwise known as blockchain. For the last two years, the work has been part of the Delft Blockchain Lab, with scientific coordination from Johan Pouwelse. For this trial, a special blockchain variant is being used, known as Trustchain (IETF Internet Standard draft or Trustchain) and developed by TU Delft. Trustchain is a technology that enables large networks of information to be stored quickly and securely, specially developed for recording identity and creating trust, as it easily detects fraud within the network. It therefore offers at least the same control, privacy and security as existing passports, but on a phone. Putting people first A strict precondition for success in developing technologies is that the same security requirements placed on passports also apply to the technology being explored. To achieve that, it needs to be able to make a connection with the person. Partners "The work we are doing here crosses numerous domains and we are working with various partners to achieve it", says Pouwelse. On the development of the digital stamp, TU Delft is collaborating closely with BZK, IDEMIA and CMS. Within the Dutch Blockchain coalition, Trustchain is just one of the technologies being used. The coalition partners - including TU Delft - are testing various technologies in order to gain concrete experience and understand what the pros and cons are of each technology. ### More information Contact Johan Pouwelse (TU Delft): https://www.tudelft.nl/staff/j.a.pouwelse/, see also http://www.blockchain-lab.org/trust/ Science Information Officer TU Delft Roy Meijer, r.e.t.meijer@tudelft.nl, +31 6 14015008 Netherlands Identity Data Agency, senior communication advisor Suzanne van Rijn, suzanne.vanrijn@rvig.nl, +31 6 52809200 For more information about this project within the Dutch Blockchain Coalition or interviews with one of the coalition partners, contact: Arlette de Haas, +31 (0)70 41 90 309, arlette.dehaas@ecp.nl or Quirine van der Klooster, +31 (0)6-48501279, qvdk@ecp.nl, https://www.dutchdigitaldelta.nl/blockchain The project will use a biological method for manufacturing pheromones, which provide a safe and sustainable alternative to harmful pesticides, reducing the environmental impact of agriculture. Estimated to reach nearly 17.5 billion by 2022, the cost of treating crops is growing at a rapid rate. Due to climate change, insect pests are on the rise - costing the US agriculture sector up to $700 million annually and resulting in up to 80% crop yield damage. Some of the most aggressive pests of agriculture are insect larvae. Semiochemicals are emitted by insects for communication. The most widely known of these are sex pheromones, produced by virgin females to attract mates of the same species. In project SUSPHIRE, the team of European scientists aim to use synthetic biology to produce insect sex pheromones in plants and fungi, building on the success of the Polytechnic University of Valencia's entry into the 2014 iGEM competition with project "SexyPlant" in which they produced insect sex-pheromones in plants. Improving on the initial proof-of-concept, the new research will identify and validate key biosynthetic enzymes for the bioproduction of the superfamily insect group Coccoidea (scale insects and mealybugs) pheromones. The biologically-produced pheromones can be used to control insect pests that affect agriculture and horticulture. Synthetic Biology Group Leader at EI, Dr Nicola Patron, said: "We will take a synthetic biology approach to identify and rewrite insect pheromone biosynthesis pathways, optimising bioproduction in plants and fungi. "The use of sex pheromones for pest control is already known to be feasible, but for many species, the manufacturing is difficult and expensive. Bioengineering can provide viable alternatives to manufacturing, expanding the use of pheromones that will be much kinder to our environment." Dispensing sex pheromones in plant production environments is used to disrupt mating in the target insect species and prevent breeding, thereby providing a highly species-specific control method. This presents a sustainable alternative to conventional pesticides, the use of which is progressively being restricted due to concerns about their non-specificity and negative impacts on biodiversity. The SUSPHIRE project will demonstrate that biosynthesis can provide a sustainable, low-cost manufacturing platform for the commercial production of insect pheromones and reduce the production cost of pheromones that are currently commercially non-viable. Insect sex pheromones are already used as a pest-control strategy. However, chemical synthesis is currently the only approach for manufacturing and the use of toxic ingredients is inevitable. Furthermore, the unusual chemical characteristics of many insect pheromones mean that synthesis is not cost-effective. Dr Diego Orzaez, who will present the project at ACHEMA, The World Forum and Leading Show for the Process Industries, in Frankfurt, added: "With an ever-growing global human population, increasing agricultural production through prevention of crop losses to pests has the potential for enormous economic and social impact. We estimate that the bio-manufacturing is an excellent opportunity to expand the pheromone market, contributing to reducing the global costs of integrated pest management programmes." ### Notes to Editors Further information on pesticide use The total use of insecticides in the EU has risen to over three tons per year. Agricultural losses due to arthropods (invertebrate animals) are estimated to be 18-26% of total crop production worldwide, equivalent to 470 billion US dollars per year, with major losses occurring in developing countries. SUSPHIRE's biotechnological approach could overcome current limitations in pheromone production and establish Europe at the forefront; as well as reinforcing EU leadership in plant synthetic biology. EU groups are pioneering the design of genetic circuits and the use of programmable DNA binding proteins in plants for the development of non-food plant crops for bioproduction of high-value products. About Earlham Institute (EI) The EI is a world-leading research institute focusing on the development of genomics and computational biology. EI is based within the Norwich Research Park and is one of eight institutes that receive strategic funding from BBSRC - 6.45M in 2015/2016 - as well as support from other research funders. EI operates a National Capability to promote the application of genomics and bioinformatics to advance bioscience research and innovation. EI offers a state of the art DNA sequencing facility, unique by its operation of multiple complementary technologies for data generation. The Institute is a UK hub for innovative bioinformatics through research, analysis and interpretation of multiple, complex data sets. It hosts one of the largest computing hardware facilities dedicated to life science research in Europe. It is also actively involved in developing novel platforms to provide access to computational tools and processing capacity for multiple academic and industrial users and promoting applications of computational Bioscience. Additionally, the Institute offers a training programme through courses and workshops, and an outreach programme targeting key stakeholders, and wider public audiences through dialogue and science communication activities. The mission of the EI is tackling global challenges through life science research. EI's research brings together a wealth of expertise in biosciences, bioinformatics, high-performance computing and biotechnology to understand complex biological systems in plants and animals and their interaction with the environment. EI is supported by UK Research and Innovation Councils to ensure that biological science in the UK has access to a skill base in genomics technologies and bioinformatics to deliver programmes leading to improved food security, advances in industrial biotechnology and improved human health and wellbeing. The institute is located on the Norwich Research Park (NRP) and also houses the Earlham DNA Foundry for accelerating progress in synthetic biology. http://www.earlham.ac.uk Participation in SUSPHIRE at the Earlham Institute (EI) is funded through a grant from the Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council (BBSRC), UK. Link to the grant in UKRI database: http://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FR021554%2F1 About Institute for Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology (IBMCP) The Institute for Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology (IBMCP) "Eduardo Primo Yufera" is a research center funded by both the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) and the Spanish Research Council (CSIC). IBMCP's mission is to generate knowledge that can be used to engineer plants with better productivity and fruit quality, or with added value (both for consumers and food industries). We are also striving to generate crop plants that are more resistant to stress (less dependent on chemical treatments), in order to contribute to more sustainable agriculture. The center is located at the Polytechnic City of Innovation (CPI) at the UPV Campus, and includes 7000 m2 of research labs and core services. It also includes 4150 m2 of greenhouses and plant growth chambers. About Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology (IATA) The Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology (IATA) is a centre of the CSIC. Its scientific-technical objective is to carry out research of excellence on the production of sustainable and quality food, taking into account its safety, health impact and consumer acceptance. Participation in SUSPHIRE at IBMCP and IATA is funded through a grant from Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO), Spain. About TU Darmstadt The Technische Universitat (TU) Darmstadt is one of Germany's leading technical universities. TU Darmstadt incorporates diverse science cultures to create its characteristic profile. The focus is set on engineering and natural sciences, which cooperate closely with outstanding humanities and social sciences. We are enjoying a worldwide reputation for excellent research in our highly-relevant, focused profile areas: cybersecurity, internet and digitalisation, nuclear physics, fluid dynamics and heat- and mass transfer, energy systems and new materials for product innovation. We dynamically develop our portfolio of research and teaching, innovation and transfer, in order to continue opening up important opportunities for the future of society. Our 312 professors, 4,450 scientific and administrative employees and close to 26,000 students devote their talents and best efforts to this goal. Together with Goethe University Frankfurt and Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, TU Darmstadt has formed the strategic Rhine-Main Universities alliance. Participation in SUSPHIRE at TU is funded through a grant from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research; Bundesministerium fur Bildung und Forschung (BMBF). About National Institute of Biology (NIB) With about 120 employees, NIB is the largest independent Public Research Institution for Life Sciences in Slovenia. The Institute was established by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia in 1960. The basic activity of the Institute has been and continues to be basic, developmental and applicative research in the fields of biotechnology, biophysics, biomedicine and system biology. The numerous activities taking place at the NIB are related to the environment, agriculture, food and, more recently and increasingly so, to human health. Participation in SUSPHIRE at NIB is funded through a grant from Ministry of Education, Science and Sport of Republic of Slovenia. About Ecologia y Proteccion Agricola (EPA) EPA is a Spanish technology-based company dedicated to the development and manufacture of phytosanitary products based on techniques of biorational pest control. Located in the Valencian Community and with a shareholding 100% Spanish and Valencian, EPA manufactures all of its products exclusively in facilities located in national territory through its own technology generated in Valencian and Spanish research centers, with which it collaborates permanently. Participation in SUSPHIRE at EPA is funded through a grant from the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI), Spain. Link to EU funding round : https://www.cobiotech.eu With Immunoscore, a test devised by a team of researchers from Inserm and Universite Paris Descartes and doctors from the Paris AP-HP hospitals, disease progression in patients with colon cancer can now be defined more accurately. According to an international study conducted in more than 2,500 patients, Immunoscore has proved effective in predicting which patients are at high risk of tumor recurrence and, as such, would benefit from intensified treatment following surgery. These results have been published in The Lancet. The seriousness of cancer, and particularly that of the colon, is essentially estimated according to the extent to which it has spread within the affected organ and the presence of metastasis. This estimation of the aggressiveness of the cancer and its risk of recurrence following treatment must however be improved. For decades, it has been thought that the immune reaction developed by the patient against his or her cancer has a beneficial influence. Researchers from Inserm and doctors from the Paris AP-HP hospitals have demonstrated in recent years that infiltration of the cancerous tumor by immune cells is a good indication of the way in which colorectal cancer might develop, thereby representing a potential prognostic tool. The immune cell populations which provide the most information on disease progression were identified and the method of evaluating these populations optimized. This method has led to the creation of an immunological test, applicable in clinical practice, called "Immunoscore". It works by quantifying the density of two types of immune cells in the tumor and its invasive margin: total T-cells (CD3+) and killer T-cells (cytotoxic CD8+). The objective of this international study published in The Lancet was to evaluate the prognostic value of Immunoscore in patients with colon cancer on a very large scale. For this, an international consortium of 14 immunology and pathology centers in 13 countries was formed. A total of 2,681 patients from these centers were included in this analysis. The prognostic performance of Immunoscore, in which patients are classified into 3 groups (high, intermediate and low), was evaluated on the basis of recurrence risk (evaluated during the 5 years following the surgery) and survival. The statistical analyses were all performed by a group of external biostatisticians from the Mayo Clinic in the USA. The results show that patients with a high Immunoscore present the lowest recurrence risk and prolonged survival. In the test group comprising 700 patients, only 8% of those with a high Immunoscore presented a recurrence after 5 years. However, the recurrence rate increased significantly in patients with intermediate and low Immunoscores, reaching 19% and 32%, respectively. These findings were confirmed in the two other patient groups analyzed, representing 1,981 patients. Furthermore, Immunoscore had a stronger bearing on patient survival than the tumor criteria which are currently used to guide therapy. These findings show that Immunoscore provides an accurate and reliable estimation of recurrence risk in patients with colon cancer. The researchers consider that these results support the use of Immunoscore as a new component in the classification of cancer, in which recurrence risk is used to improve individual patient treatment strategies, particularly the modulation of chemotherapy. In view of the highly positive results of this test in colon cancer, researchers are currently evaluating Immunoscore in other types of cancer and are studying its ability to predict patient response to the immunotherapies which are currently revolutionizing the treatment of cancer. ### Historic instrumental weather observations are critical in extending our knowledge of past weather and climate and for comparison with paleo-proxy data. The potential of such data is shown to best effect when assimilated into dynamical 4D global reanalyses to reconstruct weather and climate patterns and fluctuations over 200+ years; creating a spatially and temporally-complete data base of global weather that is used for improving climate projections and contributing to climate change detection and attribution studies. For some regions of the world however, a paucity of observational data requires a global, multi-disciplinary effort to source and recover previously unknown repositories of instrumental weather observations. This is the premise behind ACRE (Atmospheric Circulation Reconstructions over the Earth) China -a dedicated effort within the wider CSSP (Climate Science for Service Partnership) China project. In a recent article, Dr Fiona Williamson (National University of Singapore) and her co-authors from the UK, China, Japan and the US, discuss this project. CSSP China includes a dedicated effort--ACRE China--which tackles the challenges of recovering, collating, digitizing and working with long-term instrumental weather observations. CSSP China (supported by the UK Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy UK - China Research Innovation Partnership Fund) is enabling this work to go ahead as part of a collaboration between the China Meteorological Administration, the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the UK Meteorological Office amongst others. Project activities are also linked with other regional foci in ACRE Southeast Asia, and the new ACRE Japan. The region covered by ACRE China covers the mainland of China; Hong Kong PRC; Macau, China; and the wider China seas region. The recovery of instrumental observations for the area entails different stages, sourcing, imaging and digitization of historical data, enabled by cooperation amongst cross-disciplinary investigators from around the globe. Sources of data include weather observations taken on board "stationary ships" in Hong Kong harbour and vessels patrolling Chinese seas; those made on ships during voyages of exploration or naval surveys in Chinese waters or in Southeast Asia; as well as observations made at terrestrial meteorological registering stations, by observatories, government bodies, and port authorities at sub-daily scales. The effort and collaboration expended by all our partners globally, says Williamson, enables us to contribute to the magnitude and accuracy of important regional and global weather and climate data bases. ### BOZEMAN - A Montana State University doctoral graduate's research on the best way to identify places important for wildlife movement was recently recognized by an international organization dedicated to the study of landscape ecology. Meredith McClure, who earned her doctorate in MSU's Department of Ecology in 2012, won the Outstanding Paper Award in Landscape Ecology from the U.S. Regional Association of the International Association for Landscape Ecology. She received the award at the organization's annual meeting in April. McClure is lead author of the winning paper based on her dissertation comparing the efficacy of two methods for mapping wildlife corridors using migratory elk patterns and wolverine dispersal patterns as case studies. "The central goal of this paper was to examine how well two predictive models -- circuit theory and least-cost path -- are identifying the corridors used by animals," said McClure, who is now a lead scientist at Conservation Science Partners, Inc., a nonprofit organization based in Truckee, California. "We learned which type of movement each model is better at predicting, and that can help us choose the right tool for the job and map wildlife corridors more accurately." McClure explained that both circuit theory and least-cost path models borrow concepts from other fields. Least-cost path models, she said, are what a person's phone uses to map directions to a destination. "They find the path of least resistance from a starting point to an ending point," McClure said. "For drivers, this means considering distance, speed and traffic to minimize total travel time. For wildlife, this means considering distance and habitat quality to minimize energy expenditure or risk." She said that circuit theory models treat the landscape like an electrical circuit. "Places with good habitat have high conductance; places with poor habitat have high resistance," McClure said. "Here, we're predicting where animals are most likely to travel from point A to point B rather than electrons." For her research, McClure, who also earned a graduate certificate in statistics, used data gathered from GPS collars placed on elk and wolverines in previous studies to gauge the effectiveness of circuit theory and least-cost path models. She found that the circuit-theory models were more effective at predicting wolverine dispersal as wolverines mature and seek their own habitat away from their mother. One particularly adventurous young male wolverine made headlines for traversing from northern Wyoming to Colorado, eventually heading to North Dakota by way of Montana. By contrast, McClure found that least-cost path models proved to be slightly more accurate at anticipating the annual migratory paths of elk. Better understanding the movement patterns of animals -- whether seasonal migrations of herds or a one-time journey of a single animal to a new habitat -- will lead to wildlife corridor maps that better inform conservation efforts, McClure said. And, she added, animal-movement maps that are more precise bring multiple benefits, such as enabling highway planners to strategically place overpasses and underpasses to keep wildlife off roadways, which helps animals and humans alike continue on their journeys more safely. Such maps can also increase the effectiveness of conservation initiatives, which saves money, she said. "Conservation efforts can get expensive," McClure said. "Whether it's buying land to protect animal corridors or restoring habitat, it's important to get the location right. These investments need to be in places that will most benefit wildlife. We can't conserve everything, so it's important that the money spent accomplishes what was intended." McClure's research, "Connecting models to movements: Testing connectivity model predictions against empirical migration and dispersal data" was published in the Journal of Landscape Ecology in September 2016. Co-authors include her adviser, Andrew Hansen, professor of ecology in MSU's College of Letters and Science, and Robert Inman, who at the time was a researcher with the Wildlife Conservation Society. She said that many corridor maps are informed by very little data or may not have used the most effective modeling techniques for anticipating movement patterns for the wildlife they aim to protect. "It's easy to look at these maps and say, 'This is where we're going to invest,'" McClure said. "But, the reality is there is a lot of noise in the data and uncertainty in the models that can ultimately misrepresent what's actually happening. It's important to use the best tools we have and to test our models with data. Having a sense of our tools' limitations is important in understanding the risk of those investments and where we need more data." Hansen said the research is becoming even more important as wildlands give way to development. "As people increasingly develop the Mountain West, wildlife managers are challenged to map and maintain habitats through which wildlife species make seasonal and annual movements," Hansen said. "Dr. McClure and colleagues evaluated statistical methods to quantify the movement pathways of wolverine and elk. They found 'best methods' differed among the species. The states of Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming are now using results from her work to project wolverine connectivity in the northwest U.S. as a basis for wolverine conservation." ### A new study in Conservation Physiology, published by Oxford University Press, reveals that white shark activity increases dramatically when the animals are interacting with cage-diving operators. In recent decades, wildlife tourism has rapidly expanded and is one of the fastest growing sectors of the tourism industry. Ecotourism opportunities to cage-dive with white sharks, large marine predators, are available in Australia, South Africa, the United States of America, Mexico, and New Zealand, with up to seven companies operating simultaneously in one site. Previous studies have shown that wildlife tourism can change behavior of animal species by altering their habitats or eating patterns. How these changes affect the health of individual animals or animal populations is unclear. The study shows that white sharks are more active and likely use more energy when interacting with tourism operators compared to other situations (e.g. when operators are absent), raising questions about the behavioral changes such tourism may be causing. The researchers tracked ten white sharks at South Australia's Neptune Islands with devices for nine days, finding that the increased movement when sharks are interacting with cage-diving operators results in overall dynamic body acceleration, a proxy for activity, 61% higher compared to other times when sharks are present in the area. Since body acceleration is considered a proxy of metabolic rate, interacting with cage-divers is likely to use a lot more energy than standard white shark behaviors. "This suggests that the cage-diving industry has the potential to affect the energy budget of white sharks," said Charlie Huveneers, associate professor at Flinders University and the study's lead researcher. "However, the mere presence of the cage-diving operators in the general vicinity of the sharks was not sufficient to elicit such behavioral changes. These only occurred when white sharks were close to the cage-diving vessels." "Spending time interacting with cage-diving operators might distract sharks from normal behaviors such as foraging on natural, energy-rich prey like pinnipeds," Huveneers added. Commercial white shark cage-diving uses approved and regulated attractants to entice sharks within close proximity of the cages and provide good viewing opportunities for divers. However, in contrast to many other shark-related tourism activities, operators are not allowed to feed white sharks. The interaction with cage-diving tourists is, therefore, not rewarded by more food. This suggests that the increased energy expenditure from interacting with cage-diving operators might not be compensated by either bait or natural prey consumption. This study indicates that wildlife tourism may change the activity levels of white sharks and calls for an understanding of the frequency of shark-tourism interactions to appreciate the impact of ecotourism on this species fitness. ### The paper, "Interacting with wildlife tourism increases activity levels of white sharks," will be available at: http://doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coy019 Direct correspondence to: Charlie Huveneers College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University Adelaide, South Australia, 5042, AUSTRALIA charlie.huveneers@flinders.edu.au To request a copy of the study, please contact: Daniel Luzer daniel.luzer@oup.com Sharing on social media? Find Oxford Journals online at @OxfordJournals Please acknowledge Conservation Physiology as a source in any articles. The bacterial infection leptospirosis is increasingly recognized as an important cause of fever in Africa. Now, researchers reporting in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases have analyzed the major risk factors for contracting leptospirosis and discovered that rice and cattle farming are associated with acute infection. Leptospirosis, caused by bacteria of the genus Leptospira, causes a wide range of symptoms and can lead to serious complications include kidney and liver problems. In one study conducted in northern Tanzania, 8.8% of people with severe fevers had leptospirosis. Scientists know that animals can carry leptospirosis and lead to its spread throughout the environment or directly to humans. However, the major animal reservoirs and modes of transmission have not been well described. In the new work, Michael Maze of the University of Otago, New Zealand, and colleagues enrolled people with fever from two hospitals in Moshi, Tanzania from 2012 through 2014. Each participant was tested for leptospirosis, and administered a survey on risk behaviors over the past 30 days, including exposure to livestock, rodents, and surface water. The researchers identified 24 acute cases of leptospirosis, 252 people positive for lower levels of Leptospira bacteria (seropositivity), and 592 controls. Rice farming, cleaning cattle waste, feeding cattle and farm work were all positively associated with acute leptospirosis. Smallholder farming-- which may be associated with substantial exposure to both livestock and rodents--as well as frequent sightings of rodents in one's kitchen or food store-- was associated with seropositivity. "Our findings suggest that control of Leptospira infection in livestock could play a role in preventing human leptospirosis in Africa," the researchers say. ### In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases: http://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0006372 Citation: Maze MJ, Cash-Goldwasser S, Rubach MP, Biggs HM, Galloway RL, et al. (2018) Risk factors for human acute leptospirosis in northern Tanzania. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases 12(6): e0006372.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0006372 Funding: This work was supported by the joint US National Institutes of Health (NIH:http://www.nih.gov)-National Science Foundation (NSF:http://www.nsf.gov) Ecology of Infectious Disease program (R01TW009237) and the Research Councils UK, Department for International Development (UK) and UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC:http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk) (grant numbers BB/J010367/1, BB/L018926, BB/L017679, BB/L018845), and in part by an US National Institutes of Health International Studies on AIDS Associated Co-infections (ISAAC) award (grant number U01 AI062563) and in part by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funded Typhoid Fever Surveillance in sub-Saharan Africa Program (TSAP) grant (grant number OPPGH5231). Michael Maze received support from University of Otago scholarships: the Frances G. Cotter Scholarship and the MacGibbon Travel Fellowship. Shama Cash-Goldwasser and Matthew P. Rubach received support from National Institutes of Health Research Training Grants (grant numbers R25 TW009337 and R25 TW009343) funded by the Fogarty International Center and the National Institute of Mental Health. Holly M. Biggs received support from the National Institutes of Health Interdisciplinary Research Training Program in AIDS (grant number NIAID-AI007392). Katrina J. Allan received support from the Wellcome Trust (http://www.wellcome.ac.uk) (grantnumber 096400/Z/11/Z). Matthew P. Rubach, Venance P. Maro, Charles Muiruri, and John A. Crump received support from a US National Institutes of Health National Institute for Allergy and Infectious grant (grant number R01 AI121378). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. In a new study published June 7th, 2018 in PLOS Genetics, Christine Ambrosone of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and colleagues identified a genetic difference between people with African and European ancestry that affects how the immune system triggers inflammation. They suspect these differences are rooted in how the immune system evolved and the evolutionary pressure exerted by malaria on ancestors who lived in Africa. For thousands of years, the human immune system evolved to fight off constant assaults from a variety of infections, tailoring its response to defend against local threats. Thanks to modern hygiene, the immune system now faces far fewer attacks, but ancestral differences still remain, as demonstrated by differing disease rates between populations. To gain a better understanding of how different populations' immune systems respond to current lifestyles, researchers combined genetic, molecular and epidemiological data from in 914 people with African ancestry and 855 people with European ancestry from the African American Breast Cancer Epidemiology and Risk (AMBER) Consortium. They analyzed blood samples to detect 14 different chemical messengers involved in inflammation and identified significant differences between the populations in seven of those chemicals. Lifestyle factors such as age, education level, obesity, smoking and alcohol use could account for many of the differences, but the researchers also identified a genetic variant that occurred primarily in people with African ancestry. The variant controlled the levels of two key chemical messengers involved in recruiting white blood cells to sites of inflammation, and previous studies suggest it evolved to protect African individuals from contracting malaria. The immune differences between people with European and African ancestry may have important implications for health that deserve further study. Inflammation has evolved as a response to injury and infection but is also implicated in several types of cancer and chronic disease. Ancestral "footprints" in the genome, such as the one identified in the study, may be exacerbating the health disparities observed between these two groups. Corresponding author Christine Ambrosone adds: "We conducted this research based upon the hypothesis that adaptation over millennia to protect from infectious diseases in Africa, resulting in more robust immune response, could be related to more aggressive breast cancer in a modern environment. When we compared levels of certain inflammatory markers between women of African and European descent, we noted many differences. After we ruled out the effects of lifestyle factors, we found that much of these differences could be tied to the Duffy antigen receptor, whereby African Americans have a genotype that helps to protect from malaria." "These findings indicate that evolutionary adaptation many thousands of years ago shaped our immune systems, and may still have considerable influences on immune function today", explains first author Dr. Song Yao. "The next research question we are pursuing is whether those evolutionary marks play any significant role in affecting breast cancer health disparities". ### In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS Genetics: http://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1007368 Citation: Yao S, Hong C-C, Ruiz-Narvaez EA, Evans SS, Zhu Q, Schaefer BA, et al. (2018) Genetic ancestry and population differences in levels of inflammatory cytokines in women: Role for evolutionary selection and environmental factors. PLoS Genet 14(6): e1007368. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1007368 Image Credit: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, Flickr, Public Domain Mark 1.0 Image Caption: Colorized scanning electron micrograph of red blood cell infected with malaria parasites, which are colorized in blue. The infected cell is in the center of the image area. To the left are uninfected cells with a smooth red surface. Funding: This work was supported by the National Cancer Institute (grant number P01CA151135 to C.B.A, J.R.P., and A.F.O, R01CA058420 to L.R., UM1CA164974 to L.R., R01CA098663 to J.R.P., R01CA100598 to C.B.A., P50CA58223 to M.A.T. and A.F.O.); the University Cancer Research Fund of North Carolina (M.A.T. and A.F.O.); and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (C.B.A.). Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) Data Bank and Biorepository and the Flow Cytometry Shared Resource are Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG) Shared Resource supported by the National Cancer Institute (grant number P30CA16056 to Johnson CS). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Two new species of tiny symbiotic shrimps are described, illustrated and named by biology student at Leiden University Werner de Gier as part of his bachelor's research project, supervised by Dr. Charles H. J. M. Fransen, shrimp researcher of Naturalis Biodiversity Center (Leiden, the Netherlands). Inspired by the extremely hairy feet of one of the species, the authors decided that they should honour Middle Earth's greatest halfling, Bilbo Baggins. Aptly named Odontonia bagginsi, the new shrimp joins the lines of other species named after Tolkien's characters such as the cave-dwelling harvestman Iandumoema smeagol, the golden lizard Liolaemus smaug and the two subterranean spiders Ochyrocera laracna and Ochyrocera ungoliant. The newly described shrimps were collected during the Ternate expedition to the Indonesian islands of Tidore and Ternate, organised by Naturalis Biodiversity Center and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) in 2009. Typically for the Odontonia species, the new shrimps do not reach sizes above a centimetre in length, and were found inside tunicates. It is believed that these symbiotic crustaceans are fully adapted to live inside the cavities of their hosts, which explains their small-sized and smooth bodies. Unlike most Odontonia species, which live inside solitary tunicates, the new species Odontonia plurellicola was the first one to be associated with a colonial tunicate. These tunicates have even smaller internal cavities, which explains the tiny size of the new species. To determine the placement of the new species in the tree of life, the scientists compared the shrimps' anatomical features, including the legs, mouthparts and carapace. As a result, they were assigned to Odontonia. Further, the available genetic information and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images of the unusual feet of the newly discovered shrimp provided a new updated identification key for all members of the species group. "Being able to describe, draw and even name two new species in my bachelor years was a huge honour. Hopefully, we can show the world that there are many new species just waiting to be discovered, if you simply look close enough!" says Werner de Gier, who is currently writing his graduate thesis at Naturalis Biodiversity Center and working together with Dr. Charles Fransen on crustaceans. ### Original source: de Gier W, Fransen CHJM (2018) Odontonia plurellicola sp. n. and Odontonia bagginsi sp. n., two new ascidian-associated shrimp from Ternate and Tidore, Indonesia, with a phylogenetic reconstruction of the genus (Crustacea, Decapoda, Palaemonidae). ZooKeys 765: 123-160. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.765.25277 Letters of recommendation written for women are more likely to contain words or phrases that raise doubts about job or education qualifications than letters written for men, according to new research from Rice University and the University of Houston. "Raising Doubt in Letters of Recommendation for Academia: Gender Differences and Their Impact" is available online and will appear in an upcoming print edition of the Journal of Business and Psychology. The research was led by Mikki Hebl, the Martha and Henry Malcolm Lovett Professor of Psychology, and her former graduate student, Juan Madera, now an associate professor of hospitality management at the University of Houston. The paper included two studies about language that raises doubts in letters of recommendation. The researchers defined "doubt-raisers" as phrases or statements that question an applicant's aptness for a job. This language falls into four categories: negativity (directly saying something bad), faint praise (indirect criticism of someone or something by giving a slight compliment), hedges (cautious or vague language) and irrelevant information (going off in a direction unrelated to the job description). Examples of doubt-raisers are statements like "the candidate has a somewhat challenging personality" or "she might be a good leader in the future." The first study revealed that, on average, letters written for women were more likely to contain a doubt-raiser than letters written for men (regardless of whether a man or a woman wrote the letter). This was true for negativity, hedging and faint praises but not for irrelevancies. Hebl notes that doubt-raisers are not extraordinarily uncommon -- on average, more than half of the letters contained at least one. She also notes that such wording might weigh in on decisions in which candidates otherwise have very similar qualifications. "Letters of recommendation are usually so positively skewed to begin with that a 'doubt-raiser' can stand out in a sea of positivity," Hebl said. "Also, recommendations are made all the time, even if they're not in letter form. It's so important to think about the ways language reflects subtle biases, as these spoken subtleties also may add up over time to create disparities." In the second study, the researchers examined whether people actually recognized and were influenced by a doubt-raiser within a recommendation letter. Approximately 300 university professors across the country were asked to rate one recommendation letter. Letters were manipulated to have just one of the four doubt-raisers and to be written for either a man or woman; all other information contained in the letter was identical across conditions. The researchers found that the presence of any one of three doubt-raisers -- negativity, faint praise or hedges -- caused the professors to rate these letters negatively. The fourth doubt-raiser, irrelevant information, made no difference in how the letters were rated. Hebl noted that doubt-raisers were considered negative regardless of whether the letter was written for a male or female. "I would suggest avoiding these types of phrases in recommendations if you are trying to write a strong letter," Hebl said, "and to be aware that they might be more likely to unintentionally slip into letters for women than men." ### Madera was the study's lead author. Randi Martin, the Elma W. Schneider Professor of Psychology at Rice, and Virginia Valian, a distinguished professor of psychology at the City University of New York, co-authored the paper. The study was funded by a National Institutes of Health grant. Related materials: Photo for download: http://news.rice.edu/files/2018/06/hebl-recommendation-letter-art-1oj5tya.jpg Photo courtesy of Rice University/123rf.com. Read the study online via subscription at https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10869-018-9541-1. Members of the news media without journal access can request a copy by emailing David Ruth at david@rice.edu. Mikki Hebl bio: https://psychology.rice.edu/mikki-hebl Rice Department of Psychology website: https://psychology.rice.edu/ Rice School of Social Sciences website: https://socialsciences.rice.edu/ Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews. This news release can be found online at http://news.rice.edu. In keeping with its mission of "finding cures and means of prevention for childhood catastrophic diseases," St. Jude Children's Research Hospital has partnered with 69 other National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated cancer centers to issue a statement urging for increased HPV vaccination and screening to eliminate HPV-related cancers, starting with cervical cancer. These institutions collectively recognize insufficient vaccination as a public health threat and call upon the nation's physicians, parents and young adults to take advantage of this rare opportunity to eliminate several different types of cancer in men and women. Nearly 80 million Americans - 1 out of every 4 people - are infected with human papillomavirus (HPV). And of those millions, more than 31,000 will be diagnosed with an HPV-related cancer this year. Despite those staggering figures and the availability of a vaccine to prevent the infections that cause these cancers, HPV vaccination remains low in the United States. "We have an unprecedented opportunity to eliminate cancers caused by HPV," said Charles Roberts, M.D., Ph.D., executive vice president at St. Jude and director of the St. Jude Comprehensive Cancer Center. "But to achieve this, we need to get our teens vaccinated." Vaccination rates remain significantly lower than other recommended adolescent vaccines in the U.S. According to 2016 data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), fewer than 50 percent of girls and 38 percent of boys completed the recommended vaccine series. In Tennessee, the numbers are even lower, with only 14 percent of boys completing the vaccine series and with girls ranking the lowest (50th) among the 50 states for series completion in a 2014 CDC report. Correlating with this, residents of Tennessee and the Mid-South have among the highest incidences of HPV-related cancers in the U.S. Research shows there are a number of barriers to overcome to improve vaccination rates, including a lack of strong recommendations from physicians and parents not understanding that this vaccine protects against several types of cancer in men and women. HPV causes multiple cancers including cervical, anal, and throat cancers. HPV experts from the nation's top cancer centers, along with partners from the NCI, CDC and the American Cancer Society, are meeting June 7-8 in Salt Lake City to discuss a path forward to eliminating cancers caused by HPV, including ways to reduce barriers to vaccination, as well as sharing education, training and intervention strategies to improve vaccination rates. "We use every tool at our disposal, including chemotherapy, radiation, surgery and immunotherapy to strive to cure each child's cancer," Roberts said. "But in the case of HPV-related cancers, the need for these intensive therapies could be avoided because these cancers can be prevented in the first place with HPV vaccination." This is the third year that all NCI-designated cancer centers have come together to issue a national call to action. All 70 cancer centers unanimously share the goal of sending a powerful message to parents, adolescents and health care providers about the importance of HPV vaccination for the elimination of HPV-related cancers. ### A new blood test for pregnant women detects with 75-80 percent accuracy whether their pregnancies will end in premature birth. The technique can also be used to estimate a fetus's gestational age -- or the mother's due date -- as reliably as and less expensively than ultrasound. Developed by a team of scientists led by researchers at Stanford University, the tests could help reduce problems related to premature birth, which affects 15 million infants worldwide each year. Until now, doctors have lacked a reliable way to predict whether pregnancies will end prematurely, and have struggled to accurately predict delivery dates for all types of pregnancies, especially in low-resource settings. The blood tests are described in a paper that will be published online June 7 in Science. Stephen Quake, PhD, professor of bioengineering and of applied physics at Stanford, shares senior authorship with Mads Melbye, MD, visiting professor of medicine. The lead authors are former Stanford postdoctoral scholar Thuy Ngo, PhD, and Stanford graduate student Mira Moufarrej. "This work is the result of a fantastic collaboration between researchers around the world," said Quake, who is also the Lee Otterson Professor in the School of Engineering. "We have worked closely with the team at the Stanford March of Dimes Prematurity Research Center, and the research involved collaborations with scientists in Denmark, Pennsylvania and Alabama. It's really team science at its finest." The tests measure the activity of maternal, placental and fetal genes by assessing maternal blood levels of cell-free RNA, tiny bits of the messenger molecule that carry the body's genetic instructions to its protein-making factories. The team used blood samples collected during pregnancy to identify which genes gave reliable signals about gestational age and prematurity risk. "We found that a handful of genes are very highly predictive of which women are at risk for preterm delivery," said Melbye, who is also president and CEO of the Statens Serum Institute in Copenhagen. "I've spent a lot of time over the years working to understand preterm delivery. This is the first real, significant scientific progress on this problem in a long time." Largest cause of infant mortality in U.S. Premature birth, in which a baby arrives at least three weeks early, affects 9 percent of U.S. births. It is the largest cause of infant mortality in the United States and the largest contributor to death before age 5 among children worldwide. In two-thirds of preterm births, the mother goes into labor spontaneously; doctors usually do not know why. Previously, the best available tests for predicting premature birth worked only in high-risk women, such as those who had already given birth prematurely, and were correct only about 20 percent of the time. Quake first became interested in this problem when he became a parent: his daughter was born nearly a month premature. "She's now a very healthy and active 16-year-old, but it certainly stuck in my mind that this is an important problem to work on," Quake said. Doctors also need better methods for measuring gestational age, he added. Obstetricians now use ultrasound scans from the first trimester of pregnancy to estimate a woman's due date, but ultrasound gives less reliable information as pregnancy progresses, making it less useful for women who don't get early prenatal care. Ultrasound also requires expensive equipment and trained technicians, which are unavailable in much of the developing world. In contrast, the researchers anticipate that the new blood test will be simple and cheap enough to use in low-resource settings. 'Super-high resolution view of pregnancy' The gestational-age test was developed by studying a cohort of 31 Danish women who gave blood weekly throughout their pregnancies. The women all had full-term pregnancies. The scientists used blood samples from 21 of them to build a statistical model, which identified nine cell-free RNAs produced by the placenta that predict gestational age, and validated the model using samples from the remaining 10 women. The estimates of gestational age given by the model were accurate about 45 percent of the time, which is comparable to 48 percent accuracy for first-trimester ultrasound estimates. Measuring cell-free RNA in mothers' blood also could provide a wealth of new information about fetal growth, Ngo said. "This gives a super-high resolution view of pregnancy and human development that no one's ever seen before," she said. "It tells us a lot about human development in normal pregnancy." To figure out how to predict preterm birth, the researchers used blood samples from 38 American women who were at risk for premature delivery because they had already had early contractions or had given birth to a preterm baby before. These women each gave one blood sample during the second or third trimester of their pregnancies. Of this group, 13 delivered prematurely, and the remaining 25 delivered at term. The scientists found that levels of cell-free RNA from seven genes from the mother and the placenta could predict which pregnancies would end early. "It's mostly maternal genes," Moufarrej said, noting that the genes that predict prematurity are different than those that give information about gestational age. "We think it's mom sending a signal that she's ready to pull the ripcord." Biology of preterm birth still mysterious The scientists need to validate the new tests in larger cohorts of pregnant women before they can be made available for widespread use. A blood test to detect Down syndrome that was developed by Quake's team in 2008 is now used in more than 3 million pregnant women per year, he noted. The biological mechanism behind preterm birth is still a mystery, but the scientists plan to investigate the roles of the genes that signal prematurity to better understand why it happens. They also hope to identify targets for drugs that could delay premature birth. ### Other Stanford authors of the paper are graduate student Keli Liu; postdoctoral scholar Joan Camunas-Soler, PhD; research affiliates Wenying Pan, PhD, Jennifer Okamoto and Norma Neff, PhD; senior research scientist Ronald Wong; Robert Tibshirani, PhD, professor of biomedical data science and of statistics; Gary Shaw, DrPH, professor of pediatrics; and David Stevenson, MD, professor of pediatrics. Scientists from the Statens Serum Institute in Copenhagen, the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the University of Alabama-Birmingham also contributed to the study. Quake, Tibshirani, Shaw and Stevenson are members of Stanford Bio-X; Tibshirani, Shaw and Stevenson are members of the Stanford Child Health Research Institute; Quake and Tibshirani are members of the Stanford Cancer Institute; Stevenson is an affiliate of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment; and Quake is a member of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, Stanford ChHEM-H and the Stanford Neurosciences Institute. The research was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the March of Dimes Prematurity Research Center at Stanford University, the March of Dimes Prematurity Initiative Grant at the University of Pennsylvania and the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, of which Quake is co-president. The Chan Zuckerberg Biohub has submitted a patent application for the new technology. Stanford's departments of Bioengineering, Applied Physics and Pediatrics also supported the work. The Department of Bioengineering is jointly operated by the schools of Medicine and of Engineering. The Stanford University School of Medicine consistently ranks among the nation's top medical schools, integrating research, medical education, patient care and community service. For more news about the school, please visit http://med.stanford.edu/school.html. The medical school is part of Stanford Medicine, which includes Stanford Health Care and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford. For information about all three, please visit http://med.stanford.edu. Print media contact: Erin Digitale (650) 724-9175 (digitale@stanford.edu) Broadcast media contacts: Margarita Gallardo at (650) 723-7897 (mjgallardo@stanford.edu); Becky Bach at (650) 724-2454 (retrout@stanford.edu) WASHINGTON-- Women with thyroid dysfunction in the first half of pregnancy face an increased risk for gestational diabetes, a form of diabetes that is typically diagnosed during the second trimester, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. Thyroid dysfunction is common among pregnant women and has been linked to miscarriages, premature birth and adverse health outcomes in children. High thyroid hormone levels during pregnancy are also tied to the development of gestational diabetes, which affects up to 2 to 10 percent of the pregnancies in the United States and increases the risk of premature delivery and high blood sugar levels in the mother. After birth, the baby may develop hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, which can be very dangerous if not treated correctly. "Screening for thyroid dysfunction during pregnancy is still controversial, even though, among non-pregnant individuals, it can lead to earlier detection and treatment of metabolic diseases," said the senior author of the study, Cuilin Zhang M.D., Ph.D., of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) in Rockville, Md. "Our study found that women with thyroid abnormalities in the first half of pregnancy are at an increased risk for gestational diabetes, a common pregnancy complication that can cause short and long-term health problems for women and their children." In the case-control study, researchers from the NICHD assessed the medical records of 107 women with gestational diabetes and 214 other pregnant women from the Fetal Growth Studies-Singleton Cohort, a multiracial pregnancy cohort of 2,802 women. The researchers found higher thyroid hormone levels were an indicator of gestational diabetes risk starting early in pregnancy. "These findings, in combination with previous evidence of thyroid-related adverse pregnancy outcomes, support the benefits of thyroid screening among pregnant women in early to mid-pregnancy," Zhang said. ### Other authors of the study include: Shristi Rawal of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Md. and Rutgers University in Newark, N.J.; Michael Tsai of University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis, Minn.; Stefanie Hinkle, Yuan Lin and Pranati Panuganti of the NIH in Bethesda, Md.; Yeyi Zhu of Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, Calif.; Wei Bao of University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa; Paul Albert of the National Cancer Institute in Rockville, Md.; and Ronald Ma of The Chinese University of Hong Kong in Hong Kong, China. The study was supported by research grants from NICHD and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The study, "A Longitudinal Study of Thyroid Markers across Pregnancy and the Risk of Gestational Diabetes," 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. Corresponding Author: David J. Volsky, PhD, Professor of Medicine and Pathology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; Mary Jane Potash PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine and Pathology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Bottom Line: An experimental model of HIV infection in mice, developed by Mount Sinai researchers, has shown that HIV causes learning and memory dysfunction, a cognitive disease that is now observed in about half of HIV infected people that worsens with age, and is currently incurable. Results: Researchers genetically engineered a rodent version of HIV known as EcoHIV that reproduces many features of human infection. Once infected, mice carry EcoHIV for their lifetimes and the virus remains transmissible. Of particular clinical relevance, within a month of infection all mice failed in tests of learning and memory, like in people on antiretroviral therapy. These problems could not be reversed using standard antiretroviral drugs. Why the Research Is Interesting: This is the first small animal model that reproduces the establishment of viral reservoirs and mild brain disease observed in HIV infected people. When: The study examined data from 2012-2017 What: The study measured EcoHIV levels, anti-EcoHIV immune responses, EcoHIV infectivity and capacity to learn of infected mice. How: Mice were infected by EcoHIV, and virus levels were measured by extremely sensitive amplification of DNA and RNA, efficient protein detection directly and by fluorescence microscopy. The ability to learn was measured by training mice to first recognize and then remember visual symbols swimming toward them. Study Conclusions: EcoHIV infection of mice can be used to develop and test new drugs against HIV, including targeting reservoirs of infectious virus, as well as drugs directed specifically to restore normal brain function damaged by HIV infection, despite antiretroviral therapy. Paper Title: EcoHIV infection of mice establishes latent viral reservoirs in T cells and active viral reservoirs in macrophages that are sufficient for induction of cognitive impairment. Said Mount Sinai's Dr. Volsky of the research: "Cognitive impairment is a common problem in a wide variety of human conditions including diabetes, aging, and Alzheimer's disease. Studies in the EcoHIV model of cognitive impairment may have broad implications for better understanding and treatment of these conditions in other disease states." ### About the Mount Sinai Health System The Mount Sinai Health System is New York City's largest integrated delivery system encompassing seven hospital campuses, a leading medical school, and a vast network of ambulatory practices throughout the greater New York region. Mount Sinai's vision is to produce the safest care, the highest quality, the highest satisfaction, the best access and the best value of any health system in the nation. The System includes approximately 7,100 primary and specialty care physicians; 10 joint-venture ambulatory surgery centers; more than 140 ambulatory practices throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and 31 affiliated community health centers. The Icahn School of Medicine is one of three medical schools that have earned distinction by multiple indicators: ranked in the top 20 by U.S. News & World Report's "Best Medical Schools", aligned with a U.S. News & World Report's "Honor Roll" Hospital, No. 13 in the nation for National Institutes of Health funding, and among the top 10 most innovative research institutions as ranked by the journal Nature in its Nature Innovation Index. This reflects a special level of excellence in education, clinical practice, and research. The Mount Sinai Hospital is ranked No. 18 on U.S. News & World Report's "Honor Roll" of top U.S. hospitals; it is one of the nation's top 20 hospitals in Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Diabetes/Endocrinology, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Geriatrics, Nephrology, and Neurology/Neurosurgery, and in the top 50 in four other specialties in the 2017-2018 "Best Hospitals" issue. Mount Sinai's Kravis Children's Hospital also is ranked in six out of ten pediatric specialties by U.S. News & World Report. The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked 12th nationally for Ophthalmology and 50th for Ear, Nose, and Throat, while Mount Sinai Beth Israel, Mount Sinai St. Luke's and Mount Sinai West are ranked regionally. For more information, visit http://www.mountsinai.org/, or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. For the first time in our planet's 4.5 billion-year history a single species, humans, is increasingly dictating its future, according to a new book by UCL scientists. The new epoch known as the Anthropocene - assessed in 2015 by Professors Simon Lewis and Mark Maslin in a report published in Nature - marks the period when human impacts on our home planet have become global and sustained. In their new book, The Human Planet, the authors have now gathered new evidence which reveals the basic rules governing human societies from the earliest hunter-gatherers to those of the present day. They warn that this evidence points to today's globally interconnected mega-civilisation moving in one of two directions; one of continued rapid global growth and an eventual catastrophic collapse, or the emergence of a new mode of living that replaces the latest type of society, consumer capitalism. The two scientists show that in all of human history there have been just five successive types of society that spread worldwide. Each of these societies relied on the greater use of energy, and a greater generation and flow of information and knowledge. This resulted in more people, increased productivity, and rising collective human agency, but also led to ever-greater global environmental consequences. "How the human story fits within Earth's history is obviously complex, but one role of scientists is to pick away at difficult problems to understand them in simpler and more fundamental ways," said Simon Lewis, Professor of Global Change Science (UCL Geography). "By tracing the environmental impacts of different human societies since our march out of Africa we noticed that they had features in common. While new energy sources, like fossil fuels, and new ways of communicating information, like record-keeping, are well-recognised as revolutionary in their impacts, a much larger and more coherent picture emerged." The five societies that emerged and spread are: Hunter-Gatherer, Agricultural, Mercantile Capitalist, Industrial Capitalist and Consumer Capitalist. Each of these started with a major, and usually traumatic, transition: Domestication, European colonisation, the Industrial Revolution and the Great Acceleration that followed the end of the Second World War. The scientists believe that their analysis points towards to two future scenarios. One following the response of all other types of animal that encounter vast new resources: a long period of exponential growth, just as the global economy is growing, followed by a swift collapse; or the emergence of a new sixth type of society that replaces the consumer capitalist mode of living. The academics argue that more energy for all and increased investments in education, the internet and computing are essential components for a transition to sixth type of society. However, even if new energy comes from renewables, and fossil fuels are rapidly phased out to avoid catastrophic climate change, such a leap may not be enough to avoid collapse. To do that requires breaking the current high-production and high-consumption model of human development at the heart of consumer capitalism and a focus on environmental repair. The book ends with two bold ideas that are under increasing discussion to do this: Universal Basic Income, an unconditional payment to every citizen to cover their subsistence needs, to break the production-consumption dynamic; and Half-Earth, where half the Earth's surface is allocated for the primary benefit of other species, with humans having the run of the rest, to enable environmental restoration. "What human actions have done in the small amount of time we have been on this planet is astonishing. We have cut down half the trees on Earth, over 3 trillion of them, and have made enough concrete to cover the whole surface of the Earth in a layer 2 millimetres thick. We have created over 170,000 synthetic mineral-like substances compared with about 5,000 'natural' occurring minerals, and we make over 300 million tonnes of plastic per year which can be found in every ocean. Most shocking of all is that if we weighed all land mammals in the world, humans would represent 30 percent livestock 67 percent and just 3 percent wild animals. We really do live on a human dominated planet" says Mark Maslin, Professor of Earth System Science (UCL Geography). Lewis and Maslin conclude that we need to recognise our planet-changing power and redirect it to shifting to a new type of society so that people and the rest of life we share our home planet with can all flourish. ### Notes to Editors For more information or to speak to the researchers involved: Natasha Downes, UCL Media Relations. T: +44 (0) 20 3108 3844 / +44 (0) 7990 675 947, E: n.downes@ucl.ac.uk The Human Planet: How We Created the Anthropocene, by Simon L. Lewis & Mark A. Maslin, is published 7 June by Penguin. The summary data on the five types of societies that spread worldwide is in figures 10.3 and 10.4 of the book. For the book text and names of independent peer-reviewers of the book, contact, Daisy Taylor dtaylor@penguinrandomhouse.co.uk. Diagrams available here: https://we.tl/Fc942IUW6U About UCL (University College London) UCL was founded in 1826. We were the first English university established after Oxford and Cambridge, the first to open up university education to those previously excluded from it, and the first to provide systematic teaching of law, architecture and medicine. We are among the world's top universities, as reflected by performance in a range of international rankings and tables. UCL currently has over 39,000 students from 150 countries and over 12,500 staff. Our annual income is more than 1 billion. http://www.ucl.ac.uk | Follow us on Twitter @uclnews | Watch our YouTube channel YouTube.com/UCLTV University of Adelaide researchers have created a laser that can "smell" different gases within a sample. Applications for the new device lie not just in environmental monitoring and detecting industrial contamination, but may eventually be used to diagnose disease by "smelling" the breath. The researchers liken the ability of the laser to differentiate between different gas compounds in a sample to the sensitive nose of a bloodhound. But rather than smell, the device uses patterns of light absorption to measure the composition of the sample. From the University's Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing (IPAS), the researchers report in the journal Physical Review Applied that the laser can measure the amount of carbon dioxide in a gas sample in under one second, with high accuracy and precision. "The ability to rapidly measure gas composition to such high accuracy is cutting edge," says lead author Sarah Scholten, PhD candidate in the University's School of Physical Sciences. "With further development, it opens the way for real-time and inexpensive monitoring and analysis that can be carried out in the field, or in the doctor's surgery, by non-specialist operators." The device exploits a Nobel-prize winning technology, developed by US and German scientists, called an 'optical frequency comb'. This 'laser comb' generates millions of different light frequencies or colours at once. The researchers pass this special light through a sample of gas where each gas molecule absorbs a distinctive set of colours. The pattern of light absorption is a unique fingerprint of the gas composition of the sample. "This first work aims at atmospheric monitoring, however, the technique is broadly applicable and offers an avenue for near-universal concentration measurements," says Dr Chris Perrella, Postdoctoral Fellow. The group now aims to use the laser comb to unravel the chemical composition of the exhaled breath - in this much more complex situation they hope to find tell-tale chemical signs that point to underlying disease. The ultimate goal is to use the laser as a screening tool - to discover a serious illness even before the patient is aware of the condition. ### The research was led by IPAS Director Professor Andre Luiten and was funded by the Australian Research Council, Medical and Scientific Services Pty Ltd, the South Australian Premier's Research and Industry Fund and a South Australian Government Catalyst Research Grant. Media Contact: Sarah Scholten, PhD candidate, School of Physical Sciences, The University of Adelaide. Mobile: +61 (0)401 857 960, sarah.scholten@adelaide.edu.au Professor Andre Luiten, IPAS Director, The University of Adelaide, Phone: +61 (0)8 8313 2359, Mobile: +61(0) 404 817 168, andre.luiten@adelaide.edu.au Dr Chris Perrella, Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing, The University of Adelaide. Phone: +61 ())8 8313 2323, Mobile: +61 (0)424 544 035, chris.perrella@adelaide.edu.au Robyn Mills, Media Officer, University of Adelaide. Phone: +61 (0)8 8313 6341, Mobile: +61 (0)410 689 084, robyn.mills@adelaide.edu.au The five-year survival rate for locally-advanced head and neck cancer is only 46 percent, even with treatments including surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and/or genetically targeted treatments such as cetuximab. Often, the problem is that while treatments initially work, cancer evolves to resist treatment. "The question has been how are cancers resisting these treatments," says Sana Karam, MD, PhD, University of Colorado Cancer Center investigator and assistant professor of Radiation Oncology at the CU School of Medicine. To answer this question, Karam worked with first author and postdoctoral fellow, Shilpa Bhatia, to explore the genetics of tumor samples taken at the time of a patient's first surgery and then again once cancer progressed following treatment. "By finding what was different between tumors that responded to treatment and those that had learned to resist treatment, we hoped to find some biological predictors or targets that we could exploit or manipulate to improve outcomes," Bhatia says. What they found is that a pair of genes associated with early brain development but silent in healthy adult tissue had been turned back on in tumor samples that resisted therapy. The genes were EphB4 and its partner ephrin-B2. "Both of these go up after the patient fails, so we thought, why don't we target them and see if that works," Karam says. To do this, they used tumor tissue from a patient who had relapsed and grew it in mice. Then mice were split into treatment groups, with some receiving the chemotherapy cisplatin, some receiving the anti-EGFR drug cetuximab, and some receiving radiation alone or in addition to these therapies. In a separate cohort of each group, researchers also added an experimental EphB4-ephrin-B2 inhibitor to treatment. First, "in the cisplatin arm, tumors laughed at the new inhibitor therapy," Karam says. But in models in which EphB4-ephrin-B2 inhibition was added to treatment with the EGFR inhibitor cetuximab, the addition of EphB4-ephrin-B2 inhibition dramatically reduced tumor size and resulted in better overall survival. In the researchers' opinion, it may be as if EGFR and EphB4-ephrin-B2 are alternate paths to the same goal. This might explain why EphB4-ephrin-B2 inhibition was unsuccessful when combined with the chemotherapy cisplatin - tumors could continue their growth through EGFR. And it might also explain why EphB4-ephrin-B2 inhibition was successful when combined with cetuximab - with both EGFR and EphB4-ephrin-B2 blocked, tumors had no path to continue their growth. "EphB4-ephrin-B2 inhibitors are currently in clinical trials in other disease settings, and our work shows that it might be successful in combination with EGFR inhibition in advanced head and neck cancers as well," Karam says. Ongoing work seeks to discover predictors of response to this combination treatment, possibly pairing EphB4-ephrin-B2 inhibition with patients whose tumors show high levels of these proteins. Results are published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research. ### CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Small sample sizes in studies using functional MRI to investigate brain connectivity and function are common in neuroscience, despite years of warnings that such studies likely lack sufficient statistical power. A new analysis reveals that task-based fMRI experiments involving typical sample sizes of about 30 participants are only modestly replicable. This means that independent efforts to repeat the experiments are as likely to challenge as to confirm the original results. The study, reported in the Nature journal Communications Biology, also finds that task-based fMRI studies with sample sizes of up to 100 also fall short of being perfectly replicable. Task-based fMRI studies track changes in blood oxygen levels in the brain while study subjects are engaged in cognitive tasks. The technique allows researchers to see which brain regions are recruited to perform specific tasks. But those in the field of cognitive neuroscience have not agreed on specific standards for the design of task-based fMRI studies - in particular, how many study subjects are needed to ensure reliable findings. The new research aims to address this shortfall, researchers said. "This study is the largest investigation of the role of sample size in the reproducibility of task-based fMRI methods," said University of Illinois psychology professor Aron Barbey, who conducted the research with Erick Paul, a former postdoctoral fellow at the U. of I.; Benjamin Turner, of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore; and Michael Miller, of the University of California, Santa Barbara. "We systematically examined the reproducibility of studies at different sample sizes, from as few as 16 to as many as 121 participants, and across many different task-based fMRI approaches," Barbey said. "We found that reproducibility is modest in studies involving the standard number of 30 participants, and that much larger sample sizes may be needed to improve replicability." The problem is widespread, Paul said. A majority fMRI studies published in cognitive neuroscience journals in 2011-14 involved fewer than 100 participants. The median number is about 30. The problem stems in part from the fact that fMRI studies are expensive. "Even small studies can cost several tens of thousands of dollars, and funding systems are not generally set up to enable the routine collection of data from more than 100 participants," Paul said. Other factors also contribute to the challenge. For example, researchers in neuroscience and psychological science may not understand how statistical analyses for fMRI differ from those in behavioral studies, and so may not accurately evaluate the statistical power of their fMRI analyses, Turner said. "They may confuse the high retest accuracy of fMRI with high replicability," he said. "But that sort of accuracy refers only to retests of the same individuals engaged in the same tasks, not to similarity across separate small groups." To overcome the problem of expense, Miller suggests that researchers pool their resources to conduct fMRI studies across numerous sites involving greater numbers of participants. This would likely result in more diverse participant pools. It also would advance the work of many scientists, laboratories and institutions at once, yielding more data per participant with potentially greater impact. "Replicability is the foundation of scientific progress," the authors wrote. "Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, many scientific fields are gripped by a crisis of irreproducibility. While some of the causes of the crisis are deeply woven into the academic landscape - incentives related to publication, funding and tenure - the most straightforward solution relates to statistical power." "Our study points to a major problem in the field of cognitive neuroscience, a field in which fMRI studies are a commonly used tool," Barbey said. "But this is a problem that we can solve by increasing the size of the samples we study." ### Barbey is a professor in the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology and an affiliate of the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology at the U. of I. He directs the Center for Brain Plasticity, a partnership between the Beckman Institute and the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute at Illinois. This research is based upon work supported by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity. Editor's notes: To reach Aron Barbey, call 217-244-2551; email barbey@illinois.edu. The paper "Small sample sizes reduce the replicability of task-based fMRI studies" is available from the U. of I. News Bureau. DOI: 10.1038/s42003-018-0073-z In regions where malaria illness is widespread, it is common to find many individuals who are infected with malaria parasites (Plasmodium falciparum), but without symptoms. New research conducted by the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) shows that treating these silent malaria cases could help stop the spread of malaria to others. UMSOM researchers conducted a study of 114 participants in Malawi ranging from children to adults to better understand the role asymptomatic malaria infections have in the spread and occurrence of malaria illness. It is the first study to use prospective, longitudinal detection of asymptomatic malaria infection to examine subsequent risk of malaria illness among all ages. These asymptomatic infections may never develop into illness, but they are an important contributor to the spread of malaria and pose a public health challenge. "We know that in Malawi, like many parts of Africa, most of the malaria parasites are being carried by people who are not sick. They don't get treatment for their infections, because their infections a silent, but when they get bitten by mosquitoes, they can transmit malaria" said Miriam Laufer, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Associate Director for Malaria Research in UMSOM's Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health (CVD). Researchers examined the association between asymptomatic malaria infections and subsequent risk of malaria illness and demonstrated that carrying P. falciparum infection without symptoms was associated with a 50% decrease in the risk of malaria illness. Using a genotyping method to determine the molecular fingerprint of each parasite, they discovered when people who have asymptomatic malaria infection and get sick from malaria, it is because they acquire a new infection (from the bite of a mosquito) rather than having the asymptomatic infection develop into clinical disease. With new infections, adults and children with and without asymptomatic infection were equally likely to get sick. The researchers concluded that asymptomatic infection did not protect against new infections that made them sick. "We have always worried that if we give medicine to treat malaria to people with asymptomatic infection, they might get sicker the next time they get malaria. This has been a challenge to introducing new policies like mass drug administration or screening and treating campaigns to interrupt malaria transmission. Our results suggest that treating asymptomatic infection will not lead to increased risk of disease in the short term. Now we need to evaluate these new interventions to determine the long term impact both on the individual's health and also on malaria transmission" said Dr. Laufer. Researchers enrolled participants seeking treatment for uncomplicated malaria at the Mfera Health Centre in Chikhwawa district in Malawi between June 2014 and March 2015. Subjects were eligible if they had symptomatic P. falciparum infection, detected by malaria rapid diagnostic test (RDT) and confirmed by microscopy, and were HIV-negative at time of screening. They were treated for their initial illness and then followed every month and evaluated every time they were ill. ### UNSW Sydney congratulates solar energy pioneer Scientia Professor Martin Green, who has become the first Australian to win a prestigious Global Energy Prize worth more than $820,000 for his research, development and educational activities in the field of photovoltaics. The annual Global Energy Prize honours outstanding achievements in research and technology that are addressing the world's pressing energy challenges. It is presented each year by the President of the Russian Federation. Professor Green, who is Director of the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics at UNSW, was honoured for having "revolutionised the efficiency and costs of solar photovoltaics, making this now the lowest cost option for bulk electricity supply". He was selected from 44 contenders from 14 countries by a committee of leading scientists and shares the RUB 39 million ($820,000) prize this year with Russian scientist Sergey Alekseenko, an expert in thermal power engineering. The Global Energy Prize has a reputation score of 0.48 on the IREG List of International Academic Awards, with a Nobel Prize scoring 1.0. The ten finalists this year included businessman and engineer Elon Musk. Professor Green is a world-leading specialist in both monocrystalline and polycrystalline silicon solar cells, and the research group he founded in UNSW Engineering is the largest and best-known university-based photovoltaic research group in the world. The enormous reductions in costs in photovoltaic solar systems in recent years is directly related to his scientific efforts, largely through the work of his students in establishing manufacturing centres in Asia. His record-breaking achievements stretch across decades. In 1989, his team supplied the solar cells for the first photovoltaic system with an energy conversion efficiency of 20%. And in 2014, he headed the development team that first demonstrated the conversion of sunlight into electricity with an energy conversion efficiency of 40%. Among his many breakthroughs, he invented the PERC solar cell, which accounted for more than 24% of the world's silicon cell manufacturing capacity at the end of 2017. Sales of systems containing this solar cell exceeded US$10 billion in 2017 and are predicted to exceed US$1 trillion by 2040. UNSW President and Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Jacobs said: "As a world-leading researcher in photovoltaics, Martin has delivered truly transformational outcomes in renewable energy for more than three decades. "Martin is a highly deserving recipient of this global prize and we warmly congratulate him. His fundamental and applied research has transformed the global energy sector and will continue to produce major economic and social benefits, both in Australia and worldwide." UNSW Dean of Engineering Professor Mark Hoffman said: "The global impact of the work of Martin and his research team has been profound. They have created the highest efficiency solar cells using techniques that have made them accessible to the world through commercialisation. And all of this has been achieved in Australia. "We are proud of Martin's inspiration leadership and pioneering research which is helping address the challenge of climate change." Professor Green said: "The efficiency of solar modules is an area whose progress has been faster than many experts expected, and this is good news. "We need to maintain the pace of research in Australia, not only to keep our international lead, but also to benefit society by providing a cheap, low carbon source of electricity. "Given the quality of the candidates on the shortlist, receiving this prize is a great honour, and will spur on our efforts. I look forward to the presentation in Russia in October." The use of PERC solar cells (solar cells with passivated emitter and rear surface) is predicted to save at least $750 million in power production costs in Australia alone over the next decade. Professor Green is also co-inventor of the laser-doped, selective emitter solar cell, used in solar panels worth more than $1 billion which were sold by the company Suntech between 2009 and 2011. He is also a pioneer in the area of perovskite photocells, which he believes could be used as a supplement to silicon solar panels, with a combination of the two materials potentially able to further reduce the cost of electricity. Professor Green is the winner of many scientific and industry awards. In 2003 he was awarded the Karl Boer Solar Energy Medal of Merit for "significant pioneering contributions to the promotion of solar energy as an alternative source of energy". In 2004 he received the World Technology Award in the field of energy, and in 2007 the SolarWorldEinstein Award for "outstanding work in the field of solar energy". He is the holder of many patents, author of eight books as well as more than 750 publications. The highly prestigious Global Energy Prize was established in Russia in 2003 through the Global Energy Association, with the support of leading Russian Energy companies Gazprom, FGCUES, and Surgutneftegas. The choice of winners is made by a committee of 20 leading scientists from 13 countries. ### Read more here. http://globalenergyprize.org/en/ Media contacts: Professor Martin Green: +612 9385 4018, m.green@unsw.edu.au UNSW Media: Deborah Smith: +612 9385 7307, +61 478 492 060, Deborah.smith@unsw.edu.au PITTSBURGH, June 7, 2018 - Mucus and other airway secretions that are expelled when a person with the flu coughs or exhales appear to protect the virus when it becomes airborne, regardless of humidity levels, a creative experiment conducted by the University of Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech discovered. The results, published in today's issue of the Journal of Infectious Diseases, refute long-standing studies that indicated the influenza virus degrades and is inactivated sooner as the humidity increases. "Our findings highlight the importance of mimicking real-world conditions when determining the infectivity of emerging viruses," said Seema S. Lakdawala, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Pitt School of Medicine's Department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics. "This has critical implications when public health organizations devise ways to stem the spread of infections, particularly during pandemics." Influenza viruses emerge every winter in temperate regions when people are in closer contact inside, better enabling person-to-person spread. But it is also much less humid inside buildings that are heated in winter, and previous experiments using aerosolized flu virus alone - not in combination with airway secretions - showed that moderate to high humidity inactivated the virus. So it was assumed that dry winter air had a protective effect that also allowed the flu virus to thrive. Lakdawala partnered with Linsey C. Marr, Ph.D., of Virginia Tech's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, to put that assumption to the test. They devised a way to artificially create real-world conditions to test how long the influenza virus, when expelled by someone with the flu, would be expected to survive in a typical indoor setting under a variety of different relative humidity levels. Marr's research team, including Virginia Tech graduate student Kaisen Lin, M.S., designed a rotating metal drum that keeps aerosols suspended while maintaining a constant relative humidity level. Lakdawala's team combined samples of human airway secretions with the 2009 pandemic H1N1 flu strain, aerosolized the mixture and sprayed it into the drum - similar to what would be expected to be emitted into a room from someone who is sick. The drum was fitted with special filters to prevent the release of the virus, and the entire experiment was run inside a biosafety cabinet. The team ran the drum for an hour - a typical length of time that air stays in homes and other buildings before moving outside - at seven different humidity levels, representative of dry climates and heated indoor environments in winter, indoor environments during warmer seasons, and rainy and tropical climates. Karen Kormuth, Ph.D., a post-doctoral associate in Lakdawala's laboratory, analyzed the results from the drum experiment and showed them to Lakdawala. "I was astonished," said Lakdawala. "The flu virus remained just as infectious at all humidity levels. The airway secretions were protecting it for at least the length of time it would take a typical home to exchange most of its air." "The result was surprising," Marr added, "because our previous work suggested that the flu virus survived better at low humidity. We thought this might help explain why flu season occurs in the winter, when humidity is low indoors, but we now have to rethink what's happening with the virus when it's in droplets and aerosols." The team stresses that the immediate take-away from their study is that, during flu season, homes and offices should employ a combination of increased air exchange rates coupled with filtration or UV irradiation of recirculated air, as well as regular disinfection of high-touch surfaces, such as door knobs, keyboards, phones and desks. Future research should involve testing other strains of flu and different pathogens to learn if they, too, are protected by airway secretions when airborne. Virginia Tech was a collaborating institution. ### Additional authors on this study are Aaron J. Prussin II, Ph.D., Andrea J. Tiwari, Ph.D., and Steve S. Cox, Ph.D., all of Virginia Tech; Eric P. Vejerano, Ph.D., of the University of South Carolina; and Michael M. Myerburg, M.D., of Pitt. This work was supported by National Institutes of Health (NIH) award 1-DP2-A1112243, and grants AI108600-01 and AI049820; as well as NIH and Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Research Development Program grant P30DK072506. About the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine As one of the nation's leading academic centers for biomedical research, the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine integrates advanced technology with basic science across a broad range of disciplines in a continuous quest to harness the power of new knowledge and improve the human condition. Driven mainly by the School of Medicine and its affiliates, Pitt has ranked among the top 10 recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health since 1998. In rankings recently released by the National Science Foundation, Pitt ranked fifth among all American universities in total federal science and engineering research and development support. Likewise, the School of Medicine is equally committed to advancing the quality and strength of its medical and graduate education programs, for which it is recognized as an innovative leader, and to training highly skilled, compassionate clinicians and creative scientists well-equipped to engage in world-class research. The School of Medicine is the academic partner of UPMC, which has collaborated with the University to raise the standard of medical excellence in Pittsburgh and to position health care as a driving force behind the region's economy. For more information about the School of Medicine, see http://www.medschool.pitt.edu. http://www.upmc.com/media PITTSBURGH, June 7, 2018 - Negative experiences on social media carry more weight than positive interactions when it comes to the likelihood of young adults reporting depressive symptoms, according to a new University of Pittsburgh analysis. The finding, reported today in the journal Depression and Anxiety, may be useful for designing interventions and clinical recommendations to reduce the risk of depression. "We found that positive experiences on social media were not related or only very slightly linked to lower depressive symptoms. However, negative experiences were strongly and consistently associated with higher depressive symptoms," said lead author Brian Primack, M.D., Ph.D., dean of the Honors College and director of the Center for Research on Media, Technology and Health at Pitt. "Our findings may encourage people to pay closer attention to their online exchanges. Moving forward, these results could assist scientists in developing ways to intervene and counter the negative effects while strengthening the positive ones." In August 2016, Primack and his team surveyed 1,179 full-time students ages 18 to 30 at the University of West Virginia about their social media use and experiences. The participants also completed a questionnaire to assess their depressive symptoms. Each 10 percent increase in positive experiences on social media was associated with a 4 percent decrease in odds of depressive symptoms, but those results were not statistically significant, meaning that the finding could be due to random chance. However, each 10 percent increase in negative experiences was associated with a 20 percent increase in the odds of depressive symptoms, a statistically significant finding. "It is valuable to know that positive and negative experiences are very differently related to depression," said Primack. "But we don't know from our study whether the negative social media interactions actually caused the depressive symptoms or whether depressed individuals are more likely to seek out negative online interactions. As with many things in social science, the answer is probably some combination of the two, but more research will be needed to disentangle cause and effect." Other characteristics also were linked to the participants having depressive symptoms. For example, compared with men, women had 50 percent higher odds of having depressive symptoms. Identifying as non-white and having only completed "some college," rather than completing a degree, also were associated with higher odds of depressive symptoms. All of these characteristics have previously been shown to increase a person's likelihood of depression. While the findings still need to be replicated, Primack said public health practitioners could start using them to educate the public of the risks of negative social media interactions. He also points out that cyberbullying occurs not only among adolescents, but also among adults. Universities, workplaces and community spaces could use the findings to increase awareness around positive and negative social media experiences. Primack noted that health care professionals working with depressed patients could suggest strategies to improve the quality of online experiences, such as restricting time spent on social media to reduce the number of negative interactions and "unfriending" people or groups that tend to enable negative experiences. Although the finding was not statistically significant, Primack said that increasing the opportunities for positive experiences on social media is still likely to be worthwhile. "In other studies, engaging in certain forms of social media use has been shown to enhance communication and social connection," he said. "Certainly, there are many situations in which connecting with others in this way might actually lower depressive symptoms. That just wasn't the primary finding in this particular study." ### Additional authors on this research are Meghan A. Bisbey, B.A., Ariel Shensa, M.A., Sabrina A. Karim, B.A., and Jaime E. Sidani, Ph.D., all of Pitt; and Nicholas D. Bowman, Ph.D., and Jennifer M. Knight, M.A., both of West Virginia University. This research was funded by the Fine Foundation. About the University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences The University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences include the schools of Medicine, Nursing, Dental Medicine, Pharmacy, Health and Rehabilitation Sciences and the Graduate School of Public Health. The schools serve as the academic partner to the UPMC (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center). Together, their combined mission is to train tomorrow's health care specialists and biomedical scientists, engage in groundbreaking research that will advance understanding of the causes and treatments of disease and participate in the delivery of outstanding patient care. Since 1998, Pitt and its affiliated university faculty have ranked among the top 10 educational institutions in grant support from the National Institutes of Health. For additional information about the Schools of the Health Sciences, please visit http://www.health.pitt.edu. http://www.upmc.com/media The research identifies a new structure in human sperm that functions in the zygote and may provide new avenues for addressing male infertility and insights into early embryo developmental defects Life doesn't begin the way we thought it did. A new study at The University of Toledo shows that a father donates not one, but two centrioles through the sperm during fertilization, and the newly discovered sperm structure may contribute to infertility, miscarriages and birth defects. The newly discovered centriole functions similarly and along with the known centriole. However, it is structured differently. "This research is significant because abnormalities in the formation and function of the atypical centriole may be the root of infertility of unknown cause in couples who have no treatment options available to them," said Dr. Tomer Avidor-Reiss, professor in the UT Department of Biological Sciences. "It also may have a role in early pregnancy loss and embryo development defects." The centriole is the only essential cellular structure contributed solely by the father. It is the origin of all of the centrioles in the trillions of cells that make up the adult human body. Centrioles are essential for building the cell's antennae, known as cilia, and cytoskeleton, as well as completing accurate cell division. A zygote, or fertilized egg cell, needs two centrioles to start life. It was previously thought that sperm provides a single centriole to the egg and then duplicates itself. "Since the mother's egg does not provide centrioles, and the father's sperm possesses only one recognizable centriole, we wanted to know where the second centriole in zygotes comes from," Avidor-Reiss said. "We found the previously elusive centriole using cutting-edge techniques and microscopes. It was overlooked in the past because it's completely different from the known centriole in terms of structure and protein composition." The atypical centriole contains a small core set of proteins needed for the known sperm centriole to form a fully functional centriole after fertilization in the zygote using the egg's proteins. This discovery may provide new avenues for diagnostics and therapeutic strategies for male infertility and insights into early embryo developmental defects, according to the research titled "A Novel Atypical Sperm Centriole is Functional During Human Fertilization" that was published today in Nature Communications. In addition to human sperm, Avidor-Reiss and his research team studied the sperm of flies, beetles and cattle. "The whole idea for this study started with the fly," said Lilli Fishman, UT PhD candidate who is being honored with the 2018 Lalor Foundation Merit Award from the Society for the Study of Reproduction for her work on the project. "Basic fly research indicated the misconception in sperm structure. It has been incredible to be part of the ensuing process that included incredible scientists from four states and two countries." The cutting-edge techniques and microscopes used on this research include super-resolution microscopy; electron microscopy with high-pressure freezing; and correlative light and electron microscopy. "The super-resolution microscopy was critical for this discovery," Avidor-Reiss said. "The technology allows you to see proteins at the highest resolution." The University of Toronto, National Cancer Institute, University of Michigan, and University of Pittsburgh also contributed to the research. Avidor-Reiss and his team are taking this research to the clinical level. "We are working with the Urology Department at The University of Toledo Medical Center to study the clinical implications of the atypical centriole to figure out if it's associated with infertility and what kind of infertility," Avidor-Reiss said. ### The first African fossils of Devonian tetrapods (four-legged vertebrates) show these pioneers of land living within the Antarctic circle, 360 million years ago. The evolution of tetrapods from fishes during the Devonian period was a key event in our distant ancestry. New-found fossils from the latest Devonian Waterloo Farm locality near Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, published today in Science, force a major reassessment of this event. "Whereas all previously found Devonian tetrapods came from localities which were in tropical regions during the Devonian, these specimens lived within the Antarctic circle," explains lead author, Dr Robert Gess of the Albany Museum in Grahamstown, and co-author Professor Per Ahlberg of Uppsala University in Sweden. The research was supported by the South African DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences, based at the University of the Witwatersrand and the Millennium Trust. The first African Devonian tetrapods Two new species, named Tutusius and Umzantsia, are Africa's earliest known four-legged vertebrates by a remarkable 70 million years. The approximately metre-long Tutusius umlambo (named in honour of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu) and the somewhat smaller Umzantsia amazana are both incomplete. Tutusius is represented by a single bone from the shoulder girdle, whereas Umzantsia is known from a greater number of bones, but they both appear similar to previously known Devonian tetrapods. Alive, they would have resembled a cross between a crocodile and a fish, with a crocodile-like head, stubby legs, and a tail with a fish-like fin. The Waterloo Farm locality (where the tetrapods were discovered) is a roadcut first revealed in 2016 after controlled rock-cutting explosions by the South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL) along the N2 highway between Grahamstown and the Fish River. This cutting exposed dark grey mudstones of the Witpoort Formation that represent an ancient environment of a brackish, tidal river estuary that contain abundant fossils of animals and plants. The first tetrapod found outside of tropical regions The real importance of Tutusius and Umzantsia lies in where they were found. Devonian tetrapod fossils are found in widely scattered localities. However, if the continents are mapped back to their Devonian positions, it emerges that all previous finds are from rocks deposited in the palaeotropics - between 30 degrees north and south of the equator. Almost all come from Laurussia, a supercontinent that later fragmented into North America, Greenland and Europe. The much larger southern supercontinent, Gondwana, which incorporated present-day Africa, South America, Australia, Antarctica, and India, has hitherto yielded almost no Devonian tetrapods, with only an isolated jaw (named Metaxygnathus) and footprints, being found in eastern Australia. Because Australia was the northernmost part of Gondwana, extending into the tropics, an assumption developed that tetrapods evolved in the tropics, most likely in Laurussia. By extension it was assumed that movement of vertebrates from water onto land (terrestrialisation) also occurred in the tropics. Attempts to understand the causes of these major macroevolutionary steps therefore focussed on conditions prevalent in tropical water bodies. The Waterloo Farm tetrapods not only come from Gondwana, but from its southernmost part: reconstructed to have been more than 70 degrees south, within the Antarctic circle. Abundant plant fossils show that forests grew nearby, so it wasn't frozen, but it was definitely not tropical and during winter it will have experienced months of complete darkness. This finding changes our understanding of the distribution of Devonian tetrapods. We now know that tetrapods occurred throughout the world by the Late Devonian and that their evolution and terrestrialisation could realistically have occurred anywhere. South Africa now adds insights into the emergence of land animals to its incredible fossil record, which also includes transition to mammals from reptile-like ancestors and the evolution of humans. There is probably not another country on the planet that so fully documents the long and dramatic evolutionary history of our own lineage. ### Male bottlenose dolphins retain their individual "names" well into adulthood. Similar to humans, this plays a central role in forming and maintaining complex social relationships, recent findings carried out by researchers at the universities of Zurich and Western Australia suggest. Dolphins form long-lasting alliances in which they give each other mutual support. Dolphins are intelligent creatures that communicate with high-frequency whistles and are capable of forming strong relationships. Within their population, male dolphins enter into complex, multi-level alliances ranging from intense, lifelong friendships to loose groups. For example, during the mating season two or three males will join forces to separate a female from the group, mate with her, and fend off rivals, or even "steal" females from other groups. Recordings of individual voice labels Scientists at UZH, the University of Western Australia and the University of Massachusetts studied 17 adult bottlenose dolphins in Shark Bay in Western Australia. The existence of complex, multi-level alliances among males was already known from previous research on this population. Their mutual bonds are as strong as those between mothers and their calves. Earlier research had also shown that dolphins use high-frequency whistles as a kind of "name" to introduce themselves and also to be able to identify each other, even over long distances under water For the present study, the researchers used underwater microphones to make recordings of the dolphins' whistles, and were able to identify each male's individual voice label. They measured the similarity of these identifying signals, both within their immediate alliance and within another network in their community. They discovered that male dolphins, despite their strong social bonds, retain their individual whistles to identify their partners and competitors, and that these do not become adapted to each other over time. Every male dolphin retains his own call for life "This is a very unusual finding," says Michael Krutzen, professor of anthropology and evolutionary biology at the University of Zurich. It is common for pairs or groups of animals to converge on a similar call to build and maintain their strong bonds. It occurs, for example, among certain species of parrot, bats, elephants and primates. "With male bottlenose dolphins, precisely the opposite happens: Each male keeps his own, individual call, and distinguishes himself from his allies, even when they develop an incredibly strong bond," explains Krutzen. The fact that the individual "names" are kept helps males to keep track of their many different relationships and distinguish between friends, friends of friends, and rivals. This way they're able to negotiate a complex social network of cooperative relationships. "Besides humans, so far only dolphins appear to retain their individual 'names' when it comes to forming close, long-lasting, cooperative relationships," states Stephanie King, lead author of the study. Physical contact to cement relationships Male dolphins also use physical signals such as caresses, slaps and synchronized behavior to express their social bonds. "At the moment we're looking more closely into the relationships among the males in an alliance to find out whether or not they're equally strong between all the individuals involved," explains Krutzen. ### Literature: Stephanie L. King, Whitney R. Friedman, Simon J. Allen, Livia Gerber, Frants H. Jensen, Samuel Wittwer, Richard C. Connor, and Michael Krutzen. Bottlenose Dolphins Retain Individual Vocal Labels in Multi-Level Alliances. Current Biology, June 7, 2018. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.05.013 June 7, 2018 - Patients who take prescription opioids for a longer period before spinal surgery are more likely to continue using opioids several months after surgery, reports a study in the June 6, 2018, issue of The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery. The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio in partnership with Wolters Kluwer. According to the new research, led by Andrew J. Schoenfeld, MD, MSc, of Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, nearly nine percent of patients were still taking opioids six months after spinal surgery, and duration of opioid use before surgery was the main risk factor for continued use. Sustained Preoperative Opioid Use Predicts Continued Use After Spine Surgery Using insurance claims data, the researchers identified more than 27,000 patients who underwent various types of lower (lumbar) spine surgery between 2006 and 2014. Most of the patients underwent removal of a spinal disc (discectomy) or spinal fusion (arthrodesis). Although the data came from the US Department of Defense's Tricare insurance program, most of the patients in the study were civilians (such as retired military personnel or dependents of active-duty or retired personnel). Nearly all patients had at least some opioid exposure before spinal surgery. They were classified into four groups: Exposed: 60 percent had used opioids in the past, but were not actively using them at the time of surgery. 60 percent had used opioids in the past, but were not actively using them at the time of surgery. Acute exposure: 34 percent had their first opioid prescription within one month before surgery. 34 percent had their first opioid prescription within one month before surgery. Intermediate sustained use: two percent had uninterrupted opioid use for less than six months before surgery. two percent had uninterrupted opioid use for less than six months before surgery. Chronic sustained use: three percent had uninterrupted opioid use for six months or longer before surgery. After surgery, 67 percent of the patients stopped taking opioids within 30 days, and 86 percent discontinued opioids by 90 days. Six months after surgery, 8.8 percent of patients were still taking prescription opioids. Longer duration of opioid use before spinal surgery was an independent risk factor for continued use after surgery. After adjustment for other patient characteristics, the authors found that the likelihood of discontinuing opioid use within six months was 65 percent lower for patients in the "intermediate sustained" and 74 percent lower in the "chronic sustained" groups, compared to the "acute exposure" group. Somewhat surprisingly, even the patients who were "exposed" but not actively using opioids before surgery were 29 percent less likely than those in the "acute exposure" group to discontinue opioids after surgery. Several other factors were associated with long-term opioid use after surgery: spinal fusion surgery, preoperative depression or anxiety, preoperative spinal fracture, a longer hospital stay, and junior enlisted rank (suggesting lower socioeconomic status). The ongoing opioid crisis in the United States has prompted increased attention to the use of pain medications prescribed before and after surgery. Previous opioid use has been linked to an increased risk of complications and adverse outcomes after spinal surgery. This new study focuses on how preoperative opioid use affects continued opioid use after lumbar spine surgery, and finds evidence of a "dose-response" effect: patients taking opioids for a longer period before surgery are less likely to discontinue opioid use after surgery. "Our results indicate that the majority of patients who are using prescription opioids prior to spine surgery discontinue these medications following surgical intervention," Dr. Schoenfeld and coauthors write. However, because close to 1 out of 10 patients are still taking opioids at six months after spinal surgery, the researchers highlight the need for surgeons to recognize the "biopsychosocial" factors contributing to chronic opioid use. Since nearly all patients receive opioids before spinal surgery, Dr. Schoenfeld believes it's "reasonable" for surgeons to discuss risk factors for sustained opioid use with patients at the time of surgery. He adds, "Expectation management - defining shared goals of post-surgical pain control and a suspense date when the surgeon and patient agree opioids should likely no longer be necessary - could go a long way toward smoothing the opioid cessation process following surgery." ### Click here to read "Sustained Preoperative Opioid Use Is a Predictor of Continued Use Following Spine Surgery." DOI: 10.2106/JBJS.17.00862 About The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery (JBJS) has been the most valued source of information for orthopaedic surgeons and researchers for over 125 years and is the gold standard in peer-reviewed scientific information in the field. A core journal and essential reading for general as well as specialist orthopaedic surgeons worldwide, The Journal publishes evidence-based research to enhance the quality of care for orthopaedic patients. Standards of excellence and high quality are maintained in everything we do, from the science of the content published to the customer service we provide. JBJS is an independent, non-profit journal. 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. this news is not available The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) announced on Wednesday that it will not bring proceedings against Novartis in connection with the payments the Swiss pharmaceutical company made to Donald Trumps personal lawyer. TheOAG had received a criminal complaint alleging that Novartis had bribed a foreign public official by paying CHF1.2 million ($1.2 million) to Trumps lawyer Michael Cohen in 2017. Novartis admitted in May that it had signed a one-year contract with the company of Trumps private lawyer to gain insights into the US administrations thinking on healthcare issues. The company used the same bank account for the payments that was also used in the Stormy Daniels case. Novartis has since called the pact a mistake. The OAG said it would not open criminal proceedings against the company because there was not sufficient evidence of bribery. The payments could not be linked to a breach of duty on the part of the recipient, therefore the conditions for Novartis criminal liability were not fulfilled. The offence of undue influence does not exist in Swiss law. The OAG said it would reserve the right to re-examine the situation should new evidence emerge. The attendance of United States Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos at a vocational education conference in Switzerland is a sign the Trump administration still wants to collaborate over the Swiss apprenticeship model. There is much to learn from our European counterparts as they continue to advance education options centred on the needs of individual students and focused on their ability to succeed in the modern economy, said DeVos in a statement ahead of the third International Congress on Vocational and Professional Education and Training (VPET). Her stop at the event in Winterthur is part of a ten-day tour to learn about education and vocational training in Switzerland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. She continued the theme of learning from others in her keynote address to the congress, pointing out that apprenticeships in Switzerland were not just for welders and carpenters, which is common the US, but include many options in every sector of the economy, including finance, law and healthcare. Apprentice to CEO I was so intrigued to learn that the CEO of UBS, Sergio Ermotti, started his career as an apprentice thats not commonplace in America. But perhaps it should be, she said. She went on to say that President Trump had made apprenticeship expansion a priority. In March, the Trump administration for example announced amulti-million boost for apprenticeship and career/technical education programmes. A national task force, of which she is a co-chair, has also been set up. Our charter was to explore ways to empower Americans with options to earn and learn and ways to encourage the private sector and higher education to advance this important opportunity for our nations economic future, added DeVos. Not everyone was happy about the visit of the controversial minister though. The local branch of the leftwing Social Democratic Party issued an open letter on June 1 to the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) opposing the invitation, saying DeVos policies were at odds with Switzerlands. DeVos has, for example, been criticised for not having any experience of public schools before her slimly voted-in appointment last year. Digitalization challenge Economics Minister Johann Schneider-Ammann, whose remit includes education and who gave the welcoming address at the congress, told swissinfo.ch that DeVos visit was important because it is a demonstration which tells us that the US wants to know what Switzerland is doing in this digitalization context. He added that collaboration between the two nations had been ongoing for some time on the issue. Digitalization is raising questions about how vocational education and training systems need to adapt to teach the skills needed on the labour market, the minister said in his congress speech. Switzerlands dual track system of vocational school and on-the-job training and its adaptability were the focus of discussions with both DeVos and Singapores education minister, Ong Ye Kung, who also spoke at the congress. On whether the Swiss vocational system was still considered a role model for the US, Schneider-Ammann said: Yes, thats what the former administration told us and thats what we hear with the actual administration as well. Two thirds of Swiss go into vocational education. They get the education shaped exactly to what the market expects, in other words: the entrepreneurs invest in their future and they shape the next generation of specialists. Thats what the US professionals understand and thats why they are trying to see and learn, and maybe a little bit to copy, as well. Im happy to see that our system is getting this recognition. Forty-six migrants drowned and 16 are missing after their boat capsized off the shore of Yemen on Wednesday, the United Nations Migration Agency said. At least 100 migrants were crammed into a smugglers boat that left the port of Bossaso in Somalia on Tuesday, travelling through the night. The boat overturned in high waves in the Gulf of Aden at around 5:00 am (0200 GMT) as it approached its destination. IOM staff reported that 46 migrants had drowned, 37 men and 9 women. A further 16 remain missing, presumed dead, the agency said in a statement, adding that they were all believed to be Ethiopian. Survivors said the passengers, who were without lifejackets in the smugglers boat, started panicking as high waves struck close to the shore. As the boat took on water, they were pitched headlong into the rough seas where so many succumbed. IOM staff provided medical assistance, health, food and psychosocial support to the survivors. The group were attempting to cross the Horn of Africa to find employment in Yemen and the Gulf. Over 7,000 migrants take the perilous journey every month, facing horrendous conditions and appalling treatment at the hand of people traffickers, said Mohammed Abdiker, IOMs head of operations and emergencies. Both while travelling to and in Yemen, migrants are routinely abused by smugglers and other criminals, including physical and sexual abuse, as well as torture for ransom, arbitrary detention for long periods of time and forced labour. Some migrants are also taken to official and unofficial detention centres. Through its Voluntary Humanitarian Return programme, the IOM has been providing return transport from Yemen to the migrants home countries. Earlier this week, IOM helped some 101 Ethiopian migrants leave Yemen, which is on the brink of famine following three years of war, through Hodeida port as clashes approached the area. The group included nearly 51 women and 33 children, who had become stranded in the country and are among the most vulnerable cases from a larger group of about 300 migrants trapped in detention. Spain's King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia will head to the United States next week and meet with President Donald Trump at the White House, the foreign ministry said Thursday. The royals will also take in New Orleans and San Antonio during their six-day trip starting on June 14, the ministry said in a statement. The two cities are celebrating their tricentennial this year and have important historical evidence of the deep and close ties that link Spain and the United States, the statement added. The Spanish king and queen will get together with Trump and his wife Melania on June 19 on the last day of their visit. They royals will be accompanied during the trip by the new Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell, a former European parliament president. The royal couple met with former US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle at the White House in 2015. Amnesty International said on Thursday it will conduct "an impartial inquiry" into the suicide last month of a veteran researcher inside its Paris offices, following pressure from staff calling for an investigation. The internal inquiry into the May 26 death of Gaetan Mootoo, a well-known researcher for West Africa, comes after friends and colleagues sent a petition to current and former employees at the NGO calling for oversight from its international board. In a letter seen by AFP they called on the board in London to look into the circumstances of Mootoos suicide in order to prevent other tragedies and ensure transparency and accountability. We are calling for an independent inquiry into Gaetans tragic death, it said. The inquiry must be carried out by a transparent, fully independent and impartial external body. Working conditions at Amnesty International have been thoroughly transformed by recent restructuring, and Gaetan was deeply affected by it. The letter added that the demand was prompted by a suicide note Mootoo had left allegedly outlining his previous request for help because of the heavy and additional workload; help which was never forthcoming. We believe that this serious and unprecedented event in the history of the organisation requires the greatest transparency and accountability from Amnesty International, it said. An Amnesty spokeswoman told AFP: It is absolutely our intention to hold an impartial inquiry and (we) are currently seeking advice to ensure that this will in no way interfere with the ongoing official investigations. We understand that there was a note from Gaetan, but we cannot comment as we have not seen it as it is in the hands of the French authorities. Mootoo was found dead in the Paris offices of Amnesty International France in the early hours of Saturday May 26, the organisation confirmed. He worked for its international secretariat, which is responsible for the majority of research and leading campaign work. Amnesty International is working with the authorities as they investigate this tragic incident, the spokeswoman said. She added the NGO is providing support and counselling to colleagues directly affected by this tragic loss. Mootoo was a well-respected researcher who had been with Amnesty for more than 30 years and was known across Africa for his tireless dedication to his work. So many of us have known or worked closely with Gaetan over his extraordinary 32 years at Amnesty, and have been enriched by the work and spirit of a true human rights champion, said Salil Shetty, the organisations secretary general, in a statement on May 27. US news website Buzzfeed is to shut down its French version after four years online, staff told AFP on Thursday. All 14 staff at Buzzfeed France, which like its US equivalent publishes both viral content such as quizzes and traditional news stories, are set to lose their jobs, two of them said. The French sites chief editor Stephane Jourdain blasted the brutal and completely unexpected decision in a Twitter post, saying Buzzfeed France had just enjoyed four great months in terms of news and traffic. One staffer said the news had been announced to the Paris team by Scott Lamb, Buzzfeeds New York-based head of international growth. A spokeswoman at Buzzfeeds US headquarters declined to confirm the closure, saying: We are taking steps to reconsider our operation in France given the uncertain path to growth in the French market. She added: We have begun a consultation process with BuzzFeed France and will follow up when we have more information to share. Buzzfeed launched in the United States in 2006 and has since become a major international media player. Initially best known for its light-hearted viral content, it has gone on to hire veteran journalists around the world to develop its serious news coverage. Buzzfeed France launched in 2013 and was right in the middle of a period of growth and investment, one staffer said. Traffic was going out and the site has published its biggest scoops in 2018, they added, notably allegations of systematic discrimination against Arab customers at a Paris restaurant favoured by celebrities like Kim Kardashian. The site also recently ran scoops on the far-right National Front backing candidates that it knew had made extremist statements, and on sexual harassment allegations at television station TNT. Buzzfeed had announced late last year that it was sacking around 100 people from its US and British operations, in an earlier sign that its advertising-dependent model was in trouble. US media had reported in November that Buzzfeed had dropped plans to launch on the stock exchange for the immediate future, worried that its failure to meet ambitious growth targets would scare off investors. The other leaders of G7 nations must not be afraid to reach agreements without US President Donald Trump at their upcoming summit, French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday, as a trade war between Washington and its allies looms. Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau held a joint press conference after private talks the night before to form a united front ahead of the Group of Seven summit that begins Friday. While both Macron and Trudeau have forged cordial relationships with Trump, they made it clear they would not be intimidated by the US leader especially in the face of US tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada, Europe, Japan and Mexico. The G7 is an opportunity for us to get together and have frank, open discussions among nations who have long been allies and friends, Macron told reporters, with Trudeau at his side. There will be subjects on which the (US) president is not totally in sync with the others Im thinking of course of climate change and trade, the French leader said. Our common goal is to try to find a text that can be signed by everyone. () That said, I agree with what Justin Trudeau has said many times the desire to sign a common G7 declaration must not outweigh the need to be mindful of the content, he explained. We Europeans and the Japanese are not ready to give up everything to get Trumps signature, he said, adding that would be a mistake. Trudeau heaped scorn on Donald Trumps national security justification for the new metal tariffs. It is laughable to say that Canada, France can represent a threat to Americas national security, as we are the best allies that the US has had for a long time, Trudeau said. He and Macron also noted that the tariffs would hurt American workers. The leaders will join Trump, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister Theresa May, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and new Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte in Quebec for talks on Friday and Saturday. The UN Security Council condemned on Wednesday "continuous violations of the ceasefire" in Ukraine's east and called for an immediate withdrawal of heavy weapons. Written by France with support from Germany, the resolution also sought expanded efforts to help affected civilians. The resolution, unanimously adopted by the Council, underlined grave concern about the recent deterioration of the security situation in eastern Ukraine and its severe impact on the civilian population. It is the first public comment since January 2017 by the United Nations on the conflict between Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists. Its been a long time since the Council adopted anything on Ukraine and we are very happy, Russias UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told reporters. Berlin and Moscow, along with Paris, signed peace agreements in Minsk in 2015 that aimed to put an end to fighting between Russia-backed fighters and Ukrainian troops. More than 10,000 people have been killed since the conflict began in April 2014. The UN text is very constructive, which confirms the validity and the sole validity of the Minsk Agreements as the platform to reach a political solution, said Nebenzia, whose country this month holds the Councils rotating presidency. It is especially important today when the Minsk Agreements are being sabotaged by some parties, he continued, in an implied reference to Kiev. The conflict in eastern Ukraine began after mass protests ousted a pro-Russian government in Kiev, pro-Russian forces in eastern Ukraine rebelled, and Russia annexed Ukraines Crimea region that same year. Kiev and Moscow-backed rebels have repeatedly accused each other of violating a number of truces. The European Union in March extended by a further six months sanctions against Russian and Ukrainian officials over their suspected involvement in the eastern Ukraine conflict. Evoking the tragic humanitarian situation, the Security Council emphasized the need for scaling up efforts to alleviate suffering of the civilian population affected by the conflict. Frances UN Ambassador Francois Delattre told reporters this was the first time that language had been agreed to on the eastern Ukraine humanitarian situation. The text sends a strong signal on putting into effect the Minsk agreements and underlines the unity of the members of the Security Council to make gains, Delattre said. French, German, Russian and Ukrainian ministers are to meet Monday in Berlin to revive the stalled Ukrainian peace process. France has underlined that review of Europes sanctions against Moscow depends on progress. Top US and Russian military officials will meet in Helsinki on Friday as part of recurring talks to prevent conflicts such as Syria and Ukraine from escalating, Finnish and US officials said. The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joe Dunford, will meet his Russian counterpart General Valery Gerasimov at an undisclosed location in the Finnish capital, the Finnish military announced Thursday. The men sometimes speak by phone and have met at least twice before, including in Azerbaijan and Turkey last year, when discussions centred on avoiding mishaps in Syria, where both countries are conducting separate military campaigns. After Russia began bombing in Syria in late 2015 to prop up the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, the US-led coalition and Moscow established a deconfliction hotline aimed at preventing the two sides from inadvertently bombing the others ground forces or operating in the same air space. The line has been used on a near-daily basis and, while imperfect, has prevented some clashes between US-backed and Russia-backed fighters. Dunford and Gerasimov will discuss the deconfliction of coalition and Russian operations in Syria, and exchange views on the state of US-Russia military relations and the current international security situation in Europe and other key regions, Dunfords spokesman Colonel Pat Ryder said in a statement. Representatives of the Finnish defense forces will not participate in the meeting. The future of the border between Ireland and the British province of Northern Ireland is a key sticking point in Britain's divorce negotiations with the European Union. The essentially open frontier will become Britains only land border with an EU state after it leaves the bloc in 2019. There are fears of a return to a hard border, reminiscent of the military checkpoints of the 1970s and 1980s, that would interrupt the daily passage of thousands of people, animals and goods. Here is some background: Drawn nearly 100 years ago The border was established in 1921 after the Irish island was split into a Catholic-majority Irish Free State which later became the Republic of Ireland and the smaller Protestant-majority Northern Ireland, which remained within the United Kingdom. Around 500 kilometres (310 miles) long, it runs from Carlingford Lough inlet on the east coast to Lough Foyle estuary in the north. People were allowed to cross the border freely although customs controls on goods were put in place. The controls were removed when the EUs single market came into force in 1993, allowing the free movement of people, goods, services and capital throughout the bloc. The best-known border towns Dundalk, on the Irish side, and Newry in Northern Ireland closely cooperate. Farmland and villages, such as Pettigo-Tullyhummond, meanwhile straddle the frontier. Targeted during The Troubles Military infrastructure such as British army watchtowers were erected along the border from the 1970s during Northern Irelands Troubles, the conflict between Protestants and Catholics over British rule. British troops guarding the border were regularly targeted in gun and bomb attacks by the Catholic paramilitary Irish Republican Army (IRA). The infrastructure was dismantled following the 1998 Good Friday Agreement which ended the conflict, in which more than 3,500 people died. Today, the border is largely invisible. Often, the only indication of crossing the border is the subtle difference in road markings, signs and speed limits, says the UK parliament website. Workers, milk and lambs Every year 110 million people cross the border, according to the parliament website. The Centre for Cross Border Studies says 23,000 to 30,000 cross for work, most returning the same day. People also move freely from one side to the other to shop, seek medical treatment or go to school. In 2016 Northern Irelands trade to Ireland came to 3.4 billion (3.8 billion euros, $4.5 billion) and involved 5,000 businesses, many in the agri-food sector. Almost 400,000 lambs and 750 million litres of milk were exported to Ireland for processing, the parliament website says. In the opposite direction, 400,000 pigs were sent for processing in Northern Ireland. There is a risk that when Britain leaves the EU, hefty World Trade Organization tariffs will apply to Northern Ireland exports. Avoiding a hard border? As members of the EUs single market and customs union, Britain and Ireland currently have no need for checks on travellers or goods. All sides in the Brexit negotiations have pledged to avoid a hard border after Britain leaves those two institutions, but they have yet to agree how this would practically work. The EU would still be required to impose its tariffs, food standards and safety regulations to products from Northern Ireland. That includes on goods imported into Britain from outside the bloc, such as from China and the United States. In the absence of border checks, these could enter the giant EU market by the backdoor via Ireland without paying tariffs. Britain and the EU are seeking a fall-back agreement where Northern Ireland, or the whole of Britain itself, would stay aligned to the blocs customs arrangements until a solution were found. Sources: UK parliament, The Transfrontier Operational Mission (MOT). Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was "no longer immune" from retaliation, while declaring the Iran nuclear deal over after Washington ditched the accord. Noting that Israel had stayed out of Syrias protracted civil war, in which Tehran backs Assad, Netanyahu said increasing Iranian encroachment required a new calculus. He is no longer immune, his regime is no longer immune. If he fires at us, as weve just demonstrated, we will destroy his forces, the Israeli leader said at an event organised by the Policy Exchange think tank in London. Last month, Israel launched a large-scale attack on purported Iranian targets in Syria following what it said was a barrage of rockets fired by Iran from the country toward its forces in the occupied Golan Heights. Even before that, Israel had been blamed for a series of recent strikes inside Syria that killed Iranians, though it has not acknowledged them. Syria has to understand that Israel will not tolerate the Iranian military entrenchment in Syria against Israel, Netanyahu added. The consequences are not merely to the Iranian forces there but to the Assad regime as well, he said, adding: I think its something that he should consider very seriously. Netanyahu is on a three-day European tour visiting Berlin and Paris earlier this week marked by strategic differences on Iran, as its leaders attempt to rescue the nuclear deal after US withdrawal in May. He met Wednesday with British Prime Minister Theresa May, who reiterated Londons firm commitment to the accord, according to Downing Street. But the Israeli leader said Thursday the weight of the American economy was already dooming this very bad agreement. Its a done deal in the other meaning of the word, he added, noting companies were already pulling out of Iran under threat of damaging US sanctions. You have to choose whether to do business with Iran, or forego doing business with the United States thats a no-brainer and everybodys choosing it effectively as we speak. Netanyahu said he had reiterated his dislike for the 2015 deal, which offers sanctions relief in exchange for strict limits on Irans nuclear activities. However, the focus of his discussions in Europe had been on reducing Irans presence in Syria, he added. I found considerable agreement on that goal. At the same time, he criticised his European hosts for an outdated approach to the region. Netanyahu said Iranian expansion had led to a realignment of relations with Arab states in the Middle East who also oppose Tehran something Britain and western Europe were evidently not understanding. There is a whole realignment taking place in the Middle East theyre sort of stuck in the past, he added, displaying a map of the world with numerous countries highlighted to show Israels expanding diplomatic horizons. I think theres a west European problem with recognising that the world is changing, he said. AAA has awarded Hotel Emma its Five Diamond designation, a highly coveted prize in the hospitality industry thats only been granted to one other hotel in Texas. The Five Diamond designation places the boutique hotel in the Pearl development near downtown San Antonio among some of the best hotels in the country. Less than 1 percent of about 27,000 AAA Inspected & Approved hotels receive the rating, hotel officials said in a news release Wednesday. The association said in January that 121 hotels had earned the designation for 2018. The Ritz-Carlton hotel in Dallas is the only other Texas hotel to receive the rating. We are honored to receive the prestigious AAA Five Diamond Award designation, Bill Petrella, Hotel Emma president and general manager, said in a news release Wednesday. This award reflects the commitment of our staff and management to provide every guest with exceptional hospitality throughout their entire visit. Im so proud of the entire Hotel Emma team for their hard work and dedication. Hotels that receive the Five Diamond designation are subjected to a rigorous and stealthy process including in-person inspections, anonymous overnight stays and a review by a panel of experts, according to AAA. Winners typically employ experienced staff and feature extraordinary physical attributes, meticulous personalized service, extensive amenities and impeccable standards of excellence, the hotel said in the release. AAA is pleased to recognize Hotel Emma with the Five Diamond Rating, meaning its unwavering attention to both service and surroundings have placed it into the upper echelon of AAA Inspected & Approved hotels, Michael Petrone, director of AAA Inspections & Diamond Ratings, said in a statement. Five Diamond properties consistently exceed expectations to deliver a highly personalized, memorable experience far above the ordinary. Hotel Emma has racked up some notable accolades since its 2015 opening. The hotel was named the 19th-best hotel in the world and third-best in the U.S. by Conde Nast Travelers 2016 Readers Choice Awards and 10th-best by Trip Advisors 2017 Travelers Choice awards. Last April, Food & Wine magazine deemed Hotel Emma one of the worlds 40 best food-centric hotels. Joshua Fechter is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | jfechter@express-news.net | Twitter: @JFreports Note: This is a Just a Taste review, which the Express-News does soon after a restaurant or bar opens to give our first impressions. The lower Broadway corridor is home to a new spot for nibbles with the rebranding of former craft beer depot GS 1221 as the Roost Pub & Cafe. The reimagined business debuted May 11. While there is some fresh branding around the space, The Roost retains most of the feel of GS 1221, with naked concrete walls, exposed duct work and a sprawling attached patio. Oh, and beer is still big business, with more than 150 brews to chose from. The Roost has a full bar, although a cocktail menu has not yet been developed. During my visit, service was fast and professional, and I couldnt help but enjoy the early evening sunlight streaming into a dining room filled with an enthusiastic post-work crowd. Now if only the food could rise to the occasion. RELATED: Alamo BBQ Co. to debut Friday in the former the Bin Tapas spot on Grayson near the Pearl Now Playing: Just a Taste: The Roost brings you a new format to enjoy old favorites. Read the full review on MySA.com. Video: Taste Team On the menu: The Roost presents diners with an increasingly common choose-your-own adventure model of a menu. Pick a base, add a protein (or veg) then top with a sauce. I started with what seemed like a couple of obvious choices. Nachos with chicken ($8.50) topped with queso, and a trio of tacos with beef and cilantro sauce ($9.50). Both were a letdown. The tacos tortillas were leathery, and the beef, billed as lightly seasoned and tenderized skirt steak, was a dry and charred chore to chew through. The nachos chicken was inoffensive, but the queso sauce was starchy with an odd orange color, and the accompanying guacamole had an overly blended gummy texture. Fortunately, things rapidly improved from there albeit in a curious manner. The menus format provides an opportunity to create some improbable meals. For example, my Pubwich with tender and flavorful pulled pork ($8.50) topped with tikka masala sauce isnt something youd be likely to find out in the wild. But you know what? It works brilliantly, packed with flavor and heat. RELATED: New family-friendly Southtown restaurant The Patio Southtown offers plenty of cheesy menu options Curry starred again in a rice bowl with sauteed vegetables ($5.75). The rice grains themselves were a surprisingly aromatic variety perfectly steamed. Add to that a complex and fiery vindaloo sauce with a giant burst of vinegar and ginger. The only disappointment was that the vegetables were limited to a smattering of peppers and onions. It would have been nice to see a more diverse lineup of greenery in the menus only vegetarian option. My advice? Steer away from the familiar at The Roost and double down on those vibrant curries. You can get terrific tacos and nachos at scores of places in San Antonio, but theres only one pork tikka masala sandwich. Location: 1221 Broadway Street, 210-251-3184, theroostsa.com, Facebook: @theroostsa. Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday. Paul Stephen is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | pstephen@express-news.net | Twitter: @pjbites | Instagram: @pjstephen The campus of Trinity University has officially been added to the National Register of Historic Places, the university announced this week. Trinity secured the final approval in late May for the designation from the National Park Service, which oversees the registry, according to a university release. The schools nomination for the register designation was approved by the Texas Historical Commission on Jan. 20. HIDALGO During an 11-day journey from Honduras, Adalid Rubi said he and his 7-year-old daughter, Jensy, rode dangerous buses at night, escaped a kidnapping and had half of their money stolen. Now, just yards from their quest, he said theyve been stuck for four days with no money on a bridge over the Rio Grande, a limbo zone where immigration officers have delayed their entry into the U.S. to seek asylum. Multiple families said customs officials told them the centers were full and there was a backlog in processing. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol said the pileup could be due to a variety of reasons, including detention and bed space. You cant leave, you cant do anything, Rubi said. I barely sleep, I worry about her. The father and daughter are camping out on thin, donated padding along the pedestrian walkway of the McAllen-Hidalgo International Bridge with about 40 other asylum-seekers. The same scene is unfolding upriver at the bridge in Roma, where 60 immigrants are camping out. Dozens also have been reported in El Paso, as well as at crossings in Arizona and California. Theyve moved forward only a few feet in that time. They eat, sleep, live on the bridge. They cant afford to move and give up their space. And theyre scared to go back into Mexico to relive the dangers they faced there. Others at the Roma bridge said they have been waiting as long as two weeks. Most of the immigrants already have run out of money. Most have small children. They all survive on donations from passers-by. In a crackdown announced in May, the U.S. now is charging immigrants who cross the border illegally with a crime and separating children from their parents. Those who seek asylum at a legal crossing are treated differently. The only distinction is, if you jump the river, they will incarcerate you for a criminal act of illegal entry a misdemeanor and separate you from your family. If you show up at the bridge and claim asylum, theyll incarcerate you with your family, to a detention center, while they adjudicate your asylum claim. said Ricardo De Anda, a Laredo immigration lawyer. Southwest border inadmissible apprehensions These charts compare the number of apprehended family units and unaccompanied children deemed "inadmissible" to the U.S. in the 2017 and 2018 fiscal years to date. More than a hundred asylum-seekers have been stranded at the crossings. Intake of them has slowed to about handful allowed entry a day at the Roma and McAllen bridges, the families report. They say theres no space to let in more people. So when they let people leave over there, then they let people here in, Rubi said. The Trump administration has said its policy would deter immigrants from crossing the border. But since Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the policy in early May, traffic rose slightly. In May, 40,344 unauthorized immigrants were apprehended, compared with 38,278 apprehensions in April. These numbers show that while the Trump administration is restoring the rule of law, it will take a sustained effort and continuous commitment of resources over many months to disrupt cartels, smugglers, and nefarious actors, Tyler Houlton, press secretary for the Homeland Security Department, said in a statement. Barbara Hines, an immigration attorney and adjunct professor of law at UT-Austins School of Law, said the slowdown at the bridges fits a pattern. I think all of these strategies are part of the administrations plan to keep refugees from seeking asylum in the United States, whether its prosecuting them at the border, taking their children away, or not letting them apply for asylum at the bridge as the port of entry, she said. Earlier this week, the United Nations human rights office urged the administration to end the separation of asylum-seeking families, calling it a serious violation of the rights of the child. Meanwhile, daily routines continue at the international bridges, where thousands of commuters cross between Mexico and the U.S. At the Hidalgo bridge in McAllen, pedestrians with purses and bags move quickly through the line, sometimes stepping on fingers and tripping on blankets of the asylum-seekers in the 4-foot-wide space afforded in the walkways. As the sun rises, the morning rush-hour traffic subsides and the South Texas heat sets in, reaching 100 degrees or more in recent days. Families pull their legs into the shade to avoid the sun, and some have tied blankets to the fences as makeshift tents. The immigrants come from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Peru and at the Hidalgo bridge Cuba. Their life stories are laced with seemingly endless tragedies: family members killed in home countries, kidnappings in Mexico, brutal smuggling conditions. At the Hidalgo bridge, a triage process is under way. Those with young kids are allowed to bump up in line. Those asylum-seekers are camped out on the United States side of the bridge. At the Roma bridge, there is no triage. Customs officials said theyd received no word from authorities about such a process. On Tuesday evening, a mother and her 3-month-old baby waited back in line. Ahead of her were people who said they waited 13 and 14 days on that bridge. The 3-month-old named Zoe already was sick. Others at that bridge said theyd gotten sick too, with flues, colds or ear infections. Some said it was the humidity and debris from the Rio Grande. From their vantage point, they watch as other asylum-seekers make desperate attempts to swim or float across on rafts. Most wore one of only two changes of clothes they brought in one backpack. Jessica Ramirez of Honduras said she ran out of money Saturday the day she arrived. She only has six pills left for her sons asthma, and he takes one a day. She doesnt know what will happen when he runs out. Being here outside, it scares me because of his sickness. But well see if we can resolve something over there, she said, gesturing to the United States hopefully. It doesnt look like much from her perspective at this point customs agents patrol with weapons and guard the gates. Cars move in and out of the crossing gates. Just beyond, immigrants can see tall fast food restaurant signs looming over the street. But still theres hope. A half-dozen people said they imagined the United States to be safe and look beautiful. Gloria Chox, an asylum-seeker from Guatemala at the Roma bridge, said she imagines it so beautiful, with big buildings and big houses. Houses this, this, this big! said Kendal, her 4-year-old son, stretching his hands higher and higher toward the fluorescent lights of the walkway. Rubi said he didnt choose an illegal route of entry because hed heard about families being separated, and hoped using the legal crossing minimized the chances of it happening to him and his daughter. Back in Honduras, he had to say goodbye to his wife and his 4-year-old daughter after persistent threats and killings by gangs on his side of the family. He said gangs killed his father and aunt, and threatened his brother and sister at gunpoint. My wife didnt have any problems the problem was me. So we made the decision that I would go, and bring her, he said, referring to his daughter. I didnt want to leave them. He began to cry, and Jency wiped his eyes with a washcloth. After a minute she took it back in her hands and imitated him, padding her face as well. Watching her, his eyes moistened and he smiled. She imitates me, he said. She always does that. Rubi said the prospect of another family separation, this time between him and his little girl who hes risked so much to save, is too much for him to bear. After all the experiences weve had, it grows. Our love has only grown, he said. They take her away, they take my life away. Silvia Foster-Frau is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of her stories here. | sfosterfrau@express-news.net | @SilviaElenaFF Gordon Bold of New Braunfels lives on a tight budget. He receives a $714 disability check each month and pays $164 of that to rent a place at Laurel Plaza Apartments, operated by the New Braunfels Housing Authority. He is unable to work because he suffers from narcolepsy. Bold, 58, worries how his lean budget might be affected by a package of rent reforms proposed by U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson. If he even raises my rent $5, hes going to put me in dire straits, Bold said. Im going to have to trim something. Sharon Samples, 69, another resident at the apartments and a New Braunfels Housing Authority board member, also is concerned. We have people in here who live on next to nothing $700 a month or less for some of these people, Samples said. A lot of these ladies cant afford to turn on their air conditioner right now, as hot as it is. They sit around with fans and open the windows. An analysis done by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and distributed exclusively by the Associated Press today concluded roughly 4 million low-income households nationwide could eventually see rent hikes under Carsons proposed changes. About 2 million of those households would be affected immediately based on HUDs estimates, while the remaining 2 million would see rent increases phased in after a six-year period, the Associated Press reported. Related: NEISD to require clear backpacks, install buzz-in entry systems Carson suggested the new series of HUD rent structures in April, aiming to make the departments housing assistance programs more fiscally sustainable and to modify rent calculations so theyre less invasive and easier to understand. Several local public housing officials expressed concerns, however, that tenants who have nothing to spare in their wallets will suffer. We shouldnt be looking for ways to make people pay more, said Tammye Trevino, interim executive director of the Bexar County Housing Authority. We should be asking the government to figure out where else we can take money so we can save these people. ... A lot of these people have nothing. The proposed rent changes come at a time when President Donald Trump and the GOP have passed tax cuts that inordinately benefit corporations and the 1 percent. Carsons recommendations which will require congressional approval seek to eliminate various deductions that currently allow qualified tenants to reduce their rents for each dependent in the home, for out-of-pocket medical expenses above a certain threshold and for unreimbursed child care expenses accrued because of education, training or work activities. It also seeks to eliminate a standard $400 annual deduction allowed for each elderly or disabled household. If Carsons plan becomes law, rent would no longer be calculated based on 30 percent of a households HUD-adjusted income, an approach that factors in those rent deductions. Instead, rent would be based on a simple formula 30 or 35 percent of a households gross income. Elderly and disabled households would pay 30 percent of their gross income for rent, while households without such classifications will pay 35 percent. Carsons proposal also seeks to raise minimum rents from $50 to $150 per month for the poorest tenants who arent elderly or disabled. And some households classified or categorized as elderly or disabled could lose those designations, which would mean they pay more, according to the CBPP. The CBPPs analysis reports almost everyone receiving some form of federal housing assistance would see their rent go up under Carsons plan, including people using housing vouchers, public housing or Section 8 rental assistance. If Carsons proposals are enacted, the average household affected in the 50 states and the District of Columbia will see its rent bumped from $4,000 to $4,800 per year, a 20 percent increase, according to the CBPPs assessment. That move will affect more than 8.3 million people, the analysis found. In Texas, nearly 232,000 households would be affected by the changes, with the average rent hike amounting to $810 per year, a 22 percent hike, the analysis found. That would affect more than a half-million Texans. Read more: Mayor, some council members say housing a priority In the San Antonio-New Braunfels metro area, the analysis found 8,400 low-income households would be affected by the suggested changes and would see an average rent increase of $630 annually, an 18 percent jump. However, that analysis excluded the San Antonio Housing Authority, which isnt required to follow Carsons proposal and can determine its own rent policies because its a Moving to Work agency. In the metro area encompassing Houston, The Woodlands and Sugar Land, the new rent structures, if approved, would affect 44,200 low-income households, with the average rent hike amounting to $860 per year, an increase of more than 23 percent. The CBPP also concluded that an estimated 314,000 households across the United States stand to lose their elderly or disabled status and will see their rents go up. Speaking on background, HUD officials insist the proposed reforms wont immediately raise rents on any qualified households now receiving assistance if an elderly or disabled person currently lives there. HUD officials project about 2 million low-income households nationwide will see rent increases under Carsons plan as proposed. Households would have to report their income and certify their eligibility for assistance every three years instead of annually, as is done today. The press office for HUD declined to comment directly on the analysis examining the impact of Carsons proposed changes, but pointed reporters to his remarks in an April 25 press release announcing his suggested policy shifts. The system we currently use to calculate a familys rental assistance is broken and holds back the very people were supposed to be helping, Carson said in that press release. HUD-assisted households are now required to surrender a long list of personal information, and any new income they earn is taxed every year in the form of a rent increase. Today, we begin a necessary conversation about how we can provide meaningful, dignified assistance to those we serve without hurting them at the same time. Trevino agreed there are changes to be made, but argued that putting a bigger burden on low-income tenants is not the answer. Her agency, the Bexar County Housing Authority which serves more than 2,000 households and has a waiting list of 6,800 people never implemented the $50 minimum rent rule on its poorest clients. The last thing we want is to tell someone you cant be in the program because you cant even afford $150, Trevino said, referring to the heightened minimum rent proposed by Carson. Right now, we take everyone who qualifies income-wise. If I have an existing client and I have to tell her, You now have to pay a minimum of $150 - and theyre paying zero theyre going to have to choose. Theyre going to have to choose whether they want to stay in the program and figure out how to make more money. Tracy Sepulveda, 39, said her monthly rent could go up $100 if Carsons proposal becomes law. She gets a housing voucher through the Bexar County Housing Authority and rents a two-bedroom home in the Babcock North subdivision with her husband and 11-year-old son for $700 per month. Read more: City's population growth largest in nation, census data shows $100 a month is groceries, Sepulveda said. I dont qualify for food stamps anymore ... $100 doesnt sound like a lot of money, but its the difference in a lot of things. Bold, the disabled New Braunfels man, said his rent will jump by $50 a month if it is calculated based on 30 percent of his gross median income, as called for under Carsons proposal. That would put me into a place where I would have to get rid of my vehicle so I could cancel my (car) insurance, he said. And we dont really have the greatest public transportation here in New Braunfels. Samples, a former bank teller, gets by on a $983 monthly check from Social Security. A rent increase, depending on the amount, could mean giving up her car, which she uses to travel to doctors appointments. When you live on a fixed income and youve got to pay for your medications, you have a vehicle to go back and forth to the doctor, youve got to buy gas, youve got to do maintenance on your car you know, it adds up, Samples said. Carsons proposal, if enacted, would trigger a massive amount of change in a very tight housing market, said New Braunfels Housing Authority Executive Director Nadine Mardock. Its not like where if this comes down on them and their rent is going to go way up, that they can just leave and go some place else, Mardock said. Those days are kind of over. And the housing just is not out there. So thats a huge concern. You really cant even find anything thats substandard anymore. Everything is occupied. ... If youre at a very low-income limit or extremely low-income limit, its going to be virtually impossible to find something. The most pressing crisis isnt with the clients served by HUD, but with the lack of affordable housing and the surge in population, Mardock said in a written statement to the San Antonio Express-News. Stripping away deductions for medical expenses, dependents and child care expenses will make the housing crisis even worse, she predicted. The timing on this proposal to force more rent money from low-income clients is not going to fix this problem, could not come at a worse time and could very well make things worse. ... If one goes deeper into what is really going to happen, this proposal can actually make a complicated and crippled system fail even faster, Mardock wrote. Peggy OHare is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of her stories here. | pohare@express-news.net | @Peggy_OHare Defense attorneys for a Palestinian-American woman accused of murder for stabbing to death her secret lover, her nephew, asked jurors Wednesday to understand her world as a battered woman who endured months of physical and verbal abuse. Pointing to text messages from the man hours before the killing, warning he was coming to her home to put her into a coma, Mike McCrum, attorney for Andira Abdelaziz, 37, slammed the prosecutions case during closing arguments. It appears the state is saying a huge man can brutalize a woman and promise an ugly and vicious beating that is only seconds away and a woman has to wait for a man to hit her before she can defend herself, McCrum said. The jury began deliberating the case shortly after noon and was sent home at 6:30 p.m.. Deliberations resume at 10 a.m. Thursday. Abdelaziz stabbed Mohammed Abdelaziz, 25, with a kitchen knife minutes after reassuring police officers called to the house that he was a relative, not an intruder as she had thought when she called 911 because he was beating on their door and windows. Born in New York City but having spent years living the Palestinian territory of the West Bank, Andira Abdelaziz testified Tuesday that an arrest would have exposed their affair to her husband and kids, causing unbearable shame and possibly danger from other family members. But her nephew resumed menacing her as soon as police departed, so she grabbed the knife and plunged it into his back when he was briefly distracted by her teenage son, she testified. If convicted, Andira Abdelaziz could face life in prison. McCrum has said she was offered various plea deals by prosecutors, but declined them all. We think she is completely innocent, he said. Prosecutor Clayton Haden told the jury that despite the terrible texts from the stabbing victim and one documented incident where he hit her in the face, leaving bruises the jury saw in photographs, the woman and her son had lied about events and coordinated their testimony. The defense has no obligation to the truth. Their obligation is to this defendant, said Haden, who Tuesday had asked the woman, unsuccessfully, to demonstrate how she stabbed the man with whom she was having an ongoing affair. Its a very common defense around this courthouse, Haden said, that when the defense doesnt meet the law, lets turn it into chaos, lets bad-mouth the victim its called the sometimes-people-just-need-killing defense. Theyre just bad people. The victim, Mohammed Abdelaziz, was a law school graduate pulling himself up by his own bootstraps, a man beloved by his family and a loyal son who months before his death had planned a surprise birthday party for his mother that was attended by both extended Palestinian families, including the woman on trial, Haden said. Haden said the womans 19-year-old son, also named Mohammed Abdelaziz, was in cahoots with his mom and told a story of his mothers abuse and terrified reaction on Aug. 9, 2016, that sounded like a story they had rehearsed around the dinner table. Its clearly murder, prosecutor Sade Mitchell told the eight-man, four-woman jury. Dont get caught up in her saying that she didnt mean to kill him. You can only use deadly force when confronted with deadly force. She said, He was controlling me. Thats not deadly force, Mitchell said. He didnt use deadly force in the house that day. There werent injuries on her that day. Mitchell conceded that the woman had been struck repeatedly by her victim two days earlier but said it wasnt so serious that she needed to go to the hospital. Andira Abdelaziz, in emotional testimony Tuesday, said she did not call the police, alert all her family members or seek medical treatment after getting beaten by her lover because she feared retaliation from the mans family if they learned of the couples affair. She said her daughters would not be able to be married by Muslims who learned of the affair and that her sons would forever be called sons of a whorethe worst thing you could ever say about someone. bselcraig@express-news.net JOHN DAVENPORT/SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS Retired District Judge John J. Specia, who once served as a commissioner of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, will be honored by Catholic Charities of San Antonio on Wednesday at Club Giraud, 707 N. St. Mary's St. Specia, who oversaw the 225th District Court in Bexar County for almost 19 years, will receive the Saint Ives Award. The $200,000 check from an unnamed donor was to be used to purchase a new ambulance for Gonzales County EMS. Instead, investigators said, Jim Russell, the department's director, spent $80,000 retrofitting a used ambulance with a new chassis. What happened to the remaining $120,000 remains unclear. According to investigators and EMS employees, it's just one example of financial malfeasance carried out by Jim and Carla Russell, the husband and wife pair who run the department, that has left Gonzales County with outdated medical equipment and EMTs without retirement funds and life insurance. Arrest warrants and search warrant affidavits obtained by ExpressNews.com show the couple is suspected of stealing more than $150,000 in donations to Gonzales County EMS, overpaying themselves and misleading local businesses about where payments were going. The Russells are now each facing one charge of misapplication of fiduciary property or property of a financial institution, according to Deon Cockrell, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety. They were booked into the Gonzales County Jail on Monday on $50,000 bonds and bailed out the following day. According to the documents reviewed by ExpressNews.com, detectives don't have a full picture of how much the Russells may have embezzled and outright stolen. Investigators only examined financial records stretching back to about 2015, though both Jim Russell, the department's former director, and Carla Russell, the department's salary supervisor, have worked for the Gonzales County EMS for more than two decades. Jim Russell was placed on administrative leave in January after investigators executed a search warrant at the Gonzales County EMS headquarters. The suspects declined to comment on the charges against them through an intermediary, their daughter, Ashley Hutton, on Tuesday at their home in Gonzales. They also declined to provide contact information for an attorney. Multiple employees said that in addition to the criminal charges against the Russells, the couple is also responsible for draining their retirement funds, canceling their life insurance policies and erasing their bonus structure. Court documents show investigators are looking in to these allegations. ExpressNews.com spoke with three Emergency Medical Technicians at Gonzales EMS for this story, two of whom requested anonymity for fear of retaliation at their place of work. Each said their promised retirement benefits are non-existent and years of financial mismanagement have left them working with outdated equipment that puts themselves and their patients at risk. "Wherever [Jim] could cut corners, he'd cut corners," said Paul Thistlewaite, who's worked at the department for about a decade. "It just irks me that this guy would take chances with trucks and stretchers. The public doesn't know that. They have no clue that this is an ambulance from 1999 that he's running in service." 'Double Dipping' The arrest warrants for the Russells detail what the Texas Rangers say is hard evidence of some of the their alleged criminal activity. Investigators reviewed Gonzales County EMS records and found both suspects regularly "double dipped," meaning they paid themselves as EMS supervisors while also being paid by other local organizations to staff events. First responders often work off-duty side jobs for extra income, but they cannot do so while also being paid by their primary employer, for example, the police department or the sheriff's office. Texas Rangers investigators found the Russells were doing just that. According to their arrest warrants, they also provided first aid and CPR training to several local organizations, including Gonzales ISD. To pay for the services, the organizations made checks out to Emergency Medical Services Training or "EMST," and they believed their funds were going to a bank account tied to the EMS department. Instead, investigators say, the funds went directly to an account that listed Jim and Carla Russell as the only signers and had no connection to Gonzales County EMS. According to the arrest warrants, the Russells received more than $20,000 for their training. They used this money to buy a $2,000 livestock bull and a new $7,000 roof for their home. The warrants also indicate the Russells overpaid themselves thousands of dollars. Carla Russell allegedly overpaid herself by $100 for every pay period the Texas Rangers reviewed in their investigation. She did so by claiming she worked a "third out," which occurs when the two ambulances in Gonzales and a third ambulance in Welder, Texas, are occupied and a fourth ambulance is called (making it the third ambulance in Gonzales, and thus the "third out"). In order to be paid for such a call, an employee would have to be working off-duty, otherwise, they would receive normal compensation for doing their job. According to Russell's payroll records, she claimed payment for one 4-hour "third out" call in every pay period, for which she was paid $25 per hour, or $100. But investigators found no work schedules from 2015 to 2017 indicating Carla Russell worked a single "third out" shift. Further, according to one employee at the department, responding to that many third out calls while off-duty for four hours each time is highly unusual. A third out call would typically take about an hour or two. Jim Russell is accused of paying himself for more hours than exist in a pay period on multiple occasions. According to bid specifications written by Jim Russell, shift supervisors, such as himself, receive $5 per hour, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, "in addition to any other Gonzales EMS compensation that employee may be receiving simultaneously," according to the arrest warrant. Each 14-day pay period for Gonzales County EMS contains 336 hours, but on multiple occasions, Russell paid himself $5 per hour for 360 hours of work, and "on occasion," paid himself for as many as 408 hours. Investigators cite one example of a 29-week period between April 18, 2016 and October 30, 2016, in which Russell paid himself for 5040 hours of work. There are only 4,872 hours in such a pay period. All told, investigators say Russell overpaid himself at least $3,700. Missing donations Investigators also say they have probable cause to believe the Russells stole tens of thousands of dollars in donations to Gonzales County EMS. In addition to the alleged missing money intended for an ambulance, a search warrant affidavit shows another citizen wrote a check for Gonzales EMS to Jim Russell for $46,000 that was later cashed, but the funds never made it to a bank account for the department. Former Gonzales County Emergency Services District Board President Curtis Hadnot told investigators he was not aware of a check for that amount, and it was never listed as a donation on the ESD Board's minutes. Finally, investigators believe Jim and Carla Russell stole $1,464 the Gonzales County EMS employees raised during a Haunted Hay Ride in October 2016 to buy new defibrillators for the Gonzales County Sheriff's Office. According to the search warrant affidavit, the raised funds were turned over to the Russells at the end of the event, but the money was never deposited into the EMS department's account, and the sheriff's office never received the defibrillators. 'They need to make this right' The court records reviewed by the Express-News also indicate the Russells failed to pay for their employee's medical insurance and social security, despite charging them for it. One employee, who won't be identified because he did not speak with the Express-News for this story, told investigators his insurance had been canceled due to non-payment, even though the funds were taken from his paycheck, according to the search warrant affidavit. Another employee, who spoke with the Express-News but requested anonymity, told investigators they had called the local office of the U.S. Social Security Administration and "was advised nothing was being paid to them," the search warrant affidavit says. In 2015, after 41-year-old Matthew Griffin, was fatally struck by a truck on his way to work, Griffin's family and his colleagues learned the Russells had canceled employees' life insurance policies, they said. According to Griffin's sister, Sarah Loer, 41, Griffin signed up for Blue Cross Blue Shield health insurance when he was hired to the Gonzales County EMS in 2012. Part of the package included a $10,000 life insurance policy. But after he was killed, Carla Russell sent an email informing the Griffin family Gonzales County EMS had stopped paying for the policy in 2010. "The life insurance information was listed on the BCBS application that was given to the employee to complete as a package," the email reads. "This information should not have been completed as the policy was no longer in effect." Loer, 41, said the situation regarding her brother's life insurance policy has been frustrating, but now she's concerned about the first responders who risk their lives for the community and have no support. "It's heartbreaking to see the men and women being treated like this," she said. "They were always told there was no money, but all they are asking for are benefits that were promised." Other EMTs cited similar concerns, claiming the Russells regularly amended the departments Standard Operation Procedure without any deliberation or announcement at an open meeting. Investigators even discovered that one page of the SOP detailing "third out" pay mysteriously disappeared about a month after they executed search warrants at the EMS building in January 2018. Ultimately, the employees said the alleged irresponsible behavior and financial mismanagement by the Russells results in poorer service to the community, often during the times they most need help. Their ambulances are old, the wheels on their stretchers are falling off and the modern technology used by most EMS units has yet to make it to Gonzales County. "You don't just do what [Jim is] doing and not affect everyone else," said one EMT who requested anonymity. Now, the EMTs are hoping the board approves a new, capable director to run Gonzales County EMS. Many said they would prefer Allen Linebrink, a veteran of the department who has served as the interim director, since Jim Russell stepped down. Linebrink, citing advice from the EMS board's attorney, Jackie Williamson, declined to comment. The board is scheduled to meet Thursday. It's expected to be a crucial meeting, most likely determining the future of Gonzales County EMS. "They need to make this right," said one employee who requested anonymity. "The board needs to make this right." 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 The Alamo City could follow Denver, Las Vegas, Kansas City and other municipalities that have created hubs for innovation within their communities. The City Council was briefed Wednesday on plans for San Antonio to create three so-called innovation zones, as part of its Smart SA initiative. Jose De La Cruz, the citys chief innovation officer, recommended that the city create the zones at Brooks, the medical center and downtown. Several U.S. cities have already created innovation zones, which serve to test the real-world application of emerging technologies aimed at improving quality of life. De La Cruz said the existence of fiber-optic cable in those three areas were one of the underpinnings of the geographic selections. What, exactly, San Antonios will look like is yet to come completely into focus. Smart-city initiatives can focus on bridging the digital divide by ensuring all corners of the community have access to high-speed internet a near-necessity for everything from applying for college scholarship and jobs to paying bills. They can focus on incorporating energy-efficient smart lighting, or flood detection, or pedestrian safety, among other things. As the innovation zones ramp up, the city will hold a vendor summit where officials will lay out local challenges and invite companies to propose smart solutions. Eventually, the city will seek sealed proposals and then best-and-final offers from shortlisted groups over the course of the next several months. Mayor Ron Nirenberg encouraged city staff to ensure that the challenges proposed to tech firms include the citys top priorities, such as digital inclusion, opportunity for education and employment and pedestrian safety. Other council members reacted with varying levels of support. Councilman John Courage called the plan short-sighted because the proposed zones are in well-developed areas and will surely be successful. He suggested creating a zone in a neighborhood that doesnt already have the necessary infrastructure. But De La Cruz and other city executives explained the need for existing infrastructure, such as fiberoptic cable, which is the backbone of a smart city. Councilwoman Rebecca Viagran chided De La Cruz for adding in downtown as a third proposed innovation zone. When he presented the proposal earlier this year to the councils Innovation and Technology Committee, De La Cruz pitched the Medical Center and Brooks. Councilman Roberto Trevino made a case for adding downtown at that committee meeting. On Wednesday, Viagran, a committee member, lashed out at De La Cruz, saying he should have briefed those committee members before presenting the third site to the full council. She pushed for moving the downtown zone west, to encompass the University of Texas at San Antonio downtown campus and the near-West Side. I would like to advocate looking at the west side of 35 and using UTSA as part of that concept, she said. Councilman Manny Pelaez, chairman of the innovation committee, supports the plans and didnt share the same concerns about the addition of the third zone as Viagran. The reasoning behind the recommended innovation zones is sound and I am satisfied that city staffs proposal is backed by thoughtful vetting of all options, Pelaez said. There is nothing inappropriate about staff improving recommendations presented at subcommittees and presenting options to council at B-session meetings, he added. More options are always better than fewer options. Josh Baugh is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | jbaugh@express-news.net | @jbaugh No sooner had I hit send on a recent column listing examples of Democrats failing immigrants and refugees than I realized there were other instances that should have been included. First, let me be clear. Despite the reader who accused me after the last column of attempting to deflect, mute and cloud much-needed criticism of Republicans, Im not trying to distract from the Trump administrations cruel stab at immigration enforcement. As an old-school journalist, I serve one master: the truth. We cant say the same about a left-leaning media that is concerning mistreatment of immigrants and refugees more skilled at calling out conservatives than liberals. Yet the left gives us a lot of material to work with. Like this: In 1993, Harry Reid of Nevada took to the Senate floor to declare that no sane country would do what the United States does and offer a reward for being an illegal immigrant by giving citizenship to children of undocumented immigrants. In 1995, President Clinton used his State of the Union address to sound the alarm about the large numbers of illegal aliens entering our country. According to Clinton, the undocumented take jobs that might otherwise be held by citizens or legal immigrants and use public services that impose burdens on our taxpayers. Then he bragged that his administration had moved aggressively to secure our borders more by hiring a record number of new border guards, by deporting twice as many criminal aliens as ever before, by cracking down on illegal hiring, by barring welfare benefits to illegal aliens. After all, he said, We are a nation of immigrants. But we are also a nation of laws. Sound familiar? Bill Clinton needs to sue Donald Trump for theft of intellectual property. In 2005, posts on a blog written by Joy Reid now a liberal MSNBC host suggested that native-born Americans and not low-paid Mexican workers ought to rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and called the flying of the Mexican flag on U.S. soil incredibly presumptuous and insulting. In 2007, while campaigning for the Democratic nomination for president, Joe Biden then a senator from Delaware told an Iowa crowd all worked up over illegal immigration that the blame fell to Mexico. This is a dysfunctional society, Biden said of our neighbor to the south. In 2011, Cecilia Munoz the daughter of Bolivian immigrants and the highest-ranking Latina in the Obama administration as Director of Intergovernmental Affairs appeared on PBS Frontline and put a chill into the air. In an episode called Lost in Detention which looked at immigrant families separated by the Obama administration Munoz dispassionately said: Even if the law is executed with perfection, there will be parents separated from their children. In 2012, Democratic California Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed the TRUST Act, a bill from the state legislature that would have severely limited the ability of local and state police officers to cooperate with federal immigration agents. Brown said that he was preserving the discretion of local officials who wanted to work with federal immigration authorities. Oddly, Brown is today at war with local jurisdictions that insist on maintaining that same discretion. In 2014, while signing autographs with her husband along a rope line in Iowa, Hillary Clinton was confronted by Dreamers who demanded to know if she would, as president, correct some of the abuses committed by the Obama administration through its deportation juggernaut. She beat a hasty retreat, and the encounter landed on YouTube. Also in 2014, as thousands of unaccompanied minors from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador flooded across the U.S.-Mexico border, Clinton declared that the refugees should be sent back to send a clear message: Just because your child gets across the border, that doesnt mean the child gets to stay. After criticism, she later softened the message. The evidence keeps piling up. You can support the Democratic Party, or you can support immigrants and refugees. But these days, you cant support both. ruben@rubennavarrette.com BRIDGEPORT A city man faces a slew of charges after leading police on a pursuit and nearly hitting two people with his Sport Utility Vehicle, an incident report said. Linell Moseley, 33, of Reservoir Avenue, was charged with first-degree reckless endangerment, second-degree burglary, interfering with an officer and possession of marijuana with intent to sell. He also faces charges of improper passing, failure to obey an officers signal, engaging police in a pursuit, evading responsibility and reckless operation. On the evening of May 4, an officer on patrol near Reservoir Avenue and Chopsey Hill Road saw a SUV drive into the breakdown lane of the Route 8 southbound entrance ramp to get around another vehicle, a recently obtained incident report said. The officer followed the SUV and, after a search on the license plate, found the registered owner was a city resident he was familiar with Moseley, the report said. It should be noted that I (am) personally familiar with Moseley from previous narcotics arrests, the officers summary said. The officer switched on his cruisers lights and sirens, but the driver later confirmed to be Moseley didnt pull over. Moseley got off the highway and led officers on a pursuit throughout the city. Then he got back on the highway before, again, returning to city streets. It should be noted that numerous police vehicles had responded and were assisting in the active pursuit of this vehicle, and the fleeing vehicle had appeared to have blown out its front passenger side tire, the report said. During the pursuit, the officer wrote, Moseley nearly hit a man walking his dog and allegedly hit an unoccupied parked car. Moseley also allegedly purposefully swerved his SUV at a sergeants police cruiser, in an attempt at vehicular assault, the report said. With a blown out tire, eventually Moseley was driving about 10 to 15 mph. When he reached the 200 block of Bunnell Street, he hopped out of the SUV. Police said the SUV was still running and nearly hit a woman. A K9 unit led police to an apartment that Moseley managed to sneak into without the residents permission. Police said the resident told them her door was unlocked. Officers apprehended Moseley without further incident. Several bags of marijuana, totaling 34 grams, were seized from in his SUV, police said. He was taken to headquarters for processing. For the criminal charges, Moseleys bond was set at $50,000. The motor vehicle offenses carried a $2,500 bond. On June 18, Moseley will answer to his charges. FAIRFIELD An ordinance that would prohibit private backyard shooting ranges is poised to be adopted by the Representative Town Meeting. The ordinance wouldnt preclude hunters, or residents from defending themselves or others from physical harm. It is similar to ordinances in surrounding towns like Westport and Norwalk, though in some cases it is less restrictive than other municipalities, sponsor Nancy Lefkowitz, D-1, said. It will, she told the RTM recently, allow the police department to have additional authority over an issue that is of increasing concern to Fairfield residents: namely, non-hunting and non-crime related gunfire. The ordinance makes it unlawful to discharge any firearms on public or private property. There are exceptions for police officers, members of the armed services, licensed security personnel, as well as someone defending themselves or a third-party from physical harm, or anyone responding to a wildlife threat to human safety. Any shooting range must be authorized in writing by the police chief, and anyone allowing hunters to use their property must provide annual written notice to all abutting property owners. It carries a $250 fine for each offense The ordinance not only has bipartisan sponsorship but bipartisan support, as well as the endorsement of Police Chief Gary MacNamara. A vote on the ordinance will take place at the RTM meeting at the end of this month. Many years ago, we found ourselves in the position where an indiviudal who put up a firearms range in his yard, MacNamara said. While the property had the needed room for a shooting range, we found ourselves without any regulatory ability. He said that situation has been resolved but thats not to say the problem wont come up again. MacNamara said the department often finds itself responding to reports of gunfire that often turns out to be hunters. If theres dialogue between neighbors that theyre allowing hunting on their property, maybe that would eliminate some phone calls, he said. He said the department didnt do a good enough job communicating with neighbors when they last used the outdoor range. Cambridge Street resident Alex Plitsas, a combat veteran, voiced support of the ordinance and had a suggestion for improving communication. He said often it might be a resident walking by a property hearing the gunshots of hunters, but since they dont lie next door, they wouldnt have been notified. A possible consideration would be to place signs on the edge of the property that hunting is taking place, Plitsas said. Yvonne Zeisler lives on Hoydens Lane, close to the police shooting range, and said in the last two years she have been always been notified when it was being used. But there are other times, she said, when shes been woken from sleep by the sound of gunfire. It is really scary, she said, and agreed with Plitsas suggestion for signs notifying when a property is being used by hunters. I know people have permits to hunt, it would be great to have signs out. Currently, there is nothing in our town code regulating the discharge of firearms, Lefkowitz said. Courts in Connecticut have ruled that statutes implicitly preempt municipalities from passing ordinances regulating firearm sales and hunting, but municipalities are allowed to pass ordinances to protect the public health, safety and welfare of their citizens. And as such, several towns as stated previously have ordinances concerning various other aspects of firearm use, such as discharge of a firearm, firearm use in residential areas and regulations on range safety, gunfire noise and target practices. BRIDGEPORT The painting is something of a mystery. It sits over the fireplace in the living room of 33 Eames Boulevard, in Bridgeports Black Rock section. It depicts what appears to be two women, one of them covered in dirt, crouched on the ground. Theres a barely legible signature in one corner, but Lisa Riccio OBrien, who grew up in the house, said she doesnt know anything about the piece or its history. Her cousin, Sarah Keenan, the propertys listing agent, doesnt know much about it either, but she does have theories. The house was built in 1933 by her and OBriens grandfather, Ferdinand Frassinelli, who immigrated to the area from the Abruzzi section of Italy in the early 1900s. He teamed with another Italian, Philip Epifano, to form E & F Construction Company. Keenan said Italian artists and artisans who would immigrate here would routinely find work with her grandfathers company. I sure this was some great Italian artist who worked for them, she said of the painting. The 4,695-square-foot Mediterrean Colonial listed at $1,595,000 is a source of great affection for both Keenan and OBrien. Theirs is the only family thats ever lived in it, and this is the first time its ever been on the market. OBriens mother was living there until her death last year. Since then, the family has been preparing to sell the home, and it just recently went on the market. Its heartbreaking to sell this place, OBrien said. Designed by noted architect Leonard Asheim, the house incorporates both Italian and Californian designs. There are curved staircases throughout, including one leading down to the basement. The basement includes a fireplace, a working bar with taps, and a door with a keyhole-shaped stained glass window adorned with the image of a beer stein. Back in the day, there were all sort of parties here, OBrien said. The house overlooks Long Island Sound and offers water views from nearly every window (not including views of the in-ground pool in the homes backyard). Keenan and OBrien said the house remains full of memories including a particularly gasp-inducing one about the laundry chute on the second floor. Lisa fell down it as a baby, Keenan said. OBrien confirmed the story, but said other than some scars on her face, she was fine. With its thick, concrete walls, wrap around porches, nine-foot ceiling, and tiled roof, it has the appearance of a grand European villa to this day. There have been some updates over the years, including the modernization of the kitchen, but the house maintains much of its original style. Keenan and OBrien said though its clearly time to find a new owner, moving on is difficult. Its kind of hard, selling a house thats been in the family for 85 years, Keenan said. Do you know of a house or apartment building with an interesting story? Contact acuda@ctpost.com, and the home could be featured in an upcoming installment of Habitat. By Susan Crowell / editor@farmanddairy.com Californias weather is often hot, but its nothing compared to the heat the mayor of Tulare is taking following his anti-agriculture comments on social media. The mayor, Carlton Jones, posted a comment on Facebook that slammed agriculture, even though his county, Tulare County, leads the nation in dairy production (worth $1.6 billion). This San Joaquin Valley area is also one of the largest producers of oranges and citrus fruits. In fact, in all, the county has 45 crops worth more than $1 million each in farm gate gross value. Agriculture is the largest, private employer in the county, and Tulare also hosts the World Ag Expo each February, the largest ag show of its kind. In other words, agriculture is THE economic foundation for Tulare County, so youd think the mayor of Tulare would recognize its value. Here are the comments that triggered the outcry: Ag strips the natural resources and contaminates our ground water and air. Ag causes asthma and valley fever, cancer and kills bees. You cant educate me. Youre trained. You can share with me what youve been trained to think. We can debate the difference between what you think and what I think. What happened next was no surprise: The ag community quickly roasted the mayor, with some calling for his resignation. The Tulare County Farm Bureau issued a statement that it was deeply disturbed by the perspective voiced by Carlton Jones. And the World Ag Expo, which annually draws 100,000 visitors from 70 countries to Tulare County, also responded, saying its staff and volunteers strongly disagree with the recent comments about agriculture by Tulare Mayor Carlton Jones. Jones said his comments, made in a conversation with two farmers, were taken out of context. He says he supports agriculture, but that there are problems within the industry that can be fixed. We agree, but we dont disparage it in the way he did on social media. The mayor of one of the most ag-centric communities, of all people, should be working to build agriculture, not tear it down. On May 31, he hosted a town hall to share his perspective, and to listen. Before the town hall, a local television station reported Jones as saying, This isnt a fight between one side and the other. We all know that ag is our biggest industry here. We just want to be safe, and if we can improve it, thats what were going to do. During the town hall, he didnt apologize for his comments but admits they couldve been worded better. Local farmer Xavier Avila sat at the front table with Jones during the town hall and told the mayor why his remarks set off such a firestorm. [Farmers] are under attack, the Visalia Times Delta reports Avila as saying. Its not a conspiracy theory. Its the real deal. I feel that most farmers feel they are backed into a corner. Avila told Jones his comments fell in line with anti-ag activists in the state. And Art Cabello, of Tulare, told Jones he needs to remember who he is: you are the mayor, you are Tulare. You represent all of us. That was the point of another Tulare resident who was outside the town hall meeting: You gotta watch what you say. Its like Mickey Mouse talking badly about Disneyland. COLUMBUS The 2018 National Angus Convention and Trade Show will take place Nov. 3-5 at the Columbus Convention Center. The first weekend in November, Angus breeders, commercial cattlemen and allied industry partners join together to learn and set a vision for the future, participate in the organizations Annual Convention of Delegates, take in the trade show and enjoy all the Angus history Ohio has to offer. The 40th anniversary of Certified Angus Beef (CAB) will be the theme for this years convention. Tours Before the official start of the convention, the Ohio Angus Association will hold the National Angus Tour Nov. 2, where participants will spend a day exploring the areas leading Angus operations and the Certified Angus Beef brand headquarters. Convention During the convention, guests will hear from keynote speakers that inspire forward thinking and vision for the future of the quality beef business through Angus University, sponsored by Merck Animal Health. In breakout sessions, topics will range from cattle health and management to understanding genomics and evolving technology. The Angus Genomics Symposium, sponsored by Neogen GeneSeek Operations, will feature presenters, academic professionals and industry leaders who will explore how producers can apply new ideas to their home operations. Another workshop series from Zoetis will be featured, as well as prize giveaways and CAB brand meals served throughout the event. Angus breeders receive exclusive booth discounts, and those interested in reserving space can visit the trade show section of the website. Social The Angus Convention offers plenty of time for attendees to get to know one another, celebrate the Angus breed, and plan for the future. A concert featuring Neal McCoy is planned for Nov. 4. Register Registration and hotel reservations open July 1, and more information will be available online at angusconvention.com. Delegates This year marks the 135th Annual Convention of Delegates for the American Angus Association, where representatives from each state elect new members and officers to the board of directors. Each eligible voting member of the American Angus Association was mailed a nomination form and was asked to select one member who would be a successful delegate to the national meeting. Signed nomination forms are due to the association office no later than 4:30 p.m. June 8. Reference mailed documents for complete details, or visit angus.org for more information on the delegate nomination process. Thiele Dairy is mixing old and new technology, using a tie-stall barn and a drone to check fields CABOT, Pa. William Thiele received his first drone for Christmas in 2015. He started using it to record their field work and quickly became obsessed. An aerial view gives you the best look at a field. It isnt a toy, its a tool, he said. For example, they harvest rye to replant the next year, and by using the drone, they can determine which field and which sections of the field to use for seed. It is a very different perspective, William said. The color of the field changes if it is dry or wet. The Thieles William, his twin, James, mother Lorraine, and father Ed work together to make such decisions on their dairy farm in Butler County, Pennsylvania. They farm around 300 acres, which includes rented land, and grow corn, soybeans, alfalfa grass, oats and a variety of cover crops. The majority of what they grow is fed to their dairy herd. #droneguy With the drone, they check on their cows, groundhog traps and field conditions. Since the original, gifted drone, William has purchased a more sophisticated drone, or unmanned aircraft system, that averages 30-35 mph, but William said his has gone up to 50 mph with a tailwind. Drones are supposed to be only 400 feet in the air and remain in sight, but the drone does have the ability to fly a distance of 4 miles, horizontally. His drone also has forward and backward sensing to avoid hitting objects, and when it is about to run out of batteries, it starts to head home, whether or not you tell it to. Its like a quality camera with wings, he said. When he isnt feeding or milking the cows, Thiele has become the #droneguy off the farm, too, doing weddings, aerial farm shots, and taking photos and videos for other marketing efforts. Drones are making their way into the ag industry, with some crop insurance companies using them to verify claims, and some farmers are using satellite images with infrared, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, he said. With that technology, they may have five satellite images, but there is no zooming. With a drone, you could check it every day and see the field in real time, he said. This is the 2017 Social Media Contest award winning video that William Thiele and James Thiele created about their farm. The contest was to create a 5 minute video talking about their farm and what modern agricultural practices they use. They won a trip to the 2018 AFBF YF&R Leadership Conference!! #pfbproud Posted by Butler County Farm Bureau PA on Friday, December 8, 2017 UAS regulation For some, the word drone brings to mind a violation of privacy or a need for regulation. To operate his, William has earned a 107 certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration. To be awarded this certificate, one must take a 60-question test at a local airfield, costing $150. You also have to answer 70 percent of the questions correctly to pass, William said. Unmanned Aircraft Systems Registration Owners must be 13 or older. Owners must register their UAS if it weighs between 0.55 and 55 pounds. Any UAS weighing in excess of 55 pounds must be registered with the FAA as an aircraft. Operating There are restrictions in place that limit how you can and cannot operate your UAS. The UAS must remain within the operators line of sight. No flights are permitted over pedestrians, moving vehicles, public infrastructure, or within 25 feet of private property. If operating within five miles of an airport, UAS activity must be coordinated with airport management. To help UAS operators know where they can and cannot operate their UAS, the FAA has developed the B4UFly smartphone app that helps you determine whether there are any restrictions or requirements in effect at the location where you want to fly. For more information visit www.faa.gov/uas/ Source: http://www.penndot.gov/Doing-Business/Aviation Once certified, drone pilots have to retake the test every two years to remain certified. All drones used for recreation, commercial or government use have to be registered and display their registration number. (See sidebar for more UAS regulations) On the farm At the Thiele Dairy, aerial imagery has improved crop scouting and plant growth and stress evaluation, said Ed Thiele, who has gotten used to making farm decisions based on drone images. They have turned photos into support for farm decisions, some of which have saved them money, as they look for ways to decrease costs as the dairy industry suffers. You have to play the cards you are dealt, Ed said. They milk 40 cows twice a day in tie-stalls. The barn was built in 1864, but remodeled in 2000. They built a new heifer barn in 2017 with the help of Natural Resources Conservation Service and Butler County Conservation District cost-share programs. We make decisions around here based on what is best for the cows they will pay you back. They pride themselves on individual care, examining records and serving each cows needs. They surround themselves with experts, their nutritionist, veterinarian and breeding adviser. The Thieles talk with these team members, taking their advice and making their farm better. Investing in the land The Thieles have great regard for their cows and their land, as they were the first farm in Butler County to place their land in the states farmland preservation program. They made that decision in 1997, and since then, more than 50 farms in the county have followed their lead. Ed Thiele wants to leave the ground better than he found it, he said, as the sixth generation is now working on the farm. Ed worked with NRCS to get a grant to plant cover crops and quickly was doing research and getting excited about trying different covers. You have to think of it in the long term, putting an IRA on your soil, Ed says about his use of cover crops. Without your soil, you are nothing. This is a no-brainer. The Thieles planted green for the first time in 2017 and were pleasantly surprised. They planted corn, rolled the rye cover crop and then sprayed all in the same day. The yield was every bit as good as before, and the rye laid down and acted like a natural mulch, Ed said. They hosted an NRCS crop day on the farm last July to talk about their experiences and show attendees drone footage of the field work. That was the point I realized I was really drinking the Kool-Aid, he said, as his interest in cover crops evolved into advocacy. They have planted buckwheat, radishes, sunflowers, sunn hemp, rapeseed, hairy vetch, fields peas and the list keeps growing. I like trying off-the-wall stuff. They have also planted cover crops as late as the first week of December when they harvested the last of their beans. And it sprouted in the spring. Plowing is a disservice to the habitat, Ed said. We used to plow everything and get the seedbed nice and smooth. Now Ive flipped a 180. Water doesnt go through a plowed field like it does natural worm holes. He has even encouraged Lorraine to plant her flowers into green, she said. He doesnt want to disrupt the soil anywhere. There are still times I think we need to work the ground; it was just instilled in me, he said. Now the Thieles work the ground only if it has become compacted. Hard times Weve ridden through some bad prices in the past but this is a new low, Ed said. If we didnt have royalties and sell a few crops, I dont know where we would be. I dont know the solution the market is saturated with milk some have to get out, we just hope its not us. Their silo reads In God We Trust. Weve seen God work in our lives, and we trust in God to keep us here, Ed said. COLUMBUS Nearly three years have passed since Ohios nutrient law went into effect (S.B. 1), which bans the application of fertilizer and manure to frozen or saturated ground in northwestern Ohio. Keeping with one of the laws requirements, members of the House and Senate agriculture committees held a joint meeting June 5 at the Statehouse, to review the laws effect so far. Testimony was heard by three state agencies the Department of Agriculture, Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Natural Resources. Farm and commodity groups also testified, as did the states environmental and conservation groups. Tim Derickson, assistant director at ODA, said the nutrient law enacted important regulations that have made positive impacts on water quality in the Western Basin of Lake Erie. The law specifically banned farmers within the watershed from applying manure or fertilizer to frozen- or snow-covered ground, or saturated ground, unless the nutrients are applied to a growing crop, such as a cover crop. Derickson said that following the initial educational period for farmers, the department found the vast majority of producers and facilities were able and willing to comply with these new regulations. The violations According to his testimony, there were two violations in 2016, two in 2017, and 17 so far this year. Derickson said he believes the higher number of violations this year is attributable to the expiration of exemptions that had been granted and the harsher winter, which saw cold weather carry into spring. He suggested the law be amended to provide greater clarity as to what defines a growing crop. Although a growing crop allows a farmer to apply during frozen and snow-covered conditions, he suggested the state adopt a definition that would require the crop provide at least 90 percent surface cover the same definition as found in federal standards. The requirement for surface cover would help define what exactly counts as a growing crop, and would be more likely to prevent nutrient runoff. Right direction James Zehringer, director of the Department of Natural Resources, said S.B. 1 was a step in the right direction, with more action needed if the state is going to meet its 40 percent reduction in phosphorus load by 2025 a separate agreement signed by the leaders of Ohio, Michigan, and Ontario, Canada. Zehringer, who previously farmed in Mercer County, near Grand Lake St. Marys, said the states response to the water quality crisis in that lake could also be applied to Lake Erie. Grand Lake was declared a watershed in distress, he said, and the stakeholders developed regulations that significantly reduced the amount of phosphorus entering the lake, using a winter manure application ban as one of the tools. Zehringer shared data from the manure ban, which showed a reduction in dissolved reactive phosphorus in Grand Lake St. Marys of 18 percent, and 46 percent of particulate phosphorus from 2011 through 2016. (The Lake Erie bill) was a similar step in the right direction, but with the recurrence of algal blooms and fish kills in the Western Basin since its passage, ODNR recognizes that more needs to be done to keep our nutrients on the land, if we are to meet our goals by 2025, he said. While most of the states farm and environmental groups supported the Lake Erie bill, they said it also created some new challenges for livestock farmers because they were forced to apply manure in fewer days or add more storage both can be costly. Academic research Greg LaBarge, representing Ohio State Universitys College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, said its important that the university continue to provide farmers and non-farmers objective, unbiased information to improve the situation. Like others who spoke, he said funding for research is limited, but very much needed. And, he said its important to keep the farmers own struggles in mind when asking for change. Changing farm practices can often be difficult, and balancing the economic realities of survival in an intensely competitive marketplace, with the goals of improving the environmental performance of agriculture, can be a huge challenge, LaBarge said. Bryan Humphries, director of the Ohio Livestock Coalition, said livestock farmers have seen an increase in expenditures related to manure storage and application since the bill went into effect, and that many are still waiting on federal funding to help offset the expense. There simply is not enough funding currently available to meet all livestock farmers needs, he said. Time is needed Tony Seegers, director of state policy for Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, said the water quality problem took time to develop, and will take time to remedy. One of the challenges, Seegers said, is that researchers are still studying how the phosphorus moves into Lake Erie and where it originates. He said there is evidence from the Carnegie Institution for Science that there may be enough phosphorus trapped in lake sediments alone, that could feed algal blooms for up to a decade. Meanwhile, the farm groups said the evidence shows that less and less fertilizer is being applied. They cited USDA data that show a 13 percent reduction in phosphorus per acre, from 2003 to 2006, and they claimed that from 1993 to 2015, agricultural soil phosphorus levels in most Ohio counties are either the same or trending downward. The Ohio Farmers Union, represented by President Joe Logan, suggested more precise monitoring and targeting of distressed watersheds, as the most efficient way of tackling the issue. The OFU anticipates that Total Maximum Daily Load limits will soon be set for distressed watersheds, and the organization is committed to working on agronomic and regulatory tools to address hot spots as they are identified. The OFU also suggested that part of the water quality problem comes from a difficult ag economy, which has forced livestock and crop farmers to expand to the point where they are not able to easily manage all of the challenges of their operation. In many cases, such expansions have pushed farm managers beyond their management comfort level, causing shortcuts in operational techniques, Logan said. The House and Senate committee members are required to submit a summary and their recommendations to Ohio Gov. John Kasich, including any revisions they feel might be necessary. Related coverage: SALEM, Ohio Companion bills, dubbed the Clean Lake 2020 Plan, were introduced into the Ohio Senate and Ohio House of Representatives in early May that would invest significant funds to protect Lake Erie water quality. Both chambers have also proposed a $1 billion Clean Water Ohio bond issue that would appropriate $100 million per year for 10 years, if approved by Ohio voters in the fall. House Bill 643, cosponsored by Reps. Steve Arndt, R-Port Clinton, and John Patterson, D-Jefferson, and Senate Bill 299, cosponsored by Sens. Randy Gardner, R-Bowling Green, and Sean OBrien, D-Bazetta, have both received supporting testimonies within their respective committees. This week, the senate passed SB 299, which will now move to the Ohio House of Representatives for their consideration. HB 643 awaits a committee vote to move forward. Related: Ohio lawmakers review fertilizer bill Lake Erie water quality has been an ongoing public health concern, particularly following record-setting harmful algal blooms in 2011 and 2015, triggered by cumulative phosphorus loading. Toxins from a bloom in 2014 led to a three-day do not drink tap water advisory for half a million people in Toledo and the surrounding area. Whats included If approved, the two bills would: Invest as much as $20 million in capital funds in farm equipment and other initiatives to reduce phosphorus runoff in the Western Lake Erie Basin. Invest $10 million to prevent open lake dumping of dredged materials in Lake Erie. Invest $2.65 million in the Ohio State University Sea Grants Stone Laboratory near Put-in-Bay to pay for research lab space and monitoring devices. Invest $3.5 million to support the conservation efforts of the soil and water conservation districts in the Western Lake Erie Basin. Proactive Were definitely concerned with water quality and we are trying to be proactive, said Rep. Patterson. He said the idea is to assist Soil and Water Conservation Districts by getting more boots on the ground for conservation projects and provide funding for water quality research at Ohio State Sea Grants Stone Laboratory. We have a phosphorus issue in the west end of lake. In central and southern Ohio, we have a nitrate issue, he said. We want to get out ahead of both of these, too, before federal intervention. John Torres, director of government and industry affairs at the Ohio Corn and Wheat Growers Association, echoed this sentiment, saying the commodity group has been collaborating on these bills to prevent any potential government mandates that would be costly to an already struggling farm economy. The voluntary work farmers have been doing in the western basin is good, but we are limited in funding, said Torres. The association would like to see more incentives, like cost-sharing opportunities between farmers and the state, that promote good farming practices. Proponent So far, the Ohio Corn and Wheat Growers Association, Ohio Soybean Association, Ohio Farm Bureau, the Nature Conservancy of Ohio, Ohio Environmental Council, Lake Erie Foundation, the Ohio Manufacturers Association, the County Commissioners Association of Ohio, the City of Conneaut, several livestock commodity groups and the Wood and Ottawa soil and water conservation districts have testified in support of the bills. There has been no opposition testimony to date. Concerns Joe Logan, president of Ohio Farmers Union, expressed some concerns regarding the funding source of the two bills. We like the intent (of the two bills), but we have concerns about taking money from the state parks to make ag infrastructure improvements. Logan said OFU is currently reviewing the twin proposals, but have not taken an official position. More conservation is definitely needed in the Western Lake Erie Basin and if we can derive some funding to help farmers defray cost, we are on board, said Logan. Funds Both bill summaries state equipment for the protection and preservation of Lake Erie can be purchased with proceeds from the existing Parks and Recreation Improvement Fund. Logan suggested making a small increase to farmers fertilizer fees would also help generate the funds needed. We wouldnt rob Peter to pay Paul and farmers would scarcely notice the increase. Logan said Ohio Farmers Union may testify as an interested party, urging legislature to seek other funding sources. For my farm The Ohio Corn and Wheat Growers Association and the Ohio Soybean Association have created a website that shows how farmers have been using best practices and good stewardship to prevent runoff from their farms. The notion that they havent been doing anything is false, said Brad Reynolds, director of communications at Ohio Corn and Wheat. The website, formyfarm.com, includes videos and interviews with farmers talking about their farm practices and the benefits of using best management practices. This website was really designed to help show farmers are doing things. COLUMBUS, Ohio The Ohio Livestock Coalition (OLC) announced the winners of its annual student essay contest, which asked Ohio third-grade students to answer the question, How do Ohio farmers make sure we have good, safe food to eat? Students submitted essays in hopes of winning a class field trip to an Ohio livestock farm. Winner Laela Colwell, a third-grade student from North Union Elementary School, in Richwood, was selected as the grand-prize winner, awarding her entire class an expenses-paid field trip to the Nature Pure LLC, a family-owned and operated egg farm in Raymond, Ohio. In her essay, Colwell explained how farmers provide excellent care for their animals, which ensures safe, healthy food for consumers. Honorable mention In addition, five Ohio third-grade students were awarded honorable mention certificates. The students are Lydia Colahan, Westfall Elementary, Williamsport; Justin Scott, Harrison East Elementary, Hopedale; Elizabeth Raines, North Adams Elementary, Seaman; Kenzington Younkin, Scioto Elementary School, Commercial Point; and Jersey Glover, Gables Elementary, Columbus. Curriculum Before writing essays, students participated in OLCs For Your InFARMation program. A free, three-day lesson plan is provided to Ohio third-grade teachers to teach students about farmers and the Ohio economy, livestock farming, keys to safe and healthy food, energy and renewable resources, as well as careers in agriculture. The For Your InFARMation materials are updated annually and are available at ForYourInFARMation.com. British seed potato producers are considering Cuba as an export destination after recent meetings with government officials in the country. While British producers are technically able to export to Cuba they have not been able to take advantage of this market due to a lack of awareness on how to get products into the country. However, fresh discussions have led to the development of a clear process for exporting product into Cuba. Like Britain, Cuba has only one potato season per year and with poor or absent storage facilities stocks dont last long, which means harvest season is celebrated across the country. Presently, Cuba currently imports 17,000 tonnes of seed mainly from the Netherlands and France. Canada used to be a supplier but in recent years European sources have been preferred. According to Rob Burns, AHDB Heads of Crops Export, Britain is looked on favourably by the Cuban Government due to a high health status. Mr Burns said: This a good potential market for us and during our visit to the country officials said that the Cuban Government is keen to expand their portfolio of seed supplies and would welcome imports from Great Britain. With this in mind we also met with Alimport, the company owned by the Cuban Government which facilitates the importation of all crop products into Cuba. These discussions have allowed us to draft a straightforward export procedure, supported by Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA), and already British exporters have said they will take advantage of it, he added. Any British exporter looking for new markets should consider this opportunity, Mr Burns said. If growers are interested in nominating crops for Cuban exports they are urged to compile a list to send to SASA by the end of June, and SASA will work with Cuba's export company Alimport to identify Cuban companies looking for British seed. The Cuban market is seen as having good potential for British businesses. Wheat from the UK could also begin exporting to Cuba if mutual interests and conditions between the two countries are successfully met. Field trials for a vaccination to protect cattle against bovine TB would need to involve 500 herds potentially as many as 75,000-100,000 cattle to demonstrate cost effectiveness for farmers. According to a study published today (7 June) in the journal eLife, researchers suggest that the scale and cost of estimating the effect of a vaccine on transmission could be dramatically reduced. The team, led by the University of Cambridge, urges the industry to use smaller, less expensive experiments in controlled settings using as few as 200 animals. The UK has a policy of test and slaughter using the tuberculin test and slaughter of infected animals. A vaccine (BCG) exists, but can cause some vaccinated cattle to test positive falsely. As such, the vaccine is currently illegal in Europe. Researchers are trying to develop a so-called DIVA test (Differentiates Infected from Vaccinated Animals) that minimises the number of false positives, but none are yet licensed for use in the UK. The European Union has said it would consider relaxing its laws against bovine TB vaccination if the UK government were able to prove that a vaccine is effective on farms. Any field trials would need to follow requirements set by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). 'Supplement' In research published today, the team of researchers has shown using mathematical modelling that satisfying two key EFSA requirements would have profound implications for the likely benefits and necessary scale of any field trials. The first of these requirements is that vaccination must be used only as a supplement, rather than replacement, to the existing test-and-slaughter policy. But use of vaccination as a supplement means that a successful vaccine which reduces the overall burden and transmission of disease may nonetheless provide only limited benefit for farmers false positives could still result in animals being slaughtered and restrictions being placed on a farm. The second of the EFSA requirements is that field trials must demonstrate the impact of vaccination on transmission rather than just protecting individual animals. The teams models suggest that a three year trial with 100 herds should provide sufficient to demonstrate that vaccination protects individual cattle. Such a trial would be viable within the UK. However, demonstrating the impact on vaccination on transmission would be almost impossible because the spread of bovine TB in the UK is slow and unpredictable. Economic benefit If BCG were to be licensed for use in cattle in the UK, vaccination would be at the discretion of individual farmers. Farmers would have to bear the costs of vaccination and testing, as well as the period of time under restrictions if animals test positive. This means that they would be less interested in the benefit to individual cattle and more interested in the benefits at the herd level. Herd immunity is such that, even if the vaccine is not 100% effective in every individual animal, the vaccine has an overall protective effect on the herd. Trying to demonstrate an economic benefit for farmers would prove challenging. Using their models, the researchers show that herd-level effectiveness would be exceptionally difficult to estimate from partially-vaccinated herds, requiring a sample size in excess of 2,000 herds. The number of herds required could be reduced by a three arm design that includes fully-vaccinated, partially-vaccinated and unvaccinated control herds; however, such a design would still require around 500 fully-vaccinated herds and controls presenting potential logistical and financial barriers yet would still have a high risk of failure. Transmission experiment Instead, the researchers propose a natural transmission experiment involving housing a mixture of vaccinated and unvaccinated cattle with a number of infected cattle. Such an experiment, they argue, could provide robust evaluation of both the efficacy and mode of action of vaccination using as few as 200 animals. This would help screen any prospective vaccines before larger, more expensive and otherwise riskier trials in the field. We already know that the BCG vaccine has the potential to protect cattle from bovine TB infection, says Dr Andrew Conlan from the Department of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Cambridge, the studys first author. Our results highlight the enormous scale of trials that would be necessary to evaluate BCG alongside continuing testing in the field. Such trials would be hugely expensive, and it isnt even clear whether enough farms could be recruited. This scale could be dramatically reduced by using smaller scale natural transmission studies. Based on current knowledge of the likely efficacy of BCG, the researchers say their models do not predict a substantial benefit of vaccination at the herd level when used as a supplement to ongoing test-and-slaughter. Ruling out the use of vaccination as a replacement, rather than a supplement, to test-and-slaughter will inevitably limit the effectiveness and perceived benefits for farmers. If we could consider replacing test-and-slaughter with vaccination, then the economics becomes much more attractive, particularly those in lower income countries, says Professor James Wood, Head of Cambridges Department of Veterinary Medicine. Then, we would no longer need to carry out expensive testing, but could instead rely on passive surveillance through the slaughterhouses. The EU's temporary committee on pesticides (PEST) must take a common sense approach to regulation if it is to make a useful contribution, a leading member said. PEST was created earlier this year by the European Parliament in a response to concerns raised about the perceived risk posed by pesticides. The committee, which has 30 members, held its inaugural meeting in March and will deliver a final report of its factual findings and recommendations nine months down the line. UK member of PEST, Anthea McIntyre, MEP and Conservative spokesman on Agriculture, said the committee has a "temporary lifespan and a short timeline". She told a Brussels debate on pesticides regulation to bear in mind that PEST was a political initiative by certain political groups with an eye to next years European elections. She said: "The whole process is relatively short, it will only produce an opinion, not legislation. I nevertheless would welcome the opportunity for MEPs to ask questions to experts in a format that allows a 'ping-pong' of questions and answers back and forth." 'Food security' Miss McIntyre said that the argument for some people was not about whether glyphosate was safe or not, but about whether the EU should authorise any chemicals for use in food and agricultural production. She added: "In my opinion, we should authorise them because we need them if we are to maintain food security. We must have a common sense approach to this issue. Miss McIntyre rejected an assertion by an agricultural trade union that farmers generally used pesticides inappropriately. She said chemicals were expensive, so farmers would use the smallest amount possible. Precision farming and integrated pest-management methods were making sure pesticides were applied in an ever more efficient and environmentally-friendly way. I hope that something sensible will come out of the PEST committee and I hope it will deliver on its mandate. We need to provide science-based policy making and distinguish fact from fiction, Miss McIntyre added. The legacy of a young dairy farmer who died in tragic circumstances last year is set to live on as his father seeks a new entrant to farm the holding. Owen Carlisle had built up a successful dairy business at Newcastle Emlyn, Carmarthenshire with his father, Egan, before he took his own life after struggling with mental health issues. Mr Carlisle, who sold the milking herd after Owens death, has now turned to the Welsh government's Farming Connect Venture programme in his search for a first-generation farmer to farm the 160-acre holding. Venture is an initiative designed to pair up landowners who are looking to step back from the industry with new entrants, offering funding for business planning and legal guidance. Mr Carlisle is adamant that the farming opportunity must be offered to someone starting out in the industry. Owen came home to farm when he was 16 and I want to give that opportunity to another youngster, someone who is trying to get onto the farming ladder," he says. It is so hard for a youngster to get into dairy farming, the farm is set up as a dairy farm and I want someone else to benefit from what we have done here." Well-equipped Mr Carlisles parents had themselves come to Llainrhydwen, near Newcastle Emlyn, as new entrants with no family background in farming. At one point the family was milking 140 cows and invested 80,000 in a 14/28 Waikato parlour. In recent years, cow numbers were scaled back to 60 Montbeliardes, a breed that Owen favoured. As well as the milking parlour, the farm is well equipped with a 3,000-litre bulk tank, cubicle housing for up to 120 cows, silage and slurry storage and a dedicated calf shed with a feed passage for rearing youngstock from birth through to turnout. There is also accommodation an annex to the farmhouse that would be suitable for a small family. Mr Carlisle hopes he can get someone in place by September and, in the meantime, is growing silage to provide fodder for any livestock that might be at the farm in the winter. 'Grow into it' Although the farm is 160 acres, he says the new entrant does not necessarily have to start with the entire acreage. There would be an opportunity to grow into it as some could be rented out for summer grazing until all the land is needed," Mr Carlisle says. Since Owens death last June, the farm has been rented out for summer grazing and winter sheep tack and Mr Carlisle also retained 30 yearlings. He doesnt want to sell the farm but is ready to take a step back. Although there has been interest from existing farmers keen to run it as a satellite farm, Mr Carlisle doesnt want to go down that route. Anyone interested in Mr Carlisles opportunity are advised not to contact him directly. Contact Farming Connect to express an interest and they will coordinate enquiries on Mr Carlisles behalf. Years of environmental work could be put at risk as many farmers reaching the end of stewardship schemes are unable to start new agreements due to poor administration and untimely payments. There is a backlog of farmers awaiting payments for environmental work, some up to nine months, according to three leading farming organisations. The NFU, CLA (Country Land and Business Association) and TFA (Tenant Farmers Association) are calling on the government to make Countryside Stewardship fit for purpose. They have appealed to the government to help enable farmers to continue good environmental delivery through stewardship schemes. Agri-environment schemes provide financial incentives for farmers and landowners to look after their environment through activities such as conserving wildlife habitats and flood risk management. But NFU Deputy President Guy Smith said the government must give "serious consideration" to alternative approaches to securing continued delivery of agri-environmental schemes. As recently as 2014 we had over 70 per cent of farmland involved in environmental work through entry and higher level stewardship schemes. The vast majority of farmers wanted to continue doing it when their current arrangements ended, Mr Smith said. Huge investment has gone into achieving environmental gains on farmland. But farmers are telling us as their agreements end that they dont see the current scheme as a realistic option - the risks of falling foul of the rules is too high and Natural England are struggling to convert sufficient expiring HLS agreements into Higher Tier Countryside Stewardship. He added: Government must give serious consideration to alternative approaches to securing continued delivery of agri-environmental schemes, including the continuation of ELS and HLS agreements. We need to make sure that Stewardship is fit for the future. The NFU Deputy President added it is "totally unacceptable" that farmers are being forced to wait for payments. 'Timely payment' Tim Breitmeyer, President of the CLA said farmers and landowners are "rightly proud" of environmental delivery, but he criticised the government for not fulfilling payments on time. Alongside producing affordable food for the nation, these schemes allow us to deliver for the environment; managing and maintaining 70% of the landscape; planting or restoring 30,000km of hedgerows, creating 37,000km of grass margins, Mr Breitmeyer said. I know just how passionate our members are about nurturing and enhancing our countryside. But it is critical that the government fulfils its contractual obligation of timely payment. TFA Chief Executive George Dunn called for "urgent and practical solutions" to be found to allow Natural England time to deal with its current workload in the face of Brexit. It is madness to be sacrificing good environmental management as a result of poor administration, Mr Dunn said. Earlier this year, the government announced a more simplified Countryside Stewardship scheme for 2018 application packs, after farmers complained the scheme is too complicated. Over a third of farmers 'probably depressed', survey says The Guidelines On Aishwarya's Delivery Coverage Were ''No per-coverage of the event will take place and Story of the birth of the baby to run only after, and on the basis of, official announcement.'' No Cameras Allowed 'No camera or OB vans at hospital or any other location (like the Bachchans' homes Pratiksha or Jalsa) would be allowed.'' Amitabh's Reaction After Knowing That Media Will Not Follow Aish's Pregnancy Senior Bachchan squashed all rumours and posted on Twitter, ''"HaHa ! Print Mid-Day asking if I have told I & B ministry to block media news of Aishwarya's delivery! Absolute rubbish! Good try!'' No Such Intentions 'Firstly, I have no such intention ever; secondly do you really think I & B would listen to me!?? No way baby!" A Journalist Told Amitabh Bachchan He added, "Apparently, media has been told by I & B to not have OB Vans outside hospitals! That news came to me via a journalist.. so someone putting two and two together and making it Bachchan... Ha ha ha !!'' All TV News Decided Not To Follow Aishwarya's Delivery ''And the message from the journalist of electronic stated: "To respect your family's privacy n women's dignity all TV news networks decided not to follow Aishwarya's pregnancy or delivery.'' Not A Single News On The Birth Of Aishwarya's Baby 'Not a single line news till official announcement. No camera's and OBs will be stationed at your place or hospital. Regards .." These Allegations Are Completely False Big B posted, 'So who does one believe? The self-proclaimed etiquette and decency of the electronic, or the dictat of the I&B Ministry?? BUT ..!! No worries! Every other day some ridiculous, malicious and completely false allegations are thrown at me! Smiley!'' They Misunderstood 'Some media took offense to my earlier tweets on the whole I&B matter and OB Vans .. sorted it out .. said sorry, they misunderstood ! PHEW!! Relieved that media understood what I was saying ..and all is well in the States of the Four !!.'' (sic) Why I & B Decided Not To Cover News On Aishwarya's Pregnancy As per a daily, one of Amitabh Bachchan's blog postings forced the broadcast media to issue such guidelines. It read, ''The entire day and afternoon has been spent in laughing among ourselves and ROTF (Rolling On the Floor) on the ridiculous time and attention being given in the electronic media on the birthday of Aishwarya...all of which is completely and entirely made up.'' (sic) Rajinikanth As Kaala It is always a special joy to see the actor in Rajinikanth take the front seat. In Kaala, we get to witness this once again with the film offering umpteen number of moments to showcase his exceptional acting skills. The emotional sequences in the second half are a testimony of that. At the same time, the star in him doesn't disappoint either with the action sequences and mass sequences. Rajinikanth swag is one among biggest attractions here as well. Rest Of The Cast The film has a strong list of supporting cast. Huma Qureshi has made a confident debut in Tamil with the role of the ex-lover of Kaala being safe in her hand. At the same time, Eswari Rao who has played the role of Rajinikanth's wife, is the show-stealer and her realistic performance is sure to be the talking point in the coming days. Nothing much has to be said about Nana Patekar, who is simply phenomenal and plays a befitting villain to Rajinikanth. The role will definitely rank among the best villain roles among the Rajinikanth starrers so far. Samuthirakkani is in a usual role and it seemed like the role could have been developed better. Script & Direction Pa Ranjith's credentials as a writer and a director are revered and he is one such film-maker who doesn't shy away from putting his ideologies and political views through his films. Kaala is no different with the script of the film addressing many of the issues of the downtrodden and the urban poor. He balances the ingredients of an entertainer and a socially-driven movie in a good manner. The dialogues of the film deserve special mention as they are hard-hitting and convey the movie's message in the best possible way. As a film-maker, Pa Ranjith has given the right framework for the film to flourish on. The movie has an inherent dark mode and that stays rooted throughout the film. Above all, he deserves a huge round of applause for getting the best out his actors and Kaala is rich in performance. He has tried out some innovative elements as well, especially the way in which he has brought in Nana Patekar's character to the screen. Similarly, the film-maker in him should be applauded for the out of the box thinking in the climax sequences. Music & BGM There are a good number of songs in the movie & all of them fit in perfectly with the narrative of the movie and pick among the lot is Nikkal Nikkal. Meanwhile, the BGM is sensational and it's not loud always thus suiting the film's requirements. Other Departments The art department of the film deserves a huge round of appreciation for setting up the sets which diminish the line differentiating the reel and the real. Murali G has done a good job with the camera department. Editing by Sreekar Prasad is top-notch even though the length of the film is slightly on the lengthier side. Stunt sequences too have been presented well. SINGAPORE, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Having successfully concluded its ICO, Peoplewave will be listing its PWV tokens on the QRYPTOS exchange on 12 June, 13:18 (UTC+08:00). Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/702164/Peoplewave_logo.jpg Peoplewave launched its ICO on QUOINE's ICO Mission Control platform from 31 May to 6 June 2018. 6.8 million tokens were successfully taken up and the remaining tokens have been redirected for private sale, due to overwhelming demand from venture capitalists, funds and pools. One of the top global cryptocurrency exchanges ranked by trading volume, QRYPTOS sees transaction volumes in the tens of millions of dollars daily. Listing of QRYPTOS provides Peoplewave's contributors with immediate liquidity for PWV tokens. The PWV will be listed with three trading pairs: PWV/ETH, PWV/BTC, and PWV/QASH. "We are extremely grateful to our community and QUOINE for their support and for sharing our vision of making work fair. Now the real work begins. We are very excited to be able to progress the development of our Wavebase solution. We are also in conversation with a number of HR and software companies on potential partnerships and will continue to keep our community updated on all developments," said Damien Cummings, CEO of Peoplewave. In addition to QRYPTOS, Peoplewave is in discussions with a number of other top exchanges to further enhance the liquidity of its PWV tokens. Peoplewave aims to reinvent people management through blockchain technology. The company will establish a decentralised database of accurate, verified performance and employment information on its blockchain platform, Wavebase. As a result, employers will possess an unprecedented ability to evaluate a potential candidate based on actual credentials and past performance, or even utilise the information right from the start for targeted searches of suitable candidates. For the first time, employees will also get to own and take control of their performance data across all past employers. About Peoplewave Peoplewave is Asia's leading blockchain-ready HR software company. It is revolutionising hiring and people management with data-driven, transparent feedback and verified performance data on its blockchain platform, Wavebase. Peoplewave offers 3 key products - the "First 100 Days": a new hire onboarding tool; "Performance Wave": continuous 360-degree performance appraisals; And the "HR Command Centre" analytics suite, which unlocks employee data and insights. Peoplewave successfully raised $500,000 seed funding from a series of angels and aligned companies in the HR field in December 2017. The company has been named "Top 50 Most Promising Enterprise Start-ups in Asia Pacific" by CIO Outlook Magazine and more recently, "Top 20 Hottest Singapore Start-ups" by Singapore Business Review. About The Team Peoplewave was founded by Damien Cummings in Singapore in January 2017 and later joined by Phil Aldridge in April 2017 as Chief Technology Officer and co-founder. Cummings was a corporate high flyer with over 20 years in marketing and digital transformation leadership roles with renowned brands. When Cummings was inexplicably retrenched from his last role as Global Head of Digital for an international bank, it became clear to him that HR had to be made more transparent, data-driven and fairer to both the company and employee. This resulted in the birth of Peoplewave. Today, Peoplewave boasts a world-class team of 19 team members in 4 countries with experience in technology, development, marketing, product management, user experience, and more. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 6, 2018) - Centurion Minerals Ltd. (TSXV: CTN) ("Centurion", or the "Company") is pleased to announce that its operating partner ("Demetra Fertilizantes S.A." or DFSA") has sold and shipped approximately 900 tonnes of agri-gypsum fertilizer from the Ana Sofia Project in Argentina during the month of May. The sales consisted of two products; a granular material and a blended (high moisture) powder. The blended powder includes a large percentage of high moisture inventory, much of which was abandoned by a previous operator of one of the Ana Sofia concessions. Additional purchase orders for local and export consumers for high grade granular as well as high grade powder are in final stages of negotiation and anticipated to be announced shortly. "Activity has picked up considerably over the last 2 months and is gaining momentum. We are receiving new order inquiries almost daily and are expanding our sales network." stated Sebastian Cattaneo- DFSA, President. DFSA is a leading member of the delegation representing the Province of Santiago Del Estero at Agroactiva - 2018, one of Argentina's largest annual agricultural tradeshows, being held between June 6 - 9 in Armstrong, Santa Fe Province. DFSA expects to generate additional sales and increase its brand awareness through the exposure at this event. Photos from Agroactiva can be viewed at: DFSA - Agroactiva 2018 ABOUT THE ANA SOFIA PROJECT The Project includes an agri-gypsum mine and complete processing facility having a current design capacity of 4,000 tonnes/month. Gypsum is extracted from near-surface, flat-lying beds within the sedimentary formation that extends throughout the Ana Sofia Property, located in Santiago del Estero Province, Argentina. The gypsum rock is fed into primary and secondary crushers, then screened and sorted into two agri-gypsum fertilizer products. The plant is designed to produce a pellet-sized granular product and a fine powder product (comprised of a minimum 85% gypsum content) that are each packaged into one tonne tote bags. Agricultural gypsum (calcium sulfate dihydrate) is a valuable plant nutrient and plays a vital role in maintaining soil structure and nutrient balance in South American soils, resulting in crop yield enhancement. The Project comprises two mining concessions totalling 50 hectares (ha) in size within a larger (approximately 600 ha) exploration permit area. The Project is well situated within a region where other small producers are currently extracting agricultural gypsum and selling to fertilizer distributors and farmers. For additional updates, follow our operations at: Centurion Minerals - Twitter Account Demetra Fertilizantes - Instagram Account ABOUT CENTURION Centurion Minerals Ltd. is a Canadian-based company with an international focus on the development of agri-mineral fertilizer projects. For additional information on the Ana Sofia project and applications of agri-gypsum, visit our website: www.centurionminerals.com "David G. Tafel" President and CEO For Further Information Contact: David Tafel 604-484-2161 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 news release contains forward looking statements concerning future operations of Centurion Minerals Ltd. (the "Company"). All forward-looking statements concerning the Company's future plans and operations, including management's assessment of the Company's project expectations or beliefs may be subject to certain assumptions, risks and uncertainties beyond the Company's control. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and that actual performance and exploration and financial results may differ materially from any estimates or projections. Such statements include, among others: possible variations in mineralization, grade or recovery rates; actual results of current exploration activities; actual results of reclamation activities; conclusions of future economic evaluations; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; failure of equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; accidents and other risks of the mining industry; delays and other risks related to construction activities and operations; timing and receipt of regulatory approvals of operations; the ability of the Company and other relevant parties to satisfy regulatory requirements; the availability of financing for proposed transactions, programs and working capital requirements on reasonable terms; the ability of third-party service providers to deliver services on reasonable terms and in a timely manner; market conditions and general business, economic, competitive, political and social conditions. The Ana Sofia project has not been the subject of a feasibility study and as such there is no certainty that a potential mine will be realized or that the processing facility will be able to produce a commercially marketable product. There is a significant risk that any production from the project will not be profitable with these risks elevated by the absence of a compliant NI 43-101 feasibility study. 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 risks of failure associated with such a production decision. The Company has undertaken market research and studies to try to mitigate these risks. The work carried out to date is of a preliminary nature to assist in the determination as to whether the mineral product is suitable for sale and if there are markets for the mineral product. General risks inherent in the Project include the reliance on available data and assumptions and judgments used in the interpretation of such data, the speculative and uncertain nature of exploration and development costs, capital requirements and the ability to obtain financing, volatility of global and local economic climates, share price volatility, estimated price volatility, changes in equity markets, exchange rate fluctuations and other risks involved in the mineral exploration and development industry. There can be no assurance that a forward-looking statement or information referenced herein 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. We undertake no obligation to reissue or update any forward-looking statements or information except as required by law. The Ana Sofia mineral resource estimate is reported in accordance with the Canadian Securities Administrators National Instrument 43-101 and has been estimated using the CIM "Estimation of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves Best Practice Guidelines" dated November 23rd, 2003 and CIM "Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves" dated May 10th, 2014. Due to the relatively wide spacing of the historical quarries and the 2016 test pits, which varies between 40 m and 300 m, the Ana Sofia 2 resource described herein is categorized entirely as an inferred mineral resource. Inferred Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves. Mineral resources which are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. There has been insufficient exploration to define the inferred resources as an indicated or measured mineral resource, however, it is reasonably expected that the majority of the Inferred Mineral Resources could be upgraded to Indicated Mineral Resources with continued exploration. There is no guarantee that any part of the mineral resources will be converted into a mineral reserve in the future. The estimate of mineral resources may be materially affected by geology, environment, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-political, marketing or other relevant issues. IDEMIA, the global leader in Augmented Identity, allows TrueMove H, a leading 4G mobile network in Asia Pacific, to offer connectivity on the first eSIM connected watch in the country. The first eSIM connected watch is now available in Thailand, thanks to a launch from TrueMove H. Based on IDEMIA subscription management, or remote SIM provisioning, the technology allows to remotely connect the embedded SIM of the smart watch to TrueMove H without the need to insert a physical SIM card. Indeed, it is a secure solution for the remote and in-life management of mobile operators' subscription profiles in eSIM-capable wireless devices. Moreover, the offer is compliant with the latest GSMA standards ensuring interoperability. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180606006166/en/ (Photo: IDEMIA) It's the first time that the Thais can experience the full freedom of communication thanks to this innovative offer: even if users have their mobile phone at home, they can keep the same habits (make calls, send texts). It's a scalable solution to support TrueMove H in easily on-boarding additional eSIM-capable devices. "The technology, which allows SIMs to be remotely programmed without the need to replace physical SIM cards, is already starting to appear in some devices, and is poised to become the new standard for mobile subscription management. We thank TrueMove H for choosing IDEMIA for this critical transformation and look forward to further developing and inspiring future innovations", explains Fabien Jautard, Executive Vice-President for Mobile Operators activities at IDEMIA. "This technology revolutionizes the use of our smartphones and devices such as wearables, which can be activated and managed effortlessly, over-the-air, anytime and anywhere. Thanks to IDEMIA's subscription management solution, we are the first mobile operator in Thailand to support IoT/M2M trends, which will enable exponential increase in connectivity and services in the near future", Mr. Tuantong Srivichian, Director for Retail Business, True Corporation Plc. of TrueMoveH. About IDEMIA OT-Morpho is now IDEMIA, the global leader in Augmented Identity, with the ambition to provide a secure environment enabling citizens and consumers alike to perform their daily critical activities (such as pay, connect, travel and vote), in the physical as well as digital space. Securing our identity has become mission critical in the world we live in today. By standing for Augmented Identity, we reinvent the way we think, produce, use and protect this asset, whether for individuals or for objects. We ensure privacy and trust as well as guarantee secure, authenticated and verifiable transactions for international clients from Financial, Telecom, Identity, Public Security and IoT sectors. OT (Oberthur Technologies) and Safran Identity Security (Morpho) have joined forces to form IDEMIA. With close to $3 billion in revenues and 14,000 employees around the world, IDEMIA serves clients in 180 countries. For more information, visit www.idemia.com / Follow @IdemiaGroup on Twitter View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180606006166/en/ Contacts: IDEMIA Press: Havas Paris PR Agency Hanna SEBBAH idemia@havas.com Regulatory News: Getlink (Paris:GET): Following the resolution at the AGM on 18 April 2018 to modify the Group's statutes, the Board of Directors welcomes the appointment of two new Directors to represent the staff, one designated by the French Company Council and the other by the Group's European Works Council. At its meeting held on 22 May 2018, the French Company Council unanimously nominated Stephane Sauvage as Staff Representative Director. At its meeting held on 06 June 2018, the European Works Council unanimously nominated Philippe Vanderbec. These two appointments bring the total numbers of Directors on the Board to 15. Stephane Sauvage, 52, joined Eurotunnel in 1998 in road traffic operations. He has most recently held the position of Secretary the French Company Council, on behalf of the CGT-FO union and of the Social and Economic Committee, which was established on 20 March 2018. Philippe Vanderbec, 50, has been employed by Eurotunnel as a Shuttle Driver since 1993. He has also most recently been a CGT union representative and Secretary of the European Works Council. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180606006452/en/ Contacts: Getlink For UK media enquiriescontact John Keefe on 44 (0) 1303 284491 press@getlinkgroup.com or For other media enquiries contact Anne-Laure Descleves on +33(0)1 4098 0467 or For investor enquiries contact: Jean-Baptiste Roussille on +33 (0)1 40 98 04 81 jean-baptiste.roussille@getlinkgroup.com or Michael Schuller on +44 (0) 1303 288749 Michael.schuller@getlinkgroup.com SINGAPUR (dpa-AFX) - What to look for in Broadcom Ltd. (AVGO), J. M. Smucker Co. (SJM), and The Cooper Companies Inc. (COO) on Thursday, June 7, 2018? Semiconductor company Broadcom Ltd. (AVGO) expects strong growth in its wired, storage and industrial segments to fully offset the impact of a much higher than normal seasonal decline in wireless revenue. Th company is slated to report its second-quarter financial results and business outlook after the bell today. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect earnings of $4.76 per share on revenue of $5 billion for the quarter. Analysts' estimate typically exclude certain special items. * Now sees Q2 non-GAAP net revenue of $5 bln, plus or minus $25 mln * Expects Q2 CapEx to be about $190 mln * Expects Q2 free cash flow to exceed 40% of revenue During the quarter, the company expects a much larger than typical seasonal decline in wireless revenue as shipments to its North American smartphone customer will trend down sharply from the exaggerated first quarter. Broadcom expects to partially offset this decline from an increase in its product shipments to support the ramp of next generation flagship phone at a large Korean smartphone customer. Year-Ago Numbers: * Net revenue - $4.19 bln * Net income - $440 mln * EPS - $1.05 * Non-GAAP income from cont. ops. - $1.67 bln * Non-GAAP EPS from cont. ops. - $3.69. Q3 Outlook * Expects Q3 non-GAAP net revenue of $5.05 bln, plus or minus $75 mln; Consensus - $5.06 bln. The company expects continued strength in demand from datacenters while wireless remains weak. ** Food and beverage products maker J. M. Smucker Co. (SJM) will publish its fourth-quarter financial results before the bell today, with Wall Street analysts estimating earnings of $2.18 per share and revenue of $1.8 billion. The results are likely to benefit from the U.S. income tax reform and ongoing cost discipline. Year-Ago Numbers: * Net sales - $1.78 bln * Net income - $110.4 mln * EPS - $0.96 * Adj. Income - $206.7 mln * Adj. EPS - $1.80 FY18 Guidance * Now sees FY18 adj. EPS of $8.20 - $8.30 versus prior view of $7.75 - $7.90 * Now expects FY18 net sales to be flat to down slightly. ** The Cooper Companies Inc. (COO), a global medical device company, is set to release its Q2 results on Thursday, June 7, 2018, at 4:15 PM ET. Analysts expect earnings of $2.84 per share and revenue of $627.11 million for the quarter. Year-Ago Numbers: * Revenue - $522.4 mln * GAAP Net income - $104.9 mln * GAAP EPS - $2.12 * Non-GAAP EPS - $2.50 Key Takeaways: * Operating in two solid markets with high barriers to entry * Revenue growth exceeding the market * Investing in the infrastructure of the business * Positioned to achieve long term objectives * Track record of success Updated FY18 Guidance: * Now expects FY18 total revenue of $2.51 bln - $2.56 bln; Consensus - $2.53 bln. * Now sees FY18 non-GAAP EPS of $11.70 - $11.90; Consensus - $11.80/Shr. Long Term Objectives (2017 - 2022E): * Complete strategic acquisitions * Grow revenue faster than the markets * Grow EPS faster than revenue * Expand CVI and CSI geographically * Generate over $2.5 bln in free cash flow * Expects to generate 2022E operating margin of about 32%. *** Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de ROME and TOKYO, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- On June 5, in Rome, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Adolfo Perez Esquivel and Buddhist philosopher Daisaku Ikeda released an appeal to young people worldwide, calling for a new world built on justice and solidarity. The appeal was presented by Dr. Perez Esquivel and Ikeda's son, Hiromasa, Vice President of Soka Gakkai International (SGI), at a press conference at Rome's Foreign Press Association. Two youth representatives also voiced their determination to take up this challenge. Citing the "vertiginous dynamic of change" and complex global issues facing humanity, in the appeal Esquivel and Ikeda stress the critical role of empowered young people in transforming history. They call on youth to unite to protect the dignity of life, fight injustice and eliminate misery in support of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with its goal of "transforming our world." This initiative builds on a dialogue between Esquivel and Ikeda published in Spanish, Italian, Japanese and Chinese, titled "The Power of Hope." The appeal states: "The two of us have lived through the storms of war and violence of the twentieth century. These experiences drive our insistent efforts to expand the bonds of friendship among peoples across ethnic and religious differences." Together with five youth from different countries, Esquivel and Hiromasa Ikeda also presented the statement at a Youth Convention on the evening of June 6 at the popular Ex Dogana performance space. Organized by the Italian affiliate of SERPAJ and Soka Gakkai Italy, it was attended by 800 young people of diverse faiths including Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism and Islam. Participants enjoyed music from a traditional Afghan group, the Soka Millennium Ensemble and DJ Massimiliano Mascaro. See http://www.daisakuikeda.org/sub/resources/works/lect/20180605-esquivel-ikeda-jt-appeal.html for the full text. Argentinian sculptor and architect Dr. Adolfo Perez Esquivel became director of SERPAJ, the Latin American Peace and Justice Foundation based on Christianity and non-violence, in 1974. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1980 for his human rights advocacy and activism. Daisaku Ikeda is a Buddhist philosopher who promotes dialogue and inner-motivated change as ways to peace. He is president of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI) Buddhist network and founder of the Toda Peace Institute and Soka education system. Contact: Joan Anderson International Office of Public Information Soka Gakkai International Tel: +81-80-5957-4711 E-mail: anderson[at]soka.jp SINGAPORE, June 7, 2018 - (Media OutReach) - Block Asia has been investigating a scam incident in the cryptocurrency industry involving millions of dollars.On the latest breaking developments, Block Asia managed to get in touch with Zeeshan Najeeb, who is allegedly linked to several scams in the cryptocurrency sector.Read the full news on Block Asia via this portal: https://bit.ly/2kXC1CJBlock Asia positioned itself as an activist in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry which is currently tarnished by various frauds and many individuals have fallen victims to these scams.Block Asia seeks the crypto community to get in touch with us for any tip-off of scams or fraudulent activity.Block Asia official website is http://www.blockasia.ioFollow Block Asia Twitter at https://twitter.com/Block_asia or @block_asia for updates on the latest breaking news in the blockchain & cryptocurrency industry.Twitter & Telegram: @block_asiaMedia Contact:KC ChuaChuajr.ken@blockasia.ioSource: Block AsiaCopyright 2018 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved. 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. PARIS, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Facepoint today announced it has joined the NVIDIA Inception program, which is designed to nurture startups revolutionizing industries with advancements in AI and data sciences. Facepoint offers a breakthrough-type response in the fight against money laundering and financial risk. Facepoint builds up an image library of faces of heightened risk individuals. Facepoint then leverages it with a powerful facial recognition system to boost identity resolution performance. The result of such a unique combination is a massive drop in false alarm rates during the customer screening process. The NVIDIA Inception program is helping to dramatically improve the progress of using biometrics in the fight against financial crime. NVIDIA's technology provides speed and accuracy of image processing. "Nothing we do in the fight against crime would have been possible without the recent incredible progress in AI," said Damien Martinez, CEO of Facepoint. "NVIDIA technology has been key in our actioning of this new type of intelligence." NVIDIA's Inception program is a virtual accelerator program that helps startups during critical stages of product development, prototyping and deployment. Every Inception member gets a custom set of ongoing benefits, from hardware grants and marketing support to training with deep learning experts. About Facepoint Facepoint is a world pioneering Crimetech bringing Facial recognition and recommendation at its best. Our content brings risk mitigation to the next level: augmented compliance. Facepoint's goal is to assist risk and compliance professionals in taking quick and informed decisions. For more information on Facepoint, please visit www.facepoint.co LONDON, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- International cable news, analysis and forecast provider, CRU, is to hold its 12th Wire & Cable Conference at the Marriott Copenhagen, Denmark from 18-20 June 2018. The conference, which is this year hosted by NKT, is well established as the premier meeting point for leaders in the wire and cable industry. Over 30 speakers will discuss the supply and demand forecast for metallic wire and optical fibre. It will also explore the key trends in energy and communication cable markets. "It is a pleasure to host the CRU Wire & Cable Conference in Copenhagen and bring together the cable industry to discuss the opportunities and challenges in the market. In NKT we see short-term challenges due to low order activity with several big projects being postponed, creating an unfavorable balance between supply and demand in the market. Looking past these challenges, we have a positive market outlook with a growing demand for power cables driven by megatrends such as the continued increase in renewables, global urbanisation and the need for interconnected power grids," said Michael Hedegaard Lyng, President & CEO of NKT. One of the highlights of the conference is the chance for registered attendees to visit NKT's Karlskrona high voltage cable manufacturing facility. NKT will also provide a keynote presentation to be given by Michael C. Hjorth, Senior Vice President and Head of Front End Sales, HV Solutions, who will highlight the company's cable market outlook. The conference is well supported by the main players in the Danish energy and communication markets. Sren Nrgaard Madsen, Internet of Things and Smart City Strategist at TDC Group, the largest telecommunications company in Denmark, will provide a presentation on Copenhagen as a smart city: sustainability, growth and quality of life as a solid foundation. Johannes Stentoft Clausen, Head of Power Lines Department at Energinet, the Danish national transmission system operator, will speak about network management for the secure supply of renewable energy: Nordic and European cooperation and Denmark's position as an energy hub. This year's conference agenda also includes discussions of other key global markets such as China, Russia and the Middle East. These insights will be joined by a discussion of European Cable Standards and the effect on producers, distributors and compliance bodies. The conference will also include presentations by CRU's senior analysts and consultants on the company's views on the markets and key macro-trends that the company is tracking. "We are really excited about the conference this year as Denmark is such an interesting case study in renewable energy adoption and smart city investment," said Nicola Coslett, CEO of CRU Events. "As with previous years, the event will offer sessions on both energy cable and communication cable issues. In this way, we bring together the entire supply chain from across the global wire and cable industry," Ms. Coslett explained. Find out more about this event: https://events.crugroup.com/wireandcable/home Read more about CRU: http://bit.ly/About_CRU About CRU CRU offers unrivalled business intelligence on the global metals, mining and fertilizer industries through market analysis, price assessments, consultancy and events. Since our foundation by Robert Perlman in 1969, we have consistently invested in primary research and robust methodologies, and developed expert teams in key locations worldwide, including in hard-to-reach markets such as China. CRU employs over 260 experts and has more than 10 offices around the world, in Europe, the Americas, China, Asia and Australia - our office in Beijing opened in 2004. When facing critical business decisions, you can rely on our first-hand knowledge to give you a complete view of a commodity market. And you can engage with our experts directly, for the full picture and a personalised response. CRU - big enough to deliver a high-quality service, small enough to care about all of our customers. ALBANY, New York, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The global green petroleum coke market was valued at around US$ 12 Bn in 2016 and is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of over 6% from 2017 to 2025, according to a new report published by Transparency Market Research (TMR) titled 'Green Petroleum Coke - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2017-2025.' Expansion of the global green petroleum coke market is driven by rise in demand for it from the aluminum and steel industries. In terms of volume, the green petroleum coke market in Asia Pacific is expected to expand at a CAGR of over 7% during the forecast period. Strict government regulations on carbon emissions are likely to propel the green petroleum coke market as it emits less carbon if low sulfur content green petroleum coke is used. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/664869/Transparency_Market_Research_Logo.jpg ) Request a Sample of Green Petroleum Coke Market:https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=44841 Rise in Usage of Anode Grade Green Petroleum Coke in Aluminum and Steel Smelters Rise in usage of green petroleum coke in the aluminum and steel industries is likely to propel the green petroleum coke market. Anode grade green petroleum coke contains less sulfur, and it is used in aluminum and steel smelters as anode for the production of aluminum and steel. Fuel grade green petroleum coke contains a high percentage of sulfur and is used as fuel in various end-use industries such as power stations, building & construction, etc. The fuel grade petroleum coke segment is expected to dominate the green petroleum coke market during the forecasted period. View in-depth table of contents for this report @https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/report-toc/44841 Rise in Demand for Sponge Coke, Which is used as Fuel to Manufacture Anodes for the Aluminum and Steel Industries In terms of form, the green petroleum coke market can be classified into sponge coke, purge coke, needle coke, shot coke, and honeycomb coke. Sponge coke is mid-level coke and is not as hard as needle coke and not as unstable as shot coke. The sponge coke segment is anticipated to constitute a major share of the green petroleum coke market. After sponge coke, the shot coke segment holds the second largest share in the green petroleum coke market as shot coke is cheap and possesses high density. It is mostly used for titanium dioxide production. Needle coke holds the third largest share in the green petroleum coke market as it offers properties such as low coefficient of thermal expansion, low puffing, and high mechanical strength. Developing countries such as China, India, and Japan are expected to increase their use of sponge coke. Therefore, these regions are likely to fuel the expansion of the sponge coke segment. Request for Multiple Chapters on Green Petroleum Coke Market Research Report:https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=MC&rep_id=44841 Cement Application Segment to Dominate the Global Green Petroleum Coke Market In terms of application, the green petroleum coke market can be divided into aluminum, calcined coke, cement, power stations, graphite electrode, and others. The graphite electrode segment is classified into various sub-segments such as regular, high power (HP), high density (HD), ultra high power (UHP) and super high power (SHP), normal power (NP), and medium power (MP) graphite electrode. The cement segment is anticipated to dominate the market during the forecast period. Green petroleum coke is used in cement as it does not emit any sulfur. It only emits sulfur when it is burnt. Demand for cement is high due to the expansion in the construction and building industry. This, in turn, is expected to drive demand for green petroleum coke. Ask for Discount on Premium Research Report (US$ 5795) With Complete TOC:https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=D&rep_id=44841 Large Customer Base in Developing Regions such as Asia Pacific to Create Opportunities In terms of region, the global green petroleum coke market can be categorized into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America and Europe hold a prominent share of the green petroleum coke market due to the presence of well-established crude oil companies in these regions. North America also constitutes a significant share of the market. The market in Asia Pacific is estimated to expand at a rapid pace due to significant increase in construction and building activities in developing economies such as China and India. The market in Middle East & Africa and Latin American is expected to expand at a slow pace during the forecast period. Key players operating in the green petroleum coke market include Oxbow Corporation, AMINCO RESOURCES LLC., Asbury Carbons, Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), Atha Group, Carbograf Industrial S.A. de C.V., Rain Carbon Inc., Minmat Ferro Alloys Private Limited, Shandong KeYu Energy Co., Ltd. Weifang Lianxing New Material Technology Co., Ltd. Linyi Zhenhua Carbon Technology Co., Ltd., COCAN (HUBEI) GRAPHITE MILL INC., Modern Industrial Investment Holding Group., Sinoway Carbon Co., Ltd., and Ningxia Wanboda Carbons & Graphite Co., Ltd. Companies are investing heavily in the development of low sulfur containing green petroleum coke and the filtration of crude oil. For instance, Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) invested in a six line expansion project, which is the largest project in the region. This project will enhance the smelter's production with a capacity of 540,000 metric tons per year and will increase the production capacity to 1.5 million metric tons per annum. This project will make the company the world largest single site aluminum smelter. Get PDF Brochure for more Professional & Technical industry insights:https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=44841 The global green petroleum coke market can be segmented as follows: Global Green Petroleum Coke Market, by Source Anode Fuel Global Green Petroleum Coke Market, by Form Sponge Coke Purge Coke Needle Coke Shot Coke Honeycomb Coke Global Green Petroleum Coke Market, by Application Aluminum Calcined Coke Cement Power Stations Graphite Electrode Others Global Green Petroleum Coke Market, by Region North America Europe Asia Pacific Latin America Middle East & Africa Browse Popular Research Reports by TMR Calcium Hypochlorite Market: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/calcium-hypochlorite-market.html Sodium Cocoyl Glycinate Market:https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sodium-cocoyl-glycinate-market.html About Us Transparency Market Research is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. Our experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports. Contact Transparency Market Research State Tower, 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany NY - 12207 United States Tel: +1-518-618-1030 USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453 Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com Website: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Research Blog: https://cmfenews.com/ DUBAI, UAE, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Amana Capital, a global online brokerage firm, in partnership with 514 Capital Partners, a market-beating asset manager, is proud to announce the launch of the "Delta Trader" program (http://www.amanacapital.com/delta). The program encourages traders around the world to showcase their trading skills and have the opportunity of trading a multi-asset CFD account of 514 Capital Partners. The first evaluation cycle will kick off on June 5, 2018. New and existing clients of Amana Capital, who are interested in joining the program, will have to trade for a cycle of three months and meet the evaluation metrics specified by 514 Capital Partners. Amongst all traders, only the top ten candidates will be selected. Each of the ten candidates will be allocated a trading capital of $100,000 from 514 Capital Partners. Profitable traders will be paid 20% of the profits they generate on the allocated trading capital. In addition to the above, the "Delta Trader" program grants all participating traders access to a state-of-the-art performance dashboard. Built using the latest modern technology, it tracks real-time trading activities through a user-friendly interface.. Traders will be able to monitor their progress and evaluate their trading status. Ahmad Khatib, Chief Executive Officer of Amana Capital, said: "We joined 514 Capital Partners on this compelling initiative knowing that it will add value to our international client base. The program will allow us to create a stronger community of professional traders supported by more resources, technology, and tools to become better traders. " Karim Farra, Director of 514 Capital Partners, said: "We worked together with Amana Capital in creating this program to identify the most talented traders and have them trade with real money. Any trader that can show real discipline by deploying a winning strategy over a reasonable number of trades deserves the opportunity to scale-up. We are interested in empowering and collaborating." Amana Capital Amana Capital (amanacapital.com ), a member of 180 Capital, is a specialist in online trading providing institutional and retail clients around the world direct access to the global financial markets. It manages TradeCaptain (tradecaptain.com), a recognized global financial news and research portal. Amana Capital services clients in over 80 countries. Subsidiaries are regulated by the FCA, DFSA, CySEC, and BDL. Amana Capital is a member of 180 Capital. 514 Capital Partners 514 Capital Partners (http://www.514capital.com ), a member of 180 Capital, is an asset manager that applies a quantitative approach to investment management. The firm designs systematic trading strategies to identify and exploit trends in major global financial markets. 514 Capital Partners is a member of 180 Capital. Terms and Conditions apply. Read more on AmanaCapital.com/delta PUNE, India, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The report "Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete (GFRC) Market by Process (Spray, Premix, and Hybrid), Application (Commercial construction, Residential Construction and Civil & Other Infrastructure Construction), and Region - Global Forecast to 2023", published by MarketsandMarkets, the GFRC Market is projected to grow from an estimated USD 2.01 Billion in 2018 to USD 3.32 Billion by 2023, at a CAGR of 10.5% between 2018 and 2023. GFRC offers fire & weather resistance, design flexibility, and ease of handling and rapid construction. In addition, the inherent properties, such as high temperature resistance in building products are expected to lead to an increase in demand in the construction industry. Hence, the rise in construction projects is one of the significant factors projected to drive the GFRC Market. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/660509/MarketsandMarkets_Logo.jpg ) Browse 102 market data Tables and 34 Figures spread through 110 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete (GFRC) Market" https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/glass-fiber-reinforced-concrete-market-190652223.html Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report Based on process, the hybrid process segment of the GFRC Market is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period, in terms of value and volume The GFRC Market is segmented on the basis of process into spray, premix, and hybrid. The GFRC Market is led by the spray process segment. The manufacture of hybrid GFRC is a technologically advanced process, which is expected to lower the labor input, thereby decreasing production cost. The process is at a nascent stage and is expected to grow at a high CAGR during the forecast period. Get PDF Brochure @https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownload.asp?id=190652223 The commercial construction application is projected to lead the GFRC Market during the forecast period, in terms of value and volume GFRC is increasingly being used in the residential and commercial construction application. The commercial construction application is projected to lead the GFRC Market between 2018 and 2023, in terms of both, value and volume. GFRC offers several benefits, such as fire resistance, moisture absorption, weather resistance, and durability, which, in turn, is contributing to the increasing demand for GFRC in the construction industry. North America is estimated to be the largest market for GFRC in 2018, in terms of value North America is estimated to be the largest market for GFRC in 2018. The growth of the North American GFRC Market can be attributed to the growth of the building & construction industry and presence of well-established GFRC manufacturers, such as Formglas Products Ltd. (Canada), Clark Pacific (US), Willis Construction Co., Inc. (US), Stromberg Architectural (US), and various others in the region. Additionally, increase in the number of residential and commercial construction activities in the US and Canada is contributing to the growth of the North American GFRC Market. Key players operating in the GFRC Market include Ultratech Cement Ltd. (India), Formglas Products Ltd. (Canada), Willis Construction Co., Inc. (US), Clark Pacific (US), Loveld (Belgium), Fibrex (UAE), Betofiber A.S. (Turkey), Nanjing Beilida New Material System Engineering Co., Ltd. (China), Stromberg Architectural (US), and BB Fiberbeton (Denmark). Know more about GFRC Market: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/glass-fiber-reinforced-concrete-market-190652223.html About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 7500 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve. MarketsandMarkets's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "Knowledge Store" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. Contact: Mr. Salgarkar MarketsandMarkets INC. 630 Dundee Road Suite 430 Northbrook, IL 60062 USA: +1-888-600-6441 Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com Visit Our Blog: http://www.marketsandmarketsblog.com/market-reports/chemical Connect with us on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets LONDON, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- ICIS, the leading provider of pricing and market intelligence for the global energy, chemical and fertiliser sectors, has enhanced its European natural gas market coverage with the introduction of price assessments for the Hungarian market. (Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/619935/ICIS_Logo.jpg ) This will initially cover the Day-ahead contract, which will be produced on a daily basis, with a Weekend assessment on a Friday. The introduction of Hungarian assessments will bring additional clarity to a region that has the potential to develop into an important trading area. Infrastructure improvements in central Europe promise to diversify regional supply, while the ongoing implementation of EU network codes should provide the framework for liberalised energy trading. By April 2019 all EU member states will have implemented the network code on balancing, which should lead to more trade and increase the need for reference prices. The region is set to receive volumes from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz II development in 2020 and Romania is positioned to become an exporter of gas in the coming years as it develops untapped fields in the Black Sea. ICIS has already brought pricing visibility to the Austrian, Czech and Slovakian markets, with the Hungarian assessments adding to that suite of information. The inaugural Hungarian MGP Day-ahead price on 4 June 2018 was assessed at 22.475/MWh, placing it a premium of 0.20/MWh to the Austrian VTP which is the regional benchmark. Subscribers to European Spot Gas Markets (ESGM) will have access to these price assessments via FTP and PDF. The independent price assessments and indices published by ICIS are some of the most widely traded and referenced benchmarks across the European gas market, enabling participants to manage risk with confidence. UK power for delivery over the weekend was trading at a ten-year high early on Friday, driven by the cost of firing up gas-fuelled power plants to meet demand amid very high UK gas prices. ICIS assessed the UK power Weekend Baseload product at 80.00/MWh at Thursday's close of the wholesale electricity market. This was roughly double the average power price for a weekend seen throughout 2017. The highest single Weekend transaction seen on Thursday was for 81.00/MWh. In early trade on Friday the same product had softened marginally to change hands at 77.00/MWh, but this remained comfortably the highest Weekend Baseload price since sharp price spikes were seen way back in 2008. For more information about the Hungarian price assessments, visit: www.icis.com/energy/hungarian-price-assessments/. About ICIS ICIS is the world's largest petrochemical market information provider, with divisions spanning energy and fertilizers. Our aim is to give companies in global commodities markets a competitive advantage by delivering valuable information and analytics tools which enable our customers to identify and react to opportunities in markets which are constantly evolving. We have more than 30 years' of experience in providing pricing intelligence and news, forecast data, market analytics and independent consulting to buyers, sellers and analysts. With a global staff of more than 600, ICIS has employees based in London, Houston, New York, Singapore, Dubai, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Mumbai, Tokyo, Karlsruhe, and Milan. ICIS' team of journalists is engaged in reporting market prices and news, and ICIS is fully committed to upholding the highest journalistic principles of verification, corroboration and authentication. ICIS has a compliance framework that along with its methodologies and business processes adheres to the requirements of the IOSCO PRA Principles. ICIS is a division of Reed Business Information, part of RELX Group. About Reed Business Information Reed Business Information (RBI) is a fast-growth provider of information and analytics, solving critical problems for businesses globally. Our strong global products and services hold leading positions across a wide range of industry sectors including finance, agriculture, petrochemicals and aviation where we help customers make key strategic decisions every day. RBI is part of RELX Group, a global provider of information and analytics for professional customers across industries. http://www.reedbusiness.com About RELX Group RELX Group is a global provider of information and analytics for professional and business customers across industries. The Group serves customers in more than 180 countries and has offices in about 40 countries. It employs approximately 30,000 people of whom almost half are in North America. RELX PLC is a London listed holding company which owns 52.9% of RELX Group. RELX NV is an Amsterdam listed holding company which owns 47.1% of RELX Group. The shares are traded on the London, Amsterdam and New York Stock Exchanges using the following ticker symbols: London: REL; Amsterdam: REN; New York: RELX and RENX. Total market capitalisation is approximately 33.1bn|37.7bn|$44.3bn. www.relx.com Media contacts Tom Marzec-Manser Editor, European Spot Gas Markets tom.marzec-manser@icis.com Mobile: +44-7795-400-753 Tel: +44-20-7911-1964 Ben Wetherall Head of Gas ben.wetherall@icis.com Tel: +44-20-7911-1786 Eurosatory Booth DC451 USA Pavilion SUGAR LAND, Texas, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Systel, Inc., an industry leader in rugged computing will demonstrate the latest in rugged computing technology at the Eurosatory International Defense and Security Exposition in Paris, France from June 11 to 15 in Booth DC451. Systel will be demonstrating its fully rugged, high performance, high-density servers and Strike mission computers, ideal for multi-sensor C5ISR mission-critical applications. "Our systems are purpose-built to withstand the rigors of deployments in harsh environments while providing extreme performance and high reliability," says Aneesh Kothari, vice president of marketing for Systel. "We are proud to support US and NATO armed forces through thirty years of proven experience providing the highest-caliber custom and COTS rugged computing solutions." Systel is demonstrating numerous rugged, high-density computing embedded and server solutions in Booth DC451, USA Pavilion at Eurosatory 2018. For more information or to set up a meeting, please visit this link. About Systel, Inc. Systel, Inc. is a leading manufacturer of rugged embedded, server, and display computer products and solutions. Systel is headquartered in Sugar Land, Texas, with 30 years of experience in providing complex and advanced computer technologies to military, oil and gas, and manufacturing enterprises worldwide. Systel's pedigree of capabilities spans numerous platforms and includes some of the most advanced military vehicles such as the US Navy's P-8 Poseidon and P-3 Orion ASW aircraft, General Atomics Predator and Reaper UAV fleets, and Counter-UAS Stryker ground vehicles. For more information, visit http://www.systelusa.com or contact Systel via email sales@systelusa.com or phone 888.645.8400. Contact Aneesh Kothari VP Marketing 281.207.7781 akothari@systelusa.com Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/702497/Systel_Eurosatory_2018.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/702511/Systel_Logo.jpg BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - China's foreign exchange reserves declined in May, figures from the People's Bank of China showed Thursday. Foreign exchange reserves decreased by $14.23 billion from the previous month to $3.11 trillion in May. The latest foreign exchange reserves data are consistent with very little PBoC action in the FX markets, Julian Evans-Pritchard, an economist at Capital Economics, said. This suggests that the recent resilience of the renminbi relative to other EM currencies reflects confidence in China's economy and ability to manage its exchange rate rather than official intervention, the economist added. 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. JZ CAPITAL PARTNERS LIMITED (the "Company" or "JZCP") (a closed-ended investment company incorporated with limited liability under the laws of Guernsey with registered number 48761) LEI 549300TZCK08Q16HHU44 JZ Capital Partners Limited (the Company) announces today it has purchased a total of 37,737 ordinary shares, at a price of 469.50 per share. The Company intends to cancel all of the purchased shares and so, following the purchases, the Company has 83,681,094 ordinary shares in issue. The Company does not hold any ordinary shares in Treasury. The Company purchased the following number of its ordinary shares of no par value in the capital of the Company on the London Stock Exchange through J.P. Morgan Securities plc (the on-market purchases). Ordinary Shares: Date of purchase: JZ Capital Partners Ltd 06/06/2018 Number of ordinary shares purchased: 20000 Weighted average price: 469.50 pence Lowest price per share: 470.00 pence Highest price per share: Volume weighted average price per ordinary share: Trading venue: 470.00 JPSI pence Aggregate volume per date per trading venue: 15,000 Weighted average price per day per trading venue: 470.00 pence Lowest price per share: 468.00 pence Highest price per share: Trading venue: Aggregate volume per date per trading venue: 468.00 XOFF 5,000 pence Weighted average price per day per trading venue: 468.00 pence As a consequence of the above on-market purchases the Company also has made off-market repurchases of 17,737 ordinary shares (the off-market purchases) from David W. Zalaznick, John (Jay) W. Jordan II and Edgewater Growth Capital Partners, in proportion with their current holdings of ordinary shares in the Company pursuant to and in accordance with the Company's Articles of Incorporation. The off-market purchases will be executed at the CFC Buyback Arrangement Price (as defined in the Company's Circular to shareholders dated 20 April 2017) which is equal to the volume weighted average price per ordinary share repurchased by J.P Morgan Securities Plc pursuant to the on-market purchases during the course of today. http://www.jzcp.com/investor-relations For further information: David Zalaznick +1 212 485 9410 Jordan/Zalaznick Advisers, Inc. dzalaznick@jzadvisersinc.com Northern Trust International Fund Administration Guernsey_Board_Relationship_Team@ntrs.com Services (Guernsey) Limited Company Secretary About JZCP JZ Capital Partners ("JZCP") is one of the oldest closed-end investment companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. It seeks to provide shareholders with a return by investing selectively in US and European microcap companies and US real estate. JZCP receives investment advice from Jordan/Zalaznick Advisers, Inc. ("JZAI") which is led by David Zalaznick and Jay Jordan. They have worked together for more than 35 years and are supported by teams of investment professionals in New York, Chicago, London and Madrid. JZAI's experts work with the existing management of microcap companies to help build better businesses, create value and deliver strong returns for investors. For more information please visit www.jzcp.com Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 7, 2018) - Lupaka Gold Corp. (TSXV: LPK) (FSE: LQP) ("Lupaka Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the results from a recent systematic underground sampling program on the newly developed 3430 production sublevel, located 30 metres up-dip of the 3400 Level, at the Company's 100% owned Invicta Gold Development Project ("Invicta Project" or "Invicta"). Sampling Program Highlights: Sample assay values from the Atenea vein on the 3430 sublevel averaged 9.22 grams per tonne ("g/t") gold equivalent1 ("Au-Eq.") over a strike length of 130 metres ("m"), with an average sample width of 4.2 m Average grade of 9.22 g/t Au-Eq. is higher than the estimated grade of 8.12 g/t Au-Eq. within the block model of the sampled area on the 3430 sublevel and appears consistent with the 9.86 g/t Au-Eq. sampled on the 3400 Level (see news release dated March 15, 2018) Geological mapping shows that the hanging wall split has merged with the footwall zone on the 3430 sublevel, which could potentially result in more efficient mining and lower dilution than the assumptions in the PEA Development on the 3430 sublevel, including the crosscuts, plus geological mapping and sample assay values demonstrate horizontal widths ranging from 4 m up to 12 m for the Atenea vein on the 3430 sublevel Development Highlights: Approximately 235 m of horizontal development, including 5 cross-cuts, has been completed on the 3430 sublevel, ending in mineralization on the eastern face Vent raise from 3400 Level to 3430 sublevel has been completed ventilation circuit established "Results from the underground sampling program on the newly constructed 3430 sublevel are very encouraging and demonstrates the continuity of the Atenea mineralization both up-dip from the 3400 Level and along strike.Having learned the hanging wall split merges with the footwall zone is an important geological discovery and provides an opportunity to improve on our conceptual mine development costs and dilution assumptions in the PEA.With sampled grades from the 3430 sublevel coming in higher than within our Mineral Resource block model from the same area, we remain well positioned for the commencement of mine production in the third quarter of this year." Will Ansley, President and CEO of Lupaka Development of 3430 Sublevel & Sampling Program Results Development on the newly constructed 3430 sublevel was initiated in preparation for the first block of mining production (located between the 3400 Level and the 3430 sublevel), scheduled to commence in the third quarter of 2018 ("Q3 2018"). Subsequent to cross-cutting the Atenea vein, lateral development preceded southeast and southwest over approximately 235 m, including the creation of four additional cross-cuts (see plan in Appendix A), ending in mineralization on the eastern face. The 3430 sublevel development also provided an opportunity to demonstrate the vertical and horizontal continuity of the Atenea vein and to compare the sampled grades with the current Mineral Resource block model, as well as the mineralization contained on the 3400 Level, located 30 metres below. Consistent with the comprehensive sampling program undertaken on the 3400 Level (see plan shown in Appendix B), underground channel sampling was systematically performed on the 3430 sublevel over the width of the development (3.5 m wide by 3.0 metres wide) at intervals of approximately every 5 m (consistent with the size of the Mineral Resource block model), as well as over the five cross-cuts. The polymetallic mineralization within the Atenea vein is hosted by structurally defined components which were mapped and sampled. Summarized assay sample results are tabulated and presented in Table 1, and a detailed sampling map is provided in Appendix A. Table 1: Average Sampling Results from 3430 Sublevel Atenea Vein Sampling Program 3430 Level Length Metres Width Metres Au g/t Ag g/t Cu % Pb % Zn % Au-Eq. g/t Atenea Vein 130.00 4.2 4.31 59.21 1.68 1.33 1.26 9.22 Overall, the sample results were found to be consistent with sample results from the 3400 Level located 30 m below, however, the average sampled grade of 9.22 g/t Au-Eq. is higher than the estimated grade of 8.12 g/t Au-Eq. contained within the Mineral Resource block model from the sampled area. Importantly, the geological mapping on the 3430 sublevel showed that the hanging wall split vein, as seen on the 3400 Level, has merged with the footwall zone. The continuation of the hanging wall split and the footwall zone through the 3430 sublevel was assumed in the Mineral Resource model and in the PEA conceptual mine plan. The merger of these zones could potentially result in more efficient mining and lower dilution upon extraction of the mineralized material (due to the absence of non-mineralized material in between the two zones). Although the average sampled width of the Atenea vein on the 3430 sublevel was 4.2 m, compared to approximately 6.0 m on the 3400 Level, sampling on the 3430 sublevel was restricted by smaller development headings (3.5 m wide), as well as fewer cross-cuts (5) compared with the 3400 Level (7). Geological mapping and sampling over the 5 cross-cuts on the 3430 sublevel demonstrates an estimated horizontal width of the Atenea vein ranging from 4 m up to 12 m. It is anticipated that the average horizontal width on 3430 sublevel will be in-line, or possibly exceed, the average conceptual mining width of 8.0 m, as estimated in the PEA conceptual mine plan. Summary results obtained from 205 samples taken in the drift and crosscuts, over spacing of approximately every 5 m, are tabulated in Table 2. Table 2: Summary Assays from 3430 Level - Atenea Vein Width metres Au Ag Cu Pb Zn Au-Eq. g/t g/t % % % g/t 1.70 0.47 12.53 0.34 1.56 1.01 2.64 2.50 34.79 42.40 0.92 1.94 2.22 39.19 2.40 1.11 16.96 0.79 0.52 0.38 3.09 3.35 0.87 9.51 0.58 0.21 0.28 2.19 3.45 2.02 12.57 0.60 0.22 0.46 3.54 3.30 2.57 18.52 0.91 0.06 0.08 4.34 3.40 1.46 73.82 1.90 0.15 0.25 5.65 3.30 1.36 17.50 0.87 0.16 0.06 3.09 5.90 2.57 37.47 1.78 0.14 0.09 6.01 5.12 2.96 22.36 0.75 1.00 1.51 5.89 4.40 0.92 38.95 1.11 0.70 0.94 4.12 4.00 0.72 47.38 1.94 3.07 2.41 7.56 3.90 0.60 55.05 1.66 4.02 3.64 8.33 4.00 2.87 37.50 1.55 1.17 1.03 7.06 3.50 6.46 42.29 1.21 1.02 0.51 9.80 10.50 4.62 47.24 1.56 1.80 1.95 9.86 3.30 1.52 25.73 0.83 0.60 0.66 3.90 3.50 1.16 39.77 1.39 2.12 3.49 7.13 3.20 1.64 62.88 1.94 3.45 3.41 9.47 5.75 3.78 59.04 1.93 2.93 4.10 11.68 3.50 2.15 55.60 1.78 3.29 2.69 9.12 7.30 4.24 48.38 1.49 1.58 1.78 9.16 3.42 4.89 42.19 1.61 1.56 2.26 10.21 4.40 5.21 39.09 1.04 1.68 1.83 9.39 3.40 3.81 63.06 1.90 1.17 0.78 8.76 3.46 4.15 54.99 2.47 0.97 0.85 9.82 3.50 5.06 46.74 0.93 0.70 1.17 8.21 9.30 5.45 95.27 2.41 0.35 0.26 10.85 3.30 10.40 149.88 3.56 1.00 0.56 18.86 9.40 3.85 97.96 2.74 1.39 0.74 10.66 4.10 3.45 76.80 1.38 1.10 0.58 7.59 3.80 7.99 146.11 3.31 1.61 0.84 16.51 3.80 3.25 50.39 1.41 1.02 0.62 7.07 3.35 5.17 77.46 2.04 1.16 1.13 10.72 3.30 3.34 149.27 2.67 2.09 1.17 11.35 2.40 19.81 94.92 2.25 0.84 0.29 25.23 3.50 7.93 105.64 2.36 1.10 0.35 13.86 3.30 1.06 56.58 0.66 0.52 0.02 3.14 Weighted Averages 4.20 4.31 59.21 1.68 1.33 1.26 9.22 Total Length (metres) 130 Project Background Lupaka's Invicta Gold Project is a polymetallic development project located approximately 120 kilometres north of Lima, Peru. On May 11, 2018 a PEA was completed on the project by SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. which evaluated the economic potential of the underground extraction of the Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources from the Atenea Vein close to the existing 3400 Level adit (up to 130 m above the 3400 Level) utilizing a sublevel long-hole, open stoping mining method supported by initial toll treatment processing options. Highlights of the PEA are summarized below: Mineral Resource Statement of 3.0 million tonnes of Indicated Mineral Resources at 5.78 g/t Au-Eq. using a 3.0 g/t Au-Eq. cut-off, and 0.6 million tonnes of Inferred Mineral Resources at 5.29 g/t Au-Eq. Initial 6-year mine plan (underground) designed on a portion of the Mineral Resource utilizing the existing infrastructure and minimizing capital start-up costs Sublevel open stope mining producing ~ 670,000 tonnes of mineralized material at 8.6 g/t Au-Eq.* with production of ~ 185,000 Au-Eq. oz (within initial 6-year mine plan) Average annual pre-tax cash flows of US$10.2 million, average annual after-tax cash flow of US$8.2 million Annual production of 33,700 Au-Eq. oz, during steady state Annual payable metal of 26,700 Au-Eq. oz, during steady state All-in Sustaining Costs of US$575 Au-Eq. oz over initial 6-year mine life, average annual pre-tax operating profit of US$12.3 million Pre-tax 5% NPV of US$53.6 million Low capital investment: US$4.3 million in pre-production capital with a payback of less than one year The PEA considers only part of the reported Mineral Resource (the Atenea Vein close to existing infrastructure) with the objective of generating positive cash flow from a low-cost operation while simultaneously re-investing in and further evaluating the deposit to potentially expand production in the future. Quality Control and Assurance The analyses for this sampling campaign were carried out by ALS, an accredited laboratory, in Lima, Peru, exercising a thorough Quality Assurance and Control program (QA/QC). As part of QA/QC protocol, duplicates, standards and blanks were inserted into the sample processing stream. The sample locations were mapped, surveyed and photographed for reference. Individual sample channels vary between 0.2 to 2.5 metres wide. Samples were bagged, sealed and delivered to the ALS sample preparation facility in Lima, Peru. Gold was assayed by a 50-gram fire assay and re-assayed for the overlimits, with an AAS finish. All ALS labs are ISO 9000 registered. Technical Report Further information about the PEA and the resource estimate referenced in this news release, including data verification, key assumptions, parameters, risks and other factors, are provided in the technical report prepared following Canadian Securities Administrators' National Instrument (NI) 43-101 and Form 43-101F1 guidelines for the Invicta Project dated May 11, 2018, and is available under the Company profile on SEDAR (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 $12 million of capital has been spent by previous owners on development and infrastructure at Invicta, and management expects to commence potential 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 potential underground operation will be focused on underground 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 conceptual 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 estimate of mineral resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-political, marketing, or other relevant issues. 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. About SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. form part of the SRK Consulting Group which is an independent, international consulting company that provides focused advice and solutions to clients, mainly from earth and water resource industries. Formed in 1974, SRK now employs more than 1,400 professionals in over 40 offices on 6 continents. Among SRK's 1,500 clients are most of the world's major- and medium-sized metal and industrial mineral mining houses, exploration companies, banks, petroleum exploration companies, construction firms and government departments. 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 test 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: any benefit to development costs and improvement in mine dilution from the merger of the hanging wall split and the footwall zone; the commencement of potential production from the Invicta Project in Q3 2018, the targeted mining rate of 350 tpd, anticipated methods of production and the generation of cash therefrom. 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; 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. APPENDIX A Figure 1: Summarized Assay Results from Underground Channel Sampling of the Atenea Vein on 3430 Sublevel, Invicta Gold Mine To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/2640/35101_new_pa2.jpg Figure 2: Detailed Assay Results from Underground Channel Sampling of the Atenea Vein on 3430 Sublevel, Invicta Gold Mine To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/2640/35101_new_pa4.jpg APPENDIX B Figure 3: Summarized Assay Results from Underground Channel Sampling of the Atenea Vein on 3400 Level, Invicta Gold Mine To view an enhanced version of this Figure 3, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/2640/35101_new_pa6.jpg Figure 4: Detailed Assay Results from Underground Channel Sampling of the Atenea Vein on 3400 Level, Invicta Gold Mine To view an enhanced version of Figure 4, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/2640/35101_new_pa8.jpg * Au-Eq. calculations are based on US$1250 for gold ("Au"), US$17.00 for silver ("Ag"), US$3.00 for copper ("Cu"), US$1.25 for zinc ("Zn"), and US$1.05 for lead ("Pb"), with assumed mill recoveries of 85% for Au, 80% for Ag, 82 % for Cu and Pb, and 77% for Zn. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 7, 2018) - Cabral Gold Inc. (TSXV: CBR) ("Cabral" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the completion of a new NI 43-101 gold mineral resource estimate for four deposits at its Cuiu Cuiu Project, located in the state of Para in northern Brazil. The Cuiu Cuiu property is contiguous to the northwest of Eldorado Gold Corporation's ("Eldorado Gold") advanced Tocantinzinho gold project (Figure 1). Cabral's 2018 NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate was completed by Micon International Limited (Micon), and totals 5.9MM tonnes grading 0.9 g/t Au (Indicated) and 19.5MM tonnes grading 1.2 g/t Au (Inferred), or 0.2MM ounces and 0.8MM ounces of gold, respectively (Table 1). Top cuts were applied ranging from 2 to 20 g/t Au. These were determined based on a variety of statistical methods for each subzone of two larger deposits. No top cuts were required for two smaller, lower grade satellite deposits. Economic parameters used in determining pit shell and underground dimensions for this constrained resource were largely based on recent economic studies at Tocantinzinho available on Eldorado Gold's web site. In order to better compare with historic resources. Micon also provided an estimate without top cuts. This should not be considered the current resource estimate. Without applying top cuts, the 2018 pit/underground constrained estimate would report 57% more gold, being 6.4MM tonnes grading 1.0 g/t Au (indicated) and 23.3MM tonnes grading 1.7 g/t Au (inferred), or 0.2MM ounces and 1.3MM ounces of gold, respectively (Table 2). This compares very favourably to a 2011 historic NI 43-101 pit/underground constrained resource of 1.3MM oz Au determined by Pincock, Allen and Holt ("Pincock"). Pincock's estimate did not apply top cuts, thus it is best compared with Micon's estimate that excludes top cuts. The 2018 estimate (without top cuts) is a 14% increase from Pincock's estimate (Table 3). Due to more rigorous economic parameters used in determining the 2018 pit shells, gold grade is 44% higher, while tonnage is 27% lower than the 2011 resource calculation (Table 3). Micon also provided a sensitivity study at various cut-off grades. The selection of top cuts also has a significant impact on sensitivity estimates without pit or underground constraints (Table 4). At a 0.4 g/t Au cut-off, Micon's unconstrained sensitivity estimate is 30% higher (2.1MM oz of gold) without top cuts than with the top cuts (1.6MM oz of gold). The 2018 sensitivity estimate with no top cut is 49% higher than the 2011 unconstrained Pincock sensitivity estimate (1.4MM oz of gold) using similar methodologies, largely due to a 48% increase in tonnes (Table 5). Alan Carter, President and CEO said "The 2018 resource estimate is an important fundamental step towards developing an economic platform for the Cuiu Cuiu project. We believe that surface trenching and further drilling will provide additional data that will likely statistically improve top-end cuts, and as a result add significant additional ounces within the existing deposits as well as along strike. It is worth remembering that previous drilling has identified ten mineralized zones at Cuiu Cuiu, for which only four thus far have sufficient drilling to determine resources, and significant upside exists in all four of the deposits identified to date. Furthermore, the recent recognition of new high-grade targets at Cuiu Cuiu [see news release of March 21, 2018] also represents a very important step towards improving the overall grade and viability of the project through the potential addition of higher grade resources. These efforts will be prioritized, and tested over the coming months". Background Previous drilling on the Cuiu Cuiu property had identified ten largely low-grade, stockwork vein mineralized zones after following up significant soil and stream-sediment survey anomalies and extensive alluvial artisanal workings. Drilling focussed on expanding and delimiting the zones, rather than optimizing grade. Recent work by Cabral has identified numerous additional higher grade vein and stockwork vein targets. Several of these are coincident with significant geochemical and geophysical targets and are the subject of ongoing trenching, channel sampling and soil sampling on surface: some of these are being exploited in places by artisanal workers. To date there has been sufficient diamond drilling to determine resources on just four deposits: two larger deposits, Central and Moreira Gomes (MG), and two smaller satellite deposits Central North and Jerimum de Baixo (JB) (Figure 2). All remain open at depth and along strike. Central occurs in a broad structural corridor which may also contain other parallel mineralized zones. Newly identified parallel structures close to MG, and extensions of Central North and JB also require drilling and may ultimately expand the footprint of those mineralized areas. The 2018 NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate was prepared for Cabral by Thomas C. Stubens P.Eng. of Micon. This resource incorporates 108 diamond drill holes (30,448m). All holes were drilled by the previous operator, Magellan Minerals Ltd. ("Magellan") between, 2006 and 2012. The new resource estimate is considered a significant improvement, when compared to an April 19, 2011 NI 43-101 resource estimate commissioned by Magellan. Those historic resources were determined by Aaron M. McMahon, P.G., of Pincock, but only included 74 diamond drill holes (19,297m) that had been completed prior to December 31, 2010. Based on the available data at the time, Magellan's historic resources considered only two deposits, Central and MG. The 2018 Cuiu Cuiu NI 43-101 gold resource estimate is constrained by Whittle pits above conceptual underground stopes. Economic parameters for the pits and gold recoveries were largely based on Eldorado Gold's June 15, 2015 positive feasibility study at Tocantinzinho, summarized below. Micon also completed sensitivity studies at various cut-off grades without pit or underground economic constraints (unconstrained). Deposit Descriptions Gold deposits at Cuiu Cuiu are interpreted to be hosted in northwest and east-trending subordinate shears and faults related to a major northwest trending regional structure. Figure 2 shows the location of the four deposits included in the resource, in addition to other mineralized areas and promising targets. Mineralization in all four deposits can be described as stockwork/sheeted veinlet mineralized systems hosted within broad, altered shear zones within granitic rocks. Individual veinlets are typically 0.2 to 2.0 cm in width but occasionally are up to 20 cm wide. The pyrite content within the zones of stockwork mineralization, ranges from 0.5 to 4.0 percent in volume. High grade gold zones above 10 g/t Au are associated with elevated levels of both pyrite and base metal sulfides, and display significant silicification. Pyrite is the primary host for native gold, although visible coarse gold is usually associated with base metal sulfides, particularly galena, sphalerite, and chalcopyrite. There is a positive correlation between the frequency of quartz veins, the percentage of sulfides present and gold grade. Gold occurs as the native metal in fracture fillings within pyrite and other sulfides; it occurs on the surfaces of, and in between individual sulfide grains, rarely as inclusions within pyrite. The east-trending, steep north-dipping Moreira Gomes (MG) Deposit ranges in width up to 65m in the core with several branching splays, and was traced for 2.2km along strike, and from surface to a maximum depth of 360m. This is a narrower, but higher grade zone of mineralization than the other three zones. Particularly important are high-grade auriferous veins (composites up to 104.9 g/t Au) that occur along the hanging-wall and/or footwall contacts in places; however, current drill density is insufficient to better define these higher grade intercepts. The Central Deposit comprises the widest zone of mineralization identified on the property. Drilling has defined a northwest-trending, steeply dipping deformed zone that contains anastomosing and, or parallel subzones. These sub-zones of gold-bearing, silicified and altered granitic rocks over a strike length of 1.2km, widths up to 190m, and from surface to a maximum depth of 420m. Scattered higher grade gold intercepts up to 39.8 g/t Au were encountered. Drilling to date has not closed off the zone, and it remains open to the northwest, southeast and at depth. Elevated values near the collars and end of many drill holes suggest the width of the deposit has also not yet been fully delimited, and that there may be parallel zones outside the limit of drilling and the current resource. The northwest-trending Central North Deposit is a smaller zone that occurs directly to the northeast of the main Central Deposit, It has many similarities to Central but is lower grade, with the best 2m composite being just 4.3 g/t gold. Drilling has traced Central North over a strike length of 500m, from surface to a maximum depth of 380m. The width across the package of structures is up to 150m. It remains open to the northwest, southeast and at depth. Based on existing drilling, the northwest-trending Jerimum de Baixo (JB) Deposit is another smaller and lower grade deposit. The northwest trending deposit has been traced over a strike length of 520m, widths up to 125m, and from surface to a maximum depth of 200m. It remains open to the northwest, southeast and at depth. The highest gold grade encountered in drilling to date was 9.4 g/t Au. New artisanal workings west of JB suggest it may be larger than previously thought. 2018 Resource Estimate Assumptions and Parameters and Results The 2018 resource estimate commissioned by Cabral focused on four deposits; Central, Moreira Gomes (MG), Central North, and Jerimum de Baixo (JB). The estimate is based on diamond holes completed by Magellan prior to Cabral acquiring that company's wholly-owned Brazilian subsidiary in 2016. For the 2018 resource estimate Micon used 51 holes (15,413m) at Central, 35 holes (9,261m) at MG, 7 holes (2,242m) at Central North, and 15 holes (3,532m) at JB; maximum 2m composite gold grades were 39.8 g/t, 104.9 g/t, 4.3 g/t and 9.4 g/t, respectively. A total of 8,442 composites were used in the estimates. Wireframes were originally generated by Magellan for all four deposits and updated by Micon to account for the new drill data. Central, Central North, MG and JB were modelled as 11, 4, 9, and 3 higher grade mineralized subzones, respectively, surrounded by an encompassing lower grade envelope for each. Gold grades at Central, Central North and Moreira Gomes were estimated using ordinary kriging. Inversed-distance squared (ID2) was used at Jerimum de Baixo. Micon assessed the capping requirement of each sub-zone at Central, Central North, Jerimum de Baixo and Moreira Gomes using a variety of statistics, cumulative frequency plots and other considerations. The capping thresholds which were applied to the 2m composites are summarized in Table 6. Less than half of the mineral zones at Central and Moreira Gomes required capping and no caps were required in the smaller, low-grade Central North and JB deposits. Constrained gold resources were determined using mining shapes based on a $1,400/oz gold price. Mineable shapes were either Whittle pits or conceptual underground stopes. Resources falling within the pits were reported above cut-off grades of 0.35 g/t Au. Stope shapes only include blocks above a cut-off grade of 1.3 g/t Au. Micon largely assumed the parameters of Eldorado Gold's 2015 feasibility studies available on that company's web site. Recoveries were assumed to be 90%. Mining costs used were $2.50/t for fresh rock, and $1.50/t for saprolite; with $3.00 and $8.30 per tonne of ore for G&A and Milling, respectively. Pit slopes selected were 30 for saprolite and 50 for fresh rock. Sensitivity studies were also provided, using a range of cut-off gold grades, with no pit or underground constraints. For the 2018 NI 43-101 Resource Estimate, Micon determined a constrained Indicated Resource of 5.9MM tonnes grading 0.9 g/t Au and an Inferred Resource of 19.5MM tonnes grading 1.2 g/t Au (0.2MM ounces and 0.8MM ounces of gold, respectively). 79% of the resource reports to pits (Table 1). For comparison purposes, Micon also provided pit/underground constrained estimates for each deposit with and without top cuts (Table 2). Without top cuts the constrained estimate reports 57% more gold than with a top cut, being 6.4MM tonnes grading 1.0 g/t Au (indicated) and 23.3MM tonnes grading 1.7 g/t Au (inferred), or 0.2MM ounces and 1.3MM ounces of gold, respectively. Without pit or underground constraints, Micon's top-cut selection also has a significant impact on sensitivity studies. At a 0.4 g/t Au cut off, Micon's unconstrained sensitivity estimate is 30% higher (2.1MM oz of gold) without top cuts than with the top cuts (1.6MM oz of gold). Historical Resource Estimate Assumptions and Parameters A 2011 resource estimate commissioned by Magellan focused two deposits, Central and MG. That estimate was based on diamond drilling completed prior to December 31, 2010. At that time, only 50 holes (13,605m) had been completed at Central and 24 (5,692m) at MG. Pincock did not indicate in the report how many of these holes were used in the estimates. The Pincock resource determination used ordinary kriging, assumed a gold price of $1,250/oz and did not apply top cuts to the gold grades. The mineable shapes were either Lerchs-Grossman pits or conceptual underground stopes. Resources falling within the pits were reported at cut-off grades of 0.3 g/t Au for fresh rock or 0.4 g/t Au for saprolite. Stope shapes only include blocks above a cut-off grade of 1.3 g/t Au. The cut-off grades considered a gold price of $1,250 per ounce and metallurgical recoveries of 91 percent for fresh rock and 66 percent for saprolite. Details on economic parameters used in pit and underground design were not provided in the NI 43-101 report; moreover, the release of the resource preceded publication of Eldorado Gold's earlier economic studies released in May 2011. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify this historic estimate as current resources, and the issuer is not treating the historic estimate as mineral resources. For the historic estimate Pincock determined an Indicated Resource of 3.4MMt @ 1.0g/t Au (for 0.1MMoz) and Inferred Resource of 31MMt @ 1.2g/t Au (for 1.2MMoz) for the Central and MG deposits (Table 2). Sensitivity studies without pit or underground constraints are shown in Table 5 at various cut-off gold grades. For further details, Pincock's full 43-101 report, dated April 19, 2011, can be viewed on SEDAR under Magellan Minerals Ltd. Comparison of 2018 and 2011 Resource Estimates As Pincock did not use a top-end cut for its historic resource estimate, it is best compared to Micon's estimate that does not include a top cut. Micon's 2018 pit and underground constrained estimate without top cuts contains 14% more gold than Pincock's 2011 constrained estimate. Due to more rigorous economic parameters used in determining the 2018 pit shells, gold grade is 44% higher, while tonnage is 27% lower than the 2011 resource calculation (Table 2). Micon's 2018 unconstrained sensitivity study also compares favourably to Pincock's. At a 0.4 g/t Au cut-off, Micon's estimate of 2.1MM oz of gold is 49% higher than the 2011 unconstrained Pincock sensitivity study using the same cut-off grade (1.4MM oz of gold), largely due to a 48% increase in tonnes (Table 4). Future Plans Cabral is currently engaged in an aggressive surface exploration program at Cuiu Cuiu which involves soil sampling, auger sampling, pitting and trenching on at least 12 targets at Cuiu Cuiu including Central, MG, JB and Central North. This work is aimed at prioritizing targets for diamond drilling later in 2018. Table 1: Cabral's 2018 NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate for the Cuiu Cuiu project. These are constrained by open pit (0.35 g/t Au cut-off) and underground (1.30 g/t Au cut-off) mining shapes. Top cuts were applied to certain sub-zones of the Central and MG deposits. To view an enhanced version of Table 1, please visit: http://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3900/35117_a1528351629103_1.jpg Table 2 : Comparison of the Cuiu Cuiu 2018 combined open-pit and underground constrained NI 43-101 resource estimate determined using top cuts, to an estimate provided without top cuts. To view an enhanced version of Table 2, please visit: http://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3900/35117_a1528351629744_39.jpg Table 3: Comparison of the Micon 2018 pit and underground constrained estimate with historic Pincock 2011 pit and underground constrained resource without applying top cuts. To view an enhanced version of Table 3, please visit: http://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3900/35117_a1528351631150_20.jpg Table 4: Comparison of 2018 unconstrained sensitivity estimates to cut-off grade, with and without top cuts. To view an enhanced version of Table 4, please visit: http://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3900/35117_a1528351632557_79.jpg Table 5: Unconstrained sensitivity estimates to cut-off, comparing Micon's 2018 estimates and Pincock's 2011 historic estimates without top cuts. To view an enhanced version of Table 5, please visit: http://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3900/35117_a1528351636119_77.jpg Table 6: Total constrained NI 43-101 Resources with top cuts shown for individual subzones inside optimized pits (0.35 g/t Au cut-off) and underground (1.3 g/t Au cut-off), compared to an estimate provided without top cuts. To view an enhanced version of Table 6, please visit: http://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3900/35117_a1528351639010_69.jpg Figure 1: Location of Cabral's Cuiu Cuiu project relative to Eldorado Gold's TZ project and infrastructure To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit: http://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3900/35117_a1528351643838_95.jpg Figure 2: Cuiu Cuiu property showing the deposits identified thus far (in red) and main target zones (in yellow) To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit: http://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3900/35117_a1528351644228_62.jpg About Cabral Gold Inc. The Company is a junior resource company and is engaged in the identification, exploration and development of mineral properties, with a primary focus on gold properties located in Brazil. The Company owns the Cuiu Cuiu gold project located in the Tapajos Region within the state of Para in northern Brazil. The Tapajos Gold Province is the site of the largest gold rush in Brazil's history. Cuiu Cuiu was the largest garimpo in the Tapajos and produced an estimate 2Moz of placer gold historically. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: "Alan Carter" President and Chief Executive Officer Cabral Gold Inc. Tel: 604.676.5660 Thomas C. Stubens P.Eng. of Micon, a consultant to the Company as well as an Independent Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed the technical information presented in this news release. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as such term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-looking Statements This news release contains certain forward-looking information and forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities legislation (collectively "forward-looking statements"). The use of the words "will", "expected" 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. Such forward-looking statements should not be unduly relied upon. This news release contains forward-looking statements and assumptions pertaining to the following: strategic plans and future operations, and results of exploration. Actual results achieved may vary from the information provided herein as a result of numerous known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors. The Company believes the expectations reflected in those forward-looking statements are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct. AmpliPhi Biosciences Corporation (NYSE American: APHB), a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on precisely targeted bacteriophage therapeutics for antibiotic-resistant infections, today announced a poster presentation of a successful case study of a patient with cystic fibrosis, suffering from recurrent multi-drug resistant (MDR) Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) pneumonia, who received treatment with AB-PA01, AmpliPhi's investigational bacteriophage drug candidate. The study will be presented at the 41st European Cystic Fibrosis Conference (EFCS), being held June 6-9, 2018 in Belgrade, Serbia. Presentation: Title: Bacteriophage treatment of multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa Pneumonia in a cystic fibrosis patient Date and time: June 7, 2018, 2:00 p.m. (CEST) Topic: 5. Microbiology/Antibiotics Location: Lower Level of Exhibition Area, Sava Center, Belgrade, Serbia Presenter: Dr. Carrie-Lynn Langlais Furr, AmpliPhi Biosciences The presentation describes the case of a 26-year old patient with cystic fibrosis (CF) listed for a double lung transplant, who developed multiple episodes of MDR P. aeruginosa pneumonia and had multiple CF exacerbations. Prior to treatment with AB-PA01, the patient received multiple courses of antibiotics, including colistin, but due to renal failure, colistin administration was discontinued. The U.S. FDA granted an emergency IND to administer AmpliPhi's AB-PA01 as an adjunctive treatment to systemic antibiotics. AB-PA01 was administered via intravenous route every six hours for eight weeks. Treatment with AB-PA01 was well tolerated and the patient's infection resolved. No recurrence of pneumonia or CF exacerbation was reported during the two-month follow-up period after the completion of treatment with AB-PA01. The patient's renal failure resolved. "The patient responded to the combination of AB-PA01 and antibiotic therapy based on an improvement in objective clinical criteria," said Saima Aslam, M.D., Director, Solid Organ Transplant Infectious Diseases, University of California San Diego School of Medicine and the treating physician. "Furthermore, treatment with AB-PA01 was safe and well-tolerated. In this case study, bacteriophage therapy has demonstrated to hold much promise for patients with cystic fibrosis suffering from multidrug resistant pulmonary bacterial infections." About AmpliPhi Biosciences AmpliPhi Biosciences Corporation is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on treating antibiotic-resistant infections using its proprietary bacteriophage-based technology. AmpliPhi's lead product candidates, AB-SA01 and AB-PA01, target multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which are included on the WHO's 2017 Priority Pathogens List. Phage therapeutics are uniquely positioned to address the threat of antibiotic-resistance as they can be precisely targeted to kill select bacteria, have a differentiated mechanism of action, can penetrate and disrupt biofilms (a common bacterial defense mechanism against antibiotics), are potentially synergistic with antibiotics and have been shown to restore antibiotic sensitivity to drug-resistant bacteria. For more information visit www.ampliphibio.com. Forward Looking Statements Statements in this press release that are not statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding: the potential benefits of phage therapy; the potential use of bacteriophages to treat bacterial infections, including pulmonary infections associated with cystic fibrosis patients and infections that do not respond to antibiotics or are associated with biofilms. Words such as "believe," "anticipate," "plan," "expect," "intend," "will," "may," "goal," "potential" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, though not all forward-looking statements necessarily contain these identifying words. Among the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in these forward-looking statements are risks and uncertainties associated with bacteriophage product candidate development, both generally and specifically through expanded access regulations, AmpliPhi's financial condition, and other risks and uncertainties described in AmpliPhi's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and AmpliPhi's subsequent filings with the SEC. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement, and AmpliPhi undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180607005369/en/ Contacts: At the Company: AmpliPhi Biosciences Matthew Dansey, (858) 800-4869 md@ampliphibio.com or Investor Relations: Westwicke Partners Robert H. Uhl, (858) 356-5932 robert.uhl@westwicke.com Montreal, Quebec--(Newsfile Corp. - June 7, 2018) - Peak Positioning Technologies Inc. (CSE: PKK) ("Peak" or the "Company") today announced that its Chinese operating subsidiary Asia Synergy Data Solutions ("ASDS"), which manages the Company's Cubeler commercial lending platform, officially welcomed Wuxi Jinxin Internet Small Loans Ltd. ("WJISL) to the platform. ASDS and WJISL had previously entered into an agreement in August 2017, whereby ASDS was able to temporarily leverage WJISL's lending license to launch pilot versions of a series of credit products until the Company's Asia Synergy Financial Capital ("ASFC") subsidiary would be able to assume the role of being the facilitator of those credit products. So as expected, with the arrival of ASFC, the August 2017 agreement between ASDS and WJISL was replaced with a new agreement between the parties that will now see WJISL act as a lender that extends credit to qualified SMEs on Cubeler alongside ASFC. The arrival of WJISL on Cubeler gives access to 500M RMB (approximately $100M CAD) in additional funds that can be loaned on the platform and marks the beginning of ASDS' strategy to bring as many lenders as possible to the platform in order to increase its overall lending capacity, and therefore ASDS' revenue generating potential. About Peak Positioning Technologies Inc.: Peak Positioning Technologies Inc. is an IT portfolio management company whose mission is to assemble, finance and manage a portfolio of promising companies and assets in some of the fastest-growing tech sectors in China, including fintech, e-commerce and cloud-computing. Peak provides a bridge for North American investors who wish to participate in the continued digitization of China's industrial sectors through the latest advancements in technology. For more information: http://www.peakpositioning.com Contact information: Cathy Hume CEO CHF Capital Markets Phone: 416-868-1079 ext.: 231 Email: cathy@chfir.com Or Johnson Joseph President and CEO Peak Positioning Technologies Inc. Phone: 514-340-7775 ext.: 501 Email: investors@peakpositioning.com Forward-Looking Statements / Information: This news release may include certain forward-looking information, including statements relating to business and operating strategies, plans and prospects for revenue growth, using words including "anticipate", "believe", "could", "expect", "intend", "may", "plan", "potential", "project", "seek", "should", "will", "would" and similar expressions, which are intended to identify a number of these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking information reflects current views with respect to current events and is not a guarantee of future performance and is subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking information contained in this news release, except as may be required by applicable laws, rules and regulations. Readers are urged to consider these factors carefully in evaluating any forward-looking information. PARIS (dpa-AFX) - French luxury goods company Kering SA (PPRUY.PK, PPRUF.PK) said it is aiming for an annual revenue target of 10 billion euros for its mainstay Gucci brand. This represents an increase from revenue of 6.2 billion euros contributed by Gucci in 2017. Kering also said it is targeting Gucci's sales growth at twice the pace of the luxury market and plans to achieve an EBIT margin of more than 40 percent, compared to about 34 percent in 2017. In addition, Kering said it expects Gucci to triple its revenue from e-commerce and maintain its capital expenditure at less than 5 percent of revenue. The company noted that e-commerce's organic growth will be the main driver through higher penetration and enhanced customer experience. The company will also roll out Gucci.com in new markets. Kering said it aims to re-establish Gucci's position as a pivotal Italian luxury fashion brand. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Body and Mind Inc. (CSE: BAMM) (US OTC: BMMJ), (the "Company" or "BAM") is pleased to announce the Company and its strategic in-state investment partners received notification that the State of Ohio awarded a medical cannabis dispensary license to NMG, Ohio LLC ("NMG Ohio", "Applicant"). The Company's subsidiary, Nevada Medical Group LLC ("NMG") currently has a 30% ownership interest in NMG Ohio and is currently pursuing an option to increase its ownership position. It is anticipated that NMG will sign a management agreement in the near term to become operator of the dispensary. Ohio Medical License Highlights: Obtained 1 of only 56 medical cannabis dispensary licenses awarded by State of Ohio , a state which has a population of approx. 11.5 Million. Location of license is in the city of Elyria , Lorain County , Northeastern Ohio . Only 3 medical dispensaries awarded in Lorain County , a county which has a population of approximately 300,000+. State of Ohio received approximately 370+ medical cannabis dispensary license applications. First-mover position in Ohio provides the Company with the ability to expediently expand its Body and Mind brand name to another state. Robert Hasman, President of NMG, stated "We are very pleased with our group being awarded one of the dispensary licenses located in Ohio and confirms the commitment and skill of our team. We have worked hard to submit numerous low cost strategic license applications to grow the company and create shareholder value. We currently have the following additional license applications pending and/or in progress as follows:" Ohio - NMG Ohio has 1 production license application submitted and in progress. NMG Ohio's cultivation license is currently going through an appeal process. Arkansas - 2 dispensary applications submitted and in progress. One cultivation license initially denied, however an Arkansas judge barred the issuance of any cultivation licenses and the process is currently, or expected to be shortly, under review by the Arkansas Supreme Court. The Arkansas submissions are under Letter of Intent between NMG and an in-state investor group (the "Investor Group"), who have agreed to fund the application process. In the event the application is successful, Body and Mind will manage the Arkansas operations with terms to be determined. Both parties have agreed to finance the construction and start-up costs on a 75% BAM and 25% Investor Group basis, with BAM's contribution convertible up to a 40% equity interest in the Investor Group. Nevada - NMG has 2 dispensary applications nearing submission. It is anticipated that the Nevada Department of Taxation will be seeking applications from existing Medical Marijuana Certificate owner(s) to be awarded Medical Marijuana Dispensary Registration Certificates in the next 60 to 90 days. This application process is only open to existing Nevada license holders with Nevada having a limited number of dispensary, cultivation and production licenses. The Company has secured highly desirable real estate for both applications. The company has submitted a special use permit on one location and is finalizing submissions for the second location. Both locations are in high traffic, underserved areas of Las Vegas . Pepper Lane North Update In 2017, a real estate investment group, led by the NMG's president, initiated the purchase of an approximately 30,000 square foot building adjacent to the existing NMG facility. In May 2018, the real estate investment group completed the purchase of the Pepper Lane North building and now owns the facility. The Company recently made the decision to terminate its lease back agreement regarding the Pepper Lane North facility as it was unable to relocate a church that was leasing office space in a building which is in close proximity to the Pepper Lane North facility. The Pepper Lane North building may still be an opportunity for the Company to lease storage and administrative space and the Company will continue to evaluate this opportunity. The Company initiated a claim with the surveyor's insurance company stating the surveyor made an error and did not disclose the church location in their report to the Company. The primary claim, amongst other damages, is to recover the non-refundable USD $200,000 deposits made by each member of Pepper Lane North LLC. Mr. Hasman commented: "The Company has grown considerably over the past two years and is constantly evaluating and assessing the various opportunities in front of us. With the medical dispensary license recently awarded in Ohio, our team is confident that working with the right in-state partners, the Company can provide low cost opportunities to expand Body and Mind's footprint into a multi-state and vertically integrated business." Neither the 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. About Body and Mind Body and Mind Inc. is a publicly traded company investing in high quality medical and recreational cannabis cultivation and production. Our wholly owned Nevada subsidiary was awarded one of the first medical marijuana cultivation licenses and holds cultivation and production licenses. Body and Mind products include dried flower, edibles, topicals, extracts as well as GPEN Gio cartridges. Body and Mind marijuana strains have won numerous awards including the Las Vegas Hempfest Cup 2016, High Times Top Ten, the NorCal Secret Cup and the Emerald Cup. Body and Mind continues to expand operations in Nevada and is constantly reviewing accretive expansion opportunities. For more information please visit our web site at http://www.bammarijuana.com Notice regarding Forward Looking Statements:This news release contains 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. Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which the forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. These statements speak only as of the date of this news release. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks including the inability of the Company to obtain shareholder and exchange approval, or to raise additional equity as well as the various risk factors discussed in the Company's disclosure documents, which can be found under the Company's profile on http://www.sedar.com. Body and Mind Inc. 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 law or the Canadian Securities Exchange. We seek safe harbour. For further information regarding Body and Mind Inc . please contact: Michael Mills +1-778-389-0007 mmills@bammarijuana.com Food is the spirit of life-giving energy to all life forms including humans. However, humans have changed with the consumption of packaged and processed foods. Even then, their system has not advanced to such a level that it can handle any kind of food. Infected and adulterated foods cause a lot of safety concerns amongst humans. Due to which, food safety has been on the agenda of many food authorities. Food monitoring for a long time has been doubtful and authorities are continuously on the lookout for ways to apply strict standards for food safety. In one of our latest blogs, Infiniti has listed the top food safety trends for 2018. 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. Company To Explore US Capital Markets Up-Listing Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 7, 2018) - CVR Medical Corp. (TSXV: CVM) (FSE: B3BN) (OTCQB: CRRVF) ("CVR Medical") announces it has exclusively retained ThinkEquity, a division of Fordham Financial Management, Inc., a NYC based, investment banking firm to explore listing onto a major exchange in the United States. CVR CSS Device To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/1933/35088_cvr6june2018nr.jpg About CVR Medical CVR Medical is a company involved and operates in the medical industry that focused on the commercialization of a proprietary subsonic, infrasonic, and low frequency sound wave analysis technology (CSS) 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. For additional information on the organization, leadership, and current news please visit the company website www.CVRMed.com 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 or Marc S. Lubow, Vice President, Capital Markets and Investor Relations marclubow@cvrmed.com 904-923-4037 or Brisco Capital Partners Corp. Scott Koyich, President Telephone: (403) 262-9888 This press release contains forward-looking information that involves various risks and uncertainties regarding future events related to the Joint Venture. 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. 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. NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES New York, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - June 7, 2018) - NetworkNewsAudio announces the Audio Press Release (APR) titled "Lithium Producers Expand Amid Market Supply Squeeze," featuring Lithium Chile Inc. (TSXV: LITH) (OTCQB: LTMCF). To hear the NetworkNewsAudio version, visit http://nnw.fm/2M5Jg To read the original editorial, visit http://nnw.fm/0Hfpa Located in the heart of South America's "lithium triangle," Lithium Chile (TSXV: LITH) (OTC: LTMCF) is about to unearth what may be a mother lode of the scarce metal. Quietly and strategically, Lithium Chile has managed to amass over 152,900 hectares (590 square miles) across 15 properties in the middle of the world's foremost lithium reserves. Lithium Chile's holdings represent the largest wholly owned lithium land package of any private operating company in all of Chile. Results of field tests announced in April (http://nnw.fm/N9SHl) identified multiple high-priority target areas at both Lithium Chile's Salar De Atacama and Salar Ollague properties. Large, multiple lithium brine targets of 20 to 25 square kilometers were discovered at both properties. The Atacama property contains near-surface lithium brine values up to 1330 mg/L of lithium and the Ollague Property contains near-surface Li brine values up to 1140 mg/L of lithium. By comparison, typical lithium concentration needed for production in the United States is between 190 to 200 milligrams of lithium per liter. Lithium Chile plans to commence drilling post-haste. Lithium Chile's President and CEO Steve Cochrane stated, "We are delighted with the discovery of such impressive drill target areas at Atacama and Ollague. The results also follow the recent discovery of a 60km2 target area at another of our top Chilean projects - Helados. . . . We have an aggressive multi-project drill program planned for this year, which includes all three of these exciting projects and we look forward to sharing drill results as they come through." About Lithium Chile Lithium Chile is advancing a lithium property portfolio consisting of 152,900 hectares covering sections of 14 salars and one laguna complex in Chile. The properties include 64 square kilometers on the Salar de Atacama, which hosts the world's highest concentration lithium brine production and is currently the source of approximately 30 percent of the world's lithium production. Lithium Chile's common shares are listed on the TSX.V under the symbol "LITH" and on the OTCQB under the symbol "LTMCF". For more information, visit the company's website at http://nnw.fm/LTMCF About NetworkNewsAudio NetworkNewsAudio (NNA) , a NetworkNewsWire (NNW) Solution, allows you to sit back and listen to market updates, CEO interviews and a Company AudioPressRelease (APR). These audio clips provide snapshots of position, opportunity and momentum. NetworkNewsAudio (NNA) is another NetworkNewsWire (NNW) Solution that can assist your company by cutting through the overload of information in today's market, NNA brings its clients unparalleled visibility, recognition and brand awareness. NetworkNewsWire (NNW) is where news, content and information converge. NetworkNewsWire (NNW) is a comprehensive provider of news aggregation and syndication, enhanced press release services and a full array of social communication solutions. As a multifaceted financial news and distribution company with an extensive team of journalists and writers, NNW has the unparalleled ability to reach a wide audience of investors, consumers, journalists and the general public with an ever-growing distribution network of more than 5,000 key syndication outlets across the nation. For more information, visit: www.NetworkNewsAudio.com About NetworkNewsWire NetworkNewsWire (NNW) is a financial news and content distribution company that provides (1) access to a network of wire services via NetworkWire to reach all target markets, industries and demographics in the most effective manner possible, (2) article and editorial syndication to 5,000+ news outlets, (3) enhanced press release services to ensure maximum impact, (4) social media distribution via the Investor Brand Network (IBN) to nearly 2 million followers, (5) a full array of corporate communications solutions, and (6) a total news coverage solution with NNW Prime. As a multifaceted organization with an extensive team of contributing journalists and writers, NNW is uniquely positioned to best serve private and public companies that desire to reach a wide audience of investors, consumers, journalists and the general public. By cutting through the overload of information in today's market, NNW brings its clients unparalleled visibility, recognition and brand awareness. NNW is where news, content and information converge. For more information, please visit https://www.NetworkNewsWire.com. Please see full terms of use and disclaimers on the NetworkNewsWire website applicable to all content provided by NNW, wherever published or re-published: http://NNW.fm/Disclaimer. Forward-Looking Statements This 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. All forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain as they are based on current expectations and assumptions concerning future events or future performance of the company. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are only predictions and speak only as of the date hereof. In evaluating such statements, prospective investors should review carefully various risks and uncertainties identified in this release and matters set in the company's SEC filings. These risks and uncertainties could cause the company's actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Corporate Communications Contact: NetworkNewsWire (NNW) New York, New York www.NetworkNewsWire.com 212.418.1217 Office Editor@NetworkNewsWire.com Expansion coincides with the one-year anniversary of the TrustArc rebranding and next phase of privacy technology spending as the GDPR enforcement period begins SAN FRANCISCO, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- TrustArc, the leading data privacy management company, today announced the expansion of the TrustArcConnect Partner Program to meet the significant growth in global demand for privacy technology solutions. Today's expansion comes one year after the company rebranded from TRUSTe to TrustArc to reflect its transformation into a global provider of technology-powered privacy solutions, backed by a 21-year track record of developing innovative compliance products. Privacy regulations such as the GDPR, which went into effect May 25th, have increased demand for technology solutions to operationalize managing privacy compliance on an ongoing basis. The increased reliance on technology has led to IT and information security teams playing a larger role in managing privacy at companies of all sizes. Many of these companies rely on channel partners to meet their IT and information security needs. The TrustArcConnect Partner Program enables resellers, systems integrators, digital agencies, law firms, and consultancies to expand their offerings with the full range of privacy technology solutions in the TrustArc Privacy Platform. "We are committed to meeting the privacy requirements of customers of all sizes, in all functions, and across all geographies. Our channel partners are key to meeting those market needs and helping us continue to connect customers around the world with our technology products," said Chris Babel, CEO of TrustArc. "TrustArc has committed extensive resources to enable channel partners to augment their existing capabilities and quickly expand their sales with privacy related solutions. With 21 years of privacy industry experience and seven years of experience operating a proven platform at high scale, TrustArc provides a unique opportunity for channel partners to expand their offerings." The TrustArcConnect Partner Program enables TrustArc to continue its global expansion by providing IT and infosecurity professionals across small, medium, and large enterprises access to the TrustArc Privacy Platform. The platform, which includes solutions to manage data mapping, risk assessments, website tracker scanning, consent management, and much more, is designed to support virtually every privacy use case and provides a proven and compelling addition to existing channel partner solution portfolios. TrustArc operates globally with teams based in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. For more information on the TrustArcConnect Partner Program, please visit: www.trustarc.com/partner-program About TrustArc TrustArc is the leader in data privacy compliance and risk management solutions through its unmatched combination of innovative technology, expert consulting and TRUSTe certification solutions that together address all phases of privacy program management. The TrustArc Privacy Platform is the foundation for all of its solutions, delivering a flexible, scalable and secure way to manage privacy and comply with the global privacy regulations, including the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Refined over seven years of operating experience across a wide range of industries and client use cases, the TrustArc Privacy Platform is fortified by its in-depth services that leverage deep privacy expertise and proven methodologies that it has continuously enhanced over two decades and thousands of client projects. Headquartered in San Francisco, and backed by a global team, TrustArc helps over 1,000 clients worldwide demonstrate compliance, minimize risk and build trust. For more information, visit the TrustArc website, blog and LinkedIn. Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/520330/TrustArc_The_New_TRUSTe_Logo.jpg TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - General Motors Co. (GM) and Honda (HMC) announced an agreement for new advanced chemistry battery components, including the cell and module, to accelerate both companies' plans for all-electric vehicles. The next-generation battery will deliver higher energy density, smaller packaging and faster charging capabilities for both companies' future products, mainly for the North American market. As per the agreement, the companies will collaborate based on GM's next generation battery system with the intent for Honda to source the battery modules from GM. The collaboration will support each company's respective and distinct vehicles. The combined scale and global manufacturing efficiencies will ultimately provide greater value to customers. GM and Honda already have a proven relationship around electrification, having formed the industry's first manufacturing joint venture to produce an advanced hydrogen fuel cell system in the 2020 timeframe. The integrated development teams are working to deliver a more affordable commercial solution for fuel cell and hydrogen storage systems. 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. Around $31 million in funds will be provided by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The project is located in the Karaganda region.Chinese solar module maker and project developer Risen Energy has secured $31.1 million in financing from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for a 40 MW solar project it aims to develop in Kazakhstan. The bank has provided its financial commitment through its Green Climate Fund (CTF) and Clean Technology Fund (GCF). The loan includes includes a local currency loan of up to $ 22 million in KZT equivalent, a loan of up ... 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. OTTAWA (dpa-AFX) - Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (CP.TO, CP) announced plans to invest more than a half-billion dollars on new high-capacity grain hopper cars as part of its commitment to the North American agricultural sector. CP's plans for revitalizing its grain hopper fleet begin with an initial order for 1,000 cars from National Steel Car of Hamilton, Ont. Over the next four years, CP plans to order approximately 5,900 hopper cars in total, enabling a complete removal of all low-capacity hoppers, including all Government of Canada cars, from the fleet. The company said CP grain shippers can expect to see more than 500 of these new cars in service before the end of 2018. The new hopper cars can handle more than 15 percent greater volume and 10 percent greater load weight than the cars being retired. 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. LONDON, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- In keeping with its long history of innovation, Maison Mumm has risen to a bold new challenge:reinventing the champagne tasting ritual for the new frontier of space and zero gravity. To view the Multimedia News Release, please click: https://www.multivu.com/players/uk/8338751-mumm-grand-cordon-stellar/ Countdown to lift-off In September 2018, Maison Mumm officially launches Mumm Grand Cordon Stellar: a groundbreaking feat of technology that makes it possible for astronauts and other space travelers to enjoy champagne in the challenging surroundings of zero gravity. The fruit of a three-year partnership with Spade - a young agency specialized in space design - Mumm Grand Cordon Stellar employs a revolutionary new bottle and glass concept to transform life in space, making a high-tech champagne ritual available to all in the very near future. Thanks to Mumm Grand Cordon Stellar, Mumm's art of celebration - along with a range of exciting new taste characteristics - will now accompany daring achievers in the new era of space exploration. Dream team To make this dream real, Mumm has displayed its innate daring by joining forces with a cutting-edge design start-up. Founded by Octave de Gaulle, Spade is an agency specialized in designing objects for use in space. "For the last 40 years, space travel has been shaped by engineers rather than designers. Instead of seeing zero gravity as a problem to be solved, we look at it as a design possibility," Octave de Gaulle explains. "The big design challenge for Mumm Grand Cordon Stellar was actually getting the liquid out of the bottle." Floating on air Indeed, Mumm Grand Cordon Stellar transforms the act of raising a toast into something that has never been seen before. Without gravity's helping hand, its high-tech bottle design - crafted from transparent glass and embellished with the Mumm Grand Cordon cuvee's distinctive red sash - uses the champagne's gas to expel the liquid into a ring-shaped frame, where it is concentrated into a droplet of bubbles. It can then be passed to someone and released into the air, where it floats until gathered up in a specially designed glass. "By rising to this new challenge, Mumm defies gravity and once again pushes the limits of innovation. This revolutionary bottle illustrates the Maison's status as an icon of the avant-garde," says Louis de Fautereau, Global Brand Director of Mumm. Tasting the future The innovation isn't confined to technology. In the unique conditions of zero gravity, Mumm Grand Cordon takes on new and unsuspected taste characteristics too. The sensations begin as soon as the wine leaves the bottle, appearing as an effervescent ball of foam. The novelty continues when the champagne enters the mouth, where the foam transforms itself into a liquid. "It's a very surprising feeling," explains Mumm's Cellar Master Didier Mariotti. "Because of zero gravity, the liquid instantly coats the entire inside of the mouth, magnifying the taste sensations. There's less fizziness and more roundness and generosity, enabling the wine to express itself fully." The result intensifies and concentrates Mumm Grand Cordon's signature style, unleashing the power of Pinot Noir in an explosion of ripe and juicy fruit aromas. Celebrating in space Mumm's iconic new glass design is part of the Mumm Grand Cordon Stellar experience. It features a tapering stem - adorned with a red sash in homage to Mumm Grand Cordon - crowned by a slightly concave cup five centimeters in diameter. Surface tension makes the floating droplet adhere to the glass, allowing it to be raised to the lips. The design also enables glasses to be clinked together in a toast, a vital part of recreating the familiar champagne ritual in far-off corners of space. For Maison Mumm, this was a key factor in bringing Mumm Grand Cordon Stellar into being. In the context of nascent space tourism and future expeditions to Mars, creating ways to help astronauts feel more human has become a vital priority. Entering orbit It is Maison Mumm's hope that this revolutionary winetasting experience will soon be available to as many people as possible. Mumm Grand Cordon Stellar should soon be served to participants in the zero gravity flights organized by Air Zero G, while discussions are in progress to supply it to future space missions and commercial space flights. It will also be the motor for a new digital campaign entitled Defy Your Gravity, in which participants submit out-of-this-world innovations with the winning project funded by Mumm. More information to come soon. Pushing the limits With all these initiatives, Mumm is putting the innovative spirit that has always guided the Maison at center stage. One of the first champagnes to grace the supersonic airliner French Concorde, Mumm will now be the first to be served outside the Earth's atmosphere. An exceptional experience will soon set social media buzzing, as international celebrities discover this new champagne experience in the unique conditions of a space flight in the Champagne region in France. Synonymous with daring, the Maison has always looked to push the limits of innovation. With Mumm Grand Cordon Stellar, those limits have now taken off deep into the vast emptiness of space itself. (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/698599/Maison_Mumm.jpg ) Video: https://www.multivu.com/players/uk/8338751-mumm-grand-cordon-stellar/ A.M. Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A (Excellent) and Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of "a" of Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Company of Europe, Limited (SFME) (United Kingdom). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable. The ratings reflect SFME's balance sheet strength, which A.M. Best categorises as very strong, as well as its adequate operating performance, limited business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management (ERM). In addition, the company's ratings incorporate rating enhancement to reflect the company's role and integration within, and reinsurance support provided by, Samsung Fire Marine Insurance Co., Ltd (SFMI), its intermediate parent. The company's balance sheet strength assessment is underpinned by risk-adjusted capitalisation, which, as measured by Best's Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR), is at the strongest level. Prospectively, A.M. Best expects business growth and other capital consuming factors to remain well-controlled and supportive of risk-adjusted capitalisation being maintained at the strongest level. Offsetting balance sheet strength factors include the company's small absolute capital base, which makes it sensitive to shock events, and its significant dependence on reinsurance for underwriting large limit risks. SFME has a track record of adequate operating performance over the past five years, as evidenced by an average return on equity of 9.7% (2013-2017) and underpinned by strong technical results. Given the small size of the company and the large risks underwritten, combined ratios have exhibited a level of volatility and ranged between 51% and 95% over the same period. Net investment yields have remained between 1% and 2% consistently, reflecting a low risk investment portfolio that is focused on cash and short term deposits. A.M. Best views the company as having a limited business profile given its small scale of operation and niche portfolio of business. The majority of SFME's premiums are generated by insuring Samsung group operations, encompassing mainly property and cargo risks in the Europe and Middle East regions. SFME also underwrites a small volume of third-party Korean risks within Europe and a gradually increasing amount of locally sourced business. However, in 2017, non-group business accounted for less than 10% of total premiums. As a subsidiary of SFMI and part of the Samsung group, a South Korea conglomerate, SFME benefits from the excellent business profile of the wider group, which is likely to support its external growth strategy. SFMI's ERM framework is well-developed and its risk management capabilities are viewed to be aligned appropriately with its risk profile. The company also benefits from the strength of risk management at SFMI and oversight from the group. This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on A.M. Best's website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see A.M. Best's Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Understanding Best's Credit Ratings. For information on the proper media use of Best's Credit Ratings and A.M. Best press releases, please view Guide for Media Proper Use of Best's Credit Ratings and A.M. Best Rating Action Press Releases A.M. Best is the world's oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source. For more information, visit www.ambest.com. Copyright 2018 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180607005747/en/ Contacts: A.M. Best Myles Gould, +44 20 7397 0267 Associate Director, Analytics myles.gould@ambest.com or Catherine Thomas, +44 20 7397 0281 Senior Director, Analytics catherine.thomas@ambest.com or Christopher Sharkey, +1 908-439-2200, ext. 5159 Manager, Public Relations christopher.sharkey@ambest.com or Jim Peavy, +1 908-439-2200, ext. 5644 Director, Public Relations james.peavy@ambest.com PUNE, India, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new market research report "Robotic Drilling Market Application (Onshore and Offshore), Installation (New Builds and Retrofits), Components (Hardware and Software), and Region (North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East) - Global Forecast to 2023", published by MarketsandMarkets, the market is expected to grow from an estimated USD 658.0 Million in 2018 to USD 923.3 Million by 2023, at a CAGR of 7.01% from 2018 to 2023. This market growth is driven by the increased drilling activities due to the development of unconventional hydrocarbon resources and the adoption of automation and robotics in oil and gas drilling, which results in higher efficiency drilling and improved safety in rigs. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/660509/MarketsandMarkets_Logo.jpg ) Browse 68 market data Tables and 30 Figures spread through 111 Pages and in-depth TOC on"Robotic Drilling Market" https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/robotic-drilling-market-227235522.html Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report "The onshore application is expected to hold a larger share of the Robotic Drilling Market during the forecast period." The onshore segment accounted for a larger market for robotic drilling, based on application, in 2017. Globally ~70% of the oil and gas production takes place at onshore oil and gas fields. These fields require less capital investment in comparison with offshore fields and the costs related to automation in these fields are relatively low. Formations in onshore wells are more stable during the drilling process than those in offshore; therefore, the adoption of automation in such areas is faster for improving the drilling efficiency. The market for onshore robotic drilling systems is expected to grow at a significant rate in the coming years. The US and China with vast onshore reserves present ample opportunities for the providers of onshore robotic drilling systems. Ask for PDF Brochure @https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownload.asp?id=227235522 "North America is expected to be the fastest-growing Robotic Drilling Market." In this report, the Robotic Drilling Market has been analyzed with respect to 5 regions, namely, North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Rest of the World. North America is expected to be the largest and fastest-growing market, based on region, during the forecast period. The increased shale gas production and faster adoption of advanced technologies in drilling drive the growth of the Robotic Drilling Market in the region. Asia Pacific is expected to be the second fastest-growing region in the Robotic Drilling Market. To enable an in-depth understanding of the competitive landscape, the report includes the profiles of some top players in the Robotic Drilling Market, including Nabors (US), Precision (Canada), Weatherford (Switzerland), Huisman (Netherlands), and National Oilwell Varco (US). Know more about the Robotic Drilling Market: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/robotic-drilling-market-227235522.html About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 7500 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve. MarketsandMarkets's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "Knowledge Store" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. Contact: Mr. Salgarkar MarketsandMarkets INC. 630 Dundee Road Suite 430 Northbrook, IL 60062 USA: +1-888-600-6441 Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com Visit Our Blog: http://www.marketsandmarketsblog.com/market-reports/energy-and-power Connect with us on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets Magnolia Petroleum Plc / Index: AIM / Epic: MAGP / Sector: Oil & Gas 7 June 2018 Magnolia Petroleum plc ('Magnolia' or 'the Company') Adjournment of General Meeting and Posting of Circular Magnolia Petroleum plc, the AIM quoted US focused oil and gas exploration and production company, announces that the general meeting scheduled to be held today, as notified on 23 May 2018, was opened and adjourned. The adjourned general meeting has been rescheduled to be held at 15:45 p.m. BST (09:45 a.m. local time) on 22 June 2018 to be held at the offices of Pray Walker P.C., 100 West Fifth Street, Suite 900, Tulsa, OK 74103, USA (the "Adjourned General Meeting"). Shareholders who have submitted forms of proxy for the Adjourned General Meeting but who wish to change their voting instructions may do so by resubmitting a proxy form which is available from the Company's website www.magnoliapetroleum.com. Proxy forms will be accepted for the Adjourned General Meeting up until 20 June 2018 and should be returned to Neville Registrars Limited, Neville House, 18 Laurel Lane, Halesowen, West Midlands B63 3DA to arrive by 15:45 p.m. BST. Shareholders who have already submitted forms of proxy for the Adjourned General Meeting and who do not wish to change their voting instructions will not need to take any further action. Subject to shareholder consent, the revised timetable for Cancellation is as follows: 2018 Revised latest time and date for receipt of forms of proxy 15:45 p.m. on 20 June Adjourned General Meeting (to be held at the offices of Pray Walker P.C., 100 West Fifth Street, Suite 900, Tulsa, OK 74103, USA - BST-6) 15:45 p.m. on 22 June Revised announcement of result of the Adjourned General Meeting 22 June Revised expected last day of dealings in Ordinary Shares on AIM 29 June Revised expected time and date that the admission to trading of the Ordinary Shares on AIM will be cancelled With effect from 07:00 a.m. on 2 July Posting of Circular Further to the Company's announcement of 6 June 2018, the Company has today posted a circular to shareholders to seek consent to dispose of certain assets. The circular contains a notice convening a general meeting for 15:30 p.m. BST (09:30 a.m. local time) on 22 June 2018 to be held at the offices of Pray Walker P.C., 100 West Fifth Street, Suite 900, Tulsa, OK 74103, USA. Below is an extract from the circular which will also be available on the Company's website www.magnoliapetroleum.com and which should be read in full. This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014. For further information on Magnolia Petroleum Plc visit www.magnoliapetroleum.com or contact the following: Rita Whittington Magnolia Petroleum Plc +01918449 8750 Jo Turner / James Caithie Cairn Financial Advisers LLP +44207213 0880 Daniel Gee Cornhill Capital Limited +44207710 9610 Lottie Brocklehurst St Brides Partners Ltd +44207236 1177 Frank Buhagiar St Brides Partners Ltd +44207236 1177 Proposed Disposal of Assets Notice of General Meeting Dear Shareholder, 1. Introduction This circular sets out the reasons for seeking Shareholder consent to dispose of certain assets and why the Board believes the proposal is in the best interests of Shareholders. A notice of a general meeting is included at the end of this document convening a general meeting ("General Meeting") to be held at the offices of Pray Walker, P.C. at 100 West Fifth Street, Suite 900, Tulsa, OK 74103, USA at 15:30 p.m. BST (to be held at 09:30 a.m. local time) on 22 June 2018. 2. Background to the proposal On 6 June 2018, the Company announced that, following protracted negotiations with its bank, Simmons Bank (the "Bank"), an Arkansas state bank (successor by merger to bank SNB, an Oklahoma state banking corporation), the Bank would not extend the reserved based lending facility provided to its wholly owned operating subsidiary, Magnolia Petroleum, Inc. ("Magnolia Inc"). The amount outstanding to the Bank is approximately $2,000,000 and Magnolia Inc has been given until 9 July 2018 to repay or refinance its loan. The Bank has further placed restrictions on Magnolia Inc's bank account until such time as the loan is satisfied resulting in the Group not being able to manage its working capital effectively. The Board is extremely disappointed with the Bank's decision and attributes the reasons for this to the Bank's recent sale and change of management. The Board has previously stated its intention to reduce the Group's debt due to its loss of confidence in the long term support of the Bank. Further, the Company recently put a proposal to Shareholders to seek a cancellation from trading on AIM as it considered that it would not be able to raise further funds from the equity market such that the costs of remaining on AIM outweighed the benefits. As a result of the previously announced planned debt reduction programme, the Board had designated a portfolio of interests in wells (the "Target Assets") as appropriate for disposal. The Board recognises that the best option available to preserve shareholder value is to accelerate its disposal plan. Due to the nature of its assets, the Board is confident that it can sell a sufficient value of its interests in wells (the "Disposal") prior to the Bank's deadline to satisfy the bank loan in full. In the event that the loan cannot be repaid or refinanced, it is likely that the directors would need to commence Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings with respect to Magnolia Inc which would lead to a loss of control of the debt reduction programme and reduced value being received by the Company for the Target Assets (and its portfolio of remaining wells). In this scenario it is likely shareholders would receive no value for the Company's portfolio of wells with all proceeds of sales being used to settle creditors and the costs of the Chapter 11 proceedings. . The portfolio of wells to be sold from the Target Assets is likely to include its interests in wells in North Dakota and certain properties in Oklahoma, however, the specific interests in wells subject to the Disposal may change. The Company's current portfolio comprises interests in 108 wells and further details of the interests in wells and their economics were included in the Company's operations update on 16 April 2018. The Company expects current PDP reserves to be approximately $3,300,000 and it is anticipated that the Disposal will result in approximately 50 per cent of its wells being sold by number. Pursuant to Rule 15 of the AIM Rules for Companies, the proposed sale of the Target Assets will exceed 75 per cent. in at least one of the class tests, resulting in a fundamental change of business requiring the Company to obtain the consent of Shareholders at a general meeting prior to completing the Disposal. Accordingly, a notice of the General Meeting is included at the end of this document. Whilst the Disposal is not considered at this stage to have the effect of divesting the Company of substantially all of its trading assets, to the extent that the sale of Target Assets, subject to Shareholder approval, is considered to have this effect then Magnolia will be regarded as a AIM Rule 15 cash shell as defined in the AIM Rules for Companies. There is likely to be more than one buyer for the wells making up the Target Assets (the market for working interests in wells in North Dakota and Oklahoma is relatively liquid) and it is expected all buyers will be arm's length third party cash buyers (not "connected persons" or "related parties" of the Company or the Directors, as such terms are defined in the Act and the AIM Rules for Companies respectively). At this stage, the identity of the specific wells to be sold, and the profits and/or losses and/or costs attributable to such wells, cannot be confirmed. Further, the identity of buyers of particular wells (or regional portfolios that are likely to be packaged together) is not known, and the final consideration the Company will receive for a particular well or portfolio of wells, and for the Disposal as a whole, is unknown. The Company will endeavour to achieve the best possible price for each well as part of the disposal programme and will make a further announcement after the Disposal has been competed (subject to Shareholder approval) to confirm details of Target Assets sold (and the portfolio of assets retained by Magnolia Inc), buyers (to the extent the same can be publicly disclosed), net consideration received by the Group, and the results of the debt reduction with the Bank. 3. Adjournment of general meeting in respect of the proposed cancellation On 23 May 2018, the Company sent a circular to all Shareholders to consider a proposal to cancel admission of its Ordinary Shares to trading on AIM and convened a general meeting for 7 June 2018 ("Cancellation General Meeting"). In light of the information contained in this circular, the Disposal and threat of insolvency proceedings for Magnolia Inc, the Board considers that it is appropriate to adjourn the Cancellation General Meeting to allow Shareholders time to better consider the situation as a whole. The Cancellation General Meeting will accordingly be adjourned until 15:45 BST on 22 June 2018, to be reconvened for immediately after the General Meeting. Shareholders who have submitted forms of proxy for the Cancellation General Meeting but who wish to change their voting instructions may do so by resubmitting a proxy form which is available from the Company's website www.magnoliapetroleum.com. Proxy forms will be accepted for the Cancellation General Meeting up until 20 June 2018 and should be returned to Neville Registrars Limited, Neville House, 18 Laurel Lane, Halesowen, West Midlands B63 3DA to arrive by 15:45 p.m. BST. Shareholders who have already submitted forms of proxy for the Cancellation General Meeting and who do not wish to change their voting instructions will not need to take any further action. 4. General Meeting You will find set out at the end of this document a notice convening the General Meeting to be held at the offices of Pray Walker, P.C. at 100 West Fifth Street, Suite 900, Tulsa, OK 74103, USA at 15:30 p.m. BST (to be held at 09:30 a.m. local time) on 22 June 2018 to consider the resolution seeking approval for the Disposal. 5. Action to be taken Holders of Existing Ordinary Shares will find enclosed with this document a Form of Proxy for use by them at the General Meeting. Whether or not you are able to attend the General Meeting, you are requested to complete the enclosed Form of Proxy and return it to Neville Registrars Limited, Neville House, 18 Laurel Lane, Halesowen, West Midlands B63 3DA as soon as possible and, in any event, so as to arrive by 15:30 p.m. on 20 June 2018. The completion and return of a Form of Proxy will not prevent you from attending the General Meeting and voting in person if you subsequently wish to do so. Shareholders are reminded that, if their Ordinary Shares are held in the name of a nominee, only that nominee or its duly appointed proxy can be counted in the quorum at the General Meeting. If you are in any doubt as to what action you should take, you are recommended to seek your own personal financial advice from your broker, bank manager, solicitor, accountant or other independent financial adviser authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (as amended) if you are resident in the United Kingdom or, if not, from another appropriately authorised independent financial adviser, immediately. 6. Recommendation The Directors consider the Disposal to be in the best interests of the Company and Shareholders as a whole. The Board advise that the likely alternative to the Disposal will be the commencement of Chapter 11 proceedings for Magnolia Inc, a loss of control of the debt reduction programme, and reduced value being received by the Company for the Target Assets (and its portfolio of remaining wells) as a result of the insolvency proceedings it will be required to take. The Directors unanimously recommend that Shareholders vote in favour of the resolution as they intend to do in respect of their aggregate interests. The Directors further encourage Shareholders to resubmit proxy forms in favour of Cancellation at the adjourned Cancellation General Meeting as, in the event the Disposal is approved, the asset base of the Company will be significantly reduced to the extent that maintain admission to trading on AIM is likely to impact the value to all Shareholders. Yours faithfully Leonard Wallace Non-executive Chairman EXPECTED TIMETABLE OF PRINCIPAL EVENTS 2018 Publication of this document 7 June Latest time and date for receipt of forms of proxy 15:30 p.m. on 20 June General meeting in respect of Disposal (to be held at the offices of Pray Walker P.C., 100 West Fifth Street, Suite 900, Tulsa, OK 74103, USA - BST-6) 15:30 p.m. on 22 June Adjourned general meeting in respect of Cancellation (to be held at the offices of Pray Walker P.C., 100 West Fifth Street, Suite 900, Tulsa, OK 74103, USA - BST-6) 15:45 p.m. on 22 June Announcements of result of the General Meeting 22 June DEFINITIONS The following definitions apply throughout this document (including the Notice of General Meeting) and the form of proxy unless the context requires otherwise: "Act" the Companies Act 2006 (as amended) "AIM Rules" the AIM Rules for Companies and the AIM Rules for Nominated Advisers, as issued by the London Stock Exchange from time to time "AIM" the market of that name operated by the London Stock Exchange "Cairn" Cairn Financial Advisers LLP, the Company's Nominated adviser as at the date of this document "Cancellation" cancellation from trading of the Company's Ordinary Shares from trading on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange "Cancellation General Meeting" the adjourned general meeting of the Company to be held at 15:45 p.m. BST (09:45 a.m. local time) on 22 June 2018 at the offices of Pray Walker P.C., 100 West Fifth Street, Suite 900, Tulsa, OK 74103, USA or any adjournment thereof, to consider the Cancellation "Directors" or "Board" the existing directors of the Company whose names are set out on page 4 of this document "Disposal" the sale of sufficient assets to repay the Company's bank loan for which Shareholder consent is required "Euroclear" Euroclear UK & Ireland Limited "Ordinary Shares" the 34,906,992 Ordinary Shares in issue at the date of this document "General Meeting" a general meeting of the Company to be held at 15:30 p.m. BST (09:30 a.m. local time) on 22 June 2018 at the offices of Pray Walker P.C., 100 West Fifth Street, Suite 900, Tulsa, OK 74103, USA or any adjournment thereof, notice of which is set out in the Notice of General Meeting "Group" the Company and its subsidiary undertaking "Magnolia" or "the Company" Magnolia Petroleum plc "Magnolia Inc" Magnolia Petroleum, Inc. the Company's wholly owned subsidiary "Notice of General Meeting" the notice convening the General Meeting which is set out at the end of this document "Ordinary Shares" ordinary shares of 0.1 pence each in the share capital of the Company "PDP reserves" Classification of proved reserves which stands for proved developing producing reserves "Resolution" the resolution to be proposed at the General Meeting, details of which are set out in the Notice of General Meeting "Shareholder" a holder of Ordinary Shares from time to time "United Kingdom" the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. "United States" or "US" United States of America and its territories EXPECTED TIMETABLE OF PRINCIPAL EVENTS 2018 Notice given to London Stock Exchange notifying it of the proposed Cancellation 22 May Publication of this document 23 May Latest time and date for receipt of Form of Proxy 15:30 p.m. on 5 June General Meeting (to be held at the offices of Pray Walker P.C., 100 West Fifth Street, Suite 900, Tulsa, OK 74103, USA - BST-6) 15:30 p.m. on 7 June Announcements of result of the General Meeting 7 June Expected last day of dealings in Ordinary Shares on AIM 21 June Expected time and date that the admission to trading of the Ordinary Shares on AIM will be cancelled With effect from 07:00 a.m. on 22 June Notes: References to times in this document are to London time (unless otherwise stated). The General Meeting is being held in the United States and will take place at 09:30 a.m. local time (BST -6) The times are subject to change by the Company, in which case details of the new times and dates will be notified to the London Stock Exchange and the Company will make an appropriate announcement through a Regulatory Information Service. EQUITY STATISTICS Britannica Insights helps searchers cut through the clutter, save time, learn more, be sure about their results CHICAGO, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Encyclopaedia Britannica Group today announced Britannica Insights, a free Chrome browser extension that enables searchers to cut through the noise on the internet and provide trusted and verified information at the top-right corner of their search results page. "For 250 years, Britannica has defined what it means to provide trusted and verified information," said Karthik Krishnan, global chief executive officer of the Britannica Group. "With the addition of this latest extension, Britannica Insights will make it easier for everyone from kids to curious adults to professional researchers to find trustworthy results faster. Now more than ever, how we discover information matters." Britannica Insights is available for download at http://britannica.com/insights and delivers on the promise, "Save time. Learn more. Be sure." Watch the video here. Britannica Insights works with major search engines - Google, Bing, Yahoo, and others - on the Chrome browser. A serious problem, Krishnan noted, is that most web searchers stick to the top 5-10 results they get and walk away with an answer that may not be accurate. He pointed to four factors, which together explain why finding credible information is getting harder: Current search engine algorithms are not yet advanced enough to differentiate between credible and plausible information. Searchers click beyond the first page less than five percent of the time to look for more credible information that may be buried in back pages. On user-generated content sites an answer could be right today and wrong tomorrow because of warring factions trying to slant information to benefit their own agendas. On social media it is hard to discern whether the information is coming from verified sources. Britannica Insights, powered by the world's largest verified semantic general-reference dataset, surfaces unique relationships and uncommon insights. This capability enables Britannica to derive interesting relationships that are not directly encoded but can be logically derived from facts. For example: A search on "climate change" presents both quick facts as well as a "deep dive" into coverage of climate change through geologic time and the impact of climate change on rivers, glaciers and icebergs. A search on Barack Obama brings up not only a basic overview of his life and presidency but also deeper coverage of his role in historical events such as the Syrian Civil War. Britannica Insights is the latest resource in the toolbox. Another recently launched initiative, Demystified, provides engaging and revealing answers to commonly asked questions such as: What's the difference between veins and arteries? How does the U.S. Electoral College work? Does listening to Mozart in the womb really make babies smarter? Britannica also makes it easier for young learners and non-native English speakers to look up word definitions without leaving the page by linking hard words to definitions from Merriam-Webster, a sister company. "The first sentence on the first page that Britannica published in 1768 says, 'Utility ought to be the principal intention of every publication,' and this imperative to meet the user's needs is more important today, in the digital world, than ever before. The media we work in may have changed, but our mission has not," said Krishnan. About the Encyclopaedia Britannica Group The Encyclopaedia Britannica Group is a global leader in education whose flagship products, from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Britannica Digital Learning, Britannica Knowledge Systems, Merriam-Webster, and Melingo, serve the needs of students and consumers on multiple platforms and devices. Encyclopaedia Britannica, founded in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1768, marks its 250th anniversary this year. A pioneer in digital learning since the 1980s, the company today serves the needs of students, lifelong learners, and professionals by providing curriculum products, language-study courses, digital encyclopedias, and professional readiness training through its extensive products. Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/432608/Encyclopaedia_Britannica_Logo.jpg Ketamine Clinics of Los Angeles Raises the Bar for Safe IV Ketamine Infusion Therapy LOS ANGELES, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Ketamine Clinics of Los Angeles, the country's leading provider of IV Ketamine Infusion Therapy, is officially the first and only ketamine clinic to earn accreditation from the American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities (AAAASF), setting a new, higher safety standard for patients seeking ketamine treatment for depression, suicidality, anxiety, other mood disorders, and chronic pain. "The comfort and safety of our patients is our primary focus," says Dr. Steven L. Mandel, founder of Ketamine Clinics of Los Angeles. "In our industry, AAAASF accreditation is not a requirement, however, we are committed to going above and beyond to ensure the well-being of the individuals who trust us with their health and happiness. Today, we are extremely proud to distinguish our clinic as the first and only ketamine clinic with AAAASF accreditation." AAAASF celebrates 38 years of promoting the highest quality patient safety in the ambulatory surgery setting (office-based or outpatient), as well as rehabilitation and outpatient therapy agencies and rural health clinics. To earn accreditation, Ketamine Clinics of Los Angeles passed inspection on literally hundreds of important criteria concerning patient safety. If a facility fails to meet any standard, it must correct the deficiency or risk denial or loss of accreditation. Staff must be extensively trained in a wide variety of areas including: HIPAA compliance and data protection, medical and non-medical emergencies, customer service, and more. All staff are Basic Life Support (BLS) certified and all medical staff are Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) certified. AAAASF facility surveyors, who are also board-certified medical specialists, performed a thorough and complete facility inspection of the clinic, which included a formal, multifactorial survey of the following categories: - General Environment - Operating Room Environment, Policy and Procedures - Recovery Room Environment, Policy and Procedures - General Safety in the Facility - Blood and Medications - Medical Records - Quality Assessment and Quality Improvement - Personnel - Anesthesia Ketamine Clinics of Los Angeles achieved 100 percent compliance with all accreditation standards. For more information, please visit https://www.ketamineclinics.com. About Ketamine Clinics of Los Angeles Ketamine Clinics of Los Angeles is the country's leading provider of IV Ketamine Infusion Therapy. Founded by Dr. Steven L. Mandel, a?board-certified?anesthesiologist with a master's degree in psychology, his clinic specializes in the administration of ketamine to dramatically?improve the quality of life of patients battling depression, suicidality, anxiety, other mood disorders, and chronic pain. Providing an?83 percent success rate for depression and mood?disorder patients,?and?a 70 percent success rate for pain patients, Ketamine Clinics of Los Angeles is blazing the trail for a quick, safe, and more effective solution?for individuals with mental health and?chronic?pain issues. As?the only clinic of?its class to?specialize?exclusively in this modern therapy, the experts?at Ketamine Clinics of Los Angeles offer each?patient a?custom-tailored?treatment plan designed for fast and long-lasting results.?? About AAAASF The American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities, Inc. (AAAASF) was established in 1980 to standardize and improve the quality of medical and surgical care in outpatient facilities, and assure the public that patient safety is top priority in an accredited facility. More than 2,200 outpatient facilities are accredited by AAAASF, one of the largest not-for-profit accrediting organizations in the United States. Surgeons, legislators, state and national health agencies and patients acknowledge that AAAASF sets the "gold standard" for quality patient care. AAAASF programs include surgical, procedural, oral maxillofacial, international surgical and dental. AAAASF is also deemed by Medicare to accredit ambulatory surgery centers, rehabilitation and outpatient therapy agencies, and rural health clinics. LONDON, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- - The "Lai Dai Han" are the tens of thousands of children of Vietnamese women raped by South Korean soldiers during the Vietnam War - On Thursday 7th June on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C., an event will honour the so called "comfort women" who were victims of sexual violence during World War II. The event has been organised by the Korean American Association of Greater New York. (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/702849/Lai_Dai_Han.jpg ) While many know the story of the "comfort women," a lesser known story is that of the "Lai Dai Han" and their mothers who were the victims of sexual violence by South Korean soldiers during the Vietnam War. Some of the women that suffered rape and sexual violence were as young as 12 or 13 at the time. During the Vietnam War, South Korea deployed more than 320,000 soldiers to Vietnam. Today, as a result of the rape and sexual violence that took place, tens of thousands of young adults of mixed Vietnamese-Korean ancestry live in the shadows of Vietnamese society. Justice for Lai Dai Han recently published a letter about our plans to bring a statue of the "Lai Dai Han" to Capitol Hill like the sex slave statue that will be displayed. In the UK, Justice for Lai Dai Han is considering opportunities to erect a statue commemorating Vietnamese and all other victims of sexual violence. As we seek justice for victims of sexual violence in conflict, it's imperative that the South Korean Government recognize the suffering of the "Lai Dai Han". Mr. Tran Dai Nhat, Honorary President at Justice for Lai Dai Han, said: "Whether it be in World War II or Vietnam, those who commit sexual violence against women need to be held accountable for their actions." "As we approach the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, it's imperative that the Lai Dai Han and other lesser known victims of sexual violence, be given equal opportunity to tell their stories." The plight of the Lai Dai Han is one of the great untold stories of the Vietnam War and has never been recognised by the government of South Korea. Only 800 rape victims are alive today and it is imperative that they receive recognition for the crimes that were committed against them. As recent British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw noted, the Lai Dai Han simply want to be heard and for someone to acknowledge their pain and suffering. NOTES TO EDITORS ABOUT THE LAI DAI HAN Justice for Lai Dai Han is committed to fighting for the rights of women who have been victims of sexual violence during conflict. Forty years ago, during the Vietnam War, South Korean soldiers were responsible for thousands of rapes against innocent Vietnamese women. Today, tens of thousands of children of mixed Korean-Vietnamese ancestry, called the "Lai Dai Han" live in the shadows of Vietnamese society. Our goal is to stand up for all victims of sexual violence and we demand justice for Lai Dai Han. North Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 7, 2018) - Lion One Metals Limited (TSXV: LIO) (ASX: LLO) (OTCQX: LOMLF) (FSE: LY1) is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr Darren Holden as the Company's new Vice-President of Exploration and provides the following exploration update for the Company's 100% owned and fully permitted high grade Tuvatu Gold Project, located near the Nadi International Airport in the Republic of Fiji. Following the discovery of a new mineralised lode from benching that returned a (non-representative) select sample of 502 g/t gold over 0.70 m (see new release dated March 5, 2018), Lion One's Fiji exploration team has mapped more than 20 previously undefined mineralized structures at the Jomaki-Ura Creek prospect areas and identified potential geological extensions on the main mineralized zones inside the Tuvatu Mining Lease (SML 62) including the following highlights: Jomaki-Ura Creek prospect: more than 20 mineralized veins covering a 1,000m x 900m area; Ura Creek: mapping of extensions of at least 3 veins in the Ura vein system including continuations NE towards the principal gold bearing veins of the Tuvatu system giving a target strike length of 2.2 km; Jomaki: 18 mineralized structures hosted in 2 parallel zones (Jomaki East & Jomaki West) including the previously announced high-grade select sample of 502g/t Au over 0.70 m. Tuvatu South: anomalies from multi-element data point to possible 1km extension of main mineralized zone of Tuvatu; to be evaluated as underground drilling targets. Lion One Managing Director Stephen Mann commented, "In the Tuvatu resource area, approximately half of the 40 veins identified to date have sufficient sample data from drilling to merit inclusion in a resource estimate. We've now identified more than 20 mineralized veins at surface in the Jomaki-Ura Creek area where strong multi-element anomalism suggest potential scale and signature comparable and possibly larger than the main resource area at Tuvatu." (refer to Figure 1) Exploration including the Company's benching and channel sampling programs are continuing with further assay results expected shortly. Lion One is also pleased to announce the appointment of its new Vice President Exploration. Mr. Darren Holden BSc (Hons) MAusIMM, is a graduate of the University of Otago (NZ) and the University of Western Australia. His previous experience includes roles as a geologist with mining companies such as Western Mining and Western Metals in Australia. He was a senior member of the Perth-based Fractal Graphics geoscience team that won the Goldcorp Challenge in 2001 in the expansion of Goldcorp's Red Lake mine in Ontario. That success resulted in the formation of Geoinformatics Exploration Inc., and a team that made several discoveries in North America from Alaska to Mexico. In addition, they also forged strategic alliances with mining companies such as Kennecott Exploration, Anglo-American, Gold Fields, and Goldcorp, from 2002 to 2008. Since 2008, Mr. Holden has held executive management and board roles with several consulting, and mineral exploration companies in Australia. To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit: http://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/2178/35128_a1528382552056_28.jpg Figure 1: Surface geochemistry footprint Tuvatu Mining Lease area (refer release 5 March 2018 for sample details) To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit: http://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/2178/35128_a1528382552306_8.jpg Figure 2: Surface geochemistry footprint Ura-Jomaki area (refer release 5 March 2018 for sample details) Qualified Person Technical information relating to geology and exploration in this news release concerning the Company's 2018 Surface Exploration Program has been reviewed and approved by Lion One Managing Director Stephen Mann, member of The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, and a Qualified Person ("QP") under NI 43-101. About Lion One Lion One Metals Limited is a mineral exploration and development company based in North Vancouver, BC, focused on advancing to production at its 100% owned and fully permitted high grade underground Tuvatu Gold Project located on the island of Viti Levu in the Republic of Fiji. Lion One's CEO Walter Berukoff is leading an experienced team of mine builders, and has owned or operated over 20 mines in 7 countries. As the founder and former CEO of Miramar Mines, Northern Orion, and La Mancha Resources, Walter is credited with building multiple robust mining assets still in operation, creating over $3 billion of value for shareholders. About Tuvatu Tuvatu is a fully permitted high grade underground gold project located in the South Pacific island Republic of Fiji, 17 km NE of the Nadi International Airport on Fiji's main island of Viti Levu. Tuvatu is a low sulphidation epithermal gold deposit hosted in the eroded remnants of the Navilawa caldera, one of Fiji's largest mineralized volcanic intrusive complexes. The independent Tuvatu NI 43-101 PEA technical report by Mr. Ian Taylor, BSc (Hons) MAusIMM (QP) dated June 1, 2015 envisages a low cost underground gold mining operation producing 352,931 ounces of gold over 7 years at head grades of 11.30 g/t Au, and cash costs of US$567 per ounce with all-in sustaining cost of US$779 per ounce. The Company has not based a production decision on a feasibility study of mineral reserves demonstrating economic and technical viability and as a result there is increased uncertainty and economic and technical risks associated. The preliminary economic assessment 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 preliminary economic assessment will be realized. Tuvatu has been fully permitted by the Government of Fiji for operations start-up and is advancing as a near-term production opportunity with district-scale exploration upside modelled after regional giants in the low sulphidation family of high grade epithermal gold deposits such as Porgera and Lihir in Papua New Guinea, and Vatukoula in Fiji, which boast production of over 35 million ounces of gold in similar alkaline volcanic settings in the southwest Pacific Ring of Fire. Additional information including NI 43-101 Technical Reports for the Tuvatu Gold Project is available on the Company website at www.liononemetals.com and the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. On behalf of Lion One Metals Limited "Walter H. Berukoff" Chief Executive Officer For further information please contact Stephen Mann, Managing Director (Perth, Australia) Tel: 604-973-3007 Hamish Greig, Vice President (North Vancouver, BC) Tel: 604-973-3008 Joe Gray, Investor Relations (North Vancouver, BC) Tel: 604-973-3004 Toll Free IR Line (North America) Tel: 1-855-805-1250 Email: info@liononemetals.com Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This press release may contain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein are forward looking information. Generally, forward-looking information may be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "proposed", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases, or by the use of words or phrases which state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, or might occur or be achieved. This forward-looking information reflects Lion One Metals Limited's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to Lion One Metals Limited and on assumptions Lion One Metals Limited believes are reasonable. These assumptions include, but are not limited to, the actual results of exploration projects being equivalent to or better than estimated results in technical reports, assessment reports, and other geological reports or prior exploration results. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Lion One Metals Limited or its subsidiaries to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such risks and other factors may include, but are not limited to: the early stage development of Lion One Metals Limited, general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; the actual results of current research and development or operational activities; competition; uncertainty as to patent applications and intellectual property rights; product liability and lack of insurance; delay or failure to receive board or regulatory approvals; changes in legislation, including environmental legislation, affecting mining, timing and availability of external financing on acceptable terms; not realizing on the potential benefits of technology; conclusions of economic evaluations; and lack of qualified, skilled labour or loss of key individuals. Although Lion One Metals Limited has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Lion One Metals Limited does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. VALBIOTIS presence increased in the USA, following the U.S. patent obtained for VALEDIA TM and the authorization of the multicentric international study REVERSE IT granted by the American authorities. and the authorization of the multicentric international study REVERSE IT granted by the American authorities. Integration into the French Tech and its offices in Boston, Massachusetts, at the heart of health biotechnologies. Development of investor relations in the USA, through a partnership signed with Solebury Trout, specialized in biotech companies. Regulatory News: VALBIOTIS (FR0013254851 ALVAL PEA/SME eligible), a French Research Development company committed to scientific innovation for preventing and combating metabolic diseases, today announced its integration into the French Tech in Boston, Massachusetts and the engagement of Solebury Trout to develop U.S. investor relations. This US deployment is initiated following the authorization of the REVERSE-IT study on VALEDIATM by the Americanhealth Authorities and the US patent recently obtained for VALEDIATM "Increased visibility in the U.S. is a decisive value driver for our scientific and commercial strategy in this major market. The clinical development of VALEDIATM, designed for prediabetics, as well as the discussions with the American Health Authorities and the discussions with possible business partners require a strong presence of VALBIOTIS in the USA. We are pleased to announce our participation to the BIO Biotechnology Innovation Organization International Convention 2018, and our integration into the French Tech in Boston. We are also excited by our partnership with Solebury Trout for U.S. investor relations, who will support the financial side of our strategic plan. Our development in France and Europe still remains a top priority," comments Sebastien PELTIER, CEO of VALBIOTIS. To support the development of a U.S. presence, VALBIOTIS is integrating the French Tech Hub and its offices in Boston. A subsidiary of Paris Region Entreprises, the mission of French Tech Hub is to create French Tech communities in major innovative cities across the world, thus supporting their international expansion. VALBIOTIS has also engaged Solebury Trout, a leading U.S. Investors Relations and Corporate Communications firm that partners with private and public companies across sectors. The firm helps management teams tackle complex investor relations challenges, capitalize on corporate communications opportunities, access the market and prepare for capital raising. ABOUT VALEDIATM Flagship product of VALBIOTIS, VALEDIATM improves insulin sensitivity and aims to reduce the risk of Type 2 Diabetes. It is designed for prediabetics and will apply for a health claim issued by the authorities in the United States, Canada and Europe. In a Phase I/II clinical study, VALEDIATM has already demonstrated safety and early evidence of efficacy. It is now being tested in an international, multicenter clinical study on prediabetic subjects. Since the beginning of 2018, VALBIOTIS holds a patent protecting the active ingredient of VALEDIATM in the United States, granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Covering the composition, production method and use of the product, this patent provides the highest level of protection in the United States and grants exclusive commercial rights to VALBIOTIS for the entire US territory. ABOUT VALBIOTIS VALBIOTIS is a French Research Development company committed to scientific innovation, for preventing and fighting against metabolic diseases. Its products are made for manufacturers in the agri-food and pharmaceutical industries. VALBIOTIS particularly focuses on solutions to prevent type 2 diabetes, NASH (nonalcoholic steatohepatitis), obesity and cardiovascular diseases. VALBIOTIS was founded in La Rochelle in early 2014 and has formed numerous partnerships with top academic centers in France and abroad, including the La Rochelle University, the CNRS and the Clermont Auvergne University located in Clermont-Ferrand, where the company opened a second office. These partnerships have enabled VALBIOTIS to benefit from strong financial leverage, particularly thanks to experts and technical partners who support its projects. VALBIOTIS is a member of the "BPI Excellence" network and received the "Innovative Company" status accorded by BPI France. VALBIOTIS has also been awarded "Young Innovative Company" status and has received major financial support from the European Union for its research programs by obtaining support from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Find out more about VALBIOTIS: http://valbiotis.com/en/ Name: VALBIOTIS ISIN code: FR0013254851 Mnemonic Code: ALVAL View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180607005854/en/ Contacts: VALBIOTIS COMMUNICATION Carole Rocher Marc Delaunay +33 5 46 28 62 58 carole.rocher@valbiotis.com marc.delaunay@valbiotis.com or FINANCIAL COMMUNICATION ACTIFIN Stephane Ruiz, +33 1 56 88 11 14 sruiz@actifin.fr or MEDIA RELATIONS ALIZE PR Caroline Carmagnol Wendy Rigal, +33 1 44 54 36 66 valbiotis@alizerp.com NEW YORK CITY (dpa-AFX) - Warren Buffett and Jamie Dimon, two of the most powerful leaders in the financial industry, have once again urged public companies to stop providing quarterly profit forecasts. According to Buffett and Dimon, the focus of companies on short-term profits run counter to the long-term interests of the business. Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., and Dimon, chairman and CEO of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., said in a joint Wall Street Journal editorial that they are encouraging all public companies to move away from the practice. 'Quarterly earnings guidance often leads to an unhealthy focus on short-term profits at the expense of long-term strategy, growth and sustainability,' they said in the op-ed. The two men noted that companies often hesitate to spend on technology, hiring, and research and development in order to meet quarterly earnings guidance that can be impacted by seasonal factors beyond their control, such as political events and even weather. Dimon and Buffett noted that the pressure to meet short-term profit forecasts has contributed to a fall in the number of public companies in the U.S. in the past two decades, 'depriving the economy of innovation and opportunity.' Berkshire Hathaway does not give earnings guidance as Buffett has said that executives can be tempted to manipulate figures to meet Wall Street analysts' expectations. Dimon, chairman of the Business Roundtable, noted that the group of CEOs also support companies moving away from the practice and instead, focus on long-term value creation. 'Public companies should be managed for long-term prosperity, not to meet the latest forecast. Such short-termism is unhealthy for America's public companies and financial markets - which are critical to economic growth and financial prosperity,' Business Roundtable said in a statement. Business Roundtable President & CEO Joshua Bolten said, 'An outsized emphasis on quarterly earnings per share projections undermines the importance of investments in infrastructure, workforce development and other crucial capital expenditures that drive sustained U.S. economic growth.' Several big companies like AT&T, Coca Cola, Facebook and UPS have stopped issuing quarterly earnings guidance. However, companies that are in favor of issuing guidance say that it improves communications with Wall Street, lowers share price volatility and results in higher valuations. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - Heavy-duty truck manufacturer Daimler Trucks North America LLC showcased its first generation fully electrified commercial vehicles eCascadia and eM2 test vehicles. Ecascadia is a freightliner heavy-duty truck, while eM2 106 is a freightliner medium-duty truck. Both the vehicles will be rolled out for sale by 2021. For test purpose, the company will set 30 vehicles ready later this year. On a single charge, eCascadia 18-wheeler vehicles can run 250 miles. The company has plans to build better capacity vehicles of 500 miles per recharge. The new electric vehicles can be a direct competition to Tesla, especially for its Tesla Semi prototype vehicles announced earlier this year. Tesla said the electric trucks with full load will have a range of 500 miles on a single charge. Production is expected soon, targeting the commercial launch next year. Tesla's electric trucks with aerodynamic design and self driving capabilities could save $200,000 in fuel costs in its lifetime. The new electric four-motor Semi 300-mile trucks are priced $150 thousand, and the 500-mile trucks, $180 thousand. Daimler said it would invest more than 2.5 billion euros or $2.9 billion for research and development. The German truck maker has earmarked 500 million euros for heavy duty electric commercial vehicles, self driving technology, as well as connectivity. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A 63-year-old great-grandmother who has been serving life in a US prison for a non-violent drug offense for nearly 22 years has been granted presidential pardon. The White House said that President Donald Trump commuted Alice Marie Johnson's sentence because she 'accepted responsibility for her past behavior' and been a 'model prisoner.' At an emotional reunion with her family outside an Alabama prison, Alice said Trump had given her another chance in life and restored her to her family. 'Good luck to Alice Johnson. Have a wonderful life,' Trump tweeted. A White House statement noted that despite receiving a life sentence, Alice worked hard to rehabilitate herself in prison, and act as a mentor to her fellow inmates. Her Warden, Case Manager, and Vocational Training Instructor have all written letters in support of her clemency. According to her Warden, Arcala Washington-Adduci, 'since (Ms. Johnson's) arrival at this institution, she has exhibited outstanding and exemplary work ethic. She is considered to be a model inmate who is willing to go above and beyond in all work tasks.' The White House made it clear that 'while this Administration will always be very tough on crime, it believes that those who have paid their debt to society and worked hard to better themselves while in prison deserve a second chance.' The presidential clemency comes just a few days after reality Television star and cosmetics mogul Kim Kardashian West met with Trump at the White House to seek pardon for Alice Marie Johnson. Trump described it as a 'great meeting,' and said that they had discussed prison reform and sentencing. The meeting with Trump was the latest episode of months of behind-the-scenes efforts by the glamorous celebrity to free Alice. In a Twitter message, West said 'The phone call I just had with Alice will forever be one of my best memories. Telling her for the first time and hearing her screams while crying together is a moment I will never forget.' Alice has been in an Alabama prison for over 21 years for a first-time, non-violent drug offense. In 1996, she was convicted of charges related to cocaine possession and money laundering, and sentenced to life in prison without parole. According to the ACLU, a total of 3,277 people are serving life without parole for a nonviolent offense, meaning they will die in prison , unless they are granted clemency. The majority of these sentences were mandatory, meaning judges had no discretion over the length or severity of the sentence. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de As part of its Innovation Hub programme, to amplify its investment strategy, Groupe ADP (Paris:ADP) has just invested in the White Star Capital fund. This subscription is done as part of a $180-million round of financing. Based in New York, Montreal, London and Paris, the fund has invested in more than 20 innovative companies since its inception in 2015. "Our investment strategy, directly in start-ups and through external funds, has proven its relevance as a powerful tool for transforming and supporting innovative projects. Almost a year after the launch of the Innovation Hub initiative in March 2017, our overall investment capacity has now reached 40 million euros and extends our initiative to look forward and cover all steps of the innovation process. Our hybrid model is unique in our industry, so that other airport players, among the international leaders, are now showing a strong appetite for this model." said Edward Arkwright, Deputy CEO. Groupe ADP's Innovation Hub: an effective investment model based on two complementary pillars This new venture is at the heart of an investment model based on two pillars: an internal fund for direct minority holdings in start-ups and subscriptions to external funds: This approach also gives Groupe ADP the opportunity to explore co-investment opportunities with funds and identify synergies with other large corporate partners. Three investments in external funds have already been made: X-Ange, Elaia Delta and Cathay Innovation. This new system allows Groupe ADP to broaden the scope of its technological awareness and to benefit from complementary expertise in targeting start-ups that could become strategic partners of the group. An investment fully complementary to previous deals This investment is complementary geographically because White Star Capital is focused on Northern Europe, the East Coast of the United States and Japan, while Cathay Innovation looks more towards the West Coast of the United States and China, and Elaia makes the majority of its investments in France. Moreover, from a sectoral point of view, White Star Capital has made retail disruption a priority growth area, which is one of the priorities of the Innovation Hub programme as well as one of the strategic objectives of Groupe ADP. Finally, each fund is also complementary in terms of the maturity of the companies they target. While X-Ange and Elaia invest more at an early stage, and Cathay Innovation supports more mature start-ups, White Star provides support to mid-stage entrepreneurs to accelerate their international rollout. Groupe ADP will have a seat on the White Star Capital fund board, which will enable it to play a full part in the fund's decisions. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180607005736/en/ Contacts: Groupe ADP Press: Lola Bourget, +33 1 74 25 23 23 Head of Media and Reputation Department or Investor Relations: Audrey Arnoux, +33 1 74 25 70 64 Head of Investor Relations invest@adp.fr TEL AVIV, Israel, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Direct Capital Investments (TASE: DCI-M) announces that Cannassure Ltd. signed a strategic distribution agreement with Hadassah Medical. Cannassure will be Hadassa Medical's exclusive supplier of GMP approved, medical cannabis oil. Hadassah will distribute CannAssure's high quality medical cannabis products under Hadassah's own proprietary brand, throughout their distribution channels in Israel and abroad. Nir Peles, Chairman of CannAssure commented: "We are delighted about this collaboration with Hadassah Medical, their experience and knowledge in the world of medicine is invaluable. Together with our manufacturing expertise of botanical extractions, this makes for an ideal partnership for supplying safe and consistent medical cannabis oils of the highest standards and quality." Professor Zeev Rotstein, Director General of the Hadassah Medical Organization commented: "We welcome this cooperation with CannAssure. It is our long term policy to be at the forefront of research and medicine in Israel. We chose Solbar's CannAssure to supply our medical centers with medical cannabis oil since the Solbar group is one of Israel's largest plant based, oil manufacturers and we believe in their production capabilities and skilled human resources." Just recently, Direct Capital Investments announced its proposed merger with CannAssure Ltd., which was founded by Nir Peles and Shimon Barkama. Cannassure is set to start producing in the first half of 2019. With their newly received GSP permit from the Ministry of Health and the Israeli Medical Cannabis Agency, they are now developing new cannabis extraction methods in their analytical lab at Solbar to create standardized medical cannabis products of the highest quality, in large scale supply. Cannassure's development of innovative cannabis extraction methods is supported by the Israel Innovation Authority. About Cannassure Ltd. CannAssure was founded in order to address an unmet need in the medical cannabis market- the supply of superior safety profile cannabis extracts and their derivatives. Our soon to be launched products offer fully labelled, consistent, and standardized cannabis extracts and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs). To guarantee the highest quality, all of our products are produced under strict Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standards. CannAssure is built upon the vast experience of Solbar Food Technologies Ltd. For over 50 years Solbar has perfected the science of extractions from botanical sources and developed APIs for the nutraceutical industry. As a global manufacturer, Solbar has developed high-scale production capabilities as well as advanced process engineering knowhow and operates an extensive distribution network. Its laboratory facilities are equipped with the latest technologies and have attained a high grade in the AOCS Laboratory Proficiency Program testing , each and every year. Solbar has an established Quality Assurance culture (it is ISO, HACCP, FSSC certified) and its processes guarantee the highest level of quality throughout each of their product's life cycle. Visit: http://www.cannassure.life About Hadassah Medical Ltd. Hadassah Medical Ltd. (1986), is a wholly owned company of Hadassah Medical Organization, and serves as Hadassah's business development division. The company operates on behalf of Hadassah's medical centers in Israel and abroad. For press inquiries contact: Elad Sasi elad@sah-pr.co.il +972-52-3684784 Regulatory News: Legrand (Paris:LR): Date Total number of shares composing the share capital Total number of voting rights May 31, 2018 267,354,141 Theoretical number of voting rights: 267,354,141 Number of exercisable voting rights*: 267,314,098 (*) After deduction of shares without voting rights The variation of the total number of shares since the latest release of financial statements is reminded below: Total number of shares as at March 31, 2018 267,255,298 Exercise of stock options 17,316 Total number of shares as at April 30, 2018 267,272,614 Exercise of stock options 81,527 Total number of shares as at May 31, 2018 267,354,141 KEY FINANCIAL DATES: 2018 first-half results: July 31, 2018 "Quiet period 1 " starts July 1, 2018 "Quiet period " starts July 1, 2018 2018 nine-month results: November 8, 2018 "Quiet period1" starts October 8, 2018 ABOUT LEGRAND Legrand is the global specialist in electrical and digital building infrastructures. Its comprehensive offering of solutions for commercial, industrial and residential markets makes it a benchmark for customers worldwide. Drawing on an approach that involves all teams and stakeholders, Legrand is pursuing its strategy of profitable and sustainable growth driven by acquisitions and innovation, with a steady flow of new offerings-including Eliot* connected products with enhanced value in use. Legrand reported sales of more than 5.5 billion in 2017. The company is listed on Euronext Paris and is notably a component stock of the CAC 40 index. (code ISIN FR0010307819) http://www.legrand.com *Eliot is a program launched in 2015 by Legrand to speed up deployment of the Internet of Things in its offering. A result of the group's innovation strategy, Eliot aims to develop connected and interoperable solutions that deliver lasting benefits to private individual users and professionals. www.legrand.com/en/group/eliot-legrands-connected-objects-program 1 Period of time when all communication is suspended in the run-up to publication of results. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180607005041/en/ Contacts: Investor relations Legrand Francois Poisson Tel: +33 (0)1 49 72 53 53 francois.poisson@legrand.fr or Press relations Publicis Consultants Vilizara Lazarova Tel: +33 (0)1 44 82 46 34 Mob: +33 (0)6 26 72 57 14 vilizara.lazarova@consultants.publicis.fr or Eloi Perrin Tel: +33 (0)1 44 82 46 36 Mob: +33 (0)6 81 77 76 43 eloi.perrin@consultants.publicis.fr VITTEL, France, June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Nestle Waters has today announced that it will extend its commitment to water stewardship by certifying all of its sites to the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) Standard by 2025. Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) certification is the first standard to globally promote best practice in water stewardship that benefits communities and preserves local watersheds. Nestle Waters is extending its commitment to AWS certification because the process enables broader , improved collaboration among local stakeholders. Nestle Waters is encouraging other businesses to adopt the AWS Standard, as meaningful and inclusive collaboration between all local water users is essential for the sustainable management of water. The global standard promotes responsible water use that benefits local communities socially and economically, while ensuring environmental sustainability of watersheds - all priorities for Nestle. Since first committing to the AWS Standard in 2017, Nestle Waters has already certified eight of its factories around the world, including in Pakistan, Canada and the United States. To view the Multimedia News Release, please click: https://www.multivu.com/players/uk/8342751-nestle-alliance-water-stewardship-standard/ "Water is one of the most critical sustainability challenges facing society and our business. At Nestle, we care for water. We are 100% committed to safeguarding water resources for future generations," said Nestle Waters CEO, Maurizio Patarnello. "By pledging to certify all our Nestle Waters sites to this publicly recognized, credible water stewardship standard, we demonstrate how we positively contribute to water resources where we operate for the shared benefit of all." This strengthened commitment demonstrates how Nestle cares for water across four key areas: in factories, in watersheds, across its agricultural supply chains and in communities where it operates to provide access to clean water and sanitation. The AWS certification process enables broader, improved collaboration among local stakeholders. This leads to a stronger understanding of local water challenges and more meaningful collective actions to address them - all vital to sustainable water resources management. "Responsible water stewardship is an issue that concerns us all - businesses, governments, individuals and communities. Meaningful and inclusive collaboration is the only way we can positively contribute to the future of water," said Adrian Sym, AWS CEO. "We hope other major businesses will follow in these footsteps" he concluded. Encouraging other businesses to follow suit Nestle Waters is encouraging other companies to adopt the AWS Standard across their sites and factories around the world. "We need a continuous dialogue between local water users and a mutual understanding of the challenges facing water resources to be able to build collective actions to proactively and sustainably manage water resources," said Nestle Waters' Corporate Water Resources Manager, Cedric Egger. "We are determined to act as a catalyst to develop these action plans together with other local water users wherever it matters," he said. For 25 years, Nestle Waters has been engaged in long-term collaborative solutions, at both factory and watershed levels, to preserve the quantity and/or quality of local water resources. Programmes like Agrivair, initiated in 1992 in Vittel (France), or Eco-Broye in Henniez (Switzerland) are regularly highlighted as some of the company's lighthouse projects in water stewardship. (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/699844/Nestle_Waters.jpg ) Video: https://www.multivu.com/players/uk/8342751-nestle-alliance-water-stewardship-standard/ Regulatory News: This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180607005567/en/ The shareholders of Stallergenes Greer plc (Paris:STAGR), a biopharmaceutical company specialising in treatments for respiratory allergies, announces that all resolutions proposed by the Board of Directors at the company's Annual General Meeting (AGM) were duly passed today. All resolutions were set out in the Notice of Meeting posted to shareholders on 23 April 2017. Notably, shareholders re-elected Chairman and CEO Fereydoun Firouz, and Directors, Jean-Luc Belingard, Rodolfo Bogni, Stefan Meister, Yvonne Schlaeppi and Elmar Schnee each for a further term of one year. The terms of Patrick Langlois and Paolo Ricci have expired at the end of the AGM. The Board would like to thank both Patrick for his contributions to Stallergenes Greer as a Board member and Chair of the Audit Committee, and Paola for her contributions as a Board member. In addition, Philip Broadley was elected as a Director with a one-year term. Mr Broadley has significant financial and international business experience, having previously been Group Finance Director of Prudential plc for eight years and Old Mutual plc for six years. He is currently a director of AstraZeneca plc and serves on their Audit Committee, and is also a director and the Audit Committee chairman of Legal General Group plc. He is a member of the Oxford University Audit Committee, Treasurer of the London Library and Chairman of Governors at Eastbourne College. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. Mr Broadley started his career at Arthur Andersen where he was a partner for seven years. He is a past Chairman of the 100 Group of Finance Directors in the UK and served as a member of the Code Committee of the Takeover Panel. He graduated in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from St Edmund Hall, Oxford and has an MSc in Behavioural Science from the London School of Economics. "2017 continued a transformation at Stallergenes Greer to improve our operations, serve our customers and deliver a strong performance. I would like to thank all of our Directors for their contributions and guidance, and our shareholders for their continued support. I would also like to welcome Philip Broadley to our Board of Directors. Philip has extensive experience in corporate finance and will be a valuable contribution to our Board and Audit Committee where he will serve as Chair," said Chairman and CEO, Fereydoun Firouz, "We remain focused and committed to strengthening our leadership position, driving excellence across our business and positioning our company for long-term growth in order to deliver value to our shareholders, customers and employees." The full text of each resolution is set out in the Notice of Annual General Meeting, which is available on Stallergenes Greer's website at www.stallergenesgreer.com. ABOUT STALLERGENES GREER PLC Headquartered in London (UK), Stallergenes Greer plc is a global healthcare company specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of allergies through the development and commercialization of allergy immunotherapy products and services. Stallergenes Greer plc is the parent company of GREER Laboratories, Inc. (whose registered office is in the US) and Stallergenes SAS (whose registered office is in France). TRADING INFORMATION Name: Stallergenes Greer ISIN: GB00BZ21RF93 1 Ticker: STAGR ICB Classification: 4577 LEI: 213800CYVZA7GJQEME86 Market: Euronext Paris regulated market Additional information is available at http://www.stallergenesgreer.com. This document (including information incorporated by reference in this document), oral statements made and other information published by the Company contain statements that are or may be forward-looking with respect to the financial condition and/or results of operations and businesses of the Company. These statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "believe," "expects," "project," "estimated," "forecast," "should," "plan," "may" or the negative of any of these, or other variations thereof, or comparable terminology indicating expectations or beliefs concerning future events. These forward-looking statements include risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. Without being exhaustive, such factors include economic situations and business conditions, including legal and product evaluation issues, fluctuations in currencies and demand, and changes in competitive factors. These and other factors are more fully described in the Company's 2016 annual report published on 16 April 2018 on the Company's website www.stallergenesgreer.com. Actual results may differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements, due to various factors. Save as required by applicable law, neither the Company nor any other person assumes any obligation to update these forward-looking statements or to notify any person of any such update. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180607005567/en/ Contacts: Communications and Investor Relations Stallergenes Greer plc Natacha Gassenbach, Tel: +1 (617) 682 2626 Email: natacha.gassenbach@stallergenesgreer.com Caitlin Stefanik, Tel: +1 (857) 331 4117 Email: caitlin.stefanik@stallergenesgreer.com or Media Relations Agency Havas Paris (Europe) Samuel Rousseau, +33 6 77 88 32 43 E-mail: samuel.rousseau@havas.com or Investor Relations Agency FTI Consulting Arnaud de Cheffontaines, Tel: +33 1 47 03 68 10 Email: stalleregenesgreer@fticonsulting.com BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - The Swiss stock market clung to a very small increase Thursday, after early gains eroded over the course of the trading day. Investors remain in a cautious mood ahead of the G-7 summit in Canada this week and the planned meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un next week. The Swiss Market Index increased by 0.04 percent Thursday and finished at 8,548.33. The Swiss Leader Index climbed 0.08 percent and the Swiss Performance Index added 0.03 percent. Among the index heavyweights, Novartis rose 0.4 percent and Roche added 0.1 percent. Meanwhile, Nestle finished with a loss of 0.5 percent. Shares of the luxury goods companies were hard hit Thursday. Swatch dropped 2 percent and rival Richemont fell 1.4 percent. UBS advanced 0.7 percent on reports that the bank is cutting jobs. Credit Suisse rose 0.3 percent and Julius Baer gained 0.5 percent. Swiss Life and Zurich Insurance climbed 1 percent each, and Swiss Re added 0.5 percent. 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. -- Ipsen commits to creating global hub in North America, expects to add more than 200 jobs -- Today, Ipsen (Euronext: IPN; ADR: IPSEY), a global biopharmaceutical group, announced it will establish its North American headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The announcement was made at the 2018 BIO International Convention in Boston with the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC), an economic development investment agency dedicated to supporting the growth and development of the life sciences in Massachusetts. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180607006054/en/ Ipsen will create its third global headquarters by consolidating its U.S. business in Cambridge, the leading global biotech hub. Ipsen will co-locate its North America business with its Global External Innovation and Partnering, R&D and Manufacturing teams, as well as certain global Commercial roles, creating a fully integrated biopharmaceutical business in the US. "We are entering into a new era of innovation and growth for Ipsen as a leading global biotech company. By bringing our headquarters to Cambridge, we will build a sustainable innovation engine to advance opportunities for our employees and our overall business," said Richard Paulson, CEO of Ipsen North America. "The MLSC has been instrumental throughout this process, and we look forward to continuing to partner with them as we grow our footprint even further in Cambridge and ultimately address patient needs." Ipsen will capitalize on Cambridge's biotech ecosystem to support its accelerated growth, raise its profile and visibility as an employer and partner of choice. Ipsen already has an established presence in Cambridge with two sites in Kendall Square: a manufacturing site located in One Kendall Square and the 650 East Kendall Street offices, which houses its Global External Innovation and Partnering, and Research Development activities. "Our administration is committed to supporting strategic investments in life sciences, research and development and is pleased that Ipsen has chosen to expand its footprint by relocating its headquarters to here in the Commonwealth," said Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker. "Massachusetts continues to be a global leader in the life sciences industry and we welcome Ipsen's planned growth in employment and investment that will spur continued innovation, collaboration and economic growth." Ipsen's U.S. headquarters, currently based in Basking Ridge, NJ, will transition to Cambridge over the next 12 months. Ipsen's two additional global biotech hubs will remain in the United Kingdom and France. The organization will also maintain a core services center in Basking Ridge, NJ. For more information on partnering with Ipsen, please visit: https://www.ipsen.com/partners/. About Ipsen in North America Ipsen Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. is a U.S. affiliate of Ipsen (Euronext: IPN; ADR: IPSEY), a global specialty-driven biopharmaceutical group focused on innovation and specialty care. The U.S. head office is currently located in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, and its Canadian office, Ipsen Biopharmaceuticals Canada, Inc., an integrated business unit within North America, is located in Mississauga, Ontario. Additional research and development and manufacturing sites are located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as part of Ipsen Bioscience, Inc., the Ipsen U.S. research and development center, which is focused on the discovery of potentially highly differentiated and competitive products in Oncology, Neuroscience and Rare Diseases. Ipsen North America employs approximately 600 people and is dedicated to providing hope for the patients whose lives are challenged by difficult-to-treat diseases. At Ipsen, we focus our resources, investments and energy on discovering, developing and commercializing new therapeutic options for oncologic, neurologic and rare diseases. For more information on Ipsen in North America, please visit www.ipsenus.com or www.ipsen.ca. About Ipsen Ipsen is a global specialty-driven biopharmaceutical group focused on innovation and specialty care. The group develops and commercializes innovative medicines in three key therapeutic areas Oncology, Neuroscience and Rare Diseases. Its commitment to oncology is exemplified through its growing portfolio of key therapies for prostate cancer, neuroendocrine tumors, renal cell carcinoma and pancreatic cancer. Ipsen also has a well-established Consumer Healthcare business. With total sales over 1.9 billion in 2017, Ipsen sells more than 20 drugs in over 115 countries, with a direct commercial presence in more than 30 countries. Ipsen's R&D is focused on its innovative and differentiated technological platforms located in the heart of the leading biotechnological and life sciences hubs (Paris-Saclay, France; Oxford, UK; Cambridge, US). The Group has about 5,400 employees worldwide. Ipsen is listed in Paris (Euronext: IPN) and in the United States through a Sponsored Level I American Depositary Receipt program (ADR: IPSEY). For more information on Ipsen, visit www.ipsen.com. More about the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) is an economic development investment agency dedicated to supporting the growth and development of the life sciences in Massachusetts, home to the most verdant and productive life sciences ecosystem in the world. Through public-private funding initiatives, the MLSC supports innovation, research development, commercialization, and manufacturing activities in the fields of biopharma, medical device, diagnostics, and digital health. Since its creation in 2007, the MLSC has strategically deployed over $700 million in Massachusetts, through a combination of grants, loans, capital infrastructure investments, tax incentives, and workforce programs. These investments have created thousands of jobs, and propelled the development of new therapies, devices, and scientific advancements that are improving patient health and well-being in Massachusetts and beyond. www.masslifesciences.com Ipsen Forward-Looking Statement The forward-looking statements, objectives and targets contained herein are based on the Group's management strategy, current views and assumptions. Such statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those anticipated herein. All of the above risks could affect the Group's future ability to achieve its financial targets, which were set assuming reasonable macroeconomic conditions based on the information available today. Use of the words "believes," "anticipates" and "expects" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, including the Group's expectations regarding future events, including regulatory filings and determinations. Moreover, the targets described in this document were prepared without taking into account external growth assumptions and potential future acquisitions, which may alter these parameters. These objectives are based on data and assumptions regarded as reasonable by the Group. These targets depend on conditions or facts likely to happen in the future, and not exclusively on historical data. Actual results may depart significantly from these targets given the occurrence of certain risks and uncertainties, notably the fact that a promising product in early development phase or clinical trial may end up never being launched on the market or reaching its commercial targets, notably for regulatory or competition reasons. The Group must face or might face competition from generic products that might translate into a loss of market share. Furthermore, the Research and Development process involves several stages each of which involves the substantial risk that the Group may fail to achieve its objectives and be forced to abandon its efforts with regards to a product in which it has invested significant sums. Therefore, the Group cannot be certain that favorable results obtained during pre-clinical trials will be confirmed subsequently during clinical trials, or that the results of clinical trials will be sufficient to demonstrate the safe and effective nature of the product concerned. There can be no guarantees a product will receive the necessary regulatory approvals or that the product will prove to be commercially successful. If underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results may differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. Other risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to, general industry conditions and competition; general economic factors, including interest rate and currency exchange rate fluctuations; the impact of pharmaceutical industry regulation and health care legislation; global trends toward health care cost containment; technological advances, new products and patents attained by competitors; challenges inherent in new product development, including obtaining regulatory approval; the Group's ability to accurately predict future market conditions; manufacturing difficulties or delays; financial instability of international economies and sovereign risk; dependence on the effectiveness of the Group's patents and other protections for innovative products; and the exposure to litigation, including patent litigation, and/or regulatory actions. The Group also depends on third parties to develop and market some of its products which could potentially generate substantial royalties; these partners could behave in such ways which could cause damage to the Group's activities and financial results. The Group cannot be certain that its partners will fulfil their obligations. It might be unable to obtain any benefit from those agreements. A default by any of the Group's partners could generate lower revenues than expected. Such situations could have a negative impact on the Group's business, financial position or performance. The Group expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to update or 4 4 revise any forward looking statements, targets or estimates contained in this press release to reflect any change in events, conditions, assumptions or circumstances on which any such statements are based, unless so required by applicable law. The Group's business is subject to the risk factors outlined in its registration documents filed with the French Autorite des Marches Financiers. The risks and uncertainties set out are not exhaustive and the reader is advised to refer to the Group's 2016 Registration Document available on its website (www.ipsen.com). View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180607006054/en/ Contacts: MLSC Martha Waldron,1-617-686-1085 mwaldron@masslifesciences.com or Ipsen Marisol Peron,1-908-210-5968 marisol.peron@ipsen.com WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After moving notably lower in the previous session, treasuries moved back to the upside over the course of the trading day on Thursday. Bond prices spiked higher in mid-afternoon trading but pulled back off their highs going into the close. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, fell by 4.2 basis points to 2.933 percent. The rebound on the day came as traders looked to the safe haven of treasuries ahead of a G7 summit in Canada that is expected to focus on recent trade disputes. Traders are also looking ahead to President Donald Trump's meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un next Tuesday as well as the Federal Reserve meeting next Wednesday. On the U.S. economic front, the Labor Department released a report showing a modest decrease in initial jobless claims in the week ended June 2nd. The report said initial jobless claims edged down to 222,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week's revised level of 223,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 225,000 from the 221,000 originally reported for the previous week. Meanwhile, the Treasury Department announced the details of next week's auctions of three-year and ten-year notes and thirty-year bonds. The Treasury said it plans to sell $32 billion worth of three-year notes and $22 billion worth of ten-year notes next Monday and $14 billion worth of thirty-year bonds next Tuesday. Trading activity on Friday may be impacted by reaction to news out of the G7 summit set to get underway in Quebec amid concerns about a global trade war. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de Technavio analysts forecast the global foodservice disposables market to grow at a CAGR of more than 6% during the period 2018-2022, according to their latest market research report. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180607006190/en/ Technavio has published a new market research report on the global foodservice disposables market from 2018-2022. (Graphic: Business Wire) The introduction of new products is one of the major trends being witnessed in the global foodservice disposables market. Some of the major vendors in the global foodservice disposables market have been trying to improve their competitive advantage by introducing new products. For instance, a major vendor introduced a completely renewable paper cup that is made from plant-based materials. This report is available at a USD 1,000 discount for a limited time only: View market snapshot before purchasing In this report, Technavio analysts highlight the growth of food delivery and take away markets as a key factor contributing to the growth of the global foodservice disposables market: Global foodservice disposables market: Growth of food delivery and take away markets The global food delivery and take away markets are growing significantly because of the rapid urbanization, the hectic lifestyle of people, and the increasing use of smartphones. The advent of several new online food delivery applications has also driven the growth of the global food delivery market. The increasing penetration of the Internet has allowed people to order food from the convenience of their homes. According to a senior analyst at Technavio for research onfood service, "Many restaurants have become accessible due to the availability of online services. Such restaurants also provide food at a lower cost when compared with their competition. The effective supply chain for food delivery makes it convenient for people. The number of dark kitchens that produce food only for online deliveries has been increasing across the world." Global foodservice disposables market: Disposable serviceware products lead the market This market research report segments the global foodservice disposables market into the following products (disposable serviceware and disposable foodservice packaging) and key regions (the Americas, APAC, and EMEA). It provides an in-depth analysis of the prominent factors influencing the market, including drivers, opportunities, trends, and industry-specific challenges. Disposable serviceware products include single-use cups, dinnerware, cutlery, and utensils. The disposable serviceware segment is expected to contribute the major share of revenue to the global foodservice disposables market during the forecast period. The Americas was the leading region for the global foodservice disposables market in 2017. It accounted for a market share of approximately 39%. The market share occupied by this region is anticipated to decrease by almost 2% by 2022. However, this region will dominate the global market throughout 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. About Technavio 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. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 10,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at media@technavio.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180607006190/en/ Contacts: Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media Marketing Executive US: +1 844 364 1100 UK: +44 203 893 3200 www.technavio.com SEOUL (dpa-AFX) - Ahead of an historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, President Donald Trump has indicated a willingness to invite the repressive dictator to the U.S. if the talks go well. Trump was asked if he might extend an invitation to Kim during a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday. 'The answer is yes ... certainly if it goes well. And I think it would be well-received. I think he would look at it very favorably,' Trump said. 'So, I think that could happen.' Trump also indicated that he would like to see the eventual normalization of relations between the U.S. and North Korea. The president expressed some optimism about his meeting with Kim set for June 12th in Singapore but stressed that he is willing to walk away from negotiations. 'All I can say is I am totally prepared to walk away. I did it once before. You have to be able to walk away,' Trump said, referencing his temporary cancellation of the meeting last month. He added, 'I am totally prepared to walk. It could happen, maybe it won't be necessary. I hope it won't be necessary.' Trump said his administration has stopped using the term 'maximum pressure' with regard to North Korea and suggested the success of the negotiations could be determined by whether he uses the words after the meeting. 'Maximum pressure is absolutely in effect,' Trump said. 'We don't use the term anymore because we are going into a friendly negotiation.' 'Perhaps after that negotiation I will be using it again,' he added. 'If you hear me saying we are going to use maximum pressure, you know the negotiation did not do well, frankly.' Earlier in the day, Trump argued his meeting with Kim will be 'about attitude' and suggested he would not have to 'prepare very much' for the historic summit. 'I think I'm very well prepared,' Trump claimed before saying, 'I don't think I have to prepare very much. It's about attitude. It's about willingness to get things done.' He added, 'This isn't a question of preparation, it's a question of whether or not people want it to happen, and we'll know that very quickly.' A report from Politico indicated the White House is largely improvising its approach to the meeting, noting National Security Adviser John Bolton has yet to convene a Cabinet-level meeting to discuss the upcoming summit. Trump told reporters the meeting with Kim will be 'much more than a photo op' and predicted the summit will be 'fruitful' and 'exciting.' The president insisted that North Korea will have to denuclearize and suggested the U.S. will not withdraw its stringent sanctions on the reclusive communist nation without such a move. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 7, 2018) - Los Andes Copper Ltd. (TSXV: LA) ("Los Andes", or the "Company") is pleased to announce the closing of the second and final tranche (the "Second Tranche") of its non-brokered private placement (the "Private Placement") announced in its news releases dated April 26, 2018, and May 7, 2018, for gross proceeds of $6,246,900. On June 7, 2018, the Company issued 18,930,000 Units (each, a "Unit") to Resource Capital Fund VI L.P. ("RCF VI") at a price of $0.33 per Unit. Each Unit consists of one common share of the Company (a "Unit Share") and one-half of one transferable common share purchase warrant (each whole common share purchase warrant, a "Warrant"), with each Warrant entitling the holder thereof to purchase one additional common share of the Company (a "Warrant Share") at a price of $0.50 per Warrant Share for a period of 5 years from the date hereof. The Unit Shares, Warrants and Warrant Shares issued or issuable pursuant to the Second Tranche are subject to a hold period expiring on October 8, 2018. In connection with the Second Tranche, RCF VI relinquished to the Company for cancellation 18,930,000 common share purchase warrants (representing the remainder of the common share purchase warrants issued to RCF VI pursuant to a prior private placement of the Company completed on December 8, 2016). The Company intends to use the gross proceeds from the Private Placement, in the aggregate amount of $8.8 million, to complete its technical work on the Company's Vizcachitas project, with a view to completing an updated resource estimate and an updated preliminary economic assessment in the coming months, as well as for general working capital purposes. For more information please contact: Antony Amberg, President & CEO Tel: (56-22) 954-0450 Aurora Davidson, Chief Financial Officer Tel: 604-697-6207 E-Mail: info@losandescopper.com or visit our website at: www.losandescopper.com Certain of the information and statements contained herein that are not historical facts, constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of the Securities Act (British Columbia) and the Securities Act (Alberta) ("Forward-Looking Information"). Forward-Looking Information is often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "seek", "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect" and "intend"; statements that an event or result is "due" or "may", "will", "should", "could", or "might" occur or be achieved; and, other similar expressions. The Forward-Looking Information in this news release includes, without limitation, statements in respect of the use of the proceeds of the Private Placement and the completion, and the timing therefor, of an updated resource estimate and preliminary economic assessment on the Vizcachitas project. Forward-Looking Information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such Forward-Looking Information; including, without limitation, the achievement and maintenance of planned production rates, the evolving legal and political policies of Chile, the volatility in the Chilean economy, military unrest or terrorist actions, metal and energy price fluctuations, favourable governmental relations, the availability of financing for activities when required and on acceptable terms, the estimation of mineral resources and reserves, current and future environmental and regulatory requirements, the availability and timely receipt of permits, approvals and licenses, industrial or environmental accidents, equipment breakdowns, availability of and competition for future acquisition opportunities, availability and cost of insurance, labour disputes, land claims, the inherent uncertainty of production and cost estimates, currency fluctuations, expectations and beliefs of management and other risks and uncertainties, including those described in Management's Discussion and Analysis in the Company's financial statements. Such Forward-Looking Information is based upon the Company's assumptions regarding global and Chilean economic, political and market conditions and the price of metals and energy, and the Company's production. Among the factors that have a direct bearing on the Company's future results of operations and financial conditions are changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, a change in government policies, competition, currency fluctuations and restrictions and technological changes, among other things. Should one or more of any of the aforementioned risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from any conclusions, forecasts or projections described in the Forward-Looking Information. Accordingly, readers are advised not to place undue reliance on Forward-Looking Information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise Forward-Looking Information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. 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. Not for distribution to United States Newswire Services or for dissemination in the United States The plastics industry in Gujarat is expecting to face a crisis after the ban, with over 2000 SMEs on the verge of closure in several cities, according to the Gujarat Plastic Manufacturers Association (GPMA) Vadodara: The plastics industry in Gujarat is expecting to face a crisis after the ban, with over 2000 SMEs on the verge of closure in several cities, according to the Gujarat Plastic Manufacturers Association (GPMA). "Over 2000 SMEs will be on verge of closure due to plastic ban in several cities including Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Rajkot in the Gujarat, and around 50,000 people may lose employment due to this ban," Alpesh Patel, president GPMA told PTI. The announcement in this regard came at a time when the industry was holding talks at various levels of the government including the Gujarat Pollution Control Board on how to solve the issue, he further said. Most of the 2000 units are located in Halol in Panchmahah district, Vadodaraand Waghodya (both from Vadodara district), according to him. In a bid to make Vadodara, Ahmedabad and Rajkot cities "free of plastic pollution" the three municipal corporations located in these cities, announced a complete ban on production and usage of plastic tea cups, packaged water pouches and bags on World Environment Day on Tuesday. The president of GPMA pointed out that it will adversely impact thousands of people engaged in the industry such as manufacturers, employees, dealers, consumers including the public at large as also by the states economy. "We had suggested to the Gujarat government to raise minimum thickness of plastic carry bags above 50 microns and give 6 months period to these units to raise it from more than 50 microns for making necessary changes in their plants as it also required to make investments in doing so," Patel said. Patel assured that they want to work together with authorities in ensuring the plastic does not cause any damage to environment. Many producers and dealers appealed to control plastic littering through consumer awareness instead of a blanket ban on its production and sale. The government will continue to pursue disinvestment of debt-laden Air India and revised bidding norms are likely to be finalised soon, officials said, even as the stake sale proposal elicited muted response from the investors New Delhi: The government will continue to pursue disinvestment of debt-laden Air India and revised bidding norms are likely to be finalised soon, officials said, even as the stake sale proposal elicited muted response from the investors. After no bidders put in their Expression of Interest (EoI) for the strategic disinvestment of Air India and its two subsidiaries last month, the civil aviation ministry is now gathering inputs from transaction advisor to understand the reasons on the failure to attract bidders. "We had not envisaged a situation when there would be no bids. Disinvestment of Air India is very much on the table," a government official said. Asked if the government could look at selling entire 100 percent in Air India, the official said, "We would look at simplifying some of the norms, but it would not be entirely different from what the thinking behind the disinvestment has been earlier". In a major setback, no initial bids were received for the Air India disinvestment when the deadline for submission of Expression of Interest (EoI) ended on 31 May. EY is the transaction advisor for Air India disinvestment. Officials said the ministry is consulting the transaction advisor on the inputs they have received from the market about the disinvestment plan. This would help in understanding what were the factors that may have held back the investors from bidding for Air India, they added. A government official said the ministry would look at which provisions of the Preliminary Information Memorandum (PIM) needs to be reworked. According to officials, more clarity might be required with regard to foreign fund managers in the context of Air India disinvestment. However, they did not elaborate on the issues involved. The ministry is likely to first send the revised PIM to the evaluation committee, an inter-ministerial grouping under the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) and then to the core group on disinvestment headed by the cabinet secretary. After deliberations by these two groupings, the revised proposal would be put up before the alternative mechanism for Air India disinvestment that is headed by the finance minister, by the end of this month, officials said. The government was to offload 76 percent equity share capital of the national carrier as well as transfer the management control to private players, as per the PIM. The transaction would involve Air India, its low cost arm Air India Express and Air India SATS Airport Services Pvt Ltd. The latter is an equal joint venture between the national carrier and Singapore-based SATS Ltd. On 31 May, Civil Aviation Secretary R N Choubey had said the government was expecting better participation for the Air India stake sale and indicated that there could be a re-think on the strategy. The alternative mechanism headed by the finance minister would decide the future course of action on Air India disinvestment, he had said soon after the EoI deadline ended. As per the disinvestment proposal that failed to attract any bidders, over Rs 33,000 crore debt would have remained with Air India. The national carrier's debt burden was about Rs 50,000 crore at the end of March 2017. Moody's expects the government to meet its fiscal deficit target of 3.3 percent for 2018-19, based on its commitment to gradual fiscal consolidation and budget assumptions which appear achievable, it said in a statement New Delhi: Moody's Investors Service on Thursday said it expects India to stick to the estimated fiscal deficit of 3.3 percent of GDP and even cut capital expenditure to offset any slippage from the budgeted target. It however said any reduction in the excise duty on petroleum and diesel products in view of high crude oil prices, would exert negative pressure on India's sovereign credit profile. Moody's had last year upped India's sovereign rating for the first time in over 13 years to 'Baa2' with a stable outlook, saying that growth prospects have improved with continued economic and institutional reforms. Moody's expects the government to meet its fiscal deficit target of 3.3 percent for 2018-19, based on its commitment to gradual fiscal consolidation and budget assumptions which appear achievable, it said in a statement. "Although Moody's sees some downside risk to budgeted revenue and expenditure targets, it expects that the government would cut back on planned capital expenditure, as has occurred in past years, if it is needed to offset any slippage from its fiscal targets," Moody's VP and Senior Credit Officer William Foster said. On the revenue side, Moody's sees some downside risk to the government's assumptions on the collections from the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and petroleum products excise duty, Foster said. The ongoing uncertainty around GST implementation and compliance, including the timely provision of input tax credit refunds and iterative changes to tax rates, could result in some potential revenue losses. However, the initial setbacks on implementation appear to be fading and, over the medium term, Moody's expects GST compliance to stabilise and revenues to become more predictable as the economy becomes more formalised, it added. "If global oil prices remain high, Moody's says the government could intervene by reducing the excise duty on petroleum and diesel products, which would exert negative pressure on India's sovereign credit profile,"it said. Excise duties make up over 20 percent of retail selling prices and were started in 2016 when oil prices fell. According to Moody's Indian affiliate, Icra Ltd, the high crude oil price is likely to widen India's current account deficit (CAD) and points at slowing foreign portfolio investments as an area of concern. "If global oil prices remain at current levels, Icra expects India's CAD to widen to 2.4 percent of GDP in 2018-19 from 0.7 percent in 2016-17," Icra Principal Economist Aditi Nayar said. However, higher crude oil prices and a weaker Rupee would improve remittances and the services trade surplus in 2018-19, offsetting some of the adverse effects of rising commodity prices, Nayar said. The price of Indian basket of crude surged from $66 a barrel in April to $74. The substantial rise in India's foreign exchange reserves has been accompanied by an increase in the merchandise import bill. The current level of reserves is equivalent to around 10 months of 2017-18 imports, which is significantly healthier than the around seven months available amid the taper tantrum in 2013, ICRA said. "Nevertheless, an expected slowdown in foreign institutional investment has emerged as a concern, even though foreign direct investment (FDI), external commercial borrowings, and deposit inflows from non-resident Indians (NRIs) are likely to be healthy in 2018-19," it added. It further said the PSU bank recapitalisation plan will broadly resolve the regulatory capital needs of the country's 21 public sector banks and help augment the banks' loan-loss buffers, but will be insufficient to support credit growth. "The PSBs' capital shortfalls are larger than the scale that the government had expected when it announced the recapitalisation plan in October 2017, mainly because they have failed to raise additional capital from the market," Moody's VP and Senior Credit Officer Alka Anbarasu said. While unveiling its capital support plan in October 2017, the government had anticipated that the banks would raise about Rs 58,000 crore from the equity market. However, they have so far raised only about Rs 10,000 crore. "Moody's believes it may be difficult for them to raise significantly more, after consideration of the substantial decline in their share prices since the beginning of 2018, which indicates weak investor demand for Indian bank equities. "The share prices of PSBs has declined by 19 percent since beginning of the year, compared to a 3 percent increase in the Bombay stock market index," Moody's said. Icra said with the likely resolution of large stressed borrowers under the insolvency and bankruptcy code (IBC), there could be a decline in the gross NPAs and net NPAs to below 9 percent and 5 percent, respectively by March 2019. The RBI must explain it's stance on politically-motivated farm loan waivers that will add more pain to the NPA-ridden banking sector. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Urjit Patel, a man of few words, used to be a vocal critic of the very idea of farm loan waivers. Whenever confronted with questions on farm loan waivers, Patel has spoken out, in public and on multiple occasions, against its ill effects on the banking system. That, however, wasnt the case on Wednesday. At the post monetary policy announcement presser, responding to a question, Patel seemed to play down the impact of farm loan waivers on the banking system, saying that there is no direct impact on bank NPAs (non-performing assets) since state governments have provided for such schemes in their respective budgets. This is what Patel said, "Farm loan waiver has been given through Budget of individual state governments so far. Therefore, implications on the banks' NPA directly are not there. What Patel is saying is only half truth and works only in theory. Technically, it sounds alright to say that if states make provisions for loan waivers in their budgets, banks neednt worry since the money will come from government to compensate their losses. But, in the real world, things do not happen that smoothly. The indirect impact on banks balance sheets, by way of large-scale destruction of the credit culture, post the announcement of farm loan waivers is much more than any direct impact. None other than Patel has explained the hazards of farm loan waivers in the past. Lets revisit his comment on the issue in April 2017. "I think it (loan waiver schemes) undermines an honest credit culture. It impacts credit discipline. It (impacts) incentives for future borrowers to repay. In another words, waivers engender moral hazard, he said after announcing the first bi-monthly monetary policy for financial year 2017-18. If on account of this overall government borrowing goes up, yields on government bonds also get impacted. Thereafter, it can also lead to crowding of the private borrowers as higher government borrowing can lead to increasing cost of borrowing for others, Patel had said. On another occasion, Patel had warned the states about the likely fiscal pressure on state governments using budget allocations for farm loan waivers. In August, 2017, Patel said farm loan waivers lead to higher than budgeted revenue expenditure since state governments utilise public money to repay banks holding the farm loans, thus stretching fiscal deficits and steering money away from needed functions such as capital spending. Further, Patel also warned that banks are impacted as they must wait for governments to repay farmer loans, preventing lenders from providing new loans in the interim period. Now, read this in conjunction with what Patel said on Wednesday. Farm loan waiver has been given through Budget of individual state governments so far. Therefore, implications on the banks' NPA directly are not there. Meaning, Patel contradicted his previous warning that bank finances may get impacted due to the wait for refunds from state governments. It is quite surprising that Patel chose to play down the impact of farm loan waivers now. Particularly at a time when many state governments are announcing farm loan waivers one after another, raising serious challenges to the banking system. As empirical evidence from the past shows, even if governments provide for a farm loan waiver, banks do not get compensated in time, which leads to capital shortage for fresh lending to productive sectors. The double whammy is that the credit culture, the discipline even among honest borrowers, takes a hit. People stop repayments on day one of the waiver announcement irrespective of whether the waiver actually happens or not. The biggest hit will be on state-run banks that typically have to bear the burden of all state-sponsored farm loan waivers. The farm loan waiver became a popular tool of political populism after former finance minister P Chdamabaram set the ball rolling in 2008 with a Rs 70,000 crore farm loan waiver. Since then, many states have walked into the debt trap. Karnatakas new JDS-Congress government has just announced a Rs 53,000 crore farm loan waiver. The state doesnt have the fiscal wherewithal to fund the waiver, probably one reason why the newly appointed chief minister, HD Kumaraswamy, has announced an austerity drive asking all ministers to cut down all unnecessary expenditure'. Rajasthan has announced a Rs 8,500 crore farm loan waiver, Maharashtra is struggling to walk the talk on its Rs 34,000 crore loan waiver and Uttar Pradesh has made a similar waiver announcement. Here again, implementation has met with myriad issues. According to rating agency India Ratings, farm loan waivers are likely to raise the states' deficits by Rs 1.08 lakh crore. Patel knows of the full impact of the moral hazard that a farm loan waiver causes, and of the direct and indirect impact on the banking system. Yet, his statement on Wednesday appeared like he is taking a perfect U-turn on the issue. The governor's move raises more questions on the central banks new stance on the impact of fiscally imprudent, politically populist policies on the banking system. Mining giant Vedanta faces a potential revenue loss to the tune of $210 million per month due to closing of operations at its smelter unit at Tuticorin New Delhi: Mining giant Vedanta faces a potential revenue loss to the tune of $210 million per month due to closing of operations at its smelter unit at Tuticorin, a top company official said on Wednesday. Last month, the Tamil Nadu government had directed the State Pollution Control Board to seal Vedanta group's copper plant and shut it down "permanently" following violent protests during which 13 people were killed in police firing. Every month the company sells about 30,000 tonnes of refined copper and multiplied by an average price of $7,000 per tonne it comes to $210 million, Sterlite Copper CEO P Ramnath said here addressing the media. "That's a potential revenue loss...but again revenue loss does not translate to bottomline loss," he said in reply to a query. He emphasised, "It is not just loss to the company, it is loss for both the society and the consumers...There were around 3,500 people who were dependent on us. How will they be taking care of their families now? Their savings, if they have any, will last how long." Ramnath also said that his company's unit was not emitting even a kg of sulphur dioxide. "According to national norm, emission of 2 kg of sulphur dioxide is permitted on production of 1 tonne of sulphuric acid. For us the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board had set it at 1 kg sulphur dioxide on production of 1 tonne sulphuric acid but we were emitting 0.5 kg which is below the standards as compared to power plants in there," he said. "If you compare the amount of sulphur dioxide we emit, of the total sulphur dioxide being emitted from rest of the plants in Tuticorin, our contribution is just 1 per cent, the 99 per cent emission of sulphur dioxide is being done by power plants there." Asked if the plant was following norms, why were people protesting against it, the CEO said there could be various reasons including vested interest. "All (those protesting) including the NGOs have their own reasons to protest. There are various myths which need to be broken," the official said. The NGOs have their vested interest and are angry after their funding were stopped under FCRA (Foreign Contribution Regulation Act), he alleged adding, "They may be backed by foreign entities". To support his point, he said India is a huge market after China and lots of players are eying India and added, "It could be possible that they don't want India to be self-sufficient." "We had faced issues in Niyamgiri and there were reports that there were NGOs who were involved in it," the CEO said. He also said that he suspects role of some anti-social elements in sparking the protest By Corina Pons and Marianna Parraga CARACAS/HOUSTON (Reuters) - Venezuela has released two local executives of U.S. oil major Chevron Corp jailed since mid-April during a corruption probe in the oil sector, authorities and sources said on Wednesday By Corina Pons and Marianna Parraga CARACAS/HOUSTON (Reuters) - Venezuela has released two local executives of U.S. oil major Chevron Corp jailed since mid-April during a corruption probe in the oil sector, authorities and sources said on Wednesday. The arrests of Carlos Algarra and Rene Vasquez, by intelligence agents at Chevron's Puerto La Cruz offices, spooked other foreign companies operating in the OPEC nation in partnership with state oil company PDVSA. "They are free," the state prosecutor's office said in an email to Reuters, adding that both had been given unspecified alternative conditions to jail. One source close to Chevron confirmed the release, saying the two Venezuelans had to report into authorities every 15 days. "They've freed Carlos, his wife has just confirmed it," added a relative of Algarra. The arrests were the first at a foreign oil firm since the government launched a purge last year that has resulted in detentions of more than 80 executives at PDVSA and partners. In the aftermath, Chevron evacuated other staff. But the government of President Nicolas Maduro, condemned by the West and major Latin American nations over a May 20 re-election critics said was a farce cementing dictatorship, has been trying to project a more benign image in recent days. It freed dozens of anti-Maduro activists at the weekend. And Foreign Minster Jorge Arreaza reiterated calls on Wednesday for dialogue with the U.S. government, which has imposed sanctions aimed at squeezing the socialist government. The two Chevron employees had been facing possible treason charges for refusing to sign a parts contract for a joint venture with PDVSA, sources said. Chevron, the world's seventh-largest publicly traded oil producer with 2017 revenue of $135 billion, operates in Venezuela mostly through minority stakes in five projects. The firm has about 150 employees in its Puerto la Cruz headquarters and has two more offices in the country. Its earnings from Venezuela dropped 18 percent last year, to $329 million, according to regulatory filings. The arrests marked an escalation of tensions between PDVSA and foreign companies over control of supply contracts and the joint ventures' governance, sources have told Reuters. Venezuela is engulfed in a severe political crisis and economic meltdown, with oil production declining and the sector in chaos amid corruption, a brain-drain, and U.S. financial sanctions making shipments and transactions ever more difficult. (Additional reporting by Marianna Parraga in Houston; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; editing by Andreina Aponte, Marguerita Choy and Cynthia Osterman) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Ahmads father Ghulam Ahmad was killed almost a year ago by a fanatic mob in Bulandshahr over allegations of aiding a Muslim boy to elope with a Hindu girl. Aligarh: Sitting under the shade of a tree in scorching heat with the mercury shooting up to 43 degrees Celsius, 34-year-old Vakil Ahmad fans his year-old nephew, who has just dozed off after having mothers milk. Before the baby starts crying once again, Ahmad goes into a trance-like state, fretting about how he will arrange food for the child and the rest of his 16 family members tomorrow. Ever since Ahmads father Ghulam Ahmad was killed almost a year ago by a fanatic mob in Bulandshahr over allegations of aiding a Muslim boy to elope with a Hindu girl, the entire family has been forced to live like refugees in Uttar Pradesh. Sans food, work and peace of mind in their own village following a boycott of the family by villagers of Sohi, Vakils mother, brothers, their wives and children were left with no option but to migrate to Aligarh. With meagre savings, the elders of the family are finding it tough to arrange two square meals a day while the school-going children are missing out on their education. "The daughter of my elder brother is now depressed as she did not get admission in Class 10 because the school where she was studying did not give us the transfer certificate and now, no school in Aligarh is entertaining us," rues Vakil, who used to work as a carpenter while his brothers were farm labourers. Now, all are unemployed. Father killed, women molested With tears in his eyes, Vakil narrates the story of the cruelty bestowed upon them during the last summer. On 2 May, his father was guarding a mango orchard in Pahasu when he was allegedly attacked by a group of Hindu Yuva Vahini (HYV) men. "They beat him in every possible way and he died after that, says Vakil. He says that day didn't witness murder of just one family member; the whole world turned upside down for the rest of the family too. "We were happy having one chapati less in the dinner but the family was together. We had our father, who looked after all our needs. He did everything to keep us all happy but we could not save him from the goons who killed him in the name of Hindutva," he says with a choked throat. "After killing my father, they rushed towards our house and our family was informed by the villagers that they are now coming to kill us. We were advised to run away to save our lives. After female members of my family were harassed, molested and threatened, we decided to come to Aligarh," Vakil says, explaining how reluctant they were to leave the village where they were born and brought up. Vakil's sister-in-law (elder brother's wife), who was also harassed while running for life from the village, says that the members of the Hindutva group did whatever they could without giving any second thought. "These people call themselves Hindu but how can anybody be a Hindu when he/she does not have any fear of god? They groped us, twisted our wrists, slapped us and touched us inappropriately. They even tried to snatch our jewelry. They beat us black and blue. We would have died that day if we had not run away from our home," says Sabeena (name changed). Mohammad Naeem, the advocate who is fighting the case for the family, says their nightmare is not coming to an end. "They have nothing to eat. No extra pair of clothes or enough food to store for the next day. Vakil and his brothers are jobless for more than a year and no one has come to help them, says Naeem, while praising the fighting spirit of the family for pursuing the matter legally. "The next date of hearing has been fixed for June 7 and we will provide all the evidence that we have. We are sure that the family will get justice and even the police are cooperating with them since the FIR was lodged, says the lawyer, who is not charging any fee in the case. No proof against Hindu outfit Although it is not certain whether any Hindu outfit was involved in the murder, Bulandshahr police officials say they have enough evidence against the accused. The accused belong to a different community. We did not get anything related to Hindu Yuva Vahini as alleged. The outfit has also denied its involvement. The police have explored all angles and this seems to be just a case of cold-blooded murder and nothing else," says Rajesh Singh, the investigating officer of the case. Sunil Singh, the second in-command of the Hindu Yuva Vahini, has also refused to accept any involvement in the killing owing to the angle of love jihad. "We have cooperated with the police and in our internal investigation, we found that those accused of murder were nowhere linked with us, says Singh. However, he doesnt stop short of admitting that the deceased victim was aiding a case of so-called love jihad for which action should be taken against the family. A day after Pune Police arrested five people for alleged Maoist links in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon caste violence, the NCP on Thursday accused the BJP government in Maharashtra of setting a 'dangerous precedent' by linking Dalits with naxals. Mumbai: A day after Pune Police arrested five people for alleged Maoist links in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon caste violence, the NCP on Thursday accused the BJP government in Maharashtra of setting a "dangerous precedent" by linking Dalits with naxals. Addressing a press conference here, NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik also alleged that the arrests were "pre-planned" by the government with an intention to save "real culprits". The Pune Police had arrested five people, including prominent Dalit activist Sudhir Dhawale, for allegedly having close Maoist links from Mumbai, Nagpur and Delhi in connection with the 1 January incident. All the five were arrested in a case registered against the organisers of Elgar Parishad held in Pune ahead of the Bhima-Koregaon incident. It is alleged that provocative speeches were made at the Elgar Parishad held on 31 December last year at the historic Shaniwarwada fortification in Pune. "The arrests of those people who had participated in the Elgar Parishad were pre-planned. Right from the day the violence happened, BJP leaders were giving statements that people from the left wing ideology were behind it," Malik told reporters. The Elgar Parishad was organised to commemorate 200 years of the Bhima Koregaon battle in which British forces, comprising a large number of Dalit soldiers, had defeated the Peshwas who had represented the Maratha empire. Dalits view the battle as the defeat of "casteist" Peshwas, who were Brahmins. "The BJP is setting a wrong precedent by linking Dalits with Naxals and claiming that the Parishad was funded by ultras. If the BJP believes that the opposition parties and Dalits are Maoists then there is a grave danger to the integrity of the state," Malik said. He said the government's real intention was to save Milind Ekbote and Sambhaji Bhide both Hindutva leaders who he said are the real culprits of the violence. Police had registered FIRs against Ekbote, who heads Hindu Ekta Aghadi, and Bhide of Shiv Pratishthan Hindustan for inciting violence in Bhima Koregaon. Ekbote was arrested by police on 14 March after the supreme court rejected his anticipatory bail application. He was later granted bail by a sessions court in Pune. Despite demands by Dalit activists, Bhide was never arrested in the case. Pune Police had yesterday arrested Dhawale, Surendra Gadling, activist Mahesh Raut, Shoma Sen, and Rona Wilson from various places. Malik also took a swipe at bickering allies BJP and Shiv Sena over Wednesday's meeting between Amit Shah and Uddhav Thackeray. "I want to know about the deal struck between them (Thackeray and Shah). Since the time it joined the state government, the Sena has been saying that the BJP does not value it much. During yesterday's meeting, what value did the BJP president assign to Sena?" he questioned. He also criticised the BJP for its 'Sampark se Samarthan' (contact for support) outreach campaign in the run-up to the 2019 polls. "The BJP chief is meeting prominent people, but the party is shying away from submitting a report card of its performance to farmers, labourers, and middle-class people who had voted the BJP to power. "This is because they know that they cannot face people, as none of the electoral promises have been fulfilled. These meetings with prominent people are nothing but a publicity stunt," Malik said. A day after advocate Surendra Gadling was arrested in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence case, he was sent to police custody for eight days A day after advocate Surendra Gadling, one of the five people who allegedly incited hate in the Bhima-Koregaon violence case, was arrested on Wednesday from Nagpur, Pune Joint Police Commissioner Ravindra Kadam said he was produced before the court and will be held in police custody for eight days. Among the accused registered in FIR on 8 Jan, some were previously booked for having links with naxals. We were investigating their links & in this connection, we raided houses of some of them: Ravindra Kadam, Joint Police Commissioner, Pune on arrests made in #BhimaKoregaon case pic.twitter.com/1fLUQNxlK2 ANI (@ANI) June 7, 2018 The other four accused activists Rona Wilson, Sudhir Dhawale, Shoma Sen and Mahesh Raut will be produced before the court on Thursday afternoon. Addressing a press conference, Kadam said the authorities were investigating Wilson and Gadling's links with Naxals as well. "From Rona Wilson's house, we recovered a pen drive, a hard disk and some other documents which were sent to forensics," ANI quoted him as saying. Kadam also said that letter recovered from Wilson's house had references to Elgar Parishad, the name of the programme held at Shaniawarwada fort on 1 January. "Letter on funding has references to Elgar Parishad. Many organisations were involved in organising Elgar Parishad but not all have links with Maoists. Sudhir Dhawale's name has also appeared," ANI quoted him as saying. "Among the accused registered in the FIR on 8 January, some were previously booked for having links with Naxals," Kadam informed, adding that the police raided houses of some of the other accused as well. Police teams raided the homes of other activists like Shoma Sen in Nagpur, and Mahesh Raut in Mumbai, IANS said. On Tuesday, the aforementioned five people were arrested from Mumbai, Nagpur, and Delhi, by the Pune Police in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence in January. All the five have been arrested for allegedly spreading controversial pamphlets and delivering hate speech under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Last month, the Maharashtra Police carried out multi-city raids against prominent Dalit activists and supporters in a fallout of the 1 January caste riots in Bhima-Koregaon. The raids were carried out by several teams of the Pune Police in Mumbai, Pune, and Nagpur, in the homes and offices of various Dalit activists. On 1 January, violence had erupted at an event meant to mark the 200th anniversary of the Bhima Koregaon battle in which British forces defeated the Peshwa army on January 1, 1818. The violence led to the death of one person and injuries to several others, including 10 policemen. With inputs from agencies Students who gave the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) Class 12th examination 2018 but are not satisfied with their result can apply for scrutiny online at biharboard.ac.in. Students who gave the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) Class 12th examination 2018 but are not satisfied with their result can apply for scrutiny online at biharboard.ac.in. The registrations for the same will begin from 13 June and will continue till 20 June. The forms will be available offline at BSEBs regional centres at Patna, Gaya, Bhagalpur, Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, Purnia, Chappra, Munger, and Saharsa. Students can also visit the official website and fill the application form, A fee also needs to be paid per answer sheet. Last year, over 3.11 lakh students applied for scrutiny. According to an Indian Express report, even though the pass percentage of students this year has increased by 17.71 percent in comparison to the last year, nearly 5 lakh students flunked this year's Intermediate examination. This year, 47.05 percent students failed in the Bihar Board Class 12th examination. A total of 44 percent students cleared in the science stream, 82 per cent passed in the commerce stream and as many as 42 percent students passed the Arts stream examination successfully, this year. However, those who have scored low or have failed in the language subjects were not granted grace marks this year. The compartment exams for Intermediate examination are usually held in the first week of July and forms are released by mid-June. The Bihar Board Class 12th examination result 2018 was released on 6 June, 2018. Britain's Supreme Court will on Thursday rule whether Northern Ireland's strict abortion laws infringe European human rights legislation, potentially testing the strength of prime minister Theresa May's minority government. London: Britain's Supreme Court will on Thursday rule whether Northern Ireland's strict abortion laws infringe European human rights legislation, potentially testing the strength of prime minister Theresa May's minority government. The seven supreme court justices will rule on a case brought by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC), which argues that the current law criminalises "exceptionally vulnerable" women. The devolved government in the British province is responsible for deciding abortion laws, but Westminster can step in if legislation is deemed to contravene the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Unlike in mainland Britain, abortion is illegal in Northern Ireland, carrying a potential life sentence, except when a woman's life is at risk or there is a permanent or serious danger to her mental or physical health. The NIHRC argued in October 2017 that the current law subjects women to "inhuman and degrading" treatment, causing "physical and mental torture" as it bans abortion in cases of rape, incest or serious foetal anomaly. If the supreme court agrees, it will be up to London and Belfast to find a way to bring Northern Ireland into line with the ruling, setting May on a collision course with the anti-abortion Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). The DUP is the biggest party in Northern Ireland and also props up May's minority government, giving her the votes she needs to get Brexit legislation through the House of Commons. Adding to the complication, Northern Ireland has been unable to form a power-sharing government for over a year, meaning responsibility may fall on Westminster to unilaterally change national law. Ministers debated the issue on Tuesday, with Labour minister Stella Creasy calling for a nationwide law change. Northern Ireland minister Karen Bradley insisted that abortion was "a matter for the people of Northern Ireland". DUP assembly member Jim Wells on Tuesday compared abortion programmes to "the Nazis", highlighting the problems May could have in finding a solution with the party. The devolved Northern Ireland Assembly voted in February 2016 against legalising abortion in cases of fatal foetal abnormality, rape or incest. But the case for change has received fresh impetus from the Republic of Ireland's landmark referendum vote to legalise abortion last month. More than 66 percent of voters backed repealing the constitutional ban on terminations, raising pressure on its neighbour to follow suit. Sinn Fein and the SDLP, the two major parties representing Northern Ireland's Irish Catholics, and the cross-community Alliance Party, back overturning the ban. Belfast's High Court ruled in December 2015 that the law was incompatible with article eight of the ECHR the right to respect for private and family life due to the absence of exceptions in cases of fatal foetal abnormalities and pregnancies resulting from sexual offences. But three of Northern Ireland's most senior judges overturned that decision in June last year, saying it was a question for the elected assembly, not the courts. The Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) is expected to declare the results for Class 10th board examinations at 4.30 pm on 26 June. Students can check the result on biharboard.ac.in. The Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) has released the results for Class 10th board examinations at 4.30 pm on 26 June. Students can check the result on the official board website, biharboard.ac.in. Students can also check their results at News18Bihar.com. The board had announced the Class 12th results on 6 June. The Bihar board Class 10th results were initially scheduled to be released on 10 May whereas the HSC +2 results were scheduled to be released on 12 May. The Class 10th result was then postponed to 20 May and Class 12th result postponed to 18 May. A total of 17,70,42 lakh students sat for the BSEB Class 10th exams and 12,07,986 students appeared for the BSEB Class 12th board exam in 2018. The Class 10th exams were held from 21 to 28 February, while the Class 12th exams were held from 6 to 16 February. Here is how Class 10th and Class 12th students can respectively check their results: - Go to the board's official website: biharboard.ac.in. - Click on the link displayed on the site for Class 10th results. - Enter your roll number and other details and press submit. - Take a printout of your results for future reference. NDTV reported that this year, the Bihar board used bar-coded answer sheets instead of the normal ones to avoid cheating and other unfair practices. The board had also introduced 50 percent objective questions for which students were provided with a different OMR sheet. Officials have completed evaluating the answer sheets and are now decoding the same, the report adds. According to a report in DNA, the BSEB conducts Annual Secondary School Examinations every year in the month of February/March and Supplementary School Examination in the month of August/September on the basis of course/syllabus as prescribed by the state government. As has been observed over the course of the past few weeks, the dates and times of result announcements have been frequently changed around. The information above has not been independently verified. However, this article will continue to be updated to reflect official updates as and when they come in. A CoBRA commando of the CRPF was killed and a policeman succumbed to his injuries during an encounter with Naxals in Saraikela area of Jharkhand on Thursday, officials said Ranchi: A CoBRA commando of the CRPF was killed and a policeman succumbed to his injuries during an encounter with Naxals in Saraikela area of Jharkhand on Thursday, officials said. #UPDATE Encounter between naxals & troops of 209 CoBRA battalion & #Jharkhand Police in Saraikela: Police jawan, who who was injured, succumbed to his injuries. 1 CoBRA personnel had lost his life too. Firing concludes, search operation underway. ANI (@ANI) June 7, 2018 They said a gunbattle began early morning in the Dalbhaga-Arki area of the Saraikela-Kharsawan district at about 7 am when a joint team of the 209th battalion of the CoBRA (commando battalion for resolute action) and Jharkhand Police was out for operation. A commando has been killed while a wounded state police personnel later succumbed to his injuries, reported ANI. The encounter took place in Saraikela, the administrative headquarter of Saraikela-Kharsawan district which is about 135 kilometres from the state capital Ranchi. While the firing has concluded, search operations are still underway, officials told ANI. With inputs from PTI Last year, Trump broke with decades of precedent by forgoing the annual Iftar dinner a bipartisan tradition that formally began with Bill Clinton in the 1990s but has conceptual roots tracing as far back as under Thomas Jefferson in 1805. Washington: Several Muslim organisations have decided to boycott US President Donald Trump's first Iftar dinner at the White House, citing his alleged anti-Muslim rhetoric. Last year, Trump broke with decades of precedent by forgoing the annual Iftar dinner a bipartisan tradition that formally began with Bill Clinton in the 1990s but has conceptual roots tracing as far back as under Thomas Jefferson in 1805. When the White House confirmed earlier this week that Trump would, in fact, host the event this year, most Muslim civic organisations were caught off guard. Now the event would be held tonight. "There will be roughly, I believe, about 30 to 40 different attendees," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters at her daily news conference yesterday. Leading Muslim groups in Washington who attended the event under previous administrations said Trump's continued targeting of Islam and its followers made engagement with his administration a futile, if not impossible task. Many of them have announced that they would hold a parallel Iftar dinner outside the White House. "President Trump has demonstrated overt antipathy towards Muslims in the US and abroad from the beginning of his presidential campaign and continues to support his un-American Muslim and refugee travel bans," the organisers said in a statement. Council on American-Islamic Relations said that it has witnessed an "unprecedented spike in bigotry targeting" American-Muslims and members of other minority groups since the election of Trump as president. The Washington-based civil rights organisation has also repeatedly expressed concern about Islamophobic and racist Trump administration policies and appointments. Trump's during the 2016 campaign had vowed to ban all Muslims from entering the US, nor his flirtation with the idea of a Muslim registry. In one of his first acts from the Oval Office, Trump imposed a travel ban on several Muslim-majority countries and indefinitely suspended the US refugee program. Several iterations of the policy have since been mired by legal challenges, with its ultimate fate facing an imminent ruling by the supreme court. In November, Trump drew widespread condemnation for retweeting a series of anti-Muslim videos from the ultra-nationalist far-right group Britain First. A Dubai-based Indian man threatened to kill Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Dubai: A Dubai-based Indian man threatened to kill Kerala Chief Minister Krishnakumar SN Nair, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) supporter, in a Facebook video on Tuesday said that he would soon travel to Kerala to carry out the act, Khaleej Times reported on Thursday. "I am a former RSS worker. I am going to be active again. I am resigning my job here and returning to Kerala. I am staying in Dubai. I will be in Kerala for two to three days with an aim to kill. I am least bothered how my life is going to end. If we decide to kill a person then we need to finish the job," he said in the four-minute video. Nair, who used to work as a senior rigging supervisor at the Abu Dhabi-based Target Engineering Construction Company, also hurled abuses at Vijayan and commented about his caste. He was terminated with immediate effect on Wednesday for the provoking post in an inebriated condition at the company accommodation. He will be flying to Kerala as soon as all formalities are over. "I have lost my job. I am ready to face any action. I remain an RSS supporter. I seek forgiveness from Pinarayi Vijayan and all politicians," Nair apologised on Wednesday. The Agra-Mathura bus service (AMCTSL) will continue to make losses if its routes are not planned to include high traffic intensity areas as well as improve frequency during peak hours Almost a decade after its launch, the current status of local bus service in Agra, offers a view into how poor planning of routes, fuelling stations and lack of punctuality could be turning public bus transport services launched under the multi-pronged Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) in India into loss-making units. The federal co-operative-scheme, which covers urban transportation under the sub-mission Urban Infrastructure and Governance, was launched to revive the long-lost tradition of city bus service in many Indian cities. In Agra, city bus service returned under JNNURM, in 2009, 17 years after the previous city bus service was closed under severe financial duress. Agra is one of the seven cities in Uttar Pradesh where the JNNURM city bus services are operated by Uttar Pradesh State Road Transportation Corporation (UPSRTC). In Agra and Mathura, a separate department Agra Mathura City Transport Services Limited (AMCTSL), founded in 2011, runs this service. Now running for almost a decade, the city bus service in Agra is witnessing dwindling ridership and increasing losses. The data from the last five years on ridership and financial performance accessed through Right to Information Act (RTI) from AMCTSL reveals that since the financial year (FY) 2013-14, the ridership and profit/loss statistics have not been very flattering for the service, though they have witnessed a slight bump in FY 2017-18. The average load factor (the capacity utilisation of the public transport vehicle vis-a-vis filling of seats and revenue generation through fares) throughout these years remained more or less the same around 80 percent. While the load factor is at a decent level, the earning kilometres, ie, the distance for which revenue was generated, has fallen over the years. As the main source of income for the bus service is tariff from passengers, the decrease in the earning kilometres remains an issue. As per the 2009 Detailed Project Report (DPR) for funding of buses under JNNURM prepared by Urban Mass Transit Company Limited, there were 13 radial and circular routes designed to connect high traffic intensity areas with the bus services as well as 13 suburban routes to connect to nearby towns and suburban areas. At present, though the city bus service in Agra operates on eight routes in the city and suburban and rural areas, and adjacent towns, there are many important high traffic intensity areas which are not included in the existing routes, especially ones on the Delhi-Kolkata National Highway Bypass Road stretch. While Meerut and Allahabad have lesser number of buses, 120 and 130 respectively, under the JNNURM scheme as compared to Agra which has 170 buses, the number of routes for the former two cities are 21 and 28 respectively, more than double for Agra. Services on the current routes also leave a lot to be desired. As per the city bus schedule, the time interval between consecutive buses on the arterial Mahatma Gandhi (MG) road is supposed to be five minutes and half an hour on other suburban routes. However, buses on MG road remain less frequent and overcrowded and on suburban routes remain largely absent for most parts of the day especially in what the DPR categorises as peak hours in the morning (8 am to 10 am) and evening (4 pm to 8 pm). Thus, there is a lot of untapped potential for the city bus service in terms of earning kilometres, which with an optimal load factor can generate higher fare tariff. Without increasing bus frequency on existing routes and expanding services on other routes, the financial woes of loss-making city buses, largely dependent on central and state government funding, are likely to continue. The earnings from alternative sources such as advertisements on side and back panels of the buses remain either deficient or absent. According to AMCTSL officials, the service generated income of about Rs 30 to 40 lacs from advertisements mostly in 2015. The contract for advertisements expired in November 2015. The department has again invited advertisements for the buses in April this year but there have been no takers so far. The expenditures, on the other hand, are aplenty. Fuel costs (CNG) form the biggest share roughly 50 percent of the expenditures. CNG filling stations are few and far in the city and many buses have to go off their routes to refuel, thus leading to empty rides and loss in tariff. RBL Sharma, the recently appointed managing director of the Regional Administration-UPSRTC, Agra, says that one of his priorities is to remedy the problem of empty rides as it costs the exchequer the most. He has also targeted increasing load factor to near 100 percent in order to generate more profits. To ensure that buses are running with regular frequency on existing routes, Sharma has circulated the time-table among the ground staff and directed them to update his office with the running status of buses in real-time through Whatsapp both in Agra and Mathura. The importance of buses for Indias working population cannot be underestimated. According to the Census 2011 data, both rural and urban women in India are more likely to take a bus to commute for work than any other means of transportation. The Census 2011 data revealed not only this gendered picture of commuting in India but also a rural-urban variation as rural Indians are found to be taking buses more than other modes of public transportation. With JNNURM bus services catering to urban and rural areas alike, cities like Agra would do well to ensure that the rural and suburban services are not ignored and bus services are expanded all around in order to provide more congestion-free and less polluted cities and safer and more economical rides for passengers. This also remains important for the financial health of the bus service as more kilometres can earn more money. The Goa government has begun the process of formulating a policy to conserve and protect the Portuguese-era structures in the state. Panaji: The Goa government has begun the process of formulating a policy to conserve and protect the Portuguese-era structures in the state and to give a new lease of life to them. The State Town and Country Planning minister Vijai Sardesai on Wednesday chaired a meeting of Conservation Committee formed by his department to discuss the issue. This committee appointed a sub-committee comprising officials of the Department of Archaeology and experts to give final shape to the policy. "It was decided to formulate a heritage conservation policy for the Portuguese-era structures in the state. The policy will bring architectural guidelines about the nature of such houses in conservation areas," Sardesai told PTI. The government has already declared certain parts of Goa as 'conservation areas' after taking into account the density of heritage structures in those areas. "The committee will begin its work immediately. Various aspects related to these heritage structures, like their colour, texture and other factors would be specified by the committee," Sardesai said. According to him, a comprehensive policy would be tabled during the next session of the Legislative Assembly. The minister said the policy will also decide on providing financial help to these heritage structures. "Owners of many heritage structures find it unaffordable to maintain their houses. The government will provide financial support to such units," he said. The policy will also envisage a special corpus to provide financial help to the owners of heritage structures, he added. Union HRD minister Prakash Javadekar said the government decided to half the NCERT syllabus as students were overburdened, and they had no time for activities like physical education New Delhi, Jun 6 (PTI) Union minister Prakash Javadekar today said the government decided to half the NCERT syllabus as students did not find time for other activities as they were overburdened. The decision to half the syllabus was announced by the Union HRD Minister last week. "There is a huge load of books and information, and students have no time. There is no time for physical education, value education, and life skills. "So, we decided to half the portion (syllabus). There is no need to teach them everything. Students should learn principles and rest of the knowledge they can gain later," Javadekar said. The HRD Ministry has received 37,000 suggestions from parents, teachers, and educationists regarding the government's decision to lessen the burden of books, he said at an event marking the 10th foundation day of the Foundation for Restoration of National Values (FRNV) here. While making the announcement on 2 June, Javadekar had said the NCERT syllabus was so "cramped" that the government had decided to reduce it by half. The minister said values cannot be inculcated among children unless they are provided to them at home and also suggested training for parents in this regard. He lauded FRNV's initiative to integrate value education in the school system in India and assured that the HRD Ministry will work with it as a "partner". FRNV chaired by 'Metro Man' E Sreedharan was founded in 2008. On the occasion, Sreedharan said value education is not being taught at state-run schools and asked the government to take steps for this. "Value education is the primary step needed by the country. Emphasis on it in government schools is not sufficient. If government schools start it, other schools will also be encouraged to do so," he said. FRNV is a non-political, non-profit and non-religious organisation aimed at restoring national values and nurturing ethics and integrity in all walks of life. A journal based on value-based education was also released at the event organised at the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation's headquarters at Metro Bhawan. The government has accorded 'top priority' to securing the release of six Indians abducted by gunmen in Afghanistan last month. New Delhi: The government has accorded "top priority" to securing the release of six Indians abducted by gunmen in Afghanistan last month and is in touch with all the stakeholders involved, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in New Delhi on Thursday. He said there could be a meeting next week between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and the family members of the abducted and that dates were being worked out. "We are according top priority to the problem. We are seized of the matter and the EAM (Swaraj) had also mentioned that this is a sensitive matter. We are in touch with the Afghan side and other stakeholders," Kumar said, but declined to elaborate further citing the sensitivity of the matter. On 6 May, gunmen kidnapped six Indians working for an infrastructure and electricity company from the Baghlan province of Afghanistan. A day later, Swaraj called her Afghan counterpart and sought assistance to find the men who were taken away by unidentified kidnappers. Kumar said Swaraj had offered to meet the kin of those kidnapped next week as she was currently in South Africa on an official visit. "She (Swaraj) has given them time next week and we are working out a date and time for the meeting," Kumar said. The Special Task Force (STF) of the Haryana Police has arrested Sampath Nehra, one of the most wanted gangsters belonging to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, from Hyderabad. Chandigarh: The Special Task Force (STF) of the Haryana Police has arrested Sampath Nehra, one of the most wanted gangsters belonging to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, from Hyderabad. With more than two dozen criminal cases pending against him in Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Chandigarh, Nehra, 28, also carried a cash reward on his head and had been absconding for the past few years, before he was arrested on Wednesday evening, Haryana Police said. Acting on instructions of Director General of Police B S Sandhu and Additional Director General of Police, Crime, PK Aggarwal, a team of STF Gurugram led by Inspector General of Police, Saurabh Singh and Deputy Inspector General of Police, Satish Balan had made all-out efforts to arrest the accused Nehra, a native of Kishangarh, Chandigarh. Haryana DGP B S Sandhu congratulated the STF team on the achievement. The gangster, a resident of village Kalauri in Rajasthan's Churu district, is allegedly wanted for several heinous crime including murder, attempt to murder, robbery and contract killing. He was actively involved in contract killing, police said. Nehra is a sharpshooter of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, had been active in students politics. The Lawrence Bishnoi gang is one of the most dreaded gangs which is also active on social media like Facebook and Whatsapp. Nehra will be brought from Hyderabad, they said. Nehra and his gang were involved in an attempt to murder an INLD leader's brother, demanding ransom of Rs 3 crore from the owner of many medical stores in Chandigarh, opening of fire at a police team to free his associate Deepak from police custody and killing a person after looting his SUV at gunpoint in Kurukshetra area. He along with his gang member had killed Anand, a resident of Karaur, they said. The gangster along with his colleagues had killed a man, a resident of Jaitapur in Sadulpur court in Rajgarh, Rajasthan. The accused is also charged in a murder case in Faridkot, Punjab, and killing of a retired army personnel at Barona in Haryana, killing the husband of a woman councillor from Punjab, besides being involved in cases of ransom, murder, loot and robbery in different states. The Haryana Police have arrested a wanted criminal belonging to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, who is accused of murders, robbery and ransom Chandigarh: The Special Task Force (STF) of the Haryana Police has arrested Sampath Nehra, one of the most wanted gangsters belonging to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, from Hyderabad. With more than two dozen criminal cases pending against him in Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Chandigarh, Nehra, 28, also carried a cash reward on his head and had been absconding for the past few years, before he was arrested on Wednesday evening, Haryana Police said. Acting on instructions of Director General of Police BS Sandhu and Additional Director General of Police, Crime, PK Aggarwal, a team of STF Gurugram led by Inspector General of Police, Saurabh Singh and Deputy Inspector General of Police, Satish Balan had made all out efforts to arrest the accused Nehra, a native of Kishangarh, Chandigarh. Haryana DGP BS Sandhu congratulated the STF team on the achievement. The gangster, a resident of village Kalauri in Rajasthan's Churu district, is allegedly wanted for several heinous crime including murder, attempt to murder, robbery and contract killing. He was actively involved in contract killing, police said. Nehra is a sharp shooter of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, had been active in students politics. The Lawrence Bishnoi gang is one of the most dreaded gangs which is also active on social media like Facebook and Whatsapp. Nehra will be brought from Hyderabad, they said. Nehra and his gang were involved in an attempt to murder an INLD leader's brother, demanding ransom of Rs 3 crore from the owner of many medical stores in Chandigarh, opening of fire at a police team to free his associate Deepak from police custody and killing a person after looting his SUV at gun point in Kurukshetra area. He along with his gang member had killed Anand, a resident of Karaur, they said. The gangster along with his colleagues had killed a man, a resident of Jaitapur in Sadulpur court in Rajgarh, Rajasthan. The accused is also charged in a murder case in Faridkot, Punjab, and killing of a retired Army personnel at Barona in Haryana, killing the husband of a woman councillor from Punjab, besides being involved in cases of ransom, murder, loot and robbery in different states. India has registered a significant decline in Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) recording a 22 percent reduction in such deaths since 2013, according to the Sample Registration System (SRS) bulletin New Delhi: India has registered a significant decline in Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) recording a 22 percent reduction in such deaths since 2013, according to the Sample Registration System (SRS) bulletin released on Wednesday. The MMR has declined from 167 in 2011-2013 to 130 in 2014-2016, according to the special bulletin. MMR is defined as the proportion of maternal deaths per 1,00,000 live births. The decline has been most significant in Empowered Action Group (EAG) states - from 246 to 188, it said. The Special Bulletin of Maternal Mortality in India stated that among the southern states, the decline has been from 93 to 77 and in "other" states from 115 to 93. "The latest SRS figures reveal that we have gone beyond the MDG target of Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) of 139 by 2015 & have reached 130!! I congratulate the Ministry, @MoHFW_India and the states for their joint efforts," Union Health Minister JP Nadda said on Twitter. The latest SRS figures reveal that we have gone beyond the MDG target of Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) of 139 by 2015 & have reached 130!! I congratulate the Ministry, @MoHFW_India and the states for their joint efforts. pic.twitter.com/H2t0ik0Egx Jagat Prakash Nadda (@JPNadda) June 6, 2018 According to the SRS Bulletin, there were nearly 12,000 fewer maternal deaths in 2016 as compared to 2013, with the total number of maternal deaths for the first time reducing to 32,000, according to a health ministry statement. This means that every day 30 more pregnant women are now being saved in India as compared to 2013. Amongst the states, Uttar Pradesh with 30 percent decline has topped the chart in the reduction of maternal deaths. Three states have already met the SDG target for MMR of 70 per 1,00,000. These are Kerala, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, while Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are within striking distance. "The results signify that the strategic approach of the Ministry has started yielding dividends and the efforts of focusing on low performing states is paying off, especially initiatives like Mission Indradhanush and Intensified Mission Indradhanush with their focused approach are significantly turning the tide in favour of India," the statement stated. Other major initiatives under the umbrella of National Health Mission (NHM) like augmentation of infrastructure and human resource, capacity building, Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakaram which provides for free transport and care for pregnant women have also contributed to the success, it said. To understand the maternal mortality situation in the country better and to map the changes that have taken place, especially at the regional level, the government has categorised states into three groups - EAG, southern states and "other" states. EAG states comprise Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, and Assam. The southern states are Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu and the "other" states categories cover the remaining states and Union territories. The first report on maternal mortality in India (1997-2003), describing trends, causes and risk factors, was released in October, 2006. The present bulletin, which provides only the levels of maternal mortality for the period 2014-16, is being brought out as a sequel to the previous bulletin (2011-13). The survey for the current bulletin covered 62,96,101 pregnant women, of whom 556 died. Data collected by the Ashrayani Foundation, an NGO, under its Paa Lo Naa initiative, a drive against infanticide and abandonment of children, states that 121 children were found abandoned in Jharkhand since 2016 till May this year. Eighteen-year-old Anita (name changed) of Gumla district in Jharkhand delivered a beautiful baby girl at the Civil Hospital in Gurugram on 31 May. But, though Anita has agreed to breastfeed the baby, she refuses to keep and raise the child as her own. Anita was impregnated after being raped at a household in Gurugram. The accused, who was employed as a cook at the residence Anita worked in, fled after Anitas pregnancy became visible. Anita was taken to the hospital by her employers, who also filed an FIR against the accused. After delivering her baby, Anita refused to even take a look at her face. "I dont want it. What will people in my village say? I will never get married," was all she said. Anita is just one among several single mothers in Jharkhand who opt to abandon their babies fearing victimisation due to social stigma. Data collected by the Ashrayani Foundation, an NGO, under its Paa Lo Naa initiative, a drive against infanticide and abandonment of children, states that 121 children were found abandoned in Jharkhand since 2016 till May this year. Of them, 63 were dead. While in 2016, 29 children were found abandoned, in 2017, the number went up to 65. This year, till May, 27 abandoned children were found. While this data shows the number of cases where children were abandoned on roadsides or other places, instances of mothers surrendering their children for adoption, also remains high across the state. "On an average, we get at least three to five cases every month, of women who want to surrender their babies," said Srikant Kumar, a member of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), Ranchi. In most cases where children are abandoned, the mothers are unmarried and the child is a product of either rape of a failed love affair. "I have come across several women who want to surrender their children. In most cases, the child is either born as a result of rape or out of a love affair, where the girl's lover refuses to accept both the child and the mother," said Sita Swansi of Diya Seva Sansthan, a local NGO working with women. "There are also cases in which women are trafficked outside the state where they get raped and become pregnant. When they return home, the fear of society forces them to abandon the child," she said. Srikant said that in many cases where a child is surrendered, it is not the mother, but her guardians who force them to give away the baby. "This happens mostly in the case of minor girls, aged between 14 and 17. Parents of such mothers say that the child would become a burden for their daughter as she will not be able to live a normal life," he said. "Even when the girl is ready to keep the child, her parents force her to give it away because it would create problems in getting her married," Srikant added. Citing an incident where a girl was forced to abandon her baby due to societal pressure, Swansi said, "The girl was forced by her parents to abandon her child because it was born out of wedlock. I was counselling that girl when another woman with her baby entered the room. The girl was so desperate to just hold that baby once. I could see the pain of losing her child in her eyes." Swansi added that till people do not stop victim-shaming, such incidents would continue to be reported. "The family members of the victim start shaming her. As a result, she is left with no option but to abandon her child, even if she is unwilling. It is high time that people understand that a girl does not become pregnant by her own fault. If the family of the girl supports her, she would never have to abandon her child," she said. However, Srikant pointed out that there have been instances where the mother and her guardians have accepted to keep their children after being counselled by CWC members. But, only those who are aware of the option of being able to surrender a child approach the CWC. Several others, who are unaware of such provisions and are unwilling to reveal their identities dump their children on roadsides. "There are several women who come from interior villages and are unaware about the provision of being able to surrender their child. Fearing social stigma attached to having a child while unmarried, they abandon the infants," said Swansi. Srikant said that only 50 percent of children abandoned on roadsides are able to survive. In order to prevent the death of such children, the CWC has directed adoption centres to open a creche in front of their homes where women can come and leave their children unanimously, instead of dumping them on roadsides to die. Srikant added that in cases where the CWC rescues abandoned children, they issue an advertisement in local papers and waits for two months for the legal guardian to come and claim the child. If no one approaches them within that time, the CWC declares the child legally free of adoption and gives it to adoption homes. Monika Gunjan Arya, convenor of Paa Lo Na that has been working actively to prevent mothers from abandoning their children, since 2015, by creating awareness through media, exhibitions and nukkad nataks , said, "A massive awareness drive is needed in order to stop the abandonment of newborn babies. Aware people should spread awareness among those who do not have any knowledge about the facility of surrendering a child so that the childs life can be saved." Questioning the role being played by police in preventing such cases, Arya pointed out that not a single case under IPC sections 315 (infanticide) and 317 (exposure and abandonment of children) were registered in 2016. "The NCRB 2016 data shows that zero cases were registered under infanticide or exposure and abandonment in the state, while the CWC has been getting several such cases. I have a compiled data of such cases as well," she said. Arya added that till the police do not start registering FIRs in such cases, the matter will not come out in public and will never be considered a problem. "When an FIR is registered, an investigation would be done and the real reason behind the abandonment of children can be found out. Once we reach the root of the problem, only then can we uproot it," she said. The author is a member of The Newscart, a Bengaluru-based media startup. Amid strained ties between Maldives and India, Ahmed Nihan, a Maldivian MP, who is a parliamentary group leader of the ruling Progressive Party of Maldives, was denied entry into India at Chennai International Airport on 4 June Amid strained ties between Maldives and India, Ahmed Nihan, a Maldivian MP, who is a parliamentary group leader of the ruling Progressive Party of Maldives, was denied entry into India at Chennai International Airport and sent back on 4 June, reports said. A top aide of the Maldivian President, Abdulla Yameen, Nihan was in Chennai with his co-passengers Yameens sister and brother-in-law, both of whom were allowed to enter, A News18 report said. Nihan holds a diplomatic passport and a SAARC visa which gives him access to all SAARC regions. Confirming the incident, Maldivian ambassador to India Ahmed Mohamed said that MP Nihan was a frequent flyer to Chennai for his medical check-ups. The recent visit was also to consult the doctor. This is an unfortunate incident, News18 quoted Mohamed as saying. Nihan tweeted on Tuesday evening that he had not been allowed to enter India and called for a press conference at 10 pm (Maldivian local time) to discuss his deportation. "I wasn't asked to sign anything. Didn't stamp (the) passport. Didn't say I was banned from entering. But they had three documents. One of those three documents, I know is with my airline agent. But haven't seen (it)." MP Nihan said, according to Sun Online. According to The Wire, Nihan believes that he was not allowed to step on Indian soil due to his political affiliations, as he was asked to identify which party he belonged to by the immigration officials. This incident occurred amidst the continuing deterioration in relations between India and Maldives and two days after Maldives governments decided to 'return' two search-and-rescue helicopters gifted by India in 2016, following the signing of an India-Maldives defence action plan in April that year. India's Ambassador to the Maldives, Akhilesh Mishra, was approached by the country's government on Wednesday, The New Indian Express said. Pakistan Army chief Javed Bajwa and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed bilateral ties and the need for political reconciliation in Afghanistan. Washington: Pakistan Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed bilateral ties and the need for political reconciliation in Afghanistan in a phone call. In the call made by Pompeo on Wednesday, topics discussed also included "the strategy in South Asia and the importance of targeting all militant and terrorist groups without distinction", State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said. This is the first time that a high-level engagement between US and Pakistan officials took place since May when the two countries imposed travel restrictions on each other's diplomats working at the respective embassies, Geo News reported. The US-Pakistan linkages have been tense of late, and aid that Washington sends to Islamabad has been suspended as well, primarily after US President Donald Trump's administration accused the latter of providing safe havens to terrorist outfits. The US has also demanded that Pakistan take action against the Haqqani network as well as the Taliban terror groups. Pakistan, however, has denied all such allegations, maintaining that it would continue to wage its war against terrorism. The Opposition DMK on Thursday staged a walkout from the Tamil Nadu Assembly after being denied permission to raise some issue on the anti-Sterlite protests in Tuticorin Chennai: The Opposition DMK on Thursday staged a walkout from the Tamil Nadu Assembly after being denied permission to raise some issue on the anti-Sterlite protests in Tuticorin, with the state government asking the former to approach the one-man inquiry commission in this regard. After allowing the Leader of Opposition MK Stalin to make some remarks on the issue, Speaker P Dhanapal later said the comments were related to the commission and expunged all of the DMK leader's statement. Miffed over not being allowed to talk, Stalin announced staging a walkout with his colleagues joining him. However, his party allies Congress and IUML stayed back. Later, Chief Minister K Palaniswami asked the main opposition party to approach the one-man commission headed by retired Madras High Court judge Aruna Jagadeesan and submit whatever matter they wanted to before it. Noting that a case pertaining to the issue was pending in the Madras High Court, Palaniswami said it was a normal practice not to debate matters that were subjudice, in the House. Quoting the Assembly rules, the Speaker said no discussion would be held on matters being probed by an inquiry commission. Thirteen people were killed in police firing on 22-23 May when violence broke out during protest by locals demanding closure of Sterlite Industries in Tuticorin district over pollution issues. The Tamil Nadu government had last month appointed a one-person Commission of Inquiry headed by a retired judge of the Madras High Court to probe the violence in Tuticorin. The inquiry will cover the "law and order incidents following the siege of the District Collectorate by thousands of persons violating prohibitory orders," an official release had said. Narendra Modi was interacting through video conference with beneficiaries of the 'Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojna (PMBJP)'. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said access to medicines is a big concern for the poor and his government's constant endeavour is to ensure affordable healthcare for every Indian. He was interacting through video conference with beneficiaries of the 'Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Yojana (PMJAY)' and affordable cardiac stents and knee implants. "Access to medicines is a big concern for the poor... Our constant endeavour is to ensure affordable healthcare to every Indian," he said. Modi said several people are benefitting from PMJAY, an initiative of the government to provide medicines at affordable prices. He noted that the government has reduced stent prices substantially, benefitting the poor and the middle class the most. The prime minister also said that his government aims to eradicate tuberculosis from India by 2025, five years ahead of a globally-set deadline. Ahead of the International Yoga Day on 21 June, the prime minister also appealed to people to practice yoga and make it a part of their life. The Odisha government announced welfare measures for working journalists which include Rs four lakh financial assistance to the family of deceased scribe. Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Thursday announced some welfare measures for working journalists in the state, which include Rs four lakh financial assistance to the family in the event of death of a scribe, a minister said. The announcement came barely a week within the state government implementing the Gopabandhu Sambadika Swasthya Bima Yojana covering health insurance worth Rs two lakh for journalists. While the family of a working journalist will be entitled to get Rs four lakh in the event of his death, a top up financial assistance will be provided with the approval of the Director of Medical Education and Training to the health insurance benefit for critical illness if the expenditure exceeds Rs two lakh, Information and Public Relation Minister Pratap Jena said. Three per cent interest subvention each up to Rs 25 lakh house building loans, four wheeler loan up to Rs four lakh and two wheeler loan upto Rs 50,000 will be released annually. The subvention will be released annually after repayment of regular instalments with interest by the loanee scribes, he said. Financial assistance of Rs two lakh will be provided to a journalist in the event of permanent incapacitation. Educational assistance to the children of deceased working journalist will be provided at the rate of Rs 1500 per month and Rs 2500 per month for higher studies. To facilitate 3 days/1 week/2 week training of minimum 25 and maximum 35 journalists within the state in institute like Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), training cost upto Rs 10,000 per journalist, will be borne by the government, he said. Patnaik instructed information and public relations department to implement the benefits immediately. The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) on Thursday said that an Indian delegation will arrive on 14 June to discuss cross-border airspace issues that have been pending for the last five years. Kathmandu: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) on Thursday said that an Indian delegation will arrive on 14 June to discuss cross-border airspace issues that have been pending for the last five years. The team comprising officials from the Airports Authority of India (AAI) will be led by Anil Kumar Dutta, member of Air Navigation Services and board member of the AAI, reported the Kathmandu Post. The two sides will discuss three key cross-border routes that Nepal has sought from India Janakpur in the eastern, Nepalgunj in the mid-western and Mahendranagar in the far western regions said CAAN. Nepal asked India to formally open the new cross-border air routes during Indian prime minister Narendra Modi's visit to Kathmandu in 2014 and it was also on the agenda during his 11 May visit. The proposed bi-directional or incoming and outgoing air routes will facilitate the operation of international flights from Bhairahawa, Pokhara and Nijgadh airports. "We don't know about the mandate that the Indian delegation has been entrusted with by its government, but we are prepared to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) if the discussions yield a positive outcome," the Kathmandu Post quoted a top CAAN official as saying. "If the MoU is signed during this meeting, it will open the door for both sides to conduct a safety assessment of the proposed routes soon." After a safety assessment has been completed by the technical teams of both sides, a report has to be published in an Aeronautical Information Publication (AIP) before the new air routes can become operational. There have been over 1,000 incidents of ceasefire violation by Pakistan this year and India hopes that Islamabad will adhere to the 2003 truce agreement, the External Affairs Ministry said. New Delhi: There have been more than 1,000 incidents of ceasefire violation by Pakistan this year and India hopes that Islamabad will adhere to the 2003 truce agreement, the External Affairs Ministry said on Thursday. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said ceasefire violations were being used by Pakistan to aid infiltration of terrorists. Whenever there is an unprovoked attack on the borders, the matter is taken very strongly with the Pakistani side as it involves loss of life and property, he said. "In 2018 alone, there have been more than 1,000 cases of ceasefire violation by Pakistan. We have maintained that the ceasefire violation by Pakistan is used as a cover to infiltrate terrorists into our territory and we have seen the results of such infiltration in the past. We hope that Pakistan will realise what it is doing and adheres to the 2003 ceasefire agreement between the two countries in this matter," he said in response to a question. His reaction comes in the backdrop of a militant attack, in which two soldiers were injured while on a patrol near the Line of Control in Keran sector of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday. Last week, the Director Generals of Military Operations (DGMOs) of India and Pakistan agreed to fully implement the ceasefire pact of 2003 in letter and spirit forthwith to stop cross-border firings in Jammu and Kashmir. However, there have been incidents of ceasefire violation in the past week too. In response to a question on whether the Ministry of External Affairs has put restrictions on Pakistani academicians to attend a seminar in India next month, Kumar said there are several factors that go into participation of any individual or country in a conference or a seminar. According to media reports, the Association for Asian Studies and Ashoka University will be holding a conference scheduled next month, which is to be attended by academicians from all over the over, but the MEA has put restrictions on Pakistani scholars. "One major consideration which goes into before taking any decision, which of course includes the inputs we get from various agencies...a very important input is the state of relationship. If the state of relationship is good and positive, then these things are very smooth and free-flowing, and if you have a relationship which is not very smooth, then of course there are due diligence and all these things come into play. Participation by Pakistan or any other country is a reflection of the current state of the relationship between India and that country," he said. As the country awaits Pranab's speech at the RSS headquarters in Nagpur later on Thursday, it is pertinent to note that several media reports, especially TV channels, are replaying the former president's earlier speeches (as the President of India) which discussed the themes of 'diversity', 'plurality' and 'tolerance'. Sharmishtha Mukherjee, former president Pranab Mukherjee's daughter and Congress leader, cautioned her father ahead of his valedictory speech at an RSS event in Nagpur on Thursday. The Congress leader said that while his speech might be forgotten, visuals of him speaking from the RSS podium will remain etched in everyone's mind. Sharmishtha, it seems, is worried that Pranab is giving the BJP and the RSS "full handle to plant false stories" and "spread falls rumours." While the quote (" speech will be forgotten, visuals will remain") is commendable, it's not entirely true. As the country awaits Pranab's speech at the RSS headquarters in Nagpur later on Thursday, it is pertinent to note that several media reports, especially TV channels, are replaying the former president's earlier speeches (as the President of India) which discussed the themes of 'diversity', 'plurality' and 'tolerance'. Pranab, who has been described as "a secular patriarch" and an "intellectual giant", and a devout Congressman, being invited to an RSS event would of course raise a few eyebrows, but barring the intial shock over the event, the media brouhaha over the past couple of weeks has been a bit exhausting. The speculations over what the former president would say, or suggestions of what he should or would say, or theorising why was Pranab invited in the first place, or postulating that Pranab might have "political ambitions" were quite ridiculous. Pranab's last speech as the President of India in 2017 reflected the thoughts and concerns that had engaged him throughout his over five-decade-long political career. Unlike his 2012 speech when he took over as the president in which he made a passing reference, pluralism and tolerance dominated the 2017 address. "I want to share with you some truths that I have internalised in this period. The soul of India resides in pluralism and tolerance. India is not just a geographical entity. It carries a history of ideas, philosophy, intellect, industrial genius, craft, innovation and experience. Plurality of our society has come about through assimilation of ideas over centuries." "The multiplicity in culture, faith and language is what makes India special. We derive our strength from tolerance. It has been part of our collective consciousness for centuries. There are divergent strands in public discourse. We may argue, we may agree or we may not agree." "But we cannot deny the essential prevalence of multiplicity of opinion. Otherwise, a fundamental character of our thought process will wither away," said the lifelong Congressman on the last day of his career." In his last speech as the president, Pranab had expressd his concern about increasing violence and how darkness, fear and mistrust was at the heart of this violence. Power of non-violence has to be resurrected to build a caring society to ensure participation of all sections of the people, he said. While pluralism along with environment and inclusion engaged Pranab last year as he readied to hang up his boots after a very successful career, his first speech as president in 2012 was markedly different and focussed mainly on poverty, terrorism and corruption. He talked on education both the times. The first topic Pranab touched in his 2012 speech was poverty after making the same overarching statement on basic fundamentals for a modern nation - democracy, secularism and equality. Real development is when the poorest feel they are part of the narrative of rising India, he said. "There is no humiliation more abusive than hunger. Trickle-down theories do not address the legitimate aspirations of the poor. We must lift those at the bottom so that poverty is erased from the dictionary of modern India." However, then, too, Pranab's faith in secularism is reflected in the solitary line on the topic when he said: "Our social harmony is the sublime co-existence of temple, mosque, church, gurudwara and synagogue; they are symbols of our unity in diversity." Interestingly, in 2017 Pranab spoke at an event organised by an RSS body and IGNOU where the then president said that tolerance for pluralism, compassion for all and love for the motherland are core civilisational values of India where hundreds of languages and all major religions live under one system. "The idea of Bharat flows from eternal wisdom of our rich traditions. Our core civilisational values, which are equally relevant today - speak of love for motherland, performance of duty, compassion for all, tolerance for pluralism, honesty in life, self restraint in conduct, responsibility in action and discipline," Pranab was quoted as saying. Pranab has been a copybook president throughtout his tenure the man hardly spoke out of turn and despite being a former Congressman, did not embarrass the ruling NDA government or even send back a Bill for reconsideration. Pranab also through his tenure tried to maintain balance between the ruling government and the Oppposition. For instance, in 2015 while Pranab criticised the NDA government's use of ordinances to sidestep opposition to controversial bills, he also rapped Opposition parties for continuously disrupting the Parliament. In October 2015, when the case of Bisada lynching was making headlines, Pranab, who was addressing an event at the Rashtrapati Bhawan, spoke extensively on the importance of preserving the 'diversity' and 'plurality' in the country and the need for the spirit of 'tolerance'. Using the phrase "core civilisational values" several times. In fact, Pranab in October of 2015 spoke out against waning tolerance that was raging across the country, not once but thrice in three weeks. In an interview to a Jordanian newspaper (PDF) ahead of his Amman visit in October, Pranab had said, "We should not permit religion to be used as a mask to satisfy hunger for power and control of some individuals. I completely agree that leaders of every country, every belief, every neighbourhood need to take a clear and public stand against intolerance of any kind." "Tolerance and co-existence are basic tenets of our civilisation. We hold them very dear to our hearts. Our first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru propounded the five principles of peaceful co-existence amongst nations. I agree with His Majesty King Abdullah that the world is confronted with a third world war to which we must respond with equal intensity. I also agree that we must go back to the essence of our respective faiths and creeds. Hate speech and fear mongering should come to an end. Our values should become part of our daily life. We must amplify the voice of moderation. We should not permit religion to be used as a mask to satisfy hunger for power and control of some individuals. I completely agree that leaders of every country, every belief, every neighbourhood need to take a clear and public stand against intolerance of any kind, as called for by His Majesty," the interview quoted the then president as saying. Same week, the president had expressed apprehension whether tolerance and acceptance of dissent are on the wane, according to a Rashtrapati Bhavan statement. In the same month, when BJP leaders and Union ministers like Arun Jaitley were busy criticising writers and artists for award wapsi and called it a "manufactured revolt", Pranab spoke in support of tolerance and the right to dissent and against hate speech and divisiveness. "The recent protests by writers, artists, scientists and academics have made the issue of intolerance a matter of nationwide debate," the former president was quoted as saying. "They should ensure that the ethos of tolerance, mutual cooperation, respect for plurality and difference, scope for dissent and dialogue, freedom of expression are all ensured and given full and free expression both in deeds and words," the release said. In April 2017, addressing the 52nd annual convocation of Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, Pranab reiterated that Indians can be argumentative but "never intolerant" referring to the caustic air of violence that had engulfed the country at that point of time. "If our feet are firmly on the ground, we will not be blown off by ideas from outside. India is a land of tolerance. We adopt, embrace and absorb but never reject. Let there be debate, disagreement and dissension, but not intolerance. Indians could be described as argumentative, but never intolerant. In ancient India, seats of higher learning such as Nalanda, Vikramshila and Taxila attracted mighty minds from all over the world and truly became a confluence of civilisational thoughts and ideas." As the former president takes stage today in Nagpur to address several Sangh workers with the country watching, one thing seems to be for certain Pranab will uphold his status as a statesman and continue to talk against polarising and divisive entities in the country, thus not wavering from his earlier stands. Click here to follow LIVE updates on Pranab Mukherjee's speech in Nagpur at RSS Event With inputs from agencies Five people, with alleged Maoist links, were arrested on Wednesday from Mumbai, Nagpur and Delhi by the Pune Police in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence in January. Five people were arrested on Wednesday from Mumbai, Nagpur and Delhi by the Pune Police in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence in January. All the five were arrested for allegedly spreading controversial pamphlets and delivering hate speech under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Ravindra Kadam, Joint Police Commissioner, Pune briefed the media on Thursday about the arrests. "Among the accused registered in FIR on 8 January, some were previously booked for having links with Naxals. We were investigating their links and in this connection, we raided houses of some of them", he said. He said that it was while investigating the Naxal links of Rona Wilson and Surendra Gadling, the Pune Police found their links with the other three people and arrested them accordingly. Last April, the Pune Police had raided homes and offices of these activists in different parts of the country and even questioned them for their involvement in various Maoist-linked activities. Here is a detailed profile of all the accused arrested so far: Sudhir Dhawale A Dalit activist and editor of the Marathi magazine Vidrohi, Dhawale founded the 'Republican Panthers Jatiantachi Chawal' (Republican Panthers Caste Annihilation Movement) to provide a common political platform for Dalits. He also launched a movement called 'Radical Ambedkar' and was previously arrested in January 2011 on charges of sedition for his alleged links with Maoists. At that time, he was a speaker at the Youth Ambedkari literature festival in Wardha. However, he was acquitted of all charges by a Gondia court in May 2014. According to a report in the Mumbai Mirror, Dhawale had participated in the Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh and Left meet in Mumbai to protest the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh and in February 2017, he was part of the Rohit Vemula protest by Mumbai Students Solidarity at the Mumbai University. Recently, Dhawale was found to be one of the active organisers of the Elgaar Parishad in Pune which was organised by Dalit organisations to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Bhima- Koregaon battle. Rona Wilson He is a native of Kerala, who is currently based in Delhi, and working as the public relations secretary of the Committee for Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP). According to an Indian Express report, he has been active in campaigning against laws like UAPA and Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA). He is also believed to be a close aide of the Delhi University professor G N Saibaba, who was arrested in May 2014, convicted and later sentenced to life imprisonment in March 2017 by a Gadchiroli court. According to the report, police sources claim that after Saibabas conviction, Wilson allegedly took over his task of coordination between left-wing extremist outfits in urban and jungle areas of the country and also oversaw the international network. Shoma Sen She is a Nagpur-based activist who is also an English professor at the RTM Nagpur University. She had been under the police scanner for her alleged links with left-wing extremists. Sen even filed a PIL to support the activists of Maoist ideologies. She was also present for the Elgaar Parishad in Pune. As per a report in the Nagpur Times, her husband Tusharkanti Bhattacharya was last arrested in August 2017 by the Gujrat police in connection with a 2010 case related to Maoist activities but was later released on bail. He had been arrested on similar charges on multiple occasions before. Surendra Gadling Gadling is a lawyer based out of Nagpur, currently helming the Indian Association of Peoples Lawyers as its general secretary. Known to be a tribal and Dalit rights activist, he has been providing legal aid to those arrested for Maoist links, including Saibaba and Dhawale. According to a Nagpur Times report, he even provided legal help to the Kabir Kala Manch artists who were questioned by the Nagpur police in September 2013 on allegations of carrying banned literature. Mahesh Raut Raut is a former Prime Minister of Rural Development (PMRD) Fellow. He has been alleged of being the link between jungle operatives and urban outfits of the Maoists. According to the Express report, he has been active in the Maoist affected Gadchiroli district for the last few years. In April 2013, when Raut was a PMRD fellow, he was detained by the Gadhchiroli Police with his aide Harshali Potdar, after two Maoists arrested from the Koinvarshi village revealed that the duo was supposed to accompany them to meet senior Maoist leaders in the jungles. However, they were released after questioning. Lashing out at Pakistan and separatists at a review meet, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who is on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, on Thursday said that the neighbouring country should stop nurturing terror on its soil. Lashing out at Pakistan and separatists at a press conference, home minister Rajnath Singh, who is on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, on Thursday said that the neighbouring country should stop nurturing terror on its soil. Saying that he is always ready for talks, Singh further said that talks are only possible with the right-minded people. Talking about external forces that are 'out to destabilise India', the home minister said, "Everyone's eyes are on India and the people of Jammu and Kashmir are also proud of this." #BREAKING -- We will not step back as far as J&K's development is concerned. Nothing will stop us: Home Minister @rajnathsingh pic.twitter.com/TMDZvJpEpt News18 (@CNNnews18) June 7, 2018 According to NDTV, the home minister said that from the Jammu and Kashmir police to the CRPF, everyone has worked patiently and tried to do as much as they can to prevent any security breach. "There are 25,424 SPOs in the state as of now. We have also tried to create new job opportunities in the state. We are also trying to increase the representation of women in the state police unit to 33 percent," Singh said. Hitting out at separatists, Singh said they are misguiding the youth. He said that children should be spared as they are innocent and the future of the state and country and should not be involved in the politics of the state. "This is why we have withdrawn cases against first-time stone pelters. The Centre has withdrawn cases against 10,000 stone-pelting children of the state," the home minister said. "Militants should understand that terrorism has no religion," Singh said. Earlier on Thursday, Singh requested the youth of Jammu and Kashmir to choose progress over destruction. The home minister, who is on a two-day visit to the state to review the security situation amid the Ramzan ceasefire, asserted that the Centre will change the "face and fate" of the state. While the state government wants the Ramzan ceasefire, which militants have flouted, to be extended beyond Eid, IANS quoted sources as saying that field commanders of the Indian Army have argued how militants were being able to regroup and recruit boys with the hostilities ceased from only one side. On the second day of his visit, Singh will review the security along the international border in Jammu and also discuss the situation of border residents migrating each time Pakistan violates the ceasefire. With inputs from agencies The home minister will reviewing law and order situation with the state Governor NN Vohra, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and senior officials of various state and central departments Srinagar: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will arrive in Jammu and Kashmir's Srinagar on Thursday for a two-day visit to the state. The home minister, after reviewing law and order situation with the state Governor NN Vohra, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and senior officials of various state and central departments, will take a call on whether the present suspension of operations against the militants would be extended after the Eid festival to cover the annual Amarnath Yatra. Security for the Amarnath Yatra, beginning on 28 June, will be reviewed by the home minister during his stay in the state. While the state government wants the continuation of the Ramzan ceasefire beyond the Eid, top sources suggest the field commanders of the army have argued that the cessation of hostilities from only one side is helping the militants to regroup and increase their numbers through recruitment of local boys. Another important agenda on the home minister's priority list would be to deliberate upon the response of the separatist leaders to the offer of talks. While Singh has said that the Centre is ready to talk to everyone including the separatists, BJP's national general secretary Ram Madhav recently made an offer to the separatists to engage in a meaningful dialogue with the Centre. The separatist leaders have been demanding clarity in the talks offer so that their engagement in the dialogue would yield results. Muzaffarabad-based conglomerate of armed groups, the United Jehad Council (UJC), has applied breaks on any imminent possibility of the Kashmiri separatist leaders to engage with the Indian government. A statement issued by the UJC few weeks earlier said that talks would only be held with the Indian government once India accepts Kashmir as a dispute. In addition to his all important security and political agenda, the home minister will also review the implementation of various centrally sponsored developmental programmes. On the second day of his visit, the Singh will review the security along the international border in Jammu and also deliberate on the situation that has been arising because of the migration of border residents each time Pakistan violates the bilateral ceasefire on the border. Jitendra Singh, MoS (PMO), and a team of senior Home Ministry officials will accompany Singh during the visit. Inviting an intellectual giant like Pranab Mukherjee, who vehemently opposed all that the Sangh stands for is yet another attempt by the Sangh to mainstream itself and shed its image of an unregistered, unaccountable hydra-headed monster. Recent invitation by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to former president and senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee elicited reactions from across all the political spectrum. Ordinarily, an invitation such as this would have gone unnoticed and uncovered by the media. How many of us remember the names of dignitaries who have attended previous events of the RSS? But these are extraordinary times. Sangh has been an over-rated organisation that basks in notions of greatness which it never earned and wallows in victimhood which it never suffered from. That Mukherjee graciously accepted the invite by the RSS is not newsworthy, as it is in the DNA of the Congress to accept and interact with those who have divergent views. That the RSS invited the former president for their Trittiya Varsh Training program needs more analysis. To understand the reason why the Sangh felt the need to invite Mukherjee, we need to deconstruct the mentality of this unregistered organisation called the RSS. Right from its inception, the Sangh has been in defensive mode. Fraught with contradictions and an unviable raison d'etre, the organisation could never garner popular support despite providing an umbrella to hundreds of sector and region specific organisations that have been working for decades. Right from its inception, the Sangh found itself on the wrong side of history and they are still grappling with it. Partly through running national icons down, partly through foisting fake heroes, and when nothing else works, through reducing the narrative to hackneyed binaries. Where appropriation of legacies worked, like the Arya Samaj (despite major differences in the way both looked at Hinduism), the Sangh resorted to that. Where they could not find a toe-hold, they resorted to demolition of legacies. Consistent and childish attacks on the Nehruvian construct have been an ongoing agenda of the Sangh. The Sangh actively sabotaged the Dalit outreach of Arya Samaj a movement which from 1875 to 1925 had revolutionised the Hindu worldview. Several freedom fighters like Lala Lajpat Rai, Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqullah Khan were either associated with the Arya Samaj or drew inspiration from it. Not many people know this but Bhagat Singh's grandfather Sardar Arjun Singh took Diksha from Swami Dayanand himself. Arya Samaj was an anathema to the Sangh agenda. An organisation which attracted Hindus (including the so called Dalits) and Muslims alike (the largest donation of Rs 5,000 to Arya Samaj came from Allahrakha Rehmatullah). Performing yagyopavit ceremony for Dalits, opening the doors and windows of Vedic knowledge to everyone irrespective of which caste he or she was born into, fighting for equality of women were aspects of Arya Samaj that the ideologues of RSS abhorred. Inspired by European fascists, the founders of RSS believed in ethnic nationalism as against Indian nationalism of the Congress, and sought to militarise Hindus. The Congress and the RSS continue to differ on this basic understanding and definition of India, that is Bharat. The historically-chronicled fact that RSS not just stayed away from the freedom struggle but actively sabotaged it, cannot be undone, despite the most creative efforts of PN Oak, Ram Bahadur Rai and Dinanath Batra. Echoing what is largely believed by RSS, Ram Bahadur Rai, chairman of the Indira Gandhi National Center for Arts, recently claimed that Baba Sahib Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar had no role to play in the making of the Constitution and he just corrected the draft made by BN Rau. The fact remains, Sangh kept opposing the Tricolour until they realised it was a lost battle. The fact remains, every time the BJP comes to power, there is talk of rewriting the Constitution. In Ram Bahadur Rai's words "this is a new testament of our ghulami' and that this 16th Lok Sabha should be the Constituent Assembly that rewrites the Constitution. Congress constantly reinvented her definition of Indian Nationalism. Constitutional Nationalism is what comes closest to inclusive growth and peaceful, productive and dignified coexistence. Last four years are testimony to the various attempts made by the state and non state actors protected by the state, to undermine the very legitimacy of the Constitution. Having constantly failed at replacing symbols of ethnic nationalism in the minds of people, RSS keeps seeking approval from Left, Right and Center. From spreading rumours of Nehru having invited RSS to participate in the parade on 26th January, 1963 to RSS volunteers having participated in the Chinese war, the Sangh keeps making such unsubstantiated claims at mainstream nationalism. The fact remains, in the Sangh scheme of things, nationalism without the other cannot exist. Inviting an intellectual giant like Mukherjee, who vehemently opposed all that the Sangh stands for is yet another attempt by the Sangh to mainstream itself and shed its image of an unregistered, unaccountable hydra-headed monster. Legitimacy, like respect has to be earned. It can neither be secured by keyboard warriors who have no understanding of the rainbow called India, nor by lathi-wielding men working hard to undermine the very foundation of India. The author is a Congress spokesperson Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami will visit Thoothukudi on 9 June, to meet the victims of the violent Sterlite protest. Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi Palaniswami will visit Thoothukudi on 9 June, and meet those injured during the anti-Sterlite protest, as well as the families of those shot dead by the police during the protest. Tensions were rife after 13 people were killed on 22 May, when the police opened fire at a protest rally demanding the closure of the Sterlite unit in the town. The rally was led by Tamil Opposition party Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). Party leader MK Stalin was evicted from the secretariat premises in Chennai and detained by police personnel, after he staged a dharna outside the chief minister's office, demanding a meeting with him about the incident. Palaniswami's visit comes as an effort to ease pressure in Tamil Nadu's Pearl City, which is responsible for 70 percent of the state's salt production. The National Herald reported that Sterlite Copper has been a source of controversy since 1996. Since its conception, the Vedanta Group-owned unit has faced the wrath of locals for polluting the area. Incidentally, the copper smelter complex was shifted to Thoothukudi from Ratnagiri in Maharashtra, after another public protest. Problems arose in Thoothukudi when Sterlite announced plans to develop a second plant there. Since February, the villagers of Kumarettiyapuram have been protesting, demanding that the expansion plan be stopped and the first plant be closed. Environmentalists and locals both claim that emissions from the plant, one of the countrys biggest, are polluting the air and water in the district, which is in turn affecting peoples health. The plant has remained closed since 27 March when it began a 15-day maintenance shutdown. According to a report from The Wire, tens of thousands of protesters had gathered near VVT signal in Thoothukudi on the morning of 22 May for a peaceful rally towards the collectorate. While the rally had been announced at least 20 days prior, District Collector N Venkatesh had issued an order imposing section 144 (unlawful assembly) the previous day. The police fired teargas at the protesters when they defied the ban, resulting in a clash between the police and protesters. When the rally reached the collectors office, the police opened fire twice, killing 13 people and injuring more than 50, according to News18. Sources say the police opened fire again at Threspuram, a fisher village, whose residents were spearheading protests in the evening. Palaniswami took to Twitter on 24 May to respond to the Sterlite protest, saying that the police firing was not a planned move, and was carried out for self-defence. According to The New Indian Express, he said that the police arrested only those who indulged in violence based on evidence such as a photograph, and not the general public. The chief minister also said that several opposition parties were holding protests, and the ruling AIADMK too had launched agitations when it was in the opposition. He rejected the opposition's claim that the government was portraying people who protested against Sterlite as anti-social. The National Herald reported that Tamil Nadu DGP TK Rajendran supported this claim in a statement, and said that the police concluded that the "mob was anti-social and the violence unleashed by them necessitated shooting." Some anti-social elements intruded into the agitation on May 22 and attacked the police, torched the police vehicles. Under tense situation, police resorted to firing and the firing was not pre-plannned. #SterliteProtest Edappadi K Palaniswami (@CMOTamilNadu) May 24, 2018 When someone hits you, you naturally tend to defend yourselves. so on such situations, no one acts in a pre-planned manner. #SterliteProtest Edappadi K Palaniswami (@CMOTamilNadu) May 24, 2018 However, sources have contested Palaniswami's claim. Namely, Henry Tiphagne, Executive Director of Peoples Watch, who was present at the protest. It was indiscriminate and random. There was no warning from the police that they were going to open fire, he told The Wire. The protest, which was at first peaceful and included a diverse gathering including persons with disabilities and transgender persons, soon turned violent as a result of the police shooting at the Collectorate. As soon as people found out that fellow protesters were shot dead by the police and several others were left injured, they resorted to violence. The protesters began to target their violence towards the Sterlite Housing Quarters, which was located right beside the Collectorate. Sources have also suggested that the police operated out of vested interests in the Vedanta Group. It is pre-planned, cold-blooded murder, said TVK leader T Velmurugan, thus also contradicting Palaniswami's statement. The police obviously want to quell the protests. We have reasons to believe that they have been bought over by Sterlite, he told The Wire. A report from IANS said that Vedanta is infamous for its environmental law violations. From 2000 to 2010, alumina and bauxite mining operations in Odisha sparked widespread protests, and cemented Vedanta's reputation as an egregious polluter and offender of tribal and human rights, the news portal said. During this 10-year-period, The Wire said, it had also given political contributions to the Congress and BJP donations that were held to be in violation of India's Foreign Contribution Regulation Act by the Delhi High Court. Another report from The New Indian Express said that company founder Anil Agarwal is a supporter of the BJP, often goes out of his way to welcome projects launched by the government including associating itself with the 'Swachh Bharat' campaign with a group company helping to build 30,000 toilets. However, no real evidence on Sterlite's political ties has been found. Following the incident, The Economic Times reported that the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board has demanded that the Sterlite plant in Thoothukudi be shut down "in larger public interest", and ordered a Crime Branch-CID probe into the violence during the anti-Sterlite protest and police firing. The probe was transferred from local police to the CB-CID police on 26 May, a senior official told PTI. According to The Times of India, the Madras High Court in a hearing on 23 May, ordered a halt in the expansion works at the plant and ordered a public hearing of the matter. The chief minister announced Rs 10 lakh as compensation to the kin of those killed in police firing. While those seriously injured will get Rs three lakh, people with minor injuries will get Rs one lakh. Palaniswami has also promised government jobs to one member of the families of those killed in the firing. While students who performed well academically have been the subject of much adulation, less attention was given to the ones who fell short. In the recent past, results of a number of examinations have been declared across the country. While students who performed well academically have been the subject of much adulation, less attention was given to the ones who fell short. However, reports have appeared in the media about students who felt disappointed with their academic performance resorting to extreme steps. In Tamil Nadu, two students committed suicide in a week as they were upset over not being able to clear NEET. A 16-year-old student of Delhi's School of Open Learning slit her wrists and hung herself from the ceiling of her Delhi home last week after failing her CBSE Class 10 examinations. The instances mentioned above were by no means isolated cases. According to National Crime Records Bureau data, one student commits suicide in India every hour, with Maharashtra reporting the maximum number of such cases. There were 8,934 student suicides reported in 2015, but the number of attempted suicides, many of which are unreported, is likely to be much higher, IndiaSpend reported. According to an article in Scroll, suicides of people between 15 and 29 years of age account for about one-third of the total such incidents in the country. Where does it go wrong? It is the "shock and shame" element of failure that drives young people to take their own lives, Mumbai-based psychiatrist Harish Shetty was quoted by PTI as saying. "For these victims, the feeling of having let down their parents is equivalent to a betrayal," he added. According to psychiatrists and counsellors, a celebration of efforts and not marks, is the key to helping a distraught individual in the aftermath of a poor scorecard. In a report by The Times of India, Nagasimha G Rao, director of Bengaluru-based organisation Child Rights Trust is quoted as saying that students, especially over 10 years of age, lack enough avenues to vent their feelings. According to him, such students can slip into depression. Better mental health is the key An analysis by IndiaSpend highlights the shortage of mental health infrastructure in the country. It points out that India has a shortage of 87 percent in terms of mental health professionals. There are fewer than three psychiatrists per million people, 95 percent less than the Commonwealth norm of 5.6 psychiatrists per 1,00,000 people. With inputs from agencies. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Thursday undertook a train journey from Pentrich to Pietermaritzburg. Pietermaritzburg: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Thursday undertook a train journey from Pentrich to Pietermaritzburg, a railway station in South Africa where a young Mahatma Gandhi was thrown out of a "whites-only" compartment 125 years ago, an incident that acted as a catalyst for him to practice Satyagraha. Swaraj, who is in South Africa on a five-day visit, also inaugurated the 2-sided bust of Gandhi, called the "Birth of Satyagraha". The bust "acts as a constant reminder, to all of mankind, of the momentous moral journey that young Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi undertook," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted. "To practice this belief of 'Vasudeva kudumbakam' (the world is one family) we need to keep reminding us that Truth and Non-violence is the way," said Swaraj in her address at the event. His journey between Pentrich to Pietermaritzburg acted as a catalyst for Mahatma Gandhi to practise satyagraha, Kumar said. "125th anniversary of the Pietermaritzburg incident, 100th Birth Centenary of Madiba (Nelson Mandela) and 25 years of the diplomatic relations. It couldn't get bigger," Kumar tweeted. On the night of 7 June, 1893, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, a young lawyer, was thrown off the train's first class compartment at Pietermaritzburg station for refusing to give up his seat. The incident led him to develop his Satyagraha principles of peaceful resistance and mobilise people in South Africa and in India against the discriminatory rules of the British. Swaraj also inaugurated The Mahatma Gandhi Digital Museum consisting of interactive screens, videos, audio commentary on the infamous incident. To mark 125th anniversary of the incident, she released a coffee table book titled 'The Birth of Satyagraha'. Swaraj along with Deputy Foreign Minister of South Africa Luwellyn Landers jointly released postal stamps on Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya and Oliver Tambo to mark 25 years of the establishment of diplomatic relations. Tambo was a South African anti-apartheid politician and revolutionary who served as President of the African National Congress from 1967 to 1991. Upadhyaya was an Indian thinker and co-founder of the political party Bharatiya Jana Sangh. Later, 20 diaspora youth from Africa and five from India answered a question "What was the Turning Point Moment in Your Life?" in the form of an essay for a competition. Winners were felicitated by Swaraj. Gandhi spent 21 years in South Africa before returning to India in 1915. Three country-made bombs were on Thursday seized from a saloon in Gomati district, about three km from the helipad at Chandrapur where the chopper carrying President Ramnath Kovind landed on Thursday. Agartala: Three country-made bombs were on Thursday seized from a saloon in Gomati district, about three kilometres from the helipad at Chandrapur where the chopper carrying President Ramnath Kovind landed on Thursday. Additional Inspector General (Law and order) Smriti Ranjan Das said the owner of the saloon was detained for interrogation and the bombs were defused by Gomati district police. The bombs were wrapped in newspaper and kept under a table, he said adding they were seized during a random search when the President was attending a programme at Udaipur in Gomati district. Investigations into the bomb seizure was on. Kovind on Thursday dedicated a 73.71 kilometre-long national highway between Tripurasundari temple at Udaipur, about 60 kilometres from here, and Sabroom in South Tripura district. The road would improve connectivity between South Tripura district and Chittagong port in Bangladesh. Kovind, who is on a two-day visit to the state, returned to the Rajbhavan after attending the programmes. Two soldiers were on Thursday injured in a militant attack on an army patrol near the Line of Control in Keran sector of Jammu and Kashmir, an official said. Srinagar: Two soldiers were on Thursday injured in a militant attack on an army patrol near the Line of Control in Keran sector of Jammu and Kashmir, an official said. "Terrorists opened fire on a link patrol ahead of the fence at the Line of Control in Keran sector," a defence spokesperson said in Srinagar. He said two soldiers were injured in the firing, which was retaliated to by army personnel. The operation was in progress when last reports came in, he added. The attack comes on a day when Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh arrived in Jammu and Kashmir on a two-day visit to the state to review the security situation. He is scheduled to visit border district of Kupwara on Friday morning. Former president and senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee is all set to address the valedictory function of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's (RSS) Sangh Shiksha Varg a training camp for the volunteers at the headquarters in Nagpur on Thursday. Former president and senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee is all set to address the valedictory function of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's (RSS) Sangh Shiksha Varg a training camp for the volunteers at the headquarters in Nagpur on Thursday. The "secular patriarch's" decision to accept the Sangh's invitation has evoked a mixed response with some crying ideological betrayal while the other seeing no harm in it. Meanwhile, Mukherjee broke his silence on the issue earlier this week and said that whatever he has to say, he will say in Nagpur only. ""Whatever I have to say, I will say in Nagpur. I have received several letters, requests and phone calls, but I haven't responded to anyone yet," Mukherjee was quoted as saying by Bengali newspaper Anandabazar Patrika. On Wednesday, the former president's daughter, Sharmishta Mukherjee disapproved of his decision and cautioned her father saying he was giving the BJP and the Sangh a handle to plant false stories as his "speech will be forgotten" but "visuals will remain". Hope @CitiznMukherjee now realises from todays incident, how BJP dirty tricks dept operates. Even RSS wouldnt believe that u r going 2 endorse its views in ur speech. But the speech will be forgotten, visuals will remain & those will be circulated with fake statements. 1/2 Sharmistha Mukherjee (@Sharmistha_GK) June 6, 2018 .@CitiznMukherjee By going 2 Nagpur, u r giving BJP/RSS full handle 2 plant false stories, spread falls rumours as 2day & making it somewhat believable. And this is just d beginning! 2/2 Sharmistha Mukherjee (@Sharmistha_GK) June 6, 2018 Here is a look how others have reacted to it so far: 'Didn't expect this from Pranab Da' Senior Congress leader and trusted aide of Sonia Gandhi, Ahmed Patel tweeted on Wednesday retweeted Sharmistha's tweet and said, "Did not expect this from Pranab Da." Patel's retweet was seen as a signal that the party high command too disapproves of former president attending the RSS event, media reports said. RSS 'trying to shed its image of an unregistered, unaccountable hydra-headed monster' In a column which appeared in Firstpost, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera wrote that by inviting an intellectual like Mukherjee, who vehemently opposed all that the RSS stands for, the Sangh is attempting to "mainstream itself and shed its image of an unregistered, unaccountable hydra-headed monster". Hitting out at the RSS, Khera said: "Sangh has been an over-rated organisation that basks in notions of greatness which it never earned and wallows in victimhood which it never suffered from." Free to accept or reject any invitation, says Ramachandra Guha Speaking in support of Mukherjee, historian Ramachandra Guha said the former president was free to accept or reject any invitation he received. However, he lent a word of caution to Mukherjee and said that in the age of fake news, he should release the full text of his speech in the public domain as soon as the speech is delivered. Pranab Mukherjee is free to accept or reject any invitation he gets. However, in this age of fake news he should make the full and authorised text of his lecture to RSS cadres at Nagpur available to the public as soon as it is delivered. Ramachandra Guha (@Ram_Guha) June 7, 2018 'Not wrong', says Sushil Kumar Shinde Senior Congress leader Sushil Kumar Shinde on Sunday said former Mukherjee accepting the invite to attend an RSS event was "not wrong" as the latter was a secular person and a very good thinker. "Pranab Mukherjee is a secular person. He will always put forth a secular view which he will do there (at the RSS event) as well. He is a very good thinker, and his going there and speaking on that platform is very important," Shinde said. He said that Mukherjee accepting the invite was not wrong and "we would be more than pleased" if his thoughts bring some improvement in the RSS. 'Sir, go there and tell Sangh what is wrong with its ideology', P Chidambaram Former finance minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram suggested Mukherjee should go and tell the Sangh what is wrong with its ideology. "Now that he has accepted the invitation, there is no point debating why he did so. The more important thing to say is, 'Sir you have accepted the invitation, please go there and tell them what is wrong with their ideology'," he said when asked about the former president accepting the RSS invite. Mukherjee's decision a 'rude shock': Ramesh Chennithala, Congress On 30 May, senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala sent a letter to Mukherjee requesting him to refrain from attending the event. In the letter, Chennithala, also a leader of the opposition in the state Assembly, said Mukherjee's decision to attend the function had come as a "rude shock" to secular minds of the country. "Being one of the tallest leaders of the great Indian National Congress, which has been responsible for preserving the secular fabric of this country, your decision has invited unparalleled disgruntlement among the rank and file of the Congress Party," the letter said. Outrage over Mukherjee's decision is 'unseemly', says Manmohan Vaidya, RSS joint general secretary Calling the outrage over the former president attending the RSS event as "unseemly", RSS joint general secretary Manmohan Vaidya, in a Firstpost column, wrote, that RSS invite revealed Congress' hypocrisy. "The intellectual world of Bharat is dominated by the people with some sort of communist colour. And either because of the lack of original intellectual thinkers in Congress and other political parties based on individual/ family, territory or caste identity, or they have outsourced their intellectual space to people with communist or left background. Though they talk of liberalism, democracy and freedom of expression, they invariably are seen exhibiting the communist ideological intolerance, intellectual untouchability and exclusion," Vaidya wrote in an article for Firstpost. 'Did not expect this of Pranab da': Ahmed Patel, Congress Responding to Mukherjee's decision, Rajya Sabha MP from Gujarat Ahmed Patel expressed his dismay and said he did not "expect this" of the senior Congress leader. I did not expect this from Pranab da ! https://t.co/VBqXZ8x7SE Ahmed Patel (@ahmedpatel) June 6, 2018 'RSS organisation of nationalists, not Pakistan's ISI' Union minister and senior BJP leader Nitin Gadkari on 29 May welcomed Mukherjee's decision and said it is a "good start" and "political untouchability" is an outdated concept. Gadkari, the Lok Sabha MP from Nagpur, also said the RSS was not Pakistan's ISI, but an organisation of nationalists. Salman Khurshid backs Mukherjee However, senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid urged people to have faith in the "wise" ex-president. Trust him not just for his true allegiance to the idea of India, but also for being sagacious and wiser than us", Khurshid said as per an Indian Express report. Those opposing represent ideology of intolerance, says BJP national general secretary BJP national general secretary P Muralidhar Rao said that those opposing Mukherjee's decision to participate in the RSS program represent an ideology of intolerance. People who are opposing Pranab Mukherjee's visit to RSS program are infact representing the ideology of Intolerance. In no way it is going to help the democratic dialogue in the country.@CitiznMukherjee P Muralidhar Rao (@PMuralidharRao) June 6, 2018 Mukherjee arrived in Nagpur on Wednesday to attend the RSS event on Thursday. With inputs from agencies BJP president Amit Shah on Wednesday night met the state executive committee of the Maharashtra BJP to take stock of the political situation in the state. Mumbai: BJP president Amit Shah on Wednesday night met the state executive committee of the Maharashtra BJP to take stock of the political situation in the state. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and state BJP chief Raosaheb Danve were among those present at the meeting late on Wednesday night at the state government's guest house, Sahyadri. The discussion followed Shah's meeting with the sulking ally Shiv Sena's president Uddhav Thackeray at the latter's residence in suburban Bandra. Sources in the BJP said Shah discussed the political situation in the state, especially after the two Lok Sabha bypolls, in which the BJP retained Palghar and lost Bhandara-Gondiya to NCP. "Preparations for the 2019 polls and how to ensure that programmes and policies of the state and central government reach the common man were the issues which were discussed," sources said. Meanwhile, Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam claimed that the BJP violated the model code of conduct in force for the coming Legislative Council polls by holding a political meeting at a government guest house. The election commission should take necessary action, he demanded. As the Shiv Sena is not a national party, the BJP is looking at poaching into at least 15-20 percent of the Shiv Senas vote share for the general elections, if it has to get anywhere close to a majority. Anyone who is following Maharashtra's political space, including Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) party chief Amit Shah knew that Shiv Sena will not bridge a pre-poll alliance with its big brother for 2019. The Saamna, the Sena mouthpiece, said it loud and clear, a day before, and after Shahs Sampark Abhiyan meeting with Sena President Uddhav Thackeray at his Bandra residence on Wednesday. This was reiterated by Uddhav at Palghar on Thursday, where he referred to the meet as a drama. Then why did Shah, with his political wit, reach out and cajole the Thackeray clan on Wednesday? Partly, it was to rub Thackerays ego and resolve internal issues that exist between the two, so that the Sena cooperates with BJP till the elections are declared. But primarily, this seems to be part of BJPs political posturing strategy which they believe will pay off in the 2019 elections. Firstly, Uddhav who keeps sulking about the time when senior BJP leaders would come and meet his father Bal Thackeray and seek his partnership and blessings, cannot crib about it anymore. Whenever he raises this in the future, he is bound to be reminded of this meeting. And so, when he officially breaks the alliance, the ball will be in his court and not the BJPs. He will have to explain to his voters where the Sena stands, and not resort to any fence-sitting anymore. Secondly, recent BJP setbacks, especially the by-poll at Palghar has put the central leadership on an alert, and on a mission to ensure that it diverts Sena votes towards itself. BJP managed to win the Palghar seat by a slim margin of 29,572 votes and lost out on about six lakh votes because of cross-voting and Sena stepping in. BJP will not want to see this repeat in the general elections, in case Sena puts out a candidate against them in every seat. As the Shiv Sena is not a national party, the BJP is looking at poaching into at least 15-20 percent of the Shiv Senas vote share for the general elections, if it has to get anywhere close to a majority. A look at Senas vote share in both the general and Assembly elections shows that the BJP has to recognise its position in the total vote share in case Congress and NCP fight polls together and work on a revival strategy now. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the alliance collectively along with the Swabhimani Paksha bagged 50.20 percent votes, winning 42 seats out of total 48 seats in Maharashtra. While the BJP polled 27.30 percent of votes and won 23 seats, the Sena secured 20.60 percent of votes and bagged 18 seats. When they fought separately in the 2014 Assembly elections, the Sena won 63 seats of the 282 seats they contested, securing 19.3 percent of the votes polled. BJP, on the other hand, won 122 seats and secured 27.8 percent of the votes polled. In the same election, the Congress and NCP, when at its worst secured 17.95 percent and 17.24 percent votes respectively. If these two parties come together, and Sena goes on its own, it will be difficult for BJP to cross the winning mark. And while this is mere statistics, the question is why the traditional Sena voter, would vote for the BJP in the Assembly elections? The Sena voter, in general, is politically aware and understands that for the Shiv Sena, a regional party, it is the Assembly election that is crucial. He also understands that an anti-BJP vote in the general elections will help the Sena only score a political point, but will help the Congress-NCP, causing bigger damage. If you look at the profile of the Sena voter, many of them still connect with the BJP because of the late party chief Bal Thackerays connection with the party, his hatred for Congress and his strong views on Hindutva. BJP is aware that in several pockets especially in Mumbai, Konkan, and parts of Vidarbha, they are likely to see cross-voting from these voters on these issues. And now with Shahs visit to Matoshree, his paying respects to the late supremo, and acknowledging their current leader, the voter might not be averse to supporting them for 2019 Lok Sabha polls. As for Thackeray, he has already made it clear that his party is going solo and that pre-poll ties are out of question. But with no word on post-poll tie-ups, Shah and Thackerays closed-door conversation has left much room for speculation. The author is a senior fellow at ORF and a former political journalist. Congress leaders are used to kneeling before the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. But in Karnataka, they must now genuflect before Deve Gowda and HD Kumaraswamy. Congress leaders across India are used to kneeling before the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. But in Karnataka, they must now genuflect before a second family as well: that of Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Deve Gowda, and his son and chief minister HD Kumaraswamy. For some Congress leaders, this is proving to be one dynasty too many. Its not just because they must worship two high commands, and they have only one head each to bow. The chief problem is that the father-son high command of the JD(S) seems to be higher than the mother-son high command of the Congress. The surrender of the Congress to JD(S), after the two parties formed an alliance two weeks ago to keep BJP out of power, is a total and abject one. The result of all this is that the ministry that Kumaraswamy formed on Thursday, a fortnight after he was sworn in as chief minister, is not only dominated by his own upper caste Vokkaligas but packed in his partys favour even in terms of portfolios. With 15 ministers from the Congress and 10 from JD(S), the ministry now has a strength of 27 along with chief minister and the deputy chief minister. There are 10 Vokkaliga ministers, seven from the JD(S) and three from Congress. With Kumaraswamy himself being a Vokkaliga, the communitys pincher-like grip on this government is clear. In contrast, the ministry has only four members each from the rival upper caste of Lingayats and other backward classes (OBCs). This topsy-turvy balance is unlikely to be corrected even after the seven remaining ministerial slots are filled, considering the demands from many other castes and regions. While the alliance may serve only a limited purpose in fighting the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, it throws up some fundamental questions over any future revival of the Congress in the state. A seat-sharing arrangement between the two parties in 2019, which is part of the deal, is only likely to edge Congress out of its strongholds. How Gowda plays God The surrender began when the Congress, with more than double the number of Assembly members than the JD(S), became a junior partner in the alliance by handing over the chief ministers post to Kumaraswamy. And the capitulation continued in the constitution of the ministry and is likely to go on right up to the time when the parties share seats in 2019. Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy had a hand in deciding not only how many ministers, but also which portfolios Congress could have. In some cases, Gowda even decided whom the Congress should pick from among its own ranks and whom it shouldnt. At least two senior Congress leaders confirmed they had paid visits to Gowda in the hope of making it to the Cabinet. One of them did. To begin with, the ministry-making was delayed by tension between the JD(S) and Congress, and within each party. In lieu of the chief ministers post, the JD(S) conceded a higher number (22) ministers (including the deputy chief minister) to the Congress, keeping 11 for itself. But it was smart enough to appropriate most of the lucrative portfolios. And the issue was resolved only because Rahul Gandhi said it was. He told his senior party leaders to settle the issue in consultation with Gowda and apparently gave some broad guidelines for choosing ministers. For Rahul, ignorance is bliss Rahuls handling of the whole issue, which fell somewhere between macro and micro-managements, exposed his woeful ignorance of the Congress-style intricacies and intrigues that go with ministry constitution. His idea of satisfying different castes, regions and factions in the party was to ask local leaders to sit down and talk it over as if it were a matter of key corporate appointments to be decided by a companys board. And his way of keeping the alliance alive in Karnataka in the larger interests of Opposition unity is a cheerful willingness to be led by the nose by the Gowda family. He must be congratulating himself on stopping potential defectors from switching to BJP by making them ministers, but by brushing aside those known for long-term loyalty, he only created a new band of powerful rebels. K Sudhakar, a Congress MLA who failed to make it to the ministry, said in disgust: Its better that the Congress is headed by Kumaraswamy himself. Referring to his partys surrender to JD(S), he said he was guilty of supporting the unholy alliance. BC Patil, another unsuccessful Congress aspirant, said: I am deeply pained. Only blackmailers and people with money are given importance in the Congress. Among the notable omissions was also MB Patil, the Lingayat busybody who had spearheaded the partys catastrophic move to turn the community into a separate religion. An acolyte of former chief minister Siddaramaiah, Patil had aspired to be the deputy chief minister but didnt even make it to the Cabinet. He is so miffed that he says he will refuse to accept any post now, saying he is not a second class citizen but a first class one. Out of their respective quotas, the Congress still has six berths to fill and JD(S), one. While these remaining slots are not enough to satisfy aspirants, the two parties can only dangle chairpersonships of government corporations and boards at the emerging dissidents. But such posts are not milch cows in the way that ministers chairs are. Meanwhile, rumblings have already begun in the Congress over the long-term repercussions of the alliance on the party. Local leaders are worried that, when the time comes for sharing Lok Sabha seats in 2019, JD(S) will usurp most of the constituencies in the Vokkaliga-dominated Old Mysuru region and benefit from the Congress vote banks there. They fear that, in return, Congress can get little help in the rest of Karnataka where JD(S) has only a modest support base. All this doesnt stop Rahul Gandhi from routinely celebrating the victories of others as his own. He rejoices over the result of 12 May Karnataka assembly election, just the way he broke into a victory dance after the December 2017 Gujarat assembly poll result and the outcomes of last weeks Uttar Pradesh by-elections. The author tweets @sprasadindia Speaking in the House, which has of late regularly experienced ruckus, Vijayan said 'knowingly or unknowingly' certain Congress legislators were supporting 'terror' groups. Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Thursday that Congress MLAs were supporting "terror" groups, angering the opposition and leading to chaos in the Assembly. There was Pandemonium as opposition members shouted slogans against Vijayan and the Home Department for failing to protect a Non-Resident Indian (NRI) who was brutally beaten up by the police late on Tuesday soon after landing in Kochi for Ramadan holidays. Speaking in the House, which has of late regularly experienced ruckus, Vijayan said "knowingly or unknowingly" certain Congress legislators were supporting "terror" groups. The curt remark did not go down well with opposition MLAs. Congress member Anwar Sadath went hammer and tongs against the manner in which NRI Usman was beaten up by four policemen, leaving him with a fractured cheekbone. Vijayan said it had come to light that it was Usman who first hit the policemen. An angry opposition then trooped to the Speaker's podium shouting slogans against Vijayan. Vijayan hit back, saying a section of the people think they are above the law of the land. "I know Alwaye (where the incident took place) very well. None should forget that this was the place where a bus burning terror incident took place sometime back. Among the people who created a ruckus after Usman's arrest were those with 'terror' links. "Those who are now making a noise now do not want me to speak. In some way or the other, these people are helping such 'terror' groups," said a visibly angry Chief Minister. Vijayan also came down hard on Anwar Sadath, who in his speech said that he being a Muslim observing fast was raising the issue. "What Sadath did by bringing in words like 'fast' and 'Ramadan' is purposefully raising communal passion and that can lead to tensions. "This is in no way acceptable... Everyone knows what the Left ideology is towards such groups and we never ever have travelled with such groups," added Vijayan. Following the remarks, the sloganeering rose further, prompting Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan to adjourn the House for the day. Wednesday's proceedings also had to be wound up early following a similar protest by the opposition. Congress leader KC Joseph slammed Vijayan for portraying Alwaye in poor light. The Chief Minister rubbished the insinuation that his Home Department had lost control over the police. "Nothing of that sort has happened. Things are firmly under control. No one should worry." Former president Pranab Mukherjee's much-anticipated speech at the RSS headquarters in Nagpur on Thursday drew widespread praise on Twitter. Former president Pranab Mukherjee's much-anticipated speech at the RSS headquarters in Nagpur on Thursday drew widespread praise on Twitter. Interestingly, people from across the ideological spectrum spoke positively about his address. Senior BJP leader Ram Madhav said, "Great address by Dr Pranab Mukherjee at Nagpur. His address and (RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's) address are in a way complementary to each other. 'Nation first' is the core message of both. Democracy and striving for the welfare of all the people is described by both as the core of ancient Indian nationalism." On the other side of the political divide, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala was quoted by ANI as saying that Mukherjee's speech "showed the mirror to the RSS at their headquarters." On the former president's praise for RSS founder Keshav Hedgewar, Surjewala said, "As a guest, what (Pranab Mukherjee) said should be discussed and highlighted, not unwarranted formalities." Another Congress spokesperson, Sanjay Jha, too was effusive in his praise for the former president after the speech. Ouch!! #PranabMukherjee mentioned Jawaharlal Nehru in Nagpur. Also Mahatma Gandhi. That will hurt, I am sure.#PranabAtRSSEvent Sanjay Jha (@JhaSanjay) June 7, 2018 #PranabMukherjee taught #RSS and the #BJP that Indian nationalism is not the same as Hindu nationalism. Indias plurality is its strength, not treating the minorities as others. #PranabAtRSSEvent . Sanjay Jha (@JhaSanjay) June 7, 2018 Earlier, the Congress had released a video on its handle alleging that the RSS had not fought for independence and alleged that it "fought against freedom when we fought for it." Prior to Mukherjee's speech, Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma had said, "The images of Pranab da, veteran leader and ideologue at RSS headquarters have anguished millions of Congress workers and all those who believed in pluralism, diversity and the foundational values of the Indian Republic." CPM leader Sitaram Yechury took a dig both at the Congress and the RSS by saying, "In the 'history capsule' delivered by Pranab Mukherjee at the RSS headquarters, the absence of Mahatma Gandhi and his assassination speaks volumes...He (Mukherjee) would have done well to remind the RSS of its own history banned thrice by Congress governments, first time by Sardar Patel, following Mahatma Gandhi's assassination. 'RSS men expressed joy and distributed sweets after Gandhijis death', Patel wrote to Golwalkar." AAP leader Ashutosh too hailed Mukherjee's speech, saying, "Pranab da raised his stature. Dialogue is the only way forward...Secularism is a must, he told the RSS. The RSS wants to decimate Nehru; he told them that the way forward is Nehrus path of confluence." Mukherjee on Thursday warned that any attempt to define India through "religion, dogma or intolerance" will only dilute the country's existence. He said intolerance will only dilute India' national identity and Indian nationalism emanated from universalism, assimilation and co-existence. "In India, we derive our strength from tolerance, and respect our pluralism. We celebrate our diversity," he said. Mukherjee's decision to attent the RSS event had triggered a major political slugfest with several Congress leaders criticising his decision. With inputs from PTI Former President and Congress veteran Pranab Mukherjee warned against any attempt to define India through 'religion, dogma or intolerance'. Former president Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday warned that any attempt to define India through "religion, dogma or intolerance" will only dilute the country's existence, as he attended an RSS event amid criticism by several of his party leaders including his own daughter. Mukherjee said intolerance will only dilute India' national identity and Indian nationalism emanated from universalism, assimilation and co-existence. "In India, we derive our strength from tolerance and respect our pluralism. We celebrate our diversity," he said. "I am here to share my understanding on nation, nationalism and patriotism about our country which is 'Bharat'," said Mukherjee, who served as President of India between 2012 and 2017. "We must free our public discourse from all kinds of fear and violence," he said. "People are at the centre of all activities of the State and nothing should be done to divide them. The aim of the State should be to galvanise them to fight a concerted war against poverty, disease and deprivation. Only then can we create a nation where nationalism flows automatically," Mukherjee said. "Many languages and religion under come under one flag. Every day, we see increased violence around us. We must free our public discourse from all forms of violence physical or verbal. We must move away from anger and violence to peace, harmony and happiness," he further said. "Every time a woman and child is hurt, the soul of India is wounded. While we have done well in many macroeconomic areas, we have not fared well in the World Happiness Index. We rank 133rd," the former president said. "Democracy is not a gift to us but a sacred task. And our Constitution is a Magna Carta of socio-economic transformation of India. It represents the aspirations of millions of Indians. And from our Constitution, flows our nationalism," he also said. Mukherjee also said that the concept of modern India was "articulated from various Indian leaders, it was not bound by race or religion." "Our national identity has emerged through a long drawn process of confluence and assimilation. The multiplicity and pluralism separate us from others," he said. Earlier in the day, Mukherjee described KB Hedgewar as a "great son of Mother India' as he visited the birthplace of the RSS founding sarsanghachalak. "Today, I came here to pay my respect and homage to a great son of Mother India," Mukherjee wrote in a visitor's book at Hedgewar's birthplace ahead of his much-anticipated speech at the RSS headquarters in Nagpur. Before the former president spoke, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said the debate over Mukherjee's decision to attend the RSS event was "meaningless" and no one is an outsider for his organisation. While the Sangh is often described as a Hindu right-wing organisation, it calls itself a nationalist and cultural organisation rather than a political or religious one. It was founded by Keshav Baliram Hedgewar on 27 September, 1925 on Vijayadashami day at his house in Nagpur. Mukherjee's decision to attent the RSS event has already triggered a major political slugfest with several Congress leaders criticising his decision. Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel expressed his disapproval at former president Pranab Mukherjee visiting the RSS headquarters in Nagpur and said he did not expect this from him. With inputs from PTI Former President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday addressed the freshly graduating Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh workers in Nagpur amid much controversy over his decision to attend the right-wing organisation's event. Former President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday addressed the freshly graduating Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh workers in Nagpur amid much controversy over his decision to attend the right-wing organisation's event. In his speech, themed around nationalism and patriotism, Pranab refrained from using the word Hindu, or Hinduism, and rather stressed upon the need for pluralist society. Pranab said that he was present at the event only to discuss his idea of Bharat and nationalism. Pranab drew focus on the values and intelligence of ancient India to highlight that the 5,000-year-old civilisation could survive the test of time because it could assimilate and absorb all waves of culture that flowed into it. His message to the RSS cadres was that the national identity, which they seek to preserve, gets diluted by hatred and division. Pranab said that the national identity of India, in fact, draws strength from its diversity. He also said that he believes in engaging all sections of the society and holding a constructive dialogue with everyone. Pranab summed up his speech by stating that the people of India should be at the centre of all activities, only then can a nation state be constructed where the feeling of nationalism flows naturally. Here is the unedited full text of his speech, reproduced from his Facebook page. Nation, Nationalism and Patriotism Greetings, Sarsanghchalak Shri Mohan Bhagwat Ji, Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen 1. Today, Im here to share with you my understanding of the concepts of Nation, Nationalism and Patriotism in the context of India, that is Bharat. These three concepts are so closely intertwined that it is difficult to discuss any one of them in isolation. 2. Let us make a beginning by understanding the dictionary meaning of these three words. Nation is defined as a large group of people sharing the same culture, language or history and inhabiting a particular state or area. Nationalism is defined as identification with ones own nation and support for its interests especially to the exclusion of interests of other nations. Patriotism is defined as devotion to and vigorous support for ones country. 3. Let us look at our roots, India was an open society, globally connected along the Silk and Spice Routes. These busy highways of commerce and conquest witnessed a free exchange of culture, faith and invention as merchants, scholars and sages traversed mountain and desert and sailed the oceans. Buddhism reached Central Asia, China and Southeast Asia together with Hindu influences . Ancient travelers like Megasthenes in the 4th century B.C., Fa Hien in the 5th century A.D. and Hiuen Tsang in the 7th century AD; when they came to India, wrote about the efficient administrative systems with planned settlements and good infrastructure. Takshashila, Nalanda, Vikramashila, Valabhi, Somapura and Odantapuri comprised the ancient university system that dominated the world for 1,800 years beginning the sixth century BCE. They were magnets for the finest minds and scholars in the world. In the liberal environment of these institutions creativity found full form and art, literature, and scholarship flourished. Chanakyas Arthashastra, an authoritative text on state-craft was also written during this period. 4. India was a state long before the concept of the European Nation State gained ground after the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. This model- of a defined territory, a single language, shared religion and a common enemy- is the model which led to the formation of various nation states in Europe. On the other hand Indian Nationalism emanated from Universalism the philosophy of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam ( ) and Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah, Sarve Santu Niramayah. We see the whole world as one family and pray for the happiness and good health of all. Our national identity has emerged through a long drawn process of confluence, assimilation, and co-existence. The multiplicity in culture, faith and language is what makes India special. We derive our strength from tolerance. We accept and respect our pluralism. We celebrate our diversity. These have been a part of our collective consciousness for centuries. Any attempt at defining our nationhood in terms of dogmas and identities of religion, region, hatred and intolerance will only lead to dilution of our national identity. Any differences that may appear are only on the surface but we remain a distinct cultural unit with a common history, a common literature and a common civilization . In the words of the eminent historian Vincent Smith, India beyond all doubt possesses a deep underlying fundamental unity, far more profound than that produced either by geographical isolation or by political superiority. That unity transcends the innumerable diversities of blood, colour, language, dress, manners, and sect . 5. If we take a quick look at history the emergence of the Indian State can be traced back to the sixteen Mahajanapadas mostly spread across Northern India in the 6th century BC. In the 4th century BC, Chandragupta Maurya defeated the Greeks to build a powerful empire comprising of North-Western and Northern India. Emperor Ashoka was the most illustrious ruler of this dynasty. After the collapse of the Mauryan Dynasty, the empire broke into small kingdoms around 185 BC. Gupta Dynasty again created a vast empire which collapsed around 550 AD. Many dynasties ruled till 12th century, when Muslim invaders captured Delhi and successive dynasties ruled for the next 300 years. Babur defeated the last Lodhi King in 1526 at the First Battle of Panipat and firmly established Mughal rule which continued for 300 years. The East India Company after winning the Battle of Plassey in 1757, and the Three Battles of Arcot (1746-63) brought a vast territory in East and South of India under its control. A large part of western region was also annexed to the companys territory and to administer these territories, a modern form of government was established in 1774. To administer these territories, the office of Governor General at fort William, Calcutta and two sub-ordinate governors at Madras and Bombay were created. For nearly 140 years, Calcutta was the centre of British Authority in India. However, the responsibility of administration was taken away from the East India Company in 1858 and the Secretary of State for India was appointed in the British Cabinet to super intend the Indian Administration. 6. Throughout this period of 2500 years of changing political fortunes and conquests, the 5000 year old civilizational continuity remained unbroken. In fact, each conqueror and each foreign element had been absorbed to form a new synthesis and unity . Tagore in his poem Bharat Teertha says and I quote No one knows at whose beckoning call how many streams, of humanity came in indomitable waves from all over the world, over the millennia and mingled like rivers, into this vast ocean and created an individual soul, that is called Bharat. 7. The concept of Modern Indian State found frequent articulation by various Indian organizations including the Indian National Congress towards the end of nineteenth century. Starting with Shri Surendranath Banerjee in 1895 at Pune, all Congress Presidents gave a call for an Indian Nation comprising the territorial areas of British India and the territories of 565 princely states. When Bal Gangadhar Tilak gave voice to the phrase coined by Barrister Joseph Baptista Swaraj is my Birthright and I shall have it, he referred to Swaraj for the Indian People encompassing various castes, creeds, and religions, spread across British India, and Princely States. This Nation and Nationalism was not bound by geography, language, religion, or race. As Gandhiji explained Indian nationalism was not exclusive, nor aggressive, nor destructive. It was this Nationalism that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru so vividly expressed in the Discovery of India, and I quote, I am convinced that Nationalism can only come out of the ideological fusion of Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and other groups in India. That does not mean that extinction of any real culture of any group, but it does mean a common national outlook, to which other matters are subordinated. In the process of our movement against British Rule, the various anti-colonial, anti-British and mostly progressive movements across the length and breadth of the country were unified into a cohesive national struggle for freedom, keeping the feeling of patriotism above their individual, ideological and political leanings. 8. We won independence in 1947. Thanks to the efforts of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the Princely States merged leading to the consolidation of India. The complete integration of Provincial and Princely States took place after the formation of states on the recommendation of States Re-organisation Commission. 9. On 26 January 1950, the Constitution of India came into effect. In a remarkable display of idealism and courage, we the people of India gave to ourselves a sovereign democratic republic to secure for all its citizens justice, liberty, and equality. We undertook to promote among all citizens fraternity, the dignity of the individual and the unity of the nation. These ideals became the lodestar of the modern Indian State. Democracy became our most precious guide towards peace and regeneration from the swamp of poverty created by centuries of colonial rule. For us, Democracy is not a gift, but a sacred trust. The Indian Constitution, consisting of 395 articles and 12 schedules, is not merely a legal document but a Magna Carta of socio-economic transformation of the country. It represents the hopes and aspirations of the billion plus Indians. From our constitution flows our nationalism. The construct of Indian nationalism is Constitutional Patriotism, which consists of an appreciation of our inherited and shared diversity; a readiness to enact ones citizenship at different levels; the ability to self correct and learn from others . Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen, I want to share with you some truths that I have internalized during my fifty year long public life, as a Parliamentarian and Administrator. 10. The soul of India resides in pluralism and tolerance. This plurality of our society has come through assimilation of ideas over centuries. Secularism and inclusion are a matter of faith for us. It is our composite culture which makes us into one nation. Indias Nationhood is not one language, one religion, one enemy. It is the Perennial Universalism of 1.3 billion people who use more than 122 languages and 1600 dialects in their everyday lives, practice 7 major religions, belong to 3 major ethnic groups- Aryans, Mongoloids, and Dravidians live under one system, one flag and one identity of being Bhartiya and have No Enemies. That is what makes Bharat a diverse and united nation. 11. In a democracy, informed and reasoned public engagement on all issues of national importance is essential. A dialogue is necessary not only to balance the competing interests but also to reconcile them. Divergent strands in public discourse have to be recognized. We may argue, we may agree, or we may not agree. But we cannot deny the essential prevalence of multiplicity of opinion. Only through a dialogue can we develop the understanding to solve complex problems without an unhealthy strife within our polity. 12. Peaceful co-existence, compassion, respect for life, and harmony with nature form the foundation of our civilization. Every time a child or woman is brutalized, the soul of India is wounded. Manifestations of rage are tearing our social fabric. Every day, we see increased violence around us. At the heart of this violence is darkness, fear, and mistrust. We must free our public discourse from all forms of violence, physical as well as verbal. Only a non-violent society can ensure the participation of all sections of people in the democratic process, especially the marginalized and the dispossessed. We must move from anger, violence, and conflict to peace, harmony, and happiness. 12 A. We have lived with pain and strife for long enough. You are young, disciplined, well trained and highly educated. Please wish for peace, harmony and happiness. Our Motherland is asking for that. Our Motherland deserves that. 13. Happiness is fundamental to the human experience of life. To lead healthy, happy, and productive lives is the basic right of our citizens. While we have done well on our economic growth indicators, we have fared poorly on the World Happiness Index. We rank 133 out of the 156 countries mapped in the World Happiness Report 2018. Kautilyas Shloka from Arthashastra, inscribed near lift No. 6 in the Parliament House says: In the happiness of the people lies the happiness of the king, their welfare is his welfare. He shall not consider as good only that which pleases him but treat as beneficial to him whatever causes happiness to all people. Kautilya points out in this shloka very succinctly that the State is for the people. People are at the centre of all activities of the state and nothing should be done to divide the people and create animosity amongst them. The aim of the state should be to galvanise them to fight a concerted war against poverty, disease and deprivation and to convert economic growth into real development. Let the objective of spreading Peace, Harmony and Happiness inform the formulation of our public policy and guide all the actions of our state and citizens in their everyday life. This and only this will be able to create a happy nation, where Nationalism flows automatically. Thank You Jai Hind. As the country wonders what former president Pranab Mukherjee might say at RSS headquarters in Nagpur on Thursday, his last speech as president in 2017 reflects the thoughts and concerns that had engaged him throughout his over five-decade-long political career. Auto refresh feeds Mukherjee accepting the invite from the RSS has generated a lot of interest as well as controversy, with Congress leaders urging him not to attend the event in the "interest of secularism". - PTI Mukherjee, who had been in the Congress for most of his political career and had been slamming the RSS, will attend the valedictory function of the 'Sangh Shiksha Varg' in Nagpur, the headquarters of the Sangh fountainhead. Former president Pranab Mukherjee arrived in Nagpur on Wednesday to attend an RSS event on Thursday which has generated a lot of interest and controversy over the last few days. Former president and senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee will be addressing the valedictory function of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's (RSS) Sangh Shiksha Varg a training camp for the volunteers at the headquarters in Nagpur on Thursday. On Wednesday, the former president's daughter, Sharmistha Mukherjee, disapproved of his decision and cautioned her father saying he was giving the BJP and the Sangh a handle to plant false stories as his "speech will be forgotten" but "visuals will remain". Speaking in support of Mukherjee, historian Ramachandra Guha said the former president was free to accept or reject any invitation he received. However, he lent a word of caution to Mukherjee and said that in the age of fake news, he should release the full text of his speech in the public domain as soon as the speech is delivered. "I'm sure that Pranab Mukherjee won't say anything in Nagpur which isn't in favour of the nation. In fact, whatever he says will be in favour of country. I've no issues with him attending that event. He's free to go wherever he wants to," ANI quoted former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh as saying. He said that although Pranab is respected as a knowledgeable person, he has never been a popular leader in Bengal. Like many congressmen, Chowdhury also appeared critical of Pranab's decision to participate in the event as he said, "The BJP is doing politics in Bengal. And with this, theyll have a spicy material that theyll use against the Congress. Once a robust Congress leader, he is visiting the RSS headquarters. The BJP is a communal party and theyll definitely make Pranab Mukherjee into a political scandal." CNN-News18 interviewed West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Thursday who opined that after Sharmishtha Mukherejee, Pranab's son Abhijit may also have to speak up against the former president's decision to attend the RSS event. After daughter, Pranabs son too may have to speak up on RSS event The resistance has surprised many, but if we were to delve into the ideological basis of this opposition it would be unsurprising. Bharats intellectual spectrums most vocal voices are those of, an ideology that is entirely alien to India and has been rejected the world over, for its high level of intolerance and violent means to achieve conformity, that is Communism. Their idea of thought conformity necessitates this approach that not only rejects healthy exchange among diverse stakeholders but protests it." " Exchange of views and ideas is intrinsic to the Bharatiya concept of dialogue, this invitation and its acceptance is but a continuation of that democratic tradition, enshrined in our cultural ethos. So why then the dissonance and negative commentary? Why the opposition to this exchange? The Sangh was also unsparing in its criticism of the Left as it defended its invite to the former president at its event. It is in view of such developments that one must consider Mukherjee's acceptance of the RSS invitation it could be one of several options the former president has to re-enter public life, including engaging with third front protagonists like Naveen Patnaik and restless Congressmen unsure of Rahul's prowess. However, a closer look at Mukherjee's political and personal ambitions is also merited. After retirement, Mukherjee has seen a lot of visitors at his 10, Rajaji Marg residence. And it is generally believed that a section of the political class, which is unsure of Rahul's ability to either lead a rainbow coalition or make Congress a stronger organisation, is working behind-the-scenes so Mukherjee takes a more "pro-active role in national life". Former President Pranab Mukherjee consenting to be the chief guest at the RSS event should be seen as the RSS' attempt to broaden its base and appropriate iconic figures. Contrary to popular perception, the chequered history of RSS-Congress relations has seen the two cosy up, bringing dividends to both sides. However, it was in 2007, when former Air Chief Marshal AY Tipnis was invited to the Nagpur camp by then Sarsanghchalak K S Sudarshan. Without targeting the RSS directly, "Tipnis raised eyebrows as he delivered a veiled critique dealing with secularism, tolerance and faith in the Constitution which led to a point-by-point rebuttal by Sudarshan" RSS also claims that revolutionary Congress politician Jayaprakash Narayan also had once presided over the RSS functionaries as a guest. Some others former chief guests at RSS headquarters include the likes of former CBI chief Joginder Singh, Republican Party of India (Gavai) president R S Gavai, and former Nepal Army chief Rookmangud Katawal. One of the earliest such examples is from 1993 when former Central Provinces home minister Sir Moropant Joshi was invited during KB Hedgewars time. Apart from that, the RSS often refers to a voluntary visit to the Wardha RSS camp by Mahatma Gandhi on 25 December 1934. It is no surprise then that Gandhian health activist Abhay Bang has also been one of the former chief guests at the RSS event. The invite to Pranab Mukherjee isn't a one-off. The RSS has been known to invite people not ascribing to its ideology. In first visuals that have come from Nagpur, Mukherjee, clad in dhoti-Kurta-badi looks at complete ease in the company of Mohan Bhagwat, while going for a guided tour inside the RSS campus. It appears as if he is oblivious to fury that his visit has generated in his erstwhile party, his family and among left-liberal intellectuals. Now that Pranab Mukherjee is at RSS headquarters in Nagpur, all eyes and ears are on what will he say. Its hazardous to make a guess. But political corridors in Delhi, particularly those in the Congress are busy taking a guess. The former president will surely speak on `nationalism. But the question is whether his words will be music to the ears of those gathered there, in harmony with RSSs views on the subject, or will he present himself as a critic who had courage and conviction to accept RSS invite and give them a lesson or two on nationalism, what it ought to be, and what ideological fountainhead of Sangh Parivar preaches. Mukherjee was welcomed by the RSS chief Bhagwat. According to sources, this visit to pay tributes to Hedgewar was not part of Mukherjee's scheduled itinerary and an impromptu decision was taken by the former president to do so. Former President and the Congress veteran Pranab Mukherjee today visited the birth place of the RSS founding Sarsanghachalak Keshav Baliram Hedgewar ahead of his much-anticipated speech at the Sangh headquarters here. Interestingly, in 2017 Pranab spoke at an event organised by an RSS body and IGNOU where the then president said that tolerance for pluralism, compassion for all and love for the motherland are core civilisational values of India where hundreds of languages and all major religions live under one system. "The idea of Bharat flows from eternal wisdom of our rich traditions. Our core civilisational values, which are equally relevant today - speak of love for motherland, performance of duty, compassion for all, tolerance for pluralism, honesty in life, self restraint in conduct, responsibility in action and discipline," Pranab was quoted as saying. In this case not one but multiple pictures would come to haunt Congress. Pranab, after all, has been no ordinary Congress leader. Before being elevated to the post of president he has held every single post of importance, except for Congress president (a post reserved for Ganhi-Nehru family) and prime minister. Sharmistha was right when she said that speech will be forgotten, but visuals will remain and that certainly is a problem. From RSS point of view there could be whole album of pictures, frame after frame where former president, a dyed in wool Congress leader for all his life, is looking comfortable in company of RSS top brass. It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. The Congress may be feeling uneasy over Pranab Mukherjees presence at RSS headquarters but the party should realize that it is they who hyped this event. Pranab's daughter Sharmistha Mukherjee and Amhed Patels tweets are reflective of the kind of turmoil that is going on in the Congress over the issue. Pranab Mukherjee has been Congress' trouble-shooter when the party had to deal with political rivals and on more than one occasion he has been a policy resolution writer, which condemned the RSS in strong words. Thats the reason why Ahmed Patel "did not expect this from Pranab Da". Patel has been Sonia Gandhis political secretary for long and what he says could be taken as her voice or a statement (which sounds a bit exasperated as of now). Pranab indeed was somebody, the Congress president could turn to in times of crisis. Rahul may in due course reconcile losing a guru but the problem for Congress president is far greater, that of losing face. There is no single public meeting of Rahul where he does not extensively talk of RSS, portraying it as an evil organisation which was out to destroy India and Indian-ness. Rahul is even facing a defamation case for calling RSS the 'killer of Mahatma Gandhi'. It would now become embarrassing for him if he as Congress president continues to talk in the same vein, while Pranab who has for long been taken as political Guru for Rahul, has a signed a comment like that. The visuals coming from Nagpur would hurt Rahul Gandhi most. A signed statement in visitor book by Pranab Mukherjee at RSS founder Dr Hegdewar's memorial "Today I came here to pay my respectful homage to a great son of mother India" will hurt him even more. The Congress' negative view on Hegdewar is well known. In one single stroke of pen, the former president has reversed that. RSS, in its defense, had said that the exchange of views and ideas is intrinsic to the Bharatiya concept of dialogue. However, Congress leader and Rajya Sabha anand Sharma has a comeback for that. Sharma, tweeted that dialogue is possible only with those willing to change." He also said that Pranab Da's images at RSS headquarter have 'hurt' Congress workers. 'Dialogue possible with those willing to listen and change,' Anand Sharma on RSS' defense on inviting Pranab In fact, the RSS keeps on inviting people from other streams of life who dont necessarily agree with the Hindutava organisation, which in turn goes on to portray RSS as a tolerant organisation which respects persons with contrarian views, as opposed to a Congress or a CPM. For once RSS appears to have stolen the thunder on public narrative from left liberals. In an article published in Firstpost, RSS all India prachar pramukh Manmohan Vaidya talked about intolerance of Left-liberals who would bracket anyone not agreeing with their world view as right winger. He and others in RSS argue that RSS had invited Mukherjee knowing fully well that his ideological grooming and world view had been different than their own. Pranab Mukherjees visit to RSS headquarters has put 'secularist'-leftist-liberals on the defensive. Those who had been endlessly preaching on "tolerance" to Modi government and rest of the country are displaying maximum intolerance by taking on the former president for his decision to visit RSS headquarters. They have re-ignited the tolerance-intolerance debate, this time to their own loss. "I had a lot of respect for him but perhaps because of his age he thought he should do something wrong before making an exit," Dalwai told ANI. The RSS flag has been unfurled at RSS's Tritiya Varsh event and the former president along with RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat stood up on the occassion. The former president is seated on the stage and currently, around 700 RSS cadres who are 'passing out' at today's event are performing a drill. RSS mentioned in a tweet that 6 shikshaks (trainers), 39 Prant Pramukhs & 120 prabandhaks have "toiled day and night" to ensure that the camp runs smoothly. 707 swayamsevaks will be completing their varg this year. Of them, 191 are Post Graduates and 375 are graduates. The name Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh was selected for the organisation on April 17, 1926 from a list of four names Jaripatka Mandal, Bharat Uddharak Mandal, Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Rashtriya Swayam Sangh started at KB Hedgewar's home on the day of Vijayadashami on 25 September 1925. Hedgewar, along with 17 others, convened the first meeting of the RSS. The Sangh shakha was later started in Mohitewada, Nagpur. "The RSS event takes place in the same way, year after year. We call important and respected dignitaries every year, those who can come grace the event with their presence. But all the discussion and opposition around who visits us and when, is meaningless," Bhagwat said. "RSS invites well known people from various walks of life. The Sangh remains the Sangh and Dr Pranab Mukherjee remains Dr Pranab Mukherjee. We do not discriminate between Indian citizens. No Indian citizen is an alien for us. RSS believes in unity in diversity. Every citizen born in India is an Indian. It is his/her right to worship our motherland, Bhagwat said. No Indian an alien for us, says Mohan Bhagwat on controversy around invite to Pranab Mukherjee "The Sangh only wants to unite the entire society. We embrace all, we are not just for one section. RSS believes in unity in diversity. Every citizen born in India is an Indian. It is his right to worship our motherland. There have been many debates about Pranab Mukjherjee attending the event but we do not consider anyone different from ourselves. We Indian are all one and united," says Bhagwat "There should be, and could be a lot of differences in opinions and ways. There are times when we have differences. But we are all sons of the same soil. We are all the same even in this diversity," Bhagwat said. "Government alone cannot do everything. Citizens also have to contribute. Then only country can change. And the Sangh does not want to unite any particular section of the society but the entire society as such. And such consolidation does not happen by listening to a speech or reading some literature, albeit a constant effort is needed. And the Sangh is constantly working for this," Bhagwat said. "Everybody has the right to have a political opinion but there is a limit to have opposing opinion. We should realise that we are working for the betterment of the same country. No matter what our language, ideology, religion, RSS believes in welfare of the society," Bhagwat said. Despite differences, we must work for betterment of same country, says Mohan Bhagwat He set the tone for right public narrative in his organization by saying that there has to divergence of views in a country as big as India but ultimately all were sons of mother India and thus have to work for advancement of India. He hailed Pranab Mukherjees credentials as a statesman and as a person. Secondly, he explained at lengh that RSS was not an organisation for Hindus but for all Indians. "How can one Indian be an alien to another Indian" and reminded that India has since time immemorial believed in 'unity in diversity'. He began with by striking the right notes on several counts. Starting from explaining why Mukherjee was here at passing out parade of 750 new recruits, Bhagwat said, "Sangh will remain Sangh and Dr Mukherjee will remain Dr Mukherjee," despite the latters presence at an event hosted by an organisation which follows a different ideology Mohan Bhagwat knows it well that he never has had a platform when crores of Indians would be watching him, hearing every word that he is saying. Thanks to the controversy around Pranab Mukherjee landing at RSS headquarters, the nation is hooked to TV sets and watching his speech live. To his credit he is not letting this opportunity go. "The concepts of nationalism and patriotism are so deeply intertwined that it is very difficult to separate them and discuss. I am here to share my understanding of of these concepts and my understanding of Bharat," Mukherjee said. Pranab Mukherjee says, here to share my understanding of Bharat with you "Our national identity has emerged through a long drawn process of confluence and assimilation. The multiplicity and pluralism separates us from others. Any attempt at defining our nationhood in terms of dogma, religion... will only result in dilution of our national identity," says Pranab Mukherjee "Nationalism is identification with one's own nation. It is devotion to and for ones own country. India was an open society and globally connected along the Silk Route. Merchants and conqurers came to India. Many ancient travellers came to India and gave their account. Various foreign travellers, who came to India centuries ago, said India had an efficient administration and great education system," Mukherjee said. "A particular thing needs to be kept in mind. Of the 2500 years of conquerers and rulers, the 5000 year old civilization remains constant. Each conquerer has been assimilated and absorbed. This is what makes us special," Pranab said. He went on to quote Rabindra Nath Tagore to say that the Bharat, as he understands, is an assimilation of various "indominiable waves" that came and assimilated into the Indian society. "India does not mean one religion, one entity or one culture. It is the confluence and assimilation of all these cultures that makes us unique. It is important to remember that the confluence of cultures do not mean extinction of another. Our nation is neither bound by religion nor race. In fact our Bharat is made up of its diversity," Pranab said. The confluence of cultures do not mean extinction of another, Pranab Mukherjee at RSS HQ "The concept of a modern Indian state, transcribed by thinkers and ideologies has provided India with a permanent edge. "A nation in the making" conceptualises the Indian state. Our national identity emerged from a long-drawn process of confluence and co-existence. The concept of modern India was articulated from various Indian leaders, it was not bound by race or religion," says Pranab Mukherjee. Democracy is not a gift to us but a sacred task. And our Constitution is a magna carta of socio economic transformation of India. It represents the aspiration of millions of Indian. And from our Constitution, flows our Nationalism," Pranab summed up. Pranab Mukherjee beginning his speech with glory of India in ancient times was interesting. Those in Hindutava fold stress on the glorious period of India, which was eulogized by travelers from across the world. Chankaya, Chandragupta and whole lot of others came in for reference. He said that the trust in India as a country is eternal. It has rich cultural and civilisational tradition. Indian nationalism had evolved through ages but at the centre of it was the thought of universal brotherhood, `Vasudhaiv Kutumbkam. Mukherjee with his famed knowledge of politics, history and tradition would come to new RSS recruits, those gathered there and watching him on TV as a learned professor who gave them a memorable lecture. "Many languages and religion under come under one flag. Every day, we see increased violence around us. We must free our public discourse from all forms of violence physical or verbal. We must move away from anger and violence to peace, harmony and happiness. I am addressing the trainees, you are young and highly trained. Please pray for peace. Our motherland is asking for that and needs that. Every time a woman and child is hurt, the soul of India is wounded. While we have done well in many macro-economic areas. But we have not fared well in the World Happiness Index. We rank 133rd. When we go to Parliament, just above the lift in gate number 6, there is a quote by Kautilya, 'In the happiness of the people lies in the happiness of the king. Their welfare is the king's welfare.' Kautilya placed people at the Centre even before India's constitution was laid down. As Gandhi ji said, 'Indian nationalism was not exclusive, aggressive or destructive'," says Pranab Mukherjee as he ended his speech at the RSS Tritiya Varsh valedictory event in Nagpur. "People are at the centre of all activities of the State and nothing should be done to divide them.The aim of the State should be to galvanise them to fight a concerted war against poverty,disease and deprivation.Only then can we create a nation where Nationalism flows automatically," Mukherjee said. People should be at the centre of all activities, says Pranab Mukherjee What also needs to be noted that Pranab ended his speech on a friendly note by requesting sarsnghchalakMohan Bhagwat to excuse him if he exceeded his time. The pictures, still and moving, would ever be witness of bonhomie between Bhagwat and Mukherjee and the latter standing while RSS flag was unfurled at the beginning of program and when it was brought down on its conclusion. There was also a lesson or two for Congress. The party would do well to remember that what Pranab quoted from Jawaharlal Nehru's Discovery of India is what nationalism truly meant. Pranab Mukherjees thrust was on virtues of plurality, social and cultural diversity, divergent opinions, inclusiveness, secularism and democracy. Crores of people of varied faith, language, social practices were bought together as one nation by one flag and one constitution. This would have been taken as a criticism of RSS but thankfully for Sangh their chief Mohan Bhagwat had broadly outlined his speech on same pattern. While the former president gave a lesson or two when he talked about his concerns for increased violence, but that is applicable for all and not just for the RSS. "Today Pranab Mukherjee has shown the mirror to RSS at their HQ. He talked of plurality, tolerance and multiculturalism," he added. "Shri Pranab Mukherjee has reminded the RSS of the history of India. He taught the RSS that India's beauty lies in its tolerance for difference ideas, religions and languages. Is RSS ready to listen?," Randeep Singh Surjewala asked at a press conference convened after the former president's speech. "As a guest what Pranab Mukherjee ji said should be discussed and highlighted, not unwarranted formalities," Surjewala said on Mukherjee hailing KB Hedgewar as 'great son of Mother India'. "Shri Mukherjee also reminded the present Modi Government of following Rajdharma, founded upon our diversity, non-violence, multiculturalism and assimilation of ideas. He particularly reminded the Prime Minister that 'Happiness of people is the happiness of ruler, their welfare is his welfare'. Indicating the unchecked exercise of authority and attack on institutions in the garb of a self-professed definition of 'Pseudo Nationalism', he reminded the RSS as also the Prime Minister that, 'Indian Nationalism is Constitutional patriotism," Surjewala said. Democracy is not a gift to us but a sacred task. And our Constitution is a magna carta of socio economic transformation of India. It represents the aspiration of millions of Indian. And from our Constitution, flows our Nationalism," Pranab summed up. Pranab Mukherjee beginning his speech with glory of India in ancient times was interesting. Those in Hindutava fold stress on the glorious period of India, which was eulogized by travelers from across the world. Chankaya, Chandragupta and whole lot of others came in for reference. He said that the trust in India as a country is eternal. It has rich cultural and civilisational tradition. Indian nationalism had evolved through ages but at the centre of it was the thought of universal brotherhood, `Vasudhaiv Kutumbkam. Mukherjee with his famed knowledge of politics, history and tradition would come to new RSS recruits, those gathered there and watching him on TV as a learned professor who gave them a memorable lecture. "Many languages and religion under come under one flag. Every day, we see increased violence around us. We must free our public discourse from all forms of violence physical or verbal. We must move away from anger and violence to peace, harmony and happiness. I am addressing the trainees, you are young and highly trained. Please pray for peace. Our motherland is asking for that and needs that. Every time a woman and child is hurt, the soul of India is wounded. While we have done well in many macro-economic areas. But we have not fared well in the World Happiness Index. We rank 133rd. When we go to Parliament, just above the lift in gate number 6, there is a quote by Kautilya, 'In the happiness of the people lies in the happiness of the king. Their welfare is the king's welfare.' Kautilya placed people at the Centre even before India's constitution was laid down. As Gandhi ji said, 'Indian nationalism was not exclusive, aggressive or destructive'," says Pranab Mukherjee as he ended his speech at the RSS Tritiya Varsh valedictory event in Nagpur. "People are at the centre of all activities of the State and nothing should be done to divide them.The aim of the State should be to galvanise them to fight a concerted war against poverty,disease and deprivation.Only then can we create a nation where Nationalism flows automatically," Mukherjee said. People should be at the centre of all activities, says Pranab Mukherjee What also needs to be noted that Pranab ended his speech on a friendly note by requesting sarsnghchalakMohan Bhagwat to excuse him if he exceeded his time. The pictures, still and moving, would ever be witness of bonhomie between Bhagwat and Mukherjee and the latter standing while RSS flag was unfurled at the beginning of program and when it was brought down on its conclusion. There was also a lesson or two for Congress. The party would do well to remember that what Pranab quoted from Jawaharlal Nehru's Discovery of India is what nationalism truly meant. Pranab Mukherjees thrust was on virtues of plurality, social and cultural diversity, divergent opinions, inclusiveness, secularism and democracy. Crores of people of varied faith, language, social practices were bought together as one nation by one flag and one constitution. This would have been taken as a criticism of RSS but thankfully for Sangh their chief Mohan Bhagwat had broadly outlined his speech on same pattern. While the former president gave a lesson or two when he talked about his concerns for increased violence, but that is applicable for all and not just for the RSS. "Today Pranab Mukherjee has shown the mirror to RSS at their HQ. He talked of plurality, tolerance and multiculturalism," he added. "Shri Pranab Mukherjee has reminded the RSS of the history of India. He taught the RSS that India's beauty lies in its tolerance for difference ideas, religions and languages. Is RSS ready to listen?," Randeep Singh Surjewala asked at a press conference convened after the former president's speech. "As a guest what Pranab Mukherjee ji said should be discussed and highlighted, not unwarranted formalities," Surjewala said on Mukherjee hailing KB Hedgewar as 'great son of Mother India'. "Shri Mukherjee also reminded the present Modi Government of following Rajdharma, founded upon our diversity, non-violence, multiculturalism and assimilation of ideas. He particularly reminded the Prime Minister that 'Happiness of people is the happiness of ruler, their welfare is his welfare'. Indicating the unchecked exercise of authority and attack on institutions in the garb of a self-professed definition of 'Pseudo Nationalism', he reminded the RSS as also the Prime Minister that, 'Indian Nationalism is Constitutional patriotism," Surjewala said. Perhaps the Congress jumped the gun in criticising Pranab Mukherjee for his visit to RSS HQ | FirstCut by Manjul Toons We did not see the tricolour go up or the national anthem being sung at the RSS HQ. There was never any doubt of Pranab Mukherjee's ability to articulate and his conviction, but for dialogue the other side must listen and change,hope RSS does it: Anand Sharma,Congress pic.twitter.com/6kDxJ6wTRJ Pranab Mukherjee at RSS event latest updates: Pranab Mukherjee said, "The confluence of cultures do not mean extinction of another," as he delivered his speech on nationalism and pluralism at the RSS headquarters. Mohan Bhagwat said that the differences in opinions should not divide our hearts. He said that we must remember that we are all the sons of same soil and we are working for the betterment of same country. "RSS invites well known people from various walks of life. The Sangh remains the Sangh and Dr Pranab Mukherjee remains Dr Pranab Mukherjee. We do not discriminate between Indian citizens. No Indian citizen is an alien for us. RSS believes in unity in diversity. Every citizen born in India is an Indian. It is his/her right to worship our motherland," Mohan Bhagwat said. Pranab Mukherjee reached at the RSS headquarter after making an impromptu stop at the birthplace of Sangh founder KB Hedgewar. He will address the RSS cadres at around 7 pm. Anand Sharma tweeted that the Congress workers will be hurt by the images of Pranab Mukherjee at RSS headquarters. "The images of Pranab Da, veteran leader and ideologue at RSS Headquarters have anguished millions of Congress workers and all those who believed in pluralism, diversity and the foundational values of the Indian Republic," Sharma wrote on Twitter. Former president and Congress veteran Pranab Mukherjee, at KB Hedgewar's residence, wrote in the visitor's book: "Today I am here in Nagpur to pay respect to a great son of mother India." Mukherjee visited the birth place of the RSS founding Sarsanghachalak Keshav Baliram Hedgewar ahead of his much-anticipated speech at the Sangh headquarters in Nagpur. Reports said that the visit was a impromptu decision and not a part of the planned schedule. As the country wonders what former president Pranab Mukherjee might say at Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) headquarters in Nagpur on Thursday, his last speech as president in 2017 reflects the thoughts and concerns that had engaged him throughout his over five-decade-long political career. Unlike his 2012 speech when he took over as president in which he made a passing reference, pluralism and tolerance dominated the 2017 address. "I want to share with you some truths that I have internalized in this period. The soul of India resides in pluralism and tolerance. India is not just a geographical entity. It carries a history of ideas, philosophy, intellect, industrial genius, craft, innovation and experience. Plurality of our society has come about through assimilation of ideas over centuries. "The multiplicity in culture, faith and language is what makes India special. We derive our strength from tolerance. It has been part of our collective consciousness for centuries. There are divergent strands in public discourse. We may argue, we may agree or we may not agree. "But we cannot deny the essential prevalence of multiplicity of opinion. Otherwise, a fundamental character of our thought process will wither away," said the lifelong Congressman on the last day of his career. Mukherjee, who has been critical of the RSS, is set to address its activists in Nagpur on Thursday. This will be his first speech from the RSS platform. Accepting an invitation from the Hindutva group has sparked controversy with some of his former Congress colleagues and Left leaders expressing their reservations over his participation in the RSS meeting. However, what he is going to speak about at the Nagpur gathering remains a guess. He has said whatever he has to speak would be only known when he addresses the meeting. In his last speech as the president, Mukherjee had expressd his concern about increasing violence and how darkness, fear and mistrust was at the heart of this violence. Power of non-violence has to be resurrected to build a caring society to ensure participation of all sections of the people, he said. While pluralism along with environment and inclusion engaged Mukherjee last year as he readied to hang up his boots after a very successful career, his first speech as president in 2012 was markedly different and focussed mainly on poverty, terrorism and corruption. He talked on education both the times. The first topic Mukherjee touched in his 2012 speech was poverty after making the same overarching statement on basic fundamentals for a modern nation - democracy, secularism and equality. Real development is when the poorest feel they are part of the narrative of rising India, he said. "There is no humiliation more abusive than hunger. Trickle-down theories do not address the legitimate aspirations of the poor. We must lift those at the bottom so that poverty is erased from the dictionary of modern India." However, then, too, Mukherjee's faith in secularism is reflected in the solitary line on the topic when he said: "Our social harmony is the sublime co-existence of temple, mosque, church, gurudwara and synagogue; they are symbols of our unity in diversity." With inputs from PTI The reshuffle in West Bengal cabinet and some local bodies is a hint that TMC is planning to overhaul the organisation at various levels. Kolkata: Infighting and the Bhartiya Janta Party's (BJP) rising graph in West Bengal seem to be taking a toll on the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), with the party deciding to crack the whip against internal strife and revamp the organisation ahead of next year's Lok Sabha polls. According to senior TMC leaders who do not wish to be named, the recent spate of reshuffle in the state cabinet and some local bodies is a hint that the party is planning to overhaul the organisation at various levels. The BJP is trying to expand its footprint in West Bengal, which has 42 Lok Sabha seats. The party, at present, has just two seats in the state. The recent bypolls and the panchayat election results have indicated a paradigm shift in the state politics with the saffron party emerging as the main opposition to the TMC, although it has a long way to go before it can put up a close fight to the ruling party. Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, who has floated the idea of a federal front of regional parties, is also making her presence felt at the national level as a prominent challenger to the BJP. According to TMC insiders, the party has a two-pronged strategy, under which ministers who are "overburdened" with various portfolios will have to do away with some responsibilities. Leaders who are holding dual folios of district president and state minister will have to choose between them, although there will be exceptions for certain leaders who have a good track record. "The performance in some of the districts, especially Junglemahal, is not so good. Although we have won the maximum number of Zilla Parishad seats, we have also lost the ones we shouldn't have," said a senior TMC leader. Much to the dismay of TMC leadership, in districts like Malda, Purulia, Jhargram, Nadia, Alipurduar, the BJP has made steady inroads, said a senior TMC leader, adding that local TMC leadership was "not well informed" about the ground situation. Once hit by Maoist insurgency, the three districts of Junglemahal, Purulia and Bankura have been the beacon of Banerjee's developmental policies in the state. "We are assessing the results. But we are not bothered with media projections. The people of West Bengal support the developmental policies of Mamata Banerjee," TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee had said. Just within two weeks of the election results, three Cabinet ministers were asked to resign from their posts and concentrate on party's organisational work. Backward Class Welfare Minister Churamani Mahato, Tribal Development Minister James Kujur and Abani Joardar, who did not have a portfolio, had to abide by the party's orders. "All the three ministers have been asked to concentrate on the party's organisational works," Banerjee had said. The portfolios of four other ministers were reshuffled, including of state panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee, who had to give away the additional charge of Public Health Engineering Department. "Although Abani Joardar was ill for the last few months, Churamani Mahato lost his job for the party's performance in Junglemahal, especially in Gopiballavpur area, and James Kujur because of party's performance in Alipurduar district," said another TMC leader. According to party sources, youth leaders will be given preferences at various levels of district leadership ahead of next year's Lok Sabha polls. The leaders of Trinamool Youth Congress will be entrusted with tasks, depending on their ability to perform. Those who are tech-savvy will be utilised by the party to counter the "false" social media campaigns, allegedly floated by the BJP, to create a rift among communities, the sources said. The party is also contemplating the idea of reshuffle in various districts by removing the leaders who are adversely impacting the image of the party, according to party sources. "We will not tolerate infighting in the party, we had enough of it. If anybody is found to be involved in infighting strict action will be taken against him or her. There can be grievances in the party but that doesn't mean you will sabotage the prospects of the party," said a senior TMC leader privy to the development. The latest causalities of infighting in TMC are the chairman and the vice chairman of North Dum Dum Municipality, who have been removed after supporters of both the leaders clashed inside the municipal office last month. There was no food scarcity, no one from Tripura crossed over to Bangladesh, Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Debbarma said, refuting claims of CPI(M) MP Agartala: There was no food scarcity in the state and no one from Tripura had crossed over to neighbouring Bangladesh in search of food, Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Debbarma has said, refuting claims of CPI(M) MP Jitendra Chaudhury earlier this month. It is a false and "baseless allegation" leveled by a CPI(M) leader, Debbarma told reporters on Wednesday. "Those levelling allegations" against the ruling government should introspect more about their actions. If anyone has any information about people crossing over to Bangladesh for food or job should provide the details to us," he said. CPI(M) MP Jitendra Chaudhury had claimed on June 3 that indigenous people from interior areas of Dhalai district, 170 km from here, are "migrating to neighbouring Bangladesh in search of job and food". Chaudhury had also said that the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP)- Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT) government failed to provide work under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) or other centrally sponsored schemes. Rebutting the CPI(M) MP's allegations, Debbarma said the present government has so far generated four lakh more NREGA men-days in the current fiscal as compared to the same period in the last fiscal. "A total of 10.34 lakh men-days were generated in the state up to May 2018 in the current financial year as against 6.49 lakh men-days generated over the same period last fiscal. Of the 10.34 lakh work days, 2.66 lakh have been allotted for Dhalai district alone," Debbarma asserted. The BJP-IPFT took oath of office on 9 March last ending the 25 year rule of CPI (M) led Left Front. The deputy CM also said that Tripura has received funds of Rs 132.04 crore from the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) under MGNREGA in current financial year. The state government also contributed its share of Rs 41.58 crore, he stated. "If someone is claiming that people were happy with 6.49 lakh work days, but they are unhappy with over 10 lakh men-days, I have nothing to say. It is not fair for a person in a responsible position to make such comments," Chaudhury added. BJP leaders embarked on a mission to reach out to voters in UP and inform them about the work done by the Narendra Modi government in the last four years. Lucknow: Barely a week after the bypoll results of Kairana and Noorpur were announced, senior BJP leaders embarked on a mission to reach out to the voters in Uttar Pradesh and inform them about the work done by the Narendra Modi government in the last four years. Called the Vishesh Sampark Abhiyaan (Special Contact Campaign), the 15-day programme, which began on 1 June, is likely to witness a number of Union ministers, including Home Minister Rajnath Singh, descending at different places across the state. They would make an effort to communicate to the public the Centre's achievements in the past 48 months. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, his deputy Dinesh Sharma, and a number of his ministerial colleagues were likely to reach out to people in different districts. "Some Union ministers likely to be in the state are Rajnath Singh (in Lucknow), Manoj Sinha (Aligarh on 13 June), VK Singh (Varanasi on 9 June), Satyapal Singh (Allahabad on 10 June), Santosh Gangwar (Agra on 14 June), Mahesh Sharma (Faizabad), Shiv Pratap Shukla (Bareilly on 11 June) and Krishnaraj (Firozabad on 7 June)," Amarpal Maurya, UP co-ordinator of the Vishesh Sampark Abhiyaan, told PTI in Lucknow on Thursday. He said Adityanath would be going to Gorakhpur, his own citadel and Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, besides the state capital which is represented in the Lok Sabha by Rajnath Singh. Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma was likely to be in Varanasi, while national general secretary Anil Jain was likely to be in Kanpur, he said, adding that even party office bearers of the state unit were assigned tasks under the campaign. "The party through this campaign aims to reach out to 16,000 families, and the number is increasing," Maurya claimed. When asked if there was a separate focus on the Lok Sabha and Assembly seats, which the party lost in the bypolls, Maurya said, "This is a nationwide campaign, and is a part of the efforts by the party to reach to its voters." "The word 'Vishesh' has been prefixed to the campaign, as through this, the party aims to reach to the intellectuals in the society. This is different from the membership drive undertaken by the party." He also said former UP BJP chiefs Ramapati Ram Tripathi (for Meerut), Surya Pratap Shahi (for Kanpur) and Kalraj Mishra among others were engaged as a part of the campaign. The current UP BJP chief Mahendra Nath Pandey was in Moradabad. "The intellectual class of the society whom we are approaching (as a part of this yatra) are the opinion makers. It is the responsibility of the political party to present the report of the work done by them to the people," UP BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said. "We are telling people what we have done in the past 48 months, and based on that we are soliciting their support, and why should they vote for the BJP," he added. When asked how the party would ensure that opinion makers help it by ensuring a high polling turnout, Tripathi said, "The interaction through the campaign will help the intellectual class to associate itself with the political process and not stay aloof or isolated from it." He said he was confident that they would exercise their voting rights and motivate other sections of the society to cast their vote as well. "The intellectual class will also apprise the public about the work done by the BJP as compared to those by other political parties including the Congress in the past," he said. A senior party leader said the party might approach some retired judges of the high court to mould public opinion in Varanasi, though the list of names was yet to be finalised. "As far as Ayodhya is concerned, the party is likely to approach the seers, a list of which is yet to be finalised," another party leader said. Meanwhile, UP BJP general secretary and Noida MLA Pankaj Singh on Wednesday as part of the campaign in Lucknow met eminent cardiologist Padmashri Mansoor Hasan, Alok Dhawan (director of Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, a CSIR institute), Swami Muktinathanand of Ram Krishna Mission Sewa Ashram, PK Seth (founding CEO of Biotech Park) and educationist Jagdish Gandhi. tech2 News Staff NASAs New Horizons is back online after a six-month nap, and is has a new target, a Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) Ultime Thule, whose new nickname literally translates to a distant place beyond the known world. The Kuiper Belt is a relatively dense and icy expanse of space that is full of objects that are yet to be explored or even discovered. Pluto lies in this region which is at the edge of our solar system. Objects in this region are so far and so cold that they're almost impossible to locate via traditional means. Scientists, in fact, measure anomalies in the orbits of known objects to predict the presence of such objects. In the summer of 2015, New Horizons was the first spacecraft to visit Pluto. Now, it is on an extended mission to study the environment of the Kuiper belt by observing numerous Kuiper Belt Objects. The spacecraft woke up 3.7 billion miles from Earth and is speeding towards an icy body nicknamed Ultima Thule or KBO 486958 2014 MU69. The Kuiper belt object has been nicknamed Ultima Thule after a mythical, far northern island, Thule, that has been mentioned in ancient Greek and Roman literature to describe the place located furthest north. The flyby will take place on 1 January, 2019 and Ultima Thule will be the farthest planetary encounter in history. Our spacecraft is heading beyond the limits of the known worlds to what will be this missions next achievement, Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator from Southwest Research Institute in Boulder in Colorado told Room, The Space Journal. Since this will be the farthest exploration of any object in space in history, we're like to call our flyby target Ultima, for short, symbolising this ultimate exploration by NASA and our team, he added. Radio signals confirming that New Horizons had executed computer commands to exit hibernation had reached mission operations at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland on 5 June. Now that it has let us know that it is alive and well, over the next two months, ground controllers will be uplinking commands to the spacecraft and will prepare it for an encounter with Ultima Thule. It looks like the mission team at NASA will have a very tight schedule through 2018. According to reports, any data provided by New Horizons could help establish how our Solar System formed and evolved over billions of years. AP A trio of astronauts from Russia, the United States and the European Space Agency blasted off 6 June for a mission on the International Space Station. A Russian spacecraft carrying Serena Aunon-Chancellor of NASA, Sergey Prokopyev of Russian space agency Roscosmos and the ESAs Alexander Gerst, from Germany, lifted off as scheduled from the Russia-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan atop a Soyuz booster rocket at 1612 local time (1112 GMT) 6 June. The Soyuz MS-09 ship has successfully entered a designated orbit and is set to dock at the space outpost 8 June. The three astronauts will join Drew Feustel and Ricky Arnold of NASA and Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos, who are currently on the station. The mission program includes 250 experiments in fields such as biology, Earth science, human research, physical sciences and technology. Roscosmos said its chief Dmitry Rogozin met at Baikonur with US Ambassador to Russia, Jon Huntsman, who attended the launch. The agency said in a statement that the continuing cooperation in space could help repair the strained relationship between the US and Russia. Relations between Moscow and Washington have plummeted to post-Cold War lows over the crisis in Ukraine, the war in Syria and allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential elections. Reuters U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Thursday that Washington has reached a deal with ZTE Corp that would reverse a ban on buying parts from US suppliers, allowing Chinas No. 2 telecommunications equipment maker to get back into business. Reuters reported exclusively on Tuesday that ZTE had signed a preliminary agreement with the US Commerce Department, along with the fine and other terms. ZTE ceased major operations since the seven-year ban was imposed on the company in April for breaking a 2017 agreement that was reached after it was caught illegally shipping goods to Iran and North Korea. ZTEs survival has been a topic of discussion in high-level US-China trade talks. US President Donald Trump met with his trade advisers on Tuesday to discuss Chinas offer to import an extra $70 billion of American goods over a year in hopes of defusing a potential trade war between the worlds two largest economies. Ross said on Sunday he had been having frank, useful talks in China about exports, as Washington presses its message to Beijing about structural economic changes amid the festering trade dispute. The ceasefire will last "from the 27th of Ramadan until the fifth day of Eid-al-Fitr," President Ashraf Ghani tweeted from an official account, indicating it could run from 12-19 June. It was not immediately clear if the Taliban had agreed to the ceasefire. A spokesman for the militants said that they were "checking with our officials" regarding the announcement. The surprise move comes days after a gathering of Afghanistan's top clerics in the capital Kabul issued a fatwa against suicide bombings and attacks. An hour after the fatwa was issued, a suicide bomb was detonated outside the gathering, killing seven people. Ghani said his government supported the clerics' call. "The government of Afghanistan not only supports the unanimous fatwa announcement by the ulemas (scholars) but also backs the recommended ceasefire," he said in a statement released by his office. "(At) the same time, the Afghan government directs all the security and defence forces of the country... to stop all the attacks on the Taliban, but the operation will continue against Daesh (Islamic State), Al-Qaeda and other international terrorist networks." In February Ghani unveiled a plan to open peace talks with the Taliban, including eventually recognising them as a political party. The insurgents did not officially respond but announced the launch of their annual spring offensive in an apparent rejection of the plan, one of the most comprehensive ever offered by the Afghan government. Three months after Sri Lanka was rocked by deadly anti-Muslim riots fuelled by online vitriol, Facebook is training its staff to identify inflammatory content in the country's local languages. Colombo: Three months after Sri Lanka was rocked by deadly anti-Muslim riots fuelled by online vitriol, Facebook is training its staff to identify inflammatory content in the country's local languages. The social network has been seeking penance in Sri Lanka after authorities blocked Facebook in March as incendiary posts by Buddhist hardliners fanned religious violence that left three people dead and reduced hundreds of mosques, homes, and businesses to ashes. Until the week-long ban, appeals to Facebook to act against the contagion of hate speech had been met with deafening silence, at a time when the California-based tech giant was reeling from unprecedented global scrutiny over fake news and user privacy. "We did make mistakes and we were slow," Facebook spokeswoman Amrit Ahuja said in Colombo. The dearth of staff fluent in Sinhala the language spoken by Sri Lanka's largest ethnic group compounded the issue, with government officials and activists saying the oversight allowed extremist content to flourish undetected on the platform. Ahuja said Facebook was committed to hiring more Sinhala speakers but declined to say how many were currently employed in Sri Lanka. "This is the problem we are trying to address with Facebook. They need more Sinhala resources", said the island's telecommunications minister Harin Fernando. Since the violence broke out in March, two high-level delegations from the company have visited Sri Lanka, where ethnic divisions linger after decades of war, to assure the government of its intent. Ahuja said Facebook was working with civil society organisations to familiarise its staff with Sinhala slurs and racist epithets. Complex local nuances have added to the challenge. The word for "brother" in Tamil, which is also an official language in the country, can be a derogatory term in Sinhala when a slight inflection is used. Fernando said the decision to impose an island-wide blackout on Facebook used by one in three Sri Lankans was taken as a last resort to prevent an escalation of violence. Sinhala extremists used the social network to recruit rioters and organise their travel to the troubled area, from where violence later spread. In addition to government warnings, Fernando said that Facebook users lodged thousands of complaints over extremist content, but to no avail. "It was not something that I liked doing. But if we didn't block Facebook, the violence would have spread out of control," he said. Eventually the army was given special powers to restore order under the first state of Emergency declared in the 21-million-strong nation since the end of the civil war in 2009. Amnesty International India has demanded the immediate release of Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad who is languishing in jail over his alleged role in the Saharanpur violence in May 2017. Lucknow: Amnesty International India has demanded the immediate release of Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad who is languishing in jail over his alleged role in the Saharanpur violence in May 2017. Accused of rioting, Azad was arrested from Dalhousie, Himachal Pradesh on 8 June, 2017 by a Special Task Force (STF) team of the Uttar Pradesh police. After about six months in jail, he was slapped with the National Security Act (NSA). "Chandrashekhar Azad 'Ravan' has been languishing in prison for the last one year. Keeping him behind bars under repressive administrative detention laws, shows that the Uttar Pradesh government would rather stifle dissent than address serious human rights concerns," Programmes Director at Amnesty International India Asmita Basu said. Stressing that Azad has been denied a fair trial, Basu said even the Allahabad High Court has observed that cases against the Bhim Army chief were politically motivated. "On 2 November, 2017, the Allahabad High Court granted him bail and observed that cases against Azad were politically motivated," Basu said in a press conference However, a day before his release, Azad was booked under the draconian NSA, thus preventing his release, Basu added. President of Bhim Army, Vinay Ratan Singh, who was also present in the conference, lashed out at the state government for imprisoning Azad. "The state government has done everything to keep Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan in jail. What crime has he committed?" asked Singh. "When the riots were taking place, the same state authorities had asked for his (Azad) and Bhim Army's help to maintain peace in Saharanpur. Now they are saying that if he is released, he will create a law and order problem," he added. Over 140,000 people across India have supported Amnesty International India's campaign calling on Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath to release Azad, Singh said. The petition launched on 4 April, requests people to give a missed call to show their support for Azad, Singh added. Australia's prime minister said that he would welcome Mark Zuckerberg testifying to an Australian parliamentary committee on its data-sharing with Huawei. Canberra: Australia's prime minister said on Thursday that he would welcome Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg testifying to an Australian Parliamentary committee on the social media giant's sharing of data with Chinese phone-maker Huawei. Leaders of Australia's Parliamentary joint committee on Intelligence and Security have raised the prospect of the 34-year-old multi-billionaire being invited to explain Facebook's relationships with Huawei. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull supported the call for Zuckerberg to fly more than 12,000 kilometres from Menlo Park in California to face lawmakers in Canberra. "I would welcome Facebook coming and testifying before our parliamentary committees, yes," Turnbull told reporters. "Of course, we'd love to see the boss." Huawei said on Wednesday that it has never collected or stored Facebook user data, after Facebook acknowledged it shared such data with Huawei and other manufacturers. Huawei, a company flagged by US intelligence officials as a national security threat and barred on security grounds from involvement in Australia's national broadband network, was the latest device-maker at the centre of a fresh wave of allegations over Facebook's handling of private data. Chinese firms Huawei, Lenovo, Oppo and TCL were among numerous handset makers that were given access to Facebook data in a "controlled" way approved by Facebook, according to a statement on Tuesday from Francisco Varela, Facebook's vice president of mobile partnerships. It's the latest privacy gaffe for Facebook since the allegations emerged in March this year that a Trump-affiliated political consultancy firm, Cambridge Analytica, had improperly harvested data of Facebook users in an effort to influence elections. The Australian committee, like a court, can summon witnesses to give evidence, although it is questionable whether a witness outside Australia could be compelled to attend. In practice, committees always invite rather than compel witnesses to attend hearings. Facebook was asked by The Associated Press whether Zuckerberg would accept such an invitation, but did not immediately respond on Thursday. The committee's chairman Andrew Hastie and deputy chairman Anthony Byrne say Facebook owed answers to its 15 million Australian users. "It is completely unacceptable that information from Facebook users has been slyly handed over to Huawei by Facebook," Byrne told The Australian newspaper. "I want to know why Mr. Zuckerberg allowed this to happen. If need be, he will be invited to appear" before the committee, Byrne added. Byrne was not immediately available for comment on Thursday, but his office confirmed that he had been accurately quoted. Zuckerberg has been called to give evidence to US congressional committees and the European Parliament in recent months over user privacy breaches. Iraqi security officials say the toll from explosions that tore through a mosque in Baghdad has climbed to 16 dead and 35 wounded. Baghdad: Iraqi security officials say the toll from explosions that tore through a mosque in Baghdad has climbed to 16 dead and 35 wounded. The officials provided the updated toll on Thursday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters. A government statement said Wednesday's explosions occurred at a weapons depot in Sadr City. It says it is investigating. The neighborhood is named after the family of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose bloc won the most seats in May this year's elections. The vast, working-class district is a stronghold of his supporters, who battled US troops in the years after the 2003 invasion. No one bloc secured a majority in the 12 May elections, and the process of forming a new government could drag on for months. By David Ljunggren and Jean-Baptiste Vey OTTAWA (Reuters) - Leaders of the Group of Seven rich nations headed for a summit in Canada on Thursday more divided than at any time in the group's 42-year history, as U.S. President Donald Trump's 'America First' policies risk causing a global trade war and deep diplomatic schisms By David Ljunggren and Jean-Baptiste Vey OTTAWA (Reuters) - Leaders of the Group of Seven rich nations headed for a summit in Canada on Thursday more divided than at any time in the group's 42-year history, as U.S. President Donald Trump's "America First" policies risk causing a global trade war and deep diplomatic schisms. In a bid to rebuild America's industry, Trump has imposed hefty tariffs on steel and aluminium imports, including those from key G7 allies like Canada, Japan and the European Union. He has threatened to use national security laws to do the same for foreign car imports and has walked back on environmental agreements and an international deal to prevent Iran from building a nuclear bomb. French President Emmanuel Macron, who has invested in a warm personal relationship with Trump, said that the other G7 nations should remain "polite" and productive but warned that "no leader is forever", a sign that Europe would not surrender meekly to the U.S. president. Trump will come face-to-face at the gathering in Charlevoix, Quebec, with world leaders whose views do not chime with his on a range of issues from trade to the environment as well as Iran and the construction of a new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem. Ahead of the summit, Trump signalled that he was in no mood to compromise at a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has tried to cultivate a friendly relationship with the American president. Trump said he would raise the issue of U.S. car imports with Abe at a meeting in Washington. EX-BEST FRIENDS Abe is not the only world leader to have tried charming Trump and failed to come away with concessions from the U.S. leader. Macron, who appeared to have built a warm relationship, said that the so-called "G6" leaders would not spark a fight at the summit. "In this environment, above all we always have to stay polite, stay productive and try to convince (them), to keep the United States on board because they are our historical ally and we need them," Macron told a news conference held with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa. The U.S. president also has frosty relations with Trudeau, the summit host. Pleas by the other member countries for exemptions from the U.S. steel and aluminium tariffs, which went into effect on June 1, have fallen on deaf ears in Washington. The Canadian leader is embroiled in rows with Washington over steel and aluminium and negotiations over the North American Free Trade Agreement where Trump's negotiators have tried to bulldoze Canadian and Mexican objections to a modified pact. Macron stressed however that the United States was no longer the sole economic superpower in the world and urged other industrialized countries to stick together. "We must not fall apart. The six other nations of the G7 represent a market that is larger than the American market," Macron said. His plea for unity may fall, even within the European Union. Germany has suggested making accommodations over trade with the United States for fear of triggering a ratcheting up of tensions over cars that would embroil companies like BMW and Mercedes. Europe faces renewed domestic economic and political challenges in addition to those posed by Trump's unilateralism. One source with knowledge of the matter said that Italy wanted to "create as much space as possible to continue the dialogue with the U.S.", noting that new Italian Prime Minister Guiseppe Conte, a political novice, would be treading carefully in Canada because he needs to see the dynamics of the group." Japan is also expected to take a less confrontational approach than its G7 peers, while still quietly pressing its case on trade. Abe too has more at stake than tariffs. Japan fears being left to one side if Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un strike a deal at a summit in Singapore next week. Japan worries that there will be no resolution of the issue of Japanese citizens abducted by the North and that Trump would only deal with North Korea's ability to strike the United States, and pay less attention to shorter range missiles that could still target Japan. Despite the lobbying and pleas, Trump has pressed ahead with tariffs as well as pulling out of the Paris climate accord. Intense diplomacy from Europe to save an international nuclear agreement with Iran also failed. At the same time as taking on Europe and allies like Japan. Trump has told China, the world's second largest economy, to cuts its massive trade surplus with the United States. Washington has also threatened tariffs on imports of Chinese goods unless Beijing stops stealing American companies' intellectual property. Economically too, Europe may have more to fear if Trump does go for auto tariffs. Its recovery from the 2008-9 financial crisis has been far slower than that of the United States where the Federal Reserve is on the cusp of another rate rise while the European Central Bank is still using crisis-era measures. Financial markets around the world were battered by Trump's trade threats, although they have recovered somewhat, they are still vulnerable and Italy's new government is also a risk. Trump may have less to fear than slow-growing Europe and Japan from a trade war in terms of economic losses if the "G6" pushes back on tariffs. "This is unlikely to deter President Trump given the United States widening $570 billion trade deficit, particularly if he feels cornered," said Olivier Desbarres of economic strategy consultancy 4X Global Research. "This could in turn rattle equity markets and an already under pressure Mexican Peso and stymie any upward trend in the range-bound Canadian Dollar and recovering Euro." (Reporting by David Ljunggren; Additional reporting to Roberta Rampton in Washington, Giselda Vagnoni in Rome and William Mallard in Tokyo; Writing by David Chance; Editing by Alistair Bell) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Elizabeth Piper LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May unveiled a one-year backstop plan for the Irish border after Brexit on Thursday, finding a compromise that may paper over differences in her government but may also struggle to win over the European Union. After 24 hours of scrambling to keep her Brexit minister, David Davis, on board, May published what the government called the temporary customs arrangement. This would ensure no return to a hard border involving reinstated customs controls on the frontier between the British province of Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland By Elizabeth Piper LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May unveiled a one-year backstop plan for the Irish border after Brexit on Thursday, finding a compromise that may paper over differences in her government but may also struggle to win over the European Union. After 24 hours of scrambling to keep her Brexit minister, David Davis, on board, May published what the government called the temporary customs arrangement. This would ensure no return to a hard border involving reinstated customs controls on the frontier between the British province of Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland. Instead it would see Britain staying tied to the EU's customs union for up to another year after an almost two-year transition period if there were any delay in implementing a Brexit deal. The government said in the proposal it "expects" to get a withdrawal agreement by the end of December 2021. Britain may hope that this wording might still win approval from officials in Brussels, and May's spokeswoman said it was a "matter for the negotiations" as to whether the date became part of a legal text for Britain's withdrawal. The EU's Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier welcomed the publication but stuck by the conditions that have led to a stalemate in the talks so far, and made clear Brussels would not accept any legal time-limit. "The UK is clear that the temporary customs arrangement, should it be needed, should be time limited," the document, which was also sent to Brussels, said. "The UK expects the future arrangement to be in place by the end of December 2021 at the latest. There are a range of options for how a time limit could be delivered, which the UK will propose and discuss with the EU." This was not the government's preferred option, the document said, but if it was triggered, Britain should have the right to negotiate, sign and ratify trade deals with other parts of world and it should apply to the whole of the United Kingdom. "What's important now is that we now have a published, agreed piece of government policy," May's spokeswoman told reporters, saying the government was "looking forward" to further talks with the EU on Britain's counter-proposal. ROWS AND RIFTS At the heart of the problem is ensuring there is no hard border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, which both Britain and the EU have committed to. Some politicians say any return of border controls could disrupt a peace agreement to reduce sectarian conflict in the north. It was not clear whether the EU would accept the proposal. Barnier made clear in a tweet that Brussels would not accept any legal time-limit or extending an offer to effectively keep Northern Ireland inside the EU's single market in goods to the rest of the United Kingdom. Earlier, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said he could not agree to a time-limited version of the backstop arrangement. His foreign minister, Simon Coveney, said both Ireland and the EU had "stressed that substantial progress on the backstop is needed before the June European Council". The publication of the proposal comes after days of rows in May's cabinet of top ministers which have all but stalled talks, brought warnings from EU officials and weighed on sterling, with investors uneasy over the lack of progress. The pound slipped to the day's low of $1.3371 in the hours after the proposal's publication. "Irrespective of the news flow we are still in the same position. We are no closer to knowing the relationship Britain is going to have (with the EU)," said Jane Foley, a currencies strategist at Rabobank. Earlier, one source and other media suggested Davis had threatened to resign and the apparent move to compromise with him is yet another sign of the difficulty a weakened prime minister is having in driving the negotiations with the EU. And even though many welcomed the end of the wait for a decision, including the deputy leader of Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party which supports the government, several lawmakers criticised the "fudge". "I don't believe that we should get involved in any backstop proposals, but at least we can see the end of the tunnel," said David Jones, a Conservative former Brexit minister, expressing doubt over whether the EU would accept the proposal. Opposition Labour lawmaker and pro-EU campaigner Chris Leslie said the situation would be laughable if it werent so serious. "The fudged document they have produced doesn't engage with any of the key Brexit dilemmas and is highly unlikely to lead to anything but more gridlock in the ongoing talks with the EU," he said in a statement. (Additional reporting by Andrew MacAskill, Michael Holden, Estelle Shirbon and Tom Finn in London, Padraic Halpin in Dublin; Alastair Macdonald in Brussels. Editing by David Stamp and Hugh Lawson) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. US president Donald Trump hosted the White House's first Iftar on Wednesday. Envoys from many West Asian and Saudi Arabia were invited. Washington: US President Donald Trump hosted his first Iftar dinner at the White House during which he sought co-operation from the Muslim world to achieve a future of security and prosperity for all, a move that surprised many in the community after he skipped hosting such a party in 2017. In 2017, Trump broke with decades of precedent by not hosting the annual Iftar dinner a bipartisan tradition that formally began with Bill Clinton in the 1990s but has conceptual roots tracing as far back as under Thomas Jefferson in 1805. Trump, who has frequently engaged in anti-Muslim rhetoric, wished Muslims around the world a "Ramadan Mubarak" - a blessed holiday and sought co-operation from them to achieve a future of security and prosperity for all. "Only by working together can we achieve a future of security and prosperity for all," Trump told a gathering of diplomats and officials at the Iftar dinner last evening. "For this reason, I was proud to make my first foreign trip as President to the heart of the Muslim world, where I addressed an assembly of more than 50 leaders of Muslim-majority countries. That was something," he said. "The partnership and solidarity that we established over the past year has only deepened with time. So many friendships. So many meetings, even in the Oval Office. And we've made a lot of progress, I think, a lot of tremendous progress," Trump said. After delivering his remarks, Trump sat on the head table which among others included Saudi Ambassador Prince Khalid Ben Salman and Jordanian envoy Dina Kawar. The Indonesian Ambassadors was also seated on the same table. Envoys from several Muslim countries including the UAE, Egypt, Tunisia, Qatar, Bahrain, Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Kuwait, Gambia, Ethiopia, Iraq, and Bosnia were invited. "A very warm welcome to all of the ambassadors here tonight representing Muslim-majority nations. We're greatly honoured by your presence, and thank you very much for being here. Some very good friends. To each of you and to the Muslims around the world: Ramadan Mubarak," Trump said. The US vice-president Mike Pence and several of his Cabinet members, including treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin and commerce secretary Wilbur Ross attended the Iftar dinner. "Tonight, as we enjoy a magnificent dinner at the White House, let us strive to embody the grace and goodwill that mark the Ramadan season. Let us pray for peace and justice, and let us resolve that these values will guide us as we work together to build a bright and prosperous future that does honour and glory to God," Trump said. "In gathering together this evening, we honour a sacred tradition of one of the world's great religions," he added. Meanwhile, members of the some of the Muslim groups held their own Iftar outside the White House in protest against the alleged anti-Muslim rhetoric of the Trump administration. Several Muslim civil rights groups pushed back, organising a "Not Trump's Iftar" protest at a park across from the White House. The groups say Trump's heated rhetoric has contributed to an increase in bullying and discrimination against Muslim Americans. The Iftar dinner was completely opposite from the inflammatory rhetoric Trump used during his campaign, when he called for a "complete and total shutdown" of Muslims entering the country, compared Syrian refugees fleeing civil war to a deadly snake. He has also imposed a travel ban, targeting travellers from five countries with overwhelmingly Muslim populations - Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. The White House has still yet to confirm whether the Trump-Kim meeting will extend into a second day. Washington: The upcoming summit between United States President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore could extend into a second day if it goes well, informed sources told CNN. US officials have laid the groundwork for a second day of meetings if the two men decide they want to continue discussions, the sources said on Wednesday. Trump and Kim are due to meet on 12 June for the first time, and the US leader is due to return home the next day, but American officials in Singapore have established a contingency plan for a second day of discussions. However, the White House has still yet to confirm the development. It is not clear whether Trump is eager for a two-day summit with Kim, but he has expressed a desire for flexibility in the negotiations and stressed to aides and US allies that he plans to follow his gut as he negotiates with the North Korean leader, the sources told CNN. The summit will be a historic first meeting between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader. Talks will begin at Capella Hotel on Singapore's Sentosa Island at 9 am on 12 June. The US has stressed that it is seeking complete and verifiable denuclearisation of North Korea, but a week ahead of the summit, questions remain about whether Kim is truly committed to achieving that aim. US officials emphasise that it is a decision Kim still needs to make. Peace activist Raza Khan of Aaghaz-e-Dosti, who is believed to have 'disappeared' for speaking up against what he thought was wrong, continues to be missing six months later A day before he went missing, Raza Mehmood Khan, a peace activist and the convener of Aaghaz-e-Dosti, shared a story on his Facebook timeline. It was about young Imaan Mazari, the daughter of politician Shireen Mazari, who had gone missing but only from Twitter after her viral anti-Pakistan army video, in the aftermath of the Faizabad sit-in by religious groups in November 2017. Other posts on Razas timeline included cartoons on Imran Khan and a comment on the army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, among other shared posts on the sit-in which disrupted life in Islamabad. On 2 December 2017, Khan was picked up from his home in Lahore and has not yet been seen ever since. His phone has been switched off and efforts to get him back by filing a case have made little headway. Unlike Mazari, he is missing in real life, not cyber space. On 2 June, six months to the day since he was picked up, Indians and Pakistanis committed to peace launched a Twitter campaign for his recovery. Classical dancer and social activist Sheema Kermani tweeted, In a civilised society no one should disappear." Except that they do, and with unfailing regularity. The State of Human Rights in 2017 report by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said that in January that four social media rights activists and bloggers had disappeared from Lahore and Islamabad. Ahmed Waqas Goraya, Asim Saeed, Salman Haider and Ahmed Raza Naseer were later released. The bloggers' disappearance and harassment created a climate of fear for the human rights and social media activists in the country. On 7 January, Qamar Abbas, a human rights defender, disappeared in Islamabad when he was travelling from Karachi to Islamabad for work, reads the report. Again in May the report said that four political activists Raza Jarwar, Ali Ahmed Bughio, Shadi Khan Soomro and Abdul Aziz Gurghaiz from villages in the Badin district of Sindh were abducted by policemen and personnel in black or dark blue uniforms and civilian clothes. There was no information regarding their whereabouts. Zeenat Shahzadi, who raised her voice for victims of enforced disappearances, was picked up near her house in Lahore in July 2015. She remained missing for more than two years until she was released in October 2017. No information was made public about the condition of her health, nor were her perpetrators brought to justice, the report added. A press statement issued by concerned citizens said that the Lahore High Court disposed of Razas case after having confirmed that alternative investigation agencies, such as the Commission of Enforced Disappearances, are conducting further investigations to recover Raza Khan. The Military Intelligence (MI) and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) have denied any role in his abduction. Razas brother Hamid Nasir Mahmood filed a petition which was initially argued by the late human rights activist Asma Jahangir. The petition said, among other things, that someone had called the police helpline on 2 June to report that a person matching Razas description was seen being forcefully dragged into a vehicle at 8 pm by some unidentified persons near Cavalry Bridge in Lahore. However, the police were not helpful in securing the CCTV footage of the area, and while Razas brother and relatives met the eye-witnesses, they were reluctant to testify. There have been several protests against enforced disappearances, and many perceived to be anti-establishment have been at the receiving end. The State of Human Rights in 2017 report, which mentioned Razas case, said that since its inception in 1986, it had received 4,608 cases of disappeared people, of which 3,076 cases had been disposed of, and 1,532 cases were still pending, with 867 from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province alone. Importantly, the report said during 2017, Pakistan failed to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance, and specifically criminalise enforced disappearances. In September 2017, the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (UNWGEID) presented its report to the 36th session of the United Nations Human Rights Commission. According to that report, the working group transmitted 119 cases of enforced disappearances to the government of Pakistan under urgent action. There were 723 cases of Pakistani citizens who had disappeared pending with the UNWGEID. Besides the UNWGEID data, the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances received 868 fresh cases during 2017, higher than the previous two years 649 in 2015, and 728 in 2016. Efforts to work for peace have been frowned upon and often maligned by the establishments of both India and Pakistan. Aaghaz-e-Dosti is an organisation that works with children and youth in both countries, and Razas disappearance has left a disturbing impact on his colleagues. Devika Mittal, the Indian convener of Aaghaz-e-Dosti and friend of Raza Khan said, It has been six months and yet for each of us who knew him and worked with him, it is still unbelievable that he was picked up and hasn't returned yet. He is a simple, soft-spoken and gentle person who worked actively for peace-building between India and Pakistan and for inter-cultural harmony. His work was primarily with the youth. He would co-ordinate interactive sessions where school students of India and Pakistan would talk to each other through video conferencing, he would facilitate exchanges of greeting cards and letters between them, organised inter-faith Diwali, Eid and Holi celebrations. Raza had stuck his neck out and organised a peace demonstration in Lahore following the Uri attack. Mittal said what motivated Raza was his unflinching belief that what he is doing is beneficial for the people of his country. Hoping that he would return soon, she said, It will be an act of justice not just for him, but it will also remove the growing fear and insecurity among those who work or want to work for peace. Others who knew him, like Tulika Bathija, an English teacher at an international school in Nagoya, Japan, valued his friendship because it was far stronger than militarised borders. Bathija, who works on peace building and human rights through school-based initiatives, said, Raza is special. I have never met a man who is so humble, caring, hardworking and compassionate. A student of gender studies, he questioned patriarchal values and listened attentively to all my woes and worries. He would celebrate my accomplishments, wish me on Teacher's Day and other religious festivals. While wishing me on Teacher's Day, he often used to say, 'Maine bhi toh apse itna kuch seekha hai (I have learnt a lot from you).' By all accounts, Raza Khans work was aimed at peace and building trust between our countries, and he saw no reason not to do so. He epitomised what ordinary people feel about the need for harmonious relations between India and Pakistan, contrary to the inimical establishment-speak. He spoke up against what he perceived was wrong. That this should have put his life in danger or be the reason for his disappearance is utterly condemnable and contrary to every right safeguarded to us as human beings. It shows a continuing lack of accountability of the State, which seems to have institutionalised such heinous practices. With less than a week to go before meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, US president Donald Trump plays host on Thursday to Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, who wants his voice heard ahead of the unprecedented talks. Washington: With less than a week to go before meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, US president Donald Trump plays host on Thursday to Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, who wants his voice heard ahead of the unprecedented talks. Trump and Abe will hold a joint press conference at the White House in the early afternoon, before heading to Canada for what promises to be a tense Group of Seven summit clouded by the US leader's aggressive trade policies. Since the first inkling that a Trump-Kim summit could be on the cards, Japan has repeatedly insisted that Washington be mindful not to let its guard down with the nuclear-armed regime in Pyongyang. And by coming to Washington to see Trump for the second time in less than two months, Abe wants to be sure to get his point across to the US president, amid the intense diplomatic flurry over the future of the Korean peninsula. Before leaving Tokyo, the Japanese leader emphasised that during his lightning visit to Washington, he hoped to "closely coordinate and agree" with Trump on an approach to the North Korea issue. And he clearly outlined what would need to happen for the 12 June summit in Singapore to be a success: tangible progress on curbing the North's nuclear and ballistic missiles programs, as well as answers about Japanese nationals kidnapped by Pyongyang in the 1970s and 1980s. At their last meeting at Trump's Florida retreat in April, the US president promised Abe to raise the politically sensitive abductions issue in any talks with Pyongyang. But the subject is hardly a priority for the businessman-turned-president, whose strategy appears to be in constant flux. Above all, Trump seems most enthused by the notion of being the first sitting US leader to hold direct talks with a scion of the ruling Kim dynasty. The intensifying diplomacy on North Korea has so far left Abe as the odd man out: Trump is preparing to meet Kim, while Chinese president Xi Jinping and South Korea's Moon Jae-in have each already seen the North's leader twice. Japan left 'isolated' after Singapore? For Richard Armitage, a former senior diplomat during the administration of George W Bush, Tokyo runs a very real risk of finding itself out in the cold after the Trump-Kim talks. "We should absolutely prevent decoupling - decoupling Japanese and US security," he told AFP. "This is and has been an aim of China and North Korea for a long time, and we can't allow this to happen. That would be falling into a terrible trap." Trump and Abe so far seem to have forged a sort of friendship, but even that bonhomie was revealed to be limited at their last meeting. On Thursday, it could again be put to the test - beyond North Korea, they are also meant to discuss the thorny issue of tariffs, which Washington says were put in place to protect American workers. "I will stress that measures to restrict trade would not serve the interests of any country," Abe said before heading to Washington. Japan had hoped to convince the US to shield it from fresh tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, and did not hide its bitter disappointment when those talks failed. The government in Tokyo warned of the "grave impact" that US tariffs could have on bilateral ties and the world trading system. "The US government's trade measures, citing its security, makes us concerned that they could disrupt the global market," government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters on Monday. Officials say four people praying at a mosque have been shot dead in Afghanistan's eastern Khost province. Kabul: Officials say four people praying at a mosque have been shot dead in Afghanistan's eastern Khost province. Talib Mangal, spokesman for the provincial governor, said the attackers opened fire from a car on Wednesday afternoon while more than 15 people were praying in the mosque. Provincial chief police spokesman Basir Beina said Thursday that three people were wounded, in addition to those killed. The attack took place in Khost's Mando Zayi district. Beina said police are still investigating and have not yet made arrests. More than one attacker was involved, but the exact number is not clear. The motive isn't known. It is not confirmed if any officials were praying at the mosque, Mangal said. Both the Taliban and Islamic State group has targeted government officials previously. No militant group claimed responsibility for the recent attack. Iraq's parliament voted in favor of a manual ballot recount after allegations of widespread fraud in the country's recently held parliamentary elections Baghdad: Iraq's parliament voted on Wednesday in favor of a manual ballot recount after allegations of widespread fraud in the country's recently held parliamentary elections, a lawmaker said, a development that could further prolong the process of forming a new government. Hours later, a pair of explosions ripped through a mosque in a mostly Shiite district in Baghdad, killing at least seven worshippers, including two children. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blasts. Parliament member Mohammed Saadoun said lawmakers voted on the election bill, which in effect constitutes an amendment to the country's election law and also includes cancellation of vote results from balloting abroad and in camps for displaced people in four Sunni-dominated provinces. "This is meant to correct the election results and bring the political process in Iraq back on track after it was proven that fraud and manipulation of vote results took place," he said. Saadoun added that the only ballots that would not be recounted were the votes of minority ethnic groups. The four Sunni-dominated provinces where vote results from balloting in camps for people displaced during the recent war against the Islamic State group would be cancelled are Anbar, Diyala, Salahuddin and Ninevah. He said it was unclear when the recount would start and that it would be up to the Supreme Judicial Council to decide on the timing. The council has also been asked to appoint nine judges to supervise the manual recount. According to Saadoun, 173 lawmakers of the outgoing 328 seat parliament ordered the recount for votes from all polling stations, meaning almost 11 million ballots. There have been complaints of irregularities in the 12 May balloting in which an electronic voting system was used for the first time. A manual recount of votes in some areas has been called for, a request that has been rejected by the Iraqi election commission as illegal. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said a separate commission looking into alleged irregularities in the vote found "unprecedented" violations. Al-Abadi told his weekly press conference that the commission found "widespread manipulation" and faulted election authorities for "not taking the needed measures or taking wrong ones." He said the Cabinet approved the recommendations of the commission, which is made up of the heads of five security and oversight agencies as well as the head of an anti-corruption agency. Last month's elections, the fourth held since the 2003 US led invasion saw low turnout, reflecting widespread anger at the country's dysfunctional political class. Supporters of the populist Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose forces once battled US troops, emerged with the most seats, but would have to form a coalition government with other blocs in a process that could drag on for months. Al-Abadi's bloc came in third, after a coalition of mostly Shiite paramilitary forces. The blasts on Wednesday night struck in the Sadr City district, at a mosque frequented by supporters of al-Sadr. Along with the seven killed, at least 20 people were wounded, according to security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. The explosions also damaged several nearby houses. Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission, which administered the May vote, has denied widespread irregularities and rejected past calls for a manual recount or the cancellation of ballots. It's unclear whether a recount would change the outcome of the election. The winners of the election have already begun talks on forming a new government. Al-Abadi has also called for criminal investigations, and has banned election officials from traveling abroad without his approval. (Reuters) - Hundreds of people in southwestern Colorado were ordered to evacuate their homes on Thursday as hot, dry and windy conditions stoked a wildfire that was still 90 percent uncontained, federal and local officials said. Residents living near Hermosa, located about 10 miles north of Durango, joined others who were ordered to evacuate nearly a week ago (Reuters) - Hundreds of people in southwestern Colorado were ordered to evacuate their homes on Thursday as hot, dry and windy conditions stoked a wildfire that was still 90 percent uncontained, federal and local officials said. Residents living near Hermosa, located about 10 miles north of Durango, joined others who were ordered to evacuate nearly a week ago. The blaze dubbed the 416 Fire had burnt a total of 5,103 acres (2,065 hectares) by Thursday morning, including about 1,000 acres in the past 24 hours, officials said. By Thursday morning, the 416 Fire had displaced residents of nearly 1,200 homes since it started last Friday. Residents of nearly 1,600 other houses have been told to be prepared for possible evacuation, said Megan Graham, spokeswoman for La Plata County. Temperatures in the mid 80s F (30 C) and 15 mile (25 km) per hour winds and low humidity are in the forecast for the area on Thursday, the National Weather Service said. More than 600 firefighters battling the Colorado blaze were preparing "for another challenging day," the National Forest Service said in an alert. The fire, which remained 10 percent contained, has expanded to the north, the west and the south but has not crossed U.S. Highway 550, which has helped firefighters protect houses east of the highway, Graham said. Vehicles were allowed to pass through the area in single-file convoys escorted by law enforcement officers, she said. Investigators have yet to determine the cause of the blaze, U.S. Forestry officials said. The National Weather Service has placed large sections of the Four Corners region of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah under an elevated fire risk. In northern New Mexico, the Ute Park Fire that started May 31 had burnt 36,800 acres (14,892 hectares) by Wednesday. It was 35 percent contained, the multi-agency group fighting the fire said. While the fire continued to burn on Thursday, it was "surrounded by previously burnt areas that will confine its spread," officials said. No injuries or major damage to structures have been reported from either fire, officials said. (Reporting by Bernie Woodall in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Texas, and Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Bill Tarrant and Leslie Adler) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. RABAT (Reuters) - A Moroccan government minister will resign after coming under pressure for showing sympathy with a consumer boycott campaign targeting some of the country's top brands, his party said on Wednesday. Governance minister Lahcen Daoudi, of the co-ruling PJD Islamist party, is the first political casualty of the campaign which has forced dairy firm Centrale-Danone , part of France's Danone , to cut production and lay off workers. Daoudi showed up on Tuesday night at a sit-in of Centrale-Danone workers calling on consumers to end the boycott, which the government fears will damage the wider economy. RABAT (Reuters) - A Moroccan government minister will resign after coming under pressure for showing sympathy with a consumer boycott campaign targeting some of the country's top brands, his party said on Wednesday. Governance minister Lahcen Daoudi, of the co-ruling PJD Islamist party, is the first political casualty of the campaign which has forced dairy firm Centrale-Danone , part of France's Danone , to cut production and lay off workers. Daoudi showed up on Tuesday night at a sit-in of Centrale-Danone workers calling on consumers to end the boycott, which the government fears will damage the wider economy. "The participation of brother Lahcen Daoudi in the sit-in in question is unreasonable and inappropriate," the PJD general secretariat said in a statement issued following an extraordinary meeting chaired by Prime Minister Saad Eddine El Othmani. The secretariat general added that its members "appreciate that brother Lahcen Daoudi asked to be dismissed from his ministerial responsibility." Daoudi did not pick up his phone when Reuters called. During the sit-in Daoudi had told Reuters that the demands of the workers to stop the boycott were legitimate. The boycott launched on April 20 is also directed at Afriquia fuel stations owned by billionaire minister Aziz Akhanouch and the Sidi Ali mineral water brand. Centrale-Danone has said sales have halved since the start of the campaign and it will post a 150 million Moroccan dirham ($15.89 million) loss in the first half. It has also said that the campaign prompted it to cut milk it collects from the 120,000 farmers who supply it by 30 percent. (Reporting by Ahmed Eljechtimi; Editing by Ulf Laessing and Leslie Adler) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Donald Trump's attorney Rudy Guiliani said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un begged 'on his hands and knees' for a summit with the US president. Washington: Donald Trump's attorney said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un begged "on his hands and knees" for a summit with the US president, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. "They... said they were going to go to nuclear war with us, they were going to defeat us in a nuclear war," Rudy Giuliani told a Tel Aviv investment conference, according to the newspaper. "We said we're not going to have a summit under those circumstances." "Well, Kim Jong-un got back on his hands and knees and begged for it, which is exactly the position you want to put him in," Giuliani said. The Trump attorney said that with the summit rescheduled, the United States has the upper hand. Singapore's foreign minister will make a two-day trip to Pyongyang starting on Thursday, as preparations for the summit Trump-Kim summit in the city-state accelerate. The announcement came a day after the White House revealed that the historic 12 June meeting between the US and North Korean leaders will take place in a luxury hotel on Singapore's resort island of Sentosa. The summit is due to be held following a rapid detente between Pyongyang and Washington as well as South Korea in a turn-around from a dramatic escalation of tensions last year, when the North ratcheted up its weapons programme. Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain will visit China on Saturday to attend the SCO summit on the sidelines of which he will meet his Chinese counterpart President Xi Jinping to discuss bilateral matters, including the progress of the CPEC projects. Islamabad: Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain will visit China on Saturday to attend the SCO summit on the sidelines of which he will meet his Chinese counterpart president Xi Jinping to discuss bilateral matters, including the progress of the CPEC projects. The 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit, scheduled for 9 and 10 June in Qingdao, Shandong province, will be attended by a host of world leaders including prime minister Narendra Modi. Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal said that president Mamnoon will visit China on 9 June to attend the summit. During his meeting with Xi, all issues of mutual concern including bilateral, regional and international issues will be discussed, he said. "Bilateral political matters, progress of the CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor) projects, economic and commercial relations, defence relations and other areas of bilateral relations will also be discussed, he said. India has protested to China over the CPEC, the USD 50 billion flagship project of Xi's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), as it is being built through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Mamnoon will also have several bilateral meeting with other Heads of State attending the Summit. Faisal also said that no meeting was planned between Pakistani and Indian leaders on the sidelines of the SCO. MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Rescuers were searching on Wednesday for seven workers who went missing in at a gold and silver mine in northern Mexico after a dam filled with liquid waste collapsed, authorities said. MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Rescuers were searching on Wednesday for seven workers who went missing in at a gold and silver mine in northern Mexico after a dam filled with liquid waste collapsed, authorities said. The accident occurred on Monday in the La Cieneguita mine operated by Rio Tinto and Pan American Goldfields. Waste from the dam swept away machinery, vehicles and various workers, said Mexico's environmental prosecutor, Profepa. "Up until now we do not know how much (residue) was spilled," Profepa said in a statement. The agency added that it had begun inspecting the mine, located in the northern state of Chihuahua. Fabian Soto, a spokesman for the state's civil protection agency, said that in addition to the seven workers who disappeared, two other workers had been hospitalized, though they are not in a serious condition. Authorities also found a corpse, but they have not been able to determine if it was the body of a mining worker, Soto said. Rio Tinto and Pan American Goldfields did not immediately respond to request for comment. (Reporting by Noe Torres; Additional reporting by Sheky Espejo; Writing by Julia Love; Editing by Sandra Maler) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Leaders of the Group of Seven rich nations headed for a summit in Canada on Thursday more divided than at any time in the group's 42-year history, as U.S. President Donald Trump's 'America First' policies risk causing a global trade war and deep diplomatic schisms. Ottawa: Leaders of the Group of Seven rich nations headed for a summit in Canada on Thursday more divided than at any time in the group's 42-year history, as U.S. President Donald Trump's "America First" policies risk causing a global trade war and deep diplomatic schisms. In a bid to rebuild America's industry, Trump has imposed hefty tariffs on steel and aluminium imports, including those from key G7 allies like Canada, Japan and the European Union. He has threatened to use national security laws to do the same for foreign car imports and has walked back on environmental agreements and an international deal to prevent Iran from building a nuclear bomb. French President Emmanuel Macron, who has invested in a warm personal relationship with Trump, said that the other G7 nations should remain "polite" and productive but warned that "no leader is forever", a sign that Europe would not surrender meekly to the U.S. president. "Maybe the American president doesn't care about being isolated today, but we don't mind being six, if needs be," Macron told reporters. "Because these six represent values, represent an economic market, and more than anything, represent a real force at the international level today," he said. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau predicted "robust discussions" on trade but other G7 members like Japan and Italy seemed less likely to want to challenge the U.S. president. Trump will come face-to-face at the gathering in Charlevoix, Quebec, with world leaders whose views do not chime with his on a range of issues from trade to the environment as well as Iran and the construction of a new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem. Trump signalled that he was in no mood to compromise as he met Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has tried to cultivate a friendly relationship with the American president. Trump raised the issue of U.S. car imports with Abe at a meeting in Washington and said he wanted more investment plants in the American industrial heartland of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio. EX-BEST FRIENDS Abe is not the only world leader to have tried charming Trump and failed to come away with concessions from the U.S. leader. Macron, who appeared to have built a warm relationship, said that the so-called "G6" leaders would not spark a fight at the summit. "In this environment, above all we always have to stay polite, stay productive and try to convince (them), to keep the United States on board because they are our historical ally and we need them," Macron told a news conference with Trudeau in Ottawa. The U.S. president also has frosty relations with Trudeau, the summit host. Pleas by the other member countries for exemptions from the U.S. steel and aluminium tariffs, which went into effect on June 1, have fallen on deaf ears in Washington. "We will also obviously have some very robust discussions on trade," Trudeau said. "I think there are questions about what is going to be the dynamic around the G7 table...we (will) highlight and discuss many things we're agreed on and have differences of opinion on other things," he said. The Canadian leader is embroiled in rows with Washington over steel and aluminium and negotiations over the North American Free Trade Agreement. Macron stressed however that the United States was no longer the sole economic superpower in the world and urged other industrialized countries to stick together. His plea for unity may fall, even within the European Union. Germany has suggested making accommodations over trade with the United States for fear of triggering a ratcheting up of tensions over cars that would embroil companies like BMW and Mercedes. Europe faces renewed domestic economic and political challenges in addition to those posed by Trump's unilateralism. One source with knowledge of the matter said that Italy wanted to "create as much space as possible to continue the dialogue with the U.S.", noting that new Italian Prime Minister Guiseppe Conte, a political novice, would be treading carefully in Canada because he needs to see the dynamics of the group." Japan is also expected to take a less confrontational approach than its G7 peers, while still quietly pressing its case on trade. Abe too has more at stake than tariffs and Trump reassured him that Washington would press Kim over the hundreds of Japanese citizens who have been kidnapped by North Korea. Japan has said it cannot normalize diplomatic relations without the issue being resolved. Despite the lobbying and pleas, Trump has pressed ahead with tariffs as well as pulling out of the Paris climate accord. Intense diplomacy from Europe to save an international nuclear agreement with Iran also failed. At the same time as taking on Europe and allies like Japan. Trump has told China, the world's second largest economy, to cuts its massive trade surplus with the United States. Washington has also threatened tariffs on imports of Chinese goods unless Beijing stops stealing American companies' intellectual property. Economically too, Europe may have more to fear if Trump does go for auto tariffs. Its recovery from the 2008-9 financial crisis has been far slower than that of the United States where the Federal Reserve is on the cusp of another rate rise while the European Central Bank is still using crisis-era measures. Financial markets around the world were battered by Trump's trade threats, although they have recovered somewhat, they are still vulnerable and Italy's new government is also a risk. Trump may have less to fear than slow-growing Europe and Japan from a trade war in terms of economic losses if the "G6" pushes back on tariffs. "This is unlikely to deter President Trump given the United States widening $570 billion trade deficit, particularly if he feels cornered," said Olivier Desbarres of economic strategy consultancy 4X Global Research. Les lunettes de marque ne sont pas ce qui manque dans les commerces. Il y en a de toutes les sortes dont les lunettes de [] An Australian judge has sentenced a Sri Lankan man to 12 years in prison for threatening to detonate a fake bomb on a Malaysia Airlines flight. Melbourne: An Australian judge has sentenced a Sri Lankan man to 12 years in prison for threatening to detonate a fake bomb on a Malaysia Airlines flight, terrifying more than 200 passengers and crew. Manodh Marks forced Flight 128 bound for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to turn back to the Australian city of Melbourne soon after takeoff in May last year when he screamed that he had a bomb and ran down the aisle carrying a flashing electronic device. The 26-year-old was sentenced on Thursday after pleading guilty in a Melbourne court to attempting to take control of an aircraft, an offence that carries a potential maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. The drama came after Malaysia Airlines lost two Boeing 777s in 2014. Fighter jets, helicopters and thousands of troops in Taiwan fought back a simulated Chinese invasion on Thursday as the self-ruled island faces increasing military and diplomatic pressure from Beijing. Taiwan: Fighter jets, helicopters and thousands of troops in Taiwan fought back a simulated Chinese invasion on Thursday as the self-ruled island faces increasing military and diplomatic pressure from Beijing. Relations between Taipei and Beijing have deteriorated since president Tsai Ing-wen was elected in 2016, as her government refuses to acknowledge that Taiwan is part of "one China". Live-fire drills began Monday with troops simulating surprise air and coastal assaults to reflect increased military threats from China, which sees Taiwan as a renegade province to be brought back into the fold, by force if necessary. Tsai watched Thursday's session of the ongoing "Han Kuang" (Han Glory) exercise involving 4,100 soldiers, attack helicopters and fighter jets from an air base in Taichung. Thursday's scenario simulated the enemy bombing of an airfield and a paratrooper attack, with air and ground troops deployed to take back the base. An F-16 fighter flew overhead and deployed flares in a defensive move against heat-seeking missiles. Special operations troops were seen moving to secure a building. "I have seen our troops' capabilities and I have faith that our troops can achieve the goal of 'solid defence and multiple deterrence'," Tsai said. China held its own live-fire drills in April in the Taiwan Strait the narrow waterway separating the Chinese mainland from Taiwan following weeks of air and naval manoeuvres in the area. Beijing has also stepped up diplomatic pressure on Taipei, luring four countries to switch allegiance from Taiwan to China since Tsai took office. On Monday, the pilot of an F-16 jet involved in the drills was killed after crashing into a mountain in northern Taiwan. The cause of the incident was under investigation. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Donald Trump's national security adviser, John Bolton, have pursued different approaches in the run-up to next week's summit between the U.S. president and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Donald Trump's national security adviser, John Bolton, have pursued different approaches in the run-up to next week's summit between the U.S. president and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore. Following is a timeline of some of the events involving the two senior Trump aides during the preparations for the historic meeting, which will be the first between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader: Easter weekend (late March/early April) - Pompeo, then CIA director and secretary of state nominee, secretly travels to North Korea and holds talks with Kim on the planned summit with Trump. The trip is made public on April 17. May 9 - North Korea releases three American prisoners and hands them over to Pompeo, who, as the newly confirmed secretary of state, had made a second visit to North Korea, where he again met with Kim. May 13 - Bolton suggests in U.S. television interviews that the Libya model of unilateral disarmament should be pursued in getting North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons programme. May 16 - In a statement that threatens withdrawal from the summit, North Korea's first vice minister of foreign affairs, Kim Kye Gwan, derides Bolton's suggestion of the Libya model as "absurd." May 17 - Trump seeks to placate Kim, saying he is not seeking a Libyan-style approach to North Korea and that Kim's security will be guaranteed in any deal. May 24 - Trump cancels the scheduled summit with Kim, citing Pyongyang's "open hostility," after North Korea repeated a threat to pull out of the summit and warned it was prepared for a nuclear showdown with Washington if necessary. May 25 - Trump says the United States is having "productive talks" about reinstating the summit after North Korea issued a conciliatory statement saying it remained open to talks. May 30 - Pompeo and high-ranking North Korean official Kim Yong Chol kick off two days of talks in New York to try to set the stage for the summit. U.S. officials also meet with North Korean officials in the Demilitarized Zone separating the Koreas. June 1 - Trump hosts Kim Yong Chol, who arrives at the White House bearing a letter from Kim Jong Un. After 90 minutes of talks, in which Bolton did not take part, Trump says the summit is back on and he will meet Kim in Singapore on June 12. Both Pompeo and Bolton are expected to accompany Trump to Singapore. (Reporting by Mohammad Zargham and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Peter Cooney) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. US President Donald Trump on Thursday held out the prospect of inviting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to the White House if he deemed next week's summit a success while also signalling he was willing to walk away if he thought talks did not go well. Washington: U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday held out the prospect of inviting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to the White House if he deemed next week's summit a success while also signalling he was willing to walk away if he thought talks did not go well. At a White House news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Trump repeated what he said last Friday that it was possible he and Kim could sign an agreement to end the 1950-53 Korean War, which was concluded only with a truce, not a peace treaty. "We could sign an agreement, as you know that would be a first step ... We're looking at it, we're talking about it with a lot of other people," Trump told reporters on Thursday. "That's probably the easy part. The hard part remains after that." Trump added that he hoped someday U.S. relations with Kim's secretive Pyongyang government could be normalized. The main issue for the June 12 summit in Singapore is the U.S. demand for North Korea to abandon a nuclear weapons programme that now threatens the United States. North Korea has rejected giving up its arsenal unilaterally. 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 Korean War. Trump said he would quit the talks if he felt he must, and would ramp up U.S. sanctions pressure on North Korea if the talks did not go well. Earlier, Trump told reporters it was essential that North Korea give up its nuclear weapons. "If they don't denuclearize, that will not be acceptable," he told reporters shortly after Abe arrived at the White House. "I am totally prepared to walk away," he later said at the news conference. On the other hand, Trump said he might extend an invitation to Kim to Washington. "Certainly if it goes well. I think it would be well received," he said in answer to a question. "I think he would look at it very favourably so I think that could happen." Trump also pledged to bring up the subject of Japanese abductees with Kim, after Abe focused on the issue during their earlier conversation. "He talked about it long and hard and passionately and I will follow his wishes and we will be discussing that with North Korea absolutely, absolutely," Trump said. By Peter Szekely (Reuters) - A 500-year-old copy of a letter in which Christopher Columbus describes his voyage to the Americas has been returned to Spain after U.S. authorities tracked down the document, which had been stolen and replaced with a forgery years ago By Peter Szekely (Reuters) - A 500-year-old copy of a letter in which Christopher Columbus describes his voyage to the Americas has been returned to Spain after U.S. authorities tracked down the document, which had been stolen and replaced with a forgery years ago. The letter, copied centuries ago from the one Columbus wrote to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain after his first Atlantic crossing, was given to Spain's Ambassador Pedro Morenes in Washington, law enforcement authorities said on Thursday. The repatriation of the letter follows seven years of sleuthing by U.S. law enforcement agencies after the discovery that it had been replaced by a forgery at the National Library of Catalonia in Barcelona. "We are truly honoured to return this historically important document back to Spain its rightful owner," U.S. Attorney for Delaware David Weiss said in a statement. Columbus, born in Genoa in modern-day Italy, had written the letter in Spanish after his return to Europe in 1493. Ferdinand and Isabella, who sponsored his voyage, sent the document to Rome to be translated into Latin and manually copied, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jamie McCall said. "A number of these copies were made and then delivered to various kings and queens in Europe to spread the news of Columbus's discoveries," McCall said by telephone. A Latin copy of the letter, in which Columbus describes the mountains, fertile fields, gold and indigenous people he encountered in the Caribbean, is the one that was illegally swapped for a forgery at the Barcelona library, McCall said. Authorities said they discovered the theft after a tip in 2011 to an assistant U.S. attorney in Delaware who had become experienced in the subject. Because the library had digitised its collection before the theft, U.S. investigators said they and Spanish authorities were able to determine in 2012 that the letter it had was a forgery. The real letter, they said, had been sold in November 2005 by two Italian book dealers for 600,000 euros. After learning in March 2013 that it had been sold again in 2011 for 900,000 euros, authorities said they made contact with the person who had the letter. They said that person was unaware that it had been stolen. They said they later concluded "beyond all doubt" that it was the letter taken from the Barcelona library and got it back. The case is still under investigation, McCall said. (Reporting by Peter Szekely in New York; Editing by Paul Simao) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. While the US president and his A team on hardline immigration chart their own course, deep fault lines have surfaced within the Republican party on a mind-stretching gamut of issues that have come to define the catchall of immigration policy in the US. On what terms can outsiders reside in America and how will the country decide the limits of their freedoms? Who stays and who goes? The match that US President Donald Trump threw into an already hot tinder box of demographic churn will most likely dominate the midterm election campaign trail too. While the US president and his A team on hardline immigration chart their own course, deep fault lines have surfaced within the Republican party on a mind-stretching gamut of issues that have come to define the catchall of immigration policy in the US. As the November elections loom, Republicans are in a do or die battle in Congress to push through a centrist plan but the hardliners are not budging and time is running out. In an election year, the immigration debate looks unlikely to pass without a bitter fight, if at all it makes the cut. Over the last year, immigration has become a three way battle - between the moderates who want a path to citizenship for DACA recipients and a reboot for the path to permanent residency for legal workers here versus the hardliners and the "no mercy" campers. It's not the first rodeo either. US Congress has been here before and couldn't get anything signed off because Trump is holding his ground that he won't sign unless there's enough meat for his agenda - more money for the wall along the southern border and stringent guidelines on family based immigration. Multiple groups are waiting amid rising tension in the current political scene - illegals who have been given temporary protection from deportation as well as legal immigrants in various stages of embracing America as their natural home. Legal immigrants are grappling with tough challenges while the administration is busy dealing with the headline grabbing issue of illegals before all else. Fractured House Republicans huddled privately Thursday as leaders tried pushing them toward consensus on immigration, racing the clock and trying to defuse a civil war within the party that threatens their effort to keep control of the chamber in November's elections. But even as they gathered in a Capitol basement meeting room, there were no indications that a deal mending the party's chasm over immigration was at hand and no definitive details of where middle ground might be. If leaders fail to find a solution, that would give momentum to moderates seeking to stage election-year votes in just three weeks on the issue, a showdown that leaders want to head off. Both conservative and moderate lawmakers, the two factions at odds over the issue, said they didn't know what to expect as they entered the session. "I don't know. That's why I'm on time here, for once," joked Rep. Leonard Lance, R-N.J., a moderate who's joined the leadership-opposed rebellion aimed at forcing immigration votes. GOP lawmakers emerged from the office of Speaker Paul Ryan, saying he would present the rank and file with broad ideas for resolving a dispute that has split Republicans for years, damaging the party with Hispanic and moderate voters. "There's some loose consensus right now," said Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla., a leader of centrists threatening to force votes if they can't strike a deal with conservatives. He said leaders would unveil "an outline of a potential bill," while conservative leader Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., said Ryan would present "concepts." Curbelo, Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif., and other moderates need just two more GOP signatures on a petition to require immigration votes, assuming all Democrats sign on. If Thursday's meeting doesn't produce an accord, the moderates could reach that threshold quickly. The major hang-up in GOP talks has been how, as the moderates have demanded, to offer a chance for citizenship to young "Dreamer" immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children. Conservatives have opposed creating a special pathway for them to become citizens, calling it amnesty. "We've got the rule of law in this country, and nobody gets special consideration," said Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus. Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C., said a large group of conservatives he leads has discussed providing a pathway to citizenship to Dreamers in exchange for giving President Donald Trump nearly all the $25 billion he wants to build his proposed wall with Mexico. In addition, the conservatives want to end a lottery that grants visas to countries with few immigrants to the U.S. and curb the relatives who can be brought over by immigrants, Walker said. Democrats and at least some moderates would likely oppose such measures, giving it little chance of surviving in the more centrist Senate. Walker said the more Dreamers who'd be given an opportunity for citizenship, the tighter curbs on family-based migration would be. Roughly 700,000 people are protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, an Obama-era policy that Trump has halted. But by some estimates, 1 million or more other people qualify for that program but haven't applied. The moderates' petition would force House votes on four immigration bills, ranging from a liberal one helping Dreamers win citizenship to a conservative version curbing legal immigration. GOP leaders and conservatives say the votes the moderates would force would probably produce legislation that is too liberal, with all Democrats joining a handful of Republicans to push it through the House. Senate Republicans would block such a measure, and Trump would veto it if it went that far. But such an outcome could alienate conservative voters, damaging GOP chances for holding the House. Because of those divisions, averting the issue completely unless an agreement is reached has been the GOP leadership's preference all year, until their hand was forced by moderates wielding the rarely used petition process. (With reporting by Nikhila Natarajan & Agencies) US diplomats in US have been facing sound attacks but, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying stated that investigations into the matter has led nowhere Beijing: China said, on Thursday that it has investigated the US allegations of mysterious sound attacks on its diplomats in the city of Guangzhou and found "no clue" even as two more American diplomats were evacuated after complaining of similar phenomena. On 23 May, the US State Department had said that one of the workers at its Consulate in Guangzhou had experienced a "subtle and vague, but abnormal, sensations of sound and pressure". The symptoms were similar to those found in the case of US diplomatic personnel who worked in Cuba, including mild traumatic brain injury. The New York Times reported on Wednesday that at least two more American diplomats in Guangzhou have experienced similar phenomena and fallen ill. One of those embassy workers told the paper that he and his wife had heard mysterious sounds and experienced strange headaches and sleeplessness while in their apartment. Reacting to the reports of the mysterious sound attacks on the US diplomats, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing today that Beijing had investigated the 23 May allegation and found no clue. "Relevant authorities of China have conducted investigations and given the feedback to the US. We haven't found the cause or the clues that led to the situation mentioned by the US," she said. "For the latest incident according to my information, the US hasn't conducted any communication with China. We learnt this from the report of The New York Times. I am not aware of the relevant information. If there is really some problem, US can directly connect and communicate with China and China will adopt a responsible attitude to investigate this," she said. She added that China followed the Vienna convention to protect diplomatic staff of the US and other countries. The evacuation of the US diplomats with mysterious illness comes at a time when the relations between Beijing and Washington were going through a tense phase as the two countries grappled to avert a trade war. President Donald Trump has been asking China to cut the $375 billion trade deficit. The US is also asking China to prevail on North Koran leader Kim Jong-un to give up nuclear programme. After a very, very long wait, the big day is finally here. After 14 months of debate, speeches, and voting on various amendments, today, Thursday, June 7, Canada's Senate will be voting on whether or not to pass bill C-45, or as the bill is more commonly known, the Cannabis Act. While complex, the Cannabis Act has one purpose: to legalize recreational marijuana. Should the Cannabis Act be signed into law, it would allow Canada to become the first developed country in the world to have legalized adult-use marijuana. Uruguay is the only country to have previously legalized recreational weed. Of course, today's vote won't be a cut-and-dried event. Here's what you, the casual observer or perhaps pot-stock investor, can expect of today's vote and what's to follow. Will bill C-45 pass? Though nothing is a certainty in the political world, I struggle to see how this bill won't pass the Senate after 14 months of arduous debate. In total, of the 105 seats in Canada's Senate, 13 are currently vacant, and 32 are held by Conservatives. This means the more progressive Independents (43 seats) and Liberals (11 seats) hold a clear majority. Conservatives, no matter how concerned they are about adolescent access to cannabis, or how legalization could affect driving under the influence laws, have no way of stopping this bill from passage without the assistance of Independents and/or the six non-affiliated senators. What happens if bill C-45 passes? Should the Cannabis Act receive a passing vote in the Senate, it would once again be ushered back to the House of Commons for vote. Just as in the United States, when changes are made to legislation, it has to be ratified by both houses of Congress prior to being sent to the president's desk. With the Canadian Senate adopting a number of changes, bill C-45 will be sent to the House of Commons for vote. It's possible the House of Commons is pleased with the current bill, passes it, and sends it to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's desk to be signed into law. It's also possible that the House of Commons makes adjustments of its own, which would once again mean sending the bill back to the Senate for another vote. Should this latter scenario occur, it has the potential to delay the launch of recreational weed sales. What happens if bill C-45 doesn't pass the Senate? Should my thesis prove all wet, and the Cannabis Act fails to garner enough votes today, the bill would essentially be dead, and debate would once again begin in the House of Commons. While such a scenario seems unlikely, it would probably create nothing short of a wipeout in marijuana stocks should bill C-45 be voted down. When would legal weed sales commence? Here's the tricky thing about today's Senate vote: There will likely be a considerable amount of time between the (expected) passage of this bill and the first legal sales of adult-use weed. Originally slated to go on sale by July 1, 2018, Canadian regulators have suggested that sales aren't likely to commence until eight to 12 weeks post-legalization. The delay is needed to allow time for growers to get their crop into retail dispensaries, as well as allow each of Canada's provinces ample time to get their regulatory infrastructure in place. Is legalization uniform throughout Canada? Actually, no, it isn't. Though there are certain laws established by the Cannabis Act, such as how many plants may be home grown in a residence, or how much cannabis an individual may possess, other aspects of regulation can be completely different depending on the province. For example, Alberta has set the legal age of consumption at 18 and over, whereas every other province went with 19 years of age and up. Certain provinces, such as Quebec and Ontario, won't allow private retailers to operate dispensaries. Meanwhile, the opposite can be found in Saskatchewan, with no government-operated stores in the province. In other words, legalization will be somewhat piecemeal, just as it is in U.S. states. What are the taxes on legal weed, assuming the Cannabis Act is passed? In October, lawmakers proposed taxing legal cannabis at $0.77 (1 Canadian dollar)-per-gram up to $7.70 (CA$10), and a flat 10% excise tax on more expensive strains. By December, the federal government had struck a two-year tax-sharing agreement with all provinces expect Manitoba. Under the agreement, provinces will receive 75% of collected tax revenue for the first two years, with the federal government netting the other 25%. Provinces are getting a larger piece of the pie since they're on the front lines of regulation, not the federal government. It's worth pointing out that this relatively low excise tax rate is going to be critical in regard to competing against the black market. A roughly 10% excise tax is nothing compared to the 50% to 80% tax Canadians typically pay on beer, wine, and liquor. What does legal recreational marijuana mean for Canada's weed industry? Should Canada's Senate vote in favor of the Cannabis Act, the House of Commons also do so, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sign the bill into law, it's expected to add $5 billion to the legal Canadian cannabis industry a year, if not more. Since there is no precedent to legalizing adult-use weed, no one is entirely certain of what to expect. But the key point here is that sales growth and demand are expected to explode higher. Is it time to buy marijuana stocks? I'm still sticking with "no" for the time being. Most pot stocks have already been thrust into the stratosphere on the expectation of bill C-45 passing. However, the work is just beginning for these publicly traded companies. Many won't be significantly profitable for at least a few more years, and quite a few are crushing their shareholders under the effects of dilution via bought-deal offerings. These capital raises are something of a necessary evil for an industry with no traditional access to capital. In short, until the industry matures, it's probably best to remain on the sidelines. What happened Shares of Eldorado Gold (NYSE:EGO), a global leader in gold mining, climbed 18% in May, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. Attributable to positive news from the Greek government, the jump in share price was not enough to fully erase the loss the stock had suffered through the first four months of the year -- a period during which shares fell 34% while the price of gold crept 1.7% higher. So what Easing investors' concerns about the company's future, the Greek government indicated its willingness to cooperate with Eldorado regarding the development of the Skouries project in northern Greece. Speaking with Reuters, Greece Energy Minister George Stathakis said, "The main aim is to reach an agreement in the coming weeks within the spirit of the arbitration ruling." Since June 2017, the Skouries project had been the source of arbitration between Eldorado and the Greek government, which contended that Eldorado had failed to meet its legal obligations. Subsequent to the government's remarks, Eldorado further bolstered investors' hopes for the development of Skouries (in addition to other assets in the area), stating in a press release that it's in continual dialogue with the Greek government regarding the need to approve outstanding permits. Currently, Eldorado is transitioning Skouries into care and maintenance, which is expected to be completed before the end of the second quarter. Management estimates that annual ongoing care and maintenance costs will be $3 million to $5 million for 2019 and beyond. Now what It's unsurprising that shares popped after the promising news from the Greek government. Management estimates the Skouries project would have a 25-year mine life and generate about $1.8 billion in net after-tax cash flow. Although some uncertainty has been removed, this development is hardly enough to base an investment on. Significant caution is still warranted regarding an investment, for it will be many years and millions of dollars spent before Skouries becomes an operating mine. Quote: Sous Originally Posted by Thermite, you very could have just won the 7.3 diesel lottery with that Ex you bought. Rich, I know you still have the other truck, but don't be a stranger. We all look for your guidance and technical experience many times during our discussions. I knew right away when I saw the title that someone got one heck of a vehicle. With the 366, intercooler, etc that thing must be a blast to drive. Welcome to the club Thermite, grab a cold beverage of your choice and start reading. you are too kind Sous, but I think you exceeded my knowledge & experience some time ago. I was very fortunate to meet and become friends with folks that were very knowledgeable about the 7.3L and were willing to share and teach me over the years. I know I have not been around much lately but I am going to try and do better. Last year was crazy and I felt like I didnt have enough hours in the day. Between hosting an exchange student, taking over tutoring geometry for my daughter, going back to college and turning 50 - I have been so tired at the end of the day - I could drink a cup of dark black mud coffee and falls asleep 15 minutes later. I just might need a nudge once in a while. Actually Toreador Diesel sent me a nudge this morning seeing if I was hibernating or something -LOL. Hyatt Plans To Double Brand Presence In Canada Twelve Hyatt Place And Hyatt House Hotels Expected To Open By 2020 June 07, 2018 // Franchising.com // TORONTO - Hyatt announced plans to expand the Hyatt Place and Hyatt House brand footprint in Canada with the signing of management and franchise agreements by a Hyatt affiliate for nine Hyatt Place hotel and three Hyatt House hotels. There are currently nine Hyatt-branded hotels open Canada, and the expected openings of these 12 Hyatt Place and Hyatt House hotels would increase Hyatts brand presence in the region to 21 hotels within the next few years. We believe the new agreements being announced today, along with the previously announced properties under development, demonstrate growing confidence among owners and developers in the strength of the Hyatt Place and Hyatt House hotels in Canada, said Scott Richer, Hyatts vice president of real estate and development for Canada. There is tremendous growth opportunity in this region coming off the heels of its 150th anniversary, Canada continues to see strong levels of leisure travel, as well as an increase in corporate travel. Todays announcement is a testament to the global appeal of Hyatts select service portfolio as it continues to expand worldwide and offer more choices to our guests. Hyatt Place and Hyatt House The Hyatt Place and Hyatt House brands are designed to deliver seamless experiences that are authentic, intuitive and modern, allowing business travelers to remain productive and worry free, without skipping a beat. Twelve Hyatt Place and Hyatt House hotels are expected to open in Canada in the next two years, including: 2018 Hyatt Place Calgary Airport (127 guestrooms) in Calgary, Alberta Hyatt Place Mississauga Centre (126 guestrooms) in Mississauga, Ontario 2019 Hyatt Place Brampton (123 guestrooms) in Brampton, Ontario Hyatt Place Kelowna (161 guestrooms) in Kelowna, British Columbia Hyatt Place Moncton (120 guestrooms) in Moncton, New Brunswick Hyatt Place Winnipeg Downtown (144 guestrooms) in Winnipeg, Manitoba Hyatt House Hamilton/McMaster University (135 guestrooms) in Hamilton, Ontario Hyatt House Winnipeg South West (135 guestrooms) in Winnipeg Manitoba 2020 Hyatt Place Toronto International Airport (196 guestrooms) in Toronto, Ontario Hyatt Place Toronto Airport Corporate Centre and Hyatt House Toronto Airport Corporate Centre (250 guestrooms) in Toronto, Ontario Hyatt Place Vancouver Airport (97 guestrooms) in Vancouver, British Columbia Hyatt-branded hotels currently open in Canada include: British Columbia : Spirit Ridge at NkMip Resort and Hyatt Regency Vancouver : Spirit Ridge at NkMip Resort and Hyatt Regency Vancouver Alberta : Hyatt Regency Calgary, Hyatt Place Edmonton/Downtown and Hyatt Place Edmonton-West : Hyatt Regency Calgary, Hyatt Place Edmonton/Downtown and Hyatt Place Edmonton-West Ontario : Andaz Ottawa Byward Market, Hyatt Regency Toronto and Park Hyatt Toronto* : Andaz Ottawa Byward Market, Hyatt Regency Toronto and Park Hyatt Toronto* Quebec: Hyatt Regency Montreal For more information, please visit hyatt.com. *Park Hyatt Toronto is temporarily closed for renovation and is expected to reopen in December 2019. The term Hyatt is used in this release for convenience to refer to Hyatt Hotels Corporation and/or one or more of its affiliates. About Hyatt Hotels Corporation Hyatt Hotels Corporation, headquartered in Chicago, is a leading global hospitality company with a portfolio of 14 premier brands. As of March 31, 2018, the Company's portfolio included more than 700 properties in more than 50 countries across six continents. The Company's purpose to care for people so they can be their best informs its business decisions and growth strategy and is intended to attract and retain top colleagues, build relationships with guests and create value for shareholders. The Company's subsidiaries develop, own, operate, manage, franchise, license or provide services to hotels, resorts, branded residences, vacation ownership properties, and fitness and spa locations, including under the Park Hyatt, Miraval, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt, Andaz, Hyatt Centric, The Unbound Collection by Hyatt, Hyatt Place, Hyatt House, Hyatt Ziva, Hyatt Zilara, Hyatt Residence Club and exhale brand names. For more information, please visit www.hyatt.com. Forward-Looking Statements Forward-Looking Statements in this press release, which are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Our actual results, performance or achievements may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the use of words such as may, could, expect, intend, plan, seek, anticipate, believe, estimate, predict, potential, continue, likely, will, would and variations of these terms and similar expressions, or the negative of these terms or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by us and our management, are inherently uncertain. Factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from current expectations include, among others, the rate and pace of economic recovery following economic downturns; levels of spending in business and leisure segments as well as consumer confidence; declines in occupancy and average daily rate; the financial condition of, and our relationships with, third-party property owners, franchisees and hospitality venture partners; the possible inability of third-party owners, franchisees or development partners to access the capital necessary to fund current operations or implement our plans for growth; risks associated with potential acquisitions and dispositions and the introduction of new brand concepts; failure to successfully complete proposed transactions (including the failure to satisfy closing conditions or obtain required approvals); changes in the competitive environment in our industry, including as a result of industry consolidation, and the markets where we operate; general volatility of the capital markets and our ability to access such markets; and other risks discussed in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K, which filings are available from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. These factors are not necessarily all of the important factors that could cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by any of our forward-looking statements. We caution you not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which are made only as of the date of this press release. We undertake no obligation to update publicly any of these forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, new information or future events, changes in assumptions or changes in other factors affecting forward-looking statements, except to the extent required by applicable law. If we update one or more forward-looking statements, no inference should be drawn that we will make additional updates with respect to those or other forward-looking statements. Media Contact: Sian Rylander Hyatt +1 312 780 5797 sian.rylander@hyatt.com SOURCE Hyatt ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Travel Agency Franchise Dream Vacations Shows Support at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Pop Up Party June 07, 2018 // Franchising.com // Fort Lauderdale, Fla. - In the spirit of giving back, home-based travel agency franchise Dream Vacations joined forces with its partners Celebrity Cruises and Beyond Proper to give away a three-night Bahamas cruise and a $100 Beyond Proper gift card as part of a Pop Up Party for the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. On February 14, 2018, 14 students and three staff members were fatally shot and seventeen others were wounded in one of the deadliest school shootings in the United States. The City of Parkland along with the community wanted to come together to give these students a fun event at the end of a heartbreaking school year. The Pop Up Party was held at Pine Trails Park and included free food from local food trucks, music by DJ Laz and the Caribbean Cruise raffle. This tragedy hit very close to home as many of our employees and their families live in the Parkland community, said Drew Daly, general manager of Dream Vacations. We are honored to be part of this event that will bring a little joy to the students who have been through so much pain this year. Thank you to our partners Celebrity Cruises and Beyond Proper for their generous cruise vacation and gift card giveaway. Maria Carreras, a 19 year-old Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student was the lucky winner of the Celebrity three-night Bahamas cruise and a $100 Beyond Proper gift card. For more information about Dream Vacations, visit www.DreamVacations.com. About Dream Vacations Travel agents with the top-ranked home-based travel agency franchise Dream Vacations have the resources to plan and create seamless vacation experiences for their customers while offering the best value. A member of the International Franchise Association, Dream Vacations is part of World Travel Holdings and has received partner of the year, a top-ranking status, by all the major cruise lines as well as national recognition for its support of military veterans. For more information about Dream Vacations, visit www.DreamVacations.com. About Celebrity Cruises Celebrity Cruises' iconic "X" is the mark of modern luxury, with its cool, contemporary design and warm spaces; dining experiences where the design of the venues is as important as the cuisine; and the amazing service that only Celebrity can provide, all created to provide an unmatchable experience for vacationers precious time. Celebrity Cruises' 12 ships offer modern luxury vacations visiting all seven continents. Celebrity also presents immersive cruise tour experiences in Alaska and Canada. Celebrity is one of six cruise brands operated by global cruise vacation company Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE, OSE: RCL). For more information, dial 1-800-437-3111, or call your travel agent. About Beyond Proper by Boston Proper Boston Proper began as a catalog-based company in 1992 and extended to ecommerce. First privately held, and then publicly owned for four years, the brand was sold back into the private sector in 2016 and remains under the same ownership. Today Beyond Proper by Boston Proper offers a complete range of contemporary women's clothing, swimwear, footwear and accessories. Often spotted on the red carpet, celebrity fans include Tyra Banks, Britney Spears, Vivica Fox and Carmen Elektra. To learn more about Beyond Proper by Boston Proper, visit BeyondProper.com. Media Contact: Rachel Shapiro PR Manager 954-958-3664 RShapiro@wth.com SOURCE Dream Vacations ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Increasing access to fishing and boating in Wisconsin June 7, 2018 Friends President Judy Budnick (standing) with Tom Melius (center) and refuge supporters. Photo by Katie Goodwin/USFWS. We at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service know the importance of making Americas national wildlife refuges accessible for everyone. Together with our partners, we provide quality fishing, boating, birding and other watchable wildlife opportunities across the midwest. Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in Wisconsin celebrated a recent success to this end with the opening of the Necedah Goose Pool Platform and Kayak Launch, an ADA-accessible paddling launch. Regional Director Tom Melius was on hand last Saturday to mark the occasion with Rick Schultz of the National Wildlife Refuge Association, Friends of Necedah members and other local refuge partners. The event recognized the contributions of our many supporters who helped make the new facility possible and recognized a recent national honor that Friends of Necedah received as the National Wildlife Refuge Association Molly Krival Friends Group of the Year. Id like to extend my gratitude and appreciation to the Friends of Necedah for their amazing accomplishment and donations to make this wonderful recreational area a possibility for folks who come out to enjoy this beautiful refuge, said Regional Director Tom Melius. Creating safe and fully accessible facilities like this takes vision and perseverance. In addition to tracking down needed funding, Friends of Necedah members worked tirelessly alongside refuge staff on the earth work and installation of this project. "The Friends of Necedah provided a wonderful gift to the refuge. The floating observation platform definitely improved our ability to provide greater access and opportunity to our visitors, said Necedah National Wildlife Refuge Manager Tim Bodeen. Made up of more than 300 dedicated people, Friends of Necedah National Wildlife Refuge helps the refuge meet their conservation mission every day. Founded by a small group of volunteers in 1999, members work to fulfill a lofty vision of connecting people with wildlife and nature today, tomorrow and forever. Friends members have logged more than 300,000 refuge volunteer service hours since the group was established and play wide-ranging roles on the refuge, from participating in fire management and maintenance to educating the public. The Friends board ensures the group is aligned with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service priorities to support environmental education and other public programs, along with photography and wildlife observation opportunities for people from all walks of life. Melius and other agency staff expressed their thanks and appreciation to Friends President Judy Budnick, Vice President Bob Vethe, Treasurer Dick Roellig, Secretary Audrey Traver and executive board members: Donna Amedro, Mary Jane Bean, Audrey Chambers, Denise Cobbs, Mary Fogarty, Shirley Horner, Dale Steele and Mary Vethe. Learn more about Necedah National Wildlife Refuge and plan your visit! Friends of Necedah National Wildlife Refuge. Photo by Roger Leitner/USFWS. Game developers seem to be split in their opinions after Valve announced yesterday that it has no plans to police games that are published to its digital storefront Steam. Instead, the company choosing to focus on creating tools that will allow players to filter games they arent interested in from their own personalized feeds. Many game developers have gone to Twitter to express their thoughts over Valve's statement, which also notes that even internally, there are debates over what games should and shouldnt be allowed on Steam. That post goes on to acknowledge that the people behind this decision knew firsthand that theres no way to avoid making a bunch of people mad when making decisions in this space. The sentiment seems to ring true, as Valve's hands-off approach over who is allowed to be published on its platform has developers disagreeing over its content policy. As Valve pointed out, the problem isnt so much if games with adult or violent content should be allowed on its platform, but rather, if the store should contain games with an entire range of controversial topics - politics, sexuality, racism, gender, violence, identity, and so on. While some have expressed their support for digital marketplaces enforcing stricter policies around moderating content, others voice concerns over giving companies too much power over enforcing certain morals or censorship. Among these developers is digital marketplace Itch.io founder Leaf Corcoran, who described Valve's new policy on Steam content as "ridiculous" and "out of touch", raising concerns that the shift will result in a variety of problematic content proliferating on Valve's store. Here's a small sample of the discussion happening among game devs. As a game creator, I want access to the full range of the human experience when creating a game. I choose to leave stuff I consider hateful and horrible on the table. I dont want Steam to make that decision for me. Brenda Romero (@br) June 7, 2018 yall my bad i THOUGHT i typed something to the effect of companies should acknowledge that they bear some responsibility for the things they sell but what i ACTUALLY typed was censorship is awesome and everyone should do it i will be more careful next time adam (@ADAMATOMIC) June 7, 2018 I feel worried when people demand that corporations become enforcers of moral principles. Once you give them that power, what guarantee do you have that their principles will align with yours? Better to always err on the side of giving them less power across all domains. Bennett (@bfod) June 7, 2018 everyone: we need thoughtful leadership valve: let the market sort it out!! valve: anime lol valve: btw you owe us 30% of your sales Robert Yang (@radiatoryang) June 6, 2018 Shit, Valve, if your *new* platform content policy is the policy even the toxic hellfires that social media are slowly backing away from after years of troubles, that doesn't bode very good for the content of your platform. Rami Ismail (@tha_rami) June 6, 2018 Valve's new policy is odd. On the one hand, they're saying they're simply providing a platform and can't be held accountable for the content on it. On the other, they've put themselves in the position to decide what's "straight up trolling."https://t.co/zraPy8KteY Da Noodle Man (@Dan_Adelman) June 6, 2018 Basically Iam a) extremely relieved that Valve doesnat want to set the medium back by threatening games with adult content b) disappointed by its failure to act against hate speech c) interested in the promise of better community management tools but will believe it when I see it Christine Love (@christinelove) June 6, 2018 [This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Gamasutra and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource Games Press.] Sao Paulo, June 7th, 2018 Considered by Newsweek magazine one of the 50 Men Who Changed America, Nolan Bushnell made history when he created the Atari 2600, in 1977. Forty years after the launch of the console that popularized games around the world, Bushnell was one of the greatest attractions of Brasil Game Show in 2017 and returns to the 11th edition of the largest gaming event in Latin America, which takes place from October 10th to 14th at the Expo Center Norte, in Sao Paulo, to participate in several activities with visitors. Bushnell will speak about his career at the BGS Talks, meet fans, take photos and give autographs at the Meet & Greet area and also will be a jury of cosplay contests. At the Brasil Game Show of 2017 I realized how passionate Brazilian gamers are about video games and I appreciated the warm reception I received. I had the opportunity to meet many gamers, take photos, and sign autographs. It was an incredible event and I'm very happy to be back, Bushnell said. He also left a message for BGS visitors. Nolan is a living legend of video games. He kicked off the popularization of electronic games and the success of this industry draws a lot of influence from his work, said Marcelo Tavares, CEO and founder of Brasil Game Show. It is a pleasure to welcome him back at BGS and we are sure that, just like last year, he will add a lot to the event with his stories, experience and knowledge. In addition to Nolan Bushnell, the 11th edition of BGS has already confirmed great names in the gaming industry, such as Fumito Ueda, creator of the acclaimed games The Last Guardian and Shadow of the Colossus; Charles Martinet, Mario's voice-over, famous Nintendo character; Daniel Pesina, interpreter of several iconic characters of Mortal Kombat; Katsuhiro Harada, director of Tekken and Soul Calibur, both major series of fighting games, and Yoshinori Ono, producer of Street Fighter. About 300 brands will participate of BGS 2018, among developers, publishers, hardware manufacturers, independent studios etc. 5th batch of tickets is available and can be purchased with up to 31% discount The fifth batch of tickets is already for sale. Until June 22nd, it is possible to buy them at 31% off the prices of the final batch. The half admission cost is 75 BRL and the passport for the four days of the event goes for 225 BRL. By acquiring a passport, one day of the event will be free. A novelty of the 11th edition is the Fast Pass ticket, which allows the visitor to enter the event one hour before the official opening on the days open to the public. It costs 150 BRL (half admission price). Those who donate 1kg (approx. 2 lbs.) of non-perishable food at the entrance of the event, students, seniors, teachers, and people with disabilities are entitled to the half-admission benefit. All news about Brasil Game Show can be seen at www.brasilgameshow.com.br . Service BGS 2018 When: October 10-14th (first day is exclusive for press and business) Where: Expo Center Norte Address: Rua JoseI Bernardo Pinto, 333 Vila Guilherme, SaIo Paulo SP Time: 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tickets (Fifth Batch until June 22nd) Individual (half price) 75 BRL (individual ticket for 1 of the open-to-the-public days of the event October 11th, 12th, 13th or 14th) Individual Fast Pass (half price) 150 BRL (individual ticket for 1 of the open-to-the-public days of the event October 11th, 12th, 13th or 14th; entrance allowed 1 hour before the general public) Passport (half price) - 225 BRL (access to all of the open-to-the-public days of the event October 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th) Premium 549 BRL (access to all days of the event, including the day exclusive to the press and business October 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th) About Brasil Game Show held for the first time in 2009, in Rio de Janeiro, as Rio Game Show, BGS is now on its way to its 11th edition. In 2018, the largest gaming event of Latin America will take place October 10th through 14th, at Expo Center Norte, in Sao Paulo. Samsung Galaxy Note 9 leaked in renders; borrows Note 8's design News oi-Vishal Kawadkar Samsung Galaxy Note 9 will probably have the same design as its precursor. Samsung will soon be unveiling its next flagship phablet - the Galaxy Note 9. As of now, not much is known about the device but known leaker @OnLeaks has released newly rendered pictures and a 360-degree video of the Note 9. The renders via 91Mobiles, hints at a smartphone that borrows a lot of design elements from the Galaxy Note 8. Since the Galaxy S9 wasn't much of an upgrade to its precursor, it makes sense that the Note 9 won't get a major overhaul. But this piece of information should be taken with a pinch of salt. That being said, the most notable difference is made on the rear panel of the phone. The device is said to feature a horizontal camera setup with the fingerprint sensor moved below the camera. While this wouldn't be that exciting as we've already seen such alterations in the Galaxy S9. What's more surprising that there's a fingerprint sensor since there were a lot of reports floating around that the Note 9 would be the first Samsung phone to feature a fingerprint reader underneath the display. However, recent reports did claim that Samsung might launch the new tech with its Galaxy S10. Samsung manages to keep the 3.5mm audio jack intact with the Note 9. The device also has a front notch as well. It has the same physical buttons placement as its predecessor. The renders do not provide any additional info about the innards of the device. Previously, a video was leaked showing a screen guard build for Galaxy Note 9 hints at a larger iris scanner. The new scanner might be an upgraded version and might improve the authentication process. Samsung hasn't changed the top bezel arrangement since last year and Note 9 will be another one of its products to sport an iris scanner. The company is also said to be working with an Isreali company Mantis Vision for a 3D camera system. The new tech will go against Apple's depth-sensing imaging setup of the iPhone X. But Samsung will likely bring the new tech with Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus next year. The delay in the implementation could be because the company wants more time to develop a solution that doesn't require a notch. However, the company would still want to upgrades it's biometric security with the Galaxy Note 9. Cutouts for what is assumed to be an LED indicator, ambient light sensor, earpiece, and a single selfie camera are all observable on the newly leaked screen protector as well. Besides, a new report from China suggests that the device will sport 8GB RAM and 512GB ROM. Known industry insider from China said users might see that configuration if they are "lucky." Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications Three months into his new role as head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt wanted to help his wife find a job, too. At Chick-Fil-A. And so, as The Washington Post reported on Tuesday, Pruitt used his government position and the help of an agency aide to arrange a call, at first with the company's chief executive, and ultimately with someone from its legal department, to discuss his wife's prospects as a franchise owner. Pruitt's wife, Marlyn Pruitt, began but did not complete a franchisee application, the company told The Post, and Pruitt never opened a Chick-Fil-A location. It was not the first time Pruitt has drawn scrutiny while in office. Other examples include asking an aide to help with personal tasks - including finding a used Trump hotel mattress - and calling on lobbyists to help arrange foreign trips. And it also served as a reminder that, well, it's really, really hard to open a Chick-Fil-A franchise, even without the pull of a government agency. "I see a lot of situations in which you have franchise systems that get less and less selective because they really want to grow, and they'll take anybody who comes along," said Jonathan Maze, executive editor of the commercial food service industry outlet Restaurant Business. "Chick-Fil-A doesn't have to do that." Carrie Kurlander, vice president of public relations for Chick-Fil-A, said the Georgia-based chain receives more than 40,000 inquires per year from people interested in becoming restaurant operators (the company's term for "franchisee"). After filling out an initial "expression of interest" online, they complete a formal, written application. From there, the company conducts a series of recorded, live video and in-person interviews with applicants, taking past business experience and leadership skills into consideration. The chain opens 100 to 115 new restaurants a year, Kurlander said, and operators typically run one restaurant each. The company runs more than 2,200 restaurants in 47 states, and the average restaurant makes more than $4 million in annual sales. Again: that's 40,000 people who hope to become operators, and roughly 100 to 115 who make it through. To compare, of Harvard's 42,749 applicants for the school's incoming freshman class, it admitted 1,962. "We are very intentional with our selection process as we believe this model is the key to ensuring our customers receive the best care and experience possible," Kurlander said. Operators pay an initial $10,000 fee to be "granted the rights necessary to operate a franchised Chick-fil-A," according to the company website. That's compared to other fast-food chains where franchisees can invest hundreds of thousands, even millions, of dollars to open a restaurant, industry experts said. Still, when they're approved, operators don't have ownership over the land or restaurant itself. The company pays all startup costs including real estate, construction and equipment. Operators may not own other outside businesses. "The reason why it's only $10,000 is because Chick-Fil-A controls everything," said Joel Libava, a consultant in franchises. "You can call yourself a franchisee, but you're an operator." Still, a rigorous selection is part of the brand, and the brand comes in high regard. Maze described Chick-Fil-A as the "hottest big restaurant chain in the U.S. right now," and noted that the company generated more than $9 billion in revenue in 2017. Operators are also guaranteed one day off per week - the restaurant is closed on Sundays, a practice that started in 1946 when the chain's founder decided employees should have a day "to rest and worship if they choose," Kurlander said. And Libava said that with its reputation for high-quality food and strong customer service, Chick-Fil-A in many ways earned its standing. "They are considered a highly profitable fast-food franchise operation, even though they're not a franchise," Libava said. "They are considered a good, profitable, well-run company." Maze said it wasn't just the use of government strings that surprised him about Pruitt's Chick-Fil-A rendezvous. The job pays well, but only if operators are willing to grind it out in their physical restaurants six days per week. "It's not really the type of job where you would expect somebody to pull favors to get," Maze said. "You still have to really, really like the restaurant business. That element is pretty shocking to be honest. Really, it's not a cushy job." CLEVELAND - Bill Adler was invited last year to bid on a contract to make commercial sausage stuffers for a company that wanted to replace its Chinese supplier. The customer had just one nonnegotiable demand: Match China's price. Adler, owner of metal-parts maker Stripmatic Products, thought he could. But even as he readied his proposal, talk of President Donald Trump's steel tariffs sent the price of Stripmatic's main raw material soaring. In April, with prices up nearly 50 percent from October and the first wave of tariffs in place, Adler's bid failed. His costs were too high. Today, instead of taking business from China, Adler worries about hanging onto the work he has. He hopes that the president's tariffs are just a negotiating tactic. "It's got to be short-term, or I've got to find another way to make a living," Adler said, only half joking. "It's going to be an ugly scenario if it doesn't end quickly." Stripmatic's plight is an example of the hidden costs of Trump's "America First" protectionism. During decades of increasing globalization, leaders of both political parties reassured critics that the gains from trade were dispersed across myriad less-expensive products - and thus often difficult to identify - while the costs were obvious every time a factory closed. Now, as Trump seeks to unwind globalization, that logic operates in reverse. The gains from protectionism can be seen in the new solar plants and reopened steel mills that his various tariffs are encouraging and that the president often celebrates. But the full costs of his policies - in investments foregone and workers not hired - escape casual scrutiny. If Stripmatic's experience is any guide, protectionism may already be backfiring on Americans and undermining Trump's stated goal of reclaiming manufacturing from China. "That is absolutely the lesson," said economist Phil Levy, who worked on trade policy in the George W. Bush White House. "It is a supply chain. The administration has favored the first link over the later links in the chain. The net effect helps neither American manufacturing nor national security." Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has minimized the economic cost of Trump's tariffs, claiming the steel and aluminum tariffs will add a "very small fraction of 1 percent" to prices across the economy, he recently told CNBC. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has said that tariffs the administration may impose on Chinese goods have been selected to minimize the impact on consumers. But tariffs on materials used to make other products ripple through the entire economy. Trump's steel levies were designed to punish China for swamping global markets with state-subsidized metals and to promote U.S. manufacturing. From where Adler sits, they appear to be doing the opposite. By raising the cost of a key manufacturing input, the tariffs are making many U.S. companies less competitive. Discouraging metal imports benefits U.S. steel producers. But it also translates into a surplus of steel in markets outside the United States and thus lower prices for U.S. competitors. As steel prices in the United States rise, Adler worries they will pinch his employees' bonuses and profit-sharing checks. The 25 percent increase in Stripmatic's sales that he anticipated from the sausage stuffercontract, the $1 million in new factory investmentand the 10 new jobs it would have created have evaporated. "If it wasn't for the increase that came on because of the threat of tariffs, then I honestly believe we'd be supplying these domestically," Adler said of the machines that pack ground meat into sausage casings. "This directly affects my life, my employees, my investments." In a $20 trillion economy, 10 jobs may not seem significant. But Trump's frequent use of tariffs has sparked protests from farmers and industry groups that will be hurt by the administration's import levies or retaliation from U.S. trading partners. The cumulative costof the president's higher import taxes will be a net loss of more than 400,000 jobs, according to a new study by the Trade Partnership, a pro-trade research consultancy. A bipartisan group of 34 lawmakers wrote to Lighthizer on May 30 warning of "significant unintended adverse consequences for the United States" if the tariff wars continue. Republican senators including Bob Corker of Tennessee and Mike Lee of Utah are exploring legislation to limit the president's ability to erect such trade barriers. Yet if tiny Stripmatic demonstrates the double-edged nature of tariffs as an instrument of economic policy, the company's experience should offer minimal comfort to the president's political adversaries. Despite the market turmoil unleashed by the president's actions, Adler remains appreciative of the business tax cut that Trump secured last year and the administration's broader deregulation efforts. He was a reluctant Trump voter in 2016 and remains wary of the president's bombastic style. But Adler likes having someone in the White House who respects business owners in a way that he doesn't believe leading Democrats do. With a new General Motors order for SUV parts, business is good - for now. This year, Adler added eight workers and spent $1.3 million on new factory equipment. But times would have been better if he had landed that big food- processing-equipment contract. Rising labor costs in China and Stripmatic's increasing efficiency gave him a real shot at a major win. He blames Trump's trade policies for costing him the job and for imperiling Stripmatic's future, as almost one-quarter of his sales come from abroad. "Our customers source on a global market," he said. "I'm going to be at least 30 to 40 percent disadvantaged on steel. . . . I've lost my competitive advantage." Stripmatic, dating to 1946, is among thousands of mostly unknown manufacturing companies that make up the backbone of industrial America. From a 60,000-square-foot plant just off the highway a few miles south of downtown Cleveland, Adler's roughly 40-person team churns outtubular metal products. Most are unremarkable parts that fit inside larger components, such as shock absorbers,or structural spacers that support the frame of Dodge Ram trucks and Jeep Wranglers.The company specializes in mass production of carbon steel parts. Adler, 61, a Cleveland native, worked briefly in a local steel mill while attending college and then sold aluminum for several years before buying the company in 1992 with his wife, Liz. In about five years, they built the company to about $8 million in sales from less than $1 million and retired their debt. But Chinese factories emerged as low-cost competitors with China's 2001 membership in the World Trade Organization. As several of his large customers turned to less expensive Chinese rivals, Adler fine-tuned his operations to reducewaste. He introduced automatic sensors that could check more than 100 parts every minute, more than three times the number a human could handle, and shifted his workers into higher-skilled positions. "We were able to become more competitive and maintain our profit margins," he said. Adler is a veteran of an earlier bout of protectionism, the 2002 steel tariffs, which pushed one-fifth of U.S. metal-stamping businesses into collapse, according to the Census Bureau. Stripmatic laid off a handful of workers and froze hiring for four years. Sales stagnated for several years, but Adler hung on. Efforts to diversify away from a near-total dependence on the auto industry into products such as plastic toys never worked out. That's one reason the recent loss of the food-processing job was so painful. Inside the factory, enormous metal presses rhythmically pound rolls of steel into auto and truck parts, the noises resounding like an industrial orchestra. The modern arc of metal stamping is on display, from a modified century-old device that bends unused steel into tight coils to a 4,000-watt laser-welding station at the opposite end of the plant, which instantly stitches a tight seal on metal parts. Massive yellow, blue and green bins hold tens of thousands of metal parts. Roughly 20 percent are exported to factories in Mexico; an additional few percentage points go to Taiwan and Brazil. As he stands on the plant floor, a ruddy-faced Adler wonders what this scene will look like in a few months. He's in a fiercely competitive business, and his profits will melt if Trump's tariffs remain indefinitely. Already, prices for one type of steel that Adler uses - hot-rolled coil - are roughly twice what they were when Trump was elected, according to one widely used Midwestern index. And they are headed higher. "I don't think they're done yet. That's the problem," said Tony Scrima, 58, his plant manager, who's worked here since he was 18. Adler's big worry is his Mexican customers. He hopes they won't bolt for a cheaper, non-American alternative. But he can't be sure what the president plans. "I try to erase what he says and look at the [economic] levers he's pulling," Adler said. "Is this all a negotiating tool to end up with a good result? I don't know. But if it is, it's got to go fast." --- Video Embed Code Video: The Trump administration's tariffs on imported steel and aluminum are hitting close to home at a metal stamping plant in Cleveland.(Simon Brubaker/The Washington Post) Embed code: GREENWICH - Just as Lauren Weisberger used her experience working at Vogue as the inspiration for her bestselling novel The Devil Wears Prada, her time spent living in the Fairfield County suburbs played a role in her latest book, a sequel set right here in Greenwich. Weisberger visited the setting of her new book Thursday morning when she took part in a conversation hosted by the UJA-JCC Greenwich. Speaking with Greenwich resident and writer Daisy Florin, Weisberger discussed her writing career and her new novel, When Life Gives You Lululemons. Her 2003 debut novel, The Devil Wears Prada, was adapted for the hit 2006 film starring Meryl Streep and Ann Hathaway and is now being developed as a Broadway musical by Paul Rudnick, with music by Elton John. When Life Gives You Lululemons picks up about 10 years later and focuses on Emily Charlton, the assistant portrayed by Emily Blunt in the film, who is now living in Greenwich. Shes no longer single, living in the city in her 20s. Shes in her mid-30s, shes married and she has a career that shes built entirely on her own, Weisberger said. She wanted to explore how Emily has changed now that she has moved to the suburbs. The novel focuses on Emilys friendships with two other women, and how they team up when one of them is accused of something awful. I love the idea of exploring how these women came together. They have spouses, they have children, but at the heart of this book was their relationship with each other. That was the most important thing, and it took each of their special skillsets, each of their unique personalities to come together and fight back, Weisberger said. Though Weisberger doesnt live in Greenwich, she chose it as a setting because it is recognizable and because she felt it was representative of small, affluent suburban towns found all across the country. The book is partly a satire of the kinds of people and shenanigans that go on in well-to-do suburbs, she said, but it also reflects her own feelings of moving to Connecticut from New York City, and the dynamic and interesting people she has met. I dont know what I was expecting, but I was not expecting to meet such phenomenal women who Ive gone on to make incredible friends with. Weve been in Connecticut for three years, and I absolutely love it, I love it here, I love raising my kids here and I love the people Ive met here. I wanted to show that. The talk was held outdoors at the J House Hotel, with an enthusiastic crowd eager to ask Weisberger questions about her life and writing. She got into the magazine world because she wanted to write but was not interested in publishing or newspapers. While working at a travel magazine after her stint at Vogue, Weisbergers editor encouraged her to take a writing workshop, where she developed what would eventually become The Devil Wears Prada. Weisberger said that her life as a writer has changed a lot since leaving the city for the suburbs. Flexible hours and late nights have been replaced with getting the kids off to school and making sure they get to bed on time. It has also made her more focused, she said, as she is more motivated to sit and write during the hours that theyre not home, rather than waiting for inspiration to hit. When Life Gives You Lululemons is Weisbergers seventh book. It does feature an appearance from her most famous character, Miranda Priestly, who was portrayed by Streep in the movie. Weisberger said that Priestly was delightful to write again, particularly after spending so much time examining how other characters have grown and changed since The Devil Wears Prada. Miranda was easy because she didnt change at all. Shes exactly the same. And it was not surprising, but it was definitely fun as a writer to revisit her and see that she is exactly as hideous as she always was. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy vetoed a bill Wednesday evening that would allow pass-through entities to apply a manufacturing tax credit to their personal income taxes, saying it would give large companies a new tax cut and remove needed revenue. Lawmakers will reconvene in a few weeks to decide whether to override Malloys veto on this bill and one other he has nixed so far this year. Support from two-thirds of legislators in both chambers would be needed. The bill, which unanimously passed two legislative committees as well as the full House and Senate, was intended to help small businesses. But Malloy said he doubted it would have that effect. The United States Department of Treasury recently revealed that only about 10 percent of pass-through entities were small businesses with employees, Malloy wrote in a letter explaining his veto. While this bill may have been passed to help small-business owners, it would also allow owners of large, complex institutions to greatly reduce their personal income tax liability without limits. Malloy also objected that the loss in revenue this bill would produce $650,000 annually was not accounted for in the Legislatures $20 billion bipartisan budget deal passed in May. State Sen. Scott Frantz, chair of the legislatures Finance Committee, said $650,000 a year is a small price to help keep businesses in the state especially compared to the $81 million package of grants and loans the state Bond Commission passed last week to expand businesses and create jobs. It is very, very shortsighted of the governor to veto this bill, the Greenwich Republican said. He called it a hugely positive step for keeping manufacturing companies in the state and for the economy at large. Speaker of the House Joe Aresimowicz, a Democrat, said in a statement he believes the Legislature would have the votes to override the veto. We need to continue to up our investment in job creation and economic growth, and advanced manufacturing is a fast-growing area that is looking to hire every day, but there is a shortage of skilled workers ready to go, he said. The Legislatures Republican leaders, Rep. Themis Klarides of Derby and Sen. Len Fasano of North Haven, said in a statement they intend to pursue an override. A pass-through entity is a special business structure not subject to federal income taxes. Under current Connecticut law, pass-through entities can earn a manufacturing-apprenticeship tax credit from the state, but cannot apply it to their personal income taxes. Instead, these businesses can sell or transfer their tax credit to other companies, which may reduce their tax liability. The vetoed bill, which would have taken effect for 2018 taxes, would have allowed the owners or partners of S corporations, LLCs and other pass-through entities to apply the credit directly to their personal income taxes. emunson@hearstmediact.com; Twitter: @emiliemunson Facebook has been under fire recently for giving data third-party apps, allegedly without users consent. After an investigation by The New York Times, it was discovered the social media gave deep access to all major smartphone makers. Latest information revealed that the now-banned Huawei was one of them, along with three other Chinese companies - Lenovo, Oppo, and TCL (the owner of the BlackBerry and alcatel brands). They join the company of Samsung, Apple, and Amazon that were initially unveiled on Sunday. According to The New York Times, the partnership between Facebook and the smartphone manufacturers dates back to 2010. During the period, there was constant access to user data, including friends, phone numbers, emails, relationship statuses and everything else stored in the Activity Log. The Times added that the detailed info included even people who denied permissions to share info to any third parties. Ashkani Soltani, a research and privacy consultant and former FTC chief technologist, was quoted that the situation is similar to knowing that your house is locked, but the locksmith gave keys to all his friends without asking. The deals were part of an effort to push mobile users to join the social media. Companies had the ability to add Like buttons in their in-house apps and even combine feeds from all major accounts into one application. Representatives of Facebook said the data stayed on the phones and was not exported on servers. The partnerships are in effect to this day, a promise to end the deal with Huawei by the end of the week was made earlier. After publishing the investigation, Craig Federighi, Software Business VP at Apple, effectively confirmed the feature at Cupertino and said the company will ban the usage of Facebook Like buttons by third-party apps across all Apple platforms. When a user is using Safari and sees a button, a pop up will prompt the user to be cautious. Alex Stamos, Chief Security Officer at Facebook, questioned whether this move is protecting user privacy or is it used only to promote Apples ecosystem. Source 1 Source 2 | Via 1 Via 2 (in Chinese) These are the best offers from our affiliate partners. We may get a commission from qualifying sales. Update: Rolling out again (let's hope it stays that way this time). Update: Verizon has removed all references to Oreo from its official Galaxy S7 support pages, meaning the update has been pulled (yet again). Original story follows: Back in April, Verizon updated its Samsung Galaxy S7/S7 edge software update web pages to reflect Oreo update roll out for these devices. However, in reality, that turned out to be just a security update. Now, the carrier has again updated those pages claiming Oreo for S7/S7 edge has begun rolling out. We really hope this time it's for real. As for details, the update arrives as software version R16NW.G930VVRU4CRE5 and R16NW.G935VVRU4CRE5 for the S7 and S7 edge, respectively. In addition to the usual Oreo goodies, it also includes App pair, Dual Messenger, high contrast keyboard as well as UI improvements to your phone dialer. Source 1 2 Published on 2018/06/06 | Source Added episodes 17 and 18 captures for the Korean drama "Wok of Love" (2018) Advertisement Directed by Park Seon-ho-I Written by Seo Sook-hyang Network : SBS With Lee Junho, Jang Hyuk, Jung Ryeo-won, Lee Mi-sook, Park Ji-young, Cha Joo-young,... 40 episodes - Mon, Tue 22:00 (2x35min episodes per day) Synopsis "Greasy Romance" tells a story of love, survival with a focus on a star chef who fell from the top chef in the best Chinese restaurant in Korea to a tiny kitchen of a local diner down on its luck. Broadcast starting date in Korea : 2018/05/07 More Published on 2018/06/06 | Source Lee Young-ae is starring an intelligence melodrama called "Different Dreams" (Director Yoon Sang-ho, writer Jo Gyoo-won), which has been chosen to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the country's establishment. Advertisement "Different Dreams" is a historical drama based during the Japanese Empire in Kyungsung, Manjoo and Shanghai, China where Kim Won-bong, leader of a secret independence society, and Lee Yeong-jin (Lee Young-ae), a Joseon doctor who was raised by the Japanese, become spies for the Shanghai provisional government. Casting is in progress and the drama will be filmed in Mongolia, Shanghai, and other places. With the beginning of "Different Dreams" getting closer, the whole of Asia, America, Iran and even the Middle East want publication rights. In addition, "Different Dreams" is being released in 2019 which celebrates the 100th year of the Korean provisional government and the drama subjects around proud heroes that fought for Korean Independence. Han Suk-won joined "Different Dreams" as deputy director and is sure that "Different Dreams" will become a high quality drama for the world to watch. Published on 2018/06/07 | Source Added episode 6 captures for the Korean drama "Miss Hammurabi" (2018) Advertisement Directed by Kwak Jeong-hwan Written by Moon Yoo-suk Network : jTBC With Go Ara, Kim Myung-soo, Sung Dong-il, Ryu Deok-hwan, Lee Elijah, Lee Tae-sung,... 16 episodes - Mon, Tue 23:00 Synopsis A legal drama centering around judge Im Ba-reun, a top-notch judge who has no interest in success. Rather, he strictly follows what he believes is right. Broadcast starting date in Korea : 2018/05/21 More A former state legislator is stepping back into the ring after being out of office more than 35 years. Former state Rep. Bob Sivertsen announced Wednesday he is running as an independent in the race for House District 28, which essentially includes most of Havre and a bit to the east of the town. "Friends and neighbors," he said in a statement announcing his candidacy, "I am running for the state Legislature in House District 28 as an independent because I don't feel politics has served Montanans very well. That's what I'm hearing from so many in my travels. "I want to lead a discussion about growing our economy, creating good jobs, and constructing an adequate highway so this great northern corridor can compete for business," he added. Sivertsen will face first-term Rep. Jacob Bachmeier, D-Havre, and Havre Libertarian candidate Conor Burns in the general election. Bachmeier and Burns were unopposed in the primary election this week. Sivertsen, who was born in 1937 and grew up on a ranch 50 miles south of Chinook, has a long history in politics and community activism. He served in the Legislature from 1974 to 1982, including chairing the five-state Water Task Force of the Upper Missouri River Basin from 1978 to 1981 and sat on the state Highway Transportation Committee from 1978 to 1982. He has stayed active in political issues, including heading the Highway 2 Association, championing widening the highway to four lanes across the state, since the beginning of the last decade and pushing to upgrade the hours at the Port of Wildhorse on the Canadian border north of Havre. The list of the organizations with which he has been involved is extensive, including serving on the fair board in HIll County for 26 years, chairing the board for 22 years. He is well-known at the fair for auctioneering the annual 4-H livestock sale, which he started doing in the 1960s, as well as announcing at other events. He was a founding member of the Hill County 4-H Foundation, served as a 4-H leader for 28 years and has been awarded a 4-H Distinguished Service Award. His distinctive voice was known also for his work broadcasting on the radio, and as the auctioneer for his B&B Auction Sales and Service. Sivertsen also was the founder of the annual free community Christmas dinner in Havre, which he ran for 16 years. In the midst of his lifelong work in agriculture - he started his own ranch business at age 17 - Sivertsen worked as the state coordinator for the Montana Centennial Cattle Drive, with 3,200 riders using 4,500 horses to drive 3,500 head of cattle across the state. He was inducted into the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame in 2013. Sivertsen said in his release he wants to hear from the constituents in HD28. "I'm especially interested in your thoughts as to how we can achieve greatness in this, the 21st century," he said. Public invited to see Hi-Line projects firsthand Press release MISSOULA The Montana Department of Transportation Great Falls District US-2 has announced a free opportunity for the public to join an infrastructure tour from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. June 20. The tour will include stops at Havre East, Lohman, Chinook, Zurich, Belknap, and the Milk River Bridge as an opportunity to learn firsthand of current projects enhancing Montana communities. Staff from the Montana Department of Transportation and Transportation Commissioners, including Great Falls District Transportation Commissioner Greg Jergeson of Chinook will lead the tour through these areas and welcome the opportunity to speak with residents between stops while all commuting together on a chartered bus. Stops highlighting projects include: 11 a.m. Meet at the Havre MDT maintenance office at 1649 US HWY 2 NW 11:15 a.m. Depart from Havre 11:30 a.m. Stop at the old rest area site to discuss the Havre East reconstruction project Noon Depart from the old rest area site 12:15 p.m. Stop at Lohman to discuss the Lohman East & West project Lunch break (not provided by tour) 1 p.m. Depart from Lohman 1:10 p.m. Stop at the Town Pump in Chinook for a 15-minute break 1:30 p.m. Depart from Chinook 1:45 p.m. Stop in Zurich to discuss the US-2 corridor projects between Chinook and Harlem 2:15 p.m. Depart from Zurich 2:30 p.m. Arrive in Harlem for a 15-minute break 3 p.m. Depart from Harlem to tour P-66 south of Ft Belknap 3:45 p.m. Arrive back in Harlem 4:15 p.m. Arrive at the Milk River Bridge project south of US-2 on the North Fork Road 5 p.m. Depart from the Milk River Bridge project 5:30 p.m. Arrive at the Havre MDT Maintenance office Because seating is limited, the Montana Department of Transportation requests that those interested in attending call the Transportation Commission Tour logistics line at 406-207-4484 between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday, June 11, and only during this time. Limited seating is available and is reserved on a first come, first serve basis. People interested in attending are encouraged to mark calendars for June 11 to RSVP. Tour reservations will only be taken during this eight-hour time June 11. People can call 406-207-4484 to reserve your seat. The next Transportation Commission meeting will be held Thursday, June 21, at the Best Western Plus Havre Inn and Suites. Agendas are available online at https://www.mdt.mt.gov/pubinvolve/trans_comm/meetings.shtml/. The Great Falls District of the Montana Department of Transportation includes field offices in Great Falls and Havre and is under the direction of District Administrator Doug Wilmot. Alternative accessible formats of this document will be provided on request. Persons who need an alternative format should contact the Human Resources and Occupational Safety Division, Department of Transportation, 2701 Prospect Avenue, PO Box 201001, Helena, MT 59620. Telephone 406-444-9229. People using a TTY can call 1-800-335-7592 or through the Montana Relay Service at 711. In a statement, chief executive Karen Cariss added: On 28 May 2018 our investigations revealed that we have some indicators that client data may have been compromised, a forensic investigation with assistance from an independent third party is currently ongoing. "We take cyber-security very seriously and have been working together with international law enforcement, government authorities and independent security experts to fully investigate the matter." Coles suspended their job sites as a precaution to the potential breach though they prefaced that they were not currently aware of any fraudulent activity relating to anyone's data. "However, the statement read, we recommend that any person who has applied online for a position with Coles in the past 18 months check to ensure that there has been no recent unusual activity concerning their personal information and maintain a close watch on the use of their personal information." Dying cells generally have two options: go quietly, or go out with a bang. The latter, while more conspicuous, is also mechanistically more mysterious. Now, scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have pinpointed what they believe is the molecular code that unleashes this more violent variety of cell death. This particular version of cell suicide is called necroptosis, and it typically occurs as a result of some sort of infection or pathogenic invader. Necroptosis is sort of like the cells version of taking one for the team, said Jan Carette, PhD, assistant professor of microbiology and immunology. As the cell dies, it releases its contents, including a damage signal that lets other cells know theres a problem. Seen in this light, necroptosis seems almost altruistic, but the process is also a key contributor to autoimmune diseases; its even been implicated in the spread of cancer. In a new study, Carette and his collaborators discovered the final step of necroptosis, the linchpin upon which the entire process depends. They call it the death code. Their work, which was published online June 7 in Molecular Cell, not only clears up what happens during this type of cell death, but also opens the door to potential new treatments for diseases in which necroptosis plays a key role, such as inflammatory bowel disease and multiple sclerosis. Carette is the senior author, and postdoctoral scholar Cole Dovey, PhD, is the lead author. Initiating detonation When a cells health is threatened by an invader, such as a virus, a cascade of molecular switches and triggers readies the cell for death by necroptosis. Until recently, scientists thought they had traced the pathway down to the last step. But it turns out that the entire chain is rendered futile without one special molecule, called inositol hexakisphosphate, or IP6, which is part of a larger collection of molecules known as inositol phosphates. Carette likens IP6 to an access code; only in this case, when the code is punched in, its not a safe or a cellphone thats unlocked: Its cell death. Specifically, a protein called MLKL, which Carette has nicknamed the executioner protein, is unlocked. Genetic screens are a lot of fun because you never know what youre going to get. This was a big surprise. We didnt know that the killer protein required a code, and now we find that it does, Dovey said. Its held in check by a code, and its released by a code. So only when the code is correct does the killer activate, puncturing holes in the cells membrane as it prepares to burst the cell open. MLKL resides inside the cell, which may seem like an error on evolutions part; why plant an explosive in lifes inner sanctum? But MLKL is tightly regulated, and it requires multiple green lights before its cleared to pulverize. Even if all other proteins and signaling molecules prepare MLKL for destruction, IP6 has the final say. If IP6 doesnt bind, MLKL remains harmless, like a cotton ball floating inside the cell. When its not killing cells, MLKL exists as multiple units, separate from one another. But when IP6 binds to one of these units, the protein gathers itself up into one functional complex. Only then, as a whole, is MLKL a full-fledged killer. Its like a grenade split into its component parts. None of them are functional on their own. But put back together, the tiny bomb is ready to inflict damage. Weve come to realize that, after the cell explodes, there are these alarm molecules that alert the immune system, Dovey said. When the cell releases its contents, other cells pick up on these cautionary molecules and can either shore up defenses or prepare for necroptosis themselves. Screening for the Grim Reaper In their quest to understand exactly how necroptosis occurs, Carette and Dovey performed an unbiased genetic screen, in which they scoured the entire genome for genes that seemed to be particularly critical toward the end of the pathway, where they knew MLKL took action. Before the IP6 finding, it was known that an intricate pathway impinged on MLKL. But only through this special genetic screen, in which they systematically tested the function of every gene at this end stage, were they able to see that IP6 was the key to necroptosis. Genetic screens are a lot of fun because you never know what youre going to get, Carette said. We feel quite excited that weve been able to pinpoint IP6. Their screen revealed that IP6 binds with especially high specificity. Other similar versions of inositol phosphate, such as IP3, didnt pass muster, and when bound to MLKL had no effect. This gave Carette an interesting idea. For conditions like irritable bowel disease, in which erroneous necroptosis contributes to the severity of the disease, it would be desirable to disable IP6 from binding under those conditions. Perhaps blocking the binding site, or tricking MLKL into binding to one of the other versions of inositol phosphate, could do the trick. Either way, Carette and his collaborators are now digging further into the structure of IP6 bound to MLKL to better understand exactly how the killer is unleashed. In terms of drug discovery, inositol phosphates have been somewhat ignored, so were really excited to be able to look into these small molecules for potential therapeutic reasons, Carette said . Other Stanford co-authors on the study are graduate student Jonathan Diep; postdoctoral scholar Jennifer Yinuo Cao, PhD; and assistant professor of biology Scott Dixon, PhD. Carette is a member of Stanford Bio-X, Stanford ChEM-H and the Stanford Child Health Research Institute. Researchers at Vanderbilt University, St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital, the University of Texas, Princeton University, Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut fur Molekulare Pharmakologie, GlaxoSmithKline and Emory University also contributed to the work. The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health (grants T32AI007328, DP2AI104557, 5T32GM007347, R01AI020211 and R01GM124404), the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital and the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities, the fundraising organization for St. Jude. Stanfords Department of Microbiology and Immunology also supported the work. Seven million people die each year from smoking related diseases, according to the World Health Organisation, with the annual death toll expected to rise to eight million by 2030. Despite a WHO target to phase out tobacco usage by 2040, smoking remains one of the biggest global public health problems, with low to middle income countries accounting for around 80 per cent of the worlds estimated 1.1 billion smokers. To address this major health threat, there is a challenge to find smoking cessation therapies that are both low cost (and so widely-accessible) and that support smokers effectively to manage and then conquer their addiction. Currently, there are two drugs which offer a related approach to smoking cessation. The first of these is cytisine, a natural product extracted from laburnum seeds and marketed as Tabex, that has been used for smoking cessation in central and eastern Europe for over 50 years. The other is varenicline (a chemical structure related to cytisine) that is available worldwide as Chantix or Champix. Both drugs work by selective stimulation of the brains nicotine receptor in such a way that the smoker receives some but not all the reward of smoking so that, over time, they can manage withdrawal to eradicate their tobacco addiction. However, both varenicline and cytisine activate other receptors in the brain that may be linked to various side effects. As a result, identifying more selective drugs that offer smokers an improved therapy would encourage greater end-user compliance and lead to increased quit rates. Researchers from the University of Bristol, in partnership with colleagues from the universities of Bath, Oxford Brookes and Milan, have been examining the chemistry and pharmacology of one of these drugs, namely cytisine (Tabex). Specifically, the team of synthetic and computational chemists, and pharmacologists and neuroscientists have looked at robust ways to target and modify specific parts of cytisines chemical structure. They do this starting with cytisine itself, which offers a number of significant advantages, and this has led to new molecules that show higher selectivity for those key nicotine-activated receptors while still providing the necessary partial stimulation (reward) required by smokers to cope with cravings. Using computational simulation methods developed with the aid of Bristols high performance computing facilities, the researchers have also unpacked how the modified chemical structure determines the biological profiles of these new cytisine variants to provide the enhanced differentiation that they have observed. Longer term, and with further research, this work has the potential to produce a new smoking cessation therapy based on cytisine that, through better compliance, may lead to higher and more sustained quit rates. Tim Gallagher, Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Bristol, said: We had previously made some of these molecules by other routes but the poor efficiency of that chemistry seriously limited what we could do. We can now readily generate our molecules which offer more effective therapies, as well as biological probes that we and others will use to understand some of the fundamental questions associated with receptor activation. Adrian Mulholland, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Bristol, said: This work shows how computational simulation and experiment working together can identify potential new smoking cessation aids and can make a real difference. This also opens new ways of tackling these receptors very specifically, and understanding how they function. Susan Wonnacott, Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Bath, added: Manipulating the biological activity of ligands to give greater specificity for high affinity nicotine receptors is a key requirement for effective smoking cessation. Having the chemistry to achieve this, and the computational modelling to understand the mechanism, paves the way for the generation of novel therapeutics by rational drug design. This research had additional support from Achieve Life Sciences (ALS), a pharmaceutical company specialising in cytisine as a smoking cessation aid. This is a first but very significant step towards targeted therapeutics and we have built a fantastic multidisciplinary team to pursue this problem, added Professor Gallagher. We are now working on new and emerging aspects of this project, and that will include exploring, in partnership with ALS, the full potential of these ligands as therapeutic agents. Heifer International has been closely monitoring the eruption of the Volcan de Fuego or the Volcano of Fire in Guatemala, which began Sunday and continues to produce smoke, ash and other volcanic material. The eruption has killed at least 75 and affected more than 1 million people in the southern region of the Central American country. It is the deadliest eruption of the volcano in more than four decades. People flee the eruption of the Volcano of Fire in Guatemala. While we do not work in the three main areas affected and all Heifer project participants and staff are safe, we do have implementing partners who are participating in emergency relief activities. And those partners have appealed to us for support. To show alliance with our partners, we are providing humanitarian support to the affected communities and for the thousands in temporary shelters. Heifer Guatemala has provided 100 beds, and we are seeking additional funds for other relief supplies, including more bedding and much-needed safety equipment for the rescue teams who will be working in the disaster zones. The location of the eruption in Guatemala Heifer Guatemala and our Americas staff are solely focused on mobilizing aid to these partners for the time being. We anticipate further information from our staff on the ground by end of week. If you would like to help Heifer provide the emergency relief the people of Guatemala need right now, you can donate to the efforts through our Disaster Rehabilitation Fund. Canadian company to grow tomatoes here under 45 acres of roof Lakeside CEO Chris Cervini describes greenhouse operation coming to Ladson Road. MILLS RIVER A Canadian produce company plans to invest close to $75 million in a farming operation growing greenhouse tomatoes in the largest vegetable production under roof in North Carolina, the company's president and AgHC officials announced at a news conference on Thursday. Lakeside Produce Co., of Leamington, Canada, plans to have its first 15-acre greenhouse producing tomatoes and other vegetables by November 2019 and will add two more greenhouses the same size, eventually employing 150 people. It has bought 116 acres from local landowner Drew Brannon, whose family has farmed Horse Shoe and Mills River land since 1855. "Daddy and I bought that property in the 1970s," Brannon said. "I wanted it to stay in agriculture." He has leased the land for tomato growing in the past but it's fallow this year while Brannon negotiated the sale of the land to Lakeside. "Why North Carolina? Why Mills River," Lakeside president and CEO Chris Cervini said. "I've been explaining this to a lot of people but I want you all to know that the local commissioners sat here with humility and empathy and said we want you to come here to our area. We've made mistakes in the past but we have a strategy. It was really, really nice to see that you have a strategy here." Cervini singled out Mark Williams, the president of AgHC, the agriculture-promoting agency funded by Henderson County, Hendersonville and Mills River, for his work in the recruitment of the international greenhouse operation. Williams worked with the city of Hendersonville on an agreement to extend water to the site. Hendersonville Mayor Barbara Volk recalled Williams visiting the City Council "to see if we could get water here. There was no question with the council we were happy to work again with AgHC." Henderson County had "decided to make a concerted effort to promote agriculture in the county, similar to what commissioners had done years ago with the manufacturing sector," Henderson County Commissioner Bill Lapsley said. "What you see here today is a good example of a return on that investment and I think commissioners are very pleased to see results like this growing the agricultural segment of our community." Lakeside's project manager, Mary Scerbo, scoured the country for a location and found Henderson County and its agriculture-recruiting arm, in Williams. She called the boss and told him, "I think I've found the real deal." "The elevation here along with local support is why we have chosen this area," he said. "I can't thank you enough for actually putting financial support into AgHC." The company also chose the southern Blue Ridge Mountains for the contrast in sunny days with cool nights, a temperature difference that drives sugar into the fruit and makes greenhouse tomatoes more flavorful. "That's the reason we're coming here." Lakeside already sells greenhouse tomatoes to Fresh Market, Publix and other supermarkets, Cervini said. Besides greenhouse workers, the operation will hire managers, supervisors, maintenance engineers, food safety specialists and packing line technicians. Lakeside also plans to launch a $2,000 scholarship program for high school seniors that "comes with a job," Cervini said. "We want them here working on the farm." A high school Principal has appeared before court to answer to charges of raping a Form Four student in Kitui. Samuel Matuvi Kimanzi, the Mosa Mixed Secondary School principal, is said to have stormed into a girls dormitory on the night of May 21 this year for a random inspection. After the inspection at around 2 am, the school head is alleged to have summoned the victim outside the dormitory where he took her to a nearby fence and defiled her. Weeping uncontrollably after the assault, the student is said to have informed her colleagues leading to a riot the following morning. The angry students boycotted classes demanding the victims guardian to be informed of the incident. It was then that police officers responded and arrested Mr Matuvi. He appeared in a Kitui court Wednesday and pleaded not guilty. He was released on Sh50,000 cash bail. Megan Edney, 14, awaiting heart transplant in Charlotte Megan Edney Megan Edney, the 14-year-old daughter of Henderson County Commission Chair Michael Edney, is critically ill and awaiting a heart transplant at a Charlotte pediatric hospital after a daylong surgery Wednesday. Its been the roller coaster ride from hell, Edney said Thursday afternoon by phone. But right now were in a good place. Its going to be a long process. A healthy teenager until a few months ago, Megan began complaining of constant stomach-aches, head-aches and other problems that physicians were unable to diagnose. A G.I. specialist in Greenville never could come up with anything. Last Wednesday, a scan at Pardee Hospital showed way too much blood in her abdomen, Edney said. Before we left, they told us a CAT scan is showing evidence of heart failure. She was raced to Mission, where doctors confirmed her condition. They say, This is very serious. This is more than we can handle. Torrential downpours made a transfer by MAMA impossible. Instead, an ambulance sped her to Levine Childrens Hospital on the campus of Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte. In the intensive care unit of one of the top pediatric heart facilities in the South, she is under very good care, Edney said. By Friday night, the family heard from doctors the explanation for the severe illnesses Megan had been having. An MRI showed shed had a number of heart attacks, he said. Her heart was functioning at only 14 percent of capacity. She was an immediate candidate for a Berlin ventricular assist device. Designed specifically for infants and children, the German-made machine continuously pumps blood until the patient can get a heart transplant. A transplants your only option, Edney said. Shes on the transplant list. They got all that done for us. Weve been interviewed by 10 people for it. Megan will have to stay in the hospital on the Berlin device while waiting for a heart, a projected three to six months. But because of her age and whatnot she is like the highest category of recipient. You go from stomach pain to losing your heart overnight is shocking. Doctors have closed Megan's chest! Edney wrote on his Facebook page at 3 oclock Thursday afternoon. Things still going great!! Very Grateful and Thankful!!!! Closing her chest was a welcome relief after Wednesday night when Megan was bleeding more than expected, causing surgeons to go back in to stop the bleeding. Doctor just came in and said this was a bump in the road, not a mountain, Edney said on Facebook about 10 Wednesday night. He expects doctors will allow Megan to wake up Friday and "see how that goes." Theyve let us know whats going on, he said of the medical staff. Theyre not sugarcoating anything. It is what it is. As theyve learned more, theyve told us more. Because the Berlin heart machine is portable, Megan when shes stronger should be able to walk the hospital corridors some and maybe go outside. Given a heart transplant recovery time, shes not expected to return to school any earlier than next January. Shes in seventh grade at Mountain Community School. An attorney in his fourth term on the Board of Commissioners, Edney, 57, has faced loss all his life. He lost his 3-year-old brother when he was just 4. Another brother, Jimmy, a detective with the Henderson County sheriffs office, died of cancer in 2009 at age 49. More recently, in December 2012, his niece, Heather Stepp, and her six-month-old baby Eli, were severely injured in a bad crash on Kanuga Road. My sisters been through leukemia and had a bone marrow transplant, Edney said. Asked how he is holding up through all these challenges, Edney said he and his wife, Lisa, had just been talking to a minister about that. In a way, all those things prepared me for what Im doing now, he said. It all teaches you youre not in control. Gods in control. He expressed gratitude for all the help Megan and the family is getting at Levine. Two nurses attend Megan 24 hours a day. In the middle of the night theres always two doctors on the floor, he said. Weve got tons of support from family and friends and strangers. Anything I need theyre taking care of. Weve been blessed. Megans mom is fighting for Megan every step of the way. Shes tough. Shes doing what she has to do for her baby. Megan becoming stable was the best news the family had received since they left Pardee on the way to Mission eight days ago. Todays Lisas birthday, Edney said. Shes probably gotten the best present she could have got that her daughters doing good. The dad also praised Megans big brother Mitch, a 17-year-old junior at Hendersonville High School. Hes been a trouper, he said. What can friends and family back home do? We want to be on every prayer list everywhere, Edney said. Gods healing power is what we want and need. Reader's Digest honors Waverly Inn as tops in N.C. Related Stories The 1898 Waverly Inn downtown was tops in North Carolina in a Readers Digest list of the most charming small-town bed and breakfasts for all 50 states. The Waverly Inn built in 1898 is the oldest surviving inn in Hendersonville. The inn is located at 783 N Main Street in Hendersonvilles historic downtown. Open 365 days a year, the inn serves over five thousand guests annually. Guest are treated to a gourmet southern breakfast each morning and an evening social hour that includes their famous pimento cheese, lemonade, wine and local craft beers. We are thrilled to be selected by Readers Digest for this honor in a state that is filled with amazing bed and breakfasts from the mountains to the coast," co-owner and innkeeper Tracey Burnette said. On what gives the inn charm, her husband and co-owner Mike Burnette added, The charm is really with an ambiance that offers a home away from home experience for our guests. Visitors come here initially captivated by a beautiful historical building but return because it feels like visiting family to them. Mike and Tracey, both native North Carolinians, have owned the inn since March 2016. Theyve made numerous upgrades to the inn in their first two years, added a monthly Sunday brunch and a monthly barbecue and Americana music series that features North Carolina barbecue smoked on site. The property was founded by Maggie Anderson as the Anderson Boarding House. She later brought her sister, Bessie Egerton, into the business and they operated it for 40 years, surviving a fire in 1910 and the Great Depression. The name of the inn was changed to the Waverly Inn in 1915 and more recently to the 1898 Waverly Inn to reflect the inns rich history. There have been nine owners in the 120-year history of the inn and women have always been represented with each change of ownership. Placed on the National Register of Historic Places, the property blends Victorian-era styles of Queen Anne and Eastlake and maintains a superior degree of integrity. The three-story frame structure has a two-tiered sawn work-trimmed porch, widow's walk, and inside features a magnificent Eastlake stair and woodwork. It is the only surviving example of a Queen Anne style hotel in Hendersonville from the 19th century. Former Anglo Irish Bank executive David Drumm outside Dublin's Central Criminal Court, after he was found guilty of two fraud charges. Photo: Brian Lawless/PA Anglo Irish Bank's disgraced former chief executive David Drumm faces a potentially long jail stretch after he was found guilty of taking part in a 7.2bn "con" during the 2008 financial crisis. A jury convicted Drumm of conspiracy to defraud and false accounting by unanimous verdict after one of Ireland's longest-running criminal trials. He stared impassively as the verdict was read out after the 87-day trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. Judge Karen O'Connor remanded him on bail for sentencing later this month after his defence made a bail application on "humanitarian" grounds. Gardai had objected, saying they considered Drumm a "flight risk." The jury reached its verdicts after deliberating for 10 hours and 32 minutes. Expand Close Drumm succeeded Sean Fitzpatrick, right, as Chief Executive Officer of Anglo in 2005 / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Drumm succeeded Sean Fitzpatrick, right, as Chief Executive Officer of Anglo in 2005 The disgraced banker, who left the Criminal Courts of Justice to a media scrum, did not respond to questions as he made his way to a people carrier with blacked-out windows. Drumm (51) had denied conspiring to defraud by dishonestly creating the impression that Anglo's customer deposits were 7.2bn larger than they really were in September 2008. Misleading He conspired with Anglo's former finance director, Willie McAteer, and head of capital markets, John Bowe. He also conspired with Denis Casey, the former CEO of Irish Life and Permanent (ILP), and others. The case centred on a series of interbank deposits that circulated between Anglo and ILP. Drumm also denied false accounting, by providing misleading information to the market. At 3.12pm yesterday, the jurors filed back into the courtroom and the forewoman handed the court registrar the issue paper. "You say the accused, David Drumm, is guilty on count number one," said the registrar. The forewoman confirmed that this was unanimous. The verdict on the second count was the same. Drumm, dressed in a black suit with an open-necked blue shirt, remained seated and looked at the jury as the verdicts were read out. Mouth slightly open, he showed no emotion and looked down at one point, folding and unfolding his arms. Judge O'Connor thanked the jurors and excused them from further jury service for life. Prosecutor Paul O'Higgins said the State was ready to call evidence for sentencing. Detective Sergeant Michael McKenna gave evidence of his objections to Drumm being allowed to remain on bail pending a sentencing hearing. He said Drumm had enjoyed a presumption of innocence during the trial but had now been found guilty of two serious offences. He had been under strict bail conditions since he was arrested in March 2016, having been extradited from the US. Drumm was "acutely aware" that the individuals with whom he had been found guilty of conspiring "have received substantial terms of imprisonment" for their roles, said Det Sgt McKenna. "I firmly believe he poses a serious flight risk," he told the court. Drumm was in custody in the US for a number of months but "did ultimately agree to come back" to Ireland, he said. It was a significant fact that Drumm had consented to return to this jurisdiction, said Brendan Grehan, defending. He had now been here for more than two years and had abided by his bail conditions at all times. His wife, who had returned from Boston, was now back in the US at the graduation of one of their children. Mr Grehan's application for bail was "on humanitarian grounds" because his client's wife and children were not in the country. He was seeking "the indulgence" of the court for two weeks, said Mr Grehan. Because Drumm had previously adhered to his bail conditions, Judge O'Connor remanded him on bail to June 20 for sentencing. Conditions are that he signs on daily at Balbriggan Garda Station, does not apply for a new passport and is contactable by phone at all times. Outside court, Detective Superintendent Gerard Walsh of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB) said the verdict emphasised the need to conduct business "with honesty and integrity". Deal The deal at the centre of the trial involved Anglo placing cash with ILP, which then passed the money back to Anglo through its non-banking subsidiary, Irish Life Assurance (ILA). Because ILA was an assurance company rather than a bank, Anglo was able to re-categorise the cash as having come from a corporate customer. This would be seen by the markets as a better source of funding than interbank lending. Anglo placed an initial 1.2bn with ILP but after that, the prosecution said, the money merely "went around in a circle." When the year-end results had to be reported to the markets on December 3, Anglo included the 7.2bn in its total customer deposits figure, but did not disclose where it had come from. Anglo's external auditors Ernst & Young signed off on the accounts but a prosecution expert witness in the trial said it had been "inaccurate and misleading" for Anglo to include the 7.2bn in the deposits figure. The defence maintained Drumm had "togged out for Ireland" and was acting "in good faith" in trying to save the bank. However, the prosecution said what Drumm was "the man who called the shots" in Anglo and took part in a "massive con". A Romanian conman dubbed the "Beast from the East" by a judge has been jailed for 15 months. Auriel Dinca (42) and his pregnant partner, Adriana Neagoe (26), duped vulnerable elderly women out of thousands of euro, Ennis District Court heard. Judge Patrick Durcan said the couple had flown to Ireland to "seek out vulnerable people" and "clear out" their bank accounts. The court was told how they noted down the Pin numbers of their victims as they used cash machines. They would then follow their victims before stealing their bank cards. The couple would then use the cards and the Pin numbers to withdraw money from cash machines. Neagoe, whose parents believed she was on holiday in Ireland, was given a five-month suspended jail sentence on condition that she left Ireland within 14 days. Judge Durcan said he would not jail Neagoe because she had no previous convictions for theft, unlike Dinca. "Her involvement was less," he added. Jailing Dinca, Judge Durcan said: "People can't come in from outside, like the 'Beast from the East'... targeting vulnerable people." The court was told that Dinca and Neagoe stole 3,080 from Tess Frost in Shannon; 2,571 from Ann O'Flaherty in Galway city; 2,400 from Kathleen Fitzgerald in Cork; and 2,100 from Monica Donovan in Gort. Deceitful Judge Durcan said that the couple had "gone on a spree", and that although the victims had been fully compensated, they were compensated by their banks and not by the perpetrators of the crime. Garda Inspector Tom Kennedy said the crimes were "at the highest end of deceitful activity I have ever come across". He said the victims were "vulnerable citizens", some of whom were in their 70s and 80s, out doing their shopping. "These sneaky people came up behind them, noting down their Pin numbers at ATM machines," Insp Kennedy said. He said they would then follow the women to car parks, distract them and steal their bank cards. "They would then go to bank machines and clear out the accounts and toddle off on their merry way," he added. "It is a terrible crime. I have never seen anything so deceitful." Dinca and Neagoe both admitted theft. The court was told Dinca was a gambling addict who had stolen the money to repay loan sharks. Counsel asked the court not to jail Dinca, but to send him back to Romania. Judge Durcan refused, stating that would be the soft option. Counsel said that Neagoe had worked in a bank in her native Romania and as a retail manager in Switzerland. Michal Kurek (Right) and the scene where his body was found A man charged with the murder of a homeless man whose body was found in north Co Dublin has been further remanded in custody. The remains of Polish national Michal Kurek (33), who sustained multiple stab wounds, were found by the side of a country road just outside Ballyboughal last August 4. He was homeless at the time of his death and had spent time in the city centre and west Dublin. He was from Dziewin, near Krakow, but had been in Ireland since 2010. Unknown He was formally identified two days after his body was discovered. Sebastian Barczuk (30), also a Polish national, was charged with murdering Mr Kurek at an unknown location on August 3, 2017. He faced his fifth hearing when he appeared before Judge Victor Blake at Cloverhill District Court. A book of evidence has yet to be completed. Mr Barczuk was further remanded in custody to appear again at the same court on July 3. At his first hearing on April 6, Gda Ross Rowan said Mr Barczuk, of no fixed address, replied "I'm innocent". The district court cannot grant bail in murder cases. Thomas Fox and Jonathan Keogh have pleaded not guilty to the murder of Gareth Hutch outside his Dublin flat in 2016 A neighbour placed a sheet over the body of Gareth Hutch after he heard a commotion and came out of his flat to find the victim lying on the ground, a trial has been told. Neville Mills said he saw the victim's cousin, Ross Hutch, "holding his head in his hands". Two other witnesses, Robert Larkin and Kelly Hogan, both said that Ross Hutch was "screaming and shouting" and "went hysterical". Earlier, the non-jury Special Criminal Court was shown CCTV footage of the moment Mr Hutch was fatally shot. Expand Close Regina Keogh also denies murder charges / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Regina Keogh also denies murder charges Jonathan Keogh (32), his sister Regina Keogh (41) and Thomas Fox (31) have pleaded not guilty to the murder on May 24, 2016. Mr Fox, of Rutland Court, Dublin 1, has also pleaded not guilty to possession of a Makarov handgun in suspicious circumstances on May 23, 2016. Mr Hutch (35) - a nephew of crime boss Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch - was shot dead as he was getting into his car outside Avondale House flats on North Cumberland Street. Commotion It is the State's case that Mr Keogh, of Gloucester Place, Dublin 1, was heard expressing his intention to kill Mr Hutch the evening before the killing. It is alleged that Mr Fox and Ms Keogh were instrumental in planning the murder and that Mr Keogh and another man, Mr AB, were the shooters. Expand Close Gareth Hutch was shot dead. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Gareth Hutch was shot dead. Yesterday, the court heard Mr Mills was making a cup of tea when he heard a "commotion". He said he went into his bedroom, looked out the window, saw Ross Hutch "holding his head in his hands" and two men running out the gate. Mr Mills said he went outside, where he saw Gareth Hutch lying on the ground. He said another neighbour threw a sheet out a window, and he used it to cover the body. Mr Mills said he saw a handgun on the ground, and a second gun was pointed out to him. In her evidence, Ms Hogan said she was in her aunt's flat when she heard glass smashing. She told how she looked into the car park and saw a lot of people running around. Asked if she saw anyone lying on the ground, Ms Hogan replied: "Yeah, it was Gar, one of the neighbours." She said she also saw Ross Hutch "running around the car park screaming". Ms Hogan explained that she saw two men get into a car, but the engine would not start, and they ran out the gate. Another witness, Jim Holmes, told the court he was walking toward Gardiner Street when he saw two men running down the middle of the road. One was wearing a balaclava and a "Ferrari red ski jacket", while the other was in a grey hoodie, he said. Mr Holmes said they ran into Champions Avenue, where they got into a silver Skoda Octavia, which was facing the wrong direction, and that there was a lot of screeching of gears as the driver attempted to make a three-point turn. Earlier, prosecutor Paul Burns led Garda Catherine McAteer, a trained CCTV examiner, through CCTV footage from Avondale House. The clips showed the movements of a number of unidentified people on the day before the killing and in the hours leading up to it. The footage also showed Gareth Hutch leave his flat at 9.53am on May 24, 2016 and walk toward his car. He takes off his jacket, opens the back door of the car and places the jacket on the back seat. As he opens the driver's door, two people emerge from a block of flats and appear to point an object at him. The CCTV footage shows Mr Hutch fall to the ground, and the two men get into a black BMW before running away. The trial continues. Two men charged over an all-eged drunken boat chase on the Liffey will go on trial in January. Emergency services were alerted to an incident at about 6am on June 1 last year, when a boat left its mooring at a south Dublin sailing club. After a pursuit on the river, it was brought to a halt and two Dublin men were later arrested. Brian Stacey (45), of Derry Drive, Crumlin, and Ronan Stephens (41), of Captain's Road, Crumlin, face charges under the Maritime Safety Act and the Public Order Act. Expand Close Brian Stacey pleaded not guilty / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Brian Stacey pleaded not guilty They have pleaded not guilty, and appeared again at Dublin District Court yesterday. Judge Fiona Lydon was told a garda witness could not att-end after having been injured on duty earlier this week, and the prosecution asked for an adjournment. Mr Stacey's solicitor, Michael Kelleher, applied for a strike-out, telling the court the case had been going on for some time and was a great source of worry for his client. Lifeboat Mr Stephens' counsel also asked for proceedings to be struck-out. However, Judge Lydon refused and ordered that the trial take place next year. The pair were charged with being under the influence of alcohol and failing to stop for gardai at Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club while operating a boat, navigating without due care and attention, endangerment of a lifeboat crew and breach of the peace. At their first court appearance last year, Gda Paul Moody said the incident began in the early hours and was still going on when he took up duty at 7am. Mr Stacey was arrested at 8.25am at Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club. It was alleged the incident happened at the Shipping Lane of the River Liffey at the East Link Bridge. Mr Stacey "made no reply" when charged. Gda Patrick Collins told the court that Mr Stephens, who was arrested at Sir John Rogerson's Quay, also "made no reply" when he was charged. Bassam Naser (51), pleaded guilty to two charges of delivering an incorrect tax return (stock photo) A highly regarded GP who dodged the payment of almost 100,000 in income tax has been jailed for 16 months. Bassam Naser (51), of Howth Road, Sutton, Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to two charges of delivering an incorrect return in connection with his income tax affairs for the years 2006 and 2007. The court heard that Naser had a hidden bank account, into which he lodged 1,686 cheques that had been paid by patients attending his clinic. He was due to pay almost 100,000 in income tax and now owes a further 200,000 in penalties and fees. He had a 100,000 cheque in court to pay the overdue tax. When evidence was first heard on Tuesday, Naser's wife of 24 years and mother to their seven children stood in the body of the court crying and asked Judge Martin Nolan for "mercy", before she was escorted out by her husband. Abysmally Yesterday, Judge Nolan sentenced Naser to 16 months in prison. "An efficient and good tax system is vital to a good soc- iety," the judge said, adding that it allowed for much-needed services to be provided to the community. He said Naser had "failed abysmally" and was "morally reprehensible". "He is a very intelligent man. He knew what he was doing was wrong. He created a mechanism to avoid paying his taxes," the judge said. Judge Nolan accepted that Naser was a good doctor, a community man who did charity work for his native Palestine and had repaid the owed 100,000, but added: "He knew what he was doing and yet he persisted." Counsel handed in a "bundle of testimonials" from numerous patients who attended Naser's clinic over the years and who still travelled to see him despite moving away. Naser's practice work was made up of almost 50pc HSE and 50pc from his private patients. Kenyan musician Akothee is still the talk of town days after her controversial performance at the Wembley Stadium in London, United Kingdom. The mother of five has been getting stick from Kenyans for her dressing and indecent dance moves during last weekends concert. Thats not to say that Akothee has not been getting support from some sections, including from veteran musician Suzzana Owiyo who congratulated her for kicking *ss at the One Africa music fest. And as the debate continues, another Kenyan songbird, Stella Mwangi, has come through dripping in finesse to help us forget about Akothees alleged ratchetness. The Norway based femcee left her fans hot and bothered on the gram after sharing a stunning picture showing off her chocolate thighs. One user exclaimed, Damn!, while another commented, Girl you confuse my mind. Another IG user said, I would lick that stool, as another claimed, You a snack mami. Well, a snack does not come close to describing the Lookie Lookie hitmaker. Perhaps, a five course meal will do. Just see for yourself. Lookie lookie at some more stunning shots of the girl from Maragua doing big things in Hollywood and Norway. As Kenyans continue to celebrate Kanze Dena on her deserved appointment as Deputy State House Spokesperson and Deputy Head, PSCU, one person who is undoubtedly most affected by the news is Lulu Hassan. The two Swahili news presenters have been anchoring the Citizen TV 7 PM news together for over half a decade and were the top news anchors in the country for four years in a row. However, their formidable on-screen chemistry is no more and Lulu Hassan has paid a moving tribute to celebrate Ms Denas achievements leading to the State House appointment. Read the tribute below and grab a tissue for the tears. **************************************************** If you ask me about Gods ways, I will affirm that God works in mysterious ways. God favors his people. I know this to be true because I have seen it through our friendship, which, I think, was more accidental than intentional. Whichever way it came to be, I am grateful that you came along. I remember us sitting and giggling nervously when the news was broken to us, that we were the top anchors in the country, 4 years in a row. 4 years of holding our breath, perusing through news of the day before going on air, holding frantic conversations and arguing on random things. Nobody knows what it is like to be an anchor like those who have to go through the process, driven, often by a strong desire to deliver nothing but the best. It felt, strongly so, that our audience had done an audit of our job. And they had given us another reason to rise and be the best we could ever be. It is not easy. You know. I know. We both knew, and you said it over and over again, that it was the favorable hand of God. I cannot agree more. Yet even with the knowledge, we never at one moment took it for granted. It was not ours to be boastful, or be comfortable. No. There is something about our profession that I cannot quite define, but I think it has to do with the fact that your real boss is the audience. And they have the final say on whether you stay. To meet their standards is hard work. But with you, the journey has been gratifying. Then came your appointment yesterday by the President and the reaction that has followed.as we perused through the comments and congratulatory messages and the never ending calls and what was coming from your mouth was ASANTE MUNGU. We have been friends for long for me to know what this comes down to. HUMILITY.. and never letting the celebrity syndrome be the driving force See what has transpired now ? We kept this news all under wraps for some time because our WHAT NEXT was haunting us as days passed by and yesterday it just dawned on me that woooahh this thing is real after working together for about 5 years and a few months I say thank you God for you know what we have been through and how our past looked likepairing with you has been a blessing just as you always rightfully put it ..it worked both ways and I for sure knew your time is coming and that you are headed for greatness..Many would ask you why arent you into the film industry like your friend and you would graciously tell them that that is not your calling and that God had plans for you but in different avenues.Alas!!it came to pass What people do not know about you is that you are a prayer worrior and that you hardly do anything without telling me Lulu acha niombee hili jambo..and you had those instincts likeroho yangu haitaki huyu rafiki yako..there is something about this person wish I had listened earlier on but blimey shock on me (story for another day)I remember when we were all being poached from our respective companies to join another which was offering some lofty amount, we were enticed to say the least but BOOM ! In your typical kind of way you said mamaa dont sign let me go pray for this letter and by morning I will tell you the way forwardand true to your words you dropped the bomb shell MUNGU AMEKATAA LULU And slowly we went back to our respective companies back in 2013. And trully God works in mysterious ways. A few days later ..I would receive a call from my mentor and boss Farida Karoney..wewe Lulu uko wapi ?..hii ni story gani nasikia unaenda ?.tukutane hapo Nairobi West..and the next minute am with you as a colleague ..news that you did not believe until you saw me at Maalim Juma Road..at first adapting was not easybut you made me feel welcome but at no point did any of us think that two females would be paired to do news together.. I recall vividly that election day we were thrown huko kwa deep end after realising that there were no intros on the autocue and no proper autocuewe prayed and said lets do this !!!!Good Lord for 3hrs we stood there talking to Kenyans and we personally did not know about the impact and chemistry we exhibited..but i remember Willis Raburu telling me that ..eeeh dada mmesalimiwa na watu wa Kisumu wamewapenda sana .. It would be followed by Waruru Wachiras strong feeling that we were a good pair on screen. And just like that, that was the birth of the dynamic duo which I will forever be grateful to the entire RMS fraternity The journey here has not been an easy one. You and I know that. I remember us having a hard time since we use the same tailor so obviously we would have dresses that were of the same shade and we would end up being matchy matchy and stuff and bosses were not so comfortable with it. What people did not know is that at no point would we decide what color to spotetc but whatever we would carry from home would end up being matchy matchy our makeup artists can attest to this I celebrate you in so many ways. I will always remember how cautious you were about the length of your dress. How you would change many times over so that you had the right length ondadaa hii sitaki inanionyesha magotidadaa hii imenishika sana..dadaa hii nguo leo itabidi tumwambie director tukae kwa viti That is Kanze for you !! She is the person who would go to great lengths to make sure that whenever am not well she is always there for me ..A case in point is when I gave birth to my second born who is 4years now she would do the daily visits. You would bring your cousin Zakia Nzai and leave her with me for a while and you would come back and pick her up ..all this was just to make sure that I was well attended to..thats sisterhood!!! During Ramadhan you would fast with me na tufunguwe pamoja just when we are about to read our weekend bulletin still puzzles many.. Mine is a celebration of our friendship, urafiki wa dhati, the kind that is far beyond good chemistry on air. But you know what as always we have each others back and we prepared well on the WHAT NEXTAnd I can proudly say am in good hands. Orem closes park bathrooms early due to TikTok vandals, school districts attack too The clock could be running out for Utah County teenagers participating in the TikTok "Devious Licks" challenge and wreaking havoc at schools and on city park properties. Orem reported it had to close all of its bathrooms in all the city parks early due to vandalism in September. The bathrooms are usually open through October. Five parks had extensive destruction from soap dispensers being ripped off walls to spray painted vulgarities. Toilet stalls were destroyed and other items were broken or stolen, according to Jim Orr, parks section manager. We have four or five parks that have ... Story Highlights Venezuela, Afghanistan least secure in the world Singapore ranks as the safest Law and Order Index for the world is 81 out of 100 WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Venezuela and Afghanistan may be farther away from reaching the United Nations' goal for peaceful, secure societies than any other country in the world, based on their scores on Gallup's Law and Order Index in 2017. The two countries ranked the least secure out of 142 countries on Gallup's annual gauge of how secure people feel. Law and Order Index Worldwide Countries With Highest Law and Order Index Scores Countries With Lowest Law and Order Index Scores Law and Order Index Law and Order Index Singapore 97 Bolivia 61 Norway 93 Sierra Leone 61 Iceland 93 Botswana 61 Finland 93 Dominican Republic 60 Uzbekistan 91 Mexico 58 Hong Kong 91 South Africa 58 Switzerland 90 Liberia 56 Canada 90 Gabon 55 Indonesia 89 South Sudan 54 Denmark 88 Afghanistan 45 Slovenia 88 Venezuela 44 Luxembourg 88 Austria 88 China 88 Netherlands 88 Egypt 88 Based on Gallup World Polls, 2017 The Law and Order Index is a composite score based on people's reported confidence in their local police, their feelings of personal safety and the incidence of theft and assault or mugging in the past year. The higher the score, the higher the proportion of the population that reports feeling secure. The index score for the world in 2017 was 81 out of a possible 100. Eighty-six countries, including Venezuela and Afghanistan, posted scores lower than this average. The countries scoring the best and the worst on the index remained unchanged from 2016. Scores worldwide ranged from a high of 97 in Singapore to a low of 44 in Venezuela. While Venezuela earned the "least secure" title alone in 2016, in 2017, it shared that designation with war-torn Afghanistan -- where the score of 45 hit a record low. For complete results for each country, read Gallup's 2018 Global Law and Order report. Venezuelans Still Lack Sense of Basic Safety Venezuela's repeat appearance at the bottom of the security list reflects a country still in political and economic chaos: Just 17% of residents said they felt safe walking alone at night where they live, and 24% expressed confidence in their police. Both percentages are up somewhat from the record-lows set in Venezuela in 2016, which were the lowest scores Gallup had measured worldwide since 2005. At the same time, more Venezuelans (42%) reported having had property or money stolen in the past year -- topping the previous high of 38% set in 2016. In only three countries were residents considerably more likely than Venezuelans to say they had been the victims of theft in the past year: Afghanistan (46%), Uganda (49%) and South Sudan (50%). Nearly one in four residents in Venezuela (23%) said they had been assaulted -- again one of the highest percentages throughout the world that year. Not much separated Afghans' and Venezuelans' perceptions in 2017. While Afghans were more likely than Venezuelans to have been the victims of theft, Venezuelans were less likely than Afghans to have confidence in their local police and were more likely to have been assaulted. Law and Order in Venezuela and Afghanistan Venezuela Afghanistan % % Safe walking alone at night 17 20 Confidence in local police 24 31 Money/Property stolen 42 46 Assaulted/Mugged 23 20 Gallup World Poll, 2017 Venezuelans, Afghans Least Likely to Feel Safe Walking Alone at Night Monitoring indicators such as these are important, particularly given that the U.N. is targeting "promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies" as its 16th Sustainable Development Goal for the world. In fact, one of the metrics in the index, the proportion of people who feel safe walking alone around the area where they live, is one of the indicators of Goal 16. Just 17% of Venezuelans in 2017 said they feel safe walking alone in their area at night -- only slightly higher than the 12% who said so in 2016. This essentially puts Venezuelans on equal footing with residents of embattled Afghanistan, where 20% said they feel safe walking alone at night. Countries/Areas Where People Feel Least, Most Safe Walking Alone at Night Least Likely to Feel Safe in 2017 Most Likely to Feel Safe in 2017 % Yes, feel safe % Yes, feel safe Argentina 40 Singapore 94 Liberia 40 Norway 93 Mexico 40 Hong Kong 89 Dominican Republic 35 Finland 88 Botswana 34 Rwanda 88 Brazil 31 Slovenia 88 South Africa 31 Tajikistan 88 Gabon 25 Switzerland 85 Afghanistan 20 Uzbekistan 85 Venezuela 17 Canada 85 Iceland 84 Gallup World Polls, 2017 Among the 10 countries in which residents are least likely to say they feel safe walking alone at night, five are in Latin America. Another four are in sub-Saharan Africa -- including two of that region's more economically developed countries, South Africa (31%) and Botswana (34%). However, income inequality remains an issue in both. In most economically developed countries with strong rule of law, high majorities of residents say they feel safe walking alone in their areas at night. This response is nearly universal in Singapore at 94% and tops 80% in many Western European countries. The U.S. is considerably farther down the list, at 72%. Implications While "building a more peaceful and secure world" is one of the themes of Canada's presidency of the G7, the current trade turmoil between the U.S. and several G7 partners may overshadow this and other items on Canada's agenda for the summit that starts Friday. However, results on Gallup's Law and Order Index, particularly the question about whether people feel safe walking alone at night where they live, show a lot of work remains to be done to achieve this goal, and particularly where it is farthest out of reach, like in Afghanistan and Venezuela. Smoky fire in vacant building snarls midday traffic in Hagerstown A smoky fire cause little damage and no injuries but snarled midday traffic in downtown Hagerstown on Thursday. Banks responsible for about half of Indias internal trade have joined a consortium that aims to introduce blockchain technology in order to speed up processes and reduce hurdles to approving new loans. Fourteen local banks have signed up for the India Trade Connect consortium, which hired the Bengaluru-based software firm Infosys Ltd. to develop a blockchain platform for loans that back trade transactions within India, according to Abhijit Singh, head of technology at ICICI Bank Ltd., one of the consortiums founders. From the banks point of view, business will increase and transactions will happen in scale once blockchain is adopted, Singh said, adding that the 14 consortium members account for more than half of Indias internal trade transactions. According to the US consulting firm Celent, those transactions are worth about $2.45 trillion annually. Banks around the world are rushing to adopt blockchain for cross-border trade finance transactions, touting the benefits of the digital ledger technology for both speeding up transactions and improving security. HSBC Holdings Plc recently completed a transaction which it said showed the technology was commercially viable for global trade finance. The traditional paper-intensive trade finance process within India can take as long as 22 days to complete, according to Yes Bank Ltd., another member of the six-month old consortium. The project should reduce those delays to less than a day, according to Yes Banks chief information officer, Anup Purohit. In later phases, the project could be extended to remittance processing, he said. Nevertheless, the process of switching Indias internal trade transactions entirely to blockchain is likely to take time. Itll take three to four years before we fully exploit blockchain technology, Purohit said. The requested page is currently unavailable on this server. Back to [RTHK News Homepage] A local court on Thursday dismissed bail plea filed by Honeypreet Insan, main accused in the Panchkula arson that followed Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahims conviction. She had sought bail on the grounds that Haryana Police had found no evidence against her. Honeypreets counsel, Dhruv Gupta said, The court has dismissed her bail plea. We are yet to get the detailed orders. We will apply for bail in the high court, likely in July, once we go through the detailed orders. The defence pleaded she had no role in triggering the violence as she was with the dera chief inside the court room when clashes erupted between dera followers and security agencies. Honeypreet had pleaded that she had been behind the bars for 245 days without any fault or committing crime. Meanwhile the public prosecutor opposed her bail plea, saying that she was the main accused in the case and may tamper with evidence. The defence also argued that when 15 co-accused in the case, had already been granted bail, she too deserved to be out on bail. As per the police chargesheet, Honeypreet planned the violence in connivance with the 45-member dera management, most of whom have been arrested, except dera spokesman Aditya Insan. He was declared a fugitive last month. Before their meeting with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president Amit Shah, who is arriving in the city on Thursday, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) will hold a meeting of its top leadership to draw out a strategy and the issues to be taken up. The meeting is being seen as preparation for next years general elections. Other than seat-sharing, the SAD will draw up a list of other issues for the meeting. In addition to former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal, those invited for the strategy meeting include Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Ranjit Singh Brahmpura, Balwinder Singh Bhunder, Prem Singh Chandumajra, Gulzar Singh Ranike and Daljit Singh Cheema. Shah decided to meet the allies, after Sukhbir met him last week, and suggested that he be seen with the allies more often, especially with the 2019 general elections on the horizon. On Thursday, Shah met Shiv Sena leaders in Mumbai and have also fixed a meeting with Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, the president of the Janata Dal (United). On Friday, Shah will hold a closed-door meeting with the Badals and would then meet the core group of the party. The Akalis, particularly Badal, enjoyed a good equation with the BJP when former Prime Minister AB Vajpayee and LK Advani were at the helm of affairs in the party. However, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi taking over as the PM and Shah being given the party reins, the Akali leadership felt distanced. With Shah coming down to Chandigarh, the Akali leadership is excited. The SAD is one of the oldest allies of the BJP and had been associated, even with the Bharatiya Jana Sangh. The meeting will send a strong message countrywide that we are with our allies, small or big, said a BJP leader on the condition of anonymity. Though important in terms of perception, in terms of numbers the Akali Dal is a small ally for the BJP, as Punjab only has 13 Parliamentary seats. In the 2014 general elections, the SAD won only four seats, despite being in power in the state. The BJP had registered its protest for this below par performance then, vis-a-vis Modis thumping victory. The BJP had even set up a fact-finding committee to give a report. A section of the BJP had even demanded that the alliance with the SAD be ended. However, the SAD, particularly the Badals, managed to ensure that the alliance stayed intact. There are no issues as such to be discussed at the meeting. A real big benefit that will emerge is that it will motivate the cadre on both the sides (the Akali and the BJP), said a senior Akali leader on the condition of anonymity. A 48-year-old man was trampled to death by an elephant in Laldhang forest range of Pauri district, a forest officer on Thursday said. Bhopal Singh, a resident of Nathukhal village, had gone for some work last afternoon to Beat No. 7 of Laldhang forest range, a reserved area which is also considered an elephant corridor, Range Officer Virendra Pal Singh said. When he did not return home in the evening, villagers started searching for him, the officer said. They informed the forest department after Bhopals trampled body was spotted in the reserved forest area late at night, the officer said. The body was sent for a post-mortem in Kotdwar on Thursday, he said. A similar incident was recorded in February this year when a 27-year-old man was killed by a wild elephant when he was attempting to film the animal on his mobile phone. The incident had taken place in the Kaluwala forest area on the outskirts of the state capital. Two men from Aheermandi in the city went on a bike to the jungles and on spotting the pachyderm went very close and started filming it with on their mobile. The elephant apparently ran amok and killed one of them by throwing him on the ground. The other man had managed to escape. A forest official said that nearly 100 people have been killed by elephants Uttarakhand after the state carved out of Uttar Pradesh in 2000. The state reported 1,346 elephants in 2012, which increased to 1,839 in 2017, as per the Synchronisation Population Estimation. Areas in Dehradun, Haridwar, Lansdowne, and Terai are most prone to elephant attacks. Fifteen years after it was incorporated, the Uttarakhand Transport Corporation (UTC) is still struggling to come out of the quagmire of financial losses. If anything, it has actually managed to drive itself deeper in the quagmire. The corporation registered Rs 300 crore in losses in the last financial year (2017-18), up nearly Rs 250 crore from the Rs 50-crore loss that it had shown in the financial year 2003-04. A perplexed state government is now seeking ways to turn the UTC into a profit-making entity. Earlier this week, chief secretary Utpal Kumar Singh chaired a meeting with UTC board where it was suggested to hire a consultancy firm. The changes could be implemented (in the UTCs functioning) as per the suggestions of (the consultancy firm). Also, the dues to various agencies should be paid in instalments, said chief secretary. It was during the ND Tiwari regime that the corporation was formed in 2003.It came into existence three years after Uttarakhand was carved out of Uttar Pradesh. At present, UTC has a fleet of 1,410 buses of which 77 are air-conditioned, 41 semi-deluxe and 46 Volvo luxury buses. The remaining 1,246 are ordinary buses and mostly in very poor condition. Insiders familiar with the functioning of the UTC say the losses it is suffering could not be linked with a single reason. Passengers prefer private and other state corporation buses over those of the UTCs ageing fleet. Besides, the repeated complaints of financial bungling and some staff members being allegedly involved in selling diesel in the open market are other major reasons. Information sought under RTI ACT revealed that the UTC spent Rs 150 crore on diesel to run the buses in the financial year 2016-17. It spent another Rs 5 crore on getting the buses repaired. In fact, a month ago the officials were left red-faced when they came to know that few conductors have shown the ticket entries in the names of Members of Parliament (MPs) and accredited journalists. Seventeen categories of people, including freedom fighters, MLAs, MPs, senior citizens and accredited journalists, are provided free travel in buses operated by the UTC. It was alleged that the conductors fraudulently punched tickets for Rs 0 on hand-held machines in the name of MPs, MLAs and journalists. The conductors, it was alleged, pocketed pocketing the amount they made from passengers who actually travelled without ticket on the reserved seats. Also, the state government reimburses the transport department for the money accrued against such tickets. This scam, official said, had been going on for long. Transport minister Yashpal Arya said that action was being initiated against those found guilty. Moreover we are making every possible effort so that corporation comes out of the red and provide the best service to the commuters, the minister said. Incidentally, the Uttarakhand Roadways Karmchari Union last moved the Nainital high court to stop disciplinary action initiated against 30 conductors accused of irregularities in punching tickets. The union claims that conductors were not at fault as categories 13 and 14, which are for MPs and senior citizens, were interchanged in the ticket software. The conductors were not told about this and they kept punching tickets. Thus the tickets issued to senior citizens reflected as one issued to MPs, union president Kamal Papne had earlier told HT. Uttarakhand will be placed on the world map with its capital hosting the main national event on International Yoga Day on June 21, chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat on Thursday said. Uttarakhand was the land of yoga and Prime Minister Narendra Modi must be credited for making the world realise its importance, Rawat said at a yoga session presided over by Yoga guru Ramdev at ONGCs Ambedkar Stadium here. It is a matter of great honour for Uttarakhand to host the main (International Yoga Day) event here. It will put the state on the world map, Rawat said at the rehearsal session ahead of the main event to be held on the Forest Research Institute (FRI) campus. It is because of the efforts of the prime minister that the power of yoga has been recognised all over the world which celebrates it on June 21, Rawat added. The chief minister said yoga could be an effective tool to unite the world as the underlying philosophy behind the ancient practice was health and happiness for all. When the political power, the power of sants and that of spiritualism merge...it paves the way for the welfare of the people, he added. The rehearsal, which began at 6.15 am, was attended by a host of prominent politicians, ministers and spiritual gurus. These included Rawats cabinet colleague Harak Singh Rawat, Union Minister of State for Ayush Shripad Yesso Naik, Swami Chidananda Saraswati, chief secretary Utpal Kumar Singh, and director general of police (DGP) Anil Kumar Raturi besides a number of yoga teachers and experts. Ramdev said Dehraduns selection for the main event was a matter of great pride for the people of Uttarakhand. Naik said that it was due to the Prime Ministers efforts that the message of yoga has spread to the world. A nine-year-old boy from Delhi has drowned in a hotel swimming pool at the popular Calangute beach village, a police official said on Thursday. The incident occurred late on Wednesday night, said Jivba Dalvi, the officer in-charge of Calangute Police Station, adding that the victim was holidaying in Goa along with his parents. We have booked and lodged a case against the resort management under section 304-A (negligence) of the Indian Penal Code for the negligent manner in which they maintained the swimming pool by not providing any pool attendant or life guard there, Dalvi told reporters in Panaji. The boy had wandered into the pool without the knowledge of his parents, he said. The body was handed over to the parents on Thursday after post-mortem examination, Dalvi said, ruling out any foul play. Because of his unpresidential nature, United States President Donald Trump inspires debates on the most basic legal and political premises underpinning his country. His recent tweet that he had the absolute right to pardon himself has resurrected an issue thought closed after the Watergate crisis. There is an ambiguity in the wording of the US Constitution regarding the scope of a presidential pardon. The constitution is in no doubt that a pardon only applies to federal laws and that it cannot be invoked by a president facing impeachment. But it is silent about any lesser crime. An acting attorney general, asked to give an opinion in 1974, ruled that under the fundamental rule that no one may be a judge in his own case; the President cannot pardon himself. However, it has never been tested in court and therefore it can be debated. And US presidents can define pardons generously. Once an academic exercise, it has become politically relevant because of the slow but inexorable progress of special counsel Robert Muellers investigation and the possibility Mr Trump could become among those he charges. If the charges were severe enough to cause the US Congress to move for Mr Trumps impeachment, constitutionally, the president cannot get himself off the hook. If the president is found guilty of something less than the high crimes and misdemeanours that trigger impeachment, then the possibility of a self-pardon arises. Mr Trump and his opponents sense their battles may lead them into this legal grey area at some point. They seem to be staking out their positions in preparation. Anglo-Saxon legal tradition, to which India also adheres, would tend to go against Mr Trump. British courts in a series of judgments going back to the early 17th century entrenched the principle one cannot be judge and attorney. The concept of pardon derives from a privilege enjoyed by monarchs. Curiously, there seems to be no case of a king who was able to pardon himself. In India, the primary check on the abuse of pardons has been the judiciary. Picking up from the Anglo-Saxon legal precedents, the Supreme Court in a number of decisions, culminating in the case of Epuru Sudhakar & Anr vs Govt of Andhra Pradesh & Ors, sensibly laid down a set of dos and donts when it came to pardons. Mr Trump is still a long way away from testing his Constitution and his Supreme Court. He completed his tweet on pardoning himself by saying, why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong? Whether he speaks the truth on that count will be what the coming months will determine as Mr Muellers probing continues to move forward. Prime Minister Narendra Modis informal summitry seems to have earned a small prize by way of an announcement by Russian leader Vladimir Putin that his country, China and India would be designated major players within the eight-member Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). It remains unclear what benefit, other than symbolic, this designation brings to India. But there will be some heartburn in Pakistan that this label has not been affixed to it though it joined SCO along with India. India may struggle to live up to this diplomatic promotion. There is little evidence among the many statements issued about SCO by New Delhi that India has any clearly defined set of goals regarding what it wanted to do inside SCO other than to be a member. New Delhi has been happy to add its voice to SCOs long-standing counter-terrorism focus. It will also prove an able participant in the organisations military exercises. Anti-terrorism resonates well with many of the members, almost all of whom have struggled with Islamicist militancy within their borders. It also puts the spotlight on Pakistan and its long-standing support for terrorist groups. But India will be circumspect in its contribution to SCOs Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure given the requirement that intelligence must be shared with all members, China and Pakistan included. That India has such a thin agenda should not come as a surprise. Eurasia has been a backwater for Indian diplomatic and economic relations for decades. The primary reason is simply a matter of geography. India has no land boundary with any Central Asian country. All of its land connectivity to that region has to pass through Pakistani or Chinese held territory. This isolation is compounded by the fact the region is dominated by two large countries, China and Russia, leaving little space for a distant third power. India has tried to find some means around these constraints, most notably by trying to construct a North-South Connectivity Corridor from the Iranian coast up into Central Asia. While the parallel link-up to Afghanistan has begun functioning, the rest of the corridor remains theoretical. Making this part of a cooperative effort with other SCO members could be a possibility India could explore. The SCO will remain a minor interest for the foreseeable future. How much India can accomplish will depend in part on how its relations with China and Pakistan evolve, whether it can get a functioning land bridge to Central Asia and which direction events in Afghanistan will develop. It is the environment India creates for itself in Eurasia that will determine whether it can be a major player. The West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE) announced the result for Uccha Madhyamik (West Bengal Council Higher Secondary or Class 12) examination on Friday. This year, 83.75% students passed. Granthan Sengupta of Jalpaiguri District School, Arts stream, tops with 99.2%. In 18 districts of West Bengal, the pass percentage of girls is higher than that of boys. This year the West Bengal Board Class 12 result was declared within 58 days from the date of the last exam. West Bengal HS Result 2018: Here is the direct link to check the results The results will be available shortly on the official website of WBCHSE, wbresults.nic.in, according to WBCHSE president, Mauha Das. The results will also be available on private websites also, she said. This year, the Uccha Madhyamik results were slightly delayed compared last year, when the results were declared in the last week of May, 2017. Around 8.26 lakh students appeared for the Uccha Madhyamik this year. The exams started from March 27 and concluded on April 11. Last year, slightly more than 7.44 lakh students took the exam. The pass percentage last year was 81.22% and the number of female examinees surpassed the number of male examinees. Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee credited her dream Kanyashree scheme for encouraging more girls students to stop dropping out of school and go for higher education. On a cold January morning, some residents of Total Blossom 2 condominium in Sector 51 had gathered at the society temple to discuss ways to serve the society. What got them talking was a feast organised by their neighbour, 37-year-old Manuj Gupta, in a small park in the area on a Sunday afternoon. The residents wanted to contribute but were not sure if they could manage the resources that were required to sustain such an initiative. Moved by the plight of the people struggling to make both ends meet, Gupta, an executive finance manager in a multinational company in Cybercity, first held a feast for 100 people on January 21. Gupta had arranged a cook to feed the people. That was the start. Soon, the idea picked up and other society residents approached Gupta, seeking the details of his initiative and how they could help. During the discussion at the society temple, the idea evolved and the residents decided to buy utensils, a rickshaw and hire a cook to organise the feast every weekend. The idea also got a fillip as the organisers went online with a website and a Facebook page. The idea to make a website was Manujs that he discussed with a friend who helped in developing the website. Manuj said the website helped since all activities of the group were put online and shared so that more could join in. With the initiative going online, people from anywhere could book a feast and pay online. The cook I had initially hired lived at some distance from the society and we had to carry the cooked food back to the society. I hired another cook who comes to society temple, where all the cooking takes place. We bought our own utensils and a cart for Rs 5,000 to carry the cooked food, said Gupta. His wife and mother often helps him in distributing food. Initially, the feasts were held on Sundays, but as more residents wanted to contribute, the frequency was increased and Saturdays were also considered from March onwards. We wanted to preserve the good work by residents and share among others so a website weeklybhandara.com was made in March. We put pictures of the feasts on the website and will soon include the option of contributing and booking the feast dates online, said Gupta. Gupta clarified his was a social cause and there was nothing religious about it, barring the fact that the food is cooked at a temple premises. Gupta said he manages to arrange the material such as groceries for the feasts with his long working hours, which stretch from 1 pm to 10 pm. The residents usually book a whole feast (that is they pay cumulatively for food, cooking, cutlery etc), which costs around Rs 3,500 for 200 people. The sponsors usually serve the food. But if they are busy, we take care of everything. Thirty-six weeks have been covered and all is going well. Sometimes even society residents enjoy the food, said Gupta, who came to Gurugram from Noida in February 2014. I come here every Saturday and Sunday for tasty food. It is unlike other places where food is cooked in a haste and is sometimes stale, said a domestic help, Manti Devi, relishing a plate of kadi chawal (yoghurt curry with rice). The menu is changed every week. When a group of activists objected to the use of plastic plates, spoons, and water glasses, we tried using steel plates but washing them became a big issue. We are exploring a better and eco-friendly option, said Gupta. His neighbours described Gupta as a helpful man who would go great lengths to make life easy for others. Manuj helps people as soon as somebody asks and is always supportive. Through his feast initiative, he has involved so many people of the society in the good work. Once my mother slipped and he was the first one to reach and take her to hospital. Elderly in the society can depend on him for any help, said Vivek Ojha, an IT company employee, who lives in Total Blossom 2 and knows Gupta since 2015. I know Manuj for the last three years and he had discussed the feast idea with me. It is a wonderful activity and he has been contributing for many social causes. I will also replicate the feast initiative at sector 110 and Palam Vihar, said a friend of Gupta, Navdeep Singh, an MNC employee, who is a resident of Mahindra Aura in Sector 110. Gupta said that finding time for helping others was never a problem. If I can spare some time for a cause, others can too, said Gupta. With days to go until an unprecedented US-North Korea summit in Singapore, the leaders of Japan and the United States have discussed North Korea. US President Donald Trump said, "Things are moving along very well. It looks like the meeting is set and the summit is ready to go. Subjects are always to change. We'll never know in this world. Subjects are always to change. But the summit is ready to go. North Korean representatives in Singapore are working very hard as people from the US. It's all going along very fine. I hope this continues on this track." Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said, "I sincerely hope that the upcoming historic US-North Korea summit will serve as an opportunity to drastically improve peace and stability in the Northeast Asian region. I want to reaffirm our close cooperation toward making the summit a success, and to make progress on the nuclear, missile and abduction issues." Abe is believed to have reminded Trump about Japan's security issues in the hope that they make it on the agenda when Trump meets North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday. For Japan, a resolution would cover all ranges of ballistic missiles and types of weapons of mass destruction in the North's arsenal. Abe is also likely to have asked Trump again to raise the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korean agents. The Japanese government says at least 17 people were abducted in the 1970s and 80s. 12 of them remain unaccounted for. - NHK The Punjab and Haryana high court on Wednesday rejected the bail petition of the 16-year-old boy accused of slitting the throat of a Class-2 student of the private school in Gurugram in September last year, the lawyer representing the victims family said. Sushil Tekriwal, who is representing the victims family, said the bench of justice Daya Chaudhary rejected the bail petition of the accused. The high court judgment rejecting the bail of juvenile today vindicates our consistent contention that the hyper-technical point of 60 days chargesheet by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the murder case cannot sustain. This judgment is also one step forward toward final justice, Tekriwal said. The victims father said the boy would have been a threat to the society if he was granted bail. The father of the accused, who attended the court proceedings, broke down after hearing the order. The accused filed the bail application on the grounds that the investigation in the matter was not completed within the prescribed period. CBI exceeded their time period for filing the chargesheet and it was not submitted within the time period of 60 days. They submitted the chargesheet after 90 days, his lawyer Sandeep Aneja said. The probe agencys lawyer Sumeet Goel argued against the bail petition and reiterated its stand that the accuseds search history on his mobile phone before and after the murder throws light on his conduct before the crime, his intention to commit it and his behaviour after the incident to avoid arrest. The agency had filed a 15-page reply in the court earlier on April 5 against his bail, saying the juvenile searched and downloaded information about poisoning, various poisons, their effects and their sources in August and September 2017. The father of the accused said they will see the order and then decide their next course of action. He had filed a petition in the high court on February 16 for his sons bail and that he should not be tried as an adult in the case. A Gurugram special childrens court had on May 21 upheld the Juvenile Justice Boards (JJB) December order and adjudged that the accused should be tried as an adult. The board dismissed his bail plea on December 15 last year and the special childrens court dismissed the application on January 8. The investigating agency has said the juvenile should not be granted a bail as its probe in the case is still pending and is at a crucial stage with witnesses yet to be examined. It has argued that he may tamper with evidence and intimidate or influence the witnesses. He may even abscond which would hamper the course of the investigation, it added. A 30-year-old Kenyan was allegedly gang-raped by five men in Gurugram on Wednesday night. Police said the woman was waiting for a cab at Bristol Chowk on MG Road after a party when three men in a white Scorpio offered to drop her to her residence in Chattarpur, Delhi. Once inside, the three all in the age group of 24-30 years began misbehaving with her. They then forcibly took her to a makeshift shelter on Gold Course Extension road, where two other accomplices lay in wait. The victim alleged that the five gang-raped her before leaving her on an isolated stretch of Gurugram. While police have detained three of the accused, two others are still at large. The detainees hail from Ghata and Behrampur villages in Gurugram. While two of them work for a water tanker company, the third is unemployed. We are trying to trace the other two, including the owner of the Scorpio, said deputy commissioner of police (east) Kuldeep Yadav. Gurugram police spokesperson Ravinder Kumar said all the five were in an inebriated state at the time of the incident. The victim could not make out where she was being taken because she was not familiar with the roads here. The medical examination was done at the Gurugram Civil Hospital, he added. Arvind Kumar, SHO of the sector 55/56 police station, said a case has been registered under section 376-D (gang rape) of the Indian Penal Code. The number of rape cases in Gurugram rose from 131 in 2016 to 135 the following year. The number of molestation cases also increased from 272 to 303 in the same period. Two people, posing as staffers of Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (PCDA) Office in Pune, allegedly conned a retired Brigadier on the pretext of offering him a retirement bonus. The victim, a resident of Gurugram Sector 39 , wished to remain anonymous. He said he received phone calls from people, who claimed to be working at PCDA Pune. The callers told the retired serviceman that he had been selected for a retirement bonus of Rs 3.2 lakh since the organisation had earned some profit. The officer, on the condition of anonymity, said, One of them said he was a Colonel who had earlier worked at Army Insurance Group in Delhi. They took me into confidence by sharing confidential details of my career in the Army, which is available only with Army Headquarters. How were they privy to all my postings and defence courses?, the officer said. The officer said that the alleged fraudsters asked him to deposit a sum of Rs 35,000 in a bank account for certain certificates, assuring him that the deposit was refundable. I wired the money to a bank account in Aligarh. When I checked with them later about the bonus, they said it was under process, he said, adding that the accused had changed phone numbers too. Perturbed by the fraud, the victim said, I am not concerned about the money, but if the fraudsters have access to data from Army Headquarters, it should be probed. I have shared the call details with the police. The police, however, said it was not immediately clear if the fraudsters indeed had personal details of the retired Brigadier, and if they did their source was not known. The victim later lodged a complaint with Cyber Cell and Police Commissioners office. A case was registered under Sections 419 (cheating by personation) and Section 420 (cheating) of IPC at Sadar Police Station. Cyber crimes are on the rise with as many as nine cases registered everyday in 2017. The total number of cases registered were 3,297 that included 1916 were for online banking frauds, 264 complaints pertain to Facebook exchanges, 240 relate to internet fraud and 51 related to data theft. In the first five months of 2018, the number of cases registered daily is 11 and the total number of cases registered till May 25 was 1644. The head of human resources (HR) at an electronic automotive parts firm was shot at in Manesar on Thursday morning, allegedly by former trainee at the company who had been sacked for indiscipline, police said. The 49-year-old Dinesh Kumar Sharma, who has been working at Mitsuba Sical India Private Limited -- part of the Japan-based Mitsuba Corporation -- for the last seven years, was in his car when two men on a motorcycle intercepted him half a kilometre from his office and shot at him. Sharma, a resident of Gurugrams Sector 43, is recovering in hospital with bullet injuries on his back below the neck. Gurugram police commissioner Sandeep Khirwar said two suspects had been arrested for the crime. One of them, Joginder Singh, was a trainee engineer with the company who was sacked last month. The other is his friend Daya Chand, who had called Sharma for a meeting on Wednesday asking for Singh to be reinstated, he said. According to Sharmas brother, he left home at around 7.30am in his Toyota Etios Liva car. He was near his office on the Bilaspur-Tauru road when the two men tried to stop him.Sharma tried to get away but the pillion rider took out a pistol and allegedly shot him. The assailants then fled the spot. Employees at Mitsuba said an injured Sharma managed to drive to the office gate. He called immediately after the incident. Before we could get to the spot, he had reached the office gate on his own. We rushed him to hospital, said Surinder Kumar Sharma, one of the his colleagues. In his complaint to Bilaspur police, Sharma said that he suspected Singh, a resident of Manesars Rathiwas village. He (Singh) had an argument with an outsider and they both assaulted each other on the company premises, after which he was terminated, the victims brother Mahesh Kumar Sharma alleged. He added that Sharma had been receiving threats to reinstate Singh. On Wednesday evening, he got a call from a resident of Rathiwas village to come to Bilaspur for an urgent meeting. When he went there, he was confronted by 10 people, including Singh. They threatened my brother of dire consequences if they did not reinstate Singh. On Thursday morning, he was shot, Mahesh added. The police have registered cases under sections 307(attempt to murder), 506 (threat on life) of the Indian penal Code and the Arms Act against Singh and Chand. During interrogation, both the accused confessed that they had carried out the attack, a police official said. They will be produced in court on Friday. The company, Mitsuba, did not issue an official statement. Manesar is infamous for a 2012 incident in which a mob of workers went on a rampage at a Maruti Suzuki plant after a wage dispute, setting the building on fire. Awanish Kumar Dev, the general manager (human resources) of the company was burned to death, and 100 others, including two Japanese officials, were injured. Thirty-one of the workers were convicted and 117 let off by a court in March last year. Penelope Cruz says she lost her first lead role in a Hollywood movie because the team wanted to include a nude scene at the last minute. The actor, who was just 21 years old and on the cusp of stardom, said she decided to follow her heart even when it meant losing a big opportunity. The Oscar-winning star, who recently played the role of Donatella Versace in FXs The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, said she was sent an amazing script for a lead role in a major American movie and she took four months of English lessons before flying to Los Angeles for her final audition. When I get there, completely jet-lagged... they say, Oh, we have to see you in the office. They wanted to add something to (my contract). They said, If you want to do the screen test, you have to accept that there are going to be some naked scenes that were not in the script. I said, Why didnt you tell me 24 hours ago, before I got on the plane? Even if I did movies before that had scenes. at that time, I didnt want to go through that. I felt like, for a few years, Im just going to say no to whatever, when my heart is telling me no, Cruz said in an interview for the SAG-AFTRA Foundation. Spanish actor Penelope Cruz waves on May 9, 2018 during a photocall for the film Todos Lo Saben (Everybody Knows) at the 71st edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes. (AFP) The actor said she refused to sign the new contract but decided to go through the screen test as planned even though the director was livid and had stopped talking to her. I called the heads of the studio. I didnt speak English, but in that meeting, I spoke English. I said, If you think you can treat people like this. with me, its not going to work. My family loves me, Im gonna get back on the plane, and I dont care if I dont do your movie. But you know what? Im gonna do your screen test. They looked at me like something was wrong with me. Cruz did her screen test before leaving Los Angeles. I knew that I didnt get the movie. But I can tell you today, I am 44 now, it is one of the moments where I felt most proud of myself. In that moment I felt, The day that I die, I will remember this moment... I remember the feeling was so special to me, it made me stronger. And I think from that no, many other yes have arrived in my life. An advocate of Times Up movement, Cruz said she thought it was important to share the story. Follow @htshowbiz for more Ten people were killed and another 12 injured when the mini-bus they were travelling in rammed into a stationary truck at Sogras Phata on the Mumbai-Agra national highway near Nashik early on Thursday, the police said. The mishap occurred around 5.30 am near Chandwad, around 75 km from Nashik, said an official from Chandwad police station. A tyre of the truck, which was carrying sand, had got punctured and it was parked by the road when the accident took place, the official said, adding that the injured have been admitted to a sub-district hospital. The occupants of the mini-bus were returning to Kalyan in Thane district from Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh after a pilgrimage, the police said. Further details are awaited. The tourism ministry has urged the civil aviation ministry to develop airports in at least 12 popular tourist cities of the country to promote connectivity and said it will provide the funding for the projects, officials have said. The tourism ministry has tentatively identified these cities, including some in Buddhist circuit, for the hub under the regional connectivity scheme but the aviation ministry has asked for a comprehensive list so that they can plan the development work. There have been few rounds of consultancy meeting and once the proposal is finalised, we will start developing the airports. Some of these areas have functional airport while some have airstrips, depending on the requirement, we will develop it, a civil aviation ministry official said. The cities and sites are Taj Mahal and Fatehpur Sikri in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, Ajanta and Ellora in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, Humayuns Tomb, Qutub Minar and Red Fort in Delhi, Colva beach in Goa, Amer Fort in Rajasthan, Somnath and Dholavira in Gujarat, Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh, Hampi in Karnataka, Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu, Kaziranga in Assam, Kumarakom in Kerala and the Mahabodhi Temple in Bihar. The civil aviation ministry provides viability gap funding (VGF) so that airlines come forward to ply on difficult routes under the connectivity scheme. In the latest plan, the tourism ministry will provide the funding and there will be no fare cap, unlike the connectivity scheme. After the second round of the connectivity scheme, 78 airports including 36 currently served airports, 13 currently underserved airports and 29 currently unserved airports will be connected. In addition, 31 helipads or heliports will be connected through helicopters in the priority areas. The government expects 13 lakh seats to be available under the scheme after the second round. The airfare for a one hours journey of 500km on a fixed-wing aircraft or for a 30-minute journey on a helicopter would be capped at Rs 2,500 under the scheme. The selected airline operator would have to provide 50% of the flight capacity - subject to a minimum of nine and a maximum of 40 - as connectivity scheme seats for operations through fixed-wing aircraft and a minimum of five and a maximum of 13 seats on the RCS flights for operations through helicopters. The scheme, Udey Desh ka Aam Nagarik (UDAN), is part of the National Civil Aviation Policy that was announced in 2016, to make air travel affordable and widespread. A first-of-its-kind initiative, it is aimed at stimulating regional connectivity in the country through a market-based mechanism. A day after a meeting with Bharatiya Janata Party national president Amit Shah, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray signaled that his party could still contest the Lok Sabha elections on its own. Thackeray, who addressed party workers in Talasari, 125 kms from Mumbai, projected Srinivas Wanga as the Shiv Senas candidate for the Palghar Lok Sabha seat in 2019. Palghar has been BJPs seat and Wanga is the son of late BJP MP Chintaman Wanga, whom Sena inducted days ahead of the bypolls in the seat last month. The Shiv Sena lost the bitterly contested bypoll. Thackeray reiterated on Thursday that he would not accept the defeat. He also signaled that despite the meeting with Shah, all was not settled between the allies. The entire picture is yet to unfold, whatever is happening now is just drama (picture toh ab baaki hai). You are the hero in this picture of 2019, Thackeray told Wanga through his address. He also told Wanga he had got only 15 days for preparing for this years bypolls, but now he would get 8 to 9 months for the Lok Sabha polls and he should not rest until he become the MP. Now, we cant let go of this seat, Thackeray added He also questioned the BJP win, saying many names were missing from the voters list and bogus voting was rampant, besides the malfunctioning of the Electronic Voting Machines. He also said that the Sena would continue to oppose the BJPs bullet train project, the Mumbai-Vadodara expressway and other projects. Senior Sena leaders said that the leadership is cautious and the party will continue its aggressive stance for now despite Shah offering to make amends in the meeting. During the meeting between Thackeray and Shah, the former is said to have taken up issues such as lack of communication within the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and no role in decision-making for the Sena within the Maharashtra government. Shah is learnt to have offered a favourable agreement for the state polls, a 50:50 seat sharing formual, if the Sena goes with the BJP for the Lok Sabha polls. He also promised another two to three meetings with senior leaders of both parties to sort out grievances and discuss the alliance. In 2014, we have seen things change between the Lok Sabha election and the Assembly poll. The BJP has backstabbed us in the past; we will now wait and watch, said a senior Sena leader. ``All main sticking points were discussed in the meeting including each other grievances. Both Lok Sabha and assembly polls were also discussed. The Sena chief did agree that the Hindutva agenda must not lose due to this bickering in the upcoming elections, said a senior BJP leader. Alliance partners BJP and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Thursday signalled that there were no discordant notes in their partnership, as both sides affirmed that their commitment to staying allies was rock solid. They even announced a six member co-ordination committee to work out electoral issues and future strategy. Soon after his meeting with the SAD leadership, including party patriarch Parkash Singh Badal and party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, BJP chief Amit Shah in a tweet indicated that the meeting with SAD ahead of the crucial 2019 general elections was off to a good start. It is always a delight to meet Badal Sahab. Met Shri Parkash Singh Badal ji and Shri @officeofssbadal ji at their home in Chandigarh, he tweeted. It is always a delight to meet Badal Sahab. Met Shri Parkash Singh Badal ji and Shri @officeofssbadal ji at their home in Chandigarh. pic.twitter.com/NP7F3tzxUa Amit Shah (@AmitShah) June 7, 2018 Shahs tweet was in contrast to the one he put out on Wednesday after a closed-door meeting with Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai, details of which are still under wraps. Ties between the Sena and the BJP are under strain. Met Shri Uddhav Thackeray ji at Matoshree in Mumbai. pic.twitter.com/enLthz8Ykg Amit Shah (@AmitShah) June 6, 2018 At a time when the BJP is grappling with the growing echo of discontent from its other allies, such as RLSP and JD(U); former Punjab deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal gave it a helping hand by asking other alliance partners to bury their differences. I would like to appeal to all our allies that this is the time to fight; the battle is in six months. We should get together and cast away all our differences Sukhbir said when asked about the concerns voiced by the Shiv Sena. Two senior leaders of the party, Rajya Sabha member Balwinder Bhundar and former minister Sikander Maluka, who had earlier accused the BJP of ignoring the SAD in last four years at the Centre, chose not to raise the issue at the meeting with Shah, people aware of the developments said. SAD leaders who were part of the meeting claimed that Shah came to Chandigarh to take guidance from the senior Badal. Parkash Singh Badal ji is countrys most tallest and pious leaders. He is guiding force for the NDA and I have come here to consult him on various issues concerning Centre and the farmers, Shah told leaders of both parties according to SAD core group member Bikram Majithia who was also in the meeting. Also read: Akali Dal leaders accuse BJP of ignoring them for too long as Amit Shah holds closed-door meet with Badals Shah held a closed door meeting with senior Badal and Sukhbir Badal for nearly 45 minutes, during which some concerns were conveyed to Shah, party sources said. These concerns include greater focus of the central government on justice for victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and issues concerning the Sikh community both in India and abroad. SAD is also learnt to have asked for a CBI probe in the sacrilege cases of Guru Granth Sahib. Sukhbir dubbed the meeting as most positive, result-oriented and fruitful and said theres and was no conflict between SAD and the BJP. In Mumbai, Shah had arrived to a derisive piece about his outreach to allies in the Senas mouthpiece Saamana. While Shah and Sena chief, Uddhav Thackeray are learnt to have had a one-on-one meeting at Matoshree, lthe latters residence, details of the interaction have been kept under wraps. After the meeting Shah only tweeted, Met Shri Uddhav Thackeray ji at Matoshree in Mumbai, giving no indication of what transpired. On Thursday, the BJP chief also met with the Punjab BJP unit to discuss election strategy for 2019. The Kerala Congress on Thursday decided to give away its lone Rajya Sabha seat, being vacated by upper house deputy chairman PJ Kurien, to the Kerala Congress (Mani) amid an open revolt in its ranks. The decision, aimed at placating the partys political ally in the state, was announced by senior leaders in New Delhi after a meeting with Congress president Rahul Gandhi. State opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said it was a one-time arrangement to strengthen the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF). With this, the Kerala Congress (Mani) a regional party mainly representing the Christian belt of central Kerala is set to rejoin the UDF after two years. One of the oldest allies of the Congress, it had left the UDF after the 2016 assembly election. Many senior leaders, including former Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief VM Sudheeran, PJ Kurien and Youth Congress state president Dean Kuriakose, termed the move as an abject surrender to a regional party. The move is suicidal. How can the party sacrifice its own seat? I dont think this will strengthen the UDF, he said. PCC secretary K Jayanth has quit his post in protest, and many young leaders have threatened to follow suit. Eight young party legislators also expressed their displeasure in a missive to Gandhi. Certain leaders hatched a conspiracy to gift the seat to Mani Congress. The move will only weaken the party, said Kurien, adding that the high command was misled into giving its assent. He squarely blamed former chief minister Oommen Chandy and Chennithala for this sorry state of affairs. Kurien had stated in a letter sent to the party president earlier in the day that while he was not in the running for the post, the seat should not be given to the Kerala Congress (Mani). He also suggested six names for the seat. This has also upset the partys young brigade, which had steadfastly opposed Kuriens re-nomination. One such member said on the condition of anonymity that Mani had succeeded in extracting his pound of flesh in style. Japanese experts have estimated for the first time the long-term economic damage caused by a possible mega-quake along the Nankai Trough, off the Pacific coast of central and western Japan, or in the Tokyo metropolitan area. The Japan Society of Civil Engineers issued a report on Thursday saying a mega-quake would cut off transportation systems and damage production facilities, which could result in long-term declines in production and income. The report says in the worst-case scenario a Nankai Trough earthquake would result in economic damage of 12.8 trillion dollars, and a Tokyo mega-quake 7 trillion dollars, over the ensuing 20 years. The figure for the Nankai Trough earthquake is roughly 14 times the size of the national budget for the current fiscal year, while that for the Tokyo quake is 8 times larger. The civil engineers society describes this as a national crisis in which people's standard of living would be lowered over a long period. The report also says long-term damage could be reduced by 30 to 40 percent by making roads, ports and embankments more quake-resistant. The head of the civil engineers society, Hisakazu Ohishi, said the estimated damage came as a shock. He said if a mega-quake should strike now, the outcome would be unimaginable, and could possibly make Japan one of East Asia's poorest countries. Ohishi urged the government to make plans for building infrastructure to help reduce the damage. - NHK The Congress would evaluate the performance of its ministers every six months and changes would be made if required, said Karnataka deputy chief minister G Parameshwara as he tried to pacify MLAs unhappy over not making it to the ministry. Every six months, there will be an assessment by the party to evaluate the performance of ministers, and ministers will be changed depending upon their performance, and according to the decisions of the party, whenever it is needed, Parameshwara, also the Pradesh Congress Committee chief, told reporters in Bengaluru on Thursday. Im not saying this; these are conditions mentioned by the All India Congress while approving the list (of ministers), he added. On Wednesday, Kumaraswamy had expanded his 15-day-old cabinet by inducting 25 ministers, with 14 members from the Congress and nine from his party, JD(S), and one each from BSP and the nascent Karnataka Pragnavanta Janata Paksha. Upset over not securing berths in the expanded ministry, several Congress legislators on Thursday held separate meetings in the city. Noting that there is still opportunity for legislators, Parameshwara said, We will have to fill six vacant minister posts. We will do it, and probably in the days to come, based on performance, decisions will be made. The deputy CM also said that at the earliest, the posts in boards and corporations would be filled, in accordance with the formula agreed upon between the coalition partners. Alleging that BJP has plans to attract disgruntled MLAs, the KPCC chief said he would talk to them and try to convince them about the partys decision. A CoBRA commando of the CRPF was killed and a policeman injured during an encounter with Maoists in Saraikela area of Jharkhand on Thursday, officials said. They said a gunbattle began early morning in the Dalbhaga-Arki area of the Saraikela-Kharsawan district at about 7 am when a joint team of the 209th battalion of the CoBRA (commando battalion for resolute action) and Jharkhand Police was out for operation. A commando has been killed while a state police personnel has been injured during the encounter, they said. The encounter took place in Saraikela, the administrative headquarter of Saraikela Kharsawan district which is about 135-km from the state capital here. Heavy firing is still on and further details are awaited, they said. Upset over not securing berths in the expanded HD Kumaraswamy ministry, several Congress MLAs in Karnataka on Thursday held separate meetings in the city. The meetings were held a day after the 15-day old two-member JDS-Congress cabinet was expanded with the induction of 25 new ministers after intense bargaining for ministerial berths. The much-awaited exercise has caused heartburn among several lawmakers in the coalition while supporters of some of the ministerial aspirants staged protests. The Congress had dropped several key members of the previous Siddaramaiah ministry, including MB Patil, Dinesh Gundu Rao, Ramalinga Reddy, R Roshan Baig, HK Patil, Tanvir Sait, Shamanur Sivashankarappaand Satish Jarkhiholi. A meeting held at MB Patils residence here today was attended by disgruntled MLAs including M T B Nagaraj, Satish Jarkiholi, Sudhakar and Roshan Baigs. Emerging out of the meeting, Jarkiholi, who is also an AICC secretary, said they discussed about the cabinet expansion and it was true that they were unhappy over not getting ministership. We have discussed about how to set it right by bringing it to the notice of state and Delhi party leadership about capable and efficient aspirants. We have discussed this yesterday also.. today also we discussed and we will meet again, he said. However, trying to downplay the significance of the development, MB Patil blamed the media for creating a hype about his meeting with party colleagues and asked what is wrong with it? Admitting that he was a ministerial aspirant, the former Minister said nothing was more important than self respect for him, but that doesnt mean being anti-party. He claimed the discussion was about the welfare of the party. Asked if he would agree for the Ministers post during the second phase of cabinet expansion, Patil said ...Im not a second class citizen. I dont have any aspirations further... even Deputy Chief Minister for North Karnataka then (before first cabinet expansion), I had asked for it. Patil, a prominent ministerial face of theSiddaramaiah government, was at the forefront demandingreligious minority tag for Lingayats, the largest community in the state. Interestingly, Shamanur Shivashankarappa, the face of Akhila Bharata Veerashaiva Mahasabha that had opposed religious minority tag only for Lingayats, by advocating that Lingayats and Veerashaiava are the same, has also not been inducted as the minister. According to sources, Shivashankarappa also held discussion with leaders and close confidantes. A similar meeting of MLAs took place under former Minister H K Patils leadership and was attended by Yashvantharayagouda Patil and SR Patil, among others, sourcessaid. Stating that several MLAs had spoken to him personally and also over phone, H K Patil said, we are thinking about how to avoid such faults from happening in the future and steps need to be taken in this regard.... we will take our next steps. . The party high-command, considering everything, including performance, should take appropriate steps, he said and ruled out him quitting the party. Protests have also been reported from different places including Belagavi, Haveri and Chellakere, where supporters of Jarkiholi, BC Patil and T Raghumurthy respectively, demanded Ministers post for their leaders. MLAs at the meetings are said to have expressed dismay about party leadership, especially CLP leader and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara, who is also the Pradesh Congress Chief, for not getting them ministerial berths. Kumaraswamy had on Wednesday expanded his 15-day old cabinet, by inducting 25 ministers, with 14 members from the Congress and nine from his party, JDS and one each from BSP and the nascent Karnataka Pragnavanta Janata Paksha. Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), the main opposition party in the Tamil Nadu legislature, staged a walkout on Thursday as Speaker P Dhanapal denied permission to MK Stalin, leader of the opposition, to speak about the Sterlite police firing issue. Dhanapal said he denied permission as the matter was sub-judice and that a single judge commission was already enquiring into the firing. Tamil Nadu police had opened fire on protesters demanding closure of Sterlites copper smelter in Thoothukkudi on May 22, resulting in the deaths of 13 people. The protesters alleged that the smelter was causing pollution in the area. Subsequently, Tamil Nadu government had ordered permanent closure of the plant. Dhanapal said he denied Stalins request to speak on the issue. It is unnecessary to speak about the issue in the assembly as a judicial probe is being carried out by retired judge justice Aruna Jegadeesans single-man judiciary commission set up by the government. Also, there are cases regarding this issue, which are pending with the Madras high court, he said. Dhanapal also ordered removal of Stalins comments over the police firing from assembly records. Subsequently, all DMK legislators walked out. Speaking to reporters outside the assembly, Stalin said, It is not clear who ordered firing during the protest. Unless the CBI examines the issue, the truth cannot be brought out. We tried to register our comments inside the assembly but the speaker did not allow us to do so. But Tamil Nadu chief minister EK Palaniswamy said, As the matter is being probed by the judiciary commission and the case is with the Madras high court, it is not proper to discuss the issue inside the assembly. Even when DMK ruled the state, they had refused permission to speak on issues which were subjudice. Raveendran Duraisamy, a political analyst, said, If the speaker had allowed Stalin to speak on the issue, the DMK could have used it for political mileage and this might be the reason why the speaker denied him permission... Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel on Thursday expressed his disapproval at former President Pranab Mukherjee visiting the RSS headquarters in Nagpur and said he did not expect this from him. Patel, who is UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhis close confidante, and has been her political secretary, voiced his view on Twitter, in reply to Mukherjees daughter who spoke out against the decision of the former President to address an RSS event. I did not expect this from Pranab da! Patel said in his one line tweet. I did not expect this from Pranab da ! https://t.co/VBqXZ8x7SE Ahmed Patel (@ahmedpatel) June 6, 2018 Congress leader Sharmistha Mukherjee had on Wednesday said her father was giving the BJP and the Sangh a handle to plant false stories. His speech will be forgotten but the visuals will remain, she said on Twitter. She also expressed hope that the former president would realise how the BJPs dirty tricks department works and warned him of the consequences of attending such a meet. Hope @CitiznMukherjee now realises from todays incident, how BJP dirty tricks dept operates. Even RSS wouldnt believe that u r going 2 endorse its views in ur speech. But the speech will be forgotten, visuals will remain & those will be circulated with fake statements. 1/2 Sharmistha Mukherjee (@Sharmistha_GK) June 6, 2018 Pranab Mukherjee is in Nagpur today to address an RSS event in the evening. The visit has given rise to a lot of speculation and has been opposed by the Congress. Some party leaders, including Jairam Ramesh and CK Jaffar Sharief have written to him. A few others, including Anand Sharma, have personally visited him to dissuade him from going to Nagpur. Sharmisthas outburst came soon after rumours about her joining the BJP cropped up. She dismissed the rumours as false and the handiwork of BJPs dirty tricks department. She said she would rather leave politics than quit Congress. Days after an Archbishop claimed that the Indian Constitution is in danger, participants at an ongoing All India Hindu Convention on Thursday accused the states BJP-led government of insulting the Constitution by banning the entry of Sri Ram Sene leader Pramod Muthalik into Goa. The Constitution of Indian guarantees everyone the right to freedom of movement. The BJP-led governments decision to ban Muthaliks entry into Goa is an insult to the Constitution and the All India Hindu Convention unanimously condemns it, Hindu Janajagruti Samiti Spokesperson Chetan Rajhauns said in a statement here. The district administration has repeatedly banned Muthaliks entry into Goa, which he has challenged in the Supreme Court. The Archbishop of Goa (Filipe Neri Ferrao) has asked the Christian community to take active part in state politics by claiming that the Constitution is in danger. But the truth is that he will never speak up against foreign tourists whose activities are a real danger to Goan people and culture, Rajhauns said. Leaders of various Hindu organisations and religious figures are participating in the ongoing annual convention, which on Thursday resolved to make India a Hindu Rashtra. In his letter, the Archbishop had said: In recent times, we see a new trend emerging in our country, which demands uniformity in what and how we eat, dress, live and even worship: a kind of mono-culturalism. Human rights are under attack and democracy appears to be in peril. Various minorities fear for their safety. In short, respect for law is frankly on the decline in this country. Christians in Goa account for more than a quarter of the states population of 1.5 million. A delegation of the Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch met Gujarat police chief Shivanand Jha on Thursday to seek Y-category security cover for its convenor, Jignesh Mevani, in view of two alleged death threats directed at him this week. Mewani, also an independent MLA from Vadgam, alleged that he received a telephonic death threat for the second consecutive day on Thursday. Jignesh has received such threats through Facebook and Twitter on earlier occasions too. He has been working for the under-privileged and the downtrodden, and one can understand who may be unhappy with that, said Subodh Parmar, Mewanis associate. The legislator had won the Vadgam seat in Bansakantha district with Congress backing in the 2017 Gujarat assembly elections. Mevani alleged in a social media post that his associate, Kaushik Parmar, received the threat while he was using the formers mobile phone. A complaint has been lodged at the Vadgam police station. Parmar, another convenor of the party, handles Mewanis office in Vadgam. Based on his complaint, we registered an FIR against the caller who identified himself as Rajvir Mishra, said police sub-inspector RP Zala. Parmar told police that he carries a mobile phone with an old number belonging to Mevani. A case has been registered under Section 507 (criminal intimidation by anonymous communication) of the Indian Penal Code. (With agency inputs) Former President Pranab Mukherjee, speaking at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) headquarters in Nagpur, said that attempts to define Indias nationhood on the basis of religion would dilute our nationality. He added that the soul of India resides in pluralism and tolerance, in what some analysts and politicians saw as a strong message to the ideological parent of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Still, Mukherjees presence at the Sanghs HQ in Nagpur, where he paid homage to RSS founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar as a great son of mother India and toured the building with the outfits chief Mohan Bhagwat and other senior functionaries, was also seen by some others as bad optics, especially coming from a man who hold Nehruvian ideologies close to his heart. Backing Mukherjee, the Congresss chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said, He has shown the mirror of truth to the RSS by reminding them of Indias pluralism, tolerance, secularism and inclusiveness as an article of faith and soul of the country. The party added that the visit had caused wide-ranging discussion, comment, concern and even consternation among a large section of Indians, who have an innate belief in the foundational values of democracy, pluralism, diversity of cultures, ethnicity, languages and religious practices. In the course of a nearly 35-minute speech delivered in English, Mukherjee delved into the concepts of nationhood, nationalism and patriotism; and liberally quoted Jawaharlal Nehru, Rabindranath Tagore, Kautilya, Lokmanya Tilak and Surendranath Banerjee, a former Congress party president during the British Raj. Secularism and inclusion is a matter of faith for us. Indias nationhood is not one language, one religion, one nation, said Mukherjee, a former Congress leader for almost four decades. When I shut my eyes and dream of India, I am mesmerised that 1.3 billion people speak 122 languages, practise seven major religions and belong to three major ethnic groups. Yet, they are under one system, one flag, one Constitution and one identity, which we may call Bharatiya or Indian, Mukherjee said. Mukerjees visit to the RSS headquarters had evoked sharp responses with several leaders of his party, including his daughter Sharmistha Mukherjee criticising his decision. RSS chief Bhagwat referred to the controversy in his introductory speech and said it was unseemly. There can be difference of opinion and debate but we must keep the maryada. For one destination, people can take different paths. Diversity is good for India, he said. Mukherjees speech, coming as it does a year before the 2019 election, Mukherjees presence at the RSS headquarters was seen by some as giving credibility and recognition to an organisation which has been demonised by most of its opponents. The speech got bipartisan support with BJP general secretary Ram Madhav tweeting soon after: Great address by Dr Pranab Mukharjee at Nagpur. His address and Dr Bhagwats address are in a way complementary to each other. Nation First is the core message of both. RSS spokesperson Arun Kumar dubbed Mukherjees speech as that of an elder statesman. We welcome his speech and the points he raised on issues such as nationalism, patriotism, and the need to end all types of intolerance and violence. The Congress party maintained that it respected different shades of opinion and discussions. As Indians and as Congressmen, we encourage and believe in the democratic dialogue and recognise the right and sanctity of dialogue across different thought processes, Surjewala said. But a dialogue is only possible in a democratic order with an open mind and willingness to change, accept and adapt to the other persons point of view. He particularly reminded Prime Minister Narendra Modi that happiness of people is the happiness of ruler, their welfare is his welfare, Surjewala added. Amid reports that a Maldivian MP was denied entry into India, the External Affairs Ministry said it was trying to ascertain details of the incident. Ahmed Nihan from the ruling Progressive Party of Maldives said he had travelled to Chennai on Monday for medical reasons but was refused entry after enquiries about his diplomatic passport. This is bullying, Nihan was quoted as saying by the Maldives Times. If this is the implementation of a policy by neighbouring India, it does not make any sense, he said. Responding to a question about the MP being denied entry, ministry of external affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said, He was stopped at immigration when he came to Chennai. This happened on the night of June 4. We are trying to find out how this happened. We will share information when we have it, Kumar said. Asked about reports that the Maldives government has decided to return two search-and-rescue helicopters gifted by India, Kumar said Indias defence ties with that country were very strong and it was in touch with Maldivian authorities over the issue. Relations between India and the Maldives have come under strain in recent years, mostly over Chinas influence in the Maldives and also over a controversial 45-day state of emergency and jailing of Mohamed Nasheed, the first democratically elected leader of the country. External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj had said last month that though ties with Maldives might have seen ups and downs, they were not broken and cannot be broken. With national politics becoming her top priority in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee has decided to distance herself from state-level politics and to a lesser degree from administrative responsibilities for the time being. Banerjee has redistributed political responsibilities in the party organisation along three broad categories national politics, state administration, and state-level party organisation, said two senior TMC leaders. In a closed-door meet with her most trusted lieutenants and cabinet colleagues on May 22, she allocated individual responsibilities. Since the panchayat elections, Banerjee has also started projecting her nephew and Lok Sabha MP, Abhishek Banerjee, as the main face in key programmes, be it the agitation against rising fuel prices or a party meeting in troubled Purulia, where the BJP has given the ruling party a run for its money in rural polls. Significantly, Banerjees meeting with her lieutenants took place a day before she went to Bengaluru to attend the swearing-in ceremony of HD Kumaraswami, where leaders of most anti-BJP parties, such as Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RLD), Congress, CPI(M), Janata Dal, CPI, and NCP, were present. A Trinamool leader, who was present in the meeting, said political affairs that include maintaining liaison with anti-BJP forces will be handled by Banerjee herself. She will be assisted by party chief whip in Lok Sabha Sudip Bandopadhyay and TMCs national spokesperson Derek OBrien. A core team of four leaders panchayat affairs and rural development minister Subrata Mukherjee, education minister and Trinamool secretary general Partha Chatterjee, finance and industries minister Amit Mitra, and power minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay will handle state administrative affairs. Managing state-level party organisation will be shouldered by general secretary and party MP Subrata Bakshi and Partha Chatterjee. The duo will be assisted by youth affairs minister Arup Biswas, municipal affairs and urban development minister Firhad Hakim, and state transport minister Suvendu Adhikari. In the closed door meeting, the chief minister also warned senior leaders that she does not want to hear complaints of non-cooperation from any of them, said the minister. The CM is our leader and we will abide by what she told us, said Subrata Mukherjee. I am an ordinary soldier of the party. I shall try to discharge whatever the party wants me to do, said Abhishek Banerjee on Wednesday as he went out to lead an agitation against petrol price rise in south Kolkata. Though Banerjee has not explicitly said anything in public about the reorganisation of responsibilities, on March 9 she made it clear she was withdrawing from panchayat polls, the last pan-Bengal political exercise less than a year before LS elections. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) alleged on Thursday that a key accused arrested in connection with a 2016 attack on the Nagrota army camp in Jammu had gone to Pakistan four times between 2015 and 2017 on a visa procured with the help of reference letters from top separatist leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Abdul Ghani Bhat and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. The NIA also said that the accused, Mohammad Ashiq Baba, had met key Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) commanders, including JeM chief Masood Azhars brother Rauf who was responsible for targeting the army camp, during one of his trips to Pakistan. When asked if NIA planed to seek clarification from the separatist leaders about this development, an agency spokesman declined to comment but said, the investigation is progressing well. Ashiq Baba was arrested on Tuesday, two days before home minister Rajnath Singhs trip to Jammu and Kashmir at a time when a fresh moves are being made to talk to separatist Hurriyat leaders in the middle of a cessation of military operations during the holy month of Ramazan. Geelani, Bhat and and Farooq did not respond to messages seeking comments. The November 2016 attack on the Nagrota army camp had resulted in the death of seven Indian army men and three suicide attackers. The NIA statement said that Baba went to Pakistan by crossing the Wagah border in Punjab. During his visits, he met with JeM commanders and took directions from them after getting clearance from a local ISI (Pakistans Inter Services Intelligence agency) agent. On his return, he received instructions on how and when to receive the group of terrorists (responsible for the attack), the NIA statement said. Around a week prior to the attack, he and the other arrested terrorist Muneer (ul-Hassan Qadri ) were given the GPS coordinates of the receiving point along the Samba sector highway as well as of the possible targets along the Nagrota army cantonment through whatsapp from their handlers in Pakistan. They were asked to recce these targets, the statement added. The statement further said that Ashiq, Muneer and a third accused, Tariq Ahmed Dar, finalised the receiving point and the target -- the Officers Mess complex of 166 Medium Regiment at Nagrota. The statement said the three met with the three militants who attacked the camp a day before the operation. The attackers changed clothes near the highway and travelled in two vehicles to Jammu, with their weapons concealed in the boot of one of the two cars owned by Tariq and Ashiq Baba. The statement said that they stayed at a hotel in Jammu and Ashiq and the leader of the group of attackers, Abu Hisham, went to Nagrota to see the site. The three arrested accused then dropped the attackers near the army camp late in the night and returned to Srinagar. The NIA alleged that following the attack, Ashiq went to Pakistan again in April-May 2017 and met key JeM commanders and also Mufti Rauf (brother of JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar and an accused in the Pathankot attack case) at their headquarters at Bahawalpur. The NIA contended that in the meeting, JeM commanders showered praise on him and, as a reward, also sent money to his bank account, which was routed through Gulf countries. The agency added that, after the Nagrota attack, Ashiq Baba and Muneer received three other militants in March 2017 from the Samba sector and dropped them off in Kashmirs Pampore region. A month after six Indian workers in Afghanistan were kidnapped, their families are still waiting for news of their whereabouts. Government officials said they are working with Afghan government officials to find and release the Indian nationals who were kidnapped in Baghlan province of the country. It is like clinging to hope and struggling to ensure that the hope stays alive every day. It is very difficult for us, said Doman Singh on Wednesday from Laua Lagan village in Chausa block in Madhepur district of Bihar. His brother Mantu Singh is one of the kidnapped workers. The Indian nationals are all employees of KEC International Limited, an infrastructure company that recently won Rs 226-crore contract in the war-torn country as a sub-contractor for the state-owned Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS), which operates power generating stations. Mantu Singh has been working with the company since 2014. We are poor people. My brother has a wife and two children ( a son, aged 15 and a daughter 13). This job was everything for them. The entire village is in shock about the incident, Doman Singh said over phone. The issue has also assumed political dimensions with leaders of the opposition Congress party urging the government to do more. We request the central government to redouble the efforts to secure his release. We also urge the state government to help the family and this employer to be more humane in the approach, said Keshav Kumar Singh, secretary of the Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee. The human resources manager of the company who signed Mantu Singhs contract letter declined comment . Indian officials said the matter has been taken up with Afghanistan government and no efforts are being spared to secure the release of the Indians. External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj spoke to her counterpart Salahuddin Rabbani and Indian ambassador in Kabul Vinay Kumar is regularly following it up with the authorities. The minister is also regularly in touch with company officials, said an Indian official who asked not to be identified. Confidentiality is needed for such negotiations to bear fruit, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said in a press conference last month. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Qingdao, the external affairs ministry said on Thursday. It would give an opportunity for the leaders to take stock of the implementation of decisions taken at the informal summit little over a month ago in Wuhan. Meetings with other leaders on the sidelines of the summit were being finalised, ministry of external affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said at a media briefing. Though the officials of India, Japan, the US and Australia met in Singapore on Thursday, New Delhis take on the huddle, which is seen as counter to the rising China in the Indo-Pacific region, was nuanced. Modi is expected to hold nearly half a dozen bilateral meetings with leaders of other SCO countries. However, there is no official word on whether there would be an interaction with Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain, who is scheduled to attend the meeting in China. Among other issues, the SCO summit is expected to focus on opportunities for cooperation among the member countries and the situation in the region, Kumar said. The spokesperson said China appreciated Prime Minister Modis speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore last week. Though the grouping of QuadIndia, Japan, the US and Australiais seen as a counter to rising China, the Indian statement after their meeting reflected the Shangri-La Dialogue where PM Modi spoke about a multi-polar world and gave enough indications about Indias foreign policy not being directed against anyone. The PM had said Asia and the world will have a better future if India and China work together, while being sensitive to each others interests. With several of our partners, we meet in formats of three or more, Modi had said in Singapore, signalling that India taking part in such formats is in its national interest, and not against any other country. The participants considered ways to pursue shared objectives in the areas of connectivity and development; regional security, including counter-terrorism and non-proliferation; and maritime cooperation, the statement after the meeting of the officials of four countries said. The Indian side highlighted Indias vision for the Indo-Pacific region as outlined in Prime Ministers keynote address at the Shangri-La Dialogue, it said. The participants reaffirmed their support for a free, open, pro- sperous and inclusive Indo-Pacific region. They also confirmed their common commitment, bas- ed on shared values and principles, to promote a rules-based ord- er in the Indo-Pacific, the spokesperson said. To a query on Nirav Modi, he said no agency has given his whereabouts to the MEA. Former president Pranab Mukherjee, who arrived in Nagpur on Wednesday evening, hosted a dinner for the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat even as his daughter disapproved of his decision to attend the saffron outfits function. Mukherjee is slated to address the valedictory function of the RSSs third-year officers training camp at its headquarters in Reshimbagh on Thursday. According to RSS sources, Bhagwat and a group of senior swayamsevaks went to the Raj Bhavan on Wednesday evening to greet Mukherjee. The RSS chief and the former president spent over two hours together. A lunch between the two men was cancelled . The former president is learnt to have inquired about the proposed RSS programme and other details during the discussion, sources said. Mukherjees surprise move to address the RSS event triggered a controversy with his daughter and Congress leader Sharmistha Mukherjee taking to Twitter to warn him of the BJPs dirty tricks department . She wrote that the veteran leaders decision had given the BJP and its ideological parent, RSS, full handle to plant rumours and false stories. She also cautioned her father that his speech will be will be forgotten, but the visuals will be circulated with fake statements. Several Opposition leaders also appealed to the former president to reconsider for the sake of secularism. But Mukherjee has said that people should wait to hear what he has to say, while his associates have said he will send a strong message of peace and harmony. The former president had said Whatever I have to say, I will say in Nagpur. I have received several letters, requests, and phone calls, but I havent responded to anyone yet. The RSS has defended the decision to call Mukherjee, saying the Sangh has had a history of engaging with and inviting people with diverse views, citing examples of Mahatma Gandhi and BR Ambedkar attending the RSS event. Some Congress leaders have indicated they are okay with Mukherjees decision. Their stand is that Mukherjee is a private citizen and free to go where he wants. Tamil cinema superstars Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan are giving shape to their new political parties-in-the-making the former, by strengthening the organisational structure, and the latter by formally registering his party with the Election Commission of India (ECI). Rajinikanth, whose latest movie Kaala will hit cinemas on Thursday, has been quietly taking steps to strengthen the organisational structure of his fan organisation, which is likely to morph into his new party. In order to strengthen grass root organisational structure before launching the party, Rajinikanth has urged the district and block secretaries of Rajini Makkal Mandram (Rajini Peoples Movement) to complete the work of constituting booth level committees across the state by end of this month. This comes even as Kamal Haasan, who launched his Makkal Needhi Maiyam party in February and introduced the flag in Madurai, is looking for official recognition and has applied to ECI for formal registration. According to office bearers of Rajini Peoples Movement, the reason for the delay in launching the party is because the actor wants to strengthen the organisational structure first. As Rajini Gupendran, co-district secretary, Rajini Peoples Movement, Nagapattinam put it: Our leader has appointed the district secretaries, block-level secretaries and office bearers for the youth wing, womens wing and farmers wing; he (now) wants to complete the formation of booth-level committees within this June. In Tamil Nadu, there are about 65,000 booth committees. As of now, we have formed 30,000 booth level committees with 90,000 members because our high command asked us to have 30 members in each, Gupendran added. Each constituency has several booths, which are managed by booth committees. Most cadre-based parties have a ground-up organisational structure, beginning with booth committees. Golden Saravanan, Block Secretary, Thirupparangundram, Madurai district, of Rajini Peoples Movement, said he has been asked to create booth committees in 64 booths. He expects to finish his task by the end of June. It isnt proving easy because, as a block secretary of the Rajni Peoples Party from Thanjavur district pointed out on condition of anonymity, the ruling and opposition parties are asking people not to join the actors party. Raveendran Duraisamy, a political analyst based in Chennai, said , Despite being popular, Rajinikanths aspiration of building the organisation from the grass roots is essential strategy now. As both DMK and AIADMK have a strong organisational structure, Rajini, who has to compete with these Dravidian parties, has to strengthen the party from the ground up. Sudhakar and Raju Mahalin- gam, state organisers for the Rajini Peoples Movement, did not respond to queries, but once the booth committees are formed, the actor is expected to make more announcements about the party and flag. June is also a big month for Kamal Haasan, who is expected to appear before the ECI to register his Makkal Needhi Maiyam (MNM) party, following which the symbol for the party will be announced. Mandhavi Sharma, spokesperson of Makkal Needhi Maiyam, said, As the election commission declared there are no any objections from the public for registering the party, we are to appear before the EC for registering the party. As we expected, the registration work will get completed within this month. The government has accorded top priority to securing the release of six Indians abducted by gunmen in Afghanistan last month and is in touch with all the stakeholders involved, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said on Thursday. He said there could be a meeting next week between external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and the family members of the abducted and that dates were being worked out. We are according top priority to the problem. We are seized of the matter and the EAM (Swaraj) had also mentioned that this is a sensitive matter. We are in touch with the Afghan side and other stakeholders, Kumar said, but declined to elaborate further citing the sensitivity of the matter. On May 6, gunmen kidnapped six Indians working for an infrastructure and electricity company from the Baghlan province of Afghanistan. A day later, Swaraj called her Afghan counterpart and sought assistance to find the men who were taken away by unidentified kidnappers. Kumar said Swaraj had offered to meet the kin of those kidnapped next week as she was currently in South Africa on an official visit. She (Swaraj) has given them time next week and we are working out a date and time for the meeting, Kumar said. A soldier was killed and another injured when militants attacked an army patrol near the line of control (LoC) in Keran sector of Jammu and Kashmirs Kupwara district on Thursday. The attack came in the course of Union home minister Rajnath Singhs two-day visit to the Valley and areas along the LoC. Defence spokesperson Colonel Rajesh Kalia said two soldiers were critically injured in the attack on the army patrol. One of them died later, while being rushed to the base hospital in Srinagar. The identities of the soldiers have not been disclosed to the media. Ten militants have been killed so far in at least three major encounters near the LoC in Kupwara sector ever since the Centre announced a unilateral Ramzan ceasefire last month. Although all the militants were earlier declared by the army as foreigners, two were eventually found to be youngsters from Pulwama district. Their bodies were exhumed and handed over to their families on Wednesday. Tangdhar Brigade commander PK Mishra had cited strong intelligence inputs to assert that many infiltrators were waiting to cross over into India from launch pads close to the LoC. They are waiting for an opportunity to infiltrate, the officer said. The army has stepped up vigil along the LoC, especially the Kupwara region, in the light of this fresh infiltration. They also managed to prevent certain militant activities, including a bid to loot a J&K Bank cash van in South Kashmir, through the course of the day. Uttar Pradesh governor Ram Naik has written to chief minister Yogi Adityanath informing about a complaint against his principal secretary SP Goel who has allegedly been demanding a bribe of Rs 25 lakh to provide land for road widening to set up a petrol pump in Hardoi. In his letter dated April 30, 2018, which HT has accessed, the governor has brought to the CMs notice the problem being faced by the complainant Abhishek Gupta in getting additional land for setting up a petrol pump. Mr Gupta says that the principal secretary to chief minister, SP Goel, is demanding Rs 25 lakh to provide land for broadening of the main road and he is not able to set up the petrol pump due to delay in decision on the representation. I am sending Mr Abhishek Guptas letter to you for appropriate action, said Naik in his letter to Adityanath. Mr Abhishek Gupta, resident of 24, Prakash Lok, Indira Nagar, Lucknow has informed me, through a letter dated April 18, 2018 on email, that he proposed to set up petrol pump sanctioned by Essar Oil Limited in Resso village of Sandila tehsil, Hardoi. As the main road to connect the petrol pump is narrow, a representation given to provide necessary land is pending at the level of principal secretary to chief minister, the governor wrote. When contacted, Naik confirmed that he had, indeed, sent the letter. Whatever complaints I get, I forward them to the respective minister. I have been following this practice about all types of complaints. As this case pertained to the chief minister, I forwarded the complaint to him, Naik said. Goel, a 1989 batch IAS officer, has worked on important posts at the Centre and in the state government, maintains a low profile and has so far remained non-controversial. Appointed principal secretary to the chief minister after Adityanath formed the government, Goel rubbished the allegations. This is ridiculous. I received the file only after the governors letter was received. I recused myself, did not deal with the case and informed the chief minister about the same, said Goel. I am not aware of any decision taken on the issue. An official spokesman refused to comment on the issue. The government issued warnings about a possible rapid rise of water levels of rivers in Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala due to the rains. As the meteorological department has predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall in Konkan areas and Goa, Madhya Maharashtra, Coastal Karnataka and some places in Kerala from June 712, the ministry of water resources has said there is likelihood of rise in water levels in various river basins. A statement by the ministry also warned of the possibility of inundation in some of the heavy rainfall-affected urban areas of Mumbai. West flowing rivers are the most likely to rise. Areas between Tapi and Tadri rivers, those near Godavari, Krishna, Cauvery and their tributaries near the west coast as well as west flowing rivers between Tadri and Kanyakumari are likely to be affected. Experts have also warned that activities along the river beds in these areas should be controlled as the sudden water increase can drown men and materials. The statement said that Damanganga river and its tributaries are expected to rise in Nasik district of Maharashtra, Valsad district of Gujarat and Daman district of Daman and Diu. Godavari river is likely to rise in its upstream reaches in Nasik, Ahmednagar and Aurangabad districts in Maharashtra. Krishna river and its tributaries are likely to rise in upstream districts of Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur, Pune, Sholapur in Maharashtra as well as in Bagalkote, Vijayapura and Kalaburagi districts on Krishna and in Chikmagaluru, Shivamogga and Bellari districts on Tungabhadra river in Karnataka. The Cauvery and its tributaries in upstream reaches in Kodagu, Chikmagaluru, Hassan and Mysuru districts of Karnataka and Wynad district of Kerala are likely to rise in association with the forecasted rainfall. Experts, however, believe that most of the water will flow into dams and reservoirs, whose basins have sufficient storage, thereby lowering the chances of floods. Water levels in Indias major reservoirs were 10% lower than normal. A recent study showed that reservoirs were 50% deficient in Himachal Pradesh. The predicted rainfall is likely to help fill the reservoirs. Alwar police on Thursday arrested four members of an interstate gang involved in chain snatching and mobile lifting incident. The accused, Sunil, Salim, Sharookh and Dr Abid, were arrested by the Chopanki police from Kheri Kharkhadi road under Bhiwadi circle in the wee hours, superintendent of police Rahul Prakesh told media persons in the city. The police have recovered two bikes and two country-made pistols from their possession, he added. The accused have admitted to their involvement in nine incidents of chain snatching and one incident of mobile lifting in Alwar city only. Of these, eight incidents of chain snatching and one of mobile lifting took place in Bhiwadi circle, Prakesh said. Sunil, Salim, Sharookh are the residents of Karenda village under Chopanki police station area and Dr Abid, who disposed of stolen items, belongs to Ferozepur Jhirka in Nuh district of Haryana. All the accused had been staying at the houses of their relatives in Haryana to avoid arrest, the SP said. About their modus oprandi, Prakesh said that the gang members would gather at Tauru in Nuh district and enter Alwar city via Ramgarh and Nogaeon. After committing the crime, they would return on their Pulsar bikes through the same route. They committed the snatching incident during day time, he said, adding that they also have criminal record in Haryana. They have also snatched seven gold chains from Faridabad, Sohna and Faridabad of Haryana, said the SP, adding that more incidents of snatching and theft could be known during further investigation. The maternal mortality rate (MMR) of Rajasthan has declined by 45 points (18.4%) from 244 in 2011-13 to 199 in 2014-16, reveals Sample Registration System (SRS) data released on Wednesday. The data states that in India MMR has reduced by 37 points (22.2%). Health department secretary and mission director national health mission Naveen Jain said improving quality at the delivery points, improvement in ante-natal check-up, Kushal Mangal Karyakram to identify high-risk pregnancies along with an increase in institutional deliveries have arrested the MMR. The MMR will be around 150 in the next SRS data, he added. MMR is defined as the number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. The institutional delivery currently is 84% in Rajasthan, while all India is 79%. In 2016, the institutional delivery in Rajasthan was 79% and all India was 76%. The data stated that Uttar Pradesh/Uttarakhand have registered a decline in MMR by 29.5% (84 points), as the MMR from 285 in 2011-13 reduced to 201 in 2013-16. Similarly, Assam, Bihar/Jharkhand, Haryana, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh/Chhattisgarh have registered decline by 20%-25%, while Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu have declined by 15%-20% and MMR in Maharashtra, Punjab and West Bengal have declined by 10%-15%. UNICEF health specialist Dr Anil Agarwal said, We would like to congratulate the government of Rajasthan for the progress in reduction of MMR. Hard work of officials, managers and workers has contributed towards this positive change. We are certain that the investments made in the last few years will result in accelerated progress despite the socio-geographic challenges in the state. The government is also trying to focus on improving quality of services around childbirth in government health institutions. This will give an impetus to both reductions in maternal mortality and morbidity as well as reduction of newborn deaths. Sandeep Kumar Joshi, a lawyer, had filed a missing persons report for his 22- year-old daughter Ritika Joshi on May 5. Ritika, along with members of the Rajasthan State Commission for Women, appeared at SP Rural, Jaipurs office on Thursday and gave a statement that she is safe and sound. But she refused to meet any of her family members. Ritika approached the commission on Tuesday, seeking refuge from her family. She said that she ran away from her house as her family was against her marrying the man of her choice Dharamveer Bairva. He (Bairva) belongs to the SC community while my family is Brahmin. I am the eldest child and my family couldnt tolerate the fact that I wanted to marry someone from a lower caste, Ritika said. She got married to Bairva in Ghaziabad on May 7. Her father, however, had another story to tell. I was not even aware that she wanted to marry someone from a lower caste as she never told me anything about him. Once she ran away from the house, I started grabbing at all straws available to find her. I hacked into her Facebook account and read her chats with someone called Devraj. Thats when I got to know she was involved with someone, he said. Bairva had a Facebook profile by the name of Devraj Singh. While Sandeep alleged that Bairva used the name to con women, Ritika said it was his nickname. Sandeep alleged that Bairva belongs to a family of criminals and his daughter is unaware of the fact. Bairvas lawyer initially demanded Rs 5 lakh from me in exchange for information. He later reduced the demand to Rs 2 lakh, which I deposited in two instalments of Rs 1 lakh each, Sandeep said. He said that while looking for his daughter, he had found out that she had got married to Bairva in Ghaziabad and was there since. He said he tried to find out whatever he could about Bairvas family in the meantime. I was sure they are using my daughter to extract money and my suspicions were proven right when Bairvas lawyer contacted me and demanded money. I had paid an instalment earlier. Yesterday, I got a call from the lawyer asking for the remaining amount. He called me to a designated location early morning on Thursday. After I gave him the money, he told me that my daughter was back in Jaipur and had approached the women commission, Sandeep said. Ritika, however, stands her ground. My family tried to poison me when they found out that I had a boyfriend. This is why I had to run away. I have married him of my own will and I know everything about him. My family is trying to cook up stories just because they have an issue with his caste, she said. Nisha Siddhu, a member of the womens commission said, Ritika came to us on Tuesday and narrated us her story. She told us that her family posed a danger to her life. She legally has the right to marry whoever she pleases. Her family has no say in this. Ritika, whose parents and uncles are all lawyers, was also studying the same subject. I just want to be left in peace and want them all to leave, she said. A fatwa issued by Islamic seminary Darul Uloom of Deoband, asking Sunni Muslims to avoid attending Iftar parties thrown by Shias during Ramzan, has caused consternaion among the two communities. The fatwa by scholars of the seminarys Darul Ifta (fatwa department) came in response to queries raised by one Sikander Gaur of Badjia Ulhak locality in Deoband. He sought to know if it was permissible for Sunni Muslims to attend Iftar parties organised by the Shias during Ramzan. His second query related to eating food during marriages in the Shia community. To these, a team of the fatwa department, including Mufti Zainus Islam Kasim, Mufti Fakrul Islam and Mufti Mufti Waqar, opined that Sunnis should avoid attending parties thrown by the Shias, whether it was an Iftar or a marriage. Reacting to the fatwas, a young Shia entrepreneur Syed Ali Bin Hadi, said, They had given a similar fatwa a few years ago, but we believe that the Shias and the Sunnis are like brothers and such fatwa will have no effect. Another Shia businessman Syed Ahmad Ali Zaidi said the Shias one of the most reverted grand ayatollahs Syed Ali Sistani in Iraq had in his sermon declared Sunnis as brothers. Therefore, such a fatwa is wrong and has no meaning. A retired government employee, Zafar Abbas said such fatwas were against humanity. How can one avoid attending celebrations and parties of each other? he questioned. A senior official of Darul Uloom, on condition of anonymity, explained that the fatwa should be seen in the right perspective as it had not banned, but only suggested parhez (avoidance, if possible) for the Sunnis. Police in Uttar Pradesh have increased security at major railway stations and two religious places after a letter purportedly written by a Pakistani terrorist warned of attacks on Wednesday and later this week. The letter to the divisional railway manager of North Railways in Delhi on June 1 was sent by Maulana Ambu Sheikh, the self-styled area commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistani terrorist group blamed for carrying out the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. A polic alert said Lashkar may target railways stations in Saharanpur, Hapur and other railway stations on June 6. Religious places like the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi and Krishna Janmbhoomi in Mathura could be targeted between June 8 and 10, the police warned. District police chiefs have been alerted about the threat, said Anand Kumar, additional director general of police, law and order. He said the letter seems to be a prank but could not be taken lightly. The ADG said the state intelligence agencies and other specialised agencies such as the UP Anti Terror Squad (ATS) had been asked to look into the matter and trace the source of the letter. He said the agencies concerned were also taking help of the central agencies in the matter. Kumar also said that intelligence agencies have no knowledge about any Ambu Shaikh LeT commander. Meanwhile, security was tightened at public places in Agra and Mathura after instructions issued by additional director general, Agra Zone. Policemen were found checking the baggage in trains and focus was also on shopping malls and markets in the city. In the wake of intelligence inputs about terror threats, instructions were issued for enhanced security by additional director general (law and order). Although the alert is state wide, security concerns are addressed more in Agra and Mathura , said sources at ADG (Agra Zone) office. In Mathura, security measures have been considerably notched up, with Police officials and commandos being deployed at the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi, Bankey Bihari Temple, Mathura Junction, Mathura Refinery and other important locations. The security arrangements here have always been up to the mark, but whenever we get any inputs like these, we ensure the security is further tightened, said Mathuras superintendent of police, Siddharth Verma . Kaala Cast: Rajinikanth, Easwari Rao, Huma Qureshi, Nana Patekar Director: Pa Ranjith Rating: 4/5 If I said director Pa Ranjith towers over Rajinikanth in Kaala, would you believe me? Kaala is Pa Ranjiths political commentary that Rajinikanth has just lent his voice to. Is it a spectacular film? Not really, but its a spectacle all right. Kaala Karikaalan, the don who rules Dharavi, is not the star of the story. The plot revolves around the people who live in Mumbais sprawling slum. These are the people who left Tamil Nadu for a better life and ended up living in worlds third largest slum, which has an annual turnover of $1 billion. These are blue collar workers who earn their living doing manual labour and are looked down upon. Taking a cause close to his heart -- Dalit oppression, the director successfully tells a relevant story, exactly what the audience expects. He also understands that he is borrowing Rajinikanths voice to tell his story and he will have to honour the strings that come attached with it. Kya Re Setting ah, is a nod to the sharp dialogues that are hallmark of Rajinikanth. The superstar entering a protest in slow motion is Pa Ranjiths response to fans who believed the superstar was not shown as one in Kabali. In Kaala, Pa Ranjith has ensured Rajinikanth gets the complete superstar treatment and it stands out because its something we have never seen the director do before. What we have seen Pa Ranjith deliver before are films that are truly layered and keeping with that practice, Kaala is various shades of black. Kaala is a film relevant to our times and the director is making sure you understand all of it. For instance, the first time that Hari Dada (Nana Patekar) faces Rajinikanth, he is offered a glass of water by Kaalas wife Selvi and he doesnt accept it. In many places it is still a practice to not eat or drink anything offered by those who are seen as lower castes. While earlier he left it to the audience to understand the references, the director weaves it into dialogues to make sure you dont miss it. The Raavanans tale is a beautiful maze of references weaved together and when it hits a peak, it is an entertaining film and social commentary all rolled into one. With Kaala, Pa Ranjith questions the status quo in a way we have rarely seen before; perhaps Mani Ratnam in his film Raavanan. By referring to Kaala as Raavanan, a man who thinks with 10 brains, Pa Ranjith builds on the allegory early on. Soon, we realise it is more than a passing reference it is one of the highlights of the film. As each head of Raavan is cut off during the narration of Ramayan in the backdrop, we see Kaalas fight build up in stages of loss, sacrifice and finally victory. In Kaala though, the godly references dont stop with Raavan though, who incidentally was also painted black in all pictorial references. Pa Ranjith also references Kaala Karikaalan -- the god who guards villages and is offered non vegetarian food and alcohol. Kaala being offered a local toddy during a festive occasion draws on this practice. Kaala beginning his protest from what are the remains of a blown-up temple, the director focussing on an immersed idol of lord Ganesha, Kaalas son being named Lenin, his father called Vengaiyan they are all details that ensure the story is rooted and may not translate too well ina different language. Even the south Tamil Nadu accent in the film has been placed there for a reason. The people may have come to a foreign land for livelihood, but the place will always be a part of them. Especially when Easwari Rao as Selvi speaks, she reminds Kaalas family of home because she remains unchanged even in Mumbai. Can you imbibe this complexity, forcefully comment on a pertinent issue and still produce a commercial film? Pa Ranjith answers this question with Kaala. His dialogues ring out aloud in the theatre. For instance, when Kaala says, Black is the colour of labour, it does strike a chord. When he questions why there should be a government if all they can do it is deliver scams and loot people, he reflects peoples thoughts. When he sits there and repeatedly feigns ignorance about the importance of a man during a discussion, he shows what attitude is. Producer Dhanush had it right because there are moments when the whistles wouldnt stop. The good vs the bad is trope we have seen multiple times in previous films of Rajinikanth; we saw him portray shades of grey in the past too. Ranjiths movie is mix of both and a bit of Robinhood added to it. A powerful hero needs a powerful adversary and Nana Patekar is the man for the role. In one scene, he emerges from the dark and sees Kaala; his response is to adjust his white shirt multiple times. With this gesture, he is possibly assuring himself that he is not the same as Kaala, he is not dirty. The scene where Kaala is on the floor and Hari Dada sits on a chair stands for the class and caste distinctions. Another relevant topic that the director takes up is women empowerment. We have conversations about women in cinema and with Puyali from Kaala who chooses to stand up straight, hit back and hit hard even after being stripped by people who are supposed to protect her, police officers, the director states that women are more than what they wear. This scene particularly makes the film almost perfect. Speaking of the climax, Pa Ranjith does something that no director has done before and he is smart about. He treats Kaala throughout the film like a double edged sword and manages to keep a fine balance. The music scored by Santhosh Narayanan adds a whole new layer to Kaala. There are certain scenes in the film that purely work because of his background score and the way he uses rap to indicate fight against oppression -- especially the timing of Nikkal Nikkal is bang on. There are places where the film would remind you of older Rajinikanth film. For instance, Khuda ka hukum, Kaala ka kasam (Gods orders, Kaalas promise) is similar to his dialogue in Arunchalam film, Aandavan solran, Arunchalam seiran (God will say and Arunchalam will act). My quibbles with the film have to do with Pankaj Tripathis role that doesnt do justice to the film or the actor and Huma Qureshi playing Kaalas first love. This portion of the film feels like an extension of Kabali and Kumudhavalli, only not as good. When the two sit down to speak of the past and the future, it feels like a forced conversation and their relationship in the entire film comes across as such. Kaala works really well as a film and as a Rajinikanth vehicle; it would be wise to leave the politician outside the theatres though. Author tweets @Priyanka_S_MCC Follow @htshowbiz for more ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) has finally launched 12 of 15 continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations (CAAQMS) in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). MPCB and the state environment department also launched a first-of-its-kind mobile application Plastic Bandi on the state governments plastic ban that will inform citizens about details on the ban. It is expected to come into effect from June 23, and allows users to communicate their issues regarding the ban. The new initiatives were inaugurated on Wednesday by state environment minister Ramdas Kadam. Maharashtra was the first state to promulgate such a plastic ban, and is taking active steps to improve air quality by developing a detailed action plan. All other states are following efforts that have already begun in many parts of the state, said Kadam. We have decided to award 25 lakh to municipal corporations, 15 lakh to municipal councils, and 10 lakh to village panchayats as a reward for the successful implementation of the plastic ban, he said. While 10 air monitoring stations were inaugurated across Mumbai, one each was started in Navi Mumbai and another in Kalyan, said officials. Air quality evaluation of our current environment is the primary stage for improving air quality around us. Not only will citizens have access to location-wise pollution levels, it will be easier for us to implement pollution abatement measures, said P Anbalagan, member secretary, MPCB. Air quality experts said it was important to expand the monitoring network in Mumbai because the current monitoring is extremely inadequate. Meanwhile, the Plastic Bandi app issues a unique password for every new mobile number that registers on the app. The app will help citizens understand what the plastic ban is about, details of the notification issued in March, banned elements, penalties, implementing institutions, and public awareness initiatives, said Satish Gavai, additional chief secretary, state environment department. The states public health department has issued a circular asking the public not to discriminate against Kerala natives in the light of Nipah virus outbreak in the state. Certain workplaces have also barred people from Kerala from resuming normal work routine in Maharashtra, the circular added. Mukund Diggikar, joint director, National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) said that most of these people had returned home after summer vacation in Kerala. Employees complained that their employers were reluctant to let them join the workplace. A few went to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) to get themselves tested so that they could tell their employers they are not infected, Diggikar said. Dr. Sanjiv Kamble, director, Directorate of Health Services (DHS), said that the health department is carrying out the routine screenings to identify people showing symptoms of Nipah. The circular further added that the Nipah outbreak is localized and the central government hasnt issued any travel restriction. To identify cases, the state is strengthening its surveillance system at health centers. Dr. Pradeep Awate, state surveillance officer, said that the public health officials are being trained to identify symptoms and transmission of the virus. We are teaching them about the virus, how it transmits and method to identify symptoms, Awate added. At present, are no specific treatment is available to counter Nipah virus. As per World Health Organisation (WHO), Nipah virus infection is an emerging zoonosis a disease that can be transmitted to humans from animals. The natural host of the virus is fruit bats. However, the organisation has advised against any travel or trade restrictions in India based on the information currently available. The Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Sabha (ABKS) along with 11 other farmer outfits on Thursday organised demonstrations and raasta roko at several places in the state but failed to make any big impact as the protests were limited to some districts. The supporters held protests at Ahmednagar, Sangli, Nashik and Pune districts. The outfit said the protest will intensify on June 10, which is also the last day of their agitation. They will try to hold chakka jam across Maharashtra on that day. We have held protests that include raasta roko and demonstrations at several places in the state. Some farmers even chose to throw their vegetable on roads in Sangli. The districts that were impacted the most were Ahmednagar, Sangli, Nashik and parts of Pune, said Ajit Nawale, general secretary, ABKS. He added, As we had already decided that intensifying the agitation doesnt mean use of force or aggression, there were no incidents of forcibly blocking supplies of the essential commodities. We want farmers to join the protest voluntarily and are hoping that it will be intensified from tomorrow onwards. Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh (RKM) is already holding a 10-day countrywide farmers strike since June 1. Meanwhile, Swabhimani Paksha headed by farmers' leader Raju Shetti demanded a special session of the Parliament to discuss and resolve issues of the agrarian community. Shetti said the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), a coalition of over 190 farmer organisations, have prepared two private member bills Farmers Freedom from Indebtedness Bill 2018 and Farmers Right to Guaranteed Remunerative Minimum Support Price for Agricultural Commodities Bill 2018, which will act as permanent solution to the farmers problem. We want both the bills to be passed in the Parliament as the Farmers Freedom from Indebtedness Bill will help in ending their debt issues while Farmers Right to Guaranteed Remunerative Minimum Support Price for Agricultural Commodities Bill will prevent from becoming debtor in future, Shetti said. He assailed the BJP-led governments of causing harm to the farmers and described the state government loan waiver as a sham. On the onset of monsoon, the farmers has no money to buy seeds nor fertilisers. The banks are not ready to give loans as they term farmers as defaulters and hence farmers are forced to borrow money from private moneylenders at high rate of interest, said Shetti. He said despite chief minister Devendra Fadnavis claiming success, the ground reality was that farmers are still a distressed lot. The the Mumbai District AIDS Control (MDACS) has informed blood banks in the city that all blood donors who have been tested positive for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) have not been visiting testing centres that can confirm the disease and accordingly treat them. Officials from MDACS said there is an urgent need to upgrade blood donor referral system post donation camps. They have instructed the blood banks to refer the HIV positive blood donors to an Integrated Counselling and Testing Centres (ICTC) which is nearest to the patients residence instead of inviting the patient to a blood bank-linked treatment centre. The MDACS observed a significant gap between HIV positive donors and the number of actual donors visiting the ICTC for treatment. The discrepancy in numbers could mean that not all HIV positive patients are being brought under treatment. All the 51 ICTC centres in the city are linked to their nearest blood banks which hold blood donation camps around the year. However, during these camps, 0.2% - 0.5% of patients test positive for HIV. Blood bank officials, with information given during donor screening, contact HIV positive donors and request them to visit the centre linked to them for further confirmatory testing. Blood banks organise camps at different locations, which can be far their own location. But at times donors dont wish to travel long distance, as they never come to know that they are HIV positive , a blood transfusion officer from a civic run blood bank said. In an e-mail sent to the blood banks linked with ICTC centres, Dr Vidya Mane, deputy director, MDACS, said the probability of HIV positive patients not being brought under treatment is quite high. In order to avoid the loss and for ease of donors, it is to convey to you that donors can be referred to any of the ICTC nearby apart from linked ICTC, Mane mentioned in the e-mail. Dr Srikala Acharya, additional project director, MDACS said that they want to strengthen the information collection and referral system so that the gap can be narrowed down further. Even at national level, its impossible to ascertain how many referred donors reach the ICTC centers but very few patients who come at ICTC are referred by blood banks. Detailed donor screening prior to the donation is the best preventive measure in this case and thus we have asked the blood banks to strengthen the referral and screening processes, said Dr Acharya. History repeats itself first as tragedy second as farce, so the saying goes. In the context of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporations (BMC) monsoon preparedness, these words have been ringing true since the 2005 deluge. Like every year, the BMC is patting itself on the back for completing desilting of stormwater drains (nullahs). It is also not unusual for the BMC to see its claim washed away with the first monsoon, or pre-monsoon, showers. But an expert opinion on BMCs claim about desilting of nullahs can clear the air. To achieve this, HT has roped in four experts two former BMC officers, an activist and a civil engineering professor for its annual monsoon audit; and their findings make for grim reading once again. However, they observed that the situation is a tad better than previous year. The HT panel examined maintenance of nine nullahs and five roads on June 2. In the first of a three-part series, the panel reviews desilting of four drains in the central suburbs at Dharavi, Rafiq Nagar in Chembur, Chunnabhatti and Somaiyya Hospital in Sion. The average score for the four audited drains was a mediocre 6.3 out of 10 marks. Waste of money? The BMC has spent about 70 crore on desilting the 287-km of Mumbais nullahs over two months. The panel observed that the civic bodys performance of desilting and widening of the four drains has improved this year. But, the BMC has failed to keep the nullahs clean by not removing encroachments near them. This has led to sewage being released into the nullahs. The civic body has also failed to spread awareness over dumping of trash in them. If the four audited nullahs clog this monsoon, parts of Dadar and Matunga railway stations, Kings Circle at Wadala, Sion, Kurla, Dharavi, Chembur and Pratiksha Nagar are likely to be flooded. This year, the BMC started cleaning nullahs on April 1 and wound up on May 31. Facing heat since the deluge of 2005 in which more than 500 died and more recently the death of a renowned gastroenterologist during last years downpour, the BMC has gone into overdrive to make amends this year. But is it enough? 99% work completed The civic body said as of May 31 it had completed 99% of desilting. The Mithi river has been completely cleaned, claimed the BMC. Vijay Singhal, additional municipal commissioner of the stormwater drains department, said, I examined nullahs on Tuesday. The work is almost complete. But trash thrown by residents again clogs up drains. The ground reality Nullahs are supposed carry stormwater to the rivers or sea. But they also double up as sewage carriers. According to the Mumbai Municipal Corporation (MMC) Act, no structures can come up within six metres of nullahs. But the drains at Rafiq Nagar, Somaiyya Hospital, and Dharavi have huts abutting them. Former BMC official Girish Patil, a member of the HT panel, said, At many places, haphazardly constructed hutments clog the banks of the nullahs. Each house discharges untreated sewage into the nullah. The stench is unbearable. Another member of the audit team, activist Vidya Vaidya said, Standing on the banks of these nullahs for 10 minutes, we spotted at least three people walking over to its retaining wall and dumping plastic bottles, household waste and vegetable waste into the drain. The Dharavi nullah is dotted with hutments and makeshift shops, which use the nullahs as waste basket. The situation at Somaiyya nullah was no different. Nandkumar Salvi, former chief engineer of the stormwater drains department, said, While desilting is over, the nullahs at many places do not have proper retaining walls. This provides easier access to litterbugs. In addition, a water pipeline hinders flow of Chunnabhatti and Somaiyya drains at some places. Experts advised a change in BMCs approach to overcome the trouble. Nullah cleaning has to take place throughout the year, at regular intervals, said Salvi. Vaidya suggested that the BMC spread awareness against littering. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast extremely heavy rain between Saturday and Monday in Mumbai advising people to stay indoors. The forecast translates into a possibility of up to 200mm or more rain during a 24-hour period. Under the weather departments classification, 15.6mm to 64.4mm of rain is considered moderate, 64.5mm to 115.5mm is heavy, 115.6mm to 204.4mm is very heavy and more than 204.5mm is extreme. The warning issued on Thursday stated: The widespread rainfall activity is likely to continue till June 10. It is very likely to extend to north coastal Maharashtra, including Mumbai from Friday. Extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places in these regions is also very likely during this period. The weather advisory issued for June 9 and 10 on Thursday read, As rainfall activity is likely to enhance from June 9, people are advised to abstain from outdoor activities as much as possible during the period and also watch for weather updates from Regional Meteorological Centre, Mumbai. KS Hosalikar, deputy director general western region India Meteorological Department, said, Apart from the monsoon current there is a weather system over central Maharashtra, which is being pulled closer to an offshore trough (another weather system) extending from south Konkan to north Kerala, allowing more moisture incursions over the west coast. During the confluence of these two weather systems, the heavy rainfall activity is expected. In July 2005, large parts of the city were flooded and many people lost their lives when Mumbai recorded 900 mm of rainfall in 24 hours. While the city recorded no rainfall on Tuesday and Wednesday, gusty winds lashed the city Thursday morning. Santacruz, representative of the suburbs, recorded 35.8mm between 3.30am and 8.30am on Thursday; Colaba (south Mumbai) recorded 18.8mm. From 8.30am onward, intermittent showers were recorded across the city with a few spells of heavy rain. While Santacruz recorded 39mm rain, 27.6mm was recorded in Colaba between 8.30am and 5.30pm. Due to overcast skies and intermittent rain, day temperatures at Colaba and Santacruz fell four degrees Celsius below normal. While Colaba recorded 29.5 degrees Celsius, 29.2 degrees Celsius was recorded at Santacruz. The night temperature at Colaba was 23.5 degrees Celsius (3.5 degree Celsius below normal), while 25.2 degrees Celsius was recorded at Santacruz (1.6 degree Celsius below normal). Moisture levels were high, with 95% humidity at Colaba and 90% at Santacruz. Mumbai suburbs have recorded 96.7mm rain since June 1, which is 55.9mm above normal for the period; and south Mumbai has recorded 50.6mm rain, 12mm above normal. The weather bureau said these were still pre-monsoon showers but conditions were favourable for the southwest monsoon to set in over Maharashtra by Friday and over Mumbai by Saturday. The southwest monsoon made its landing over Goa on Thursday. The normal onset date for the southwest monsoon over Mumbai is June 10. The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) has selected two startups to represent the city at the International Business Festival at Liverpool, United Kingdom. Toolyt and Culture Aangan were selected in a competition in which more than 200 homegrown startups participated. The jury, chaired by TMC commissioner Sanjeev Jaiswal, finalized the startups. The initiative is a part of TMCs vision to transform the city into a hub for startups and business ventures. The focus of the competition was on solving grassroots issues, cutting across tourism, technology, administration and infrastructure, creating new entrepreneurial and revenue opportunities. Jaiswal said, This is part of our larger initiative to solve local infrastructural issues through innovation, with the vision of putting Thane on the global startup map. I look forward to collaborating with the selected startups in our vision to transform Thane. Toolyt is a business automation tool that helps organisations to increase the productivity of its field force. Nizamudheen Valliyattu, founder of Toolyt, said, We can rope in global best practices and mentors to create entrepreneurial and revenue opportunities to build solutions to transform Thane. Culture Aangan is dedicated to bring grassroot-level changes in rural communities by creating sustainable and experiential tourism destinations. This in turn creates livelihoods by educating and empowering the local village women. Similarly, Rashmi Sudhir Sawant, Founder of Culture Aangan, said, there is an opportunity of creating an eco-system at Yeoor Hills which can be promoted as a tourist hub. By preserving the heritage of the original habitants of the villages, pockets of the villages can be developed as a home-stay for families from Thane or neighbouring Mumbai. Apart from that, there are huge opportunities to develop many neighbouring villages into an eco-tourism model, creating sustainable communities and possibly mitigating migration of the villagers to cities in search of employment. When hardliner separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani made it a point to celebrate a fellow Hurriyat Conference leader Shabir Shahs daughter, for topping the CBSE Class XII exam in Jammu and Kashmir, many noticed his choice of words. Lauding the efforts of Sama Shabir, he said she was a role model for the young generation. Geelani, known for his hawkish, pro-Pakistan stance, had used the same words, not too long ago. Referring to slain militant commander Burhan Wani, a year after his death in an encounter, Geelani hailed him as a role model for the young generation. That Wani, had in fact, emerged as a role model for thousands of young people in Kashmir, was evident soon after the news of his death spread on July 8, 2016. Geelanis statement on Sama Shabir is not the only one which indicates a slight shift in the position of the separatists. In another statement, issued by the Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL), comprising Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik, the three said that they were ready to be part of a dialogue after the Government of India clarified what it wants to talk about and speaks in one language, as they cannot afford to be part of an ambiguous effort that has no clarity and direction. Both the separatists and the Narendra Modi-led government have signalled a shift and it makes eminent sense for both sides to sit across the table. It is important to note, straightaway, that neither side has articulated any pre-conditions. Home Minister Rajnath Singh, while making an offer for talks, has refrained from saying the dialogue would be within the Indian Constitution. Similarly, the separatists, while agreeing to set the negotiation process in motion, have not asked as they have many times in the past that the government first accept Kashmir as an international dispute and withdraw all troops from the state. It is clear that the ground is being prepared for a dialogue, likely to be headed by the governments interlocutor, Dineshwar Sharma, though Geelani has ruled out talks with the former intelligence bureau chief. So what induced the change in thinking, of not just the separatists, but the government as well? Soon after Modi took over the reins of office in May 2014, he first surprised everyone by calling Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for his swearing-in ceremony. Within three months, however, the government called off foreign secretary-level talks because the Pakistani high commissioner met with leaders of the Hurriyat Conference. The foreign secretary called the Pakistani high commissioner a few hours before he was scheduled to meet Shabir Shah, saying the talks would be called off if he went ahead with his meeting. If the government is now holding out an olive branch to the same set of separatists it saw as anti-nationals, it is due to the compelling ground realities in the Valley, where Wani continues to hold sway as a role model for an increasing number of youth, willing to choose the path of violence. Wanis death has clearly marked a watershed moment in Kashmir and can be linked directly to the steady and increased numbers of locals willing to embrace martyrdom. Sustained operations against militants have not served as a deterrent, but have added to their numbers. According to the state police, 121 militants have been killed and 216 local youth have joined militancy since Wanis killing in 2016. In the past six months, New Delhi has made several overtures. It first appointed Sharma as the interlocutor, who then crafted the amnesty scheme for first-time stone-pelters that benefitted over 4,000. It also announced a conditional ceasefire for the holy month of Ramzan and by offering talks, has acknowledged the separatists as stakeholders in the peace process. In Kashmir, where the ground realities are complex, the Hurriyat might still take time to walk the talk. If it has nuanced its response by seeking clarifications and not rejecting the offer out right it is because it knows that the dialogue is an opportunity to resurrect itself politically. The Hurriyat leadership lost control of the Kashmir street after Wanis death. The stone-pelters, who often bring the Valley to a standstill, are a potent, leaderless force which has even mocked the Hurriyat and questioned its legitimacy. The separatists do not resonate with todays young generation like they did in the early nineties when the insurgency first took root. A seat on the high table is the perfect opportunity to change that, provided the Hurriyat has the wisdom to seize it. harinder.baweja@hindustantimes.com Images of Amit Shah reaching out to allies shouldve been routine. Instead, theyve become exceptions, which is why the BJP presidents meetings with alliance partners this week looks like a rearguard action to show the National Democratic Alliance as one composite entity. Indeed, this is a case of the BJP chief seeking to shut the stable door after the horse has bolted. The Telugu Desam Partys Chandrababu Naidu has quit the alliance. Others including the Shiv Sena, the Akali Dal and a few caste-based outfits in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are in deep sulk. The Janata Dal (United) has also moved early to seek primacy in seat sharing in the general elections. These are unwanted, eminently avoidable fissures in the ruling conglomerate. Elections are a year away. The BJPs outreach is expedient and is based on the oft-used better late than never premise. Alliances being live-in arrangements buoyed by popular approval, it is hard to predict the extent to which Shah can undo the damage. The form in which the NDA will enter the poll arena a year down the road will be shaped by the ruling alliances traction on the ground. What should worry the leadership more is the unintended fallout from the intra-NDA rapprochement. It represents, in perceptional terms, a veritable deconstruction (or rollback) of the BJPs slogan of Modi versus the Opposition gang-up for 2019. The potent line could resonate less in the backdrop of Shah smoking the peace-pipe with estranged alliance partners. The Prime Ministers adversaries can now posit the contest as one between them and an alliance thats unhappy and disunited in his stewardship. Experience tells us that such dissent is par for the course in coalitions built around parties with substantial numbers or majorities of their own. Consider the CPMs West Bengal model that lasted over two decades under Jyoti Basu. The Marxist party with majorities of its own shared power in successive governments with other Left front constituents. Even then the smallest of Left parties such as the Forward Bloc consistently pitched for larger space in the power edifice, taking for granted the CPM largesse that fetched it governance stakes in the first place. There were intermittent rumblings. Yet the Marxist bandwagon rolled uninterrupted for another decade under Buddhadeb Bhattacharya. The UPA experience that lasted two terms wasnt any different. The Congresss big brother approach was as much resented by other stakeholders such as the Nationalist Congress Party as BJPs is by the Shiv Sena or the Akalis. Appointments to gubernatorial positions were a major sore point in the UPA phase. But portfolio distribution among allies was fairer than it is under the BJP. The majority the saffron party has, only ended up making it less accommodating than the Congress that lacked numbers. One can argue that regional players tend to be overly ambitions. The Shiv Senas turf war with the BJP for the common Hindutva base is complex. Raised on Bal Thackerays hyperbole, the Sena is used to deferential treatment it has not received from the Modi-Shah dispensation. One remembers how in the NDAs first avatar, Thackeray had Suresh Prabhu sacked as energy minister against the wishes of the then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee. A minister then in the Senas quota, Prabhu joined the BJP after 2014. The portfolios of railways and commerce he has since held must be a cause for envy for his erstwhile party. Its ministers in the current regime run lightweight, unimportant ministries. Prime Minister Narendra Modis whistle-stop tour through Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) that began in Indonesia (May 30) followed by a pit-stop Malaysia and then Singapore (June 1) reiterated the centrality of the maritime domain in Indias ambitious Look/Act East Policy that began in the Narasimha Rao years. To his credit, Modi has brought his personal vigour to matters maritime and since assuming office has introduced and advocated the concept of Sagar (security and growth for all in the region) the Indian Ocean region, which has now been expanded to the Indo-Pacific continuum the wide oceanic swathe that encompasses the Indian Ocean littoral from the east coast of Africa to the western Pacific ocean that laps the east Asian coastline. Modis Indonesia visit was the most substantive by way of outlining the scope of the bilateral relationship with the largest Asean nation and locating this within the larger geo-political construct of the India-Asean framework. Asean conceived in 1967 as an anti-communist bloc during the Cold War, comprises 10 nations. The original five (Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines and Singapore) were later joined by Brunei, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar. Currently its combined GDP ($2.8 trillion) is greater than that of India, which reiterates the centrality of this cluster of nations for India a theme that Modi persuasively expanded upon during his visit. The regional maritime domain is currently in a state of disequilibrium since China has chosen to assert its military muscle in the South China Sea (SCS) and has rejected an international tribunal that arrived at a decision that did not accept the territorial claim advanced by Beijing and contested by the Philippines. It is a different matter that Manila has done a U-turn on its own position after President Rodrigo Duterte assumed office in June 2016. But this does not detract from the muted reality that many Asean nations are dismayed by Chinas assertiveness and are unable to denounce it in public given their economic-trade-financial dependency on Beijing. Indonesian President Joko Widodo has expressed his concern in the matter and has also outlined his vision for a grand maritime concord with his country as the fulcrum. Many Asean nations have been looking to the major powers for some kind of collective response that will be a cautionary signal to China and this was provided in a very subtle manner by Modi in his Indonesian visit. Without naming China or provoking Beijing, both India and Indonesia highlighted certain core principles and in the joint statement they noted: Both leaders (Widodo-Modi) reiterated the importance of achieving a peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific region where sovereignty, international law, freedom of navigation and over-flight, sustainable development and an open and fair trade and investment system are respected. The development of the Indo-Pacific concept, must also be done in an open, transparent, and inclusive manner, respect for the international law and uphold Asean centrality. This is a statement of very deep import and many issues and principles specific to the maritime domain and critical to both Asean and the larger global community have been deftly woven together. The first is the commitment to a normative principle the sanctity of international law and this is anchored in the concept of the Indo-Pacific region even while acknowledging Asean centrality. Modis vision for an inclusive Indo-Pacific was further elucidated in Singapore and again he offered an unexceptionable contour when he noted : Inclusiveness, openness and Asean centrality and unity, therefore, lie at the heart of the new Indo-Pacific. India does not see the Indo-Pacific Region as a strategy or as a club of limited members. Nor as a grouping that seeks to dominate. And by no means do we consider it as directed against any country. A geographical definition, as such, cannot be. Indias vision for the Indo-Pacific Region is, therefore, a positive oneit stands for a free, open, inclusive region, which embraces us all in a common pursuit of progress and prosperity. It includes all nations in this geography as also others beyond who have a stake in it. The global community has an abiding stake in the security and stability of the Indo-Pacific and to the extent that China has challenged the existing status quo, an alternative approach has been offered in the Sagar formulation. However, the policy challenge for Modi will be to implement the many maritime initiatives mooted in Indonesia and ensure their continuity over the next decade plus. The need to appoint a dedicated ocean affairs minister and a professional maritime adviser is now, failing which the Jakarta declaration will be one more earnest articulation of intent that was not realised. C Uday Bhaskar is director, Society for Policy Studies, New Delhi The views expressed are personal The Congress will select its new Bihar chief after taking feedback from party workers across different districts of the state, party general secretary Shaktisinh Gohil has said. The move would mark the first time that the grand old party would select a state unit chief after seeking the opinion of its grassroots workers. Till now, state presidents have been directly nominated by the partys central leadership. Gohil said the two recently-appointed secretaries Virender Singh Rathore and Rajesh Lilothia have been assigned separate Bihar districts as part of the plan and asked to record party workers feedback on potential candidates. The secretaries will also identify the organisational weaknesses at the grassroots level and seek suggestions from the workers on how to address them... Their feelings and views will be considered, he said. A detailed report will later be submitted to Congress president Rahul Gandhi and subsequently the new chief will be appointed. I think in next 5-6 days, we will be able to finalise the name (of Bihar unit chief), Gohil said. According to Congress leaders, the aim behind the move was to reach a broader consensus on the selection of the new state unit chief who the workers feel would be able to strengthen the party and carry everybody along. It is a positive move. This will eventually lead to empowerment of workers who will henceforth have a greater say in the decision-making (process) in the organisation, Bihar Congress general secretary Kesar Singh said and added this is also an outreach programme and will help in the Congress partys revival in the state. Political observers said the initiative would encourage interactive communication and feedback-based decisions in the Congress. They (Congress) are learning slowly. The move has a multi-dimensional approach. The first is to involve the workers, second get their feedback and third make them participate in the decision-making process, said Delhi-based political analyst N Bhaskara Rao. Faced with rampant factionalism in Bihar, the Congress has been hit with desertions in the past several months. In March this year, former state Congress chief Ashok Chaudhary and his close associates Dilip Kumar Choudhary, Ramchandra Bharti and Tanvir Akhtar joined the Bihars ruling Janata Dal (United). State Congress leaders were of the view that indecisiveness on part of the Congress high command in naming a new Bihar chief and a growing infighting would cost the party dearly in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The delay in selecting a state chief has further added to the frustration among the workers, they said. Gandhi has been a votary of giving a strong voice to the workers besides ensuring their greater involvement in the decision-making process. The move is a follow up to the partys other plan of identifying and grooming potential young regional leaders for a larger role in the organisation, for which too talent scouts had been asked to seek feedback from party workers and the general public on district and state-level leaders. Before this initiative, Gandhi had introduced the primaries-style selection of candidates for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. As many as 16 Lok Sabha constituencies were picked up for the US-type experiment and workers were asked to select the party candidates. However, the project was soon shelved due to strong opposition from within the party. A district court in Chandigarh on Thursday awarded two men 20 years in jail for kidnapping and raping a 16-year-old Himachal Pradesh girl. The court of additional district and sessions judge Poonam R Joshi also imposed a fine of Rs 1.05 lakh each on the convicts, Salman, a resident of Uttar Pradesh, and Ganga Kumar, a resident of Faidan village, Chandigarh. They were charged under Sections 363 (kidnapping), 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her marriage, etc) and 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and Section 4 (penetrative sexual assault) and 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) Act. In her complaint to the police in November 2017, the victim said she was friends with Salman. On being invited by him, she came to Chandigarh to go out with him for shopping. But he took her to his room, where he confined her and raped her. Salman later called his friend Ganga, who also raped her. She managed to escape the room one day, but Salman caught up with her at a park and beat her up. Someone noticed him, and called up the child helpline. A counsellor reached the spot to rescue the victim, following which Salman fled the scene. The victim narrated her sexual assault to the child helpline, following which an FIR was registered against the duo on November 5, 2017, and they were arrested. The standing finance committee (SFC) of the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) has approved 120-crore annual expenses for creation of 819 new posts of doctors. The panel, chaired by the Union health ministry secretary, met in New Delhi on Wednesday. The agenda will now be taken up in the governing body of the institute on June 28. If approved, creation of new posts will result in better patient care services by reducing workload of doctors. The SFC has approved 120-crore annual expenses for creation new posts of doctors, that include 261 faculty, 271 senior residents and demonstrators and 287 junior residents, said PGIMER director Dr Jagat Ram. In the PGIMERs emergency, there is 200% bed occupancy. The patient rush at the emergency OPD has increased from 18,000 in 1982 to 1.32 lakh in 2017. A recent study conducted by the PGIMER has found that 90% of its doctors are stressed, of which 67% cited long working hours as the trigger. There has been a shortage of anaesthesiologists as well, because of which waiting time for many elective surgeries is as long as five months. Creation of new posts is the immediate need of the PGIMER, which is overburdened because of excessive patient load. While the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi has a similar workload, it have nearly double the number of doctors, said Dr Jagat Ram, director, PGIMER. The institute has around 500 faculty posts. As many as 261 new posts have been proposed, for which 50.26 crore were sought. An annual sanction of 31 crore for 234 posts of senior residents, 30 senior demonstrators and seven junior demonstrators was also cleared in the meeting besides 28 crore for 287 junior residents. Rs 485 crore for geriatrics centre The committed has also given in principle approval for setting up a geriatrics centre, which will cost 485 crore. The PGIMER has been planning to set up a 250-bed geriatrics centre with an aim to provide better and integrated health care services to senior citizens under one roof. The proposal was made by a team of doctors from the internal medicine department. Queue management in new OPD to bring respite to patients One of the relatively smaller agenda that got the nod at the standing finance committee meeting of the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) will bring much respite to thousands of patients visiting the new out-patient department (OPD). The committee has approved 3.2 crore for queue management at the new OPD. Once implemented, it will benefit patients who have to stand in long queues outside doctors rooms awaiting their turn . The new OPD was inaugurated in 2001 to cater to 3,500 patients per day. The number has increased to 9,000, but nothing much was done to manage the patient load. Not knowing when their turn will come, patients continue to bang doors of doctors rooms. At times, they keep standing outside the room throughout the day without taking any break, fearing they might miss their turn. Doctors, too, are inconvenienced as they have to come out or ask someone to announce the next patients name. Under the queue management project, digital display boards will be put outside doctors rooms. There will be digital call pads with doctors to display the next patients number when pressed. The system is already in place in two departments and will now be extended to the entire OPD. Senior officials have earlier claimed that they would make the system operational within three months of getting the committees nod. Is this the age of ban? Ask girl students of Punjabi University, Patiala, who are bearing the brunt of the latest diktat that bars them from wearing shorts when they go to the hostel mess. The authorities have pasted a notice in the girl hostels saying that any student coming to the mess in shorts would be fined. The move comes close on the heels of a similar ban imposed at universitys Bhai Khan Singh Nabha Library for both boys and girls. Warden of universitys Shergill Hostel Richa Sharma said the ban was imposed in some areas, especially in the hostel mess. The decision was taken for the safety of girls. Amrit Pal Kaur, dean students welfare (girls), however, differs. No, a hostel warden cannot take independent decision and cannot determine what girls should wear, she said, adding girls should have the freedom to wear clothes of their choice. Dean students welfare Tara Singh said he was not aware of any ban on the campus, neither in the library nor the mess. If such thing has happened, it is unfortunate, he said. Girl students are also not amused and accuse the authorities of discrimination. Gagan Deep, secretary of the Democratic Student Organisation, said: University authorities have been imposing restrictions, especially on girl students, by setting new guidelines. University girls are mature enough to decide what they should wear. Opposing the ban, Jasman, a student of LLM, said: They (authorities) want to enforce their ideology on students. If boys can go to the mess wearing shorts, why cant we? she questioned. Tarang Preet Kaur, who is pursuing MA in the university, said: I appreciate the ban imposed in the library, but the mess diktat is weird. Dancing to drum rolls, bursting fire crackers, cutting cakes is how fans of actor Rajinikanth celebrated the release of film Kaala in Tamil Nadu on Thursday. In Chennai and in Mumbai the mood was clearly one of celebration. Additional security was provided by the police at all the several hundred movie theatres where the film is being screened in the state. Large crowds were seen outside all these theatres since early in the day. I am a fan of Rajinikanth. I am from Karnataka and came here to see the movie, a person told the media outside a theatre in Chennai. Remember I wanted the Thar used for the poster shot of #Kaala for our museum?Well @dhanushkraja obliged & its safe at #MahindraResearchValley in Chennai.I asked our folks to strike a Thalaivar pose & look what fun they had!(Bala,the guy in the lungi is now known as KaalaBala) pic.twitter.com/r3HzFv7DEJ anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) June 7, 2018 Today is Diwali for me. I have waited for a long time for this movie, a fan told a television channel in Coimbatore theatre. This not Rajinikanth movie but movie director P Ranjith movie. Kaala has been facing opposition in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Huge response from women towards #Kaala in Mumbai. This is an unimaginable scenario for any South Indian actor. Reason why Rajini is *The* Superstar of Indian cinema. Ian Malcolm (@MrIanMalcolm) June 7, 2018 Several Tamil activists and political parties voiced their opposition to Rajinikanths views on the violence in Thuthookudi. Visiting the violence-hit town where 13 persons were killed on May 22 in police action amid anti-Sterlite Copper smelter plant protests, Rajinikanth had said it was anti-social elements that indulged in violence. Fans celebrate watching Rajinikanths Kaala in Mumbai. (Kunal Patil/HT Photo) In Karnataka, the films release was opposed by some organisations after the southern superstar said the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) on the sharing of river water between Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry, has to be set up. Meanwhile in Mumbai, neither rain nor the early morning chill could dent the spirit of Rajinikanth fans who came in large numbers to watch the superstars latest Kaala, first day first show. Women came out in large numbers to show their support for Rajinikanths Kaala. (Kunal Patil/HT Photo) As the admirers celebrated the release of the much-awaited film by dancing to the beat of the drums, the skies too opened up to match the footsteps of Rajini lovers. Rajini loyalists started streaming into one of the suburban multiplexes here as early as 12 am, holding their special fans only tickets with a poster of Kaala imprinted on them. By 5 am, as many as 1,000 fans started thronging the multiplex. Three police jeeps and a police van were stationed outside the venue for security reasons. Mumbai rains tried to put a dampener on what could inarguably be called a festival, but failed to match the frenzy of ardent Thalaivar fans. Men were dressed in suits, blazers and traditional lungi, and the women draped in saris with gajra-adorned hair. Rajini sir is not a star, he is our God. He is a culture in himself. I inherited my love for him from my parents. They will be proud of me, said a 20-year-old fan from the Tamil stronghold of Dharavi who arrived at midnight to catch the first show at 6 am at the theatre with his friends. Over 50 women, dressed in traditional south Indian yellow sari, walked from a temple to the theatre to show their devotion for the actor. Fan frenzy in Mumbai ahead of Kaala release. (Kunal Patil/HT Photo) Fans, with Rajinikanths portrait painted on their chests and some even replicating his Kaala look - black shirt, black lungi and a white beard - gathered near the 67 feet poster of the actor, which was garlanded, signalling the beginning of the day and the films first show. The poster is 67 feet because Rajini is 67 years old. We were coordinating over this since months and the auspicious day is finally here. We have prayed for him, danced for him, now we, will cheer for him, Santosh, a member of Rajini fan club, said. When pointed out that the collection of his last few films have not matched to the stardom the actor enjoys, the fan replied, Can anything ever hurt God? Nothing. His films are our blessings and we are here to take it. Directed by Pa Ranjith, Kaala features Rajinikanth as a powerful don living in the slums of Dharavi. The film also features Nana Patekar, Huma Qureshi and Anjali Patil. (Agencies) Follow @htshowbiz for more ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop A frenzied, thousand strong crowd wildly cheered and called out his name as Tamil superstar Rajinikanth stepped out of the airport terminal at Bagdogra near here on Wednesday on his first shooting assignment in the northern West Bengal hills. Sporting a white linen kurta, the actor, who enjoys a demigod status in large parts of south India, had a tough time boarding the steel grey Fortuna car a few metres away, amid the thunderous cries and frantic bids to capture his movements on mobile camera. Rajinikanth seemed bowled over by the reception. This is my first visit to northern West Bengal. I am sure, I will fall in love with the hills, he said before leaving for Kurseong where he would stay for 37 days to shoot an as yet unnamed movie directed by popular Chennai based director Karthik Subbaraj. To his many fans, Rajinikanth is not just an actor, he is an emotion. Part of the shooting would be done in the internationally famous Himalayan tourist town Darjeeling, where Mount Hermon School and St Pauls College would be among the locations. In the hill town of Kurseong, the shooting site would be Christian Forest Rangers College. Already, 700 technicians have reached Darjeeling, of whom 140 are busy building the sets, with the rest working untiringly to get all the logistics in place. According to the directors team, the shooting would begin from Thursday, and continue till June 15 in Kurseong. Darjeeling would be the venue from June 17 to July 6, following which the shooting party is again slated to move to Kurseong and stay there till July 12. Though shooting is scheduled to be completed in 37 days, we have kept three extra days keeping in mind the probability of inclement weather, said Paras Chettri, a manager of the film unit. This is the biggest-ticket film shoot in the Darjeeling hills, he added. Heavy security arrangements have been made for the shooting. Apart from Rajinikanths own security team, local police are present in strength to prevent any untoward incidents and keep the crowd at bay. A thick security blanket has also been thrown around the luxurious Alita Resort in Kurseong, where Rajnikanth would put up. The picturesque Darjeeling hills have in the past been the location for the shooting of films like Shah Rukh Khan and Sushmita Sen starrer Main Hoon Na, and Barfi that had Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra in the lead. (This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.) Follow @htshowbiz for more ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop Director Pa Ranjiths new film Kaala starring Rajinikanth has been received well across the globe. The critics have been impressed with Pa Ranjiths treatment of the theme, however, not everything is working in favour of the film. Despite the Karnataka high courts order to support the films release and provide security, the film is facing heavy protests in the state. According to trade analyst Sreedhar Pillai, one show began only to be called off after protests began and theatres began to refund the ticket price. He wrote, #Kaala Karnataka update - No show so far. One Theater in Bengaluru started but stopped almost immediately due to protest and refunded the audiences. #Kaala Karnataka update - No show so far. One Theater in Bengaluru started but stopped almost immediately due to protest and refunded the audiences. Sreedhar Pillai (@sri50) June 7, 2018 TOI quoted a source as saying, We are unable to screen Kaala film for the time being despite the security provided due to strong protests against its release by the Kannada Rakshana Vedike (KRV) activists outside. Cauvery water is more important than a Rajinikanth film for us. Our honour and Kannada pride are at stake. He (Rajinikanth) has hurt us by supporting the cause of Tamil Nadu in the sharing of the river water, said KRV president Praveen Shetty at a press conference. On the other hand, Kaala happens to be the first Indian movie to be screened in Saudi Arabia in decades. The Middle-East can be a huge market for Indian films. Follow @htshowbiz for more ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop Actor Keith Sequeira shot to instant fame when he appeared on season 9 of the reality show Bigg Boss with his then-girlfriend (and now wife) Rochelle Rao. What kept him busy afterwards was the show Love Ka Hai Intezaar and turning a villain for the first time in his career in his subsequent show, Udaan. Talking about the experience of playing such a character, Keith says, It was extremely seductive! In terms of an actor, theres so much more you can do with that kind of role. Its liberating, but challenging at the same time. You also have to come to terms with the morality of your character. You get to do a lot of stunts, too. Read more: Keith Sequeira would love to work with wife Rochelle Rao, again The actor feels that playing a baddie, in fact, scored him some more brownie points among his fans. Bad is the new good. In fact, my fans really enjoyed my new image, and I got a lot of messages saying that. Also, you have to stop the monotony from seeping in. Baar baar ek hi cheez karna boring ho jaata hai, he adds. Being an actor leaves you with virtually no personal time and since Rochelle is also an actor and TV presenter, both of them lead busy lives. The couple tied the knot in March, this year, so asked how they ensure they get enough time for each other, Keith says, So far we have been lucky. Recently, she was busy with IPL and I was doing my show, but we did manage to take out time. In the future, we will again get busy like this, but thats the advantage of marrying someone from the industry. They know whats happening, they know what to do. They know you can get a call anytime. But sooner or later she will complain Why are you working late at night? But we are making conscious efforts. Interact with the author on Twitter/ @RishabhSuri02 A US medical team was screening more Americans who work in a southern Chinese city as the State Department confirmed evacuating a number of government workers who experienced unexplained health issues like those that have hurt US personnel in Cuba and China. The evacuations of the workers in Guangzhou followed medical testing that revealed they might have been affected. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said a number of individuals have been brought to the US but didnt say how many were affected or evacuated. One case in Guangzhou had been disclosed last month. She said tests are being offered to any personnel who have noted concerning symptoms or wanted baseline screening. Security guards outside the consulate checked reporters IDs on Thursday and told them to leave the area and not attempt to talk to consulate staff. Asked about the latest incidents, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the US had not formally raised the matter with Beijing. If the US makes formal contact with us, China will continue necessary investigations in an earnest and responsible manner and maintain close communication and cooperation with the US, Hua said at a regularly scheduled news conference. China had earlier said it had no information about the cause of the symptoms. The New York Times identified the latest American employee evacuated as Mark A Lenzi, a security engineering officer who left Wednesday night with his wife and two children. Lenzi told the Times he resided in the same apartment tower as the officer evacuated in April and suffered in recent months from what he called neurological symptoms. Lenzis apartment was in one of several high-rise buildings in The Canton Place featuring restaurants and galleries spaced around a central plaza. Another diplomat who reported symptoms was at a different upscale building near the consulate. A US official, who wasnt authorized to discuss the situation publicly and requested anonymity, said the evacuated Americans are being brought for testing to the University of Pennsylvania. Thats where doctors have been treating and studying patients evacuated from the US Embassy in Havana. The China incidents have raised fears the unexplained issues that started in Cuba in 2016 have expanded. The US government has deemed those incidents specific attacks on American workers but hasnt publicly identified a cause or culprit. Most of the incidents were accompanied by bizarre, unexplained sounds that initially led US investigators to suspect a sonic attack. The preliminary findings of the medical reports on the 24 US Embassy personnel affected in Cuba showed they had sensory and memory problems similar to the brain dysfunction seen with concussions. The Penn team said the patients experienced persistent disability though rehabilitation therapy customized for them seemed to help. Canada in April also ordered families of diplomatic staff in Cuba to return home after mysterious health symptoms were detected in 10 Canadians stationed on the island. Canada said the 10 continued to show unexplained brain symptoms and that medical information raised concerns for a new type of a possible acquired brain injury. Symptoms included dizziness, headaches and an inability to concentrate. The American government worker who was removed from China earlier reported subtle and vague, but abnormal, sensations of sound and pressure. In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last month, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said China had said all the right things and have demonstrated their willingness to help us identify the vector which led to this medical incident. The China incidents affect one of the most important of the seven US diplomatic outposts in the country. The Guangzhou consulate opened months after the establishment of diplomatic relations between Beijing and Washington in 1979 and moved to its new purpose-built facility in 2013. It serves four southern provinces with a combined population of more than 204 million and processes more than 1 million visa applications of all types annually. It is also the only US diplomatic installation in China authorized to process immigrant visas and handle adoptions. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday called Donald Trumps national security justification for new metal tariffs on US allies laughable, as he and French President Emmanuel Macron formed a united front on trade ahead of the G7 summit. The leaders, who met in Ottawa before heading to Quebec to join the US president and their other Group of Seven partners for a two-day summit, noted that the tariffs on steel and alumnium imports would also hurt American workers. It is laughable to say that Canada, France... can represent a threat to Americas national security, as we are the best allies that the US has had for a long time, Trudeau told a press conference, with Macron at his side. Three months after Sri Lanka was rocked by deadly anti-Muslim riots fuelled by online vitriol, Facebook is training its staff to identify inflammatory content in the countrys local languages. The social network has been seeking penance in Sri Lanka after authorities blocked Facebook in March as incendiary posts by Buddhist hardliners fanned religious violence that left three people dead and reduced hundreds of mosques, homes and businesses to ashes. Until the week-long ban, appeals to Facebook to act against the contagion of hate speech had been met with deafening silence, at a time when the California-based tech giant was reeling from unprecedented global scrutiny over fake news and user privacy. We did make mistakes and we were slow, Facebook spokeswoman Amrit Ahuja told AFP in Colombo. The dearth of staff fluent in Sinhala -- the language spoken by Sri Lankas largest ethnic group -- compounded the issue, with government officials and activists saying the oversight allowed extremist content to flourish undetected on the platform. Ahuja said Facebook was committed to hiring more Sinhala speakers but declined to say how many were currently employed in Sri Lanka. This is the problem we are trying to address with Facebook. They need more Sinhala resources, said the islands telecommunications minister Harin Fernando. Since the violence broke out in March, two high-level delegations from the company have visited Sri Lanka, where ethnic divisions linger after decades of war, to assure the government of its intent. Ahuja said Facebook was working with civil society organisations to familiarise its staff with Sinhala slurs and racist epithets. Complex local nuances have added to the challenge. The word for brother in Tamil -- also an official language in the country -- can be a derogatory term in Sinhala when a slight inflection is used. Fernando said the decision to impose an island-wide blackout on Facebook -- used by one in three Sri Lankans -- was taken as a last resort to prevent an escalation of violence. Sinhala extremists used the social network to recruit rioters and organise their travel to the troubled area, from where violence later spread. In addition to government warnings, Fernando told AFP that Facebook users lodged thousands of complaints over extremist content, but were met with silence. It was not something that I liked doing. But if we didnt block Facebook, the violence would have spread out of control, he said. Eventually the army was given special powers to restore order under the first state of emergency declared in the 21-million-strong nation since the end of the civil war in 2009. China has said that the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation provides a framework for India and Pakistan to strengthen cooperation, expressing hope that the two countries will work together for regional peace. The Chinese foreign ministry, in a written response to questions from Hindustan Times, also hoped the two sides would find a solution to the Kashmir issue through dialogue, indicating that discussions on it have no place in a multilateral forum like the SCO. The ministrys remarks came amid worries that inimical ties between India and China could fracture the unity of the bloc. The two neighbours were included in the now-eight-member grouping last year and will take part in its summit for the first time. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the 18th SCO summit, to be held in Qingdao in eastern China on June 9 -10. China also indicated that India not supporting its Belt and Road Initiative will not be a problem in SCO, as the major infrastructure project matched the strategies of various countries and regional cooperation initiatives. India is the only SCO country openly opposed to BRI, a multi-billion dollar international connectivity project spearheaded by Chinese President Xi Jinping, citing sovereignty issues. Experts have voiced concern that India and Pakistan could carry their baggage of hostility to the grouping. India could raise the issue of cross-border terrorism and Pakistan in turn could highlight the Kashmir dispute during the summit, damaging the picture of SCO unity so carefully nurtured by China and Russia, they said. But the Chinese foreign ministry played down the differences. On Kashmir, it said: Chinas position on the Kashmir issue is consistent. This issue is a legacy one between Pakistan and India. Both Pakistan and India have formally joined the SCO and hope that the two countries will strengthen cooperation within the framework of SCO and jointly safeguard regional peace and stability, it said. The ministry reiterated Chinas stand on terrorism. China resolutely opposes terrorism in any forms and supports the international community in strengthening international counter-terrorism cooperation, forming a joint force, and working together to ensure security and stability regionally and globally. We believe that all member states will continue to promote the Shanghai Spirit, deepening solidarity and mutual trust, enhancing cooperation to a new level, it said. On the prickly issue of India being the only SCO country not supporting BRI, Beijing said the initiatives parametres matched regional initiatives of member countries. The ministry sidetracked the problem, but said the BRI has full support from the remaining SCO members another apparent nudge to India to join the project. Since the launch of the BRI, it received active support and response from the SCO members. Within the framework of SCO, all parties jointly promote the development of the BRI, the MFA said. Also, it matches the strategies of various countries and regional cooperation initiatives. The SCO member countries have actively implemented cooperation projects in various fields and brought tangible benefits to their people. The inclusion of India and Pakistan in the SCO has expanded the blocs influence, the foreign ministry said. After the joining of India and Pakistan as member countries, the SCO has become a very comprehensive regional cooperation organisation with the most extensive area, the largest population and greatest influence. India and Pakistan have fully integrated into various cooperation mechanisms and have made great contributions to deepening cooperation among member states in security, economy, humanities and other fields. All parties highly valued this. It is believed that all parties will use the upcoming Qingdao Summit as a great opportunity to gather new consensus for cooperation, deepen pragmatic cooperation in the areas of security, economy, humanities and others, and continuously enhance the SCOs international influence so it can maintain healthy and stable development, the ministry said. Donald Trump hosted his first iftar dinner as president Wednesday, marking the traditional Ramzan fast-breaking meal with Muslim invitees at the White House. Trump, who has frequently engaged in inflammatory anti-Muslim rhetoric, defied recent custom by not holding a similar event during his first year in office. Hundreds of millions of devout Muslims observe the holy fasting month of Ramzan, which is slated to end on June 14 this year. From sunrise onwards, they abstain from food and drink, breaking their fast at sunset. There were more than 50 guests. At the head table, Trump sat with Saudi Ambassador Prince Khalid Ben Salman, and Jordanian Ambassador Dina Kawar. Donald Trump hosts his first iftar dinner as president, marking the traditional Ramzan fast-breaking meal with Muslim invitees at the White House. (AFP) Ambassadors were invited from the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Tunisia, Iraq, Qatar, Bahrain, Morocco, Algeria and Libya. To each of you and to the Muslims around the world: Ramadan Mubarak, Trump said. Tonight, we give thanks for the renewed bonds of friendship and cooperation we have forged with our valued partners from all across the Middle East, he said. Outside the White House, a group of demonstrators displayed slogans and chanted in protest against Trumps efforts to ban immigrants from several Muslim-majority countries. We think its the height of hypocrisy for Donald Trump to ban Muslims with one hand and then invite lead diplomats into the White House and break fast with them, said Bilal Askaryar. Its hypocritical and his actions with the Muslim ban and spreading hate speech about Muslims is un-American and un-presidential. President Donald Trump's White House senior adviser Jared Kushner attends the iftar dinner in the State Dining Room of the White House Wednesday, June 6, 2018, in Washington. (AP) Iftar dinners have been a regular feature on the White House calendar, along with prayer breakfasts, Passover Seders and similar events. Several American Muslim groups said they would not participate in Wednesdays iftar. A year after he accused the Indian Government of initiating a genocidal campaign against the Sikh minority beginning with a military invasion of the Golden Temple, New Democratic Party or NDP leader Jagmeet Singh was curiously silent on the first anniversary of Operation Bluestar since he attained that position. However, the day was marked by hardline organisations in Canada with what they are describing as the largest rally ever at the very symbolic location of Parliament Hill, the seat of Canadas government. The statement issued in June 2017 by Singh, then a candidate for leadership of the Federal party, had him describe June 6 as an unthinkable day. And an attempt to extinguish the Sikh community. However, Singh has come under scrutiny in Canadian media this year over his appearance at controversial events aimed at seeking a separate Sikh homeland and he has had to soften his earlier firebrand stance. His silence so far this year may be a result of that public criticism. Hardline pro-Khalistan groups, on the other hand, had a show of strength in Ottawas Parliament Hill on Saturday to mark the anniversary. This also comes in the wake of scrutiny of the Khalistan movement in Canada following Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus difficult visit to India in February. Among the principal organisers of the rally was Sukhminder Singh Hansra, president of the Shiromany Akali Dal Canada (East). He claimed a crowd of nearly 1,000 had gathered for the largest rally ever to mark this day. The significance is the place, its the Parliament of the country, he said. He also said they wanted to make a pointed statement that Canada was a free land where they could pledge that we will never forget 1984. The chief guest at the event was Pritam Kaur, widow of Rashpal Singh, assistant to Jarnail Singh Bhindrnawale and the latters image was displayed on posters even as Khalistani flags fluttered in front of the building housing Canadas House of Commons and Senate. Some gurdwara committees organised buses to bring people to Ottawa from the cities of Toronto, Montreal and Hamilton. While the event was coordinated by the United Front for Sikhs (Canada) group, it also had support from Sikhs for Justice, Ontario Gurdwaras Committee, Ontario Sikhs and Gurdwaras Council and the British Columbia Sikh Council. The World Sikh Organisation also marked the day, using the hashtag #WeRemember1984 on Twitter. The US has once again raised with Pakistan the importance of exterminating all terrorists and militants without distinction in South Asia. The issue was discussed by US secretary of state Mike Pompeo with Pakistans Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Bajwa on Wednesday, state department spokesperson Heather Nauert. Pompeo and Bajwa also spoke about ways to advance bilateral ties, she said. The third topic discussed by Pompeo and Bajwa was Afghanistan. They talked about the need for political reconciliation in Afghanistan, Nauert said. This was possibly the first call or conversation Pompeo has had with a high ranking Pakistani official after taking over as secretary of state in May. His predecessor Rex Tillerson had a few more, including a visit to Islamabad, during which he delivered a list of Washingtons asks. Michael Kugelman, a South Asia expert with the think tank Wilson Center, said: Its quite striking that Pompeo had this conversation with Gen Bajwa, particularly given that the Pakistani side has publicly claimed that there is currently no high-level exchanges between the two sides. The fact that it was Pompeo and not (defence secretary James) Mattis that had the conversation with Gen Bajwa is striking, but not too surprising. The White House is surely aware of the dominant role that the Pakistani military plays in managing policy toward the US, and in this regard theres probably a desire within the Trump administration to have a range of top cabinet officials convey their concerns and sentiments to the Pakistani army chief, he said. Islamabad has been long accused of supporting good terrorists Pakistan-based entities which operate in India and Afghanistan over bad terrorists, refering to groups which have turned on their onetime masters and backers. The one-time allies have been in a free-fall over Pakistans continued failure to act decisively against terrorists based on its soil and despite repeated and escalating US warnings, topped up earlier this year by drastic cuts in security-related aid. US President Donald Trump put Pakistan on notice in a landmark speech in August 2017 while unveiling his new Afghanistan-centric South Asia strategy. He followed it up with an equally unequivocal warning in his maiden speech to the UN General Assembly and the aid cut in January. A succession of US officials have since said they have noticed no perceptible change in Pakistans behaviour on terrorism. Pompeo told a congressional committee in May that the US had released far fewer funds in 2018 than in prior years, as a result of the cuts announced earlier, and remainder of the funds available are under review my guess is that the number will be smaller still. Later in June, Pakistan will be put on a grey list of countries marked for special scrutiny by Financial Action Task Force, a secretive world body that monitors terrorist financing and money laundering, in a move proposed, backed and rammed through by the US in February. In April, the US moved to end Pakistans attempt to mainstream terrorist outfits by designating a political front floated by Lashkar-e-Taiba, which killed 164 people in a terrorists attack in Mumbai in 2008, as a terrorist outfit. The two countries have also imposed restrictions on the movement of each others diplomats. Pompeo has complained US diplomats were being treated badly by Pakistan. Pakistans caretaker government is holding reviews of its new draft action plan against terror financing and money laundering to avoid being blacklisted by a global watchdog which meets later this month. Pakistan is required to submit the action plan for review by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in its plenary meeting, scheduled to take place in Paris from June 24 to June 29. The country risks being placed on the blacklist of countries that financially aid terrorism if its action plan is rejected by FATF. The plan was reviewed just two days before the filing of comments to the observations raised by the Asia Pacific Group (APG) on money laundering, The Express Tribune reported. A federal cabinet meeting discussed recommendations by the APG and the FATF to curb money laundering and terror financing. The proposed action plan was then reviewed in a meeting chaired by newly appointed interim finance minister Shamshad Akhtar. The government will do whatever is required to make sure that Pakistan is not blacklisted, Ali Zafar, the caretaker minister for information and law, told the Tribune. I am confident that Pakistans existing legal regime is compliant with global anti-money laundering and counter-terror financing regimes. Zafar said the finance ministry will require some more time for finalisation of the plan and then it will make a final presentation before the federal cabinet. He said the caretaker government will try to find solutions to all issues while remaining within the limits of the Constitution. In a terse statement, the finance ministry only said caretaker minister for finance Shamshad Akhtar chaired a meeting to review different FATF related issues. In February, the FATF had decided to place Pakistan on its so-called greylist of countries that do not do enough to curb terrorism financing. It wanted Pakistan to implement 27 recommendations to show progress in four key areas of concern. These areas related to improving supervisions of the AML and the CTF, curbing the illicit cross-border movement of currency through Chaman and Torkham, improving prosecution in AML and CTF cases, and ensuring enforcement of United Nations Security Council resolutions. Zafar said improving prosecution and investigation in money laundering and terrorism financing cases is in the interest of Pakistan. Pakistan had submitted its action plan with the APG that met in Bangkok last month but the body expressed its dissatisfaction on progress on the issues of actions against proscribed organisations such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jamaatud Dawa and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation. There is also pressure on Pakistan to take action against the Haqqani Network, but Islamabads position has remained that the Haqqani Network is based in Afghanistan. The FATF and APG wanted Pakistan to have better supervision of the AML and the CTF regimes. In the revised plan, the authorities have tried to strengthen this area. More than Pakistans action, it will be the political posture of the United States that will determine whether the FATF accepts the new plan, officials said, claiming that Pakistan has done everything in its capacity but the US-India nexus is creating trouble. The paper quoted sources as saying Akthar also underlined the need to tackle US pressure. It was decided that China would be requested to play a more proactive role this time, as Beijings neutral role led to the placement of Islamabad on the greylist. The paper said that the proposed plan has tried to address the FATFs concerns about weak prosecution in money laundering and terrorist financing cases. Although the government will submit outcomes of the prosecutions, coordination between the provinces and the Centre in this area remains a concern. The FATFs fourth area of concern was the failure to criminalise the financing of individual terrorists or terrorist groups, other than proscribed organisations. The law enforcement agencies and prosecution authorities have powers to prosecute money laundering and terror financing, but they are currently not using these tools effectively. When US President Donald Trump defends his tough trade position before leaders from Americas closest and oldest allies at a G-7 summit starting in Canada on Friday, he may choose to either steer clear of historical references, or get them right. He goes there with an embarrassing booboo, about what has been called Americas Second war of independence. In a testy phone call with Canadian premier Justin Trudeau on May 25, while discussing the newly imposed duties on steel and aluminium (25% and 10% respectively), Trump asked: Didnt you guys burn down the White House? The reference was to the War of 1812 that was started by Americans declaring war on Britain and attacking the latters colony in what is now Canada. A retaliatory attack led by a British general had burnt down Washington DC, the White House, Congress and other government buildings in 1814. The war ended in 1815 with the Treaty of Ghent. Trump referred to the war, according to CNN, in a reply to Trudeaus question about the rationale used by the US to levy the tariff, under a little-known and used law to justify it as a national security issue. Reports of the phone call did not detail Trudeaus response, specially about a part of US history that would give the country its national anthem, the Star-spangled banner. The US president will need more than history when he confronts his G-7 allies, some of whom have publicly been critical of the new tariffs that have already attracted retaliatory steps from some of them. Trudeau, the host of the summit, has called the use of the national security clause for the tariff as insulting and unacceptable and told reporters on Wednesday that some very direct conversations on tariffs are expected to take place during the weekend. US President Donald Trump on Thursday said that he was well-prepared for the much awaited summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on June 12 in Singapore and asserted that the meeting would be more than a photo-op. Singapore has designated a special event area of the Sentosa island tourist resort for Tuesdays historic summit, which is expected to be covered by over 2,500 journalists from across the world. There was initially much uncertainty over whether the summit would go ahead at all, and it was briefly called off last month by Trump after a dispute with the North Koreans over the key issue of denuclearisation. I think Im very well prepared. I dont think I have to prepare very much. Its about the attitude. Its about willingness to get things done. But I think Ive been preparing for the summit for a long time, Trump told reporters in a brief joint media appearance with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the Oval Office. As has the other side... Theyve been preparing for a long time, also. So this isnt a question of preparation, its a question of whether or not people want it to happen, and well know that very quickly, he said. Responding to a question, the US president said it will be more than a photo-op. Well, its gonna be much more than a photo-op. I think its a process. Ive told you that many times before. I think its not a one meeting deal. It would be wonderful if it were. Theyve been doing this for a long time. Theyve got a lot of enemies out there. A lot of dislike, a lot of hatred between countries. This will not be just a photo-op. This will be at a minimum, well start with perhaps a good relationship, Trump said. The Japanese Prime Minister is visiting the White House for talks with Trump ahead of the next weeks US-N Korea Summit. Multiple US and N Korean teams are holding simultaneous meetings ahead of the Singapore Summit. More than 2,500 people from the local and international news media are expected to cover the event in Singapore, according to the number of registrations received by the ministry of communications and information. The summit is taking place following a rapid detente between Pyongyang and Seoul and Washington. Tensions had soared last year after the North conducted missile and nuclear tests. An innovative telemedicine system will connect hospitals affiliated with state-owned Russian Railways to facilitate digital healthcare.The KT Corporation (KT; Seoul, South Korea) digital healthcare solution utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) for precise and accurate diagnosis of cardiovascular problems such as myocardial infarction (MI), as well as respiratory diseases, diabetes, and prostate cancer. The solution also provides ultrasonography to diagnose internal organs, fetal sonography, and basic blood and musculoskeletal tests. The digital healthcare platform also features mobile diagnostics software containing Bluetooth and Wi-Fi for management of diagnostic data and storage of patients' medical history in a mobile electronic medical record (mEMR).Part of a pilot project commissioned by Russian Railways (RZD; Moscow, Russia), one of the world's three largest rail transportation companies, the mobile diagnostics solution for primary care is slated for integration with the 173 hospitals located in Russian rail stations, as well as on trans-Siberian trains. Under the terms of the agreement, KT will cooperate with the Seoul National University Bundang Hospital (SNUBH; Seoul, South Korea) to set up a telemedicine system for six hospitals, one in Moscow and five in various regions, by June 2018.KT will supply the digital healthcare solution, and SNUBH will offer diagnostic advice to Russian medical staff and assist in personnel training. The telemedicine system for the trans-Siberian railway, which connects Moscow and Vladivostok, will be operational by late 2018. Trans-Siberian trains, which take a week to make the journey, currently have only basic devices such as thermometers and blood pressure monitors, which make it is difficult to provide emergency care or monitor passengers who should be watched closely, such as pregnant women and heart patients.We further look forward to expand our endeavors in Russia, particularly in the fields of online medical care, healthcare platform, and ICT-based operations of diagnosis centers and convalescent homes, said Koh Yoon-Jeon, chief of KT's Future Business Development Unit. To this end, we are advancing our expertise in big data analysis and artificial intelligence technology, and also accelerating our efforts to achieve cooperation in e-healthcare with local partners, including the state-owned Sberbank.The pilot plan is part of the information communications technology (ICT) medical system expansion project spearheaded by the Korea Health Industry Development Institute, an agency of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. KT, South Korea's leading telephone and Internet provider, also participated in a similar project in 2017, constructing a digital healthcare platform and solution for 12 hospitals in Kazakhstan. Appointment 7 June 2018 Effective June 11, 2018, Manoukian will oversee the brand portfolio for Hilton Hotels & Resorts and will be responsible for promoting, elevating and growing the iconic brand. As a seasoned professional with more than 30 years of hospitality experience, Vera is known for driving brand growth, maximizing operational excellence and delivering financial performance. She most recently served as President and Chief Operating Officer at Denihan Hospitality, where she led branding, sales, marketing and operations and managed the company's growth and development pipeline. She previously served as Senior Vice President of Operations for Starwood, where she was responsible for their largest geographic region, seven brands, 68 full service and luxury properties, and $3.4 billion in revenue.Manoukian holds an MBA from the University of Southern New Hampshire, specializing in Marketing, and a Bachelor of Science degree from Rivier University of New Hampshire. She will be based at Hilton's global headquarters in McLean, Virginia and report to Dave Marr, senior vice president and global head of full service brands. Event AHEAD, the Awards for Hospitality, Experience and Design, comprises four annual, regional awards schemes run over a two year period, culminating in a global biennale. Throughout 2017 and 2018 awards ceremonies in Singapore, Miami, Dubaiand London will celebrate the most outstanding new hospitality projects in each region. The awards are entered, judged and attended by leading hotel owners, developers, operators, architects and designers from around the world. AHEAD Americas 2018 is organized by Mondiale Publishing Ltd External Article 7 June 2018 When makeup mogul Bobbi Brown left her eponymous cosmetics brand in late 2016, she surprised everyone by setting her sights on giving a historic New Jersey hotel a makeover. The big reveal: The George Inn debuted as a chic 32-room boutique property in Montclair, 12 miles west of New York City. The same natural-beauty aesthetic that Brown helped popularize with her cosmetics carries over to the hotel, which she opened with her real estate developer husband, Steven Plofker, in April. They kept the bones of the stately 1902 brick structure and filled it with a stylish palette of gray and white with red highlights in the form of Smeg mini-fridges, Union Jack pillows and plaid headboard fabric. The inn's library is a cozy corner with slate coffered walls, a fireplace and furniture sourced from One Kings Lane as well as the couples' travels and their own personal collection. The accommodations also have personality each one is given a name that sparks design inspiration. For example, the Martha room comes with portraits of a young Martha Stewart and Martha Washington, while the Oscar's walls hold photos of famous namesakes such as de la Renta, Wilde and the Grouch. Forbes Travel Guide talked to Brown about why she chose Montclair for her first hospitality venture, her favorite travel destination and what's next for her. Canada is leading the G7 countries and is set to become the first of the US, Japan, Germany, U.K., France, and Italy to legalize marijuana nationwide. It will also be the first G20 state (an international forum for a global economic partnership that consists of 19 countries and the EU) to legalize marijuana as well. According to The Independent, the Canadian Senate is expected to approve Bill C-45, which will allow anyone over the age of 18 to purchase weed. The bill passed in the House of Commons and is backed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The Senate scrutinized the bill for six months, but they are expected to pass it. It will take two or three months after legislation passes for the sales of legal marijuana to take effect. Since Canada will be the first G7 country to legalize weed, it will be set on a worldwide stage. For decades, governments have argued about what legalized marijuana could mean for the economy. Countries will see if legalization will bring down crime, overdoses on opioids, and sales on the black market. Legal marijuana is expected to bring in over $6 billion in business, according to a report by financial services company Deloitte. Regulations for the legal selling of weed requires the product be sold in clear packaging with limited branding and capped prices to help destroy the illegal sales of the plant. Somehow, Kanye West has managed to tow the line between ubiquitous and enigmatic. His union with Kim Kardashian is no secret, yet the nature of their personal relationship is open to interpretation. Likewise for his political views, which have frequently emerged as a series of tailor-made headlines; before slavery was a choice came George Bush doesnt care about black people. As Ye has never been the most eloquent orator, listeners have largely been expected to pick up the pieces, using his anecdotal lyrics to piece together their own unauthorized biopics. Enter Kanye Wests Ye, the closest weve come to an eponymous album. One syllable off. Upon initial consumption, one would not be at fault for expecting something personal. Yet the narrative surrounding Kanye seems to imply expectations exist simply to be shattered. Ye is indeed a personal album. He briefly touches on his spousal dynamic more candidly than on previous outings, particularly on the emotional Wouldnt Leave. Sonically, the song feels like the offspring of The Life Of Pablo intro Ultralight Beam, employing a subdued drum groove and gentle-mental piano progression. Aesthetically, this may be the closest to College Dropout Ye weve seen in decades; though he lacks the storytelling prowess of say, Royce Da 59 on Power, Kanyes effort remains valiant, given his recent abandonment of lyrical traditionalism. The dedication of the epilogue speaks volumes; raising a toast to any guy who ever embarrassed they girl is a far cry from celebrating the douchebags and assholes of the world. Once again, were left piecing together our own narratives, based on the breadcrumbs Kanye West leaves us in Riding-Hood-esque fashion. Yet if were to take his lyrics at face value, as closer Violent Crimes seems to want us to do, what are we to make of hedonistic cuts like early standout All Mine? The opening organ evokes a funeral dirge, heralding the decay of decency; all hail hedonism, full steam ahead. Immediately picking up where Freestyle 4 left off, Valee sets the tone with an playful, falsetto-heavy chorus. Get to rubbin' on my lamp, get the genie out the bottle, he raps, channeling Christina Aguilera circa 1999. In all seriousness, one of Yes most brilliant musical moments arise when the snares kick in during All Mines extensive hook. Not to mention, the subject matter is clearly something Yeezy values, as hes at his most lyrically sharp throughout. Shades of childlike cleverness seep through, particularly during his soon-to-be-legendary biology lesson of none of us would be here without cum. Moreover, Yes penchant for name-dropping plays a dual role, dating his music while simultaneously immersing listeners within a relatable world. You might not need you a Stormy Daniels, but given the societal position of the pornstar-turned-political-figure, the simplistic line can resonate with a wide-ranging spectrum of demographics. While Yes affinity for coveting strange is well documented, it becomes difficult to understand where the fiction ends and facts begin. Is he, indeed a polygamist? I suppose it ultimately doesnt matter, though part of Kanyes artistic allure works in tandem with his real-life legacy. For that reason, songs like the aforementioned Violent Crimes feel unexpectedly refreshing; hearing him speak so openly about a child weve actually come to know through a media lens is paramount in shifting a God back into a man. In truth, this is hardly the first time weve dealt with the demystification of Kanye West. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy featured some of his most personal authorship, as did The Life Of Pablos latter half. Yet the public perception surrounding Yeezy has never felt as hostile as it did during the Ye rollout. Many, be it online or in the media, seemed to be actively championing for the once-revered artist to meet an Icarus-like demise. In truth, it can feel difficult to write about Kanye West without drawing from his seemingly infinite antics. Yet it would behoove critics and listeners alike to separate man from music, at least for a moment. In that regard, Ye stands among the years most enjoyable releases thus far. Its hardly a challenging listen, and despite the relative brevity, Yeezy and co have managed to jam a variety of musical ideas in one easy-to-digest package; high art for dummies, or, the avant-garde-starter-pack. Everything from spoken word monologues to dually-constructed song structures are laid out on the table. Luckily, for the most part, the missteps are few and far between. As for the highs, there are indeed several. Penultimate, grunge-inspired ballad Ghost Town is arguably Yes musical crux, a stylistic amalgamation of several choice Yeezy eras. The production, which seems to employ a variety of acoustic instruments, seems to bring out a simplicity in Kanyes vocal performance; its almost as if he took to the booth and laid down the first melody that came to mind. In that regard, Ghost Town feels like a moment of genuine sincerity, and is allotted the appropriate time to resonate accordingly. For those adverse to the slow-burn, allow yourself to be challenged by Kanye West for old times sake, lest he stand before you shouting are you not entertained? Perhaps thats simply the intention. Between Daytona and Ye, the resurgence of Kanye West has set the tone of the summer to come; perhaps even the year.Admittedly, the project pales in comparison to some of his bonafide classic. In many ways, it feels like a cousin to The Life Of Pablo; dont be surprised if the project leads to to revisiting Pablo with a newfound sense of appreciation, while discovering new layers in the process. Yet while Pablo was shrouded by a morose darkness, Ye provides an optimistic counter-narrative. Not quite happy, not quite bittersweet, simply content. At less than twenty-five minutes, Ye remains an easy to digest album with a satisfactory amount of depth on both lyrical and musical fronts. Fans will no doubt walk awayfeeling fulfilled, save for those unable to shed their lofty expectations of raps self-styled deity. Yet its hardly fair to malign the disappointed, seeing as Kanye himself played a pivotal role in shaping said expectations. Is Ye groundbreaking? Hardly. Yet those looking for deeper artistic meaning should consider looking at the ongoing G.O.O.D Music rollout. Perhaps when were over-saturated with an endless wave of seven-track albums, we can fondly reminisce on the time Ye popped a wheelie on the zeitgeist once again. Ill put it like this. For one night, Kanye and company set Wyoming ablaze with vibrancy. The next day, business as usual. Such is life, such is Ye. Last week, Kim Kardashian paid a visit to the White House where she met with President Donald Trump in a meeting about prison reform & sentencing, which Trump said "went great." Kim was also there to talk about the pardoning of 63-year-old Alice Marie Johnson, who has been in prison for more than 20 years for a drug offense, and is not eligible for parole. Well thankfully Kim got through to Trump because it was revealed the other day that Alice was commuted & freed. Ms. Johnson has accepted responsibility for her past behavior and has been a model prisoner over the past two decades. Despite receiving a life sentence, Alice worked hard to rehabilitate herself in prison, and act as a mentor to her fellow inmates," the White House said in a statement Wednesday afternoon. Now free, Kim is planning on meeting with Alice Marie Johnson face to face after she was initially moved by her story via Twitter. Sources tell TMZ that Kim and her team are working to arrange a meeting with Alice that could happen as early as this week. Kim will most likely travel to Alice as she currently adjusts to life outside the prison walls, but the meeting looks to be happening. Alice told reporters upon her release that she was thankful and felt like her life was starting over again. Salute to Kim for taking action on this story and her attorney, Shawn Holley, who's the real hero for communicating with Jared Kushner & Ivanka Trump over the the months to make this really happen. [Via] After the two got to know each other a little better during their joint interview last month, Lil Pump is on good terms with J. Cole. Once joining his fans in chanting "Fuck J. Cole," Pump needed a new target for his seemingly endless negative energy. Without his braces, it looks like Pump's bite is just as sharp as before because he's already taking shots at a new name. Ever the jokester, the 17-year-old rapper found his new rival after careful consideration and he took to his Twitter account to let his fans know who they should bash next. He could have gone after Logic or G-Eazy next if he were targeting a group of rappers that have been labeled as "corny" but, instead, he chose another artist that has felt the wrath of the internet: Russ. The "Losin Control" rapper caught some backlash after wearing an anti-drug shirt last year and the criticism has not died down as the trolls make their voices heard with every one of his releases. Choosing Russ to be his next enemy, Lil Pump tweeted, "ME & J COLE COOL NOW SO NOW ITS FUCK RUSS." While some of his fans have argued that it's been "Fuck Russ" for a minute, Jetski is embracing this as his next battle. With his Harvard Dropout mixtape completed, Pump's supporters eagerly await any news about the arrival of the project. Who's side are you on here? Russ or Lil Pump? It looks like Lil Pump is calling on Charlie Sheen for an upcoming music video. On Wednesday, the Florida sensation was spotted hanging out with infamous actor on his IG story. Charlie Sheen what we doing right now? What we doin? Pump asks in the clip. We are about to make history, Sheen added. The two were both spotted wearing lab coats like a doctor, alluding that they were on the set of an upcoming video shoot. One person on Twitter said they were shooting the video for Pumps forthcoming Drug Addict song, but that hasn't been confirmed at this hour. It does look however that its for some sort of music video. The clip comes just hours after Pump had made headlines for going at ATL rapper Russ. Now that Pump and J. Cole are cool, the "Eskeetit" rapper says hes now refocusing his energy at Russ, saying its fuck Russ now on twitter earlier Wednesday. Check out the surprising clip of Pump & Sheen kickin' it (below) and look for the video to be on the way. Notice how Pump is all smiles still as hes currently no longer rockin the braces either. On Wednesday night, Rihanna made an appearance at the Stance store in Soho, NYC for an event that's dear to her heart. She was there to raise money for the Clara Lionel Foundation, an American nonprofit organization founded by Rihanna, which is to benefit impoverished communities across the globe, with healthcare, and education, among other things. While there, Rihanna took time to have some fun with fans who came out to support, and in one particular clip Ri-Ri could be seen turning up to Rich The Kids Plug Walk hit. Not only was she dancing to Rich The Kids song, but it was pretty clear that she knew the lyrics too, and not just the chorus either. It definitely looked like she was an avid listener to the hit record. Rihanna not only slayed like a celebrity while there, but she also got her hands a little dirty and got to work too. Without being asked, BadGirlRiRi decided to get behind the counter and check out a few fans who were supporting the cause and buying some socks at the Stance store. Check out the clip of her turning up to Rich The Kid (below) as well as other photos from Wednesday nights event in the gallery. Earlier in the week, it was reported that Smooky Margielaa was being accused of his alleged involvement in the sexual assault of a minor in Spain. Margielaa and his crew were being investigated for their possible involvement in the rape of a 17-year-old girl backstage at Barcelona hotspot Razzmatazz when the young New York rapper refuted the accusations. Responding quickly to the claims, Smooky told HNHH that he was not even there and that this "has nothing to do with [him]." The concert venue is now supporting Smooky's words by confirming that he was not present, releasing a statement that does not name him as a person of interest. In the announcement by Razzmatazz, the club is echoing what Smooky had already told us, writing that the 15-year-old rapper was not present in the room as part of the eight men involved. The communications were written completely in Spanish, asking all media outlets that reported on the news to correct the misinformation in order to protect Smooky's image. While the men involved have not yet been identified, the assault took place after Margielaa performed at the club as part of his European tour. The final remaining date on the tour was canceled as a result of the news. With Smooky now not a suspect in the case, authorities will continue to conduct an investigation to get to the bottom of what happened. Check out the venue's statement below, written in Spanish. In January 2016, with its stock price sliding, Houstons Westlake Chemical made another move to acquire Axiall, its long-coveted rival in Atlanta. For the second time in four years, it surprised the smaller chemical maker with a hostile takeover bid, offering $2.9 billion, including the assumption of Axialls debt. Axiall executives rejected the offer, and Westlake raised it to $3.1 billion. Another rejection and Westlake upped its bid to $3.8 billion, offering a 28 percent premium that Axial shareholders found too good to refuse. Analysts and investors, however, panned the deal, questioning whether Westlake had overpaid and briefly sending Houston companys stock down further. It seemed like a fairly expensive price, said Matthew Blair, a chemicals analyst at Houston energy investment bank Tudor, Pickering and Holt & Co Less than two years later, Westlake has proved the skeptics wrong. The companys annual revenue jumped nearly 60 percent to about $8 billion in 2017, with much of that growth driven by the Axiall acquisition, while its shares have nearly doubled in value over the past year. Now, said Blair, the deal is a just a total home run. RELATED: Westlake reports record 2017 profits More Information Westlake by the numbers 2017 Revenue: $8.04 billion 2017 Profit: $1.3 billion Axiall acquisition: $3.8 billion Employees: 8,800 See More Collapse Westlakes success is the product of both vision and timing. Controlled by Houstons billionaire Chao family, Westlake saw the merger with a competitor that manufactured similar chemicals as an chance to vastly expand its production and markets. Meanwhile, as the Axiall acquisition more than doubled Westlakes caustic soda production capacity, Europe implemented stricter environmental requirements that reduced production of the chemical, shrunk global supplies and drove up prices, creating export opportunities for Westlake. It all comes down to supply-demand fundamentals, said Hassan Ahmed, a chemicals analyst with New York-based Alembic Global Advisors. The timing has been great. Westlake is now one of the worlds largest producers of both the common plastic PVC and chlor-alkali products, which include chlorine and caustic soda. All are used in range of building materials and consumer products needed to support a growing global population, particularly in emerging markets in Asia and elsewhere. In addition, the merger allowed the Westlake to cut costs by about $170 million last year while achieving record production in vinyls and plastics, its two main business segments. Albert Chao, Westlakes chief executive, said combining the two companies has proceeded smoothly because they operated similarly. Were seeing higher operating rates, higher reliability and the reduction of costs, Chao said. Westlake was founded by Chaos father, T.T. Chao, who left China during the Communist revolution, fleeing to Taiwan. The company began with the elder Chao's purchase of a Louisiana plant that made low-density polyethylene, one of the most common plastics, and had about 100 employees. Westlake grew quickly, buying another plant in Calvert City, Ky. in 1990, then building or acquiring several other plants throughout the South over the next decade to produce both vinyls and plastics. It also acquired operations in China. In 2004, Westlake began selling shares on the New York Stock Exchange in 2004. One of the companys most substantial acquisitions came in 2014 with its purchase of German polyvinyl chloride manufacturer Vinnolit. Its affiliated business, Westlake Chemical Partners, also went public on the New York Stock Exchange that year. In May, Westlake, which employs about 8,800 worldwide, debuted on the Fortune 500 list at No. 352. Like other chemical companies, Westlake is riding an American petrochemical boom, driven by cheap supplies of natural gas from U.S. shale fields and growing demand for plastics in developing countries, such as India and China, where middle classes are expanding rapidly. RELATED: Chinas environmetnal crackdown opening markets for Houston exports Chao said Westlake sees particular opportunities in China, which recently stopped importing scrap plastic as part of an environmental crackdown that has curtailed the use of coal and shut down industrial polluters. The country now needs to import more plastics and petroleum products, which are produced at lower costs in the United States than Asia. China accounted for less than 2 percent of Westlakes sales last year, but Chao said he expects that share to increase as the company plans to export plastics and chemicals to meet the growing demand for packaging and other products in China. Its the largest market in petrochemicals in many different plastics, Chao said. Through the Axiall purchase, Westlake also acquired a 10 percent stake in a cracker, or processing plant, that turns the natural gas liquid ethane into ethylene, a chemical that is the building block for most plastics. The cracker is under construction near the companys chlor-alkali plant in Lake Charles. The project, a joint venture with South Koreas Lotte Chemical, is expected to begin operations in 2019 with the capacity to produce 2 billion pounds of ethylene per year, much of it destined for export. The cracker will substantially expand Westlakes plastics segment, which produces polyethylene and other materials for packaging and consumer products. Westlake has the option to purchase as much as 50 percent of the ethane cracker within the first three years of operation. Chao considers the cracker an attractive investment for his company, which became the second-largest purchaser of ethylene in the United States following the Axiall acquisition. Analysts anticipate the cracker start up around the time that now-abundant ethlyene supplies begin to diminish, pushing prices up just as Westlake begins producing more ethylene through the joint venture. RELATED: Westlakes persistence appears to pay off Chao attributes the companys success in part to its focus on its core products and operations. The company is working to increase production capacity at three of its chemical plants: two in Germany and one in Louisiana. The expansions, which will be competed in stages during the next three years, will boost output of the PVC and its base material, vinyl chloride monomer, as well as chlor-alkali products, used to make vinyls, glass, detergent, paper and other products. We grow by being focused on businesses we understand, Chao said. We believe the opportunity is significant on a global basis. katherine.blunt@chron.com twitter.com/katherineblunt 800 Builders, a private real estate investment firm based in Houston, has purchased the 189,162-square-foot Echo Lane office complex on 3.8 acres in Hedwig Village, from Velosis. Rudy Hubbard, Kevin McConn and Rick Goings with JLL represented the seller. During its ownership, Dallas-based Velosis boosted occupancy in the property at 950 and 952 Echo Lane from 83 percent in 2012 to 97 percent at the time of sale. Velosis bought the 77 Sugar Creek office building in Sugar Land last year. Dallas-based Westmount Realty Capital has sold the 362-unit Beverly Palms Apartments at 6061 Beverly Hill near the Galleria to a local investor. Westmount renovated the property after acquiring it in 2012. Larkspur Shadow Creek has purchased 9.5 acres near the northeast corner of Shadow Creek Parkway and Kingsley Drive in Pearland as the site of a new senior living project. Brad LyBrand and Brad Elmore of NewQuest Properties represented the seller, A-S 143 SC Ranch LP, an entity of NewQuest Crosswell. Kennedy Davis of BWH Capital represented the buyer. Humble Independent School District has acquired 19.9 acres in the 13000 block of West Lake Houston Parkway in the Lakewood Pines subdivision in Atascocita. The property was purchased KB Home Lone Star for the future site of Elementary School No. 29. Mark Wimberly of Houston Commercial Development represented the Humble ISD. Houston-based KDW has completed an expansion project totaling more than 41,000 square feet of facilities for high-school-age campers at the Pine Cove Christian Summer Camp in Columbus. The new 40-acre camp at 1237 Papa Bear Lane includes 20 camper cabins, a dining hall, kitchen, gym, meeting space, game room lounge and outdoor seating. Walters, Balido & Crain renewed and expanded its lease to 9,439 square feet square feet at Woodlake Park, 2500 Tanglewilde. Terri Torregrossa of Moody Rambin represented the landlord, Woodlake (Texas) Properties. Comfort Systems USA has extended its 17,900-square-foot office lease at 675 Bering Drive. Chris Lewis and Jill Nesloney of Lee & Associates represented the landlord, Griffin Partners 675 Bering. Anya Marmuscak with JLL represented the tenant. Also, Matagorda Production Co., represented by S.E. Covington, extended its lease in the building. American Vending Sales has leased 18,000 square feet at 8801 Jameel Road. Reed Vestal, Taylor Schmidt and Chris Nash of Lee & Associates represented the tenant. Jeremy Lumbreras and Blake Warren with Stream Realty Partners represented the landlord, GLP US Management. Abelia Investments has purchased the 28-unit Del Isle Apartments, 4321 Bernardo De Galvez Ave., Galveston. River Oaks Equity Partners represented the seller, Zia Living No.1, and procured the buyer. SAO Global has purchased a 3,072-square-foot building at 4116 Rose Way Lane on 37,600 square feet of land off U.S. 90 and plans to develop an office/warehouse park on the site. Barrett Von Blon of Davis Commercial Real Estate represented the seller, GBread Corp. katherine.feser@chron.com twitter.com/kfeser Jenni Tranweaver didn't let the fact that Houston had plenty of Vietnamese restaurants and noodle shops stop her from opening her first Jenni's Noodle House in 2002. She now has three locations. And the preponderance of taco trucks, taco stands and taco restaurants in Houston didn't keep her from realizing her long-held plans of starting her own taco joint. That dream came true recently when Dream Tacos TX opened at 3773 Richmond a bright, festive look at the food that keeps Houston fueled night and day. Dream Tacos is actually the rebranding of a Jenni's outpost that opened in the Greenway/Upper Kirby neighborhood in 2016. Jenni and her husband/business partner Scott Tranweaver, were concerned that the store was underperforming. Now Playing: From traffic to tacos, if you've ever lived in Houston you've said these things. See more things Houstonians say here: http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Things-all-Houstonians-have-said-at-one-time-or-9179817.php "We were struggling," Scott said. "It wasn't hitting the numbers we wanted to hit," Jenni added. Instead of calling it a failure they decided to try to produce a hit. They closed Jenni's about three weeks ago and quickly rebranded, brightening the restaurant with pops of color turquoise, lime, red and yellow that show up on the walls, tabletops and accent seating; serape fabrics; and pots of succulents. The Tranweaver's taco format debuted on Sunday. TOUGH COMPETITION: Laurenzo's restaurant wins Tacos Over Texas For two years, Jenni said, she's been thinking tacos and developing recipes. And not alone: Jorge Estrada, her kitchen manager and 12-year veteran of the noodle house restaurant, collaborated with her to create the menu of tacos, appetizers, side dishes, soups and salads. "I've been eating his tacos and tamales for a decade," Jenni said. Her work with Estrada produced a menu that begins with appetizers: beef or chicken nachos, three-cheese quesadilla, queso and chips, street corn with queso fresco, and guacamole. Other starters include a house salad, Oaxaca salad (romaine, cabbage, tomatoes, cucumber, bacon, beans and sweet corn), chicken tortilla soup and chicken pozole. The taco options are many: North Shore Garlic Shrimp (shrimp, cabbage, cilantro ranch); fried shrimp with cabbage, pickled onion, jalapeno and cilantro ranch; beef or chicken fajitas with cilantro and onions; shredded chicken with cabbage and cilantro/onions; barbacoa; pan-seared fish; chicharrones with green salsa; shredded beef or diced pork; and the Hot'lanta (fried chicken tenders, Buffalo sauce, pickled onions and jalapeno. Vegetarian tacos include a mix of seasonal vegetables; cactus, poblano and queso fresco; avocado and pickled onions; mushrooms, poblano peppers, sour cream and queso fresco; calabaza squash with tomatoes, sour cream and queso fresco; mushrooms, refried beans and poblano chile; and beans, beans and more beans. Yes, there are breakfast tacos: a lineup of nine to be exact, served until 11 a.m. The restaurant is making its own flour tortillas but outsourcing its corn tortillas. Jenni said that if this brand takes off, her next store will make its own corn tortillas from scratch. There are six salsas available for the tacos, all from proprietary recipes. Tia Lola is made from roasted chiles, tomatillo and lime; Roja is a mild classic salsa; Garlic Pineapple is just that (but bound with a bit of heat, garlic and tomato); Cilantro Ranch is house-made ranch with onions, jalapeno and cilantro; Fiery Avocado is a hot number made with avocados, tomatillos, avocados, jalapeno and lime; and Roasted Lava is the hottest a red sauce made with roasted tomatillo, tomatoes and habanero. Sweets tres leches cake, flan, churros and rice pudding bring up the rear. The beer and wine license is on its way, but the Tranweavers plan to serve craft beers, a few wines and some specialty drinks such as slightly spiked lemonade. Once Dream Tacos gets some time under its belt, Jenni said the kitchen will branch out with daily specials that will include dishes such as enchiladas, tamales and chilaquiles. Dream Tacos' dream factor isn't just in the restaurant's name. Their son Logan's middle name is Dream. And there are collective dreams among the staff, include Estrada whose native Mexican flavors and techniques are being showcased in the new venture. "I have a dream. Everyone one of us has a dream," Jenni said. "We are all dreamers." Dream Tacos TX, 3773 Richmond, 1C, 713-714-8258; dreamtacostx.com. Open Monday through Saturday 7 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., Sunday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Counter service Monday through Friday for breakfast and lunch; table service after 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and all day Saturday and Sunday. Breakfast tacos, $2.50-$3.75; vegetarian tacos $2.75-$3.75; all other tacos, $3.25-$4; appetizers $2.50-$8.25; soups/salads/sides $3-$7.25. Greg Morago writes about food for the Houston Chronicle. Follow him on Facebook or Twitter. Send him news tips at greg.morago@chron.com. Follow him on the podcast BBQ State of Mind to learn about Houston and Texas barbecue culture. Nearly three years ago, a white supremacist shot and killed nine African-Americans during their regular Wednesday evening Bible study at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. That tragedy resulted in renewed calls for the removal of Confederate flags and monuments in public spaces. And since then, according to a new report from the Southern Poverty Law Center, at least 110 Confederate symbols have been removed from public spaces in 22 states and the District of Columbia. In 2016, for example, the Houston Independent School District voted to rename seven schools. The following year, three Confederate statues on the University of Texas at Austins mall were relocated to the universitys Briscoe Center for American History. All in all, in fact, Texas led the nation in such changes, with more than 31 symbols removed. READ MORE: Texas leads U.S. in removal of Confederal symbols, study finds This was a surprising tidbit, according to CNN, which was among the outlets that covered the SPLCs findings this week. It shouldnt be surprising, noted the friend who forwarded CNNs story to me. I agree. Texas is the largest of the former Confederate states, having voted to secede in February, 1861. We should all be honest about that inglorious chapter in Texas history, and the fact that its lingering legacy includes a lot of Confederate monuments most of which went up well after the Civil War, in many cases as part of an effort by whites in the South and elsewhere to reassert control over a changing society among other things. Some of those monuments are more obnoxious than others. There is, for example, a plaque in the Texas Capitol, installed in 1959 by the Texas division of the Children of the Confederacy, which recites the organizations creed. Eric Johnson, a Democratic state representative from Dallas, has been calling for its removal since the August 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia that ended in a car plowing into a crowd of people who had gathered to protest the rally itself and killing one, Heather Heyer. The driver, a self-described neo-Nazi, has been charged with first-degree murder in the incident. READ MORE: Bigotry and ignorance shouldnt be Americas reality The plaque is not historically accurate in the slightest, Johnson wrote to the State Preservation Board, which oversees the Texas Capitols contents and grounds. Johnson, who is African-American, had recently moved into an office near the plaque which really should be an affront to all Texans. It claims, among other things, that the Civil War was not a rebellion, nor was its underlying cause to sustain slavery. Thats flatly dishonest, which is why a number of Johnsons colleagues, including House Speaker Joe Straus, have seconded his call to remove this particular plaque. And its puzzling that Gov. Greg Abbottwho met with Johnson last October, and chairs the State Preservation Boardhas so far refused to weigh in on the issue. In the wake of the violence in Charlottesville, Abbott had offered a boilerplate objection to racially motivated violence, along with a bromide that made it clear he would like to avoid being asked to show any leadership on a question that might rankle a few members of the Republican base. If we do not learn from our history, we are doomed to repeat it, the governor said in his statement. He continued, Tearing down monuments won't erase our nation's past, and it doesn't advance our nation's future. The historical record is clear about a few things, though. For example, our declaration of secession, issued in 1861, argues that Texas was admitted to the union as a state maintaining and protecting the institution known as negro slavery and accuses the federal government of trying to destroy that institution. In 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered, meaning that the Confederate States of America lost the Civil War. And since then Texans have not been as prone to wallowing in grievances related to the Confederacys defeat as some southerners have been or as open to coddling the subset of Texans who are determined to do so. READ MORE: Misreading Republican voters is a mistake for Republican leaders In 2009, for example, the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles rejected a request, from the state chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, to issue a specialty license plate, which would have featured the Confederate flag. A lawsuit ensued, which resulted in a 2015 Supreme Court ruling, in Walker v. Texas, which found that the state could not be compelled to issue such plates, which would imply the governments endorsement of their speech. That ruling, as it happened, was handed down the day after the Charleston shooting. In other words, Texas should have been poised to lead the way in the ensuing national debate over how Americans might remember our history without valorizing the Confederate rebellion or its underlying cause, which was slavery. And some Texans have managed to do so. Its a shame that our governor has not been among them, thus far. Perhaps one day he will hit the history books. In the meantime, Johnson is right about the Confederate plaque in the Texas Capitol and Abbott should stop stonewalling over what is, in fact, an easy call. A new Texas law named after a Harris County rape victim known as "Jenny" will guarantee that victims and witnesses held in custody to ensure their testimony will be given access to attorneys at public hearings. Signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday, Senate Bill 291 requires that potential witnesses be provided court-appointed attorneys at public hearings before they could be ordered held in custody at the behest of prosecutors to ensure their testimony, as Jenny was. The law, which state lawmakers and public officials called a key step forward in safeguarding crime victims' rights, also requires that a witness be able to request a hearing after 24 hours of being confined, and another rehearing after 15 days. It will go into effect on Sept. 1. The legislation was dubbed "Jenny's Law" after the 25-year-old rape victim's travails in the Harris County criminal justice system. She was jailed for more than a month in late 2015 and early 2016 by Harris County prosecutors who wanted to ensure her testimony at the trial of Keith Edward Hendricks, a serial rapist who was ultimately convicted of sexually assaulting her. "This law corrects a horrible abuse of power," said state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, author of the bill. "This is not a defendant in a case. This is an innocent citizen that is being confined and denied their liberty because of the importance of a case, but you can't deny them their rights." Jenny's mother said she was grateful to hear that the bill named after her daughter had become law. She said she is thankful that legislators followed through on their promise to fix what they saw as a flaw in the system. "It doesn't change what happened to Jenny, but at least it's an acknowledgement that it should not happen to anyone else again," she said. Jenny, as she is identified publicly by her attorneys and family, agreed to testify at Hendricks' 2015 trial but experienced a psychological breakdown on the witness stand while describing her 2013 attack. She was then taken to a hospital for treatment. Upon her release, she was jailed for 27 days so that she would testify against Hendricks at his trial in January 2016. In July 2016, Jenny filed a federal lawsuit against prosecutors and Harris County, claiming that her constitutional rights had been violated and that her jailing amounted to being "re-raped." Jenny and her attorneys further claimed that the court order - called a "writ of attachment" - used to jail her was illegally obtained. The new law is specifically designed to protect witnesses being held under writs of attachment, a legal process Whitmire said is not often used. In passing the legislation, lawmakers had difficulty determining how common the practice was across the state. Another part of the law will now require that county court officials report the use of a writ of attachment to the Texas Judicial Council no later than 30 days after one was issued. "The secrecy around it was alarming," Whitmire said of Jenny's case. "And we wanted them to start reporting it because you can't fix things you don't know about." Jenny's case touched off a national scandal and became a dominant issue in the Harris County District Attorney's race. A Houston Chronicle investigation published in April revealed that law enforcement authorities in Houston and Harris County missed multiple opportunities to convict Hendrick for allegedly raping numerous homeless women in Houston. He committed Jenny's rape weeks after a prosecutor dismissed a prior rape charge as part of a plea deal. Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg has endorsed the legislation, as have other prosecutors and justice-advocacy groups. In November's election, Ogg, a Democrat, defeated incumbent Republican Devon Anderson, who said jailing Jenny was unfortunate but necessary to make sure Hendricks was finally convicted. "Victims of sexual assault and other crimes will never again be jailed, and their traumas exacerbated, solely by prosecutors willing to sacrifice them for a conviction," Ogg said in a prepared statement Friday. "Recognizing that victims have due process rights, including the right to counsel when their liberty is at stake, is a historic milestone in the national victims' rights movement." WASHINGTON - After Hurricane Harvey flooded much of Houston - including the hotly contested Seventh Congressional District - Republican incumbent John Culberson used his position on the House Appropriations Committee to stamp his name on billions of dollars in disaster recovery funds. By February, he could claim a leading hand in securing $141 billion in congressional appropriations to help the victims of the 2017 hurricanes in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico. But as the nine-term congressman faces an unusually tough reelection against Democratic challenger Lizzie Pannill Fletcher, the citys troubled history of flooding and the federal governments long backlog of flood control projects has come under sharp political attack. Fletcher, a Houston attorney making her first run for office, argues that Houstonians are paying the price for Culbersons small government philosophy and a Republican-led Congress that she says has been slow to fund critical improvements to the Addicks and Barker dams, both aging structures that were deemed to be at high risk of failure as early as 2004. She also has homed in on key votes cast by Culberson, who she labels a climate change skeptic, saying that they undermined flood prevention efforts in Texas and across the country. We cant just look at the last nine months, she said in an interview. We need to look at the last nine terms. Fletchers focus on flood infrastructure in the lead-up to Harvey comes as many Democratic candidates, trying to win back control of Congress, have made opposition to President Donald Trump a centerpiece of their campaigns. Fletcher too opposes Trump on a swath of issues from health care to immigration, issues on which Culberson has lined up with the president. But in the affluent, historically Republican district that bore the brunt of spillovers from the Addicks and Barker reservoirs, the trauma from Harvey crosses party lines. Harvey was life-changing for so many people, especially in this district, Fletcher said. For people who have been affected by Harvey, this is The Issue, or the Number One issue. When it comes to flood control, Culberson is ceding no ground, saying that he sees flood control as an essential part of protecting the quality of life in Houston. Ive always made sure the Army Corps and the Flood Control District receive every single dollar they have ever asked for, Culberson said in an interview. They cannot receive more than they ask for, by law. Culberson also calls the charge that hes a climate change denier absurd. Of course I understand the climate is changing, he said. I just want to know the facts. A former state representative who runs as a Jeffersonian Republican, Culberson arrived in Congress in 2001, the same year Tropical Storm Allison flooded downtown Houston. Since that time, he says he has secured more than $322 million in federal funds for Brays Bayou, Buffalo Bayou and White Oak Bayou, critical waterways that are supposed to keep Houston dry. Federal, state and local governments have spent millions for flood control over the years in the region surrounding Houston, the nations fourth-largest city. But long-sought improvements to the 1940s-era Addicks and Barker dams -the citys primary bulwark against flooding - have undergone a tortured history of legal, bureaucratic and political wrangling. While even Democrats acknowledge that theres plenty of blame to go around, much of it stemming from modern development pressures that have stretched the earthen structures beyond capacity, some focus their attention on Congress and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which built and operate the two dams. When we need monetary solutions, it is on Congress to act, Fletcher said. And its on our representative to make sure it gets done. Culberson said thats exactly what hes done, noting that he helped secure the $72 million in funding to replace the dams spill gate structures, which have been the focus of concern. Once the Corps recommended they be replaced, I made sure they got very dollar they needed, he said. That work is fully funded and underway. Even before Fletcher won a hard-fought primary runoff against progressive activist Laura Moser last month, Democrats in Washington were preparing the case against Culberson, suggesting that his anti-tax, ideologically-conservative world view had left the citys infrastructure needs wanting. A March 6 memo from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee cast Culberson as a career politician out of touch with his district. In particular, Democrats pointed to Culbersons vote against a 2007 spending bill funding emergency response and preparedness in flood zones across the country. They also criticized his votes against the 2007 Dam Rehabilitation and Repair Act and a procedural measure in 2011 to reauthorize the troubled National Flood Insurance Program. Culberson aids explained that the 2007 disaster relief bill, including $6.8 billion for Gulf Coast hurricane relief, faced a veto threat from then President George W. Bush because it also tied billions in defense spending to overseas troop withdrawals. He ultimately supported a bill that removed the controversial troop withdrawal provisions and provided $7.6 billion for disaster relief, much of it stemming from Hurricane Katrina. Culbersons office said the disputed dam legislation created a grant program for states in rehabilitating non-federally owned dams. Since Addicks and Barker are owned entirely by the federal government, they would not have benefited from the program. And on the flood insurance program, Culberson said that all he voted against was a Democratic procedural trick vote. Ultimately, he voted in support of the final bill, and has continued to cast votes funding the program, even as some conservative Republicans have criticized it for insolvency and overspending. More significantly, Culberson also was the only Texas Republican in Congress to support the $50 billion relief effort after Superstorm Sandy devastated parts of the East Coast in 2012. That vote inoculated him from charges of hypocrisy leveled at other conservative Texas lawmakers who sought more help from Washington in the wake of Harvey. But the heart of the dispute over Culbersons record on storm damage and flood control centers on Addicks and Barker, long a source of contention in Houston. Internal Army Corps documents unearthed as part of a 2011 Sierra Club lawsuit show that engineers have been concerned at least since 2004 that the two structures could be at high risk of failure due to seepage, erosion and piping issues. In 2009, Addicks and Barker got the Corps worst safety classification, rating them among the six most dangerous in the country, at risk of catastrophic failure. The Corps made some structural repairs in 2012, but it wasnt until 2015 that studies were completed and designs approved for the $72 million effort to construct new outlet gates. Culberson cites his ranking position on the Appropriations Committee for securing that money, and argues that apart from the gates, the dams are sound. But the project was still underway last August when Harveys flood waters peaked, forcing officials to release water that flooded downstream neighborhoods. Jim Blackburn, a Houston environmental lawyer who filed the Sierra Club lawsuit, said that even with the new gates, some of the structural issues associated with the reservoir levees have not been addressed. That is on Rep. Culberson, among others, Blackburn said. He has been on the Appropriations Committee for a long time and did not secure the funding to get this work done. He let the community down on Addicks and Barker. But Blackburn doesnt only blame Culberson. It was clear that both congressional representatives and state and local politicians were more concerned about getting the Corps permits issued for the Grand Parkway than they were about fixing Addicks and Barker, he said. I hold Rep. Culberson and all of our elected officials, Democratic and Republican, (responsible) for the poor state of Addicks and Barker and the poor state of communications between the Corps and the citizens supposedly served by the Corps. Others familiar with the annual infrastructure spending process say the Corps is perennially underfunded. It currently has a backlog of $100 billion in projects nationwide that have been approved by Congress, but not yet funded, according to Texas A&M professor Leonard Waterworth, a former Army Corps district commander in Galveston. But much hinges on congressional politics and Congress as a whole, Waterworth said, is not very proactive. Culberson says he is trying to address that though new provisions in a pending water infrastructure bill that would expedite Army Corps studies for Houston and Coastal Texas. Some Congress watchers also blame the GOPs 2011 moratorium on earmarks - congressionally directed spending that hit the skids after notorious abuses like Alaskas $220 million Bridge to Nowhere. The ban took the purse strings out of the hands of individual lawmakers for their districts, effectively nationalizing major infrastructure decisions inside the White House and the Office of Management and Budget. In the wake of Harvey, Culberson has called for a return to a congressional earmarking process for flood control projects, saying it would take critical local spending decisions out of the hands of unelected bureaucrats. But for now, there seems to be little appetite in Congress to bring back earmarks, which were a popular target of the Tea Party movement in 2010. Others point to the need for many Army Corps flood control projects to be funded first through local taxing authorities before being reimbursed by the federal government, a cumbersome process that slows down work. The problem is they dont have up-front financing, said Bill Kelly, the government relations director for the city of Houston. But beyond financing, Culberson and other local officials also have been blamed for not anticipating that a major storm like Harvey could overfill the Addicks and Barker reservoirs and flood the surrounding neighborhoods - information that the Corps had allegedly forecast before it was forced to spill water out of the dams and into the Buffalo Bayou, flooding nearly 10,000 homes downstream. In response, Culberson called in February for the Justice Department to investigate whether the Corps violated any laws by failing to alert the public to its own forecasts before Harvey hit. Corps officials in Houston said they did brief local officials on their flooding projections, but that it was up to the municipal authorities to decide what to do with the information. Whoever is to blame, Fletcher views the communication failure as part of her case against Culberson. Its more than just not being a leader, she said. What we need is a real partner who believes that the federal government has a role to play here. Said Culberson: My responsibility is to ensure that the Army Corps and the Flood Control District have every dollar they ask for, and Ive done so. kevin.diaz@chron.com A former Harris County Sheriff's deputy was given a lengthy prison sentence Thursday in a child pornography case that a veteran Houston federal judge called "one of the most disagreeable cases" he had seen on the bench. Andrew C. Sustaita Jr., 31, a former patrol officer, stood handcuffed in an orange jail uniform and rubber shoes, eyes downcast, as U.S. District Judge Sim Lake ordered him into the custody of the Bureau of Prisons for more than 27 years. The judge added a lifetime of supervision after Sustaita is released from prison, and no contact with children without the express permission of a probation officer. FULL STORY: Ex-Harris County deputy sentenced for "horrific" child pornography The judge said the images found on Sustaita's electronic devices of babies and children being sexually abused were "some of most horrific" he'd seen. The case also involved multiple lewd videos of a child who had been an invited guest for a sleepover at the defendant's home, which the judge called particularly troubling. "This was not an easy case, in fact, it's one of the most disagreeable cases I've ever presided over," Lake said. The devastating emotional impact to the child victim and her family became apparent when the girl's mother addressed the ex-deputy for several minutes before a packed courtroom, reading a statement that framed Sustaita, a family friend, as the personification of evil, a monster hiding in plain sight. "These victims can't escape what he did to them," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Sherri Zack, explaining that it's impossible to stem the damage for children in the videos, who could be exposed on the Internet for many years. Sustaita also addressed the judge and made a tearful statement, expressing remorse for his actions, the impact on his family, former colleagues in law enforcement and the victims. He said he also feared what's to come for him. His attorney Nathan Hennigan said after the hearing that his client is truly sorry. "He fully accepted the heinous nature of what he did and understands the damage he caused," Hennigan said. "Andy is extremely remorseful to the victim, the victim's family, to his own family, to the law enforcement community, to everyone who his actions have reached." Sustaita pleaded guilty Mar. 15 to possessing and producing child pornography images. Gabrielle Banks covers federal court for the Houston Chronicle. Follow her on Twitter or send her tips at gabrielle.banks@chron.com. As she campaigns for another court seat this fall, a former Harris County judge who jailed a mentally-ill rape victim is fighting disciplinary sanctions by the states watchdog agency, insisting her actions did not violate judicial standards. Stacey W. Bond, who presided over Harris Countys 176th state district court from 2013 to 2016, is scheduled to present oral arguments in Austin next Monday before the Texas Supreme Court. The former district judge is challenging disciplinary action by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct which concluded she violated the rights of an alleged rape victim by issuing a court order that landed the woman in county jail. Bond declined to comment about the matter. But her attorney, Mac Secrest, said the commissions disciplinary action against the judge was inconsistent with the actual facts of this matter and with applicable law. We look forward to having an opportunity to fully and fairly explain just what actually occurred in this unfortunate incident, he said. The commission cited Bond in March for her actions involving a witness known as Jane Doe or Jenny, who had a mental breakdown while testifying in a December 2015 sexual assault trial against serial rapist Keith Edward Hendricks. Her plight, and that of other woman victimized by Hendricks, was highlighted in Serial Indifference, a four-part investigation by Houston Chronicle. Bond issued a bench warrant to ensure Jenny would resume her testimony at the next court session, according to commissions findings. INVESTIGATION: Serial Indifference: How the criminal justice system allowed a serial rapist in Houston to go free Following her testimony and breakdown that day, Jenny was committed to a mental hospital, and then transferred to the Harris County jail for more nearly a month where she was assaulted by an inmate and was charged after an altercation with a guard. The victims jailing spurred Jennys Law, signed into law one year ago by Gov. Greg Abbott, which guarantees witnesses or victims in sexual assault cases a court-appointed lawyer and a formal hearing before a judge can order them into custody to secure their testimony at trial. NEW LAW: Abbott signs 'Jenny's law' to protect rape victims whose testimony is compelled by prosecutors Bond, 50, won the March 6 Republican primary and is on the November ballot for state district judge in the 185th district court, a judgeship vacated by veteran Judge Susan Browns forthcoming retirement. Her Democratic opponent for the bench, Jason Luong, declined to comment on the matter, calling it an unfortunate incident. "I will let the judicial review process play itself out it," he said. At a February hearing before the commission, Bond testified she was unaware the woman known as Jenny had been jailed as a result of her order, adding she felt ridiculously, horribly sorry about not fully vetting the order she signed at a prosecutors request. The commission ruled it was improper for Bond to subject this witness to a bench warrant to ensure her testimony at trial, since Jenny was not under subpoena at the time she was detained at the Harris County jail. The judicial panel determined Bond denied her due process and an opportunity to be heard on the matter. LAWSUIT: Rape victim jailed after breakdown on witness stand files federal lawsuit According to the commissions findings, Jenny had been homeless and was hospitalized for mental illness following her incoherent testimony at Hendricks rape trial. Officials overheard her saying outside the courthouse that she did not intend to return to the stand when the case resumed in several weeks. Bond testified before the Austin commission that her intention in issuing the order was not to jail Jenny, but to allow the district attorneys office to bring the witness to the court, either from a psychiatric facility if she remained there at the time of trial, or to Bonds court if she was released. Then, the former judge said she would have conferred with Jenny so I could admonish her about the importance of appearing on the trial date and place her on a P.R. bond. Instead, the rape victim was taken to the county lockup, where she was accidentally booked as a defendant, rather than a witness. Jenny remained in general population at the downtown facility for 27 days during which time a fellow inmate assaulted her, forcing her head onto the concrete floor. The jailed woman also had an altercation with a guard, which resulted a felony charge for assaulting a public servant. That charge was subsequently dismissed by the district attorney, according to documents. Bond testified to the commission that she did not know the witness had been released from St. Joseph Hospital or that she had been placed at the county jail prior to her appearance when the trial resumed on Jan. 11, 2016. The form she signed for the warrant, she told the commission at her February hearing, was provided by the clerk and likely filled out by prosecutor and she signed it. I did not read it as carefully as youre describing, and Im ridiculously, horribly sorry that I did not, she told the judicial panel. She violated several judicial canons - failing to maintain professional competence, grant the witness access to a lawyer or the right to be heard and promote the publics confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary, according to the sanction. The panel also concluded she violated the Texas constitution by denying the woman due process and engaging willfully in conduct that is clearly inconsistent with the proper performance of (her) duties. In addition to her years on the bench, Bond served more than six years as a prosecutor and more than 14 as a criminal defense lawyer. She is now handling cases as a solo practitioner. gabrielle.banks@chron.com twitter.com/gabmobanks Harris County residents with flood insurance whose homes flooded during Hurricane Harvey received, on average, more than $100,000 more to rebuild than neighbors who had to rely solely on FEMA benefits, the Harris County Flood Control Districts meteorologist said Wednesday. At a flooding conference held by the Houston Geological Society at the University of Houston, meteorologist Jeff Lindner said the average flood insurance payout to homeowners who flooded was $120,000. Homeowners who took on water, lacked flood insurance and applied for recovery assistance through FEMA received just $4,000 to $7,000, on average. The disparity is more significant since most of the homes Harvey swamped were outside the 100-year flood plain, where residents are required to enroll in the National Flood Insurance Program. Of the 154,170 homes in Harris County that flooded about 11 percent of the entire housing stock 105,000 were outside the flood plain, Lindner said. Just 36 percent of homeowners who flooded had flood insurance, which is excluded from most insurance policies. TRUMP: Many Texans watched Harvey from their boats, requiring Coast Guard rescue Lindner said Harvey showed the need for residents to obtain flood insurance even if they live outside the 100-year flood plain as currently marked. Though Harvey dumped far more rain 1 trillion gallons on Harris County than any other storm, it only set records in 13 of the countys 22 watersheds. White Oak Bayou, for example, reached a higher level during Tropical Storm Allison in 2001. Bob Hunter, a former director of the National Flood Insurance Program, said outdated flood plain maps across the country have deceived homeowners into believing they do not need flood insurance. New construction displaces water and forces more runoff into bayous and detention basins, he said. The older the maps are, the more inadequate they are in terms of predicting risk, Hunter said. If you put cement down for parking lots, the water goes up. Part of a $2.5 billion flood infrastructure bond proposed by Harris County would fund engineering studies to better understand how different watersheds flood, Harris County Judge Ed Emmett said last week. That would help homeowners make an informed decision about whether they should purchase flood insurance. The Harris County Commissioners Court has beefed up its regulation of construction outside the 100-year flood plain by adopting new post-Harvey rules, including requiring all new structures to be built high enough to stay dry in a 500-year storm. The bond, which the court plans to put before voters on the one-year anniversary of Harvey on Aug. 25, would fund many flood infrastructure improvements, including stormwater detention basins, channel modifications and buyouts for more than 1,000 homes in the flood plain. QUIZ: Affected by Harvey? Take this survey On Wednesday, Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush announced $35.4 million in federal funds to Harris County for additional buyouts of flood-prone homes. That sum could pay for 160 homes and help residents move out of the flood plain, Bush said in a statement. The grant comes a week after Harris County received an initial $26.5 million from the federal government. Coupled with $8.6 million in locally matched funds, commissioners plan to use it to buy out around 169 flood-prone homes. The total funded buyouts to date, around 330, is well below the 1,000 the county had asked the federal government to pay for after Harvey, but officials expect FEMA to dole out additional grants in the future. Harris County has purchased and razed about 3,000 flood-prone homes since the 1980s. The flood control district makes homes two feet or deeper in the floodplain a priority for purchase. About 3,300 homes meet this criterion. A Houston woman accused of drunkenly driving after midnight on the wrong side of a busy freeway appeared in a Harris County courtroom Thursday where she asked for time to hire an attorney. Elizabeth Nichols, 22, has been charged with driving while intoxicated, a misdemeanor, and possession of cocaine, a felony. Nichols was arrested Wednesday after Houston police said she drove on the North Freeway near Crosstimbers around 12:40 a.m. and began driving northbound in the southbound lanes. EARLIER: Woman accused of drunkenly driving in the wrong direction Nichols was allegly driving 60 mph on the shoulder after maneuvering across all the lanes of traffic, said Houston Police Department Lt. S. Reece. Several cars swerved to miss her, but officers caught up to her near West Road and shut down the freeway to avoid any crashes. She appeared before state District Judge Brock Thomas in the countys reintegration court, which is the first stop for suspects accused of low-level non-violent drug offenses. Nichols remains free on a personal bond. She can opt to stay in the reintegration court which could land her in a specialty drug court and may end up in a rehabilitation program, or she can choose to fight the case and be moved to a standard court. Thomas read her statutory rights and imposed bond conditions including drug and alcohol testing. In hushed tones at the bench, she said she wanted time to hire an attorney and to be considered for a court-appointed attorney. brian.rogers@chron.com The 25-year-old rape victim, frightened and long-suffering from mental illness, agreed in December to testify against the Houston man who brutally assaulted her in 2013. She hoped to put him behind bars for life. But that decision landed her in the Harris County jail for more than a month over the Christmas holiday - terrified, helpless and hopeless, according to a federal lawsuit filed this week in Houston. The woman, diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, had a mental breakdown on the witness stand and then was jailed by Harris County prosecutors who feared she wouldn't come back to court. "They didn't care. They got what they wanted," the woman's mother said Wednesday about the Harris County District Attorney's Office. "She was collateral damage and they didn't care what happened to her." News about the case shocked Houston's defense attorneys and advocates for rape victims. More for you Ogg calls on DA for independent investigation into jailing of rape victim "That is beyond ludicrous," said Lavinia Masters, a sexual assault victims advocate. "I'm amazed that a judge would allow that. You're further victimizing a victim." District Attorney Devon Anderson said the woman, who was homeless when she was raped, was going through a "life-threatening mental health crisis" and told prosecutors she was not going to return to testify. "If nothing was done to prevent the victim from leaving Harris County in the middle of trial, a serial rapist would have gone free - and her life would have been at risk while homeless on the street," Anderson said in a video statement. "This was an extraordinarily difficult and unusual situation. There were no apparent alternatives that would ensure both the victim's safety and her appearance in trial." She defended the prosecutor named in the lawsuit, Nicholas Socias, and said any claim that her office does not support crime victims is "outrageous." The woman is identified as Jane Doe in the lawsuit. The Houston Chronicle is not naming the mother because of its policy not to identify victims of sexual assault. 'Further deter survivors' The lawsuit accuses the district attorney's office, the Harris County Sheriff's Office, prosecutors and jailers of violating the woman's constitutional rights. The suit says she was attacked and abused by inmates and jailers, and was briefly charged with assaulting a jailer. Her mother said she had a black eye when she finally was released in January. Jailing a witness to ensure they testify is an unusual move in Harris County, especially when the witness is not also facing criminal charges. Over the past two decades, there have been a smattering of published accounts of rape victims being jailed across the country. Officials with the Houston Area Women's Center said respecting the dignity of survivors and providing full support are paramount. "We have no direct knowledge of this particular case, but are concerned that sexual assault is already under-reported and that this may further deter survivors from coming forward," said Rebecca White, the center's chief executive officer. The young woman's saga began like the plight of many mentally ill people who stop taking their medication. She ended up homeless on the streets of Houston, her mother said, where she was violently assaulted by serial rapist Keith Edward Hendricks, a vagrant later convicted of luring homeless women to abandoned buildings and raping them while brandishing simple weapons such as box cutters. After Hendricks was arrested, prosecutors built a case against him that included analyzing DNA from rape kits. That led them to the young woman, who is now married and lives in an apartment in a small town in East Texas. By agreement, investigators picked her up on Dec. 7 and brought her to Houston for the trial, her mother said. A day later she took the witness stand and tried to tell her story, but had a psychological breakdown. She was found walking in traffic in front of the Criminal Courthouse in downtown Houston before being committed to a psychiatric ward in a hospital, according to her attorney. Prosecutors told the woman's mother that she would get the best care available. They did not tell her they had gotten a court order to jail her as a material witness. The woman's mother thought she would return to the family's Houston-area home to wait to go back to court. But when she was released from the hospital on Dec. 18, an armed investigator with the district attorney's office handcuffed her and took her to the Harris County Jail. Booking records suggested she was a suspect of sexual assault and not a witness, according to the lawsuit. The sheriff's office on Wednesday said she was housed in the general population because there was no order to isolate her. "Had an order to 'keep separate' been issued, (the woman) would have been housed in a separation cell in accordance with the court's order," sheriff's officials said in a written statement. An unusual order Sean Buckley, the attorney representing the woman, noted that the district attorney's office, the largest in Texas, has an entire division dedicated to helping victims, including shepherding victims' families to court and making sure they understand the process. Instead, Buckley said, prosecutors used a state law designed to corral uncooperative witnesses. "It goes beyond just negligence," Buckley said. "The DA's office could have resolved this by just giving her victims' services and helping her instead of trying to control her out of laziness." Buckley said he has occasionally seen the procedure used, but never for a victim of rape. "Because the prosecutors and the victim-witness division employees were scheduled to be on vacation over the holiday break, they did not want the responsibility of having to monitor Jane Doe's well being or provide victim services to her during the holiday recess," Buckley wrote in the suit. Other Houston lawyers agreed that it was an unusual order. "There should be a less oppressive and less coercive way to get her to testify," said Vivian King, a lawyer who is not connected to the case. "The way she was treated was deplorable. We already use jail too much." While in the jail's general population, the woman was attacked by another inmate, who smashed her head into the concrete floor, according to the suit. As the days stretched into weeks, she was unable to get medication routinely. When she pleaded for psychiatric help from the medical staff, she was refused, the suit says. "The Harris County Jail psychiatric staff believed that Jane Doe was disoriented because she absurdly believed she was an innocent rape victim," according to the lawsuit. "Jane Doe found herself hopelessly trapped in a bizarre plot pulled from a Kafka novel." Before she was able to testify, Buckley said, she had another psychiatric breakdown. Jail records show that she was in her cell screaming at a wall with her hands in the air, pleading for help from God. That episode led to an altercation with jailers. Flailing around as she was being pulled out of the cell, she apparently took a swing and caught a female jailer in the face. That jailer returned the punch, giving the woman a black eye. She was then charged with assaulting a jailer, a felony that remained pending until after she testified. The judge who signed the order to jail the woman as a witness had the assault charge moved to another court, writing that she was sympathetic to the young woman. "This defendant testified as a complaining witness in a jury trial before me. I have a great deal of sympathy for this individual," state District Judge Stacey Bond wrote on the transfer order. "It would be improper for me to oversee her case. I would feel terrible about punishing her." The charge was dropped after she testified. Buckley, the woman's attorney, said he had no quarrel with the judge, because she was relying on statements from prosecutors. The judge did not return calls for comment. Unspecified damages sought On Jan. 11, the woman returned to court and testified against Hendricks, who was convicted and received two life sentences. During the month the woman was in jail, her mother had been frantically calling and e-mailing officials without result. She said prosecutors lied to her and then misled her about whether her daughter could be released. She finally reached a kind ear with an official in the County Attorney's Office and her daughter was released on Jan. 14, more than a month after she was first committed. When she was released, the mother cried as she hugged her daughter again. It had been frustrating, the mother said Wednesday, because her daughter was locked up without being charged. No attorney had been appointed to her case and she was denied the general protections afforded to the thousands of suspects in the jail. She is seeking unspecified damages in her lawsuit, but her attorney said it could end up costing the county millions of dollars. "The only response from anyone should be, 'I am so sorry. This is something that we need to look at very closely, we are investigating it and this is just tragic,'" Buckley said. "Any other kind of wiggling out of it is just another version of victim blaming." President Donald Trump has pushed for a return to the moon by NASA astronauts and an increase in the commercialization of space since taking office last year but it became clear Wednesday that his outer space ambitions are at odds with the goals of many public citizens and those in Congress. The Pew Research Center on Wednesday morning released a study showing that nearly half of the 2,500 Americans polled between March 27 and April 9 are opposed to NASA astronauts returning to the moon. Instead, 63 percent want the space agency to focus on climate monitoring. Missions for human astronauts to explore Mars and return to the moon are among NASAs most high-profile programs, according to the Pew center. However, compared with other NASA programs, fewer Americans say such space exploration should be a top priority. But Trumps $19.9 billion NASA budget proposal for the coming fiscal year funnels billions of dollars to human exploration. His budget tasks the space agency with sending Americans around the moon in 2023, while also setting aside $504.2 million in the coming year to begin working on the foundation of a $2.7 billion Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway basically, a mini-space station orbiting the moon where astronauts could live and work. In April, NASA abruptly ended a $250 million rover mission meant to find water on the moon. CANCELLATION: NASA spent $100M on much-anticipated lunar rover before scrapping it Trumps budget, which still must be approved by Congress, would ax five climate change programs and eliminate federal funding for the International Space Station by the end of 2024, transitioning operations to commercial entities. But several U.S. senators denounced Trumps space station plan Wednesday, calling the idea foolish and the date arbitrary. Over the space stations 20-year lifetime, taxpayers have invested $100 billion, said U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, at a meeting Wednesday of the Senate Subcommittee on Space, Science and Competitiveness. It is my firm belief that we should not prematurely end its life. Funding for the space station is scheduled to stop after 2024, but Congress can extend that end date. NASA officials already have said that the space station can safely remain operational until at least 2028. Those who testified Wednesday stressed the importance of keeping a U.S. foothold in low Earth orbit, where the space station flies. In order to preserve our leadership in space, the United States must not relinquish uninterrupted access to [low Earth orbit] for its astronauts, said Michael Suffredini, CEO and president of Axiom Space, a Houston-based company that wants to build the first commercial space station. The United States must maintain its uninterrupted access to the space station to safeguard our position as the worlds preeminent space-faring nation, Suffredini said. Americans polled by Pew seemed to agree with his sentiment: 65 percent said they believe NASAs continued involvement in space exploration is essential. But 1-in-4 have a great deal of confidence that private companies will build safe and reliable spacecraft and rockets. Although most Americans believe that NASA still has an essential role to play in the exploration of space, they also express confidence that private companies can make meaningful contributions in such areas as developing safe spacecraft and conducting research to expand scientific knowledge, according to the polls results. The fear among senators is that commercial companies will not be able to step up to fill the governments funding role. Just in fiscal year 2017, NASA spent $1.45 billion on the space station and that doesnt count costs to transport astronauts and supplies there. We cannot afford to allow funding for the space station to crater in 2025, said U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts. What we need is a nuanced transition plan for the next great space age that reflects the commercial market and the space communitys. Thats not what this administration put forward. The space station acts as a science laboratory in the stars, allowing researchers to study a myriad of problems in a zero gravity environment. Already, these studies are showing promise for solving problems, such as muscle atrophy, on Earth. But Cynthia Bouthot, with the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, said Wednesday that companies are already getting nervous about the mere suggestion that funding may end. The Florida-based center manages the space stations lab. We already have anecdotal evidence from companies that once they heard the 2025 date, they really started pulling back and questioning, she said. QUESTION MARK: Three major NASA projects in limbo because of delays, cancellations Among the science happening in orbit are numerous studies that will help NASA determine how to get humans to Mars safely, though only 18 percent of Americans polled by Pew thought going to Mars should be a top priority. We couldnt go further without the ISS, Jim Chilton, senior vice president of the Space and Launch division of Boeing Defense, Space & Security testified Wednesday. We need the space station to prove out deep space exploration. alex.stuckey@chron.com Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said he would likely seek to part ways with a deputy arrested Wednesday morning on a charge of domestic violence. If you show any propensity for family violence, youre not someone we want in this agency, Salazar said after detailing a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon against Bexar County Deputy Andrew McDermott. Its not always so easy to sever ties, though. Take the case of Bexar County Deputy Ronald Bailey, whom Salazar removed from patrol duty last week and placed under internal investigation after racist memes surfaced on his Facebook account. About three years earlier, the sheriffs office found that Bailey had violated Sheriffs Office policy and procedures by violating the law and holding a knife to his sons throat, the latest in a string of domestic violence allegations stretching back to 2004, according to court records. (Despite the BCSOs finding, a jury acquitted Bailey of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in 2016.) Read more: A 'propensity for violence' and racism In fact, the cases of Bailey and McDermott are remarkably similar. Both have a history of facing domestic violence allegations. Both were found to have violated use-of-force policies. Yet, if Baileys career arc is any indication, McDermott has a decent chance of keeping his job. In 2015, the most severe discipline the sheriffs office could muster against Bailey for the alleged incident with his son was a five-day suspension a reduced action that apparently followed third-party arbitration sought by the deputy sheriffs union. It is imperative that you conduct your personal life in a manner that will not reflect negatively on the Sheriffs Office, stated an agreed order of suspension against Bailey. As a Bexar County Sheriff Deputy, you are not living up to the high standards that are required by this office. Your conduct is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. At the time of his meager five-day suspension, Bailey had already demonstrated a pattern of troubling behavior, according to court and disciplinary records. In 2004, he was suspended for five days for submitting fake transcripts of classes he obtained online to qualify for a promotion. The following year, in separate incidents, two referrals were made to Child Protective Services alleging hed physically abused a 3-year-old boy and a 7-year-old boy, both sons of former girlfriends. In 2006, CPS found reason to believe Bailey had committed neglectful supervision of a child, causing the boy to leave an apartment and approach a busy street. In 2011, Bailey struck the hand of his then-wife, Hollye Bailey, while she stood outside the drivers side of his vehicle, then drove off, causing her to fall onto a driveway and strike her head; his vehicle contacted her legs, causing injuries. Read more: Attorney defends deputy against claims of racism, violence In 2014, Bailey received a letter of reprimand for using force against a female inmate at the Bexar County Jail and instructing a camera operator not to document it. That year, the sheriffs office also found that all allegations brought by Hollye Bailey against Ronald Bailey were founded, according to court records. In October 2014, Bailey was charged with terroristic threat of family/household in connection with the incident with his son. Nonetheless, in November 2014, he remained a board member of the Deputy Sheriffs Association of Bexar County, according to a newsletter. By 2017, Bailey had become treasurer of the organization. That year, the sheriffs office promoted him from detention to patrol, his troubles apparently behind him. McDermott, 26, has demonstrated a similar pattern of behavior. The deputy has been on unpaid administrative leave since April due to a large number of use-of-force incidents at Bexar County Jail: two in 2016 and four in 2017, Salazar said. Two of the 2017 allegations were unfounded, but McDermott received a 3-day suspension for one of the 2016 incidents, the sheriff said. On Wednesday, McDermott was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, accused of cutting the arm of his estranged wife with a knife. McDermott faced an earlier domestic violence charge in 2016, although it was later dismissed, Salazar said. Nonetheless, the sheriff vowed to consider the totality of McDermotts record, even mulling out loud that he might refile the deputys dismissed charge. If you take a pattern of behavior over an extended period of time, thats certainly cause for concern, Salazar said. Yes but in the end, will it matter? bchasnoff@express-news.net Americans of a certain age likely remember Tennessee Ernie Ford, a TV entertainer whose musical rendition of a coal miners lament, Sixteen Tons, sold millions of records in the mid-1950s. Written a decade earlier by a former Kentucky coal miner, Sixteen Tons opened with the evocative question: You load sixteen tons, what do you get? In his sonorous baritone voice, Ford offered up a doleful reply. What you get when you load sixteen tons of number nine coal, he sang, is another day older and deeper in debt. More than a half century later, Texas Rick Perry, the nations energy secretary, knows whereof Tennessee Ernie sang. Although Perry cant admit it, he knows that coal-mining is a dying industry and, despite its proud tradition, a dangerous, dead end occupation for fewer and fewer American workers. Texas Rick knows that, and yet, bless his little, ol pea-pickin heart as Tennessee Ernie would have exclaimed hes now having to warble his own coal-mining ditty. EARLIER: Rick Perry's dirty coal deal EDITORIAL: We need federal leaders who take climate change seriously ALSO: Natural gas pipelines key to U.S. energy policy Perry has been ordered by President Trump to prepare immediate steps to keep money-losing coal and nuclear plants from shutting down. One plan under consideration is to require operators of the nations electricity grid to buy power or reserve generation capacity from plants scheduled to be retired. Phillip Bump of the Washington Post has compared the Trump/Perry plan to having a failing grocery store in your neighborhood and the government mandating that everyone do enough of their shopping there to keep the place from shutting down. Never mind that we consumers will be paying more for our groceries under the Trump directive. Never mind that coal is losing out in a power market dominated by cheap natural gas and increasingly efficient forms of renewable energy. Whats important is an ongoing effort by the White House to fulfill an implausible Trump campaign promise to bail out the coal and nuclear industries and to reward the operators who are his cronies. Perry, if he wants to keep his job, can only salute his boss and betray his oft-proclaimed faith in the free market. Texans can appreciate the irony. This is the erstwhile governor who was so fed up, he even wrote a book, an impassioned screed decrying federal government intervention. Gov. Perry would have sneered at the blatant government intervention in the free market that Secretary Perry insists is necessary, and he would have scoffed at the national security rationale offered up by the White House. RELATED: North America's energy future on trial in Mexico's presidential campaign ALSO: Anti-pipeline proponents help sell Putin's gas EDITORIAL: Houston needs help from free trade Republicans Perry is also the former governor who presided over the fracking revolution that originated, for the most part, in Texas, as well as a rollicking wind-energy market that now produces as much wind power as the next three states combined. Innovation and the free market led to spectacular successes. Now, of course, Perry and we are at the mercy of a president so ill-informed about the environment that he would reverse the progress weve made with natural gas and renewables. If Trumps unprecedented effort to intervene in the energy market goes forward, whether through mandates or subsidies, then both natural gas and Texas suffers, and so does the rest of the country. Last January, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, dominated by Trump appointees, unanimously rejected a similar scheme that Perrys Energy Department concocted, a scheme that would have bailed out coal and nuclear power plants by raising consumer energy bills. Whether FERC will again object is an open question, but for everyone who cares about the environment and, yes, free markets, Secretary Perry its time to resist again. With one fist of iron and the other of steel to quote ol Tennessee Ernie its time yet again to stand up and fight. If you think the Republicans running our state government really believe in lowering our taxes and sending less of our money to Washington, think again. And think instead about whats happening in Virginia and Maine. Our elected representatives in Austin are throwing away billions of dollars the federal government is ready to send back to Texas. By contrast, Virginia and Maine are on their way to becoming the next states to accept the federal funding that comes with expanding Medicaid. Its way past time our states elected leaders pull their heads out of the partisan sand, listen to the common sense advice of local leaders and expand Medicaid in Texas during the next legislative session. CONGRESSMAN: Medicaid doesn't need a work mandate EDITORIAL: Proposed cuts to health-care program would be life-threatening for many RELATED: Don't let Chase or Amazon control your health care The amount of money were leaving on the table is jaw-dropping. Under the plan passed as part of the Affordable Care Act in 2014, Texas would have received an estimated $100 billion over the course of a decade in exchange for increasing Medicaid eligibility to 138 percent of the poverty line. (Thats $16,642 for individuals, $24,600 for a family of four.) The ACA required the federal government to pay 100 percent of the cost for the first three years, scaling down to 90 percent in 2020. Expanding the number of poor people covered by Medicaid would relieve a huge burden carried by Harris County taxpayers. The state puts indigent health care on the backs of county governments, which are only permitted to collect property taxes. The Harris Health System presently cares for more than 200,000 uninsured patients uninsured patients at a cost of more than $805 million a year, a bill that would drop dramatically if the state would expand Medicaid coverage. Getting more people on Medicaid would also ease overcrowding in emergency rooms, where uninsured folks turn up for routine care because they know ERs cant legally turn away patients. RELATED: Does Medicaid need a co-pay? ALSO: Refusing Medicaid funds hurts Texas Small wonder Harris County leaders including Republicans like County Judge Ed Emmett and Commissioner Steve Radack are outspoken advocates for expanding Medicaid coverage. As Emmett astutely points out, its not a question of whether you support or oppose Obamacare; its a question of whos going to foot the bill for covering poor people. As it stands now, the whole burden is carried by Harris County property taxes. If Texas expands Medicaid, the county could recover some of that expense from the federal government tax money weve already paid to Washington. Instead of accepting all that Medicaid money, Gov. Greg Abbott joined by the rest of the states GOP leadership parrots the partisan line that Obamacare is broken and insists Texas can take care of its own health-insurance problems. Never mind weve proven we cant, because weve got more uninsured people than any other state. Texas shrugs the burden of indigent health care onto county governments and county taxpayers but state leaders wont let them tap federal funds that would help pay the tab. EARLIER: Medicaid refusals create new Mason-Dixon Line RELATED: Legislators need to back Health and Human Services Commission Meanwhile, voters in a number of other states have made it clear theyre tired of this wasteful nonsense. In Virginia, after Republicans almost lost control of the House of Delegates in an election focused largely on health care, the state Senate last month finally decided to add 400,000 people to the Medicaid rolls. In Maine, voters forced the hand of recalcitrant state leaders by passing a referendum approving Medicaid expansion; a court last week ordered the governor to quit dragging his feet and get the job done. Utah will apparently hold its own referendum in November, and voters in Idaho say theyve also collected enough signatures to put the issue on the ballot. With Maine and Virginia jumping onto the bandwagon, and if Utah and Idaho pass their referenda, Texas become one of only 15 states still rejecting Medicaid funding. Harris County leaders are right; theres no good reason why our state should leave this money on the table. Texas should join the growing majority of states that have expanded Medicaid. The Trump administration likes to evaluate public policy on the basis of whether its a good deal or a bad deal. This transactional approach suggests that good policy creates more dollars than costs for the federal treasury, and bad policy does the opposite. How would that apply to the administrations decision to allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge? First, lets look at the costs. EDITORIAL: The fracking revolution has changed the debate over drilling the Alaskan wilderness The Arctic refuge in the northeast coast of Alaska was first protected by President Dwight Eisenhower to to preserve unique wildlife, wilderness, and recreational values in the area. This policy decision has enjoyed support from Republicans and Democrats alike for nearly 60 years. The coastal plain of the refuge, where drilling would occur, is among the most remote places in the United States. Other than a few settlements and a single road, its million acres are completely untouched by man and civilization. By virtue of this pristine condition, the refuge has become a place of regeneration for hundreds of different species of mammals (including polar bears that den and caribou that calve there) as well as bird species that migrate there from every state in the union. On top of that, this place is sacred and essential to the lives of the native Gwichin people who have lived in that region for more than 10,000 years. ROOSEVELT IV: Interior secretary must defend public lands The Trump administrations plan to begin petroleum exploration and drilling which means roads, heavy equipment, pipelines and inevitable spills and pollution would scar this region forever. The footprint of the drilling operations would be vast, disruptive and destructive. The regions land, water and social structure would never recover. Now, lets look at the benefits of opening the refuge to drilling. How much would the federal government receive? The U.S. government will receive a royalty of 12.5 percent of the profits generated by oil production in the refuge. The value of the royalty stream is very difficult to quantify because it is based on several currently unknowable factors: timing of commencement and duration of extraction activities; volume of oil that is technically and economically extractable; cost of extraction and transportation of oil; and market prices for this oil. We can, however, recognize a few basic facts: Remote reserves are expensive to develop and transport. Future revenues are worth less than revenues today. Even the most aggressive estimates of reserve volumes in the refuge show less than a one percent increase in global production. Its likely that the break-even cost of bringing this oil to market is going to be very high relative to currently productive reserves and even future discoveries. So the federal royalty percentage would be applied to a very thin profit margin, and we would not start seeing any revenues for a decade or more. Its entirely possible that the value of the royalties in current dollars is near zero. The current value of the lease payments the federal government would receive range from $40 million to $100 million. Based on a federal budget of $4.4 trillion, those lease payments would cover the cost of the running the government for roughly five to 11 minutes. Viewed another way, the lease payments would save each of the 138 million taxpayers in the U.S. between $0.29 and $0.72. With this backdrop, we can evaluate the basic terms of the deal that the Trump administration proposes. In a nutshell: We give up the pristine condition of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge today in exchange for an almost immeasurably small down payment (the leasing fee) plus a promise of federal revenue that could be zero or minimal, and in any event would not likely materialize for more than a decade. FROM 2013: As offshore drilling debate heats up, questions of risk surface This deal doesnt sound good, or even fair. Its like asking a real estate developer to sell a building for a small down payment and an unsecured and unquantified payment years out. It wouldnt happen in Trumps business world, and it shouldnt happen on our public lands. Proponents of drilling also minimize the costs not just the cost of drilling but the cost to wildlife, to the Gwichin people and the cost to future generations of Americans. This deal would be a shameful sell out of the publics best interests. Americas wild lands like the Arctic refuge represent an endowment to be managed for both present and future generations. Our stewardship of these lands, which are owned by all Americans, merits wise management that extends beyond near-term political needs. Our wild public lands provide clean air, clean water, wildlife habitat and a link to our natural heritage. We cash them out or sell them off at great peril to the lasting, permanent benefits they can provide. Luzak is a private investor based in Jackson, Wyo. He also has served on The Wilderness Society governing council since 2007 and is a member of the Business Coalition for Conservation and Climate. In the world of anti-violence advocacy, it is a sad narrative we see over and over: A girl says no, and a boy takes offense to her boundary setting, punishing her and those around her. Whether the Santa Fe shooting was an act of revenge is not known. But the epidemic of gender violence is, and there are alarming statistics to back it up. According to the Department of Justices Bureau of Justice Statistics, three women are killed in the United States every day by an intimate partner. In Texas alone, 1 in every 10 murder victims is a woman killed by a former or current intimate partner. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates domestic violence costs our society more than $8 billion annually and has even declared violence a public health crisis. The 1994 passage of the Violence Against Women Act was meant to end gendered violence in our society by supporting the work of law enforcement and community-based organizations like the Houston Area Womens Center , where we offer free and confidential support services to survivors of domestic and sexual violence. Yet nearly a quarter century after VAWA became law, violence is still epidemic in our culture. We have accepted violence in all forms as an inevitable part of our society. Until we acknowledge that we have the power to transform our culture from one of violence to one of empowerment, dignity and equality, our children will continue to suffer. Teen-dating violence statistics are staggering. A third of teens will experience some kind of abuse in romantic relationships, and girls between the ages of 16 to 24 experience the highest rates of dating violence in the U.S. Violence is so normalized in our culture that desiring control over someone, to the point where you pursue them even after they say no, is seen as romantic, not abuse. There is hope. Just as the ripples of violence extend outward and impact us all, so can the ripples of change. Anti-violence advocates, like those of us who work at HAWC, believe that the answer to ending violence requires a coordinated and fearless examination of the root causes of violence. Violence in all forms is connected. Dismantling the web of violence in our culture means rejecting fear-driven values of domination and entitlement and replacing them with values of mutuality, equity and safety. It takes all of us acting in unity: our legislators, our school administrators, our faith and community leaders, ourselves. Each of us has a part in primary prevention. Primary prevention is absolutely critical. We support the national push to integrate social and emotional learning across curricula, across grades (starting in preschool) and across schools. Its about teaching skills like recognizing and expressing ones feelings, nonjudgmental listening, peaceful conflict negotiation and resolution, and affirmative consent and boundaries. HAWC educators currently work with middle and high school students to explore attitudes and beliefs that normalize gender-based violence and to empower students to create safe, healthy relationships based on peaceful communication, mutual consent and equal power. We also work with school faculty, counselors, administrators and parents to support their efforts to create safe schools and homes. Still, this work is bigger than one organization changing the minds in a few schools, in a city of tens of thousands of classrooms. This works needs you. Violence in all forms is epidemic. Its all connected school violence is connected to intimate partner violence is connected to child abuse is connected to elder abuse, writes Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Stith of Harvards School of Public Health. Frequently, the root causes of violence like family conflict, adhering to rigid social beliefs about what defines masculinity and femininity, and limited education and job opportunities put each of us at risk for being either a perpetrator or victim. We can no longer tolerate this risk if we are to end the bloodshed in our schools. We are all stakeholders in society. From parents, to teachers, to our lawmakers, its time to take a hard and serious look at primary prevention. Have challenging conversations with young people about how they are responsible for their actions, about how anger, loneliness, sadness and other heavy feelings are painful but never justify violence. Fund more programs that support emotional and social learning. Implement them in our classrooms as educators are doing in some of the countrys largest school districts in states like California and Nevada. Our children deserve the same tools and opportunities to build healthy, equal relationships. Last week, Mayor Sylvester Turner announced the creation a 37-member task force called the Commission Against Gun Violence to find local solutions that prevent gun violence. HAWC is honored to be a part of the effort. The latest school shooting has destroyed the myth that it couldnt happen here. The time is now for us to act, together. Our children are thinking and praying for something to change. We have the power and responsibility to make change happen. Corrales is interim president and CEO of the Houston Area Womens Center. He then defended his position by stating how 44% of Qatars staff are female, some holding senior roles. His remarks were highly criticised on social media. Gender diversity was a point of contention at the IATA meeting, as only six out of 280 of its member airlines have female CEOs. Al Baker is known as one of the most outspoken and controversial figures in the industry, according to Reuters. He has sharply criticised rival airlines and has also drawn flak for insensitive and disrespectful comments. In 2017, he apologised after calling US flight attendants grandmothers during a trade row with a US airline company. He was then accused of sexism and age discrimination. In 2014, he defended policies for pregnancy and marriage for cabin crew after receiving criticism over working conditions for female staff in the conservative state of Qatar. US Airways apologized for an extremely graphic photo that it shared earlier today, depicting a naked woman in a sexual position with a toy plane. On Monday afternoon, the airline tweeted the photo to a customer who was complaining about their service. US Airways said in the tweet, "We welcome feedback, Elle. If your travel is complete, you can detail here for review and follow up." Advertisement It took almost a full hour before the company removed the tweet, and it has already made its rounds on the Internet. A representative of US Airways told The Huffington Post that they were looking into the incident as of 3:25 p.m. Advertisement The company sent out a follow-up tweet after the original NSFW image garnered more than 500 retweets. World Environment Day 2018: How fishing community in Kerala, India, is bringing back plastic from the sea June 05,2018 | Source: IE Its quite natural for fishermen venturing out in the sea to catch fish and earn a livelihood. But have you ever heard of fishermen brining back tonnes of plastic? Believe it or not, this fisherman community from Kerala brings back tonnes of plastic waste from the water every time they go to get their fresh catch. Since the last 10 months, members of the community are doing their best to keep the water plastic free. Kerala, which is one of Indias top producers of fish, is also home to more than a million people whose livelihood depend on fishery. With sharp decline in fish output and degradation in quality of fish, not to mention the harmful impacts the coastal towns recently faced owing to rising pollution, the government and people decided to take action. Under the campaign of Suchitwa Sagaram which translates to Clean Sea, in English, they decided to bring back plastic waste from the waterbodies aiming for a cleaner environment. So far, they have removed 10 tonnes of plastic bags and plastic bottles and 15 tonnes of discarded nets, plastic ropes and other plastic items from the sea, Johnson Premkumar, programme officer for training under the initiative was quoted by UN website. Even though it is a small group of fishermen, they have freed the sea from 25 tonnes of plastic waste, he added. According to the website, so far, 28 people from the local fishing community are actively involved in the programme that was started by Keralas fisheries minister, J. Mercykutty Amma. With the help of five trawlers, they regularly bring back huge amount of plastic waste that are often discarded in the water by irresponsible tourists and locals. The initiative doesnt stop at just collecting non-biodegradable waste, it also recycles them. The plastic material is collected at the fishing harbour. From there, the waste is fed into a plastic shredding machine, which turns it into material that is then used for road surfacing, the website added. Water pollution is as common as any other form of pollution and plastic is one of the most repugnant threats that have put our planet at risk. It creates not just soil pollution, but are equally harmful for marine and aquatic lives. Fish are known to ingest microscopic plastic waste, that in turn affect humans who consume those fish. This remarkable initiative by the southern state has garnered a lot of attention. IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd Theme(s): Others. Could a text message save thousands of fishermen's lives? by Gabriella Mulligan June 05,2018 | Source: BBC We can't stop Nature when it unleashes its fury in the form of volcanoes, earthquakes, storms and avalanches, but we can use technology to warn us of imminent danger - and save lives. As the sun sets over Lake Victoria, Africa's largest lake, tens of thousands of fishermen ready themselves to head out on the water for the night, fishing mostly for tilapia and Nile perch. As they push off, they know they are risking their lives - some of them may never be seen again. Lake Victoria - a lake so big it straddles Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya - is notorious for its deadly storms. At this time of year, strong winds, rain, lightning and huge waves are a regular occurrence. Up to 5,000 fishermen lose their lives each year, says the International Red Cross. "The storms usually start at midnight and last until around 6am," says Amone Ponsiano, officer in charge at the Marine Police, Nkose Island, Uganda. "This is the exact time when the fishermen are very busy, collecting their nets. It's very dangerous and we have a lot of people disappearing." Recently, one man's boat was smashed on the rocks as he tried to escape a violent storm, but Mr Ponsiano's team managed to fish him out of the water in the nick of time. But a new early warning system developed by an international team of scientists and technologists could end up saving hundreds of lives. Simply put, real-time satellite data from Nasa is applied to a statistical model and used to forecast the probability of an extreme thunderstorm. This probability is translated into a simple warning message delivered to fishermen via text message, Twitter or WhatsApp. Prof Wim Thiery, lead researcher on the project - a joint venture between Brussels-based university Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Switzerland's ETH Zurich university, Nasa, and CodeForAfrica - says there is a "great potential" for new technologies, in particular machine learning, to improve the prediction of extreme weather. As erratic weather becomes more common due to climate change, such tech will become increasingly important to make us "less vulnerable", he says. "Just like with the traditional weather forecast, there will always be misses and false alarms," he admits. "We are dealing with a deterministic chaos system, so you can't predict everything. "But we clearly see that with time, our ability to forecast extreme events improves, thanks to better weather models, better supercomputers, and innovative techniques." Extreme weather isn't only a mortal peril in Africa. In 2014, Stanford engineering student Ahmad Wani found himself marooned for a week awaiting rescue from extreme flooding in Kashmir, India. The floods claimed hundreds of lives. Since the incident, he has focused his engineering skills on developing a machine learning platform aimed at predicting the impact of natural disasters. Better predictions would enable urban communities to prepare better, he believes. Teaming up with two of his student colleagues, Mr Wani co-founded One Concern to tackle the issue. "By 2030, 60% of the world's population will live in cities," he says, "with 1.4 billion facing the highest risk of exposure to a natural disaster. "These are sobering statistics, but the good news is outcomes can be changed. By having the insights to better prepare for, respond to, recover from and mitigate against disasters, leaders can reduce the risk that their people face," argues Mr Wani. Analysing huge amounts of data and developing predictive models has helped them advise communities on how to improve their disaster response plans. For example, one client had stored supplies for shelter, water, and first aid in a community-owned building they had planned to use as a shelter and relief staging point in the event of an earthquake. But One Concern's simulations showed that this building stood a high chance of being significantly damaged, so was unsuitable for the role. The emergency response plan needed rethinking; the building needed strengthening. The company is currently working with Los Angeles and San Francisco on how to disaster-proof their cities, and aims to roll out its platform globally. "We are on a mission to save lives and livelihoods and believe in the power of benevolent artificial intelligence to help do so," Mr Wani says. Colorado-based Avalanche Lab believes that even simple tech can save lives. About 150 people are killed by avalanches every year. But with two thirds of the world's population owning a mobile, half of which are smartphones, Avalanche Lab thinks a phone app could prove the most effective avalanche prevention and rescue tool in the winter survival kit. The AvyLab "crowdmaps" avalanche data and makes it accessible to those out in the snow. Users record snow observations, pin notes on a map, and share the data with the community. Meteorological information is also provided via the app, with the aim of helping users make informed decisions about venturing out. "A phone app for avalanche safety is not a 'magic bullet' for decreasing avalanche incidents," says AvyLab app creator Michael Murphy, "but rather a way for creating a more informed and connected general public, which will make a difference in decreasing avalanche fatalities." Tech to warn of impending disaster is being applied around the world to save lives, limit infrastructure damage and aid emergency services. In Mexico, for example, start-up Grillo is installing $50 (37) seismic sensors along the coast to give early warning of impending earthquakes to residents via a smartphone app. Such warnings may only give residents an extra 90 seconds to prepare, but that's enough potentially to save lives, the founders believe. Tech may not be able to control Mother Nature, but at least it is helping us prepare for an unpredictable world. 2018 BBC Theme(s): Communities and Organisations. Red Cross helps fishermen in Barbuda restore their livelihoods after hurricane Irma by Hler Gudjonsson Irma destroyed my boat, my home and my restaurant, all at the same time, said 45 years old Arthur Walter, one of 32 fishermen on the island of Barbuda who have received cash assistance from the Red Cross for restoring their fishing boats. Early September 2017, as hurricane Irma swept through the Caribbean, most homes on Barbuda were either badly damaged or completely shattered. Most businesses and infrastructure were also destroyed, including the fisheries, which are the economic foundation of this small community comprised of about 450 households. Immediately after the disaster the IFRC launched an emergency operation to assist the National Society in providing emergency relief to the population of Barbuda after their evacuation to Antigua. In the recovery phase, one of the focus of the operation has been assisting fishermen in rebuilding their livelihoods. My big fiberglass boat was thrown on land in the storm surge, and the bridge and the console were broken off and destroyed, said Arthur who has spent a lifetime establishing himself as one of the main fishermen on the island, only to see Irma take everything away. From the time when he was able to salvage his two damaged 250 horsepower outboard engines he has been working long hours on the repairs, struggling to collect enough funds to purchase expensive spare parts. The money that was provided by the Red Cross has helped me enormously, said Arthur who also qualified for cash assistance for boat repair. The amount was not enough to restore my big boat, so in the short term I concentrated on repairing my little wooden boat which requires much less investment. Even if it is very basic, it takes me to sea, and now at least I am able to earn a living. The force of hurricane Irma was beyond what any of the fishermen had expected, and despite the strong measures taken to prevent damage, the extreme wind and storm surge tore up and destroyed even boats that had been fastened down far inland. This boat was ready to be launched before the hurricane, I renovated it myself and the work had already been completed when the hurricane, said 48 years old fisherman Henry Punter, another beneficiary of the Red Cross boat repair project. His 28 foot vessel was thrown on its side by the wind and he has spent the past months repairing it. I am putting big concrete pillars into the ground so I can strap my boat down properly next time there is a hurricane warning. Henry also lost his fish traps and most of his other fishing gear. Fortunately the Red Cross is providing us with new equipment, so as soon as I have finished the repairs I am back at sea. Henry is one of 72 fishermen on Barbuda receiving fishing and diving equipment from the Red Cross after losing their gear in the hurricane. Not only the fisheries were affected by Irma. When part-time farmer and tour-guide Shiraz Hopkins returned home to Barbuda he found that all his fences and pens had been destroyed by hurricane. When at last I was able to return from Antigua to Barbuda after the disaster I found that all my sheep had been killed by roaming dogs. I lost all 86 heads, said Shiraz. His little boat was also badly damaged, but with the money from the Red Cross he has almost finished the repairs. Until I have rebuilt my farm and, until the tourists start coming again, fishing will provide the income I need to support my family. Theme(s): Communities and Organisations. Chinese fishermen banned from Kenya's Lake Naivasha for 'finishing stock' by GEORGE MURAGE June 05,2018 | Source: The Star Nakuru Governor Lee Kinyanjui has ordered all Chinese nationals involved in fishing activities in Lake Naivasha to stop with immediate effect. The Governor termed the exercise illegal and added that locals should be given the first priority. This followed complaints that the foreigners were behind a decline in fish catches due to the use of under-size nets. The foreign investors were licensed to harvest Crayfish by the previous county government three years ago but have since exhausted the stock and are now targeting other species. Kinyanjui wondered why they were allowed to fish in the lake at the expense of tens of jobless youths. No Kenyan can be licensed to fish in China so we will not allow these foreigners to continue fishing in Lake Naivasha as has been the norm, he said. He spoke at Kamere beach in Naivasha on Tuesday while leading the county in marking World Environmental Day. Kinyanjui reported that his government had set aside funds to rehabilitate the landing beach which employs tens of families directly and indirectly. Over 30 tonnes of waste material, mainly plastic, were recovered from Lake Naivasha during the clean-up exercise. We are worried about increased dumping, he said. He identified Nairobi-Nakuru-Eldoret highway as one of the areas adversely affected by the dumping of plastic waste, mainly by motorists. Nakuru Minority Leader Peter Pallang'a termed the Chinese fishermen the biggest threat to the lake which also has water hyacinth and is polluted. He said the undersize nets sweep all kinds of fish including fingerlings, thereby affecting numbers. One dangerous investor is wiping out the Crayfish in the lake and is now targeting the other species. We shall not sit back and watch as this happens, said the Olkaria MCA. Pallanga called for investigations into how the foreigners were allowed to fish in the lake by the former regime. The sentiments were echoed by Lakeview MCA Karanja Mburu who reiterated that the Chinese were benefiting more than locals. We are fully behind the county government as it embarks on reopening all blocked corridors leading to the lake, he said. 2018 The Star, Kenya Theme(s): Fishing Craft, Gear and Fishing Methods. Signing Ceremony for S. 292, the Childhood Cancer, Survivorship, Treatment, Access, and Research Act of 2018 Washington, DC - Remarks by President Trump at the Signing Ceremony for S. 292, the Childhood Cancer, Survivorship, Treatment, Access, and Research Act of 2018: THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody. Hi, Steve. Hello, folks. See how nice they are? See? (Laughter.) Theyre the nicest people in the whole world. Right? You think so. You know what? Believe it. Im pleased to sign into law the Childhood Cancer Survivorship, Treatment, Access, and Research Act of 2018. Its a big deal. Very important. The people up here have helped us so much. I want to thank Secretary Azar for being here, along with the members of Congress who are here with us, including Senators Shelley Moore Capito. Thank you, Shelley, very much. SENATOR CAPITO: Thank you. THE PRESIDENT: Dean Heller, who I hear is doing very well. Right, Dean? SENATOR HELLER: Yes, sir. THE PRESIDENT: Better do well. Right, Dean? Representatives Mike Kelly, Michael McCaul. Thanks. Thank you, Michael. REPRESENTATIVE MCCAUL: Sir, thank you. THE PRESIDENT: Great job youre doing. And Michael Burgess. Thank you, Michael. REPRESENTATIVE BURGESS: Yes, sir. THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Mike. More than 15,000 children are diagnosed with cancer each year. Tragically, cancer is the leading cause of death by disease among American children and adolescents. And we have some wonderful stories of success with us today, most importantly. This vital legislation will expand opportunities for childhood cancer research, enhance the quality of life for childhood cancer survivors, and increase pediatric expertise at the National Institute of Health. Very big deal. Very important to everybody here, and, really, very important to the country. With us are some of the very brave children who are currently battling cancer and doing really well. Olivia Egge is here with her family. Olivia, congratulations, darling. Youre doing fantastically well. Right? EGGE: Yes. Thank goodness. THE PRESIDENT: Theyre proud of you. And Olivia has been a tremendous story of inspiration and that fighting spirit its a rare bone cancer and we are very much impressed with your strength and thankful that youre recovering so well. Im hearing great reports. EGGE: Thank you. THE PRESIDENT: So, good. Good, honey. Jake Cunniffe is also here. Jake is a sarcoma survivor, and he has helped lead the effort to see this bill become law. Jake? Come here, Jake. SENATOR CAPITO: Look at that tie, Mr. President. THE PRESIDENT: I like that tie. Thats good. (Laughter.) Sharp-looking guy, Ill you. Good job, Jake. I also want to give you a little special because I know how hard you work on youve really been working on it individually. As a young guy, you have other things you could be doing, right? CUNNIFFE: Yeah. THE PRESIDENT: But youve really done a great job, Jake. I want to thank you. I also want to commend Sadie Keller for her leadership of the bill and for helping to really work hard. And fellow childhood cancer survivors are very, very thrilled with the job youve done. You feeling good? I hear youre doing great. Right? Good, sweetheart. Thank you very much. So Olivia, Jake, and Sadie, were taking this action today in honor of the work youve done and the hard work. And it has been, in fact, hard. And youre really helping to positively affect lives in America, especially of young people. Were going to be right there with you every step of the way. All of these incredible representatives, senators, and congress people youve been reading about people like this, right? Someday youll be there. Maybe youll be sitting right here. I dont know if you want to do it, but (laughter) youre better off doing what they do. But we just want to thank all of you for being here. We want to congratulate you on doing so well in getting better. And you have helped a lot of people. So thank you very much. Thank you all. Thanks, Jake. Thank you very much, John. Do you have anything to say, Shelley? SENATOR CAPITO: Well, Im just admiring of the strength of these young people, but their families as well. As we know, families are affected. And this is about trying to find a cure, but its also about survivorship, and how you live your life and how, after youve had treatment, you can go on to have healthy and very productive lives. And so, for me, as a mother and a grandmother, and for my Cancer Crusade kids from West Virginia, thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you. And youre doing a great job, and we appreciate it. You really do a fantastic job. SENATOR CAPITO: Appreciate that. THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Shelley. Mike? REPRESENTATIVE KELLY: Yes, Mr. President. I just think theres nothing more precious to us than our children. And whenever one child is sick, were all feeling the same way and we want to do everything we can to help out. I know Mike McCaul and I have been working very hard on cancer. I will mention that the Hyundai Hope on Wheels, this is our 20th anniversary, we will exceed $140 million this year THE PRESIDENT: Wow, thats fantastic. REPRESENTATIVE KELLY: in the fight against pediatric cancer. And were seeing so many children survive. It just does your heart well to see these young Americans succeed. THE PRESIDENT: Statistically, its been incredible to see whats happened. Thank you, Mike. Thank you, Shelley. Michael McCaul? REPRESENTATIVE MCCAUL: Thank you, Mr. President. This is the most comprehensive childhood cancer bill ever passed by the United States Congress. And it wouldnt have been possible if we didnt have the advocates strongly behind us, like St. Baldricks. But the children are the best advocates. It took us three years to get there, Mr. President. But, you know, they can say no to you or me, but I bring in little Sadie into the office (laughter) they cant say no to her and these other survivors. This will help its survivorship, treatment, access, and research. And its going to really move the cause and the movement forward in the right direction. So thank you. THE PRESIDENT: Thank you for the great job you do. Dean Heller? SENATOR HELLER: Mr. President, on behalf of thousands of childhood cancer survivors in Nevada, Im here to thank you for your work and your effort. This doesnt happen without your leadership. And I want to thank these kids also for being advocates, as they are, and getting us to where we are today. Thank you very much for your hard work. THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. SENATOR HELLER: You bet. THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. My friend REPRESENTATIVE BURGESS: Yes, sir. THE PRESIDENT: Say a few words. Youve been working so hard on this. REPRESENTATIVE BURGESS: Well, Sadie came into see me, I think, a Congress ago, and it was clear that she was pretty dedicated to this. At the time, she looked a little different because she was in a different place in her treatment. But as Michael said, shes the best ambassador. And I think this builds on the work we did in 21st Century Cures, and, quite honestly, the work you did last week with Right to Try. All of this works together, and its for the betterment of American patients; you cant ask for more than that. THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Michael. Great job. And Right to Try is something were very excited about, where for years and nobody knows why it was so tough to pass; I never could understand it. But it was a very tough one to get passed, and now people can stay and we have drugs that are really and treatments that are really advanced, but they wont be approved for another three, four, five years. And now, if somebodys in very bad shape, we can use them, and theyre not going to be going to other countries to try and get a cure. And its really hope. But not only is it hope, a lot of people are going to be helped by this. So the Right to Try, as difficult as that was to get approved and passed and now were signed, were very proud of that one. Secretary Azar, would you like to say something? SECRETARY AZAR: Well, Mr. President, we just want to thank Olivia, Sadie, Jake, and, frankly, their parents and the Danielle and others here who lost children to this battle against pediatric cancer. This legislations going to be a material change in our ability to do research and to help kids survive cancer and survive cancer longer. THE PRESIDENT: Thats great. SECRETARY AZAR: So thank you for signing it today. THE PRESIDENT: Thats really great. Thank you very much. You maybe want to say something because youve been so instrumental. Thats right, Jake. (Laughter.) Really, would you like to say something? (Laughter.) Everybody should be just like you. (Laughter.) You would be a great politician. Would you like you like to say something, darling? SADIE KELLER: Im just so honored to be here. And this is just such an amazing opportunity and just thank you. THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, sweetheart. Very, very nice. So nice. OLIVIA EGGE: Yeah, just like Sadie, its so amazing to be here. I woke up this morning having no idea I was coming here today. So this is a really cool turn of events. And Im just so grateful that this bill has been passed. THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Great. Im glad youre so much better. Thank you. SOPHIA EGGE: Same thing as Olivia. Im just grateful that this bill can be passed to help future cancer patients and cancer patients now. THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. Would anyone like to say something here? Parents and representatives? Anybody? EGGE: If I may, Mr. President. THE PRESIDENT: Yes, please. EGGE: Id like to thank you. Id like to thank the leaders in Congress that are here that sponsored this bill. I can tell you, as a father, hearing that the treatment for my daughter is 40 years old we had to go to another country to get a treatment. The fact that there is a focus on survivorship, on cures, is absolutely critical because its not a good place if we dont do and commit the funds and the effort to save childrens lives. So I thank you. THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, weve made a lot of advancements, really, in the last you know, were 500 days now, Shelley. Can you believe it? But weve done a lot of improvements, a lot of speed, too, where were getting it done quickly. Thats where Right to Try is so good, where we can get things that are so promising but they wont be approved for another three or four years. So thank you very much. Appreciate it. Anybody? Would you like to say something? SARAH KELLER: I just want to thank you for passing this bill. I have seen firsthand how awful it is to watch my own child go through this. But weve also had many, many relationships of different childhood cancer fighters. And some are survivors now, and some have passed away. And, you know, these things matter so much. And so were just so grateful. THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. SARAH KELLER: So grateful. THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you very much. Okay, Ill sign. Are you ready? Are we all ready? (Laughter.) Are we all set? This is a big deal, now. Thank you. (The bill is signed.) You ever seen a signature like that? (Laughter.) Okay. Whose pen is this? Thats for you. Thank you. THE PRESIDENT: And thats for you. SADIE KELLER: Thank you. THE PRESIDENT: Thats for you. CUNIFFE: Thank you. THE PRESIDENT: Thats for you. Weve given you a few of them. Here we go. Come on. Here, Mike. REPRESENTATIVE MCCAUL: Thank you, Mr. President. THE PRESIDENT: You deserve it. Thank you, fellas. Okay. Dean. SENATOR HELLER: Thank you, Mr. President. THE PRESIDENT: Great job. Here you go, Mr. Secretary. SECRETARY AZAR: Hey, thanks to Ivanka too for helping us with this. Shes been great. THE PRESIDENT: Ivanka I have a daughter. A really terrific person. Shes worked very hard on this bill. This was very important. Thats for the press. (Applause.) Thank you all very much. Thank you very much. Q (Inaudible.) THE PRESIDENT: North Korea looks like its moving along very well. A lot of relationship being built. A lot of negotiation going on even before the trip. But it looks like its coming along fine. Well see what happens. But very important. It will be a very important couple of days. Thank you very much. Thank you. Bombs away Flint, Michigan - Two preteen girls went for a dip in Lobdell Lake in Genesee County, Michigan recently and as they waded into the water they felt a strange object underfoot a practice bomb from World War I, according to the Association of Mature American Citizens. Parents were keeping a watchful eye and cautioned the kids to step away. They called in the local bomb squad who responded quickly and bravely drilled a hole into the projectile only to find that it contained lots of mud and posed no danger. They gave the historic find to the girls so that they would have a keepsake to show and tell. Green crabs get their name for their color, but the invasive species may soon be associated with dollar bills, too. Chefs, fishermen and entrepreneurs in New England are meeting this week at the Green Crab Working Summit in Portland, Maine to discuss the growing green crab population in New England waters, particularly the Gulf of Maine, and how to turn the crustaceans into a viable commodity. The two-day event ends Thursday and includes a cooking demonstration and green crab tasting. Green crabs are harming the New England community in a number of ways, preying on such species as soft shell clams--an important export for New England's aquaculture--and destroying coastal shoreline habitats by burrowing and uprooting underwater grass. While the crabs are not new to New England waters, their population is growing due to warmer water temperatures caused by climate change. "It's definitely becoming more of a problem as they increase in abundance," said Marissa McMahan, the senior fisheries scientist at Manomet, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit that focuses on conservation, science education and helped organized the summit. "In 200 years we haven't figured out how to mitigate this problem through traditional invasive species eradication methods, so what if we try to build an industry as a way to control and reduce the population?" McMahan said the idea for the summit started two years ago when researchers and scientists from several institutions formed a network to come up with ways to use the crabs. For instance, researchers at the University of Maine are making a minced product out of green crabs and using it in dog food, while scientists in New Hampshire are using them for lobster bait. Entrepreneurs and chefs have already found success turning the problem into a business opportunity. Jamie Bassett runs Green Crab Nation, a volume supplier of live crabs based in Chatham, Massachusetts, and got into the business around two years ago when he noticed the invasive species was an under-utilized and less costly option for fishing bait. Basset declined to disclose revenue information. Bassett said replacing horseshoe crab bait with green crab is a more affordable option for fishermen and a short-term solution for dealing with the invasive species. He added that a longer-term solution is bringing the green crab to the culinary market. However, one of the challenges is raising awareness. "It's not at the level of fried clams yet," Bassett said. While green crabs are smaller in size than most served at seafood restaurants--they can range between two and five inches--they are just as tasty as other crab species and equally easy to catch. Ali Waks, the executive chef at the Brunswick Inn near Bowdoin College in Maine, is one of the entrepreneurs experimenting with green crab flavors. She's prepared green crab stock, rhubarb kimchi with green crab dust and even created a green crab Rangoon. "You take anything weird and you mix it with cream cheese or mayonnaise and somebody is going to want to eat it," Waks said. "Probably one of the most important things I'll be doing in my food life is helping science find ways to eat these f---ers." Waks gets her green crab supply from McMahan and has been working on recipes that are approachable to customers. She says many of her creations are either incorporated into her catering business or on the menu of the Brunswick Inn, which hosts a prix fixe dinner for the public on Tuesday nights. Due to the prix fixe menu, Waks wasn't sure how the crab was selling but said customers are eager to do help diminish the population, even if it's by slurping down soup. "When I put green crab on the menu people were really excited by it," Waks said. "People in Maine are very connected to their food sources and the fishing industry." As of now, plenty of green crabs scuttle about the Gulf of Maine but not enough people are scooping them up. McMahan said one of the main goals of the summit is to connect wholesalers with fishermen so when they catch green crabs they can easily distribute their haul. The recent Facebook/WhatsApp merger debacle brought back memories of the dozens of corporate mergers that I've covered over the years. While I didn't follow this particular merger closely, it apparently had most of these huge red flags: 1. Incompatible corporate cultures. As a general rule, small firms and startups value meritocracy (and attempt with varying degrees to implement it) while large and established firms value hierarchy (although they usually give meritocracy plenty of lip-service.) Facebook was founded in 2003 and has become the stodgy dowager of social media firms. Whatsapp was founded in 2009 and still relatively lean-and-mean when Facebook acquired it in 2014. It is the corporate merger equivalent of Warren Buffett wedding Ariana Grande. The union was unlikely to click from the start. 2. Conflicting business models. While most smart people can multitask, most corporations can't simultaneously walk and chew gum. Companies almost always fall flat when they try to compete in different industries, like Sony in insurance, or in different segments of the same industry, like Microsoft in smartphones. Facebook's business model is based upon exploiting user data. WhatsApp's business model was based upon keeping user data secret. Those models aren't just incompatible; they're diametrical opposites. 3. A newsworthy purchase price. It's a bad sign when you end up paying so much for a corporate acquisition that it seems excessive even to the even the mainstream "we'll swallow just about anything" business press. A record-breaking acquisition price ($22 billion in the case of Facebook and WhatsApp) creates massive pressure for the acquiring firm to make money on the deal, simply to justify the exorbitance. At the same time, overpaying for the acquisition creates a countervailing pressure to throw good money after bad. The conflict usually proves unresolvable. 4. Top management zombies. Conventional wisdom says that when you acquire a firm, you want the top management of that firm to hang around to help make the merger successful. That sounds good in theory, but in practice, it's deadly. CEOs become CEOs because they enjoy being top dog. When they're no longer top dog, they're like zombies, still trying to exercise authority and, failing that, figuring out who they can recruit away to start a new company. In the case of Facebook and WhatsApp, the leaders of the latter were wildly unhappy being functionaries in the former. Facebook would have been better served had they cut them out immediately after the merger. 5. Dueling CEOs. The only situation worse than zombie top management is when two merging companies decide to have "co-CEOs." The immediate result of any such indecisive arrangement is an endless political war between the two CEOs to see who's really going to run the company. Everyone is forced to take sides; out come the knives, the timid hunker down and productive work grinds to a halt because: 6. Half-hearted integration. Successful mergers always follow either of two distinct paths: 1) complete separation where the acquired firm remains geographically and organizationally distinct, 2) complete integration where the acquired firm is consumed and digested by the acquiring firm. Anything in between creates ongoing conflict until either complete integration is achieved or the acquired firm is returned to autonomy by selling it off. Facebook and WhatApp tried the amphibious approach, with the usual bad result. 7. Insensitive on-boarding. Finally, nothing causes a merger to go sour quickly than dissing the employees in the acquired firm just as they're coming on board. I don't know to what extent that was the case with Facebook and WhatsApp, but the fact that the WhatsApp folk were complaining about the configuration of the bathroom stalls suggests there was some pretty deep resentment floating around long after the companies merged. For perspective, the worst merger on-boarding of all time was when the networking hard company Cabletron acquired Standard Microsystems in the late 90s. The day the acquisition was announced, Cabletron hired a bus to take some of engineers up to New Hampshire to meet their peers at headquarters. Once the bus had left, those who remained were told to pack up and leave, because they didn't have a job. The engineers thus slighted called the engineers on the bus, who resigned en-mass when they arrived at Cabletron headquarters. For a childless 20-something male programmer, fueled by caffeine and ambition and seeking millions in VC funding, the San Francisco Bay Area is North America's startup hot spot. But if you're looking for the most plausible contender to soon supplant it, look to a city a couple thousand miles east. It's home to companies that might have a bit more humanity, run by well-adjusted entrepreneurs building sustainable businesses that employ a talented and diverse workforce. Welcome to Toronto. $69 All-in cost of Toronto's premium office space, in US$ per square foot, versus $95 in NYC's financial district and $111 in San Francisco $1,532 Toronto's average one-bedroom apartment rent, in US$, versus $3,239 in San Francisco 189 Amount by which Toronto's population increased every day between 2011 and 2015 4.5% Toronto's annual employment growth, compared with 0.7% for Chicago and 1.6% for Los Angeles 6% Unemployment rate in Toronto, compared with 3.5% in Boston and 3.7% in San Francisco 3.5% Ontario corporate income tax rate on first $500,000 in profit $0 Cost of basic health insurance for eligible Toronto residents Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics, Statistics Canada, Toronto Real Estate Board, JLL, Yardi Matrix. World-beating, people-centered companies have long been birthed and thrive in Toronto, including Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts and MAC Cosmetics. It's a natural home for the kind of people who really start companies (rather than the people who start companies in the movies): midcareer men and women, who care not only about their work but also about their families. Toronto's health and family-leave benefits are more generous than those found in the United States. That, coupled with its strong school system, does wonders in terms of providing opportunities by taking certain key stresses out of the equation. It also acts as a giant magnet for the academically ambitious, not only from within Canada but from all over the world. Its slew of world-class universities, including the University of Toronto, York University, and, just to the west, the University of Waterloo and the University of Western Ontario, attract tens of thousands of smart students every year. As they graduate and look to settle down and start families, many, happy with the lifestyle Canada's largest city affords, stay in Toronto. As a result, founders there can hire people they'd never be able to attract in Silicon Valley. "It's good to be a big fish in a smaller pond, with access to all the A players," says Allen Lau, the co-founder and CEO of the Toronto-based online publishing platform Wattpad. "In the Valley, Facebook and Google pay $10 million a year, and I would mostly have access to C and D players. That's why we chose not to open an office there." Of the relatively small number of cities where there are lots of great engineers, Toronto is the one where it's most realistic to expect that those people will accept a job at a midsize startup. At the same time, adds Lau, Toronto offers a broad range of skills, industries, and amenities. "It's a finance center and a media center," he says. "There are a few things we are very good at. There's a good public school system and universal health care. I don't even need to think about whether I have health insurance. That helps me to be focused on my company." Canada is also one of the most immigrant-friendly countries in the world, an enticing alternative for the world's increasingly mobile educated classes. More than half of Toronto's population was born outside Canada. That has done wonders for the city's talent pool. Along with the weak Canadian dollar, the steady influx of new workers has helped keep salaries from spiraling up to San Francisco or New York City levels. And while U.S. companies naturally start out with national ambitions and a single language, Canadian companies think internationally from the beginning (U.S. and Canada) and in at least two languages (English and French). If your company deals with multiple countries, currencies, and languages from the start, that makes it easier to add new ones as it grows. Should your business require funding, Toronto's diversity and international outlook make it easy to seek money anywhere in the world. Wattpad, for instance, has raised money from Silicon Valley VCs, Chinese conglomerates, and Filipino telecoms. Toronto is far from perfect. Real estate isn't cheap, commutes can be grueling, and any city that made the late Rob Ford its mayor is capable of idiosyncratic politics. Still, when Google subsidiary Sidewalk Labs wanted a location to build the urban center of the future, it chose Toronto. The urbanist Richard Florida, who moved to Toronto to take a job at the Martin Prosperity Institute, believes that it "is even more of a talent magnet than New York City." A case in point: Geoffrey Hinton, one of the top machine-learning scientists in the world, who could get a great job at any university, was finally poached from Carnegie Mellon by the University of Toronto. He now works part time for Google--largely out of Canada. Sarah Paulson is finally getting the recognition she deserves. After small roles on television in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the actress has become something of a household name in recent years thanks to appearances in American Horror Story (playing different characters in each of the shows seven seasons) and as Marcia Clark in The People v. O. J. Simpson, a role for which she deservedly won an Emmy and a Golden Globe. While shes yet to make the transition to bona fide movie star, Blue Jay (2016, available of Netflix) is an impressive addition to Paulsons body of work. In an era in which independent filmmakers are increasingly struggling to get their voices heard, Mark Duplass makes low budget films with complete autonomy. Blue Jay was financed by Netflix before the company had even seen a script and, indeed, much of the dialogue was improvised. Shot in just a few locations in and around the tiny town of Blue Jay in California over a period of just seven days, the cast used an outline of ten pages as the basis for their work. Alex Lehmann, directing his first fiction feature, was the ideal choice according to Duplass since first-time directors over-prepare, are super eager and theres very little ego. Duplass plays Jim Henderson, a man returning to his hometown with the intention of selling his late mothers property. He runs into his girlfriend from high school, Amanda (Paulson) and the pair begin to reminisce about old times. As the hours pass, the intimacy of their adolescence returns, secrets are revealed and tears are shed. The film is the antithesis of the big blockbuster with its focus on a small, human story and the emotions of those involved. Better still, it clocks in at just 80 minutes. Lehmann, a cinematographer who also served as the films director of photography, opted to shoot in black and white and the result is a timeless feel. When Amanda discovers a letter Jim intended to send her in their teens, the tone becomes genuinely suspenseful and the revelations fly thick and fast. To say too much about the plot would spoil things but this is a film full of heart that evokes the best work of Mike Leigh. Duplass, as writer, is obviously close to the material but Paulson is a revelation in the kind of role shes allowed to play all too rarely. Quentin Tarantino has always attracted incredible casts, but Once Upon A Time in Hollywood could be his most star-studded line-up yet. Deadline has the scoop on the latest cast additions, with Damian Lewis, Dakota Fanning, and Luke Perry joining the likes of Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Margot Robbie. As has previously been reported, the ninth movie from Tarantino will see various characters wandering around Los Angeles, the Charles Manson murders serving as the backdrop to the story. Lewis will play the iconic actor Steve McQueen, while Fanning has been cast as Squeaky Fromme, a Manson follower who infamously attempted to assassinate President Gerald Ford. Perry will play the unspecified character Scotty Lancer. Emilie Hircsh best known for playing the lead in Into The Wild has also joined the cast as Hollywood hairstylist Jay Sebring, one of Sharon Tates victims. Clifton Collins Jr, Keith Jefferson and Nicholas Hammond have landed supporting roles, playing Ernesto The Mexican Vaquero, Land Pirate Keith, and director Sam Wanamaker, respectively. Quentin Tarantino's best cameos Show all 7 1 /7 Quentin Tarantino's best cameos Quentin Tarantino's best cameos Jimmie Dimmick in Pulp Fiction (1994) Here he plays Jimmie Dimmick, who gets caught up in Vincent and Jules body disposing and panics over how on earth hes going to get rid of the bloody evidence before his wife gets home. Quentin Tarantino's best cameos Mr Brown in Reservoir Dogs (1992) Tarantino opens Reservoir Dogs as Mr Brown, talking about Madonna hit Like a Virgin, before later being shot in the head, crashing his car and dying. Brief, but dramatic. Quentin Tarantino's best cameos Miner in Django Unchained (2013) Tarantino's Django cameo is much maligned. His Aussie miner appeared somewhat randomly in his first Western movie, before blowing himself up with his own dynamite. Quentin Tarantino's best cameos Warren in Death Proof (2007) Warrens owns the Texas Chili Parlour bar in this thriller about the murders of four women at the hands of a crazed stuntman. His own jukebox can be seen in the scene. Quentin Tarantino's best cameos Pick-up guy in Desperado (1995) Not one of his own films, but Tarantino did a favour for director Robert Rodriguez and agreed to a cameo. He wrote the three-minute long wee joke that he tells before being being killed. Quentin Tarantino's best cameos Elvis impersonator in The Golden Girls (1988) Not technically a cameo, but too funny not to include. Before his career kicked off, Tarantino played an Elvis impersonator on a 1988 episode of Golden Girls. Quentin Tarantino's best cameos Dead Nazi in Inglourious Basterds (2009) In this one he is a dead Nazi being scalped. Lovely. Burt Reynolds, Kurt Russell, Tim Roth, and Michael Madsen have already been announced for the film, Reynolds playing George Spahn, a nearly blind man who once rented his Los Angeles ranch to studios for Westerns. Once Upon a Time In Hollywood will reportedly have a Pulp Fiction-like structure, telling various stories about characters around LA in the Summer of 69. DiCaprio will play the lead, a former Western TV star named Rick Dalton, while Pitt will play his stunt double. Rick struggles to make a name in Hollywood despite having a famous neighbour: Robbies Sharon Tate. The movie will be released by Sony, Tarantinos first film not released by the Weinstein company. Weve got a lot to get to this week. Playoffs are getting closer with eight-man a week away and 11-man two weeks away and spots are being clinched left and right. Theres also movement in the bottom half of the Class C polls and a big shakeup in D following Bloomfields win over ONeill Depression so often comes with its own sense of guilt. It's this suffocating mix of emotions that haunt Tara (Gemma Arterton) in Dominic Savage's new The Escape, which first premiered that Toronto International Film Festival last year and now gears up for its UK cinematic release. Those around her fail to see how she could possibly be unhappy: she has two children she loves, the conveniences of middle-class life, and - as her mother exclaims: "You've got a conservatory!" Tara's consuming sense of depression digs only deeper in that sense of isolation, alienation, and guilt; exacerbated by her husband (Dominic Cooper)'s total lack of perception. And then, a breaking point is reached, as Tara flees her family to seek out the lights of Paris. She embarks on a quest to track down "The Lady and the Unicorn", the tapestry which now hangs in the city's Museum of the Middle Ages. The film, which Variety's Guy Lodge named it an "intelligent, empathetic character study", also stars Frances Barber, Marthe Keller, Jalil Lespert. You can check out the UK poster for the film below. Follow Independent Culture on Facebook for all the latest on Film, TV, Music, and more. You Me At Six are something of a rarity, in that theyre one of the few British rock bands or any rock band who have consistently performed well in the UK charts through a time when mainstream radio has always prioritised pop. They have achieved a top five album every time since their second record Hold Me Down, and hit number one with their fantastic 2014 record Cavalier Youth. Even their most recent album Night People, which received a mixed reception from fans and critics, achieved number three in 2017. Regardless of whether or not youre a fan, thats impressive. Over lunch and a few cocktails (frontman Josh Franceschi is gearing up for a mates stag do in Ibiza), he and guitarist Max Helyer are going over the recording process for their shiny new record VI, which was finished recently at a studio in Ulster with producer Dan Austin (Arcane Roots, Twin Atlantic, Biffy Clyro, Pixies). While the band sounded confident about Night People in interviews ahead of its release, Franceschi and Helyer both agree now that various factors led to it being arguably the weakest in their canon and although they never say they regret making it, there is a determination and focus about VI that suggests theyre much happier with the result of this new project. I think the main thing about Dan was that we spoke with a lot of producers, looked at LA, New York, Nashville... one guy said, Lets make it in the south of France, Franceschi says. We did some test tracks with a couple of guys, and then we tried something with Dan... he owned it. It was like he was another member of You Me At Six, he continues. I dont think Ive ever met someone who worked that tirelessly, and with a level of enthusiasm that really made us raise our game. Hed be the first one in the studio, last one out, never dismissed anything. We all got on really well, Helyer agrees. He [Austin] matched us for the passion and the energy we were putting into the music, and thats such an important thing when youre looking to finish this body of work that youve spend a long time making. Ahead of the album, You Me At Six have released not one but two singles: each very different from the other. Fast Forward is arguably more what fans might expect: a thrilling, dynamic rock track with electronic elements that will sound epic live, featuring a rousing chorus that uses Franceschis strong voice to full effect. Loading.... 3AM, by comparison, is more pop there are still heavy rock elements in the drums and the infectious guitar hook, but is far lighter, less aggressive, than its counterpart. Enjoy unlimited access to 70 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up Loading.... A lot of producers would have taken us down a route that weve already been down, Franceschi says, but Dan had this vision for the record which was to never have a song played the whole way through, he wanted to build it up. At times with Night People, there was a bit of complacency within our camp when it came to being creative and motivating ourselves. We were also around people who werent necessarily stimulating us creatively, he suggests. I wouldnt consider Night People a setback, but it was something like that, and so for this one weve been more focused and had the hunger we needed to come back with something better. On that last album, I remember emailing my lyrics to four or five different people, almost for approval, because that was the position Id found myself in. Even when we were making the record, I dont think there was a time where we were really enjoying making Night People, and that comes across. Whereas on this album you can hear were having fun, and its the right thing for us to be doing. Conversations were had about whether the band should return to the sound of their most successful album, Cavalier Youth, but reached a point where some members of the band were ready to call it a day if they werent able to move forward. And once they had a few songs in the bag, Franceschi says, things started to come together. Fast Forward was the song that really shaped the record, Helyer says. Me and Josh came back with it to show the guys Wed done it with Eg White [Adele, Florence and the Machine, Linkin Park], who said it was one of the best experiences hed had writing with a band, which was obviously incredible hes one of the best UK writers out there so it was a massive compliment. The way the album was recorded also seems to have had a huge impact on the final result, he adds, with the band approaching it less like a nine-to-five job as they did on Night People instead setting out on two residential trips where they were removed from distractions of day-to-day life and were able to bury themselves in the music. You Me At Six have always been in our element when were f**ked up, having fun, Franceschi shrugs. I would never have done one take and spitballed over a song like Predictable if it hadnt been 3am after a few drinks. That was when it shifted from a jam into a song. Youre not getting one taste of something, Helyer says, its a classic You Me At Six album where you dont know where its gonna go there are light and dark elements on the same record. That was the problem with Night People, Franceschi states. It was linear, it was like background noise. Life dictates to you as an artist what youre gonna put out, and I had nothing to say on that album apart from one or two moments. Theres nothing crazy on this record, but there are things that I buried quite deep, in a good and bad way. I want this to be the best one. You know how every band has that one record where they figured it out? Thats what I want for VI. 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 Both admit that Jacquire King, who produced Night People, was something of a bucket list producer; one they felt compelled to work with given the success they were enjoying after Cavalier Youth, which included sold-out shows at the O2 Arena in London. Ive got a lot of time and respect for him, Franceschi says slowly, but you cant treat every record on the basis of what youve done before. I think we got the Kings of Leon treatment: record it live and that was at a point where we wanted to bring more onto the record. Hes not convinced about what many have dubbed a resurgence in the popularity of guitar bands: Yeah its a shame most of them arent very good. He ticks a few of his favourite bands off: Amazons, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Wolf Alice, Royal Blood who else? Youve missed a couple off there, Helyer tells him. But Franceschi shrugs: Rock music still isnt endorsed by major labels in the way it could and should be. The music industry just went through the last 12-18 months with everyone putting their name on grime music and rightfully so, because it deserved that recognition but it was like the media didnt want to talk about anything else. Theyre aware of how the demand has changed when it comes to music consumption, and understand artists who have moved away from traditional album releases. But Helyer still reserves praise for a band like Arctic Monkeys, who just released Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino, five years after their previous record AM. Thats one of the beautiful things about Arctic Monkeys, theyve clearly written a record theyre really proud of, he says. There are a few glimpses of their old stuff, but the beauty is the experience of listening to something completely different. Their music was always about that. Thats maybe been lost a little bit with other artists, because of how we consume music. And then you have that cross-blending of genres. Rock isnt doing that, though, and thats part of the problem, Franceschi interjects. We approached artists from other genres and they said no, because they dont wanna f**k with a rock band, and other rock bands dont wanna team up. Everyones got their own patch. With hip hop, rap culture, everyone lifts each other up, drop in and out of each others track, so if one persons winning, theyre all winning. Rock is a minefield. I havent heard a record that gets me excited a rock album in f**king ages, Helyer admits. Im still listening to our record now, enjoying it, and I would never listen to our other records once they were finished. Lets hope everyone else agrees with you, Franceschi grins. Otherwise were gonna look a bit silly. In past interviews Franceschis evident ambition something he is happy to own up to has been presented as arrogance, which seems to have been borne out of the music industrys uncertainty, and the medias scepticism, about the trajectory of a bands career. There was a time when being transparent about your ambition was sort of sexy, he suggests. Theres a big difference between having a drive and being ambitious versus being arrogant and thinking you should be there. None of it happens by chance, bands like Circa Waves have worked their f**king arses off to get where they are, and so have we. And the thing is, we have to be ambitious for ourselves because the industry has zero ambition when it comes to rock bands. Its a powerful tool if you use it in the right way... And thats how you find out what youre made of. VI, the new album from You Me At Six, is released October 2018 via AWAL Recordings Three years ago, Dave Grohl made headlines after falling off stage midway through a Foo Fighters show at Gothenbergs Ullevi Stadium, Sweden, the frontman breaking his leg. Following the incident, the band were forced to postpone their Glastonbury headline slot (they played two years later while Florence and the Machine covered their cancelled set) and Grohl ended up playing the rest of their tour from a guitar-adorned throne. On Tuesday (5 June) the Foo Fighters returned to Gothenberg, playing a triumphant set filled with their biggest hits. However, before launching into a rendition of All My Life, the group decided to play a prank on the audience. Members of the band began the show by walking on stage blasting power chords, the crowd going wild. Grohl then decided to run down the catwalk, only to fall off stage, eerily reminiscent of the previous fall. That, of course, was not the real Dave Grohl but a stuntman hired for the joke. Moments after the staged fall, the real Grohl came thundering onto the stage, much to everyones relief. The frontman then managed to stay on stage for the rest of the gig. Richest musicians in UK and Ireland Show all 9 1 /9 Richest musicians in UK and Ireland Richest musicians in UK and Ireland Sir Paul McCartney and Nancy Shevell Estimated wealth: 820m. Annual change: 40m PA Richest musicians in UK and Ireland Lord Lloyd-Webber Estimated wealth: 740m. Annual change: No change Getty Images Richest musicians in UK and Ireland Sir Elton John Estimated wealth: 300m. Annual change: Up 10m Getty Richest musicians in UK and Ireland Sir Mick Jagger Estimated wealth: 260m. Annual change: Up 10m Getty Richest musicians in UK and Ireland Keith Richards Estimated wealth: 245m. Annual change: Up 10m AP Richest musicians in UK and Ireland Olivia and Dhani Harrison Estimated wealth: 230m. Annual change: Up 20m EPA Richest musicians in UK and Ireland Sir Ringo Starr Estimated wealth: 220m. Annual change: Up 20m Getty Richest musicians in UK and Ireland Michael Flatley Estimated wealth: 202m. Annual change: Up 2m PA Richest musicians in UK and Ireland Sting Estimated wealth: 190m. Annual change: Up 5m Rex Following the initial accident three years ago, Grohl told the crowd: You have my promise right now that the Foo Fighters, were gonna come back and finish this show. But right now, ladies and gentlemen, Im gonna go to the hospital, Im gonna fix my leg. But then Im gonna come back, and were gonna play for you again! Im so sorry! Drummer Taylor Hawkins then took the lead, playing various covers for an hour, before Grohl returned on a stretcher to finish the concert. Foo Fighters continue their European tour, playing Manchester and London dates later this month. As more than 80 countries prepare to mark Fathers Day later this month, childrens charity Unicef has released a series of heartwarming photos showing men bonding with their newborn babies. In a bid to encourage fathers across the world to play a more active role in their childrens early years, world-renowned photographer Adriana Zehbrauskas travelled with Unicef to five diverse countries Guinea-Bissau, Mexico, Thailand, Turkmenistan and the UK. Capturing the fathers earliest moments with their newborns in delivery rooms across the globe, Zehbrauskass poignant images showcased the range of emotions experienced by men in the hours following the birth of their children. The photos include a close-up of the hands of Jim Cherrett as he reaches through an incubator to stroke the skin of six-week-old daughter Piper, who was born premature at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital. Another of Supidej Jaithon, from Chiang Mai in Thailand, shows the new father smiling at his newborn son, Matt, who was born a few hours earlier. Rogelio Cruz Barrera holds one of his twins born prematurely, a baby girl named Ximena, in Mexico City (Adriana Zehbrauskas/Unicef) Meanwhile, Rogelio Cruz Barrera, from Mexico, kisses the head of one of his twins, a baby girl named Ximena, who was born prematurely. Zehbrauskass series is part of a larger Unicef campaign called #EarlyMomentsMatter, which portrays the lifelong effects of early childhood experiences and environments on childrens brain development. Meet the newborn Show all 19 1 /19 Meet the newborn Meet the newborn Amugpote and his daughter Nam in Bangkok, Thailand I was happy and excited when I found out I was going to be a dad. I dont have paternity leave. If I dont go to work I dont get paid. I took a half day off to do the birth certificate UNICEF/Zehbrauskas Meet the newborn Gabino and his daughter in Veracruz, Mexico Gabino Macuixtle Macuixtle holds his newborn baby girl at the Zongolica IMSS Prospera hospital UNICEF/Zehbrauskas Meet the newborn Jim and his daughter Piper in Exeter Im going to be involved in any way I can, cuddles, reading to her, nappy changes, feeds, everything I can do Ill do it UNICEF/Zehbrauskas Meet the newborn Arslan and his son Damir in Turkmenistan For the past nine months, Ive been preoccupied. Its as if I was the one giving birth Meet the newborn Shageldi and his son Nepes in Turkmenistan Shageldi wipes away tears as he looks at his baby, who was born at the Mother and Child Health Centre in Goekdepe A UNICEF/UN0210014/Zehbrauskas Meet the newborn Supidej and his son Matt in Bangkok I came to see my babys face. My boss didnt allow me to take the day off because I had lots of work, but I dont care, my family comes first UNICEF/Zehbrauskas Meet the newborn Somsak and his son Sailom in Chiang Mai, Thailand The baby looked at me and smiled. It's hard to explain the feeling. I feel love. I feel I love him so much UNICEF/Zehbrauskas Meet the newborn Resulberdi and his daughter Yazbibi in Turkmenistan Resulberdi chose not to celebrate the birth straightaway. I am superstitious. I want to keep my feelings to myself. After 40 days I will celebrate UNICEF/Zehbrauskas Meet the newborn Juelmo and his daughter in Bula, western Guinea-Bissau Juelmo looks over his newborn daughter as she sleeps on a cot in Mother Teresa of Calcutta Maternity Hospital in the Cacheu Region A UNICEF/UN0209078/Zehbrauskas Meet the newborn Nathan and his son Ted in Exeter The first time you hold your new baby is one of the best feelings ever, its hard to describe but it feels like youre being given someone you already know UNICEF/Zehbrauskas Meet the newborn Yair and daughter Mia in Mexico Yair with his third child, born in Mexico City UNICEF/Zehbrauskas Meet the newborn Alfonso and his daughter Eliette in Mexico City For four years we could not get pregnant at all, and when we found out, it was wonderful UNICEF/Zehbrauskas Meet the newborn Jose and his daughter Deniss in Mexico Jose, his wife and daughter arrive home after the birth of Deniss at the hospital in Zongolica UNICEF/Zehbrauskas Meet the newborn Arslan and his son Damir in Turkmenistan Arslan and his wife Alina look at their second child, a baby boy Meet the newborn Shageldi with his son Nepes in Turkmenistan The new father proudly paraded his son in front of relatives at the Maternity Unit, Mother and Child Health Centre in Goekdepe Meet the newborn Sompong and his daughter in Bangkok I think it's good to have skin-to-skin like this. The feeling is hard to explain, I'm just happy Meet the newborn Somsak and his son Sailom Somsak lovingly holds his son Sailmon, whose name means wind, after washing him for the first time Meet the newborn Eli, his wife Lucia and daughter Mage in Mexico The family at Zongolica IMSS Prospera hospital Meet the newborn Oliverio and his son Oliver in Mexico Oliverio kisses his newborn son Oliver moments after he is born at the Zongolica IMSS Prospera hospital In light of research, which proves that a parents role is essential in a childs early cognitive development, Unicef is calling for governments, employers and members of society to break down the barriers that deprive fathers of precious time with their young children. According to Unicef, advances in neuroscience have found that when children spend their earliest years of life particularly their first 1,000 days in a nurturing and stimulating environment, their brains can form as many as one million new neural connections every second optimal speed. Alex Edmonds Brown holds his son Harley James, in a private room in the maternity ward of the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital in Devon (A UNICEF/UN0204086/Zehbrauskas) This determines a childs cognitive ability, their health and happiness, how they learn and think, their ability to deal with stress, and their ability to form relationships. Trading has resumed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) after failing to open at the usual time of 8am due to a technical issue. A spokesperson for the LSE said: The opening auction on London Stock Exchange was delayed this morning due to a technical issue that has been resolved. Recommended London Stock Exchange Group sees profit rise as CEO search continues The exchange later added: London Stock Exchange identified a technical software issue that was preventing some members from entering orders into the pre-open auction system prior to the standard market opening time of 8am. To preserve the integrity of the market and to ensure orderly trading, London Stock Exchange decided to delay the market open while the matter was investigated and informed market participants accordingly. Following resolution of the issue, members were notified at 08:40 that trading would commence at 9am. Trading across our markets has been operating normally since this time. The market was up 0.5 per cent after its delayed start, and traders seemed unruffled by the glitch. Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: It looks as if the market has been pretty orderly despite the delay and the glitch is a useful reminder to investors that they should never rely on liquidity - the ability to trade what they want, when they want, in the size they want and at the price they want - because it is not always there, either for technical reasons or market ones -such as a panic or crisis. AJ Bell's trading desk said: "We put up a message on our website to advise of the delayed opening, to warn that no execution would be possible until the market opened up the individual stocks lines. However, customers were able to place limit orders online, in readiness for the open, and we did see an increase in volumes in this type of order compared to normal levels. After the delayed start, trading was ultimately pretty uneventful once it did begin, after an initial spike and then drift back, and normal trading resumed pretty quickly. The LSE is one of the worlds oldest stock exchanges and has been operating for more than 300 years. It is run by London Stock Exchange Group, which was formed in 2007 out of a merger between the LSE and its Italian equivalent. The exchange is one of the most prestigious in the world, with more than 2,500 companies listed on it. It sends data to more than 100,000 terminals in more than 100 countries, including live share prices and various financial announcements. The LSE has opened at 8am since 1999, when it moved the start of the trading day back from 9am in order to align with other European bourses. The exchange has failed to open on a few occasions in the past, but it is an unusual occurrence. In 2011, the LSE endured a number of service interruptions after it began using a new IT system, with trading suspended for a four hour period on one occasion. The group is currently operating without a permanent chief executive, until David Schwimmer takes up the post later this year. An interim CEO has been in place since the departure of previous boss Xavier Rolet, who stepped down last November following a boardroom battle. Mr Rolet had been with the company for eight and a half years. American obstetrical anaesthetist Dr Virginia Apgar (1909-1974) was born 109 years ago today. Googles latest animated Doodle pays tribute to the creator of the Apgar score, the test still used to this day to quickly assess the health of newborn babies. Her pioneering work in comparing the wellbeing of sickly infants to healthy ones proved crucial to lowering the infant mortality rate in the US and advancing the cause of maternity care. The best Google Doodles Show all 50 1 /50 The best Google Doodles The best Google Doodles Mister Rogers Google Doodle celebrating children's TV presenter Mister Rogers Google The best Google Doodles Lucy Wills Google Doodle celebrating haematologist Lucy Wills Google The best Google Doodles Falafel Google Doodle celebrating falafel Google The best Google Doodles St George's Day Google Doodle celebrating St George's Day Google The best Google Doodles James Wong Howe Google Doodle celebrating Hollywood golden age cinematographer James Wong Howe Google The best Google Doodles Seiichi Miyake Google Doodle celebrating Seiichi Miyake, developer of tactile paving Google The best Google Doodles Walter Cronkite Google celebrates US broadcast journalist Walter Cronkite's 100th birthday The best Google Doodles Lantern Festival 2016 Google celebrates the last day of the Chinese New Year celebrations with a doodle of the Lantern Festival Google The best Google Doodles Google Doodle celebrating Sergei Diaghilev Google Doodle celebrating art critic Sergei Diaghilev Google The best Google Doodles George Boole Google marks mathematician George Boole's 200th birthday The best Google Doodles Sergei Eisenstein Google Doodle celebrating soviet film director Sergei Eisenstein Google The best Google Doodles 41st anniversary of the discovery of 'Lucy' Google marks the 41st anniversary of the discovery of 'Lucy', the name given to a collection of fossilised bones that once made up the skeleton of a hominid from the Australopithecus afarensis species, who lived in Ethiopia 3.2 million years ago The best Google Doodles Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Google celebrates physician and suffragist Elizabeth Garrett Anderson 180th birthday The best Google Doodles Sir William Henry Perkin Google Doodle celebrating chemist Sir William Henry Perkin Google The best Google Doodles Nelly Sachs Google Doodle celebrating poet and playwright Nelly Sachs Google The best Google Doodles Thanksgiving 2018 Google Doodle celebrating Thanksgiving 2018 Google The best Google Doodles Nigerian Independence Day Google Doodle celebrating Nigerian Independence Day Google The best Google Doodles Mary Prince Google Doodle celebrating abolitionist Mary Prince Google The best Google Doodles Father's Day 2016 Google celebrates Father's Day The best Google Doodles Ebenezer Cobb Morley Google Doodle celebrating "father of football" Ebenezer Cobb Morley Google The best Google Doodles Octavia E Butler Google Doodle celebrating science fiction author Octavia E Butler Google The best Google Doodles Tamara de Lempicka Google Doodle celebrating painter Tamara de Lempicka Google The best Google Doodles Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss Google Doodle celebrating mathematician and physicist Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss Google The best Google Doodles Fanny Blankers-Koen Google Doodle celebrating Dutch Olympic gold medalist Fanny Blankers-Koen Google The best Google Doodles John Harrison Google Doodle celebrating clockmaker John Harrison Google The best Google Doodles Guillermo Haro Google Doodle celebrating astronomer Guillermo Haro Google The best Google Doodles St. David's Day Google Doodle celebrating St. David's Day Google The best Google Doodles Carter G Woodson Google Doodle celebrating Carter G Woodson, a pioneering African-American historian Google The best Google Doodles St Andrew's Day Google Doodle celebrating St Andrew's Day Google The best Google Doodles Gertrude Jekyll Google Doodle celebrating horticulturist Gertrude Jekyll Google The best Google Doodles Children's Day 2017 Google Doodle celebrating Children's Day 2017 Google The best Google Doodles Studio for Electronic Music Google Doodle celebrating the Studio for Electronic Music Google The best Google Doodles Olaudah Equiano Google Doodle celebrating abolitionist Olaudah Equiano Google The best Google Doodles Fridtjof Nansen Google Doodle celebrating Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen Google The best Google Doodles Ladislao Jose Biro Google celebrates Ladislao Jose Biro's 117th birthday The best Google Doodles Amalia Hernandez Google Doodle celebrating ballet choreographer Amalia Hernandez Google The best Google Doodles Dr Samuel Johnson Google Doodle celebrating lexicographer Dr Samuel Johnson Google The best Google Doodles British Sign Language Google Doodle celebrating British Sign Language Google The best Google Doodles Eduard Khil Google Doodle celebrating baritone singer Eduard Khil Google The best Google Doodles Fourth of July Google Doodle celebrating Fourth of July Google The best Google Doodles Victor Hugo Google Doodle celebrating author Victor Hugo Google The best Google Doodles Google Doodle celebrating Giro d'Italia's 100th Anniversary Google Doodle celebrating Giro d'Italia's 100th Anniversary Google The best Google Doodles Google Doodle celebrating St. Patrick's Day Google Doodle celebrating St. Patrick's Day Google The best Google Doodles Google Doodle celebrating St. David's Day Google Doodle celebrating St. David's Day Google The best Google Doodles Steve Biko Today's Google Doodle features anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko Google The best Google Doodles The history of tea in Britain Google celebrates the 385th anniversary of tea in the UK The best Google Doodles Nettie Stevens Google celebrates geneticist Nettie Stevens 155th birthday The best Google Doodles William Morris Google celebrates English polymath William Morris' 182 birthday with a doodle showcasing his most famous designs Google The best Google Doodles Professor Scoville Google marks Professor Scovilles 151st birthday The best Google Doodles Sophie Taeuber-Arp Google marks artist Sophie Taeuber-Arp's 127th birthday Virginia Apgar was born in Westfield, New Jersey, on 7 June 1909 into a family of music lovers, her father an insurance executive by trade but a keen amateur astronomer and inventor. The death of her elder brother from tuberculosis and the persistent ill health of another brother, Lawrence, inspired her decision to study medicine as a young woman. Graduating from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts in 1929, she studied zoology and minored in physiology and chemistry before finishing fourth in her class at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1933, completing a residency in surgery at the same institution in 1937. She was discouraged from continuing her career as a surgeon, which was regarded as a very male discipline at that time, and instead trained in anaesthesiology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison under Dr Ralph Waters, who had established the countrys first dedicated unit. After further study of the field at New Yorks Bellevue Hospital, she returned to Columbia as director of its new anaesthesia division, its first female head of department. Building the unit from the ground up in partnership with her old mentor Dr Allen Whipple (who had steered her away from surgery), Dr Apgar worked tireless as both a practising physician and administrator, no easy task when Americas entry into the Second World War in 1941 created significant staffing shortages. Dr Apgar developed her five-point score for assessing newborn health in 1952. The test grades babies on scores of zero to two on five key criteria: the colour of their skin, their pulse rate, their reflex ability, their responsiveness to limb flexion and their respiratory rate. The resulting scores are totted up to give a total out of 10 indicating the health or otherwise of the infant in question. The criteria can be remembered by the acronym Apgar, standing for Appearance, Pulse, Grimace, Activity, Respiration. In 1959, by which point her test had been rolled out across US maternity hospitals, Dr Apgar left the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center to earn a Master of Public Health degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health and served as vice president for medical affairs at the March of Dimes Foundation to advance the study of birth defects. She was an outspoken advocate for universal vaccinations to prevent mother-to-child transmission of rubella during the pandemic that struck 12.5m people in the US between 1964-65 and contributed more than 60 articles to newspapers, magazines and academic journals, publishing her book Is My Baby All Right? with Joan Beck in 1973. Virginia Apgar examining a newborn baby (Elizabeth Wilcox/Granger/Rex) Dr Apgar was known throughout her career for her warm bedside manner and forthright optimism. In her personal life, she played the violin, enjoyed a range of hobbies from fly-fishing and stamp collecting and took flying lessons, dreaming of swooping under the George Washington Bridge. Although she rarely campaigned against or spoke publicly about gender inequalities, Dr Virginia Apgar glided past the sexism of her period with ease, preferring instead to lead by example and allow her professional excellence and commitment to her work speak for itself. Newly-discovered fossils reveal that some of the first animals to walk on land lived in Antarctica, according to scientists. The four-legged creatures, described as a cross between a crocodile and a fish, existed during the Devonian period around 360 million years ago. It was previously thought that these tetrapods originated from tropical environments in Laurussia, the supercontinent that later split up into North America, Greenland and Europe. But the fossils of two species unearthed in South Africa came from the southernmost part of Gondwana that was then located more than 70 degrees south - inside the Antarctic circle. Although the area was not frozen at this time - plant fossils show that forests grew nearby - it would have experienced months of complete darkness during winter. They have been named as Tutusius umlambo, after the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and the Umzantsia amazana. Both appear similar to other Devonian tetrapods, with a crocodile-like head, stubby legs, and a tail with a fish-like fin. Although the fossils are incomplete, it is estimated that the Tutusius specimen was one metre long. They are the remains of Africa's earliest known four-legged vertebrates and provide insights into the evolution of our distant ancestors as they moved from water to land. The fossils suggest that tetrapods lived all over the world during the Devonian period, according to lead author Dr Robert Gess. "Whereas all previously found Devonian tetrapods came from localities which were in tropical regions during the Devonian, these specimens lived within the Antarctic circle," said Dr Gess. "So it's possible that they originated anywhere and that they could have moved onto land anywhere. It really broadens the scope of possibilities." The fossils also provide insights into the evolution of tetrapods from fish during this period. African fossils hailed as the 'Rosetta Stone of humanity' Show all 2 1 /2 African fossils hailed as the 'Rosetta Stone of humanity' African fossils hailed as the 'Rosetta Stone of humanity' 349593.bin African fossils hailed as the 'Rosetta Stone of humanity' 349592.bin AFP/ GETTY IMAGES Dr Gess said that the Devonian tetrapods "ultimately pioneered the way for our ancestors up out of a dangerous, swampy world into the sunshine and a bright new future". The discovery was made at Waterloo Farm near Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape after the South African National Roads Agency carried out controlled rock-cutting explosions along the N2 highway. This cutting exposed dark grey mudstones of the Witpoort Formation that represent an ancient environment of a brackish, tidal river estuary that contains abundant fossils of animals and plants. The research was supported by the South African DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences, based at the University of the Witwatersrand and the Millennium Trust. Nasa has found exciting new "results" on Mars and will hold a press conference to reveal them, it has announced. The agency has refused to reveal more details of what it has discovered on the Red Planet. But the new research came from the Curiosity rover that has been collecting samples from the planet, in part in an attempt to understand whether it was ever a home for alien life. Nasa's announcement only said that it would hold a press conference about "new science results from NASAs Mars Curiosity rover". It did not give any detail on what those results were. Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Show all 30 1 /30 Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Solar Flare An image from Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows a 200,000 mile long solar filament ripping through the Sun's corona in September 2013 Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Nasa Celebrates 50 Years of Spacewalking For 50 years, NASA has been "suiting up" for spacewalking. In this 1984 photograph of the first untethered spacewalk, NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless is in the midst of the first "field" tryout of a nitrogen-propelled backpack device called the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space A Hubble Cosmic Couple The spectacular cosmic pairing of the star Hen 2-427 more commonly known as WR 124 and the nebula M1-67 which surrounds it ESA/Hubble & NASA Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Veil Nebula Supernova Remnant Nasa's Hubble Space Telescope has unveiled in stunning detail a small section of the Veil Nebula - expanding remains of a massive star that exploded about 8,000 years ago Nasa's most stunning pictures of space The Soyuz TMA-15M rocket launch The Soyuz TMA-15M rocket launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Monday, Nov. 24, 2014, carrying three new astronauts to the International Space Station. It also took caviar, ready for the satellite's inhabitants to celebrate the holidays Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Earth from the ISS From the International Space Station, Expedition 42 Flight Engineer Terry W. Virts took this photograph of the Gulf of Mexico and U.S. Gulf Coast at sunset Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Black Hole Friday Nasa celebrated Black Friday by looking into space instead sharing pictures of black holes Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space NuSTAR X-rays stream off the sun in this image showing observations from by NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, overlaid on a picture taken by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Cassiopeia A c A false colour image of Cassiopeia A comprised with data from the Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes and the Chandra X-Ray observatory Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Orion Capsule splashes down The Orion capsule jetted off into space before heading back a few hours later having proved that it can be used, one day, to carry humans to Mars Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Earth Observations From Gemini IV in 1965 This photograph of the Florida Straits and Grand Bahama Bank was taken during the Gemini IV mission during orbit no. 19 in 1965. The Gemini IV crew conducted scientific experiments, including photography of Earth's weather and terrain, for the remainder of their four-day mission following Ed White's historic spacewalk on June 3 Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Frosty slopes of Mars This image of an area on the surface of Mars, approximately 1.5 by 3 kilometers in size, shows frosted gullies on a south-facing slope within a crater. The image was taken by Nasa's HiRISE camera, which is mounted on its Mars Reconaissance Orbiter Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Yellowstone from space NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman shared this image of Yellowstone via his twitter account Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Saturn This near-infrared color image shows a specular reflection, or sunglint, off of a hydrocarbon lake named Kivu Lacus on Saturn's moon Titan Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Worlds Apart Although Mimas and Pandora, shown here, both orbit Saturn, they are very different moons. Pandora, "small" by moon standards (50 miles or 81 kilometers across) is elongated and irregular in shape. Mimas (246 miles or 396 kilometers across), a "medium-sized" moon, formed into a sphere due to self-gravity imposed by its higher mass Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Solar Flare An X1.6 class solar flare flashes in the middle of the sun in this image taken 10 September, captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy An image of the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy seen in infrared light by the Herschel Space Observatory. Regions of space such as this are where new stars are born from a mixture of elements and cosmic dust Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Mars Rover Spirit Nasa's Mars Rover Spirit took the first picture from Spirit since problems with communications began a week earlier. The image shows the robotic arm extended to the rock called Adirondack Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Morning Aurora From the Space Station Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly captured this photograph of the green lights of the aurora from the International Space Station Nasa/Scott Kelly Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Launch of History - Making STS-41G Mission in 1984 The Space Shuttle Challenger launches from Florida at dawn. On this mission, Kathryn Sullivan became the first U.S. woman to perform a spacewalk and Marc Garneau became the first Canadian in space. The crew of seven was the largest to fly on a spacecraft at that time, and STS-41G was the first flight to include two female astronauts Nasa's most stunning pictures of space A Fresh Perspective on an Extraordinary Cluster of Galaxies Galaxy clusters are often described by superlatives. After all, they are huge conglomerations of galaxies, hot gas, and dark matter and represent the largest structures in the Universe held together by gravity Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Hubble Sees a Galactic Sunflower The arrangement of the spiral arms in the galaxy Messier 63, seen here in an image from the Nasa Hubble Space Telescope, recall the pattern at the center of a sunflower ESA/Hubble & NASA Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Pluto image Four images from New Horizons Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) were combined with colour data from the Ralph instrument to create this enhanced colour global view of Pluto Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Fresh Crater Near Sirenum Fossae Region of Mars The HiRISE camera aboard Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter acquired this closeup image of a "fresh" (on a geological scale, though quite old on a human scale) impact crater in the Sirenum Fossae region of Mars. This impact crater appears relatively recent as it has a sharp rim and well-preserved ejecta Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Hubble Peers into the Most Crowded Place in the Milky Way This Nasa Hubble Space Telescope image presents the Arches Cluster, the densest known star cluster in the Milky Way NASA & ESA Nasa's most stunning pictures of space An Astronaut's View from Space Nasa astronaut Reid Wiseman tweeted this photo from the International Space Station on 2 September 2014 Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Giant Landform on Mars On Mars, we can observe four classes of sandy landforms formed by the wind, or aeolian bedforms: ripples, transverse aeolian ridges, dunes, and what are called draa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Expedition 39 Landing A sokol suit helmet can be seen against the window of the Soyuz TMA-11M capsule shortly after the spacecraft landed with Expedition 39 Commander Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin of Roscosmos, and Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio of NASA near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan (NASA/Bill Ingalls) Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Jupiter's Great Red Spot Viewed by Voyager I Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system and perhaps the most majestic. Vibrant bands of clouds carried by winds that can exceed 400 mph continuously circle the planet's atmosphere Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Chandra Observatory Sees a Heart in the Darkness This Chandra X-Ray Observatory image of the young star cluster NGC 346 highlights a heart-shaped cloud of 8 million-degree Celsius gas in the central region But it did say that a range of experts would attend the conference. They largely appear to be researchers who investigate the kinds of organic molecules that might be found in the planet's soil, and the information that might tell us about the atmosphere. Recommended Scientists spot powerful radiation coming from deep in space Attendees include Paul Mahaffy, who leads the Solar System Exploration Division at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center and is in charge of the analysis of samples collected by Curiosity. Researchers in geophysics and atmospheric chemistry will also attend. The event begins at 2pm eastern, or 7pm in the UK. It will be streamed live on Nasa Television, the agency's website, and on a range of social networks and services such as Twice and YouTube. The agency is also asking members of the public to send in questions. Those can be sent by posting on social media using the hashtag #AskNasa. When the last male northern white rhinoceros died in March, people mourned the mammals step towards extinction. With no members of the subspecies left in the wild and just two females remaining in captivity, it felt as if the last bit of sand was draining through the rhinos hourglass. But teams of scientists are working to flip the hourglass back over. One group hopes to revive the northern white rhino using preserved cells. With the right advances in assisted reproduction or cloning, there could be a second chance for this unique form of rhinoceros, says Oliver Ryder, director of conservation genetics at San Diego Zoo Global. Recommended Pregnant rhino could bring subspecies back from brink of extinction Not everyone agrees that having the capacity to bring back the northern white rhino means it should be done. Critics question whether the buzz around resurrecting a functionally extinct creature takes attention and resources away from other animals with greater chances of survival. They also point out that any resurrected northern white rhinos would likely remain in captivity, rather than roaming free in their former habitat in central and eastern Africa, where poaching for horns remains a serious threat. In their study, Ryder and his colleagues focused on the feasibility of recovering the northern white rhino using cells stored in the Frozen Zoo, a large collection of cryopreserved samples at the San Diego Zoo. These cell lines represent eight presumably unrelated northern whites, Ryder says. The researchers sequenced these genomes and compared them to genomes from southern white rhinos, the northern white rhinos closest kin, which underwent a spectacular recovery under protection over the past century, although it remains near-threatened. They confirmed scientists long-held hypothesis that the two rhinos are subspecies, rather than distinct species. This close relationship might bode well for someday using southern white rhinos as surrogates for northern white embryos. The scientists also discovered sufficient genetic diversity in their northern white rhino samples when compared with the southern white rhinos, Ryder says. If it came down to the materials in the Frozen Zoo, we could turn those cells into animals. What route did the first Americans take? Here is a clue Evidence of the first ever humans to colonise North America were discovered in Alaska in January (Eric Carlson in collaboration with Ben Potter) How did early humans first enter the Americas? After crossing into Alaska, the Ice Age adventurers may have trekked along two routes: either by foot through the interior of present-day Canada through a grassy passageway between two large ice sheets, or they moved south along the Pacific coast. Scientists have debated the two theories, and in recent years support for the coastal route has grown from archaeological finds, such as 13,000-year-old footprints on an island in British Columbia. Now, geologists studying boulders and bedrock on Alaskas southeastern islands have found evidence of an ice-free route some 17,000 years ago down the coast that would have allowed human travel. Were not definitively saying they took the coastal route, says Alia Lesnek, a graduate student at the University at Buffalo and lead author of the study. We have some of the first direct evidence that that was something that could be done. The finding supports the theory that the first people to populate the Americas were seafarers travelling from island to island. In the summer of 2015, Lesnek and her colleagues collected rock samples from four islands in the Alexander Archipelago of southeastern Alaska. Back at the lab, the team determined how long ago the rock samples had been trapped by ice sheets. Glaciers are like slow-moving rivers that pick up rocks and move them. When the ice melts, the boulders are dropped. As they sit on the Earths surface, they are exposed to cosmic radiation, which the scientists can analyse. The team concluded the islands had been covered by ice sheets up until about 15,000 to 17,000 years ago. The finding suggests that the glaciers covering that part of the Pacific coast melted and possibly created a pathway for humans at the right time. Science news in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Science news in pictures Science news in pictures Pluto has 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen Pluto has a 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen that is doing strange things to its surface, Nasa has found. The mysterious core seems to be the cause of features on its surface that have fascinated scientists since they were spotted by Nasa's New Horizons mission. "Before New Horizons, everyone thought Pluto was going to be a netball - completely flat, almost no diversity," said Tanguy Bertrand, an astrophysicist and planetary scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center and the lead author on the new study. "But it's completely different. It has a lot of different landscapes and we are trying to understand what's going on there." Getty Science news in pictures Over 400 species discovered this year by Natural History Museum The ancient invertabrate worm-like species rhenopyrgus viviani (pictured) is one of over 400 species previously unknown to science that were discovered by experts at the Natural History Museum this year PA Science news in pictures Jackdaws can identify 'dangerous' humans Jackdaws can identify dangerous humans from listening to each others warning calls, scientists say. The highly social birds will also remember that person if they come near their nests again, according to researchers from the University of Exeter. In the study, a person unknown to the wild jackdaws approached their nest. At the same time scientists played a recording of a warning call (threatening) or contact calls (non-threatening). The next time jackdaws saw this same person, the birds that had previously heard the warning call were defensive and returned to their nests more than twice as quickly on average. Getty Science news in pictures Turtle embryos influence sex by shaking The sex of the turtle is determined by the temperatures at which they are incubated. Warm temperatures favour females. But by wiggling around the egg, embryos can find the Goldilocks Zone which means they are able to shield themselves against extreme thermal conditions and produce a balanced sex ratio, according to the new study published in Current Biology journal Ye et al/Current Biology Science news in pictures Elephant poaching rates drop in Africa African elephant poaching rates have dropped by 60 per cent in six years, an international study has found. It is thought the decline could be associated with the ivory trade ban introduced in China in 2017. Reuters Science news in pictures Ancient four-legged whale discovered in Peru Scientists have identified a four-legged creature with webbed feet to be an ancestor of the whale. Fossils unearthed in Peru have led scientists to conclude that the enormous creatures that traverse the planets oceans today are descended from small hoofed ancestors that lived in south Asia 50 million years ago A. Gennari Science news in pictures Animal with transient anus discovered A scientist has stumbled upon a creature with a transient anus that appears only when it is needed, before vanishing completely. Dr Sidney Tamm of the Marine Biological Laboratory could not initially find any trace of an anus on the species. However, as the animal gets full, a pore opens up to dispose of waste Steven G Johnson Science news in pictures Giant bee spotted Feared extinct, the Wallace's Giant bee has been spotted for the first time in nearly 40 years. An international team of conservationists spotted the bee, that is four times the size of a typical honeybee, on an expedition to a group of Indonesian Islands Clay Bolt Science news in pictures New mammal species found inside crocodile Fossilised bones digested by crocodiles have revealed the existence of three new mammal species that roamed the Cayman Islands 300 years ago. The bones belonged to two large rodent species and a small shrew-like animal New Mexico Museum of Natural History Science news in pictures Fabric that changes according to temperature created Scientists at the University of Maryland have created a fabric that adapts to heat, expanding to allow more heat to escape the body when warm and compacting to retain more heat when cold Faye Levine, University of Maryland Science news in pictures Baby mice tears could be used in pest control A study from the University of Tokyo has found that the tears of baby mice cause female mice to be less interested in the sexual advances of males Getty Science news in pictures Final warning to limit "climate catastrophe" The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued a report which projects the impact of a rise in global temperatures of 1.5 degrees Celsius and warns against a higher increase Getty Science news in pictures Nobel prize for evolution chemists The nobel prize for chemistry has been awarded to three chemists working with evolution. Frances Smith is being awarded the prize for her work on directing the evolution of enzymes, while Gregory Winter and George Smith take the prize for their work on phage display of peptides and antibodies Getty/AFP Science news in pictures Nobel prize for laser physicists The nobel prize for physics has been awarded to three physicists working with lasers. Arthur Ashkin (L) was awarded for his "optical tweezers" which use lasers to grab particles, atoms, viruses and other living cells. Donna Strickland and Gerard Mourou were jointly awarded the prize for developing chirped-pulse amplification of lasers Reuters/AP Science news in pictures Discovery of a new species of dinosaur The Ledumahadi Mafube roamed around 200 million years ago in what is now South Africa. Recently discovered by a team of international scientists, it was the largest land animal of its time, weighing 12 tons and standing at 13 feet. In Sesotho, the South African language of the region in which the dinosaur was discovered, its name means "a giant thunderclap at dawn" Viktor Radermacher / SWNS Science news in pictures Birth of a planet Scientists have witnessed the birth of a planet for the first time ever. This spectacular image from the SPHERE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope is the first clear image of a planet caught in the very act of formation around the dwarf star PDS 70. The planet stands clearly out, visible as a bright point to the right of the center of the image, which is blacked out by the coronagraph mask used to block the blinding light of the central star. ESO/A. Muller et al Science news in pictures New human organ discovered that was previously missed by scientists Layers long thought to be dense, connective tissue are actually a series of fluid-filled compartments researchers have termed the interstitium. These compartments are found beneath the skin, as well as lining the gut, lungs, blood vessels and muscles, and join together to form a network supported by a mesh of strong, flexible proteins Getty Science news in pictures Previously unknown society lived in Amazon rainforest before Europeans arrived, say archaeologists Working in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, a team led by archaeologists at the University of Exeter unearthed hundreds of villages hidden in the depths of the rainforest. These excavations included evidence of fortifications and mysterious earthworks called geoglyphs Jose Iriarte Science news in pictures One in 10 people have traces of cocaine or heroin on fingerprints, study finds More than one in 10 people were found to have traces of class A drugs on their fingers by scientists developing a new fingerprint-based drug test. Using sensitive analysis of the chemical composition of sweat, researchers were able to tell the difference between those who had been directly exposed to heroin and cocaine, and those who had encountered it indirectly. Getty Science news in pictures Nasa releases stunning images of Jupiter's great red spot The storm bigger than the Earth, has been swhirling for 350 years. The image's colours have been enhanced after it was sent back to Earth. Pictures by: Tom Momary The dating coincides with recently discovered archaeological and genetic evidence that suggests the first pulse of human migration into the Americas was around 16,000 years ago, the team says. The ice sheets covering Canadas inland corridor did not melt until 13,000 to 14,000 years ago, according to Jason Briner, a geologist at the University at Buffalo and an author on the study. Our data suggest the coastal route became available 17,000 years ago, Briner says. Thats like 4,000 to 3,000 years earlier than when the inland route opened. The team also dated some seal bones that had been previously discovered in a coastal cave and found that the animals were present around 17,000 years ago. The bones suggested that if people had taken the coastal route they would have found food. Briner says their study only looked at about 10 per cent of the entire coastal corridor, and that future work will aim to apply the same dating methods on other parts of the route. Big in North America, coyotes look south The North American canines are wily wanderers, moving from New York City to Florida Keys and beyond (Getty) (Getty/iStock) Coyotes are excellent colonisers. They breed fast, eat almost anything and live just about anywhere. Theyre living in cities like Los Angeles and New York. Theyve even made it to the Florida Keys and Long Island. In 2010, they crossed the Panama Canal. Now, the only thing keeping them from entering Colombia is a dense patch of forest called the Darien Gap. And camera traps have caught them heading that way. I dont think anyones betting against the coyote getting to South America eventually, says Roland Kays, an ecologist at North Carolina State University. They have to be one of the most adaptable animals on the planet. To understand how these wily wanderers roamed so far, Kays and James Hody, a graduate student, sifted through thousands of museum specimens, fossil records, peer-reviewed reports and records from wildlife agencies and traced the animals paths back 10,000 years. Their resulting maps, published in ZooKeys, show how wrong weve been about the historical range of our continents toughest canids. The maps also provide a foundation for scientists to start asking questions about what happens when new predators enter a habitat, and how hybridisation influenced coyote evolution. From at least 10,000 years ago, coyotes lived in grasslands, prairies and deserts, as far east as the Mississippi and Ohio rivers and as far west as California. But after 1900, coyotes started moving out, in all directions, into forested habitats. By the 1920s, they had made their way into Alaska, and by the 1990s, to the east coast. Even with wildlife managers working to get rid of coyotes, the animals have managed to expand their range since 1950 by at least twice that of any other North American carnivore during the same time. Coyotes are not the only ones positioned to swap continents. South Americas crab-eating fox is now in Panama too and headed north. If coyotes make it to South America, this will be the first time the continents have exchanged predators in 3 million years. Theres no telling what will happen. Still another question remains. Is this something we should view as a natural expansion, thats a good thing, or that we should view as an invasive species, thats a bad thing? Kays says. In some ways thats a philosophical question, because in the end, theres nothing we can do about it. Found under big foot, a new species skull The newly identified Cifelliodon wahkarmoosuch bridged the gap between mammal and reptile (Reuters) (Jorge Gonzalez/Keck School of Medicine of USC/Reuters) In 2006, palaeontologists in Utah were examining fossils of a dinosaur when they found beneath its foot a tiny skull unlike anything they had seen in the area. Now, scientists say that the fossilised cranium belonged to an ancient relative of modern mammals that once scurried around 130 million years ago. The new species, called Cifelliodon wahkarmoosuch, is a member of an extinct group known as the haramiyids, which may have bridged the transition between reptiles and mammals. The finding, published in the journal Nature, shows that haramiyids spread much farther across the globe and in a later time period than previously thought. When I first saw the specimen I was stunned, says Simone Hoffman, a palaeontologist from the New York Institute of Technology who was not involved in the paper. Hoffman, who wrote a perspective that accompanied the study, says she was surprised to see a haramiyid fossil among the thousands of dinosaur specimens found in North America from the Cretaceous period. In the 1900s scientists had uncovered teeth and jawbones from haramiyids in parts of Eurasia that dated back to the Jurassic and Triassic periods, more than 145 million years ago. Then around 2014 and 2015, researchers found skeletons and soft tissue of haramiyids in China, sparking a debate about where the group belongs on the evolutionary tree. Some argue that its place is within the mammal family, while others have said that it exists just outside that classification. Its a mystery group, says Zhe-Xi Luo, a palaeontologist at the University of Chicago and an author on the paper. If haramiyids are mammals, then the group pushes back the birth of mammals to about 220 million years ago. But if they are not, mammals date to only about 185 million years ago. Luo says he and his colleagues place the haramiyids at the doorstep of mammals close but just outside. Scientists think haramiyids were diverse and possibly occupied similar ecological niches, eating insects, plants or meat. There is evidence that some of the creatures could glide like flying squirrels and others could swim. Adam Huttenlocker, a palaeobiologist at the University of Southern California and lead author on the paper, made the link that the fossil found in Utah belonged to a haramiyid. The team performed CT scanning of the skull, which showed that its brain was small, and it likely had a good sense of smell. Though most furry creatures during the Mesozoic era which spanned the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods were about the size of a mouse, Cifelliodon was about as big as a rabbit, and weighed about 2.5 pounds. For a Mesozoic proto-mammal it was pretty huge, says James Kirkland, a palaeontologist from the Utah Geological Survey who first found the skull. It was like a godzilla proto-mammal. New York Times An Australian journalist has raised concern over Londons crazy crime rate after masked robbers forced her crew to hand over a television camera as they were recording. Laurel Irving was reporting for Channel Seven from Exmouth Market in Islington when two men approached on bicycles, wearing balaclavas. Cameraman Jimmy Cannon said he saw one of the man reach into his trousers and transfer something to his jacket, before he said: Ive got a gun, dont make a scene, its pointed at you unclip the camera and give it to me. Ms Irving was delivering a piece to camera during the altercation but did not hear the threat and tried to intervene. All of a sudden Jimmy took the camera off the tripod and that's when I stepped in and said, 'Hey, what's going on here? she told 3AW radio. Footage of the incident showed her trying to grab the $25,000 (14,000) camera back before her colleague shouted No, no hes got a gun. The thing about this was how brazen it was we were in an upmarket area surrounded by people, Ms Irving told the Sunrise programme. Laurel Irving photographed one of the thieves cycling away following the robbery (Laurel Irving) Police were here in a couple of minutes and we were really impressed with the way they handled it. But clearly the issue is not how police handle it after the crime, its the fact the crime is happening. There is clearly an issue with police resources in London at the moment and that is why these people believe they can get away with it. Ms Irving, who is based in London for Channel Sevens Europe correspondent, thanked well-wishers after receiving a tide of support on social media. Thanks everyone for the love. Were all good, she added, praising Mr Cannons reaction as fantastic. The London crime rate though is crazy. The journalist said she had seen "ridiculously racist comments" about the attack on social media, writing on Twitter: "Not that it matters, but our attackers were white with British accents. Criminals exist in every community. Please dont use us as pawns in your point-scoring games." She managed to take photos of the thieves as they cycled away and Metropolitan Police are investigating. Mr Cannon said he hopes the publicity around the incident can encourage politicians to take actions that will help curb the surging crime & violence in this wonderful city. It comes amid a nationwide surge in violent crime and several disturbing incidents in London, where a 24-year-old woman was heard begging for mercy before being left in a critical condition in a moped mugging earlier on Monday, in Edgware. 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 attack took place hours after comedian Michael McIntyre was robbed by hammer-wielding moped thieves outside his sons school for his 15,000 Rolex. Metropolitan Police figures show a 5 per cent rise in violent crime in the year to May, including a 30 per cent increase in muggings and a 50 per cent rise in robbery using mopeds, to an average rate of 60 a day. There were also 35 youth homicides in the period an increase of a quarter, and knife crime was up 18 per cent. Scotland Yard insisted there has been a steady fall in moped-enabled crime in London over the past six months, following new tactics such as the use of off-road bikes in pursuits and DNA marker sprays. Last week, gang crime chief Commander Jim Stokley, said the force was deploying a range of prevention tactics including intelligence-led stop and search and raids. We are absolutely committed to reducing the level of violence on the streets of London and are using new and existing policing tools that we believe are relevant and proportionate, he added. The policing response to violent crime also needs to be carried out with the support of the communities we serve. Police action is part of the answer to the problem of violent crime, but can never be the entire solution. Police are investigating the use of a stay put policy by the London Fire Brigade (LFB) during the Grenfell Tower fire. Health and safety offences are being considered as part of an ongoing criminal inquiry, Detective Superintendent Matt Bonner said. The LFB would, as any other organisation involved, have an obligation to conduct their activity in a manner that doesnt place people at risk, he added. It doesnt mean that at the moment they have or they havent, but thats where the legislation is most likely to arise if that was an eventuality. Police first announced that stay put advice was a key element of their investigation in July last year and Det Supt Bonner said it was one of a broad range of aspects being examined. Relatives of some of the blazes 72 victims have previously blamed advice telling families not to leave their flats for their deaths. Paulos Tekle, whose son Isaac Paulos died, told the Grenfell Tower inquiry he was plagued with guilt over listening to the authorities instead of fleeing the building as his neighbours begged him to get out. He 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. An image of the flat where the Grenfell Tower fire started (Grenfell Tower Inquiry) 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. Why we were kept inside for so long? I want answers, he said last week. If I had not listened to the fire brigade my son would have likely been alive today. A report by Dr Barbara Lane found the stay put advice to residents had failed less than 40 minutes after the outbreak of the fire, and there was an early need for a total evacuation. A second report, by Professor Jose Torero, another fire engineer, found that LFBs stay put advice was appropriate only in the first phase of the fire, before the external cladding panels caught alight. By 2.47am when stay put was officially abandoned, 187 Grenfell occupants about 64 per cent had escaped. Only 36 people made it out after the guidance was changed. A public inquiry into the disaster heard that firefighters had no obvious and safe alternative strategy than telling residents to stay put on 14 June last year. The LFB has been criticised for taking two hours to abandon the policy as the flames spread. But officials said the advice is set by the building owners, not the fire service, meaning it accords with the design specifications and escape capabilities. Grenfell: Lawyer for man from flat where fire started condemns 'nasty tabloid lie' that he packed bags before fleeing but didn't alert neighbours Stephen Walsh QC, representing the LFB, told the inquiry: It is a fundamental misunderstanding of the events of the fire and of fire service capability to assume the buildings stay put policy can be changed to a simultaneous evacuation, at the stroke of a fire incident commander, at whatever time. If there is no policy applied by the building owner which provides for a policy of simultaneous evacuation and there are no evacuation plans and there are no general fire alarms what is an incident commander on the ground to do? He said that despite the stay put policy, firefighters evacuated residents at an early stage, but there was only one staircase and no way to communicate updated advice to everyone in the building. Representatives of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) said both commanders and firefighters were left in an impossible situation and did not have the knowledge or training to deal with the impact of cladding that made the tower block a highly combustible death trap. Martin Seaward, for the FBU, used his opening statement to ask what alternative strategy might have been implemented in the fast-moving situation. There remains no obvious and safe alternative strategy nor detailed plan, he added. Mr Seaward said call operators and firefighters on the scene still suffer from the physical and emotional repercussions of responding to the disaster. He called on Sir Martin Moore-Bick, chair of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, to consider whether early incident commanders had adequate training and procedure for cladding fires, looking out for signs of a breach of anti-fire compartmentation and when to abandon a stay put policy. We submit on the evidence so far that there were no such procedures, nor had firefighters received any such training, he added. 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 Mr Walsh said the LFB believes the scale of failures at Grenfell Tower created a unique and unprecedented set of challenges for the fire service nationally. The inquiry continues alongside a separate criminal investigation by the Metropolitan Police into responsibility for the disaster. More than 500 organisations have been identified for their involvement in the towers construction, refurbishment and management, and officers are focusing efforts on 36 that played the most significant part as potential corporate manslaughter charges are considered. Almost 200 officers and staff are working full time on the Grenfell investigation and the Met said it remains a priority for the force. Police raided 11 addresses, predominantly in west London, at around 7am on Thursday over alleged fraud in connection with the fire. Eight men and one woman were arrested, including some living in hotels, for allegedly posing as victims to benefit from housing or allowances worth between 20,000 and 100,000. Det Supt Bonner said: It is completely unacceptable that people would seek to profit from such a human tragedy, and try to attach themselves to a community that they are not part of. Several people have already been jailed for attempting to profit from the disaster. Last week a man who claimed his father had died on the 24th floor was jailed for 18 months, while a serial fraudster who pretended his wife and son were killed was handed 21 months in February and a woman posing as a widow from the blaze was jailed for four-and-a-half years in April. The London Assembly agreed a unanimous motion calling for urgent safeguards for residents on Thursday. Tom Copley AM, who proposed the motion, said: One year on, it is extremely concerning to see that a significant number of Londoners are still exposed to the risks and dangers of highly combustible cladding in their homes. This is absolutely unacceptable. The assembly called on the government to accelerate the replacement of dangerous cladding used by councils and housing associations, to end the use of desktop studies that award fire safety certificates, and make sprinklers compulsory for tall buildings, care homes and sheltered housing. Additional reporting by PA Detectives are hunting a sex attacker following a string of assaults on lone female runners in London. The most recent took place in Bridgehouse Meadows, Lewisham, on 5 April this year and police believe two earlier incidents may have been committed by the same man. One happened on 18 December 2017 in the same place and the first occurred on 6 May last year in Musgrove Road, New Cross. Recommended Police apply for court order to stop gang members making drill music On that occasion a woman jogging alone at about 8.30pm noticed a man running some 10m behind her with a phone to his ear, following her. Shortly afterwards she felt him grab her buttocks and try to pull her back, before he ran away towards Pepys Road, the Metropolitan Police said. In both the Bridgehouse Meadows attacks the man involved was described as black, in his early- to mid-20s, slim and about 6ft tall. The Met said in a statement: In view of the similar descriptions, locations and offences, officers believe all three sexual assaults may have been committed by the same suspect. Police believe it is possible he may have committed other offences and encourage anyone who may have been a victim of sexual assault to report any offences to police. 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 Detective Constable Rachel Blackwell, of the forces child abuse and sexual offences command, is leading the investigation. Her team has released a CCTV image, above, of a man they want to speak to in connection with the New Cross attack. Anyone with information should call the Met on 07920 540 617 or 101, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 111 555 quoting the reference CAD 5125/06JUN18. A man has been arrested on suspicion of murdering a 100-year-old woman whose neck was broken in a brutal mugging. Zofija Kaczan died in hospital on Wednesday after suffering multiple injuries including a fractured cheek during the attack in Normanton, Derby. Before passing away, she was able to tell police how she was approached from behind, knocked over and had her handbag stolen at around 8.45am on Monday. A 39-year-old man who was initially detained on suspicion of robbing Mrs Kaczan has been arrested on suspicion of her murder. He remains in police custody and is being questioned. Derbyshire Police is appealing for anyone with information on the incident to come forward. Detective Chief Inspector Darren Death previously described the crime as absolutely horrific. Mrs Kaczan was a well-loved member of the community and that she was targeted in this way is disgusting, he added. The Polish-born woman is reported to have been a widower and former factory worker who moved to the UK with her husband following the Second World War. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 14 October 2021 A red deer stag during rutting season in Bushy Park, Richmond, south west London, which is home to over 300 red and fallow deer PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2021 Police officers detain a man as Insulate Britain activists block a roundabout at a junction on the M25 motorway during a protest in Thurrock Reuters 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. 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 Mrs Kaczan celebrated her 100th birthday last month with a small party thrown by neighbours, the Derby Telegraph reported, with one friend calling her the best woman I have ever met. Detectives want to hear from anyone who may have seen a beige Seat Leon that was seen close to where the mugging took place. The car was found abandoned on Wednesday in a car park in Jackson Street, Stockbrook. We want to hear from anyone who may have information about the driver of the vehicle or if you have CCTV or dash cam footage that shows the vehicle with registration plate SL02 KVZ, a spokesperson for Derbyshire Police said. The murder comes during a spike in violent crime across the UK, with mounting calls for action against a tide of stabbings and muggings. Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101 or contact the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. Sex offenders and stalkers are among the criminals who could be jailed more frequently for violating court orders, under new rules. The Sentencing Council is handing judges and magistrates the first comprehensive guidance on punishing breaches of measures aiming at protecting victims, including restraining orders and sexual harm prevention orders (SHPOs). For the most serious cases of breaching an SHPO, courts will be expected to impose a sentence of between two and four-and-a-half years, while the range for breaking restraining and non-molestation orders is one to four years. Rules coming into effect across England and Wales on 1 October also aim to ensure offenders serving suspended sentences will be sent to prison if they breach the conditions of their release, unless there are new and exceptional circumstances. The approach seeks to tighten up the handling of cases of non-compliance with court orders after the Sentencing Council identified some breaches were attracting penalties well below the maximum allowed by law. Judges will decide how harshly to punish violations based on the offenders motivations, the seriousness of the breach and either actual harm or the risk of it being caused. Including a focus on risk of harm for such breaches helps ensure appropriate sentences are imposed where a breach presents a serious risk of harm to the public, without any actual harm needing to have occurred, the Sentencing Council said. The monitoring of released offenders has come into focus after cases including that of Theodore Johnson, who killed his partner in the 1980s but was freed to kill two more times (Met Police) This could include for example, a sex offender who fails to comply with notification requirements with the intention of evading detection in order to commit further offences. The court orders covered include post-sentence supervision, failing to surrender to bail, protective orders, anti-social behaviour orders, notification requirements and disqualifications from keeping animals. The change came after high-profile cases involving ex-offenders who murdered victims after being released from prison under licence conditions. Stephen Unwin and William McFall had already been jailed for unrelated murders and freed when they killed Vietnamese mother Quyen Ngoc Nguyen in Sunderland last year. They were given whole life terms after subjecting her to four hours of unimaginable torture and rape before burning her alive in a car. Police had failed to arrest the pair for running a violent criminal enterprise stealing highly valuable cannabis crops. The monitoring of released offenders was thrown into the spotlight again when Theodore Johnson was jailed for murdering his third partner, having been jailed and released twice for killing two other women. Sentencing Council member Julian Goose said court orders were there to protect individuals and the wider public from particular types of criminal behaviour. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 8 October 2021 WW II veteran, 96-year-old Lorna Cockayne, who served in the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS), popularly and officially known as the Wrens, as a Bletchley Park codebreaker, poses for a photograph with the Legion d'honneur after receiving it during a ceremony at the Pear at Parley in Ferndown, Bournemouth PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2021 British comedian Jo Brand poses with cut-out silhouettes representing women outside the Metropolitan Police headquarters New Scotland Yard, to highlight violence against women by male police officers or former police officers AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 6 October 2021 A protester, wearing a mask of Johnson, holds a sign reading Question it all on the final day of the Tory conference Getty UK news in pictures 5 October 2021 Members of Insulate Britain outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, before a hearing over the injunction banning the environmental activists from blocking the M25 PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2021 A delegate passes a street cleaner on the second day of the annual Conservative Party Conference being held at the Manchester Central convention centre AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2021 Margaret Thatcher-themed mugs for sale at the annual Conservative Party conference in Manchester EPA UK news in pictures 2 October 2021 A couple make their way through a flooded underpass in Bristol as a yellow weather warning for rain and wind is issued for parts of the UK Tom Wren/SWNS UK news in pictures 1 October 2021 A driver talks to members of the media after passing his HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) driving test at National Driving Centre in Croydon, south London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 30 September 2021 The centrepiece One Thousand Springs by Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota is seen ahead of the beginning of the Japan Festival, a celebration of the countrys plants, art and culture running from 2-31 October, at Kew Gardens in London PA UK news in pictures 29 September 2021 The family of Betty Campbell unveil the bronze sculpture of her during the unveiling of the statue in Central Square, Cardiff, of Betty Campbell, Wales' first black headteacher PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2021 A sign referring to the lack of fuel is placed at the entrance to a petrol station in London AP UK news in pictures 27 September 2021 Police officers detain a protester from Insulate Britain occupying a roundabout leading from the M25 motorway to Heathrow Airport in London PA UK news in pictures 26 September 2021 Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer watches the Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur match at The Font pub in Brighton PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2021 Scottish pro-independence supporters hold a march and rally outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, Scotland Getty Images UK news in pictures 24 September 2021 Police officers remove two protesters from the top of a tanker, as Insulate Britain block the A20 in Kent, which provides access to the Port of Dover in Kent. The environmental activists have moved location after been banned from campaigning on the M25 motorway in London PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2021 Gabriella, the seven year old daughter of imprisoned British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, joins in a game on a giant snakes and ladders board in Parliament Square, to show the ups and downs of her mothers case to mark the 2,000 days she has been detained in Iran AP UK news in pictures 22 September 2021 A new sign hangs on the Millicent Fawcett statue after it was altered by CrackTheCrises coalition activists to highlight the climate crisis as a feminist struggle in Parliament Square in London EPA UK news in pictures 21 September 2021 Gabriella Diment prepares a monumental bronze patinated fibreglass wall sculpture depicting household cavalry soldiers on horseback which is expected to be sold for 12,000-18,000 when it goes up for auction at Summers Place Auctions in Billinghurst, Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2021 Florist Judith Blacklock puts the finishing touches to a floral carousel installation in Halkin Arcade, which she has designed with Neill Strain for the Belgravia in Bloom festival, running from September 20-26, in London PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2021 Bubbles surround Manchester Uniteds Cristiano Ronaldo before the match against West Ham at London Stadium Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 18 September 2021 Children take part in the Settrington Cup Pedal Car Race as motoring enthusiasts attend the Goodwood Revival, a three-day historic car racing festival in Goodwood, Chichester, Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2021 Hugo, 7, from London rides past a 4x7 metre rainbow arch, made entirely of recycled aluminium cans, which has been installed by recycling initiative 'Every Can Counts', in partnership with The City of London Corporation in front of St Paul's Cathedral in London, to encourage members of the public to recycle their drinks cans ahead of recycling week, which starts on 20 September PA UK news in pictures 16 September 2021 Sheikeh MOhammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, leader of Abu Dhabi, leaves Downing Street after meeting with Boris Johnson PA UK news in pictures 15 September 2021 Children pose by ice sculptures depicting people collecting water by charity Water Aid to show the fragility of water and the threat posed by climate change in London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 14 September 2021 Heavy rain covers the A149 near Kings Lynn in Norfolk PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2021 Luke Jerram's 'Museum of the Moon' at Durham Cathedral PA UK news in pictures 12 September 2021 Inspirational young fundraiser Tobias Weller crosses the finish line, near his home in Sheffield, as he completes his latest epic feat where he swam and triked his way to the end of his awesome year-long Ironman Challenge. This is the third challenge Tobias, who has cerebral palsy and autism, has completed, raising more than 150,000 for his school and Sheffield Children Hospitals charity PA UK news in pictures 11 September 2021 British player Emma Raducanu, holds up the US Open championship trophy winning the women's singles final of the US Open in New York AP UK news in pictures 10 September 2021 People paddle board during a misty morning in Ullswater, the second largest lake in the Lake District, Cumbria PA UK news in pictures 9 September 2021 Troops from Wiltshire based 4 Armoured Close Support Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during final inspection at Wellington Barracks in London, ahead of providing troops for the Queens Guard PA UK news in pictures 8 September 2021 Workers cross London Bridge during the morning rush hour in London Reuters UK news in pictures Mixing it up: Painting it up press view in London A gallery employee poses for photographers next to a painting entitled Prairie by British artist, Louise Giovanelli during the exhibition 'Mixing it up: Painting it up' at the Hayward Gallery in London EPA UK news in pictures 6 September 2021 Traders in the Ring at the London Metal Exchange, in the City of London, after open-outcry trading returned for the first time since March 2020, when the Ring was temporarily closed due to the pandemic PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2021 People enjoy the warm weather on Sandbanks beach, Poole PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2021 Demonstrators from Animal Rebellion and Nature Rebellion protest in Trafalgar Square in London. PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2021 South Africa's Ntando Mahlangu (centre) wins the Men's 200 metres T61 Final ahead of second placed Great Britain's Richard Whitehead at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2021 A young common seal on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, as hundreds of pregnant grey seals come ashore ready for the start of the pupping season. PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA UK news in pictures 21 August 2021 People take part in a demonstration in solidarity with people of Afghanistan, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 20 August 2021 People zip wire across the sea from Bournemouth pier towards the beach. PA Making sure that offenders comply with court orders is crucial in reinforcing public confidence in sentencing, he added. Where offenders do not comply, the public have a right to expect that this is properly addressed by the courts. We are giving courts clear guidance on what action should be taken against those offenders who ignore court orders so that they are dealt with robustly and consistently. Sentencing guidelines must be followed, unless a judge or magistrate feels it is not in the interests of justice to do so. The Sentencing Council acknowledged the new guidelines could cause the number of prisoners to increase, amid record levels of violence and self-harm in Britains crisis-hit jails. Justice minister Rory Stewart said: For the justice system to work, we need both a good prison system and good community sentences that means we have to ensure that offenders comply with the court orders, and that if they dont, they will face clear consequences. This is vital to build public and judicial confidence in community orders which if properly enforced can reduce reoffending and protect the public. A British woman has been arrested after trying to steal a luxury yacht from an Italian coastal resort. Larissa Watson, 50, allegedly climbed on board the 150,000 (135,000) vessel in the upmarket port of Portofino on the Italian Riviera and started motoring it out to open water. A harbour worker became suspicious after spotting the British painter on the yacht and jumped aboard before taking control and steering the boat back to the port. The Sangermani Daycruiser belonged to a rental company in Portofino and therefore had the keys on board. Police arrested Ms Watson after the incident and charged her with theft. They also revealed that she has been in Italy since February and reported to the authorities several times for allegedly leaving hotels and restaurants without paying her bill. Italian newspaper La Rivieria on Wednesday called Mr Watson the "Portofino pirate" and suggested she was leading a "double life". UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 8 October 2021 WW II veteran, 96-year-old Lorna Cockayne, who served in the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS), popularly and officially known as the Wrens, as a Bletchley Park codebreaker, poses for a photograph with the Legion d'honneur after receiving it during a ceremony at the Pear at Parley in Ferndown, Bournemouth PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2021 British comedian Jo Brand poses with cut-out silhouettes representing women outside the Metropolitan Police headquarters New Scotland Yard, to highlight violence against women by male police officers or former police officers AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 6 October 2021 A protester, wearing a mask of Johnson, holds a sign reading Question it all on the final day of the Tory conference Getty UK news in pictures 5 October 2021 Members of Insulate Britain outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, before a hearing over the injunction banning the environmental activists from blocking the M25 PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2021 A delegate passes a street cleaner on the second day of the annual Conservative Party Conference being held at the Manchester Central convention centre AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2021 Margaret Thatcher-themed mugs for sale at the annual Conservative Party conference in Manchester EPA UK news in pictures 2 October 2021 A couple make their way through a flooded underpass in Bristol as a yellow weather warning for rain and wind is issued for parts of the UK Tom Wren/SWNS UK news in pictures 1 October 2021 A driver talks to members of the media after passing his HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) driving test at National Driving Centre in Croydon, south London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 30 September 2021 The centrepiece One Thousand Springs by Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota is seen ahead of the beginning of the Japan Festival, a celebration of the countrys plants, art and culture running from 2-31 October, at Kew Gardens in London PA UK news in pictures 29 September 2021 The family of Betty Campbell unveil the bronze sculpture of her during the unveiling of the statue in Central Square, Cardiff, of Betty Campbell, Wales' first black headteacher PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2021 A sign referring to the lack of fuel is placed at the entrance to a petrol station in London AP UK news in pictures 27 September 2021 Police officers detain a protester from Insulate Britain occupying a roundabout leading from the M25 motorway to Heathrow Airport in London PA UK news in pictures 26 September 2021 Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer watches the Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur match at The Font pub in Brighton PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2021 Scottish pro-independence supporters hold a march and rally outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, Scotland Getty Images UK news in pictures 24 September 2021 Police officers remove two protesters from the top of a tanker, as Insulate Britain block the A20 in Kent, which provides access to the Port of Dover in Kent. The environmental activists have moved location after been banned from campaigning on the M25 motorway in London PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2021 Gabriella, the seven year old daughter of imprisoned British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, joins in a game on a giant snakes and ladders board in Parliament Square, to show the ups and downs of her mothers case to mark the 2,000 days she has been detained in Iran AP UK news in pictures 22 September 2021 A new sign hangs on the Millicent Fawcett statue after it was altered by CrackTheCrises coalition activists to highlight the climate crisis as a feminist struggle in Parliament Square in London EPA UK news in pictures 21 September 2021 Gabriella Diment prepares a monumental bronze patinated fibreglass wall sculpture depicting household cavalry soldiers on horseback which is expected to be sold for 12,000-18,000 when it goes up for auction at Summers Place Auctions in Billinghurst, Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2021 Florist Judith Blacklock puts the finishing touches to a floral carousel installation in Halkin Arcade, which she has designed with Neill Strain for the Belgravia in Bloom festival, running from September 20-26, in London PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2021 Bubbles surround Manchester Uniteds Cristiano Ronaldo before the match against West Ham at London Stadium Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 18 September 2021 Children take part in the Settrington Cup Pedal Car Race as motoring enthusiasts attend the Goodwood Revival, a three-day historic car racing festival in Goodwood, Chichester, Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2021 Hugo, 7, from London rides past a 4x7 metre rainbow arch, made entirely of recycled aluminium cans, which has been installed by recycling initiative 'Every Can Counts', in partnership with The City of London Corporation in front of St Paul's Cathedral in London, to encourage members of the public to recycle their drinks cans ahead of recycling week, which starts on 20 September PA UK news in pictures 16 September 2021 Sheikeh MOhammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, leader of Abu Dhabi, leaves Downing Street after meeting with Boris Johnson PA UK news in pictures 15 September 2021 Children pose by ice sculptures depicting people collecting water by charity Water Aid to show the fragility of water and the threat posed by climate change in London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 14 September 2021 Heavy rain covers the A149 near Kings Lynn in Norfolk PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2021 Luke Jerram's 'Museum of the Moon' at Durham Cathedral PA UK news in pictures 12 September 2021 Inspirational young fundraiser Tobias Weller crosses the finish line, near his home in Sheffield, as he completes his latest epic feat where he swam and triked his way to the end of his awesome year-long Ironman Challenge. This is the third challenge Tobias, who has cerebral palsy and autism, has completed, raising more than 150,000 for his school and Sheffield Children Hospitals charity PA UK news in pictures 11 September 2021 British player Emma Raducanu, holds up the US Open championship trophy winning the women's singles final of the US Open in New York AP UK news in pictures 10 September 2021 People paddle board during a misty morning in Ullswater, the second largest lake in the Lake District, Cumbria PA UK news in pictures 9 September 2021 Troops from Wiltshire based 4 Armoured Close Support Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during final inspection at Wellington Barracks in London, ahead of providing troops for the Queens Guard PA UK news in pictures 8 September 2021 Workers cross London Bridge during the morning rush hour in London Reuters UK news in pictures Mixing it up: Painting it up press view in London A gallery employee poses for photographers next to a painting entitled Prairie by British artist, Louise Giovanelli during the exhibition 'Mixing it up: Painting it up' at the Hayward Gallery in London EPA UK news in pictures 6 September 2021 Traders in the Ring at the London Metal Exchange, in the City of London, after open-outcry trading returned for the first time since March 2020, when the Ring was temporarily closed due to the pandemic PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2021 People enjoy the warm weather on Sandbanks beach, Poole PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2021 Demonstrators from Animal Rebellion and Nature Rebellion protest in Trafalgar Square in London. PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2021 South Africa's Ntando Mahlangu (centre) wins the Men's 200 metres T61 Final ahead of second placed Great Britain's Richard Whitehead at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2021 A young common seal on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, as hundreds of pregnant grey seals come ashore ready for the start of the pupping season. PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA UK news in pictures 21 August 2021 People take part in a demonstration in solidarity with people of Afghanistan, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 20 August 2021 People zip wire across the sea from Bournemouth pier towards the beach. PA "In Britain shes an esteemed artist, in Italy a thief whos been under scrutiny from the police for some time," they said. Capt Simone Clemente, of the Carabinieri, told The Daily Telegraph: "Nothing like this has happened before in Portofino, it's very unusual. "By looking through her Facebook and Instagram accounts we found that she had done navigation courses in the past and knew how to handle a boat." According to her Facebook account, which shows multiple holiday pictures from around Italy, Ms Watson works at LW Creative Consulting and studied at Belfast University. Italian authorities have warned that if she doesn't turn up to her court date in July an international arrest warrant for her will be issued. If convicted for theft, she could face up to three years in prison. Portofino is known for its picturesque setting and as a favoured getaway for celebrities. Harry Potter star Matthew Lewis, who played Neville Longbottom in the franchise, married his partner Angela Jones there last month. Westminster watchers awoke yesterday morning wondering whether Brexit secretary David Davis would quit the cabinet. If they were looking for the employment news that had the greatest potential to impact on our departure from the EU, they were looking in the wrong direction. Yesterday evening, three miles to the west of parliament in nearby Kensington, an announcement came from the Daily Mail: Geordie Greig will be the new editor. Just under 24 hours earlier we had learnt that Paul Dacre would be stepping down in November, after 26 years at the helm. Greig has long been in the conversation about likely replacements, but dont mistake this for a business as usual transfer of power. Dacre famously cemented his position as a titan of Fleet Street through his ferocious and often controversial conservatism, wielding power over prime ministers and MPs alike as David Cameron discovered to his cost. But as his time as editor of the Mail on Sunday shows, Greig represents an altogether more interesting prospect for both Theresa May and, most starkly, Brexit. As one Conservative told The Independent: Dacres Mail is the standard bearer for Brexit and what it stands for. So it would be silly to deny that Brexit isnt potentially losing one of its greatest champions. November will be a critical moment in the Brexit tale when the whole deal and Ms Mays government could stand or fall. If the paralysed government of Brexit Britain is, at least to his critics, Paul Dacres political legacy, his successor might just take a different course. Among those long-mooted names for the top spot were Tony Gallagher, editor of The Sun and former Mail deputy editor, MailOnline publisher Martin Clarke, and two other acolytes who have joined the Dacre team over the years, deputy editors Ted Verity and Gerard Greaves. But Geordie Greig is different. He is no Dacre ally. Something of a nemesis to the outgoing editor, Greig was the only one of the frontrunners to have been an outspoken voice on the other side of the Brexit debate. During the referendum he directed the Mail on Sunday to campaign strongly for a Remain vote, a decision said to have gone down like a cup of imported Turkish chardonnay in the office next door. It is little wonder that Dacre, a man who slavishly wooed the villages and county towns of middle England, often clashed with the editor of his papers sister publication, the Mail on Sunday. Greig was once dubbed Britains best-connected man when he was editor of the high society magazine Tatler. And when the Mail on Sunday came out in favour of Remain, it attacked those who had most fervently pushed for Brexit as having peddled a dangerous illusion. So eager are they for a divorce that they are prepared to sacrifice a large chunk of our income, and trade down on living conditions, in order to walk out into a rose-tinted future of freedom, said the Sunday papers editorial. In his resignation statement on Wednesday, Paul Dacre thanked Lord Rothermere for giving him the freedom to edit without interference, but now that he is moving upstairs to become chairman and editor-in-chief of Associated Newspapers insiders suggest that the Mails owner is seizing the opportunity to smooth the papers harsher edges. Geordie Greig is the man for that job. With falling newspaper sales and a tighter advertising environment, the prospect of rationalising operations by shifting to a seven-day operation under one editor might also be an attractive prospect to Lord Rothermeres accountants. But all of this gives Greig a tricky tightrope to walk from November pleasing a pro-Brexit readership and an anti-Brexit proprietor, showing consistency of his own stance and respect for his constituencys opinions. Could the Mail really soften on Brexit? Ask the question a different way: can Greig really leap from one side of this fight to the other? Recommended Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre to step down in November Jacob Rees-Mogg MP told The Independent: Paul Dacre has the remarkable ability of keeping his finger on the pulse of public opinion, and shows this in his support for Brexit. Another Tory put it to The Independent in blunter terms: The Mail is Brexits attack dog. For some of its opponents it has been the agent of death. Look what happened to David Cameron. This hallmark of the outgoing editor has made him one of the most powerful and controversial in Fleet Street history, not to mention one of the most inescapable and feared forces in British politics. Many credit him with holding back the British left, fomenting fear of immigration and railroading Brexit through the UK political landscape. It was the Daily Mail of Paul Dacre and its emphasis on anti-immigration stories in the run up to the referendum that helped that issue supersede the economy as the major theme, at a pivotal moment in the campaign. In 2015 and early 2016 then-prime minister David Cameron had tried to renegotiate the UKs relationship with the EU, and came back with an agreement allowing the UK to withhold benefits from European migrants a deal the Mail derided as The Great Delusion. Getting personal, its editorial said Mr Camerons capacity for self-delusion is breathtaking. 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. 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 The then-prime minister had promised nothing less than a fundamental renegotiation of Britains relationship with Europe. How woefully that contrasts with the footling, pedantic and almost certainly ineffective reforms he now trumpets. One disputed story that emerged a year ago suggested that as that particular editorial was going to press Mr Cameron met the Mails owner, Lord Rothermere, and asked him to sack Dacre. Rothermere, a resident of France and himself said to have been pro-EU, was a personal friend of Mr Cameron, but the appeal had no effect. In the end, Dacres coverage helped nail the lid on the coffin of David Camerons deal, which became so toxic it was subsequently ignored by Remainers in the ensuing referendum campaign even those in Downing Street promptly forgot it existed. Since the referendum, the Mail has demanded Theresa May Crush the Saboteurs of Brexit and declared that judges who upheld a decision preventing her from unilaterally triggering Article 50 were Enemies of The People. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Dacre would have taken heart at the Daily Telegraphs decision to brand MPs who rebelled in one vote against the government as the Brexit Mutineers. But now he will be handing the reigns to Greig at a crucial time in the Brexit saga he has so formidably shaped. While the final EU exit deal was meant to be agreed in October, that now looks increasingly unlikely, given that the UKs cabinet is unable to agree what kind of future relations to have with Europe, and that all the options being discussed have already been rejected by Brussels anyway. Talk is now of the negotiations extending into December and the new year, despite the Article 50 period, after which British membership ends, running out in March. Sensing the shifting sands, a key ally of Angela Merkel and president of Germanys Bundestag, Dr Wolfgang Schauble, has said in the last 24 hours that the UK would likely be granted an extension of Article 50 if it asked for one. The prime minister is already probably looking back wistfully on the Mails front pages, depicting her as an insurmountable political force. Today, even before Dacre is out of the door, the papers editorial said her administration looked rudderless. As the new editor arrives, the Brexit thumbscrews will be tightening, the divisions in the Conservatives widening and political criticism reaching fever-pitch pressure on Ms May inside her party and in the press is only likely to grow. Her faithful spokeswoman said at this mornings briefing: The PM congratulates Paul Dacre on a long and distinguished career, in which he was a passionate defender of press freedom, held the feet of six different prime ministers to the fire and fought many great campaigns. Not to mention a longstanding backer of the prime minister. Like so many of the Brexiteers, Theresa May might miss Dacre when hes gone. Nearly 4 million adults in the UK have been forced to use food banks due to shocking levels of deprivation, figures have revealed for the first time. An exclusive poll commissioned by The Independent reveals one in 14 Britons has had to use a food bank, with similar numbers also forced to skip meals and borrow money as austerity measures leave them penniless with nowhere to turn. The findings come as a major report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) shows more than 1.5 million people were destitute in the UK last year alone, a figure higher than the populations of Liverpool and Birmingham combined. This includes 365,000 children, with experts warning that social security policy changes under the Tory government were leading to destitution by design. Destitution is defined as people lacking two essential needs, such as food or housing. The polling on food poverty, from a representative sample of 1,050 UK adults carried out for The Independent by D-CYFOR, suggests that 7 per cent of the adult population or 3.7 million people have used a food bank to receive a meal. A million people have decreased the portion size of their childs meal due to financial constraints, the survey says. The results come after it emerged in April that the number of emergency meals handed out at food banks had risen at a higher rate than ever, soaring by 13 per cent in a year, with more than 1.3 million three-day emergency food supplies given to people in crisis in the 12 months to March. The JRF report, carried out by Heriot-Watt University, found that among the tens of thousands of people who were recorded as being destitute last year, food was the most commonly lacked item, with 62 per cent within the group reporting that they had gone without over the past month. Nearly half (47 per cent) had lacked basic toiletries, with 46 per cent lacking suitable clothing and 42 per cent having to go without heating. One in five destitute people reported lacking lighting at home, and 16 per cent had recently slept rough. Margaret Greenwood, Labours shadow work and pensions secretary, said: These figures are shocking. After eight years of Conservative austerity, we are seeing destitution reappearing on our streets. Benefit delays and sanctions are among key reasons why people are forced into destitution. The sanctions rate in universal credit is well over 10 times higher than for jobseekers allowance, yet the government is rapidly accelerating the roll out of universal credit with the risk that increasing numbers of people will be left with no alternative but to turn to food banks. Garry Lemon, director of policy and research at the Trussell Trust, said: These figures are deeply concerning, especially when we know that not everyone facing hunger or skipping meals goes to a food bank. Last year our network alone provided 1.3 million supplies to people across the UK this is just not right. If were to end hunger we need to go to the root of why people are struggling to stay above water, and ensure that adequate financial support is in place whenever its most needed. The JRF report highlighted that a reduction in benefit sanctions between 2015 and 2017 saw levels of destitution decline by around 25 per cent over this period, but warned of a real risk that this would unravel as universal credit is embedded across the country, prompting another spike in sanctions. Benefit sanctions, which take the form of docking a portion of benefit payments for a period of time, can be imposed for breaching benefit conditions like not attending a work placement, or for being minutes late for a jobcentre appointment. They have been widely criticised in recent years after it emerged claimants had been docked hundreds of pounds and pitched into financial crisis for often trivial breaches of benefit conditions, or for administrative errors beyond their control. Recent government figures show that almost half (49 per cent) of all universal credit decisions resulted in a benefit sanction up 12 percentage points from August 2017 to October 2017. Campbell Robb, chief executive of JRF, said: Many of us rely on public services such as social security when hit with unexpected circumstances like job loss, relationship breakdown or ill health. Yet actions by government, local authorities and utility companies are leading to destitution by design: forcing people into a corner when they are penniless and have nowhere to turn. This is shameful. Social security should be an anchor holding people steady against powerful currents such as rising costs, insecure housing and jobs, and low pay, but people are instead becoming destitute with no clear way out. Mr Campbell said the reduction in benefit sanction rates had meant some headway has been made, but warned there was a real risk that once universal credit is embedded across the country, more people could again be at risk unless changes are made. 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 A DWP spokesperson said: Work is the best route out of poverty and our welfare reforms incentivise employment while having the right support in place for those that need it. Universal credit lies at the heart of our commitment to improve lives, and it is seeing people move into work faster and staying in work longer than under the old system. This report fails to take this into account, nor the recent improvements we have made to universal credit, including continuing to pay two weeks housing costs for claimants moving onto UC, removing the seven waiting days, increasing advance payments to 100 per cent per cent and extending repayment times to 12 months. Since 2010, one million people have been lifted out of absolute poverty and employment is at a record high, with 1,000 people moving into work every day. Meanwhile, we continue to spend 90bn a year on welfare to support those who need it most. Geordie Greig, the editor of The Mail of Sunday, is to replace Paul Dacre as the editor of the Daily Mail. Mr Greig, who is also a former editor of the Evening Standard and Tatler, will take over when Mr Dacre steps down in November, Daily Mail and General Trust chairman Lord Rothermere announced. Mr Dacre's departure was confirmed on Wednesday after 26 years in charge at the paper. Ted Verity, currently deputy editor at the Daily Mail , will be the new editor of The Mail on Sunday. Lord Rothermere said: "Geordie has been an outstanding editor of The Mail on Sunday, and I am delighted that he will continue the high-quality journalism that Paul has made a hallmark of the Daily Mail for more than 25 years. "I am also delighted that Ted Verity, who has been an exceptional deputy editor at the Daily Mail, is to become editor of The Mail on Sunday." In contrast to Mr Dacre, whose paper has taken a vociferously pro-Brexit stance, The Mail on Sunday, under Mr Greig, campaigned strongly in favour of remain during the EU referendum in 2016. Born in London, 57-year-old Mr Greig was educated at Eton and Oxford before beginning his career in the local press. He joined the Daily Mail before moving to The Sunday Times in 1987, becoming its American correspondent and moving to New York in 1991. He returned to London and to The Sunday Times in 1995 before being appointed editor of Tatler four years later. Mr Greig will be tasked with filling the shoes of one of the most influential figures in the history of Fleet Street when Mr Dacre moves into the role of chairman at Associated Newspapers, which owns the Mail. The 69-year-old had been at the helm of the newspaper since 1992, boosting its circulation by more than 800,000 in a time of shrinking print readerships. 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. 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 As well as backing the successful leave campaign during the EU referendum, the paper won praise under Mr Dacre for its fight for justice in the Stephen Lawrence murder case, as well as drawing attention to issues surrounding single-use plastics. However, it also found itself dogged by controversy on numerous occasions, attracting detractors for its stance on immigration, gender politics and gay rights. It came under fire for leading on the front page headline Enemies of the people, when High Court judges ruled parliamentary approval must be sought to trigger Article 50 and begin Britains exit from the EU. Mr Dacre was also criticised in 2013 after running an article on Ralph Miliband, the late father of then-Labour leader Ed Miliband, entitled The Man Who Hated Britain. Two key Brexit bills will return to the Commons next month as MPs gear up for weeks of parliamentary warfare over preparations for leaving the European Union. Commons leader Andrea Leadsom confirmed that the long-delayed trade and customs bills will both be debated by MPs by mid-July, following speculation the government has kicked the vital legislation into the long grass due to fears of conflict with pro-EU rebels. The announcement came ahead of next week's Commons showdown over Theresa Mays flagship Brexit legislation - the EU (Withdrawal) Bill - where ministers will seek to overturn all 15 Lords defeats during a fraught two-day contest. Recommended Brexit backstop plan to be published today after May and Davis talks It also comes as tensions in the cabinet threatened to boil over, as the prime minister faced a tough response from Brexiteers over her "backstop" proposals for the Northern Ireland border. Brexit secretary, David Davis, is reportedly considering quitting over the plan, which would see the UK stay in parts of the customs union until a solution was found to the Irish border issue. Ms Leadsom told MPs: I agree we must hold these debates as soon as possible and I would like to update the House that these bills will come forward by mid-July at the latest. Every week I look carefully at the progress we are making on all legislation and I am pleased that the return of these bills, along with the return to this House with the EU withdrawal bill, demonstrates continued progress towards ensuring we have a fully functioning statute book when we leave the EU. However her Labour counterpart, Valerie Vaz, said the programme was a mess, a shambles and said it was clear that "this government cannot handle democracy". Attention has been focused up till now on the withdrawal bill, which will transfer EU law onto the statute books when Britain leaves the bloc. But there are seven other vital bits of legislation that need to be rubber-stamped before exit day in March 2019. Among these is the Trade Bill, which will allow the UK to strike free trade deals for the first time in decades, as it has been bound by EU import and export agreements since joining the bloc. The other key bit of legislation is the Taxation (Cross-Border Trade) Bill - also known as the customs bill - which will set out new customs arrangements after Brexit. Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures An abandoned shop is seen in Mullan, Co Monaghan. The building was home to four families who left during the Troubles. The town was largely abandoned after the hard border was put in place during the conflict. Mullan has seen some regeneration in recent years, but faces an uncertain future with Brexit on the horizon Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures A defaced Welcome to Northern Ireland sign stands on the border in Middletown, Co Armagh Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Mervyn Johnson owns a garage in the border town of Pettigo, which straddles the counties of Donegal and Fermanagh. Ive been here since 1956, it was a bit of a problem for a few years. My premises has been blown up about six or seven times, we just kept building and starting again, Johnson said laughing. We just got used to it [the hard border] really but now that its gone, we wouldn't like it back again Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Farmer Gordon Crocketts Coshquin farm straddles both Derry/Londonderry in the North and Donegal in the Republic. At the minute there is no real problem, you can cross the border as free as you want. We could cross it six or eight times a day, said Crockett. If there was any sort of obstruction it would slow down our work every day Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures John Murphy flies the European flag outside his home near the border village of Forkhill, Co Armagh Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Potter Brenda McGinn stands outside her Mullan, Co Monaghan, studio the former Jas Boylan shoe factory which was the main employer in the area until it shut down due to the Troubles. When I came back, this would have been somewhere you would have driven through and have been quite sad. It was a decrepit looking village, said McGinn, whose Busy Bee Ceramics is one of a handful of enterprises restoring life to the community. Now this is a revitalised, old hidden village Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Union Flag colours painted on kerbstones and bus-stops along the border village of Newbuildings, Co Derry/Londonderry Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Grass reflected in Lattone Lough, which is split by the border between Cavan and Fermanagh, seen from near Ballinacor, Northern Ireland Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Donegalman David McClintock sits in the Border Cafe in the village of Muff, which straddles Donegal and Derry/Londonderry Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures An old Irish phone box stands alongside a bus stop in the border town of Glaslough, Co Monaghan Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Billboards are viewed from inside a disused customs hut in Carrickcarnon, Co Down, on the border with Co Louth in the Republic Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Seamus McQuaid takes packages that locals on the Irish side of the border have delivered to his business, McQuaid Auto-Parts, to save money on postal fees, near the Co Fermanagh village of Newtownbutler. I live in the south but the business is in the North, said McQaid. "I wholesale into the Republic of Ireland so if theres duty, Ill have to set up a company 200 yards up the road to sell to my customers. Ill have to bring the same product in through Dublin instead of Belfast Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures A disused Great Northern Railway line and station that was for customs and excise on the border town of Glenfarne, Co Leitrim Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Alice Mullen, from Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland, does her shopping at a former customs post on the border in Middletown, Co Armagh. Id be very worried if it was a hard border, I remember when people were divided. I would be very afraid of the threat to the peace process, it was a dreadful time to live through. Even to go to mass on a Sunday, youd have to go through checkpoints. It is terribly stressful, said Mullen. All those barricades and boundaries were pulled down. I see it as a huge big exercise of trust and I do believe everyone breathed a sigh of relief Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures A bus stop and red post box stand in the border town of Jonesborough, Co Armagh Reuters Tory Brexit rebels have tabled a string of amendments to both bills, including a new bid to amend the trade bill signed by 12 Conservatives, which would keep effectively Britain in the single market. Any rebellion from Conservative MPs will present an issue for Ms May, who lacks a parliamentary majority after last year's snap general election. Ms Leadsom also confirmed that there would now be two days to debate the EU withdrawal bill, after the government drew fierce criticism from Labour for trying to push through 15 votes in a single session. Key issues including leaving the customs union, the Irish border and what to do in the event of no deal with Brussels. Theresa May has sidestepped a potentially catastrophic row by persuading her Brexit secretary to sign up to a last-minute compromise on a critical part of the UKs negotiating position. Despite overnight threats that David Davis was going to resign, Ms May and her minister managed to agree a customs plan that prevented a wider fallout after a dramatic day of talks. The row centres on Mr Daviss demands for a time-limit on the backstop option that would keep the UK in parts of the customs union until a solution is found to the border issue in Northern Ireland. The prime minister gave way to Brexiteers by making last-minute amendments to the plan, ensuring the backstop does not extend beyond December 2021, which critics say would keep Britain too closely tied to Brussels. However, a leading EU figure immediately poured cold water over the compromise deal by saying it was difficult to see how it could offer a workable solution to avoiding a hard border in Ireland. The document is the UKs response to an EU proposal to keep Northern Ireland in the customs union after Brexit, which Ms May rejected outright as it would draw a border down the Irish Sea. In a letter to Tory MPs, she said: To put it frankly, if we are to make progress in the negotiations and deliver the smooth, orderly and successful Brexit the country wants, we need to agree with the EU the terms of backstop. We have a choice between the [European Commission]s proposal which, however hypothetical, must be unacceptable in principle to anyone who believe in the union of the United Kingdom, and an alternative that is unpalatable but, at worst, temporary. The government hopes to have a permanent customs plan in place by the end of 2020, Ms May said, arguing that it was right to have a fallback option in case talks were delayed for technical reasons. The agreement was reached after Ms May held a string of one-on-one meetings with Mr Davis and other top Brexiteers such as Boris Johnson and Liam Fox. None of the ministers had threatened to resign during the constructive meetings, according to a Downing Street spokesperson. A source close to Mr Davis said: Obviously, theres been a back and forth on this paper, as there always is whenever the government publishes anything. The backstop paper has been amended and now expresses, in much more detail, the time-limited nature of our proposal something the prime minister and David Davis have always been committed to. The prime minister may have pacified her party for now but she still has to convince EU leaders of the merit of her plans. Guy Verhofstadt, the European parliaments Brexit chief, said: Difficult to see how UK proposal on customs aspects of Northern Ireland backstop will deliver a workable solution to avoid a hard border and respect integrity of the single market/customs union. A backstop that is temporary is not a backstop, unless the definitive arrangement is the same as the backstop. Senior figures at the European Commission are now considering the plans, with chief negotiator Michel Barnier saying the plan must the integrity of the single market and offer a workable solution to the border row of an all-weather character. However, Irelands deputy prime minister Simon Coveney warned that there could be no progress on other elements of the Brexit talks without legally binding assurance that a hard border would be avoided in all circumstances. Ireland and the commission have both stressed that substantial progress on the backstop is needed before the June European Council, said Mr Coveney. Clearly, a great deal of work remains to be done and this needs to be the highest priority for all sides in the weeks ahead. Pro-EU Labour MP Rupa Huq said: Theresa May is right to say that Brexit is turning into a choice between the unacceptable and the unpalatable, but that should come as no surprise. The Brexit that was promised simply cannot be delivered. We now know that every form of Brexit will damage our country and threaten jobs and livelihoods, and even the prime minister is now admitting we are heading for a terrible deal. Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures An abandoned shop is seen in Mullan, Co Monaghan. The building was home to four families who left during the Troubles. The town was largely abandoned after the hard border was put in place during the conflict. Mullan has seen some regeneration in recent years, but faces an uncertain future with Brexit on the horizon Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures A defaced Welcome to Northern Ireland sign stands on the border in Middletown, Co Armagh Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Mervyn Johnson owns a garage in the border town of Pettigo, which straddles the counties of Donegal and Fermanagh. Ive been here since 1956, it was a bit of a problem for a few years. My premises has been blown up about six or seven times, we just kept building and starting again, Johnson said laughing. We just got used to it [the hard border] really but now that its gone, we wouldn't like it back again Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Farmer Gordon Crocketts Coshquin farm straddles both Derry/Londonderry in the North and Donegal in the Republic. At the minute there is no real problem, you can cross the border as free as you want. We could cross it six or eight times a day, said Crockett. If there was any sort of obstruction it would slow down our work every day Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures John Murphy flies the European flag outside his home near the border village of Forkhill, Co Armagh Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Potter Brenda McGinn stands outside her Mullan, Co Monaghan, studio the former Jas Boylan shoe factory which was the main employer in the area until it shut down due to the Troubles. When I came back, this would have been somewhere you would have driven through and have been quite sad. It was a decrepit looking village, said McGinn, whose Busy Bee Ceramics is one of a handful of enterprises restoring life to the community. Now this is a revitalised, old hidden village Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Union Flag colours painted on kerbstones and bus-stops along the border village of Newbuildings, Co Derry/Londonderry Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Grass reflected in Lattone Lough, which is split by the border between Cavan and Fermanagh, seen from near Ballinacor, Northern Ireland Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Donegalman David McClintock sits in the Border Cafe in the village of Muff, which straddles Donegal and Derry/Londonderry Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures An old Irish phone box stands alongside a bus stop in the border town of Glaslough, Co Monaghan Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Billboards are viewed from inside a disused customs hut in Carrickcarnon, Co Down, on the border with Co Louth in the Republic Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Seamus McQuaid takes packages that locals on the Irish side of the border have delivered to his business, McQuaid Auto-Parts, to save money on postal fees, near the Co Fermanagh village of Newtownbutler. I live in the south but the business is in the North, said McQaid. "I wholesale into the Republic of Ireland so if theres duty, Ill have to set up a company 200 yards up the road to sell to my customers. Ill have to bring the same product in through Dublin instead of Belfast Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures A disused Great Northern Railway line and station that was for customs and excise on the border town of Glenfarne, Co Leitrim Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Alice Mullen, from Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland, does her shopping at a former customs post on the border in Middletown, Co Armagh. Id be very worried if it was a hard border, I remember when people were divided. I would be very afraid of the threat to the peace process, it was a dreadful time to live through. Even to go to mass on a Sunday, youd have to go through checkpoints. It is terribly stressful, said Mullen. All those barricades and boundaries were pulled down. I see it as a huge big exercise of trust and I do believe everyone breathed a sigh of relief Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures A bus stop and red post box stand in the border town of Jonesborough, Co Armagh Reuters Meanwhile, one of Boris Johnsons ministers provoked fresh controversy when he suggested a second EU referendum on the final Brexit deal would be possible. Sir Alan Duncan told an audience in Berlin that voters would not be allowed to reverse the original decision to leave the EU but they would get the choice would be between the exit deal on offer or having no deal at all. It comes as MPs gear up for weeks of parliamentary warfare over preparations for leaving the EU, as it was announced that two key Brexit bills will return to the Commons. Cabinet minister Andrea Leadsom revealed that the long-delayed trade and customs bills will both be debated by MPs in mid-July, following speculation the government has kicked the vital legislation into the long grass over fears of conflict with pro-EU rebels. Her announcement came ahead of next weeks Commons showdown over Ms Mays flagship Brexit legislation the EU (Withdrawal) Bill where ministers will seek to overturn all 15 Lords defeats during a fraught two-day contest. The governments proposal for a Brexit backstop has been published and controversially includes a specific time limit after a last-ditch compromise between Theresa May and David Davis. The contentious plan was amended at the last minute to say the proposed arrangement should not extend beyond December 2021 a year after the end of the Brexit transition period. The prime minister and the Brexit secretary agreed the wording of the document minutes before a meeting of the Brexit war cabinet. Recommended Brexit backstop plan to be published today after May and Davis talks Mr Davis had insisted there must be a specific time limit, with reports suggesting he was prepared to resign over the matter. The initial Downing Street draft of the document is understood not to have included the 2021 deadline. The row relates to a backstop plan that would see the UK temporarily remain in parts of the EU customs union if no other way is found to avoid a hard border in Northern Ireland. The document published on Thursday makes clear the government expects such an arrangement to be temporary, but includes no clear commitment to this end. It states: The UK is clear that the temporary customs arrangement, should it be needed, should be time limited, and that it will be only in place until the future customs arrangement can be introduced. The UK is clear that the future customs arrangement needs to deliver on the commitments made in relation to Northern Ireland. The UK expects the future arrangement to be in place by the end of December 2021 at the latest. There are a range of options for how a time limit could be delivered, which the UK will propose and discuss with the EU. 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 agreement was reached after Ms May held separate meetings in her Commons office with Mr Davis and other Brexiteer ministers Boris Johnson and Liam Fox on Thursday morning. A Downing Street spokesperson said none of the ministers had threatened to resign during the meetings, which they described as constructive. The Brexit secretary had earlier refused to rule out resigning over the matter. Asked on Wednesday if he could keep his job if the proposal was published without his approval, he said: "Thats a question, I think, for the prime minister, to be honest. A source close to Mr Davis said the backstop plan had been amended to add much more detail about the time limit. They said: Obviously, theres been a back and forth on this paper, as there always is whenever the government publishes anything. The backstop paper has been amended and now expresses, in much more detail, the time-limited nature of our proposal something the prime minister and David Davis have always been committed to. However, the time limit is not legally binding and is expressed an an expectation rather than a commitment, leading to suggestions it was a largely symbolic gesture made by Ms May to appease Brexiteers in her cabinet. While the prime minister has staved off the threat of Mr Davis quitting, she will still have to convince EU leaders to agree to the backstop proposal. The EU has previously insisted such an arrangement must not be time limited, although the lack of legal weight in the UK's proposal could convince Brussels to accept the plan. The European Parliament's Brexit lead, Guy Verhofstadt, swiftly poured cold water on the plan, writing on Twitter: "Difficult to see how UK proposal on customs aspects of IE/NI backstop will deliver a workable solution to avoid a hard border and respect integrity of the [single market/customs union]. A backstop that is temporary is not a backstop, unless the definitive arrangement is the same as the backstop." The government paper proposes that, if no other arrangement for the Northern Ireland border is agreed, there should be no tariffs, quotas, rules of origin (or) customs processes applied to UK-EU trade for as long as the backstop is in place. The UK would be free to make new trade deals during this time. A minister at Boris Johnsons Foreign Office had said a second EU referendum on the final Brexit deal negotiated by Theresa May would be possible, but that he does not think one will be held. Speaking in Berlin Sir Alan Duncan, minister of state at the department, said voters would not be allowed to reverse the original decision to leave the EU under such a plebiscite, but would get the choice would be between the exit deal on offer or having no deal at all. The Government has repeatedly refused to offer a second referendum on the issue, and only relented on giving MPs themselves a meaningful vote on the Brexit deal after being defeated in the House of Lords. That vote is due in October. But while Sir Alan said the notions that Brexit might not happen or that there would be second referendum on the UK's membership of the EU were "myths", he appeared to suggest a public vote on whether to accept the final deal reached with the bloc was feasible. It would, I suppose, just be possible to ask the people in a referendum if they liked the exit deal or not, Sir Alan told the WDR Europaforum conference on Thursday. But that would mean the choice would be between the exit deal on offer or having no deal at all. It would not in reality offer people the option of reversing the original decision to leave the EU and so remain inside it. After the event, Mr Duncan, who campaigned for Remain during the EU referendum, added: I gave a clear message ... in Berlin that we will definitely be leaving the EU but want the best possible economic and security partnership after we have done so. In his address he argued that such a referendum would be illogical and that the national mood is to accept the referendum and get on with it. He added: Another referendum is not going to happen. Last year the minister told an audience in the US that Brexit had happened because blue-collar workers had been stirred up by an image of immigration, which made them angry and throw a bit of a tantrum. At the time he said labour shortages after leaving the EU could cause us a lot of damage. The Liberal Democrats have called for a second referendum on the final deal, while Labour has not ruled one out. Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said in April that the party was not opposed to any form of democratic engagement, and that weve not ruled anything out. But the close Jeremy Corbyn ally added: My preference is not another referendum, but a general election. All eye are currently on the MPs vote scheduled for October. Labour has set six tests it says the deal will need to meet in order for them to back it, including it delivering the exact same benefits as membership of the single market and customs union. Alan Duncan made the comments at an event in Berlin (Getty) Darren Jones, a Labour MP and supporter of the Best for Britain campaign to stay in the EU said: Alan Duncan has joined the growing tide of MPs who have recognised that the momentous decision to leave the EU on the governments terms after months of back-and-forth, uncertainty, and indecision must be put the people. 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 And though Mr Duncan has tried to shut the door on that vote giving people the option to remain, the floodgates are now well and truly open. The public dont want or deserve a false choice, gamed by the government. They want a real say. That is why, once the Prime Minister has agreed a deal with Brussels and we finally know what Brexit will look like, that deal must be put to the people. An FCO spokesperson said: As the minister said several times in his speech in Berlin, we are leaving the EU and there will be no second referendum. Theresa May has defended Donald Trump after he declined a face-to-face meeting with her at the G7 summit and cut short his visit amid fury over his steel tariffs. The prime minister also urged fellow EU leaders to step back from harsh tit-for-tat reprisals planned for next month against the US, calling for their response to be proportionate. No bilateral meeting with Mr Trump is scheduled for the two day summit in Canada, with the US president arriving late and expected to leave early. He described the gathering of the Western economic powers as a distraction ahead of his summit with North Korea next week despite the growing fears of a disastrous global trade war. However, speaking to reporters before landing in Quebec, Ms May insisted Mr Trump did make a positive contribution at international summits, pointing to his willingness to tackle online terrorist propaganda. She urged critics to look at President Trump at the last G7, adding: Crucially, one of the issues we agreed on was taking down terrorist material online from the internet. It was important that America was sitting around that table and agreed that with us. We have been able to take action with companies in America as a result. Ms May added: What we are seeing with President Trump is what we hope is a very positive step forward in relation to North Korea. The two day meeting will be dominated by the possibility of a trade war prompted by the US levies of 25 per cent on steel and 10 per cent on aluminium. Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, has predicted a big fight at the summit, triggering suggestions it has become a G6+1 with the US president isolated and alone. The EU is poised to impose tariffs on US imports ranging from Harley-Davidson motorbikes and jeans to bourbon, peanut butter, cranberries and orange juice, from next month. Brussels is still finalising the list it will submit to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which will be on top of tit-for-tat tariffs on about 2.5bn of US steel. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty In the interview, the prime minister repeated her criticism made in a phone call to Mr Trump this week that the US tariffs were unjustified. But she added: Obviously, the EU will be responding. We want to ensure we are working with others in the European Union to ensure that response is proportionate, that it is within the WTO rules. We want to be a great champion for free trade around the world, and thats what we will continue to be. No 10 sources denied that Mr Trump had refused a bilateral meeting with the prime minister, suggesting it had been clear early on that he would attend no one-to-ones. However, such a meeting would have been highly prized, if available and Ms May will meet individually with Ms Merkel, Emmanuel Macron and other leaders over the next few days. Asked if she was too politically correct a charge Mr Trump has made of other, unnamed leaders she replied: I just get on and make sure Im delivering and delivering what people want. Thats the job of any politician. Three poachers have been killed and two others injured following a gun battle with rangers at a Kenyan wildlife reserve. Wildlife troopers had been on a routine patrol at Mount Elgon National Park, which straddles the border of Kenya and Uganda, when they encountered a gang of five men last Thursday. The rangers, from the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) exchanged fire with the poachers, who were reportedly armed with AK-47 rifles. Troopers killed three of the group during the shoot-out, while two more suspects were able to escape with minor injuries. Recommended Black rhinos return to Chad 50 years after poaching wiped them out Equipment associated with poaching was later found at the scene, the wildlife service said. KWS officers were on patrol inside the park when they spotted the poachers, Trans Nzoia county police commander Samson ole Kine told Nairobi-based newspaper The Standard. A fierce shoot-out ensued and three of the poachers were gunned down while two others escaped. AK-47 rifles were recovered. Poaching has declined sharply in Kenya since reaching a peak in 2012, but issues around the illegal hunting activity still persist. Last year, 69 elephants were killed for their ivory in the country, while a further nine rhinos were also slaughtered. Earlier this month, three rhinos were found dead with their horns missing in Meru National Park's Rhino Sanctuary, in what Kenya's tourism ministry said was an act of poaching. A short timeline of elephant poaching Show all 10 1 /10 A short timeline of elephant poaching A short timeline of elephant poaching 1880s.jpg Robert H. Milligan, New York Public Library A short timeline of elephant poaching 1910.jpg Creative commons A short timeline of elephant poaching 1979.jpg Surreal Name Given, Flickr A short timeline of elephant poaching 1980s.jpg Scotch Macaskill A short timeline of elephant poaching actual elephant forensic.jpg Space for Giants A short timeline of elephant poaching 1990s.jpg Space for Giants A short timeline of elephant poaching 1999.jpg Vidhi Doshi A short timeline of elephant poaching Ivory elephants.jpeg Space for Giants A short timeline of elephant poaching elephantfence.jpg Space for Giants A short timeline of elephant poaching Elephant dust (1)_1.jpeg Space for Giants Three months earlier, a prominent American investigator of the illegal ivory and rhino horn trade was found dead in his Nairobi home with a stab wound in his neck. Police county commissioner, Erastus Mbui, said authorities had stepped up security and surveillance operations along the Kenya-Uganda border to deter poachers. More officers have been deployed to conduct regular security patrols at the park and ensure wildlife is protected from the poachers, he said. We urge communities around the park to report people they suspect to be on a poaching mission. Additional reporting by Reuters The end to Africa's longest war is in sight after Ethiopia said it would abide by an international ruling on its border with Eritrea. More than 80,000 people have died during the conflict that started twenty years ago over the small town of Badme, which has a population of around 1,600. Although both sides signed a peace agreement in 2000, Ethiopia refused to withdraw to the border established by a boundary commission based at The Hague in the Netherlands. The dispute has rumbled on - with sporadic outbreaks of armed hostilities - ever since. Ethiopia's ruling coalition, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, has now said that it would fully implement the peace deal, which would involve ceding the disputed town of Badme. On Wednesday the country's new prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, said that ending war and expanding economic ties with Eritrea is critical for stability and development in the region. "All that we have achieved from the situation of the last 20 years is tension," he said in a speech in Addis Ababa. "Neither Ethiopia nor Eritrea benefit from a stalemate. We need to expend all our efforts towards peace and reconciliation and extricate ourselves from petty conflicts and divisions and focus on eliminating poverty." Eritrea, which waged a 30-year struggle for independence from Ethiopia before gaining international recognition in 1993, has not yet commented on the development. It has previously said that restoring ties depended first on Ethiopia pulling its troops from the disputed territory. Hyenas spark admiration, not fear, in Ethiopias Harar city Show all 10 1 /10 Hyenas spark admiration, not fear, in Ethiopias Harar city Hyenas spark admiration, not fear, in Ethiopias Harar city Tuk-tuks drive in and out of one of the five gates of the walled city of Harar, Ethiopia Reuters Hyenas spark admiration, not fear, in Ethiopias Harar city Birds are fed in front of a meat market within the city walls Reuters Hyenas spark admiration, not fear, in Ethiopias Harar city Yusuf plays with a cub in the city. I am privileged by God to be a good friend to those misunderstood animals, he says Reuters Hyenas spark admiration, not fear, in Ethiopias Harar city Hyena Man Yusuf collects leftover meat from the citys slaughterhouse to feed the animals Reuters Hyenas spark admiration, not fear, in Ethiopias Harar city Muslims take part in Friday prayers. Harar has been a centre of Islamic culture since it was founded in the seventh century Reuters Hyenas spark admiration, not fear, in Ethiopias Harar city Yusufs father, Yusuf Mume Salleh, 70, is known as the first Hyena Man, and fed the animals for 45 years before passing the role to his son Reuters Hyenas spark admiration, not fear, in Ethiopias Harar city Hyenas wait for Abbas Yusef, known as Hyena Man, to come and feed them Reuters Hyenas spark admiration, not fear, in Ethiopias Harar city Yusuf, 23, has been feeding the hyenas for 13 years and his work has become an attraction, drawing in visitors to the citys mosques Reuters Hyenas spark admiration, not fear, in Ethiopias Harar city The hyenas live in caves outside the city and roam the dumps during the night, sometimes giving birth within the city walls Reuters Hyenas spark admiration, not fear, in Ethiopias Harar city Yusuf feeds the hyenas from his mouth to encourage visitors to trust them Reuters "Putting an end to this situation and finding peace is necessary beyond anything else not just for Ethiopia but for the wider Horn of Africa," the Ethiopian prime minister said. "Every Ethiopian should realise that it is expected of us to be a responsible government that ensures stability in our region, one that takes the initiative to connect the brotherly peoples of both countries and expands trains, buses and economic ties between Asmara and Addis Ababa." Mr Ahmed came to power in April promising political and economic reform and has overseen the release of thousands of political prisoners, including politician Andy Tsege. Reuters contributed to this report An entire neighbourhood has disappeared in Hawaii after being covered by a river of lava. The Vacationland neighbourhood has been wiped off the island as Kilauea continues to spew lava, destroying homes and altering the landscape on Hawaii's Big Island. Homes have been seen bursting into flames as the lava hits them, before being destroyed completely by the unstoppable flow. Officials say only a few homes remain intact in the nearby Kapoho area. Recommended Volcanic tornado pictured during Hawaii eruption Geological Survey geologist Wendy Stovall said: "The bay is completely filled in and the shoreline is at least 0.8 miles out from its original location. "Vacationland is gone, there is no evidence of any properties there at all. On the northern end of that, there are just a few homes in the (Kapoho) beach lots area." A magnitude 5.6 earthquake struck the summit of Hawaii's Kilauea volcano on Wednesday, sending a plume of ash and rock about 10,000ft into the sky. Lava has destroyed homes and filled in the coastline almost a mile out from its original location (Reuters/Terray Sylvester) Scientists are still measuring volcanic activity, with cracks continuing to spew the destructive molten rock. Ms Stovall said it is "really impossible to tell" when the volcanic activity will end. More than 400 homes have been destroyed since the lava started surfacing around a month ago. While no deaths have been reported, the disaster is thought to be the most costly and destructive volcano incident in US history. Mark Johnson's home lies on his citrus farm near near the base of Kapoho crater. The lava has missed his home so far, however it has cut off access to his farmland, and Mr Johnson has accepted that it might eventually take his house. "I'm kind of at peace, actually. I feel that I've had a really great experience," he said. Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Show all 30 1 /30 Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Channelized lava emerges on Kilauea Volcano's lower East Rift Zone on Hawaii. The USGS said on its website that "a fast-moving pahoehoe lava flow that emerged from fissure 20... continues to flow southeast," with the quickest of three "lobes" progressing at 230 yards (210 meters) per hour. AFP/US Geological Survey Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Lava erupts and flows from a Kilauea volcano fissure in Leilani Estates, on Hawaii's Big Island Getty Images Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures A plume of ash rises from a crater in the Mount Kilauea volcano after a magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck the area, near Pahoa, Hawaii EPA/USGS HANDOUT Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Kilauea has opened 14 lava-and-gas spewing fissures in total Rex Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures United States Geological Survey Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Lava from a Kilauea volcano fissure advances up a residential street in Leilani Estates, on Hawaii's Big Island, on May 27, 2018 in Pahoa, Hawaii Mario Tama/Getty Images Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures A massive flow of lava consumes houses in Leilani Estates EPA/PARADISE HELICOPTERS Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Lava flows past trees on the outskirts of Pahoa during ongoing eruptions of the Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii. REUTERS Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures A plume of ash rises from Kilauea Volcano after a series of earthquakes over the last couple of days USGS/Handout via Reuters Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Lava emerges from the ground after Kilauea Volcano erupted Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Steam rises from a fissure on a road in Leilani Estates subdivision on Hawaii's Big Island AFP/Getty Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures This thermal image (looking south) shows the active overflows from the lava lake (upper left) onto the Halema'uma'u crater floor. View is toward the south. Rex Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures The results of the eruption from Kilauea Volcano on Hawaii's Big Island AP Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Lava is seen coming from a fissure in Leilani Estates subdivision on Hawaii's Big Island FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures An aerial view of a flow of lava moves to the doorsteps of the Puna Geothermal Venture facility after a new fissure eruption within Leilani Estates sending a fast moving flow of lava began to consume homes and property, near Pahoa, Hawaii EPA/BRUCE OMORI/Paradise Helicopters Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Smoke rises from the Pu'u 'O'o crater on the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii EPA Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Up to 10,000 people were ordered to evacuate as flows of red lava entered residential areas Reuters Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures A fissure erupts in Leilani Estates, one of the communities most vulnerable to Hawaii's Kilauea volcano AP Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Smoke billows from Pu'u 'O'o crater on the Hawaii's Big Island EPA Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Remote image released by U.S. Geological Survey, shows a new lava fissure on Kilauea Volcano's lower East Rift Zone on Makamae and Leilani Streets USGS via AP Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Kilauea volcano's Pu'u O'o vent on Hawaii's main island AP Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Lava flows over a road in the Puna District as a result of the eruption from Kilauea on Hawaii's Big Island Byron Matthews via AP Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Kilauea volcano erupts AP Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Lava flowing over Mohala Street in the Leilani Estates area near Pahoa Hawaii Electric Light via AP Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures An aerial view of a massive surface flow entering the sea at Malama Flats EPA Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Satellite photo provided by DigitalGlobe shows lava coming out of fissures caused by Kilauea AP via DigitalGlobe Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures The fissure complex, pictured in the upper right, continues to feed a meandering lava flow (in the center). into the Pacific Ocean in southeast of Pahoa during ongoing eruptions of the Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii REUTERS Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Lava erupts from a Kilauea volcano fissure Getty Images Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures A U.S. National Guard soldier (R) takes photos as lava erupts and flows from a Kilauea volcano fissure in Leilani Estates, on Hawaii's Big Island Getty Images Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Getty Images/iStockphoto The volcano started offering a new danger last week, in the form of volcanic fog, or "vog" air pollution which is created by vapour, carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide gas released from Kilauea. Vog causes burning eyes, headaches and sore throats and can potentially hospitalise people suffering with asthma or other respiratory problems. It is particularly dangerous in a disaster area as it can be carried for miles by the wind, affecting people previously considered safe. Hawaii isn't the only region of the world to be devastated by a volcano recently. Over the weekend a massive eruption of Guatemala's Volcan de Fuego killed at least 75 people, with 200 still missing. Entire villages were buried in ash and debris due to the vulcanian eruption, with people being burned to death as the fast moving pyroclastic flow entered their homes. Shocking footage emerged of a disorientated woman walking away from the destruction covered in ash, telling a cameraman her entire family had been buried by the volcano. AP We are now going to explain the War of 1812 to you. Why not? We didnt think wed find ourselves here, either. But on Wednesday, CNN reported that the 206-year-old war figured prominently in a discussion between President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada on 25 May. According to CNNs unnamed sources, Mr Trump asked Mr Trudeau, Didnt you guys burn down the White House? Recommended Follow the latest tweets from Donald Trump and what they really mean The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. then confirmed the CNN report. The Times has not independently confirmed the remarks. Its unclear if the president was trying to make a joke during what was, reportedly, a tense call about his decision to impose steep tariffs on metals imported from Canada, Mexico and the European Union. Any lesson on the War of 1812 probably isnt the most vivid memory American people have from their high school history classes, so its details may be fuzzy to many. And with the war suddenly in the news and the butt of jokes on social media, they might fairly wonder: Well, did Canada burn down the White House? No, Canada did not burn down the White House during the War of 1812, which was fought with Britain over maritime rights. What is now Canada was not yet a country in 1812, but rather British colonies. Canada didnt become a nation until 1867, long after British troops did, in fact, burn down the White House in 1814. The fire gutted the presidents house along with several other crucial structures in Washington, which was still a relatively small town when the seat of government moved there 14 years earlier. Why we should all go to Canada Show all 8 1 /8 Why we should all go to Canada Why we should all go to Canada The great outdoors You might spot a moose, for goodness' sake Mark Rowland/Flickr Why we should all go to Canada Road trips You can drive through some of the most incredible scenery MaxGag/Flickr Why we should all go to Canada Maple syrup It's available in almost any form, including maple taffy - heated syrup that's been dropped on to ice to cool and turned into a kind of chewy lollypop Marcio Cabral de Moura/Flickr Why we should all go to Canada Friendly Cities The likes of Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto are not only cool, but welcoming too Getty Images Why we should all go to Canada Arctic cruises You can float between icebergs - enough said Shutterstock Why we should all go to Canada Skiing and snowboarding Resorts such as Whistler are world class Getty Images Why we should all go to Canada Real winter Canada really embraces the cold, with everything from igloo raves to husky rides EveryDamnNameIsInUse/Flickr Why we should all go to Canada Wine They make a pretty good tipple here Nomade Moderne/Flickr The inferno was so great that the glow in the night sky was seen from 50 miles away, the White House Historical Association wrote. So you cant really pin that on Canada, considering that Canada didnt exist. But it is a bit more complicated than that. The United States did invade the colonies that later became Canada and were, at the time, controlled by the British. Ask some people in Canada and they would very much feel it was their war, marked by American aggression. Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Mr Trudeaus Conservative predecessor, made a point of extensively commemorating the war at its 200-year anniversary, spending millions in 2012 on events, advertising and exhibitions. Two hundred years ago, the United States invaded our territory, a narrator ominously said in one government ad. But we defended our land; we stood side by side and won the fight for Canada. Other Canadians were bewildered by Mr Harpers focus on the war, as many Canadians are just as unfamiliar with the war as Americans. The United States couldnt muster much interest in remembering the war; legislation in New York to plan events was vetoed in 2009, 2010 and 2011 because of tight finances and a $1.4 million price tag. Some people might think the War of 1812 inspired the famous 1812 Overture by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It didnt. It did, however, spawn another noted piece of musical history that has been in the news lately: The Star-Spangled Banner. Francis Scott Key composed the words as the British bombarded Fort McHenry in Baltimore from warships, according to the White House Historical Association. The sides came to a peace agreement in 1814, when neither side cared to continue fighting. The New York Times A crisis over a mysterious ailment sickening US diplomats and their families which began in Cuba and recently appeared in China has widened as the State Department evacuated at least two more Americans from China. The Americans who were evacuated worked at the US Consulate in the southern city of Guangzhou, and their colleagues and family members are being tested by a State Department medical team, officials said. It is unclear how many of them are exhibiting symptoms, but a State Department spokeswoman said on Wednesday evening that a number of individuals had been sent to the United States for further testing. For months, US officials have been worried that their diplomats have been subjected to targeted attacks involving odd sounds, leading to symptoms similar to those following concussion or minor traumatic brain injury, the State Department says. The cases in China have broadened a medical mystery that started in 2016, when US Embassy employees and their family members began falling ill in Havana. In all, 24 of them were stricken with headaches, nausea, hearing loss, cognitive issues and other symptoms after saying they heard odd sounds. The issue has roiled relations with Cuba, which immediately fell under suspicion, and led the United States to expel Cuban diplomats. But with Americans now exhibiting similar symptoms in Guangzhou, US officials have raised suspicions about whether other countries, perhaps China or Russia, might be to blame. That is sure to complicate already strained relations with both countries over a variety of economic, political and security issues. Russia has been accused of meddling in the 2016 American presidential election, trade disputes have erupted with China and US officials fear that the Chinese are undermining relations with North Korea before a summit meeting with President Donald Trump planned for next week. The new illnesses in China come just weeks after US officials reported finding their first case here in Guangzhou, where a consulate employee got sick. Some American officials in this city live in apartment complexes filled with other foreigners and wealthy Chinese; that is where the ailing employees were subjected to unusual noises. But it remains unclear whether the illnesses are the result of attacks at all. Other theories have included toxins, listening devices that accidentally emitted harmful sounds or even mass hysteria. 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 mystery spread to China this spring, when the first employee fell ill, and fears escalated last month when the government warned other employees to seek medical attention if they experienced unusual ailments. So far this week, another employee, his wife and their two children were evacuated after the parents exhibited neurological symptoms. Officials said they expected that at least some others would be flown out of the country as well. The illnesses appear more widespread than the State Department initially reported last month, when it said that one person had reported subtle and vague, but abnormal, sensations of sound and pressure. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last month at a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the symptoms of the first US employee in Guangzhou to report being ill are very similar and entirely consistent with the medical indications that have taken place to Americans working in Cuba. There are roughly 170 American diplomats or employees in Guangzhou, as well as their family members, and a senior US official said a sizeable number had undergone or would soon undergo testing by the State Department doctors who arrived on 31 May. The officials cautioned that no final determination had been made about what caused the illnesses. The latest American employee evacuated from Guangzhou is Mark A. Lenzi, a security engineering officer at the consulate. He left Wednesday evening with his wife and two children after having suffered in recent months from what he described in an interview as neurological symptoms. He said that his wife had similar symptoms and that they had heard unusual sounds in their apartment. On Tuesday, Mr Pompeo said in a statement that the symptoms in the first case discovered in Guangzhou were similar to the ones experienced by the 24 Americans who became ill in Havana. He said that the cause had not yet been established. The injuries in Cuba, like those in China, followed disturbing sensations of sounds and vibrations that have been described variously as the sounds made by cicadas, static, metal sheets waving or, in Mr Lenzis case, marbles rolling around a metal funnel. After the injuries were diagnosed in Cuba, the Trump administration expelled 15 Cuban diplomats, saying Cuban officials had failed to adequately to protect American diplomats. The Cuban government denied any involvement and questioned whether any attacks had taken place. US officials suggested it was too soon to consider such a response in China, though they have raised it with the Chinese government. On 23 May, the State Department disclosed that an employee stationed in China had complained of subtle and vague, but abnormal sensations of sound and pressure over several months from late 2017 until April. That employee, who was evacuated, was not identified. We are not aware of any similar situations in China, either inside or outside of the diplomatic community, the department said in the health alert. It advised others with concerns about any symptoms or medical problems to consult a doctor. The disclosure caused anxiety and anger among US government employees in China. Others have since come forward to report similar experiences or symptoms. In a statement on Wednesday evening, the State Departments spokeswoman, Heather Nauert, said that a number of individuals had been sent to the United States for further testing and that the medical examinations continued in Guangzhou. Among those who reported symptoms was Mr Lenzi. In an email sent to the entire staff of the consulate, he complained that the first employee was evacuated in April, but that no one was told of the health concerns until a month later after doctors in the United States had found evidence of brain trauma. The initial health alert, he said in an interview, suggested it was an isolated case. They knew full well it wasnt, he said. Employees at the US Consulate in Guangzhou have exhibited neurological symptoms (AFP/Getty) The consulate itself, which opened in 2013, is a state-of-the-art building designed to withstand electronic eavesdropping and other security and intelligence threats. Instead, the ailing employees said they experienced the strange sounds and sensations in at least two apartment complexes where American government workers live, along with other foreigners and wealthy Chinese. In an interview before leaving China, Mr Lenzi said that he had lived in the same apartment tower as the officer evacuated in April. It is one of several high-rise buildings in The Canton Place, a modern complex built around a plaza and bordered by restaurants, cafes and galleries. Another diplomat who reported symptoms was at a different upscale building near the consulate. Lenzi said that over the past year he and his wife had experienced similar physical symptoms, including headaches, sleeplessness and nausea, and on three or four occasions they heard odd noises, though they did not put them together until the disclosures last month. Even if people are evacuated for further tests, that does not necessarily mean that they have suffered injuries or illnesses, the officials emphasised. Only 25 percent of those evacuated from Cuba, for example, were later found to have health problems. But the Chinese cases have raised alarms inside the State Department. Now led by Mr Pompeo, the department appears eager to avoid the criticism it faced over what some called its handling of the Cuba cases. In addition to the departments medical team, William E. Todd, the acting director-general of the Foreign Service, and Michael T. Evanoff, the assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security, flew to Guangzhou to assess the situation. Their visit was not announced in advance, and they were not made available to comment before departing on Wednesday. In Tuesdays statement, Mr Pompeo said he had created a health care task force to examine the unexplained health incidents that have affected a number of U.S. government personnel and family members stationed overseas. The statement left open the possibility that there have been similar events at other US embassies or consulates. One US official said that he was aware of reports of isolated episodes, but that there did not appear to be any discernible pattern. Guangzhou is a major commercial hub of 14 million people on the Pearl River, about 75 miles north of Hong Kong. In addition to the embassy in Beijing and the consulates in Guangzhou and Hong Kong, the United States operates consulates in Chengdu, Shanghai, Shenyang and Wuhan. Mr Lenzi worked for the diplomatic security department, and he believes that his work could have made him a target. Before joining the Foreign Service in 2011, he worked with the International Republican Institute, funded by Congress, promoting democratic reforms in Ukraine and Georgia two countries where Russia has denounced American involvement. The New York Times A spokesperson for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) called a reporter a piece of trash. Jahan Wilcox, who began speaking on behalf of administrator Scott Pruitt in 2017, told journalist Elaina Plott of The Atlantic magazine: have a great day, youre a piece of trash. The insult was in response to a query from Ms Plott about her report on the resignation of one of Mr Pruitts top aides, Millan Hupp. Ms Hupp is the 26-year-old aide who had, according to Congressional testimony made public recently, been tasked with finding Mr Pruitt a used mattress from a hotel owned by President Donald Trump, searching for cheap housing, and all manner of personal tasks. Recommended EPA chief Scott Pruitt asked aide to hunt for Trump hotel mattress The director of advance logistics and scheduling Ms Hupp played a role in the ethics issues plaguing Mr Pruitt - including using taxpayer money for first-class tickets, living in a heavily subsidised flat owned by an oil and gas lobbyist, and spending more than $40,000 on a soundproof booth for his office. This is not the first time the EPA and the media have butted heads. Just a few weeks ago, Mr Wilcox and his team had barred reporters of CNN, the Associated Press, the environmental-focused news organisation E&E, and MLive, a Michigan-based news outlet, from attending a conference on the spread of contaminants in drinking water held at the agencys Washington DC headquarters. The AP said that when the news agency's reporter asked to speak to a public affairs person, the security guards grabbed the reporter by the shoulders and shoved her forcibly out of the building. EPA Chief Scott Pruitt suggests global warming could be good for humans Mr Wilcox told The Independent at the time that this was simply an issue of the room reaching capacity, which reporters were aware of prior to the event. We were able to accommodate 10 reporters, provided a live stream for those we could not accommodate, and were unaware of the individual situation that has been reported. However, a participant in the meeting told The Independent there had been space in the room and that he saw some reporters inside. The EPA did not respond to questions regarding which media outlets were allowed inside. The agency also attacked another AP reporter over a story about how the agency was not present at so-called Superfund sites around Houston, Texas, in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. Houston is a petrochemical hub and the agency's Superfund programme is responsible for cleaning the country's most contaminated areas and responding to environmental emergencies, oil spills, and natural disasters. 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 EPA said the sites were inaccessible to its response team and issued a press release attacking the reporter for writing a false story despite the documentation. They had earlier removed that person from their master distribution list to media because the EPA claimed he never opened their emails unless it was to create problems for Mr Pruitt. On another occasion last October, EPA spokesperson Liz Bowman wrote to a New York Times journalist that no matter how much information we give you, you would never write a fair piece. The only thing inappropriate and biased is your continued fixation on writing elitist clickbait trying to attack qualified professionals committed to serving their country. The apparent attitude towards the media appears to be an extension of Mr Trumps own distaste for most mainstream outlets save for Fox News. One of his go-to insults is to call media reports fake news, particularly if they do not highlight accomplishments or positive news about the administration. An adult film star who is battling Donald Trump in court has sued Mr Trumps attorney Michael Cohen for allegedly colluding with her former lawyer. The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles superior court, marks the latest twist in a legal dispute that centres on a a nondisclosure agreement that porn star Stormy Daniels signed in 2016 and a $130,000 payout to the actress that was facilitated by Mr Cohen and reimbursed by Mr Trump. Ms Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has sued to nullify the confidentiality agreement, which she said was intended to prevent her from speaking about an alleged affair with Mr Trump (the president denies any affairs occurred). Now a lawsuit alleges that as Mr Cohen sought to suppress Ms Daniels he was aided by her then-attorney Keith Davidson. Mr Davidson abdicated bis role as an advocate and fiduciary of his client Ms Clifford, and instead elected to be a puppet for Mr Cohen and Mr Trump in order to advance their interests at the expense of Ms Clifford, the lawsuit alleges. In a statement to the Independent, Mr Davidson dismissed the outrageously frivolous lawsuit as an attempt by Ms Daniels outspoken new attorney, Michael Avenatti, to continue his publicity tour and distract from a recent bankruptcy court judgment against his law firm. 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 Thankfully, the truth can now finally come out to rebut the false narrative about Attorney Davidson that Mr. Avenatti has been pushing in his more than 175 television appearances and countless other media interviews, Mr Davidson said. Attorney Davidson believes that the American people deserve to know the entire truth - and they soon will. In a tweet after the lawsuit was filed, Mr Avenatti called Mr Davidson a disgrace to the profession. According to the complaint, Mr Cohen contacted Mr Davidson about having his client go on television to deny a January article in gossip tabloid In Touch detailing Ms Daniels allegations of an affair with Mr Trump. Rudy Giuliani: Trump's lawyer could have paid off women other than Stormy Daniels Court documents detail text messages allegedly exchanged between the two men, including one in which Mr Davidson suggests waiting an additional night so Fox can can promote the heck out of the show. While that television appearance never materialised, the lawsuit alleges that Mr Davidson later secretly tipped Mr Cohen when he learned that Ms Daniels planned to switch attorneys and go public with her allegations about Mr Trump. The Independent was unable to reach Mr Cohen for comment. A State Department spokeswoman has been ridiculed for citing the D-Day invasion as an example of Americas very strong relationship with Germany. We have a very strong relationship with the government of Germany, Heather Nauert said. Looking back in the history books, today is the 71st anniversary of the speech that announced the Marshall Plan. Tomorrow is the anniversary of the D-Day invasion. We obviously have a very long history with the government of Germany, and we have a strong relationship with the government of Germany. During the D-Day invasion on 6 June, 1944, around 156,000 British, American, Canadian and other Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy to establish a foothold in Nazi-occupied France. Ms Nauerts comments were mocked online and dissected by MSNBCs Rachel Maddow, who pointed out the State Department spokeswoman had been hired directly from Fox News. One Twitter user said: Dear @StateDept: You have six months to educate Heather Nauert on the history and significance of Pearl Harbor before she cites it as an example of strong US-Japan relations. Get to it you may need some time to catch her up. Another asked: How is she qualified to work in the state dept? Malcolm Nance, a retired US intelligence officer, said Ms Nauert was disgracefully ignorant of the relationship with Hitlers Nazi Germany at Normandy 74 years ago today. Quit now. Its 7th grade history. The State Department spokeswoman was defending remarks made by the new US ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, which drew condemnation from across Germanys political spectrum. Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Show all 29 1 /29 Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inauguration - 20 January 2017 US President Donald Trump acknowledges the audience after taking the oath of office as his wife Melania (L) and daughter Tiffany watch during inauguration ceremonies swearing in Trump as the 45th president of the United States on the West Front of the US capital in Washington on 20 January, 2017. Photographer Jim Bourg: "This photo was shot with one of two remote cameras. The cameras were monitored and triggered remotely and the pictures were transmitted to clients worldwide within minutes of being taken." Reuters/Jim Bourg Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Obama farewell address - 10 January 2017 US President Barack Obama wipes away tears as he delivers his farewell address in Chicago on 10 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "In his final days in office, Obama made a visit home to Chicago. As he spoke from the stage to his wife and daughter in the audience, he became emotional when he talked about what they had sacrificed during his time in office. I turned from photographing the Obama women embracing to find him onstage wiping away tears." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inauguration - 20 January 2017 A combination of photos shows the crowds attending the inauguration ceremonies to swear in U.S. President Donald Trump at 12:01pm (left) on January 20, 2017 and President Barack Obama sometime between 12:07pm and 12:26pm on January 20, 2009. Reuters/ Lucas Jackson/Stelios Varias Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Liberty Ball - 20 January 2017 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump attend the Liberty Ball in honour of his inauguration in Washington on 20 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "What I see when I look at this picture is the end of a very long day, not to mention weeks and months of preparation by many photographers, editors and network experts and the beginning of everything since." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders Reception - 22 January 2017 US President Donald Trump greets Director of the FBI James Comey as Director of the Secret Service Joseph Clancy (L), watches during the Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders Reception in the Blue Room of the White House on 22 January, 2017. Photographer Joshua Roberts: "I have covered the White House for 16 years and normally either the President or the pool is in position when an event starts. In this case the President was not where anyone expected him to be. In fact, he was almost blocking the door when the pool came in. We had to scramble to find a position without bumping him or the furniture as he greeted and thanked members of law enforcement for their security efforts during the inauguration. Luckily, he greeted FBI Director James Comey a few seconds after the pool had made its way into the room." Reuters/Joshua Roberts Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Private phone calls to world leaders - 28 January 2017 US President Donald Trump, is joined by his staff, as he speaks by phone with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in the Oval Office on 28 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Very early in the Trump administration, weekends were as busy as weekdays. On Trump's second Saturday the official schedule said he would be making private phone calls to a number of world leaders including Russia's Vladimir Putin. I arrived early and, before sitting down at my desk walked up to Press Secretary Sean Spicer's office. He, too, was just taking his coat off. I gingerly made the suggestion that previous administrations had sometimes allowed photos of such phone calls through the Oval Office windows on the colonnade. To my mild shock, he didn't even think about it twice. "We'll do it!" he said. In truth, I really only expected the Putin call, but we were outside the windows multiple times throughout the day as the calls went on." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Senior advisor Kellyanne Conway - 27 February 2017 Senior advisor Kellyanne Conway (L) attends as US President Donald Trump welcomes the leaders of dozens of historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) in the Oval Office on 27 February, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "We're often asked how much access we have to the Trump administration, and the answer is we have an awful lot. President Trump himself is very comfortable in the spotlight, and his aides are similarly unfazed by cameras. In this instance, senior advisor Kellyanne Conway was so comfortable in our presence she seemed not to consider the optics of kneeling on a Oval Office sofa to take pictures with her phone." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Angela Merkel heads to Washington - 17 March 2017 Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Donald Trump hold a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House on 17 March, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Chancellor Merkel made one of the earliest important visits of any US allies to meet Trump in his first months in office. When world leaders give joint news conferences they don't always tend to give each other their full attention - but Merkel watched Trump intently at several key moments, and here seemed particularly rapt." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump welcomes truckers to the White House - 23 March 2017 President Trump reacts as he sits on a truck while he welcomes truckers and CEOs to attend a meeting regarding healthcare at the White House on 23 March, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "The White House organised a listening session with truckers and CEO's of major American companies, regarding healthcare reform. An 18-wheeler tow truck was parked on the South Lawn of the White House and as Trump welcomed the truckers someone invited the him to come and sit in the driver's seat. Trump jumped into the cab and started yelling and pretending to drive - creating one of the most memorable pictures of the year. A lesson learned, always be prepared for the unexpected." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Air Force One - 6 April 2017 US President Donald Trump talks to journalists members of the travel pool on board the Air Force One during his trip to Palm Beach, Florida on 6 April, 2017. Carlos Barria: "During the many trips to President Trump's residence in Florida it is usual to see the president coming to the back of the plane to chat with journalists. During one of the trips to the so called 'Winter White House', Trump had a long talk with reporters while the Air Force One entertainment system was playing one of the latest Star Wars movies. As I was listening to Trump talk I was also looking at the movie waiting for a part of the movie to frame the mood of the day. Of the many scenes, I choose the one with Darth Vader." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures 100 Days - 27 April 2017 US President Donald Trump speaks during an interview with Reuters in the Oval Office of the White House on 27 April, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "A day before President Trump's hundred days in office I was part of the team that interviewed the commander-in-chief in the Oval Office. I was only allowed to photograph Trump during the last five minutes of the interview. The time was very tight so I had to move fast as I had pictures in mind that I wanted to shoot. I walked into the Oval Office and saw that the President had printed maps of the country showing areas in red where he won. I raised my hands holding my camera as high as possible to get the best view of the scene using a 16mm wide angle lens." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures 100 Days - 27 April 2017 US President Donald Trump reacts as he arrives at Harrisburg international airport, before attending a rally marking his first 100 days in office in Pennsylvania on 29 April, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "President Trump travelled to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to celebrate his hundred days in office with a victory rally. He was in friendly territory as he won with a big difference over his opponent Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania, during the November elections. As usual when the commander-in-chief arrives local residents gather to greet him. This time a small group of military personnel attended the arrival. Surrounded by secret service agents Trump walked from the Air Force One and raised his hand in a sign of victory as the crowd cheered him on." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House staffers - 2 May 2017 White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer (L) and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus watch as US President Donald Trump presents the U.S. Air Force Academy football team with the Commander-in-Chief trophy in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on 2 May, 2017. Photographer Joshua Roberts: "Covering the White House does not just mean covering the President. White House staffers are an important part of the story and their relationship with the President and each other is an indicator of how things are going in the West Wing. The tendency is to focus exclusively on the President once an event starts but I always try to look around to see how people are reacting as things unfold." Reuters/Joshua Roberts Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Secret Service - 4 May 2017 Secret Service agents use a presidential limousine as cover from spraying water as US President Donald Trump lands via Marine One helicopter in New York on 4 May, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "The best part of any trip to New York City with the sitting US President is the helicopter ride into Manhattan. The ride out at night can be stunning. Here, Secret Service agents protect themselves from the spray from the East River as Trump lands on the helipad." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures NATO Summit - 25 May 2017 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump wait the arrival of French President Emmanuel Macron (unseen) before a lunch ahead of a NATO Summit in Brussels on 25 May, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "One of the best parts of travelling overseas for White House coverage is the chance to see the U.S. president in different environments and (literally) a different light. Here, Trump and his wife came out of the shadows to greet France's President Macron." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump meets Putin at G20 summit - 7 July 2017 US President Donald Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin during their bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany on 7 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "On July 7, I witnessed one of the most important meetings of President Trump's first year in office. Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin during a bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Germany. The world's eyes were on these two leaders after speculation about Russian interference during the 2016 US elections. We entered the room for less than two minutes, where I took dozens of pictures. But there was this very interesting moment when Trump extended his hand to Putin for a handshake. Putin paused for a second and looked at Trump's hand. That was the picture that I was looking for, a little moment that seemed to say a lot." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures First lady - 8 July 2017 First lady Melania Trump chats with US President Donald Trump during their return from Germany at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland on 8 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "After President Trump's trip to Germany he arrived back at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. First Lady Melania Trump said goodbye to Trump as she was heading off in a different direction that day. While chatting a breeze blew Melania's hair up in the air." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Made in America product showcase - 17 July 2017 Vice President Mike Pence laughs as President Donald Trump holds a baseball bat as they attend a Made in America product showcase event at the White House on 17 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "This summer the White House organized an event to showcase 'Made in America' products. All kinds of exhibitors brought their products as the President and Vice President toured the event. One of the companies was Marucci Sport, a manufacturer of baseball bats based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. As Trump approached a table full of baseball bats, photographers at the event, including me, rushed to get a good angle hoping that he would pick up a bat. As we predicted, he did. He took one and joked around as though he was hitting something hard. The only thing closer to him right there, was the media." Reuters Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House staffers - 25 July 2017 Former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski says hello to reporters as he and White House advisors including Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci accompany President Trump for an event celebrating veterans at AMVETS Post 44 in Ohio, July 25, 2017. Jonathan Ernst: "The most visible person in any White House is naturally the President, followed by the press secretary. But there are also the staff who support them. For those of us covering the Trump administration, there seem to be more compelling figures in the West Wing than ever before. It's crucial to know who's who and why they're important. When I raised my camera and back-pedalled ahead of the group to take this image Lewandowski gave me a hello. I liked the photo, but had no idea it would go a little bit viral, especially since Scaramucci, who was the biggest mover and shaker that week, was hidden back in the pack. But I guess the image catches a glimpse of what it's like to be a West Wing staffer on the road." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Campaign rally - 3 August 2017 US President Donald Trump arrives at a rally in West Virginia on 3 August, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "President Trump travelled to Huntington for one of his usual campaign rallies. While members of his family spoke to the crowd he was waiting under a black curtain to be introduced. Suddenly he walked onto the stage, one of the first frames that I took was of his hand. I set my exposure for the light on the stage hoping to create this dark background and it worked." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Staring into the solar eclipse - 21 August 2017 Without his protective glasses on, US President Donald Trump looks up towards the solar eclipse while viewing with his wife Melania and son Barron at the White House on 21 August, 2017. Photographer Kevin Lamarque: "On a day when everyone, and I mean everyone, was told not to look at the eclipse without protective glasses, Trump, President of the United States, couldn't help himself." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Hurricane Harvey - 2 September 2017 US President Donald Trump poses for a photo as he and first lady Melania Trump help volunteers hand out meals during a visit with flood survivors of Hurricane Harvey at a relief centre in Houston, Texas on 2 September, 2017. Photohrapher Kevin Lamarque: "Trump, eager to deliver the image of a hands-on response to Hurricane Harvey, made this visit to a relief centre and obliged this woman with a selfie as Melania continued to work." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House - 15 September 2017 Donald Trump welcomes 11-year-old Frank Giaccio as he cuts the Rose Garden grass at the White House on 15 September. Frank, who wrote a letter to Trump offering to mow the lawn, was invited to work for a day at the White House along the National Park Service staff. Frank was so focused on his task that he did not notice the President arrive to surprise him. He took his father jumping in to grab his attention and point Trump out. Photographer Carlos Barria said: The image of Trump shouting at a kid who is mowing his lawn might have many interpretations in today's politically polarized United States. But for me it was just a kid who loved what he was doing, to the point he almost appeared to ignore the President." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Take a knee - 27 September 2017 A man kneels with a folded U.S. flag as the motorcade of U.S. President Donald Trump passes him after an event at the state fairgrounds in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S., September 27, 2017. In September, soon after Trump had made comments condemning NFL players who kneel during the national anthem, he made a day trip to a rally in Indianapolis. Jonathan Ernst managed to capture a man on one knee with a tri-folded flag and was able to use a portion of the sign on the building he was kneeling in front of to track the man down and tell his story in full. US Army veteran Marvin Boatright wanted to send a message against social injustice. Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Hurricane Maria - 3 October 2017 President Donald Trump throws rolls of paper towels into a crowd of local residents affected by Hurricane Maria as he visits Calgary Chapel in San Juan, Puerto Rico on 3 October, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "During an afternoon visit to Puerto Rico for President Trump to survey damage from Hurricane Maria and greet some of its victims, Trump made a stop at a church where food and supplies were being distributed. Among the items were paper towels and Trump, apparently caught up in the moment, decided to distribute some of the rolls." Reuters Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Jared Kushner - 1 November 2017 White House Senior adviser Jared Kushner sits behind President Trump during a cabinet meeting in Washington on 1 November, 2017. Photographer Kevin Lamarque: "The role of Jared Kushner has gone through a series of changes. He began front and centre as a high profile adviser, but as time has passed and issues surrounding him have surfaced, he has become more of a background figure." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump in China - 9 November 2017 Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping shake hands after making joint statements at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on 9 November, 2017. Photographer Damir Sagolj: "It's one of those "how to make a better or at least different shot when two presidents shake hands several times a day, several days in row". If I'm not mistaken in calculation, presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump shook their hands at least six times in events I covered during Trump's recent visit to China. I would imagine there were some more handshakes I haven't seen but other photographers did. And they all look similar - two big men, smiling and heartily greeting each other until everyone gets their shot. But then there is always something that can make it special - in this case the background made of US and Chinese flags. The first time it didn't work for me. The second time I positioned myself lower and centrally, and used the longest lens I have to capture only hands reaching for a handshake." Reuters/Damir Sagolj Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Air Force One - 10 November 2017 US President Donald Trump boards Air Force One to depart for Vietnam from Beijing Airport in Beijing, China, November 10, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "There is a Reuters photographer in the tight pool covering the US president for every appearance he makes 365 days a year. This was just one of 32 images of mine that were transmitted on the Reuters wire of President Trump visiting China and Vietnam that day. You never know when a sudden interaction, a gust of wind or a unique facial expression will lead to a striking image that grabs peoples' attention." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures ASEAN handshake - 13 November 2017 Donald Trump registers his surprise as he realises other leaders, including Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte and Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, are crossing their arms for the traditional "ASEAN handshake" as he participates in the opening ceremony of the summit in Manila on 13 November, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Having covered a few ASEAN summits, I knew to expect the ASEAN handshake. Not everyone in the room knew to expect the ASEAN handshake. A lot was written about this unscripted moment, and what deeper meaning it might have. The simple truth is that sometimes in life there are unscripted moments." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Mr Grenell, a former US spokesman at the United Nations and a strong supporter of Donald Trump, told the far-right Breitbart News he absolutely wants to empower European conservatives who are experiencing an awakening from the silent majority. He was referring to recent elections which have launched conservative parties in Germany, Italy, Hungary and Austria, which he said showed a groundswell of conservative policies that are taking hold because of the failed policies of the left. Theres no question about that, and its an exciting time for me. Mr Grenells comments drew criticism from German politicians, including warnings against interfering in domestic politics. When she was asked whether it is State Department policy for US ambassadors to advocate for particular political parties, Ms Nauert responded: Ambassadors have a right to express their opinion. Theyre representatives of the White House, whether its this administration or other administrations. Additional reporting by Reuters President Donald Trump has said he will invite North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to the White House if their summit next week goes well. Speaking on the White House lawn after an afternoon of discussions with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Mr Trump said he would certainly invite Mr Kim to the White House if talks about Pyongyang's nuclear programme were productive. He added that he thought the North Korean leader would look on the invitation very favourably. The comments came less than a week after Mr Trump decided to re-engage with the Singapore summit, which he abruptly called off at the end of May blaming "hostile" comments from North Korea. He warned on Thursday that he could easily walk away from the talks again, saying: I did it once before! But Mr Trump seemed optimistic at the White House press conference, saying it was possible that the two countries could sign an agreement ending the Korean War. Signing a joint communique would be the easy part of a long process of negotiations, Mr Trump said. Earlier, he told reporters that he felt well prepared for the summit, adding: I dont think I have to prepare that much. After the press conference with Mr Abe and Mr Trump, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said at the White House press briefing that the president had been preparing for months for next week's summit in Singapore. So over months and months, days and days, President Trump has been receiving briefings on this issue about the military aspects, commercial, economic aspects of it, the history of the relationship and in the past few months near daily briefings including today where we have been providing the president all of the information that he needs, Mr Pompeo said. North Korea Military Parade Show all 6 1 /6 North Korea Military Parade North Korea Military Parade AP North Korea Military Parade AFP/Getty Images North Korea Military Parade AP North Korea Military Parade AP North Korea Military Parade AP North Korea Military Parade AFP/Getty Images Trump administration officials, like Mr Pompeo, have sought to make clear that the US is looking for North Korea to denuclearise. Mr Pompeo said at the briefing that Mr Kim had committed to such a promise. The secretary of state said Mr Trump will reject anything short of complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula. President Trump is hopeful. But he's also going into the summit with his eyes wide open, Mr Pompeo said. He added that the US would work to guarantee North Korea's security should it denuclearize. Trump is prepared to ensure a DPRK free of its weapons of mass destruction is also a secure North Korea, Mr Pompeo said. Mr Pompeo plans to stay in the region following the summit to meet with officials from Japan and South Korea and to travel to China, an important North Korean ally, to discuss the next steps involving Pyongyang. Trump says he 'doesn't need to prepare' for North Korea summit Mr Abe visited the White House on Thursday to coordinate strategy with Mr Trump ahead of next weeks summit, with Tokyo keen to make sure Japan's security concerns are not overlooked. Chief on his list of priorities for Mr Abe was the return of Japanese citizens abducted by an issue he discussed with the US president at length last year. While Mr Abe said he would prefer to discuss the issue with Mr Kim himself, he said he felt confident that Mr Trump would raise it with the North Korean leader in their upcoming meeting. The US president, he said, is one of the leaders who understands the issue the most, the greatest. Mr Abe is also reportedly seeking an agreement with North Korea on their ballistic missile and chemical weapons programmes, on top of their nuclear weapons arsenal. Japanese citizens were forced to run for cover twice this summer, when the North sent ballistic missiles flying over the island of Hokkaido. Mr Abe is open to arranging his own meeting with Mr Kim if the summit with Mr Trump goes well, having been largely absent from the recent burst of engagement between the US, South Korea and Pyongyang. US officials had prepared for weeks for the 12 June nuclear summit, before Mr Trump abruptly called it off last month. Then-CIA Director Mr Pompeo met with North Korean leader Mr Kim in April, and the White House sent a team to Singapore to discuss details of the meeting as recently as last month. Mr Trump announced that the meeting was back on again last week, after meeting with a senior North Korean envoy and receiving a letter from Mr Kim himself. He described the letter as interesting, but later said he had not opened it. On Thursday, he revealed that the letter had been a simple greeting from Mr Kim. It was really a very warm letter, a very nice letter, Mr Trump said, Nothing other than, We look forward to seeing you, we look forward to the summit, and hopefully some wonderful things will work out. Donald Trump's lawyer has risked jeopardising the US-North Korea summit with incendiary comments suggesting Kim Jong-un "begged for it" to happen, diplomatic experts have warned. Rudy Giuliani, the brash former New York City mayor, said at an event in Tel Aviv on Wednesday that, after the meeting between the two world leaders was initially cancelled, "Kim Jong-un got back on his hands and knees and begged for it, which is exactly the position you want to put him in". There has not yet been an official response to Mr Giuliani's statement from the North Korean side. The last time a senior American official offended Pyongyang - when Vice President Mike Pence said North Korea "may end like Libya" - relations rapidly deteriorated and the 12 June summit was briefly called off. The meeting, as things stand, is still scheduled to go ahead on Singapore's resort island of Sentosa. Japan's Shinzo Abe flew in to Washington late on Wednesday to hold last-minute talks with Mr Trump in preparation. But former diplomats say Mr Giuliani's remarks once again put the US-North Korea rapprochement in doubt. Jan Eliasson, the former deputy secretary-general of the UN and foreign minister of Sweden, said the comment "certainly does not improve the prospects for the Singapore meeting". Sweden has a long history of intermediating between Washington and Pyongyang. Evans JR Revere, a former State Department diplomat and North Korea specialist, was more blunt. If the North Koreans needed a reason to cancel the meeting, the Americans just gave it to them, he told the New York Times. Challenged in an interview later on Wednesday with the Associated Press, Mr Giuliani rejected the suggestion such comments might sour the atmosphere ahead of next week's summit, saying the North Korean leader must understand the US is in a position of strength. "It is pointing out that the president is the stronger figure," Mr Giuliani said. "And you're not going to have useful negotiations unless he accepts that." Mr Giuliani said Mr Trump had had no choice but to call off the meeting after the North Koreans insulted Mr Pence, as well as threatening America's "nuclear annihilation". "President Trump didn't take that. What he did was he called off the summit," he said. Mr Giuliani said Kim Jong-un quickly changed his position after that point, expressed willingness to discuss denuclearisation and asked to have the meeting again. "That's what I mean by begging for it," Mr Giuliani said. Mr Giuliani, who serves as Mr Trump's lawyer in the Russian investigation, did concede that he was sharing a personal opinion and that he is not part of the US foreign policy team. Meanwhile, Mr Abe was stopping off in Washington to see Mr Trump before the pair make their way to the G-7 summit in Canada. The two have struck up a close relationship since even before Mr Trump was inaugurated last year. Mr Abe was the first world premier to hold talks with the president-elect declaring as early as 16 November 2016 that Mr Trump was a "trustworthy leader" for America. Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting Show all 25 1 /25 Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in raise their hands after signing on a joint statement Korea Summit Press Pool via AP Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting Kim Jong-un heads towards Moon Jae-in to shake his hand between the military demarcation line, at the Joint Security Area on the Demilitarized Zone in the border village of Panmunjom in Paju EPA Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un hold hands as they cross the military demarcation line EPA Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting South Koreans react while watching a screen reporting the Inter Korean Summit Getty Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un chat as they arrive at the Peace House Reuters Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Koreas leader Kim Jong-un was escorted by bodyguards from the North to the Military Demarcation Line that divides the two Koreas to meet with his South Korean counterpart at the truce village AFP/Getty Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un crosses the military demarcation line to meet with South Korean President Moon Jae-in AP Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in shake hands Getty Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in shake hands after Kim crossing the military demarcation line Getty Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the Joint Security Area EPA Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un speak with two South Korean children who presented Kim Jong-un with a bouquet of flowers EPA Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting Moon Jae-in Kim Jong-un pose for photographers at the Joint Security Area (JSA) EPA Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un signs the guest book as South Korean President Moon Jae-in looks on Getty Images Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-uns entry in the guestbook. The writing reads A new history starts now. An age of peace, from the starting point of history Korea Summit Press Pool/Pool via Reuters Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting South Korean President Moon Jae-In and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un talk during their summit meeting at the Peace House EPA Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un smiles AFP/Getty Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un poses with South Korean President Moon Jae-in for a photo inside the Peace House AP Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Koreas leader Kim Jong-un talks with South Koreas President Moon Jae-in AFP/Getty Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in prepare to plant a pine tree near the military demarcation line AP Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un applaud after planting a tree at the truce village Korea Summit Press Pool/Pool via Reuters Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Koreas leader Kim Jong-un and South Koreas President Moon Jae-in take a walk after they planted a tree AFP/Getty Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Koreas leader Kim Jong-un talks with South Koreas President Moon Jae-in at a bench on a bridge next to the military demarcation line at the truce village of Panmunjom AFP/Getty Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in sign on a joint statement Korea Broadcasting System via AP Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in embrace each other after signing on a joint statement Korea Summit Press Pool via AP Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, left, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in shake hands after their joint announcement AP According to Japan's state broadcaster, the pair will hold their seventh meeting at the White House on Thursday. Mr Abe wants to confirm close cooperation in information-sharing and other areas before the Singapore summit, NHK reported. The Japanese prime minister also wants assurances that Mr Trump and Mr Kim will work towards ending the nuclear threat posed by North Korea to Japanese territories. And, NHK said, he will ask Mr Trump's to raise the long-running issue of the North's historic abduction of Japanese citizens. Japan says the North has held an unspecified number of its citizens since the 1970s and wants to see them released. A far-right German politician had his clothes stolen while swimming in a lake, with the thief reportedly shouting: This is no swimming area for Nazis. Alexander Gauland, who is co-leader of Alternative for Germany (AfD), was forced to walk partially-naked through the streets, accompanied by a police officer, after someone absconded with his clothes as he bathed in the waters just outside Berlin. Potsdam police have yet to find the culprit and said they had not ruled out a political motivation behind the theft, according to the DPA news agency. Recommended German MP denies trivialising Hitler after remarks that trivalised him An image of the 77-year-old in his swimming shorts and shoes has been shared thousands of times on social media. Mr Gauland is a controversial figure in Germany and Europe, who has said Germany needs to stop apologising for the Second World War, and should even be proud of the Nazi soldiers actions. He had said: If the French are rightly proud of their emperor and the Britons of Nelson and Churchill, we have the right to be proud of the achievements of the German soldiers in two world wars. He also once called for a ban on Muslims entering Germany, and referred to the Holocaust, the systematic murdering of six million people throughout Europe, as a speck of birds**t in 1,000 years of glorious German history. The International Auschwitz Committee, a Holocaust survivors organisation, called his remarks undignified and unbearable. Refugees settle in Germany Show all 12 1 /12 Refugees settle in Germany Refugees settle in Germany Germany Mohamed Zayat, a refugee from Syria, plays with his daughter Ranim, who is nearly 3, in the one room they and Mohamed's wife Laloosh call home at an asylum-seekers' shelter in Vossberg village on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. The Zayats arrived approximately two months ago after trekking through Turkey, Greece and the Balkans and are now waiting for local authorities to process their asylum application, after which they will be allowed to live independently and settle elsewhere in Germany. Approximately 60 asylum-seekers, mostly from Syria, Chechnya and Somalia, live at the Vossberg shelter, which is run by the Arbeiter-Samariter Bund (ASB) charity 2015 Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany A refugee child Amnat Musayeva points to a star with her photo and name that decorates the door to her classroom as teacher Martina Fischer looks on at the local kindergarten Amnat and her siblings attend on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. The children live with their family at an asylum-seekers' shelter in nearby Vossberg village and are waiting for local authorities to process their asylum applications. Approximately 60 asylum-seekers, mostly from Syria, Chechnya and Somalia, live at the Vossberg shelter, which is run by the Arbeiter-Samariter Bund (ASB) charity Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Kurdish Syrian asylum-applicant Mohamed Ali Hussein (R), 19, and fellow applicant Autur, from Latvia, load benches onto a truckbed while performing community service, for which they receive a small allowance, in Wilhelmsaue village on October 9, 2015 near Letschin, Germany. Mohamed and Autur live at an asylum-applicants' shelter in nearby Vossberg village. Approximately 60 asylum-seekers, mostly from Syria, Chechnya and Somalia, live at the Vossberg shelter, which is run by the Arbeiter-Samariter Bund (ASB) charity Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Mohamed Ali Hussein ((L), 19, and his cousin Sinjar Hussein, 34, sweep leaves at a cemetery in Gieshof village, for which they receive a small allowance, near Letschin Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Mohamed Zayat, a refugee from Syria, looks among donated clothing in the basement of the asylum-seekers' shelter that is home to Mohamed, his wife Laloosh and their daughter Ranim as residents' laundry dries behind in Vossberg village on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. The Zayats arrived approximately two months ago after trekking through Turkey, Greece and the Balkans and are now waiting for local authorities to process their asylum application, after which they will be allowed to live independently and settle elsewhere in Germany Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Asya Sugaipova (L), Mohza Mukayeva and Khadra Zhukova prepare food in the communal kitchen at the asylum-seekers' shelter that is their home in Vossberg village in Letschin Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Efrah Abdullahi Ahmed looks down from the communal kitchen window at her daughter Sumaya, 10, who had just returned from school, at the asylum-seekers' shelter that is their home in Vossberg Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Asylum-applicants, including Syrians Mohamed Ali Hussein (C-R, in black jacket) and Fadi Almasalmeh (C), return from grocery shopping with other refugees to the asylum-applicants' shelter that is their home in Vossberg village in Letschin Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Mohamed Zayat (2nd from L), a refugee from Syria, smokes a cigarette after shopping for groceries with his daughter Ranim, who is nearly 3, and fellow-Syrian refugees Mohamed Ali Hussein (C) and Fadi Almasalmeh (L) at a local supermarket on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. All of them live at an asylum-seekers' shelter in nearby Vossberg village and are waiting for local authorities to process their asylum applications, after which they will be allowed to live independently and settle elsewhere in Germany 2015 Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Kurdish Syrian refugees Leila, 9, carries her sister Avin, 1, in the backyard at the asylum-seekers' shelter that is home to them and their family in Vossberg village in Letschin Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Somali refugees and husband and wife Said Ahmed Gure (R) and Ayaan Gure pose with their infant son Muzammili, who was born in Germany, in the room they share at an asylum-seekers' shelter in Vossberg village on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. Approximately 60 asylum-seekers, mostly from Syria, Chechnya and Somalia, live at the Vossberg shelter, which is run by the Arbeiter-Samariter Bund (ASB) charity, and are waiting for authorities to process their application for asylum 2015 Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany German Chancellor Angela Merkel pauses for a selfie with a refugee after she visited the AWO Refugium Askanierring shelter for refugees in Berlin Getty Images Despite the leaders divisive views, the AfD has steadily grown in recent years and has become Germanys third-largest political party. The Nazis rule between 1933 and 1945 is still a sensitive subject in Germany. Monuments to the millions who died as a result of extreme anti-semitism and the Second World War can be found throughout Germany and displaying a swastika is still illegal to this day. Mr Gauland co-leads Alternative for Germany (AfD), which is now the third-largest political party in Germany (Getty) The AfD party has seized upon a recent surge in nationalism within Germany and contested the idea that Germans should feel guilt about their countrys past to gain supporters from across the political specturm. Norways parliament has voted overwhelmingly in favour of a ban on wearing the burqa or niqab in nurseries, schools and universities. Members of the Storting voted 91 to eight to adopt amendments to several laws that, together, imply that there is a prohibition on the use of clothing that fully or partially covers the face in an educational setting. The bill was proposed in March and passed its first reading on Tuesday, according to the parliaments website, and will become an act if it passes a second debate. That debate will take place on Monday, a Storting spokeswoman told The Independent. Following that, it must receive royal assent from King Harald V before it officially becomes law. During the debate politicians said they believed it was important that students and teachers be allowed to see each others faces and communicate openly. Recommended What life is like for French women who remove the veil The Labour Partys Jan Bhler said: It is crucial for a good learning environment that one can see each others face throughout the open school landscape. Mathilde Tybring-Gjedde. of the Conservative Party, added: Tolerance for differences is essential, but at the same time, we must ensure that all people have equal participation and equal opportunities. Kindergartens should be good learning places and meeting places. It is crucial for the children that they can have open and good communication with safe adults. The niqab covers a womans whole face apart from her eyes while the burqa adds a transparent veil over the eyes. The ban would not affect the hijab, Reuters reported when the bill was proposed. Ashild Bruun-Gundersen, of the conservative Progress Party which is part of Norways ruling coalition, called the burqa and niqab suppressive garments that prevent integration that prevent women from living a free life. Her party, which favours tighter rules on immigration, wants a full ban on the coverings in public places, she said. The Socialist Left Party (SV), however, said it would not support a nationwide ban because evidence suggested that people wearing the coverings in schools was a minimal problem. Educational institutions, in their responses to a consultation, indicated it was hardly a problem, SVs Mona Fageras said, adding that local disputes have been settled through dialogue. Norways National Union of Students also believed the proposal was not in line with the principle of equal right to education, she said. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty Ms Fageras added: Work on womens oppression and increased gender equality need to be strengthened. To introduce a national ban on face-covering garments does not solve the problem of women in Norway today being exposed to negative social control and honour-related violence. The move towards instituting a ban comes nearly two years after Norway first set out its intention to restrict their usage. Last week, neighbouring Denmark became the latest European country to introduce a ban on face coverings including Islamic veils. The government there claimed its new law, which does not ban headscarves, turbans or the traditional Jewish skullcap, was not aimed at any religion. Amnesty International criticised the ban, saying all women should be free to dress as they please and to wear clothing that expresses their identity or beliefs. Whilst some specific restrictions on the wearing of full-face veils for the purposes of public safety may be legitimate, this blanket ban is neither necessary nor proportionate and violates the rights to freedom of expression and religion, said its Europe director, Gauri van Gulik. Police must use common sense in enforcing the law, Denmarks justice minister said. It allows people to cover their faces if there is a recognisable purpose to doing so, like wearing a motorcycle helmet or in cold weather. France, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Netherlands and the German region of Bavaria have all implemented restrictions on wearing full face coverings in public. A top US military chief will meet with his Russia counterpart in Finland to discuss current issues between the countries. General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the chief of the Russian militarys General Staff, General Valery Gerasimov, will meet in Helsinki on Friday, the Finnish military said. The meeting takes place on the initiative of both countries, the Finns added. In a statement, they said they will also meet separately with Finlands president and the Nordic countrys military chief. The Finns will not take part in the US-Russia meeting. Vladimir Putin opens Russia's controversial bridge to Crimea Tensions between the US and Russia remain high over Moscows backing of the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. The US says large numbers of civilians have been killed in Russian air strikes in the Middle Eastern country, while Russia contends it never targets civilian areas. Russia has also been accused of meddling in the 2016 US presidential election, which is the subject of Special Counsel Robert Muellers investigation. In April, Natos top military officer met with Gen Gerasimov in the first such encounter since relations between Moscow and the alliance plunged to post-Cold War lows over Russias annexation of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula in 2014. Victory Day 2018: Russia commemorates end of Second World War Show all 24 1 /24 Victory Day 2018: Russia commemorates end of Second World War Victory Day 2018: Russia commemorates end of Second World War A legendary World War II era Soviet tank T-34 AP Victory Day 2018: Russia commemorates end of Second World War Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with military personnel during the Victory Day parade at Red Square AFP/Getty Victory Day 2018: Russia commemorates end of Second World War Russian army MiG-29 jet fighters of the Strizhi (Swifts) and Su-30 jet fighters of the Russkiye Vityazi (Russian Knights) aerobatic teams fly in formation Reuters Victory Day 2018: Russia commemorates end of Second World War Russia's newest robotic complex Uran-9 takes part in the Victory Day military parade EPA Victory Day 2018: Russia commemorates end of Second World War Russian troops march during the Victory Day military parade AP Victory Day 2018: Russia commemorates end of Second World War Russian servicemen drive military vehicles during the Victory Day parade Reuters Victory Day 2018: Russia commemorates end of Second World War Russian servicewomen march at Red Square AFP/Getty Victory Day 2018: Russia commemorates end of Second World War Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attend the Victory Day military parade EPA Victory Day 2018: Russia commemorates end of Second World War Russian Msta S artillery vehicles AFP/Getty Victory Day 2018: Russia commemorates end of Second World War People carrying picturers of fallen soldiers queue to pay their respect at the Soviet War Memorial AFP/Getty Victory Day 2018: Russia commemorates end of Second World War Russia's new generation of strategic missiles Yars EPA Victory Day 2018: Russia commemorates end of Second World War Russian President and the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during the Victory Day military parade EPA Victory Day 2018: Russia commemorates end of Second World War Army ATV-1 during the parade Rex Victory Day 2018: Russia commemorates end of Second World War Russian military servicemen march during Victory Day parade in Moscow EPA Victory Day 2018: Russia commemorates end of Second World War Buk-M2 air defence missile systems parade through Red Square AFP/Getty Victory Day 2018: Russia commemorates end of Second World War A Russian World War II veteran is greeted by a young boy after the Victory Day military parade EPA Victory Day 2018: Russia commemorates end of Second World War Russian servicemen ride on a military vehicle Reuters Victory Day 2018: Russia commemorates end of Second World War Russian honour guards march AFP/Getty Victory Day 2018: Russia commemorates end of Second World War Russian President Vladimir Putin, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attend a wreath laying ceremony to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier after the Victory Day parade EPA Victory Day 2018: Russia commemorates end of Second World War EPA Victory Day 2018: Russia commemorates end of Second World War WWII veterans take part in celebrations marking the 73rd anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany during World War II AFP/Getty Victory Day 2018: Russia commemorates end of Second World War Russian President Vladimir Putin, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu take part in a wreath laying ceremony AFP/Getty Images Victory Day 2018: Russia commemorates end of Second World War Russia's Msta-S self-propelled howitzers during the Victory Day military parade EPA Victory Day 2018: Russia commemorates end of Second World War Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, toast during a reception after the Victory Parade AP On Thursday, Natos defence ministers were set to unveil a new plan to reinforce their presence in Europe in the event of any crisis with Russia. If such a conflict were to break out, it would be met with the deployment of 30 troop battalions, 30 squadrons of aircraft and 30 warships within 30 days, the ministers are expected to say at a meeting in Brussels. However, details of the plan, which were drawn up by the US and are set to be in place by 2020, are sketchy. The ministers are also likely to announce a strengthening of maritime operations, particularly in the Mediterranean Sea, where Russian ships have been shadowing Nato vessels. Additional reporting by Associated Press Spains new cabinet has the highest number of female ministers in the countrys history, with 11 women taking up places in prime minister Pedro Sanchez's new government. The Socialist-led government was sworn in by King Felipe VI on Thursday, marking one of the fastest power transitions in Spains four decades of democratic rule. The cabinet also includes six men. One, Pedro Duque, is a former astronaut. He was appointed science minister. Most of the new ministers referred to the female majority in their oath-taking on Thursday. Women now hold some of the most important jobs in Spain including overseeing finance, the economy, defence and education. Mr Sanchezs minority government came to power after a court ruling over a kickbacks-for-contracts scheme involving the conservative Popular Party prompted a "no confidence" vote against Mariano Rajoy, who had been prime minister since 2011. Mr Sanchez has described his government as feminist, progressive, pro-European and a loyal reflection of the best in the society that it aspires to serve. Carmen Calvo, an expert in constitutional law and former culture minister, will be Mr Sanchezs deputy prime minister and also in charge of the resurrected Ministry of Equality. The government has to work to reduce inequalities and achieve great equality, which affects men and women, Ms Calvo said on Friday in a brief ceremony to take over the governments number-two position from Soraya Saenz de Santamaria. 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 Nadia Calvino, who has been director general for the budget at the European Commission since 2014, was appointed as the minister in charge of the eurozones fourth largest economy. Margarita Robles was named defence minister, and Maria Jesus Montero will be finance minister. The posts of justice minister and education minister also went to women. In the UK, Theresa May's cabinet has five women including the prime minister, while a further four women also attend meetings but are not officially cabinet ministers. The US is seeking to forcibly deport an American citizen accused of being a member of Isis from his current detention in Iraq to Syria, court documents have revealed. A federal court notice filed in the US District court in Washington late on Wednesday noted that the Pentagon plans to return the unidentified enemy combatant to Syrian territory, despite his objections, in the next 72 hours. The unusual case has raised questions over the circumstances in which the US has the right to detain its own citizens abroad, as well as the legality of deporting US nationals to third countries. Isis 'Beatles' militants captured in Syria: 'It is too late for a fair trial' The dual US-Saudi national, whose identity is protected, was arrested by US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) at a checkpoint in Syria last August before being turned over to US troops. He has since been detained in US military custody in neighbouring Iraq without charge, and claims he was captured by Isis after travelling to Syria to work as a freelance journalist. Previous attempts by officials to deport the suspected militant to Saudi Arabia, or transfer him over to the Iraqi authorities, were both blocked by US courts. In a statement on Wednesday, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) which represents the unnamed man, said that it will ask for the death warrant release to be blocked. Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis in pictures Show all 8 1 /8 Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis in pictures Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis in pictures Syrian Democratic Forces fighters celebrate victory in Raqqa atop of military vehicles REUTERS Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis in pictures Fighters of Syrian Democratic Forces march past destroyed buildings as they celebrate victory REUTERS Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis in pictures Fighters of Syrian Democratic Forces gesture the "V" sign in Raqqa REUTERS Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis in pictures Fighters of Syrian Democratic Forces evacuate a civilian from the stadium REUTERS Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis in pictures A civilian prays after she was rescued by fighters of Syrian Democratic Forces from the stadium REUTERS Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis in pictures Syrian Democratic Forces fighters ride atop of military vehicles as they celebrate victory in Raqqa REUTERS Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis in pictures Syrian Democratic Forces fighters celebrate victory in Raqqa REUTERS Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis in pictures A fighter of Syrian Democratic Forces celebrates in Raqqa Reuters The Trump administration says that existing laws allow the military discretion over both the transfer and release of people captured in operations outside the US. The ACLU, however, argues that their client should be tried with a crime in a US courtroom, or otherwise released. Justice Department officials noted in the court filing that there is not sufficient evidence available to charge the man with any crime. The case risks creating a constitutional black hole for US citizens that hold nationality of another country, ACLU lawyer Jonathan Hafetz warned. [The administration] wants to dump an American citizen onto the side of the road in a war-torn country without any assurances of protection and no identification, he said. Releasing anyone into Syria is unusual for Western states given that its a war zone a self-evident threat to human rights, said Kyle Orton, a Syria writer and researcher. For the US to release one of its own citizens into Syria is extraordinary, and the natural corollary is that there will be less resistance to doing this with non-Americans in US custody. As well as the precedent set from a legal-political standpoint, it is an unusual military tactic to put someone the US has every reason to believe is an enemy combatant back on the field. Several other Western countries, including the UK, have moved to strip dual nationals of citizenship or otherwise handed them over to Iraqi and Syrian Kurdish officials for trial. Two British ISIS 'Beatles' members will either face trial in Syria or be returned to Turkey In April, the two remaining members of the notorious British Isis cell nicknamed The Beatles emphasised their right to a fair trial, from prison in northern Syria. l am not a democratic person, but I am being subjected to democratic law. So it is only right for those who claim to uphold this to fully uphold it, El Shafee Elsheikh said in an interview with CNN. Human rights groups have frequently pointed out that the judicial process and detention conditions for suspected fighters, including mass trials and suspected torture, fall far below internationally accepted standards. Western governments have been reluctant to take captured foreign fighters back, using various legal and logistical means to bar them, Mr Orton said. If this case manages to pass by without too much of a political price, it could well become a more frequently used method of keeping Americans who joined the Islamic State from coming home. Saudi Arabia is using its broad anti-terror legislation to imprison and torture political dissidents and reformers, according to a UN panel after a visit to the kingdom. While crown prince Mohammad bin Salman pursues a series of reforms, no one should be fooled into believing that Saudi Arabia is striving towards a more open and pluralistic form of government, British QC Ben Emmerson, the UNs special rapporteur on anti-terrorism, told The Independent. The very opposite is true, he added. Recommended Women receive driving licences in Saudi Arabia for the first time What we are witnessing is a regime that is tightening its grip on the social fabric of society, choking all forms of open debate, suffocating civil society, silencing the voice of reform and imprisoning those who are striving towards modernity. The report was written before the most recent arrest of at least 13 womens rights activists, the current legal status of which is still unclear. Those arrests overshadowed women finally being allowed to drive on 24 June, according to Human Rights Watch. They are the actions of a feudal dynasty, meting out forms of punishment that belong to the Middle Ages, in a desperate white knuckle bid to cling onto power Ben Emmerson QC "The most recent wave of arrests in May brings the number of political detainees into the hundreds. Many are high profile campaigners and pro-democracy advocates charged with vague political offences and denounced as traitors, Mr Emmerson said. Warning that the ruling dynasty cannot survive the forces of change, Mr Emmerson added that the latest arrests of activists were not the actions of a government that is confident that it enjoys popular support among the people". He said: They are the actions of a feudal dynasty, meting out forms of punishment that belong to the Middle Ages, in a desperate white knuckle bid to cling onto power. The House of Saud knows full well that it cannot survive the forces of change, that it cannot withstand the inevitable tide of history and that it will in due course be swept away as the clamour for governmental transparency and social justice grows. In his report, Mr Emmerson said the countrys anti-terror legislation must be urgently reviewed. Recommended Vogue Arabia sparks anger with Saudi princess cover In its current form, he said, the states overly broad definition of terrorism included calling for atheist thought in any form, contact with any group hostile to the Kingdom, anyone seeking to shake the social fabric or national cohesion, or participating, promoting, or inciting sit-ins, protests, meetings, or group statements in any form". The report also stated that Mr Emmerson received well-documented reports of the use of torture and ill-treatment by law enforcement officials against individuals accused of having committed acts of terrorism". Those methods of torture included electric shocks, sleep deprivation, incommunicado and prolonged solitary detention, and beatings to the head, face, jaw and feet. The crown prince, the effective ruler of Saudi Arabia, has recently introduced a swathe of reforms designed to return the country to a more moderate Islam, including opening cinemas for the first time in 35 years. 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 Last November, authorities also arrested over 300 business leaders, royals and politicians in what was painted as anti-corruption crackdown, but more widely interpreted as a clampdown on political dissent. Mr Emmerson also urged Saudi Arabia to drop capital punishment, noting that execution has been used against political dissidents. Saudi Arabia's addiction to the blood cult of public execution demeans and humiliates not only the victims, but all those who participate in the process and Saudi society as a whole, he said. There was no immediate response from Saudi officials to the report, which covered his visit in April-May 2017. A spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Council said Mr Emmerson submitted it to the UN after his six-year term as rapporteur ended later that year. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened to carry out direct military strikes targeting President Bashar al-Assads regime unless all Iranian forces are withdrawn from Syria. The aggressive ultimatum to Damascus is a significant escalation in the confrontation in Syria between Israel and Iran. The Syrian leader was no longer immune, his regime is no longer immune. If he fires at us, we will destroy his forces, Mr Netanyahu declared during a visit to London, speaking at a question and answer session at the Policy Exchange think tank. Israel has carried out a number of air strikes on Iranian bases in Syria and has repeatedly demanded that Iran, which it considers an existential threat, must remove its forces and weapons from Syria. But this was the first time that it had been stated that the Assad regime would be punished for the presence of Iranian forces, which have been fighting Isis and Islamist rebels. Mr Netanyahu said: I think there is a new calculus that has to take place and Syria has to understand that Israel will not tolerate the Iranian military entrenchment in Syria against Israel. The consequences are not merely to the Iranian forces there but to the Assad regime as well, I think its something that he should consider very seriously. The Israeli prime minister blamed Assad personally for the presence of Tehrans forces in Syria as he warned of possible Israeli intervention. Assad has to consider this: when they waged this horrific civil war, Israel did not intervene. Now the war is nearly over, he invites Iran in to entrench itself? The Syrian leader was accused of facilitating Tehran to move its army a thousand miles so it can threaten Israel. They want to bring in precision guided rockets with half a ton warheads and submarines to the Mediterranean Iran does not believe in a master race, it believes in a master faith, and is bent on conquest, Mr Netanyahu charged. Assad has to consider this: when they waged this horrific civil war, Israel did not intervene. Now the war is nearly over, he invites Iran in to entrench itself? Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli prime minister The prime minister is on a tour of Western Europe to try to drum up support for further action against Iran, after US President Donald Trump reneged on an agreement between international powers and Tehran over its nuclear programme. The other signatories to the deal Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China as well as the United Nations have all stressed that it was working and the Iranian government was abiding by its commitment. Emmanuel Macron, Angela Merkel and Theresa May have told Mr Netanyahu that they are determined not to abandon the agreement, the scrapping of which could lead to nuclear proliferation in the region and beyond, they warned. The Israeli prime minister maintained that his real focus for this visit was not about the [nuclear] deal. That, he boasted, had been effectively destroyed by him and Mr Trump. Israel attack Iran targets in Syria: overnight airstrike in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Israel attack Iran targets in Syria: overnight airstrike in pictures Israel attack Iran targets in Syria: overnight airstrike in pictures Missiles rise into the sky as Israeli missiles hit air defense position and other military bases, in Damascus Syrian Central Military Media, via AP Israel attack Iran targets in Syria: overnight airstrike in pictures Missile fire is seen from Damascus Reuters Israel attack Iran targets in Syria: overnight airstrike in pictures An Israeli flag is seen placed on Mount Bental in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights. Israel's army said today it had carried out widespread raids against Iranian targets in Syria overnight after rocket fire towards its forces it blamed on Iran, marking a sharp escalation between the two enemies. Israel carried out the raids after it said around 20 rockets, either Fajr or Grad type, were fired from Syria at its forces in the occupied Golan Heights at around midnight. AFP/Getty Israel attack Iran targets in Syria: overnight airstrike in pictures The Israeli military on Thursday said it attacked "dozens" of Iranian targets in neighboring Syria in response to an Iranian rocket barrage on Israeli positions in the Golan Heights AP Israel attack Iran targets in Syria: overnight airstrike in pictures Israeli artillery deployed missiles toward Syrian military targets, on the Golan Heights EPA Israel attack Iran targets in Syria: overnight airstrike in pictures Missile fire is seen over Daraa Reuters Israel attack Iran targets in Syria: overnight airstrike in pictures Air defence systems intercepting Israeli missiles over Syrian airspace AFP/SANA Israel attack Iran targets in Syria: overnight airstrike in pictures Israeli soldiers walk among armored vehicles in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights Reuters Israel attack Iran targets in Syria: overnight airstrike in pictures Syrian air defense missiles are seen in the sky over the capital Damascus EPA Israel attack Iran targets in Syria: overnight airstrike in pictures Air defence systems intercepting Israeli missiles over Syrian airspace. Israeli missile strikes fired at Syria hit military bases, as well as an arms depot and military radar. AFP/SANA He warned European businesses of the punitive fines they would face under American sanctions if they continued trading with Iran. Mr Netanyahu stated that his aim on the trip, instead, was to expose how Iran is devouring one nation after another and ask Western European governments to do more about reversing Irans aggression in the region and getting them out of Syria. The French, German and British leaders have all raised their concerns with Mr Netanyahu about the recent brutal violence at the Gaza border in which dozens of Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli troops. The UK foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, urged the Israeli government to open an independent inquiry into the deaths and injuries suffered during the protests. Asked at the London meeting why non-lethal methods, such as water cannons and rubber bullets, were not used, or even a policy of shooting at legs, rather than shoot to kill, not pursued, Mr Netanyahu insisted: We have tried all these methods, they dont work. These were not non-violent protests, quite the contrary. We are doing everything we can to both minimise casualties and, at the same time, protect Israeli lives. Referring to Israels success in technological innovations, Mr Netanyahu added given our record, we probably will figure something out, but we havent got there yet. The last thing we want is violence or confrontation. Down a narrow cobbled street in Mons, a small medieval town in south Belgium, there is an archive where it is claimed all the worlds knowledge is held on paper. At least, that was the original premise of the Mundaneum, also known as the paper Google, the proto-Wikipedia and even the precursor to the internet. Going back a step to the late 19th century, two Belgian lawyers shared the noble goal of collecting the worlds information and classifying it with their revolutionary system: the Universal Decimal Classification, still used all over the world today. One was Henri La Fontaine, one of pacifisms most important figures: an obsessive, bearded vegetarian with two failed marriages and a Nobel Peace Prize. La Fontaine was also a passionate bibliographer and part of a movement for peace through international law with his work for the League of Nations (forerunner to the United Nations). The other was Paul Otlet, the mysterious pioneer of technology and documentation. He has been recognised as the father of information science, with his 1934 plans for a global computing network electric telescopes which would allow people to search through millions of documents. He named it reseau, which means network or web. The two men saw the project as the pinnacle of Otlets idea of a utopian world city. Forging relationships between Europes intelligentsia by compiling knowledge, they hoped to create a global unity, transcending borders and fostering peace. From this intersection of knowledge, documentation and pacifism emerged the original Mundaneum in Brussels in 1910. Since 1998, the project has been based in Mons, Wallonia (the French-speaking Belgian region). At first glance, its underwhelming. The tiny museum is hidden down an unassuming alley, and entering through the foyer of the central hall its hard to conceive of the behemoth archive project beneath your feet: more than 12 million 3in x 5in index cards and documents. Thats 6km (3.7 miles) of knowledge. Head of archives Stephanie Manfroid shows us some of the oldest cards including a few categorised as erotica (its unsurprising to discover that if the idea of the internet was born here then it already included porn). The Mundaneum is also a landmark in the intellectual and social fabric of Europe. Delphine Jenart, deputy director of the Mundaneum, explains: European heritage is key in the message we convey about the Mundaneum. According to Jenart the project is the historical symbol of peace through culture in Europe and a monument to European cooperation during the Belle Epoque (the Beautiful Era is a period in Western history generally held to date from the 1870s to the outbreak of World War One). Sadly, it also stands as a symbol for how and when that peace failed. The proto-computer utopian project was to remain forever unfulfilled, overtaken by the events of history. During the interwar period, the Mundaneum hosted meetings about non-engagement, conscientious objection and even communism which wasnt looked on too kindly by the government, which closed the project down in 1934. When Germany invaded Belgium in 1940, the Mundaneum was partially destroyed and much of the material lost. As Manfroid says ruefully: This period was not good for pacifism. The museum lay neglected and almost forgotten until 1974, when it was rediscovered by an Australian student and relocated to a 1930s art deco department store in Mons, reopening in 1998. In 2016 it became the first Belgian site to be granted the European Heritage label by the European Commission for its role in the construction of European identity, and Mons was recognised as European capital of culture in 2015. The whole world in your hands... founders of the Mundaneum aspired to catalogue all the knowledge (Mundaneum / Frederic Raeven) These days the institute functions as a museum, exhibition and lecture space, with a vast underground archives centre. As well as the original index cards and the founders collections, the archives hold newspapers, postcards, posters and journals, which seek to capture past eras and cultures. The archives are also divided into three major thematic sections: feminism, anarchism and pacifism. As Manfroid explains: Those ideas are very present in the development of the institution in the past and today. We share this history to help awareness of being citizens of our own country, but also citizens of a changing world, an extended world. But the political nature of the project is still very much at the forefront: the walls of the main central hall are covered in depictions of borders and divisions, with distressing photographs of immigration controls and not-so-subtle references to Trumps wall. Jenart adds: Its also a place where we debate the information society and the information age. Thats evident in their most recent exhibition, A world of codes and ciphers, which traces the history of the art of creating and breaking encryption: from Egyptian scribes and ancient Iraqi potters, to Alan Turing and the workers at Bletchley Park even displaying a 100-year-old enigma machine. An art installation, by Valerie Cordy and La Fabrique de Theatre, is a visual representation of the dark web, with different screens following her exploration of the internets underbelly. She plays with the expectations that the dark web is solely a force for evil, showing sites dedicated to promoting human rights, knowledge and creativity alongside more anticipated discomforts like guns, drugs and military footage. White, grey and black hats; cybercriminals, punks, terrorists and hacktivists: all were represented. In 2012 Google formally paid tribute to the Mundaneum and made a partnership with its archive centre. On 9 June, the International Day of Archives, the catalogue opened to the public. In some ways, says Jenart, as the project gets more and more international attention, the dreams of global outreach of the founders have been fulfilled. Travel essentials Getting there Catch the Eurostar to Brussels Midi, then a direct 50-minute train to Mons. Staying there The Dream Hotel is a four star renovated 19th century chapel in the historic centre. Doubles from 98, room only. Mons Youth Hostel is ultra-modern accommodation set at the steps of the Gothic belfry; from 9 for a single bed in a shared room. More information Rue de Nimy 76, 7000 Mons Open Monday-Friday from 9am to noon and 1pm to 5pm; access to reading room on prior request. For more information, visit the Wallonia Belgium Tourism and Mundaneum websites. Click here for easyJet discount codes Was it just the latest squall in the UK governments long passage towards a negotiating position, or a hissy fit on the part of David Davis, the UKs chief Brexit negotiator? Perhaps even a bit of both? It is hard to tell. But whatever it was seems now, after a fevered 24 hours, to be over. The government rushed out its plan for future trade with the EU, saying (at the very end) that, in the absence of any formal agreement on new customs arrangements, any continuation of the status quo would last no more than an extra year. This so-called back-stop would, in other words, have a time limit, and a pretty short one at that. Such minimal fine-tuning was apparently enough for the resignation talk to subside which perhaps illustrated how shallow, and how much of a ploy, it really was. But this is, in a way, unfortunate, because the issues at stake are still live. Deep down, Brexiteers fret that the prime minister is not, and has never really been, on their side, and will weasel through a deal that falls well short of the clean break with the EU that they demand. The back-stop, as a temporary solution to the conundrum of the Ireland border, they fear, could became a non-solution that leaves the UK partially shackled to the EU forever. And what if, after the back-stop year has passed, there is still no permanent customs agreement in sight? What price, the supposed clarity of intention and timescales David Davis has secured? The plain truth is that the government is riven with factionalism on Brexit, there is no trust or team spirit, and the chief negotiator is at one end of a spectrum of views. It might have looked a wise move at the time for Theresa May to appoint leading Brexiteers to frontline Brexit roles not least because it helped compensate for her own preference for Remain. If the thinking was sound, however, the particular division of portfolios has failed. And perhaps the biggest misjudgement was the appointment of David Davis to combine the posts of secretary at the Department for Exiting the EU and chief negotiator. At very least, those two functions should have been distinct: as the one faces towards Westminster and the home Brexit constituency; the other faces Michel Barnier across the table in Brussels. David Davis wants post-Brexit relationship with Europe that 'recognises the history' and 'stands the test of time' That there were already difficulties was evident when the prime minister transferred Oliver Robbins, the chief civil servant in Daviss department, to what was described as a coordinating position at the Cabinet Office. But she did not complete the job by transferring Davis to another department or, as a simpler solution, replacing him as chief negotiator. Now I dont want to cast aspersions on David Davis. He is a thoroughly admirable character. His career as an SAS officer testifies to all sorts of personal qualities from courage to resourcefulness to resilience that set him apart. He is a man of great personal principle, as when he resigned his seat in 2008 over what he saw as unacceptable anti-terrorist legislation. And his support for Brexit surely reflected something of the same independence of mind, while his sense of principle and responsibility may help explain why he accepted a leading position in the government charged with negotiating the terms. But being an admirable character is not the same as being an accomplished or effective negotiator. In many ways, you could argue that many of Daviss own qualities consistency, principle and practicality almost militate against his succeeding in such a role. Not only that, but he is up against a master of the art in Michel Barnier, the French chief negotiator for the EU, whose charm, guile, and long experience of delicate bargaining are some of the reasons why he was chosen for the job. As bad luck would have it, however, Barnier has one flaw as a Brexit negotiator, and it is one he shares with Davis: he appears as French as Davis appears English, and neither evinces much cultural sensitivity or familiarity with how the other side actually thinks. The differences between the French and the English can be hugely productive; they can also produce a comprehension gap that is one of the widest in Europe. At times, with Barnier and Davis, even the translation has left something to be desired. To give them their due, both chief negotiators have striven valiantly to show good humour and get along. But it is hard not to believe that if one or the other, or both, were more internationally attuned a latter-day Douglas Hurd, a Nick Clegg, dare I say a Boris Johnson, for the UK the talks would have progressed with fewer misunderstandings than they have, regardless of what was going on in the respective capitals. 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. 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 Not that the negotiators, of course, are untethered operators. And from a plethora of Brexit discussions I have attended in London and elsewhere in recent months, one message has come through loud and strong. It is that responsibility for the snails pace of the Brexit talks lies not in Brussels or anywhere else in what we must now call the EU27, but in the UK, which has still a full two years after the referendum, and more than a year since Article 50 was invoked not managed to finalise its negotiating position. But the choice of negotiators matters. It is partly about personal relations across the table, but also because the job as with ambassadors entails not just talking, but assessing the mood and communicating back. It is understandable that Theresa May would be reluctant to change her chief negotiator at this stage. The more time goes on, the more such a move would smack of weakness and divisions in London. That said, the weakness and divisions are there for all to see. How much is there to lose? The latest spat has shown David Daviss leverage at home. So leave him at the Department for Brexit, accept his resignation as chief negotiator on a point of principle (a pity that the most recent opportunity was missed), and send someone else to joust with Michel Barnier in Brussels. That someone and it doesnt have to be a serving politician needs a stellar command of French (and France) and firsthand experience of how the EU really works. Then lets see how far the negotiations are really stuck, what compromises can be made (by our side, too), and try to arrange what now seems to be the UKs inevitable departure with common sense and, above all, good grace. David Davis is famous for a baffling resignation. He quit as shadow home secretary 10 years ago next Tuesday to fight a quixotic by-election against the phantasm of New Labours assault on civil liberties. And he has threatened in private to resign as Brexit Secretary so often that rumours of his imminent departure have often become public. In the past few days, his disagreement with Theresa May became so well known that his two meetings with the prime minister this morning were followed by the Westminster media pack almost as closely as Priti Patels flight back from Kenya to be sacked in November. Last night, a source close to Davis put the chances of his resignation today at 50:50. Today, Daviss unofficial spokespeople declared that he had got what he wanted and would be staying in post. The meetings seem to have ended in agreement that the white paper, which Davis wanted published before the European summit at the end of this month, will now appear next Thursday, although a draft of the key section has been published today. 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 This is the section on the fraught question of the backstop agreement for the Irish border, which was the primary cause of the dispute the argument over the timing of publication arose out of the failure to agree. It didnt help Daviss case that his position made no sense. He wanted to put a time limit on the backstop deal agreed in December. But the point of the backstop is that it would apply if the UK and the EU are unable to agree better arrangements for the Irish border. The EU would not have agreed to it if it had a time limit, because it would want to know what would happen if there is no agreement by the deadline. It now seems that the text of the white paper will say the government expects that the backstop will be superseded by a free trade agreement by the end of December 2021 at the latest. You dont need a diploma in cryptography to know that this fudge is in the prime ministers favour: you need merely to observe that the party briefing most loudly about victory is usually the one that has retreated. Mays approach to Brexit has been to fudge and to delay more than was previously thought humanly possible. This is only partly a matter of her temperament: it has been forced on her by the divisions in her party and the weakness of the UKs negotiating hand. But every now and again the British governments negotiations with itself reach a point where a decision has to be made. Recommended Brexit backstop plan to be published today after May and Davis talks Some people have described Theresa Mays approach to the hard Brexiters in her cabinet as boiling frogs: raising the temperature of the water so gradually that Davis, Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Liam Fox dont realise they are being cooked. But it may be that what is really happening is that the frogs are gradually having to face up to the reality of the Brexit negotiations. They have signed up to a soft border in Ireland; now they have to accept what that means. And one thing it cannot mean is that a soft border expires on a certain date. Which means there are likely to be more resignation rumours between now and 29 March. Davis may have shied away from tilting at this particular windmill, but the chances are that May will be driven towards a softer Brexit than he and his fellow Eurosceptics want. There will be more of these semi-public arguments backed up by sources close to cabinet ministers saying they are poised on the brink of walking out. One huge complication is that every time a cabinet minister is reported to be standing up to the prime minister in defence of a hard Brexit, their standing among Eurosceptic Tory party members will rise. And therefore their chances of succeeding May as leader and prime minister if, as most Tories still expect, May is replaced before the next election. Todays flurry is only a harbinger of bigger storms to come. Change is coming to Northern Ireland. Before the Supreme Court considered the issue of abortion in the province the women of Northern Ireland were in the untenable position in the UK of being uniquely deprived of their human rights with regard to termination of pregnancy. It is only Northern Ireland that has an especially restrictive set of rules about access to abortion. The question is whether that is compatible with human rights legislation. The Supreme Court has now stated, by majority and putting at its simplest, that the women of Northern Ireland are indeed being treated wrongly. The situation of some pregnant women in Northern Ireland who wish for a termination (specifically who are being denied one in circumstances of rape, incest and fatal foetal abnormalities) is incompatible with two sections of the Human Rights Act 1998. That would trump the convenient political argument, used by the prime minister, Theresa May, and the former first minister of Northern Ireland, Arlene Foster, that such matters are devolved and reserved to the Northern Ireland assembly and executive (which is of course in abeyance and there is no sign of it resuming work soon). That position has been demolished. Yet, in what the Supreme Court itself describes as arid legal reasons, the view it expressed about the substantive issue of abortion in humane, as well as a powerfully argued set of opinions cannot have any force because the body that brought the case initially, the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) had no standing to do so. In short, the NIHRC, being merely a public body rather than a person, was not (and probably never could be) an actual or potential victim of a violation of human rights. So the appeal made to the Supreme Court was, formally speaking, rejected. Nonetheless, the Supreme Court took the opportunity to consider the abortion question properly and the judgment now issued (the case was heard last year) is revolutionary and means change is inevitable. Sooner rather than later a victim will indeed come forward with an incontrovertible body of evidence and undisputed facts that the position she is being put in under Northern Irelands laws violate her human rights to an abortion in certain circumstances. This is the breakthrough that is so important that the question of abortion is a question of human rights and not one about devolution or religion or the Democratic Unionist Partys deal with the Conservative Party. It is about womens rights to exercise control over their own bodies. It has always been thus, but only in recent decades has that clarity of insight lit up public debate and official decisions. It is another example and a valuable one of how incorporation of the Human Rights Act into British law (ie covering Northern Ireland too) has proved to be of real practical benefit to British citizens. It is not, in other words, some sort of racket being run for the benefit of the lawyers. Plainly, the issue of abortion is sensitive and demands a balance in the way the law is framed, while it will inevitably have moral and even political considerations brought to bear upon it. But that, in turn, has to be also weighed and be compatible, with the most fundamental individual human right of all. In the words of Lady Hale, president of the Supreme Court, that is the right of all human beings, male and female, to decide what shall be done with their own bodies, something that, as it happens, has of course long been recognised by common law (not to mention common sense). There is nothing wrong and everything right, in Northern Ireland having laws and conventions that are different to those prevailing in the rest of the UK. That is the entire point of devolution. If the Northern Ireland executive and assembly want to and if they happen to be in operation, they can make laws that suit the province across many areas of life, including health policy. What the Northern Ireland executive cannot do, as with the British government or any other public body, is deprive citizens of their overriding human rights. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 14 October 2021 A red deer stag during rutting season in Bushy Park, Richmond, south west London, which is home to over 300 red and fallow deer PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2021 Police officers detain a man as Insulate Britain activists block a roundabout at a junction on the M25 motorway during a protest in Thurrock Reuters 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. 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It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters Politically, it is much better if this is done via the Human Rights Act and the Supreme Court, rather than by the Westminster parliament or the British cabinet deciding to impose changes in the law on Northern Ireland. Whatever the state of public opinion on abortion (something that the Supreme Court took into account), the people of Northern Ireland might understandably resent having MPs from England, Scotland and Wales legislating for them in a way that Northern Irish MPs or the assembly cannot do reciprocally. In that sense though this is hardly the most important aspect of the case the Supreme Court has relieved Ms May of the burden of trying to persuade Ms Foster to do the right thing. Nor can Ms Foster reasonably expect the British parliament to amend the European Convention on Human Rights just to accommodate Northern Irelands wishes. In the UK, in contrast to the United States, abortion, by being made a legal rather than political matter, is still kept out of party politics, a considerable advantage to rational debate and justice. Not for the first time, the Supreme Court still not quite a decade old has acted with impressive care and independence of mind, immune to political or media bullying. On some of the high-profile issues referred to it, on Brexit, on the Alfie Evans case and again now on abortion in Northern Ireland, the Supreme Court judges have proved themselves far from being enemies of the people, but the peoples wise and dedicated protectors. I watched part of the debate on abortion in parliament and one of the thoughts that struck me is that we havent really moved on from the days of the Suffragettes; yes women have the vote but not much else, especially as far as equal wages for equal work. Why parliament was discussing abortion is beyond me. The subject of abortion is strictly a matter between a doctor and patient. It is a ridiculous situation we have reached, when a doctor has to put legal considerations ahead of clinical decisions. It is time we got real. Why should I, a 71-year-old male, any priest, any lawyer, any politician, or religious groups have the right to tell a woman what to do with her body? If we really want a definitive answer to the problem, let us have a referendum of women of childbearing age only. Successive governments have been kicking this can down the road for years because they dont know what they are doing. As I have said, it is between a doctor and patient only. Here in Ireland we recently had a referendum on abortion which was passed by a two to one majority. For years we had an average of 3,000 pregnant Irish women a year going to the UK for abortions because the Irish government failed them miserably. The shock and trauma suffered by these poor women at being pregnant and having to have an abortion would cause them untold stress which must have led to a post traumatic stress disorder situation for them. But on their return to Ireland, those that did return, there was no backup or support, they were left to their own devices. This to me is a national disgrace. As a sovereign country we should not be exporting problems that can easily be solved here. Fortunately the yoke of Rome seems to have disappeared and the modern generation can think for itself. I do fully understand and sympathise with the No voters, I myself dont like abortion, but I do not have the right to dictate my beliefs to women. The problem still exists in Northern Ireland and in the absence of an assembly which hasnt sat for quite some time are they still being paid? parliament should order a referendum strictly of women of childbearing age. It is not a political matter, it is social, and it will not affect the normal business. As said previously, it has nothing to do with politicians, lawyers, the clergy, or other groups, just women of childbearing age only. John Fair Castlebar, Republic of Ireland House of Frasers closure makes me despair over the UK economy If you pay attention there are no surprises. A few weeks ago my partner and I were walking along Princes Street in Edinburgh (down from the hole-in-the-high-street which was British Home Stores). The sign over House of Fraser was broken. It had been that way for a while. My partner said So, they are in trouble as well. Wed been discussing the disastrous UK economy despite what appears in the media and tumbles forth from the mouths of the Westminster munchkins. Simply adding together the disaster of decades of privatisation (asset stripping) and poor UK management, damage to Britains global reputation with everything from a buffoon foreign secretary and ninny secretary of state for defence and contradictory foreign policies to the outsourcing of local and national government (more public money down the private sewer) and now the unnecessary damage and chaos of Brexit and you have a sum with no sensible equation. Today iconic store House of Fraser announced the closure of half of its stores with thousands of lost jobs. Amanda Baker Edinburgh Hardly a day goes by without news in The Independent and elsewhere of the harm that withdrawing from the EU would do to Britains economy. The latest highlighting the dire consequences for the automotive industry. Perhaps its time the Union Jack was hung upside down from government buildings to signal our countrys distress caused by the pursuit of Brexit. One that is more blues than the red, white and blue promised. Roger Hinds Surrey How long before we hit a wall with Brexit? It has long been my belief that the question of how the UK government can honour its agreement to leave the EU without compromising the north-south Irish border would be the greatest test of their negotiating skills. In truth, I have long believed that this one issue might well bring the whole Brexit campaign to a shuddering halt. There is talk of the Irish border question as being a very thick red line for the EUs negotiators, but it seems to me that for the UK governments negotiators, it is much more like a very solid brick wall, and yet I still have not heard the Brexit campaign buss breaks screech on. Just how many Brexit supporters will be on this bus when it finally slams into that brick wall, and what will they do when the wheels fly off? David Curran Feltham The latest embarrassing uttering from the minister for Brexit is worrying but not surprising. As no-one expected the UK to vote in favour of leaving the EU there were no preparations in place, and the situation does not appear to have developed much since. The least capable member of one of the weakest cabinets ever to mislead the electorate is nominally in charge of the most important economic process that Britain will experience this century, and he is making a hopeless mess of it. Never in the history of the British government have we been so poorly served by our politicians. Matt Minshall Kings Lynn A second Brexit referendum will only cause more division As an ardent Remainer I deplore the suggestion for a second referendum. The country is deeply and disastrously divided from the first referendum and whatever the outcome of a second would be just as divided again. Much better to give parliament a free vote on the final deal with the option of cancelling Brexit if not in the UK long term interest. MPs could make a more informed decision on behalf of their constituents without being accused of frustrating the will of the people and hopefully vote for what is best for our country. Does your local representative have the moral courage to do so? Because this is what we elect them to do. Not vote for the interests of their parties or their own ambitions. John Mayhew Address supplied Rising Syphilis is not the fault of the government The government can, and rightly so, be blamed for many things but I am at a loss as to how they can be responsible for a rise in Syphilis and other STDs (Syphilis increasing at fastest rate since 1949 due to damaging government cuts), even allowing for the behaviour of a certain senior cabinet minister. Indeed if cut backs have led to reduced testing and diagnosis one would have expected a fall in officially recorded figures. G Forward Stirling This morning, the UKs Supreme Court dismissed the Northern Irish Human Rights Commission (NIHRC)s appeal to overturn Northern Irelands strict abortion laws. While the Supreme Court judges agreed that Northern Irelands laws are incompatible with human rights in the cases of rape, incest and fatal foetal abnormality, the appeal was rejected due to a technicality. By the narrow majority of four to three judges, the Court ruled that they had no jurisdiction because there was no actual or potential victim of an unlawful act involved in the case. The ruling that there is no actual or potential victim leading to dismissal is an absurd technicality. Every day, three Northern Irish women travel to mainland Britain to have an abortion or take illegal and often unsafe abortion pills. In 2016, a Northern Irish woman was prosecuted for buying abortion pills for her daughter and was reported by her GP. In the same year, a 21-year-old woman was arrested for using poison to induce her own abortion. She was reported to the police by her flatmates. Women in Northern Ireland are continually forced to travel or risk imprisonment to terminate pregnancies, a humiliating and traumatic experience. While the Supreme Courts ruling that there are no victims is a technicality, it reads like a cruel joke. As Labour MP, Stella Creasy stated, is the government really going to force a rape victim to come and give evidence in open court to change the law? Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills Show all 8 1 /8 Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills Campaigners intervene after police try to lead away one of the three women (centre with sunglasses) who publicly took an abortion pill during a demonstration outside Belfast's Crown and High Courts, where counter-demonstrations were held by both sides of the Northern Irish abortion argument. PA Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills Police officers watch on from close by as abortion rights campaign group ROSA, Reproductive Rights Against Oppression, Sexism and Austerity hold a protest in Belfast Getty Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills Eleanor Crossey Malone takes an abortion pill as abortion rights campaign group ROSA, Reproductive Rights Against Oppression, Sexism and Austerity distribute abortion pills Getty Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills Ruth Coppinger TD addresses the crowds outside Belfast's Crown and High Courts where counter-demonstrations were held by both sides of the Northen Irish abortion argument. PA Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills Eleanor Crossey Malone displays an abortion pill packet after taking a pill Getty Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills Protestors dressed as hand maidens stand as abortion rights campaign group ROSA, Reproductive Rights Against Oppression, Sexism and Austerity distribute abortion pills from a touring bus Getty Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills An unidentified woman takes an abortion pill as abortion rights campaign group ROSA, Reproductive Rights Against Oppression, Sexism and Austerity distribute abortion pills from a touring bus Getty Images Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills A robot drone delivers abortion pills as abortion rights campaign group ROSA, Reproductive Rights Against Oppression, Sexism and Austerity distribute abortion pills Getty Yet, despite the appeal being overturned, the Supreme Courts ruling has shown that Westminster and Theresa May can no longer dismiss Northern Irelands abortion laws as a devolved matter. Its been over a year since Northern Irelands devolved government collapsed due to DUP and Sinn Fein power-sharing disagreements. With no government, Westminster has a duty to speak up for Northern Ireland and the countrys human rights issues. The UN has repeatedly stated that the UK is violating human rights due to Northern Irelands laws. Westminster now has a national and moral obligation to decriminalise abortion laws in Northern Ireland under international law. After the Irish referendums landslide vote to repeal the Republics abortion laws, Northern Irish pro-choice campaigners have since increased pressure on British MPs to speak up against Northern Irelands laws. The abortion debate that took place in Westminster earlier in the week was brought forward by a cross-party group of MPs and was a clear sign to May and Conservatives that they need to make a decision. The Supreme Courts ruling is both a disappointment and a confirmation of what we already knew. While the appeal has been dismissed, its ruling has proven that Northern Ireland, and the UK by extension, is breaching the European Convention of Human Rights. The government cannot ignore todays verdict and May will have to decide whether she cares more about womens rights or keeping favour with the DUP. As one of the justices, Lord Kerr stated in todays ruling, under current laws, [Northern Irish women] are forbidden to do to their own bodies that which they wish to do; they are prevented from arranging their lives in the way that they want; they are denied the chance to shape their future as they desire. If, as well as the curtailment on their autonomy which this involves, they are carrying a foetus with a fatal abnormality or have been the victims of rape or incest, they are condemned, because legislation enacted in another era has decreed it, to endure untold suffering and desolation. What is that, if it is not humiliation and debasement? Lets hope this is the final hurdle for decriminalising Northern Irelands cruel and inhumane abortion laws. British Prime Minister Theresa May is fighting to keep her Brexit plans on track amid a cabinet row over proposals for the Irish Border, and a potential revolt in the House of Commons. The UK's proposals for a "backstop" arrangement for the Border are to be published shortly, although Brexit Secretary David Davis is understood to have concerns. But Mrs May is facing a revolt from Eurosceptic cabinet ministers who fear it could keep the UK tied to the customs union "indefinitely" after Brexit. Mr Davis has heaped pressure on Mrs May by insisting that there should be a time limit on backstop plans to keep the UK in the customs union after Brexit. The backstop document is expected to set out an arrangement under which the UK would remain within elements of the EU's customs union, in the event that it is unable to agree a preferred solution for Northern Ireland. Mrs May shared with her Brexit war cabinet a note detailing her plans for an "Irish backstop" in the event that customs arrangements were still not resolved after 2021. The note infuriated Eurosceptic ministers because it does not state when the backstop would come to an end. It threatens to test cabinet unity, with Mr Davis thought to be pushing for a provision to ensure the UK can withdraw unilaterally. Ministers are also concerned because it does not state that the UK will determine when customs arrangements are completed, which had been one of their key demands. There are also concerns that the UK will be tied to the rulings of the European Court Justice during the backstop period. British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Mr Davis are understood to have significant concerns about the backstop in its present form. Asked if he could stay in his job if the government's backstop proposals did not have his explicit approval, Mr Davis said: "That's a question I think for the prime minister, to be honest." A senior Conservative said: "There is no mandate for this, more to the point, politically it's very difficult because a lot of Conservatives will be very concerned that we are giving an incentive to the EU to keep the backstop in place forever. There is going to be an almighty row, this is a crazy situation." Damaging Meanwhile, there is another group of Tory rebels set to side with Labour over measures aimed at keeping a customs union on the table. Mrs May engaged in a series of crisis talks to avert a damaging defeat. But rebel MPs from both sides of the House of Commons are still pushing for a "Norway-style" Brexit agreement. This would be a Brexit model based on the UK retaining close ties with the single market. European Commission officials have confirmed that a proposed cap on EU payments under the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) will affect very few farmers. In a briefing, on the proposals Commission officials confirmed that capping payments will not free up a lot of new proposals. "Very few farmers will be affected by the cap. Out of millions of farmers in the EU we are talking about a few thousand affected," an official said. He indicated that the cap would see just 0.2pc of EU farmers affected by the cap. The Commission is proposing a reduction of payments as of 60,000 and compulsory capping for payments above 100,000 per farm. European Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner Phil Hogan the proposal is designed to ensure a fairer distribution of payments. He said the amounts freed up will be redistributed within each Member State either through a redistributive direct payment or rural development, primarily to ensure that a higher share of each country's direct payment allocation goes to small and medium-sized farms. However, under rules proposed by the Commission large farmers will be able to offset the labour costs of the farm against their payments rendering the cap meaningless according to some commentators. Part-time farmers and income tests Each country will also have to apply more stringent definitions to ensure only genuine farmers receive support. The precise definition will be left up to each Member State to decide, based on a number of factors such as income tests, labour inputs on the farm, the object clause of businesses and/or their inclusion in business registers. The definition must ensure that no support can be granted to those whose agricultural activity forms only an insignificant part of their overall economic activities or those whose principal business activity is not agricultural. However, it should also not result in precluding support to pluri-active farmers, who are actively farming but who are also engaged in nonagricultural activities outside their farm, as their multiple activities often strengthen the socio-economic fabric of rural areas. Glanbia has to deepen members' understanding of the payments model which enables Glanbia Co-op to pay supports to farmer suppliers for milk and grain: that's the message from its new chairman Martin Keane. Mr Keane succeeded Henry Corbally in a surprise changing of the guard within Glanbia Co-op board last Friday. The Laois farmer, who steps down as president of ICOS after its AGM this week, has been on the board of Glanbia for the past 11 years and was Glanbia vice-chairman since 2010. He is also a director of Ornua. Mr Keane said that the current payment model, which ring fences a proportion of Glanbia Co-op's dividend revenue and targets these funds at providing supports back to active farmers, was in operation for just over 12 months. The new chairman told the Farming Independent it takes time for members to appreciate how the operating model worked. However, he pointed out that the payment structures received strong support when voted on by farmers in May 2017. The continuing support of Glanbia Ireland's milk price by Glanbia Co-op caused some dissension among a minority of shareholders at the co-op's AGM last week. Dry shareholders voiced their dissatisfaction that the milk price is being supported to the tune of 2c/l at the moment, in a move which cost Glanbia Co-op around 4m for April alone. Meanwhile, Mr Keane paid tribute to the "huge commitment and achievements" of his predecessor Henry Corbally during his three years as chairman. Looking to the future, he said it would be a case of "business as usual" for Glanbia. "I am very pleased to be appointed to serve as group chairman of Glanbia. I will continue to build on the work of all those who have had the vision to make Glanbia the global nutrition group it is today and to help steer the business through its next phase of growth and development," Mr Keane said. In further board changes at Glanbia, Patrick Murphy took over from Mr Keane as Glanbia vice-chairman, while Glanbia Co-op's representation on the Glanbia Plc board dropped from 10 directors to eight, with Tom Grant and Patsy Ahern stepping down. Both continue as Glanbia Co-op directors. Last week's trade returned to a more confident footing as the good weather lessened numbers in some places, resulting in more competition at ringside. Stephen Hannon of Mohill Mart summed up the weather's effect on trade most eloquently when he said: "Sellers chose to stay in the field." Expand Close 2/6/2018 Carrigallen Mart Lot Number 204 Weight DOB 3/5/18 Breed Hereford Sex Male Price 385 Photo Brian Farrell / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp 2/6/2018 Carrigallen Mart Lot Number 204 Weight DOB 3/5/18 Breed Hereford Sex Male Price 385 Photo Brian Farrell And indeed they did as the silage season went national. After getting tentatively under way in the south the week before, last week the high pitched hum of powerful grass mowers split the countryside air from Rosslare to Malin Head and from Dingle to Ardee. My sources tell me that while numbers of sellers might have been fewer due to all this activity, there was no appreciable fall off in buyers across the country. Expand Close 2/6/2018 Carrigallen Mart Lot Number 202 Weight DOB 5/5/18 Breed CH Sex Male Price 420 Photo Brian Farrell / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp 2/6/2018 Carrigallen Mart Lot Number 202 Weight DOB 5/5/18 Breed CH Sex Male Price 420 Photo Brian Farrell The short story among the bullocks and heifers is that overall, all bullock price averages rose, while on the heifer side - after a couple of weeks of upward movement - last week there was a slight softening of sentiment in some sections. The story on the weanling front appears to be that there continues to be limited shipper activity but nothing thus far on the scale as seen last year. Expand Close 2/6/2018 Carrigallen Mart Lot Number 227 Weight DOB 14/5/18 Breed CH Sex Male Price 490 Photo Brian Farrell / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp 2/6/2018 Carrigallen Mart Lot Number 227 Weight DOB 14/5/18 Breed CH Sex Male Price 490 Photo Brian Farrell Various mart managers commented that while they understand there is a certain amount of buying going on for places such as Greece, Turkey and Tunisia, a lot of the major players are either waiting for stock already bought to clear detention or are waiting to see what contracts can actually be tied down. In the meantime, farmer buyers are taking up the slack and then some. Expand Close 2/6/2018 Carrigallen Mart Lot Number 535 Weight 415K DOB 24/4/17 Breed CHX Sex Bull Price 960 Photo Brian Farrell / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp 2/6/2018 Carrigallen Mart Lot Number 535 Weight 415K DOB 24/4/17 Breed CHX Sex Bull Price 960 Photo Brian Farrell The Ringside tables show that your 100-299kg bull weanling gained on average 15c/kg or 15-45/hd last week, while the poorer quality animal at this weight did nearly double that at 29c/kg or 29-87/hd. Above this weight, average prices tended to bounce around a bit. While the overall average price in the 300-399kg section was back by just 3c/kg to 2.18/kg, and up 2c/kg to 2.27/kg in the 400-600kg section. Movements among the quality ratings saw poorer bulls in the 300-399kg division fall by 10c/kg, while in the 400-600kg section the poorer animal rose 8c/kg. On the weanling heifer side, last week was by and large a good week for sellers with everything from 100kgs to 399kgs seeing averages across the various conformation classifications rise by between 2c/kg and 14c/kg. Slacker demand in the 400-550kg heifer division saw prices here fall by 3-6c/kg. It might be a fall but it's far from a disaster. Expand Close 2/6/2018 Carrigallen Mart Lot Number 534 Weight 495K DOB 31/3/17 Breed CHX Sex Bull Price 930 Photo Brian Farrell / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp 2/6/2018 Carrigallen Mart Lot Number 534 Weight 495K DOB 31/3/17 Breed CHX Sex Bull Price 930 Photo Brian Farrell Returning to the bullocks in a little more detail, the strongest performing weight division continues to be the 500-599kg section. Averages here saw the bottom quarter gain 8c/kg to 1.87/kg, while the top quarter put on 3c/kg to 2.55/kg. This left the overall average price of your medium to forward store up 6c/kg at 2.21/kg. This was 2c/kg clear of his nearest rival in price terms, the 400-499kg bullock. Expand Close 2/6/2018 Carrigallen Mart Lot Number 533 Weight 445K DOB 10/4/17 Breed CHX Sex Bull Price 930 Photo Brian Farrell / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp 2/6/2018 Carrigallen Mart Lot Number 533 Weight 445K DOB 10/4/17 Breed CHX Sex Bull Price 930 Photo Brian Farrell Marts Roundup 1 MOHILL Trade on the cull cow side was strong with young continental cow heifers making up to 2.20/kg. On the bull weanling side, 3.30/kg was the top price, with Stephen Hannon commenting that the he understood the buyer intended squeezing those particular 300kg Charolais bulls. Expand Close 2/6/2018 Carrigallen Mart Lot Number 512 Weight 445K DOB 1/5/17 Breed SIX Sex Bull Price 930 Photo Brian Farrell / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp 2/6/2018 Carrigallen Mart Lot Number 512 Weight 445K DOB 1/5/17 Breed SIX Sex Bull Price 930 Photo Brian Farrell Overall, it was a very good trade but noticeable for the fact that seller numbers were less as the silage season claimed its share up Leitrim way. Sellers chose to stay in the field, was Stephens summary. 2 DELVIN Expand Close 2/6/2018 Carrigallen Mart Lot Number 510 Weight 395K DOB 17/3/17 Breed CHX Sex Bull Price 1000 Photo Brian Farrell / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp 2/6/2018 Carrigallen Mart Lot Number 510 Weight 395K DOB 17/3/17 Breed CHX Sex Bull Price 1000 Photo Brian Farrell Thomas Potterton also rated his sale not overly big as Westmeath farmers also took to the fields and silage duty. Trade for heifers saw those under 400kgs make 1.82-2.90/kg, with those from 400-500kgs making 1.75-2.96/kg. Top of the 500kg+ heifer section was the 530kg Charolais who sold for 2.74/kg. Strong prices were also a feature of the bullock trade, with your lighter store typically making from 1.84/kg, a 495kg Friesian, to 2.51/kg in the case of two 367kg Charolais. Among the heavier bullocks, top billing goes a 595kg Charolais who made 2.60/kg, while Thomas also singled out four 654kg Friesians at 2.01/kg as a further indicator of strong factory prices. 3 RAPHOE Ann Harkin said the start of the traditional mid seasonal decline in numbers has also come to pass in Donegal. However, prices also remained very firm here with bullocks selling for 2.00-2.75/kg, while among the bulls prices ranged from 2.10/ kg to 2.95/kg. In the heifer ring prices ranged from 2.20/kg to 2.85/kg. There was equally no fall-off in the price of cull cows as prices ran from 640 for the plainer sort to 1,615/hd as in the case of heavy top drawer continentals Expand Close 2/6/2018 Carrigallen Mart Lot Number 561 Weight 395K DOB 20/9/17 Breed CHX Sex Bull Price 980 Photo Brian Farrell / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp 2/6/2018 Carrigallen Mart Lot Number 561 Weight 395K DOB 20/9/17 Breed CHX Sex Bull Price 980 Photo Brian Farrell 4 BALLINASLOE Smaller numbers here helped underpin demand especially on the bullock side, with prices reported as firm. Bullock averages ranged from 2.65/kg to 3.35/kg, with that 3.35kg coming for a 370kg Limousin. Other notable prices included 625-635kg Limousins making from 2.60/kg to 2.69/ kg, while a 425kg Charolais just missed out on that to spot at 3.29/kg or 1,400. The heifer trade was a little easier but still well respectable, with average prices ranging from 2.34/kg to 2.67/kg. Cull cows sold for 625-1,545/hd. 5 TULLOW Expand Close 2/6/2018 Carrigallen Mart Lot Number 560 Weight 385K DOB 3/1/18 Breed LMX Sex Bull Price 980 Photo Brian Farrell / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp 2/6/2018 Carrigallen Mart Lot Number 560 Weight 385K DOB 3/1/18 Breed LMX Sex Bull Price 980 Photo Brian Farrell Prices here also held steady, with the forward animal the main driver ringside. Bullocks over 500kgs saw Friesians top out at around 600/hd with the 1/kg, while the majority of continentals sold from 850 to 1,000 with the weight. Among the lighter stores, under 400kgs, the better continental sold for 2.30-2.80/kg, with the top of the market seeing 3.00/kg. 6 MOUNTBELLEW No different to the rest of the country Mountbellew saw prices hold firm as demand assured a full clearance. Sample prices on the bullock side included a 485kg Charolais at 2.45/kg, a 495kg Simmental at 2.02/kg and a 470kg Belgian Blue at 2.27/kg. Expand Close 2/6/2018 Carrigallen Mart Lot Number 559 Weight 480K DOB 5/1/18 Breed CHX Sex Bull Price 1200 Photo Brian Farrell / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp 2/6/2018 Carrigallen Mart Lot Number 559 Weight 480K DOB 5/1/18 Breed CHX Sex Bull Price 1200 Photo Brian Farrell Among the weanling bulls there was the 295kg Charolais who went under the hammer at 2.63/kg. On the heifer side prices cracked on very well, with a 230kg Charolais making 3.04/kg, followed closely by a 260kg Limousin at 2.84/kg. 7 ENNIS Trade here was also steady with the forward store the main attraction, although good quality lighter stock also saw plenty of action. Prices from 3.59/kg to 3.66/kg were given for batches of Limousin and Charolais bullocks that averaged 310kg. Other strong prices came from quality batches of Charolais in the 460kg to 600kg weight range that made from 2.59/g to 3.00/kg. The four Limerick men charged with burglary of a rural Co Clare farmhouse where a 95-year-old man was asleep at the time have been sent forward for trial. At Ennis District Court this week, Books of Evidence were served on the four accused and they were sent forward for trial at the next sittings of Ennis Circuit Court later this month. In the case, Paul Kiely (30) of Glencairn, Dooradoyle, Limerick, Patrick Woodland (43) of Greenmount Avenue, Ballinacurra Weston; John Woodland (39) of Clarina Avenue, Ballinacurra Avenue, Limerick and Edward Woodland (18) of Greenmount Avenue are each charged with burglary at the OConnor home at Tiermaclane on January 5th last. The Book of Evidence was served just over five months after the four made their first court appearance. In court this week, Judge Patrick Durcan told each of the four if an alibi forms part of their defence they had 14 days in which to inform the State. When the case came before the court on March 21, Judge Durcan told a senior Garda to tell the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Claire Loftus to get her on bicycle concerning directions for the four alleged burglars. On indictment before the circuit court, a charge of burglary carries a sentence of 14 years in jail on conviction. The three Woodlands are members of the same family. All four are on bail with two securing High Court bail. One member of the group allegedly lured the 95-year-old man's son away from his home to a nearby field on the pretence of buying silage. However, when the three came across Vincent OConnors elderly father, they fled the home. As part of the investigation, Gardai seized a number of mobile phones while there was a Garda surveillance operation in the area at the time. Due to the current backlog at the circuit court, it may be a number of months or early next year before the cases are dealt with. A man in his late 50s has died in a farming accident has been named locally as Maurice Coffey. The accident is believed to have taken place on Tuesday afternoon. Mr Coffey is understood to have died after being crushed against a wall by a tractor, as he was clearing silage on his farm in Kilrossanty. It is understood he was alone at the time of the accident. His body was found at around 9pm on Tuesday. The HSA is carrying out an investigation into the accident. A friend of Mr Coffey told the Irish Independent that "farming was his life" and described him as a quiet man. His death is the second farming tragedy in the area in just over a year. James Keane died last year in the nearby area of Kilmacthomas when his tractor overturned. Safety Irish Cattle and Sheep Association rural development chairman Seamus Sherlock has highlighted that its a busy time on farms and there are increased numbers of tractors and other farm machinery using the roads. Patience as well as extreme caution must be exercised by everybody using the roads, he said. Mr Sherlock also implored farmers to pay close attention to farm safety. Silage cutting and slurry spreading are in full swing and farms are a hive of activity We are asking farmers to think about safety at all times and never to take unnecessary risks where machinery and equipment are concerned. Slurry gas is also a silent killer and extremely dangerous. Slatted tank agitating points should not be left open for any longer than necessary. Farmers also need to be very careful to have proper PTO shafts in place on slurry and silage equipment. It only takes a split second lapse in concentration for accidents to happen, sometimes with tragic and fatal consequences. Mr Sherlock said that after one of the longest winters in living memory, many farmers are still trying to cope with the financial ramifications and stress associated with dealing with nine months of challenging conditions. It will take more than a few sunny days for farmers who experienced the perfect storm to recover. However, safety must be a priority at all times; its a busy time but lets make it a safe and happy time for everyone, he said. FARMERS should only move lambs as they became fit and not sell any underweight or under-finished lambs, the farm organisations have claimed. Predicting that the lamb market would stabilise in the week ahead after the first flush of new season lamb were sold, IFAs Sean Dennehy urged farmers to stop panic selling lambs. The hogget numbers are almost gone, spring lambs are in tighter supply compared to last year and all of the main supermarket groups have switched over to spring lamb, Mr Dennehy claimed. He pointed out that the overall kill in recent weeks was back almost 7,500 head on last year, with spring lamb throughput down 9,500 head. The end of Ramadan was creating increased demand this week, Mr Dennehy pointed out, and tighter supplies could result in a market rebound. Dennehy has said it is clear that the factories overcooked the price cuts last week and are having to reverse this week to get lambs. He said the reality is that supplies are extremely tight and factories are unable to buy lambs at the lower quoted prices. He said factories are paying 6.20/kg to get lambs. Sean Dennehy said farmers need to dig in hard and insist on full value. They should desist from moving any under-finished or underweight lambs and continue to sell as lambs become fit. He said supplies are very tight on the ground and factories are struggling to get numbers to meet market demand. Factory agents were understood to be eager for both hoggets and lamb over the weekend, with John Brooks of ICSA maintaining that 5.50/kg was paid to dealers for batches of hoggets. The ewe trade was firm at 3/kg. Mr Dennehy accused the factories of undermining the lamb market and farmer confidence with what he described as the factories price cutting agenda. It is totally unacceptable the way some agents and factories are talking down the trade when the market signals are more positive, he argued. The ICSA warned that the factories risked a marked shift in the lambing season by slashing returns to farmers who lambed ewes in January and February. John Brooks said farmers would not continue lambing in February if the extra cost of feeding ewes and lambs was not returned. If the factories are not careful farmers will switch to lambing from mid-March on and this has implications because the processors will be facing a tsunami of finished lamb in the second half of the year, Mr Brooks maintained. We all know that the price of lamb comes back at this time of the year but the level of the cuts over the last 10 days were unjustified, he argued. The Irish Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) has found against Yahoo for a 2014 data breach that affected 500m people and 39m EU citizens. However, the watchdogs offices said that it will issue no fine or other punitive measure, largely because the events took place before the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which came into force last month. Instead, the DPC has ordered Yahoo to update its data processing systems. Yahoos European headquarters are in Dublins Point Village in the docklands. The DPC has notified Yahoo that it requires it to take specified and mandatory actions within defined time periods, said a spokesman for the DPC. The DPC will be closely supervising Yahoos timely compliance with these required actions. The spokesman said that the breach was reported to the DPC in September 2016. It involved the unauthorised copying and taking, by one or more third parties, of material contained in approximately 500 million user accounts from Yahoo in 2014. It is the largest breach which has ever been notified to and investigated by the DPC. According to the DPC, the findings included the following: Yahoos oversight of the data processing operations performed by its data processor did not meet the standard required by EU data protection law and as given effect or further effect in Irish law. Yahoo relied on global policies which defined the appropriate technical security and organisational measures implemented by Yahoo. Those policies did not adequately take into account Yahoos obligations under data protection law. Yahoo did not take sufficient reasonable steps to ensure that the data processor it engaged complied with appropriate technical security and organisational measures as required by data protection law. The DPC went on to say that it has ordered Yahoo to take specified and mandatory actions to bring its data processing into compliance with EU data protection law. These actions include that Yahoo should ensure that all data protection policies which it uses and implements take account of the applicable data protection law and that such policies are reviewed and updated at defined regular intervals. The DPC also directed Yahoo to update its data processing contracts and procedures associated with such contracts to comply with data protection law. The DPC said that it will be engaging closely with Yahoo to monitor the quick and comprehensive implementation of these actions and if necessary will issue enforcement notices to secure compliance. The DPC added that a separate breach dating back to 2013 was not investigated because, at the time the breach occurred, Yahoo EMEA was not a data controller within the meaning of the Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003 and therefore Yahoo EMEA was not subject to the jurisdiction of the DPC. APPLEGREEN chief executive Bob Etchingham has hailed a robust first half for the compnay. (Stock image) Petrol station business Applegreen has 60m-70m of room to borrow for acquisitions, according to chief financial officer Niall Dolan. Mr Dolan told the Irish Independent that the company had the ability to leverage up by that much while still keeping within its target of a net debt to ebitda ratio of two. The company has just completed a deal to lease more than 40 stations in the US as its ambitious expansion plan continues. The stations are being leased from New York-listed CrossAmerica Partners, under a long-term agreement that is expected to complete in the third quarter of this year. The stations are located in Florida and will enhance Applegreen's presence in the south-east of the country after its acquisition of the Brandi Group in South Carolina last October. Mr Dolan was speaking after the company's AGM in Dublin yesterday. Chairman Daniel Kitchen told the meeting that the company had a "positive start" to the financial year, with trading ahead of the prior year. However, he warned that the extreme weather in March negatively affected the business in all of its markets, but particularly in Ireland. "Recent international fuel price increases have adversely impacted on fuel margins," Mr Kitchen added. Since the end of December the company has added 34 sites to its portfolio. Seven are in the Republic of Ireland, 14 in the UK and three in the US. Food is an important part of its offering - and is a higher margin business than fuel. Chief executive Bob Etchingham told the Irish Independent that the company sees itself as a "food business that happens to sell fuel". He said the company has added a number of Tesla superchargers to its network and also has a hydrogen refuelling point at a location in the US, but added that he thinks it will take time before these technologies emerge in a meaningful way. He said the company was working with its food partners to try to take advantage of a shift in consumer preferences towards healthy eating. Another of the company's strategies has been to try to attract corporate customers with executive lounge facilities - marketed as a place for meetings. One such facility has been installed at its outlet in Lisburn. Mr Etchingham said there was "nothing he could say publicly" about plans to roll the facilities out in the Republic. ANGLO Irish Bank has gone down in history as the bank that broke Ireland. It is a byword for failure, catastrophic misgovernance and regulatory lassitude. Its collapse ushered in a long and painful era of austerity and mired the State in a vicious cycle of recession measures that drained close to 32bn out of the economy between 2008 and 2014. Looking back, the bank turned into a black hole at astonishing speed. In 2007, Anglo Irish Bank was named the best bank in the world by experts Oliver Wyman and the World Economic Forum. It was January 2008 when crisis really set in as investors started to dump Anglos bonds, severely disabling the banks access to international wholesale markets. The so-called St Patricks Day Massacre of 2008 triggered a 23pc plunge in the share price and wiped close to 1bn off its value. By September, amid an ever worsening global credit crisis, Anglo had entered a death spiral. A little over a week after Lehman Brothers went under, the Irish government issued a blanket guarantee of virtually all assets and liabilities of the Irish banks. In 2011 Anglos carcass was paired with the remains of Irish Nationwide Building Society to create Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC). Aillied Irish Bank (AIB) took over Anglos residual deposit book of close to 9bn. As its losses mounted, IBRC was liquidated in February 2013, in what was dubbed Prom Night. To liquidate Anglo, the State had to tear up the promissory note. It carried a brutal 3.1bn interest bill, that was in effect being paid by the taxpayer to the bust bank, to repay emergency loans from the Central Bank. On Prom Night, the Central Bank agreed to swap the IOU for normal government bonds. That deal was only barely allowed under European Central Bank rules, so the State has been gradually buying back its own bonds in 500m chunks. In the meantime, the business of closing down the bank goes on. Liquidators have sold off almost all of Anglos assets at this stage. They recouped some cash for taxpayers. But the shutdown will be delayed because of outstanding legal cases and closing the lender is projected to cost between 291m and 306m by 2022. The former head of commercial lending at the now-defunct Irish Nationwide Building Society, Tom McMenamin, admitted that agendas - information that was provided to the lender's credit committee - were a "bit of a sham" and contradicted assurances given to the regulator that the organisation had reformed its practices. He also conceded that "in hindsight" he should have corrected the record before the Society's chairman, Dr Michael Walsh, gave a "misleading" undertaking to the corporate watchdog that a set of governance recommendations delivered to the board had been addressed. After almost three hours of interrogation at the Central Bank's inquiry into alleged regulatory breaches at INBS, Mr McMenamin claimed staff were under "fierce, fierce pressure" to meet the demand for loans and claimed "no top official" ever criticised "our work, or lack thereof". Faced by a barrage of evidence that exposed a seeming disregard for basic governance procedures, Mr McMenamin insisted the failure of the credit committee to adhere to its own rules never struck him as troubling, because another "system was in operation" that allowed issues to be brought before the "boss man" two to three times a year - a reference to INBS's former managing director Michael Fingleton. Under questioning by Brian O'Moore, SC - one of the legal team assisting the Inquiry - the former senior executive revealed that under his de facto chairmanship of the credit committee rules and regulations were flouted on a routine basis. Mr O'Moore argued Mr McMenamin saw "no reason to change the way he was operating" because he had "been bumping along that way for years" and the "boss man was happy". In July of 2005, when the property boom was in full swing, the committee approved over 300m in loans, which were then signed off by Mr McMenamin and advanced to the Society's board for sanction. At that time, however, McMenamin was in Australia visiting his son. He told the inquiry he was away for a month and did not return until August 2005. Mr O'Moore asked if he had inquired about the advances made in his absence, and on his behalf, when he returned to work. "I probably didn't," Mr McMenamin replied. Mr O'Moore claimed the "casual observer would have taken it that you had considered and agreed to those advances but, in fact, you knew nothing about them". In one of the most dramatic days of evidence so far at the Central Bank's inquiry, Mr McMenamin conceded he had provided "inaccurate information" to colleagues, including compliance officer, Ita Rogers, about the running of the credit committee. This information was later fed back to the board and the regulator. He admitted credit reviews were never submitted to the credit committee, even though official responses from the Society - which Mr McMenamin knew to be incorrect - were then relayed back to external auditors KPMG and special consultants Deloitte. When pressed repeatedly about whether he knew the credit committee's terms of reference, first formulated in 2003 and then revised in 2006, Mr McMenamin repeatedly said he couldn't remember - even though he'd helped draft the new terms and set the agenda for meetings that reflected the committee's rules. When presented with a report from Deloitte in 2006 recommending the committee adhere to its rules, Mr McMenamin said he "must have read it", but could not recall doing so. "Did it not strike you like an express train that there were terms of reference for this very important committee that you had been unaware of until now?" Mr O'Moore said. "You hardly ignored all of this successfully and consistently". Mr McMenamin said he "should have" picked up on such an oversight. "There is no should have as matter of fact you probably did," Mr O'Moore said. The inquiry continues. Tunisias Prime Minister Youssef Chahed on Wednesday fired his interior minister following the death of migrants off the coast of the North African country in the deadliest shipwreck this year. The move follows a similar decision affecting 10 senior security officials as the country investigates the tragic death at sea of migrants on board the boat bound for Europe. An estimated 112 lost their lives after the boat loaded with 180 sank off Sfax coast in what was described as security failure. That was the highest death toll in any single migration attempt this year, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said. The migrants reportedly paid 2,000 to 3,000 Tunisian dinars ($780 to $1,170) for the crossing, according to Lorena Lando, IOM chief of mission in Tunisia. Since the beginning of 2018, around 785 people have died en route, compared to 87 at the US-Mexico border and 82 in sub-Saharan Africa, according to IOM data. European leaders will meet in Brussels at the end of June to discuss how much deeper to push the eurozone's monetary union. While there's been plenty of hype about the summit, it risks being a disappointment. Most of it will just confirm what's already been agreed. And, in typical European fashion, many big questions will remain unresolved - until the next crisis makes them unavoidable. French President Emmanuel Macron wants a more federalist Europe. Last week, in a newspaper interview, German chancellor Angela Merkel gave her most detailed response yet. She pays lip service to strengthening the so-called "banking union", which has transferred power over banks from member states to the EU. She also supports the idea of a small investment fund and some minor changes to the European Stability Mechanism, the eurozone's tool for bailing out countries. Yet once you start digging a bit deeper, it's hard to have much hope for Mr Macron's dream. Take the banking union. Since this ambitious project started during the sovereign debt crisis, there has been progress. But two things are missing. A credible backstop to make sure the fund doesn't run out of money. And a joint guarantee for deposits to stop people moving their money to other countries during a crisis. In an interview in Brussels, Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Commission vice-president in charge of monetary affairs, told me he was more hopeful on the first point than the second. "On the European Deposit Insurance Scheme, I could imagine a beginning of political discussions, but it will depend exactly on how the summit will go," he said. European leaders would like the ESM to take over the backstop role. It would certainly be more reassuring than the current structure, which relies on contributions from banks guaranteed by their national governments. But it was agreed in principle in 2013, and never implemented. Moreover, there's still wrangling over how to govern the backstop. In theory, the Single Resolution Board should be able to get the money by simply phoning the head of the ESM. In practice, it might not be so simple. For example, it may need the approval of some national parliaments such as Germany's Bundestag. That wouldn't work. Bank resolutions typically take a weekend to complete, and there's just no time to get so many people involved. Meanwhile, as Mr Dombrovskis hints, progress on a joint deposit insurance scheme is unlikely. So what of Ms Merkel's proposal for an investment fund? In theory, it would help crisis-hit countries maintain capital spending. But Ms Merkel said a fund would be in the "low double-digit" billions - too small to matter. Nor should we expect it to grow. For years, the EU's budget has been destined to increase but members have struggled to keep it at the same level. So the fund will be no more than a political gesture, designed to let Mr Macron and Ms Merkel show some progress at least. Indeed, despite Mr Macron's idealism, the biggest problem facing the eurozone is not how to move forward, but how not to regress. Italy's new populist government wants to relax the eurozone "bail-in" rules that are a cornerstone of the banking union. The League and Five Star's spending plans would also torpedo the currency union's fiscal limits. That strengthens Germany's resistance to closer ties. "Risk-sharing and risk reduction must go hand in hand," says Mr Dombrovskis. All of this explains why Mr Macron may ultimately cave in to Ms Merkel's pragmatism. Spain and Italy, France's two natural allies in a bust-up with Ms Merkel, have new, politically fragile and untested governments. Meanwhile, eight northern countries including the Netherlands and Ireland have advocated strict limits on new powers they want to hand to Brussels. For all Mr Macron's laudable ambition, the time for a much closer eurozone is not now. (Bloomberg) Investment firm Kouchin Holdings have increased its stake in Lovin Media Group, by acquiring the stake of founder Niall Harbison. The firm, owned by entrepreneur Emmet ONeill, have now increased their stake to 85pc. The deal now values the online published at approximately 3m. Kouchin, which first invested in Lovin Media Group in 2014 made the investment by acquiring the final 33pc stake in the business. Mr Harbison has now left the company which he set up in 2011. This transaction follows the appointment in March of Jamie Crawford as CEO of the Group. Mr Crawford is an experienced media professional and was CEO of Spin 1038 and SPIN South West for nine years. The controversial sale of distressed loans by banks here has been defended by a senior Central Bank official. Sales of residential mortgages have generated heated debate, particularly when they are sold to vulture funds. Deputy governor of the Central Bank Ed Sibley said that the sale of distressed loans by banks was both "legitimate and necessary". Referring to dysfunction in the mortgage market, he said in a speech to the Institute of Banking that elevated levels of non-performing loans made the banks highly vulnerable to future economic shocks. "Portfolio sales are a legitimate and necessary approach for banks to use to address non-performing mortgage loans. "The continued high level of non-performing loans makes banks highly vulnerable to future economic downturns, from both the existing non-performing loans, and potentially new defaults. "While all the Irish retail banks are significantly better capitalised than pre-2008, they are more vulnerable than those without this legacy to future economic shocks," Mr Sibley said. Billions of euro of loan portfolios are up for sale at the moment, with most expected to go to unregulated vulture funds. Permanent TSB, Ulster Bank and AIB are in the process of selling non-performing loan books. It is expected that the buyers of the portfolios will not be directly regulated by the Central Bank. Mr Sibley said the Central Bank has ensured that the consumer protections, including the code of conduct on mortgage arrears, travel with the loans. Worries over the attitude of buyers of Irish loan portfolios to distressed borrowers prompted Fianna Fail to introduce a Bill to the Dail in February, seeking to have the vulture funds regulated by the Central Bank. The European Union often falls short of Brussels' grand visions. Witness member states' unease with the free movement of people, and half-hearted attempts at creating a banking union. Telecom regulation is no different. A new set of rules does little to make tangible the so-called "digital single market". Yesterday the European Council and parliament finally agreed a regulatory code proposed by the European Commission in 2016. It means a cap on cross-border call charges within the bloc, at 19 cents per minute, compared with a current average of 60 cents according to a 2016 study by consumer body BEUC. That's a blow to mobile operators, who thought they'd seen the last of price caps after last year's abolition of charges for using mobile phones abroad. The likes of Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone and Telefonica will also be disappointed by the bloc's lame attempt to boost investment in superfast 5G mobile networks. A minimum licence duration of 20 years is lower than the originally mooted 25 years. That makes it harder to persuade shareholders of a return on 5G, which the commission reckons will cost around 60bn in Europe. There are a few crumbs for telecom bosses frustrated at having to deal with a patchwork of member state regulators. The EU effectively formalised its preference for business models focused on building 5G and full-fibre broadband, and can overrule national regulatory decisions it thinks depart from its framework. But Europe's telecoms market is still far more fragmented than China or the United States. China Mobile and Verizon, for example, are almost three times the size of Deutsche Telekom. No operator has a sizeable presence in Germany, Britain and France, the top three markets. Policies that might create a true digital single market, are unthinkable since member states refuse to yield control over important sources of revenue. European regulators might argue size doesn't mean greater investment, but operators Sprint and T-Mobile are making the opposite case to US regulators by pitching their merger as creating a 5G champion. They'll probably get a better reception than their European peers. (Reuters) The Facebook logo is reflected on a womans glasses. The company says it had data-sharing partnerships with four Chinese consumer device-makers. Photo: Reuters/Regis Duvignau/Illustrationback Facebook said it had data-sharing partnerships with four Chinese consumer device-makers, including Huawei, escalating concerns that the social network has consistently failed to tell users how their personal information flows beyond Facebook. The disclosure came after Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that he saw "a serious danger" that Facebook shared user information with Chinese device-makers. Facebook said it was careful about the partnerships, which were designed to help smartphone makers build custom versions of Facebook's app. Still, the confirmation is likely to heighten scrutiny of the company's privacy practices if the deals weren't explicitly disclosed to users. "Facebook's integrations with Huawei, Lenovo, OPPO and TCL were controlled from the get go - and we approved the Facebook experiences these companies built," Francisco Varela, the company's vice president of mobile partnerships, said in a statement. "Given the interest from Congress, we wanted to make clear that all the information from these integrations with Huawei was stored on the device, not on Huawei's servers." Facebook has been responding to a global backlash about how it handles users' data, from lawmakers and privacy advocates in the US and Europe. The company sent CEO Mark Zuckerberg to Washington in April to undergo 10 hours of congressional questioning after a March revelation about an app developer that passed information on up to 87 million Facebook users to a political consultancy, Cambridge Analytica. Mr Zuckerberg told Congress that the company's policies no longer allow such lapses. Then, the 'New York Times' reported the company had for years allowed deals with about 60 phone and device manufacturers, giving them access to vast amounts of information on users and their friends. It's not clear whether any of the partners abused the data or transferred it to unauthorised parties. But the disclosure adds fuel to public distrust of the social network, whose main app has more than two billion users, and which owns other popular programmes like Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger. If users weren't aware of device-makers' access, the deals could violate a 2011 US Federal Trade Commission consent decree. Facebook shares slipped in extended trading following the disclosure, after declining less than 1pc to $192.94 (164) at the close in New York. The confirmation that Chinese device-makers, especially Huawei, were among the manufacturers with access to user data raised even more questions among US lawmakers about how the information was stored and used. "The news that Facebook provided privileged access to Facebook's API to Chinese device-makers like Huawei and TCL raises legitimate concerns," Senator Warner said after Facebook's disclosure. "I look forward to learning more about how Facebook ensured that information about their users was not sent to Chinese servers." Huawei, China's largest maker of telecommunications equipment, was founded in 1988 by former Chinese army officer Ren Zhengfei. Congress has barred the Pentagon from buying Huawei's gear, along with ZTE, citing the companies' connections to the Chinese government and the potential for intellectual property theft and spying. In April, the US Federal Communications Commission voted 5-0 to ban federal funds from being spent with the companies, citing concerns their products can provide "hidden back doors" into US computer networks that could inject viruses, spy on businesses and steal Americans' private data, said FCC chairman Ajit Pai. "Concerns about Huawei aren't new - they were widely publicised beginning in 2012, when the House permanent select committee on intelligence released a well-read report on the close relationships between the Chinese Communist Party and equipment makers like Huawei," Mr Warner said in a statement. Some US lawmakers, many of whom were already critical of Facebook's response to earlier inquiries into the Cambridge Analytica data scandal, have been sceptical of Facebook's explanations of its latest purported data lapse, and demanded more accountability. Senators John Thune and Bill Nelson, the Republican chairman and top Democrat respectively, on the Senate Commerce Committee asked Mr Zuckerberg for a full list of device-makers with which Facebook had agreements. They also asked how the company verifies compliance with the agreements and whether Mr Zuckerberg would like to amend his April testimony to the committee in which he said that users have "complete control" over how their data is shared. (Bloomberg) HP, the world's largest personal-computer maker, increased its planned job cuts to 4,500 to 5,000 employees by the end of the financial year 2019 - or as many as 1,000 more than the company had estimated as part of a reorganisation unveiled almost two years ago. The company will incur pre-tax restructuring charges of about $700m (594m) for the job cuts, an increase from the original estimate of $500m (424m), HP said in a regulatory filing. During a conference call on May 29, executives had said they were expanding the job cuts that began in 2017, although they provided few specifics at the time. California-based HP had 49,000 employees as of October 31. Under CEO Dion Weisler, it has produced consistent growth in the midst of waning demand for PCs. The company has gained market share with more-desirable, higher-end computers, including gaming machines that can be more profitable. The printer business also helped power HP's profit, as the company sells more-expensive devices to corporate clients after integrating Samsung Electronics' unit. HP shares have gained 25pc in the past 12 months. After reporting its seventh consecutive quarter of sales growth, HP on May 29 raised its profit forecast for the 2018 financial year to a range of $1.97 to $2.02 a share from $1.90 to $2. Analysts had projected $1.97 a share. (Bloomberg) This is the diary of a technology startup, but I have been remiss in not discussing technology for the last few weeks. What has been happening on the software front since our soft-launch in March? The question of how to get your software built is a very pressing one for many startups. I'm a technical adviser to a number of Dublin-based startups and this really is one of the biggest challenges that they face. It also comes up in many casual conversations that I have with other founders. My first and strongest advice is always: don't build anything. That applies even if you have a technical co-founder. In the early days, it is far more critical to validate your business idea and the market need, than it is to worry about writing any code. This is the approach that I took, despite being a software developer by trade. In my first startup I made the mistake of hiding in a room writing code for the first six months, and launching a product no-one wanted. Instead of writing code, use the many online tools that are available these days to validate your idea. You can build a website quickly with wix.com or squarespace.com. You can get a little more sophisticated with WordPress.com - and you can find lots of freelance web developers to help you add a few extra pieces of prototype functionality to WordPress. It may be a blogging platform, but there are plugins for everything. If you are a technical co-founder, your job at this point is just to build that website. I built the first version of the voxgig.com website using squarespace, and we still use WordPress for most of our static content. If you want to get fancy, you can also use "landing page" generators like launchrock.com. If you really, really want to build a few custom features, then look at online app generators like bubble.is or airtable.com. If you're writing any code in the first three months, you're doing it wrong. That's where you start. But what happens afterwards, when you have validated that there is a potential market, and you do think you can now build something special? How do you go about it? And if you're a non-technical CEO, how do you manage the development side of the organisation? This is where you have to take a strong position on your duties as CEO. Just as you must understand basic accounting (cash flow, profit and loss, and balance sheet), your basic marketing (positioning, pricing, channels, etc), your sales process (lead generation, value proposition, pipeline management, etc), and HR (employment law, contracts, recruiting, etc), you must also have a firm grasp on how your technology works and is built. You don't get a pass by hiring an outside contractor, and you don't get a pass by having a technical co-founder. You can't be Henry Ford if you don't obsess about your factory and its production line. There's a trap here that you need to avoid - "bike-shedding". Imagine you're on the committee to approve the design of a nuclear power station. Said committee includes many stakeholders, most of them non-technical. The design of the secondary coolant system is quickly approved after a presentation from the lead engineer that seems plausible but that nobody really understands. The next item on the agenda concerns your efforts to appear "green" by promoting a cycle-to-work scheme. What colour shall we paint the bike shed? As everybody understands this question, a great deal of discussion ensues, and reaching agreement takes the rest of the morning. Total time discussing the secondary coolant system: 45 minutes. Total time discussing the bike shed: three hours. For software startups, substitute data model and workflows for the coolant system, and colour scheme and logo for the bike shed. You have limited time - spend it wisely. Some things have a much greater impact on success. You can always hire a professional designer to get a great user experience, but only you understand the business problem that you are trying to solve, and that reveals itself in the design of your data model flows. Nobody said this was going to be easy. There are three things you need to understand and ensure as CEO when it comes to technical production. They all involve strategic choices, expenditure and resource trade-offs, so they fall squarely within your responsibilities. First, you need to worry about source code. The source code is the heart and soul of your system, your primary intellectual property, and the thing you're going to spend a lot of your funding on. Getting your team to produce code that moves the business forward is one of your biggest management challenges. A mistake I often see is to assume the technical team members are like architects or kitchen fitters. Aren't they professionals and can't they just get the job done on time? No, and no. Computer science is a young discipline, and us coders still haven't figured out the right way to build things. Come back to us in another 50 years or so and we might even have professional accreditations. For now, accept the reality that building software is a high-risk, very hard to measure, and unpredictable activity. Given this reality, you need to put some active management in place. Your team absolutely must use "source control". These days, that means storing your source code on github.com, gitlab.com, or equivalent. These sites might seem intimidating if you are non-technical, but dig a little deeper and you'll see they provide blow-by-blow auditing of your software team's technical delivery. If you're not using source control, you are not a serious contender. As a startup, you need to be using agile practices. Ignore the consultants. To be agile just means that your team is delivering software on a weekly basis. By deliver, I mean "going live". Each week you need to be delivering new functionality to the production system. This is vital. If you allow a situation to develop where the team is building to a deadline at some point in the future, then you are not going to hit that deadline with good quality software. Further, you won't have the ability to respond quickly to customer feedback - and that's the key to moving quickly and capturing market share. Does voxgig practice this? You may have noticed that our live site, voxgig.com, has not changed much since our soft-launch. We're running a small number of private trials with a group of early adopters. This lets us refine the feature set so that it matches what customers need much more closely than our initial guesses. We've taken the strategic view that it's better to hold-off on public registrations until we're confident that our system is useful. This strategy may not be right for you - that depends on your product and how it fits into the needs of your customers. Our software helps to run events which means that it is used very intensely for short periods of time, during which it absolutely must work, and work well. Second, you have to decide where to host your system. There are really only three options these days: Google, Amazon and Microsoft. These behemoths provide so much supporting infrastructure that you'll have a hard time justifying a "build-it-yourself" approach. Yes, this will eat into your cash, but you should not compare cloud costs of the big three to other smaller vendors. Instead compare them to the cost of developer time, which is much more expensive. I will also make a specific technical recommendation: Kubernetes. This is a vendor-agnostic technical tool to manage cloud systems (don't worry, it's free and open source). It's complex, and if you haven't used it before, you can expect to spend some weeks getting up to speed. It is fast becoming the "standard" for cloud system management, so you shouldn't have too much trouble finding people who know it, or want to learn it. You can expect to put several weeks into Kubernetes before it starts working for you, but the trade-off is well worth it. It makes it much easier to deliver on an agile basis, much easier to scale up once all those lovely customers start flooding in, and much easier to move to a different cloud if you need to. Third, you have to roll up your sleeves and manage the project. A technical project does not manage itself, and takes far more effort than you think. I've written previously in this series about our number one technique for keeping things on track: the weekly demo meeting. Every Monday the entire voxgig team gets together on a video call. Team members that have built something in the last week (and not just technical stuff) give a little demo of their work. This is wonderful for accountability - you know you'll be showing your work to your peers. It also keeps the whole company up to speed on each other's work. There is one critical rule: to avoid bike-shedding and political grandstanding, no discussion is allowed. Feedback is captured elsewhere, and in written form. You have to sit still, listen and observe. This is really hard if you're a founder. You just to have to let people give demos on their own terms even if they've built the wrong thing. By doing this, you create a safe space for maximal information sharing, and that keeps your development velocity high. I won't recommend a specific project management tool - they are all equally bad! But you do need one, and you do need to use it rigorously. There's just far too much going on to keep track of things with pencil and paper, or even whiteboards. There's a lot more to technical delivery, and we'll return to this topic in future articles. The first step to understand as a founder is that you can't outsource the management details. As with all other areas of the business, you need to understand just enough to be dangerous! Newsletter statistics for this week: 2,224 subscribers and a 17pc open rate. Not bad given all the GDPR noise. Of course, it helps if you're producing useful community focused content - that's always the best marketing. Three European countries and the European Union are seeking exemptions from US sanctions on Iran in a sign that the bloc's bid to hold the landmark nuclear deal together may be in trouble. Ireland could potentially benefit, if it means banks and businesses here can do business in Iran despite a US trade embargo. "As allies, we expect that the US will refrain from taking action to harm Europe's security interests," the three countries and the EU said in a letter to the Trump administration. They argued that the agreement with Iran remains the best way to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran and that the 2015 accord can only survive if Tehran receives economic benefits in return. "US secondary sanctions could prevent the EU from continuing meaningful sanctions relief to Iran," they said. The US said on May 8 that it was pulling out of the nuclear deal, called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, and would start reimposing sanctions on Iran. US officials have warned European companies to wind down their Iranian operations. The letter was sent by France, Germany, Britain, and the EU, signatories of the landmark 2015 accord where Iran agreed to strict limits and inspections on its nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief. The June 4 letter was sent to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and was posted on the Twitter account of French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire. The letter asks for public confirmation that businesses such as pharmaceuticals and healthcare are exempt from secondary sanctions, and asks the US to grant exemptions for "key sectors" such as energy, automobiles, civil aviation, and infrastructure. It also asks for exemptions to "maintain banking channels and financing channel with Iran". "As close allies we expect that the extraterritorial effects of US secondary sanctions will not be enforced on EU entities and individuals, and that the US will thus respect our political decision and the good faith of economic operators within EU legal territory," the letter said. Even before the US pulled out of the JCPOA, many European companies faced problems financing their Iranian investments because major banks didn't want to risk US ire by working in Iran. (Bloomberg) Fearghal O Riordain said Irish whiskey exports are forecast to grow strongly in the coming years. (Stock image) The State's Ireland Strategic Infrastructure Fund (ISIF) is backing a new 10m fund designed to lend to Irish whiskey businesses. The fund has been set up by Ilen River Partners, which describes itself as a provider of "sector-specific capital to companies at each stage of their development". Ilen is run by Fearghal O Riordain, a venture capital veteran who was previously a partner at Accel Partners and Scottish Equity Partners. It said the fund has more than 10m available for whiskey stock financing loans and intends to grow as required to meet demand. The loans will be secured on borrowers' existing stock, and the fund said it would not seek to appoint directors to borrowers' boards. "Whiskey businesses need to lay down stock early in their development in order to scale. However, given the long-term nature of the whiskey sales cycle, the businesses require financing solutions suited to a long-time horizon to achieve scale," Ilen said. It said the fund will be supported by whiskey experts who will offer "key strategic and technical input to participating businesses". Mr O Riordain said Irish whiskey exports are forecast to grow strongly in the coming years. "Whiskey distilleries are playing an ever more vital role within the Irish economy. There were just two whiskey distilleries on the island in the early 1980s. There are now 18 distilleries in operation, with more distilleries in the pipeline, all contributing to Irish tourism, agriculture, trade and exports. "As part of the lending process, the fund will provide flexible, tailored financing, strategic commercial advice and specialist industry expertise for developing and growing a whiskey business," he added. ISIF, formerly the National Pensions Reserve Fund, has a mandate to invest on a commercial basis in a manner that will support economic activity in Ireland. It has backed a number of SME-focused lenders. Foreign Direct Investment flows in Morocco increased by 23 per cent in 2017 to reach $2.7 billion, while FDI to the rest of North Africa dropped by 4 per cent, according to UNCTADs World Investment Report 2018 (WIR). The FDI injected in the North African Kingdom went up thanks to considerable investment into new car technologies (electrical, battery, cameras), said the UN report. By the end of 2017, the Moroccan Government had confirmed 26 auto industry investments worth $1.45 billion, including a deal with French automaker Renault to increase local sourcing of components to 55 per cent, added the WIR. FDI into Moroccos financial sector also expanded, as banking relations with China deepened, says the document, noting that strong diversified investment made in the country contrasted with declines in FDIs to the rest of North Africa wherein FDI flows were down 4 per cent to $13 billion. As to FDI into Algeria, which depends heavily on investment in oil and gas, they fell 26 per cent due to the lack of security, persistent political crisis, chronic corruption and growing social turmoil, woes and resentment. According to WIR, FDI flows to Africa slumped to $42 billion in 2017, a 21 per cent decline from 2016. Weak oil prices and harmful ongoing macroeconomic effects from the commodity bust saw flows contract in Egypt, Mozambique, the Congo, Nigeria, and Angola. In addition, foreign investments to South Africa continued to underperform. Global FDI flows fell by 23 pc in 2017, to $1.43 trillion from $1.87 trillion in 2016. Downward pressure on FDI and the slowdown in global value chains are a major concern for policymakers worldwide, and especially in developing countries, UNCTAD Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi said. Investment in productive assets will be needed to achieve sustainable development in the poorest countries, he stressed, explaining that the global FDI fall was caused in part by a 22 pc decrease in the value of cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As). According to the UNCTAD chief, broadening of trade tensions could negatively affect global investment, citing in this regard tax reforms in the United States. A judge has dubbed a Romanian criminal "The Beast from the East" after hearing how he travelled to Ireland and preyed on elderly women before emptying their bank accounts of thousands of euro. Judge Patrick Durcan, sitting in Ennis District Court, said Auriel Dinca (42) and his pregnant partner Adriana Neagoe (26) had flown from Romania to Ireland "seeking out vulnerable people with bank accounts and essentially cleared out the bank accounts". The two pleaded guilty to a series of thefts. Dinca was jailed for 15 months while Neagoe was given a five-month suspended sentence on condition that she leave Ireland within 14 days under the supervision of the prison authorities. The couple both have addresses in their native Romania and the judge said he was not jailing Neagoe as she faced considerably fewer charges than Dinca and had no previous convictions for theft, unlike her partner. Jailing Dinca, Judge Durcan said: "People can't come in from outside like the 'Beast from the East' we complained about earlier this year in a weather sense and now we have it in a human form. 'The Beast from the East' comes in and targets vulnerable people and this court is not tolerating that." He added: "It is mind-boggling that people come in from Romania and target Ireland and experienced criminals come in here and target vulnerable people." Judge Durcan said 2,100 was stolen from Monica Donovan in Gort, Co Galway, in April; 2,571 from Ann O'Flaherty in Galway city last November; 2,400 from Kathleen Fitzgerald in February in Cork; and 3,080 from Tess Frost in Shannon, also in February. He said the couple had "gone on a spree" and that the victims were fully compensated only by their banks and not by the perpetrators. Inspector Tom Kennedy told the court the victims were "vulnerable citizens, some in their 70s and 80s, out doing their shopping and you have these sneaky people coming behind them noting down their PIN numbers at ATM machines and later distracting the person in car parks". He said the two "while distracting the old ladies, would thieve bank cards and go to bank machines and clear out the accounts and toddle off on their merry way". The inspector said that but for very good detective work by the gardai in Gort, they may never have been caught. "It is very alarming. These two were preying on women of advancing years and trawling the country for them. It is a terrible crime. I have never seen anything so deceitful," he added. Counsel for both accused said Dinca carried out the offences as he suffers from a gambling addiction and had stolen the money to pay back loan sharks. He said Neagoe, whose father is a police officer in Romania, was an innocent party to a certain extent "and it would be a crime of passion as she followed her better half". She had worked in a bank in her home country. A newspaper editor has said it was "likely" information his crime correspondent received about an allegation of sexual assault against penalty points whistleblower Maurice McCabe came from someone in An Garda Siochana. Irish Mail on Sunday Editor Conor ODonnell told the Disclosures Tribunal journalist Debbie McCann proposed the story in early 2014 and went to the home of the complainant, a woman known as Ms D, to seek an interview. However, she only got to briefly speak to the womans mother. No article appeared, the newspaper "did nothing more on it" and "it wasnt discussed again", Mr ODonnell said. The tribunal has previously heard allegations from Irish Daily Mail reporter Alison OReilly that Ms McCann told her the source of her information was former Garda Commissioner Noirin OSullivan and former Garda press officer Supt Dave Taylor. Ms OSullivan has denied this, but Supt Taylor has named Ms McCann as one of eleven journalists he says he negatively briefed about Sgt McCabe. Much of Ms OReillys evidence is being disputed by Ms McCann, who is scheduled to give evidence tomorrow. Mr ODonnell said he did not know where Ms McCann got her information and had never asked her. In response to a question from Michael McDowell SC, counsel for Sgt McCabe, Mr ODonnell said it was "likely" Ms McCann got her information from someone in An Garda Siochana. He described Ms McCanns visit to the D household as "a scoping exercise" and said there was never a commitment to do a story. Mr ODonnell said there had been potential for the newspaper to learn more about the controversy surrounding Sgt McCabe. Sgt McCabe was someone who was "in the news" and there would have been interest in the story, he said. While Sgt McCabe was investigated over a historic allegation of child sexual assault, the DPP decided in 2007 that no charges should be brought and that what was described did not amount to a crime. Ms OReilly has told the tribunal Ms McCann told her the story was not running, and that Mr ODonnell wanted to put in an anonymous story but Sebastian Hamilton, group editor of the Mails titles in Ireland, did not want the story in the newspaper. She claimed Ms McCann told her Mr Hamilton was "too cautious about the scandal and did not want to air it". Giving evidence, Mr Hamilton said it was "entirely incorrect" to suggest it was his decision not to run a story. He said it did not happen and could not have happened because the editorial processes in place did not allow. He explained he had no editorial responsibility for the Irish Mail on Sunday. For the claim to be correct, it would have required Ms McCann to be complaining about the non-publication of a story she didnt have and didnt submit for publication, he said. Fionan O Muircheartaigh BL, for Ms OReilly pointed out that Mr Hamilton had written an editorial calling for an investigation into an alleged smear campaign against Sgt McCabe following comments in the Dail by Labour TD Brendan Howlin in February 2017. Yet a solicitor for the newspaper group had written to the tribunal saying he could confirm that none of the open communications that the journalists written to by the tribunal had with Supt Taylor relate to matters falling within the terms of reference. The Mail called for a public tribunal, the Mail had information, it had people who were involved actively in this thing, and this letter was essentially telling the tribunal, no, we can't help the tribunal, Mr O Muircheartaigh said. Mr Hamilton said he did not accept that this was a hypocritical stance to take. He said source protection placed him in a position where not all questions could be answered. O Muircheartaigh said Supt Taylor had waived privilege over any conversations he may have had with journalist. The barrister put it to Mr Hamiliton the Mails position wasnt consistent with assisting the tribunal. "I dont accept your assertion that I or the company is somehow refusing to assist the tribunal," Mr Hamilton said. There are certain issues on which I feel and obviously on which other journalists feel they are not at liberty to be able to answer certain questions because of their requirement to uphold the protection of sources. The tribunal has previously heard Ms OReilly was the source of information which led Mr Howlin to make his comments in the Dail. It has also previously heard Ms OReilly was in a dispute with her employers about a workplace matter, and had lodged three lawsuits. Ms OReilly has said this matter has no bearing on her allegations. Today it emerged a letter from Michael Kealey, a lawyer for the Mail titles, to the tribunal in April of this year said his clients believed that the state of Ms OReillys relations with them at the time she spoke to Mr Howlin was a relevant issue and, in his clients view, was a strong motivating factor in her actions. Tribunal chairman Mr Justice Peter Charleton suggested to Mr Hamilton that the company had taken sides against Ms OReilly. Mr Hamilton said he didnt believe this was a fair characterisation. However, he said it didnt make logical sense to him that Ms McCann would say any of the things she was alleged to have said. Mr Hamilton also said there was no supporting evidence for Ms OReillys allegations. He said he thought it was reasonable for the company to say it believed her evidence may be motivated by the fact she had a grievance that has not been resolved. But Mr Justice Charleton observed: You know it is possible you can have a grievance with someone and still tell the truth. The judge said it was a big jump to put such an allegation down on paper and say someone was lying. Mr Hamilton was asked why the Mail group had not volunteered information about Ms McCanns visit to the D household and the tribunal had to learn about it from other parties. Mr Justice Charleton said the tribunal was set up in February 2017, and it took until July 2017 for something to come out of your paper, while at the same time it was publishing thundering editorials. "All I can say is that from the beginning I was concerned about any breaches of journalistic privilege," Mr Hamilton responded. He said this position was not held in defiance of the tribunal and that things can often take longer than they should. The retired senior garda who led an internal investigation into the penalty points controversy said it was possible someone within the force spun an unfavourable story to RTE about whistleblower Maurice McCabe. Former assistant commissioner John O'Mahoney was quizzed at the Disclosures Tribunal about an RTE report in February 2014, which said then commissioner Martin Callinan issued a directive to Sgt McCabe in December 2012 telling him to co-operate with the internal investigation. However, it later emerged Sgt McCabe was never directed to co-operate with the O'Mahoney investigation. The tribunal heard that a direction was issued to Sgt McCabe by Mr Callinan to desist from accessing the Garda Pulse computer system and disseminating information from it. Sgt McCabe was also told if he had any further concerns, these could be brought to the attention of Mr O'Mahoney. However, he was not directed to do so and was not contacted during the course of the internal investigation. Mr O'Mahoney said he was not the source of the information given to RTE and had not discussed the story with its crime correspondent Paul Reynolds. Counsel for Sgt McCabe, Michael McDowell SC, said it appeared somebody in the force "was spinning a deeply unfavourable story" about his client to RTE. "Potentially, yes," responded Mr O'Mahoney. His investigation did not find corruption in the force but did result in disciplinary proceedings against three senior gardai and formal written advice regarding breaches of penalty points policy being issued to 62 others. Derogatory Mr O'Mahoney said it was not his view, or that of Mr Callinan, that there was non-co-operation by Sgt McCabe. He also said Mr Callinan never spoke to him in a derogatory fashion about any whistleblower. The tribunal is investigating allegations by former Garda press officer Supt Dave Taylor that he was ordered by Mr Callinan in 2013 to negatively brief journalists that Sgt McCabe had been investigated over an allegation of child sexual assault. Sgt McCabe had been cleared of an allegation in 2007. Supt Taylor has named 11 journalists he claims to have negatively briefed about the sexual assault investigation. One of them, 'Irish Daily Star' crime correspondent Michael O'Toole, told the tribunal that while he was exercising journalistic privilege over contacts with sources, he could confirm that he did not receive a negative briefing from any garda in relation to Sgt McCabe. Campaigners have lost a Supreme Court appeal over the legality of Northern Ireland's strict abortion law - despite a majority of justices declaring it is "incompatible" with human rights laws. A majority of a seven-strong panel of justices in London ruled the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission had no legal standing to bring its challenge against the abortion law. But, by a majority ruling, the judges expressed the "clear opinion" that the current legislation is "incompatible" with European human rights laws in the cases of fatal foetal abnormality, rape and incest. The justices said the Supreme Court "has no jurisdiction" in the proceedings to make a declaration of incompatibility or to strike down law. During proceedings in October last year, the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) told the court the current law criminalises "exceptionally vulnerable" women and girls and subjects them to "inhuman and degrading" treatment. A QC representing the commission argued that human rights were being breached, with those affected being forced to go through "physical and mental torture". The court was asked to rule that a prohibition on abortions where a pregnancy arises from rape or incest, or "involves a serious foetal abnormality", is unlawful. Submissions were also made at the Supreme Court by a number of bodies, including seven of the UK's leading reproductive rights organisations, Humanists UK, Bishops of the Roman Catholic Dioceses in Northern Ireland, the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children and Amnesty International. Unlike other parts of the UK, the 1967 Abortion Act does not extend to Northern Ireland. Abortion is illegal except where a woman's life is at risk or there is a permanent or serious danger to her mental or physical health. Anyone who unlawfully carries out an abortion could be jailed for life. The UK Government has resisted calls to step in and legislate amid the ongoing powersharing impasse in Northern Ireland, insisting that any decision on abortion in the region has to be taken by locally elected politicians at Stormont. Gareth Hutch (inset) and the scene of the shooting A cousin of shooting victim Gareth Hutch was behaving erratically when gardai arrived on the scene and shouted at them "what took you so long to get here", a trial has heard. When asked who was injured on the ground, Ross Hutch told a sergeant "you f**king know who it is, do your job". The Special Criminal Court also heard the dead man's father, John Hutch, arrived at the scene of the shooting on a moped soon after the shooting, and told gardai the body on the ground was his son. Jonathan Keogh (31), his sister Regina Keogh (41) and Thomas Fox (31) have pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Hutch on May 24, 2016. Expand Close Gareth Hutch was shot dead. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Gareth Hutch was shot dead. Mr Fox, of Rutland Court, Dublin 1, has also pleaded not guilty to possession of a Makorov handgun in suspicious circumstances on May 23, 2016. Gareth Hutch (35), a nephew of Gerry Hutch, was shot dead as he was getting into his car outside Avondale House flats on North Cumberland Street. It is the State's case that Jonathan Keogh, of Gloucester Place, Dublin 1, was heard express his intention to kill Mr Hutch the evening before the shooting. It is alleged by the State that Mr Fox and Ms Keogh were instrumental in planning the murder, and that Mr Keogh and another man, Mr AB, were the shooters. Expand Close Ross Hutch / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Ross Hutch This morning, the court heard from Garda JP Costigan and Garda Amy Collins, who were the first officers on the scene. Gda Costigan said he and Gda Collins arrived at Avondale house at 10am. He said there was a large crowd in the car park. He said he saw Ross Hutch, and an ambulance in the right hand side of the car park. Gda Costigan said Mr Hutch approached him in an "erratic manner" and said to him "what took you so long to get here". The garda said he saw a handgun in the middle of the car park. He radioed for garda assistance as there was a lot of people shouting. The area was then secured and cordoned off as a crime scene. Prosecuting counsel Paul Burns SC and Fiona Murphy BL then read a number of statements into evidence. The court heard that Garda Jason Walsh arrived at Avondale house at 10.05am. He said there was a large crowd gathered in the car park, and they were "roaring and shouting". Gda Walsh said he recognised Ross Hutch. He was asked who was on the ground and he replied: "you f**king know who it is. Do your job". A statement from Dr Sinead McArdle, consultant in emergency medicine at the Mater Hospital, was also read into court. Dr McArdle said she pronounced Mr Hutch dead at 10.38am on May 24, 2016. The deceased's father, John Hutch, said, in a statement read into evidence by Ms Murphy, that he formally identified the body as his son Gareth to Garda Fergal O'Flaherty in the chapel of the Mater Hospital, shortly before 1pm on the same day. The court also heard the chaplain of the Mater Hospital had earlier said a prayer over Mr Hutch's body, which was done at the request of his family. A statement from State Pathologist Professor Marie Cassidy was read into court by Ms Murphy. Prof Cassidy said she completed the post-mortem on Gareth Hutch on May 24, 2016. She said that the cause of death was multiple gunshot injuries. Prof Cassidy said Mr Hutch received four gunshot wounds, two to the back of the neck, one to the right upper chest and one to the lower back. She said there were signs of attempts at resuscitation on the body. Prof Cassidy said three of the bullets travelled from the back to the front of the body, and the bullets were recovered. The fourth bullet travelled across the chest cavity and lodged in the left arm. Prof Cassidy said Mr Hutch suffered injuries to the neck, brain, ribs, both lungs, to the heart and he lost 2.5 litres of blood. The trial continues before Mr Justice Tony Hunt, presiding, with Judge Patricia Ryan and Judge Michael Walsh. For the first time, the Leaving Certificate English Higher Level Paper 1 drew a link to Paper 2, which was well received by teachers, although not all students were impressed. The focus of Paper 1 is comprehension and composition and the new approach featured in the comprehension questions, where candidates were asked to link to a text they had studied in poetry or prose. According to teacher Kate Barry, "while it was a big surprise, my students were happy because it provided an opportunity to write more about what they know about". Ms Barry, an ASTI subject representative and a teacher at Loreto School, Fermoy, Co Cork, said the questions, overall, were "fine, not too challenging". However, she had an issue with one where candidates were asked to write an opinion piece, suitable for publication in a national newspaper, about the education they received. "I would criticise the question a little because it was very prescriptive; they had to acknowledge strengths, criticise weaknesses and make suggestions for improvement. I think if they left it a bit more general, it would throw up very interesting responses," she said. Ms Barry said she really liked the question inviting candidates to write a speech on "language is a great weapon", which she described as "a very good discriminatory question; you could take it simplistically, or really run with it and do imaginative things." Yeats College Galway teacher Sinead Caslin Cregg said, overall, students were pleased with the paper, the theme of which was 'young writers'. While the link to Paper 2 "threw some students", she said the "questions were manageable once the candidates gathered their thoughts". According to Ms Caslin Cregg "apart from this slight curveball, the paper was actually very fair and reasonable" with "lovely comprehension texts" and essay titles that were "very fair and offered lots of choice". She thought Text 3 was "highly unusual as it was an almost entirely visual text" and she believed students would have opted for the other two texts. Ms Caslin said an essay on leadership was a lovely topic for students who enjoyed writing on current affairs, while the option to write a speech on the topic of language was a "popular choice". The theme of the ordinary level paper was 'inspiring stories' and Ms Barry said students were happy, with comprehension questions that were "very much in line with previous years", while she described the essays as "fine". Jim Lusby, of Dublin's Institute of Education, who welcomed the "radical development" of the link between Paper 1 and Paper 2 at higher level, described ordinary level as "an enjoyable paper for students". The image was posted on social media as the Leaving Cert exams get underway in Ireland today Ryanair has been "encouraging binge drinking as normal behaviour" with a controversial advertisement ahead of holidays for students taking exams, it has been claimed. As 55,770 students began their Leaving Certificate exams yesterday, Ryanair shared a picture online of a young man lying on a beach with an empty bottle of wine beside them. It was captioned: "To all Leaving Cert and A-Level students: plan your dream summer holiday now so you have something to look forward to. "Book on Ryanair.com in between 'studying' tonight. This could be you." To all #LeavingCert and #ALevel students: plan your dream summer holiday now so you have something to look forward to Book on https://t.co/LTBSLn5QzB in between studying tonight. This could be you: pic.twitter.com/EfRI465rIW Ryanair (@Ryanair) June 6, 2018 Many Twitter users criticised the airline for being "irresponsible" and for "encouraging binge drinking and beach littering". Dual Diagnosis Ireland, an organisation helping people with both substance abuse and mental health problems, said they thought the post sends a bad message. "Encouraging binge drinking as normal behaviour when three people die a day from alcohol harm is shameful. "It's very irresponsible of Ryanair. It's a serious issue, we really do not fully understand the harm alcohol can have on our bodies," a spokesperson for the registered charity told Independent.ie. Ryanair have brushed off the negative comments, saying the tweet was posted by staff members "reminiscing" on their own Leaving Cert holiday antics. "Our social media team were merely reminiscing about their own first lads/girls trip away, and recalling all the wonderful sightseeing, singsongs and cultural activities they enjoyed as teenagers," a Ryanair spokesperson said. Drinkaware said that the advert was "surprising" and they are encouraging students to drink in moderation. Getting so drunk that you pass out is bad for your health, your safety and that of other people and your pride. Its surprising that this is Ryanairs idea of a dream summer holiday and we would urge the airline to look again at this advert and the message it sends," Ben Butler, content and communications director at Drinkaware said. Binge drinking in particular can be extremely dangerous as your body can only process about one unit of alcohol an hour, and when youre in a hot country, you need to be extra mindful of staying hydrated. Drinking a lot in a short space of time can lead to serious consequences, and could stop the body from working properly." Last year, Ryanair called on UK airports to impose a two-drink rule for passengers, as well as banning the sale of alcohol before 10am. Customers flying to Ibiza from the UK are no longer allowed to bring duty-free alcohol on board the aircraft, but alcohol is still available on the in-flight menu. "Its completely unfair that airports can profit from the unlimited sale of alcohol to passengers and leave the airlines to deal with the safety consequences.," Ryanair's Kenny Jacobs said in August 2017. "This is a particular problem during flight delays when airports apply no limit to the sale of alcohol in airside bars and restaurants. This is an issue which the airports must now address and we are calling for significant changes to prohibit the sale of alcohol at airports, particularly with early morning flights and when flights are delayed." A father of two who died in a workplace incident at Dublin Port yesterday has been described as an "amazing guy" and a "top bloke" by friends. The man, named locally as James Byrne who was in his late 30s and from Lucan, Dublin, was rushed to the Mater Hospital yesterday morning following an accident but was later pronounced dead. While the exact details of the incident are as yet unknown, it is believed work on moving steel beams may have been taking place at the time. An investigation by the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) is now under way into the accident, while separate investigations are expected by Dublin Port and Mr Byrne's employers. A friend and former colleague described him as "an absolutely amazing guy". "He was just a great guy, really amazing. I am still in shock at the news. He will be a really big loss," the friend added. Another friend also paid tribute to Mr Byrne. He said he was "a top quality bloke who always made me feel welcome when I started". Gardai and the emergency services were called to Ocean Pier shortly after 11.30am. An examination of the scene was carried out by officers and inquiries are ongoing. "Gardai in Store Street are investigating the sudden death of a man in his 30s following a workplace incident in Dublin Port," a garda spokesman said. "The Health and Safety Authority and the local coroner have been notified." Meanwhile, in a separate tragedy in Waterford, a man in his late 50s has died in a farming accident, believed to have taken place on Tuesday afternoon. He was named locally as Maurice Coffey. Mr Coffey is understood to have died after being crushed against a wall by a tractor, as he was clearing silage on his farm in Kilrossanty. It is understood he was alone at the time of the accident. His body was found at around 9pm on Tuesday. The HSA is carrying out an investigation into the accident. A friend of Mr Coffey told the Irish Independent that "farming was his life" and described him as a quiet man. His death is the second farming tragedy in the area in just over a year. James Keane died last year in the nearby area of Kilmacthomas when his tractor overturned. Flake haters. Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images Japans Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took a shot on Twitter Thursday at Arizona senator Jeff Flake in what was either an accident or a shrewd attempt to please President Trump by piling on one of his favorite targets. The jab at Flake came an hour after Trump tweeted that he was looking forward to seeing the Japanese PM. Abe followed that by tweeting that he too was looking forward to having fruitful talks. Instead of quote tweeting Trumps warm wishes though, Abe appended his message to a Trump tweet trashing Flake. The prime minister of Japan just accidentally quote-tweeted one of Trump's grade-school taunts of a Republican critic, rather than the one where Trump said he was looking forward to visiting with Abe. pic.twitter.com/COYJBdW5J6 Anthony Zurcher (@awzurcher) June 7, 2018 The tweet was quickly deleted, seemingly indicating that it was a mistake. But if Abe wants to wring some concessions out of Trump regarding new U.S. tariffs or make sure Japans intersts are well represented in the coming North Korea summit, dumping on Flake certainly wouldnt hurt his cause. And if he gets Trump going on the retiring Arizona senator, he may be able to avoid an unwanted history lesson. Sleep, exercise and alcohol could be the formula for preventing the development of Alzheimer's disease. Scientists have discovered that a good night's rest, increasing heart rate through exercise, and 25ml of wine per day can help stimulate the brain's own cleaning system. Previous studies have shown that Alzheimer's disease is associated with the toxic build-up of proteins in the brain, which causes the neuron cells to die. Studies are now focusing on the link between the brain's self-cleaning, known as the glymphatic system, and the formation of proteins that leads to cell death. Dr Ian Harrison, from University College London, told the Cheltenham Science Festival that research was now focusing on finding ways of preventing the glymphatic system from failing. He said studies on the cerebrospinal fluid of mice had shown that a combination of sleep, exercise and alcohol stimulated the brain's self-cleaning. "A paper came out a couple of years ago where the researchers studied the brains of mice when they are asleep and mice when they are awake," he said. "What the researchers did was inject a dye into the cerebrospinal fluid and see where it goes. "In the mice that were awake, that cerebrospinal fluid starts to go into the brain but only resides on the surface and doesn't go deep into the brain tissue. "In the same animal when it fell asleep, that cerebrospinal fluid goes far deeper into the brain. "When they quantified this in the animals that were asleep, this glymphatic system was far more active - 60pc more active than in the animals that were awake. "This is good evidence that the glymphatic system is active during sleep. If that is anything to go by, we should all be sleeping a lot more than we are." Dr Harrison said there were comparable results with exercise. "In the sedentary animals, the cerebrospinal fluid penetrates the brain but when the animals have voluntary access to exercise, there is massive increase in the amount of lymphatic function," he said. They also treated mice with low-level, intermediate and high-level doses of alcohol for 30 days and looked at the impact upon the glymphatic function. He said that with low-level doses of alcohol - the equivalent of a third of a unit a day - there was up to a 40pc increase in the brain's self-cleaning but a corresponding reduction following exposure to both intermediate and high-levels of alcohol. SOME things are, or at least ought to be, sacrosanct. And one of those is the universal child benefit. Its 140 a month that says my child is the same as your child and it doesnt matter whether he lives on a farm in Donegal, in a mansion in Donnybrook or in a flat in Dolphins Barn, he deserves it. Because hes a kid. Of course, in an ideal world all of our children would have the same opportunities and advantages growing up. It isnt but that doesnt mean we cant make the occasional national statement of intent: that we believe, at some fundamental level, in equality. And the universal child benefit payment is a rare but happy example of that. So its deeply dispiriting watching it come up for debate yet again following a talk on Friday hosted by the Institute of International and European Affairs and the European Commission Representation in Ireland. Employers organisation Ibec is calling for the payment to be means-tested, with the resulting savings to be invested in childcare. Siptu, bizarrely, is also backing calls for reform. Regina Doherty, Social Protection Minister, poured fuel on the fire by responding she would be making a note to look at households earning over 100,000 who are in receipt of child benefit, in the context of finding money for childcare. The EU has been pushing us in this direction for a long time, making tut-tutting noises about the high cost of childcare and how its keeping women out of the workplace. You could almost hear the raised eyebrows of Joost Kloorte, the EC official at Fridays conference, as he described our model of supporting parents with a direct cash payment as very unusual. The EU, of course, wants us to be ever more European, and one of the most EU of all EU ideals is that absolutely everyone becomes a fully paid-up member of the workforce. Thats what boosts GDP, increases the tax take and makes economies stronger. Im sure this all makes for a sound fiscal argument around the conference table in Brussels, but does it translate to real life? Do families sit around and think, hmm, how can we optimise our households GDP and ensure we do our bit to make Ireland an economic powerhouse? Not in my experience. Taking the universal childcare benefit away and shoving it into the childcare budget instead would be telling the nations mums and dads that a parents place is not in the home, but in the office. It would further cement the notion that parents belong at work, children belong in a creche, and your familys financial decisions belong in the hands of EU bureaucrats. If we followed Ibecs logic, that 140 a month you can now choose to spend however you see fit on food or clothes or shoes for your child, saving for a school trip, music classes, or throwing a few quid into the savings bank would instead be paid directly to a creche to provide cheaper care for your children. But you can only avail of that care if youre out at work. And if youre out at work and have a child-minder or a family member minding your children, you wont benefit either, as the system could only support institutional childcare settings. That 140 is now off the table. The decision will have been made for you. Moreover, means-testing would exacerbate the sense of unfairness that already festers between PAYE workers and those who work for themselves and self-declare their income. While working for yourself brings its own challenges, we all know at least one self-employed fella down the road whos driving a brand new car and takes two holidays a year while claiming everything from college grants for the kids to tax write-offs for his petrol. The system makes this possible, but it doesnt mean its fair. The only reason the squeezed middle isnt already in open revolt is because most of us believe that though we pay a lot of tax and get very little in return, we are helping to create a fairer society by paying for essential services for those who really need it. But meanstesting frequently simply rewards those who have found clever ways of navigating the system, or are just plain dishonest. Growing up on our street, the mums always said that the then 30 pounds they got was the price of a new pair of shoes. Todays figures are a little more generous but the same principle applies. The vast majority of families who get this money are not dining out in Guilbauds with the proceeds. This payment has always been about the child not about the parent and most adults, no matter at what end of the economic spectrum they reside, understand this and use that money exactly as it is intended to be used: on buying something important for your kids. The minister herself appears already to have recognised what a political hot potato she was kicking around: as soon as she realised she might have opened a very large can of worms, she moved to snap it back shut again by appearing on the Sean ORourke show yesterday to emphasise she was a firm believer in the universal payment system and to rule out means-testing. The issue is not going away. Childcare remains a financial and moral quagmire for the Government. It is expensive and there will be ongoing pressure to make it more affordable. But dismantling child benefit is the wrong place to start. Its one of the few things in Irish life that tells us were equal. And as for paying it to the kids of millionaires well, so what? We dont tell rich kids they cant attend the local national school just because daddys got a yacht in the Bahamas. And we dont tell them that if they turn up in A&E, they should have pitched up at the Blackrock Clinic instead with their private healthcare. Thats because we dont discriminate when it comes to the foundations of a decent society: education and healthcare. So we shouldnt discriminate either between working parents and those who stay at home, between PAYE workers and the self-employed, or between your child and mine. Because thats not fair on anyone. Garda David Early and his horse Oscar and Garda Lisa Halligan and her horse Fiachra with first class pupils from Scoil Mhuire Gan Smal, Inchicore, Co Dublin, after they won first prize in the Seatbelt Sheriff category at the Road Safety Authoritys annual Seatbelt Sheriff and Hi-Glo Silver Awards held in Dublin Castle. Photo: Robbie Reynolds More than 250 primary school children attended the Road Safety Authority's (RSA) annual Seatbelt Sheriff and Hi-Glo Silver Awards at Dublin Castle yesterday. The RSA hosted children from across the country, where they celebrated their efforts in making the roads safer. First-class students from Scoil Mhuire Gan Smal, Inchicore, Dublin 8, took the top prize in the Seatbelt Sheriff, while second class from Barryroe National School, Bandon, Cork, took first prize in the Hi-Glo Silver competition. The awards were presented by Moyagh Murdock, chief executive of the RSA, and Assistant Commissioner Dave Sheahan, who is in charge of roads policing. Speaking after the awards, Mr Sheahan said gardai wanted to congratulate students on their "fantastic work" and encourage parents and teachers to continue their efforts. He also revealed that a record 265 people were arrested for drink-driving offences over the week, including the bank holiday weekend. Mr Sheahan said the large figure was "disappointing" and that it was an increase of 103 arrests compared with the first week of the year. "For the week ending June 5 we had 265 drunk drivers, that is the highest for any one week since the start of the year. "Seemingly people have slipped in their ways, and gone back to some old habits, and we need to break those habits," Mr Sheahan told the Irish Independent. Over the weekend one person died on Irish roads, compared with six over the same period last year. Mr Sheahan said one death was one too many, but the figure was a reduction from 2017. Adam Clark died after falling off the roof of his apartment building in China. Credit: Clark family. The family of a man who died after he fell off the roof of an apartment block in China have spoken of their tragic loss. Adam Clark, from Newtownards in Co Down, was living and working in the Hangzhou area of eastern China when the tragedy occurred. The incident happened on May 4 but his remains have only been returned to Ireland this week, with the help of the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust. Mr Clark died just two weeks before he was due back home to be the best man at his father's wedding. In a statement, Mr Clarks family said: We are truly devastated on the tragic loss of our beloved Adam. He has been taken far too soon and will remain forever young in our hearts. Expand Close Adam Clark died after falling off the roof of his apartment building in China. Credit: Clark family / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Adam Clark died after falling off the roof of his apartment building in China. Credit: Clark family Adam could light up any room and would hug you like nobody else in the world. "He had a zest for life that was contagious and he touched the hearts of anyone he ever met. We are extremely grateful to the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust for bringing him home. Mr Clark had studied Pyschology, Spanish and Philosophy at the University of Dundee and was a former pupil at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. He had taken a year out of university in 2016 to go travelling and while in Sri Lanka met and fell in love with a Russian woman who lived in China. He moved to China to be with her last April and worked at a job teaching English. It is understood on May 4 the couple had been hosting a party for a friend who was leaving the country when they went up to the roof of their apartment building. As the couple were talking, Mr Clark lost his footing and fell off the roof. Police in China have ruled his death an accident. A service of thanksgiving for Mr Clark's life will be held on Friday at Roselawn Crematorium at 2pm. A family with a joint income of 100,000 should not be considered rich against the backdrop of high mortgage and childcare costs, Leo Varadkar has admitted. The Taoiseach has strongly rejected suggestions from Regina Doherty that the children's allowance could be means-tested. In a striking intervention, his spokesman contacted the Irish Independent to categorically kill the idea first mentioned by Social Protection Minister last Friday. He also noted that the "average salary" for somebody working full-time in Ireland is now 44,000. "So a middle-income couple where both are working could easily have a combined salary of 100,000. This doesn't make them rich. They have high costs like rent, mortgage, childcare and all the cost associated with raising a family," Mr Varadkar's office said. At a conference in Dublin last week, Ms Doherty suggested the Government needed to "weigh" the need "to invest heavily in childcare" against having a "universal payment system". She told the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA) she would look at households earning more than 100,000 and in receipt of child benefit. Ms Doherty also committed to reviewing the 2012 Mangan Report that proposed a two-tier system for child benefit payments, whereby low-income families would get a larger allowance. However, the minister was forced into a complete U-turn and later issued a statement saying means-testing "is not being considered by Government". Sources say the controversy has caused significant annoyance in Government circles at a time when Fine Gael was planning to highlight what it sees as unreasonable spending demands being made by Fianna Fail. Advisers to other ministers were told not to give the original story quoting the minister any credence. Mr Varadkar's spokesman said the Government's objective was to make life "that little bit easier for families". "We've done in so many ways like two years of free pre-school, free GP visits for young kids, subsidised childcare, reduced income tax and USC and increases in the working family payment. Means-testing child benefit would very much go against the grain," he said. When asked about Ms Doherty's comments, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe notably ignored her original statement. "I support the assessment Minister Doherty has made in relation to how we manage child benefit into the future. It is a universal benefit," he said. "In our social insurance system we have a number of key payments that are universal and I support the assessment that Minister Doherty has made in relation to how we need to use those payments in the future and really, what myself and Minister Doherty will be working in is the options that will be available to us next year in terms of how the economy might grow." Ms Doherty's constituency rival, Fianna Fail's Thomas Byrne, accused her of targeting "fairly average people" with her original contribution. He said: "She had to row back yesterday after she realised what a huge mistake she had made." Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is facing criticism for agreeing to launch a Belfast festival which many link to the Republican movement. The Taoiseach will travel North tomorrow to attend a series of events including an historic visit to the headquarters of the Orange Order. While that is being viewed as an attempt to reach out to the unionist community, Mr Varadkars participation in Feile an Phobail is attracting more attention. The festival in West Belfast was born out of the Troubles in 1988. Former Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams was instrumental to its foundation. Among the events planned is a talk by the leaders of The Great Escape when 38 IRA prisoners broke out of H-Block in Long Kesh in 1983. An advertising for the discussion says their actions dealt a huge blow to the Thatcher regime in Ireland. UUP MP Doug Beattie tweeted last that by launching the festival, it was hard not to see you endorsing the prison break. Austin Stack, whose father was murdered by the IRA, said the move signalled the romance continues between Fine Gael and Sinn Fein. IRA abuse victim Maria Cahill questioned whether the Taoiseach realised some of the events scheduled to take place during the festival. I think its a huge error of judgment and particularly hurtful for me and my family, she said. Feile an Phobhail organisers say that from its beginning it has sought to display and showcase the positives of West Belfast and the incredible talent and creativity in this community. Feile has also worked hard to provide young people with alternatives away from bonfires and the trouble that occurred in August each year. One of the highlights of the festival, which will attract over 100,000 people, will be a concert performance by popstar Olly Murs. Chinese police stand guard outside the U.S. embassy in Beijing. Photo: PETER PARKS/AFP/Getty Images The mystery illness that sickened 24 U.S. diplomats and their family members in Cuba has broadened, with the State Department evacuating several Americans from China over fears of a similar incident there. Last month the State Department warned Americans visiting China to relocate if they heard unusual acute auditory or sensory phenomena accompanied by unusual sounds or piercing noises after one of its employees in Guangzhou was found to have suffered a mild traumatic brain injury. A medical team was dispatched to investigate the incident, and on Wednesday State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said a number of people connected to the consulate in Guangzhou have been evacuated to the U.S. for further evaluation. U.S. medical professionals will continue to conduct full evaluations to determine the cause of the reported symptoms and whether the findings are consistent with those noted in previously affected government personnel or possibly completely unrelated, Nauert said. The State Department did not provide names or exact numbers, but Mark Lenzi, a Foreign Service officer, told the Washington Post that he and his family are among those being evacuated. Lenzi said they began hearing odd sounds in April 2017, which he compared to rolling marbles with static. Then he, his wife, and their 3-year-old son began experiencing excruciating headaches, sleeplessness, and nausea. The employee evacuated last month was Lenzis next-door neighbor. Many Americans who heard odd noises in Cuba were diagnosed with minor brain trauma, like concussions. The State Department said it suspects the noises were part of a targeted attack, and accused Cuba of not doing enough to protect American diplomats. The U.S. diplomatic staff in Havana was reduced, and 15 Cuban diplomats were expelled from the U.S. The new attacks have raised concerns that China or Russia might be to blame, which may further complicate relations with both countries. In a statement issued Tuesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said hes created a health care task force to look into the unexplained health incidents that have affected a number of U.S. government personnel and family members stationed overseas. One U.S. official told the New York Times that there are reports of isolated incidents at other U.S. embassies and consulates, but so far no pattern has emerged. It was an encounter which had lottery-style odds: a state trooper pulled over a retired cop only to discover he was the police officer who helped deliver him 27 years ago. Rewind to 1991, and Matthew Bailly had been working as an officer for four years. He was dispatched to a home in Piscataway, New Jersey where Karen Patterson had gone into labour after being out shopping. Karen barely made it home. Her husband Bobby called for assistance and a doctor talked Officer Bailly through the delivery. The baby was named Michael Patterson and nowadays he works as a trooper in New Jersey. Bailly has since retired. Trooper Stops Retired Police Officer Who Delivered Him 27 Years Ago Were not sure what the odds are of this happeningmaybe theyre close to the odds of a hole-in-one, winning the lottery, or being struck by lightningbut it happened. https://t.co/BefM49DhLf #alert pic.twitter.com/4F2QYN0eRC NJSP - State Police (@NJSP) June 6, 2018 On June 1, Patterson pulled over a car for a minor vehicle violation. During the initial conversation, Mr Bailly told Trooper Patterson that he was a retired Piscataway police officer, New Jersey State Police wrote on Facebook. Trooper Patterson, being a Piscataway native, told Mr Bailly that he is from the same town. As the conversation continued, the young trooper explained he had previously lived on Poe Place. With that, Mr Bailly explained why the address rang a bell with him he helped deliver a baby there when he was a rookie cop. He was even able to describe the colour, style of house, and the babys name, Michael, the post continued. Trooper Patterson extended his hand and replied My name is Michael Patterson, sir. Thank you for delivering me. The chance encounter was so bizarre that the two followed up their roadside reunion with a second meet-up. Trooper Patterson and his mother visited Mr Bailly and his wife at their home. They all felt this story was so uplifting, it needed to be shared, and we agree, NJSP wrote on Facebook. After all, as a police officer, you dont always get a chance to have a moment like this with people you once helped in your career. Whatever the odds of their reunion, maybe these guys need to buy a lottery ticket. Leader of Italys League party, Matteo Salvini, right, and Luigi Di Maio, leader of the Five-Star movement. Photo: AP Italy's incoming right-wing populist prime minister has used his maiden speech to call for the lifting of sanctions against Russia, opening up a rift with the country's EU allies on the issue. Giuseppe Conte, who leads a coalition of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement and far-right League, said his government would "promote a review of the sanctions system" in meetings with other EU leaders. In his first speech to the Italian senate, Mr Conte outlined his administration's priorities, including a crackdown on irregular migrants and an end to austerity economic policies. Mr Conte's government won its first vote of confidence in the senate and is expected to also be approved by the lower house of parliament. Under Italy's political system, the confidence of houses is required to form a government. A lawyer with practically no political experience, Mr Conte was the PM choice of League leader Matteo Salvini and Five Star leader Luigi di Maio. The two politicians will now serve as his deputy prime ministers. "We will be the advocates of an opening towards Russia," Mr Conte told senators. "A Russia which has consolidated its international role in recent years in various geopolitical crises. "We will promote a revising of sanctions, starting with those that demean Russia's civil society." Mr Conte's intervention on Russia comes as Vladimir Putin visits neighbouring Austria, where a right-wing coalition government also favours closer ties to Moscow. "We need to build co-operation with the EU. We do not aim to divide the EU," Mr Putin told Austrian broadcaster ORF. Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros this week accused Italy's junior coalition partner, the League, of potentially being Kremlin-funded, arguing that "Italian public opinion has the right to know". Mr Salvini, who has repeatedly visited Moscow, angrily denied the suggestions, stating that he had "never received a lira, a euro or a rouble from Russia". He said that he was an admirer of the Russia president, and believed Mr Putin was "one of the best statesmen". The EU decided to impose sanctions on Russia "in response to the illegal annexation of Crimea and deliberate destabilisation of" Ukraine. The sanctions include diplomatic measures, such as holding summits without Russia, asset freezes and visa bans on 149 individuals and 38 entities, and an economic blockade on Crimea and Sevastopol. Independent News Service German authorities are seeking a fugitive Iraqi asylum seeker over the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl who went missing more than two weeks ago. The body of the girl, who had been missing since May 22, was found on Wednesday on the outskirts of Wiesbaden. Prosecutors said two men a 20-year-old Iraqi and a 35-year-old Turkish citizen, both of whom lived at homes for asylum seekers in the city are suspected of raping and killing the girl on the evening she went missing. They believe the two then buried the body. Police said the Iraqi man, whom they identified as Ali Basar, appears to have left abruptly with his family last week, flying to Iraq via Istanbul. Polizeiprasident Stefan Muller schildert momentan die umfangreichen polizeilichen Manahmen, die im Rahmen der Suche nach der 14-Jahrigen stattgefunden haben.#Pressekonferenz #Wiesbaden pic.twitter.com/2t1f1hiMqm Polizei Westhessen (@Polizei_WH) June 7, 2018 The 20-year-old was a suspect in a string of previous offences in the area, including a robbery at knifepoint. He is believed to have arrived in Germany in October 2015, at the height of the migrant influx to the country, and was appealing against the rejection of his asylum application. The Turkish suspect, who was not previously known to police, was arrested on Wednesday evening. Police said that on Sunday, a 13-year-old refugee boy went to a police station in Wiesbaden, told officers that the girl had been raped and killed, and named the Iraqi as a possible perpetrator. Previous killings by asylum seekers in Germany have fanned tensions over the influx of more than a million migrants in 2015 and 2016, an issue that helped the far-right Alternative for Germany enter parliament in last years election. Londons blue-chip index struggled to gain ground after a delayed opening on Thursday due to a technical error. The FTSE 100 fell 7.97 points or 0.10% to 7,704.4 during the session, having opened an hour later than usual. The fall came despite a surge in oil prices, which lifted the likes of BP and Shell. Oil prices pushed higher when it emerged that Venezuela was nearly a month behind on crude deliveries, outweighing fears of production increases from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Brent crude rose 1.52% towards the end of the session to 76.942 US dollars a barrel on the news, while BP and Shell were some of the top risers on the FTSE 100. Fiona Cincotta, senior market analyst at City Index, said: With two weeks remaining until the OPEC meeting in Vienna, we are expecting an increase in volatility as investors weigh up the probability of an increase in production against the increasing supply problems in Venezuela and Iran. In currency markets, concerns about a hard Brexit weighed on the pound. Against the euro, sterling was down 0.28% to 1.135. The currency edged up 0.1% to 1.343 against the US dollar. SSEs shares climbed during the day, despite the energy giant receiving a slap on the wrist from the regulator. The firm was ordered to pay 1 million for sending out inaccurate and misleading annual statements to 580,000 pre-payment meter customers. Regulator Ofgem said an investigation found SSE sent out 1.15 million such statements. Shares were up 9.5p at the close to 1,356.5p. Shares in outsourcer Mitie fell 0.5p to 195.2p after it insisted it was on track amid a swingeing overhaul, despite reporting a drop in annual earnings after a tough past year. The group reported a 6% fall in underlying earnings to 77.1 million for the year to March 31, although revenues rose 2.8% to 2.2 billion. Spread-betting firm CMC Markets has cheered record annual profits sending its shares up 8.2p to 195.2p. The group reported a 24% rise in pre-tax profits to a record 60.1 million for the year to March 31. Marks & Spencer boss Steve Rowe saw his pay slashed last year after profits at the high street giant plunged, but will still walk away with 1.1 million. Mr Rowe, who is overseeing a drastic store closure plan, stomached a 31% reduction in total pay from 1.64 million in 2017. Shares fell 1.13% or 3.3p to 289.2p. Meanwhile, Debenhams stock was hit by the news that rival House of Fraser was to close more than half its stores. The department stores shares fell by 4.15% or 0.88p to 20.32p as traders took a poor view of its prospects. But Joules defied the retail gloom, with its shares rising 4.26% or 14p to 343p when it said it profits would beat expectations for the year. The retailer said on Thursday that its profits for the year ended May 27 2018 would be marginally ahead of the forecast 12.6 million. The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were BP up 12.7p to 589.6p, United Utilities up 15.2p to 786.4p, Royal Dutch Shell up 39p to 2,621p and NMC Health up 50p to 3,490p. The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Mediclinic International down 33.6p to 555.4p, Vodafone Group down 9.1p to 187.5p, Sainsburys down 9.5p to 303.6p and Burberry Group down 61p to 2,116p. Canada is poised to legalise recreational marijuana across the country today, making it the first G7 country to do so. The Canadian Senate will vote on bill C-45, which would legalise the use and purchase of marijuana for people over 18. The bill has already passed the House of Commons and is supported by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The Senate has studied the bill for six months and is expected to pass it. Sales of legal cannabis will not be permitted until two to three months after the legislation passes, the country's health minister has said. Canada would be the first of the G7 countries to legalise the drug nationwide. Some of the countries, including Canada, have passed legislation allowing marijuana for medical use while several US states have legalised recreational use of cannabis. Becoming a leader in legalisation could have a major impact on Canada's economy. Legal marijuana is expected to be a more than $6bn business, according to a report by financial services company Deloitte. Legal cannabis will be heavily regulated, however. Under guidelines from Canada's public health agency, marijuana products will be sold in plain packaging with limited branding. Under the legislation, adults can carry up to 30g of cannabis. Exceeding this amount in a public space - including an individual's vehicle - will be punishable by up to five years in jail. Independent News Service Treating "incurable" cancer by targeting genes rather than where the disease is located in the body can "transform" survival chances and give years of extra life, a major new study has found. The first long-term analysis of patients with difficult-to-treat tumours who underwent gene testing has shown the personalised technique boosted chances of surviving 10 years by a factor of six compared to standard practice. Oncology experts last night called for all cancer patients to be provided "next generation sequencing" in order to identify the drug which works best personally for them. Doctors at the University of Texas analysed the progress of 1,307 patients with a range of cancers including breast, gynecologic and gastrointestinal. Of these, 711 were then tested to determine the precise molecular abnormalities of their tumour and assigned to the most appropriate clinical drug trial. Benefit Presented at the American Society for Clinical Oncology (Asco) meeting in Chicago, the study showed that 15pc of those who underwent matched therapy survived for three years compared to 7pc of patients who had unmatched therapy, while 6pc of the matched group survived 10 years compared to 1pc unmatched. While overall survival was small in the study because the patients were so ill to start with, the scientists behind it said the relative benefit of matched therapy applies to all cancer patients. "All patients should have access to next generation sequencing and I believe in the next few years we are going to see this approach dramatically improving outcomes," said Professor Apostolia Maria Tsimberidou, who led the research. "We need to know what is really causing these diseases so we can treat them properly." Professor Tsimberidou said personalised cancer medicines had kept one patient alive in her clinic since 2011 despite suffering from glioblastoma, the aggressive brain cancer which killed former British cabinet minister Tessa Jowell last month. Dr Catherin Diefenbach, an Asco expert, said scientists had barely "scratched the surface" of the potential of precision medicine. "Now with faster and more robust genetic tests, we can help even more patients by treating the cancer based on its genetic make-up rather than solely on its location in the body," she said. The new study is the first to directly compare the impact of precision medicine against traditional approaches across many different cancer types for a long period. Daily Telegraph, London Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021] An American woman who allowed a number of men to rape her young daughters in exchange for money has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. Morgan Summerlin (25), from Georgia, pleaded guilty to bringing her daughters, aged five and six, to the homes of random men where they would be sexually abused. She admitted first degree cruelty to children, trafficking a person for sexual servitude and enticing a child for indecent purposes. As she was led out of the courtroom on Monday, she waved and blew kisses to relatives, USA Today reports. Her two children are now in the care of a family member. Summerlin's defense attorney said the defendant was herself sexually exploited and attacked as a child hinting at a continuing cycle of abuse. The young children told police that their mother took them to visit men who would then rape and molest them. Two men - one who is 78 years old - was convicted of rape and child molestation. The grandmother of the victims was also arrested in the case. She pleaded guilty to cruelty to children in the second degree for knowing they were being sexually abused and not protecting them. A South African man has been sentenced to life in prison for the 2015 axe murders of his parents and brother in an affluent housing estate. Henri van Breda appeared impassive as a judge sentenced him to three life sentences for the grisly killings of parents Martin and Teresa and brother Rudi in Stellenbosch, a scenic town in a wine-growing area near Cape Town. Van Breda, 23, also received a 15-year sentence in the Western Cape High Court for the attempted murder of his sister Marli at the time of the attacks. She suffered severe head injuries in a bloody onslaught that Judge Siraj Desai described as cold-blooded murder. These attacks display a high level of innate cruelty, Judge Desai said. Expand Close Henri van Breda at the High Court in Cape Town (Halden Krog/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Henri van Breda at the High Court in Cape Town (Halden Krog/AP) The violence was excessive and gratuitous. It was intended to cause maximum harm. Defence lawyer Pieter Botha, who plans to appeal against the conviction and sentencing, had suggested van Bredas youth and status as a first-time offender should be mitigating factors in the sentencing. He also said his client could not show remorse because he maintains he is innocent. While Judge Desai recalled that a witness heard a loud argument in the van Breda home for several hours on the night of the killings, he told Henri van Breda that we have no explanation for what you did and that he had to be handed the severest possible penalty. Van Breda also received a one-year sentence for obstructing justice after the court concluded that he inflicted injuries on himself to try to mislead police. The van Breda family lived in Australia for some years before returning to South Africa, and the judge said Henri van Breda had enrolled at the University of Melbourne. Your future was not bleak. In fact, it was bright, Judge Desai told van Breda as he stood in the dock. You had the support of family and, more importantly, they had the means to assist you in your future endeavours, and it seems to me they would have done so. iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- Senate Republicans say they would be more aggressive in tying President Donald Trumps hands when it comes to imposing tariffs on allies if he were not in the middle of trade negotiations with some of those same allies. They said an effort led by Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., to weaken the presidents ability to unilaterally penalize trade partners might be more successful sometime after this weekends G7 meeting, where Trump is expected to come face-to-face with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has sharply criticized the administration for its new tariffs on steel and aluminum. For now, lawmakers might be skeptical about Trumps use of a tariff action thats only supposed to be used for legitimate national security concerns, but they are more focused on his having a strong position in the ongoing talks. I think in the long term it would be good but do we need it absolutely now? I do not want to take leverage away from President Trump as hes negotiating, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., who said he agrees with Corker on the merits, told ABC. Corkers bill, introduced Wednesday, would require Congress approval for any tariffs imposed under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which is only supposed to be applied when the United States have national security concerns with the country it wants to penalize. Congress would have 60 days to approve such proposals by a 60-vote supermajority, or else the tariff proposal would die. Corkers bill would apply retroactively to the recent tariffs Trump has imposed. In early March, the president announced a 25 percent tariff on steel and 10 percent tariff on aluminum. The administration temporarily exempted Mexico, Canada and the EU from the tariffs but last week announced it would remove those exemptions. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has slammed the tariffs and, in a call last month, reportedly questioned how tariffs could be imposed on Canada, the close U.S. ally and neighbor, on the basis of national security. As the two countries feud, they are, along with Mexico, also in the midst of discussions to renegotiate the terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA. Senate Republicans say they dont want to consider Corkers bill right now because they dont want to tie his hands in the middle of these current talks, even if they think Trump is using the national security justification too liberally. Intellectually, I agree with Bob Corker. This law has been used for a long time; its never been used this aggressively. But my goal is to give the president space so he can try to get better deals, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who was one of a handful of Senate Republicans who met with President Trump Wednesday to talk trade, said. Johnson, who was also at the meeting, said the president spent two hours with the lawmakers yesterday giving them greater insight into what hes trying to do. He makes some pretty darn good arguments about bilateral agreements, why he needs the leverage, Johnson said. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said during an interview with SiriusXM Wednesday that trying to rein in the presidents tariff authority was an exercise in futility and has said senators should focus on trying to convince Trump not to go too far in imposing tariffs, seeming to signal that he wouldn't support the bill even if it were brought up at a later time. But not all of his conference agrees. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said that the bill appears to be a limited, reasonable response because it would only be for tariffs related to national security concerns. And other Republicans are worried Trump is spending too much time making flimsy national security arguments and not enough time focused on legitimate national security threats like Chinese telecom ZTE, which the Pentagon and intelligence community have long maintained poses a national security threat because it can use its devices as surveillance tools. The Commerce Department Thursday announced that it had finalized a deal to lift a seven-year ban on ZTE buying American goods, which had already significantly hurt its business. In exchange, ZTE will pay a fine and install an American-run compliance board. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross argued this morning that the new deal is even more effective than the original one, but many lawmakers disagree. But Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said he is working on legislative solutions to roll back the ZTE agreement. I certainly think ZTE is a bigger national security threat than steel from Argentina. Hopefully, theres a chance in direction on that, Rubio told ABC. Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. I know this sounds crazy, but what if it isnt the greatest witch hunt of all time? Photo: Alex Edelman/Getty Images In what the New York Times described as the GOP beginning to show signs of resistance, on Wednesday, Paul Ryan joined the handful of Republican lawmakers standing up to President Trumps war on the rule of law sort of. During a press conference on Wednesday, the House speaker said that while he cant weigh in on the legality of Trumps claim that he can pardon himself, hed prefer that the president not spark a constitutional crisis to find out. I dont know the technical answer to that question, but I think obviously the answer is he shouldnt and no one is above the law, Ryan told reporters on Wednesday. He also dismissed Trumps conspiracy theory du jour, without actually uttering the word Spygate, by saying he stands by Representative Trey Gowdy. Following a meeting with FBI and Justice Department officials last week, the House Oversight Committee chairman said hes even more convinced that using an informant to investigate potential Russian meddling in Trumps campaign was entirely appropriate. Let me say it this way: I think Chairman Gowdys initial assessment is accurate, but we have some more digging to do, Ryan said. We have some more documents to review. We still have some unanswered questions If we got all the information we were looking for, we could wrap this up faster. I have seen no evidence to the contrary of the initial assessment Chairman Gowdy has made, he continued. But I want to make sure that we run every lead down and make sure we get final answers to these questions. Ryans rhetorical shift is notable, since hes previously acted as a silent partner in Trumps war on the Justice Department and FBI, dodging questions while ignoring pleas to rein in the campaign to discredit federal law enforcement officials led by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes. The Speaker also left himself room to eventually backtrack, if he ever discovers evidence that confirms the deep state embedded a spy in the Trump campaign (then craftily declined to use any of the information they collected to keep Trump out of office). Even if theres no action behind it, Ryan has chosen an odd time to challenge Trump and his allies. Gowdy, once celebrated as the head of the Houses Benghazi investigation, has been viciously attacked by fellow Republicans for pouring cold water on Spygate. Until Wednesday, no GOP lawmakers were publicly defending Gowdy, but Ryan opened the door for party members to openly criticize the president. After Ryans remarks, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr who was briefed with Ryan and other top lawmakers on the informant last month said Gowdys analysis was correct. Then another Spygate rejection burst forth from GOP Representative Tom Rooney, who sits on the House Intelligence Committee. What is the point of saying that there was a spy in the campaign when there was none? Rooney told Politico on Wednesday. You know what Im saying? Its like, Lets create this thing to tweet about knowing that its not true. Maybe its just to create more chaos but it doesnt really help the case. The GOP is already embroiled in turmoil that doesnt have anything to do with the Russia probe. The entire GOP conference is set to meet on Thursday to hash out its internal divisions on immigration. Moderates are attempting to force a vote on several immigration bills, including one that would protect young undocumented immigrants from deportation in exchange for border security funding. Conservatives are demanding a vote on a much harsher bill and nothing else, and theyre blaming Ryan for failing to stop the moderates. There have already been rumblings about ousting Ryan as speaker before the end of his term, and on Wednesday conservatives incensed by Ryans Spygate rejection pushed the discussion into the open. There is no defense today for Paul Ryan siding with the FBI and Department of Justice against those of us in the Congress who are working for transparency and accountability, Representative Matt Gaetz told Fox Business Networks Lou Dobbs. Dobbs then launched into a tirade against Ryan, asking why Republicans dont say, Mr. Lame Duck Speaker: Get the hell out of the office, youre going to send us to perdition and destruction in the midterm elections. You know I run in more conservative circles of the House and I have never into this point heard a single person talk about removing Speaker Ryan from the speakership, Gaetz said. Today for the first time I was hearing colleagues say if Speaker Ryan wont stand with us in this fight over the essentials of our democracy, not weaponizing [the] intelligence community against the presidential campaign, do we need to look at other choices? Freedom Caucus founder Jim Jordan one of the key figures in the immigration deal Ryan is attempting to negotiate lashed out at him too. Were supposed to trust the FBI now? The same FBI that weve caught, literally caught, hiding information? Jordan said. Come on. Whatever Ryans motivations, he picked a hell of a day to quit ignoring his partys deep state conspiracy theories. I was in school when I first got my periods. It was excruciatingly painful and terrifying in every sense of the word. Since then, all my energy went into concentrating over when am I gonna get my periods? How can I make them hurt less? How long will they last? Which sanitary napkin to use. But not even once the thought of where these sanitary pads were going crossed my mind. At home and even at school we are taught that we must properly wrap these pads in newspapers or anything that covers them from being seen and then throw it away. But all this happens for nought since when these non-disposable pads made from plastic are eventually handpicked and separated by ragpickers before they are finally dumped in the land. Also read: The First Sanitary Pad Ever Used Has Still Not Decomposed! Here's How You Can Make A Difference For those who do not know, sanitary napkins are made of synthetics -like rayon and superabsorbent polymers. They are then treated with chemicals that contain plastics. These irritants and not breathable elements then come in touch with our vagina for 4-5 days a month, especially at its most vulnerable. So while these global brands wanted us to feel fresh, look fresh and be able to have a decent aroma during our periods, they subtly shifted our minds from plastic (read highly toxic) contents of sanitary pads. Amidst this brilliantly planned corrupted industry, someone had to speak up and take charge of everything that was wrong. Heyday - a biodegradable sanitary napkin made from bamboo and corn fibre is everything that regular pads aren't. They use over 7 layers of bamboo fibres mixed with cornstarch to give the pad a very soft surface that's easy on the skin. This highly absorbent, well-priced, comfortable, and in no way harmful sanitary pads are finally the truth we have waiting for after years and years of distortions. The founder of the brand. Deepanjali Kanoria, a Columbia University graduate is someone who spent years on researching the detrimental effects of sanitary pads made from plastic and how they are contributing in creating heaps and heaps of waste outside the city. Her motive was not only to bring innovating in the otherwise non-creative industry but also churn out solutions for ridding the ocean and our landfills of plastic. Women have often complained about contracting infections, rashes, a sense of itchiness and UTI after using pads for a long time. This is why most women these days have switched to menstrual cups and tampoons. But it isn't the pad that's causing the problem, it is in the ingredients. Heyday pads are 100% bi-degradable and can be disposed of in general household waste. Unlike regular pads that will take 800 years to completely decompose, Heyday pads will reduce to nothing within two years without leaving any room for contamination or infection in the surrounding. Heyday products are produced using some of the finest farming techniques in parts of China and Finland. Everyone involved in the process ensures that the product remains organic and biodegradable. In fact, not just the pad, but even the packaging and napkin covers are made of natural plant-based fibres. "To pull people out of their comfort zone and make them switch to another brand requires a lot of work, which is why we have kept our standards extremely high. We are only using organic materials to ensure that there is not an ounce of chemicals and pesticides in our napkins " says Deepanjali. All the commercial sanitary napkins that we use are 90% plastic and just like any other form of plastic, it takes years to decompose. So basically, all this while we have been using superabsorbent plastic instead of cotton, which makes it hard to disintegrate and fully decompose. As a result, most of these pads land up in landfills outside the city where they lay for years and years. The indiatimes.com privacy policy has been updated to align with the new data regulations in European Union. Please review and accept these changes below to continue using the website. We use cookies to ensure the best experience for you on our website. Unlike other people in the industry, Bobby Deol has never had qualms in accepting that his career had failed. Soldier, Barsaat, Bichhoo and there are many more films that Bobby Deol is remembered for. But soon, he lost his charm and was nowhere to be seen. 1.bp.blogspot.com His career was on a downfall when chose to become a DJ. When turned into a DJ at a Delhi club, he reportedly played Gupt songs on loop. The crowd went mad. Some of them even ended up asking for a refund. But now, it seems, with the help of Salman Khan, he is all set to revive his career as an actor in Bollywood. Bobby Deol will be seen alongside the Dabangg Khan in Race 3. And already, theres a lot of hype around the movie. Twitter But what is that went wrong with his acting career in movies? I wish I knew that I had reached the level up with two-three movies but I never realised that. I never understood that I had reached a certain level of stardom. I was very normal about it. I wish I had noticed it. Maybe that would have made me focus on not losing it. I should have been more attentive towards it. PTI He said he never bothered about the growing competition in the industry. Also, his normal approach towards his career is one of the things that he regrets. I never thought people were competing with me. I was like everybody deserves work and why should I come in their way. But things had changed, everybody was going to the producers' office to get work, which could have been mine. I did not realise that and slowly started losing. I wish I had realised then. I wish I had a better physique but it is never too late. AFP But he is more than happier to have bagged Race 3 alongside Salman Khan. For someone who is starving for work, what better can happen in his life than a big franchise film. Now the negativity will not take away my desire to work. Salman is a big star and still he has a fire, Anil (Kapoor) has tremendous energy. My dad is 82 years old and he wants to work everyday of his life, even my brother. I don't know why I did not take that positiveness from them. Directed by Remo DSouza, also starring Salman Khan, Daisy Shah, Saqib Saleem, Jacqueline Fernandez, Race is hitting the theatres on June 15. After a 43-year-old man died in Tamil Nadu while clicking a picture of lightning yesterday, the incident of deaths of people trying click pictures whether they are selfies and regular picture saw one more person losing the life. HM Ramesh of Thuraippaakm near Chennai died while he tried to click the picture of lightening in Thiruvallur district at his friend's place with his phone. The selfie clicking has become a habit which has killed many people and now the researchers are looking for the reason behind the addiction. Around 3.30 pm, Ramesh tried to take a photo of lightning with his smartphone camera. But, the lightning struck Ramesh and he collapsed. When his friends tried to pick him up, they found injuries in his face and the chest, said police sources from the nearby Arambakkam station told HT. Selfie fever grips more or less everybody and here are some fatalities which occurred due to the obsession with taking pictures. 1. 15-YO electrocuted as he climbed on the roof of a train to click self A youth climbed on the train roof to click selfie, but got electrocuted and lost his life. The incident took place in Andhra Pradesh on June 1. Pagadala Ramsay (15) climbed on the roof of a goods train to click a selfie and came in contact with a 27,000-volt live wire at Jaggaiahpet railway station. He was severely injured and died in a hospital while being treated. Read More 2. Man slips off the cliff while taking the selfie In May, a 24-year-old boy slipped and fell 50ft down a waterfall while trying to take a selfie in Koraput, Orissa. REPRESENTATIONAL IMAGE / REUTERS Subrat Nag lost his footing and slid off the slippery slope towards the Gali Gabdar waterfall. His friends who were accompanying him looked helplessly as he slid down, to the bottom. Read More 3. Selfie with bear A man was killed by an injured bear after he tried to take a selfie with it. The man has been identified as Prabhu Bhatara and he was returning to Papadahandi with a few others in an SUV when they stopped to attend natures call. He spotted an injured bear and decided to click a selfie with animal despite others telling him not to do. Animal mauled him and he died right there. Bhatara died on the spot, forest ranger Dhanurjaya Mohapatra said. Read More 4. Selfie with pistol did cost youth life A 22-year-old youth was killed in North Delhi's Vijay Vihar area on March in what appeared to be a selfie attempt gone horribly wrong. According to police, the man, identified as Vijay, was posing with his neighbour for selfies when the revolver accidentally went off, killing him on the spot. Police have also recovered a number of photos of the duo from a mobile phone. Even though police said their initial investigation suggests that the death was caused by an accident, Vijay's family alleged he was murdered. Read More 5. Another misadventure with the gun goes wrong In May, a 23-year-old was shot dead by his minor cousin while taking a selfie with a licensed pistol in Sarita Vihar in East Delhi. Legal action was ushered against the minor as his father would be taken against. Read More 6. Selfie over bridge representational / Reuters A minor boy fell to death from an over-bridge on Domuhani river in Ganjam district in Orissa while trying to click a selfie. Mohammed Tanzir, a 13-year-old boy a resident of Azadnagar along with his three friends was taking a selfie on the newly built over a bridge when lost control and fell. Read More 7. Minor girl drowns in the pond trying to take a selfie In an incident of selfie-related death, a minor girl lost her life when she was trying to take selfie on the bank of Bokaro Steel Plant pond in Jharkhand. PTI/REPRESENTATIONAL IMAGE The 16-year-old Sulekha Kumari a resident of Bada Khatal Kashmiri colony fell into the pond and slipped into deep water while trying to take a selfie. Read More 8. Man tries to click a selfie with an elephant In September last year, a man was killed by an elephant. The incident took place in Sundergarh of Rourkela district in Orissa. The man was identified as Ashok Bharti and police said he angered the already hostile animals and lost his life. Read More The medical faculty in Kerala has been showered with praises for their selfless work and dedication in wake of the deadly Nipah Virus outbreak. Be it the nurse, Lini Sajeesh or the doctors of Baby Memorial Hospital in Kozhikode who was quick to identify the rare infection- everyone has contributed to fighting the deadly virus. BCCL Others like the doctors in Kozhikode Medical College have been putting up extra time and effort to take care of those admitted with the viral infection. Many doctors who are active on social media in the past few weeks were busy spreading awareness among their followers about the precaution and how to handle the virus. PTI Now, another doctor has been hailed for his selfless service after he performed the last rites of a man who died of Niaph. Dr RS Gopakumar, the health officer of Kozhikode Corporation, where the virus outbreak was one of the worst has been showered with praises after he cremated the body of 25-year-old Rasin who died of Nipah infection on May 31. His father had already lost his life to Nipah and his mother was in isolation ward for suspected Nipah infection. As there were no other relatives to perform his last rites, Dr Gopakumar asked Rasin's mother if he could do it under Hindu customs, to which she agreed. "I was saddened that during his last journey there was none of his dear ones to perform last rites. I did not have to think twice. and I decided to perform all rites for the boy as I wanted him to go on his final journey with all the dignity. It was my duty...," Dr Gopakumar said. Reuters The staff of the Ivor Madom crematorium on the banks of the Bharathapuzha in Thrissur district helped him. The National Centre for Disease Control has established a strict protocol when dealing with Nipah-affected bodies. As part of the standard procedures, the bodies should not be sprayed, washed or embalmed and personnel handling remains have to wear protective equipment like gloves, gowns, N95 masks, eye protection shield and shoe covers. He also added that it wasn't the first time he had to do this. In fact, he took the responsibility of handling the final rites of 12 bodies. "I was a pallbearer for three bodies and performed their last rites too," the 41-year-old said. PTI Those in the medical field point out that despite their best efforts to create awareness, there is unnecessary panic among masses about coming into contact with people infected with Nipah Virus. On Wednesday, a man travelling from Chennai collapsed in Kozhikode due to blood sugar level variation and was left unattended for nearly an hour due to fear of Nipah. BCCL Onlookers feared he was infected by the deadly virus, and he was only saved after the Perambra Taluk Hospital staff arrived on the scene. Dr AS Anoop Kumar, the Critical Care specialist in Baby Memorial Hospital, who first identified the Nipah Virus had recently narrated how the family of Nipah victims are facing isolation and an undeclared social boycott. "The son of Maiyam, one of the first Nipah Virus victims, recently came to meet me. He was wearing protective masks and gloves. He said he was not able to travel anywhere as buses won't allow him to board. He said people were looking at him like a scary monster. I was taken aback. I removed his gloves and masks and hugged him tight. He had tears in his eyes," Dr Anoop Kumar said. Weeks after the deadly Nipah Virus gripped Kerala, here's a good news for people. The fears of a second wave of Nipah Virus outbreak is unfounded, the government has reassured after no new cases of infection or deaths have been reported from any parts of the state. According to the Kerala Health Department, the last case tested positive for Nipah Virus infection was reported on May 17. #NipahVirus Update. No confirmed cases reported in the last 3 days. No death happened in the last 3 days. Clearly we are winning this fight against Nipah. Please Retweet. pic.twitter.com/AknzFcqR8H Arogya Jagratha (@ArogyaJagratha) June 5, 2018 Kerala Health Minister KK Shylaja said that the fear about the second phase of Nipah Virus infection have been allayed. She, however, said that vigilance will continue until June 30 and the disease can be said to be under control only after that. PTI She also lauded the alertness shown by doctors of Baby Memorial Hospital in Kozhikode, who identified the rare virus in the second patient itself, thus, preventing the situation from getting out of control. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that the spread of the Nipah virus, which has so far claimed 17 lives in Kerala, has been controlled, but people should be alert. There is no alarming situation now. The spread of the virus has been controlled. But people should remain alert, he said. The government has also announced to reimburse the medical expenses of all patients who were under treatment for Nipah. BCCL Following the outbreak last month, the government had gone on an extensive awareness campaign to educate people about the deadly virus. The government had also cracked down on those spreading false information and fear on social media about the virus spread. Union Health Minister J P Nadda said, the Nipah virus outbreak in Kerala was the result of "tampering with nature". He said that the outbreak occurred due to natural reasons. BCCL "All such incidents were the result of tampering with nature. It wasn't a man-made problem. There were natural reasons," Nadda said on Monday. Nadda said that his ministry had taken pro-active measures, in coordination with state governments, to contain the Nipah virus outbreak. He said that scientists from the National Institute of Virology in Pune and doctors from the National Centre for Disease Control were immediately sent to the affected area in Kerala to coordinate with the state government. Trump at FEMA Wednesday. Photo: Yuri Gripas/Bloomberg via Getty Images President Trump and Vice-President Pence visited the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Wednesday and lavished the agency with praise for its work in 2017, making no mention of the recent study that put the death toll in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria at 4,645. We really appreciate the job youve done, Trump told FEMA officials, whom he praised for leaping into action to coordinate the response. I want to thank you very much, he said. Pence added that FEMA is as ready for the 2018 hurricane season as it was in 2017. We are prepared, just as we were last year, with those historic and unprecedented hurricanes, he said. I also want to commend all of the agencies represented here for the job that was done last year. Puerto Rico came up only once in Trumps remarks as he listed the locations of last years devastating storms. Families in Texas and Louisiana, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi they were all affected, hard to believe and on tribal lands, where the hit was catastrophic and the storms were really historic in their severity. But in the wake of such tragedy, we also witnessed the resilience of the American people, he said. But just one week after a Harvard study determined that 4,645 people in Puerto Rico died in the storm and its aftermath, Trump said nothing about the federal governments woeful response to Maria. Similarly, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders praised FEMA Tuesday when she was asked about the federal governments response to Maria. Sanders said the response was at a historic proportion and claimed the government did the best it can do. As Trump praises FEMA and the new hurricane season begins, his administration is coming under increased criticism for the conditions in Puerto Rico and for the coming end to FEMAs temporary housing program, which is providing housing assistance to around 2,300 families forced out of their homes by the storm. It wasnt the hurricane that destroyed these lives. It was the fact that the Trump administration could not get their stuff together enough to save these Americans, Representative Ruben Gallego said at a press conference called by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which is pushing for a 9/11-style commission to investigate the failed response to Maria. We need an analysis of how this low death count may have shaped the inadequate federal response, Representative Nydia Velazquez said. Today, I am calling for the establishment of an independent commission similar to what we had after 9/11, to examine the death toll, the federal response and how FEMA and other agencies may have responded sluggishly based on artificially low numbers. The Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) is distributing specially-designed rape investigation kits to police stations and hospitals for quick examination of sexual assault victims and speedy trial. The kits are designed to carry out an immediate medical examination into sexual assault cases, Union Minister Maneka Gandhi said. The rape investigation kits are being procured by the state governments with financial support from the Nirbhaya Fund. The Nirbhaya fund aims to support government initiatives by the government and NGOs working towards ensuring the safety of women in India. For quick investigation in rape cases, the ministry is ensuring that police stations and hospitals across the country are equipped with the specially-designed rape evidence kits, Gandhi said. Also read: 76% Indians Want Death Penalty For Rapists, Want States To Award Capital Punishment, Finds Poll The kits comprise essential items which will help in furnishing evidence such as blood and semen samples in cases of rape and sexual assault. It also contains instructions on the evidence that needs to be collected from the crime scene. The medical examination results will be provided within two months of sending the kits to the closest labs. Reuters Sakshi Suraksha Advanced DNA Laboratory has been started in Chandigarh for forensic analysis of samples collected from rape victims. She added that forensic labs would come up in Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Bhopal and Guwahati. "Once a proper identification of sexual crime has been done and all the evidence gathered, the timeline for rape leading to conviction could be cut by years," she said. Also read: 94% Of Rape Accused Are Known To Victims, 89% POSCO Cases Still Pending, Reveals Govt Record In response to a RTI query by IANS, the Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) said only Rs 825 crore has been utilised from the Nirbhaya Fund till date out of the Rs 2,711 crore that accumulated in 2017-18. Less than 30 per cent of the much-hyped Nirbhaya Fund, that now has run up to Rs 3,100 crores, has been utilised so far in the last five years despite tall claims by the government on women's safety and welfare in the country. Representational Image The WCD ministry had proposed even schemes under the Nirbhaya Fund where most of the fund was allotted to One Stop Centres (OSCs) -- a much-hyped scheme which was started in 2015. But it too remains unutilised. The OSCs are supposed to provide access to services like medical aid, police assistance, legal aid and psycho-social counselling to victims of sexual assaults. The dreaded piracy group Tamilrockers seems to have struck again. This time the target was Kaala, the much-awaited film of Rajnikant which was released on Thursday. Within hours of the release, the film was uploaded to piracy site Tamilrockers. A screenshot of the Tamilrockers site even suggests that there is an HD version already available for download. According to reports a few members (admin) of the website were booked and arrested, on Thursday at Coimbatore after the Kaala was leaked online. In a similar development, one person was arrested in Singapore after he live-streamed the movie on Facebook. According to reports, few scenes of Kaala were leaked from the premiere show that happened in Singapore. The arrested man has been identified as Praveen Thevar, and he is said to have life streamed the film for about 45 minutes. It is not yet clear if he is linked to any piracy groups or did it out of excitement. Tamilrockers, an online platform, which is believed to be operating from multiple servers across the world has been a nightmare for filmmakers, especially in the south. Over the years it has become the go-to destination for pirated versions of Tamil, Telugu, English, Malayalam and other language films. The site is said to have a connection with international piracy rackets, too. Despite the best efforts of the film industry and the anti-piracy cell, Tamilrockers remain elusive and frequently changes their domain to avoid detection. Pictures and videos model-less fashion show in Saudi Arabia have sent netizens to a tizzy. The country known to have extremely rules against women has no other choice but to host fashion shows with 'ghosts' for models. No really, there's a dress literally being flown around with the help of a freaking drone across the ramp-walk. .. pic.twitter.com/ur0bfCgoBJ oNe (@wa7d_riyadh) 7 June 2018 Clothes and accessories from top designers including Dolce & Gabbana sailed down the runway hanging from a drone, reported the New Arab. Fashion shows in the hyper-conservative kingdom are traditionally sober affairs, with only women allowed in the audience and male fashion designers not even allowed backstage at their own show, reports timesofmalta. And people couldn't get over how ridiculous this looked #1 wow, yet another unrealistic body expectation for women smh https://t.co/U8uWFeee4n ashtyn (@ashtynmckayla) 6 June 2018 Me ghosting on my plans https://t.co/vCVMTyL9MI Samira (@MohamudSamira) 6 June 2018 #2 #3 When youre not home so the jins try out your clothes https://t.co/7zptTZTE4F nah (@Isitaisha) 6 June 2018 The event organizers said this was the first time a drone was used for a fashion show in the kingdom, while Twitter called it as fashion for ghosts. The conservative kingdom hosted its first ever fashion week organized by the Arab Fashion Council in Ritz-Carlton, Riyadh, in April, which was held in the presence of fashion legends like Jean Paul Gaultier and Roberto Cavalli. Switch the Market flag Open the menu and switch the Market flag for targeted data from your country of choice. for targeted data from your country of choice. Cooperation between the U.S. and its allies on trade and tariffs is becoming a high-wire act. Photo: David L. Ryan/Boston Globe via Getty Images With a G7 meeting of major industrialized countries scheduled for Quebec on Friday, there are signs Donald Trump is succeeding in uniting Americas traditional allies against his trade policies. Canada, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy (six of the G7) are in accord in pushing back strongly against Trumps aluminum and steel tariffs, through concerted retaliation if necessary. The Wall Street Journal reports its all getting deadly serious: Tariffs imposed last week by President Trump on EU and Canada have increased significantly tensions before the meeting, a senior EU official said, adding that a breakthrough to ease trade tensions was unlikely. We have extremely low expectations. Officials from some of the U.S.s closest allies said their level of interaction and coordination on tariff retaliation is exceptional. Japan and the EU will team up on this issue and call on cooperation from other countries, Japanese Trade Minister Hiroshige Seko told reporters Tuesday. Mr. Seko noted that Japan and the EU had issued a statement critical of the U.S. after he and EU Trade Commissioner Cecillia Malmstrom met in Paris last week. This is an unusual step, he said. Ironically, the tariff dispute is keeping the G7 from working together to address a glut in steel on world markets created by Trumps favorite target, China. And the concerted resistance to Trumps tariffs is also undermining his favored approach of bilateral negotiations with countries to secure specific concessions in exchange for relief from the threatened levies. E.U. Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom called the administration on that publicly: Malmstrom said she had spoken frequently with U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to achieve a permanent tariff exemption for the EU. Throughout these talks, the U.S. has sought to use the threat of trade restrictions as leverage to obtain concessions from the EU, she said. This is not the way we do business, and certainly not between longstanding partners, friends and allies. The U.S. is playing a dangerous game here, Malmstrom said. Now that theyve gotten everyones attention, it would be good if the Trump administrations next move is constructive. America First is a fine political slogan, but not a formula for multilateral progress on compliance with international norms. Amazon did not have an immediate comment on the matter, the article said. However, news of the online shopping juggernaut possibly joining the insurance market has already had an impact; CNBC reported that shares in AIG and Chubb fell slightly but quickly rebounded after the report was released. Amazons interest in the insurance market is nothing new; in late May, the company led a multi-million dollar funding round for digital insurer Acko General Insurance in Mumbai, India. And last October, there was a report circulating that Amazon was looking to set up an auto MGA with partners in the UK. If Amazon does finally throw its hat in the insurance ring, a good number of consumers might be willing to make the switch. The 2018 World Insurance Report found that 29.5% of customers said that they would be willing to buy at least one insurance product from a major tech firm like Amazon a 12-percentage point increase from 2015. Related stories: Amazon heads up multi-million investment in online insurer Can insurers be competitive with Amazon? Described as among the best financed start-ups in Germany when it comes to early-stage funding, the Berlin-based firm has received nearly US$30 million (25 million) in its Series A financing round. Add to that the previous US$10 million in seed funding, and Coya now has a solid capital base and is awaiting approval from regulator the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin). Once officially regulated, the insurtech will be launching its first insurance products as a fully licensed insurance carrier in the summer. In a press release, Coya said it aims to make insurance more appealing to the young demographic and plans to establish itself as the leading digital property insurer in Europe. Coyas business model is based on a digital and flexible paperless insurance that enables its customers to get insured quickly without the need for middlemen such as insurance agents and brokers, said the digital challenger. To do this, Coya has developed a unique technology that, unlike traditional insurers, can bring flexible mass-market products to market in the shortest possible time. In a joint statement following the financing round, Coya founders Andrew Shaw, Thomas Munkel, Dr Peter Hagen, and Sebastian Villarroel commented: With Valar Ventures, e.ventures, and our further renowned VCs and business angels, we have a strong investor community at our side and long-term support. The funding provides the fuel to develop digitally focused insurance solutions that are fairer, faster, and future-ready. Christian Miele, chair of the supervisory board at Coya and principal at e.ventures, sees the likes of Coya as ideal partners, saying such companies are laying the foundation for future industry standards. The investor, whose goal is to create new markets with disruptive business models, has funded disruptors such as Groupon and KaufDa. New technologies will change the traditional insurance market in the short term and replace it completely in the medium term, noted Miele. Anyone who recognises this now will be able to survive in the long term. Meanwhile Fitzgerald added: Building an insurance company for current century requires the right balance of insurance and technology expertise, something that others both incumbents and many insurtech start-ups have not been able to achieve. Related stories: Has disruption become a diluted term? Insurtech deals push to record high: Willis Towers Watson Now the chief financial officer of Zurich has expressed his thoughts on massive mergers, which are consistent with an earlier pronouncement by Zurich chief executive Mario Greco. In a nutshell, theyre not up for it. The challenge for insurance companies is that our business is typically quite local, and I think if you do these large global merger transactions you disrupt at least one, maybe two different businesses and it is hard to get the full value from them, said CFO George Quinn in an interview with CNBC. According to a Reuters report, Quinns disruptive deals comment comes amid rumours suggesting that Zurich and Allianz could be cooking up a transaction. Meanwhile Greco, who believes consolidation doesnt solve the issues, has talked about Zurichs preference when it comes to acquisitions. Mergers and M&A activity is not really a priority for us, the CEO told Bloomberg TV last week. We are doing some targeted, focused M&A transactions and we will continue doing that but all we do is in-country transactions where we can strengthen our strengths in each given country as we did in Australia, as we did in Argentina, as we did in the US a year ago. We will stick to that and we will maintain our discipline and our focus on that. As for in-country investments, Latin Lawyer reported that Zurich has acquired assets not only in Argentina but also in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Panama, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Related stories: Zurich confirms latest senior appointments Zurich completes share buyback programme Residents of Londons Grenfell Tower were wrongly told to stay in their apartments as fire raged through the high-rise building nearly a year ago, aided by flammable external cladding and a host of fire-safety failings, an expert report said this week. Fire-safety engineer Barbara Lane said the fire departments stay put policy was shown to have effectively failed barely half an hour into the fire. But residents of the 25-story building werent warned to evacuate until more than an hour after that, at 2:47 a.m., Lane said. By that point, 187 people had fled the building and 107 remained. Of those, 36 were able to get out. The other 71 died. Lawyer Richard Millett, chief counsel to an inquiry investigating the June 14, 2017 Grenfell fire, said it may be that the formal maintenance of that advice until 2:47 a.m. made all the difference between life and death. Lanes report was published by the judge-led inquiry probing causes of the fire, which started in the kitchen of a fourth-floor apartment, likely in a faulty refrigerator, and raced within minutes up the 25-story public housing block. Lane, a director of engineering firm Arup, said that a renovation completed in 2016 installed flammable aluminum-and polyethylene cladding on the towers facade and led to multiple catastrophic fire-spread routes. Lane said there had been a culture of non-compliance with safety regulations, and identified multiple failures. Elevators failed, a smoke ventilation system did not work properly and doors did not shut or were left open, allowing smoke to spread. The building envelope itself was therefore a major hazard on the night of the fire, Lane concluded. She said the consequences were catastrophic. The inquiry, which began hearing evidence Monday and is expected to last about 18 months, aims to find the causes of Britains deadliest fire in decades and to prevent future tragedies. It will examine how the blaze started and spread, the response of emergency services and local authorities, and the countrys high-rise building regulations. The fundamental question which lies at the heart of our work is how, in London, in 2017, a domestic fire developed so quickly and so catastrophically that an entire high-rise block was engulfed, Millett said. And how it was that 71 people lost their lives in a matter of hours, leaving families and friends in shock, grief and bewilderment. A 72nd victim injured in the blaze died in January. Millett said that survivors and bereaved relatives had been left with an abiding sense of injustice, betrayal and marginalization, leading to an overwhelming question: Why? The inquiry is one of the biggest ever held in Britain, involving dozens of lawyers representing more than 500 core participants, including residents of the tower. It will hear from scores of witnesses, including police, firefighters, experts and survivors. Mondays hearing followed almost two weeks of personal tributes from friends and family aiming to ensure that the victims _ who ranged from an 84-year-old woman to a stillborn premature baby _ arent forgotten during months of detailed evidence on building regulations, fire-safety procedures and government policies. During the emotional tribute sessions, Hassan Hassan told of the loss of his 31-year-old wife Rania and daughters Fethia, 4, and Hania, 3. Like many others who died, they followed fire department advice to stay in their apartment and await rescue. My message for the judge: please, please, please work from inside your heart to give justice to other families living like this, to be safe, he said. We need to make sure this doesnt happen again in London, in all of U.K. Some residents accuse officials in Kensington and Chelsea, one of Londons richest boroughs, of ignoring their safety concerns because the publicly owned tower was home to a largely immigrant and working class population. They are critical that the inquiry wont investigate wider issues around social housing. Grenfell United, a group representing survivors and bereaved families, said the inquiry was the beginning of a long road to justice. The group, which accuses local authorities and the government of failing to heed residents safety warnings, said the scale of the tragedy has devastated our lives and our community. What makes it even worse for us is the knowledge that these deaths were completely avoidable. Police say they are considering individual or corporate manslaughter charges, but no one has been charged. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Legislation London Big changes are ahead at The Schinnerer Group, a managing general underwriter (MGU), which is getting a new name Victor and has some major expansion plans. From its current premium base of $1.2 billion, Victor has plans to double its size over the next few years through a combination of organic growth and acquisitions, said Christopher Schaper, CEO of Chevy Chase, Md.-based Victor. Schaper is located in the companys Bermuda office. The Schinnerer Groups businesses will start using the Victor brand over the next year, and combine to operate as a global entity. The companies include Victor O. Schinnerer & Co. in the U.S., ENCON in Canada, Bluefin Underwriting in the UK, Mees & Zoonen in Italy and the Netherlands and Schinnerers operation in Bermuda. Recent Schinnerer Group acquisitions, ICAT and Dovetail Insurance, will also be part of the Victor global business but will retain their current names. Why was a rebranding necessary when the businesses are successful? Schaper pointed to a changing industry in a globalized world. As the company grows, the brand needs to resonate internationally and digitally, he said. By unifying our companies under a global brand and combining capabilities in analytics, underwriting and technology, we will be able to more quickly offer innovative insurance products and services to our clients around the world, said Schaper in a statement when the rebranding was announced. We felt that Victor was a simpler name frankly, more straightforward. It certainly works well internationally, he said, admitting that Schinnerer doesnt necessarily work well more broadly as a global brand. Schaper described the rebranding exercise and the companys growth plans in an interview with Insurance Journal. After considering nearly 600 different names for its rebranding many of which had already been taken the company came almost full circle when it decided on Victor. It not only resonated with the companys roots as Victor O. Schinnerer, which began operating in the 1930s, it also strongly resonated with what were trying to accomplish creating a win-win environment for all parties that come to the table, Schaper explained. Were all victors when we work together as a group. It goes well beyond the name of a person, he emphasized. As an MGU were servicing insureds as well as agents and brokers, carriers and other capital providers. And were trying to do that in a very strong fashion and create value for everyone across the board. Moving from his discussion of the companys new name to its growth plans, Schaper said Victor is planning to double its size very carefully over the next few years with organic growth and acquisitions, which will complement its business with products or geographical locations. Obviously, Victor will move very safely and very carefully [when considering acquisitions] because were in a market that is highly competitive across all products, he added. Initially, Victor will be looking at growth in the U.S., the UK and Europe, while eventually considering opportunities in the Australasian market, Schaper said. As an example of a strategic acquisition, Schaper cited the example of the companys purchase in August 2017 of International Catastrophe Insurance Managers. ICAT is a U.S.-based managing general agent that focuses on property risks for small-and-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The Schinnerer Group had long been focused on casualty and specialty lines of business and did not have much of a property book, he explained. As we were thinking about growth opportunities, when the ICAT opportunity presented itself, we thought it was a very good complement to our overall book. Further, he added, ICAT specializes on a line of business that has the ability to scale, not just in the United States but also globally, as the need for property cat capacity continues to grow. ICAT was an organization that had strong reputation; theyve been around for 20 years and they were a technology-based MGA as well. Speaking of technology, Schaper said that also has been, and will continue to be, a focus for Victor, so it will look at acquisitions and technology that can help the company improve its efficiencies. Weve got over 25,000 active insurance agents that we engage with. How do we do that better? How do we create better efficiency for them? He predicted that number of agents will rise as Victor continues to expand, so it matters how Victor brings efficiency to the table and creates value in the market. He pointed to the example of one of the companys lines it has been underwriting for decades for a U.S. insurer with small, medium, and large sized accounts in its overall portfolio. Weve instituted a new technology that has shortened the amount of time for the accounts to be underwritten from two to three days to just a few minutes. Schaper thinks the MGU/MGA business model is a great model to create change. We can do a lot without all the head count, all the bricks and mortar. We can actually create value by either partnering with other enterprises or just being able to institute these tools into a line of business, verify that it works, and then expand it into multiple lines of business. (The companys global businesses currently employ 700 people, mostly in North America.) In a separate example of innovation, Schaper pointed to last years launch of a product called Alternus. What Alternus is seeking to do was actually to bring alternative capital into the insurance arena and directly provide the benefits of alternative capital to insureds the companies that actually support the entire industry. Alternus was the first dedicated commercial insurance solution for retail clients backed by alternative capital, he said, explaining that, in the past, alternative capital primarily benefited the industrys insurance, reinsurance and retrocessional areas, but not insureds. Alternus is exclusively offered through Marsh and covers up to 10 percent of an insureds entire property insurance program with up to $200 million in limits per program, according to the April 2017 announcement. The solution is underwritten and managed by Schinnerer and backed by a combination of Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) and alternative capital through asset manager Nephila Capital Ltd. (Victor Insurance is a subsidiary of broker Marsh & McLennan). We think we bring the value proposition of alternative capital which includes stability in terms of security. Alternus provides better and more enhanced security to the insureds as well as at better prices and terms and conditions, Schaper said in the interview. He noted that Alternus generated millions of dollars in premium in the first year and represented trillions of dollars in total insurable value (TIV). Schaper said an MGU can provide a strong value proposition by being able to access all the tools that exist and that are coming to bear in the industry and to do it nimbly. Then we need to be able to take those tools and apply them to actual lines of business or to the insureds needs. Thats what Victor is seeking to do with its new global brand, its growth plans and its aim to tap into the latest technological innovations. Bringing us together collectively is a way for us to enhance our intellectual capital capabilities; we are bringing together the minds of the entire team, globally, to provide real changes for the industry. In its rebranding announcement, Victor laid out its strategy, which is founded on four key cornerstones: Combining extensive underwriting experience with modern data and analytics capabilities. Providing cloud-based solutions that enable agents and brokers to quote, bind and issue insurance policies in real time all in one place. Enabling a global network of more than 25,000 active insurance agents and brokers. Collaborating with leading insurance carriers and alternative capital providers to offer organizations innovative coverage solutions. Topics Agencies USA Tech Underwriting Insurance Wholesale H.W. Kaufman Group, headquartered in Farmington Hills, Michigan, has added Christine M. Tricoli to its executive team as vice president, Human Resources. Based in the companys Michigan headquarters, Tricoli assumes responsibility for all of Kaufmans HR activities and functions. Tricoli joins Kaufman from CIT Group, a financial services company headquartered in New York City. At CIT Group, she served as senior vice president, head of Talent Services since 2013. She brings with her substantial national and global experience in top-level human resource executive posts during more than a three-decade career. In 2017, she was named the winner of the Best Practice Institutes Senior Executive Board Top Talent Executive Award. Dr. Renee S. Lerche, who has led Kaufmans Human Resources department for the past 12 years, will continue as corporate senior vice president. Her internationally recognized expertise and experience in education were key in shaping the culture of the company and its progress in the global insurance industry. She will oversee the Kaufman Institute, a division of H.W. Kaufman Group dedicated to the training and development of Insurance Professionals. H.W. Kaufman Group, which has over 60 offices across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom and employs more than 2,000 professionals. Founded in 1969 and headquartered in Metro Detroit, H.W. Kaufman Group includes Burns & Wilcox, Burns & Wilcox Brokerage, Burns & Wilcox Canada, Burns & Wilcox Re, Atain Insurance Companies, Afirm, Global Excess Partners, R.B. Jones, Stonemark, Minuteman Adjusters, and London-based, Chesterfield Insurance Brokers, Lochain Patrick, and Cranbrook Underwriting. Source: H.W. Kaufman Group Topics Training Development Human Resources A wealthy businessman and retired insurance executive who has never been elected to public office will challenge Iowas Republican governor in November, offering voters two candidates with contrasting backgrounds and visions for the state. Fred Hubbell, who once served as president of the life insurance company Equitable of Iowa, secured the Democratic nomination in Tuesdays primary by winning a crowded five-candidate contest. He far exceeded the 35 percent threshold needed to avoid a state convention where party activists would have picked the winner. Hubbell will face Gov. Kim Reynolds, who ran unopposed. Tonights results send a very strong message, Hubbell said during a victory speech Tuesday. Iowa voters have had enough of the heartless and misguided policies and priorities that have taken our state backwards. Reynolds, 58, has highlighted her upbringing in rural St. Charles and early jobs like a waitressing gig for the retail store chain Younkers. Hubbell, 67, once served as that companys chairman. His ancestors have lived in Des Moines for more than a century and owned the governors ornate mansion before it was donated to the state. Reynolds, a former lieutenant governor, was sworn in last year to serve the remaining term of former Gov. Terry Branstad, now U.S. ambassador to China. Shes the first female governor in Iowa history and is seeking the distinction of being the first woman elected to the position. Hubbell is well-known in Des Moines for his philanthropy, political donations and familys real estate business. He has traveled the state and flooded television airwaves to highlight his support for reforming the states Medicaid health care program and funding Planned Parenthood. Reynolds is deeply conservative and signed into law a ban on most abortions around six weeks of pregnancy. Its considered the nations strictest abortion ban, though its on hold amid a lawsuit. Reynolds has also been criticized for Iowas transition to a privatized Medicaid program. Iowa Democrats see the governors race as the beginning of an effort to retake political power in Iowa, which is now dominated by Republicans after several election cycles. Although they support President Donald Trump, a billionaire, Iowa Republicans and Reynolds appear ready to criticize Hubble for his wealth. If you think the governors office is for sale to the highest bidder, guess what, you dont know Iowans, said Reynolds at a separate event Tuesday while referencing Hubbell. You dont know Iowa, but I do. Associated Press writer Scott Stewart in Des Moines contributed to this report. Topics Iowa Politics Oh, Canada. Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images At the end of their annual summit, the leaders of the Group of 7 (G7) typically sign onto a joint statement, detailing the consensus views of the worlds advanced, industrial nations. This year, that consensus end up being spelled out on a blank, unsigned piece of paper. France and Germany have both threatened to withhold their signatures from a joint statement, unless the United States makes major concessions at the summit in Quebec this weekend. Absent progress on tariffs, the Iran nuclear agreement, and the Paris climate accord, Emmanuel Macron will not put his name beside Donald Trumps, a French official told reporters Wednesday. But that threat is unlikely to give Paris much leverage over Washington because the White House was already planning to withhold its signature from the customary statement, as a signal that the old ways of doing business are over. Such a signal is hardly necessary. Less than three years ago, the U.S. signed an agreement in which Washington promised Britain, France, and Germany that it would suspend sanctions on companies and countries that did business with Iran, so long as Tehran suspended its nuclear weapons program. Tehran fully complied with this demand. British, French, and German firms proceeded to make investments in Iran and then, last month, the United States withdrew from the deal anyway. Despite the fact that all the other signatories had upheld their ends of the bargain, the U.S. ordered European companies to immediately abandon their operations in Tehran (and thus, potentially, accept significant financial losses), or else, forfeit their access to Americas globe-spanning banking system. Weeks later, Washington decided to flout a variety of other agreements it had signed with its Western allies, for the sake of inflicting pain on a few of their other industries. Last week, the White House slapped tariffs on its North American and European allies steel and aluminum exports evading international rules against such duties by baselessly declaring Americas reliance on Canadian and British steel a national security threat. And yet, President Trump remains convinced that the other G7 nations must make amends this weekend for their betrayals of the United States. According to the Washington Post, the White House is contemplating a new round of economic penalties against Canada, in retaliation for Ottawas threat to retaliate against Americas steel tariffs by placing duties on a variety of U.S. exports. Trumps conviction that Americas allies have benefited from one-sided trade agreements with the United States is not wholly unfounded. In the aftermath of World War Two with Europe and Japan in ruins, and American industrial supremacy at its apex Washington really did agree to give its overseas partners unfettered access to the American market without demanding reciprocal access for U.S. exporters. National security priorities were given precedence over economic ones: America was strong enough to take a hit for the sake of ensuring that Western Europe and Japan would recover from the last war and be Washingtons allies in the coming cold one. As Dwight Eisenhower argued in 1955, All problems of local [U.S.] industry pale into insignificance in relation to the world crisis. Japan cannot live, and Japan cannot remain in the free world, unless something is done to allow her to make a living. Decades later, as Japanese and European industry approached parity with Americas, this uneven playing field would do immense damage to American manufacturing (while offering considerable benefits to American consumers). Still, it is not as though the United States hasnt reaped benefits from the hegemony it bought with its benevolence on trade. And, more to the point, theres little sign that the actual facts of Americas trade relationships with Europe and Canada are all that relevant to the current conflict. Earlier this year, President Trump publicly admitted that he did not bother to look up whether America ran a trade deficit or surplus with Canada before speaking with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about Ottawas supposed economic abuse of the U.S. (He also did not bother to look up which nation burned down the White House in the War of 1812 before telling Trudeau that Canadas role in the act of arson justified his decision to treat Americas reliance on Canadian steel as a national security threat.) And, of course, nothing about the history of trade relations between America and Europe justifies the presidents callous indifference to the latters interests in Iran, or humanitys interest in the preservation of the Paris climate accords. The fundamental problem facing Americas G7 partners is that Trumps policies are not rooted in a rational interpretation of commonly accessible facts. Rather, they are based on a combination of gut instinct and domestic political calculation. The president has no interest in preserving goodwill that might prove useful to the United States at some point in the future. He wants to perform his steely commitment to putting America first, and to assert his dominance over foreign heads of state who refuse to show him all due respect. As White House aides told the Washington Post, the president prefers visiting places where he is feted such as on his trips last year to Beijing, Paris and the Saudi capital over attending summits where the attending leaders are treated as equals. There is some evidence that Trump is open to negotiating in good faith if the other side is willing to flatter him or do favors for his businesses. But those options arent available to most democratic leaders, who are accountable to publics that almost universally despise the American president. Thus, for all of the pressing issues currently dividing the United States from its G7 partners, its unclear whether theyll have anything to talk about in Quebec. Like a reality-show villain, Trumps America isnt here to make friends (or self-interested diplomacy), but rather, to engage in pre-orchestrated feuds. And for the moment, our allies have no way to vote us out of the Western alliance. Every morning, 92-year-old Sidney Kramer wraps a blood pressure cuff around his arm and steps on a scale, and readings of his heart health beam to a team of nurses and to his daughters smartphone miles from his Maryland home. Red flags? A nurse immediately calls, a form of telemedicine that is helping Kramer live independently by keeping his congestive heart failure under tight control. Its reassuring both psychologically and physically. The way hes put it to me, its like having a doctor appointment every morning, said Miriam Dubin, Kramers daughter. The vast majority of older Americans and their caregivers are ready to give virtual health care a try: Nearly 9 in 10 adults ages 40 and over would be comfortable using at least one type of telemedicine for themselves or an aging loved one, says a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. But they want to make sure that an e-visit or other remote care is just as good as theyd get in person, and that their health information stays private, according to the survey. Long considered an option mainly for improving access to health care in rural areas with few doctors, telemedicine is gaining ground with tech-savvy younger consumers _ they text their physician with questions or Skype with a mild complaint. For seniors with chronic illnesses or mobility problems that make simply reaching a doctors office an ordeal, telehealth could be more than a convenience. The graying population is raising serious questions about how the nation will provide enough quality long-term care. But while private insurance often covers a video visit or other digital health care, seniors have had a harder time because Medicare tightly restricts what it will pay for. Thats starting to change, with a law Congress passed last winter that expands Medicare coverage for such options as video visits to diagnose stroke symptoms or check on home dialysis patients. Also, Medicare Advantage programs used by a third of beneficiaries can start offering additional telehealth options. While the interest is huge, one of the big barriers remains reimbursement, said Johns Hopkins University telemedicine chief Dr. Ingrid Zimmer-Galler, who has turned to grants to help fund such services as telepsychiatry for dementia patients. The new law is really a huge step in the right direction. It certainly doesnt cover everything. Costs are a major issue for people who need ongoing living assistance. Less than a third of adults age 40 and over have set aside any money for their future long term care needs, the AP-NORC survey shows, and more than half mistakenly think theyll be able to rely on Medicare to help cover nursing care or home health aides. Telemedicine will have to replace in-person care, not add to it, to help with those costs, cautioned Zimmer-Galler. As access for seniors promises to grow, the AP-NORC Center poll shows widespread interest in telehealth. More than half of adults of all ages would be comfortable with a video visit via Skype or FaceTime to discuss medications, for ongoing care of a chronic illness or even for an urgent health concern. In fact, adults 40 and older are just as open to at least some forms of telemedicine as those under 40, with one exception: The older crowd is slightly less comfortable discussing health care by text. Among caregivers, 87 percent say theyd be interested in using at least one form of telemedicine for that persons medical needs. I think the parents would be happier at home instead of being in the doctors office waiting an hour to see a doctor for 15 minutes, said Don Withey of Courtland, New York, who helps his 92-year-old father and 89-year-old mother get to their appointments. But, we dont know much more about it other than the fact you can talk to a doctor over the computer or smartphone. Just 12 percent of adults say they wouldnt use any form of telemedicine. There are concerns. More than 30 percent of people worry about privacy or the security or health information. About half fear that telemedicine could lead to lower-quality care, the poll found. Its not about having a video screen or Skype in the home or even a blood pressure cuff in the home. Its about the team thats behind it and the clinicians who are supporting the care of that patient, said Rachel DeSantis, chief of staff at Johns Hopkins Home Care Group, which provides the 92-year-old Kramers remote monitoring. The Hopkins program provides no-cost monitoring for a month or two to select high-risk patients after a hospitalization because research found it reduces their chances of readmission. When the monitor recorded Kramers weight creeping up one week, nurses immediately knew it was fluid build-up, a heart failure symptom that needed quick treatment. The machine is programmed for some educational feedback, too. Dubin says her dad learned quickly when to cut back. If he enjoys a pastrami sandwich one day, he can see his numbers may be higher the next day. Dubin says the reassurance was worth privately paying, about $250 a month, to keep the monitoring once Kramers initial time in the program ended. About the Survey The survey was conducted March 13 to April 5 by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, with funding from the SCAN Foundation. It involved interviews in English and Spanish with 1,945 adults, including 1,522 adults age 40 and over, who are members of NORCs probability-based AmeriSpeak panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. Results from the full survey have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Medical Professional Liability Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Wednesday settled a lawsuit by a transgender former employee in North Carolina who accused the retail giant of unlawfully firing her for complaining about harassment. Arkansas-based Wal-Mart and the plaintiff, Charlene Bost, did not disclose the terms of the settlement in a joint filing agreeing to dismiss the case in federal court in Greensboro, North Carolina. The company did not admit to wrongdoing. Wal-Mart spokesman Randy Hargrove said the company does not tolerate discrimination. While we have strong anti-discrimination policies, we are glad we could resolve this matter with Ms. Bost, he said. The Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, a nonprofit that represents Bost, said she was pleased with the settlement. Bost sued Wal-Mart in December, claiming her coworkers at a Kannapolis, North Carolina, Sams Club store called her sir, that thing with an attitude and shim, a slur combining she and him. She also said her male boss subjected her to unwanted physical advances and referred to her as it. Wal-Mart owns Sams Club. Bost started working at the store in March 2004, and began presenting as a woman at work in 2008, according to her lawsuit. Bost said she was fired in March 2015 in retaliation for complaining to supervisors about harassment, and because they believed that she suffered from gender dysphoria, or distress with the sex she was assigned at birth. She accused Wal-Mart of violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on sex, and the Americans with Disabilities Act. When the lawsuit was filed, the TLDEF said that companies like Wal-Mart should not only have strong anti-discrimination policies, but also make sure they are enforced. The case is Bost v. Sams East Inc, U.S. District Court, Middle District of North Carolina, No. 17-01148. (Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Leslie Adler) Topics North Carolina Operators of zip lines, climbing walls and similar devices must register them with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture and make sure they comply with state law by July 1. A new law was passed in 2016 directing the department to regulate aerial recreational devices. The agency said the law defines such devices as including equipment that simulates rock climbing, beams, bridges, cable traverses, climbing walls, nets, platforms, ropes, swings, towers, zip lines or jump systems. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Kentucky In a blow to the owner of Opry Mills Mall, the Tennessee Supreme Court has let stand a lower courts ruling that stripped $150 million of insurance coverage for the 2010 flood. The states highest court announced last month that it would not hear an appeal from the Simon Property Group. The decision let stand a ruling from an appellate court that found the mall was located in a high hazard flood zone, and therefore only entitled to a maximum of $50 million in insurance coverage. The mall was submerged in 10 feet (3 meters) of water during the flood that killed 11 people in Nashville and damaged some of the citys most iconic structures. A total of 26 people died in the flood in Tennessee and Kentucky. It took two years for the entire property to be rebuilt and cost millions of dollars. A jury awarded the property group $200 million from a group of insurers after hearing the amount of loss the mall sustained from the flood. However, the Tennessee Court of Appeals overturned that verdict and said the $50 million was the maximum amount of coverage due because the insurance policies made exceptions for properties in high hazard flood zones, court records show. An attorney who represents Simon Property Group did not respond to a message seeking comment. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Flood Tennessee What Is an Expense Limit? An expense limit is a limit placed on the operating expenses incurred by a mutual fund. The expense limit is expressed as a percentage of the fund's average net assets and represents a cap on the fees a shareholder may be charged. Knowing the expense limit of a fund is an important step in choosing a mutual fund as it tells an investor how much they might have to pay out of their profits. Key Takeaways Expense limits are caps placed on the operating expenses a mutual fund racks up, reflected as a percentage of the fund's average net assets. Expense limits benefit investors as they limit the fees a mutual fund can charge; they also make fully clear to investors what the maximum percentage is that they might be charged, which improves corporate transparency. With an expense limit, investor fees won't ever top the stated limit, although the fund can choose to charge under the stated limit. Funds that use an expense limit are referred to as capped funds because the limit caps the fees that shareholders can be charged. The U.S Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) does not generally limit the fees a mutual fund company can charge. Understanding an Expense Limit When investing in a fund, investors are charged a fee, known as the expense ratio, that goes towards the cost of operating that fund. Expense ratios vary depending on the type of fund and what it offers. Actively managed funds have higher expense ratios than passively managed funds as they require a lot more work and intellectual input. Expense limits are often voluntarily placed on a fund by its manager in order to relay to investors the most in expenses they will have to pay. The addition of an expense limit can make a fund more attractive to market participants as it makes them fully aware of the maximum percentage they may be charged. With an expense limit, fees will never rise above the stated percentage; however, the fund may charge under the stated limit. Capped Funds Funds that use an expense limit are referred to as capped funds because the limit caps the fees that shareholders can be charged. Fund companies provide details on capped expense levels in their prospectus documents. Typically, capped expense levels will be instituted for a specified period. To renew or revise a capped expense level, the fund must obtain approval from its board of directors. Fund companies may add, revise, or revoke expense caps at their discretion, but documentation and disclosure must be provided. Capped funds and indices adhere to a maximum level of investment per constituent. This can provide for broader dispersion and keeps a single holding from overly influencing the performance of the fund. Expense cap changes will affect the annual return of a fund. Any increase in expense cap levels could lead to lower returns, while decreases would help to increase performance. Investing in Capped Funds A number of capped funds and capped indices exist in the investing market. Standard & Poor's (S&P) manages many capped indices that can be used for passive investment benchmarks. Capped indices from S&P include the following: S&P/TSX 60 Capped S&P/TSX Capped Composite S&P/TSX Capped Energy S&P Russia BMI Capped S&P Italy LargeMidCap Capped S&P All Africa Capped DJCI Gas & Oil Capped Component S&P GSCI Cap Component These funds are just a selection from Standard and Poor's. There are many other offerings out there for investors that focus on different sectors and benchmarks. Types of Mutual Fund Fees Mutual fund managers can charge various fees. Broadly speaking, the fees fall into two broad categories: Transaction fees paid to enter the fund (also called loads) and ongoing annual fees you pay to stay invested in the fund. The U.S Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) does not generally limit the fees a mutual fund company can charge. However, one exception to this is a 2% redemption fee limit in most situations. The Financial Industry Regulatory Association (FINRA) limits sales loads to 8.5%, and even lower if the fund charges other fees. FINRA also limits 12B-1 fees used to pay marketing and distribution expenses to 0.75%. What Is the International Association Of Financial Engineers (IAFE)? The International Association for Quantitative Finance (IAQF), formerly the International Association of Financial Engineers (IAFE), is a not-for-profit, professional society dedicated to promoting the field of quantitative finance by providing platforms to discuss current and fundamental issues in the profession. Understanding the International Association Of Financial Engineers (IAFE) Founded in 1992, the International Association of Financial Engineers (IAFE), now known as the International Association for Quantitative Finance (IAQF), is comprised of academics and professionals from banks, broker-dealers, hedge funds, pension funds, asset managers, technology firms, regulators, accounting, consulting and law firms and universities worldwide. Members have access to exclusive content on the organizations website and to IAQF committees (area-specific initiatives to discuss policy issues in depth, including investor risk, operational risk, technology, and education); attendance to IAQF evening forums; and discounts to certain industry journals and IAQF endorsed conferences. The group also pays tribute to one member of the financial engineering world with a Financial Engineer of the Year (FEOY) award. The winner is announced annually at a hosted gala dinner usually held at the United Nations building in New York City. This attracts some of the most prestigious people in the field as one of IAQFs biggest events of the year. Financial engineering is a cross-disciplinary field that utilizes computational intelligence, mathematical finance, and statistical modeling to analyze and predict market activity in order to make more informed investing, trading, and hedging decisions. Risk management is a key aspect of financial engineering and practitioners attempt to calculate the financial risk posed by specific investments. Financial engineers are often referred to as "quants" because of the quantitative skills required of the profession. Financial engineers are typically well-versed in the C++ programming language and math subfields, including stochastic calculus, multivariate calculus, linear algebra, differential equations, probability theory, and statistical inference. What Is Print? "Print" can refer to increasing the money supply or any type of financial information transcribed into a hard copy that is either printed or formatted for printing. It could also refer to when the price of a securities trade is timestamped by an exchange. Finally, "print" may be used by technical traders to indicate the drawing of a candlestick pattern on a chart. Key Takeaways The word "print" may refer to several finance-related concepts. When governments issue new currency or increase the money supply it is said to print money. Print can also refer to the generation of physical or digital records of prices, transactions, or other data. For technical analysis, print relates to the drawing of candlestick charts. Understanding Print The U.S. government is responsible for the printing of money through the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP). Historically the term print has also been associated with the ticker tape where trades were listed, or printed, as they were executed. In the modern-day financial markets, there can be several situations in which trade execution leads to the generation of a print copy, but print is increasingly used for the generation of digital records as well. The word 'print' comes from the Old French preinte, which means "pressed". Printing physical currency and copies of financial information is central to the infrastructure procedures that the U.S. financial market is built upon. Physical currency is used in cash transactions and managed by the Federal Reserve primarily through reserve requirements for banks. For recordkeeping purposes, all types of print documentation are generated across the financial markets to provide confirmations and details on transactions. In some situations, print can also refer to the real-time posting of price data on a technical analysis chart. Print in Money Supply Print currency is managed by the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing. BEP is a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury with locations in Washington, D.C., and Fort Worth, TX. The Federal Reserve works closely with the Department of the Treasury and serves as its bank. Together the two entities facilitate the printing of money. One key way that the Federal Reserve manages the amount of print currency in circulation is through reserve requirements which require banks to hold a specified amount of print currency in their vaults. Print in Transactions and Investment Communications All types of trade confirmations, tickets, and settlement documents are generated when a transaction occurs. Any type of confirmation provided from a trading transaction may be considered print. Print confirmations will typically provide all of the details pertaining to a particular trade with pertinent information including the transaction price, number of shares, and time of execution. The confirmation documents will typically be formatted for physical printing but may be stored digitally for recordkeeping purposes. All types of investors will generate print confirmations with their trades. Institutional investors typically generate many print confirmations which are managed through operational procedures and usually stored digitally for recordkeeping. Marketing teams and journalists also generate print investment communications that can be available to investors. Individuals funds are required to register and provide comprehensive print documentation for investors. Some investors may also use print copies of financial news publications as an important source of investment information. Many investors, for example, choose to view bond listings and other financial quotes directly from the Wall Street Journal print edition. Print in Technical Analysis In technical analysis, print can also sometimes refer to the drawing of a candlestick pattern on a technical analysis chart. These charts can be time-based, as with a five-minute chart, or activity-based, such as a 144-tick chart. Regardless of the data interval, each bar prints as it forms and becomes printed at the end of the selected date interval. In this scenario, the term print can refer to the execution of a trade or the drawing of a price bar on a candlestick diagram. Technical traders may use the print to establish a position as soon as a price is printed at a specified level. What Is Series 23? Series 23 is an exam offered by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to financial professionals seeking to become general securities principals or sales supervisors. Series 23 can only be taken once the Series 9 and Series 10 exams have been passed. The Securities Industry Essentials (SIE), Series 7, and Series 9 exams are also prerequisites. Series 23 is a FINRA exam taken by candidates for jobs as general securities principals or sale supervisors in the financial industry. It tests knowledge of the investment banking business and the regulations that govern it. Series 23 can be skipped by those who pass the more comprehensive Series 24. Understanding Series 23 Series 23 is also called the General Securities Sales Supervision Module. The exam consists of 100 multiple-choice questions on the investment banking process, in both primary and secondary markets; market-making and trading activities at the firm level; managing office staff, and current FINRA regulations. A score of 70% or better is required for passing. The Series 23 exam tests knowledge in these areas: Overseeing Investment Banking and Associated Activities25 Questions Management of Trading and Marketing Activities29 Questions Managing Firm Office16 Questions Supervising Sales Activities, Managing Employees, and FINRA Regulations19 Questions Rules of Financial Responsibility11 Questions Series 23 can be bypassed by taking the Series 24 exam, which is more comprehensive and includes information presented on the Series 9 and Series 10 exams. Candidates for the exam can enroll online for any of the FINRA exams. All are administered at FINRA test centers. Some of the tests can also be taken remotely. Purpose of the Series 23 Exam A general securities principal has the authority to manage mutual funds, variable annuities, and other pooled asset vehicles within FINRA and SEC-authorized firms. A sales supervisor can manage sales and brokerage staff, or work as a general partner for a FINRA-authorized firm. Professionals taking the Series 23 exam have typically been working in the industry for several years and want to move up to be mutual fund managers or office managers. Most FINRA examinations fall into one of two categories: Registered Representative and Registered Principal levels. Series 23 is a Registered Principal level exam. FINRA defines principals as professionals who are actively engaged in the management of the FINRA member's investment banking or securities business, including supervision, solicitation, the conduct of business, or training people for any of these functions. The FINRA's Role FINRA is a nonprofit agency created in 2007. It resulted from the merger of the New York Stock Exchanges regulatory committee and the National Association of Securities Dealers into a single agency. It is a regulatory body tasked with governing all business dealings conducted between dealers, brokers, and public investors. It writes and enforces the rules regarding ethical conduct by broker-dealers. FINRA is the single largest independent regulatory body for securities firms operating in the United States. Its overriding task is to protect investors by ensuring that the U.S. securities industry operates in an honest and fair manner. Go-Ahead Ireland, a new private bus company, announced today that 425 new jobs will be created in Dublin. The company will also be making an 8.5m investment in its operation which will be spread across driver training, depot fit out and mobilisation. The new roles will include 350 bus drivers, as well as engineers, maintenance support, mechanics, planners, operational and administrative personnel. Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Shane Ross TD welcomed the announcement, saying it was a "very significant development for public transport in Ireland". Ed Wills, Managing Director of Go-Ahead Ireland said: "Since being awarded the contract to run 24 of the existing Outer Dublin Metropolitan Area (ODMA) bus routes by the National Transport Authority (NTA) last August, we have been building our Dublin operation in preparation for a phased rollout commencing September 2018. "Creating these new 425 jobs and providing a financially secure and investment ready business is critical for our colleagues, our customers and our ambitious expansion plans. "We are passionate about what we do and are focused on attracting the very best talent out there." Bus drivers can expect to earn 32,000 per year, the company says, with the opportunity for further earnings with overtime and other benefits. Go-Ahead Ireland will also cover the cost of bus driver training which comes to 4,000 per driver. "We have taken this decision to encourage people who don't currently have the necessary D licence, but want to drive a bus, to apply and we believe this will open up the positions to a much wider group of people, who might not have considered a career in transport before," said Mr Wills. Go Ahead currently employs 30 staff and is privately funded. - Digital Desk By Suzi Ring, James Paton and Sam Chambers Companies facing the potential threat of tariffs and other trade barriers, after Brexit, are stepping up contingency planning, with some retailers creating new sites in continental Europe to avoid snags. US pharmaceutical giant, MSD, also known as Merck, is planning for the possibility of a temporary supply blackout, when the UK leaves the EU, and may stockpile as much as six months worth of goods and revise trade routes, in preparation. C&J Clark, the seller of Clarks shoes, plans to open a distribution centre in continental Europe. And the Hut Group, which sells beauty, wellness, and luxury products online, is constructing a facility in Wroclaw, Poland a site that was also picked for protection against potential trade hurdles. With the UK determined to leave the customs union and single market, businesses are trying to limit their exposure to border checks and delays in moving goods between the EU and Britain, as well as preparing for a potential divergence in regulation. This week, business leaders urged Britains prime minister, Theresa May, to get on with key Brexit decisions. MSDs contingency plans, outlined in a May report, include factoring in as much as two extra days of travel on routes between UK and EU destinations to allow for delays caused by document checks. The US firm is also looking at adding 30 employees at its Haarlem, Netherlands, facility to cope with regulatory demands. Global drugmakers have warned of added costs and supply disruptions, due to Brexits potential trade and regulatory hurdles. UK-based AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline have said the rupture may force them to expand their use of facilities in the EU to allow timely testing and release of drugs. Drugmakers have warned that Brexit may raise barriers to patient access to their products, as they contend with the upheaval in the UK pharma sector. At this stage, these are just contingency plans and, therefore, may not be implemented, said a spokeswoman for MSD, declining to comment on specifics. Our first and foremost focus, at this time, is to develop plans which ensure continued access to our medicines throughout the Brexit process, she said. Clarks, which began selling shoes 200 years ago, is reviewing two possible locations for its facility, one of which is in Germany. The site will be run by a third-party logistics provider and will handle the retailers sales to customers in the EU. Before the Brexit referendum, we had already begun looking at how we could better deliver our products to consumers in our European markets, which includes the option of a European distribution centre, Clarks said. The Huts Polish facility will eventually handle the bulk of the companys orders from the EU, which are currently processed by a distribution centre in England, a spokeswoman said. The new site should facilitate bringing next-day delivery to our eight million customers across mainland Europe, she said. The Hut, backed by equity funds, BlackRock and KKR, is a rare success story in the UKs beleaguered retail sector. In 2017, the companys sales jumped 47%, to 736m (840m), 70% of which was outside of the UK. A departure from the customs union poses particular threats to e-commerce sellers. If Clarks or The Hut handled European orders from the UK, many products would need to be imported and then shipped out again to customers on the continent. If a product were exchanged, it would need to cross borders twice more. MSD, meanwhile, is considering asking some customers to take on as much as two months of extra stock in advance. While the drugmakers plans could change as the UK governments Brexit negotiations progress, they provide an insight into the options companies are reviewing. In a corporate filing earlier this year, MSD outlined Brexit risks, including potential restrictions on imports and exports. Glaxo, the UKs biggest drugmaker, said it started implementing its contingency plan in January, focusing on supply chains. The drugmaker has estimated Brexit-related costs rising as high as 70m over the next two to three years, due to retesting medicines, transferring marketing authorisations in the UK to the EU, and changing manufacturing licences. Bloomberg President Donald Trump and Chinas President Xi Jinping. Photo: Nicolas Asfouri/AFP/Getty Images Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Thursday that the Trump administration has a struck a deal with Chinese telecom giant ZTE. The deal will allow the company to restart operations after it pays a $1 billion fine and installs U.S. compliance officers to monitor its activity. This is a pretty strict settlement, the strictest and largest fine that has ever been brought by the Commerce Department against any violator of export controls, Ross said on CNBC. Strict though it may be, the settlement is welcome news in China. An employer of 75,000 people, ZTE was crippled by a Commerce Department ban on American firms selling it electronic parts. The ban will be lifted as a part of the new agreement. The trouble with ZTE goes back to last year when the company admitted to selling U.S. technology to Iran and North Korea in violation of economic sanctions. ZTE reached an agreement to turn over $1.19 billion and punish executives involved in the scheme, but in April the U.S. determined that the company hadnt lived up to its promises. Thats when the Commerce Department brought the hammer down, banning American firms from selling electronic parts to the smartphone maker. That was a potential death blow to ZTE, which relies on U.S. technology for an estimated 25 to 30 percent of its components. Its not clear why the Trump administration was so willing to strike a deal with ZTE less than two months after handing down a harsh punishment. The leading theory is that allowing the company to continue operating was a precondition for Chinas participation is discussions for a larger trade deal. It might also have something to do with Trump enriching himself. The problems with ZTE extend beyond its violations of sanctions. The company has also been accused of posing a national-security risk to the U.S. In February, six U.S. intelligence chiefs told the Senate that hardware from the Chinese company could not be trusted and advised Americans not to use ZTE phones. FBI Director Chris Wray said the proliferation of ZTE phones in the U.S. provides the capacity to maliciously modify or steal information. And it provides the capacity to conduct undetected espionage. Senator Ron Wyden raised both issues Thursday as he called for the agreement to be reversed. A loser deal for American security & American workers, Wyden tweeted. @realDonaldTrump & his admin are giving ZTE & China the green light to spy on Americans & sell U.S. tech to North Korea & Iran as long as it pays a fine thats only tiny fraction of its revenue. By Eamon Quinn Smurfit Kappas successful defence of a bid from its much larger rival International Paper has been awarded by gains for the packaging firms shares and endorsements from a much-increased price target by a local analyst. The shares retained most of the huge 20% spike they received in early March when International Paper revealed it had approached the Irish multinational. The US giant subsequently upped its offer to value Smurfit at 39 a share. However, despite facing pressure from some leading shareholders, Smurfit led by chief executive Tony Smurfit and chairman Liam OMahony, refused to formally engage with its much larger rival, saying the talks it had held over two occasions convinced it that the offer was too low. Smurfit showed its confidence by announcing last month its own acquisition for 460m of Dutch firm Reparenco, a deal that was hailed by analysts. That strategy appeared vindicated when after a sharp slide in recent days the shares rose slightly yesterday despite International Paper walking away after failing to increase its offer by a deadline. Davy said it raised its price target to 42 a share because it believes Smurfits assets are worth up to 45 a share.It is little wonder therefore that the board rejected the proposal from International Paper, it said. Merrion Capital said the main reason International Paper failed was its failure to meet expectations for a takeout bid over 40 a share. It is a lot less bullish than Davy, however. However, hailing the Reparenco purchase, Merrion said it was sticking to its fair value of 38 for Smurfit and saw any weakness toward 31 or 32 as an opportunity for a trade higher. The paper and packaging industry in a sweet spot at present with ongoing consolidation, increasing demand driven by online purchases and favourable pricing, Merrion said. Mr Smurfit said the company had been clear that the offer by International Paper had fallen far short. The company was not for sale and it would expand by acquisitions, he told Bloomberg TV. He said the industry was in good shape and would in time benefit from the switch from plastic to cardboard packaging. By Stephen Cadogan Progress in attracting overseas farm workers has been reported by FRS (Farm Relief Services). They recently brought some of their operatives from New Zealand, Lithuania and Canada to the FRS offices in Roscrea, Co Tipperary, to share their experiences, and receive a thank you from FRS. Peter Byrne, CEO of FRS said; It was very positive for us to hear the great feedback from the young people. They took a leap of faith to come and work with us and we put everything in place to ensure they were well looked after. There was a 20% increase in demand for FRS services during the tough spring for farmers and farm workers, in terms of workload and harsh weather. Along with sourcing and upskilling workers in Ireland, FRS needed to look further afield, and say they have now paved the way to a great source of workers from countries outside of Ireland. We have now laid solid foundations to develop going forward, and plan to bring in more workers from New Zealand, EU countries and hopefully from non-EU countries, now that work permits have been announced by the government for countries outside of the EEA, said Peter Byrne. Sourcing workers from abroad means extra planning, logistics and management. FRS, the leading provider of farm workers in Ireland, has teamed up with their counterparts down under, New Zealand Dairy Careers, in the Live, Learn and Earn Exchange Programme. This exchange will see applicants learn on the worlds best farms and further develop their farming skills. They will work both milk peak seasons January to June in Ireland, and July to December in New Zealand helping to offset the shortage of labour which both countries dairy farmers face currently. Applications are now open for Irish people who want to do the exchange in New Zealand. In 2017, FRS also set up the Dairy Operator Skills Programme in conjunction with Teagasc, the DEASP and South East Regional Skills. Peter Byrne said; Our first priority is to service our farmers well, and we always try to source workers at home before going abroad. The Dairy Operative Skills Programme has proven to be successfully training people and adding to our pool of workers, but the demand remains higher than the supply, and therefore I am happy to report that we have made the required contacts outside of Ireland to build on this year and into the future. We have lobbied government for work permits and we are glad they have responded positively. Teagasc reports that 6,000 extra workers are needed in Irish dairying up to 2025. - See www.frsfarmrelief.ie/careers for more on jobs in Ireland and visit www.frsfarmrelief.ie/nzexchange for more on the New Zealand and Ireland Exchange. By Ann O'Loughlin A woman has launched a legal action against a Clare farmer for alleged trespass on what she claims is her property. Felicity O'Kelly has brought High Court proceedings against farmer, John Brew of Tarmon, Kilkee, Co Clare. Mrs O'Kelly claims Mr Brew, who disputes the ownership of a portion of the lands, has allegedly trespassed on the site of a former creamery at Termon West, Kilkee, Co Clare which she owns. She claims Mr Brew has left cattle on the disputed land, which have wandered onto the main road. She seeks various orders against Mr Brew including an injunction restraining the farmer from trespassing or interfering with her property, and that he remove fencing and locks on the gates to her property. She also seeks an injunction requiring the farmer to remove any property including animals located on the lands. She further seeks orders for damages against Mr Brew. At the High Court today Mr Justice Tony O'Connor granted Mrs O'Kelly permission to serve short notice of the proceedings on Mr Brew. The Judge, who granted permission on an ex parte basis, adjourned the matter to a date in June. Mrs O'Kelly's counsel Michael Howard SC said that normally a case like this would be a matter for the Circuit Court. However, as Mrs O'Kelly's husband, Judge Eugene O'Kelly sat on that division of the courts, the action would have to be heard by the High Court. Counsel said the site was purchased by the O'Kelly's some years ago. It is now in the sole name of Mrs O'Kelly. An issue arose with the farmer over a portion of the lands. The O'Kelly's made efforts to sort out the dispute, counsel said. Mr Brew, counsel said had put cattle on the land. Matters recently escalated when a lock was placed by Mr Brew on a gate of the lands, counsel said. Mrs O'Kelly did not want to come to court, but counsel said she felt she was left with no option. By Ann O'Loughlin A woman who sued the Motor Insurers Bureau of Ireland for damages over injuries suffered by her when a man with whom she had gone for a drink crashed her uninsured car into a lamppost has lost her case. Costs of the failed High Court action were awarded against Natalie Grimes, Avondale Park, Mulhuddart, Dublin, to the MIBI. Mr Justice Anthony Barr dismissed the case after finding Ms Grimes was required under the 2009 MIBI agreement to also sue the car driver, Glen Sheridan, the father of Ms Grimes' son, unless she had established he remains an untraceable driver under the agreement. She had not done so and thus could not sue the MIBI as a sole defendant, he ruled. It was "simply untenable" for Ms Grimes to say Mr Sheridan was untraceable between the time of the accident in March 2011 and when she saw him in the corridor outside court on the first day of her case last April, he said. Had a Garda investigating the accident been asked, he would have confirmed he had addresses for Mr Sheridan and, on foot of a request routed through the Garda's District Officer, would have provided that information in writing to Ms Grimes' solicitor, he said. The investigating Garda had said there was no criminal investigation of the accident, and no prosecution, as no complaint was made. He also said the couple involved had "glazed eyes" when he approached them in hospital on the night of the accident and refused to talk to him. The Garda said he got names, addresses and dates of birth of the couple from the hospital but was unaware of correspondence and phone calls passing between Ms Grimes' solicitor and gardai between September and December 2012 seeking a garda report of the accident and other information, including about Mr Sheridan. Given his findings on untraceability, the judge said it was unnecessary to address other issues raised by the MIBI, including whether Ms Grimes allowed herself to be carried in the car knowing Mr Sheridan was not insured to drive it and he may have consumed excess alcohol. Anther issue was whether she breached a clause of the MIBI agreement requiring a claimant to fully co-operate with gardai investigating the circumstances leading to her claim. The case arose from the accident in Clonee on the night of March 22nd 2011. Ms Grimes claimed she had had only a brief relationship with Mr Sheridan, resulting in the birth of their son in 1999, and there was infrequent contact between them before he had contacted her on March 22nd 2011. She said he wanted to go to a pub in Clonee and, when she said she could not drive her car as it was not insured, he said he had open insurance to drive any car. Ms Grimes said she took that at face value. She said she had two pints of lager and Mr Sheridan had two pint bottles of cider and the accident happened some 15 minutes after they left the bar. She claimed Mr Sheridan was untraceable after both of them left the A&E department of a Dublin hospital after the arrival of gardai. She claimed they did so without her receiving treatment after Mr Sheridan told her: "We have to get out of this dump, I am banned", meaning he was banned from driving. She had not heard from Mr Sheridan since the accident or since she phoned his mother, asking her to tell him he would be done for criminal damage, it was claimed. From the tale of Eleanor Oliphaunt to the last stories of William Trevor, Marjorie Brennan offers a range of sizzling suggestions to fill your Kindle or suitcase. The Immortalists, Chloe Benjamin This book begins with an inventive and irresistible premise what if you knew the date on which youd die? It is the captivating story of how the four Gold siblings visit a New York psychic who tells them when theyll meet their maker and how they deal with that information. A hugely entertaining read, it will also have you asking some thought- provoking questions of your own life and family. The Female Persuasion, Meg Wolitzer An author who has produced engaging and incisive fiction for decades and built up a hugely loyal following, Wolitzer has yet to have the breakout hit she deserves. This timely novel tells the story of student Greer Kadetsky, who is enchanted by old-school feminist icon Faith. Years later, she happily accepts a job at Faiths foundation devoted to telling womens stories, but what story is really being told? A study of feminism by stealth, cloaked in Wolitzers trademark wry observation and humour. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, Gail Honeyman This deceptively understated book has grown into a phenomenon since it was released last summer. Honeyman won a well-deserved Costa award for the beautifully crafted study of a lonely woman who struggles to navigate modern life, with cryptic allusions to a childhood incident adding a sense of mystery. You will root for the skilfully-drawn central character all the way and its closing twist will have you reaching for the hankies. Reese Witherspoon has already snapped up the movie rights so get ready for the Big Little Lies treatment. Gail Honeyman with her book, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. Chasing Hillary, Amy Chozick This highly engaging read could be alternatively titled Where Did It All Go Wrong?. The New York Times writer covered two Clinton campaigns and details the ineptitude, in-fighting and inhuman stresses involved in trying to win votes in a vast and hugely divided country. Chozicks well-informed perspective on the campaign which ended with Donald Trumps election makes for an entertaining, informative and funny read. Not just for politics junkies. The Night of the Party, Rachael English Englishs voice is a familiar and welcoming presence to listeners to RTE Radio, but she has also attracted many readers with her work on the page. This, her fourth novel, is the story of how the calamitous events at a party in the 1980s have affected the lives of the four protagonists as they move from adolescence to adulthood. Englishs storytelling skills are evident and she has an engaging style reminiscent of the legendary Maeve Binchy. Problems, Jade Sharma Someone who definitely wont be compared to the late Binchy is Jade Sharma, the US-based author of this razor-edged novel. Published by the Tramp Press, Sharmas debut has been attracting much word-of-mouth buzz. A challenging, whip-smart and funny read, it follows Maya, a young New Yorker juggling an escalating drug habit with various relationship issues. Its There is no shortage of explicit content so beware not to leave this one lying on the sun lounger when inquisitive young readers are around. Last Stories, William Trevor A book of short stories is ideal holiday reading because you can dip in and out at your leisure. Very few can match the late William Trevor as a purveyor of the miniature masterpiece, and there was no slackening off in quality in his twilight years, as these stories show. There are some archetypal Trevor characters and settings on display the lonely and the lost, municipal parks in winter and tea rooms in small English towns. You Think It, Ill Say It, Curtis Sittenfeld If Trevor is the master, American writer Sittenfeld makes an able apprentice. She came to prominence with novels such as the superb American Wife and Eligible, her reworking of Jane Austens Pride and Prejudice, but not every novelist can turn a good short story. Sittenfeld can, however, with these piercing examinations of lives that often take an unexpected turn not always for the better. A good companion to the Trevor book if you want to pack two with the sunscreen, and they echo each other in unexpected ways. Circe, Madeline Miller Though only on the shelves since late last month the buzz about this one has been building steadily. Millers follow-up to her acclaimed debut novel, Song of Achilles brings her back again to the myths and legends of ancient Greece, to Homers Odyssey, and its fair to say that Circe is as gripping as its predecessor. This is a vivid, entrancing chronicle of the life of Helioss errant daughter the Circe of the title when shes exiled by her fellow gods for being a witch. Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now, Jaron Lanier This is a thought-provoking look at the impact of social media on our lives and psyches, particularly timely in the context of recent debate around the threat platforms such as Facebook pose to democracy. Former AI pioneer turned tech philosopher Lanier gives his take on the addictive nature of social media, examining, among many issues, its effect on how we consume news and how we have become content zombies. The Ruin, Dervla McTernan This debut thriller by Australia-based Irish author Dervla McTiernan has already been optioned for a screen adaptation. Set in the west of Ireland, The Ruin follows detective Cormac Reilly as he revisits a case involving two children whose mother died of an overdose. It delves into the dark side of small-town Ireland, examining corruption and institutional abuse. Sunburn, Laura Lippman Former reporter Lippman has won many awards for her crime fiction, though her name isnt as widely known as that of her husband, David Simon of The Wire fame. Sunburn may change all of that Lippmans take on classic noir tells the story of Polly, who kills her abusive husband and goes on the run when she gets out of prison. She meets Adam, but does he have an ulterior motive? Crudo, Olivia Laing Laings non-fiction books, The Trip to Echo Spring and The Lonely City, blended memoir and biography to exhilarating effect. Now she has turned her hand to fiction in her eagerly-awaited novel Crudo, out at the end of June. Set in the summer of 2017, it looks at artist Kathys attempts to make sense of a world teetering on the edge of chaos, one in which a single social media post from the reality-show president can throw the shadow of annihilation over the planet. Anthony Horowitz. Forever And A Day, Anthony Horowitz Having written two Sherlock Holmes novels, the prolific Horowitz was commissioned by Ian Flemings estate to write the James Bond novel, Trigger Mortis. This follow-up is once again in safe hands, not departing much from Flemings entertaining formula, to imagine exactly how Bond got his licence to kill. Horowitzs light touch and smooth plotting create something close to the ideal holiday read. Perfect accompaniment to a martini by the pool. Shaken, not stirred, of course. Sam Nunberg says he told prosecutors, You can just go through everything. Photo: Zach Gibson/Getty Images The last time New York heard from Sam Nunberg, he was remarking on the fat ass attached to his former boss, President Donald Trump, and explaining his decision earlier that day to respond to a subpoena from Special Counsel Robert Mueller by taunting him on live television for roughly six consecutive hours, something that seemed very funny, then worrying, and ultimately just completely nuts. Nunberg dared Mueller to arrest him, and threatened to rip up the subpoena, which requested all responsive documents in your possession, custody, or control, related to a list of campaign and White House officials in the following order: Carter Page, Corey Lewandowski, Donald J. Trump, Hope Hicks, Keith Schiller, Michael Cohen, Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, Roger Stone, and Steve Bannon. But by the time the former Trump campaign adviser phoned New York late that evening, he was contradicting his own bluster toward the office of the special counsel. The episode concluded three days later, on March 9, when Nunberg traveled to Washington to appear before a grand jury. Even if the one-sided Jerry Springer quality has become less overt, Nunbergs interactions with Mueller remain a compelling part of the ongoing review of Russian meddling in the 2016 election. On Monday evening, the special counsel filed a motion in district court to revoke or revise Manaforts current order of pretrial release, or the terms of his bail. According to Mueller, there is probable cause that Manafort attempt[ed] to tamper with potential witnesses while on pretrial release and, accordingly, has violated the conditions of release. This alleged witness tampering was conducted through encrypted messaging apps, the motion states, specifically WhatsApp and Telegram. In conversations with New York on Tuesday and Wednesday, Nunberg said that the office of special counsel had asked him about his own encrypted communications, whether he had apps like Manafort, and even more specific questions like, When did you download Confide? (Nunberg said he didnt use WhatsApp, his preferred encrypted platform, until around December 2017.) Nunberg also told New York that he handed over his old BlackBerry phones two or three of them, he couldnt remember exactly following an inquiry from the special counsels office. And Nunberg, according to a Wednesday CNBC report (plus the Manafort motion) is likely not alone: witnesses have been asked to provide their phones to investigators for the purpose of reviewing private conversations on WhatsApp, Confide, Signal, and Dust. Messages on encrypted platforms are only as secure as the messengers make them. Mueller obtained a subpoena for Manaforts iCloud, and according to the motion, some of his encrypted communications were found there. Others were revealed by anonymous sources (Person D1 and Person D2 in the court documents). These communications include records of phone calls and attempted phone calls, and also the content of written messages. For instance, we learned that Manafort uses a winky-face emoticon: [Person D2], hi! How are you? Hope you are doing fine. ;)) he wrote, on WhatsApp, on February 28, 2018. Anecdotally, encrypted messaging wasnt a feature of political reporting during the 2016 campaign, but beginning nearly the day after the election, it became standard. White House staffers and administration officials and those influencing the place from the outside use these apps to speak to each other and to contact reporters, concerned about hacking and the like. Sometimes, this new system has had embarrassing hiccups. While serving as the White House press secretary, a job that required shrieking about leaks on a daily basis, Sean Spicer downloaded Confide; antithetically, the app sometimes sends an alert to everyone who has your phone number when you join. Everyone, in Spicers case, was every reporter in the Northeast corridor. But generally, the apps seem like no big deal some officials and staffers like to use them, others dont seem to care, and at the end of the day theyre just one of what feels like a thousand ways to communicate in Washington. When Nunberg arrived in D.C. to testify back in March, he said he met a government vehicle outside Union Station that brought him to investigators. He handed them his iPhone, laptop, and iPad, as well as all of his passwords, which he said was voluntary. When his grand jury testimony was over several hours later, the devices were returned. I said, You can just go through everything, Nunberg said. It didnt take them long to copy everything. But the following month, Nunberg said the Office of Special Counsel contacted his attorney requesting his BlackBerry phones. A 2016 email exchange between Nunberg and Stone regarding Julian Assange had been obtained and published by reporter Trey Yingst. In the email, Nunbergs sign-off read, Sent from my BlackBerry the most secure mobile device. Mueller and his investigators were unaware that Nunberg had used a BlackBerry, which Nunberg blames on the fact that they had never asked him. They requested all my old BlackBerrys under the ridiculous rationale that I was hiding from them that I used to have BlackBerrys, he said. I went from BlackBerry to iPhone around mid-2017. They never asked me the history of what phones Ive had! Nunberg said, in the most Nunberg way possible, that he provided the Office of Special Counsel with the devices: What the fuck do they need my fucking BlackBerrys for? he asked. Some of them dont even, frankly, work They can keep them. I dont use them. I dont give a shit. They can keep them as a memento. Update: On Thursday Nunberg called New York to clarify that he downloaded WhatsApp in the winter of 2016. He added that hed never communicated on the app with anyone involved on the Trump campaign. Following in The Beatles footsteps, Elizabeth ONeill travelled to Rishikesh, India, for intense yoga teacher training and found it is not for the faint-hearted. The Himalayas mountains fold in on each other as the jade green river and the valley bend out of view. The slender suspension bridge of Lakshman Jhula unites the banks of the Ganges and ferries pedestrians, moped drivers, orange-clad Sadhus, and wandering cows. Heat whitens the sky and obscures the view. As first impressions go, my jaw very much hits the dusty ground. On a day off from her course, Elizabeth experienced a Himayalan sunrise getting up at 4am was worth it, she says. There are beaches along the river where people swim, and further along aarti, or fire rituals, take place every night, the Sanskrit chants spilling from bad PA systems. Votives held in banana leaves are lit up and floated down the holy river to eschew the darkness and honour Shiva, Brahma, or Vishnu. This is Rishikesh in northern India, self-appointed land of the yogis a place pinpointed on the tourist map in 1968 when The Beatles and the Beach Boys visited to learn transcendental meditation and its a pop culture coincidence that Rishikesh has capitalised on. There are said to be over 300 yoga schools here, and the signs for hatha, ashtanga, 200-hour teacher training, kundalini, laughter yoga, Ayurveda, Tibetan song bowl meditation, and reiki healing are plastered on nearly every building. Some travellers believe it is over-Westernised but after a week at an ashram in nearby Haridwar, Im relieved at the sight of coffee shops, incongruous German bakeries, and souvenir stalls. The majority of tourists are white, female, and here to practise yoga or raft down the river. There are also aged hippies rooted to the spot, here since the 60s blissfully fossilising while all around travellers are learning to bend and yield to life with asana (posture) practice and meditation. That is why Ive come here. Ive signed up for two weeks of a four- week, 200-hour teacher training course at Anadi Yoga Centre. A relatively new school, Anadi was recommended to me. Its run by the Gusain brothers who have taught at many of the bigger yoga schools in Rishikesh and around the world. The centre is housed in a former hotel, and has private rooms and bathrooms, two yoga shalas, and a dining hall. The price of the tuition covers food (three vegetarian meals a day) and accommodation. Each course can accommodate 12 students. Anadi Yoga Centre, where the course was held. I arrive with few expectations as this is an adventure far outside my comfort zone and the first surprise is that there are only three other students on the course. There will be nowhere to hide. My fellow yogis have different reasons for taking part. Ebony from Australia wants to use the practices in her job as a social worker. Laura from the UK is hoping to change career from dancing to yoga teaching. I am dipping my toe in the water, and seeing how far my (older) body might go, if maybe I can become a teacher. To condense 200 hours of training into four weeks involves maximising each day, so that it begins early, at 5.30am. The routine consists of nasal cleansing, chanting, first asana (postures) practice, breakfast (8.30am), philosophy, adjustment and alignment, pranayama (breathing), anatomy, lunch (1.30pm), second asana practice, meditation, dinner (7.30pm), lights out (9.30pm). In the afternoon, during time allotted for self-practice, we head to the nearby Nirvana cafe for a well-earned chai tea and vegan ice-cream. There is a curfew that is strictly adhered to; however, by 8pm we can barely speak and as Rishikesh is a so- called dry city, where alcohol is prohibited, going out isnt an issue. There is one day off a week, and on our first day off we awake at 4am to witness a Himalayan sunrise. It is worth it. Elizabeth O Neil, Laura Dade, and Ebony Martin. This is not for the faint-hearted. While the practice starts off gently enough, it builds up daily until we reach a point of doing about 30 chaturangas per class. The focus is not on advanced poses but building strength and breaking down the basics and relearning them with precision. For example, one class is dedicated to the ubiquitous downward dog, and as the days guinea pig, I have to hold the posture for 30 minutes as our teacher, Arvind, explains in minute detail the correct alignment. After years of practice, its safe to say I have it about 50% right. Fingers, hands, wrists, forearms, shoulders, spine, hips, legs, ankles, feet, toes, and even skin have places to be to make it feel and look effortless and avoid joint pain. Yoga in India differs significantly from Western-style yoga where the emphasis is on the physical postures. Here, its an immersion into a comprehensive yoga lifestyle, where all eight limbs of Hatha Yoga are given equal weight. From day one, we learn the correct term is Yog. We also learn that it means union, to bring the consciousness and divine or universal consciousness together. The aim of all the physical practice, breathing, and cleansing rituals is to be able to sit crossed-legged in meditation. So the purpose of the movement is to become still, and in turn that stillness is aimed at quietening the mind. Another major difference is the teaching ethos. Self-reliance, self-correction, and building a self-practice are encouraged; after all youre going to be in charge of a class one day. Votive offering for the aarti ritual. The teachers are patient and passionate, but there is no hand-holding or sugar-coating or assuring words that we are so used to and often need in a student-teacher dynamic. Although a challenge, I enjoy all classes, even the end of the day asana practice which is often the hardest class helmed by 18-year-old Abi, one of the schools apprentices and at that young age a better teacher than most Ive encountered. My favourite class is philosophy with Nalin, a Rishikesh guru who left his job as a Microsoft programmer in America to return home to focus on yoga philosophy. He brings a scientific gaze to the yoga sutra and in his class I realise the full extent of differences between the East and West. The European Enlightenment helped cleave the soul from the body with the words, I think, therefore I am, giving birth to the myth of the individual. Ever since, weve been seeking ways to heal that rift whether by amassing wealth, seeking power, career fulfilment, religious indoctrination, or travelling to the East for mindfulness and meditation. In India you do not die, you leave your body. In India there is no concept of god, there is just God or divinity. This is a creed for living, not a dogma. In India, everyone is made of the same material and part of the same world, not apart or different. After my two weeks, yes my body hurts but more than anything my mind is more flexible. Ill be returning to India in October to complete the course and continue my studies. Mel Mercier will design the soundscape for Corcadorcas latest play at Fitzgeralds Park, writes Colette Sheridan. Mercier is delighted to be back in Fitzgeralds Park for Corcadorcas production of The Numbered by Elias Canetti. Mercier, professor and chair of performing arts at the University of Limerick, recalls that the first time he worked on a Corcadorca production was A Midsummer Nights Dream in Fitzgeralds Park in 2001. Since then, he has worked with the iconic Cork theatre company a number of times, mostly for their site-specific productions. Designing the soundscape for outdoor productions brings its own unique challenges but Mercier says the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Last year, he won an Irish theatre award for his work on Corcadorcas production of Far Away on Spike Island. There were miles and miles of cables, says Mercier, whose musical projects have included the Cork Gamelan Ensemble. Technically, that was the most challenging of all the site-specific plays Ive worked on. I work with a brilliant sound engineer, Anthony Hanley. He makes it all happen on a very small budget. But, despite the logistics, Mercier says that there is something really liberating about getting out of the theatre. You cant achieve the kind the silence that you can potentially achieve in theatre. A lot of what youre doing is working with sound and silence. "So in the theatre, you try to find out where all the extraneous noises are coming from such as the air conditioning or the sound of the microphones. "You can spend quite a lot of time trying to quieten the space whereas outdoors, I find it much better just to embrace the atmosphere and the natural soundscape thats there anyway. Mercier adds that by embracing the outdoor sounds and tuning into them, you connect much more with the space. Being outside gives you licence to work creatively with sound. Youre making the work between the sky and the earth. If you are blessed with good weather in the dark, late at night, it brings a certain quality of stillness into a space that you dont get at three oclock in the afternoon. "Theres something really beautiful about that. It can be very potent. While a roving band played at A Midsummer Nights Dream, the sound design for The Numbered is all recorded. I usually go into a show like this with a palette of sounds Ive recorded and manipulated in a studio. Then I send the sounds out into the air to see which of them hang in the air and complement the light, the text, the voices and the mood. Youre looking for mood and atmosphere a lot of the time. The premise of The Numbered is that in the society its set, everybody knows when theyre going to die. On the surface, theres a sense of a kind of utopian society. But quickly, you realise that its not so utopian. Theres great tension there between the certainty of death on the one hand and our own lived experience of its uncertainty. All is not as it seems in the play. Merciers modus operandi involves having a couple of conversations with director, Pat Kiernan. Im as interested, if not more, in what Pat thinks of the play as I am in the play itself. Talking to him gives me certain ideas about the mood of the play, what the undercurrents might be and what the overall shape of it might be. I try to respond to that in my work. Mercier tweaks the soundscape to compensate for the impact the audience has on the acoustics. But before that, he and Hanley walk the site, trying to see what might be needed. Anthony is always computing the amount of cabling we need and how were going to do things technically, whether there are going to be radio microphones. Kiernan is particularly interested in returning to Fitzgeralds Park, says Mercier. "Thats because in the new stage area, theres an intriguing dome-shaped thing which is very futuristic. Theres a great contrast between that and the other part of the park, particularly beside the river, which is much more pastoral, more naturalistic. Because the play moves between two worlds, youre trying to use the space to show that." Like Far Away last year, this is not a happy play. Were looking for some humour in it but its dark. Its really an extreme example of how a society can come to accept the imposition of a belief system and its about how people can so easily acquiesce. Over the years, Mercier has worked with leading English sound designer, Chris Schutt, who has been an influence. Hes a wonderful sound designer who won a Tony Award for War Horse in the National Theatre. Theres some very good people working in sound in Cork. "Cormac OConnor is wonderful. Ive seen some of his recent very impressive work with Graffiti. Peter Power is also very talented. The Numbered is at Fitzgeralds Park from June 18-30, at 10.30pm. As the crow flies: Other theatre highlights at Cork Midsummer Festival Jon Kenny in Crowman Crowman: Jon Kenny stars in Katie Hollys tale of one mans pathological hatred of crows. In fact, his main mission in life seems to be to hurt or kill as many crows as he can. Asking For It: Adapted from Louise ONeills best-selling novel, will premiere at the Everyman from June 15 to 23. This devastating story is about the aftermath of a gang rape on a young woman. Based in a Co Cork town, things spiral out of control with social media shaming and victim blaming. Lex Talionis (A Tale of Vengeance & Feathers): Irish Examiner court reporter, Liam Heylins latest play, at the Cork Arts Theatre from June 21 to 23 is the second corvid-related piece in the festival. The characters are birds who promise savage craic (and trouble) on the streets of Cork. Tenebrae is the latest work by Cork writer, Ger Fitzgibbon, at the Unitarian Church Hall on Princes Street from June 18 to 24. In the darkness of a disused oratory, a nun searches for the records of her religious order. What she finds is a homeless man who seems to have taken refuge in the building. This is a collision of two lives in crisis. Palmyra, an exploration of revenge, the politics of destruction and what we consider to be barbaric, is at the Granary on June 23 to 24. It was one of The Guardians Top Ten Theatre of 2017. That newspaper described it as a brilliant piece that reflects on Syria and the breakdown of relationships. England: A Play Written For A Gallery is at the Crawford Art Gallery from June 15 to 17. Presented by GAITKRASH, it features sound artist, Mick OShea and actors, Regina Crowley and Frank Prendergast. It involves a guided tour through a gallery space and is billed as a witty and satirical play about compassion and ruthlessness. See corkmidsummer.com The Beach Boys have a new orchestral album, and Mike Love tells Andrew Arthur hes not on bad terms with Brian Wilson. It was the subject of many of their songs, but these days Beach Boys founding member Mike Love is, perhaps unsurprisingly, a little more selective before going out on a surfing trip. Mike Love. Pic: Jonathan Leibson/Getty Images for Celebrity Fight Night I dont surf so much these days! laughs Love down the phone from Wabash in the US state of Indiana. The 77-year-old maintains though that if the conditions are favourable, he is occasionally happy to get back on a board. If Im In Hawaii and the surf is more gentle I may attempt it but I sing about it beautifully! But no, our lifestyle now is touring. Once in a while, we find ourselves in a place where it is conducive to surfing. It is really beautiful to try your luck at it again. That Love and fellow Beach Boy Bruce Johnston, 75, arent wiped out from a gruelling touring schedule is impressive enough. Last year, they performed at over 180 concerts in around 170 different locations. And they only seem to be getting busier as a new album with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is set to arrive. Simply titled The Beach Boys with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the record sees the original recordings of the bands celebrated vocal harmonies paired with new symphonic arrangements recorded at Abbey Road studios. The collaboration has breathed new life into some of the bands most famous songs, as far as Love is concerned. He cites a re-working of a track he and fellow founding member Brian Wilson penned together in November 1963, as his favourite moment from the album. The Warmth Of The Sun, which my cousin Brian and I wrote together, is a beautiful ballad. But to hear it with the complement of the orchestra is just fantastic. It is pretty neat, because people will be familiar with the songs but the orchestras arrangements really embellish them and give them a whole new incarnation. You might think that, after 50 years of touring, Love may be weary of singing the same tunes night after night. No, I had a hand, not only in singing those songs, but also writing them as well. The majority of people will come to see us because they know and are hoping to hear certain songs from you, whether it be Good Vibrations or California Girls or something from the Pet Sounds album. I dont ever want to disappoint anybody and I love those songs. Were obsessed with recreating them live as close to the original recordings as possible. We even sing them in the same keys. The history of The Beach Boys is plagued with feuds about their artistic direction and legal disputes. After the bands overwhelming commercial success with surf rock songs about cars, girls and the beach, Wilson retired from touring in 1964 to concentrate on songwriting and producing. The more elaborate sound of subsequent Wilson-led projects, the seminal Pet Sounds and the recording process for the unfinished album Smile resulted in infamous infighting over the bands creative direction. Love has been criticised by some sections of the bands fan base for reportedly being resistant to Wilsons songwriting shift. Love wrote in his 2016 memoir: For those who believe that Brian walks on water, I will always be the Antichrist. In 2012, Love, Wilson, Al Jardine, Johnston and early guitarist David Marks reunited for a 50th anniversary tour and an album featuring new material. When the tour ended, Love announced new Beach Boys shows that would not involve Wilson. Wilson and Jardine now tour with a separate group. Hopes for another tour with Wilson gained traction in May, when Love posted a get well soon note on Facebook to his cousin who had to undergo back surgery. Loves voice adopts a more bristly tone when the subject of the bands previous arguments are brought up. Asked if there was any awkwardness about the past when the band got back together, Love says: Not really. In 2012, I think we did over 70 concerts together to mark the 50th anniversary. Brian Wilson We all have the part we played, literally and figuratively. We all know each other very well. But as many bands do, there are feuds. People go and do their own separate things and then once in a while, when its right, they come together. I think its pretty normal. The things that you are alluding to happened long ago and its water over the dam. I sent Brian a sympathetic note the other day. Brian travels with his own band so we dont often see each other. But we know of each others whereabouts most of the time. Brian has had back problems for many years and Ive had them in the past as well. So I feel for what hes going through. The Beach Boys with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is out today. By Michael Clifford Soon after noon yesterday, Judge Peter Charleton let fly. Or, to be more accurate, he departed momentarily from his customary Jobian patience. Irish Mail on Sunday editor Conor ODonnell arriving at the Disclosures Tribunal at Dublin Castle yesterday. Ive been sitting here for close to two and a half hours. Theres no need to throw insults around the room. Youre taking sides against Alison OReilly. His comments were in response to a retort from the witness, Irish Daily Mail editor Sebastian Hamilton, to a suggestion from Ms OReillys lawyer, Fionan O Muircheartaigh, that his client was motivated in coming forward to the tribunal by a civic and legal duty. You would say that, wouldnt you, Mr Hamilton retorted. Once the chairman intervened, he apologised. What, you may ask, has any of this to do with whether there was a smear campaign conducted against the Garda whistleblower, Sgt Maurice McCabe? The answer may well be revealed when Judge Charleton issues his report. What has become clear in recent days, as the tribunal lurches towards the finishing line, is that media is the latest pillar of democracy to get caught up in the Sgt McCabe affair. And the fallout aint pretty. Alison OReilly is a reporter in the Mail who is in legal dispute with her employer over an unrelated matter. She claims that her colleague, Debbie McCann, told her about the discredited historic allegation against McCabe and cast it as a serious matter. She also says Ms McCann told her the information came from Noirin OSullivan and Supt David Taylor. This would support the theory that Taylor was involved in a smear campaign, which he claims to be the case. Debbie McCann denies this version completely. The Mails editor, Mr Hamilton, appears to be coming down on the side of Debbie McCann. Ms OReilly has separate legal representation at the tribunal. Irish Daily Mail editor Sebastian Hamilton, who also testified at the tribunal yesterday. This is not the only media spat aired at the tribunal. Last week, former Sunday Independent editor Ann Harris claimed that Irish Independent editor Fionnan Sheehan told her in 2014 that Sgt McCabe was a paedophile. Mr Sheehan denies this vehemently. The counsel for Independent News and Media put it to Ms Harris that she was a disgruntled former employee who was having a pop at a current executive. Ms Harris denies that. She is not the only former INM employee who has given evidence at the tribunal. Gemma ODoherty, a one-time writer for the paper, told the inquiry that she believed her story about former commissioner Martin Callinan having penalty points quashed led to her unfair dismissal. She received an apology and a settlement from the paper after taking a High Court action. INM denies that the penalty points story had any influence on her departure from the company. Perhaps these spats are just in keeping with one theme at the inquiry. Supt Taylors allegations about a smear campaign are being cast by counsel for the gardai as the product of a grudge he had against Noirin OSullivan. He certainly had some issues with Ms OSullivan, but whether they influenced him to make his protected disclosure is a matter for the judge. What is beyond doubt is that the fallout from the Sgt McCabe affair is still sending ripples out across the centres of power. Two governments have lost a minister for justice. Two commissioners have resigned. Now fissures within the media industry are being given a public airing with various parties coming down either on the side that supports the case that somebody was smearing Sgt McCabe or else playing it down. Despite all that, there is no denying that the inquiry has given a detailed insight into how the Sgt McCabe story was dealt with by the gardai and the media. This stuff is vital in a functioning democracy where there remains a serious suspicion that powerful forces wanted Sgt McCabe shut up because of the unpalatable truths he was carrying. Meanwhile later yesterday, the Irish Times crime editor, Conor Lally, told the tribunal he was never briefed negatively by any garda about Sgt McCabe. He is the second crime journalist to so declare, following the Daily Stars Michael OToole. ConorLally7Jun18_large.jpg[/timgca] Mr Lally also said that on the day he interviewed Miss D, the woman at the centre of the discredited 2006 allegation, he ensured not to contact any garda on his phone that day in order to ensure there could never be a question about his independence in doing the interview. Michael McDowell, counsel for Sgt McCabe, brought Mr Lally through a number of articles he had penned on the whistleblower controversy in 2014. At one point, Judge Charleton noted that the tribunal was not some sort of a Leveson inquiry, referencing the inquiry into the media conducted in Britain a few years ago. Mr Lally continues his evidence today. The world must have the technical solutions to guarantee the credibility of countries promises if denuclearisation is to succeed, write Piet de Klerk and Robert Floyd. As officials from the United States and North Korea prepare for the June 12 summit meeting between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un, nuclear experts must come to terms with a significant question: If Kim commits to dismantling his nuclear stockpile, how can the world be sure he is following through? There is no question that North Korea poses a unique challenge to the nuclear nonproliferation regime; the political context for advancing disarmament globally is very different. Still, the technical aspects of verifying that a nuclear warhead has been dismantled are the same everywhere. Although a consensus on how to reduce global stockpiles of nuclear weapons may be a long way off, it is not too soon to begin preparing for the day when disarmament in North Korea or elsewhere is on the agenda. For nearly four years, the International Partnership for Nuclear Disarmament Verification has been working to improve the weapons dismantlement process. As co-chairs of an IPNDV working group, we are collaborating with experts from more than 25 nuclear- and non-nuclear-armed countries to develop formulas, technologies, and expertise that will help in the implementation of future disarmament agreements. Ultimately, the partnerships goal is to address capability gaps in the monitoring and verification of nuclear-weapons disposal. Our work so far has focused on four key areas. First, despite decades of strategic arms-control agreements and unilateral disarmament, the international community has no standardised way to guarantee that a country claiming to disarm is actually doing so. For example, previous treaties in the Salt and Start series to reduce US and Soviet or Russian arsenals were aimed at limiting the number of nuclear warheads deployed on bombers, missiles, and submarines. Inspectors verified the inventories of those delivery systems, but not the warheads themselves. This remains a major gap that will become even more contentious as the number of weapons declines and the need for stronger verification increases. Next, the world requires a more diverse set of verifiers to build confidence in the disarmament process. During the height of the Cold War, the Soviet Union and the US were the two main nuclear-armed states accounting for the bulk of the 70,000 weapons then in existence. While Russia and the US still possess the vast majority of the worlds 14,000-15,000 nuclear weapons, efforts to reduce stockpiles have grown more complicated as the number of nuclear-armed states has increased. Third, with nuclear-weapons inventories still too high, a strong verification regime could help build political will for further reductions. The lower the number, the more important verification will become. Moving toward zero, verification becomes absolutely critical. Finally, because policymakers will no doubt make demands related to verification during future disarmament negotiations, persuasive answers, supported by strong technical evidence, will be critical to allaying fears about cheating. Since IPNDV was founded in December 2014, our members have been exploring the most challenging technical aspects of verifying weapons dismantlement. One key question we have sought to tackle is how to involve countries without nuclear weapons. While our work in this area is ongoing, what we are essentially developing is a system of verification with a blindfold whereby states and inspectors unable to observe dismantlement directly can still be assured that it is carried out according to agreed procedures. Other challenges we are working to address include long-term tracking of weapons as they are replaced or refurbished, and closing gaps in the documentation stage of dismantling. How can assurance be provided that verification tools meet the safety and security requirements of nuclear-weapons facilities? How can verification provide the high level of assurance required by states as the number of nuclear weapons approaches zero? Our work is not occurring in a vacuum. When the parties to the Non-Proliferation Treaty meet every five years to review the treatys effectiveness, progress on nuclear disarmament is usually a weak spot. While the IPNDVs recommendations will never be a substitute for negotiations that engage nuclear-armed states, we believe they can improve the prospects of achieving the treatys goal of global denuclearisation. Nuclear disarmament poses many monitoring and verification challenges, but the huge scale of the task is no excuse for inaction. Eventually, the political headwinds will subside, and denuclearisation will proceed again. When that happens, the world must be ready with the technical solutions to guarantee the credibility of countries promises. Piet de Klerk, a former Dutch ambassador to Jordan and chief negotiator for the 2014 Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague, is an adviser on arms control to the Netherlands ministry of foreign affairs. Robert Floyd is director general of the Australian safeguards and non-proliferation office. The countrys eurosceptics on the left and right anti-austerity and anti-immigration, respectively have united in government and may yet succeed in upending the European project, says Mark Leonard. They are trying to stop us with the usual blackmail of rising spreads, falling stock markets, and European threats, wrote Matteo Salvini, leader of Italys League party, on his Facebook page. This time, Salvini said, change is coming. Now, he has formed a new government with the leader of the populist Five Star Movement, Luigi Di Maio. And the coalition between M5S and the League could be a new eurosceptic movement capable of exacting revenge on financial markets, the European Union, and German fiscal hawks. Salvini has declared round two in the larger battle between Italian populism and the European establishment. Round one ended in November, 2011, when German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and then-French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, leveraged financial market concerns to force former Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, out of office. Since then, populist euroscepticism has been on the rise, particularly in Italy, owing to the countrys frontline position in the migrant and refugee crisis. Italys recent drama played out against a larger backdrop of political change across Europe. Markets were spooked last month by the emergence of a draft M5S/League document, suggesting that Europe should return to the period before the 1992 Maastricht Treaty and the introduction of the euro. But such reports should be taken with a grain of salt. Both M5S and the League have been ambivalent about how far they want to push the anti-euro agenda, and both responded to the leak of the document by promising that a discussion of the euro was not on the table. Italys president, Sergio Mattarella. Then, in late May, Italys president, Sergio Mattarella, caused an uproar by blocking the appointment of the eurosceptic economist, Paolo Savona, as the countrys new minister of economy and finance, suggesting that the single currency may yet be a central issue. An Italian government combining two very different strands of populism will pose a serious threat to the European project, because it could form the core of a new federation of populists and eurosceptics who have hitherto operated separately. No longer would eurosceptics be fragmented into different tribes of anti-immigrant politicians, on the right, and anti-austerity politicians, on the left. To be sure, M5S and the League are awkward bedfellows, which is why they initially failed to form a government, after winning a combined majority on March 4. But if they succeed in governing, their political programme could serve as a template for populists throughout the EU. Consider, for example, the Leagues international agenda, which advocates a crusade against immigration and a return to more traditional values. Those are the same ideas that animate Hungarys increasingly authoritarian prime minister, Viktor Orban, who has now forged a close relationship with Salvini. Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban. For its part, M5S is not unsympathetic to the Leagues anti-immigrant agenda, and it would complement it by rallying Mediterranean member states behind an anti-austerity, anti-Northern European banner. Though France and Spain would probably not join this cause, Greece and other countries might, and together they could severely disrupt EU politics. Emmanuel Macron. All of this is occurring in the shadow of next years elections to the European Parliament, which will likely be attended by a surge of populist parties across the continent. European populists would like nothing more than to create a self-hating parliament, in which a majority of MEPs oppose the institution they serve. Were this to happen, it would also have far-reaching implications for the composition of the European Commission and other EU governing bodies, which have been insulated from political ructions at the national level. Still, while the forces of populism have been mobilising, so, too, has the mainstream, particularly since Emmanuel Macrons electrifying victory in the French presidential election last year. Macron has introduced a new wave of thinking about the European project; and, like the populists, he represents change, rather than the status quo. Macrons genius is that he does not accept the traditional dividing lines between left and right, and between EU integration and national sovereignty. His is a story that could appeal to the Europeans who feel left behind. Macron and Merkel have promised to present an outline for EU-level reforms within the next month. Angele Merkel and Emmanuel Macron. One of the more interesting ideas is a flexible Europe, which would allow a coalition of willing member states to move forward on deeper integration while leaving the door open for others to enter later. If Italy continues down the populist path, it will exclude itself from this core group. The big question for this era of European history is whether mainstream reformers will win out over populists. The old-new Franco-German tandem wants to reinvent the European core, thereby pushing the Euroskeptics to the fringe. But Salvini and Di Maio want to make that fringe the new core, thereby isolating the EUs traditional leading powers. This will be a long game. The European core won the first round, when it replaced Berlusconi with Mario Monti, who was very popular in European capitals. And yet, the resurgence of populism in Italy suggests that this may have been a Pyrrhic victory. According to a recent study from the European Council on Foreign Relations, public support for the EU declined more in Italy than in any other member state between 2007 and 2017. Little wonder, then, that Italy has quickly gone from having one of the most pro-EU governments to potentially being the new vanguard of European populism. But all hope is not lost for the European project. The silver lining of the eurosceptics success is that pro-Europeans have been shaken from their complacency. The viability of both movements is about to be tested, starting in Italy. Mark Leonard is director of the European Council on Foreign Relations. Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2018. Peter Apps says in an increasingly chaotic world the G7 states need to come together and remind the world of what they believe in, and why they think it matters. Meetings of the G8 group comprising the worlds richest nations used to be an exercise in well-choreographed consensus. The largely technocratic, centrist leadership of major countries would discuss how to tweak the global economy, help those they believed were being left behind and generally congratulate each other on their overlapping progressive and largely democratic values. This weeks gathering in Quebec, Canada, of the now G7 Russia was suspended for annexing the Crimea in 2014 could hardly look more different, much to the alarm and irritation of its host, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau. US President Donald Trump last week alienated the other six nations by effectively starting a trade war, plus the meeting will be overshadowed by the growing worry that the new populist Italian government will throw the euro back into crisis. Its unclear what can genuinely be achieved at the summit. The Canadian agenda is in many respects a throwback to more predictable times; its focus is on finding ways to broaden economic growth and manage climate change. However, in reality, Trumps latest trade bombshell imposing steep tariffs on metals imported from Mexico, Canada, and the European Union will be a major issue. Thats a pity. Since the 2008 financial crash, the real decision-making body for international affairs should have been the broader G20, although this group has often itself proved dysfunctional. The G7, however, offers a different opportunity a chance for those in charge to battle over an even larger question: what the democratic West and its allies, particularly Japan, really want. What do they offer the world, and how can they defend those values? There is now an increasingly clear crisis of confidence in Western democratic institutions and the rise of idiosyncratic leaders like Trump, this week announcing his belief that he could pardon himself for any wrongdoing takes place at a time of profound geopolitical shifts. Military and broader tensions with an increasingly autocratic and self-confident Russia and China are rising almost by the week. As Trumps election victory and trade-war rhetoric demonstrates, the consensus around building a more globalised economy is also badly damaged. In democracies and autocracies alike, there is concern that the next round of industrial mechanisation may cost jobs and undermine living standards, without any clear international strategy to mitigate that. This is one area the G7 meeting does intend to tackle, although given the limited amount of time likely to be dedicated to it, a breakthrough feels unlikely, to put it mildly. The broader problem facing the West is relatively simple. For most of the last few centuries, the social contract of capitalist democracy has been that it will deliver both rising living standards and greater personal freedom to its citizens. With stagnant wages and growing demands on health and social systems from an ageing population, that now feels much less certain. Amongst huge swathes of society, there is also a growing doubt that existing democratic systems deliver the quality of leadership required. Frustrations with the technocratic leaders of the last decade had been building for years and now much of the urban middleclass society is horrified by the emergence of populists such as Trump. Even where relative centrists still hold sway most particularly in president Emmanuel Macrons France and chancellor Angela Merkels Germany far-right parties are on the rise, and could gain more power over the next decade. The UKs political leaders might like to see themselves as middle-of-the-road and part of the responsible mainstream, but the 2016 referendum on leaving the European Union has them embracing an ever more unpredictable-looking Brexit. Among the G7 leaders, only Canadas Trudeau and Japans Shinzo Abe do not face serious populist insurrections at home. They too, however, must confront the same broader societal strains, and neithers position looks unassailable. Amid this gloomy outlook, managerialism is perhaps unsurprising. It would be good, though, if the G7 were able to also outline a narrative on what the West does right. Despite all their flaws, the liberal democracies remain among the only countries in the world where citizens are not in abject fear of those in authority, where liberty and even life are broadly protected against the savagery of unrestricted government power. Even with the challenges posed by growing burdens of age and ill health, they still offer the best social safety nets on the planet. Put simply, they remain the best places to live even if this fact helps produce their other greatest challenge: how to manage migration from populations who see those benefits much more clearly. A decade ago, these were things the rest of the world was lazily assumed to also be heading towards even China, Russia and other more dictatorial states. Thats clearly no longer the case by most measures, human rights and freedom have been eroded globally in the last five years. However, that makes it more important for the G7 states to come together and remind the world of what they do believe in, and why they think it matters. That doesnt feel a likely outcome from the Canada summit. Even if it was, the days in which this group could dictate and lecture to the rest of the world, largely unchallenged, are clearly very much over. Still, unless the G7 states can pull themselves together and define their values in the years and decades to come, they may be surprised to discover just how much they still have to lose. Peter Apps is Reuters global affairs columnist, writing on international affairs, globalisation, conflict and other issues. He is founder and executive director of the Project for Study of the 21st Century; PS21, a non-national, non-partisan, non-ideological thinktank. Before that, he spent 12 years as a reporter for Reuters covering defence, political risk and emerging markets. Since 2016, he has been a member of the British Army Reserve and the UK Labour Party. Cuomo speaks at a rally organized by the Working Families Party on February 24, 2018. Photo: Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images By the time one of its founding members, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, was sworn in as New York Citys 109th mayor in 2014, the Working Families Party had cemented itself as perhaps the most powerful force in New York politics. Not only had the 15-year-old motley collection of labor unions and progressive groups taken control of City Hall, but they had helped elect a majority of the City Council, and were prepared to see another ally, Melissa Mark-Viverito, become the Speaker of the City Council, thus breaking the county bosses longtime stranglehold on that job. Loyal to the Working Families Party were the citys public advocate, its comptroller, the states attorney general, and dozens of members of the state legislature. Four years later, the WFP has been nearly dismantled, its parts sold for scrap. Many of the labor unions that made up the bulk of the partys membership have bolted. Elected officials who once bowed before the partys priorities are now rejecting its imprimatur, even as the partys priorities on tilting the playing field toward workers and away from corporations have become the driving force of the Democratic Party. Now, in order to regain its heft, the Working Families Party may have to do the very thing it pledged to never do, while also taking on the very person who put the party in the position it is in the first place: Governor Andrew Cuomo. In case you havent noticed, the governor isnt keen on there being competing power centers in New York State. And for its part, the WFP, formed out of the long shadow of Ralph Naders disastrous 2000 presidential campaign, made its mission to pull Democrats to the left in primaries, and vowed never to play the spoiler like the Greens did to Al Gore. If its endorsed candidate lost in a Democratic primary, that candidate promptly dropped out, and the party encouraged liberal New Yorkers to vote for the Democratic nominee on the Working Family Partys line. In New York, there are several minor parties, and the coin-of-the-realm is placement on the ballot next to the two major ones, with the belief among political professionals that harried voters arent likely to spend a lot of time reading the party labels at the bottom of the ballot. The Working Families Party had slowly crept up to Row D on the ballot, behind the Democratic and Republican Parties, and fresh on the heels of the Conservative Party, which held Row C after the Independent Party imploded. In his first term, Cuomo governed very much as a centrist: cutting spending, capping taxes, battling the states public sector unions, boosting charter schools, and exploring lifting a ban on fracking, all the while using backroom machinations to keep Republicans in partial control of Albany. So in 2014, the Working Families Party faced a choice: endorse Cuomo, whom many party members loathed, or take a flyer on Zephyr Teachout, a little-known and littler-funded constitutional law professor mounting a plucky challenge to the governor. They went with option A after a serious push from de Blasio (back before he and Cuomo began their blood feud in earnest) and a promise from Cuomo that he would address the WFP convention and fight for their priorities. Instead, Cuomo addressed the convention with an awkward hostage-style video link, and after receiving the endorsement promptly set up his own party, the very similar sounding Womens Equality Party to drain votes from the WFP. When he did fight for the partys priorities raising the minimum wage or instituting paid family leave or raising the age at which juveniles can be tried as adults he pointedly cut party brass out of any celebratory ribbon cuttings. And so in 2018, the WFP went with Cynthia Nixon, who brings the kind of star power to the gubernatorial race that Teachout lacked. And in response, Cuomo did what Cuomo does: He went to war. His pick for attorney general, Letitia James, pointedly declined to seek the WFP nomination, even though she was one of the first lawmakers in the city to receive the WFPs backing when she first ran for the City Council back in 2003. He pushed the labor unions that formed the backbone of the party to leave it, telling them to lose my phone number if they stayed in the party, according to WFP executive director Bill Lipton. Most left, and the WFP has shrunk down to a much smaller agglomeration of good government and do-gooder progressive groups. Now, if Nixon loses the Democratic primary to Cuomo, she and the WFP have to decide whether or not to violate one of the partys core tenets and play the potential spoiler by running a quixotic third-party campaign, even if it means potentially handing the election to Cuomos little-known Republican challenger, Dutchess county executive Marc Molinaro. But if they do not, it will mean that the party will have to endorse Cuomo through gritted teeth after he spent the last several years trying to destroy them. The party would have to convince its activist base to vote for someone they loathe on the WFP line as Cuomo actively works to dissuade his voters from doing the same. The party could slip farther down on the ballot it dropped below the Green Party in 2014, winding up on Row E and could fail to reach the 50,000-vote threshold at all which would mean falling off the New York State ballot entirely. In conversations with several WFP activists, they sound very much like a group ready to toss caution aside and go to battle with Cuomo. None would speak on the record for fear of inflaming tensions further between the two sides, but there was a palpable sense that the Working Families Party had been kicked into a corner, and had no choice but to fight back. If that meant a Governor Marc Molinaro, well, Andrew Cuomo would have no one to blame but himself for attacking the progressive flank of his own coalition. And besides, many on the left say, Are there really major differences between the centrist white-guy Democrat and the centrist white-guy Republican? The Republican is not well-known, so I dont think he will be much of a factor anyway. And Andrew Cuomo is an asshole, said one party insider. So its the perfect moment for a third-party kind of run. If Cuomo wants to come to us and apologize and accept our line, I guess we would think about it, but how can the Working Families Party even trust Cuomo to keep his word at this point? In the end, the fight will come down to what Nixon wants to do, since the party couldnt go forward to November without their standard-bearer. Her campaign wouldnt respond to inquiries on the subject, since by their lights she will beat Cuomo in September and be the Democratic nominee. But if she doesnt, and her hatred of the governor is equal to that of her allies in the #Resistance, it will make for one awfully interesting fall. Mr Buttimer told the Irish Examiner he is focussed solely on fighting to win back the Cork South Central Dail seat he lost in the 2016 general election. He denied he has been contacted by party officials about a possible switch to the north of the city. Current Fine Gael TD Dara Murphys confirmed last month that he will not seek re-election. A number of senior Fine Gael sources said Mr Buttimer may be encouraged to move across the River Lee and contest the soon-to-be empty seat. The suggestion was based on the fact the four Cork South Central seats are currently occupied by Tanaiste Simon Coveney, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin, Fianna Fail finance spokesperson Michael McGrath and Sinn Fein justice spokesman Donnchadh O Laoghaire meaning it may be difficult for Mr Buttimer to contest. In addition, due to recent boundary changes, two-thirds of Mr Buttimers Bishopstown base is now in Cork North Central, while his high national profile would be a benefit in any constituency race. While the June 18 Cork North Central selection convention nominations deadline closed last Friday without Mr Buttimers name being added, several senior sources have suggested the senator could still be parachuted in at a later date. However, asked about the rumours yesterday, Mr Buttimer said he has no intention of leaving Cork South Central. Currently, five people will contest the Cork North Central Fine Gael selection convention on June 18. They include senator Colm Burke, 2016 candidate Julie OLeary, Cobh councillor Sinead Sheppard, former constituency party chair John Kelleher and city councillor Joe Kavanagh. It is understood Fianna Fail is likely to run sitting councillor Dr John Sheehan as a running mate for jobs spokesperson Billy Kelleher, while Sinn Feins finance spokesperson Jonathan OBrien is likely to be paired with the daughter of Sinn Fein councillor Chris OLeary, Mandy O Leary Hegarty. The Budget will take place on October 9. The Cabinet will discuss the summer economic statement over the next fortnight which will indicate the available spend in 2019. The minister indicated the process could be influenced by the outcome of a crucial EU summit concentrating on Brexit at the end of this month. It will focus on whether Brexit talks can proceed but only if progress has been made on the North and the question of a frictionless border. Mr Donohoe, confirming the summer economic statement would be published shortly, said: We will be outlining then, in so far as we can, what we think the outlook for the economy will be in 2019 and beyond that. "Obviously, it is very difficult to make a comprehensive assessment regarding what 2019 could look like, given the imminent June European Council and many of the negotiations that are underway in relation to Brexit. "But we will be outlining our assessment for the state of play then. However, asked about the possibility of a transatlantic trade war damaging Irelands economy and future prosperity, the minister stated: We are a small open economy. "Anything that happens that negatively impacts on the global trading environment or the tone of the global trading environment can affect the Irish economy. That being said, if I look at the rebalancing that has occurred in our economy with the growing strength of the domestic economy and the degree to which our trading performance and our export performance has now diversified, I believe we are now well-placed to manage external changes but we can never be complacent about the challenges they can pose for us. Parties have begun debating the budget for next year, with Fianna Fail saying spending should be focused if funds are being set aside for the rainy day fund. However, Sinn Fein insists cash-starved services such as health and house building must be addressed and should be a priority over any rainy day fund. Mr Donohoe said he was well aware of possible increased revenue coming to the Government, from sources such as increased house building. But he has no plans to spend increased taxes in an unsustainable way, he said, noting: I have not done that to date. I do not have any plans to do that in the future. "But before we get to the point of looking at tax revenue that might be yielded by the increase in the number of homes that we might expect to be built next year, my focus is on trying to ensure those homes are actually built and supplied. The countrys fiscal watchdog warned this week that a rapid rise in house building in the coming few years to address demand may risk overheating the economy. The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, while saying there was no immediate danger to the States finances, warned the minority coalition should pursue a prudent strategy to ensure there was no repeat of policy decisions from the boom. The meeting of the National Association of General Practitioners (NAGP) in Portlaoise takes place as figures from Britains department of health show a decline in the number of women, resident in Ireland, travelling to the UK for abortions. Details released yesterday show 3,092 women with Irish addresses underwent abortions in England and Wales in 2017, down 5% on the previous year, with the majority travelling to Manchester. The figures contain clinic statistics for the first time and show the Marie Stopes clinic in Manchester is the number one choice of women resident in the Republic. The figures also show the majority of the women (65%) were less than nine weeks pregnant and 2,943 (95%) sought an abortion on Ground C alone of the UK Abortion Act 1967, where the pregnancy has not exceeded its 24th week. Among those who travelled were 10 girls under the age of 16. Almost 560 women previously had one or more abortions. A number of women sought abortions principally under Ground E which permits termination because of fetal abnormality at any gestation. Of those, 72 were classified as chromosomal abnormalities, of which 41 were Down syndrome. The Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) said the latest abortion statistics from England and Wales show the proposed primary-care model for abortion services in Ireland is practical and achievable. IFPA chief executive Niall Behan said the statistics show only 0.2% of all women who have abortions require overnight care. However, Maitiu O Tuathail, president of the NAGP, said its members still had no clarity around how an abortion service would operate, two weeks after a referendum to legalise abortion had been passed. The doctor said he was receiving a dozen calls a day from GPs seeking clarity around: How women considering abortion could avail of a counselling service given the limited national counselling service currently available. Dr O Tuathail said he rang the service on Wednesday and was told there was an eight-month waiting time; How to avoid a situation where surgeries were targeted by protesters if it became known that a GP was providing an abortion service; Whether a GPs medical insurance would need to be extended to cover an abortion service; How ultrasounds could be provided to assess gestation if women in the public health service already wait four to six months to access ultrasounds. Dr O Tuathail said GPs were struggling to maintain existing services theres a three-day wait to see the GP at his own practice in Rathfarnham with many unable to take on new patients. He said GPs did not envisage their own patients coming to them to request an abortion. Ireland is a very, very small country and I dont see women going to their own GPs. Dr O Tuathail said the biggest issue for their 2,080 members was the desire for an opt-in rather than an opt-out service the proposed legislation allows a GP to opt-out on grounds of conscientious objection. The NAGP is currently polling members to see how many are likely to engage in providing an abortion service and results are due to be announced at tomorrows EGM. A Department of Health spokesperson said it has held very productive meetings with the Royal College of Physicians, Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and the Irish College of General Practitioners to discuss the service issues that will arise from legislation to regulate termination of pregnancy. It was agreed to continue this engagement over the period ahead. It is recognised that, separate to the engagement with doctors professional bodies, contractual discussions will also be required in due course in relation to the provision of services by GPs to GMS patients. News: 6 Marina Permaul was orphaned and placed in an industrial school at aged eight. She ended up in a Magdalene laundry at aged 16 after being caught talking to a boy. Marina Permaul from London. Pic: Dan Linehan I left Ireland in 1961. I was 17-and-a-half. My life in Ireland was hard, very, very hard. The youngsters today would never go through what we went through. My parents died when I was about seven. My mother died of TB and my father died a year after and thats how we entered the schools. "The boys went to the Christian Brothers schools and I went to a school in Galway. When I left the school in Galway, I went to work in the county home [hospice] in Ennis, Co Clare, and this is how I happened to be having the laugh with this boy in the morgue. The door was always open, there wasnt anything in it, I didnt even know him really. I knew he was one of the porters. It was just a conversation. The next morning, after watering the flowers on the altar, two nuns put me into a car, tricked me to get me into this car and took me to a laundry in Galway. I was there for six months. It was brutal. It was like a prison. No, Id say prison was better. "Ive never been in prison but Ive seen it on television and things like that and they get reasonably good food. It was slavery really, is how Id describe it. I was lucky that somebody spotted me. We used to have to entertain other nuns, that would come into the convent at Christmas time and sing for them. One of the nuns spotted me, she knew me. She went back and told a nun Id grew up with and it was her that got me out of there. She sorted me out a bit and let me rest a while and then she got me a job down by the seaside in Galway in a place for student nuns. "I ran away from there and I went down to see a woman, Mrs Doyle, she had this cafe. "She was a very decent person and she got me a job and a place to stay. I left for England in 1961 and never really came back. You worked all day. You sang. You prayed Gabrielle Mary OGorman, 72, was born into a mother and baby home and placed in a Magdalene laundry at 17 for breaking curfew. Gabrielle OGorman from Petersfield, Hampshire, UK. Pic: Dan Linehan I was born on August 22, 1945, in a mother and baby home. There I stayed until I was four. My mother stayed with me there and that was in St Pats Navan Road. Then my mother went to England. I was then transferred to another institution called St Philomenas in Stillorgan and I was there until I was 12 and, overnight, we were told that we were leaving St Philomenas. We had never known anything different and we were now being transferred to another convent which was in Sandymount which was called Lakelands convent. There I stayed until I was 16 and once you became 16, you had to leave the convent. The day after my 16th birthday, they arranged a job for me in England. Off I went with my little case, not knowing anything about the facts of life, on the boat to Hollyhead. I was collected by nuns and they took me to London. So I lived in there and it was 12 a week. Long story short, I worked in the convent in London for a year and came back to Ireland and thats when I got a job in the convent that (St Philomenas in Stillorgan) I grew up in. Then I met this guy and they (the nuns) didnt want me going out with him. I stayed out (after 10pm curfew) one night. When I got back they had my case ready and they took me straight to the Magdalene laundry in Sean McDermott Street. "I was in there for six weeks. Then I was driven by taxi all the way to Limerick (to another Magdalene laundry). You worked all day. You sang. You prayed. I was in there for two-and-a-half years hell. Then one morning, six oclock in the morning, they woke me up and said: Youre going. I put the same dress on that I came in with, blue with a black belt. I hopped from one to job to another. Then I saved the money and got back to England Im there more than 50 years. Forget about coming back here if you keep your baby Angela Downey, Dun Laoghaire, Dublin. Pic: Dan Linehan Angela Downey, 69, was born in a laundry after her mother was raped. It started with my mother being pregnant that was 1948. My mum was raped at 15 and had me at 16. "I dont know who my father was. An uncle brought her down to Castlepollard, thats where I was born. She was there until I was two-and-a-half. "Both of us were moved when I was two-and-a-half and she was sent to Sean McDermott Street, in Dublin and the same day she was brought there I was brought to the orphanage in Athlone, in Summerhill and I was there until I was 14 years of age. "My mam didnt know where I was and I didnt know where my mother was. "As far as we were concerned we had no mother, it was that way with the nuns. The women had committed sin and thats how it was. "Thats why my mother went into Sean McDermott Street shed committed a sin because shed had a baby. "I left Summerhill at 14 and sent down to Sligo for two years. At 16 my gran took me and she brought me to see my mother. I didnt know I was going to meet my mother and I didnt know it was my mother sitting there. She was sitting down crying, with her hands clasped scared, with her hair cut short and a clip and a uniform on her. My mother was very, very institutionalised. "I went back to Summerhill and left at 18. I went to work in St Michaels Hospital in Dun Laoghaire. "We couldnt go anywhere, we had to do live-in work because we had no homes to go to, we had no families to go to. "I was sent out from St Michaels at 19 as I was pregnant on Yvonne. "I was terrified so they sent me off to St Patricks on Navan Road and told me if I gave my child for adoption I could go back but forget about coming back here if you keep your baby. "The only choice I had was to get married. "Where was my child going to go? It wasnt going to go into a school. "I wasnt letting my child go through what I went through, not knowing who her mother was, not knowing who her father was, not knowing her family. "I said: no way. Id die before anything like that. "So we got married, on the side of the altar, that was 49 years ago. It was ranked 88th in the last QS World University Rankings but is now 104th, while University College Dublin fell from 168th to 193rd in the new ranking. NUI Galway dropped 17 places to 260th, its first fall in the rankings since 2011. University College Cork said its drop from 283rd to 338th, in a year, is disappointing but was inconsistent with other assessments. This weeks U-Multirank system showed an improved year-on-year performance for UCC. Dublin City University was placed 422nd, down from 391st, and Dublin Institute of Technology falls from the 651-700 banding to being ranked between 751 and 800. Only University of Limerick (ranked between 511 and 520) and Maynooth University (701-750) remain in the same ranking bands as last year. QS said employer reputation ranks were down for all eight Irish colleges, and academic reputation fell at seven of them. The relative impact of Irish research also appears to be declining as rankings for citations per faculty were lower this year at seven out of eight institutions. This was in spite of higher average citations than last year, as they did not match global average improvements. UCD The president of the countrys biggest university, UCDs Professor Andrew Deeks, said its fall from 86th to 536th in the QS rank of student-teacher ratios was a result of employment restrictions and reduced State funding, but that it can no longer be endured. A year ago, he said that reducing places for Irish students would have to be considered if there was no solution, soon, to the funding of higher education. At a time when countries like China are investing billions into their best universities to reduce their student-teacher ratio to 10:1 and to raise their world standing, the Irish Government perseveres with austerity-level funding of Irish higher education, said Prof Deeks. As a direct result, Irish parents continue to pay the highest up-front fees for undergraduate education in Europe, and the standing of the Irish university system continues to decline relative to more ambitious systems. TCD dean of research Professor Linda Doyle said it was to the credit of teaching and research staff that it remained in the QS top 150 in view of funding challenges faced by all third-level institutions. This latest result for the university shows that we have work to do to ensure that Irish students can continue to avail of an internationally competitive higher education, she said. Our economy is heavily dependent on [foreign direct investment] and on the employment of highly educated staff. "We cannot afford to fall behind our competitor countries in terms of investment in higher education; it is important for Ireland, not just for Trinity, said Prof Doyle. But the mayor of Cork county is leading a fresh charge to seek an upgrade of the R586 between key towns, Bandon and Bantry, to national route status. The road is the primary route to the countrys biggest white-fish port in Castletownbere. It is also the most direct route to Whiddy Island Oil Terminal which, in the event of a fuel crisis, holds the national strategic oil reserves. And the regional road also services large-scale food processing plants, such as Carbery whose products include Dubliner cheeses. Currently, the regions sole national artery, the N71, also services Bandon and Bantry but hugs the coastline through Clonakilty, Skibbereen, and Ballydehob and is not HGV-friendly, adding more than 20km to a single journey. Mayor Cllr Declan Hurley said tourist haven West Cork was in need and deserving of a high-quality direct route for the transport of goods and people both to and from the hub of Cork City and onwards into the national motorway network. The mayor said the reclassification of the R586 to national status would provide a single route of preference for much of the heavy goods and tourist traffic through West Cork. Currently, stretches of the road are restricted to 80km/h due to its regional status. Mayor Hurley said the upgrade demand was an old chestnut but he told the West Cork Municipal District body that reclassification would, potentially, further economic and tourism development along the transport corridor. He noted many HGVs, servicing the Beara peninsula port and also Bantry town, were using an alternative route, the N22/R585, on the Macroom side of Cork City, to access West Cork. The municipal district body, meanwhile, will seek the support of the full council to press the roads authority Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) on the issue. Cllr Paul Hayes, however, said previous deputations to Minister Shane Ross and the TII strongly pointed to no joined-up thinking by the States agencies on improving infrastructure, generally. He said food companies such as Carbery and the fishing industry were making huge financial investments in their industries but the public infrastructure, to match, was appalling. The government Papua New Guinea is considering blocking Facebook while it investigates how to best to regulate the social networking site. Critics say the move would be authoritarian. Authorities in Papua New Guinea, or PNG, say Facebook has become a magnet for illegal and unsavory activity. The government is considering a temporary ban on the site while it works out the best way to regulate the social media platform. Only about 10 per cent of the nearly 7 million people in PNG use Facebook, but some officials have become increasingly agitated by content being posted online.They have asked experts to help in their search for the best way to impose controls on the social media site. PNG Communications minister, Sam Basil, says illegal use of Facebook must be curbed. "Defamatory publications or the fake news, identity theft and, of course, unidentified Facebook users. Most of those users are the ones that are really breaching all the laws in terms of posting pornography materials and, of course, posting fake news," he said. But critics believe the government's attempts to muzzle Facebook are an attack on free speech. They believe that ministers are motivated by a desire to silence those who expose official corruption and wrongdoing online. Lawrence Stephens, the chairman of Transparency International PNG, says a temporary ban of Facebook would be a draconian move. "To talk about stopping this for a month whilst someone, somewhere does an analysis of what we should be able to see sounds pretty authoritarian and pretty worrying," said Stephens. The move to temporarily ban Facebook comes as PNG prepares to host the 2018 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, leaders' summit later this year. PNG is a South Pacific nation and is Australia's closest neighbour. While 200 metres is considered long-distance in most ordinary WiFi networks, like a modern-day Marconi, Arnaud Disant used his SeaFi network to send an email at 4.18pm yesterday from a ship about 15.5 nautical miles, almost 29km, off Roches Point in Cork Harbour to a computer in the Roches Point lighthouse. The email, which included data and maps charting the vessels precise location, was sent without any support from satellites or cellular network. And just as Marconis pioneering work in the early 1900s on long-distance radio transmission led to the telegraph system and ultimately radio, Mr Disant hopes his work will lead to a revolution in marine communications. People have little interest for marine telecommunications. Its not trendy, he said. Beside few people have ever spent more than a few hours at sea heading to the UK or France on a car ferry is as far as it gets. And who needs to keep in touch with the office while heading on holiday? So understanding the needs for modern data communication at sea is really remote for most people. But SeaFi is something that could put Ireland on the forefront of modern marine technology. It really takes Marconi into the 21st century. Mr Disant, a lecturer in marine data communication at the National Maritime College of Ireland, founded SEATech Evolution in 2007, a company which specialises in network infrastructure and electronic engineering. The firm has spent the last decade developing SeaFi. The key to the system is powerful ship antennas which transmit wirelessly and securely over a private wireless network to special receiving shore antennas, one of which is attached to the Roches Point lighthouse. To put it simply, WiFi is more like a bare light bulb while SeaFi is more like a focused flashlight, said Mr Disant. The system has been tested successfully for the last few years in Cork Harbour in a partnership with the Port of Cork. The LE Orla and LE Niamh helped test SeaFi ship antennas in seagoing conditions. SeaFi is the main link to shore for the Port of Corks vessels, MV Denis Murphy and MT Gerry OSullivan; is used by crews of cruise ships visiting Cork; and has been successfully tested on a data buoy for two years. The email that was sent with SeaFi from OSV Ocean Spey about 15 nautical miles south of Roches Point lighthouse. Its network covers the navigational areas from 10 nautical miles off Roches Point all the way up the river Lee to Tivoli Dock container terminal. It has been tested to a distance of 15 nautical miles and has achieved constant speeds of between five and 15 mbps about three times faster than real 3G speeds and five times faster than the latest generation of satellite communications, and at a fraction of the costs. And while final confirmation is expected today, it is believed Mr Disant sent his last ship-to-shore email yesterday as Ocean Spey sat just over 15.5 nautical miles off Roches Point. The record attempt was witnessed by several independent experts both on board and on shore. A raft of technical data will now be submitted to the Guinness Book of Records for consideration. Aidan Crowne, originally from Norwood Court, Rochestown, Cork, was jailed yesterday at Cork Circuit Criminal Court. Detective Garda James OReilly said the misappropriation occurred during a period when Crowne was manager at the centre. Some 15 different cheques were handed to him for rents on properties within the centre. He cashed the cheques for himself. By the time the complaint was made to gardai about the 2008 offences, Crowne was living outside of the country. Donal OSullivan, defending, said the 40-year-old had worked very successfully in the retail trade to the point where he had reached the pinnacle of this career by his mid-20s when he was made manager of Douglas Village shopping centre. However, he had a chronic gambling addiction and massive debts from this. He stole this money by lodging the cheques into his account making no effort to conceal the crimes. Judge Gerard OBrien said the sentence will run concurrently with a five-year sentence imposed last November after he was caught with 439,000 worth of drugs 10 years ago described yesterday as another desperate effort to pay for his gambling addiction. Mr OSullivan said the gambling addiction got so out of control that he clocked up debts of hundreds of thousands of euro. Crowne pleaded guilty to having drugs for sale or supply at time when they exceeded 13,000 arising out of the seizure of drugs in a car and a house at Kilquane, Castletownroche, Co Cork, on November 19, 2008. Mr OSullivan said the defendants mother died and not long afterwards his only sibling died. Crowne decided to return to Ireland to face the cases against him. Dermot Sheehan, prosecuting, said no recompense was ever paid by the accused for the thefts. Mr OSullivan said, He is deeply, deeply sorry for what he did. He is sorry because it was wrong. "He is sorry because he did it to people who were extremely good to him. He attends Gamblers Anonymous meetings now. Roy Cambridge of 50 Mary Aikenhead Place, Gurranabraher, Cork, pleaded guilty to a charge that on May 22, 2017, at North Monastery Road, Cork, he had Diamorphine, better known as heroin, for sale or supply to others. Garda Ross ODonovan encountered the 25-year-old driving at 9.30am and stopped him. Garda ODonovan found that Cambridge was visibly nervous and believed he had drugs on his possession. No drugs were found on the accused in the routine search at the side of the road. He co-operated and allowed for his mobile phones to be examined. Garda ODonovan found messages consistent with drug transactions. He was arrested and taken to Gurranabraher Garda Station for a more thorough search. As he was being taken to a cell for such a search, Cambridge said: I have it up my hole. Cambridge said that he was selling heroin in order to feed his own habit. Donal OSullivan, defending, suggested that all of the young mans previous convictions stemmed from his drug addiction. Garda ODonovan accepted this was so. The guard also said that although chronically addicted to drugs, he was not a difficult person. I have dealt with him numerous times. He is always courteous to the guards. He would never disrespect you in front of other people, he said. Judge Brian OCallaghan said, There seems to be a suggestion from the guard that at the bottom of it all, you are a decent person. The judge said this was particularly so when he was clear of drugs. However, Judge OCallaghan said people involved in drug dealing were the scourge of society as the trade directly damaged peoples lives and also caused death. He noted from the evidence that the accused was a healthier person now that he was clear of heroin in prison. He imposed a total sentence of five years with the last 18 months suspended. The Government said it welcomed the publication of the UK paper but warned much work needs to be done to avoid a collapse in the talks. The UKs proposed backstop plan for trade with the EU after Brexit has been published after an expected end date of 2021 was included in it. It followed crunch meetings between Prime Minister Theresa May and Brexit Secretary David Davis, who insisted a cut-off date be included. The proposal would see the UK match EU trade tariffs temporarily in order to avoid a hard Irish border post-Brexit. Tanaiste Simon Coveney said the paper represented a step forward on the customs element of the Irish Backstop text, but there was still work to do to achieve progress for June Summit on June 28. Responding on Twitter, EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier set out the criteria on which he would judge the UKs proposal, including the need for a workable solution to avoid a hard border in Northern Ireland. The European Parliaments Brexit co-ordinator, Guy Verhofstadt, went further, saying it was difficult to see how this could be achieved. A backstop that is temporary is not a backstop, unless the definitive arrangement is the same as the backstop, he added. Mairead McGuinness, MEP and first vice-president of the European Parliament, said the UK paper on Brexit is a long overdue step that is insufficient and incomplete. The proposal for a temporary customs arrangement will need to be further studied but appears to go only part of the way to what has already been agreed. There is much work to do, she said. Michel Barnier has today said any backstop must be all weather. It is therefore concerning that the paper appears to want a time limit on the arrangement, Ms McGuinness said. The official approval for investing in out-of-home childcare services to the cost of at-home care, which has been expressed this week following Minister Regina Dohertys comment that she would look at cutting Child Benefit to fund childcare, is rooted in simplistic economic calculus. Whats deemed important at official levels is getting women into paid jobs so they can make up the deficit of births in a dying First World without recourse to immigrants. It is no surprise that the European Commissions Joost Korte warned this week that favouring cash payments was not the right way to go, and that access to full-time, affordable out-of-home care was unacceptably poor. His warning wasnt on account of the children, mind. His problem was that there were too few women in the workplace which meant a lack of gender equality and also skills shortages. The European Commission has been banging its childcare drum for decades now and will continue to do so until it no longer fears competition from countries with higher birth rates or no longer fears immigrants. The commission actually committed the people of the EU to targets such as 60% of women in employment and a third of under-threes in formal childcare without ever once asking either the women or the children what they wanted. It is not even true that providing childcare automatically pushes women into the workforce. Nor is it true that a lack of formal childcare provision is the major factor keeping them out. The ERSI looked at this issue way back in 2000 and found that the relationship between the availability of childcare and womens workforce participation was subtle. It is not difficult to see the lack of a simple relationship, internationally, between childcare provision and womens workforce participation. The US massively outstrips most European countries for workforce participation of mothers despite the lack of state-funded formal childcare. Portugal has traditionally had a high level of female workforce participation despite relatively poor state childcare provision, perhaps due to the availability of flexible, seasonal work. Germany has good state childcare provision and low numbers of mothers in full-time work. Austria has good state childcare but similarly, around half of Austrian working mothers are part-timers. It is for this sin that Austria was censored by the all-powerful OECD research project published in 2005, Babies and Bosses. It was argued that Austrias three-year maternity leave and generous entitlements to all parents, whether they are at home or not, which includes a cash payment of approximately 175 per child to be spent on care as the parent desires, encouraged mothers to stay home. Dont you know how bad it is for children if one of their parents stays home with them, even part-time? Well, it doesnt look like Austria is doing too badly by its children, if the latest reputable child welfare survey, published by Unicef two years ago, is anything to go by. Austria is placed fifth in the world, though other surveys place it first. And Ireland? That septic isle? Ireland comes seventh. By contrast, the UK is tied with Germany and Greece in 14th place. Most of the countries in the top 10, including Finland and Norway, have good childcare services but most also have good supports for parents who wish to stay home themselves. There is no research available anywhere in the world which says it is better for children to be reared by people other than their parents, except in very sad cases which we all understand. There is significant research, including the largest ever childcare survey carried out in the UK, Families, Children and Childcare, which says kids are better off at home until they are three. This same survey rated the care of a childminder or relations well above creche care and Irish parents have voted the same way with their feet. Penelope Leach, who led this research, describes pre-school after the age of three as an unequivocal benefit. I have always supported free preschool between the ages of three and five as a help to both parents and children, but if youre up a mountain and it doesnt suit you to bring your child, it doesnt mean shell be breaking stones with her teeth for the rest of her life. Our own National Economic and Social Council described the likely benefits of preschool for kids in good homes as modest, if any. I follow the work of the Institute of European Affairs economist, Dan OBrien, keenly, but when he waded into argument that Child Benefit should be cut to fund creches this week on RTE, he was up to his neck in muck. Nobody contests the evidence, he said, that funding creches rather than parents is the way to go, and means a huge payback in terms of their life outcomes. It even means a lower crime rate, apparently. Let me contest this evidence now, Mr OBrien. It comes from the Perry Preschool Project which began in Chicago in the 1960s. Chronically disadvantaged children were offered high-quality preschool education while their parents received multiple supports. The massive cash savings which were meant to accrue included a calculation as to the number of people who were not murdered. This is important research but it is little or no relevance to todays Ireland, particularly when you strip out the bit about supporting the parents. Despite all this, I think it is a shame that Minister Regina Doherty rowed back so quickly this week on her intention to look at cutting Child Benefit for families earning over 100,000 to fund other services, particularly since she said she had not read the 2012 Mangan Report to her own department, which recommended such a move. Mangan recommended a payment of 100 a month per child for higher earners, with top-ups directed to lower earners. Speaking as someone who has coined it for 20 years including the ludicrous one-and-a-half rate payment for twins I believe that extra money going to those who dont need it increases competition for resources. Better-off families put more water between their kids and less well-off kids: the language course in France, the piano lessons, the maths grinds. The saving, reckoned by Mangan at about 200m annually, should go back to parents towards a basic full years paid maternity leave or towards Child Benefit for the 10,000 or so 19-year-olds who are still in school, a figure which will grow as the impact of the second preschool year is felt. We have talked a lot about choice lately. The Government should not attempt to take away from parents the choice as to how they rear their kids. There is significant research which says that kids are better off at home until they are three Worried about robots taking over your job? One of the fields where this is a clear concern is information technology (IT), and one of the biggest employers in the space, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), has just hinted that increased automation in the software delivery process has led to a dip in hiring currently. The number of job offers made by the IT major backs that up. According to The Times of India, in 2015, TCS had made offers to 44,000 students, which fell to 35,000 offers and then 20,000 in the next two years. This year, too, it has made offers to 20,000 students during on-campus recruitments. Its off-campus hiring stood at 4,000. "Analytics, IoT [Internet of Things] and automation is changing the entire delivery process. We are going for hiring in an agile way, which is on-demand," Ajayendra Mukherjee, Global HR head and EVP of TCS, said at a news conference yesterday. The company boasts a total headcount of 3.94 lakh globally and has a presence in 50 countries. The good news is that the company believes that in the long run, automation will create more job opportunities in the fields of data science, artificial intelligence, robotics and analytics. Better still, Mukherjee ruled out any chances of lay-offs, going forward. He also talked about the massive re-skilling drive that the company has undertaken, pointing out that TCS found it more cost-effective to give training for re-skilling people in-house rather than hiring from outside. "So far, 2.10 lakh people have been trained and skills upgraded," he added. Referring to hiring in the US and other developed markets, Mukherjee said that TCS had been facing challenges as fewer numbers of the younger generation were opting for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects there. To address the problem, TCS has rolled out two ambitious student reach-out programmes in these markets. "We have started two CSR programmes named 'goIT' and 'Ignite My Future' to encourage students in the ninth standard to opt for STEM subjects," he explained, adding, "We have developed Fresco Play - a learning platform - to enable employees to learn digital courses on the go." The daily added that IgniteMyFuture is meant to reach out to at least one million students (Class V-VIII) and 20,000 educators in partnership with 'Discovery in Education' in the US. On the other hand, GoIT is getting mid-level school students (of Class IX to XII) hooked to simple robotics, analytics and reasoning via various problem-solving and challenge-based aptitude-building methods. However, Mukherjee believes that the problem is a temporary one and that hiring in the US had not gone down. On media queries whether TCS can substitute its workforce in the US, the HR head reportedly said it was always preferable to employ the local populace. In the last quarter of FY'18, TCS' dollar terms growth stood at 11.7 per cent and margins at 25.4 per cent, which he said were lower than expectations due to currency fluctuations. (With PTI inputs) Digital operations management platform PagerDuty has launched a new product, Event Intelligence, that it says analyses both incoming digital signals and human response patterns and uses automation to identify issues such as when and how alerts are resolved by responders quickly, enabling teams to take action on critical software issues and opportunities. PagerDuty says Event Intelligence is designed for teams across the enterprise responsible for software, infrastructure, security, customer support and marketing. By automating real-time analysis with machine learning, the company says Event Intelligence helps companies improve customer experiences, increase productivity, reduce risk (e.g., OpEx overruns) and create more time for innovation. We see Event Intelligence as a critical piece of our long-term strategy, moving more intelligence and automation into PagerDuty and increasing the number of issues we can handle without human intervention, said Mike Makar, senior IT manager at World Bank Group. This has a large impact on helping us solve more problems and freeing up time for our resources. PagerDuty says event intelligence also improves the lives of responders by reducing noise, automating painful manual activities, and delivering full context of digital issues in real time to speed resolution. According to PagerDuty, today, businesses operate with an always-on digital approach and are consumed with managing large batches of real-time data originating from multiple channels and operations teams are expected to manage and make sense of all collected data at a rapid rate. And, according to PagerDuty data over the past three years, there has been a 300% increase in digital signals per user, and customers using Event Intelligence experience a 98% reduction in noise. To deliver top-notch customer experiences, businesses have to embrace real-time, intelligent workflows. However, with todays complex architectures, this is easier said than done because these systems produce an unmanageable volume of events and data, impacting a teams ability to take action across an entire business service, said Nancy Gohring, senior analyst, 451 Research. Solutions that bring together event data, human response data and machine learning to improve digital operations can help solve some of the problems that emerge in todays complex service architectures. PagerDuty Event Intelligence is a breakthrough innovation for teams managing and relying on digital operations to conduct business, said Jennifer Tejada, chief executive of PagerDuty. It is the first and only solution to combine machine learning with people and team orchestration to automate problem and opportunity detection as well as resolution. Event Intelligence separates the actionable signals from the noise to help teams become more agile and scale operations. PagerDuty integrates out of the box with an ecosystem of over 250 solutions including for monitoring, ticketing and threat detection. Most channel firms are embracing new business models and looking to reinvent their businesses, as customers push them in new directions, global ICT lobby group CompTIA claims. The non-profit body says as part of embracing new business models, channel firms must optimise operations to maximise profits and achieving operational efficiency requires an unflinching examination of how well, or not, operations run today, especially before taking the plunge into a new business model. Moheb Moses, director, Channel Dynamics, and ANZ community director, CompTIA, said, Most channel firms today acknowledge that transforming their business from hardware-centric reselling to a business model that embraces services and recurring revenue is not only the future, but should at this point be the present. However, there are many moving parts involved in the transformation process, notably anything to do with business operations and process efficiency. And, in general, this is a difficult, laborious, expensive, and often frustrating undertaking. But despite this, Moses claims most channel firms are looking to reinvent their businesses. According to CompTIA, the main reason for this is that customers are pushing them in new directions. Customers have myriad choices today, including self-provisioning applications and services. And, as more customers grow accustomed to consuming established and emerging technologies as a service, channel firms will need to embrace the cloud, managed services, and business consulting acumen to deliver, CompTIA suggests. CompTIA says two related topics are driving transformation declining profit margins on existing products and the need to embrace emerging technologies. Many of todays new technologies, from artificial intelligence (AI) to virtual reality to blockchain, will require channel firms to develop new skills and new ways of doing business, CompTIA says. CompTIA cites an IDC report that by 2019, 40% of digital transformation initiatives will include AI services and, by 2021, 75% of commercial enterprise applications will use AI, and more than 90% of consumers will interact with customer support bots. The faster channel firms learn how to build a business around these emerging areas, the less vulnerable they will be due to weak margins on legacy products, ComlTIA cautions. Carolyn April, senior director, industry analysis, CompTIA, said, As the channel turns to new business models, its more essential than ever that firms optimise operations for maximum efficiency to reap the full benefit of revenue intake. A companys approach to operational efficiency directly impacts how well it maximises profits and transforms the business. April says that for managed service providers, data management has provided a way to move up the application stack beyond basic network and device management services, with many MSPs also aspiring to expand their capabilities into data analytics. The challenge for channel firms is that managing a data deluge is sophisticated, difficult work. At the very base level it requires investment in technical and business training, hiring skilled staff, and crafting new sales and marketing tactics, April concludes. According to CompTIA, while company leadership can shout the merits of operational efficiency and productivity from the rafters, not much typically comes to fruition without the commitment of employees to the overall effort. Knowing all of this, many channel firms have begun to formalise both the incentives they provide staff to improve and practice efficiency, and the metrics and tools they use to achieve goals and measure progress, Moses says. British security researcher Marcus Hutchins, who was arrested by the FBI last August over alleged charges of creating and distributing a banking trojan, faces new charges after the FBI issued an updated indictment on Wednesday. The new charges included a claim that Hutchins lied to the agency and lists the pseudonyms of people with whom he is claimed to have collaborated to advertise and sell the Kronos banking trojan between July 2014 and July 2015. Additionally, Hutchins has been accused of creating and selling malware known as UPAS Kit in July 2012 which is said to be able to exfiltrate credit card information and personally identifiable information. Hutchins is in Milwaukee in the US state of Wisconsin, awaiting trial on charges that he wrote and helped distribute a banking trojan known as Kronos. The doubling down on the MalwareTech case is bad form, and does and will continue to do serious damage to US interests. Its clear why they arrested when they did (UK doesn't extradite hackers because the 'But Aspy' defense), but now, come on. https://t.co/vhYH1J4jwd Nicholas Weaver (@ncweaver) 6 June 2018 He wasby the FBI in Las Vegas on 2 August after he had boarded a plane to leave the US after attending the annual DEFCON security conference. Hutchins gained the attention of the world when he stopped the spread of the WannaCry ransomware by accident in May last year. The initial chargesheet against him said he had written and helped distribute Kronos along with an unnamed co-conspirator. His lawyers are seeking to suppress the statements he made to the FBI after his arrest, arguing that he was not properly informed of his rights and was not in a fit physical state to be quizzed, given that he had spent a week in Las Vegas during which he partied heavily. One of his lawyers, Brian Klein termed the new indictment as being without any merit. "It only serves to highlight the serious flaws in this prosecution," he said. "We expect Marcus to be vindicated and then he can return to doing what he loves: keeping us all safe from malicious software." Cyber crime is booming and online fraud is growing fast to become one of the most harmful corporate fraud categories identified by the FBI in the US, a global security firm claims. Craig McDonald, chief executive and founder of global email security firm MailGuard, says in a newly published blog post, that since January 2015, there has been a 1300% increase in identified exposed losses to fraud, which now total more than US$3 billion. And McDonald says the FBI only began tracking business email compromise statistics in 2013, but during that time they have seen the category grow explosively with the FBIs Internet Crime Complaint Centre reporting that BEC scams continue to grow, evolve, and target businesses of all sizes. The FBIs projections for the cost of cyber crime in 2018 put the expected damage bill at more than US$12 billion. Consider for a moment that the FBIs stats are just for the US and its clear that we are looking at a very big problem. This is a relatively new problem that most companies are still coming to grips with; and Online fraud is a relatively easy and low-risk crime. McDonald says that from the point of view of the cyber security industry its readily apparent that there are two key reasons that cybercrime is growing so fast: According to McDonald, the main characteristic a cyber criminal needs is a disregard for morality, and the days when cyber criminals needed high-level technical skills are long gone. Any motivated crook with an Internet connection can get into the fraud racket with very little skill required, he writes. They can buy and download easy-to-use scam kits from retail style websites on the dark web that make committing online fraud almost as simple as publishing an email newsletter. The WEFs 2018 Global Risks Report shows that cyber attacks reported by businesses almost doubled in the five years to 2017, from 68 attacks per business to 130 per business. Now, contrast those figures with this one, from a Februrary 2018 Inc article; 70% of US companies arent yet adequately prepared for cyber attacks. With scams being easier than ever to run and companies still being relatively unprepared to counteract them, its no wonder the fraud numbers are skyrocketing. The much anticipated government intervention meant to help sugar mills clear cane price arrears to the tune of Rs 22,000 crore has finally come. But it is good enough to find a lasting solution to the sugar industry's and sugarcane farmers' continuing woes? On June 6, Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved a slew of measures to improve the problem of liquidity of sugar mills arising out of a glut in sugar production and resultant dip in the sugar prices. The Rs. 7000 crore package includes the creation of a buffer stock of 30 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of sugar for one year with an estimated expenditure of Rs.1175 crore. The scheme will see the government making quarterly payments directly into the farmers' bank accounts on behalf of mills against their cane price dues. A minimum mill gate selling price of Rs 29/kg for sugar, on the basis of the Fair Remunerative Price (FRP) of cane and minimum conversion cost of white/refined sugar, was decided. The government also imposed stock holding limits on sugar mills for the current sugar season (up to September 2018) as a safeguard mechanism to keep retail sugar prices range bound. As a medium term measure, the government plans to assist sugar mills upgrade and augment captive distilleries through interest subvention of a maximum Rs.1332 crore over a period of five years. This also includes a moratorium period of one year on estimated bank loan amounting to Rs.4440 crore to be sanctioned to the sugar mills by the banks over a period of three years. The idea is to help diversion of sugar during surplus phase to reduce excess inventories in future. The last four months have also seen the government increasing the custom duty on import of sugar from 50 per cent to 100 per cent to check any import to the country. It imposed stock holding limits on producers of sugar for the months of February and March, 2018 to stabilise the domestic sugar price, withdrew custom duty on export of sugar to encourage sugar exports, allocated mill-wise Minimum Indicative Export Quotas (MIEQ) of 20 LMT of sugar for export during Sugar Season 2017-18, re-introduced Duty Free Import Authorization (DFIA) Scheme in respect of sugar to facilitate and incentivize export of surplus sugar by sugar mills and provided extended financial assistance to sugar mills at Rs.5.50/quintal of cane crushed during 2017-18 Sugar Season to offset the cost of cane. Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), the representative body of the sugar industry, is guarded in its response. Abinash Verma, director general, ISMA welcomes the move to provide subsidised loans for augmenting ethanol production capacity. He says that it will encourage setting up of more distilleries in the country over the next 3 years and will help in diverting some of the surplus sugarcane into ethanol and reduce surplus sugar in the long run. However, he is concerned about the lack of clarity on the rationalisation of cane pricing policy and the control on sugar sales by imposing stock limits. What is more important though is the industry's disappointment over the short term remedial measure - the proposed minimum price of Rs. 29 per kilo. Verma states that it is not enough to cover the cost of sugarcane even if one goes by the existing method of FRP calculation. "The ex-mill sugar price which supports the current FRP works out to around Rs.35 per kilo and therefore the Rs.29 is inadequate. It will, therefore, be a challenge to expect the sugar industry to clear the huge cane price arrears on this basis," he points out. Threats are constantly evolving and, just like everything else, tend to follow certain trends. Whenever a new type of threat is especially successful or profitable, many others of the same type will inevitably follow. The best defenses need to mirror those trends, so companies get the most robust protection against the newest wave of threats. Our goal with these reviews is to discover how cutting-edge cybersecurity software fares against the latest threats, hopefully helping you to make good technology purchasing decisions. We'll explain how these new and trending cybersecurity tools work, who they're for, and where they fit into a security architecture. Each of these products was tested in a local testbed or, depending on the product or service, within a production environment provided by the vendor. Where appropriate, each was pitted against the most dangerous threats out there today as we unleashed the motley crew from our ever-expanding malware zoo. Here, listed in alphabetical order, are some of the most innovative and useful, and, dare we say, best security products on the market today. Best security software 2019 reviews AttackIQ FireDrill Aqua Avanan Awake Security Platform Barracuda Sentinel Bitglass Blue Hexagon CrowdStrike Falcon CybeReady Cynet 360 Fidelis Deception FireMon GreatHorn JASK Autonomous Security Operations Center (ASOC) LogRhythm Morphisec NeuVector Nyotron Paranoid Perimeter 81 Power LogOn SlashNext XM Cyber HaXM AttackIQ FireDrill Category: Penetration testing AttackIQ FireDrill was created to watch our watchers. Its a penetration testing tool, but one that is configured to operate from the inside, with the primary goal of identifying flaws, misconfigurations and outright shortcomings in all other cybersecurity defenses. Read the full review. Aqua Category: Container security The Aqua Cloud Native Security Platform uses an inherent advantage of containers, the fact that they are always highly specialized for their jobs, to create a cybersecurity structure based on whitelisting. Read the full review. Avanan Category: Email security The Avanan platform is designed to make managing email security across a vast corporate landscape both effective and accessible. Avanan takes a unique approach to accomplish this with a multi-vendor solution that layers protections within the security stack, tying them together into a centrally managed dashboard that supports whatever native protections already exist in cloud-based email platforms. The idea is that Avanan can catch the advanced threats that Microsoft, Google or other cloud-based email providers miss, identifying dangers like phishing, malware, data leakage and even full account takeovers. Read the full review. Awake Security Platform Category: Network security This advanced network traffic monitoring platform identifies hidden threats and those that dont use traditional malware, making it extremely powerful and useful in todays threat environment. Read the full review. Barac ETV Category: Network security TLS 1.3 prevents any decryption or inspection in transit, seeing it as a compromise. As such, it may soon be impossible at most organizations to inspect encrypted traffic without first completely decrypting and assembling it. And doing that gives malicious code a chance to perform its nefarious mission. That situation is why Barac created the Encrypted Traffic Visibility (ETV) Platform. Its designed to analyze encrypted data streams and determine whether or not they are malicious without unencrypting them or doing any kind of deep inspection that would indicate tampering under TLS 1.3. Read the full review. Barracuda Sentinel Category: Email security Instead of sitting at the gateway like traditional email protection platforms, Sentinel connects at the API level to any cloud-based email program. Its uses artificial intelligence to learn how users communicate so that it can spot anomalies that might be an indication of an attack later on. Read the full review. Bitglass Category: Mobile security The Bitglass platform is essentially an agentless and lightweight MDM platform without any of the over-burdensome complexity or draconian rules those mobile management tools normally require. Bitglass is installed in the cloud, which technically makes it a cloud access security broker (CASB). How it works is that users on mobile devices first sign into a portal and then access all of their work data through Bitglass. The interface is seamless to users, with only the Bitglass name being inserted into the URL field at the top of the browser page to indicate that Bitglass is enforcing policies on those interactions. Read the full review. Blue Hexagon Category: Network security While most platforms with machine learning look for anomalies in things like traffic or user behavior, Blue Hexagon actually looks for threats. And it will make a determination about whether a file, process, document or other program is malicious in under one second every time. There is no gray area with Blue Hexagon. Things are either threats or not. Its ability to spot threats so quickly can close many of the gaps that hackers try to exploit, leaving them without enough time to capitalize on any foothold they may briefly establish. Read the full review. CrowdStrike Falcon Category: Endpoint detection and response While EDR is increasingly important, its also becoming a bit commoditized in that many of the offerings are very similar. The biggest differentiator with Falcon is that the brains of the platform exist completely in the cloud, which gives it unlimited scalability as well as a massive footprint of users and enterprises. Read the full review. CybeReady Category: Security awareness The CybeReady platform is designed to educate users about the dangers of phishing and other email attacks that target them and evaluate them as they perform their normal jobs, without getting in the way or taking up too much of their time. Training is done only as needed and always on the spot, and never takes up more than about two minutes. On the backend, entire training campaigns can be crafted for the next several months in only a few minutes, so the administration of the CybeReady platform is minimized. Read the full review. Cynet 360 Category: Network security The goal of a fully autonomous and completely effective cybersecurity platform has never been fully realized. But that is exactly what the Cynet 360 autonomous breach protection platform aims to do. From our testing, its clear that they are very close, with a nearly zero touch installation process, complete visibility through agent sensors, and an automatic response rate that is about 98 percent accurate. Read the full review. Fidelis Deception Category: Deception Today's skilled hackers know, or at least suspect, that deception is in place and won't blindly follow breadcrumbs to fake assets. To combat this, Fidelis Deception creates realistic, living deception assets. Read the full review. FireMon Category: Network security A pioneer in the field of network security policy management, FireMon provides full visibility into networks and devices, and overlays that knowledge with the rules, platforms, hardware and programs designed to protect it. Read the full review. GreatHorn Category: Email protection GreatHorn takes a modern and highly effective approach to protecting enterprise email that goes well beyond the capabilities of legacy mail scanners. Read the full review. JASK Autonomous Security Operations Center (ASOC) Category: SIEM Everything about the JASK ASOC is different from how a traditional SIEM operates. For one, the entire ASOC infrastructure exists inside a secure Amazon Web Services cloud. Network administrators only need to install a JASK software sensor to help facilitate the link between the local console and the brains of the platform in the cloud. The ASOC doesnt even issue alerts in the traditional sense. Instead, it coordinates all of the events and anomalies that it discovers and groups them together. Only once it believes that it has found solid evidence of a threat does it present what it calls an insight to IT teams monitoring the SOC. Read the full review. LogRhythm Category: SIEM LogRhythm Enterprise offers a lot of protection and assistance for finding and remediating threats and sometimes even pre-threat actions. Read the full review. Morphisec Category: Intrusion prevention Morphisec is focused on prevention of a specific family of advanced exploits that either use or reside in system memory. These exploits are very difficult to detect using traditional methods and how most advanced attacks get around signature-based antivirus protection these days. The platform scrambles system memory by moving the default locations for system resources that all programs use and most advanced malware is designed to exploit. This includes scrambling the locations of .dlls, memory structures and commonly used resources. Read the full review. NeuVector Category: Container security The NeuVector container security platform was created specifically to safeguard containerized environments. In fact, its deployed as a privileged container itself within the environment that it will be protecting. From its position within the containerized environment, it can monitor all Layer 7 network traffic, including that moving between containers and the host orchestration software. In this way, it can protect against attacks made against individual containers or the entire environment. Read the full review. Nyotron Paranoid Category: Endpoint security The philosophy behind Paranoid is that there is an infinite number of ways that hackers can attack a computer and a network, with new techniques popping up all the time. But if an attacker gains access to a system, there are a limited number of things they can actually do based on what is allowed by the operating system. The platform could probably stop most attacks against endpoints on its own, but does not make that claim. Instead, it is designed to thwart advanced intrusions that get around or through every other network protection. It acts as a last line of defense and was very effective in that role during our testing. Read the full review. Perimeter 81 Category: Network security Starting with the concept of zero trust networking, VPN tunneling and secure network access as a service, Perimeter 81 recently branched out and are now providing a near plug and play solution for more elements of cybersecurity served through the cloud and on demand. Read the full review. Power LogOn Category: Authentication Power LogOn brings together 2FA with a network-based password manager. The user first logs onto a computer or workstation (using multi-factor authentication, say a smartcard and a PIN) that has the Power LogOn authentication client installed. That client then creates a trusted node that takes other logon information to authenticate with the network portion, which admins install and manage. The Power LogOn network portion acts as a network-based password manager, creating and managing long and complex passwords for each user and website. The admin portion gives the admin complete control over the users logon, including defining how many factors 1FA, 2FA or 3FA to require for the initial client logon, and how it is accomplished (e.g., PIN, smartcard or biometrics). Read the full review. SlashNext Category: email protection SlashNext has taken the old adage of doing one thing very well to heart. There are two products available to organizations. The first is a detailed and dedicated phishing threat feed that can be used to block phishing sites as they pop up. The second is an appliance that provides even more protection and is able to halt even targeted attacks aimed at a single organization that wouldnt trigger any other kind of alert. Read the full review. XM Cyber HaXM Category: Penetration testing The HaXM program from XM Cyber aims to make automated penetration testing more reliable and accessible by improving on the current state of similar programs in several ways. First, HaXM does not require any knowledge of attack techniques. For example, you dont have to scan for a specific code injection vulnerability on a web server. You simply need to tell the program that the web server is an important asset in your network and then let HaXM discover all the ways that it could be compromised. Second, HaXM offers continuous scanning, so results are never aged out over time. And finally, in addition to performing red team type exercises, HaXM offers detailed advice on how to fix problems it discovers and which ones should be fixed first, effectively taking on the role of a so-called blue team in security exercises. Read the full review. 2018 security software reviews 2017 security software reviews Infuriated at being terminated, a sacked employee along with an accomplice on a bike today opened fire and injured a Gurgaon-based Japanese company's human resource wing head, police said. The incident occurred at around 9 am when the victim, Binesh Sharma, HR head of Mitsubishi, was going to his office in IMT, Manesar, in a car. Two persons on a bike tried to intercept Binesh Sharma's car on gun point. When he did not stop but accelerated instead, the pillion rider opened fire aiming to kill Sharma, Gurgaon Police PRO Ravinder Kumar told PTI. Sharma suffered two gunshot injuries, he said. "The attackers, one of whom was later identified as Joginder, managed to escape from the spot. Some passersby called the police and Sharma was admitted to Rockland Hospital where he is said to be out of danger, Kumar said. On Wednesday, Sharma had sacked an employee, Joginder, over his alleged "unprofessional behaviour", officials said. Joginder later threatened Sharma of dire consequences but the HR head did not take his warning seriously, the officer added. We have registered a case under relevant sections against Joginder and his accomplice. Investigation is underway and raids are being conducted at all possible hideouts of the attackers. We will arrest them soon, the PRO said. President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has relieved the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA), Gifty Klenam, of her duties, Peacefmonline.com can confirm. The former Member of Parliament (MP) for Lower West Akyem was sacked along with her two deputies. Whiles it is not too clear the reasons for their dismissals, earlier last week, the media including Peacefmonline, reported that the embattled CEO and one of her deputies, Eric Amoako Twum, are allegedly involved in massive mismanagement of funds belonging to the authority. According to the publication, Madam Klenam and her deputy have collected $132,000 or GH580,800 for house rent, covering a period of two years in gross violation of state procurement laws. Meanwhile, Peacefmonline.com sources at the Presidency say the Managing Director of the Bulk Oil Storage and Transport Company, Alfred Obeng Boateng, has also been sacked. A letter signed by the Executive Secretary to the President, Nana Bediatuo Asante said Mr Obeng has until Friday, June 8, to hand over to one George Mensah Okley. Mr. Obeng Boatengs reign as BOST Managing Director has been dogged by one controversy and another relating to the sale of contaminated fuel to some private organisations. He was, however, cleared by Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), according to Energy Minister Boakye Agyarko who had set up a committee to investigate the sale. Mr. Obengs dismissal was part of some major announcements made Wednesday by the Presidency following the termination of the appointment of Managing Director of Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, Paul Asare Ansah and the CEO of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr Felix Anyah. Peacefmonline is also reliable informed that another shakeup is likely to hit the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) within a few hours. Sources say the radical reorganisation is part of efforts by President Nana Akufo-Addo to restructure the public sector. Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 7, 2018) - Altamira Gold Corp. (TSXV: ALTA) (FSE: T6UP) (OTC Pink: EQTRF), ("Altamira" or the "Company") is pleased to provide results from a recent program of soil sampling at the Santa Helena project located within the eastern part of the Juruena belt in Mato Grosso, Brazil. These results follow recent surface rock sample results which identified high grade gold values from grab samples in several areas (averaging 31.2g/t Au + 0.13% Cu for 17 samples) from the Flecha Dourada target, 19.0g/t gold + 0.11% Cu from Gabriel for 20 samples, 24.6g/t gold from 6 rock samples from the Dorival target and 7.2g/t gold from 6 rock samples from the Tucura target, as well as appreciable amounts of copper (see press release dated 8th May 2018). Highlights are as follows: Soil sampling at Santa Helena has identified a well-defined copper-in-soil anomaly approximately 1.5km in diameter in the centrally located Gabriel target within the Santa Helena project area with values up to 308ppm copper. The target has had no previous trenching or drilling. A low-level molybdenum anomaly in soils is evident on the northern margin of the copper-in-soil anomaly which remains open to the north The copper-in-soil anomaly is located 1.5km north of a small open pit which exploits gold-copper mineralization in a high-grade shear zone within granitic host rock. Recent rock grab samples from the area of anomalous copper in soils returned elevated copper values from 0.14 to 0.96% copper. Previous work identified two distinct gold-in-soil anomalies, in the Gabriel area and in the Flecha Dourada area, which are peripheral to the copper-in-soil anomaly The Santa Helena project, which comprises a total of 58,594 ha is the Company's closest project to the newly discovered copper porphyry by Anglo American at Jaca. The project is characterized by gold mineralization on surface and has a history of small-scale gold and copper production. The area has never been the subject of any previous drilling by Altamira. A total of 196 soil samples were collected during the recent soil sampling program in the Gabriel target area which previously returned anomalous gold and copper values averaging 19.0g/t gold + 0.11% Cu from 20 grab samples in rock sampling (see press release dated 8th May 2018). Soil samples were collected on a grid spaced 100 m N-S and 200 m E-W. This work has identified a significant zone of anomalous copper values up to 308ppm which is 1.5km in diameter. Anomalous molybdenum values up to 6ppm are also evident on the northern margin of the copper-in-soil anomaly with the zone being open to the north. In addition, two existing gold-in-soil anomalies identified during previous sampling, are known to exist in the Gabriel and Flecha Dourada areas and appear to be peripheral to the copper-in-soil anomaly at Gabriel. The anomaly in the Gabriel area has a north-east trend and a surface expression of 1000m x 400 meters (gold-in-soil values range from 50 to 3,834 ppb Au). The gold anomaly is located 1km west of the copper-in-soil anomaly. The second gold anomaly is located two kilometers to the south west in the Flecha Dourada area and extends over an area surface of 750 x 500 meters (gold in soil values range from 50 to 3,830 ppb Au. Figure 1: Altamira Identifies Significant Copper and Gold Anomalies in Soil Sampling Program at its Santa Helena Project in Brazil Michael Bennett, President and CEO of Altamira stated, "the presence of a copper-in-soil anomaly at Santa Helena associated with a large scale hydrothermal alteration system, as well as two significant gold-in-soil anomalies and numerous high grade gold bearing structures and elevated copper values, is an important step forward for Altamira and further increases the potential for a concealed Au-Cu mineralized system at Santa Helena". Gold analysis has been conducted by SGS method FAA505 (fire assay of 50g charge), with higher grade samples checked by FAA525. Copper and molybdenum analysis has been conducted by SGS method ICP40B (multiacid digestion). Analytical quality is monitored by certified references and blanks. Until dispatch, samples are stored in the Company's supervised exploration office. The samples are couriered to the assay laboratory using a commercial contractor. Pulps and rejects are returned to the Company and archived. Channel sampling is conducted using a hand-trenching tool over exposed faces to maintain a consistent sample. Drilling results are reported as down-hole length weighted intersections. Channel sampling is conducted across the strike of the veins and are quoted as true widths. About Altamira Gold Corp. The Company is focused on the exploration and development of gold deposits within western central Brazil. The Company holds 12 projects comprising approximately 200,000 hectares, within the prolific Juruena gold belt which historically produced an estimated 7 to 10Moz of placer gold. The Company's advanced Cajueiro project has an NI 43-101 resources of 8.64Mt @ 0.78 g/t Au (for 214,000oz) in the Indicated Resource category and 9.53Mt @ 0.66 g/t Au (for 204,000oz) in the Inferred Resource category and an additional 1.37Mt @ 1.61 g/t Au in oxides (for 79,000oz in saprolite) in the Inferred Resource category (Gustavson Associates, 2016). On Behalf of the Board of Directors, ALTAMIRA GOLD CORP. "Michael Bennett" Michael Bennett President & CEO Tel: 604.676.5660 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Guillermo Hughes, P. Geo., a consultant to the Company as well as a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, supervised the preparation of the technical information in this news release. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor it Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policiesof the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-Looking Statements Statements in this document which are not purely historical are forward-looking statements, including any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. It is important to note that actual outcomes and the Company's actual results could differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, we do not undertake to update these forward-looking statements. Updated Reserves and New Mine Plan Scheduled for Q3 TORONTO, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Teranga Gold Corporation (Teranga or the Company) (TSX:TGZ) (OTCQX:TGCDF) is pleased to announce an updated mineral resource estimate for its Wahgnion gold development project (Wahgnion) in Burkina Faso, West Africa. Based on drill results from a 73,000-metre infill drill program completed in 2017, the updated combined measured and indicated mineral resource is now 50.5 million tonnes at a grade of 1.51 g/t for 2.4 million contained ounces of gold. This represents a 33% increase from 1.8 million contained ounces of gold previously announced in the feasibility study released on September 7, 2017. Teranga expects to release an updated mineral reserve estimate and related NI 43-101 technical report for Wahgnion in the third quarter of 2018. Based on these excellent results, we are targeting a conversion rate of more than 50% of these additional 600,000 ounces of mineral resources into reserves, exceeding our guidance range of between 175,000 and 350,000 ounces of gold, said Richard Young, President and Chief Executive Officer. Added Mr. Young, With financing in place and major construction advancing, we are on our way to building a mid-tier gold producer in West Africa. Wahgnion, which will be the Companys second mine, is expected to increase company-wide annualized production by 50% to between 300,000 and 350,000 ounces. First gold pour is expected by the end of 2019. The 2017 drill program and subsequent resource modeling has identified areas within the reserve deposits for a future follow-up drill program, providing an opportunity to further increase reserves. In addition, we will continue to focus on a number of highly prospective exploration targets within trucking distance of the plant in order to further extend Wahgnions mine life. Ultimately, we think Wahgnion has the potential to have a mine life in the 15 to 20 year range as we continue to develop these targets, said Paul Chawrun, Chief Operating Officer. Wahgnion Construction Update Construction at Wahgnion is on track. The plant design is complete and detailed engineering is on schedule to support site construction. Major construction of the processing facility is underway, with structural concrete of the leach circuit and mill foundations having commenced in May. The development of site infrastructure is also moving forward on schedule: the water harvest dam is complete, permanent camp facilities are near completion and preparation of the mine services area, site access roads and tailings management facility are progressing well. Open Pit Mineral Resources Summary 2018 Mineral Resources Measured Resources Indicated Resources Measured + Indicated Resources Inferred Resources Deposit Mtonnes Grade (Au g/t) Moz MTonnes Grade (Au g/t) Moz MTonnes Grade (Au g/t) Moz MTonnes Grade (Au g/t) Moz Nogbele N/Nangolo 1.62 1.26 0.07 22.50 1.40 1.02 24.12 1.39 1.08 2.65 1.27 0.11 Samavogo 0.00 0.00 0.00 8.06 1.91 0.49 8.06 1.91 0.49 1.46 1.65 0.08 Stinger 0.16 2.15 0.01 8.30 1.56 0.42 8.46 1.58 0.43 0.57 1.56 0.03 Nogbele S 0.46 1.81 0.03 4.71 1.29 0.19 5.18 1.33 0.22 0.33 1.14 0.01 Fourkoura 0.59 1.63 0.03 4.10 1.42 0.19 4.69 1.45 0.22 0.24 1.53 0.01 Total 2.83 1.48 0.13 47.67 1.51 2.31 50.50 1.51 2.44 5.25 1.41 0.24 Notes for Mineral Resources Estimate (effective May 31, 2018): CIM definitions were followed for Mineral Resources. Mineral Resources are reported at cut-off grades ranging from 0.320 g/t Au to 0.403 g/t Au in oxide, and at cut-off grades ranging from 0.388 g/t Au to 0.541 g/t Au in transition and primary rock. High grade assays were capped at grades ranging from 5 to 48 g/t Au. Mineral Resources are estimated using a long-term gold price of US$1,500 per ounce, adjusted to match existing industry standards. A minimum thickness of two metres was applied. Mineral Resources are inclusive of Mineral Reserves. Mineral Resources are constrained by resource pit shells. Totals may not add due to rounding. 2017 Mineral Resources Measured Resources Indicated Resources Measured + Indicated Resources Inferred Resources Deposit Mtonnes Grade (Au g/t) Moz MTonnes Grade (Au g/t) Moz MTonnes Grade (Au g/t) Moz MTonnes Grade (Au g/t) Moz Nogbele 1.17 1.47 0.06 17.92 1.43 0.82 19.08 1.43 0.88 9.11 1.18 0.34 Samavogo 0.00 0.00 0.00 6.62 2.05 0.44 6.62 2.05 0.44 3.75 1.92 0.23 Stinger 0.16 2.16 0.01 6.09 1.67 0.33 6.24 1.69 0.34 1.98 1.45 0.09 Fourkoura 0.36 1.57 0.02 3.02 1.60 0.16 3.38 1.60 0.17 0.98 1.33 0.04 Total 1.68 1.55 0.08 33.65 1.61 1.74 35.33 1.61 1.83 15.82 1.40 0.71 Notes for Mineral Resources Estimate: CIM definitions were followed for Mineral Resources. Open pit oxide Mineral Resources are estimated at cut-off grades ranging from 0.35 g/t Au to 0.45 g/t Au. Open pit transition and fresh rock Mineral Resources are estimated at cut-off grades ranging from 0.45 g/t Au to 0.55 g/t Au. High grade assays were capped at grades ranging from 2.5 g/t Au to 48.0 g/t Au. Mineral Resources are estimated using a gold price of $1,450 per ounce. A minimum thickness of two metres was applied. Mineral Resources are inclusive of Mineral Reserves. Mineral Resources are constrained by resource pit shells. Totals may not equal due to rounding. Qualified Persons Statement The technical information contained in this document relating to Wahgnion mineral resource estimates is based on, and fairly represents, information compiled by Ms. Patti Nakai-Lajoie. Ms. Nakai-Lajoie, P. Geo., is a Member of the Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario. Ms. Nakai-Lajoie is a full time employee of Teranga and is not "independent" within the meaning of NI 43-101. Ms. Nakai-Lajoie has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralization and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which she is undertaking to qualify as a "Qualified Person" under NI 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Ms. Nakai-Lajoie has consented to and approved the inclusion in this document of the matters based on her compiled information in the form and context in which it appears in this document. In 2017 the Company prepared an independent NI 43-101-compliant technical report for the Wahgnion Gold Project (then known as the Banfora Gold Project) which is available under the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com: Technical Report on The Banfora Gold Project, Burkina Faso, West Africa, prepared by Roscoe Postle Associates Inc., and with an effective date of September 7, 2017. This technical report includes relevant information regarding the effective dates and the assumptions, parameters and methods of the mineral resource estimates for the Wahgnion Gold Project as well as information regarding data verification, exploration procedures and other matters relevant to the scientific and technical disclosure contained in this press release. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain statements that constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws ("forward-looking statements"), which reflects management's expectations regarding Teranga's future growth and business prospects (including the timing and development of new deposits and the success of exploration activities) and opportunities. Wherever possible, words such as objective to, likely, intend to, potential, belief, believe, expects, estimates, plans, anticipated, ability and similar expressions or statements that certain actions, events or results should, or "will" have been used to identify such forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, all disclosure regarding possible events, conditions or results of operations, future economic conditions and anticipated courses of action. Specific forward-looking statements in this press release include statements regarding better economics and longer mine life at the Wahgnion Gold Project resulting from increased mineral resources, statements about the anticipated increase in mineral resources of between 175,000 to 350,000 ounces of gold, 50% conversion of the 600,000 additional mineral resources into reserves, statements about the Wahgnion Gold Project increasing annualized gold production by 50% to between 300,000 and 350,000 ounces, and statements about first gold pour in 2019. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this press release reflect management's current beliefs based upon information currently available to management and based upon what management believes to be reasonable assumptions, Teranga cannot be certain that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are based upon assumptions, opinions and analysis made by management in light of its experience, current conditions and its expectations of future developments that management believe to be reasonable and relevant but that may prove to be incorrect. These assumptions include, among other things, the ability to obtain any requisite governmental approvals, the accuracy of mineral reserves and mineral resources estimates, accuracy of sampling, results of analytical and test data, changes in gold price, exchange rates, fuel and energy costs, future economic conditions, and anticipated future estimates of free cash flow, the availability of equipment and infrastructure, the ability of parties to contracts to perform as anticipated, the possibility of terrorism, civil strife or war, and lack of unforeseen technological, engineering or geological problems. Teranga cautions you not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements. In addition, this press release also contains references to estimates of mineral resources and mineral reserves. The estimation of mineral resources is inherently uncertain and involves subjective judgments about many relevant factors. Estimates of mineral reserves provide more certainty but still involve similar subjective judgements. 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 (including estimated future production from the company's projects, the anticipated tonnages and grades that will be mined and the estimated level of recovery that will be realized), which may prove to be unreliable and depend, to a certain extent, upon the analysis of drilling results and statistical inferences that ultimately may prove to be inaccurate. Mineral resource or mineral reserve estimates may have to be re-estimated based on: (i) fluctuations in the price of gold or other minerals; (ii) results of drilling; (iii) metallurgical testing and other studies; (iv) proposed mining operations, including dilution; (v) the evaluation of mine plans subsequent to the date of any estimates and/or changes in mine plans; (vi) the possible failure to receive required permits, approvals and licences; and (vii) changes in law or regulation. The risks and uncertainties that may affect forward-looking statements include, among others: the inherent risks involved in exploration and development of mineral properties, including government approvals and permitting, changes in economic conditions, changes in the worldwide price of gold and other key inputs, changes in mine plans and other factors, such as project execution delays, many of which are beyond the control of Teranga, as well as other risks and uncertainties which are more fully described in Teranga's Annual Information Form dated March 29, 2018, and in other filings of Teranga with securities and regulatory authorities which are available at www.sedar.com. Teranga does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements should assumptions related to these plans, estimates, projections, beliefs and opinions change. Nothing in this document should be construed as either an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy or sell Teranga securities. All references to Teranga include its subsidiaries unless the context requires otherwise. About Teranga Teranga is a multi-jurisdictional West African gold company focused on production and development as well as the exploration of more than 6,400 km2 of land located on prospective gold belts. Since its initial public offering in 2010, Teranga has produced more than 1.4 million ounces of gold from its operations in Senegal, which as of June 30, 2017 had a reserve base of 2.7 million ounces of gold. Focused on diversification and growth, the Company is advancing its Wahgnion Gold Project, with a recently released positive feasibility study, and conducting extensive exploration programs in three countries: Burkina Faso, Senegal and Cote dIvoire. Teranga has a strong balance sheet and the financial flexibility to execute on its growth strategy. The Company has nearly 4.0 million ounces of gold reserves from its combined Sabodala Gold operations and Wahgnion Gold Project. Steadfast in its commitment to set the benchmark for responsible mining, Teranga operates in accordance with the highest international standards and aims to act as a catalyst for sustainable economic, environmental, and community development as it strives to create value for all of its stakeholders. Teranga is a member of the United Nations Global Compact and a leading member of the multi-stakeholder group responsible for the submission of the first Senegalese Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative revenue report. The Company's responsibility report is available at www.terangagold.com/responsibilityreport and is prepared in accordance with its commitments under the United Nations Global Compact and in alignment with the Global Reporting Initiative guidelines. Contact Information Richard Young President & CEO T: +1 416-594-0000 | E: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Trish Moran Head of Investor Relations T: +1 416-607-4507 | E: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. TORONTO, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Emerita Resources Corp. (Emerita or the Company) (TSX-V:EMO) announces that it has received assay results from three additional diamond drill holes from its ongoing drill project at the Salobro Project. Two of the drill holes (005 and 006A, see table below) tested for near surface mineralization in order to determine potential for a starter pit as part of its extensive development planning. The third drill hole (007, see table below) was notable in being a significant step out hole that resulted in extending the higher grade mineralization more than 100 meters in the up-dip direction. Hole 007 intersected 4.0 meters grading 8.82% zinc and 1.48% lead within an 8.0 meter mineralized zone that grades 5.70% zinc and 0.84% lead over the entire intercept. David Gower, P.Geo., Chair of Emerita said, We are very excited to see these high grades and, even better, the continuity of the mineralization in the up-dip direction in drill hole 007. The importance of mineralization in this area is that it will appreciably increase the tonnes of mineralization per vertical meter of development and should have a positive impact on the projects potential for development. The mineralization near surface in holes 005 and 006A suggests an interesting opportunity to develop a starter pit from which a ramp can be collared. We are still early in our program and we look forward to further assays. The ongoing drill program, which is progressing as planned, contemplates 23 drill holes which are designed to expand the existing resource. The program also includes four drillholes required for QA/QC to complete a National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101) compliant mineral resource calculation and six large diameter (PQ) drillholes for metallurgical testwork (400 Kg). To date, 17 drill holes have been completed and assay results have been received for five drill holes (Figures 1 and 2 below). Further drill results will be reported as they are received. The key deliverable for the ongoing exploration program will be to complete a mineral resource estimate that meets NI 43-101 standards. Emerita is planning to announce the mineral resource estimate in early Q3 2018. Based on historical work, the Salobro zinc-lead deposit is estimated to contain 8.3 million tonnes grading 7.12% zinc and lead. A qualified person, as defined in NI 43-101, has not done sufficient work on behalf of Emerita to classify the historical estimate as a current mineral resource and Emerita is not treating the historical estimate as a current mineral resource or mineral reserve. Further work must be completed in order to demonstrate whether a reasonable expectation for commercial extraction exists. The mineral resource estimate is a historical estimate and should not be relied upon. Recent Drilling results: SALOBRO DRILLING SUMMARY (2018 Program) HOLE-ID FROM (m) TO (m) LENGTH (m) ZN (%) PB (%) ZN+PB (%) EMO-SALO-DDH-005 65.82 67.32 1.50 4.59 0.08 4.67 EMO-SALO-DDH-006A 26.00 29.00 3.00 1.52 0.01 1.53 EMO-SALO-DDH-007 239.50 247.50 8.00 5.70 0.84 6.54 including 240.00 244.00 4.00 8.82 1.48 10.30 Details: HOLE-ID LOCATIONX LOCATIONY LOCATIONZ LENGTH DATUM AZIMUTH DIP EMO-SALO-DDH-005 696611.00 8254337.00 809.00 93.85 SIRGAS-2000 23S 338.00 -60.00 EMO-SALO-DDH-006A 696478.00 8254409.00 872.00 63.55 SIRGAS-2000 23S 0.00 -90.00 EMO-SALO-DDH-007 696275.00 8254035.00 845.00 293.15 SIRGAS-2000 23S 338.00 -66.00 Drillhole EMO-SALO-DDH-007 (Figure 3) was planned to test the up-dip extent of mineral resources at Orebody 1. The hole successfully intercepted mineralization at 240 meters (225 meters vertical) extending the mineralized zone approximately 100 meters up dip from the historical PRM-SALO-FD013 which intercepted 10.43 meters grading 6.09 % Zn and 0.73 % Pb. Drillholes EMO-SALO-DDH-005 (Figure 4) and 006A were planned to test the shallow zone at Orebody 1. They are targeting shallow mineralization where a possible open pit, could also be developed as part of a development plan. A trench completed by the previous operator in this section (1100 NE) assayed 22 meters grading 1.35 % Zn. Sampling and Analytical Protocols Emerita follows a systematic and rigorous QA/QC program overseen by Carlos H.C. Costa, P.Geo, Project Director of Emerita do Brazil, a subsidiary of the Company. The sample from each core run is placed in a 100-centimetre long, wood core box that has four columns. Core recovery, rock quality designation, and geologic features are logged and sample intervals, which are generally <1.5 meters, are chosen. Prior to sampling, the drill core is marked by a line drawn along the core at high angles to the foliation, so that systematically the right side of the core is sampled. 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 to be sent to the laboratory. The other half core is retained for future reference. The Company independently inserts certified control standards, blanks, and duplicates, all of which comprise approximately 20.0 % of the sample batch, to monitor sample preparation and analytical quality. The samples are stored in a secure area until they are shipped to the ALS laboratory in Belo Horizonte (ISO 9001 Certified) for preparation and then sent for assay in the ALS laboratory in Peru. At the laboratory, samples are dried, crushed, pulverized and then a four-acid digestion is applied. This process is followed by the ICP-MS analytical technique for 48 elements, including lead. If zinc or lead exceeds 1.0 %, it is then analyzed using an ICP-AES analytical technique. The laboratory also inserts blanks and standards as well as including duplicate analyses. ALS is independent of the Company. Widths of the intersections are interpreted to be close to true width based the angle of intersection relative to the geological model. Qualified Person The technical content of this news release has been reviewed, verified and approved by Carlos H. C. Costa, P.Geo., Project Director of Emerita do Brazil, a qualified person as defined by NI 43-101. About Emerita Resources Corp. Emerita is a natural resource company engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of mineral properties in Europe, with a primary focus on exploring in Spain and Brazil. The Companys corporate office and technical teams are based in Sevilla, Spain and Belo Horizonte, Brazil with an administrative office in Toronto, Canada. For further information, contact: Helia Bento +1 416 309 4293 (Toronto) This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Information This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, without limitation, statements regarding the Salobro Project, the mineralization at the Salobro Project, the Companys ability to publish a NI 43-101 mineral resource at the Salobro Project, the results of the drilling program at the Salobro Project, the QA/QC results from the Salobro Project, the prospectivity of the Salobro Project and the Companys future plans. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as plans, expects or does not expect, is expected, budget, scheduled, estimates, forecasts, intends, anticipates or does not anticipate, or believes, or 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. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Emerita, as the case may be, to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to: general business, economic, competitive, geopolitical and social uncertainties; the actual results of current exploration activities; risks associated with operation in foreign jurisdictions; ability to successfully integrate purchased properties or mining rights awarded; foreign operations risks; and other risks inherent in the mining industry. Although Emerita has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information 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 information. Emerita does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. 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. Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 VANCOUVER, June 7, 2018 /CNW/ - Bluebird Battery Metals Inc. (TSXV: BATT; US: BBBMF) (the "Company" or "Bluebird") is pleased to announce that it has entered into a binding letter of intent ("LOI") to acquire 100% of Oberon Gold Pty. Ltd. ("Oberon"), an Australian proprietary limited exploration company, from Providence Gold and Minerals Pty Ltd, Darren Craig Glover and Benjamin Leigh Harper (the "Owners"). Oberon controls 100% the high-grade Sandy Point Cobalt Project ("Sandy Point"), which includes the Greendale Polymetallic Project ("Greendale"), and 100% of the Reedy Creek Polymetallic Project ("Reedy Creek"). All projects are located in New South Wales, Australia (refer to Figure 1). Highlights: Solidifies BlueBird with a 202 sq km strategic property position within the emerging Bungonia Battery Metal Cobalt District. 100% Acquisition of the high grade Sandy Point Cobalt Project: Surface rock chip sampling program yielded 1.75% Co, 0.88% Co, 0.77% Co & 0.75% Co (from 38 rock chips greater than 0.10% cobalt, and averaging 0.35% Co refer to Table 1 ), and illustrate potential to discover a high grade, at or near surface cobalt resource. 100% control of a 202 sq km tenement ( refer to Figure 2 & 3 ) with anomalous cobalt grades over a 10 km strike length defining the perimeter of what is believed to be an arcuate Quaternary basin measuring 6 kms x 6 kms ( refer to Figure 4 ), with excellent infrastructure and access. Surface sampling returned high Cobalt grades in what is believed to be Tertiary sandstone remnants along the periphery of the basin, suggesting potential for additional cobalt mineralization in the unexposed sandstones below the shallow Quaternary cover. Past producing cobalt area from the late 1800's to early 1900's, with Cobalt mineralization occuring as flat lying residual mineralization on low hills for hundreds of metres. The selected samples are not necessarily representative of mineralization on the property and no assurances the Company will receive similar results. 100% Acquisition of the Greendale and Reedy Creek Polymetallic Projects (see below). "We are very pleased to be able to secure a strategic and large property portfolio in the Bungonia Cobalt District in New South Wales, Australia, that has yielded very high grade Cobalt grades at surface. The Sandy Point Cobalt Project provides significant exploration potential, noting the historical results identified to-date and the location to other key Cobalt projects in the area," commented Peter A. Ball., Chairman and CEO of Bluebird. "With minimal dilution, we were able to substantially increase our Cobalt property portfolio in Australia, and also add the two highly prospective Greendale and Reedy Creek polymetallic projects, that has yielded positive copper, zinc, lead and gold grades near surface. BlueBird continues to review other battery metals opportunities to add to our portfolio." Fig 1: Location: New South Wales Figure 2: Bungonia Emerging Battery Metal Cobalt, Polymetallic and Gold District Figure 3: Sandy Point Cobalt Tenement Figure 4: Sandy Point Cobalt Conceptual Model "We are excited to acquire a property which contains high cobalt values in a near surface environment with no associated arsenic or other deleterious elements that often occur with cobalt. The property is located in New South Wales Australia in an area in which exploration can occur year round and development can be fast tracked," commented Alf Stewart, President and Director of Bluebird. Sandy Point Cobalt Project Cobalt was produced in the region from the late 1800's to early 1900's, with limited production details. Cobalt mineralization has been observed to occur as flat lying residual deposits on low hills extending for hundreds of metres laterally. In addition, extensive Tertiary laterite profile is confirmed by adjacent bauxite drilling, where high grade bauxite is defined. This indicates that the weathering process which produces cobalt and manganese mineralization has been extensively developed. No previous drill testing of cobalt has been conducted to date, but manganese oxide rich mineralization outcrops on the property. Historic metallurgical test work completed by Cazaly Resources Limited (ASX:CAZ) on similar mineralisation immediately north of Sandy Point produced recoveries of: 83.2% Co, 79.5% Cu & 85.9% Ni. There is no indication that mineralization at Sandy Point will yield similar results. High grade cobalt in rock chip assays have been collected from over a 10 km strike length, including: 1.75% Co, 0.88% Co, 0.77% Co & 0.75% Co., where 38 rock chip samples graded greater than 0.10% Cobalt. Cobalt is associated with manganese oxide rich coarse grained Tertiary sandstone horizons & Manganese oxide rich, quartz stockwork veining in sedimentary basement rocks. References in Figure 2-4 above, and to other companies results, is for information purposes only and there are no assurances that the Company will achieve similar results. The selected samples are not necessarily representative of mineralization on the property and no assurances the Company will receive similar results. High grade cobalt in rock chips up to 1.75% 'cluster' around the arcuate margin of a Quaternary basin associated with 'remnant' manganese oxide rich Tertiary sandstone horizons with greater than 10 km cumulative strike. An opportunity exists to conceal and preserve potential significant tonnages of prospective manganese rich Tertiary sandstone hosted cobalt mineralization under shallow Quaternary transported cover. The high grade cobalt results from surface grab sampling have not been followed up by any drilling to date. The interpreted size of the basin (6.0 x 6.0 kms) and the shallow depth of the Quaternary cover suggest that there may be potential for additional cobalt mineralization over a broad area close to surface. This conceptual model for Sandy Point is supported by favourable results from the adjacent Cazaly Resources' Bungonia Cobalt Project, featuring similar geology and mineralization to that observed at Sandy Point. There are no assurances the Company will receive similar results to the adjacent property. Table 1: Sandy Point Cobalt Rock Chip Samples Greendale Polymetallic Project Located within the Bungonia Polymetallic and Gold District, the Company also acquired the Greendale Polymetallic Project and other prospects (located within the Sandy Point tenement): High grade rock chip values to: 5.44% Pb, 0.39% Zn, 0.60% Cu, 6.08g/t Au & 115g/t Ag Eight shallow historic RC holes completed for 592m , targeted gold yet returned significant polymetallic (Pb-Zn-Cu-Ag-Au) drill intercepts, including: 10m @ 7.23% Pb, 0.84% Zn, 0.25% Cu, 48g/t Ag & 0.40g/t Au from 27m . , targeted gold yet returned significant polymetallic (Pb-Zn-Cu-Ag-Au) drill intercepts, including: Open at shallow depths and along strike, part of a greater than 1km cumulative strike, high order Zn-Cu-Pb-Au soil geochemical anomaly. Historic shallow RC holes targeted surface gold geochemistry & NOT the high order base-metal geochemical anomalies. The selected samples are not necessarily representative of mineralization on the property and no assurances the Company will receive similar results. Reedy Creek Polymetallic Project In addition to Sandy Point and Greendale, the Company has also acquired 100% of the 85 km2 Reedy Creek Polymetallic Project: Tenement encapsulates polymetallic (Cu-Zn-Pb-Au-Ag) targets consisting of the semi advanced Reedy Creek Mine prospect, Endevour 1 Prospects, and the Kala Gold Prospect. Located in the Lachlan Fold Belt, within the Lachlan Transverse Zone (LTZ) in Central New South Wales, Australia . . The LTZ is highly prospective for gold and base metal deposits, and is centrally located half way between the world class Cadia & North Parkes porphyry Au-Cu mines. The shallow polymetallic drill intercepts remain open along strike and at depth. Historic shallow RC holes targeted surface gold geochemistry & NOT the high order base-metal geochemical anomalies. Four shallow diamond holes (less than 200m deep), with two abandoned short of target depths. Significant shallow Cu intercepts require follow-up along strike: 9.5m @ 1.45% Cu from 34.1m , within 33.6m @ 0.83% Cu, 0.13% Pb & 0.34% Zn (DDH-3) 28.3m @ 0.36% Cu, 0.10% Pb & 0.10% Zn from 41.4m (DDH-4) Limited retrospective gold assaying returned: 7m @ 1.17g/t Au (DDH-3) deep), with two abandoned short of target depths. Two zones of drilled polymetallic (Cu-Pb-Zn-Ag-Au) sulphide skarn defined, with an overprinting epithermal A event. Drilled on only one section wide open along strike and at depth. Interpreted as part of a much larger intrusive related hydrothermal system. There are no assurances the Company will receive similar results. Please visit the website www.bluebirdbatterymetals.com for additional information, maps and sections related to the Sandy Point, Greendale, and Reedy Creek Polymetallic Project. LOI Terms Under the terms of the LOI, which will be formalized by a definitive agreement among the parties, the Company will purchase a 100% ownership interest in Oberon by paying the Owners, over two years, a total of CAD$245,000 and issuing to the Owners CAD$1,175,000 value of BlueBird common shares. BlueBird will grant the Owners a 1% net smelter royalty in respect of the Property on standard industry terms to be agreed between the parties (the "NSR"). The parties agree that BlueBird shall, at all times, retain an exclusive and unlimited right to purchase the NSR back from the Owners by paying the Owners CAD$350,000 for each 50% of the NSR it wishes to buy back. The definitive agreement must be filed with the TSX Venture Exchange ("Exchange") and the related share issuances are subject to Exchange approval. A finder's fee will be paid to COMVERJ Pty Ltd in respect of the transaction pursuant to the policies of the Exchange. The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Wes Hanson, P.Geo., a director of the Company and a Qualified Person pursuant to National Instrument 43-101. The qualified person has not yet visited the Sandy Point, Greendale or Reedy Creek Projects, and therefore has not yet verified the data disclosed, including sampling, analytical, and test data underlying the information or opinions contained in the written disclosure. About Bluebird Battery Metals BlueBird Battery Metals (TSXV: BATT; US: BBBMF) is a Canadian publicly listed company focused on the global exploration and development of strategic battery metals projects, primarily cobalt and nickel. BlueBird's goal is to pursue a business model that offers direct and long-term leverage to the price appreciation in nickel and cobalt, two principal materials in EV batteries. The Company plans to become a leader in the battery metals sector, as cobalt is currently in a global supply deficit, has a vulnerable supply chain, and is part of an emerging sector with extraordinary potential. BlueBird is currently advancing its Ni-Co-Cu project in Western Australia, its Co-Cu project in the Yukon, Canada, and is continuing to review new acquisition opportunities to add to the Company's project portfolio. On Behalf of the Board of BlueBird Battery Metals Inc. Peter A. Ball Chairman and CEO This news release may contain or refer to forward-looking information based on current expectations, including, but not limited to the Company acquiring an interest in properties controlled by Oberon, exploring the Canegrass Ni-Co-Cu Property, the Batt Co-Cu Property and the impact on the Company of these events, including the effect on the share prices. Forward-looking information is subject to significant risks and uncertainties, as actual results may differ materially from forecasted results. Forward-looking information is provided as of the date hereof and we assume no responsibility to update or revise such information to reflect new events or circumstances. Neither TSX Venture Exchange, the Toronto Stock Exchange nor their Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. June 7, 2018 / TheNewswire / Vancouver, Canada - Guyana Goldstrike Inc. (the "Company" or "Guyana Goldstrike") (TSXV: GYA, OTC: GYNAF, FSE: 1ZT) is pleased to announce that the geological team has commenced trenching, mapping, and sampling at the Marudi North Zone - West Extension area on its Marudi Gold Project ("Marudi" or the "Property") located in the Guiana Gold Belt, Guyana, South America. Peter Berdusco, President and CEO states "This is the Company's second area of geological interest out of nine targeted areas identified. The first area Paunch returned high grade gold values indicating a downslope gold dispersion with gold trends that suggested an undiscovered bedrock source was in the vicinity. It is important to note that the Marudi North Zone has been drilled and assayed by previous operators, therefore the West Extension is an excellent follow up exploration target to determine if there's continuity of gold present in the area. We eagerly anticipate further sampling and assay results from Marudi North - West Extension." Marudi North Zone - West Extension Exploration Locke Goldsmith, P. Eng P. Geo VP Exploration reports "New trenching at Marudi North - West Extension has commenced. One trench has been completed to date, including sampling, mapping, and photography. At this trench an outcrop of quartzite-metachert, the host bedrock, was identified and exposed at a depth of 2.5 meters. The Marudi North - West Extension has a very good potential for the discovery of gold." Sampling and Assaying All samples collected during this program were delivered to Activation Laboratories Ltd. (Actlabs) located in Georgetown, Guyana for gold content by Fire Assay (FA). Actlabs is ISO 17025 accredited and/or certified to 9001: 2008. With 25+ years' experience, with full analytical laboratories that perform high quality analysis to many industries around the world. Historical Drill Results - Marudi North Zone (Guyana Frontier - 2012) Source: 43-101 Technical Report D. Strickland P. Geo November 30, 2016 Hole No. Azimuth (degrees) Dip (degrees) Final Depth of Hole (m) From (m) To (m) Interval (m) Gold Intercept (grams/ tonne) MN12-133 119? -50 163.5 9.08 18 8.92 2.95 including 9.6 12 2.4 7.45 30 37.45 7.45 0.26 159.7 163.5 3.8 0.32 MN12-134 119? -70 97.67 12.5 30.05 17.55 4.29 including 12.5 24.5 12 5.54 30.05 39 8.95 0.3 MH12-135 290? -60 268.5 23.26 55.5 32.24 1.8 MN12-137 115? -55 292.5 195.13 204.94 9.81 0.78 MN12-140 140? -55 139.5 48.97 57.16 8.19 0.31 72.5 80.5 8 1.9 including 74.5 78.5 4 3.4 MN12-141 165? -55 110 36 42.5 8.95 0.26 60 66 6 0.3 Below is a 2012 location map showing drilling and exploration completed at Marudi North by previous operators. Historical Trenching Previous operators at Marudi reported 3,327.40 metres of trenching and assayed 1,069 samples with gold values assayed up to 11 g/t of gold. (Source: D. Strickland P. Geo NI 43-101 Technical Report, November 30, 2016) Quality Assurance / Quality Control (QA/QC) Actlabs is an ISO 9001:2008 qualified assayer that performs and makes available internal assaying controls. Certified blanks and standards are systematically used as part of Guyana Goldstrike's QA/QC program with one blank and standard inserted at every 20 sample intervals at Paunch. Property Geology Gold mineralization at Marudi is regarded as being related to iron-formation-hosted gold ("IFG") deposits that occur in other cratonic greenstone belts around the world. These deposits can be remarkably long-lived with sizeable gold production. They have a strong association between gold and iron sulfide minerals, the presence of gold bearing quartz veins and structures, the occurrence of deposits in structurally complex terranes, and the absence of lead and zinc enrichment. Examples of some existing IFG deposits are: the Homestake Mine, Lupin Mine, and Musselwhite Mine. The Homestake Mine is located in South Dakota USA and was the largest and deepest gold mine in North America. It has reported production of 43.9 million ounces of gold (source: Click Here and was in production from 1878-2001. The Lupin Mine located in Nunavut, Canada, no longer in production, produced approximately 3 million ounces of gold (source: Click Here). The Mussellwhite mine has estimated reserves of 2.29 million ounces of gold (source: Click Here) and is owned and operated by Goldcorp and will be in production until 2020. About the Marudi Gold Project The Company is developing the Marudi Gold Project located in Guyana, South America, the project is unique in that it has a 20-year mining license in good standing, all-season road access, infrastructure in place, with an established mining camp serviced by employees, service buildings, and a full-time mining manager. The Property has three known gold bearing areas, specifically the alluvial areas, the saprolite, and the underlying hard-rock. There has been 42,000 metres of historic diamond drilling (141 holes) completed on the Project by prior operators. The Company has recently completed a mineral resource estimate on the Mazoa Hill zone containing 259,100 indicated gold ounces within 4,428,000 tonnes grading 1.8 grams/tonne (g/t) and 86,200 inferred gold ounces within 1,653,000 tonnes grading 1.60 grams/tonne (g/t). There exists excellent exploration upside through the development of previously identified mineralized bedrock targets on the Project. For information concerning the mineral resource estimate and the Project, readers are encouraged to review "Technical Report: Marudi Property Mazoa Hill Mineral Resource Estimate", a technical report prepared for the Company by Global Mineral Resource Services and is available at Click Here and under the Company's profile on SEDAR www.sedar.com. About Guyana The Republic of Guyana is located in South America between Venezuela and Suriname. The country is English speaking and under British Common Law with a democratically-elected government. It has an established mining act and a rich history of gold production. In 2016, 690,000 ounces of gold was produced by operators mining in the country. The Fraser Institute's 2016 Annual Survey of Mining listed Guyana as the third best mining jurisdiction with regards to investment attractiveness in the Latin America and Caribbean Basin sub-group. The Guiana Shield is the geographic gold-hosting region, and is world-recognized as a premier gold region that is highly prospective, under-explored and has geological continuity with West Africa.* In 2016, two mines in Guyana declared the commencement of commercial production: the Aurora deposit (Guyana Goldfields) and the Karouni deposit (Troy Resources). * Independent Technical and Environmental Review Karouni Gold Project - Guyana, Behre Dolbear Australia Pty Ltd, April 29, 2016 Qualified Person Locke Goldsmith, M.Sc., P. Eng, P. Geo, Chief Geologist and Exploration Manager for the Company, is a Qualified Person in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Mr. Goldsmith has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical content of this news release. On behalf of the Board of Directors of GUYANA GOLDSTRIKE INC. Peter Berdusco President and Chief Executive Officer 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 news release may contain certain "Forward-Looking Statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities laws. When used in this news release, the words "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "target, "plan", "forecast", "may", "schedule" and other similar words or expressions identify forward-looking statements or information. These forward-looking statements or information may relate to future prices of commodities, accuracy of mineral or resource exploration activity, reserves or resources, regulatory or government requirements or approvals, the reliability of third party information, continued access to mineral properties or infrastructure, fluctuations in the market for gold, changes in exploration costs and government regulation in Guyana, status of artisanal mining activities and associated rights, and other factors or information. Such statements represent the Company's current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social risks, contingencies and uncertainties. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements or information to reflect changes in assumptions or changes in circumstances or any other events affections such statements and information other than as required by applicable laws, rules and regulations. MONTREAL, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Auxico Resources Canada Inc. (CSE:AUAG) is pleased to announce that the Company has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Aucito S.A.S., a Colombian company, concerning the Villa Kelly Property (the Property) in the Department of Bolivar, Colombia. The Villa Kelly Property covers an area of 92.2 hectares. According to the report written by M.Sc. Eng. Rene Florencio Lugo Primelles of ITKnowLogistics S.A.S (Link to the report: https://bit.ly/2JvakyL ), a total of 12 veins have been prospected on the Property, and limited sampling of these veins has resulted in values up to 200 g/t. The Kelly vein has a shaft down to 14 metres and had been exploited from 2011 until 2014. There are 40 artisanal miners currently on the Property. Auxico is in the process of conducting due diligence on the Property, which will include a site visit, sampling and grade verification of the veins, with a view to creating a joint venture for the full exploitation of three veins on the Property. The Property is accessible from the road and has infrastructure, such as a ball mill and Falcon concentrator, that should be upgraded in order to achieve economic profitability. Once the due diligence has been completed, a joint venture will be formalized, with the understanding that Auxico will invest 100% of the capital required to implement industrial production of the precious metals or base metals. If the due diligence process in successful, both parties will negotiate the terms of the joint venture, including specifically the sharing of profits. Qualified Person This news release was reviewed and approved by Joel Scodnick, P.Geo., an independent consultant to Auxico, in his capacity as a Qualified Person, as defined by National Instrument 43-101. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS signed Pierre Gauthier Chairman & CEO, Auxico Resources Canada Inc. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Cell: +1 514 299 0881 About Auxico Resources Canada Inc. Auxico Resources Canada Inc. (Auxico) is a Canadian company that was founded in 2014 and based in Montreal. Auxico is engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of mineral properties in Colombia and Mexico. The Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or the accuracy of the contents of this release. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 7, 2018) - Cabral Gold Inc. (TSXV: CBR) ("Cabral" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the completion of a new NI 43-101 gold mineral resource estimate for four deposits at its Cuiu Cuiu Project, located in the state of Para in northern Brazil. The Cuiu Cuiu property is contiguous to the northwest of Eldorado Gold Corporation's ("Eldorado Gold") advanced Tocantinzinho gold project (Figure 1). Cabral's 2018 NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate was completed by Micon International Limited (Micon), and totals 5.9MM tonnes grading 0.9 g/t Au (Indicated) and 19.5MM tonnes grading 1.2 g/t Au (Inferred), or 0.2MM ounces and 0.8MM ounces of gold, respectively (Table 1). Top cuts were applied ranging from 2 to 20 g/t Au. These were determined based on a variety of statistical methods for each subzone of two larger deposits. No top cuts were required for two smaller, lower grade satellite deposits. Economic parameters used in determining pit shell and underground dimensions for this constrained resource were largely based on recent economic studies at Tocantinzinho available on Eldorado Gold's web site. In order to better compare with historic resources. Micon also provided an estimate without top cuts. This should not be considered the current resource estimate. Without applying top cuts, the 2018 pit/underground constrained estimate would report 57% more gold, being 6.4MM tonnes grading 1.0 g/t Au (indicated) and 23.3MM tonnes grading 1.7 g/t Au (inferred), or 0.2MM ounces and 1.3MM ounces of gold, respectively (Table 2). This compares very favourably to a 2011 historic NI 43-101 pit/underground constrained resource of 1.3MM oz Au determined by Pincock, Allen and Holt ("Pincock"). Pincock's estimate did not apply top cuts, thus it is best compared with Micon's estimate that excludes top cuts. The 2018 estimate (without top cuts) is a 14% increase from Pincock's estimate (Table 3). Due to more rigorous economic parameters used in determining the 2018 pit shells, gold grade is 44% higher, while tonnage is 27% lower than the 2011 resource calculation (Table 3). Micon also provided a sensitivity study at various cut-off grades. The selection of top cuts also has a significant impact on sensitivity estimates without pit or underground constraints (Table 4). At a 0.4 g/t Au cut-off, Micon's unconstrained sensitivity estimate is 30% higher (2.1MM oz of gold) without top cuts than with the top cuts (1.6MM oz of gold). The 2018 sensitivity estimate with no top cut is 49% higher than the 2011 unconstrained Pincock sensitivity estimate (1.4MM oz of gold) using similar methodologies, largely due to a 48% increase in tonnes (Table 5). Alan Carter, President and CEO said "The 2018 resource estimate is an important fundamental step towards developing an economic platform for the Cuiu Cuiu project. We believe that surface trenching and further drilling will provide additional data that will likely statistically improve top-end cuts, and as a result add significant additional ounces within the existing deposits as well as along strike. It is worth remembering that previous drilling has identified ten mineralized zones at Cuiu Cuiu, for which only four thus far have sufficient drilling to determine resources, and significant upside exists in all four of the deposits identified to date. Furthermore, the recent recognition of new high-grade targets at Cuiu Cuiu [see news release of March 21, 2018] also represents a very important step towards improving the overall grade and viability of the project through the potential addition of higher grade resources. These efforts will be prioritized, and tested over the coming months". Background Previous drilling on the Cuiu Cuiu property had identified ten largely low-grade, stockwork vein mineralized zones after following up significant soil and stream-sediment survey anomalies and extensive alluvial artisanal workings. Drilling focussed on expanding and delimiting the zones, rather than optimizing grade. Recent work by Cabral has identified numerous additional higher grade vein and stockwork vein targets. Several of these are coincident with significant geochemical and geophysical targets and are the subject of ongoing trenching, channel sampling and soil sampling on surface: some of these are being exploited in places by artisanal workers. To date there has been sufficient diamond drilling to determine resources on just four deposits: two larger deposits, Central and Moreira Gomes (MG), and two smaller satellite deposits Central North and Jerimum de Baixo (JB) (Figure 2). All remain open at depth and along strike. Central occurs in a broad structural corridor which may also contain other parallel mineralized zones. Newly identified parallel structures close to MG, and extensions of Central North and JB also require drilling and may ultimately expand the footprint of those mineralized areas. The 2018 NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate was prepared for Cabral by Thomas C. Stubens P.Eng. of Micon. This resource incorporates 108 diamond drill holes (30,448m). All holes were drilled by the previous operator, Magellan Minerals Ltd. ("Magellan") between, 2006 and 2012. The new resource estimate is considered a significant improvement, when compared to an April 19, 2011 NI 43-101 resource estimate commissioned by Magellan. Those historic resources were determined by Aaron M. McMahon, P.G., of Pincock, but only included 74 diamond drill holes (19,297m) that had been completed prior to December 31, 2010. Based on the available data at the time, Magellan's historic resources considered only two deposits, Central and MG. The 2018 Cuiu Cuiu NI 43-101 gold resource estimate is constrained by Whittle pits above conceptual underground stopes. Economic parameters for the pits and gold recoveries were largely based on Eldorado Gold's June 15, 2015 positive feasibility study at Tocantinzinho, summarized below. Micon also completed sensitivity studies at various cut-off grades without pit or underground economic constraints (unconstrained). Deposit Descriptions Gold deposits at Cuiu Cuiu are interpreted to be hosted in northwest and east-trending subordinate shears and faults related to a major northwest trending regional structure. Figure 2 shows the location of the four deposits included in the resource, in addition to other mineralized areas and promising targets. Mineralization in all four deposits can be described as stockwork/sheeted veinlet mineralized systems hosted within broad, altered shear zones within granitic rocks. Individual veinlets are typically 0.2 to 2.0 cm in width but occasionally are up to 20 cm wide. The pyrite content within the zones of stockwork mineralization, ranges from 0.5 to 4.0 percent in volume. High grade gold zones above 10 g/t Au are associated with elevated levels of both pyrite and base metal sulfides, and display significant silicification. Pyrite is the primary host for native gold, although visible coarse gold is usually associated with base metal sulfides, particularly galena, sphalerite, and chalcopyrite. There is a positive correlation between the frequency of quartz veins, the percentage of sulfides present and gold grade. Gold occurs as the native metal in fracture fillings within pyrite and other sulfides; it occurs on the surfaces of, and in between individual sulfide grains, rarely as inclusions within pyrite. The east-trending, steep north-dipping Moreira Gomes (MG) Deposit ranges in width up to 65m in the core with several branching splays, and was traced for 2.2km along strike, and from surface to a maximum depth of 360m. This is a narrower, but higher grade zone of mineralization than the other three zones. Particularly important are high-grade auriferous veins (composites up to 104.9 g/t Au) that occur along the hanging-wall and/or footwall contacts in places; however, current drill density is insufficient to better define these higher grade intercepts. The Central Deposit comprises the widest zone of mineralization identified on the property. Drilling has defined a northwest-trending, steeply dipping deformed zone that contains anastomosing and, or parallel subzones. These sub-zones of gold-bearing, silicified and altered granitic rocks over a strike length of 1.2km, widths up to 190m, and from surface to a maximum depth of 420m. Scattered higher grade gold intercepts up to 39.8 g/t Au were encountered. Drilling to date has not closed off the zone, and it remains open to the northwest, southeast and at depth. Elevated values near the collars and end of many drill holes suggest the width of the deposit has also not yet been fully delimited, and that there may be parallel zones outside the limit of drilling and the current resource. The northwest-trending Central North Deposit is a smaller zone that occurs directly to the northeast of the main Central Deposit, It has many similarities to Central but is lower grade, with the best 2m composite being just 4.3 g/t gold. Drilling has traced Central North over a strike length of 500m, from surface to a maximum depth of 380m. The width across the package of structures is up to 150m. It remains open to the northwest, southeast and at depth. Based on existing drilling, the northwest-trending Jerimum de Baixo (JB) Deposit is another smaller and lower grade deposit. The northwest trending deposit has been traced over a strike length of 520m, widths up to 125m, and from surface to a maximum depth of 200m. It remains open to the northwest, southeast and at depth. The highest gold grade encountered in drilling to date was 9.4 g/t Au. New artisanal workings west of JB suggest it may be larger than previously thought. 2018 Resource Estimate Assumptions and Parameters and Results The 2018 resource estimate commissioned by Cabral focused on four deposits; Central, Moreira Gomes (MG), Central North, and Jerimum de Baixo (JB). The estimate is based on diamond holes completed by Magellan prior to Cabral acquiring that company's wholly-owned Brazilian subsidiary in 2016. For the 2018 resource estimate Micon used 51 holes (15,413m) at Central, 35 holes (9,261m) at MG, 7 holes (2,242m) at Central North, and 15 holes (3,532m) at JB; maximum 2m composite gold grades were 39.8 g/t, 104.9 g/t, 4.3 g/t and 9.4 g/t, respectively. A total of 8,442 composites were used in the estimates. Wireframes were originally generated by Magellan for all four deposits and updated by Micon to account for the new drill data. Central, Central North, MG and JB were modelled as 11, 4, 9, and 3 higher grade mineralized subzones, respectively, surrounded by an encompassing lower grade envelope for each. Gold grades at Central, Central North and Moreira Gomes were estimated using ordinary kriging. Inversed-distance squared (ID2) was used at Jerimum de Baixo. Micon assessed the capping requirement of each sub-zone at Central, Central North, Jerimum de Baixo and Moreira Gomes using a variety of statistics, cumulative frequency plots and other considerations. The capping thresholds which were applied to the 2m composites are summarized in Table 6. Less than half of the mineral zones at Central and Moreira Gomes required capping and no caps were required in the smaller, low-grade Central North and JB deposits. Constrained gold resources were determined using mining shapes based on a $1,400/oz gold price. Mineable shapes were either Whittle pits or conceptual underground stopes. Resources falling within the pits were reported above cut-off grades of 0.35 g/t Au. Stope shapes only include blocks above a cut-off grade of 1.3 g/t Au. Micon largely assumed the parameters of Eldorado Gold's 2015 feasibility studies available on that company's web site. Recoveries were assumed to be 90%. Mining costs used were $2.50/t for fresh rock, and $1.50/t for saprolite; with $3.00 and $8.30 per tonne of ore for G&A and Milling, respectively. Pit slopes selected were 30 for saprolite and 50 for fresh rock. Sensitivity studies were also provided, using a range of cut-off gold grades, with no pit or underground constraints. For the 2018 NI 43-101 Resource Estimate, Micon determined a constrained Indicated Resource of 5.9MM tonnes grading 0.9 g/t Au and an Inferred Resource of 19.5MM tonnes grading 1.2 g/t Au (0.2MM ounces and 0.8MM ounces of gold, respectively). 79% of the resource reports to pits (Table 1). For comparison purposes, Micon also provided pit/underground constrained estimates for each deposit with and without top cuts (Table 2). Without top cuts the constrained estimate reports 57% more gold than with a top cut, being 6.4MM tonnes grading 1.0 g/t Au (indicated) and 23.3MM tonnes grading 1.7 g/t Au (inferred), or 0.2MM ounces and 1.3MM ounces of gold, respectively. Without pit or underground constraints, Micon's top-cut selection also has a significant impact on sensitivity studies. At a 0.4 g/t Au cut off, Micon's unconstrained sensitivity estimate is 30% higher (2.1MM oz of gold) without top cuts than with the top cuts (1.6MM oz of gold). Historical Resource Estimate Assumptions and Parameters A 2011 resource estimate commissioned by Magellan focused two deposits, Central and MG. That estimate was based on diamond drilling completed prior to December 31, 2010. At that time, only 50 holes (13,605m) had been completed at Central and 24 (5,692m) at MG. Pincock did not indicate in the report how many of these holes were used in the estimates. The Pincock resource determination used ordinary kriging, assumed a gold price of $1,250/oz and did not apply top cuts to the gold grades. The mineable shapes were either Lerchs-Grossman pits or conceptual underground stopes. Resources falling within the pits were reported at cut-off grades of 0.3 g/t Au for fresh rock or 0.4 g/t Au for saprolite. Stope shapes only include blocks above a cut-off grade of 1.3 g/t Au. The cut-off grades considered a gold price of $1,250 per ounce and metallurgical recoveries of 91 percent for fresh rock and 66 percent for saprolite. Details on economic parameters used in pit and underground design were not provided in the NI 43-101 report; moreover, the release of the resource preceded publication of Eldorado Gold's earlier economic studies released in May 2011. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify this historic estimate as current resources, and the issuer is not treating the historic estimate as mineral resources. For the historic estimate Pincock determined an Indicated Resource of 3.4MMt @ 1.0g/t Au (for 0.1MMoz) and Inferred Resource of 31MMt @ 1.2g/t Au (for 1.2MMoz) for the Central and MG deposits (Table 2). Sensitivity studies without pit or underground constraints are shown in Table 5 at various cut-off gold grades. For further details, Pincock's full 43-101 report, dated April 19, 2011, can be viewed on SEDAR under Magellan Minerals Ltd. Comparison of 2018 and 2011 Resource Estimates As Pincock did not use a top-end cut for its historic resource estimate, it is best compared to Micon's estimate that does not include a top cut. Micon's 2018 pit and underground constrained estimate without top cuts contains 14% more gold than Pincock's 2011 constrained estimate. Due to more rigorous economic parameters used in determining the 2018 pit shells, gold grade is 44% higher, while tonnage is 27% lower than the 2011 resource calculation (Table 2). Micon's 2018 unconstrained sensitivity study also compares favourably to Pincock's. At a 0.4 g/t Au cut-off, Micon's estimate of 2.1MM oz of gold is 49% higher than the 2011 unconstrained Pincock sensitivity study using the same cut-off grade (1.4MM oz of gold), largely due to a 48% increase in tonnes (Table 4). Future Plans Cabral is currently engaged in an aggressive surface exploration program at Cuiu Cuiu which involves soil sampling, auger sampling, pitting and trenching on at least 12 targets at Cuiu Cuiu including Central, MG, JB and Central North. This work is aimed at prioritizing targets for diamond drilling later in 2018. Table 1: Cabral's 2018 NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate for the Cuiu Cuiu project. These are constrained by open pit (0.35 g/t Au cut-off) and underground (1.30 g/t Au cut-off) mining shapes. Top cuts were applied to certain sub-zones of the Central and MG deposits. Table 2 : Comparison of the Cuiu Cuiu 2018 combined open-pit and underground constrained NI 43-101 resource estimate determined using top cuts, to an estimate provided without top cuts. Table 3: Comparison of the Micon 2018 pit and underground constrained estimate with historic Pincock 2011 pit and underground constrained resource without applying top cuts. Table 4: Comparison of 2018 unconstrained sensitivity estimates to cut-off grade, with and without top cuts. Table 5: Unconstrained sensitivity estimates to cut-off, comparing Micon's 2018 estimates and Pincock's 2011 historic estimates without top cuts. Table 6: Total constrained NI 43-101 Resources with top cuts shown for individual subzones inside optimized pits (0.35 g/t Au cut-off) and underground (1.3 g/t Au cut-off), compared to an estimate provided without top cuts. Figure 1: Location of Cabral's Cuiu Cuiu project relative to Eldorado Gold's TZ project and infrastructure Figure 2: Cuiu Cuiu property showing the deposits identified thus far (in red) and main target zones (in yellow) About Cabral Gold Inc. The Company is a junior resource company and is engaged in the identification, exploration and development of mineral properties, with a primary focus on gold properties located in Brazil. The Company owns the Cuiu Cuiu gold project located in the Tapajos Region within the state of Para in northern Brazil. The Tapajos Gold Province is the site of the largest gold rush in Brazil's history. Cuiu Cuiu was the largest garimpo in the Tapajos and produced an estimate 2Moz of placer gold historically. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: "Alan Carter" President and Chief Executive Officer Cabral Gold Inc. Tel: 604.676.5660 Thomas C. Stubens P.Eng. of Micon, a consultant to the Company as well as an Independent Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed the technical information presented in this news release. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as such term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-looking Statements This news release contains certain forward-looking information and forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities legislation (collectively "forward-looking statements"). The use of the words "will", "expected" 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. Such forward-looking statements should not be unduly relied upon. This news release contains forward-looking statements and assumptions pertaining to the following: strategic plans and future operations, and results of exploration. Actual results achieved may vary from the information provided herein as a result of numerous known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors. The Company believes the expectations reflected in those forward-looking statements are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct. Our company is interested in wood chips 1. we buy pure wood chips only - not mixture of logs, leaves and branches 2. on CIF terms only 3. In MT (not in m3) Amount Due Date $50,000 On December 5, 2018; and, $100,000 On December 5, 2019 ABOUT ROSCAN RosCan Minerals Corporation is a Canadian gold exploration company focussed on West Africa. The Company has assembled a significant land position of 100%-owned permits in an area of large gold deposits for its Kandiole Project in west Mali. RosCan is also exploring the gold potential of the early exploration stage Dormaa Project in Ghana, in which RosCan can earn a 50% interest through an option agreement with Pelangio Exploration Inc. For further information, please contact: Greg Isenor President and Chief Executive Officer Tel: (902) 832-5555 or (416) 293-8437 Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Forward Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking information which is not comprised of historical facts. Forward-looking information is characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking information involves risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events, results, and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, changes in the state of equity and debt markets, fluctuations in commodity prices, delays in obtaining required regulatory or governmental approvals, and other risks involved in the mineral exploration and development industry, including those risks set out in the Company's management's discussion and analysis as filed under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. Forward-looking information in this news release is based on the opinions and assumptions of management considered reasonable as of the date hereof, including that all necessary governmental and regulatory approvals will be received as and when expected. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, other than as required by applicable securities laws. 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. Trenching and Drilling Ongoing at Eleonore MONTREAL, June 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ALGOLD RESOURCES LTD. (TSXV:ALG) (Algold or the Corporation) today announced assay results from a trenching and pitting program carried out during the first and second quarters of 2018 at the high-grade Salma Vein System and Eleonore zone located at the Corporations Tijirit project in Mauritania. The Salma Vein, discovered in mid-2017 (reference Algolds press release dated June 7, 2017), is located approximately five kilometers northeast of the Eleonore zone. The Salma Vein System has been traced over a ten-kilometer-long mineralized structure situated at the prospective granite-greenstone contact zone. The ongoing trenching and sampling program at Salma and Eleonore continues to intersect noteworthy results and highlight the significant potential of the Salma area to rapidly add substantial high-grade gold mineralization at the Tijirit Project, said Algolds Executive Vice-President, Exploration, Francois Auclair. Highlights Salma 85.0 g/t Au over 0.40 meters true width from channel T18TRS103, a new area 750 meters north of drill hole T18RC028 13.21 g/t Au over 1.40 meters true width from channel T18TRS96, next to grab sample A10417, which returned 127.0 g/t Au and reverse-circulation (RC) drill hole T18RC028, which returned 1.26 g/t Au over 3 meters. (Figure 1) Eleonore 14.56 g/t Au over 1.65 meters true width from channel T18TR001, a steep dipping vein located between the Eleonore South and the Eleonore Central zones, not previously tested by drilling. 4.67 g/t Au over 4.06 meters true width from channel T18TRM03, a quartz-rich shear zone in the eastern part of Eleonore South, between two drill fences and to the northwest of current drilling. (Figure 2) The channel sampling and trenching carried out in 2018 successfully identified new gold-bearing structures within the mining licence area. At Salma, 93 samples were collected from 26 channels covering 56.3 meters, in addition to the samples collected in 2017. At Eleonore, 1,506 samples were collected from 14 new trenches excavated for a total length of 2,964 meters. The Company is in receipt of the results for 776 samples to date. Salma Channels at Salma were excavated over a one-kilometer strike-length, where several gently dipping veins were observed. While the vein dips are shallower than elsewhere at Salma, the structural setting is similar, the mineralization is associated with localized shearing. Exploration work is ongoing along the Salma granite contact and 1.6 kilometers further to the south where another granite-greenstone contact has been identified. Sampling at Salma was carried out predominantly in pits excavated by artisanal miners. The samples were generally taken at depths varying from 3 to 5 meters in trenches (or pits). (Reference Algolds press release dated December 6, 2017). (Reference Photo 1) Throughout Salma the mineralization trends in a north to northeast direction and is associated with local shearing. Gold was found within quartz veins ranging in width from 0.2 to 3.25 meters, located close to the contact of an intrusive granite pluton and the mafic volcanics. Locally, veins pinch and swell along the structure. Individual veins have been mapped for over 500 meters, with parallel veins often recorded. The southern end of Salma has been termed Eleonore East. Various orientations were observed with flat-lying, shallow dipping, discordant and shear-associated veins recorded. Gold has been found in all of these structures. Eleonore Trenching The mechanical trenching at Eleonore was initiated in mid-April to assist in the geological and structural mapping of the Eleonore zone. The trenching program, along with the current drilling program, will be used to prepare an updated Mineral Resource Estimate, which the Company expects to complete in Q4 2018. A hydraulics excavator was used to dig the trenches, which are generally 1.3 meters wide and 2 to 3.5 meters deep. Lengths vary from 48 meters to 334 meters. (Reference Photo 2.) Table 1: Salma Channel Sampling Program Assay Results Hole ID Prospect East UTM North UTM From (m) To (m) Vertical Depth* (m) Average Grade** (g/t Au) Width*** (m) T18TRS93 Salma 486355 2255590 0.0 0.4 2 2.74 0.40 T18TRS94 Salma 486386 2255539 0.0 1.15 2 6.41 1.15 T18TRS95 Salma 486321 2255465 0.0 0.5 2 8.35 0.50 T18TRS96 Salma 486401 2255511 0.0 1.4 2 13.21 1.40 T18TRS99 Salma 486512 2255770 0.0 3.07 2 0.70 3.07 T18TRS101 Salma 486411 2255851 0.2 0.7 2 12.50 0.50 T18TRS103 Salma 486334 2256257 0.0 0.4 2 85.00 0.40 Table 2: Eleonore Channel Sampling Program Assay Results Hole ID Prospect East UTM North UTM From (m) To (m) Vertical Depth* (m) Average Grade** (g/t Au) Width*** (m) T18TRM03 Eleonore S 481978 2249001 0.0 4.06 2 4.67 4.06 T18TRM05 Eleonore S 481974 2249482 0.5 2.10 2 1.19 1.60 T18TRM01 Eleonore S 481935 2248347 0.0 1.96 2 1.14 1.96 T18TR001 Eleonore S 481891 2249284 262.0 263.65 2 14.56 1.65 T18TR005 Eleonore S 482024 2248948 166.0 168.0 2 1.13 2.00 *Vertical depth of intersection below surface. **Weighted average grade, composite based on a minimum grade of 0.3 g/t Au with an internal dilution of 0.005 g/t Au over two meters and an edge grade of 0.25 g/t Au permitted. ***True width No capping of higher values has been applied. Complete assay results are available on Algolds website (www.algold.com). Salma Vein System and Eleonore Sampling Procedure Channels were sampled in the weathered rock honouring geological contacts. Material was collected using hammer and chisel with care taken to avoid sampling bias. For trenches T18TR001 to T18TR014 at Eleonore, a composite sample was collected from continuous channels taken horizontally along the north-facing wall at the bottom of the trench (Reference Photo 2). Once collected, samples were dried, crushed, homogenized and split with 250-gram samples sent to SGS Bamako for 50-gram fire-assay analysis. Prior to sample preparation, quality control (QC) samples were inserted, as per Algolds sampling procedure, to monitor the preparation and assay laboratorys procedures. New Prospect Jemelein Rock Chip Sampling Promising initial results have also been received from the Jemelein Prospect, located on the Companys exploration licence 1117B2, located east of Algolds mining licence. The area occurs along the southern contact of the Salma Granite and represents a large shear zone trending to the north east. Auriferous mineralization occurs in quartz veins/stockworks with associated pyrite within a felsic schistose unit with results returning up to 3.34 g/t Au. A mineralized banded iron formation grading 3.7 g/t Au has also been identified within the main shear corridor. Aeolian sand covers much of the prospective area, restricting the use of surface geochemical methods for exploration. Drilling Drilling commenced in early May 2018 with two diamond core and two RC drill rigs currently in operation at Eleonore. The primary objective is to upgrade current inferred resources to the indicated category. The Company is expecting to receive the first round of results at the end of June. Quality Assurance / Quality Control (QA/QC) Analytical work for drill core and chips, geochemical samples and rock chip samples is carried out at the independent SGS Laboratories Ltd. in Bamako, Mali. The 50-gram fire assay with ASS finish analytical services are accredited by SANAS and are carried out with a quality assurance protocol in line with ISO 17025:2005. Samples are stored at the Corporations field camps and put into sealed bags until delivered by a geologist on behalf of Algold to the laboratory in Bamako, Mali, where samples are prepared and analyzed. Until the end of 2016, samples were analyzed at ALSs facility in Loughrea, Ireland. Beginning in 2017, samples are analyzed at SGS Laboratory, Bamako. Samples are logged in the tracking system, weighed, dried and finely crushed to better than 70%, passing a 2 mm (Tyler 9 mesh, US Std. No.10) screen. A split of up to 1,000 grams is taken and pulverized to better than 85%, passing a 75-micron (Tyler 200 mesh) screen, and a 50-gram split is analyzed by fire assay with an AA finish. Anomalous samples greater than 5 g/t Au are re-analyzed by 50-gram fire assay with gravimetric finish. Selected samples may be re-analyzed using a 1-kilogram cyanide leach (Bottle Roll) using LeachWELL or the 1-kilogram screen fire assay method. Blanks, duplicates and certified reference material (standards) are inserted to monitor laboratory performance during the analysis. This press release has been reviewed for accuracy and compliance under National Instrument 43-101 by Andre Ciesielski, DSc., PGeo., Algold Resources Ltd Lead Consulting Geologist and Qualified Person, and Alastair Gallaugher, C.Geo. (Chartered Geologist and Fellow of the Geological Society of London), BSc. Geology, Algolds Exploration Manager in Mauritania, Qualified Persons as defined by NI 43101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Andre Ciesielski has further approved the scientific and technical disclosure in the news release. ABOUT ALGOLD Algold Resources Ltd is focused on the exploration and development of gold deposits in West Africa. The board of directors and management team are seasoned resource industry professionals with extensive experience in the exploration and development of world-class gold projects in Africa. FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION This press release contains and refers to forward-looking information based on current expectations. All other statements other than statements of historical fact included in this release are forward-looking statements (or forward-looking information). The Corporation's plans involve various estimates and assumptions and its business is subject to various risks and uncertainties. For more details on these estimates, assumptions, risks and uncertainties, see the Corporation's most recent Management Discussion and Analysis on file with the Canadian provincial securities regulatory authorities on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and there can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate. Forward-looking statements are subject to significant risks and uncertainties, and 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 that are included herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. For further information, please contact: Algold Resources Ltd. 1320, boul. Graham, bureau 132, Mont-Royal, Quebec, H3P 3C8, www.algold.com Benoit LaSalle, FCPA, CPA, FCA President & Chief Executive Officer This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. +1 (514) 951 4411 Alex Ball Executive VP, Finance & Corporate Development This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. +1 (647) 919 2227 Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 7, 2018) - B2Gold Corp. (TSX: BTO) (NYSE AMERICAN: BTG) (NSX: B2G) ("B2Gold" or the "Company") will host its Annual General and Special Meeting of Shareholders on Friday, June 8, 2018, at 2:00pm PDT/5:00pm EDT. Following the adjournment of the Annual General and Special Meeting, Clive Johnson, President & CEO, and other B2Gold Senior Executives and Managers will provide a review of 2017 and a general Corporate update. The Annual General and Special Meeting will be held at the Fairmont Pacific Rim (Star Sapphire Ballroom), 1038 Canada Place, Vancouver, British Columbia. B2Gold will also be broadcasting the Annual General and Special Meeting. If you are unable to attend in person, you may access the event by dialing the operator, prior to the scheduled start time, at +1 416-764-8688 (local - Toronto), +1 778-383-7413 (local - Vancouver) or +1 888-390-0546 (toll free - North America). You may also listen to the event via webcast: http://www.investorcalendar.com/event/33495. A playback version of the Annual General and Special Meeting will be available for two weeks after the event by dialing +1 416-764-8677 (local) or +1 888-390-0541 (toll free - North America). The playback passcode is 582847 #. About B2Gold Corp. Headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, B2Gold Corp. is the world's new senior gold producer. Founded in 2007, today, B2Gold has five operating gold mines, and numerous exploration and development projects in various countries including Nicaragua, the Philippines, Namibia, Mali, Burkina Faso, Colombia and Finland. With the large, low-cost Fekola Mine now in production, B2Gold is well positioned in achieving transformational growth. In 2018, with the planned first full year of production from the Fekola Mine, consolidated gold production is forecast to be between 910,000 and 950,000 ounces. This represents an increase in annual consolidated gold production of approximately 300,000 ounces for the Company in 2018 versus 2017. ON BEHALF OF B2GOLD CORP. "Clive T. Johnson" President & Chief Executive Officer For more information on B2Gold please visit the Company website at www.b2gold.com or contact: Ian MacLean Vice President, Investor Relations 604-681-8371 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Katie Bromley Manager, Investor Relations & Public Relations 604-681-8371 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Vancouver, BC / TheNewswire / June 7, 2018 - Redstar Gold Corp. (TSX.V: RGC, US: RGCTF, FRA: RGG) ("Redstar" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Susan J. Mitchell as a Director of Redstar Gold Corporation. Ms. Mitchell brings proven business acumen as an investment banker with a principal's perspective as well as her structured approach to building businesses and relationships. She built these qualities as a senior investment banker in two global financial institutions, in treasury of a Fortune 400 mining company and at her own corporate finance advisory firm, S. Mitchell & Associates, LLC, over several decades. Her specialized expertise is in natural resource development globally, having customized project financings for developments in the Americas, Africa and Asia. Her international presence in the minerals, oil and gas and clean energy sectors includes financing, strategic partnerships, mergers & acquisitions and restructuring while working in locales as diverse as Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, England, France, Tanzania and the US. Ms. Mitchell's innovative style and creative problem-solving approach enabled her to advance in the corporate world from Manager at CIBC in Toronto, to Director, Financial Risk Management at Cyprus Amax Minerals and then Managing Director at Westdeutsche Landesbank, Global Structured Finance in New York. She has always supplemented her corporate life with voluntary leadership roles at professional organizations such as Steering Committee of Professional Risk Managers International Association and Board Member, McGill Alumnae Association, New York. During this time, she also taught Enterprise Risk Management at New York University. Born in Bronxville, New York, she earned her Undergraduate Degree in International Economics and Finance from McGill University and her Masters Degree at Thunderbird American Graduate School of International Management. She is a citizen of US, U.K. and Canada and is fluent in English and French, with a working knowledge of Italian and Spanish. Redstar's Chairman, Jacques Vaillancourt, commented, "We are extremely pleased to have a person of Susan's experience, capability, judgement and character join the board of Redstar Gold, further adding to the talented group of directors we have on Redstar Gold's Board". Peter Ball will step down with immediate effect from the board of directors. We wish to thank Peter for all of his positive contributions. About Redstar Gold Corp Redstar is a well-financed junior exploration company, with a very strong, supportive institutional shareholder base, no debt, and is focused on high-grade gold exploration and advancing its high-grade Unga Gold Project in Alaska. The 100% controlled Unga Gold Project is an intermediate sulfidation epithermal high-grade gold project on adistrict scale, with the property encompassing approximately 240 km2, and containing multiple high grade gold zones drilled or identified at surface. The former Apollo-Sitka gold mine, located on the southern Apollo-Sitka Trend, was Alaska's first underground gold mine and the site of historic high-grade (~10 g/t Au) gold production. The Unga Gold Project has extensive infrastructure with daily flights from Anchorage landing on a one mile long paved airstrip and a deep-water port on neighbouring Popof Island, and a moderate climate noting it resides at the 55th degree latitude, and next to tidewater. In addition, Redstar owns approximately 5 million shares of NV Gold Corp. (TSXV: NVX) and 30% of the Newman Todd Gold Project, in Red Lake, Ontario, Canada. For additional information please contact: Jacques Vaillancourt Chairman & Interim CEO Tel: +44.7.802.268.247 Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 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. Forward-Looking Information This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that Redstar Gold Corporation (the "Company") expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although the Company 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 the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, and continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 7, 2018) - Lupaka Gold Corp. (TSXV: LPK) (FSE: LQP) ("Lupaka Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the results from a recent systematic underground sampling program on the newly developed 3430 production sublevel, located 30 metres up-dip of the 3400 Level, at the Company's 100% owned Invicta Gold Development Project ("Invicta Project" or "Invicta"). Sampling Program Highlights: Sample assay values from the Atenea vein on the 3430 sublevel averaged 9.22 grams per tonne (g/t) gold equivalent1 (Au-Eq.) over a strike length of 130 metres (m), with an average sample width of 4.2 m (m), with an average sample width of 4.2 m Average grade of 9.22 g/t Au-Eq. is higher than the estimated grade of 8.12 g/t Au-Eq. within the block model of the sampled area on the 3430 sublevel and appears consistent with the 9.86 g/t Au-Eq. sampled on the 3400 Level (see news release dated March 15, 2018) Geological mapping shows that the hanging wall split has merged with the footwall zone on the 3430 sublevel, which could potentially result in more efficient mining and lower dilution than the assumptions in the PEA Development on the 3430 sublevel, including the crosscuts, plus geological mapping and sample assay values demonstrate horizontal widths ranging from 4 m up to 12 m for the Atenea vein on the 3430 sublevel Development Highlights: Approximately 235 m of horizontal development, including 5 cross-cuts, has been completed on the 3430 sublevel, ending in mineralization on the eastern face Vent raise from 3400 Level to 3430 sublevel has been completed ventilation circuit established "Results from the underground sampling program on the newly constructed 3430 sublevel are very encouraging and demonstrates the continuity of the Atenea mineralization both up-dip from the 3400 Level and along strike. Having learned the hanging wall split merges with the footwall zone is an important geological discovery and provides an opportunity to improve on our conceptual mine development costs and dilution assumptions in the PEA. With sampled grades from the 3430 sublevel coming in higher than within our Mineral Resource block model from the same area, we remain well positioned for the commencement of mine production in the third quarter of this year." Will Ansley, President and CEO of Lupaka Development of 3430 Sublevel & Sampling Program Results Development on the newly constructed 3430 sublevel was initiated in preparation for the first block of mining production (located between the 3400 Level and the 3430 sublevel), scheduled to commence in the third quarter of 2018 ("Q3 2018"). Subsequent to cross-cutting the Atenea vein, lateral development preceded southeast and southwest over approximately 235 m, including the creation of four additional cross-cuts (see plan in Appendix A), ending in mineralization on the eastern face. The 3430 sublevel development also provided an opportunity to demonstrate the vertical and horizontal continuity of the Atenea vein and to compare the sampled grades with the current Mineral Resource block model, as well as the mineralization contained on the 3400 Level, located 30 metres below. Consistent with the comprehensive sampling program undertaken on the 3400 Level (see plan shown in Appendix B), underground channel sampling was systematically performed on the 3430 sublevel over the width of the development (3.5 m wide by 3.0 metres wide) at intervals of approximately every 5 m (consistent with the size of the Mineral Resource block model), as well as over the five cross-cuts. The polymetallic mineralization within the Atenea vein is hosted by structurally defined components which were mapped and sampled. Summarized assay sample results are tabulated and presented in Table 1, and a detailed sampling map is provided in Appendix A. Table 1: Average Sampling Results from 3430 Sublevel Atenea Vein Sampling Program 3430 Level Length Metres Width Metres Au g/t Ag g/t Cu % Pb % Zn % Au-Eq. g/t Atenea Vein 130.00 4.2 4.31 59.21 1.68 1.33 1.26 9.22 Overall, the sample results were found to be consistent with sample results from the 3400 Level located 30 m below, however, the average sampled grade of 9.22 g/t Au-Eq. is higher than the estimated grade of 8.12 g/t Au-Eq. contained within the Mineral Resource block model from the sampled area. Importantly, the geological mapping on the 3430 sublevel showed that the hanging wall split vein, as seen on the 3400 Level, has merged with the footwall zone. The continuation of the hanging wall split and the footwall zone through the 3430 sublevel was assumed in the Mineral Resource model and in the PEA conceptual mine plan. The merger of these zones could potentially result in more efficient mining and lower dilution upon extraction of the mineralized material (due to the absence of non-mineralized material in between the two zones). Although the average sampled width of the Atenea vein on the 3430 sublevel was 4.2 m, compared to approximately 6.0 m on the 3400 Level, sampling on the 3430 sublevel was restricted by smaller development headings (3.5 m wide), as well as fewer cross-cuts (5) compared with the 3400 Level (7). Geological mapping and sampling over the 5 cross-cuts on the 3430 sublevel demonstrates an estimated horizontal width of the Atenea vein ranging from 4 m up to 12 m. It is anticipated that the average horizontal width on 3430 sublevel will be in-line, or possibly exceed, the average conceptual mining width of 8.0 m, as estimated in the PEA conceptual mine plan. Summary results obtained from 205 samples taken in the drift and crosscuts, over spacing of approximately every 5 m, are tabulated in Table 2. Table 2: Summary Assays from 3430 Level Atenea Vein Width metres Au Ag Cu Pb Zn Au-Eq. g/t g/t % % % g/t 1.70 0.47 12.53 0.34 1.56 1.01 2.64 2.50 34.79 42.40 0.92 1.94 2.22 39.19 2.40 1.11 16.96 0.79 0.52 0.38 3.09 3.35 0.87 9.51 0.58 0.21 0.28 2.19 3.45 2.02 12.57 0.60 0.22 0.46 3.54 3.30 2.57 18.52 0.91 0.06 0.08 4.34 3.40 1.46 73.82 1.90 0.15 0.25 5.65 3.30 1.36 17.50 0.87 0.16 0.06 3.09 5.90 2.57 37.47 1.78 0.14 0.09 6.01 5.12 2.96 22.36 0.75 1.00 1.51 5.89 4.40 0.92 38.95 1.11 0.70 0.94 4.12 4.00 0.72 47.38 1.94 3.07 2.41 7.56 3.90 0.60 55.05 1.66 4.02 3.64 8.33 4.00 2.87 37.50 1.55 1.17 1.03 7.06 3.50 6.46 42.29 1.21 1.02 0.51 9.80 10.50 4.62 47.24 1.56 1.80 1.95 9.86 3.30 1.52 25.73 0.83 0.60 0.66 3.90 3.50 1.16 39.77 1.39 2.12 3.49 7.13 3.20 1.64 62.88 1.94 3.45 3.41 9.47 5.75 3.78 59.04 1.93 2.93 4.10 11.68 3.50 2.15 55.60 1.78 3.29 2.69 9.12 7.30 4.24 48.38 1.49 1.58 1.78 9.16 3.42 4.89 42.19 1.61 1.56 2.26 10.21 4.40 5.21 39.09 1.04 1.68 1.83 9.39 3.40 3.81 63.06 1.90 1.17 0.78 8.76 3.46 4.15 54.99 2.47 0.97 0.85 9.82 3.50 5.06 46.74 0.93 0.70 1.17 8.21 9.30 5.45 95.27 2.41 0.35 0.26 10.85 3.30 10.40 149.88 3.56 1.00 0.56 18.86 9.40 3.85 97.96 2.74 1.39 0.74 10.66 4.10 3.45 76.80 1.38 1.10 0.58 7.59 3.80 7.99 146.11 3.31 1.61 0.84 16.51 3.80 3.25 50.39 1.41 1.02 0.62 7.07 3.35 5.17 77.46 2.04 1.16 1.13 10.72 3.30 3.34 149.27 2.67 2.09 1.17 11.35 2.40 19.81 94.92 2.25 0.84 0.29 25.23 3.50 7.93 105.64 2.36 1.10 0.35 13.86 3.30 1.06 56.58 0.66 0.52 0.02 3.14 Weighted Averages 4.20 4.31 59.21 1.68 1.33 1.26 9.22 Total Length (metres) 130 Project Background Lupaka's Invicta Gold Project is a polymetallic development project located approximately 120 kilometres north of Lima, Peru. On May 11, 2018 a PEA was completed on the project by SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. which evaluated the economic potential of the underground extraction of the Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources from the Atenea Vein close to the existing 3400 Level adit (up to 130 m above the 3400 Level) utilizing a sublevel long-hole, open stoping mining method supported by initial toll treatment processing options. Highlights of the PEA are summarized below: Mineral Resource Statement of 3.0 million tonnes of Indicated Mineral Resources at 5.78 g/t Au-Eq. using a 3.0 g/t Au-Eq. cut-off, and 0.6 million tonnes of Inferred Mineral Resources at 5.29 g/t Au-Eq. Initial 6-year mine plan (underground) designed on a portion of the Mineral Resource utilizing the existing infrastructure and minimizing capital start-up costs Sublevel open stope mining producing ~ 670,000 tonnes of mineralized material at 8.6 g/t Au-Eq.* with production of ~ 185,000 Au-Eq. oz (within initial 6-year mine plan) Average annual pre-tax cash flows of US$10.2 million, average annual after-tax cash flow of US$8.2 million Annual production of 33,700 Au-Eq. oz, during steady state Annual payable metal of 26,700 Au-Eq. oz, during steady state All-in Sustaining Costs of US$575 Au-Eq. oz over initial 6-year mine life, average annual pre-tax operating profit of US$12.3 million Pre-tax 5% NPV of US$53.6 million Low capital investment: US$4.3 million in pre-production capital with a payback of less than one year The PEA considers only part of the reported Mineral Resource (the Atenea Vein close to existing infrastructure) with the objective of generating positive cash flow from a low-cost operation while simultaneously re-investing in and further evaluating the deposit to potentially expand production in the future. Quality Control and Assurance The analyses for this sampling campaign were carried out by ALS, an accredited laboratory, in Lima, Peru, exercising a thorough Quality Assurance and Control program (QA/QC). As part of QA/QC protocol, duplicates, standards and blanks were inserted into the sample processing stream. The sample locations were mapped, surveyed and photographed for reference. Individual sample channels vary between 0.2 to 2.5 metres wide. Samples were bagged, sealed and delivered to the ALS sample preparation facility in Lima, Peru. Gold was assayed by a 50-gram fire assay and re-assayed for the overlimits, with an AAS finish. All ALS labs are ISO 9000 registered. Technical Report Further information about the PEA and the resource estimate referenced in this news release, including data verification, key assumptions, parameters, risks and other factors, are provided in the technical report prepared following Canadian Securities Administrators' National Instrument (NI) 43-101 and Form 43-101F1 guidelines for the Invicta Project dated May 11, 2018, and is available under the Company profile on SEDAR (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 $12 million of capital has been spent by previous owners on development and infrastructure at Invicta, and management expects to commence potential 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 potential underground operation will be focused on underground 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 conceptual 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 estimate of mineral resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-political, marketing, or other relevant issues. 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. About SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. form part of the SRK Consulting Group which is an independent, international consulting company that provides focused advice and solutions to clients, mainly from earth and water resource industries. Formed in 1974, SRK now employs more than 1,400 professionals in over 40 offices on 6 continents. Among SRK's 1,500 clients are most of the world's major- and medium-sized metal and industrial mineral mining houses, exploration companies, banks, petroleum exploration companies, construction firms and government departments. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Will Ansley, President & C.E.O. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 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 test 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: any benefit to development costs and improvement in mine dilution from the merger of the hanging wall split and the footwall zone; the commencement of potential production from the Invicta Project in Q3 2018, the targeted mining rate of 350 tpd, anticipated methods of production and the generation of cash therefrom. 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; 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. APPENDIX A Figure 1: Summarized Assay Results from Underground Channel Sampling of the Atenea Vein on 3430 Sublevel, Invicta Gold Mine Figure 2: Detailed Assay Results from Underground Channel Sampling of the Atenea Vein on 3430 Sublevel, Invicta Gold Mine APPENDIX B Figure 3: Summarized Assay Results from Underground Channel Sampling of the Atenea Vein on 3400 Level, Invicta Gold Mine Figure 4: Detailed Assay Results from Underground Channel Sampling of the Atenea Vein on 3400 Level, Invicta Gold Mine * Au-Eq. calculations are based on US$1250 for gold (Au), US$17.00 for silver (Ag), US$3.00 for copper (Cu), US$1.25 for zinc (Zn), and US$1.05 for lead (Pb), with assumed mill recoveries of 85% for Au, 80% for Ag, 82 % for Cu and Pb, and 77% for Zn. Life continues to stand still for the many families of the missing and disappeared in Lebanon who have been desperately trying to uncover the fate of their loved ones and who are holding out hope of seeing them someday. The Lebanese War ended 28 years ago, but for these families the war rages on. During Lebanons 15-year civil war, thousands of people went missing or were disappeared without a trace or explanation. Their families have never stopped waiting for answers, answers they fear will never come. The Lebanese government has failed to adequately address the issue of the missing and disappeared due in large part to a post-war amnesty law and a lack of political will. Civil society has resolutely sought to fulfill families right to know through a number of invaluable initiatives. But these efforts cannot be considered an alternative to a centrally organized national commission capable of addressing the full scale and complexity of this issuethe responsibility for facilitating such a commission falls on state authorities. A recent legislative breakthrough, however, might finally pave the way for Lebanon to confront its legacy of missing and forcibly disappeared persons. On May 9, the Administrative and Justice Parliamentary Committee passed the Draft Law for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared, which was submitted to the parliament in 2014 and was drafted by organizations associated with families of the missing with input from ICTJ and other stakeholders. The key feature of this law is the establishment of an independent national commission charged with discovering the fate of missing and forcibly disappeared persons in Lebanon. Creating this commission would constitute a major step toward fulfilling families right to know, as recognized in international law and by Lebanese courts. The draft law will finally be discussed and voted upon in a plenary session of the newly elected parliament. Before the parliamentary elections in early May, several members of parliament and political parties signed the national petition to disclose the fate of the missing and forcibly disappeared. In doing so, they made a commitment to put an end to the families pain, which will hopefully be reflected in their parliamentary votes in favor of the law. While it is true that today Lebanon is closer than ever before to passing legislation that would establish an independent commission, it is important to bear in mind that adopting the law in and of itself is not sufficient. The law also needs to be effectively implemented and enforced. In October 2016, for instance, parliament passed a law establishing the National Human Rights Institute, which was considered a positive step toward advancing human rights. After a delay of over a year, the core members of the institute were appointed, but an ongoing lack of funding casts doubt on whether the body can actually begin its mandate and function. Therefore, passing the draft law will be meaningless unless the government demonstrates a greater commitment to addressing the issue of the missing and disappeared and the families right to the truth and unless it takes the necessary actions to enforce the law. These actions include expediting the establishment of the commission and providing the necessary resources for the commission to carry out its mandate effectively, impartially, and free of political interference. Lebanons current draft law could lay the groundwork for transitional justice initiatives in Syria as well. It could prove to be a useful template for the discussions about the right to know in a context where the number of the missing and disappeared persons continues to grow. Since the onset of the Syrian crisis in 2011, this number has risen every day. Building the foundation to meaningfully confront the issue of the missing and disappeared should start as soon as possible. With each passing year, the risk of losing important data increases and identifying the fate of the missing becomes harder. Syria can learn from Lebanons false starts and from previous mechanisms set up by successive Lebanese governments that failed because they lacked many fundamental features such as independence, transparency, accountability, and financial security. Lebanons experience demonstrates the need for an independent commission to investigate cases of missing and disappeared persons and deliver the truth to their relatives. Today, the focus in Syria should include gathering, organizing, and documenting information about missing and disappeared persons, a preliminary step that can prepare the way for the necessary processes to search out these individuals once the conditions in Syria are sufficiently stable. The Lebanese experience proves that, if a society does not swiftly tend to the wounds inflicted by war, those wounds will not heal for generations and will constitute a major obstacle to peace and reconciliation. Unfortunately, the plight of the families of the missing has so far been largely ignored by the authorities in Lebanon and Syria, and the international community has left the subject off its agenda. Families of the missing continue to endure pain, hardship, and political neglect. Without serious attention and earnest efforts to address their suffering and fulfill their right to justice and truth, these families will remain in limbo and be a constant reminder of an unresolved past. Since Yahya Jammehs left the power in The Gambia, in January 2017, the country is going through a delicate political transition and running a transitional justice process. After getting rid of the dictatorship, the young and vulnerable Gambian democracy, has to rely on the supports from the international community. One of the main actors of the diplomatic support to one of the smallest countries of Africa is the United Nations System. We met, in The Gambia, Ade Lekoetje,the UN Resident Coordinator, for an exclusive interview. Though she believes the transitional justice is going well, she commends Gambian to keep on being resilient, peaceful, and resolute and to continue to demonstrate to the world that democracy is possible though peace. She also talks about human rights and security reforms in The Gambia. You may think this is a post about Theresa May's cabinet but no, it is actually about fruit, or more precisely the problems faced by UK farmers, many of whom voted for Brexit, in recruiting people to pick their fruit before it goes rotten in the fields.As the BBC reports , recruitment agencies are warning that they cannot secure the number of workers needed by British farmers to pick their fruit and vegetables. Over half say that they could not find the labour even in the "quiet" first months of this year, whilst the National Farmers Union reports that last year there was a 17% drop in seasonal workers coming to the UK. This led to some valuable produce being left to rot in the fields.The BBC say that ninety-nine percent of seasonal workers on British farms come from Eastern Europe. Two-thirds of these come from Romania and Bulgaria. One Kent-based company which works in Romania to supply labour for 80 growers across the UK needs to find 4,000 people to pick strawberries, raspberries, and eventually apples and pears over the next few months. They are apparently nowhere near that target:This is just one consequence of the vote to leave the EU. The economy of countries like Romania are actually growing at a faster rate that that of the UK and are developing an affluent middle class.Whilst the UK government flounders in its own indecision and failures, the UK is being left behind. Oh yes, and our fruit and vegetables are rotting in the fields. The list of 1000 Kilkenny women who signed a pledge against conscription a hundred years ago is now available and Kilkenny Archaeological Society (KAS) is now collecting stories and photographs of the women involved in this protest in 1918. When the British government announced plans to extend conscription to Ireland in April that year there was a general outcry - from Sinn Fein, from the Labour Party, the Irish Volunteers, Cumann na mBan, from the trade unions, from the Catholic Church, the Gaelic League, and many others. In the early days of the First World War, Irishmen joined the army voluntarily but, since 1916, there had been a dramatic change in public opinion. But by 1918 Britain was also facing urgent demands from the Western front for more men. Ireland responded with weeks of protest, including from groups like Cumann na mBan. But the women thought something more should be done. In Britain, women had taken men's places in the factories and on the farms when conscription was introduced. Irishwomen would refuse. So the women marched on St Columcilles day, 9th June 1918. Not just in Kilkenny. This was a national day of protest by women. Each town made its separate plans for the day. In Kilkenny city, the women collected on the Sunday afternoon at 3.30pm on the Callan Road. At 4pm, they marched to the Black Abbey. Local groups from Cumann na mBan, the Girl Scouts, the Gaelic League, the Irish Drapers' Assistants' Union and Irish Clerical Workers' Union were prominent. An appeal was made to those not connected with those organisations but who were in sympathy with the movement, to 'fall in'. From the Black Abbey they marched to the Tholsel on High Street. Two bands joined the women, the Pipers' Band and St John's Brass Band. They played Irish airs. There were hymns and prayers too. People lined the streets as the women passed. It was at City Hall that the women wrote their names in the ledger beneath the text of a short pledge. Even though it was a Sunday, City Hall was open for the occasion. The pledge was written in both Irish and in English. Most of the women added their addresses to their names. They were young and old. Nearly all were from Kilkenny city - Walkin St, John St, Patrick St, High St, the Butts, Michael St, etc. Few city streets were not represented. Outside the city, the story was similar. Three hundred women marched and signed the pledge in Callan. They marched in Ballyhale. They marched in Mullinahone. They signed in Thomastown. Some women travelled into Kilkenny city 'from Castlecomer, Ballyragget, Johnswell, Threecastles, Dunmore and other faraway places to protest', as the Kilkenny People reported on 15th June 1918. 40,000 women signed in Dublin. Somehow though, the only list of the women's signatures that survived in the entire country is the list for Kilkenny city. That list is now at Rothe House. Two Kilkenny people, in particular, played a part in the survival of the list, Edwin Stallard and Cissie deLoughry. About thirty years ago, they donated the ledger containing the women's signatures to the archives at Rothe House. They recognised its importance. The list of women is now on the KAS website: www.kilkennyarchaeologica lsociety.ie Come to Rothe House and see the ledger with its signatures on Thursday, June 7 at 8pm. Meet some other people who are collecting stories and photos of their grandmothers and great aunts. During the evening, local historian Ann Murtagh will give a short talk about the women's extraordinary protest. The project is supported by the Decade of Centenaries strand of the Creative Ireland Programme, by Kilkenny County Council, and by Kilkenny Archaeological Society. Further details from: 1918women@gmail.com. THE PLEDGE SIGNED BY THE WOMEN IN KILKENNY Because the enforcement of Conscription on any people without their consent is tyranny, we are resolved to resist the Conscription of Irishmen. We will not fill the places of men deprived of their work through refusing the enforcement of Military Service. We will do all in our power to help the families of men who suffer through refusing enforced military service. And the full list of women, and where they were from... No address: Kathleen Bateman Mrs. Agnes Brennan Kathleen Brennan Margaret Carrigan Ellen Carroll Mary Carroll Nora Cassin Mary Chambers Elizabeth Cleere Mrs M Coleman Ellen Corcoran Mary Kate Corcoran Winifred Corr Kattie Coyne Kattie Dalton Cecilia Delaney Mrs. S. Delaney Margaret Delany Josephine Egan Nora Finn Bridie Gittens Veronica Griffin Margaret M Hackett Margaret M Hogan Margaret Kenny Margaret Kinchella Mrs Rose Lenehan Bridie Lowry Ellen Lowry Peggy Lowry Mrs. Maddigan Sr. Rufina Mahon Johanna McDonnell Ellen McGuinness Mrs. J. McSweeney Maggie McSweeney Annie Murphy Nora Ni Chorcaigh Sighle Ni Martain Eleanor M. ONeill Mrs Elizabeth M. ONeill Margaret Parsons Mrs Quigley Honora Roche Mary Roche Margaret Ryan Mary Ryan Mary Sixsmith Bridget Smitheram Fanny Smithwick Janie Smithwick Lizzie Tobin Mary Tynan Maggie Walshe Kathleen Walter Abbey St: Katie Barry Johanna Brennan Mrs Ellen Buttler Ellen Dowling Mary Ann Dowling Mrs Dowling Mrs Mary Grace Annie Laracy Mrs H Laracy Kathleen Laracy Eileen Morris Mrs Mary Morris Mary Muldowney Aine Ni Madagain Maire Ni Madagain Mrs Kate Pattison Mary Joe Pattison Lizzie Slattery Nellie Slattery Abbey View: Mrs Annie Cantwell Kathleen Cantwell Kate Grace Archer St: Bridget Brennan Mary Brennan Alice Flanagan Mrs Hayes Cissie Lalor Hannah Lalor Mary Lalor Margaret Ryan Archersfield House: Mary Ellen OBrien Aut Even Talbots Inch Miss J Cullen Miss Mary Purcell Ayresfield: Maggie Durney Maggie Durney Mary Durney Ballyconra, Ballyragget: M. Dowling Ballyragget: Hanny Bergin Bank of Ireland: Kate Manogue Barrack St: Annie Brazil Mrs Bright Mai Cash MRs Ellen Connery Margaret Connery Lizzie Doherty Mrs Eva Dollard Chrissie Farrell Mrs Anna Johnston Marth Johnston Josie Keogh Katie OConnell Mary OConnell Ciss Phelan Bellevue Greens Hill: Mary Dunne Bishops Hill: Maggie Betts Minnie Boyne Maggie M Boyne Hannah Coyne Clare McDonagh Mary Kate McDonagh Blackmill St: Mary Brennan Mary jun Brennan Alice Brophy Catherine Brophy Cis Brophy Bridie Buggy Margaret Buggy Mary Ann Coleman Margaret de Loughry Nellie de Loughry Mrs. Margaret Denieffe Mary Denieffe Annie Dermody Mrs. Dermody Hanny Dowling Mrs Dunne Kathleen Kelly Elizabeth Laylor Mary Lennon Kattie Maher Mary Mahoney Lena Morrissey Mrs Morrissey Suibhan Ni Lionnaghaule Mrs OMeara Annie Purcell Margaret Purcell May Purcell Statia Reade Annie Ryan Bridget Saunders Katty Scanlan Maria Sheehan Daisy Sparks Mairin Sparks Mrs Mary Sparks Mrs Walters Jennie Watters Bridget White Lizzie White Margaret White Bodal: Margaret Carroll Cis Renehan Bonnetstown: Nellie Carroll Kattie Lanigan Bridie Pender Brooklawn, Dublin Road Catherine Dowling Butts Cross: Mrs Conry Butts Green: Mrs. Ellen Bergin Kattie Bergin Maggie Bourke Anne Broune Florrie Donegan Kattie Kerwick Maggie Kerwick Mary Kerwick Mary Kerwick Annie King Bride King Elizabeth King Mary King Nora King Anastas Ni Caiomh Alice B. OKeeffe Mrs. Michael OKeeffe Callan Road: Julia Clohosey Nora Culleton Mrs Julia Hickey Lena Hickey Statia Kelly Canices Place: Mrs McSweeney Eilin Ni Treacaig Carraig Airt: Bean Maire Ui Mhiara Castle Blunden: Bridget Bolard Rosie ORourke May Mary Wallace Castle Road: Mary A. Furniss Castle View: Mrs Walsh Castlecomer Road: Daly Mignon Margaret Hennessy Cathedral View: Margaret Hickey Mary Hickey Cellarstown: Maggie Ryan Chapel Avenue: Ellen Kinchella Mrs. Margaret Kinchella Norah Kinchella Mrs. Sarah Wall Chapel Lane: Mrs Margaret Dunlop Dolloy Keenan Eileen Keenan Fanny Keenan Margaret Keenan Margaret Keenan Annie Quinn Mrs Kate Quinn Mary Brigid Quinn Nellie Quinn Mrs Kate Ryan Clonmoran: Josephine Coady Danville: Maggie Mulhall Sinead Ni Stallaird Mary A. Stallard Mrs Eamonn Ban Ui Callaigh Dean St: Kattie Boyle Edith Brennan Kathie Brennan Mrs Brennan Mrs Crowely Margaret Darcy Mary Delaney Kate Doheny Bridie Hayes May Hayes Alice Hecker Hannah Hennessey Julia Keane Katie Kennedy M. Kennedy Mrs. Kennedy Lizzie Lambert Julia Morrissey Bridget Murray B. ORegan Mrs Power Elizabeth Treacy Mrs K. Treacy District Asylum: Elizabeth Ryan Drakelands: Josephine M. Dunne Dublin Road: Mrs. Mary Maher May Maher Dunmore: Julia Cantwell Julia Cantwell Bridie Stapleton Ellen Walsh Dunningstown: Maggie Dooley Eilin Ni Dubhlaig Friars Bridge Johanna Stapleton Friary Place: Statia Kelly Friary St: Bridie Allen Baby Kenny Mrs Margaret Kiely Annie M Lalor Cait Ni Hogain Cait Ni Raghallaigh Lizzie ONeill Katie OReilly Molly OReilly Bridie Shortal Margaret Shortal Gaol St: Mrs Bowe Lizzie Bryant Kate Butler Kathleen Condon Katie Delaney Josephine Donoghue Frances Donohoe Frances Donohoe Kati Donohue Margaret Donohue Julia Dooley Katie Dooley Mrs Roseanna Dooley Mary Gayton Ellen Grace Mary Grace Crissie Lukeman Eileen ODonoghue Mary ODonoghue Katty ODonoghue Mrs A Power Agnes Power Mary Power Statie Power May Quigley Mrs A Shasby Nellie Shasby Garden Row: Mary Bourke Maisie Doyle Esslie Jordan Mary Jordan Mary Jordan Bridie McGuire Glendine Ainne Macartney Mary Macartney Goslingstown: Mary Hurley Stasia Hurley Graiguenmanagh: Brigid Maguire Granges Road: Bridge Cantwell Mary Cantwell Briddie Power Kattie Power Green Field: Mary Carolan Green St: Mrs Mary Brennan Annie Cogan Mrs Katie Dunne Jane Halley Ciss Hoban Mrs. Mary Lennon Annie MacDonald Kattie Marchetti Maggie McDonald Mairead Ni Dubhgain Maire Ni Hubhain Cait Ni Leabhlair Eiblin Ni Ruraic Caitlin Ni Ubain Eiblin Ni Ruraic Caitlin Ni Ubain Margaret ORourke Molly ORourke Greens Bridge: Cis Lawlor Anastasia Teehan Mrs. Bridget Teehan Greens Hill: Mary Gorman Lizzie OBrien High Hayes Terrace: Gretta Tynan Mollie Tynan High St: Lizzie Barret Mrs Bowden Katty Brennan Annie Brophy Cress Brophy Bridie M. Buggy Bate Burke Minnie Cahill Lizzie Campion Annie Carroll Kitty Coll Maggie Coogan Bridget Croake May Curran Nano Delahunty Julia Devanny Bridie M. Doheny Kathleen Dowling Mary Farrell Eleanora Fitzpatrick Katie Glynn Sarah Goodwin Mary Haidy Annie Holland Jo. Kennedy Maggie Landy Josephine Lennon Kathleen Leonard Bridie Long Chrissie Lynch Mrs K. Lynch Mary MacAdams Bridget Maguire Jeanne Maguire Margaret McCarthy Tessie McDonald Bridget McGrath Sarah McKeogh Margaret M. Muldowney Agnes Murphy Annie Murphy Annie Murphy Catherine Murphy Josie Murphy Kathleen M. Murphy Kattie Murphy Una Ni Bibbe Eilin Ni Breanoin Brighid Ni Buggain Mianach Ni Carragain Aine Ni Dubgall Sioban Ni Dublaige Eibhlin Ni Godfry Cait Ni Mongoin Brighidh Ni Muricadha Eibhlin Ni Pollard Maire Ni Riain Maire Ni Shuilleabhain Josephine OBrien Maggie OReilly Johanna Pembroke Mary E Pollard Kitty Purcell Mollie Purcell Ellie Ryan Nancy Ryan Jane Saunders Bridget Sheil Kattie Spencer Margaret Sweeney Bridget Tobin J F Travers Katie Treacy A Tynan Eilis Ua Draoi Siobhan Ua Draoi May Walsh Mary Walshe Kattie Williams Irishtown: Agnes Delaney Lilly Delaney M. Harrington Eily Hennessy Elizabeth Hennessy Teresa Lucas Lis OKelly Jamess Green: Julia Browne Kathleen Coady Mrs Teresa Bridget Doran Annie Fahy Mrs Ellen Fahy Mary Kennedy Margaret Mary Malone Mary Moore Kati Norton Mary Norton Jamess St: Mary Bateman Bessie Brennan Kitty Brunton Isabel H. Dungan Ellen Dunne Bridget Hurley Katie Maher Mary Maher Alice E. Moran Miss OSullivan Kathleen Mary Phelan Mary Reade Kathleen Ryan Minnie Walsh Mary Weekes Mary Margaret Weekes John: K. Hennessy John St: M. Brennan Bridget Buggy Agnes Byrne Margaret Byrne Lizzie Cody Mrs. Julia Cooney Margaret Dunleavy M S Freeman Mary Gibson Agnes Hickey Margaret Hickey Mrs. Ellen Kealy Brigid Kenna Mary Kenna Winefrede Kenna Margaret Kinchella Bride Larkin Lizzie Maher Josephine Morrissey Mrs Morrissey Pollie Mullaly Sara Naddy Nora Ni Chionoith Una Ni Dunslaine Maire Ni Mhaighaimhna Ailis Ni Nuallain Mary J. OConnell Joan OGrady Kathleen OGrady Maire OGrady Mrs. Frank OMurgan May B. Quinlan Mary Ronan Nellie Ronan Jennie Watters Kathleen Williams Marie Williams Mary Williams Bridie Young Mrs. Katty Young Johns Bridge: Kate Quirke Ellen M Ryan Johns Green: Mrs Mary Bryant Ellen Hennessey Maggie Malone Margaret Malone Julia McDonnell Maggie McDonnell Johns Place: Hannah McCormack Johns Kilkenny: Maire Ni Corcoraig Johnstown: Maire Duan Rita Duan Johnswell: Mary Hegerty Joiners Folly: Annie Egan Kells Road: E. Corrigan Kennys Well: Maggie Archbold Mary Ceaser Kattie Delaney Mary Donnelly Annie Dowling Maggie Dowling Kate Kelly Kate Walsh Mary Walsh Kennyswell St: Mary Brophy Bride Butler Margaret ONeill Mrs. John ONeill Kieran St: Kate Bateman May Bateman Mrs H. Blanch Bridie Blanchfield Kathleen Bollard Mrs Bollard Bridget Bryant Mary Chambers Lily Cummins Maggie Cummins Mary Cummins Ellen Delaney Anie Dollard Julia Gaffney Bridie Glen Sarah Hogan Ethna Margaret Hurley Margaret Celia Kelly Elizabeth Kelly Lizzie Moran Cait Ni Bhutlair Mairead Nic Carthaigh Mary Ann Quinn Mrs Quinn Nancy Redmond Mary Jane Stanton Marianne Treacy Mrs. Margaret Tyrrell Stasia Tyrell Kilcreene: Bridie Healy Kate Kelly Rose Kelly Mary ODowd Statia Walsh Kilkenny: A Duncan Lacken: Bridget McCabe Joanna White Lake View: Nan Finn Lilac Cottage, Archer St: Fanny Furniss Jenni Furniss Lombard St, Dublin: Mary Cunningham Lord Edward St: Bridie Butler Mary Butler Mrs. Butler Kattie Lawlor M OBrien Mary Pollard Annie Scully Ellen Walshe Jane Walshe Mrs Walshe Loreto Convent: Cissie Boland C. M. F. Raphael Campbell Rose Clementina Comerford Sr. Began Craddon Anna Crowley Sr. Syncletica Culleton Sr. Leonard Cummins Sr Crescentia Dunne S. Honoria Fenelon M. Stanislaus Kane M. J. Gonzales Keating Sr. Thaddeus Lilly M. J. Boniface Lynch M. C. McNamara Teresa Nagaria Moran Margaret Cosmas Naddy Mairead Ni Fhlataraigh Mairead Ni Riain Bridget Sr. Januarius Nolan Nolan OConnor de Ricci Mary Sylvester OReilly Lucy Purcell Margaret Shelly Clare Silke Loreto Lodge: Bridget Knox Mary Knox Loreto View: Margaret Fogarty Mrs Annie Healy Catherine Healy Mollie Healy Kattie McCullagh Hanoria McDonald Loughboy: Katie Corcoran Katie Hoyne Josie McGrath Mary Anne McGrath Lis OCarroll Margarets Fields: Mary Anne ONeill Maudlin St: Mary Begin Moya Bligh May de Loughry Margaret Dowling Ciss Lalor Cissie Lalor Nan Lalor Nora Lalor Mrs. Mary Lennon Ciss Murphy Eibhlin Ni Blighe Mrs Winnie Nolan Winnie Nolan Lillie Shore Mrs. Shore Jenny Smyth May Smyth Ellen Walshe Julia West Michael St: Mary Brennan Bridie Dowling Margaret Fennelly Bridget Flynn Chrissie Flynn Nellie Flynn Ellen Furlong Anne Gleeson Bridget Hetherington Bridget Meany Statia Phelan New: Frances Dowling New Park Lodge: Mary Graham New St: Josie Cullen Jo Dwyer Nellie Dwyer Nellie Dwyer Annie Holland Josie Lukeman Neworchard: Brigid Ni Mhurchudha Newpark: Mary Blanche Newtown: Bridie Cahill Katie Carroll Nellie Carroll Bab Dowling Mrs Mary Dowling Mrs M. Kough Oakley Road, Dublin: Sile Ni Bhraonain Ormonde Road: Ellen Cleere Mary Cleere Mary Cleere Kate Fennelly Carrie Gileson Agnes Kelly Jane Lalor Outrath: Peg Nolan Mary Rice Mary jun. Rice Palmerstown: Mrs Ellen Ford Mary Grace Parliament St: Agnes Bergin Ellen Bergin Ellen Bergin Annie Byrne Kate Byrne B. Cody Mrs B. Cody L. Cody Nell Cody Bridie Coogan Katie Cullen Mary Daly Mrs Una de Loughry Maggie Denieffe Mary Ann Kealy Katty Kenny Emily Leahy Annie McGrath Winnie McGrath Maggie Moriarty Maggie Murphy Brigid Ni Aonghusa Eibhlin Ni Chrocaigh Maire Ni Fhailsaon Maire Ni Ghuidhir Annie OHanlon Mrs. Phelan, Maryann Ainie M. Stallard Parnell St: Lizzie Berrie Maggie Butler Nano Butler Mrs Bridget Cantwell Mary Costello Statia Costello Hannah M. Costelloe Johanna Dowling Margaret F. Dowling Mary Dunne Mary Grace Alice Grant Mary A. Grant Maggie Hogan Nora Lennon Bessie Lyster Ellen Lyster Ellie Lyster Mary Meehan Ellie Murphy Maire Ni Suilleabhain Chrissie Ryan Maggie Sullivan Mary Williams Mary Williams Patrick St: Margaret Bergin Molly Bourke Rose Boyne Annie Brennan Mrs. Brennan Annie Byrne Katie Cantwell Maggie Carroll Mrs Maggie Carroll Bridget Cleare Miss Bridget Cleere Mrs Bridget Cleere Mollie Cleere Mary Cogan Mrs Conners Margaret Corcoran Mary Corcoran Kattie Delany Mrs Annie Doheny Margaret Mary Doheny Annie Dowling Kitty Dowling Maria Dowling Bridie Dwyer Mary Dwyer May S Dwyer Mary Anne Farrell Josie Foster Mrs. Foster Mary Grady Bridie Griffin Florence Griffin Gertrude Griffin Joanna Griffin Tessie Griffin Mary B. Hickey Bridget Hickman Clarisdina Hickman Mrs. Holland Mary Holohan Mary Holohan Alice Keating Jennie Keating Maryanna Keating Katie Lawlor Bridget Leahy Bridget Leahy Johanna Leahy Katie Leahy Katie Leahy Mary Leahy Mrs Lukman Mary Martin Mollie McGrath Ellie Meade Nellie Meath Lena Miles Meady Molloy Kitty Morrissey Maggie Morrissey Mary Morrissey Mrs Morrissey Mrs Morrissey Statia Morrissey Statia Morrissey Annie Murphy Mary Murphy Maggie Myles Mary Kate Myles Anne Ni Aonguise Aine Ni Donnacada Clar Ni Griobhta Una Ni Leabhlain Maire Ni Reastagaigh Maire Ni Suilleabhain Mary Kate OCarroll Eliza OFarrell Alice ONeill Julia ONeill Katie ONeill Molly ONeill Nellie ONeill Mary Pembroke Molly Phelan Statia Reade Joehanna Ryan Josy Ryan Mary Ryan Mary Saunders Mrs Annie Scully Mary Walshe Mary Whyte Poyntz Lane: Margaret Jordan Presentation Convent, Jamess St: Bridget Walshe Priors Orchard: Bertha Buggy Review Fields: Lena Rafter Roscrea: Elizabeth Hannon Rose Inn St: Honoria Burke Brigid Costello Hanna Hennessy Agnes B. Hooban Bridie Kelleher Maggie Kelly Ellie Lalor Mary Mansfield B. Murphy Annie B. Nolan Eileen OConnell Mary Anne OConnell Maureen OConnell Peggy OConnell Bride ONeill Josie Phelan Katy Phelan Mary Timmens H. Tynan M Tynan Rosemount: Nellie Delaney Sheastown: Bridget Dunne Bridget Muldowney Lucy Jane Walton Sion Road: Annie Brennon Spring Hall: Mollie Fleming Sraid Seagan: Maire Ni Duinn St Canices Cottage: Bambrick Kathleen Mary Manning St Canices Place: Julie Barron Kattie Barron Mrs Barron Mrs Bourke Katie McSweeney Mary McSweeney St Patricks: Eily Cody Mary Joe Eiviers Moira Leahy Margaret Madden Katie OReilly Julia Somers St Patricks Lodge: Bridget Cassin Julia Cassin St Riochs St: Bridie Cullen M S Geary Sineid Ni Bhroithe Stephen St: Mrs Alice Coonan Eileen Coonan Mary E. Lennon Annie Manning Mrs. L. Prout Mrs Young Talbots Inch: Katie Carroll Anastasia Denn Margaret Doney Kitty Dunphy Mrs Mary Dunphy Alice Mary Grogan Hanna Hogan The Palace: Brigid Doyle The Parade: Nora Sweeney The Quay: Mabel Kavanagh The Ring: Mary Walton The Square, High St: Gertrude, Egan Thomas St: Mary McDonald Mrs. McDonald Annie Walsh Threecastles: Eileen Duan Troyswood: Ellie Dalton Mrs. J. Neary Urlingfor: Ciss Ryan Urlingford: Mary Hayes Velvet Lane: Lizzie Trehy Nancy Trehy Vicar St: Lena Brannigan Mrs Costigan Ilenor Crannan Ellen Cranny Mrs Dalton Cis Dunne May Dunne Kate Grace Cis Kelly Julia Kelly Mary Kelly Baby Keogh May Keogh Mrs Keogh Mary Larkin Mairead Ni Laochda Bridget Woods Walkin St: Kattie Bourke Mary Bourke Ellen Brennan Maggie Brickley Mary Buttler Kathleen J. Byrne Mrs Byrne Bridget Cassin Janie Cassin Maggie Cassin Mary Ellen Cassin Katie Connors Bridie Cooney Josie Cooney Kathleen Cooney Annie Corrigan Margaret Crennan Mary C. Deegan Granny Dempsey Annie Donoghue Johanna Doran Kate Dowling Mrs A. Dwyer Bridie Dwyer Nano Dwyer Statia Egan Mary B. Gargan Mary Hickey Maggie Hoban Mrs Maggie Hoban Bridget Hogan Josephine Hogan Mrs. Hogan Nellie Hogan Ellen Houghney Josie Kavanagh Alice Kennedy Catherine Kennedy Bridget Kenny Mrs Bridget Kenny Margaret Kinchella Mary Kate Kinchella Mary Lynch Mollie Maggennis Bridie Mahony Katie McBride Alice McCormac Eileen McCormac Mary McEvoy Mollie McEvoy Lizzie Moore Kathleen Morrissey Annie Murphy Ellen Murphy Mary Murray Maire Ni Angliosh Catherine Nolan Siss Nolan Lucy OHara Sarah OHara Katie Ryan Mary Joseph Sandvoss Alice Slavin Ellen Misses Tunstan Ellie Tunstan May Walton Warrington: Lizzie Byrne Mrs Byrne Annie Doyle Johanna Hill Mary Hill Angela Moloney Nellie Moloney Waterford Road: Cathleen Hogan Cait Ni Bhrennain Mary Purcell Watergate: Bride Beckett Mary Beckett Eiblin Ni Breannain Mary OKeeffe Mary Walton Wellington Square: Jane Clancy May Fennell M. A. Hogan Norah Hogan William St: Edith Delaney Ellie Manning Hannah McCarthy Margaret McCarthy Aine Ni Chairdil Eihblin Ni Chroinin Monica Ni Domhnaill Eibhlin Ni Dublainge Treasa Nic Domnaill Eibhlin NicCarthuig Windgap Terrace: Kathleen Timmens Mrs Timmins Wolfe Tone St: Katie Burke Anastasia Coady Eibhlin de Burca Maire de Burca Elizabeth Hoyne Elizabeth junr Hoyne Elizabeth Long Mrs Long Eileen Ni Cogain Mary Purcell Ellen Sulivain Almost 3km of water mains is to be replaced and upgraded in the Kilmacow area of south Kilkenny, to improve supply to local businesses and residents. Irish Water, working in partnership with Kilkenny County Council, will shortly begin the work to replace existing pipes with modern HDPE pipes on a 2.2km stretch between Ballykeoghan and Laceys Cross in the townland of Dangan and along a 700m stretch in the townland of Arderra. The works will also involve laying new water service connections from the public water main in the road to customers property boundaries and connecting it to each customers water supply. The pipes that are being replaced are subject to high levels of leakage and bursts due to their age and poor condition. Replacing them will result in a much improved water supply for the area, with fewer outages due to burst pipes and better water pressure and water quality overall. Irish Water says the works, which will be carried out by Coffey Northumbrian Ltd, will get under way in the coming week and are expected to be completed by the end of October. It's part of Irish Waters national Leakage Reduction Programme, which over the next four years will see 500 million invested to reduce the high level of leakage across the country by fixing or replacing ageing water mains. We are pleased to be starting this project in the Kilmacow area which will reduce leakage and result in a major improvement in water supply for local customers," says Water Networks Programme regional lead, Mark O Duffy. "We understand that this type of work can be inconvenient and works crews will make every effort to minimise any disruption these necessary works cause. We would like to thank the people of the area for their patience and support as we deliver this essential project." Areas of work will be limited to short sections to minimise impact on residents, businesses and road users. The works may involve some short-term water shut offs and the project team will ensure that customers are given a minimum of 48 hours notice prior to any planned water shut offs. Traffic management will be in place for the duration of the works. There will be local diversions via Kilmacow as appropriate but local and emergency traffic will be maintained at all times. Irish Water would like to apologise in advance for any inconvenience as a result of this essential work. Details of work in the area will be updated regularly on the Service and Supply updates section of the Irish Water website at or via Irish Waters 24/7 Customer Care line at 1850 278 278. Further information on Irish Waters Leakage Reduction Programme is also available on the Irish Water website. Members of the public can report a leak in public property, such as footpaths, roads and communal areas, here or by calling 1850 278 278. Kilkenny Castle remains the 14th most-popular visitor attraction in the country and once again saw an increase in visitor numbers last year, breaking its own record, according to new figures from Failte Ireland. The Castle saw a stunning 418,685 visitors in 2017, surpassing the 400,000 mark for the first time. The number was up from 2016, when 384,918 visited the Castle and grounds (which was in itself a record number and substantial increase from 2015). Two of those visitors last year were of course Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall Camilla. The Royal couple signed the visitor book on their high-profile visit. Failte Ireland today published its annual list of Irelands most popular visitor attractions, which shows that almost all attractions saw a very positive 2017. The most popular fee-charging attraction remains the Guinness Storehouse, with a total of 1,711,281 visitors, up 64,000 on the previous year. The Cliffs of Moher and Dublin Zoo came in second and third place respectively in the same category. Meanwhile, the National Gallery of Ireland topped the list of free to enter attractions, surpassing the 1 million visitor mark for the first time. Failte Ireland invests in new and compelling attractions throughout the country because we know that they bring visitors from around the world to our shores," says Failte Irelands Director of Product Development, Orla Carroll. "Over the course of 2017 alone, Failte Ireland provided capital funding of over 22m for a variety of tourism projects, helping to drive growth in every part of Ireland for the coming years. With continued investment like this, and through our work with partners across the country, we look forward to ongoing growth for tourism and to seeing new sites feature on the top attractions list. See the full list here. Kilkenny inventor and entrepreneur Jane Ni Dhulchaointigh was announced a short while ago as a winner of this years European Inventor Award. She is the first ever Irish inventor to receive the award since its first edition in 2006. The city native received the award in the "Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)" category at a ceremony in Paris, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, hosted by the European Patent Office (EPO) and attended by some 600 guests from the areas of politics, business, intellectual property and science. Ni Dhulchaointigh was recognised for her invention of Sugru, a malleable glue with both the adhesive properties of super glue and the pliability of rubber. Sugru, after the Irish word for play, is used around the world to successfully repair and personalise virtually any everyday item. "By enabling us to more easily fix and improve the things we own, Jane Ni Dhulchaointigh encourages us to take a more sustainable approach to our possessions and reduce waste as a consequence," said EPO President Benoit Battistelli. "Her success in establishing a unique, sustainable consumer product underscores both the innovative strength of Europe's SMEs and the benefits of patents in reaching such goals." The European Inventor Award is presented annually by the EPO to distinguish outstanding inventors from Europe and around the world who have made an exceptional contribution to social development, technological progress and economic growth. The winners were chosen by an independent international jury from more than 500 individuals and teams of inventors put forward for this year's award.Jane Ni Dhulchaointigh is one of four women inventors being honoured with the 2018 Award, the highest number ever since it was launched in 2006. Gift vouchers should have a minimum lifespan of five years, according to Fine Gael Junior Minister, John Paul Phelan, TD. Theres no doubt that there are great advantages to gift vouchers. That said, Ireland has no legislation regulating their expiry dates, which causes confusion and worry to many consumers, Minister Phelan said. This can be particularly frustrating where the vouchers themselves arent clear about their expiration date. For too long the waters have been muddied for consumers and businesses alike. For the last few months, my Fine Gael colleague Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation Heather Humphreys, has been developing proposals to introduce a minimum expiry date of 5 years. These proposals are now at an advanced stage. Minister Humphreys will be going to Government to seek approval to draft a Bill shortly. Every year, countless gift vouchers are lost or go out of date and these proposals can make a real difference to consumers in Kilkenny for the better. We are hopeful that this important consumer protection initiative can be agreed by all parties in the Oireachtas. Stunning Mum and model Esther Robinson was a hit with the judging panel at the Miss British Isles contest which took place recently. Esther is originally from London but her father is a Graignamanagh man and her mother and brother still live there. She represented Fermanagh in the competition and is a proud ambassador for the more mature model. I found out about the Miss British Isles contest by chance in April after reading about older models now being in demand. I have never done anything like this before so I am feeling a bit nervous but excited to try something different. I have to wear jeans and a T-shirt, then a cocktail dress and an evening dress and model these in a fashion show on a catwalk. I am 44 but look younger. I think it is fantastic that older women and mums - I have two sons - have the opportunity to do modelling and are no longer being discriminated against. Models no longer need to be 5 feet 8 inches or more as high street brands want models who can model their clothes off the peg. Also there is high consumer spending in the fashion industry in the 28-50 age group so it is good to see older women modelling clothes and being role models. This shows that its never too late to try something new, challenge yourself or seek new opportunities. A legend of Ballyhale Shamrocks GAA club believes the flood relief works threatening the club will be fought tooth and nail as its confirmed the Minister is going to visit the village in the coming weeks. Liam Fennelly also believes that the plans are more contentious than the uproar at the Na Fianna GAA club in Dublin over the proposed Metro link. The Glasnevin club is set to lose its premises and playing pitches to the building of a rail link. The Kilkenny People revealed last week that Ballyhale Shamrocks one of Irelands most successful hurling clubs is at risk of being destroyed by flood relief measures proposed by the Office of Public Works. At an estimated cost of 430,000 the works will see the Little Arrigle River in the village being diverted right through the clubs GAA grounds. The former All-Ireland winning Kilkenny senior hurling captain said: Its more contentious than the Na Fianna issue anyway. Im sure itll be fought tooth and nail, Liam added. Fianna Fail TD Bobby Aylward said: I was very surprised by the panic in Ballyhale. I spoke to the Minister (of State at the OPW, Kevin Boxer Moran) last Thursday about the furore. He told me they are all outline plans, preliminary outline plans. The Minister gave me a commitment that he will come down to Ballyhale to hear residents concerns in the next five or six weeks. All locals concerns will be taken on board before any decision is made. The plan is a non-runner, this is all panic. Its non-sensical, the proposal as put forward would not be feasible. Cllr David Kennedy, who highlighted the flood plan threat last week, welcomed the Ministers plans to visit. A guest post by David Garrett: The case of Stuart Murray Wilson the so called beast of Bleheim has prompted the National led government to finally grasp one of the most difficult of legal nettles. Our entire judicial system is based on do the crime, do the time, and no imprisonment for what one might do in the future. But what do we do with individuals like Wilson or Lloyd MacIntosh habitual sex offenders who everyone, including experts retained on their behalf, agrees will not might inevitably reoffend on release? The problem is not new, and unless or until medical science advances significantly, habitual sex offenders who constitute a serious risk regardless of advanced age will always be with us. Stanley McKissock Reid committed sex offences including rape in the 1920s, and served a lengthy term of imprisonment. Despite his file being marked Never to be released, he was, and Reid then raped and killed Lila Hammond in 1944. But for an accident of history a temporary moratorium on capital punishment Reid would have been hanged and forgotten. During his time in jail, there were several attempts to rehabilitate Reid, including work placements at Burnham Army Camp near Christchurch. Whenever he was around women, Reid could not stop himself from sexually assaulting them, so he stayed in jail. By the 1980s Reid was in his 80s, and there was considerable agitation from well meaning do-gooders to let poor old Stan live the remainder of his life in the community. Reid was released from jail in the mid 1980s aged 83. He was sent to live with a community of nuns, where, about six weeks after his release, he tried to rape one of them. Fortunately the nun was able to overpower him. Showing considerably more insight than the do-gooders, Reid told her that he had always been a bad bastard. The oldest prisoner in jail in New Zealand is an 85 year old paedophile held in maximum security at Auckland prison. He is still considered to be a serious risk to children, and is unlikely to ever be released. The authorities can hold him indefinitely because he is serving a life sentence. Lloyd McIntosh, a habitual paedophile who is described as New Zealands most dangerous sex offender, is much more problematic. McIntosh was sentenced to ten years in 1993 for sexually assaulting a nine month old baby. He served the full sentence, and shortly after his release in 2003, sexually assaulted and raped a two year old boy. Although he had been offending since he was a child, the authorities then finally woke up to the reality that in McIntosh, they had an offender who was almost without parallel. In 2005, McIntosh became the first person to be subject to a ten year supervision order. Initially, by agreement, he lived in a house within the grounds of Rolleston prison, but the following year he was allowed to leave the prison grounds subject to electronic monitoring and close supervision. Given the consensus among the experts that he will never be less than a serious risk, it is somewhat remarkable that he has not reoffended since 2006 or at least he has not been caught. From 2015, McIntosh will be free of all constraints, and given his history, it can then only be a matter of time before he reoffends. So what can and should we do with people like Wilson and McIntosh, or the ten or a dozen similar offenders identified by the authorities? As in most matters penal, the United States grasped this particularly difficult nettle ten or twenty years ago, with laws requiring notification of communities into which habitual sex offenders are released, and for the worst of the worst, pre-emptive incarceration. Coalinga state prison is a unique institution designed for those designated Sexually Violent Predators offenders who the state has determined are simply too dangerous to be released after completing their prison sentences. They constitute perhaps 2% of incarcerated sex offenders. Given the very small number of offenders such as McIntosh and Wilson identified here in New Zealand, the percentage is likely to be similar in this country. Inmates at Coalinga have considerably more freedom that at a normal prison. They are allowed to move around the prison concourse freely. There is a mall with shops, such as a barbershop, a grill, and a canteen. Those prisoners who wish to can participate in various psychological therapy programmes. Significantly, the majority of inmates refuse to undertake any treatment. They do not think there is anything wrong with them. Those inmates have effectively selected themselves as members of the category of prisoners who will never be released. To be fair, neither will most of the rest, treatment or no treatment. The Americans at least have accepted that there is a small but highly dangerous category of sex offender who will always be too much of a danger to society, no matter what treatment they undergo. It seems that the National led government probably at the instigation of Justice Minister Collins has at last woken up to the same realization. There are of course numerous good philosophical and moral reasons not to lock people up for what they might or even definitely will do in the future. No doubt we will hear many of those arguments in comments on this post. But for me, the issue is relatively straightforward. Once an offender has been conclusively identified as a person who will never be safe around the vulnerable particularly children their rights very much take second place to the rights of children to play, or even to sleep, without a Lloyd McIntosh waiting for his chance to grab them and commit unspeakable crimes. The Herald reports: The countrys largest user of gas in the manufacture of methanol faces a bleak future under the Governments ban on offshore exploration. A briefing paper from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, one of a number of documents on the oil and gas industry released today by Energy Minister Megan Woods office, said Methanex would not be able to operate at full capacity from 2021 and would stop completely after 2026. Methanex will require a new discovery if it is to continue operating in New Zealand over the medium to long-term. Methanexs managing director Dean Richardson declined to comment on the MBIE paper today. Methanex last year had 270 staff in New Zealand, earning twice the average Taranaki wage, and about 100 contractors. It contributed $640 million to the Taranaki economy, accounting for 8 per cent of the regions economy, and $834m to the national economy. On Wednesday, China warned the US against stirring up trouble after a pair of nuke-capable American B-52 Stratofortress heavy bombers flew over the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. Two US B-52 bombers flew above disputed islets and reefs in the South China Sea on Tuesday, US Pacific Air Forces reported. "Running amok is risky," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told reporters in Beijing Wednesday, Reuters reported. "China won't be scared by any so-called military ship or aircraft and we will only even more staunchly [take] all necessary steps to defend the country's sovereignty and security, to protect the peace and stability of the South China Sea region," Hua added. "I hope the US can explain to everyone: isn't it militarization when you send attacking weapons like the B-52 bombers to the South China Sea? Were the B-52s there for freedom of navigation and overflight? If someone frequently flexes his muscles or snoops around near your house, shouldn't you raise your alertness and improve your defense capabilities?" the Foreign Ministry official noted. The flyby occurred after US Defense Secretary James Mattis denounced Beijing for its militarization of the South China Sea last week. The South China Sea contains many islands, reefs and shoals presently controlled and occupied by the People's Republic of China but also claimed by several other nations include Vietnam, Taiwan, Cambodia, Brunei and Philippines. Aside from the enormous amount of international sea trade that passes through the area, it is also believed to contain large amounts of as-yet unexplored oil and natural gas deposits. "Despite China's claims to the contrary, the placement of these weapons systems is tied directly to military use for the purposes of intimidation and coercion," Mattis said last week at the Shangri-La Dialogue, a meeting of defense ministers in Singapore organised by the International Institute of Strategic Studies. Mattis also said that the United States will continue to expand and deepen its connectivity in the Indo-Pacific region. The B-52 Stratofortress is the US Air Force's largest bomber and serves as part of the United States' "Nuclear Triad" of forward nuclear weapons deployment. The other two arms of the triad are submarine-launched ballistic missiles and land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles. During the Cold War, the USAF kept nuke-armed B-52s constantly in the air, ready to strike enemies like the Soviet Union or China at a moment's notice if nuclear war broke out. While J-Pop and K-Pop are two completely different spectrums, K-Pop fans and ARMY have recently expressed their anger towards the new Japanese boy band Ballistik Boys for imitating international sensation BTS' style and more. While many are already stating that these comments are coming from only sasaeng fans, who are dramatizing the situation, the comments get a little ugly. From things like "They are the fake BTS," to "These Japanese boys will never have global fame like BTS," ARMYs let Ballistik Boys have it and share their critical mindsets. The fans continued to point out the rather ... uncanny similarities saying that the group has 7 members, just like BTS, and even went for a hip-hop style and copied many teaser images for their debut album that are similar to BTS' "DNA" release. Many international fans feel that it is a reach and that ARMY are looking for any reason to ridicule the band. However, some argue that with BTS' ever-rising popularity that many groups will copy them and try to ride the coattails of their fame. You can even watch a video that is alleged "proof" of what the fans mentioned above. What do you think of this new Japanese boy band? Original style or total copycats? Leave a comment. 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 By Ari Lieberman Kite terror, the phenomena of Gazas peaceful Arab rioters utilizing free-floating kites and helium balloons to carry incendiaries and gasoline bombs into Israel, continues unabated and has in fact, intensified in recent days. Today alone, Israeli firefighters had to contend with nine separate blazes including one which threatened the campus of Sapir College in the southern Israeli town of Sderot. Since April, Palestinian kite terrorists have set more than 270 fires, destroying 6,200 acres of farming land, forests and nature reserves, and causing an estimated $1.4 million in damages. The Carmia nature reserve has been particularly hard hit, with one-third of the reserve destroyed by fire. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the National Security Council to deduct tax revenue collected by Israel on behalf of the Palestinian Authority to offset losses incurred by Gaza periphery farmers as a result of this new form of Palestinian terrorism. In addition, the Israel Defense Forces is devising technologies and strategies to deal with the problem. Some 500 incendiary-laden kites and balloons have been intercepted by specialized drones but clearly, more needs to be done to combat the menace. The phenomenon of using arson as a form of terror is not new. In November 2016 Israel was forced to contend with a wave of arson-related fires started by PA Arabs as well as Israeli Arabs with the purpose of inflicting harm against Jews. In just over one week, Israeli and international firefighting teams brought the situation under control but not before the fires consumed nearly 600 apartments and houses and caused over $140 million in damage. Those who engage in this type of terror should be treated no differently than armed combatants. Once spotted, they should be targeted for immediate liquidation, similar to the way the IDF deals with terrorist rocket or mortar crews. The Gaza Strip is controlled by Hamas with an iron fist. Nothing is said or done in Gaza without the approval of Hamas. The instant wave of kite terror is encouraged and stoked by Hamas under the guise of peaceful resistance but there is nothing peaceful about this Hamas-inspired campaign of terror. The Hamas leadership should be put on notice that Israel has not been fooled by this charade and that if it continues, the leadership will be targeted. The Hamas leadership has demonstrated time and again that it is ready to sacrifice to the last Palestinian civilian but it is an entirely different affair when the leadership recognizes that theyre a mere hairsbreadth away from being greeted by 72 virgins. The kite terror campaign must also be viewed in the context of a wider Hamas objective to foment unrest under the guise of peaceful demonstrations at the security fence separating Gaza from Israel. But these protests, which have been occurring on a weekly basis since April are anything but peaceful and have involved shooting and IED attacks, destruction to security infrastructure, and border breeches. Palestinian rioters have also inexplicably wrecked infrastructure which facilitates the shipment of fuel to Gazas residents. While some media outlets have presented the clashes in a fair and balanced manner, others like the radical left-wing and harshly anti-Israel New York Times have chosen to present a narrative that mimics Hamas talking points. Its armchair pundits, living in ivory tower bubbles continuously tout the death count imbalance as proof of Israeli maleficence. More than 100 Gazans have been killed since April while Israel has suffered no fatalities. But the New York Times repeatedly and deliberately fails to note that at least 80% of those killed in clashes with the IDF were either Hamas or Islamic Jihad operatives. Moreover death toll imbalances are a poor indicator of which side holds the moral high ground. More than 7,000,000 Germans were killed during WWII. By contrast, just over 400,000 Americans were killed. Does that mean that the Germans were moral, and the Americans, immoral? Rubbish! Israel is currently fighting a new and vicious form of asymmetrical warfare where the malevolent enemy cynically exploits the local population, deliberately placing it in harms way. Hamas has also made good use of its useful idiot cadre in the Western media. Nevertheless, Israel has overcome far worse from Gaza rockets, mortars, suicide bombers, terror tunnels, aerial and maritime drones and it will surely devise a way to overcome the latest challenge. New Delhi, Jun 7 (PTI) Amid reports that a Maldivian MP was denied entry into India, the External Affairs Ministry said it was trying to ascertain details of the incident. Ahmed Nihan from the ruling Progressive Party of Maldives said he had travelled to Chennai on Monday for medical reasons but was refused entry after enquiries about his diplomatic passport. "This is bullying," Nihan was quoted as saying by the Maldives Times. "If this is the implementation of a policy by neighbouring India, it does not make any sense," he said. Responding to a question about the MP being denied entry, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said here, "He was stopped at immigration when he came to Chennai." "This happened on the night of June 4. We are trying to find out how this happened. We will share information when we have it," Kumar said. Asked about reports that the Maldives government has decided to return two search-and-rescue helicopters gifted by India, Kumar said India's defence ties with that country were very strong and it was in touch with Maldivian authorities over the issue. Relations between India and the Maldives have come under strain in recent years, mostly over China's influence in the Maldives and also over a controversial 45-day state of emergency and jailing of Mohamed Nasheed, the first democratically elected leader of the country. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had said last month that though ties with Maldives might have seen ups and downs, they were "not broken and cannot be broken". (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Guwahati, Jun 7 (PTI) Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal today urged the Consul General of Bhutan in Assam, Phub Tshering, to expedite the process of introducing Drukair flight services between Bhutan and Singapore via Guwahati for the mutual benefit of the region. The chief minister asked the officer of the Royal Bhutanese Embassy, who called on him today, about the status of implementation of the flight services, and informed him that he would request the Union Civil Aviation Ministry to clear all formalities at the earliest, so that operating of flights connecting Guwahati, Paro and Singapore would soon become a reality, an official release said here. Sonowal also said that he would talk to the Prime Minister of Bhutan, Tshering Tobgay, on the issue. The Bhutanese Foreign Minister Damcho Dorji, in February this year, had announced introduction of Drukair service between Guwahati, Paro and Singapore to take advantage of India's Act East policy. The chief minister, on behalf of the people of Assam, conveyed warm greetings to the people of Bhutan, and vowed to cement the diplomatic relations between Bhutan and Assam, the release said. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) United Nations, Jun 6 (AFP) The UN Security Council today endorsed a French-backed plan for general elections in Libya by the end of the year. It did not, however, mention the December 10 date agreed upon last month during a Paris meeting between French President Emmanuel Macron and rival Libyan leaders. "The Security Council welcomes the commitment of these parties, as set out in the Paris declaration, to work constructively with the UN to organize credible and peaceful parliamentary and Presidential elections, and to respect the results of these elections," said the text adopted by the UN body. It said, too, that it "welcomes the momentum generated by the international conference on Libya hosted in Paris by President Emmanuel Macron on May 29, 2018" under the auspices of the United Nations. That meeting brought together for the first time 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. The four main Libyan leaders had agreed in Paris to hold elections on December 10 in a bid to lead the country out of years of chaos and fighting that began with a popular uprising in 2011 to overthrow late Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi, Diplomatic sources said that in negotiating the exact working of the Security Council text, some countries had opposed "explicitly" mentioning December 10 as the election date. They wanted approval by all the parties for a constitution and a clear electoral law before settling on a precise date for polls, the same sources said. In its statement, the Security Council also noted the importance of "a constitutional basis for elections," as outlined in the Paris declaration. UN envoy Ghassan Salame has long been urging all the parties to agree on a constitution and a timetable for its adoption. In Paris, the four Libyan leaders had promised to find a "constitutional base" for elections by September 16, without specifying if such a deal would be put to a referendum. That date was not mentioned in the UN statement either. The question of the constitution provokes sharp disagreements in Libya. The process, which would define among other things the powers of a future president, could "delay the elections," said a source close to the negotiations at the Paris conference in May. (AFP) HMB (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Dr. Virginia Agpar was one of the pioneers in the field of medical science. She was an American obstetrical anesthesiologist. She introduced a very important concept of the Apgar score, important in studying the health of a newborn baby after its birth. She was born on June 7, 1909 In New Jersey. On her 109th birth anniversary, search giant Google has honoured her with a Doodle. Virginia Apgar had a deep interest in science and she knew she'd make her best in the field of medicine. Proving herself right, she practised anesthesiology and made a very important tool called the Apgar score in 1952. An Apgar score is a quick method to analyse the health of newborn child immediately after the birth. The score identifies five criterias- Appearance, Pulse, Grimace, Activity, Respiration. The test is done within one to five minutes of a child's birth and may be repeated if the scores are low. The units are 0 to 10, with 7 and above being normal, 4 to 6 fairly low, and 3 and below are critical. The Google doodle properly illustrates her work with a small animation. There is a baby in the centre and on playing the video, the child is giving different expressions resembling each of the criteria on the score. Apgar's caricature is seen noting down all the scores. Apgar's encountering many birth defects in her work, led her to invent this tool. Apgar had a challenging job but she also made time for her other interests. She was fond of playing the violin. In her fifties, Apgar started taking flying lessons. An all rounded personality that she was, she also delivered lectures and seminars about birth defects and early detection. Apgar's work is very significant as death rate for newborns in the US dropped from one in 30 in the 1950s to one in 500 today. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 07, 2018 12:35 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). The term 'fashion show' generally brings to your mind women models walking down the ramp. But that was not the case in this fashion show in Saudi Arabia, instead of women they had, well, nothing. But that did not stop them from showcasing their latest collection. Gowns and accessories from Dolce & Gabbana fluttered down the ramp fastened on two ropes fastened on the runway. Videos from the event are now viral on the internet with people laughing at the conservative country's idea. The internet now can't stop laughing at the 'ghostly fashion show'. While Saudi Arabia has been witnessing many modernising changes in the recent past, the fashion industry in the country still seems to be lagging behind. Jina, a Kurdish woman, shared this video on Twitter with the caption, "I am dying at this fashion show in Saudi, they weren't allowed, female models." The tweet went viral with people laughing at the event organiser's bizarre idea. Here are the videos: Im dying at this fashion show in Saudi they werent allowed female models pic.twitter.com/5xxpMBk4Nr jina (@jinakhoushnaw) June 6, 2018 Saudi hosted the inaugural Riyadh fashion week last month, however, there does not seem to be many changes in their workings. The audiences were only females and male fashion designers were not even allowed backstage at their own shows. Saudi Arabia Prince Mohammed bin Salman has liberalised several norms in the country of which he recently lifted the ban on driving for women. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 07, 2018 04:55 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). Heads should roll over the cervical check scandal, declared the councillors of the Portlaoise Municipal District, calling for a reform of the health board in the wake of the revelations that 209 women in Ireland were not informed of smear test reviews. At the last meeting of the Portlaoise Municipal District in Laois County Hall, Cllr Catherine Fitzgerald expressed her horror at what was going on with the cervical check screening, with huge concern, heartbreak and sadness. I feel shame and anger that its happening in this country, she said. Anyone can made a mistake, but when you have cover-ups its incredible and unbelievable. I cant understand why people werent contacted. People are going to die, someone has to be responsible and accountable. She went on to emphasis that screening programmes are successful and there are many benefits, but no one has any trust in the system. We have to speak out and say how sad it is, said Cllr Fitzgerald. Cllr Mary Sweeney agreed it was the most upsetting issue that has affected women. Relating that her own mother died of cervical cancer, Cllr Sweeney said the worst thing about the recent scandal was the cover up. I want somebodys head to roll, she said. To have people working in that system who collaborated and covered up, no words of mine can give any comfort. Heads will have to roll. Supporting the discussion, Cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley said it was heartbreaking to see and no one knows the local impact this could have. An awful lot of women out there are scared, this brings the whole screening process into question, the confidence is gone, said Cllr Dwane Stanley. They were more concerned about the bad publicity, the Minister for Health was totally kept in the dark. Cllr Dwane Stanley also said: All women have said they want women to continue getting the cervical checks done. Let it be a golden opportunity to reform the health board. Cllr John Joe Fennelly noted that women, families and children have all been affected by this. He asked those responsible to sort things out and get the health service back to what it was. Cllr Willie Aird said it was a terrible, horrific thing to happen. Sorry is no good to the people and children left behind, he said. Theres nobody sitting on a monthly basis who is answerable. Cllr Aird said that people need to have trust in the HSE and screening has to continue. An online fundraiser for a Laois woman with a rare form of cancer has almost reached its 100,000 target. The GoFundMe account was set up by Shane Whelan from Abbeyleix on behalf of his brother Martin and his wife Julie Weinmann. In March this year, 41 year old Julie, who is a mother of three boys was given a devastating cancer diagnosis and prognosis. Shane Whelan told the family's story on the donation page. Julie's youngest son was born just over two months ago following an emergency Cesarean Section to allow doctors to carry out diagnostic tests. Julie has a very rare and aggressive form of heptocellular carcinoma (HCC). This is rare diagnosis in an otherwise healthy young woman with no underlying contributory health problems. Frighteningly, by the time HCC becomes symptomatic, it is already at an advanced, inoperable stage. Julie and her husband Martin, who are from Abbeyleix, are examining every potential treatment internationally that can give hope that Julie can be with her sons as they grow older. They are struggling to provide the round-the-clock care that is needed for Julie and the three boys, including a premature new born. Julie has been given limited treatment options in Ireland. Immunotherapy treatment is a possibility, Shane says, but as this is currently awaiting licensing, it would cost an estimated 3,000 every two weeks. Internationally, a number of more aggressive treatments may be available, including S.I.R.T, a form of targeted radiation that is designed specifically to take account of the challenges of treating HCC, and Proton Beam Therapy, which is performed routinely in the US, Germany and Switzerland. A hospital in Switzerland, home to the Swiss Cancer Centre, having reviewed Julies files, has already indicated that S.I.R.T may be appropriate in this case and has invited Julie for consultation. S.I.R.T., as well as being an important treatment in its own right, has the potential to act as a bridge to other treatments, currently not available to Julie. These life extending and potentially life saving treatments are not available to Julie in Ireland and are not covered by Irish health insurance. Shane added that Julie and Martin are doing everything possible to even the odds in this battle for life. DONATE HERE. Almost 100,000 has been raised by 1,068 people in 8 days for the Laois family. In an update on the fundraiser page, Shane has thanked everyone who has donated so far. "I cant thank you enough for your generosity, encouragement, prayers and good wishes. Your support is overwhelming. "Based on latest medical advice, the trip to Switzerland has been moved out by a few weeks to take place in July to allow for further scans to be carried out. "Because of your kindness I now feel we have options and hope that have been so absent since this frightening journey began," he said. Read more: Almost 3,000 raised in one week for Laois man's cancer treatment. A big drop in the number of people jailed for fines and a fall in the amount of prisoners in solitary confinement has been praised by Laois TD and Minister for Justice and Equality, Charlie Flanagan. Minister Flanagan welcomed what were described as a range of progressive achievements by the Irish Prison Service and the Probation Service in 2017. He said achievements are detailed in the Annual Reports of the two services which have been acknowledged by Government and will be published, along with the Joint Irish Prison Service / Probation Service Strategic Plan 2018-2020, in the coming weeks. He said the closure of St Patricks Institution as a place of detention ensured that children are no longer held in the adult prison system for the first time in Irish history. "This was a key Government commitment and a huge achievement for all involved," he said. He said a further important change was an amendment to the Prison Rules which has brought Ireland into line with the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, known as the Mandela Rules, in respect of restricted regimes and solitary confinement. "We have seen a very significant drop in the number of prisoners on solitary confinement (22/23 hour) from 72 in Q1 of 2017 to just 9 in Q4. Indeed, since 2013 we have witnessed a huge drop in this cohort decreasing from 211 in 2013 to this figure of 9 at the end of 2017, he said. The Laois TD said the impact of the Fines legislation, which removed imprisonment as the default penalty for the non-payment of a court ordered fine, can be clearly seen in a large reduction in the number of people committed to prison. The number of committals for the non-payment of a fine reduced from 8,439 in 2016 to 2,261 in 2017, a reduction of 73%. This change was the main driver behind an overall reduction of 40.5% in the number of persons sent to prison from 12,579 in 2016 to 7,484 in 2017. Of those, 85.5% were male and 14.5% were female. In total there were 9,287 committals to prison during the year, a decrease of 38.5% on the 2016 total of 15,099. Excluding the fines cohort, other committals were broadly static with an increase of 1.4%. We must continue to ensure that violent offenders and other serious offenders are committed to prison while at the same time switching away from prison sentences and towards less costly non-custodial options for non-violent and less serious offenders. The increase in the application of the Community Service Order sanction in 2017 is very welcome in this regard," he said. There were 2,215 Community Service Orders managed by the Probation Service in 2017 compared with 2,067 in 2016, an increase of approximately 7%. These orders totalled 336,573 hours of work, equating to over 3m of unpaid work for the benefit of communities nationwide. Women offenders represented 16.1% of all new referrals to the Probation Service in 2017 and female offenders represented 9.8% of all Community Service Orders made. In total, 206 prisoners completed the Community Return Scheme in 2017, with a compliance rate of almost 90%. Last year saw the continued development of the Joint Agency Response to Crime (J-ARC), an interagency approach to targeting prolific and high impact offenders in order to reduce reoffending. J-ARC was rolled out to the new areas of Waterford, Limerick and Dundalk and Youth J-ARC was also launched, targeting young people aged 16-21 years who are the most prolific offenders in their area (Gurranabraher and Mayfield in Cork and Blanchardstown in Dublin). The Department of Justice highlighted the following key points from the two reports. Key statistics from Prison Service Annual Report (excluding fines) numbers committed under sentence has increased by 52 or 1.4% from 3,724 in 2016 to 3,776 in 2017. numbers committed under sentence of < 3 months has decreased by 8 or 1.7% from 468 in 2016 to 460 in 2017. numbers committed under sentence of 3 to < 6 months has increased by 245 or 23.3% from 1,050 in 2016 to 1,295 in 2017. numbers committed under sentence of 6 to < 12 months has decreased by 155 or 14.9% from 1,039 in 2016 to 884 in 2017. numbers committed on sentences of 1 to < 2 years has increased by 51 or 17.3% from 295 in 2016 to 346 in 2017. numbers committed on sentences of 2 to < 3 years has increased by 9 or 3.1% from 290 in 2016 to 299 in 2017. numbers committed on sentences of 3 to less than 5 years has decreased by 68 or 19.8% in 2016 to 276 in 2017. numbers committed on sentences of 5 to less than 10 years has decreased by 16 or 8.7% in 2016 to 167 in 2017. numbers committed on sentences of 10 years plus has decreased by 12 or 31% in 2016 to 27 in 2017. numbers committed on a Life sentence has increased by 6 or 37.5% in 2016 to 22 in 2017. Key statistics from Probation Service Annual Report The Probation Service dealt with over 15,000 offenders in the community and 2,930 offenders in prison. There were 2,215 Community Service Orders made in 2017 compared with 2,067 in 2016. The 336,573 hours of community service performed in 2017 amounts to an alternative of 973 years of custodial sentencing. The Community Return Scheme has a compliance rate of almost 90%. 206 prisoners completed the Community Return Scheme in 2017. The Probation Service completed 13,722 reports for Court in 2017. The Probation Service provided 27 Victim Impact Reports in 2017. The majority of new referrals to the Probation Service were 18-24 year olds (2,604) and 25-34 year olds (3,109). 16.1% of all new referrals were female (16.6% in 2016, 15.2% in 2015 and 14.8% in 2014). The Probation Service supervised 572 juvenile offenders in 2017. Crookstown KWETB is looking forward to commencing a workshop on investigating the history and heritage of the area from Kilcullen to Castledermot and the boundaries of Athy. This is one of the earliest inhabited parts of Ireland, yet the real history, the lives and daily living of the people who inhabited our houses and the land around us has, mostly, never been recorded, said a spokesperson for the group. South Kildare Active Retired are promoting the workshop and the course with the view to starting a Local History and Heritage Club. It is open to all. Mario Corrigan, Executive Librarian with Kildare County Council, who is responsible for Local Studies, Genealogy and Archives, will deliver an introductory local history workshop on Monday, June 11 in Crookstown KWETB at 7pm. To give a taste of what would be covered in a six or eight week course during the summer. Mario is a most entertaining speaker and probably knows more about the early days of South Kildare than anyone. It will be a most entertaining and instructive night, added the spokesperson. Des Tierney, Maynooth / Ballyfermot, Dublin. June 5. Peacefully at his home, deeply regretted by his loving wife Bridget, sister Helen, brothers George & Terry, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, nephews, nieces, relatives, neighbours & friends. Reposing at Reilly's Funeral Home, Leinster St., Maynooth on Thursday from 4pm to 8pm, with rosary at 7pm. Removal on Friday morning at 9.30am to arrive at St. Mary's Church, Maynooth for 10am Funeral Mass, followed by cremation in Newlands Cross Crematorium. Family flowers only please. Dinations, if desired, to Focus Ireland. Mary Slattery (nee O'Reilly), Lyndon Court, Portlaoise / Carbury. June 5. Peacefully, surrounded by her loving family. Mary, dearly loved wife to Dermot. Loving daughter to Pat and Maureen and cherished sister to Gerard. She will be deeply missed by all who knew her. Reposing at her residence from 6 pm on Thurdsay evening until 8 pm. Removal to Newlands Crematorium on Friday for Cremation service at 2.30 pm. House private on Friday, please. Family flowers only. Christopher Phillips, Tullyville, Maddenstown, Curragh. June 6. Deeply regretted by his loving wife, sons, daughters, grandchildren, great grandchildren, great-great grandchildren, nephews, nieces, relatives and friends. Reposing at his home from 3 o'clock on Thursday 7th June. Rosary there on Friday evening at 8pm. Removal on Saturday at 10.30 to arrive at St. Brigid's Church, The Curragh for Funeral Mass at 11 o'clock. Burial afterwards in St. Conleth's Cemetery, Newbridge. Family flowers only please. Donations if desired to the Alzheimer Society. Donation Box in Church. Peter Cosgrove, 21 Castlebridge, Maynooth. June 5. Beloved husband of Bridget (nee McHale) and cherished father of Rosie, Susan, Peter and Laura. Sorely missed by sons-in-law Michael & Tony, brothers JJ & Dominick, cousins, relatives and friends. Remains reposing at his home on Friday from 4 0'Clock until 9 0'Clock. Funeral will depart from the family home on Saturday morning at 10 O'Clock to McDonnells Funeral Home, Belmullet with remains reposing from 4 O'Clock until 8 O'Clock. Funeral will arrive at the Church of St. Colmcille, Geesala on Sunday for Funeral Mass at 12.30 followed by burial in Geesala Cemetery. Michael Buchanan, Sallins / Ballyfermot, Dublin. June 3. Suddenly, late of Sallins, County Kildare, formerly Le Fanu Road, Ballyfermot and Roadstone. Beloved husband of Marie. Loving dad of Michael, Alan and Susan. Sadly missed by his wife, sons, daughter, grandchildren, sister Pauline, brother Jimmy, extended family, neighbours and friends. Reposing at Larry Massey Funeral Home, 341 Ballyfermot Road, on Thursday from 2oc to 5oc (family in attendance). Removal on Friday morning to the Church of Our Lady of The Assumption, Ballyfermot, arriving for 11.30oc Mass. Funeral afterwards to Newlands Cross Crematorium. Family flowers only please. Donations, if desired, to a charity of your choice. Mary (Mo) Maginn, Monkstown, Dublin / Leopardstown, Dublin / Maynooth. May 23. Peacefully in the loving care of the staff at T.L.C, Maynooth, Mary (Mo), beloved sister of June and the late Margot. Sadly missed by her loving nephews Richard, Paul and David and their partners, Conor, Alison and Julia, grandnephews, relatives and friends. R.I.P. Marys Funeral Mass and celebration of her life will take place in the T.L.C, Maynooth on Tuesday 12th June at 11.00 am followed by cremation in Newlands Cross Crematorium. Family flowers only, please. Donations if desired to The Alzheimers Society of Ireland. Sinn Fein Agriculture spokesperson, Martin Kenny TD has described the newly revealed Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) proposals as disappointing for farmers and not meeting the needs of rural Ireland. The proposals were launched by Commissioner Hogan last week in Brussels and Deputy Kenny was briefed in Dublin. Deputy Kenny said, "At the launch of the CAP proposals in the EU offices in Dublin, officials representing Commissioner Phil Hogan set out proposals and took questions. "The plight of small and medium-sized farming enterprises was stressed as a priority, which, on the face of it, is very welcome. There was talk of allowing member states more scope to design the programmes and that the focus would be on measuring outcomes rather than actions. "However, I am disappointed that the proposals do not meet the needs of the farmer or rural Ireland. "Sinn Fein has long sought proper reform of CAP to make the family farm sustainable and to put a floor under the income of farmers working more marginal land and in the less profitable, yet vital sectors, like sucklers and sheep. "In our submission on CAP we sought a set upper limit on Pillar I payments, so that more money would be available for the smaller scale family farm. We proposed the front-loading of payments, with a higher, medium and lower payment amount per hectare for set ranges of hectares, to fairly deliver for all land holdings, while scaling back as the holding gets larger. "The use of reference years, basing entitlements on farm activity from 20 years ago, needs to be abandoned as it closes off the possibilities for younger farmers. It was welcome to see that some of this seems to be included in the proposal from the EU Commission, however the devil is always in the detail. "Of course the reduction of EU funding to CAP poses a problem. Having read the detail, the much heralded upper limit for Pillar I payments is not real. It is, instead, a modest scaling-back on payments between 60,000 and 100,000 and will bring little extra into the pot for those on lower payments. "Even this scaling back has loopholes, as big farm enterprises can get allowance for labour costs; so if they have big entitlements they can claim farm salary costs to continue getting the big payments and breach the scaling-back rule." LifeStyle The best Lifestyle shows are right here, from Australia and around the world. Catch up with the experts on home design and interiors, food and cooking, the property market, and get fresh ideas with the savviest of renovators. Whether you need inspiration for cooking up a storm, to refresh a tired room, or tips to sell your property, Foxtel Lifestyle will always something new for you to watch. Enjoy your favourite experts like Andrew Winter and Neale Whitaker, or Shaynna Blaze and Jamie Oliver live or On Demand. A LIMERICK man who had been accused of deliberately driving a pick-up truck at his brother and nephew has been acquitted of all charges relating to the incident. Daniel Fitzgerald, aged 46, who has an address at Sunny Heights, OMalley Park, Southill, Limerick, had been accused of threatening to kill William Fitzgerald (63) during separate incidents on June 7, 2016 and June 8, 2016. He had alseo denied charges of assault and endangering both William Fitzgerald and his son, Tommy Fitzgerald (23) by driving his Toyota Dyna pick-up truck directly at them on June 8, 2016. The jury was told William Fitzgerald operates Fitzgerald Waste Management which is based at Timaru, Rathbane North and it was alleged the offences happened at the companys premises. In his evidence, William Fitzgerald said there had been a dispute over a family will between him and his brother who was an employee of the company at the time. He said on June 7, 2016 he was painting skips in the yard when his brother approached him in an awful temper. The witness said Daniel Fitzgerald was effing and blinding and told him he had a bullet for his head and that he would blow my brains out. Being questioned by John OSullivan BL, prosecuting, he said there was a physical altercation between him and his brother at lunchtime the following day following which the defendant drove his Toyota Dyna straight at him and his son. Being cross-examined by Mark Nicholas SC, William Fitzgerald rejected suggestions he was a strong overbearing character and that he had exaggerated details of what happened. You're here to use the criminal courts to settle a family dispute, he said. In his closing speech, Mr Nicholas submitted that the injuries sustained and the damage caused to the Toyota Dyna were wholly inconsistent with the story being told", Commenting on other aspects of the case, he told the jurors they were not "getting the full story from the Fitzgeralds". Following just under two and-a-half hours of deliberations, this Thursday, the jurors confirmed they had agreed unanimous not guilty verdicts in relation to three of the charges. They returned with a majority not guilty verdict in relation to the fourth charge less than 20 minutes later. After releasing Daniel Fitzgerald from custody, Judge Tom ODonnell thanked the jurors and excused them from further service for six years. A YOUNG girl who fell over the handlebars of her bike after she cycled into a large pothole on a public highway in Limerick has been awarded more than 27,000 in damages. Through her mother, the now nine-year-old girl sued Limerick City and County Council for damages relating to the incident which happened in July 2015. While the plaintiff has an address in the Crecora area of County Limerick, the exact location of the accident was not disclosed to the court. During a brief ex parte (one side only) hearing, Sheila Finn BL said the local authority was liable as it is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the road. A number of medical reports, relating to the young girl, were submitted to the court in support of the legal action. Judge Gerald Keys was told the girl, who was aged five at the time of the accident, broke a bone in her right elbow as a result of the fall. She received medical treatment following the incident and Ms Finn confirmed her client has made a full recovery from the injury and that there are no continuing concerns. There was no evidence that the girl had developed psychological difficulties following the fall. She said the girl and her mother were happy with the offer and that she was recommending it to the court for approval. Its a good offer and Im recommending it, she said. Having considered the submissions and medical reports and noting that the plaintiff has made a good recovery, Judge Keys agreed that the offer was appropriate. He formally directed the payment of 27,200 in general damages plus 1,010 in special damages. The local authority was also ordered to pay the costs and expenses of the plaintiff. In accordance with law, the damages are to be paid to the Courts Service of Ireland. The monies will then be invested and will not be paid out to the young girl until she turns 18. LIMERICK Prison has the second highest number of prisoners placed on a restricted regime, usually reserved for prisoners who are in danger or for bad behaviour, second only to Mountjoy Prison. Figures released in the Dail show that 85 prisoners have been placed on a restricted regime at the prison on Mulgrave Street. According to the figures, four prisoners have been placed on a restricted regime for a year or longer. The figures also show that 14 prisoners at Limerick prison have been placed on a restricted regime for longer than six months, but less than a year. The restriction of a prisoner's regime can occur due to a number of factors including, the protection of vulnerable prisoners, the Irish Prison Service said in a statement. A prisoner may, either at his or her own request or when the Governor considers it necessary, in so far as is practicable and subject to the maintenance and good order and safe and secure custody, be kept separate from other prisoners who are reasonably likely to cause significant harm to him or her. In addition, the Governor may decide, for the maintenance of good order in the prison, to remove a prisoner from general association or structured activity to reduce the negative effect that a prisoner or prisoners may have on the general population. PHARMACY staff across Limerick may go on strike next Thursday in protest at their companys alleged failure to engage with Mandate trade union. Lloyds Pharmacy staff represented by Mandate have voted by a majority of 92% in favour of industrial action on a turnout of 75%. It comes after a Labour Court recommendation to request the firm deal with the union. Approximately 60 staff work for Lloyds across seven stores in Limerick, with 800 workers nationwide. Its estimated of these 200 will go to the gate next Thursday, with Mandate bosses expected to release the details of those stores closer to the time. Gerry Light, Mandates assistant general secretary said the dispute may escalate to include more stores thereafter. Our members dont want to go on strike, but weve been left with no other option. LloydsPharmacy workers have repeatedly requested that their employer negotiate with their representatives, Mandate trade union. The Labour Court backed the workers claim for trade union representation, but the company has defied both the Court and their workers wishes, he said. Limerick Sinn Fein Senator Paul Gavan pledged the full support of his party, should local workers strike. He said: These workers have been intending to organise for a couple of years now. They have been blocked at every stage by management. Its totally unacceptable for a modern company in the 21st century to refuse to deal with trade unions. And thats whats at the heart of the issue. Lloyds Pharmacy has stores in Castletroy, William Street, Grove Island, the Jetland Shopping Centre, the Parkway Shopping Centre, the Roxboro Shopping Centre and at Rices Corner in Thomondgate. Mr Light explained, The one thing that was repeatedly raised by our members during the balloting process is that they do not wish to inconvenience the public who need their services, but that they cannot continue to turn a blind eye to the companys treatment of them. In a statement, a spokesperson for Lloyds Pharmacy said the firm engages instead with an accepted employee representative committee on all colleague terms and conditions. Last month, our employee representative committee successfully negotiated and balloted on a comprehensive framework agreement, with a majority of our colleagues voting in favour of it, they said, This agreement will provide enhanced terms and conditions for all our colleagues. It includes both pay increases and the reintroduction of a sick pay scheme. We are pleased to confirm that the terms of this agreement will take effect from this month, with these terms currently being implemented. ALTHOUGH the plaque set into the limestone walls of the Bruree National School reads 1862, the school did not open its doors to students until January 12, 1863. The school cost an estimated 255 to construct. The Board of National Education sent 170 to help with the cost after they sanctioned the school on May 17, 1861. The school was originally a one-roomed structure with room for 100 pupils but it was later expanded. The first principal was Andrew OKeeffe who earned 32 a year. His assistant Ellen Lawlor was paid only 16 a year. Johanna Russell, another assistant, joined the school on March 1, 1863 and earned an annual salary of 14. Before the school was built, the children of Bruree attended hedge schools. In the 1830s, the parish had seven hedge schools and a Protestant school in the Glebe supported by the local vicar. Two of the hedge schools had a total of 190 students, 122 boys and 68 girls. The other five schools made no note of the numbers attending. One of the hedge schools was located in a place known as Delhi and this operated until the building of the official school. James Kelly was the teacher in this school and the hours were from nine o'clock in the morning until four o'clock in the evening. Even after the school opened, a number of local children continued to attend the hedge schools. In 1866, there was a note in the national school records about Moran brothers John, aged 7 and David, aged 5, of Clogher who were sent to a hedge school held in their own house. That same year, Pat Foley, aged 6, Ballynaught and Willy Carroll, Dromin were both sent to a hedge school. In 1868, Maggie MacAuliffe, age nine, of Clogher, was sent to a hedge school next to her door. Not only was there an issue in the early years with children being moved to hedge schools but there was a note in 1869 of Patrick Sullivan who was sent home for being too young. He was only three years old. Another reason why children were missing from the school was that they were working at the Bruree Mills or became apprentices at other businesses in the area. One of the early students at the new school was Catherine Coll of Knockmore. She left Bruree National School on November 18, 1871, aged 15. She later travelled to America where her son, the most famous pupil of the school, Eamon de Valera was born on October 14, 1882 in New York. A few years later de Valera arrived back in Bruree with his uncle and was raised there by his maternal grandmother. De Valera arrived at the school in May 1888. The headmaster at the time was Thomas MacGinn. His first teacher was the young Garrett Hayes, whose aunt Kate Ruddle also taught in the school. Hayes would later become the principal of the school. He passed away in 1929. Hayes brothers were the Rev M Hayes, P.P. Ardagh, Rev J. Hayes, China, Dr R Hayes who fought under Thomas Ashe in 1916 and P Hayes of Rathkeale. On October 8th, 1972, just before his ninetieth birthday, President Eamon de Valera opened a small museum in the school in his own honour. He sat at his desk from eighty years earlier, according to reports at the time it still bore his carved initials. In 1997, the then President of Ireland, Mary Robinson, officially opened the refurbished Bruree National School as the De Valera Museum and Bruree Heritage Centre. This refurbishment cost 85,000 and five years to complete. The museum not only holds detail of the life of Eamon De Valera but of the surrounding Bruree area. YOU could nearly set your holidays on the Leaving Cert weather, the principal of Limerick Tutorial College John OHalloran quipped. If you want a week away in Ireland, this is your week! As more than 5,000 students across the city and county began their State Exams this Wednesday, temperatures soared, reaching up to 24 degrees across Limerick. As English Paper One came to a close, students at Limerick Tutorial College filled the street outside their school in The Crescent. One such student was Martyna Kowalska, who the Limerick Leader met while she was enjoying the summer sun on a well deserved break after finishing up on what turned out to be a tough but fair exam. I thought it was ok, Ms Kowalska said. One of the new Leaving Cert questions came up in the comprehensions, something we havent done before. It's a new type of question where you have to refer to one of your texts that you studied before. There was also an open letter question, which wed never done. But it was a fair paper overall, it was really fine. Theres a lot of different choices so I think it was very fair. Ms Kowalska, who wants to go on to study Biological and Chemical Science in the University of Limerick, is quietly confident for the weeks ahead. Im feeling ok because Ive been studying very hard so hopefully I will be fine over the next few weeks. Im counting down the days until June 19 when I finish, I cant wait! Apart from some nerves on the Wednesday morning, students overall remained calm ahead of the exams, according to Limerick Tutorial principal John OHalloran. They were all very, very well prepared. Once theyve put the work in, its just time to go in and preform. The majority of students, not only here but all around the place, have worked extremely hard. There was a bit of excitement around the place, waiting to get started and like anything else, once it gets started it will absolutely fly. In fairness, there was a bit of nerves first thing in the morning but they got in, got settled down and they all came out fairly happy. It was a small bit challenging but all together, they were very happy. While, stress levels are inclined to get out of hand on the first morning of the State exams, in Kilmallock, principal Noel Kelly hasnt had to settle many nerves they are probably the most relaxed group Ive come across, he quipped this Wednesday. Colaiste Iosaef in Kilmallock account for 144 of the cohort sitting Leaving and Junior Cert exams in Limerick. Misha Noonan from Kilmallock was cool as a breeze when she chatted to the Leader in the corridor of the secondary school after emerging from the exam hall at 12.30pm. It was grand, said the 18-year-old, nonchalant as you like. The essay was about the pleasures associated with young people, such as their space. I wrote about freedom and relaxation. I wrote just over three pages, said Misha. Misha has her sights set on studying PE with biology in DCU with a view to becoming a secondary school teacher. Despite being in the midst of one of the most testing and stressful periods of her young life, Misha admitted she was feeling relatively relaxed. I have been studying outside in the sun, she smiled. With 75 Leaving Cert students and 65 Junior Cert students completing the State exams at the county school along with four students doing the Leaving Cert Applied, its a busy time for the man in charge, Mr Kelly. While there was a crazy 15 minutes when they came in this morning, between going to the exam hall and sorting themselves out, by 9.30am they were all settled and ready to start. I think it brings back a lot of memories for us all - memories Id prefer not to relive again, Mr Kelly joked. Tutorial principal John OHalloran said the students have a couple of long days ahead. The first day is typically a long day between the English in the morning and the Home Economics in the afternoon, Mr OHalloran explained. Then there is Geography and Maths on Friday. Youve also got Maths and Irish, which is a long-day for a lot of them as well and then you have French and History next Wednesday, which is two long exams. The second English paper on Thursday afternoon is the longest of the whole lot of the exams, three hours and twenty minutes with a lot to cover, but Geography and Maths on Friday will be the first real long day for pupils around the country. Every student is different, he added. Some students are looking to get the top points, other pupils are trying to pass. All we want the students to do is their best, regardless of their ability, regardless of points, once they are doing their best and they are coming out of each exam, thats all they can do at this stage. We say go in and attack the paper, dont have any regrets afterwards. Go in and make sure you use your time correctly inside, we go through the timing with them and advise them to write down their timing and stick to it. We also tell them to get proper sleep, proper rest during the exams, a bit of exercise as well will do them no harm. Just to be sleeping well, not to be staying up late, so that they go in with a clear head in the morning of the exams. His advice is echoed by mental health charity Samaritans who are urging Limerick students, parents and teachers to put their well-being ahead of their grades, and look after their mental health this exam season. Exam season can be a stressful time not only for the young person, but for family members, carers and teachers, according to Cindy OShea of Samaritans in Ireland. Samaritans are here 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to offer a listening ear and emotional support, Ms OShea said. Anyone who is feeling overwhelmed because of exam pressure can contact Samaritans for free from any phone on 116 123. This number will not show up on a bill. Alternatively, text 087 2609090, email jo@samaritans.ie or go to www.samaritans.org. GARDAI in Limerick are investigating an incident during which a woman was surrounded by a group of young boys who sexually assaulted her in broad daylight. The shocking incident happened at around 4.30pm on Sunday when the woman, who is aged in her early 30s, was walking along the canal bank in the direction of Limerick city centre. I was on my way back to the city when around six boys who were all on bikes came in my direction and passed around me. I tried to give them space (to pass) but they were all around me and they began to touch my body on the boobs and bum, the woman told the Limerick Leader this Wednesday. According to the woman a number of the boys, who she believes were all around 15 years old, continued to follow her as she attempted to leave the area. They were laughing and some of the boys left but two of them followed me for another two or three minutes. They kept touching me, they kept on bothering me and saying things, she explained. One of boys attempted to kiss the woman while another tried to hug her. I was feeling very uncomfortable it was very intimidating and I felt very violated as a woman and disrespected and I worry about what kind of adults these boys will become, she said. Once the boys left the area, the woman immediately flagged down a motorist and asked for a lift to Henry Street garda station where she reported the matter to gardai. She has met with gardai again since and has made a detailed statement of complaint. Gardai in Henry Street are investigating an assault incident on Canal Bank (near Rhebogue) on June 3 at approximately 4.30pm. Gardai are appealing for anyone who was in the area between 4pm and 5pm to contact them, confirmed a garda spokesperson. Gardai at Henry Street station are investigating and can be contacted at (061) 212400. This 2,800-year-old miniature sculpture was found in the ancient city of Abel Beth Maacah in northern Israel. It may depict a biblical king. A tiny but intricately carved sculpture of what may be the head of a biblical king, dating back over 2,800 years, has been discovered at the ancient city of Abel Beth Maacah in northern Israel. Mario Tobia, an engineering student from Jerusalem, discovered the sculpture last summer in a large building at the highest point of the ancient city, which is mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible. The sculpture depicts a man with long, black hair and a beard who is wearing a yellow and black headband. He has dark, almond-shaped eyes and a serious expression on his face. Carved in a glazed ceramic called faience, the head is only about 2 by 2.2 inches (5.1 by 5.6 centimeters) in size and was once part of a small statuette, now lost, that was 8 to 10 inches (20 to 25 cm) in height, archaeologists said. [8 Alleged Relics of Jesus of Nazareth] "Despite the head's small and innocuous appearance, it provides us with a unique opportunity to gaze into the eyes of a famous person from the past a past enshrined in the Book of Ages [the Hebrew Bible]," Robert Mullins, a professor at Azusa Pacific University's Department of Biblical and Religious Studies who is co-director of excavations in the ancient city, said in a statement. Mario Tobia holds up the miniature sculpture shortly after discovering it. (Image credit: Robert Mullins) Who is it? Whom does the miniature sculpture depict? The quality of the carving and its seemingly careful placement inside a possible administrative building at the peak of the city indicate that it depicts an elite person, Mullins said. "We're guessing probably a king, but we have no way of proving that," said Mullins. If this was a king, which one? Radiocarbon dating of organic material found in the same building as the miniature sculpture suggests that the object was constructed sometime from 902-806 B.C., Mullins said. At this time, he noted, the borders of three different kingdoms Israel, Tyre and Aram-Damascus were near Abel Beth Maacah. And these borders often changed, so different kingdoms controlled Abel Beth Maacah at different times. [The Holy Land: 7 Amazing Archaeological Finds] Given the long stretch of time during which the sculpture could have been created and the fact that control of Abel Beth Maacah changed throughout this period, the sculpture could depict numerous kings, Mullins said. Three possibilities are King Ahab of Israel, King Hazael of Aram-Damascus and King Ethbaal of Tyre, but there are many other candidates, he said. Excavations in the large building will continue this summer, and archaeologists hope to find more information that may help determine whom this miniature sculpture depicts Mullins said. Excavations at Abel Beth Maacah are carried out jointly between Azusa Pacific University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The other two co-directors are Naama Yahalom-Mack and Nava Panitz-Cohen, who are both researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The miniature sculpture is on display at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. Yahalom-Mack described the discovery recently at the 44th Annual Archaeological Congress at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. The scientists will publish a paper on the discovery this month in the journal Near Eastern Archaeology. Originally published on Live Science. After 18 years of drifting, Antarctica's largest iceberg is about to melt away near South America. If being far from home ever gets you down, just be glad you aren't also melting. NASA scientists reported that, after drifting for nearly 20 years, the largest iceberg ever to break away from Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf is about to disappear forever. Now floating northwest of the South Georgia islands near the tail of South America, the iceberg named B-15 has traveled more than 6,600 miles (10,000 kilometers) from the ice shelf and is veering dangerously close to the equator. [Photos: Diving Beneath Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf] Satellite images taken from the International Space Station (ISS) on May 22 confirm that the remains of the iceberg are on a crash course with warm tropical waters, where growing pools of meltwater will soon "work [their] way through the iceberg like a set of knives," NASA glaciologist Kelly Brunt said in a statement. The freewheelin', formerly Connecticut-size iceberg first embarked on its long cruise after breaking away from the Ross Ice Shelf in 2000, NASA said. At the time, it was the largest single chunk of ice ever to split off from the shelf, measuring 160 nautical miles long and 20 nautical miles wide. (That's a total area of 3,200 square nautical miles larger than the island of Jamaica.) Iceberg B-15 broke off of the Ross Ice Shelf in 2000, floated three quarters of the way around Antarctica and is now veering north toward its doom. (Image credit: NASA/ International Space Station) Currents swept the berg three-quarters of the way around Antarctica; then, it suddenly shifted northward into the southern Atlantic Ocean within the past year or two, NASA said. The stately raft of ice has gradually splintered into many smaller pieces, most of which have already melted. Today, only four chunks remain with a large enough surface area to be trackable by the National Ice Center (20 square nautical miles is the minimum). The chunk observed from the ISS last month (its name is B-15Z) still has a surface area of about 50 square nautical miles, but it is likely nearing the end of its journey as it floats ever closer to the equator. According to NASA, icebergs have been known to rapidly melt once they drift into this region. A large fracture is already visible at B-15Z's center, and smaller pieces are crumbling away from its edges. B-15 will be missed. But its fans may take solace in knowing that, thanks to climate change, another "largest iceberg ever" will probably break away soon enough. Originally published on Live Science. People queue outside of the US embassy in Beijing, China. This week, at least two Americans were evacuated from nearby Guangzhou after showing mysterious neurological symptoms. A medical mystery deepens in China. On Wednesday (June 6), a U.S. government employee and his family were evacuated from the city of Guangzhou in order to receive medical testing for unexplained neurological symptoms, a State Department spokesperson said. The departure comes two weeks after another government employee was evacuated from the city after experiencing mysterious symptoms that have been likened to the so-called "sonic attacks" that afflicted U.S. embassy workers in Cuba last year. The Guangzhou employee "reported subtle and vague, but abnormal sensations of sound and pressure," according to a statement from the U.S. Embassies and Consulates in China, and was later diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injury, the BBC reported. Additional medical tests were administered to U.S. government employees in China following the first employee's evacuation, which resulted in several more individuals being diagnosed this week, the State Department said. It's not clear exactly how many Americans showed neurological symptoms or were evacuated on Wednesday, but the State Department said "a number of individuals" had been brought home for further medical testing. At least one of the evacuees worked for the American Consulate in Guangzhou, The New York Times reported. These cases in China have expanded a medical crisis that began in Cuba in 2016, when a number of U.S. embassy employees reported hearing loud, bizarre noises and subsequently reported severe neurological symptoms. After hearing the noises, a total of 24 of these employees and their family members were stricken with mysterious headaches, hearing loss, dizziness and, ultimately, brain damage. Ten Canadian diplomats were also evacuated from the island, showing similar symptoms, the Associated Press reported. The U.S. government has characterized these incidents as deliberate sonic "attacks" on embassy workers by unknown actors. A report published in February in the medical journal JAMA disputed the theory that a sonic weapon was to blame, but could not pinpoint an alternative explanation for the mysterious symptoms. In a statement on Tuesday (June 5), U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that he had created a health care task force to deal with "the unexplained health incidents that have affected a number of U.S. government personnel and family members stationed overseas, The New York Times reported. Whether other embassy employees working outside of Cuba and China have experienced similar symptoms was not clear. Originally published on Live Science. Eric and Terry Fan's "Ocean Meets Sky" (Simon & Schuster, ages 4 to 8) is about sailors, dreamers and the gifts of grandfathers. At its center is Finn, a small boy who "lived by the sea" and has some treasured gifts from his grandfather whose 90th birthday would have been today: a love of sailing, and stories about the place where the sea and sky come together. Finn assembles materials - a piece of wooden fence, a window frame or two and other odds and ends - to build his boat. When Finn peeks out from below decks and finds himself on a blue sea, the sky is full of amazing shapes, and a pale blue mist, as if the sky and the sea were merging, is all around him. A long-whiskered fish, exactly the right kind for magic with its golden scales and wise eyes (and looking much like Finn's grandfather), guides Finn on his journey to the horizon with all its promise of wishes, dreams and hope. Finn sails to where the blue air merges with the watery depths and a huge blue whale, sailing ships and luminous jellyfish accompany him. Weightless, flying, floating, diving, swimming creatures and vessels surround him. Young readers will be captivated by the exuberantly detailed artwork and warmed by the promise of dumplings, as Finn's mother wakes him to come home for dinner. - Kathie Meizner --- Two new picture books immerse young readers in the ocean. In "Otis and Will Discover the Deep: The Record-Setting Dive of the Bathysphere" (Little, Brown; ages 5 to 9), Barb Rosenstock tells a little-known true story about Otis Barton and Will Beebe, who dared to explore the ocean depths inside a hollow metal ball that Barton had designed. When they teamed up, in the late 1920s, no person had survived a depth beyond a few hundred feet. Katherine Roy's engaging watercolor illustrations capture both the cramped quarters of the Bathysphere (its interior diameter was four-and-a-half feet) and the revelatory views of creatures 800 feet below the surface. With "Flying Deep: Climb Inside Deep-Sea Submersible Alvin" (Charlesbridge, ages 5 to 9), Michelle Cusolito takes readers on a "you are there" mission to examine the site of once-active underwater volcanoes: "Animals here thrive in toxic chemicals, blistering temperatures, and intense pressure. But you're safe inside Alvin." The machine called Alvin can fit only one additional person than the Bathysphere did, but it goes much deeper (more than 14,000 feet, or almost three miles). Nicole Wong's detailed digital illustrations add an exciting immediacy to the descent and to the glowing wonders of the deep. - Abby McGanney Nolan --- Twelve-year-old Claudia Dalton's passion for puzzles becomes a high-stakes pursuit when her usually dependable father goes into hiding in "The Jigsaw Jungle" (Putnam, ages 10 and up), an ingeniously plotted middle-grade novel by Kristin Levine. Soon after he disappears with no explanation, Dad mails a clue - a single puzzle piece - to Claudia at the home of her paternal grandfather, Papa, in Alexandria, Va., where she is staying for part of the summer. This clue is the key to the next in a series carefully constructed by Dad; Claudia and Papa follow each to learn more about Dad when he was her age. Claudia also collects recent emails, receipts, fliers and transcripts of phone conversations and old home movies into a thick scrapbook. Like the protagonist, the reader must piece together clues and insights hidden in these materials. At the heart of this mystery is a secret Dad has kept for years: He is a deeply closeted gay man. Levine handles this revelation with sensitivity and skill. Though times may have changed by 2015, when this novel is set, Claudia becomes more aware of the discrimination suffered by gay people a generation ago, which informed some of Dad's choices. Levine's previous three books have been lauded for their nuanced exploration of complex subjects, including racial tensions ("The Lions of Little Rock") and mental illness and bullying ("The Paper Cowboy"). With this one, she also develops tween and adult characters with compassion and depth, as they evolve a better understanding of a family that can be "both great and broken, all at the same time." - Mary Quattlebaum --- bookworld@washpost.com One might approach Rumaan Alams second novel, That Kind of Mother, which probes the depths of motherhood from the perspective of a female protagonist, with a good deal of skepticism. Alam is, after all, a man. But from the first pages of this captivating book, Alam, author of Rich and Pretty, proves that he is an insightful, observant man who feels deeply, understands acutely and represents accurately the disappearing act that mothers particularly creative ones do upon entering motherhood. Alam, who writes essays on art, culture, and race for The New York Times, The New Yorker and BuzzFeed, has provided a true look at the balancing act a woman takes in her hands the day she becomes a mother. That Kind of Mother opens with protagonist Rebecca Stone welcoming to the world her first son, Andrew. In the hospital, she meets lactation consultant Priscilla Johnson, who helps her fumble through the first days and nights of motherhood. Later, Rebecca asks Priscilla to become her sons nanny; Rebecca is a poet who is trying, still, to maintain her career, or some semblance of it (she mostly lies on the floor or finds other things to do like open her mail while Priscilla entertains Andrew). But when Priscilla dies in childbirth, Rebecca decides to adopt Priscillas newborn son. Rebecca is white, Priscilla was black, and though Rebecca is an observant woman (as most poets are), she has grown up in privilege, which leaves her with gaping blind spots about what it means to be this kind of mother what it means to be a mother at all. Rebeccas experiences represent the experiences of many working mothers. She is a woman who struggles with separating her identity from her children but also fully immerses herself in motherhoods demands and bliss. When Rebecca attends a business lunch with her editor, Alam writes: She didnt want to be that kind of mother, the one who cant stop talking about her children, cant stop thinking about them. Surely there had to be another kind of mother for Rebecca to be. But is there another kind of mother to be? More Information That Kind of Mother By Rumaan Alam HarperCollins, $26.99 See More Collapse At its heart, That Kind of Mother is a book about maternity, about the way life changes upon becoming a mother, about the examinations of race and class and privilege and boundaries and career that happen in flashes as mothers grow up alongside their children. With lyrical prose, Alam gives readers a direct line to Rebecca and the thoughts and fears and disappointments and worries that arise throughout the course of motherhood: the remarkable victories that weave in and out of the devastating setbacks, the secret thoughts that stay hidden in the minds of mothers, the question that sits on the edges of a mothers wondering: do we come equipped with our mothering abilities, or are we born into motherhood? In interviews, Alam admits he wrote the book because he wanted to portray the terrifying leap of faith that is parenthood, the fragility of the bonds that hold human beings together, the weirdness of the times in which we now live. This book is not the truth. But I hope youll find it to be true nonetheless. And that is exactly what readers will find That Kind of Mother to be. Rachel Toalson is a poet, essayist, and novelist whose first book, The Colors of the Rain, releases Sept. 18 from Yellow Jacket, a division of Bonnier Publishing USA. She lives in San Antonio with her husband and six sons. Kate Upton will be gracing the cover of Maxim magazine this month. The 26-year-old model and actress earned the top spot in this year's "Hot 100," an annual list of some of the best-looking starlets in Hollywood and elsewhere. For her cover shoot, Upton traveled to Israel to snap a few photos at the beach. ON TV: Kate Upton works the runway tonight on 'RuPaul's Drag Race' "I work really hard on myself: on feeling good, working out, being strong," Upton told Maxim. "Being number one on the Hot 100 is a little reward for all of the hard work." Upton will also be attending Maxim's party commemorating the issue at The Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles on July 21. The upcoming July/August issue of Maxim will be available in stores June 19. Fernando.ramirez@chron.com Twitter.com/fernramirez93 Wednesday night marked the highly anticipated on-air return of Samantha Bee on Full Frontal for her first appearance since calling Ivanka Trump a vulgar term but about a third of the episode was dedicated to Texas politics and featured Diego Bernal, the San Antonio state representative. Bernal told mySA.com he was invited onto the show months ago to talk about "The Texas Conscience" and the divide between "Joe Strauss-brand Republicans and the more-far right Republicans." Straus, a San Antonio Republican and former house speaker, did not seek re-election this year after tussling with his fellow party-members over a number of issues, including last year's "bathroom bill." RELATED: S.A. state rep releases new album, a 'love letter' to 'San Anto' TBS crews filmed the 7-minute clip April 26 and it featured Bernal, along with Equality Texas' Lou Weaver and Rep. Jason Villalba, R-Dallas, who the show labeled as an "anomaly" of the Republican party for his conscience in voting on LGBT rights bill presented by the San Antonio Democrat. Full Frontal said Villalba "sorta did the right thing" last year as Bernal championed House Bill 192, which would prohibit housing discrimination based on a person's sexual orientation or gender identity. Bernal was brought on to comment on what the process and working with the conflicted Villalba was like. The show described the situation with the help of a cartoon corral, depicting Villalba as a "lone star" for not siding with his party. "I would rather be right than be elected," he said on the show. "I was the first republican in Texas history to ever vote in favor of the LGBT community and I'll sleep soundly knowing I did that." Bernal said his and Villalba's appearance on the episode demonstrates the inner workings of the Texas Legislature and the "civil war" he says is brewing between the state's Republicans. RELATED: A complete breakdown of rumored 'Real Housewives of San Antonio' filming "It highlights in a mild way that in the legislature there is sometimes a willingness to work together across the aisle," Bernal added. "I appreciate the fact that (Villalba) was willing to work together on this issue." As for the bill, Bernal said it went to the calendars committee and died. In his conversation with mySA.com, he said he still considers it all a victory because it proves there is "movement." "The story is not really about me or Jason as much as it is about the sort of mental and emotional gymnastics people in the state legislature have to do to do what is right and what politics have made seem like a super human feat when it really shouldn't be," Bernal said. Houston Restaurant Weeks, the largest fundraiser for the Houston Food Bank and the city's biggest food event, has set the dates of Aug. 1 through Sept. 3 for this year's campaign. Participating restaurants, which will be announced July 15 on the Houston Restaurant Weeks site, will offer fixed price lunches and dinners and donate a portion of each to the Houston Food Bank, the nation's largest food bank. The 2017 campaign raised a record $2.4 million; the 2016 event brought in $2,015,157, marking the first time the $2 million mark was broken. This year set dinner prices will be $35 and $45; lunch for $20, and brunch for $20. For each $45 dinner the restaurant will donate $7 which will generate 21 meals for the food bank; $35 dinners will result in a $5 donation which will generate 15 meals; and $20 lunch and brunch puts $3 in the food bank coffers resulting in nine meals. Last year's event was originally set for Aug. 1 to Sept. 4, 2017. But Hurricane Harvey hit Houston the weekend of Aug. 26 and many participating restaurants were forced to close for a week. The organizers of HRW later decided to extend the fundraiser through Sept. 30 to make up for lost days (individual restaurants decided whether to opt in). This year's fundraiser offers 34 days of dining deals. The website will update participating restaurants and sample menus through Aug. 1. Some participating restaurants may require reservations but walk-ins are accepted at most locations. Houston Restaurant Weeks was established in 2003 by Cleverley Stone, host of "The Cleverley Show." To date the event has raised about $10 million to fight hunger in Greater Houston with more than 30 million meals for the food insecure. Stone added that the 2017 donation to the food bank might actually be more than $2.4 million because restaurant donations are still being collected from last year's campaign. The delay in collecting is attributed to the hurricane. A final total for HRW 2017 will be made at a later date, Stone said. Greg Morago writes about food for the Houston Chronicle. Follow him on Facebook or Twitter. Send him news tips at greg.morago@chron.com. Follow him on the podcast BBQ State of Mind to learn about Houston and Texas barbecue culture. Residents of downtown Laredo, many of whom are elderly, have been without a neighborhood grocery store for two years since H-E-B shuttered its store on Farragut in June 2016. On Wednesday, not even two blocks away at 1210 Matamoros St., that changed. Joseph's Store House, a small repository of a diverse collection of packaged foods, opened to much fanfare. Immediately after the grand opening celebration with the City of Laredo, elderly shoppers filed into the store, inspecting unfamiliar Japanese condiments and picking up everything from pasta to probiotics. "It is one of the most exciting days since I have been a council member," Councilman Roberto Balli said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Balli, who represents downtown Laredo, immediately called for a special City Council meeting when he first heard that H-E-B was closing in May 2016. READ ALSO: New Laredo plaza offers shopping and dining experiences The city met with H-E-B officials, offering tax breaks and other incentives to stay downtown. However Mayor Pete Saenz said executives told them the store needed $15 million in renovations to stay open. The store closed June 26, 2016. And for two years downtown residents lived without reliable access to fresh produce and nutritious food in their neighborhood. "It was a heart-breaker to me personally, to the City of Laredo, to management, to the residents next door at the Hamilton and the Juarez (housing developments) that were used to walking in this neighborhood to get their groceries," Balli said Wednesday. The city set up a food desert committee, Balli said, to find ways to get groceries into downtown. And that search does not end with this project, he noted. They were originally looking for large-scale grocers, but Balli felt things weren't moving quickly enough. So a member of the committee recommended reaching out to Joseph's Store House on Meadow, run by Pastor Lucy De Leon of New Vision Community Church. The committee met with her, and pursued the partnership. On Jan. 24, City Council approved the 18-month contract with the church to open a second market downtown. "For downtown, this is a lifeline," Balli said of the new store. It allows for people to buy groceries without having to take the bus into another neighborhood or shop at a gas station. The City of Laredo owns the former Southern Hotel, and used about $40,000 of Balli's district priority funds to get 700 square feet of the space ready for Joseph's Store House. This included shelving, refrigerators and a walk-in freezer, Balli said. "We set up the store so that it would be a turnkey operation, and they just had to come in and bring the groceries," Balli said. What's inside De Leon, the pastor, flitted around the store Wednesday, busy greeting new customers and directing volunteers who run the market. She often referred to a sign on the wall which notes that everything is 50 percent off the marked price, except for the house-made breads and refrigerated items. New Vision Community Church partners with an anonymous program, she said, which donates 10 percent of their products to missions such as theirs. This is how they are able to sell everything at such low prices, she said. All they have to pay for are transportation costs. Although Joseph's Store House is small, it offers a wide variety of products, from diapers to organic dried jackfruit, and even more niche items like golden flax meal, quinoa milk, pumpkin spice peanut butter and Japanese sodas. They also carry basics like eggs, butter, chorizo, rice, beans and canned jalapenos. READ ALSO: Peek inside Alexander High School's brand new 9th Grade campus De Leon said that all of the store's proceeds support the ministry of New Vision Community Church. What's still missing is fresh produce. There was a basket of cucumbers, but no other fruits or vegetables. Balli noted that once a month De Leon and volunteers with the church will bring free fruits and vegetables to the 150 residents of the Hamilton Hotel. De Leon also runs a program out of her church, called Mana Kitchen, where they teach single moms how to cook, serve and be self-sufficient. Breads and other baked goods sold at Joseph's Store House are made by the six women in this program, De Leon said. One of these women is Lupe, who is from El Salvador. She said she was happy and proud to have this job, and that she had never worked before. She has learned how to make things like bread, guisadas, soups and sweet potato waffles, she said. Her 18-year-old son Angel has been a volunteer with the store for two months. He said he is happy that his mom has learned so much through this program and is fulfilled by the work. Angel doesn't even like bread, he said, but he always tries it when his mom makes it. Julia Wallace may be reached at 956-728-2543 or jwallace@lmtonline.com The smell of Galveston Bay near Seabrook might turn foul in the near future. Why? It turns out, fish a lot of fish are dying in the bay, authorities said, and washing ashore. The fish are dying because of naturally low oxygen levels in the water, which essentially suffocates fish, according to Seabrook authorities. Those fish will turn up on the coast and be a nuisance for an undetermined amount of time. SIGHTSEEING: Trump claims Texans wen sightseeing during Hurricane Harvey The phenomenon is called a "fish kill," according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. It happens naturally but can be accelerated by human activities, authorities said. So, while people hanging out on the coast might see scores of dead fish, don't be alarmed. They will leave the area naturally, either by washing out into the bay again or being eaten by less-picky scavengers. If you spot these dead fish, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department asks that you report it to their 24-hour hotline for their researchers. When the fish are spotted, remember to check the following before calling: Location, date and time Water color, clarity and any odor Number, size and species of affected organisms Recent weather Condition and behavior of animals or organism Are plants or other organisms affected? CRACKDOWN: Houston bar banned from selling booze The last time a fish kill affected the Seabrook area was in May 2014. Because of the event, officials are discouraging anyone from fishing in the area until the event is over. Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message. Jay R. Jordan is a breaking news reporter at Chron.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan. Comedian Samantha Bee apologized again Wednesday for the vulgar term she used last week to describe first daughter and White House adviser Ivanka Trump, using her first on-air appearance since the incident to repeat her mea culpa - but also to double down on her underlying criticism of President Donald Trump and his treatment of immigrants. "I hate that this distracted from more important issues," Bee said during the airing of her TBS show, "Full Frontal." She said she apologized to everyone - except, she joked, conservative Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. Bee seemed to blame the media for fixating on the slur rather than the target of her joke. "I should have known that a potty-mouthed insult would have been inherently more interesting to them than juvenile immigration policy," she said. Last week, the comedian apologized for calling Ivanka Trump a vulgar term during a critique of the president and his administration's treatment of immigrant families. After outcry from advertisers and some viewers, Bee backed down from the language she used. Bee apologized then: "I would like to sincerely apologize to Ivanka Trump and to my viewers for using an expletive on my show to describe her last night," Bee said in a statement to The Post. "It was inappropriate and inexcusable. I crossed a line, and I deeply regret it." Bee's slam followed outrage after Ivanka Trump posted an Instagram picture of her embracing her young son as news was breaking about U.S. officials separating immigrant families that crossed the border from Mexico. Bee's insult provoked ire from advertisers, who had threatened to pull out from her show (an echo of the scandal earlier in the week that led to the cancellation of "Roseanne"), as well as the White House. "The language used by Samantha Bee last night is vile and vicious," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement to The Post before Bee's public apology. "The collective silence by the left and its media allies is appalling. Her disgusting comments and show are not fit for broadcast, and executives at Time Warner and TBS must demonstrate that such explicit profanity about female members of this administration will not be condoned on its network." But even though she was contrite Wednesday and as she toned down her rhetoric (she even had a bit about introducing viewers to the show's new censors), Bee kept up the criticism of the president's immigration policies. And she concluded her show with a wink at the very profanity that landed her in trouble: "Goodnight everyone, see you next . . . Wednesday!" BEIJING - The Chinese government still has no idea why a U.S. diplomat fell ill at the consulate in Guangzhou after hearing mysterious sounds, despite completing its investigation Thursday. On Wednesday, the State Department said it was evacuating several more Americans from Guangzhou for further health screenings. That follows the initial evacuation of a government employee, who had reported hearing strange noises in his apartment and exhibiting symptoms of brain injury. On Thursday, China's Foreign Ministry said it had looked into the case after being told about the first incident. "China and relevant authorities conducted an investigation and gave feedback to the United States," spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular news conference. "We haven't found the cause or clues that would lead to the situation mentioned by the United States." Hua said the Foreign Ministry had not yet been formally informed by the U.S. government about the new cases, having only heard about them through media reports. "If the United States communicates with us, we will adopt a responsible attitude to investigate this," she said. "We will maintain communication with the United States on this." Last month, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Congress the case in Guangzhou was medically very similar to the ones seen in Cuba last year, when a large part of the embassy staff was withdrawn after complaining of symptoms that included hearing loss, dizziness, tinnitus, visual difficulties, headaches and fatgie. The American Foreign Service Association said then that government employees had been diagnosed with "mild traumatic brain injury and permanent hearing loss, with such additional symptoms as loss of balance, severe headaches, cognitive disruption, and brain swelling." In Guangzhou, the first employee to be evacuated complained of "subtle and vague, but abnormal, sensations of sound and pressure," according to the State Department. Now more cases have come to light, with "a number" of affected people sent to the United States for further evaluation, according to State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert. A U.S. medical team in Guangzhou was also screening more Americans Thursday, the Associated Press reported. The latest round of evacuations, which began Wednesday in China, was the first sign that the unexplained ailments have now broadened and threaten to become a full-blown health crisis like the one that affected at least 24 diplomats and their families in Cuba. A U.S. official, who wasn't authorized to discuss the situation publicly and requested anonymity, told the Associated Press, that the evacuated Americans are being brought for testing to the University of Pennsylvania, where doctors have been treating and studying patients evacuated from the embassy in Havana. "U.S. medical professionals will continue to conduct full evaluations to determine the cause of the reported symptoms and whether the findings are consistent with those noted in previously affected government personnel or possibly completely unrelated," Nauert said. Though no names were released, a Foreign Service officer, Mark Lenzi, told The Washington Post he would be evacuated along with his wife and three-year-old son. Lenzi said he began hearing unusual sounds in April 2017, comparing them to rolling marbles with static. He said he started experiencing excruciating, painful headaches a few months later, as did his wife and son. Lenzi also said the employee evacuated last month was his next-door neighbor, a fellow Foreign Service officer who was diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injury. The State Department has said it suspects the stricken diplomats in Cuba were purposely targeted for an attack. In response, it downsized the U.S. diplomatic staff in Havana and prohibited families from joining the diplomats who stayed. The United States also expelled 15 Cuban diplomats in retaliation, accusing Cuba of failing to protect American envoys. But despite an investigation by the FBI that has gone on for more than a year, U.S. officials have been unable to determine the cause of the injuries, much less who the perpetrators might be. An examination of more than 20 affected individuals, conducted by University of Pennsylvania researchers and later published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, concluded that the staff affected in Cuba "appeared to have sustained injury to widespread brain networks without an associated history of head trauma." The study identified a "constellation of acute and persistent signs and systems" - including cognitive dysfunction, headaches and sleep abnormalities - following exposure to "directional and audible sensory phenomena." Other researchers subsequently criticized the methods used in the study, saying that the neuropsychological evidence the article presented was flimsy. Separately, a group of researchers at the University of Michigan suggested that a poorly engineered ultrasonic transmitter, designed to eavesdrop on conversations, could have caused the injuries in Cuba. They said their experiments managed to replicate the metallic chirping sounds U.S. diplomats heard in conjunction with the attacks in Cuba, raising the likelihood that the injuries were the result of ultrasonic signals. - - - Morello reported from Washington. Gladwin County Commission Chair Terry Walters reports that Chappel Dam didnt suffer any lasting damage as a result of a drain commissioners alleged negligence. Walters made the statement while attending the Gladwin City Council meeting along with Michael Rajt, who is overseeing Chappel Dam in the interim. Both reported that all is right with the dam. Drain Commissioner Robert Evans is responsible for a recent electrical outage that cut power to Chappel Dam, which holds back Wiggins Lake, for nearly 24 hours on May 7 and 8 due to five months of unpaid Consumers Energy bills. When council members asked about the status of the drain commissioner, Walters said, Everyone is at the mercy of the governor and (state Attorney General) Bill Schuette with the drain commissioner." As of Wednesday, a request for Evans' removal was still being reviewed by Schuette. Rajt briefed the council on the recent activity at Chappel Dam, where the emergency dialer, which notifies personnel to problems, was not working. Rajt said the dialer was unplugged and the bill for the line had not been paid in a while. Walters said it is unknown how long it has been since the emergency phone line worked. Rajt also said that two motors that automatically open and close the dam water gates did not work. He said a sensor went bad at the dam, but it has since been replaced, allowing the dam to be automated once again. He said the program allows officials to see what the gates are doing every 13 seconds. He further said the eight-year-old generator has not been running on automatic in years, if at all. But Walters and Rajt said the Chappel Dam issue is now under control. There wont be anyone around shutting machines off, Rajt said. Another sore spot was that in the winter, the water level needs to be reduced by a foot. (Evans) wasnt reducing a foot in the winter, Rajt said, noting that this could damage sea walls and cause big problems. County officials said they have learned that if someone called Evans about the water level, he would respond to it. Gladwin Mayor Dee Jungman thanked Walters and Rajt for taking care of the issues. Things are back on track at the dam, Walters said. However, the incident led Walters to question other water entities. Thus, Walters said he is making sure the Pratt Lake weir and the Lake Lancer dam in Sugar Springs are operating up to par. There may be some trouble with the dam in Sugar Springs, and he is meeting this week with officials to discuss it. Commissioners also are working on taking control of both the weir and dam to avoid future problems. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and Schuette filed a civil action in April to obtain injunctive relief requiring Evans to protect surface water and prevent soil erosion and sedimentation. DEQ officials said Evans repeatedly violated parts 31 and 91 of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act. Schuette also cited 81 allegations against the drain commissioner. The DEQ is asking the court to determine the appropriate penalty for violations of Parts 31 and 91 of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act. The case is set before Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Rosemarie Aquilina; however, no court date has been set. Outdoor church service at Otterville Baptist Church OTTERVILLE An outdoor church service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Sunday at Otterville Baptist Church during the Hamilton Primary School Festival, which will be underway during the weekend. Rev. Sonny Renken will officiate. The festival is sponsored by the Otter Creek Historical Society to benefit the former school, which was the first free and integrated school in the nation, and is on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington, D.C. Rummage Sales GODFREY Faith Lutheran Church, 6809 Godfrey Road, is having a rummage sale in the Activity Center on Friday and Saturday. Early Bird sale on Friday will be held from 4 to 5 p.m. with $5 admission fee. Regular sale will continue until 8 p.m. Saturday sale will begin at 7 a.m. until 1 p.m. All proceeds will go to the preschool. JERSEYVILLE St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, 412 S. State St., is holding a rummage sale Friday, with doors to open at 8 a.m. The sale, located in the school gym, includes books, jewelry, clothes, kitchen items, decorations and man cave treasures. It closes at 2 p.m. Vacation Bible School WOOD RIVER The First Christian Church, 160 East Lorena, invites area children to attend its annual Vacation Bible School, Monday through Friday, June 18-22, from 6-8 p.m. Children in kindergarten through fifth grade are welcome. Bible stories, crafts, games, music and snacks will be featured. The theme of the week is Shipwrecked, for those who feel lost, alone, afraid, or sad, Jesus is a friend. To sign up or obtain more information, call the church, 618-254-3221. Michelle Decker is program director. Lunch To Go BENLD Holy Dormition Orthodox Parish, 300 N. 4th St., will hold Lunch to Go from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 16. Cabbage rolls, cabbage noodle and beef Stroganoff served with two sides will be featured, as well as nut and poppy seed rolls. Dinners cost $9. Frozen ready to cook meals include meat stuffed crepes (blinchiki), pierogies (vareniki) and pelmeni. To pre-order, call 217-313-6522, or 217-720-5099. Meals will not be available during the months of July, August and September. They will resume Oct. 20. Congress has passed a bill to preserve the history of Route 66. The Route 66 National Historic Trail Designation Act, introduced by U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis and U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood, passed the House unanimously. Davis and LaHood have also introduced House Resolution 66, which would establish a commission to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Route 66. The historic highway goes from Chicago to Los Angeles, crossing much of the Midwest, Great Plains and Southwest. I am proud to have Americas most iconic road run through the middle of my district and its important we celebrate its history, Davis said. No matter where you live in the country, we can all relate to the freedom and independence Route 66 represents. LaHood said he hopes the designation will allow visitors to explore the history of the route while helping business and tourism along the highway. Towns across the nation and throughout my district have seen the Mother Road bring tourism, employment, a higher quality of life and civic pride to their communities, LaHood said. WASHINGTON - The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved the nomination of Ryan Bounds to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, likely setting up the confirmation of the first federal judge to ascend to the bench over the objections of both home-state senators in over a century. The famously liberal 9th Circuit covers nine Western states from Hawaii to Arizona and is based in California. Bounds, now an assistant U.S. attorney in Oregon, was nominated for the seat that has traditionally gone to an Oregonian. While he was born in and spent much of his career in the state, he failed to secure the support of either Oregon senator - both of whom are Democrats. Bounds is only the latest controversial judicial nominee whom Republican leaders have pushed through the confirmation process on party-line votes over the objections of Democrats. In Bounds's case, Democrats point to his track record of legal advocacy for conservative causes and clients and several opinions he published in college that disparaged minorities and sexual assault victims - articles Bounds has since tried to disavow. But Democrats say they find Bounds's nomination particularly offensive because they believe it will set a precedent that lawmakers are powerless to influence the selection of federal judges in areas they represent. "If we do away with blue slips, and that appears to be where we're going, then what will stop the administration from appointing a resident of New York to Iowa's 8th Circuit seat?" Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the panel's ranking minority-party member, asked before Thursday's vote - addressing the comment to Republican Chairman Charles E. Grassley, who is from Iowa. "When you disable the only mechanism that assigns the circuit court seats to a state and provides some means of enforcement, it's just incredibly easy for this president or another president to say . . . let's just put my college roommate from wherever into whatever seat," said panel member Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I. "There's no principled way to defend against that if you have thrown the blue slip under the bus." The "blue slip" to which Feinstein and Whitehouse referred is a physical piece of blue paper, given to senators from the home state that would be represented by a federal district judge or circuit court nominee. Since 1917 it has been a custom, though not a rule, that the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman waits to schedule a nominee for a confirmation hearing until those blue slips are returned favorably. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has put a premium on moving Trump's judicial picks through the Senate, capitalizing on a 2013 rule change that allows all nominees but those to the Supreme Court to be confirmed with a simple majority vote. Grassley has also stated, and repeated Thursday, that he "will not let home state senators have ideological reasons for not returning the blue slip." Bounds is not the first nominee who has moved through the confirmation process despite Democrats' refusal to return a blue slip - earlier this year, the Senate confirmed David Stras to the 8th Circuit despite former senator Al Franken, D-Minn., never having consented to the nomination. But in that case, the other home state senator - Sen. Ron Johnson, R - had consented. Bounds's case serves as a potential harbinger for what could happen with the 9th Circuit, where seven of the 29 seats on the bench are currently vacant and another will be by the end of the summer. Ten of the 18 senators representing the states under the circuit's jurisdiction are Democrats, and six of the eight current and expected vacancies traditionally belong to states represented by Democrats alone. So far, Trump has nominated only two people to fill those vacancies: Bounds, and Mark J. Bennett, who previously served as attorney general of Hawaii. But should Republicans use Bounds's confirmation as precedent, it could create a situation in which Democrats have no ability to slow an ideological overhaul of the 9th Circuit bench. "I urge my colleagues to think of the consequences," Feinstein said. "Not just for the administration but for the future of our judiciary if we continue down this road." Here's what we learned from Tuesday's big primary night: Democrats aren't sick of voting yet. Neither are Republicans. One of the cycle's major trends continued this week: As in most of the country, Republicans improved slightly on their last midterm turnout - and Democrats improved a whole lot more. In Montana, where Democrats are competing for a House seat that Republican Rep. Greg Gianforte won narrowly last year, 110,883 voters turned out for the primary that nominated former legislator Kathleen Williams. It was easily the highest midterm turnout for a Democratic primary in this century. In New Jersey, where Republicans were cheered by a relatively weak primary victory for Sen. Bob Menendez, D, the president's party saw turnout grow from 145,307 votes in a sleepy 2014 race to 222,395 in 2018. But Democratic turnout more than doubled, to 417,858. The turnout jump probably had less to do with Menendez than with House races where Democrats are competing seriously for the first time. Democrats cast 28,253 votes in the 2nd District, for a seat vacated by Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R; 39,042 votes in the 7th District, where Rep. Leonard Lance, R, is seeking reelection; and 45,456 votes in the 11th District, which is being vacated by Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R. Those weren't the only races where Democrats outvoted Republicans. In New Mexico's 2nd District, which has been represented by Rep. Steve Pearce, R, since 2010, Democrats cast 34,693 votes while Republicans cast 32,268. In Iowa, where Republicans avoided primaries for their key races, 176,292 Democrats cast ballots in their race for governor - the highest vote total in the recent history of midterm Democratic primaries. And in California's 49th District, where Rep. Darrell Issa, R, is retiring, Democrats outvoted Republicans in what had always been safely red turf. About that: --California's blue wave is rolling - very, very slowly. Every two years, armchair analysts make the same mistake about California: They look at the election-night count and assume all the votes are in. Not so. In 2014's primary, more than 1.1 million ballots were counted after Election Day. That's why there are no Associated Press calls in three House districts and probably won't be for days. But that hasn't stopped anyone from pronouncing a Democratic washout in California. In two separate memos to reporters, the Republican National Committee declared "waning enthusiasm" for Democrats after "Republican candidates outvoted Democrats in six of the seven House districts in that state that are considered critical in the battle for the House majority." The thing about that spin is that it's technically true. In 2016, Hillary Clinton carried seven California districts that had been drawn with Republican incumbents in mind. This week, Democrats outvoted Republicans in only one of those, the 49th. A closer look at the numbers, however, shows a latent Democratic vote - one that usually sits out primaries - turning out in a big way. As Steve Singiser first pointed out for the left-leaning Daily Kos, Republicans increased their usual margin in only one district, the 21st. In the other six districts, the GOP's average vote share fell by anywhere from 2.5 to 6.9 points relative to 2016. Take note: They fell relative to 2016, a year when Democratic turnout was goosed by a competitive presidential primary between Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Republicans this cycle expected turnout closer to 2014 - a midterm where the party won statewide but lagged in conservative areas. "There wasn't a big get-out-the-vote effort in 2016," said Scott Baugh, who ran against Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R, in the 48th District. "That certainly won't be the dynamic in 2018." But Tuesday had a distinctly 2016 feel to it. In Orange County, where most of the counting dramas took place, election officials expected turnout to be 50 percent higher than in 2014. And in each competitive race in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties, Democrats increased their turnout. Here's how it looked in the five Southern California swing seats, before as many as a million late ballots are counted. (The numbers don't always add up to 100 because in some races, third parties collected the rest of the vote.) CA25 2014: GOP 64.7%, Dem 32.2% 2018: GOP 52.8%, Dem 47.2% CA39 2014: GOP 70.6%, Dem 29.4% 2018: GOP 54.1%, Dem 44.2% CA45 2014: GOP 68.9%, Dem 28.6% 2018: GOP 53.2%, Dem 44.4% CA48 2014: GOP 68.0%, Dem 32.0% 2018: GOP 53.0%, Dem 46.1% CA49 2014: GOP 61.9%, Dem 38.1% 2018: GOP 48.3%, Dem 50.4% --- It's true to say that Republicans outvoted Democrats across these districts. It's also true that Democrats who, until 2016, had not been competitive in any of these races, are now competitive in all of them. --Trumpism triumphant, even where voters don't want it. As they searched for something to celebrate, California Republicans looked to John Cox - a businessman and frequent candidate who rode a presidential endorsement into a gubernatorial runoff with Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom. The party of Ronald Reagan and (say this part more quietly) Richard Nixon had avoided the humiliation of a statewide lockout. But Cox's success represented a sharp right turn for Republicans. Starting in 2003, when Republicans forced the recall that installed Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor, the party ran four statewide elections with nominees who explicitly rejected their party's hard right. Schwarzenegger played that role twice. In 2010, the job went to Meg Whitman, who would go on to become a "Never Trump" donor and activist. In 2014, the party boosted Neel Kashkari, now a center-right Federal Reserve president, out of fear that right-wing Assemblyman Tim Donnelly would lose by a landslide and alienate non-white voters. This year, there was no debate about how to brand the party. Cox ran as a standard conservative Republican - he doubted whether humans caused climate change, opposed legal abortion, supported a wall on the Mexican border and talked mostly about cutting taxes. Despite voting Libertarian for president in 2016, he said that he'd come around to Trump based on his performance in office. Rather than moderating to reach swing voters, Cox, like the rest of this year's Republican ticket, seemed to bet everything on a voter revolt against the state's new gas tax. The gas tax isn't popular - it helped Republicans recall a state senator Tuesday - and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Wednesday that it could power the party through November. But there's a lot more recent history for voters splitting their ballots between referendums and the candidates who back them than there is for Californians backing a pro-life, anti-immigration reform candidate for governor. --The DCCC's long national nightmare is over. The Democrats' House campaign arm, which had become a punching bag for conservatives and liberal insurgents alike, had one job Tuesday: avoid a lockout in California. It pulled that off, with four strategic decisions. First: It encouraged TJ Cox, who lived in the 10th District, to run instead in the 21st, a play that probably prevented a lockout in what had been a crowded primary. Second: It endorsed Gil Cisneros in the 39th District and spent money to bring down the numbers of every Republican except Young Kim, who had surged to first place. Third: It endorsed Harley Rouda in the 48th District and spent $1 million to attack Scott Baugh, a GOP leader in the district who finally conceded the race Wednesday afternoon. Fourth: It attacked every Republican in the 49th District except Diane Harkey. This has all been widely reported. What surprised Democrats was how little Republicans intervened to screw it up. Democrats expected higher-than-usual turnout but feared, correctly, that voters excited by the midterms had little idea whom to vote for. Indeed, thousands of voters in the 49th District backed candidates who had already quit the race, while nearly 3,500 voters in the 39th District supported Herbert Lee, a candidate who made few public appearances and spent $750,000 of his own money on ubiquitous lawn signs. They were also confident that at least one Republican would make the runoff in each race; as soon as the local Republican parties endorsed Kim and Harkey, they expected them to secure first place. What worried Democrats, and what never materialized, was an effective campaign to befuddle and suppress their turnout. But GOP groups put money toward getting out their own voters, not targeting Democrats. The closest they ever got to that were tweets from Republicans in the 48th District advertising Rouda's history of donations to the GOP - something that had always been part of his resume, even at Democratic Party forums. --Looking forward: Voters go to the polls next Tuesday in primaries in Maine, Nevada, North Dakota, South Carolina and Virginia. Beginning in 2035, the number of young people reaching working age in Africa will exceed that of the rest of the world combined, and will continue every year for the rest of the century. By 2050, one in every four humans will be African. At the end of the century, nearly 40 percent of the world's population will be African. Yet, instead of preparing to build a relationship that can grow with the continent, based upon diplomatic cooperation, the United States is doubling down on more than a decade of reliance on its military as the primary vehicle of engaging with Africa. The consequences, as one might expect, are overwhelmingly negative. The impending demographic dividend will only add to Africa's economic importance. Since 2000, at least half of the countries in the world with the highest annual growth rate have been in Africa. By 2030, 43 percent of all Africans are projected to join the ranks of the global middle and upper classes. By that same year, household consumption in Africa is expected to reach $2.5 trillion, more than double the $1.1 trillion of 2015, and combined consumer and business spending will total $6.7 trillion. Africa's rapid change also presents challenges that will not be contained within the continent. Indeed, the persistently high absolute number of people in poverty, the underdevelopment of infrastructure, ongoing conflicts, and continuing problems with democratic governance are already combining to make Africa the world's largest source of emigrants. Many other countries have taken note of both the potential and the challenges in Africa's anticipated transformation, and have mostly decided to increase their engagement. Plenty has been written about China's growing presence, and the European Union has also been deepening its links to the continent. But there is also a growing list of other countries pursuing stronger ties - including India, Brazil, Turkey, Japan, and the Gulf states. In contrast, the United States' relationship with the continent has, since 9/11, been increasingly defined by the militarization of U.S. foreign policy. In 2003, the George W. Bush administration established the first permanent U.S. base on the continent in Djibouti. In 2007, the U.S. Africa Command was created. The Barack Obama administration solidified this policy approach by increasing military spending and deploying more troops. President Donald Trump is following the lead of his predecessors; over the past year, the number of U.S. forces in Africa has increased by nearly 1,500, bringing the total to around 7,500, not including Special Operations forces. The United States now has 34 status of forces agreements (or similar treaties) with African countries - 14 of which were signed or upgraded in the last decade. U.S. Special Operations forces are also often deployed in countries without such agreements. In 2017 alone, U.S. troops were deployed to 50 out of Africa's 54 countries, many on clandestine missions. This growing military presence is displacing diplomacy. Military advisers outnumber diplomats in embassies across the continent. Career diplomats who focus on Africa are often ignored in favor of military commanders. And at least one senior State Department official has estimated that there are seven military employees for every civilian diplomat working on U.S. policy toward Africa. It should come as no surprise then that the aggressive U.S. military presence has done little to strengthen U.S.-Africa ties. Protests against bases and troop deployments have taken place in Ghana, Niger, Cameroon, Liberia and several other countries. U.S. Africa Command is actually headquartered in Germany, largely because no African country wants to host it. The unease with American militarism is likely only to grow - particularly as countries become less dependent on U.S. aid, and as certain U.S. military missions potentially provoke an increase in violent extremism. It should be equally obvious that the military can't be the foundation of U.S. relations with a rising Africa. The Pentagon may be able to provide weapons, training and vehicles to African militaries, but it can't offer trade deals, infrastructure projects or advice on agriculture. The U.S. military may attempt, with varying levels of success, to professionalize African militaries, but it can't work with civilian governments, political parties or social movements to promote democracy and human rights. Indeed, Washington's obsessive counterterrorism focus in Africa has little positive to show for its efforts, and actually risks increasing human-rights violations by African governments adept at using force against their civilian opponents. Simply put, the U.S. military is attempting to prepare African countries to fight an enemy they actually may not have (or at least not to the extent that Washington imagines), while the U.S. government is failing to help those same countries deal with the real killers - namely, poverty and corruption. - - - Booker is the executive director of the Center for International Policy. Rickman is a research fellow at the Center. WASHINGTON - U.S. officials intend to return and release an American citizen accused of supporting the Islamic State back into Syria against his will, after holding him for nine months in U.S. military custody without charges. The plan was revealed Wednesday night in a brief federal court notice in Washington in a case that has tested whether U.S. citizens captured on a battlefield as suspected "enemy combatants" have the right to challenge their detentions. The planned release would take place in 72 hours and would be done over the objections of the man, who has not been named publicly, the government said. A longer sealed court filing also was entered in court. The American Civil Liberties Union, which has been representing the man, said it will ask a court to block the release, the terms of which it condemned as "disgraceful" and a de facto "death warrant." The U.S. military in Iraq has held the unidentified man as a suspected Islamic State fighter since he was turned over to American forces in September after he was captured at a rebel Syrian Democratic Forces checkpoint in Syria and declared his U.S. citizenship. The man grew up in Saudi Arabia and also had Saudi citizenship, court filings show. The unusual case has raised significant questions about how the courts balance national security interests with the constitutional rights of U.S. citizens caught in conflict zones. ACLU attorneys for months fought - and won - the right to represent the man, arguing that because he is a citizen, the government should charge him with a crime that would be pursued in a U.S. courtroom or release him. The man was questioned for U.S. intelligence purposes, but American officials have said they lack admissible evidence to charge him with a crime. ACLU attorney Jonathan Hafetz said that although the government has effectively conceded that it has no reason to continue holding the man and that he does not pose a threat, "They want to dump an American citizen onto the side of the road in a war-torn country without any assurances of protection and no identification." The Trump administration has said the law provides the U.S. military with broad discretion to conduct battlefield operations, including the transfer of people captured overseas. A spokesman for the Defense Department declined to comment, citing the pending litigation. In court filings, Kathryn Wyer, a senior trial counsel for the Justice Department, called the Pentagon's release plan "consistent with the traditional military practice employed in the United States Central Command area of responsibility and with the Department's obligations under the law of war." Wyer said that although details remained sealed, the government told the ACLU that it gave the man a choice of release to a town or outside a refugee camp but that the man "would not agree" to its terms. In April, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan barred the government from ending the man's U.S. custody by transferring him, also against his will, to the custody of a third country that had agreed to accept him and formally confirmed he would not face torture. References in the filing suggested the country was Saudi Arabia, although the country was not disclosed publicly. Chutkan said it was "disingenuous" to call that a release, triggering a government appeal in May to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, where a three-judge panel agreed the government cannot "forcibly - and irrevocably - transfer" the man and agreed any move would require 72 hours notice. The ACLU has said the case has could create a constitutional "black hole" if it gave the government carte blanche to hold any U.S. citizen traveling overseas, such as journalists or tourists. ACLU attorneys have told the court that the man said he was not a combatant and was a freelance journalist at the time of his capture. Chutkan was due to take up the ACLU's underlying constitutional challenge to the man's detention in the next two weeks. Wednesday's notice by Justice Department attorneys seemed intended to head off further litigation on that front while probably provoking a fresh round of appeals over when the government can forcibly release a citizen. University of Texas law professor Stephen Vladeck said that while there is a plain legal distinction between transfer and release, courts have found that detainees have a right not to be released to a mob. "I think the question for the district court is going to be whether the release the government has contemplated really will put Doe in significant jeopardy," as the ACLU claims, Vladeck said. He said the filing on the Syria release plan also suggests that whatever third country that had said it would accept the man had changed its position, or that the government was seeking to drop the case to avoid having to litigate thorny legal questions of the scope of its battlefield authority to hold citizens. In a statement, the ACLU's Hafetz noted the State Department has issued "do not travel" warnings for Syria, advising U.S. citizens who ignore them to leave DNA samples and draft a will. "Our fight for our client's right to due process has also become a fight for his right to life," Hafetz said. "We'll be asking the court to immediately intervene and ensure the safe release of our client." President Donald Trump's new envoy to Germany expressed regret over the reaction to his pledge to "empower" European conservative groups, smoothing over the comments in a meeting with the country's Foreign Ministry. Ambassador Richard Grenell, a Trump loyalist and former Fox News contributor, told officials he didn't want to be associated with extreme right-wing forces in Germany, the ministry said, citing comments he made Wednesday at his first official introduction to Deputy Foreign Minister Andreas Michaelis and other officials. A month into his new post, Grenell triggered a political storm in Germany this week after telling Breitbart News that he wanted to embrace a "resurgence" of conservatism across Europe in response to "failed policies of the left." Some politicians, including the governing Social Democrats, called for his expulsion for interfering in local politics. Michaelis told Grenell that the reaction showed how highly Germans value the relationship with the U.S., the ministry said, adding that Grenell, 51, expressed the desire to create the conditions for close cooperation. The U.S. embassy said on Twitter that there had been a "good discussion" but declined further comment. It was the second time political Berlin has bristled at Grenell's Trump-style diplomacy. On May 9, hours after he started his ambassadorship and coinciding with Trump's decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear accord, Grenell said on Twitter that German companies should immediately wind down operations in Iran. Grenell said in the Breitbart interview that Trump's victory in the 2016 U.S. election was an inspiration to the European right against what he called "group-think of a very small elitist crowd" in politics. In a follow-up Twitter post, he pushed back against criticism, saying the notion that he sought to endorse candidates or parties was "ridiculous." A spokeswoman for the State Department, Heather Nauert, said on Tuesday that ambassadors are free to express their opinions. Grenell has made his mark in U.S. Republican politics, serving during the administration of former President George W. Bush as spokesman for U.S. ambassadors to the United Nations, including John Bolton, who is now Trump's national security adviser. Blaine Luetkemeyer, a Republican member of the House Financial Services Committee, recently issued a warning to a group of Wall Street lawyers and lobbyists in Washington. "We do not want a Maxine Waters chairmanship," the Missouri lawmaker told the group gathered for a luncheon hosted by the Exchequer Club. "That's the death knell to many of you." That may be a stretch, and Luetkemeyer himself has said he's angling for the top job on the committee if Republicans keep control of the House. But if they don't, there's no denying the committee's focus would change under the leadership of Waters, who was named one of Time magazine's most influential people last year. The 13-term California Democrat, who's currently the committee's ranking member, supports stiffer rules on big banks and will likely try to use her subpoena power to dig up dirt on firms she's long chastised, like Wells Fargo and Deutsche Bank. She'd also be a thorn in the side of President Donald Trump, who she's repeatedly said should be removed from office. "It would be a 24-7 impeachment hearing," said Bill Huizenga, a Michigan Republican on the committee who's also put himself in the running for the chairmanship. "Being in the minority sucks." As primary season heats up, Republicans fearful of a so-called blue wave are using Waters to raise money from financial institutions that would feel her wrath should her party wrest control of the chamber. Banks' anxiety over Waters runs deep, and Wall Street allies have been giving money to Democrats who might soften her impact. The American Bankers Association, for example, recently launched an ad campaign for Montana Sen. Jon Tester, a moderate Democrat, rewarding a lawmaker who supported the overhaul of Dodd-Frank financial regulation. At the same time, progressives such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren are licking their chops about the prospect of Waters in charge. Democrats on the committee could expose ways they believe Trump appointees are dismantling financial rules and putting consumers at risk. "I am focused on making sure that our financial system is fair," Waters said in an email. Among her priorities are affordable housing, "making sure that the safeguards are in place to prevent another financial crisis, protecting consumers and investors from bad actors and conducting appropriate oversight of the administration." When asked about the future leadership of the committee, retiring Chairman Jeb Hensarling, a Texas Republican, wouldn't even speak Waters' name. "I know who it should not be," Hensarling said. "It should not be that nice lady who sits next to me on the committee whose name starts with a 'W."' That hasn't stopped Waters from receiving campaign cash from the finance industry. But it's a trickle compared with a deluge for her Republican colleagues. In 2015-2016, Waters received $33,500 from the securities and investment industry, according to opensecrets.org. In this cycle, as of the end of March, the industry has already given Waters $40,492, with the general election still five months away, opensecrets.org said. By comparison, Luetkemeyer has received $188,050 and Huizenga $191,638 from sources in the same industries as of March 31, according to opensecrets.org. Compass Point Research & Trading gives Democrats a 70 percent chance of taking control of the House of Representatives, but it's far from a done deal. Democrats hold 193 seats to the Republicans' 235 (there are seven vacancies). So the Democrats will have to flip at least 23 districts to become the majority party. A CBS News poll released Sunday showed the contest for control of the House neck-and-neck, with Democrats having a slight edge. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report lists 29 Republican seats and three Democratic as "toss-ups." Waters, 79, has generated a cult following for standing up to the finance industry and its GOP allies. A video went viral last year after she continued to interrupt Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin during one of his appearances before Congress. Over and over again, Waters said she was "reclaiming my time," so Republicans couldn't move on from her questioning. Waters said she believes in hearing a range of views on issues before the committee. "I have always maintained an open-door policy, to hear the priorities and concerns of all stakeholders, including representatives of the financial-services industry," Waters said in the email. According to people familiar with Waters's thinking, she'd push legislation she introduced last year that would allow regulators to break up banks with a history of consumer abuse. Her favorite target is Wells Fargo, whose employees created 3.5 million fake accounts without clients' knowledge. Even if Waters takes over the committee, achieving her legislative goals will be difficult. Most bills need 60 votes to pass the Senate, and Democrats aren't expected to control anywhere near that many seats. Still, she could prove to be a headache for the industry. "If you're a big bank, you're in for a rough ride," said Cam Fine, a lobbyist who retired last month as president of the Independent Community Bankers Association. "Good luck to the JPMorgans and Wells Fargos of the world." Deutsche Bank would be another focus. Over the past year, she's pushed for an investigation into the German bank's ties to Trump, who borrowed more than $300 million in real estate loans years before running for office. Waters would be the first African American to run the financial services committee, and also the first woman. Waters herself has faced a pay-to-play scandal. In 2012, the House Ethics Committee investigated whether she violated rules when she set up a meeting during the financial crisis with the Treasury Department and executives from a bank her husband owned shares in. The committee ruled that she hadn't violated any ethics rules. Waters shares the wealth. In 2016, she brought in more money for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee than any other ranking committee member, according to Issue One, which tracks campaign finance. So far, she's raised $764,086 for this year's election, outpacing her fundraising totals in the last election, according to opensecrets.org. Selecting committee chairs is a tricky process that won't happen until after the Nov. 6 elections. A lot can change in the meantime. While Waters is the top Democratic candidate, she might consider a leadership position. In that case, other senior Democrats on the committee, such as Carolyn Maloney and Nydia Velazquez, both of New York, might be in line. For now, Waters has to be considered the frontrunner. "She'll hold great power accountable," says Marcy Kaptur, an Ohio Democrat and the longest-serving woman in Congress. "Maxine will be a strong voice for prudent banking and protect people from risky schemes and abuse." SEATTLE - A man is in the hospital with critical injuries after an overnight stabbing in downtown Seattle. Officers and medics responded to the scene, at First Avenue and Cherry Street, at around 3 a.m. after receiving reports of a victim being attacked. Communication scholars have documented that language does indeed matter. They also understand that rhetorical analyses often provide important insights into the current political landscape that may not be possible via more traditional historical, political, scientific or journalistic accounts. Case in point: President Donald Trumps ongoing and accelerated response to the Russia investigation and attack on the investigators, as well as his apparent choice to make the case less about potential legal indictments by taking his claims directly to the court of public opinion where the only issue may be impeachment. Since being elected president of the United States, perhaps well before, Donald Trump has a track record of unethical behavior, racist discourse and disregard for the truth. Many Americans and much of the mainstream media remain perplexed that Trump gets away with this, wondering why the Republican-controlled Congress refuses to rebuke him. For those of us who study communication, the answer is obvious and more rhetorical than ideological. Aristotle in his treatise Rhetoric wrote about the available means of persuasion. Say what you will about Trumps incompetence as well as his despicable words and deeds. These may not matter when we have a chief executive, perhaps more than any other in history, who understands that survival and success may not depend on facts but often are linked to controlling what language infiltrates the public sphere. Several years ago I published research introducing the concept of language-in-use. Using President Lyndon Johnsons Gulf of Tonkin speeches which were intended to create a crisis, I argued that ascertaining the rhetorical effect of presidential discourse by analyzing public opinion poll data and votes may not always be the only or best metric. Instead, I suggested we also need to know whether and how a presidents language is disseminated and utilized by others, including the media. After all, the use and internalization of even a few of a presidents carefully chosen code words and phrases may reflect the internalization and acceptance of his larger narratives and arguments. Just like Aristotles theory of argument, language-in-use enables analysts to observe how audiences fill in unspoken and missing premises, thus bolstering and amplifying a presidents message. Not only is Trump astute about the power of language-in-use (what he calls branding), but he has mastered the art of utilizing that power to circumvents facts. His employment of phrases like witch hunt and spygatealong with their dissemination by Trump surrogates seem to have had an impact, being internalized and repeated by others, thus eroding confidence in the eventual outcome of the Russia investigation. Until Trumps critics understand this rhetorical source of his influence, they may not be capable of discerning the best available means of persuasion, hence enabling the president to escape accountability. Its time for the public and media to avoid getting ensnared in the daily Trump soap opera. In fact, the public and the media must avoid the irresistible tendency to repeat the presidents language in an endless news loop; given the research by communication scholars (including George Lakoffs on metaphor and framing as well as my own addressing language-in-use), all that does is further reinforce his narrative which of course is counterproductive. The more pertinent news is exposing the underlying rhetorical strategy behind the deluge of Trumps statements and tweets. Rather than focusing primarily on what Trump says, with the repeated claim that he is lying (which is true), the media and others should spend more time discussing why he may be saying what he does, namely, to take our eyes off the end goal of preserving his presidency by circumventing truth and undermining our democratic values and institutions. Thats the real story, one that increasingly must be told to the media and public by scholars and less politically vested observers. Richard Cherwitz is the Ernest S. Sharpe Centennial Professor in the Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin. A plaque dedicated to Member of Parliament (MP) and Longford Leader founder JP Farrell was unveiled by former Taoiseach John Bruton at the Market Square in Longford town last Thursday evening. Farrell was an Irish nationalist politician and MP in the British House of Commons from 1895 to 1918 and a fervent supporter of land reform. Indeed, speaking at a reception in St Mels College following the unveiling, Mr Bruton alluded to the former MPs fight for the rights of the people he represented in the Longford/West Cavan Constituency. It is too easy to forget what was achieved by JP Farrell, Mr Bruton told the large crowd that gathered to join in proceedings. ALSO SEE: Pictures: Unveiling of memorial plaque to former MP and founder of The Longford Leader JP Farrell But is is worth recalling what JP Farrell, John Redmond, John Dillon and all of those people who laboured long and hard did serving and advancing the interests of Ireland. Mr Bruton went on to say that the most important achievement of JP Farrells life took place on September 12, 1914 when Home Rule became law. This was very important - Home Rule became law over the heads of the House of Lords, over the heads of repeated rejections by the English, Scottish and Welsh people - and Ireland achieved a right to independence, he continued. However, none of that succeeded in avoiding partition because partition is there still. JP Farrell and John Redmond were condemned including by the Bishops in the Longford By-Election in 1917 because they had accepted temporary partition; people that the bishops supported ended up accepting permanent partition which we have to this day. So Home Rule with the consent of the British people without a single shot being fired was undoubtedly the big achievement for JP Farrell and with that came the ending of landlordism. The land of Ireland which previously was held by people who had gained it through military conquest in the 17th century, was handed back to the people who were actually working the land. That too was done peacefully. It may be unlucky for some but last Sunday saw Longford Vintage Club Ltd hold its 13th annual Show and Craft Fair to much acclaim. And just as it has been for the past five years, Connolly Barracks provided the perfect backdrop to what has become one of the county's most popular social and family occasions on the local calendar. It's secretary Miceal Nolan was certainly taken aback by it all as he reflected on proceedings barely 24 hours later. We had a great day and the weather played a big part, he said, adding he was still nursing tired feet on Monday evening. Mr Nolan said the show was every bit as good as last year's with the barracks taking in crowds of up to 2,000 at its peak. Laying claim to the scores of exhibitors who showed off their vintage items and other prized possessions on the day, Mr Nolan said one particular aspect of the day certainly seemed to strike a chord with onlookers. The craft fair was very popular and people were still talking about it when it finished, he said. Now, with the dust having barely settled on its 2018 show, Mr Nolan said attention has already turned to next year. We have already taken bookings for next year and that's the great thing about the show. If people have a good day they will come back, he said. Roll on 2019. See Pages 36 & 37 for more. A man who appeared at Longford Circuit Court charged in connection with child pornography was sentenced to one year in prison which was suspended for a period of five years on the condition that he pay 5,000 to Barnardos over the next two years, during a hearing into the matter this week. Valeri Tarassov (31), 73 Mostrim Oaks, Edgeworthstown, Co Longford appeared before Judge Keenan Johnson where he pleaded guilty to the distribution of child pornography and knowingly having possession of child pornography in 2012. The court heard the defendant grew up in Estonia, attended high school there and then went into security. Sergeant Tom Quinn told the court in his direct evidence that computers from the defendants home were seized in June 2016. Mr Tarassov confirmed that he owned the laptop at the premises and indicated that he had some knowledge of computers, the Sergeant added. He said he had accessed child pron on the internet accidently through EDonkey - a peer to peer file sharing network. The court then heard that the computers were sent to Dublin for analysis in October 2015 and it was confirmed by forensic experts that they contained child porn. Mr Tarassov said that at the time, he was drinking and taking drugs and that everything was a bit of a haze for him, Sergeant Quinn continued. He was taking prescribed medication also. The court also heard that the defendant was very regretful over what had happened. He has expressed regret over what happened, the Sergeant confirmed. Garda Michael Fitzgerald from An Garda Siochana Computer Crime Unit then told the court that after analyzing Mr Tarassovs computer, he discovered 51 images, 42 of which were sexually explicit. The Garda pointed out to the court that there were also a couple of hundred more images on the computer that included the exposure of the genitals of young children. He also told the court there was one child porn movie on the device and that all images depicted children under the age of 15 years. Garda Fitzgerald also confirmed to the court that the defendant used EDonkey/EMule to access the images and video, and he pointed out to Judge Johnson that with regards to that particular application, once an image was downloaded it was automatically shared with other users. In mitigation, Mr Byrne SC for the defendant said his client was an educated man who up to this point had no prior convictions. He admits that he was in a sad place from January to June of 2012 and he did cooperate with the Gardai, Counsel added. All of this dragged on for over five years and this impacted negatively on my client as he waited for the knock on the door. The court was told that the knock on the door finally came in 2017 when gardai arrested the defendant in respect of the matters before Judge Johnson. Mr Byrne SC then told the court that it had the benefit of a probation report in respect of his client. That report is positive, continued Counsel before pointing out that Mr Tarassov was not regarded as an ongoing threat. The offending, while undoubtedly grave, was something that happened when my client was in a bad place, added Mr Byrne SC. Meanwhile, Judge Johnson said during his judgement that the court was impressed by the defendants cooperation with the gardai during the investigation. The Judge also said that while the matter before him appeared to be offensive and distasteful, in terms of scale, it was along the middle range. At the time the defendant was drinking, taking drugs and doesnt appear to have been in his right mind, continued Judge Johnson. It also appears that the distribution in this case wa a passive action as it was automatically shared when the material was downloaded. The accused is remorseful and ashamed by what he did. The court was also told that he defendant had bettered himself over the past few years and had completed a degree course at NUIG. He now works in conflict resolution, the court was told. Judge Johnson, meanwhile, added, He has dealt with his drug and alcohol issues and I am satisfied to hand down a one year prison sentence and suspend it for five years on the condition that Mr Tarassov enter a bond to keep the peace and pay 5,000 to Barnardos Childrens Charity over the next two years. Before concluding matters, the Judge said that by ordering the defendant to pay over the money to the Charity, the court felt the move would serve as some form of restorative justice to children. See next week's Longford Leader for more on this story. Local News, Crime By Chris Boyle Published: June 06 2018 Officials say 2-year-old Jovani Ligurgo was taken out of state by his father, John Ligurgo III, 43; both were later allegedly found dead of gunshot wounds. The bodies of Long Island residents (L to R) Jovani Ligurgo, 2, and John Ligurgo III, 43, have allegedly been discovered in Virginia by police. Long Island, NY June 6, 2018 A extensive, multi-state manhunt launched Tuesday, June 5 after a Coram father had allegedly left the state with his 2 year-old son and a hunting rifle tragically ended Wednesday after two dead bodies matching their descriptions were discovered in Virginia, authorities say. Police announced that they have discovered two deceased individuals in Rockbridge County matching the descriptions of John Ligurgo III, 43, and his son Jovani, 2, in a vehicle matching the description and license plate number GAV4699 of Ligurgo's Jeep Grand Cherokee. While officials are still waiting on an official confirmation of the identities of the bodies, it has been confirmed that both had gunshot wounds which are believed to be the cause of death. In addition, a hunting rifle was recovered from the vehicle, and Suffolk County Police have confirmed that the location in Virginia is considered to be a crime scene. Jovani Ligurgos mother, Maria, dropped him off at his fathers condominium on Bretton Woods Drive in Coram at approximately 7 a.m. on June 5 for a visit, as per a family court visitation order; it is believed that the mother and father were currently involved in a custody dispute, according to reports. When the child, who resides with his mother in Smithtown , was not returned to his mothers custody at the predetermined time between 3:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. the mother notified police, officials say SCPD said that, as officers were responding to the mothers 911 call, a fire was reported at Ligurgos Coram residence at appromixately 3:35 p.m.; police arriving at the scene discovered that a fire had been purposely set, igniting two beds within the residence, which was unoccupied at the time. After interviewing the mother, who had arrived at the scene of the fire later that evening, police launched a search for Ligurgo and his son, informing adjacent jurisdictions of a possible kidnapping incident. It was believed at the time that Ligurgo was in possession of a hunting rifle in his vehicle, police say. Authorities in New Jersey and Pennsylvania were alerted after surveillance cameras identified Ligurgo's Jeep Grand Cherokee as crossing the George Washington Bridge earlier that day, according to officials. Suffolk County Authorities reported the incident to New York State Police and requested they issue an Amber Alert an alert system activated when an abducted child is in danger of serious bodily harm or death a request that was denied, as state officials noted that while Suffolk Police indicated that Ligurgo was allegedly in possession of a rifle, at the time it was not believed that he was a danger to his son. Ligurgo, who had recently lost his job, and had no criminal record nor any previous history of violence, and had already left the state by the time State Police were informed of the situation, officials say. The lack of an Amber Alert has sparked outrage Jovani Ligurgos mother , who insisted that state authorities failed to live up to their duties when it came to protecting her child. After a multi-state manhunt commenced and alerts sent out to law enforcement agencies, Suffolk Police were informed by a Virginia Sheriff's office that two dead bodies were found in a vehicle matching Ligurgo's in a Rockbridge County residential neighborhood. Local News, Crime, Politics By Long Island News & PR Published: June 07 2018 Boyle brings Civil Rights and Womens Advocacy Attorney Lisa Bloom to join the fight. Long Island, NY - June 7, 2018 - On Wednesday, June 6, 2018, NYS Senator Phil Boyle hosted a press conference on two pieces of legislation he is sponsoring (S.642 and S.8663) regarding Revenge Porn. Revenge Porn refers to the dissemination of sexually explicit photos or videos online, without the individual in the photo's consent, often in retaliation after a relationship has ended poorly. S.642, which makes the unlawful dissemination of an intimate image in the first and second degrees a Class E Felony and a Class A Misdemeanor, passed the Senate overwhelmingly on March 19, 2018, as it has for the past five consecutive years. The civil portion of the legislation, S.8663, is currently pending in the Senate. The Assembly Sponsor, Aileen Gunther, has a same-as bill (A.877), which has never moved in that house. Revenge porn can ruin a womans life, family and career, Senator Boyle said. As the social media phenomenon grows, more and more women are being violated and exploited by their ex-boyfriends and husbands. These private images go viral to the world and women have little or no legal recourse, at least not in the State of New York. This is an issue where New Yorks laws must be changed to keep up with technology. I implore the State Assembly to finally pass a revenge porn bill to that protects women from being violated, humiliated, and even endangered, by someone they once trusted. Accompanying Senator Boyle at the June 6th Press Conference, was widely acclaimed, high profile Civil Rights and Women's Advocacy Attorney Lisa Bloom. Ms. Blooms clients include actress Mischa Barton, model Janice Dickinson - a key defendant in the Cosby trial, and Blac Chyna, former girlfriend of Rob Kardashian who has accused him of revenge porn after their breakup. Her latest client is actress and recording artist, Teairra Mari of VH-1s Love & Hip Hop, who alleges being victimized with revenge porn by her ex-boyfriend and his best friend, hip-hop recording artist 50 Cent. Lisa Bloom stated, Its time for New York to stand with the other 38 states and say no to revenge porn, said Lisa Bloom. This is an important womens rights issue. In this Me too era, lets support a womans right to decide what images of their body they choose to share. And, when that right is ignored, lets make sure there are laws in place that will protect them. An additional speaker at todays press conference was Lisa Blooms daughter, Sarah Bloom who is also an attorney specializing in womens advocacy and revenge porn. During Sarahs overview on revenge porn, she shared alarming statistics on its impact. Sarah stated, Revenge Porn is the latest kind of victim blaming effecting women, especially young girls. 60% of people have sent an intimate photo of themselves to their partners, with the intention of those photos be kept private. When those images are used maliciously, it can have a devastating effect on their lives. We hope New York will be the latest state to stop this horrific practice. At the press conference, Lisa Bloom introduced a video prepared by Ms. Mari to lend her support to an anti-revenge porn legislation. Currently there are 38 states with Revenge Porn legislation on the books, leaving New York sorely lacking, and its residents vulnerable to this form of cyberbullying. Lisa Bloom has committed her time and expertise on this issue to help New York become the 39th State to pass legislation to protect those who have been persecuted by this reprehensible act. Local News, Politics By Long Island News & PR Published: June 07 2018 Brooks: "Far too many lives have been lost on the Southern State Parkway as a result of the configuration of ramps and signs on the parkway." Massapequa, NY - June 7, 2018 - On Wednesday evening, the New York State Senate passed legislation co-sponsored by Senator John Brooks, (S.3137A) that requires the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) to conduct a study of the On Wednesday evening, the New York State Senate passed legislation co-sponsored by Senator John Brooks, (S.3137A) that requires the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) to conduct a study of the Southern State Parkway Far too many lives have been lost on the Southern State Parkway as a result of the configuration of ramps and signs on the parkway, said Senator John Brooks. It poses a serious risk to drivers, and a study is needed in order to assess these problems so that we can modernize and upgrade the parkway. All Long Islanders and their families should have the assurance that they are safe when traveling on our roads, and this piece of legislation does just that. As one of Long Islands most heavily traveled roads, a fatality occurs approximately every other month on the Southern State Parkway largely due to antiquated exit and entrance ramps and poor signage. This legislation co-sponsored by Senator Brooks seeks to identify solutions and correct these problems to prevent collisions and the instances of wrong-way drivers on the Southern State Parkway. Jacqueline Tempera | jtempera@masslive.com Neon 'magic' on Boston's Greenway By Jacqueline Tempera | MassLive.com A new art installation on Boston's Greenway asks viewers to consider the "particular magic" of neon. The exhibit features eight vintage neon road signs displayed in front of Massachusetts landmarks from 1925 to 1970, according to Victoria Solan, the architectural historical and consultant on the GLOW Exhibition. Don't Edit Jacqueline Tempera | jtempera@masslive.com Dave Waller has been restoring neon signs for decades. The Malden resident has amassed more than 150. He worked in partnership with the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway to bring GLOW to the park between State and India Streets in Downtown Boston. "Some visitors may remember one or more of these signs as favorite food destination, place of employment, or simply a bright, flashing landmark on a well-travelled route," Solan said in a statement. "If you are new to Massachusetts, or just visiting Boston, these signs are evidence of the small businesses which flourished here. By bringing together signs from different locations in Massachusetts, this exhibition offers a brief tour of a much larger state." Take a look at the signs below Don't Edit Jacqueline Tempera | jtempera@masslive.com Siesta Motel Rt. 1 North - Saugus MA Don't Edit Jacqueline Tempera | jtempera@masslive.com Don't Edit Jacqueline Tempera | jtempera@masslive.com European Restaurant - 218 Hanover Street, Boston Don't Edit Don't Edit Jacqueline Tempera | jtempera@masslive.com Don't Edit Jacqueline Tempera | jtempera@masslive.com Don't Edit Jacqueline Tempera | jtempera@masslive.com Bay State Auto Spring - 83 Hampden Street, Roxbury Don't Edit Jacqueline Tempera | jtempera@masslive.com Don't Edit Jacqueline Tempera | jtempera@masslive.com Bill's Radio and TV - 240 Blue Hill Avenue, Roxbury Don't Edit Don't Edit Jacqueline Tempera | jtempera@masslive.com Don't Edit Jacqueline Tempera | jtempera@masslive.com Fontaine's Restaurant - VFW Parkway, West Roxbury Don't Edit Jacqueline Tempera | jtempera@masslive.com Don't Edit Jacqueline Tempera | jtempera@masslive.com Cycle Center - Route 9, Natick Don't Edit Jacqueline Tempera | jtempera@masslive.com Don't Edit Don't Edit Jacqueline Tempera | jtempera@masslive.com State Line Potato Chips - Route 20, Wilbraham Don't Edit Jacqueline Tempera | jtempera@masslive.com Don't Edit Jacqueline Tempera | jtempera@masslive.com Don't Edit Jacqueline Tempera | jtempera@masslive.com Children's Museum at Holyoke At the Children's Museum at Holyoke, exhibits are designed by education professionals and are hands-on. Parental or adult interaction is strongly encouraged as kids play, discover and learn with you. There are lots of ways to have fun at the museum. Beginning as early as 6 months, babies can enjoy the Tot Lot, which is a quiet carpeted and matted play area. For toddlers and up, little ones gravitate to the Water Table, Ambulance and Fire Station. There is also a World of Motion room which stimulates the curious minds of children and adults. This room is STEM based and encourages learning and play. The museum is open Tuesday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sundays, noon to 4 p.m. and is closed on Mondays. Admission is $8 children and adults, $5 seniors (62+), free for children under 1 and members. The museum is located at 444 Dwight St. Firefighter on the go with Sparky the Fire Dog East Forest Park Library presents "Firefighter on the Go with Sparky the Fire Dog," on Wednesday, June 13 between 3 and 4 p.m. Meet local firefighters and Sparky the Fire Dog. Families will be educated on basic fire safety tips, learn about fire escape plans, and check out some of the special equipment on a real fire truck. This event will be held outside in the parking lot of the library, 122 Island Pond Road with the L3 Springfield Fire Team. Father's Day at Holyoke Merry Go Round The Holyoke Merry Go Round has a fun weekend in store for Father's Day weekend, Saturday, June 16 and Sunday, June 17. On Saturday, June 16, "Card Day:" Make a special Father's Day card for that special Dad from noon to 4 p.m. On Sunday, June 17, Happy Father's Day! Bring your Dad for a ride on his special day and he receives a Free Popcorn. Tickets are $2 a ride or 6 for $10. The merry-go-round is located at 221 Appleton St. Father's Day open cockpit day at New England Air Museum On Sunday, June 17, New England Air Museum celebrates Father's Day with Open Cockpit Day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Treat your father to the Museum's Open Cockpit Day and let him climb aboard cockpits of historic airplanes and helicopters. A variety of aircraft will be open for visitors including the WWII-era Republic P-47D "Thunderbolt," the Vietnam War era Bell UH-1B "Huey" helicopter, as well as supersonic jet fighters including the North American F-100A "Super Sabre" and the Lockheed F-104C "Starfighter." There will also be special activities that include climb aboard experiences in historic aircraft; flight simulators, hands-on Build & Fly Challenges, and much more. The Open Cockpit program runs from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. with the Museum and the Wings 'n Things Gift Shop staying open until 5:00 p.m. Sneakers or rubber-soled shoes are recommended. Food will be available for purchase, on a cash only basis. Admission is adults (ages 15-64) - $15; children (ages 4-14) $10; children age 3 & under are Free; Seniors (ages 65 & up) $14; Veterans receive a 10% discount; Active Duty Military receive a 20% discount. New England Air Museum is located at 36 Perimeter Road in Windsor Locks, Connecticut next to Bradley International Airport. Students involved in the Tantasqua Chestnut Project pollinate American chestnut trees growing on Mt. Ella in Monson as part of an American chestnut tree restoration project. MONSON - One of the unexpected results of the devastating tornado that tore through Monson seven years ago on June 1, 2011 was the revival of the American chestnut tree atop Mt. Ella in Flynt Park. As the twister ripped apart buildings and uprooted trees, it also cleared the densely wooded hillsides of Mt. Ella, exposing long-hidden chestnut tree leaves to the sunlight they needed to sprout. Jesse J. Greene, a seventh grade science teacher at Tantasqua Regional Junior High School who lives near Flynt Park, went for a hike there one late summer day in 2015 and noticed thousands of American chestnut sprouts, an "amazing" sight, as blight decimated chestnut trees in the early 20th century. The trees once dominated eastern forests from Maine to Georgia, but fell to blight caused by imported chestnut trees from Asia. Greene explained that in the early 1900s, it was fashionable to import plants from Asia. The Bronx Zoo imported Chinese chestnut trees, not knowing that hiding in the bark was a fungus that would harm the American chestnut. The American Chestnut Foundation said the U.S. Department of Agriculture considers the tree "functionally extinct." Even though the blight fungus does not kill the tree's root system underground, it attacks the tree as it tries to grow, marking it with the telltale signs of the blight - cankers that split the tree bark and stunt its growth, leading to its eventual demise. As a result, the trees will not grow, and sprouts rarely live long enough to flower. By 1950, the foundation species found across 180 million acres of eastern forests had disappeared, leaving behind only shrubby root sprouts that failed to thrive, the foundation said. "The chestnut blight has been called the greatest ecological disaster to strike the world's forests in all of history," according to the American Chestnut Foundation. Greene said the American Chestnut Foundation calls Mt. Ella "a chestnut hotspot." Flynt Park, founded by local philanthropist William N. Flynt, which in its heyday featured a zoo and other attractions, was filled with chestnut trees, Greene said, noting on old carriage path at the mountain's base was called Chestnut Avenue. On June 7 at Monson Free Library at 6 p.m., Greene will discuss the discovery of the chestnut trees and how his students are working to bring back the trees that once grew as tall as 100 feet and were a common building material and food source. "Chestnut trees back in the day were a huge part of people's lives," Greene said. "People ate the seeds ... There was the Christmas song, 'Chestnuts roasting on an open fire.'" Greene said the Tantasqua Chestnut Project started approximately three years ago after he told his students about the chestnut trees growing on Mt. Ella; they wanted to do something to help the trees survive. As part of their studies, all seventh-graders learn the story of the American chestnut as part of Greene's teachings about ecology. "We asked what could a group of middle school students do? What could we use the Monson site for?" Greene said. That led to a visit from representatives from the American Chestnut Foundation who talked about chestnut restoration efforts elsewhere in the country. A chestnut orchard was created on the front lawn of the school and the first 50 trees were planted last June with another 50 slated to be planted this month. Greene said it is the only chestnut research orchard in the country that was created entirely by middle school students. For the past two years, he said all seventh grade students have helped plant hybrid chestnut trees in the school's research orchard. Students also apply to volunteer for the after-school/summer group Tantasqua Chestnut Project, which manages the 10-acre swath of chestnut trees on Mt. Ella. The club has approximately 15 students. The students travel between the school and Mt. Ella to cross pollinate the trees, blending highly blight resistant American Chestnut Foundation trees with the native American chestnut trees flowering atop Mt. Ella. Thirty-five years ago, Greene said the foundation started a breeding program with Chinese chestnuts, which he described as a "short, bushy tree" unlike the American chestnut. He explained that the idea is to cross-breed the trees to make a hybrid that will be resistant to the blight. The foundation sends vials of pollen from "blight resistant fathers" in Virginia which the students take to the trees in Monson. "The big mission in the spring is to find trees with female flowers on them," Greene said. "The goal of the American Chestnut Foundation is to restore the species to its natural habitat and range," Greene said. "They call it the 100 years project." Greene said the Monson Parks and Recreation Department designated the summit of Mt. Ella as a chestnut management area. Some of Greene's original seventh-graders are still involved in the project, such as Olivia L. Hood, 15, now a freshman at Tantasqua Regional High School. "I really enjoyed the thought of doing something productive," Hood said. "I love saving the trees. It's the highlight of my year." Greene said a $5,000 grant from the Tantasqua Education Foundation enabled the club to purchase puncture-resistant gloves and pruning equipment. The grant money also made it possible to expand the project to all 300 seventh-graders. Greene said even though they have plans for eventually 200 trees at the orchard, they expect that only two or three trees will be strong enough to survive testing that includes being exposed to a high dose of blight fungus. Greene said the students will participate in the testing. Greene, who works with fellow seventh grade middle school teachers Kristin Daley and Cassie Amadio on the project, said they developed the program with the help of Mass.-R.I. American Chestnut Foundation President Lois Breault-Melican and ACF member Denis Melican. Breault-Melican said there are 27 research orchards and six seed production orchards in Massachusetts "It makes the kids think about why we're doing this," Breault-Melican says, "and it's fun for us too." State officials are investigating after a man was fatally shot in Lawrence Wednesday evening. An investigation is underway by State Police detectives, Lawrence Police and the Office of the Essex County District Attorney after an adult male was found dead with multiple gunshot wounds in Lawrence. Lawrence Police responded to a call for a shooting at 464 Hampshire Street in Lawrence around 6:20 p.m. on Wednesday. The victim has not yet been identified, and the Essex D.A.'s office said it will not comment on a possible motive or suspects. In a statement, D.A. spokeswoman Carrie Kimball-Monahan said an "active and fluid investigation" is underway. 15 Gallery: Boston Globe drops suit against former employee who accused top editor of sexual harassment Boston police said a 26-year-old man was shot and killed Tuesday night as he sat in his car on a Dorchester street, the Boston Globe reported. The 26-year-old victim was pronounced dead at the scene near the intersection of Claybourne and Dakota streets. Boston Police Commissioner Willam Evans said the man was in his car when his assailant approached him and opened fire. Two men were seen fleeing the scene, Evans said, and police believe the man was targeted, not a random victim. Homicide detectives continue to investigate the shooting. No suspects have been arrested, Evans said. The man police say hit and killed an 80-year-old man while driving on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston was held on $10,000 cash bail at his arraignment Thursday. In an interview shortly following the crash on Wednesday afternoon Phocian Fitts, told Boston 25 that he was "not worried" about it because "accidents happen." "I'm not a stone-cold killer, I didn't do nothing on purpose," Fitts, 23, told the television station. "People hit and run people all the time." Fitts also said he was driving fast and listening to music when he approached the crosswalk where the man was walking. "As the guy was walking, the light is green, I'm driving and pressing the horn, pressing the horn, 'beep beep beep beep' -- it was either I was going to die and crash into a pole when it came down to it," Fitts said. Fitts pleaded not guilty to leaving the scene of a fatal crash and motor vehicle homicide at his arraignment in Brighton Municipal Court. If he posts the $10,000 cash bail, he will have to wear a GPS locating device, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley's office. In 2016, he pleaded guilty to attacking a US Postal service worker, according to The Boston Globe. The mailman told investigators at the time that he kicked an unleashed dog owned by Fitss's mother in self-defense. Fitts admitted to attacking the man and was sentenced to time served, according to the newspaper's reporting. He is still on probation for the charge, Boston 25 reports. Fitts was arrested just past 10 p.m. Wednesday - moments after the television station aired an on-camera confession. Theodore J. Schwalb, an 80-year-old man who lived in Boston's South End, was identified as the person killed after he was hit by an SUV while walking on a crosswalk in Boston's Allston neighborhood. The Boston Globe reports that Schwalb, who lived on West Springfield Street, was killed in Wednesday's hit and run crash on Commonwealth Avenue. Schwalb was crossing the street near Griggs Street Station on the MBTA's Green Line, the newspaper reports. He worked as an arts teacher at Stoneham High School for more than 40 years before retiring in his 60s, the current school principal told the Globe. Schwalb was taken to St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Brighton, where he was pronounced dead. Phocian Fitts, 23, is accused of leaving the scene of a fatal accident and motor vehicle homicide. He was arraigned and held on $10,000 cash bail Thursday afternoon. On Thursday, Boston and Mayor Marty Walsh are hosting the city's first International Mayors Climate Summit. The event at Boston University will bring together at least 25 mayors and municipal leaders from around the world to discuss the challenges brought on by climate change. Walsh used the opportunity to pitch a new renewable energy initiative to other mayors that would pitch developers on large-scale city projects. The city is hosting a live stream of the summit (see below), which runs from 9 a.m. through 5 p.m. and features speakers like former Secretary of State John Kerry and President Obama's EPA Gina McCarthy. Click here to see the full list of city leaders scheduled to attend. Watch the climate summit live here: WARE -- The death of William J. Dziedzinski, 67, in his 24 Clinton St. home on Feb. 2 has been ruled a homicide. Dziedzinski died via "complications of blunt force injuries of the head and sharp force," according to a state medical examiner. Dr. Robert M. Welton also said, according to his notes affixed to the death certificate, that Dziedzinski's death was caused by "injuries of the neck." The Ware town clerk's office released a copy of Dziedzinski's death certificate on Wednesday, following a request by The Republican. The death certificate says Welton certified the manner and cause of death. On the section of the death certificate where it says, "Describe How Injury Occurred," the document states: "Hit and Cut by Other(s)." To date, no one has been formally charged with any crimes. Contacted on Wednesday, Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan's office declined to comment. Sullivan's office released a statement on Feb. 2 that said: "An unattended death inside a Clinton Street residence in Ware is under investigation by Ware Police and the Massachusetts State Police Detectives Unit assigned to the Northwestern District Attorney's Office. The official cause of death is still under investigation and will be determined by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner." The Worcester Telegram & Gazette reported on Feb. 6 that the police log of Feb. 2 says Janet Suprise, listed as Dziedzinki's partner in his obituary, made an emergency call to dispatch at about 7:40 a.m. and said Dziedzinski was "on the sofa with blood on his face, arms and hands." Quoting documents filed at Eastern Hampshire District Court, the Telegram reported the following in a March 28 story that was updated March 30: "Dziedzinski had injuries including trauma on the right side of his skull, which police described as 'concaved inward.' His face showed signs of 'obvious blunt force trauma' and there were numerous deep puncture wounds to his neck, court documents state. There was a 'significant amount of blood' coming from his nose and mouth." Contact Jim Russell at newstips123@gmail.com The commonwealth's Episcopal bishops have issued a statement of support for Puerto Rican Hurricane Maria evacuees scheduled to meet with Washington D.C. lawmakers Thursday over permanent housing. "As citizens of the United States, those who have fled the island of Puerto Rico should have the same assistance as a citizen of the 50 states. Instead, these families are getting phone calls from FEMA encouraging them to return to Puerto Rico," reads the statement issued by Western Massachusetts Episcopal Bishop Douglas J. Fisher, Massachusetts Episcopal Bishop Alan M. Gates and Massachusetts Episcopal Bishop Suffragan Gayle E. Harris. It further reads, "No American family should become homeless because of a hurricane, a wildfire or a tornado. These Puerto Rican families are our sisters and brothers, our fellow Americans." Some 100 evacuees left in buses Wednesday from a West Springfield hotel where many have been housed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency like other evacuees across the country in the aftermath of the Category 4 hurricane that struck Puerto Rico Sept. 20 of last year. FEMA funding for evacuees through its Transitional Sheltering Assistance program ends June 30. FEMA has previously extended deadlines after first sending notices in April that benefits for short-term housing were to end. Advocates working with the evacuees living in hotels say they lack needed supports and assistance in obtaining long-term housing. Some of the evacuees have said they are spending much of the money they do have on food since their hotel rooms lack kitchens. Evacuees turned to U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey who filed legislation at the end of May that would require FEMA to activate the Disaster Housing Assistance Program. This would provide subsidies to help families transition to permanent housing. In their statement, the bishops write, "Without the activation of DHAP from FEMA, these families will be homeless in 25 days." "With concerned citizens and people of faith, we ask, 'Why?' Why are these citizens receiving a different level of care and support,' the bishops state, noting that many evacuees have been living in Hampden County since being displaced. "These are our neighbors. They worship in our congregations. These children attend our schools. With FEMA's refusal to activate DHAP, they have no recourse but to turn to our legislators for help before their hotel housing runs out." It adds, "They will meet with senators and members of congress who have sponsored two bills which would activate DHAP immediately." "These bills, if passed, will give them a long-term housing pathway from hotel to apartment. Housing is the key to recovery for these families - to having the ability to get a driver's license and get a stable job. DHAP is the means by which these families might return to economic independence," the statement reads. "It is our hope that concerned citizens will use their voices, phones and social media accounts to stand with Puerto Rican citizens. It is only by standing with one another that we can bear the weight of life's tragedies and be witnesses for the new life that will emerge from the dust." FEMA is opposed to activating the program maintaining funds are being allocated through other programs or directly for rebuilding in Puerto Rico. It has offered to pay relocation costs for those returning to Puerto Rico and has said there will be no further extension of temporary housing benefits. The Sept. 20 hurricane caused billions of dollars of damage, left 3.4 million residents without power and displaced more than 135,000 stateside. FEMA has estimated that it will take $50 billion in funding to restore the island where recovery has been underway. A recently published Harvard study published in the New England Journal of Medicine estimates that 4,645 deaths can be linked to the hurricane. WESTFIELD -- The three finalists for principal of Paper Mill Elementary School will be in the district Monday and Tuesday and will meet with the public Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the school. The finalists are Melanie Chasse, Laura Creanza and Debra Grainsky. Chasse, of Enfield, Connecticut, is the superintendent of Monhegan Island School in Maine. She has a degree in elementary education from the University of Maine at Farmington and earned a master's in education from the University of Southern Maine. In her application, Chasse wrote, "as a leader, I have learned that changing the heart of each individual teacher and staff member leads to improved practice in the classroom and therefore the entire school." She also included seven leadership values that include "putting students at the center of each decision I make ... parents and families are partners in their child's education ... cultivating teachers as leaders." Creanza is assistant principal at Paper Mill. She previously taught third grade at Stony Hill School in Wilbraham and Holyoke Community Charter School. The Agawam resident earned a bachelor's degree in education and psychology from Western New England University, a master's in moderate disabilities from the Elms College and a certificate of advanced graduate studies in educational leadership from American International College. Creanza wrote in her application that she supports "our safe and caring learning environment by being a key member of the school improvement council, parent teacher organization and leading staff in Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports." Grainsky is principal of Batcheller Elementary School in Winsted, Connecticut. The West Hartford, Connecticut, resident received a bachelor's degree and a master's in special education from the University of Connecticut. She has taken additional coursework in special education and supervision and evaluation. Grainsky wrote about her commitment to "high achievement for all students by forming professional learning communities to align curriculum, collect and analyze data and use results to inform instruction." The three finalists were selected after review by a screening committee composed of Paper Mill parents and staff and a district elementary principal. Central administration reviewed all qualified applicants. Superintendent Stefan Czaporowski accepted the finalists May 30. "We are providing Paper Mill stakeholders the opportunity to meet the finalists and provide me with the input prior to my selection of the new principal," Czaporowski said. "I valued the input from the Franklin Avenue principal search, so I am eagerly awaiting the Paper Mill search feedback." Franklin Avenue Elementary School's interim principal Chris Tolpa-Matuszczak was selected the permanent principal after a similar search in April. SPRINGFIELD -- Kayla "Kay" Escalante joined a group canvassing the streets of South Hadley and Holyoke for a missing teenager in 2016, according to posts on social media. The teen for whom they searched, Brianna Cuoco, turned up dead in the Connecticut River that year. Her death was ruled a drowning, according to the state medical examiner's office. Two years later, Escalante's body was discovered along with those of two other missing women at the Springfield home of alleged double-kidnapper Stewart Weldon, Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni confirmed this week. Her death has been characterized as suspicious, Gulluni said. Friends on social media remarked on the comparison. "Kay combed the streets with our team of volunteers and went door to door knocking and looking for any possible leads or answers for (Cuoco's) whereabouts as well as the following days," one woman posted to Escalante's Facebook page, which went quiet in December but exploded with activity from others after news of her death became public. "Kay was a beautiful person on the inside as well as the outside. She would have given you the shirt off her back ... I can't wrap my head around such evil in this world." Aside from Escalante, the other victims recovered from 1333 Page Blvd. property were America Canales, 34, of Springfield, and Ernestine Ryans, 47, a Hartford, Connecticut, native who recently moved to this city. Law enforcement officials have said they are investigating the discoveries of the remains as homicides, or at a minimum, suspicious deaths. Bodies were recovered in the basement, the garage and under the shed, sources have told The Republican. Gulluni has not yet released causes or times of death for the women. Weldon, 40, has not been charged in connection with the deaths, but has been charged with two separate alleged kidnappings and rape. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is being held on $2 million bail after two arraignments in Springfield District Court. While family members of Ryans and Canales have spoken to members of the media, Escalante's have resisted, preferring to mourn privately. A reporter with The Republican had a brief conversation with Escalante's father, Michael Escalante, on Monday when Gulluni announced the identities of the three women. "She lived with me for a time, but she was never home and I was working out of town, so we didn't have much contact," he said, declining further comment at the request of his ex-wife. All of the victims were mothers. Escalante has a 3-year-old daughter. Escalante's history, like those of the other victims, has emerged as complicated. A friend of hers said during an interview with The Republican and MassLive that he and Escalante were classmates in grade school in Ludlow. He moved to Wlibraham and reconnected with his old friend when both were attending separate high schools and had common acquaintances. "She was like, a big ball of smiles. Despite all that she had going on, she was always in a good vibe," said David LaBerge, 26, now married and a consumer services worker for Lego. "All that she had going on" is a bit vague, even for LaBerge. He did recall that while Escalante planned to relocate to Florida, she was looking for what he labeled a fresh start. He intimated drug use was central to her problems. "I recall her saying ... 'I'm tired of being f***ed up all the time,'" LaBerge recounted. The two were "mall rats" who hung out at the Eastfield Mall in Springfield and went on occasional outings to Shaker Bowl in East Longmeadow. Escalante worked at a pizza shop for a time and was kind to LaBerge's little brother, whom he used to babysit, he said. She was a music lover and often went to live performances both big and small, he added. He last saw her around 2012, and they lost touch after she moved to Florida, LaBerge said. "I didn't even know she was back in the area, and then I saw this. I was one of the few people she hung around with who wasn't into a lot of stuff. That's kinda why it's hitting me really hard," he said. Escalante's own social media posts include one from 2014 when she was in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. "Clean and sober 90 days today!!! F*** yeah! Feels amazing!!!" she posted, holding up a key chain that read "clean and serene." Social media posts since the news of her death suggest she may have relapsed. Investigators have not released whether there was any common link among the three women and Weldon. LaBerge said he has no memory of Weldon when they were younger. "No, dude, this guy was a complete stranger," he said. Eascalante's 27th birthday fell on the day police found her body at Weldon's home: May 30. After seven days on the scene at Page Boulevard, investigators wrapped up their investigation of the property Wednesday afternoon. They hauled evidence bags out and left piles of dirt they had dug from the yard on the front lawn. The previously unremarkable neighborhood went quiet again with police only maintaining a perimeter around the parcel Wednesday evening. MassLive reporter Dan Glaun contributed to this story. Google's Doodle today honors a Mount Holyoke College graduate - Dr. Virginia Apgar. The animated doodle for Thursday June 7 shows a woman in lab coat documenting the movements of a newborn positioned atop the words "Apgar." The 1929 graduate of the South Hadley women's college is known for creating in 1952 what is called the Agpar score, an internationally recognized screening that quickly evaluates the health of newborns as they take their first breaths of life outside the womb. The assessment has been called the "birth of clinical neonatology" and credited with not only reducing infant mortality but also changing health care's approach to the birth process to be more effectively focus on mother and child and the effects of delivery on the baby. Apgar was also an early expert in the area of birth defects. As a young women pursuing a career in the medical field she overcame financial difficulties and discrimination to become a pioneering researcher and educator. She went on to graduate fourth in her class from the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University in New York City. She was only one of nine women in the class of 1933. Apgar was encouraged to study anesthesiology and became interested in the field of obstetrical anesthesia where she would make her greatest contributions. She also held a master's degree in public health from Johns Hopkins University, worked for the March of Dimes as the head of its new congenital malformations division in the 1950s, and went on to become what is said to be the first medical professor to specialize in birth defects as a professor at Cornell University. She authored the book, "Is My Baby All Rights," with journalist Joan Beck in 1972. She also learned to fly a single engine plane in her 50s. Apgar was born on June 7, 1909 in Westfield, N.J., and died Aug. 7, 1974. She is among the women included in a forthcoming book honoring Western Massachusetts women that is part of The Republican's history series. BOSTON - The Massachusetts Appeals Court has upheld a $20 million award in a wrongful death suit against Cumberland Farms over a woman killed when a car crashed into one of the chain's stores in Chicopee in November 2010. The June 6 ruling follows a Hampden Superior Court judge's reduction of the award in August 2016 from $32.3 million to $20 million. In the same ruling, the appeals court denied a request from Cumberland Farms for a new trial. Hampden Superior Court Judge Mark D. Mason reduced the amount -- at the time believed to be the largest ever in Hampden County -- five months after jurors found the chain responsible for the death of Kimmy Dubuque. The 43-year-old mother was killed when a driver crashed into the store at Grove and Front streets. In his decision, Mason said the 12-member jury made mistakes, failed to follow instructions and displayed a lack of impartiality in handing down the $32.3 million award. In declining to grant a new trial, though, the appeals court wrote: "Cumberland Farms submits that, in light of the judge's finding that the jury were influenced to some degree by passion, partiality, or prejudice, it is entitled to a new trial on all findings. As we have already concluded, however, that finding was, to a considerable degree, without support in the record." Dubuque, the director of finance at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, was killed on Nov. 28, 2010 when an elderly man crashed his SUV at more than 70 mph into the store at Grove and Front streets. The driver, who suffered a stroke, was not prosecuted. The victim's family sued Cumberland Farms, claiming the site was dangerous and barriers should have been installed to prevent vehicles from colliding with the building. During the trial, lawyers for Cumberland Farms denied negligence and called Dubuque's death a tragic accident. No federal, state or local regulations required the corporation to install barriers outside the store, defense lawyer Richard P. Campbell said. The verdict, delivered Feb. 23, capped a three-week trial. By a 10-2 margin, jurors found that Cumberland Farms was negligent and awarded $32,369,024 to the Dubuque family. The victim's husband, Albert Dubuque Jr., and daughter Jillian -- 14 years old at the time of the crash -- attended the trial. Northampton lawyer Paul Weinberg, who represents the Dubuque family, issued this statement in a release on their behalf: "Kimmy's family is gratified by the decision of the Appeals Court and sincerely hopes that no other family ever suffers such a loss." "They stood firm in this, they weathered the whole trial," Weinberg said in a telephone interview. The Appeals Court decision, 39 pages long, refers to a written message from the jury which they asked the judge to read in open court. It reads: "We hope Cumberland Farms will acknowledge this as an opportunity to honor the life of Kimmy Dubuque by investing time and money in the safety of its guests and employees." "That really sums up the family's feelings," Weinberg said . HOLYOKE -- Here are updates about a planned Dunkin Donuts, the old Lynch School and the former Holyoke Geriatric Authority. Construction is scheduled to begin in August on a mini-plaza of over $1 million that will feature a Dunkin Donuts and two other tenants at an empty lot at Hampden and Pleasant streets, Marcos A. Marrero, director of the city Planning and Economic Development Department, said Tuesday. The project proposed by Quabbin ACM, a limited liability company, will have over seven employees, he said. The company has obtained a special permit from the City Council to install drive-through service at the site. Quabbin ACM is buying the property for $225,000 from the Holyoke Economic Development and Industrial Corporation (HEDIC). The developer is expected to pull building permits in July and break ground a month later, Marrero said. Managers listed for Quabbin ACM are Matthew L. Donohue, of Holyoke, with a listed Springfield address of 73 State St., and Steven D. LePage, of Belchertown, according to the Massachusetts secretary of state's office. The city is close to signing a purchase agreement for the former Lynch School at 1575 Northampton St. with The Colvest Group of Springfield, Marrero said. The company plans to raze the building at Northampton and Dwight streets and build a retail site with a bank and other tenants. Colvest has estimated it would spend $7 million to $8 million and 12 to 15 months redeveloping Lynch. Colvest is led by founder Frank Colaccino. "Most substantive items have been agreed to and are just awaiting a final OK from their end," Marrero said. The City Council agreed to sell Lynch School to The Colvest Group for $250,000 May 1. To build the retail site, Colvest will need to apply to the City Council for a change in the designation of the former middle school property to a highway business zone from the current residential single family zone. The company also will need to apply for a special permit to install a drive-through service window for the bank. Lynch was last used as a school in 2008. Colvest has developed dozens of retail sites in Springfield, Chicopee and Northampton, as well as in Connecticut and Rhode Island. Colvest owns the Rite Aid Pharmacy, which is now in the Walgreens chain, across from Lynch at 1504 Northampton St. The most recent request for proposals (RFP) from developers for the Holyoke Geriatric Authority at 45 Lower Westfield Road yielded only one response, Marrero said. That proposal was to demolish the buildings on the 18-acre site and build 120 units of market-rate housing. But after reviewing demolition costs, the developer withdrew the proposal, he said. "We are about to republicize the RFP again to once again try identify parties interested in using the structures as a rehabilitation project," he said. The nursing home closed in 2014 after years of financial problems. The city seized ownership of the Holyoke Geriatric Authority with a goal of putting the property in the hands of a private owner and making it a taxpaying entity. That would begin reimbursing the city for financial bailouts over the years to help the Geriatric Authority pay its bills, officials have said. The Massachusetts Appeals Court on Wednesday upheld a $20 million award to the family of a woman killed when a driver crashed into a Chicopee Cumberland Farms store in November 2010. The family of Kimmy Dubuque, who was 43 when she died, filed a wrongful death suit against the convenience store chain, claiming the site was dangerous and barriers should have been installed to prevent vehicles from colliding with the building. The June 6 appeals court ruling -- which also denies a request from Cumberland Farms for a new trial -- follows a Hampden Superior Court judge's August 2016 reduction of the jury's award in from $32.3 million to $20 million. Read the appeals court ruling below: The Republican / MassLive is seeking interviews with Korean War veterans about the summit scheduled next week between President Donald J. Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Are you interested in the Singapore talks because of your service? What do you hope might come out of the talks? Are you optimistic that peace between the two countries can be established? Do you think the war might finally end? What does that mean to you if it does? Please email me at dlederman@repub.com or comment below. Thank you. Six months before he would be charged with kidnapping and three bodies would be found hidden or buried in his home, Stewart Weldon stood before a judge, asking for a break. He had been held on $2,500 bail for a month following a violent confrontation with police officers who responded to a report that he had assaulted a woman on a Springfield street. On the morning of Nov. 21, Weldon and his public defender entered Courtroom 1 in Springfield's Roderick L. Ireland Courthouse and asked Superior Court Judge David Ricciardone for a bail reduction. Weldon lived off of $750 per month on disability payments for severe ADHD and dyslexia, his attorney Timothy Noonan said, and could only afford $150 bail. His jailing had separated him from his one-year-old daughter, whose birth had left him a changed man, Noonan argued. And Weldon could not effectively prepare his defense from behind bars, Noonan said. "The $150 is hugely significant for him. It is literally food out of his daughter's mouth," Noonan said, according to an audio recording of the hearing. "We would suggest your honor that that is an appropriate amount of bail to ensure his return to court." Assistant District Attorney Karen Bell objected, noting Weldon's history of missed court dates and fugitive from justice complaints. And Ricciardone appeared unconvinced by Noonan's claims that his client had turned over a new leaf. "The financial situation is very restrictive. If he didn't have this record I would do it. But I don't see that his past performance is indicative of a lot of confidence of him being complaint in court orders," Ricciardone said. Ricciardone would end up splitting the difference, reducing Weldon's bail to $1,000 but imposing strict conditions, including home confinement, GPS monitoring and a ban on motor vehicle use. Two weeks later, Weldon was released on bail. In February, he cut off his GPS bracelet and left it outside a courthouse. And in late May he was captured following a car chase with Springfield police, leading to the discovery of three dead women who authorities are treating as homicide victims. The audio of Weldon's bail reduction hearing sheds new light on Weldon's encounters with the criminal justice system in the months leading to the discovery of a homicide scene whose gruesomeness has shocked even seasoned investigators. Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni has identified the victims as Ernestine Ryans, 47, of Springfield, America Lyden, 34, of Springfield, and Kayla Escalante, 27, of Ludlow. Weldon, a Queens, New York native, had already amassed a criminal record before moving to Western Massachusetts in the early 2000s. As a teenager in New Jersey, he was charged in connection with a sexual assault. In 1997, he pleaded guilty to a weapons charge and was accused of a kidnapping in East Orange. In 2006, he was sentenced to 367 days in jail after pleading guilty to a burglary. Weldon lived with family in Westfield and in a White Street duplex in Springfield after moving to Massachusetts. He had cases in Springfield District Court in 2003, 2006 and 2008, and in 2010 was charged in connection with two separate incidents: an unarmed robbery in which he allegedly assaulted a police officer and threatened to commit murder, and a breaking and entering that also led to a fight with police. He was sentenced to 18 months in jail after pleading guilty to those charges. In 2016, Constance White, Weldon's mother, bought the three-bedroom house at 1333 Page Boulevard, which Weldon listed as his address, according to court paperwork. His long-term girlfriend, who he would later be accused of beating, raping and holding captive, became pregnant and gave birth to their child. But Weldon's alleged illegal behavior did not end with the birth of his daughter. In July, he was accused of driving 70 miles per hour through Springfield in his mother's car with a revoked license. In September, a warrant was issued for his arrest after he led police on a 90 miles per hour chase down State Street in Springfield. And on Oct. 14, he allegedly crashed his a car while fleeing from police responding to a report of a man assaulting a woman on the street. He allegedly fought with officers, biting one of the leg, before he was subdued with baton strikes and tasers. He was arraigned on an array of charges, including assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, reckless operation, resisting arrest and assault and battery on a police officer. A Springfield District Court Judge set Weldon's initial bail at $2,500, after the defense argued for $500 and the Hampden County District Attorney's Office requested $10,000. Weldon petitioned for a bail review in the Superior Court, and on Nov. 21 Noonan, his public defender, made his case. "First and foremost Mr. Weldon's ties to the community can be described only as significant. He has lived in Springfield since 2001. He lives with his mother in a house that she hopes one day to own and then pass on to him," Noonan said. "He hopes to raise his one-year-old daughter in that house and his as-yet unborn son." Noonan acknowledged that Weldon had a history of missing court payments and court dates, but suggested that fatherhood had made Weldon less of a flight risk. "I think all of this record occurred before, again Mr. Weldon became a father for the first time," Noon an said. "This has dramatically changed his outlook." There was no mention in court of Weldon's previous record as a parent. After news of the bodies found inside the home spread, a former girlfriend of Weldon spoke out. The woman, a resident of New Jersey, said she had a child with Weldon then "took [her] son and ran" from him, alleging he attempted to kill her and their child. Weldon had suffered severe injuries during the October arrest, including broken ribs, a broken wrist and a broken elbow, Noon said. He intended to request the internal affairs records of the officers who had fought with him - a group that included John Wadlegger, who was arrested in 2014 for allegedly soliciting a prostitute, and Daniel Billingsley, whose role in an alleged 2015 beating is currently being scrutinized by a statewide grand jury. And Noonan said that Weldon paid $550 of his $750 in disabilities benefits each month to his mother for rent, making $2,500 an impossible financial burden. "My understanding is [he has] severe ADHD. He has some cognitive difficulties," Noonan said. "Dyslexia too," Weldon chimed in. "He's mostly worked warehouse jobs in his life, and he's looking forward to doing that again when he gets out," Noonan said. Bell, the assistant district attorney representing the state in the hearing, argued against the reduction, saying that Weldon's history of violence, court defaults and fleeing arrest justified a higher bail. "The Commonwealth quite frankly thinks that a $2,500 cash bail is low for the facts and circumstances and a defendant with this type of history with the court," Bell said. "The Commonwealth has no confidence that this defendant would return to court after going through the significant means that he went through on the date of his arrest to avoid apprehension by police." Ricciardone appeared skeptical of the defense, describing Weldon's record as "very bad" and questioning why Weldon remained on disability if he was capable of working warehouse jobs. He reduced the bail to $1,000 but ordered Weldon confined to his home and tracked with a GPS bracelet. "I don't want him just roaming the streets ostensibly on the guise of obtaining employment," Ricciardone said. Weldon was granted permission to attend the birth of his son at Baystate Medical Center on December 14 and was still wearing his GPS bracelet at the time, according to court records. But on Feb. 10, Weldon claimed that his GPS bracelet had gotten wet and become damaged; he was ordered to report to probation on Feb. 12 but failed to do so, and his bracelet was found in a bag outside the courthouse. Police sought a warrant for his arrest and made at least two efforts to serve the warrant in the following months, Springfield Police spokesman Ryan Walsh said. In one case, on Feb. 21, Weldon fled on foot, running into traffic and forcing a cruiser to jump a curb to avoid a crash, Walsh said. But he remained at large until May 27, when he was arrested following a chase in which he crashed his mother's car into a police cruiser. The mother of his child, who was in the passenger's seat, gave officers an account of brutal violence and sexual assault at Weldon's hands, and he was charged with kidnapping and assault to rape. And on the night of May 30, police converged on 1333 Page Boulevard for what would become a grim, week-long vigil, as officers discovered the remains of three women: one in the garage, one buried underneath and shed and one in the home's basement. US Sen. Elizabeth Warren plans to hold a Capitol Hill press conference Thursday on a marijuana bill she is co-sponsoring. The bill, which she is co-sponsoring with Sen. Cory Gardner, a Colorado Republican, seeks to "ensure that each state has the right to determine for itself the best approach to marijuana within its borders," an advisory from Warren's office says. The advisory adds that the bill "also extends these protections to Washington D.C., U.S. territories, and federally recognized tribes, and contains common-sense guardrails to ensure that states, territories, and tribes regulating marijuana do so safely." The bill has been named "Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States (STATES) Act." The press conference is set for 10:45 am. Warren's office plans to stream it on her Facebook page. Warren said earlier this year that she was working on the legislation, aimed at rolling back US Attorney General Jeff Sessions' move to rescind Obama-era guidelines. The guidelines called for the US Department of Justice to largely leave alone states that had legalized marijuana for recreational and medical use. Massachusetts voters approved marijuana for medical use in 2012 and voted for a ballot question broadly legalizing marijuana for adults in November 2016. There are currently more than two dozen medical marijuana dispensaries operating in Massachusetts, while state regulators with the Cannabis Control Commission are processing applications for retail pot shops that could open this summer. Colorado, the first state to legalize marijuana in 2012, has had recreational marijuana since 2014. Marijuana remains an illegal substance at the federal level. NORTHAMPTON -- A man and woman from Ware pleaded guilty on Friday in Hampshire Superior Court to drug-related charges. Jonathan Wallace, 37, pleaded guilty to trafficking cocaine (less than 36 grams) and conspiracy to violate drug laws. Judge John Agostini sentenced him to three to five years in state prison, but recommended he serve his time in the county jail. Melissa Holmes, 34, pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and conspiracy to violate drug laws. Agostini sentenced her to 27 months in jail at the Western Massachusetts Regional Women's Correctional Center in Chicopee. The pair were arrested in November at 4 East St. in Ware. Police apprehended them after obtaining a search warrant. Police said they found cocaine with a street value of $6,000 inside the apartment. Following their arraignment at Eastern Hampshire District Court, Wallace and Holmes were indicted by a grand jury. Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan's office prosecuted the case. Attorneys at the Committee for Public Counsel were the defense lawyers. WARREN - Police, responding to a Main Street home to serve an arrest warrant for one of the occupants Wednesday, found drugs inside and ultimately arrested two people. Detective Jeffrey VonDauber and police officer Alex Sinni went to 818 Main St. to serve a warrant on resident Ann Cutler, according to a post on the department's Facebook page. Once at the apartment, the officers discovered various drugs and subsequently obtained a search warrant. K-9 officer Joseph Laflower and his partner, Murray, aided in the search. Both Cutler, 38, and Nicholas Jolly, 27, of the same address, were charged with possession of heroin with intent to distribute, possession of crack cocaine with intent to distribute, conspiracy to violate drug law, possession of a Class C drug( alprazolam, gabapentine, ondansetron, clonazepam) and possession of a Class E drug (clonidine). West Brookfield police, Massachusetts State Police and Hardwick police assisted at the scene and responded to various calls for service while police were investigating WEST SPRINGFIELD - Police, investigating drug dealing within the city, arrested a Lyman Street man Wednesday and seized nearly 700 bags of the drug, each stamped with the brand "Epidemic." Nicholas Bernardi, of 21 Lyman St., had a loaded stolen 9 mm semiautomatic handgun on his person and was in possession of a .22 cal. rifle with 16 rounds of ammunition, two stun guns, 10 rounds of 9 mm ammunition and what police described as an "Uzi-style" BB gun, according to a post on the department's Facebook page. Benardi also had 94 grams of cocaine and multiple pills (clonazepam, Lorazepam, Ativan), all illegally possessed. The suspect had 300 bags of heroin on his person and investigators found another 382 bags in his home. Bernardi was charged with possession of heroin with intent to distribute, trafficking cocaine (36-100 grams) carrying a firearm without a license, possession of a firearm during commission of a felony, larceny of a firearm, possession of Class A, B and C drugs, possession of an electronic stun gun, improper storage of a firearm and two counts of possession of ammunition/firearm without an FID card. The investigation was conducted by members of the department's narcotics unit and a member of the Western Massachusetts FBI Gang Task Force. AMHERST -- Nearly three dozen potential candidates have taken out papers for the 13 seats on the inaugural Town Council, including many past and current Select Board members. Residents have until June 29 to return papers for the three at large seats and 10 precinct seats -- two from each of the town's five new precincts. By a 3,476-2,468 margin in March, voters approved a new charter that replaces Amherst's 240-member representative Town Meeting and five-member Select Board with the 13-member Town Council. All voters registered in Amherst are eligible to run. The town has a filed a request with the state Legislature asking that the first election be held Nov. 6, with a Sept. 4 primary if needed. If the special act authorizing an election in November is not enacted, the initial town council election will take place Jan. 24 and the council would be sworn in Feb. 4. Those who have taken out papers for at large seats include: Select Board member Alisa V. Brewer, who has returned papers Mandi Jo Hanneke, who was on the Amherst Charter Commission and recommended that it be approved Select Board member Andrew Steinberg Former Select Board members Aaron Hayden and Robert Kushner Three have taken out papers for District 1 seats and four for District 2, including J. Lynn Griesemer and Amherst Chamber of Commerce President Peter Vickery, both of whom have returned them. Griesemer, who also took out papers for an at large seat, will not be filing for that seat after the town's lawyer this week informed the Select Board that candidates cannot seek two positions. "In my opinion, while there is nothing that prohibits an individual from taking out or returning nomination papers for both offices, state election law prohibits a person's name from appearing on the ballot more than once for the same office," Lauren Goldberg, an attorney for Boston-based KP law wrote. "As such, in my further opinion, if a candidate returns papers for both offices, they must withdraw from nomination from one such office in order for their name to appear on the ballot for the other." Victor Nunez and Juan Manuel Ruiz-Hau have taken papers for District 2 and at large seats as well but have not filed papers for either seat. Five have taken out papers for District 3, including Robert Greeney, who has sought Select Board seats the last two years. Six have taken out papers for District 4, including Hanneke, and former town planner Niels la Cour, who also took them out for an at large seat. La Cour, Amherst Planning Board chairman Stephen Schreiber and David Reffsin took out and filed papers for District 4. Three have taken out papers for District 5 seats, including Hayden. A Sutton man who was part of a High Times article where he said he harvested hundreds of pounds of marijuana a year pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to drug charges. Eric Vallee, 38, entered his guilty pleas to two counts of manufacturing marijuana and possessing marijuana with intent to distribute in U.S. District Court in Worcester. The married, father of two children will return to court in September for sentencing. Vallee and Peter Molle Jr. of Holland were arrested in December on marijuana manufacturing and possession charges after U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided homes in Auburn, Sutton and Holland. The two men were featured in a High Times magazine article where Vallee said he discussed his marijuana harvesting process. Authorities said court documents showed both men had large cash deposits in their bank accounts, a sign of possible drug sales. Federal prosecutor William Abely said in court that agents executed search warrants at Vallee's Auburn home and another residence connected to Vallee in Sutton in February 2017 and discovered marijuana grow operations. Molle's home in Holland was also raided. Another commercial-style grow operation was discovered there, authorities said. "More than 100 marijuana plants were found at Vallee's Auburn residence, more than 100 marijuana plants at Molle's Holland residence, and more than 30 marijuana plants were found at the residence in Sutton," the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Even after the raids, the two men continued to grow marijuana, authorities said. Agents again raided Vallee's Sutton home and Molle's home in Holland in December. Grow operations were discovered, authorities said. Marijuana, packaged and ready for sale, was found at Vallee's home, Abely said. President Donald Trump removed the United States from the global Paris climate agreement last year, but in Boston on Thursday, former Secretary of State John Kerry says Americans are still in it. "The short answer is, we're still in Paris because most local communities, most businesses, most states, 38 of them, are moving in that direction no matter what," Kerry said, referencing the number of states with voluntary renewable portfolio laws. "I can tell you with confidence that while Donald Trump may have said he's out of Paris, the American people have stated as unequivocally that they are in Paris, and they're going to meet the Paris standards," Kerry added to applause. The former secretary spoke with urgency during a panel discussion at the Boston International Mayors Climate Summit, the city's first such meeting between mayors, city officials and business leaders from around the world. A "fireside chat" in the afternoon included a discussion with John Kerry and Anne Finucane, Vice Chairman of Bank of America. Kerry worked under President Barack Obama to negotiate with countries on steps to mitigate climate change, including the 2015 Paris climate agreement. That international compact, originally signed by 196 parties, asked countries to create individual plans that would contribute to a common goal to keep the global average temperature below 2 degrees Celsius. Trump exited the agreement almost exactly one year ago, claiming that it was "very unfair at the highest level to the United States" and to the development of "clean coal." But Kerry said that the majority of Americans still support the Paris agreement. He said the public has "no idea how many billions, if not trillions of dollars" will be spent in response to climate change. "We have water that comes over our seawall, right Marty? On a sunny day," Kerry said, gesturing to Boston Mayor Marty Walsh. "This is already happening at a rate that is terrifying." At an earlier panel at the climate summit, Walsh himself spoke in a similar tone of despair about the effects of climate change on Boston. "Sea level rise is adding the urgency here in Boston," Walsh said, referencing the inordinate flooding along city coastal areas this winter. The secession of intense nor'easter storms forced communities to rethink storm safety measures. "This was the first winter when preparing for snow storms that we actually had long conversations around the tides, and that hadn't happened before," Walsh said. "That will forever be in the future of us preparing and planning." Walsh also noted that Trump's choice to pull out of the Paris agreement was "a very bad decision" and that U.S. mayors were not consulted. Among those clearly irritated by Trump's move was a French mayor, Roland Ries of Strasbourg, who strongly criticized what he called "national selfishness and national populism." He said those who believe they can make only their own country happy, and not act collaboratively to mitigate a warming planet "are strongly mistaken." "Not just politically, also intellectually," Ries noted. "This issue is a global one." Kerry had strong words for Trump and what he called a "dysfunctional Congress." "I'm so tired and sick of the absence of real leadership to say 'here's what we gotta do,'" Kerry said. "The G20 ought to be locked in a room, and they should not be allowed to leave the room until they have put 100 billion dollars in the bank that meets the necessities of the global climate plan," Kerry said. He added that while he thinks the era of Trump and climate change denial is "a passing moment," he does not know what comes next. "That is up for grabs," Kerry said. With states facing uncertainty over federal enforcement of marijuana laws, U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Cory Gardner are looking to provide legal certainty and protections to those that have approved laws legalizing or decriminalizing the substance. The senators announced Thursday that they have introduced legislation to ensure that states, Washington D.C., U.S. territories and federally recognized tribes have the right to determine the best approach to marijuana within their own borders in a way that is safe and respectful of their neighbors. Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, said the bill, known as the Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States, or STATES Act, would fix the current discrepancy between state and federal statutes that has impacted the industry's access to banking and Americans' ability to pursue medical marijuana treatments, among other things. Fixing America's broken marijuana policies: Its time to reform Americas outdated marijuana policies. Watch live as Senator Cory Gardner and I discuss our new legislation that would let states, territories, and tribes decide for themselves how best to regulate marijuana without federal interference. Posted by U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren on Thursday, June 7, 2018 Gardner, a Colorado Republican, stressed that the measure would not legalize marijuana at the federal level, but simply allow states that have passed such laws to move forward without the threat of federal interference. "If a state like Oklahoma or Kansas, or Nebraska choose for themselves not to do this, they do not have to -- the federal law remains the same. Nothing changes for them," he told reporters during a Capitol Hill press conference. "But for those states, like Massachusetts and Colorado, this is the opportunity our founders intended: Allow states to be those laboratories of democracy." Specifically, the bill would amend the Controlled Substances Act so it no longer applies to any person acting in compliance with state or tribal laws when it comes to manufacturing, producing, possessing, distributing, dispensing, administering or delivering marijuana -- as long as states and tribes comply with a few basic protections. It also seeks to address financial issues caused by the current federal prohibition by stating that compliant transactions are not trafficking and do not result in proceeds of an unlawful transaction. The measure would further: modify the federal definition of marijuana to exclude industrial hemp; prohibit distribution of marijuana at transportation facilities, like rest areas and truck stops; bar sales of marijuana to those under age 21 except for medical purposes; and maintain protections against endangering human life while manufacturing a controlled substance, as well as prohibitions on employing those under age 18 in marijuana operations. Warren said the bill comes in response to Attorney General Jeff Sessions' January decision to rescind an Obama-era memo that directed U.S. attorneys to not prosecute marijuana crimes in states where the drug had been legalized, as long as individuals were complying with state law, not distributing the drug to minors or selling it to criminal gangs. "When the attorney general said that he was going to start enforcing federal laws in places like Massachusetts, which had just overturned the prohibition on marijuana, it spurred us to more immediate action," she said. "And to at least start to build the bridge -- not between those who don't believe in legalization and those who do believe in legalization, but to say 'Let's take a practical step right now ... that reflects the will of the people of our home states.'" Warren added that thanks to Sessions, "more people feel the urgency of the moment in changing federal law." That urgency, Gardner said, has been felt by those on both sides of the political aisle. "We made the determination to make this as bipartisan as possible ... The support for this bill is across a very wide spectrum of political ideologies. You're going to see that in the outside groups, organizations that support this legislation. You'll see that in governors across the country, and you're also going to see it in terms of the members of the House -- from Freedom Caucus members of the House, to everyone else in between," he said. Gardner, who essentially forced the White House in April to assure states that their rights would not be infringed by the AG's policy change, said he believes the bill can and should move forward. "The conflict and the challenges that remain are too great not to step up," he said. The sponsors noted that at least 46 states have laws permitting or decriminalizing marijuana or marijuana-based products. Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam and numerous tribes, meanwhile, have similar laws. U.S. Reps. David Joyce, R-Ohio, and Earl Blumenauer, D-Oregon, are offering a companion measure in the House, according to Warren's office. BOSTON -- The Massachusetts Senate on Thursday passed a bill on a voice vote creating a method for a family member to have someone's guns taken away if the person poses a danger to themselves or others. Sen. Cynthia Stone Creem, D-Newton, who sponsored a version of the bill, said it is "heartbreaking" to consider these policies, but necessary because of the fear children face from gun violence today. "We did not imagine when we went to school that an unstable person with access to weapons would change the course of our lives forever," Creem said. Senate President Harriette Chandler, D-Worcester, said the bill provides a framework for removing weapons from the hands of someone who may use them for harm. "It will reduce the risk of suicide and murder, and will encourage distressed people to seek the mental health treatment that they may need," Chandler said. "But perhaps most importantly, this bill gives family members the tools and confidence to help their loved ones in extremely tense and emotional situations." The House already passed a version of the bill. The Senate voted on the House version but added several of its own amendments. It will be up to House leaders whether to agree with those amendments or send the bill to a committee of House-Senate negotiators to be worked out. Once the House and Senate agree on a final version, the bill will go to Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, for his signature. Baker said Thursday that he supports the bill "conceptually," although he still needs to see the final version. Baker noted that he said even before the House started its debate that "we were conceptually comfortable with it." Momentum for the bill has grown ever since a school shooting in Parkland, Florida, brought increased attention to issues of gun control. Massachusetts already has some of the nation's strictest gun laws. Under the bill, if a family or household member believes someone poses a risk to themselves or another person, they can petition a District Court judge to immediately suspend that person's gun license and remove their weapons. Within 10 days, the judge would hold a hearing, and the person would have a chance to argue whether the protective order should be extended for up to a year. To grant an order, a judge must find "by a preponderance of the evidence" that the person poses a risk. A ruling could be appealed through the regular appeals process. The respondent has the right to be represented by an attorney. The police would store the person's guns until the order expires and the person's license is reinstated. There are penalties both for violating an extreme risk protective order and for filing false statements in order to harass someone. "We're not changing the 2nd Amendment, we're not doing anything drastic," Creem said. "All we're doing is making restrictions on those that should not be using guns." Creem said often after tragedies, family members say they are not surprised because there are "red flags" that point to someone's mental instability or suicidal thoughts. This will provide another tool, other than the ability to go to the police, to address that risk. Someone who is the subject of an order would be given information about mental health counseling and other resources. Under a Senate amendment, the petitioner would also be given that information. Cindy Rowe, executive director of the Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action, said the extreme risk protective order bill "will save lives." "This is the most important change we can make to gun laws in our state," Rowe said. Leslie Friedman, whose grandfather was murdered 45 years ago, is a gun control advocate who came to the Statehouse to watch the vote. Friedman said there have been mass shootings where people who had access to guns had mental health issues. "Those guns should have been removed from their access," Friedman said. Five other states have passed similar laws. The Gun Owners Action League, Massachusetts' gun rights lobby, opposes the bill. Jim Wallace, executive director of GOAL, said very few suicides in Massachusetts are gun-related, and lawmakers passed up a chance to actually do something about suicide. When the bill was in the House, Wallace said, "We tried in vain to put together a lot of mental health things that would have vastly improved the bill that stands before us now." GOAL proposed creating a state-run suicide prevention hotline with follow-up intervention and giving judges expanded authority to civilly commit someone with mental illness for treatment. Wallace said the bill has "due process problems." For example, he said, an emergency order can be issued before the respondent is notified. The bill would also regulate stun guns, after a Supreme Judicial Court ruling struck down the state's ban on stun guns. The Senate and House bills provide different ways to license stun guns. The Senate, in an amendment sponsored by Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester, eliminated a 24-hour period someone had to turn over their guns under the House bill, instead making the order effective immediately. Other amendments passed by the Senate relate to procedures if the respondent does not appear in court, establishing a firearms law review commission, establishing data reporting requirements, detailing the type of mental health materials available, and other changes. Attempts to change the legal standards of evidence used for granting an extreme risk protective order were rejected. President Donald Trump told reality star Kim Kardashian that his approval rating among black voters grew by 11 percent after her husband, rapper and hip-hop mogul Kanye West, praised him on Twitter. If this is in fact true, some feel Kanye West should pick up where Omarosa Manigault left off and become Trump's new Director of African-American outreach. But others feel Kanye is a joke who is just being provocative to sell records. What do you think? PERSPECTIVES According to Bloomberg, Trump told Kim Kardashian that his approval rating with black voters has doubled ever since her husband, Kanye West, embraced him. Trump also credited West for his numbers boost at a Texas rally last month. Trump told Kim Kardashian that she and Kanye are boosting his popularity with black voters https://t.co/nYJbV6sCam #tictocnews pic.twitter.com/UD9eaeytvQ TicToc by Bloomberg (@tictoc) June 5, 2018 Kanye went on a pro-Trump Twitter rant earlier this year, referring to him as his "brother" and claiming they're both "dragon energy." He even tweeted a photo of a signed MAGA hat. You don't have to agree with trump but the mob can't make me not love him. We are both dragon energy. He is my brother. I love everyone. I don't agree with everything anyone does. That's what makes us individuals. And we have the right to independent thought. ye (@kanyewest) April 25, 2018 And Trump praised Kanye for his support. Thank you Kanye, very cool! https://t.co/vRIC87M21X Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 25, 2018 But others have turned their backs on Kanye for good. It really breaks my heart how many people have continued to support and defend Kanye. Its not about politics Trump is a racist and bigot. Kanyes platform is helping further normalize him and embolden his supporters. Are seven tracks really worth yall self respect? https://t.co/mWsjU4jXDa Frederick Joseph (@FredTJoseph) June 5, 2018 He literally said slavery was "a choice," this man has no business purporting to represent the black community. TMZ employee Van Lathan went off on the rapper. Kanye thinks slavery was "a choice" pic.twitter.com/zoPIDC8cSd jordan (@JordanUhl) May 1, 2018 Kanye just wants attention to sell albums (and possibly run for president in 2024). Kanye 2024 posters hit cities across America - Keep America Great pic.twitter.com/z5sNKWyGvr Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) April 23, 2018 The Tylt is focused on debates and conversations around news, current events and pop culture. We provide our community with the opportunity to share their opinions and vote on topics that matter most to them. We actively engage the community and present meaningful data on the debates and conversations as they progress. The Tylt is a place where your opinion counts, literally. The Tylt is an Advance Local Media, LLC property. Join us on Twitter @TheTylt, on Instagram @TheTylt or on Facebook, we'd love to hear what you have to say. With federal housing support set to run out on June 30, dozens of Western Massachusetts residents displaced by the Puerto Rico hurricane took to Capitol Hill Thursday to share their stories and ask lawmakers for help. Hurricane evacuees, who boarded Washington D.C.-bound buses early Wednesday, met with several members of Massachusetts' congressional delegation to share their stories and urge them to call on the Federal Emergency Management Agency to extend shelter benefits, as well as to utilize other supports. Emily Rodriguez, an organizer with the Pioneer Valley Project which sponsored the two-day lobbying trip, said the 100 evacuees pressed lawmakers to support U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey's, D-Massachusetts, bill requiring FEMA to stand up the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Disaster Housing Assistance Program. They further urged lawmakers to pressure FEMA to activate the program on its own and to take all other actions in their power to help those impacted by the hurricane -- requests which Rodriguez said appeared to garner a "positive" response. "The people that we met, they all were down to help and to push FEMA into continuing to support these families and to open the DHAP program, which has been done before for others," she said in an interview. Rodriguez, however, said she believes more must be done to educate the public and Congress about the uncertainty and challenges still facing these evacuees. Denise Nieves, who lives in a West Springfield hotel with her two children, said she faces the potential of becoming homeless if the upcoming Transitional Sheltering Assistance program deadline is not extended or DHAP activated. "Right now, if the deadline of June 30 comes ... I don't have anywhere to go. I don't have a plan B for this situation," she said in an interview. "And that's what is really desperate, what are we going to do?" Nieves said she hopes lawmakers heard her and other Puerto Rico hurricane survivors who traveled to Capitol Hill "with their hearts" and understand that there's a big need for the Disaster Housing Assistance Program, which provides subsidies to help families pay rent, put down security deposits or pay utilities. "All we need is the opportunity to get back on our feet, to stand up for ourselves. ... In 22 days we're not going to do it, we're not going to find a house and everything," she said, noting that she hopes to stay in the mainland United States so she and her family can have better work and educational opportunities. Warren and Markey said in a joint statement that they're committed to helping Massachusetts hurricane evacuees as the FEMA deadline approaches. "Families in Western Massachusetts and all across the country are still struggling after being displaced by Hurricane Maria and have been abandoned by FEMA and the Trump administration as they face a housing crisis," they said. "With the deadline approaching for the end of temporary housing assistance, we will keep pushing for longer-term housing aid and working to support those evacuees who have made Massachusetts their home." U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, a Springfield Democrat who met with Puerto Rico hurricane evacuees at his Capitol Hill office on Wednesday, said he also intends to push FEMA to extend its transitional shelter benefit or activate DHAP so that families still living in hotels across Western Massachusetts have more certainty about their futures. The congressman added that he could sense the evacuees' frustration with FEMA planning to end its housing support on June 30, despite ongoing efforts to restore Puerto Rico's power grid and a reported lack of permanent housing solutions for those looking to remain in the mainland United States. "For them, there's a lot of frustration given the fact that some would like to return to the island and some, based on their current status, might not go back -- they're not sure," he said in an interview. "They need some transitional sheltering and I certainly favor that ... and I did point out that, until the grid is reconstructed, that it's going to be very, very difficult to see how everything else falls into place to get some stability to the island economically and socially." Neal said the entire Massachusetts congressional delegation plans to send a letter to FEMA requesting urgent action to help hurricane evacuees. U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, who recently slammed the Trump administration's response to the Puerto Rico hurricane in a Massachusetts Democratic convention speech, was among other delegation members to meet with local residents impacted by the September storm. The Worcester Democrat's office said the congressman "strongly supports this effort by Western Massachusetts advocates to raise the voices of those displaced and hurt by the hurricane." "Congressman McGovern is proud to stand with these families and will continue to call for FEMA to activate the Disaster Housing Assistance Program and do all they can to help our fellow Americans in need," a spokesman said in an email. FEMA Federal Coordinating Officer Michael Byrne told Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello Nevares in mid-May that the agency would not implement DHAP for the island's recovery efforts. He noted that FEMA's Individuals and Households Program, which offers financial housing assistance and direct housing assistance, had obligated more than $1.2 billion in assistance, including $593 million in housing assistance for survivors. Puerto Rico, he added, would receive $19.9 billion in HUD's Community Development Block Grant for Disaster Recovery to help cover home construction and repairs. Evacuees who relocated in the continental U.S., meanwhile, can utilize FEMA's Immediate Disaster Case Management program in developing their permanent housing and recovery plans, Byrne said. BOSTON -- A 19-year-old Massachusetts woman died of a seizure because she was unable to get prior authorization to renew a prescription for her medication. As a result of her death, the state's Supreme Judicial Court ruled Thursday that a pharmacist has a duty to tell both the patient and their physician when filling a prescription requires prior authorization. A Superior Court case will determine whether the doctor or pharmacy should be held responsible for Yarushka Rivera's death. "Pharmacists simply must take reasonable steps to notify patients and prescribing physicians that, if the physician wants a patient to receive insurance coverage for the prescribed medication, the physician must complete a form," the SJC wrote, in a decision written by Justice Barbara Lenk. The decision leaves open questions about what exactly pharmacists are obligated to do. Justice David Lowy, in a dissenting opinion, said the court provided no real guidance on what "reasonable steps" are. He said the decision places too much of a duty on pharmacists, when it is actually the job of the doctor and insurer to determine coverage. "The court's desire to improve patient safety and avoid the tragic results that occurred in this case is beyond question," Lowy wrote. "But I am troubled that imposing a tepid duty on pharmacies that have no ability to control the system while simultaneously dissipating the personal responsibility of health insurers, physicians and patients within the existing system will have an adverse effect on patient safety." Rivera was diagnosed with epilepsy when she was 18, in May 2009. She was a recent high school graduate who intended to study nursing at Northern Essex Community College, according to court documents. Rivera had MassHealth coverage. When she was 18, MassHealth paid for the drug Topamax to control her life-threatening seizures. But once she turned 19, MassHealth's policy was to require prior authorization. Essentially, her doctor had to send a form to MassHealth requesting coverage for the medication. A Walgreens in Lawrence told Rivera that she would need prior authorization once she turned 19. The pharmacist allegedly also told Rivera that the pharmacy would contact her doctor, Andreas Schoeck, who works for New England Neurological Associates, based in Lawrence. Walgreens routinely sends a doctor a fax, sometimes following up with a phone call, when prior authorization is necessary. Rivera ran out of her supply of Topamax in August 2009. Between July and October, Rivera's stepfather said he called Schoeck's office seven times about obtaining prior authorization, but he was relying on Walgreens to send Schoeck the form. In September 2009, Rivera had a seizure and ended up in the hospital, which discharged her with a prescription for Topamax. But she was unable to fill that prescription because she still did not have prior authorization. Her family was told it would cost $400 to pay out of pocket, which they could not afford. Rivera tried filling her prescription four more times, and each time Walgreens denied her because of a lack of prior authorization. Rivera's mother, Carmen Correa, says a Walgreens employee said each time that the pharmacy would call Schoeck, although Walgreens denies this. Walgreens has no record of ever communicating with Schoeck or his office. Schoeck and his office say they were never notified by Walgreens or by Rivera's family about the need for prior authorization. Rivera suffered a third seizure on Oct. 29, 2009 and died. Correa sued Walgreens, Schoeck and Schoeck's office for wrongful death. Rivera's family previously filed a separate lawsuit against a psychiatric facility that treated Rivera. A Middlesex Superior Court judge ruled in favor of Walgreens, finding that Walgreens had no legal duty to notify Schoeck that prior authorization was needed. The SJC overturned that ruling and found that Walgreens had a legal duty to notify the doctor. The SJC ruling sends the case back to Superior Court, where it will be determined whether Walgreens, Schoeck and his office bear any responsibility for Rivera's death. The ruling has implications beyond this case because it created a new legal duty that will require pharmacists to notify both the patient and the prescribing physician when prior authorization is needed. Currently, pharmacists only have to notify the patient, although it is standard industry practice to notify the doctor as well. The court ruled, however, that the responsibility is limited. A pharmacist does not have to follow up with the physician to ensure that the physician received the notice or filled out the form. The court found that pharmacists today are not like any other store vendor, because they have existing legal obligations to identify and prevent medical risks that might stem from filling a prescription. MassHealth does not notify doctors of the need for prior authorization, so it is up to the pharmacist to do so. "The skill and knowledge of pharmacists today involve more than the dispensing of pills," Lenk wrote. "A pharmacist exercising the skill and knowledge normally possessed by members of the professional community ordinarily would notify a patient and the prescribing physician that prior authorization is needed." The ruling noted that the pharmacist knows the proper forms and procedures needed for prior authorization, which a patient generally does not. In his dissent, Lowy wrote that pharmacists have a duty to inform the patient but not the physician about the need for prior authorization. He said the pharmacy is essentially a "conduit" between the health insurer and the doctor, and the ruling dissipates the responsibility that the doctor and insurer have, while giving patients "a false sense of security." Lowy said the ruling does not clarify what steps are sufficient - for example, whether leaving a single voicemail is enough or how many phone calls are enough. It does not address what a pharmacist must tell a patient or health insurer. Lowy questioned whether pharmacies will now have to create a system to track every contact with a doctor's office, and whether independent pharmacies can afford to do that. The Republican has left messages with attorneys for Correa and Walgreens, as well as with the Massachusetts Pharmacists Association, seeking comment. by Leslie Pascaud , Columnist, June 7, 2018 In the wake of the Parkland school shooting, gun reform has come to the forefront of national discourse. As student protests swell, brands including Best Western, Enterprise, Metlife, and Walmart are joining the fight for gun reform. Most notably, Dicks Sporting Goods, one of the nations leading gun sellers which had removed assault rifles from its stores following the Sandy Hook shooting, but later quietly began selling them again, found itself in the maelstrom when it was revealed that it had sold a gun to the Parkland shooter in November 2017. Dicks reacted swiftly, staunchly aligning itself with the protesters, and permanently banning assault-style weapons from its stores. CEO Edward Stack explained the choice to stop selling assault-style rifles as follows: "We don't want to be a part of this story any longer. We actually sold the shooter a shotgun in November of last year and when we ... found out that we did this, we had a pit in our stomach." advertisement advertisement Dicks enacted an additional policy to enforce an age requirement of 21 years for purchasing firearms and hired a lobbyist to push for broader federal gun reform. That very day, the number of Twitter messages referring to Dicks Sporting Goods jumped 12,000% from its average. The grand majority were positive (79%). Many people are asking whether taking an explicit stand on such a contentious issue is a good idea. When Atlanta-based Delta Airlines severed ties with the NRA, Georgias legislature took retribution by eliminating tax breaks worth some $50 million. In response, Edward Bastian, Deltas CEO replied, Our values are not for sale." Interestingly, Deltas adjusted operating revenue of $9.8 billion for the March quarter improved 8%, or $715 million versus the prior year and marks a record for the company. Dicks recently published earnings are also up. While same-store sales took a -2.5% hit from the lost gun sales, its ecommerce sales jumped 24% over the prior quarters, suggesting that their highly visible stand has not hurt their business. These issues are never black and white. But it appears that brands that step out in front on a hot-button issue like gun control with courage and conviction are not being sanctioned by consumers. And with 84% of Centennials stating that more companies should take a stand on important social issues, we are likely to be seeing more of this kind of conviction from purpose-driven brands in the years to come. by Tanya Gazdik , June 6, 2018 The auto category continues to face many technological changes. But amidst the chaos there exists opportunities for automakers to forge trust-based relationships with consumers. This was was the overarching theme of the sixth annual Facebook Auto Summit, held Wednesday in downtown Detroit and attended by about 450 execs from the automakers and their agencies. Of course, part of it was a sales pitch from Facebook execs encouraging more usage of its various platforms. To prompt consideration, Facebook shared some impressive results from earlier efforts from Honda and Ford. To drive awareness and favorability of the new F-150 pickup, Ford created a video system that allowed them to deliver a single strong brand video across multiple platforms. The results included +21pt lift, ad recall, +7pt lift, likely to consider Ford F-150. advertisement advertisement For the launch of the Honda Fit, the brand shot its creative purposefully in vertical format, building for Instagram Stories. Campaign creative was also native to the platform, with the use of emojis. As one of the brand's first IG Stories campaigns, Honda saw great success with 16 points lift in ad awareness, 2.5 lift in brand favorability Chiwei Lee, creative shop lead for auto, Facebook and Martin Pagh Ludvigsen, vice president, creative director at Mullen, discussed the mobile-forward campaign that that agency created for the Acura TLX. Lee called the campaign, which used vertically shot footage even for its TV effort, highly relevant and completely breakthrough. Lundvigsen said the agency came up with the approach after playing around with Facebooks Canvas platform. We actually tell brands to play more, Lee says. We are in many ways inventing and building the future. We give some suggestions but ideally, we need brands to actively engage and play with the platforms. Ludvigsen says there is a healthy give and take between the agency and Facebook and other social media sites. We try to come up with different hacks and then take them to Facebook and ask f theres a way they can help make it happen, he says. Facebook used the event to reveal details of its latest report, The Facebook IQ Guide to Car Buyers and Enthusiasts. Presented by Kim Stonehouse, industry manager for auto, Facebook, the statistics paint a picture of the typical vehicle buying experience. Auto intenders are primarily younger than 45 and the male/female split if 50/50. However, men and women drive the conversation differently. They generally fall into one of four categories: rugged roaders, suburban drivers, luxury lifers and pop culture mavens. The top five hashtags among U.S. male auto enthusiasts highlight function and appearance (#cars, #car, #carporn, #newcar and #automotive.) The top five hashtags among U.S. female auto enthusiasts highlight a value, sentiment or life stage the car represents. by Thom Forbes @tforbes, June 7, 2018 Mick Mulvaney, the administrations budget director who has been doubling as the acting director and chief defanger of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, yesterday relieved all 25 members of its Consumer Advisory Board of their duties. The CFPB says it will replace them with smaller advisory groups that will ensure streamlined discussions about the bureaus policy priorities and needs in a productive manner. By law, the bureau must convene the advisory board and hold at least two in-person meetings with its members a year. The bureau canceled a meeting scheduled for February, and last week it canceled one planned for this week, Stacy Cowley reports for the New York Times. That didnt sit well with some of the members, as you might imagine. advertisement advertisement On Monday, 11 CAB members held a news conference and criticized Mulvaney for, among other things, canceling legally required meetings with the group, reports Renae Merle for the Washington Post. On Wednesday, group members were notified that they were being replaced and that they could not reapply for spots on the new board. The decision is the latest in a series of moves Mulvaney has made in his six-month tenure to more closely align the bureau with business interests a stark change from the hard-charging, pro-enforcement stance taken by his predecessor, Richard Cordray, observes Politicos Katy ODonnell. Everyone on the board has been fired, Judith Fox, a professor of consumer law at Notre Dame Law School who sat on the board for three years, tells the Associated Press. Firing the current CAB members is another move indicating acting director Mick Mulvaney is only interested in obtaining views from his inner circle, and has no interest in hearing the perspectives of those who work with struggling American families, CAB chair Ann Baddour, director of the Fair Financial Services Project at the Texas Appleseed Project, says in a statement released by the National Consumer Law Center.. Not so, according to the bureaus recently appointed chief communications officer and spokesperson, John Czwartacki, with Orwellian certitude. The Bureau has not fired anyone, says Mulvaney spox after CFPB's policy board was put on ice. Then: The outspoken members seem more concerned about protecting their taxpayer funded junkets to Washington, DC and being wined and dined by the Bureau than protecting consumers, the New York Times Glenn Thrush tweets. CAB members called those comments insulting and outrageous. Several said that some members offered to pay their own expenses during a conference call explaining the changes and wondered why they werent asked to do so before, Sylvan Lane reports for The Hill. The CFPB covers airfare and a hotel stay for board members flying into Washington, D.C., for the meetings, making up a small percentage of the agencys budget. CAB members said the CFPB would put them up in budget hotels in the districts outskirts, and that they spent the vast majority of their time in a conference room, Hill continues. The advisory board members include consumer advocates, academics and former bank executives, Bloombergs Elizabeth Dexheimer informs us. Mulvaney, who runs CFPB part-time while also serving as head of the White House Office of Management and Budget, told the board members that his decision to reshuffle the panels was driven by efforts to cut costs across the agency, she continues. Previously, when he was in Congress, Mulvaney sponsored legislation to abolish the bureau. In April, he said he wanted to shut down public access to a popular government database at the CFPB. In February, he indicated he wanted to scale back the CFPB's role as a watchdog. And under Mulvaney, the CFPB delayed a new payday lending regulation and dropped an investigation into one payday lender that contributed to his campaign, NPRs Chris Arnold and Avie Schneider report. The CFPB said the board's members and those of two other agency boards, the Community Bank Advisory Board and the Credit Union Advisory Board, were terminated and that they were not allowed to re-apply, Kate Berry writes for American Banker. We've decided we're going to start the advisory groups with new membership, to bring in these new perspectives and new dialogue,' Anthony Welcher, a political appointee and the CFPB's policy advisory for external affairs, told CAB members during a brief call, Berry reports after listening to a recording of it. We want more diverse voices and we want to bring people in from larger-scale organizations, larger-scale opportunities in the communities to hear about processes we may be going through, Berry continued. Anyone else suspect the new diverse voices will sound a lot like the diversity looks like in this photograph of the White Houses spring 2018 intern class? by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, June 7, 2018 Alphabets management, which has voting control, squashed several proposals Wednesday that would have forced executives at Googles parent company to rethink a hiring practice that some employees say stifles innovation. The proposal centers on what they call a gender pay gap and lack of diversity that could make it difficult to hire and keep talented workers. During the shareholder meeting, Google software engineer Irene Knapp said the lack of diversity and inclusion activities by individuals have weakened the companys culture. One Google engineer called for the pay of Google Chief Executive officer Sundar Pichai to be partly tied to diversity. The company, still tightly controlled by the founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, shows that without their approval, gender gap compensation and diversity will not change at the company. In a blog post published Thursday, Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai wrote that as a leader in AI, Google executives take a deep responsibility to get this right. So on Thursday announced seven principles to guide its work. These concrete standards will actively govern its research and product development and will impact its business decisions. advertisement advertisement Googles employees continue to criticize the company for not doing enough -- and in some cases, doing too much. For example, reports surfaced earlier that Google would partner with the U.S. Pentagon to work on an artificial intelligence (AI) platform that identifies people and points of interest from drones. After the employee protests, Google decided to halt its involvement with the platform, dubbed Maven, and give up the multimillion-dollar Pentagon contract that some reports pegged at as much as $250 million. In an opinion piece running in Bloomberg earlier this week by columnist Shira Ovide titled Maybe Its Time For Google to Find a Spine, she pointed to a statement from Michael Bloomberg, the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg L.P. In the statement, he said its the job of senior management at any company to do the right thing, even if it provokes criticism. He also argued that Alphabets leaders failed by caving in to protests about the Pentagon contract rather than pursue a project that could help U.S. national security and limit civilian casualties. It wasnt until the shareholder meeting that Brin and Page seemingly followed through, when both rejected the employee-backed diversity proposal. Employees and shareholders continue to challenge the under-representation of women and racial minorities in the companys U.S. workforce, compared with the rest of the country and population statistics. by Melynda Fuller , June 7, 2018 Hearst Newspapers has hired Cox Media Groups Mark Medici as its executive vice president-Chief Marketing Officer. Medici, who will be based in Houston, is the first to hold this newly created position. He will oversee consumer-marketing strategy across all platforms for Hearsts 24 dailies and 64 weeklies. He will also work closely with the publishers of the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News, where he will oversee consumer revenue and marketing. Hearst Newspapers also holds the LocalEdge brand, which operates digital marketing and directories businesses. Hearst Executive Vice President and COO Mark Aldam and Hearst Newspapers President Jeff Johnson stated Medici has a ... tremendous track record of executing strategies to drive audience engagement and consumer revenue, and great insights in the use of data and marketing to grow and retain readers. advertisement advertisement Medici will report directly to Johnson. Before joining Cox Media Group, where he held the position of vice president of Audience and Newspaper Operations, Medici was vice president of audience for The Dallas Morning News and director of audience for The Oregonian. Medici stated he would drive emerging digital consumer revenue streams while maintaining strong print fundamentals. by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, June 7, 2018 Faced with a lawsuit by Washington state's top law enforcement official, Google has stopped accepting political ads in the state. Google's new policy applies to ballot measures as well as state and local elections in Washington, the company announced late Wednesday. The move came one day after state Attorney General Bob Ferguson sued both Google and Facebook for failing to comply with a state law requiring companies that run political ads to maintain publicly available information about them. Since 2008, Google has accepted around $1.5 million in political ad revenue in Washington state, while Facebook has accepted more than $3 million, according to the lawsuits. advertisement advertisement A spokesperson for Ferguson said he was "glad to see Google is taking our lawsuit seriously." Washington's ad disclosure law, which dates to the 1970s, requires companies selling political ads to allow members of the public to learn information including the names and addresses of the ad purchasers and the total cost of the ad. That measure applies to companies that sell "the service of communicating messages" -- a definition that is broad enough to cover online platforms that sell digital ads, according to Ferguson's office. A newer state law, which took effect this week, requires that companies running digital ads make additional information available -- including descriptions of the geolocations and audiences targeted, and the total number of impressions generated by the ad. The newer law also explicitly says it applies to paid digital ads. Google's decision comes as federal lawmakers are considering new disclosure requirements for online political ads. Last year, Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota), Mark Warner (D-Virginia) and John McCain (R-Arizona) introduced the Honest Ads Act, which would require some web publishers with at least 50,000,000 monthly viewers to maintain publicly available copies of political ads purchased by groups spending more than a total of $500. The bill would also require those web companies to maintain public records about the target audience, number of views, rates charged, and dates and times of publication. The Federal Election Commission is also crafting new rules regarding online ad disclaimers. The new scrutiny of online political ads stems largely from revelations that Russian operatives purchased campaign ads that appeared on Facebook, Google and Twitter during the 2016 presidential election cycle. A Google spokesperson said: "We take transparency and disclosure of political ads very seriously which is why we have decided to pause state and local election ads in Washington, starting June 7, while we assess the amended campaign disclosure law and ensure that our systems are built to comply with the new requirements." by Ray Schultz , June 7, 2018 Most consumers are uncomfortable with the idea of brands buying and selling data on them. But the degree of their discomfort depends on whether they have downloaded their own Facebook data. Those who have downloaded are a little more trusting, according to Sailthrus 2018 Data Privacy Report. It also depends on their location. For example, only 58% of those in Texas feel the government should regulate data use by brands, compared with 80% in New York. And 70% of the Texans believe they are responsible for their own data privacy, compared to 47% of the New Yorkers. Sailthru surveyed 2,000 Americans in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. It found, among other things, that people dont want to pay for social media. Overall, only 7.4% of the consumers polled are comfortable with the idea of brand buying and selling email addresses, phone numbers, social media pages and web browsing habits, etc. Over 70% are uncomfortable with it, 55.3% very much so. Another 24.9% are not sure. advertisement advertisement This feeling is more pronounced among people who have not downloaded their Facebook data 69% of those distrust trust brands with their data, compared to 53.9% who did download it. In addition, 26.1% who have downloaded feel they have the tools to control their personal data online, versus 15.9% who have not. But there are limits to the forbearance of even the consumers who have downloaded: Only 34.2% were comfortable with the data Facebook had gathered from their profile. In addition, over half of both downloaders and non-downloaders say they are likely to delete at least one social media account in the next 12 months. And geography only counts or so much 52% in the non-downloaders in both New York and Texas favor government regulation of data. Finally, 61% of the people who have not accessed their Facebook data believe companies should not sell personal information (vs. 58.3% of those who have seen it) . Only 4% of the non-downloading Texans disagree. Sailthru surveyed over 2,000 consumers. According to new research, aspirin may reduce the risk of bowel cancer. The latest study to investigate this relationship outlines how the popular painkiller might manage this feat. Share on Pinterest A simple, well-used pill may provide insight into bowel cancer. Aspirin, the cost-effective, relatively safe, over-the-counter painkiller, is commonly taken to treat aches and pains. Also known as acetylsalicylic acid, it is regularly used to prevent more serious conditions, too such as stroke and blood clots in at-risk patients. Over the years, evidence has been mounting that aspirin might also prevent bowel (colorectal) cancer. For instance, a 20-year follow-up of five randomized clinical trials published in 2010 concluded that daily aspirin, taken over many years, reduced long-term incidence and mortality due to colorectal cancer. Similarly, in 2010, another study looking at shorter-term aspirin demonstrated a protective effect against [colorectal cancer] associated with the lowest dose of aspirin [] after only 5 years use in the general population. Although evidence is mounting, exactly how aspirin protects against certain cancers is still not understood. In a recent paper, published in the journal Nucleic Acids Research, scientists attempted to find out. They focused on a structure within the cell called the nucleolus. Tourettes syndrome does not affect the intellect of a person. An example of this is a speaker and teacher Brad Cohen who despite having TS didnt give up on his dream to become a teacher, after being turned down by 24 schools. He finally became a teacher. A Hindi remake called Hichki was made of his inspirational life. Tourette's Awareness Day What is the cause of Tourette's Syndrome? Does the person have any other problem apart from Tics? Facts on Tourette's Syndrome (TS) First symptoms of TS usually get noticed between ages 3 and 9 years. It can occur in any ethnic community Females are 3 to 4 times less likely to get affected by TS An estimated 200,000 Americans are said to have the most severe form of TS, and nearly 1 in every 100 individuals exhibit some milder form of chronic motor or vocal tics. People who have TS, experience their worst tic symptoms in their early teens,.This tends to improve in later teens and adulthood. TS can only be diagnosed if the patient has had both motor and vocal tics for at least 1 year. There is absolutely no diagnostic blood, laboratory, or imaging tests for this syndrome. Can a person with Tourette's Syndrome live a normal life? What can be done to show our support for the people with Tourette's Syndrome? First know more about how Tourette's syndrome affects people's lives and help sufferers, especially young children deal with the tics. Teach people to use the three C's 'Stay Calm, Be Confident, Have Control' to manage stress and tics. Advertisement Teachers can promote communication with parents and fellow students to ignore symptoms that can be ignored and not make the person feel self-conscious about the tics. What is it that I can do in 'Moving for TS' campaign? Moving for TS is a new campaign promoted by Tourette's Action, a UK based organization working to raise awareness on Tourette's Syndrome. You can choose a place, time and a challenge for yourself or other supporters to complete during the month of June. There is basically no limit to what you can do, it could be anything from a 5 km family dog walk, to 15-mile cycle, the choice is up to you. How can I register and participate in 'Moving for TS' campaign? Here are some rules to explain how to go about your registration Each registration will cost around 10 per adult and 5 per child (up to age 15) When you and your team are finished with the task, email the organization to state how you have completed your tasks with the help of a photo. You can even post a photo of your challenge on their facebook page or twitter account using the hashtag #MoveForTourettes. The organization will send medals and certificate once the challenge is complete. While talking to a person with Tourette's syndrome, don't be distracted by the simple tics. Pretend as if you didn't notice the tics and continue the conversation. That will your biggest support to someone struggling to be accepted with simple tics. References : Move For Tourettes - (https://www.tourettes-action.org.uk/news-278-move-for- tourettes.html) TS Statistics - (https://www.dollars4ticscholars.org/our-ts-story/ts- statistics/) 2018 Tourette Syndrome National Advocacy Day - (http://www.tourette.org/blogs/public-policy/2018-tourette-syndrome-national-advocacy-day/) Tourette Syndrome Awareness Week, 6-12 May 2018 - (https://www.volunteeringqld.org.au/blog/1435-tourette-syndrome-awareness-week-6-12- may-2018) Source: Medindia Gavin Clampett, a seven year old hit the headlines when he made a video to stop kids from making fun of him because of his Tourette's Syndrome. His effort was to make people understand what Tourette's syndrome really is and how others can help sufferers deal with tics--which are nothing more than like a hiccup, small and harmless.First know more about how Tourette's syndrome affects people's lives and help sufferers, especially young children deal with the tics. Teach people to use the three C's 'Stay Calm, Be Confident, Have Control' to manage stress and tics.Teachers can promote communication with parents and fellow students to ignore symptoms that can be ignored and not make the person feel self-conscious about the tics.Moving for TS is a new campaign promoted by Tourette's Action, a UK based organization working to raise awareness on Tourette's Syndrome. You can choose a place, time and a challenge for yourself or other supporters to complete during the month of June. There is basically no limit to what you can do, it could be anything from a 5 km family dog walk, to 15-mile cycle, the choice is up to you.Here are some rules to explain how to go about your registrationWhile talking to a, don't be distracted by the simple tics. Pretend as if you didn't notice the tics and continue the conversation. That will your biggest support to someone struggling to be accepted with simple tics.Source: Medindia The cause of Tourette syndrome remains unknown but is attributed to certain genetic and environmental factors. Tics tend to get noticed in early childhood between the ages of 7-10. Patients with Tourette syndrome have the same amount of intelligence and work output as a normal person, but the stigma around their condition can affect their everyday lives.Absolutely. Tourette's syndrome does not affect the intellect of a person. This example is embodied by a speaker and teacherwho despite having TS didn't give up on his dream to become a teacher, after being turned down by 24 schools. He finally became a teacher. His story is truly inspirational to all the people with TS and other disabilities. His life has even been portrayed as a movie -A Hindi remake of this movie named "" created awareness on this lesser known syndrome in India. The Commission said the investigation had been terminated after the complainant, industry body Euroalliages, withdrew its complaint by email on February 27. Euroalliages had lodged a complaint with the EU on June 19, 2017, acting on behalf of four EU producers : France-based Ferropem (a subsidiary of Ferroglobe), Spains Ferroatlantica (now Ferroglobe), OFZ Slovakia and Huta Laziska in Poland.The product being investigated was ferro-silicon containing, by weight, at least 20% but not more than 96% silicon, and 4% or more of iron, the report said.Metal Bulletin assessed prices for standard grade ferro-silicon (Si 75%) at 1,450-1,500 ($1,696-1,755) per tonne on Friday, flat with the previous weeks assessment.The market was at an annual low of 1,140-1,200 per tonne in January last year, before climbing steadily to hit an annual peak of 1,700-1,760 per tonne in the same month this year."The investigation has not brought to light any considerations showing that such termination would be against the [European] Union interest," the EU statement said. "Therefore, the Commission considered that the present investigation should be terminated."Interested parties were informed accordingly and given an opportunity to comment, it said, however, the Commission received no comments that would justify that such a termination would not be in the Unions interest, it added.The Commission's decision will enter into force on the day after its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union on June 4, the statement said.The investigation covered the period from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017, the Commission said, adding that, the examination of trends relevant for the assessment of injury will cover the period from January 1, 2014 to the end of the investigation period. Sagarmatha Network Pvt. Ltd. is the organization dedicated in the field of printing, publishing service since 2001. As part of media, we've been publishing Review Nepal, an English medium weekly registered at District Administration Office (DAO) Kathmandu with registration number 130-162-163 and reviewnepal.com as an online digital newspaper, with registration number 849-075-076 at Department of Informational and Broadcasting (DIB) from Kathmandu, Nepal since 2003. Kathmandu, Nepal: Nepal Oil Corporation (IOC) Executive Director (ED) Gopal Khadka has resigned from his post on Thursday citing the reason that he was not given any responsibilities at the Ministry. I was called to the ministry even though I was called back after Supreme Courts stay order on dismissal by the Council of Ministers from the post of IOC ED, but I was denied of responsibilities, Khadka said reasoning about his resignation. Khadka organized a press meet at the Ministry of Industry to announce his resignation. I have submitted my resignation letter to the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Matrika Yadav, effective from today, Khadka said at the press meet. Iasiah Brown, 25, of New Haven, said he does not see a need for a primary care doctor for himself and his daughter, opting to visit clinics in the area instead of waiting up to two weeks for an appointment at a doctors office. Brown is among the 83 people who said they didnt have a primary care doctor in response to a health care usage survey by the Conn. Health I-Team and Southern Connecticut State University. The team surveyed 500 people and interviewed dozens statewide between January and March. About 83 percent of respondents said they had a primary care doctor, but the rate was lower for African American (78 percent) and Hispanic respondents (75 percent). Meanwhile, white respondents were more likely than the averageat 88 percentto have a primary care doctor. These numbers have decreased since 2015, when C-HIT conducted a similar survey. In 2015, 93 percent of whites, 84 percent of African Americans, and 86 percent of Hispanics had a primary care doctor. The survey results highlight health care disparities between wealthier residents and those in lower income brackets, and between white respondents and minoritiesfindings that mirror those of the 2015 study. In general, white residents and those making more than $50,000 a year were more likely to have health insurance and use it. Those over 50 years old in both groups were more likely to have undergone a colonoscopy. The wealthier respondents more often lived close to their primary care doctor. But in some cases, those making below $50,000, and people of color, were more likely to have had some preventive care screenings, such as chest X-rays for smokers, screenings for depression, and interventions from doctors regarding their weight. About 110 people said even though they had insurance, there were barriers preventing them from accessing health care. Of those, 54 cited co-pays, 39 said time or travel expenses, and 17 said there was a language barrier to accessing health care. For Natasha Gerasimopoulos, 36, of Milford, the problem is finding a doctor covered by insurance. Gerasimopoulos, who is insured through Husky Health, along with her son, doesnt have co-pays for her office visits, but she said its hard to find specialists who take Husky. The doctors offices will say Oh, we dont take that insurance, or We stopped taking it a long time ago, Gerasimopoulos said. Or, she said, if she can find a doctor who takes her insurance, the office is far from her home. Most people, at 92.6 percent, reported having health insurance for 2018. But Hispanics and blacks were less likely to have health insurance, at 80.2 percent and 89.2 percent, than whites, at 97.7 percent. More people reported being uninsured than in the 2015 survey, when 3.6 percent said they had no medical insurance. Connecticuts uninsured rate for 2016, the most recent numbers available from the National Center for Health Statistics, was 5.8 percent. Recent changes to the Affordable Care Act, first enacted in 2010, have negatively impacted health care access, according to Pat Baker, president of the Connecticut Health Foundation. An example, she said, is a change in the number of state residents who qualify for Medicaid. Originally Medicaid in Connecticut covered individuals up to 185 percent of poverty, Baker said. What we saw happening since 2015 is that has been reduced to 155 percent of poverty, with the rationale that all those [excluded], about 18,000 people, could go get coverage through the exchange, Access Health CT. Instead, Baker said, only 20 percent of those dropped by Medicaid were able to purchase insurance through the exchange. The Connecticut Health Foundation and Access Health CT believe cost was a major factor, as survey respondent Beverly Malerba of Ansonia said. I cant afford it, really, she said. I wish [health care] was universal, like they have in Canada. What remains consistent is the disparate rate between the connection to care between the majority population and people of color, particularly African Americans, Baker said. Of those with insurance surveyed by C-HIT: 57 percent said they receive insurance through an employer plan; 17 percent of respondents are insured through Medicaid; 12 percent through Medicare; about 8 percent purchased insurance through the Access Health CT exchange; 3 percent said they had private insurance, but didnt indicate how they received it; and 1 percent are insured through both Medicaid and Medicare; Half of the respondents made more than $50,000 a year, and 56 percent were women. The respondents skewed younger, with 65 percent responding they were in their 40s or younger, and 29 percent in their 20s. About 53 percent of respondents were white, 20.7 percent were African American and 19.5 percent were Hispanic. Womens preventive care results were mixed. Overall, 87.7 percent of women over 40 had received a recommended mammogram in the last year, and 77.4 percent of women over 20 had received a recommended Pap test. Women making more than $50,000 were more likely to have received Pap tests. But the results for women over 40 who had received mammograms in the last year were split on income levels. Those making $100,000 or more were most likely to have had a mammogram in the last two years (93 percent), but those making less than $30,000 were close behind (89 percent). Black women were the most likely to have received a mammogram (93 percent) and Pap tests (91 percent). White respondents stated they had received recommended mammograms at 89 percent, and Pap tests at 76 percent. For Hispanic women, the results were 75 percent and 71 percent, respectively. In dozens of interviews, Connecticut residents spoke of the challenges with their health care. Maria Zhumi, of New Haven, said while she has health care through the exchange, she hasnt been able to get her 9-year-old daughter on the plan because she doesnt have a Social Security number. Zhumi said she has been paying for her daughters health care out of pocket. Confusion over her citizenship status is preventing Mayelin Jimenez of New Haven from obtaining health care, she said. When she lived in New York, she paid for private insurance, she said, but canceled that policy when she moved to New Haven in November. When she tried to obtain HUSKY insurance, she was told she had to have been living in the U.S. for five years to meet Connecticuts eligibility requirements. Jimenez said she must wait until July before she qualifies for HUSKY benefits. What if I have an accident? she asked. I have no insurance. Kylia Goodner-Bingham said she purchased insurance through the exchange, but couldnt afford it after the premiums increased. The West Haven resident is now on her wifes insurance through her job. Barbara Collado, a mother of three from New Haven, has had HUSKY A insurance for around 10 years, ever since she moved to Connecticut from Puerto Rico. In an interview conducted in both Spanish and English, Collado said her HUSKY coverage helped as she and her children have undergone evaluations for health issues. Collado said HUSKY paid for everything. The experience, she said, changed how she viewed her health, and she began seeking health care regularly at her primary clinic, the Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center. Collado said, however, that it takes her two buses to get to the Hill Center. When the bus is late, shes late for her appointments. But its worth it to Collado. I have a good relationship with them, she said. Kaitlyn Regan is a senior at Southern Connecticut State University. This project was reported by the students in the Multimedia Journalism course at Southern Connecticut State University, taught by Assistant Professor Jodie Mozdzer Gil. The students are: Ryan Conchado, Kevin Crompton, Jailene Cuevas, Melanie Espinal, Jonathan Gonzalez, Ethan Goodrich, Andrew Hans, Megan Hill, Quinn ONeill, August Pelliccio, Michael Riccio, Alyssa Rice and Regan. Lisa Massicotte, Jeniece Roman and Matt Wynn, C-HIT data specialist, contributed reporting. This story was reported under a partnership with Connecticut Health I-Team. (www.c-hit.org). NEW HAVEN A Southbury woman whose car struck and killed a cyclist on Ella T. Grasso Boulevard last year has been sentenced to serve four years and four months in prison for second-degree manslaughter with a motor vehicle, evading responsibility and driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Veronica Pierce, 43, apologized during the sentencing hearing. She said: I am broken by this experience, knowing that my actions cost a man his life. The victim was Ranko Borak, who was thrown over a guardrail after being struck by Pierces car. He was pronounced dead on the scene by EMS workers. The crash occurred at about 12:45 p.m. on April 2, 2017. A witness took photographs of a Ford Taurus as the driver drove away. Shortly afterward a car matching that description was reported being seen exiting Interstate 91 at Exit 3. That caller reported almost being hit by the vehicle. Police then found the Taurus, with a damaged windshield, near the intersection of Orange and Bradley streets. According to a police press release, Pierce said she had not been involved in a crash before she was asked about it and she had a blood alcohol level of 0.2062 percent. A person is legally intoxicated in Connecticut if his or her blood alcohol content is greater than 0.08 percent. Pierces defense attorney, Tara Knight, said the sentencing came after a plea agreement was reached. Under the agreement, Pierce would serve a maximum of five years but Knight was given the right to argue for less time. In exchange for Pierces guilty pleas to the three counts, the state agreed to drop additional charges of operating a motor vehicle under suspension and driving the wrong way on a one-way street. Knight called the case a tragedy all around, for the individual who died and also for Veronica. She didnt set out that day to hurt anybody. Knight added, Shes not a bad person. She herself was a victim in the criminal justice system and has struggled with substance abuse issues. She is very remorseful about what happened. But Supervisory Assistant States Attorney David Strollo said, My argument before the judge was: not only was she drunk and killed somebody, but she left the scene and was still driving erratically. Then she said somebody else was driving the car. I thought she should have gotten the full five years. Strollo noted New Haven Superior Court Judge Philip Scarpellino imposed a sentence eight months less than the maximum because of the support shown by Pierces family during the sentencing hearing. Her parents, sister and aunt spoke, as did Pierce herself. No one appeared in the courtroom to speak on the victims behalf. Strollo noted Borak was a foreigner who has no relatives living here. When Pierce faced the judge, she said, Im sorry seems so empty and inadequate. She added, If I could trade places (with Borak), I would. I cant imagine what his family and friends are going through. How can I fix this? How can I atone for this? Scarpellino imposed a sentence of 10 years, to be suspended after Pierce serves four years and four months. She will then face five years of probation. randall.beach@hearstmediact.com Chancellor Angela Merkel made a forceful pitch for Europe to play a more assertive role in global affairs as U.S. President Donald Trump dismantles the post-World War II order, setting the stage for a potential tense standoff at the Group of Seven summit this week. The German leader again questioned the durability of trans-Atlantic relations by referring to eye-raising comments she made over a year ago in which she said that "the times when we could fully rely on others are to some extent over." Those words, spoken at a beer-tent election rally, were a reaction to Trump hectoring European leaders for not spending enough on defense at a North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Brussels. Since then, more fuel has been added to the fire. "That was my takeaway from the NATO summit, and in the meantime I continue to feel confirmed by my statement," Merkel said in Munich on Wednesday, this time to a meeting of the European People's Party, a grouping of center-right parties in the European Parliament. In addition to the disruptive effects of the rift in NATO and Trump's exit from the Paris global climate treaty, Merkel pointed to the fresh conflict over trade and the U.S. leader's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear accord last month. "All of that confirms the assessment that the world is being reorganized," Merkel told the EPP. The German chancellor has taken a firmer stance leading up to the two-day G-7 gathering in Canada, which starts Friday. Earlier on Wednesday, Europe's most experienced government leader vowed to challenge Trump on trade and climate, saying the lack of room for compromise means leaders may fail to agree on a final statement. Trump's "America First" doctrine shows that "we have a serious problem with multilateral agreements," Merkel told German lawmakers, adding that failure to reach common ground could lead to the highly unusual step of host Canada issuing a concluding statement not agreed to by all participants. With Trump's unpredictable leadership and the U.S. turn toward isolationism, Merkel said that the European Union needs to hone its response to a raft of issues in an environment in which global institutions need to be "newly proven." The 28-member bloc -- soon to lose the U.K. after the 2016 referendum to exit the EU -- managed to grapple with a financial meltdown and the biggest influx of refugees since World War II only with "great effort," Merkel said. "But we don't have a sufficient foundation to confront crises of the future," she added, underscoring her push for reforms. To give the region more political heft, she called for joint action on security and migration, saying the bloc should "Europeanize" its presence on the United Nations Security Council. A rotating group of about 10 member states could work with veto-power France and the European Commission in order to "speak with one European voice" on the global stage, the chancellor said. The effort involves resolving tensions over migration. The contentious issue has driven a wedge between states calling for asylum seekers to be distributed within the bloc and those -- particularly in central and eastern Europe -- insisting migrants must be kept out. "I'll tell you very openly and deeply seriously, if we don't manage to form a common response to illegal immigration, then certain foundations of the European Union will be placed in question," Merkel said, citing freedom of movement across the EU's borders. --Bloomberg contributor: Arne Delfs Police officers thought they were doing a simple door-knock at a Mission District apartment to check on a San Francisco woman who recently was reported missing. But during their visit Saturday afternoon to the home on 14th Street, the officers made a disturbing discovery: a dismembered and decomposing body stuffed inside a plastic tub in a storage area under the apartment, two sources familiar with the investigation told The Chronicle. The missing womans roommate, 47-year-old Lisa Gonzales, was promptly arrested. On Tuesday, the district attorneys office charged her with murder, and she is expected to appear in Superior Court as soon as Wednesday for arraignment. But the case remains as mysterious as it is unusual. San Francisco police officials have been unusually close-mouthed, saying only that the case is under investigation. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly. The medical examiners office was working with the remains in an effort to conclusively identify the victim. The officers, though, were at the three-story apartment building on the 200 block of 14th Street to check on the welfare of a 61-year-old woman whose friend had reported her missing the day before, according to the sources. The friend, contacted by The Chronicle on Tuesday, declined to comment. Gonzales was being held Tuesday under psychiatric observation at San Francisco County Jail. She was given a no-bail status. No other details on her condition or her background were available. It was around 1 p.m. Saturday when officers knocked on the door of the Mission District apartment. Gonzales answered and cooperated with the officers inquiry, the sources said. At some point, the officers were drawn to a small concrete stairwell leading from the sidewalk in front of the home to a small storage area under the building, where they found the body parts. Police taped off the area that afternoon as investigators, some wearing hazardous material suits and masks, arrived and recovered the remains in the plastic bin, the sources said. One neighbor, who asked not to be identified, said he had noticed a terrible smell in the area in the days before the discovery. The man grew up next door and said Gonzales had lived in the apartment for nearly two decades. He said he knew her only in passing and that Gonzales kept to herself. The neighbor recalled hearing someone in recent days shuffling around in the storage area in the middle of the night. Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky CROMWELL Job seekers can meet with representatives from more than 50 companies to find that dream job during the Middlesex County Career Fair from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on June 19 at the Red Lion Hotel (formerly the Radisson Hotel), 100 Berlin Road, Cromwell. In addition to the Connecticut Department of Labor, career fair co-sponsors include the Middlesex Chamber of Commerce and Workforce Alliance. Representatives from more than 50 companies are expected to take part and will have personnel available to speak one-on-one with attendees about possible openings with their companies including entry-level, technical, sales and management positions. Companies already signed up to participate include Adelbrook, Aaron Manor Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Express Kitchens, FedEx Ground, Goodwill of Southern New England and Companions and Homemakers. The employer registration fee of $300 ($25 additional if an electrical outlet is needed) includes a skirted table, company sign, program guide listing, boxed lunch, and radio, newspaper and Internet advertising. An online employer registration form and additional details can be found by visiting www.ctjobfairs.com, or contact Danielle Aletta at Danielle@middlesexchamber.com or (860) 347-6924. For jobseekers attending the career fair, a list of employers, directions to the Red Lion Hotel, and tips for developing an effective resume can also be found at www.ctjobfairs.com. Chester War Memorial repairs needed CHESTER On Rt. 154 entering Chester are Chesters War Memorials. Dedicated in 1939, the World War I memorial features a granite doughboy figure atop a monument listing local veterans. In 2004, American Legion Post #97 unveiled an elegant granite monument honoring Chester residents who served in World War II, Korea, Vietnam and post-Vietnam conflicts. Over the years maintenance and minor repairs have been funded by the Town of Chester, volunteers and American Legion Post #97. But fourteen years have taken their toll on our Memorial. Post #97 members have identified some issues that need to be addressed most importantly is the fence on the front perimeter of the memorial. The pressure treated wooden fence is rotting away and needs to be replaced. Plans are to use granite posts and black chain which will be less susceptible to the weather. Donations are needed for repairs. Any contribution, however small, will be welcome. Donors may request to be added to a donor list that will be published in the local paper at the conclusion of our project. The goal is $6,000 for the new fence at the Chesters War Memorial. If more funds are donated then what covers the price of supplies and installation of the fence, members will use those funds to repair the flagpoles. Donations may be made out to American Legion Post #97 and mailed to PO Box 122, Chester, CT 06412. All donations are tax deductible and very much appreciated. Artists sought for sculpture walk KENSINGTON The New Britain Youth Museum needs artists to submit their work for a Summer Solstice Sculpture Walk that will take place for one day at Hungerford Park at 191 Farmington Avenue, in Kensington, on June 22, 3-6:30 p.m. The Juror for the show will be Keith Gervase, Collections Manager, New Britain Museum of American Art. First prize is $750; second Prize is $500; third Prize is $250; Honorable Mention gets $100; Peoples Choice Award is a Gift Certificate for Artists Materials. All submitted works must be constructed from materials that can withstand exposure to variable weather conditions. The works will be displayed in an unprotected, public area for one day only, so all submitted works must be structurally sound enough to withstand some handling, touching, and possible physical stress. There will be no security in place after the designated times for the event so all artists will have to arrange to place their artwork(s) before the show and pick up their work afterward. Work needs to be installed by June 22 at 2 p.m. and removed after 6:30 p.m. We are not responsible for work left after the event. All sculptures/ artwork must conform to the following criteria: The subject matter of the work must reflect one or all of the themes of the show and must be suitable for children and families. Artists must submit a proposal describing their work by June 1, 2018; the proposal format can be received from websites below. The Event Committee reserves the right to reject any art work that does not meet the criteria. There is no size requirement, but artists must be able to transport and install their sculpture/ artwork in the selected location without assistance of heavy equipment or machinery. It is strongly recommended that artists visit the Hungerford sight before submitting a proposal. Once your proposal has been accepted, site locations may be chosen on a first come first served basis. Artists will be notified by June 4th if their proposal has been accepted. Entry Fees: There is a non-refundable, $30 entry fee, $20 for Art League or Museum Members, per sculpture, and it must be submitted with your proposal. There is a Limit of 3 pieces. Checks must be made payable to New Britain Youth Museum. Tables are available for artists that want to sell items. Liability: The New Britain Youth Museum and /or The Art League of New Britain are not responsible for loss or damage to any artwork. For any other questions contact Donna Veach at 860-225-3020 or go to marketing@newbritainyouthmuseum.org or call Paul Baylock at 860-877-3839 or 860-229-1484 or go to contact@alnb.org Recovery group meets Fridays in Portland PORTLAND New Life Journey is a faith based recovery support community comprised of people from all walks of life who recognize that although our experiences shape and mold us, we are not limited to or defined by our stories. Recovery is not a term exclusive to substance abuse it is applicable to all humans at their various levels of evolution and stages of life. The group meets Fridays at 7 p.m. at Trinity Episcopal Church 345 Main Street, Portland. For more information email: Admin@NewLifeJourneyCT.com. Pentagon Official Says He Resigned Because US Cybersecurity Is No Match for China Nicolas Chaillan cited the Pentagon's reluctance to make cybersecurity and AI a priority as a reason he quit. A groundbreaking West Point graduate was recently named among Glamour magazine's "2018 College Women of the Year." Simone Askew, 21, of Fairfax, Va., was the first black woman to lead "The Long Gray Line," serving as first captain of the U.S. Military Academy's Corps of Cadets, the highest rank of student leadership. Askew -- who was awarded the rank of second lieutenant at her May 26 graduation -- was responsible for the overall performance of the academy's nearly 4,400 cadets. She was also charged with implementing a class agenda and serving as a liaison between the student body and the administration. Last November, the international history major was one of 32 Americans honored with a Rhodes scholarship. She hopes to enter the field of military intelligence. West Point commandant Brig. Gen. Steve Gilland praised Askew last August after her first-captain selection, saying she exemplified the academy's values of duty, honor and country. Askew spoke about how she felt to be selected for the role in an interview with Glamour. "People ask me, 'What's it like to be the first black woman in your position?' And I'm like, 'The same way it felt to be a black woman for the past 21 years.' I'm sensitive to how I perceive others, because I've been frustrated with the limitations of how people perceive me," she told the magazine. Askew also revealed she had been sexually assaulted during cadet basic training. "The most important thing for us is not to define West Point as a boys' club. The boys aren't in charge here. I'm in charge," she said. "For me, it's about, how can we be good to one another? I'm focused on incorporating into our curriculum what right looks like, instead of just avoiding what wrong looks like." Other students honored by Glamour this year include Amanda Gorman, the first youth poet laureate of the United States; Ann Makosinski, who invented a flashlight that runs on body heat and won Google's Science Fair; Maria Rose Belding, who created a system to alert food banks when free food is available near them; Claire Wineland, a cystic fibrosis sufferer who created a foundation to help others deal with the disease; and Karen Caudillo, a member of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program who's fighting for a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Robins Air Force Base has been selected to host an elite system that will fuse intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance sensor data from around the world, the Air Force announced Wednesday. The Georgia base, which currently hosts the E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System aircraft, or JSTARS, will be home to the next-generation Advanced Battle Management System, the service said in a release. "We must adapt our capability to survive in the changed threat environment and move swiftly to advanced battlefield management and surveillance," said Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson. "The critical capabilities at Robins allow us to leverage key expertise and accelerate toward the network needed for contested environments." The ABMS is intended to replace the current JSTARS fleet, which will keep flying until the mid-to-late 2020s. The network, which fuses the data from hundreds of sensors to provide situational awareness for combatant commanders across the globe, will function "as [a] decentralized system that draws on all domains," said Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein. Related content: "This is an important step as we move forward with a resilient and survivable network to ensure we are ready to prevail against changing threats," Goldfein said in the release. The network will leverage air and space systems and will include "a fusion center and associated supporting activities," the service said. "In addition, the network will also include some remotely piloted aircraft at Robins with sensors capable of collecting and transmitting information from the battlefield." Officials have said RPAs such as MQ-9 Reaper aircraft would be used to plug into such a network for additional situational awareness. Sens. Johnny Isakson and David Perdue, both Republicans from Georgia, were optimistic but cautious about the announcement Wednesday. They have previously voiced concerns over the Air Force's plan to cancel the JSTARS recapitalization program in favor of the ABMS. "We welcome any and all new missions that the Air Force is willing to bring to Robins, and I will continue to work with the Air Force as the implementation of this plan proceeds," Isakson said in a joint statement with Perdue. "In the meantime, I urge Secretary Wilson to work with us to ensure that there will be no capabilities gap that could put our warfighters at risk during the transition to this new system." Perdue added, "This additional new mission at Robins will be critical to fulfilling President Trump's National Defense Strategy and provides for the new Advanced Battle Management System." Both senators in August said they were "alarmed" to find out earlier that month that the Air Force might pursue "alternative intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms" instead of procuring a JSTARS replacement. The service in 2016 launched a $6.9 billion request for proposal for the engineering, manufacturing and development phase of the upgraded aircraft. It had planned to buy 17 new aircraft. In February, during the Air Force's fiscal 2019 budget rollout briefing, service officials said they were scrapping the initiative. The current JSTARS fleet is capable of developing, detecting, locating and tracking moving targets on the ground. The Air Force on Wednesday said there is no intent to reduce manpower at Robins as it transitions to ABMS. Lawmakers want to ensure there is no capability gap for troops on the ground as the service moves from the E-8C to the ABMS system. In April, the House Armed Services tactical air and land forces subcommittee in its markup to the fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act said it will cap funding for the ABMS program until the Air Force restores the JSTARS recapitalization contract. The HASC passed its version of the fiscal 2019 bill on May 10. But members of the Senate Armed Services Committee have hinted they are open to the Air Force's effort to invest in a more survivable system than the JSTARS, which could be shot down. "There's a recognition in the Senate bill that we don't want to retire aircraft too quickly before a replacement capability arises such that we end up with a gap," an SASC staffer told Defense News on May 30. But "we do not direct them to proceed with the recap out of concerns with survivability, which we share with the department." The Senate is poised to vote on the bill in coming weeks. -- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214. They parachuted behind enemy lines hours before D-Day, landing in high-risk enemy territory and fighting off Nazi troops to secure bridges and roadways for Allied invading forces. The 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions, who earned fame for their contributions to D-Day, took on an assignment knowing there would be heavy casualties all for the Allied WWII Normandy invasion. The 82nd and 101st fought pockets of German defenses to keep roads and bridges open, Elizabeth Coble, Command Historian XVIIIth Airborne Corps, Fort Bragg, N.C., told Military.com in an interview. Paratroopers were air-dropped from C-47 aircraft and others landed with glider aircraft (soft-skinned aircraft without engines), all under heavy enemy fire. Many aircraft were pulling Gliders, when they got close to their objective, the pilots cut the rope and troops landed in a flat clear field, Coble said. The gliders carried troops, artillery pieces, ammunition and other heavy equipment. Airborne forces started dropping just hours before the larger D-Day invasion, which began on June 6, 1944. The landings took place at around 7AM. However, German forces were ready to attack landing forces and heavy fire destroyed some of the arriving aircraft. Overall, 2,303 members of the 101st were wounded and 868 were killed. Many guys were killed because the planes were shot down before they got to their objective anti-aircraft fire was so heavy, said Coble. Not As Planned Despite the missions ultimate success, things did not go as planned. Airborne forces, which flew East over the Contentin Peninsula toward Utah and Omaha Beach, did not land at the intended objective. Many troops wound up landing in marshy areas between Utah and Omaha Beach -- 20 miles away from the objective in some cases. Coble explained that the arriving aircraft got jumbled up, and members of the 101st wound up landing on top of each other. They accomplished their objectives in a manner different than they expected, she said. Pilots were scared flying through all the anti-aircraft fire. They did not slow down to let the paratroopers out. Many guys had equipment ripped off before they jumped. Some guys did not have anything when they landed. They were scavenging for themselves seeking food and ammo. U.S. forces also had difficulty advancing upon landing. The Germans had flooded fields and waterways, and used natural dirt and tree fences as obstacles, along with hundreds of acres of mine fields. Much of the land was covered with water. There were paratroopers that drowned because they were carrying so much weight. Their equipment pulled them down, Coble said. Today at St. Mere Eglise in France, a monument known as Iron Mike stands, honoring the sacrifices that the 101st Airborne and 82nd Airborne made on that day, along with other allies. The memorial site is located near the La Fiere Bridge, where an intense battle took place from June 6-9, 1944, with 254 Allied casualties and 525 wounded. The small bridge over the Merderet River served as a strategic point for the Americans to expand their beachhead in Normandy, and where airborne forces made their stand against the Germans. Despite being relatively light on weapons, they managed to withstand enemy fire and hold the bridge, in an action that has come to symbolize their tenacity on D-Day. Or as Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (NATO) and commander of U.S. European Command, put it during a D-Day commemoration in 2017: "Several hundred airborne warriors seized a causeway that helped free a continent and end a war." Battling rough seas with five-foot waves, thrashing wind gusts and heavy enemy fire, U.S. Navy amphibious landing craft attacking Utah Beach on D-Day managed to achieve total tactical surprise. As our forces approached the French coast without a murmur from the enemy or from their own radio, the realization that once again almost complete tactical surprise had been achieved slowly dawned, recalled Sir Bertram Home Ramsay, Naval Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Naval Expeditionary Force for the invasion, according to Naval Heritage and History Commands Operation Neptune The Invasion of Normandy. Which is not to say that naval support at Utah Beach was easy. Many became seasick on the way to the beachhead due to rough seas, and incoming enemy fire forced many soldiers to swim for more than 200 yards offshore, carrying at least 50 pounds of supplies. Overcoming Setbacks The overall Navy mission at Utah Beach, which included the Armys 82nd Airborne, 101st Airborne and 4th Infantry Division, not only required supporting the initial landing and attack mission, but also a need to sustain support as troops fought inland. They were not only off-loading troops but bringing supplies in, and keeping them supplied once they dropped the troops off. The Navy worked to keep the supply lines open for food, ammunition and other supplies, Guy Nasuti, Naval History and Heritage Command historian, told Military.com in an interview. Also, landing craft carrying armored vehicles such as tanks, had engine trouble and were overloaded, forcing them to drop troops farther away from the shore than initially planned. Some of the armored vehicles were so badly affected that many of them had trouble maintaining their role in the close-fire support plan. Considerable damage was inflicted on smaller landing craft. Despite these setbacks, Allied air bombardment and counter-battery fire from ships prevented the Germans from disrupting much of the landing. Furthermore, by deliberately placing themselves in less visible defensive positions, German fighters themselves had difficulty seeing and targeting the approaching force. As amphibious craft that carried up to 200 soldiers at a time were being deployed from Landing Craft Infantry (LCI) vessels, it was necessary to prevent Germans from clearly seeing aggregated, or condensed, targets during the approach to shore. However, despite heavy casualties and the perils of a mission of this kind, the operation at Utah Beach was successful. In the Navys text, Ramsay identifies several key factors for this, including a large absence of German Luftwaffe planes able to conduct reconnaissance missions. The cover and deception plan; the bad weather, which caused the enemy to withdraw his E-boat patrols to Cherbourg; and, finally, the radio counter-measures employed by our forces, were all factors leading to the Allied victory during the operation, said Ramsay. Battling for the Beach As expected, amphibious forces approaching the beachhead were hit with German artillery, mortars and small-arms fire. "The sea was very rough, and everybody got seasick and we were soaking wet, cold and miserable, said Staff Sergeant John Robert Slaughter, Company D, 116th Infantry, 29th Division, according to the journal American History. It was June, but it felt like November, December. We were under fire all the way. When we got 200, 300 yards from shore, we started taking artillery and mortars, and then as we got closer in the small arms opened up. And they cut us down pretty good. Some of the men couldn't swim, and we were carrying 60 pounds of equipment or weapons. It was a tough deal," Another infantryman from the Armys 1st Division recalled diving in the ocean to save a friend after their craft hit a German mine. Sergeant Claud C. Woodring, 18th Infantry, 1st Division, said, "Our landing craft hit a submerged mine 200, 300 yards from shore and sunk. One of my buddies went overboard and I let my rifle down to help ease him up. He weighed 200 pounds; I weighed 125 pounds. He won. He was in the water with two guns, so when we abandoned the ship, so to speak, I had two Bangalore torpedoes. We swam ashore. At this point in time it was just breaking daylight. All the time there's people pushing right behind you. There are thousands coming on. Probably the only reason I survived the assault on the beach was the Germans could fire into a massive crowd behind me and they weren't worried about the first person up ahead." There's a guy in the cockpit, but he's just along for the ride. In a first, Marines participating in an integrated training exercise at Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center 29 Palms, California, got supplies delivered via an autonomous UH-1 Huey in an experiment that offered a glimpse into the future of logistics operations. The legacy helicopter platform was made autonomous with the Autonomous Aerial Cargo/Utility System, or AACUS, which allows an aircraft not only to conduct a mission and return to a given destination with minimal human input, but also to detect and avoid obstacles in the air or around a landing zone. The specially equipped Huey, which is being used for experiments by the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab, delivered supplies to Marines with Combat Logistics Battalion 8. The Camp Lejeune, North Carolina-based battalion was designated late last year as the Marine Corps' experimental unit for logistics, putting it first in line for experiments involving new technologies and systems. The Corps recently wrapped up a nearly two-year series of infantry experiments involving 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, a designated experimental infantry battalion that trained and deployed during the time period. In addition to multiple resupply missions at various distances and with different payloads, last month's exercise tested the ability of AACUS to refuel from a forward aerial refueling point for the first time. Lt. Gen. Robert Walsh, commanding general of Marine Corps Combat Development Command in Quantico, Virginia, told reporters Wednesday that the experiments with the AACUS had gone well. "Now we're grinding through the analysis," he said. "What I want is, 'OK, what does that mean, what reduction in aircraft, what reduction in trucks do we need now that we're starting to prove this out so that AACUS can deploy.'" The exercise was the second major Marine Corps test involving AACUS. In a December demonstration in Quantico, AACUS made cargo drops to multiple locations, taking off and landing in autonomous mode. -- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck. Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps personnel chiefs jointly testified in January before the Senate armed services subcommittee on personnel on the need to make targeted reforms to the 1980 Defense Officer Personnel Management Act (DOPMA) to provide greater flexibility to recruit and retain the officers they need. DOPMA reforms unveiled Wednesday by the full committee, in its version of the fiscal 2019 defense authorization bill (S 2987), might be viewed by service leaders as having gone beyond whats needed to modernize officer management. One provision likely viewed as radical would mandate that the services end the practice of defining promotion zones based on officer year groups the date officers were commissioned or gained current rank to rely instead on competitive categories that group officers by similar specialties, occupations or ratings. Current law grants the services broad authority to establish competitive categories for officer promotion. Navy has chosen to use 20 but the Marine Corps only group all officers into two. The committee favors Navys approach. Another DOPMA reform provision would prohibit the practice of requiring service secretaries to provide consistent promotion timing or promotion opportunity across competitive categories of officers in each service. Other DOPMA reforms in the bill wouldnt be mandatory. The services could use them if they desire. But even a few of these will be controversial, said retired Army Col. Michael J. Barron, director of government relations for Military Officers Association of America. One such provision would expand use of constructive credit to infuse commissioned ranks with move civilian expertise, for example to strengthen cyber warfare capabilities or take account of private sector training. It would allow direct commission of civilians up to the rank of colonel or Navy captain. Thats one of the most controversial topics when I talk to folks about DOPMA on Capitol Hill and in the services. The issue is, Why cant we go get someone whos worked for a Google or Facebook, had a successful career, and give them a lateral [entry] promotion to field grade rank. It would be very targeted if they moved forward on it, Barron predicted. But it still would rub up against service culture, particularly for the Marine Corps or Army where, Barron said, by the time an officer is promoted to major they are inculcated into service culture in every way, shape and form versus being a civilian in Silicon Valley on Friday and a major on Monday, Barron said. Can it work? I think it can; we did it during World War II in different areas. Very selectively though. The services would probably say Well want to control that and not be mandated on how many they must bring in by lateral entry. The House version of the defense authorization bill contains no provisions to reform DOPMA. If the Senate package survives floor debate later this summer and clears the full Senate, a House-Senate conference committee will negotiate differences in the separate defense bills. Barron said he would expect the services to urge House conferees to embrace only some targeted DOPMA reforms and reject provisions that threaten management practices they want preserved. At the January hearing on DOPMA reform, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), subcommittee chairman, said the law was passed in the Cold War to provide a fully ready officer corps comprised of youthful, vigorous and mostly males to defeat the Soviet threat. It largely serves its intended purpose. DOPMA strengthened an up-or-out promotion system. But its once-desired outcomes, Tillis said, have grown increasingly irrelevant for some threats facing todays military. He cited three weaknesses reflected in the full committees report on its bill. One, Tillis said, the system for managing officers is unable to quickly provide the officers required to respond to unforeseen threats that demand unexpected skill sets. Cyber and information warfare expertise are most often cited. Two, the system doesnt respond effectively to rapid changes in the defense budget, resulting in inefficient and systemic surpluses or shortages of officers. Three, DOPMA is one-size-fits-all solution to officer management which does not allow the services much ability to differentiate recruiting and retention practices across service branches or to vary them enough by career fields. DOPMAs authors, Tillis added, never envisioned the post-Cold War military, which is 43 percent smaller than in 1980 and constantly engaged around the globe in ways never predicted during the Cold War. Repeated overseas combat deployments strain the more traditional warfighting career fields whilenew military domains including cyber and space, require entirely different officer skill sets. The committee said DOPMAs up-or-out promotion system remains an important foundation for officer personnel management. Not every officer can or should be retained for a full career. But it needs more flexibility. Here are other key reforms in the Senate bill: End Predetermined Promotion Timelines The committee says not every officer career field should resemble a pyramid with a large number of junior officers feeding fewer mid-level officers and fewer still senior officers. Some technical fields would be best served with relatively small numbers of junior officers supporting larger numbers of mid-level officers, the committee contends. For these specialties, the bill would allow multiple promotion opportunities, abandoning concepts of in-zone, below-zone or above-zone promotion, and no longer excluding officers twice passed over for promotion to the same rank. Having broader zones and using only an officers up-to-date record might allow promotion of the best qualified without regard to how long they have served. This would be a radical new promotion method if a service wanted to use it. It also would address criticism that current selection boards are reluctant to pick highly qualified officers from below zone on concern that it means not selecting a fully qualified officer expecting a due-course promotion. Promoting High-Performing Officers Ahead of Peers The committee would authorize selection boards to place officers of particular merit higher on regular or reserve promotion lists, ahead of officers with more seniority based on date of rank. At the January hearing, the Marine Corps expressed the greatest satisfaction with current DOPMA practices. This was the single new authority it sought to reward top performers. The committee says the Coast Guard has used similar authority extensively for the last 16 years with great success. Term-based Selective Continuation Process As a practical matter the services allow officers in the rank of O-4 to continue to serve until 20 years and retirement eligibility. With the new, more portable Blended Retirement System, senators want the services to have a term-based selective continuation tool so that a twice passed O-4 with needed skills, for example, could be continued for two years or three years and then compete again for another term. This would encourage better job performance rather than allow such officers to mark time. Expanded Spot Promotion Authority Current law allows Navy to spot promote nuclear-qualified officers to positions requiring an O-4 (lieutenant commander) or an O-5 (commander) rank. The committee wants all the services to have spot promotion authority up to the rank O-6 to retain special skills as needed. Expands to 40 Years Allowable Officer Careers To retain needed technical expertise, the services would have authority extend careers of officers in O-2 and above to 40 years. Under current law, officers face mandatory retirement, for example, an O-5 at 26 years, an O-6 at 30 years, to sustain promotion opportunities for more junior officers. The services could selectively waive these mandates to keep particular skills or experience they need. Repeal Age-based Officer Appointment Requirements DOPMA prohibits recruitment of an officer who cant complete at least 20 years by age 62. Service rules are even tougher, declining to recruit officers older than 36 or 37. The committee wants to end the statutory bar on commissioning persons older than 42 to give the services greater flexibility to bring in the expertise they need. To comment, write Military Update, P.O. Box 231111, Centreville, VA, 20120 or email milupdate@aol.com or twitter: @Military_Update. 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 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 Barite was discovered at the location in 1897, by local farmer J.H. Cox. As there was little market for the material at the time, it was not investigated further. Government geologist C.J.R. Le Mesurier sent a sample to be examined in 1912, which proved to be high quality barite.The deposit came to notice mostly (and appears the last time) due to a government geologist's report in 1920. F.R. Feldtmann stated the barite was finely crystalline opaque white, with irregular lenses of more coarsely crystalline translucent, and sometimes transparent barite of divergent crystal groups he called 'crested barite', and occasional irregular or broadly lenticular areas of coarse crystalline material, stained red by iron oxide. No other impurities were found.The country rock is fine grained pale reddish or cream coloured quartzites, with dark reddish sandstone with quartz veinlets topping the hills.Three barite veins were found. One traced for 380 feet, 4 feet wide at the surface but narrows with depth, and the vein forks to the east. A shaft had been sunk to 10 feet, and three costeans dug. The second vein was traced for 235 feet, 4 feet wide on the surface. The third vein was smallest, traced for 50 feet, with a 40 foot deep shaft sunk on it. The vein was 18 inches wide on the surface but narrowed at depth. It differed also from the above description, bring entirely dense fine grained barite, slightly translucent, creamy coloured, or opaque white, the latter in walls and vein cracks.May 16 1920, J.H. Cox pegged 277H 48 acres. 22 May 341H 12 acres by L.M. Healy. C.G. Stevenson and W.E. O'Neill controlled lease 9H. Little substantial mining was found.The location is approximately 2 kilometres east north-east of the Sukey Hill lookout, in turn about 5 kilometres east of Cranbrook. The area is farmed for cereal crops, the only hope any historic shafts remain being in areas of forest on the upper slopes of ridges.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 Stirling Range Formation Age: Proterozoic (541 - 2500 Ma) Stratigraphic Name: Stirling Range Formation Description: Sandstone, quartzite, shale, slate, phyllite Comments: sedimentary siliciclastic; metasedimentary siliciclastic; synthesis of multiple published descriptions Lithology: Sedimentary siliciclastic; metasedimentary siliciclastic 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] Mesoproterozoic sedimentary rocks Age: Mesoproterozoic (1000 - 1600 Ma) Comments: Yilgarn Craton; Stirling Range Lithology: Sandstone,shale 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] 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 Ma, C. (2017) Kaitianite, IMA 2017-078. CNMNC Newsletter No. 42, April 2018, page 450. Mineralogical Magazine: 82: 445-451. Ma, C. (2019) Discovery of Kaitianite, Ti3+ 2 Ti4+O 5 , in Allende: A New Refractory Mineral from the Solar Nebula. Meteoritics and Planetary Science: 54(S2): 6098. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More L&T Group firm Nabha Power Ltd (NPL) said that it has been forced to shut a 700 megawatts (MW) unit of Rajpura thermal power station due to shortage of coal. NPL which has been supplying power to Punjab from Rajpura plant since 2014, shut down unit-2 of 700 MW on June 3, 2018 due to acute shortage of coal, a company statement said. Earlier, unit-1 of 700 MW was shut from April 4-13 this year due to shortage of the dry fuel. The plant has two units of 700 MW each. According to the statement, the present crisis was triggered by disruption in the supply of coal rakes to the plant. Against a daily requirement of four rakes of domestic coal, NPL has been receiving only one to two rakes per day in recent times. NPL has been facing coal crisis since last year, forcing it to operate the plant at critical levels of coal stocks i.e. less than seven days. It was forced to shut down both units alternatively for 54 days during September to November 2017. The company said these shutdowns were caused primarily because of Coal India restricting supplies to 75 percent of the contracted commitments and according preference to Central and State power generation companies. The company said to mitigate the present crisis, immediate actions need to be taken to allocate additional coal required to run the plant, specifically by removing the 75 percent restriction, and to allocate adequate number of rakes to ensure smooth supplies. It said NPL, being a Case 2 Project (unlike an independent power producer) is created and sustained by and for the sole benefit of Punjab. It should be accorded parity in allocation of coal and despatches of rakes at par with Government powerhouses, the company said. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More The governments much publicised defence indigenisation programme continues to remain a promise and distant dream as is evident from the financial performance of companies operating in this space. They suffered a huge setback as a result of delays in the execution and inflows of major defence projects as against expectations at the beginning of FY18. Companies report delays in approval for the deliveries, which in turn impacts sales. Companies like Bharat Dynamics, manufacturer of missile systems, has an order book of close to Rs 11,200 crore at FY17-end. The same fell to Rs 10,500 crore by January-end and Rs 8,500 crore by March-end. Due to lower order inflows, companies have been trying to book additional revenues through execution of existing orders. Bharat Dynamics, for instance, reported 25 percent sales growth led by higher execution and improvement in deliveries. Profits rose three-fold led by higher margins, lower depreciation and taxes. Depleting order book and valuation at about 12 times FY19 earnings, leaves very little room for appreciation in the near term. Others were not as lucky. Bharat Electronics (BEL), which reported a 16 percent year-on-year decline in sales during Q4 FY18, had earlier guided to order inflows of about Rs 14,000-16,000 crore, which turned out to be Rs 10,000 crore in FY18 as programmes such as Akash missile system and long-range surface missile (LRSM) got shifted. Order are now expected to flow in this fiscal. Most companies are sitting on a huge order backlog but havent been able to book revenues. BEL, which is sitting on an order book of close to Rs 40,000 crore, but failed to grow its revenues. BELs healthy order book at the end of FY18 (4 times revenues) would be realised slowly over FY19-23 as execution depends upon approvals, delivery schedules and execution of its main product, an analyst tracking the company at Axis Capital said. Nevertheless, as and when the demand picks up, the company would be a key beneficiary in terms of earnings and a valuation re-rating. At present, the stock is trading at 14 times FY20e earnings, which is attractive given the companys positioning in the industry and long term attractiveness of the industry. Recently listed Hindustan Aeronautics, despite having an order book 4 times sales, reported a 6 percent YoY decline in Q4 sales. Depreciation rose because of the new capacities being added, resulting in a 22 percent YoY decline in profit. In the case of HAL, it is more an issue of delays from the client end as its revenues are booked on an accrual basis. Since it is present is in high value segments, it could suffer due to fluctuation in deliveries in a particular quarter. Its fate is also contingent on speed of governments decision making in large defence projects. In this scenario, investors should have lower expectations in the medium term. The management of Cochin Shipyard too sounded constrained about defence deliveries getting delayed because of approvals. The shipbuilding segment reported YoY sales growth of 10 percent, which was largely compensated by the repair business reporting a 53 percent spike in sales. Given the high operating leverage in the ship repair business, operating margins expanded and led to 122 percent YoY increase in net profits. Expanding capacity, strong order book and robust growth in repair business makes it an ideal investment. A spillover effect is being witnessed in downstream companies like Astra Micro which depend on orders from the larger defence integrators like BEL. Astra Micro, which is sitting on underutilised capacities for the last few quarters, has been guiding for delays and waiting for some of the larger projects to fructify. During Q4, its sales remained flat while margins shrunk by 580 bps because of lower scale of operations. Higher depreciation too eroded its profits by 23.5 percent. The current situation might continue till about the first half of the current fiscal. In this a scenario companies like Astra Micro may not do well in the markets. Follow @jitendra1929 For more research articles, visit our Moneycontrol Research Page DSP BlackRock Mutual Fund has sought approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India to launch DSP BlackRock BFSI Fund, as per draft offer document on the regulators website. The open ended scheme will invest at least 95 percent in securities covered by S&P BSE Diversified Financials Revenue Growth Index and the balance 5 percent in debt and money market instruments, including collateralised borrowing and lending obligation, commercial paper, certificates of deposit, treasury bills, repos, short term bank deposits, short-term government securities. * Plans: Regular and direct* Options: Growth and dividend* Minimum application: Rs 1,000 and any amount thereafter* Exit Load: 1 percent if redeemed or switched out on or before completion of 12 months from the date of allotment of units.* Performance benchmark: S&P BSE Diversified Financials Revenue Growth Index* Fund manager: Gauri Sekaria Oil Minister Pradhan: Petrol, diesel will not be allowed to go out of reach of common man June 07, 2018 / 08:57 PM IST / 08:57 PM IST PSBs recap plan insufficient to support credit growth: Moody's Global ratings agency Moody's today said the government's recapitalisation plan for 21 state-run banks will help them in meeting regulatory capital needs, but will be insufficient to support credit growth. In October 2017, the government had announced a bank recapitalisation plan of Rs 2.11 lakh crore over FY 18 and FY19. The government has budgeted a capital infusion of Rs 65,000 crore for the current fiscal. June 07, 2018 / 10:39 PM IST That's all for today, readers. Thanks for staying on with our coverage of the day's action. Your enthusiasm encourages us to better our coverage every day. Do come back tomorrow for more news, views and insights. June 07, 2018 / 10:32 PM IST June 07, 2018 / 09:59 PM IST COAI appoints Vodafone CEO Sunil Sood as Chairman Telecom industry body COAI today said it has appointed Vodafone MD and Chief Executive Officer Sunil Sood as its new Chairman and Bharti Airtel COO Ajai Puri as vice-chairman. June 07, 2018 / 09:49 PM IST Kathua case: Charges of rape and murder framed against 7 accused A court here, hearing the brutal gang rape-and-murder case of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir, today framed charges against seven of the eight accused, paving way for beginning of trial against them, officials said here.The district and sessions court has framed charges under various sections of the Ranbir Penal Code including 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder) and 376-D (gang rape), special public prosecutor J K Chopra said here. June 07, 2018 / 09:32 PM IST ACME Group bags 50 MW Solar power project ACME Group today said it has won 50 MW solar power project at Gujrai solar park, Uttar Pradesh in an auction conducted by Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). ACME won the contract in the reverse auction held today, invited by the SECI for Gujrai solar park, a company statement said. June 07, 2018 / 09:30 PM IST June 07, 2018 / 09:29 PM IST Tata Motors proposes to raise up to $500 mn via ECB Tata Motors today said it plans to raise USD 250-500 million through overseas loans to refinance buy-back of bonds issued by the company in 2014. Tata Motors had issued senior notes worth USD 500 million on October 30, 2014 and due in 2020. Earlier this month, Tata Motors invited holders of the senior notes to sell their bonds to the company for cash consideration. June 07, 2018 / 09:17 PM IST Global shortage of health workers in mental health: WHO There is a global shortage of health workers trained in mental health and a lack of investment in community-based mental health facilities even though some countries have made progress in policy-making and planning for it, according to the WHO's Mental Health Atlas 2017. The report also highlighted that few countries have suicide prevention strategies despite WHO estimating that a little under 8,00,000 people die by suicide each year. June 07, 2018 / 09:16 PM IST Bayer-Monsanto merger creates agrichemical juggernaut German chemicals and pharmaceuticals giant Bayer today sealed a USD 63-billion merger with US-based Monsanto, creating an agrichemical behemoth with lofty ambitions to feed the world but lambasted by environmentalists. "We will be even better placed to help the world's farmers grow more healthy and affordable food in a sustainable manner," chief executive Werner Baumann said in a statement.The German firm will pay owners of Monsanto stock USD 128 per share immediately. June 07, 2018 / 08:59 PM IST Bayer-Monsanto merger creates agrichemical juggernaut German chemicals and pharmaceuticals giant Bayer today sealed a USD 63-billion merger with US-based Monsanto, creating an agrichemical behemoth with lofty ambitions to feed the world but lambasted by environmentalists. "We will be even better placed to help the world's farmers grow more healthy and affordable food in a sustainable manner," chief executive Werner Baumann said in a statement.The German firm will pay owners of Monsanto stock USD 128 per share immediately. A few years ago, our biggest risk was the cash in the wallet. Having being pick pocketed or protecting gold kept in the home were our main concerns. But things have changed. Now we live in a digital world with perpetual fear that our banking details and data stored online could get stolen, hacked, damaged or erased. The biggest nightmare that an individual can wake up to is to see an unauthorised debit in their bank account and realise that they are a victim of an online fraud. Sasikumar Adidamu, Chief Technical Officer, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance told Moneycontrol that in today's digital world, the amount of personal data being generated, transmitted, and stored on to various digital devices is growing. The critical nature of this data and the complexity of the systems that support its transmission and use have created a gamut of cyber risks. Therefore, the major worry for everyone today is not if their physical wallet is pickpocketed, but whether the latest download on their Smartphone or laptop is a bait for a digital hacker who may secure access to their hard-earned money which they may lose in a matter of minutes, he said. This insurance cover will provide customers with a comprehensive protection against various cyber risks. Here are some of them: Online Banking frauds Apart from large corporates, individuals too face a lot of cyber risks such as cybercrime, including loss of funds to online fraud, identity theft, cyberstalking, phishing, cyber extortion and malware attack. A majority of banking transactions today are conducted online with a lot of personal information also being available online and on social media websites which can be used by hackers. While taking into account all the risk factors that individuals currently face in their everyday lives, a comprehensive cyber insurance cover that can provide protection against these risks is the need of the hour. Phishing mailers Phishing has increasingly become a popular way for cybercriminals, wherein a scammer uses an authentic-looking page or email from trusted companies, such as online payment firms, to trick users into giving out their personal information, such as log-in credentials, credit card and bank account details, personal identification ID details, and other important personal information. Therefore, if the customer who falls victim to a phishing scam has a cyber-insurance cover, it will not only pay for the loss of fund but also incur the cost of filing a criminal complaint against the culprit once found. Also in cases of cyber extortion, the insurance company will pay all the costs of hiring a specialised consultant to mitigate and minimise the loss. Adidamu said spear phishing or the act of sending a malicious file or link through a seemingly innocuous message, via social media accounts is quite common today. There have also been increasing cases of identity theft and hacking of individuals social media accounts to post malicious information defaming the individual which can cause immense reputational damage. This data can be misused to transfer the funds from your account or your personal photographs, emails, texts etc. A cyber insurance cover will pay the cost of filing a criminal complaint against the culprit, he said. IT Theft Loss The worldwide WannaCry ransomware attack had served as a wakeup call for all of us on the new age risks that enterprises and individuals face in the modern digital era. From government institutions to temple trusts, hospitals and large enterprises, the ransomware threatened each one of us. Adidamu said WannaCrys virulent attack managed to cripple over 2 lakh computers in over 150 countries. The attack clearly showed that Asia is particularly vulnerable to such attacks. Moscow-based Kaspersky Labs found India to be among the worst hit by the malware, and Indian IT security firm QuickHeal also revealed that over 48,000 systems in the country were found infected, he added. Malware attacks In cases of malware disruption which damages access to the computer, cyber insurance will pay the cost of restoration of the computer system, software and data. The insurance company will also pay the policyholder the legal fees to defend the policyholder in the court of law if any third party files a suit against the policyholder for their loss of data, said Adidamu. Cyber extortion loss A comprehensive cyber insurance plan will also provide coverage for expenses incurred on Counselling Services treatment, claim for Damages Against Third Party for Privacy Breach and Data Breach, Cyber Extortion Loss and transportation for attending Court summons. While the internet has made our life easier, it has also made everything a lot more risky for individuals. In this day and age insurance covers against pickpockets do not help when the bigger risk is of cybercrime. In an exclusive interaction, union minister for housing and urban affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri, told Moneycontrol's Vandana Ramnani that there can be a resolution to homebuyers problems soon if they insulate themselves from people who are spoiling their cases. On the completion of four years of Modi government, he has talked about the progress of various flagship missions such as RERA, smart cities mission and the PMAY. He talks about his ministrys plans to hold three regional RERA meetings - one for the states in the West of India, one for the Southern states and one for the states in the East of India to ensure that all implementation problems are addressed and hopefully resolved quickly. Also read: Homebuyers should unite to fight their battle, says Hardeep Puri He also said that by the end of June, as many as 52 lakh houses would have been sanctioned under the PMAY scheme. On smart cities mission, Puri informs that as many as 14 integrated command and control centres are under construction and 32 are in the tendering stage. Edited excerpt: By when do you think there will be a resolution to home buyers problems? Will we get a resolution before elections 2019? Lets get this home buyers issue in perspective. They have a genuine problem on that there is no doubt. Their issue needs a solution, again on that there is no doubt. My heart goes out to them. Again on that most people would agree that the home buyers have been duped. Many of them did not realise what they had got into. There is an expectation that somebody will step in and solve the problem. Lets try and understand this problem. Many of these contracts, these are arrangements between two private parties home buyers and the developers of promoters. Now in three cases, the issue is before the Supreme Court. And the issue has landed in the apex court precisely because the home buyers took it there. Now once the issue is before the Supreme Court, I make this submission to you that it is only the home buyers that can extract themselves from the courts. The home buyers would do themselves a great service to organise themselves and speak with one voice. When they come and meet me personally and I have had about 30 meetings with homebuyers and this may come to you as a surprise because many of them have the meeting and we even agreed to a course of action but soon after that people interfere. I had lunch with the UP industries minister Satish Mahana on Monday and I had the chief executive of the Noida Authority there. I make this submission before you that everyone who is anyone is committed to helping the home buyers but the home buyers also have to organize themselves and they must also lend a helping hand to themselves. Let me explain why I am saying this. If an issue has been taken by the home buyers to the court, clearly the court is giving pronouncements. It is very difficult for any agency to be dealing with this whilst the issue is sub judice. Number two, at the end of the day, the court is providing some form of solution. Now when home buyers turn around and say that you must take some action, it is not clear to me as to what action is being recommended. One of the action recommended is lock up the promoter or the builder. In one particular case, the builder or the promoter has been locked up. Is that resolving the problem? To my mind the jury is still out on that. Also read: Hardeep Puri refrains from commenting on West Bengals version of RERA So my answer to you is that it is very difficult to fix a timeline. We could fix a timeline if the homebuyers organise themselves into one group and they conduct the exercise through negotiations. You are the ones who went and signed an agreement with the builders and the builder did not honour the agreement. Land is a state subject. It has to be solved by the authorities in the concerned states which in this case means the government of UP and the government of Haryana. The Central Government wants to be part of the solution and thats why I have been having these 30 meetings and I plan in the next few days to have more meetings. Because I have little respite hopefully from the problems of Delhi because we are getting the Master Plan amendments in place, I will be devoting more attention. Again as I said. I would like to see this done as early as possible but there are a number of factors. Substandard quality of buildings. Again that is something on which punitive action needs to be taken. Many builders have defaulted. Yes somebody else has to step in. You can step in provided you know whom you are negotiating with. And in my discussions with the minister of UP we reiterated these points. We will also be taking concrete follow-up action in the days to come. My answer to homebuyers problems is, it (solution) could be very soon if they also insulate themselves from the people who are spoiling their cases. Coming to the amendments made to the Insolvency and bankruptcy Code last month, home buyers have now been made financial creditors. After the changes, do home buyers like bankers, have to take a haircut? Let me tell you if a project goes wrong, you can have your own subjective view but the fact of the matter is that the asset value depreciates or the circumstances have changed. Many people say that either the bankers want to take a haircut or the home buyers do not want to take a haircut. Now if somebody suggests that they should be reasonable, well they immediately react with self-righteous indignation. Why should we take a haircut ours is an honest I agree with that but you must at the end of the day look at what is reasonable. If I am left to myself I will advocate that home buyers interests be safeguarded fully. The easiest responsible position for me would be to say thank you very much, solve your problems yourself. You had signed this contract I have nothing to do with it and it has nothing to do with voting for the BJP or against. I am looking at this issue we voted for the BJP and look what you have done - you signed this contract when there was Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav there, so this kind of victimhood and populist politics is good but I think at the end the day the home buyers are being led down because unscrupulous builders and irresponsible promoters are actually planting people who are speaking as so called home buyers. The genuine home buyers, I think, those who have invested their money, their hard earned income need help. When I say that homebuyers need to organise themselves, the idea is that the genuine home buyers will then be negotiating and the ones who are imposters or who are plants by the builders will fall by the wayside. The RERA Central Advisory Committee meeting was held on May 14. Can you tell us what transpired at the meeting? The Central Advisory Committee meeting of 14th May was a very useful exercise because RERA having completed one year we wanted to collect some of the RERA administrators, we wanted to look into the pending issues. The minutes will be in the public domain if they are not already released. I have already written to all the chief ministers, those that had to comply with the implementation of RERA, we are reminding them so that they are in a position to comply. I have some news that action like this is already being taken by many of them and we are not going to stop here. After the 14 May meeting, we are going to have three regional meetings - one for the states in the West of India, one for the Southern states and one for the states in the East of India. And all the implementation problems will be addressed and hopefully resolved very quickly. I just ask you a question were we better off without RERA? How can you have a sector which accounts for the second highest employment in the country without a regulator for 70 years. Clearly that in itself was a comment. So, my answer is RERA is very good. We lost some time because the very people whom it is aimed against, the unscrupulous builders, they challenged it legally, but we were able to overcome that challenge. And now we are in the implementation stage of RERA. I am absolutely hopeful that very soon, the compliance will be completed. There is already good news coming in. When I was in Mumbai, 27,000-30,000 projects were registered out of which 17,000 were in Maharastra. Clearly, it is catching on some states have been somewhat slow in implementation but I think the meeting of the consultation committee, the letters that I am writing, and discussions like this one will help create the buzz and force the states to implement the provisions faster. What do you have to say to West Bengal notifying its own Act at this juncture? There was some development, that one year has passed and there was a notification. I need to see the text of the West Bengal (Act), the language of what they have put out. If this conforms to the language of RERA, that is one situation. If not, it is a different situation and we will have to deal with it. But I dont want to comment on it till I have seen the text. Coming to the affordable housing scheme, the PMAY scheme, till date 47.5 lakh houses have been approved under the scheme. How successful is the scheme? I would not only call the scheme successful but a roaring success. The very fact that you are looking at a scheme that is to be completed by 2022. Out of that there are one crore houses to be built. By the end of June, I would have already sanctioned 52 lakh. The figure for the end of last month was 47.5 lakh but I think that the figures for this month, which are before the Central Committee, will take it to 52 lakh. We are receiving applications from potential beneficiaries at the rate of 300,000 to 500,000 a month. Now if you take a higher figure, which makes it 6 lakh in 12 months. So, 6 lakh plus 5.2, that is already more than the number what you need to build. If I take the lower figure, even then you are close to it. I think it is a roaring success. I hope you saw the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana interaction that PM had with women in Chhindwara and other parts of the country? There is a paradigm shift there. I mean there are women who were toiling earlier, living in jhuggi-jhopadi tenements. For them to have a pucca house with a toilet, a kitchen its a new paradigm shift. So, it is the most successful urban schemes to have been undertaken anywhere in the world. Has the private sector been forthcoming with regard to affordable housing? There are lot of private sector schemes which are available. And even in the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, of the eight options that I had underlined, several of them involve private-public partnerships. So, this scheme is novel because land is to be provided. Land constitutes a major percentage of the tenement. Land is to be provided by the state. And then you are provided assistance under the four vectors, credit linked subsidy scheme, affordable housing, beneficiary led construction and in situ slum redevelopment. There are a lot of facilities. I think it is a win-win for the private sector. They should take a good look at it. So, what has the response been so far? The private sector is showing interest. But as I mentioned, there are different projects in different states etc but the private sector is also doing a lot of affordable housing on its own. But that does not cater to the economically weaker section and the lower income group. Now the middle income group that we have added, there the private sector has been active. I have always maintained that there is no shortage of land in the country. There is also no shortage of money. What there is a shortage of is bankable projects. Coming to the smart cities mission. We recently had the first apex conference for CEOs of smart cities held in Bhopal. What were the main takeaways from the conference? Well, the main takeaway is that the concept people realise what a smart city means. We had in Bhopal the ninth integrated command and control centre which was inaugurated. We have 14 more under construction. And you have 32 at different tendering stages. Now if you have, lets say, 32 plus 14 plus 9, so many command and control centres, that would effectively mean so many smart cities are operational. What this typically does is to put on one big board like the NASA big huge screen - 14 in this case urban services which you can then monitor security, use of CCTV cameras, pollution, vehicular traffic, use of electricity, use of water, smart metering, basically all that you need to do to control, monitor and calibrate urban services. I think the smart cities mission, is the fastest implemented projects of this kind anywhere in the world. You must remember we have been talking of 100 or 99 smart cities as of now but when you approve or confer this process and when you say this particular city will be a smart city, there are certain steps, sequential steps that you need to follow. There is also some misunderstanding about the amount of money spent. Look most of us in government have got used the idea of utilization certificates. Utilisation certificate is something that the authorities issue one or two years after the job is done. I would rather you accept a different matrix. That you see how much are the projects actually completed. How much are the projects under tendering. And you will find that if you are having a project that is overall Rs 200,000 crore if you have already done Rs 30,000 crore and if you have another Rs 14,000 to Rs 15,000 crore at different stages of tendering, it is very good progress. I measure it in terms of functional integrated command and control centres. As I said, the ninth one was inaugurated in Bhopal. We will be doing the tenth one very soon. Fourteen more are under construction and 32 are in the tendering stage. There is talk that the next batch of smart cities will also be launched I would say why not and why not quickly. The issue is always of resources. We have something like 4,041 cities out of which 500 are AMRUT cities where you provide basic water facilities, tap and sewage connection. And on top of that, you have 99 smart cities. Why are we only confining it to only 99? Well, I would say many of these will have a light house effect. And I think when next time we have a resource easing these were conceived in 2014, 2015 and then the process took place. I am an optimist and I am ambitious, I think every Indian city and every Indian village, ultimately should be a smart entity. We made a start and by the time you have 2022, which is what the mission is, by 2022 you will have a 100 smart cities. When you are on your way to a new India of 2022, am sure there will be demand for many times that number to be smartified. PM Narendra Modi has set March 2019 as the deadline for municipalities to go online to grant permissions for construction of buildings, etc. How many cities will actually meet this target? All 500. In fact, we were hoping to do it even earlier. But you know there are some real implementation problems sometimes. But March 2019 (we will have) all 500. But the Niti Aayog is being even more ambitious. They want all Indian cities to be online. Delhi land pooling policy has been delayed for many years. What is the update on that front? We have already done all the work. Land pooling got mixed up with master Plan amendment. Now that the court has lifted its stay we are in the process of the 15- day consultation. That 15-day consultation period will be over on June 9. We will then listen to people, have meetings, people now have got time to submit their suggestions. So, my answer to land pooling is very soon. vandana.ramnani@nw18.com Housing and urban affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri has refrained from commenting on the West Bengal Housing Industry Regulation Act (HIRA) that was notified by the state on June 1. I need to see the text of the West Bengal Act, the language of what they have put out. If this conforms to the language of RERA, that is one situation. If not, it is a different situation and we will have to deal with it. But I dont want to comment on it till I have seen the text, he told Moneycontrol in an exclusive interview. According to Abhay Upadhyay, president of the Forum for Peoples Collective Efforts (FPCE), HIRA defeats the very purpose of Central RERA. The first is to do with the force majeure clause or unforeseen circumstances under which a builder may not fulfil conditions laid down under the contract signed with the homebuyers. RERA clearly lays down the circumstances of force majeure such as war, flood, drought, fire, cyclone, earthquake or any other natural calamity. HIRA has made an addition to this clause and talks about any other circumstances as may be prescribed. This is a major dilution. Sale of open space as a garage or parking area was an issue dealt under RERA. HIRA has interpreted it differently. RERA defines garage to mean a place within a project that has a roof and walls on three sides for parking any vehicle but it does not include unenclosed or uncovered parking area, especially open parking. HIRA, on the other hand, states that car parking area means such an area as may be prescribed and defined garage to mean garage and parking space as sanctioned by the competent authority. West Bengal is the only state in the country that has not accepted RERA. The Central Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA) came into effect on May 1, 2017, exactly a year after it was passed by the Parliament. vandana.ramnani@nw18.com When Shashank Bijapur, then a Wall Street lawyer, and Madhav Bhagat, who worked with Google, met at a Diwali party in New York some years ago, little did they know that they would come together to make a company together. Both moved back to India a few years later (independent of each other), and Bhagat reached out to Bijapur for his opinion on a contract. While the Harvard Law School alumnus helped out the by then ex-Googler, the two began wondering if there was a way to automate the more common sense errors in the contract. Bhagat, an artificial intelligence expert, suggested using the technology and machine learning to understand legal texts. That was the genesis of SpotDraft, a legal startup that is automating simple legal contracts. It was founded in early 2017. We raised our seed fund of a little over half a million dollars, in August of last year. The round was led by Hunch Ventures & Investment Private Limited, said Bijapur. The Gurugram-based SpotDraft generates documents like contracts and invoices. It also tracks payments using artificial intelligence. Users can also upload existing documents on the website, where the software analyzes them and helps manage them online. So far, the platform has managed more than 3500 contracts. Other investors backing the company are Spiral Ventures from Japan, US-based 500 Startups, Singapore Angel Network and Satyen Kothari (founder of Citrus Payments). As intended, we used most of our seed fund for the purposes of building a strong team and scaling our business, he added. Focused on the micro, medium and small industries and enterprises, SpotDraft aims to expand in India for the next 12 months, and to more developed markets in the near future. The company, which gets monthly user charges from each customer, is also looking to be operationally profitable in the next 18 months. The AI underlying the product is proprietary, and can learn the legal terminology across different sectors and industry verticals. The AI algorithm has been trained on millions of contracts as training datait is able to understand and analyse almost any type of contract in any industry, said Bhagat. The platform is engineered in a way in which it is able to understand the context and the relevance of legal language. The current limitation is that the contracts need to be in English language, he added. A recent Catalyst Investors report identifies contract management as one of the fastest growing areas in the field of legal technology. Some market estimates peg the contract automation market potential as close to USD 80 billion. The company works on the software-as-a-service model, and does not provide legal services, so notarisation and stamping have to be done through the existing channels. The software helps reduce time, cost and unpredictability in legal contracts such as employment contracts and rent agreements. Once the AI has learnt the industry specific language, users can just input the constraints or conditions in the required contract, and it will get generated. Our customers understand that this is a machine aided system that helps reduce time, cost and unpredictability associated with legal services and it is not intended to replace the lawyer in its entirety (especially with complex contracts). In cases where human intervention is required (about 20 percent of contracts), the platform makes that recommendation, said Bijapur. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Achin Goel The Indian stock started Wednesday on a positive note and remained in the green throughout the session. The index had formed a Hammer shaped candle on Tuesday which indicated bullishness. This continued into Wednesdays trading session. On the daily chart, the index seems to have found support at the lower band of the rising wedge which led to a 100 points rally. The trend looks positive as the Nifty managed to float above its 50-day exponential moving average (EMA). Momentum indicator moving average convergence divergence (MACD) witnessed a bullish crossover and is currently hovering above the signal line. The relative strength index (RSI) is in a bullish crossover with no visible divergence on the daily chart. Going forward, the bias is looking slightly on the positive and the upmove can extend towards 10,770. A conclusive move above 10,770 may result in a movement towards 10,910 levels. At the lower end, support is visible at 10,550, below which the current short term uptrend may reverse. Here is a list of top five stocks that could return 10-12 percent return in the short term: ACC Ltd: Buy| Target Rs 1,450| Stop Loss: Rs 1,249| Return 10% On the daily chart, the index formed an engulfing pattern which suggests waning bearishness among the traders. The stock price has formed a double bottom around Rs 1,265 and moved up a bit. In addition, positive divergence is visible in the momentum indicator RSI (14) on the daily chart. Traders can accumulate the stock in the range of Rs 1,310-1,316 for the target of Rs 1,450 and a stop loss below Rs 1,249. Bharat Electronics Ltd: Buy| Target: Rs 130| Stop Loss: Rs 109| Return 12% The stock has formed a bullish Harami Cross pattern on the daily chart which suggests waning bearishness. In addition, the price has given a breakout from the range-bound pattern on the daily chart which shows the growing optimism in the stock. In addition, positive divergence is visible in the momentum indicator RSI (14) on the daily chart. Traders can accumulate the stock in the range of Rs 114-116 for the target of Rs 130 and a stop loss below Rs 109. Federal Bank Ltd: BUY| Target RS.93|Stop Loss Rs.78|Return 12% The stock price has formed a double bottom around Rs 80 and moved up a bit. On the daily chart, a bullish Harami is visible which suggest a bullish reversal in the stock. In addition, a positive divergence is visible in the daily RSI (14) which is also a bullish setup. Traders can accumulate the stock in the range of Rs 81-83 for the target of Rs 93 and a stop loss below Rs 78. Arvind Ltd: Buy| Target: Rs 434| Stop Loss: Rs 369| Return 10% The stock price has moved above the downwards consolidation pattern on the daily chart and has given a breakout from the falling trend line which suggests reversal of an ongoing bearish pattern. In addition, the stock has formed a double bottom around Rs 370. Traders can accumulate the stock in the range of Rs 390-395 for the target of Rs 434 and a stop loss below Rs 369. Apollo Tyre Ltd: Buy| Target: Rs 300| Stop Loss: Rs 258| Return 10% On the daily chart, the stock is trading within a falling channel and in its recent move, the price has reached the lower band of the said channel. The proximity to the lower band is expected to provide short-term pullback in the stock. In addition, the stock has given a breakout of its range-bound pattern which may propel the stock upward. Traders can accumulate the stock in the range of Rs 270-272 for the target of Rs 300 with a stop loss below Rs 258. : The author is Head of Wealth Management and Financial Planning, Bonanza Portfolio Ltd. The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on moneycontrol.com are his own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Mining giant Vedanta faces a potential revenue loss to the tune of USD 210 million per month due to closing of operations at its smelter unit at Tuticorin, a top company official said. Last month, the Tamil Nadu government had directed the State Pollution Control Board to seal Vedanta group's copper plant and shut it down "permanently" following violent protests during which 13 people were killed in police firing. Every month the company sells about 30,000 tonnes of refined copper and multiplied by an average price of USD 7,000 per tonne it comes to USD 210 million, Sterlite Copper CEO P Ramnath said here addressing the media. "That's a potential revenue loss...but again revenue loss does not translate to bottomline loss," he said in reply to a query. He emphasised, "It is not just loss to the company, it is loss for both the society and the consumers...There were around 3,500 people who were dependent on us. How will they be taking care of their families now? Their savings, if they have any, will last how long." Ramnath also said that his company's unit was not emitting even a kg of sulphur dioxide. "According to national norm, emission of 2 kg of sulphur dioxide is permitted on production of 1 tonne of sulphuric acid. For us the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board had set it at 1 kg sulphur dioxide on production of 1 tonne sulphuric acid but we were emitting 0.5 kg which is below the standards as compared to power plants in there," he said. "If you compare the amount of sulphur dioxide we emit, of the total sulphur dioxide being emitted from rest of the plants in Tuticorin, our contribution is just 1 per cent, the 99 per cent emission of sulphur dioxide is being done by power plants there." Asked if the plant was following norms, why were people protesting against it, the CEO said there could be various reasons including vested interest. "All (those protesting) including the NGOs have their own reasons to protest. There are various myths which need to be broken," the official said. The NGOs have their vested interest and are angry after their funding were stopped under FCRA (Foreign Contribution Regulation Act), he alleged adding, "They may be backed by foreign entities". To support his point, he said India is a huge market after China and lots of players are eying India and added "It could be possible that they don't want India to be self-sufficient." "We had faced issues in Niyamgiri and there were reports that there were NGOs who were involved in it," the CEO said. He also said that he suspects role of some anti-social elements in sparking the protest. Buoyant after the opposition's victory in the recently concluded bypolls, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has challenged the BJP to hold 2019 Lok Sabha and state assembly elections simultaneously in Uttar Pradesh. "We have no problem if the voters' list is linked with Aadhaar number. We have no problems with 'one nation one election'. I ask them (BJP) to implement 'one nation one election' from 2019 itself and hold UP Assembly polls with the 2019 Lok Sabha elections," he told a press conference at the Samajwadi Party headquarters. A state panel has recommended simultaneous polls, echoing a suggestion by the Law Commission of India and PM Narendra Modi's own view. However, Akhilesh said, "No suggestion was taken from us on this issue." A report in this regard was submitted on Tuesday by UP health minister Sidharth Nath Singh, who headed the seven-member committee constituted by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. In 2017, PM Narendra Modi and former President Pranab Mukherjee pitched the idea of simultaneous elections on the basis of a Parliamentary Standing Committee report of 2015. Modi said simultaneous polls would help reduce the expenses as well as the burden on the education sector (teachers) and security forces who are deployed during the elections. The Election Commission of India (EC) supported the idea, calling it achievable and desirable as long as the financial and legal challenges are overcome. The EC said five constitutional amendments will be required to hold simultaneous elections. To initially sync the two elections, a lot of them will have to be preponed or postponed, effectively bringing Presidents Rule for that period of time. In May, the EC then came up with a Plan B to hold one election in one year as it required fewer constitutional amendments. The Congress has maintained that simultaneous elections would be an attack on democracy. Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India- Marxist, Trinamool Congress are all opposed to the idea as well. Amit Shah said simultaneous elections wouldnt be feasible for 2019 as there is no political consensus on the issue as yet. NITI Aayog has been in favour of the move as they claim it will reduce campaign disruption. Currently it looks highly unlikely that simultaneous elections will take place in India anytime soon due to varying opinions in the political community and logistical difficulties. IMA Ponzi scheme case: A multi-crore scheme run by Karnataka-based I-Monetary Advisory (IMA) and its group entities allegedly duped lakhs of people by promising higher returns using Islamic ways of investment. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is currently investigating the case and has filed at least three FIRs. (File image of the CBI headquarters) The CBI on Wednesday filed a corruption case against Om Prakash Shukla, principal of the National Defence Academy (NDA) in Pune. Shukla, along with three professors, has been charged with corruption, criminal conspiracy and cheating, NDTV reports. Political Science professor Jagmohan Meher, associate chemistry professor Vanita Puri, associate mathematics professor Rajeev Bansal and head of the chemistry department, Maheshwar Roy, are some of the professors named in the FIR. The CBI also searched the homes and offices of the accused in Pune. The charges have been filed due to alleged irregularities in the appointment of 13 ineligible teaching staff members, The Times of India reports. The principal and the teachers have been accused of sending less-than-qualified candidates to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). The UPSC appoints teachers to the NDA. Investigators found that the teachers were involved in manipulating the Academic Performance Indicators (APIs) of candidates unqualified to teach at the NDA. The teachers selected did not have the years of experience required by the Defence Ministry. Representataive Image Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan on Thursday expressed strong displeasure over the state of call drops in the country and said the government wouldn't shy of taking stronger measures against the errant companies if the situation doesn't improve. "Call drops remain an issue. We had issued them (mobile services providers) strong warnings. They need to improve their infrastructure. It's a big matter of concern for the government. If the situation doesn't improve, stronger measures are called for and we will take those," she told Moneycontrol on the sidelines of a conference in Bengaluru. The conference was organised by telecom regulator to discuss implementation strategies for interoperability of WiFi systems. Sundararajan expressed deep anguish that despite the best efforts of Department of Telecommunications and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, the call drop situation has not improved and agreed with the idea that it has worsened at many places. She said the companies needed to do more to check the problem. Call drops have occupied the authorities' mindspace for the 4-5 years, with the situation reaching alarming levels in cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. Mobile companies often blame the civic authorities for not giving them or delaying the due permissions to install the necessary towers. In recent times, owing to health concerns due to radiation from towers, resident welfare associations have also driven out the companies and not allowed installation of equipment on their premises, further accentuating the problem. India Economy India has dispatched a senior-level delegation to Europe to assess options of continuing trade with Iran after the US decided to impose fresh economic sanctions on the Persian Gulf nation. The delegation comprising of officials from ministries of finance, petroleum and external affairs will visit France, Germany, Britain and Brussels to meet government officials and bankers, sources with direct knowledge of the development said. Iran is India's third biggest supplier of crude oil after Iraq and Saudia Arabia. It currently settles oil payments in euros through Germany's EIH bank. The payment route can continue to function as long as Europe does not join US in re-imposing sanctions on Iran. Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan refused to discuss impact of sanctions on India's trade with Iran, saying it is "too early to say anything". India, he said, is waiting and watching the situation that is developing. US President Donald Trump last month announced that the US will withdraw from the landmark 2015 accord to curb Iran's nuclear programme and reinstate financial sanctions on the Persian Gulf nation. If the European Union (EU) were to continue status quo and not re-impose sanctions, Iranian supplies to India will continue unhindered, sources said. But paying Iran for the oil India buys would become difficult in case European countries join the US and impose financial sanctions and block banking channels, they said. Iran and the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council - China, France, Russia, the UK, US - plus Germany), and the EU had in Vienna signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on July 14, 2015. JCPOA provided for Iran curbing its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of financial sanctions. India has said that it would only honour sanctions imposed by the United Nations but not follow individual country sanctions. Iran supplied 18.4 million tonne of crude oil during April 2017 and January 2018 (first 10 months of 2017-18 fiscal). Iran was India's second biggest supplier of crude oil after Saudi Arabia till 2010-11 but western sanctions over its suspected nuclear programme relegated it to the 7th spot in the subsequent years. In 2013-14 and 2014-15, India bought 11 MT and 10.95 MT, respectively from it. Sourcing from Iran increased to 12.7 MT in 2015-16, giving it the sixth spot. In the following year, the Iranian supplies jumped to 27.2 MT to catapult it to the third spot. Iranian oil is a lucrative buy for refiners as the Persian Gulf nation provides 90 days of credit for purchases, at least thrice the amount of time given by other producers. During the first round of sanctions when EU joined the US in imposing financial restrictions, India initially used a Turkish bank to pay Iran for the oil it bought but beginning February 2013 paid nearly half of the oil import bill in rupees while keeping the remainder pending opening of payment routes. It began clearing the dues in 2015 when the restrictions were eased. Besides, New Delhi sought to get around the restrictions by supplying goods including wheat, soybean meal and consumer products to Iran in exchange for oil. Back in 2012, EU put restrictions on insurance of Iranian oil and ships carrying them. To get around the problem, Iran supplied oil in its own tankers. Amid strained relations and constant bickering between the two saffron allies, BJP president Amit Shah called on Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray at the latter's residence 'Matoshree' here this evening. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Uddhav Thackeray's son Aaditya Thackeray were also present at the meeting which lasted about two hours. While officially there was no word from both the parties about what transpired in the meeting, BJP sources claimed that the discussion was "positive" and would help reduce the tension between the two allies significantly. The two parties may have two or three more such meetings, the sources added. State BJP chief Raosaheb Danve, who accompanied Shah earlier in the day when he called on actor Madhuri Dixit-Nene and industrialist Ratan Tata, did not attend the meeting with Thackeray. "My schedule was pre-decided. I was busy with organisational work," Danve told reporters. The BJP had earlier said the meeting was in connection with its 'Sampark se Samarthan' (contact for support) campaign, being led by Shah in the run-up to next year's Lok Sabha polls. The Sena and the BJP contested the May 28 bypolls to Palghar Lok Sabha constituency in Maharashtra separately and engaged in a bitter campaign against each other. The Shiv Sena has particularly been upset with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and has repeatedly attacked him. After facing defeat in the Palghar bypoll at the hands of the BJP, the Shiv Sena labelled its ally as its "biggest political enemy". Even yesterday, the Sena questioned the "need" for the meeting between Shah and Thackeray "after a gap of four years" (since the Modi government was formed). The Shiv Sena has already declared that it will go it alone in the 2019 general elections. The two parties were allies for over two-and-a-half decades before they severed ties ahead of the 2014 Maharashtra Assembly polls, only to join hands later to form government under the leadership of Fadnavis in the state. In today's editorial in party mouthpiece "Saamna", Shiv Sena questioned the BJP's outreach programme after suffering defeat in bypolls in various states. The editorial maintained that the Sena will fight all the upcoming elections alone. "The prime minister is touring the world and BJP chief Amit Shah is going around the country as part of their 'sampark' programme. Shah will be meeting NDA allies. However, what exactly will he do? Why is he meeting at this juncture when the BJP has suffered defeat in bypolls," the Sena asked in the editorial. A private security guard stands in front of the main gate of Sterlite Industries Ltd's copper plant in Tuticorin The opposition DMK today staged a walkout from the Tamil Nadu assembly after being denied permission to raise some issue on the anti-sterlite protests in Tuticorin, with the state government asking the former to approach the one-man inquiry commission in this regard. After allowing the Leader of Opposition MK Stalin to make some remarks on the issue, Speaker P Dhanapal later said the comments were related to the commission and expunged all of the DMK leader's statement. Miffed over not being allowed to talk, Stalin announced staging a walkout with his colleagues joining him. However, his party allies Congress and IUML stayed back. Later, Chief Minister K Palaniswami asked the main opposition party to approach the one-man commission headed by retired Madras High Court Judge Aruna Jagadeesan and submit whatever matter they wanted to before it. Noting that a case pertaining to the issue was pending in the Madras High Court, Palaniswami said it was a normal practice not to debate matters that were subjudice, in the House. Quoting the assembly rules, the Speaker said no discussion would be held on matters being probed by an inquiry commission. Thirteen people were killed in police firing on May 22-23 when violence broke out during protest by locals demanding closure of Sterlite Industries in Tuticorin district over pollution issues. The Tamil Nadu government had last month appointed a one-person Commission of Inquiry headed by a retired judge of the Madras High Court to probe the violence in Tuticorin. The inquiry will cover the "law and order incidents following the siege of the District Collectorate by thousands of persons violating prohibitory orders," an official release had said. Former President Pranab Mukherjee arrived in Nagpur to attend an RSS event which has generated a lot of interest and controversy over the last few days. Mukherjee, who had been in the Congress for most of his political career , will attend the valedictory function of the 'Sangh Shiksha Varg'. Congress leaders have urged him not to attend the event in the "interest of secularism". Despite the reservations expressed by the Congress leaders, Mukherjee will attend the event. Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said that since Mukherjee has accepted the invitation, he should go and tell the RSS "what is wrong" in their ideology. Ramesh Chennithala, a senior Congress leader from Kerala, last week sent a letter to Mukherjee, requesting him to refrain from attending the event. Chennithala said that Mukherjee's decision had come as a "rude shock" to the secular minds of the country. West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Chowdhury and senior Congress leader V Hanumantha Rao too urged Mukherjee not to attend the event. "I am really surprised to hear about the decision of Pranab Mukherjee to attend RSS's programme in Nagpur," said Chowdhury. "My question is does he think his previous comments against RSS were wrong . We still remember how Pranab Mukherjee as a senior leader of the Congress had criticized RSS as a communal and a divisive organization," he said. Veteran Congressman CK Jaffer Sharief also had sent a letter to Mukherjee, expressing surprise over the move and like other secular people,he was "stunned" to hear about his attending the RSS function. Congress veteran and former President of India, Pranab Mukherjee, who will be addressing the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) at an event in Nagpur today, has been cautioned by his daughter about the same. Hope @CitiznMukherjee now realises from todays incident, how BJP dirty tricks dept operates. Even RSS wouldnt believe that u r going 2 endorse its views in ur speech. But the speech will be forgotten, visuals will remain & those will be circulated with fake statements. 1/2 Sharmistha Mukherjee (@Sharmistha_GK) June 6, 2018 Sharmishtha Mukherjee, who is also a member of the Congress party, in a couple of tweets warned her father that his speech will be forgotten and that the visuals will later be misused by the BJPs 'dirty tricks' department. She also added that by attending this event, Pranab Mukherjee is forging a platform for rumours and fake stories. .@CitiznMukherjee By going 2 Nagpur, u r giving BJP/RSS full handle 2 plant false stories, spread falls rumours as 2day & making it somewhat believable. And this is just d beginning! 2/2 Sharmistha Mukherjee (@Sharmistha_GK) June 6, 2018 In the mountains enjoying a beautiful sunset, & suddenly this news that Im supposedly joining BJP hits like a torpedo! Cant there be some peace & sanity in this world? I joined politics because I believe in @INCIndia Wud rather leave politics than leave Congress Sharmistha Mukherjee (@Sharmistha_GK) June 6, 2018 Sharmishta also expressed outrage at being asked if she was going to join the BJP after her father had confirmed that he will be addressing an event of the RSS as the chief guest. On being asked about the same, Congress leader Ajay Maken rubbished rumours of her joining the BJP, saying she is a firm believer in the partys ideology. Pranab Mukherjee had confirmed the invitation of the RSS last week despite facing flak from fellow Congress leaders, including Veerappa Moily, who called the move undesirable. He had told the Anandabazar Patrika, Whatever I have to say, I will say in Nagpur. I have received several letters, requests and phone calls, but I haven't responded to anyone yet." Mukherjee was even asked by Congress veteran P Chidambaram to use this opportunity to point out what was wrong with the RSS ideology. He told the press, Now that he has accepted the invitation, there is no point in debating why he accepted it. The more important thing to say is, Sir you have accepted invitation, please go there and tell them what is wrong with their ideology." Jairam Ramesh wrote a letter to Mukherjee, requesting him not to attend the event. Mukherjee was invited by the RSS to address their workers from all across India who will gather in Nagpur for Tritiya Varsh Varg. The Tritiya Varsh Varg is a camp which is conducted at a national level, where RSS workers get together and engage in deliberations over ideology and activities like Yoga, self-defence and martial arts. Tata H5X | The Indian auto manufacturer showcased the H5X SUV concept at the Motor Show. Tata had earlier unveiled the car at the Auto Expo 2018. It will be the first Tata product to carry the new Impact Design 2.0 design language. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Tata Motors, Indias largest vehicle manufacturer, on Thursday said that it proposes to raise funds of about USD 250-500 million through external commercial borrowing (ECB). All proceeds will be used towards refinancing a part of the principal amount of the borrower's notes as permitted under the ECB directions. Meanwhile, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) reported a rise of 6.1 percent in May sales to 48281 units driven by the introduction of new models including the Range Rover Velar, the Jaguar E-PACE and the new Land Rover Discovery. While Land Rover retail sales rose 6 percent to 33,774 units during May while Jaguar sales increased by 6.6 percent to 14,507 units. During the January-May period, JLR sales increased 1.6 percent to 188,443 units, a statement from Tata Motors said. The 1963 Ferrari GTO, having serial number 4135GT, has been allegedly sold by a German collector, Christian Glaesel to WeatherTech CEO David MacNeil, for a record-breaking $70 million (Rs. 469.7 crore). Leading Ferrari historian, Marcel Massini, was quoted in a report by Fox News, saying that the Ferrari 250 GTO belongs to one of the top GTOs in the world. DK Engineering, a Hertfordshire-based acquirer, maintainer, restorer and seller of Ferraris, had restored this GTO back in the 1990s. According to James Cottingham, the vehicle acquisition specialist at DK Engineering, This is without doubt one of the best 250 GTOs in existence in terms of history and originality. Its period competition is very good. It won the Tour de France, which is big tick and was fourth overall at Le Mans, which was a mega result. It was raced by Ecurie Francorchamps, who are one of the most iconic and famous independent Ferrari teams; it has never had a big accident and it is highly original. The Ferrari 250 GTO had finished in the fourth place at Le-Mans in 1963. It was also the winner of the ten-day Tour de France road rally in 1964. With a three-litre V12 engine, the car can go from 0 to 60 mph in merely 6.1 seconds with a top speed of 174 mph. Only 36 such cars were manufactured between 1962 and 1964. The new owner David MacNeil already owns a number of notable classics and is an avid racer. At the age of 25, Elon Musk along with his younger brother Kimbal founded Zip2, a company which provided online city guide software to newspapers. Call it the Google Maps of the late 90s. Musk sold the company to Compaq Computer in 1999, four years after it was founded for $307 million. Musk personally netted $22 million from the acquisition. Tuesday's Tesla shareholder meeting saw some questions answered and speculations put to rest by Tesla cofounder and CEO Elon Musk and his team. Musk revealed he has no plans of venturing into electric motorcycles manufacturing business. Currently, Tesla is the leading electric car maker company. However, when one of the shareholders asked about the company's take on E-motorcycle, Elon straightaway shared his disinterest in that direction. He clarified that when he was younger; he had an almost near-death accident with a truck while he was riding his motorcycle. Prior to the accident, Musk and his brother were quite enthusiastic about motorcycles, and rode them for nearly eight years. He said, "I had a road bike until I was 17 and was almost killed by a truck. So were not going to do motorcycles." As battery technology evolves, manufacturing an electric bike won't be that big a task. Several auto players are expected to jump on the electric vehicles bandwagon and from the looks of it Tesla is unlikely to be one. With Tesla backing out of competition for now, Harley Davidson is the sole company to venture into electric motorcycle business. In the end, will it consumer's loss than the company's to not have an electric motorcycle from Tesla? Only time will tell. Maternal deaths have been a cause of concern for the healthcare sector in India. According to the World Bank, India ranks 129 among 184 nations for maternal mortality and 145 out of 193 nations on infant mortality. India, along with Nigeria, accounted for one-third of global maternal deaths in 2015. However, there are signs of improvement. According to new data released by the Registrar General of India, maternal deaths have reduced from 167 in 2011-13 to 130 (per 100,000 live births) in 2014-16 with Kerala topping the list, reports The Times of India. What is maternal mortality ratio? Maternal mortality ratio (MMR) provides a measure of the quality of safe deliveries and maternal care. But India's healthcare services have lagged in this respect in comparison to neighbours like China, Sri Lanka and Maldives. Maternal and child mortality and morbidity are considered key health indicators as they reflect the state of female healthcare. To improve these, the government has made efforts over the years, which has resulted in reducing the maternal mortality by over 69 percent since 1990. Yet, it still has some catching up to do with better-performing Asian countries. The gap in maternal healthcare between urban and rural areas is often blamed for the overall poor scores and the inequalities are also evident through varying maternal mortality ratios across country. Which states have shown improvement? The improvement registered by the country is most significant in the "empowered action group (EAG)" states and Assam, from 246 to 188, in the last three years. EAG states are those where economic and development indicators are a particular concern like Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. Among the southern states, the decline is from 93 to 77 and in the other states from 115 to 93. The heartening statistics point to steady gains, likely linked to more focused efforts to improve maternal care and rising number of institutional deliveries and more attention to health protocols. As compared to other states, MMR continues to be substantially high in EAG states despite the drop. Assam still recorded the highest maternal death ratio at 237, though down from 300 in 2011-13. Similarly, UP and Uttarakhand registered an MMR of 201, down from 285 in the last three years. Kerala has turned in a stellar performance, in what can be seen as evidence of a robust public health system as well as high levels of education and awareness, with the lowest MMR of 46, falling from 61 in 2011-13. Apart from Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh also performed well after recording MMR of 66 and 74, respectively. Government efforts to bring down MMR A number of healthcare schemes like the Janani Suraksha Yojna, or the maternity benefit scheme, has brought about a surge in institutional deliveries and financial uptakes in most states. Besides, the Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram focuses on adolescent health and improving nutritional status and "Partnerships and Opportunities to Strengthen and Harmonise Actions for Nutrition (Poshan)" aims at community-based management of malnourished children. The health ministry has introduced as well as expanded coverage of these schemes to address these challenges, with its main focus on remote areas. It has also started some new schemes to provide care to women at different stages of pregnancy and increase institutional deliveries to prevent deaths. "After the launch of the National Rural Health Mission in 2005, significant improvements have taken place in building the health infrastructure in the country," a senior health ministry official said. Vladimir Putin Russian President Vladimir Putin defended the picture of him shirtless on vacation by categorically stating that he has "no reason to hide". He also seems unfazed by the memes and ridicule surrounding these photos. On August 05, 2017, Kremlin had released a shirtless photograph of Putin relaxing after fishing during a trip to Tyva, Southern Siberia, Russia. Another image of him riding a horse, half-naked, was released. Both this images were turned into thousands of memes by the online community. Putin, however, is unfazed by all this. In a report published by the Business Insider, Putins interview with the Austrian reporter, Armin Wolf is quoted where he says that he finds no reason to hide behind the bushes when he is on a vacation and there is nothing wrong with that. Wolf had asked Putin about the background on his half-naked photos released by Kremlin stating, There are many photos of you half-naked, which is rather unusual for a head of state. These photos were not taken by paparazzi or tourists. They were published by the Kremlin. What is the story behind these photos? Putin calmly replied, You said 'half-naked' not 'naked,' thank God. When I am on vacation I see no need to hide behind the bushes, and there is nothing wrong with that. In another interview with NBCs Megyn Kelly, he was asked, One of the images that we see of you in the United States is without the shirt on a horse. What is that about? Putin wittily answered, You know, I have seen 'photos' of me riding a bear. I have not ridden a bear yet, but there are such photos already. While these pictures took the internet by a storm, Putin seems to be unperturbed by the reactions of the online community. The government is believed to have assured the pharmaceutical industry that it isn't going to push compulsory use of generics in the National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS). NHPS, popularly known as 'Modi Care', aims at benefiting 10 crore families across the country by providing a cover of up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary health care. Jai Priye Prakash, Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals, met with representatives of the Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI), the Indian Drug Manufacturers' Association (IDMA) and the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) in a closed door meeting on Wednesday. He clarified that the government doesn't have any specific plan to make the use of generics mandatory in the NHPS. "What they (government) are saying is that (in) this programme, there is no specific instruction on what drug should be used," a top executive at a multinational pharma company, who was a part of the meeting, told Moneycontrol. "They are not going to specify because the quality (of drugs) is important," the executive added. Despite being gung-ho about the NHPS bringing in more sales, the pharma industry is equally worried about the government using low-cost generic drugs to cut down on the cost of the scheme. Large drug makers fear 'genericization' because it essentially shrinks the value of the market at a time when they are already bearing the brunt of price control of drugs by the government. Unlike in US and a few other developed countries, where the term 'branded drugs' refers to patented drugs and the off-patent ones are called generics, branded drugs are nothing but generic drugs promoted as brands. Examples of such branding are the antibiotic amoxycillin and clavulanic acid, which is promoted by GSK as Augmentin, and as Clavam by Alkem. Companies use armies of sales reps to make doctors prescribe their brands. The popularity of a brand with physicians gives them the pricing power. For instance, Augmentin and Clavam brands cost Rs 16 a pill, while their generic versions cost less than half that. The most prescribed cardiovascular brand, Astrazenaca's Crestor (Rosuvastatin 20 mg) costs around Rs 31 a pill, while its generic costs Rs 3, almost one-tenth of the price. In theory, there shouldn't be any difference between branded and generic drugs, because both are chemically the same. But that's usually not the case. To be sure, not all generics are of inferior quality. But doctors do take the comfort of prescribing brands that are well-established. Also they are not too comfortable prescribing a generic drug of some little-known company, given the lax regulatory oversight and enforcement, and large-scale prevalence of substandard drugs that have little or no efficacy in the market. There are around 10,000 generic manufacturers in India, of which only 1,400 are WHO GMP-compliant. And only 523 of them are US FDA-approved, as of 2016. Industry executives present at the meeting have urged the government to make World Health Organisation (WHO) good manufacturing practices (GMP) a criteria for public sector procurement of medicines, in order to ensure uniform quality standards. "Quality compliance comes at a cost, it's unfair to pit us against manufacturer who produces drugs in cowshed without adhering to basic GMP practices," the executive said. The government currently uses Schedule M, also called the Indian GMP compliance, for procurement of drugs. But the industry believes the government should move to the much more stringent and globally-accepted WHO GMP. While there have been intentions to move all the Schedule M manufacturers to WHO GMP, the process has been slow, the executive said. Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani announced an unconditional ceasefire with the Taliban for the first time, coinciding with the end of the Muslim fasting month. The decision came after a meeting of Islamic clerics this week declared a fatwa against suicide bombings, one of which, claimed by Islamic State, killed 14 people at the entrance to the clerics' peace tent in Kabul. The clerics also recommended a ceasefire with the Taliban, who are seeking to reimpose strict Islamic law after their ouster in 2001, and Ghani endorsed the recommendation, announcing a laying down of arms until June 20. Ghani has urged ceasefires with the Taliban before, but this was the first unconditional offer since he was elected in 2014. The Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan announces ceasefire from the 27th of Ramadan until the fifth day of Eid-ul-Fitr following the historic ruling [Fatwa] of the Afghan Ulema. Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) June 7, 2018 "This ceasefire is an opportunity for Taliban to introspect (sic) that their violent campaign is not winning them hearts and minds," Ghani said in a message on social network Twitter after a televised address. There was no immediate reaction from the Taliban but an international political analyst based in Kabul was unimpressed."It's a one-sided love story," he said. US Forces in Afghanistan said they would honour the ceasefire. "We will adhere to the wishes of Afghanistan for the country to enjoy a peaceful end to the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, and support the search for an end to the conflict," Gen. John Nicholson, US Forces-Afghanistan and the NATO-led Resolute Support commander, said in a statement. The ceasefire would not include US counterterrorism efforts against Islamic State and Al Qaeda, it said. "It is completely Afghan-originated and, as you know, it is our policy to support an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned process," A NATO official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters. Former Afghan army general Atiqullah Amarkhel said the ceasefire would give the Taliban a chance to regroup. "From a military prospect, it is not a good move," he told Reuters. He also said he doubted the Taliban would lay down arms and deny themselves the opportunity of fighting during the holy month of Ramadan, in which attacks have intensified. Ghani in February offered recognition of the Taliban as a legitimate political group in a proposed political process that he said could lead to talks to end more than 16 years of war. Ghani proposed a ceasefire and a release of prisoners among options including new elections involving the militants and a constitutional review in a pact with the Taliban to end a conflict that last year alone killed or wounded more than 10,000 civilians. USA and China The United States has reached a deal with Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE Corp that includes a USD 1 billion fine, according to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. The fine comes on top of the roughly USD 1 billion ZTE has already paid for selling equipment to North Korea and Iran in violation of US sanctions. Ross, speaking on CNBC today, also said that a compliance team picked by the US will be embedded at ZTE. Last month a source familiar with the talks said that the Trump administration had struck an agreement with ZTE. The resolution of the ZTE case may clear the way for the US to make progress in its high-stakes trade talks with China. In April the Commerce Department blocked ZTE from importing American components for seven years, having concluded that ZTE deceived US regulators after it settled charges last year of violating sanctions against Iran and North Korea. ZTE relies on US parts and the ban also hurt ZTE's US suppliers. US President Donald Trump hosted his first Iftar dinner at the White House during which he sought co-operation from the Muslim world to achieve a future of security and prosperity for all, a move that surprised many in the community after he skipped hosting such a party last year. Last year, Trump broke with decades of precedent by not hosting the annual Iftar dinner a bipartisan tradition that formally began with Bill Clinton in the 1990s but has conceptual roots tracing as far back as under Thomas Jefferson in 1805. Trump, who has frequently engaged in anti-Muslim rhetoric, wished Muslims around the world a "Ramadan Mubarak" - a blessed holiday and sought co-operation from them to achieve a future of security and prosperity for all. "Only by working together can we achieve a future of security and prosperity for all," Trump told a gathering of diplomats and officials at the iftar dinner last evening. "For this reason, I was proud to make my first foreign trip as President to the heart of the Muslim world, where I addressed an assembly of more than 50 leaders of Muslim-majority countries. That was something," he said. "The partnership and solidarity that we established over the past year has only deepened with time. So many friendships. So many meetings, even in the Oval Office. And we've made a lot of progress, I think, a lot of tremendous progress," Trump said. After delivering his remarks, Trump sat on the head table which among others included Saudi Ambassador Prince Khalid Ben Salman and Jordanian envoy Dina Kawar. The Indonesian Ambassadors was also seated on the same table. Envoys from several Muslim countries including the UAE, Egypt, Tunisia, Qatar, Bahrain, Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Kuwait, Gambia, Ethiopia, Iraq, and Bosnia were invited. "A very warm welcome to all of the ambassadors here tonight representing Muslim-majority nations. We're greatly honoured by your presence, and thank you very much for being here. Some very good friends. To each of you and to the Muslims around the world: Ramadan Mubarak," Trump said. Vice President Mike Pence and several of his Cabinet members, including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross attended the Iftar dinner. "Tonight, as we enjoy a magnificent dinner at the White House, let us strive to embody the grace and goodwill that mark the Ramadan season. Let us pray for peace and justice, and let us resolve that these values will guide us as we work together to build a bright and prosperous future that does honour and glory to God," Trump said. "In gathering together this evening, we honour a sacred tradition of one of the world's great religions," he said. Meanwhile, members of the some of the Muslim groups held their own Iftar outside the White House in protest against the alleged anti-Muslim rhetoric of the Trump administration. Several Muslim civil rights groups pushed back, organising a "NOT Trump's Iftar" protest at a park across from the White House. The groups say Trump's heated rhetoric has contributed to an increase in bullying and discrimination against Muslim Americans. The Iftar dinner was completely opposite from the inflammatory rhetoric Trump used during his campaign, when he called for a "complete and total shutdown" of Muslims entering the country, compared Syrian refugees fleeing civil war to a deadly snake and declared. He has also imposed a travel ban, targeting travellers from five countries with overwhelmingly Muslim populations - Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. Japanese PM Shinzo Abe and United States President Donald Trump (Image: Reuters) With less than a week to go before meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, US President Donald Trump plays host today to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who wants his voice heard ahead of the unprecedented talks. Trump and Abe will hold a joint press conference at the White House in the early afternoon, before heading to Canada for what promises to be a tense Group of Seven summit clouded by the US leader's aggressive trade policies. Since the first inkling that a Trump-Kim summit could be on the cards, Japan has repeatedly insisted that Washington be mindful not to let its guard down with the nuclear-armed regime in Pyongyang. And by coming to Washington to see Trump for the second time in less than two months, Abe wants to be sure to get his point across to the US president, amid the intense diplomatic flurry over the future of the Korean peninsula. Before leaving Tokyo, the Japanese leader emphasized that during his lightning visit to Washington, he hoped to "closely coordinate and agree" with Trump on an approach to the North Korea issue. And he clearly outlined what would need to happen for the June 12 summit in Singapore to be a success: tangible progress on curbing the North's nuclear and ballistic missiles programs, as well as answers about Japanese nationals kidnapped by Pyongyang in the 1970s and 1980s. At their last meeting at Trump's Florida retreat in April, the US president promised Abe to raise the politically sensitive abductions issue in any talks with Pyongyang. But the subject is hardly a priority for the businessman-turned-president, whose strategy appears to be in constant flux. Above all, Trump seems most enthused by the notion of being the first sitting US leader to hold direct talks with a scion of the ruling Kim dynasty. The intensifying diplomacy on North Korea has so far left Abe as the odd man out: Trump is preparing to meet Kim, while Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korea's Moon Jae-in have each already seen the North's leader twice. For Richard Armitage, a former senior diplomat during the administration of George W. Bush, Tokyo runs a very real risk of finding itself out in the cold after the Trump-Kim talks. "We should absolutely prevent decoupling -- decoupling Japanese and US security," he told AFP. "This is and has been an aim of China and North Korea for a long time, and we can't allow this to happen. That would be falling into a terrible trap." Trump and Abe so far seem to have forged a sort of friendship, but even that bonhomie was revealed to be limited at their last meeting. On Thursday, it could again be put to the test -- beyond North Korea, they are also meant to discuss the thorny issue of tariffs, which Washington says were put in place to protect American workers. "I will stress that measures to restrict trade would not serve the interests of any country," Abe said before heading to Washington. Japan had hoped to convince the US to shield it from fresh tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, and did not hide its bitter disappointment when those talks failed. The government in Tokyo warned of the "grave impact" that US tariffs could have on bilateral ties and the world trading system. "The US government's trade measures, citing its security, makes us concerned that they could disrupt the global market," government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters on Monday. Donald Trump and Xi Jinping The US and China have not yet reached a deal on Chinese telecoms giant ZTE that would lift crippling sanctions against the company, top US economic advisor Larry Kudlow said today. "No decision has been reached by both sides as of now," Kudlow told reporters. ZTE was fined USD 1.2 billion in March 2017, but in April, Washington banned the sale of crucial US components to the firm after finding it had lied multiple times and failed to take action against employees responsible for sanctions violations. Those measures had threatened to put ZTE out of business. US media reported late last month that the US Commerce Department had brokered a new deal under which ZTE would pay a substantial fine, hire American compliance officers to be placed at the firm and make changes to its current management team. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands before the welcoming banquet for the BRICS Summit, in Xiamen. (Image: PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday on the sidelines of the SCO Summit during which they will take stock of the implementation of decisions taken at the informal summit just over a month ago in Wuhan. Modi is expected to hold nearly half a dozen bilateral meetings with leaders of other SCO countries. However, there is no official word on whether there will be any interaction between Modi and Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain, who is scheduled to attend the meeting in China. The bilateral meeting with President Xi would take place on June 9, while meetings with other leaders on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Qingdao were being finalised, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said at a media briefing here. Officials have said Modi and Xi are expected to take stock of implementation of decisions taken at their informal summit in Wuhan. Among other issues, the SCO summit is expected to focus on opportunities for cooperation among the member countries and the situation in the region, Kumar said. Russian President Vladimir Putin is also expected to attend the summit. Modi had last month met Putin in an informal summit in Sochi. The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan became its members last year, and are participating as full members for the first time. Kumar, while talking to reporters after the briefing, said China appreciated Prime Minister Modi's speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue held in Singapore last week. This was conveyed by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj during a meeting held on the sidelines of the BRICS Foreign Ministers Meeting in South Africa this week, he said. This was also conveyed by China's Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou to Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale in a meeting held here, Kumar said. In his address at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Modi said Asia and the world will have a better future when India and China work together with trust and confidence while being sensitive to each other's interests. Donald Trump US President Donald Trump erroneously blamed Canada for the burning of the White House in the War of 1812 during a recent telephonic talk with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, according to a media report. "Didn't you guys burn down the White House?" Trump reportedly asked Trudeau when the US president called the latter to discuss the administration's tariffs in Canadian steel and aluminum imports, CNN reported on Wednesday. Trump made the erroneous historical reference during the call with Trudeau on May 25, the network quoted sources familiar with the discussion as saying. According to the sources, Trudeau pressed Trump on how he could justify the tariffs as a "national security" issue. In response, Trump quipped to Trudeau, "Didn't you guys burn down the White House?" referring to the War of 1812. The problem with Trump's comments to Trudeau is that British troops burned down the White House in 1814 during the War of 1812, the report said. Historians note the British attack on Washington was in retaliation for the American attack on York, Ontario, in territory that eventually became Canada, which was then a British colony. "His (Trump's) statement was completely inaccurate," said Major Tanya Grodzinski, an associate history professor at the Royal Military College of Canada. "This was exclusively a British operation," Grodzinski said of the occupation of Washington. "There were no Canadian troops involved whatsoever," Grodzinski said as she reacted to the CNN report. "To claim that some incident from 200 years ago is the rationale behind the tariffs is completely unjustified, and it makes me question the basis of his policy and if there's any thought to it whatsoever," Grodzinski said. British troops led by Maj Gen Robert Ross attacked and burned public buildings including the Capitol, Washington Navy Yard and the president's mansion during the conflict. It was the only time that a foreign power has captured and occupied Washington, the BBC noted. Reviewing the Supreme Court's work in sentence modification cases of Hughes and Koons | Main | Large group of former prisoners urge Senate leaders to move forward with FIRST STEP Act As noted in this post last year, the US Supreme Court in Moore v. Texas, No. 15-797 (S. Ct. March 28, 2017) (available here), rejected the restrictive factors then being used by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to assess intellectually disability for death penalty ineligibility under the Eighth Amendment. But the defendant in that case, as reported in this local article, has now had his intellectually disability claim rejected again by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Here are the basics: The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has upheld the death sentence of Bobby Moore in a case over the definition of intellectual disability despite pleas from both Moore and the prosecution to change his sentence to life in prison. More than a year ago, the U.S. Supreme Court knocked down Texas method of determining intellectual disability for death-sentenced inmates in Moore's case, ruling the state used outdated medical standards and rules invented by elected judges without any authority. In a 5-3 ruling on Wednesday, the all-Republican Texas Court of Criminal Appeals accepted the use of current medical standards to determine intellectual disability but said Moore still fails to qualify making him eligible for execution. Moore was sentenced to death nearly 38 years ago, three months after he walked into a Houston supermarket with two other men and fatally shot James McCarble, the 73-year-old clerk behind the counter, according to court documents.... In a new evaluation using the current medical framework, the majority of the Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that Moore still did not show enough adaptive deficits to qualify as intellectually disabled, citing the fact that he learned to read and write in prison and buys items from commissary the prisons store. The Supreme Court had warned against using strengths gained in a controlled environment like prison, but the Texas court said some of Moores deficits were due to the lack of opportunity to learn, according to the opinion written by Presiding Judge Sharon Keller. The courts opinion also noted that before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that people with intellectual disabilities were exempt from execution, Moore had claimed in court that he did not have a disability and that his difficulties were due to an abusive childhood and his lack of learning opportunities. In a 67-page dissent, death penalty critic Judge Elsa Alcala, joined by Judges Bert Richardson and Scott Walker, said the courts majority erred in its use of the current medical standards and that Moore is intellectually disabled. Alcala said the court disregarded the standards by improperly weighing Moores strengths against his deficits in his adaptive functioning and put too much weight on his progress in a controlled death row environment. She cited the decision by the lower Texas court that held a live hearing on the issue, Harris County District Attorney Kim Oggs request for a change of sentence based on Moores deficiencies and many observations in the Supreme Court ruling that appeared to agree Moore was disabled. Im in good company in reaching this conclusion, Alcala wrote. There is only one outlier in this group that concludes that applicant is ineligible for execution due to his intellectual disability, but unfortunately for applicant, at this juncture, it is the only one that matters.... Though it hasnt changed his sentence, the Supreme Court ruling in Moores case has had repercussions throughout Texas. At least two men on death row had their sentences changed to life in prison after the ruling, and on Tuesday, the Court of Criminal Appeals halted an execution set for June 21 because of the Moore case. The judges sent the case of Clifton Williams back to a lower court to look into claims of intellectual disability given the Supreme Court ruling. Though Moore will remain on the row in solitary confinement, it seems unlikely he will get an execution date set while Ogg, a Democrat elected in 2016, is in office. Execution dates are set by convicting county courts after appeals have been exhausted, usually prompted by the district attorneys office. And Ogg asked the Court of Criminal Appeals to change Moores sentence to life in prison last November, agreeing that he was intellectually disabled. Ogg did not answer a question from The Texas Tribune about seeking an execution date for Moore. Instead, she said in an emailed statement Wednesday afternoon that she anticipated the courts decision to use correct scientific standards would immediately be applied to assess intellectual disability claims of other death row inmates, without mentioning Moore at all. Real estate/rental online marketplace Zillow and residential real estate franchisor CENTURY 21 Canada have announced the formation of an alliance which will see Zillow receive a direct feed of listings for Canadian homes. The agreement will take advantage of Zillows significant footprint in North America, which will help drive exposure of Canadian real estate listings to the millions of buyers who visit Zillow every month, the announcement stated. Zillow noted that approximately 79% of home buyers in the U.S. use online platforms to shop for homes. We know U.S. buyers are interested in purchasing Canadian real estate, so we're excited to offer the millions of buyers already coming to Zillow for their home search an easy way to see homes for sale in Canada and connect with an agent to help navigate the sale, Zillow Group chief industry development officer Errol Samuelson said. WASHINGTON - An expected order from the White House that would provide relief for oil refineries from the ethanol mandate appears to have been sidelined. Sen. Chuck Grassley said on Twitter late Tuesday that President Donald Trump had rejected the plan, which sought to lower the price of the biofuel credits that refineries must buy to the meet the federal mandate if they don't blend ethanol themselves. "Trump helped farmers by rejecting bad ethanol deal. I appreciate. GREAT NEWS," Grassley said. RELATED STORY: White House readies for ethanol announcement, sources say The White House has looked at an overhaul that would count the ethanol shipped overseas toward federal quotas, which would lower the price of the biofuels credits, according to sources close to the discussions. At the same time the White House had discussed waiving environmental restrictions that prevent the sale of E15, a fuel with a higher concentration of ethanol, during the summer, in a concession to ethanol producers. But ethanol producers and their representatives in the Midwest were not sold of the deal, and furiously opposed such a move. "We are happy the president continues to recognize the importance of our industry to America's farmers and rural economies across the nation," Bob Dinneen, president of the trade group, Renewable Fuels Association, said late Tuesday. "We look forward to working with the administration to remove regulatory barriers to continued growth." Oil refineries had pressured the administration for months to take action on ethanol, arguing the mandate threatened refinery jobs in states like Pennsylvania, where one refinery declared bankruptcy earlier this year, citing the high costs of buying blending credits to meet the mandate. Refiners have argued that market for blending credits is thinly traded, making it an easy target for speculators and market manipulation. But Midwestern farmers, who have benefited from the demand for corn created by ethanol producers, proved too formidable a political barrier. On Tuesday, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, attacked EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt for lying to her when he promised to protect the ethanol mandate, as well as "the way he spends money, the way he misuses his office," according to Politico. Pruitt "is about as swampy as you get here in Washington, D.C.," Ernst said while speaking at an energy forum. "And if the president wants to drain the swamp, he needs to take a look at his own cabinet." Permian Basin production crude, natural gas and natural gas liquids alike is at record levels and still on the rise. Stratas Advisors forecasts that Texas production will double in the next five years, Greg Haas, director, integrated energy, said Wednesday at the Midstream Texas conference presented by Hart Energy at the Horseshoe Pavilion. That surge in production is overwhelming takeaway capacity and sending financial shockwaves through the industry. Ken Snyder, chief commercial officer with Frontier Energy Services, told the audience that his company is forecasting production will flatten as a result of the bottlenecks before ramping up again in 2020, when new and expanded pipeline capacity comes online. The industry was surprised by the upside, with technology such as longer laterals and completions boosting production alongside rising exports and recovering world oil prices, Snyder said. Output rose too fast for pipelines to react, and this time, trucks and rail won't help ease the bottlenecks. Forecasting that Permian Basin production would rise 70,000 barrels a day per month between May 2018 and September 2019, Snyder said it would take 400 to 500 trucks and drivers to move 40,000 barrels a day to market. He forecast the takeaway constraints will delay the production of more than 200 million barrels as producers fight for takeaway capacity, choke back wells, create drilled, uncompleted wells and reallocate capital. The differentials between West Texas Intermediate sold at Midland and WTI sold at Cushing will exceed $20 a barrel before dropping back to $3 a barrel in 2020, Snyder said "We won't lose that production; it will just take longer to get out of the ground," he said. The constraints by the producers will also mean the rig count, completion activity and frac sand demand also will flatten until ramping up again in 2020. All told, Snyder said flatlined production and activity will be equal to $10 billion in revenues. Bill Ordemann, executive vice president, Enterprise Products Partners, said curtailed production is what keeps him and other executives at his company up at night. "Throttling back production is expensive," he said. But, he said, producers will find a way to get their production to market. And with demand for U.S. energy surging from emerging nations, he predicted much of that new production 90 percent of which will come from the Permian Basin -- will be headed overseas. It's a production that Haas agrees with. He said that much of the new production is light crude, which is more marketable overseas because much of U.S. refining is geared toward processing heavier crudes. Haas said efforts to retool Gulf Coast ports, specifically at Corpus Christi and Houston, to handle the largest crude tankers, the Very Large Crude Carriers, will help fuel export growth. Those improved ports could result in adding 1.2 million barrels a day of export capacity. Princes 60th Birthday Party at Vintage Deluxe Vintage Deluxe and the Wagner Noel Performing Arts Center celebrates the Purple One with a proper birthday party. Cookies, birthday treats and, of course, all of Princes biggest hits will have you partying like its 1999. The Wagner Noel will give away tickets to its Oct. 16 concert 4U: A Symphonic Celebration of Prince. 3-6 p.m. today at 1901 N. County Road West, Odessa. Free. Danny Dash Andrews: The Worlds No. 1 Michael Jackson Impersonator Danny Dash Andrews has been touted as the most requested tribute artist. He brings the spirit of Michael Jackson back to the stage with a show that replicates down to the finest detail the King of Pops looks and moves. He moonwalks, toe stands and kicks to all of Jacksons signature hits. His impersonation has even taken Andrews to Americas Got Talent. See him up close when he brings Michael Jackson to Midland. 7-10 p.m. today at Midland Community Theatre, 2000 W. Wadley Ave. $25-$50. mjcelebrityimpersonator.com. The 31st annual Mex-Tex Family Fiesta at the Cimarex Energy Pavilion This annual festival brings two days of culture and music to the pavilion. The music begins with Fridays lineup of Little Joe Y La Familia, Ruben Ramo and Texas Express featuring Jimmy Edwards at 6 p.m. Then celebrate beginning at noon on Saturday with Chris Perez, Frankie J, DJ Kane, Chris Perez and La Fiebre along with a cornhole tournament and food. Just dont forget your sunscreen. Friday and Saturday at 5514 Champions Drive. $15-$30. midlandhcc.com. Smoke on the Mountain by the Maverick Players. The Maverick Players moved into Midland Community Theatre for this delightful musical. Smoke on the Mountain is a bluegrass gospel experience and show in which the traveling Sanders family is running late to the Saturday Night Gospel Sing at Mount Pleasant Baptist Church. With almost 30 songs, along with stories and punchlines, the musical is funny and moving enough to have audiences laugh and cry and even sing along. This is the shows closing weekend. 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Midland Community Theatre, 2000 W. Wadley Ave. $20. maverickplayers.org. Old Sorehead Trade Days weekend Who can resist this shopping trip to Stanton? With more than 600 vendor booths, its likely that visitors wont go home empty-handed. Antiques, candles, art, food and so much more provide lots of options to browse and buy. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and noon-5 p.m. Sunday in historic downtown Stanton. stantontex.com. After SCOTUS rejected its standards, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals again rejects Bobby Moore's intellectual disability claim to preclude death penalty | Main | "Treatment of sex offenders depends on whether they've challenged rules" June 7, 2018 Large group of former prisoners urge Senate leaders to move forward with FIRST STEP Act As reported in this article from The Hill, a "group of 40 former state and federal inmates is pushing Senate leaders to take up the White House-backed prison reform bill that has divided Democrats and liberal groups, as well as GOP senators." Here is more: In a letter Wednesday to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and ranking member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the former prisoners argue the First Step Act, while modest, offers some meaningful reforms.... The former inmates say they know the bill isnt perfect, but its something. All of us would change the bill in different ways and many of us wished it addressed excessive federal mandatory minimum sentences, they wrote. But we also know that the bill would provide some long overdue relief and hope to more than 180,000 people in federal prison and millions of their family members and loved ones on the outside.... Supporters of prison reform say demands for all or nothing is the wrong approach. Weve been disturbed by some of the comments weve heard that doing nothing is better than doing something and that is not at all what we hear from the tens of thousands of prisoners were in touch with, said Kevin Ring, president of Families against Mandatory Minimums, who spent one-and-a-half years in federal prison. Its also inconsistent with our own experiences being in federal prisons and knowing how much reform is needed. Waiting to do anything until you get everything is deeply misguided. The full letter and the list of signatories is available at this link. Here is an excerpt of a missive that merits a full read: Despite the bills clear benefits, we have heard some people suggest it would be better for Congress to do nothing rather than pass this bill. Such talk reflects a disturbing detachment from the hardships that so many families are experiencing today because of our counterproductive federal sentencing and prison policies. While we do not claim to speak for all people who are serving time in federal prison or their families, we (or the organizations at which we work) are in touch with tens of thousands of these incarcerated individuals and their families every week. Many of us still have friends and loved ones behind bars. The people we talk to have no use for abstract debates about whether to pass comprehensive or narrow reform, speculative theories about how passing reform today might impact future reform or, worst of all, political gamesmanship. These families just need some help. They shouldnt have to wait any longer. We also know from our personal experience that meaningful programming, educational, and job training opportunities in the federal system are lacking. All too often people are warehoused for decades with no hope. We know that too many parents are incarcerated so far away from their children that they rarely get to visit them just imagine seeing your kids once or twice a year, if that. Going without the hugs and kisses of our loved ones for weeks and months was the most difficult part about being in prison. We know others who have gone for years without that critical physical contact. We also know that the Federal Bureau of Prisons incorrect calculation of good time credit has deprived people of shortening their lengthy prison sentences. If anyone tells you these reforms are not real or meaningful to vulnerable families and individuals across the country, they simply dont know what they are talking about. Some of many prior related posts: June 7, 2018 at 09:18 AM | Permalink Comments Interesting article on Israeli ruling: "Room for Optimism? Israeli Supreme Court Presses for Implementation of Ruling on Inmates Right to Personal Space" https://www.lawfareblog.com/room-optimism-israeli-supreme-court-presses-implementation-ruling-inmates-right-personal-space Notable tidbit: "In the past, this principle led the court to uphold an inmate's right to vote in national elections, to publish articles in the newspaper and to receive private medical care from doctors outside the prison system." The vote link goes to foreign text, but a quick search led me to find this: https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/Committee-approves-prisoner-voting-rights-in-local-elections-477927 Posted by: Joe | Jun 7, 2018 11:20:55 AM Senators care about only one thing. It is not money. It is votes. "Show me the votes." Posted by: David Behar | Jun 8, 2018 7:02:46 PM Post a comment The visit is made when the historical meeting between the US and DPRK leaders is expected to take place in Singapore on June 12, Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on June 6. Earlier on June 5, the White House announced that the summit will be held at Capella Hotel on Sentosa Island. Preparations are underway in Singapore for the first summit between the top leaders. Singaporean police said they will deploy security measures to prepare for the meeting, with the establishment of special event areas from June 10-14 around Capella Hotel under the Public Order Act. Security will be tightened on streets surrounding these special event areas and people and vehicles travelling to these areas will be closely controlled. In addition, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued on their websites a notice to airlines and pilots that airspace over Singapore will be temporarily restricted for parts of June 11, 12 and 13. Flights arriving to Singapore Changi Airport will be required to reduce speed and face some restrictions on runway use "for reasons of national security", the notice said.-VNA Kanye West will be holding a series of events in Chicago, Miami, and Brooklyn as part of Project Wyoming. He made the announcement via his website. The events in Chicago and Miami will take place on June 7, and his event in Brooklyn will take place on June 8. Other details about Project Wyoming are kept under wraps. What Is Project Wyoming? On West's website, a footage from last week's Ye listening party has been uploaded. Julieanna Goddard, a.k.a. YesJulz revealed that Project Wyoming is West's way of giving fans the chance to experience his album the same way Wyoming residents did last weekend. "Ye wants people to experience the album the same way the 400 people in Wyoming did. Open air, around a fire, with a stadium quality sound. That's what #ProjectWyoming is about. Stripping down to the basics and enjoying nature & GOOD company. These are merch pop up bonfires," wrote Goddard. In a follow-up tweet, Goddard shared the link to WeGotLove, a website that West launched with his Charlamagne interview. The website currently features a 12-minute comedy film starring 2 Chainz and Lil Yachty that was taken from the Ye listening party in Wyoming. Kanye West Causes Trouble At Wyoming Ranch However, the recent gathering reportedly caused trouble among the owners of the Diamond Cross Ranch, who hosted the event. Jane Golliher, the owner, and operator of the establishment revealed that she had a hard time working with West. Golliher said that West changed his mind about where to hold the listening party very frequently. He, later on, decided to hold it outdoors. The gathering was supposed to end at 10 p.m., but it did not even start at 9:30 p.m. The ranch owner and her husband almost got into trouble with the city council because West and his team played their songs loudly. Following the event, Golliher decided that rappers will no longer be welcomed to the ranch. Other artists whose music are more mellow may still hold listening parties at the Diamond Cross Ranch. Kanye West's Mental Health Struggles In related news, West recently sent his love and support to Kate Spade's family after the designer had taken her own life earlier this week. West's gesture to Spade's family came just days after he had shared his own struggles with mental health struggles. West also confirmed his bipolar disorder diagnosis on his song "Yikes." In the track, the rapper said that his condition is not a disability. 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Greetings from the Ridge. I never took much interest in the pile of magazines that Mom would subscribe to each month, but when a few of the perfume and lotion manufacturers started inserting the little scratch-and-sniff cards, Id rush to the mailbox to start scratching and sniffing before my little brother had smeared his peanut butter hands all over the Chanel Number Five ad. Then, a few years ago, the scratch-and-sniff candy stamps for children were all the rage until some idiot started lading the stamps with substances that were illegal in most candy stores and would send little Johnnys head into Strawberry Fields Forever. Now the U.S. Postal Service in another attempt to stay relevant in a digital world will introduce a series of 10 watercolor scratch and sniff postage stamps featuring Popsicles meant to give us a sense of summer nostalgia. The postal boys are being a bit cagey in that theyre not unveiling the names of the scents until June 20 in Austin, Texas. Maybe they think that smells are more pungent in Texas, I dont know. In the 1960s the 3M and NCR Corp. came up with a way to trap ink inside microscopic pockets on paper for use in carbon copies, and then they discovered that this process could also be used with scented oils that would rupture when scratched. The president of Georgio, the perfume maker, said that now we wont have to bring the customer to the store. Before anyone could sneeze, the other fragrance factories followed suit and within months the arrival of Ladies Home Journal was accompanied by a blast of smells that when combined smelled like a wrecked flower truck. The New York Times recently asked a series of questions that the postal service has yet to answer: Will applying postmarks accidentally release the smells? Will your mail end up stinking like fruit? Is it wrong to scratch and sniff them yourself before sending the letter? Are the stamps safe to eat? (That was has been answered: Dont eat your postage stamps.) I suppose its an interesting enough idea, but I think the USPS is missing the boat if it is going to make stamps smell like popcorn, bubble gum and strawberries. Why not do what the U.S. Mint did with quarters and make the smells specific to each state? When you mention New York City theres one sensory blast that comes to mind diesel fumes. The towering canyons of the Big Apple trap every whiff of exhaust belching from the bowels of delivery trucks, taxis and buses. How about a postage stamp celebrating the smells of New York? Diesel fumes with such a whiff of hotdog stand? Scratch, sniff, and youre in Times Square. Why not a whiff of barbecue sauce for the Texas stamp? Just dont sell the stamp in Kansas City. A strong whiff of espresso coffee would easily identify any letters from your aunt in Washington State, perhaps a hint of gumbo might indicate that your cousin from Louisiana was sending you a birthday card, and odor of mesquite would clearly let you know that your brother in New Mexico was needing a loan. Finally we come to odoriferous matter of the Midwestern states, the Illinois-Missouri-Indiana conglomerate that most easterners think of as one big blob of corn as they fly over on their way to California. The problem is although theres not a lot of variety in geography here in the Corn Belt, the diversity of smells is almost unlimited. The postal service might opt for the sweet smell of a lemon shakeup with county and state fairs commanding the landscape for a third of the year, or perhaps a corndog with mustard might be just the right scratch-and-sniff smell to define those of us in the belly of the nation. I asked the question to my group of gray heads around the local cafes morning coffee table. What smells do you associate with the Midwest? These ladies arent crude by any means but the overwhelming choice of scent to represent us folks in the mid-nation was the odor of manure. Distasteful as it sounds, it would at least keep people from opening our mail. Im not convinced that this smell-a-stamp idea is going to be such a big hit. Do I really want to smell my postman coming? You ever in Coonridge, stop by. We may not answer the door but youll enjoy the trip. Freida Marie Crump chronicles the comings and goings in Coonridge for the Journal-Courier. We are not giving biometric data ... They are considered those that saved the world. They are the men and women who sacrificed greatly to battle against the tangible tyranny of man. The fighting generation who stopped the cancer of evil during the Second World War. But as the lights grow dim on the lives of our nations aging heroes, we honor their spirits by remembering their stories. Especially, the stories of our neighbors who returned to West Texas after the war and added to the tapestry of our unique culture. Stories like that of Plainviewian Robert Vera, who fought Nazis in the frozen war zone of France, Beligum and Germany in 1944. Celebrating his 91st birthday with his family Friday, Vera remembered his account during the turning point of our nation. I was real glad when it was over, said Vera. Raised in Ballinger, Vera said he spent his late teens making a living sheering sheep. He earned close to $6 a day. On his off time, Vera said he enjoyed having fun by frequenting movies, dances and other social events. I really didnt think about the war . . . Well, not until I was drafted, said Vera. At 19, he received the draft call and quickly reported for duty in 1943. I wasnt really nervous, said Vera as he reported to Bastrop, just outside of Austin, for Army basic training. I did all right during training, It didnt hurt me none. I had already gotten used to shooting a gun by shooting rabbits, Vera said with a laugh. After basic training, Vera was trained as a combat engineer. I was known as a powder man, said Vera, but he said he was taught a variety of infantry battle techniques. I learned a lot about explosives, he said. After secondary training, Vera said he was shipped off to England. We were known as a bastard battalion, Vera said, adding that once he got there, the men stood and waited to be assigned to any division that needed help. Eventually assigned to the 104th Infantry Regiment 26th Division, Vera said he hopped on a ship and headed to France, where Allied forces were pushing Nazis back to Germany after the Invasion of Normandy. There were hundreds of boats going together, Vera said, as he described the fleets of battleships heading to France. But with the fleets came a broader target as Germans attacked all they could. Id be lying if I said I wasnt scared, Vera said, adding that his ship took lots of fire on the way to France. In December 1944, Vera arrived in the freezing war zone of France and began fighting. It was so cold that our toenails would fall off, he said, adding that they would often sleep in foxholes or in the snow. We never knew if we were going backwards or forwards, said Vera. As an attempt to keep their occupation of France, the Germans launched a major offensive, known as the Battle of the Bulge. In the almost month-long fight, 19,000 Americans were killed and 47,500 wounded, including Vera. We were fighting and a shell exploded near us. I got a piece of shrapnel right in my leg, Vera said. Vera, who was conscious during the whole time, was transported to safety and treated before being flown back to England for recovery. But it wouldnt take long for him to recover and he shipped back to France as soon as he could. By the time he returned, Allied forces had pushed the Nazis back into Germany after the Battle of the Rhine. Vera fought as America moved deeper into Germany, but shortly after his return the Nazis would surrender, bringing an end to fighting in the European Theater. I was so glad it was over, said Vera. Vera said he stayed in Germany for a year, as Allied forces helped with humanitarian aid. After completing the mission, he returned to the United States. I remember I was so glad to be back in America, said Vera, who added that he quickly enjoyed a T-bone steak. Vera was placed on a train back to Texas where he would be discharged from the Army. He went back to work after the war as a migrant worker, working the fields of the south. Eventually, Vera made it to Plainview to pick cotton and he never left. He met his future wife Lenora and the couple had nine children together. Vera was an active member of the American Legion and has taken a trip to Washington to view the World War II memorials. To comment: hmarquez@hearstnp.com 806.296.1350 The United States announced a deal Thursday to lift tough U.S. sanctions on the Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE, a company that has been at the center of a dispute between China and the United States. The Commerce Department said ZTE had agreed to pay a $1 billion fine and allow the United States to more closely inspect the company by effectively having a hand-picked compliance team embedded inside. It is not clear what the United States received in return. ZTE had been a bargaining chip in negotiations between the two countries, which have been striving to reach a trade deal that would prevent tit-for-tat tariffs from going into effect. But the companys fate has gotten caught up in a bigger web, including an upcoming summit between President Donald Trump and North Koreas leader and the success of a U.S. telecom company, Qualcomm, which sells a large amount of semiconductors to ZTE. Qualcomm is awaiting Chinese approval of a deal to acquire a Dutch telecom firm that will help it build the next generation of wireless technology, known as 5G. Trump softened his approach to ZTE several weeks ago after Chinese President Xi Jinping asked Trump to consider easing penalties on the company, which was headed toward collapse after U.S. sanctions barred it from buying any U.S.-made goods. That request came at a sensitive diplomatic moment for Trump, who is heading to Singapore next week to meet with North Koreas leader, Kim Jung Un. Trump has made Xi his partner on North Korea while condemning Chinas trade practices. Trump has said the ZTE move is part of the larger trade deal we are negotiating with China and my personal relationship with President Xi. The settlement with ZTE is likely to inflame lawmakers, including top Republicans, who have objected to helping a Chinese company that has been accused of posing a national security threat. Defense officials have long been concerned that the companys products may be vulnerable to espionage or disruption. Major U.S. wireless carriers have for years been effectively blocked from buying its network equipment. The deal also puts the United States in an even more awkward position as it punishes allies such as Canada, Mexico and the European Union with tariffs on steel and aluminum. I assure you with 100% confidence that #ZTE is a much greater national security threat than steel from Argentina or Europe, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., wrote on Twitter on Thursday. #VeryBadDeal. When it comes to China, despite his tough talk, this deal with ZTE proves the president just shoots blanks, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader, said in a statement. There is absolutely no good reason that ZTE should get a second chance, and this decision marks a 180-degree turn away from the presidents promise to be tough on China. Its up to Congress now to act to reverse the deal. During trade talks in Beijing last weekend, the Chinese offered to make nearly $70 billion of purchases of U.S. agricultural goods, natural gas, coal and manufactured products, people familiar with the discussions said. But that offer was conditional on the Trump administration not proceeding with tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese goods. The Trump administration has not yet announced plans to suspend those tariffs, which the White House has said would go into effect shortly after June 15. Administration officials have stressed the penalties on ZTE are still tough and will not compromise U.S. national security. But the administrations sudden change of heart on the company has still left the White House vulnerable to criticism that it is walking back its tough stance on China. On Wednesday, lawmakers from both political parties took their biggest step yet against the Trump administrations trade agenda, introducing legislation that would require Congress to approve tariffs issued under a legal statute known as Section 232. The Trump administration has used the law to impose sweeping tariffs on metal imports from around the world and proposed similar measures on automobile imports. Both houses of Congress have drafted legislation that would block the ZTE deal, though those efforts remain in initial stages. The House passed a bill last month that would prevent the administration from easing restrictions on the company, while the Senate Banking Committee approved an amendment that would prevent the president from modifying penalties on Chinese companies that had recently violated U.S. law. Rubio has also introduced a provision into an appropriations bill that would restrict government funds from being used to purchase telecommunications equipment produced by Huawei and ZTE. ZTE has been at the center of a wide-ranging and complex trade dispute between Washington and Beijing, and its survival has been used as a bargaining chip between the two sides as each imposed tariffs and restrictions on the others products and services. The Trump administration told lawmakers last month that it had reached a deal to keep the company alive. On Thursday, the administration went public with its decision. At about 6 a.m. this morning, we executed a definitive agreement with ZTE, Wilbur Ross, the Commerce Secretary, said in an interview on CNBCs Squawk Box, adding, This is a pretty strict settlement. We are literally embedding a compliance department of our choosing into the company to monitor it going forward. They will pay for those people, Ross said. He went on to say that ZTE would pay a $1 billion fine, as well as $400 million in escrow to cover any future violations. The company will also be required to change its board of directors and executive team within 30 days. We still retain the power to shut them down again, Ross said. In April, the Department of Commerce banned U.S. companies from selling components and other technology to ZTE, saying the company had failed to reprimand employees who were involved in violating trade controls in Iran and North Korea. The export ban left ZTE unable to manufacture its smartphones and telecom equipment, which contain a variety of components from U.S. suppliers, including the giant chipmaker Qualcomm. Recently, Chinese regulators have moved closer to approving Qualcomms plan to acquire NXP Semiconductors, a Dutch firm. China is the last of several governments to sign off on the deal and the protracted antitrust review has been seen as a way for Beijing to maintain leverage over the negotiations. The Trump administration has expressed concerns about China gaining a leading role in the development of 5G wireless technology and has singled out Qualcomm as key to helping the United States retain an edge. In China, ZTEs travails catapulted the previously little-known company a second-tier player in both smartphones and network equipment into the public consciousness. Many people were surprised to learn that China relied so heavily on U.S. technologies. The Chinese government has for decades tried to make the country more self-sufficient in advanced microchips, with only modest success. Others in China expressed anger that Washington would use U.S. companies technological superiority to bludgeon another countrys industry. These big companies use their monopoly over technology to engage in commercial blackmail, said Li Su, a veteran crisis management consultant, at a recent talk in Beijing. Thats why this incident has aroused such a populist mood in China. Everybody is now talking about what the country should do about chips, what China should do about software, these sorts of things. Chinas leaders, too, have recently redoubled their rhetoric about vaulting the country to the leading edge of science and technology. If China wants to flourish and be rejuvenated, it must vigorously develop science and technology, and work diligently to become a major world center for science and an innovative highland, Xi said in a recent speech in Beijing. Only by having key core technologies in our own hands can we thoroughly guarantee economic and national security. The book is officially fiction: the story of a president who disappears as he tries to prevent an apocalyptic cyberattack. The authors, Bill Clinton and James Patterson, swear it could happen. Youre asking the Secret Service, in effect, to walk away from their duty, the former president said during a recent interview at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel as he and Patterson discussed The President Is Missing, the recently released thriller they worked on together. (But) it could happen. If you were determined to do it, you could do it. A big piece of it (the novel) was getting him out of the White House, Patterson said. It would be irresponsible, but under the circumstances it was the responsible thing to do. Prodded to collaborate by Washington attorney Robert Barnett, who handles book deals for both of them, Clinton and Patterson drew on their respective backgrounds in completing a 500-page novel that topped Amazons best-seller list before publication. Patterson is among the worlds most popular and prolific fiction writers, and the novel is characteristically fast-paced, with brief chapters and dramatic plot turns. Clinton, a newcomer to novel writing whose previous books include the million-selling autobiography My Life, didnt need a lot of research to tell readers what its like to sit inside the White House Situation Room or to be briefed on a possible terrorist attack, or to imagine slipping away entirely. Jim wanted it to be authentic, Clinton said. Which means: A, the physical setting has to be authentic. B, the procedures had to be authentic, and the interplay between the president and the staff and all the world leaders and everything had to have the feel of reality, and even how the Secret Service works. The novel has received blurbs from Mary Higgins Clark, Walter Mosley and even Hamilton author Ron Chernow. The historian told The Associated Press in a recent email that he was initially dubious about the project, but was impressed by the stylistic blend of the two authors. I have to assume that the crisp pacing comes from Patterson, but there is no doubt that the authenticity of the abundant detail owes a great deal to Clintons years in the White House, Chernow wrote. The book has a knowing, inside feel. Readers may be surprised to see one experience Clinton knows of well turn up in the novel impeachment, as faced by President Jonathan Lincoln Duncan, whose foes allege he endangered national security. The story line will surely revive an historic low point of his White House years, when he was impeached in 1998 by the House of Representatives, but acquitted by the Senate, on charges stemming in part from his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. The scandal was already back in the news earlier this year, with Lewinsky writing that the #MeToo movement compelled her to look upon that time through a new lens. But Clinton expressed little concern about mentioning impeachment. In the novel, Duncan notes that a president can be impeached for anything, It doesnt have to be a crime. Clinton said he wanted to present accusations which, if true, would merit removal from office. We (also) wanted to show something that if you were going to testify to Congress, or if you were going to do a full blown news conference, that you have to I dont care how good you are you have to sort of do a prep run, you have to test it, you have to have people who work for you just pounding the living daylights out of you, Clinton said. We went back and forth on that chapter, Patterson said. Clinton avoided direct criticism of President Donald Trump during the interview, but allowed President Duncan a few words about voting rights (expand them), Dreamers and other immigrants (we need them) and the peril to democracy when we drift into tribalism, extremism and seething resentments. Both writers say they want the book to be a page-turner and thought provoking. Clinton spoke in detail of his longtime concerns about cyberattacks, and even referred to one he helped thwart while president that he says remains classified. He expressed dismay that National Security Adviser John Bolton had eliminated the role of cyber coordinator established under President Barack Obama (the stated reason was to streamline authority). He explained that because the country is so dependent on internet access, an effective cyberattack could bring train and airline travel to a halt and could destroy everything from savings accounts to medical records. All the publicity for the last two and one-half years has been on hacking the State Department and the DNC (Democratic National Committee) and the RNC (Republican National Committee) and not releasing them, Clinton said, referring in part to Democratic files hacked and published during the 2016 election, when Trump defeated the former presidents wife, Hillary Clinton. So maybe the way you feel about that depends on what your political party is and how the media chose to cover the hacks. But its such a small part of whats vulnerable to hacking. Clinton is the rare president even to attempt a novel Franklin Roosevelt came up with the initial idea for what became The Presidents Mystery Plot, a serialized thriller worked on by several authors. And he and Patterson could think of few works of fiction they believe effectively captured the life of a president and the political culture of Washington. Both mentioned Allen Drurys Advise & Consent, which Clinton said was effective in part because it didnt focus only on the president. He had similar praise for television shows such as The West Wing. The West Wing is good, but you know the reason it worked? And I love Martin Sheen, I thought he was really good, Clinton said. But if you think about it, for a weekly show, he was used rather sparingly, in major roles. That is, The West Wing worked for so long because its an ensemble show. We both think Madam Secretary (is good), Patterson added. Madam Secretary is by far the most realistic political show on television, Clinton said. I like Veep and I love Julia Louis-Dreyfus. I enjoy Scandal. I enjoy a lot of House of Cards. And Ive got a lot of sympathy for what theyre up against. But its almost impossible to have the president front and center every week and keep it real. 3 1 of 3 Grand Central Publishing Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Grand Central Publishing Show More Show Less 3 of 3 Rahna Reiko Rizzutos new novel, Shadow Child, is a sweeping and unique global exploration of violence against women. Set within a generation-spanning odyssey that begins with the internment of Japanese-Americans in World War II, it churns through Hiroshima and its endless aftermath, hits maddening complexity in Hawaii, and finds at least the hope of a resolution in contemporary Manhattan. All witnessed through the stories of identical twin sisters Hana and Keiko, and their mother, Miya. The three are so close that their voices intertwine through madness and migration, delivering an intensely personalized look at both the Asian-American and female experience during WWII and in post-war America, from the Big Island to the Big Apple. The journey begins in New York, where Hana lives in poverty and isolation, barely coping with PTSD from a disfiguring assault in a lava cave in Hawaii in her teens. She returns to her apartment one day to find the long-absent Keiko, or Kei, injured and unconscious in the shower stall. Hana helps the police search for an assailant, and assists the doctors in trying to keep the now-comatose Kei alive. Bravo, the television home of hits like "The Real Housewives" franchise, has already announced the green light for a San Antonio-based series though thus far it has been mum about specifics. But as locals continue spotting elegantly dressed women in high-priced restaurants, interest is growing and people are asking questions. Many reality TV fans are sure the Alamo City is the next "Real Housewives" backdrop. Some, like Bravo Boy, have even narrowed down the cast. The founder of The Bravo Boy blog told mySA.com he's been following the franchise for about eight years. RELATED: Bravo announces TV series set in San Antonio According to the series expert, crews started the casting process about two years ago, before "Real Housewives of Dallas" aired. He said filming began in San Antonio in mid-June and should be wrapping up shortly. He expects promotional materials to be released in 3-4 months with the debut to follow a month later, around the end of 2018. As far as the cast goes, his list includes: Penelope Ayarzagoita, Lorena Martinez, Janet Montagne, Anayancy Nolasco and Luz Ortiz. None of this has been confirmed by Bravo or parent company NBC. Bravo Boy keeps up with the future stars' lavish lifestyles via social media and was able to spot film crews in a Cinco de Mayo party on of the guests shared on Instagram. He also spotted a newcomer Mayra Farret who isn't in many of the group shots, but has recently been spotted hanging out in the circle. RELATED: San Antonio grad returns to TV in new NBC thriller Some of the hotspots for the ladies include Piatti, Hotel Discotheque, the Blue Star Arts Complex and a charity event hosted at the La Cantera Resort and Spa last weekend. Bravo Boy listed character descriptions for each, corroborated by their social media presence. Take for example Janet Montagne, who vied for the title of "SA Socialite of The Year" in 2017, or Penelope, a Louboutin and tiara-wearing real estate mogul. Bravo representatives were unable to comment on production, but referred back to a news release which labels the presence under the working title "Untitled San Antonio Project," produced by Adjacent Productions and PSG Motion Pictures with Executive Producers Bill Fritz and Anna Rodzinski. "This docuseries follows a tight knit group of women and their families living in San Antonio, Texas, who are affluent, sophisticated U.S. citizens or recently naturalized citizens of Mexican decent," the release reads. "In their upscale and beautiful gated communities, these women will face a new set of challenges in adapting to US culture while working to keep their roots alive and well." RELATED: 'Fear the Walking Dead' filming may have turned a Round Rock baseball stadium into a 'zombie field' Though the "Real Housewives San Antonio" title has not been confirmed and the local ladies could be part of an unassociated, brand new series, as the release indicates, Bravo Boy believes #RHOSA will soon become a thing. He says a source close to production said producers are "leaning" towards the Real Housewives brand. Bravo Boy also noted online chatter and excitement could sway producers' decisions as they are cued into the conversation. "With other franchises, you don't see the culture as much but I think with these women you will because they're Latina and Bravo is trying to diversify the network," Bravo Boy continued. Bravo Boy expects the "real drama" between the women to be in the form of social media squabbles once the series airs and "they see what their friends were saying behind their backs." Speaking of social media, check out the gallery above for an Instagram who's who and a recap of crew spottings around town. Madalyn Mendoza is a digital reporter for MySA.com. Read more of her stories here.| mmendoza@mysa.com | Twitter: @MaddySkye Burlesque star Dita Von Teese is coming to the Aztec Theater Thursday for her first performance in San Antonio since August. Also known as the "Queen of Burlesque," the Michigan-born performer will take the stage at 7 p.m. as part of her latest tour Dita Von Teese and the Copper Coupe. ANSONIA After months of claiming it has been stonewalled in seeking financial information from the Board of Education, the city has asked a judge to order the materials turned over by 9 a.m. Monday. What the citys legal team wants are a dollar amount of funds remaining in the Board of Educations budget as of June 1, actual expenses incurred since then and projected expenses including anticipated payroll and purchases through the month. If that information is not received by Monday morning, Vincent Marino, one of the three Cohen and Wolf lawyers representing the city, asked that the Board of Educations case against the city be dismissed. Marino wants the information for Monday afternoons planned settlement discussion behind closed doors before Superior Court Judge Theodore Tyma. Tyma will try to mediate a settlement in the lawsuit brought by Dorsey and the Ansonia Board of Education claiming the Board of Aldermen illegally removed $600,000 in January from the schools 2017-18 budget. As a result, the school board claims, it cant meet expenses for the rest of the year. That almost resulted in the citys schools closing Wednesday. If no settlement is reached Monday,a hearing demanding the return of the money would take place Tuesday before Superior Court Judge Barry K. Stevens in the Derby courthouse. Marino, who also serves as Derbys corporation counsel, offered an alternative if the information is not received Monday. He suggested that the Board of Education be prohibited from introducing any evidence relating to any budgetary shortfalls during Tuesdays hearing. Fred Dorsey, the school boards lawyer, could not be reached for comment late Thursday afternoon. No judicial ruling had been made as of late Thursday. Any settlement proposed Monday would be presented to the Board of Education and the Board of Aldermen for approval or rejection during separate meetings Monday night. The Aldermen already have a scheduled public budget hearing for Monday at 6:30 p.m., in the Ansonia Senior Center at 153 Main Street. Once that hearing ends, the Aldermen are expected to discuss and probably vote on the 2018-19 budget. Their agenda also includes discussing amending the 2017-18 budget. BROOKFIELD Voters overwhelmingly approved Wednesday evening spending nearly $1.2 million to clean up damage from last months storm, but failed to send an almost $2.6 million capital plan to referendum. The Board of Finance will need to revise the capital plan after confusion at the special town meeting about one of the items for the schools. The resolution called for borrowing money for architectural designs for possible upgrades to the schools. But resident Howard Lasser said he had heard $300,000 in the capital plan would be used as a contingency for the architect company, citing a document from a budget presentation and a conversation with the chairman of the Board of Finance. First Selectman Steve Dunn and Dan Devorsetz, a Board of Finance member and moderator for the meeting, said they thought the money was for the designs. Lasser said town officials needed to clarify this. Go back to the drawing board and do what other boards of selectmen and boards of finance have done in the past, Lasser said. Sharpen the pencil, get it right and then go back to another referendum. The about 50 residents at the special town meeting agreed, widely voting not to send the budget to a referendum. The capital plan included several projects, such as renovations to the boys locker room at the high school and the replacement of several vehicles. The money would go toward improvements to the Parks and Recreation Departments maintenance building, among other projects. Voters easily approved nearly $1.2 million from the general fund to clear the towns rights-of-way after the May 15 macroburst that brought down trees and wires across town, damaging nearly 550 homes and knocking out power to more than 90 percent of residents and businesses. Damage to public roads and spaces is estimated at $3.8 million. The town is applying for a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency that could cover 75 percent of that cost. The $1.2 million will cover the cost to clear town rights-of-way only, not private properties. The boards of selectmen and finance had already approved the Public Works Department expense of $323,000 to clear town roads. Without this funding, Dunn said it would take three to four years for the Public Works Department to return the town to normal. But he expects a company could begin clearing roads Monday. The contractor has said it would take 30 days to clean 60,000 cubic yards, which would be a significant portion of the debris, Dunn said. Many residents who live on private roads, like in the Candlewood Shores community, worry FEMA aid cannot be used to help them. Dunn said he wants the town to help individual residents remove the brush and debris from their properties, but the town must wait until it hears what aid it will receive from FEMA. FEMA rules do not allow the town to go onto private properties for cleanup and FEMA officials have been vague about whether the town can clear private roads, Dunn said. Were trying to find a way to help everyone in town, he said. I believe that everyone who lives in Candlewood Shores should get the same support as people who live on town roads. That just seems reasonable to me. But we have to find a way to do it legally and we have to be very careful of the FEMA rules, he said. The town urges residents to submit photos of damages, to send to FEMA to support the towns application. STAMFORD Dariens Saint Lukes Parish, at 1864 Post Road, will welcome the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, and the Magdalene College Choir for services at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on June 24th. At both services Rowan Williams will preach and the Magdalene College Choir will sing. The Choirs of Saint Lukes will join the Magdalene College choristers for the Evensong service that afternoon. Williams was confirmed as the 104th bishop of the See of Canterbury in December 2002. He was the first Welsh successor to St. Augustine of Canterbury, who was chosen in 597, and the first since the mid-thirteenth century to be appointed from beyond the English Church. Dr. Williams is acknowledged internationally as an outstanding theological writer, scholar and teacher, as well as being an accomplished poet and translator. In 2012, at the conclusion of his tenure as Archbishop of Canterbury, Williams became the Master of Magdalene College. Its an honor to host a global religious leader like Rowan Williams, especially one so gifted in mind and heart, said St Lukes Rector David Anderson. And the addition of the Magdalene College Choir makes this also an extraordinary musical occasion. Founded in 1542, Magdalene College is one of the ancient Colleges that make up the University of Cambridge. The College choir is comprised of about 24 members from the college and volunteers from other colleges, and is under the direction of the award-winning cellist and conductor, Graham Walker. Both services are free and open to the public. HARTFORD The Senate Republican President Pro Tempore reacted this week to comments made Tuesday by Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Ned Lamont and his pick for lieutenant governor Susan Bysiewicz at a Middletown school. Len Fasano, R-North Haven, took issue with the candidates statements on the states Education Cost Sharing formula and carried-interest loophole proposal. This measure allows managers of private investment funds to get a preferential tax rate on income known as carried interest. Youve got to fund the cost sharing, Lamont said during the tour of Macdonough Elementary School. If weve got to find a fairer way to distribute that going forward, lets do it. Right now, its been sort of hit and miss. I hear a lot of complaints from communities all over the state that our town was short-changed, he said. Weve got to fully fund education. Its the best investment we can make in this state. Ned Lamont and Susan Bysiewicz need to do their homework, Fasano said in a release. If they really want to bring ideas to the table, then they need to know the facts. Ned Lamont is wrong when he says that Connecticuts Education Cost Sharing formula today is not fair. While Democrats did not follow a fair formula in past years, the bipartisan budget passed last year took historic steps to implement a true education funding formula that now takes into account need, population and poverty, Fasano added. But, Lamont said Thursday afternoon, Theres nothing fair about the way the ECS formula is implemented in Connecticut. Id encourage Senator Fasano to visit the towns I have across the state and hear from the teachers, students and families who are struggling to deal with education funding cuts year after year, he said. Lamont called for implementation of the ECS formula as it was originally written to truly address need, not the politics of passing a budget. Playing politics is finding fault with a process that Republicans have been part of, without offering any real solutions, he said. The new formula has a phase-in plan that will assure Connecticuts 169 municipalities know what they can count on from the state, and know their needs will actually be addressed in a fair and equitable manner, Fasano said in the release. Either Ned Lamont has no idea what the new bipartisan formula does or he is purposefully choosing to ignore it in favor of playing politics. Fasano also addressed comments made by Bysiewicz, a Middletown resident, suggesting eliminating the carried-interest loophole would bring in $520 million in revenue that could be used for the states education needs. Susan Bysiewicz is obviously unfamiliar with Connecticut tax policy. In Connecticut, we do not have a carried-interest loophole. Connecticut actually already taxes this income. The loophole Bysiewicz is talking about is an entirely federal issue. If she wants to change it, she should be urging Connecticuts federal congressional delegation to act, Fasano said. Even if the federal law was changed, Connecticut would get no additional revenue because the state already taxes this. Senator Fasanos statements are plainly not true, Bysiewicz said in a statement Thursday evening. Closing the hedge-fund loophole can be done at both the state and federal level. Connecticut needs to partner with our federal officials to find more equitable treatment with respect to carried interest and work with our neighboring governors to find the best solution for our state and the region. While Congress refuses to act, that doesnt mean the leaders in Connecticut have to follow suit. We believe in proactive leadership, and that is the approach we will bring to a new administration, Bysiewicz concluded. Washington Democrats enhanced their prospects for winning control of the House in Tuesday's coast-to-coast primaries, skirting potential calamity in California and lining up likely gains in New Jersey and possible victories in Iowa and New Mexico. The Democratic Party had feared disaster in California, where a quirky "jungle primary" gives the November ballot to the top two finishers in the primary, regardless of party. But Democratic contenders were able to leverage financial and strategic help from the national party to weather the winnowing primary, and ensure that they will field candidates in multiple California House districts that they will most likely need to win control of in November. "Even though Democrats had to spend a few million dollars, crisis averted," said Nathan Gonzales, a veteran House race handicapper and the editor of the Inside Elections newsletter. Republicans avoided their own worst-case scenario as well, securing a spot in the California governor's race, which should help bring Republican voters to the polls this fall to vote for Republican House candidates. Republicans missed a slot on the ballot to challenge Sen. Dianne Feinstein's re-election bid, but a shutout in both California's Senate race and its contest for governor could have severely depressed conservative turnout. Republican voters also chose strong candidates in Southern California for the showdown in November. The Democrats had more on the line, and more to celebrate. They will now be able to mount challenges in places where it feared being shut out, including open seats near San Diego and Los Angeles and districts represented by Republican incumbents in Orange County, Los Angeles County and around Modesto. Between California and New Jersey, Democrats will contend for at least 10 Republican-held seats, nearly half of the 23 they need for control. While California was the focal point of Tuesday's voting, New Jersey was one of a handful of other states where the battle for the House was also joined, including Iowa and New Mexico. In New Jersey, Democrats settled on well-funded candidates who they believe are likely to prevail in elections for seats being vacated by Reps. Rodney Frelinghuysen and Frank A. LoBiondo. They also intend to mount serious challenges to incumbents Leonard Lance and Tom MacArthur, the latter a lawmaker who has closely aligned himself with President Donald Trump. "The results last night not only in California but in New Jersey, Iowa and New Mexico ultimately come down to really strong Democratic candidates getting through with pretty overwhelming support in states where the voters weren't split among multiple candidates," said Meredith Kelly, the communications director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Republicans saw some positive developments Tuesday as well. In the California governor's race, John Cox, a Republican, secured a spot on the ballot to face Gavin Newsom, the Democratic lieutenant governor. In an early-morning tweet Wednesday, Trump embraced Cox and tried to counter the widely prevailing view that Democrats had dodged an electoral bullet. "Great night for Republicans! Congratulations to John Cox on a really big number in California. He can win," Trump tweeted. "So much for the big Blue Wave, it may be a big Red Wave. Working hard!" In addition, congressional Republicans were enthusiastic about their own contenders in California, including Young Kim, a Korean-American woman who was the top vote-getter in the primary to replace Rep. Ed Royce, another retiring Republican in a district that is nearly 30 percent Asian. "As a businesswoman and a longtime aide to Congressman Ed Royce, Young understands Southern California families' needs," said Rep. Steve Stivers of Ohio, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. Another female candidate, Diane Harkey, was the top vote-getter in the San Diego County district being vacated by Rep. Darrell Issa. While Democrats managed to push their candidates through the dicey process, their success in the California races is not guaranteed even though at least seven Republican-held districts in play were carried by Hillary Clinton in 2016. Despite opposition to Trump, the districts remain dominated by Republican voters. And Democrats did not always get their preferred candidate, with more progressive candidates prevailing in some districts. For instance, Democratic voters in Orange County picked Katie Porter, a law professor and strong progressive candidate, over more business-oriented Dave Min to face Rep. Mimi Walters, a Republican in her second term, in November. Orange County, south of Los Angeles, has never been known as a bastion of liberalism. "I'm not convinced that voters are going to punish Mimi Walters and Dana Rohrabacher because they don't like the president," said Gonzales, referring to two California Republican incumbents at risk. QUEBEC, Canada - French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday threatened to join with other world leaders to issue a rare rebuke of the United States at a global summit here this weekend, drawing immediate and sharp replies from President Donald Trump. Macron threatened to exclude the United States from the joint statement issued every year at the end of the Group of Seven summit of industrial democracies, as part of an international pushback against Trump's efforts to change trade rules. "The American President may not mind being isolated, but neither do we mind signing a 6 country agreement if need be," Macron wrote on Twitter. "Because these 6 countries represent values, they represent an economic market which has the weight of history behind it and which is now a true international force." Trump responded by accusing Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of hurting the United States with unfair trade practices. "Please tell Prime Minister Trudeau and President Macron that they are charging the U.S. massive tariffs and create nonmonetary barriers. The EU trade surplus with the U.S. is $151 Billion, and Canada keeps our farmers and others out. Look forward to seeing them tomorrow," Trump wrote on Twitter. He followed up that post with another tweet targeting Trudeau: "Prime Minister Trudeau is being so indignant, bringing up the relationship that the U.S. and Canada had over the many years and all sorts of other things . . . but he doesn't bring up the fact that they charge us up to 300% on dairy - hurting our Farmers, killing our Agriculture!" Trump wrote. The exchange highlighted Trump's contrasting negotiating approaches to allies and adversaries. The president traded barbs with the French president just hours after his administration relaxed its punishment of the Chinese telecom company ZTE, a concession that could pave the way for a trade deal with China. Leaders in Europe, Canada and Mexico are furious over Trump's invocation of national security to justify tariffs on their exports of steel and aluminum to the United States. When the president arrives Friday in Quebec, he will find U.S. alliances badly frayed, turning Trump's tariffs into the focus of the G-7 summit. Those tensions boiled over in recent days during testy presidential phone calls with British Prime Minister Theresa May, Trudeau and Macron. In contrast, Trump has shown a willingness to conciliate China in hopes of a trade deal he can bill as a major achievement. "The traditional definition of allies is certainly being called into question," said Douglas Rediker, executive chairman of International Capital Strategies, a financial advisory firm. "If you look at it holistically, then it doesn't make sense. But it's consistent with the purely transactional nature of this president and the political imperative of being seen as cutting a big deal on a big issue." ZTE will pay a $1 billion fine and agree to fund a new in-house compliance team staffed by U.S. experts, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said. The move eases a seven-year ban on ZTE buying American parts that Commerce levied in April. At the time, the Chinese government complained that the action could put the company, a major employer and star of the Chinese technology industry, out of business and make it impossible to conclude a U.S.-China trade deal. The decision to soften ZTE's penalty stoked a rebellion among Senate Republicans, who see the company as a national security risk. After staking out a tough position on trade with China - demanding in March that Beijing enact sweeping changes in its industrial policies - Trump appears to be moving toward a less ambitious deal involving Chinese promises to buy more U.S. products. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., introduced legislation Wednesday that would block the president from imposing tariffs - like those Trump levied on the European Union, Mexico and Canada - on national security grounds without congressional approval. After 17 months of tumult in U.S. trade policy, Corker's bill represents the most assertive congressional response to date. Trump began Thursday with a tweet reiterating his long-held view that U.S. trading partners have routinely taken advantage of the world's largest economy. "Getting ready to go to the G-7 in Canada to fight for our country on Trade (we have the worst trade deals ever made)," he wrote. The Commerce Department action came after Trump tweeted last month that he planned to help ZTE because "too many jobs in China" would otherwise be lost. The president's extraordinary intervention in an enforcement matter drew widespread criticism on Capitol Hill from members of both parties. Reaction Thursday was no warmer. "China is eating our lunch, and this president is serving it up to them," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Thursday Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called for Congress to reverse the decision, but that would be difficult. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., however, on Thursday announced a bipartisan amendment to the annual defense spending bill - backed by Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla. - that would reverse Trump's effort to weaken ZTE's penalty. In an early-morning televised interview, Ross announced that the United States and China had reached a 23-page definitive agreement on ZTE. "We are literally embedding a compliance department of our choosing into the company to monitor it going forward. They will pay for those people, but the people will report to the new chairman," Ross told CNBC. "This is a pretty strict settlement. The strictest and largest settlement fine that has ever been brought by the Commerce Department against any violator of export controls." Under the agreement, ZTE also is required to change its entire board of directors and executive team within 30 days. The government will hold $400 million of ZTE's money in escrow as a hedge against future violations by the company, which last year settled criminal and civil charges in connection with violations of U.S. sanctions on Iran and North Korea. ZTE was found to have shipped its sophisticated telecommunications equipment to both countries, which the State Department lists as supporters of terrorism, and to have repeatedly lied to U.S. investigators about its actions. The company paid $892 million in fines, with an additional $300 million suspended to encourage compliance with the settlement. The $400 million escrow likely includes those suspended funds, according to Doug Jacobson, a Washington trade attorney. Jacobson said the new agreement expands provisions in last year's settlement, which provided for an independent compliance monitor to oversee the company's activities. Carlos Gutierrez, who was commerce secretary under President George W. Bush, said the change in the U.S. penalty probably averted a worsening in relations with China. Since the original U.S. action would have put ZTE out of business, Chinese authorities would have retaliated against a prominent U.S. company, he said. "I think where we ended up on ZTE is in a better place," said Gutierrez, who has been critical of other Trump administration trade policies. "The Chinese public was up in arms because they believed the U.S. was destroying ZTE." But Jacobson questioned the president's decision to intervene. "This is an extremely dangerous precedent to intertwine law enforcement matters with other trade and foreign policy issues," he said. "This is unprecedented - to have another government go to the U.S. government and have the president agree to make a change in exchange for something else." Ross insisted Thursday that the ZTE matter was "quite separate and apart" from ongoing trade talks with China. But the president has repeatedly spoken of the enforcement matter as part of efforts to overhaul the U.S. commercial relationship with China. To satisfy Trump's demand for a reduction in the $375 billion in goods U.S. trade deficit with China, the government in Beijing has reportedly offered to buy up to $70 billion more each year in U.S. products. That offer is conditioned on the president dropping his threat to impose tariffs on up to $150 billion in Chinese imports. Scott Kennedy, an expert on Chinese business at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, called the emerging deal "a very thin result to get out of all this trade angst with China" and said that the president had "frittered away" his negotiating leverage. Other analysts said that trading leniency on ZTE for China's agreement to buy more U.S. products would leave major issues unresolved. The Trump administration has complained about a range of Chinese industrial policies that it says disadvantages U.S. companies, including compulsory licensing arrangements and rampant theft of trade secrets. "It doesn't really move the ball forward on the deeper structural issues in U.S.-China technology and trade," said Samm Sacks, a senior fellow in the CSIS technology program. Eric Altbach, a former deputy assistant U.S. trade representative who spent years negotiating with the Chinese, said the United States may have agreed to go easier on ZTE in exchange for China approving an American company's acquisition of a Chinese firm. U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm has been trying to buy NXP Semiconductors of the Netherlands, but given the company's global reach, the deal had to be approved by numerous countries' antitrust regulators, including China's. The Chinese government has delayed the deal as trade frictions intensified. With the ZTE matter resolved, the deal may advance. Both companies' share prices rose Thursday, with NXP up nearly 5 percent. "The hope is accommodating China's concerns on ZTE will open the door to favorable decisions on Qualcomm and other deals," Altbach said. Amid mounting trade tension between the United States and China, lawmakers have grown increasingly critical of the national security threat from telecom companies such as ZTE and Huawei. The Pentagon in May ordered retail outlets on U.S. military bases to remove from the shelves smartphones made by the two companies. There was no immediate comment from the Chinese government on the ZTE agreement. Mei Xinyu, a researcher with a Chinese Commerce Ministry think tank, said a deal would ease tensions. But the Chinese worry that Trump will not stick to any agreement. "How can the United States convince China that a trade agreement with them is of value, rather than a waste of paper that the Americans can scrap unilaterally?" Mei said. "Personally, I hope the trade war ends well, but I can't help but worry about the U.S. changeable mind." --- Lynch and Long reported from Washington. The Washington Post's Simon Denyer and Shirley Feng in Beijing contributed to this report. JAFFNA, Sri Lanka - After her release from a rehabilitation camp for former Tamil Tigers fighters in 2011, one former member of the women-only Malathi Brigade was presented by Sri Lankan government officials with a sewing machine. More accustomed to the rigors of warfare, the woman, who spent seven years fighting with the militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) after signing up as a teenager, had no interest in sewing. She tried raising chickens, but the venture failed. "I'm tired of the burden I have become to my family," said the 35-year-old, who asked not to be identified out of fear of repercussions. "Every time I go out, I have to ask my father for money. I don't want this kind of life. I would have been a commander in the LTTE by now if it still existed." The LTTE's three-decade campaign for Tamil sovereignty came to a bloody end in May 2009, as government troops crushed an insurgency that had cleaved the Indian Ocean island. Nine years later, the country's north is picking up the pieces after being shattered by the lengthy war and its violent conclusion - and the women who fought with the rebels have had to navigate a perplexing transition. Lured by an intoxicating promise of a Tamil homeland and female emancipation, women were recruited to the Tigers in large numbers and made up nearly one-third of the separatist organization. But once the war ended, most found few options available to them aside from reverting to traditional roles. After years of equality with their male counterparts, they were suddenly expected to marry, have children and tend to household chores. There's nothing else to do, said a former Sea Tiger - a veteran of the LTTE's naval division - who also asked not to be identified. The 39-year-old still has shrapnel peppered throughout her body from battles waged during the 1990s. (She signed up at the age of 12.) She managed to keep from being swept into the system of government-run camps set up to hold the defeated rebels, camps that have been dogged by allegations of torture and rape - and that has enabled her to avoid being placed under surveillance. "I wanted to start offering karate and self-defense lessons to girls," she said, "but my husband said, 'No, don't do that, it will draw attention to you, and people will start suspecting your background.' " Even today, those who survived the conflict find themselves struggling for acceptance - and a steady income. Alan Keenan, the International Crisis Group's senior Sri Lanka analyst, said little has been done to address the basic socioeconomic needs of these female ex-combatants. "Female fighters have suffered from a range of extra disadvantages - including heightened poverty and vulnerability to sexual exploitation and violence - and the government has developed no comprehensive policy to address these," he said. "And ex-combatants continue to suffer ostracization from the rest of the Tamil community, for a variety of complicated reasons." In their desperate final days, the Tigers alienated many Tamil supporters - who for years had remained loyal to their cause - by forcibly recruiting child soldiers and cynically using civilians as human shields. The army, for its part, incessantly shelled designated "no-fire zones," killing thousands and setting the stage for a fraught path to normalizing relations between Tamils and the Sinhalese majority. For female LTTE cadres, the defeat marked an end to the militaristic brand of feminism that had earlier liberated them from social strictures. Now they had to swap trousers for saris and grow out their short hair to appease judgmental families and neighbors. Ananthy Sasitharan, the Northern Province minister for women's affairs, whose husband was a high-ranking LTTE leader, is one of the few Tamil female politicians and is regularly in contact with former Tigers who come to her for "livelihood assistance." She said many are living a sparse existence without husbands or jobs and are careful to conceal their ex-combatant status because of continuing state surveillance. "They dress in a manner so you can't see that they are injured, but they can't work much because of that," Sasitharan said. Their hidden struggle is illustrative of a society that in many ways remains fractured, although those fractures are masked by torpid reconciliation efforts and a stable economy as the government pushes its ambitious "Vision 2025" to achieve upper-middle-income-country status. The north saw major postwar infrastructure investment under hard-line former president Mahinda Rajapaksa - who was also responsible for crushing the Tigers. But according to Jehan Perera, executive director of the National Peace Council, local workers were rarely hired for the projects. Since President Maithripala Sirisena took office in 2015, the government has pulled back on large-scale infrastructure development in favor of housing projects that have had greater success in reaching the general population, Perera said. "There has been a visible transformation, but the question is whether the benefits are going to the poorer sections of the population," he said. "The people who are living in the rural areas and villages, or even in the main cities in the informal economy, have not benefited." The government has set aside approximately $80 million in its 2018 budget for reconciliation projects, including subsidies for businesses that hire at least five ex-combatants or war widows. Announcing the budget - the first to contain a section specifically devoted to reconciliation - Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweeratold parliament that for Sri Lanka to achieve its goal of becoming an advanced economy by 2025, reconciliation is "a must." "Despite winning the war, we have yet to win the peace," he said, "and in order to do so, it is essential that we win the hearts of those in the war-affected areas." Another ex-Sea Tiger - who joined in 2001, at 16, and spent eight years in and out of the LTTE - moved to a modest home in her new husband's small village, where she said she was "limited in terms of what she can do as a housewife in this area." "I got training in how to make small snacks to sell at shops, and I was doing that, but now I'm feeling too unwell," said the 33-year-old, who was pregnant and had flesh wounds on her right leg that she said were caused by the shrapnel that remains lodged there. She sustained the injuries after leading a group of female fighters into battle with the army in 2008. Her husband is disabled, so with the added responsibility, "I don't feel like the second-in command," she said. Still, she added, "it was very difficult coming into a family setting, as a wife and mother." - - - The Washington Post's Thulasi Muttulingam contributed to this report. PORT AUSTIN Turnip Rock, located in Lake Huron near Port Austin, is one of many summer attractions in Huron County. Thanks to Labatt, a Canadian brewing company, people around the state of Michigan will be able to enjoy this popular tourist attraction. Through a partnership with Grand Traverse Baykeeper and the Loving Michigan campaign, Turnip Rock is being featured on limited edition cans of Labatt Blue and Labatt Blue Light. Labatt USA will partner with Grand Traverse Baykeeper to further its efforts to advocate for policies and actions that protect and preserve water quality throughout the Grand Traverse Bay watershed, which covers major portions of Grand Traverse, Leelanau, Antrim and Kalkaska counties. One of the ways that we are hoping to advance our environmental contributions to the markets in which we do business is through a relationship with the Global Waterkeeper Alliance, said Lisa Texido, brand manager for the Labatt Family. The Global Waterkeeper Alliance is the global organization that oversees the total stewardship of all the waterways throughout the world, she said. "Were really fortunate to have engaged in a relationship with them because they have been able to help us seek out partnerships with some of their local chapters, like the Grand Traverse Baykeeper," Texido said. "This summer is the first year that we have taken the step toward helping the local keepers, and so were really focused on ensuring that they have the right investment to be able to move forward. The primary way that were supporting them this summer is with a $10,000 investment to help them preserve their waterways throughout the different maintenance activities they have this summer or other upkeep type instances that they (under take). Labatt USA will make a $10,000 investment to support Grand Traverse Baykeepers efforts, which is part of a larger investment of more than $100,000 with Waterkeepers throughout the Great Lakes region. Labatt USA is a triple bottom line company, said Lauren Christopher, associate public relations manager for the Labatt Family. Our triple bottom line is very interesting because we have a business philosophy where we measure ourselves on three different aspects. Of course, profit, we want to be a profitable business, our people and also the community, so our environmental impact is of huge importance to us and being able to make a difference where we make our biggest environmental footprint. For us thats water. Water is actually the No. 1 ingredient in beer, so thats kind of where we focus our environmental efforts. This summer, Labatt USA will release limited-edition Loving Michigan graphic cans of Labatt Blue and Labatt Blue Light, which will feature popular summer water destinations in Michigan, such as, Turnip Rock, Mackinac Island, Grand Haven State Park and the Ambassador Bridge. With those being in market, any supporting point of sale material that people may see at the store or certain things that they may see at the bar, communicate what were doing with the Grand Traverse Bayeeper, so that we help raise awareness for the organization as well, Texido said. Texido said Labatt selected Turnip Rock because of the fact that it is a hidden gem in the state of Michigan. Whats really fun for us is when we start the ideation process and we think about what are the right landmarks to include on this sort of thing, Texido said. Our goal this year was to highlight areas across the state that people go to really enjoy themselves in the summer. Labatt is a brand from Canada, and were really focused on how do we help facilitate that fun in the outdoors? Michigan, with all of its access to water, has a lot of great opportunities to get up and get out. Especially when the weather is warm. So, we had some conversations with our sales team, with some of our consumers, as well as our wholesalers, and Turnip Rock came up because it is sort of a hidden gem in the state. We understand that it is a place that people love to go kayaking. Kayaking is a great recreational water activity, so we thought it was a really great option for us to highlight this year. Loving Michigan cans will be available in all locations that sell 24-pack and 15-packs of 12-ounce cans of Labatt Blue or Labatt Blue Light. NORWALK A Fairfield man with a suspended license led police on a short pursuit has been arrested arrested on multiple charges, police said. Scott Cogswell, 28, of Lindwood Road, was charged with engaging police in pursuit, operating a motor vehicle while under suspension and reckless driving. What to do about Tweed New Haven Regional Airport? Should we expand it? How do you balance the fears and lifestyle qualities of nearby residents vs. the economic growth of the region and the travel needs of the many more people beyond that neighborhood? This is one of the most important yet complex issues we are facing in greater New Haven. The arguments are fraught with emotion. When I wrote a column about this four weeks ago supporting the proposal to expand the main runway from its current 5,600 feet to 6,600 feet, I knew I would hear angry responses from people living near the airport. Oh, yeah! I got em. Marian Lucibello wrote me a long email saying she was furious with me. Trying to imagine traffic congestion in our small neighborhood is mind bending. Where will everyone park? She said that in previous years when more airlines used Tweed, diesel gas floated in our pools and fumes filled the air, so we were not able to sit on our decks. Because I had mentioned I recently discovered my two daughters can use Tweed to get here from their homes in Los Angeles (via a Philadelphia connection), Lucibello wrote: I am pretty sure you would not have been happy seeing your girls swim in diesel-polluted pools or cry over seeing the planes coming so close to their homes. She also seems to think I favor the runway expansion only because your daughters will have such an easier time coming to visit. Yay for you! She didnt appear to read the rest of my column, about the economic benefits to the region. I have had a family member use Tweed just one time. This is not about my own convenience. And then Lucibello veered into my own East Rock neighborhood, recalling the multiple-year battle over building a Worthington Hooker Middle School on Whitney Avenue. She wrote about a lot of huffing and puffing from East Rock residents about a school. But you think my neighborhood should put up with traffic, noise, pollution, strangers driving around our street looking for a restaurant in the middle of the night because it was easier for your daughters to come visit you. Well, I had to set her straight. I informed her: We in my neighborhood fought for years to get that school built. Because of a few obstructionists (mostly on the abutting Everit Street), it took so long for us to win the fight that my kids never got a chance to be schooled in a nice building. Yes, I sat through many public hearings on that issue. I remember hearing one opponent warn of the riff raff that would be walking down their beautiful street. Today, those homes are still fetching plenty on the market and there has been no invasion of riff raff. You see happy kids and their parents walking to that school every weekday. There were also some people living near me who were afraid when a sober house of recovering young men was set up on Whitney Avenue. Well, it has been operating there for years and fits fine into the neighborhood. I know its not the same as an airport but its another example of what you have to accept when living in a city. Lucibello is indeed worried, even afraid. She told me that in Tweeds greater plan, our homes will be knocked down. I understand her fear but Im not convinced thats a realistic scenario. Donna Guido emailed me to say people bought homes near Tweed knowing the airport was a small airport, never to become larger. I dont know how they could know it would never grow. Guido recalled the big rock concerts at Yale Bowl in the 60s and 70s. After awhile, they were stopped. Why? Because the Westville folks didnt want the noise or traffic. I understand her argument, but again: if you live in a city, you have to be willing to put up with some elements of city life. I think people living around Yale Bowl should not have been able to stop those rock concerts. They even denied us seeing Paul McCartney! Keith Hall, who also lives near Tweed, told me in an email he opposes adding 300-500 cars daily on streets that were never meant for commercial use. The noise and air pollution alone would be tragic to an ecosystem that is finally getting back on track. Hall reported that recently I saw a pair of bald eagles come over my house. He added, Lets let well enough be. Parks, people, schools and nature would be altered in a very negative way that can never be changed back. Hall called on the state and city to spend our tax money on something thats positive for all, not just a select few who feel that traveling an hour to a major airport is an inconvenience. I replied to Hall that he had raised some good points. But I also told him one could argue it is a select few who oppose airport runway expansion. I think more than a select few would benefit from expanded service. I also heard from people who support the additional service. John Cawley of Hamden recalled that in the late 60s and early 70s, Tweed offered flights to John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport and several daily flights to Washington, D.C., which were used by many Yale faculty and business people. It really is a shame that all that has stopped, Cawley said. Hopefully, some sort of agreement can bring some of that back. Perhaps the most interesting email I received on the proposed runway expansion came from a person who didnt want me to reveal in what town she now lives or her name because I am concerned about personal retaliation. This again shows how emotional the issue has become. She said she has some insight into community opposition to the runway addition. This comes from my experience of living in the Morris Cove area for several years and also having worked for several years earlier for an airline at Dulles Airport in the D.C. area. The commercial passenger jets have not seemed to be the source of the loud noise in the neighborhood, she said. I had noticed day in and day out that the annoying noises that could be heard in the backyard where I lived were always associated with small private planes. And that there was no noise around the landing and departure schedule of the Philadelphia passenger planes. She added: I understand that the loud noises arise from these small aircraft due to maintenance issues and can be corrected. She concluded: Once and for all, someone should do a directed noise study to document what these small private aircraft pilots continue to get away with in terms of noise pollution as well as stunting the public air transportation in the region. This problem is a real shame. Contact Randall Beach at 203-680-9345 or randall.beach@hearstmediact.com WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court acknowledged in its ruling about a Colorado baker this week that "further elaboration in the courts" will be necessary to answer whether a business owner's religious rights can provide exemption from laws that require equal service to a gay couple who decide to marry. The justices will meet privately Thursday to decide whether they might give that guidance - and sooner rather than later. The court is scheduled to review a petition from a florist in Richland, Washington, who refused to provide a floral arrangement for a longtime customer when he told her it was for his wedding to another man. A unanimous Washington Supreme Court found that the florist, Barronelle Stutzman, violated the Washington Law Against Discrimination, a state civil rights law. Arlene's Flowers v. State of Washington was put on hold while the Supreme Court considered the case of Colorado baker Jack Phillips, who would not create a wedding cake for a gay couple. The cases are similar, but the Supreme Court decided Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission on a fact- specific finding: that commission members had been unfairly hostile to Phillips' religious justifications for his actions. Only the justices know the behind-the-scenes discussions that led the court to take the off-ramp and get seven votes for a narrow decision in the case, which centered on the commission's actions rather than the constitutional questions presented. The Supreme Court has three choices as to Arlene's Flowers: grant the petition for the term that begins in October; decline the case and leave in place the Washington Supreme Court opinion, which is similar to those in other states with laws that protect on the basis of sexual orientation; or send it back to the state court with instructions to rehear the case in light of the Masterpiece decision. Accepting the case would imply that at least one side of the ideologically divided court is confident it would prevail on the question of whether a business owner's religious or free speech rights trumps state anti-discrimination laws. Declining the case would leave the status quo in place. And remanding it to the Washington court would buy more time for it and other courts to weigh in. There are many lawsuits across the country concerning wedding vendors - photographers, videographers, calligraphers among them - who don't want to participate in a same-sex marriage. Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson has asked the Supreme Court to simply decline the case, and in a statement this week said the Masterpiece decision would have no effect on his case. "The high court's ruling specifically relies on several items that are not present in our case," Ferguson said. "We are confident Washington courts showed no such (religious) hostility." Kristen Waggoner of Alliance Defending Freedom, who represented Phillips, is also the attorney for Stutzman. She said in a brief filed Wednesday that the court should "at a minimum" send the case back to the Washington court. Ferguson and the state, she said, have shown hostility, filing suit both against Stutzman personally as well as against her business. "She stands to lose everything," Waggoner said. Ferguson responded that he asked the court for $1 in costs and fees, and it also imposed a "modest" $1,000 penalty for violating the law. There is little dispute about the facts of the case. Stutzman had counted Robert Ingersoll as a customer for nearly a decade when he came in one day in 2013 and said he wanted to talk about flowers for his wedding to his longtime companion, Curt Freed. Stutzman said she held his hand and said she had to decline his request because of her "relationship with Jesus Christ." "I truly want the best for my friend," Stutzman wrote in a letter to Ferguson in 2015. "I've also employed and served many members of the LGBT community, and I will continue to do so regardless of what happens with this case." Ingersoll and Freed filed suit against Stutzman, as did the state. In its decision, the Washington Supreme Court said it agreed with the couple's assertion in a brief that "this case is no more about access to flowers than civil rights cases in the 1960s were about access to sandwiches." It added that public accommodation laws do more than guarantee access to goods and services. "Instead, they serve a broader societal purpose: eradicating barriers to the equal treatment of all citizens in the commercial marketplace," the justices wrote. "Were we to carve out a patchwork of exceptions for ostensibly justified discrimination, that purpose would be fatally undermined." WASHINGTON - The Trump administration has agreed to relax its punishment of Chinese telecom company ZTE, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Thursday. The company will pay a $1 billion fine and fund a new in-house compliance team staffed by U.S. experts, Ross told CNBC. The move eases a seven-year ban on ZTE buying American parts, which Commerce levied in April. At the time, the Chinese government complained that the action could put the company, a major employer and star of the Chinese technology industry, out of business. "We are literally embedding a compliance department of our choosing into the company to monitor it going forward. They will pay for those people, but the people will report to the new chairman," Ross said. "This is a pretty strict settlement. The strictest and largest settlement fine that has ever been brought by the Commerce Department against any violator of export controls." The Commerce Department action came after President Donald Trump tweeted last month that he planned to help ZTE because "too many jobs in China" would otherwise be lost. The president's extraordinary intervention in an enforcement matter drew widespread criticism on Capitol Hill from members of both parties. Reaction Thursday was no warmer. "China is eating our lunch and this president is serving it up to them," said House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Thursday Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer called for Congress to reverse the decision, which is unlikely. A proposal by Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., to bar such forgiveness for Chinese telecom companies is not retroactive and thus would not cover the ZTE deal, according to an analysis by Cowen Research Group. Under the 23-page definitive agreement announced by Ross, ZTE also is required to change its entire board of directors and executive team within 30 days. The government will hold $400 million of ZTE's money in escrow as a hedge against future violations by the company, which last year settled criminal and civil charges in connection with its violation of U.S. sanctions on Iran and North Korea. ZTE was found to have shipped its sophisticated telecommunications equipment to both countries, which the State Department lists as supporters of terrorism, and to have repeatedly lied to U.S. investigators about its actions. The company paid $892 million in fines, with an additional $300 million suspended to encourage compliance with the settlement. The $400 million escrow likely includes those suspended funds, according to Doug Jacobson, a trade Washington, D.C., trade attorney. He said the new agreement expands provisions in last year's settlement, which provided for an independent compliance monitor to oversee the company's activities. Carlos Gutierrez, who was Commerce Secretary under President George W. Bush, said the change in the U.S. penalty likely averted a worsening in relations with China. Since the original U.S. penalty would have put ZTE out of business, Chinese authorities would have retaliated against a prominent U.S. company, he said. "I think where we ended up on ZTE is in a better place," said Gutierrez, who has been critical of other Trump administration trade policies. "The Chinese public was up in arms because they believed the U.S. was destroying ZTE." But Jacobson questioned the president's decision to intervene. "This is an extremely dangerous precedent to intertwine law enforcement matters with other trade and foreign policy issues," he said. "This is unprecedented - to have another government go to the U.S. government and have the president agree to make a change in exchange for something else." Ross insisted Thursday that the ZTE matter was "quite separate and apart" from ongoing trade talks with China. But the president has repeatedly spoken of the enforcement matter as part of efforts to overhaul the U.S. commercial relationship with China. To satisfy Trump's demand for a reduction in the $375 billion in goods U.S. trade deficit with China, the government in Beijing has reportedly offered to buy up to $70 billion more each year in U.S. products. That offer is conditioned on the president dropping his threat to impose tariffs on up to $150 billion in Chinese imports. Eric Altbach, a former deputy assistant U.S. Trade Representative who spent years negotiating with the Chinese, said the U.S. may have agreed to go easier on ZTE in exchange for China approving an American company's acquisition of a Chinese firm. U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm has been trying to buy NXP Semiconductors of the Netherlands, but given the company's global reach, the deal had to be approved by numerous countries' antitrust regulators, including China's. The Chinese government has delayed the deal as trade frictions intensified. With the ZTE matter resolved, the deal may advance. Both companies' share prices rose Thursday, with NXP up more than 6 percent in midday trading. "The hope is accommodating China's concerns on ZTE will open the door to favorable decisions on Qualcomm and other deals," said Altbach. But some analysts said that trading lenience on ZTE for Chinese agreement to buy more American products would leave major issues unresolved. "It doesn't really move the ball forward on the deeper structural issues in U.S.-China technology and trade," said Samm Sacks, a senior fellow in the Center for Strategic and International Studies' technology program. The Trump administration has complained about a range of Chinese industrial policies that it says disadvantages U.S. companies, including compulsory licensing arrangements and rampant theft of trade secrets. Amid mounting trade tension between the United States and China, lawmakers have grown increasingly critical of the national security threat from telecom companies such as ZTE and Huawei. The Pentagon in May ordered retail outlets on U.S. military bases to remove from the shelves smartphones made by the two companies. There was no immediate comment from the Chinese government on the ZTE agreement. Mei Xinyu, a researcher with a Ministry of Commerce think tank, said a deal would ease tensions. But the Chinese worry that Trump won't stick to any agreement. "How can the United States convince China that a trade agreement with them is of value, rather than a waste of paper that the Americans can scrap unilaterally?" Mei said. "Personally I hope the trade war ends well, but I can't help but worry about the U.S. changeable mind." The Chinese Commerce Ministry said Thursday that some progress was made in talks that ended last weekend. "There were discussions regarding specific areas of cooperation, including in-depth talks on agriculture and energy. China is willing to increase imports from the U.S.," Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng told a weekly news conference. But he declined to confirm reports that China had offered to increase agriculture and energy imports by $70 billion, as Reuters news agency has reported. --- The Washington Post's Shirley Feng in Beijing contributed to this report. Jim and Carla Russell were supposed to use donation money to buy a new ambulance for Gonzales County EMS and a defibrillator for the county sheriff's office. Instead, investigators said, the husband and wife pair who run the Gonzales County EMS department bought a new roof for their own home and a bull. Arrest warrants and search warrant affidavits obtained by mySA.com show the couple is suspected of stealing more than $150,000 in donations to Gonzales County EMS, overpaying themselves and misleading local businesses about where payments were going. The Russells are now each facing one charge of misapplication of fiduciary property or property of a financial institution, according to Deon Cockrell, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety. They were booked into the Gonzales County Jail on Monday on $50,000 bonds and bailed out the following day. RELATED: City blasts S.A. police union's latest call for chief to be placed on leave over SB4 investigation Multiple employees said that in addition to the criminal charges against the Russells, the couple is also responsible for draining their retirement funds, canceling their life insurance policies and erasing their bonus structure. Court documents show investigators are looking into these allegations. MySA.com spoke with three Emergency Medical Technicians at Gonzales EMS for this story, two of whom requested anonymity for fear of retaliation at their place of work. Each said their promised retirement benefits are non-existent and years of financial mismanagement have left them working with outdated equipment that puts themselves and their patients at risk. For details about how the Russells allegedly embezzled tens of thousands of dollars in donations and left their employees without insurance or retirement funds, visit our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. "Wherever [Jim] could cut corners, he'd cut corners," said Paul Thistlewaite, who's worked at the department for about a decade. "It just irks me that this guy would take chances with trucks and stretchers. The public doesn't know that. They have no clue that this is an ambulance from 1999 that he's running in service." According to arrest warrants, the Russells regularly "double dipped," paying themselves as EMS supervisors while also being paid by other local organizations to staff events, a practice that is not allowed. The two are accused of regularly paying themselves for hours that they had not worked and embezzling tens of thousands of dollars in donations. The court records reviewed by mySA.com also indicate the Russells failed to pay for their employee's medical insurance and social security, despite charging them for it. One employee, who won't be identified because he did not speak with mySA for this story, told investigators his insurance had been canceled due to non-payment, even though the funds were taken from his paycheck, according to the search warrant affidavit. RELATED: Jury's guilty verdict sends convicted killer into frenzy in San Antonio courtroom Jim Russell was placed on administrative leave in January after investigators executed a search warrant at the Gonzales County EMS headquarters. The suspects declined to comment on the charges against them through an intermediary, their daughter, Ashley Hutton, on Tuesday at their home in Gonzales. They also declined to provide contact information for an attorney. Ultimately, the employees said the alleged irresponsible behavior and financial mismanagement by the Russells results in poorer service to the community, often during the times they most need help. Their ambulances are old, the wheels on their stretchers are falling off and the modern technology used by most EMS units has yet to make it to Gonzales County. "You don't just do what [Jim is] doing and not affect everyone else," said one EMT who requested anonymity. The board is scheduled to meet Thursday. It's expected to be a crucial meeting, most likely determining the future of Gonzales County EMS. "They need to make this right," said one employee who requested anonymity. "The board needs to make this right." Caleb Downs is a crime reporter for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here.| cdowns@mysa.com | Twitter: @calebjdowns The king and queen of Spain will visit the Alamo City on June 16-18 as part of the year-long celebration of San Antonios Tricentennial. King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia will inaugurate two major art exhibits, tour two historic sites and will be guests at an official dinner prepared by three prominent local chefs. San Antonio is proud to commemorate the special bonds that tie us to Spain, said Mayor Ron Nirenberg. We welcome their Majesties during our Tricentennial year to collaborate and build a stronger foundation now and in the future. The everlasting impact of Spains culture is woven into the fabric of San Antonios legacy for generations to come. RELATED: Photos: Founders Day Gala draws fancy crowd for San Antonio's Tricentennial Week celebrations They will tour the Spanish Governors Palace and Mission San Jose, which is among five missions in the city that are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. They will open the exhibition, Designing America: Spains Imprint in the United States, which will be presented by the Fundacion Consejo Espana-Estados Unidos and hosted by Bexar County at the County Courthouse. The exhibit is an interactive exploration of Spains architectural and cultural legacy in the U.S. It opens to the public June 18. The other exhibition, Spain: 500 Years of Spanish Painting from the Museums of Madrid, includes art never before seen in the U.S. The exhibition at the San Antonio Museum of Art will open to the public June 23 to Sept. 16. The official dinner, to be held at the Pearl, will feature chefs Johnny Hernandez, Elizabeth Johnson and Steven McHugh and showcase San Antonios designation as a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy. Melissa Fletcher Stoeltje is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of her stories here. | mstoeltje@express-news.net | @mstoeltje YouTube star Jc Caylan is going on a 27-stop tour and will land in San Antonio, where he grew up, at the end of the summer. Caylan, who has nearly 3 million YouTube subscribers and videos dating back seven years, announced the tour Monday afternoon on Instagram with a photo of the tour schedule. "Got an RV. Road trippin' the U.S. 27 stops," Caylan wrote in the post. "Meeting folks along the way. Very few tix each stop, didn't want to oversaturate meeting u guys. We'll take our time & it'll be fun." A man who allegedly helped his cousin flee from police in San Antonio was arrested Tuesday. Jacob Paredez, 37, was charged with hindering the apprehension of a felon for the May 31 incident, according to his arrest affidavit. San Antonio police were looking for Francisco Estala, who is wanted on warrants for being a felon in possession of a firearm and family violence, according to the affidavit. RELATED: SAPD: Women disguised themselves with wigs before stealing $35,000 in DVDs While conducting surveillance at Estala's home, officers saw him and another man load a pickup truck with items from the home. Then, Estala jumped in the passenger seat while the other man drove the pickup, police said. Police tried to pull the vehicle over on Interstate 37 and the pickup sped up in an apparent effort to elude police, officials said. As the pickup weaved between lanes on the highway, the items loaded in the bed of the pickup began falling onto the street, leading police to call off their chase, according to the affidavit. On Monday, police found the truck again and obtained a search warrant on it. The owner of the truck, who is Francisco Estala's brother, said he loaned out the truck on May 31. He identified the driver in the getaway attempt as Paredez, according to the affidavit. Paredez was additionally charged with evading arrest, according to jail records. He is being held without bond for an unrelated drug charge, records showed. Fares Sabawi covers crime in San Antonio and Bexar County for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here. | fsabawi@mysa.com | Twitter: FaresInSA Two women are accused or donning various wigs to steal more than 900 DVDs from three San Antonio Barnes and Noble stores, according to police. Kristina Rost, 32, and Theresa Tagtmeir, 25, were arrested Wednesday in connection to the thefts, which police say span as far back as April. The regional manager told police his stores endured as many as 20 thefts over the past few months, losing 917 DVDs valued at $35,118.83. He also told police the suspects would wear different wigs during each theft. RELATED: BCSO: Woman arrested after deputies find methamphetamine in her coffee containers On Wednesday, the regional manager caught Tagtmeir in the act of stealing DVDs and detained her until police arrived, according to an arrest affidavit. Detectives questioned Tagtmeir, who confessed to the thefts and identified Rost as the second suspect, police said. Tagtmeir told police she and Rost are from Florida and had come to Texas to bury Tagtmeir's father in Corpus Christi, according to the affidavit. She said they turned to theft because they didn't have enough money to live on after the funeral. Shortly after the interview, police detained Rost, who wouldn't answer questions without her lawyer present, the affidavit says. Both were charged with theft between $30,000-$150,000, according to jail records. A judge set each of their bail amounts at $15,000. Fares Sabawi covers crime in San Antonio and Bexar County for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here. | fsabawi@mysa.com | Twitter: FaresInSA Nearly half of Americans polled are opposed to NASA astronauts returning to the moon, an opinion that stands in direct contrast with the Trump administration's goals. Instead, Americans believe the space agency should focus more on climate monitoring, according to a Pew Research Center study released Wednesday. "Missions for human astronauts to explore Mars and return to the moon are among NASA's most high-profile programs," the center stated. "However, compared with other NASA programs, fewer Americans say such space exploration should be a top priority." The Center's study, which is based on the responses of 2,500 Americans between March 27 and April 9, comes at a time of heightened focus on human exploration. Since taking office, President Donald Trump has made it clear that returning to the moon for the first time since 1972 is a priority for his administration. His $19.9 billion NASA budget proposal for the coming fiscal year 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. READ MORE: Trump's proposed NASA budget focuses on human exploration, eliminates education office 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. 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." But the center's study found that traveling to Mars also is not important to Americans. Only 18 percent think it should be top priority for NASA, while 63 percent think the agency should focus on monitoring the Earth's climate system. This finding comes as Trump's budget calls for the elimination of five climate change projects in the agency's budget. Trump's budget still must be approved by Congress. RELATED STORY: Trump calls for a $2.7B space station to orbit the moon His budget also calls for an end to federal funding for the International Space Station after 2024, the year funding for the space station is already scheduled to stop. For fiscal year 2017, NASA's budget for the space station was $1.45 billion. Instead, Trump would transition the activities on the space station to commercial entities. The center's study showed that 80 percent of those polled felt the space station was a good investment and one-in-four Americans have a "great deal of confidence" that private companies will build safe and reliable spacecraft and rockets. But 65 percent believe that NASA's continued involvement in space exploration is "essential," the study continues. "Although most Americans believe that NASA still has an essential role to play in the exploration of space, they also express confidence that private companies can make meaningful contributions in such areas as developing safe spacecraft and conducting research to expand scientific knowledge," according to the study. Privatization of the space station currently is being discussed by Congress. The U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Space, Science and Competitiveness will be holding its second meeting on the future of the space station at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday. The livestream can be watched here. Alex Stuckey covers NASA and the environment for the Houston Chronicle. You can reach her at alex.stuckey@chron.com or Twitter.com/alexdstuckey. Two downtown developments have won initial approval from the citys Historic and Design Review Commission, including a long-awaited luxury 17-story apartment complex on the River Walk. Local developer Keller Henderson plans to build the complex, known as the Floodgate, at 139 E. Commerce St. next to the Esquire Tavern. When the project was proposed in early 2016, it was expected to have 10 stories, but its height is now 17 stories, according to documents from the HDRC. Henderson has recruited Austin architecture firm Rhode:Partners to design the project, which will include roughly 60 to 64 apartments, as well as four penthouses, he said. RELATED: $45M apartments in luxe S.A. community sell I think theyve developed a really interesting landmark design for this site, Henderson said of Rhode. Weve got an opportunity, although its a very contemporary building, to reiterate its historic location in relation to the River Walk. Henderson hopes to get final approval from HDRC by the end of this summer and to start construction in October or November, he said. Construction is expected to take about 20 months. The project is also expected to include two restaurant locations one facing East Commerce, with a terrace overlooking the River Walk, and another on the River Walk that will be accessible through a passageway running through the building to Commerce, Henderson said. Its unclear at this point how much the project will cost, Henderson said. Several lenders are interested in the project, but it has not yet been financed, he said. HDRC also approved this week a five-story multifamily development that has been proposed at the east corner of McCullough Avenue and Dallas Street in north downtown, at the longtime location of Junior League of San Antonio, city spokeswoman Ximena Copa-Wiggins said. City documents indicate that Dallas real estate firm Stillwater Capital is involved with the project. RELATED: San Antonio house-flipper dishes on how he turns 'eyesores' into HGTV-worthy homes The Junior League declined to comment on the project because it has not yet finalized its deal with the developer, spokeswoman Christian Reed-Ogba said. The commission approved both projects with stipulations, including that Henderson incorporate more historic stone on the street level of the Floodgate and preserve a fig tree growing on the property, Copa-Wiggins said. The projects will have to go before HDRC again at a later date for final approval. Henderson told the San Antonio Express-News last year that apartments at the Floodgate would rent for an average of $4 a square foot, which would make it the most expensive complex in San Antonio by far. But he said Thursday that he has not yet set rental rates for the complex because leasing has not begun. Were going to be pricing these units at the market rate as we are leasing them when the building is done, he said. A single-story Depression-era historic building would have to be demolished to make way for the complex. The city has awarded the project $3.9 million worth of incentives through its Center City Housing Incentive Policy, city records show. The project received conceptual approval from the HDRC in April 2016 before the design changes required the process to restart. Richard Webner is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | rwebner@express-news.net | @RWebner 1 Missile facility razed: Satellite imagery indicates that North Korea is razing some facilities used for testing one of its most dangerous missiles after its leader, Kim Jong Un, announced a moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests, according to an analysis released this week. A key missile test stand that was used for testing missile ejections from canisters was demolished at a test site near Kusong in the northwest, Joseph Bermudez, an expert on the countrys weapons systems, said in a report published Wednesday on the website 38 North. North Korea launched its first solid-fuel mid-range ballistic missile, known as Pukguksong-2, from there in February last year. 2 Afghan cease-fire: President Ashraf Ghani on Thursday announced a weeklong cease-fire with the Taliban to coincide with the holiday marking the end of Ramadan next week. A statement sent from the presidents office on Thursday says the cease-fire will begin on June 12 and last through the Eid al-Fitr holiday, until around June 19. It says the cease-fire does not include al Qaeda or the Islamic State. There was no immediate comment from the Taliban, who have steadily expanded their presence in recent years, capturing a number of districts across the country and carrying out near-daily attacks, mainly targeting Afghan security forces. AN Apostolic Faith Mission in Zimbabwe (AFM) pastor has disappeared from his home in Bulawayo after allegedly impre_gnating a maid and one of his wifes relatives. Pastor Toni Kandiye of the AFM Tshabalala Assembly, who resides in Nkulumane 12 suburb, allegedly had extra marital relations with his housemaid and his wifes relative who has since moved to Gweru. The maid, known as Vivian, has since been fired. Efforts to get a comment from Pastor Kandiye were fruitless as he has been unreachable on his mobile phone since Friday last week. His wife, Mrs Modester Kandiye, told The Chronicle that she was not in a position to comment as her family was dealing with the matter. Pastor Kandiyes daughter Grace, however, confirmed her fathers shenanigans and said she was worried about her mothers welfare as it was not good to have people gossiping about the family in church. Im worried about my mum because people talk about Vivian, our former maid who had a relationship with dad and also my aunt in Gweru who is my fathers other mistress, she said. Grace told The Chronicle that her mother and her unnamed relative met at her grandmothers funeral in Gweru and resolved some of their issues. My mother is suffering as she has to keep up appearances in church and lie on my fathers behalf. I have grown sick of it. Dad couldnt just take off without a word and expect us to be telling tales when people ask about him, she said. Mrs Kandiye initially rubbished the allegations before changing her stance and telling this newspaper that it was a private matter. Church members know which channels to follow if there are problems. Why are they taking my issues to The Chronicle. People just hate my husband and may be after his position. We are dealing with the matter as a family and people must not talk about things that they dont know, she said. The overseer of the church, Mr Clever Mupakaidzwa, said he was aware of the pastors disappearance from the church, but had not been told of the reasons behind it. I went to the Tshabalala Assembly myself to attend to the issue of the pastors absence as he has not been around for the past eight weeks without an explanation. However, the family did not confide in me about the extra marital affairs. We have been trying to establish where the pastor is as a church and it has been very difficult. We have, however, reached a conclusion and we will be sending written communication to the church this week pertaining to the pastors conduct, he said. We are still investigating the whole matter. It will be good if you can also give us information. Anyone with information must come forward and assist the leadership. I cannot comment further as I have to first consult with my elders. Mr Mupakaidzwa said the church leadership did not condone the pastors conduct. Church members who spoke to The Chronicle expressed disgruntlement about the state of affairs at the church following the pastors disappearance. A congregant who requested anonymity said he was worried about the spiritual health of the church as the congregation had been divided into two factions, for and against the pastor. One of the church elders who identified herself as Mrs Mufari, said congregants must follow the official channels of communication within the church. Fellow church members know our official channels of communication. Apart from that, I have no comment, said Mrs Mufari. Chronicle Breaking News via Email Loading... Related Zimbabwe Latest News The National Patriotic Front (NPF) which has the blessings of ousted former president Robert Mugabe yesterday threw its weight behind the MDC Alliance in its protest march against what it perceives as the slow pace of electoral reforms ahead of the July 30 vote. The development came as thousands of MDC Alliance supporters poured into the capital citys streets yesterday, demanding urgent steps to make even the political playing field currently tilted in favour of Zanu PF. Alliance members want the forthcoming polls to be conducted in full compliance with the Constitution, the Electoral Act, the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) principles and guidelines guiding democratic elections and the African Union (AU) Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance. A grouping of seven opposition political parties, the alliance intends to participate in the 2018 harmonised elections under the leadership of Nelson Chamisa of the main MDC party, formed in 1999. Giving a solidarity message at the end of the demonstration yesterday, NPF spokesperson Jealousy Mawarire said their party was fully behind Chamisa. You all know that our party was formed from the G40 (Generation 40) faction in Zanu PF and we are saying let the young lead so this is the time for Chamisa to become president not (Emmerson) Mnangagwa who imposed himself on the people through a coup. Do not worry about security agents because we have them in our ranks, Mawarire said to thunderous applauses from the crowd. A former army brigadier and a veteran of the 1970s war against white minority rule, Ambrose Mutinhiri, who quit Zanu PF to protest the removal of Mugabe in a soft coup, formed the NPF but it has failed to gain traction on the ground. Mawarires address gave grit to widespread talk that the MDC Alliance could join forces with the NPF to enhance their chances of winning the forthcoming polls. Thousands of MDC Alliance demonstrators, most of them dressed in red, assembled in front of Parliament in a public square called Africa Unity Square, waving placards and demanding wide-sweeping electoral reforms and free and fair elections, before marching to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) headquarters. Dressed in a red overall and helmet, Chamisa led the walk from Africa Unity Square to Zec offices. He later addressed the bumper crowd at Africa Unity Square after presenting a petition to Zec demanding among, other things, that the company printing ballot papers be made public and that the ballot papers be subjected to a forensic audit to ascertain its chemical composition. Chamisa said his party will continue to step up pressure until the polling day. With the numbers we have attracted here, we have made a statement that has been heard all over the world, in America, in Britain that we have said no to a rigged election, Chamisa said, thanking the multitudes that turned out. You have not disappointed and even Zec officials wanted to know where we got such numbers but I told them these are the people on the voters roll, they want their votes to be secure. We are going to go national, all the urban centres: Bulawayo, Masvingo, Mutare, Bindura Marondera and all rural areas to make sure we involve everyone. Chamisa rubbished Zanu PF claims that the demo betrayed fear of an impending poll defeat at the hands of Mnangagwa, 75. We are doing this not because we are afraid of elections, we are doing it because we love Mnangagwa and we dont want him to cheat himself to power because he will have cheated us all. I asked for a meeting with him (Mnangagwa) but he refused and I warned him that I was going to bring the people (out into the streets). We will do this every day until we get reforms. We will get to a point where it becomes necessary that we stop all the processes. We are prepared to do whatever is necessary to achieve what we want free and fair elections. Mnangagwa sent me a message demanding to know where I was getting the courage to do this and I told him that God is behind my actions. We have since won this election and Mnangagwa knows this, he declared. The former ICT minister also explained that while Mnangagwa has since proclaimed a poll date which means that no changes can now be made to the Electoral Act for the purposes of this election, what he is demanding has nothing to do with the law, saying it is administrative. Of course, there are those who mislead people saying that we failed to push our demands in Parliament, so it is no longer possible because the dates have been announced. What we are demanding has nothing to do with Parliament. We failed to agree on the Electoral Act in Parliament but now what we are calling for is an administrative issue which only requires political will. They cannot argue that the issue of ballot boxes is a security issue when they are having access, the 40-year-old presidential candidate said. He said he was going to meet South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is the Sadc chairperson, as well as heads of the AU to brief them on his partys minimum expectations for the polls. From here, I am going to meet with the Sadc chair Cyril Ramaphosa and the AU to impress upon them that we will not accept a rigged election. We want to make sure that the voters roll is audited so that there are no ghost voters and if that is done, then we will accept whoever wins the election only that I cannot congratulate myself because I will have won. I expect Mnangagwa to congratulate me, Chamisa said. He also demanded what he termed chlorination of the Zec secretariat to ensure that people with a military background, whom he accused of serving Zanu PF interests, are uprooted from the election commission. Chamisa demanded equal media coverage, slamming the State media for giving him adverse coverage. We want the public media to be objective but ZBC is pathetic. We dont want any favours from them but they must just report what is happening truthfully. If they give live coverage to Mnangagwa, the same must apply to Chamisa. We dont want our army to be abused. Why are you deploying the army against a political party? We are not at war, and we are brothers who are merely competing for power. The Kuwadzana East legislator paid tribute to the Zimbabwe Republic Police for its professional conduct during the march that took them to Zec offices and back without incident. We want to thank the police for behaving well. That was professional, so we must acknowledge that because we dont want to just criticise for the sake of it. We must give credit where it is due, Chamisa said. The MDC has previously accused the police of being partisan and heavy-handed when dealing with opposition protesters. DailyNews Breaking News via Email Loading... Related Zimbabwe Latest News - Some residents of Ogun state have stoned an official of the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company to death - Peter Ayole was spending his leave with his family in their Ota house when he met his untimely death - The incident happened on Wednesday, June 6, in Ota-Idiroko in Ota area of Ogun state An official of the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company, Peter Ayole, has been stoned to death by resident of Ota-Idiroko in Ota area of Ogun state. Ayola, a 52-year old EEDC official was said to be an auditor at the Abakaliki, Ebonyi state office of the company. Punch reports that Ayola who was spending his leave with his family in their Ota house had a disagreement with some neighbours over generator fumes at a site belonging to him when the incident occurred. Narrating the ordeal, Ayole's widow, Oluwafunmilayo said the incident happened on Wednesday, June 6. She said they were at home when her husband said he was going to the site to check on some plumbing work going on there. READ ALSO: June 12: As Buhari honours Abiola, read the famous IBB speech that annulled election, almost destroyed Nigeria in 1993 "We had had some people coming to ask us that they needed rooms for rent. Not up to 30 minutes after he left, I got a call that my husband had fallen after he was stoned. The site is just a stones throw from our house, so I got there in no time. I saw that he had been laid on a plank, lifeless. Ayole was stoned to death by some of his neigbhours in Ota area of Ogun state. Photo credit: Punch "I asked what happened and I was told that he was stoned by some people who sold confectionary beside the construction site. I learnt that when he arrived there, he met the plumbers idle. The plumbers told him they could not work because of the fumes from the generator of the neighbours who were selling confectionery. My husband had complained to me several times about them before and all his appeals to them to shift their generator house were abortive. So, he picked a stick and climbed three blocks beside the toilet under construction. He started hitting the roof of their building with the stick and calling them to turn off their generator," Oluwafunmilayo said. READ ALSO: MKO Abiola lives on! - Nigerians react to Buhari's declaration of June 12 as new Democracy Day She said her late husband became angry when one of the neighbours referred to him as a mad man for disturbing their peace. My husband continued hitting the roof when someone stoned him with something like a grinding stone, which hit him in the head. He fell and became unconscious. The workers at the site took him to a private facility in the area where he was confirmed dead. He was subsequently brought back to the site. "We took him to another private hospital, where the doctor did not even allow us to bring him in before confirming him dead. But he said we could still keep him in an airy place to see if he would regain consciousness. By evening, we took him to the last hospital where he was again confirmed dead. By this time, blood had started flowing out from his nostrils and mouth, she said. She also added that some police officers from the Onipanu division visited the site, saying they had come to arrest the late Peter for disturbing the peace of the suspects. However, discovery that Peter was dead, the police officer demanded she followed them to the station to make a statement. READ ALSO: Al-Mustapha narrates how MKO Abiola died I was weeping and pulling my husbands legs and head for him to wake up when the policemen arrived and said they had a complaint against him. "Obviously, those people after seeing the damage they had caused, went to report to the police as a cover-up. One of the men with me later volunteered to make a statement on my behalf at the division, she said. It was also gathered that Peter's elder brother, Isiaka Ayole, a police officer attached to the state's Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Yaba, Lagos, described the deceased as highly intelligent. Isiaka said only justice would assuage the pain of the family. When I went to the police station, the Divisional Crime Officer told me my brother killed himself. But we checked the statements of the witnesses and they said he was stoned. All I want is justice for my brother, Isiaka said. Also, the police have arrested five suspects in connection to the death of the late accountant. The suspects - Morenike Akinleye (43), Ajah Chijioke (46), Sulaimon Akinleye (30), Bose Adebesin (24) and Nurudeen Adekunbi (20) - have been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Eleweran, Abeokuta. They were arraigned on Wednesday, June 6, before an Ota magistrates court on two counts of manslaughter. At the court, the defence counsel moved the application for their bail but the prosecutor asked that they be remanded in custody. PAY ATTENTION: Get the Latest Nigerian News on Legit.ng News App The chief magistrate, J.A. Akan, remanded the defendants in prison and adjourned the case to Monday, July 9, 2018. Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that a young Nigerian man identified as Gabriel Emmanuel Chinonso drowned while swimming at a pool in Bauchi state. The young man was a 400 level student at the department of electrical engineering at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University in Bauchi. It was gathered that the incident had occurred at the Yankari Games Resort while the deceased was swimming. EXCLUSIVE: The family of Chime Amaechi talks about his death - on Legit.ng TV Source: Legit From time to time, weve written about how the consulting firm McKinsey has issued reports on the private equity industry that a well-informed reader would recognize as slanting its data and conclusions in favor of the private equity fund managers, who in the trade are called general partners. The reason for that isnt hard to find. We were told a few years ago by a well placed insider that private equity firms accounted for more than half of McKinseys revenues starting in 2002, and that was almost certainly also true of McKinseys biggest competitors for their business, Bain and BCG. And even if private equity firms have slipped in their share of total revenues, they are still almost certain still the firms biggest single client group. Thats a long-winded way of saying McKinsey cant afford to bit a hand that feeds it so well. Yet as well discuss, even a McKinsey report which takes care to put not-exactly-positive developments for private equity in the best possible light, nevertheless shows that the models that CalPERS has persuaded itself are innovative are old hat. The report also separately confirms that as weve said, CalPERS is flagrantly labeling an investment approach that is indirect, meaning through outside parties, as direct, because direct investing is what the cool kids are doing. Weve embedded the McKinsey report at the end of this post. McKinsey Cooks Data, Finesses Problematic Developments, and Displays Ignorance of General Partner Economics Presenting dodgy data on private equity fund persistence. In an act of intellectual fraud, McKinsey endorses the idea that private equity investors can somehow pick winners. The basis for this myth is that in the past, the top quartile of private equity funds had a greater than chance odds of being a top quartile performer in their next fund. However, the idea that the investors, the so-called limited partners, could correctly identify a top quartile performer even then was foolhardy. For instance, one study ascertained that 77% of the fund managers could cut the data so as to make them look like a top quartile manager. As we explained in a 2014 post: When you boil it down, this graph illustrates the ugly truth of investing in private equity: its not attractive unless you can outrun most of your peers investing in the asset class. Rather than question the logic of investing in private equity at all, everyone in the industry has convinced themselves that it is reasonable to believe that they can be the Warren Buffett of private equity.. Fundamentally, this is an intellectually dishonest exercise, and diametrically opposed to the way many public pension funds construct other parts of their investment portfolios. With public equity in particular, its almost certain that a significant majority of U.S. pension fund assets are invested in index funds. Thats because pension funds have recognized that, collectively, they cannot do better than average, So its not as if these investors are so clueless that they cant grasp the point that all of them cannot achieve above average results, let alone significantly above average results. Instead, with private equity, there is a desperate desire to be in the asset class for reasons that probably reflect a combination of intellectual capture by the PE managers, political corruption in legislatures that control public fund board appointees, and the need to have a strategy that could conceivably solve the pension underfunding problem over time. The notion that limited partners can pick private equity winners in advance is even less credible than before because the odds of a fund manager with a hot-seeming hand doing well on his next fund is not true any more. Private equity expert Rosemary Batt, at a private equity workshop at CalPERS in 2015, described how the most careful studies of private equity performance had found that after 2000, the odds of a top quartile fund outperforming in the next period were only 22%, meaning a dart toss would have done better. But McKinsey is cooking data to keep this myth alive. Its obviously rejiggered its own data. In a 2014 study, McKinsey admitted to what Rosemary Batt flagged, that persistence of performance had fallen since 2000, although they underplayed that fact: Other McKinsey analysis finds that the persistence of returnsin particular the tendency of top firms to replicate their performance across fundsis not nearly as strong as it once was. Until 2000 or so, private-equity firms that had delivered top-quartile returns in one fund were highly likely to do so again in subsequent funds. Knowing that yesterdays winners were likely to excel again today enabled limited partners to focus their due diligence on identifying top-quartile funds. Since the 2000 fund vintage, however, this persistence has fallen considerably. Compare that chart with the one in the 2018 report, which purports to show the same analysis: Even with the differences in scaling, it does not take much inspection to see that the two charts are very different. The older ones highest peak is around 60% in 1992. The later one shows an eye-popping 80% persistence in 1996, while the older version showed only 50%. Similarly, the older chart shows persistence at the 30% or lower level in 1995, 1998-2000, and from 2008 onward. The newer chart shows a big plunge in 1997 that is missing from the older chart, a dip in 2003, but better results in the last years shown in the older chart for the last years it presents, 2008 and 2009. One tell with the newer chart is that it refers to successor funds without making clear, as the older chart does, that it clearly means successor funds by the same firm. By contrast, in the 2018 chart, and the accompanying text, McKinsey refers to successor funds only, as if the funds themselves, which are only legal entities, somehow miraculously gave birth to a next fund. That lack of precision appears to have given McKinsey ample wriggle room, at least in its own mind, to cherry pick data. Even with these heroic efforts, McKinsey has to fess up to falling persistence: New data, while not definitive, suggest that number has declined to an average of 30 percent in recent years. Moreover, the likelihood of a successor fund dropping to bottom quartile has quadrupled over the same time (Exhibit 17). Indeed, follow-on performance is converging towards the 25 percent markthat is, random distributionbut hasnt reached that point yet. In keeping, nowhere does McKinsey acknowledge that none other than Antoinette Schoar of MIT, one of the scholars whose studies helped provide the intellectual underpinnings justifying the inclusion of private equity in institutional portfolios, released a study in 2017 that knocked the legs out from under some of her widely-cited earlier work on the persistence of the out-performance of top private equity funds. Ignoring low success rate, bad economic side effects of favored general partner investment approaches. In management bafflegab, McKinsey declares that general want to invest in deals where there are opportunities to extract synergies. This is more significant than it might appear. Historically, the sources of return in private were understood to be leverage and financial engineering. The general partners later added the sales pitch that business building was a third source of return. And for smaller deals ($350 million and below), that often was true, since private equity firms would target companies that had had a strong track record but were close to or had topped out in their current markets, and needed some help to expand their geographic or product reach. However, another approach to business building is consolidation, which in the past in private equity has been called rollups. McKinseys stress on synergies, as opposed to the idea of providing capital or know-how to increase growth, implies that the source of return derives from decreasing competition in the industry a portfolio company exists in by reducing the number of players. So the private equity industry in that sense is earning returns by increasing monopoly/oligopoly rents in the economy, which has the effect of hurting the economy overall and consumers particularly. Why didnt McKinsey talk about consolidation in a more straightforward manner? It may be because rollups dont have a good name because they are difficult to pull off successfully. But with so much money chasing so few deals, general partners appear more willing to try investment approaches that have at best a mixed track record. Engaging in naivete or porcine maquillage application by presenting improved general partner grifting approaches as strategically virtuous acts. McKinsey touts how general partners are building their spine, which is a peculiar metaphor for an industry with large, established players. McKinsey uses this expression to voice approval for what is sees as building more professional organizations that are less cottage industry-oriented and more capable, and cites an example Among other things, GPs are enhancing their spine by trimming bloated back offices This is clueless. When PE firms trim or eliminate their back offices, they outsource the function so it can be billed as a direct expense of each fund. In other words, the motive has absolutely nothing to do with professionalism or sticking to their knitting. It has everything to do with shifting former costs of the fund manager onto fund investors. A private equity industry expert confirmed this assessment: In all cases I know, the GP outsourced its back office so that it was no longer part of the firm overhead and hence no longer a cost responsibility of the PE firm itself, thereby allowing the cost to be passed on to the fund directly. McKinsey made the same gaffe when discussing general partners internal operations groups. McKinsey doesnt understand that the key driver of whether the operations group is inside or outside is who pays for it, as in the limited partners or the private equity firm. On top of that, McKinsey is clearly shilling for the idea that private equity fund managers should be hiring McKinsey rather than relying on in-house experts: A second approach for GPsand a more important one to debateis whether to build internal operating groups or hire externally. Certainly, some internal operating groups have delivered strong value, particularly at firms with strong specialties in industries or certain asset classes. However, when firms venture off their turf by exploring a less familiar industry or function, their specialized skills are less valuable. The same holds true when firms expand rapidly; experts have only so much time in the day. And when firms attempt large-scale operational projects such as overhauling legacy systems or digitizing or outsourcing big pieces of the company, again internal capacity is often exhausted. Moreover, some of the largest internal operations teams have been scaled back, because they were a large fixed cost or ultimately too far below scale to have sufficiently specialized expertise. Leading firms supplement their operating capabilities with help from outside, and thus bring to bear a far greater range of operational expertise than could be accomplished within a leaner internal group. The lady doth protest too much. I know many ex-McKinesy professionals who make a very nice living working for private equity firms on an ad-needed basis. And this practice is hardly new. The SEC sanctioned KKR as an example of the widespread practice of presenting prospective investors with a team which the investors assume are all employees of the general partner and hence part of his overhead, when many are advisors and will be billed to portfolio companies as expenses. Looking past the very big dog dog that didnt bark. There is no mention whatsoever of the very high proportion of transactions where both the buyer and seller are PE funds. Even McKinseys Rose-Tinted View of Private Equity Confirms CalPERS is Way Off Base McKinsey confirms that CalPERS new models are indirect investing, the opposite of the fee-reducing, performance-improving direct investing. As McKinsey described in a different report, one prepared in late 2017 for Norways Ministry of Finance (Norways sovereign wealth fund decided not to invest in private equity): Four main models exist for accessing private equity, ranging from the most external (investing via fund-of-funds managers) to the most internal (via direct investment in companies). So McKinsey is crystal clear as to what the nomenclature is. Direct means cutting out the middleman and doing it yourself. CalPERS fund-of-fund idea, which it appears to have abandoned, is the polar opposite. Setting up bespoke funds with industry incumbents or say a team poached from of them but still set up as a third party manager is an indirect approach. As McKinsey said in its cut-and-dried report to Norway: Institutional investors can be categorized into three archetypes based on their approach to private equity investments indirect investors, active fund and co-investors, and professional direct investors each with different norms as to investment approach, organizational setup, and risk management approach. Most institutional investors invested in private equity are indirect investors. Indirect investors invest primarily through funds. Some indirect investors have also started to establish deeper strategic partnerships with select GPs to better align incentives and reduce fees. McKinsey and CalPERS ignore glaring conflicts of interest problems. No one in Sacramento is willing to hear that the SEC said that over half the private equity funds they examined, and particularly the big ones, were cheating, often in ways that would be called stealing in other ways of life. They also choose to ignore that private equity firms are extremely skilled at setting up heads I win, tails you lose situations, and that CalPERS pet new ideas set them up to be on the wrong end of self dealing. McKinsey does PR for general partners by lauding the vogue for separately managed accounts (SMAs) as if they were ever and always a win-win: One notable recent development is the super-sizing of these SMAs, as LPs seek broader, deeper, more strategic relationships with a smaller number of trusted managers. These partnerships tend to be characterized by larger allocations, most favored fees, and increasingly, terms that reflect perfor-mance across the entire relationship rather than in individual transactions or asset classes. What about conflicts of interest dont you understand? The SMA capital is supposed to be invested pro rata with some or all the funds the PE firm manages wherever appropriate. That appropriate language give the general partner the latitude to feather his own bed first. Not only does the SMA investor have to worry that they are not inappropriately excluded from some attractive deals because their economics arent worth it, but the fund investors also have to worry that some of the opportunities that would otherwise go to the fund are being allocated away to the SMA. But if you were to believe McKinsey, these investors are going to get platinum treatment even though they usually pay cut-rate fees. How does that make any sense? Why should the general partner not, to the extent he can, allocate the deals with the biggest upside potential to the funds where he gets the largest share? Ironically, the best protection these SMA investors have is that general partners are (by their own admission in private) poor judges of which of their deals will turn out to be the stellar performers. CalPERS continues to preen over its innovations for approaches that are old hat. CalPERS again and again makes itself a laughingstock by making sure it hears only from those who wont challenge its unwarranted high opinion of itself. It then compounds the error by showing it has no concept of the considerable limits of its knowledge. In case you think Im exaggerating, let me turn the mike over to the private equity industrys top columnist, Dan Primack, for his take on CalPERS latest private equity scheme: Over the years, CalPERS management has treated its private equity strategy like a toddler treats a Netflix queue. Lets try this. No, lets try that. I dont even know what that is, but it sure looks cool. The CalPERS board doesnt understand that their Chief Investment Office Ted Elipoulos is selling warmed-over conventional wisdom because they are so out of touch with the marketplace: In McKinseys recent LP survey, over 70 percent of LPs stated an intention to build these [co-investment] capabilities. At the same time, Eliopoulos glosses over the difficulty that other institutions have had in building a robust program: However, making this shift can be challenging, and success depends on LPs governance model, capabilities, size, and risk tolerance. The data show that, while LPs have increased their co-investment activity few have become true direct investors. The value of co-investment deals has more than doubled since 2012 (totaling $104 billion in 2017), but direct investment has remained essentially flat, at around $10 billion (Exhibit 18). A recent survey finds something similar: the number of LPs making coinvestments in PE rose from 42 percent to 55 percent over the past five years, while the proportion of direct-investing LPs barely grew, from 30 to 31 percent. Both LPs and GPs have found that co-investment has its challenges. For LPs, not only are co-investments hard to scale, but academic research shows significant variance in returns, which can make it difficult to get approval from investment committees for these fast-moving transactions. The irony is that CalPERS has fallen behind in coinvestments, which can serve as a bridge to building more investing expertise, and that CalPERS has the image and scale to make it far more realistic than for just about any pension fund to move into direct investing. For instance, Oxford professor Ludovic Phallippou has repeatedly stated that he has highly qualified former students who would work for CalPERS. As former CalPERS board member JJ Jelincic said via e-mail: Eliopoulos proposal has some assumption that are built in but unstated, untested and unproven: 1) We need PE 2) Staff in not competent 3) We cannot hire competent staff 4) We will not pay for competent staff 5) We will pay for investment skills as long as they are not on our payroll 6) We must hide the costs of PE These are a minimum, there are probably others. Despite it being an indirect approach, CalPERS need to disguise the fact that they are simply setting up some big SMAs and trying to misbrand them as direct means that CalPERS is going to layer in additional costs, complexity, and potentially rigidity. So Eliopoulos is going to achieve the worst of all possible worlds: a guaranteed to be costly and difficult approach, with no apparent benefits to CalPERS. Are they so desperate to escape transparency and accountability that they deem it justifiable to shaft their investors to this degree? An ancient standing stone - a prehistoric grave or route marker, dating back to 2400 BC-AD 500- has been discovered outside Clonmel. One of only three known to be in the town area, it was recently discovered by local woman Aoibheann Lambe. Hidden in scrub and obscured by ivy at Knocklucas, just off Mountain Road, Aoibheann Lambe says "it has been carefully cleaned off by Mr.Cronin, uncle of the landowner, and is now perfectly visible from the Mayor's Walk, with excellent views over the town and the summit of Slievenamon to the north east". Ms Lambe is studying for a Master's degree in Prehistoric Rock Art (a field of archaeology that focuses on prehistoric carvings) in UCC and discovered the standing stone as part of her studies of rock art in South Tipperary. The daughter of the late Clare and Paddy Lambe (who owned a menswear shop in OConnell Street, Clonmel on the site of Allens store), she says that Clonmel people have been passing ancient standing stones, hidden in ditches, without realising their significance, for generations. "While 80 standing stones are on record for South Tipp, only two were listed on the Archaeological Survey for Clonmel - one by Dudley's Mills on the Coleville Road, in a field by a ditch, and another which was found in King Street during the construction of a housing development and moved from there. "The Giant's Grave, officially listed as a 'cross-inscribed pillar', also dates back to the Bronze Age - the crosses would have been added in medieval times. "The next closest standing stones are approximately 11 kilometres or more from the town and are found in the vicinity of Ballypatrick, Ballyneale, Ballymacarbry and Knockmorris, Kilmaloge and Knocknakillardy". According to the Archaeological Survey of Ireland, a standing stone is "a stone which has been deliberately set upright in the ground, usually orientated on a north-east-south-west axis, although other orientations do occur, and varying in height from 0.5 metres up to 6 metres. "They functioned as prehistoric burial markers, commemorative monuments, indicators of routeways or boundaries and date from the Bronze and Iron Ages (circa 2400 BC- AD 500), with some associated with early medieval ecclesiastical and burial contexts (circa 5th-12th centuries)". Above - The standing stone discovered by Clonmel woman Aoibheann Lambe at Knocklucas, just off Mountain Road, Clonmel Aoibheann Lambe says that prehistoric carvings can be easily overlooked, as they often comprise only round hollows which can look naturally formed. "The carvings can be elaborate too, with rings enclosing the hollows and other lines meandering over the surface. They date as far back as the last phase of the Stone Age - the Neolithic. "I am certain there are plenty to be discovered around Clonmel. "If anyone knows of any carvings, please take photos and contact me through my Facebook page rockartkerry or on 087-6007820". (As delivered) Good afternoon. Today and tomorrow, we will take decisions to prepare the NATO Summit next month. We will begin with a meeting focused on strengthening our deterrence and defence. We are now adapting the NATO Command Structure for the challenges of the future. And today, we will decide on an increase in personnel numbers, and on the locations for two new commands. One for the Atlantic, in Norfolk, Virginia; and one in Ulm, Germany to support military mobility in Europe. I expect we will also agree a NATO Readiness Initiative the Four Thirties. To ensure that by 2020, we have 30 mechanised battalions, 30 air squadrons and 30 combat vessels ready within 30 days or less. Because in a more unpredictable world, we need to be sure we have the right forces in the right places at the right time. We will discuss our progress in many areas, including cyber defence and maritime security. And we will also take stock of our efforts to achieve more defence spending and better burden-sharing among Allies. Later today we will focus on the Alliances efforts to project stability and fight terrorism, including in Iraq. NATO contributes to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS with AWACS surveillance planes and training for Iraqi forces. And at our Summit next month, we will launch a new training mission in Iraq. Today we will review our planning and ensure our support will be as effective as possible. We will also assess additional support to our partners Jordan and Tunisia. Tomorrow we will meet with High Representative / Vice President Federica Mogherini. As well as our colleagues from Finland and Sweden. Together we will discuss NATO-EU cooperation which will be a key theme for our Brussels Summit. Military mobility could also become an important feature of NATO-EU cooperation. And we are working together to identify and remove obstacles to the rapid deployment of forces in Europe. We will conclude by meeting with our Resolute Support partners to discuss our mission in Afghanistan. Despite continuing challenges, the Afghan forces are doing an outstanding job and developing their capabilities. We are stepping up our support with both forces and funding. We have added 3,000 more trainers to our mission. And at the Summit next month, I expect Allies will agree to extend funding for the Afghan forces to 2024. Our presence in Afghanistan helps Afghans stabilise their country, fight international terrorism, and create the conditions for a peaceful solution.I welcome the announcement of a ceasefire made by President Ghani and the Government of National Unity. This is a positive step forward on the path to peace. NATO fully supports an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace and reconciliation process. And with that, Im ready to take your questions. Q (RFE): Thank you, Mr. Secretary General. As you said, President Ghani announced a ceasefire with the Taliban for a short period of time. Will this move convince the Taliban to cease fighting and to come to the negotiating table? Thank you. SECRETARY GENERAL: The announcement of the ceasefire shows the seriousness of President Ghani and the Afghan government when it comes to their efforts to find a peaceful, negotiated solution to the conflict in Afghanistan. And I welcome that strong commitment to peace by President Ghani. At the same time, we have to continue to understand that the situation in Afghanistan is difficult. And thats the reason why NATO will continue to provide support. We have stepped up our efforts to support the Afghans with trainers and with funding. And the message and the purpose of NATOs presence is that Taliban will not win on the battlefield. The only way for them to achieve a solution is to sit down at the negotiating table. And therefore we will continue to provide support, and then I call on the Taliban to join the ceasefire and to lay down their arms and to engage in a constructive dialogue to find a peaceful, negotiated solution. Q (ARD/ZDF): Hi, thank you. Ive got two questions. In terms of burden-sharing, Germany recently offered 1.5% is that enough? And my second question you have the new Command Structure, the Readiness Initiative who is NATO afraid of? SECRETARY GENERAL: First, on burden-sharing. I welcome the fact that European Allies and Canada have turned the corner. After years of cutting defence spending, they have now started to increase. All Allies have stopped the cuts, all Allies have started to increase, and the majority of Allies have put forward plans on how to meet the 2 percent, or spend 2 percent on defence by 2024. I welcome the fact that Germany has stopped cuts, Germany has started to increase, and also the plans to increase German defence spending by 80% over a decade. So these are steps in the right direction. I welcome them. And its part of a pattern we now see across Europe and Canada where Allies are spending more. And I will later on today present to the Defence Ministers our latest figures the first estimate for defence spending in 2018. And I will share it also with you at my next press conference where we will publish the figures for spending in 2018 across the Alliance. Then on the command structure, NATO is not afraid. But NATO has to adapt, and NATO has to make sure that we continue to remain the most successful Alliance in history. And the only way to do that is to be able to respond when we see new challenges, change when the world is changing. And now the world is changing. We see a more assertive Russia, we see a lot of instability, violence in the Middle East and North Africa, close to our borders, we see proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and we see cyber threats. And thats the reason why we are strengthening and adapting our Command Structure with a new Atlantic Command, with a new Support Command in Germany, and also with a new Cyber Centre. Q (Rudaw): Thank you very much. My question is about Turkey. Whats the reaction, response to what Turkey intervention inside Syria territory? You know Turkey will begin the Manbij operation [inaudible]. My second question is about Iraq whats exactly your plan in Iraq? Thank you very much. SECRETARY GENERAL: Our plan in Iraq is to step up our training. Because we strongly believe that the best weapon we have in the fight against terrorism is to train local forces. NATO has deployed in big combat operations, and it may happen again that we need to do that. But in the long run, we strongly believe that the much better strategy is to enable local forces to stabilize their own country and fight terrorism themselves. Thats actually what we do in Afghanistan, where we train the Afghan forces, and thats what we also now are doing in Iraq. And the plan is to step up the training activities there, to make sure that we preserve the gains in the fight against Daesh. That ISIL/Daesh is not able to come back. And therefore we have to enable the Iraqis to stabilize their own country and to prevent Daesh from coming back. The other question was about Turkey and northern Syria, Manbij. NATO is part of the Global Coalition to Defeat Daesh, or ISIS, but NATO is not present on the ground in northern Syria. Some Allies are, for instance the United States and Turkey. We welcome the fact that the United States and Turkey, two NATO Allies, have agreed on a roadmap on how to deal with the challenges, for instance, related to Manbij. The situation in Manbij was one of the issues I discussed with President Erdogan when I met him in Ankara recently, and also one of the issues I discussed with President Trump in the White House a couple of weeks ago. So NATO is not directly involved, but NATO Allies are and I welcome the fact that Turkey and the United States are now working together to address the challenges in northern Syria. Q (Al-Arabiya): The Defence Minister of Qatar said in an interview that his country is looking for full membership, and he was not joking about that. It may require, lets say, an official reaction from your side. And small question about the situation in Iraq. The political situation is becoming more complex after the election the Election Committee members are forbidden to leave the country. Are you worried that the political circumstances may require you maybe to delay the mission? Or are you confident after your contact with Mr. Abadi and the Iraqi representatives that the mission will be launched at the Summit? Thank you. SECRETARY GENERAL: So we are in Iraq with our current activities based on an invitation from the Iraqi government. And the elections its too early to say what kind of new government well have after the elections. But of course we will stay in Iraq, and we will only step up our training efforts in Iraq, if we are welcomed by the Iraqi government. But we have no indications that the new Iraqi government will not welcome continued support both from the Coalition to Defeat Daesh and from NATO. So our planning is going on, and the plan is to launch the new training mission at the Summit in July. That was Iraq, and the other question was Qatar is a partner of NATO and we welcome the partnership with Qatar. We have several partner nations in the Gulf region. And we welcome that partnership. But NATO is an Alliance for North America and for Europe. That is stated in Article 10 of our founding treaty. So members of the Alliance have to be countries in North America US, Canada and Europe. So NATO is not an Alliance that will go beyond North America and Europe. Q (TV2 Denmark): Its not a secret that today a lot of European countries and the EU is a sort of in-fight with President Trump on a number of very important international issues such as Iran and the ongoing trade war. So what makes you believe today that the 29 NATO countries can actually get something constructive out of todays meeting and sort of put the differences aside? SECRETARY GENERAL: We have disagreements between NATO Allies, but we stand together in NATO when it comes to the core task of NATO: and that is to protect each other and to strengthen our collective defence. And I agree that there are differences related to issues like trade, like the Iran nuclear deal, or environmental issues, climate change. And we also see some differences within Europe regarding the future direction of Europe. But then we have to remember that its nothing new that there are differences between NATO Allies. Going back to the 1950s, the Suez Crisis, there were big differences between NATO Allies. Or all the way up to the Iraq war in 2003, different NATO Allies had different opinions. And of course, I take this seriously. At the same time, I think what we have learned and seen from history is that NATO is able to stand united around our core task and to deliver collective defence, deterrence that we protect each other. And thats exactly what I expect also to happen today and tomorrow during this defence ministerial. Because we are now implementing the biggest reinforcement of collective defence since the end of the Cold War despite those differences. We are stepping up our fight against terrorism despite those differences. And we see that Allies are increasing defence spending despite those differences. The US is increasing their military presence in Europe and Canada is also coming back. So the fact is that yes, there are differences between NATO Allies on issues like trade. But within NATO, we have actually been able to strengthen our cooperation and strengthen the transatlantic bond with more North American presence in Europe, and with European Allies stepping up investments in defence. So NATO is strong, and NATO has actually become stronger over the last couple of years despite those differences. (Natural News) The era of free and unfettered speech on the Internet is rapidly ending. All over the world, national governments are working very closely with social media companies to take control of Internet news. Up until recently, the Internet really was a wonderful marketplace of ideas, and ordinary people like you and I were empowered to share information with one another like never before in human history. But now the elite have seen the power that this can have, and they are cracking down hard. The term fake news has come to mean any source that would dare to question the official narratives that are being fed to us from the mainstream media, and in reality the push to censor fake news is really just an all-out effort to eliminate independent thought. Before the Internet, it was much easier for the elite to control the flow of information, and now they are taking unprecedented measures to control the flow of information in the digital age. (Article by Michael Snyder republished from EndoftheAmericanDream.com) Just check out what is happening in France. A proposed law would give authorities the power to immediately halt the publication of information deemed to be false Under the law, French authorities would be able to immediately halt the publication of information deemed to be false ahead of elections. Social networks would have to introduce measures allowing users to flag up false reports, pass their data on such articles to authorities, and make public their efforts against fake news. And the law would authorise the state to take foreign broadcasters off the air if they were attempting to destabilise France a measure seemingly aimed at Russian state-backed outlet RT in particular. New measures under consideration by the European Union as a whole are even more draconian. According to a Breitbart report, all social media companies would be forced to use content recognition technologies to monitor and control all uploads The European Union (EU) is less than a month away from voting to introduce aggressive new online copyright laws and widespread censorship measures, which critics say could strangle new media websites and stifle satire and online meme culture. Unelected European Commission bureaucrats have drafted legislation which detractors say could force online platforms to monitor and control all uploads to some platforms with content recognition technologies. They are also said to have proposed what has been termed a link tax, which could compel blogs and other websites to pay just to reference content. To give you an idea of what that would look like in practice, all we have to do is to consider what is already happening over in China. Internet censorship in China has already achieved legendary status, and the largest social media network in China has already blocked at least 500 million postings in the battle against fake news WeChat, Chinas biggest social media network with around one billion users, has so far blocked about 500 million postings in its fight against fake news, according to a report by a government body. Apart from blocking the posts directly, Tencents WeChat is working with hundreds of third-party organisations in an effort to block postings and quash rumours as part of its overall effort to safeguard cybersecurity, according to a report released on Friday by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, an institute run by the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. WeChat has built a mini-programme into its social messaging application dedicated to refuting rumours, including postings on topics such as the disappearance of Malaysia Airline Flight 370 in 2014 and various other topics, such as cures for cancer. By the end of 2017, the programme has quashed rumours for over 19.7 million users and around 37 million alerts were sent out. Just think about that for a moment. The Chinese are not just filtering out a few legitimately fake news stories. The truth is that they are systematically censoring anything that does not fit the official narratives that they want the public to believe. This is the greatest threat to freedom of speech that any of us have ever seen, and it has started in the United States too. Late last year, YouTube made an announcement that it had decided to hire 10,000 new moderators to flag content Of course, all of this comes after YouTube announced in December that it would hire some 10,000 new moderators to flag content, Swann reported. And those moderators have been flagging at a stunning rate. He noted further that in several cases the moderators were pulling entire channels without any advance warning whatsoever, and that most of those channels were deemed either pro-gun or conservative. Since that time, conservative videos and conservative accounts have been disappearing in massive numbers. Twitter is cracking down hard too. Multitudes of conservatives have been shadowbanned, and that happened to me too. So I have started up a new Twitter account, and if you would like to follow it, you can find it right here. On Facebook the censorship of conservatives has reached epic proportions, and now this week we learned that Facebook has decided to kill off the trending topics section and replace it with filtered news from trustworthy and quality sources. In essence, what they want to do is to take more control over what we see and what we think. So what should we do? Do we keep banging our heads against the wall and continue to use these platforms that are systematically censoring us, or do we try to create new ones? Kurt Schlichter seems to believe that the latter would be the better choice Liberals want to win the victory they cant achieve at the ballot box by using their cultural power to systematically marginalize and exclude Normal Americans from every aspect of society and we cant let them. From the business world to Hollywood, we are seeing them react to their utter repudiation in recent elections by trying to intimidate us into silent conformity as the price of us being allowed to participate in the non-governmental institutions of society. We must therefore have a two-part response to this act of cultural warfare not only must we get right back in their smug little faces, but we must also build our own cultural institutions, ones that they cant control. The militant Normals built this country; they can build their own institutions too. But ultimately if governments are the ones mandating the censorship, there will be nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. Just yesterday I wrote about how the Department of Homeland Security is now compiling a comprehensive list of journalists, editors, correspondents, bloggers and social media influencers, and I believe that is a very ominous sign. The truth is that the battle to restore the U.S. Constitution is literally a battle to protect our most basic human rights. If we do not have the freedom to think what we want and say what we want, it will only be a matter of time before all of our rights are gone. And if the United States falls, there wont be any guardians of liberty and freedom remaining on the entire planet. We must wake the masses up while there is still time, because we really are extremely close to losing everything. Read more at: EndoftheAmericanDream.com (Natural News) Facebook and its infamous CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, have been under fire for violating users privacy, censorship of conservative voices and a slew of other misdeeds and now, it looks like the social media giant has been busted again. This time, a Democratic congressman says it looks like the Zuck lied to Congress. The accusation comes after recent reports revealed that Facebook is sharing sizable quantities of user data with a number of other companies. Rhode Island Rep. David Cicilline, the leading Democrat on the House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee, called out Zuckerberg for his latest scam over Twitter on Sunday. Sure looks like Zuckerberg lied to Congress about whether users have complete control over who sees our data on Facebook, Cicillines tweet read. This needs to be investigated and the people responsible need to be held accountable, the congressman continued. The Facebook deception continues A shock report published by The New York Times unveiled one of Facebooks greatest scams: The social media network gave device makers access to all the deep data on Facebook users and their friends. Despite assurances that users are in control of who sees what, it turns out that when it comes to Facebook, privacy is more of an illusion than a reality. Back in April, Zuckerberg told Congress, Every time that a person chooses to share something on Facebook, theyre proactively going to the service and choosing that they want to share a photo, write a message to someone. And every time, there is a control right there not buried in settings somewhere, but right there when theyre posting about who they want to share it with, Zuckerberg reportedly contended. But, it now appears (to no ones surprise) that these assurances were little more than dust in the wind. Facebook had data sharing partnerships with at least 60 different device manufacturers agreements which gave these companies access to a wide range of data that users most likely didnt know about, and probably wouldnt have agreed to. According to Facebook, granting device makers this kind of access was essential to ensuring that users would get the full Facebook experience. Rebuking the Times report, vice president of product partnerships, Ime Archibong declared that it was necessary for Facebook to give device makers user data to get their products on the market. In other words, Facebook sold out users privacy for their own gain. Who would have guessed? Did Facebook violate an FTC mandate on consent? In 2011, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) laid out a mandate regarding the issue of consent after Facebook was accused of misleading consumers about their privacy. In terms of that decree, Facebook is barred from overriding users privacy settings without getting their consent. But the latest data sharing scandal may open up a whole new can of worms for the social media behemoth. Former FTC Commissioner Bill Kovacic told Vox, Its going to intensify the FTCs efforts to scrutinize the companys behavior and its fulfillment of the 2011 to 2012 settlement. This adds additional impetus to that existing commitment to study their behavior, to see if there was compliance. Facebook maintains that it trusts the device makers it chose to share user data with but ultimately, was it Facebooks place to share millions of peoples information with third-party companies without even asking for consent? The social media company contends that the device makers signed agreements that would prevent them from using the collected data for anything beyond its intended purposes, and the company denies that it was ignoring privacy settings and the need for consent. Clearly, these assurances are highly debatable. Between the mass censorship of independent media, conservative voices and dissenting thought, and the blatant disregard for their users, its hard to understand how Facebook stays in business. What will happen next in the Facebook saga? (Related: Stay up to date on the latest privacy invasions at Technocrats.news.) Sources for this article include: TheHill.com Vox.com New Horizons is up and getting ready for its next mission a New Year's Day flyby of the Kuiper Belt object dubbed as Ultima Thule. After 165 days in hibernation, the NASA spacecraft will embark on another historic flight. Its mission on Ultima Thule will be the farthest planetary encounter ever. New Horizons Now As of June 5, the spacecraft is almost 3.8 billion miles from Earth, a press release from the New Horizons website reports. Radio signals sent at light speed from the probe reaches Earth 5 hours and 40 minutes later. The New Horizons spacecraft has been in hibernation mode since Dec. 21, 2017, a necessary break to save resources. On June 5, researchers nudged New Horizons awake to prep for the historically significant mission set for New Year's Day. Alice Bowman, the mission operations manager from Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, notes that the spacecraft is in good condition and is operating normally following its exit from hibernation mode. Ultima Thule Flyby Now, the team is gearing up for the historic pass by the Kuiper Belt object Ultima Thule, which lies a billion miles beyond Pluto. Ultima Thule is a tough target not just for its distance, according to The Verge, but also due to its modest size of 20 to 23 miles in diameter. This mission follows New Horizons' flyby of Pluto and its moons in 2015, which yielded groundbreaking data on this distant part of the solar system. "Our team is already deep into planning and simulations of our upcoming flyby of Ultima Thule and excited that New Horizons is now back in an active state to ready the bird for flyby operations, which will begin in late August," Alan Stern, the mission's principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute, says in a statement. Researchers will be collecting navigation tracking data during the next three days as well as sending the first commands to the onboard computers for the start of flyby preparations. Preparations are expected to be extensive and will include memory updates, Kuiper belt science data retrieval, and a series of subsystems and science-instrument checkouts, among others. On August, actual flyby operations will begin as the probe sets on its final approach to Ultima Thule. The first of seven maneuvers to change trajectory will take place on October, and the last one is set for Dec. 22. Then, on Christmas Day, the flyby sequence will begin. For this mission, the team wants the spacecraft to get closer to Ultima Thule than it was able to do to Pluto three years ago. "We have a lot to do," Bowman says. "It's going to be very challenging." Americans weigh in on the space program, lauding NASA's existence as essential. However, most of them want the agency to stick close to home. A new survey examined Americans' sentiment on the space program with a number of surprising results. While the findings by the Pew Research Center show that an overwhelming chunk of the country appreciate the importance of space exploration 72 percent want the United States to remain a global leader in the industry opinions are divided on whether Mars or the moon should be a priority. NASA Priorities Vs Public Priorities NASA has a vast portfolio of different missions, but when rating nine of these missions, most Americans say that monitoring the climate system (63 percent) and monitoring asteroids and other near-Earth objects for potential collisions (62 percent) should be top priority. Forty-seven percent say conducting basic scientific research to increase the knowledge of space is top priority, followed by developing technologies that are adaptable for various uses (41 percent), doing research on the effects of space travel on health (38 percent), and searching for materials and resources to be used on Earth (34 percent). Rated the lowest on the rankings are further exploration beyond Earth. Only 31 percent say that the search for alien life and life-supporting planets is top priority, while 42 percent believe it's low priority, and 27 percent believe it's not important or should not be done. The missions to Mars and the moon which are some of the most high-profile missions of NASA rank the lowest for Americans. Only 18 percent and 13 percent say that sending astronauts to Mars and the moon deserve top priority, and 37 percent and 44 percent, respectively, think that it's not important or should not be done. Political leanings do play a part when it comes to assessing NASA's priorities, especially in climate issues, which is a top priority for more Democrats (78 percent) than Republicans (44 percent). The two parties tend to agree relatively about many of the priorities, though. "We were struck by the finding about public priorities for NASAs mission," Cary Funk of Pew Research Center tells Axios. "Sending astronauts into space is one of the most visible of the U.S. space programs over time." In terms of advancement, approximately 50 percent of Americans believe space tourism will be possible within 50 years, although 58 percent say that they wouldn't actually want to leave Earth. NASA's Role Moving Forward Even with a number of private companies making their mark in space, a majority of Americans (65 percent) say that NASA should still play a significant role in exploring space. A third (33 percent) do think that these private companies could advance the industry even without the agency. When it comes to political parties, 70 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning Americans believe that NASA is still vital in the future of the industry, but only 59 percent of the total Republicans and Republican-leaning Americans say the same. This issue is very relevant due to the emergence of private companies, including Elon Musk's SpaceX, that are venturing out in space. The Trump administration has expressed its intent to stop funding the International Space Station and turn it over to the private industry, according to Washington Post. According to Casey Dreier, director of space policy at the Planetary Society, this shows that the relationship between NASA and the commercial space industry is poorly communicated to the public. "The majority of private companies rely on NASA as a customer and, if not, aspire to," Dreier explains in Axios. "NASA right now is playing a critical role in creating a marketplace for commercial space companies." Bus drivers from across the country testified before members of Congress Wednesday in Washington DC, sharing stories about how theyve suffered violent attacks while on the job, and asking lawmakers to support of a new bill designed to protect passengers and drivers. The Bus Operator and Pedestrian Protection Act, co-sponsored by Democratic congressman Ro Khanna from Californias 17th District, Democratic congresswoman Grace Napolitano from Californias 32nd district, and Republican John Katko of New Yorks 24th congressional district, would require installation of protective shields, training to de-escalation violent situations, and compel transit agencies to track and report the number of assaults and violent incidents against drivers to the Department of Transportation. Napolitano said just as pilots are protected in the cockpit, bus operators should also feel safe on the job as they transport thousands of passengers. It also has a major safety impact to passengers and motorists as well as pedestriansas they assaults occur often while the bus is moving, Napolitano said. In February, NBC Bay Areas Investigative Unit first exposed the extent of the violence against drivers. NBC Bay Area requested data from all the major transit agencies including VTA, BART, Muni and learned AC Transit drivers suffer the most reported attacks with drivers beaten, choked, and even threatened with guns facing weapons, at a rate much higher than the agency or the public knew about. There are major news stories every day of bus drivers being beaten, Napolitano said. Drivers told NBC Bay Area they do not feel safe in their jobs and that they fear a driver will be killed if drastic action is not taken soon. After NBC Bay Areas first report aired in February, AC Transit announced it would install driver shields this summer for a test run. Four months later, drivers are still waiting. Drivers also expressed concerns to the Investigative Unit that they do not have a direct line to police or 911 when an assault is underway. Instead they have to call dispatch for help and wait for those operators to relay the information to law enforcement. AC Transit said that system allows the district to locate the bus and operator quickly and efficiently. The proposed law comes in response to serious attacks on transit operators nationwide. Napolitano, whose district includes the LA Metro bus district, said that agency records roughly 130 assaults against drivers each year. We must do everything we can to stop assaults on bus drivers, Napolitano said. Theyre our friends theyre our neighbors, our sisters, our brothers and we should protect them. The bill would also require transit districts to come up with a risk assessment plan in the next two years, including a plan for how to track assault data and report those numbers to the Department of Transportation. It will cost an estimated $25 million a year for five years to implement. The congresswoman urged transit operators across the country to call their lawmakers and share their personal stories if theyve been assaulted on the job. Talk to your representatives. Make them understand how vital this is the assault on bus drivers is a growing problem. If you have a tip for Vicky Nguyen about this or any other story, you can email her directly at vicky@nbcbayarea.com or you can email theunit@nbcbayarea.com or call 888-996-TIPS. Follow Vicky Nguyen on Twitter www.twitter.com/VickyNguyenTV and Facebookwww.facebook.com/VickyNguyenTV Click here to submit tips online A woman accused of the grisly slaying and dismemberment of her 61-year-old tenant told police that she flipped during what she claimed was an argument over the victims refusal to move out. Lisa Gonzales, 47, faces a single charge of murder in the death of her tenant, Margaret Maggie Rose Mamer, in the Mission District. Authorities believe Gonzales used a hacksaw to dismember Mamer, who prosecutors say had been beaten and stabbed to death, according to court documents. Gonzales is then alleged to have put Mamers body parts in a bag and sealed them into a plastic storage bin. Police found the decaying remains Saturday at 255 14th Street, when they came to look for the missing woman. District Attorney George Gascon on Wednesday called the case concerning given the troubling details that have come to light, but declined to go into details. According to a statement of facts prepared by prosecutors, when questioned about what occurred, Gonzales told police she flipped after the two quarreled over Mamers refusal to move out. Prosecutors said that since last August, Mamer was paying $400 a month to rent a room in Gonzalez home at Gonzales took Mamer after she fell on hard times and was evicted last year. But Gonzales soon became frustrated with Mamer, according to a statement of facts by prosecutors in the case, when Gonzales personal property started to turn up broken or missing late last year. Gonzales told Mamer to move by the middle of April or face eviction, but she remained. According to prosecutors, on midday on May 15, the defendant told her daughter, who had come home for lunch, not to go into the bathroom. That night, the daughter recalled smelling something like vinegar from the bathroom. The next day, she heard what sounded like sawing and later smelled the smell of rotten eggs in that bathroom, the prosecutors statement said. When she asked her mother where Mamer was, the court document says, Gonzales responded that the victim left,but not the way she should have. She would not go into details, according to the prosecutors account. After that, prosecutors allege that the defendants daughter saw a hacksaw under a sink. She later went to authorities, saying she suspected someone had been killed in her home. On Saturday, police who found the body also questioned Gonzales about what had happened. She told them, prosecutors say, that the two had quarreled over Mamers refusal to move out. Although Gonzales said she did not have a specific memory of what occurred next, she told investigators probably nothing good. Prosecutors say that Gonzales has a violent history, having been convicted of assault of a co-worker in 2004. She was alleged to have attacked the victim from behind with a metal object, leaving her with a fractured jaw and shattered teeth. Gonzales was due in court for arraignment Wednesday but was under observation and unable to appear in court. The judge ordered her held without bail and is set to return to court Friday for arraignment. Her attorney, Deputy Public Defender Alex Lillian, declined to comment about the case. A group of Massachusetts lawmakers has filed a petition to have a Salem judge removed from the bench. Lawmakers and critics of Judge Tim Feeley are outraged in large part over a recent ruling in which Feely sentenced a defendant convicted on heroin charges to probation instead of prison. They also claim that defendant was not given jail time because he's not a United States citizen. Others in the legal community say the judges ruling was legal and within the sentencing guidelines. They say that the judicial process must remain independent. In April, Feeley came under fire for lowering the bail of John Williams, who allegedly went on to kill sheriff deputy Eugene Cole in Maine just weeks later. A spokesperson for the court says Feeley is not able to comment on anything involving a pending case. Last week, Rep. James Lyons (R-Andover) introduced HD 4822, a bill requesting Gov. Charlie Baker to remove Feeley from the bench. A group of fellow Republican lawmakers co-sponsored it. By Wednesday, more than 8,600 people had signed the petition. If approved by the legislature, it would go to the governor and then onto the governor's council which would make the decision about impeachment. The ATF is investigating after an agent was shot during an operation in northwest Indiana on Thursday. The agency confirmed the shooting on its Twitter feed, saying that the Chicago Field Division was responding to the incident in Gary. The Chicago Police Department tweeted the agent who was shot was "critically wounded." "ATF Agents are working with us every hour of every day to reduce gun violence in Chicago and it's beyond a partnership, it's one team, one fight," the tweet read. Law enforcement sources tell NBC 5 that the agent's injuries are non-life threatening and his condition has stabilized. The agent was brought to Methodist Hospitals in Gary, according to officials. The ATF is investigating after an agent was shot during an operation in northwest Indiana on Thursday. A police presence was reported at multiple locations, sources tell NBC 5. A suspect was shot and killed at that intersection, sources say. According to Indiana State Police, a white Kia Optima fled the scene of a traffic stop at 7th and Tennessee in Gary around noon on Thursday. The vehicle was pursued by officers, and slammed into two other vehicles at the intersection of 21st Avenue and Broadway. Police acknowledged that there were reports that the police chase was connected to the shooting of the ATF agent, but did not confirm the information. Numerous ambulances were called to the scene, which was being investigated by the Lake County Sheriff's Office in Indiana. Helen Menzyk says her daughter always calls or texts her, but its been weeks since shes heard from her and she believes her daughter might be in danger. Its now been almost three weeks since shes seen or heard from her daughter Joyce Cluchey. This Starbucks at 47th Street and Cicero Avenue is the last place Cluchey was seen on May 18. Chicago police issued an alert for the missing 30-year-old late Tuesday night. "I just want my daughter back," Menzyk told NBC 5 Wednesday. "Somebody has to know where she's at." The days go by, but hope persists for Menzyk. "I have faith in God that she will show up," she said. She refuses to give up on her daughter. "I'm constantly looking at my phone, pacing the floor, getting in my van going to look for her and not coming up with nothing," Menzyk said. "It aint like Joyce not to call me. She always calls me and lets me know she's OK." Menzyk said her daughter was getting ready to get on the eastbound bus at 47th Street and Cicero Avenue going east when they last spoke. "I texted her and I said 'I love you,'" she recalled. "And she texted and said 'I love you, too.'" Cluchey has a 9 year old son who keeps asking when his mom is coming home, Menzyk said. "He says 'Nana, have you heard from my mom, can you find her?'" she said. "I'm trying to bring her home to you," the worried mother tells her grandson. Bonnie Kovalsky, Cluchey's aunt, believes her niece may be in danger. She said a guy Cluchey was hanging out with might have been abusive. "Yes, I do think she is in harm's way," she said. Cluchey's familys says theyll continue hanging fliers and chasing leads as they try to find her. Detectives have told Cluchey's family that they plan to check surveillance cameras in the area where she was last seen and from CTA buses. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Chicago police. Heading into his North Korea summit with characteristic bravado, President Donald Trump said Thursday that "attitude" is more important than preparation as he looks to negotiate an accord with Kim Jong Un to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula. Preparing to depart Washington for the next week's meeting, Trump dangled before Kim visions of normalized relations with the United States, economic investment and even a White House visit. Characterizing the upcoming talks with the third-generation autocrat as a "friendly negotiation," Trump said, "I really believe that Kim Jong Un wants to do something." Trump's comments came as he looked to reassure allies that he won't give away the store in pursuit of a legacy-defining deal with Kim, who has long sought to cast off his pariah status on the international stage. The North has faced crippling diplomatic and economic sanctions as it has advanced development of its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. "I don't think I have to prepare very much," Trump said. "It's about attitude. It's about willingness to get things done." Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, speaking to reporters later on Thursday, assured that Trump is prepared for the meeting, saying that the president has been receiving briefings on North Korea. Declaring the summit to be "much more than a photo-op," Trump predicted "a terrific success or a modified success" when he meets with Kim next Tuesday in Singapore. He said the talks with Kim would start a process to bring about a resolution to the nuclear issue. "I think it's not a one-meeting deal," he said. Asked how many days he's willing to stay to talk with Kim, Trump said, "One, two three, depending on what happens." Still Trump forecast that he'll know very quickly whether Kim is serious about dealing with U.S. demands. "They have to de-nuke," Trump said. "If they don't denuclearize that will not be acceptable. And we cannot take sanctions off." Trump, who coined the term "maximum pressure" to describe U.S. sanctions against the North, said they would be an indicator for the success or failure of the talks. "We don't use the term anymore because we're going into a friendly negotiation," Trump said. "Perhaps after that negotiation, I will be using it again. You'll know how well we do in the negotiation. If you hear me saying, 'We're going to use maximum pressure,' you'll know the negotiation did not do well, frankly." Pompeo also told reporters that the summit shows the "two sides are very serious." "Our efforts give us hope that we can find real success where past efforts have fallen short," he said. Pompeo added that Trump "will not stand for a bad deal," and that denuclearization is "the only outcome that we will find acceptable" and will lead to "a brighter path" for North Korea. Trump spent Thursday morning firing off a dozen unrelated tweets on the Russia investigation and other subjects before meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to talk about summit preparations and strategy. "I think I've been prepared for this summit for a long time, as has the other side," he said. "II think they've been preparing for a long time also. So this isn't a question of preparation, it's a question of whether or not people want it to happen." Administration officials indicated that Trump actually was putting in preparation time. National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis noted the president met with Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton Thursday afternoon "to continue their strategic discussions" ahead of the summit. Before he sits down with Kim, Trump must first face wary U.S. allies who question his commitment to their own security and resent his quarrelling with them on sensitive trade matters. Trump on Friday departs for a 24-hour stop in Canada for the Group of Seven summit of leading industrial nations. French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that the international community supports Trump's efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, but that "if he does succeed in his negotiations with North Korea, we want him also to remain credible on the nuclear situation in Iran." Trump pulled out of President Barack Obama's nuclear accord with Iran over the objections of European allies. Abe, for his part, pushed Trump to raise with Kim the issue of Japanese abductees held in North Korea. The Japanese leader is seeking to ensure that Trump's efforts to negotiate an agreement with Kim don't harm Japan's interests. He described the talks with Trump as an "in-depth and candid exchange of views," and said he'd been given Trump's assurance that he would raise the plight of the abductees with Kim. Trump said Abe talked about the abductees "long and hard and passionately and I will follow his wishes and we will be discussing that with North Korea absolutely." U.S. allies in the region have expressed concern that Trump's push to denuclearize Korea could ignore the North's sophisticated ballistic missile and chemical weapons programs. Several CT Transit bus operators, with the support of their union, are speaking out about what they say is a lack of available and adequate restroom facilities for drivers on all bus routes. Union representatives said that they have raised concerns with CT Transit but that not enough has been done to address the issue. The NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters were first to reveal bus surveillance video of a driver caught on camera and on duty stopping his bus during his route to urinate in some bushes on the side of a Manchester street. The driver in the surveillance video told his managers that it's really hard to find a restroom and his need to relieve himself was an emergency, according to CT Transit. The driver's fellow employees said that video identifies a prime example of an issue that many CT Transit operators encounter on a daily basis. "Oh you're panicking," said CT Transit bus operator Mike Wendus. "You have nowhere to go; absolutely nowhere to go." Wendus has been driving buses for 28 years. He described the day he was traveling a rural road in South Windsor with no accessible restrooms around when he had an emergency of his own. "Mother nature came calling and rather quickly," said Wendus. He said he could not hold it any longer and defecated in his pants while in the CT Transit drivers' seat. "I needed to get cleaned up. You're embarrassed; you're humiliated," he said. Wendus said he told his dispatcher what had just happened and then called his wife to bring him a change of clothes and a garbage bag. "We felt we need to speak up," said Artan Martinaj, the Business Agent for Local 425, the Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents about 600 members in the Hartford area. Martinaj said the union has been calling on CT Transit and the Connecticut Department of Transportation, which owns the bus service, to make more safe, clean restroom facilities available on all routes. "Nothing has been done," he said. Because drivers are trying to stay on top of already-tight bus schedules, there is often no time or place for a bathroom break, according to Martinaj. He said that some of his drivers are even resorting to wearing adult diapers to get through their shifts. "It's fast-paced. You have to stay on time," said Staci Davis, a CT Transit bus operator for the last four years. Davis said she does not wear diapers on the job but does avoid eating or drinking before or during work to avoid having to stop the bus to go to the bathroom, which could potentially frustrate her passengers and put her behind schedule. "I've encountered being very uncomfortable to the point where my leg is shaking because I have to go to the bathroom so bad where I feel like I'm in tears because the pain is going through my abdomen," said Davis. Operators rely on local businesses along their routes to allow use of restrooms. However, some drivers said CT Transit is often posting notices when some of those businesses decide the bathroom facilities are suddenly off-limits to bus drivers. "Honestly, I personally feel like there's not any access for us to use the bathrooms," said CT Transit bus operator Breanna Hartfield. "There needs to be a change," she said. Cole Pouliot, General Manager of CT Transit declined an on-camera interview to discuss the drivers' concerns about bathroom breaks. In lieu of that interview, the NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters submitted a dozen questions. In response to those questions, Pouliot provided this statement: "The comfort of our operators is obviously a primary concern for CT Transit, and to be clear we would never deny a request for a driver to take a restroom break. With that being said, the general policy is that operators take restroom breaks at layovers, utilizing restroom locations which have been predetermined and approved by CT Transit. Additionally, operators can use other restrooms along the route at any time if necessary by contacting a dispatcher." Pouliot added: "Ideally, we avoid allowing buses going off-route for a restroom break as this could present a safety issue, however, we have made exceptions in certain situations. And he said CT Transit frequently meets with the union to discuss issues and share ideas. We are open to considering any options which may afford a more comfortable and efficient operating environment for staff and our customers," Pouliot wrote. ---- These are the questions the NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters submitted to the General Manager of CT Transit: Home-schooling advocates gathered at the state capitol Wednesday to speak out against a report suggesting Connecticut needs a stronger safety net for home-schooled children at risk of abuse. The Office of the Child Advocate suggested stronger regulations are needed for children pulled out of public schools in their investigation report into the death of Matthew Tirado, a 17-year-old autistic boy, who died of malnutrition and child abuse at the hands of his mother, Katiria Tirado. According to the report, she was able to withdraw her 9-year-old daughter from Hartford Public Schools for home-schooling, despite the familys lengthy history of abuse and neglect allegations with the Department of Children and Families. The report also found more than a third of children withdrawn from six Connecticut school districts are from families who have histories with child protective services. Lina Schlotter, who home-schools her 9-year-old son Tucker, said the statistic does not factor for parents whose children were never enrolled in public school. Im not part of that study, she didnt account for me, she said. She said that the state should look elsewhere to tighten the safety net for children at risk of abuse. Theres doctors who can also report on that. Theres neighbors and family that can report on abuse, she said. In a statement, the Office of the Child Advocate said they support the rights of parents to direct their childs education, but said that they must also, be concerned for the rights of children who are voiceless and vulnerable to abuse and whose parents seek to withdraw them from school not to educate them but to hide them from public view. The Office of the Child Advocate is currently conducting further research in eighteen Connecticut school districts. A Connecticut state trooper is on suspension after he was charged with interfering with an officer in Harwinton. State police said they responded to Hill Road in Harwinton just before 11 p.m. Saturday to check on a report of a suspicious vehicle and spoke with 41-year-old Kenneth Dillon. Dillon, who was in a Chevrolet Impala registered to the state of Connecticut, became uncooperative with troopers and was issued a summons for interfering with an officer, according to state police. He was also transported for medical evaluation. State police said Dillon has been suspended and his state vehicle was taken from him. The Connecticut State Police Bureau of Professional Standards has opened an administrative inquiry into this incident, according to state police. They said the status is temporary and can change consistent with the criminal proceedings and the departments administrative review. It's a city that calls itself the "Jewel of the Forest," but for many people old enough to remember, just hearing the name Jasper, Texas, can muster ugly memories. Just ask Clara Byrd Taylor. Twenty years ago, her brother, James Byrd, was chained to the back of a truck by his ankles and dragged for miles down a paved Jasper road to an agonizing death. It was a horrifying, racially-motivated murder that grabbed international headlines and put a stain on Jasper that would not easily rub out. "One of the most difficult things was explaining to our children why James was killed: because he was a black man," Byrd Taylor said. "They just couldn't understand that. They became afraid to come to Jasper themselves." On June 7, 1998, three men, later identified as Shawn Berry, Lawrence Russell Brewer and John William King, offered Byrd a ride. What followed would go down in hate-crime history. Newton County Sheriff Billy Rowles was the sheriff of Jasper County when it happened. He said memories of the case, and the bloody, lengthy crime scene, haunt him still. "The fact that a human being a living, breathing human being was jumped, beat, chain-wrapped around his legs and drug behind their truck for close to three miles, that is so far over my head that anyone could do something like that, let alone three of them, could do something like that," Rowles said. "Drag that man until his body came apart, and untied the body, left it in the middle of the road so everybody could see, and drove off and went home and went to bed." Rowles believes everyone in Jasper County suffered in the aftermath. "It wasn't the city that murdered him, it wasn't the citizens that did that. That was three fools that did that, but we got blamed for it," he said. "We got stereotyped." In the days after the murder, and throughout the trial, the rest of the world seemed to crowd into Jasper, pointing fingers. Famous activists like Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton showed up. There were days when members of the Klan and the New Black Panther Party clashed in the streets. All three suspects were convicted. Berry was sentenced to life in prison. Brewer was executed in 2011. King was also sentenced to death and just this year lost his final appeal. "You know, you have to look at yourself when something happens like this and sometimes we didn't like what we saw," Rowles said. At the Jasper city park named for James Byrd, two of his sisters recently met to talk about plans to mark the 20th anniversary of his death. They also have plans to purchase a home in Jasper that could serve as a museum. One of the only books written about James Byrd's murder, "Hate Crime," was penned by Dallas author Joyce King. In honor of the 20th anniversary, it's now available on Audible. Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying's Regular Press Conference on June 7, 2018 2018/06/07 Q: Yesterday, we saw on the website of the Foreign Ministry a list of corruption fugitives and their relevant information released by China's Central Anti-Corruption Coordination Group. Could you offer more information as to what the Foreign Ministry and China's diplomatic missions overseas are doing in fighting corruption, catching international fugitives and recovering illicit gains? A: Tracking down corrupt officials who fled overseas and their illicit gains is an important link in the fight against corruption and a vital part of our diplomatic work. The Foreign Ministry and our diplomatic missions overseas attach high importance to this work and have been actively cooperating and coordinating with competent departments on this front. Up to now, China has signed bilateral judicial assistance treaties on criminal matters with 61 countries and extradition treaties with 50 countries. We have basically put in place a legal guarantee network covering major countries of all continents to bring back fugitives and their illicit assets. Within the framework of the UN and other mechanisms, we have been participating in formulating international anti-corruption rules, consolidated international consensus on fighting corruption and strengthened all countries' willingness to cooperate on this front. Meanwhile, following the lead of the China-US Joint Liaison Group on Law Enforcement Cooperation (JLG) and China-Canada Consultations on Judicial and Law-enforcement Cooperation, China has established and is also working on long-term communication and cooperation mechanisms with relevant countries so as to facilitate practical cooperation on individual cases. 52 of all the 100 fugitives listed on the Interpol red notice have been arrested. The Foreign Ministry and our diplomatic missions overseas will continue to promote international anti-corruption cooperation, weave a closely-knit "Sky Net", and make our contributions to China's anti-corruption work and social fairness and justice. Q: The US Consulate-General in Guangzhou said that several of its staff have just been sent back to the US because they developed unexplained illnesses after hearing strange noises in their residences. Has the US government made representations to you about this and do you have any comment on this incident? A: After the previous report that a US diplomatic employee stationed in China was allegedly affected by so-called sonic waves, the relevant Chinese authorities have carried out serious investigation and informed the US side of the result. By far, we have found no reason or clue that would lead to the situation reported by the US side. China will ensure the safety of foreign diplomatic staff in China, including those from the US, in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. As to the latest reports, according to my information, the US side has not made any official communication to us on this matter. I myself learnt about the relevant information through media reports, and I am not aware of the specifics. If there is any problem, the US can directly tell us. We will investigate the case and coordinate with the US side in a consistently responsible way. Q: The Memorandum of Understanding, signed by the Government of Myanmar, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP), on June 6, is meant to create conditions conducive to voluntary, safe, dignified, and sustainable return of Rohingya refugees. Do you have any comment on that? A: There is a complex historical, ethnic and religious background to Myanmar's Rakhine State issue, the settlement of which calls for dialogue and consultation between Bangladesh and Myanmar, coupled with constructive help from the international community. We welcome the memorandum signed between the UNHCR, the UNDP and the government of Myanmar. It shows that all parties are committed to resolving the issue through dialogue and cooperation. We hope that the government of Myanmar could closely cooperate with relevant UN agencies and earnestly implement the memorandum. As a friendly neighbor to Myanmar and Bangladesh, China has been closely following the evolvement of the situation in the Rakhine State and playing a positive part in seeking a proper settlement. The three-stage solution proposed by China, composed of cessation of violence and maintenance of stability, repatriation and sheltering, and poverty reduction and development, is appreciated and welcomed by both Myanmar and Bangladesh. We stand ready to work with the international community and continue to play a positive role in providing an enabling environment to promote dialogue between Myanmar and Bangladesh, seek a practical solution to the issue, maintain long-term stability in the Rakhine State, and realize prosperity and development for the Rakhine State. Q: The Australian government has suggested some dates for Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to come to visit China. When will China give a reply to the Australian government and when will this visit happen? And what about the Chinese government's attitude towards receiving a visit by the Australian Prime Minister? Would China welcome a visit by the Australian Prime Minister sometime soon? A: The timetable for mutual visits between two countries will have to be nailed down through consultations. You asked about a specific date. I have no information on that. China would like to conduct exchanges and cooperation with all other countries on the basis of equal treatment and mutual respect. Q: Can you give us some idea as to what kind of probe or investigation China did when the United States made the first notification to China about the problems with the sonic waves in Guangzhou? Do you anticipate doing more of an investigation presumably after the US informs you of the latest development? A: What I can tell you is that China has very responsibly investigated the issue that a US diplomatic employee in China was allegedly affected by the so-called sonic waves. However, we have found no reason or clue that would lead to the situation reported by the US side. We have made feedback to the US side on this issue. As to the latest development reported by the media, like I pointed out just now, the US side has not made any request to the Chinese side. If the US side officially informs us of the latest case, China will carry out necessary investigations in the same responsible and earnest manner and remain in close communication and coordination with the US side. Six children severely injured in the Guatemala Volcano of Fire eruption arrived in Texas for treatment early Thursday morning. According to KPRC, a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III aircraft landed in Galveston, where the children will be treated at Shriners Hospital for Children. An aeromedical evacuation team watched over the patients as they made the 2-hour flight. The names and ages of the children will remain confidential, KPRC reported. The Sunday eruption killed at least 99 people, with nearly 200 still missing. Thousands remain displaced, unable to return to homes and entire villages destroyed by the volcano. A Houston man on death row for nearly 31 years for the slaying of a woman and her 2-year-old son has accepted a plea deal giving him back-to-back life prison terms. A federal appeals court two years ago upheld a judge's finding that Michael Wayne Norris deserved a new punishment hearing because jury instructions during the punishment phase at his 1987 trial were improper. Rather than retry the decades-old case, Harris County prosecutors and Norris' lawyers reached agreement on what essentially will be life without parole for the 60-year-old Norris. He was convicted and condemned for the November 1986 shooting deaths of 38-year-old Georgia Rollins and her son, Keith. At the time, Norris already was out of prison after serving seven years of an eight-year term for another murder. On Wednesday President Trump commuted the sentence of Alice Johnson, a 63-year-old grandmother serving a life sentence for nonviolent drug and money laundering charges. One of Johnson's attorneys and staunchest legal advocates is Brittany Barnett, a former SMU law student advocating on behalf of federal inmates like Johnson through the Buried Alive Project. "They are buried alive. Life without parole in federal prison is just that, a fundamental death sentence," Johnson said sitting behind a pile of manila envelopes filled with letters from federal inmates seeking her organization's help. According to the Sentencing Project drug offenders make up a third of the approximately 6,700 federal inmates serving life sentences. The project's goal is to eliminate life-without-parole sentences for nonviolent drug offenders and reduce the number of people in federal prison serving life for nonviolent drug crimes. Hundreds of letters have been sent to Barnett and the team of SMU law students who read each one. "They're very much alive and screaming for help," Barnett said. Barnett said each inmate deserved to be punished, but a virtual life sentence is disproportionate. "You sell drugs, there is punishment that comes with that and that punishment is often imprisonment, but it does not mean that you should spend the rest of your life in prison," Barnett said. Johnson is the eleventh person the Buried Alive project has helped gain their freedom. "Justice has been served today, and it's long overdue," Barnett said. "Alice has more than paid her debt to society by serving over 21 years of a life-without-parole sentence as a non-violent drug offender." Sharanda Jones, who was convicted in a drug conspiracy case in 1999, knows what Johnson's first taste of freedom was like. "It was like I'm truly out of the grave now. This voice from the outside has spoken up for me and I am blessed to be alive," Jones said. Barnett considers Johnson's clemency a victory, and a sign to keep pushing for sentencing reform. "We incarcerate more people than any other country in the world," she said. "It's a moral crises, one of the most pressing civil rights issues of our time." What to Know Local politicians, advocates and family of a man detained by ICE last week after delivering pizza to a NY military base gathered Wednesday Pablo Villavicencio, a 32-year-old Ecuadorian undocumented immigrant, was delivering pizza Friday to Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn Villavicencio's wife says she heard he could be deported as soon as next week Local politicians, advocates and family members of a man detained by ICE last week after delivering pizza to a military base in New York gathered Wednesday to support the Ecuadorian father. Pablo Villavicencio-Calderon, a 32-year-old undocumented immigrant from Ecuador who was working for a Queens pizzeria, was making a pizza delivery Friday to Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn. He allegedly showed his New York City identification card to gain entrance to the base, like he did on other occasions when he delivered pizza there. This time, though, he was questioned about his immigration status and held illegally by military personnel, according to his wife, Sandra Chica, who said he was detained until agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrived. "What happened this time? Why?" Chica asks. According to Fort Hamilton, the base followed procedure and directed Villavicencio to the Visitor Control Center to obtain a daily pass in order to gain access to the base and deliver the pizza. Upon signing a waiver permitting a background check, Department of the Army Access Control standard for all visitors, an active Immigration and Customs Enforcement warrant was discovered on file. This prompted the Department of Emergency Services personnel to contact the proper authorities, Fort Hamilton said in a statement. Villavicencio-Calderon is currently being held at an ICE detention center in New Jersey. He told News 4 partner station Telemundo-47 over the phone Wednesday, "I miss my daughters. I miss my wife." "These days, it has been a nightmare. I don't wish this on anybody," he said. Chica, an American citizen, says she heard he may be deported as soon as next week. This is not right, Chica said, adding that she has spoken with Villavicencio and that he is "devastated. Chica was at the Wednesday press conference with her and Villavicencio-Calderons 3- and 4-year-old daughters. The girls were both born in the United States. In an exclusive interview Friday with Telemundo-47, Chica said that she is the only person left to take care of their daughters. "I don't know what is going to happen. Pablo's future is uncertain," she said in Spanish, adding that "the most important thing for me is the well-being of my daughters." Chica said that she has no other family members in the country. "It was practically Pablo and me with the girls," she said. "Things like these are an emotional imbalance." Villavicencio-Calderon said he came to the U.S. seeking asylum after receiving threats in Ecuador for being an LGBT activist. He said he filed paperwork to receive his green card, and even showed documents to prove he's been paying taxes. City Councilmember Justin Brannan, who was at Wednesday press conference, said it was not the first time pizza was ordered from that base. Why was Pablo singled out? Why was it different this time? Brannan asked, adding that the immigration system is broken and that he is sticking with the family to make sure they get justice. Brennan said Villavicencio-Calderon applied for permanent residency and was waiting for a response when he was apprehended by ICE. Part of the reason why this incident is upsetting for Brennan and others is that Villavicencio-Calderon showed his New York City-issued identification card as he had done before. New York Citys identification card system, known as IDNYC, was created so New Yorkers could have access to an official government-issued identification card and is recognized by NYPD and city agencies as proof of identity and residency. It is issued regardless of immigration status. Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams said the arrest is sending shock waves throughout the immigrant community. He said New York City, a sanctuary city, needs to know what is required of city-based immigrants when they visit federal facilities. In a statement to NBC 4, ICE said: Pablo Villavicencio-Calderon is an illegally present citizen and national of Ecuador. In March 2010, he was granted voluntary departure by an immigration judge, but failed to depart by July 2010 as ordered. As such, his voluntary departure order became a final order of removal and is an ICE fugitive. On June 1, Villavicencio-Calderon was detained by military police officers and turned over to ICE. He remains in ICE custody pending removal. Villavicencio-Calderons family is asking local politicians and advocacy groups for help in preventing his deportation. At a rally of support for Villavicencio in Bay Ridge Wednesday, protesters blocked a street as they yelled, "Free, free Pablo." Police said seven were detained for disorderly conduct and received summons. "We're going to continue to amp up the pressure and the urgency," said one demonstrator. the part that really struck a chord with me the guy is married, he's a family man, waiting for green card to get processed. He doing everything he can possibly do. "The part that really struck a chord with me the guy is married, he's a family man, waiting for green card to get processed. He doing everything he can possibly do," said Matthew Molter. Rebecca Operstein, an immigrant herself, believes soldiers and ICE did the right thing. "I don't agree with anyone come to this country and having freedom to do what they want without documentation or anything," she said. According to a statement from Matt Dhaiti, the deputy press secretary at the Mayors Office of Immigrant Affairs, the overbroad enforcement against immigrant New Yorkers does nothing to make us safer. We are disturbed by these reports and looking into this situation. The city says that the Trump administration has ramped up overboard immigration enforcement increasing arrests made by ICE of immigrants with no prior criminal conviction by over 200 percent in the New York City area. However, Congressman Dan Donovan, who serves on the House Committee on Homeland Security and the House Committee for Foreign affairs, said military personnel were following the law. This is just more insanity. Liberal activists are attacking ICE agents and military personnel for following the law in detaining an immigrant reportedly here illegally, Donovan said in a statement. If Democrats would actually come to the table and support border security funding, then these types of incidents wouldn't happen in the future. Brooklyn state senator Martin Golden (R), a member of the Senate Committee on Veterans, Homeland Security and Military Affairs, also said in a statement: "As a result of military police action at the Fort Hamilton Army Base, in accordance with the Department of Army Access Control standards for all visitors, an individual with a warrant was identified upon seeking entrance to the Fort. Consequently, the proper authorities were alerted and the individual was taken into custody. "I would expect nothing less from the Fort Hamilton Commander and its dedicated personnel who have committed their lives to protecting our citizens and country." What to Know A Boy Scout who packed a toy grenade in his carry-on bag caused the shutdown of a security checkpoint at Houstons William P. Hobby Airport. Its not clear why the 17-year-old had the item in his bag. Houston police said the state wont charge the teen but that he could face a federal fine. A Boy Scout who packed a toy grenade in his carry-on bag caused the shutdown of a security checkpoint at Houstons William P. Hobby Airport Thursday morning, just a day after the international terminal of the citys other major airport was evacuated due to a bomb scare. Houston Airport System spokesman Bill Begley said people were allowed to approach the checkpoint again after authorities determined that the suspicious item spotted by a Transportation Security Administration agent was a novelty grenade. Its not clear why the 17-year-old had the item in his bag. Houston police said the state wont charge the teen but that he could face a federal fine. Hobby Airport is a hub for Southwest Airlines and Begley said more than 15 Southwest flights were delayed. The website FlightAware indicated delays of an hour or more for flights arriving and departing the airport immediately after the security checkpoint reopened. An Associated Press journalist was in the line when a TSA agent raised the alarm at about 4:35 a.m., forcing hundreds of people to move away from the immediate area on both sides of the security checkpoint. My wife and I were waiting to drop our bags into the X-ray machine and go through the detector, and I heard a TSA agent scream Shut it down, shut it down, shut it down! Everyone was looking around, confused, and people were ordered to Clear out now! the APs John L. Mone said. Julie Morrow Abram, a passenger at the airport, told NBC News, "it was terribly frightening." The explosives scare occurred only a day after police detained an impatient passenger who made comments about explosives in a bag at Houstons Bush Intercontinental Airport. Begley said that unidentified passengers inappropriate comment prompted a bomb squad to close the international terminal for nearly an hour. The episode created a backlog of at least a thousand people waiting to go through security. Begley stressed that, especially during the busy summer travel season, anyone with any doubts as to what can be carried on a plane should check the TSAs what can I bring? website before packing their bags. What to Know California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and businessman John Cox will face off in the November election in the race for governor The candidates are vying to replace California's longest-serving governor, Jerry Brown Under California's unusual open primary system, the top two candidates who receive the most votes advance, regardless of party California's crowded field for governor was knocked down to two Tuesday, when voters picked Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and Republican businessman John Cox as the winners of the state's primary. The contest had been watched closely because of the state's unusual system, in which the two candidates who receive the most votes advance, regardless of party. Tuesday's results mean a traditional match of a Democrat versus Republican. The peculiarity of the open primary saw two of the Democrats, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, promoting Republican rivals to better their own chances. [GALLERY] Gov. Jerry Brown Through the Years Gov. Jerry Brown, the state's longest-serving governor, is barred by term limits from running again and in all, 27 people ran to replace him in a state where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans 45 percent to 26 percent, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. Now that voters have chosen, meet the candidates for governor. Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom As the front-runner, Newsom has come under heightened scrutiny. The Los Angeles Times reviewed his record as lieutenant governor and reported that he missed numerous meetings of the boards he sits on. The job is mostly a ceremonial one and being a member of the University of California Board of Regents, the California State University Board of Trustees and the California State Lands Commission are among the lieutenant governors more significant duties, the newspaper wrote. When Newsoms critics faulted him, he responded that he was there for every difficult vote. Newsom ran for governor in 2010 but switched to the lieutenant governors race after Jerry Brown entered the contest. Newson was the mayor of San Francisco for two terms, first elected at age 34. In 2004 he ordered the city to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The marriage licenses were nullified six months later but the decision put him in the national spotlight in a battle that ended with the U.S. Supreme Court legalizing gay marriages in 2015. I had no right to do this, Newsom acknowledged to The Mercury News in February. We didnt have the formal authority. But we tried to exercise our moral authority and challenge the laws. Newson gained less welcome attention when it was revealed that he had had an affair with his appointments secretary and the wife of his campaign manager and best friend. Last year, one of Newsoms Democratic rivals, state Treasurer John Chiang, highlighted a 2009 article in SF Weekly that argued that the city was the worst run big city in the United States. It had failed to make progress on homelessness, had a transportation system plagued by deficits and undertook capital projects that busted budgets, the newspaper wrote. That year the citys budget was $6.6 billion for about 800,000 residents. Newsoms political consultant tweeted that the attack was a sign of desperation. Newson, 50, helped to create a program that provided access to universal health care for residents of San Francisco, and as a candidate for governor, he supports universal health care for the state. He proposed strengthening Californias gun laws and supported legalizing the recreational use of marijuana, both passed by the states voters in 2016. Newson, a fourth-generation San Franciscan grew up in the San Francisco Bay area and attended Santa Clara University. He opened the PlumpJack Wines shop in 1992 with financial backing from Gordon Getty, the old fortune heir. His father, William Newson, was a former judge, manager of the Gordon P. Getty Family Trust. The enterprise has since grown into 21 businesses including wineries, restaurants and hotels. He became a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1997. He, his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newson, and their four children live in Marin County. Republican John Cox A venture capitalist who lives in Rancho Sante Fe in San Diego County, Cox got a late primary endorsement from President Donald Trump and with it a boost to his poll numbers. Trump continued his support for Cox in a tweet last week, Hell Make California Great Again! and again Tuesday morning, He will make a BIG difference. Great night for Republicans! Congratulations to John Cox on a really big number in California. He can win. Even Fake News CNN said the Trump impact was really big, much bigger than they ever thought possible. So much for the big Blue Wave, it may be a big Red Wave. Working hard! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 6, 2018 By last week, Cox had come in second behind Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom in a survey from the UC Berkeley Institute for Governmental Studies. He polled 20 percent to Newsoms 33 percent and up from the mere 9 percent he had in December. He had the backing of 50 percent of conservative voters. Cox did not vote for Trump in 2016, a decision he now says he regrets, but he echoes many of Trumps positions. He approves of the plan to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and rejects what are known as sanctuary laws that limit cooperation between federal and local officials. He says that they help to protect undocumented immigrants who have committed a crime. Cox blames the California Environmental Quality Act, the states broad environmental law, for contributing to the states affordable housing shortage and says he would repeal it. He would reverse Californias gas tax rise, passed by the states Democratic-controlled legislature as the first step in raising $5.4 billion for transportation projects. He criticizes the increase, whose repeal is on Novembers ballot, as regressive. He says he supports Second Amendment rights. Cox, 62, grew up in Chicago, one of four children of a single mother who worked as a schoolteacher. He began working as an accountant and ran for elected office three times in Illinois, always unsuccessfully. He dropped out of a U.S. Senate primary in 2003 in a race that former President Barack Obama won, according to SFGate. I grew up with nothing, he said at a Public Policy Institute of California speaker series, SFGate reported. The way Ive achieved what Ive achieved is the ability to have my own business. It kills me when I hear politicians and its mostly in the other party and they talk about this horrible inequality we have, yet they go out and encourage more regulations, more government, more restrictions on competition, more inability to start your own business. Cox and his wife, Sarah, have four daughters. What to Know Gabriel Fernandez suffered what a judge called "horrendous" abuse until his death in 2013 His mother pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and admitted the torture special circumstance allegation Jurors recommended last Dec. 13 that her boyfriend be sentenced to death after convicting him of first-degree murder The mother of an 8-year-old Palmdale boy was sentenced to prison for life and her boyfriend will be sent to California's death row for the child's horrific torture death, a case that the judge called "nothing short of evil." Gabriel Fenandez was routinely beaten, starved, forced to sleep in a closet and tortured until his death in 2013. Isauro Aguirre, 37, and Pearl Sinthia Fernandez, 34, appeared before Superior Court Judge George G. Lomeli in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom Thursday for sentencing in the May 2013 killing. Pearl Fernandez was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Her boyfriend was sentenced immediately after the judge read her sentence along with strong words for the couple. "The conduct was horrendous, inhumane and nothing short of evil," said Judge George J. Lomeli. "It's unimaginable, the pain that this child probably endured. Gabriel was a kind, loving individual who just wanted to be loved. "You want to say that the behavior was animalistic, but that would be wrong because even animals know how to care for their young." Pearl Fernandez read from a statement during Thursday's court appearance. "I want to say I'm sorry to my family for what I did," Fernandez said. "I wish Gabriel was alive. Every day I wish that I made better choices." Jurors recommended last Dec. 13 that Aguirre be sentenced to death after convicting him of first-degree murder and the special circumstance allegation of murder involving the infliction of torture. Prosecutors argued that he hated the boy because he thought the child was gay. Fernandez pleaded guilty Feb. 15 to first-degree murder and admitted the torture special circumstance allegation in exchange for a life prison term without the possibility of parole. She had been facing a possible death sentence if the case against her had gone to trial and if she had been convicted as charged. The boy's family was consulted about Fernandez's plea. The prosecutor said he was "relieved for the family members," particularly the boy's older brother and sister, who offered emotional testimony in Aguirre's trial about abuse their younger brother had suffered. One of the boy's cousins, Emily Carranza, spoke directly to the defendants Thursday, saying the boy was an "innocent child who didn't deserve the abuse." "Pearl, you need to know that Gabriel loved you, and all he ever wanted was acceptance from you," Carranza said. "The world fell in love with Gabriel as their own. Why couldn't you?" Carranza earlier said she was relieved by the plea, which spared family members from having to go through a second trial stemming from the boy's killing. The boy's first-grade teacher, Jennifer Garcia, who called authorities to report that the boy had asked her if it was normal for a mother to hit her children with a belt, was also among those in court. "I just remember that no matter what, I can't bring him back," she said. "I can't change what happened... For me, it will never go away. This will always be a part of me, something I will think about until the day I die," said Garcia. "But I know who is truly to blame. We can blame different people for what should or should not have been done. But when it comes down to it, the defendants are the ones who ended his young life." She earlier recalled Pearl Fernandez telling her out of the blue "I don't hit my kids" when they were discussing the boy at a parent-teacher conference. During her testimony in Aguirre's trial, Garcia said it fell to her to explain to the boy's classmates at Summerwind Elementary School in Palmdale that he was not coming back to class because he had died. Los Angeles County Fire Department personnel went to the family's home in the 200 block of East Avenue Q-10 in Palmdale on May 22, 2013, in response to a call that Gabriel was not breathing. He was declared brain-dead that day and taken off life support two days later. During Aguirre's trial, prosecutors told jurors that Gabriel Fernandez was routinely beaten, shot with a BB gun, forced to eat cat feces and sleep inside a small cabinet while gagged and bound. Hatami called Aguirre an "evil" man who "liked torturing" the boy and did so systematically in the months leading up to the child's death. Aguirre hated Gabriel because he thought the boy was gay, according to the prosecutor. One of Aguirre's attorneys, Michael Sklar, contended that Fernandez was the one who hit the boy with a belt, shot him with a BB gun and was responsible for much of the abuse prior to his death. "I think they both pointed the fingers at each other, which sometimes happen in co-defendant cases," Hatami responded after Fernandez's plea. "The evidence showed and our office believed that they were both equally culpable in the case, and I think the evidence showed that." The boy's death and the arrests of Fernandez and Aguirre led to an outcry over the handling of the case by Los Angeles County social workers, who had multiple contacts with the family. A subsequent investigation led to criminal charges being filed against two former social workers -- Stefanie Rodriguez and Patricia Clement -- and their supervisors, Kevin Bom and Gregory Merritt. They are awaiting trial on one felony count each of child abuse and falsifying public records involving the boy. U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein trounced a field of 31 competitors in California' primary and will face a general election challenge by a Democratic state senator who is promising generational change. "I'm running for the United States Senate to protect California in what are difficult and contentious times," Feinstein said in a video from Washington, where she spent Tuesday's primary night. With nearly 3 million votes counted as the day closed, Feinstein held about 44 percent. Fellow Democrat Kevin de Leon finished second with 11 percent. The Feinstein-de Leon general election will be California's second U.S. Senate contest featuring two Democrats. In 2016, then-state attorney general Kamala Harris defeated U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez. Feinstein is the heavy favorite. She's one of the most well-known politicians in California and has a sizeable war chest to communicate her message. De Leon, the former state Senate leader, will have an uphill battle should he make it through the primary. In a sweeping speech to supporters Tuesday night, he outlined his pitch for the fall: Feinstein is too entrenched in Washington to fight for liberal interests and too old to serve another term. She was first elected to the Senate in 1992, and at 84, Feinstein is the chamber's oldest member. She would turn 90 in her next term. "We decided to give voters a real choice between new ideas and the same old, same old," he declared, later adding, "this race is a fight for California's future." Trailing de Leon was little-known Republican James Bradley, who has never held elected office and raised less than $5,000 in his campaign. Feinstein, for her part, argues that her seniority in Washington gives her the clout to advocate effectively for California. She is the top Democrat on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and has considerable clout in the chamber. She's highlighted her successful 1994 effort to ban assault weapons, which has since expired, and legislation to protect the environment as evidence that she understands Californians' priorities. She pledged in her victory statement to fight for a federal minimum wage of $15 per hour, women's reproductive rights and universal health care. While her support is strong, some party activists have chaffed at Feinstein in recent months, particularly after she said last fall that Donald Trump "could be a good president." Activists denied her the California Democratic Party's endorsement in February, highlighting frustrations among some of the most liberal members about her interactions with Trump and stance on issues such as immigration. De Leon sought to seize on that vulnerability by making the case that he better represents California's values in the Trump era. Sue Regan, a 66-year-old retired psychiatrist, said she voted for de Leon because Feinstein is "too old" and too conservative on certain issues. "Feinstein's time is up," said Regan, a registered Democrat from Sacramento. "I know that Kevin de Leon would not have the power that she has in the Senate, it would take him some time to develop that, but I think he's very liberal, and I support the causes that he does." But Feinstein's age didn't stop 82-year-old Jay Smith, a registered Republican, from casting his vote for her. "I went to Stanford and so did Dianne Feinstein," he said. "I don't care how old she is." Police are searching for a criminal couple after theyve allegedly committed several robberies around Florida, including a Subway sandwich shop in Hialeah. Theyre considered armed and dangerous, said Hialeahs public information officer. Miami police, Hialeah police and even the FBI are searching for two armed carjacking suspects. Theyre accused of starting their crime spree on Friday in Pensacola before making their way to Hialeah. On Sunday, these two entered the Subway and acted as if they were patrons inside of the store, said the PIO. The incident happened at the Subway located at East Fifth Avenue and 49th Street. Cameras caught the man pulling out a gun and pointing it at a register. He ordered the cashier to put everything inside of the womans purse that was beside him. They then took off in a 2010 red Hyundai Elantra. We know that the vehicle was stolen in an armed robbery out of Pensacola, said the PIO. Before striking the Subway in Hialeah, police said the pair targeted another area. We know that the day before, they committed another armed robbery in Doral, said the PIO. Detectives believe the black male and white woman are in their 20s and are either sleeping inside the stolen car or at local motels. They have not seriously injured anyone, but police said it could be a matter of time. We want to catch them before anything happens to anybody, said the PIO. Police believe the red Hyundai Elantra could have a Wisconsin tag which reads MV4351, or a Florida tag which reads Y08FZC. Anyone with information is urged to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS. The Obama administration secretly sought to give Iran access albeit briefly to the U.S. financial system by sidestepping sanctions kept in place after the 2015 nuclear deal, despite repeatedly telling Congress and the public it had no plans to do so. An investigation by Senate Republicans released Wednesday sheds light on the delicate balance the Obama administration sought to strike after the deal, as it worked to ensure Iran received its promised benefits without playing into the hands of the deal's opponents. Amid a tense political climate, Iran hawks in the U.S., Israel and elsewhere argued that the United States was giving far too much to Tehran and that the windfall would be used to fund extremism and other troubling Iranian activity. The report by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations revealed that under President Barack Obama, the Treasury Department issued a license in February 2016, never previously disclosed, that would have allowed Iran to convert $5.7 billion it held at a bank in Oman from Omani rials into euros by exchanging them first into U.S. dollars. If the Omani bank had allowed the exchange without such a license, it would have violated sanctions that bar Iran from transactions that touch the U.S. financial system. The effort was unsuccessful because American banks themselves afraid of running afoul of U.S. sanctions declined to participate. The Obama administration approached two U.S. banks to facilitate the conversion, the report said, but both refused, citing the reputational risk of doing business with or for Iran. "The Obama administration misled the American people and Congress because they were desperate to get a deal with Iran," said Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, the subcommittee's chairman. Issuing the license was not illegal. Still, it went above and beyond what the Obama administration was required to do under the terms of the nuclear agreement. Under that deal, the U.S. and world powers gave Iran billions of dollars in sanctions relief in exchange for curbing its nuclear program. Last month, President Donald Trump declared the U.S. was pulling out of what he described as a "disastrous deal." The license issued to Bank Muscat stood in stark contrast to repeated public statements from the Obama White House, the Treasury and the State Department, all of which denied that the administration was contemplating allowing Iran access to the U.S. financial system. Shortly after the nuclear deal was sealed in July 2015, then-Treasury Secretary Jack Lew testified that even with the sanctions relief, Iran "will continue to be denied access to the world's largest financial and commercial market." A month later, one of Lew's top deputies, Adam Szubin, testified that despite the nuclear deal "Iran will be denied access to the world's most important market and unable to deal in the world's most important currency." Yet almost immediately after the sanctions relief took effect in January 2016, Iran began to complain that it wasn't reaping the benefits it had envisioned. Iran argued that other sanctions such as those linked to human rights, terrorism and missile development were scaring off potential investors and banks who feared any business with Iran would lead to punishment. The global financial system is heavily intertwined with U.S. banks, making it nearly impossible to conduct many international transactions without touching New York in one way or another. Former Obama administration officials declined to comment for the record. However, they said the decision to grant the license had been made in line with the spirt of the deal, which included allowing Iran to regain access to foreign reserves that had been off-limits because of the sanctions. They said public comments made by the Obama administration at the time were intended to dispel incorrect reports about nonexistent proposals that would have gone much farther by letting Iran actually buy or sell things in dollars. The former officials spoke on condition of anonymity because many are still involved in national security issues. As the Obama administration pondered how to address Iran's complaints in 2016, reports in The Associated Press and other media outlets revealed that the U.S. was considering additional sanctions relief, including issuing licenses that would allow Iran limited transactions in dollars. Democratic and Republican lawmakers argued against it throughout the late winter, spring and summer of 2016. They warned that unless Tehran was willing to give up more, the U.S. shouldn't give Iran anything more than it already had. At the time, the Obama administration downplayed those concerns while speaking in general terms about the need for the U.S. to live up to its part of the deal. Secretary of State John Kerry and other top aides fanned out across Europe, Asia and the Middle East trying to convince banks and businesses they could do business with Iran without violating sanctions and facing steep fines. "Since Iran has kept its end of the deal, it is our responsibility to uphold ours, in both letter and spirit," Lew said at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in March 2016, without offering details. That same week, the AP reported that the Treasury had prepared a draft of a license that would have given Iran much broader permission to convert its assets from foreign currencies into easier-to-spend currencies like euros, yen or rupees, by first exchanging them for dollars at offshore financial institutions. The draft involved a general license, a blanket go-ahead that allows all transactions of a certain type, rather than a specific license like the one given to Oman's Bank Muscat, which only covers specific transactions and institutions. The proposal would have allowed dollars to be used in currency exchanges provided that no Iranian banks, no Iranian rials and no sanctioned Iranian individuals or businesses were involved, and that the transaction did not begin or end in U.S. dollars. Obama administration officials at the time assured concerned lawmakers that a general license wouldn't be coming. But the report from the Republican members of the Senate panel showed that a draft of the license was indeed prepared, though it was never published. And when questioned by lawmakers about the possibility of granting Iran any kind of access to the U.S. financial system, Obama-era officials never volunteered that the specific license for Bank Muscat in Oman had been issued two months earlier. According to the report, Iran is believed to have found other ways to access its money, possibly by exchanging it in smaller quantities through another currency. The situation resulted from the fact that Iran had stored billions in Omani rials, a currency that's notoriously hard to convert. The U.S. dollar is the world's dominant currency, so allowing it to be used as a conversion instrument for Iranian assets was the easiest and most efficient way to speed up Iran's access to its own funds. For example: If the Iranians want to sell oil to India, they would likely want to be paid in euros instead of rupees, so they could more easily use the proceeds to purchase European goods. That process commonly starts with the rupees being converted into dollars, just for a moment, before being converted once again into euros. U.S. sanctions block Iran from exchanging the money on its own. And Asian and European banks are wary because U.S. regulators have levied billions of dollars in fines in recent years and threatened transgressors with a cutoff from the far more lucrative American marke. What to Know Stormy Daniels says in a lawsuit her former lawyer betrayed her and became a 'puppet' for Trump and his lawyer while representing her Medicare will run out of money sooner than expected, and Social Security's financial problems can't be ignored either, the government said Comedian Samantha Bee returned to her show, apologizing again for using a crude epithet to describe Ivanka Trump, but also expressing anger Get the top headlines of the day in your morning briefing from NBC 4 New York, Monday through Friday. Sign up for our newsletter here. My Old Lawyer Was Trump's Puppet, Stormy Daniels Suit Claims Stormy Daniels says in a new lawsuit her former lawyer betrayed her and became a "puppet" for President Trump and his personal lawyer while representing her, NBC News reported. The filing in Los Angeles Superior Court alleges Beverly Hills lawyer Keith Davidson "hatched a plan" and "colluded" with Trump attorney Michael Cohen to get the adult film actress to go on Fox News and falsely deny she had an affair with Trump. Cohen referred to Davidson as "pal" in one text message cited in the complaint. The lawsuit against Davidson and Cohen also claims Trump was aware the two attorneys were communicating and coordinating for his benefit. A lawyer for Cohen, Brent Blakely, said in a statement to NBC that the lawsuit "has no merit." And a spokesman for Davidson said the lawsuit is "frivolous," adding, "Thankfully, the truth can now finally come out to rebut the false narrative about Attorney Davidson that Mr. Avenatti has been pushing in his more than 175 television appearances and countless other media interviews. Attorney Davidson believes the American people deserve to know the entire truth - and they soon will." An attorney for Trump did not immediately respond to an inquiry about the lawsuit. The White House has previously denied that Trump had an affair with Daniels. Trump Commutes Sentence of Alice Marie Johnson After Kim Kardashian Visit President Trump commuted the sentence of a woman serving a life sentence for drug offenses whose cause was championed by reality TV star Kim Kardashian West in a recent visit to the White House. "BEST NEWS EVER!!!!" was the Twitter response from Kardashian West. Alice Marie Johnson, 63, had spent more than two decades behind bars, serving life without parole for drug offenses. She was released hours after the White House announcement and ran into her family members' arms. Michael Scholl, a member of Johnson's legal team, said she was released just before 6 p.m. from federal prison in Aliceville, Alabama. Footage from local news station WVTM-13 showed Johnson running toward her family, throwing her arms wide-open and embracing them in front of a crowd of onlookers. Unlike a pardon, the commutation will not erase Johnson's conviction, only end her sentence. Medicare Will Run Out of Money Sooner Than Expected, Trustees Forecast Medicare will run out of money sooner than expected, and Social Security's financial problems can't be ignored either, the government said in a sobering checkup on programs vital to the middle class. The report from program trustees says Medicare will become insolvent in 2026 three years earlier than previously forecast. Its giant trust fund for inpatient care won't be able to fully cover projected medical bills starting at that point. The report says Social Security will become insolvent in 2034 no change from the projection last year. The warning serves as a reminder of major issues still languishing while Washington plunges deeper into partisan strife. Because of the deterioration in Medicare's finances, officials said the Trump administration will be required by law to send Congress a plan next year to address the problems after the president's budget is submitted. Samantha Bee Is Back, Both Angry and Apologetic Comedian Samantha Bee returned to her show, apologizing again for using a crude epithet to describe Ivanka Trump but expressing anger that the ensuing controversy distracted from more important issues. President Trump had called for her to be fired for what she said on an episode of "Full Frontal," but TBS accepted her apology. Immediately addressing the issue at the opening of her show, Bee said she hated to "contribute to the nightmare of 24-hour news cycles that we're all white-knuckling through." "I should have known that a potty-mouthed insult would be inherently more interesting ... than this juvenile immigration policy," she said. Bee had called Ivanka Trump a vulgar term in an attempt to encourage her to speak to her father about changing a policy where children of people entering the country illegally are being detained. To drive her point home, Bee finished her monologue and went directly into another segment about immigration, knowing that she would have a curious audience tuning in to see her reaction. Andy Spade Breaks Silence After Wife Kates Death Andy Spade, the husband and business partner of designer Kate Spade, who died in an apparent suicide in her New York City apartment, said she suffered from depression and anxiety for many years. She was seeking help during the last five years, "seeing a doctor on a regular basis and taking medication for both depression and anxiety," Andy Spade said in a statement released. He said there were "personal demons she was battling." The designer was found by a housekeeper hanged in the bedroom of her Park Avenue apartment. She was 55 years old and had a 13-year-old daughter. While investigators were still in the early stages of their inquiry, the NYPD's chief of detectives, Dermot Shea, said evidence including a note pointed to "a tragic suicide." Underwood Makes History Again, Shelton Wins Top CMT Award Carrie Underwood continued to make history as the most decorated act at the CMT Music Awards with 18 wins, while Blake Shelton walked away with the top prize. Shelton, the only person to win two awards, won video of the year for "I'll Name the Dogs" at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. Underwood won female video of the year for the Ludacris-assisted song, "The Champion," also giving the rapper-actor his first CMT Award. Ludacris didn't attend the show, but others from outside of country music were in the house, from Kelly Clarkson to Backstreet Boys, who both performed at the show. A New York City councilman is hosting gender-segregated beach days in Brooklyn for Muslim and Jewish sunbathers who would otherwise be precluded from a day in the sand because of their faiths. Councilman Chaim Deutsch said the private beach at Kingsborough Community College will only be open to men and boys from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on June 29 and for women and girls during those same hours on July 27. "For many New Yorkers, including religious Jews and Muslims who follow modesty laws, there is no opportunity to have a real beach experience," he said. "Hosting these two separate days one for men and boys, one for women and girls is all about inclusivity." Both gender-segregated beach days will be on Fridays, when the shore is usually closed. The event will be free. "Nobody should be disenfranchised because of their religious observance," he said. "Offering these individuals the chance to have the same experience as everyone else is simply us practicing what we preach equity and acceptance." Deutsch told the New York Post, which first reported the events, that he is raising private funds to cover the costs of taking over the beach. The college said that the councilman will also be paying $400 per day for lifeguards and other staff. Nobody should be disenfranchised because of their religious observance. Offering these individuals the chance to have the same experience as everyone else is simply us practicing what we preach equity and acceptance. In Bensalem, Bucks County, the school district has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on some 500 surveillance cameras in and around its facilities. But the township police director, Fred Harran, doesn't think they are enough. He is pushing for preventative measures on another front. Harran wants Pennsylvania lawmakers to give greater access to police for information about students: grades, medical records, attendance history. "The key is making sure that person gets identified before they grab that gun, before they get into the building," Harran said. The longtime crime fighter thinks the federal privacy law protecting information of students under the age of 18 should be updated in light of the tragic cycle of school shootings that have devastated the nation. "Im not saying share it with NBC, but share it with us. If not us than who?" Harran said of student academic and health records protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). He believes no matter how effective cameras are, they won't be able to prevent school shootings. Still, privacy rights advocates including the ACLU of Pennsylvania are worried about the potential for overreach if FERPA ever was minimized. "Granting police greater access to student records will actually get more kids into trouble who are not the potential school shooters," Harold Jordan of the ACLU said. "I think the harm is much greater than the benefit when it comes to granting police routine access in situations that are not emergencies." Jan H. Andersen - stock.adobe.co Already in place are hundreds of cameras keep watch over the hallways and entrances to facilities in the Bensalem school district, and Val Ridge keeps watch over the cameras. The former police officer who now is safety and security coordinator at the district often sits with her eyes on numerous closed-circuit video feeds spread over numerous monitors. It's the surveillance hub for the district, and one of the most advanced of its kind. As school shootings have become more and more common in the news, one school is using technology to keep their students safe. The NBC10 Investigators explain. "Any district that wants to see it, I want them to call," Ridge said in a recent interview. In conjunction with the technology, the district also does active shooter and emergency drills to keep its students and staff mentally prepared. Superintendent Sam Lee said Bensalem's technology and consistent preparation for dangerous situations have come about in an era of school shootings like Parkland, Florida, and Sante Fe, Texas. "My heart goes out to them. I can't imagine it," Lee said. "That's why we do what we do, to keep it away from us." NBC Boston Eagles fans are raised bleeding green, and one little girl from Cherry Hill, New Jersey, felt so upset about President Donald Trump's decision to rescind a White House invitation to her team that she wrote a letter to the president. After voicing her concerns about the issue with her mom, eight-year-old Olivia Brill was given the suggestion to write the president. In a letter entitled "Dear President Trump," Olivia shares her thoughts about him disinviting her favorite team. Lauren Brill "I feel sad that the Eagles can't come to the White House anymore. I mean, they worked so hard to win the Super Bowl. Dont you think they deserve to come?" Brill wrote. The family sent the letter to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue on Tuesday. Her letter is a simple gesture from a non-political family, according to her mother, Lauren Brill. Lauren said she is a teacher and her husband is a lawyer. Neither, she said, is politically active. Eagles fans everywhere have voiced their opinions surrounding the White House controversy, and discussion is certain to continue in the near future. She summed up the letter with a simple proposition to Trump: "Put yourself in their shoes. How would you feel?" What to Know Jonathan Wienke was found with weapons by security officers at Homeland Security headquarters in June. A search of his West Virginia home found multiple illegal weapons, according to court documents. Wienke pleaded guilty to a charge related to a silencer found attached to a pistol in a search of his home. A former Department of Homeland Security employee who took a loaded gun to work is going to prison. In June 2016, security officers found Jonathan Leigh Wienke with a gun while he was on the job at agency headquarters on Nebraska Avenue in northwest D.C., according to court filings, but it's what they found later that's sending him away. Wienke pleaded guilty to making a firearm in violation of the National Firearms Act, related to a silencer found attached to a pistol in a search of Wienke's Martinsburg, West Virginia, home. The silencer qualifies as a firearm and was made by Wienke, which he is not licensed to do. It did not have a manufacturer's identification mark or serial number, which the National Firearms Act requires. When federal officers arrested Wienke, they also found he had a knife, pepper spray, thermal imaging equipment and radio devices inside Homeland Security headquarters, according to the request for court permission to raid his home. They later determined he wasn't planning an attack at the agency, but they did find that illegal silencer. Wienke pleaded guilty to a federal firearms charge but spent more than a year appealing his case, challenging the decision to raid his house. An appeals court ruled against him, and he must now serve the 18-month prison sentence. When a woman went into cardiac arrest while riding her bike in D.C., an off-duty Prince George's County EMT came to her rescue. Victoria Wolf has been riding a bike to work downtown for more than four years. Several months ago while riding from Union Station to her office, Wolf blacked out. I dont remember the train ride. I dont remember leaving the train and going to Union Station to get to the bike, said Wolf. I dont remember any of that. She went into cardiac arrest, falling off the bike in the middle of rush hour traffic and being saved by a complete stranger. That stranger who jumped from her car to perform lifesaving CPR was Tawanda Murphy-Watkins, a volunteer EMT with the Prince Georges County Fire Department. I just feel so blessed, because I was at the right place at the right time, said Murphy-Watkins. On Wednesday, Wolf got the chance to thank the D.C. firefighters who showed up to help by presenting all of her heroes with a CPR lifesaving coin. Wolf said shes happy to be alive, especially now that the Capitals are in the Stanley Cup Finals. In addition to being alive, the Washington Capitals are just making my year. she said. New details have emerged Thursday in a homicide investigation in Rochester, New Hampshire, including the name of the victim. The state attorney general's office identified the victim as 24-year-old Rochester resident Billy Jo Ahearn. Authorities said Rochester police officers responded to the scene on South Main Street around midnight on Wednesday for a reported shooting involving two groups of people. When officers arrived, they found three adults, including Ahearn, who was suffering from a gunshot wound. She was taken to a local hospital, where she died, according to police. The state medical examiner's office deterimined Ahern died from a single gunshot wound, and ruled her death as a homicide. The incident is still under investigation and anyone with information is asked to contact the Rochester Police Department at (603) 330-7140. Early Wednesday afternoon, a canine with Boston ATF was sniffing the grounds at the Rochester Public Library and at a home on Lafayette Street, about a half mile from the shooting scene. "Nothing surprises me around here," said Lafayette Street resident Laurie Pearson. She says it's a violent part of the city, and while she's used to seeing police around, she knows very little about what's going on because she keeps to herself. "In this neighborhood, it's better that way," Pearson said. Back on South Main Street, resident Virginia Tripp said that after three years in Rochester, enough is enough. "This is not what I wanted, I wanted a peaceful, quiet existence," she said. "I'm looking for a new place to live." Two people have been hospitalized with stab wounds following a late-night incident just outside Fenway Park on Wednesday. The injuries sustained by the male victims are not considered life-threatening. Police say a fight started on Lansdowne Street just around the time the Red Sox game against the Detroit Tigers was wrapping up. The victims somehow made it over to Cambridge, where they were found at a Mobil station on Memorial Drive around 11:30 p.m., according to Cambridge police. There's no word yet on if any arrests have been made in the incident. According to the police report, officers were unable to obtain any information from either of the victims or witnesses. SOCIEDAD ASIATICA THE ASIAN SOCIETY COMISION DIRECTIVA THE DIRECTIVE BOARD PRESIDENTE: Liliana Garcia Daris Universidad del Salvador. Argentina VICEPRESIDENTE: Won-ho Kim Universidad de Hankuk de Estudios Extranjeros. Corea SECRETARIO: Luis Diaz Brougton Universidad de Santiago, Chile PROSECRETARIO: Martha Barriga Tello Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Peru VOCALES: Mauricio Martinez Universidad de los Andes, Colombia Juan Uriburu Quintana Universidad de Chenchi, Taiwan CONSEJEROS ACADEMICOS ACADEMIC ADVISERS ASH NARAIN, Roy, Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi. India GARCIA BAZAN, Francisco, CONICET, Universidad Argentina John F. Kennedy MATSUSHITA, Hiroshi, Universidad de Kobe, Japon MIEMBROS FUNDADORES FOUNDING MEMBERS ALBERT, Liliana Universidad Nacional de Buenos Aires, Argentina ANTON PACHECO, Jose Antonio Universidad de Sevilla, Espana ANTONIJEVIC, Ingrid Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Chile BARRIGA TELLO, Martha Universidad Nacional de San Marcos, Peru BERGMAN, Sergio Melton Institute de Jerusalem, Israel BERTOLINI, Luis Universidad Nacional de Buenos Aires, Argentina CABEZON, Jose Universidad de Santa Barbara, Estados Unidos CAGNI, Horacio Universidad Catolica de La Plata, Argentina CARRANZA, Francisco Universidad de Dankook, Corea CASTLETON, Barbara Ohio State University of Athens CASTRO, Jorge Universidad Nacional de Buenos Aires, Argentina CHAOUL-REICH, Alejandro Universidad de Texas, Estados Unidos CHELMICKI, Hanna I. Universidad del Salvador, Argentina DIAZ BROUGHTON, Luis Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Chile FRANCO, Raul Universidad del Salvador, Argentina GADRE, Vasant Universidad Jawaharlal Nehru, India GARCIA DARIS, Liliana Universidad del Salvador, Argentina GLUCK, Carol Universidad de Columbia. Estados Unidos HOPKINS RODRIGUEZ, Eduardo Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru KIM, Wonho Universidad Hankuk de Estudios Extranjeros, Corea KO, Heysun Univesidad de Dankook, Corea LOPEZ DEL CARRIL, Luis Maria Universidad Nacional de Buenos Aires, Argentina LUCO, Enrique Universidad del Salvador MARTINEZ, Mauricio Universidad de Los Andes, Colombia MASATERU, Ito Universidad Nacional de Osaka, Japon MATSUSHITA, Hiroshi Universidad de Kobe, Japon MINKOWICZ, Gabriel Universidad Nacional de Buenos Aires MONETA, Carlos Juan Universidad del Salvador, Argentina MORROW, John Andrew Minot State University, Dakota del Norte, USA NGUYEN, Thiet Son Academia de Ciencias Sociales de Vietnam, Vietnam OVIEDO, Eduardo CONICET. Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Argentina PEREIRA, Ronan Alves Universidad de Brasilia. Brasil PEREYRA, Violeta Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina REMETE, Andrea Universidad del Salvador, Argentina RIMOLDI DE LADMAN, Eve Universidad Nacional de Buenos Aires, Argentina ROMERO CASTILLA, Alfredo Universidad Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico TEDIN URIBURU, Virgilio Universidad de Harvard, Estados Unidos UEHARA, Alexander Universidad de Sao Paulo. Brasil URIBURU QUINTANA, Juan Universidad de Chenchi, Taiwan VITTOR, Luis Alberto Universidad Argentina John F. Kennedy XU, Shicheng Academia China de Ciencias Sociales, Republica Popular China Police say one person was killed in a shooting Wednesday evening in Lawrence, Massachusetts. The incident happened around 6:20 p.m. at 464 Hampshire Street and is being investigated as a homicide. The victim, identified only as a man in his 30s, was shot multiple times and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Essex District Attorney's office. Authorities do not believe this was a random attack. The Essex DA's office said in a statement they will not be commenting on possible motive or suspects. This is an active investigation. No other information was immediately available. Newly-released test results of water off beaches in the city of Burlington, Vermont, showed the destinations were safe to use Wednesday evening, following a series of discharges that threatened to foul Lake Champlain. The city's main treatment plant that handles both storm water and wastewater, including from bathrooms, was overwhelmed by downpours Saturday and Monday. The rain came at a bad time, plant managers saidduring a period of heavy flow from industrial customers. The Burlington Public Works Department said over the course of the two events, the strained system dumped roughly 1.8 million gallons of only partially-disinfected waste and storm water a half-mile out into the scenic lake. The discharge included higher-than-allowable levels of E. coli bacteria, the city said. "One gallon is too many," Burlington Public Works Director Chapin Spencer told necn affiliate NBC 5 News on Tuesday, describing discharges of water that hasnt been fully treated. "And our team is focused, day in and day out days, nights, weekends on protecting Lake Champlain." The city said because of the distance out into the lake where the discharge happened, known risks to human health were minimal. Still, Burlington officials alerted the public to the potential health threat using signs on beaches, until new test results came out Wednesday afternoon. That sampling showed normal bacteria levels close to zero, according to the Burlington Public Works Department, which allowed for closed beaches to reopen at 5 p.m. Wednesday. "There is a visceral reaction people have -- and rightly so -- to sewage," Vermont Natural Resources Secretary Julie Moore told NBC 5 News Monday after an announcement of new federal funding for Lake Champlain in Burlington. "There are public health concerns when you have wastewater that is not fully treated. This time of year, people like to be out on the water and recreating, so those concerns are more significant." Lori Fisher advocates for cleaner and healthier water with the nonprofit Lake Champlain Committee. "It's an international treasure," Fisher said Wednesday of the lake. Fisher is discouraged to hear of sewer discharges whenever they happen up and down the shoreline, blaming, in part, aging water-handling infrastructure that really struggles with heavier rainfall. "We have to make those investments," Fisher said of upgrades to water handling plants both in the Lake Champlain basin and nationwide. "Clean water does not come about for free." The city said its biological treatment system, which was knocked out of whack by that heavy rain, is now improving. Spencer added that his department is working with large users of the wastewater plant to try to find ways to reduce strain on the system. A portion of more than $8 million in new federal funding for the lake announced this week by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, will help some cities and towns come up with ways to prevent rainwater from overwhelming their treatment plants. Government decision praised as a 'positive signal' THAMES Valley Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and Enterprise M3 have welcomed the news that ministers have set out final proposals to back Heathrow expansion. The Government has published the proposed Airports National Policy Statement, supporting Heathrow expansion through developing a new north-west runway. A third runway will address the lack of airport capacity in the South East and give the airport the largest capacity in the UK. Two-hundred-and-two of the top 300 companies in the UK are headquartered within a 25-mile radius of Heathrow. An economic assessment commissioned by the Western Wedge partners in 2013, highlighted that the expansion of Heathrow would add 35,000 jobs and 3.5bn of GVA by 2040 to the South East economy. Western Wedge comprises the LEP, Enterprise M3 LEP (which drives prosperity in the M3 corridor), Buckinghamshire LEP, Oxfordshire LEP and West London Business. Thames Valley Berkshire LEP chief executive Tim Smith said: The decision to support Heathrow expansion is a positive signal from cabinet about the UKs future, global connectivity. As the most productive sub-region in the country, Thames Valley Berkshires connectivity is very much its USP and is crucial to maintaining the areas and UKs competitive advantage. The LEP has made public its position of support for the expansion of Heathrow since 2012 and this has always been based on sound evidence. Enterprise M3 LEP chairman Dave Axam said, Enterprise M3 has been a strong supporter of Heathrow expansion in a sustainable manner to support the local economy. The Enterprise M3 area has the largest number of foreign-owned companies within its area and they are located here due to proximity to Heathrow. Airport expansion will help retain these key businesses and encourage the economy to flourish. 5 1 of 5 Cathy Zuraw / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 2 of 5 H John Voorhees III / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 3 of 5 4 of 5 H John Voorhees III / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 5 of 5 The three Democratic attorney general candidates have agreed to participate in five debates, one in each of Connecticuts five Congressional districts, before their August primary. Candidate Chris Mattei, a former federal prosecutor, called for the debates Tuesday to help voters choose between the three Democrats. Robbyn's Nest Education Center in Sherman will hold an open house June 10 from 2 to 4 p.m. The event will feature face painting, information about programs and playtime on the playground. The center offers many classes, including Mommy and Me, tutoring/homework help, drama/voice, Spanish/French, drama and summer camp. The centers Mommy and Me June habitat camp for toddlers runs Mondays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to noon. Robbyns Nest is located at 1 Route 37 East. For more information, call 860-354-0099. The gravity of the existential threat we face from Islamic Jihad is truly of epic proportions. It is essentially a battle pitting free-civilized man against a totalitarian barbarian. What is at stake is the struggle for our very soul - namely who we are and what we represent. The lives that were sacrificed for individual rights and freedoms that we've come to cherish are being chiseled away from right under our noses by the stealth jihadists. And many of us are in denial and totally clueless. The left's appeasement and pandering to evil is nothing new. What makes their utopian delusions so infuriating and unpardonable is that it is not only they who will have to pay the consequences, and deservedly, so, they are thwarting and undermining our best efforts at resistance and are thus dragging us down in the process as well. By Peter Lancz,, the head of the Raoul Wallenberg World Campaign Against Racism. NUST MISIS scientists and their colleagues from the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) have proved the high toxicity of silver nanoparticles by conducting an experiment with embryos of Danio fish (Danio rerio). The research results are published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials. Silver is a heavy metal and will have toxic properties in the human body in excessive amounts. The number of silver nanoparticles in commercial products has steadily been growing every year, but scientists around the world are actively exploring their impact on the human body and the environment. "The scientific work conducted by the research team from NUST MISIS, led by Professor Leonid Kustov, head of the NUST MISIS Laboratory of Nanochemistry & Ecology, is part of a large international project on the study of models of nanoparticle toxicity. The research of new nanomaterials carried out as part of this project allows scientists to assess their potential toxic effects on living organisms", -- said Alevtina Chernikova, Rector of NUST MISIS. During the study, scientists mixed a solution of silver nanoparticles (water + nanoparticles) with an incubation medium (salt solution for eggs` development), where Danio rerio embryons were put. The scientists then observed the peculiarities of their development and the morphological deviations on a daily basis. According to the authors, both forms of silver nanoparticles demonstrated greater toxicity compared to silver ions (AgNO3). At the same time, the flat silver nanoparticles turned out to be even more toxic than the spherical ones. "The previous studies have explained the toxicity of silver nanoparticles through the presence of silver ions as a result of the partial dissolution of nanoparticles. The results we have obtained allow us to suggest that the toxicity of nanosilver is due to the presence of nanoparticles in samples", -- added Natalia Abramenko. The study's results expand the existing understanding of the effect of nanoparticle characteristics on their toxicity. According to the scientists, they can be used not only in assessing the risks of the introduction of nanomaterials, but also directly in the preparation of the safest nanoparticles. The Alzheimer's Foundation of America (AFA) is awarding $206,184 over the next three years to Stony Brook Medicine to support an innovative Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging research project that will compare neurons from healthy controls and those with Alzheimer's disease in an effort to improve drug development. By gaining a better understanding of exactly how these neurons are damaged by Alzheimer's, the team hopes to improve therapeutic strategies that can more effectively target and treat the damage and return these neurons to a normal state to help improve memory loss. "New and innovative research is vital to advance the field and find the meaningful progress millions of families affected by Alzheimer's disease are waiting for. AFA is doing everything it can to support the scientists who are working to achieve that goal," said Charles J. Fuschillo, Jr., AFA's President & CEO. "Stony Brook University is one of the region's leading research institutions. This research initiative has the potential to further the critically needed development of more effective medications and deepen our understanding of Alzheimer's. We are very pleased to support this important work." "Today's partnership with the Alzheimer's Foundation of America marks the beginning of a collaboration between our two institutions, and it underscores our long-standing commitment to fostering scientific discovery and looking at ways new therapies can be developed," said Stony Brook University President Samuel L. Stanley Jr. "We are grateful to the Alzheimer's Foundation of America for seeing the value in Dr. DeLorenzo's research and for providing the generous funding that will make it possible." Alzheimer's disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, and the only one in the top 10 without a cure or reversible treatment. Currently, more than 400,000 New Yorkers, including 50,000 Long Islanders, are living with Alzheimer's. The most commonly used drugs to improve memory in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's target a set of neurons critical for memory called cholinergic neurons. Loss of cholinergic function is a hallmark of cognitive decline. But these medications, which target the cholinergic system and are known as cholinesterase inhibitors, have only a modest effect. "The type of innovative, translational research study that Dr. Christine DeLorenzo and her Co-PIs proposed has the potential to lead to the development of effective medications that specifically target the damaged areas of the brain," said Kenneth Kaushansky, MD, Senior Vice President for the Health Sciences and Dean of the Stony Brook University School of Medicine. "Through this collaboration with the Alzheimer's Foundation of America, Stony Brook will bring new insights into the origins of Alzheimer's, which we will translate into advanced diagnostics, treatments and prognoses for our patients." Stony Brook's research team aims to improve the efficacy of these drugs by increasing understanding of the structure and function of cholinergic neurons in health and how they are damaged in Alzheimer's disease. The research team is led by Christine DeLorenzo, PhD, Director of Stony Brook's Center for Understanding Biology Using Imaging Technology (CUBIT) and comprised of colleagues from Stony Brook University's School of Medicine. Dr. DeLorenzo's co-investigators include: Ramin Parsey MD, PhD; Lorna Role, PhD; David Talmage, PhD; Nikhil Palekar, MD; and Mala Ananth. "Through this generous funding from the Alzheimer's Foundation of America, we will take advantage of state-of-the-art techniques available at Stony Brook University and Stony Brook Medicine," said Christine DeLorenzo, PhD, Primary Investigator of the study and Director of Stony Brook's Center for Understanding Biology Using Imaging Technology (CUBIT). "The result of this study will be the most comprehensive investigation of the cholinergic brain system to date, and our study stands to advance both the fields of neuroscience and neuroimaging." Stony Brook Medicine is a leader in the region for its effort toward combating Alzheimer's disease for more than three decades with its Stony Brook Neurosciences Institute, through basic, translational and clinical research, diagnosis and treatment, as well as education. In addition, highlights of the commitment are demonstrated with the activities and programs of the Center of Excellence for Alzheimer's Disease, one of only 10 centers supported in part by a grant from the New York State Department of Health, serving Suffolk and Nassau counties. This new disease research funded project will extensively push forward the frontiers of biomedical research on Alzheimer's in the emerging field of neurotherapeutics and focus on bettering the health and wellness of those facing the devastating loss of their memory and other important mental functions. A new study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found automated phone calls were far more effective than Facebook ads in getting Baltimore City residents to request a smoke alarm through the city's free installation program. By the end of a campaign that ran in 2014, four hundred and fifty-eight participants who'd received an automated phone call offering free smoke alarm installation requested one versus 25 participants who had seen a Facebook ad about the same smoke alarm campaign. The findings, published May 17, 2018 in the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, highlight the challenges of using social media to promote safety initiatives at a time when land line use is dramatically declining. In the past 15 years, the number of households with land lines has dropped from 90 to 40 percent. In contrast, nearly 70 percent of U.S. adults use social media. Smoke alarms are known to reduce the risk of death by at least half and, like several other U.S. cities, Baltimore offers free smoke alarms to residents in an effort to prevent residential fire injuries and deaths. In Maryland, Baltimore City consistently has the highest fire death, more than double the national rate in 2015. "Don't disconnect your landline yet," says Shannon Frattaroli, PhD, associate professor in the Bloomberg School's Department of Health Policy and Management and the paper's lead author. "What might be considered old fashioned ways are perhaps are still quite effective. A low cost initiative to reach out with automated calls from Baltimore's fire chief went a long way toward getting people to adopt the behavior we wanted." For the study, the research team worked with the Baltimore City Fire Department to create a campaign encouraging residents to participate in the free smoke alarm program. Working with the Fire Department, the campaign included a series of Facebook ads targeted to city residents as well as automated phone calls to approximately 90,000 households with a recorded message from Fire Chief Niles Ford about the smoke alarm installation service. Three Facebook advertisements were disseminated during October 2014 and included three different images and the message, "Fires act fast. You should too. Protect your family now." The ads included a information about how to connect with the Fire Department to arrange an installation visit. The advertisement was sent to Facebook newsfeeds and mobile newsfeeds of a sample of Baltimore City residents over the age of 18. In total, the ads received 465,666 impressions and reached 128,339 unique users. 99.9 percent of those who viewed the ad did so on a mobile device and the campaign resulted in 6,075 click-throughs to the City's website with information about how to contact the Baltimore City Fire Department. "Facebook was very effective in putting that message out there," says Frattaroli, who is the associate director for outreach at the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy based at the Bloomberg School. "What we didn't see was those messages being converted into actions." The automated phone call was disseminated to approximately 90,000 numbers, but researchers were unable to capture how many people actually heard the call. Upon completion of the messaging campaign, researchers worked with Baltimore City's 311 service--the phone number and website through which the Fire Department receives smoke alarm installation requests--to track and analyze how requesters learned about the smoke alarm service. 946 requests for smoke alarm installations were made through 311 during October 2014 and, of those, 458 cited the prerecorded phone calls from the Chief as their information source. Only 25 cited Facebook. With landline use declining, researchers say this could impact how public health messages are spread, received, and acted upon. "The enormous reach that the Facebook ads had really did allow this fire prevention message to get into the feeds, onto the phones and desktops of consumers in a short period of time. What was surprising was the lack of conversion of that exposure to the message," Frattaroli says. As consumer habits change--and the ways that they engage with their communities change--public health professionals will need to adapt to learn how to effectively leverage the communication tools people are using. "Utilizing Facebook and automated telephone calls to increase adoption of a local smoke alarm installation program," was written by Shannon Frattaroli, Eric Schulman, Eileen M. McDonald, Elise Omaki, Wendy Shields, Vanya Jones, William Brewer and Paul Moore. The University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center has joined the other 69 cancer centers designated by the National Cancer Institute to issue a statement urging increased vaccination for human papillomavirus. Nearly 80 million Americans, or one in four people in the United States, are infected with HPV. Of those, more than 31,000 will be diagnosed with an HPV-related cancer this year. The HPV vaccine has been shown to prevent infections, but vaccination rates in the U.S. remain low. "Cervical and other HPV-related cancers are preventable," says international HPV expert Cosette Wheeler, PhD. Wheeler is a UNM Regents' Professor and a member of the UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center. "We have the unprecedented opportunity to impact the cancer burden in our country and improve people's lives and health by working toward eradicating HPV-related cancers." HPV vaccination rates remain significantly lower than for other recommended adolescent vaccines in the U.S. According 2016 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fewer than 50 percent of girls and 38 percent of boys completed the recommended vaccine series. Research shows there are a number of barriers to overcome to improve vaccination rates. They include a lack of strong recommendations from physicians and a lack of understanding among parents that this vaccine protects against several types of cancer in men and women. HPV causes multiple cancers, including cervical, anal, oropharyngeal (middle throat) and other genital cancers. HPV experts from the nation's top cancer centers, along with partners from the NCI, CDC, and the American Cancer Society, are meeting June 7-8 in Salt Lake City to discuss a path to eliminate cancers caused by HPV. They will discuss ways to reduce the barriers to vaccination and share education, training and intervention strategies to improve vaccination rates. This is the third year that all NCI-designated cancer centers have come together to issue a national call to action. All 70 cancer centers unanimously share the goal of sending a powerful message to parents, adolescents and health care providers about the importance of HPV vaccination for the elimination of HPV-related cancers. Researchers at the University of Zurich have discovered the identity of the stem-cell niche of the colon. The niche comprises special cells that activate the stem cells of the adjacent intestinal epithelium and are responsible for its continuous renewal. Without the activation signal, the epithelium perishes. If its constantly activated, early stages of cancer develop. The discovery helps to improve our understanding of intestinal cancer and inflammation. The human intestine constantly renews itself. Alone in the colon - the last 1.5 meters of the gastrointestinal tract - 10 billion epithelial cells are replaced each day. The intestinal epithelium is the layer of cells that forms the lining of both the small and large intestine and is responsible for absorbing nutrients. The regeneration process is driven by stem cells that are found in small folds of the epithelium (crypts), where they are in contact with other cells that produce the signals needed to drive regeneration. The key activating signal that sustains the stem cells is called "Wnt". Colon stem cells perish without signaling A group of UZH researchers, including Konrad Basler from the Institute of Molecular Life Sciences, have now discovered the cells responsible for providing the activating signal to the stem cells. These so-called Gli1-positive cells surround the crypts in the epithelium and thereby form the stem-cell niche. The scientists performed studies in mice to demonstrate that these cells play an essential role in forming and repairing the intestinal epithelium. "If the Gli1-positive cells are eliminated or unable to secrete Wnt proteins, the activation signal is lost. Consequently the colon's stem cells as well as the epithelium will perish, and the organism dies," says Basler. Long-term constant activation leads to colon cancer Just how critical a well-balanced regulation of the intestinal epithelium is also becomes evident when stem cells are driven to constantly divide. If Wnt signaling is stimulated excessively, the stem cells divide in an uncontrolled manner. "Mice with mutations in the Wnt signaling pathways develop polyps, from which colon cancer later develops," adds the molecular biologist. This is also the case for humans. Niche cells are also responsible for tissue repair In further tests, the researchers examined the behavior of the cells in the stem-cell niche in response to inflammation of the colon. In this situation, many more epithelial cells are lost than in healthy animals. The need for new cells is therefore greater, since the tissue not only has to be maintained but also repaired. The researchers observed that the amount of Gli1-positive cells increased significantly in response to an inflamed colon. "The cells we've discovered are thus not only essential for healthy organisms, but are also essential when it comes to repairing a damaged intestinal epithelium," says Basler. The discovery and description of the colon's stem-cell niche therefore has relevance for a whole string of intestinal diseases, from inflammation to cancer. More than 2.5 million Americans are living with Atrial Fibrillation (AFib). AFib is an irregular heartbeat that can lead to blood clots, stroke, heart failure and other heart-related complications. What doctors and researchers currently understand about treating AFib stems mainly from whether a patient has been diagnosed with the condition or not. University of Minnesota researchers are urging the medical community to take a closer look, specifically at AFib burden. AFib burden refers to the amount of AFib that an individual has. The goal of the scientific statement published in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation is to increase knowledge and awareness by healthcare professionals of effective, state-of-the-art science related to the causes, prevention, detection, management, and future research needs related to AFib burden. "We hope to bring awareness to this concept of measuring the AFib burden and then to outline what we know about it," said Lin Yee Chen, MD, MS, tenured associate professor, Department of Medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School, "the hope then is to use that knowledge so more research can be done to fill in those gaps." AFib is associated with an elevated risk of stroke, and this statement also pushes for more research to refine risk classifications for stroke. Further understanding the relationship between AFib pattern or burden and stroke risk might result in deeper insights into stroke prevention. "We could see an enormous benefit to our patient population once these standards are applied. And now is the time to do so," said Chen. A class of immunotherapy drugs called checkpoint inhibitors has shown great promise against cancer in some patients. However, researchers' attempts to boost the drugs' efficacy by combining them with other immunotherapies have been disappointing. An article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly news magazine of the American Chemical Society, describes the many challenges involved with harnessing the immune system to fight cancer. In 2014, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved two different PD-1 inhibitors, a type of checkpoint inhibitor that works remarkably well at shrinking certain types of tumors. Researchers wondered if those drugs - Merck & Co.'s Keytruda and Bristol-Myers Squibb's Opdivo - might work for more people with cancer if combined with another type of immunotherapy called IDO1 inhibitors. A slew of trials was launched to test the theory. But after the failure of a large study pairing Keytruda with Incyte's IDO1 inhibitor epacadostat, some are questioning the rush into studies combining immunotherapies, writes Senior Correspondent Lisa M. Jarvis. Competition among drug companies has accelerated some immunotherapies through basic research and early-stage clinical trials before scientists fully understand how they work. As a result, combined immunotherapies that hint at benefits in animal models and early-phase clinical trials often don't pan out in Phase III trials - the large, expensive studies that are the final step before FDA approval. To increase the chances of bringing a successful combined immunotherapy to market, some experts say that well-planned, randomized mid-stage trials should be conducted before jumping the gun to large Phase III trials. Source: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/presspacs/2018/acs-presspac-june-6-2018/are-two-cancer-immunotherapy-drugs-better-than-one.html As clinical trials gear up with the aim of attaining the first FDA-approved treatments for mitochondrial disease, a new study reports for the first time what patients and families say would motivate them for or against participating in such research trials. Based in malfunctions in mitochondria, the tiny structures within cells that act as biological batteries, mitochondrial disease is a highly variable collection of energy deficiency disorders that can affect nearly any and all organs and systems-;at any age. Scientists have discovered approximately 300 different gene disorders that collectively contribute to the broad class of primary mitochondrial disease. "The inherent complexity of mitochondrial disease gave rise to our central finding: the need to understand patients' perspectives in identifying their most prevalent and disabling symptoms," said study leader Marni J. Falk, MD, executive director of the Mitochondrial Medicine Frontier Program at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). "We can now incorporate these key insights as we design clinical trials, to measure clinical outcomes that are meaningful to patients and families." Falk and colleagues published their findings online May 17 in PLOS ONE. "When we asked patients to specify how many health problems they had, they reported an average of 16 major clinical symptoms, and some had as many as 35," said Falk. The most frequent reported symptoms were muscle weakness, chronic fatigue, exercise intolerance, gastrointestinal issues and balance problems, with parents of pediatric patients also concerned with developmental delay. One surprising finding was that more severely affected patients-;those at higher risk of stroke, kidney failure and death-;were not necessarily more tolerant of risk in clinical trials than patients with less severe disease. "In the medical literature, mitochondrial disease is often portrayed as uniformly devastating," said Falk. "But in day-to-day life, a patients' experience may be quite variable, even when living with a severe, chronic condition. So patients and families may be more interested in finding therapies that improve their resilience in coping with a chronic disease and ability to function in their daily lives." The researchers conducted online electronic surveys in two patient cohorts. The single-center discovery cohort comprised mitochondrial disease patients at CHOP, evenly divided between children and adults, with 30 respondents out of 67 invited. An independent replication cohort consisted of patients with primary mitochondrial disease from an NIH-supported national contact registry, the Rare Disease Clinical Research Network, with 290 respondents out of 1,119 invited. When asked to rate factors that would likely motivate them to participate in a clinical trial, patients preferred a study drug that could be self-administered, such as pills, vitamins, antioxidants, and natural or plant-derived compounds. They also preferred daily treatment, guaranteed access to the treatment during and after the study, short travel distances to the study site, and participation in late-stage (phase 3) clinical trials. Factors that would make patients less likely to participate were taking a new study drug not previously studied in people, having to discontinue their current medications, experiencing disease progression, needing to undergo daily phlebotomy, requiring intravenous infusions and requiring patient payment for trial participation. There was no difference in trial preferences reported between the adult and pediatric patient groups. "When we ask the Food and Drug Administration what they require to determine if a tested drug is successful in a clinical trial, we can summarize their benchmark as being able to demonstrate improved patient survival, feeling and function," said Falk. "Endpoint data such as laboratory values or biomarkers are important, but not particularly meaningful as a primary outcome measure to the FDA or to patients' sense of well-being." The study showed that patients are not intuitively invested in important elements of robust research study design such as including a placebo control, blinding everyone to which therapy is being given and randomizing patients to treatment or placebo. However, researchers and the FDA recognize that such methodologic factors are key elements in objectively finding effective treatments. Falk added that "these study results tell researchers and clinicians that we have more work to do in terms of patient education-;we need to effectively explain how to best design rigorous, effective clinical trials, while at the same time responding to patient priorities and needs. One important factor in both patient education and meeting patient needs, she added, is forming strong partnerships among researchers, patients and patient advocacy organizations. "Clinical trials are still a new experience for many patients with mitochondrial disease," said Falk, who notes that until now, a patient's only option has been to rely on empiric "cocktails" of unstandardized and untested vitamins and supplements. "While such approaches may well hold therapeutic value, a properly designed clinical trial is needed to ultimately identify safe and effective therapies, to optimize doses, and to learn which of each mitochondrial disease patient's symptoms are improved with each treatment," she added. Finally, said Falk, the findings on patient preferences and motivations in mitochondrial medicine may be relevant to patients with other rare complex disorders. "Understanding and applying patient preferences to trial design and outcome selection are essential to achieve successful therapies for all of the rare, complex diseases that are now readily recognized due to advances in genetic diagnostics. Precision diagnosis is essential, but no longer sufficient. Patients rightfully hope and expect that this knowledge will be translated into precision therapies that improve the aspects of their disease they view as most essential to their overall well-being." Negative experiences on social media carry more weight than positive interactions when it comes to the likelihood of young adults reporting depressive symptoms, according to a new University of Pittsburgh analysis. The finding, reported today in the journal Depression and Anxiety, may be useful for designing interventions and clinical recommendations to reduce the risk of depression. "We found that positive experiences on social media were not related or only very slightly linked to lower depressive symptoms. However, negative experiences were strongly and consistently associated with higher depressive symptoms," said lead author Brian Primack, M.D., Ph.D., dean of the Honors College and director of the Center for Research on Media, Technology and Health at Pitt. "Our findings may encourage people to pay closer attention to their online exchanges. Moving forward, these results could assist scientists in developing ways to intervene and counter the negative effects while strengthening the positive ones." In August 2016, Primack and his team surveyed 1,179 full-time students ages 18 to 30 at the University of West Virginia about their social media use and experiences. The participants also completed a questionnaire to assess their depressive symptoms. Each 10 percent increase in positive experiences on social media was associated with a 4 percent decrease in odds of depressive symptoms, but those results were not statistically significant, meaning that the finding could be due to random chance. However, each 10 percent increase in negative experiences was associated with a 20 percent increase in the odds of depressive symptoms, a statistically significant finding. "It is valuable to know that positive and negative experiences are very differently related to depression," said Primack. "But we don't know from our study whether the negative social media interactions actually caused the depressive symptoms or whether depressed individuals are more likely to seek out negative online interactions. As with many things in social science, the answer is probably some combination of the two, but more research will be needed to disentangle cause and effect." Other characteristics also were linked to the participants having depressive symptoms. For example, compared with men, women had 50 percent higher odds of having depressive symptoms. Identifying as non-white and having only completed "some college," rather than completing a degree, also were associated with higher odds of depressive symptoms. All of these characteristics have previously been shown to increase a person's likelihood of depression. While the findings still need to be replicated, Primack said public health practitioners could start using them to educate the public of the risks of negative social media interactions. He also points out that cyberbullying occurs not only among adolescents, but also among adults. Universities, workplaces and community spaces could use the findings to increase awareness around positive and negative social media experiences. Primack noted that health care professionals working with depressed patients could suggest strategies to improve the quality of online experiences, such as restricting time spent on social media to reduce the number of negative interactions and "unfriending" people or groups that tend to enable negative experiences. Although the finding was not statistically significant, Primack said that increasing the opportunities for positive experiences on social media is still likely to be worthwhile. "In other studies, engaging in certain forms of social media use has been shown to enhance communication and social connection," he said. "Certainly, there are many situations in which connecting with others in this way might actually lower depressive symptoms. That just wasn't the primary finding in this particular study." California legalized marijuana in 2016, and this past New Years Eve eager customers lined up in the darkness outside medical marijuana dispensaries across the state, ready to start shopping at the stroke of midnight. The effect has gone beyond the cannabis cash register. Everyone has seen the ads or heard the chatter and that includes minors, though marijuana remains illegal for those under 21. Coming out of SFO [San Francisco] airport, there are billboards for Eaze [a weed delivery service] that say Marijuana is here,' said Danielle Ramo, a psychologist who conducts research at University of California-San Francisco on adolescent drug use. Im not sure parents were expecting to see so many images of cannabis all over. The rollout of legal recreational marijuana in California and other states doesnt appear to have led to any big changes in substance abuse prevention yet. But drug prevention education in schools has evolved significantly since the Just Say No days of the 80s and now typically takes an approach thats more appropriate for the era of ubiquitous weed access. Its one that emphasizes decision-making and critical thinking skills instead of abstinence. One approach is the Being Adept curriculum an evidence-based course of study that has been used in about 20 schools in the San Francisco Bay Area. It, and other drug abuse education today, draws on decades of rigorous effectiveness research and the newest teaching techniques. The PSAs that Gen-Xers may remember the egg in a frying pan (This is your brain on drugs), or the boy calling out his dads drug use (I learned it by watching you!) live on as memes but are no longer used in information campaigns. Those scare-tactic-based programs have tended to quite clearly not work, based on most of the research that evaluated its effectiveness, Ramo said. Today, there is an entirely different mindset about school-based prevention. In a nutshell, the focus now is on facts, not fear. Also conspicuously absent are simplistic dictates like Just say no. Instead, teachers spur students to examine data, speculate on motives, discuss risks and deliberate on their own goals and values. Ashley Brady, a Being Adept instructor, was completely open about her method when she stood in front of the eighth-graders at Marin Primary and Middle School, a private school in Larkspur. Im not here to tell you what to do today. Not at all, she began. Im here to give you the most up-to-date information possible so that you can make your own healthy, informed decisions. Brady then jump-started a fast-paced, fact-filled discussion on brain chemistry and physiology. She showed an animated video about how marijuana affects dopamine pathways in the brain. Then she led a discussion about marijuana edibles and how the liver metabolizes them. It can take up to 30 minutes to maybe even an hour or two before it really hits you, she said. When somebody eats an edible and they dont really feel the effects, what do you think happens? They eat more! a student called out. They eat more, Brady nodded. Yeah, an hour, an hour and a half later? Boom! Like a freight train, theyve been hit, and, you know, can barely move or can barely talk, that kind of thing. So they may have to go to the hospital. True, that sounds a little scary, but its presented neutrally, as a consequence at the end of a sequence of decisions. Where the legalization of the marijuana industry has affected the content of these lessons is on the subject of potency. Brady told the students that legalization has spurred competition and innovation among suppliers, to the point where theyre now churning out extremely potent and precisely calibrated forms of pot called concentrates, which comes in various forms. Brady ran through their names: oil, bubble, shatter, wax and dabs. They call it a dab because one tiny little nail head [of it] I mean Im talking like the end of my pinky one tiny, little nail head is the same as three joints hitting the system all at once, she said. So its a lot stronger than it used to be. Tests of THC levels in marijuana samples over the years back this up. Whereas a typical joint in the 70s probably had a THC level of 4 to 5 percent, at best, growers are now breeding strains of cannabis that produce buds with THC levels as high as 20 to 30 percent. The concentrates are in another category altogether. Processed concentrates sold at dispensaries now regularly test at 80, even 90 percent. Its not the same drug, Brady told the students. People sometimes vomit from concentrates. Some people hallucinate and have even become psychotic. And yes, she added, it can be addictive. Not just psychologically, but physically. People do go into THC withdrawal and do go to rehab for pot addiction. Still, as she described the transformation of marijuana from a relatively mild intoxicant to a potentially debilitating one, Brady never once said thats why you shouldnt or even so please be careful. Afterward, the students applauded this approach. It made you feel more mature, and that youre in control, said Devon Soofer, 13. This [class] was actually telling you the long-term effects and what it can actually do to you. So it actually made you feel like, Wow, this is actually really bad, and not just being forced not to do it. Subsequent units in the Being Adept curriculum give students concrete tools: They rehearse what to do or say at parties, and talk about better ways to cope than using cannabis or any substance. Ramo, who serves as a scientific adviser to Being Adept, decried the overwhelming stress, anxiety, depression, suicidality that is so pervasive among teens in the United States today, especially in high-intensity educational areas, like a lot of schools in the Bay Area are. Addressing that problem is key, she added, as is having teens come up with solutions to manage their stress, that they actually would use. Delay, Delay, Delay So if drug educators arent telling students Dont! anymore, what are they telling them to do? Overtly, theyre not demanding teens do anything, because teens are naturally resistant to the authoritarian approach and some of them may resist to the point of doing the opposite. Jennifer Grellman, a psychotherapist in Kentfield, Calif., and the founder of Being Adept, summed up the strategy in three words: Delay, delay, delay. The way to handle that with your kids is to say: You know, you dont have to use this now. Maybe you want to use it someday, but not today, not now. It will always be there. Just tell them to wait. Grellman said that advice may be more palatable for some teens, and therefore easier for parents to deliver. Theyre not forbidding something (and possibly making it more enticing). Theyre not saying never. The instructors put a special emphasis on a less visible risk: the potential damage to their brains. More research is coming out looking at the ways in which all different kinds of substances can hijack normal brain functioning, and particularly so in adolescence, Ramo explained. In heavily cannabis-using teens, there are some particularly important implications of using cannabis on the frontal lobe, and that interrupts a type of thinking called executive functioning.' Also worrisome is a substantial body of research showing that using any potentially addictive substance while the brain is still developing whether alcohol, marijuana, nicotine or other drug triggers neurological changes that can lead to addiction. The earlier teens start using, the more heavily they use in adolescence, the more likely it is that theyll go on to have problems throughout their adulthood, said Ramo. Being Adept instructors dont say it outright, but the message is clear: If youre not going to abstain, just push it off for a while. Your brain is too vulnerable right now. The Role of Parents Grellman said parents should talk about drugs and alcohol with their kids often as early as fourth grade. For California parents, she suggests using the new billboards or marijuana ads as a prompt to bring up the topic. Broach the subject obliquely: What do people at your school think about those ads? Do any of your friends know what a dab actually is? Did you see this article on the seventh-grader getting expelled for pot in his locker? What do you think about that? She said to listen to what they say and discuss it try not to lecture, but be clear about your expectations, and your values around drugs and alcohol. At every school where Being Adept is taught, Grellman offers a Parents Night, where parents can learn how to navigate those conversations. Its not just what parents say, she said, its what they do. Children are always watching how their parents use substances. Dont glamorize it, she advised. It doesnt mean you have to become a monk and never have a drop of alcohol, but please drink responsibly. And, she said, dont use it for stress control. This idea of coming home from the office and saying Ive got to have my glass of wine if you want to have your glass of wine, have your glass of wine, but dont announce it! That youre just at wits end, and you have to have this drink. Grellman said the modeling part becomes tricky when kids ask parents about their past: Did you party? What drugs did you use? When she led the Parents Night in March at Marin Primary and Secondary, she advised parents to get ready for that moment and have answers prepared. If you did party in high school, dont lie, she told them. If a kid senses dishonesty or hypocrisy, theyll shut down. The most important thing is to keep the conversations going. If your child knows they can talk to you, no matter what, they will create a safety plan with you. They will reach out to you when trouble comes. You dont have to tell the full story, Grellman said. You could say: You know, I did smoke and I did drink when I was 13. And if you loved it, I dont know if I would advertise that. You could say, I did smoke, or I did drink, when I was 13. And you know, frankly? It was too early for me, man. I made some stupid decisions and I got in trouble. You can give them the consequences of it. After the presentation, parents said they felt relieved to have concrete suggestions about how to talk with their kids, and how much was OK to bring up. Its much more prevalent than it was when I was growing up in the 80s, said Joseph Sullivan, a physician from Larkspur, Calif. This is a different time, and so its nice to hear that were almost given permission to be talking about these different aspects of drug experimentation at different ages, he added. His wife, Dr. Sara Sullivan, said shes glad that the Just Say No paradigm is dead. Just to give the kids more information, I think, is such a different way to approach it, and I really appreciate that. And weve kind of started to have conversations in our family because of that, she explained. To really kind of take that approach and not be like Youre kind of out there on your own.' This story is part of a partnership that includes KQED, NPR and Kaiser Health News. KHN's coverage of children's health care issues is supported in part by the Heising-Simons Foundation. The Union Cabinet today approved raising the basic pay of Gramin Dak Sevaks (GDS) by over three-fold to up to Rs 14,500 per month, effective January 1, 2016. The arrears after the revised wages will be paid in one instalment for the period from January 1, 2016 till the date of implementation. "Gramin Dak Sevaks GDS who were getting Rs 2,295 per month will get Rs 10,000. Those who were getting Rs 2,745 will get Rs 12,000. GDS who were paid Rs 4,115 will get Rs 14,500 per month," Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha told reporters after the Cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Sinha further said the remuneration paid to GDS was effectively not enough to meet their expenses and this pay hike decision will bring a big change in their lives. The revision in the wage structure would entail an estimated expenditure of Rs 1,257.75 crore in 2018-19. This includes non-recurring expenditure of Rs 860.95 crore and recurring expenditure of Rs 396.80 crore in the current fiscal year. "The face of India Post is changing. We have created parcel directorate and India Post Payments Bank is going to start. In coming days, a separate insurance company will work under postal department. GDS will be our carriers," Sinha said. Though the basic pay has been hiked by over three-fold, there is around 56 per cent average increase of total wages across the board. The government will pay dearness allowance of 7 per cent on the basic pay as per 7th Central Pay Commission instead of 142 per cent paid at present. There are 2.6 lakh GDS who work for around 1.3 lakh rural post offices in the country. GDS work in shift of 3 hours, 3.5 hours, 4 hours, 4.5 hours and 5 hours and remain in service till the age of 65 years. Earlier, there were 11 slabs which have been reduced to three categories and now there will be two designations only- Branch Post Master (BPM) and assistant branch post master (ABPM). Those who are supposed to get Rs 12,000 pay will work in shift of 4 hours, while level 2 GDS -- whose basic pay is increased to Rs 14,500 -- will have to work for 5 hours. Gramin dak sevaks have been on strike since last few days over demand for recommendation of a committee formed under postal board member Kamlesh Chandra. The minister appealed to them to return to work following the Cabinet decision. "The revision in wages is in line with recommendation of committee led by postal board member Kamlesh Chandra and it was accepted under my chairmanship. Now, compensatory appointment will also be allowed for dependents of GDS," Sinha said. He further said that annual hike of 3 per cent has also been decided as per the request of GDS, which will be granted every year either on January 1 or July 1. "Government has introduced a new allowance in the name of risk and hardship allowance which was not provided to them earlier. Besides this, allowances -- office maintenance allowance, combined duty allowance, cash conveyance charges, cycle maintenance allowance, boat allowance and fixed stationery charges have been hiked," Sinha said. The risk and hardship allowance of Rs 500 per month will be paid to GDS. The composite allowance has been increased to Rs 500 from Rs 100 paid earlier, boat allowance to Rs 115 from Rs 50 and combined duty allowance to minimum of Rs 1,170 and maximum of Rs 2,340 from Rs 500 per month. The minimum wage of GDS has been increased to Rs 10,000 per month and maximum to Rs 35,480 per month. After being hurled from one set of controversy to another for a long time, Rajnikanths Kaala has finally descended upon the theatres worldwide. As expected, fans all over have erupted in joy, pouring out to the streets and theatres in celebration. Admirers celebrated the release of the film by dancing to the beat of drums, hoisting flags and painting Rajnikanths portrait on their chests, with some even aping his look in the film. Meanwhile, women thronged local temples before going to the theatre in order to express their devotion to the actor. The superstar starrer, characterized essentially as a gangster film, finds its tone in the backdrop of Mumbais Dharavi. The cast of uncertainty over the release of this film was because of Rajnikanths pro- Tamil Nadu stance on the years-old festering Cauvery dispute. Rajinikanth, who announced his entry to politics in December last year, had asked Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy to release water for Tamil Nadu as mandated by the Supreme Court. While the release has been facing massive protests in Karnataka and the official verdict about the film by critics is due; fervent fans have seized the world of Twitter, writing reviews, comments and declaring it as a super-hit already. There's clearly no stopping the fans even with all the politics around the movie. If parading in a spectacle of celebration across the streets wasnt enough, fans have also started using art as a medium to express this devotion and love for the superstar. Interestingly, artists around the country, through portraits, posters and paintings are iconizing Rajnikanths cinematic comeback. Artwork by: Mahes Balu Artwork by: @arya_offl / Arya Artwork by: D Justin// mjdesign Artwork by: Jaiganesh Kaala Rajinikanth photo manipulation ft John Wick. Artwork by: J Dustin//mjdesign15 Artwork by: J dustin//mjdesign Artwork by: Thennarasu Artwork by: D Justin// mjdesign Artist Rajahuzoor has a complete drawing tutorial on Kaalas first look. Video: Varanasi: After UP deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma claimed that modern technology existed during the time of Mahabharata, Banaras Hindu University has proposed a centre to explore Vedic sciences and use it to purify sewage water and treat air pollution. Claiming that the Vedas have a solution to the problems, BHU Vedas department head Upendra Kumar Tripathi said, Ancient wisdom can develop indigenous technique to purify sewage water with the help of Vedic sciences and treat air pollution by Vedic recitation and yajna. This includes the setting up of Vedshala, Nakshatra vatika, which will showcase the relation of plants and constellation, and establish multimedia lab and a studio to record path parampara of various recensions (sakha) of Vedas. Tripathi said that the varsity has proposed Center for Vedic Sciences and has prepared a Detailed Project Report highlighting the objective and outcome of the proposal. The professor further said that the move has been initiated to investigate evidence that show the prevalence of scientific and technological knowledge in ancient India. Banaras Hindu University, which is a Central varsity, is being supported by the Uttar Pradesh government and has been granted Rs 12 crores for its development, he added. The proposal has been approved by the Executive Council, Niti Nirdharan Samiti and submitted to the Vice Chancellor Rakesh Bhatnagar. It will be forwarded to the Uttar Pradesh government for grants. The university is expecting to start research work from this session in the Center of Vedic Sciences. There is work on Vedic Literature but nothing significant has been done on Vedic Sciences - a gap we want to fill through this center. We would study and research the Vedic corpus to enrich the modern knowledge, he said. The mandate of the Center for Vedic Studies demands deeper interactions between existing departments of the university in areas of Science and technology, which have not yet been explored. The center would attempt to find out what led to the loss of contact with the past glory of Vedic Sciences and popularize scientific approach and vision of Vedic seers through insights based on new leads arising from ancient literature, he added Objectives The idea is to establish this center of Vedic sciences as a premier institution in the domain of Vedic studies. The world community of scientists, mathematicians and doctors recognize the contribution seers - Pravacanakaras, Bharatmuni, Dattalia and Matanga, Lagadha, Aryabhatta, Bhaskara - not only in the domain of science and technology but also in the facet of knowledge. We would set up modern state of art research laboratory to study and research laboratory the effect of Vedic mantras rituals yoga and meditation on human mind through neuro-psychological studies or brain mapping, he said. He added that the center of Vedic Sciences will research and represent different subjects of Veda such as Yogic Sciences, mathematics, astronomy, padarth vigyan, agriculture, environmental Sciences, sciences of engineering, linguistics, phonetics and astronomy with scientific view keeping the present scenario in mind. The center will have various divisions for this as well as Vedic Sanghralaya (museum) and establish multimedia lab, "under the multimedia laboratory we may be able to prepare multimedia of various rituals as well as Vedic architecture." Rationale Behind the Proposal Despite the fact that Indian culture had long intellectual tradition, the academic courses in India taught us about Democritus, Archimedes, and Newton, Plato to name a few. But nothing about Manu Patanjali, Baudhayana, Kanada, Aryabhata, Bhaskara, Varahamihira, Brahmagupta, Chanakya and many others, the Neo-academic literature on this glorious Indian intellectual tradition is also missing, he added and also mentions in the report on starting the center. The center will focus on investigating how India lost touch with its ancient Science and Technology and lost much of its hold on the precious Vedic Scientific Knowledge. The aim is to restore the past glory and this could be achieved by undertaking the inter-disciplinary study, he added. New Delhi: A man walked into the Netaji Subhash Place police station in northwest Delhi and confessed that he has killed his wife in a fit of rage, the police said on Wednesday. Yaseen came to the police station on Tuesday and told the police that he has strangulated his wife, Janhavi, with a rope. He was arrested after the police recovered the body from their home in Shakurpur. He told the police that his wife often used to nag him and quarrelled with him. He reiterated his statement before the sub-divisional magistrate. According to Yaseen's statement, Janhavi again picked up a fight with him on Tuesday and in a fit of rage he killed her. Janhavi, who hailed from Bihar, and Yaseen, a resident of West Bengal, had a love marriage last year. Yaseen works at a private firm. Janhavi's family members have been informed. Police said Yaseen was also upset that he killed his wife. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said access to medicines is a "big concern" for the poor as he expressed his government's commitment to decrease the financial burden and ensure affordable healthcare for every Indian. Interacting with beneficiaries of the 'Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojna (PMBJP)' and affordable cardiac stents and knee implants through video conference, he said government is working to provide more beds, hospitals and doctors and has taken one step after the other so that the cost incurred by the poor on treatment comes down. He said for providing good medical facilities to the poor and those residing in rural areas, more than 90 medical colleges have been opened and 15,000 MBBS seats increased. Talking about his government's ambitious Ayushman Bharat programme, he said under this, around 10 crore families and 50 crore people will be given health insurance of Rs 5 lakh. "The first phase of this yojna has been initiated and soon people across the country, will get benefited by it," he said. As people living in small villages or towns find it difficult to go to a hospital or health centre that is very far away, the government has decided to open around 1.5 health centres across the country under Ayushman Bharat. Apart from medicines, diagnostics facilities will also be available in them, he said. "In the last four years, our government has taken one step after the other so that the cost incurred by the poor for treatment can come down. "I can say with satisfaction that we have chosen the right direction, taken the right path, made the right policies and they are now reaching the grass root level...We have worked in mission mode," he said He said access to medicines is a big concern for the poor and the government's constant endeavour is to "ensure affordable healthcare to every Indian". Modi said several people are benefitting from PMBJP, an initiative of the government to provide medicines at affordable prices. The prime minister said that in every disease the poor is most concerned about medicines and under PM Jan Aushodi Pariyojna, the government has ensured that people get medicines at minimal rates. He said on Thursday more than 3,600 Jan Aushadhi Kendras have been opened in which more than 700 different types of generic medicines are available at the lowest rates. "We have tried to ensure that in these kendras medicines are available at 50-90 per cent less price be it be medicines for cancer, blood pressure or anything else," he said. He also noted that the government has reduced stent prices substantially, benefitting the poor and the middle class the most. Although knee-related issues are common, the prime minister said its treatment was not common earlier as those who had the money could ensure its treatment. The cost incurred for knee transplant was anywhere around Rs 2.5 lakhs to Rs 3 lakhs earlier but now it is not the same, he said. The cost incurred on knee transplants have witnessed a decrease of up to 70 per cent. Knee transplants are now done in Rs 50,000-Rs 80,000, he said. According to an estimate in India, every year 1-1.5 lakh knee surgeries are done and due to decrease in their cost, there has been a savings of around Rs 1500 crore for the middle class, he said. The prime minister said that similarly the cost of dialysis too was high and it was available in selected cities. Keeping this in mind, the Prime Minister Rashtriya Dialysis Yojna was started. "Under it for 2.25 lakh patients, around 22 lakh sessions have already taken place. In 80 per cent districts of the country, today this programme is going on. Presently in 400 Jan Swasth Kendras this is going on while 3200-3300 machines have been made available," he said. The prime minister said his government aims to eradicate tuberculosis from India by 2025, five years ahead of a globally-set deadline. "The world has decided that by 2030, TB will be eradicated. We in India decided why wait for 2030. That is why we have made a programme to eradicate it five years ahead of the global deadline. That is we aim to eradicate TB by 2025," he said. He pointed out that the government has also started a huge campaign for immunisation. "Under Mission Indradhanush in four phases till now, in 528 districts across the country, 3.15 crore children and more than 80 lakh pregnant women have been immunised. "Our target is that till 2020, all those children are immunised who have not been immunised or have been partially immunised, so that they can be saved from 12 different diseases," he said. Ahead of the International Yoga Day on June 21, the prime minister appealed to people to practice yoga and make it a part of their life. New Delhi: India on Thursday said it hoped that the frosty ties between Iran and the US would not hurt the Chabahar port project as it provided an alternative route to not only Afghanistan but also Central Asia. Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had made clear India's position on the issue and also elucidated on how the relations between the two countries would grow despite the sanctions. Javad Zarif, the Foreign Minister of Iran, held wide-ranging talks with Swaraj last week during which he sought India's support in salvaging Iran's nuclear deal with leading world powers in the wake of the US pullout from it. India's oil trade with Iran and implementation of the Chabahar port project also figured prominently in the talks. "For Chabahar, we have expressed our position in this regard. We have told them (Iran) that it is our hope and expectation that the project would not be impacted by these developments. We have told them that Chabahar provides an alternative access to Afghanistan and Central Asia, which we have used to supply wheat in Afghanistan. "The success of this project will contribute to our objective of peaceful, stable and prosperous Afghanistan and this objective is also used by the US," Kumar said. Kumar added that India's position on Iran's nuclear programme is that Tehran has the right to peaceful use of nuclear energy. New Delhi: Former president Pranab Mukherjee's much-anticipated speech at the RSS headquarters in Nagpur on Thursday drew widespread praise as people from across the ideological spectrum spoke positively about his address. Senior BJP leader Ram Madhav said, "Great address by Dr Pranab Mukherjee at Nagpur. His address and (RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's) address are in a way complementary to each other. 'Nation first' is the core message of both." On the other end of the political divide, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said that Mukherjee's speech "showed the mirror to the RSS at their headquarters." Here is a list of the top quotes from former President's address: "I am here to share my understanding on nation, nationalism and patriotism about our country which is 'Bharat'." Indian nationalism is not one nation, one language, one religion, one enemy. Its perennial universalism of its people. "In India, we derive our strength from tolerance, and respect our pluralism. We celebrate our diversity." "We must free our public discourse from all kinds of fear and violence." Soul of India resides in pluralism and tolerance. This plurality came with assimilation of ideas over centuries. Secularism is a matter of faith for us Any attempt at defining our nationhood in terms of dogmas and identities of religion, region, hatred and intolerance will only lead to dilution of our national identity A dialogue between diverging groups is necessary. We may argue, we may agree, we may not agree but we cannot deny multiplicity of arguments. Only a dialogue can make us respect differing opinions. From our Constitution flows our nationalism. The construct of Indian nationalism is constitutional patriotism. Our national identity has emerged after a long drawn process of confluence and assimilation, the multiple cultures and faiths make us special and tolerant. When we go to Parliament, just above the lift in gate number 6, there is a quote by Kautilya which says, in the happiness of the people lies in the happiness of the king. Their welfare is the king's welfare. Kautilya places people at the centre even before India's constitution was laid down. JAC Result 2018 | The Jharkhand Academic Council (JAC) announced the JAC Result 2018, JAC class 12th Result 2018 also known as Jharkhand Intermediate Result 2018 or JAC Inter Result 2018 today (June 7). The Jharkhand Academic Council released JAC Result 2018, JAC 12th Result 2018, JAC 12th Science Stream Result 2018, JAC 12th Commerce Stream Result 2018 on its official website jharresults.nic.in. The Jharkhand Academic Council conducted the Jharkhand Intermediate Exams 2018 from 8 March to 3 April 2018. The JAC 12th Result 2018 will be officially declared on this website by the Jharkhand Academic Council (JAC), Ranchi. Students waiting with much anticipation can check their JAC 12th Result 2018, Jharkhand Result 2018, Jharkhand Board Result 2018, Jharkhand Class 12 Result 2018, Jharkhand Class 12 Science Stream Result 2018, Jharkhand Class 12 Commerce Stream Result 2018 on these websites as well examresults.net/jharkhand, results.nic.in, jharkhand.indiaresults.com CHECK RESULT HERE How to check JAC Result 2018, JAC 12th Result 2018 Step 1: Click on the official website jharresults.nic.in Step 2: Look for the tab which says JAC 12th Result 2018, JAC Result 2018 Step 3: Click on the link which says Jharkhand 12th Result 2018, Jharkhand Result 2018 Step 4: Enter Your Roll Number Step 5: Download the JAC 12th Result 2018, JAC 12th Science Stream Result 2018, JAC 12th Commerce Result 2018 Around 3,16,369 students took part in the Jharkhand Board Class 12 Exams 2018 and JAC 12th Results 2018 are one of the most highly anticipated results in the state as the students will be able to select their career path which includes - Engineering, Medical & Other Fields based on JAC Class 12th Result 2018. In 2017, the Jharkhand Inter Results were declared on 30 May. For the academic year 2016-2017, the Jharkhand 12th Result (Science & General) was declared on 30 May, whereas JAC Arts Result was declared on 20 June 2017. Apart from checking their JAC 12th Board Result 2018 online, students can check their JAC 12th Result 2018 via SMS Get your Jharkhand Class 12th Results 2018 on Mobile - SMS New Delhi: After nearly a decade, Rashtrapati Bhavan will not host an iftar party this year with President Ram Nath Kovind stating that there should no religious observance at taxpayer's expense at the public building. "After the President took office in July 2017, he directed Rashtrapati Bhavan being a public building, there would be no religious observances at taxpayer expense. This is in keeping with the principles of a secular state and applies to all festivities, irrespective of religion," Ashok Malik, Press Secretary to the President, said in a tweet. He said that the President wishes all fellow citizens on all major religious festivals. Of course the President wishes all fellow citizens on all major religious festivals. Officials and employees living in the President's Estate premises are absolutely free to celebrate any religious festival of their choice in the privacy of their homes 2/3 Ashok Malik (@MalikAshok) June 6, 2018 President's Estate has religious institutions, such as a temple, a gurudwara and a masjid, erected by and for residents. On major festive occasions, the President does visit these to wish people. For example, he recently visited the masjid to mark the holy month of Ramzan 3/3 Ashok Malik (@MalikAshok) June 6, 2018 "Officials and employees living in the President's Estate premises are absolutely free to celebrate any religious festival of their choice in the privacy of their homes. President's Estate has religious institutions, such as a temple, a gurdwara and a masjid, erected by and for residents. On major festive occasions, the President does visit these to wish people. For example, he recently visited the masjid to mark the holy month of Ramzan," Tandon added. Iftar parties, a get together called by Muslims in the evening to break 'roza' (fast) during the month of Ramzan, have been traditionally hosted at the Rashtrapati Bhavan except during the tenure of A P J Abdul Kalam, who was the president from 2002-2007. Maharashtra SSC Result 2018 | The Maharashtra SSC Class 10 Result 2018, Maharashtra SSC Result 2018, Maharashtra Board Result 2018 was announced today (June 8) at 11 am at the press conference by the MSBSHSE Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education. The Maharashtra SSC Class 10 Result 2018, Maharashtra SCC Result 2018 will be hosted on the official website mahresult.nic.in. The Maharashtra Board Result 2018, Maharashtra SSC Result 2018 will be available shortly. The pass percentage for the Maharashtra SSC Result is 89.41%. Konkan tops districts with 96%, least scoring district is Nagpur with 85.97% The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education MSBSHSE successfully organised the Maharashtra State Board SCC Class 10 exam from March 1 and March 24. Students are advised to keep an eye on these websites to check Maharashtra SSC Results 2018, Maharashtra SSC Class 10 Results 2018 examresults.net/maharashtra results.nic.in/index or results.maharashtraeducation.com, maharashtra.indiaresults Basic steps to check the Maharashtra SSC Result 2018 Step 1: Click on official website Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education MSBSHSE on mahresult.nic.in Step 2: Look for the link which says "SSC Results 2018" "MSBSHSE Maharashtra SSC Class 10 Result 2018 Step 3: Click on the link which says Maharashtra Board Result 2018, Maharashtra Board Class 10th Result 2018, SSC Result 2018 for Maharashtra Step 4: Enter your roll number Step 5: Download your Maharashtra SSC result 2018, Maharashtra Class 10 Result 2018 for future reference Last year, in 2017, 17,66, 098 Maharashtra students registered for the SSC 2017 exams, out of which 16,89,239 appeared for the exams for the first time while the rest were repeated candidates. There were 4,728 exam centres in 2017 for the 9,89,908 girls and 7,76,190 boys who wrote their SSC exams 2017 and awaited their Maharashtra SSC Result 2017. Maharashtra SSC Result 2018 | As a part of the technology advancement, the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary & Higher Secondary Education MSBSHSE board has come up with the feature to help the students check their Maharashtra Board Result 2018, Maharashtra SSC Result 2018 via SMS service. The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary & Higher Secondary Education rolled out the SSC Result 2018, Maharashtra Board Result 2018 on the official website mahresult.nic.in. The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary & Higher Secondary Education officials has issued a notification that the board will release Maharashtra board result for class 12th today online (June 8) at 1 pm. The MSBSHSE Maharashtra Board conducted the Maharashtra Class 10 examination from March 1-March 24. Candidates can check their Maharashtra SSC Result 2018, Maharashtra Class 10th Result 2018, Maharashtra Board Result 2018 on maharashtraeducation.com, examresults.net/maharashtra, results.nic.in/index, maharashtra.indiaresults.com. How to check Maharashtra SSC Result 2018, Maharashtra Board Result 2018: Step 1: Click on the official link mahresult.nic.in Step 2: Look for a link which says Maharashtra SSC Result 2018, Maharashtra Board Result 2018 Step 3: Click on the link which says Maharashtra Class 10th Result 2018 Step 4: Enter your roll number Step 5: Download your Maharashtra Board Result 2018 and take a print out for future reference Last year, in 2017, MSBSHSE processed the results of a total of 17,64,536 students out of which 15,05,906 students were declared "passed". The board declared the Maharashtra 12th Result 2018 on May 30. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday on the sidelines of the SCO Summit during which they will take stock of the implementation of decisions taken at the informal summit just over a month ago in Wuhan. Modi is expected to hold nearly half a dozen bilateral meetings with leaders of other SCO countries. However, there is no official word on whether there will be any interaction between Modi and Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain, who is scheduled to attend the meeting in China. The bilateral meeting with President Xi would take place on June 9, while meetings with other leaders on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Qingdao were being finalised, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said at a media briefing. Officials have said Modi and Xi are expected to take stock of implementation of decisions taken at their informal summit in Wuhan. Among other issues, the SCO summit is expected to focus on opportunities for cooperation among the member countries and the situation in the region, Kumar said. Russian President Vladimir Putin is also expected to attend the summit. Modi had last month met Putin in an informal summit in Sochi. The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan became its members last year, and are participating as full members for the first time. Kumar, while talking to reporters after the briefing, said China appreciated Prime Minister Modi's speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue held in Singapore last week. This was conveyed by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj during a meeting held on the sidelines of the BRICS Foreign Ministers Meeting in South Africa this week, he said. This was also conveyed by China's Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou to Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale in a meeting held here, Kumar said. In his address at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Modi said Asia and the world will have a better future when India and China work together with trust and confidence while being sensitive to each other's interests. Nagpur: Former President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday described Keshav Baliram Hedgewar as a "great son of Mother India' as he visited the birthplace of the RSS founding Sarsanghachalak. "Today I came here to pay my respect and homage to a great son of Mother India," Mukherjee wrote in a visitor's book at Hedgewar's birthplace ahead of his much-anticipated speech at the RSS headquarters here. Those present included Subhash Chandra Bose's family members who have been invited as special guests, sources said. Mukherjee, who was welcomed by the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, had to walk through narrow lanes to reach the house where Hedgewar was born and also removed his shoes before entering the place. According to sources, this visit to pay tributes to Hedgewar was not part of Mukherjee's scheduled itinerary and an impromptu decision was taken by the former president to do so. Mukherjee, who reached Nagpur last evening, has been invited by the RSS to address its Shiksha Varg and attend a parade by the Sangh workers on completion of the training camp. It is an annual training camp, meant for swayamsevaks in their third year in the organisation. The RSS holds training camps for first, second and third-year swayamsewaks. Mukherjee's decision to attend the RSS event has already triggered a major political slugfest with several Congress leaders criticising his decision. Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel today expressed his disapproval at former president Pranab Mukherjee visiting the RSS headquarters in Nagpur and said he did not expect this from him. Mukherjee's daughter and Congress leader Sharmistha had yesterday said her father was giving the BJP and the Sangh a handle to plant false stories with his decision to speak at the RSS event. His "speech will be forgotten" but the "visuals will remain", she said on Twitter. She also expressed the hope that the former president would realise how the BJP's "dirty tricks department" works and warned him of the consequences of attending such a meet. Some Congress leaders, including Jairam Ramesh and C K Jaffar Sharief, also wrote to him, while a few leaders of the party, including Anand Sharma, personally visited him in a bid to dissuade him from going to Nagpur. The QS World University Rankings 2019 has released on Wednesday the list of the latest edition of the QS World University Rankings. In the list, IIT Bombay has taken the crown of being Indias Top University of 2019. IIT Bombay has been globally ranked 162 and has moved up by 17 positions since last year when it made its debut in the Top 200 Club. The varsity has paved its way to Indias Numero Uno by gaining 40 positions in 2018 rankings, moving up from rank 219 to 179, and now stepping 17 positions up this year to rank 162. The countrys #2 Top University rank is taken by IISc Bangalore with 170 global rank. IISc Bangalore has moved 20 points up since last year. The prestigious IIT Delhi held its global rank 172 and ranked #3 Top University of India. Rank 4,5,6 is followed by IIT Madras, IIT Kanpur and IIT Kharagpur in the Top 300 Club with global ranks 264, 283 and 295 respectively. While IIT Madras has maintained its global rank 264 since last years rankings, IIT Kanpur has moved up by 10 positions from 293 in 2018 to 283 in 2019 QS World Top University Rankings. IIT Kharagpur has entered the Top 300 club this year by moving 13 positions up from 308 in 2018 to 295 in 2019. The only other IITs to make it to the QS World Top University Rankings 2019 are IIT Roorkee and IIT Guwahati with global ranks 381 and 472 respectively. The global Higher Education analysts Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) releases World University Rankings every year and in its 15th edition this year, 6 of Indias Top 8 IITs/IISc have shown improvement in their global rank while 2 have shown stable performance. The improvement in global ranks has been credited to Research Citations of these varsities. As per Ben Sowter, Research Director at Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), Research produced by the faculty at the 19 (Indian) universities ranked in both the 2018 and 2019 rankings have yielded, cumulatively, 803,000 citations. This is 85,000 more than in 2018s edition of the rankings, which is creditworthy. The rise is also responsible for Indias overall citations-per-faculty ratio rising from 46.90 in 2018 to 50.74 in 2019. However, the problem for Indian institutions and faculty is that the global citations-per-faculty rate has risen by more, reflecting the increasingly-intense international research environment. In 2018, the overall citations-per-faculty average was 51.74; its now 60.03 per faculty member. Indias research is demonstrably improving but more slowly than its international competitors, added Sowter, giving a hint to Indias Top IITs/IISc to match pace with its global counterparts. Amity University, Amrita University, Jamia Millia Islamia, Thapar Institute (Deemed to be University), Vellore Institute of Technology are the rookies that featured in QS World Top University Rankings 2019 in the 801-100 club except Jamia Millia Islamia that is placed in the 751-800 club. To sum up, a total of 24 Indian Universities have been ranked in QS World Top University Rankings 2019 with 7 moving up the ladder, 9 holding their ground, 3 losing their rankings and 5 making their debut. India Rank Global Rank Indian University 1 162 Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB) 2 170 Indian Institute of Science 3 172 Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IITD) 4 264 Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) 5 283 Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK) 6 295 Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT-KGP) 7 381 Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IITR) 8 472 Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG) 9 487 University of Delhi 10 591-600 University of Hyderabad 11 601-650 Jadavpur University 12 751-800 Anna University 13 751-800 Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi 14 751-800 Manipal Academy of Higher Education 15 801-1000 Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Aligarh 16 801-1000 Amity University 17 801-1000 Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham (Amrita University) 18 801-1000 Banaras Hindu University 19 801-1000 Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani 20 801-1000 Savitribai Phule Pune University 21 801-1000 Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology (Deemed to be University) 22 801-1000 University of Calcutta 23 801-1000 University of Mumbai 24 801-1000 Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) Talking about the Global Leaders of Higher Education, MIT maintained its dominance with Global Rank# 1 seventh year in a row, followed by Stanford University and Harvard University at number 2 and 3 respectively. Check the entire global list of QS World Top University Rankings 2019 at the url mentioned below: https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2019 Bengaluru: Widespread protests by pro-Kannada activists marred the screening of Rajinikanth-starrer Kaala in most parts of the state on Thursday. Cinema halls, where it was to be screened, refused to show the film, leaving cinema goers, especially diehard fans of the Tamil superstar, disappointed, PTI said. Demonstrations were held in front of all the theatres in the city where the film was to be screened. Protesters were seen requesting the superstars fans not to watch the movie over the Cauvery water sharing dispute between the two states. They also asked them to come together to show solidarity to the farmers who have been deprived of Cauvery river water. Reports from Mysuru said the screening of the film was delayed by movie houses due to protests. However, two cinema theatres in Ballari and Raichur districts decided to screen the movie. Praveen Shetty, an office bearer of the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV) said they were going from theatre to theatre asking moviegoers to boycott the film. "We are telling them that the issue of sharing Cauvery water is more important than the film," he said. Miffed with Rajinikanth's reported comments that whichever government came to power in Karnataka should implement the Supreme Court order on Cauvery water sharing in toto, the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce on May 29 decided not to allow screening of Kaala. Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy had requested the distributor of Kaala not to release it in "this kind of atmosphere," but said his government would follow the high court order on the issue. The Karnataka High Court had on June 5 directed the state government to provide necessary security for the peaceful release of Kaala, which pro-Kannada outfits had threatened to stall over the actor's reported remarks on the Cauvery row. The Supreme Court had on Wednesday declined to stall the release of Kaala. Rajinikanth, who enjoys a cult following in south India had made a desperate, last gasp attempt to reach out to pro-Kannada outfits opposed to the release, insisting he had done "no wrong" and requested them not to thwart its screening. Barring the state, the film released worldwide on Thursday amid much fanfare. (With PTI inputs) Gurugram: Infuriated at being terminated, a sacked employee along with an accomplice on a bike today opened fire and injured a Gurugram-based Japanese company's human resource wing head, police said. The incident occurred at around 9 am when the victim, Binesh Sharma, HR head of Mitsubishi, was going to his office in IMT, Manesar, in a car. Two persons on a bike tried to intercept Binesh Sharma's car on gun point. When he did not stop but accelerated instead, the pillion rider opened fire aiming to kill Sharma, Gurugram Police PRO Ravinder Kumar told PTI. Sharma suffered two gunshot injuries, he said. "The attackers, one of whom was later identified as Joginder, managed to escape from the spot. Some passersby called the police and Sharma was admitted to Rockland Hospital where he is said to be out of danger, Kumar said. On Wednesday, Sharma had sacked an employee, Joginder, over his alleged "unprofessional behaviour", officials said. Joginder later threatened Sharma of dire consequences but the HR head did not take his warning seriously, the officer added. We have registered a case under relevant sections against Joginder and his accomplice. Investigation is underway and raids are being conducted at all possible hideouts of the attackers. We will arrest them soon, the PRO said. New Delhi: A gun fight between militants who attacked the Armys Hajin camp in north Kashmir and security forces earlier this week threatened to undo the 20-day-old suspension of operations, better known as Ramzan Ceasefire, announced by the Home Ministry last month. The attack was carried out at 8:30 pm on 13 Rashtriya Rifles camp in Hajin. The Army described the incident as a standoff attack by militants. The militants of Lashkar-e-Toiba, which claimed responsibility for the attack, reportedly used grenades and fired from their automatic weapons at the camp. This was the second such attack since May 17 when the suspension of operations or Ramzan Ceasefire was announced. The first attack happened on May 28 when militants targeted an Army camp at Kakapora in south Kashmirs Pulwama district. According to the report accessed by CNN-News18, one civilian and a security force personnel have been killed in the last 20 days. Around 10 militants trying to infiltrate into the Valley were killed in various encounters near the Line of Control (LoC). Security personnel so far claimed the ceasefire to be a big success. Thats because of the remarkably low number of casualties in the hinterland during the period. The report said that the peace initiative is in no way hampering the steps being taken against terrorists. "Sixty-eight terrorists were killed in 2018. Compared to previous years, this is a high number," it stated. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is likely to be apprised of the fact that in the past few months, most top terror commanders have been eliminated, including Mufti Waqas, Touseef Sheikh, Sameer Tiger and Saddam Padar. Only some are left now like Reyaz Naikoo, Zeenat-ul-islam and Zakir Moosa. Singh, who will visit the Valley on Thursday, is also likely to be asked by state government and security officials to extend the suspension of operations well after Eid. Sources have told CNN-News18 that J&K DGP S P Vaid will make a presentation to the Home Minister, detailing the success of the current peace initiative. On the law and order front too, the security brass is likely to argue in favour of the Ramzan initiative. "From around 900 incidents that were reported in the first six months in 2017, only 410 such incidents have been reported so far, and just 20 took place since Ramzan COO," the report said, adding that the elimination of terrorists at the Line of Control continues. "Ten have been killed since cessation of operation was announced, including three in Keran on Wednesday, it said. The drop in number of incidents has happened across various categories - weapon snatching, grenade lobbing, bank loots, IED blasts, and stone pelting. Officials argue that fewer attacks from terror groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed and Hizbul Mujahideen have happened since COO. The incidents of grenade lobbing and weapon snatching have gone up in second and third weeks of Ramzan, but officials claim, "This is the only sign of growing frustration among terror groups because the common Kashmiri is appreciating government's peace initiative." One of the sources in state police department said that while they are receiving intelligence inputs of a possible fidayeen attack on a daily basis, a greater vigilance by the forces has so far deterred the terror groups from carrying out such attacks. Senior officials of the security agencies deployed in Kashmir are already hailing the Ramzan Ceasefire as a big success when compared to the ceasefire announced last time in 2000 when then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had announced a Non Initiation of Combat Operations (NICO) over a five-month period during which 800 people had died. Singh is scheduled to preside over a high-level security meeting during his visit to Srinagar on Thursday. On getting favourable response from the agencies, which is almost certain now, the Home Minister is likely to announce an extension in Ramzan Ceasefire on his return to the capital. Lucknow: A top Sunni cleric has dismissed media reports that claim Darul Uloom Deoband issued a fatwa for Sunni Muslims, asking them to refrain from having Iftar at Shia Muslim houses. Maulana Khalid Rasheed Farangi Mahali claimed the reports were part of a mischief, while Shia clerics said such fatwas could be part of a conspiracy to hamper brotherhood between both communities. Speaking to News18, Maulana Rasheed said, Deoband never issues such fatwas. It seems to be a case of mischief to disturb the communal harmony among Shias and Sunnis. Both communities can have Iftar together, there is absolutely no doubt about that. Deoband is closed during the holy month of Ramzan, so this raises more doubts about this fatwa. The matter should be probed thoroughly. Muslims should not pay any heed to such fatwas. Noted Shia Cleric Maulana Yasoob Abbas also spoke to News18 and said, Such things hamper brotherhood. It seems this was done as a part of a conspiracy to disturb peace between the two communities. Darul Uloom should probe the matter and punish the guilty. Sikandar Ali, the man who claims to have asked Darul Uloom the question on Iftar at Shia Muslim houses, says he received the fatwa as a response at the institution. The reply I received was that Sunnis should not attend Iftars hosted by Shia Muslims. I submitted my question at the gate on day one and received a reply the next day. I was asked to collect the envelope containing my answer from the gate, he said. Vice Chancellor of Darul Uloom, Mufti Abul Qasim Nomani, refused to comment on the issue. Le Collectif Cheikh Yassine a organise un certain nombre dactivites et de festivites pour les enfants de Gaza sous le theme La joie des enfants de Gaza pour lAid . Ces activites ont commence le premier jour de lAid et continue jusquau 4eme jour de lAid dans la bande de Gaza. Plusieurs activites, ont ete organisees parmi lesquelles : des competitions recompensees par des prix, des jeux, des animations et des chants presentes par un groupe ainsi que des distributions de cadeaux et daides financieres. Tripura Class 12th Result 2018 | The Tripura Board of Secondary Education (TBSE) declared the Tripura +2 Arts Result 2018, Tripura +2 Science Result 2018, Tripura Result 2018, Tripura HSC +2 Result 2018 on June 8 (today) at 9:30 am. The Tripura Board of Secondary Education announced the Tripura +2 Arts Result 2018, Tripura Class 12th Result 2018, Tripura Class 12 Arts Result 2018, Tripura Class 12 Commerce Result 2018, TBSE Result 2018 for Class 12th on its official website tbse.in. The Tripura Board of Secondary Education officially conducts the Tripura Higher Secondary (+2 stage), Madrasa Fazil (H.S. +2 Stage) Theology, Madrasa Fazil (H.S. +2 Stage) Arts during the months of March and April. The exams began on 8, March, 2018 and ended on 13th April, 2018. Students can check their Tripura +2 Arts Result 2018, Tripura 12th Arts Result 2018, Tripura +2 Commerce Result 2018, Tripura 12th Commerce Result 2018 Tripura HSC +2 Result 2018 on examresults.net/tripura, http://results.gov.in/index.aspx, http://m.indiaresults.com/ How to check the TBSE 12th Result 2018, Tripura +2 Arts Result 2018, TBSE HSC +2 Commerce Result 2018 students can follow the basic steps: Step 1: Log onto the tbse.in website. Step 2: Look for the link which says Tripura +2 Arts Result 2018, TBSE HSC +2 Arts Result 2018 Step 3: Click for the link which says TBSE 12th Result, Tripura Class 12 Commerce Result 2018 Step 4: Enter Roll Number for Tripura +2 Commerce Result 2018, TBSE HSC +2 Commerce Result 2018 Step 5: Download the Tripura HSC +2 Commerce Result 2018, TBSE HSC +2 Result 2018, Tripura HSC +2 Arts Result 2018 for future reference After declaring Class 12th Science results, the Tripura Board of Secondary Education (TBSE) has also confirmed the date for the announcement of Arts and Commerce streams results of class 12. This year the results will be declared on June 8. The result of Science stream was declared on May 22. The board has also said it will also release the results for Fazil Arts and Fazil Theology examination on June 8. Around 27000 candidates appeared for the examinations for class 12 and approximately 55000 gave class 10 examination of the board. Muzaffarnagar: An unidentified woman, with her face covered in red, left a newborn girl at the staircase of a house in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district. According to the footage from a CCTV camera, a grey Santro car arrived in the narrow lane of a locality and stopped outside a house, following which a person leaned out of the window and dropped the baby at the staircase before fleeing the spot. A Kotwali Police Station officer said on Thursday that prima facie it appears that the accused was a woman with her face covered with red dupatta. From the blurred image, it seems that the car bears a Haryana number plate (HR). #WATCH An unidentified woman drops a new-born baby on a street from a car in Muzaffarnagar. CMO Muzaffarnagar says, "the new-born is under treatment but her condition remains critical. We are hopeful of her recovery." (Source:CCTV footage) pic.twitter.com/Q6gyEAo6Q6 ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) June 6, 2018 The chief medical officer said the girl was left in front of the house in the evening. The locals found her after hearing her cry and admitted the child to a district hospital. "She is currently under treatment but her condition remains critical. We are hopeful of her recovery," news agency ANI quoted the CMO as saying. According to National Crime Records Bureau data, a total of 885 cases of abandonment were registered in India during 2015 as compared to 983 cases during 2014, showing an increase of 10.0%. Maharashtra reported the highest number of such cases (219 cases), followed by Madhya Pradesh (145 cases). 404 We're sorry! The page you were looking for couldn't be found. Rishi Kapoor-starrer Rajma Chawal, directed by Leena Yadav, will hit the screens on August 31. "Funny, we live in the space age generation, yet fail to communicate with people that matter the most? Experience the social journey of a father and son with 'Rajma Chawal', this 31st August," Yadav tweeted earlier today, while posting a still from the film. Funny, we live in the space age generation yet fail to communicate with people that matter the most? Experience the social journey of a father and son with Rajma Chawal, this 31st August! @chintskap #AnirudhTanwar @AmyraDastur93 @Aparshakti @SaarthiE #RajmaChawalOn31stAugust pic.twitter.com/G8oGaBLoTu Leena Yadav (@leenayadav) June 7, 2018 The film also stars Anirudh Tanwar and Amyra Dastur. Rajma Chawal was shot in Delhi's Chandni Chowk. Rishi had earlier told IANS: "I wanted to work with Leena. I liked the ambience and where the story was being told -- the whole beauty of Chandni Chowk. I did it once with Delhi-6'... The triumph of this project is that we are shooting the whole film in Chandni Chowk." (With IANS inputs) The Non-initiation of Combat Operations (NICO) by security forces, announced prior to the Ramzan period, is currently a hotly debated issue. In a sort of informal review a few days ago, the Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police stated, The Ramadhan ceasefire has been successful thus far... The situation, particularly in South Kashmir, has eased. A similar sentiment seems to prevail in the Ministry of Home Affairs which appears satisfied with the response to NICO and, as reported in sections of the media, could extend it beyond the holy month of Ramzan. On the other side of the fence are some very respected strategic analysts who feel that this government initiative has come at an inopportune time. After the tremendous pressure that was exerted on the terrorists during "Operation All Out", the suspension of operations will only provide breathing space for them to regroup, recruit and emerge stronger. This argument is buttressed by the recent surge in grenade attacks on the security forces. There is no doubt that the ceasefire (as the NICO is commonly called) is fragile, if only due to the fact that it is one-sided. All the terrorist groups have rejected it and one major terror strike could completely wipe out all the perceived success. As reported in the Daily Excelsior of June 3, a government source has stated, "Extension or no extension in the ceasefire by the Union government would depend on the level of violence during the remaining period of holy Ramzan month. In my view, the ceasefire has been a major initiative by the government and has immense potential. However, by linking the success or failure of the ceasefire primarily to violence levels, we are falling into a familiar trap. One reason that we have often misread the situation in Kashmir is because we have tended to look at violence parameters as the dominant metric in assessing the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. The state government must not wait passively in the hope that violence and stone pelting will remain low but move decisively to take advantage of the ceasefire by a comprehensive programme to address some of the areas that have been severely impacted by the 30-year old insurgency. The first of these is the civil society of Jammu and Kashmir. Caught between the security forces and the terrorists it remains mostly silent. When it speaks, it is vocal in its criticism of the government or stridently divided on regional lines. Now that the government has taken the somewhat risky step of the ceasefire, it must encourage the civil society to shed its reticence and come out clearly on the side of any initiative that can limit the horrific violence sweeping the Kashmir Valley. It is disappointing that peoples voices have not been raised enough against terror groups that have rejected the ceasefire. The state politicians should take this opportunity and attempt to regain the political space that had been ceded as a result of the ongoing violence. The political mainstreams inability to reach out to their constituents has debilitated the political process, as was evident in the extremely poor voter turnout for the Srinagar seat and the inability to hold polls in Anantnag. This is now the time for legislators to tell the people that conflict resolution will not come about as a result of stone throwing mobs and hartal calls by the separatists but when all parties, including the government, accept that violence alone cannot bring about political change. Maybe belated, but the government has taken the first step by implementing a unilateral ceasefire. This period must also be utilized for engaging the youth, particularly those who have picked up arms and stones. This was also mentioned by the Prime Minister in his recent visit to Jammu and Kashmir. However, mere words are not enough and must be followed up by specific actions. The new Surrender and Rehabilitation Policy remains mired in political differences between the PDP and BJP. Two months ago, a new policy for the Northeast, with enhanced incentives, was announced by the government. There were no murmurs by any political party. The return of local youth who have joined terror groups, in whatever number, could be a key factor in how militancy plays out in the future. The political parties in the state must come together to accept a comprehensive policy which provides future hope to anybody willing to give up the gun. For too long, success in Jammu and Kashmir has been held hostage primarily to security parameters violent incidents, terrorists killed etc. In assessing the success of the ceasefire, we should look beyond this. This is the time to strengthen civil society, regain political space and break the recruitment cycle of local youth. I accept that all this will not be easy as the pains of the society and youth angst built up over decades of conflict cannot be easily healed. However, if we miss every opportunity due to cynicism or doubts about its success, we will remain standing in the same place. The Home Minister is in Jammu and Kashmir to review the ceasefire. His decision should be based on the long-term benefits of this step. Sooner or later, a major terror strike will take place and the ceasefire will be under pressure or will be abrogated. At that stage, the government should already have taken some tangibles steps which provide the basis for moving towards conflict resolution. (The author is former Northern Commander, Indian Army, under whose leadership India carried out surgical strikes against Pakistan in 2016. Views are personal.) New Delhi: West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Thursday said Pranab Mukherjees son Abhijit may have to follow in his sisters footsteps and speak out against the former presidents decision to address an RSS event in Nagpur. Speaking to News18.com, Chowdhury said, Pranab Mukherjee has never been a popular leader in Bengal. He is known as a knowledgeable person. He joined the Congress, left to form his own party and then returned. We encouraged him to contest from Murshidabad. He isnt a simpleton. He has immense knowledge of Indian politics, but only he can answer why he has gone to Nagpur. Chowdhury added that Pranabs attendance at the RSS event would give the BJP ammunition to target the Congress. The BJP is doing politics in Bengal. And with this, theyll have a spicy material that theyll use against the Congress. Once a robust Congress leader, he is visiting the RSS headquarters. The BJP is a communal party and theyll definitely make Pranab Mukherjee into a political scandal. Asked if Pranabs visit would impact the electoral prospects of his son Abhijit Mukherjee in his current Lok Sabha constituency Jangipura (which includes Murshidabad), Chowdhury said, If he (Abhijit) doesnt speak out, there would definitely be an impact. Everything depends on what he (Pranab) says there. Senior Congress MP and Gandhi family confidant Ahmed Patel gave a glimpse into what the party high command thought of Pranabs move when he tweeted that he did not expect this from Pranab da. I did not expect this from Pranab da ! https://t.co/VBqXZ8x7SE Ahmed Patel (@ahmedpatel) June 6, 2018 Patels tweet came a couple of hours after Pranabs daughter and Congress leader Sharmistha Mukherjee publicly urged her father not to go through with the visit to RSS headquarters. In her tweets, Sharmistha cautioned her father against his decision to address the RSS event on Thursday evening, saying he was giving the BJP and the Sangh a handle to plant false stories as his "speech will be forgotten" but the "visuals will remain". She also warned her father of the consequences of attending such a meet. Her outburst came soon after rumours about her joining the BJP cropped up ahead of Mukherjee's visit to Nagpur tomorrow. She dismissed such "rumours" of her joining the BJP as "false" and alleged they were the handiwork of BJP's "dirty tricks department". She said she would rather leave politics than quit the Congress. Going through with the visit despite criticism from former Congress colleagues, including Jairam Ramesh and P Chidambaram, Pranab said he will say whatever he has to at the Nagpur event. New Delhi: Senior Congress MP and Gandhi family confidant Ahmed Patel said late on Wednesday that it was not expected of Pranab Mukherjee to attend an RSS event in Nagpur, giving a glimpse into the party high commands views on the former presidents visit to Nagpur. Patels tweet came a couple of hours after Pranabs daughter and Congress leader Sharmistha Mukherjee publicly urged her father not to go through with the visit to RSS headquarters. I did not expect this from Pranab da ! https://t.co/VBqXZ8x7SE Ahmed Patel (@ahmedpatel) June 6, 2018 In her tweets, Sharmistha cautioned her father against his decision to address the RSS event on Thursday evening, saying he was giving the BJP and the Sangh a handle to plant false stories as his "speech will be forgotten" but the "visuals will remain". She also warned her father of the consequences of attending such a meet. In the mountains enjoying a beautiful sunset, & suddenly this news that Im supposedly joining BJP hits like a torpedo! Cant there be some peace & sanity in this world? I joined politics because I believe in @INCIndia Wud rather leave politics than leave Congress Sharmistha Mukherjee (@Sharmistha_GK) June 6, 2018 Hope @CitiznMukherjee now realises from todays incident, how BJP dirty tricks dept operates. Even RSS wouldnt believe that u r going 2 endorse its views in ur speech. But the speech will be forgotten, visuals will remain & those will be circulated with fake statements. 1/2 Sharmistha Mukherjee (@Sharmistha_GK) June 6, 2018 .@CitiznMukherjee By going 2 Nagpur, u r giving BJP/RSS full handle 2 plant false stories, spread falls rumours as 2day & making it somewhat believable. And this is just d beginning! 2/2 Sharmistha Mukherjee (@Sharmistha_GK) June 6, 2018 Her outburst came soon after rumours about her joining the BJP cropped up ahead of Mukherjee's visit to Nagpur tomorrow. She dismissed such "rumours" of her joining the BJP as "false" and alleged they were the handiwork of BJP's "dirty tricks department". She said she would rather leave politics than quit the Congress. Going through with the visit despite criticism from former Congress colleagues, including Jairam Ramesh and P Chidambaram, Pranab said he will say whatever he has to at the Nagpur event. "Whatever I have to say, I will say in Nagpur. I have received several letters, requests and phone calls, but I haven't responded to anyone yet," Mukherjee was quoted as saying by Bengali newspaper Anandabazar Patrika last week. Hyderabad: Stepping up the ante against former ally Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Andhra Pradesh, a delegation from the BJP met the Governor in Hyderabad on Thursday, demanding action against TDP leaders for using un-Parliamentary and derogatory language against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Speaking to News18, newly appointed state BJP chief Kanna Lakshminarayana said, "MPs, MLAs, ministers - everyone is abusing the PM using filthy language. They are responsible elected members. We are demanding action against all those who have used bad language, including minister Akhila Priya." "There is undemocratic rule and a very dangerous situation prevailing in the state. Government officers are working like TDP karyakartas. The police stations have become TDP offices, Lakshminarayana added. With less than a year to go for Assembly elections, the BJP is going all out to unseat the TDP, with which it was in alliance until Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu severed ties over the delay in announcing special status for Andhra Pradesh. "The campaign Intintiki BJP aims to inform people about the facts and counter the malicious campaign of Chandrababu Naidu government against the BJP and PM Modi. The ruling TDP has failed and is spreading lies. The Centre is committed to the development of Andhra Pradesh. In last four years, 85 percent promises have been fulfilled. Our party will go to every house, distribute pamphlets and tell them of the welfare and development work done by BJP," Lakshminarayana said. The ruling TDP has alleged that the BJP was resorting to conspiracy politics by colluding with the YSR Congress and Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan. Interestingly, the state unit of the saffron party did not rule out any alliance. "This is not in my hands. The leadership Amit Shah and Narendra Modi will take the decision. There is one year to go for elections, Lakshminarayana said. Lucknow: Just days after playing a vital role in BJP's defeat in Kairana Lok Sabha bypolls, dalit outfit Bhim Army said that defeating BJP and RSS in 2019 general election will be its top agenda. The organisation has seen swift advancement across Western UP but it has faced a stormy year since Saharanpur caste violence in 2017 and subsequent arrest of its founder Chandrashekar Azad 'Ravan'. Many of its activists including Ravan are still behind bars. Despite these challenges, Bhim Army is being credited with playing a major role in mobilising dalits against BJP in Kairana. Bhim Army's national president and Chandrashekhar's close associate, Vinay Ratan Singh, who was recently released from jail, told News18, ''Our organisation played a silent but very crucial role in Kairana. Our members fanned out across villages, mobilising voters against the BJP. Though we had nothing personal against Mriganika Singh, the party she stood for has spearheaded caste discrimination and atrocities. When asked what the organisations agenda was for 2019, Vinay Singh said, For coming General election our motto is clear and that is to defeat BJP/RSS. Sources said there is also a strong possibility of Chandrashekar himself entering the electoral fray. However, this idea is being denied by the organisations leaders. Vinay Ratan claimed that there was absolutely no chance that Ravan wouldcontest elections. We will only work to ensure BJPs defeat, he said. But this gives rise to the question - will Bhim Army be close to any specific political party? Given the history of its varying political approach to Bahujan Samaj Party and its chief Mayawati, it is unlikely that the two can come on the same platform. Sources say that Bhim Army's top leaders including the jailed Chandrashekar had been in touch with top-most leaders of the Congress through a local party heavyweight, who had played a big role behind the opposition's victory in Kairana. Meanwhile, as political battle gains pace in buildup to 2019, Bhim Army is busy mobilising popular support for Chandrashekhar's case. Prominent human rights organisation Amnesty International India has also come forward in support of the jailed leader. Talking to News18, Amnesty's program director Asmita Basu said, Laws are being misused by the Yogi Adityanath government to keep Chandrashekar behind the bars. Invoking NSA against him is unjustified and that he should be released at the earliest. Mumbai: Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana leader Raju Shetti on Thursady said that nothing substantial would come out from Wednesday's meeting between BJP president Amit Shah and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray. "It is highly unlikely that the two parties would change their stand towards each other," Shetti, a former NDA ally who won the 2014 Lok Sabha polls from Ichalkaranji with BJP-Sena support, said. He likened the political impact, or lack of it, of the meeting between the chiefs of the two bickering saffron parties to the one that Shah had with actor Madhuri Dixit earlier on Wednesday. Replying to a query on whether there was a chance of him being wooed back into the NDA fold, Shetti said that he was not "that big a person". "I don't think I am that big a person that Shah should come to meet me. But, even if that was to happen, I may fall ill like Lata Mangeshkar," he said, hinting that he may not be keen to meet his former ally. Incidentally, the 88-year-old Bharat Ratna awardee had tweeted on Wednesday that she was unable to meet Shah as she was unwell due to food poisoning. "When I was an ally, BJP didn't feel the need to talk after coming to power," Shetti added. He called the recent moves by several opposition parties to put up a joint fight with the BJP as a good sign. "But for farmers, just a regime change is not important. We need to ensure proper prices for farm produce, welfare of agriculturists, and steps to ensure that they don't run up debts,"he said. Shetti criticised the state government's loan waiver scheme and claimed that "unnecessary conditions" had been laid down for farmers to avail the waiver. He added that the total loan waiver amount will not be more than Rs 14,000 crore. "For the last three and half years, the state government is levying drought cess on petrol and diesel. This is more than Rs 14,000 crore. Where is the money going?" he questioned. He pointed out that farm credit for this year stood at Rs 22,000 crore against Rs 42,000 crore last year. "This is because banks are not giving loan to farmers as they are still debt ridden. Monsoon is setting in, sowing operations will soon start. But farmers don't have money to buy seeds, fertilisers etc," Shetti said. Speaking about the 10-day farm stir currently underway in several states, Shetti said that organisations affiliated to his Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Samanvay Samiti (ABKSS) were not participating. "We are neither opposing the strike nor are we supporting it. We had resorted to a strike last year and in Mandsaur (Madhya Pradesh) farmers were killed in police firing. We have submitted a private member bill on farmers' issues and have demanded a special session of Parliament to discuss it," he informed. He claimed that there was no clarity on the sugarcane package announced by the Union government on Wednesday. "The government says sugar prices will stabilise at Rs 2,900 (per quintal) but there is no clarity on how this will happen. Will the government purchase sugar or will it export it?" he asked. NASA has approved an update to Juno's science operations until July 2021. This provides for an additional 41 months in orbit around Jupiter and will enable Juno to achieve its primary science objectives.Juno is in 53-day orbits rather than 14-day orbits as initially planned because of a concern about valves on the spacecraft's fuel system. This longer orbit means that it will take more time to collect the needed science data. An independent panel of experts confirmed in April that Juno is on track to achieve its science objectives and is already returning spectacular results.The Juno spacecraft and all instruments are healthy and operating nominally. NASA has now funded Juno through FY 2022. The end of prime operations is now expected in July 2021, with data analysis and mission close-out activities continuing into 2022. "With these funds, not only can the Juno team continue to answer long-standing questions about Jupiter that first fueled this exciting mission, but they'll also investigate new scientific puzzles motivated by their discoveries thus far," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "With every additional orbit, both scientists and citizen scientists will help unveil new surprises about this distant world." "This is great news for planetary exploration as well as for the Juno team," said Scott Bolton, principal investigator of Juno, from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. "These updated plans for Juno will allow it to complete its primary science goals. As a bonus, the larger orbits allow us to further explore the far reaches of the Jovian magnetosphere -- the region of space dominated by Jupiter's magnetic field -- including the far magnetotail, the southern magnetosphere, and the magnetospheric boundary region called the magnetopause. We have also found Jupiter's radiation environment in this orbit to be less extreme than expected, which has been beneficial to not only our spacecraft, but our instruments and the continued quality of science data collected." Juno will make its 13th science flyby over Jupiter's mysterious cloud tops on July 16. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, manages the Juno mission for the principal investigator, Scott Bolton, of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. Juno is part of NASA's New Frontiers Program, which is managed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. The Italian Space Agency (ASI), contributed two instruments, a Ka-band frequency translator (KaT) and the Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM). Lockheed Martin Space, Denver, built the spacecraft. More information about Juno is available at: https://www.nasa.gov/juno https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu More information on Jupiter is at: https://www.nasa.gov/jupiter The public can follow the mission on Facebook and Twitter at: https://www.facebook.com/NASAJuno https://www.twitter.com/NASAJuno Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook. New Delhi: The Congress party hailed Pranab Mukherjees speech in Nagpur on Thursday as showing mirror to the RSS, but party leader Manish Tewari expressed a contrarian view. Speaking to News18, Tewari said that the views articulated by the former President in his speech were in complete contrast to the views he held during his 45-year career as a Congressman. The entire optics was objectionable. Pranab was part of the government that banned RSS in 1992. Pranab authored the Burari resolution which took strong view on RSS. When he decides to associate with the RSS, not that he's not entitled to change his views, but he must explain why that change came about, the Congress leader said. Tewaris statement is further confirmation that Pranabs words failed to sway many Congressmen who were left disappointed by his visit. While the former Presidents words delivered a strong message to the Sangh, the visuals of him sharing a stage with RSS leaders caused heartburn. Over the last week, several Congress leaders, including Sonia Gandhis close aide Ahmed Patel and Mukherjee's daughter Sharmistha, had expressed their disdain at the former President for accepting the invite to the RSS event. Patel's tweet saying "this was not expected of Pranab Da!" was construed as a direct message from the Congress high command. Tewari also termed the address as pedestrian, neither here nor there. Tomorrow he can give same speech at Jamiyat-Islamiyat-e Hind if they invite him - or any other college. It's a pedestrian speech about nationalism that can be delivered on any platform, Tewari told News18. Tewari has gone against the official position of the Congress party, which dubbed Mukherjees words as sagacious advice for the BJP and the RSS. At a press conference called soon after Mukherjees address ended, the Congress asked if the RSS and the BJP they would change their "character, orientation and thought process". Congress leader Randeep Surjewala said that Mukherjee, in his speech at RSS headquarter in Nagpur, reminded them of India's pluralism, tolerance, secularism and inclusiveness. He added that Mukherjee reminded the Modi government of following "rajdharma" founded upon diversity, non-violence, multi-culturalism and assimilation of ideas. Bengaluru: Upset over not securing berths in the expanded H D Kumaraswamy ministry, several Congress MLAs in Karnataka today held separate meetings in the city. The meetings were held a day after the 15-day old two-member JDS-Congress cabinet was expanded with the induction of 25 new ministers after intense bargaining for ministerial berths. The much-awaited exercise has caused heartburn among several lawmakers in the coalition while supporters of some of the ministerial aspirants staged protests. The Congress had dropped several key members of the previous Siddaramaiah ministry, including M B Patil, Dinesh Gundu Rao, Ramalinga Reddy, R Roshan Baig, H K Patil, Tanvir Sait, Shamanur Sivashankarappaand Satish Jarkhiholi. A meeting held at M B Patil's residence here today was attended by disgruntled MLAs including M T B Nagaraj, Satish Jarkiholi, Sudhakar and Roshan Baig. Emerging out of the meeting, Jarkiholi, who is also an AICC secretary, said they discussed about the cabinet expansion and it was true that they were "unhappy" over not getting Ministership. "We have discussed how to set it right by bringing it to the notice of state and Delhi party leadership about capable and efficient aspirants. We have discussed this yesterday as well as today and we will meet again," he said. However, trying to downplay the significance of the development, M B Patil blamed the media for creating "a hype" about his meeting with party colleagues and asked, "what is wrong with it?" Admitting that he was a ministerial aspirant, the former Minister said nothing was more important than self-respect for him, but "that doesn't mean being anti-party". He claimed the discussion was about the welfare of the party. Asked if he would agree for the Minister's post during the second phase of cabinet expansion, Patil said "...I'm not a second-class citizen. I don't have any aspirations further...even Deputy Chief Minister for North Karnataka then (before first cabinet expansion), I had asked for it." Patil, a prominent ministerial face of theSiddaramaiah government, was at the forefront demanding religious minority tag for Lingayats, the largest community in the state. Interestingly, Shamanur Shivashankarappa, the face of Akhila Bharata Veerashaiva Mahasabha that had opposed religious minority tag only for Lingayats, by advocating that Lingayats and Veerashaiava are the same, has also not been inducted as the minister. According to sources, Shivashankarappa also held discussion with leaders and close confidantes. A similar meeting of MLAs took place under former Minister H K Patil's leadership and was attended by Yashvantharayagouda Patil and S R Patil, among others, sources said. Stating that several MLAs had spoken to him personally and also over phone, H K Patil said, "we are thinking about how to avoid such faults from happening in the future and steps need to be taken in this regard.... we will take our next steps. ". The party high-command, considering everything, including performance, should take appropriate steps, he said and ruled out him quitting the party. Protests have also been reported from different places including Belagavi, Haveri and Chellakere, where supporters of Jarkiholi, B C Patil and T Raghumurthy respectively, demanded Minister's post for their leaders. MLAs at the meetings are said to have expressed dismay about party leadership, especially CLP leader and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara, who is also the Pradesh Congress Chief, for not getting them ministerial berths. Kumaraswamy had yesterday expanded his 15-day old cabinet, by inducting 25 ministers, with 14 members from the Congress and nine from his party, JDS and one each from BSP and the nascent Karnataka Pragnavanta Janata Paksha. Thiruvananthapuram: The Congress party in Kerala has decided to back the party of its former ally, K M Mani, for a Rajya Sabha seat. Sources told News18 that a member of Kerala Congress(M) will be nominated during the upcoming election to the upper house. The surprise decision came after Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala, former Chief Minister Oomen Chandy and KPCC Chief MM Hassan met K M Mani. On Wednesday, senior leader of key Congress ally Muslim League, PK Kunjali Kutty, had flown to Delhi with Manis son, Jose K Mani, to meet the top Congress leadership. Speculation is rife that Jose K Mani will be get the Rajya Sabha seat, although no official announcement has been made yet. Among the three Rajya Sabha seats falling vacant, two will go to the Left and one seat to the Congress-led UDF alliance. The decision to set aside that seat for Kerala Congress(M) comes amidst a rebellion by younger leaders in the Congress who have questioned why key posts were being continually given to party veterans. The younger leaders were especially riled by the prospects of the veterans like PJ Kurien being nominated repeatedly. PK Kunhalikutty has pointed out that since the seat was being vacated by a Kerala Congress(M) Leader, Joy Abraham, the seat should ideally go to that party. With sole seat up for grabs gone now, the decision to set aside the Rajya Sabha seat for Kerala Congress (M) is bound to face criticism from within Congress ranks. There have been murmurs already that Congress should retain the Rajya Sabha seat for itself, considering it is the senior partner in the UDF alliance. Earlier, the so-called I group in the Congress and the partys Kottayam district committee, had warned against any move to nominate Jose K Mani to the Lok Sabha in 2019 from the Kottayam. Manis Kerala Congress(M) has only 6 MLAs in the state assembly. But Manis party has been at pains to point out there is no reason why the Rajya Sabha seat should not go back to it. They have highlighted how JD(S) leader M P Veerendra Kumar was nominated to the Rajya Sabha despite having no MLAs in the assembly. With this, all ambiguity over Manis return to the UDF fold is now over. The KC(M) had quit UDF after the 2016 assembly election. Efforts to bring him back to the fold have been on for months now, especially since some overtures towards Mani by the Left last year. They have gained urgency after the Congresss drubbing in the recently concluded Chengannur by-election. Mani had offered support to the UDF candidate in Chengannur but had shied away from announcing a formal re-entry into the opposition front in Kerala. It is understood that the move to hand the seat to KM Mani has the blessings of former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. In a not-so-surprising move after the Chengannur debacle, Chandy had been kicked upstairs as the AICC in-charge of Andhra. But a success in bringing a heavyweight like Mani back to the UDF fold will be a feather in his cap. This will give him more currency in ensuring his picks are nominated for key organisational posts like that of the new KPCC chief and the UDF convenor. Bhopal: Taking a cue from Bollywood movie 3 Idiots, Madhya Pradesh minister Vishwas Sarang has claimed that Congress president Rahul Gandhis Mandsaur speech was inspired by Chatur Ramalingams hilarious oration in the film. One of the protagonists, Rancho (played by Aamir Khan), had replaced the words chamatkar (magic) and dhan (wealth) from the written speech of Chatur or Silencer as a prank. The change of words turned his address into a funny one. Comparing Gandhis speech to the movie characters, Minister of State for Cooperatives said on Thursday, Like the movie 3 Idiots, Rahul Gandhi read out the speech written by someone else. It was dramatic, immature and clearly scripted. There were no facts and data. He talked about setting up food processing units in the district. Only a week ago Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan had talked about food processing. The food chain Gandhi talks about is actually a fraud chain and Robert Vadra is a prominent character of this chain, he alleged, adding that the Congress president was doing politics on the dead. After Gandhi announced that his party would waive farm loans within 10 days if it comes to power in Madhya Pradesh, Sarang denied any possibility of writing off farmers loans in the BJP government. The BJP government in Madhya Pradesh is providing loans to farmers at zero per cent rate, the minister said, adding "This is not a loan but a financial assistance." He further said that MP farmers were already happy and the state government was working on a long-term plan to benefit them. Interestingly, the MP government has time and again denied possibility of farm loan waiver, saying that the government has been persisting with several farmer-friendly measures and the most prominent one was farm loans at 0% interest, that too with 10% subsidy on principal amount. Sarang also attacked Gandhi for promising cell phones with 'Made in Mandsaur' tag. First materialise Made in Amethi and observe Multai incident anniversary before claiming such things in MP, he said. Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Assembly witnessed chaotic scenes on Thursday after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan accused Congress MLAs of supporting "terror" groups. Pandemonium ensued as opposition members shouted slogans against Vijayan and the Home Department for failing to protect an NRI who was brutally beaten up by the police late on Tuesday soon after landing in Kochi for Ramzan holidays. Speaking in the House, Vijayan said "knowingly or unknowingly" certain Congress legislators were supporting "terror" groups. Congress member Anwar Sadath went hammer and tongs against the manner in which NRI Usman was beaten up by four policemen, leaving him with a fractured cheekbone. Vijayan said it had come to light that it was Usman who first hit the policemen. An angry opposition then trooped to the Speaker's podium shouting slogans against Vijayan. The CM hit back, saying a section of the people think they are above the law of the land. "I know Alwaye (where the incident took place) very well. None should forget that this was the place where a bus burning terror incident took place sometime back. Among the people who created a ruckus after Usman's arrest were those with 'terror' links, he said. Those who are now making a noise now do not want me to speak. In some way or the other, these people are helping such 'terror' groups," said a visibly angry Chief Minister. Vijayan also came down hard on Anwar Sadath, who in his speech said that he being a Muslim observing fast was raising the issue. "What Sadath did by bringing in words like 'fast' and 'Ramadan' is purposefully raising communal passion and that can lead to tensions. "This is in no way acceptable... Everyone knows what the Left ideology is towards such groups and we never ever have travelled with such groups," added Vijayan. Following the remarks, the sloganeering rose further, prompting Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan to adjourn the House for the day. Wednesday's proceedings also had to be wound up early following a similar protest by the opposition. Congress leader KC Joseph slammed Vijayan for portraying Alwaye in poor light. The Chief Minister rubbished the insinuation that his Home Department had lost control over the police. "Nothing of that sort has happened. Things are firmly under control. No one should worry." (With IANS inputs) Pranab Mukherjee addressed RSS cadres at the outfits headquarters in Nagpur, explaining to them the meaning of nationalism and patriotism. He told them that India derives its strength from tolerance, and any intolerance would only end up eroding our national identity. "Any attempt at defining our nationhood in terms of dogmas and identities of religion, region, hatred and intolerance will only lead to dilution of our national identity," he said. Indias national identity emerged from a long-drawn process of confluence and co-existence, he said, adding that the concept of modern India was not bound by race or religion. He also urged the RSS trainees to strive for harmony. Indian nationalism is not exclusive nor aggressive nor destructive. Every time a woman and child is hurt, the soul of India is wounded, he said. His speech here had been a subject a much debate, giving rise to speculation whether it would be a rebuke to or an endorsement of the right wing outfit. Several Congress leaders, including his daughter, were dismayed by his decision to attend the event. But RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, who gave a speech before the former President, said the controversy over the visit was meaningless. He said that the Sangh only wants to unite the entire society. "We embrace all, we are not just for one section. RSS believes in unity in diversity," he said. Mukherjee also made an impromptu stop at Sangh founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewars birth place in the evening. Stay tuned as Aditya Nair brings you live updates: Jun 07, 2018 21:25 (IST) "Shri Mukherjee also reminded the present Modi Government of following Rajdharma, founded upon our diversity, non-violence, multiculturalism and assimilation of ideas. He particularly reminded the Prime Minister that Happiness of people is the happiness of ruler, their welfare is his welfare. Indicating the unchecked exercise of authority and attack on institutions in the garb of a self-professed definition of Pseudo Nationalism, he reminded the RSS as also the Prime Minister that, Indian Nationalism is Constitutional patriotism'," says Surjewala. Jun 07, 2018 21:19 (IST) The Congress is holding a press conference after former president and party leader Pranab Mukherjee's speech at an RSS event in Nagpur. "Pranab Mukherjee has shown a mirror of Indian pluralism's truth to the RSS. He has reminded the RSS of the history of India. He taught the RSS that India's beauty lies in its tolerance for different ideas, religions and languages. Is RSS ready to admit its mistakes and ready to adapt India's pluralism, secularism and diversity? Will RSS give up its prejudice towards women and marginalised? Will it give up its inherent character of subjugation and violence?," says Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala. Jun 07, 2018 20:54 (IST) CLICK TO READ | 'RSS for Dummies': Congress Tweet on Day of Pranab Mukherjee's Address to Sangh Cadre In a tweet that carried a video titled 'RSS for Dummies', just when TV channels were telecasting the innauguration of RSS' Jun 07, 2018 20:45 (IST) "People are at the centre of all activities of the State and nothing should be done to divide them. The aim of the State should be to galvanise them to fight a concerted war against poverty, disease and deprivation. Only then can we create a nation where Nationalism flows automatically, Pranab Mukherjee had said. Jun 07, 2018 20:43 (IST) In his speech, Pranab Mukherjee urged RSS trainees "who are young and disciplined, to please strive for harmony". India is emerging as the fastest growing economy, but we lack far behind happiness index Every time a woman & child is hurt, the soul of India is wounded, the former president said. Jun 07, 2018 20:41 (IST) One of the paras from Pranab Mukherjee's speech at the RSS event in Nagpur: Jun 07, 2018 20:40 (IST) "Many languages and religion under come under one flag. Every day, we see increased violence around us. We must free our public discourse from all forms of violence physical or verbal. We must move away from anger and violence to peace, harmony and happiness. I am addressing the trainees, you are young and highly trained. Please pray for peace. Our motherland is asking for that and needs that. Every time a woman and child is hurt, the soul of India is wounded. While we have done well in many macro-economic areas. But we have not fared well in the World Happiness Index. We rank 133rd. When we go to Parliament, just above the lift in gate number 6, there is a quote by Kautilya, 'In the happiness of the people lies in the happiness of the king. Their welfare is the king's welfare.' Kautilya placed people at the Centre even before India's constitution was laid down. As Gandhi ji said, 'Indian nationalism was not exclusive, aggressive or destructive'," says Pranab Mukherjee as he ends his speech at the RSS Tritiya Varsh valedictory event in Nagpur. Jun 07, 2018 20:34 (IST) When I close my eyes I dream of India from one end to another. From Tripura to Dwarka, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. It mesmerizes me. Countless religions, dialects, races and castes under one constitution. That is what makes Indian. 122 languages, 1600 dialects, 7 major religions, 3 major ethnic groups live under our system. Under one constitution, one identity that we call Bharatiya. This is what makes Bharat diverse. Dialogue is necessary in public discourse. We cannot deny the multiplicity of opinion. We can only solve complex problems through dialogue," says Pranab Mukherjee: Jun 07, 2018 20:30 (IST) I want to share my thoughts that I have perceived in the last 50 years. The soul of India lies in its pluralism. Secularism and our composite nature makes us India. Secularism is a matter of faith for me and should be for us. It is a composite culture that makes our country," says Pranab Mukherjee. Jun 07, 2018 20:28 (IST) "As Gandhi ji explained, Indian nationalism was not exclusive, was not destructive. Pandit Nehru said, Indian nationalism only comes from a congregation of Hindus, Muslims and all other religions. Indian nationalism was and is above political, religion and regional inclination. This was the case before Independence and remains to be the truth even today. For us democracy is not a gift but a sacred task. Our constitution is a responsibility. Thanks to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel helped merge princely states into India. Nationalism means fusion of all religions. Multiple cultures makes us a special nation," says Pranab Mukherjee. Jun 07, 2018 20:25 (IST) "The concept of a modern Indian state, transcribed by thinkers and ideologies has provided India with a permanent edge. "A nation in the making" conceptualises the Indian state. Our national identity emerged from a long-drawn process of confluence and co-existence. The concept of modern India was articulated from various Indian leaders, it was not bound by race or religion," says Pranab Mukherjee. Jun 07, 2018 20:24 (IST) The veteran Congress leader said that any attempt at defining our nationhood in terms of identities or religion, region, hatred and intolerance will only lead to dilution of our identity. We must celebrate our diversity, Pranab asserted. Jun 07, 2018 20:22 (IST) "If we have a quick look at the history, the emergence of Indian state can be traced back to the sixth century BC. For 600 years, there was Muslim rule in India, which was taken over by the East India company. A mercantile company took over the reigns of India. After the first war of Independence, India was transferred to the estate of the Queen. However, one thing needs to be kept in mind, even after so many rulers the 5000-year-old continuity of the civilisation remained," says Pranab Mukherjee. Jun 07, 2018 20:20 (IST) "Hatred leads to dilution of Nationalism. Intolerance will only dilute our national identity. Many dynasties, powerful kingdoms ruled India in Northern and Southern parts. Our national identity has emerged after a long drawn process of confluence and assimilation, the multiple cultures and faiths make us special and tolerant," says Pranab Mukherjee. Jun 07, 2018 20:17 (IST) "For almost 1,800 years, several universities attracted students from all over the world. Indian nationalism emanated from universalism, we see the whole world as one family. India derives its strength from tolerance. We believe in collective conscience for centuries. Intolerance will only dilute our national identity. We celebrate our diversity. Any attempt to define our nation through religion, dogma or intolerance will only fade our existence," says Pranab Mukherjee. Jun 07, 2018 20:14 (IST) "Today, I am here to share my understanding of nationalism, patriotism in context of India. Nationalism is identification with one's own nation. It is devotion to and for ones own country. India was an open society and globally connected along the Silk Route. Merchants and conqurers came to India. Many ancient travellers came to India and gave their account. Various foreign travellers, who came to India centuries ago, said India had an efficient administration and great education system," says Pranab Mukherjee. Jun 07, 2018 20:11 (IST) Former president Pranab Mukherjee begins his address at RSS' Tritiya Varsh valedictory event in Nagpur. He begins by saying that he is going to talk about Nationalism and patriotism in the context of India: Jun 07, 2018 20:09 (IST) "Everyone has a different view just like Upanishads and that is the way forward. Anyone can come to the Sangh and have their opinion. We have our ideology and invite like-minded people to come join the Sangh," says Mohan Bhagwat as he ends his speech. Jun 07, 2018 20:05 (IST) "We want to unite all ideologies together. We want the Republic of India to outshine all other nations. RSS is playing its part in making the citizens of India worth their country. This should be taken up by all citizens. RSS is not against different ideologies, we have no reservation co-existing with a different ideology. Power needs to be driven from ethics," says Mohan Bhagwat Jun 07, 2018 20:04 (IST) VVIP attendees of the RSS Tritiya Varsh valedictory event: Some of the guests who have graced the occasion of #RSSTritiyaVarsh samarop ( valedictory ) program. pic.twitter.com/nv7Q341kTY RSS (@RSSorg) June 7, 2018 Jun 07, 2018 20:02 (IST) "Education's role should be for welfare of people. Knowledge is the force which can unite India. RSS was founded in 1925 and grew despite so many obstacles. RSS is very popular, we get love and affection from the society. We are a large organisation today but we cannot stop here. We are not working for popularity. We are not doing this work for fame, we want to move forward at all times. We don't want to rest," says Mohan Bhagwat. Jun 07, 2018 19:58 (IST) "No matter what our ideology, language or religion, RSS believes in welfare of the society. We have no dearth of examples of good thoughts in India. However, we lack people who can sacrifice their life for the nation. Things are now improving, RSS' goal is to bridge that gap and it has taken up the responsibility to identify such people. One can only work when they have power, and that comes from staying united. There is strength only in unity," says Mohan Bhagwat. Jun 07, 2018 19:53 (IST) "All of us are the same. Some do not agree. Some realise and agree. However, there are some who agree but think that the country will be degraded if people associate with RSS. RSS founder KB Hedgewar also went to jail during the Congress' agitation during the freedom movement. We are all children of Mother India. We all have one ancestor. We must have a democratic mind," says Mohan Bhagwat: Jun 07, 2018 19:48 (IST) "Everybody has the right to a political opinion but there is a limit to an opposing view. We should realise that we are working for the betterment of the same country but some groups have more motives than just debating. Governments can do a lot but not everything. We need to take up the role individually as well. Only then can the nation change. Even before independence, everybody agreed that we need to work together for the nation. Political differences are now dividing us. The nation's future depends on common citizens. Only when citizens are willing to set aside their aspirations can a nation change for good," says Mohan Bhagwat. Jun 07, 2018 19:47 (IST) "India had great natural resources and so India never needed to fight anyone for living. India accommodated everyone from outside. Several great minds laid down their lives for this country. There are times when we had our differences but we are all sons of the same soil India. Diversity should be accepted, it's good. We are all one, even in this diversity. Government alone cannot do everything, citizens also have to contribute. Only then can a country change," says Mohan Bhagwat. Jun 07, 2018 19:44 (IST) "The Sangh only wants to unite the entire society. We embrace all, we are not just for one section. RSS believes in unity in diversity. Every citizen born in India is an Indian. It is his right to worship our motherland. There have been many debates about Pranab Mukjherjee attending the event but we do not consider anyone different from ourselves. We Indians are one and united," says Mohan Bhagwat. Jun 07, 2018 19:41 (IST) "There has been a tradition that we invite well-known people from various walks of life for our Tritiya Varsh event. We are only following this tradition. There is no meaning to this discussion that has happened this time. Everyone in this country knows the personality of Pranab Mukherjee, we are grateful that we are able to learn something from him. How Pranab was called and how he is coming is not a matter of debate. Sangh in Sangh, Pranab is Pranab," says Mohan Bhagwat. Jun 07, 2018 19:38 (IST) RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat is addressing the cadre before former president Pranab Mukherjee is set to speak. In his opening statement, Bhagwat is talking about how the RSS has always called on eminent personalities for their 'graduation' ceremony. Jun 07, 2018 19:26 (IST) The parade by RSS cadres is now over. An RSS official is now introducing the visitors and dignitaries present at the event. Former president Pranab Mukherjee, who is the chief guest at the event, is set to begin his address soon. Jun 07, 2018 19:24 (IST) The Sangh, which describes itself as a nationalist and cultural organisation rather than a political or religious one, was founded by KB Hedgewar, known as Doctorji, on September 27, 1925, on Vijayadashami day at his house. The name 'Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh' was selected for the organisation on April 17, 1926, from a list of four names Jaripatka Mandal, Bharat Uddharak Mandal, Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Amaravati: Taking an extreme stand against a possible alliance between ruling Telugu Desam and Congress, senior party leader and Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister (Revenue) KE Krishna Murthy said he was ready to 'hang' himself if the tie-up became a reality. "There is no question of the TDP aligning with the Congress but if that happens, I am ready to hang myself," he told a press conference in his hometown Kurnool. He went on to add that he was speaking this "on behalf of the party" and it was not his individual view. Murthy, however, said any alliance would be decided only ahead of the (general) elections. His remarks come at a time when talk about TDP cozying up to the Congress has become a hot political topic in the state after Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu rubbed shoulders with Rahul Gandhi in Bengaluru recently. Some TDP leaders even tried to reason that the Congress promised to accord special category status to Andhra Pradesh if it returned to power at the Centre in 2019 and hence being pally with that party would do no harm. Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy in an interview to a news magazine has said he was asked by Naidu and other leaders such as West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee to align with the Congress. New Delhi: Minutes before the former President Pranab Mukherjees keynote address at RSS' conclave in Nagpur, the Congress has launched a barrage of tweets attacking the Sangh. In a tweet that carried a video titled 'RSS for Dummies', just when TV channels were telecasting the innauguration of RSS' "Tritiya Varsh Varg" function, the Congress mocked the saffron organisation for colluding with the British during the pre-Independence period. The one minute long clip made several claims in an attempt to launch a counterattack on the nationalist credentials of the RSS. "RSS founder, Hedgewar ordered the Sangh not to participate in Satyagraha...Sangh leaders encouraged members ot join the British Civic Guard...RSS' non-participation in India's independence was complimented by their British Masters...The sangh opposed our national flag..." it said. The Congress followed it up with another tweet sharing an article expanding on the claims it had made earlier. Pranab Mukherjee has earlier received flak from senior Congress leaders like Ahmed Patel and from his own daughter, who in a message addressed to her father on Twitter said that no matter what he said on the podium, the right wing was bound to make much of his gesture of accepting RSS' invitation and sharing stage with its chief Mohan Bhagwat. Some media outlets have claimed that it was Sonia Gandhi, who directly asked its leaders, including Sharmishtha Mukherjee, to voice their opinion against Pranab Mukherjee publicly. Mukherjees address is likely to be the most watched keynote speech delivered at RSS Tritiya Varsh Varg event, ever. Mukherjee has admitted, as some newspapers have earlier reported, that many people have tried to get in touch with him after news about him addressing the RSS event was reported. Whatever I have to sayI will say at Nagpur, Mukherjee has been quoted saying. Chinese phone maker Huawei said Wednesday it has never collected or stored Facebook user data after the social media giant acknowledged it shared such data with Huawei and other manufacturers. Huawei, a company flagged by U.S. intelligence officials as a national security threat, was the latest device maker at the center of a fresh wave of allegations over Facebooks handling of private data. Chinese firms Huawei, Lenovo, Oppo and TCL were among numerous handset makers that were given access to Facebook data in a controlled way approved by Facebook, according to a statement Tuesday from Francisco Varela, Facebooks vice president of mobile partnerships. The development marked the latest privacy gaffe for Facebook since allegations emerged in March that a Trump-affiliated political consultancy firm, Cambridge Analytica, had improperly harvested data from tens of millions of Facebook users in an effort to influence elections. Also Read: Here is How Long You Will Have to Work to Buy an Apple iPhone X On Wednesday, the former CEO of the now-defunct firm, Alexander Nix, clashed with British lawmakers as he denied his firm was unethical. Nix said hes embarrassed at having been caught on camera boasting that he could entrap political figures by compromising them with bribes and Ukrainian women. But he insisted he was entrapped by unscrupulous, undercover journalists a claim Channel 4 News rejected. Nix added that the firm was unfairly blamed for putting Donald Trump in office, a vote that put an incredibly huge target on the back of his firm. As for Facebooks partnerships with phone makers, The New York Times has detailed how Facebook has given device makers deep access to data, including work history, relationship status and likes on device users and their friends. In a follow-up report, the Times said the recipients of Facebook data included Huawei and other Chinese firms that have long been labeled a national security threat by Congress. Facebook said it would end its data partnership with Huawei by the end of this week. While Facebook is banned in China, the government could have had access to user profiles elsewhere, including those of Americans with Huawei phones. However, theres no evidence that happened. Facebook said it helped design and approved Huaweis app, so it knows the data remained on users phones and wasnt transferred to Huawei. Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the news raises legitimate concerns and wanted to know how Facebook ensured data was not transferred to Chinese servers. Also Read: Google's Gboard App May Soon Get Battery Saver Mode: Report Huawei spokesman Joe Kelly said in a text message Wednesday that the arrangement was about making Facebook services more convenient for users. Facebook said it granted smartphone access to users data before mobile apps became popular, as a way of making its service work on a broad range of devices. Device makers could then build their own software that incorporated Facebook functions, for things like messaging or posting photos. User would log into their Facebook accounts, allowing the phone software to pull in data from Facebook itself. The partnerships were used for older phones to make Facebook work or at least work better, according to the company. Newer phones are more powerful and dont need such data sharing. Nonetheless, Facebook didnt get around to reviewing these partnerships until after the Cambridge Analytica scandal developed. Apple said it has worked with Facebook for years to let users share things on Facebook through iPhone and Mac apps. Apple said it used data pulled in from Facebook to let people post photos and other items on Facebook without opening the Facebook app. It ended that practice on the iPhone last September, although similar features persist on Mac computers. Hua Chunying, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, declined to comment on the issue but said: We hope the U.S. can provide a fair, transparent, open and friendly environment for Chinese companies operation and investment. The company, founded by former Chinese military officer Ren Zhengfei, has long denied that its products pose security risks even as it grew into the worlds largest telecom equipment provider and a leading phone manufacturer behind only Apple and Samsung. Huawei and its Shenzhen-based rival ZTE have been the subject of security misgivings in the U.S. for years, but they have come under particular scrutiny since the start of the Trump administration amid rising U.S.-China tensions on a range of subjects. The Pentagon in May banned the sale of Huawei and ZTE phones on military bases, four months after AT&T dropped a deal to sell a new Huawei smartphone. Also Watch: Karbonn Titanium Frames S7 Review: A Decent Budget Deal Washington: President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had a testy phone call on May 25 over new tariffs imposed by the Trump administration targeting steel and aluminum imports coming from Canada, including one moment during the conversation in which Trump made an erroneous historical reference, sources familiar with the discussion told CNN. According to the sources, Trudeau pressed Trump on how he could justify the tariffs as a "national security" issue. In response, Trump quipped to Trudeau, "Didn't you guys burn down the White House?" referring to the War of 1812. The problem with Trump's comments to Trudeau is that British troops burned down the White House during the War of 1812. Historians note the British attack on Washington was in retaliation for the American attack on York, Ontario, in territory that eventually became Canada, which was then a British colony. When asked if the comment was received as a joke, one source on the call said: "To the degree one can ever take what is said as a joke. The impact on Canada and ultimately on workers in the US won't be a laughing matter." The White House declined to comment and the National Security Council did not immediately return a CNN request for comment. Asked about the state of US-Canada relations, National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow acknowledged some short-term tensions, but said he believes relations between the two countries remain "very good." "I have no doubt that the United States and Canada will remain firm friends and allies whatever short-term disagreements may occur," Kudlow said. During the Burning of Washington, on August 24, 1814, first lady Dolley Madison famously rescued a portrait of George Washington before fleeing the White House. Trudeau has publicly denounced the "national security" justification for the new tariffs. "The idea that we are somehow a national security threat to the United States is, quite frankly, insulting and unacceptable," Trudeau told NBC's Meet the Press. Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland questioned the Trump administration's move on CNN. "And I would just say to all of Canada's American friends -- and there are so many -- seriously? Do you really believe that Canada, that your NATO allies, represent a national security threat to you?" Freeland asked on CNN's "State of the Union." Freeland met with Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker Monday to relay Canada's concerns regarding the tariffs, a Corker spokeswoman told CNN. Corker, whose state of Tennessee is home to foreign and domestic auto plants, questioned Trump's national security justification in a statement last week. "There is no reason to use this provision to consider imposing tariffs on the automobile industry, and this appears to be either an attempt to affect domestic politics ahead of the election or for some other transactional purpose regarding ongoing trade discussions. This is a dangerous course and should be abandoned immediately," Corker said in the statement. Trump defended his decision on tariffs on Canada and other US allies in a tweet over the weekend. "The United States must, at long last, be treated fairly on trade," the President tweeted on Saturday. A senior administration official declined to discuss the specifics of Trump's phone call with Trudeau but acknowledged some of the President's conversations with his foreign counterparts on the subject of trade have been confrontational. "It's understandable that change causes friction," the official said, noting some of Trump's recent tariff announcements have brought stubborn trading partners back to the negotiating table. Canadian officials confirm to CNN that months ago Trump personally assured Trudeau that Canada would likely be exempt from steel and aluminum tariffs. The Trump administration at one point granted Canada and Mexico a last minute reprieve from tariffs in March as negotiations to rework the North American Free Trade Agreement, known as NAFTA, continued. In April, Canada tried to address what Trump said were concerns about Chinese steel and aluminum being dumped into Canada and then being shipped into the United States. Trudeau announced increased funding and border vigilance "to prevent transshipment and diversion of unfairly priced foreign steel and aluminum into the North American market," according to a statement released in April. It was the understanding of Canadians officials at the time that this would satisfy the Trump administration and allow for Canada to receive a permanent exemption from tariffs. Just days before Trudeau is set to host a G7 Summit in Quebec, Canadian officials tell CNN they are just trying to "keep Trump happy." Asked about Trump's remark that the Canadians burned down the White House, aides to the President and to Canada's Trudeau declined to comment. The countdown is on as Marc Campbell, the 'King' of Prince Edward Island racing, will look to close in on a historic milestone Thursday evening (June 7) at Red Shores Racetrack and Casino at the Charlottetown Driving Park. The Thursday card gets underway at 6:30 p.m. with Red Shores leading driver Marc Campbell just seven wins away from 2,000 career victories, making the 33-year-old the youngest ever to reach the milestone in Atlantic Canadian harness racing history. Campbell has seven drives on the 12-dash weekday program as he looks to close the gap to his historic moment. Freddie will be gunning to repeat his Open Trot victory from last week in the eighth-race $1,950 Open Trot, leaving from post six for trainer-driver Campbell and owner Three Wisemen Stable. The track record holder was a 1:58.1 winner in last weeks edition, but has to face off against the talented Osprey Impact again this week. The Paul Larrabee-owned and trained Osprey Impact will have Walter Cheverie back in the bike on Thursday after a runner-up finish to Freddie in her latest. Frill Seeker has already knocked off Freddie this season and gets post four to work with Thursday for trainer-driver Kenny Arsenault. Race analyst Les MacIsaac thinks the Open Trot will not be part of Campbell's ascent to greatness, as he places his faith in Osprey Impact to bounce back to the winners circle. Osprey Impact put in a pretty good effort last week for her first start in six months, MacIsaac said of the post-five starter. Since she'll likely be a little tighter for this one, she's quite possibly the one to beat. Other Open Trot entries include Rosberg (Jason Hughes), Zip The Lip (Brian MacPhee) and Holy Molie Maggie (Corey MacPherson). Campbell will also start from the outside in the $2,350 Fillies and Mares Open Pace (race 12) with his own Malabrigo (post eight). The daughter of Western Paradise is installed at 10-1 morning line odds in a field of the best pacing mares the East Coast has to offer. Ramblinglily is the top choice from post seven with Gary Chappell at the lines for trainer Allan Jones, who co-owns with Normand Leger. The eight-year-old daughter of Articulator knocked off this group last week in 1:56.3. Other top entries include Prettyndangerous (Adam Merner) from post two and West River Ambyr (Steven Shepherd) with post five. For live video, promotional information and more, go to www.redshores.ca. To view Thursdays harness racing entries, click the following link: Thursday Entries Charlottetown Driving Park. (Red Shores) Washington: Donald Trump's attorney said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un begged "on his hands and knees" for a summit with the US president, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. "They... said they were going to go to nuclear war with us, they were going to defeat us in a nuclear war," Rudy Giuliani told a Tel Aviv investment conference, according to the newspaper. "We said we're not going to have a summit under those circumstances." "Well, Kim Jong Un got back on his hands and knees and begged for it, which is exactly the position you want to put him in," Giuliani said. The Trump attorney said that with the summit rescheduled, the United States has the upper hand. Singapore's foreign minister will make a two-day trip to Pyongyang starting Thursday, as preparations for the Trump-Kim summit in the city-state accelerate. The announcement came a day after the White House revealed that the historic June 12 meeting between the US and North Korean leaders will take place in a luxury hotel on Singapore's resort island of Sentosa. The summit is due to be held following a rapid detente between Pyongyang and Washington -- as well as South Korea -- in a turn-around from a dramatic escalation of tensions last year, when the North ratcheted up its weapons programme. Washington: When the then US President Barack Obama called his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari to inform him about the killing of Osama bin Laden by the US forces in a raid in Abbottabad, the latter, according to a book, told him that this was a "good news". "Whatever the fallout, he (Zardari) told Obama, it's very good news. It's been a long time. God be with you and the people of America," Ben Rhodes, who was Obama's close aide at the White House writes in his latest book, referring to the response of Zardari when the US president called him to inform him about the American raid in on May 2, 2011. Zardari was thrust into a leading role in Pakistani politics after his wife and prominent politician Benazir Bhutto was assassinated by extremists on 27 December, 2007. "Zardari was sure to face a backlash at home over America's violation of Pakistani sovereignty," writes Rhodes in his book 'The World as It Is: A Memoir of the Obama White House', which hit the book stores this week. "But he wasn't upset," says Rhodes, giving his impression of the conversation between the two presidents, which happened before Obama went to address the nation informing his fellow Americans about the killing of Osama bin Laden. According to Rhodes, who was Obama's close aid during his eight years of presidency, said that even from his election campaign days, he had insisted that he would cross the border if the US had actionable intelligence against Osama bin Laden. When his national security team were debating about crossing into the Pakistani territory to kill bin Laden, it was vice president Joe Biden who was reluctant to do so. "It was obvious to me that Obama was going to do this. He had a way of looking straight ahead when he was listening at the same time that his mind was elsewhere. I could tell that he had turned the intelligence over and over in his mind ("this is a fifty-fifty call"), that he understood the risks with Pakistan," writes Rhodes. When he asked me what I thought, I simply said, 'You always said you were going to do this'. Because I'd lived through the debate on the campaign, I knew he had meant what he said about going into Pakistan," the former White House official said. Obama asked him to prepare for four scenarios: (1) bin Laden is at the compound and it's a success; (2) bin Laden is at the compound and it's messy people killed, Pakistani security services, instability; (3) bin Laden's not there but we get in and out cleanly; (4) bin Laden's not there and it's a mess. "At the end of the meeting, Obama didn't tip his hand, he just said he'd make his decision overnight. As people filed out of the room, Biden pulled Denis and me into a smaller, adjacent room and closed the door. He looked genuinely pained. 'You fellas really think he should do this?' 'I do,' Denis said," Rhodes writes. "I agreed, and repeated my point about Obama's always having said he would go into Pakistan to get bin Laden. 'Well', Biden said, 'I'm just trying to give him a little space'. I believed that Biden sometimes took strident positions in meetings to widen the spectrum of views and options available to Obama. He also worked hard to understand Obama's mind," he writes. "You've always got his back," the then Chief of Staff Denis McDonough said to him, according to the book. "You better believe it," Biden replied. "But we're also going to need to say some prayers," he added. Washington: The US State Department has evacuated more staff from China over fears they may have been hit by a mysterious illness that has struck other colleagues in the Asian country and Cuba. The department said Wednesday that "a number of individuals" were sent to the United States for further evaluation following initial screenings. A medical team was sent to the southern city of Guangzhou after an American employee who had experienced strange sounds was diagnosed with a brain trauma last month, reviving fears that a US rival has developed some kind of acoustic or microwave device. US officials have said that the employee's symptoms were consistent with the ailments that US diplomats experienced in Cuba last year. After the first incident in Guangzhou, medical tests were offered to US government employees and family members who requested it, the State Department said. "The medical screenings are ongoing for any personnel who have noted concerning symptoms or wanted baseline screening," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement. "US medical professionals will continue to conduct full evaluations to determine the cause of the reported symptoms and whether the findings are consistent with those noted in previously affected government personnel or possibly completely unrelated." Last year, 24 US diplomats and their family members in Cuba fell victim to mysterious "attacks" that left them with injuries resembling brain trauma. Ten Canadian diplomats and their relatives also suffered a strange illness. Washington has said in the past that Cuban authorities must take responsibility for the safety of US diplomats on their soil, but the Havana government denies any knowledge of an attack. The US has set up a task force to oversee the response to the mystery ailments among diplomats in China and Cuba, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday. The State Department has warned that US diplomats should alert their mission's medical staff "if they note new onset of symptoms that may have begun in association with experiencing unidentified auditory sensations." "Reported symptoms have included dizziness, headaches, tinnitus, fatigue, cognitive issues, visual problems, ear complaints and hearing loss, and difficulty sleeping," the statement said. The cases come at a sensitive time in relations between the United States and China, with the two nations mired in negotiations aimed at prevening a trade war and exchanging heated rhetoric over Beijing's claims to the South China Sea. The Chinese government, which has conducted its own investigation, said late last month that preliminary findings did not yield any clues to determine the cause of the ailment afflicting the first American employee. During a visit to Washington in May, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China had not "found that any organization or individual has carried out such a sonic influence." Wang warned against the case being "politicised". Islamabad: Pakistan's Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that former military dictator General Pervez Musharraf, disqualified for life, can conditionally file his nomination papers to contest the general elections on July 25. A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Saqib Nisar, also directed the 74-year-old Musharraf, currently based in Dubai, to appear before the court on June 13. The bench resumed the hearing of Musharraf's review petition against his disqualification for life by the Peshawar High Court in 2013. Directing Musharraf to appear before its Lahore registry, the apex court also assured that he will not be arrested by the government. Musharraf, who is the head of All Pakistan Muslim League (APML), has been residing in Dubai since March 2016 after leaving the county on medical grounds. He is facing a high-profile treason case and has been declared absconder due to his persistent failure to appear before the special trial court set up to try him in the case. The former president was indicted in March 2014 on treason charges for imposing emergency in the country which led to the confinement of a number of superior court judges in their houses and sacking of over 100 judges. A conviction for high-profile treason carries the death penalty or life imprisonment. Musharraf has sought adequate security from the government for his return from the UAE to appear before a special Pakistani court in the high-profile treason case. Musharraf, who ruled Pakistan from 1999 to 2008, has been declared a fugitive in the Benazir Bhutto murder case and Red Mosque cleric killing case. Meanwhile, APML General Secretary Muhammad Amjad said that his party chief will contest general elections from four constituencies. He also announced that Musharraf would return to Pakistan after Eid which will be celebrated after end of the holy month of Ramadan. "The exact date of his return will be announced after the Supreme Court decides on the review petition filed against Musharraf's disqualification in 2013," Amjad said. In April 2013, Peshawar High Court (PHC) disqualified Musharraf for life holding him ineligible to contest elections. A four-member bench of the PHC had also dismissed Musharraf's appeal against his disqualification. In the same month, Musharraf's nomination papers were rejected from all the constituencies he had applied for. His nomination papers for Karachi, Islamabad and Chitral were earlier rejected by the returning officers. He was given a chance to appeal against the decision in the election tribunal, but the appeal was also rejected. New York: An immigrant from Ecuador working as a pizza delivery man was detained as he dropped off a pie at a military base in New York, then handed over to immigration agents, local media reported on Wednesday. The man, Pablo Villavicencio, was allowed onto the Fort Hamilton military base in Brooklyn on Friday, where he had made deliveries before but was asked by a military policeman for proof that he was a legal resident in the United States. When he failed to deliver any documentation, the soldier detained him and called Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), who established that the father of two girls, aged two and three, had been living illegally in the country since 2010. "In March 2010, he was granted voluntary departure by an immigration judge, but failed to depart by July 2010 as ordered. As such, his voluntary departure order became a final order of removal," ICE said in a statement. In his previous deliveries to the base, Villavicencio had shown his New York identity card, which does not require any information about the bearer's residency status. His wife Chica, who is a US citizen, told local media he now faces deportation. "A lawyer told me that there is nothing he can do, that he is going to be deported," she said. Urged on by President Donald Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric, authorities have been cracking down on businesses suspected of employing undocumented immigrants. Immigration authorities recently granted agents permission to pick up suspected illegal immigrants even in courthouses, which had hitherto been regarded as off-limits. New York's lawmakers are soon set to consider a new bill preventing any arrests in court precincts. New York City council member Justin Brannan demanded to know why Villavicencio was detained by the military, and called for a demonstration to support him outside the base. Singapore: Singapore's Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan is set to arrive in Pyongyang on Thursday, the Singapore government said, days before it plays host to the leaders of North Korea and the United States at a summit. Balakrishnan, who went to Washington earlier this week, will meet his North Korean counterpart, Ri Yong Ho, and the president of the Supreme People's Assembly and ceremonial president, Kim Yong Nam, during his two-day visit to Pyongyang, a government statement said. US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are due to hold their historic meeting in Singapore on Tuesday next week. "Obviously, what all of us are hoping for is it would lead to a de-escalation of tension, raise the prospects of peace and for the sake of the North Koreans themselves improve the prospects for economic development," Balakrishnan told the Straits Times referring to the June 12 summit. "I don't think one meeting next week in Singapore can certainly unlock the entire situation on the Korean peninsula," he said. The United States and North Korea agreed upon Singapore last month as the venue for the first ever meeting between leaders of the two countries. The White House said then it chose Singapore because it could ensure the security of both leaders and provide a neutral meeting ground. Balakrishnan also said that it was the United States that had asked Singapore to host the historic event. Singapore has diplomatic ties with both the United States and North Korea. The Southeast Asian city-state serves as a regional headquarters for many large U.S. companies and U.S. navy vessels use its port facilities. Singapore suspended trade relations with the reclusive Northeast Asian state last year following tightened U.N. sanctions over its weapons programme, however, North Korea still operates a small embassy in the city. In 2008, Singapore sent its then foreign minister, George Yeo, on an official visit to North Korea. During that trip, he toured the Nampo Port and Kaesong industrial zone, but visits by senior officials to the isolated state are rare. Los Angeles: Stormy Daniels has filed a new lawsuit accusing her former lawyer of being a "puppet" for President Donald Trump and of betraying her by working closely with Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen. The lawsuit against Keith Davidson and Cohen claims that the two attorneys colluded to discredit the adult film actress and manipulate her over her alleged affair with Trump in 2006. It says the pair started working together in January after becoming aware of an article by In Touch magazine concerning Trump and Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford. "Believing this story to be detrimental to his own interests or those of his client, Mr Cohen immediately colluded with Mr Davidson in an attempt to use and manipulate Ms Clifford in a manner designed to benefit Mr Cohen and Mr Trump," according to the suit. Specifically, the suit alleges that the two lawyers "hatched a plan" to have Daniels appear on Sean Hannity's program on Fox News in order to falsely deny her alleged affair with Trump. She ended up not appearing on the show. The complaint, filed by Daniels' new firebrand attorney Michael Avenatti, includes copies of alleged text messages between Davidson and Cohen over a three-month period ending in March. Cohen in one message in January refers to Davidson as "pal" and instructs him in another message to oversee any interviews or statements by Daniels. The lawsuit also claims that Trump was aware the two lawyers were working together on his behalf. A spokesman for Davidson, who is based in Los Angeles, dismissed the lawsuit as "outrageously frivolous." "That said, attorney Davidson is very happy that he (Avenatti) has filed this lawsuit because he strongly believes that the filing constitutes a full and complete waiver of the attorney-client privilege," he added in a statement. Brent Blakely, Cohen's attorney, also denounced the suit as having no merit. "It appears to be yet another publicity stunt, and nothing more," he was quoted as saying by CNN. "We look forward to defeating the lawsuit in court." Trump in May admitted that he had reimbursed Cohen for $130,000 in hush money paid to Daniels to stop her from going public. Daniels is suing to be released from the hush agreement reached with Cohen, claiming it is invalid because Trump never signed it. Washington: First Lady Melania Trump made her first appearance in front of the cameras in almost a month on Wednesday, as her husband railed at media coverage of her long absence from public view. The First Lady visited the Federal Emergency Management Agency Headquarters with her husband and appeared well, despite recent surgery. She was treated at Walter Reed hospital on May 14 for what aides called a "benign" kidney condition and was released on May 19. She has not been seen in public since May 10, when she accompanied the president to Andrews Air Force base in Maryland to welcome home three American hostages from North Korea. Trump earlier said the 48-year-old Slovenia-born former model was "doing really well!" Her prolonged absence sparked wild online speculation that she had been out of view for other reasons. "The Fake News Media has been so unfair, and vicious, to my wife and our great First Lady, Melania," Trump tweeted. No major media outlets substantiated online conspiracy theories about her absence. "During her recovery from surgery they reported everything from near death, to facelift, to left the W.H. (and me) for N.Y. or Virginia, to abuse. All Fake, she is doing really well!" Trump continued: "Four reporters spotted Melania in the White House last week walking merrily along to a meeting. They never reported the sighting because it would hurt the sick narrative that she was living in a different part of the world, was really ill, or whatever. Fake News is really bad!" Two White House journalists said they were present when the first lady was spotted on May 30, and reported at the time that she looked well. A man with the face of Indian movie superstar Rajinikanth painted on his back poses for a picture outside a cinema hall before to watch Rajinikanth's new movie Kaala in Mumbai. (Image: AP) Sorry! This content is not available in your region Moosonee and Crystal Fashion, a pair of three-year-old trotters with lofty aspirations, took a step in the right direction Wednesday (June 6) at The Meadows when they captured divisions of the $110,260 Currier & Ives. Moosonee was in the pocket stalking leader Patent Leather when Donatover moved on the outside into the final turn and appeared poised to pass them both. But Donatover broke stride, giving Moosonee the racing room he needed. He moved wide for Aaron Merriman and downed Patent Leather by a length in 1:53.4, a career best and just two ticks off the stakes record. Rich And Miserable rallied for show. Hes come back good this year; hes matured, said Chris Beaver, who trains the homebred Explosive Matter-Lady Andover gelding for Winterbeary Farm. I was able to take the hopples off this year, but I dont think it made any difference. We send all our horses to Florida, and they work on sand all winter. Hes a big, growthy horse, and I think that helped him. He put on weight and muscle. Beaver said Moosonee, who now boasts a lifetime bankroll of $128,443, would be pointed to the Pennsylvania All-Stars and Earl Beal Memorial at Pocono. Hes staked well, and Im aiming him for big races, if he keeps showing us thats what he is, Beaver added. In the other Currier & Ives division, Crystal Fashion and Tim Tetrick found themselves sitting third after a sluggish :59.3 half cut out by I Know My Rights. But trainer Jim Campbell said the Cantab Hall-Window Willow gelding had the field right where he wanted it. He doesnt mind first-over, Campbell said. Hes a big, good-gaited colt, and hes gone some of his best races first-over. Crystal Fashion wore down I Know My Rights and held off the closing Scirocco Rob by half a length in 1:56.2, with Meadowbranch Ricky third. Fashion Farms campaigns the winner, who vaulted over the $200,000 mark in career earnings. Campbell indicated Crystal Fashion also would be pointed to the Pennsylvania All-Stars and the Earl Beal, but that he has another date in mind. Like a whole bunch of other people, were thinking about the first Saturday in August, he said. He has speed, hes good gaited so far, so good. Mike Wilder collected three wins on the 12-race card. Live racing at The Meadows resumes Saturday (June 9), when Foiled Again, the richest Standardbred ever now in his final year of racing, tries for his 100th career win. First post for the special Belmont Day card is 11:25 a.m. (The Meadows) Dear Newsie Readers, Newsie has now permanently ceased it's services as of Friday 20th December 2019. Newsie has been an owner-funded operation since day one. Coming up to three years old, while we still firmly believe Newsie has a place in the New Zealand media landscape, the cost in both time and money has become too burdensome for the owners to continue alongside other ventures. With the current government looking to restructure public broadcasting, and seemingly supporting NZME buying a ring-fenced Stuff, the time seems right to call it a day. Should it happen, the combination of NZME and Stuff will ensure New Zealands national media will die a death by a thousand opinion-based articles. Newsie has always tried to stick to balanced news, to inform readers of the facts of a situation, amid being largely ignored by government. Hopefully, one day someone else will take up the challenge to fight the good fight. The good news, however, is that there were no job losses as a result of Newsie closing. Thanks to careful structuring, everyone involved in Newsie will retain their current positions. We hope you all have a happy Christmas and new year. Stay safe, and stay out of the news. The team at Newsie The 2018 season marks the twelfth consecutive year that Standardbred Canada and the Atlantic provinces have partnered to offer the Atlantic Provinces Bursary Program. This project could award up to five students in the Atlantic provinces bursaries towards their post secondary education this year. If you are a student residing in the Atlantic provinces and attending a post secondary institution (trade school, community college or university) this fall, this is an opportunity that could help you pay for your tuition. The bursaries will be awarded based on participation in the industry, academics and financial need. Applicants will be required to submit a typewritten essay on one of the following topics: What could Standardbred Canada do to celebrate the 30th edition of the OBrien Awards? (2018 Awards Gala will take place in February 2019). Tell us why you love Canadian harness racing. Applicants must be Canadian citizens and be a child or spouse of an active Standardbred Canada member or an SC member themselves. Applicants must be currently enrolled in a post secondary institution as of September 1, 2018. Past recipients of the Atlantic Bursary are not eligible and students pursuing graduate degrees are not eligible. A maximum of five bursaries worth up to $1,000 each will be awarded. Applications are available now and must be received at Standardbred Canada by June 15, 2018. The successful applicants will be announced in early July. This program is supported and funded by various organizations from the Atlantic provinces and Standardbred Canada. Partners from the Atlantic provinces include the Nova Scotia Harness Racing Industry Association, Prince Edward Island Harness Racing Industry Association, and the 'Stretch Drive Fund,' a fund created by the Atlantic Provinces Harness Racing Commission's race officials. For a bursary application, email [email protected] or click here. Zuckerberg busted for outright LYING to Congress about Facebook data privacy cover-up No wonder he refused to testify under oath Facebook and its infamous CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, have been under fire for violating users privacy, censorship of conservative voices and a slew of other misdeeds and now, it looks like the social media giant has been busted again. This time, a Democratic congressman says it looks like the Zuck lied to Congress. The accusation comes after recent reports revealed that Facebook is sharing sizable quantities of user data with a number of other companies. Rhode Island Rep. David Cicilline, the leading Democrat on the House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee, called out Zuckerberg for his latest scam over Twitter on Sunday. Sure looks like Zuckerberg lied to Congress about whether users have complete control over who sees our data on Facebook, Cicillines tweet read. This needs to be investigated and the people responsible need to be held accountable, the congressman continued. The Facebook deception continues A shock report published by The New York Times unveiled one of Facebooks greatest scams: The social media network gave device makers access to all the deep data on Facebook users and their friends. Despite assurances that users are in control of who sees what, it turns out that when it comes to Facebook, privacy is more of an illusion than a reality. Back in April, Zuckerberg told Congress, Every time that a person chooses to share something on Facebook, theyre proactively going to the service and choosing that they want to share a photo, write a message to someone. And every time, there is a control right there not buried in settings somewhere, but right there when theyre posting about who they want to share it with, Zuckerberg reportedly contended. But, it now appears (to no ones surprise) that these assurances were little more than dust in the wind. Facebook had data sharing partnerships with at least 60 different device manufacturers agreements which gave these companies access to a wide range of data that users most likely didnt know about, and probably wouldnt have agreed to. According to Facebook, granting device makers this kind of access was essential to ensuring that users would get the full Facebook experience. Rebuking the Times report, vice president of product partnerships, Ime Archibong declared that it was necessary for Facebook to give device makers user data to get their products on the market. In other words, Facebook sold out users privacy for their own gain. Who would have guessed? Did Facebook violate an FTC mandate on consent? In 2011, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) laid out a mandate regarding the issue of consent after Facebook was accused of misleading consumers about their privacy. In terms of that decree, Facebook is barred from overriding users privacy settings without getting their consent. But the latest data sharing scandal may open up a whole new can of worms for the social media behemoth. Former FTC Commissioner Bill Kovacic told Vox, Its going to intensify the FTCs efforts to scrutinize the companys behavior and its fulfillment of the 2011 to 2012 settlement. This adds additional impetus to that existing commitment to study their behavior, to see if there was compliance. Facebook maintains that it trusts the device makers it chose to share user data with but ultimately, was it Facebooks place to share millions of peoples information with third-party companies without even asking for consent? The social media company contends that the device makers signed agreements that would prevent them from using the collected data for anything beyond its intended purposes, and the company denies that it was ignoring privacy settings and the need for consent. Clearly, these assurances are highly debatable. Between the mass censorship of independent media, conservative voices and dissenting thought, and the blatant disregard for their users, its hard to understand how Facebook stays in business. What will happen next in the Facebook saga? (Related: Stay up to date on the latest privacy invasions at Technocrats.news.) Sources for this article include: TheHill.com Vox.com DANBURY - If youve missed the news that hamburgers might play a role in the peace summit planned between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Stew Leonards has you covered. More News Stew Leonard's unveils new pastry The family-owned food store with six locations including Danbury and Norwalk has offered to send 10,000 of its hamburgers to the Trump-Kim summit as a good will measure. Italy's leaning on crime fighters of yesteryear in its battle against fake news: the postal police. As misinformation campaigns roil electoral processes, from the U.S. 2016 presidential race and the U.K.'s Brexit referendum to Italy's March general elections, governments around the world are struggling to block the onslaught of fake news. France's effort to address the issue with new legislation -- its anti-fake news bill lands in parliament Thursday -- is already raising questions about whether it's the best answer to a complicated problem. Italy, for its part, is going down a different route, mixing the new with the old. The country is calling on its once-outdated Polizia Postale, or postal police, to stop the spread of unfounded reports on the web. Created in 1981 and based in Rome, the postal police originally guarded post offices and supplied armed escorts for cash-in-transit vans as well as fighting cyber-crime of all sorts. Today it counts about 2,000 members, each working within the Italian police force and dividing their time between cybersecurity operations and more traditional legal matters. It still investigates fake postage stamps and related fraud, but its forces in locations across Italy have expanded their expertise to the web, catching pedophilia, hacking, money-laundering, credit-card fraud, copyright violations by monitoring other platforms. The postal police now regularly issues warnings on its website to users about false news reports. It became extra active ahead of Italy's March 4 election, when it launched a "red button" on its website for people to denounce fake claims. Fabricated election polls and false reports about local incidents, often involving immigrants and other minorities, were among the fakes that plagued Italy over the past year. Several news outlets in November reported that an underage Muslim girl had been assaulted by her much older husband in the city of Padua, and was in hospital -- a story that made the rounds on social media and was shared by the likes of politician Matteo Salvini, before being later denied by the police. The then-interior minister, Marco Minniti, described the types of reports that would be flagged as "news which is clearly baseless." "The police doesn't take part in the political debate," he said. But Italy's efforts to utilize the old guard, or France's decision to create news laws, may not please Europe at large. The region has coordinated on privacy protection, such as with the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation, but member nations have so far gone their own way to fight fake news. "There have been several legislative initiatives to stop the spread of false information since the beginning of the 19th century," either because those fakes could impact merchandise prices or politics, said Nathalie Mallet-Poujol, a member of the Montpellier University law faculty and a director of research at French public laboratory CNRS. "With the black hole that is the Internet, these old debates are taking on a whole other dimension." A pair of $50,000 Ohio Sires Stakes divisions for three-year-old trotting fillies will be contested this coming Monday evening (June 11) at Northfield Park, as the second of four legs of the series for Ohio-sired foals will be contested. First-race post time will be at 6 p.m. (ET). Leg 1 winners Red Storm and Non Smoker are set to battle in the second division (Race 5, post time 7:20 p.m.), and will be joined by Looking For Zelda, who captured a $24,455 Currier & Ives division at the Meadows in 1:54.1 on June 5. Red Storm, a Chris Beaver trainee owned by breeder Sandra Burnett of Wilmington, OH, won her opening-leg division of the series decisively in a career-best 1:55.4 on May 4 at Miami Valley Raceway. The chestnut daughter by Stormin Normand earned $109,975 as a freshman, and has returned to her winning ways this season, as she has recorded three triumphs and a second from four starts and $65,000 in seasonal earnings. Aaron Merriman will pilot Red Storm from the rail. Non Smoker was equally as decisive, as she posted a 1:54 clocking in her opening-leg victory. In that mile she put in a wire-to-wire performance in which she held off the hard-trying Risky Deal (also in this same division) by half a length at the wire. The daughter of My MVP, who is owned by Stephen Sexton of Xenia, OH and was bred by Stephanie Smith-Rothaug, has seasonal earnings of $37,300 and a career bankroll of $57,851 from four wins, one second and one third in 11 lifetime trips postward. Danny Noble trains and drives. Robert Keys Looking For Zelda is no stranger to the Ohio program, as she earned $228,675 at two for her owner/breeder during her freshman campaign. Though she was third in her opening-leg division, she rebounded smartly to take the Currier & Ives earlier this week under the watchful eye of trainer Norm Parker. From three starts this season she has two wins and $43,227 in the bank. Tony Hall steers the rugged filly. In the first sires stakes division (Race 3, post time 6:40 p.m.) Impinktoo will have the benefit of the rail for the ownership troika of Billy Walters, Joe McLead and Rtk Racing. The filly was formerly trained by Jim & Kim Dailey, but now races for trainer Ron Burke. The Manofmanymissions filly banked $167,040 at two and most recently captured a Scioto overnight in 1:55.3 as the publics choice on June 1. Kayne Kauffman has received the driving assignment for the Monday tilt. (OSDF) An Orange resident convicted in 2007 of identity and credit card theft will have a chance to argue that her sentence was imposed in an illegal manner, as she claims she wasnt given a proper chance to participate in the pre-sentencing process. Chandra Bozelko was sentenced in 2007 to serve five years in prison, followed by four years of probation following her conviction on larceny, identity theft and forgery counts related to a scheme to acquire expensive items like jewelry. Bozelko has already served her prison time, though she is still on probation. In a decision issued this month, the state Appellate Court ruled Superior Court Judge John Cronan erred when he dismissed Bozelkos motion to correct an illegal sentence. The ruling means the case will be sent back to Superior Court, so Bozelko will get a hearing on her motion. The court previously affirmed Bozelkos convictions. Although the recent decision doesnt overturn my convictions, Im very pleased the Appellate Court acknowledged that at least one of the rulings in my case was wrong, Bozelko said, via email Tuesday. The way I was sentenced was blatantly illegal and now I will have a chance to prove that. Bozelko, who resided at her fathers home at 183 Wild Rose Drive, used stolen credit card numbers to place orders at Amazon.com, San Francisco-based beauty chain Sephora, and New York spa BlissWorld during early 2005. According to police, Bozelko even tried to use a New York mans identity to order a $35,000 diamond necklace from Bergdorf Goodman in Manhattan, but the U.S. Postal Service and police set up a sting and arrested her. While her incarceration is already behind her, Bozelko hopes this ruling will impact how other defendants cases are handled. It may seem silly to seek resentencing after having completed most of my sentence, but there is a larger precedent to be established here, Bozelko said. No court should sentence a defendant when her attorney tells the court that she (the attorney) is unprepared. Bozelko alleges her sentencing was illegal for two reasons. Prior to sentencing, Bozelko had switched to a new attorney. Bozelko asserts the sentencing was done despite her new attorneys insistence that she was not yet prepared and needed a continuance. Also, Bozelko said Cronan relied on a pre-sentence investigation report which falsely claimed she was unwilling to participate in the pre-sentencing process, which involves obtaining a defendants background and history. According to the Appellate Court decision, a probation officer, Lisa Gerald, who was assigned to conduct the pre-sentencing report, contacted Bozelko and instructed her to report for an interview. Bozelko said she was seeking a new attorney, and asked for time so the new attorney could be present. Gerald replied to Bozelko that she would not interview her until all issues pertaining to her counsel had been resolved, the appellate court ruling states. However, days later, Cronan reported he received a letter notifying him Bozelko had chosen not to participate. Cronan subsequently proceeded to sentence her, in spite of her new attorney, Tina DAmato, asking for a continuance to allow time for the probation office to interview Bozelko with her present. DAmato also wanted more time to review the case, court documents show. Bozelko alleged her sentence was imposed illegally, because the pre-sentence report was prepared without her input, depriving her of the chance to present any evidence in support of a lighter sentence, the recent ruling states. Bozelko would have mentioned issues such as family dysfunction, and how she had been incorrectly diagnosed and medicated, prior to being correctly diagnosed and treated for depression, according to the ruling. By law, all defendants have a right to participate in their pre-sentence investigations. I was denied that right, Bozelko said. A hearing on my motion to correct an illegal sentence will allow me to prove that my rights were violated and, ultimately, allow me to have another sentencing hearing if the judge grants the motion to correct. Milford States Attorney Kevin Lawlor declined to comment on the Appellate Court ruling Tuesday. The state Department of Motor Vehicles on Thursday unveiled a new way to avoid long wait times an electronic kiosk and express center at a credit union in Milford. The state-of-the-art DMV Express Center facility is the first in the state and one of more to come, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said. The service is an innovative step forward, giving customers a reliable option to renew drivers licenses, while at the same time reducing the strain on DMV locations, Malloy said. After AAA Northeast announced in 2016 that it would no longer provide DMV services at its branch offices in New Haven and Fairfield County, the state started looking for other businesses that would be interested in hosting a DMV kiosk. It issued a request for proposal and, as a result, the Nutmeg State Financial Credit Union on Boston Post Road will open Thursday. Planning is under way to offer similar services at WorkPlace offices, state officials said.. Services provided at the credit union include verified drivers license renewals [U.S. citizens only], regular license renewals, ID card renewals [U.S. citizens only], duplicate drivers licenses, learners permits and name changes. We are excited about opening this Milford location to serve the Southern Connecticut area, DMV Commissioner Michael Bzdyra said. We believe this partnership will serve the citizens of Connecticut well by giving them additional places for license and ID card renewal services. Hours could be extended in the future, officials said. State Department of Banking Commissioner Jorge Perez said adding DMV services to credit unions is good for all involved. Innovations like these not only help strengthen our credit unions in the state but allow them to grow and thrive, Perez said. Here, government and industry worked together, not only for the benefit of Nutmegs members, but all Connecticut residents. Nutmeg State Financial Credit Union President John Holt also praised the effort. Our intent is to offer convenience through technology whether you are doing your banking or renewing your license, Hold said. We have always been dedicated to providing outstanding service and convenience for our members and will offer that same commitment to the DMV experience. A convenience fee is charged for non-Nutmeg members to complete DMV transactions. Customers at the Milford location will also be given the opportunity to register to vote. The Milford DMV Express Center will be open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon bcummings@ctpost.com Judicial Watch Uncovers Hidden Strzok Emails in Latest Production of Clinton-Lynch Tarmac Meeting Docs -- Strzok Email Suggests Clinton Investigation Decision Made in April 2016 Contact: Jill Farrell, Judicial Watch , 202-646-5188WASHINGTON, June 7, 2018 / Standard Newswire / -- Judicial Watch today released 16 pages of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) documents related to the June 2016 tarmac meeting between former Attorney General Loretta Lynch and former President Bill Clinton showing involvement of the FBI's former Chief of Counterespionage Peter Strzok.The FBI originally informed Judicial Watch they could not locate any records related to the tarmac meeting. However, in a related FOIA lawsuit , the Justice Department located emails in which Justice Department officials communicated with the FBI and wrote that they had communicated with the FBI. As a result, by letter dated August 10, 2017, the FBI stated, "Upon further review, we subsequently determined potentially responsive documents may exist. As a result, your [FOIA] request has been reopened ..." This is the second batch of documents the FBI produced since telling Judicial Watch they had no tarmac-related records.The new documents were obtained... Editors note: This is the 14th part in the Registers Top 50 Project as we roll out the stories through this year. Today, Franklin Street in Wooster Square is cut in half. Running north to south, it is bisected by Interstate 91. In the north, it borders the Farnam Courts housing project, and in the south it intersects with Wooster Street and an Interstate 95 north on-ramp. There is little to suggest the thriving garment industry the neighborhood was once home to. Yet, in January 1957, when New Haven factories still employed thousands and a newspaper had several editions throughout the day, you could read about a devastating fire the same day it happened. If you were living in Wooster Square, you probably knew already. The evening edition of the New Haven Register on Jan. 25, 1957, carried the headline Fatal factory blaze shocks city/ Death toll of nine now probable. The news was even worse: 15 people died as a result of the fire 61 years ago. Six others died of severe burns in the following weeks, the Register later reported. New Haven Register archives But in the hours and days following the fire, news reports described a horrific scene. Many of the victims were trapped on fire escapes where they burned to death. Most were women. The Registers Frank Whelen reported that priests were on the scene to administer last rites to the dying, that every ambulance in the city was rushed to the scene to remove the badly burned victims, and that the death toll might rise. Flames burst out on a lower floor of the factory building and raced upward with lightning speed. The entire structure was a mass of flames within 20 minutes, the story read. Pain-wracked screams told story of death, one Register headline said. Hospitals are scene of pain and horror as injured and dead begin to arrive another headline reported. In the following days, the number of dead crept up bit by bit, as people in hospitals succumbed to their injuries. Within a few weeks, 15 people who were burned in the fire would die. The factory at 62 Franklin St. was the home of four different manufacturing companies, two of them dress manufacturers: the Andy Tommy Dress Co. and the Jo-al Dress Co. The stories of the workers who lost their lives are in some way a catalog of the experience of New Haven. Angelina Pascarella DiRienzo was 18, and was born in Caiazzo, Italy, before coming to New Haven with her parents. Winifred Freeman of Legion Avenue had only worked at the factory on the third floor of the Franklin Street building for a month before the fire took her life. She had previously operated a sewing machine at a factory on Chapel Street, and had lived in the city all her life. Angelina Romano had only just arrived in New Haven from Sicily that fall. Her death left five children motherless, one back in Sicily and four on Grand Avenue. Sophie Christodolidou had only just migrated from the Greek island of Somos. While she lied in the Hospital of St. Raphael being treated for the burns that would eventually take her life, her aunt Mary also living in New Haven sent an affidavit to the American Consulate in Athens, signed by Sophies doctor, asking for expedited visas for Sophies parents to come to America. Sophie died before the visas were issued. In the days following the fire, as it became clear that the Franklin Street fire was would be the deadliest fire in the citys history, Fire Chief Thomas J. Collins reported that the loss of life was due primarily to a crush at one fire escape and a sense of panic that set in, while other avenues of flight were only lightly used, the Register reported. New Haven Battalion Chief Frank Ricci, who is president of the NHPD firefighters union, Local 825, said the losses suffered that horrible day remind us all of the dangers of fire and as citizens we owe it to the victims to be prepared. While this tragedy was a dark day in our citys history, the significant loss of life combined with other losses in the nation led to the adoption of positive changes to the fire code regulations making the U.S. a safer place to live and work, he said. Simply honor the victims by checking the batteries in your smoke detector, sleep with your doors closed and always be aware of the exits. The 1957 fire, in many ways, signaled a shift in the fabric of the city, though few would have recognized at the time just how big of a shift. The deadly Franklin Street fire came the same year that plans were being finalized to knock down significant portions of the neighborhood to make way for the interstate highway. Two days after the January 24 fire, after 9 people had died and 6 more were in the hospital, city development administrator Edward Logue would would point out that some 35 people had died in the Wooster Square factories and 73 had been injured in the preceding 15 years. The fire happened on the same block as a fire at the New Haven Quilt & Pad Co., which had taken 10 lives in 1941. Since the turn of the century only three other fires have been as deadly, the Register reported in 1957. According to a story in the New Haven Register, the factory itself was to be torn down for a redevelopment plan. Logue cited the buildings history as proof of the need for such a plan, the Register article reported. Logue distinguished this industrial area of Wooster Square from the Oak Street neighborhood, which would be entirely demolished to make way for the Route 34 connector. Wooster Square, on the other hand, would be somewhat spared by the highway-centered redevelopment. One of the priorities Logue identified to the Register in the wake of the fire was enforcing the occupancy provisions of the housing code. The overcrowded dwellings and factories would need to be cleared to make room for the coming highway. As the fire smoldered on Franklin Street, it marked the beginning of the end of an older Wooster Square, where factory labor employed most, and before the interstate system carved it up. In many ways, the tragedy on Franklin Street was a case of lessons not learned from the fire on the same block the previous decade. Four months after the fire in May, coroner James Corrigan made a number of recommendations: fire drills and tests of evacuation procedures, sprinkler systems, fire-resistant waste bins, and daily disposal of waste materials. No one would be held criminally responsible, however, as there were no laws mandating sprinkler systems or fire drills. Everyone with an enlightened viewpoint recognizes that the disaster could have been eliminated by a little education and instruction, Corrigan said. It is amazing to realize that many of the occupants of the building were unaware of the existence of the rear stairway. In the face of such inexperience and unfamiliarity, it is difficult to understand the resistance of some industrialists to occasional fire drills. Corrigan himself had made the same recommendation about sprinklers 16 years previously after the Quilt and Pad Co. fire. Today, Conte West Hills Magnet School occupies the spot where the Franklin Street factories once stood, and sprinkler systems and fire drills are almost universal. New Havens garment industry, however, is no more. Exodus Mandate Project & Frontline Ministries, Inc. Starts New Livestream Program Contact: Chaplain E. Ray Moore, (Lt.Col.) USAR Ret., President, Frontline Ministries, Inc., 803-714-1744, exodusmandate@gmail.com; www.exodusmandate.org COLUMBIA, S.C., June 7, 2018 /Standard Newswire/ -- E. Ray Moore, President of Frontline Ministries, Inc., and the Exodus Mandate Project (www.Exodusmandate.org) announced a new Livestream program, Ray Moore Live! (www.raymoorelive.com). The program airs Monday-Friday, 11:00-11:30 am (EST), which focuses on K12 Christian education and homeschooling. The Exodus Mandate Project is a Christian ministry to encourage and assist Christian families to leave government schools for the Promised Land of Christian schools or home schooling. The website for the Exodus Mandate Project states, "It is our hope that this fresh obedience in educating our children according to Biblical mandates will prove to be the key for revival in our families, churches and nation." Ray Moore Live! started broadcasting on May 23, 2018, with the inaugural show highlighting the "Call to Dunkirk" DVD and the need to remove Christian children from the public schools. A copy of the 3-minute DVD can be ordered by calling the ministry office, 803-714-1744, for a suggested donation of $5.00. [Frontline Ministries, Inc., is a 5013 non-profit Christian organization.] All previous programs can be viewed at www.raymoorelive.com, as well as on their Facebook page, Exodus Mandate Community. "I'm excited about this new venture that the Lord has opened up for us. I am also hopeful that the educational and biblical truths shared in this program will resonate with the hundreds of thousands of Christian families who continue to place their children in harm's way in the public schools and that they will remove their children in favor of Christian teaching. This can be an important tipping point in K12 Christian education and homeschooling," stated Chaplain Moore. The show will be covering a myriad of topics relating to education, such as Common Core State Standards vs. biblical teaching, alternatives to public school, the misapplication of the salt & light doctrine, vouchers/school choice, curriculum choices, homeschooling testimonies, current events, charter schools, etc. Chaplain Moore speaks truth from God's Word we can all heed and obey, and at the end of each program, he states, "That's the truth and I'm stickin' with it." For more information about the ministry or to arrange an interview or speaking opportunity with Chaplain E. Ray Moore, email Exodus Mandate at exodusmandate@gmail.com or call 803-714-1744. DERBY A slave who became one of Connecticuts earliest black governors and a philanthropist who gained fame as the largest home developer in Derbys history are the latest members to join the citys Hall of Fame for 2018. Mayor Richard Dziekan has announced that Quosh Freeman and Harold B. Yudkin are the newest members to join the annual class, which is in its 12th year. The two will be inducted during Derby Day, scheduled for June 23. The city established the Hall of Fame in 2007 as a way to pay tribute to Derby natives or residents whose achievements on a local, state, national or international level played a significant role in shaping the course of history. Dziekan said the Class of 2018 inductees hail from two distinctly different periods of time in Derby history. According to a press release from Dziekans office, Freeman was born in Ghana in the early 1800s, and ended up as a slave in the United States. While he was a slave, he was simply known as Quosh, with no surname. His story took a dramatic turn when he was given his freedom by his owner, Lt. Agar Tomlinson, of Derby, along with a plot of land known as the Freeman Homestead located within the boundaries of Osborndale State Park. Eventually, Freeman was elected as one of the renowned and historic Black Governors of Connecticut, with the election site in Derby. According to http://museumofcthistory.org, evidence of the tradition among African Americans of electing black governors or kings can be found in several New England colonies throughout the eighteenth century. In Connecticut, the practice appears to have started in the mid 1750s. In recent years, students and faculty members from Central Connecticut State University began an archaeological dig in the Freeman Homestead to help add more information to Freemans story. Yudkin arrived in Derby some 100 years later, and made a name as a scholar, lawyer, historian and philanthropist, as well as the largest developer of homes in Derbys history. He grew up on Seymour Avenue and graduated from Derby High School in 1928. He graduated from Bates College and earned his law degree from the University of Virginia. He served with the army in England during WWII before undertaking a 60-year career as a lawyer in Derby. Yudkin, having recognized the need for more housing for returning veterans, formed a company that literally transformed the face of the city when the company built nearly 100 houses and a shopping center. He also was a founder of Beth Israel Synagogue and was very active in Jewish affairs including writing for the Jewish Digest. In addition, Yudkin was a big supporter of numerous Valley's nonprofits and a longtime sponsor of an annual oratorical contest at DHS. Upon retirement in 1987, Yudkin devoted himself to writing a 1,500 page, first person account of the life of Benedict Arnold, dubbed When I Was a Loyal American, in the years before Arnold betrayed his county. The Derby Hall of Fame, located by the National Humane Alliance Fountain at the Division Street entrance to the Derby Greenway, features a special engraved brick for each of the members, detailing their achievements. A more complete description of Freemans and Yudkins achievements can be found online at: http://electronicvalley.org/derby/HallofFame/classof2018.htm Dziekan lauded this years inductees, saying I am honored by Quosh Freeman and Harold Yudkin for their impressive accomplishments and steadfast efforts to create a better life for future generations. Both gentlemen are rightfully recognized for being industrious and achieving extraordinary goals while giving back to the community. Freeman and Yudkin join an impressive group that have come before them, including Commodore Isaac Hull, Edmund Strang, Clara Louise Kellogg, Edward J. Cotter, Frank P. Witek, Leo F. Ryan and David Humphreys. jean.sos@snet.net. Relatives and friends of Keeven Robinson, the man who died of asphyxiation during a struggle with Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office detectives, raised signs demanding justice for the 22-year-old Thursday morning (June 7), in front of the department's Harvey headquarters. About 36 people gathered in the neutral ground under the elevated West Bank Expressway, just outside the gates of the Sheriff's Office, to remind the department that they were still watching and waiting for investigators to hold the deputies responsible for the actions that led to Robinson's death, which has been ruled a homicide. "We want an arrest," Robinson's mother, Kiwanda Robinson said. "We want justice for Keeven. If he had killed one of them, he would have been arrested that same day." Preliminary autopsy results determined that Keeven Robinson died of compressional asphyxia after suffering "significant traumatic injuries" to the soft tissues of his neck, according to the Jefferson Parish coroner's office. Robinson died after a brief vehicle and foot chase with Sheriff's Office narcotics detectives who were investigating him as a suspected drug dealer, Sheriff Joseph Lopinto has said. On the morning of May 10, undercover detectives set up a sting and appeared to be waiting for Robinson when he pulled into a Shell Service station at the corner of Jefferson Highway and Labarre Place in Shrewsbury. Robinson jumped back into his vehicle and sped off when unmarked JPSO vehicles tried to box him in near the front of the store. Robinson hit two of the department vehicles before crashing about a block away. He then hopped several fences before he struggled with four detectives in the 100 block of Labarre Place, authorities said. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up "They were in a fight with this gentleman to effect an arrest," Lopinto has said of his detectives. Once Robinson was handcuffed, the detectives realized he had stopped breathing. They performed CPR and rushed him to nearby Ochsner Medical Center, but Robinson could not be revived. The Sheriff's Office earned ire from the family when the department initially said they suspected Robinson died of asthma-related complications in the hours after the incident. The department opened a joint-criminal investigation into Robinson's death with Louisiana State Police and the FBI's Civil Rights Task Force after the autopsy results. The four detectives were placed on administrative duty. As of Thursday, the case was still under investigation and had not yet been turned over to the Jefferson Parish district attorney's office, according to Lt. Jason Rivarde, spokesman for the Sheriff's Office. A Gretna man was booked into Orleans Justice Center jail late Wednesday (June 6) after attempting to set his brother's house on fire and arming himself with a machete, according to the Louisiana Office of State Fire Marshal. The New Orleans Police Department charged Mazen Hamdam, 36, with one count of simple criminal damage and one count of simple escape. The State Fire Marshal's office charged Hamdam with one count of simple arson. Just before midnight, authorities responded to an altercation involving a fire in the 2500 block of Jonquil Street in Gentilly. Upon arrival, the owner of the property said his brother, now identified as Hamdam, had showed up earlier and demanded money to pay his debt. The two argued briefly and Hamdam threatened to burn the house down. The house was unoccupied and under renovation, according to a news release. Hamdam then went to his car, retrieved a gas can from his truck and started pouring it on the ground. The owner successfully knocked a lighter out of Hamdam's hand before he was able to light it, authorities said. Hamdam fled the attempted arson scene and created "disturbances" at other properties owned by his brother. In one incident, he armed himself with a machete, his brother told authorities. NOPD later stopped Hamdam at a traffic stop. He told officers he was under medical distress and requested a ride to the hospital, but when the ambulance arrived, he attempted to flee. Officers detained him. He was taken to the hospital and then transferred to jail. Hamdam has previously been federally convicted of interstate transportation of stolen property. He has also been convicted on state charges for drug possession and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Hamdam served time at Angola State Penitentiary for the firearm conviction. Authorities in Ohio are seeking to identify a woman an accused serial killer has reportedly admitted to killing more than a decade ago in that state. The unidentified victim, who authorities say convicted murderer Shawn Gate told them was a magazine saleswoman he killed in 2004 or 2005, is believed to have been born in Louisiana or one of five other southern states. Gate, 41, was found guilty May 8 of two counts of aggravated murder and kidnapping in the 2016 strangulation deaths of two other women, Elizabeth Griffith and Stacey Stanley. He had previously pleaded guilty to other charges related to the deaths, including rape, robbery and abuse of a corpse. He was sentenced to death in those murders and is also suspected in two additional homicides in a different Ohio county. Police arrested Gate after another woman he had kidnapped called 911 from an abandoned house where he had taken her, according to a CBS News report. That woman survived, but the bodies of Griffith and Stanley were later found at the same abandoned home. Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine's office issued a news release seeking the public's help identifying another potential victim of Gate. The unidentified victim's remains were sent to the University of South Florida for isotope analysis, the release says, which found she was likely born in Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi or Texas. Results also indicated she spent the last five years of her life in Texas, Florida or the Caribbean. "This victim is believed to have died at the hands of a cold-blooded killer who later went on to kill others, and the fact that she has been unidentified all this time makes her case even more tragic," said Attorney General DeWine. "By sending this bulletin, we hope this case will get more attention outside of Ohio and that someone will recognize a face they haven't seen in more than a decade." Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up The unidentified woman's remains were found in March 2007 off a roadway in Marion County, which is about an hour north of Columbus, though authorities note she may have been killed years earlier. A forensic artist created a facial reconstruction of the unidentified woman, referred to by news releases as "the Marion County Jane Doe," using a replica of her skull. She was believed to be between 15 and 30 when she died, stood between 5-foot-3 and 5-foot-9, had brown hair and weighed between 100 and 150 pounds. Her teeth were "well cared for," the release says, and she had no obvious dental work or fillings. For more images of Marion County Jane Doe, go here. Marion County Sheriff Tim Bailey has asked law enforcement agencies in Louisiana and the other states to review their missing persons files to look for a potential match to the identified woman, the release says. Anyone with information on the female's identity is urged to call the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation at 740-845-2406 or Marion County Sheriff's Detective Christy Utley at 740-382-8244 ext. 5120. Louisiana troopers arrested 42-year-old Damon Webster after they conducted a traffic stop on his car and discovered a loaded Glock and dozens of individually wrapped bags of drugs, state police reported. Around 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday (June 6), troopers conducted stopped a car driven by Webster near Canal and Basin streets. Webster told troopers his identification was in his center console. When he opened the console, troopers observed dozens of individually wrapped bags of crack and power cocaine, as well as a fully loaded Glock pistol with a 22-round magazine, large bags of marijuana and a bottle of promethazine, according to court documents. Webster was arrested at the scene. His 4-year-old stepson, who was in the car at the time, was released to his mother. Webster faces a total bond of $20,000 for possession with intent to distribute cocaine, illegal carrying of a weapon, possession of promethazine, possession of more than 2.5 pounds of marijuana and contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile. In the "What Did He Expect?" category, a deputy sheriff who defeated his boss for election was fired one minute after the polls closed. That means Sheriff-elect Mark Maggs of Bon Homme County, South Dakota, is out of a job until he takes office in January, when incumbent Lenny Gramkow's term expires, the Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan reports. Maggs was Gramkow's only challenger in the Republican primary on Tuesday (June 5). With no other candidates seeking the job, the GOP winner would become the sheriff for a four-year term. Maggs defeated Gramkow by a margin of almost 3 to 1. On his Facebook page, Maggs posted his termination notice from Gramkow, with a 7:01 p.m. time stamp: "This letter is to inform you that, effective immediately, you are terminated from the position as deputy sheriff for Bon Homme County. As of this moment, you are no longer an employee of Bon Homme County. Please turn in all equipment belonging to Bon Homme County by 5 p.m. June 6, 2018." It's remarkable that Maggs kept his job as long as he did. Any Louisiana deputy who dares challenge the boss for election usually resigns, or is fired, as soon the deputy's intentions become known -- long before election day. Read the Daily Press' full story. . . . . . . . Drew Broach covers Jefferson Parish politics and Louisiana interests in Congress, plus other odds and ends, for NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. Email: dbroach@nola.com. Facebook: Drew Broach TP. Twitter: drewbroach1. Google+: Drew Broach. La Provence, the French restaurant that drew fans to the North Shore, has closed after 46 years, The New Orleans Advocate reported. The beloved spot in Lacombe served its last regular meals in April, when restaurant management said the eatery was under repair. However, La Provence chef and co-owner Eric Hunter confirmed to The New Orleans Advocate on Wednesday (June 6) that the restaurant is permanently shuttered. "Unfortunately, we just couldn't get the business to make it work," Hunter told the news site. For the full story, click here. 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. Investigators have determined that the three-alarm fire that destroyed the Irish Bayou Truck Stop and Casino began at the wall separating the truck stop from the casino, but officials are still working to determine how the May 31 blaze began, state fire officials said Wednesday (June 6). Investigators have not ruled out a possible electrical-related cause, said Ashley Rodrigue, spokeswoman for the Louisiana State Fire Marshal's Office. Arson has not been ruled out either, she said. As of Wednesday, the fire's cause remained classified as undetermined. Investigators have interviewed witnesses who were present when the fire began and are awaiting further analysis of collected evidence, officials said. "Our investigators continue to work diligently to get as many answers as possible about what led to the fire," Rodrigue said in a news release. The fire began just before 5 p.m. May 31 at the truck stop and casino on La. 11. Four customers and two employees were inside but were able to safely escape, according to the New Orleans Fire Department. No injuries were reported. Viewed of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. Because men get breast cancer at much lower rates than women, Nilton Fonseca struggled to get his insurance to cover a mammogram -- and to find a doctor to perform reconstructive surgery. France takes aim at fake news. Frances Parliament is set to begin debating a bill aimed at repressing phony news items amid criticism that they pose a threat to democracy. The legislation would give judges 48 hours to decide whether to block content they deem false during a three-month period preceding an election. Journalists fear the measure undermines press freedom, while the political opposition views it as a power grab by President Emmanuel Macron, above. The potential risk in this law is if it winds up in the hands of a government with the wrong motives, said one Socialist member of Parliament. WASHINGTON Two top aides resigned Wednesday from the Environmental Protection Agency as its administrator, Scott Pruitt, faced mounting allegations of misusing his authority, including by seeking a Chick-fil-A fast-food franchise for his wife. Millan Hupp, Mr. Pruitts scheduler, and Sarah Greenwalt, a senior counsel to the administrator, have come under scrutiny in recent weeks in connection with Mr. Pruitts spending and ethics concerns. Before joining the agency, both Ms. Hupp and Ms. Greenwalt worked for Mr. Pruitt in Oklahoma, where he served as attorney general. Both aides later received substantial raises at the E.P.A., bypassing the usual White House procedures. Mr. Pruitt told Congress he neither knew about nor approved of the raises, and he told lawmakers he reversed the raises when he learned about them. The departures come as Mr. Pruitt faces fresh questions about his management decisions. On Monday, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, which is conducting one of 12 investigations into his spending and ties to lobbyists, released a partial transcript of an interview with Ms. Hupp showing that Mr. Pruitt asked her to do personal errands for him, including apartment hunting and asking the Trump International Hotel if Mr. Pruitt could purchase a used mattress. Food delivery. Sanctuary. Those are often the anchors for the more than half a million undocumented immigrants who live and work in New York City. But an incident at the United States Army base in Fort Hamilton, Brooklyn, last week has called those foundations into question, and provoked new tension in the citys battle with federal immigration authorities over protections for immigrants without legal status. Pablo Villavicencio Calderon, 35, an undocumented immigrant, was making a delivery from a brick-oven pizza restaurant in Queens to the Army base next to the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge on Friday before lunchtime. According to his wife, Sandra Chica, he presented a New York City identification card, as he had done in the past. The card, provided through a program called IDNYC, was supposed to give undocumented immigrants a method of proving their identification when dealing with city agencies, including the schools system and the Police Department, neither of which is allowed to ask about immigration status. Alexander Askoldov, a Soviet-era director whose one film, The Commissar, was banned by censors in the late 1960s for its sympathetic portrayal of a Jewish family, only to resurface two decades later to great acclaim, died on May 21 in Gothenburg, Sweden, where he had a home. He was 85. His death was confirmed by Marat Grinberg, the author of a book about the film. A Communist Party member and himself a former government film censor, Mr. Askoldov shot The Commissar in black and white in Kamenets-Podolsk, in western Ukraine. Based on the short story In the Town of Berdichev by Vasily Grossman, it tells of a ruthless Red Army commissar who becomes pregnant during the Russian Civil War, which followed the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, and is sent to stay at the crowded home of a tinsmith, his wife and small children until she gives birth. The commissar slowly warms to the familys generosity and decency. Late in the film, as everyone hides in a basement while artillery shells are exploding outside, the sweet-tempered, Tevye-like tinsmith (played by Rolan Bykov) dances to a Klezmer melody, inspiring his frightened wife and children to join in. Sitting in the darkness watching them, the commissar (Nonna Mordyukova) has a vision: a flash-forward of Jews, wearing Nazi-era stars on their clothes, marching to a death camp. The tinsmith is among them he is dancing and the commissar, with her baby, follows at the rear. Gordon M. Ambach, who, as the New York State education commissioner in the 1980s, drafted what were then the nations most demanding academic standards for high school graduation, died on May 25 at his home in New Haven. He was 83. The cause was complications of a stroke, his son Kenneth said. Mr. Ambach developed a reputation for meticulousness during his 10 years as education commissioner, from 1977 to 1987, and later as the executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers in Washington. As head of that group he helped preserve the federal Department of Education by lobbying against a Republican campaign in Congress to abolish it. Diane Ravitch, the education historian, said in an email that Mr. Ambach had been greatly respected for his common sense and wisdom. Facebook is embroiled in another vast privacy scandal. The company revealed on Tuesday that it had allowed Huawei and three other Chinese companies, in addition to Apple, Samsung and dozens of other device makers, access to data on Facebook users, their friends and their friends friends. These arrangements extended to data on religion, work and education history, and political preferences. Cambridge Analytica harvested the data of 87 million Facebook users; this latest scandal may affect many times that number of users. Sweeping privacy violations have the strange effect of revealing that the tracking of consumers by marketers affects everyone while hiding how that tracking hurts some people far more than others. People who value their privacy come from all demographic groups, but the impact of consumer tracking varies greatly by race, class and power. When youre the right race, gender and sexual orientation, when youve got the right schools and jobs on your profile, marketers use tracking to flatter and include you. When youre not, tracking is more likely to be used to exclude or exploit you. This disparate impact is a civil rights issue, and it should be treated like one by Congress. This problem predates Facebook. Its apparent in marketing lists prepared by data brokers, the old guard in the consumer tracking industry. Lists of the wealthy use titles like Established Elite or American Royalty to highlight their strengths. The less fortunate are categorized by their vulnerabilities: Ethnic Second-City Strugglers, Rural and Barely Making It or Hard Times, a list made up of an underclass of the working poor and destitute seniors without family support. In one case, information from a data broker was used to defraud a 92-year-old Army veteran and steal his life savings. Its one thing to receive junk mail or phone calls because youre on one of those lists. But the sophisticated, real-time ad targeting developed by Facebook and other companies takes this marketing to another level. Tech companies can now target or exclude you entirely in secret, and often at the precise moment when you are most vulnerable. On an April night nearly 30 years ago, a young investment banker was beaten and raped when she went for a jog in Central Park. The attack left her in a coma. She happened to be white. Five teenagers arrested for the crime four black and one of Hispanic descent went to trial. As this newspaper reported at the time, they were in what the police said was part of a marauding spree by as many as 30 youths in the northern end of the park that night. After being questioned for hours, the defendants gave false confessions that conflicted with one another, and those confessions were captured on video. As The New York Times pointed out in 2002: The defendants in the jogger case were put on camera after they had been in custody, in some cases, for as long as 28 hours. As one of the five wrote in 2016 in The Washington Post: When we were arrested, the police deprived us of food, drink or sleep for more than 24 hours. Under duress, we falsely confessed. A few days after the attack, long before the teenagers would go on trial, Donald Trump bought full-page ads in New York newspapers you may think of this as a precursor to his present-day tweets to a mass audience under a giant, all-caps headline that read: Bring Back the Death Penalty. Bring Back Our Police! The boys would be convicted even though the physical evidence in the case was inconclusive. When one of the teenagers was led away in handcuffs, he yelled at the prosecutor: Youre going to pay for this. Jesus is going to get you. You made this up. Is this city, state and nation safer because they took a pizza delivery guy off the street? JUSTIN BRANNAN, a city councilman from Brooklyn, referring to an undocumented immigrant who was detained during a delivery to the Fort Hamilton Army base and may now be deported to Ecuador. In seeking to dismiss the A.C.L.U. lawsuit, the administration argued that asylum-seeking families had no constitutional right to remain together. But the judge said that the allegations in the suit sufficiently describe government conduct that arbitrarily tears at the sacred bond between parent and child, and is emblematic of the exercise of power without any reasonable justification in the service of an otherwise legitimate governmental objective. Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the A.C.L.U.s Immigrants Rights Project, said the ruling was a significant step forward in challenging the policy. We are enormously pleased with the ruling about an issue that has galvanized so many and outraged the country, he said. The judge left no doubt that he viewed the practice of separating young children from their parents as inhumane. A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment. The plaintiffs argued in the lawsuit, filed before the administration unveiled its latest zero-tolerance policy, that it was a violation of due process to separate parents and children simply as a means to deter illegal immigration. Only parents who are abusive or unfit to care for their children can legally have them taken away, the suit argued. In the strongest possible language, the court rejected the Trump administrations claim that these families have no constitutional right to remain together, said Mr. Gelernt, who argued the case. Hundreds of immigrant children had already been separated from their parents at the border even before the latest policy went into effect. In the first two weeks after its unveiling, 638 parents who arrived with 658 children were prosecuted, according to administration officials. The government plans to fast-track prosecution of those criminally charged with illegal entry in California, with group hearings near the border, according to Reuben Cahn, executive director of Federal Defenders of San Diego. Such expedited proceedings already have been occurring in Arizona and Texas, where dozens of immigrants are prosecuted each day. Judy London, directing attorney at Public Counsel, a pro bono law firm in Los Angeles that represents asylum seekers, said the courts decision, though largely procedural, represented a strong condemnation of the government. I have not heard that, nor do I believe its accurate, Mr. Azar said. There are many major providers that are providing insurance packages and frankly making a ton of money off of providing in the Obamacare markets. Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, cited news reports indicating that insurers around the country were using Trump administration policies to justify 2019 rate increases, in Maine, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia and Washington, among other states. In seeking higher rates for 2019, insurers point to several developments. Mr. Trump cut off subsidies that insurers use to reduce out-of-pocket medical costs for low-income people. And Congress, with encouragement from Mr. Trump, eliminated tax penalties for people who go without insurance, starting next year, giving healthier people less incentive to obtain coverage. These steps destabilize the health care system and will increase costs and undermine patient protections for millions of Americans, said Representative Robert C. Scott of Virginia, the senior Democrat on the Education and Workforce Committee, where Mr. Azar testified. Mr. Azar did announce one policy that is likely to help consumers and insurers. He said the administration would, in effect, allow insurers to continue shifting certain costs to the federal government because officials did not have time to issue rules banning the practice in 2019. To offset the loss of federal cost-sharing payments, many insurers increased premiums this year. State officials in many states told them to load all the increase onto midlevel silver plans, because the federal government uses the cost of such plans as a benchmark in calculating premium subsidies. Those subsidies made insurance much more affordable, because they covered most or all of the premiums for many people this year. Administration officials had expressed concern about the practice and considered banning it. But Mr. Azar said, We certainly are not able to regulate in time for the plan year that starts in January. I dont want to be scared. I dont want to think that at any moment someone with a gun could walk in and hurt us all, Ms. Modjarrad said. Please consider the possibilities that guns are the most important aspect of the purview of this commission. The speakers demands largely echoed the responses that liberal advocacy groups have pointed to since the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School: more anti-violence programs, more mental health resources and better coordination between school and law enforcement officials in trying to identify at-risk students. But the hearing provided a platform for voices from outside Washington who have dealt directly with violence inside and outside school buildings. They offered insight into the most divisive issues facing the commission: guns and the increased presence of law enforcement in schools. Advocates and educators have worried that the Trump administrations push toward hardening schools with weapons and law enforcement officers will worsen outcomes for minority students, who already are arrested at school at higher rates than their white peers. According to the Education Departments most recent civil rights data, black students were 15 percent of all students in the 2015-16 school year but accounted for 31 percent of arrests or referrals to police, a disparity that had widened by five percentage points since 2013-14. Amina Henderson-Redwan, a 20-year-old with Voices of Youth in Chicago Education, urged the commission to keep students like her in mind. She has struggled with mental illness, was arrested at school after having an anxiety attack and had her head pushed into a chalkboard by a security guard. She lost her best friend to gun violence in February. Last August, ahead of the second round of Nafta negotiations in Mexico, an official at the United States Council for International Business pleaded for an urgent meeting with you and your team before you head to Mexico for Round 2. I cannot emphasize enough the degree of concern in the business community based on the press reports we have seen of major changes in U.S. policy, the official, Shaun Donnelly, wrote. A trade official set up a meeting for the next week. Even the manufacturing industry which Mr. Trump has put at the core of his economic agenda has found its concerns to be largely an afterthought, struggling to change the White Houses approach. It is hard to have a discussion when no details are provided of where the administration is really going even at a broad level until after decisions have essentially been made, Linda Dempsey, the vice president for international economic affairs policy at the National Association of Manufacturers, said in an email to a top United States trade representative official in October, just before another round of talks between Canada, Mexico and the United States was about to take place. The email and other documents were obtained through the Freedom of Information Act by American Oversight, a nonprofit set up to investigate the Trump administration. The documents, which include emails to the United States trade representative, cover the period from February 2017, when many of the agencys top staff members had yet to be appointed, through November, when the United States had shared its primary negotiating goals for Nafta with Canada and Mexico. A white South Carolina man who managed a buffet restaurant near Myrtle Beach admitted in federal court this week that he had beaten and verbally abused an intellectually disabled black cook, forcing him to work over 100 hours a week without pay for about five years, according to the Justice Department. In pleading guilty to one count of forced labor on Monday, the defendant, Bobby Paul Edwards, 53, said that he had used violence, threats, isolation and intimidation against the victim, John Christopher Smith or JCS, as he is identified in court documents. Mr. Edwards, who could face up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced, admitted that while he was in charge, from 2009 to 2014, he beat Mr. Smith with a belt, punched him, hit him with pots and pans and burned Mr. Smiths bare neck with hot tongs, according to a Justice Department statement released on Tuesday. He also used abusive language and racial epithets against Mr. Smith. Mr. Smith, who is around 40 years old, had worked at J&J Cafeteria in Conway, S.C., since he was 12, the Justice Department said, and feared losing his job. Rudy Giuliani is technically off the clock, and physically across the globe. But Americas mayor is very much in the limelight. What is going on with Rudy Giuliani? Rudy Giuliani is being widely criticized today for comments he made in Israel. Going rogue once again. Rudy Giuliani diverted from the official lines. And you have to wonder: Why? During a trip to Israel for a private speaking engagement, Giuliani, who is now one of Trumps private lawyers, chose to weigh in on an array of hot-button issues. First, there was his explosive account of how the North Korean leader apparently demeaned himself to get President Trump to reschedule the summit. Well, Kim Jong-un got back on his hands and knees and begged for it, which is exactly the position you want to put him in. Giuliani also floated a theory to tarnish the Russia investigation. A group of 13 highly partisan Democrats that make up the Mueller team excluding him are trying very, very hard to frame [Trump], to get him in trouble when he hasnt done anything wrong. But Giuliani reserved the bulk of his fire for Stormy Daniels, who has become one of President Trumps archenemies. Im sorry. I dont respect a porn star star the way I respect a career woman. So, Stormy, you want to bring a case? Let me cross-examine you. As for Daniels alleged affair with President Trump in 2006, Giuliani said it was a lie. Oh, very, very credible source: Stormy, Stormy the porn star. I dont believe her. I dont know sue me, Stormy. I dont believe you. And neither does Melania Trump, according to Giuliani. She believes in her husband. She knows its not true. Look at his three wives, right? Beautiful women, classy women, women of great substance. Stormy Daniels? We have to respect on the stage every woman. Yes, I respect porn stars. Dont you respect porn stars? Or do you think that porn stars desecrate women? One thing that was less controversial: Giuliani appeared to be enjoying his visit to the Holy Land as cameras spotted him partaking in some napkin-spinning revelry at a Jerusalem hot spot. The Australia Letter is a weekly newsletter, reflecting the experience (and quirks) of our Australia bureau chief, a Yank whos convinced he has the best job in journalism. Sign up to get it by email and forward it to friends if you get the urge. ______ Im traveling in the Pacific islands this week, working on a couple of stories about geopolitics and climate change. What a stunning part of the world this is, seemingly so close and so far from Australia at the same time. Ill have more on that once I do more reporting and writing but in the meantime, Im going to turn this weeks newsletter over to all of you. [Note to newcomers: All our Australia stories can always be found at nytimes.com/au] Below are some of the reader suggestions sent in after I asked for recommendations in last weeks newsletter. I had expected simply a favorite book or movie, but a lot of you shared far more creative ideas for both weekend enjoyment, and future stories. Love the ambition! And the range! England was my savior, like many women who went there, or to different countries like America, she said. My choice was to get as far away as possible from Ireland. But the Ireland that Ms. Coppin left is a far cry from the one she encountered this week. Ms. Coppin was struck, she said, by the many young women who successfully came together so articulate and so educated to campaign for the repeal of Irelands constitutional ban on abortion. She also noted the new willingness to confront the systemic practice of forced and illegal adoptions, often without records, which preserved an illusion of Catholic chastity while depriving unwed mothers of their children and children of their birth identities. Despite the new mood of openness and acceptance, many of the Magdalene laundry survivors in Dublin this week were either too frail or too shy to talk about their experiences. Norah Casey, a businesswoman and journalist who was one of the driving forces behind the event, said that more than half of those in attendance had come from abroad. Most were from Britain, and a few were from the United States and other countries. A lot of them didnt even have passports to come here they got the hell out of Ireland as soon as they could and never came back, Ms. Casey said. It is great to have them here, talking, but it is also very sad. I havent heard one of them say that life was good after they left the laundries. It got better, thats all. Most of them have spent their lives trying to find parents and siblings or children who were taken from them, Ms. Casey said. Many dont know who they really are. The family of Chris Farley, the deceased comedian who made his name on Saturday Night Live, settled a lawsuit on Wednesday with an American bicycle brand that it accused of benefiting off the actors fat guy image. In the lawsuit, Make Him Smile, a company operated by the actors family that lays claim to Mr. Farleys property rights, accused Trek Bicycle Corporation of acting unlawfully when it named its fat bike line Farley. The bicycles have oversized tires and other features for riding on unusual terrain like snow or sand. Make Him Smile said in the suit which was filed in California last fall before being moved to Wisconsin this month that damages could exceed $10 million, but a Wednesday settlement announcement offered no details on the terms of the agreement. Neither Trek nor Make Him Smile responded to requests for comment this week. During his decade-long career, Mr. Farley created a brand around the loud and sometimes frenetic characters he portrayed on Saturday Night Live and, later, in movies like Tommy Boy and Black Sheep, often using his weight to comedic effect. Our guide to dance performances happening this weekend and in the week ahead. ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER at the David H. Koch Theater (June 13, 7:30 p.m., through June 17). Alvin Aileys brief spring season at Lincoln Center features three thematic programs. Celebrate Women (on Wednesday and June 16) includes work by the former artistic director Judith Jamison, the acclaimed dance maker Jawole Willa Jo Zollar and Jessica Lang with her first piece for the company. Ailey, Then and Now (on June 15 and 17) pairs Talley Beattys 1982 disco romp Stack Up with two works by Robert Battle, the current artistic director. Musical Icons (June 16-17) comprises pieces set to John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald and David Byrne. The Ailey staple Revelations closes each program, and June 14 has been set aside for a special gala performance with its own eclectic lineup. 212-496-0600, davidhkochtheater.com AMERICAN BALLET THEATER at the Metropolitan Opera (through July 7). The artist in residence Alexei Ratmansky has made a mission of carefully remastering ballet classics from days past. His latest reconstruction is Harlequinade, starring the familiar Italian commedia dellarte characters Harlequin and Columbine, based on Marius Petipas original version from 1900. You have three more chances to see it this weekend. Then the company heads to Verona, where star-crossed lovers defy their families to Prokofievs great score in Kenneth MacMillans Romeo and Juliet. Over the next week, various pairings of Ballet Theater principals assume the title roles. 212-362-6000, metopera.org BOSTON BALLET at David Geffen Hall (June 8, 8 p.m.). Boston Ballet comes to town on Friday for a one-night-only rendezvous with the New York Philharmonic. The occasion is the conclusion of Esa-Pekka Salonens tenure as the composer in residence, and as part of it, the Boston Ballet will bring to life Mr. Salonens works Nyx and Lachen Verlernt under the title Obsidian Tear. The choreography is by the ubiquitous British choreographer Wayne McGregor, known for his relentless intensity. The program will also include Mr. Salonens Foreign Bodies, accompanied with video by Tal Rosner, and a violin concerto by Daniel Bjarnason. 212-875-5656, nyphil.org And why the naked suits? Is the idea to make visitors feel more vulnerable to the experience? Image Visitors to the exhibition are asked to don naked costumes featuring various shapes and sizes of male and female genitalia. Credit... Michel de Groot for The New York Times Its a way of getting them out of their clothes without undressing them, Mr. Urban said. With clothes, you know immediately that someone is a banker or something else and when you get them out of their own clothes they can be anybody. The Boijmans van Beuningen is probably best known for its large collection of early Dutch and Flemish paintings, which include works by Pieter Bruegel the Elder and Hieronymus Bosch, Renaissance artists who explored drolleries, grotesque hybrid beings, and people and animals engaged in all kinds of coarse behavior. The museum also has a collection of surrealist art. If you look into the work of Gelatin, you see that they very often refer to those artists, Mr. Ex said. The strange performances that they do and even the costumes you put on one of their costumes and look like you come from one of those paintings. Its not a re-enactment of Bosch or Bruegel, but its a kind of mentality that belongs to this museum. Mr. Ex said he had anticipated that the show might cause a sensation and that there would be some adverse reactions from visitors. In the weeks since the exhibition opened, however, Dutch art critics have mostly been receptive of the work, although there have been negative comments on the museums Facebook page. We are a free space, so we can do things that are silly and also maybe a sign of bad taste, Mr. Ex said. This is a museum, here is a place where artists work and we have to defend the freedom of showing things, so theres a bigger side to it. But, he added, so far, my experience is that people just enjoyed it and had fun with it. MONTCLAIR, N.J. An artists career retrospective, if shaped with care, is more than a look at a life of labor. Its also a record of contingent lives, cultural changes and a political passage in time. This is true of Kay WalkingStick: An American Artist, an era-spanning survey of this 83-year-old painter at the Montclair Art Museum here. Yet what powers the chronologically arranged show, first and last, is the personal: the sense it gives of one worker growing, changing, faltering, then growing and changing more. Born in 1935 in Syracuse, Ms. WalkingStick was the child of a biracial marriage: Syracuse Girl Weds Cherokee Indian was the headline on the report of her parents wedding in the local newspaper. As it turned out, she saw little of her father over the years, though her mother, Scottish-Irish by descent, made a point of instilling pride in her daughters Native American heritage. Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous nights highlights that lets you sleep and lets us get paid to watch comedy. If youre interested in hearing from The Times regularly about great TV, sign up for our Watching newsletter and get recommendations straight to your inbox. A Fiery Mea Culpa Samantha Bee apologized on Full Frontal on Wednesday for using a severe epithet to describe Ivanka Trump last week. But she didnt apologize to everybody. It is a word that I have used many times on the show, trying to reclaim it, Bee said. This time, I used it as an insult. I crossed the line, I regret it, and I do apologize for that. But then Bee (who had issued a shortened apology a week earlier via Twitter) pushed back hard against conservative male pundits who had helped turn her comments into a flash point. I couldnt believe I was reading what I was reading on the internet, he said. And Im not someone who diminishes the internet at all, but there was a particular kind of emotional register that I just didnt think the internet could really hold. On a Saturday, several days after the Club Monaco event, I met Ms. Daley-Ward for brunch at a Mediterranean-Italian restaurant in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn. She has just moved to the neighborhood from Los Angeles after a New York City literary agent, who was impressed by Bone, asked her if she had other material to share. I know with these things you kind of have to strike, Ms. Daley-Ward said. So I was like yeah of course! Complete lies, I had nothing. She quickly wrote three chapters of what she imagined would become a novel about children and magical realism. The book morphed into a memoir after she realized how much she mined her personal experiences for material. Im going to unsettle people, she said. I mean nobody knows my story. Image Credit... Sonny Figueroa/The New York Times The Terrible is a devastating and lyrical account that begins with Ms. Daley-Wards childhood in Chorley, a small town in northern England where she was shuffled between her single mother and her religious grandparents. Early chapters focus on her tense relationship with her mother (I am angry with Mum a lot these days because we love her so much and we never see her), struggling with her sexuality (She is a petite girl and my T-shirt totally drowns her. My insides ache with longing) and being raised as a Seventh-day Adventist (We sing lots of hymns with words like, Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow). Sometimes it seems as if were living under a constant barrage of heavy news. But it isnt all bad out there. This feature is meant to send you into the weekend with a smile, or at least a lighter heart. Want to get The Week in Good News by email? Heres the sign-up. Here are seven great things we wrote about this week: What does love look like over the course of one day in New York? The New York Times Magazine answered that question in a special issue that documents different expressions of romance and intimacy over 24 hours. Our photographers captured situations as diverse as getting married, holding hands, having sex, teaching a nude yoga class, praying together and going dancing. Read more 2. Paul Ryan, the speaker of the House, promised that Republicans would draft legislation on immigration for a floor vote in the coming weeks. That sets up a showdown on one of the thorniest political issues just as the midterm campaigns come into focus. Any vote on a bill deemed amnesty by the partys right flank could demoralize conservative voters in November. On the other hand, the failure of moderates to win support for the Dreamers could harm their chances in the districts most targeted by the Democrats. And Mr. Trott, and his firm BDT Capital, seem to have plenty of that. Warren Buffett has described the financier as his favorite banker. But can he raise a new fund of $9 billion, as the FT reports is his aim? Mr. Trott certainly has a long list of accomplishments to cite in pitches to investors. He has become one of the premiere bankers for wealthy families like the Pritzkers, the scions of the Hyatt hotel fortune, and the Reimanns, the secretive German clan behind the consumer conglomerate JAB Holding. More from Eric Platt and Mark Vandevelde of the FT: The so-called family offices where Mr. Trott wields clout and raises much of his capital are garnering increasing power on Wall Street, as they hire investment teams to buy midsized companies outright instead of ploughing money into funds run by outside fund managers. Working for so-called family offices has been good business for BDT. For example, the firm has helped JAB assemble its burgeoning food-and-coffee empire, which includes Peets Coffee, Keurig Green Mountain, Dr Pepper Snapple and, soon, the British sandwich chain Pret-a-Manger. Such connections have helped Mr Trotts company to strike its own investments in partnership with those families as well, like when it bought the high-end tequila brand Casa Dragones in April. He and his team are surely betting that more potential investors will want to sign onto that kind of deal flow. The big question: Mr. Trott can probably raise the money. But since many private equity firms are sitting on a lot of cash that they cant seem to spend, what will he buy with it? Michael de la Merced Deutsche Bank + Commerzbank? Paul Achleitner, Deutsche Banks chairman, has spoken with top shareholders about merging with German rival Commerzbank, Bloomberg reports, citing anonymous sources. From Bloomberg: Achleitner has discussed a combination of the two lenders with investors and key German government officials in recent months, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private conversations. While there are currently no formal discussions between the two banks and any such move is not imminent, the chairman is talking now with stakeholders about a possible deal down the road, they said. A Deutsche Bank spokesman declined to comment. A key obstacle is Deutsche Banks depressed share price, with investors telling Achleitner that they dont want a merger with Commerzbank at the moment because it would be highly dilutive and potentially trigger a capital increase and hefty write-downs, the people said. In other Deutsch bank news: Bloomberg reports that the German lender is exploring a sale of its $3 billion portfolio of non-investment grade energy loans, citing anonymous sources. The bigger picture The news comes amid a broad restructuring of Deutsche Banks business under its new chief executive, Christian Sewing. The bank plans to shrink its operations in the United States and Asia and focus on Europe. Mr. Sewing also said that the bank would aim to become less dependent on revenue from investment banking. As part of those efforts, the Deutsche Bank said it would cut 7,000 jobs and close its Houston offices. Lawrence Mishel, an economist for the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute and a long-time skeptic of the significance of the gig economy, said it wasnt surprising that the report showed relatively little impact from online marketplaces. A lot of this hype has been driven by the tech world believing that they are the center of the universe, Mr. Mishel said. But Mr. Mishel said he was surprised by the slower growth in other areas. And he wasnt the only one perplexed by the report. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, for budgetary reasons, had not conducted its survey of alternative work since 2005. But in 2015, the economists Lawrence F. Katz and Alan B. Krueger conducted their own survey that tried to mirror the bureaus methodology. They found that alternative work was more common and growing far more quickly than the data released on Thursday suggests. Economists offered various explanations for the discrepancy. One possibility is that the boom in gig-type jobs was real but that as the economy has improved, more people have been able to find traditional work. Part-time work, which surged in the recession, has fallen in the recovery, and employment by temporary-help services has leveled off. If true of alternative work more broadly, that would suggest that what many commenters interpreted as a structural shift in the economy was instead a temporary result of a weak labor market. It is also possible that the new data understates real changes in the nature of work. The governments standard tools for measuring employment have struggled to capture the shifting employment landscape. For example, the Current Population Survey, the monthly survey used to calculate the unemployment rate and other key measures, shows that self-employment is falling, even as tax data from the Internal Revenue Service has shown the opposite. The questions on our standard surveys dont probe into the nature of these arrangements, said Katharine G. Abraham, a University of Maryland economist who served as commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics under President Bill Clinton. Were not asking the right questions, and theyre hard to answer anyway. Seven nations are getting together to discuss gender equality with a leader who once bragged about grabbing womens genitals, pluralism and tolerance with politicians who have promised to turn away refugees, and economic cooperation with a country severing ties with its neighbors. What could go wrong? Welcome to the Group of 7 Summit in Charlevoix, Quebec, a gathering of the leaders of seven countries that once dominated the world economy, but now struggle with the forces of globalization they helped to unleash. Expectations are low that the summit meeting on Friday and Saturday will produce much more than photo ops of Quebec scenery. It is likely to highlight a decline in the effectiveness of organizations designed to resolve international conflicts, like the World Trade Organization or the United Nations. Multilateralism is in crisis, said Dennis Snower, president of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy in Kiel, Germany. We have a number of international organizations that are either stalemated or their representation is not fit for the present day. LONDON After several years of slumber, Chinas luxury market is finally returning to growth. You would not know that, though, from peering into its mostly empty high-end stores. Western luxury brands have banked for years on rapid growth in China to drive global profits. The countrys breakneck economic expansion created legions of wealthy consumers keen to flaunt their newfound status. Many traveled overseas, buying high-end handbags and exotic watches in London, Milan, Paris and elsewhere. But when luxury retailers invested heavily to bolster their marketing and expand their store networks within China, the bet never quite paid off. A slowdown in the Chinese economy, as well as an anti-corruption campaign led by the countrys president, Xi Jinping, left customers less willing to splash large amounts of money. That is now changing. Sales of luxury goods in mainland China are forecast to grow by between 20 and 22 percent this year, according to a report by the consulting firm Bain & Company. The authors of the study, one of the most closely watched overviews of the global high-end retail market, predicted that such expansion would drive up growth across the global luxury market by as much as 8 percent. For 10 years, Ralph Peters regularly appeared on Fox News to offer military analysis and insight as one of the cable networks reliably conservative commenters. But he quit in March in disgust. Mr. Peters, who announced his departure in a blistering farewell note to his colleagues, followed up on Wednesday with another searing attack, saying that the network was doing a great, grave disservice to our country. The retired lieutenant colonel in the United States Army spoke on CNN in his first television interview since his departure. With the rise of Donald Trump, Fox did become a destructive propaganda machine, Mr. Peters said. And I dont do propaganda for anyone. To many whisky connoisseurs, a bottle of Glenfiddich or Glenmorangie evokes the moody Scottish countryside, with images of rolling hills and glens, or valleys. What about a bottle of Glen Buchenbach, which is made in southwest Germany? The European Court of Justice said on Thursday that a German distillers use of the term glen could mislead or confuse customers about the origins of its beverage, potentially suggesting it was a product of Scotland. The ruling by the European Unions highest court left the final decision to judges in the German city of Hamburg. Europe has been here before. The region strictly polices what food can be called and what ingredients can go into certain well-known dishes. European Union officials even provoked anger when they tried to tell Belgians how to cook frites, a local variation of French fries that have been made in the country for generations. Countries in Europe zealously guard their gastronomic heritage, and the European Union itself maintains a list of protected dishes and drinks from various parts of the region. Even the use of generic terms like milk and cream is regulated. For all his bluster about trade wars, President Trump seems willing to push China only so far: Witness the deal on Thursday to grant Chinese telecom giant ZTE a reprieve from harsh American penalties. The reason is likely to lead straight to Iowa soybean and corn farmers like Benjamin Schmidt. Mr. Schmidts forebears have farmed the same land outside Iowa City for nearly 150 years. He and his father together till about 2,500 acres of the fertile prairie that stretches from Ohio through Nebraska. When I reached him last week, he was on his tractor, spreading fertilizer on this years corn crop. Apart from the weather, hardly any issue looms larger for farmers than the prospect of retaliatory tariffs against American agriculture products. China has threatened a 25 percent tariff on soybeans and has already sharply curtailed purchases from the United States. This week Mexico imposed a 20 percent tariff on pork. The European Union and Canada have said they, too, will slap tariffs on a variety of American agricultural products. China is our most important export market for soybeans, Mr. Schmidt said. When your most important customer hits you with tariffs, there are going to be serious ramifications. My first reaction was this is going to hit us pretty hard. WASHINGTON President Trump handed the Chinese telecommunications firm ZTE a lifeline on Thursday, agreeing to lift tough American sanctions over the objections of Republican lawmakers, his defense advisers and some of his own economic officials. The deal will help defuse tensions with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, who personally asked Mr. Trump to intervene to save ZTE and whom the president has relied on to help pave the way for next weeks summit meeting with the North Korean leader. The Commerce Department said that ZTE had agreed to pay a $1 billion fine, replace its board and senior leadership, and allow the United States to more closely inspect the company by effectively having a handpicked compliance team embedded inside the firm. The United States would then lift a seven-year ban that prevented the company from buying American products and was quickly driving it out of business. [Read more about ZTE.] But the settlement has inflamed lawmakers, including top Republicans, who objected to helping a Chinese company that broke American law and has been accused of posing a national security threat. It also puts the United States in an awkward position as it punishes allies like Canada, Mexico and the European Union with stiff tariffs on steel and aluminum, and insists that countries in Europe and elsewhere abide by American sanctions on Iran. ZTE, the Chinese telecommunications giant that was on the brink of collapse after being hit with tough penalties by the Trump administration, has become a linchpin of trade relations between the United States and China. On Thursday, Wilbur Ross, the commerce secretary, said the administration had reached a deal to lift restrictions imposed on ZTE after it was found to have violated American sanctions related to doing business with countries like Iran and North Korea. ZTEs fate has been at the center of a broader dispute between China and the United States, and the deal announced on Thursday could inflame a battle with Congress over national security interests. Heres what you need to know. What Is ZTE? Zhongxing Telecommunications Equipment, known as ZTE, makes cheap smartphones that are mostly sold in developing countries, though it also sells them in the United States. But ZTE is one of two Chinese companies Huawei is the other that sell equipment for cellular networks. It has about 75,000 employees and says it does business in more than 160 countries. That makes it an important geopolitical pawn for Beijing, both as an innovator and as a builder of state-funded projects overseas. If China wants to improve ties with a government in the developing world, it often offers loans that can be used to set a ZTE-powered cellular network. PAUILLAC, France I have never been able to afford a bottle of Chateau Lafite Rothschild, which for centuries has been among the world's greatest and most coveted wines . But Lafite does seem to have a way of coming to me by chance. Back in 2004, my good friend Jason found a 1986 Lafite imperiale eight standard-size bottles in one huge vessel while inventorying his late fathers belongings in Seattle. It was enough wine to compel a group of people to fly across the country for a memorable dinner party (two actually, as the wine was too much to finish in one go). More recently, it was an invitation in a stack of mail that, because of renovations to our newsroom, did not catch up to me until weeks after it had arrived. Did I want to taste 16 vintages of Lafite at one of a series of small dinners at the chateau in Bordeaux commemorating the 150th anniversary of the estates purchase by the Rothschild family? If you love wine, there is only one answer to that question. So I found myself here in Pauillac in early May at the turreted chateau, with a few other writers as well as artists, actors and filmmakers, including Francis Ford Coppola. We were welcomed by Baron Eric de Rothschild, who has overseen the estate since 1974, and his daughter, Saskia de Rothschild, who this year took over as chairwoman of Domaines Barons de Rothschild, which manages Lafite and other properties. It was the sweet siren song of the milk bar that led me, at 7 years old, to run away from school. When the last bell rang, my best friend, Sarah , opened her small, sweaty palm to reveal four gleaming 50-cent pieces. We calculated all the wondrous things we could buy with two whole dollars at the milk bar, that once-ubiquitous staple of Australian life that is one part corner store, one part candy shop and sometimes a deli or news agent or neighborhood social club. Sarah and I pushed through the school gates by our small selves and turned toward the milk bar. Run away is perhaps the wrong phrase, since we planned to walk home, but the pursuit of candy pulled us well off course. An adult found us some hours later strolling contentedly in the wrong direction, mouths sticky with sweets. We were punished for wandering off into the world alone seeking lollies, but it was worth it. It was my first experience as an independent consumer, my first purchase made without the watchful eye of an adult tainting the experience. The milk bar provided that first to many Australian children, as well as others: the first taste of consumer lust; the first place a parent might send you alone to buy milk or eggs; the first place you were likely to blow your first tiny paycheck, otherwise known as an allowance. The stores were instantly recognizable by their familiar architecture and distinctive signage they were as much a part of Melbourne as the pubs or the trams or the Victorian rowhouses. By the western coast of Manhattan, a kind of Hudson River Riviera, the black-clad masses could be seen from blocks away, like ants. Their jeans were tight, their tops polka-dotted, their hair lank and stringy, and they were lining up for passage not a yacht, but a ferry. On board, concession stands that usually sell pretzels and hot dogs were pouring flutes of Champagne. To one side, Louis Garrel, the brooding, dark-eyed poster boy of cinematic hauteur, was vaping in thoughtful solitude. Charlotte Gainsbourg was on her way. Paris had relocated to New Jersey for an evening, at the behest of Saint Laurent. Since 2016, Saint Laurent has been under the direction of Anthony Vaccarello, a quiet designer with a taste for a high slit. But Mr. Vaccarello has not made much of a production of its mens wear, which he has shown, when he has shown it at all, wedged in among its womens. For the first full mens show, he made up for lost time, commandeering Liberty State Park in New Jersey, erecting an enormous silver scaffold, even going so far as to lay down a runway tiled in actual marble. Dr. Quake, who invented the first noninvasive prenatal blood test for Down syndrome, said the relevant genes for gestational age were in the placenta, and the tests predictions were most reliable in the second and third trimester. The researchers then applied the test to two groups of women at risk for preterm birth patients at the University of Pennsylvania who had premature contractions and patients at the University of Alabama at Birmingham who had delivered prematurely in a previous pregnancy. The gestational age blood test did not do a great job of predicting which women would deliver prematurely, suggesting those particular genes may not account for the various outlier physiological events that may lead to preterm birth, the study said. But in analyzing the blood of some of the women who delivered prematurely, the team identified seven other genes, mostly from the women, with RNA signals that seemed to characterize preterm birth. Dr. Quake said the team is developing plans for a large clinical trial in the general population. Dr. Diana Bianchi, director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and an expert in prenatal genetic testing, said a trial should involve as much diversity as possible. She noted that the genes relevant for estimating gestational age were identified using healthy Caucasian Danish women with full-term pregnancies. The women in the preterm birth analysis were African-American, and they represented only two of many potential risk categories for premature delivery, which can also be caused by infection, inflammation, maternal stress and other factors, she said. The strength of the study is showing there are molecular milestones that are achieved by the fetus and by the placenta, she said. And while the blood test is unlikely to replace ultrasound, which provides other important information, I think it will add another dimension to identifying high-risk pregnancies. To Dr. Edith Cheng, a professor of maternal-fetal medicine and medical genetics at the University of Washington, the studys real significance is that it cracked the door a little bit into potentially finding out how a fetus talks to the mother, what makes a pregnancy go. It is almost as though the molecular message being sent by RNA is a little bus that travels back and forth and is letting Mom know whats going on, Dr. Cheng said. I bet you theyre going to find that the mothers going to respond. Theres a conversation going on. Thats whats cool. Bego Anton cant see elves. But that doesnt mean she didnt try to photograph them. My work is always kind of weird, you know? the Spanish photographer admitted. For me its a reality, but depending on who sees the story, its more of a fantasy. The last time Lens spoke with Ms. Anton, the conversation was about dancing dogs. Her latest project, The earth is only a little dust under our feet, is the result of five years spent traveling back and forth to Iceland to explore the world of mythical, folkloric creatures. There are elves in Iceland, Ms. Anton wrote in her books introduction. Also fairies, unicorns, huldufolk, trolls, beach dwarfs, water sprites, mountain spirits and ghosts. Ms. Anton, 35, started chasing these sprites during an artists residency in Iceland in 2013, when her research led her to a website for an elf school in Reykjavik. I was like, Really? Elf School? DOCUMENTARISTS FOR A DAY at Anthology Film Archives (through June 21). The second installment of Anthologys series which showcases nonfiction films by directors ostensibly better known for their fiction work includes Not a Pretty Picture (on Saturday and June 16), a 1976 documentary in which the filmmaker Martha Coolidge (Rambling Rose) revisits her own experience of being raped; Filming Othello (on Friday, Thursday and June 17), Orson Welless deconstruction of his 1952 version of Othello; Spike Lees powerful 1997 documentary 4 Little Girls (on Monday and June 18), in which the filmmaker memorializes the 1963 Birmingham church bombing that killed four African-American girls; and Arruza (on Monday and June 15), a portrait of a Mexican bullfighter by Budd Boetticher, who is best known for his terse and economical westerns with Randolph Scott. 212-505-5181, anthologyfilmarchives.org ESCAPE IN NEW YORK: OUTDOOR FILMS ON GOVERNORS ISLAND at the Parade Ground, Governors Island (June 8-Sept. 14). Film Forums annual series at Socrates Sculpture Park doesnt get underway until July, but this year the Film Society of Lincoln Center is trying its hand at open-air screenings in partnership with the Trust for Governors Island, the organization that runs much of the island, just off the southern end of Manhattan. Appropriately, the series has a getaway theme: It opens on Friday with John Carpenters Escape From New York (1981), which only churls would point out was substantially shot in the St. Louis, Mo., area. It will screen on every second Friday until September. In Desperately Seeking Susan, showing on July 13, a bored housewife, played by Rosanna Arquette, escapes to New York. 212-875-5601, filmlinc.org USA Dance Day - Dance for a social cause Sketch Desk : Part of an international series, this movement was created a decade ago by the visionary choreographer Dr Sandip Soparrkar to help raise awareness about important social issues around the globe. This year's chosen topic was Substance Abuse and Drug Addiction. With the help of the inspirational Varsha Naik and her Navrang Dance Academy, a transcendent evening of performance, community education and empowerment was arranged. The event was held at JP Stevens High School, in Edison, New Jersey in USA. The Event started with a beautiful musical rendition of the US national anthem and recital of the Indian National Anthem too. The opening performance choreographed and written by Dr Sandip Soparrkar was one of the most powerful and effective anti-drug messages. The audience was captivated by the narrative of the piece - the performers from Navrang Dance Academy including Varsha Naik helped bring the story to life in a way that made Dr Soparrkar's work easily accessible to all in attendance. Later on, there were 11 beautiful dance performances from various talented artists. Multicultural and International Dance forms like - Bharatnatyam, Mohiniyattam, Colombian Salsa, Paraguay folk, Tap dance, Bachata, Indian folk, Tollywood, Ballroom, Bellydancing and Zumba fitness dance entertained the audience that evening. All encouraging the slogan is high on dance not on drugs. Dancers of many traditions came together for an evening of jaw-dropping performances and helped raise awareness about the dangers of Drug Addiction. Life was celebrated and honored through choreographed movement that uplifted the souls of all in attendance. The chief guest and keynote speaker for this year's USA Dance Day was Lion Daniel M Elkins. Elkins is a professional drug prevention specialist and community mobilizer for the Delaware Prevention Coalition. He is also the charter president of Bellefonte Lions Club. Lion Daniel has dedicated himself to helping communities fight the rising drug epidemic in this nation. Elkins said, "I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Dr Soparrkar, Varsha Naik, and Navrang Dance Academy for hosting such a wonderfully positive event and for inviting me to participate. The outpouring of support from corporate sponsors, news media outlets, local government, and members of the community for this event is awe-inspiring. Everyone who helped Varsha Naik and Dr Soparrkar make this incredible community event possible should be truly proud of their accomplishments." He stressed on the importance on community support and education regarding the sensitive topic of drug abuse among teens and young adults. Special guests of honor was councilmen of edison township Ajay Patil, Upendra J Chivukula from State of New Jersey, Lion Armando Gurra were also present at the event. Dr Sandip Soparrkar was thrilled to see the community attendance and said, "For me Dance is not just a medium to entertain but even a way to educate and create awareness and I and overwhelmed with the way Varsha Naik has brought people to together celebrating dance." As a closing note Varsha Naik said, "Navrang Dance Academy promises to continue Dance for a Social Cause every year and we promise that each year we will try and bring to light various causes that are prevalent in the society." Many Dance group from and around New Jersey Area performed in International Concert like: Sowparnika Dance Academy Malini Nayar, Step up Dance Jesse Yip, Kala Aradhana Dance and music Academy Lavanya Mahadevan, Nirmiti Dance school Seema Chandane and Aarushi Chandane, NJ dance and shows Carolina Baez, Chaitanya Dance school Sneha Reddy, Al RITMO de cali Mariana Dussan, Anne Hitchcock, Jonathan Ronen. The Event supported by Pyar.com, Seema and Col Virendra Tavathia, Komal Dangi, Prajakti Gupte, Poonam Singh , Sudendra and Anu Kumari, Stephany Kim - Chohan, Sumathy Iyer, Kaushal Kathwadia, Jyothi Bhuvanraj ,Pradeep Gupta , Raj and Shilpa Pandya. n Sexual voyeurism and exploitation have long been hallmarks of horror, but they are relatively absent in grown-up horror. It Follows, which centers on a world of teenagers, does play on the old formula of sex leading to death (see Halloween, a movie it evokes with beautifully gliding camerawork and synthesizer sound). But this movie has none of the titillation or theatrical kills of a slasher picture; its deliberate, melancholy and deceptively layered. Like Dont Breathe, one of the finest horror movies of recent years, It Follows is set in a hollowed-out Detroit, a pointed nod to our insecure era of massive economic and technological disruption. Horror often takes place in isolated settings like the woods or space, and the empty streets of a once bustling city work just as well, evoking a vanished world wiped out not by zombies or aliens, but by globalism. Its story, about a teenage girl, Jay, stalked by killers after sleeping with the wrong person, is more of a metaphor for sexual assault than a cautionary tale. And the killers are stumbling human monsters who often take the form of the victims parents. A disreputable genre is respectable now. Wheres the fun in that? Like the found-footage or torture-porn genres before them, grown-up horror movies frequently lean on a high concept, but they are far more likely to blur the line between scary movie and bleak drama. Not only are there few jump cuts, but the camera work is also intentionally slow. Silence often operates the way the violins do in Jaws, as a warning that something sinister awaits. A Quiet Place and Dont Breathe are both movies about keeping quiet to avoid unstoppable blind killers, making anything but silence equal murder. And in a family dinner scene in Hereditary, all the sound cuts out except the clatter of silverware, which seems like the final blows of a bloody sword fight. Though horror has a long history of setting up scares with jokes, in these films, the mood is relentlessly grim. There has been a backlash to such character-driven restraint among the horror faithful. On his podcast, the novelist Bret Easton Ellis, a genre fan who has been critical of what he calls indie art house horror, argued that the The Babadook was not really horror at all but a tidy psychological drama. In an interview with Jason Blum, the most influential producer of horror today (Get Out, Split and more), Mr. Ellis said too much logical explanation can be ruinous, rightly grasping that ambiguity can mean more scares. ALBANY The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge: A colossal expanse linking Brooklyn and Staten Island, once the longest suspension bridge in the world and a proud symbol of New York Citys history and urban geography. Language of origin: Italian. Part of speech: noun. Spelling: Wrong. The iconic bridge, with one Z, was christened in 1960 in honor of the 16th-century explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano, with two Zs. After the better part of a century of wrangling over the spelling of the name, the state seems poised to finally rectify what is possibly the biggest unintentional slight in the annals of American public architecture. It does a justice for the injustice that has been done over the years, said Senator Martin J. Golden, a Republican who represents parts of Brooklyn and who is the sponsor of a bill, unanimously passed in the Senate, that would add a long-truant Z to the bridges name. Verrazzano was a great discoverer, a great explorer, Mr. Golden said. To have the name misspelled all these years Its shameful, he said. The orthographic debate the bill seeks to settle is older than the bridge itself. Even before construction on the structure began, city and state leaders were squabbling over the spelling, with Gov. W. Averell Harriman stumping for two Zs, and the aides of his successor, Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller, championing just one. The war pitted zealous One-Zers against Two-Zers, encyclopedists against museum officials, historians against the Italian ambassador. In 1959, at the zenith of the dispute, officials en route to a groundbreaking ceremony for the planned Verrazano-Narrows Bridge found themselves in a boat called the Verrazzano. Mr. de Blasio had expressed support in theory for transit discounts, which could benefit as many as 800,000 New Yorkers. But he has held firm to the notion that the best approach to pay for the discounts would be a new tax on high-income earners a funding mechanism that he also favors to underwrite new spending on improvements to the faltering subway system. His stance has appeared at odds with his political image as an advocate for the poor and a supporter of social service programs. But locked in a bitter dispute with Governor Cuomo over funding for the citys beleaguered subways, Mr. de Blasio maintained that he could not commit the city to more transit spending, especially given the record of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the state agency that runs New York City Transit. Look, the goal is laudable, Mr. de Blasio said last month. I believe theres a better way to pay for it on an ongoing basis. Nonetheless, the fair-fares issue has broad appeal to the mayors liberal Democratic base, and he may ultimately seek to claim it as his own. Mr. Johnson had lobbied aggressively for the proposal, marshaling his colleagues in the Council to hand out fliers at subway stops, appearing in a web advertisement and repeatedly arguing for it in private meetings with Mr. de Blasio. The speaker has made the case that the city, flush with cash from rising tax revenues, could afford to take on the new spending itself. Theres money to do this, Mr. Johnson said in an interview last month. Last week, Mr. de Blasio indicated that he would be willing to fund some portion of the plan during an hourslong late-night meeting in Gracie Mansion, according to two people briefed on the meeting. At around midnight, Mr. de Blasio offered $25 million. But Mr. Johnson, who wanted the program fully funded, walked out. A spokesman for Mr. de Blasio initially declined to confirm or deny that an agreement had been reached. I have no reaction to it, said the spokesman, Eric F. Phillips, on Thursday. Later he said in a text message: We are still working. There is no deal. He also denied that Mr. Johnson had walked out of the meeting last week. Preet Bharara, the former United States attorney in Manhattan who was fired by President Trump, has registered as a Democratic voter in New York for the first time in more than a decade amid speculation that he might run for attorney general. Mr. Bhararas registration in Westchester County occurred during the window for candidates to gather signatures to qualify for the Democratic primary in September. A candidate needs thousands of signatures across half the congressional districts by mid-July meaning time is short for Mr. Bharara to jump in. Mr. Bharara did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Democratic primary for attorney general is already crowded. It includes Letitia James, the New York City public advocate, who was nominated at the state party convention; Representative Sean Patrick Maloney of the Hudson Valley; Zephyr Teachout, a law professor and former candidate for governor; and Leecia Eve, a former adviser to Hillary Clinton and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. They are running to replace Eric Schneiderman, who resigned suddenly last month after multiple women accused him of physical abuse. Barbara D. Underwood, who was chosen last month to replace Mr. Schneiderman, has said she would not seek election in November. Sometime in the early 1990s and not too long out of college, I fell in with a couple from Texas who were improbably far along in establishing enviable New York lives. Only a few years older than I was, they were already married, which was unusual in itself, and they lived in an apartment that they owned, even more alien a two-bedroom in a postwar, doorman building in Greenwich Village they had bought with money earned from well-paying paying jobs in fashion and advertising. They shared an exacting and meticulous style and a tendency to gravitate toward those who would eventually make a distinctive cultural mark. One night, sitting around their oval marble coffee table, my friends told me about acquaintances of theirs, Kate Brosnahan and Andy Spade, who were creating a line of simple handbags audaciously inscribed with a name that meant absolutely nothing: Kate Spade. Who was Kate Spade? She had been a fashion editor at Mademoiselle. Typically when you bought a logoed handbag or piece of luggage, you were buying a connection to a European, aristocratic past, or at least the semblance of it. Hermes and Louis Vuitton had served the French elite since the mid-19th century. Coco Chanel began seriously marketing her iconic quilted purses with their inverted Cs in the 1950s, long after she had revolutionized the way wealthy women dressed. Kate Spade had no empire, no history, only the belief that women would find resonance in the particularly American strain of gumption she was selling, the profound wish to declare herself. In 1993, the year that her line made its debut, Prada won the award for best accessories from the Council of Fashion Designers of America. Prada had begun as a Milanese leathergoods house in 1913, and in the early 1990s the black nylon totes and backpacks it made became the ultimate fetish objects of the moneyed, professional class. Their utility suggested a sense of busyness and ambition well suited to a new age in which emergent technologies were changing everything. A Prada backpack, especially, worn as you walked briskly up Madison Avenue, announced that your place in the firmament of the knowledge-class was secure. Sam Baldwin stood silently beneath the chandelier of cut-out magazine covers in Desert Island, a consignment-based comic book store on Metropolitan Avenue, his arms heavy with a stack of publications. A screen printer and artist from London, Mr. Baldwin studied the books illustrations meticulously, his eyes widening with each page turn. I can buy this on eBay, said Mr. Baldwin, 28, holding a graphic novel by Daniel Clowes. But theres something about when you flick through the drawer, and youre like, Its there! Experimental and underground artistry is the norm at Desert Island. Look through the Williamsburg stores plywood shelves and youll find glossy paperbacks as well as photocopied-and-stapled booklets with a D.I.Y. aesthetic. Surrounded by ice-blue stalactite sculptures and tapestries, regulars, travelers, and fellow artists immerse themselves in visual publications, seeking escape, inspiration, or both. Malcolm Morley, an artist who helped foster Photorealism in the 1960s, then did the same in the late 70s for the more sensuous style of painting known as Neo-Expressionism, died on June 1 in Bellport, N.Y. He was 86. His death was announced by the Sperone Westwater gallery in New York, which represented him. No cause was given. Mr. Morley was a skilled and prolific painter with an exploratory spirit, moving through an assortment of styles and techniques after discovering art in an unusual place: prison, where he landed as a teenager on burglary convictions. By the mid-1960s he was established in New York arts circles, working in a Photorealist style (he preferred the term super-realist), often making his paintings from images on postcards of cruise ships. Another work, Queen of Opera (1971), was simply a 48-by-60-inch oil painting of a Time magazine cover featuring Beverly Sills. Paul D. Boyer, a molecular biologist who shared the 1997 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his contributions to understanding the way all organisms get energy from their environments and process it to sustain life and fuel their activities, died on Saturday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 99. His death was confirmed by his daughter Alexandra Boyer. A professor emeritus at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he taught chemistry and conducted research for more than 50 years, Dr. Boyer devoted his career to the study of enzymes, those mysterious proteins that power biochemical processes in the cells of plants and animals. Building on the earlier work of other scientists and his own decades of research, Dr. Boyer deciphered the mechanics of the enzyme that makes ATP (adenosine triphosphate), the link in every cell that acts like a tiny motor, enabling ATP to chemically capture energy from its surroundings and release it as mechanical energy for life to run on. In a series of 20th-century discoveries, scientists had learned that ATP was the universal carrier of cell energy; that plants and animals created it naturally, although it could be made in a lab; and that the structure of the enzyme ATP synthase consisted of a rotating wheel, an attached axle jutting up from its center and at the top of the axle a fixed cylinder, each carrying its own sets of proteins. ATP is created and released by the interactions of proteins on the wheel, axle and cylinder. Philip George, who designed the interiors of some of Manhattans most star-studded restaurants and oversaw a short-lived but indelible Moscow culinary landmark the site of the impromptu Cold War kitchen debate between Richard M. Nixon and Nikita S. Khrushchev died on May 10 at a clinic in Cuernavaca, Mexico. He was 94. His death, which was announced only recently, was confirmed by his wife, Gail Cowdrey George. Mr. Georges career encompassed several incarnations, but they converged in his preoccupation with imagery: How foreigners in Southeast Asia and post-World War II Europe regarded the United States in the global competition against communism. How airline passengers perceived Braniffs jelly-bean-colored fleet of planes. And whether diners preferred the elegant, clatter-free aura of Le Bernardin in Midtown Manhattan or, downtown, the cacophony of the Big Kitchen at the original World Trade Center or the Market Bar there, which, as Mr. George put it, was a place that was supposed to imply business and market activity, and the last thing you would want is a lot of carpet and quiet. Mr. George also designed the Sea Grill at Rockefeller Center in the early 1980s. Often with collaborators, including Joe Baum, Milton Glaser and Irving Harper, he figured prominently in the design of the patrons dining room at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and, among other restaurants, Mondrian, on East 59th Street, and Aurora, on East 49th Street. (Both have closed.) Writing about Aurora in 1986, the restaurant critic Bryan Miller of The New York Times said its room combines a very establishment, corporate ambience (burnished wood wainscoting, muted colors, cushy leather chairs) with a playful bubble theme more appropriate to a trendy yuppie bar a blend of martinis and margaritas. Trump hosts Japan PM five days before summit with Kim AFP, Washington : With less than a week to go before meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, US President Donald Trump plays host Thursday to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who wants his voice heard ahead of the unprecedented talks. Trump and Abe will hold a joint press conference at the White House in the early afternoon, before heading to Canada for what promises to be a tense Group of Seven summit clouded by the US leader's aggressive trade policies.Since the first inkling that a Trump-Kim summit could be on the cards, Japan has repeatedly insisted that Washington be mindful not to let its guard down with the nuclear-armed regime in Pyongyang. And by coming to Washington to see Trump for the second time in less than two months, Abe wants to be sure to get his point across to the US president, amid the intense diplomatic flurry over the future of the Korean peninsula. Before leaving Tokyo, the Japanese leader emphasized that during his lightning visit to Washington, he hoped to "closely coordinate and agree" with Trump on an approach to the North Korea issue. And he clearly outlined what would need to happen for the June 12 summit in Singapore to be a success: tangible progress on curbing the North's nuclear and ballistic missiles programs, as well as answers about Japanese nationals kidnapped by Pyongyang in the 1970s and 1980s. At their last meeting at Trump's Florida retreat in April, the US president promised Abe to raise the politically sensitive abductions issue in any talks with Pyongyang. But the subject is hardly a priority for the businessman-turned-president, whose strategy appears to be in constant flux. Above all, Trump seems most enthused by the notion of being the first sitting US leader to hold direct talks with a scion of the ruling Kim dynasty. The intensifying diplomacy on North Korea has so far left Abe as the odd man out: Trump is preparing to meet Kim, while Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korea's Moon Jae-in have each already seen the North's leader twice. For Richard Armitage, a former senior diplomat during the administration of George W. Bush, Tokyo runs a very real risk of finding itself out in the cold after the Trump-Kim talks. "We should absolutely prevent decoupling-decoupling Japanese and US security," he told AFP. "This is and has been an aim of China and North Korea for a long time, and we can't allow this to happen. That would be falling into a terrible trap." It was an emotional moment for my friend and for me. As we sat in the living room of her home in California, she told me that the breast cancer that had been responding to treatment for several years had spread throughout her body. Its everywhere now, she said, adding without a trace of self-pity: I have less than six months to live. Im so grateful that I wont have to spend my last days or weeks in extreme agony. She could tell me that because Californias End of Life Options Act supported by 76 percent of her fellow Californians, passed by the State Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown had gone into effect on June 9, 2016. The law made it legal for doctors to prescribe drugs to end the lives of terminally ill patients, and my friend found solace in knowing she would have this choice. Her husband and children, who had seen her bear years of chemotherapy and other treatments and supported her as her pain intensified, wouldnt have to watch cancer torture her mercilessly as it took her life. Californias law was modeled after the one enacted in 1997 in Oregon, as were similar laws in Washington, Vermont, Colorado and, most recently, the District of Columbia and Hawaii; Montana also permits this end-of-life option as a result of a judicial decision rather than legislation. But this source of comfort was ripped away from my friend and her family last month when a judge in Riverside County overturned the law on a technicality. His reasoning? The measure was passed during a special legislative session dedicated to health care issues, and complainants argued that it wasnt about health care. What the Europeans are finally starting to understand is that the crisis at hand is not only about bad manners. It is about a fundamental change in the trans-Atlantic relationship. Most likely, it is about the end of the world order as we have known it. The process started well before President Trumps election, but his predecessor, Mr. Obama, had put such an elegant touch to it that the Europeans were in denial about it, as Ms. Merkels tear showed only too well. Donald Trump is breaking diplomatic rules and he does not even care, Claudia Major, an expert with the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, told me. We think he is weird and that after him, it will get better. No! This would be our biggest mistake, she said. Arnaud Danjean, a French member of the European Parliament, says that many European leaders would like to go back to the good old days, when the United States was in charge. This is their comfort zone. But it wont happen. A somber mood has fallen on the European foreign policy community, now conscious that this Jacksonian moment for their American partner will outlive Donald Trump. An offhand bit of hyperbole I heard from one French security expert hinted at the level of disappointment: Would the United States react if Russian tanks rolled into Latvia? I am not even sure. NATO is a dead man walking. At the annual conference of the European Council on Foreign Relations in Paris last week, George Soros warned of an existential danger for Europe and insisted that Europe must reinvent itself. This is what President Macron has been advocating for a year. But as the initial enthusiasm over his election dies down, lengthy pleas for a strong multilateralism seem to fall on deaf ears. The young, energetic French president has a lot of admirers but few supporters. He is our last hope, a Central European government minister told me, making sure that his comment was off the record. It took Ms. Merkel a full nine months to formulate a response to Emmanuel Macrons proposals to strengthen the European Union. When she finally did, last Sunday in a newspaper interview, her positions were so cautious that one wondered why it had taken her so long. Still a lot of work to do, sighed the senior French official. Yet there is no choice. Neither China nor Russia offer Europe an alternative to the United States. The continent will still maintain a special relationship with Washington, but it must start building its own version of a rule-based international order. It cannot envisage another way of relating to other powers, because the European Union itself is in essence a rule-based regional order. There are many hurdles along the way. Italys new populist leaders will probably be pushing east, toward Mr. Putin. Polands populist leaders will be pushing west, toward Mr. Trump. But take notice: none of them wishes to leave the European Union. It is now up to France and Germany to lead together, as theyve done since shortly after World War II, and up to the northern member states to play a more active role. Ms. Merkel is finally ready. So lets move on now. To the Editor: I have been reading with an increasingly heavy heart news articles about the Trump administrations separation of children from their parents at the border. But I was stopped cold by a quote in Nicholas Kristofs column My Babies Started Crying as ICE Took Them Away (May 31): White House Chief of Staff John Kelly hails family separation as a tough deterrent and shrugs that the children will be taken care of put into foster care or whatever. Or whatever that most dismissive phrase! So, it has come to this: We have weaponized the callous traumatization of children in the name of the promised immigration reform. Children have become acceptable collateral damage in a policy war. Are there no parents in this administration? Are there no parents in the Border Patrol? Are there no Trump supporters who are parents? How can anyone who has children justify this? SANTIAGO, Chile Throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, people have lost confidence in elections and politicians. And just as voters are questioning the democratic process, the traditional watchdogs of electoral integrity multilateral groups like the United Nations and the Organization of American States and others are being undermined by governments throughout the hemisphere on both sides of the ideological spectrum. The twin pressures of declining trust in elections and support for those who guarantee voting integrity create a problem: Who is left to credibly judge what may be controversial elections in the coming months in two of the regions biggest countries, Mexico and Brazil? Over the past 30 years, election observer groups have helped establish internationally respected standards for free and fair elections, protected voters rights in those elections and defused political upheaval when sore losers have tried to steal elections or contested results. This happened in the Dominican Republic in 1994, Peru in 2000, Mexico in 2006 and Ecuador in 2017. The power of neutral observers to defend free elections rests on a commitment from a government holding an election to the idea that these organizations have the right and authority to determine whether the voting was fair. That commitment is under assault. To the Editor: In Equipping Women to Stop Campus Rape (Fixes column, nytimes.com, May 30), Tina Rosenberg describes the Flip the Script program as a helpful tool for preventing campus rape. But as fewer than 10 percent of those who are sexually assaulted during their college career will ever report the assault to their school or to the police and those who do wait an average of 11 months to make the report there must be a complementary safe and effective approach to reporting perpetrators when sexual assault does happen. A reporting system called Callisto has been used on more than a dozen college campuses to provide a confidential, secure way to create a time-stamped record of an assault. Students who experience sexual assault can choose whether to report the incident electronically to campus authorities, submit it to a matching system that helps identify repeat perpetrators, or simply have their own private record of the incident. So it was the search for an off-ramp that led the court to its obsessive focus on statements about religion made by two of the seven members of the Colorado Civil Rights Commission at two hearings in 2014 on the gay couples discrimination complaint against the baker. (Colorado law prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation by public accommodations, a category that includes most businesses.) At the first hearing, a commissioner observed that if a businessman wants to do business in the state and hes got an issue with the laws impacting his personal belief system, he needs to look at being able to compromise. At the second, a commissioner observed that religion has been used to justify all kinds of discrimination throughout history and proceeded to label religion one of the most despicable pieces of rhetoric that people can use to to use their religion to hurt others. Following these hearings, the commission found that the bakers refusal to serve his customers was an act of discrimination that violated state law. That decision was upheld by the Colorado Court of Appeals which, Justice Kennedy noted with disapproval, did not mention those comments, much less express concern with their content. Neither, he added, did the state itself disavow the comments in its presentation to the Supreme Court a point Justice Kennedy had made when the case was argued six months ago. For these reasons, the court cannot avoid the conclusion that these statements cast doubt on the fairness and impartiality of the commissions adjudication, Justice Kennedy wrote, adding that the commission was neither tolerant nor respectful of the bakers religious beliefs. This hostility toward religion, the court held, violated the bakers First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion. As the only two dissenters, Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor, pointed out, this conclusion is illogical at best, based on how the case proceeded through the Colorado legal system. Not only were the statements made by just two of seven members of the Civil Rights Commission, but the commission was just one of four decision-making entities, including another state commission and an administrative law judge, that passed judgment on the case. In other words, even if the statements could be understood to signify that the speakers were hostile to religion a highly dubious conclusion at least with respect to the first statement, which simply expressed the current state of free exercise law there is no basis for discerning the pervasive hostility that the court claimed to find and on which it based its decision. My fear is that the Supreme Court has imposed a regime of constitutional political correctness on how we talk about religion. There is a striking contrast between the exquisite sensitivity for religious feelings that Justice Kennedy displayed on Monday and his casual rejection only four years ago of the notion that unwanted exposure to religious speech could be so offensive to nonbelievers as to violate their constitutional rights. Im referring to Town of Greece v. Galloway, a 2014 decision on whether the overtly Christian prayers with which an upstate New York town opened its monthly town board meetings violated the First Amendments Establishment Clause. Non-competes are sometimes used to protect trade secrets, which can promote innovation, according to a 2016 report by the Treasury Department, but less than half of workers who have non-competes also report possessing trade secrets. The report went on to question the use of noncompete agreements, especially for low-wage workers: When entry-level workers at fast food restaurants are asked to sign two-year non-competes, it becomes less plausible that trade secrets are always the primary motivation for such agreements. The treasury report estimated that 30 million American workers have signed noncompete agreements. Krueger, an economist at Princeton and the former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, wrote in an essay last year, The Rigged Labor Market: New practices have emerged to facilitate employer collusion, such as noncompete clauses and no-raid pacts, but the basic insights are the same employers often implicitly, and sometimes explicitly, act to prevent the forces of competition from enabling workers to earn what a competitive market would dictate. In a paper published last month, Noncompetes in the U.S. Labor Force, Evan Starr of the University of Maryland; J.J. Prescott of the University of Michigan; and Norman Bishara of the University of Michigan, found that Nearly 1 in 5 labor force participants were bound by noncompetes in 2014, and nearly 40 percent had signed at least one noncompete in the past. These included what the authors decried as sweeping noncompetes signed by temporarily employed Amazon packers and minimum-wage sandwich makers. Just as companies have weakened employee power through agreements like these, they have capitalized on the increased use of mandatory arbitration of employment disputes to limit their obligations to workers. Sachin S. Pandya, a law professor at the University of Connecticut, wrote me that in its recent decision, Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, the Supreme Court effectively fueled employer use of mandatory arbitration clauses to cover individual employment disputes, including allegations of workplace discrimination and sexual harassment. By preventing covered workers from joining forces to take legal action over workplace issues, the decision undercuts employees leverage and empowers employers to require their employees to waive their right to class actions, wrote Jeffrey Hirsch, a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law, on the Workplace Prof Blog. Hirsch cited the dissent written by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: If these untoward consequences stemmed from legislative choices, I would be obliged to accede to them. But the edict that employees with wage and hours claims may seek relief only one-by-one does not come from Congress. It is the result of take-it-or-leave-it labor contracts harking back to the type called yellow dog, and of the readiness of this Court to enforce those unbargained-for agreements. The Federal Arbitration Act demands no such suppression of the right of workers to take concerted action for their mutual aid or protection. In much the same way that mandatory arbitration works, corporate outsourcing of jobs in combination with the general spread of precarious employment in the creative economy, for example, as well as in the digital or gig economy (at Lyft and Uber, for example) steadily undermines the security and status of workers. These developments may be masked for a while when unemployment declines, but not forever. By exchanging direct employment for contract work or outsourcing, David Weil, dean of the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis, writes in his book The Fissured Workplace: Why Work Became So Bad for So Many and What Can Be Done to Improve It, major corporations succeed in substantially reducing costs and dispatching the many responsibilities connected to being the employer of record. This shift, in turn, creates downward pressures on wages and benefits, murkiness about who bears responsibility for work conditions, increased likelihood that basic labor standards will be violated. Krueger and Lawrence Katz, an economist at Harvard, document a sharp increase in outsourcing of all kinds in their paper: The Rise and Nature of Alternative Work Arrangements in the United States, 1995-2015: The percentage of workers engaged in alternative work arrangements defined as temporary help agency workers, on-call workers, contract workers, and independent contractors or freelancers rose from 10.7 percent in February 2005 to 15.8 percent in late 2015. Thats roughly 24 million workers. In addition, Katz and Krueger found that workers in alternative work arrangements earn considerably less per week than do regular employees with similar characteristics and in similar occupations, that workers in alternative work arrangements work fewer hours per week and that a larger share of alternative workers are involuntary part-time workers compared with employees in traditional jobs. Perhaps more significant, Katz and Krueger found: A striking implication of these estimates is that 94 percent of the net employment growth in the U.S. economy from 2005 to 2015 appears to have occurred in alternative work arrangements. The growing emphasis on shareholder value has provided additional justification for all of these anti-worker developments. Peter Cappelli, a professor of management at Wharton, wrote me that the shareholder value movement starting in the late 1980s and now institutionalized through industry analysts was crucially important in the devaluation of employees: Accounting in business is mainly about costs. Finance people hate fixed costs because of the challenges they raise to share price valuation when there is uncertainty, and the biggest fixed costs are labor. Simply moving the same labor costs from employees to outside staffing companies moves it from one part of the accounting ledger to another and makes analysts happier. This mentality, in turn, encourages the use of temps and contractors to fill high-wage jobs because that way the employer doesnt have to raise wages for all their employees. Hirsch, of the University of North Carolina, explained that the automobile industry provides the classic example of these trends: When that industry was dominated by the Big Three in Detroit, union organizing was relatively easy. The U.A.W. could organize all of the competitors by controlling most of the relatively generally homogeneous, geographically tight work force. Once automakers in other countries, and now the South, made more inroads, the UAWs task became far more difficult, Hirsch argued, because Companies could outsource work to areas with cheaper labor and less of a union presence. This both weakened the union and ramped up competitive pressure on the companies that were unionized. The result was fewer unions. This has obviously played out in many other industries. Hirschs point is supported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2017, 6.5 percent of the private sector work force was unionized, down from 35 percent in 1955. 34.4 percent of public sector workers were unionized. On your iPhone or iPad: 1. Open your podcast app. Its a pre-loaded app called Podcasts with a purple icon. (This link may help.) 2. Search for the series. Tap on the search magnifying glass icon at the bottom of the screen, type in Still Processing and select it from the list of results. 3. Subscribe. Once on the series page, tap on the subscribe button to have new episodes sent to your phone free. You may want to adjust your notifications to be alerted when a new episode arrives. 4. Or just sample. If you would rather listen to an episode or two before deciding to subscribe, tap on the episode title from the list on the series page. If you have an internet connection, youll be able to stream the episode. On your Android phone or tablet: 1. Open your podcast app. Its a pre-loaded app called Play Music with an orange-and-yellow icon. (This link may help.) 2. Search for the series. Click on the magnifying glass icon at the top of the screen, search for Still Processing and select it from the list of results. You may have to scroll down to find the Podcasts search results. 3. Subscribe. Once on the series page, click on the word subscribe to have new episodes sent to your phone free. 4. Or just sample. If you would rather listen to an episode or two before deciding to subscribe, click on the episode title from the list on the series page. If you have an internet connection, youll be able to stream the episode. Still, there are instances when The Times obtains newsworthy information about national-security matters that the government has deemed secret, and an agency will ask the newspaper to consider voluntarily not publishing it. This decision-making process typically begins when reporters reach out to the relevant agency, tell the agencys officials what they are working on, and seek a comment or engagement. Sometimes, the officials respond by asking The Times to keep something out of the paper. Because suppressing information is not something The Times takes lightly, any ensuing dialogue is handled by senior editorial leadership at The Times, such as Dean Baquet, the executive editor. Such conversations tend to center on whether the agency can articulate a plausible case that specific, concrete dangers would be created by publishing the information, or whether its rationale for suppressing the information is vague and abstract. The Times editors, balancing the potential news value to the public against the potential costs, then make a judgment about whether to publish. It is extremely rare for The Times to hold or kill such a story. SAN FRANCISCO Google, reeling from an employee protest over the use of artificial intelligence for military purposes, said Thursday that it would not use A.I. for weapons or for surveillance that violates human rights. But it will continue to work with governments and the military. The new rules were part of a set of principles Google unveiled relating to the use of artificial intelligence. In a company blog post, Sundar Pichai, the chief executive, laid out seven objectives for its A.I. technology, including avoid creating or reinforcing unfair bias and be socially beneficial. Google also detailed applications of the technology that the company will not pursue, including A.I. for weapons or other technologies whose principal purpose or implementation is to cause or directly facilitate injury to people and technologies that gather or use information for surveillance violating internationally accepted norms of human rights. But Google said it would continue to work with governments and military using A.I. in areas including cybersecurity, training and military recruitment. Govt working to make country free from hunger : Minister City Desk : Agriculture Minister Begum Matia Chowdhury said the government is working to build a hunger-free country by 2030. "We are taking various effective steps to achieve SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) by 2030," she said this on Wednesday while speaking at a seminar titled "Agriculture, Nutrition and Gender Linkages (ANGeL) Results Dissemination" at the Krishibid Institute, Bangladesh (KIB) in the city. Additional Secretary of the Agriculture Ministry Abdul Halim, Country Representative of IFPRI Dr Akhter Ahmed and representatives of different government and non-government organizations, among other, addressed the seminar. Matia said the government is developing stress-tolerant varieties of crops to cope with the adverse impacts of climate change. Despite having little contribution to global carbon emission, Bangladesh is bearing the burden of excessive carbon emission caused by the industrialised nations, which are mainly responsible for global warming, a great challenge for the planet, she added. Matia laid emphasis on equal access of women to agriculture sector to increase crop production, which eventually will help address the malnutrition problem in Bangladesh. Other speakers said Bangladesh has done remarkably well in coming down malnutrition rate particularly stunting children in the past couple of years. At present, stunting rate of under five children is 36, which was above 40 percent few years ago, they said adding that there are challenges for Bangladesh to address malnutrition problem as the country is facing higher under nutrition rate compared to different developing states. There is a close link between nutrition and development, the speakers said adding the country has to overcome the malnutrition problem through intensifying its efforts. MCC Theater, an Off Broadway nonprofit founded by three friends who still run the company three decades later, will move into its first permanent home this fall. The company, which for the last 12 years has been presenting shows in rented space in the West Village, will open its new headquarters in Midtown West in November and begin producing shows there in January. Company leaders said this week that they have surpassed their $35 million fund-raising goal for the project, and have decided to expand their target to $45 million to fund more programming and outreach. The bulk of the money raised thus far $28.3 million was contributed by the City of New York. They also said they had agreed to name their new theater in honor of Robert W. Wilson, a frugal hedge fund founder who became a major philanthropist, particularly in support of environmental causes, civil liberties, and Catholic education, before taking his own life in 2013 at the age of 87. A trust established in Mr. Wilsons name gave $2.5 million toward the MCC project; the new facility will be called the Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater Space. Friday 1) 4 p.m. MOTHER GEORGIA Start your time in Tbilisi with a perspective shift. Board one of the sleek, modern cable cars straight up to the 4th-century Narikala Fortress, which looms over the city and is guarded by Kartlis Deda, a 66-foot-tall aluminum woman with a cup of wine for friends in one hand and a sword for her enemies in the other. Also known as Mother Georgia, Kartlis has one of the best views in town, so join her after the smooth 10-minute ride through the sky for the ultimate photo op of Tbilisis many layers. From the fortress, you can gaze down upon the 19th-century Old Town, the much more ancient river walls of the Mtkvari River and the gleaming new installations in Rike Park. Before boarding your return cable car, wait patiently for the aerial tramways piece de resistance a glass-bottomed car, which takes 360-degree views to the next level as it whisks you back down to ground (2.5 lari, or about $1). 2) 5 p.m. BRIDGE THE GAP Descend from the 4th century straight into the 21st at Rike Park, a feat of modern urban planning that is shaped like the map of Georgia and has picnic areas, a climbing maze, a giant grand piano and a choreographed musical fountain. The parks most recognizable feature is the twin metal exhibition halls designed by the Italian architect Massimiliano Fuksas, two glass and steel tubes that are conjoined at the back and serve as a concert hall and an exhibition space. Rike Park is connected to Old Tbilisi by the bow-shaped Bridge of Peace: another Italian-designed marvel featuring curved steel, a glass canopy top and, at night, a light show of 1,000 twinkling LEDs. The scenes in the political ads play out in almost the same order: A heartbreaking story about someone who cant seem to stop taking drugs. A grim statistic about opioids. And then a somber pitch from a candidate promising solutions. More and more, politicians in competitive races are using emotional pleas about opioid abuse to woo voters. In states like Wisconsin, where hundreds of people are dying of opioid overdoses every year, candidates are talking about drugs in stump speeches, on Facebook and in ads. The opioid fight has become a shared talking point for Democrats and Republicans, who discuss the crisis using startlingly similar language and often vote together to pass bills. This is Stephon Clark, lying on the ground, motionless after two Sacramento police officers shot him seven times. He was a 22-year-old father of two boys. An unarmed black man. Killed in his own backyard. And it all happened in just 23 seconds. Were going to break down those 23 seconds and look at five critical moments. Our frame-by-frame analysis reveals a series of split-second decisions and errors, and examines how they ended in Clarks death. A warning: It can be hard to watch. First, lets play the whole encounter. Pay attention to how quickly it escalates. It all starts earlier around 9:10 p.m., when a resident calls 911 and reports that someone is vandalizing cars. Then, 16 minutes later, a police helicopter spots a suspect. This is Stephon Clark. The police footage doesnt show Clark break a window. But the police say they believe he was responsible for the reported vandalism. Clark jumps a fence into this yard. He lived here with his grandmother, although theres no reason to think that the police knew this. Moments later, we see two police officers approach the front of the house. Police have not confirmed the officers identities, so well call them Officer 1 and Officer 2. The helicopter guides them toward Clark. Officer 1 has his gun drawn before he encounters Clark. We slowed down and brightened this clip to see it more clearly. This is just before the officer first shouts, starting the crucial 23 seconds as the officers begin pursuit. Clark is standing along the side of the house, while the officers are at the front. Officer 1 sees Clark and shouts. Clark runs farther into his backyard. He moves under a covered patio and stays there for the next 13 seconds. The officers chase Clark and run around a blind corner, breathing hard. Their speed may have robbed them of a chance to de-escalate the situation from a safe spot, which would be in line with their departments instructions. The chaos of the full-on pursuit could have been a factor in the next critical moment, when one of the officers mistakenly thinks that Clark has a weapon. Officer 1 is now about 40 feet away from Clark. Well freeze on this frame. Its difficult to see, but right here, this is Stephon Clark facing Officer 1. We can tell hes stopped and facing the officer, but we cant see much else, including whether he has anything in his hands. Heres the moment from the helicopters perspective. Less than two seconds after coming around the corner, Officer 1 shouts the word Gun. So, why in that brief moment did the officer conclude that Clark, who was unarmed, had a gun? We dont know. Both officers backtracked behind the corner and then looked back around it. Officer 1 again concludes that Clark is armed. And immediately after that, his partner decides to fire. Why? Possibly because he saw Clarks movements. Remember, Clark had been stopped, but as the officers retreat, he begins moving in their direction. When they look around the corner again, hes closer, around 25 feet away from the officers and continuing to move. Clark is stepping through a narrow space between a picnic table and the house, likely turned and not directly facing the officers. We drew this conclusion in part by comparing the body camera to this picture of Clark from earlier in the same day. Notice the pants with white stripes the same ones seen in the body camera. But nothing in the videos can tell us why Clark moved. Overhead from the helicopter we see him as well. That small cluster of white pixels. Thats all we can see of Clark before shots are fired. Less than a second after Officer 1 called out a gun for the second time, Officer 2 fires the first series of five bullets. After a short pause, both officers shoot a combined 15 more times. Lets look at that again from the helicopter. The first volley is fired while Clark stands. He falls to his hands and knees. Hes still moving as the second round of shots begins, and then, by the time its over, hes motionless. So, which shots killed Clark? The ones fired while he was standing or those fired while he was on the ground? In early May, the Sacramento County coroner released its autopsy report, concluding that Clark was shot seven times. By combining the report with our analysis we determined that Clark was struck in his left leg while still standing, a non-lethal shot. He was also struck six more times, all on the right side and back. These shots broke his ribs, fractured his spine, lacerated his heart, perforated his lungs and killed him. Given Clarks position, orientation and movement, these last six shots almost certainly hit Clark while he was falling or lying on the ground. We dont know exactly how long it took these wounds to kill Clark, but we do know that there was a significant delay before any medical aid was given. Show me your hands. Lets see your hands. After they stopped firing, the officers dont approach Clark. They talk to either each other or to Clarks unresponsive body, which they still consider a threat. You all right, you hit? Yeah, Im good. Two minutes after the shooting, other officers arrive. You cant see his hands, right? The police discuss using a body bunker, a shield to protect themselves from gunfire. Three-Sam-five if you can head this way, we could use a body bunker before we detain him. Almost three minutes after the last shot, the police identify themselves for the first time. Hey, can you hear us? Police Department, can you hear us? We need to know if youre OK. We need to get you medics, but we cant go over to get you help unless we know you dont have a weapon. Officer 1 describes the moment when they fired. He came up and then he, he kind of approached us hands out. And then, fell down. Four minutes and 50 seconds after the shooting, officers approach Clark. One of you guys want to go hands, cover em, I oh, fuck. They handcuff him, which is a standard practice. And when they roll him over, his cellphone is lying under his body. This suggests a possibility: that Clark had the phone in his hand and thats what the officers mistook for a gun. The police now have the phone but have not said whether he was recording. Give me a light, well start CPR. All right. Six minutes after the last bullet was fired, officers not involved in the shooting give first aid. Clark is pronounced dead at the scene. Officers 1 and 2 step away and mute their cameras. Hey, mute. We can no longer hear what theyre discussing. Shortly after the shooting, the Sacramento Police Department updated its guidelines. Officers are now required to record why they mute or turn off their cameras. The man is a dual citizen of the United States, where he was born, and Saudi Arabia, where he was raised. He was captured by a militia in Syria in September and turned over to the American military, which has been holding him at a base in Iraq as an enemy combatant for nearly nine months. The man said he went to Syria to be a journalist and was arrested by the Islamic State, then worked for the group as a condition of being freed from prison. But the government has said that Islamic State records show he registered with the group as a fighter, and his social media postings indicate he sympathized with the group. It has not accused him of fighting for the group. What to do with the man has been a dilemma. Prosecutors have deemed his case difficult to charge in civilian court; much of the evidence against him may not be admissible under courtroom standards. As an American, he is also not eligible for charges before the troubled military commissions system. But security officials have wanted to keep him locked up, or at least out of the United States. This spring, the government struck a deal with another country apparently Saudi Arabia to take custody of him. But the man balked at the proposed arrangement, and Judge Chutkan blocked the military from carrying out the transfer to that country against his will a decision upheld last month by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. It has not been clear how or where the man would be released if he won his lawsuit. There is no evidence the man was in Iraq before the American military brought him there, and it would apparently require the consent of the Iraqi government to release him on its soil. Moreover, he would risk being immediately rearrested there, and the Iraqi courts have been giving 10-minute trials and death sentences to Islamic State members. Mr. Hafetz maintained that if the government wanted to release his client, it must do so to a location that is not a war zone, and he has to be provided with some identity documents or something that establishes that he is in the territory legally and he has to not be subject to physical harm and basically almost automatic re-detention. He added, They have to find a safer place, and if they cant, they have to release him in the United States. WASHINGTON Hoping to defuse a Republican rebellion, Speaker Paul D. Ryan promised Thursday that House Republicans would draft compromise legislation on immigration, setting up a showdown on one of the thorniest political issues just as the midterm campaign comes into focus. Conservative Republicans loath to loosen immigration rules remained at odds with moderates pressing to protect young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children, as Mr. Ryan and his fellow leaders in the House labored to reach an accord. And the deadline for an agreement could come within days. Moderate Republican lawmakers need only three more signatures on a petition to force a series of immigration votes over the speakers objections, including at least two that would focus on those young immigrants, known as Dreamers. Because of the arcane rules for such discharge petitions, those lawmakers face a Tuesday cutoff to gather the 218 names needed to force floor action in late June. We have a firm deadline of Tuesday, said Representative Jeff Denham of California, a leader of the petition drive. Tuesday we will hit 218. WASHINGTON President Trump will skip most of the second day of a summit meeting with allies this weekend, the White House said late Thursday, as he engaged in a contentious war of words over trade on the eve of a gathering that will underscore his isolation from the leaders of the worlds largest economies. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, announced that Mr. Trump will leave Canada at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, well before scheduled sessions on climate change, clean energy and oceans. He will attend an early-morning session on womens empowerment, but he will be gone before any joint statement is issued by the other leaders. Earlier Thursday, President Emmanuel Macron of France and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada lashed out at Mr. Trump for imposing tariffs on their steel and aluminum industries. They called it an illegal economic assault on their countries that is unanimously opposed by the other leaders of the Group of 7 who will gather Friday in a sleepy village in Quebec for their annual summit meeting. The American President may not mind being isolated, but neither do we mind signing a 6 country agreement if need be, Mr. Macron said Thursday in an especially acerbic tweet. Because these 6 countries represent values, they represent an economic market which has the weight of history behind it and which is now a true international force. WASHINGTON A White House economic analysis of President Trumps trade agenda has concluded that Mr. Trumps tariffs will hurt economic growth in the United States, according to several people familiar with the research. The findings from the White House Council of Economic Advisers have been circulated only internally and not publicly released, as is often the case with the councils work, making the exact economic projections unknown. But the determination comes as top White House officials continue to insist publicly that Mr. Trumps trade approach will be massively good for the U.S. economy. The chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, Kevin Hassett, an economist who came to the administration from the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, dodged questions at a White House briefing on Tuesday about whether tariffs would hurt an economy that has accelerated during Mr. Trumps tenure. Asked whether the administrations economists had modeled the impact that a trade war with China would have on the United States economy, Mr. Hassett said Mr. Trump was a great negotiator who would persuade other countries to open their markets to American products. Dodo Heroes When to watch: Saturday at 9 p.m., on Animal Planet. This new series about people devoted to helping animals plays like an extra-long internet video: lots of uplifting music and chyrons, meant to pluck at the heartstrings. My hardened heart could only put up so much of a fight before the story of Chi Chi, the dog with no legs, won me over, and pretty soon I was in the tank for Jabu, an elephant in Botswana being fitted for a protective orthotic. Future episodes feature a koala named Crikey and spider monkey named Pepe. The premiere follows the work of Derrick Campana, whom I do, indeed, follow on Instagram: @animalorthocare. So many animals in prosthetics and orthotics! an Hour, and I Like Food and History Todays Events City Desk : Discussion Bangabandhu Sangskritik Jote organises a discussion at the Jatiya Press Club at 10:30 am to greet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith for pro-people budget. Symposium Bangladesh Youth Forum organises a symposium on 'Acceptable Election : Role of the Government and People's Expectation' in the VIP Lounge of the Jatiya Press Club at 10:30 am. Discussion Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Sangrami Dal organises a discussion on '37th Martyrdom Anniversary of Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman' in the conference room of the Jatiya Press Club at 4 pm. KABUL, Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan declared a brief, unilateral cease-fire with the Taliban on Thursday, a strategic gamble seen as a trust-building measure to encourage the militant group to conduct peace talks even as the war grows deadlier. The cease-fire, which Mr. Ghani said would go into effect for eight days starting next week to coincide with one of the holiest periods on the Muslim calendar, comes months after his government presented an extensive peace offer to the Taliban. But just what the cease-fire could mean for the prospect of peace talks was unclear, with the resurgent Taliban dictating the reality on the battlefield and, as a result, any moves toward peace. This cease-fire is an opportunity for the Taliban to reflect that their violent campaign is not winning them hearts and minds but further alienating the Afghan people from their cause, Mr. Ghani said in his announcement. United Nations human rights experts have formally condemned the punishment of a Tibetan education advocate who was sentenced to five years in prison after giving interviews to The New York Times. Since his detention in January 2016, the advocate, Tashi Wangchuk, 33, has become one of the most prominent symbols among critics of Chinas legal system and policies in Tibetan regions. In sentencing him on May 22, a court said he was guilty of inciting separatism. On Wednesday, six United Nations experts issued a statement from Geneva. We are gravely concerned, they said, about the sentencing of Mr. Tashi Wangchuk, and the sanctioning of his right to freely express his opinion about the human rights of the Tibetan minority of China. The experts expressed regret that the court sentenced Mr. Tashi despite their having twice called on China to drop the charges and release him immediately. HONG KONG Two House Republicans have questioned a prominent American environmental group, contending that by praising Chinas efforts to reduce pollution while criticizing American shortcomings it could be working as an agent of Chinese influence. A June 5 letter from two leading Republicans on the House Committee on Natural Resources to the nonprofit environmental group, the Natural Resources Defense Council, requested documents on its relationship with the Chinese government and answers to questions on whether it should register as a foreign agent. The N.R.D.C., which was founded in 1970 and now has about 2.4 million members, has fought efforts to scale back environmental protections in the United States, suing the Trump administration about once every 10 days, according to N.R.D.C. officials. The group has also worked for years in China to improve the countrys air quality and reduce carbon emissions. The letter, from Rob Bishop, a Utah Republican and chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources, and Bruce Westerman, an Arkansas Republican and chairman of the panels subcommittee on oversight and investigations, suggested the difference between the groups aggressive stance in the United States and a more moderate tone in China meant it was serving Beijings interests. The letter was addressed to Rhea Suh, the N.R.D.C.s president. SEOUL, South Korea Satellite imagery indicates that North Korea is razing some facilities used for testing one of its most dangerous missiles after its leader, Kim Jong-un, announced a moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests, according to an analysis released this week. A key missile test stand that was used for testing missile ejections from canisters was demolished at a test site near Kusong in North Koreas northwest, Joseph S. Bermudez Jr., an expert on the countrys weapons systems, said in a report published Wednesday on the website 38 North. The Kusong test site was being closely monitored by missile experts because North Korea launched its first solid-fuel midrange ballistic missile, known as Pukguksong-2, from there in February last year. Besides its intercontinental ballistic missiles, solid-fuel missiles have been among the most worrisome additions to North Koreas growing arsenal of ballistic missiles. They can be launched faster and are easier to transport and hide, making them more suitable for surprise attacks. One path would be for the United States to suggest that the two countries conduct a joint investigation, they added. In a statement released on Wednesday night in Washington, the State Departments spokeswoman, Heather Nauert, said: As a result of the screening process so far, the department has sent a number of individuals for further evaluation and a comprehensive assessment of their symptoms and findings in the United States. The statement did not disclose how many complained of the illness associated with the mysterious sounds and sensations. A State Department statement this week listed the symptoms as dizziness, headaches, tinnitus, fatigue, cognitive issues, visual problems, ear complaints and hearing loss, and difficulty sleeping. According to experts who studied the previous cases in Cuba, those afflicted so far in Cuba and Guangzhou suffered injuries consistent with a concussion without ever having received a blow to the head. One official said that a sizable number of people working in Guangzhou had requested examinations, which are being carried out in the consulates medical facilities. The officials cautioned that not everyone who experienced the sonic effects or showed symptoms would necessarily show signs of injuries. The consulate is the largest by far in China, and is a major site for the issuing of visas for travel to the United States. Many of the American diplomats are in their first or second postings overseas, making the mysterious nature of the illnesses particularly unsettling. In addition to the State Departments medical team, which arrived on May 31, specialists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also arrived in China this week to join in the investigation in Guangzhou. OTTAWA Doug Ford, a brash populist and a brother of former Mayor Rob Ford of Toronto, will become the next premier of Ontario, Canadas most populous province, after leading his party to a decisive victory in elections on Thursday. Just 21 minutes after most polls closed, both the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and CTV News declared that Mr. Fords Progressive Conservative Party would gain a majority of seats in Ontarios next provincial legislature. Mr. Ford, who declared victory in a speech to supporters Thursday night, has led the party and been involved in provincial politics for only a few weeks. A populist who campaigned on pledges to reduce the size of government and cut taxes and bring back $1-a-bottle beer he represents a significant change for Ontario, which has been under the control of the Liberal Party for almost 15 years. My friends, help is here, Mr. Ford told the crowd in Toronto. Tonight we have sent a clear message to the world: Ontario is open for business. The sum may seem low we realize that, he said. This is a unique situation, and we have looked at the concrete danger in each case. If the person was one to two meters away from the truck, it is deemed attempted murder. If the person is farther away, it is considered endangering a life. Mr. Akilov, a welder from Samarkand, Uzbekistan, applied for asylum in November 2014, but was rejected and told to leave. (It is unclear when he entered Sweden.) When his appeal was also rejected, he went underground, working in construction around Sweden. The authorities could not find him to deport him. The police said that they had looked for Mr. Akilov in February last year but that he had already gone underground. Even if he had been found, however, it would have been difficult to deport him because of the poor human rights situation in Uzbekistan, Patrik Engstrom, the head of the Swedish border police, told The New York Times last year. Shortly before 3 p.m. on April 7, 2017, Mr. Akilov, then 39, hijacked a delivery truck parked in central Stockholm and turned on to a busy shopping street, Drottninggatan. Then, in a 40-second terror spree, he mowed down and killed five people and injured almost a dozen others before he crashed into a department store. He tried to detonate a homemade bomb in the truck before fleeing the scene, Judge Palmkvist said. Hours later, the police arrested Mr. Akilov in a suburb north of Stockholm. He immediately admitted to the attack, the authorities said. Three people were killed immediately; two died later in hospital. Those killed included Ebba Akerlund, 11; Lena Wahlberg, 69, a retired teacher; Marie Kide, a 66-year-old Swede; Crispin Benvington, 41, a Briton who worked for the music streaming service Spotify in Stockholm; and Mailys Dereymaeker, 31, of Belgium, who was visiting the city. A few hours before the terrorist act, Mr. Akilov filmed himself on his mobile phone swearing allegiance to the Islamic State and saying, It is time to kill, the police said. The courts statements seemed nonetheless to invite a new challenge to the law, and indicated that it could be successful. Five of the seven justices in the Supreme Court said they had concluded that Northern Irelands abortion law violated the European convention by not allowing abortion in cases of fatal fetal abnormalities. The other two said they could not reach a conclusion on the matter. Four of the seven justices said the law violated the European convention by not allowing abortion in cases of rape and incest. Ireland was long seen as having some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world at least until the May 25 referendum. But Northern Ireland regulations permit the termination of a pregnancy only if a womans life is in danger. There are no other exceptions not rape, not incest, not fatal fetal abnormalities and those who violate the law could, in theory, be given a life sentence. Britain legalized abortion in 1967, but that measure does not extend to Northern Ireland because of the ambiguous relationship between London and the so-called devolved administrations in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, which exercise some individual powers but remain part of the unitary state of the United Kingdom. But last year, after campaigning by the Labour Party, Westminster made a concession: It announced that the National Health Service would pay for abortions for Northern Irish women outside Northern Ireland. Currently, women who travel to England for the procedure as about three do every day have to pay privately for treatment. The issue is politically problematic for Prime Minister Theresa May, whose Conservative Party is short of a majority of seats in Parliament. The Conservatives, who generally support abortion rights, are able to govern only with support from Northern Irelands socially conservative Democratic Unionist Party, whose leaders are on record as saying the North should not be bullied into accepting abortion on demand. MOSCOW After months of foot-dragging that exasperated its Western backers, Ukraine on Thursday adopted legislation that opens the way for the establishment of an independent anticorruption court. The move, long demanded by the International Monetary Fund and Western governments, could help unblock billions of dollars in assistance frozen because of Western dissatisfaction with Ukraines failure to deliver on promises to tackle endemic graft and cronyism. At the same time, however, the Parliament in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, also voted to dismiss the countrys finance minister, Oleksandr Danylyuk, an outspoken champion of measures to curb corruption in Ukraines fiscal and customs service. The votes by legislators one signaling a major step forward in Ukraines on-again off-again struggle against corruption, the other a serious setback added to a growing sense of muddle in Kiev. Last week, Ukrainian authorities announced that a dissident Russian journalist had been murdered in the Ukrainian capital, only for the journalist to appear very much alive the next day at a press briefing. The Israeli military published a brief video on Thursday aimed at showing that a Palestinian medic killed by Israeli forces last week was not the neutral health care worker she has been portrayed as. The tightly edited video shows a woman identified as the medic, Rouzan al-Najjar, throwing what appears to be a tear-gas canister. The video does not appear to have been taken the day Ms. Najjar was killed, and the canister does not appear to be aimed at anyone. In a second scene, according to the video, Ms. Najjar tells an interviewer, I am here on the front line and I act as a human shield. Since she was killed at a protest at the Gaza-Israel border fence last Friday, Ms. Najjar, who was 20, has become a powerful symbol of the conflict there. Hamas, the Islamist movement that rules Gaza, has portrayed her as a hero and an innocent victim of Israeli aggression. Readers Forum Make daughters solvent : One of the leading Sahabies Saad-bin-Okkas narrates that he fell seriously ill during the Prophet's farewell Hajj. His condition deteriorating, Prophet came to see his physical condition. I told him, "I am a wealthy person and I have only one daughter to inherit my property. In such situation, can I donate two-thirds of my property? The Prophet said: No, you can't do it. I said: Half of the property? The Prophet said: No, but one-third or a bit more can be bequeathed. Do you want your daughter to depend on others for livelihood after your death? It is the best to leave her solvent. Whatever you spend in love of your Allah, you will be rewarded, even if you give a handful of food into the mouth of your wife-(Bukhari Sharif in Bengali, Hadith No. 1061). This Hadith is a reminder to us about our duty towards our daughters and their mothers. Abu Hossain Dhaka Informal results from the vote showed that Mr. Sadrs Sairoon alliance, favored by many working-class and leftist voters, had won 54 of 329 seats in Parliament. Fatah, the bloc of popular Shiite militia figures who earned respect for their defense of the nation against the Islamic State, placed second with 47 seats. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadis Nasr bloc came in third with 42 seats. The results, however, have not been formally ratified, as the country has waited for the electoral commission to investigate allegations of isolated cases of fraud and reports of malfunctions in new electronic ballot machines. In the interim, envoys from foreign powers, including the United States, have met with the presumed winners and congratulated Iraq for what many described as a democratic success. The election commission said on Thursday that it would appeal Parliaments demand for a manual recount. The panel has denied that there were widespread irregularities in the vote. It is unclear how the manual recount of ballots would affect the seat totals, but it would delay the formation of a new government for many more weeks as well as cement the view that the political process is mired in corruption. The election drew a historically low voter turnout of 45 percent, reflecting widespread disgust among Iraqis with their political leaders. That view has spread since the election, in part because of the way the electoral commission has handled complaints about the balloting. The Staten Island Ferry never ran late once for the 48 trips it took on May 19. Each 25-minute crossing left exactly on time, allowing the people aboard a luxury you dont often find with New York City transportation, which is predictability. Not just that, its also free, made so by Rudy Giuliani in 1997 in part to thank the borough for helping elect him mayor. On time, reliable and free. Thats the thing about the ferry. It may seem romantic what is more romantic than floating around New York City? but what it really is is practical: 70,000 mulletted Melanie Griffithses a day board with an eye toward the city, or an eye to Staten Island. Yes, the views are unparalleled. Yes, the water changes the nature of travel and grants it a peace a subway car couldnt hope for on its best day. Yes, there is no traffic or bottlenecking or broken-down vehicles on the shoulder. But ultimately, the ferry is about getting there. Certainly the couples who rode it on May 19 werent thinking about the nature of romance when they boarded. Shatisa and Melissaann, in dark hoodies, were headed home from a club to Staten Island. Theyve been together for four years. Im just comfortable around her, Melissaann shrugged. Frederick and Danielle, a homeless couple, simply wanted to get out of the rain. They used to find the ferry romantic, but that was before they started riding it three times a day. Cosmo, a retired firefighter, said of Geraldine, his wife of 33 years, Were just comfortable together, you know? Samaya, a community organizer, who met Carlos, a cook, on Tinder, said she loves how calm he is when things get rough. Thomas, an organist and choirmaster at an Episcopal church, said that he feels lucky to have Greg, a priest at a different Episcopal church, and that hes glad to be alive and loving someone he loves so deeply. They were headed to Gregs house to hang some pictures. Rogelio and Rosiey, who work at the Statue of Liberty, like to spend all day together. Eric, a police officer who met Savannah, a home health aide, when he saved her from an attacker on the subway, simply said, She makes me happy. 2:17 A.M. Jaylene Ortiz and Miguel Santiago I love her opinions and the way she points things out. Miguel Elizabeth Bick for The New York Times 5:07 A.M. Shatisa Rainey and Melissaann Fennell I love how I could be comfortable around her. Melissaann Elizabeth Bick for The New York Times 3:09 A.M. Alton Pridgen and Sabrina Wilson I was friends with his sister, and she introduced us. Sabrina After I told her to. Alton Elizabeth Bick for The New York Times 2:13 P.M. Hayley Chiaruttini and Dewris Dicent Im going to the Navy. Its gonna work out. Dewris Were just making the most of it before he goes. Hayley Elizabeth Bick for The New York Times 1:33 P.M. Michelle and Tim Weaver We met at a bible college. We did a tour with the college, and thats where our romance kind of sparked off. Tim Elizabeth Bick for The New York Times 8:40 A.M. Frederick Haggerty and Danielle Cowan Shes my best friend. She rides with me through anything. Frederick Elizabeth Bick for The New York Times 6:47 P.M. David and Kay Endicott We originally met when I was 7 years old and Kay was 6. I was a school prefect, and she fell in love with me when I gave her a gold star for good behavior. David Elizabeth Bick for The New York Times 12:49 A.M. Iqra Kamal and Alden Johnson I love our ability to act as a team when we go out. Both of us are on the same page as a couple. Alden Elizabeth Bick for The New York Times 4:10 A.M. Brandon McDaniel and Zachary Davis He is so silly. We met at work. You develop different types of relationships with people when you work with them. Brandon Elizabeth Bick for The New York Times 5:39 A.M. Vlera Llalloshi and Brittany Shee She is the best ripple of my life. Vlera Elizabeth Bick for The New York Times 7:41 P.M. Ariel and Janava Acosta We have a lot of funny stories, but nothing you can put in the papers. Janava Elizabeth Bick for The New York Times 12:39 P.M. Denise and Jonathan Taylor We met dancing, disco in 92. I was at the other side, and he just came over dancing like John Travolta! Denise Elizabeth Bick for The New York Times 12:07 P.M. Sharon and Darrell Van Hove Back in the day, I worked at Pepsi-Cola. Sharon was at one of my stops. I remember she was coming down the steps wearing a red dress, a pearl ankle bracelet and heels. Im a man, so that did something to me. Darrell Elizabeth Bick for The New York Times 7:46 A.M. Rogelio Cyrille and Rosiey Castillo I love that we work together, so we could be together and spend time. Rosiey Elizabeth Bick for The New York Times 1:09 P.M. Thomas M. Reefer and the Rev. J. Gregory Morgan I feel lucky Im alive and with somebody I love very deeply. Thomas Elizabeth Bick for The New York Times 2:41 A.M. Eric Llanos and Savannah Young She makes me happy. Eric Elizabeth Bick for The New York Times 12:44 A.M. Carlos Perez and Samaya Abdus-Salaam I love that hes always so sweet, even when its a rough situation. He has calmness. Samaya Elizabeth Bick for The New York Times 1:06 A.M. Robert Distefano and Lea Pisano He could make me feel better about anything. I feel confident when I am with him. Lea Elizabeth Bick for The New York Times There were people who liked that the other didnt talk too much. People who liked that they were very similar. People who liked that they were different. People who liked how the other kept showing up every day in life, no matter what. People who stayed after bearing witness to long-past bad behavior. They were all people who had made it through the wilderness of singledom and found someone with whom they could just sit on the ferry. Sure, there were a few more cinematic moments. Tim and Michelle, a Mennonite couple from Indiana on a missionary trip with their youth group, kissed while the kids around them oooohed the way kids do. But for the most part, the sentiments most often expressed were of comfort, of dependability, of a feeling the partner inspired. There werent sweeping stories of romance and passion. Their stories were fairly mundane. They had settled in for the long haul. Maybe thats the goal. Maybe thats the nature of good and enduring love, that eventually its not something you think about. Maybe our wish shouldnt be for epic gestures of romance but for our relationships to become a little bit like the ferry itself: round the clock, free and always on time. How nice would that be? To have someone to sit with for all the long commutes. After all, what is more like love than floating around New York City in the rain? Hanna (right) with her boyfriend, Harry, and her girlfriend, Beaux, at Hannas house in Brooklyn. Isadora Kosofsky for The New York Times Hanna, age 17, woke up from under the Dear Evan Hansen poster shed duct-taped to her ceiling, pulled on her good jeans, brushed some glitter across her cheeks, ran her fingers through her rainbow hair and walked with her mother, a rabbi, down Church Avenue, in Brooklyn, to shul. Her boyfriend, Harry, was already there, 16 years old and newly manly in his purple button-down shirt. The two sat down in a fluorescent-lit room, ate bagels with schmears and discussed their coming Advanced Placement exams, disappearing into each other in that calm, fractal way of a couple inside a bubble of love that is itself floating deep inside a sea of love. Then they joined a classroom of 7-to-9-year-olds to help the religious-school teacher explain how Moses received the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. Harry was the boy of Hannas parents dreams, the boy she would have been set up to marry had she lived in a shtetl in rural Jewish Russia a couple of centuries ago as opposed to being the boy who, this spring, she sang and acted with in their schools production of Fiddler on the Roof. Hannas father and Harrys mother fake-planned their wedding over text before their children started dating. I dont like Harry, Hannas mother likes to say. You should break up with him. Then she mutters, Reverse psychology. In the synagogue, during the services that followed, Hanna and Harry sat in the back, his fingers tapping on her knee, her head resting on his shoulder, their chins occasionally tipped toward God as they sang prayers like show tunes. Harry had watched a few minutes of The Office on his phone earlier that day at shul. But still everybody stared and smiled at them with the confidence that all was right in that tiny corner of the world: the exhausted parents running for crayons to keep their toddlers silent, the elders naming far too many people during the mi shebeirach, the prayer for the sick. Two by two may have worked for Noahs animals in the (heteronormative!) Bible, but these are people specific, glorious, teenage people and their hearts are much bigger than anyone could imagine. As congregants spilled into the temple foyer and wished one another Shabbat shalom, Beaux, Hannas girlfriend, appeared her face tough, tender, searching, critical, defended and vulnerable all at once. She wore boots, baggy jeans, shark-tooth earrings and a silk camisole, and her head was shaved. Hanna met Beaux, who then went by Sophie, way back in sixth grade. At that point, they thought they were straight, though Beaux also thought the way Hanna ate cabbage, which Hanna did all the time that year, was pretty cute. Still, Hannas head was always in a book, or her mouth was full of vegetables, so Beaux assumed that Hanna didnt like to talk much. Then one day Beaux decided to talk to Hanna anyway, and as Hanna explained, their friendship went wooooooosh! They started kissing each other hello on the cheek. In eighth grade, they started kissing each other hello on both cheeks. Then their middle-school classmates started saying, Thats so gay! to which Beaux and Hanna responded: No, its not! Its European. That year, Beaux and Hanna had the same homeroom. One day, they were hugging outside it, and another kid walked up and said, Oh, my God, I ship you so much (meaning, Jeez, start a relationship already). Beaux and Hanna kissed on the mouth. The following year, ninth grade, Beaux went to Stuyvesant, and Hanna and Harry went to Brooklyn Tech. Hanna still had never really considered that she could be gay, despite having daydreamed about having children with Beaux via stem cells. So instead of dating Beaux (who realized she was gay a few months earlier when she saw an incredibly beautiful woman in blue corduroys playing trumpet at her grandparents 60th-anniversary party), at the beginning of 10th grade, Hanna started dating Harry. Beaux (right), Hanna and Harry at a playground in Brooklyn. Isadora Kosofsky for The New York Times Over lunch at a big round table in the temple basement, Beaux looked at Hanna and said to the world, but mostly to Harry, Shes so pretty! Harry and Beaux shared a moment of mutual appreciation over Hannas adorable nose freckles. Now, at the end of 11th grade, the three teenagers moved with a flowing intimacy their bodies melting, looping and reconfiguring like the liquid in a lava lamp. A 10-year-old girl, watching them, became so mesmerized that she inserted herself in the middle, on Beauxs lap. Beaux was patient and kind but did ask, Dont you have other 10-year-olds? I also have feelings, the girl said. Hanna, meanwhile, stood behind Beaux, rubbing Beauxs head with such tender affection that an older woman nearby asked, Is she being blessed? On the rainy walk back up Church Avenue to Hannas house, Hanna, Beaux and Harry cycled through those seemingly profound topics that teenagers have been discussing forever, like that thing that happens when you think you see a cat in your peripheral vision, and you mutter the word cat before you realize it isnt actually a cat, its a girl. And then that girl asks you about the cat, and youre just like, What? They analyzed Harrys smile how its basically the exact same smile that little kids draw on faces. They praised a girl they know, who Beaux declared is not even sure shes queer despite being the most queer person and who wears Old Spice Swagger deodorant ironically and pulls it off. Hanna floated between Beaux and Harry. Shes the quietest of the bunch, and her heart seems almost miraculously whole and unbroken, like a cake hot from the oven before the surface cools, contracts and cracks. This is perhaps a result of the fact that Hanna is a person who falls in love with one thing and then falls in love with another thing and then, instead of letting go of the first, just adds on. She loved all the Harry Potter books, and then she loved all the Percy Jackson books, and she still rereads them both. Same with watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Doctor Who. And so it was with Harry and Beaux. A few months before she started dating Harry, Hanna spoke with Beaux in the front doorway of her house. I have something to say, Hanna told her. I like you. I like you, too, Beaux said, but lets not date! Beaux soon changed her mind. To deal with the situation, she wrote a slam poem titled The 21st Century Version of Asking for Their Parents Blessing and performed it on video for Harry. Dear Mr. Harry, it started: I am in love with your girlfriend. Now, I know how this sounds but youve done it too and you know how she is and youve seen the way I look at her. She is important to me. She is the caveat in every suicide note The random smile in the middle of math class. Harry handled Beauxs request extremely well. He was a mensch already and had been friends with Hanna in ninth grade, when she talked about almost nothing but her love for Beaux. He did not want to be the kind of boyfriend who kept his girlfriend from chasing her bliss. When they arrived at Hannas house after shul, the three kicked off their shoes and flopped together on the wide, tawny brown couch in the living room. Beaux pretended to whisper in Harrys ear and then licked it instead. I lost track of their limbs. Hanna and Beaux washing up at Hannas home in Brooklyn during a sleepover. Isadora Kosofsky for The New York Times No one in New York is straight! Beaux texted me a few weeks earlier. ESP not high schoolers. She was not entirely kidding. Harry extracted himself from the girls and sat up. If our life is a sitcom, he explained, Im the token straight guy. Beaux has a theory: San Francisco is the capital of white gay men. New York City is the center of queer youth. When you are queer, that becomes like a huge part of who you are, Hanna told me, because you just start to be like, Damn, Im so gay, constantly. Youre sitting watching Castle, and Stana Katic comes on-screen, and youre like, Damn, Im really gay! Or you see something cute, like even that hetero couple in The End of the F***ing World, and you find yourself thinking, Thats so gay!, because the word gay is cross-wired in your brain with exuberant/life-affirming/hot/cute. You go to the ice cream truck, and you ask your friend what kind of sprinkles you should get, and she says, You have to get rainbow ones because youre queer. You dont need to push the boundaries or make up some whole new type of identity from scratch, but you do need to represent. A few years ago, Beaux and Hanna started poking around Tumblr, trying to name, with precision, their feelings and experiences. At first, Hanna said, I was like, I think Im bi, and then I learned the word pansexual and was like, I think that describes me better. Beaux goes with queer, partly to avoid the implication in the word bi that youre a double agent and need to make up your mind. At school she hangs out with her gang of lesbians. Theres a lesbian and a straight girl living inside me! she says. Im the straightest one and the gayest one there, and thats been my experience my entire life. Its not like Im .5 gay and .5 straight. Its like I have two full sexualities. But the city is not all one big sparkly unicorn of love. Hanna and Beaux are lucky, they know that. They know that if your parents are part of what they call the Park Slope white-parent community (not limited to Park Slope proper), your parents cant be homophobic, or if they are they have to be hermits. White, liberal parents have to be O.K. if a kid comes out. When Hanna first told her mom she was bi, her mom said: I think I might be bi, too, but it doesnt matter because Im married to your father! If I had the freedoms you have in high school, things might have been different. Yet for kids raised outside this bubble, perhaps most especially immigrant kids, what passes for a decent parental response is: Youre a lesbian, thats cool, but you cant be a lesbian when youre out of the house. Before one friend introduced Beaux to her mother, the friend said, You really cant say anything or do anything around my parents that would imply any level of queerness. Beaux said, O.K., I guess Ill just put away my head. Hannas house is where a bunch of Hanna and Beauxs friends plan to come if they get kicked out of their own homes. The space is a monument to comfort, supersaturated with chairs, books, blankets, snacks, humanity, tea bags, extra beds and warmth. Hanna, Beaux and Harry spent the afternoon there leaning one against another, like kids stacked on a toboggan Harrys elbow resting on Beauxs head, Beauxs arms around Hannas neck, Hannas fantasia of hair fanned across Beauxs chest. They ate a bag of Tostitos and projected onto the living room wall an episode of Sherlock, the campy BBC series based on the character Sherlock Holmes. When it ended, Hanna ran upstairs and changed out of her good jeans into a pair of jeans full of holes (if you can call slashes down the entire leg holes) that really belonged to Beaux, but they looked so good on Hanna that Beaux told her just to keep them. Then the three teenagers walked down 19th Street to go for burgers. Near Middle School 442, Beaux noticed the 12-year-old sister of one of her friends hanging out under a tree, taking hits off a Juul, and she fake-metal-band screamed: Youre giving yourself a nicotine addiction! Your parents are in my phone! Hanna and Beaux in Hanna's bedroom. Isadora Kosofsky for The New York Times The burger place didnt open for 30 minutes, so Hanna, Beaux and Harry drifted over to a nearby playground to kill a little time. Beaux called her family, who live nearby, to invite them to join for dinner, and a few minutes later her 11-year-old sister, wearing sneakers and a fleece, rolled up on a scooter from the other side of the puberty divide. As the sister figure-eighted around, the older kids, who had climbed up on some oversize green plastic rings, decided that Harry would make a great E.M.T. (Sorry, Harrys parents, who Im sure would prefer he become a doctor.) They talked about friends who smoked the drugs. (They meant weed.) Hanna and Beaux kissed, just a quick one, and Harry busied himself doing pull-ups. Most of the time, Hanna just hangs out with Beaux, or she just hangs out with Harry, though the three of them tried for a while to be a thruple. The experiment started last summer when Hanna went to Israel. Beaux and Harry stayed in Brooklyn, and one day they looked at each other flirtatiously and said: Should we? For science? They agreed that they should of course they should. They shook hands and awkwardly kissed. But Beaux and Harry argued all the time, and those arguments left everybody sad. Harry broke up with Beaux over text. Beaux had never been broken up with before, and she looks back fondly at the experience. She got to tell Harry: As your best friend, this is me telling you that you cannot break up with girls over text. Its just ... you just did it wrong. Like you could have wikiHowed how to break up with girls, and that is what it wouldve said: Dont do that. People often say to Beaux, Hanna and Harry: Isnt this three-way relationship difficult? Arent you consumed by jealousy? Their honest, heartfelt answer is no. Wow, I like you, and I like you, and I dont feel tense about that! thats their basic feeling. Beaux is O.K. with Hannas dating Harry, and Hanna is O.K. with Beauxs dating whomever she wants (at the moment, she has such a huge crush on a girl from school that she bought a pair of shoes like the ones this girl wears, just to impress her), because they get to have each other, too. At dinner, Harry and Beaux sat next to each other and across from Hanna. Youre my second favorite! Harry said to Beaux. Youre my second favorite! Beaux said back. They high-fived. The air smelled great walking back to Hannas house rain, leaves, late-blooming lilac, a hint of smoke. On the couch once again, the three resumed casually playing with one anothers hands, running their fingers through (or over) one anothers hair. At 10:01 p.m., Harry said, I have to leave negative one minute ago. Hanna kissed him good night. Beaux, feigning horror, said: Ewwww! Ewwww! Upstairs, in Hannas room, among the ACT study books, the Elmers Glue and the Polaroids from when Beaux had long blue hair, the two girls flopped on the bed. Beaux is excited for college; Hanna, less so. She doesnt like to think about the future. Excuse me, could you come here? Beaux said, pulling Hanna close. I need the teddy-bear aspect of you. The two rolled around for a minute beneath the Dear Evan Hansen poster. Then Beaux brushed her teeth while Hanna washed the glitter off her face, and soon they fell asleep. Say 'no' to polythene bags, save the environment THERE is a ban on the polythene bag but it is now of no use. Rather use of this environmentally harmful item made a huge comeback everywhere with its pervasive presence. The ban imposed in 2002 is still in force on production, import, marketing, sale, display, storing, distribution, transportation and use of less than 55 micron thickness polythene. When most of the countries across the world are taking initiatives to prevent use of plastic or polythene bags to save the environment -- at that time at least 20 million polythene bags are used everyday only in Dhaka, claimed Paribesh Bachao Andolon recently. It is also for human health. We do not get any news about companies are fined for its production. According to newspaper reports about 1,200 polythene factories across the country are producing and marketing polythene bags defying the ban. And the consumers of all kinds are using them openly. What is dangerous that, bioethanol-based ethylene is used as raw material to produce polyethylene and other polymers. For this chemical, the polythene bags cannot be rotten even after several hundred years. There is no technology to recycle the bags. These unused bags are usually dumped in drains, ponds, cannels, rivers, farmland and where not! At one stage it decreases the fertility of the cultivating lands. Not only that, 79% polyethylene mixes with water resulting in death of fishes and other aquatic animals in developing countries like Bangladesh. We all, in some way or other, are involved in this collective guilt. In the earlier days, we saw that people used to go to the kitchen market with bags made of cotton or jute. The use of striped or solid colour jute or cotton bags with handle became so rampant that it is still fresh in our mind. We observed use of jute bags for a few days in previous year but now polythene bags have again returned. The authorities concerned must bust the factories that produce the illegal item just before the law enforcers' eyes. If they are able to do so, it will be a great environmental job. At the same time, we all will have to say 'no' to polythene bags to save our environment. There is very little America needs to know at 6 a.m. that it cant know at 9 a.m. Exceptions include nuclear threats, catastrophic weather events and royal weddings, all of which share the distinction of being both rare and inevitable. On May 19, one of these juggernauts came barreling toward New York City like a heart-shaped asteroid. New Yorkers cordially invited themselves to set their alarms for before dawn, put on their best Derby millinery and leave the house at an hour I would describe as ungodly were the main event not taking place in a chapel. In a matter of hours, the American television actress Meghan Markle would swap one script for another, stepping into the role of the Duchess of Sussex. Across the city there were simultaneous viewings of the live broadcast, most open to the public, many free and at least one at Madame Tussauds featuring a wax Meghan. The celebration I chose to grace with my bleary-eyed curiosity was hosted by the British International School, a Manhattan private school overlooking the East River. This selection was made not so much because the environs smacked of legitimacy, although they did, and not so much because the invitation employed an elegant looping typeface, although it did, but because I was promised a horse. The horse, a Shetland pony by the name of Chocolate Chip, was to be trotted onto the plaza of the adjoining apartment complex directly after the royal nuptials. The children present were abuzz about the pony, displaying a level of excitement reminiscent of the Donald Barthelme story The School. (You cant tell them they cant have a puppy when the puppy is already there, right in front of them, running around on the floor and yap yap yapping.) Tiding them over was a balloon-dog Corgi, which the children took turns escorting among cafeteria tables. But the Corgi was no pony. The pony was en route. The pony was real. The televised display of love, on the other hand, was a tad abstract. When I asked a jovial and precocious 7-year-old named Tatiana to predict how long the royal marriage would last, she told me, without hesitation: Two hours. Didie Remarais, 54, whose daughter, Laetitia Donnet, attended the party with her as a second Mothers Day gift. Dolly Faibyshev/Redux, for The New York Times The whole world is watching them! her friend Shoshana, also 7, exclaimed. I would not know what to do. This was perhaps false modesty on her part. Soon after this assertion, Shoshana leaned across the table and confided, in a stage whisper, that she had already found love. She found it way back in Year 1. He has a crush on me, too, and I kissed him on the lips in front of everyone. Tatiana has had less serious relationship experience, having discovered her crush only the day before. Im going on a date with him soon, she said. Were going to eat sushi. My parents are going to sit at a different table. But Im not sure when. Whenever. He asked me. She resumed applying stickers to her sleeve. All around us were the fluorescent-lit trappings of royal merriment a bouquet-making station, a scone buffet, a table on which to decorate your own crown. (Most of the crowns would become casualties of abdication.) Dutiful dads mainlined coffee in the corner. Cardboard cutouts of the royal couple surveyed the scene, a Union Jack-patterned umbrella resting atop their heads. Gothic silhouettes of fascinators rushed across the projectors path. You can think what you want about a royal wedding, including absolutely nothing. But watching the two-hour entirety of a royal-wedding ceremony specifically this one, with its California-contemporary bride and lip-biting groom can highlight your own romantic shortcomings. This makes the urge to pilfer relationship tips from children unusually strong. Their takes on the subject feel more recovered than stolen, reminders of the blase manner with which we all once viewed romance. What differentiates these kids from just any kids is a New York City-specific joie de vivre that comes from having tons of options. Its the appeal of raising children here that worldliness, that cool, that independence. It is only as affection-seeking adults that these attributes have the potential to become liabilities. The balloon corgi. Dolly Faibyshev/Redux, for The New York Times Dating in New York is a bit of a Peter Pan situation, lamented Shoshanas half-British mom, Abigail Greystoke, 39, one of the schools directors. She feels very fortunate to have met her husband through mutual friends. Theres a playfulness to the city thats at odds with some of those structures that we say we want. Everybody says theyre looking for love, in theory, but when and how does that actually happen in a city where theres so much variety? My view on love is this: You may not know if its right, but you do know if its wrong. But today is about setting aside that complexity and just bringing the fairy tale to life in Manhattan. Then her phone buzzed, and she scurried off, presumably tending to pony logistics. I was left standing with Jason Morrow, the schools Irish headmaster, who put it even more succinctly: New Yorkers have high expectations and low tolerance. These theories certainly applied to Olivia McDonnell, a bright-eyed, 28-year-old, Philadelphia-bred banker in a white dress that her friend Maruschka Valentin, among others, teased her for wearing. I cried during the Super Bowl, and Ill probably cry today, she told me. Harry is my guy, but I really like her, so Im happy. If its not going to be me, let it be her. I first met McDonnell outside, each of us pacing along the F.D.R. in the rain, trying to figure out how to get into the building. She greeted me with: I heard CBS missed the dress! McDonnell has lived in New York for five years and remains coated in the kind of romantic sincerity that demands protection. Girlfriends sometimes set her up, but she has not had much luck. One dream date, which began (rather ambitiously) with brunch and turned into a five-hour stroll through the Met, fizzled when she had to go home shortly afterward to care for her sick parents. She has tried dating apps but never gets matched. She is an active participant in the Quadrille Ball, which, according to its website, is a unique opportunity for young professionals in New York City to meet new friends and requires you to be well groomed and sociable. The seeds of her royal-wedding fascination were planted while she was studying in London, where she missed William and Kates nuptials by a week. The ironic thing about that church, she explained, pointing at the interior of St. Georges Chapel, is that they have to walk right over Henry VIII. His grave is under the aisle, and hes the most unromantic person ever. He had six wives. Abigail Greystoke, one of the directors of the British International School. Dolly Faibyshev/Redux, for The New York Times That makes him romantic, I suggested. How? What about Anne Boleyn? He killed Anne Boleyn. That makes him passionate, I joked. Oh, she allowed, I guess it depends on your perspective. We heard a low hiss behind us and turned in unison. We were being shushed by a pair of ladies in feathered hats. Up on the wall, the broadcast was showing guests shifting in pews, a wide-angle view of the church. My personal reaction was something akin to Greg Kinnears in Youve Got Mail A hot dog is singing. You need quiet while a hot dog is singing? but McDonnell snapped to attention, straightening in reverence. I find this whole thing hopeful, she whispered over her shoulder. If they can find love in a unique situation like the one theyre in, I dont know what would preclude me from finding love in New York City. I read the wedding announcements in the paper, and I think, if they made it work out, I can make it too. This raised a slightly larger question, even bigger than the one Harry and Meghan were about to answer: Is walking down the aisle in a veil that runs the length of said aisle making it work? Marriage is a known mixture of lure and liability, but marrying into the royal family really does not seem fun. Its like agreeing to live in a beautifully appointed hotel room, except that you can never go home. Any parts of yourself that dont quite fit must be subsumed, like tchotchkes in a drawer. Chocolate Chip and some of his fans. Dolly Faibyshev/Redux, for The New York Times It turned out I was not the only adult in the room who found such a situation unappetizing. Jean Ando, 77, came to the party because it seemed like a nice thing to do on a rainy Saturday. After 40 years of marriage, she is now single and loving it. She feels more fully herself. Her ex-husband is in Asia somewhere. Probably Thailand. She smiled. Ive enjoyed the freedom of being single. She touched her headdress, a crown of cloth flowers stitched by a friend. The colors, pinks and reds, were symbolic of the maiden, the mother and the crone. The maiden, Ando explained, is the brighter colors, and they fade with the crone. It all fades, right? After a long marriage, I can tell you that its really about giving each other space. Its like Kahlil Gibran says in The Prophet Let there be spaces in your togetherness. The oak tree and the cypress tree should not grow in each others shadow. Laetitia Donnet, a Belgian-born 33-year-old, was of a similar mind, if not a similar headdress. She comes from a country with a royal family, so I get it, but she showed up for the viewing only because she promised her mother they would go. (This is Mothers Day Gift Part 2.) She doesnt want Harry and Meghans love. She wants her own. Im just going to do whats true to me and not play games until it resonates with the right person, she said. And when it does, Ill have something real rather than something I had to manufacture. You did good, I said to her mother, who nodded knowingly. I had a relationship for five years, Donnet continued, and people ask me, Oh, why didnt it work out? And Im like: It did. It worked out for five years. We accomplished amazing things, and then we let go of each other in the kindest way. Its not forever that means working out; its taking care of each other and being good to each other. The royal wedding. Dolly Faibyshev/Redux, for The New York Times Real good, I said to her mother. With the scone supply dwindling and the ceremony concluded, a quartet in the adjacent music room performed a professional-grade rendition of Someone to Watch Over Me. The piano players sixth-grade son, lost in concentration, rapped on the drums. I watched from the doorway with Sonia Glazer and Carol Sanders, both 69, both of whom live in the apartment complex above the school. Sanders had borrowed a hat for the occasion, an oversize silk macaron festooned with Swarovski crystals and tulle. It belonged to an Orthodox Jewish friend who wears it only on high holidays. But the hat, it quickly became clear, was a red herring. I think Meghan could turn out to be a real loose cannon, Sanders said. Americans are not used to those restrictions. And I didnt like the way she left the first husband. Also, I think she looks slovenly sometimes. Weve argued about this, Glazer said. Harry and Meghan have a similar philosophical view of the world. Also, they went to Africa on their third date! My guess is that they slept together on the second date, because I dont think she wouldve gone to Africa with him to sleep in a tent unless theyd done that before. Carol and I looked at her, blinking. Im saying theres real chemistry there. For the die-hards in attendance, chemistry was not the magic word. It was a truth universally acknowledged that chemistry is not enough to sustain a marriage. According to Vera Jacobs, 56, what we were witnessing was something far more significant: true love. Jacobs was sporting a gold tiara and a firm belief in destiny. She was a romantic pep talk with legs. She was, arguably, the most enthusiastic wedding watcher in the room, or at least the most demonstratively so. Were all one, she said, referring to Meghans nationality and biracial identity. Love has no barriers. Love is not stoppable. Who do you tell your heart to love? Nobody. She went on: I have a lot of love around me, a lot of love. That old cliche that you cant find love in New York? Its not true at all. A woman she met that morning passed by, carrying some scones-to-go in a paper napkin. It was nearly 9 a.m. Bye, girl! the woman said. See you for the christening! New Yorkers have a reputation for being cynics an international reputation, if these foreign-born parents were to be believed. But on the deepest level, the reverse is true: We are born romantics. That is why we came here, or are still here. Like children, we cannot stop ourselves from being curious, from being sanguine. But we have also thrown ourselves into an environment that prizes skepticism, and in such a setting, holding onto a romantic nature can take a toll on the psyche. This, I think, is what makes us appear cynical, to the naked eye. Even McDonnell, in a throwaway moment, suggested that maybe a wedding is just mergers and acquisitions. This is clearly the opposite of what she really believes. She just needed a break a break from knowing loves rarity but trusting in its inevitability. In this, she is not so different from the more outwardly independent women in the room. She knows full well a royal wedding is a fantasy. She would just rather lean into the fairy tale than fall backward into disillusionment. At long last, Chocolate Chip arrived. A vision in brown, he strutted past the window, oblivious to the frenzy he inspired. The children filed out of the cafeteria, followed by their well-caffeinated caregivers. The wind made a mockery of umbrellas in a way that felt very British indeed. Chocolate Chip suffered the little children as they bounced up and down at a respectful distance, waiting to have their photographs taken. His realness seemed out of place not in an alert the A.S.P.C.A. sense but in an anticlimactic sense. He was led by a stoic handler. He would not stay on the makeshift red carpet. He would not look at the camera. He would not take bets on the duration of the royal marriage. He would only stand there and be a horse. I crouched down and took a single photo of him, fruitlessly angling for eye contract, calling his name, hoping against hope that Chocolate Chip would pick me from a crowd of many. NYTimes.com no longer supports Internet Explorer 9 or earlier. Please upgrade your browser. UN-Myanmar deal could make a significant development in Rohingya repatriation process MANY global news agencies reported that the United Nations on Wednesday inked a deal with Myanmar, which would give it access to the epicenter of the Rohingya crisis, but provided few details on how the agreement would jumpstart stalled repatriation plans. Some 700,000 people fled over the border from Myanmar to Bangladesh after the military launched a crackdown on Rohingya insurgents last August that the UN has called ethnic cleansing. Bangladesh and Myanmar signed a repatriation deal in November but fears over safety and rights in Myanmar mean only a couple dozen of the long-persecuted minority have chosen to return. In the stalled situation, the UN success to reach a deal with Myanmar to get access in Rakhine state, where genocide was committed, is a good step to repatriate the most persecuted population with rights and citizenship to their ancestral land. The UN said that its agencies will initially carry out assessments in Rakhine State, which has been largely closed to outsiders since the crisis began. The UN refugee agency said they hoped to start assessment as soon as possible, though any large-scale refugee repatriation is still a long way off. It is anticipated that the UN would investigate whether conducive environment for the repartition of Rohingya is either possible or not. However, the UN Secretary-General reiterates his call for an end to violence, accountability for perpetrators, redress for victims, and humanitarian access to all areas in Rakhine State. But human rights groups say the new deal will be worth little unless Myanmar opens Rakhine State up to independent monitors and takes significant steps towards treating Rohingya as full citizens. If this agreement can help the UN access areas the government has blocked, that's good, but this doesn't represent any fundamental change on the ground. Myanmar so far has allowed only chaperoned visits to Rakhine State. Even, the country has refused access to a UN Human Rights Council fact-finding mission and barred UN rights experts. We think reaching a deal with Myanmar is a significant development in the repatriation process of Rohingya people. Bangladesh should mountain pressure on regional powers and the UN to compel Myanmar to take back their nationals. Interview with geopolitics expert Adam Garrie: CPEC problem for India if ruling BJP makes it' Feature oi-Shubham By Shubham The month of June is exciting for the students of international affairs. While a sitting US president will meet the supreme leader of North Korea in Singapore on the 12th for talks over the latter's denuclearisation, the 18th summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) - which expanded to include India and Pakistan last year - will precede it at Qingdao in China on June 9-10. Meanwhile, earlier in the month, the foreign minister of Turkey and his American counterpart - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo - spoke over a roadmap for northern Syria's Manbij and the ongoing conflict in Syria. Oneindia spoke to Adam Garrie, a geopolitical expert and the director of Eurasia Future, an international publication which offers analysis on important events shaping the world today, to get insights into various burning issues in world affairs. Here are some excerpts of the interview that Garrie, who makes frequent appearances on various television shows besides penning regular pieces, gave from London: Oneindia: What's your take on the Kim Jong-un -Donald Trump summit? Will the hype produce the desired results on denuclearisation? Adam Garrie (AG): The Kim-Trump summit is the visual centrepiece of a much wider peace process centred around direct communication between Pyongyang and Seoul along with crucial and substantial input from China and Russia. The key to the entire peace process is that it was initiated not by foreigners but by Koreans. Kim Jong-un, whose extension of an olive branch to Seoul was picked up with sincerity by South Korean President Moon Jae-in early this year, was the beginning of an Asia authored, owned and executed peace process. The US is clearly upset that its role in the peace process is not one of leadership but one that is part of a wider spectrum of powers, the most influential and important of which is clearly China. It is difficult to say whether a full agreement for denuclearisation will be signed at the summit, but more important even than this would be a treaty between Pyongyang and Seoul to formally end the Korean War. I suspect this will be forthcoming before the end of 2018. Oneindia: Why do you think North Korea took the pro-peace path? AG: Kim Jong-un has proved himself to be a master diplomat and a young leader who seeks to open his country to the wider economic opportunities of a world whose overall economic path is today influenced less by the Cold War model or the post-Cold War US-dominated model but by a Chinese win-win model of mutually beneficial bilateral and multilateral relations based on the individual needs of a particular nation. Crucially, unlike in the Cold War era or the US hegemonic model, China does not attach political requirements to deals for economic cooperation and wider inter-connectivity. Because of this, it is clear that Kim felt that the time was right to mend wounds with the South as Koreans are a single people who in the long term will have a singular economic and geopolitical destiny. The North Korean economy is already growing at a rapid rate; while under the radar of most observers, Kim has instigated several large building and infrastructure projects which have been generally successful in spite of sanctions. Furthermore, Kim has introduced what could be described as early stage market-socialist economic reforms which could indeed pave the way for both a robust Chinese style economy domestically and an economic "one country-two systems" model for the Korean peninsula that could be implemented in its early stages in the coming years. Those who underestimate the speed of reforms in North and South Koreas as a whole will ultimately be proved wrong by history. Under the leadership of both Kim and Moon, Korea is fast on a path towards a new era that will benefit people on both sides of the artificial border. Oneindia: What could be post-Putin scenario in Russia? Will it reconcile with the West? AG: It is virtually certain that Putin will not seek a new term in office after 2024. At such a time, I believe, a far more hardline Russian leader will become President: someone whose views are more similar to that of opposition veteran Vladimir Zhirinovsky (of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia) than the more moderate views of Putin. While Putin has been in power for many years, he still is functioning as a transitional leader whose main objective is to rectify the many wrongs created in the Russian government during the 1990s. He still has much more work to do but when his task is accomplished, I believe Russia will have a leader that could be a kind of hybrid of Zhirinovsky and Brezhnev but with 21st century/multipolar characteristics. For those that think that Putin's successor will be more western leaning in his approach to Russia's future, they are very mistaken. The entire world is pivoting towards Asian models of development. As a Eurasian nation, Russia is no exception. The 1990s was an aberration in Russian history that will likely never return. Oneindia: Your take on the Syria tussle. Are Assad's allies in Russia and Iran making him stronger or is there a shortfall in the West's policies to see him defeated? AG: The war in Syria is winding to a close as most extremist groups have either been defeated or are on the verge of defeat. The most important powers in shaping a post-conflict settlement are Russia, Turkey, Iran and of course Syria itself. The US and its closest partners have failed in their objective to destroy the Syrian government and as a result they will have a very limited role in the negotiated settlement. Russia and Turkey are now largely on the same page in respect of their views on a settlement to the conflict. Both countries have vowed to protect Syria's political and territorial unity and both countries have pledged to work towards a new constitutional settlement in the Astana format. Such a settlement will likely see President Assad's Arab Socialist Ba'ath party remain in power but with the addition of new moderate opposition parties playing a role in the country's national politics while the possibility for more local control to various regions might also be on the table. Iran would prefer the military phase of the conflict to continue until both the US and "Israel" are expelled from Syrian territory and only after that would a political settlement begin. Realistically though, Iran will likely have to compromise on this and work with its Russia, Syrian and Turkish partners in the Astana format. Oneindia: Will Trump's retreat from multilateralism give rise to a new world order? AG: It already has. For the developing world, countless nations are embracing a model of free trade that does not prioritise the American style corporatism but instead prioritises the Chinese style of investment and development. Furthermore, this model does not demand any particular political system on the part of a poorer partner nation in return for investment and developmental aid such as loans. In this sense, the eastern looking development model is far more popular among the developing nations than the US/IMF model which is in reality nothing but neo-colonialism of the 21st century. In waging trade wars not only with rivals but with traditional allies, Trump is forcing many western leaning economies to look for new eastern partners. This includes, South Korea, Japan, the European Union and even Canada and Mexico. The reality is dawning even in Berlin, Ottawa and Paris that the future of inter-connected global trade is incompatible with a US government that is alone in trying to foist protectionism onto a globalised world. Because of this, the Chinese model may be the only option available even to neo-liberal western style economies who had hoped that they would have a US ally in creating a rival model of globalism to China. Trump is busy killing off this western globalist model and has replaced it with an ultra-protectionist one. Because of this, for those who prefer free trade to protectionism, the Asian model is ultimately the only option realistically available. Oneindia: What could be Trump's shifting embassy to Jerusalem mean for West Asia? AG: Trump's Embassy move has already threatened to break the already poor state of relations between Ankara and Tel Aviv. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey is intent on rallying the Sunni Muslim world against an increasingly Islam-hating West and a Tel Aviv regime that is ever more intent on extremist anti-Palestinian measures. Now that Palestine has rejected further failed US mediation attempts because of the overt Zionist bias of Trump, Turkey is now in a key position to become Palestine's key advocate among all Sunni Muslim majority nations. This will be important as any attempt at facilitating long-term peace in the Levant will require the cooperation of Turkey, Iran, Russia, China, the Arab League (or some variant thereof) and hopefully also India, Pakistan and the African Union. The US has shown itself incapable of fostering peace in the region and because of this, a new multilateral model is necessary and Palestine is already actively lobbying for such a model. Oneindia: Will CPEC make China-Pakistan alliance difficult for India to deal with? AG: The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is only a problem for India if the ruling BJP makes it so. While the recent meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian PM Narendra Modi was a positive sign, New Delhi must work to embrace the model of multilateral Asian cooperation as this is the model best suited to India's own internal development. With the US showing that it is capable of sanctioning both friends and rivals alike, India cannot bank on the US protecting its interests in Asia in a would-be economic or even military confrontation with China. The key therefore is for India to embrace a spirit of cooperation and the best first step would be working to integrate the North-South Transport Corridor into One Belt-One Road so that India's own trading/logistics projects and CPEC could function as complimentary arteries in a single body of pan-Asian/global trading networks rather than as rivals. This is the win-win spirit that all of Asia can embrace to the benefit of all nations and individuals. Oneindia: When the US is retreating from global commitments, are groups like SCO and BRICS gaining more international significance? AG: The SCO and BRICS are more important than ever because they provide opportunities at a global level for security cooperation and investment across the developing world with a clear emphasis on a pan-Asian model. The SCO and BRICS should work more closely as both organisations overlap in many ways even though the SCO's main focus is security and the main focus of BRICS is economic development. Such organisations can help to integrate the economic spaces of the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union, One Belt-One Road and the North-South Transport Corridor for starters. It is also important for the BRICS and SCO to expand. The BRICS in particular should invite countries like Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, the Philippines, Vietnam, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Mexico, Nigeria, Kenya and ideally others to form a wider cooperative effort to harness the potential of multilateral development across many continents. Such cooperation could also help to ease the conflict between Iran and the United States by giving Tehran economic options outside of the West, while other issues that could be tackled are the drug and terrorist problem in south east Asia, the India-Pakistan conflict, the war in Afghanistan and preventing the development of Takfiri terrorism from spreading in Africa. SCO Summit 2018: Why Turkmenistan is not part of the Eurasia security bloc Feature oi-Shubham By Shubham The 18th summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) will take place in Qingdao in East China's Shandong Province on June 9 and 10. This is the first time that the SCO members will be meeting since its expansion last year when India and Pakistan were included as full-time members. The SCO now has eight members in all - Russia, China, India, Pakistan and the four Central Asian Republics (CARs) of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Why isn't the remaining CAR Turkmenistan also a part of the SCO? Turkmenistan, which got independence after the fall of the former Soviet Union in 1991 - just like the other four republics - has followed a policy of 'positive neutrality' in its foreign affairs from the onset. In October 1995, Turkmenistan, the second-largest of the CARs after Kazakhstan, told the United Nations about its foreign policy stance and subsequently, the UN unanimously adopted a special resolution of the General Assembly on the country's 'permanent neutrality'. The neutrality in Turkmenistan's foreign policy also includes non-alignment with any military blocs and groupings, as its late president Sapramurat Niyazov had underlined. It is because of this reason that Turkmenistan never joined the SCO though it has sent high-level representative as a special guest to SCO gatherings. It has neither been a part of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation or CSTO which comprises, besides Russia, the members of the Commonwealth of Independent States though some of them withdrew from the bloc later. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, June 7, 2018, 10:53 [IST] Four years of Modi govt: An Amul like movement for tribals on the cards When Start up and Make in India got a boost in four years of Modi govt Feature oi-Chennabasaveshwar By Chennabasaveshwar The Commerce and Industry Ministry was in the news throughout the four years of PM Modi's rule. Needless to say Startup India and Make In India programmes received much attention. Both the major programmes launched with the objective to promotion of Entrepreneurship among youth and foreign investment (FDI) in India. And the results are palpable. Since the launch of these projects India has emerged as one of the fastest growing major economies. Also, India improved its ranking in Ease of Doing Business. India has leapt 30 ranks over its rank of 130 in Doing Business Report 2017. Following are the major schemes and achievement by the ministry: Startup India: The ambitious schemes was launched in 2016 with the objective to foster entrepreneurship and nurture innovation by creating an ecosystem that is conducive for growth of Start-ups to drive sustainable economic growth and generate large scale employment opportunities. Achievements: Startup India Movement launched on 16th January 2016 for promotion of Entrepreneurship among youth. Action plan unveiled for encouraging startups. Tax relief for three consecutive years out of a block of seven year for startups. Start-up Fund of Rs. 10,000 Crore to be released over two Finance Commission cycles, that is, by 2025. Startups are allowed to issue ESOPs to promoters working as employees Startups approved 4536 Startup applications have been recognized as Startups by DIPP as on 12th October, 2017 74 Startups have been approved by IMB for availing tax benefit 450+ Startups have been mentored for incubation and funding support by Startup India Hub MAKE IN INDIA (DIPP): It was launched by the PM Modi on 25th September 2014 to make India the hub of manufacturing. Partnership between the Government & Industry has increased. Since the launch of Make in India initiative, India has emerged as one of the fastest growing major economies. India has been ranked 3rd in the list of top prospective host economies for 2016-18 in the World Investment Report (WIR) 2016 of UNCTAD. Also India features amongst top 10 economies in terms of FDI inflows according to WIR 2016. India's ranking in World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Index has made giant leap of 30 positions - from 130 in 2016 to 100. India has established itself as one of the top 10 inbound investment destinations in the world. One of the key reasons is India opening up its sectors for FDI. India is one of the most open economies of the world when it comes to sectors opened up for FDI Due to its investment friendly policies and opening up of FDI sectors, India for the first time received FDI of more than USD 50 billion in FY 2015-16; the exact figure being USD 55.45 billion and highest ever FDI inflow of USD 60.08 billion in 2016-17. FDI has shown an extremely positive trend since the launch of Make in India Week with growth of 56 percent on FDI inflow and 68 percent on FDI Equity inflows, since the launch of the initiative over the corresponding period previous to it. Highest FDI inflow for the last 3 financial years (USD 160.7 billion) - 32% of cumulative FDI inflow over past 17 financial years (USD 484 billion) FDI has also increased constantly over the past three financial years i.e. FY 2014-15, FY 2015-16, FY 2016-17 The Govt. of India has also increased autonomy in the FDI inflows. The key measure for this is the increase in FDI via the Automatic Route (for which one does not require Govt. permission to invest) vis-a-vis the Govt. Route. FDI in India has been opened in many key sectors such as - Defence Manufacturing, Food Processing, Telecommunications, Agriculture, Pharmaceuticals, Civil Aviation, Space, Private Security Agencies, Railways, Insurance and Pensions, Medical Devices and Pensions. Most of the above mentioned sectors have 100 percent FDI via the automatic route barring Defence Manufacturing sector (FDI upto 49 percent applicable via automatic route and 100 percent FDI allowed via Government Route) Indigenous Defence Production (Defence) Indigenous built ballistic missiles Indigenous Defence technologies built by India Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) Initiatives: 1. World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Ranking World Bank Doing Business (DB) Report, 2018 has ranked India at 100 among 190 countries. India has leapt 30 ranks over its rank of 130 in Doing Business Report 2017. DB report acknowledges India as a top improver, with an improvement of 30 ranks compared to last year's report, the highest jump in rank of any country in DB Report, 2018. India is the only country in South Asia and BRICS economies to feature among most improved economies of the DB Report this year. The World Bank's DB Report is an assessment of 190 economies and covers 10 indicators which span the entire lifecycle of a business. India has improved its rank in 6 out of 10 indicators and has moved closer to international best practices (Distance to Frontier score). This is credited to the mantra of "Reform, Perform, Transform" given by the Hon'ble Prime Minister, wherein a strong leadership has provided the political will to carry out comprehensive and complex reforms, supported by a bureaucracy committed to perform. Government has undertaken an extensive exercise of stakeholder consultations, identification of user needs, government process re-engineering to match Government rules and procedures with user expectations and streamline them to create a more conducive business environment. An extensive exercise is also undertaken to increase awareness among users about reforms to ensure extensive use of newly created systems. 2. Major achievements in the World Bank in the Doing Business Report The important highlights of India's performance are: 1. Resolving Insolvency - Rank improved from 136 to 103 Distance to Frontier (DTF) score improved from 32.75 to 40.75 Strength of insolvency framework index increased from 6 to 8.5 Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code created for efficient handling of restructuring & insolvency proceedings Professional institutes set up for handling restructuring & insolvency proceedings 2. Paying Taxes - Rank improved from 172 to 119 DTF score improved from 46.58 to 66.06 Payments reduced from 25 to 13 in a year Time reduced from 241 to 214 hours Total tax rate reduced from 60.6% to 55.3% (% of profit) Post filing index improved from 4.3 to 49.31 Enabled electronic registration, return & payment of ESI & EPF contributions 3. Getting Credit - Rank improved from 44 to 29 DTF score improved from 65 to 75 Strength of legal rights index improved from 6 to 8 Credit bureau coverage increased from 21.4% to 43.5% (% of adults) Increased coverage of security interest registration under SARFAESI Act Secured creditors prioritized over Government dues for purposes of recovery 4. Enforcing Contracts - Rank improved from 172 to 164 DTF score improved from 35.19 to 40.76 Cost reduced from 39.6% to 31% (% of claim) Quality of judicial process index improved from 9 to 10.3 Dedicated commercial courts established National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) to monitor and manage court cases. 5. Protecting Minority Investors - Rank improved from 13 to 4 DTF score improved from 73.33 to 80 Strength of minority investor protection index increased from 7.3 to 8 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index increased from 6.7 to 7.3 Extent of shareholder governance index increased from 8 to 8.7 Greater transparency requirements for interested parties transactions Greater shareholder protection through action against directors & claims for damages 6. Construction Permits - Rank improved from 185 to 181 DTF score improved from 32.83 to 38.80 Procedures to obtain construction permits reduced from 35.1 to 30.1 Time reduced from 190.0 to 143.9 days Cost reduced from 25.9 per cent to 23.2 per cent of warehouse value 3. DIPP's Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP): The DIPP has taken a series of measures to simplify and rationalize the regulatory processes to improve the business environment in the country. With an objective, to make it easier to invest or to do business in India various reforms initiatives have been taken to implement the Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP) to improve business regulatory environment in India. DIPP has been closely working with the State/UT Governments to help them identify constraints in doing business and improving overall business environment in their respective State/UT. In 2015, DIPP launched the 285-point Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP) - the new measure of competitiveness between States/UTs. DIPP launched the online portal (eodb.dipp.gov.in) in April 2016 for real-time ranking of States/UTs on the basis of number of reforms implemented by them. It is the first platform in India for knowledge on regulatory compliance requirements across States. In 2016, DIPP released the 340-point Business Reform Action Plan which includes recommendations for reforms on 58 regulatory processes, policies, practices or procedures spread across 10 reform areas spanning the lifecycle of a typical business. A total of 6,069 reforms were approved as implemented or not applicable on the portal States/UTs worked very hard and showed tremendous competition. 12 States scored more than 90% implementation score in 2016. viz. Andhra Pradesh (98.78%), Telangana (98.78%), Gujarat (98.21%), Chhattisgarh (97.32%), Madhya Pradesh (97.01%), Haryana (96.95%), Jharkhand (96.57%), Rajasthan (96.43%), Uttarakhand (96.13%), Maharashtra (92.86%), Odisha (92.73%) and Punjab (91.07%). For 2017, DIPP has identified a total of 372 reforms across 12 broad parameters covering: Labour enablers, Contract enforcement, Registering property, Inspection enablers, Single window system, Land availability and allotment, Construction permit enablers, Environment registration enablers, obtaining utility, paying taxes, access to information and transparency, sector specific. For the first time, sector specific reforms related to healthcare and hospitality have been included. Apart from this, new reform action points have been added which include: introduction of a central inspection system, land allotment, tree transit permission, trade license, registrations under legal metrology, registration of partnership firms and societies, etc. Another major change in BRAP 2017 is in the evaluation process wherein feedback will be solicited from the actual users/ businesses through a comprehensive B2G exercise on the reforms implemented by States/UTs. A score will be given to each State/UT based on the feedback collected. Overall ranking of the State/UT will be determined based on the combined score of implementation score and feedback score. DIPP has also released a note on Feedback Survey Methodology. It is also available on DIPP's website. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, June 7, 2018, 8:00 [IST] Abu Salem sentenced to 7 years imprisonment in 2002 extortion case India oi-Vikas By Vikas A Delhi Court on Thursday awarded seven years in jail to gangster Abu Salem in connection with the 2002 extortion case. Salem was on May 26 convicted by the court for demanding Rs 5 crore as protection money from a Delhi-based businessman in 2002. He is also one of the six convicts in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case. Salem is currently in jail in connection with various other cases, including those related to the 1993 Mumbai blasts. In the extortion case lodged in Delhi, it was alleged that Salem had demanded Rs 5 crore as protection money from businessman Ashok Gupta, a resident of Greater Kailash in south Delhi, in 2002. The court convicted Salem under Sections 387 (putting person in fear of death or of grievous hurt, in order to commit extortion) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code. Salem had earlier claimed that the prosecution did not have enough evidence against him in the case after a fresh warrant was issued against him in February. Through his lawyer, the gangster had also claimed that his trial in the case violated an order by which he was extradited to India from Portugal in 2005. [Abu Salem convicted in 2002 extortion case] In the extortion case, the courty had acquitted the other accused - Chanchal Mehta, Majid Khan, Pawan Kumar Mittal and Mohammad Ashraf - citing lack of evidence against them. Salem, who was extradited from Portugal in November 2005, was granted bail in the present case in 2013. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, June 7, 2018, 14:58 [IST] Ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha polls, politics over Ram temple makes a comeback; Hindu priests meet Yogi India oi-Oneindia Staff By Oneindia Staff Lucknow, June 7: Those who predicted that politics over Ram temple will make a comeback ahead of the all-important General elections in 2019 are proven right as Hindu priests are busy pressing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to build the Ram temple in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh at the earliest, these days. On Thursday, several influential Hindu priests met Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow over the issue of Ram temple in Ayodhya, reported ANI. The priests told the news agency before the meeting that "matter of the temple (Ram temple) has to be taken seriously. If this isn't taken up, we'll see what to do in 2019". The statement by the priests asking the BJP government to take the temple issue "seriously" was a veiled threat to the current regime to fulfill its election promise of building the Ram temple at the disputed site of Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, if the saffron party wants to stay in power. The outcome of the meeting between the Uttar Pradesh CM and the priests is yet to be revealed. "Lucknow: A group of priests, including Mahant Suresh Das, are meeting CM Yogi Adityanath over the issue of Ram temple in Ayodhya today, say 'Matter of the temple will have to be taken seriously. If this isn't taken up, we'll see what to do in 2019'. Meeting is underway," tweeted ANI. Lucknow: A group of priests, including Mahant Suresh Das, are meeting CM Yogi Adityanath over the issue of Ram temple in Ayodhya today, say 'Matter of the temple will have to be taken seriously. If this isn't taken up, we'll see what to do in 2019'. Meeting is underway. pic.twitter.com/maD55bdrR2 ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) June 7, 2018 A powerful Hindu priest on Tuesday challenged the ruling regime to construct the Ram temple in the disputed site of Ram Janmabhoomi. Mahant Paramhans Das told ANI that if the BJP did not build the temple then Hindu priests would start a movement to defeat the saffron party in the upcoming General elections in 2019. "If they (the BJP) want to come back to power in 2019, then they have to build the Ram temple, else we will start a movement and make sure they are defeated," the priest told ANI while reacting to minority affairs minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi's Sunday statement when he said that development will be the only issue in the 2019 elections. Replying to a question on the issue of Ram temple and Hindutva, Naqvi said, "Vikas, vikas and vikas will be our prime agenda for the 2019 elections." Talking to reporters, the minister added that PM Modi and the BJP government are focused on the development of the country. The statement of Naqvi seemed to have irked the Hindu priests who were promised by the BJP during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls that the Ram temple would be constructed if the saffron party comes to power. In fact, building the Hindu temple in the disputed site of Ayodhya has been a core issue of the BJP in almost all the elections. After coming to power neither Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor his cabinet colleagues have explicitly said anything about building the temple. Rather PM Modi has always stressed on vikas as his biggest political mantra. In Uttar Pradesh, the Adityanath government has been asked by the Hindu Yuva Vahini to expedite the construction of the temple or else the Hindu outfit will sever its ties with the BJP. The Hindu Yuva Vahini, a youth organisation, was founded by Adityanath in Gorakhpur. The matter regarding the building of Ram temple in Ayodhya is pending with the Supreme Court. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, June 7, 2018, 11:04 [IST] 35-year-old singer attempts suicide by cutting his wrist, streams it live on Facebook; saved 4 dead, some injured in fire at Covid hospital in Maharashtra's Nagpur Maharashtra unlock 2.0: Despite remaining in level 1 category, some Covid lockdown curbs to remain in Nagpur All eyes on Nagpur as Pranab gets set to address RSS event India oi-Staff By Oneindia Staff Writer All eyes would be on Nagpur as former President of India Pranab Mukherjee gets set to address an RSS event. He would be speaking at the event from 6.30 pm onwards. Mukherjee, who had been in the Congress for most of his political career and had been slamming the RSS, will attend the valedictory function of the 'Sangh Shiksha Varg' , the headquarters of the Sangh fountainhead. Mukherjee accepting the invite from the RSS has generated a lot of interest as well as controversy, with Congress leaders urging him not to attend the event in the "interest of secularism". Despite the reservations expressed by the Congress leaders, Mukherjee is going ahead to attend the event. Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram has said that since Mukherjee has accepted the invitation, he should go and tell the RSS "what is wrong" in their ideology. Ramesh Chennithala, a senior Congress leader from Kerala, last week sent a letter to Mukherjee, requesting him to refrain from attending the event. Chennithala, also leader of the opposition in Kerala assembly, had said Mukherjee's decision had come as a "rude shock" to the secular minds of the country. "As a person who has served as the first citizen of our country and the greatest ambassador of secularism, I request you to reconsider your decision to attend the RSS meet on June 7,2018," said Chennithala in his letter. West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Chowdhury and senior Congress leader V Hanumantha Rao too had urged Mukherjee not to attend the event. "I am really surprised to hear about the decision of Pranab Mukherjee to attend RSS's programme in Nagpur. Just like any other Congressman, I am really astonished to hear about it," said Chowdhury. "My question is does he (Mukherjee) think his previous comments against RSS were wrong. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, June 7, 2018, 6:07 [IST] BJP alleges Congress hand in Bhima Koregaon violence India oi-Chennabasaveshwar By Chennabasaveshwar Hours after the police said they would investigate Congress' hand in Bhima Koregaon violence, BJP alleged that letter recovered from accused Rona Wilson's house establishes the link. Sambit Patra showing the letter in a press conference, said, " This letter's means of communication as to how violence can be perpetrated. Bhima Koregaon incidents started on 31 Dec'17 & culminated on 1 Jan'18 and letter was just during at that time frame." "This letter isn't just a letter, it strips every cloth of modesty Congress party was trying to wear. They've been exposed before people. Dalits were being used as tools," said Sambit Patra on letter recovered from the house of Bhima Koregaon violence accused Rona Wilson. Earlier, Ravindra Kadam, Joint Police Commissioner, said, "In one document there are references but till what extent it is right or wrong can be said after a further investigation." "Letter on funding has references to Elgar Parishad. Many organisations were involved in organising Elgar Parishad but not all have links with Maoists. Sudhir Dhawale's name has also appeared, said the Joint Police Commissioner. "If required we will summon Jignesh Mevani as a part of the investigation," he added. Rona Wilson is one of the sic persons arrested by Pune Police with the help of Delhi Police on Wednesday. The police arrested Rona Wilson, activist and Jawaharlal Nehru University alumnus and another activist Rana Jacob, both from Delhi. Sudhir Dhawale, a Dalit activist and office-bearer of Elgar Parishad, was arrested in Mumbai. Activists Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut and lawyer Surendra Gadling were arrested in Nagpur. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, June 7, 2018, 16:27 [IST] Well this stunt by Rajinikants duplicate didnt go quite as expected: Watch hilarious video Cauvery comments row: Protests mar screening of 'Kaala' in Karnataka India pti-PTI The unofficial ban on Kaala seems to be a success in Karnataka. Widespread protests by pro-Kannada activists marred the screening of the Rajinikanth-starrer 'Kaala' in most parts of the state on Thursday. Reportedly, Radhika theatre in Bellary is the only theatre in Karnataka that is showing Kaala. Cinema halls, where it was to be screened, refused to show the film, leaving cinema goers, especially diehard fans of the Tamil superstar, disappointed. Demonstrations were held in front of all the theatres in the city where the film was to be screened. Agitators were seen requesting the 67-year-old actor's fans not to watch the movie for the sake of their Kannada brethren fighting for Cauvery water. They also asked them to come together to show solidarity to the farmers who have been deprived of Cauvery river water. Reports from Mysuru said the screening of the film was delayed by movie houses due to protests. However, two cinema theatres in Ballari and Raichur districts decided to screen the movie. Praveen Shetty, an office bearer of the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV) said they were going from theatre to theatre asking moviegoers to boycott the film. "We are telling them that the issue of sharing Cauvery water is more important than the film," he said. Miffed with Rajinikanth's reported comments that whichever government came to power in Karnataka should implement the Supreme Court order on Cauvery water sharing in toto, the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce on May 29 decided not to allow screening of "Kaala". Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy had requested the distributor of "Kaala" not to release it in "this kind of atmosphere," but said his government would follow the high court order on the issue. The Karnataka High Court had on June 5 directed the state government to provide necessary security for the peaceful release of "Kaala", which pro-Kannada outfits had threatened to stall over the actor's reported remarks on the Cauvery row. The Supreme Court had also declined to stall the release of 'Kaala.' Rajinikanth, who enjoys a cult following in South India had made a desperate, last gasp attempt to reach out to pro-Kannada outfits opposed to the release, insisting he had done "no wrong" and requested them not to thwart its screening. Barring the state, the film released worldwide today amid much fanfare. PTI Congress wants to disturb peace for political gains India oi-Oneindia Staff By Oneindia Staff New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has attacked the opposition parties especially the Congress on Thursday for using means like violence, false propaganda, exploitation of Dalits sentiments, using dead to spread chaos in the country to defeat the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The BJP has said that the arrested Naxals and letter recovered by the Pune police from them tells the real story and character of the Congress that how it is compromising with the interest and safety of the country. BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said that the letter recovered by the police in Pune tells the real character of the Congress. The letter was written on January 2, 2018 was addressed to the recently arrested Naxal leader while agitation took place on December 31, 2017 in which a person got killed. The BJP accused that the document recovered by the police in Pune was the internal document of the Naxals. As per this document, Dalits were used as tools in the hands of the Congress and Naxals in a manufactured agitation that had taken place on December 31, 2017. Organization involved in this entire were such which was banned by the Congress itself in 2014 as the then Union minister of state for Home RPN Singh told Parliament about these organisations in detail. The BJP also accused the Congress for providing fund for this agitation by using the services of Comerade Jignesh Mevani to cause disturbance across the country. The letter mentions that the death of youth should be used to exploit the situation for further agitation for preparing propaganda material. It was also written in the letter that this matter must be spread across the country especially in city with the urban leadership of the Maoists. The Congress was providing funds to such agitation be its Patidar movement and Gujarat or Dalit agitation anywhere through intermediary but in Koregaon it was Mevani. The BJP also accused the opposition leadership by saying that the letter has content like this that the Koregaon incidence must be converted into a large-scale mobilisation and chaos. "This will help to take down Modi juggernaut in 2019 elections," Patra quoted the letter. Patra said that the letter saying proof of this was visible through Gujarat elections. The Congress conspiracy to shed blood in the country stand exposed. The letter gives the name of persons who should be contacted to manage finance for such activities. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, June 7, 2018, 21:08 [IST] Did Shah, Thackeray meeting fail as Shiv Sena remains adamant to fight elections alone? India oi-Oneindia Staff By Oneindia Staff Mumbai, June 7: On Wednesday evening, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah accompanied by Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis met Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray at his Mumbai residence. The BJP said the meeting was in connection with its Sampark for Samarthan (contact for support) campaign being led by Shah in the run up to next year's Lok Sabha polls in 2019. It was a "hush-hush" affair, although a huge media contingent made a beeline outside Matoshree, the residence of Thackeray, where the meeting was held for almost two hours, to know about the outcome of the talks. Very little is known as what transpired in the meeting, although some reports say the Shiv Sena, which of late has been regularly attacking the BJP, has agreed to continue its ties with the saffron party. The BJP and the Shiv Sena run a coalition government in Maharashtra where the latter has been almost relegated to the background with no say in important government decisions. On Thursday morning, the Shiv Sena issued a statement where it reiterated its earlier stand of going "solo" in all the upcoming polls it fights, indicating that the meeting between Shah and Thackeray yielded no positive outcome as expected by the BJP. "We know what the agenda of Amit Shah ji is but the Shiv Sena has passed a resolution that we will contest all the upcoming elections on our own. There will be no change in that resolution," Sanjay Raut of the Shiv Sena was quoted as saying by ANI on the meeting between Shah and Thackeray. In fact, hours before the Shah-Thackeray meeting, Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana on Wednesday mocked the BJP president. The newspaper, which is run by senior Shiv Sena leader Raut, called Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi wilful defaulters in alliance management. Saamana questioned what Shah was hoping to achieve in his series of meetings with allies in the National Democratic Alliance, given that the meetings have been arranged after the party suffered multiple defeats in recent by-polls. A few days ago, the Shiv Sena called the BJP its "biggest political enemy". The comment came just a few days after the Shiv Sena lost the by-poll against the BJP in the Palghar Lok Sabha constituency in Maharashtra. In fact, this was for the first time when the Shiv Sena had fielded a candidate against the BJP. The decision to contest the by-poll against its "partner" was an attempt by the Shiv Sena to directly confront the BJP. The Shiv Sena was hoping to win the by-poll to regain its lost glory in the coalition government. Unfortunately, it did not happen and the BJP once again succeeded in taming its alliance partner. Zikrullah Abdul Muqit Chowdhury : 'Zikr' means 'remembrance'. 'Zikrullah' is 'remembrance of Allah'. It is a great spiritual virtue and has special importance, significance and merit in the month of Ramzan. Roza opens the door of continuous remembrance of Allah, Who ordained fasting for our mental and physical, worldly welfare, emancipation and unworldly Salvation. Regular 'Zikr-e-Ilahi' can enable one to attain spiritual heights, on which the Sufis stress. 'Zikrullah' in words is 'Allahu', 'Allahu' and other names and Attributes of Allah, while 'Zikrullah' in thinking and activities is meditation on Allah and realisation of Allah's Will. Zikr (remembrance) of Allah is part of Ibadat (worship). It has been ordained in different verses in the Holy Quran. In Ramzan, it is of special importance. The Holy Quran reveals : "Then do ye remember/ Me; I will remember/ You. Be grateful to Me,/And reject not Faith." (Sura Baqara 2: Ayat 152, The Holy Quran Translation and Commentary by A. Yusuf Ali.) "And do thou (O reader!) /Bring thy Lord to remembrance /In thy (very) soul, /With humility and in reverence, /Without loudness in words, /In the mornings and evenings; /And be not thou/ Of those who are unheedful." (Sura A'raf 7 : Ayat 205, Do.) "Those who believe, and whose hearts/ Find satisfaction in the remembrance/ Of God for without doubt/ In the remembrance of God /Do hearts find satisfaction". (Sura Ra'd 13 : Ayat 28, Do) " ... And remembrance of God /Is the greatest (thing in life)/ Without doubt. /And God knows /The (deeds) that ye do".(Sura 'Ankabut 29 : Ayat 45, Do.) There are other verses on remembrance of Allah and His praises. Hazrat Abu Huraira (Ra) narrated a Hadith from the last Prophet of Islam : He said, "Allah says, that I do, what devotee thinks about Me. And when He remembers Me, I be with him. And if he remembers Me in any gatheirng, I remember in such assemblage, which is better than that (meaning meeting with the angels)." (Bukhari and Muslim Sharif) Hazrat Abu Huraira (Ra) also narrated : Rasulullah (Sm) said, "There is a group of the angels of Allah, who go on searching the people in the streets who remember Allah ... " (Bukhari and Muslim Sharif) This is a detailed Hadith, which concludes that those who are related with the remembrance of Allah, are not deprived of the Blessings, Mercy and Salvation from Allah. Zabir (Ra) narrated : He says, "I have heard the Prophet (Sm) saying : The greatest Zikr is La Ilaha Illallah-/There is none worthy of worship except Allah." (Tirmizee Sharif) Hazrat Abu Musa (Ra) quoted Hazrat Muhammad (Sm) to have said, "The person who remembers his Lord and the person who does not remember, their example is like the living and the dead". (Bukhari and Muslim Sharif) Patanjali will step in if no other Indian company bids for IPL title: Ramdev Dr Harsh Vardhan should say he is not endorsing Patanjali's Coronil, says Indian Medical Association On Ramdevs allopathy remark Patanjali says he was only reading a forward Differences ironed out: Patanjali to review food park decision after Yogis assurance India oi-Staff By Oneindia Staff Writer Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed officials to expedite the process for Baba Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurved to set up its Rs 6,000-crore food park, prompting the company to say it is reviewing the decision to pull out of the project. Yesterday, Patanjali had stated that it was pulling out of the mega food processing project along the Yamuna Expressway in Uttar Pradesh, citing non-cooperation from the state government and delay in clearances for transfer of land. Over the development, UP Infrastructure and Industrial Development Minister Satish Mahana said: "We will not let Patanjali go from the state. Our CM has talked to Patanjali. The formalities will be completed soon." He said the state government was talking about incentives as well, and there were some technical issues involved. We are bringing a proposal in this regard to the Cabinet," the minister added. Meanwhile, Patanjali has said that it is reviewing its decision to pull out of the mega food project following the assurance by the UP CM. "We are reviewing our decision in the light of assurances given by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. We do trust the assurances given by him," said Patanjali Spokesperson S K Tijarawala. Earlier in the day, a senior state government official clarified that the project has not been cancelled and CM Adityanath spoke to Patanjali Ayurved MD Acharya Balkrishna over the matter. "The chief minister has talked to Acharya Balkrishna and heard his grievances. There is no cancellation yet. They have been allotted land and the project is to be commenced. The CM has directed to expedite the process and also directed officers for the same," Principal Secretary (Information) Awanish Awasthi told PTI. The Haridwar-based company had proposed to invest up to Rs 6,000 crore to set up a plant over 425 acres of land along the Yamuna Expressway through its step-down firm Patanjali Food and Herbal Park. Yesterday, Union Food Processing Secretary J P Meena had also stated that the projecthas not been cancelled yet. "We have given one month extension to Patanjali... they have to meet the condition. In case, Patanjali does not meet the condition, we have no choice but to cancel. We have done it earlier in many projects," Meena had said. Earlier, Patanjali had said that its mega food park along the Yamuna Expressway would produce goods worth Rs 25,000 crore annually while running on full capacity. It is envisaged to create 10,000 direct jobs. Patanjali is presently investing in various mega food park projects, including in Nagpur (Maharashtra) and Tezpur (Assam). For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, June 7, 2018, 5:56 [IST] Failed disinvestment plan: Air India delays staffs' last month salary India oi-Chennabasaveshwar By Chennabasaveshwar Salaries of employees of national carrier Air India have been delayed for the month of May after the government failed to get even a single bidder for its disinvestment plan. Airline Head Quarter staff told news agency ANI that they are not getting any communication from management as to when they will get salary. However, earlier salaries were paid on time either on 30 or 31 of every month. In a major setback to the Air India disinvestment process, the government said no initial bids were received for the proposed strategic stake sale of the debt laden airlines by the deadline. The deadline for submission of Expression of Interest ended on May 31st. The government has proposed to offload 76 per cent equity share capital of the national carrier as well as transfer the management control to private players, as per the preliminary information memorandum. The transaction would involve Air India, its low cost arm Air India Express and Air India SATS Airport Services Pvt Ltd. The latter is an equal joint venture between the national carrier and Singapore-based SATS Ltd. Earlier this month, the government had extended the EoI submission deadline to May 31 from the previous date of May 14. The qualified interested bidders were to be intimated on June 15. (With PTI inputs) For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, June 7, 2018, 10:13 [IST] PM Modi at G20 extraordinary summit: Need to ensure Afghan territory not used for terrorism Our constant endeavour is to ensure affordable healthcare to every Indian, says Modi India pti-PTI Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said access to medicines is a big concern for the poor and his government's constant endeavour is to ensure affordable healthcare for every Indian. He was interacting through video conference with beneficiaries of the 'Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojna (PMBJP)' and affordable cardiac stents and knee implants. "Access to medicines is a big concern for the poor... Our constant endeavour is to ensure affordable healthcare to every Indian," he said. Modi said several people are benefitting from PMBJP, an initiative of the government to provide medicines at affordable prices. He noted that the government has reduced stent prices substantially, benefitting the poor and the middle class the most. The prime minister also said that his government aims to eradicate tuberculosis from India by 2025, five years ahead of a globally-set deadline. One of the participants Subhas Mohanty from Odisha spoke to the Prime Minister about his blood pressure, diabetes and a cholesterol problem. "Earlier I used to buy medicines for Rs. 3,000 earlier now it costs Rs. 400 under the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojna," Subhas added. Mala from Hyderabad told the Prime minister how he used to spend Rs. 1,000 on his medication for high blood pressure and cholesterol and now with the Government healthcare benefits the cost for his medication came down to Rs. 200. Mala ji expressed that his life has become easier. Ahead of the International Yoga Day on June 21, the prime minister also appealed to people to practice yoga and make it a part of their life. PTI Govt has left no stone unturned in convincing UK court that Mallya should be extradited: MEA India pti-PTI New Delhi, Jun 7: The government has left no stone unturned in convincing a UK court that fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya must be extradited to India, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said today. "Extradition hearings have been going on. I understand that the closing submissions in the case have already been made. We now wait for the verdict. I can only assure you that we have left no stone unturned in our efforts to convince the courts that the extradition of Vijay Mallya to India should take place," Kumar told reporters in response to a question. In February 2017, India made a formal request to the UK for extradition of Mallya, who faces charges of financial misconduct amounting to nearly Rs 9,000 crore in debt owed to Indian banks by his defunct Kingfisher Airlines. When asked about the location of fugitive businessmen Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, who allegedly duped Punjab National Bank to the tune of thousands of crores of rupees, he said the MEA will not be able to provide their location details as it comes into picture only when the agencies concerned inform it about their whereabouts. Responding to a question on whether the issue of the extradition of Islamic preacher Zakir Naik from Malaysia came up for discussion during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with his Malaysian counterpart Mahathir Mohamad, Kumar said the interaction between the two leaders was very short. The meeting happened on May 31 during Modi's visit enroute Singapore and the talks covered a broad overview about the relationship between the two countries. Modi made a brief stopover in Malaysia to meet the nonagenarian leader, who won polls after trumping Najib Razak, the then Prime Minister of Malaysia. Kumar added India had sent request to Malaysia to extradite Naik and it was waiting for a response. On the summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un scheduled for June 12 in Singapore, Kumar said, " India welcomes the proposed meeting and supports the peaceful resolution to the Korean Peninsula problem." PTI Which is the most suitable city to live in during COVID-19 Gurugram: Sacked employee opens fire at Japanese companys HR head India oi-Madhuri Angry over being terminated, a sacked employee on Thursday shot a 50-year-old Human Resources (HR) head of a Japanese company in Gurgaon on Thursday morning. The incident happened at around 9 AM when Binesh Sharma, HR head of Mitsubishi, while he was on his way to his office in Manesar. Two bike-borne assailants intercept Binesh Sharma's car on gun point. When he did not stop but accelerated instead, the pillion rider opened fire aiming to kill Sharma. They managed to escape from the spot. Some passersby called the police and Sharma was admitted to Rockland Hospital where he is said to be out of danger. The accused has been identified as Joginder, who was sacked over his "unprofessional behaviour". It is learnt that Joginder had then threatened Sharma with dire consequences which the latter didn't take it seriously. "When he did not stop but accelerated instead, the pillion rider opened fire aiming to kill Sharma," Gurugram Police PRO Ravinder Kumar told PTI. Meanwhile, a case has been registered in the matter at the Bilaspur police station under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, June 7, 2018, 19:00 [IST] How a blend of Military Intelligence and strong policing cracked the Nagrota attack case India oi-Vicky Nanjappa The Nagrota attack was perhaps one of the most horrific in recent times. On 29th November 2016 terrorists of the Jaish-e-Mohammad struck at an Army camp in Nagrota, Jammu and Kashmir, in which seven Army personnel were martyred. The operation was carried out by a seven member team of which three were killed. The agencies have now arrested four persons and this in itself is a major breakthrough. The operation to nab the terrorists was carried out by the National Investigation Agency along with the Jammu and Kashmir police. It was in fact the Srinagar based Military Intelligence Unit and the Special Operation Group of the J&K police which helped the NIA crack the case. Concrete intelligence on the whereabouts of the terrorists is what helped crack the case, highly placed sources informed OneIndia. It was the Military Intelligence that provided the information and the same was worked upon by SOG. The SOG conducted raids apart from probing the matter. The terrorists were then arrested. The four persons to be arrested are Omar Bashir alias Mandela, Syed Muneer ul-Hassan, Tariq Ahmed and Asia Baba. All four during their interrogation confessed that they were tasked by their Pakistani handlers of the Jaish-e-Mohammad to strike at the Army camp. The first round of success was achieved with the arrest of Omar Bashir. A tough questioning of Bashir led to further clues about the rest. The MI then gathered intelligence following which the rest of them were nabbed. The next to be nabbed was Muneer. During his questioning, he spoke about the involvement of Tariq, who is a timber merchant from Pulwama. The last one to be nabbed based on the confessions and intelligence was the dreaded Ashiq Baba. NIA sources who are probing the case say that Baba was the mastermind of the attack. The police had picked up him from the Aloochi Bagh area in Srinagar city. Apart from masterminding the attack, he also was instrumental in providing the logistics to the terrorists who struck at the Army camp. Ashiq is a resident of the Chenab Valley and he stayed in touch with all those involved in the strike, investigations have also shown. Investigators say that Muneer had played a vital role in the attack. He was one of the main point of contacts for the terrorists. Prior to the attack, he was residing at Pakistan occupied Kashmir. After residing there for over a decade he returned to Kashmir via Nepal. During investigations, it showed that Muneer was directly in touch with Baba as well as the Jaish terrorists. With regard to Tariq, investigators found that he had lent his vehicle was used to transport the terrorists to the Army camp at Nagrota. With regard to Omar, the investigators say that he played a crucial role at first by supplying arms, but later on he went silent. We are still probing him for further details, officials also informed. The NIA does not rule out the possibility of more arrests. Details are emerging and there is a likelihood that more arrests would take, the officer also informed. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, June 7, 2018, 11:47 [IST] Four Kerala nuns heckled in UP train: No case of human trafficking found, says Railways Railways delivered over 24,840 tonnes of oxygen so far, southern states got more than 10,000 tonnes Officials in Railway Minister's office to work in 2 shifts of nine hours each I am sorry says Shabana Azmi on her tweet about Railways India oi-Staff By Oneindia Staff Writer Veteran actor Shabana Azmi has apologised to railways for tweeting a video tagging minister Piyush Goyal and the railway ministry that purportedly showed workers, whom she had mistaken to be railway staffers, washing dishes in dirty water. The 30-second video shows three people squatting and rinsing plates in what appears to be a puddle of water in a pothole. Azmi had tweeted the video on Tuesday morning asking the minister to watch it. By evening, the ministry issued a clarification tagging the actor and calling her out on her mistake. "Mam, video is of Malaysian eatery which faces closure after video shows workers washing dishes in puddle of murky water," the tweet from the railway ministry's handle pointed out, even attaching a news story from the country to validate the point. Almost immediately, Azmi apologised, but twitter trolls would have none of it, even asking the rail ministry to file a complaint of defamation against her. "Thank you for clarifying this. I stand corrected. Please accept my apologies," she tweeted. Later, she again tweeted: "I have apologised unconditionally. I stand corrected." The issue generated a lot of traction on the micro-blogging site. It received over 67,000 impressions, the ministry's tweet got 915 retweets and more than 1000 likes. The railways was in the news recently when a video went viral showing a vendor coming out of a train toilet with tea and coffee cans. The vendor was fined Rs 1 lakh by the railways later. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, June 7, 2018, 5:53 [IST] Inside details of what transpired at the Shah-Thackeray meet India oi-Vicky Nanjappa The meeting between BJP chief, Amit Shah and Udhav Thackeray, the Shiv Sena boss was a closely watched one. The meeting was part of the BJP's outreach programme ahead of the crucial 2019 elections in which it takes on a joint opposition. Although, both sides did not make public what transpired at the meeting, sources in the BJP tell OneIndia that the outcome was a positive one. There were differences and tensions as well which had built up over the past few years. Most of them have been ironed out and some pending issues would be sorted out in the days to come, the source also said. Udhav Thackeray would now meet with senior functionaries of his party and discuss the minutes of the meeting with Shah. While the BJP sought unconditional support for the candidature of Narendra Modi as PM in 2019, the Shiv Sena said that the BJP must accept it as the lead partner in Maharashtra. Ahead of the meeting, Shah tried to cool tensions between the two parties and said in an interview that the BJP and the Shiv Sena would contest the 2019 and also the 2024 elections together. BJP sources described the outcome of the meeting as a positive one and added that it was supposed to last for 30 minutes, but went on for two hours. The meeting was wrapped up with Shah having dinner with the Shiv Sena leader. Both sides took ample care in ensuring that some leaders who have been problematic for the coalition were kept out. The state BJP president Raosaheb Danve was kept away after the Sena objected. Samna executive editor and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut too stayed away after the BJP objected to it. Both sides took ample precautions to ensure that the outcome of the meeting was a positive one. Shah was accompanied by Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis. Udhav and Shah first held a closed door meeting for 30 minutes following which they were joined by Fadnavis and Aditya Thackeray. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, June 7, 2018, 9:07 [IST] Is Kaala the real-life political avatar of Rajinikanth? India oi-Oneindia Staff By Oneindia Staff Chennai, June 7: It is a well-known fact that Tamil Nadu (for that matter the entire south India) is crazy about movies and film actors are nothing less than demigods for the fans. Rajinikanth, the 67-year-old actor-turned-politician, is one such superstar who has been ruling the hearts of movie-goers for several years now. The release of any Rajinikanth movie is akin to a big festival as fans wait in long queues to watch his films, first day first show, at theatres. The action thriller, Kaala, which was released across the world on Thursday, is a much-awaited release of Rajinikanth after he announced his entry into politics early this year. The subject of the film is political in nature, although Rajinikanth himself denied it saying "Kaala is not a political film, film has politics in it" and thus many believe that through it the actor-politician is trying to give a hint of his real-life political avatar through reel-life portrayal of a gangster from Dharavi slum in Mumbai. Ahead of its release, Kaala, witnessed a slew of controversies, all political in nature, not because of the plot of the film but mostly due to political remarks made by the protagonist of the film, Rajinikanth, in real life. Be it his controversial stand to support police firing during the anti-Sterlite protest in Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu which led to the death of 13 persons last month or his remarks on sharing of Cauvery river water between the neighbouring states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, Kaala came under scanner because of Rajinikanth's opinions. While the release of the film in Karnataka was stalled because of protest by pro-Kannada groups, in spite of the Supreme Court's directive to release it, in Tamil Nadu the fans have given a thumbs-up to the film. Political analysts say it would be wrong to think that Kaala movie depicts the real-life avatar of Rajinikanth. "The actor-politician has been already labelled as a pro-BJP man, thanks to his pro-government stand on almost all issues. In Kaala, the protagonist is a rebel and anti-establishment. So to mix both reel and real life of Rajinikant will be a big mistake," a film critic told OneIndia. A few months ago, Rajinikanth announced his formal entry into politics. He is yet to come up with the name of his party or symbol. It is not yet clear whether Rajinikanth will fight elections in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls or he would wait for the Assembly polls in the state scheduled in 2021. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, June 7, 2018, 13:24 [IST] Govt needs to give sense of security to people cutting across religions in J&K: Omar J&K: Guards thwart terrorists' attempt to loot bank van India oi-Vikas By Vikas Terrorists on Thursday fired at a bank van carrying cash and tried to loot it in Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian district. The guards of the bank are said to have retaliated and foiled the attempt by the terrorists to loot the cash. On May 28, two terrorists looted Rs 1.7 lakh in cash from a bank and took away a 12-bore rifle from its guard in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir. The armed terrorists barged into the Jammu and Kashmir Bank branch at Srigufwara in Anantnag district this afternoon and looted Rs 1.72 lakh at gunpoint. On May 18, the terrorists looted a bank in Jammu and Kashmir's Kulgam area. The incident took place in a branch of Jammu and Kashmir Bank in Qaimoh area, said reports. Last year, there were several banks looted by the terrorists in Kashmir. On October 12, 2017, Terrorists looted Rs 5,39,000 cash from J&K Bank branch in Marhama Sangam in Anantnag district. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, June 7, 2018, 15:59 [IST] Trump's Iftar party at White House US President Donald Trump speaks during an Iftar dinner hosted at the White House in Washington, DC. AFP, Washington : Donald Trump hosted his first iftar dinner as president Wednesday (Jun 7), marking the traditional Ramadan fast-breaking meal with Muslim invitees at the White House. Trump, who has frequently engaged in inflammatory anti-Muslim rhetoric, hosted the event in the State Dining Room. Millions of devout Muslims observe the holy fasting month of Ramadan, which is slated to end on Jun 14 this year. From sunrise onwards, they abstain from food and drink, breaking their fast at sunset. There were more than 50 guests. At the head table, Trump sat with Saudi Ambassador Prince Khalid Ben Salman, and Jordanian Ambassador Dina Kawar. Ambassadors were invited from the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Morocco, Algeria and Libya. "To each of you and to the Muslims around the world: Ramadan Mubarak," Trump said. "Tonight, we give thanks for the renewed bonds of friendship and cooperation we have forged with our valued partners from all across the Middle East," he said. Ex-ISI chief Lt General Hameed next in line for post of Pakistan Army chief Discussed with Pak leadership importance of holding Taliban accountable to their commitments: Sherman Will come back to haunt you: Jaishankar in veiled reference to Pakistan J&K: Terrorists attack Army camp in Keran sector, 2 soldiers injured India oi-Deepika By Deepika Two army jawans were injured in an attack near the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir's Keran sector on Thursday. Security forces have launched major combing and sanitising operation to clear the area on the LoC in the Keran sector. "Terrorists opened fire on a link patrol ahead of the fence at the Line of Control in Keran sector," a defence spokesperson said in Srinagar. He said two soldiers were injured in the firing, which was retaliated to by army personnel. The operation was in progress when last reports came in, he added. The attack comes on a day when Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh arrived in Jammu and Kashmir on a two-day visit to the state to review the security situation. He is scheduled to visit border district of Kupwara on Friday morning. Also, this is the fourth infiltration bid to have been foiled since the Ramzan truce on May 17. On May 18, five newly-infiltrated terrorists were killed close to LoC in Handwara forest. Five terrorists were killed after Army foiled major infiltration bid in Tangdhar sector on May 26. Army foiled a major infiltration bid and killed three terrorists when they were trying to sneak in from the other side of Line of Control (LoC) in Macchil sector of Kupwara district on Wednesday. Crackdown on terrorists and their sympathisers: NIA raids multiple locations in J&K Terror in the Valley and the Kabul connect Govt needs to give sense of security to people cutting across religions in J&K: Omar J&K sex scandal: 10 years in jail for DIG among others India oi-Staff By Oneindia Staff Writer A special CBI court today sentenced five people, including a former Border Security Force DIG, to 10 years in prison in the 2006 Jammu and Kashmir sex scandal. Pronouncing the quantum of sentence in a packed courtroom here, judge Gagan Geet Kaur said the convicts deserved no leniency. The court had held the five guilty on May 30. The convicts were brought to the court under tight security. Some of their family members were present there. Minor girls were pushed into prostitution in the scandal in which senior officials and politicians were alleged to be involved. Those sentenced to rigorous imprisonment are former BSF deputy inspector general K C Padhi, former J&K deputy superintendent of police Mohammad Ashraf Mir and three others Masood Ahmad alias Maqsood, Shabir Ahmad Langoo and Shabir Ahmad Laway. Any period spent by them in custody during the trial will be set off against their term of imprisonment. The court came down heavily upon Padhi and Mir, saying such acts could not be expected from those the society regarded as its protectors. The five were convicted under Section 376 of the Ranbir Penal Code which deals with the offence of rape. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh each on Padhi and Mir, ordering that they will undergo another year of rigorous imprisonment if they defaulted on its payment. It slapped a fine of Rs 50,000 each on Masood Ahmad, Langoo and Laway, who will serve another six months in prison if they failed to pay. The amount will be used as compensation for the loss of the victim's reputation and dignity, mental harm and loss of opportunity of education, the judge said. "A victim of rape inevitably suffers acute trauma. Rape itself brings enormous shame to the victim," she said. It was unfortunate that sexual violence against women still existed in the 21st century, the court observed. The court rejected the contention by the convicts that they did not have knowledge of the age of the prosecutrix. With the prosecutrix being a minor, the question as to whether she was habitual to sexual activity or not is immaterial to determine the issue of consent, it was held. Langoo was charged with raping the victim twice when she did not accept his marriage proposal. The court rejected the plea for a lesser sentence for former BSF officer Padhi, who cited factors such as his old age (67), killing 40 militants while being posted in J&K and serving the nation. Earlier, on May 30, the court had acquitted former Additional Attorney General of J&K Anil Sethi and another accused Mehrajuddin Malik. Two other two accused, Sabeena, who ran a brothel, and her husband Abdul Hamid Bullah died during the course of the trial. The infamous scandal hit the headlines in 2006 when J&K police recovered two CDsshowing Kashmiri minors being sexually exploited. The minors were coerced into prostitution and supplied to top police officials, bureaucrats, politicians and surrendered militants. During the investigation, J&K police prepared a list of 56 suspects including some high-profile people for their alleged involvement in the sex scandal. The case was shifted to the Central Bureau of Investigation in 2006 after the names of some ministers also surfaced. The Supreme Court shifted the case to Chandigarh later that year. The then J&K chief minister Oman Abdullah had submitted his resignation in 2009 when an opposition leader linked him to the case. J&K Governor N N Vohra, however, refused to accept the resignation. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, June 7, 2018, 6:01 [IST] Bengaluru to face power cuts today: Full list of areas likely to be affected Kaala faces stiff protests, not released in Bengaluru India oi-Chennabasaveshwar By Chennabasaveshwar Rajinikanth starrer 'Kaala' was not released in Bengaluru and other parts of the state amidst protest by Pro-Kannada organizations on Thursday. In Bengaluru, single-screen theaters known to release Tamil movies are not screening the movie amidst protests. Urvashi, Nataraja, Sampige and Vinayak theaters in Bengaluru are known to screen Tamil, Telugu movies. Also, in the wake of the protest, the screening of the movie has been stalled in Orion mall in Malleswaram, Garuda and Lido malls in Bengaluru central district. In other parts of the state, cinema hall owners in Mysore, Mandya, Raichur, Belgaum and Chikkaballapura districts did not screen the movie. According to reports, round 300 police personnel have been deployed near town hall to avoid untoward incidents. Meanwhile, Vatal Nagaraj and other Kannada activists have been taken into custody. The 67-year-old Tamil superstar made a fervent appeal in Kannada to various stakeholders for the screening of the action film across the state a day before the release. The film is facing a "ban" in the state over Rajinikanth's remarks on the controversial issue of sharing of Cauvery river water between the neighbouring states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Upset over the 67-year-old actor-politician's remarks, the highest film body of Karnataka, Karnataka Film Chambers of Commerce, banned the movie. Several pro-Kannada groups have also warned theatres not to screen the film if they want to avoid any untoward incident. Lashkar threat in UP could be a hoax: Maulana Ambu Sheikh could be fictitious India oi-Vicky Nanjappa There seems to be no breakthrough as yet in the case relating to the threat letter sent by the Lashkar-e-Tayiba threatening to blow up places in Uttar Pradesh. The UP ATS and Special Task Force are working in tandem to trace the origins of the letter said to be sent out by Jammu and Kashmir area commander Maulana Ambu Sheikh. An Intelligence Bureau official told OneIndia that this could be a hoax. Our data base for Kashmir does not suggest the present the existence of any terrorist by the name Ambu Sheikh. However all aspects are being ascertained before we can finally declare the letter a hoax, the officer said. The letter threatened to carry out attacks at the Krishna Janmabhoomi, Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanai and also at the Hapur and Sahranpur railways stations. The letter states that it would carry out a series of attacks between June 6 and 10. The letter was sent to the Northern Railways last month. The Intelligence Bureau says that the authenticity of the letter is being ascertained. It has been signed by one Maulana Ambu Sheikh who claims to be an area commander in Jammu and Kashmir. It could also be a ploy to distract as the Lashkar-e-Tayiba could be plotting something big in Kashmir also, the IB official informed OneIndia. It may be recalled that in the year 2010, the Indian Mujahideen had targeted Varanasi in which two people were killed. UP has been under the radar of terrorists for long. Recently a person from the state had been arrested for his links with the Lashkar-e-Tayiba in Kashmir. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, June 7, 2018, 17:25 [IST] Maharashtra SSC Class 10 Result 2018 to be declared tomorrow, check exact time India oi-Madhuri The Maharashtra SSC Class 10 Result 2018 will be declared shortly. The results once declared will be available on the official website. The results would be declared on June 8 2018 by 1 pm.The Maharashtra HSC result 2018 was declared on May 30 2018. The exams were conducted in March this year. The Maharashtra Board also asked the Students to not to believe result date being forwarded through whatsapp and social media. According to a statement from Maharashtra Board, a total number of 17,51,353 students have registered for the annual Secondary School Certificate (SSC) or Class 10 Examination 2018 which began on March 1 and concluded on March 24. Out of the 17,51,353 students, 9,73,134 are boys and 7,78,219 are girls. SSC exams were held in 4657 centers across the Maharashtra.The results once declared will be available on mahresult.nic.in and examresults.net. How to check Maharashtra SSC Result 2018: Go to mahresult.nic.in or examresults.net or Click on relevant stream Enter required details Submit View your results Take a printout For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, June 7, 2018, 12:05 [IST] Monsoon update: Heavy rains expected in coastal Karnataka, Konkan-Goa and Mumbai India oi-Vikas By Vikas Heavy spells of rain can be expected in coastal Karnataka and Konkan Goa from today, while a warning has already been for issued for Mumbai where 'heavy to very heavy rainfall' is likely on June 9, as per the India Meteorological Department (IMD)'s forecast. A TOI report quoted an IMD official as saying that some places in Pune district may get extremely heavy rain. He also said there is a possibility of flooding over coastal Karnataka, Konkan-Goa and Mumbai. The weather bulletin by the IMD states that Southwest Monsoon has further advanced into some more parts of South Interior Karnataka, most parts of Rayalaseema, South Coastal Andhra Pradesh and West Central Bay of Bengal, remaining parts of eastcentral Bay of Bengal and some more parts of northwest Bay of Bengal. Click here for All India weather summary and forecast bulletin "Conditions are favorable for further advance of Southwest Monsoon into some more parts of Central Arabian Sea, some parts of south Konkan & Goa, remaining parts of Karnataka and Rayalaseema, some parts of Telangana, some more parts of Coastal Andhra Pradesh and West Central Bay of Bengal during next 24 hours," the IMD weather bulletin released on June 6 (7.00 pm) said. "Conditions are very likely to become favorable for further advance of Southwest Monsoon into some more parts of Maharashtra, Telangana & Coastal Andhra Pradesh in subsequent 48 hours," it added. The satellite image released by the IMD (on June 7) which shows position of clouds over several parts of India, Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean. As per the forecast, there is a possibility of "very heavy" rainfall in Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts on Thursday and on 8 June, said a PTI report. "As per the forecast of the met department, the state calamity relief cell has sounded a high alert at almost all the places in the state especially in the Konkan region. The state calamity relief cell has instructed district administrations to remain on high alert to face any emergency conditions," a government release stated. Directions have been given to the control rooms in Mantralaya, divisional commissioner's office, district collectors' offices, municipal corporations and tehsildar offices to work round-the-clock, it added. People in Mumbai can dial 1916 and those outside Mumbai can dial 1077 in case of emergency. According to the IMD's prediction on distribution of rainfall this monsoon, the central India will get 'normal' rainfall but the southern Peninsula - Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry - may get 'below normal' rainfall. The north-east India is expected to get least rainfall (below normal) during the period. The monthly rainfall over the country as whole is likely to be 101% of its Long Period Average (LPA) during July, and 94% of the LPA during August - both with a model error of plus or minus 9%. Anything between 90%-96% of the LPA is considered "below normal" while rainfall in the range of 96%-104% of the LPA is considered "normal." Also, rainfall is considered "deficient" if it ranges below 90% of the LPA, and "above normal" if it falls between 104%-110% cent of the LPA. Above 110% of the LPA is considered "excess" rainfall. More than 1000 cases of ceasefire violation this year: India India pti-PTI New Delhi, Jun 7: There have been more than 1,000 incidents of ceasefire violation by Pakistan this year and India hopes that Islamabad will adhere to the 2003 truce agreement, the External Affairs Ministry said today. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said ceasefire violations were being used by Pakistan to aid infiltration of terrorists. Whenever there is an unprovoked attack on the borders, the matter is taken very strongly with the Pakistani side as it involves loss of life and property, he said. "In 2018 alone, there have been more than 1,000 cases of ceasefire violation by Pakistan. We have maintained that the ceasefire violation by Pakistan is used as a cover to infiltrate terrorists into our territory and we have seen the results of such infiltrations in the past. We hope that Pakistan will realise what it is doing and adherers to the 2003 ceasefire agreement between the two countries in this matter," he said in response to a question. His reaction comes in the backdrop of a militant attack, in which two soldiers were injured while on a patrol near the Line of Control in Keran sector of Jammu and Kashmir today. Last week, the Director Generals of Military Operations (DGMOs) of India and Pakistan agreed to fully implement the ceasefire pact of 2003 in letter and spirit forthwith to stop cross-border firings in Jammu and Kashmir. However, there have been incidents of ceasefire violation in the past week too. In response to a question on whether the Ministry of External Affairs has put restrictions on Pakistani academicians to attend a seminar in India next month, Kumar said there are several factors that go into participation of any individual or country in a conference or a seminar. According to media reports, the Association for Asian Studies and Ashoka University will be holding a conference scheduled next month, which is to be attended by academicians from all over the over, but the MEA has put restrictions on Pakistani scholars. "One major consideration which goes into before taking any decision, which of course includes the inputs we get from various agencies...a very important input is the state of relationship. If the state of relationship is good and positive, then these things are very smooth and free-flowing, and if you have a relationship which is not very smooth, then of course there are due diligence and all these things come into play. Participation by Pakistan or any other country is a reflection of the current state of the relationship between India and that country," he said. PTI Former Himachal CM Virbhadra Singh to be cremated at Rampur on July 10 at 3 pm Mukherjee won't say anything which isn't in favour of the nation, says Virbhadra Singh India oi-Deepika By Deepika Former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh on Thursday said that Pranab Mukherjee's speech in Nagpur will be in favour of the nation. "I'm sure that Pranab Mukherjee won't say anything in Nagpur which isn't in favour of the nation. In fact, whatever he says, will be in favour of country. I've no issues with him attending that event. He's free to go wherever he wants to," the senior Congress leader said. The Congress clearly unhappy that Pranab Mukherjee is attending an RSS event at Nagpur today. Many senior Congress leaders have spoken out against his decision, including his daughter who said that the speech at Nagpur would be forgotten, but not the visuals. The latest to join the bandwagon is Ahmed Patel, whose tweet signals what the mood in the Congress high command is. He tweeted, " I did not expect this from Pranab da." Former Union Minister CK Jaffer Sharief urged former President Pranab Mukherjee to reconsider his decision to visit RSS headquarters in Nagpur today. While the Congress officially said it did not like to comment on the matter, former finance minister P Chidambaram said there was no point in debating the issue as he has already accepted the invitation. But he advised Mukherjee, "I would say, Sir, now that you have accepted the invitation, please go there and tell them what is wrong with their ideology." However, in a scathing letter, Kerala Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said his readiness to be the chief guest at the valedictory function of Sangh Shiksha Varg - a training camp for RSS volunteers in Nagpur on June 7 - came as a "rude shock" as it was organised by a "communal outfit" that has been "trying to divide the country on religious lines and to run the incumbent government by remote control. However, Mukherjee in a veiled response, said that all queries will be answered once he speaks in Nagpur, where the event is scheduled to be held. "Whatever I have to say, I will say in Nagpur. I have received several letters and phone calls but I haven't responded to anyone yet," Mukherjee was quoted as saying by Bengali daily Anandabazar Patrika. Meanwhile, the RSS hailed the former President's greatness for accepting their invitation to address their workers in Nagpur. "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," read a statement from the RSS. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, June 7, 2018, 16:21 [IST] Saraikela encounter: 1 CoBRA Commando, policeman killed; Chopper sent to airlift injured India oi-Vikas By Vikas One commando of the elite CoBRA force and a policeman were killed in an encounter with the Maoists in Jharkhand's Saraikela region on Thursday. The policeman was initially injured, but it was later reported that he succumbed to his injuries. Two other security personnel were also injured, as per latest reports. The joint operation between 209 CoBRA battalion and Jharkhand Police were on a Search And Destroy Operation (SADO) when the gunbattle broke out. As per last reports, heavy exchange of fire in still underway. The gunbattle began around 7 am in the Dalbhaga-Arki area of Saraikela-Kharsawan district. "We have sent a helicopter to rescue two security personnel who are critically injured. We are waiting for more details," news agency ANI quoted RK Mallick, ADG Jharkhand Police, as saying. Last year, a jawan of the CoBRA squad was injured in an encounter with Maoist rebels in Jharkhand's Singhbhum district. At least five Maoist guerilla fighters also sustained bullet injuries in the gun battle with the joint forces of paramilitary forces, Jharkhand and West Bengal police in Ghatsila area. COBRA is a specialised unit of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) proficient in guerrilla tactics and jungle warfare. Originally established to counter the Naxalite problem, CoBRA is deployed to address any insurgent group engaging in asymmetrical warfare. Currently numbering ten battalions, CoBRA is ranked among one of India's most experienced and successful law enforcement units. Pranab bonds with Bhagwat at Nagpur ahead of RSS address India oi-Vicky Nanjappa A nation waits with bated breath for former President Pranab Mukherjee's speech at the RSS event at Nagpur today. Mukherjee who arrived in Nagpur was given a warm welcome by the RSS top brass. He is expected to meet with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat for lunch today. On Wednesday post his arrival, he was escorted to Raj Bhavan in Nagpur, which is the winter capital of Maharashtra. On Wednesday night, Bhagwat and other senior RSS leaders called upon Mukherjee at Raj Bhavan. They spent discussing various issues for close to an hour. A lunch meeting has been fixed for later today. The former President will address an RSS event at around 6.30 pm today. He is attending the 'Tritiya Vash Vard' programme of the RSS. He will reach the RSS headquarters at the Resham Bagh area at around 5.30 pm. He would be welcomed by Bhagwat, following which he will hold a meeting with RSS general secretary Bhaiyyaji Joshi. He would reach the venue of the event by 6.25 pm, following which he will give his address, which is expected to last 20 minutes. The valedictory address would be given by Bhagwat. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, June 7, 2018, 12:00 [IST] DCCI baffled by selective reduction in corporate tax UNB, Dhaka : President of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) Abul Kasem Khan has proposed the government to reconsider slashing corporate tax in all categories at least 2.5%. In the proposed budget, government only reduces 2.5% corporate tax on publicly and non-publicly traded banks, insurance and non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs), drawing criticism from various quarters. In his initial reaction on National Budget 2018-19, Khan had said if the government reduced corporate tax rate, they would be happy and willing to reinvest that money into the business. "At present private sector investment as a percentage of GDP is 23%, but if we want to increase it by even 1% , Taka 25,000 crore needs to be invested in a year. Government has set a target to increase private sector investment to GDP ratio to 25.15%, which will be challenging if corporate tax rate is not cut down," he said. In the proposed budget, double taxation system on dividend is withdrawn which Abul Kasem Khan hailed. He also hailed the decision of the government for reducing duty on imports of accessories for locally produced motorcycles, mobile phones and tire tubes. He said government should increase the budget on railway under ADP which is Tk 11,155 crore, a 3.1% increase over that of last year. The DCCI chief said budget outlay for railways should be doubled for better communication. The government has formed a Committee named "National Committee for Monitoring and Implementation" to work out how to position Bangladesh in the top 100 of the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Index within the next five years, something Abul Kasem appreciated in his instant reaction. He proposed inclusion of private sector participants in this Committee. He also proposed not to increase VAT rate this year. He also hails the ADP allocation of Taka 173,000 crore which increase 16.6 percent from the revised ADP for the current, outgoing fiscal. The DCCI President hailed the government for allocating Tk 100 crore for skill development projects. In this regard he said that tax rebate should be given on the 5% of gross income of a company that is invested in research and development and skill development activities. Maharashtra unlock 2.0: Despite remaining in level 1 category, some Covid lockdown curbs to remain in Nagpur Pranab at RSS event updates: Happiness is a fundamental right says ex-pres India oi-Staff By Oneindia Staff Writer The much awaited speech by former President of India, Pranab Mukherjee at the RSS event is over. The much awaited speech which lasted for a little over 25 minutes dwelled on various subjects which included historic India, nationalism, patriotism and also the happiness index in India. One of the key points he made was relating to tolerance. Our motherland is asking for peace and harmony. Happiness is fundamental right of our citizens. While we have done well in many areas, including growth, but we have not fared well in the happiness index. We rank 133 out of 156 countries, he said. You can check out all the updates from the RSS event at Nagpur below: Newest First Oldest First Pranab Mukherjee at RSS Event Live: Soul of India resides in tolerance The soul of India resides in tolerance. This has come to us over centuries. Secularism and inclusion is a matter of faith for us. When I dream of India, I mesmerise how it is possible that so many people practise so many religions, speak so many languages and dialects. Under one system, one Constitution and one flag and identity, it is called Bharatiya. We do not identify any enemy says Pranab Mukherjee. A dialogue is necessary. Co-existence, compassion and harmony form the foundation. Every day we see increased violence around us. There is mistrust. We must free our discourse from hatred says Pranab Mukherjee. Let us move to harmony and happiness. Democracy became our most precious guide to peace. For us democracy is not a gift, but a sacred task, Pranab Mukherjee says. Nationalism comprised all Indians. Nationalism was not bound to a caste, creed or race. Many dynasties have collapsed in the northern and southern part. Delhi was then captured by the Muslim invaders. The Muslim rule was then taken over by the East India Company. They seized a big chunk of India says Pranab Mukherjee. Intolerance will only dilute our identity says Pranab Mukherjee. India was a state long before the concept of the European state. Their model was defined territory, common religion and common enemy. On the other hand, Indian nationalism emanated from universalism says Pranab Mukherjee. We see the whole world as one family, he also says. We derive our strength from tolerance. Many ancient travellers came to India and gave their accounts. All have described India as having efficient administrative system and good infrastructure. A nation is defined as a large group of people says Pranab Mukherjee. Nationalism is defined by ones identity. Patriotism is defined as devotion, he also says. Pranab Mukherjee begins his speech in English. We have only one aim and that is a united India. We have no other concern other than that, says Bhagwat. Bhagwat says that everyone has a right to have a political opinion but there is a limit to opposing it. We should realise that we are working for the betterment of the same country but some groups have selfish motives. Governments can do a lot but cannot keep an eye in every sphere. We may have differences, but we are all the children of mother India says Bhagwat. The RSS does not differentiate between Indians. All Indians are one for us, he also says. Bhagwat says that no Indian is untouchable. "The RSS event takes place in the same way, year after year. We call dignitaries every year, those who can come grace the event with their presence. But all the discussion and opposition around who visits us and when is meaningless. Sangh does not believe in dividing society. It unites society says Bhagwat. This event is like every other event that takes place every year. Pranab Mukherjee is an intellectual. We are grateful to him for accepting our invite. It has been our tradition to welcome people who have achieved a lot. Many have come for the event and understood the RSS. They put-forth their views and if they have criticise us, we ponder over it. Mohan Bhagwat now addressing the crowd. He welcomes Pranab Mukherjee and says that he is grateful that the former president has come for the event to understand the working of the RSS. Mohan Bhagwat felicitates Pranab Mukherjee The drill at the Tritiya Varsh is completed. The welcome speech is on. Family members of Shubash Chandra Bose and Lal Bahadur Shastri also present at the event. Pranab Mukherjee now being welcomed. His speech to commence in a few minutes from now. RSS mentioned in a tweet that 6 shikshaks (trainers), 39 Prant Pramukhs & 120 prabandhaks have toiled day and night to ensure that the camp runs smoothly. 707 swayamsevaks will be completing their varg this year. Of them, 191 are Post Graduates and 375 are graduates, RSS also said. It is imperative for all Indians to know what the RSS has historically stood for and to understand what it thinks today. People of India should never forget how antithetical their ideologies are to the idea of India said the Congress party in a tweet. Reacting to Pranab Mukherjee hailing KB Hedgewar as 'great son of Mother India', Congress leader Hussain Dalwai says, "I had a lot of respect for him but perhaps because of his age he thought he should do something wrong before making an exit. The speech by Pranab Mukherjee will begin in a few minutes from now Pranab seated alongside Mohan Bhagwat is watching the parade at the Tritiya Varsh Pranab Mukherjee arrives at RSS event, to speak shortly The images of Pranab Da, veteran leader and ideologue at RSS Headquarters have anguished millions of Congress workers and all those who believed in pluralism, diversity and the foundational values of the Indian Republic. Ahead of the much awaited speech Pranab Mukherjees daughter Sharmistha put out a barrage of tweets. She tweeted, Hope @CitiznMukherjee now realises from todays incident, how BJP dirty tricks dept operates. Even RSS wouldnt believe that u r going 2 endorse its views in ur speech. But the speech will be forgotten, visuals will remain & those will be circulated with fake statements. By going 2 Nagpur, u r giving BJP/RSS full handle 2 plant false stories, spread falls rumours as 2day & making it somewhat believable. And this is just d beginning, she also said. The former President is set to address a programme of the RSS as a chief guest on Thursday, a decision that has been questioned by some in the Congress, including M Veerappa Moily, who feel the move will give credence to the Sanghs ideology. Pranab to hold meeting with RSS general secretary Bhaiyyaji Joshi. Pranab to reach RSS headquarters by 5.30 PM where he would be welcomed by Mohan Bhagwat. The former President will address an RSS event at around 6.30 pm today. Former President Pranab Mukherjee arrives at Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) founder KB Hedgewar's birthplace, welcomed by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. Pranab Mukherjee held a conversation with RSS chief, Mohan Bhagwat. The former president is set to address a function in sometime. Exchange of views and ideas is intrinsic to the Bharatiya concept of dialogue says Dr.Manmohan Vaidya of the RSS while reacting to the debate on Pranabs address. The RSS will live stream from his Resham Bagh headquarters at 6.30 pm Pranab Mukherjee signs visitors' book at RSS founder KB Hedgewar's birthplace Pranab Mukherjee will put forth a secular view at RSS event, says Sushil Kumar Shinde. He also said that accepting the invitation was not wrong. Pranab is a secular person and a very good thinker, Shinde also said. In the RSS Tritiya Varsh valedictory, it is customary to invite people who have made significant contributions to national life as Chief Guest and have the benefit of their experience. In line with this, Sri Pranab Mukherjee ( Pranabda ) was extended an invitation says RSS. Today I came here to pay my respect and homage to a great son of Mother India' said Pranab Mukherjee in the visitors book signed at RSS founder Hedgewars birthplace. The images of Pranab Da, veteran leader and ideologue at RSS Headquarters have anguished millions of Congress workers and all those who believed in pluralism, diversity and the foundational values of the Indian Republic. Pranab Mukherjee arrives at RSS event, to speak shortly Pranab seated alongside Mohan Bhagwat is watching the parade at the Tritiya Varsh The speech by Pranab Mukherjee will begin in a few minutes from now Reacting to Pranab Mukherjee hailing KB Hedgewar as 'great son of Mother India', Congress leader Hussain Dalwai says, "I had a lot of respect for him but perhaps because of his age he thought he should do something wrong before making an exit. It is imperative for all Indians to know what the RSS has historically stood for and to understand what it thinks today. People of India should never forget how antithetical their ideologies are to the idea of India said the Congress party in a tweet. RSS mentioned in a tweet that 6 shikshaks (trainers), 39 Prant Pramukhs & 120 prabandhaks have toiled day and night to ensure that the camp runs smoothly. 707 swayamsevaks will be completing their varg this year. Of them, 191 are Post Graduates and 375 are graduates, RSS also said. Pranab Mukherjee now being welcomed. His speech to commence in a few minutes from now. Family members of Shubash Chandra Bose and Lal Bahadur Shastri also present at the event. The drill at the Tritiya Varsh is completed. The welcome speech is on. Mohan Bhagwat felicitates Pranab Mukherjee Mohan Bhagwat now addressing the crowd. He welcomes Pranab Mukherjee and says that he is grateful that the former president has come for the event to understand the working of the RSS. It has been our tradition to welcome people who have achieved a lot. Many have come for the event and understood the RSS. They put-forth their views and if they have criticise us, we ponder over it. This event is like every other event that takes place every year. Pranab Mukherjee is an intellectual. We are grateful to him for accepting our invite. Sangh does not believe in dividing society. It unites society says Bhagwat. Bhagwat says that no Indian is untouchable. "The RSS event takes place in the same way, year after year. We call dignitaries every year, those who can come grace the event with their presence. But all the discussion and opposition around who visits us and when is meaningless. We may have differences, but we are all the children of mother India says Bhagwat. The RSS does not differentiate between Indians. All Indians are one for us, he also says. Rahul's speech was like the one in '3 Idiots', says MP Minister India oi-Vikas By Vikas A day after Rahul Gandhi spoke about waiving-off farmers' loans and setting up food processing units in Madhya Pradesh, state's Minister of State for Cooperatives Vishwas Sarang has likened Congress president's speech to the one made by the character of Chatur Ramalingam in the movie '3 Idiots'. In the movie, Chatur Ramalingam inadvertently makes a hilarious speech after certain words in the speech's script were replaced by protagonists of the film. Without understanding the meaning of the replaced words, Ramalingam goes ahead with it at a college function and becomes a lauging stock. The scene sends across a message that undersatnding a subject is more important than mugging up the text books for the sake of marks. "Rahul Gandhi's speech was dramatic, scripted and immature. There were no facts and data. He talked about setting up food processing units in the district. Only a week ago Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister had talked about food processing. It seems the writer of Rahul's speech has taken a cue from that," an NDTV report quoted minister Vishwas Sarang as saying at a press conference in Bhopal. Rahul Gandhi was in Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh, yesterday to meet the family of the farmers who were killed in police firing during last year's protest. He also addressed a rally there in which he assured that Congress would waive-off farmer loans within 10 days if voted to power in the state. Rahul also said that Congress wants to transform Madhya Pradesh. He said Congress would set up food processing units close to farms so that farmers can sell their produce easily. Asserting that the Congress is concerned towards the plight of the farmers, Gandhi said his party wants to free the state from the clutches of "Shivraj, Modi and RSS". [Rahul sounds poll bugle in Madhya Pradesh, promises to waive-off farm loans] Hitting back at Rahul over his Mandsaur speech, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in his face post, "Every time I listen to the view of Shri Rahul Gandhi, both inside and outside Parliament, I ask myself the same question - How much does he know? When will he know?" On Gandhi's accusation that Prime Minister Narendra Modi waived the loans of Rs 2.5 lakh crores of the 15 top industrialists, Jaitley said this it is completely false. The government, he said, has not waived a single rupee due from any industrialist. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, June 7, 2018, 10:26 [IST] RSS wins at least perception battle against the united opposition India oi-Vinod By Vinod New Delhi: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) seems to have won the perception battle that it is open for the debate among people with different ideologies. It has also been able to send across the message that the RSS is actually the victim of political untouchability and political intolerance. So much so that in the past couple of years the debate and narrative were more of the RSS versus the rest of the political parties but former President Pranab Mukherjee has given shot in the arm to the RSS. Sources said that the main opposition the Congress has been attacking the RSS in the worst possible manner by calling it communal and having terror links. Right from the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijay Singh to former Union Home Minister P Chidambaram to the Congress president Rahul Gandhi with linking it to the saffron terrorism. He did not miss the chance to run it down. A political analyst Rajvir Sharma told One India that the visit of Pranab Mukherjee has made the attack of the Congress on the RSS blunt as one of its main leaders is visiting the RSS headquarters. But there is an altogether different aspect of Pranab Mukherjee visiting Reshmi Bagh that despite opposition political parties from the Congress to the Left Front, it will have its impact on a section of people revisiting their idea about the RSS. Sources in the BJP said that the visit of Pranab Mukherjee will stir the conscious of a certain section of people especially in the West Bengal and north-eastern states where the RSS is growing leaps and bounds and its political affiliate the BJP is getting benefited by it. There is one more thing that people will revisit all accusation made against the RSS with Pranab Mukherjee visiting the RSS headquarters. Political analysts were of the view that Pranab Mukherjee neither was getting to benefited by it nor was he at loss with this but this will definitely change the narrative in the country which is obvious. The Congress actually failed the accuse, Pranab Mukherjee, to get benefitted by this. Reportedly the Congress which was not responding as a political party on this issue and one of its most powerful general secretary Ahmed Patel unusually tweeted against Pranab Mukherjee's visit to Nagpur literally disowning him. Another political analyst close to the Congress said that such aggressive opposition of the Congress leaders to the decision of one of its senior leaders and former President might boomerang on them and even politically harm them during elections. BJP sources said that Pranab Mukherjee has been maintaining very cordial relations with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi which was reflected when Pranab Mukherjee was in the office. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, June 7, 2018, 20:21 [IST] PM Modi at G20 extraordinary summit: Need to ensure Afghan territory not used for terrorism SCO Summit: PM Modi to hold bilateral talks with Xi Jinping India oi-Deepika By Deepika Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday on the sidelines of the SCO Summit in Qingdao. The meeting would come over a month after the two leaders held an informal summit in the Chinese city of Wuhan in April during which they exchanged views on solidifying the relations between the two Asian powers. Modi will be participating in the 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit, being held under the chairmanship of President Xi, on June 9 and 10, in Qingdao, Shandong province, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said. Among other issues, the summit is expected to focus on opportunities for cooperation among SCO members and the situation in the region. The prime minister's programme includes participation in the welcome banquet hosted by the Chinese president on the evening of June 9. The main day of the SCO summit is June 10, Kumar said. Modi will attend the SCO heads of states meeting in both the restricted as well as the extended formats, he said, adding that bilateral meetings of the prime minister were also planned on the sidelines of the Summit. India on Wednesday said the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in China stands for "multi-polarity" and it conveys the message that big countries can peacefully coexist despite differences in their systems The 18th SCO Summit, scheduled for June 9 and 10 in Qingdao, Shandong province, will be attended by a host of world leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin "We hope the summit will be very successful. We are confident it will be very successful. We know that China will host very successful Qingdao SCO summit. We are very much looking forward to it," Indian Ambassador to China Gautam Bambawale said This is the first SCO summit after India and Pakistan were admitted as regular members last year The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the Presidents of Russia, China, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Spectrum Politics: Khurshid's startling revelations about 2G case India oi-Vikas By Vikas Former union minister Salman Khurshid has given an interesting insight into the 2G spectrum allocation cases and way judiciary handled it in his latest book 'Spectrum Politics: Unveiling the Defence'. Khurshid, who is also a former law minister, has backed Congress' argument that there was no wrongdoing in allocation of 2G licenses. Among other things, Khurshid has pointed out that the Congress did not fight the BJP allegations before the 2014 elections as aggressively as it should have. He also says that Congress lost the 'battle of perception' in 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Earlier this year, former Telecom Minister A Raja, DMK Rajya Sabha member Kanimozhi and other accused in the 2G spectrum allocation cases were aquitted by the Delhi High Court. Khurshid claimed that the Congress did not have much camaraderie with former Telecom Minister A Raja, one of the prime accused in the 2G scam. In one of the most controversial things in the book, Khurshid says that on the night before the Supreme Court cancelled 122 spectrum licenses in 2012, "someone left a copy (of the judgment) at my gate in a sealed envelope." "I was shocked, to say the least, but there was little I could do in the middle of the night. Early next morning, I was scheduled for a trip to a southern state. I went through the business of the day, but asked for updates from Delhi," he wrote in the book. Speaking at a program on NDTV, Khurshid said that when he informed about this matter to then Chief Justice of India Justice Kapadia, the latter was 'shocked'. Justice Kapadia then assured that the matter would be examined, the former union minister said. He said that the order leaked from a department in court which makes copies of the judgements. "Some action was taken against a clerk of the court registry," he wrote in the book. He also wrote that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had outwitted former President Pranab Mukherjee, reported Scroll.in. "Kejriwal and his group destroyed us completely. We had no way of knowing how to handle him," Khurshid said. Khurshid claims that after speaking to the President, Kejriwal would come out and say something totally different in the media. "Mukherjee once called me at 11 pm and told me 'Salman call the press and inform.' And for the first time, I was calling the press at midnight to say that Kejriwal has said something rubbish," Khurshid wrote. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, June 7, 2018, 10:56 [IST] Nagrota Army camp attack: How Jaish terrorists were helped indirectly by Geelani India oi-Vicky Nanjappa The terrorists arrested in connection with the Nagrota Army camp attack have revealed chilling details on how the attack was carried out. The National Investigation has been questioning the Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists has revealed that they were in regular touch with their handlers in Pakistan. Interrogation of three terrorists arrested in the Nagrota attack case namely Md Ashiq Baba, Tariq Ahmed Dar and Muneer-ul-Hassan Qadri have revealed that they were in regular touch with JeM commanders based in Pakistan. They were in continuous contact through WhatsApp and other chatting platforms. They said that they were taking instructions from one Maulana Mufti Asghar who was the uncle of dreaded terrorist Waqas who was recently killed in Pulwama. The terrorists also revealed that they also kept in touch with another commander Qari Zarar who was based in Rawalpindi. In furtherance to the conspiracy to conduct attacks on the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir, terrorist Ashiq Baba visited Pakistan four times crossing the Wagah border (between 2015 to 2017) legally. He obtained his visas after getting reference letters from Hurriyat leaders Syed Ali Shah Gillani, Gani Bhat and Maulana Umar Farooq. During his visits, he met with JeM commanders and took directions from them after getting clearance from a local ISI agent. Ashiq Baba thereafter on return, received instructions on how and when to receive the group of terrorists. Around a week prior to the attack, he and the other arrested terrorist Muneer were given the GPS coordinates of the receiving point along the Samba sector highway as well as of the possible targets along the Nagrota army cantonment through Whatsapp from their handlers in Pakistan. They were asked to recee these targets. Ashiq went with Muneer (and later joined by the accused Tariq) and finalised the receiving point and the target. Officers mess complex of 166 Medium Regiment at Nagrota was chosen due to its convenient location towards the end of the Cantonment. After finalisation, the points were passed on Whatsapp to the JeM commanders in Pakistan. They then received a group of three attackers a day before the attack (28th Nov 2016 in early morning hours) at the decided location. The terrorists changed their clothes near the highway after they were received by Ashiq Baba, Muneer and Tariq. They then travelled in two vehicles to Jammu after keeping their weapons concealed in the boot of the car. Ashiq baba and Muneer again received a group of three terrorists on March 2017 from the Samba sector and dropped them at Khrew near Pampore. This time the terrorists were received by Noor Trali (JeM commander who was subsequently killed in an encounter). Ashiq Baba then went to Pakistan in April/May 2017 and met Waseem, Abu Talha and Mufti Ashghar. He also met Maulana Rauf (brother of Maulana Masood Azhar and accused in the Pathankot attack case) at their headquarters at Bahawalpur. He was showered praises by the JeM leadership and promised with a lot of financial rewards and was told to receive more attackers in future. Muneer told Ashiq that the JeM leader wanted him to open an account with HDFC or ICICI bank to receive funds as reward. Ashiq baba already had an HDFC account which he provided to the JeM commanders on Whatsapp. They then transferred hefty amounts into his account. Ashiq says that the amount came from Gulf countries. 'If Congress isn't doing anything, we can't be sitting ducks': TMC attacks grand old party TMC to revamp party organisation ahead of 2019 elections India pti-PTI Kolkata, June 7: Trinamool Congress decided to crack the whip against internal strife and revamp the organisation ahead of next year's Lok Sabha polls as infighting and the BJP's rising graph in West Bengal seem to be taking a toll on the ruling party. According to senior TMC leaders who do not wish to be named, the recent spate of reshuffle in the state cabinet and some local bodies is a hint that the party is planning to overhaul the organisation at various levels. The BJP is trying to expand its footprint in West Bengal, which has 42 Lok Sabha seats. The party, at present, has just two seats in the state. The recent bypolls and the panchayat election results have indicated a paradigm shift in the state politics with the saffron party emerging as the main opposition to the TMC, although it has a long way to go before it can put up a close fight to the ruling party. Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, who has floated the idea of a federal front of regional parties, is also making her presence felt at the national level as a prominent challenger to the BJP. According to TMC insiders, the party has a two-pronged strategy, under which ministers who are "overburdened" with various portfolios will have to do away with some responsibilities. Leaders who are holding dual folios of district president and state minister will have to choose between them, although there will be exceptions for certain leaders who have a good track record. "The performance in some of the districts, especially Junglemahal, is not so good. Although we have won the maximum number of zilla parishad seats, we have also lost the ones we shouldn't have," said a senior TMC leader. Much to the dismay of TMC leadership, in districts like Malda, Purulia, Jhargram, Nadia, Alipurduar, the BJP has made steady inroads, said a senior TMC leader, adding that local TMC leadership was "not well informed" about the ground situation. Once hit by Maoist insurgency, the three districts of Junglemahal- West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura have been the beacon of Banerjee's developmental policies in the state. "We are assessing the results. But we are not bothered with media projections. The people of West Bengal support the developmental policies of Mamata Banerjee," TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee had said. Just within two weeks of the election results, three Cabinet ministers were asked to resign from their posts and concentrate on party's organisational work. Backward Class Welfare Minister Churamani Mahato, Tribal Development Minister James Kujur and Abani Joardar, who did not have a portfolio, had to abide by the party's orders. "All the three ministers have been asked to concentrate on the party's organisational works," Banerjee had said. The portfolios of four other ministers were reshuffled, including of state panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee, who had to give away the additional charge of Public Health Engineering Department. "Although Abani Joardar was ill for the last few months, Churamani Mahato lost his job for the party's performance in Junglemahal, especially in Gopiballavpur area, and James Kujur because of party's performance in Alipurduar district," said another TMC leader. According to party sources, youth leaders will be given preferences at various levels of district leadership ahead of next year's Lok Sabha polls. The leaders of Trinamool Youth Congress will be entrusted with tasks, depending on their ability to perform. Those who are tech-savvy will be utilised by the party to counter the "false" social media campaigns, allegedly floated by the BJP, to create a rift among communities, the sources said. "The BJP is trying to use religion as a tool to enter into our state. But the TMC will never allow divisive forces to succeed, all attempts will be scuttled at any cost," Chatterjee said. The party is also contemplating the idea of reshuffle in various districts by removing the leaders who are adversely impacting the image of the party, according to party sources. "We will not tolerate infighting in the party, we had enough of it. If anybody is found to be involved in infighting strict action will be taken against him or her. There can be grievances in the party but that doesn't mean you will sabotage the prospects of the party," said a senior TMC leader privy to the development. The latest causalities of infighting in TMC are the chairman and the vice chairman of North Dum Dum Municipality, who have been removed after supporters of both the leaders clashed inside the municipal office last month. PTI United opposition? Will hang myself if TDP ties up with Cong says AP deputy CM India oi-Vicky Nanjappa Taking an extreme stand against a possible alliance between ruling Telugu Desam and Congress, senior party leader and Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister (Revenue) KE Krishna Murthy said he was ready to 'hang' himself if the tie-up became a reality. "There is no question of the TDP aligning with the Congress but if that happens, I am ready to hang myself," he told a press conference in his hometown Kurnool. He went on to add that he was speaking this "on behalf of the party" and it was not his individual view. Murthy, however, said any alliance would be decided only ahead of the (general) elections. His remarks come at a time when talk about TDP cozying up to the Congress has become a hot political topic in the state after Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu rubbed shoulders with Rahul Gandhi in Bengaluru recently. Some TDP leaders even tried to reason that the Congress promised to accord special category status to Andhra Pradesh if it returned to power at the Centre in 2019 and hence being pally with that party would do no harm. Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy in an interview to a news magazine has said he was asked by Naidu and other leaders such as West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee to align with the Congress. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, June 7, 2018, 10:05 [IST] Chidambaram on India giving 2.5 crore Covid jabs: 'Why did we have to wait until the PMs birthday?' What transpired at the CBIs questioning of P Chidambaram India oi-Vicky Nanjappa The high-profile questioning of former union minister, P Chidambaram by the Central Bureau of Investigation in connection with the INX Media case lasted over four hours on Wednesday. The questioning pertained to the alleged irregularities and clearances for foreign investment given to INX Media. The agency has alleged irregularities in the clearance of foreign investment in INX media, a venture promoted by former media baron Peter Mukerjea and his wife Indrani, both probed by the CBI in connection with the murder of their daughter Sheena Bora. The questioning revolved largely around the finance ministry documents and the statements given by both Indrani and Peter. Sources in the CBI tell OneIndia that we had some clarifications to seek and these pertained to the statements given by the duo in which they had claimed meeting Chidambaram when he was finance minister. They had said in their statements that they met Chidambaram at his north block office in 2006. They further alleged that it was Chidambaram who had suggested to them to meet with his son Karti. They further said that Chidambaram had told them to help Karti's business. Further Chidambaram also confronted with documents of the finance ministry and his explanation sought. The CBI source said that he answered all the questions posed to them. His answers would now be tallied with that of his son Karti who was earlier arrested and released on bail. If there is a mismatch, then we will call them in for questioning once again the source also added. After coming out of CBI headquarters here, Chidambaram said he had appeared before the CBI and the FIR did not contain any allegations against him. "Questions and answers were based on the files of FIPB. Hence there was little to add to the record," the Congress leader said on Twitter. Chidambaram's alleged role has come under the scanner of investigating agencies in connection with the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance of Rs 305 crore given to INX media. The CBI had registered an FIR on May 15 last year for alleged irregularities in the FIPB clearance to INX Media for receiving overseas funds to the tune of Rs 305 crore in 2007 when Chidambaram was the finance minister during the UPA-I government. Chidambaram's son Karti Chidambaram was also arrested in the case for allegedly receiving funds to the tune of Rs 10 lakh. The other accused in the case include then INX media director Indrani Mukerjea and the then INX news director, Peter Mukerjea, both in jail in the murder case of 24-year-old Sheena Bora, who was Indrani's daughter from previous marriage. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, June 7, 2018, 11:01 [IST] Will Pranab Mukherjee tell RSS what all is wrong with its Hindutva ideology in Nagpur? India oi-Maitreyee New Delhi, June 7: Since former President Pranab Mukherjee has accepted the invitation of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to address the members of the right-wing Hindu nationalist group in Nagpur, Maharashtra on Thursday, it is almost futile for the "liberals" to ask him to "reconsider" his decision to be seen with an exclusive group of "Hindu protectors" or "swayamsevaks"---as the RSS members are known as. The former Union minister, who was a Congress leader for almost five-decades before he left politics to become the President of the country in 2012, has already reached Nagpur to be the chief guest at the concluding function of "Tritiya Varsh Varg" or third-year course which will start from 6.30 pm on Thursday at the RSS headquarters. To stop Citizen Pranab--as his Twitter handle describes the 82-year-old politician-President--at this juncture will be like praying to the dark, cloudy, belligerent sky to be merciful and not flood your city/town/village during the monsoon rains. So like Mukherjee's former colleague and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, all those who have "reservations" regarding the Congress patriarch's decision to be seen with the "Hindu zealots" in their "kingdom" and give validation to the core ideology of the RSS which stands directly against the country's secular and democratic ethos can simply hope that the former President will hold a mirror to the RSS during his Nagpur visit. "Now that he has accepted the invitation, there is no point debating why he accepted it. More important thing to say is, Sir, you have accepted invitation, please go there and tell them what is wrong with their ideology," Chidambaram said, while making it clear that he himself would have never accepted such an invitation. A host of Congress leaders like Jairam Ramesh and CK Jaffer Sharief have asked their "dear Pranab babu"-- who had earlier on many occasions himself did not mince words to attack the RSS and its ideology of creating a Hindu rashtra (India as a Hindu country and not a secular one)--not to go to Nagpur. Those who are opposing Mukherjee's visit to the RSS headquarters find it offensive that a "secular" leader like the former President has decided to go to a place considered as the mecca of "Hindutva politics" where there is no space for "others", especially Muslims. While urging Mukherjee not to attend the RSS event, the so-called liberal and secular brigade of the country maintains that it came as a "rude shock" for them as the veteran leader has decided to "embrace the communal forces". But Congress leaders like Abhishek Singhvi told people to not jump to any conclusion till the former President had spoken. Mukherjee, who himself was maintaining a stoic silence after the controversy regarding his visit to the RSS camp started, recently told Bengali daily Anandabazar Patrika, "Whatever I have to say, I will say in Nagpur. I have received several letters and phone calls but I haven't responded to anyone yet." His veiled response does not make it clear what will be the tone and tenor of his speech. Will his speech be a pleasing one for the RSS praising the right-wing group for "protecting the country's age-old traditions", or a mild reminder of what India stands for by outlining the main features of the Constitution (as he had done on many occasions as the President), or a sharp attack on the Hindutva ideology which is witnessing an unprecedented rise under the incumbent Narendra Modi regime? With incidents of mob lynchings of Muslims, atrocities against Dalits, 'love jihad', support for rape accused by members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saffronisation of textbooks and institutions and other problems on rise, can the former President act "neutral" and give the nation a false hope of "achhe din"? It is perhaps the best platform for Mukherjee to tell the RSS and its affiliates that India can't be a Hindu rashtra, killings of Muslims in the name of gau rakshak (cow protection) are the most heinous crimes, women are not just baby-producing machines, Dalits grooms can't be beaten to death for riding horse, playing with proven historical events is a big injustice to the future generations, banning films, books and artworks attack freedom of speech and renaming roads, railway stations and cities will not bring "vikas" (development). What Mukherjee will speak at the much-awaited event is his prerogative. He should not be dictated or influenced (not even by his daughter Sharmishta Mukherjee who has openly disapproved her father's decision to attend the RSS event) by anyone. Like all of us, Mukherjee too has the "freedom of speech". But while exercising his freedom, the veteran and seasoned leader should stand for the liberty and emancipation of millions of Indians-- irrespective of religion, caste and gender--who don't have a platform to speak their minds. I was blindfolded, handcuffed and taken to RAB office: Imran Ganajagaran Mancha spokesman Imran H Sarkar speaking at a press conference at the Dhaka Reporters\' Unity (DRU) on Thursday protesting police attack on their procession against extrajudicial killings across the country. Staff Reporter : Gonojagoron Mancha spokesperson Imran H Sarker said that he has been put on handcuff after blindfolded with black clothes while taking him to the local office of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). The RAB members picked up him in filmy style without any warrant of arrest order issued against him. Imran said this in a press briefing at Sagor-Runi Auditorium in the city's Segun Bagicha on Thursday afternoon. "The elite force personnel eased my eyes and handcuffs before questing me in presence of senior officials of RAB at the Headquarters of RAB-3," said Gonojagoron Mancha leader. They asked me about the motive of the movement of the Gonojagoron Mancha and its necessity, he said. They also contacted with Imran's sister and brother and handed me to them around 11:00pm on Wednesday, said Imran. Meanwhile, in a written statement, Chhatra Union President J M Jilani Shuvo protested the exytra-judicial killing across the country criticizing the arrest of Imran from city's Shahbagh area on Wednesday. He urged law enforcers to stop the killings of people over 146 and demanded to form a high profile probe body lead by a judge of High Court Division to investigate the incidents. Human Rights Activist Khushi Kabir, Udichi General Secretary (GS) Anowar Tapan and Chhatra Union GS Liton Nandi among others were present in the briefing. Earlier, Imran was released nearly seven hours after he was detained by the RAB personnel. Abe to meet Trump again today; shows Tokyos worry over being left out of N Korea peace process International oi-Shubham By Shubham The North Korean crisis has several parties having stake in it. Besides the US and North Korea, three other big regional powers also have an interest to serve through the Korean Peninsula's denuclearisation and they are China, South Korea and Japan. But although China, South Korea and he US have engaged more than once with North Korean leaders and officials by now - the case has not been the same with Japan. In fact, the only time Japan got to speak on the issue in a multilateral platform was when its top leadership met the Chinese premier and South Korean president in Tokyo in May. This apart, the only other power that the Japanese leadership has met and talked over the issue is the US. Abe has only been meeting Trump but not Kim Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, has in fact, met US President Donald Trump several times already, flagging off the meetings even before the latter became the president in January 2017. They had their seventh meeting in Washington ahead of Trump's historic summit with North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un scheduled in September on June 12. Japan is not convinced over the idea of easing the pressure on North Korea - whose nuclear ambitions have often posed it threats in the past - and also the Abe administration is not very sure about Trump's whims. The US president announced the date and venue of his meeting with Kim on May 10 but cancelled it on May 24 citing Pyongyang's "anger" and "hostility". He, however, corrected the course on June 1, by reinstating the summit. An op-ed published in China's Daily Times titled 'Japan strives for relevance on North Korean nuclear issue' has said that Abe made frequent visits to the US after Trump's election to get closer to the new administration after having backed Hillary Clinton initially but as Trump started displaying his "erratic style", Abe needed to know the man afresh. Abe was set to meet Trump in Washington again on June 7 and according to the op-ed piece: "It's clear that Abe wants to evaluate the US stance on the Trump-Kim summit in Singapore." It was also reported that Abe's hurriedly organised trip to Washington was aimed at reminding the US leadership of Tokyo's security concerns during the historic meeting in Singapore. Abe will urge the US leader in their latest meeting not to forget Tokyo's security concerns in his drive for a historic deal with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un besides of course, issues like trade and US's relations with China. After their meeting in Washington in mid-April, Trump had promised to bring up the issue of North Korea kidnapping Japanese people in the 1970s and 1980s and Abe was expected to request Trump he same again on Thursday though this stance of Abe of asking another leader to take up issues related to his country with Kim was not received well by all quarters. Abe's only point of contact with the entire episode has been Trump for he did not get to meet Kim directly. The peace agreement between the two Koreas also did not feature Japan - be it the trilateral talks involving the US or four-party talks including the US and China - and that is a major disappointment for Tokyo. Both Chinese President Xi Jinping and his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in have meet Kim twice till date but Abe hasn't had a single one-to-one meeting with the main players except Trump. Russia, too, joined the party recently Russia was another member of the Six Party Talks that did not initially feature in the North Korean peace process. But Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited Pyongyang in May end and met Kim, who in turn, is likely to visit Russia later this year. This leaves Japan in "an awkward position," said the Global Times piece. "In fact, even Japan is not sure what makes it a stakeholder in the Korean Peninsula issue. It used to play up the nuclear threat posed by North Korea as an excuse, but as hopes rise on resolving the nuclear issue, Japan turns out to be dispensable over it. Thus Japan can only keep bringing up the kidnapping issue, which however has little significance compared to the nuclear crisis," the piece said. "What Abe can rely on is just the Japan-US alliance so that he puts forward his demands about the peninsula to maintain the country's regional clout. Although Japan is getting less discourse power on the peninsula, it's not completely useless for Trump." According to the piece, Japan is worried that the US and China would reach an agreement leaving out Japan and neither does it want the North Korea bring a change that would see Japan being sidelined on major international issues. Abe's 30 calls with Trump till date is thus a desperate effort to assert Tokyo's position in Washington's US-Pacific strategy. Collapse of Kabul will go down as one of the greatest defeats in American history: Donald Trump Trump blasted for asking ally Canada whether it didnt burn down White House in 1814 International oi-Shubham By Shubham They are known to be close allies but of late, the relations between the US and Canada - two massive neighbours of the Western Hemisphere - have seen more lows. The election of Donald Trump as the president of the US created the initial uneasiness as he sought a protectionist stance and showed less trust on regional free trade but things turned for the worse after the US imposed increased tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from Canada and other allies, leaving the Justin Trudeau government livid. On May 25, when Trudeau sought a justification for Washington's controversial decision and how it would help the cause of the US's national security, Trump countered asking whether the Canadians hadn't burnt down the White House during the War of 1812. "Didn't you guys burn down the White House?" Trump asked, according to CNN and CBC reports. According to a report in the New York Times, it was not clear if the president was trying to make a joke during his call with Trudeau after the fresh tariffs were imposed by Washington on steel and aluminium imports heading to the US from Canada. But Trump was criticised for his remark as Canada was not a nation until 1867 which was long after the British troops' burning down the White House in 1814. The war which was fought over two centuries earlier between the US and UK and their respective allies saw the White House getting burnt down by the British and it was seen as a retaliation for the American attack on York, the current-day Toronto in Canada which was a British colony then, in 1813. The seat of the US government had shifted to Washington, still a town then, in 1800 and it took three years to rebuild the gutted White House before President James Monroe moved into it. Meanwhile on Wednesday, June 6, the Canadian government refused Trump's proposal to scrap the 24-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement or Nafta (which also includes Mexico, another country Trump has often attacked) and bring into place a bilateral trade pact. Trump even set the condition that if the revised Nafta deal was approved, Washington would do away with the newly imposed 25 per cent tariffs on the steel and aluminium products. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, June 7, 2018, 17:52 [IST] US: Man gets bitten by severed head of snake which he killed; survives International oi-Shubham By Shubham This couldn't get more bizarre than this. A man from Texas almost died after the severed head of a rattlesnake which he had just decapitated bit him as he tried to pick up the killed serpent's head. The victim's wife told local news station KIIITV that doctors were initially pessimistic about the chances of her husband's survival but he did survive, thanks to 26 vials of anti-venom, Gizmodo news site said. Trauma surgeon Michael Halpert also told the news site that the man's kidney functioning had weakened but was yet stable, Gizmodo added. It all happened when the man was doing yard work on the Memorial Day in the US last week when he spotted the four-foot venomous snake and used a shovel to behead it. But when he tried to remove the severed head, it bit him, releasing a potentially fatal dose of venom in his body. Her wife was quick to take the man to the hospital but he soon started having seizures and then was transferred to an ambulance, followed by an emergency helicopter, to take him to the hospital fast, the news report said. One doctor, Leslie Boyer of the University of Arizona VIPER Institute, said that reptiles are made differently as their severed head can function for a long time yet after getting severed, Gizmodo added. She even heard of snakes moving as long as 12 hours after getting split into two and there was even a case in which the mummified snake head bit a person, Gizmodo added. She also said that cutting up a snake was not the best way to handle the reptile. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, June 7, 2018, 10:00 [IST] Will Rudy Giulianis N Korea begged remark create fresh trouble for June 12 summit? International oi-Shubham By Shubham Once bitten, twice not shy. The Donald Trump administration of the US, it seems, hasn't learnt from its past mistakes as the president's lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who has courted controversy of late through his remarks, made again a statement on North Korea that could hurt the latter's nationalist sentiments. On Wednesday, June 6, Giuliani reportedly said at a press conference in Israel that North Korea's Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un had "begged" for rescheduling the summit with Trump after the latter cancelled it on May 24 citing Pyongyang's "tremendous anger and open hostility". Giuliani, who is defending Trump in the investigation into Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election in the US, credited the president for taking a tough stance which forced North Korea to soften its stand. North Korea adopted a calm posture and backed the summit even after Trump cancelled it and continued engagements between various parties, including South Korea, led to reinstatement of the summit. On June 1, Trump said the summit was back on track and preparations are full on since then in Singapore, the host to the talks, for June 12. The North Korean and American leaders will meet at Capella Hotel in Singapore's Sentosa Island. The Wall Street Journal first reported about Giuliani saying: "Well, Kim Jong-un got back on his hands and knees and begged for it, which is exactly the position you want to put him in." Giuliani does a John Bolton? There was no immediate response from Pyongyang to Giuliani's words, reports said. In the past, North Korea was angered by the US administration's posturing that it was put under pressure to agree to the talks and in particular, US National Security Adviser John Bolton's suggestion of applying the Libya model for North Korean denuclearisation was perceived as humiliating by Pyongyang and it was one of the factors that resulted in a temporary derailment of the talks. North Korea also blasted US Vice-President Mike Pence for likening it with Libya, a day before Trump scrapped the talks in May. Will there be fresh trouble with less than a week go for the summit? For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, June 7, 2018, 10:17 [IST] The night Osama was killed, this is what Obama told Zardari International pti-PTI Washington, June 7: When the then US President Barack Obama called his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari to inform him about the killing of Osama bin Laden by the US forces in a raid in Abbottabad, the latter, according to a book, told him that this was a "good news". "Whatever the fallout, he (Zardari) told Obama, it's very good news. It's been a long time. God be with you and the people of America," Ben Rhodes, who was Obama's close aide at the White House writes in his latest book, referring to the response of Zardari when the US president called him to inform him about the American raid in on May 2, 2011. Zardari was thrust into a leading role in Pakistani politics after his wife and prominent politician Benazir Bhutto was assassinated by extremists on 27 December, 2007 "Zardari was sure to face a backlash at home over America's violation of Pakistani sovereignty," writes Rhodes in his book 'The World as It Is: A Memoir of the Obama White House', which hit the book stores this week. "But he wasn't upset," says Rhodes, giving his impression of the conversation between the two presidents, which happened before Obama went to address the nation informing his fellow Americans about the killing of Osama bin Laden. According to Rhodes, who was Obama's close aid during his eight years of presidency, said that even from his election campaign days, he had insisted that he would cross the border if the US had actionable intelligence against Osama bin Laden. When his national security team were debating about crossing into the Pakistani territory to kill bin Laden, it was vice president Joe Biden who was reluctant to do so. "It was obvious to me that Obama was going to do this. He had a way of looking straight ahead when he was listening at the same time that his mind was elsewhere. I could tell that he had turned the intelligence over and over in his mind ("this is a fifty-fifty call"), that he understood the risks with Pakistan," writes Rhodes. When he asked me what I thought, I simply said, 'You always said you were going to do this'. Because I'd lived through the debate on the campaign, I knew he had meant what he said about going into Pakistan," the former White House official said. Obama asked him to prepare for four scenarios: (1) bin Laden is at the compound and it's a success; (2) bin Laden is at the compound and it's messy people killed, Pakistani security services, instability; (3) bin Laden's not there but we get in and out cleanly; (4) bin Laden's not there and it's a mess. "At the end of the meeting, Obama didn't tip his hand, he just said he'd make his decision overnight. As people filed out of the room, Biden pulled Denis and me into a smaller, adjacent room and closed the door. He looked genuinely pained. 'You fellas really think he should do this?' 'I do,' Denis said," Rhodes writes. "I agreed, and repeated my point about Obama's always having said he would go into Pakistan to get bin Laden. 'Well', Biden said, 'I'm just trying to give him a little space'. I believed that Biden sometimes took strident positions in meetings to widen the spectrum of views and options available to Obama. He also worked hard to understand Obama's mind," he writes. "You've always got his back," the then Chief of Staff Denis McDonough said to him, according to the book. "You better believe it," Biden replied. "But we're also going to need to say some prayers," he added. PTI Where are the drug lords? Md Joynal Abedin Khan : The death toll and the arrest of drug peddlers turned a downward trend as high profile drug lords have already left the country taking chance of easy mood at the airports, seaports and land points before starting of the ongoing crackdown against narcotics across the country. They (drug lords) collected information about the anti-drug drive from their paid informers and vested quarters in the law enforcing agencies. They were informed of the formal date (May 12) of starting of crackdown as per the decision of an inter-forces level meeting after getting instruction from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on May 3. Over 600 drug lords, including 154 from the capital, took shelter to the neighboring country with the assistance of their cohorts and border security force, intelligence sources said. Consequently, they said, the law enforcers could not arrest the monarchs and high profile drug dealers during the ongoing drive while around 150 alleged peddlers were killed and more than 12,000 arrested on charge of possessing narcotics. The sources categorically acknowledged that the death toll turned a downward trend as most of the listed drug peddlers had gone out of the net of the law enforcing agencies. In the latest, a drug peddler was killed in Kishoreganj on Thursday, two on Wednesday, four on Tuesday, two on Monday, three on Friday while 15 in a single day on May 30, according to media reports. Earlier, the Home Ministry has recently identified 60 top drug dealers and 1,151 drug peddlers. Most of them are from Teknaf and Cox's Bazar. Police of Cox's Bazar claimed that none of the suspects could be arrested as most of them have fled the area and currently they are in hiding. Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said that law enforcers had been instructed to show zero tolerance against drugs. RAB Director General Benazir Ahmed said that they were conducting all-out drives against drugs, not against particular people. He said the drug dealers and addicts will be arrested, no matter how powerful they are and none will be spared. "We also have surveillance in areas where drugs enter and exit. We are working to prevent yaba's entry into the country," he said. Seeking anonymity, a high official of the Police Headquarters (PHQs), confessed the involvement of some members of law enforcing agencies and said that at least 10 police personnel, two RAB men and five BGB members, were sent to force retirement on charge of their involvement. He also could not make any comment over the shelter of the drug peddlers to India. Kazi Manjurul Islam, Acting Commander of BGB-2 in Teknaf, said that they conducted the operation on the basis of a tip-off. But the drug dealers were well aware of their presence and fled the scene before being nabbed. 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.